Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this chapter.

Tails' feet pounded down the hall. He physically shook as he ran, doing his best to make his steps as loud as possible to drown out his horrible anxiety.

"I shouldn't cry," Tails thought, a lump gathering in his throat to urge him otherwise. "I shouldn't."

Entering the main hangar at last, Tails felt a welcome rush of air. He jumped into the air, hovered swiftly over to the main cargo bay, and stepped into an air lock, closing the door behind him. Sonic, Knuckles, and Chris got up to provide any needed assistance to their buddy, pained by the thought that the anguished fox might have just stranded himself in space anyway from his terrible emotional distractions if they had not been there.

Tails slammed the button, jabbing it a couple extra times for good measure. Much to his relief, the seal released and he drifted outside, safe and tethered to the ship. Finally alone with his thoughts and few other sounds, he was overwhelmed with a rush of dread. "Ohhhh, what if Cosmo really IS gone? No… I can't bear the thought. She CAN'T be!" He furrowed his brow and pushed on, drifting to the massive clod of alternately petrified and seemingly recently dead wood – few earthly words could describe something so supremely ugly and wretched in shape and composition. He landed right on it, immediately squatting down to wrench a handful of softened wood from the surface. Grinning at its ease in detaching from its host, Tails tore out chunk after chunk.

He moved faster and faster, tearing to shreds the disturbing phantom of wood and loosely composed stone that clung together with soot and ash. Images of Cosmo flashed before his eyes, both with him and simply the essence of her, as an abstract… thing that nonetheless just had to be his. Finally, one lucky removal of stone revealed a white and green object, soft, delicate, and unthreatening. Identifying it, he was overjoyed – a few more handfuls of dirt revealed it was none other than Cosmo's skirt.

"I SEE HER! It's really her! Cosmo! S-Sonic! Knuckles! O-o-ver here!" Tails managed to squeak out through short breaths. Chris edged the craft a few feet closer to the debris, allowing the nose to lightly touch it. Sonic, also suspended on an umbilical, pushed himself to the rock and helped his buddy dislodge as much as possible.

Watching the two struggle, Knuckles laughed good-naturedly. "Move," he said with smug simplicity and casually shoved Sonic to the side, "I got this." He started with a big swing, in the process removing a chunk of stone the size of himself.

"Careful!" Tails yelled in panic at the brute's callous motions. "You'll hurt her!" Knuckles shrugged and became gentler in his swipes at the stone, so Tails went back to dislodging chunks by himself. Knuckles started to chip the stone to find a crack, and when he did, it was easy enough to dismember it entirely.

Tails moved back, wide-eyed and hopeful, as the stone and wood revealed its prisoner. Through the great big windows of the Typhoon, Amy, Cream, and Cheese watched in anticipation, all hugging one another. Sonic, Knuckles, and Chris, albeit standing closer, appeared equally tense.

Tails gulped and took his first real look at his love. Cosmo lay on the stone, the beauty of her delicate skin marred in places by scraping and charring. Leaning down to see her up close, tears filled his eyes.

He knelt down to pick her up, sliding one arm under her legs and the other behind her back. All eyes were on him, all expecting him to do the honors. He blushed bright red to do just that: after hesitating for a moment, he nuzzled his head onto her chest to listen.

For a moment there was nothing. And then, Tails heard a joyous thump-thumping, like a valiant young child trying its best to keep up in a parade. Tails giggled wildly, jerked his head back, and managed to articulately blubber out, "S-Sonic! She's ALIVE!"

By god thank you Plastic Raven for beta reading me, who i give a kind pleasure of seeing your work in the future.

And thank you for seeing my chapter 2 of my story! Please comment! The more the better!