I Want Tomorrow
Dawn breaks. There is blue in the sky, which was a welcoming day all in itself. It was Bunnie's sixteenth birthday today, and everybody in Knothole was preparing for a surprise party for her. She already knew that they were going to have a party, but she didn't expect anything this big. Everyone was invited from the Wolf Clan and other Freedom Fighter groups from hundreds of miles around. Rotor and Sonic took care of transporting the three hundred and fifty people to Knothole and keeping them hidden from Bunnie during the two days before the event. Sally took care of the cake, Dulcy took care of the decorations and Tails took care of all of the balloons. Bookshire and Uncle Chuck were in charge of keeping Robotnick out of the picture by sending false information to him regarding a reconnaissance mission Sonic and Sally were undertaking that week in some far and remote location of the Great Unknown.
While Sally wasn't working on the cake and other food arrangements, she was out with Bunnie to get her "birthday present" using a hovercraft they stole from Robotnick about two months ago so everyone else could prepare for her return. While they were gone, Dulcy and Tails decorated the entire village and Sonic and Rotor got most of the bushes and shrubs cleared away to accommodate the massive crowds.
Food wasn't too much of a problem. All of the guests brought some food for a massive potluck so nobody would go without something to eat, and since material possessions were not very common in Knothole, especially due to the war, the popular gift was flowers.
Sally and Bunnie were finally returning. And Bunnie began to worry about the large groups of people outside the village. Sally only excused it by saying that she invited some of her friends to the party. They were still about three minutes away from the village, but the crowds kept getting larger and larger. Bunnie kept wondering why the groups kept getting thicker as they reached the village, and she began noticing the large piles of flowers and roses that covered the ground. Sally only replied to Bunnie's questions with a big smile.
When they finally arrived, they both got out and Bunnie tried her hardest to keep her emotions in check. Nothing she did could keep her tears from running down her cheeks. Everyone started to sing "happy birthday" to her, but only really got going on the same note after the third verse.
Bunnie started hugging the closest person she could find, and continued on the next, thanking them for coming. By the time they finished singing, the crowds were so dense, nobody could go anywhere.
Bunnie had forgotten all about the present Sally had gotten for her, which was a box filled with roses and rocks on the bottom so she couldn't tell what they were. Sonic had to jump into the hovercraft to use the megaphone to tell everyone to clear off to let her by, and when a path finally formed, Sally led Bunnie to her birthday cake. It was a purple five-layer cake with sixteen candles already lit for her to blow out.
She let the candles burn for a moment while she stared at the cake. She couldn't blow them out. It was too beautiful.
"I've already got a picture of it, Bunnie!" Sally laughed. "Just blow them out so we could eat!" Bunnie finally blew out the candles and Sally broke out the knife and plates. Bunnie pulled out a few of the candles and started to suck the frosting off of them, and Tails started doing the same.
"Happy birthday, Aunt Bunnie." Tails said while he grabbed as many candles as he could.
"Thanks, sugar." She grabbed him and gave him a long hug and a kiss on the nose, all while he had a candle hanging from his lips.
"I got you flowers for your birthday!" Tails said.
"Really? Where are they?"
"I don't know. I can't find them. Sorry."
"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find them."
Sally dished out the first slice of cake to Bunnie and Tails got the next. As soon as he grabbed his plate, he flew up to the closest tree branch, sat down and began to eat. After Sally cut the next slice, she noticed that only children surrounded her and smiled as she remembered her own childhood memories.
By the time she got to the last slice, all of the children were served and she was relieved that she didn't leave any of the kids behind. She grabbed a plate and walked over to the table where all of the food was and began serving herself some of the food that covered the twenty picnic tables.
About an hour had passed before all of the food was gone. But unfortunately so were about a third of the people. But it didn't matter; all of the people who really mattered to her were still there.
The autumn breezes were starting to pick up, and a chill began to sneak under everyone's fur. It seemed that winter might come early this year. Some of the balloons that Tails had tied down started to loosen themselves from the wind and began floating away. And the wind was blowing toward Robotropolis.
"Tails, could you please grab those for me?" Sally asked. "Those might give away our location."
"No problem." He put down his bowl of ice cream, spun up his tails and took off. By the time he was off the ground, everyone's attention was somewhere else. The cold air above ground level and the ice cream in his stomach made him shiver a bit, but also made for optimal flying conditions. The balloons started to scatter from the winding gusts of wind, which made it a bit harder to get before they reached a dangerously visible altitude. So Tails figured he'd pick off the highest ones first, making them harder to see.
After about two minutes of flying circles in the sky, he had about ten balloons tied around his wrist. This was so he could grab more balloons with both hands and not have to worry about the rest floating away. He spun around a couple more times to see if there were any more left, and flew down about thirty feet to grab the last one.
As he lowered himself to reach the last red balloon, he heard the sound of his tails brushing against the strings hanging above his hand. By the time he turned his head to see how close the balloons were to his tails, the strings wrapped around them and caught his hand behind his back.
He immediately dropped like a rock. Tails pulled and tugged as hard as he could to get the balloons untangled from his tails, but the wind resistance of the balloons and the speed of his descent made it harder and harder to free himself from them. Tails cried in fear for his life. Bunnie seemed to be the only person to notice at first. She looked up at the sky and saw him falling to the ground. She yelled his name and ran as quickly as she could to where it seemed like he was going to land, but he was too far off in the distance. Sonic was nowhere to be found. But within seconds, it was apparent to everyone there that Tails was in serious trouble.
Anyone who could run or fly was heading towards his direction, but he was still about half a mile away. Everyone knew they wouldn't make it in time. Tails cried as loud as he could. He couldn't see what was going on below him because he was now spinning out of control. All he could see were the balloons violently shaking above him and the ground quickly getting dangerously close. His heart was racing and he knew he couldn't get free in time to stop his fall. He was falling headfirst and there was nothing but hard dirt below him to break his fall. There was nothing left for him to do. He closed his eyes and held his breath,
And all was dark...
It now seemed like morning to him. He woke up feeling well rested, warm and comfortable. The room he was in seemed closed off to the light because everything was pitch black when he opened his eyes.
Then he started hearing something across the room. It sounded like somebody was putting small glass bottles away in a cabinet or shelf. He turned his head where he heard the noise and felt sunshine on the rest of his face.
Something was wrong, he couldn't see where these rays of sunshine were coming from. He put one of his hands over his face and felt something on his eyes. It seemed like a wire or a piece of plastic leading under his eyelids, and as soon as he touched it, he felt that his eyes were lined with some kind of black plastic covering. He pulled them off from his eyes and could now see that the room was actually well lit.
His vision was a little blurry at first, but he was soon able to focus on what was making that noise. He sat up in his bed and looked at the person across the room. The person had his back towards him, and it was hard for him to see who that might have been. From the back, it looked just like Sonic, but much younger. The young hedgehog looked to be about eight or nine years old at most, and was just as blue as Sonic.
The young boy was filling a cabinet with medical supplies, and it finally dawned on Tails that he was in a hospital room.
After the hedgehog placed the last bottle in the cabinet, he closed the door and turned around. As soon as they made eye contact, the young boy stood and stared at him with curious look.
"Sonic?" Tails asked, suddenly wondering why his voice was deeper than normal. The child ran for the door across the room and left Tails wondering what was going on.
He gave the room a more thorough look and saw the rest of the building out the window to his right. He saw a tower on the far end of the structure and realized where he was.
"That's impossible!" Tails thought. "This can't be Mobotropolis." He lifted the sheets from his legs and gasped when he saw them. His fur was dark, and his legs were a lot longer than he remembered. He looked at the rest of his body and couldn't believe that he was just as big as Sonic and Sally!
He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing straight, but then felt that his left wrist was sore. He made a fist and moved it around to see if there were any visible injuries, but aside from his appearance, he felt fine. He stood up and looked at himself again and still couldn't believe his appearance.
He saw a green monochrome monitor on a stand next to his bed and saw a few wavy horizontal lines. They were his vital signs. He looked at the line for his respiration and took a couple of deep breaths and saw it match his actual breathing pattern. Then he saw the word "alarm" blinking next to that line. He felt around his body to see where those sensors were, but couldn't find anything. While he had his hand on his chest, he saw that another line matched what he felt. It was an ironic relief that he was still alive, but was no indicator that he might have lost his mind.
Tails walked over to the window to try to see if he was actually in the castle, (and to see if he had any wires or needles he didn't find from his first examination). He had never seen the city like this in his life, but everything below seemed so familiar to him. All the memories of this place were of darkness and despair, but everything he saw was a perfect picture of the stories Sally told him before bed. But this only reminded him of the world he was familiar with, and couldn't accept that this was now a place of peace and happiness. What could change this world so quickly?
His reflection in the window was now apparent to him as he refocused his eyes. He reminded himself of his father more than anyone else. He looked at every detail of his face, and came to the final realization that he wasn't a kid anymore. As he looked past his reflection, he noticed another figure standing at the doorway.
Tails turned around and saw Princess Sally standing there in an open white doctor's uniform with one hand on her chest and her other hand covering her mouth. They both stood silent for a moment while they looked at each other. Sally had the look immense joy and frozen excitement as her cheeks became soaked from her tears. And Tails began to feel like he found something he lost a long time ago, but never really lost at all.
Sally took a few steps and finally ran to him. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. Tails held on to her as he just gazed at the floor with the ever-increasing fear of the unknown, but equal comfort that she was here to keep him safe.
"I knew you weren't going to die. I wasn't going to let it happen. I'm so glad you're still alive." Sally quietly said. Tails just stood there with his arms around her, just beginning to understand what might have happened. "After all these years, I've had so much to tell you. But now that this moment has come, I can't find anything to say!"
"What happened to me?" Tails asked. Sally stepped back and looked at his face for a moment.
"Do you remember anything?"
"…I was getting the balloons."
"…And they caught your tails." Sally finished. "It's been eleven years." Tails began to feel dizzy. Sally sat him down in front of the window, and took a moment to gather his thoughts and breath. "You sustained very serious head and neck injuries. You landed headfirst at twenty miles per hour. You broke your neck and demolished four inches of your upper spinal cord."
"What?"
"I spent six years with a team of doctors from across the planet to save you." Tails put his hand on the back of his neck, and felt all the scar tissue right down the middle. "The damaged portions of your spine were replaced with microscopic neurotransponders developed by Uncle Chuck."
"Where is he?" Sally looked away.
"…He passed away two years ago." Tails felt his heart skip a beat and grabbed his chest. Sally looked at the monochrome display next to the bed and saw the irregular pattern. "You should lie down. You've been through a lot already." Sally helped him to his feet, but his legs began to shake under his weight.
"I don't feel good."
"I'm sorry. I told you too much too soon." Tails laid back down in his bed and closed his eyes. He could feel his heart slow back down to a normal pace.
"How did he die?" Tails asked when he turned his head towards her.
"Long-term exposure to the toxins associated with being roboticized. He was sick for a long time. And I did everything I could for him."
"When did you become a doctor?"
"Shortly after your accident. I felt so helpless. I wanted to be more involved with your recovery. I was so determined; I began my first operation on you after only twenty months. And with the help of Uncle Chuck and Nichole, we developed the technology to repair spinal damage."
"Is Bunnie okay?"
"Yes. She's the only one to be successfully deroboticized. She moved back to Knothole because she couldn't bear to see you in the condition that you were in. She couldn't look at you. Machines were pumping fluids in and out of your body keeping you alive." Sally grabbed his hand. "She really misses you. She misses you a lot."
"I can't wait to see her again."
"I'm sure she feels the same."
"How does that monitor work if there aren't any wires on me?"
"Well, the neurotransponders in your neck works just like your spine would. It sends and receives signals from your brain to move the rest of your body. Without it, you would be paralyzed from the neck down. It uses very tiny processors that send information to the computer under your bed. It can also receive information like motion sequences to perform basic exercises, so your bones and muscles would stay strong even while you were in a coma. For the past few years, you made your own bed, took showers all by yourself, brushed your own teeth, and ate food on your own. Sonic keeps slipping you chilidogs, but never stays around for the after-effects." They both cracked a smile.
"What were those things on my eyes?"
"They helped keep the shape of your eyes normal over the years. That was one of the things the neurotransponders couldn't do."
"And you developed this technology?"
"All for you." There was a knock at the door as another doctor walked inside. "Look whose here! Tails, I'd like you to meet someone who has played a major role in your rehabilitation. Say hi to Nichole."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Tails." She shook his hand.
"Cool, Sally had a computer called Nichole, too!" Tails looked back at Sally. "Hey, where is that computer anyway?"
"She's standing right there." Sally said with a smile.
"You're a robot?" Tails asked with amazed curiosity.
"Not quite. This fur and face is just as real as yours."
"I don't understand."
"Well, let me explain." Nichole said as she sat at the foot of his bed. "You and I have so much in common. We eat, sleep and breathe the same, we grow up and get old, and we were both wearing diapers when we were babies. But the only thing making you and me different, you have a brain between your ears and I don't."
Tails looked back at Sally with fearful confusion.
"Shortly after your accident, we staged a massive attack on Robotropolis because we needed medical supplies that could only be found there. We caught Robotnick completely by surprise and ended the Great War in a twenty-minute battle, with the only fatality being his. Reclaiming the kingdom brought a thriving community with it. The population of Mobotropolis grew ten thousand percent in one month, and each person contributed greatly to the reconstruction of the kingdom and surrounding cities. One of those people, a kindergarten teacher from Witchwood, lost her life in fire in this castle. She didn't sustain any burns or injuries, but was killed by smoke inhalation. We kept her body alive after the fire, but there was no neurological activity of any kind. Her family agreed to let us use her body for experimental purposes related to neuromechanical reconstruction, and Nichole played the part of the brain for testing the artificial spinal interface. Shortly after the preliminary testing, we learned so much about spinal and neurological manipulation that Nichole quickly became integrated with the body without anybody realizing the capabilities of this new science."
"And you're the reason I'm here, Tails." Nichole said.
"You're the reason everyone is here. We might have never attacked with such determination and rage if your life didn't depend on it."
"You make it sound like you wouldn't have attacked at all if it wasn't for me."
"You know that we all made a constant effort to overthrow Robotnick. But it seems that bruit force proved to be far more effective than strategy and precision."
"Regardless of the attack, Robotnick was going down. You were just their wakeup call." Nichole commented.
Tails looked back at the door and noticed the young hedgehog again, quietly watching him as he hid the rest of his body behind the doorframe. Sally finally also noticed him and waved him inside.
"With all the things I have yet to tell you, I can't believe I forgot about the one who has brought me the most joy in my life. This is my son, Joey."
"You and Sonic got married?"
"Didn't you notice the ring?" Sally held out her hand for Tails to see.
"Man, I was wondering who that was when I saw him." Joey was standing at the foot of his bed hiding his face, but watching Tails with shy eyes. "You look just like your dad." Sally repeated to Joey what Tails said in sign language. Tails looked at her and his heart sank to the floor.
"He can't hear me... can he?" Sally shook her head. "I'm so sorry." Sally waved him over again and he sat down in her lap, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't know what to say."
"Neither did we."
"Has he always been deaf?"
"Yes."
"When did you find out?"
"Right before our hospital discharge during a routine health screening. After a more thorough analysis, we discovered that operating or cochlear implants would be useless. But don't let that ruin your day. We've already cried those tears. I'm sure everyone wants to see you."
"Where's Sonic?" Sally looked at the clock. "He should be just getting out of class by now."
"He's going to school?"
"He's a teacher."
Sally, Nichole and Tails stood in the hallway next to a door of a classroom. Tails could hear the sound of dozens of children inside getting ready to go home, and the faint sound of Sonic giving out the next homework assignment followed by an "aww" by all of the students. The glazed windows made it hard for him to distinguish anything inside, but he couldn't mistake the tall, blue hedgehog at the front of the classroom.
"After all these years, Sonic wanted to be the best there ever was." Sally began. "And I can't think of anything else he could have done to win my heart more than this."
"I've never expected him to become a teacher." Tails commented as he continued to look into the window.
"I wouldn't blame you. Those were hard times back then. After your accident, he felt just as helpless as I did. But after Joey was born, he was just devastated. With all the things he wanted to do to help both of you, all of his efforts were just useless. For the longest time, and even to this day, he's felt so guilty for not being able to do anything for you or him. He's brought this entire kingdom back to its feet with worldwide loyalty, but he still feels so incomplete."
All of the other classroom doors were opening a few minutes before the bell was about to ring, all with kids hanging just outside the doorways. But Sonic's classroom was the only one with its door still closed. Not because of discipline, but because of the interest of his students. Sonic was the only person able to do that. Nobody wanted to go home early when he was around. There are times when he has to kick the students out during recess.
Tails was still looking through the glass to see if he could get a better look at Sonic, and Sally and Nichole were patiently waiting for class to be dismissed. But at that instant, Tails let out a quick yelp and fell to the ground. Sally and Nichole ran to him and checked to see what was happening.
His body was completely numb below his neck. And after a quick examination by Nichole, it was apparent to them that one of the neurotransponders in his spine cut off the signals from his brain to the rest of his nervous system.
Tails was absolutely terrified. He couldn't move, and he couldn't grab the back of his head where it hit the hard cement. Emergency backup programming that was transmitted from under the hospital bed soon kicked in and took over with his respiratory and cardiac functions to keep him alive. With the brief lack of oxygen and the impact to his head, Tails panicked. And without the ability to feel his body, the feeling of claustrophobia made things even worse.
"Tails, if you can hear me, don't panic." Nichole calmly said to him as she knelt over him. Sally began to run back to the hospital to get access to the medical console. He tried to look at her, but his eyes filled with tears and made it hard to see anything, but heard everything she said to him. "If you relax, everything's going to be fine. Right now, your body doesn't have the ability to adapt to stressful situations like this. Preprogrammed information is being sent to the implants to keep your primary life functions going, but if you panic, your brain would require more oxygen than it's already getting and you'll loose consciousness."
Tails closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, and he instantly began to feel much better. But he still found it hard to concentrate with the pain in his head. The rest of his body was numb to any of the injuries that he might have had from the fall, so it was hard for him to know if the rest of his body was hurt just as bad as his head.
The bell finally rang, and the hallway was full of children standing in a circle around him. Sonic came out of the classroom and pushed himself through the children to see Tails lying on the ground. His eyes were still closed and Sonic wasn't aware that Tails was actually awake.
"What happened? What's he doing here?" Sonic yelled. "Where's Sally?" Tails opened his eyes and looked at Sonic while he tried to clear the rest of the kids away. Sonic looked at him again and now saw that he was looking right back at him. Sonic rubbed his eyes and stood silent with a loss for words.
"He's going to be fine, Sonic." Nichole said. "But we were hoping for a happier surprise than this." Children still continued to crowd around them, and Sonic finally picked Tails up and brought him into his classroom. Nichole cleared the rest of the students out of the room and closed the door.
Sonic laid Tails on one of the desks and looked him in the eyes.
"It's good to see you again, Tails." Tails was only able to smile. "What happened?"
"Tails has been up for about twenty minutes now. Sally wanted you to be the first to know. When we came over to see you, Tails had a problem with one of the transponders in his spine. I've gathered from the data sent out from one of the processors imbedded in his neck that there was an incorrectly mapped portion of his lower back that started to interfere with the rest of the communications of his nervous system. Sally is working to restructure that data and he'll be fine in just a few minutes. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the uniqueness of his tails made it hard to predict. If this backup life-support program didn't take over, he would have had a total synaptic collapse. Now, Tails, Sally's going to be putting the bridge back online in just a second. Your automated life support will go off for about three seconds. You'll feel your arms again, then you will feel your chest and you'll be able to breathe on your own again. Afterwards, you'll begin to feel the rest of your body. But don't move until you begin breathing."
Tails tried not to panic as he felt his breath through his nose come to a stop. And like Nichole told him, he began to feel his arms and his chest again. When he began to breathe on his own, he grabbed the back of his head and rubbed it as hard as he could. When he felt more of his body, the pain in his head seemed to go away because it was the only thing he could feel when he fell.
"You feel okay now, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"I think so."
"Then come here!" He yelled as he picked him up and hugged him. "Man, I missed you! I knew you would make it! This is so cool!"
"I missed you, too, Sonic!" Tails tried to say while Sonic squeezed him as hard as he could.
"Well isn't this just one big happy reunion!" Antoine said as he walked into the classroom.
"You're back!" Nichole yelled and ran to him to give him a kiss.
"Wow, you speak English." Tails said to him.
"Eleven years, and that's all you have to say? Come here!" Antoine gave him a hug.
"You've really changed. It's good to see you again!" Tails said.
"When did you get back?" Nichole asked.
"About twenty minutes ago, some kids told me you were in here with Sally and someone else. I didn't expect it to be Tails!"
"Where were you?" Tails asked.
"I was at the Royal Academy of Defense for a month supervising the launch of the Acreon surveyor satellite."
"Impressive! So when did you two get together? I honestly thought you would be the last one to have a girlfriend."
"Look whose talking, Tails!" Antoine laughed. "But really, when Sally and Nichole began to clear extra data from her memory, I found out that she knew French."
"Et Antoine est devenu ivre avec amour." Nichole finished.
"She taught me how to speak English while I taught her how to tie her shoes." Sally ran back inside to see if Tails was still okay and saw everyone standing and talking.
"Antoine! How was your trip?" Sally asked as she gave him a hug.
"Good. Re-entry was a bitch, though."
"From France?" Tails asked.
"From space."
"Wow..."
"Are you feeling okay now, Tails?" Sally asked.
"Yeah."
"How's your head?"
"It's fine."
"Everything should be fine now. It shouldn't happen again. But if it does, it'll resolve itself within a few minutes."
"Great."
"You know, I think Bunnie would really love to see you." Sally commented.
"I can't wait to see her."
"I'll take you to go see her right now." Sonic said.
"You should get out of here before the press gets here." Sally laughed.
"Can you still run as fast as you used to?"
"What?" Sonic grunted. "What an insult! Why do you think they call me king?"
"Uh…"
"Forget it, hop on!" Tails grabbed onto Sonic as he shot out of the classroom blowing notebook papers everywhere.
"…I'm not picking that up." Sally said. "He can clean his own classroom."
Tails watched the buildings blur by as they raced through the city. When they reached the open areas, everything became easier to see. He gave a quick glance behind him to take another look at the castle.
It couldn't get any better than this.
Trees suddenly surrounded them as Sonic darted into the Great Forest. Tails looked ahead and could only see trees flash by at blinding speeds. He could feel the breeze of each individual tree as they passed them, but the only thing keeping him from wanting Sonic to slow down was his childhood trust.
It wasn't long before the two arrived at the edge of the old village. When they stopped, it became deathly silent. Tails could smell the faint scent of burning wood in the air, which was the only evidence that anyone was even there at all. All of the huts were still standing, but were abandoned and covered by vegetation of some form or another.
Tails grabbed his left wrist again, wondering why it still felt sore. It wasn't from the ride over; it's been bothering him all day. They both said nothing as they walked through the village. It was strange how Mobotropolis can bring back memories of fear and hate, and yet such a dark and deserted village can bring back vivid memories of his home in Knothole.
On the far side of the village, Tails saw a light stream of smoke float out of the chimney of Bunnie's old hut. There was an eight-foot by ten-foot garden of assorted vegetables outside her door, and a small, well-kept rose bush under her window. She still lived in the same hut after all these years. And aside from lack of any bright colors, it was in good condition.
Bunnie took the kettle of tea off of the iron stove and poured it into an elegant teacup, which was a part of a set given to her by Sally during the early years of the war. The rim of the cup and the rim of the saucer it was on were lined with gold and have kept its perfect appearance since its creation. She never used the handle on the cups because it was just against common sense with such fine dishes and her fur kept her fingers from getting burned anyway.
There was a light tap at the door. She put on her glasses and went with her tea to answer it. When she cracked the door open, she saw Sonic at her doorstep. He tried to look at her through the shadow she was hiding behind, but only saw the reflection of light off of her glasses.
"Can we come in?" She slowly opened the door another few inches and saw Tails standing next to him. She dropped her tea and fell to the floor.
Tails was sitting on the side of Bunnie's bed as he patiently waited for her to wake up again. He sat there for the longest time looking at her face, wondering about her past. He noticed her eyes slowly begin to open again. He held her hand and lightly rubbed the back of her fingers with his thumb to let her know that he was there. Her eyes were still mostly closed, but he felt her try to move her hand.
"Anyone home?" Tails said in a soft voice. Her eyes opened a bit more, but she was still in a daze. He moved to where she could see him, but still didn't give much response. He lightly touched her forehead and slowly ran his fingers down the side of her face.
Her eyes were halfway open now, and she was now able to focus her eyes on his face. She was filled with such happiness that her eyes blurred again with tears of joy. She gathered all of her strength to sit up and wrap her arms around him, but needed him to hold her up when she had a miniature head rush from sitting up as quickly as she did. They sat in that embrace for what seemed like forever.
"You know, you're not the only person who's cried on my chest today." She squeezed a little harder and let out a soft laugh. "But I think you're the first to drool."
"It's been so long..."
"It's been too long..."
"I've missed you so much..." They let go and looked at each other.
"It's so good to see you again."
"Think you could stand?" She nodded her head and slowly got up with his help. And as soon as she was standing, she gave him another long hug. "You fainted. Are you okay now?"
"I think so."
"Your face is soaked."
"I must look like a wreck to you."
"No, you look beautiful."
"After eleven years, you're still just the sweetest thing."
"Is Sonic still here?"
"He went back to the castle. He was too excited to just sit around and do nothing and he didn't want to disturb you." Bunnie rubbed her eyes. "Lets get some fresh air." She held on to his arm so she wouldn't loose her balance on their way out. But as she saw the broken teacup on the table, she groaned and fell to her knees in front of the small pile of porcelain. "You dropped it when you fainted."
"Sally's gonna kill me!"
"I'm sure she'll understand."
"It was almost three hundred years old."
"You're right, she is going to kill you. Now come on outside." Tails helped her up again and made their way outside. But before they reached the door, he saw a bundle of dried flowers tied up with a bow and hanging from the middle of the door.
"Remember those?" Bunnie asked.
"Those – those are the flowers I got you on your birthday." Tails said as he lightly touched the stems.
"That was the best present I've ever gotten in my life. But it's such a sad reminder of what happened to you that day." Bunnie opened the door and they both stepped outside.
"Feel any better?" He asked
"I should be asking you that question." She took off her glasses and dried her eyes. "I just can't get over the fact that you're back! We've lived so long with you like this. It's just so exciting that you're awake!"
"I'm amazed at the things I've missed. Sonic and Sally rule the world and Antoine seems that he's got space covered now. Most of which I've found out in the last half hour!"
"Looks like you've got a lotta catching up to do."
"Am I going to faint?" Bunnie laughed.
"I hope not."
"So, what have I missed?"
"Well, let's see. I'm sure that you've found out that Buttnick's dead."
"I haven't been that misinformed."
"Gosh, there are just so many things, I can't think of a single one! All I can think about is you and how much you've grown."
"What, you never visited me?"
"Actually, no. That wasn't you. That was a mindless zombie, just like any other robot. I couldn't stand the sight of you walking around and not really being there. It just made me feel that you were dead and never coming back again. I just couldn't look at you."
"All of that's over now. What about your arm and legs?"
"Oh, what a horrible nightmare!"
"If you don't want to talk about it..."
"No, it's okay. I'd just rather it came from me." They both sat down on an old fallen log by her house. "That had to have been the worst thirty months of my life!"
"Thirty months?"
"And around the second year for about a week, my condition was so unstable, they honestly thought I was gonna die."
"What happened?"
"I'd have to explain how the process worked, so you'd understand. Ever since Uncle Chuck, God rest his soul, learned of the roboticizer's destructive capabilities, he wanted to destroy it. He originally made it so people wouldn't have to resort to amputations. But unfortunately it hurt more than it helped."
"It made you strong."
"I'd pass on being a livin' crane any day."
"You saved people's lives."
"Robotnick was the reason I had to save their lives in the first place. This world would have been a much nicer place without him around. When Chuck found out that innocent people were turned into bots, he got right to work on a deroboticizer. But after about a year, he threw in the towel. It just couldn't be done. Destroying living tissue and replacing it with metal was easy, but you couldn't do it the other way around. My left shoulder bone and collarbone were all metal, along with my ribcage and all my backbones, but those were left for the last process. The idea was to take living bone from a compatible donor, and grow muscle and tissue around it. But the bone could never live long enough without the proper circulation. And the worst part of it was that I had already had my arm started. I either had to continue with the process or not have an arm at all. So what Uncle Chuck did was found a way to get sea coral to grow off of the bone marrow extracted from other bones in my body. And after the muscle grew around it, my natural bone replaced the sea coral over time. That's how they replaced the bones in your neck. But in order for all this to work, all the newly developing bone and muscle had to have some sort of free-growing room. You couldn't just put a big ol' bandage on it; we had to keep my arm in a jelly-filled jar. After my arm was about eighty percent done, they began on my legs. I didn't want them to do it at first, because of how long it took and because I had to be bedridden for so long. But after I found out that Uncle Chuck was getting sick, I let them do my legs. And around the twentieth month, I began showing the same symptoms as him. I had a high fever, lost a lotta weight, and some of my fur was fallin' out. I was so scared. I was afraid to go to sleep thinking I would never wake up again. We never found out what caused it. We just assumed that it was related to the toxins produced by all that machinery in me. Chuck and I got better, but he only lived another few years until he passed away about two years ago. I'm the only survivor of the roboticizer."
"I bet your name is in all the history books in schools around the world."
"So's yours."
"Really?"
"Yep. So after my legs grew back, my feet and toes were a walk in the park compared to everything else. After I took a vacation from the hospital, I had my backbones and ribs and all my other metal parts replaced with coral, so I can go to the airport without havin' to worry about the metal detectors goin' off all the time. But at that time, they found a way to grow most of it in a bottle, so surgery and recovery was quicker than before. After all was said and done, a bunch of medical students wanted to turn my old parts into an exhibit in a medical museum, but I wanted them incinerated."
"The students?"
"The bot bits!" Bunnie nudged Tails in the ribs.
"Couldn't they have been used for medical research?"
"No, I was the first and last person that this was done to. There wasn't any reason that they needed them. So they took a few pictures and Sonic had them destroyed."
"The pictures?"
"Quit being so silly! Besides, they just made a replica of it and displayed it anyway. I had this ring made from the gold extracted from the electronics in the old limbs."
"Why?"
"I don't know." Bunnie said as she looked at it. "I really don't like it, but there's some kind of attachment I have to it."
"Why couldn't they help Uncle Chuck?"
"His brain and spine were the only living thing in his body. Everyone knew he was going to die, too. And that made it the hardest."
"Do you ever regret having that operation done?"
"No. It hurt me a lot, but I wouldn't be here now it I didn't go through with it."
"At least you're as good as new." Bunnie turned her head and Tails could see her chin start to shake as if she was about to cry.
"No, not really." She said. "When I was sick, I lost the ability to have kids."
"That's terrible! I'm so sorry!" Tails said in a sympathetic voice.
"You know, with all of this technology available, I'm surprised that they haven't been able to help Joey." Bunnie said trying to change the subject. "Poor thing. He's such a sweet little prince."
"Does anyone know what caused it?"
"An underdeveloped part of his brain which was traced to a birth defect caused by the pollution from the old factories."
"At least he has his parents." Tails looked at Bunnie and saw that she was starting to cry again. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry..."
"For what?"
"Nothing – never mind."
"No, what is it?"
"You just got me started thinking – about my parents."
"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Tails wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. "Just forget all about it. "We're safe now and that's all that matters."
"No! They were killed!" Bunnie cried. Tails now stared to fight his tears off but was just as overwhelmed as she was. All they could do was hold each other tight and cry.
Tails deeply regretted bringing Bunnie back to such horrible memories. He didn't want to put anybody through remembering bad times. He figured everything had it's time to be brought up, but planned on at least a few days after all the excitement of his recovery wore off for it to happen.
After a long while together, Tails wanted to try to take her mind off of her problems. He had her walk around the village with him and talk about everybody else and all of their past accomplishments. He started asking her about Antoine and Nichole, hoping that would encourage a less remorseful mood. And it was working.
"After Nichole was separated from all of her external equipment, Sally and a few other doctors were going over things to remove from her long-term memory so it would make more room for more important things like synaptic maps and independent life support instructions. Antoine overheard some of the things that were on the list to be removed from Nichole and noticed that the French language interface and translation algorithms were on their way out, but he asked if she could leave them on. After Sonic and Sally got hitched, she felt guilty for putting Antoine through such loneliness, so she left them on 'cause she figured he needed a friend anyway. After a few months, she developed such a wonderful personality. I couldn't believe that all of that was coming from interactions with Antoine!"
"His English really improved."
"You know, the reason that he had always been as nutty as he was back before your accident is nobody ever understood him. Whenever he tried to get a point across, everyone just laughed at him and turn the other way because we didn't really know what he was saying. But with her help, he became such a wonderful and assertive person. He wrote a few short novels in French when we all still lived in Knothole, just to pass the time. They were later translated when they moved to the castle. I read them and almost fell in love with him. It's strange how you think you know a person when your view is so distorted by such a barrier. It's made me change the way I think about everybody."
"What about Robotnick?"
"Crack head."
"Oh."
After slowly walking through part of the village, Tails stopped in front of one of the structures.
"Wow, this is my old hut." He walked up to the door and pulled the vines away from the frame. He was soon able to push the door open and step over the vines to get inside. As soon as he made it through, he stood silent and looked at the empty room. Bunnie also made her way inside.
They stood and looked around. The room was completely empty, and the only thing that lit the room where beams of sunlight glowing in the kicked-up dust.
"This is my first time in here in eleven years." Bunnie quietly said.
"…Why?"
"…I was scared."
"…Of what?"
"…I don't know."
"…Are you scared now?"
"…No."
"…How come?"
"…I'm not alone."
"…Why did you want to live by yourself then?"
"…When I found out my parents were killed, I felt so separated from everybody."
"…I still don't understand."
"…No matter how much I tried, I couldn't accept anyone's love for me. My heart was so empty – nothing could fill it. I started to think that my sadness was rubbing off on everyone else so I came back here to hide from everyone."
"…Did it help?"
"…I don't know."
"…Are you going to move back to the castle – now that I'm here?"
"…"
"Bunnie?"
"Why don't you move back to Knothole?"
"…"
"The castle will always be there."
"So will Knothole."
"Not if no one's here to keep it that way."
"What do you mean?" Bunnie turned around and squeezed herself through the door and nearly fell outside. Tails followed.
Bunnie kept walking, and Tails trailed behind her wondering where she was going. She said nothing as she paced down an old path through the woods. Tails could only wonder where she was going, but after being away so long, he couldn't imagine what she was about to show him.
It wasn't long before they reached an open field. They were both standing on the edge of a cliff that scaled about twenty feet over the clearing.
"Do you know what this is?" Bunnie asked. Tails looked in the distance with worried eyes.
"This is the ring pool."
"This was the ring pool."
"What happened to it?"
"After we won the war, Sally wanted the water channeled to the castle. They built a pumping plant about five miles north of here and moved the ring generator to the castle. All of this was done when I was in the hospital. I didn't find out about it until I came back. Sally and I got into a really big argument, but she pulled rank and ordered me to forget about it."
"Aunt Sally?"
"Queen Sally. But after a while, she realized why I was so upset that the ring pool was gone."
"It was a part of Knothole."
"Exactly."
"Is she still mad at you?"
"No. She said that she was sorry. She even had water and power lines ran here from the castle, hoping that would keep our friendship."
"Do you two still talk?"
"Oh, yeah. We're still like sisters to each other." Tails looked at the fallen dock where the generator used to be.
"I remember my first time catching Sonic's power ring. You were there watching me. At first, you didn't want me to do it."
"I was afraid you were going to fall in. I knew you could fly, but at that time, I was terrified of the water."
"You had no chance of surviving if you fell in."
"I've always envied you. You could fly anywhere you wanted to. You got everyone everywhere they wanted to be."
"Except you. I couldn't pick you up. You were too heavy for me."
"I'm actually afraid of heights."
"Why?"
"When I had my metal limbs, my legs could absorb the shock of a long fall. And being as heavy as they were, I would fall as straight as an arrow."
"Now you would be helpless."
"Right." Tails watched Bunnie as she looked off into the distance. He grabbed her hand and gave her a mischievous smile. "What are you doin?" He spun up his tails and lifted himself off the ground.
"No! Don't you dare!" Bunnie yelled as she tried to pull herself away from him, but before she knew it, she was also off the ground. "Tails! Put me down!"
He took her other arm and carried her beneath him as he ascended to the sky. She watched her feet as they became further away from the ground. And as the higher they went, the tighter she held onto him. When they reached the canopies of the trees, she brushed her feet on the leaves and startled a flock of robins nesting inside. The birds flew out from the top of the tree and flew away as quickly as they could. Tails and Bunnie looked at each other to make sure they were okay, and accelerated even faster into the cloudless sky.
This was all very common for Tails, but Bunnie has never experienced such a panoramic sight beneath her before. She had to trust him in the air as he did Sonic on the ground. They both saw the gigantic castle in the distance. Bunnie had never realized how big the castle was until now. The patterns from the farms surrounding it were visible all the way to the horizon where the sun was beginning to set.
Tails suddenly let go of her hands and grabbed her glasses. She screamed as she began falling to the ground. He stopped his tails and fell right along with her as he put her glasses over his eyes. She looked back at him as she fell and knew that he was just giving her a thrill ride. She closed her eyes and floated with the freedom of weightlessness, but kept her arms up for Tails to grab again. She kept her eyes closed knowing that Tails was still there, and with complete trust in him as her life was in his hands.
When they became dangerously close to the ground, he grabbed on to her arms again and pulled her back to a safe speed. He kept her inches off the ground as he sped across a field of dandelions while catching a few between her toes. He pulled her up again and slowed down next to one of the castle towers. He sat her down on the bell-shaped roof and let his tails come to a stop. His wrist was still bothering him, but nothing he did made it feel any worse. It was odd to him that it would even hurt at all.
He sat down next to her and gave her glasses back. She reached for her feet and handed him a small bundle of the flowers that she snagged on the ground.
"That was fun, I really enjoyed that."
"I'm glad you did."
"I haven't felt this free in my entire life. You have such a wonderful ability, don't ever let anything happen to it."
"I'll try not to."
"I mean it!"
"I know, I mean it, too." Bunnie looked at the ground below and watched some of the remaining flowers float to the cobblestone walkway. "Are you afraid of heights anymore?" Bunnie leaned over again, much further than before.
"No, not when you're here." Tails smiled and looked at the horizon.
"What a beautiful sunset. I've never seen it so purple before."
"Purple's my favorite color."
"I can see why." Bunnie put her arm around him and placed her head on his shoulder.
"You know, without you, none of us would be here."
"No…" Tails looked back at her. "I was just your wakeup call."
After looking into her eyes for another moment, he gently lifted her glasses off with both hands and slightly tilted his head as he slowly leaned towards her. Her eyes were closed as well as the fur on her cheek lightly tickled his nose.
"Come to Knothole with me." Bunnie whispered.
"I will."
They touched their lips together feeling each other's warmth as the cool breeze gently rustled their fur. Bunnie parted her lips and rubbed the tip of her tongue on the outside of his mouth, then his teeth, and finally his tongue.
They both sat in this embrace until a painful shock shot through his body. They parted as Tails began to fall away.
Bunnie screamed as loud as she could as immediate panic set in. Tails was completely helpless as another impairment was about to threaten his life again. He could see Bunnie trying to reach for him as he fell out of control and the dandelions safely drifted to the ground.
As he fell, his body turned to face the ground, and he saw that the cold, hard ground was going to change his life again,
And this time forever…
Tails found himself in bed. His heart racing, and completely paralyzed. He gasped for air and grabbed his chest as he suddenly realized that he was actually able to move.
"Hold still!" Bunnie said. "I've got scissors."
He turned his head towards her and looked at his hand. It had a brace on it with elastic covering. He jumped up on his bed and backed himself into the corner of the wall as he stared at Bunnie with absolute confusion and surprise. He saw her arm and realized it was roboticized, and he looked at himself and saw that he was a kid again.
"What's going on!" Tails yelled, not realizing his voice was back to normal, and keeping a tight hold on his wrist.
"You almost got yourself killed, that's what's goin on!" Tails fell to his knees with sudden fatigue and broke out in a cold sweat. "That's not quite what I had expected for my sweet sixteen." Tails looked around the room as he regained his strength. "If Sonic didn't catch you at the last second, I don't know what we'd do if anything happened to you."
Tails leaned over to Bunnie and gave her a long hug. As he looked behind her, he saw a small pile of cut up ribbons and popped balloons on the floor.
"You sprained your wrist when Sonic caught you. Just thank your lucky stars that that's all that happened to you!"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm never doing anything like that again!"
"Good!" Bunnie said as she laid him back down on the bed.
"Bunnie?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you, too, sugar. Now get some rest."
Dawn breaks. There is blue in the sky, which was a welcoming day all in itself. It was Bunnie's sixteenth birthday today, and everybody in Knothole was preparing for a surprise party for her. She already knew that they were going to have a party, but she didn't expect anything this big. Everyone was invited from the Wolf Clan and other Freedom Fighter groups from hundreds of miles around. Rotor and Sonic took care of transporting the three hundred and fifty people to Knothole and keeping them hidden from Bunnie during the two days before the event. Sally took care of the cake, Dulcy took care of the decorations and Tails took care of all of the balloons. Bookshire and Uncle Chuck were in charge of keeping Robotnick out of the picture by sending false information to him regarding a reconnaissance mission Sonic and Sally were undertaking that week in some far and remote location of the Great Unknown.
While Sally wasn't working on the cake and other food arrangements, she was out with Bunnie to get her "birthday present" using a hovercraft they stole from Robotnick about two months ago so everyone else could prepare for her return. While they were gone, Dulcy and Tails decorated the entire village and Sonic and Rotor got most of the bushes and shrubs cleared away to accommodate the massive crowds.
Food wasn't too much of a problem. All of the guests brought some food for a massive potluck so nobody would go without something to eat, and since material possessions were not very common in Knothole, especially due to the war, the popular gift was flowers.
Sally and Bunnie were finally returning. And Bunnie began to worry about the large groups of people outside the village. Sally only excused it by saying that she invited some of her friends to the party. They were still about three minutes away from the village, but the crowds kept getting larger and larger. Bunnie kept wondering why the groups kept getting thicker as they reached the village, and she began noticing the large piles of flowers and roses that covered the ground. Sally only replied to Bunnie's questions with a big smile.
When they finally arrived, they both got out and Bunnie tried her hardest to keep her emotions in check. Nothing she did could keep her tears from running down her cheeks. Everyone started to sing "happy birthday" to her, but only really got going on the same note after the third verse.
Bunnie started hugging the closest person she could find, and continued on the next, thanking them for coming. By the time they finished singing, the crowds were so dense, nobody could go anywhere.
Bunnie had forgotten all about the present Sally had gotten for her, which was a box filled with roses and rocks on the bottom so she couldn't tell what they were. Sonic had to jump into the hovercraft to use the megaphone to tell everyone to clear off to let her by, and when a path finally formed, Sally led Bunnie to her birthday cake. It was a purple five-layer cake with sixteen candles already lit for her to blow out.
She let the candles burn for a moment while she stared at the cake. She couldn't blow them out. It was too beautiful.
"I've already got a picture of it, Bunnie!" Sally laughed. "Just blow them out so we could eat!" Bunnie finally blew out the candles and Sally broke out the knife and plates. Bunnie pulled out a few of the candles and started to suck the frosting off of them, and Tails started doing the same.
"Happy birthday, Aunt Bunnie." Tails said while he grabbed as many candles as he could.
"Thanks, sugar." She grabbed him and gave him a long hug and a kiss on the nose, all while he had a candle hanging from his lips.
"I got you flowers for your birthday!" Tails said.
"Really? Where are they?"
"I don't know. I can't find them. Sorry."
"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find them."
Sally dished out the first slice of cake to Bunnie and Tails got the next. As soon as he grabbed his plate, he flew up to the closest tree branch, sat down and began to eat. After Sally cut the next slice, she noticed that only children surrounded her and smiled as she remembered her own childhood memories.
By the time she got to the last slice, all of the children were served and she was relieved that she didn't leave any of the kids behind. She grabbed a plate and walked over to the table where all of the food was and began serving herself some of the food that covered the twenty picnic tables.
About an hour had passed before all of the food was gone. But unfortunately so were about a third of the people. But it didn't matter; all of the people who really mattered to her were still there.
The autumn breezes were starting to pick up, and a chill began to sneak under everyone's fur. It seemed that winter might come early this year. Some of the balloons that Tails had tied down started to loosen themselves from the wind and began floating away. And the wind was blowing toward Robotropolis.
"Tails, could you please grab those for me?" Sally asked. "Those might give away our location."
"No problem." He put down his bowl of ice cream, spun up his tails and took off. By the time he was off the ground, everyone's attention was somewhere else. The cold air above ground level and the ice cream in his stomach made him shiver a bit, but also made for optimal flying conditions. The balloons started to scatter from the winding gusts of wind, which made it a bit harder to get before they reached a dangerously visible altitude. So Tails figured he'd pick off the highest ones first, making them harder to see.
After about two minutes of flying circles in the sky, he had about ten balloons tied around his wrist. This was so he could grab more balloons with both hands and not have to worry about the rest floating away. He spun around a couple more times to see if there were any more left, and flew down about thirty feet to grab the last one.
As he lowered himself to reach the last red balloon, he heard the sound of his tails brushing against the strings hanging above his hand. By the time he turned his head to see how close the balloons were to his tails, the strings wrapped around them and caught his hand behind his back.
He immediately dropped like a rock. Tails pulled and tugged as hard as he could to get the balloons untangled from his tails, but the wind resistance of the balloons and the speed of his descent made it harder and harder to free himself from them. Tails cried in fear for his life. Bunnie seemed to be the only person to notice at first. She looked up at the sky and saw him falling to the ground. She yelled his name and ran as quickly as she could to where it seemed like he was going to land, but he was too far off in the distance. Sonic was nowhere to be found. But within seconds, it was apparent to everyone there that Tails was in serious trouble.
Anyone who could run or fly was heading towards his direction, but he was still about half a mile away. Everyone knew they wouldn't make it in time. Tails cried as loud as he could. He couldn't see what was going on below him because he was now spinning out of control. All he could see were the balloons violently shaking above him and the ground quickly getting dangerously close. His heart was racing and he knew he couldn't get free in time to stop his fall. He was falling headfirst and there was nothing but hard dirt below him to break his fall. There was nothing left for him to do. He closed his eyes and held his breath,
And all was dark...
It now seemed like morning to him. He woke up feeling well rested, warm and comfortable. The room he was in seemed closed off to the light because everything was pitch black when he opened his eyes.
Then he started hearing something across the room. It sounded like somebody was putting small glass bottles away in a cabinet or shelf. He turned his head where he heard the noise and felt sunshine on the rest of his face.
Something was wrong, he couldn't see where these rays of sunshine were coming from. He put one of his hands over his face and felt something on his eyes. It seemed like a wire or a piece of plastic leading under his eyelids, and as soon as he touched it, he felt that his eyes were lined with some kind of black plastic covering. He pulled them off from his eyes and could now see that the room was actually well lit.
His vision was a little blurry at first, but he was soon able to focus on what was making that noise. He sat up in his bed and looked at the person across the room. The person had his back towards him, and it was hard for him to see who that might have been. From the back, it looked just like Sonic, but much younger. The young hedgehog looked to be about eight or nine years old at most, and was just as blue as Sonic.
The young boy was filling a cabinet with medical supplies, and it finally dawned on Tails that he was in a hospital room.
After the hedgehog placed the last bottle in the cabinet, he closed the door and turned around. As soon as they made eye contact, the young boy stood and stared at him with curious look.
"Sonic?" Tails asked, suddenly wondering why his voice was deeper than normal. The child ran for the door across the room and left Tails wondering what was going on.
He gave the room a more thorough look and saw the rest of the building out the window to his right. He saw a tower on the far end of the structure and realized where he was.
"That's impossible!" Tails thought. "This can't be Mobotropolis." He lifted the sheets from his legs and gasped when he saw them. His fur was dark, and his legs were a lot longer than he remembered. He looked at the rest of his body and couldn't believe that he was just as big as Sonic and Sally!
He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing straight, but then felt that his left wrist was sore. He made a fist and moved it around to see if there were any visible injuries, but aside from his appearance, he felt fine. He stood up and looked at himself again and still couldn't believe his appearance.
He saw a green monochrome monitor on a stand next to his bed and saw a few wavy horizontal lines. They were his vital signs. He looked at the line for his respiration and took a couple of deep breaths and saw it match his actual breathing pattern. Then he saw the word "alarm" blinking next to that line. He felt around his body to see where those sensors were, but couldn't find anything. While he had his hand on his chest, he saw that another line matched what he felt. It was an ironic relief that he was still alive, but was no indicator that he might have lost his mind.
Tails walked over to the window to try to see if he was actually in the castle, (and to see if he had any wires or needles he didn't find from his first examination). He had never seen the city like this in his life, but everything below seemed so familiar to him. All the memories of this place were of darkness and despair, but everything he saw was a perfect picture of the stories Sally told him before bed. But this only reminded him of the world he was familiar with, and couldn't accept that this was now a place of peace and happiness. What could change this world so quickly?
His reflection in the window was now apparent to him as he refocused his eyes. He reminded himself of his father more than anyone else. He looked at every detail of his face, and came to the final realization that he wasn't a kid anymore. As he looked past his reflection, he noticed another figure standing at the doorway.
Tails turned around and saw Princess Sally standing there in an open white doctor's uniform with one hand on her chest and her other hand covering her mouth. They both stood silent for a moment while they looked at each other. Sally had the look immense joy and frozen excitement as her cheeks became soaked from her tears. And Tails began to feel like he found something he lost a long time ago, but never really lost at all.
Sally took a few steps and finally ran to him. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. Tails held on to her as he just gazed at the floor with the ever-increasing fear of the unknown, but equal comfort that she was here to keep him safe.
"I knew you weren't going to die. I wasn't going to let it happen. I'm so glad you're still alive." Sally quietly said. Tails just stood there with his arms around her, just beginning to understand what might have happened. "After all these years, I've had so much to tell you. But now that this moment has come, I can't find anything to say!"
"What happened to me?" Tails asked. Sally stepped back and looked at his face for a moment.
"Do you remember anything?"
"…I was getting the balloons."
"…And they caught your tails." Sally finished. "It's been eleven years." Tails began to feel dizzy. Sally sat him down in front of the window, and took a moment to gather his thoughts and breath. "You sustained very serious head and neck injuries. You landed headfirst at twenty miles per hour. You broke your neck and demolished four inches of your upper spinal cord."
"What?"
"I spent six years with a team of doctors from across the planet to save you." Tails put his hand on the back of his neck, and felt all the scar tissue right down the middle. "The damaged portions of your spine were replaced with microscopic neurotransponders developed by Uncle Chuck."
"Where is he?" Sally looked away.
"…He passed away two years ago." Tails felt his heart skip a beat and grabbed his chest. Sally looked at the monochrome display next to the bed and saw the irregular pattern. "You should lie down. You've been through a lot already." Sally helped him to his feet, but his legs began to shake under his weight.
"I don't feel good."
"I'm sorry. I told you too much too soon." Tails laid back down in his bed and closed his eyes. He could feel his heart slow back down to a normal pace.
"How did he die?" Tails asked when he turned his head towards her.
"Long-term exposure to the toxins associated with being roboticized. He was sick for a long time. And I did everything I could for him."
"When did you become a doctor?"
"Shortly after your accident. I felt so helpless. I wanted to be more involved with your recovery. I was so determined; I began my first operation on you after only twenty months. And with the help of Uncle Chuck and Nichole, we developed the technology to repair spinal damage."
"Is Bunnie okay?"
"Yes. She's the only one to be successfully deroboticized. She moved back to Knothole because she couldn't bear to see you in the condition that you were in. She couldn't look at you. Machines were pumping fluids in and out of your body keeping you alive." Sally grabbed his hand. "She really misses you. She misses you a lot."
"I can't wait to see her again."
"I'm sure she feels the same."
"How does that monitor work if there aren't any wires on me?"
"Well, the neurotransponders in your neck works just like your spine would. It sends and receives signals from your brain to move the rest of your body. Without it, you would be paralyzed from the neck down. It uses very tiny processors that send information to the computer under your bed. It can also receive information like motion sequences to perform basic exercises, so your bones and muscles would stay strong even while you were in a coma. For the past few years, you made your own bed, took showers all by yourself, brushed your own teeth, and ate food on your own. Sonic keeps slipping you chilidogs, but never stays around for the after-effects." They both cracked a smile.
"What were those things on my eyes?"
"They helped keep the shape of your eyes normal over the years. That was one of the things the neurotransponders couldn't do."
"And you developed this technology?"
"All for you." There was a knock at the door as another doctor walked inside. "Look whose here! Tails, I'd like you to meet someone who has played a major role in your rehabilitation. Say hi to Nichole."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Tails." She shook his hand.
"Cool, Sally had a computer called Nichole, too!" Tails looked back at Sally. "Hey, where is that computer anyway?"
"She's standing right there." Sally said with a smile.
"You're a robot?" Tails asked with amazed curiosity.
"Not quite. This fur and face is just as real as yours."
"I don't understand."
"Well, let me explain." Nichole said as she sat at the foot of his bed. "You and I have so much in common. We eat, sleep and breathe the same, we grow up and get old, and we were both wearing diapers when we were babies. But the only thing making you and me different, you have a brain between your ears and I don't."
Tails looked back at Sally with fearful confusion.
"Shortly after your accident, we staged a massive attack on Robotropolis because we needed medical supplies that could only be found there. We caught Robotnick completely by surprise and ended the Great War in a twenty-minute battle, with the only fatality being his. Reclaiming the kingdom brought a thriving community with it. The population of Mobotropolis grew ten thousand percent in one month, and each person contributed greatly to the reconstruction of the kingdom and surrounding cities. One of those people, a kindergarten teacher from Witchwood, lost her life in fire in this castle. She didn't sustain any burns or injuries, but was killed by smoke inhalation. We kept her body alive after the fire, but there was no neurological activity of any kind. Her family agreed to let us use her body for experimental purposes related to neuromechanical reconstruction, and Nichole played the part of the brain for testing the artificial spinal interface. Shortly after the preliminary testing, we learned so much about spinal and neurological manipulation that Nichole quickly became integrated with the body without anybody realizing the capabilities of this new science."
"And you're the reason I'm here, Tails." Nichole said.
"You're the reason everyone is here. We might have never attacked with such determination and rage if your life didn't depend on it."
"You make it sound like you wouldn't have attacked at all if it wasn't for me."
"You know that we all made a constant effort to overthrow Robotnick. But it seems that bruit force proved to be far more effective than strategy and precision."
"Regardless of the attack, Robotnick was going down. You were just their wakeup call." Nichole commented.
Tails looked back at the door and noticed the young hedgehog again, quietly watching him as he hid the rest of his body behind the doorframe. Sally finally also noticed him and waved him inside.
"With all the things I have yet to tell you, I can't believe I forgot about the one who has brought me the most joy in my life. This is my son, Joey."
"You and Sonic got married?"
"Didn't you notice the ring?" Sally held out her hand for Tails to see.
"Man, I was wondering who that was when I saw him." Joey was standing at the foot of his bed hiding his face, but watching Tails with shy eyes. "You look just like your dad." Sally repeated to Joey what Tails said in sign language. Tails looked at her and his heart sank to the floor.
"He can't hear me... can he?" Sally shook her head. "I'm so sorry." Sally waved him over again and he sat down in her lap, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't know what to say."
"Neither did we."
"Has he always been deaf?"
"Yes."
"When did you find out?"
"Right before our hospital discharge during a routine health screening. After a more thorough analysis, we discovered that operating or cochlear implants would be useless. But don't let that ruin your day. We've already cried those tears. I'm sure everyone wants to see you."
"Where's Sonic?" Sally looked at the clock. "He should be just getting out of class by now."
"He's going to school?"
"He's a teacher."
Sally, Nichole and Tails stood in the hallway next to a door of a classroom. Tails could hear the sound of dozens of children inside getting ready to go home, and the faint sound of Sonic giving out the next homework assignment followed by an "aww" by all of the students. The glazed windows made it hard for him to distinguish anything inside, but he couldn't mistake the tall, blue hedgehog at the front of the classroom.
"After all these years, Sonic wanted to be the best there ever was." Sally began. "And I can't think of anything else he could have done to win my heart more than this."
"I've never expected him to become a teacher." Tails commented as he continued to look into the window.
"I wouldn't blame you. Those were hard times back then. After your accident, he felt just as helpless as I did. But after Joey was born, he was just devastated. With all the things he wanted to do to help both of you, all of his efforts were just useless. For the longest time, and even to this day, he's felt so guilty for not being able to do anything for you or him. He's brought this entire kingdom back to its feet with worldwide loyalty, but he still feels so incomplete."
All of the other classroom doors were opening a few minutes before the bell was about to ring, all with kids hanging just outside the doorways. But Sonic's classroom was the only one with its door still closed. Not because of discipline, but because of the interest of his students. Sonic was the only person able to do that. Nobody wanted to go home early when he was around. There are times when he has to kick the students out during recess.
Tails was still looking through the glass to see if he could get a better look at Sonic, and Sally and Nichole were patiently waiting for class to be dismissed. But at that instant, Tails let out a quick yelp and fell to the ground. Sally and Nichole ran to him and checked to see what was happening.
His body was completely numb below his neck. And after a quick examination by Nichole, it was apparent to them that one of the neurotransponders in his spine cut off the signals from his brain to the rest of his nervous system.
Tails was absolutely terrified. He couldn't move, and he couldn't grab the back of his head where it hit the hard cement. Emergency backup programming that was transmitted from under the hospital bed soon kicked in and took over with his respiratory and cardiac functions to keep him alive. With the brief lack of oxygen and the impact to his head, Tails panicked. And without the ability to feel his body, the feeling of claustrophobia made things even worse.
"Tails, if you can hear me, don't panic." Nichole calmly said to him as she knelt over him. Sally began to run back to the hospital to get access to the medical console. He tried to look at her, but his eyes filled with tears and made it hard to see anything, but heard everything she said to him. "If you relax, everything's going to be fine. Right now, your body doesn't have the ability to adapt to stressful situations like this. Preprogrammed information is being sent to the implants to keep your primary life functions going, but if you panic, your brain would require more oxygen than it's already getting and you'll loose consciousness."
Tails closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, and he instantly began to feel much better. But he still found it hard to concentrate with the pain in his head. The rest of his body was numb to any of the injuries that he might have had from the fall, so it was hard for him to know if the rest of his body was hurt just as bad as his head.
The bell finally rang, and the hallway was full of children standing in a circle around him. Sonic came out of the classroom and pushed himself through the children to see Tails lying on the ground. His eyes were still closed and Sonic wasn't aware that Tails was actually awake.
"What happened? What's he doing here?" Sonic yelled. "Where's Sally?" Tails opened his eyes and looked at Sonic while he tried to clear the rest of the kids away. Sonic looked at him again and now saw that he was looking right back at him. Sonic rubbed his eyes and stood silent with a loss for words.
"He's going to be fine, Sonic." Nichole said. "But we were hoping for a happier surprise than this." Children still continued to crowd around them, and Sonic finally picked Tails up and brought him into his classroom. Nichole cleared the rest of the students out of the room and closed the door.
Sonic laid Tails on one of the desks and looked him in the eyes.
"It's good to see you again, Tails." Tails was only able to smile. "What happened?"
"Tails has been up for about twenty minutes now. Sally wanted you to be the first to know. When we came over to see you, Tails had a problem with one of the transponders in his spine. I've gathered from the data sent out from one of the processors imbedded in his neck that there was an incorrectly mapped portion of his lower back that started to interfere with the rest of the communications of his nervous system. Sally is working to restructure that data and he'll be fine in just a few minutes. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the uniqueness of his tails made it hard to predict. If this backup life-support program didn't take over, he would have had a total synaptic collapse. Now, Tails, Sally's going to be putting the bridge back online in just a second. Your automated life support will go off for about three seconds. You'll feel your arms again, then you will feel your chest and you'll be able to breathe on your own again. Afterwards, you'll begin to feel the rest of your body. But don't move until you begin breathing."
Tails tried not to panic as he felt his breath through his nose come to a stop. And like Nichole told him, he began to feel his arms and his chest again. When he began to breathe on his own, he grabbed the back of his head and rubbed it as hard as he could. When he felt more of his body, the pain in his head seemed to go away because it was the only thing he could feel when he fell.
"You feel okay now, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"I think so."
"Then come here!" He yelled as he picked him up and hugged him. "Man, I missed you! I knew you would make it! This is so cool!"
"I missed you, too, Sonic!" Tails tried to say while Sonic squeezed him as hard as he could.
"Well isn't this just one big happy reunion!" Antoine said as he walked into the classroom.
"You're back!" Nichole yelled and ran to him to give him a kiss.
"Wow, you speak English." Tails said to him.
"Eleven years, and that's all you have to say? Come here!" Antoine gave him a hug.
"You've really changed. It's good to see you again!" Tails said.
"When did you get back?" Nichole asked.
"About twenty minutes ago, some kids told me you were in here with Sally and someone else. I didn't expect it to be Tails!"
"Where were you?" Tails asked.
"I was at the Royal Academy of Defense for a month supervising the launch of the Acreon surveyor satellite."
"Impressive! So when did you two get together? I honestly thought you would be the last one to have a girlfriend."
"Look whose talking, Tails!" Antoine laughed. "But really, when Sally and Nichole began to clear extra data from her memory, I found out that she knew French."
"Et Antoine est devenu ivre avec amour." Nichole finished.
"She taught me how to speak English while I taught her how to tie her shoes." Sally ran back inside to see if Tails was still okay and saw everyone standing and talking.
"Antoine! How was your trip?" Sally asked as she gave him a hug.
"Good. Re-entry was a bitch, though."
"From France?" Tails asked.
"From space."
"Wow..."
"Are you feeling okay now, Tails?" Sally asked.
"Yeah."
"How's your head?"
"It's fine."
"Everything should be fine now. It shouldn't happen again. But if it does, it'll resolve itself within a few minutes."
"Great."
"You know, I think Bunnie would really love to see you." Sally commented.
"I can't wait to see her."
"I'll take you to go see her right now." Sonic said.
"You should get out of here before the press gets here." Sally laughed.
"Can you still run as fast as you used to?"
"What?" Sonic grunted. "What an insult! Why do you think they call me king?"
"Uh…"
"Forget it, hop on!" Tails grabbed onto Sonic as he shot out of the classroom blowing notebook papers everywhere.
"…I'm not picking that up." Sally said. "He can clean his own classroom."
Tails watched the buildings blur by as they raced through the city. When they reached the open areas, everything became easier to see. He gave a quick glance behind him to take another look at the castle.
It couldn't get any better than this.
Trees suddenly surrounded them as Sonic darted into the Great Forest. Tails looked ahead and could only see trees flash by at blinding speeds. He could feel the breeze of each individual tree as they passed them, but the only thing keeping him from wanting Sonic to slow down was his childhood trust.
It wasn't long before the two arrived at the edge of the old village. When they stopped, it became deathly silent. Tails could smell the faint scent of burning wood in the air, which was the only evidence that anyone was even there at all. All of the huts were still standing, but were abandoned and covered by vegetation of some form or another.
Tails grabbed his left wrist again, wondering why it still felt sore. It wasn't from the ride over; it's been bothering him all day. They both said nothing as they walked through the village. It was strange how Mobotropolis can bring back memories of fear and hate, and yet such a dark and deserted village can bring back vivid memories of his home in Knothole.
On the far side of the village, Tails saw a light stream of smoke float out of the chimney of Bunnie's old hut. There was an eight-foot by ten-foot garden of assorted vegetables outside her door, and a small, well-kept rose bush under her window. She still lived in the same hut after all these years. And aside from lack of any bright colors, it was in good condition.
Bunnie took the kettle of tea off of the iron stove and poured it into an elegant teacup, which was a part of a set given to her by Sally during the early years of the war. The rim of the cup and the rim of the saucer it was on were lined with gold and have kept its perfect appearance since its creation. She never used the handle on the cups because it was just against common sense with such fine dishes and her fur kept her fingers from getting burned anyway.
There was a light tap at the door. She put on her glasses and went with her tea to answer it. When she cracked the door open, she saw Sonic at her doorstep. He tried to look at her through the shadow she was hiding behind, but only saw the reflection of light off of her glasses.
"Can we come in?" She slowly opened the door another few inches and saw Tails standing next to him. She dropped her tea and fell to the floor.
Tails was sitting on the side of Bunnie's bed as he patiently waited for her to wake up again. He sat there for the longest time looking at her face, wondering about her past. He noticed her eyes slowly begin to open again. He held her hand and lightly rubbed the back of her fingers with his thumb to let her know that he was there. Her eyes were still mostly closed, but he felt her try to move her hand.
"Anyone home?" Tails said in a soft voice. Her eyes opened a bit more, but she was still in a daze. He moved to where she could see him, but still didn't give much response. He lightly touched her forehead and slowly ran his fingers down the side of her face.
Her eyes were halfway open now, and she was now able to focus her eyes on his face. She was filled with such happiness that her eyes blurred again with tears of joy. She gathered all of her strength to sit up and wrap her arms around him, but needed him to hold her up when she had a miniature head rush from sitting up as quickly as she did. They sat in that embrace for what seemed like forever.
"You know, you're not the only person who's cried on my chest today." She squeezed a little harder and let out a soft laugh. "But I think you're the first to drool."
"It's been so long..."
"It's been too long..."
"I've missed you so much..." They let go and looked at each other.
"It's so good to see you again."
"Think you could stand?" She nodded her head and slowly got up with his help. And as soon as she was standing, she gave him another long hug. "You fainted. Are you okay now?"
"I think so."
"Your face is soaked."
"I must look like a wreck to you."
"No, you look beautiful."
"After eleven years, you're still just the sweetest thing."
"Is Sonic still here?"
"He went back to the castle. He was too excited to just sit around and do nothing and he didn't want to disturb you." Bunnie rubbed her eyes. "Lets get some fresh air." She held on to his arm so she wouldn't loose her balance on their way out. But as she saw the broken teacup on the table, she groaned and fell to her knees in front of the small pile of porcelain. "You dropped it when you fainted."
"Sally's gonna kill me!"
"I'm sure she'll understand."
"It was almost three hundred years old."
"You're right, she is going to kill you. Now come on outside." Tails helped her up again and made their way outside. But before they reached the door, he saw a bundle of dried flowers tied up with a bow and hanging from the middle of the door.
"Remember those?" Bunnie asked.
"Those – those are the flowers I got you on your birthday." Tails said as he lightly touched the stems.
"That was the best present I've ever gotten in my life. But it's such a sad reminder of what happened to you that day." Bunnie opened the door and they both stepped outside.
"Feel any better?" He asked
"I should be asking you that question." She took off her glasses and dried her eyes. "I just can't get over the fact that you're back! We've lived so long with you like this. It's just so exciting that you're awake!"
"I'm amazed at the things I've missed. Sonic and Sally rule the world and Antoine seems that he's got space covered now. Most of which I've found out in the last half hour!"
"Looks like you've got a lotta catching up to do."
"Am I going to faint?" Bunnie laughed.
"I hope not."
"So, what have I missed?"
"Well, let's see. I'm sure that you've found out that Buttnick's dead."
"I haven't been that misinformed."
"Gosh, there are just so many things, I can't think of a single one! All I can think about is you and how much you've grown."
"What, you never visited me?"
"Actually, no. That wasn't you. That was a mindless zombie, just like any other robot. I couldn't stand the sight of you walking around and not really being there. It just made me feel that you were dead and never coming back again. I just couldn't look at you."
"All of that's over now. What about your arm and legs?"
"Oh, what a horrible nightmare!"
"If you don't want to talk about it..."
"No, it's okay. I'd just rather it came from me." They both sat down on an old fallen log by her house. "That had to have been the worst thirty months of my life!"
"Thirty months?"
"And around the second year for about a week, my condition was so unstable, they honestly thought I was gonna die."
"What happened?"
"I'd have to explain how the process worked, so you'd understand. Ever since Uncle Chuck, God rest his soul, learned of the roboticizer's destructive capabilities, he wanted to destroy it. He originally made it so people wouldn't have to resort to amputations. But unfortunately it hurt more than it helped."
"It made you strong."
"I'd pass on being a livin' crane any day."
"You saved people's lives."
"Robotnick was the reason I had to save their lives in the first place. This world would have been a much nicer place without him around. When Chuck found out that innocent people were turned into bots, he got right to work on a deroboticizer. But after about a year, he threw in the towel. It just couldn't be done. Destroying living tissue and replacing it with metal was easy, but you couldn't do it the other way around. My left shoulder bone and collarbone were all metal, along with my ribcage and all my backbones, but those were left for the last process. The idea was to take living bone from a compatible donor, and grow muscle and tissue around it. But the bone could never live long enough without the proper circulation. And the worst part of it was that I had already had my arm started. I either had to continue with the process or not have an arm at all. So what Uncle Chuck did was found a way to get sea coral to grow off of the bone marrow extracted from other bones in my body. And after the muscle grew around it, my natural bone replaced the sea coral over time. That's how they replaced the bones in your neck. But in order for all this to work, all the newly developing bone and muscle had to have some sort of free-growing room. You couldn't just put a big ol' bandage on it; we had to keep my arm in a jelly-filled jar. After my arm was about eighty percent done, they began on my legs. I didn't want them to do it at first, because of how long it took and because I had to be bedridden for so long. But after I found out that Uncle Chuck was getting sick, I let them do my legs. And around the twentieth month, I began showing the same symptoms as him. I had a high fever, lost a lotta weight, and some of my fur was fallin' out. I was so scared. I was afraid to go to sleep thinking I would never wake up again. We never found out what caused it. We just assumed that it was related to the toxins produced by all that machinery in me. Chuck and I got better, but he only lived another few years until he passed away about two years ago. I'm the only survivor of the roboticizer."
"I bet your name is in all the history books in schools around the world."
"So's yours."
"Really?"
"Yep. So after my legs grew back, my feet and toes were a walk in the park compared to everything else. After I took a vacation from the hospital, I had my backbones and ribs and all my other metal parts replaced with coral, so I can go to the airport without havin' to worry about the metal detectors goin' off all the time. But at that time, they found a way to grow most of it in a bottle, so surgery and recovery was quicker than before. After all was said and done, a bunch of medical students wanted to turn my old parts into an exhibit in a medical museum, but I wanted them incinerated."
"The students?"
"The bot bits!" Bunnie nudged Tails in the ribs.
"Couldn't they have been used for medical research?"
"No, I was the first and last person that this was done to. There wasn't any reason that they needed them. So they took a few pictures and Sonic had them destroyed."
"The pictures?"
"Quit being so silly! Besides, they just made a replica of it and displayed it anyway. I had this ring made from the gold extracted from the electronics in the old limbs."
"Why?"
"I don't know." Bunnie said as she looked at it. "I really don't like it, but there's some kind of attachment I have to it."
"Why couldn't they help Uncle Chuck?"
"His brain and spine were the only living thing in his body. Everyone knew he was going to die, too. And that made it the hardest."
"Do you ever regret having that operation done?"
"No. It hurt me a lot, but I wouldn't be here now it I didn't go through with it."
"At least you're as good as new." Bunnie turned her head and Tails could see her chin start to shake as if she was about to cry.
"No, not really." She said. "When I was sick, I lost the ability to have kids."
"That's terrible! I'm so sorry!" Tails said in a sympathetic voice.
"You know, with all of this technology available, I'm surprised that they haven't been able to help Joey." Bunnie said trying to change the subject. "Poor thing. He's such a sweet little prince."
"Does anyone know what caused it?"
"An underdeveloped part of his brain which was traced to a birth defect caused by the pollution from the old factories."
"At least he has his parents." Tails looked at Bunnie and saw that she was starting to cry again. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry..."
"For what?"
"Nothing – never mind."
"No, what is it?"
"You just got me started thinking – about my parents."
"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Tails wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. "Just forget all about it. "We're safe now and that's all that matters."
"No! They were killed!" Bunnie cried. Tails now stared to fight his tears off but was just as overwhelmed as she was. All they could do was hold each other tight and cry.
Tails deeply regretted bringing Bunnie back to such horrible memories. He didn't want to put anybody through remembering bad times. He figured everything had it's time to be brought up, but planned on at least a few days after all the excitement of his recovery wore off for it to happen.
After a long while together, Tails wanted to try to take her mind off of her problems. He had her walk around the village with him and talk about everybody else and all of their past accomplishments. He started asking her about Antoine and Nichole, hoping that would encourage a less remorseful mood. And it was working.
"After Nichole was separated from all of her external equipment, Sally and a few other doctors were going over things to remove from her long-term memory so it would make more room for more important things like synaptic maps and independent life support instructions. Antoine overheard some of the things that were on the list to be removed from Nichole and noticed that the French language interface and translation algorithms were on their way out, but he asked if she could leave them on. After Sonic and Sally got hitched, she felt guilty for putting Antoine through such loneliness, so she left them on 'cause she figured he needed a friend anyway. After a few months, she developed such a wonderful personality. I couldn't believe that all of that was coming from interactions with Antoine!"
"His English really improved."
"You know, the reason that he had always been as nutty as he was back before your accident is nobody ever understood him. Whenever he tried to get a point across, everyone just laughed at him and turn the other way because we didn't really know what he was saying. But with her help, he became such a wonderful and assertive person. He wrote a few short novels in French when we all still lived in Knothole, just to pass the time. They were later translated when they moved to the castle. I read them and almost fell in love with him. It's strange how you think you know a person when your view is so distorted by such a barrier. It's made me change the way I think about everybody."
"What about Robotnick?"
"Crack head."
"Oh."
After slowly walking through part of the village, Tails stopped in front of one of the structures.
"Wow, this is my old hut." He walked up to the door and pulled the vines away from the frame. He was soon able to push the door open and step over the vines to get inside. As soon as he made it through, he stood silent and looked at the empty room. Bunnie also made her way inside.
They stood and looked around. The room was completely empty, and the only thing that lit the room where beams of sunlight glowing in the kicked-up dust.
"This is my first time in here in eleven years." Bunnie quietly said.
"…Why?"
"…I was scared."
"…Of what?"
"…I don't know."
"…Are you scared now?"
"…No."
"…How come?"
"…I'm not alone."
"…Why did you want to live by yourself then?"
"…When I found out my parents were killed, I felt so separated from everybody."
"…I still don't understand."
"…No matter how much I tried, I couldn't accept anyone's love for me. My heart was so empty – nothing could fill it. I started to think that my sadness was rubbing off on everyone else so I came back here to hide from everyone."
"…Did it help?"
"…I don't know."
"…Are you going to move back to the castle – now that I'm here?"
"…"
"Bunnie?"
"Why don't you move back to Knothole?"
"…"
"The castle will always be there."
"So will Knothole."
"Not if no one's here to keep it that way."
"What do you mean?" Bunnie turned around and squeezed herself through the door and nearly fell outside. Tails followed.
Bunnie kept walking, and Tails trailed behind her wondering where she was going. She said nothing as she paced down an old path through the woods. Tails could only wonder where she was going, but after being away so long, he couldn't imagine what she was about to show him.
It wasn't long before they reached an open field. They were both standing on the edge of a cliff that scaled about twenty feet over the clearing.
"Do you know what this is?" Bunnie asked. Tails looked in the distance with worried eyes.
"This is the ring pool."
"This was the ring pool."
"What happened to it?"
"After we won the war, Sally wanted the water channeled to the castle. They built a pumping plant about five miles north of here and moved the ring generator to the castle. All of this was done when I was in the hospital. I didn't find out about it until I came back. Sally and I got into a really big argument, but she pulled rank and ordered me to forget about it."
"Aunt Sally?"
"Queen Sally. But after a while, she realized why I was so upset that the ring pool was gone."
"It was a part of Knothole."
"Exactly."
"Is she still mad at you?"
"No. She said that she was sorry. She even had water and power lines ran here from the castle, hoping that would keep our friendship."
"Do you two still talk?"
"Oh, yeah. We're still like sisters to each other." Tails looked at the fallen dock where the generator used to be.
"I remember my first time catching Sonic's power ring. You were there watching me. At first, you didn't want me to do it."
"I was afraid you were going to fall in. I knew you could fly, but at that time, I was terrified of the water."
"You had no chance of surviving if you fell in."
"I've always envied you. You could fly anywhere you wanted to. You got everyone everywhere they wanted to be."
"Except you. I couldn't pick you up. You were too heavy for me."
"I'm actually afraid of heights."
"Why?"
"When I had my metal limbs, my legs could absorb the shock of a long fall. And being as heavy as they were, I would fall as straight as an arrow."
"Now you would be helpless."
"Right." Tails watched Bunnie as she looked off into the distance. He grabbed her hand and gave her a mischievous smile. "What are you doin?" He spun up his tails and lifted himself off the ground.
"No! Don't you dare!" Bunnie yelled as she tried to pull herself away from him, but before she knew it, she was also off the ground. "Tails! Put me down!"
He took her other arm and carried her beneath him as he ascended to the sky. She watched her feet as they became further away from the ground. And as the higher they went, the tighter she held onto him. When they reached the canopies of the trees, she brushed her feet on the leaves and startled a flock of robins nesting inside. The birds flew out from the top of the tree and flew away as quickly as they could. Tails and Bunnie looked at each other to make sure they were okay, and accelerated even faster into the cloudless sky.
This was all very common for Tails, but Bunnie has never experienced such a panoramic sight beneath her before. She had to trust him in the air as he did Sonic on the ground. They both saw the gigantic castle in the distance. Bunnie had never realized how big the castle was until now. The patterns from the farms surrounding it were visible all the way to the horizon where the sun was beginning to set.
Tails suddenly let go of her hands and grabbed her glasses. She screamed as she began falling to the ground. He stopped his tails and fell right along with her as he put her glasses over his eyes. She looked back at him as she fell and knew that he was just giving her a thrill ride. She closed her eyes and floated with the freedom of weightlessness, but kept her arms up for Tails to grab again. She kept her eyes closed knowing that Tails was still there, and with complete trust in him as her life was in his hands.
When they became dangerously close to the ground, he grabbed on to her arms again and pulled her back to a safe speed. He kept her inches off the ground as he sped across a field of dandelions while catching a few between her toes. He pulled her up again and slowed down next to one of the castle towers. He sat her down on the bell-shaped roof and let his tails come to a stop. His wrist was still bothering him, but nothing he did made it feel any worse. It was odd to him that it would even hurt at all.
He sat down next to her and gave her glasses back. She reached for her feet and handed him a small bundle of the flowers that she snagged on the ground.
"That was fun, I really enjoyed that."
"I'm glad you did."
"I haven't felt this free in my entire life. You have such a wonderful ability, don't ever let anything happen to it."
"I'll try not to."
"I mean it!"
"I know, I mean it, too." Bunnie looked at the ground below and watched some of the remaining flowers float to the cobblestone walkway. "Are you afraid of heights anymore?" Bunnie leaned over again, much further than before.
"No, not when you're here." Tails smiled and looked at the horizon.
"What a beautiful sunset. I've never seen it so purple before."
"Purple's my favorite color."
"I can see why." Bunnie put her arm around him and placed her head on his shoulder.
"You know, without you, none of us would be here."
"No…" Tails looked back at her. "I was just your wakeup call."
After looking into her eyes for another moment, he gently lifted her glasses off with both hands and slightly tilted his head as he slowly leaned towards her. Her eyes were closed as well as the fur on her cheek lightly tickled his nose.
"Come to Knothole with me." Bunnie whispered.
"I will."
They touched their lips together feeling each other's warmth as the cool breeze gently rustled their fur. Bunnie parted her lips and rubbed the tip of her tongue on the outside of his mouth, then his teeth, and finally his tongue.
They both sat in this embrace until a painful shock shot through his body. They parted as Tails began to fall away.
Bunnie screamed as loud as she could as immediate panic set in. Tails was completely helpless as another impairment was about to threaten his life again. He could see Bunnie trying to reach for him as he fell out of control and the dandelions safely drifted to the ground.
As he fell, his body turned to face the ground, and he saw that the cold, hard ground was going to change his life again,
And this time forever…
Tails found himself in bed. His heart racing, and completely paralyzed. He gasped for air and grabbed his chest as he suddenly realized that he was actually able to move.
"Hold still!" Bunnie said. "I've got scissors."
He turned his head towards her and looked at his hand. It had a brace on it with elastic covering. He jumped up on his bed and backed himself into the corner of the wall as he stared at Bunnie with absolute confusion and surprise. He saw her arm and realized it was roboticized, and he looked at himself and saw that he was a kid again.
"What's going on!" Tails yelled, not realizing his voice was back to normal, and keeping a tight hold on his wrist.
"You almost got yourself killed, that's what's goin on!" Tails fell to his knees with sudden fatigue and broke out in a cold sweat. "That's not quite what I had expected for my sweet sixteen." Tails looked around the room as he regained his strength. "If Sonic didn't catch you at the last second, I don't know what we'd do if anything happened to you."
Tails leaned over to Bunnie and gave her a long hug. As he looked behind her, he saw a small pile of cut up ribbons and popped balloons on the floor.
"You sprained your wrist when Sonic caught you. Just thank your lucky stars that that's all that happened to you!"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm never doing anything like that again!"
"Good!" Bunnie said as she laid him back down on the bed.
"Bunnie?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you, too, sugar. Now get some rest."