High above the sky, over the sea, a portal opened up and a figure wearing a black robe and hood fell into the ocean. It was a struggle for the hooded creature to swim to shore, but when he finally made it to the sand, he fell to the ground. The sound of muffled wheezing could be heard along with the sound of a machine hissing.

Once the figure's breathing was back to normal, he stood up and gathered some wood and stuck his metal hand into the small pile and lit it with a built in lighter. Before long, the pile of kindling and wood was ablaze.

The warmth was calming on his skin as he took off his hood to allow the heat to touch his face, but the heat brought with it an overwhelming sense of dread, as his face had been badly burned, years ago, leaving bald areas on his once furry head. Part of his right ear was missing while his other ear was still intact. On his muzzle was a black mask that helped him breathe since the explosion damaged his lungs and left him unable to breath on his own. On his chest, under his clothing was a portable iron lung that pumped air into his mask, then down into his lungs. Not only did the mask help him breathe, it helped him talk as well, since his face and lungs were not the only things that had been damaged by the explosion.

He took off his cloak and threw it to the side. He wore a long grey coat and black pants with nice black shoes. He wrapped his two tails around him to help keep warm. One tail was warm while the other remained cold. It had been lost in the explosion, along with his right arm and left leg hand, and were now replaced by high tech prosthetics.

His appearance was disturbing to people that did not know him, but his friends still loved him, though he was not the same Tails in body or mind anymore. Ever since the day he pulled the trigger to the gun that ended his Cosmo's life, he knew nothing but pain, of soul and body. The Cannon caused a overload of his control system when he fired the gun at full power, making him the way he was today.

Tails pulled from his pocket a black glove and slipped it over his robotic hand, he knew it would not help much to smooth over the disgust people could have for him but he did not care. He was here for only one reason and nothing was going to stop him from seeing her.

Once he was dry, he picked up his cloak, but after a quick look at it, he threw it into the fire. There was no point in keeping it now. If his face was going to be seen, then he was going to let everyone see it, as he was already used to the horrible names and looks. He waited until the robe was burned, then walked up the beach and into the town to buy what he needed.

As he entered town, he felt people staring at him with their eyes. Some looked at him with sadness, while others with worry, and a few with disgust. Tails, however, did not care in the least. He had something to do and he was going to do it. He entered a gift shop, only to startle the ferret behind the counter for a moment. He guessed he thought he was a robber by his mask, but as he started to look around, she calmed down. It took him only five minutes before he went to the counter, placing a few roses.

He could find nothing else she would like to have.

Once he paid for the roses, he began walking toward where his house was, but as he made his way through the city he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Don't recall seeing you around here. Who are you, anyway?" asked the voice of Sonic the hedgehog.

Tails turned around to see not just Sonic, but Amy, too.

"Why do you want to know?" Tails asked his voice not giving away how he was thanks to its robotic sounds.

"I'm just wondering because Eggman pulls a lot of stuff around here and there is only one person we know that has two tails," replied Sonic.

Tails turned back around and began to walk away.

"I have no time to deal with you, Sonic. I have something I need to do."

But before he could go any further, Sonic was in front of him.

"How about you take off the mask and show us who you are?" Sonic asked, reaching for the mask.

Tails quickly slapped his hand away with his robot arm which caused the hedgehog to yelp in pain, holding his hand.

"Not the mask. I need it."

Tails then began to walk again but he could hear Amy running up behind him, most likely about to hit him on the head with her hammer. Not sure how to react, his robotic tails sparked and slapped Amy causing her to scream in pain and fall to the ground.

Sonic, seeing Amy fall, ran over to her, only to see she was only knocked out.

"I don't want no trouble I just want to go home." Tails sighed.

"I should have guessed Eggman would create some kind of freak like you," Growled Sonic.

This caused Tails great pain. Even tho this was not his Sonic or his world, it was still Sonic that called him that.

Tails lifted his free hand to his face and took a deep breath, he lowered the mask from his muzzle to reveal his scared but recognizable face. Sonic's eyes widened in horror. Amy, who now had her eyes open, gasped once she saw the face.

"I just want to go home," Tails managed to say with is raspy voice. The pain of no air was getting to him, so he returned the mask to his face.

"How is this possible?" Amy asked, slowly getting up.

"I come from a world similar to this one but, two things are different: I am not disfigured here, and this Tails has her."

He then turned back and continued to where his home would be on this world, but as he walked, he knew Sonic and Amy were following behind him, this did not bug him, so long as they stayed out of his way.

Like his world, he had to take a train from the city to reach his home that was on a island on top of a hill that hand its own runway for his planes. Tails sat quietly, looking at the roses, but not looking up at Sonic and Amy who were looking at him quietly.

"How did it happen?" asked Amy, breaking the silence.

"When I fired the cannon at Cosmo, the level of power so great that the control system I was sitting at blew up. I was out for days from
what I was told. Eggman was able to help me live." Tails responded.

"Eggman helped you out?" Sonic asked with a confused tone.

"Once he knew how true evil could hurt someone the way it did me, he changed, he helped out a lot. We built my breathing device and my prosthetics," explained Tails, looking up to his the friends his other had he noticed his reflection in glass behind them; he could hardly even believe it was him looking back.

"What I want is impossible," Tails sighed.

The train soon stopped and the three got off walking down the steps. He could already make out the house in the distance. Scared, yes, but he had to do this.

With each step he took, the house grew larger and his heart beat faster. They were only about 40 steps from reaching the door when Tails stopped. At this point, his heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest.

"What am I doing." He said looking at the roses, "Only thing I am going to do is scare her."

Sonic placed his hand on the Tails before him, "Liston to me, she is Cosmo and you are still Tails."

The door of the door opened and two figures walked out of the house, hand in hand. It was this world's Tails and Cosmo. Her face was even more lovely than he remembered. As then got closer Tails could tell that Cosmo was a little disturbed by his looks. That made his heart ache with pain, but he kept his gaze on her.

"Hey Sonic, who is your friend?" Asked the other Tails.

Tails eyes started to water and his tears began to roll down his cheek and then on to his mask, only to drip on to the roses before he held, hand shaky he lifted them towards Cosmo.

"You may not fully understand why I am here, but seeing you one last time has been the only thing to keep me going in my painful life, I have a request from you, but only you can decide whether to allow it."

Cosmo opened her mouth to speak but she was interrupted by the loud noise of a jet. They all looked to see a Hawk shaped Jet with the large Eggman sitting at the controls. Of all times in his life, he wished this was one when Eggman would have just stayed away.

Tails moved in front of the group and pointed his arm at the jet that was already firing at them. His robotic hand opened up and fired back at the jet. Eggman's jet took damage, but the fat doctor passed over them with his machine gun blasting away. Tails kept his postion and continued firing, even as he could feel a pain in his stomach. The bullets from his arm stopped firing and his hand closed. He quickly grabbed his robotic tail, detaching it from where it was connected, and with a quick press of a button, it morphed into an M82A2. It was lightweight, but still kept its amazing power. Looking through the scope, he aimed at the jet as it turned back towards them and fired. The bullet hit the jet, leaving a massive hole in it, but Eggman was able to keep it heading for them. Tails' hands now started to shake, and his breathing was getting slower but he stayed strong and fired again, but missed. He is left leg gave out; looking down he saw it sparking. He'd been hit in the leg and in the stomach, damaging his iron lung. He tried to keep his hand steady, but failed. He looked over at the Tails of his world, holding Cosmo close.

"Tails...take the gun." Tails called out to his other, handing it out to him.

The other Tails looked at the gun with wide eyes, "I cant."

"Listen to me, if you don't do this, you will lose her again. This time its not her you are shooting, but the one causing her pain," Tails said, his wheezing becoming more loud.

The other Tails looked at Cosmo and then ran over and grabbed the rifle, with deep breath he aimed the rifle, holding his breath as he lined Eggman up in his sights, and fired, hitting the large fat man in the cockpit and causing the jet to fly out of control above them and crash into the sea.

"Good work, Tails," Tails smiled under his mask at his other, holding his wound.

"Thanks, but how are you holding up?" Tails asked the stranger before him.

"I feel cold," Tails replied, falling backwards to the ground his breathing was now growing weak. Even with the mask still giving him air, it was not enough.

Cosmo kneeled down before him.

"Who are you?" she asked with watery eyes.

"Take off this...accursed mask, so you can gaze on my true face," Tails wheezed.

He did not care anymore for his own life, as long as she could see her, that was all that mattered.

Carefully, Cosmo pulled off the mask to reveal the Fox she loved. Instead of a gasp like he expected, she smiled with tears rolling down her face

"Hi," She said with a saddened tone.

Tails was shocked by this, but remained quiet, kneeling down beside Cosmo.

"Tails..." The dying Tails looked at his other with water eyes, "You take care of her. You live the life I could never share with her…Protect her, guard her…but most of all…love her."

"We can take you to hospital. They can help you," Sonic said, holding Amy close.

Tails shook his head, "No..no..I'm just so tired Sonic."

Cosmo touched the cheek of the dying Tails, wiping the tears from his cheeks, "What do you ask of me?"

"A kiss, that's all I ask of you." Tails managed to whisper, taking her hand in his left looking into her eyes.

Cosmo smiled at him, "I will."

She carefully lifted his head and brought her head towards him, pressing her lips to his. Tails held her hand tight as he could feel the darkness slowly creeping over him. When the bond ended, he looked into her blue eyes.

"Cosmo I love you," he whispered before closing his eyes and his grip became weak.

"Sleep...and when you wake up, you will see me again," Cosmo whispered, holding him close.

Each breath he took became softer and softer, until they were no more, and his hand fell from hers.

They buried him a few days later in the area where Cosmo and Tails first meet. Once a week, Tails and Cosmo would lay a rose down on his grave.

It was not until two weeks after his death that they went to his grave to find someone laying on top of it. They rushed over and were shocked to see it was Cosmo, but it was not this world's Cosmo, it was his Cosmo.

Her green hair was much lighter and her dress was white and tattered, fresh tears on rolling down her cheeks.

This Cosmo had lived through the attack Tails thought had killed her, long did she try to get back to Mobius, only to find out that her love had already left to see her in a place much further away.

Once she reached his new world, her heart guided her to the grave. Her heart was filled with sorrow as she lay on the dirt of his grave, grabbing the dirt in her hands, but she soon realized she was with him again. She closed her eyes and drifted off into her dreams. Fate so happened to take her as she dreamed, taking her from this world and into the arms of the fox who waited for her at the golden gate the way he looked as the two shared a kiss that shined so brightly that it showed their others with their happiness.