Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or Sonic the Hegdehog.

Chapter 7: Un/Packing

"What's up?"

That was what had come out of Sonic's mouth when Tails returned from the engine room where he had gone with Vilm without him in tow, wearing a grim expression that usually meant bad news.

Tails rubbed his head. "I've never seen a reaction like his before. The moment he saw the Chaos Emerald it was like he was in a trance. I had to yell at him many times to snap him out of it."

Amy blinked. "Wow, really?"

"Yeah. He tried to touch it. I don't think anything would have happened, but I was really worried."

"So?" asked Sonic. "Where is he now?"

"He asked to be alone for a bit… I bet he's in his apartment."

Sonic for his part was baffled. Like, he supposed the Emeralds were a pretty big deal but geez.

"Poor Vilmis…" Sonic turned to Amy, finding her hunched over and her expression fallen. "He must have so many confusing things to think about. He hasn't really gotten a break the last few days, has he? So much has happened to him."

He hated seeing her like this. Amy Rose should never feel down.

"Well!" yelled Sonic, making sure to put his cheery voice on. "We could all use a break! And you, Miss Rose, could use a bath." Sure, he had smelled her at worse but those few days of activity were starting to pile up, and it was getting late so her energy was waning. She had just gotten back from her month-long trip after all.

"Are you calling me smelly?" It sounded like an accusation, but she was grinning; that half-grin full of teasing and sparkly eyes that he adored.

Success. "You said it, not me." And to make extra sure she relaxed…

Less than a blink of the eye later and a yelp later and she was held like a princess in his arms. Not that Sonic could do a fireman carry properly; his quills put a hard stop on that. He had no idea how Shadow did it. But the point was not what he did but how he sold it: a grin exactly like hers to match her mood. "How about I escort you to your place?"

To Amy's credit, it took her less than a blink of the eye to get over her surprise and wrap her arms around his neck, smile turning softer. "My hero."

Sonic felt her warmth flooding into him, untangling something in him. As much as he loved those sharp grins of hers, this soft smile felt much more real.

His was sure his own smile reflected that now.

"See ya later, guys!"

He took off, racing against the setting sun.

Dinner consisted of warm cheese cream-filled buns straight from Amy's favourite bakery and warm ginger and lemongrass latte with lots of honey to warm the heart. Sonic even made the grand sacrifice of throwing a tiny one-person strawberry shortcake in the mix, eliciting an excited gasp from Amy.

"But you hate strawberry shortcake!"

True, but- "It's a special occasion!"

While she was savouring her desert, Sonic proceeded with step three of his "make Amy Rose relax" plan.

Amy loved pampering herself when she had the chance, but that took a lot of effort, so…

She entered her bathroom and her jaw dropped.

"…You drew me a bubble bath?"

Was it really that hard to believe?

…He supposed it was.

Well, that would not do. So he did something that he would never dare do in front of the others. He kissed her cheek.

"Welcome back, Ames."

She tackled him in a hug and he knew he got everything right.

Sonic left Amy to enjoy her bath and relax. He checked his phone to see if there were any new messages from Tails.

"u at amys for tonight"

Sonic blinked. He did not expect that Tails would assume he would stay at Amy's place for the night.

"no sure
U home?"

"base"

Base. He was still at the Restoration's base!?

"gt bed" Seriously, he was already dead on his feet and forgetting to eat for the past few days…

"busy"

"GO TO BED"

"cant"

Oh, for the love of- Sonic went to the balcony so Amy would not overhear the phonecall and get worried and perched on the railing, speed-dialing Tails' number. He instantly picked up.

"Sonic, I'm BUSY. I have so much to do, we need to contain the Letos' engine and I have to keep working on the translator and I'm expecting to hear from Wave and I'm trying to get into the ship's computers and they're busted and-"

Oh Chaos, once Tails got like this he did not stop unless it was by force. And Sonic hated using force on his little bro, but… needs must…

"TAILS."

It was sharp and no nonsense and completely unlike him and he knew that. Tails stopped.

"Listen. All this stuff can wait for tomorrow. I know there's a lot of work, and if you don't pace yourself you're going to burn out."

"Are you seriously telling me to pace myself-"

Sonic ignored that. "We're in this for the long haul. It's not the kind of thing we can solve in a week by running around at top speed. You know that. We need you at top form, and for that you need to rest."

Sonic was no planner and no genius, but he knew that if they did not find Eggman then they would never know what exactly he was up to, and not even Tails could build a whole starship in a day. Hell, Vilmis had a whole list of all the stuff that needed to be done, and it did not even include stuff like finding the rest of the Chaos Emeralds or kicking Eggman's ass.

And then there was the stuff Silver told them…

Tails was quiet for a long time over the phone. "Patience isn't your strong suit." There was a bit of a laugh in there. Time to lift his spirits.

Sonic shrugged even though Tails could not see it. "Hey, just because I hate waiting doesn't mean I can't do it!" It was true. Sonic did have patience. He learned to have patience. The hard way.

"You and silver were arguing over sixty seconds."

Sonic grinned. "Semantics."

Tails laughed.

"But serious though; go home, eat, take a shower and go to bed. You don't have a deadline or anything."

"…Okay." Victory! "Will you stay at Amy's?"

Sonic felt kind of bad for leaving Tails alone, but he shoved it down. He could not hover over the kid forever. Yes, he knew it was ironic considering the conversation they just had. But- "If she wants to… I kind of missed her, you know?"

"I know. We all did."

"Yeah…" Amy made herself a permanent fixture in his life and there was a time when that really annoyed him but… she changed since then.

And he supposed, so did he.

"I'll see you tomorrow then! You have fun on your date."

"It's not a-"

"Goodnight, Sonic!"

"'Night- Hey!"

Tails ended the call, and Sonic was left looking in the screen. 10:14. Damn, where did the hours go?

Date. He and Amy did not- date. Or, maybe? Kind of? Dates were supposed to be all roses and fancy dinners and stuff like that, right? And dressing up and planning ahead and all. He did not really know, but- he and Amy- did not. Do that. Any of that.

Most of the time it was stuff like… this, just hanging out, the two of them, for its own sake. He or she would just randomly decided "how about we check this out" or "wanna grab a bite" and a few minutes later they did. And Sonic did not mind that. Really. He did not even really notice they were doing it until Tails pointed it out.

It was Tangle who first called them "dates" but…

Was this dating? He never even called her his girlfriend. Something in him rebelled against it, and yet that rebellion felt ugly.

"You know, your expression doesn't match what you're saying over the phone."

Sonic did NOT leap.

"Huh?"

He spun fast enough to give everyone else whiplash and found Amy right behind him, in a fuzzy bathrobe he had never seen before, her quills in her most used towel and smelling like honey and vanilla.

She looked tired, her eyes drooping, but otherwise relaxed. Smiling.

"Eh?"

"You sound like you laugh, but your face is flat."

There was this urge to flee. She was still smiling.

"Huh? Eh, come on Ames, how can that work?"

"I think it's sweet."

If Sonic did not get off-guard before, he was definitely caught off-guard now.

He did not know what his face looked like right now but Amy softened even further.

He had no idea what this feeling in his chest was. It felt like jelly made of broth which as its main ingredient had sugar and apprehension.

"You're always trying to make us feel better and not worry us. Even when you're tired too."

Goddamn.

All the stalking paid off, huh?

"Come on, I'll set up the couch. Movie or music? I picked up some mystery novels from Londinium."

The apprehension dissolved and only the sugar was left, nice and melted.

"Mystery novel sounds great."

He hopped off the railing back inside and followed Amy, who was already in her bedroom rummaging through her closet for blankets and pillows. Sonic made a nest out of them and the couch while the air drier was going off inside.

He helped her smooth the fur in her back with her brush and she brought out a box of macarons she brought from somewhere in Gael and Sonic had a blast telling her increasingly outrageous theories on how they made them all different colours until she called him a menance who should never be allowed near food processing. And they read the novel and Amy was all about the twists and Sonic nitpicked at every bit of awkward phrasing that was the surefire sign of a new author and eventually he dog-eared it because Amy's eyes were drooping at his side, stuffed and warm and comfortable.

The door to the balcony was still open and there was still traffic outside, but the moon was bright and the traffic seemed distant white noise like a lullaby.

He mustered just enough energy to put the book to the side before his eyes closed too.

Vilmis woke up to the light penetrating his eyelids. There was a heavy sense of cold penetrating his hands and feet, hunger thrumming strong in his stomach, his mouth parched and sticky, and an impossible sense of stiffness in his entire body. He was on a surface so hard he could feel bruises forming. It took his sluggish mind almost too long to realize where he was.

Did I… fall asleep on the desk?

Yes, he had. Exhaustion had trumped him. What a thing.

He had a vague sense that he had been dreaming about something. Glimpsed of something green, something like rain. Even as he tried to recall it fled his mind until it was erased completely. His head felt like a stone, impossible to lift, impossible to think.

What little light was coming from the window told him that it was early in the morning, too early to be awake. It was pure discomfort that woke him up. And the sleep had done him no good, he did not feel energized as he normally did.

It was exceptionally rare for Vilmis to fall asleep due to pure exhaustion, but with the way those last few weeks had been going he was certain it would become a far more common occurrence. He was not looking forward to them.

He briefly tried to recall what exactly he had been doing when he fell asleep but had come up blank, as if his brain had refused to retain anything. He opened his eyes and it was as if everything had been covered with a blurriness filter. It took a bit more focus than he would like to read what was written on the screen.

He had been reading on the Zeti. He had absolutely no memory of the page he was on now. He tried to recall what exactly he had been reading about and came up blank, as if his brain had refused to retain anything. He was too tired to feel the rush of panic that would normally follow such a realization, that he was so tired his brain seemingly erased his memory.

Was this what waking up was like for other species? No wonder everyone adamantly refused to adjust to Salarian schedules.

He tried to get up from his seat and most of his joints screamed in protest. His feet and thighs felt like being stabbed as he tried to move. Fuck, now he really understood why everyone else hated mornings.

Well, maybe they were exaggerating because most people slept on beds, not desks.

He kicked his shoes off and collapsed on the bed, heaving a sigh of relief at the tension leaving his back. He was awake now but… should he try to fall back asleep? He was not sure. He had never really tried sleeping after waking up before. The grand debate of life. To sleep or not to sleep. A debate to which usually the answer was "no".

Unprompted, his mind started making a list of all the things he had to do, hopefully as soon as possible. Finish reading on the Black Arms and the Zeti. Write that report, or at least a species codex. Talk to Miles about potentially getting a better camera. Do some research on Miles and Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds and just about everything. Get a star map to figure out where in the galaxy this planet was. Figure out a way to go back.

He had to sort out everything from the Letos.

The bodies were still in the meat larder.

Fuck.

Fuck.

He could not fall asleep now.

At this hour, the base was oddly deserted.

There were people; exclusively adults, or what passed as an adult here, but far and few between, keeping the voices low. Compared to the cacophony Vilmis was used to, it was jarring to see people moving around and yet the space reigned by such silence. It was so silent that it felt cold in a way, something meant to be still and not disturb even though stillness was far from the word to be applied here.

There was stillness, granted, the occasional person sitting on benches, seemingly spending their morning in the company of their thoughts. However, everyone else was caught in a quiet frenzy, washing the walkways of their businesses, receiving crates and packages, and generally preparing for when everyone else woke up.

Despite the colours, it felt grey.

Vilmis barely could suppress his squirms before this sight.

It was the first time he walked around the base without Miles as his escort. He knew he did that the day before too, but his mind had been too preoccupied, focused on how to get back to his apartment and what he had seen to realize that he was alone.

He certainly felt it now. He could swear just walking here took longer than it did the previous days. He could tell he attracted gazes, even if they were only of idle curiosity. He was not used to being stared at, not in any capacity.

A wonderful cocktail of scents hit his nostrils, and his head followed it instinctively.

That business was in full swing. There was even a tiny queue outside, of maybe five people but still the biggest crowd he had seen this early. The delicious scents and warm gold light seemed to invite everyone in.

It took Vilmis' still sleep-addled – or sleep-deprived, perhaps – brain a few moments of staring to realise that this was a bakery.

He lifted his omnitool and read the sign: "Soot's Buffet – since 1963!"

Let's see how it compares to ours. The smells so far seemed promising.

"Good morning! Oh, you must be the new visitor! Welcome! What can I get you?"

Vilmis startled, taken aback by the bright and energetic greeting. The translator had finished repeating the sentence by the time he got over it.

"Uh, good morning."

The person behind the counter was a male Babylonian. He had glossy black feathers and a matching beak, creating an overall intimidating appearance that went completely against his sunny attitude. There was someone else behind the counter too, much smaller and gloomier, sharing the same exact coloration; that person was much gloomier and tried some of their head feathers with bright beads. On a second look, she was female, evidenced by the clothes.

"I, uh… honestly don't know?"

The male Babylonian laughed. "No problem! Sweet or sour?"

He hoped the clerk did not use this as a chance to sell him something overly pricey that nobody ever bought. "Sour please." The cake from the day before was delicious but it was a bit too much.

"And a drink? Coffee, tea, milk drinks, juice…"

"What's coffee?" Or "milk", for that matter?

The gloomy female, for all that she seemed too busy attending to another customer, turned to them with the speed of a bullet. The customer startled as she dropped his change in his hand without looking at him, sending Vilmis a grin so sharp he understood why some people believed in demons.

The male Babylonian examined her for a moment, then turned to him. "Well, Mr. visitor, you just made a mistake."

Last time Vilmis had heard that sentence was when he asked Miles how his tails worked. It was not a sentence he wanted to hear again.

At least my morning won't be boring! I guess…

Coffee was the elixir of life, the scourge of sleep paralysis demons, and Gaia's greatest gift to all existence since the dawn of time and Vilmis had no idea how much of that was an exaggeration but he had enough self-preservation instincts not to question the slightly-crazed teen who was drinking her third cup for the morning. Her name was Poppy.

He was too scared to ask what a sleep paralysis demon was.

According to the male Babylonian, whose name was Sunseed (fitting, given the attitude), coffee was a bean usually brewed into beverages, and its actual property was to suppress the parts of the brain that sent the "tired" signals to the rest of the body. No guarantee if that would work on Vilmis but "it works on the Wisps and the Chao too!"

After that explanation Vilmis could see how Poppy developed her views.

At the same time, a drink that tricked you into thinking you do not need sleep sounded like a key ingredient to the kind of disaster that would get the standard STG lab locked down for a month and a half.

A lot of coffee also sounded like it was made in a lab. There was also a terrifying degree of variety with coffee. One that made him question everyone's sanity. Because true, there were hundreds of thousands of variants of tea but most of them were prepared by plunging them into hot water for a few minutes. This was NOT the case with coffee (well, it was the case with some coffee).

So Vilmis went with "something that provides hydration please". He was promptly informed that most kinds of coffee were over ninety six to ninety eight point seven water. Which did not narrow down his options. So he asked for something that did not feel too strong instead.

He ended up with a baked product with a thin crunchy cover that was filled to the brim with a salty cream hot out of the over that tasted a lot like the creamy stuff in the pizza rolls of the day before, a "long black" coffee, and a "first time customer is on the house!" line which meant he did not have to pay.

The… pie, he would go with that, was absolutely delicious. That rich cream warmed his soul.

As for the coffee…

Well, it smelled great. For some reason something in his brain screamed "addictive substance" but that surely could not be the case, could it?

Vilmis braced himself and took a gulp.

…

…

…Damn.

Vilmis was certain he was lost.

After finishing his breakfast he had wondered around the HQ for what felt like at least an hour, going through familiar locations trying to memorize their layouts and routes now that there was no one around, as well as trying to figure out where the Letos was kept.

In the last couple of days he had visited quite a high number of locations here including a few he was sure he should not know about: he knew where the hospital was, the food court, the shopping district, the human-leaning apartment complex, the food storage, the bizarre engine room, and even the exit.

He had been so tempted to go eat his breakfast outside. So, so tempted.

Eventually he did not dare to. The slight but ever present feeling of dread overwhelmed him as he made the thought.

So instead he wandered, looking for the Letos. It sounded like a fool's errant, as this base was massive.

His first thought was to call Miles. He got an urge to twist his horn as soon as that thought passed by his mind. Miles was a child. He needed his sleep. Vilmis could not expect him to be available at all hours, he was not customer service.

So he walked around. The crowds slowly started getting thicker, what passed as the morning commute in this place.

Urgh. Perhaps he should wait for Miles after all.

He started walking back to his apartment when something hard collided with him. He heard a box falling down and several things rolling away.

"Oh, sorry, I'm so sorry!"

It was a feminine voice. He looked down and he saw green clothes.

And wood.

A puppet…? What in the-

It moved.

The puppet moved, and turned the box upright. "I'm so sorry, are you okay? I should have watched my step, I'm in such a hurry, I hope nothing broke… I thought I programmed my balance to be better than this, I should just pay more attention… I should program a reminder!"

Vilmis was transfixed.

The puppet was wooden and moving and talking, scrambling on the floor to gather the transparent cylinders that had fallen off. Vilmis kneeled down and picked one up that had been stopped mid-roll by his feet.

It was like lightning had been shot through his hand.

Chaos.

It was not the Emerald. It was nothing like the emerald, this was just a green shard, nowhere near as powerful, not enough to draw him into impossible depths because it did not have impossible depths. And yet by now Vilmis found that he recognized the feeling of those things, that left his skin itching and tingling.

He looked up and found the puppet staring right at him. She had a bright red nose that was definitely plastic.

They both blinked.

"Ahh! The alien!"

To his bemusement she stumbled back, almost dropping the box again. Vilmis was left holding the tube with the crystal.

It occurred to him that the moving puppet was the only person so far to have a normal reaction to suddenly seeing an alien.

Well, Tangle's was also fairly normal from a certain point of view…

"Are you alright…?" Did "alright" even apply here? What even was she? It just; nobody told him to expect wooden puppets to move around.

"Oh. Yes, I'm fine. I was carrying this to the hangar, the Chief wants these yesterday… Um…" He followed her stare and saw that he was still holding the tube.

"Right." He dropped it into the box.

They stood there for a few more seconds awkwardly. Vilmis really wanted to ask her "what are you" but he was sure that would be incredibly rude, to ask her out of nowhere…

Was she a magic puppet of some kind? Where there plant people on this planet? Or was she something else?

"I need to get going. See you!"

Hold on, did she say hangar- "Wait!"

She stopped. "…Yes?"

"Would you like some help carrying that? I… think I'm looking for the hangar too?"

How did her face manage to change expressions like that? Was it made out of a different material? Oh, it was skepticism. "You think?"

And now he looked suspicious. "I'm looking for where the Letos – my spaceship – is stored. Miles said it's in pieces but they haven't cleared it out yet."

The suspicion dropped for confusion. "Miles- oh! You mean Tails! Yes, we did haul in a huge ship a few days ago, I didn't realize that was your spaceship!"

Finally. "Thank you very much. Here, let me carry this…"

"Oh no, it's fine, I don't get tired. I just need to be careful."

"If you say so…" He realized he forgot to introduce himself. "I'm Padmin Vilmis. Just call me Vilmis, it's clan name first."

She smiled, and it was sweet. "I'm Belle the Tinkerer. Nice to meet you!"

They walked for a few minutes in silence. Surprisingly, the hangar seemed to be in the opposite direction of the main exit. Then again, he supposed the place he thought of as the "main exit" was not really a "main" exit, since the elevator could only take a tiny handful of people at the time and the shed door was only large enough for one person. He wondered what they did in case they needed to evacuate.

There was another matter that was bugging more though. "So… it might sound rude, but…"

"Yes?"

"What are you? I've been thinking magic puppet or plant person."

Belle blinked, then started laughing. "No, no, there are no plant people! I'm a Badnik."

A what?

"Oh, right, you don't know! Sorry. A Badnik is… a kind of robot. It's what we call the robots made by Eggman. Ah, do you know who Eggman is?"

"I've been told he tries to conquer the world with robots and loves amusement parks…"

"That's it, more or less… Well, I'm… a complicated case, heh heh… But yes, I'm basically a robot. Metal skeleton and an exterior made of solid oak!"

"…Interesting…"

An AI. She was an AI. First Omega, then the one-wheeled thing, now this one. She appeared more or less harmless, clumsy even, and yet she admitted to being made by a terrorist. And despite that she worked here.

How many AIs were out there?

For how long have they existed? How did the laws treat them?

The people here on Earth were friendly towards AIs. They did not seem to be everywhere. And yet Vilmis had to consider just how capable those AIs were, what places they had access to, what kind of secrets they knew. Omega was more aggressive than the average Krogan and worked for the government. Belle had access to alien spaceships. They had a small insect-like bot running errands. That thing could get anywhere and not look suspicious at all.

Or maybe they were friendly. Or perhaps Miles figured they would have no issues quenching any possible rebellion.

He would have to tell them about the Citadel's AI ban eventually. And he had no idea how to react.

Actually, he could make some educated guesses. He severely doubted they would decommission their AIs. Maybe they would say that since they are not in the Citadel the Council cannot enforce the law, or they can throw all the blame on Dr. Robotnik – which would not be inaccurate, seeing that he did construct most AIs.

The bigger question was how the Citadel would react.

The policy was clear: all forms of Artificial Intelligence are to be eliminated on the spot with extreme prejudice. They were not flexible about this policy. The sole exception were the Geth for the reason that the Citadel had nothing to gain from fighting the Geth – and who knew what kind of defenses they managed to raise in the last two hundred and fifty years.

Would the Citadel be willing to start a war with Earth over their AIs?

…What would a war against Earth look like?

He thought to the cannon orbiting around the sky, and the silver moon, waning forever.

A war against Earth would bring nothing but ruin.

"We're here!"

Belle's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

The entrance to the hangar was considerably larger than just about every other entrance he had seen so far, though not by much; it was enough to comfortably fit a skycar or a truck. Its doors, much to his surprise, were wide open.

"This is the regular entrance. There's also an employee-only entrance that had a lock pad, but we're not allowed to take anyone there."

That explained it.

Vilmis opened the door for her, and was immediately greeted to a sign currently unreadable to him, with a large red arrow pointing to it. Vilmis followed to see a… massive orange sort-of human.

Sort of. He was honestly confused on whether this person was a human or not, they looked so similar…

"Chief!"

This was the Chief? Chief of what exactly?

"Belle! About time you show up! I needed these drives yesterday!"

If he needed them yesterday then why didn't she bring them yesterday?

"Here, sir! Twelve pieces of each type!"

Now that Vilmis took a second look in the box, there were four different colours in there: green, yellow, red, and purple. He wondered what the differences were.

"Good!" said the Chief with a bright smile, completely baffling Vilmis. Had he not been waiting for these drives since yesterday? "Now…" he turned to Vilmis and suddenly he was hit with the realization that this person was very large. And very muscular. Not as large and muscular as a Krogan or an Elcor, but to a lithe Salarian like him it made no difference. "You're the alien guy Tails hauled in the other day, huh?"

Vilmis was instantly put on guard. "Yes."

"What brings you here?"

No other chance to ask. "I need to see the Letos. I need to clear it out of everything."

"That's your ship's name?"

"Yes."

The Chief looked at him for a long moment. "My condolences."

He was not expecting that. "…Thank you." He tried not to let his voice shake too much.

"Come on, follow me. Belle, you too. Just leave those here."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Vilmis was a bit slower on the uptake. "Are you sure, uh, Chief?"

At that moment the Chief was the perfect image of a grumpy Krogan. "You said you need to clear out all the stuff, right? There was a lot of crew in that ship, you're gonna need a hand."

The realization hit him like a truck.

They're kind. All the people here are kind.

…He had no idea what to do with this, but it lingered as the Chief led them through the garage.

It had vehicles of all kinds and sizes, from conventional cars – with wheels, befitting a world with no Eezo – to a bizarre skate collection, to trucks of all kinds, several airplanes, and other machines whose mode of transportation Vilmis could only guess. Many of them were painted in bright colours like blue, yellow or red, while others were left silver with accents. Most had rounded shapes and angles while still being somewhat bulky, others were extremely sleek. On most vehicles Vilmis could see an insignia: some kind of… claw? Beak? Arrowhead pointing upwards, one side having a stylized wing jutting out of it, the other having a bizarre pentagram-like shape, like a nailhead, most often painted in a dark red. Or maybe Vilmis was wildly misinterpreting what the shape was supposed to look like.

Soon the Chief stopped before a massive set of doors. Big enough to fit a frigate if needed.

The Chief turned to him.

"I gotta warn you, it's not a pretty sight."

His hands felt sick, and he could not pretend it was because of the coffee. "I need to see it."

The Chief nodded once, and unlocked the door.

It was pitch dark, but it lasted only for a moment. The lights turned on, oddly resembling sunlight – the same style used in the residential areas and the hospital, he had been expecting the sterile blinding white of the engine room.

It was off-putting, for such a clearly mechanical space.

Vilmis blinked to adjust to the sudden change, and that was when he saw it.

He knew it was bad. He knew it was bad. He had been told it was in pieces, he remembered laying on the floor bleeding out and seeing the starry sky above it, he joked with Silver about tossing the pieces at Sonic for being too annoying. He knew there was no salvaging the Letos.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of it.

He did not recognize it. Not at first. It was little more than a massive hunk of bent metal, told at places, squashed, held upright only by scaffolding and steel wires. It was as if it had been blasted by the main gun of a dreadnought point blank, like it had been told apart by rocks, like that legendary Thresher Maw the Krogan sometime talked about had used it as a toothpick and spat it right out.

And then he saw the paint job.

That FUCKING paint job.

It was the Letos. It was undoubtedly the Letos.

That sky had been the brightest he had ever seen. A gorgeous sunset like a weightless yet warm blanket, the sky glowing such a warm gold, rich purples, deep reds, all fading to an empirical deep blue like the deepest ocean, the two planets glowing brighter than the stars themselves right at dusk as if trying to antagonize the sun itself, as if someone far, far away had held up the clearest mirror to show the sun how beautiful it was.

He remembered how bright that night had been, so many lights falling, shards containing the rainbow itself, raining down from the galaxy, so clear that it was, completely unlike anything he had ever seen, whites and yellows and reds and greens and purples and browns and blues, above him and around him like the galaxy was rejoicing, like it was weeping, the stars forming such strange shapes around it, feeling like entities looking down below.

He remembered the moons, one real, one lethal, dancing together, silver and sharp, and wondering who hurt them.

He remembered chimes, light and said, energetic, nervous, all around his ears, voices a hint to high perhaps to truly register, syllables that resembled songs yet were nothing but panic.

He remembered pain. So much pain it was blinding, so much pain it brought clarity, so much pain it made everything meaningless, so much pain that it was meaningless.

What a beautiful, what a horrible place to die.

Someone was shaking him. Someone was holding tight onto his shoulders and their hands were huge.

"What can you see?"

?

"Three things that you can see."

Oh.

"The floor. It's plastic. Black. My shoes. They're new. Your boots. They're leather."

"Good, good. What are three things you can hear?"

Hear?

"You. The… lights, I think. And…" Bell chimes.

"A third thing?"

"…my ears. They're buzzing."

"Good. Very good. What are three things that you can feel?"

"Your hands. They're warm. Massive." A low chuckle at that.

"That they are. What else? Just two more."

"My shoes. They still feel weird. I think it's rubbing against one of my joints. And… a breeze. There's a breeze from somewhere. Kind of stale."

There was a breeze. The door of the separated section of the hangar had been left open, and a small air current was coming from outside. The lights flickered a bit, and now Vilmis could tell that the Chief smelt like ozone, something burnt, and mechanical grease, along with a strong scent he now recognized as coffee.

"Are you alright?"

Vilmis turned to the Chief. "Yes… I'm fine now."

PTSD. Fuck. Of course. What was he expecting? It was only natural. If Miles had arrived as little as one minute later he would have died.

Belle was still standing there, looking utterly terrified but at the same time oddly determined. "Do you want to do this another time?"

Vilmis shook his head. "The sooner I clear this out the better." He could not exactly avoid the task. Everyone's belongings had to be returned to their families.

Belle and the Chief exchanged a look and nodded before turning to him. "Okay" said Belle "I'll go bring a cart and some boxes. Actually, make that two carts. Or three. On second thought, I'll bring the drive cart, for heavy cargo. That should fit everything. I think."

"If you need anything, I'll be down at the office" said the Chief. "I'll send a message to Tails, he'll probably look for you."

Vilmis was once again stunned.

They're so kind. So, so kind.

Belle was quick to return with the cart and a tall pile of folded carton boxes, along with what appeared to be package tape, and a lot of padding material for any possibly fragile objects that may have survived the crash. In the meantime Vilmis had just been… staring at it. The sheer destruction.

He heard Belle approaching him from behind.

"What cleanup have you done already?"

Belle hummed a little. "Well, Tails already unhooked the engine and moved it to his lab, I'm not sure if he really studied it yet. As for the rest… Well, we…" she winced "took away everyone… and… I think Tails also took some blood samples from… yeah. Then cleaned up all that, took away the broken glass and stuff, and sterilized it, just in case. Oh, some of the lab staff also took all the food they could find. For samples. We haven't touched the crew quarters yet, only cleared the glass out… I think that's it?"

"I see…" So all the equipment (likely ruined) and the personal effects were still untouched. "What about the armor, weapons and omnitools?"

"Omnitools?"

Vilmis turned his on to show the pop-up screen.

"Oh! So that was what the "new patch" was about…"

New patch… "You let him… you allow him access to your…" he debated whether or not he should call it "brain" or "processing unit" before settling for vaguely gesturing to her direction.

"Only for stuff like new firewalls, updated passwords, and things like that. I just use a phone for most of the other stuff, it's safer if I'm off the internet. I can connect to the internet myself if I have to, but…"

Somehow she shuddered. "The internet's weird."

Vilmis coughed a laugh. "It absolutely is."

"You have internet too!?" She smacked her head. "Right, of course you do."

"We call it extranet. The whole galaxy is connected to it." Though many Batarian-controlled planets restricted access to certain degree. "I have seen things I really wish I could unsee."

Belle nodded sagely. "We all have. Have you checked the internet here?"

"I've only seen that video with Sonic beating the… water god, I guess."

"Perfect Chaos!"

Huh? "Perfect what?"

"Perfect Chaos" she repeated. "That's what it's called!"

That was… definitely a name. "So… is it a god?"

"I… don't think so? I heard it's a mutated Chao. I think the Master Emerald did it?"

…

Vilmis opened his mouth. He closed it, then opened it again. "A… Chao."

She shrugged. "I don't know either…"

Well, Miles did admit he knew next to nothing about the Master Emerald… Maybe de-devolutionizing the Chao was just a thing it could do.

He did not want to think about this. "Let's get to cleaning…"

Belle made a far too cheery gesture with her fist. "Let's get started!"

They could not use the air lock to get in. Ironically, it was too intact, and with all the damage to the rest of the ship it could not be opened without specialized tools.

Not that this was an issue – the Letos was in pieces.

Instead Vilmis and Belle walked around the frigate, looking haunting despite the sunlight-like lighting of the room. Without any other vessels or vehicles docked next to it, the Letos looked massive, the jagged edges of the torn metal gleaming almost golden under the light, tears going all the way through the vessel.

Walking around it felt like it took too long.

They eventually reached what Vilmis was fairly confident was the exterior of the crew quarters. There was one of those torn walls through the side. For a crazy moment he felt as if the walls could close around him and cut him in half the moment he would walk in.

He took a breath and walked in, Belle right behind him.

The sleep capsules had not been spared from the impact. The crystal cocoon panels, specifically designed to maintain moisture, darken and function as screen, had all been cracked from the force of the impact. There were no loose pieces anywhere and the still in-place crystal panels had their edges wrapped with package tape and foam filling, undoubtedly to prevent cuts. Vilmis could see how some of the gel mattresses were torn in places, from pieces of the panels that were blown into them from the impact. The same was true for the floor. The lights from the suspended ceiling were also cracked. Some of the capsules had even been dislodged from their angled arrangement on the wall, but they have been tied back into place with rope to prevent them from blocking the hallway.

Nobody had been in the crew quarters when the crash happened.

"Did you really sleep in these?" asked Belle, voice full of wonder.

"It's just a bed…"

"I've never seen beds like that!"

Vilmis remembered how he spent a lot of time thinking about beds while he was still in the hospital. "They're very different from the beds here, that's true. But they're both fine."

He stopped in front of the capsule he was looking for. His own.

"Can you-"

"Sure! Here."

Belle had quickly unfolded one of the smaller boxes and presented it to him. "Is this big enough?"

"Yes."

The cabinet with his things was beneath the capsule, built into the wall, as was the case with all the other cabinets, for space-saving purposes. Vilmis had to open the hatch of the mattress. Normally there was a mechanism to lift the bed but it was possible to lift it on his own…

The mechanism was jammed. He was not surprised. They would need tools for this.

"Let me…"

Belle approached and to his surprise, the tips of her fingers opened to reveal a set of small tools. Well, she did call herself "tinkerer".

"I don't know if these will work."

"We can try!"

He tried with the small hook first before going through every tool but her paintbrush, her expression growing more and more frustrated.

Vilmis was about to say something but- "ARGH!" –bang!

Belle glared down at the spot she had just kicked by… grabbing her tail.

"Try open it now."

Vilmis did as told. It still did not work.

"I'm going to grab a drill" she said and marched away.

"I think that would work" he replied. Especially since the electroshock security system was disabled.

"I'll be right back."

It did not take too long for Belle to come back with a drill in hand as promised. In the meantime, Vilmis attempted to open the other capsules, with various results. Some were as stuck as his own, other were slightly open and stuck in place, leaving him unable to retrieve much from the inside, while the last category were of capsules shaken loose by the impact.

Vilmis was left standing over those a long time.

There was this one guy in the kitchen crew old enough to be retired who always insisted on wearing something purple. Nobody knew why. It was definitely not part of the standard uniform. However, he adored purple which was unfortunate because he himself was a muddy yellow. After a lot of pleading to wear something different for once, he showed up one day wearing neon green of all colours. Everyone begged him to go back to purple after that.

Now Vilmis was staring at that neon green shirt, mixed in with an outrageous mixture of purple and patterns that only a blind person would pick and it was neither annoying nor funny. Nobody would wear these again.

There was a plastic bag with string bracelets in there. One of them spelled out "best uncle ever".

Damn it.

Damn it all.

Vilmis had finished packing his own stuff when Belle unexpectedly spoke up.

"So, what do you do on the extranet?"

"E-Excuse me?" Where did that come from?

"I was thinking about what alien internet is like and… I watch a lot of woodcarving videos. At first I wanted to know how to… maintain myself better, but it's actually really interesting! There are all sorts of things you can make with wood, some carvers are amazing… I once saw a lady carve out two snakes and she made separate scales and stuck them all on one by one. And I really like those colored resin designs too."

"Like those that put lights in the resin to make it look like it's glowing?"

"Yeah, those! They look amazing."

"I think one of my brothers started selling resin lamps online" said Vilmis. Which one was it again? Sermok?

"You have brothers?"

"A lot of them. Everyone does, our females give birth to massive spawns and it's always all males unless fertilized."

"…Wow. How many brothers do you have?"

"…Probably fifty or so… I think… I may have more. I haven't seen them much since I joined the army…"

"…I see…"

Vilmis examined her reaction. Something in what he just said was… very familiar to Belle, otherwise she would not have had a reaction like that. Should he ask her what was on her mind…? Probably no.

"What else do you watch?"

"E-Eh?"

"What else do you watch online."

"Oh, um… terrarium videos."

Vilmis frowned at the unfamiliar word. "What are those?"

Belle started drilling at another capsule. It did not take her long to open the new hatch. It had… a knitting project. Looked like a scarf.

"Terrariums are those… glass vases or bottles, and you put soil and tiny plants and fungi and insects to create a tiny ecosystem and seal it."

"Ah. We call those sealed shell gardens."

"Really? I never thought of them as gardens."

"They were quite the fad for a while, but they're hard to make. I think some biology courses have those as a final thesis project."

"Yeah… that's why I never tried. Well, and because I'm made of wood. What if a termite eats me!?"

Vilmis laughed a little. "Is that a bug?"

"It's never just one. Ms. Vanilla had to replace her cupboards TWICE because they nested into her wall and we couldn't get them out. I think Gemerl set the wall on fire to kill them or something. We replaced them with chrome ones, Anna did a special dye job for them. But then they also had to replace the plumbing…"

"Sounds like an adventure."

Belle sounded exhausted just describing it. "I'm so glad I wasn't there…"

"Once a group of moss moths nested into my and some of my brothers' bedroom. We shared."

"And?"

"Well… we were three. And they look like they're covered with moss so we thought it was fun and we could keep them as pets. So we hid them from the adults… For a few days."

Belle was smiling. "What happened?"

"They smell horrible."

She let out a giggle. "So, Mr. Vilmis, what do you watch online?"

On no. "Just… stuff in the recommended page."

He could not see what expression Belle made because he was busy folding the clothes into the box. But he could hear the skepticism. "…Aren't those based on what you're already watching?"

Yes. Yes they were.

Oh well. Time to face the world. "Drama videos of celebrities I've never heard of."

"…No."

"There are a lot of celebrities."

"…No."

"It's like watching a bad comedy skit, they're just so stupid."

"Please stop."

"There is the Asari actress who got fired from a morning show because there are rumours she was bribing the Elcor cameraman to have "private filming sessions" with her to sell so she would get money for-"

"No, stop!"

"-a private frigate for her sorority sisters because some of them were on the run for Blue Swamp Seed distribution-"

"S-S-Stop it, plpl-please he-he"

"-and they got caught because of one of the technicians in charge of installing the Jacuzzi-"

"In a spaceship!?"

"Yeah, she tried to skim on the payments."

"But, why?"

Vilmis shrugged. "That's what I'm always wondering."

"So, were the private filming sessions any good?"

It was not Belle who asked that.

Vilmis and Belle looked outside to see a human. He was wearing a hat that partially obscured his face, had pale rosy-sandy skin, blue eyes, and a very short black beard. He was crouching over a pair of crutches. He was also wearing a leery grin.

"…Who are you?"

Belle sighed. It was of the long-suffering variety. "Mr. Vilmis, that's Jeff Moreau, hotshot pilot. We call him Joker. Joker, that's Padmin Vilmis. No UFO jokes, he hasn't stolen any cows."

"Not yet he hasn't!"

Well, there went whatever energy the coffee had lent him this morning.

Tails woke up and checked his clock. It was almost nine in the morning. He barely avoided panicking, mostly because he was still far too sleepy to do so. He was usually up at seven thirty on the dot even without an alarm out of sheer force of habit, if not earlier. He always had so much to do making spare time for anything was well, next to impossible.

Yes, he knew that was not healthy but there were not any people around who could do what he could. And he was getting help in the Restoration, really.

Well, maybe he really did need the break.

He made himself a quick compote fruit salad and a coffee with marshmallows (nobody was here to stop him) and opened his monitor to check his messages.

There were a few. None from Sonic so he was probably still asleep. The most recent message was from the Chief, from two hours ago.

"Your alien pal showed up to clear the stuff from the ship. Belle's helping him. It'll take a while so take your time."

That… was unexpected. Nothing really stopped Vilmis from exploring the base on his own but he stuck to his room in the previous days. Well, at least that meant he was adapting here. And it was a good thing the crew quarters would be-

The crew quarters.

Oh.

Tails sunk his forehead on the desk, and took a deep breath.

That was where everyone's belongings were. Everyone's. Tails was… trying not to think about it, really. He had a lot of things to do and he was tired, he could not spend his days thinking about that.

But Vilmis…

The cockpit was painted with crusted green. Everywhere, forming rapidly drying pools. The Koco had left tiny footprints all over the place. He was ushered away as soon as he revealed to the crew what was inside, the Chief grabbed him and told him to stick with the alien and they would handle everything, not to worry about it, just focus on the alien.

And Tails… did. There was so much to do, with Jewel on vacation, he was the one who had to administer Vilmis to the hospital and remove the armor and omnitool and figure out how to hack said omnitool and make that translator and convert the times, and call Shadow and Rouge and Omega to tell them what happened and check the blood samples to check if Vilmis had anything that needed extra attention…

It nearly all came back after the freezer. But then Silver showed up which was a problem on its own and suddenly there was element zero to examine and the engine was a lot more dangerous than assumed so Tails was just busy again.

The Chief did not want him to worry. He understood that.

But still… There had to be something he could do!

He sent an email to the Chief. "Do you need me for anything?"

The response was instant. "Prolly in a few hours for the equipment."

A few hours.

There were things he could do within a few hours.

Right, there were more messages. He took a sip from his coffee and opened the next. It was from Rouge of all people.

"Hey, sweetie!
So, has our surprise visitor shared anything interesting about his homeland? It must have all sorts of exciting treasure!
Oh, and tell Amy I'm so sad I missed that girls' day out. She sounds like she had a blast touring the world, why I'm almost jealous! I think I'll be taking an… extended vacation myself, if you know what I mean. A girl needs to indulge in her hobbies, after all!
Kisses! Rouge"

Well, that was weird. And it was… kind of cryptic? Or maybe she was just teasing as usual. But he had to answer anyway.

"Hi, Rouge!
Sorry, he hasn't really said much yet but that's because he doesn't want to explain things and answer questions over and over again. He's busy this morning but he can meet up anytime, we just need to know when everyone can come here. How is your and Shadow's schedule looking? And can you talk to Knuckles?
Amy had a great time, but she's still asleep. She probably has a lot to do after travelling for so long. Also, I think your shopping taste is a bit too pricey for the rest of the Diamond Cutters, no offense.
By the way, when are you planning on taking that "extended vacation"?"

Rouge would answer soon so Tails spent those few seconds taking a few spoonfuls from his salad and clearing his junk folder – what was it with the Kievan scarf ads as of late? It was spring. The email came right on cue as he finished clearing the last of them.

"Ugh, vacation is nowhere in my near future I'm afraid. Shadow and I are SOOO busy. But I think I can make some time to come over for a chat.
Oh, and I'm sorry but I haven't been able to make time to talk to Knuckles. I guess we both have to postpone it…"

Rouge could not find the time to talk to Knuckles? She always found time for him! And why did she want to talk to Vilmis all of a sudden? Oh, something was definitely up.

He needed some time to figure out how to answer her, and she would not be offended if he did not send a message right this instant, so he opened the last of his emails.

He read it. Then read it again.

He then fired an email to Rouge. "Sorry, but I'll have to take a rain check on that chat. I'm also super busy."

"That's alright! I can be patient. Have a nice day, sweetie!"

"You too!"

With that taken care of, he sent a message to Sonic.

Sonic woke up to light entering through the window. There was light music quietly playing from somewhere nearby – chillstep? Not really his style. The music was almost covered by the sounds of cars and people coming from outside, like there was a window open. The room was surprisingly cold but he felt something was warm at his side…

Amy. Fast asleep. He spent the night at her apartment, and here she still was, bundled up against him on the couch. His arm was asleep from her weight on him.

"Hey, Ames? Amy?" He shook her lightly. She did not budge.

Sonic's stomach growled. She still did not budge. Out like a light. She must have been a lot more tired than she showed… What time was it?

Sonic reached to the coffee table for his phone: nine ten. Tails should be awake by now; Sonic hoped he slept well. He should check if he sent him anything. He needed a shower and would probably wake up really hungry so he could whip them something real quick, did Amy have anything in her kitchen? They did not go any grocery shopping the day before but she should still have some flour and coffee in her cabinets-

There was a message from Tails alright. He read it a few times over. Then he typed a message on his own.

"Does Vilm need help?"

"Not yet just packing all the small stuff
Chief said come in a few hours
That was 1 hour ago
Can Amy help" Amy?

"Still sleepin
Cant silv help" Silver was the expert of throwing heavy things around.

"Dunno where he is"

"ok" Where did Silver stay when he was here? Was he couch surfing with the Diamond Cutters or something? Sonic really hoped he was not in a construction site or a cave or something.

"Oh and smth else"

"Yeah?"

"Wave emailed me back. She'll be here tomorrow."

Author note:

Phew, that was long! And it was going to be way, WAY longer. I changed the title of the chapter because I did not manage to fit everything. I can't abbreviate for shit. But oh well, page count isn't something I need to worry about so who cares.

Thank you all guys for the reviews and support! I know I don't really reply to them, but part of the reason is that for whatever reason I can't receive notifications. Something about my email provider not accepting alerts from this site (weird, it had no such issue for the 13 years before that). Other times I just have... nothing to say, I guess. But know that I appreciate you all regardless.

I hope you enjoyed!