thank you all, love you all.
XXVI.
here (hir)
[adverb]
at this point, at this time.
Comprehension was beyond his senses in this realm. He could not see, could not feel, only drift. He wondered if this was the afterlife. Some sort of distorted heaven, where there was only warmth and light that could only be perceived through senses he struggled to hold onto.
"Thank you."
He couldn't ask who spoke those words, couldn't respond, couldn't comprehend. But her voice was heavenly, and so he listened.
"Thank you for restoring balance.
"I know you didn't do it alone. There are others. But balance has been restored, and the world can be set right again. The right path can progress.
"The Null Space is a domain not meant for life. It was never meant to intersect with our own domain, until it did. The Phantom Ruby disrupted the balance of Chaos, and the darkness almost won out—but you stopped it."
In an ethereal way that numbed his flesh, he felt tender hands cup his face. He felt a familiar friend stand before him and hold him.
"Thank you, bravehearted hero. You still have a legacy to fulfill, more balance to restore, and I know steadfastly that the Null Space is not where you are meant to meet your demise. Nor anyone else.
"I see the other one with you. He is not the same bravehearted hero as you. But I can sense his heart of gold and though he is different, he is as much of a hero as you are. He, too, played his part in restoring the balance, and for this I know that he must go on too. He shan't be lost, I assure you.
"Because you restored the balance, Chaos has returned to its mantle, so now I am able to make amends and show you my thanks. You both must go forth to continue guiding this world away from the darkness. Your stories aren't over yet."
The light yielded, and he found his voice in the brief seconds that remained in here before he was swept away yet again.
Sonic opened his eyes and, though nearly blinded by the grand light of Chaos, his eyes warmed upon her soft innocence.
He said to her, as she set it all right once and for all, "Thank you, Tikal."
Amy Rose didn't believe in miracles, and perhaps she was wrong not to.
She had already been in mourning as she cycled through the prayers, withdrew all the Chaos energy she could from their surroundings, and used it to force the portal closed. It was gradually corralled back to the room it started in until it was just an insignificant tear in the universe, and then it continued to shrink until it was gone.
And her mind was reeling. And her face was wet with tears. And she'd just trapped them in there, she did that, but at least Mobius was safe. The universe was safe. And at least Infinite was gone, too.
Nobody behind her spoke, although she could hear some near silent mutterings, some sniffles, some muffled cries. Amy thought of the kid—who carried the burden of Infinite's wrongdoings as if he were responsible for it all (and maybe a part of her resented him for it anyway, even if it was just as unfair as his own self-loathing)—and how he had selflessly attempted to slow the cargo train down at Chemical Plant. She thought of one of her closest friends, the icon of the resistance, brought back from the dead only to die for this cause in the end, anyways.
In that moment, Chaos energy coursing so lushly around her, she almost thought she heard Knuckles. It was hard to make out what he was saying (the better part of her knew it wasn't real), but he sounded proud. Like he always knew she was destined for this. To fix everything.
Amy stared into her palms, trembling. It was so quiet in here, without the roaring gale of the Null Space. It was hard to concentrate on whether she'd really fixed everything, when everyone was staring at the back of her head. Everyone was trying to process the implications of what exactly she had just done.
She didn't know if she could ever bear to look Shadow or Tails in the eyes again.
So she collapsed, let her face fall into her hands, and wept. It was a different cry than when Knuckles had died. This one was heavy, mournful, too. But there was liberation running underneath. A weight lifted off her shoulders as the pain poured out of her in the form of tears.
She was so swept up in her emotions that she almost missed the sudden flash of light that burst into existence before them all. But she lifted her head, and watched in disbelieving wonder as the light gently waned, and two figures she thought she'd never see again emerged through before falling to the ground.
They were encircled by their friends, their family, immediately.
Amy began to reconsider her stance on miracles.
Warmth was the first sensation to register in his mind when he woke up. He peeled open his eyes, and his whole body was lead, and he was almost entirely immobile. He wondered if this was a dream. He struggled to recall what had happened last.
He was in some sort of infirmary. The lantern on a nearby table casted a soft, orangey glow around the room, and the quilts lain over his prone body were like a shield to the rest of the world, and he soaked it all up. Soaked up the warmth like a sponge. Like he'd die without it.
There was a window across from the foot of the bed, but his eyes were still adjusting and it was too bright to discern whatever was outside. He appreciated the dimness of this room, and squinted past the sun's glare as his other sensations came back to him.
His throat was sore, his lips were dry. He tried to lick them, and then realized there was a respirator over his mouth, pumping clean air into his lungs. It felt a little unnecessary; he could breathe on his own, probably.
Then he tried to wriggle his muscles awake, only for them to respond to him with deep aches or sharp burns. Most of his body was hidden under the quilts, but he noted the bandages that peeked out beneath them, wrapped around his chest. He could feel tight gauze covering various parts of his body.
He also started to become cognizant of another person by his left side, slumped over the bed, one hand on his chest. The person sort of trapped his left arm beneath them by proxy, but the sight brought a smile to his face, so he tried to use his right arm to pull the respirator off his face and wake them up.
… Nothing happened.
He frowned and glanced down at himself again, and then his heart stopped, and he straightened out, eyes bulging, because his arm was gone, it was gone. There were bandages wrapped around the measly stub of what was left.
The person at his other side stirred at his panic, and then there were hands caressing his face, a familiar, low tone shushing him. A pair of steady red eyes clung to him.
"Calm down," Shadow told him softly. "It's okay, we're safe, it's over."
He didn't really know how to react, and his blood felt like ice in his veins; Shadow must have noticed he was trying to do something, trying to remember, because he removed the respirator to let him speak. Now that Shadow wasn't leaned over half of his torso, he noticed the IV, the bandages on his left arm. His—his only arm.
He remembered a red sword. Illusions. A city underwater. Infinite.
Null Space.
Shadow was gliding his hands over Sonic's face and quills, over his shoulders, along his chest, like he was struggling to believe that Sonic was even alive.
"… What happened?" he croaked, flinching at the roughness in his voice. And he remembered that now, too. Being suffocated—not just by Infinite, but by the Null itself. Sonic brought his hand up to gingerly touch his throat, and his fingers stuttered over what felt like darkly bruised marks engraved into him.
Shadow smiled so hopefully that it made Sonic homesick. Homesick for the before, in a way he had never felt until now.
"We won."
Tears brimmed in Sonic's eyes, and he started to smile too. He brought his hand to cup Shadow's face, and he knew it so definitively—we won—that he almost couldn't believe it anyway. He had witnessed Gadget kill Infinite. And even though they weren't able to make it out before the portal closed, Tikal had saved them. Tikal had saved them, because the Phantom Ruby's tirade was over and Chaos had returned to its rightful place of power.
"Thought I'd lost you," Shadow said, his voice thick with emotion. "But you die hard. Isn't that what you told me?"
"Somethin' like that."
Shadow squeezed his eyes shut, and fresh tears streamed down his face. He kept touching Sonic, stroking his quills, holding him like he was the most precious thing in the world. "… Rose closed the portal to the Null Space. I wanted to—I wanted to go in after you, but—"
"Stop. Stop it," Sonic said gently. "You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, the portal closing probably saved us in the end, because once the Null Space's connection to reality was severed, Tikal was able to get us out."
"Tikal? You saw her?"
"She thanked us for fixing everything. Restoring the balance. She told me it wasn't my—wasn't our time…" Sonic trailed off, before a spike of panic shoved through his chest. "Shit, where's the kid? Is he—?"
"He's fine," Shadow said, gesturing past Sonic. He looked over to his right, and there was evidently another bed in this infirmary, another unconscious body with a respirator over his face and an IV drip in his arm. Sonic's gaze lingered on Gadget's left arm. It was scarred an ugly, twisting black, from when he had pulled the Phantom Ruby out of Infinite.
He wondered how permanent that would be.
Shadow rubbed Sonic's shoulder and continued to say, "He just hasn't woken up yet. Other injuries aside, the only reason you two have been unconscious for so long and put on oxygen is because of your time in the Null. You were both extremely deprived of Chaos energy. We've been transfusing some back into your systems, but it takes time."
"How—how long has it been?"
Shadow contemplated with his lips in a thin line. "A little over a week."
Suppressing the shock of being in a comatose for a little over a week, because Sonic saw no productivity in continuing to think about that, he searched Shadow's face for more answers instead. "And everyone else?"
"Everyone's okay. You and Gadget suffered the brunt of the battle."
"Infinite's dead."
"We figured as much."
Sonic looked back over to Gadget, still not yet awake, but breathing calmly; breathing, after they were barely able to inside the Null Space. "He's the one who finished it, y'know. Not me. I tried to kill him 'cause I just wanted to get back at him, I wanted revenge, but I nearly died trying. I'm glad it happened how it did, though."
He met Shadow's eyes again. They were flickering over him concernedly. Like Shadow still couldn't believe he was alive and well.
Sonic lowered his hand from Shadow's face to intertwine their fingers together and squeeze. They were both still wearing their rings, and it made something soothing blossom in his heart to realize that.
"I'm sorry for not realizing sooner," Sonic whispered. It still kind of hurt to talk, but he had to get this all out. "Gadget didn't—he didn't have any Chaos Emeralds or Phantom Rubies. No blind rage. He just… did things right. He made peace with himself, with doing the right thing.
"I kept trying to do this all on my own, because after being defeated and imprisoned and humiliated, after—after they'd stolen a part of my own body and made it their own—I just wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove they hadn't broken me. That I was still myself… even though I ended up losing sight of who I was the more I went down that path." He swallowed against the scratchiness in his throat, cringing at the twinge of pain it brought. "… If it weren't for Gadget, I probably wouldn't be here right now."
"But you are," Shadow said. "You're here right now. The world is healing. And all of our friends are out there right now trying to patch things up. You're here, and it's done."
Sonic furrowed his brows, looking over every factor. How could it all be done? Just like that? Infinite was gone, but was that really it? "… What about Eggman? Did you guys ever find him?"
Shadow shook his head. "Never did. Either the Null got to him first, or he's in hiding. But all his factories and bases around the world are out of commission. People are stepping back out into the open. Settlements that were beaten into submission are—are coming together. The resistance is bigger than ever, and everything the doctor stole from us is being reclaimed. His robots are useless without their leader to command them. If he's still out there, then he's surely heard by now of what happened to Infinite. And he knows he can't win anymore."
And it was so good to hear all of that, but Sonic still felt himself frowning. "If he's still alive, we need to find him. Lock him up for good."
"We will," Shadow assured him. "We will, someday. But we've already won. The world is recovering. Resistance members are searching day and night for refugees and spreading the word. We won."
Sonic sunk back against his pillow, and he exhaled deeply, eyeing Gadget one bed over. He felt Shadow squeeze his hand, and looked upon the rise of a hopeful tomorrow for the first time in a long time.
Amidst the ravaged city, he found something. They'd all been discovering that more frequently over these past few days: beneath all the wreckage there was still something. There were others, although weak, although hiding, that somehow crawled out of the rubble.
Tails entered the building tentatively, wispon at the ready, as he stepped through the barely held together building. There were ambient, feeble lights coming from inside, which indicated that something that he had been looking for. Upon closer inspection, the lights turned out to be candles, melted to short stubs yet persisting still, always, as vibrantly as they could.
The room was as cozy as something like this place could've been nowadays. There were a few cans scattered around, most of them pried open and emptied of their contents. A sleeping mat in the corner, near a collection of candles. And an armadillo hunched over a map, brows furrowed with intense concentration.
"Thought I'd find you here," Tails hazarded, dropping his guard. Mighty jumped at the sound of his voice and sat up, but quickly relaxed upon discovering the friendly face by the entrance. "You aren't very good at covering your tracks."
Mighty's face shifted into something curious and thoughtful. "Don't really need to hide anymore, right? The empire's dead."
"Nearly, yeah."
Looking him over, Mighty sniffed nonchalantly, but a gentle smile quirked at his lips. "Glad you made it. All of you. I heard about what happened." He folded up his map, set it beside himself on the sleeping mat, and stood up. "What're you doin' out here?"
Tails chewed the inside of his cheek uncertainly. "… Just wanted to check up on you. Y'know, it's harder now for information to spread very quickly, but I've heard a few rumors about a red vigilante in this region who's been directing refugees to shelters."
Mighty nodded. "Just doin' my part to help. After—after, I never stopped wanting to help. I just had to…"
"I know," Tails assured, and he couldn't really extend himself to elaborate because the memories of the state he had been in—when, like Mighty, he'd just lost his brother—were just too painful to dwell on. "Trust me, I get it."
Nodding again, Mighty started to scuff the toe of his boot on the ground. His eyes never left Tails, like he was analyzing his every mannerism, his every reaction. Tails squirmed under his scrutinization. He seemed—changed, since they'd last seen each other. Perhaps wiser. Perhaps just more eroded.
"Are you here to try and get me to come back with you? Join your team of heroes?"
Tails opened his mouth and then closed it again, shrugging. "I—I mean, you've proven yourself more than capable."
Mighty chuckled breathily and stared up at the ceiling, seeming to lapse into some deep thoughts momentarily. "I'm pavin' my own path here, Tails. I'm doin' my part to contribute here. Hell, apparently I got a reputation now." His eyes found Tails again with confidence. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you and the top dogs are hard at work, fixing the world. And I told you before, I wanna help. Still do. Just—this is working for me, for now."
And Tails couldn't help but look at him a little wondrously. He probably looked dumbfounded but Mighty just left such a deep impression on him that he'd never really been able to unpack. He was just so—sure of himself.
Maybe that's what was different about Mighty. Wise and eroded, yes, but there was also a contentment in his gaze that dug through Tails' heart and stirred up a hard longing that he'd tried to move past long ago. In what felt like another world, back after Ray had…
Mighty had been so broken. And Tails had seen himself in him.
But now Mighty was different.
Tails realized that he wanted, terribly, to become different too.
He looked to Mighty with something nearing desperation, something drowned in heartache. He felt exhausted. "This is… working for you?" he echoed back softly.
Mighty's demeanor wavered and mellowed. "You once told me that I didn't get to just—sit around and wallow. That there was no room for grieving in the middle of a war."
Tails blinked at him, speechless and so deprived of rest and serenity.
"You were halfway right," Mighty told him. "Back then, yeah, we weren't allowed to do that. We had to finish the fight. And we still are fightin', but things have changed. We're reclaiming our planet now, tyrants be damned." A smile crept onto his face, small and peaceful. "We're still fightin', and we always will be, but we also get to process everything. We get to take a deep breath now."
Mighty started to approach his assortment of tin cans, looked over his collection, and then picked one up. He idly worked at peeling off the lid, and Tails could only watch him, feeling skinned raw; an open, burning wound standing vulnerably in the open air.
"Ray was always so scared. Even before everything," Mighty continued. He seemed to grow frustrated with the can, so he brought it back to his corner and rifled around in a bag before withdrawing a pocketknife to pry it open. "But in the end—he was so fuckin' brave. I wish I could've shown him the world before it all went to shit, but the past is the past. So, uh, I'm gonna fix up Soleanna the best I can, 'cause I think he would've loved this place, and that's just my way of making peace with it all. And after that, I'll fix up the rest of the world too, if I have to."
The can popped open and Mighty grinned to himself victoriously. He stuck his finger in and fished out a peach slice, which he downed quickly. Then he strode over to Tails and held out the can to him. Tails eyed it and then took a peach slice too. The syrupy sweetness was a balm to his blistering throat.
"I see it in your eyes," Mighty uttered as they both chewed on the fruit. "The hurt. The guilt. You still carry it with you like it's this burden you're not allowed to let go of, but—Tails, doesn't it get to be laid to rest now? There has to be an aftermath to all this. The fight isn't over but the war is. You can… let yourself feel it now. You can grieve. It's okay."
Tails let Mighty's words swirl around in his head, and he let the peach in his mouth turn to mush, and he bit back his tears.
Angel Island returned to the skies where it had always belonged, and there was an uneasy sense of correction that swam over the landmass as it eased into the clouds. Hidden in the forests, the remains of the old, destroyed HQ lingered, an ugly scar of the rebellion's past failures, but they had plans for it. They'd build it into something new, a base of operations for the leaders of a shattered planet attempting to pull itself back together.
In the meantime, though, the island was almost entirely vacated. It had been vacated since Chaos broke free and Infinite took it, but things were different now. Originally, Angel Island had been purposefully grounded—to hide from Eggman's forces and better protect the Master Emerald. But then the Master was shattered and they'd had no choice but to flee; the island had no choice but to stay put.
But the Master Emerald had been slotted back into place atop its shrine after all this time, its pieces fitted easily back together, and it was now swathed in a constant glow. The Master Emerald was green and purified, its surface smooth as though it had never been broken in the first place. There were no more remnants of the Phantom Ruby's control after Shadow had freed Chaos and the Null Space had been sealed for good.
Now Angel Island could soar to the heavens again, because everything had been fixed. Everything had been set right.
And yet, Amy couldn't shake the feeling that things were still far from okay.
She knelt in the grass at the base of the shrine, staring helplessly at the tall staircase before her. A glow of green emanated over the top, thought she couldn't see the Master Emerald itself from down here.
Tikal had been with her since they started restoring everything. Tikal guided her to Angel Island, taught her to weave the Master Emerald back together. Tikal helped her put the Master back in place atop the shrine: the two of them willed it back into power, breathed the balance back into the air. And now, as she knelt here, she knew Tikal's ghost sat before her on the bottom steps, watching her expectantly.
Amy couldn't bring herself to meet her eyes.
"He's dead because of me," she whispered to the deity. "I'm sorry."
"The strong grow from their pain, from their mistakes. You can set things right, Amy."
Amy shook her head hopelessly in her hands. "How can I possibly—"
"The Master Emerald, Angel Island: they have both seen many guardians come and go. Chaos knows how to seek worthiness. A great power lies in you, Amy Rose."
"You're wrong. The emerald is wrong. I know—I know you need a new guardian, but I just can't. I'm not ready."
A cold hand tapped her chin and gently tipped Amy's head up to meet Tikal's eyes. Tikal's figure was almost intangible; almighty and bright and hard to concentrate on, but it was Tikal, she could feel it. She moved her cold, transparent hand to cup Amy's cheek.
Though she couldn't really see it, she could feel Tikal smile. She just knew she was smiling, as though her smile sunk through the very threads of Chaos energy slithering through the air. "I won't allow you to deny your power to yourself. You are ready, more than you know. However—"
Amy let her eyes flutter shut.
"I understand that you need time. After so much pain, the soul needs time to mend itself. Chaos and I are strong enough again to keep the emerald and the island safe on our own. But we will be here, if you ever feel it is right for you to return and take up the mantle."
The intangible figure wilted a little, as if Tikal temporarily allowed her shoulders to slump, and she spoke in a way so intimate and genuine and normal that Amy was reminded, searingly, that Tikal had once been nothing more than an innocent, mortal little girl, untouched by brutality.
"He always knew you were strong enough, Amy. Knuckles trusted you to be his successor because he always saw who you really were. What you were capable of. Let go of your doubt and fear, Amy; it harms you more than you know."
Amy tilted her head against Tikal's hand, and she thought of Knuckles standing beside her, holding out his hand for whenever she was ready to take it, and she smiled. "Thank you."
When Gadget finally woke up, there were already a few visitors staying at the Knothole infirmary. Who was there was entirely incidental—various members of the resistance were often out and about, hardly staying in one place for too long. There was too much of a need for advocacy, for directing the salvation of civilization, for helping to guide things in the right direction.
However, two of the heroes who had made their victory possible were still bedridden in Knothole, so everyone usually made the time to visit when they could.
Shadow was the only person who was almost constantly around, save for the actual residents of Knothole itself. Sonic, though taking the time to rest, needed the company when he more frequently found himself awake and trapped in such a confining, dull room, and Shadow was happy to fulfill that roll for his fiancé. Sonic was subjected to a few weeks of bedrest until his internal Chaos levels were stable and his injuries had made a significant enough recovery.
Today, Silver and Tails had also stopped by—it wasn't necessarily planned, but rather just how the scheduling worked out. Silver was usually out in major cities, putting his powers to good use by sifting through all the debris and wreckage, but he'd been convinced to stop by for the day. Tails had been helping with more diplomatic matters like helping countries recover their governments, figuring out what to do with so many displaced civilians, or even just getting satellites up and running again, but he hadn't visited in over a week and wanted to check up on the infirmary.
Silver slouched in his chair, twiddling his thumbs around thoughtlessly. Stress was not a good look on him, but Sonic found it there more often than he'd have liked to. "I definitely want to help out as much as I can while I'm still here, but I really shouldn't stay much longer."
"Why the rush?" Sonic asked. He was in his bed but sitting up straight. His recovery was coming along nicely: the worst of his injuries amounted to the cuts across his chest and in his hand from Infinite's sword that called for stitches, as well as various bruises across his body. The Null's effects left a greater impact on him, however—he still couldn't expend very much energy without quickly becoming exhausted.
Beside him, Shadow was half-asleep in a chair. Tails sat in the chair by the still-unconscious Gadget's bed, though he had reoriented it to face the others, and Silver sat further away by the window across from them.
Silver shook his head and shrugged. "You know. I have responsibilities. I have to protect our future—especially now, after everything."
"It can't get much worse than it already has, right?" Sonic half-joked, though he sort of understood what Silver meant. He respected Silver's commitment, but he also worried for his friend. Sonic reminisced over the last time they had talked about this, before the war, when they were young and naïve. They were still relatively young, even after going through so much. "Y'know… my offer still stands, from all those years ago. There's a place here for you, in the present."
Silver fell quiet for a moment as he considered the offer. "I dunno… I—I'll think about it. Thanks."
"Of course, man."
The room grew comfortably quiet until a low, nearly silent groan cut through. Sonic felt his ears twitch at the noise before it became a bit louder and he was able to locate the source. The four of them shifted their attention anxiously to Gadget.
Shadow stood up, a hand on Sonic's shoulder, and the other two moved to Gadget's side. He wrestled weakly beneath the blankets, a confused grumble in the back of his throat as he attempted to breach the surface of consciousness, his eyelids clenching down in effort.
He came to gradually, straining and grunting in discomfort, his eyes slightly dilated when they finally opened. Gadget blinked a few times as he absorbed his surroundings before meeting his friends' gazes. He eased up and made some muffled noise, though it couldn't be distinguished due to the respirator over his muzzle. Tails hesitated, as if deciding if Gadget was well enough to be taken off oxygen, before pulling the mask off.
Gadget's face screwed up in concern. His tongue darted out to wet his dry lips. For a while he said nothing, like he was expecting someone else to start talking, but nobody knew what to say, so he eventually asked with an immense level of panic in his eyes, "Did we win?"
"Thanks to you, yeah," Tails said, smiling at him and patting his shoulder. "How do you feel?"
"Like I was hit by a train." Gadget's gaze traveled over to Sonic and he sent him a look that was weighed with relief. As if to say, I'm glad you made it out too.
"Do you remember everything that happened?" Silver questioned.
Gadget didn't respond immediately, instead sinking down into his pillow as he likely began to recount the events of what went down before his brief coma. A frown began to mar his face, and then he glanced to his arm—the one that was scorched black—and his face was overcome with sorrow. "… Yeah. I-I—I finished it."
Tails watched him wearily. "You did the right thing."
"I know," Gadget said, clenching his blackened hand into a fist. "Still hurts." He stared at his hand a beat longer, and then looked back up at Tails with mild worry, the ghost of a sheepish smile threatening to break through his frown. "Uh, sorry—the grappling hook must've gotten… disintegrated, along with the rest of my glove. It happened when I, um, pulled the Phantom Ruby out of Infinite."
Tails rose his eyebrows in what could've been surprise, as though Sonic hadn't recounted the story to all of them a million times already. He looked proud of his friend. "You got serious guts, Gadget. Don't worry about the grappling hook, I can always make you another one."
Gadget grinned. He looked around at everyone. "So… we won. It's over?"
Shadow nodded affirmatively. "You stopped Infinite. We stopped Chaos. Rose closed the portal, and Robotnik is M.I.A., so, yes."
"We've been focused on relief efforts for the past few weeks," Sonic filled in, not missing the surprise that flashed through Gadget's face at the mention of weeks. "But you and I are strictly grounded for now. Null Space almost drained us dry."
This seemed to process slowly for Gadget as his expression became distant. "Makes sense… I just… I didn't think we were gonna make it out alive."
"Nah," Sonic said, "not on my watch. Plus we had some help from—an old friend."
They kept on talking for a while, catching Gadget up and then moving on to lighter topics. Gadget was asleep again by sunset, still not back to one hundred percent after everything. He wasn't a Chaos user, so he would take more time than it would for Sonic to get back there. The night dragged on, and Silver and Tails left to the other guest houses around town to get some rest. Shadow dozed off again in his chair beside Sonic.
Sleep would not find him, however, like it had found his companions.
Sonic stared at the ceiling for a while, and he tried to force it upon himself, but his mind was too awake and his body too restless. He yearned for fresh air, to stretch his legs, to run. Hours dragged on and he was endlessly frustrated. Even when fatigue started to crawl into the corners of his eyes, he couldn't keep them closed for very long.
It tortured him.
He knew it was a bad idea to leave but maybe it was only inevitable before he finally caved. So Sonic wriggled out of bed, as subtly as he could without awakening Shadow or Gadget. It felt good to feel his own two feet on the ground again; he'd been going on short walks at least once a day to keep himself satiated and prevent any long term effects of remaining immobile for too long, but it was different this time around. No crutches, no hands grasping for his shoulders like he'd fall as soon as he was given autonomy.
Sonic shuffled over to the door, gently greeted by the cool night air and the soft chirrups of crickets in the woods. It was so late that it had to be almost morning already. The sun would surely seek the world out again in due time.
Caught up in the calm of the night, the freeing independence of standing up on his own, Sonic almost didn't notice the person approaching him.
Tails was eyeing him sternly. "You should be resting."
"So should you," Sonic countered, returning the sternness to his little brother. They held a silent staring contest that only lasted a few seconds before Sonic put an end to it. Clearly neither of them would be getting sleep tonight. "Uh, I was planning on maybe jumping up onto the roof to stargaze."
"You'll rupture your stitches."
"Yeah, probably. So, you gonna give me a hand?"
Tails gave him a look of exasperation but it didn't take much for him to concede. He accepted Sonic's extended hand and started to twirl around his namesakes until they were gliding up into the air. He eased them gingerly onto the roof, and the two of them relaxed against the slope of shingles to look up into the sky.
The night was mostly clear, and out in Knothole, so far removed from anything industrial, it was easy to see the scattering of stars up above. But the silence between them laid somewhat heavy, and it made Sonic turn his head to study Tails' face instead. Even though his brother had visited a few times since he'd woken up, they never really had proper time alone to talk. There was something bothering Tails, he knew.
Tails was probably aware of his stare. His nose twitched and he blinked rapidly, like he was trying to swallow some congested emotions.
"Thought I'd lost you, again."
Sonic grimaced. "I—I know. I'm sorry."
Tails' face twisted up tautly. "The first time had happened so fast, and I was so weak. But then I got you back, and I thought maybe I had become strong enough to protect you, but—then you went into the portal, and I wasn't there to stop you."
"Hey, man." Sonic hushed, clamping a hand onto Tails' trembling shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for any of that."
Abruptly, Tails sat up, pulling away from Sonic's touch. Sonic hesitantly sat up too, studying his brother's face remorsefully.
"You said I had to protect them for you. That I'm strong and brave." And Tails finally met his eyes, and he was crying—the kind of quiet cry that only slightly impeded on the ability to speak but left him drenched in tears. "I-I don't know how to be strong, Sonic. When I thought you died I fought so hard, I fought so much to push it all down and be—be strong like you, but I've always been so fucking weak."
"No," Sonic murmured, carding fingers soothingly through Tails' tousled bangs and massaging behind his ear. They were older now, and everything was so different, but here he was, comforting his baby brother the same way he always would when they were just little kids and Tails' biggest fear was thunderstorms. "No, buddy, you're so strong. You—You inspire me so much, every day."
More tears welled up in Tails' eyes, and he was losing his grip on coherency. The façade of control was slipping from his hands. "It hurts so bad," he cried. "It never stopped hurting so badly. I can't fathom losing you. I lost myself when I lost you and I don't think I ever found myself again. Wh—when we had to close to portal, I just felt myself shut down completely. I felt like I was dying."
"But you're still here," Sonic told him, and he felt tears spill down his face. "And I'm still here, too. I'm not going anywhere, kiddo, and I'm sorry it took me so long to understand that that's the only way—if I have you and you have me and we stick together. 'Cause that's how we stay strong, that's how we fight from now on. We have each other's backs and we push on together, always."
And even as he started to fall apart, Tails nodded, and he held back onto Sonic and sunk into his embrace. They held each other and they cried and they let the anguish burst through them as much as it needed to, until it would subside and they could heal. And despite the slumbering world, somehow, they realized that they were managing survival just fine.
Not relinquishing Tails from his arms as his brother burrowed against his chest, Sonic merely lifted his head up to rest his chin over Tails' head. He watched the sky again, and through his tears, through the dark night, he saw the birth of dawn.
The sun rose up against the horizon, a bright orange that pierced through the sullen sky in a spray of watercolors and brilliance. The day sighed in exuberance, and the world kept on spinning.
The world kept on spinning, and they remained, they remained, they remained.
