"Do you have to leave?" Jade watched her new friends pack up the plane.
"Yeah," Tails stopped doing his work to talk to her. "If we don't get back soon Eggman might try taking over the world again or something."
"You guys never really stop working, huh?" She looked from him to the echidna they called Knuckles, and then to Sonic who shook his head.
"Tails we're ready." Knuckles called from the plane.
Jade wrapped her arms around Tails and picked him up in a hug. "Thank you, Tails," she whispered to him before setting him down.
"Give us enough room to take off." Tails climbed into the plane while Jade ran to a hill where the Deadly Six waited for her. She watched her new friends take off. They wouldn't be back for a whole year.
Zavok put a hand on her shoulder. She took his giant hand in her small ones. "We're no longer the Deadly Six, huh, Zavok?"
The large Zeti chuckled. "No, I guess not. Not unless Master Zik plans on retiring."
Everyone looked down at the old man. "These old bones haven't broken yet. They still work just as well as when I was young."
Jade laughed. The Deadly Seven, a team of six Zeti and one human. Everyone slowly walked away until it was just Jade, staring up at the sky, until she finally went home.
Walking through the door of his home, Sonic couldn't believe the Hex was real still. It all felt like one long daydream he had so long ago. But the purple and blue bruises and the healing cuts and scrapes told him it was all too real. If Amy saw, she'd be all over him for weeks!
Tails walked through the door shortly after. He had a few minor bruising but that was about it. Either he gave up too quickly or they went easy on him.
"I can't believe it worked." Tails finally told him. "I thought maybe there would be a chance it wouldn't work."
"Really?"
"Well yeah. You saw her lungs, they were so bad. She must have been in a lot of pain, I don't know how she found the strength to move."
Sonic wasn't at all surprised. If it were him he'd act like nothing was wrong too, just so Tails wouldn't worry about him, no matter how much he hurt. To Jade, to keep her "siblings" in check, the pain would be nothing compared to the pain they would have had to go through if she died.
"Sonic, you've been quiet for a long time." Tails had a worried tone to his voice.
"I'm just thinking about how much I've missed my bed!" He lied as he walked to his bed.
Zik watched at how much life Jade suddenly had in her. She was no longer pale, the sun started to tan her skin, and she had enough energy to chase around Zazz and Zomom. One week passed since Sonic and his friends left the Hex with the promise of coming back in one year to check in on Jade and make sure she was making more progress than regress.
Zavok sat next to him, a small smile crept up on his face without him even knowing it.
"It's nice to see her like this again, isn't it, Zavok."
Zavok nodded. "She doesn't appear to be in pain anymore."
Jade attempted to tackle Zazz who was too fast for her. She tackled Zeena instead. Zeena didn't seem too happy that they disturbed her while she was doctoring up her chipped nail. Jade said something to taunt her and Zazz joined in which resulted in Zeena chasing them.
Jade went around and used Zavok as a shield, laughing so hard Zik was afraid she would forget to breathe. Zeena tried to tackle her through Zavok but he grabbed her by the tail and pulled her away.
Jade laughed and sat down. "Hang on, I have to catch my breath." She said half laughing. She was breathing hard, a small squeak escaped from her, but Zik could tell it wasn't too much of a bad thing.
Zik could hear Zazz doing something Zeena didn't like and it resulted in another chase. He smiled, he couldn't keep his eyes off of Jade. Her cheeks were flushed with sweat and red from the sun. Her fiery hair matched her warm personality.
Her contagious smile was back. It encouraged a smile on everyone's face.