Their father was waiting at the table when Melody and Skye got home from school, causing the siblings to exchange a nervous expression. Miles had dashed off early that morning, shutting himself in his study after shoving the phone into Mina's hands with hushed instructions. The kids hadn't been able to hear what happened next, because at their parents' instruction they had to run off to school.
They hadn't really expected to see their father until the next day unless something urgent happened, and from Miles' face, it wasn't good news, and it was urgent.
Melody didn't even bother heading up stairs to put away her backpack, just tossing it haphazardly on the couch. Skye looked more hesitant, but he put his backpack beside hers, albeit more gently.
"What's the buzz, cuz?" Melody inquired, testing out a new phrase she had heard in school the week before.
Miles smiled tiredly at her, gesturing for them both to sit down. Mina, still on the phone, hung up with a reluctant sigh and sat down as well, the Prower family assembled properly.
"I've got bad news." Miles stated, confirming his children's thoughts. "As you both know, I… have a great deal of magical abilities, even if I choose not to demonstrate them often."
Melody and Skye nodded in perfect sync. Yes, they knew.
"In fact, my abilities make it so that I am one of the most powerful being in the cosmos, aside from the Ancient and Neo Walkers, and perhaps Shadow. With such skills, I am granted the ability to communicate with the Chaos Energy. And yesterday… it spoke to me. There is going to be a change of reality. People we know and love are going to vanish. The world we are aware of… is changing for the worst."
"I don't understand." Skye whimpered fearfully, eyes widening. "You're… you're makin' it sound like we're stayin'. You wouldn't be warnin' us if we weren't stayin' put."
"We are." Miles informed them, sighing as he pulled out a small box, revealing four arm clamps. "I made these. They'll make sure you exist. Time is only being rewritten from about twenty-five years in the past up to now, so while your mother and I will still exist, likely our love would not, and, by extension, neither would you kids. So, these bracelets will make sure you exist in the time swap."
"You are to never remove them." Mina informed them, brow furrowing. "Or else you will vanish. If either myself or your father removed it, the rest of the family will go, too. With these, you will keep memories from this reality and the next, though it will take time to get used to the competing thoughts."
"You're young enough that you'll hardly remember this reality as time continues, so the thoughts won't battle as long as they would if you were older." Miles continued, handing out the clamps by size.
"What kind of things will be rewritten?" Melody prodded, carefully securing her bracelet. Miles reached over and helped her adjust it properly. "And why aren't you mass producing these things?"
"Because we only have ten minutes." Miles huffed out, brows furrowing. "Enough time to hope you two got home from school in time. I've known since this morning, and your mother has been on the phone all day trying to contact as many family friends as she can to save, sending blueprints their way."
"And people who vanish?" Skye whispered, managing to get his cuff on himself.
"Practically everyone. People who will retain their memories are only people we managed to reach. Like Hope Kintobor, and a few other scientists."
"What about Manik?" Skye asked desperately, blue eyes staring widely at them as he thought of his best friend. "Is Manik still… will he still be around?"
"We…" Mina swallowed. "…I wasn't able to reach them, sweetie. I don't think that… I'm sorry."
Skye bit off a low whine, burying his head into his hands, tears already heading their way into his eyes. "I-I'm not gonna be able to say goodbye…?"
"Skye," Melody huffed in annoyance, "you're not gonna be able to say goodbye to anyone, weren't you listening? You'll make new friends."
"Melody's right." Miles agreed, tugging Skye into his lab and affectionately nuzzling his ear. "…I know what it's like to lose a best friend, Skye. I do. And… it's hard. It really is. Things are going to be different, but as long as you remember him-"
"But I don't wanna lose him! I don't want him to be gone forever! He's my best friend, and now he's gonna be dead!" Skye raged, showing a rare moment of frustration instead of his usual timidness and all Melody could think of was her own best friends, and wonder if they'd be around, too.
And suddenly, everything felt real. They'd be gone. No more Sonia, no Lara-Su, no more anyone. Melody couldn't imagine it, didn't want to imagine it.
"What about Queen Aunt Sally?" Skye asked in a hushed whisper, wiping at his eyes nervously. "Will she be gone, too? What about the Uncle Sonic?"
"She'll be fine, I promise. She'll be the same as ever, and… as for Sonic, I… don't know." Miles admitted, staring into the table. "The Chaos Energy didn't say much about him. He's not in my visions, and he's certainly not king anymore."
"Then who is?" Melody implored, fidgeting restlessly with her arm band already.
"Shadow." Miles told them, blue eyes scrunching up in annoyance. "Apparently he decided taking over the world was a good idea-"
"Shadow?!" Mina scoffed. "Sally married him?!"
"Yes."
"But-but he's such a grumpy, grumpy grump!" Skye illustrated his point by kicking his leg with each words, growling now in his throat.
"He wasn't always like that." Miles defended, gaze distant. "We saved the world together, once. He came to Sonic for help once or twice, too. I'm not sure why Shadow's going to become king, what his goal is, aside from conquering. What I do know is that as the Ultimate Lifeform, he'll retain all of his memories, with or without this gadget."
"And you're the Chosen One, so why do you need it?" Melody asked, proud of her father's superior status. She was positive he could take even the king in a fight and win, despite Miles' assurance that they had been in a fight, a real one, and declared it a stalemate. She never quite believed it, overconfident in his abilities, like now.
"Maybe I don't need it." Miles agreed half-heartedly, "but unlike Shadow, I'm not willing to test that." He paused, tails lashing behind him in annoyance, exhaustion weighing on his features.
Neither child had ever seen him look so defeated, and even though Mina had, it was a rare occurrence. He didn't like showing much weakness, especially after being raised by both Sonic and Sally, two of the most stubborn, tough people in all of Mobius. It wrenched Mina's heart deeply each time she saw him like this, knowing her husband was tormented by thoughts she nor the children could drive away.
"It's nearly time." Miles broke the heavy silence himself, standing up carefully, keeping Skye in his arms while he led the two mongooses over to the middle of the living room, sitting down on the floor. Skye went on one knee, Melody on the other, then Mina crouched down and leaned in between her two children, hugging them tightly.
Miles wrapped his arms around the members of his family, exhaling a slow sigh. "We're about to be cast into the unknown. I've told you stories about the Genesis Wave, and you're going to experience it yourself, soon. Remember what I always told you about the Genesis Wave? What the one constant always is?"
"…chaos?" Skye suggested nervously.
"Chaos." Melody nodded with much more confidence then her brother. "Chaos is the constant."
"Well," Mina announced, smiling gently at her children. For the first time, Melody noticed the lines on her mother's face. From fear, stress, or worry, Melody didn't know. "Today, we're adding a new constant. A new foundation."
"This family." Miles finished, squeezing them all just a bit tighter. "We're going to loose everything except for each other. It's just me, you, you, and you. We're the constant that the Chaos Energy has to work around. They want to screw up everything? They're going to have to come through us."
"Yeah!" Melody whooped supportively. "We got this! Who else matters as long as we have each other."
"Manik." Skye whispered into his father's neck, shaking his head bitterly. "He matters. I want him! I want him back… why can't we save him, too?"
"I'm going to do everything I can to save him, one way or another." Miles responded easily, so well that Melody had to figure out if he was indeed lying. But her father's eyes held a truth she could not ignore.
Even when the reality-rewrite wave washed over them, he still held the gaze.
Even when Melody and Skye screamed because their heads pulsed angrily from the new memories, and he held them all tight even while he was riding his own waves of misery, he didn't look doubtful if his own capabilities.
Even when he kissed them all goodbye, gave them one last hug, and adjusted their arm clamps, he never lost the determination in his face.
Melody privately wondered if he was really going to bring back Manik and Sonia.
Mina secretly thought he would try, but doubted he would succeed.
But Skye…
Skye always believed in him.
And it brought him his best friend back.
(:)
Skye and Manik's friendship is everything to me. I know we don't see it much, but in the background moments, it really warms my heart.
(Side note, I'm furious that Sonic named the twins the same names as their "older siblings". That doesn't make much sense to me. Like… give them different names?! Max! Elias! Jules! Bernie! Charles! He could've named them anything, but he chose the exact same names! Like, dude!)
