Epilogue
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Slasher lay on the ground beside Sonic's bed, listening to the slow beeping of the heart monitor. The only proper hospital in Riverbase was a school that had been unharmed by earthquakes, and the doctors from the city's two hospitals had set up facilities there. There were several dozen people being cared for, and Slasher had to threaten violence to get the doctors to look after Sonic.
He was on life support now, scarcely alive. His heart beat once every two seconds, and his breathing was so slow that they had hooked him to a respirator at once. One of the doctors examining him had experience in Chaos injuries, but he confessed that he had never seen anything like this. He said that the only time a metabolism slowed so much without dying was during hibernation. It appeared that Sonic had had so much power flowing through him that he had shut down.
The days crept by with no change. Slasher remained at Sonic's side. Tails and Tachyon came to visit Sonic, pale and quiet in the white bed. Tachyon said nothing the entire visit, but Tails stood and cried. He wanted to stay there until Sonic showed some change, but Slasher sent him home with Tachyon. "Tell everyone that he's alive, and I'm staying until he wakes up. And he will wake up, Tails, trust me."
Nearly a week later, Slasher noticed Sonic's heart rate had sped up. His breathing grew stronger, and the doctors announced that they detected brainwaves again. Slasher maintained her post at his side, watching him like a doting mother.
She was there when he opened his eyes. He couldn't speak around the tube in his mouth, but he clasped her clawed hand and smiled.
He was removed from life support a few hours later, and was able to sit up and talk. "How'd I do, Slash?"
"Good," said Slasher, smiling. "The world didn't end, if you've noticed."
"Twilight's gone, right?"
"Yes."
Sonic frowned, trying to remember. "Everything's mixed up. We fought, right? And I pushed him through?"
"Yes, and I handled Beast."
Sonic looked at Slasher for a moment, glad to be alive, and content for the moment to lie still. She had several deep scratches along her muzzle, he noticed. "Slash, what happened to your face?"
The raptor only looked at him, and Sonic remembered scratching Beast's face with his spines. "Slash ... did I do that?"
She bobbed her head. "Beast and I seem to share the same hurts. When I bit her, a bite appeared on my arm. One of her wings was damaged, like mine was."
Sonic thought about this. Slasher studied his face. He seemed to have no ill effects from the punishment he had taken, and yet ... He looked at her, his gaze steady. He smiled. "Did you think I was dead when I came back?" Slasher nodded, and he grinned. "C'mon, Slash. I told you Chaos never repeats itself. The first guy died, so it only stands to reason that the second guy survived."
"I wasn't too rational at that point," replied Slasher. "You looked like you were dying."
"I thought I was," said Sonic, looking down at the blankets. He hesitated, then went on, "I guess Shadow is dead, then." He looked at Slasher. "When the flux hit me ... I knew why he died. He had finished his mission, and--" his voice cracked "--he didn't have the light inside, like me." He could not put into words how as the distilled evil of millennia had blasted through him, it had parted and flowed around his soul, which was shielded by something or someone else. At that crucial instant, he had been protected.
Sonic drew a deep breath and let it out. "When can I go home?"
The hospital held him for another day, then pronounced him well and released him. He and Slasher stepped out into the warm summer sun and walked down the street, which had been cleared of debris. As they walked, Sonic began to glow, very faintly. He looked at himself and laughed. "Check this out, Slash! Residual charge!"
Slasher eyed him. "How strange."
"No kidding. Oh ..." Sonic frowned. "What happened to Twilight's neck thing?"
"His torc?" Slasher looked blank. "You didn't have it when you came back."
Sonic glanced at the blue sky and sighed. "I guess I vaporized it. But I guess it's best that the emeralds are separated, huh? Maybe it's unstable for them to be together." He jumped lightly and floated for a second above the sidewalk. "Look at this, Slasher! I'm still super or something!"
"Or something, yeah," said Slasher. "Let's just get home."
"Okay. Race you!" And Sonic was gone in a swirl of dust. Slasher bounded after him.
* * *
Sally was helping move supplies and furniture back into Knothole proper. She was glad to hear Sonic was alive, but she still missed him. It was a warm day, and she paused while rolling up a tent to mop her forehead.
A boom like thunder echoed over the forest. A sonic boom. Sally turned, heart beating faster with excitement, and saw a blue figure pounding toward her, a grin on his face visible half a mile away. "Saaaaall!" he whooped, ploughing into her and knocking her over. "Whoops," he said, helping her up. "Don't know my own strength!"
Sally was laughing too hard to care. "Sonic, you're back! You made it! Oh Sonic ..."
When the two had calmed down, Sonic smiled mischievously. "Didn't you trust me, Sal? I said I'll always come back."
"I know that here," said the squirrel, pointing to her chest, "but not here." She tapped her forehead.
He laughed. "Chaos never repeats itself, Sal. Only Order does. Nothing like this will ever happen again."
"Good," said Sally. "Knothole needs a strong hedgehog to help it move back to the village."
Sonic rolled his eyes. "To help make order out of chaos, you mean. I guess some things never change."
* * *
On Earth, it was called a black hole. In space, it was called a collapsed nova burning by itself in the arm of a spiral galaxy.
On Mobius, it was called a Chaos Field.
An observer on the rim of their solar system would have seen the field dwindle down to nothing as a beam of energy, thin as a needle, blasted out of a planet.
On Earth, no one knows why that black hole disappeared. And only a few on Mobius understand what happened the day the world almost ended.
The End
