Chapter 3: Lavi…?
Tails was laying in his bed, comfortably snoozing the day away…
That is, until a large explosion forced him awake, resulting in the fox to flop out of bed with a start.
"Wha- Huh?!" He asked, looking around frantically.
Getting up and looking out the window, he saw that they had landed.
"Wha… but if we arrived then why didn't Sonic…?"
His eyes went wide with realization.
"Dang it Sonic!" He shouted before grabbing his arm cannon and running out of his room.
When he got off the Typhoon, he saw that they were currently in the middle of an invasion, with a large mob of robots rampaging through the city.
"Tails!"
Looking to the side, he saw Tangle, currently smacking a crowd of robots with her tail.
"I was just coming to get ya!" Tangle shouted. "Sleep well?"
"Y-yeah! A bit too well!" Tails said. "What's going on?!"
"Invasion, DUH!" Tangle shouted as she dodged a swipe from a robot and punched it in the face.
Tails nodded at this.
"Ok, where's the others?!" He asked.
"Sonic, Shadow and Metal went for a race, don't know where they are right now. They'll probably show up soon, the girls are in the Palace!" Tangle said. "Go back them up! The Typhoon doesn't seem to be a big target for these guys so I can handle it! They're probably after the Princess!"
Tails nodded at this, before turning towards what was clearly the palace and spinning his namesakes, taking flight.
He then flew to the most obvious place he should, this being the giant, smoking, hole in the side of the building.
When he got there, he saw Amy and Rouge fighting off a bunch of robots, while Sage was floating in front of a girl on the ground.
"Morning sleepyhead!" Amy shouted as she whacked a robot with her hammer. "Glad you could join us!"
Rouge then flew behind him and kicked a robot away.
"As you could see, you're a bit late to the party!" Rouge said.
"Yeah, sorry, I blame Sonic for not waking me up." Tails said with a frown.
"It's fine! Just take Princess Lavi and get out of here!" Amy shouted.
Tails nodded, before flying over to Sage and who he assumed was Lavi.
"Hi Princess! I'm Tails! Let's get out of here!" He said before grabbing the Miles Electric off the ground, grabbing Lavi's hand and running.
It was at this moment that he noticed Lavi's mask, and that it was terribly cracked.
Pushing that aside, he continued running.
He noticed how tense the girl seemed to be, and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Don't worry, if they want to hurt you, they'll have to get past me first!" Tails said, looking her right in her face.
At that moment, a scene played out in Lavi's mind.
"He won't stop… not until h-"
"If — Wants to hurt you… he'll have to get past me first!"
Lavi shook this off… that never happened before.
Sage seemed to notice what Lavi was thinking and frowned.
"Lavi? Are you alright?"
Lavi nodded.
"Alright, if you think so."
At that moment, a wall in ahead of them got destroyed, and shortly after, one behind them did as well.
When the dust cleared, Tails saw that they were surrounded.
"Great…" Tails said, readying his arm cannon. "Sage, can you take control of these guys?"
"I'm trying, but it seems that I am being blocked out somehow." Sage explained. "It'll take some time."
Tails nodded, before charging up his cannon, and firing to destroy a robot in front of him.
The robots then all began to charge him, and he got ready to fight.
Suddenly though…
"TAILS!" Sage shouted.
Turning around, Tails saw that Lavi was being held up by one of the robots, who was turning to leave.
"HEY!" Tails shouted, before flying at the robot, crashing into it.
This caused Lavi to fall to the ground, and a large chunk of her mask to break off, revealing her hair underneath…
But… there was something else there besides her hair.
"… What…?" Tails asked himself.
He quickly decided that could wait, and turned to look at the enemies.
"Too many… I need to find a way out of here…"
Then, he got an idea.
"Do you trust me?" Tails asked.
Lavi looked surprised by this.
"She says she just met you, but yes!" Sage said.
Tails seemed confused by why Sage was relaying this message, but decided to save it for later.
"Then follow me, and keep running!" Tails said before winding up a spin dash.
Suddenly, he shot forward, and crashed through the wall in front of them.
Lavi was surprised by this, but ran towards the new hole in the wall regardless, before leaping out.
For a brief moment, she was falling, but it quickly stopped when she felt herself being carried.
Looking over, she saw Tails carrying her, while flying away as fast as he could.
She then turned around and saw the robots chasing them, and catching up quickly.
Thankfully, help came in Metal Sonic, who quickly flew over and tore several robots apart.
"Thank you brother." Sage said.
Metal Sonic gave his sister a thumbs up, before looking at the robots in front of him.
"Tails!"
Looking down, he saw Sonic pointing.
"There's a military base that way! The Queen is already there! Go!"
Tails nodded before looking at Lavi.
"Hang on tight!"
And with that, he flew forward as fast as he could.
Looking down though… he just couldn't keep his eyes off of what was under the Princess's mask.
'It can't be… can it…?'
Before long, Tails arrived at the military base, and the Princess was quickly whisked away to be checked upon by a medical team.
Tails just watched her retreating form, unmoving from his spot.
"Tails… are you alright?" Sage asked.
"Y-yeah… just thinking." Tails said.
"… Want to share…?" Sage asked.
Tails just shook his head.
"No… no not yet." Tails said. "I just… I need to make sure of some things first."
Sage nodded.
"Very well..."
"Tails, Sage!"
Looking over, they saw Magnus approaching them.
"I heard you brought the Princess here safely! Thank you very much for your help!" Magnus said while shaking Tails' hand.
"Oh, it's no problem, really!" Tails said. "Uh… who else is here?"
"Just Shadow, who is standing guard atop the base." Magnus explained. "He already fought off a whole mob of the enemy."
"Sounds like Shadow." Tails said with a slight laugh. "Alright, I'm gonna go rest while we wait for the others."
Magnus nodded.
"Then please, follow me."
Magnus began leading Tails, who continued to think of what he saw.
'It's impossible… but…'
He needed to know the truth… and he knew just who to ask.
A couple of hours later, the rest of the group had made it to the base, and were finished getting checked up for injuries.
The one who had the worst of it was Amy, who got hit in the head by a piece of rubble when the wall behind her was destroyed.
Thankfully, the girl was mostly fine, and just needed to be bandaged up a bit.
And now, the group was in the war room, sitting around a table with Queen Volcania and Lavi at the head.
"First of all, I would like to thank you all for your work here today. Your efforts saved many of my people's lives, including that of my daughter." Volcania said with a bow.
"Hey it's nothing, just doing what we had to do is all." Sonic said. "If anyone needs praise, that'd be Tails."
Tangle then pumped her fist.
"Just woke up and saved the day within five minutes! That's pretty cool I say!" She said with a cheer.
Everyone, minus Metal Sonic and Shadow, began praising Tails, patting him on the back and messing up his bangs.
"Aw guys, it's really not that big of a deal…"
"It is a 'big deal' Tails." Volcania said. "I appreciate what you've done tremendously… please, if there is any way I can repay you for this, don't hesitate to ask."
Tails contemplated this for a moment, before looking Volcania in the eyes.
"There… is one thing I want." Tails said.
That seemed to catch everyone off guard… they all expected Tails to say he didn't need to be repaid… heck, ninety nine times out of a hundred, he absolutely would… why was now different?
"Anything."
Tails took a deep breath and spoke.
"I… want to see your daughter's face."
Amy's eyes went wide at this.
"Whoa Tails! That's kind of a major request for them!" Amy said.
Tails ignored her, and continued to look at Volcania.
"… She's right, it is a part of our culture for the Princess to only show her face to other members of the royal family." She explained. "It's for her own safety."
"… I understand, but…" Tails said before taking a deep breath. "I… I think I know who she is… and I just… I NEED to know for sure. Please…"
He sounded so… desperate.
"Tails… what is going on bud?"
Tails continued to ignore everyone in the room instead of Volcania.
….
"Magnus, take your troops and leave the room." Volcania suddenly said. "These heroes came from another galaxy and already saved us within a day of arriving… I am going to choose to trust them."
Magnus then bowed.
"Very well Your Majesty." Magnus said, before signaling to the other troops to follow him out of the room.
When the door closed, Volcania turned to her daughter.
"Lavender… grant his request."
Lavi nodded back, and reached up to her mask.
"Tails… what's going on…?"
"… Just watch Sonic…"
Lavi grabbed onto her mask, and lifted it.
When everyone got a look at her face… half the room was confused… but the other half?
They were in shock.
Sonic, Amy, Rouge and Shadow… all of them couldn't believe what they were seeing…
They turned to Tails, and saw tears forming in his eyes.
"… Tails?" Volcania asked.
Tails then took a step forwards.
"It… really is you…"
He had never once dreamed that this would happen… but here he was… looking at Lavi's eyes…
No… not Lavi… that's not the name they knew her by.
Suddenly, Tails leapt forward, and wrapped the girl in a hug.
The others that were in the know, were still shocked.
After all… they all saw this girl die right before their eyes… didn't they?
"… Cosmo…?"
End of Chapter 3
Oh, did you really think I was going to have references to the Metarex Saga and NOT have this story be mainly about Cosmo?! OH BOY you were wrong!
… Ok, I probably didn't do the best job of keeping this a secret, the name of the story might have given it away.
Speaking of though, yes, I chose the name Scattered Lilies because, of course, lilies are a flower, which is a reference to Cosmo's involvement. In flower language, it also means silence according to my research.
As for the name Lavi, it is actually short for Lavender, as you might have figured out at the end there. Lavender is a flower that grows on rocks according to my research, not only that, like lilies it also represents silence! So lavender, or "Lavi" for short seemed like the perfect name for her!
If you are on A03, you might have noticed that Cosmo is only listed as "Mentioned." A bit of misdirection so that you'd not be able to figure out this twist before I got to this point, once this story concludes I shall change this.
As for the HOW on Cosmo being alive, well… we'll get to that one day, just not today. Just know there IS a how, she didn't just survive without anyone knowing.
Anyways, see you next time, when we learn more.