『Sontails』Mechanical Remnants

Mourn

Sonic woke up to Tails's relieved face and a cry of, "Sonic! You—you're awake—! I thought—I thought I'd lost you forever—!"

"How... how...?" Sonic struggled to remember, but all he could recall was his Dawn Shield shattering, then a device burrowing into his brain... literally burrowing in.

(Wait, something felt wrong. Why was my body so heavy? What about my Light?)

Sonic tried to summon his Light. Solar, Arc, Void, anything... but nothing. His Light was...

...gone.

Sonic struggled to sit up, startling Tails, who quickly helped him. In that instant, a chilling coldness on his shoulder made him look down. His heart sank.

Tails's arm... the one blown off by the Vex... was now a mechanical prosthetic, clearly Vex tech. Sonic couldn't mistake the metallic sheen... it was definitely crafted from a raw Vex arm.

"Oh no, no, no..." Sonic felt faint. "What... what did they do to you...?"

"...Sorry..." Tails recoiled, lowering the mechanical arm. "But it was the only way... to save you..."

"What... what do you mean??" Sonic felt a heaviness in his legs, too. He was pretty sure his super speed was gone as well.

He was just a regular hedgehog now, nothing more.

"The Vex... they implanted a suppressor in your brain. It's blocking all your abilities, your Light, your speed... and it's slowly assimilating you, turning you into a Vex." Tails sighed sadly, extending the mechanical arm, exhaustion etched on his face. "...I had to... I had to interface with their tech... to access it, to study it, to find a solution... I had to. I had to... let myself be infected... so I could..."

"Heh, well, we're a pair, aren't we, little bro?" Sonic gave a wry, self-deprecating chuckle, surprised he could even manage a bit of humor. "Can't they... take it out?"

Tails shook his head, another sigh escaping his lips. "It's fused... with your neural pathways. The Vex radiolaria... they've permanently altered your physiology... I can slow the infection, but I can't—"

Suddenly, tears streamed down Tails's face. He sobbed helplessly, burying his face in his hands, his voice broken and choked with self-recrimination. "I—I... I can't save you... Sonic... I can't remove it—I can't—!"

Sonic panicked for a moment, but sensing Tails's spiraling despair, he lunged forward, pulling him into a hug. "It's... okay. I'm not blaming you, I was just... asking."

Damn, what a lame thing to say. Sonic mentally cursed himself. He couldn't think of anything better, though, given his own despair. He wasn't the fastest thing alive anymore; he was critically ill. And to save him, his best friend had willingly let himself be infected by the Vex... all for nothing. After such a sacrifice, all that remained were two... terminally ill patients.

He just held Tails tighter, hoping to calm him down... and himself.

"...So, where are we, anyway?"

Sonic looked around. They were in an almost sealed structure, futuristic in design. Tails was silent for a moment. "The Threshold Tower. Part of my... doomsday contingency plan."

"A plan I didn't know about?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"It's a true last resort... it even factored in..." Tails couldn't quite meet Sonic's gaze. "...you turning against us. Whether through mind control... or just... snapping. So, I couldn't let you know..."

"Oh, of course. You're right." Sonic patted Tails's head reassuringly, showing he wasn't upset. How could he fault his little bro for that?

"How many days has it been?" Sonic looked around, realizing the structure didn't even have windows. It was impossible to tell what was happening outside. Tails glanced at a holographic display on his gauntlet. "Seven days... I haven't opened any comms channels, to avoid detection by the Vex... I don't know what the situation is out there."