A Bed of Flowers

Ten years, and he was back on South Island.

Ten years, and as far as he could tell, nothing had changed. The hills were still green. The sky was still blue. Giant daffodils were spinning in the air, the public access loop-de-loops remained, and quite a few bridges still looked set to collapse if he ran over them. Someone (or some people) had put up numerous lamp posts across the island for some reason, but apart from that, nothing had changed. His home, or rather, what had been his home, had remained almost exactly as he'd left it. And standing here, with a giant gold ring behind him, and a two-tailed fox beside him, he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"So this is your home," the fox said. "Not too shabby."

Sonic smirked.

"My island's neater though."

The smirk faded and Sonic looked at the fox. "Really."

"Yeah. I'm from Westside Island."

"And it's better than this?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, everything's a bit more emerald and a bit less green, but otherwise, yeah."

Sonic frowned. "Westside Island. That's west from here, right?"

"No. East."

"East?"

"Yeah. Westside Island is east from South Island, but located west from Eastside Island, which is located north from..."

Sonic stopped listening. Like him, the fox had a penchant for talking. Unlike him, he talked about boring stuff like geography, history, geology, and lots of other things that ended with "y." Also physics. Which totally counted, because there was a "y" in that as well.

The hedgehog glanced back as the golden ring disappeared from the air, the portal to Earth replaced by a view of the island's pristine sandy beach. In spite of everything, he smiled. The water was sufficiently distant that he didn't have to worry about getting wet, but sufficiently close that he could take in the smell of salt. Best of both worlds. Perhaps the best of all worlds, considering what the fox had told him. Turned out that not all warp rings were made equally, and in his search for the fastest thing alive, the kid had hit a few detours on the way to Earth. Words with genies, worlds with knights, even a world that seemed to be nothing more than a giant half pipe with bombs on it. Of course, the fox could be lying, but...

"...and in conclusion, that's why Westside Island was never taken by the Battle Kukku Empire during the Imperial Era."

...but he was too much of a dweeb for that. Smart, yes - smart enough to realize that the hedgehog beside him hadn't been listening to a word he'd been saying. But still a dweeb. And as he'd got proper friends and family back on Earth now, he didn't need to settle for anything less.

"Anyway," said the fox. "Point is, I need your help. We, need your help."

Sonic frowned and tightened the straps of his backpack. "This the royal we, or the general we?"

"Um..."

"Because there was only one person that ever helped me on this planet, and she's..." He trailed off, before murmuring, "look, I've got some bad memories of this place, okay?"

"Of this place?" The fox spun up his tails and took to the air, hovering at a good fifteen feet as he beheld the island. "Really? How?"

Sonic winced and glanced at one of the loops. "You'd be surprised."

The fox plopped himself down. "Listen," he said. "I do appreciate you coming back. I mean, once the Nocturnus Clan has been put in their place, we..."

"Kid..."

"...and I also appreciate you saving me from that dog. I mean, not that I haven't dealt with dogs before, but-"

"Kid, what's your name again?"

The fox's face fell, and when he spoke, it was as if he was embarrassed. "Miles," he whispered.

"Miles," said Sonic blankly.

"Miles Prower."

Sonic let out a snort. "Miles Prower," he said. "Does, like, anyone else use the whole forename surname thing on this planet anymore?"

"My parents were very traditional."

"Yeah? Bet you give them hell for that."

A shadow passed over Miles's face, as he looked aside at a giant spinning daffodil. "Definitely," the fox murmured.

Sonic decided not to press the point. He lived with people who had the forename-surname thing, and he hadn't given them any flak for that. Actually, he hadn't really given them flak for anything.

"So," the fox said. "Shall we go? I've got a sub parked on the other side of the island. We set off now, we-"

"Sure, sure," Sonic murmured. "Just got one thing to do before I leave, okay?"

"Um..." Miles looked like he needed to pee, given the look of worry on his face. "One thing? Well, sure, I guess. If we've got time."

"Hey kid, you came to me."

"I know, I know," Miles said, raising his hands in defence. "Just...what do you need to do?"

Sonic smirked. "Find the person who raised me."

Zooming across the hills of South Island, Sonic reflected on two things.

The first was that this Miles kid could fly well, and fly fast. Not nearly as fast as him, and indeed, he was slowing himself down to give the kid a chance to keep pace, but he was still moving faster than any living thing he'd seen apart from himself. Not only were his two tails keeping him airborne, but they were allowing him to zoom through the air as well. Kind of like Eggman's flying death machine, only without the kinks of missiles, moustaches, and megalomania.

The second was that it was good to be back. He'd missed this place. He'd lived here for the first five years of his life, and spent the next ten on Earth, and his time in the latter had soured his memories of the former. He couldn't think of South Island without thinking of the echidnas that had come after him. He couldn't zoom over the bridges without thinking of how he'd led those same echidnas back to the only parent figure he'd known for most of his life. But he was here, now, and in the moment, travelling at over a hundred Miles Prower (no, miles per hour, he reminded himself)…for a moment, none of it mattered. He was home. He was free. He'd spent fifteen years running from danger. Now, he was content to run towards it. Why else would he have come back here to intervene in an echidna war that was threatening the whole planet?

You know why.

He screeched to a halt outside a wooden hut, that looked identical to every other wooden hut in this part of the island. In the two seconds between him stopping and Miles catching up, he took a look around. The huts looked fine, but he couldn't see anyone present. Maybe they were planning a surprise party, with cake that didn't taste terrible for once. Or, more likely...actually, he didn't know what was more likely. He just knew that the place looked and sounded deserted.

"Wow you're fast."

Well, only looked deserted - certainly didn't sound deserted as Miles landed, panting like Ozzy did on a warm day.

"Think that's fast?" Sonic asked. "Should see me when I'm actually trying."

Miles looked up at him, his blue eyes wide, and his eyelids drenched with sweat. "Please...show me later. Or not at all."

Sonic crossed his arms and began tapping his foot impatiently, as he waited for the fox to get to his own feet. After that, he continued to wait as the fox stopped panting and regained what amounted to composure.

Or are you waiting for something else?

He turned away and looked at the door. Simple door for a simple hut, bereft of any ornamentation. Nothing to draw attention to an owl that had once been a warrior, and the supersonic speedster that she'd taken under her wing. Yep, he told himself. Simple.

"So…this it?" Miles asked.

Sonic frowned and knocked on the door. "Simple," he murmured.

If Miles heard him, he gave no sign. And if Longclaw had heard him knock, there was no sign either. His frown deepening, he knocked again. And again. And again. Each knock louder than the one before, each met with the same silence. Each of them accomplishing nothing, until he knocked so hard that the door opened on its own.

"Huh," Miles said. He peered at the doorknob. "I thought you used this to get doors open. But I-"

Sonic whacked him over the head and walked in, ignoring the fox's protest. "Longclaw?" he asked. "You in here?"

There was no answer. There didn't need to be. The silence, the emptiness, the dust, all spoke for itself. He came to a halt in the centre of the room, tightening the straps of his backpack. His spine felt tingly, and it wasn't because of the quills jutting out of it, standing on edge.

"So this is your home," Miles murmured. "Nice. In a rustic, derelict sort of way."

Sonic was barely listening. He slowly walked around the room, taking note of what had changed, and more importantly, what hadn't. The window was still smashed. The door still had holes in it from the arrows. Everything he and his guardian had owned was still in place. Covered in dust, infested with spider webs, but still there.

"So you said you wanted to see the person who raised you," Miles said. "Don't think she's here."

"Nah, really?" Sonic murmured. He walked over to a lamp and pulled the string attached to it. Nothing happened.

"Don't think it has power."

Sonic glared at Miles. "Oh no, it's got power."

"It does?"

"Yeah. It's powered by people who state the obvious."

Miles at least had the grace to not say anything stupid (again) and lower his gaze at that. It didn't stop him from sneezing as Sonic continued to look around the room, but he decided to let that pass.

"Longclaw's not here," he whispered. "We have to find her."

"But we don't have time," Miles said. "I…look, I don't know who this Longclaw is, but-"

"Who the heck are you two?"

Sonic spun around. If Miles had kept talking, he knew that he might have spun around regardless and said something he'd regret. But that didn't matter right now. He was good at making lists, and not just those that had to do with buckets. So first priority for him was finding out where Longclaw was. Second was finding out who the person standing at the doorway was, and what they wanted. Which might count as a third thing, but-"

"Well?" the visitor snapped.

Miles opened his mouth to speak as he backed away, but Sonic raised a hand to keep the fox quiet. He walked between them - the fox and the newcomer. The one with black fur and a red shell, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"Name's Sonic," the hedgehog said. "Who are you?"

The visitor glanced at Miles. "Two tails," he murmured, before looking back at the hedgehog. "And Sonic himself."

In spite of everything, Sonic smirked. "You know me?"

"Come on pal, you're an urban legend. Well, not exactly urban. More like...what's the opposite of urban?"

"Rural?" Miles suggested.

The visitor looked at him. "Wasn't asking you, Tails."

"Oh." Miles's face fell and he glanced aside. "Of course you weren't."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. Miles looked down. Really down. Under normal circumstances he might have even taken the time to find out why, even with him being a stranger and all. But these weren't normal circumstances. Far as South Island went, he'd missed the S.S. Normal ten years ago, and hadn't learnt how to swim.

"So who are you?" Sonic asked. "What are you?"

"Mighty," the visitor said. "And an armadillo."

Sonic snorted.

"What?" Mighty asked.

"Oh, y'know...Mighty." Sonic gestured to the armadillo. "What makes you so mighty pal?"

The armadillo stamped his foot and the entire ground shook. Miles let out a yelp and leapt into the air, hovering. Sonic managed to keep his feet on the ground, even if his quills pointed upwards, sparks of electricity coming out of them.

"That's why they call me Mighty," the armadillo said. "Any questions?"

Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but-

"Actually, wait. I'm asking the questions. So first question is where you've been. Second question is why you're back. Third question is..." He trailed off, looked at his fingers, then murmured, "actually, that's only two question."

"That all?" Sonic asked.

"It's a work in progress. And unlike Ray, I can count."

Sonic decided not to ask who that was, and just answer the questions so he could ask his own. "Fine," he said. "Been on the other side of the universe on a planet that's even better than this one."

"Which one?"

"Earth."

"Earth," Mighty mused. "Isn't that the planet that's actually mostly water?"

"Hey, constant of the universe is insanity."

"Actually," said Miles, "the universal constant is-"

"And as to why I'm back," Sonic said, gesturing to the now silent fox, "is because of this little guy."

"Hello," said Miles, raising a hand at the armadillo.

"Something about the Nocturnus Clan, and the Knuckles Clan, and war, and all that fun stuff," Sonic continued.

Mighty nodded. "Kid ain't wrong," he murmured. "Whole world's gone insane."

"Really?" Sonic couldn't help but smile, liking the sound of that. "How so?"

"Well, there's a witch going round on a cart and stealing candy. There's a weasel taking hit after hit, and no-one knows if he's called Nack or Fang. There's a duck and a bear who like blowing stuff up, the Battle Kukku Empire is still in the picture, and there's rumours of an alien who's putting animals into robots. Which is nonsense of course, but-"

"What about Longclaw?" Sonic whispered.

Mighty stared at him.

"Longclaw," the hedgehog repeated. "Where is she?"

Mighty remained silent for awhile. Sonic doubted that he was a telepath, so that he would have no idea that the hedgehog was feeling ashamed right now. Because as fun as all of that stuff sounded, he'd come here for a reason. Miles had brought him back to this planet. Innocent people were suffering. But this planet had only ever wanted him for one thing. And there was only one person on this planet worth coming back to. And he wasn't leaving this island until he found her.

"Longclaw," Mighty whispered. A shadow passed over his face. "Longclaw..."

"Yeah. Want me to spell it out for you?"

"Big purple owl? Former warrior? Got into some trouble with the Knuckles Clan a decade back?"

"Yeah, something like that," Sonic said. "Only she isn't here. No-one's here."

"Well of course not genius, everyone's hiding out in Marble Zone."

"Marble Zone?" Sonic asked. "You mean that place with all the magma?"

"Lava," Miles whispered. "Technically it's all above the crust, so it's considered lava."

"And Longclaw's there?" Sonic asked, ignoring the fox. "You can take me to her?"

Mighty twisted one foot behind another and looked to the side. "Well, sort of...maybe..."

"Please. I have to. I don't care about anything else, just...I need to see her."

Mighty looked at Sonic and sighed. "Sure," he whispered. "I can take you to her."

He'd last seen Longclaw ten years ago. Now, finally, he was reunited with her. Or at least her grave.

Mighty and Miles both had the decency to keep quiet as Sonic collapsed in front of the cold grey stone that marked where his guardian lay buried. The stone itself was scarce different from the ruins it was located besides. Only while those ruins had symbols and writing that no-one had been able to decipher, the marking here was written in a language that everyone could read - LONGCLAW. The words hung there, carved into the stone. Cold and unfeeling, indifferent to any who passed by the marker of the dead. Bereft of even years, or anything to commemorate the person who lay here. The one who'd taken him in when no-one else would. The one who'd protected him until the end.

Sonic slowly looked back at Mighty. "How did this happen?" he whispered. "When did this happen?"

"Ten years ago. And poison."

"What?"

"Poison. Echidnas took off, but the owl there was doomed from the start."

"What..." He took a breath. "What do you mean?"

"The warriors of the Knuckles Clan coat their arrows with a neurotoxin. Slows down the heart, and if you survive the iron, you're gonna be dead within the hour."

Sonic slowly looked back at the gravestone, not knowing nor caring that his right hand was clutching the grass and dirt beside him. Ripping it out in the same way the world had ripped away someone close to him. He remembered that day - the last time he'd been on this planet, and the last time he'd seen his guardian. The echidnas had been firing arrows at him. At them. If the neurotoxin had hit him, would he have been dead, and his powers lost? Or had they done the math, and calculated that his heart beat so fast that it wouldn't kill him? Had they fired the arrows in the knowledge that the five year old hedgehog they'd been pursuing would survive, and the owl...wouldn't?

"Listen, I should go," Mighty said. "Spend too much time alone, Ray might do something stupid."

"Who's Ray?" Miles asked.

"A squirrel who's only got one tail, but makes up for physical normality with hyper-activity."

Sonic didn't look at Mighty as he left, and within seconds, didn't hear the sound of his footsteps either. Maybe he was telling the truth about South Island's people hiding here, in case the Knuckles or Nocturnus warriors returned. Maybe not. It didn't matter. They'd buried Longclaw, and in doing so, achieved the bare minimum. He frowned, as he saw how the grass was growing around the stone. Weeds strangling the rock, as surely as their thorns cut into his heart. He began to tear away at them.

"Sonic..."

He ignored Miles and kept tearing away at them, knowing that it would do no good. The Marble Zone, the Labyrinth...no-one knew who'd built those ruins, but they at least knew they existed. Longclaw had a name, and was already forgotten by the people here.

"Sonic, I'm so sorry." He felt Miles's hand on his shoulder. "I-"

"Did you know?"

"I'm sorry?"

The hedgehog got to his feet and looked down at the fox. "Did you know?" he whispered. "When you found me. Did you know?"

"What? No, of course not."

Something sparked in the air, emanating from Sonic's quills. "Wouldn't be lying, would you?"

Miles, looking terrified, shook his head.

"Good." The lightning faded, and Sonic turned back round to the grave. "Don't worry kid. You didn't do anything. Which fits, I guess. Because no-one did anything."

A silence lingered between the two of them, as Sonic waited for Miles to say something stupid. But nothing came out of his mouth, which suggested that the kid was smarter than he gave him credit for. Which, part of his mind reminded him, was not nearly enough credit. He'd developed his own warp rings despite being eight years old, and apparently had his own sub. At the age of fifteen, what had he actually built apart from pillow forts?

"Your sub," Sonic murmured eventually. "It's on the other side of the island, right?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Go to it. I'll catch up."

"But if you can't-"

"Kid, I can cross from one side of this island to the next in two minutes. If it's anywhere on the beach, I'll find it."

All of this was spoken with his back to the fox, and his eyes on the stone. What Miles was thinking was something he could only guess at, and he didn't care to. But he heard what the fox said before he flew off.

"Take your time. But at least you had someone for you."

He heard it, and almost looked around. Because he wasn't the only one that was hurting right now. Why, he couldn't say. And while he told himself he didn't care, that was a lie. So, standing up, and letting the wind wash over him, and the sun shine upon him, taunting him with its unwanted warmth, he resolved to be truthful.

"Hey, Longclaw."

Even if the dead couldn't hear him.

"Yeah, it's me. Back again. Been awhile. Though you wouldn't know that being...y'know..." He gestured to the grave with his hands. "Or maybe you do, and I just don't know it yet."

It seemed that every culture, every species, had a story for what happened to you after death. On Earth, it hadn't taken him long to conclude that while they couldn't all be right, they could all be wrong.

"Just...y'know, feel like I should say something, or do something, or..." He sighed. "What the heck am I even doing?"

The wind was silent, and the sun likewise provided no answer.

"Longclaw, I..." He sniffed, and wiped something from his eye that he knew was dust. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't run, if I hadn't brought you that flower, if I'd stopped running, you...you might be...well, not here, y'know?" He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. His heart was going a mile a minute, and with every beat, the thorns surrounding it cut into his flesh. "I…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. And I know that doesn't change anything, or fix anything, and I..." He took a deep breath, and fished something out of his backpack. Sparks flew through the air, and the lightning returned to his eyes. He wanted to run. He wanted to yell. He wanted to curl up into a ball, he wanted chili dogs, he wanted to go back to Earth, he wanted to do everything, and nothing, and all that was in-between. But, he reminded himself, he'd come here for a reason. And holding the red flower in his hands...

"This was meant to be for you," Sonic whispered. "It's called a rose. It's from a planet on the other side of the universe. Flowers are similar there, and I thought that..." He knelt down and put the flower by the grave. "That maybe it could make it all right."

The words weren't a lie, but saying them now, he could feel the lie behind them. He knew, perhaps all along, that there was no guarantee that Longclaw would even be alive. He'd last seen her holding off a horde of echidnas, and for all the things echidnas were known for, mercy wasn't among them. He'd known from the moment he'd entered the warp ring alongside Miles that he might be coming home to something like this. And that no flower, even one from the far side of the universe, could change any of what happened. He might not have fired the arrow that had ended Longclaw's life, but he'd still been the one who'd put his guardian, his adoptive mother, in the crosshairs.

He hadn't listened to her. All those warnings, all those pleas for him to keep his power secret, and he hadn't listened to her. Which meant that what he said next was all the more painful.

"Just want you to know...I'm no longer running," Sonic whispered. "Mean, I am, but towards danger. Because...because you were right, Longclaw. This is my power. Whole world, whole universe wants it. And I have to use it, to protect the people around me. On this world, any world. Because I can't let anyone get hurt." He cast his eyes back to the Marble Zone, before looking back at the grave. "No-one."

He stood there, but for how long, he couldn't say. A second? A minute? An hour? Time itself seemed to have stopped, as he looked at the stone. At the rose. At the small daffodils, growing out of the ground. At the grass, at the dirt, at the sparks of energy that fell upon it as his body shimmered with energy. Like the gasp of a dying star before going supernova. He stood there...

Before letting out a yell, and zooming off.

When he found Miles, so did the trail of sand he'd created in his wake. But watching the fox brush it off him and the sub he'd parked on the beach, he could tell that that wasn't what was bothering him.

"So this is your sub," Sonic said. "Nice."

Which meant that he had to try and help.

"Thanks," Miles murmured.

Not that he was succeeding.

"Called the Sea Fox," Miles continued. "Isn't that fast, but it'll get us to Westside Island by the end of the day."

"A whole day? Come on man, I could make it there in half that time."

"Then do it," Miles grunted.

"Well, yeah, I would, except it isn't that easy to run across water, and the last time I tried I got a fish on my head and..." Sonic trailed off. "Listen, kid...you okay?"

Miles looked at him and forced a smile. "Fine," he said.

"Fine," Sonic repeated dumbly.

"I mean, what about you? You lost your guardian, and-"

"And you never had one at all, did you?"

It was a guess. One he'd pieced together as his mind had beat his brain as fast as his heart had. But seeing the look in Miles's eyes, Sonic could see he'd struck gold.

"Kinda let it slip," Sonic continued.

Miles looked away and climbed into the sub's cockpit. "Doesn't matter."

"Kid, it matters. Mattered to me for ten years, matters to me now. And..." He trailed off. He didn't want to push too hard. It might not even be his business to do so. But Miles was hurting. And he knew what that was like. He'd hurt for ten years, in part because he had no outlet to get that pain away.

"Parents named me," Miles murmured. "Then they left me."

"Why?"

"Why?" He jumped up, landed on the sub, and patted his two tails. "That's why!"

Sonic didn't say anything.

"Tails!" Miles yelled. "Two tails!"

"And...?" Sonic struggled for words.

"How many foxes do you know that have two tails?"

"Um..." Sonic was still struggling, and the words came bubbling out. "Well, none. Granted, I don't know any foxes. I mean, not unless you include stuff like Fantastic Mister Fox, or Animals of Farthing Wood, or Star Fox Zero. Which is a terrible game, and the N-sixty-four version is meant to be better, but Tom's having trouble finding his old game consoles right now, so I can't be sure. Which is odd, because he had no trouble finding the Dreamcast and..." He trailed off, seeing the way Miles was looking at him. "Sorry," he murmured.

Miles shrugged. "It's fine. You didn't call me Tails for eight years."

"Tails?"

"Tails." He slumped down on the edge of the sub. "It's what everyone calls me. Or least they do when they don't need something fixed. Oh sure, then it's Miles, or Mister Prower, but when that doesn't happen? Nup. Tails." He whacked his own. "Even that Mighty guy got the joke."

"Why's it a joke?"

Miles glared at him, and Sonic knew he'd said something stupid. It had been said with sincerity, but that didn't make it right. So, either he could shut up, or try and spin dash out of the hole he'd made for himself.

"Isn't Tails better than Miles?"

He went with the latter. And given the way Miles stared at him, he wasn't sure if he'd succeeded.

"Listen, kid," Sonic said. "Sonic's my name. It's my only name, and I'm fine with it. I don't know what it's like to have two names, or a nickname, or title outside Fastest Thing Alive, or Blue Blur, or...look, point is, I don't know what life's been like for you, but from where I'm standing, you've got two tails that can help you fly, and you're clearly the smartest guy in a very big room, so...look, what I'm trying to say, is that if people are calling you something? Own it. Because they can't fly, and if they need your gadgets, then that's another thing you can do that they can't."

For a moment, looking at Miles, Sonic was afraid that he'd said the wrong thing. But a moment after that, as Miles hugged him, that fear went away.

"Um, kid?"

Replaced by the fear of hugging. Because he had an image to maintain, and hugging was going to be detrimental to it.

"Yeah, kid, that's great. Enough hugging."

Miles broke the embrace and looked down at the sand, tracing his foot in it. "Sorry," he said.

"Nah, it's fine. Just...y'know...quills..."

Miles looked up at him and smirked. "Yeah. Of course."

"Of course."

A silence lingered between the two of them. For his part, Sonic glanced at the sea. The smell of salt was strong, enough even to subdue his fear of water. Enough to look at the horizon, and wonder what lay beyond it apart from birds with more battleships than feathers.

"Sonic?"

He looked back at the fox.

"You okay?"

He blinked. "Pardon?"

"You were so busy trying to cheer me up, I didn't ask. I mean, with Longclaw...if you need more time, we-"

Sonic shook his head. "No."

"No?"

"No. I spent ten years running away from danger. I'm not going to do that anymore."

It was the truth. Mostly. Part of him wanted more time. Part of him, strange as the feeling was, wanted to slow down, and wait for the sun to set. For the moon to shine, for the stars to return, and for him to familiarize himself with the constellations of his homeworld. But the other part, the part that had been there all along, the part which had slowly grown in him all his life...that part was in control. That part reminded him of what he had to do. How he had to jump onto the back of the Sea Fox and say, "come on kid, let's go save the world."

Miles Prower smiled and jumped into the cockpit. And after that, Tails activated the sub, and took them across the sea. Driving it, as his passenger gave one last look at South Island. Whispering final, silent goodbye.

And wishing that they had a plane instead.