Chapter 3 - Death and life

Spark sat in his old hammock in his hut, rocking back and forth. Evening had fallen, and he had spent the afternoon being examined in the doctor's office. It was the first time he had seen a doctor since he had left Knothole, and the diagnosis was not good.

Sonic sat in a dusty chair beside the hammock, elbows on knees. He stared at the floor, thinking,
and Spark waited. It was like being in trouble as a small child, awaiting the judgement of a parent. Spark knew that he was sick, but the extent of it shocked him.

"Well, Sonic," he said, breaking the silence, "I guess when I kick, I'll leave you my dagger." He drew it from its sheath at his hip and fingered the blade lovingly.

Sonic lifted his head and gazed at the green hedgehog. "Is that why you came back, Spark?
Because you're dying?"

"Yeah," said Spark, eyes on the dagger. "I wanted treatment. I kind of figured it had something to do with the mega muck, though."

Sonic nodded. When Spark was very young, Robotnik had taken him and pumped him full of the noxious chemical, altering Spark's genetic structure. It had granted him his electrical power, but cursed him with recurring illness which sometimes manifested as a brain fever. Spark effectively lost his mind during these fevers.

"But they can't treat it," said Sonic. "Radiation would make it worse, and more drugs won't fix the ones already in you."

Spark nodded. His calm was uncanny, Sonic thought. Wasn't Spark afraid of dying? How could he be so casual about all this?

"Traditional treatment won't work," said Spark, stepping out of his hammock. He picked up his duffelbag from the corner and unzipped it. He pulled out a glowing white gem and held it up.
"You're a Chaos Wizard, Sonic. Isn't healing one of their powers?"

Sonic looked at the Chaos Emerald with wide eyes, and jumped to his feet. "Whoa, hold it.
Chaos Wizard?"

"Yeah, Chaos Wizard," said Spark, returning to the hammock with the gem in one hand and his dagger in the other. "I read up on people who can use Chaos Emeralds. Three or more powers,
and people called them Wizards."

Sonic grinned for the first time since he had heard that Spark was dying. "So that must make Knuckles the Wizard Guru or something. And Shadow's a wizard, too."

"Shadow?" said Spark. "Who's that?"

Sonic's grin faded. "Wow, you don't even know about Shadow?"

"I've been out of the loop for quite a while, Sonic," said Spark, ears flattening.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, uh, Spark, I can't do Chaos Healing. None of us can."

Spark looked at Sonic, and slowly a gray tinge crept into his face. "You ... can't? What can you do, then?"

Sonic checked them off on his fingers. "Chaos Control--that's stopping time--Chaos Relocate--that's teleporting--Chaos Sight--seeing the future and stuff--and Chaos Wind, which is like an instant tornado."

Spark lay down in the hammock with one leg out, pushing off the wall to swing back and forth.
Sonic watched him. "Sorry, bro. The only one we've ever seen do healing is a chao."

Spark turned his head to gaze at him. "A chao? Where is it?"

"Well ... last time he healed someone, I had to kidnap him from the chao gardens," said Sonic with a wry grin. "I've been threatened with prosecution if I try it again. We could try getting him out for a vacation, I guess. You remember Max?"

Spark frowned, thinking. "Talon's chao?"

"Yeah, him."

There was a moment of silence. Spark said, "Who'd he heal?"

"Zephyer. She got deroboticized and almost died."

"Whoa." Spark sat up straight, looking amazed. "Zephyer's deroboticized? I thought that was impossible because of her metal!"

"Nope," said Sonic. "Knuckles figured out a way. They're married now."

Spark blinked and looked as if Sonic had just told him that the sky was green. "Okay, that one's hard to swallow. I didn't even know that they liked each other."

"Apparently so," said Sonic with a shrug. "I'll talk to Knux about getting Max out of the chao garden in Sapphire City, so you'll get to see him and Zeff. Knux might know more about Chaos Healing now, actually. I tell you, Spark, if there were Chaos Nerds, he'd be one."

"Yeah ... like, wearing glasses and a pocket protector, studying an emerald," said Spark, and the two collapsed in gales of laughter.

When they had calmed down, Sonic said, "Serena's taking natural medicine classes. She wants to treat you with weird diets and things."

"It'd be worth a shot, I guess," said Spark, holding up the glowing gem and watching it cast flecks of light on the wall. "I mean, it won't kill me any faster. And once the chao gets here, what if he can't heal me anyway?"

"Oh, he can," said Sonic. "That's one of the green emerald's powers. You didn't need the white one, although it's nice to have."

"That's why you're the Chaos Wizard and I'm not," said Spark. "All I know is that Chaos Emeralds glow and turn you into a supercharged being when you have all seven."

"The white emerald's main power is deception," said Sonic. "Tell any lies lately?"

A faint tinge of pink rose into Spark's cheeks. "No," he said without looking at Sonic. After a moment he reached up with his metal hand and pulled off his silver headband. He held it out to his brother. "Do you think this might be hurting me?"

Sonic took the headband, looked at it for a split second, then flung it away from him.

Spark sat up, irritated. "Hey, be careful with that!"

"That's a piece of the Eighth Chaos Emerald," hissed Sonic. He stood with his back arched and spines bristling, as if the headband was a venomous snake. "I haven't touched the thing since .
that one time ... Spark, you shouldn't wear that. No wonder you're sick!"

Spark picked up the headband and fastened it around his forehead again. "I've had it for years and it never hurt me," he growled. "Without it I can't use electricity."

"Maybe you should go without it for a while," said Sonic, failing to hide the edge in his voice.
"It's dangerous, especially so close to your brain."

Spark fixed him with an annoyed stare and said nothing.

Sonic pointed at him. "You're dying, Spark! And you're not gonna get better with that thing dumping corruption into you!"

"It's mine," said Spark flatly.

The brothers glared at each other for several seconds. Then Sonic whirled and left, slamming the door behind him.

Spark gazed at the closed door for a long time. Then he slowly reached up and unfastened his headband. He laid it on the floor, the climbed into his hammock again, curled up and went to sleep.

Sonic found Sally and went on a tirade about Spark and his choices in apparel. They sat in a corner of the community hut, by the fireplace, and Sonic recounted their conversation in a low passionate voice. Sally listened, wide-eyed, nodding.

When Sonic finished, Sally was silent for a while, gazing into the fire. After a moment she said,
"He's had the Eighth Emerald for how long?"

"Years," said Sonic. "Ever since I first met him. I think he got it when he was working for Robotnik. And it's only a fragment, not the Eighth itself. He'd be stark raving mad in that case."
His voice was bitter.

Sally vividly remembered what had happened when Sonic had come into contact with the Eighth Emerald ... seeing Slasher turn tail and flee before Sonic's crazed rampage. Sonic's green eyes were yellow in the firelight, recalling the voices in his head and his months of torment. He gazed into the fire instead of at Sally, blaming himself. Somehow, someway, Spark's illness was his fault.

Sally read it in his face. She slid her chair closer to his and clasped his hands. "He chose to wear that stone," she said softly. "He chose his lifestyle. It's not your responsibility."

Sonic looked at her for a moment, then dropped his eyes to the fire again. "I know. I just think, if only I'd taken that headband from him when he told me what it was. If only I'd made him get treatment for that poison ..."

"You can't make him do anything," said Sally, a smile dimpling her cheek. "He'd tell you to take a flying leap. I do recall you trying to make him see a doctor, and he pulled his knife on you."

Sonic grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess he did. But still--"

The community hut's door opened, and Sonic and Sally looked up. Zephyer stepped in, closed the door behind her, and saw them sitting with clasped hands and heads together. She froze. "Um, is now a good time?"

Sonic and Sally immediately parted and sat up. "Sure," said Sonic. "What's up, Zeff?"

Zephyer was an echidna, which was remarkable given their rarity, and Knuckles's wife, which was even more remarkable, for she had been roboticized until a year ago. She was dressed in heavy pants and a down jacket, with a cloak draped around her for added protection from the cold.

"Going to the north pole?" said Sonic as Zephyer pulled up a chair.

She pulled off her cloak and sat down. "No," she snapped. "You know I hate the cold." She was wearing gloves, too. She pulled her long red dreadlocks out of her face, and folded her cloak over one arm. "Um." She looked from Sonic to Sally and back. "Sonic, I need to ask you something."

"Okay, shoot," said Sonic, folding his hands.

Zephyer looked at Sally, almost fearfully. "It's about the future."

Sonic froze and stared. He had been expecting this conversation for a long time, but all the same it unnerved him. He swallowed and said, "Don't worry, I told Sally about Nash."

"And Jason?" said Zephyer.

Sally watched both of them. Sonic and Zephyer were talking secrets, for their eyes communicated more than their words. Sonic shook his head slightly and motioned to Sally with his head.
Zephyer nodded.

"Should I leave?" said Sally, feeling an unaccountable surge of jealousy. She knew that Sonic and Zephyer had been to the future, and they returned with an oath to never talk about what they had seen. But something had happened to make Zephyer break the vow of silence. Sally could see it in the way that Zephyer was winding her cloak around her arm and fist without meaning to.
For a moment Sally wondered if Sonic and Zephyer's relationship had ever gone past friendship,
and her jealousy flamed toward Amy-esque heights.

"No, no, stay here," said Sonic. "You'll find out all this eventually, I guess. Go ahead, Zeff."

This seemed to confirm Sally's suspicions, but she folded her arms and determined to hear Zephyer out.

Zephyer's attention was fixed entirely upon Sonic. "Jason's friend Simoon--the echidna boy who had been burned. Um ..." She began winding her cloak around her other arm, and studied the fabric as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "He told me that his was an orphan,
because the Floating Island crashed and killed his parents."

Sally's attitude toward Zephyer thawed at once. She also guessed where this was going. Sonic was listening intently, elbows on knees.

Zephyer went on, "Knuckles was his father. Now, at the time, Knuckles and I--I mean, I didn't even like him that much. I didn't think anything of it--that I--" She stammered to a halt.

Sonic gave Sally a sidelong look, checking to see if she was following this. Sally met his look with one of her own, yes, and she understood.

Zephyer recollected her thoughts and plunged into her question. "So, Sonic ... Simoon was my little boy, wasn't he?"

Sonic nodded, raising an eyebrow. "It took you this long to figure it out?"

"Hello, it's not something I enjoy thinking about," Zephyer snapped, glaring. "I know how you got those scars on your legs. I saw them cutting the barbed wire out of you."

Sally's head jerked around to stare at Sonic, who flinched. "Yeah, I remember that."

There was a brief silence. Zephyer played with her cloak without looking at either of them.

Sonic watched her, building up the nerve to actually ask. "Zeff ... um ... you're expecting, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Zephyer without looking up. "I cam straight here from the doctor's. Which brings me to another question." She met Sonic's eyes squarely. "How, exactly, did the island crash?"

Sonic steepled his fingers. "Jason told me that they hid the Eighth Chaos Emerald there. Simoon unlocked the box and it burned his face. It ... neutralized the Master Emerald."

Zephyer buried her face in both hands.

There was an awkward silence. Sonic and Sally gazed at Zephyer, whose breathing sounded like silent sobbing. Sonic leaned over and put a hand on her arm. "We changed that future, though,
remember Zeff? We hid the Eighth Emerald before it was found the first time."

"But Nash is here!" wailed Zephyer, uncovering her face. Tears had left glistening paths down her cheeks. "It all still might happen, have you thought of that? Knux and I might die in ten years!"

Now Sally leaned forward, distressed to see Zephyer like this, and distressed at her possible future. First Spark, now Zephyer and Knuckles. "Zeff, the future isn't set. Since you know it, you can change it."

"That's right," said Sonic, giving Sally a grateful look. "Have you told Knuckles? He'd know how to handle this."

Zephyer sniffed and wiped her eyes. "No, I haven't told him. We promised not to tell anyone about the future, remember?"

"Yeah," said Sonic. "But I think it's time to start talking about it."

There was a moment of silence as Zephyer pulled herself together and unwound her cloak from her left arm. She shook it out and stood to put it on. "I need to go. I should have told Knux all this first ... after all, Simoon's as much his as mine." She smiled, a sudden, dazzling smile that Sonic and Sally had never seen before. "I'm gonna be a mommy!" She flung her cloak around her shoulders and nearly ran out of the hut, headed for the teleporter that would take her home.

Sonic looked at Sally. "Suddenly my problems don't seem so bad."

Sally gazed at the door. "Mm hm." Slowly she turned to Sonic. "Who is Jason, might I ask?"

Sonic looked at her, chewing his lip and thinking. "I'll bet you know."

Sally tilted her head to one side. "Is he a hedgehog?"

"Hybrid," said Sonic, flushing and staring at the floor.

Sally rocked back in her chair and laughed. She knew. No wonder Sonic was so reticent about the whole future thing!

He watched her and chuckled. "I hope Knux takes your view of all this."

The Floating Island wintered at Mobius's equator, where it was warm and wet. Most of the island's water was collected at monsoon season, and Zephyer arrived back in a deluge of rain that blinded her. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, and slogged up the muddy path to the house. It was a relief to step onto the porch, out of the rain, and pull off her soaked cloak. She left her muddy shoes outside the door and went in.

The rain made a steady, cozy drumming on the roof, and the house's arm, familiar smell greeted her: woodsmoke, wood floors, and a hint of the tropical flowers in a vase on the kitchen table.
She heard the voices of Talon and the chao in Talon's room, playing a game of some sort.

As she pulled off her jacket, Knuckles poked his head out of the kitchen. "There you are, Zeff! I was about to send out a search party."

"It's okay, I made it," said Zephyer, hanging up her jacket on a peg beside the door.

Knuckles walked up and hugged her, and kissed her cold lips. "You're like ice," he remarked,
pulling back and looking at her in concern. "What'd the doctor say? Are you sick?" He led her into the kitchen.

Zephyer hid a smile. "Not sick, no ..." Knuckles had wanted to accompany her to Knothole, but Zephyer had insisted that she go alone. She had suspected what was ailing her, and knew she couldn't talk to Sonic with Knuckles there. Knuckles would have resorted to violence before hearing the whole story.

The kitchen table was covered in pottery shards, arranged like a puzzle to form a tablet covered in writing. Knuckles's translation notes were scattered over the table and chairs. "Another wild night at our house," Zephyer observed.

"Yeah," said Knuckles, clearing off a chair for Zephyer, and sitting down. "If our friends knew the kind of life we lead, they'd be here all the time. Or not." He smiled.

Zephyer sat down beside him. "Translating the ancients for the benefit of the future generation, I see."

"Yep." Knuckles lifted a sheet of paper, glanced at it, and let it fall. "So what'd the doctor say"
Her hint had gone over his head.

She smiled. "I'm perfectly normal."

He frowned. "But you've been throwing up! How can that be normal?"

Zephyer was delighted with her secret. He really had no clue, gazing at her, full of concern. She paused a moment, then said, "Knux ... I'm pregnant."

Knuckles's jaw dropped. He stared at her for nearly a full minute, speechless. "You are?" he whispered.

Zephyer nodded, beaming.

Knuckles looked as if she had socked him in the stomach. He glanced around the kitchen, as if making sure that the world had not really just turned inside out, and returned his gaze to her. A grin broke over his face like the rising sun. "Zeff--!" He hugged her, a smothering hug that was as gentle as it was warm.

"I can't believe it," he whispered in her ear, "Although on second thought, I don't know why I didn't see this coming. I should have gone with you!" He reluctantly released her, but held her hands.

"It's okay," said Zephyer. "I needed to talk to Sonic, anyway."

Knuckles's face darkened to a scowl. "What's Sonic have to do with it?"

Zephyer hadn't realized how such a statement would sound, and she giggled, rocking back and forth. "No, no, I didn't mean that!" She gazed into her husband's searching eyes. "You remember when two strangers showed up and gave you and Sonic the Eighth Chaos Emerald?"

Knuckles nodded.

Zephyer went on, "They were from the future, and Sonic and I went there. I had to ask Sonic to fill in some blanks for me. Now I can tell you the whole story."

"Go for it," said Knuckles flatly.

It took her upwards of an hour. Knuckles interrupted her once in a while with a question, and his dark expression slowly lightened. When she finished, he sat gazing at the window, thinking. She waited nervously, hanging on his next words.

After a while he looked at her and said, "So the Eighth Emerald made the island crash. But now the Eighth Emerald has been moved out of history, so it can't be found by our son."

She nodded. That made sense, and she felt a swell of relief.

Knuckles squinted at the table, still thinking. He went on, "My future self must have been crazy to accept protection of the Eighth Emerald. But then, I wouldn't have known what it could do.
None of us did until those kids came back to our time and dumped the emerald on us. So the timeline was already being affected. I know things now that I must not have known in the alternate future. So that future can't come true now, because we know how to prevent it."

He turned to Zephyer, who was gazing at him with shining eyes. "I'm glad you told me all this."

"You're so level-headed," she said, realizing that her eyes were full of tears. She wiped them away. "I've been chasing this in circles ever since I first wondered if I was pregnant."

Knuckles nodded and smirked. "What kind of name is 'Simoon', anyway?"

"Echidna tradition from my tribe," said Zephyer. "The firstborn is always named for the wind.
That's how I got my name--a zephyr is a small spring breeze. A simoon is a harsh east wind in the desert."

Knuckles pondered this. "Not bad. I like that. Simoon. Okay. What was he like?"

Zephyer thought. "He struck me as being really smart, but not as aggressive as his father."

Knuckles chuckled. "I suppose we'll just have to see how he turns out. Looks like Talon will have a little brother."

"I don't think the chao will be thrilled," said Zephyer. "They'll have a competitor."

"Chimera is the one who worries me," muttered Knuckles. "When the baby comes, some attitudes will have to change."