I awoke to the instruments in my lab detecting an anomaly right outside. It had been a few weeks since I returned to my homeworld from space, but I feel like a piece of me was lost up there. I knew it was the only way to save the galaxy, but it cost me her. She fell from space and landed so close to my heart. And all that was left after Sonic tried to regenerate her was a single seed. By the time I had gotten to the instruments to check, the source of the readings outside vanished. And then I heard a knock on my door. "Are you Tails?" a gentle voice asked from the other side. I opened the door and the figure I saw outside was one I did not recognize. At first I thought she was Vanilla, from the silhouette I saw of someone wearing a long dress. But she was a good deal shorter than Cream's mother. I'd say roughly about as tall as Sonic. The shape of her long snout didn't match up with anyone I knew personally.
"Yes," I replied. As she stepped inside I saw she was wearing a blue jacket and a white dress underneath. She wore long sleeves that went almost up to her clawed hands. Her small eyes were almost the same color as the one I had loved so dearly. I still had no idea at the time who this visitor was.
"I have heard of your many adventures." she said. I noticed a tear fall from one of her eyes as she said this. A few scars and a patch of bare skin surrounded that eye, and yet the eye itself seemed undamaged.
"You came here to see me?" I asked. "In the middle of the night?"
"You are a brave boy," she said. "A true hero to your world." The way she worded that brought to mind many things. I thought back to my recent adventure, but also the strange readings that woke me up.
"But, was it me who saved the galaxy, or was it her?" I asked. I began to cry as I thought about the life of the one I held dear.
"I know what you mean," she replied. "I have dealt with the same kind of pain when I was about your age, and I know how it can be almost unbearable." The visitor lowered herself on one of her knees and I noticed more tears welling up in her eyes.
"Don't remind me!" I cried. "What good will that do?" Through my tears I noticed she was holding her arms out wide in front of me
"I didn't travel across dimensions to hurt you, child," she responded. With that, I realized she was probably the source of the signal that woke me up to begin with. The burst that was detected was caused by her arrival.
"Across dimensions?" I asked, but I had an idea I knew where this would lead. My curiosity at this fact distracted me from my emotional burden, if only for a few moments.
"Indeed, I am a visitor from another world, but I'm here to give you comfort, not pain." she replied. She wiped a tear from my eye with a gentle hand. She then wrapped her arms around me in a warm embrace. I extended my arms around her in turn. "There, there. It's okay." I felt a softness to her voice and a softness as my hand gently wrapped around her back.
"You mean it?" I asked.
"You don't have to go through this alone. Your friends are here to help you through hard times. When I was a young mole, I was not as lucky." she replied.
"You're a mole?" I asked. She didn't quite look like the moles I have seen from my own world, but identifying herself in this way did explain her appearance. A mole would have a long pointed snout and clawed fingers.
"Yes, but this isn't about me. This is about her," she replied. "She lives on through that potted plant you have been caring for so well. She needs your love and support. You don't have to go through this alone. Let the power of their hearts aid in healing yours."
"Right!" I replied, determined to continue caring for the sprout that grew from my lover's heart.
"I must be going." she said. "For I have more worlds to visit and more people to comfort." She let go of me and stood back up and walked towards the door.
"So, you just travel the Universe to heal people with troubled hearts?" I asked. I noticed the symbol on the back of her blue jacket. It was a symbol that means peace.
"In essence, yes." she replied. "I would rather be quick about leaving, so the method I use doesn't fall into the wrong hands." She closed the door without leaving, what seemed to be a hole in the fabric of spacetime opened up. I saw through it into a strange dimension with filaments of purple, blue, and pink off in the distance as she walked through and it closed behind her. The instruments in my lab reported the same kind of readings that woke me up in the first place. And this whole encounter made me wonder if there were any more people who I don't even know who were inspired by stories of my heroics. The idea someone would visit me just to help me when I was feeling down reaffirmed in me the fact I was making a difference in the world. After all, this is what Cosmo would have wanted.
