Eternal Angel: Epilogue

It was early in the morning and all was quiet. The peaceful dark remained unbroken by the morning sun as all Mobians continued to sleep soundly. Everything was calm and peaceful.

Yet surprisingly Tails was awake staring out of his living room window at the stars, which had begun to fade from the night sky. He had woken up unusually early and decided that he wanted to watch the sunrise. Although dawn was still over two hours away, Tails had no desire to continue sleeping. Instead he stared out of his window, ruminating on past events.

Much had happened in the past couple of months since Cosmo's tragic death. The grief and depression he had experienced along with the appearance of the figure had nearly convinced him that life was no longer worth living. He had almost made the mistake of believing that death was his only way out. However the support of his friends and Cosmo's eternal love had given him the strength to make it through his terrible ordeal.

Today stood different from the last few, however. Despite everything that he had gone through and everything he had faced, he was feeling something unusual. A feeling prevailed him that he had not felt in so long that it had become foreign to him. Tails felt happy.

Why he felt this way was a mystery even to the young fox himself. Yet for some odd reason this day seemed brighter than any other had since the end of the war with the Metarex. Perhaps it was the fact that the conflict with the figure was apparently over or that his friends had pulled him through the darkest days of his life. Regardless of the reason, Tails did not question it as he continued to stare wistfully at the fading lights in the sky.

He then heard a slight shuffling noise behind him. He turned to see his cousin Merrick creeping down the stairs into the living room giving him a look of curiosity.

"What the heck are you doing up so early?" Merrick asked as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Sorry," Tails apologized, "Did I wake you up?"

"Nah, I couldn't sleep. I was worried about you after last night. You okay?"

Tails smiled at his cousin. In addition to his friends Merrick had been very devoted in watching his younger cousin and had been a great source of comfort for Tails in his time of need. Tails once again could not help but feel blessed to have so many people who cared about him.

"Yeah, I am," Tails replied with a smile, "I just woke up and wanted to watch the sun rise."

Merrick walked up beside Tails and leaned casually against the windowsill. He cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking to Tails. "Do you want to talk about something?"

"I'm not sure what to talk about," Tails said, "Why?"

"You seem better today," Merrick noted, "Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah," Tails replied calmly, "I think I do."

Tails then turned and hopped up onto the window ledge, sitting and staring out into space. He seemed to be pondering something before he finally looked back at his cousin with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You know, it's kind of funny," Tails began, "After all that has happened I thought I would be a lot more upset than I feel. For some reason though I don't feel all that sad."

"Any reason why?" His cousin asked looking at him curiously.

"I don't know," Tails said, "I just don't feel like there's a reason to be sad. I know Cosmo's still gone. I miss her, but... she wanted me to live. She wanted me to live even though we couldn't be together. I can't believe she cares for me that much. You guys have helped me a lot too. I don't know how I could have done it without my friends." Tails let out a long sigh as he seemed to be pondering something else. Merrick noticed this and tilted his head to the side in curiosity.

"That's not it though is it?" Merrick asked with concern.

"Well... I'm not really sure how to put this. I think that losing Cosmo's plant may have helped me."

"What?" Merrick asked shocked, "How?"

"I don't know," Tails replied, "It's like... I knew she was gone, but the plant kept me wanting to believe that somehow she could come back. I guess that me letting the plant go helped me to let her go in a way."

"So your... glad the plant is gone?" Merrick asked scratching his head.

"No, I still miss it," Tails answered, "but maybe having it around was making me hold on to Cosmo too much. Maybe now we can both be at peace."

"Uh, okay," Merrick said still seeming confused, "So you're not sad about it anymore?"

"Well, I'll always be sad that she died," Tails said, "and I'll always miss her, but it's like Shadow said, I will always have her memory. I know that Cosmo loved me and she will always be in my heart. So in a way she will always be with me. I can't really be sad as long as I remember that."

"I guess that makes sense," Merrick said understandingly, "What about the dark guy you told me about though? Didn't he say he wanted you to hurt?"

"I guess that's another reason why I'm not sad," Tails said, "he tried to make me hurt more by destroying Cosmo's plant. All it ended up doing was helping me to move on. Even if he was evil, he still helped me to feel better in a way. So he still lost."

"Do you think he'll come back?" Merrick asked concerned.

"I don't know," Tails replied uncertainly, "I wouldn't think so though since he already said he accomplished his mission."

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Asked Merrick.

Tails gave a long sigh before sliding off of the windowsill and walking over to the coffee table, picking up a small black object. He brought the object over to Merrick and handed it to him. Merrick looked down at the small gem shaped object in his hand, turning it over and watching the moonlight reflect off of it. Merrick sighed and sat the blackened Chaos Emerald on the windowsill, shaking his head in dismay.

"Are they all like that?" Merrick asked.

"Yeah. They are completely drained of power. Knuckles tried to use the Master Emerald to fix them, but that didn't even work. Shadow said that the properties of the Chaos Force are not in them anymore. They're basically just normal beryl gems now."

"Dang," Merrick said, "and there's no way to fix them?"

"I'm not that worried about it honestly. I'll try to fix them myself if I can, but at least no one else can use their power for evil anymore."

"Yeah," Merrick sighed. He began to stare out into space for a few minutes before suddenly turning to Tails with a curious expression on his face. "Hey Miles, why did he have to use the Chaos Emeralds to destroy your plant? Couldn't he have just killed it without them? Why did he have to do the whole big bang thing?"

Tails seemed intrigued by this question as well and looked at his older cousin with a confused expression. "I don't know," he replied, "He could have easily just killed it himself."

"Maybe he wanted the Emerald's power?" Merrick suggested.

"Why would he drain them then?" Tails questioned, "I guess we may never find out though."

There was a long moment of silence as Tails turned back to the window continuing to stare into the slowly illuminating heavens. The stars were just barely visible now, beginning to yield their splendor to the morning sun, which had yet to show itself on the horizon.

Suddenly something caught Tails' eye. As the pinpricks of heavenly light continued to fade, a small but bright streak shot across the sky. Tails smiled brightly as he  tugged on Merrick's shoulder in excitement.

"Merrick, look!" Tails pointed to the sky.

"What?" Merrick asked, looking where Tails was pointing.

"A shooting star," Tails replied, "Look!"

Merrick squinted as he tried to see what Tails was talking about. Finally he spotted the small light traveling across the sky. He smiled at his cousin's sudden burst of glee.

"Wow, that's awesome," Merrick mused.

"Yeah, that makes me remember the meteor shower when I first met Cosmo," Tails said smiling, "She used to love stargazing."

"You going to make a wish?" Merrick asked.

Tails thought for a moment before answering. "All I want is for Cosmo to be happy wherever she is. As long as she is, I will be too."

Merrick smiled down at his younger cousin, patting him on the back before walking back over to the living room stairs. "We should go back to bed," he said yawning.

"Actually, I think I want to go to the beach," Tails said, "I want to watch the sunrise there. Is that okay?"

"Umm, I don't know," Merrick said uncomfortably, "I'm supposed to be watching you and all. I don't know if-"

"Merrick, it's been almost a month," Tails said, "I'll be fine. I'm not going to do anything. I just want to go to the beach. I promise I'll be okay."

Merrick was silent for a moment as he thought. He then looked back up at his cousin with a slight smile on his face.

"Okay," Merrick said softly, "I believe you. See you in the morning little cuz."

Tails smiled at his cousin as he watched him climb the stares to go back to sleep. He felt happy that he would be able to go to the beach by himself and watch the sunrise while he thought about what the future would bring. He quietly walked toward the front door and carefully opened it. He then stepped outside and closed it slowly, careful to not wake his sleeping cousin.

Tails eventually reached the sandy shores of the beach near the mystic ruins, walking slowly near the water's edge. He felt very relaxed as he walked the shores, enjoying the feeling of the gentle breeze through his fur. He had not felt this peaceful in a long time and took the opportunity to enjoy it.

Eventually he stopped, turning to look out over the horizon. In the distance he could see the faint glow of the sun, setting the sky on fire with lovely shades of pink and red. He sighed with contentment as he observed this breathtaking sight, reveling in the beauty of the scenery.

As the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, Tails once again revisited past events in his mind. Strangely enough the bad memories suddenly became abstract to him as he only recalled the good memories he had with Cosmo.

One memory seemed to stand apart from the others however. The moment where they had fallen into the lake on Marmolim together had been one of the most cherished moments in his life. A bond had been forged between them that night, and although he had known that he loved Cosmo already the lake had seemed to enhance those feelings. Although she was gone he realized that their bond was still there. Death may have taken Cosmo from him, but it did not take his love. He would always hold her in his heart and he knew that she felt the same.

A single tear trickled down the fox's cheek as he continued to watch the sunrise. Unlike the other tears he had shed over the past two months however these were not of grief, but of happiness. The mere fact that such a wonderful person had loved him swelled his heart with joy. Once again he had the strange feeling that Cosmo was looking down on him. A feeling that he had previously only gotten while in the presence of the plant. A smile crossed his face as he turned his eyes skyward, whispering quietly to himself.

"I was glad to have met you Cosmo."

He turned his attention back to the horizon, watching as the sun showed more of its face. He listened as the waves purred at his feet while enjoying the sound of the wind. He smiled as he watched the sun, feeling its warm rays on his fur. All was right for the young fox.

"Tails," a voice suddenly said from behind him.

Tails' trance was broken by the person speaking to him. He gave a slight sigh of disappointment that one of his friends had intruded on his meditation. He slowly turned around to face the voice speaking to him...

... And then she was there, looking exactly as he had remembered her. A young girl with eyes as blue as the sea and hair of emerald green walked toward him slowly. Tails was stunned as this beautiful girl with pink roses in her hair and pale skin approached him. His eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"Cosmo..." Tails whispered. This was not possible. He had to be hallucinating. Tails shook his head trying to clear away the vision.

"Hi Tails..." Cosmo whispered with a warm smile on her face.

Tails staggered backward slightly in fear of the apparition. Surely he had gone mad. "Cosmo... y-you... you can't... you're not C-Cosmo..."

"Tails, it's me," Cosmo said smiling with tears in her eyes, "I'm here."

"You... you can't be here... can you?"

"Yes Tails," said Cosmo, reaching out to stroke Tails' cheek, "I'm really here."

Tails shuddered; he could feel her touch. He could feel her hand as it caressed the fur on his cheek. Reaching up he grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. Tears began to rush down his face as he realized that Cosmo was really there.

"Cosmo," Tails choked, "It's really you..."

"Yes Tails, it's me," Cosmo said crying tears of her own.

Tails stared in shock. Cosmo was here. The how and why never occurred to him as he looked upon the girl that he had longed to see since her death. He couldn't believe it. She was really here.

Tails suddenly rushed forward, wrapping his arms around Cosmo tightly with tears of joy trickling down his face. Cosmo responded likewise, hugging so tightly as if she would never let Tails go.

They continued their passionate embrace as they both cried tears of joy. Tails buried his head into Cosmo's shoulder, reveling in the moment.

"You came back..." Tails whispered quietly.

"Yes Tails," Cosmo whispered back, "and I'm not leaving again."

They held their embrace for several minutes, enjoying the closeness of the other. A euphoria ran through both of them, finally together after having been apart for so long.

The two sat on the sand next to each other. Cosmo leaned her head against Tails' shoulder as he in turn leaned his head into hers. They sat together, watching as the sun rose over the horizon. The start of a new day...

It is done... I submit to your judgment...