Chapter 7

Memories of a Broken Spirit

Date: June 19th 3236 Location: Blue Typhoon landing strip

"I BELEIVED IN YOU! I BELEIVED IN YOU!" Tails screamed as he was torn to pieces from the inside by grief. Falling to his knees at Sonic's feet, the young kitsune sobbed uncontrollably, his heart shattered. It didn't seem real, how could it be? She was just here, he had just seen her, heard her beautiful voice. But still, what remained of his rational mind told him that the unbearable truth he so desperately wanted to deny was, in fact, real.

Cosmo was dead. And the seed he held in his hand was all that remained of her.

At that moment, all rational thought left his mind. His unbearable guilt and sorrow was replaced with blinding, unyielding rage. It wasn't fair damn it! Why did Cosmo have to die!? Just to stop the man who was supposed to be her father from destroying the galaxy? Sonic and Shadow are supposed to be unstoppable in their super forms! How had they not been enough!? And Shadow…it didn't seem like he had survived either. Good riddance! He'd tried to kill her for something that wasn't her fault!

Tails' thoughts continued to darken, as the fox began to wish that the black hedgehog was burning in whatever pit Dark Oak had ended up in. As his dark thoughts began to worsen, Sonic finally spoke up, having noticed Tails' sobbing stop.

"Tails…I don't know what to-" Sonic began before being cut off as his little brother quickly stood up and shoved past him, storming towards the interior of the ship with the seed clutched close to his chest and an unsettling scowl on his face.

For a moment, Sonic considered following him, but something in his gut told him that would be a horrible idea. Tails was obviously suffering…horribly, and no doubt needed space.

Storming through the halls of his ship, Tails completely ignored everything around him. It didn't matter anymore, none of it did. As he continued, he passed by the open door to the secondary command deck, everyone still there. He ignored them, heard them calling out to him, pleading to him to wait, but he didn't. All he wanted to do was get to his room and be alone, get away from everything and everyone until they returned home and he could get off this damned ship that had once been his proudest creation. But in truth, he knew the ship was heavily damaged, knew it was operating at less than optimal levels and would probably take several days to get home. But he didn't care, he didn't want to go home.

Because Cosmo wouldn't be there.

Finally making it to his room, Tails stepped inside and turned to the security console connected to the door. Keying in a series of numbers and a pass code, Tails had effectively locked anyone out of his room as well as the controls so that even a manual override wouldn't open it from their end. After doing so however, his demeanor immediately shifted from grief driven rage to one of pure sorrow. Cradling the seed in his hands, he slowly walked over to a desk opposite his bed and gently sat it down in a petri dish before simply standing there stared at it. It couldn't be real, this had to be some ungodly nightmare. She couldn't be gone, this couldn't be all that was left of her, no he'd wake up any minute now and she'd be there heading home with them…she had to be.

"How? How could this have happened? Why did it happen? It's…IT'S NOT FAIR!" Tails screamed while kicking over the chair in front of the desk. "WE WON! WE STOPPED FORESTATION! SO WHY!" By this point his knees had begun to give out, causing him to fall to his knees in front of the desk. In front of her. Whimpering with tears flowing freely down his face Tails continued. "Why did you have to go Cosmo? I…I need you"

With these words he sank further into despair, now facing the floor and supporting himself with his hands, Miles Prower pleaded. "Please..Please come back Cosmo…I love you"

It had been three days since the final battle and each subsequent one had been worse than the last, the first day, no one had heard or seen Tails since he locked himself in his room, the second Sonic and Amy had attempted to talk to him through his door only to be met with silence, the third had seen more attempts from Cream, Cheese and Knuckles and despite their efforts they got the same result. Knuckles, in typical fashion, had attempted to have Chris override Tails' door locks but the encryption was too good. Today however, they were met with a surprise as Tails opened his door himself and made his way to the deck. Amy was the first so see him. "Tails! How-" her words stopped short as she saw the twin tailed fox walking through, hearing her and seeing her reaction, the rest of the crew turned to look and were shocked at what they saw.

To say that Tails was a wreck was an understatement, no it'd be more accurate to describe his appearance as being like that of someone who'd been thrown out a moving vehicle, was starved and didn't care. His fur was unkempt and tangled, his eyes had circles so dark around them that it was clear he hadn't slept in days and his body screamed of being malnourished. Tails knew they were staring, could see the shocked and disturbed expressions on their faces, but he ignored them, he had come here for one thing and one thing only. He would get that and go back to seclusion, back to the seed, because that's all that mattered.

Sonic, for his part wasn't as frozen from shock as everyone else, though any casual observer could have seen the clear look of guilt on his face as he watched his little brother walk past everyone and to the captains chair, walk to the right of it to a vacant seat that had been used by Cosmo during their travels. Tails reached under the seats console and opened a small compartment, pulling out a blue brooch shaped like a flower. For a brief moment the fox did nothing, simply staring down at the object in his hands, the tears threatening to overflow once more. Closing his hand around the brooch, Tails turned and began to make his way towards the door while not giving anyone in the room the slightest glance or acknowledgement. He was almost there when Sonic snapped out of his stupor and attempted to get his attention. "Tails! Tails wait up!" Sonic called out, hoping this time Tails wouldn't ignore him. He was sorely disappointed then when, as expected, his buddy continued walking without reacting slightly. No one said a word, though their individual reactions were beginning to manifest. Knuckles and Chris both had looks of sorrow on their faces as they lowered their heads, Amy and Cream had looks of worry and concern though Cream was beginning to cry. And Sonic's guilt ridden expression only became more downcast as he watched Tails leave.

It took less than two weeks for the Typhoon and it's two accompanying ships to reach Mobius, while the Chaotix, Eggman, and Rouge were all happy to be home, for the Typhoons crew it was a bittersweet return.

No one had seen or heard from Tails again since his brief appearance on deck and the group was at a loss on what to do. Sure, they had all made repeated attempts to get him to open up, even resorting to leaving food at his door hoping he would eat and to their relief, he head eaten. However no one had managed to get him to speak or show himself.

After making their descent the the planet and parting ways with Eggman and the Chaotix, the battle weary and emotionally exhausted group began to gather their things and begin to return home. Knuckles, having brought nothing aboard save for the master emerald, immediately left with it and returned to Angel Island. Cream was next, having gathered her things and, after offering Chris a place to stay returned home, the two saying goodbye and taking their things. Amy followed after, her things having been moved first but her having returned to aid the others. Sonic was the last to leave, as he was waiting for Tails to leave before departing. After waiting for over an hour, a rarity for the normally impatient hedgehog, he went to Tails' room to find the door open and his stuff already off the ship. As the ship had been docked from the same hanger it had taken off from, it seemed Tails had managed to slip by and into his home without anyone noticing. What's more, it was clear Tails had no intention of ever returning to the ship as all of it's systems had gone offline shortly after everyone had left, even it's backup systems.

But as Sonic prepared to leave the ship for the final time, he remembered one more thing to check and dashed back in, moving through the corridors and coming to a stop just a few rooms from Tails', looking in he noticed it was completely empty as well, left as if no one had been their to begin with, all of the possessions within had been taken also.

Tails had taken with him everything that had belonged to Cosmo.

For the first few weeks Tails had remained in his home, refusing to go outside and taking perfect care of the seedling that had begun to sprout, he had only allowed company once when, just after the seed sprouted he felt the desire to begin working on a new plane, even receiving a visit from Cream and Amy. However, while he had seemed happy then, it quickly vanished the day after with the fox concluding it to be the result of a flash of false hope. From there the situation only got worse. On this particular night he was once again sitting in his living room staring at the potted plant on his table.

"Why couldn't you be here?" Tails whispered to himself, his voice already beginning to crack. He had asked the same question aloud ritualistically every day since her death, but he still sought an answer.

"I miss you so much, and I only got to tell you how I really feel just before you…" The tears were flowing freely now as he began to break down. "Please come back…please"

Suddenly thunder began to rumble outside, causing him to jump slightly.

Moments later he heard a knock at his door, getting up to answer it, he found Sonic there looking nervous.

"Heeey buddy, how you holding up?"

Looking less thane please with the hedgehogs presence Tails replied "Really Sonic? How do you think I'm holding up?"

Sonic was briefly disarmed by the fox's harsh reply but figured he'd brought that on himself. "right…so…is it growing well?" he asked cautiously. Tails' scowl softened slightly "yeah…she's-it's getting bigger, in fact I think I might have to transfer it to a bigger pot soon"

Sonic's expression became somewhat more downcast, having noticed the word "she". "That's good…um, listen Tails…I-I just wanted to say, I'm sorry I couldn't save her. I really thought chaos regeneration would work, I don't know why it didn't"

Tails looked up at him with a warning expression. "What makes you so sure it didn't?"

"huh? What do you-"

"We don't know anything about seedrian biology, for all we know she changed into a seed until her body could fully regenerate! I mean, maybe it's just going to take a while Sonic! She..she could still come back"

Hearing the desperation in his brothers voice broke the hedgehogs heart, and at the same time he became further worried for his well-being as he recognized the signs of denial.

"Tails…I'm sorry but, please don't torture yourself with false hope. Shadow and I both used all the energy we could, but…it didn't work"

At this moment the thunder had once again rumbled and the rain had started to fall, the whole seen coming off as a very bad omen.

Sonic watched as Tails lowered his head, sobbing for a moment before stopping abruptly, raising his head Sonic could see a look of anger on the fox's face.

"Don't torture myself with false hope? That hope is all I have Sonic! That plant is all I have left! Don't' tell me to let that go!"

"Tails listen-"

"NO! I NEED HER! SHE HAS TO COME BACK! DON'T TELL ME SHE CAN'T! YOU TOLD HER YOU COULD DO ANYTHING ONCE YOU HAD THE EMERALDS! WAS THAT JUST A LIE!?"

Lightning flashing across the sky, the soaked hedgehog took a step back.

"Tails I-I don't know what to say, I tried to save her, I did!"

"YOU DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH!" Tails suddenly turned towards his door, Sonic noticing that as he had backed up, Tails had stepped forward.

"And I'm no better, I-I killed her, I killer her Sonic! Why would she even want to return after what I did!"

"Tails Stop it! You did what she wanted! You helped her save everyone!"

"But I couldn't saver her Sonic! I promised her! I PROMISED HER!"

"Tails don't blame yourself for that, she doesn't! I know it!"

"oh really? AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!?"

"Because that's the kind of person she was Tails! You of all people should know that! So why don't you!?"

That little slip up immediately came back to bite Sonic as an instant later he was knocked a short distance by a powerful punch to the jaw. Landing on the hard wet ground, Sonic stood up to find Tails walking towards him, tears running down his face and his fangs barred in rage.

"Tails wait-" Sonic tried to speak before he was once again hit, this time square in the gut causing him to double over from the pain.

"DON'T! DON'T EVEN TRY IT!" the fox screamed as he delivered a downward punch that Sonic just barely dodged.

"TAILS STOP IT! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!" Sonic hollered as he dodged attack after attack from his enraged friend.

"WELL THAT'S TO DAMN BAD!" Tails screamed as he flew overhead and got behind Sonic as he attempted to dodge, delivering a kick to his back.

"OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH!" Sonic screamed as he raced in circles around the fox in an effort to disorient him. Tails attempted to fly out of the ring Sonic was making before the hedgehog suddenly jumped from his path and grappled him, bringing him to the ground and holding him down.

"LET GO! GET OFF ME!" he screamed as he thrashed and struggled to no avail.

"Tails stop! That's enough! You need to control yourself!"

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T GET TO SAY THAT! YOU DIDN'T LOVE HER! YOU DIDN'T KILL HER!"

"Neither did you Tails! She asked you to! She wouldn't want this for you!"

For a second, Tails stopped thrashing and stared blankly at Sonic, the hedgehog loosened his grip slightly, hoping he had started to calm down. However this proved to be a mistake as Tails wrestled his right arm free and punched Sonic in the jaw once more and knocking him off.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Tails screamed as he ran into his home and slammed the door.

"Tails wait!" Sonic cried out before realizing it was too late. Standing there in the cold rain, the thunder still sounding periodically, Sonic stared after his lost little brother.

The second month had been much of the same, Tails refused to speak to Sonic and any mention of him by the others was met with venomous words directed at the hedgehog. By the third, Tails had enlisted Vanilla's help in transferring the sapling to the backyard after it became apparent that it was growing into a tree and would need more space.

The fourth month had seen the most drastic change though, as Sonic had once more attempted to make amends with his bro and had traveled to his home. Upon arriving Sonic found that Tails was sitting on the ground in his backyard in front of the tree. To his surprise the tree had started to bloom. The tree was absolutely stunning, fairly tall with pale colored bark, and beautiful pink leaves. In fact, it looked exactly like- and then the realization hit him.

It looked exactly like the tree Cosmo had become.

Turning his attention to Tails, Sonic cautiously began to approach him, he quickly noticed that Tails was crying heavily and for a moment, he thought he'd heard him talking. When he was just a few feet away, Tails' ears twitched as they picked up the sound, turning his head Tails' expression went from grieving to a weak smile.

"Hey Sonic. What's up?" Tails greeted in a somewhat pleasant tone.

Sonic found himself once again disarmed, though this time it was the sudden shift in Tails' attitude that did it.

"uh..nothing much, just wanted to stop by and see how you're doing.."

Getting up slowly, Tails shrugged and once again gave a weak smile.

"I'm..getting better I guess.."

"That's…good to hear, what helped you there?" Sonic asked nervously, still unsure of what to make of this change.

For a moment, Tails seemed unsure as if contemplating something, before replying "Well..I guess since Cosmo's tree bloomed it..I don't know, I guess seeing it helped me feel a bit better?"

Sonic gave a weak smile of his own. "I'm glad to hear that, I was worried about you buddy. And listen, what happened a few months back-"

"Sonic, don't." Tails cut him off quickly. "You didn't do anything wrong, if anything I'M sorry for hitting you and saying I hate you. That wasn't cool"

Sonic smiled more. "hey, it's okay bro! You didn't mean it, and I know you were hurt pretty bad."

"Yeah…" Tails simply replied. For a moment the two simply stood there in awkward silence before Sonic spoke up.

"So! You uh, working on anything lately?"

"Oh! Uh yeah I've..been working on a new plane"

"Really? What did you call it?"

Tails lowered his head "I..don't have a name for it yet"

Sonic's eyes widened slightly "huh. That's unusual for you. Usually you have a name for them in advance"

"Yeah..I just can't think of one yet"

Another awkward silence prevailed for a moment before once again being broken by Sonic.

"Well…uh I just wanted to see how you were doing and apologize so..I guess I'll be going."

"Okay, bye Sonic it was good to see you again" Tails replied in a more typically cheerful way. Almost too cheerful.

Sonic didn't think too much about it though as he turned to leave, just before doing so however, he stopped and turned to call out to Tails who was walking back to the tree.

"Yo Tails!" he called, the fox turning to face him.

"She'd be proud of you bro" Sonic said with a sincere smile.

Tails' eyes began to well up with tears and for a moment it looked like he might break down, before he suddenly composed himself and flashed a weak smile at the hedgehog.

"Th-thanks Sonic" he replied

Nodding, Sonic then sped off, content and believing that Tails was getting better and things could finally go back to normal.

If only he knew.

Walking back to the tree, Tails got down on his knees and placed a hand on the trunk. As he did so the tears he had suppressed in front of Sonic came bursting forward. Sobbing, he lowered his head as his tears landed on the trees trunk.

"Are you proud of me? No, how could you be, I killed you. I told you I loved you as I killed you. And now I'm fooling Sonic into thinking I'm better so I don't have to talk to them about it. How could you be proud of me? I should have found a way, I should have saved you but-"

Tails began to break down once more, crying loudly as he showed all his pain, his grief, his sorrow. The Spot on the trunk was wet with his tears, the tears of a heartbroken fox who'd give anything to see the girl he loves again.

"I'm so sorry Cosmo. I'm so sorry" Tails whimpered as he broke down completely, unable to say any more.

In the present day, Tails had just finished recounting the series of events to Cosmo, his head lowered in shame and his eyes full of tears.

At Sonic's urging, everyone had left to give the two privacy as the two made their way into the house and sat down onto the couch. Now, by the end, Cosmo had tears in her eyes as well, though they were running down her cheeks. Tails kept his head lowered, he couldn't bear to look her in the eyes, afraid of what she must think of him right now. Still he spoke. "So, that's why I went berserk when Eggman tried to kidnap you and why I've been so evasive about what happened while you were gone. I knew you could hear me through the tree but I didn't want to tell you about the parts you couldn't hear"

Cosmo had remained silent throughout, listening to Tails' recollection. Now she was ready to speak. "Tails..I-"

"I understand if you don't want to be with me now" Tails unintentionally cut her off. He was then wrapped in a passionate embrace.

"No! Tails I wouldn't rather be with anyone but you. And I'm not mad at you"

"Your..not?"

"No, I never was and I'm not now. I'm so sorry you went through all that Tails, I wish I could have told you I was coming back but I couldn't! I'm so sorry" Cosmo said beginning to cry.

Wrapping his arms around her, Tails replied in a soft voice "don't be sorry Cosmo, it's not your fault. I wasn't myself" Tails spoke as he tried to comfort his girlfriend. This seemed to help as she calmed down, looking up at him with an affectionate smile.

"Okay, but what happened to me wasn't your fault either. Don't blame yourself for what happened, it was Dark Oak that killed me, not you"

Tails hesitated momentarily before realizing she was right.

"you're right, it's over now so we shouldn't worry about it. I'm so glad to have you back, I love you Cosmo"

Smiling, Cosmo wrapped Tails in a hug again before speaking "I love you too Tails, and I'm not leaving again"

The two then sat silently holding each other, content in the comforting and loving embrace they shared. For them, everything was bright and whatever happened they'd face anything together.

Alright, so that was easily the among the most depressing things I've ever written, I couldn't even end the chapter on such a sour note after the first two so I had to give it a lighter ending by jumping back to the present. In any case it's back to more lighthearted and enjoyable content next chapter. Also, just for fun I should mention that this chapter and chapter 4 both have subtle hints of foreshadowing for later in the story. See if you can spot them, and I'll see you next chapter. Se ya!