A/N: I'm not going to lie, I almost cried writing this final chapter. Don't judge. Honestly, though, it's been a great run, and I want to take a moment to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. You guys are the best, and I'm so glad this story was worth reading to you. Now, without further ado, I present to you: the final chapter of "Bonds of Faith".

(Btw: ABCSonicKirbyWarriors, I hope you're pleasantly surprised. You'll know what I mean once you get there. ;) )

Sonic took a swig from his water bottle after he felt his mouth going dry. He looked at all of his friends in the Charis house as the Charis family handed out their "good-bye" gifts to the Mobians. Gabriel gave each of the members of Team Sonic their presents. Sonic had received a recipe for Mrs. Charis' best chili for her chili dogs; the kind that he had enjoyed the most. Tails got a book about mechanical physics, and was totally engrossed in the words on the page as he lounged on a couch. Knuckles received a super-big, industrial-size package of cookies, which he started to munch on right after receiving it.

"Well, sport, I guess this is it," Sonic said to a sad-looking Gabriel Charis. Gabe gave him a smile.

"Yeah, buddy, I guess so," he replied, "thanks for the run, though."

"Hey, no problem!" Sonic said with a wink, "you're pretty tough, Gabe. Hold tight to your family. That's what I gotta say to ya."

Without a response, Gabriel pulled the blue hedgehog into a hug. Sonic accepted the hug with a good-hearted laugh.

On the roof outside of Agatha Charis' room, Team Dark sat alone, none of them willing to take part in the goodbye session. Shadow picked at a leaf, while Rouge dangled her legs from the rooftop and whistled. Omega simply stood there, thinking his own thoughts.

The door in Agatha's room opened slowly with a creak. Shadow, Rouge, and Omega all turned to see who it was. Sure enough, it was Agatha, who walked towards them with a slight stagger.

"Hello, hon," Rouge called, "how's your back?"

Agatha smiled.

"It's doing much better, Rouge. How's the wing?"

"All healed," the white bat fluttered her wings to prove that it was completely better. "Come to say goodbye to us, then?"

The girl nodded sadly.

"I'm afraid so. As much as you guys don't want to hear it, I'm here anyway."

Agatha went to her closet and opened it up, revealing a small plastic bag. She took the bag out and carefully stepped out onto the roof with the guidance of Shadow and Omega.

"Thanks, guys," she said gratefully. She started to dig through the bag and pulled out a small diamond ring, an mp3 player, and a dark blue metal fridge magnet in the shape of an "omega" symbol.

Rouge squealed when she saw the ring and immediately put it over her white glove.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed, "is it real?"

"Indeed it is," Agatha laughed, delighted by the fact that Rouge liked her gift. Next, she placed the magnet on Omega's other shoulder; the one that didn't already have the symbol on it. "Omega, I know you already have the symbol on your other arm, but the color dark blue stands for power. I figured it would suit you."

"I'm the most powerful E-Series robot," he stated, "blue is a nice color; I need more of it on me. Thank you."

Omega suddenly pulled Agatha into a gentle robot-hug, which he had been working on. Agatha, surprised by the gesture, hugged him back, despite the pain in her back. She didn't care about it; being hugged by a robot must have some pretty intense meaning, and she didn't want to miss that. Finally, after the short hug from the robot, Agatha handed Shadow the mp3 player.

Shadow inspected the small device, and then gave Agatha a puzzled expression.

"What's this for?" he asked. Agatha turned it on and stuck an earbud into the hedgehog's ear. She opened up a playlist and started playing a song called, "Going Under". After listening to it for a few seconds, Shadow raised his eyebrows, impressed by the music choice. He took the earbud out of his ear. "Not a bad song," he commented, "but what purpose do you have in giving this to me?"

"Well, Shadow, since you're always so deep in thought, I figured some music might help you to think. Music is great for going deep into your mind and just relaxing a bit."

At first, the dark hedgehog didn't know how to respond. He simply pursed his lips, trying to think of something to say. When words failed him and there was a short silence, Agatha gave him a sympathetic look.

"I was going to give you a hug, but you don't have to if you don't want-"

Shadow wrapped his arms around the girl's waist, without a word. Agatha gasped and blushed.

"-to."

The girl bent down and returned the hug with tears in her eyes.

Mrs. Charis presented a small stuffed kitten that she made herself to Cream.

"Oh, it's so cute!" the little rabbit exclaimed gleefully, hugging her new toy, "I'm going to name it Buttercup!"

The woman laughed softly and ruffled the fur on Cream's head.

"And this is for Cheese," she said, handing a small piece of chocolate to the happy Chao.

"Chao chao chao!"

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Charis!" Cream said, The smile on her face suddenly disappeared.

Mrs. Charis frowned in response.

"Honey, what's the matter?"

Cream's eyes grew large and watery. Her lips quivered as she tried to speak.

"I . . . I'm g-going to m-miss you!" she bawled, tears streaming down her face. "We've been here for so long, and now . . . n-now we'll never see you again!"

Mrs. Charis squeezed the rabbit, holding her close.

"Oh, Cream, I'll miss you too," she said with a watery smile, "but I want you to promise me something."

Cream sniffled and wiped tears from her eyes.

"W-what's that?"

Mrs. Charis took the rabbit's hands and closed them around the stuffed kitten.

"I want you to think of us whenever you see little Buttercup here, okay? That way, you'll have a part of this world with you."

Cream nodded and bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling.

"O-okay, Mrs. Charis. I'll never, ever, ever let Buttercup out of my sight!"

The woman laughed soothingly and stood up.

"Now where's Amy?" she asked. Her question was answered as Amy appeared in the kitchen door.

"You called, ma'am?" the pink hedgehog replied, strutting into the kitchen merrily. Mrs. Charis produced a colorful gift bag, holding it out for Amy.

"Here. It's your parting gift," she explained.

Amy squealed with delight.

"Ooh, what is it?" she asked in awe as she tore the paper from the bag. Once she finished shredding the paper up, Amy pulled the gift from the bottom of the bag. "Ohh!" she gasped.

The gift was a short lavender dress, made by Mrs. Charis herself. The dress was a similar style as the one that Amy was currently wearing(the red with white trim), except that it had an embroidered design going up the side of pink and red roses.

"It's so beautiful!" Amy sighed dreamily, "I don't know what to say! Thank you!"

Mrs. Charis laughed and hugged the two girls, unable to say anything. She was so happy that they enjoyed their gifts, and that meant the world to the kind woman.

"Chaos Portal!" Shadow cried, thrusting his hands towards the side of the lawn. A large green mass of swirling energy appeared, growing large enough to fit one Mobian at a time to walk through. The entire Charis family stood by the garage, watching as Sonic and his friends waved and yelled their final goodbyes and thank you's. The Charises waved back and simply observed, some with tears in their eyes, as the Mobians each stepped through the massive swirl of energy, one by one. The last one to enter was Sonic. Hesitantly, he took one more look at the family, and said,

"Don't forget us!"

With those final words, he disappeared into the portal, and the green energy vanished directly after. Each of the Mobians might have moved on since then, but never once have they thought of forgetting the Charis family.