Chapter 4: Over the River and Through the Waterfall

"You know Tails, for a fox, you really are a terrible swimmer." Marine tells me pointedly as she rhythmically kicks her legs beneath her to stay afloat.

"And here I thought you always had something nice to say." I snidely reply back to her.

"Pfft….." She shoots down my semi-compliment.

"You know Marine….." I try to swim closer to her as the small wave swells splash around us so she can't hear me. "It would be a shame if sharks attacked us right now!"

I quickly take my hands and lightly poke her in the sides of her stomach.

She breaks out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter as she tries to shield herself from my cruel and yet extremely enjoyable attack.

"Yah!" She yells as she quickly turns around and tackles me into the water.

I struggle to shake free from her grasp so I can pop my head above the surface of the incredibly clear turquoise colored water.

"I'm feeling a little tired." I tell her after she reappears and catches her breath. "Do you know to do a backstroke?"

"Do I?" She replies, sounding almost offended. "Please mate, I can out stroke you in any kind of swimming."

"You certainly are a frisky little dingo." I tell her, trying not laugh.

"Don't try to talk like me Tails." She said sternly, even making a straight face. "It's not funny."

I try to hold back, but a laugh bursts out of my mouth and Marine is soon laughing as well.

I gingerly place my hands on Marine's shoulders and point her in the right direction before stretching out on my back and beginning to backstroke atop the quietly cresting waves.

I whistle in short snippets every few minutes to keep Marine following me more or less. After getting a few mouthfuls of salt water from the occasionally large wave, I decide to return to freestyle fox paddle swimming, my favorite.

I guess we'd been swimming pretty leisurely for at least half an hour, because as soon as I turned over I saw a broad, white sandy beach a few hundred yards in front of us.

"Marine, I think the island is straight ahead!" I tell her, overjoyed.

I'm not that worried about tiring out. I mean, I could alternate between swimming and floating for a couple of hours, but I am really getting tired of being in the salt water. And I'm worried about Marine of course.

After we reach the shore and I help Marine out of the water, I take a look at our surroundings.

"Wow Marine, this place seems like uncharted territory." I tell her as I hesitantly hold her soft hand in mine as we take muted steps along the beach in the soggy sand.

I look around and see a vast field of brilliant green grass, reaching ankle height, filled with amethyst, fire, and sunlight colored orchids.

Beyond the widespread patches of flowers there were countless towering palm trees. Their voluminous green leaves whisk gently in the light morning breeze. My mind is mesmerized by these amazing sights, as I don't take the time to see these kinds of things in and around Station Square often enough.

"Where is it exactly that we need to go Marine?" I ask her as I snap out of my scenery induced trance. "Do you remember where you went the last time you came here?"

"I just remember going to this place in the middle of the forest, I think it was near the center of the island."

I wonder what could have possibly made Marine to lose her vision, since it didn't happen immediately after she was exposed to whatever caused this to happen.

I still have this horrible fear that it's some natural cause that I will never be able to do anything about. But it's best not to dwell on negative thoughts, right?

There's a beautiful silence as I guide Marine up the beach and onto the short, cool blades of grass.

"What do you see Tails?" She asks me suddenly as she stops.

I feel the link of our hands tighten as she seemingly wants to remain here for the moment.

Marine nonchalantly takes a deep breath as she turns around.

"Lots of beautiful things Marine."

Like you. I sappily think, but am too chicken to say out loud.

"There's bright blooms of purple orchids all around your feet. There's deep red and sizzling yellow blossoms mixed in among them too." I try to describe to her the petals of the flowers that fill the field around us.

I want to tell her to remember what she saw the last time she was here, but I immediately chide myself in my head, knowing how cruel that would be.

"And look!" I say out of habit. "There's a parrot flying near those palm trees! It's got these beautiful bright blue wings with some yellow splotches on them and a big black beak."

"Parrots are such loud birds Tails. Wait 'til we get in the woods." She tells me.

I glance around again, not wanting to leave anything out of the description I'm giving the place.

"There's another big parrot flying around Marine, but this one is totally white and has this big yellow thing on top of its head!" I tell her excitedly, not knowing what in the world I'm looking at.

"Tails, you crazy bloke! That's not a parrot, that's a cockatoo!" She tells me, laughing somewhat uncontrollably.

"Well excuse me for not knowing my tropical birds." I nudge her slightly.

We both laugh together as we begin to walk again, hand in hand, almost in sink.

As our feet gently sift through the crispy blades of grass, I hesitantly take my hand away from Marine's and wrap my arm around her back.

Not to be sarcastic, but the one good thing about her being blind, is that she can't tell when I'm 'spying' on her and when I'm not.

I look at her face to see if I've violated her personal space by wrapping my arm around her, but when I see a sheepish smile starting to spread, I feel more at ease.

"Tell me more about the flowers, Tails." She says softly as we continue to walk.

"Alright." Even though we're all alone on this remote island, I reply just as quietly.

I stop our walk again as I lean down and pick one orchid of each color.

"These are the orchids." I tell her as I gently brush the flower's petals against her soft cheek.

She smiles sweetly before taking my hand and moving the flower closer to her nose.

Marine takes a few small sniffs before timidly holding the orchid out to me.

I inhale quietly through my nostrils and smile at the memories of the spring that the soft, sweet smell reminds me of.

"It's really pretty." I tell her honestly what I think.

She quickly tosses the flower in the air before dragging me forward as we start to walk again. We quickly cross through the field and underneath the vast grove of palm trees and enter the heavily shielded central forest of the island.

"What is this place?" I ask Marine as I gingerly set foot on the cooler and much darker colored soil.

"It's a rainforest Tails." She bumps me slightly with her hip. "You don't have them where you come from?"

"No, not at all." I tell her honestly. "It's kinda nice to be in the shade again though."

Countless trees tower above us as we progress further into the forest. A few strong and distinct rays of thick sunlight seep through openings in the overgrowth, but the setting is very surreal to me. It's something I've never experienced before.

"Can you smell the rain Tails?" She asks me as we continue to walk. "It's in the air all around us."

I had been so distracted by all the things my eyes were taking in that I hadn't bothered to enjoy anything else. I take a deep breath and taste the thick, moist air.

"I bet the humidity must be close to 100 here." I comment to Marine.

"Humidity." Marine repeats while laughing sweetly. "You and your big words are so funny Tails."

As I selfishly replay the happy memories I'm making with Marine over again in my head, I'm suddenly jerked back to reality by a rustling in the bushes a few feet in front of us.

"Marine, get down!" I instantly leap to the side and tackle her to the ground.

The two of us plop onto the moist, dark black soil with a thud.

"Tails, what the heck are you doing?!" She yells loudly.

"Shhhh!" I try to hush her.

"I'm sorry Marine," I add as I apologize out of habit before quickly looking around again for whatever made that noise. "But there's this grey thing with a long nose walking across the path up ahead. It has a white stripe and some black fur running down its back too. It's almost half as tall as we are!"

"Tails you dork! That's an anteater!" She can barely contain her disbelief. "What did you think it was gonna do? Somehow melt you into a puddle of delicious Tails juice and then suck you up through its nose?"

I frown slightly at Marine's comments, but more so at my lack of knowledge about everything around us.

"I love anteaters." She soon adds. "They're so funny. Especially those long noses of theirs. They're sorta like tiny little elephants."

The grey furred carnivore (yes, I am still considering it a carnivore since it eats ants, which technically can be considered meat) is apparently completely uninterested in us as it lazily saunters down a path deeper into the forest.

"Sorry about that. Here, let me help you up." I hesitantly apologize to Marine again as I reach down to help her to her feet.

"Don't worry about it Tails." She says as she brushes my hand away, using both of hers to push herself back up. "Finding out you're afraid of anteaters was well worth getting shoved to the ground."

"I am not afraid of ant eaters!" I tell her jokingly.

"Yeah right." She responds quickly.

"And I didn't shove you." I add before tickling her sides again without thinking.

"Cut it out Tails, you crazy bloke!" She tells me between her fits of giggles.

Caught up in this wave of incredibly forward behavior I've been exhibiting, I wrap my arms around Marine's waist and pull her close to me. I can see her breathing quietly through her little black nose.

"Hey Tails, do you hear that?" She says suddenly.

"What?" I ask her as I try to focus on listening for what Marine has picked up.

"Just listen…" she says simply.

"I hear….some water?" I sort of halfway guess at the fainting babbling sound I hear in the distance.

"Let's follow it." Marine practically commands as she breaks free from my grasp, pulling me behind her with one hand as she taps lightly with her stick.

"It's this way." She begins to walk faster and tap less.

"Here Marine, I'll lead y---."

"No!" She says firmly, immediately stopping her progress. "I am the tour guide here!"

Her bright lime green t-shirt spins slightly as she twirls around to face me.

"Understand?" She says in a mockingly serious tone as she points her walking stick out at where she thinks I'm standing.

"Uhh Marine? I'm over here!" I snicker at her as I maneuvered around to her side.

"You better listen up you little rascal!" She says as she spins toward my voice, but I move again.

"Why are you pointing at that tree Marine?" I ask her sarcastically as I'm now standing behind her again.

"Gaahhhh! Tails!" She whines, apparently tiring of my game. "You're taking advantage of my blindness!"

"I think the proper term is visually impaired." I inform her.

"What? I thought if someone was visually impaired that meant they were ugly?" Marine replies.

In the split second it took my brain to hear Marine's response, I completely lost it. I couldn't stop laughing and neither could Marine. After about a minute of our uncontrollably laughing feeding off each other, I take a few deep breaths while still smiling widely.

"I know you were joking, but that was still too funny." I tell her as I feel my stomach muscles still tense from laughing so hard.

"Alright Mr. Vocabulary, let's keep moving." Marine tells me as we head up the gradually inclining path.

After a few more minutes of following behind her, I see an the path open up ahead and cliffs in the distance all around us.

"Do you hear it now Tails?"

"Yeah," I smile to myself as the thunderous collision of water is now surrounding us.

She offers no objections as I take her by the hand and take the lead as we walk out onto the wide but uneven grassy ledge.

"Have you been here before?" I ask her as I keep her warm fingers intertwined with mine.

"This is where I was the other day." She tells me solemnly.

"It's so beautiful." I blurt out.

I continue to stare in awe as the waterfall's encompassing echo permeates throughout our lush tropical surroundings.

The strikingly white water powerfully flows over a cliff high above and creates countless ripples that extend out far and wide into the lagoon below.

"Are there still fish in the water down below Tails?" Marine asks as she moves a little closer to me.

I think she's a little unsure of where the edge is. Either that, or maybe this little raccoon has somewhat of a fear of heights?

"Yeah, there's some longer, cream colored fish and some shorter, yellow ones, but that's all I can see from up here."

"This is a really pretty place, huh?" Marine adds.

"Yeah," I reply, still staring out over the thick green plants that cover the landscape, brilliantly contrasted by the clear water's reflection of the shimmering sunlight. "I've never seen a waterfall in person before."

"You haven't?" Marine asks, sounded shocked.

"We have a few beaches in station square, but there's no rainforests or tropical climates anywhere near there." I tell her. "To be honest, the white of the waterfall reminds me of so much of the snow we get during the winter there."

"You guys get snow? Get outta here! That's ripper!" Marine says in disbelief.

"What? You've never seen snow before?" I ask her, not knowing how that could be possible.

"It has never snowed here Tails, ever." She tells me. "I've only read about it in books. I remember my mum and dad saying they'd never seen it before either."

"Well someday you're going to have to come visit us in Station Square so you can see what snow is all about." I tell her happily.

"You really mean it?" She says, seemingly not believing me. "Does it get cold too?"

"Yes Marine, it does get cold when it snows."

"Oh that's bonzer Tails! I've always wanted to go somewhere that was really really really cold!"

"Marine, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but have you given any thought on how we are going to get back to your house or Seagull Point or anywhere on the main island?"

"I don't think it'll do much good mate, but will this help?"

Marine clumsily reaches into the front pocket of her dark black shorts and pulls out a tiny red shard.

"Marine, is that a piece of one of the Sol emeralds?" I ask her loudly.

"It certainly is Tails. You wann--."

"Where's the rest of it?!"

"Whaddaya mean the rest of it? Blaze might have it, or Sonic, or someone in town, I dunno. What's the big deal?"

"What do you mean what's the big deal? What if Whisker gets his hands on it again? What are we gonna do?!"

"Tails, did Sonic and Marine not tell you about their plan?"

I had been so busy freaking out, I hadn't thought about how the emerald got broken in the first place.

"What plan?" I ask, much more calm than I was a few moments before.

"Well, the two of them were watching Inuyasha a few weeks ago and thought, 'What better way to prevent the Sol emeralds from being united again than shattering them into pieces like that girl Kagome did?'

"You're not serious." I bury my head in my hand.

Getting ideas on how to protect the most precious and dangerous gemstones in the world from an animated TV show. How crazy is that?

"I am." She says simply. "Don't worry though, they only shattered the red one and the purple one. I'm not sure what they ended up doing with the rest."

As much as I wanted to fly back and immediately start running data in my computer about how many shards were missing, the statistical probability of their location, etcetera, a much better idea soon came to mind: I forgot the Sol and Chaos emeralds had the power to grant wishes.

"Marine, could I borrow that for a second?" I ask her innocently as I stare at the acutely triangle shaped shard.

"What are you gonna do with it?" She asks, somewhat defensively.

"You'll see." I tell her cryptically.

She opens her hand and I quickly snap the shard out of her palm.

I quietly grasp my palms together and close my eyes. After making my wish, I hesitantly open them again and glance around.

"Hold onto me Marine." I tell her firmly as I take her hand and pull her closer to me. Even though neither one of us can see it, I know I'm blushing fiercely as I hug her tightly against my chest.

I feel a familiar dusting brush against my ears and stare out beyond Marine as a thick blanket of snow begins to fall.

"Tails! It's so cold! What happened?!" She says, smiling as she attempts to wrap her arms around herself, shivering slightly.

The snow gets thicker as I can barely see out beyond the ledge that we're standing on. The rush of the water still emanates loudly from below.

"It's snowing Marine!" I tell her gently.

"I know! It's blowing against my whiskers!"

I try to hug her closer, wanting to keep both of us warm, but I feel her resisting.

I let her go as she wordlessly drops to the ground with her legs curled up beneath her.

"What are you doing Marine?" I ask her while smiling silently to myself.

"I want to feel it." She tells me simply as she runs her hands across the snow quickly accumulating on the grass.

She gingerly, almost hesitantly brushes her finger tips against the white powder at first, unsure of what she's reaching for.

I see a grin beginning to sneak out as she feels snowflakes for the first time. I continue to sit silently beside her as Marine enjoys something she's never experienced before in her life. I am almost lost in a daydream of how happy I feel watching Marine when I suddenly cringe at as a cold blast of ice collides against my neck.

"Owwww!" I yell out belatedly, overemphasizing the small amount of pain I'm in.

"Jeez Marine. What was that for?" I ask her, massaging the left side of my neck.

The brief snowstorm had subsided, but light flakes still feel through the frosty air at a steady rate. There probably wasn't more than an inch on the ground, but it was more than enough for Marine to be able to enjoy.

"This is what you do when it snows, right?" Marine asks me, trying to give me a pouty lipped face. "Throw snowballs at each other?"

"No! Throwing snowballs is bad!" I tell her mockingly as I stealthily slip my fingers beneath the white covered ground.

I make a hastily formed snowball and pack it tightly with both hands. I quickly drop the ball however and press my frigidly cold fingers against the back of Marine's exposed neck.

"Yahhhhhh! Tails that's cold!" She spastically tries to jump away from me.

"That's what you do when it snows." I tell her jokingly.

She turns around and feels for my arm before pulling me closer to her again.

"How did you make it snow here Tails?" She says while tilting her head up at me.

Her warm azure eyes my not be able to see anything for her anymore, but I still get lost in their radiant glow every time I look into them.

"I just made a wish." I tell her matter-of-factly. "And I was lucky enough for it to come true."

"Thank you Tails for helping me to see snow for the first time in my life." She says in a sweet tone I'm liking more each time I hear it.

"N…No problem." I hesitantly reply, not used to being complemented and thanked so much.

"Could you….tell me what everything looks like?" She asks, almost pleadingly.

"All the grass is gone Marine. It looks like everything has been covered with the most pristine white blanket that you've ever seen. There's piles of snow balanced precariously on the tips of the palm trees. You can see thousands of tiny little flakes fluttering no where in particular in the breeze. If you get really close to the ground, you can see some of the individual flakes. They look like six-pronged little wind chimes fluttering in the wind, but no two look the same. Some of them hit the water in the lagoon below and disappear, but others are piling up on the rocks and the grass and the soil." I try my best to paint a picture of words in her mind. "But the most beautiful thing of all is that there's this raccoon standing here in the snow with a smile on her face that I can't take my eyes off of."

I can't believe I just said that.

"Tails, you must be talking about some other raccoon." She responds, putting off my compliment.

"I don't think there are any other raccoons living in the rainforest." I joke with her as we remain standing a step apart.

"Thank you Tails. You're beautiful….I mean….cute too." She says, giggling loudly at her comment. "Actually, which would you rather be?"

"Umm…..I'll take cute."

"I like your cute voice and tiny black nose." She tries to reach out and touch the tip of my nose.

I could duck out of the way, but I offer no resistance.

"I like your smile, and your warm sunflower colored fur, and most of all… I like your heart." She continues, practically in a whisper. "I'll never forget what you look like."

She laughs at her words before reaching for me and hugging me close against her.

I feel a warmth in my heart I never noticed before as I wrap my arms around Marine and hold her close. I'm still feeling guilty over the prospect of not figuring out what caused Marine to lose her sight, but if nothing else, I'm glad I was able to help Marine experience something she had never seen before in her life.

After a long silence, she pulls back again and turns slightly away from me before opening her mouth.

I tilt my head a little to the side, trying to figure out what in the world she's trying to accomplish.

"Marine, what you doing?" I tell her as I see her moving her head back and forth in the air.

"I'm trying to taste the flakes." She says simply.

I laugh a little to myself.

"Here, let me help you," I say as I face her and place one hand on each of her shoulders, turning her back toward me. "This is what snow tastes like."

I then lean forward and gently kiss Marine on the lips.

The End

Thanks to everyone for reading this. I absolutely apologize for taking forever to get this final chapter up. I just couldn't come up with anything for the longest time, but so many people e-mailed me and were asking me when I was going to finish the story, that I knew I had to come up with something. I'm sorry for not resolving the issue of Marine still being blind or how the two are going to get back to Marine's island, but I hope you guys still enjoyed it just the same. Maybe there will be more in the future? Should there be? What do you guys think? Any comments, feedback, criticism, etc. are welcome as always. Thanks again so much for reading. I really appreciate all of you!