Miles was needed.
He nearly dropped the tool in his hand at the sudden feeling of hurry hurry hurry that hit him like an electric shock. He didn't know where it came from, or how he knew, but he was certain that Sonic needed him. Hurriedly Miles twisted the last screw and scrambled into the plane's cockpit. Silently he prayed he'd done a good enough job fixing it. The time Miles had spent maintaining his mother's old plane hadn't been wasted; its parts, old though they were, were just what Sonic's Tornado needed after being shot down by Dr. Robotnik.
Miles's hands hovered uncertainly over the controls. He'd flown the plane before, but never without Sonic. Sonic couldn't exactly tell him what to do, since they didn't speak the same language, but he did a great job communicating without words, and now Miles missed his instruction. He took a deep breath. Sonic had shown him what to do, and Miles had spent countless days before that practicing in his mother's plane. All he had to do was let memory guide his hands. The plane rumbled to life. Miles yipped with glee, then made an effort to calm himself. The plane wasn't in the air yet, and the mantra of hurry hurry hurry was still buzzing in his mind.
A massive explosion rocked the world. Miles glanced up, wide-eyed, just in time to see the distant, looming shape of Robotnik's Death Egg explode in fiery glory.
Sonic had been up there. Miles needed to hurry.
The plane bumped down the sandy beach and, miracle of miracles, lifted into the air. Miles's heart soared. He was doing it! He was flying the plane, all by himself!
Hurry, the voice in his head urged. He needs you.
Miles nodded, eyes narrowed in determination, and turned the plane in the direction the voice indicated. His eyes widened as he saw a blue figure plummeting through the sky, pieces of metal shrapnel falling around him.
"Sonic!" Miles shouted.
Sonic's ears flicked towards him. His eyes widened in recognition. Miles pushed on the throttle, urging the plane to fly faster. Sonic reached out, and— yes! He caught the wing of the plane, pulling himself out of his fall and dropping smoothly into a crouch on the wing. He flashed a grin and a thumbs up at Miles, and Miles beamed back. He'd done it. He'd saved Sonic!
Miles brought the plane back to the beach, biting his lip in concentration as he tried to land as smoothly as possible. Only when they stopped did he realize how much his hands were shaking.
Sonic hopped off the wing, and Miles scrambled out of the cockpit after him. He grabbed Sonic's arm to keep him still and looked him all over, just like his mama used to whenever he fell from somewhere up high. Sonic bore the inspection with surprising patience, though his foot tapped restlessly against the sand. Finally Miles released him, content that Sonic wasn't badly injured.
"Eggman?" he asked. The English word was one of the few they both knew.
Sonic said something and showed him a piece of scrap metal. Then he pointed at the sky, where Eggman's Death Egg had once hovered. There was no sign of it now. Miles remembered the explosion, still ringing in his ears, and Sonic shook his head somberly. There was no way Eggman could have survived that.
"So… I guess you'll be going now," Miles said, ears drooping. He scuffed a foot in the sand. He liked the blue hedgehog.
Sonic said something in a gentle tone and patted Miles's head. Then he hopped in the cockpit of his plane. Miles turned away, starting down the path home. He'd known his new friend would leave eventually, but did it have to be so soon?
Miles stopped midstep as a voice called after him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Sonic standing up in the cockpit. He waved to Tails, then pointed at the second seat. The invitation was clear.
Miles froze. He looked from Sonic and the Tornado to the jungle behind him. Back there was the home Miles had been raised in. Back there were the remains of his mother's plane. Back there was everything familiar and safe. Lonely and boring, but safe.
Sonic extended his hand, speaking softly. Miles took a hesitant step toward him. Then another. Sonic waited, hand hovering in the air. Miles glanced over his shoulder one last time.
If there was one thing he'd learned these past few days, it was that nothing about Sonic was boring. If he went with him, he would be in for a life of chaos and adventure. If he went with him, he'd have to face any number of new, exciting, maybe terrifying things, things Miles couldn't even imagine.
If he went with him, everything would change, forever.
Miles smiled and took Sonic's hand.
A/N: And that's a wrap! Well, there's still the postscript, but that's more like a post-credits sequel hook. And since it'll probably be a long while before I write said sequel, please feel free to stop here if you don't want to be left on a cliffhanger.
Speaking of! There will be a sequel to Black & White, a Lost World AU I've already got many ideas for. The working title right now is Remembered Bones, and it'll probably (hopefully) be shorter than Black & White since it'll have less POVs and storylines. Of course, that's only a probably; my writing has a habit of going longer than I plan it to. Sonic will be the main protagonist once again, but Blaze, Silver, and Tails will also feature, and we'll finally find out more about the deal with the Wisps' worlds and their connection to the Chaos Emeralds. Again, it's probably gone be a while before that fic is ready, especially with me starting college soon.
I also have plans for one, maybe two more fics in this series after Remember Bones, a Forces AU and then a sort of series epilogue. That plan may change (who knows, maybe Frontiers will give me a ton of fic ideas), but for now that's where I'm at. I may also write some smaller fics about character backstories and alternate POVs; I'm planning to write a story about what Knuckles and Silver were up to during Leashed, for instance, and I'd like to write a Wisp POV story set during Black & White as well. Those shorter fics will probably come sooner than Remembered Bones.
In the meantime, if you have any feedback or criticism on Black & White, please let me know! For those of you who were subscribed, did you like the frequent updates, or did they feel too aggressive/overwhelming? Were the brackets around non-English speech helpful or annoying? Did the POV switches in the last few chapters read well? Any feedback is helpful, especially for when I start writing the sequel.
Thank you to everyone who read this fic. All the favorites, follows, and reviews mean a lot to me, and it was great to see what people's favorite parts were and the theories everyone came up with. I had a great time writing this, and I can only hope everyone had just as much fun reading it. Until next time!✌️