Chapter Text
Right back where it all began…
It felt surreal to him, finding himself standing where he always had, expecting his sibling and closest friend to appear at his side at any moment. Before him was a wall of thick glass and metal, all that separated him from the void of space that was home to Planet Earth. It looked just as it normally did: most of its water-coated surface engulfed with cloud formations, certain land masses shimmering with man-made light. All while surrounded by twinkling stars. For a split second, he expected to hear the door hiss open behind him and a set of excited footsteps approach for their owner to gush about the sight before him.
Alas, that never happened. Mere wishful thinking as he momentarily dwelled upon the past. Still…he wasn’t supposed to be there, alone. He’d brought company along with him. He softly shook his head, then silently turned away from his view of space to peer at the doorway with muted curiosity. It remained open, as if patiently waiting for the only other occupant to step through. He could tell by her fluffed tail and downward ears that her anxiety and fear hadn’t diminished. She’d been this way since their departure on the shuttle. Not that he could blame her: she’d never been off the planet before. Animal instinct had been hard-coded into her biology. She was petrified.
They’d spoken prior to their arrival, rest assured that she’d need a little time to calm herself. Easier said than done. He could tell not only by her body language, but by the way she clutched her hat in both hands that she was uncomfortable being there. He’d promised her multiple times that the Ark was heavily reinforced by design and had its own protocols in place to prevent any major disasters, that she’d be safe no matter what. It HAD been home to a young girl, after all. She trusted him, but instinct put her on edge. Like a captured animal in a cage, awaiting an unknown fate. He’d thought giving her breathing room would have done the trick, but…
He’d try something else. The soft clatter of the metal of his shoes against the glass floor announced his nearing of the deck’s primary control panel. Following his manual input, metal shutters closed off most of the room’s windows and sealed the floor beneath him. The only viewing window to remain unsealed was the very one overlooking Earth. Finding this satisfactory, he turned to then approach her, patient as he joined her in the connecting hallway. “Faring any better?” he gently asked.
Her clawtips nearly punctured the brim of her hat with the tightening of her grip. Despite the brave smile she cast at him, he noted the shivering of her body. “Rather pathetic o’ me to be standin’ here like this, isn’t it?” she muttered. “Ya’ll lived up here for years without a care in the world, an’ here I am, actin’ like an asteroid’s gonna blow this thing wide open.”
He couldn’t blame her for believing in such an impossibility. She’d never been on the space colony, didn’t know it as well as he did. He had to be patient with her. A gloved hand carefully rose to set itself on the long sleeve of her light-purple shirt. The tails of her pastel-pink bow shifted against her chest as she barely straightened to address him. “If it eases your paranoia, I’ve already sealed off most of the chamber,” he told her. “I know this is an enormous step outside of your comfort zone…but this is something I’d really like for you to see.” His hand slid down her arm to close itself around her right hand. “No ill will befall you. I promise.”
Her shaking eased if only just, and she finally convinced her booted feet to uproot themselves from their place on the hallway floor. Her fluffed tail hung behind her as she let him lead her through the expanse of the observation deck to the singular window unobstructed by shutters. The awe the sight of Earth brought upon her saw her bat-like ears perk and blue eyes widen, as if it were enough to temporarily push her worries to the back of her mind. “I’ve only ever seen pictures o’ this view…!” she came to admit, his grip loosening on her hand to let her approach the glass. “An’ ya’ll got to see this on the daily?!”
He barely smirked. At least for now, she’d been relieved of her fear. He let her gush over the sight, lightly reminded of his lost sibling. G.U.N. had kept their word to make the space colony operational again, and this particular visit had been but one of the conditions he’d insisted upon in his voluntary joining of their ranks. Yet, there WAS an ulterior motive behind the both of them being present where he and Maria once frequented. It wasn’t on part of G.U.N.. Rising anxiety now filled him, despite him hardly putting it on display. As she carried on about pointing out her place of birth and the expanse of open water she’d crossed in her infancy, he silently stood at her right and spared a glance at his right palm. A short-lived flicker of reddish-orange Chaos energy summoned forth a gleaming metallic object. It rivaled the size and shape of his own Inhibitor Rings, but was made of platinum and adorned with gemstones in several particular colors in the formation of his Dra’Karms symbolism. A representation of his that she’d claimed to no longer dread.
She wasn’t paying him mind, too enthralled by the sight of her home planet. Well…right then was as good a moment as any. He knelt and silently presented the ring in one hand, albeit rather casually. She’d asked him something, but he never caught her words. Instead, he waited for his silence to hook her curiosity. Even she could not explain the swirl of emotions that then overwhelmed her with the turn of her head. In the same instant it took her brain to register his posture and the object he held, her left hand dropped her hat and her snout was snapped back towards the glimmering planet beyond the window. Dark eyelids had shut tight, struggling to fend off her open floodgates of tears. She fought hard with herself to contain her emotions.
“I understand the meaning behind our respective markings, but…I’d be lying to you if I said I was content with calling you my mate. I desire nothing greater than the privilege to call you my wife,” he proposed. Her right ear twitched at his words, which didn’t help her internal struggle. Blue eyes opened and immediately allowed pooling tears to fall, softly pelting the shielded glass under them. Her lungs felt as though they were filled with hot air following her next few breaths. This wasn’t how she pictured herself feeling with this once-imaginary scenario. She was almost too afraid to open her mouth to answer him, as if in doing so would somehow pull the innards of her body right out of her.
The tears refused to cease, even after she’d taken enough breaths to calm her shivering form and collect her thoughts. The glass window reflected her smile long before she turned to face him, once more. Her left arm had to stabilize her against the window. “...Yeah,” she eventually expelled, uselessly wiping away her tears with her wrist. “If it means I get to call ya my husband.” She’d be taking the visual of that smile of his to her grave, a memory then etched into the recesses of her brain. They held hands following his stance, guilt claiming his features. “It’s embarrassing to ask this of you, but…would you allow me to reserve this until the ceremony? I’m…afraid I’ve only had adequate time to have the one made,” he admitted as he shamefully stared down at the ring in hand. Slightly jarring at first, but she understood. No doubt the military had wasted little time putting him through trials and entry-level missions, leaving him few openings to have had more than one ring crafted. But given all they had been through together, what they’d recently endured…she owed him this much.
“I can offer a temporary replacement, until then,” he hurriedly added, not quite willing to leave her with nothing. She didn’t get to question him before he’d set about removing the ring from his left wrist–the very same one he’d lost and she’d returned to him. “Aw no, Moonlight,” she gently rejected. “Aren’t ya gonna need that?” He physically refused, freeing the ring from his person. “I can do without it for a little while. I don’t intend on waiting for too long,” he kindly smirked, offering a hand for hers before fastening his ring around her left wrist. She swiftly closed the distance between them with a grateful embrace, her ears pinning back. A fresh wave of warm tears began to fall, once more.
Not quite what he’d anticipated, but perhaps it was best to try for that kiss when she wasn’t a tearful mess in his arms. ‘Emotional little vixen’, he thought as he contently held her, silently berating himself for what he’d considered to be “unnecessary anxiety”. Perhaps that was what played tricks on his mind, as for the split second he’d let his red eyes wander to the window overlooking Earth, he choked back a gasp. He could have sworn he’d seen a familiar smiling face reflected back at him, gone in the blink of an eye.
Did…did SHE know?
*******************************************************
Citrus Vixen Farms was oddly active that day.
Not from the usual hustle and bustle that was farmwork, but with the Maelstrom family’s secretive activities within their own orchard. Nearly all of that year’s Summer crop had been harvested, but the scents of fresh oranges and other citrus fruits were still carried on the wind. Along with the voice of a particular vixen.
“You make me feel like my troubled heart is a million miles away~”
She’d worn another of her typical tank top/jean combos, this time in a light-pink top accented by a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. Her hat sported a matching red ribbon, secured to her head by its straps as she busied herself with pushing a wheelbarrow along the dirt path stretching from the main farm plot to the orchard. It contained various party supplies, tossed in to make transport easier as well as to reduce the number of trips from the barn. It had been six months since the Dra’Karms invasion, and the valley had gradually returned to normal. Tonya’s injury had since healed, allowing her to resume her usual duties–and training with Knuckles.
Shadow was not present, away with Rouge to fill the demands of G.U.N.. Tonya found his absence a shame, as she would have preferred him by her side and assisting with this party’s setup. But a deal’s a deal, and so far, the military had left the farm family be. With roads gradually being cleared and buildings rebuilt, life in Glacier Valley was picking up where it had left off. Save for this particular day, as the family had recently learned it was a certain twin-tailed fox’s birthday.
This whole “operation” needed to be a secret!
But that didn’t mean working in complete silence. Not according to Tonya, anyway.
“You make me feel like I’m drunk on stars an’ we’re dancin’ out into space. Celestial~” Just an upbeat tune that was stuck in her head for the time, and it helped make her task less tedious. “I see the light shinin’ through the rain. A thousand colors in a brighter shade. Needed to rise from the lowest place. There’s a silver linin’ that surrounds the grey~” she sang on, temporarily lost in her own little world. It was of no surprise and almost expected if any of her brothers joined in when she started singing–and this time was no exception. But instead of it being either of her older brothers, it was that of her spikey blue-furred one.
Who immediately picked up where the vixen left off.
“When I get lost, will it come back around? Things don’t look up when you’re goin’ down. I know your arms, they are reachin’ out from somewhere beyond the clouds~”
Wide ears perked below the brim of her hat as Tonya slowed her walk and glanced over her shoulder, catching sight of a rather miffed-looking Knuckles passing her by, an intact picnic table hoisted over his head. Atop the table was Sonic, seemingly relaxing as he joined his adoptive sister in song.
“You make me feel like my troubled heart is a million miles away. You make me feel like I’m drunk on stars and we’re dancing out into space. Celestial~”
Silently fed up with his “brother’s” shenanigans, Knuckles didn’t allow Sonic to continue the musical piece and opted instead to tilt the table backwards, catching the audible displacement of the falling hedgehog. The echidna softly grunted his satisfaction, but didn’t slow his steps. Tonya, however, did. Her wheelbarrow was set down as she stopped to check in on her younger sibling. “Ya good there, Blurberry?”
Sonic didn’t respond straight away as he pushed himself up. “Well, SOMEBODY’S jealous of my musical talent,” he played, brushing himself clean of dirt. “What were ya doin’ table-surfin’ anyway?” Tonya continued, gesturing towards Knuckles. “I thought you were in charge o’ the balloons?”
“Eh, already did ‘em.”
“Already?”
“Fastest thing alive, remember?” Sonic confirmed, briefly jabbing a thumb at his chest.
“An’ ya need somethin’ else to do…?”
“Well, I’d thought to give Knux a hand, but noooo…”
“Looked like you were takin’ a break to me.”
“What? He was heading back where we needed to go, anyway. Why not save a couple steps?” He could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t buying it. He gave in. “...Alright. I need something else to do.”
“Hm. Well…I suppose ya could–”
The two were interrupted by the arrival of Jake’s truck, announced not just by the hum of the engine, but by the nagging tone of their mother’s voice. “...And if you go droppin’ that cake after all the trouble Miss Lawrence endured to bake it, one o’ you is goin’ to be responsible for gettin’ me out o’ Azkaban, ya understand?” Josephine half-played, half-threatened through the truck’s open back window. Mak was the truck bed’s only occupant, and apparently responsible for protecting the birthday cake. They’d all dressed in proper late-Summer attire, all but Jake having brought their respective hats with them. It had been THEIR duty to go into town and fetch whatever food items they could find.
Both anthros had paused with feigned frowns. Mama Josephine was in a mood, again. “Are the presents wrapped?” Tonya prompted in suggestion. “I’ll get right on it,” Sonic accepted, gone in a flash of blue. The truck, meanwhile, slowed as it approached Tonya’s side. “Tell me you’ve some good news,” her adoptive mother greeted her, weary from having been driven all over the valley for supplies. The vixen understandably smirked back, “Knux just passed by with the last o’ the tables, an’ unless I missed somethin’, this should be the last o’ the table coverin’s an’ banners. I should get all this there by time ya’ll finish unloadin’.”
“Meet ya there, then?” Jake tossed out.
“You got it. An’ hey–Kitsune still doesn’t know anythin’, right?”
“Nah. Granddad’s got him busy ‘fine-tunin’ the farm’s equipment’. He shouldn’t suspect a thing,” Mak explained. Satisfied with the update, the vixen gestured the truck to go first, resuming her task as she followed after with the wheelbarrow. So far, everything seemed to flow according to schedule, and with plenty of time to spare.
They should have suspected a monkey wrench would be thrown into those plans…