Reviewer's Replies: Two new reviews, one from a faithful reader! Daikonran, I don't mind that you didn't review before, because you reviewed just recently! Yes, I really should update more often, but school, ballet, vocal and piano are starting to get the better of me….but I'm doing my best! Don't worry. Once the school year is done, I'll be able to faithfully update! Promise!
"Guardians of United Nations"….I think Government United Nincompoops sounds better! XD Thanks for telling me what it really means though.
Thank you for not only reviewing Mystica, but for mentioning me in your story! I feel so proud!
Thank you to all y'all for the reviews. If you haven't reviewed yet, don't worry about it. Just as long as I get a review from you sooner or later, I'm happy, and you're happy. Thanks again! :D
Author's Note: Nothing much to say really, except that this IS my longest chapter so far. So MWA HA HA HAA!!! (cough) o.0
Melody emerged from the lake taking in a big breath of air. "Nothing," she said with a disappointed tone in her voice.
After watching the sunrise, they went back to the cabin to gather supplies for the trip. It was then that Shadow asked where the rest of his stuff was. Melody went to her room and opened the drawer that his gloves and bracelets were in. She gave him all that she had found when he had fallen: his gloves, and the fire bracelet. Shadow knew that there was something missing.
They went out to the lake where Melody tried to use her bracelet for the first time. She needed to turn into an otter to find Shadow's lost golden bracelet. Needless to say, it didn't work. She tried over and over, again and again, but to no avail. She could not find any way to transform into an otter like she had done to rescue Shadow. She had to dive under water in hedgehog form. The search underwater itself was also unsuccessful. Shadow was quite disappointed.
"Hey, look. It's only a bracelet, right?" Melody asked as she hauled herself back into the boat. She was wearing an old blue swimming suite she has salvaged from the chest in her room that she had worn when she was 7, and it fit her perfectly again because of her new size.
Shadow nodded in response to the question.
"And it doesn't do anything special, like that fire bracelet you have there, right?"
The black hedgehog nodded again. The truth was that the bracelet had sentimental value. It was a gold one, and Maria gave it to him while they were on the ARK. He didn't want to tell Melody that, though. He felt it wasn't necessary.
"Then I say we forget about it. I know it isn't at the bottom of the lake; I searched three times. I may not be an otter like we had planned, but I still am a pretty good swimmer, if I do say so myself." She started rowing the boat back to shore. "It probably disintegrated in space when you fell. Come on, there's some clouds coming. I think it would be a good idea if we leave and try to get to Chris' house before the storm hits."
So they pinned the boat to the shore for the last time, covered it, got their supplies and packed them away in Melody's pink bag, and set off.
By the time they were deep in the woods, it had started to rain. It started off as a drizzle, but quickly raged into a severe thunderstorm. The trees had sheltered them from the winds, but it didn't help much as a thick fog slowly emerged in the depths of the woods, and the trees could only cover them for so long without thick drops of water plummeting on the their heads. The soft dirt quickly turned to mud and they grew cold just as quick, but they trudged on, Shadow having a better time then Melody.
She was having a battle within herself. She hated the discomfort that Mother Nature had put her through. She hated constantly tripping on the rocks. She hated sliding in the mud. She hated being cold. She hated being wet. But she didn't complain.
Shadow's going through all of this too she thought. If I complain, it'll just make us more miserable. Just then, Melody stumbled on a rock and fell face first in the mud. She spat out the mud that had found it's way into her mouth. She had enough. "Shadow, stop."
He stopped, but didn't turn around. "You held out longer than I expected," he said.
Melody struggled to her feet. "Huh. Believe me, it wasn't easy."
Shadow tried to suppress a chuckle. "Must have been that vow that you made. A year of silence. Good practice. How much farther?"
Melody was frustrated at Shadow for not asking if she was OK or not, but she didn't show it. She was too tired. "A little bit farther off, the forest ends and there's a cliff that spans farther than anyone can see. There's a wooden ladder along the side of the cliff that we need to climb down. After that is another couple of hour's worth of forest. Then we hit the city Chris lives in."
They trekked onward, the weather worsening. The sound of thunder could be heard and it worried Melody. She decided to try and hide her fear.
"I can't bring out the flute," she said, following a couple of paces behind Shadow. "So, you wanna talk a bit?"
Shadow asked something quite unexpected. "Can you sing?"
Melody abruptly stopped in her tracks and blushed. Shadow also stopped, but he turned around (What, you didn't think he'd blush, did ya?). "It's been a while," Melody hesitated, "I've probably lost some of it…"
"Try."
And she did. She warmed up with some scales and arpeggios and when she was ready sang a song that she felt was the perfect one to sing at the moment. 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. While she was singing, she somehow found her way a few feet in front of Shadow, she was enjoying the song so much. Her voice wasn't the best in the world, but it wasn't hideous. Her singing revealed her true nature, Shadow noticed. Kind, light-hearted, and child-like. Even in the worst of situations, she seemed to be able to lift anyone's spirits. This time, the singing just needed to lift the spirits of both hedgehogs. She concluded her first bit of singing in months by saying "I'm better at the flute."
"It was good enough to please me."
Melody blushed.
"You know any other travelling songs?"
"Well, I know the song that doesn't end."
"A song that doesn't end? Is there such a thing?"
"Of course there is! I learned it on a T.V. show when I was 5. Listen."
So she sang 'This is the Song That Doesn't End'. After singing it a good 5 times, Shadow interrupted. "That has got to be the most annoying song ever."
Melody chuckled and continued. "This is the song that doesn't en-AAAHHH!"
The fog was so thick that she had walked right off the edge of the cliff. Shadow dove and skidded against the mud, stopping just in time for him not to fall off the cliff too, catching her wrist. The bag had somehow loosened itself from Melody's shoulders and had fallen into the green and brown foliage below. After Shadow had recovered from some of the shock, he noticed that Melody's head had drooped down, as if she were unconscious. "Are you all right?"
It was hard to hear his voice in the rain. "Yeah," she said as she tried to catch her breath. "Scared out of my wits, but physically fine."
"Guess the song does end, under the right circumstances."
Melody forced a fake laugh out of her lungs. She appreciated the fact that he was trying to calm her down, but it wasn't doing any good. Thunder clapped again, and the sky lit up around her as she shut her eyes as tightly as she could. The thunder was frighteningly loud, as was the pounding of the rain on the hedgehogs and their surroundings. The wind had picked up again as well, causing Melody to sway dangerously in the grasp of only one of Shadow's hands. All the while, Melody was repeating anxiously in her head 'Don't let go, don't let go, don't let go!'
As they stayed there for another minute, Melody gathered up as much courage as she could. She felt that it was her job to try and be brave too, not just Shadow's, if there was any hope of getting out of this alive. She chanced opening her eyes. Greens of various shades were just below her and off to the distance. The faint grey of the rain was surrounding her, with nearly a black tinge to the clouds. Only one sight comforted her, but unfortunately she couldn't see it unless she closed her eyes and imagined it. Chris' house.
As if to punish her bravery, the wind suddenly picked up again with a gale force that nearly tore Melody away from Shadow's grip, which tightened even more. He wasn't going to let her fall so easily. But even so, she yelped in fear as she once again prayed for Shadow not to let go. When the gust had finally died down, Melody's back thudded against the cliff, nearly knocking her senseless. Her eyes automatically returned closed, and she felt the blood pulse through her chest. The pounding of her heart sounded in her ears, which she couldn't believe when she heard Shadow's voice from above.
"I'm going to get you back up."
A new wave of terror ran through Melody. Just one wrong move and that would be it for the both of them. She could scarcely breathe out only one word through her fear. "No."
"What?"
Melody squinted her eyes even tighter. She couldn't bear looking at his face. "No, don't try. It'll only put you in danger. You'd be better off just letting me fall." A series of hot tears ran down Melody's face. The thing that she feared most of all was dying, whether it was slow and painful, or painless and quick. She had given up all hope of getting out of it alive at this point. "You should just let me go."
"Maybe if it were somebody else, but not you!"
Again, Melody couldn't believe her ears. Maybe my wish will come true after all, she thought. She squinted as she looked up to fight off the rain. She saw Shadow. Blurry, but there nonetheless, holding on to her for dear life.
Shadow was having his own thoughts on the situation. ' I can't just drop her,' he thought. 'I already made the mistake of just watching Maria die. I won't lose Melody the same way.'
All she needed was to see the determination in his face. 'Maybe we can get out of this,' she thought. 'He is the ultimate life form, after all. Maybe. Just may-'
And then, the world around her was illuminated in a nearly blinding white light. The deafening sound of thunder tearing through the sky was nearly overpowering. She felt Shadow's grip on her wrist loosen as she was flung from the cliff's edge. Performing a weak summersault in mid-air, she felt herself falling. Her back cut through the air, causing her spikes to fly just in her side view. But she couldn't see them. Her eyes had closed yet again, and she had no intention of opening them. She felt as though she was floating downwards to sleep, and she didn't want to be wakened.
Fear had suddenly caused her eyes to jolt open. She was aware of her surroundings, but even though shock caused her to remain conscious, she was still dazed. Until she saw Shadow falling with his back facing the ground.
No, Melody thought frantically. No. What have I done? He wouldn't be falling if I hadn't come. It's all my fault. If I hadn't- no, I can't think like that. I can't just let him fall. I can't. He doesn't deserve it. But what can I do? She shut her eyes as hard as she could. He can't die like this. He just can't! No, no, no, NO! She was so scared. She felt the hot tears in her eyes fly away from her face. She couldn't take it. 'I just wish I could fly.'
At that moment, she felt a new warmth from her bracelet, and a series of emotions to match everything else. Her back felt weird all of a sudden, as if there were two slots in it. Then her back felt heavy, but not in a bad way. It felt warm again, and she could feel branches of the trees below her break from her body and along her back where she never felt anything before. She was confused by what just happened, but not for long. She remembered Shadow and needed to save him, somehow. As she remembered, she felt the air flow around her change, and she felt herself being thrust upwards by what seemed to be what she felt for Shadow and her determination to save him. She opened her eyes and found that she was indeed being propelled higher and higher in the air. She was facing the cliff and surprised at the speed that she was moving; she could only see the colour of the cliff as a blurry mosaic of browns. She looked up and caught Shadow. His weight in her frail arms didn't matter to her at all. She was just relieved that he was temporarily safe, but that was forgotten in an instant. She didn't know how to stop.
She noted the top of the cliff quickly approaching and brutally crashed into the high branches of the trees. She bounced off of them and eventually found her way back to solid ground with a hard thud. She lay with her face in the mud yet again trying to catch her breath. Her back felt warm again and lost most of the weight it had gained from her mysterious fall from the cliff, but it still felt heavier than usual. Still panting she tried to move, which was an easier task than she had taken it to be. She didn't want to push her luck though, so she was satisfied when she got to her hands and knees. Spitting out the mud and trying to force her pulse back to normal, she tried to contemplate what had just happened.
As if a jolt of lightning had struck her, she remembered Shadow. She didn't remember seeing him when she was falling in the trees. She struggled up to her two feet and leaned to a nearby tree for support. She heavily breathed in the foggy air and tried to stabilize her body as she slowly turned her head to find Shadow. She was relieved to find that he was quite safe. He wasn't in the forest, but rather on the edge of it and a safe distance from the side of the cliff. She stumbled over to his body, covered with mud and slowly being cleansed from the rain. She tripped and violently hit the ground. Groaning and getting up, Melody found what she had tripped on. It was a small hole in the ground, with the edges of it blackened. Steam was coming out from within it. To confirm her hypothesis, she felt the ground next to it, closer to the edge of the cliff. There was a slight depression in it.
The lightning, she thought. It struck right next to Shadow. 'That's how we fell.' She put her hand over the hole. It was still warm, hence the steam. 'I hope he's all right.'
While waiting for Shadow to wake up, the rain had stopped, and she sat on the edge of the cliff staring at the gorgeous scenery. The fog and clouds were dissipating, and the faint traces of a rainbow started to show in the blue sky. She started to remember something that her grandma had told her a many years ago, while her parents were on another astronomy trip, waiting for them to return.
(4 stars. Flashback!)
"What's that, Grandma?" They were eating homemade chocolate-chip cookies by the front window, watching the rain drench the streets and everything on them.
"I think Mother Nature tries to tell us something, each and every day with the weather."
"She must be sad about something, then," She said through a mouthful of warm cookies. "Do you think so Grandma?"
"Well, I think you might be right. But why do you think she's sad? What do you think, Melody?"
The little child swallowed and pondered for a while. "Maybe she's sad of what's gonna happen later. Maybe she doesn't want something to happen. I don't know."
"Well, you're almost right. You see, I think that Mother Nature tries to give us a sign with the weather everyday."
The little girl was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I think that Mother Nature tries to tell us what exactly is going to happen in the future. Like the rain now, for instance. Maybe Mother Nature is trying to warn us about something sad that's going to happen to someone."
"But, isn't there always a rainbow after rain, Grandma?"
"Not often around here, Melody. They're often too faint for anyone to see. Like the good outcomes in a fight are usually too hard to see because everyone is still sad over the injuries that occurred. When there is a rainbow, you should enjoy it while you can. It shows that something good will happen after a tragedy, and if you look hard enough, it will be noticed."
(4 stars. End of flashback)
'Grandma always had thoughts about the weather,' Melody mused as she looked in awe at the rainbow that had formed in the sky. She figured it would be there for another ten minutes or so. Just enough time to savour its beauty.
Her thoughts of watching the rainbow until it faded were forgotten when she heard a groan to her left. Shadow had awakened, and she wanted to make sure he didn't suffer any serious injuries from the lightning. She ran quickly to his aid and inquired his condition as vigilantly as she could. "Are you all right?"
Shadow was confused. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question? What happened?"
The white hedgehog closed her eyes and replayed the incident in her head. She still didn't have a clue. She looked at him and shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. I faintly recall falling, and then…" She trailed of, slightly embarrassed. She wanted her wish to come true, but not that badly. She had to say it though, embarrassed or not. She found a way around telling him her feelings. "Then I felt the air flow around me change. You were falling too, so I caught you and we crashed up here."
"And you don't know exactly how we got back up here?" His companion shook her head, stupefied. Shadow wouldn't let it go. He was determined to figure this thing out. "There must be some explanation."
Melody snorted. "Maybe Neo had pity on us and teleported us back up here," she said, annoyed. She got up and looked outwards off the edge of the cliff. "Maybe somehow I magically grew wings or something crazy like that." She let out an irritated grunt, threw her hands in the air letting them quickly falling back to her side and stomped around in her confusion and frustration. She eventually ended up with her back facing Shadow, who was momentarily stunned by what he saw. Melody turned and caught Shadow starring. She blushed. "What?"
"You were right."
Melody had a look of childlike confusion and innocence as she said "Right about-" and then she knew. She anxiously looked around for something that could give off a reflection. She found a puddle of rainwater that reflected the sky perfectly despite the dirt underneath it and ran over to it, twisting her body in awkward positions to inspect her back. And sure enough, she was right.
There, on her back where the back to her halter top allowed an opening and where she had felt the slots earlier were two small wings like that of a chao. She felt her knees collapse under her as she slumped into the mud. There were so many things that she just couldn't believe because of what she saw in her reflection. She had wings. She had wings because she learned to harness the power of her bracelet for the first time. She had wings because she wanted to save Shadow. She had wings. And most importantly, she could fly. That is, if she knew how.
She closed her eyes, immediately controlling the hysteria of the knowledge of her new abilities. She knew that they would be useless if she didn't know how to use them. Just like that flute of mine, she thought. I'll have to get that from the bottom as soon as I figure this out.
She thought about how she forced her arms and legs to move. She tried picturing what her wings looked like from the rear view. Then she tried connecting the two. She felt her wings move back and forth. Slowly at first, to get used to them, and then faster, like that of a butterfly trying to find just the right place on a flower to land.
'But this can't be right, she thought. How can my wings only be this small? I'm sure they felt heavier and larger when we were falling. I'm sure of it.'
"You need a hand?" She opened her eyes to see the black hedgehog offer his steady hand to her. She took it gratefully. "Well?"
She stared blankly at him. "Well what?" She remembered the same conversation taking place back in the cabin, the other way around when they had barely known each other. She expected so much from him, oblivious to the past that he had. She felt he was doing the same to her now. She was still having trouble retaining everything.
"Can you fly?" he asked in a voice she hadn't heard him use before. It was almost urgent, nearly excited.
She hesitated. "Let me try something first."
Shadow nodded a "sure" and backed away respectfully. She closed her eyes again. She tried to picture her back as it was, like she had done before. How am I going to do this? she thought. I'm pretty sure I don't have to use the bracelet to summon the true powers of my wings, which means I can do it out of my own free will if I have to. But how to get there, that's something else entirely. She tried thinking about what it would feel like to fly, and she tried thinking about how she had flown when she saved Shadow.
Shadow. Thinking about him made her feel safe. She enjoyed his company more than anything. He was the only one that understood what she was going through. He was the only one that understood the loss of a loved one through G.U.N. and she respected that. She admired that. That one fact alone was probably the thing that allowed her to have an open conversation with him.
Then she felt her wings expand suddenly. In a flash, they had grown immensely, causing Shadow to jump slightly in surprise. Her wings were now truly like those of an angel. She tried outstretching her arms and comparing their length to her wingspan. Her wings had surpassed her arms by a couple of inches. She opened her eyes again and inspected her wings visually. They were snowy white, and brightly shone in the sunlight. They made her fur, now covered in mud and scratched in several places, seem extremely filthy. She tried an experimental flap, and was thrilled by the fact that she had nearly forced herself off of the ground. Her wings weren't just for show. They were extremely powerful. She turned to Shadow who was again staring at a new Melody and walked over to him. She look overjoyed, but tried to put on a serious face when she asked him a question. "If I do something," she said, "promise not to freak out, OK?"
Shadow merely nodded.
Melody jumped into the air and flapped her wings, to get used to the feeling of being in the air. Then, without warning, she dove like an eagle down the side of the cliff, causing Shadow to panic, despite Melody's request. He ran to the side of the cliff and looked down to see Melody flying back up with her backpack. He let out a sigh of relief.
"You didn't keep your promise," Melody chuckled. She could see he was at a loss for words, so she let it slide. "I don't blame you. I probably would've cried," she blurted out, not realising what she had said until after she said it. She blushed.
Shadow didn't mind though. He was curious. "How long do you think it would take if we fly?"
"I don't know," she said, still flapping her wings to maintain her height above the ground. "Let me check." She flew up into the air and for a moment was dazzled by her surroundings.
To her left was a forest that seemed to go on for an eternity, and in the distance she could see little patches turning gold and red. It was late September after all. The same forest was under her and to her right, but it had ended because of the mountains in the distance, grey and tipped with snow. She looked ahead and could faintly see the city far off in the distance. She couldn't hear the cars that she had imagined though. She could only hear the birdsong from behind and below her mixed with the gentle breeze of the wind shaking off the rainwater from the trees. Then she paid attention to the sky. She somehow never had problems looking straight at the sun, and this was no exception. She looked to the left again at the little yellow ball of fire in the sky and then looked at the sky itself. Most of the clouds were gone, and the ones that were left were thinned out like trails of white smoke. Then she looked to the right and looked at the rainbow, starting to fade in the sky. She was surprised to notice that despite how high she was above the ground, the rainbow didn't seem any closer. But it didn't matter. She was glad that she was right in the middle of her dream world. Her perfect world. Her world.
Then she remembered the reason that she was actually up there in the first place. She looked in the direction of the city again and made some guesses in her head. Without looking down, she yelled back to her companion. "It should only take me about 15 minutes to make it to the city." She wished it could have been more. She wanted to savour her new gift of flight. "But what about you?" She asked. Looking down, she continued. "How are you going to-" The black hedgehog wasn't on the ground where she had left him.
She flew back down to the ground and looked for Shadow, praying that he somehow didn't end up falling over the edge while she was admiring the scenery. While panicking, she heard a familiar and comforting voice from behind her. "Don't worry about me. I'll manage."
She turned around to see Shadow, at first relieved, but then curious as to how he was somehow descending from same altitude that she was at a moment ago. Shadow explained.
"I can use these shoes to hover, remember? I found out I could do a little more than that just now." Shadow crossed his hands in front of his chest, but smiled. "I think you owe me an explanation."
Melody's memory came back to her. "Oh, yeah. When I brought you back to the cabin I noticed there were sparks coming from your shoes. I took them apart and noticed the circuitry in them and tried a couple of things out. They're supposed to make running a little easier, and the limit of just hovering is a thing of the past. Flying is the new way to go now. What do you think? Are they better?"
Shadow performed a back flip in the air before responding. "I should say so."
"So this is it," Melody said, watching Shadow float back down to the ground. "In a half an hour, we'll be at Chris' house. After that, we do the best we can to find Sonic and the rest of your friends. Is that right?"
Shadow nodded. "That's about it," he said.
"But what's after that?" Melody asked. She again looked and felt like a little 6 year-old, eager to get every bit of knowledge that she could so that she knew exactly what she was doing.
Shadow shrugged. "You tell me."
"Oh, well, I'm sure we'll think of something. You never know, right?"
Shadow chuckled. "Right."
Melody held out an outstretched hand above her head. At first Shadow was confused. He didn't know about all of the customs on Earth, especially those of friendliness. He caught on quickly to this one though, and gave Melody the best high-five she had ever gotten.