_
Year 3263, day 356:
“Things are coming along nicely, if I do say so myself. Not a single conflict has been recorded throughout this year-long interval, the fabric of our little universe is stable, and world order has returned to a peaceful state of mind for one and all.
And yet… I can’t shake that feeling. That empty feeling. I thought that I’d finally grieved out every last drop of sorrow my body could take. But it’s become much more apparent: this is no wound, this is a scar. And scars don’t heal.”
The orange light of the setting sun shined through the window of his study, guided there by the bright surface of the snow that lay elegantly upon the outside streets. The wintery chill that swept through the air had no effect on what was on the other side of the window.
The room was bathed in natural warmth, a chemistry of the sunlight from outside and the body heat of the individual who of which the study belonged.
Even the smallest of humidity was enough to make this particularly portly character shed mild sweat, as the ink he used to form the words on the paper became smudged by the side of his hand as he wrote.
The middle-aged walrus dropped his pen. He looked at the smudgy mess on the paper, before looking over the blackened skin on his hand. He let out a sigh.
A knock sounded at the front door.
“I’m coming” the walrus yelled, as he snapped the logbook shut, and stuffed everything, pen, papers and all, into the desk side drawer.
After pushing his chair in, he waddled out of the study and pulled open the front door.
“How are you, Rotor?” a young female echidna reached in and placed her gloved hand softly on his arm, as the icy chill from outside rolled in past her.
“I’m happy you could make it, Lara-Su” he replied, closing the door behind her briskly.
Lara-Su took a moment to bathe herself in the warmth before Rotor escorted her into the study.
“Coco?”
“How about later? I think we should head down there and back ASAP, before it gets too late.”
Lara-Su finished her sentence before noticing the half-empty mug of coco on the desk, already on the go.
“Then again, there’s no hurry…” she said.
“No, you’re right” Rotor grabbed the mug swiftly, leaving a ring on the desk surface, and threw down the last of the hot beverage, “...besides, it wouldn’t be fair to keep Tails waiting now would it?” he smiled.
Lara-Su waited in the hallway as Rotor turned out the light and shut the door, with the reassuring knowledge that the warmth the room had been blessed with would be waiting for him upon his return.
Rotor walked straight towards the front door, without even thinking to put on his coat, hanging nearby.
“Are you…sure you’re gonna be warm enough in that?”
Rotor was wearing nothing but a red, knitted sweater with green rims.
“My body is already suited to this kind of temperature. Did you forget?”
Having originated from the coldest part of the planet, Rotor was more than prepared for any temperature below freezing.
“I guess I did, didn’t I?” Lara-Su chuckled to herself. After taking a moment to retighten her scarf, the two of them set out into the cold, locking the door behind them, sealing the house in near darkness, by this point, with only the slightest glint of orange from outside remaining.
_
One year ago:
Electronic beeping, in a steady sequence: the first thing Rotor could hear. He began to regain consciousness. The muscles in his face went into overdrive, just to do something as effortless as opening his eyes. He was met by a blurry mess as his muscles tugged open his eyelids. His vision took a moment to focus. Although not perfect without his glasses, he could still make out what he was staring at above him: a tiled ceiling, with bright lights.
The beeping continued.
He felt a slight discomfort in his right arm, like something was sticking into it. He could feel that his body was covered in something much silkier than that of his standard black robe, and that his back was nestled into something soft, and yet, his back was throbbing. And there was something sticky clinging to his chest.
With great effort, he pushed himself up, his back twitching with pain. He had found the source of the beeping: a heart monitor standing by his bedside, hooked up to his chest. The light-green room was big, but empty: an entire room just for him.
“Well, talk about luxury…” he uttered under his tried breathe.
Since the room was empty, with nobody around to interact with, Rotor decided to just lie back down and stare at the ceiling, maybe get some more rest. But first, there was the matter of remembering how he got here to attend to.
“Lets see” he thought, “I was alone in that horrible dungeon… and then King Sonic, Tails and Lara-Su where there… and then Knuckles… he helped us escape… that’s right…that’s…right…” he drifted back into a light slumber.
“And Cobar...”
Rotor stirred, as he heard the creaking of a door. Lara-Su walked into the ward, he saw as she breathed a long sigh of relief at seeing him finally awake.
“Thank goodness” she said “How are you holding up?”
“I’m alive. I’d say that’s a start” Rotors gloomy face was brightened up a touch with a welcoming smile.
“Hey, we did it ya know. King Shadow is gone, and as long as the rightful king is around, he won’t be coming back for a very…”
“Where’s Cobar…?” Rotors smile faded, as did Lara-Su’s optimism.
“He’s here in the hospital. Even after what he had put him through, King Shadow still had enough decency to send him to the right place…”
“Please” Rotor slowly lifted his arm, with what little strength he had, to silence her. “You don’t have to pretend. I know that he’s…” Rotor couldn’t bring himself to say the word.
Knowing that she could no longer continue to sugarcoat the truth, Lara-Su pulled up a chair next to Rotors bed, and she slumped down into it with a look of hopelessness.
“My memory of the old world is a little hazy, but Cobar… he was special to you, wasn’t he?”
Rotor lied back into his bed, as his chest began to go tense.
“Whenever I was with that man, I just felt like I was at home, ya know…?”
“He wasn’t just your friend, was he?” Lara-Su knew exactly where the conversation was going, and she didn’t mind.
The conversation was cut short, when an echidna nurse walked into the ward.
“It’s good to finally see you’re awake, Mr. Walrus.”
“Ma’am, I need to know where Cobar is…”
The nurse became hesitant.
“Cobar Echidna, can you tell me where he is?”
“Mr. Walrus… I am truly sorry…”
And with that statement alone, Rotors chest loosened: it felt like everything in his stomach had gone splat against the inside of his belly.
“I want to see him…” he said bluntly.
“Wha…?”
“I want… to see him…”
“That’s not possible at this current time. We’re still trying to…”
“I have to see him!!” Rotor grabbed the drip sticking into his arm and ripped it straight from his skin, tore off the patch on his chest, and flung the bed sheets onto the floor, as Lara-Su and the nurse looked on in shock.
“ROTOR, NO!!” Lara-Su screamed, as Rotor fell flat onto the hard, cold floor with a crash loud enough to wake the Nerb King himself.
The nurse ran frantically to his aid, as Lara-Su tried to lift him by the arm, but Rotor was desperate, Rotor struggled to get away from the two woman as much as he could, practically pulling excess strength from thin air at this point. His eyes began to sting with tears, as he continued to yell sorrowfully...
_
Now:
Natural light had faded just enough that it was now time for artificial light to take the torch. The streetlamps lit up one after the other, and the snow-covered walkways of New Mobotropolis glistened under orange spotlights.
Carolers over in the community park nearby belted out festive tunes in celebration of the Winter Solstice, with a lantern each in hand to make their joyful faces visible to those listening and watching in festive spirits.
Watching from further across the park was a certain young two-tailed fox, who was keeping one corner of his eye on the sidewalk.
As he waited, his attention grew more towards the carolers, as he began to zone out, losing his concentration on the sidewalk, trying desperately to take his mind off the cold. He became drowsy, his eyes squinting…
“Tails?”
Tails had snapped out of his trance from hearing Lara-Su’s voice. She and Rotor had shown up without his noticing. Tails laughed awkwardly.
“Hey, you made it…” Tails said.
“It’s good to see you, ol’ pal” Rotor gave Tails a warm brotherly hug.
“Hey, Rote. Listen, Sonic is sorry he couldn’t make it tonight, it’s just that, in the Queens current condition…”
“Say no more” Rotor interrupted.
“We better head to the airfield. I’ll call Harry and tell him to start the airship…” Lara-Su began to fondle around in her pocket.
“Oh… you already arranged transportation?” Tails said with a slight look of disappointment on his face.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I already went through the trouble of bringing out the old Tornado for old times sake, and you’re telling me you’d rather take public transport? The nerve of it” Tails said jokingly.
“That small thing? Sorry Mr. Prower, but I don’t think that fossil could carry the three of us”
“I thought ahead: installed an extra seat. One of you can sit in there, while the other wing walks”.
Lara-Su looked at Rotor; Rotor looked at her, both with uncertainty.
“You’re kidding, right?” Rotor shook his head at Lara-Su’s expression, which could only be described as “young child with unrealistic expectations”.
“I thought you could glide through the air like your dad: why should that bother you?”
“Not at this time of year: I can’t do fierce winds. Wing walking is no different. And I figured, since your body is more suited to the cold…”
“I’m not balancing on top of a biplane at my age”.
“Don’t you wanna get the same thrill and excitement the King got when he was your age, Lara-Su?” Tails suggested to her.
Lara-Su began to list multiple reasons why she would not stand on the wing, and Tails continued to try and convince her further, as Rotor just stood and listened.
As the debate raged on, Rotors senses caught wind of the carolers in the park. Rotor directed his full attention to the singers, as Lara-Su and Tails’ debate transitioned into a mild “blah-blah-blah…”
_
“This song… it happens to be a personal favorite of mine.”
Rotor was sure he could almost feel a warm touch on his hand.
“It tells the story of two friends who used to go traveling together. One day they became stranded in a fierce snowstorm while traveling back home through the mountains. They only had one blanket to keep them warm, only big enough for a single person to use.”
“The older of the two allowed his dear friend to have the blanket to himself so that he could keep warm. The youngest was reluctant to let his friend die for him, but the eldest insisted that he had lived a meaningful life, that he was ready to part ways with.”
“And so, the youngest kept himself shielded from the cold, while the eldest sat on the mountain peek and allowed himself to freeze to death. Once the storm had passed, the youngest cut the heart from his friend’s lifeless body. He buried it in the snow, and then he prayed to the great Aurora to make his heart one with the planet: the planet that he had spent his life loving.”
“Several days after the youngest had returned to his village, with his friends’ body to be put to rest: back on the mountain, a magnificent blossom tree had grown. It grew from the seed that was his heart. Within just a year, the tree had grown ever more until the entire mountain was nothing but a wonderland of greenery. From then on, whenever the youngest looked up from his village to the green hills overlooking, he had the comfort of knowing that his friend had truly started his life anew…”
“You know… I’d sacrifice a blanket for you”, Rotor spoke through his mind, to the familiar voice that he was hearing.
“That’s easy for you to say, blubber-boy” the voice had spoken in a comfy affectionate tone, which Rotor was very fond of.
_
“Then it’s settled!!”
“Huh!?”
“We’re taking the Tornado!!”
Rotor had returned from his daydream to learn that Tails had defeated Lara-Su in what could very well have qualified as being the debate of the century.
“How did you convince her?” Rotor laughed.
“He didn’t” Lara-Su’s face was comparable to that of Ixis Naugus on one of his bad days, “I was the one who convinced him to travel by public transportation. Then Harry called and told me the aircraft burnt out its engines…”
“I can live with that” Rotor said with delight at the thought of revisiting a relic of his youth, “but I’m still calling that back seat.”
“Okay, you win…” Lara-Su knew it was only logical, but she still dreaded it with every fiber of her being.
_
1 Year Ago:
After the unexpected events that had occurred not long before, Rotor was now en route to visit his dearly departed: as Lara-Su pushed him down the hallway in a wheelchair, being led by the nurse.
“If you wanted to get out of bed that badly…” Lara-Su said.
“My back hurts…”
“You brought it upon yourself…”
The group had wandered where emotion drains from the soul, where anyone can feel as dead as those who lay within. This place wasn’t as well lit as the blinding lights of the ward that Rotor had all to himself.
Lara-Su quivered as a discomforting chill slipped down her spine. The nurse seemed completely unfazed: of course, she must come and go from here all the time.
The thought of seeing the man he once loved, now a vessel no longer inhabited by a living core, was terrifying. As he was being wheeled through to the cold room where he laid lifeless, the idea of pushing Lara-Su out of the way and making a break for it back out the door had crossed Rotors mind, but his will was stronger.
The three of them halted, after coming up to a metal table where a sheet covered a body-sized assortment of lumps.
Lara-Su quivered. The nurse looked on sympathetically. Rotor knew what awaited him under that sheet: the last ever sight he will see again of his hearts desired…
“Can I… be alone?” Rotor said, having paused to clear his throat halfway.
Lara-Su respectfully stepped out of the door, followed by the nurse. The door closed behind them, slowly, but firmly.
Rotor wheeled himself to the head of the table, where a face lay obscured by the sheet. He reluctantly gripped the edge of the sheet, and after taking a moment to brace himself for the despair that he had been expecting, pulled the sheet down.
_
Part 2 coming soon.
Merry Christmas
