After the Metarex: Tails' Story

Chapter Two

"Going Home"

Tails awoke to the soft sounds of his friends speaking in the next room. He was laying on the

examination table again. Somebody must have moved him while he was sleeping.

"Is he still asleep?" Cream asked. "I could hear him sobbing all night. I hope he feels better today."

Tails rolled his eyes. How could he feel any better? Cosmo was still dead. He thought to go check on his

seed. But one day wouldn't change anything, would it? He knew nothing about the Seedrians. Cosmo was a

plant, yet his scans had shown that she had a digestive tract like an animal. But, of course, if there'd been

any change in the seed, someone would have told him.

Unless it died…a little voice told him. They'd hide that from you. He forced himself not to think that

way. Not yet. Not while there was still hope.

Tails decided to keep playing that he was asleep. If his friends knew he was awake, they'd want to talk to

him. He didn't need their pity.

"Well, Cosmo," he thought, "if you did leave me, then at least you're with your mother and sisters again.

That's what you wanted more than anything, to get them back." But how could she be at rest if she was that seed? His head hurt. Science he could understand. But religion took faith. You couldn't analyze it. You just had to believe.

Tails heard soft footsteps approaching. They were slow, careful.

"Tails?" As he had thought, it was Cream. "I brought you something to eat. I'll…I'll just leave it right here, okay?'

Food. That was the thing about Cream and her mother. They thought food could solve any problem. No, that was cruel to think that. Cream was doing her best. She was a good friend, and she deserved better.

"I'm sorry Tails," Cream said. "I'm so sorry I didn't try to stop her. I didn't know…I thought she had a plan, and was just taking it to Sonic. She--she was smiling. When she left, I mean. She just let out a big sigh and floated away. I didn't know she could do that! And then--and then she just--grew up! She was so beautiful. Just like a fairy princess. And I thought, ' She's going to do something wonderful now, and save us!' I-I didn't know that she'd gone out to die! I didn't even say good-bye! I just said 'Where are you going?' I-I guess I'm a bad friend!"

"Don't blame yourself, Cream," Tails said, finally pulling the blanket off of his face. "There was nothing you could have done. I'm the one that should be sorry. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Or Amy. I--you'll have to forgive me if I keep acting up. I really don't know what I'm doing anymore."

"I'm glad we're still friends," Cream said, "I don't want to lose you too."

"Thank you for putting up with me," Tails said.

"No problem," Cream said.

Tails didn't know why he could talk to Cream. He didn't think he could handle a conversation with anyone else just then. That was sad. He had thought that he and Sonic would be best friends forever.

"You shouldn't have to be going through all of this," Tails told her. "Neither of us should. We're just kids. I'm sorry you've had to see so much suffering and death, Cream. You shouldn't have to deal with getting captured by Eggman, or shot at by robots, or being lost on alien planets…"

Cream patted his hand. "I'm okay," she said. "Going into space was a great adventure. If only Cosmo hadn't…" She bit her lower lip. "It is possible, right? I mean, Super Sonic made that seed trying to save her, so it could be Cosmo. I mean, Chris says people don't come back, but Shadow came back, and he was dead, right?"

Tails shook his head. "I don't know Cream. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know much of anything." He looked up at the ceiling for a minute. "If--if it's not Cosmo, I…I don't want her to be forgotten," he said at last. "I want everyone to know that they're still alive because of her. She saved the entire galaxy!"

Cream smiled sadly. "You're right," she said. "We should make a statue for her or something. And put her name in the school books. If we ever have school again, that is." One of Eggman's robots had stepped on the school while Cream was in kindergarten. When they'd left, Princess Sally had been overseeing the construction of a new school. Tails had promised to help. A lot of good he'd be in his current shape.

Cream put her arms around him. "It's okay," she promised. "I just watered her seed. We just have to believe, Tails."

"Thanks, Cream," Tails said. "Now, I'd like a little time alone, okay?"

"As soon as you eat something," Cream said firmly.

Tails forced down a few bites. Cream had brought him a soda. He drank the whole thing.

"Wow, you were thirsty!" Cream said, taking the empty can. "I'll get you another. Make sure you finish your food."

"I'll try," Tails said. But once she left the room, he pulled the blanket back over his head again.

The day crawled by, but later Tails would only remember the times that Cream came in. The first time, she sighed when she saw that he hadn't eaten anymore. She took his tray away without saying anything, and left him another soda. The next time, she brought him more food. Well, he'd drank the soda anyway. She returned again, this time with some of her mother's sugar cookies. She'd offered them to Cosmo, who hadn't been up to eating them. This time, she gave him milk. "Too much soda's not good for you," she said softly before leaving.

Tails didn't care about what was good for him. He shut his eyes and prayed he'd get home soon. He needed to get away from the ship. He had to get away from the memories that were everywhere onboard.

After what seemed like a very, very long time, Tails at last got up. He removed his shoes so that no one would hear him walking about. He didn't want to run into anyone. The floor was like ice under his bare feet, but he felt he deserved to be uncomfortable after what he'd done.

Tails went to Cosmo's seed. It didn't look any different. He sat down beside it. "Well, here we are," he

said softly. "I don't know what's going on right now with you. Are you hurt? Confused? Are you just

looking down at me from Heaven talking to a flower pot and wondering when I lost my mind?" He rubbed his head. "I saw you that one time, didn't I? You kissed me. At least, you tried to kiss me. I-I'm sorry, Cosmo, but…but

I couldn't feel you. Please, if you can, let me know what you want. Are you going to come back to me?

Am I just raving? " He got up. "I'll be back in the morning. Guess it's already morning now, huh? Well, I'll take you home with me, and--and then we'll see if…" He rubbed at his eyes. "Good night, Cosmo. I'm going to keep praying for you to come back to me."

Tails went back to the sickbay. He stared at the wall for a long time before he finally slept.

The next day, Tails got up. He looked at himself in the sink. His eyes were bloodshot. He looked through the medicine chest. He found a bottle of eye drops. Knuckles didn't like to admit it, but he had very sensitive eyes. Bright lights left the echidna blind as a bat. He wondered if that was one of the things Knuckles liked in Rouge.

Tails laid down on the table and put a drop in his left eye. It burned for a minute. He blinked several times. Once he could see again, he put a drop in his right eye. It burned like crazy.

"Tails?" That was Amy's voice.

"Just a minute, Amy," Tails said, putting away the bottle. His right eye still hurt. He wondered if Amy was going to clobber him.

"We're…going to land soon, Tails," Amy said softly. "Maybe you'll feel better when you're back in your own house again."

"Yeah," Tails said. He thought he'd prefer Amy angry than looking like she did. Like she was about to cry. "My fault," Tails said to himself. "I've got a lot to answer for."

"If you ever need anything," Amy went on, leaning against one wall, "you know I'm just down the road from you. And Cream and Vanilla are even closer. You don't have to go through this alone, Tails."

"So, what do you think?" Tails asked. "Could that seed be Cosmo, or am I going crazy?"

"Don't say that!" Amy yelled. "You're not going to go crazy! My cards insist that everything's going to work out between the two of you!"

Amy's cards hadn't been right yet. They'd said that Cream would get a boyfriend, and that Cosmo would come into a lot of money. And, of course, that Sonic would marry Amy.

"You need to eat more," Amy added. "You're going to make yourself sick, and Cream feels bad that you've left her food untouched. You're not still angry at her, are you?"
"Of course not," Tails said, rubbing his eye. That stuff really smarted. "I'm not angry at you, either, Amy. I just really lost it, didn't I?"

"I don't blame you for being angry with me," Amy said. "I didn't like Cosmo at first. She was so pretty, and refined, and sometimes I'd talk to her, and she seemed to be ignoring me. I thought she was a snob. Then I realized how much she liked to daydream. I guess she'd just tune me out. Hah! Can't blame her. Sonic always does."

"Amy…" Tails said softly. "If--if you had to shoot Sonic, to save everyone, you couldn't have done it, could you?"

Amy looked shocked by the question. She considered it a moment, then shook her head. "No. No, I couldn't do it."

Tails looked down at the floor. "Do you think you love Sonic more than I love Cosmo. Or do you think I'm just a heartless person?"

Amy put her arms around him. "You're not heartless, Tails," she said. "If anything, you feel too much. You wear your heart on the sleeve. It's easy to get it broken that way." She looked into his eyes. "You had an impossible choice to make, and there was just no way that it could end happily for you. But we're all alive now, Tails. You and me and Cream and your parents…all because of you!"

"No!" Tails said, pulling away from her. "Not me. Cosmo saved us all."

"Because she loved you," Amy said. "She wanted to keep you safe. That's why you have to snap out of this, Tails. Whether Cosmo's in that flower pot, or up in Heaven, you can't let yourself fall apart. She wanted you to be happy. If she comes back, you don't want her to find you laying drunk in a gutter."

"I'm trying my best," Tails said. "Please, Amy. Just give me more time. I have an awful lot going through my head these days."

"You'll be all right," Amy told him. She kissed him on the cheek. "We'll get you through this. One way or the other. You have a cute smile, Miles Prower. I'm not going to rest until I see it again. Often."

Amy left him. Tails looked in the mirror again. What was it Chris' grandfather had said? When someone looked awful? Oh, right. He'd said, "You look like death warmed over."

Tails went back to his room and started packing. Still no change in the seed. Maybe Sonic hadn't used enough power? Unfortunately, the chaos emeralds were drained after Sonic and Shadow had super-transformed last time, and they couldn't be recharged until the master emerald was healed. He decided to ask Knuckles roughly how long that would take, when he came across the ice box. After a big battle that had left Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy injured, Tails had talked everyone into giving blood once they'd healed. He'd locked up their blood in the ice box. The next time somebody got hurt, they'd at least get a pint of blood to help their systems. He opened the ice box. Knuckles had needed his after his last battle with Yellow Zelkova, and hadn't wanted to put anymore aside. Everyone else's was still there. All dark red except…He looked at Cosmo's blood. Green. Chlorophyll, he guessed. It occurred to him that, if all else failed, he could clone her with this. But that would only give him a copy of Cosmo. He wanted the real thing. He closed the box. If the others didn't want theirs back, he'd give them to the blood drive. Thanks to Eggman's frequent attacks, there was always someone that needed blood. But he'd keep Cosmo's. It was a part of her. And no one on this planet could use it.

Tails was just about to go talk to Knuckles, when Amy came in. She was carrying a big photo album. "Tails," she said, "I collected all of the pictures we have of Cosmo." She handed the photo album to him.

"Thanks, Amy," Tails said. "I really appreciate that."

"Tails," Cream said, joining them. She was carrying a box. "I packed all of Cosmo's stuff. She…didn't have very much."

"I was going to take her shopping as soon as we got home," Amy said. "She wore a very pretty outfit, but she needed a lot more clothes." She looked down at herself. "Okay, I know I always wear this same dress, but I look at it as my uniform."

"You mean your superhero costume," Cream said.

"Yeah, that too," Amy said.

Tails placed the photo album on top of the box, then took it from Cream. Cosmo's entire life in a box. How sad.

"Tails?" Cream said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Tails said. "Thanks, guys. I couldn't get through this without you two."

Once off the Blue Typhoon, Eggman said, "Well, kids, it's been real! See ya around! Ho ho ho!" He nodded at Bokkun. The little robot took a round object from his bag and threw it at them. It exploded. When the smoke cleared, Eggman, Bokkun, Bocoe, and Decoe were gone.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish!" Knuckles said. "Now where's Rouge?"

Tails rolled his eyes. His respect for Knuckles was dropping fast.

"Come on, everybody!" Cream said. "Let's go to my house. I know my mother will be very happy to see all of you!"

Vanilla gave Tails a big hug once she learned what had happened. "Oh, Tails, I'm so sorry! I didn't know her for long, but she was such a nice girl! I'm so sorry she was killed in battle!" Everyone had agreed not to tell that Tails, Sonic, and Shadow had killed Cosmo. Of course, Vector or Charmy might let it slip. And Eggman…well, there was nothing they could do about Eggman knowing.

Vanilla and Cream brought food for everyone. They had a party to welcome everyone back. It was quieter than it should have been, though. No one wanted to upset Tails by laughing or being too happy.

"Cosmo was always afraid that she was a nuisance to everyone," Tails realized, "and now I'm doing the same thing! I gotta at least try to act happy around my friends. They've been through too much for me to depress everybody."

He asked for a toast for Cosmo, then asked Knuckles how long it would take for the master emerald to repair itself.

"Maybe weeks, maybe months," Knuckles said. "It depends on how much it went through when it shattered."

Months. "Well, let me know if I can do anything to help it along," Tails offered.

There was a knock on the door. Vanilla opened it. It was Rouge.

"Hey, luv," Rouge said, pushing past Vanilla into her house. "Nice place you've got here. Mind if I join you?"

"You've got some nerve coming here!" Tails cried. "You said horrible things about Cosmo! You sent Shadow to kill her!"

"Hey," Rouge said, "I can't control Shadow. Even the Doctor had trouble with him. Which reminds me, I asked Eggman what happened to Shadow. He just grinned. He knows something."

"Well, I hope he's dead!" Tails said coldly. "And as far as I'm concerned, you can go and join him anytime, you…"

"Watch it!" Rouge said. She looked like she was about to hit Tails.

"Hey, hey," Knuckles said, putting his arm around Rouge. "The kid doesn't know what he's saying. Have a drink!"

"Juice?!?" Rouge said, looking disgusted. "You have got to be kidding me!" They walked off together, talking quietly, and soon left the party.

"I don't believe him!" Tails yelled. "Of all the…"

"It's okay, little buddy," Sonic said. "I don't trust her either. I'll keep an eye on Rouge. And if Knucklehead wants to be an idiot, well…you don't exactly seem to like the guy much anyway."

"Good riddance!" Vanilla said. Everyone stared at her in shock. The rabbit was always polite to everyone. She noticed their looks and blushed. "I've heard things about her," she explained. "I don't have anything valuable enough to steal, but…"

"I don't like her either," Amy said. "She doesn't care about anyone but herself."

The party broke up soon afterwards. Vanilla and Cream both hugged Tails. He had kept a death grip on the flower pot the entire time. He'd left Cosmo's box on the Blue Typhoon. He'd go back for it once he was sure Cosmo's seed was safe.

Sonic walked Tails home. Amy followed, but made no attempt to grab Sonic like she usually did. At Tails' house, he faced them and said, "I'm okay. I'm not going to commit seppuku or anything like that. I'll be okay, guys."

"You sure?" Amy asked.

"Sure," Tails said. "Go on. Have fun. I'll get by."

Amy gave him a big hug. "I'm still working on that smile," she said.

Tails closed the door. It was a relief not to have anyone staring at him.

Sonic walked Amy home. Amy was thoughtful. Finally, she said, "Chris keeps saying it's impossible for that seed to be Cosmo. What do you think, Sonic?"
Sonic shook his head. "I don't know, Amy. I'd like to think it is. I mean, what else could it be? Cosmo's child? That doesn't make anymore sense."

"She was always talking about how much she missed her family," Amy said. "Sonic? If that seed is Cosmo, and she decides she wants to stay with her mother and sisters…what will happen to the seed?"

Sonic sighed. "I…I guess it'll just…die," he said.

They walked on awhile. Then Sonic said, "If it is Cosmo, then…"

"Then what, Sonic?" Amy asked. "What's wrong.

"Cosmo died," Sonic said. "I saw her spirit. I know she died. So…so if I…brought her back, then…nobody should have that kind of power, Amy!"

Amy hugged Sonic. Not one of her crazy attacks, but a comforting embrace. "You're a great hero, Sonic," she said. "And…well, if it wasn't Cosmo's time, then it wasn't her time."

"Yeah, but…" Sonic started, but Amy held up her hand.

"You were in the middle of some kind of freaky…space/time warp thingy, right? Maybe it boosted your powers. Maybe bringing Cosmo back is a one time thing. Maybe you couldn't do it again if you tried."

"Well, I did feel kind of strange out there," Sonic admitted. "Like I was Super Saiyan 1, and then, suddenly, I was going up to Super Saiyan 2 or 3." He blushed. "Uh…I kind of got into Dragon Ball Z while I was on Earth."

"That's okay," Amy said. "I was quite a Sailor Moon fan back there.

Amy fought to stay calm, but her heart was beating fast. It seemed to her that Sonic was really opening up to her at last. She didn't realize that he was worried, confused, and scared. He and Tails had killed a complete innocent. On purpose. If Cosmo didn't come back, that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. If she did, then…it was a scary thought.

They parted at Amy's house. She hugged him good-bye. He didn't protest, which made her even more hopeful that he was finally falling in love with her.

Sonic raced off, wondering if his life, let alone Tails', would ever be the same.

Cosmo…

Yes, Mother?

You have a very important decision to make.

The end of chapter two