x
In reality, everyone watched in sadness and amazement as Final Mova and Dark Oak exploded and Cosmo was willingly killed along with him, being vaporized to death. Wallflower was sobbing sorrowfully in Sunset's arms while Amy and Cream were still crying. "Oh no! Cosmo!" Cream sobbed.
But the one person the most sad about it was a two-tailed fox who lost his true love. "COSMOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" he screamed.
………………………………………………………………………
In a lonely void, Dark Oak cracked apart, and Lucas was free from the dark influence. Now that he was back to normal, realization and regret hit him hard. "Earthia was right," he said, "my thirst for power destroyed my people and brought nothing but pain and suffering to the galaxy."
Saddened, he began to cry, wishing that he could take it all back. Just then, a soft voice caught his attention. "Lucas, it is over now. The galaxy has been saved."
Lucas looked up at whoever spoke to him. And there she was, surrounded in a white light. "Earthia!" he exclaimed. "I feared I'd never see you again."
Earthia smiled. "Thanks to our daughter, we have a second chance now, Lucas," she said. "The time has come for all creatures to liv in peace, including you and me."
Agreeing with her, Lucas touched Earthia's hand, and the two disappeared into the light.
………………………………………………………………………
In the real world, golden specks of light were scattering everywhere. Everyone was saddened; some like Charmy and Chris were crying but trying to stay strong, and others like Amy, Cream, and Cheese lost any resemblance of resisting and just bawled their eyes out. And though her back was turned to everyone, Rouge could be heard crying as well; even she had come to know Cosmo as a friend.
………………………………………………………………………
Then, Cosmo's voice could be heard. "Thank you all for your friendship," she said. "Befor I met you, I didn't believe in myself. My clan was wiped out by the Metarex. I felt like I was helpless and couldn't do anything to stop them... but because of you, I learned that I didn't have to stand by and watch the Metarex take over. I could do my part to fight back and help restore my clan."
A single petal fell out of the flower in her hair, followed by another one. "I just wanted you to know that I'm happy now because I fulfilled my destiny," she said.
………………………………………………………………………
On the bridge, Tails was sitting in font of the console crying, his tails wrapped around him as if they were a blanket. "Don't be sad, Tails," said Cosmo.
Tails looked up to see Cosmo's spirit standing before him in her pre-transformation form. "Remember," she said as she approached Tails and knelt down in front of him, "I'll always be with you."
She kissed Tails before disappearing. Tails smiled sadly as he looked up.
………………………………………………………………………
In space, Sonic and Shadow looked on, respectively silent at Cosmo's sacrifice as flower petals scattered everywhere. Sonic closed his eyes, fighting back tears himself. Goodbye, Cosmo… he said to himself.
Wordlessly looking at each other, he and Shadow knew what they had to do. "ARRRGH! Chaos!..."
"CONTROL!"
Using Chaos Control, they finished off Dark Oak completely. As the last of her petals fell out of her hair, Cosmo knew her time had come. It was time for her to go. She smiled as happy tears trailed down her face. "The seeds of my clan will spread through the galaxy and find places to grow," she said, closing her eyes. "I'm finally at peace. Now, goodbye." And so it was that Cosmo, the bravest Seedrian anyone had ever known, died sacrificing herself to save her people and the universe.
………………………………………………………………………
Sunset sniffled softly. "Goodbye, Cosmo. May the Force be with you," she said, closing her eyes in grief.
Then, there was trouble. Eggman noticed that Planet Aqurius was shaking violently. "NO! NO!" he exclaimed. "The Planet Egg is about to release power. We have to get out of here! Activate Emergency Egg Drive."
But there was a problem. "It is impossible for us to go into warp space," said Cubot.
"Nothing on this ship is working," added Orbot, "including the engine."
"Yeah, we don't have power, remember?" reminded Bokkun.
"Oh yeah," Eggman realized, "I forgot. It slipped my master mind."
The four laughed. AJ and Rainbow weren't amused. "If we survive this," said Rainbow, "remind me to punch Eggman in the nose."
"Deal," said AJ as the two bumped their knuckles together.
………………………………………………………………………
Outside, Sonic knew what he had to do. "If the Planet Egg lets out all its energy," he said, "the others won't have enough time to get away. I have to move. CHAOS–"
However, he was interrupted by Shadow punching him in the stomach so hard he was knocked out and fell back into space; Shadow knew that Sonic wouldn't be able to survive this one, and he figured he could do it since he had more experience with it. "Sorry friend," he said as he took off his limiters, "but I'm taking over. After all, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, now would we? CHAOS CONTROL!!"
………………………………………………………………………
Time stopped. "Hey, what just happened?" asked Vector.
"And where's Shadow?" asked Charmy.
Sure enough, Shadow was nowhere to be seen. He's gone, Eggman thought.
………………………………………………………………………
Just then, a mysterious light appeared. "Whoah, is that a star?" asked Bokkun; it looked like one.
"I don't think so, but what is it, Dr. Eggman?" asked Cubot.
"I'm not sure," answered Eggman, "but it appears that Shadow has stopped time in that spot."
"What do you think happened to Shadow?" asked Orbot.
"Who knows," replied Eggman. "He just made a risky move, and unfortunately it may have been his last."
His hench-bots were saddened at this. That was when Rouge realized something. "He used Chaos Control," she said.
"It must have taken all the energy that he had left," said Knuckles.
"Shadow…" said Rouge softly; she may not have admitted this in front of anyone, but she enjoyed the time she spent with him.
Chris began silently weeping, causing Dorothy to bring him into a hug from behind.
………………………………………………………………………
Outside the ship, Grace was sitting at the spot where Cosmo once stood, weeping into her hands. She heard footsteps approach her, but she didn't bother to look up to see who it was. "Grace?" asked a voice.
Grace instantly knew by the voice that it was Wallflower. This only increased her crying. "Oh, Aunt Wallflower," she sobbed, "why did this have to happen?! It's... just not fair! Now I'll never see her again! She was... she was my friend! The best little sister I've ever had! I miss her… She can't be gone!"
Wallflower didn't say anything. She just went around in front of her and hugged her sobbing niece, crying silent tears herself; she had already exhausted her sobs.
At another part of the ship, Tails was standing beside the broken cannon looking up at the light when he heard footsteps approach him. Turning around, he saw Sonic, who had turned back to normal at this point. He was happy to see his big brother still alive, but that disappeared when he saw that Sonic had a very grim expression on his face. "Sonic?" the little fox asked.
Sonic didn't say anything at first. He just walked towards him, causing Tails to think that he was angry with him. "Uh… Sonic?" he said nervously, backing up a couple steps. "I know you're mad at me, but I... huh?"
But Sonic didn't yell at him. He just took his little brother's hand and placed something into it. "Here, Tails," he said, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry, but… this was all I've been able to find."
Tails' eyes widened in shock at what he saw. There, laying in his hand, was a tiny, white seed. Feeling his whole world fall apart, Tails closed his eyes and began sobbing brokenly in denial, burying his face into Sonic's chest. This couldn't be true. "It's not true! Just a second ago, that was Cosmo!" he cried, his fist hitting Sonic's chest. "Answer... answer me! I thought… Sonic, I thought you could have saved her! I believed in you! I BELIEVED IN YOU!!!!"
No longer able to bear it, Tails fell on his knees and let out the most heartwrenching, heartbroken wail anyone had ever heard. The whole time, Sonic didn't do or say anything in reply, knowing that it would just make it worse. The best thing he could do was stand there silently and let his little brother have his emotional breakdown in peace. I'm sorry, Tails, he thought. I'm sorry, little bro.
………………………………………………………………………
Looking up some time later, Pinkie saw something that made her smile. "Guys! Guys, you have to see this!" she exclaimed.
Looking up, everyone saw it– thousands upon thousands of white streaks of light zooming above them like a bunch of shooting stars. It was a beautiful sight. "Wow! It's amazing!" said Bokkun.
"What are they?" asked Junior.
"Those are all Planet Eggs!" said Cubot.
"There must be thousands, or millions of them!" added Orbot.
"But where are they going to?" asked Bokkun.
Eggman smiled. "They're all returning home, to the planets they came from," he said. "Quick, take a picture of me with them!"
But, humorously enough, that also came with the same problem. "Impossible!" said Cubot.
"The camera batteries are completely drained," said Orbot.
"What?!" exclaimed Bokkun, glaring at his fellow hench-bots. "You even used the camera batteries to help Sonic?!"
"What? We were told to send all power to the Blue Typhoon," said Orbot.
"Yeah, we just followed orders," Cubot defended.
"Pinheads!" said Bokkun.
"How dare you!" said Cubot, offended.
It would've turned into a bickering fest if it weren't for Eggman stepping in. "Quit bickering and get to work restoring power to the Egg Drive!" he ordered.
"Right away, Doctor!" said all three hench-bots.
As those who were outside headed back inside the ship, Creecha smiled tearfully at the sight. Now Cosmo's people would have a chance to restart thanks to her. "Way to go Cosmo," she said. "I always knew there was something special about you."
………………………………………………………………………
It took some time for the two ships to get their power restored so they could get back home. Once they did arrive, everyone was glad to be home. Everyone except for Tails; he spent the whole trip back grieving for Cosmo. As soon as they arrived back at Mobius, Tails instantly shut himself up in his workshop, not wanting to see anyone. Still in denial about what happened to Cosmo, he tried to come up with numerous ways to bring her back for days on end, but after numerous test runs, none of his ideas worked. The more they failed, the more desperate and determined he became. If anyone tried to talk to him, he snapped at them, especially Sonic; now Tails blamed him for not saving Cosmo. Everyone understood and gave him all the space he needed, but even that wasn't enough for him.
It had really taken a toll on him as the days went by; his fur became ragged and dirty, his stature became skinny since he didn't eat much, and guilt was always plaguing him, causing him to cut himself on the arms with a knife. Even worse, his tormentors somehow found where he was and picked on him more constantly than ever. It wouldn't be long before Tails snapped…
………………………………………………………………………
Cream and Creecha were walking down the road one day talking about how they could help Tails while looking for Grace; no one had seen where she was. Suddenly, loud screams caught their attention. "What was that?" asked Cream.
"I don't know," said Creecha. "Let's go check it out.
They hurried down the road to Tails' workshop. Arriving there, they saw Tails' bullies circling around something, or someone, and doing who knows what. Not liking where this was heading, Creecha told Cream to stay where she was, not wanting her to get hurt, before approaching the bully circle. Clearing her throat, she managed to get their attention. "What's going on here?" she asked.
"What does it look like?" said one of them. "We're trying to get rid of these two freaks here."
"Really?" said Creecha, raising an eyebrow and heading over to them. "Because those 'freaks' just so happen to be my daughter and my friend."
The bullies froze. "Seriously?" asked one of them stupidly. "Because this girl here don't look like your daughter."
"Does it matter?" asked Creecha, standing in front of Grace and Tails. "She's my daughter and I love her; I don't care what she's like. Same with Tails. And I don't like bullies; I don't care who they are or where they're from. All bullies like you are the same for different reasons: picking on others who are different from you so that you'd feel better about yourselves."
Another one of them was about to say something, but Creecha held up a hand. "And frankly," she added, "I really, really don't like the way you've been giving Tails a hard time, especially since he's been through enough already. I suggest you leave him alone and get out of here before I do something to you that I'm probably gonna regret." The whole time, she kept her voice firm but never raised it.
Realizing she was serious, the bullies ran off. The moment they were gone, Cream (who had been hiding in the bushes the whole time) ran up to them. "You and Tails okay, Grace?" she asked.
Grace looked up at her, covering her eye. "Been worse," she said. "Stupid bullies thought it'd be a good idea to give Tails a hard time when I went to check on him today. I ended up getting into a fight with them during that time."
Creecha sighed, seeing her daughter's injuries. "Sweetie, we talked about this," she said.
"I know that, Mom," said Grace, "but what was I supposed to do? Let Tails get bullied more than he already was? I wasn't gonna just stand there and let him take it. But then, he just snapped."
Cream was surprised. "Snapped?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Grace, looking down at the unconscious little fox. "Little dude suddenly went feral and attacked them. I accidentally got scratched in the eye in the process because I couldn't get out of the way in time, but it's not too deep."
Creecha uncovered Grace's eye so she could get a look at it. "Thank goodness for that," she said. "What happened then?"
"They claimed that it proved their suspicions– that Tails was a monster," Grace sniffed, sadness coming at her, "but I know it's not true. I just know it isn't. But I guarantee that they're spreading rumors about him right now."
Creecha picked her up, hugging her close. "We all know it isn't true," she said as she scooped up Tails with her other arm, "we all do. Some people just like giving others a hard time, especially with the rumors. Now come on, let's go see Starlight so she can patch those scratches up."
………………………………………………………………………
After that day, after being told what had happened, Tails was scared and confused. He had acted feral towards his bullies and yet, Creecha still cared enough for him to get patched up. He also felt shame about what he did to Grace, but the young girl just forgave him. "It's okay, Tails," she had said. "I'll be fine; it's not like I'm permanently half-blind or anything. I just know that it's not like you; the fox I'm looking at and talking to right now wouldn't do such a thing unless he was pushed to his limit in the worst way possible."
All these feelings came crashing down on Tails in one fell swoop. Often, his friends came to check on him and see how he was doing, having heard the whole story, causing more confusion to swell up in him. Weren't they supposed to stay away from him? He was a monster, for Pete's sake! He hurt one of his dearest friends in his animal-like state, so why did they still care about him? After everything, no less.
As these conflicting feelings coursed through him, he became more and more stressed and ashamed by the day. Finally, one cloudy day, a familiar figure watched through some bushes as Tails, during an argument with Sonic, suddenly began growing taller. Scared, he tumbled out of the workshop, hitting, biting, and clawing at himself as he turned into a giant black-and-white fox with blood-red eyes. As he roared and ran off into the distance, the figure followed after him, eventually seeing him run into the ocean, screaming and inflicting self-harm. Knowing that it couldn't help Tails alone, the figure raced off to get help.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, Grace, who now had an eyepatch over her eye to help it heal, was fluttering her way through a forest, humming softly when she caught sight of something heading for her. "Grace!" it said. "You need to help Fox!"
Confused, Grace glanced at the figure, only to be surprised at who it really was. "Shadow?!" she exclaimed. "How are you still alive?! And what's going on with Tails?!"
"No time to explain the first part," replied Shadow, "but I'll explain the second part on the way! Just hurry!"
The tone in his voice left no room for arguing. As they hurried through the forest, Shadow explained what he witnessed. To say that Grace was shocked about it was an understatement. "Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed.
"That's what I thought!" said Shadow as he sent out a signal. "I didn't know that would happen! How did it happen anyway?"
Grace thought for a while before her eyes widened. "It must be because of what happened to Cosmo that day!" she said. "Ever since then, Tails hasn't really been the same! Every time we visited him just to check up on him, he snapped at us, but he blames Sonic the most; he thinks that Sonic's responsible for what happened to Cosmo because he couldn't save her!"
Shadow sighed. "In a way, I know how it feels," he said. "I felt the same way when I lost Maria. Except I didn't turn into a monster."
"True," said Grace, "but you were filled with vengeance against the human race. Then we came along and… Well, we all know what happened afterwards."
Shadow nodded. "We better hurry," he said. "If we want to save Fox, we better get there quickly."
"But do you know where he is?" asked Grace.
Shadow nodded. "Follow me," he said, skating ahead of her.
Grace followed without any hesitation.
………………………………………………………………………
Flying out of the forest, Shadow and Grace raced to where Shadow last saw Tails, determined to help him before it was too late. Sonic joined them shortly after, ashamed of what had happened. Grace noticed it. "Don't worry, Sonic," she said. "It wasn't your fault that day; you did your best. You'll get a chance to make it up to Tails; trust me."
Sonic nodded, feeling a little better. Upon arrival at the beach sometime later, everyone else was already gathered there. AJ was scowling at the bullies, who were now tied up with her lasso to a nearby palm tree. "What happened to them?" asked Grace.
"Oh, they got punished for makin' the situation a lot worse than it already was," said AJ, shooting a spitball at one of them.
"True," added Sticks. "They were yellin' at Tails, callin' 'im all sorts of bad names and all that other stuff. I was tempted to hit 'em with my boomerang." She glared at the bullies as she finished.
"Good riddance," Grace quipped, shooting the jerks a death glare.
Tails continued to thrash around, screaming and howling in agony. Flying over to him, Sunset placed a hand on his forehead so she could read his thoughts. What she felt and saw, however, made her scream in pain and fall towards the ocean. Thankfully, Creecha was able to save her via her waterbending and brought her back to shore. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"So much grief," said Sunset, horrified and saddened. "Tails had been blaming himself and Sonic for what happened to Cosmo that day. And we've done nothing about it to help him."
Everyone was shocked. "But surely, we've been to his place time and time again to try and comfort him, right?" asked Rarity.
"Yes, we have," replied Sunset, "but he's always yelling and snapping at us to leave him alone every single time. We've respected that request, but in return, we've caused him to be grieving for Cosmo alone. Without any help whatsoever. So, in a way, we're all to blame for causing him to transform into that awful creature. But he's not angry; he's outright miserable and in sorrow."
Her words sunk in to everyone as they processed them. "What have we done?" Twilight whispered, her voice quivering with sadness.
Everyone felt the same way, all blaming themselves for what had happened to their friend, their brother, and, in a way, their son. They've never felt so miserable. As they stood there, not knowing what to do, a voice from above called out to them. "It may be your fault," it said, "but there's still a chance to fix it."
Everyone looked around, confused. Grace looked upwards to the sky as a light came shining down. "Cosmo?" she asked, wide-eyed and amazed.
Sure enough, paradise petals, cherry blossom petals, and rose petals came fluttering down in a cloud, settling down on a rock. When the petal cloud separated, there was the spirit of Cosmo herself, who was now beautiful as an angel. The clouds parted, the bright and sunny weather taking over. "Yes, he's hurt," she said, "but this isn't the time to make this all about you. That is not helping. Maybe Tails would care how sad you are, because he always puts everyone else's feelings first despite everything. But he can't do that for you right now, because he needs you this time. We all had Tails when we needed him, but the only person who's never had Tails is Tails. He's always been there for us, so… *sighs*... How can you be there for him now?"
Her words hit everyone; they knew Cosmo was right. "I know how," said Fluttershy, stepping up and transforming into her Friendship Power form.
As she was doing this, the other Equestrian-Jedi Girls following suit, they all turned to see Tails quickly run towards them. "You're calling the shots for this one, Fluttershy," said Creecha. "What's the plan?"
"Okay, everyone!" said Fluttershy firmly. "No time to waste! Wallflower, use your growth magic on me, Twilight, Sunset, and yourself to make us as big as him!"
"Right!" Wallflower nodded.
"Twilight, lift everyone up!"
"Of course!" said Twilight.
"Sonic, you and Shadow might want to use the Chaos Emeralds for this, but remember, we're not fighting him!" (Shadow somehow found them; not sure how or why).
"Gotcha!" said Sonic, he and Shadow changing into their super forms.
"Everyone else, get in line!"
"You got it!" said Junior.
Fluttershy looked up as Tails continued to make his way towards them. "It's time to show Tails… some love," she said.
As Tails got closer, Grace flew around him. "Sorry buddy," she apologized, creating a wave with her waterbending, "but I need you to stay here!"
With that, she threw the wave at him, successfully stopping him for a second. "TAILS!" called Sonic.
Upon hearing Sonic call for him, Tails turned his attention to see everyone racing towards him. Twilight was lifting those who couldn't fly with telekinesis while Spike was flying with Topsy and Buzzsaw on his back. They were all being led by Fluttershy, who was now grown to Tails' size thanks to Wallflower. They were all calling out to him, determined to help him. "TAILS!"
"TAILS!"
"TAILS!"
Now the same size as the red and black monster (which Lighting earlier named Exe.Tails), Fluttershy leapt up towards her friend. "TAILS!!!!!" she cried.
Surprised, Tails didn't have enough time to react before Fluttershy landed and held her arms tightly around him, giving him a hug. Trying to resist and break free, Tails ended up freezing when Fluttershy said this: "Tails, whenever any of us fell apart, you were there for us. We want to be there for you now. We're here, Tails. We're here."
Tails stopped, shocked at what he heard. He stood there in the hug as his eyes went from ruby red back to their sky-blue color. "F- Fluttershy?" he asked, voice shaking.
Fluttershy didn't say anything. She just hugged him closer. Grace flew over, happy tears appearing. "This is working? You hear us?" she asked, hopeful. "TAILS!"
Overjoyed to tears, Grace came in and hugged him. Twilight, Sunset, and Wallflower (who were also in the same giant size) came in for the hug too. "It's okay, Tails," said Wallflower gently. "We miss her too, but what you're doing and how you're dealing with it isn't healthy. You're not the only one who's been having a hard time."
Everyone else made it in too, with Sonic casting a yellow glow over Tails when he hugged him as well. "I'm here, little buddy!" said Knuckles, almost in tears for his little brother. "Whatever you need, I'll make it happen! You hear me?!"
Tails grunted sadly, not knowing what to think. "TAILS!" cried Shanti, the hyena saddened. "You never gave up on others despite what happened to you in the past because you have that big of a heart! I'LL DO THE SAME FOR YOU!"
"I know you feel bad!" said Chris, crying. "Believe me, I get it! Sometimes it feels like you'll be useless and that you're never gonna like yourself but... *sniffs* It's possible, man!"
"Tails," added Sonic tearfully, "little bro, I know how awful it feels to keep a part of yourself secret! You shouldn't have to hide anything from me!" Anyone could see that he was still remembering how he turned into Dark Sonic.
Tails grunted once more, his eyes filling up with tears. Shadow arrived, holding his hand. "I know how you feel, Tails," he said, "because I know how much it hurts losing the one that you care about. I felt the same way when I lost Maria. Cosmo may not be here physically anymore, but you're not alone. All of us here… we're here for you. Cosmo was lucky to have met someone like you." He may have still thought of Cosmo as a spy, but it was as if her sacrifice that day was enough to make him realize that she truly wanted to do the right thing regardless of what he thought of her.
Then, Cosmo's spirit appeared last, flying on angel wings and softly landing on Tails' nose. With a sympathetic look on her face, she walked up the bridge of Tails' nose and hugged him, tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh, Tails…" she said gently, "you must have been so afraid to show us this side of yourself after my death. But they're not going anywhere. They're all gonna take care of you the same way you took care of us. And you know what? I may not be here physically anymore, but… I'll always love you."
Saying this, she leaned forward and kissed him right between the eyes. At that, it was as if memories of what he did to help his friends in the past came crashing through Tails' mind. Tears finally came out of his eyes and landed in the ocean below as the fox silently realized that they really did care for him. Creecha then came forward, her white attire and the sunlight behind her making her look like an angel. "Take my hand, Tails," she said, extending said hand to him. "Let me– let us– show you there's a much healthier, better way for you to grieve, just like my friends here once did for me years ago."
Sniffling, Tails looked away at first– before reaching out his own hand. Taking it, rainbow-colored magic swirled out of Creecha's hand and came up his arm and all over his body. Smiling sadly, Tails closed his eyes and allowed it to happen as everything turned white around them.
………………………………………………………………………
When Tails woke up, he found himself not only floating on what looked like a giant diamond raft, but he was also back to normal, a comforting blue blanket wrapped around him. He didn't know he was still crying until Sonic gently wiped away a tear with his thumb. Looking around, he saw everyone looking at him, smiling sadly. "Are you gonna be okay?" asked Junior, stepping forward.
Tails looked down and shook his head. "We understand," said Creecha. "And we're all sorry that we didn't help you with this sooner."
This made Tails look up in surprise. "But…" he tried to say.
Creecha just held up a hand, stopping him. "I know what you're gonna say," she said, "that you're gonna blame all this on yourself. But the rest of us are to blame as well. We wanted to help you, but we kept respecting your requests to be left alone. It didn't make it better; we all ended up making it much worse as the days went by. You don't deserve to have to go through this alone. You need help, and we're not resting until you've gotten it."
Tails' eyes widened, realizing that she was right. "Wha... I…" he tried to say, tearing up. "D- Did I- I'm-"
"It's okay, Tails," said Cosmo's spirit, appearing in front of him. "There's no need for you to apologize. You were going through a hard time. No one could blame you for that."
"But… But Cosmo, I–" Tails started to say.
Cosmo just placed a finger on his lips, silencing him. "I don't want you to blame yourself or anyone else for what happened that day, Tails," she said. "In the end, it was my destiny- to save the galaxy. I chose to fulfill it rather than let Dark Oak win and destroy all of you. Everyone else did their part, and it was time to play mine. I was fine with going out like this, even if it had cost me my life."
Tails was shocked. "But– But you promised that– that you'd live with me and the others after the war," he said. "You'd finally be happy."
Cosmo smiled sadly, taking Tails' hands into her own. "I guess fate had other plans for us," she said.
Tails nodded, tears welling in his eyes again. He tried not to cry for the umpteenth time in front of everyone, but to almost no avail. "But," said Cosmo, causing him to look back up at her, "there's something that you have to know, Tails: before all that, I always thought that I was useless and that I wouldn't be able to do anything for anyone after what happened to my friends and family. Especially with me being an unwilling spy to the Metarex so that I could live. But when you guys came along, you not only changed all that, but you've also helped me gain confidence in myself. You have been the most help to me though, Tails. And for a number of reasons: you've never held any grudge against me for causing any trouble and problems, protected me from Shadow-" (Wallflower thwapped Shadow on the back of the head at this, causing some to chuckle) "-and any other kind of danger even if it meant your own life, and even stayed by me after finding out I was a spy. You've never abandoned me no matter what problem came our way. But when the time came for me to fulfill my destiny, I knew then that I had finally found a purpose, a way to finally be useful. There was no other choice, otherwise the whole universe was going to be destroyed. And there was no way that I was going to let that happen. In the end, I never regretted doing what I did if it meant that you guys would be safe and happy; you all matter more to me than anything. I'm glad to see that it didn't go in vain."
Tails smiled sadly, knowing that Cosmo was right. She wanted to create a better future for everyone, and that was exactly what she did. Just then, a light shone down on Cosmo, and a voice from above spoke to her. "Cosmo," it said. "It's time for you to come home. Your work here is done."
Cosmo looked up and nodded, allowing herself to be lifted back up into the heavens, but not before she kissed Tails on the forehead and said this line: "Goodbye, everyone. And goodbye, Tails. I hope we'll meet again someday."
Everyone waved goodbye as Cosmo, in a shower of cherry, rose, and paradise flower petals, was taken back up to the heavens. Tails watched with longing, tear-filled eyes as she disappeared into the clouds. Silence fell for a while until a sniffle sounded out. Sadness crashing down on him once more like a tsunami, Tails was trying to keep it together, but it was clear to any wise guy that it wasn't working. Not wanting to startle him, Shadow silently stepped forward and sat next to him. "Honestly, I don't think Cosmo would want you to hold in your emotions," he said. "It's okay to cry, you know."
Tails shook his head, his body shaking from the suppression. "I… I d- don't want t- to," he stuttered, a tear slipping out. "I- I'd end up b- being a b- baby."
"We're not gonna make fun of you, Tails," said Chris. "We're your friends."
"More than that," said Dorothy. "We're family. And families stick together."
Tails looked up at that. "Really?" he asked.
Dorothy nodded. "Really," she said. "You've already gotten a family you've been dreaming to have– through all of us here; it's just that you've never realized it yet."
Tails felt his breath hitch, the urge to cry even harder to keep down. His lips trembled, and a lump grew in his throat as his eyes watered even more. Sonic sat next to him and rubbed his shoulder. "Go ahead and cry, buddy," he said gently. "Let those tears out. Don't be ashamed in front of us."
Tails looked up at Sonic, who had a gentle smile as he drew his little brother into his arms for a much-needed hug, pulling him up onto his lap. "Sonic… Sonic…" Tails said before the lump in his throat prevented him from saying anything else.
Finally taking it no longer, Tails let out a heartwrenching sob as he began crying for the first time in days, burying his face into Sonic's chest and bandana, his arms wrapping tightly around Sonic. He tried apologizing and saying something, but for a while, all that came out were incoherent words and blubbers. He cried and cried for hours as memories of him helping and spending time with Cosmo and his friends and newfound family flashed through his mind. When he could finally talk again, all he could say was, "I'm sorry, Sonic. I… I'm so s- sorry."
Sonic shushed him and brought him closer, petting him behind his ears. "Just keep on crying," he said. "Let it all out, little bro."
And that's what Tails did for some time. He cried and cried, even when he ran out of tears, until he finally passed out from exhaustion. But before he fell asleep, the last thing he heard from Sonic was: "I forgive you."
………………………………………………………………………
Everyone else had decided to give the brothers some time alone to themselves. Now they were standing on the shore, waiting for them. After about several hours, they saw Sonic return the giant diamond raft to shore, a sleeping Tails in his arms. "He's so cute," Fluttershy cooed softly when she caught sight of him.
"He's gonna be okay, right?" asked Junior, still concerned.
Sonic nodded. "He will be… eventually," he said. "We've just gotta be there for him."
"But I sense that you're gonna put in the most effort, right?" asked Sunset.
"Yes," answered Sonic, cradling Tails closer to him. "I'm making up for all the times I wasn't there for him. I made that mistake once, and I'm not doing it again."
They knew Sonic was right. Sunset could just nod as Sonic headed off with a sleeping, grieving little brother in his grasp. Watching him go, she vowed that they would all find ways to help Tails out.
To be continued…
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