I'm sorry I'm such a load.
"Live as if you will die tommorow. Learn as if you will live forever." - Gandhi.
Christopher Thorndyke's point of view.
It was a peaceful morning in which everything seemed perfect. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. That bossy bully Dr Eggman had not initiated a single attack on my beautiful city, and there were no signs he was planning to do so anytime soon. For better or for worse, a strange sense of calm had descended upon Station Square and with the sun shining so vibrantly outside as the gentle spring breeze blew a sheet of paper to and fro; it seemed as if this calmness was here to stay.
My newfound heroic friend Sonic Swift had once again gone for a run around the perimeter of the city, to make the best use of this temporary ceasefire before his arch-enemy was bound to strike again. His self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose had naturally gone after him, despite knowing him to be several times faster than herself. There was something admirable in the pink hedgehog's tenacity to continue chasing the romantic partner we all knew she would never really get through to.
As my beloved father Nelson would put it, there was virtue in desire. Even if it was a limited kind of virtue. As was the case in Dr Eggman's never-ending desire to conquer whatever planet he ended up in.
A small part of me found it in my heart to pity that fat scientist ever so slightly. It was difficult to tell why.
Perhaps he knew as well as we did; that his remaining time in this new world was limited and quickly drawing to a close along with Sonic's and the rest of Sonic's gang. My grandfather Chuck who was a good scientist trying to benifit mankind unlike Dr Eggman; had come to a truly tragic conclusion via his scientific experiments.
He discovered that unless Sonic and all his friends returned to their own universe soon, the timeline in both our universe and their universe would be broken beyond repair. To cut a long and complicated story short; every living plant and creature would be frozen completely still as they succumbed to a slow and painful death infinitely worse than a burning at the stake or being hanged, drawn and quartered.
All machines would break down, and eventually cease to function. All planets in both universes would become lifeless wastelands littered with crumbling ruins. All hope would be lost. All freedom gone. Sonic's fight for freedom as the most recently elected leader of his sacred group "the freedom fighters", would be completely wasted.
Though Dr Eggman originally came from my world in my own universe, one of his experiments long ago had gone horribly wrong and sent him to Sonic's universe with Sonic instead. The experiment had caused the overarching space-time system that regulated the passage of time in both our universes, to regard him as a member of Sonic's universe that needed to stay there to keep everything functioning properly.
This upcoming catastrophe would kill Sonic. It would kill Sonic's friends. It would slaughter Dr Eggman and crash his entire empire of non-organic robots, including my two favorite robots Decoe and Bocoe who I could just never bring myself to hate despite their allegiance to their evil creator.
It would also kill me. But I didn't really care. I was no good to anyone anyhow, and it would be a blessing to everyone if I just vanished from existence. But the premature death of my lovely family and friends who had given me everything, was unacceptable.
It was why I had to come to terms with the prospect of living in a world where neither Sonic nor Dr Eggman were around to fight each other in epic battles any longer. A dull and mundane existence where there were no more exciting adventures to help me fill the void my absent parents left behind when they left me to be busy at their very important jobs.
I knew both mum and dad only meant well, but I could no more tolerate their well-meaningness any more than I could accept Eggman's long-winded rants about how the world would be more beautiful and efficient under his rule.
Good intentions unfortunately did not always manifest as noble actions, as the tragic hero Shadow had taught me the hard way; when he nearly went off the deep end believing himself be doing right by avenging his dead friend Maria by trying to eradicate humanity.
It took a desperate plea from me and Sonic's heroism to convince Shadow to spare the Earth from his completely justified anger, and he still had to pay the price for his dedication to his long lost friend with his own life.
He believed that Maria's killers needed retribution, and that he would be a true hero by giving her some dead humans to keep her company in whatever afterlife she ended up in, if one existed at all. I was not an expert in Theology unlike my amazingly talented friend from school Frances Garcia, so I had no comment to make to the idea of an afterlife.
It was this storm of thoughts that plagued my mind, as I decided to pop down to my basement to see what Sonic's best friend Tails the two-tailed fox was up to. The master inventor. The fox-cub genius. The under-aged prodigy. The one and only engineer who could construct a slew of mechanical marvels to give Dr Eggman's robot army a run for their money.
Hah. Money. The very word made my blood boil and my head hurt. I hated that word with all my heart, and vowed to hate it until the day I died. For I had come to see through the twisted mirror of truth, that it was money's fault that my parents abandoned me to myself my whole life. If only this stupid mansion didn't come with such a heavy mortgage, if all the furniture my parents kept sending me to further clutter up my overflowing room weren't so expensive.
We could be together as a family. And that would mean more to me than all the money in the American treasury.
I had developed a very strong aversion for money from when I was only a toddler. Every time I gave a 100 dollar bill a glance, I felt deeply inclined to rip it to shreds and scatter the shreds into the lit fireplace in the living room.
It was partially for this reason, that my two incredibly amazing servants Miss Ella and Mr Tanaka agreed to work for no salary and only for room and board, but this did not ease the harsh fact that if the things around me were not so expensive then I could have lived a normal childhood where I was frequently given company by my two wonderful parents.
I had naturally not forgotten about my three truly amazing friends from my class in school, they would always hold a special place in my heart. But I always held the sinking feeling that five hours together per day only during the weekdays was simply not enough for my human company needs, especially when four of those hours were spent in dead silence listening to our lectures.
Tails had his back turned to me as he continued to weld a crack in his prized plane which me and grandpa had helped him build; the X tornado. The first collaboration between a human and an anthropormorphic animal. The first joint project between an Earthling and a Mobian. I loved this plane as much as he did, and knew that this would be one of the last times for me to stand here and admire it in the company of it's main pilot.
Tails would have to leave this plane behind when he went back with Sonic to their home world known as Mobius. Yet he wanted to leave this plane in peak condition for when he bequeathed his favorite piece of technology to the human boy he considered "his second best friend after Sonic".
This was a compliment from Tails that I could never truly accept. A small part of me always felt that the wise yellow fox was only trying to patronize me with these kind words. Trying to comfort me. To take pity on me. To placate me so as to conceal his true feelings of animosity and hatred towards the entitled jerk who'd stolen so much of Sonic's time away from him.
That jerk being me.
I knew even as I continued to stand silently from my position near the stairs leading back to the mansion watching Tails, that this would be one of our meetings before his inevitable departure. I wanted to conceal my misgivings, but knew that they simply could remain hidden no longer.
I could not bare the thought of Sonic and his friends leaving me at such short notice, but I could even less stand the idea of Tails leaving my world hating me. It was not because being hated was something I was not used to. After all; I recieved death threats through the mail and telephone on a weekly basis and had more or less come to live with the idea that I would forever be labelled as a pariah in my society.
Where Sonic, Tails and their group of wonderful animal friends saw me as a respectable and worthwhile individual; Most of Station Square more or less saw me as nothing more than the disgusting monster on the hill.
A putrid and loathsome beast too big, too big to hand out with. An enemy to be fought against, humiliated, hunted down and killed. The instant Dr Eggman departed my world alongside Sonic, was the day my safety and security came to a brutal halt. I was garuanteed to be attacked from every concievable angle, and there would be no one I could trust.
Would my friends stick by me when this happened? Would they risk their necks for a coward several times wealtheir than any of them? Would my infallible girlfriend Helen still love me enough to want me to be the father of her wonderful future children? Or would they join in the legion of revolutionaries waiting for my head to be roasted on a spit the very moment Sonic's gang was no longer here to safeguard me with their supernatural charisma?
I did not know the answer to any of these questions. The one thing I did not possess despite the ton of wealth that my parents had accumulated for me was a crystal ball capable of predicting the future.
As my mum Lindsay put it in one of her blockbuster movies which broke the box office with it's popularity with her as it's starring role; Que sera sera.
It meant whatever will be, will be. The future was not ours to see.
But I could at the very least get one question out of my mind. The answer to my biggest conundrum revealed to me with absolute clarity. I had never wanted to ask Tails what I was about to ask now, out of fear of sounding mean and ungrateful.
But no one could escape from what was written, nor flee from their destiny. This was another one of my mother's most quoted lines. Mum was truly a titan of the Hollywood film industry, though this also instilled in me a deep derision for Hollywood for taking my mum away from me to be cast in an increasing number of films.
"Tails?" I shyly asked, feeling my heart burning up and my head pounding as I already began to sway from side to side from my nervousness.
"Yes, Chris?" Tails asked, stopping his welding kit and putting it to one side, before turning to face me after removing the metal mask he'd been wearing on his face to protect him from the plasma emitted by the welding kit. His face still looked as innocent and loveable as the day I met him.
"D, d, d" My words snagged on my tongue. I felt the weight of the world being thrust upon my shoulders and I very nearly keeled over with fright. "Do you? Do you?"
"Chris. What's wrong?" Tails immediately replied with great alarm, taking one step closer so as to better see my distressed state. "Is something bothering you? Let's talk about it as friends. I'm sure we can find a solution to whatever your problem is."
His voice was so melodious. So frail. So comforting and riveting. It was a wonder he'd not found himself a harem of adoring girlfriends yet, and a sad pity. Sonic didn't know just how lucky he was to have someone as attracted to him as Amy was, and this was one of the few flaws I saw in my blue hero. This flaw which I percieved in Sonic, made me even more cross with myself for not being able to find Sonic perfect.
Sometimes I wondered if I was any better than Sonic's sworn enemy Eggman.
"Do you hate me Tails?" I managed to finally squeak out, feeling like the most despicable criminal on the entire planet as I forced myself to speak each painful syllable. "For taking Sonic away from you? For not giving you more time to spend with Sonic?"
Tails was surprisingly quiet as he waited patiently for me to finish my sentence, before returning a casual smile and a shake of his head as he closed his eyes briefly.
"Chris. Is this what's been bothering you all these weeks you've been with us?" He softly purred, not in the slightest offended by my accusations.
"Y, yes Tails." I cried, quickly wiping away a tear that was threatening to spill from my left eye. "It is. I'm so sorry that I've been taking up so much of Sonic's valuable time which he could have spent with you instead. I'm so sorry that I'm such a drag on the missions you're so kind to take me on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
I bowed my head as I let out a quiet sob, finally no longer able to restrain my tears as they rained bitterly down my cheeks and dripped onto the floor.
"I'm nothing but a burden to all of you." I wept, as a very painful spasm coursed through my entire body. "I've nearly gotten all of you murdered by Dr Eggman several times. I can't fight as well as any of you, and even Cream and cheese who are younger than me can do more than I can. Honestly I've tried to help all of you. But I just end up screwing everything up."
"That's just not true, Chris. You do plenty of useful things to help us all, and you've been so brave every time you've been with us." Tails immediately retorted with complete calmness, not even letting me continue in my self-degrading rant any longer.
"Name one thing I've done that didn't completely screw you over." I demanded, letting my anger with my many failures finally consume me.
"I can name several amaziing things you've done Chris. But I'll just stick to one." Tails replied, his voice still as gentle as ever. "You convinced Shadow the hedgehog not to destroy this world, despite it apparently being the sole reason he was created in the first place. Shadow's grief over losing his lost love Maria had completely overwhelmed him, but you still got through to him, Chris. Sonic could only make Shadow more angry and hateful despite his best efforts, and none of us could try to talk Shadow down the way you did, Chris."
Tails smiled wistfully as he practically blushed with pride at me.
"Shadow was so scary and so much more powerful than all of us combined, but you saw the good in him and managed to talk him down. You basically saved the entire world that time. Poor Shadow was a threat far more insane and far-gone than Dr Eggman had ever been, and you still let Shadow see the light somehow."
Tails stepped even closer to me and clapped me gently on my shoulder, difficult for him to do as he was slightly shorter than me.
"For a lack of better words to explain it to you Chris, your actions that day on Space colony ARK make you a bringer of light. Shadow, the only hedgehog more powerful than Sonic; actually listened to you Chris."
"But I didn't fight." I protested sadly, salvaging a touch of composure by stifling my sobs at long last. "All I did was encourage Shadow not to disrespect Maria's sacrifice to him by showing him that he was worthy of living. I didn't actually beat Shadow. Not like how Sonic and you can beat all of Eggman's dangerous robots so effortlessly. So stop with your pointless praise, Tails. You know you don't really mean it."
Tails' endless stream of happiness seemed to finally give way in response to my vehement reply. His expression became solemn and serious, but his eyes were as clear and wide as before.
"Chris. I want you to know one very important thing about me and Sonic right here and right now, before we go any further. Because if you don't know this one simple fact, then you are not worthy of Sonic's friendship. Only true friends of Sonic deserve to know what I'm about to tell you, and you are one of them,"
I immediately snapped to attention. "I'm all ears." I sincerely noted as I quickly wiped away the last of my tears and met Tails' gaze with my own to let him know that he had my undivided attention.
"Some time ago, Sonic told me that he was part of a secret group of revolutionaries known as the Freedom Fighters." Tails explained with a clear and unbroken voice that seemed to whisper to my soul. "He's still a member of this group to this day, and from what he's told me; they've even elected him as their newest leader on account of all the good he's done for Mobius and Earth."
I looked surprised and utterly confused.
"Yes Chris. There are Freedom Fighters on this planet, just like on Mobius." Tails confirmed, understanding immediately the cause of my confusion. "Long before myself and Sonic were brought to your world by the Chaos emeralds, there were people from both our worlds who jumped between our worlds."
Tails then held up a hand, more to prevent himself digressing any further than for my sake.
"But that's beside the point, Chris. The most important point here is that this group that Sonic joined was the sole things stopping Dr Eggman from doing anything evil in the past when he was far more powerful than he is now. They've also saved countless other worlds from certain destruction with their heroic interventions, now led by none other than Sonic himself."
Stars began to fill my eyes. My hero Sonic had saved not just one world, but several from evils more serious than Dr Eggman or Shadow. I had grossly underestimated Sonic, which only made me a more ungrateful brat than I originally thought I was.
"And Sonic told me that there is one rule that every Freedom Fighter must obey without any ifs and buts..." continued Tails, ignoring my growing admiration for Sonic's long line of heroic feats.
"The most important rule that makes you a freedom fighter in the truest sense and not just in name; is that the best battle is the one that is NEVER fought." finished Tails. "Sonic made me promise to obey this rule from the day we met and I joined him in stopping Dr Eggman. It is the reason why we never take the fight to Dr Eggman unless he attacks us first, even thought it would be so much simpler and more satisfying. It is also why Sonic will never allow himself or me to hurt the evil doctor any more than is absolutely necessary to prevent him harming innocent lives."
My mind was practically exploding, as I struggled to take in all the information that Tails had given me which revealed so much about everything I had seen. Why Sonic was always content to leave Eggman be until he came out in one of his deadly robots. Why Sonic's first response to any new threat was friendly rather than hostile, like when he first met Shadow even after Shadow had dragged Sonic's good name through the mud.
"You stopped Shadow without even needing to fight him. You saw first hand how dangerous he was, but you still bravely stood up to him instead of running away." Tails remarked with a faint hint of impatience at my continued doubt of myself. "You did what neither me nor Sonic nor Knuckles or Amy could have done in that difficult situation, and you should be proud of yourself for what you did."
Tails' fawning face turned to a serious smile. It was rare that the 8 year old fox cub ever decided to be serious, so this meant that I had either done something terribly wrong or terribly right in his eyes.
"You upheld the code of the freedom fighters in the most courageous way possible." Tails remarked. "As our friend Amy would put it; bravery is not the absence of fear but the facing of it. Or as I would say myself; sunny skies don't make good pilots. You might not have any superpowers Chris, but you don't need any. The way you are right now is not just fine, but beyond fine."
"Y, you really mean that?" I timidly squeaked, feeliing my heart flutter ever so slightly at this exorbitant shower of praise. Tails normally wasn't this poetic, preferring to be short and straight to be point even when dealing with his idol Sonic.
"Chris. If we didn't like you, we would have just left you a long time ago." Tails retorted, no bearing of anger or sarcasm in his words. "There are plenty of places we could have gone, but we chose your house as our home because we saw potential in you. It would be safer for us to have gone into hiding in the countryside, but we thought it was worth the risk to stay with the hero that saved my best friend's life from his worst fear of water. And when you later chose to rescue Cream from that horrible prison on that heavily guarded island, we knew that there was no place for us except with you, Chris."
Tails had a very long memory. Even I had nearly forgotten the swimming pool incident in which I first met Sonic. Sometimes a genius really was a better counsellor than a trained therapist. You could argue with empty platitudes and phony affirmations, but you could not argue with cold, hard facts.
Yes I had saved Sonic from drowning; despite his very threatening appearance of being covered head to toe in very deadly looking blue spines. It would have been the responsible and lawful decision to report him to the police squad led by my incredibly caring uncle instead, but I chose to flout the law because I looked at Sonic and I saw myself.
A rebel who didn't care about social norms when they harmed the weak and helpless.
I had nearly gotten myself arrested when I later joined Sonic in his mission to rescue his young white rabbit friend Cream. I could have been shot down by one of the many Anti-Air guns surrounding Cream's prison on prison island. Or been handcuffed on the spot and dragged to state-pen if one of Cream's many remorseless bodyguards caught me. Any one of these outcomes would have resulted in me soiling the good Thorndyke family name.
But I cared more about helping a scared young girl away from her loving mother, than mine or my family's reputation or my own life. Because I believed that reputation was just an illusion, and that life was inherently a risk worth taking to protect those who were dear to me.
"Without you, Sonic would not have known how to actually get around that prison and he might still be trapped there with Cream to this day." Tails wistfully pointed out, sighing ever so gently. "So now please stop looking down on yourself so much. It's not healthy. False modesty is not the mark of a good freedom fighter, because it's dishonest."
"So, you don't hate me for taking so much of Sonic's time up? You were alright with me being with your best friend all this time when you could have been with him instead?" I asked, wishing to satiate my morbid curiousity once and for all before it ate me alive.
Tails smiled and shook his head with his eyes closed. "Sonic is my friend, not my possesion in the way that the X-Tornado plane is one of my possesions that I will now hand over to you. I don't own Sonic, and neither does Amy or Knuckles. It's his choice who he chooses to hang out with. So if he chooses to hang out with you and call you his buddy, who am I to get in your way?"
Tails then held up a delicate finger. "I think Chris, that the reason you struggle so much in your relationships even though you've been so kind to everyone around you; is because you don't understand that friends do things for each other not because they have to, but because they WANT to. We're not like Dr Eggman. We don't want to rule the world and turn everyone into a mindless robot."
"Well I don't either." I quickly added, determined to sever all ties with that monster of a human who didn't deserve free reign in this world or any world he ended up in.
"Well then, there you go. Even though you haven't robotocized any of us like Eggman robotocizes his subjects, we still choose to crash here with you. There are fancier places that would take us in now that we've become famous, just look at the president's office for example. But those places mean nothing to us. We don't want shallow praise and attention from a crowd of our fans, but a deep and lasting friendship with our saviour who overcame his limitations to fight for the greater good. That saviour is you, Chris. Of the countless adoring fans we could have picked to be our next friend, we chose you. "
Once again, tears began to blur my vision. But this time they were tears of pure joy. My negative thoughts had no power over me any longer. I felt a colossal weight being lifted from my shoulders and I jumped.
"I have to fix this plane quickly. Sonic needs me on the frontline once more." Tails noted, cutting me off my far more optimistic train of thought briefly.
"Then I will accompany you once again." I immediately offered, smiling as I usually did when such opportunities were presented to me by Sonic and his gang. "This might be one of the last adventures we have together, so let's make it a good one."
"That's the spirit, Chris." Tails cheerfully remarked as he began to walk back to where his mask and welding kit were sitting on the floor beside the X-Tornado.
As Tails reached down to pick his mask back up, he looked up as a sudden epiphany seemed to come over him.
"Before I forget, Chris. Since we will be gone soon, I want you to take care of three things for us once we have no choice but to leave your world."
"Absolutely anything." I solemnly promised. "Just say the word and I will do my utmost to ensure that your last three wishes are fulfilled."
Tails held up one finger. "Firstly, Shadow says that he wants to stay in your world a little longer. His special Chaos-control abilities mean that he can stay for a bit longer than us without upsetting the balance of the space-time system. He wants to search the remains of Space colony ARK once again to see if there are any traces of his lost-love Maria. And if there are, he wants to try bringing her back to life. He thinks Maria is an enduring miracle, and so she must still be alive in some form."
"So, what do you want me to do about that? I'm not a scientist or doctor..." I asked, a tad confused and yet a tad excited at the prospect of one final adventure with the mighty black hedgehog who I'd befriended and thought was dead until a few days ago when he was reported wandering vaguely in the forests south of Station Square.
"I want you to go with Shadow and make sure he doesn't get up to anything crazy." Tails explained. "And if he does find Maria, I want you to help him bring Maria back to life as I know you and Chuck can. It would mean a lot to me. It might even mean that Shadow stops trying to destroy the world at long last once he's happy."
The thought of a smiling Shadow cradling a beautiful blonde girl in a stunning blue dress in his arms, warmed my heart and soul. I saw a flashing image of the black hedgehog and the blonde human girl sitting on a ferris wheel as they shared a cone of pink cotton candy. I saw Shadow push Maria as she sat on a swing, pushing her too hard because he underestimated his own superhuman strength, and leaping into action to catch her midair when she was thrown with high velocity from the swing.
Then they'd both laugh together, and go to sit in a field of blooming flowers. Where they'd find Helen already admiring the blossoms with keen interest, and I would watch them in the distance with a camera ready to immortalize the moment in a photograph.
No more devious plots to blow up the Earth from Shadow. No longer would he remain a mindless slave to Dr Eggman and Rouge the bat, when they made him empty promises they knew they couldn't fulfil.
But best of all, perhaps Maria's return would finally convince her wicked cousin Dr Eggman to finally give up his perverted desire to enslave all of mankind. Now that would really blow my mind, and put my soul at rest.
"I will try." I promised, crossing both my fingers and causing Tails to giggle slightly. "I will not stop until Maria and Shadow are reunited as brother and sister, father and daughter, Boy and girlfriend. Whatever their relationship was or will be when they get together again."
"I know you can do it Chris. You've surprised us before, and I know you won't let us down this time" Tails approvingly stated.
"What are the other two promises?" I asked, bringing Tails back to the point, knowing that every second we wasted here was a second that Eggman was free to lay waste to the land.
Tails frowned and looked down briefly, ashamed of himself for a reason I could not pinpoint.
"The second promise is one that will benefit Knuckles. He's been so down in the dumps lately, and it's partly mine and Amy's fault. We've been putting him down and we really want to make it up to him."
He looked me in the eyes to let me know how seriously I was to take him.
"Angel Island will also stay floating in your world for just a short while, before it drifts back into our world. It's orbit is very erratic, and I want you to take advantage of that fact. Go to Angel Island as soon as possible Chris, and find out if there is any way whatsoever to give the spirit of Tikal the Echidna a physical body once again.
Tails clenched his fist as a solitary tear rolled down his right cheek. He was clearly very ashamed of his part in hazing Knuckles, and so was I now that I reflected back on all the awful insults I'd made at the red Echidna's expense.
"Knuckles doesn't deserve to be the last member of his race after he's been so loyally guarding their prized artefact all his life. If he just has another Echidna to play with, maybe he won't be so lonely anymore. There are some inscriptions on the ruins which I couldn't read the last time I went there, but perhaps you can decipher what they mean and use that knowledge to give Tikal the second chance at life she so richly deserves."
Now my fantasy had become even better. Now sitting beside Shadow, Maria and Helen in the flower patch, were a duo of broadly grinning Echidnas, one considerably larger and more musclar than the other. I had heard Tikal's last words along with the rest of Sonic's team and Dr Eggman after we sealed Chaos away, and I'd secretly played a voice recording of Maria on one of ARK's computers when no one was looking at me.
So I knew that both Tikal and Maria's sweet and melodious voices were extremely similar, and it was a hillarious prospect for both of them to talk at the same time so that it was impossible to tell who was speaking. Perhaps with their two combined angelic voices, they could sing a heart-wrenching ballad that would soften up Eggman's stony heart to finally end his reign of tyranny.
"I'll go there as soon as we get back from this adventure." I swore with hand on heart. "Now tell me the last promise."
I snickered briefly. "I bet it has to do with bringing back yet another lost friend to make another one of our friends happy."
"Nope." Tails said with some relief. "This one has to do with you. It's something you have to do right here and right now, and the reason why you can't come on this mission with me as much as I know you want to."
My smile quickly faded. Whatever this last promise was, it must have been deadly serious if it forbade me from following Tails on one of our last outings ever.
"But first I must ask you this simple question, Chris. I want you to think carefully about your answer, because it's a very important question. How you answer will affect everything that happens to you beyond this point. There will be no going back. I will always remember your answer, and will hold you to it even if you try to back out. And please...be honest when you answer me."
Somehow Tails' expression had reverted back to jovial playfulness despite the gravity of his words.
"Um. Go ahead Tails. Fire away. I'll be honest. Scout's honor." I murmured weakly. What else could I reply?
Tails let his grin stretch from ear to ear as he playfully wagged his finger in the way Sonic sometimes did when trying to show off.
"Do you or do you not love that disabled blonde girl Helen? The really nice one you keep going to see when no one else is looking. The one you keep mumbling about in your dreams at night. The one I sometimes see you sketching in your sketchbook to pass the time between our missions and your school days."
"W, what? Y, you know about Helen?" I gulped. I had been fearing this discovery for quite some time. I wanted Sonic and his friends to know everything about me, except my failed attempts to confess my undying love to the most perfect girl I had or ever would meet. No other soul, animal or human, past or present, from my world or Sonic's world woud be able to match the attractiveness of Helen, at least for me.
"Well it is quite obvious how much you care for her. I have not seen anyone care as much for Helen as you, Chris. Not even your other friends. You do love Helen, don't you Chris? Please just come clean. Love is a sacred emotion that should not be hidden away forever."
My heart got to my mouth before my brain, and I nodded empathetically while letting more tears flow from eyes which I had to close to avoid seeing Tails' expression. "Yes Tails. I admit it. I really love Helen to the point where I'd protect her with my own life if it came to that. She's just so perfect. Words alone cannot begin to describe her perfection."
I could only pray now that my confession would not turn Tails against me. Perhaps he'd take offense that I had amorous feelings for some beyond him and Sonic. Perhaps he'd label me a traitor to Sonic's cause, and report me to Sonic as untrustworthy. There were reasons that I didn't confess my secret relationship with Helen until now that I was backed into a corner.
"Chris. If what you just said is true. Then you might be the bravest, strongest person I have ever met in my whole life. And that's saying a lot, since Sonic sets such a high bar for me." Tails proudly said, as I slowly let my eyes creep open once again to see the most astonished look of awe on his face.
"You actually had the guts to confess your romantic feelings for someone. You didn't make the same mistake that Sonic did; of hiding his love until it was too late and he lived to forever regret his cowardice." Tails continued, his welding mask and welding tools still untouched on the floor.
"Your love for Helen should prove to yourself, Chris, that you are not shallow like you think you are. You don't just like Sonic because of his speed or his strength. If you did, you would have just left Helen to the wayside and ignored her entirely after Sonic came into your life." Tails explained. "The one thing Sonic always wanted from one of his friends was for them to appreciate him for something other than his speed, and to see him as something more than just an opponent to beat in a race. You are that special friend, Chris."
"So, what do you want me to do then Tails? Why can't I come with you on your next mission?" I asked with a voice already well under control as I felt my courage and sanity returning to me.
"Because I want you to go to Helen right now, and tell her what you just told me. That you love her, and will protect her with your life." Tails told me as he took another look at his plane to find that it actually needed no further repairs at this time. "You can do that, can't you Chris? You're not afraid of Eggman or Shadow or the corrupt government officials who want to ruin the peace of your world. So think of this as one final test after you've overcome so many challenges. Station Square is safe now thanks to you and your family's intervention. I don't know when it will be in danger again, so you have to go to Helen now."
I felt tempted to hesitate and tell Tails that I had reservations about advancing my relationship with Helen too quickly before she was ready. But I also knew that such a claim would be pure poppycock and hogwash. Helen feared nothing and never let her disabilities frighten her away from enjoying her life to the fullest. It was her unbreakable willpower that drew me to her in the first place, and I knew that if I was ready then she would certainly be ready for me.
I had seen the pain in Amy and Sonic's failure to express their true feelings of love to each other far too many times to feel comfortable. While I could not force Sonic or Amy to advance in their relationship for that would be inhumane, I could at least take responsibility for my own relationship.
"Tails. You are the greatest best man that me or Helen could have asked for. When you go back to Mobius, tell your friends that you are the greatest matchmaker and tell Sonic how it was you who helped me finally open up to Helen. Sonic cares a lot for Helen too, so he needs to know that me and Helen have gotten together even in his absence."
"I will Chris. I will." Tails replied as he climbed into his plane, realizing it would at least hold for one more flight without further repairs on his part. "Now. One final promise. I know I've already asked a lot of you, Chris, but this one will tell me whether you've actually kept promises one through three. Especially three."
"Anything, Tails."
Tails finally got into his plane, but did not yet shut the glass container that would let him breath properly when the plane got into the air. He looked down from his high position at me and grinned cheekily.
"If and when you come to me and Sonic's world (as I'm sure you'll eventually find a way to), I want you to take Helen with you. You can leave your other two friends Frances and Danny behind if they are too busy, but Helen always has time for you and time for us too. Seeing Helen with you is the proof I'll need to know that you've not forgotten your promises to me."
"Yes. I swear it. Helen will come with me when I eventually build the machine that lets me visit you guys again, and she'll actually be able to walk like she always wanted." I shouted back with my hands to my mouth. "She's always wanted to know what kind of exotic plants grow in Mobius compared to Earth, and I'll make sure she gets that chance."
"Thank you Chris. Now get out of the way and goodbye for now." Tails finished, as he encased himself in a glass dome and put his pilot goggles on, before switching his plane on and slowly steering into position to fly out from the underground hangar we'd been talking in.
As the door to the outside world opened as I clicked a button close to me, Tails gave me one final wave as he deftly manouevred the X tornado across the floor and then up into the sky.
I watched him climb all the way to the point where his plane was nothing more than tiny dot in the sky.
Then I closed the hangar door, dashed up the stairs and bolted out the door of my house.
There was not a second to spare. I was on more of a timer now than I had been during any of Eggman's evil plans to take over the world. Station Square was standing still enjoying a brief moment of serenity and freedom from evil, but this would not last long.
Helen needed me with her right away. I knew as I sprinted across blocks of beautifully fitted houses, that by making the decision to confess my feelings for Helen; I had already outgrown my dependence on Sonic. While Sonic would be stuck forever tongue-tied when Amy asked him for a date, I would be freed from this endless waiting game I had been playing with Helen for far too long.
I could not afford to spend time ruminating over the upcoming departure of Sonic's gang when Helen needed protection, Frances needed company and Danny needed a sparring partner to help him flex his new wrestling style.
Frances and I had briefly discussed the concept of Heaven during the church services we attended together on Sundays. But perhaps Heaven was not a faraway place, but rather a homely place I had always been staying in without even knowing it.
Perhaps what made Heaven so heavenly, was how close it had always been. How it was so easy to forget to appreciate its beautiful blessings when you became too engrossed in your own prideful ambitions. Like Dr Eggman with his plan to create the Eggman empire from the blood and tears of those he oppressed.
Dr Eggman would never know the true feeling of true happiness until he found the courage Tails had helped me find. I could see why Sonic was so fond of the yellow fox cub now.
I could also see why I had honed a far deeper connection with Tails than Sonic, even though I met Sonic first. Tails understood me better than Sonic. He also understood Helen, and the struggles she went through from being born handicapped, most likely because Tails was also born with a handicap that got him driven out of his home village through no fault of his own.
The end of Sonic's time with me did not mean the end of my adventures. My duties. My trials and challenges.
The end was only the beginning. The beautiful beginning was disguised as a tragic ending, and there would be no rest for me. Not now. Not ever.
At least not until I surprised Tails with a visit in his and Sonic's world with Helen standing healthily by my side, no longer in need of her restrictive wheelchair, which got her laughed at by almost everyone apart from me.
Not just Helen, but all of my friends would be there with me. Frances and Danny would never miss the opportunity to see Sonic again. But the real surprises for Tails to behold, would be those of a newly ressurected Maria and Tikal. Then there would be a concrete reason for Shadow not to step on the path of darkness ever again, and another Echidna to help Knuckles continue the line of Echidna guardians; so that the master Emerald would be forever kept safe through the generations.
But Helen came first. Now that I knew Tails did not hate me, I needed to take steps to ensure that his admiration for me was warranted.
...
Thank you for reading. Please review if you like this story. This is my first one shot.
I always felt that there should have been more interactions between Chris and Tails, since both of them have very comparable personalities and for someone to actually talk to Chris about his problems.
I also feel that someone needed to remember both Maria and Tikal, and for Chris X Helen to get more love as a pairing.
The part about Chris having Helen in his sketchbook comes from how there are so many absolutely adoreable pictures of Chris and Helen together on Deviantart.