Chapter Forty-Two: Cracks in Armor
I hold my breath. I forget how long I've been holding my breath. I want to beg Amy for any sort of report of what's going on, but I can't risk distracting her from the fight.
She's been silent so long. My thoughts are spinning. I can think of nothing but worst-case scenarios. If she was fighting, I would hear something. Winning or losing, I would hear something.
In the silence, my thoughts have too much space.
Tails found he could no longer sit still, even as he feared his shaking legs wouldn't hold him if he stood. So instead he paced the floor at a quick enough pace that momentum would keep him upright, even if his quaking knees failed him.
He choked down the voice that ached within him to beg Amy for any sort of answer. Though that meant he felt like he was choking, suffocating. The sling hanging around his neck only reminded him of his powerlessness.
The Metarex had set a trap for Tails using Cosmo as bait. But Amy had stepped up to make the sacrifice and found herself in a battle to the death against Sonic. And Tails could do nothing.
"Tails!"
Tails spun around at the snapped sound of his name. Though he had not heard the sound of the backup bridge door opening, nor the sound of footsteps on the ground, he found himself facing down both C2 and Angel. His pacing stuttered to a halt. He couldn't help but remember how he had previously overheard them talking about the possibility that time had been torn beyond repair. And now the two de-powered Time Whisperers stood here, both wearing severe expressions.
"What's wrong?" Tails barely managed to whisper, though not before he moved the microphone of his headset away from his mouth. Amy couldn't afford the distraction of yet something more falling apart.
Angel stepped forward, shaking her head. "This is our chance, Tails. While the Metarex think we're distracted with Sonic."
Tails opened his mouth to speak. No words formed. He closed his mouth. Then, tried again. "What do you mean?"
"Cosmo."
Angel's singular word, Cosmo's singular name, sent a chill flooding through Tails's body. The cold froze him in place. Again, words failed him.
C2 continued where Angel left off, locking her arms against her chest even as her twin tails flicked incessantly behind her. "Just because Cosmo isn't where she said she would be doesn't mean she's not here. The Metarex must be keeping her with Sonic to ensure they keep him under control."
Angel interrupted, flinging her arms out, "And if Amy manages to save Dad, the Metarex won't need Cosmo anymore."
"They'll kill her," Tails breathed, all warmth draining from his face and trickling its way down his body to pool on the floor at his feet.
"We're going after her, C2 and me," Angel continued.
Tails's eyes widened. They twitched to C2, almost without his control, like he subconsciously knew she was the more reasonable one between the two of them. There was a reason Amy had gone alone into an obvious trap: their crew was weakened right now. And even those that weren't remained on the Blue Typhoon in case a quick getaway or an emergency defense was required.
C2 and Angel were resources for neither of those things. They were Time Whisperers. They were held to higher laws that it seemed sometimes even they didn't understand. They could only interfere in certain events of the timeline. And while Angel sometimes played fast and loose with those expectations, C2 held a much firmer line.
It was both of them coming to Tails now. So he knew they realized what they were offering.
Tails's heart accelerated. It ached simultaneously with the lightness of hope and the heaviness of guilt for willingly fraternizing with hope. "Alone?" he managed. He had to offer them some kind of doubt even as hope soared within him.
Angel's lips quirked with a smirk that reminded Tails so much of Sonic that his heart skipped a beat. "We can handle ourselves. Did you forget who our parents might have been?"
As if to punctuate Angel's sentiment, C2 threw her hand out to her side to brandish a hammer that compared to Amy's in size. She narrowed her eyes into the type of determined expression he had before seen on Amy's face.
"You're going to prevent your own existence," Tails realized. "Won't that create a paradox?"
But C2 didn't bat an eye. "The Metarex have bent the laws of time to breaking point. Angel's right; it's about time we use such things to our advantage."
Again, Tails's voice caught in his throat. Again, Tails was all too aware of his injured hand hanging uselessly in a sling. He carried the weight of it in the same way he carried the burden of being the captain of the Blue Typhoon. The leader. A heroic user of Chaos Emeralds with such a caliber that the Metarex deemed him a threat. One who had fallen to the pull of the fake Chaos Emeralds, like Sonic before him.
You don't have to do this alone.
Chris's words from weeks prior sparked to life in Tails's head once more. The reminder that though Tails was the captain of the Blue Typhoon and filled with the magic of Chaos Energy, that did not mean all responsibility rested heavily on his shoulders.
But surely, he had to share some of that responsibility, didn't he? Tails was the one who had decided they would plunge foolishly into an obvious Metarex trap on the off-chance they might rescue Cosmo. And when he agreed to let Amy play the role of the sacrificial lamb, he had abandoned Amy to the whims of the Metarex-controlled Sonic.
Now, C2 and Angel stood before him, asking to make the same sort of sacifice themselves. Asking if they might take the next dangerous blow. Telling him he didn't have to do this alone. But if he didn't, where did the line get drawn? How many of his friends would get hurt while he stood safely on the sidelines?
Not that he could do anything but, not while he was injured. And as long as he wrestled that guilt in the privilege that was his indecision, Cosmo would remain in danger.
There really was no other choice Tails could make.
Tails's eyes fell closed. "If you believe that you can handle it, then I believe in you." Tails's eyes flashed back open. "Permission granted."
-X-X-X-
Amy's View
By the time Amy managed to unlock all the restraints in the Metarex armor and caught Sonic's body as it fell free, Sonic's eyelids had closed. Though Amy herself was beaten and bruised by her fight against him—not to mention the memory of too many battles to count before—that seemed like nothing compared to the weight Sonic's own body carried.
Not that Sonic's body was particularly as heavy as it should have been. In fact, he was disturbingly lighter than Amy remembered him to be. Almost certainly malnourished. The Chaos Emerald she had scooped off the ground she now deposited against his torso. Maybe its Energy would attune to the Chaos Energy in Sonic's own body and refuel him? She figured it couldn't hurt. Assuming now that he was out of the Metarex armor, they no longer had control over him so offering Sonic a Chaos Emerald didn't carry the risk of him bringing it back to the Metarex. Amy didn't have confident answers to those sorts of questions. All she knew was that now that she had Sonic back, she refused to ever leave him behind again.
Amy shifted her arms around his body and lifted him off the ground, in the same way Sonic had done for her dozens of times before. His body offered her no protest, utterly limp. Amy bit her lip. Her stomach twisted into knots. Sonic had to be exhausted; she just hoped he was okay.
"Tails, are you there?" Amy said. She could hear the exhaustion that she was trying to ignore reveal itself in her words.
"Amy?" Tails gasped. "Are you okay? What's going on?"
"Any chance you can send Chris for a medical evac?" she asked. She could hear the exhausted slur in her words. "I have Sonic. I repeat, I have Sonic."
Even with Sonic already in her arms, even though she had been the one to fight him, the one who used Chaos Control to fuel Sonic's Chaos Energy so he could save himself, it was only when Amy said those words out loud, only when she shared what had happened with someone else did it begin to feel real. Amy held Sonic in her arms. He was unconscious. He was hurt. But it was real.
It was real.
"You have…are you both okay? What happened? Are you hurt?" Tails asked each panicked question so fast that Amy couldn't discern what he had just said before he was already asking the next question.
Amy would need to pause to gather her thoughts enough to answer Tails's questions. But if she paused, she feared killing what little momentum she had would make it impossible for her to get started again. Already Amy was far too aware of the sweat trickling down the sides of her face.
"Tails, can you send Chris or should I carry Sonic back?" she repeated slowly.
Tails hesitated a beat. Then quickly said, "I can send Chris. But C2 and Angel took the X-Tornado so we don't have a craft that can take more than one passenger."
That gave Amy pause. She forgot the risk of killing her momentum and slumped against the nearest tree. She hardly felt the bark crumbling against her skin. "What's wrong? What are C2 and Angel doing?"
-X-X-X-
Angel's View
To have C2 at her side while they were trying to prevent C2's very existence bewildered Angel to no end. Never mind the fact that it was two Time Whisperers attempting to change the timeline without engagement of mortals, already a questionable choice within the laws of Time Whisperers. But then there was C2, as a technically-former Time Whisperer, attempting to make the final move in preventing her own existence. A double whammy of them opening up the risk of a paradox. And while Angel was forever Sonic's daughter, willing to stretch rules to breaking point if it meant better for the universe, C2 followed Time Whisperer laws to the letter.
Yet, they were both here, hidden at the edge of a clearing where the Metarex had settled their massive ships.
Though these weren't the coordinates Cosmo had supplied, it seemed there was some truth to the message the Metarex had forced Cosmo to deliver. There were two full size Metarex crafts on either side of the clearing with a small camp of moving parts between them. One of the two crafts they had seen last week and invaded. The other Angel didn't recognize. However, when Angel looked sideways at C2 and saw her lips pressed together into a thin line, she knew C2 recognized it.
"What is it?" Angel whispered. The both of them lay on their stomachs just over the crest of the hill to limit their vulnerability. Angel's wings were pressed flat over top of them and a significant portion of Angel's brain was preoccupied with making sure they didn't twitch and catch the light at an inopportune moment.
"That is definitely the ship that kidnapped Sonic and Cosmo," C2 explained. "Perhaps Cosmo provided a truth amidst the trap the Metarex set."
Angel furrowed her brow. "Are you saying that's a bad thing or a good thing?"
C2 didn't answer right away. Angel's heart battered away as she tried to keep her Sonic-given impatience under control. Becoming an extra-natural creature like a Time Whisperer hadn't changed her instincts, not in the way it had changed C2's. Angel had always figured it was due to the fact that C2 had more experience as a Time Whisperer than Angel. Angel wondered if, as she gained more experience, she would become more measured, more patient, in general a better Time Whisperer. Less likely to challenge and question their directives. Less pained when she had to watch civilizations suffer because the Time Whisperers couldn't interfere and save them.
"It's an…interesting thing," C2 finally replied as they watched the lesser Metarex in the clearing moving supplies between the two crafts. "It would mean the Metarex on the craft transporting Sonic and Cosmo are aware of the fate of Rusted Maple and the damage of Shining Birch."
"And that matters because…?" Angel prompted.
"The trap is a vengeance play," C2 said. Angel's stomach twisted uncomfortably, and she wasn't entirely sure why. When Angel looked at C2, she could see the wheels turning behind her eyes. In the depths of Angel's memory of a life she would never have, she recognized the look on C2's face as one her Uncle Tails would wear as he tried to work out what the Metarex were up to. So Angel knew to wait for C2 to continue, even as her foot itched to tap in emulation of her father.
"Don't you think a vengeance play is odd at this juncture?" C2 asked, turning to Angel.
Was it? "Why do you think so?" Angel asked instead.
"It feels childish, trivial," C2 explained. "This is the fourth war the Metarex have enacted against the galaxy. They have twisted time and space to do so, to the point that the Time Whisperers are noticing the impacts. Those aren't exactly the choices of the unintelligent. They have successfully duplicated Chaos Emeralds to the point that they are more volatile than the originals. They committed genocide. And yet, they run a vengeance play with the intention of destroying Tails, a single individual. Albeit a powerful one, but that is not the type of play you make in a long game."
Angel nodded along. Everything C2 was saying made sense. But whatever conclusion C2 was building to, Angel wasn't reaching it on her own. Which C2 apparently realized because she continued, "Black Thorn doesn't know these Metarex forces are here. What's happening here isn't part of their master plan. It's a weakness."
Still Angel remained silent. Though, this time it wasn't because she was waiting for C2 to finish a thought Angel didn't yet understand. Angel was pretty sure that she understood C2's implication at this point. But the rational part of her brain refused to believe that this would be C2's message.
C2 didn't give in to Angel's silence. Apparently, she was determined for Angel to acknowledge her implication. Probably banking on Angel's inherited impatience.
She knew Angel too well.
"You're really suggesting we try to take out both of these crafts now?" Angel struggled to keep her disbelieving voice down and pressed herself flatter against the ground, as if that would hide her despite the rising pitch of her panicked voice. "Did you forget that Shining Birch is still alive and kicking on one of those crafts? And that's not yet considering what Metarex are on the other ship that were strong enough to kidnap my Dad, of all creatures."
"I'm aware."
Angel's eyes widened at C2's even-keel response. "Did you forget we almost didn't land at all, even when the understood risk was much smaller, because our crew is so much less than whole? Aren't you supposed to be the practical one?"
C2's eyes slid sideways toward Angel. "This is the practical choice. Do you see any other way to save Cosmo before the Metarex realize we've rescued Sonic and Cosmo's of no more use to them?"
Angel's face curled into a scowl. She was used to her dad diving into no-win scenarios headfirst and making the best of it. He would follow C2's advice.
So, in the absence of any wiser thought, Angel would always follow her dad's lead.
Though she couldn't help but wonder what her mom might think of such dangerous choices.
-X-X-X-
Nova's View
Nova's hand wrapped so tightly around the Chaos Emerald in her grasp that she could feel the ridges of the Emerald digging into and marking her flesh. The Emerald glowed warmly in response to Nova's quiet but desperate call for more power. She felt it flow like a trickle of water slipping beneath the surface of her skin to join the flow of blood through her veins.
Her jaw shifted with discomfort. It felt too much like the way magic had poisoned her bloodstream and nearly killed her in the onset of Airin's Disorder. Even when she didn't pay attention, she could feel the straining effort of her weakened heart. Too bad the Chaos Emerald couldn't fix that. All it could do was offer her a splint. Then maybe she could ignore her damage long enough to worsen it.
"Nova."
Nova's eyes were closed in her focus and even Shadow's voice wasn't enough to break it. Her wings twitched feebly in response to his attention before collapsing once more.
"Shadow," Nova whispered in reply. If she didn't say something, she knew Shadow would assume the worst. She could hardly blame him; relapses in Airin's were common.
Shadow's hands wrapped around Nova's own as they embraced the Chaos Emerald. He leaned forward until his forehead pressed against hers. Still he remained silent. Not asking what she was doing as the Chaos Emerald clearly glowed with use. Even so, Nova could hear the message in Shadow's silent gesture.
"I know I shouldn't rush my healing," she whispered, "but we don't have the luxury of time right now."
Shadow said nothing. He slid his fingers between Nova's hands and the Chaos Emerald, but he didn't pull her hands away from the Emerald. He simply loosened her grip.
Nova opened her eyes a slit. Shadow's were already waiting for hers. The armor around her injured heart cracked a little more. "I can offer so little now, Shadow," she admitted. "The least I can do is charge enough of my magic that I can heal Tails."
"That is more than enough," Shadow said. His deep voice reverberated through her body, as warm as any embrace. When Nova exhaled, she leaned further forward to rest more of her weight against him. The warmth of Shadow's body seemed to fuel her as much as the Chaos Emerald.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" Nova breathed.
Shadow winced. As smooth as he usually was, the wince made him look much like a child who'd been found out. A rare laugh rose in Nova's chest but she swallowed the sound. "I'm not the only one who needs you, Shadow," she said instead. "I may not be in fighting shape but you are. And I won't be the one holding you back, not when we're in circumstances this dire."
"You're allowed to be selfish," Shadow replied.
Nova smirked despite herself. "You're not scared to fight, are you?"
Shadow's eyes fell closed. It was a look of such vulnerability that Nova's blood chilled, even with the Chaos Energy flowing through her. "I fear the possibility of not returning to you," he admitted after a moment.
Nova slid one hand away from the Chaos Emerald, slid it out from beneath Shadow's own, so she could trace her thumb across Shadow's eyelids. And though it was imperceptible to Nova's eyes, her thumb found wetness pooling there. An ache tightened in Nova's chest, stressing her already wounded heart. She wished she had the right words, the right thoughts to maneuver through this tension. Even better would be the confidence that everything would turn out okay. But Nova had no such confidence, no such thoughts or words.
Nova leaned forward and pressed the lightest of kisses against Shadow's lips. "I love you and I trust you, Shadow the Hedgehog."
It was all Nova had left to give. And so she would give it.
-X-X-X-
Amy's View
Chris descended in the Hyper Tornado, and Amy nearly collapsed with relief beneath Sonic's admittedly limited weight. She dropped to one knee to lay Sonic down on the ground before her shaking arms gave out and dropped the poor unconscious hedgehog.
Chris slid down the side of the Hyper Tornado before the blast shield opened all the way. "Is Sonic okay?" Chris called out.
Amy sighed. Her eyes fell to Sonic's ashen face. Even in his worst exhaustion, she still saw wrinkles of tension at the edges of his eyes. Like he couldn't find rest, even now. "As good as he can be, I guess," she replied.
Chris dropped to his knees beside the both of them. But once his eyes scanned over Sonic, his eyes shifted to Amy. "And what about you? Are you okay?"
Honestly, Amy didn't have enough space left in her head to consider such questions. Was she okay? Physically, maybe mostly. Everything ached but she was intact. Exhaustion reigned but if she pushed that thought away, maybe she could ignore its weight for the time being. Mentally and emotionally, that was a big fat question mark. Maybe if Sonic was, she could be. If Cosmo was too, maybe then.
Amy shifted Sonic into Chris's arms. Chris accepted the weight, though with a question behind his eyes. She didn't answer that silent question right away. Instead, she braced her hands against her knee to push herself to her feet, though she listed unsteadily to one side before she managed to get her feet under her. "If you can handle getting Sonic back to the Blue Typhoon, I'm going to go offer C2 and Angel some backup."
Chris's forehead wrinkled with tension. "Yeah, but…Amy, you just battled Sonic! You need a break."
She did, she absolutely did. But her shoulders fell and she just shook her head as her fingers wrapped around the handle of her hammer. "Work's not done just yet."
And before Chris could convince her otherwise, Amy spun around and darted off for Angel and C2's coordinates.
-X-X-X-
Tails's View
Shadow left to join C2 and Angel's irrational plan to not only rescue Cosmo but also to destroy two Metarex strongholds while their armor bore cracks. When Chris rendezvoused with Amy, she had passed the unconscious Sonic off to him and ran to join in the same reckless plan. And now Nova had joined Tails on the backup bridge, flanked by Knuckles and Cream and Cheese. Though Nova stood somewhere south-of-steady on her feet, her gaze locked on Tails's was anything but. So when she said, "Here's the plan," Tails listened, feeling the full weight of his failures hanging in the sling around his neck.
"If Angel and C2 say it's time to strike, then we can't hold back," she said. She held a gently glowing Chaos Emerald in her hand. Gently, not erratically. Nova seemed to radiate that Energy herself. Not in the sense that she too was glowing. No, her wings hung limp and were a ghostly blue in color. Her curls were too flat at her temples. But her lips were pressed into a firm line. For the first time in a long time, she looked like the princess she was.
No.
The queen.
"Which means no backup plans, no punch left pulled," Nova continued. "The Blue Typhoon can fly even without Knuckles in a pinch, so he needs to join the fight. As do you, Tails."
Tails frowned. With his hand injured, he wouldn't be a good choice for piloting their crafts, much less a contender on the battlefield. But Nova said she had a plan so he held quiet and waited for her to continue.
Nova held the Chaos Emerald out in front of her. "I've channeled as much Chaos Energy as I could toward my magic. I should have enough to heal your hand, if only just."
"Is that safe for you?" Tails finally interrupted. Maybe he didn't have the fullest grasp of Airin's Disorder, but Nova's health had been riding a very thin line since they'd rescued her on Majyk. As much as Tails saw her point of holding nothing back, he could hardly agree with doing so at the risk of her health.
To Nova's credit, she didn't immediately offer Tails a nod and a kind lie. Instead, she didn't so much as blink when she told him, "This is my choice, and I am making it."
Tails opened his mouth to protest, but then he hesitated, closed his mouth again. Nova was right; this was her choice.
Nova continued, "Chris, Cream, and Cheese will hold down the Blue Typhoon. If everything goes wrong, they'll still be able to get off-world with Sonic, which means at least the universe will stand a slim chance."
Nova lowered the hand with the Chaos Emerald and extended her empty hand instead. Her palm sparked with anticipatory gold magic. "Any questions or are you in?"
Tails stared at Nova's open hand. It was such a vulnerable gesture, such a sacrificial one. After Tails had declared they were going to walk into an obvious Metarex trap on the off-chance they really would be able to save Cosmo, he had watched his friends line up to sacrifice themselves.
First Amy, ending up in a fight for her life against the Metarex-controlled Sonic.
Then, C2 and Angel, walking straight toward C2 preventing her own future.
Now everyone else, including Nova.
All of this was Tails's fault, wasn't it? All this risk they were taking on for Tails's own slim hope. For his foolishness. But pulling back now meant dooming Cosmo for sure. And Nova was right, as was Amy before her when she offered to walk into a Metarex trap on Tails's behalf. These choices were their own.
It didn't alleviate Tails's guilt. He knew it was a heavy weight he'd need to process later. In the meantime, though, the thought lightened the load just enough so Tails could step forward and place his hand in Nova's.