Chapter Twenty-Nine: Silver Linings
Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks couldn't be happier to see the others return.
Said return didn't have much fanfare, but any villager who saw them could probably figure out the implications. However, almost all of the villagers had holed up in their cottages (or wherever their hiding places had been, since the town was partially destroyed) so the three of them were the only people who saw the helicopter land.
As soon as Sonic was in view, Amy hobbled up to him, wrapping him in a rib-crushing hug.
"Whoa, Amy," Sonic said. "Easy! You don't want to kill me, right?"
Amy loosened her grip but didn't let go. "No. I was just so worried… I thought I'd never see you again..."
Sonic didn't have an answer for that, and frankly, he was perfectly fine with letting Amy have a moment. She would have been fine if he'd done the same.
Except for Tails, who was still unconscious inside the helicopter, the others were congregating nearby, with Eggman and Rouge recapping their battle with Metal Sonic (adding plenty of exaggerations and sound effects for a wide-eyed Knuckles). Once that began to die down, the others focused on Amy, who still hadn't released Sonic yet.
Since everyone's eyes were on her, Amy finally relented. Sonic proceeded to go back to the helicopter and sling Tails over his shoulder, moving him to where the others were. When they all gasped upon seeing him in his current state, Sonic soothed their fears, saying, "It'll be okay. He's not dead, just unconscious; we'll figure out what we need to deal with when he wakes up."
Fortunately for them, that didn't take very long. As the first villagers began to exit their hiding spaces and venture into the plaza, Tails began to stir before pushing himself into a sitting position. When he saw the others just kind of standing around, he drew the obvious conclusion. "Did we do it?"
"You did it, Tails," Rouge said. "As of about twenty minutes ago, the virus is at the bottom of the ocean. It'll never pose a threat again."
Tails managed to crack a smile. "Yes."
"Yes indeed, Tails," Sonic said.
At this point, more and more villagers moved into the plaza, staring at them as they did, although they remained remarkably silent and their expressions were mixed at best. Rouge, the most experienced with talking to crowds, decided to be the one to pass on the news to the villagers, and although she had no megaphone on hand, she made sure to talk so that anyone with functioning ears could hear her.
"I don't know what else to say here except that we did it. The threat's gone, you'll never need to worry about it again."
The villagers didn't cheer at that statement. Most of them didn't even crack a smile. Despite the day being saved, many of them had lost things that not even time would help them regain- treasured possessions smashed, bodies crippled, friends and family dead or disfigured. If Amy had to venture a guess, some of them would never forgive Sonic for what his abilities had done to them, even if he'd never been in control.
Sonic seemed to understand that, for before the villagers began to disperse, he chose to speak up. "Before you all go home, I have something to say."
A few villagers just kept walking, but most of them turned around and began to pay attention to what Sonic had to tell them.
"You have every right to be angry with me right now. I've only been with it for about two hours at this point, so I don't know the full extent of the damage I've caused, but based on what I can see right now, it looks pretty bad. I've known forever that my abilities could have caused so much destruction in the wrong hands, and this village is proof of that. While there isn't much I can do to fix everything that's happened here, I promise to all of you that I'll do everything in my power to try. And anyone who knows me knows that I don't break promises."
The remaining villagers had no change in their expressions, but a few began to nod their approval. Sure, Sonic's speech left a lot to be desired, but it was a step in the right direction, something the others could work with on their path to achieving normalcy.
And for now, that was good enough.
Once the crowd had thinned out, Shadow and Rouge ambled over to the group, with Rouge saying, "I hate to interrupt your moment of relaxation, guys, but we should get the ferries up and running again. Can one of you come with me to provide evidence that the threat no longer exists?"
"I'll go," Sticks said. "By now, everybody knows that if I don't see a threat, there is no threat!"
"Okay," Shadow said, "just promise you won't scream into the phone like you did the first time we talked."
"You got it, mister," Sticks said, following Shadow to a more secluded spot where his call would be uninterrupted by passing villagers. As for the others, they just kind of stood around in a combined state of happiness and disbelief.
Rouge seemed to be the most affected by this. "Is it just me, or does all this feel weird now that it's over?"
"Nope, not just you," Sonic said. "I'm feeling it too."
"We should probably tell everyone that the next ferry's coming soon," Tails said. "Knowing Shadow, it'll probably be big enough to take the entire island and then some."
"Probably true," Rouge said. "Still need to tell people."
With that, they marched as a group back to the center of the plaza, ready to make one final announcement.
Priscila hadn't left the house since Elise had made that first call.
While there had been some news coverage of the incident due to phone calls like Elise's being forwarded to various outlets, because Bygone Island was far away (and also that any news reporters that went in were at serious risk of being killed) information was rare and oftentimes wildly inconsistent- from the five different updates on the subject she'd gotten from five different stations, the death toll ranged anywhere from less than ten to almost a hundred.
However, that wasn't the actual point. Having already lost one of the two people she cared about in her life, it was all she could do to hope that the other one would come home.
In between one thought and the next, the phone rang, just like it always did. Without even waiting for the first ring to finish, Priscilla darted over and snatched it, pulling it up to her ear.
The voice on the other end was clear as day. "Mom?"
Priscilla didn't say anything at first, figuring she'd shout so loud that Elise would permanently go deaf. However, she managed to collect herself enough to speak once more. "Elise! Oh, thank goodness you're alive…"
"It's over, Mom," Elise said. "There's a ferry that's supposed to come this afternoon to take everyone who needs it back to the mainland. I should be at the dock at around six."
That one solitary statement was enough to launch Priscilla directly into euphoria. "I'll be there, don't worry about that!"
"I won't, Mom," Elise said with a chuckle tinged with a bit of sadness. "I'll be home soon. We'll have plenty of time to talk about everything that happened…" Elise trailed off.
"I know," Priscilla said. "We'll both have our feelings to sort through."
"Bye," Elise said, right before the call cut off.
But before Priscilla even put the phone back on the wall, she immediately threw on shoes and hurled herself into the car, preparing to make the short drive to the dock.
She didn't want to leave Elise alone for even a second longer than necessary.
Surprisingly, Shadow and Rouge had chosen to take the ferry back with everyone else.
While their next mission could come in a matter of hours, using a helicopter to get back now would probably just be seen as poor taste. The villagers had suffered enough losses already- no need to kick them while they were down.
The ferry arrived late in the afternoon, releasing steam into the scorching summer air as it pulled up to the dock, revealing its empty insides. Everyone who was going to the mainland, including Shadow and Rouge, streamed onto the boat, although even with the much-larger-than-normal number of people on the ferry, it didn't take long for that stream to fade to a trickle, and even that soon disappeared. Without any further announcements, the ferry departed, riding much lower in the water than usual.
The trip was surprisingly quiet, considering how packed the ferry was. While a handful of people had subdued conversations with either other passengers or someone speaking to them through a phone, most were silent. All this led to a somber but uneventful journey as the ship cut easily through the water, with one exception.
As they passed by the spot where Metal Sonic had fallen, Shadow was expecting debris to be everywhere, letting those in the boat know exactly what had happened. However, very little of him seemed to remain on the surface: a stray wire here, a piece of scrap metal there. Shadow and Rouge quickly drew the connection, but they both doubted most of the passengers would, and maybe that was for the best. If the threat was gone, that was all that really mattered.
When the mainland's dock appeared on the horizon, the captain didn't even announce that their destination was nearby like he usually did. Everyone was so focused on it anyway that it felt kind of pointless.
A few minutes later, the ship docked with minimal fanfare. The second it was possible to exit the ship, the rush to get off the boat nearly caused a stampede. Shadow and Rouge, however, were in no rush, so they waited for the boat to empty most of the way before getting off the ship themselves.
What they saw on the dock (and later in the parking lot right next to it) was heartwarming, even if none of what was happening was personal to them. Friends reuniting with friends, parents and children seeing each other for the first time in days, lots of hugging and kissing, even more tears. While getting over what had happened on the island for the past few days would be a difficult and lengthy task, but this was a good place to start.
As the two of them marched through the parking lot, looking for a place where they could call their employers once more, a fairly innocuous-looking car pulled up next to them before braking hard. When Shadow looked inside the window to see who was driving, he noticed Vincent's ears sticking straight up, barely being suppressed by the car's ceiling.
He rolled down the window and said two words to the pair of them. "Get in!"
Rouge took shotgun, leaving Shadow to move to the backseat. At this point, though, neither of them cared where they sat. All they knew was that they were probably being led to their next mission.
"Don't worry, not too much happened while you were gone," Vincent said as they pulled out of the parking lot. "I've got two bits of news, though. One, the transport of The Big Boom was successful. And two, a certain someone is finally capable of talking again and would like to speak with you."
Vincent flipped a few switches in the car, then pressed a button to seemingly turn on the radio. However, the first thing to come out of it was most certainly not music.
"Greetings, Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat," E-123 Omega's tinny voice echoed. "My status has recently been upgraded to 'Partially Operational,' allowing me to communicate with other life-forms, including you. Did anything of importance happen while I was non-operational?"
Shadow sighed a little before taking over the conversation. "We've got kind of a long story for you, Omega," he said. "I think it'll be best told when we meet face-to-face."
"Explanation accepted," Omega said. "I will prepare for this 'long story.' However, until you arrive, I may be taken back offline for further repairs."
"Makes sense," Rouge said, right before the radio cut to the usual buzzing of static.
As the car adeptly wove through the afternoon traffic, the events of the last few days seemed to firmly be moved into the past. While they'd have quite a tale to tell Omega once they arrived, it was just that, a tale. Not a threat, not a danger, not a forewarning of the apocalypse.
For them, this had finally been marked as another job well done.
Elise couldn't wait for even a second once the ferry docked.
She joined the mass of people spilling off the boat the instant she was capable of doing so, nearly tripping and falling into the water in the process. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for her to find her mother in the crowd of people and charge straight for her.
Once the two of them collided with each other with a force only slightly outmatched by a meteor crashing into a planet, they embraced for the first time since Elise had left on that fateful trip.
At first, Priscilla could barely even choke out words. "Elise… Oh, Elise…"
"I know, Mom," Elise said in return. "It's me."
"Please," Priscilla said. "I know this isn't your fault, but never scare me like that again."
"I won't," Elise said. "Not if I can help it."
They quietly walked back to the car, Elise relaying the terrifying events of the past few days to her mother as best as she could. Her voice broke when she got to the part where Aunt Lina had been cruelly, senselessly murdered, causing both mother and daughter to break down in tears.
Elise didn't hold back- she continued onward even after they got to the car. Tears squeezed out her eyelids as she told about Sonic's first laser attack, the entire village being captured and placed in the mental equivalent of a prison, Sonic's second laser attack after they all had broken free, and Metal Sonic blasting off from the island, never to be seen again.
By that point, both parties were emotionally wrecked and neither of them (even if Elise was old enough to have a permit) was in a state capable of driving home. Thus, they just sat in the car for a while, Elise slumped against the door in the passenger seat while Priscilla leaned over the steering wheel right next to her.
It took quite some time of just sitting there in silence, not speaking a word to each other, but eventually the two of them had calmed down enough that Priscilla risked starting the car so they could get home. Their car pulled out of the parking lot (strangely, right behind the car Shadow and Rouge were sitting in) and began navigating the familiar streets to return to their house.
The past few days might have been one of the most trying times the two of them had ever been through, but they were over now. All that was left to do was start the process of recovery, taking steps to ensure that while they'd never forget these events, soon they'd be able to look ahead to a new time, and not back to the horrors they'd been through.
With a little luck (and probably some counseling), soon they'd be ready to face any new challenges that lay on the road ahead.
Review Zone, Act XXVIII:
-Linz2: Thanks, once more, for taking the time to leave a review! While I'm holding back the tears for now, I'll definitely feel weird once this is over. Only one more chapter to go, then this will be the first fic I've ever written that can be marked as complete (that isn't a one-shot).