Chapter Text
Helen slowly awoke from her slumber, the piercing brightness from the artificial lights above temporarily blinding her as her eyes adjusted.
“…W-what?”
Helen found herself in the small lab aboard Dr. Eggman’s Egg Carrier.
“…No…this is all wrong…”
She peered around the room, finding Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, and all the others who previously joined her on their infiltration mission.
“…Is this…a dream?”
The young girl peered down and gasped in horror at the sight of her arms: various bruises from a multitude of injections were present across both.
“…How long have I been here?”
She moved her arms and balled her hands into fists.
“At least I can move…” Helen reflected on what she last remembered: returning home with her grandpa, mom, and dad after seeing her friends off on their return journey to Mobius. She shook her throbbing head, placing a palm against her face.
“H…Helen?”
“Tails?” The young girl peered down at the orange fox, who struggled to pull himself up. Like Helen, Tails’ arms were bruised from multiple injections. “What’s going on? You should be back on Mobius.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?” Tails asked as he stood up, one of his legs limping.
“Grandpa rescued us from this lab,” Helen explained, “and we stopped Eggman and prevented our worlds from merging, and then you guys went back home.”
“Helen…” Tails limped toward Helen. “I think…I think you may have been hallucinating.”
“Hallucinating?”
“Yeah…” Tails peered around the lab. “We’ve been captive here for a while. I’ve lost track of how long, but with the regular injections, my sense of time is kinda blurry.”
“So Grandpa never rescued us, gave us antidotes…” Helen peered down at the mechanical body of Metal Chris below. “…and Chris never got deroboticized and apologized for his behavior?”
“No…” Tails placed a palm on Helen’s shoulder. “If I were to guess, a side effect of this paralysis concoction made you hallucinate your ideal vision for how we get out of this mess.” The orange fox peered down at the roboticized boy. “Unlike most of us, you see a spark of good in Chris and never really let go of it. You’d give him a million chances if you could.”
Helen simply remained silent.
“If this hallucination was truly my fantasy, then you all wouldn’t have left Mobius…left…me…”
“On the bright side,” Tails added as he walked around the room, making sure not to step on anyone, “it looks like Eggman’s behind on his dosing.”
“Is there an antidote to cure the others of their paralysis anywhere?” Helen asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Tails replied after studying what little contents were strewn across the lab tables. “Knowing Eggman, I don’t think he would second guess himself and make an antidote anyway.”
“Right…” Helen chastised herself for what felt like a naïve thought.
“Everyone else is still out cold,” Tails said, “so it looks like we’re on our own for now.”
“Couldn’t we just wake them up?” Helen asked.
“Even if we could manage to wake them,” Tails replied, “they would just be uncomfortably paralyzed until the medication wore off naturally. I say let’s let them sleep while we continue our reconnaissance.”
“But your limp,” Helen said, pointing at the fox’s bent knee.
“I’ll be fine,” Tails replied assuredly. “I could always fly if necessary.” As if to demonstrate, the fox spun his rotary namesakes, which were still healthy and working properly.
Gently pushing his friends toward the walls, the fox cleared a path for Helen to leave the lab without running any of them over.
“Something’s…odd…” Tails pondered as they made their way down the hallways. “It feels like we’re not exactly on even ground here.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Helen replied. “It’s as if we’re going up an incline.”
A few minutes later, the two realized what had happened; stepping out into the Skydeck, they found the Egg Carrier not suspended in the air but, rather, on the island.
“What in the world…” Tails and Helen neared an edge of the ship to peer off into the distance, but what they found was beyond unexpected.
The sky was orange, and the ocean’s blue was replaced with a dark purple sludge. The odor was nauseating.
“What’s that?” Helen asked as she peered up in the sky.
“No way…” Tails spotted a flock of flickies suspended in the air. He then surveyed the island itself, noticing the normal landscape replaced with various springs and loop-de-loops which felt transplanted from his own world. Finally, the formerly pristine man-made portal intended to send the Mobians home was now smoking and charred.
“Helen…” The orange fox peered up at Helen. “…We failed.”
“W…what?”
“The evidence is all around us…” He gestured toward the ocean. “We’re in Oil Ocean right now, a location developed by Dr. Eggman back on Mobius where the water was drained and replaced with oil.” He then pointed up at the flickies. “Those flickies are native to Mobius, and they’re suspended in mid-air. Yes…there’s no doubt about it…” Tails shook his head. “Not only did our worlds merge, but time has stopped. We failed…”
“…Not all hope is lost,” Helen replied. “For starters, if time has stopped, how come we’re not frozen?”
“Honestly? I have no idea,” Tails replied with a shrug. “My prediction previously was that time stopping would simply prevent us from aging, and the seasons from shifting, and the days from progressing. I never anticipated everyone literally freezing in place.” The orange fox crossed his arms. “But you do raise a good question: how come we’re not frozen?”
“Hey Tails,” Helen pointed toward the large, metallic structure several yards away. “There’s some sort of light coming from over there.”
The two investigated the satellite pointed toward the destroyed portal. The light came from…
“…the Chaos Emeralds!” Tails exclaimed.
The two circled the mystical gems, which were glowing mere feet from Eggman’s machine.
“I think I figured out a way to undo the damage,” Tails observed as he began picking up the Chaos Emeralds.
“You did?” Helen tilted her head in confusion.
“Well, I don’t know for sure,” Tails replied, scratching the back of his head, “but remember how I’ve received guidance from the Master Emerald, thanks to Knuckles’ teachings back on Mobius? I say we take a trip to Angel Island. With all the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, I’m sure we can figure a way out of this.”
“I think I’m a bit too weak to safely pilot the Helengelion,” she replied.
“We could see if the Egg Carrier is still operational,” Tails suggested.
“Good idea!”
The two made their way back inside the hallways of the Egg Carriers until they arrived to the command center.
“Gahhhh!”
Screaming in fright, Dr. Eggman fell to the floor.
“Are you okay, Doctor?” Decoe asked.
“Do you need another massage?” Bocoe added.
“I’m fine, you nincombots!” Eggman belched as he shot up and turned his attention to the interlopers. “How are you two you on your feet? I thought I injected you with enough medication to keep you out of commission for days.”
“We could ask you the same question,” Tails replied. “How come you guys aren’t frozen like the flickies outside?”
“Well, if you must inquire with the superior scientific genius,” Eggman replied, “my theory is that the Chaos Emeralds are keeping everyone aboard the Egg Carrier safe from the effects. In speaking of which…” A grin appeared across Eggman’s face. “I can see the emeralds glistening in your fur, Tails, which means…” The evil doctor pulled out a laser pistol, aiming it at the two. Tails got in front of Helen and stretched out his arms. “Oh, how cute, trying to protect your little friend, but she’ll be perfectly safe if you simply hand over the Chaos Emeralds.”
“Absolutely not,” Tails replied. “You’ve caused untold destruction already. Your intentions are clear as day: you don’t want to fix the havoc you’ve caused; you just want to make things worse.”
“What a bold assumption,” Eggman replied with a sneer, aiming his gun firmly at the young kitsune. “Well, if you don’t wanna share, I’ll have to take those toys away from you by force. Say goodnight, Prower…”
Tails closed his eyes, bracing himself for the shot, but several seconds after Eggman fired, the fox felt nothing. Nervously opening his eyes, he gasped at the sight of Metal Chris before him, blocking the laser with his metallic body.
“Chris!?” Eggman exclaimed. “I thought I shut you down!”
“Shut up,” Chris replied as he slowly crept toward the evil scientist. “Look what you’ve done to me. You made me a freak. I’m no better than those fuckin’ aliens.”
“No, stay back, stay back!!!” Eggman pointed his gun at the roboticized boy. “One more step, and I’ll shoot!” Ignoring his order, Chris continued stepping toward him. With a growl, Eggman fired several laser shots at Chris’ body, but nothing slowed him down, even as the continual rounds started melting his components.
Finally, as Eggman concluded his final round of volleys, Chris dove toward the evil scientist, pinning him to the ground and forcing him to drop his pistol, which skid across the floor.
Tails picked up Eggman’s gun. “I have no intention of hurting you, but if you don’t do as I say…” The orange fox took aim at Eggman’s bald head, earning a gasp from the scared scientist. Peering around, Tails found a closet door nearby. “I want you, Decoe, and Bocoe to take a little nap in there while Helen and I fix the damage you caused.”
Eggman grumbled as he pulled himself away from the weight of Chris and stepped into the closet, with his robotic henchmen following suit. Tails locked the door and, for good measure, pushed a heavy box in the way.
“Chris…” Helen peered down at the young boy, who was unmoving, face first on the floor, oil dripping from the holes left by Eggman’s laser pistol. “You’re hurt!”
“Well…someone had to be the white knight and save the day,” Chris replied, his metallic voice fuzzy as if his body was struggling to keep itself operational. Remembering her hallucination, Helen winced at this stark contrast, and with a sigh, she asked a question she knew she’d regret.
“Chris…do you…regret any of your actions?”
“Regret?” Chris pondered for several moments. “N-no…I’m a Thorndyke! We don’t second guess ourselves. We go…for the g-gold by any means necessary. We don’t act u-unless we are confid-d-d-dent.” Robotic laughter followed, though even through the screeching, artificial, glitchy noise, Helen could sense the doubt emanating from him.
The laughter abruptly ended, leaving Chris silent in a puddle of his own oil.
“Chris?” Helen peered down at the robotic boy, fearing the worst. “Chris?!”
Tails jumped into action, pulling out his Miles Electric and connecting it by wires to Chris’ ports. “He’s in low power mode. He’ll live, and I can fix him up later.”
Helen simply nodded, conflicting emotions filling her mind until she shook her head, snapping out of it. “Tails, how difficult will it be to get us to Angel Island in this thing?”
“Oh, it’ll be easy,” Tails replied with a nod. “Eggman’s tech is always so needlessly convoluted, but I’ve figured out how to work his nonsense years ago.” The young fox took his seat at the main chair of the command center, pressing several buttons on the dash, triggering the airship to take flight. “To Angel Island!” Tails exclaimed as he began flying in the direction of Station Square.
“This is just…so bizarre…”
Helen watched from the Sky Deck as the Egg Carrier entered Station Square. The roads below were now checkered, cars were toppled over, and a mixture of humans and Mobians dotted the streets with bewildered expressions frozen across their faces. Various buildings of Mobian construction had altogether replaced many of the buildings throughout Station Square, and much of what remained experienced substantial damage during the merger.
The young girl returned to the control center, where Tails was piloting the ship.
“How’s it look down there?” Tails asked.
“Bad…I’m not sure how we’re gonna fix this…”
“Let’s just hope Angel Island is still in one piece,” Tails replied as he approached the floating island, which was still hovering over the municipal park. The orange fox was able to land in the clearing near Knuckles’ cabin, a short walk from the Master Emerald shrine.
Departing the Egg Carrier, Tails pushed Helen as they studied their surroundings.
“Nothing seems to have changed,” Tails observed. Indeed, there were still insects, birds, frogs, and other fauna and flora existing as normal atop the island. The sound of wildlife filled their ears.
“It has to be the Master Emerald,” Helen concluded, placing her fist on the palm of her other hand. “Just like the Chaos Emeralds, I bet the Master Emerald is shielding Angel Island from the effects of the merger.”
Like a beacon ahead, the Master Emerald sat atop the shrine, glistening with the orange sky above serving as a backdrop worthy of a home screen background. Tails gently pulled back Helen’s wheelchair, allowing him to carefully push her up the stairs in a continuous wheelie.
Finally, upon arrival to the Master Emerald, and a brief breather from the young kitsune, the two approached the mystical gem.
“I remember watching you meditate before,” Helen said, “but can you walk me through it?”
“Sure!” Tails replied with a nod. He sat on the ground and folded his legs. “First, you need to close your eyes.”
“Got it,” Helen replied with a nod as she followed Tails’ lead.
“Next, you need to steady your breathing and your heart rate.” The fox took one big sigh, washing away his worries.
“Check.” Helen did the same.
“Finally,” Tails concluded, “you need to…how did Knuckles describe it? Bare your soul to the Master Emerald.”
“How does one do that?” Helen asked, tilting her head in confusion, her eyes remaining closed.
“Knuckles had a tough time teaching me, too,” Tails replied with a chuckle. “Okay…I’ll use his analogy: imagine you’re in an empty room with nobody but your best friend. Have a mental conversation with them, share a secret or a deep fear you have…something you wouldn’t just bring up in casual conversation.”
“O-okay…” Sighing once more, Helen conjured up in her mind a cozy living room, where Tails was sitting on the sofa in its center. The young girl materialized herself next to this imaginary Tails. A tear escaped her closed eyes as she shared her ultimate fear: the fear of being alone, the fear that, once her friends leave, she’ll be left with nobody who wants to be her friend for anything beyond pity, nobody who wants to hang out without considering the inconveniences she unintentionally hoists onto others given her condition.
This imaginary Tails listened intently as Helen mentally vented to him. When she concluded, the orange fox simply gave her a hug, rubbed her back, and whispered into her ear: “everything will be okay.”
“Everything will be okay,” she mouthed as a second tear dripped down her face.
“Now imagine,” Tails said next to her on the shrine, “that friend was the Master Emerald.”
“Odd, but okay…” She allowed the imaginary room, and the Mobian within, to dissipate, materializing instead a white void with the Master Emerald in its center. The mystical gem was glowing green, and a warmth radiated from the stone that felt so real.
“You did it!” Tails exclaimed, earning a surprised yelp from the young girl.
“How’d you enter my imagination?!” Helen exclaimed.
“This isn’t your imagination,” Tails replied. “Your mind is now within the Master Emerald’s metaphysical realm. I honestly don’t understand it fully myself.” The fox approached the large gem. “Now, let’s place our palms on the emerald simultaneously.”
“R-right…” Helen rolled toward the gem and stuck her arm out, her fingers within centimeters of the mystical gem.
“On my count,” Tails said with a nod, furrowing his brow. “One…two…three!”
The two placed their palms on the Master Emerald, causing the gem to pulsate various shades of green. The void shook before them, forcing the two to brace themselves, and when the shaking stopped, they peered up to find, sitting atop the Master Emerald, a young echidna girl. She was garbed in a green skirt with triangular shapes, a white tank top, a golden band across her forehead with a matching necklace, and wooden sandals.
“The last time you visited,” said the echidna, peering down at her two guests, “your journey was incomplete. Since then, you have continued helping the people of Earth. Now we are at the crossroads…” The echidna conjured a projection of the Earth as if it were being recorded from space. “The parallel worlds of Mobius and Earth have merged, and most of its inhabitants frozen.” The echidna slipped off the Master Emerald and approached the young fox. “As you recall, I last asked you to continue helping the people of this planet, and then the path home for you would become clear. Do you feel you’ve helped the Earthlings during your stay?”
“I…failed…” Tails lowered his head. “I let everyone down. This was entirely preventable, but Eggman got the best of me.”
“That’s not true!” Helen interjected. “You’ve done so much for us: the countless times you thwarted Eggman’s schemes, helping pick up the pieces after Chris’ shenanigans, and…and…” The young girl clasped Tails’ hands, “…you’ve helped me.” Tears started to well in her eyes. “You taught me what it’s like to go off on adventures…true adventures, not just consuming anime and videogames. What’s more, you showed just how useful I can be, despite my condition.” Helen paused as the young fox’s eyes began to glisten. “You and your friends have had a profound impact on my life that will help me carry on when you’re gone, and I know you’ve helped countless others, too, and will continue helping people. It’s in your DNA.”
Tails turned his attention back to the echidna, who watched on with a smile. “…all that doesn’t matter now, though, with how everything ultimately ended up.”
“That’s not true,” replied the echidna. “Helen is absolutely correct: your heart is pure and always in the right place. All the good you’ve done for both worlds ultimately led you two here, and in a few moments, your efforts will be rewarded.”
“Does that mean...” Helen said.
“Precisely,” replied the echidna with a nod. “In a few moments, the Master Emerald’s power, in conjunction with the Chaos Emeralds, will restore Earth and Mobius back to the way they were, but with it comes a price.”
“A price?” Tails asked.
“When Earth and Mobius are unmerged, everyone will be returned home. That means all the Mobians will be brought back to Mobius, all the humans will be brought back to Earth, and both worlds will be completely restored.” The echidna studied the human girl, who winced at the implications. “You are afraid you’ll never get to see your friends again?”
“How did you know?” Helen asked.
“You bared your soul to me,” she replied with a warm smile, “so I can, for better or worse, read you like a book.” The echidna approached the young girl, placing her palm on Helen’s head. “Do not fret, young one, for I know that, contrary to what you heard from your grandfather, there is a safe way to reestablish the bridge between our worlds.”
“Th-there is?” Helen asked.
“Precisely,” she replied with a nod. “After all, this isn’t the first time humans and Mobians crossed over. Eggman’s grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, once visited Mobius, so of course Eggman has his ancestral roots back on Earth and may have even been raised there.”
“But why did the merger and time freeze happen in the first place, then?” Tails asked.
“The explosion that occurred that originally created the bridge,” she replied, “was not the ideal way to generate an interdimensional portal. While not apparent to the naked eye, the effects slowly manifested in parts of Mobius coming to Earth, and vice versa, including each worlds’ inhabitants.” She nodded once more. “You have proven, time and time again, your purity, but even still, I have a warning: you have the capability to create a safe bridge between Mobius and Earth, but with such power comes responsibility.” The echidna, standing between her two guests, conjured up a projection of hypothetical future events, where human soldiers and Mobians were skirmishing on charred land. “Mobius is a peaceful planet, the acts of Dr. Eggman notwithstanding, but full-on interactions between Mobian and human civilizations could spell disaster. If those of different tribes can so easily exterminate each other, as I personally experienced many moons ago, imagine the consequences of two entirely different species interacting together en masse.”
The echidna swiped her arms, causing these visions of war to dissipate. “If you decide to reestablish this bridge, do so responsibly, for even if you do this in secret, those with negative intentions will be bound to find ways to exploit it to their own ends if they ever discovered how to replicate your methods or find their own way.”
“I…understand,” Tails replied before turning to Helen, giving her a warm smile, one matched by the young girl by his side. “I have every intention of seeing my human friends again, but I will ensure that no negative consequences arise.”
“Very well,” she replied as she started floating upward. “I will give you two a moment to share your parting words.” The echidna faded away, only leaving Tails and Helen, as well as the glowing Master Emerald towering before them, as if serving as the witness for their upcoming farewell.
“I’ve never been good at goodbyes,” Tails said with a chuckle as he scratched the back of his head. He yelped when Helen suddenly grabbed his other arm, pulling the orange fox onto her lap, setting him down between her legs and hugging him like a body pillow. Helen rested the side of her face on Tails’ furry head, his warmth providing a bittersweet comfort in these final moments together.
A stream of tears escaped Helen’s eyes, but accompanying these was a warm smile, for while she was sad to see Tails and her friends depart, she knew that, one day, they would be reunited.
Finally, as she continued hugging the orange fox, Helen said, in a somber tone, “We are ready.”
With that, Helen and Tails faded from the void.
Pulling out of an elevator, Helen rolled down the white, sterile hallway of the fourth floor of the Station Square Hospital. She turned to a door left slightly ajar. Gently pushing it forward, Helen rolled inside to see Chris resting in bed, donned in a hospital gown and flanked with gifts on either side. His arms and legs were wrapped in bandages, with his right arm and left leg in casks.
Helen waited patiently until Chris opened his eyes.
“H…Helen?” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his left hand.
“Hi, Chris…”
The two sat awkwardly, doing little to acknowledge each other’s presence. Finally, Chris spoke up.
“What, did you come here to gloat? To rub these injuries in my face? To sh…” Chris froze as Helen pressed a finger to his lips and shook her head.
“Honestly, I’m still mad at you for everything you’ve done, but I came by to thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?” Chris raised a single eyebrow.
“You saved Tails and I from Eggman back on the Egg Carrier while you were still a robot,” Helen replied. “Remember?”
“I was just sick of Eggman’s bullshit, that’s all,” Chris replied. “He put me through a hell unlike anything anyone had ever experienced before. I didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of victory.”
“You know,” Helen replied, “beneath all that bravado and spoiled rottenness, I know there’s a decent human being deep inside. I even heard rumor that you’ve been bonding with your parents. I say that’s an excellent start.”
“What are you getting at?” Chris asked with a frown.
“I know you feel you must keep up this superiority shtick, but if there’s any time to let that all go and be a kid again, it’s now.” Helen pulled an envelope from the side compartment of her wheelchair and handed it to him.
“Ha! You think I need your money!? HA! The poor giving the rich some cash. PRICELESS!!”
“Shut up and open the letter,” Helen commanded.
With a humph, Chris followed her order, tearing the envelope open with needless aggression and pulling out an RSVP to her upcoming birthday.
“I know it’s a month out, but I wanted to invite you early enough to plan.” The young girl turned around and approached the door. “Shoot me a text if you’re gonna RSVP. Hell, you may even make some friends.”
Helen left Chris’ room, leaving him alone once more. The boy simply stared at the RSVP card until he gathered the will to pull out his smartphone. He started to draft a text to Helen to confirm his attendance, but then, as he was hovering over the Send button, he placed his phone to the side, sighed, and pulled his blanket over his head.
Helen, meanwhile, made her way back to the lobby, where Chuck was waiting for her. He pushed her to his handicap accessible van.
“You make any headway?” Chuck asked.
“Not sure,” Helen replied.
“I know you have a heart of gold, but is Chris really worth your time?” Chuck asked. “After all, think of everything he’s done. You should truly ask yourself: is he beyond redemption?” Chuck closed Helen’s door, got into the driver’s seat, and started the engine.
Helen, who stared out the window in thought, contemplated her answer.
“No, I don’t think so,” she replied with a shake of her head as she thought back to Chris’ apology, which felt so real even though it was conjured up in her imagination. “Call it wishful thinking, but I think everyone’s worthy of a second chance.”
“I don’t like it, but I know there’s nothing that’ll stop you from trying,” Chuck replied before switching the subject to an arguably more important topic: food. “Hey Helen, should we surprise your parents with dinner?”
“Sure!”
“On our budget, the best I can do is Taco Bell. Sound okay?”
“Hey, I’m not complainin’,” she replied with a smile. “Taco Bell it is!”
And so the grandfather and granddaughter, after a fast food pickup, returned home to the quiet suburb outside of Station Square where they enjoyed a nice, peaceful evening with their family.