New Beginnings

Epilogue

"Sonic, please," Tails sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "How old are you?"

"Not old enough to be all grumpy and jaded about having snow shoved in my coat, which clearly cannot be said about all of us," the speedster shot right back. Tails' scolding did nothing to disrupt the cheeky grin on his face, though his attempt at actually inflicting the action his words entailed on his little brother got brutally disrupted when a few quick tail movements spun the snow right back into his face and made him sneeze. "Heyyy!"

"Karma," the merciless retort from someone who had been dealing with such shenanigans for years and thus was thoroughly prepared to retaliate came. "And now hurry up, or we'll be late."

Shaking his head amusedly Sonic returned to jumping through the thick layer of the powdery white fluff the ground had been covered up with, Tails taking the easy route and lifting himself up to fly. After a warm summer and a stunning autumn winter had finally come in all its beauty, frozen droplets glistening in the sunlight and the snow a thick layer of fun and adventure to plough through. Everyone had been delighted when it got predicted the winter hallmark would not melt away for quite some time, some more than others; the speedster could think of a person who had been absolutely enchanted and mesmerised with this change in weather, his smile only growing at the memories they had made with each other so far. With so much snow on the ground, he could only believe today would be an equal success. "'Sonic' and 'late' don't belong in the same sentence," he told his little bro, though he gratefully accepted the other's hands to be lifted up from the ground and fly over the snow layer to Floral Forest Village; actually being late would be quite embarrassing, and thus they had to make haste. It had been a while since he and all his friends had met up, so a small party was in order... there'd be no better way to celebrate the beginning of the new year, after all.

Reaching the village in no time now that they were no longer hindered by copious amounts of frozen water Sonic grinned, Tails shrieking in offence when a red sneaker managed to kick some snow against yellow bangs all the same in a moment of inattentiveness. Darting away before the other could strike back Sonic let his gaze trail over the plaza of the town, finding it mostly in the planning stages still. They had been the first to arrive as well, Cream and Vanilla greeting them happily before the two heroes moved on to help with the set-up of the whole event. "There'll be music, and fireworks, a fire pit over there, and a meal," Tails recalled from where he and Sonic had brainstormed up the festivities, boxes of food and cutlery precariously balancing in his arms. "So there's plenty left to do still!"

"Sure is. Wonder when everyone else will arrive-" the speedster mused inbetween stacking his own selection of snacks, though his words got interrupted by an angry though familiar shout in the background. "Welp, at least the Chaotix are on time." And indeed, Vector's large form quickly came closer, as quickly as the other could drudge through the snow while chasing after a much smaller airborne bee whose laughter and manic jeers were clearly audible even in the distance.

"Oh, dear," Tails deadpanned next him, and Sonic all but choked on his laughter himself.

Waving at the other two detectives gracefully flying in from the distance Sonic muffled his chuckles as they neared, Espio securely tucked in Silver's arms from where the other was taking the easy way over the snow. "Greetings," the chameleon murmured as he was let down, a most displeased though fond smile sent at his colleagues bickering with each other in the distance. "We, ah... Yes. Hello."

"Have your hands full, I take it?" Sonic filled in for him with no small amount of amusement, though the chameleon smugly shook his head and clasped Silver's hand a bit more tightly.

"Oh, not me. This is Vector's issue- we divided the tasks, and he is taking care of Charmy today."

"And my task is to make sure Espio is doing well! Hey Sonic, hey Tails!" Silver spoke up with a chirp, though his free hand was curled into a determined fist and a most serious look shone on his face. Figuring the care-taking was actually more the other way around but also deciding he would not be the one breaking that to their time-travelling friend Sonic greeted him back, leaning closer to ruffle the other's quills and smiling as his digits ran over them. The spikes had once been weak and thin, but now were becoming increasingly as sharp as his own, he noted pleasedly. And he had to lean down just a bit less too to pet the other as well, and Silver's eyes were vibrant and the little bit of muzzle visible over his layers of clothes a peachy hue with slightly red cheeks, meaning he wasn't cold either... but other than that clearly nothing had changed, Espio laughing and wrapping his arm around the psychic's body and Silver squeaking in playful offense at the assault on his spines.