Chapter 3 – Tails' Choice

"Dad? Dad wake up. Please?" said a small whimpering voice.

Tails slowly blinked open his eyes and yawned. At first he couldn't understand what he was seeing. Everything was white. He tried to sit up but found he couldn't. He looked to his side. Lavender and Miles were clinging to his jacket shivering. It was then that he noticed the incredible cold. He almost passed out again. He gave a large shiver and took a few shaking breaths.

"Lavender? Miles?" he said as loud as he could.

"Dad?" replied Lavender barely auditable.

"Tails." groaned Miles.

"Are you alright?" asked Tails.

"Cooooooooooooold." cooed Lavender quietly, "Sooooo cooold."

"Get closer to me." said Tails.

Lavender and Miles wrapped themselves closer to Tails' body. Tails looked to his side. He was lying on a slight slope above a flat plateau. A large river ran across the plateau. The ground was covered in a thick layer of snow and a strong wind whistled past them.

"That any better?" asked Tails.

"Still cold." replied Lavender.

"Here Lavender, put my jacket and hat on." said Tails.

He wriggled his jacket off and wrapped it around Lavender. He then removed his hat and put it on her head.

"Thanks dad." said Lavender with a shiver.

"Tails? What's going on?" asked Miles with a shiver.

"I don't know Miles. I don't know what happened." said Tails with a slight hint of annoyance.

"What do we do dad?" asked Lavender.

"For now be quiet. We need to find help though." he said.

"Dad? What are you saying?" asked Lavender nervously.

"Lavender. If we don't find some shelter or someone to help us we are……..we could die. I have to……I must find help." he said.

"No dad!" cried Lavender clinging to him even harder, "You can't go. Please stay with us. Please!"

"Lavender." Tails said firmly, "I have to go. I will be back soon. You and Miles huddle here. I WILL be back. That I promise."

Lavender looked at him with nervous eyes. She didn't want him to leave, but she knew what he said was true. She hugged him tighter and let out a small sob.

"You promise?" she said.

"When have I ever lied to you before?" asked Tails.

"Never."

"There you see. Now you and Miles get a bit further under that rock there." said Tails motioning towards a small out jutting rock.

Miles and Lavender edged backwards and wrapped their arms around each other. Tails then wrapped his jacket around them both and stood up. The full force of the wind hit him and he almost fell over. He leaned into the wind and then glanced over his shoulder.

"I'll be back." he said and slowly took a step forwards.

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"Princess look at zis." said a voice.

"Oh my. Are these signals accurate?" replied another.

"Oui my princess."

"But they can't be. He's dead!"

"Zhat's what I thought too princess…..but I've check it. Zese readings are accurate."

"We have to hurry."

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Tails stumbled and fell to his knees. The wind battered his face with snow and ice. He hadn't walked very far but already he was suffering from exposure and exhaustion.

"I have to keep going. Must find help……..yes find help." he kept muttering to himself.

Just then a large gust of wind swept his feet out from under him. He fell to the ground and stayed there. He wrapped his arms around himself and curled up. The white background was starting to go grey. The grey soon started to go black. He found himself slipping in and out of consciousness.

"Can't…….must find help………kids……."

Tails' eyes slowly started to close. The last thing he saw was two small black figures appearing from behind a rock. Help thought Tails as everything went black.

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"Lav?" asked Miles quietly.

Lavender didn't respond. Miles gave her a gentle nudge. She slowly opened one eye.

"Miles?" she said sleepily.

"Lav! You can't go to sleep. We have to stay awake."

Lavender gave a shiver and a small yawn.

"But I'm………so…….sooooo tiredddddddddddd."

Lavender's eyes started to close again. Miles gave her another nudge.

"Lavender wake up. You hear me. Stay awake!"

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Tails slowly opened his eyes. His vision was heavily blurred. He couldn't make anything out for a few minutes and then he started to make out details. He also became aware of a warm feeling throughout his whole body. He gave a small moan and shuddered.

"Tails?! My lord you're awake." cried a voice.

Tails tried to look for the person it belonged to but couldn't move.

"Don't try to move. You're still very weak." said the voice.

The voice sounded familiar….very familiar.

"Sally?" said Tails quietly.

"That's right." said Sally poking her head into Tails' vision.

Tails suddenly went completely tense. He found his strength return to him instantly. He shot upright and stared at Sally. It was Sally alright but she wasn't the Sally he knew. For one thing she looked just like she had done all those years ago in Knothole. Her hair was also different. It was parted across the middle of her head and formed into two large plats down her back. Tails continued to stare at her.

"Tails? What's wrong?" asked Sally.

"You………I mean……..what is going on?!" said Tails.

"What do you mean?"

"What have you done to your hair, what's with the old style and…..and WHERE is Mobotropolis?!"

"MOBOTROPOLIS! Tails what are you talking about? Mobotropolis has been gone since Robotnik turned it into Robotropolis."

Tails was now pressed firmly against the far wall shaking.

"You're not Sally!" he said.

"Tails please calm down. You've been suffering from exposure. You're memory has probably been affected."

"Don't you give me that! My mind is fine! What's going on here?!"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. We haven't seen you in fifteen years!"

"Fifteen year?! But I was just talking to you a few days ago!"

"What?! Tails I haven't seen you in fifteen years. We both thought you were dead!"

"We?" asked Tails.

Just then the door swung open at the far end of the room. A person quickly entered and slammed it shut. The person was wearing a thick coat and several layers of clothing. The person folded the hood of there coat down and turned round. Tails virtually gagged.

"ANTOINE!" he cried.

"Tails you're awake, good." replied Antoine.

Sally watched as Tails pressed himself even harder against the wall.

"But…..but……but YOU'RE DEAD!" cried Tails.

Antoine stared at him and then at Sally.

"He's been acting funny ever since he woke up." she said to him.

"I've not been acting funny!" cried Tails, "If anything you have!"

"What are you talking about?!" snapped Sally spinning to face the wall bound fox.

Tails glared at her nervously. He couldn't understand what was going on. This had to be some sort of hallucination. Maybe caused by the cold. Maybe the cold was a hallucination too. Wait it couldn't be, the kids were in it. But what if they were hallucinations too. Tails took a deep breath to calm himself. One thing at a time.

"I was just in the Royal Palace in Mobotropolis and then I woke up outside." he said.

"Tails. Mobotropolis is gone. Everything is gone. Everyone…….everyone is gone! We are the only ones left!" replied Sally.

"That's not true! I tell you it's not true! I know it's not!" cried the fox.

"He'z lost his mind. Must be the cold." said Antoine.

"I'M NOT CRAZY I TELL YOU!" balled Tails.

Tails couldn't stand it. This was all getting to be too much for him. Suddenly he remembered something. He sprung from the wall, knocking Antoine to the floor. He pulled a coat off the rail and threw himself at the door. It opened without much trouble. Tails ran off into the snow covered landscape. He slipped the coat on and took off.

"The kids." he said to himself.

Antoine picked himself up off the floor and glared at the open door. Sally ran over to him.

"We have to go after him. He doesn't seem to be acting right." she said.

"You're right. Let's go." replied Antoine handing her a coat.

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Tails landed heavily in the snow. He stumbled and fell on his front. He quickly picked himself up and ran forwards. He rounded a small rock formation and yelped. Miles and Lavender were lying there huddles together not moving. Tails ran over to them. Lavender was completely motionless. The grey fur on her face had taken on a blue colour and ice had formed between her eyelashes. Miles' blue colour had faded, it was almost white in places. Tails quickly threw off his coat and wrapped it around the two children. He used both of his hands to rub them, trying to get the blood flowing again.

"No. Please no!" he whimpered to himself, "Come on. Please!"

He continued to rub them both. A bit of colour started to return to Miles' face but Lavender didn't respond.

"Come on Lavender. Come on please! For the love of god please don't leave me! Not like this!"

Tails was starting to panic now. Lavender just wasn't responding to anything he was doing. He checked her pulse. It was still there but only just.

"Dammit Lavender! Please wake up!" he cried.

"Alright Tails! Hold it there!" came a voice.

Tails spun to see Antoine and Sally standing a few feet from him. Tails just turned back to Lavender.

"Please Lavender! Please!" he said.

"Tails, who are you talking to?" asked Sally taking a step forward.

This was enough for her to see.

"Oh my! Antoine! The heat packs! Quickly." she cried.

Antoine jumped forwards and dived in next to Tails. He removed several small square packs from his pockets. He pressed a button on the side of them and they started to glow. He placed a couple next to Lavender and a couple beside Miles. The packs glowed slightly brighter and both of the children were surrounded by a soft orange glow.

"We have to get them back to the hut." said Antoine.

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A little while later Tails was sitting in front of a large fire holding a hot mug of coffee. He stared at the flames as they played around on the burning logs. Sally came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off not still trusting her entirely.

"Antoine says the children are going to be fine. They've both got exposure but luckily they weren't out long enough to get hyperthermia." she said.

Tails just grunted.

"Tails? Who are they? And what are you doing with them?" she asked.

Tails glanced over at her. His expression was harsh but a few seconds later it fell and he turned back to the fire.

"The hedgehog is……huh……this is going to sound strange. The hedgehog is called Miles, he's yours and Sonics second child." said Tails.

Sally had just taken sip of her coffee when she heard this. She instantly spat it out and stared at Tails.

"WHAT?!" she cried.

"I told you."

"MY…..child!" said Sally completely gob smacked, "Who is the girl?"

"She called Lavender. She's my child."

"YOUR CHILD!"

Tails just fell silent again. Sally just stared at him.

"You're serious." She said after a moment.

"Yes." said Tails still staring at the fire.

"My god."

"Sally?" said Tails looking away from the fire for a moment, "What happened here?"

"You really don't know?" she asked.

"No."

Sally sighed. She had gone over the past events numerous times in her head but it didn't make it any easier.

"This was caused by Doomsday." she said.

Tails pulled himself away from the fire and stared at her.

"Doomsday! But we destroyed that thing!" cried Tails.

"No we didn't Tails. It destroyed us. Our raid failed. We couldn't stop Robotnik. Doomsday completely destroyed the entire planet."

Sally sniffed and looked at her knees.

"But that's not the worst of it. From what we can tell Robotnik was unable to control his creation. It got out of hand and started destroying everything. The destruction got so bad that it actually changed the planets climate. All of Mobius is now a frozen wasteland. And……and the pods still roam the planet looking for anything or anyone to destroy."

Sally sunk her head to her hands and started to cry. Tails forgot his distrust and put an arm around her shoulder. Sally fell against his chest and continued to sob.

"What is going on?" Tails said to himself.

It was then that there was a glimmer of movement from the children's beds. Tails noticed it and got up. He shot over to them. Miles was starting to come round. Tails stood over his bed as he slowly opened his eyes. Sally had joined Tails next to the bed. Miles slowly focused on Tails' face.

"Tails?" he said weakly.

"Don't try to talk Miles. Just rest ok." replied Tails.

Miles' gaze fell on Sally's face.

"Mom?" he asked quietly.

"Just rest like Tails said Miles. Ok." she said.

"Ok mom." replied Miles quietly.

Miles slowly closed his eyes and fell silent again. Tails looked at Sally. She was staring at Miles.

"It's true. He thinks I'm his mother." she said quietly.

"You are. At least where I come from. I don't understand what's going on. It's like a dream but it isn't……I think." replied Tails.

Sally raised an eyebrow at this statement. She was about to speak when Lavender gave a small cough. Tails dashed to her bedside. He placed a hand on her head and ran it across her hair. A small tear formed in the corner of his eye and a smile spread across his face.