"Tails ! Heeeeelp !" Zooey screamed while the Mega-Bot had her locked in its steel hand, her head right in its sight.

"I'm coming, Zooey ! Hang on !" answered Tails, who rushed with his beloved plane towards the evil robot. So that was the way Eggman wanted to test his mood music generator ? He got it all wrong, the twin-tailed fox thought. At his turn, he caught right in his sight the arm that was holding Zooey, activated the mini-bomb but...

Nothing happened. What? Tails started to panic, pressing repeatedly the button, but the bomb wouldn't come out. No no no ! This can't be ! Not now, not today ! Unfortunately, the Mega-Bot had yet heard him coming, and violently pushed him away with a simple backhand. Tails then lost control and the plane crashed, but he managed to eject himself just in time.

The robot turned back to Zooey, who knew it was over yet. "NOOOOO !" she screamed while it was loading its laser beam. Before Sonic and the rest of the group could do anything, Mega-Bot shot coolly at its target, and the beam struck Zooey, who then fell on the ground with a loud thud.

"ZOOEY !" Tails screamed in horror as he saw his girlfriend struck and falling, while flying from the place his plane had crashed. Meanwhile, his friends went to defeat the Mega-Bot, that was still on the rush. "Uh-oh..." said Eggman, who certainly didn't expect his plan to go so far. "Guess I'd better go back home !" he added before going away with the Eggmobile. The robot was lying on the ground yet, but he wasn't the only one.

Tails shoved some villagers from the little crowd that had formed around Zooey, and took the severely injured vixen in his arms. "Zooey..." he started to sob as he realized that she couldn't be saved. He felt her broken bones under her skin, and blood oozing from her opened skull. "Zooey... It's all my fault... I should have checked the mechanism... Please... Don't leave me..." he begged her with uncontrollable sobs.

Zooey slowly opened her mouth, from which a trickle of blood also started to flow. "It's... it's okay, Tails... At... at least I know... you... you loved me..." Her weak breath was replaced with some agonizing sounds. "No, Zooey ! Don't do this ! Don't leave me ! Please !" Tails screamed. But it was too late. Zooey, the vixen he loved, had just died in his arms.

"NO ! NO ! ZOOEY ! NO !" he screamed with all his heart before sobbing like he never did before, holding as tight as he could the corpse of his beloved. Sonic and the others, like many villagers, couldn't help but cry in front of this heartbreaking scene...

"Tails ?"

Zooey the vixen was peacefully sleeping in her bed as she heard someone whimpering. It could be only Tails, her boyfriend who was sleeping with her for this night like many others before. So she turned on her bedside lamp and looked at him. He was indeed moving a lot in his sleep, mumbling and whimpering. Zooey could even swear she could hear him pronounce her name.

That worried her a lot, and she was pretty sure he was having a bad nightmare. She tried to wake him up by putting a hand on his shoulder and gently shaking him. "Tails ? Tails, honey, wake up !" she said smoothly. Finally, Tails got awaken and got out of what appeared to be a nightmare.

"Z-Zooey ?" he said with a weak voice. The vixen gently rubbed his shoulder to reassure him. "It's okay, Tailsy, you were just having a bad dream...". But Tails was still haunted by these horrible visions he just had. He could see everything in his mind : her fall on the ground, her agony, her last words before she... "Tails ? What's wrong ?" she asked with a concerned face. As he saw it, Tails could do nothing but feel the tears and the sobs slowly coming up.

"Zooey... I... I..." He just couldn't finish his sentence as he broke and burst into sobs, wrapping his arms around her. The vixen felt her heart break at the sight of her so cute, adorable and loving boyfriend sobbing out.

"Oooooh, Tails !" she said with a dismayed voice before hugging him tight. "Oh, my poor Tails, my poor honey...". Then she gently rubbed his back and his head, doing her best in trying to comfort him while he was crying his heart out. "I-I-did-the-worst-nightmare-e-ever", he managed to pronounce between a river of tears and sobs.

"Shhhh... Shhhh... It's okay, Tails, I'm here..." Zooey whispered with her warm, smooth voice, petting the back of his head. The poor fox still kept on sobbing, his face nuzzled in his girlfriend's chest. So she put a hand on his shoulder and asked him : "Do you want to tell me what happened ?" Tails nodded and started telling about this horrific nightmare with his broken voice, giving all the details : the beam that didn't work, her smashing on the ground...

"And... you-were-agonizing... in-my-arms... and-I-knew-it was-t-too-late... and you... you..." Tails broke again and cried like he never did before. It seemed so real... Zooey waited some minutes for his sorrow to soothe a bit, keeping him in her warm and soft embrace with a lot of hugs and cuddles. She felt so sorry for him and even felt a tear on her cheek. How could such a nice and lovely boy do such a gruesome nightmare ? Then she reassured him : "Everything's okay, Tails. It was a nightmare, just a nightmare. I'm here and I won't leave...".

"I'm so afraid to loose you !" Tails cried.

"I know, honey... I know that's why you had this nightmare..." she answered, before adding : "But you don't have to worry. Believe me, Tails, you're way stronger than you thought. You managed to save my life all by yourself, and I'm sure you did so many times with your friends too. And yet you're the youngest of the team ! Do you realize ?" Tails, who started to calm down a bit, nodded. "You're a hero, Tailsy. A very clever, devoted and courageous hero. And even when you're in awkward position, you'll still have your friends to get your back", Zooey concluded.

Tails slowly stopped crying. He felt much better. The vixen's words had warmed up his heart, as he knew he would never ever be alone. He finally looked at her, and despite his eyes were red and soaked from having so much cried, a smile had grown on his face. "I love you so much, Zooey..." he said. Zooey was happy too, seeing that his sorrowful thoughts were gone. "I love you too, my delicious foxy", she whispered, before the two shared a long and fond kiss.

After this lovely moment, Zooey proposed : "Come on sweetheart, let's go back to bed". But she saw Tails' expression turn worried. She knew what it meant : he was afraid to have another nightmare... So she wrapped her arms around him again and reassured him : "Don't worry, Tails, I'll protect you from these bad dreams". Tails blushed and hugged her back. "Okay..."

Hugging him warmly, she started humming the French lullaby Une chanson douce, of which Tails had told her about one day, confessing that when he was a kid, it helped him a lot to go back to sleep when he woke up in the night, mostly after... a nightmare. And indeed, Tails fell little by little asleep, until he closed his eyes. Zooey melted with joy and turned off the light, joining his boyfriend in a sleep together.

Tails was sleeping peacefully yet, a bright smile on his face, knowing that he was protected from the bad demons of the night thanks to the embrace and the warmth of the one he loved more than anything else in the world.

THE END