Finale: Warmth

A/N: Here is the final chapter of "Just One Moment", so I will just get right onto it.

She squirmed uncomfortably in her black, form fitting dress. She felt like she couldn't breathe, as if the whole room was impressing its' weight on her and suffocating her. The silence was heavy and stifling.

Fidgeting nervously with her black hair band, the young girl took several deep, calming breaths. The only good thing about today was that maybe, possibly, they could start to move on. Maybe with the finality of a burial, Tails resting as peacefully as a dead person could in the ground, they could come to terms with his death and maybe have a little peace.

The aching void in the middle of her chest, the one that used to be her heart, told her that was a pretty little lie. Things would never be the same again.

She shook her head angrily, almost biting her tongue to stifle the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. She didn't need the hole in her chest to tell her that. One of her dearest friends, part of her family, was dead. Gone. Nonexistent.

A body, drained of everything life giving, everything human, filled with chemicals and manmade mixtures for preservation.

"So he won't rot…" Amy sobbed quietly, tears spilling down her cheeks, landing with soft splashes on the ground, "to make sure… he still looks like him…"

The sun was attempting to shine through the murky clouds, bathing the young girl in soothing, amber light. She shuddered as the unwanted, almost offensive heat saturated her skin.

"We don't need it…" She brushed her arms as if to banish the invading warmth from her skin. She held her head high, her voice just above a whisper, "We don't WANT it. You can't just THINK that will make everything right…" Anger, helpless rage, began to surface in her voice. She felt as if the world was trying to take pity on her, by trying to make everything appear warm and safe.

"YOU took him away! YOU let this happen to him!" Unbridled fury rang forth from deep within her very being as her voice escalated to a shout.

"Don't try to deceive us with your warmth and brightness," The shouts echoed against the walls of the small abode. As the sound of her own voice pierced her ears, it reminded the young woman of how alone and empty the house had been the past week and forever would be. The little workshop perched atop a hill on the Mystic Ruins… the only thing it would be doing now would be collecting dust.

"It isn't happy! You tore him away from us, murdered him, and don't even think for a second that you can make it normal again! This world is not a good thing!" The slightest of hiccups interrupted Amy's grief-driven tirade. She sucked in a large breath in attempt to ward off the oncoming sorrow, "It isn't light, and hope, and …"

Her voice caught in her throat as the sobs threatened to overtake her. Her emerald eyes, muddled with tears, swept around the small, unlit room. The small bench across the wall for guests… the door leading into the workshop… it was all cold and empty. Gray. Lifeless.

Amy clumsily clambered atop a chair near the wall and glared through the window, her shimmering eyes defiant as she beheld the outside world, "You can't change it back! Nothing will be like it was before…you may always rise, and you may always set," She glared angrily at the cloud covered sun and the dusky sky, her rage at the world spilling forth both in words and unspoken feelings, "but the one good person who should be here isn't!"

Wobbly, she descended onto her knees as anguish overpowered seething hate. Tears cascaded down the girls' cheeks as sob after sob relentlessly wracked her frame.

Her hands, roaming and fidgeting with, found the sides of her face as she rocked back and forth. The mourning garb clung to her figure, dampened by tears.

"It's never going to be right again…" The females' voice was little above a lost, pitiful whisper, "never ever."

"So, it looks like you aren't any more ready for this than I am, huh Amy?"

Amy looked up, her bloodshot jade eyes encountering those of Sonic's. She stood up warily, smoothing her crumpled dress as she sniffed and rubbed vigorously at her eyes.

The older male half-smiled in spite of himself. "The procession is already here with the…" He looked at the ground, unable to say the word that would make everything final. He avoided letting his mind wander to the subject, still retaining the slight glimmer of hope that it was all some kind of horrid nightmare.

However, seeing the small, unmoving body, the fake smile on his peaceful face during the visitation and subsequent ceremony…it told him that everything was real.

Sonic bristled when he saw that the funeral director had prepared the body thus, twisting Tails' final moments in life.

He had not been smiling. He had not been happy. They had tried to make the child seem as if his death occurred in a warm, familiar place instead of miles away from home.

As if he had died quickly and painlessly, his strength not ebbing out from a gaping cut across his torso and stomach.

Sonic was startled from his reverie at Amy's voice, "Sonic… I don't think I'll ever be ready…"

He shook his head, clearing his mind as he crouched on one knee, holding Amy's hands in his, "It's almost over, Amy. Just one more moment of this, and then it's finished, I promise." He desperately tried to hold back his own tears as his voice rasped, "Everything will be all right, Amy."

The rivulets continued to fall, unabashed, as Amy hissed her reply, "Sonic, this will never be 'all right'. They're putting him in the ground! He will not be able to feel the sun or see the sky, and he will be alone and afraid in that horrible coffin. His body will-"

The suddenly vice-like grip on her hands cut short her rambling. Her eyes beheld Sonic, his eyes maddeningly bright, cheeks flush.

"Amy… don't go there," His voice carried admonition, warning.

The pink female broke free of his grip, standing up hurriedly and rushing to the center of the room. She turned around, her voice hoarse with grief and pain, "I can't just deny this, Sonic! Tails is- is dead, and you know it. But you can't seem to accept it- you're acting like this is some kind of play or dream, when it's over you'll wake up and everything is fine. Sonic," her voice trembled, her eyes glistened, "it's not!!"

"Don't even dare think that this is easy for me, Amy," Sonic clenched his fists, arms shaking as he spun on his heel towards her. It was as if the conversation between them was a melodramatic soap opera, with Tails' dreary little workshop their set.

She unconsciously stepped back at the fiery rage in his voice.

"I watched him, held him as he died, Amy," The tears running down Sonic's face as he vented mirrored those of the girl across him, "I felt the warmth leave his body. When Knuckles and I got back home, there was nothing of him left."

His eyes squeezed shut, tears escaping as he relived the memory, "I know Tails is gone, Amy. But I will be damned if I'm just going to- to move on and forget everything that he was!" He turned around, hid ears picking up the sound of the pallbearers carrying the coffin up the steps to the plateau of the Mystic Ruins. Without another word, he stepped outside to the gravesite, closing the small wooden door behind him.

Amy sighed resolutely, the little voice in the back of her head telling her that this sort of thing was natural; it was part of the grieving process, he was bound to flit between emotions and lash out. That part was as natural as crying, right?

Mustering up her courage, Amy followed meekly in Sonic's footsteps, quietly and carefully closing the door behind her as if she was afraid to disturb the empty little household. The fact that they were having a funeral, here, now... it was proof to her that everything was wrong.

It was as if there was a hole in the world.

When Vanilla, concerned for her daughter's state of mind and health, asked if the little girl would like to stay at home instead of attending to funeral, Cream squashed her fears. She wanted to attend the services, out of respect and honor for part of her family.

However, as the coffin was borne up the steps and laid to rest on the stone mount next to the plot, the child felt a tiny bit of reluctance at her choice. She shuddered as a human preacher, regaled in robes and sashes, stepped up to blather on about Heaven and Hell and God.

As her eyes drew to the excavated soil next to the plot, she tuned out the man's words. She had barely made it through the visitation without bawling her eyes out. As the wind ruffled her ears, Cream questioned whether she could get through this.

The visitation had been horrible. It felt as if the funeral home was only there to take advantage of the grief and pain of others for money.

Moreover, the music… it was like they wanted everyone to break down.

Her chocolate-brown eyes surveying the area, Cream took in the surroundings. It was slightly warmer compared to the last few days, and a bit of sun shone through the murky clouds. "Not that that makes it any easier," Cream mumbled under her breath. It seemed as if the world was trying to make up for being so stormy the last few days by offering them a little sunshine.

Rouge was standing off to the side with Knuckles, fidgeting anxiously with the necklace she wore. Guilt was clearly in her eyes as they roved from the ground, to her male companion, to the clouds drifting lazily in the sky. The small child noticed that she was looking everywhere but at the coffin.

Knuckles vivid violet eyes held the smallest hint of sadness, but his stance remained stoic and gruff. Cream fought back the urge to giggle slightly, but couldn't restrain herself as her mouth opened to make the slightest of sounds.

However, instead of a laugh, it was a hiccup.

As the preacher stepped down, and Sonic hurried over to the stand for last words, the tears came unexpectedly, matting her peach muzzle and splashing on her small dress. She buried her face in the folds of her mother's black dress, the tears rolling down her cheeks and soaking the fabric.

"It's not supposed to be like this…" Creams muffled voice came between sobs, "everything is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. All of us being here, Mama, this isn't good. It's not happy or safe, it's just sad and lonely… Mama, why did this have to happen?"

Vanilla soothingly knelt down and embraced her daughter, stroking her face lovingly. As she smoothed her rumpled dress and offered Cream a comforting smile, she secretly told herself that it was her daughter she was reassuring with these actions, not herself.

"When we were younger," Sonic began with a smile, his expression a contrast to his bleary eyes and gaunt cheeks. His fur, normally clean and well-kept, was disorderly and grimy. He inattentively tapped the microphone to see if it was working, "Tails told me once, that no matter where he was or what was happening, if he could at least see the sky and feel the wind, he would be fine. I realized later that it was because he loved flying. Whether in his plane or by himself, the ability to soar in the sky, free and happy, was something he treasured… he had a brilliant mind, and-"

An abrupt pause in the speech caused everyone to look up at Sonic. His eyes were scrunched tight, his body shaking as his voice whispered, "and…"

Opening his eyes and exhaling long and loud, Sonic continued, "When he died, it was as if time had stopped, like the world had frozen and this horrible, unbelievable thing had happened. I felt as if I wouldn't be able to continue living because a part of me had died with him. My heart had been torn out, crushed, and the pieces discarded."

"I know today is awful," the male brushed away the tears that threatened to come, swallowing the lump in his throat, "and that things will never be the same again. It might seem impossible to move past our grief and go on with our lives… but Tails wouldn't want it to be this way. He would want us to keep going. He'll be watching over us, and he'll be happy knowing that we had the strength to continue on instead of giving in to misery."

Sonic fought back the sob as the pallbearers lowered the coffin into the ground and prepared to bury it, "Just, sometimes, think of all the memories you shared together. That's all I ask…"

He was unable to watch as the first mound of dirt fell.

A gloved hand traced lovingly over the letters etched into the stone, a long-standing tribute in memory of his best friend and little brother.

Miles "Tails" Prower

Beloved Son, Brother, and Friend

Gone, but never forgotten

"Sonic, are you coming?" A voice called after him from far away.

With the sun shining brightly over him, and the wind gently ruffling the leaves, Sonic the Hedgehog stood up. His voice was warm and tender and his eyes vivid with tears as he said his last goodbye to the only person he could call family.

"Sayonara, nii-chan."

FIN

AN: "Sayonara, nii-chan" (or "Sayonara, otouto") is Japanese for (IIRC) "Goodbye, little brother." "Sayonara, nii-san" (Tails' last words) is "Goodbye, older brother."