Chapter 2 – Good News Travels Fast.
A/N: Looks like Locke's getting a bit of support from the trusty reviewers; he'll need all the help he can get to pull through this. I just realised the reply to review function, but if it's all the same to you guys, I'll carry on like this:
HHH – Funny you should mention the purple one as you'll read later. BTW, which console does the new Shadow game run on, and is it as good as they were making it out to be?
Ri2 – Yeah, Locke still loves her with his heart even if his head knows there's no way to reconcile; question is, can he sacrifice his own dreams of getting back together with Lara to ensure she can be happy with Wyn?
TH – Chapter two here for you, little Red Bull demon that you are.
Lara-Le still couldn't believe what was happening.
The ring on its own had blown her world apart; all she vaguely remembered was storming into the kitchen and throwing her arms around Wynmacher, almost sending the chef tumbling backwards onto the stove he was working on, only a lucky pirouette saving his tail from incineration as he kissed the woman who had declared she would become his bride. From there the two had emerged to a cheering, whistling restaurant, most of the regular patrons as exuberant in their congratulations as Lara's daughter-in-law was, Rouge with tears in her eyes as she hugged first one, then the other of the new fiancés. In fact, all three had been so wrapped up in their celebrations it had come as a bit of a shock when Lara had felt her shoulder tapped by a large, scaly green hand; Vector offering his mobile and grinning,
"Just got red on the blower; says he wants a quick word". Without really thinking, as if there was enough of her mind left to think in the whirl of celebration now all around her, Lara brought the phone to her ear,
"Hey sweetie"; Knuckles had been virtually breathless with excitement,
"Did you say yes?"
"Yes, yes I did"; her son's cheer had probably been audible to half the local neighbourhood, as had his frenzied yell for the rest of the Chaotix to move out, hang the emerald for a day; she had managed to cobble together a plan involving a day's leave on compassionate grounds from the general infirmary, then a grand celebration for anyone and everyone who could make it over at her home.
And now, as yet another round of small explosions and a veritable cascade of confetti descended on the revelling heads, that party was well and truly in full swing. As Wyn had quickly finished the work he needed to do in the kitchens to complete his shift, Lara, assisted by Rouge and Vector, had just about managed to clear most of the furniture out of the front room and somehow bankrupt the nearby corner shop out of crisps and pop before everyone had steamed in. There had been a brief moment of solemnity as Knuckles had entered first, face firm as he looked over at where Wyn was standing; silence had descended as the guardian had strode over, no-one daring to interfere as the brown echidna faced him. Knuckles had halted a mere arms-length away from Wyn, not saying a word as gradually, so gradually, he extended his right hand, the spurs on it held down, away from his mother's fiancé. Equally nervously, Wyn had reciprocated, gently gripping the guardian's paw; Knuckles had smiled for a split-second before stepping forwards again, his other arm embracing the older echidna, holding him tightly as he whispered,
"About time"; Wyn had made to admonish the echidna would become his step-son for his cheek, but found that he couldn't, not now; it was great Knuckles was able to talk to him like this, fantastic that he didn't oppose his proposing his mother. There had been another explosive yell of joy as Knuckles had disengaged, clapping the chef on the shoulder one last time before receiving his mother's grateful, warm embrace.
XXX
Having just finished a lively number with the future groom, Mighty collapsed onto a nearby seat, just underneath Charmy, who was watching the proceedings from on high. Taking a second to catch her breath, the armadillo called to her bee friend,
"Hey Charm", he looked down and descended, smoothing out wings as he landed just in front and to the side of her, "tell me what it is I've forgotten". He was understandably perplexed by this,
"Huh?"
"I know there was, and still is probably, something happening today", she tapped the shell that hung over her forehead like a miniature cliff, the heavy natural armour making a hollow knocking noise as she tried to beat her memory back into gear, "I even had a reminder pinned on my bedroom wall, but can I remember it?"
"Obviously not", the bee laughed as he reached past her, jumping off the fringes of the dance floor in time to avoid being knocked off his feet by Rouge's; the bat was half-on, half—off the floor as she was attempting to dance with Vector. The armadillo shook her helmeted head as her insect friend and work colleague wiped imaginary sweat from his brow at his close escape and then she looked around, perturbed by something,
"Just a sec, where's Espio?"
"At the shrine", Charmy's face fell, partly in disgust and partly in despair as he explained, "said someone needed to watch the shrine no matter the circumstances; any day now he'll be after Knuckles' job full time".
"Wall-crawler needs to lighten up" Mighty agreed as she remembered the taciturn chameleon and how he seemed to abhor anything even remotely connected with fun; how he got on with Vector before they met Charmy I shall never know. The bee nodded before looking around again, seemingly deep in thought,
"This thing you forgot, any sort of clues?"
"Nope", Mighty flicked her forehead with the look of a clueless dope on her face, "completely gone out my head".
"Your shell; that need cleaning?"
"Nah, it'll be good for a couple more days; come on", she spoke chidingly to herself, "it's in there somewhere". Charmy again tried to jog her memory,
"Nothing like a, um, a social call to a friend? Visits? Anything like that?" At that point, Mighty suddenly straightened and the bee congratulated himself as she spoke,
"There we go, that's the one. I remembered what it is now". The bee tugged her well-muscled arm, mindful of where it had recently been healed after her fight with Metal Sonic had left it sundered,
"What was it?" The armadillo gestured towards the entrance to the lounge, smile now growing to epidemic proportions,
"It's just walked through the front door".
XXX
Well, I guess someone's in; Tails still felt a little rude just barging in like this, but just from the noise he could hear pounding out from behind the door he knew someone must be in, and having an absolute whale of a time to boot. He quickly and quietly slipped inside, hoping against hope that Lara would be able to help him track down the Mobian he was after; for some reason he couldn't get hold of Mighty on her phone, or Knuckles for that matter. He had been afraid of a widespread blackout, that for some reason all networks had gone down over Angel Island, but the second he was indoors he realised that there was much simpler reason why he hadn't been able to get through to either of the other Mobians; the music here was loud enough to drown out anything like a ring tone.
"Tails", the shout went up; next thing he knew there was a lot of pink in his vision as Rouge had hugged him tightly; had he not been so shocked, he may have enjoyed the sensation a lot more than he actually did, "I don't care why you're here, but we're all glad you are. Come in, the party's just starting". Deciding arguing would be counter-productive at best the fox meekly fell into line behind the deliriously overjoyed bat and let himself be led into the main room, where all the cheering was coming from.
His first emotion was relief; both the Mobians he'd tried to contact, especially Mighty, were here and accounted for – straight after this though came confusion; why's Lara hosting a party – it has to be something good, but what? Thinking on his feet, Tails shouldered and slipped his way through the crowd and eventually ended up stood in front of where Lara was sat down, speaking to Wynmacher; wait a minute, their faces, they…; before he could let himself think too far ahead, the fox asked the question,
"What's going on?" Wyn laughed and slapped his knee, spreading his arms to encompass the whole room,
"We're having a party".
"I can see that", despite himself Tails smiled as he took in the jovial celebrations around him, the sight of Charmy playing very confined aerial tag with Rouge a sight to savour before he crossed his fingers and went for the jugular of his questions, "but what's the occasion?" Please tell me I'm on the right lines…oh YES!
In answer, Lara had slowly slipped her glove from her left hand; as a band of burnished gold caught the light and glinted right into his eyes, Tails felt his heart ignite as he punched the air with a long howl of pure joy. He didn't descend, using his tails to propel himself forwards he landed in the arms of the echidna lady who he had come to see as something very like a mother figure, at least while he was here on Angel Island. Up here, Lara took it upon herself to look out for him, was always ready to offer a place for him to stay if he needed it; personally and for good reason privately as well, Tails had come to think of Lara as the mother he had, despite Sonic's best and most self-sacrificing efforts, never really known. Such feelings though, strong as they were, he kept to himself; he wasn't and probably never would be completely sure what Lara thought of him, and it wasn't just her feelings he had to be mindful of – there was Knuckles to consider as well and just for good measure, as he embraced the guardian's mother hard Tails felt his eyes rest on Wyn, the brown echidna smiling as he reached over to ruffle his hear fur, there was now Wynmacher, her soon-to-be husband as well.
"Way to go Lara; when's the big day?" There was a chuckle as she held him tightly,
"Hey, he only popped the question this morning; he's not that organised to have picked a date yet"; Wyn raised a casual eyebrow,
"And I suppose you would be o organised one?" Lara shook her head, smiling still as she realised how little thought she'd given that eventuality, but it didn't matter, not right now.
"Nah, but we can deal with that later; you go and have some fun Tails, that's an order". He gave a cheeky salute,
"I'm on it". He turned to leave and would have plunged into the party headlong had not a paw descended on his shoulder; he froze as Wyn whispered into his ear,
"Hold your horses you; there's a price for entry this time. By law, Lara and I have half of everything the other owns, so hand over anything you may be carrying that's either really sweet or smothered in chocolate".
"You're on a diet"; he could virtually taste the sauce permeating the chef's next words,
"Only when Lara's looking; now pass it to me or I'll cut off your tails and bake you in a pie".
"How much would you sell it for?"
"Sell? I'd be giving it away"; Tails shook his head and reached into his phone pouch – with a little rustling noise, a small plastic bag bulging with small chocolate spheres hove into view. In one practised movement Wyn had opened the bag and had one of them in his mouth, shuddering at the sweetness as Tails poked his arm,
"Just you remember to give Lara half you gannet". Unable to talk politely, Wyn merely nodded and, chuckling, the fox moved back into the milling crowd.
XXX
"Awesome", Mighty sat back in the seat next to her pilot, recalling the past few hours as well as the Mobian she was going to see would have been able to, "just awesome".
"I know", Tails eased off the speed as, even in the deepening gloom of the twilight, he could pick out the landmarks of his Mystic Ruins home, "first Knuckles and Rouge, now this; two weddings in under a year, hell of a way to go".
"Tell me about it", the armadillo gave a thumbs-up before folding her hands into her lap, "can't wait to let Big know; this time he'll have to come over to Angel Island, he did last time". A little devil of mischief sprang up in the heart of the fox and he fought hard to keep his face neutral as he inquired politely,
"Speaking of Big", he saw Mighty prick her ears at the mention of the Mobian he was taking her to see, "any chance of three weddings this year? Wait, I'm flying, I'm flying!" He gabbled desperately as Mighty's face had suddenly stretched to deliver a menacing snarl, her hands raised to dig right into him; all he could offer in defence was the risk they might crash if she tried anything. It must have worked as she sat back down, looking at him disgustedly,
"Where's Cream when you need her?" Okay, prepare for embarrassment; Tails saw the sudden glint in his passenger's eyes, "in fact, if there were to be three I'd be looking a bit closer to home if I were you foxboy".
"I'm only just a teenager and she's not even that yet", he pleaded, though he doubted he was making much headway as his face was red as a cherry and Mighty wasn't even bothering to try and conceal her smirk,
"Young love is the best kind there is, and you two together are just too cute". Tails had to sit on his free hand that was almost of its own volition creeping towards the passenger eject button on the dashboard, thinking evil thoughts towards the Mobian sat next to him as she laughed with her eyes.
"One more word Mighty and you'll be walking to Big's; or trying to at least", it was his turn to grin as her face hardened, "knowing you I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up somewhere…."
"If you've quite finished", the armadillo cut him off, irked that he was still lampooning her errant sense of direction as she pointed out the windscreen, "you might want to think about landing?"
"I might" the fox conceded, pulling the Tornado around and set in the landing course, aiming dead straight for the runway as his other hand reached for the transforming button; this was a gesture Mighty didn't like, especially when coupled with the evil smirk on the fox's lips,
"Tails, what are you doing?" The fox looked her dead in the eye and slammed his paw down,
"Roll out!"
XXX
Big's laugh boomed out like a quiet thunder as Mighty glowered at him good-naturedly; the cat wiped his eyes as he turned their collective meal over with his free hand,
"So you really squealed?"
"Believe me, that was the gentlest thing I could have done", the armadillo recalled the terrifying sensations that had come when the transforming Tornado hit the ground, the wheels of its jeep mode just about absorbing the shock as she had gasped in air and prayed for her soul's salvation, "bloody fox nearly gave me a heart attack – I don't think they teach you that in pilot school, or at least I hope they don't".
"Ah, he's still a kid at heart", the cat added sagely, causing the armadillo to look up towards him with her eyebrow's raised, "he's still got that fearlessness that only comes with youth, and good for him; you only realised how important it is when you grow up and lose it".
"True, very true", Mighty allowed herself a minute to mull over the philosophical words before suddenly clapping her hands, bringing the topic back to the better news she had imparted, "anyway, enough about him; Lara's engaged and we're all looking forwards to the big day".
"Any ideas?"
"None yet, but who cares; all that matters is it's happening, but I reckon it'll be in summer if I'm any judge"; the cat rubbed his hands gratefully,
"Excellent, the eels come out in summer, I'll be able to grab some then and make sure the reception goes with a bang, what do you think Mighty? Mighty?"
A sudden fear, mixed with electric excitement, swept over the purple cat as Mighty had stood up; originally he'd thought nothing of this, but then he'd seen her face, the look in her eye and the way she was slowly walking towards where he sat,
"You know Big", he swallowed a little, trying to concentrate on not letting dinner burn as she still advanced, voice throaty and sincere, "this really does put everything into perspective".
"R,Really? How do you mean?" His hazel eyes blinked as the armadillo came ever closer, speaking in that same, almost seductive tone,
"I mean that, when you look at it", Big was forced to sit back, blood rising to his face as Mighty eased herself around him, the pressure on his knee indicating where she'd sat down, "doesn't it show you how grateful we can be for the touch of a loved one's hand? I know I am, grateful I mean".
"I, er"; oh boy, wasn't expecting this; the cat felt a strange light-headedness before the armadillo leaned up, whispering into his closest ear.
A second later, there was a sudden squawk of shock, a thump of a body impacting on the floor and an indignant voice roared out over the silent swamp,
"Scratch your own damn back!" There was another second of silence before, in concert, two voices laughed out loud in the quiet of the night.
XXX
Even in the middle of a fast dance with her son, Knuckles again reassuring her that he would never even consider opposing her marrying Wynmacher, her ears were well attuned to the crisp ringing of her home phone. Disentangling herself from the guardian, the bride-to-be quickly ducked into the hall, picked up the buzzing machine and headed for the nearest quiet room. Once there, the noise of the ongoing celebrations muffled from the conversation, she hit the answering button and greeted,
"Hello?"
"Hey, congratulations to the blushing bride"; her eyes widened as she recognised the voice,
"Sonic?"
"The one and only", the blue hedgehog on the other end of the line chuckled and explained, "news travels quick down here; got the news from my little bro after he dropped Mighty off; congrats to you and Wynmacher as well, wherever he is".
"Hey Lara", a second voice broke into the conversation, the echidna recognising Amy Rose's voice and smiling because of it, "well done, and Shadow says the same as well".
"Thank you both, it does mean a lot"; that was the definite truth – Lara was touched that so many people besides her own personal friends were making the effort to offer their support for the union. She smiled as she heard who she assumed to be Sonic shooing the other two hedgehogs away before his voice came through to her again,
"Sorry about that; listen, is Knuckles for a second? Got some things to say to him".
"He's here, I'll see if I can find him", the hedgehog hero heard the phone being set down; there was a wait of about thirty seconds before he was picked up again,
"Hey Smurf"; Sonic gritted his teeth,
"Mighty let you in on that one did she?"
"You bet; that is pure gold – what's it worth I don't tell Rouge about it?"
"The fact that if you do I'll not be held responsible for the consequences if she calls me it".
"She can handle anything you can throw at her".
"Oh you have no idea", the hedgehog shook himself; amusing as this diversion was it wasn't what he was here to talk about, "anyway, forget that; how are you feeling about all this?"
"What, mum's getting married?" The guardian laughed a little, "Sonic, in all honesty I couldn't be happier; I know Wyn thinks the world of her and vice-versa, so she deserves it". He almost felt the temperature of the blue hedgehog's voice drop,
"What about…?"
"I'll deal with him later", Knuckles knew it would have to be him; there was no way he could ask his mother, or her fiancé for that matter, to face Locke after this, "he knows, I called the Brotherhood but left it short – I'll make sure he's not about to do anything stupid".
"Good, just glad you're feeling happy about this". The echidna laughed,
"What are you, my therapist?"
"Nah, I don't get paid enough; I'm your conscience".
"Now I'm really worried; listen, tell the others thanks for the call – I or Lara will let you know when it all kicks off", Sonic heard a door open suddenly and Knuckles shout nearly deafened him in one ear, "gotta go!" That was strange; Sonic listened and replaced the phone as the echidna hung up; what got him so rattled?
XXX
"Fifth-father"; oh now what?; it had already been a long day and Spectre was not in the best of tempers – somehow Sabre rushing up to him didn't inspire confidence that this was anything to be pleased about.
"What is it Sabre?" The younger echidna skidded to a halt and looked up at his much older relative, taking a second to recapture his breath,
"He's gone fifth-father, he's not in Haven". Curse you Locke; Spectre had hoped that his youngest but one son's level head would have prevented him doing anything rash; this was obviously false in the case of Lara-Le. Smoke began to pump from under Spectre's robes, a physical manifestation of his rising anger as he spoke,
"Right, assemble the others, tell Sojourner to go and warn Wyn of what's about to happen and tell him not to panic, we'll handle it. We need to track him down before he does anything stupid".
"Stupid", Sabre huffed, "that's his middle name isn't it?" That got Spectre's mind, already prodigious by any stretch of the imagination, working; to disguise his discontent, he spoke into the silence,
"That's no way to talk about your son is it Sabre?"
"I'm not on about Locke", the surgeon folded his arms, realising the controversy and made it clear, "I'm on about your son". He saw Spectre's eyes close and braced himself; to his ineffable surprise, the black echidna reopened them after a second and merely sighed, turning back around with a shrug,
"Well, I suppose it's better than Locke going mad; I have Athair looking over his shoulder to monitor his actions; if he tries anything, he'll let us know". Sabre's eyes shot open so wide in horror his monocle fell out,
"You, you're not worried what he'll do?"
"Oh I know exactly what he'll do", a dangerous smile crossed the seventh-father's lips, "believe me Sabre, even Thunderhawk can learn, if you give him the right example". Not quite seeing what his fifth-father meant, Sabre nevertheless trusted him; Spectre was nothing if not usually accurate.
XXX
The knock came again; Rouge, who was fastest to the door, opened it and promptly fell over laughing, allowing the purple echidna on the other side to step over the threshold, rubbing his hands in glee as he looked down at where the bat was leaning against the wall for support,
"Well, where is he sixth-daughter?" She raised a shaking finger,
"Through there", the former spy managed to pull herself together to some degree as she asked, "you're not going to do what you did last time, surely not?" Thunderhawk shook his head,
"Not to the same extent no", the bat laughed again,
"Aww, shame; last time was so funny"; the lavender guardian fixed her with a stern eye, zipping up his coat to disguise the crest on his chest as he muttered,
"You weren't the one Spectre had a vendetta against", his voice rose as he stepped inside, "right then, here we go".
Slight silence fell as everyone saw the newest arrival to the party; Thunderhawk, however, had eyes only for the echidna who had at one time been his fifth-daughter-in-law. Lara's eyes were understandably hard as she remembered what had happened last time he had shown up at her home; the memory was still enough to make her blush now, but at least he was sober now. For his part, the former guardian merely walked over to her and inclined his head deeply,
"Lara, I extend not only my own wishes of good will, but those of the whole Brotherhood as well"; it was such a callous display of outright charm that she couldn't help but feel her heart soften, just a little bit, a slight smile pulling on her lips; well, boys will be boys…;
"I can guess what else you're after Thunderhawk", he raised his eyes at her wafted hand, "just go steady; they've all got work tomorrow, and don't bring them back here tonight, got it?"
"Impeccably Lara"; mind singing wonderful praises to the world, the sixth-father stood and raised his voice, "right, who's up for a quiet celebratory drink at the local?"
"Translation: anyone who's over age and male get over here now" Rouge called, watching on with a chuckle as Vector scrambled over to the purple echidna at the same time Lara gave Wyn the nod.
"Where's Knuckles?"
"In the spare room; phone call"; Thunderhawk nodded and raised a forestalling hand to Charmy,
"Leave it to me; I'll get him". The lavender echidna quickly moved down the short hallway and pushed open the door; he locked eyes with his sixth-son and just heard Knuckles scream,
"Gotta go!" down the phone before switching it off and leaping backwards, hands raised,
"No, no way and never, in that order, not after last time".
"Oh don't be such a baby", Thunderhawk circled, the current guardian making to jump over the bed to get away, "it won't be as bad as last time".
"I know it won't; I won't be there" Knuckles declared as he jumped up, sprawling over the bed as his older relative charged, seeking to drag him to the celebrations kicking and screaming,
"Knuckles, you're making this harder than it has to be", Thunderhawk roared, giving up on him physically and instead making peace with the Master to bring his youngest son to heel; Knuckles felt something like a lasso loop around his waist and struggled against it,
"No fair, let go".
"Fine"; the telekinetic hold dropped and the guardian was promptly wrapped up in Thunderhawk's patented full-nelson before being slung over one shoulder.
"Right, all present and correct then" Thunderhawk said brightly, seemingly ignoring the thrashing echidna he was holding and the assembled curses he was calling that were turning the air blue.
"Knuckles"; saved; the guardian recognised his mother's voice and knew she'd put a stop to this, "watch your language, there are youngsters present". He twisted until he could see her out the corner of his eye,
"But…"
"No buts", Lara cut him off, pointing to the door, "he said it wasn't going to be as heavy as last time, and anyway you're going to Wyn's afterwards, so you're going to have a night out with the lads; one won't kill you". Somehow her words didn't comfort him, the guardian wriggling even harder as Thunderhawk moved out of the hallway; in desperation, Knuckles grabbed the doorframe and clung on desperately,
"I don't wanna go!"
"You're going", Rouge slid up to her husband's side and suddenly her hands moved, "electric shock". Knuckles couldn't resist that; he jerked his hands back to protect his ribs from Rouge's tormenting fingers and Thunderhawk took his chance and stormed forwards, Knuckles pointing at his wife and promising,
"I'll get you for that batgirl; I'll…"; thankfully, Vector shutting the front door after Thunderhawk walked through it shut off the rest of his dire promises.
A/N: Poor Knuckles, a lamb to get slaughtered once more. Oh well, at least there's no Tails on hand this time with his trusty camera phone.