Officially the end :( Pretty short chapter, the only one that's smaller than it is chapter 3, but it is a good ending in my opinion. Better hand out my thanks now :P. First of all, thanks to all of the reviewers (whether they reviewed once or pretty much every time, you're still on here!) who are Tailsisreal, Razor Da Hedgehog (again, Oscar award for the shortest review I've ever seen 'O.O OH NO!') Kitsune-Awesomeness, shadow zombie, Lloyd Redgrave, Teen preecher, Itman496 and james. A special thanks to Tailsisreal for the billions of hints and tips you've given me. :) Also, just for the hell of it, thanks to Sega and the Sonic Team for creating the Sonic franchise in the first place, revolutionising the world of gaming for ever. I highly doubt anyone from Sega is actually reading this, but I'm thanking them anyway.

Disclaimer: The last time I need to write this for now. In future fanfics, I'm just gonna write it in the first chapter and that's it. Saves both you and me from having to whine about who does and doesn't own what. Sonic, Tails and everyone else is not mine, they are all Sega's. Amadeus and Rosemary are from the Archie comics so I don't own them two either, although I did change Amadeus' job slightly. Artemis is, and shall remain, mine. :) So is Daetron, although it's not really a problem right now since what's left of him is currently strewn across Crateméro's Gorge so... yeah.

Chapter 14: Back to normal

The morning Sun shone through the slightly ajar window, flooding the room in its warmth and light. Tails sat in his bed in the hospital room, the same one he had been in when he had been ran over. His right hand was bandaged with the intravenous line in the back of his hand once again. He still couldn't get the thought of the last time it had been used earlier that week, what it felt like to go down his arm. He sat propped up, eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast and at the same time looking for information using a laptop and the television hanging from the wall, with the morning news on. And, of course, awaiting Sonic's arrival. Urgh, why does hospital food always taste like this? It's disgusting! Tails cringed at every mouthful, but seeing as he had no choice but to eat it since there was nothing else, he had to live through every painstaking moment. And for a full week too. Great

The door suddenly slid open to reveal Sonic. Although he looked slightly tired, he was wide awake, with a packet in his hand that he knew would keep Tails happy while he was here. Tails gulped down the mouthful of horrible breakfast before saying 'Hey Sonic!'
'Mornin' Tails. How're ya feelin'? Sonic asked, handing Tails the packet. His face lit up as he recognised it as a packet of mints. Putting what was left of the cereal on the table and tearing open the top of the blue packet, he popped one of the white pearl-like mints in his mouth and relaxed as the taste destroyed that of the horrid breakfast cereal he had been served.
'Much better now I have these, thanks.' Sonic and Tails both chuckled.

For most of the first hour, the two of them discussed what had happened last night. More specifically, what Tails had found out. That he was the direct heir of an ancient civilisation, that they had once waged war with the Echidnas, all they way down to the real reason why he had been so emotionally distressed recently. Tails thought that Sonic would be angry or upset, but it turned out he understood entirely. He couldn't really blame him – losing someone so close was bound to have some form of emotional effect, whether it shows or not. Tails looked at one of the mints before putting it in his mouth to suck on. As he did so, something came to mind, making him burst out laughing.
'Err... what's so funny?' Sonic asked, suddenly paranoid and looking around, thinking their was something wrong with him.
'The leader of that clan I told you about. His name is Minthos. Break it down and you get mint.' Sonic laughed along with him. 'Ooh, Sonic!' Tails suddenly said, quickly breaking out of the laughing fit. 'I left the Tornado back at the Gorge.'
'Don't worry, I'll get it when I leave,' Sonic reassured him. Tails smiled in response and continued to suck on the mint. One worry lingered in Sonic's own mind, one that he needed an answer to.
'That day you had those pains. What exactly do you think destroyed the house?' Tails rolled over that day's events, linking it with the information he had been given last night.
'Hmm... maybe Daetron overloaded with power, so had to release some. Maybe it tore up the house with it?' Tails realised he hadn't actually been given an answer for this bizarre catastrophe, but it was probably the only answer, unless someone had broken in to the house and destroyed it while Tails was squirming on the floor. But Sonic would have seen them leaving, so that theory was ruled out.

The door slid open once more, to Tails' surprise. Sonic, on the other hand, smiled, knowing what was about to come next.
'TAILS!' As soon as these words sounded out, Tails knew who it was, and prepared for a small, furry bundle to lunge itself on top of him. As expected, Artemis, with a grin from one cheek to the other, came charging in to the room towards the awaiting elder brother on the bed. He leaped on to the bed, clamping himself to Tails' arm and hugging it tightly, rubbing his head softly on his shoulder. Tails scratched him behind the ear as Amadeus walked in behind him. It was obvious that Sonic had the location of Tails' whereabouts at some point.
'I guess he's forgiven me then,' Tails said, looking up at his father.
'Or forgotten, could be either,' Amadeus said, shrugging his shoulders, followed by a few more chuckles. Amadeus looked at the screen of the laptop still sitting on Tails' lap and asked 'so what have you been doing on there?' Tails swallowed the mint before explaining.
'I was looking for some information on a temple mentioned last night. Turns out everyone thought it was made by some people called the 'Pedrans'.'
'The temple in the desert... The text has never been deciphered to this day, am I right? But what do you mean by 'thought it was made'?'
'It wasn't made by the Pedrans. They didn't even live near the desert. So whoever came up with that idea really needs to get their facts right. It was the Kitnians that made that temple.'
'And you know this...?'
'I got told from Daetron, their last creation, which also pretty much killed them off. We're descended from their last leader too.' For the second time that day, Tails explained the information, only much more briefly. He really didn't want to go in to too much detail this time, it took him long enough to explain to Sonic in the first place.

When he was finished, Artemis was by then reaching boredom and had begun to tug on Tails' ear, trying to get him out of the bed to play with him. Tails had something else in mind. Instead of climbing out of the bed, he pulled the small cub onto his lap and begun to tickle him wildly on the stomach and the neck. Artemis jerked around, laughing uncontrollably as Tails tickled him in every spot he could find that pleased the cub. Everyone else laughed with him as they watched him squirm around.
'This has got to be the most bizarre birthday in history,' Tails said delightedly as he continued to poke his little brother in every place he could find.

'Breaking news,' the news reporter butted in without any warning. Tails stopped immediately to watch, as did everyone else, while Artemis calmed down. 'The notorious Doctor Eggman is currently attacking Down town Sapphire City. The police have blocked off the area and attempting to hold off the robots. We already have a helicopter in the skies above, so let's go to the action...' The screen switched to a bird's eye view of a street teeming with robots.
'Looks like I need to be somewhere,' Sonic said, making his way to the door.
'Wait Sonic, I'm coming with you!' Tails said, struggling to swing his legs over the side of the bed.
'Tails -!'
'Sonic, you need – whoa...' Tails struggled to his feet, and as soon as he was upright, nausea kicked in. His head spun so fast, he fell back onto the bed next to a confused Artemis. 'Err... I guess I'm not going anywhere...' Tails said as the nausea slowly calmed down. Sonic chuckled at the kit's remark. Tails chuckled along with him, putting his arm behind his back.
'I'll be back soon, I promise,' Sonic said, giving Tails, Amadeus and Artemis a thumb's up before walking calmly down the hallway. Back to normal, I guess Tails thought to himself as he climbed back in to the hospital bed and taking another mint.

Artemis ran over to the window, jumping up and down frantically to try to look over the top. Amadeus came round and picked him up just in time to see a blue blur race off in to the streets of Sapphire City. Go get 'em Sonic Tails thought to himself, watching Artemis waving to Sonic, despite he was unable to see him.