Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reads my stories. I wanted to address one small thing that I regularly get private messages on. To the talented artists that ask if they can draw my story, you are more than welcome to. But I am not going to commission any artwork. I am happy using my own drawings, but I will not stop someone from drawing the story themselves. Have fun, and if you do draw anything, please tag me on Tiktok or Instagram phoenixcospay22.
It had been two years since the defeat of Black Doom and the Black Arms. The planet had begun to find a new normal with the new landmasses and populus. There were advantages and disadvantages. A lot of humans and Mobians did not like the sudden change, and their new neighbors. But most everyone acknowledged that this was going to be the new normal. It took some time, but many welcomed and embraced the change after everything had happened.
During the two years, I fell into a new normal as well. It wasn't uncommon of me to be called out by G.U.N. to go on a mission. Depending on the mission I would be gone at minimum a week, but never longer than a month. Director Rockwell seemed to have an idea that my team would do better with downtime every now and again.
Rouge and Omega were the founding members of my team, and they still followed me to this day. As discussed, we took care of missions that required more of a stealth approach. Sometimes they were related to Robotnik. Other times it was to check anomalies that weren't human. Some of those anomalies died down though as we got used to being merged with Mobius. We hadn't had many missions recently.
So, I spent most my spare time back at home with Esme. I helped her whenever she needed it. Otherwise, I was reading or running. I had grown a little taller. A little leaner. I looked a little older as well. But my life was going well.
Sonic would do regular check ins with me over the communicator. I usually kept them short, simply because he usually checked in when I was in the middle of a mission. But if I wasn't I would talk with him a bit more. He respected my boundaries and didn't often try to force me to do anything I didn't want. But he did regularly invite me to join him and the rest of his friends for various activities. I only went when Esme went to them. I honestly preferred my alone time. Esme said that's probably because I'm an introvert.
But to start this story, I had just gotten home after a long mission. It was harder, and I did come home a little worse for wear. I teleported into my home and immediately fell on the couch with a deep exhale. This caught Esme's attention and she left her position in the kitchen to check on me.
"You okay?" She asked as she looked me over.
"Just tired." I responded.
She looked at some of my wounds. "Almost every time you come home you have some sort of new cut, bruise, or wound."
"It's better I take those hits than the rest of my team."
She gave me a worried look. "Though I'm proud of you for being so caring of your team, I do worry that all of these wounds will take a toll on you." She stood up and grabbed her keys from the hook she held them on. "Come on, I'm taking you somewhere to get some help."
I sat up slightly. "Where?"
"It's better you see it for yourself."
I followed her outside and into her car. After a short drive, we pulled into a parking lot leading to a small building. A light illuminated the sign on the building stating 'Physical Aid." She parked and left the car. I followed her into the building. It was quiet when we entered, other than the calm soft music playing. She pressed a button on the counter and a light flashed in the back room.
A few moments passed and a young Mobian entered the room we were in. Another hedgehog. She had light tan fur, chestnut brown quills, and teal eyes. Her quills naturally curled a bit and were long. She had banks that slightly fell over her eyes, and thick lashes that framed her eyes. She wore a white shirt and black pants that was reminiscent of a doctor, but also looked like she enjoyed going on adventures. What finished her ensemble was the brown fingerless gloves and brown knee-high boots. I had never seen her before. She must have moved recently to our town.
She smiled at Esme and waved. Esme returned the wave and then began to do something with her hands. They moved quickly and changed shape as she continued. The girl that had entered the room started doing the same thing. I stood there just watching and wondering what was going on. They were communicating?
Esme let out a laugh before turning to me. "Shadow, this is Chamomile." She explained a she moved her hands. "She goes by Chami."
She made a round shape with her hand and tapped it on the inner part of her wrist.
Chami waved at me, then grabbed a small whiteboard before writing on it. 'Esme said you need some healing.'
I raised an eyebrow and looked at Esme.
She began to move her hands again as she talked. "Chami has a healing ability. She's been using it to help people here in town. She's also deaf, so she communicates with Sign Language."
"So, that's what you're doing? Sign Language?" As I asked, she continued to move her hands.
"Yes, I'm signing so she understands what we are saying." She explained. "She can't hear anything we say, so I sign for her to understand. I'm basically acting as an interpreter at this time. And it's been nice to have her around for multiple reasons. Not only has she helped me a few times with some minor cuts I've gotten while you were gone, but she's helping me keep my sign language skills up."
Chami waved me over and I followed still a little confused. Leading me to a chair, she sat down next to it and pulled out a few things from the desk next to her. Including a notepad with a diagram of a body on it. I sat down in the open chair and waited.
She grabbed her board and wrote down her message for me. 'I'm going to take a look at your injuries and make sure I note them all so I can heal them. Let me know if I miss any.'
I nodded.
She began to look over my body and made notes of every wound. She was focused and didn't do anything other than be meticulous on her notes. After she finished, she showed me the diagram of all the spots she found on me to make sure it was accurate. I confirmed with a nod and she put the notepad down.
Grabbing the board, she wrote. 'I'm going to start the healing. It may be a weird sensation at first, but I promise it's completely safe.'
I blinked.
When I didn't acknowledge, she looked at Esme. Esme gave her an encouraging look and signed something I didn't understand. Chami nodded and erased the board before writing again.
'My ability basically just speeds up the natural healing process. I can take an injury that would take months to fully heal and have the body complete it in seconds. The body doesn't know the difference.' She explained.
I nodded.
She placed the whiteboard down on the desk next to her. And then placed her hands on the first injurie. Her eyes focused on the spot and a small glow came from her hands and covered my wound. The soreness and pain from it disappeared quickly. She moved on to the next one and the same happened. This continued until every wound, bruise, and cut I had were completely gone, as if they never happened.
She let out a small breath before smiling at me. I nodded to her in thanks.
Esme came over to us and signed something to her again. I got off the chair and began to follow her out. She continued to sign until waving as we went out the door. We got in the car and began to drive home. I sat in silence for a bit as I looked at my arm, one of the spots she had healed. I'd never knew someone could have that ability.
"So, what did you think of Chami?" Esme asked me during the drive.
"You never told me you knew another language." I started.
She rolled her eyes at me. "It wasn't really that important at the time. I don't have much opportunity to use it. That is until recently. I spent two years away from home teaching in Sign Language before finishing my degree. It's been helpful at times. But I don't really live in an area that allows much opportunity."
I stared at her for a bit. "And how did you find Chami?"
"She moved to our area not too long ago." She explained. "She said she chose to come here because she had more opportunities to help people. There's a lot of extreme sports people here. You've seen that."
"That doesn't really answer my question." I remarked.
She gave me a side eye. "You didn't answer mine either. Anyway, one night while you were gone, I was preparing myself some dinner and cut myself with the knife. I began to take myself to the emergency room to get stitches before I stumbled upon her little shop. She healed me really quick and you can't even see a scar."
She showed me where the cut was, and truly, there was no scar. I wouldn't have even known she had cut herself unless she told me.
"She seems nice." I answered her question. "What did this mean?"
I made the same round shape with my hand and tapped it on my inner wrist. Esme glanced down at the sign and nodded. "That's Chami's sign name. Similar to how your name is Shadow, and mine is Esme. Deaf people have a way to say the name without spelling it out every time. So, Chami's sign name is a C while tapping on her wrist. It's taken from the sign for Doctor. Because of her healing ability, her parents gave her that sign name. And that's the one that stuck."
"The one that stuck?"
"It's not uncommon for deaf people to have multiple sign names. Heck, I know some hearing people who have multiple. But it really depends on who's giving the sign name and the connection between people." She explained.
"Do you have a sign name?"
She squeezed her fingers and thumb against her palm and brought it up to her cheek before swiping up the cheek. "That was mine. My deaf teacher gave it to me because I reminded him of a baby tiger. So, it's taken from the sign for tiger."
Interesting. Esme was very knowledgeable in this topic. And knowing Esme, this wouldn't be the last time I would see Chami. It might be worth while to learn some sign language in case I needed to go back.
"Could you teach me?"
She pulled into the drive way of her home and stopped the care before looking at me. "I'd be happy to."