Silver Lining
By K. M. Hollar
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Every cloud has a silver lining.
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Part 4: The Silver Lining
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Knuckles came to late that night, and found himself lying in bed in his Eagle's
Nest quarters. He was so tired he felt like he had been sick, and lay there for
a moment, trying to remember why he felt like this. Suddenly he remembered Sonic
and Max and the chaos emerald and--
"Zephyer!"
He sprang out of bed and caught himself before he fell over. How much had Max
drained him, anyway? He must have fainted, and the stupid chao continued
draining off energy. Knuckles was lucky to be alive. But even as he told himself
this, he knew that Zephyer must be well--she had to be well--if he felt this
bad. He fumbled on his shoes and left the room, walking slowly.
Eagle's Nest was dark and still. Knuckles remembered the chaos distortion and
wondered what had become of it, and reminded himself to ask Sonic and Tails in
the morning. It must be near midnight. He should have stayed in bed, but he had
to see Zephyer.
A dim light was burning in the medical hut, and Knuckles wondered if the doctor
was inside. He could hear voices. He opened the door very slowly and peered in.
Zephyer was propped up on pillows with a lamp burning beside her, reading aloud
from a book. Max was cuddled up to her on one side, and Zephyer's chao Zinc was
on her other side. Both chao sat up as Knuckles looked in.
"Well!" said Zephyer, setting down the book. "I didn't expect to see you for
another two days!"
Knuckles sank into the chair beside her bed, utterly spent. "I guess it worked,
then."
"Yes," said Zephyer. "All but the worst of the wounds are gone. Shepherd wants
to keep me under observation for another week, he says I'm still not well. I
made him send for Zinc to keep Max company."
"Nice of him," said Knuckles, gazing at Zephyer and not caring what she said, as
long as she said it like her old self.
She returned his gaze and said quietly, "Thank you for doing that."
"No problem," said Knuckles. "How is it being derobotized finally?"
Zephyer held up one hand and examined it. "You see this hand? I never expected
to see it again. And I can FEEL! You have no idea what it's like being without
feeling." She stroked Max and Zinc, then said, "Are you mad at me?"
"Mad at you?" said Knuckles, realizing he was being lulled to sleep by her
voice. "No, why?"
"Because when Max was healing me..." She hesitated. "Well, I felt like you were
mad at me for giving up."
"I was," said Knuckles. "I didn't expect you to feel it, though."
"You also made me miss the Floating Island," said Zephyer, gazing at the chao to
avoid looking at him. "And ... I felt how much you loved me."
Knuckles smiled. "Neither of which have changed." He slid closer and took her
hands, and to his amusement she stroked and felt his hands all over, reveling in
her newly restored fifth sense. She touched his face and hair, too, smiling.
"The world's not real until you can touch it." She looked into his eyes, and he
was struck by their intense shade of blue, almost violet. "Did you ever cry over
me?" she whispered.
"No," Knuckles whispered back. "But I was really close a couple of times."
"Good," she whispered. For a second he thought she was going to let him kiss
her, but she pushed him away. "Now go lay down before you fall down. You look
like death warmed over."
"I got it from you," said Knuckles, standing up and bracing himself for the long
walk back to his room. "Goodnight, Zephyer."
"Goodnight, Knux," said Zephyer, picking up her book.
As the door closed behind him, Max and Zinc exchanged scornful looks. "Mush."
It took Sally five days to get home.
Sonic took the chaos emerald and teleported back to Central Mobius, and just as
before, arrived in a state of exhaustion. He had to rest for a day before he and
Sally began hiking north. Sometimes Sonic ran all out, and other times he just
poked along. They were accompanied part of the way by Jazz and his family, who
were also traveling north to their home in Carrotseed. They parted ways with a
match race between Jazz and Sonic, which Sonic won by spin dashing at the last
second.
It took two days to reach Prairietown, and the Cyclone was just as they had left
it, although the seats were wet from a recent rain. Sonic wiped them down. "If
Tails finds out I left the Cyclone out in the weather, he'll kill me," he told
Sally. "Don't tell him, okay?"
"You got it," said Sally, laughing.
Tails had told Sonic all about his battle with Robo Knux, and Sonic relayed it
to Sally with the details exaggerated. Sally wondered how he knew some of these
things, because Sonic had been sound asleep at the time, but listened anyway.
She had watched everything over the chaos tracker, and had scarcely breathed
until the chaos storm shrank to nothing and vanished, and the mysterious blip
that was Super Tails winked out as suddenly as it had come.
Several times Sonic paused and made as though to ask Sally a question, then
changed his mind and talked about something else. Sally wondered what was on his
mind, and noticed that he went out of his way to be kind to her. It was like the
old days, when they had simply been fellow Freedom Fighters.
Sally didn't deduce what was on Sonic's mind until they were fueling the Cyclone
for takeoff. Sonic was down by the fuel tank, and Sally was in the copilot's
seat. "I wonder where Destro went," she said idly. "You know, I saw him with his
helmet off, and he was actually cute."
Sonic's head jerked up. "Destro? Cute? Don't make me laugh."
"He had one white ear," said Sally, watching Sonic's pupils dilate. "It made him
look ... roguish, you know?"
"He's a berserker with a sword!" said Sonic. "All he did was fight Robo Knux,
he's not that great."
Sally pursed her lips. "Sonic, are you jealous?"
"No," said Sonic, reddening. "I just didn't think Destro looked any different
from the next fox."
There was a moment of silence as Sally watched Sonic. "Sonic, if you're going to
make a move, you'd better do it soon, because once we get home, I have mountains
of work to do."
"Make a move?" said Sonic, even redder. "I don't know what you're talking
about."
"Sure you don't," said Sally, sitting back in the airplane seat. "I'm not blind,
Sonic Hedgehog. What do you want from me? Spit it out."
Sonic straightened and looked up at her. "Well, um. I kind of wanted ... I mean,
we're friends and all that, but we're kind of drifting apart, and, you know,
I..." He trailed off and looked miserable.
Sally wanted to hear him say it. "So we're drifting apart. What should we do
about that?" She gave him her best blonde look.
Sonic dug a toe into the ground. "I want us to be better friends."
He wouldn't say it, but it was a start.
"All right," said Sally, smiling. "Starting now, let's be better friends."
Sonic grinned, clearly thinking he had dodged a bullet.
Sally didn't want to see him squirm anymore, so she changed the subject. "Do you
think those clouds out there will slow us down?" And the topic moved on to the
weather.
By the time Sonic and Sally arrived home, Zephyer was hobbling around on her own
and was eating everything in sight. She looked completely different without her
metal, and was dressing in borrowed clothes from girls in the village--she had
no clothes of her own.
When Sonic went to see her, Zephyer was wearing a pair of Serena's jeans, a
shirt with one of Sally's vests over it, and a pair of shoes that had been
manufactured before the coup. She still sported a few bandages, and walked with
a limp. She was in her room with a pad of paper and a pencil, which she laid
down as Sonic walked in.
"Hi Zeff," he said. "What're you writing?"
"Gibberish," said Zephyer. "I have to learn to hold a pencil all over again. How
was your trip?"
"Good," said Sonic, closing the door. "I, uh, wanted to give that ring back." He
pulled off his glove and slid the ring off his finger.
"So it didn't work out?" said the echidna, putting the ring in the box with the
others.
"Not how I expected," said Sonic, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I never got
the nerve to ask her."
"Knuckles only asked me the first time because we thought we would both die in
the next few minutes," said Zephyer. "Otherwise, it's something you have to work
up to."
"So I gathered," said Sonic wryly. "I'm going to try to help her with her work."
He pointed a finger down his throat.
"Hey, if you don't give up anything, you don't really like her," said Zephyer.
"I know, I keep thinking that," said Sonic. "Knux has totally put me to shame
with this derobotization stuff. Where is he, by the way?"
"The island," said Zephyer. "He couldn't stand being away from it any more." Her
face fell at the thought.
Sonic watched her. "Why don't you elope?"
"I've thought about it," said Zephyer sheepishly, "but I think we owe it to
everybody to have a proper wedding."
"Set a date yet?"
Zephyer shook her head. "We're thinking June, but it depends on how fast I
recover. Moving out to the island now would kill me." She rolled up one sleeve
and showed Sonic the edge of a bandage that covered her shoulder.
Sonic shook his head. "Man, you're lucky to be alive."
"Tell me about it," said Zephyer. "The scariest thing isn't that, though."
"What?"
She leaned forward and whispered, "I have to marry him now!"
"But I thought you were in love with the guy," said Sonic, baffled.
Zephyer toyed with her pencil. "I am. But it still scares me to death. What if
I've made some kind of mistake?"
"About what?" said Sonic. "Knux just gave you ten years off his life. If you
broke up with him now, it'd kill him."
"I know, and I don't want to break up, not really," said Zephyer. "I just feel
like there's a catch somewhere that I haven't figured out."
"I know what it is," said Sonic, grinning. "You're marrying Knuckles, the
walking volcano. Any other girl would run screaming in the opposite direction."
"Well, he's marrying Zephyer, the bullheaded moron," said Zephyer. "We're
perfect for each other."
"He's a headache and you're a pill," said Sonic, and ducked as Zephyer threw her
pencil at him.
"Look at it this way," said Sonic. "Sally told me this when we were flying home.
Out of all the bad stuff that happened last week, good came out of it. Sally and
I went on a wild goose chase, but we got to know each other better, and we got to
meet Jazz Jackrabbit's family. I wore myself out on the teleport back, but I got
here in time. Tails and Destro were smart enough to defeat Robo Knux. You got
derobotized in the nick of time, and here you are."
"All the clouds had silver linings," said Zephyer. "What happened to Destro?"
"He hightailed it," said Sonic, getting up. "Maybe he'll come back someday, who
knows? I'd better go now, Sal will think I've reneged on my help offer." He
pointed a finger down his throat again and left. Zephyer grinned after him, and
picked up her notepad.
Destro stood in a phone booth two miles from Carrotseed, and fingered the two
coins needed to make a call. It was three weeks later, and he had made his way
back to Central Mobius with only the Lightgiver for company. Destro had had a
lot of time to think about what had happened, and had finally figured out why he
had been thrown in with Cream. She had battered down the walls around his heart
and helped him see that emotions were not bad things. Or, rather, the Lightgiver
had used Cream to show him this.
Destro deposited his coins and dialed a number. He waited as it rang, then said,
"Hello Jazz, this is Destro. You wouldn't happen to want a tutor to train Cream
to control her chaos field, would you?" He listened for a moment, a smile
stealing across his face. "Yes sir, I can start tomorrow. Thank you."
Destro hung up and gazed at the houses of Carrotseed in the distance. For the
first time in his life, he would have a place to call home.
The End.