For how Long will the Red Rose Grow

Discoveries

"I think we've found something!"

Tails's excitement made Sonic happy, despite how hard breathing was for him. He'd been battling the Hanahaki for a few months to that point, and each day that passed certainly felt like it would be his last. He could barely breathe without Silver's aid, as the two Chaos Emeralds didn't seem to cut it anymore. According to the research Tails and Shadow had been vigorously doing, he was approaching the final stages of the disease significantly faster than anticipated. Sonic had all but accepted his fate when Tails cried out from the hallway as he burst into the room with Shadow hot on his heels.

Silver was at Sonic's bedside, focusing his psychokinetic power on keeping the vines from completely crushing Sonic's sternum. He looked over at the two in as much of a start as Sonic did.

"You did?" The cobalt cried as loud as he could.

"Yes!" Tails reaffirmed.

"Its a bit more complicated than we anticipated," Shadow added, cooly, "but it could work without any other complications or drawbacks."

"What? Don't leave a guy in suspense!" Sonic sat up with Silver's aid.

"The Chaos Emeralds!" They both exclaimed in unison.

"I'm honestly embarrassed we didn't think of this sooner! Remember how you said you couldn't breathe well without one?" Tails asked, chuckling softly at his own ignorance.

Sonic gave a soft chuckle of his own, and nodded. "Yeah?"

"It makes sense! They hold unlimited power, and can preform miracles when gathered in one place!" The fox continued. "All we have to do is gather all seven, and use their miracle to cure you!"

Shadow shifted his weight, producing the purple gem from his quills and turning it over in his hand. "It sounds easy on paper." He started, halfway to dashing Sonic's hopes and dreams. "We have three, Eggman still has three, and the last one is still out there, undiscovered. Gathering them all will be a pain. Doable, but a pain." He hid the Emerald back in his quills again.

"Do you really think it will work?" Silver piped up, looking between them and the diseased hedgehog.

"Its worked previously," Shadow pointed out. "Brought him back from the dead."

"It's true." Sonic grinned.

"I was there," Silver agreed, "but what I meant was, would it keep the Hanahaki away permanently? Or would it come back thanks to the still unrequited love?"

"Hopefully, by that point," Shadow glared at him, "he would have told them and alleviated the issue." Sonic shrunk a little under his gaze.

The idea made sense in Sonic's head, at least. He'd had the same thought previously, that their miracle could've been the key to removing this debilitating disease from his system. He'd since forgotten about that, as after his most recent encounter with Eggman, the two emeralds he had tucked under his pillow hadn't been doing jack squat to help his condition.

The constriction began to return as Silver slowly deactivated his powers to give his mind a rest. His breathing became a chore again, but was still definitely doable without aid. He wasn't quite to his breaking point yet, and he could live with that.

"The next issue is Eggman. He knows of Sonic's condition, and will be absolutely relentless in getting and guarding those emeralds." Silver added, resting his hands in his lap. "And we need to get his three emeralds, along with the one we don't know the location of yet."

Tails fluffed his namesakes. "Leave tracking the last emerald to me."

"And leave Eggman's emeralds to me." Shadow rumbled, quills bristling. "I'll make him regret dancing this tango with us."

"And what about me? What do I get to do?" Sonic asked.

"Rest." Shadow barked.

"Stay in bed," Tails said at the same time as Shadow. "You're in no condition to go anywhere."

"But—"

"Sonic, this is serious. You could die tomorrow. You could be dead. Without any way to come back. The emeralds only revive someone once." Shadow snapped. "We can't lose you. Mobius can't lose you."

Sonic briefly waited for the 'I can't lose you', but it never came. His heart fluttered and sank, but he understood completely where Shadow was coming from. "Right, yeah. Sorry."

"I think it's time we told the others," Tails spoke, his head down and pointer fingers pressed together anxiously. "We need all the help we can get, and it's awkward to tell them to gather the emeralds hastily without any reason why."

"I don't want the others to know." Sonic mumbled, nearly a whisper.

"Sonic, you can't be selfish here. This is your life on the line." Shadow growled, but Sonic could detect the worry in his voice, the exhaustion. Just knowing about his ailment was driving the Ultimate Lifeform to the point of exhaustion. Sonic's heart sank even further into the vines in his chest.

"No, no, you're right." He admitted. "Just, be gentle when you tell them. And don't let them all rush to see me at once. I can only handle so much right now."

"Understood." Shadow gave him a brisk, taut nod. "As for the rest of us, we have emeralds to track."

"Right!" Tails beamed. "Let's save Sonic!"

——

Soooo, I was waiting to post this chapter until later, but I have a question for you all, my dear readers, that i would like your input on! I've had a burst of inspiration with this story, and I've finally pieced together how I want the ending to go (I knew how I wanted to end it, but not how to actually do it), and I'm very eager to get these chapters to you and round off the story!

However, I've not yet finished planning out my next story, so after I finish this one, I won't have anything new to publish. So, my question to you all is: would you rather me stagger the last few chapters out through the next couple months (one a month), OR would you like me to go ahead and publish them all weekly/biweekly? I've got the next chapter after this one written and edited, and the following one in writing atm, and I'm going to go ahead and finish the story now in drafts, but not publish them until I know what you all think.

I'm very excited to share with you guys the conclusion to one of my best received stories, but I'm also afraid to end it too fast. I'm having a blast writing it!

Please let me know what you all think in the comments, if you will, on wether you'd like the chapters weekly/biweekly until the end, or monthly until the end. Thank you!!!!

Appreciate you guys!
—SuperHedgies

Edit:
So I was planning to heed the vast majority of the comments to make the final few chapters published weekly, but my life had other plans. After finally finishing up any my uncle's house and getting our own home where I live, my grandfather has passed away earlier this morning (Sept. 14th, 2023). I can post the next chapter that's almost through editing here soon, but the rest might be a while.

Send thoughts and prayers please, this death hit me and my mother hard.

Thank you for understanding
—SuperHedgies