The storm raged on outside, shaking the walls of Kharis' apartment with such ferocity that its occupants feared that the windows would shatter from its force. Kharis herself sat on her couch dressed in her comfiest fleece pajamas, with Queen Aleena and Sonia on the love-seat and Manic curled against the humans side.
Albiet, the items had been bought mostly in the children's section, but now the royal family was dressed in their own fleece pajamas. Queen Aleena was in a deep purple fleece gown that tied high around the waist, the length fluttering to the floor in elegant waves as it clung gently to the woman's body. Sonia wore a pink version of the one her mother wore, though smaller to fit her more youthful body and had a few more layers of lace around the collar and edges. Manic was the easiest, though strangest as all he wanted was sleep pants, and was adorned currently in a pair of black fleece pajama pants that flame designs on the bottom.
Currently the small group was binge watching Kharis' favorite childhood anime, Sailor Moon. Against her chest she held the Daimond Heart protectively with one hand, and the other wrapped loosely around Manic as he leaned against her side.
Queen Aleena was likewise holding her daughter against her body securely, stroking the child's hair as she watched the characters on screen. At one particular episode the Queen watched in curiosity as her human companion had slight changes in her demeanor. The Queen noted how the young woman's back got straighter as she lightly leaned in more to the show, and how her eyes lit up with wonder and a silent yearning the Queen couldn't quite place...until she looked back at the screen. The Moon Princess had just been revealed, along with the Legendary Silver Crystal.
It clicked immediately, with Aleena's mind and wit as quick and as sharp as her son, Sonic's. Once all the episodes were finished on the current disk, Queen Aleena voiced her curiosity. "Kharis...have you ever...wished to be like that woman? Like Sailor Moon?" It caught the woman off guard, and she stuttered as a fierce blush overtook her face. "W-Wha..?!"
Queen Aleena giggled lightly, as her beloved children looked on curiously. "The resemblance from your...current situation to aspects of this show and its heroine are quite few, but they are there. Namely, your Heart and its strange pulse of energy..." Kharis flinched back slightly, but couldn't deny the similarities herself.
"My guess is,...you've watched this show...these particular episodes so often that they became engraved into your subconscious. The chaos emerald must have felt that and used it as a basis for the creation of the Heart. It went with what you were comfortable with the most, what you could connect with the easiest. Though why it reacted in such a way is odd in itself...Chaos Emeralds aren't known for reacting with humans usually, at all really."
That time it was Sonia, catching on to what her mother was saying. Kharis stood, shakily smiling with a 'That's so..?" weakly coming out. She had dealt with people belittling her likes before, and she could see the reasoning behind both the reason why and what the two hedgehog ladies were saying. It was a sore subject to touch upon though, it wasn't often she meet people who were so kind and understanding about it like they were being.
So it was her fault that this really had happened..? Because of her childhood passions, she had somehow given birth to what seemed to be a gem of power that was unknown to be who knows just how powerful and the chaos emerald had made it reality..?
Before her paranoid and imaginative thoughts could spiral any more out of control, Queen Aleena spoke up once more as the human woman pittered around the room, putting the disk back in its case and straightening up a little. Her words caused the young woman to gasp, and drop the item she was holding. The book fell with a heavy thud at the same moment lightning struck outside. "Would you like to close that gap difference, and become a princess as well? Not those silly, prim and snooty ones of course."
Manic laughed at what his mother said at the end, winking at Sonia who humphed. The green drummer boy jumped up to steady the human woman when she swayed though, helping her sit back down. "Y-your joking...right? Why...would you waste your time on something like that for someone like me?" Kharis asked, gripping the heart once more so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. "Because it's never a waste to do what you want to do most." The Queen said simply, brooking no more argument from the other adult with her tone. Outside, the thunder rolled as the winds howled more ominously, setting the mood for the next event that night.
The power was out an hour after Queen Aleena had made her decision to train Kharis in the ways of royalty, along with planning a special surprise of her own.
Now all four were sitting in a circle, candles lit in the small living room as everyone huddled together with pillows and blankets, planning to camp out together in the small space for the night. Once everyone was settled, Kharis asked a question that had been plaguing her mind.
How did the royal family get separated after finally reuniting?
Queen Aleena was startled by the sudden curiosity, as Sonia curled up with Manic as tears twinkled in her eyes from the candlelight. "Well...let me start from the beginning..." The Queen said carefully, as she looked at her children in despair.
"Back before Robotnik had taken over our beautiful kingdom, I had just been crowned Queen with my husband, Jules. We were happy for a time, and we never knew of the terrible betrayal that awaited us. You see...Robotnik...used to be an Ambassador for the humans who lived on another continent, closed off from the rest of Mobius. They were a peaceful sort then, and recognized our family as the rulers of our great planet at the time. It is still unknown if they had helped that madman with the initial attack. He was known as Julian Kintobor back then, but changed it to Robotnik when he begun his take over.
We lost all communications with the rest of the humans after that, and neither Robotnik nor the Resistance could locate a trace of them.
As for Jules and I, we took shelter in the hidden city of Mobodoon along with as many of our people as we could save along the way. It wasn't long after that, that we learned I was pregnant and was then banned from joining the small scouting teams that had formed to try and save more of our people before they were captured and robotisized. Just before I gave birth...I lost Jules...he had gone with the main group as usual, but only one member came back. Amadeus Prower, one of our trusted generals had dragged his battered body back to us with the grave news. The team had been led into an ambush by a wolf named Sleet, and had been separated. What he could gather, the others had been captured and either killed or robotisized. He perished not long after, his wounds to great for our supplies and resources too handle.
A few months later, my babies were born. Bright and beautiful, they were beacons of hope for our people once more in our dark times. Our peace didn't last though, before they were even 2 years old, I had gone to the Oracle, hoping for good news and some guidance about my husband and our fates. There, I learned of the prophecy, and I had to give up my little ones or risk their lives and all our fates.
For my only baby girl, I left her with the aristocrat, Lady Wyndamer. She had been my friend since childhood, and due to a medical condition was unable to have children of her own. She had always spoke of wanting to be a caretaker and private tutor to any child of mine. So felt her the best choice for my little princess.
For Sonic, who was already showing signs early on of his speed, I left him in the care of a small woodcutter family who had often done business with our family and had been caretakers of the forest in which they lived. They were recommended by my brother-in-law, Sir Charles, so I knew I could trust them with my speedy little boy.
But my youngest, Manic, I was torn. He was my only baby left, and I was torn between keeping him with me or giving him away to be raised by another. In my despair and fear of the prophecy, I left him on the doorstep of another I had known before the take over, a wonderfully kind woman named Amane who had been our maid. But after I had knocked on the door and gone to hide, a rat came and snatched away the basket holding him. She never knew he was even there, opening the door to look then quickly hiding away again herself.
I followed him, terrified for my baby's life as he went into the growing slums of the city. When he offered the basket to his boss, a well known and master thief named Ferrel, I planned to show myself. But he surprised me, instead of being angry that the rat hadn't brought back food or weaponry, but instead a little green hoglet, he showed kindness and swore he would raise my little boy to the best of his abilities!
I meet with him secretly afterwards, as I did with all the foster parents the best I could to keep updated on my children. I swore them to secrecy, so Robotnik would not find out about the children before they were ready. I stayed in Mobodoon in only brief, short visits to rest, and the rest of the time I worked with the growing Resistance-the Freedom Fighters as they came to be known- to thwart Robotnik the best we could and kept his attention preoccupied.
I also trained myself in the Mystical Arts with the Oracle, which proved most useful as women have a natural ability for magic, more so with those of the Royal Family. For years I kept watch over my babies, with only the promise of one day being reunited with them to keep me company throughout the long nights. I could barely withhold my joy when they met up again when they were 10 years old, and I kept a far closer eye on them to protect them as they begun to fight the tyrant more aggressively. At times I had to step in, to help them or to leave them clues to where they were needed the most to help save as many of our people as we could.
It was a few days after they had their...little virtual mishap that the Oracle finally gave me the ok for us to reunite, as the Three pointed Diamond constellation re-emerged in our night skies. I had no hesitation, going to the secret hideout they had been stationed at the time in the dead of night and snuck myself in. They slept so soundly, that I was against waking them up. So I left special little gifts in their room and went to the little kitchenette they had.
Imagine their surprise when they woke up to find presents in their room signed from their mother, only to find me cooking breakfast for them in the kitchen!
Sonia had gotten her very own tiara, crafted in Mobodoon by the best artisans we had left. Sonic got new shoes with special wear-and-tear resistant materials with pure gold buckles on the sides, and Manic had received a new set of gloves that had nanotechnology built into the threads, curtesy of Cyrus.
To say it was a tearful reunion was an understatement, and we chose to spend the next week together to catch up. No missions, no fighting Swatbots or those fools, Sleet and Dingo. So we went to the Floating Island after checking in with the rest of the Freedom Fighters.
We never even realized it was a trap.
The first few days were wonderful, and we had made a new, very precious friend up there as well, one who was stranded in our time-line far from her own. Turns out the children had met her a month before when she had first arrived, so little introductions were needed. She was part of the family in all but blood and she had a mysterious power all her was this power that Robotnik was gunning for.
He wasted no expense when he invaded the island, using every evil he had in his power. We all thought we were going to die! Manic was already unconscious with a terrible wound on his side, Sonia laid unmoving beside him, missing both her left arm and leg from a bomb Sleet had thrown at her. We had fought so hard, but the sheer amount of robots and Robotisized Mobians he used overwhelmed us. We couldn't attack the Mobians, as that man had used their foster families against us. I too was barely standing, weakened and distraught over the state of my children. Had the Oracle made a mistake? Had we reunited to early and this was the punishment?
I remember being captured, held harshly in the hands of Swatbots as they broke my arm. Knuckles and Sonic had been thrown from the island afterwards, and as the last of my children fell I broke down, giving up all hope...then she came out.
She wasn't a fighter, so we had forced her to hide in a cave and locked her in there for her own safety since she had control of the power Robotnik coveted. I don't know how she had managed to escape, but it's thanks to her we are alive and in one piece. Using the source of her power, she unleashed a source of light that blinded everyone, turning everything a luminous white.
I could barely make out her silhouette as she stood before me, and I could see the toll such a force was taking on her body. I screamed for her to stop...there was no sense in her perishing with us. But...all she did was smile, and to this day the look on her faces haunts my dreams. She had smiled, her eyes watery though not a tear had fallen as I could see her body beginning to dissolve. She stood so tall, so strong, unwavering as the light grew brighter. She said only five words to me before I finally blacked out.
When I came to, I found myself being shaken by Manic. When I sat up I saw he was alive and well, no traces of the fatal gash on his side other than his torn vest. Next to him was Sonia, whole and in one piece like her brother with only the destroyed clothing testament of the bombs explosion. Sobbing I held my babies close to me, stroking their ruffled fur as they cried against my chest. Further away we found Knuckles, alive and well though he seemed as distraught as we were not to find Sonic. He told us he had managed to dig into the side of the island with his great strength, but Sonic had been thrown to far away for him to catch and he had been forced to watch the hedgehog fall before the light engulfed him as well.
We had thought him dead, and grieved for days unaware of the other many changes that had taken place on our fair planet. Later on we had been reunited with the Sir Charles and the others, who had been derobotisized to our great shock. We immediately returned back to the surface, hoping we would find Sonic somewhere alive and well, as well as our dear friend who had saved us...but I knew she was dead without a doubt...I just couldn't bring myself to tell Sonia and Manic at the time for fear they would lose hope for Sonic's survival. But it seems both he and Robotnik had disappeared, and Robotrobolis was destroyed.
We found Sleet and Dingo's bodies underneath the mountains of rubble, broken and ripped apart, well...what wasn't completely crushed at least...and all the other Mobians who had been captured, derobotisized as well.
The next two years we spent working on rebuilding our kingdom, with our spare time spent looking for any signs of Sonic. The Royal guard was recreated and near the end we had begun to finally loose hope that my baby boy was alive...until the Oracle came to us with news.
Sonic was alive and well, and faster than ever! But...he didn't show any signs if he remembered us, and he no longer had his royal medallion. Comforted by the fact he was at least alive, we planned to reunite with him...but our people needed us the most at the time, so we just kept an eye on him, despite my children's wish to be with their brother once more.
He had found and kept in touch with Knuckles though, who watched over my little boy as he watched over the newly renamed Angel Island and the Master Emerald. I guess he felt it was his duty to, since he couldn't save Sonic before...
A few more years passed, and I watched as my son kept on saving people when Dr. Robotnik returned. He was growing into a handsome young man with his long blue quills as sharp as needles and those wonderful green eyes, so much like his fathers. Then one day, there was another bright light when we were on our way to confront him, the separation taking its toll on us finally. We found ourselves here, alone and stranded..."
"...and you can guess the rest from there." The Queen said finally, quietly sobbing as she held her two babies close. Kharis was beside herself, crying silently along with the Royal family. "D-Did you ever learn anything about your husband?" She asked quietly, and the Queen sniffles as she shook her head. "No, I can only assume Robotnik had him executed...I never found him amongst the derobotisized..."
As the night wore on and the others fell asleep, Kharis laid awake as her mind spun.
How could she reunite the Royal family?
As sleep finally overtook her weary mind, she smiled slightly as her mind wandered to the black hedgehog alone in the white space, she was eager to see him after such a tragic story. He always knew how to cheer her up, even if he didn't know how he did it.