Mirror Image

XXXI - Second Date

A corridor without end. Twisting, turning, the ground beneath his feet shifting and rocking, throwing him off balance. A door always in sight but never getting closer, and the fear; the fear clawing at his insides, dragging him down into an abyss of terror.

Now things were different. Polished marble, ornate pillars, total silence, and something in the shadows.

They came one by one, their cold dead eyes pierced by crimson light, and a smile filled with predatory instinct. They closed around him, and his feet betrayed him, preventing him from running.

Before his eyes the blue hedgehogs began to melt, their outlines losing definition as they warped and shifted into shambling, sticky masses that barely resembled his friend. They pawed at him with half-formed hands, globs of their flesh sticking to his sweat-drenched fur.

Slowly the sea of blue parted, and bright yellow light seared his eyes. The form of Super Sonic approached him, blazing with wild fire and baring his jagged bloody teeth. Tails held up his own hands to shield his face, only to see his wrists blackened and smouldering, his orange fur burnt completely away. Tails screamed, but he could not close his eyes.

From nowhere jets of crimson lights surged into the Sonics, blasting them into dust. Rapidly they fell before the crimson onslaught, and Tails saw the figure of a black hedgehog standing before him. With a grand movement of his arms he poured crimson lighting into Super Sonic, and with a deafening roar the fiend exploded with a flash of light, returning the atrium to silence.

Now Tails lay draped in Shadow's strong arms, his arms hanging around his neck.

"Shadow," he said in a dreamy exhalation, "you saved me! How can I ever repay you?"

Shadow said nothing, instead moving his face closer to Tails' own, a longing look in his eyes. Tails slowly moved his face towards him, bringing his pursed lips ever closer until...

"Tails, wake up!"

"Huh?" said Tails, opening his eyes. Above him, the dull grey of the hospital's suspended ceiling greeted him, broken up only by the red of Knuckles, who stood over him with a concerned look.

"You okay, pal?" he said, "the way you were moaning, it sounded like you were having another nightmare."

Tails sat up quickly, turning his head away from Knuckles to hide the crimson blush as red as the echidna himself.

"Er... yeah," he said, "a nightmare. That's what it was... you definitely didn't interrupt anything nice, no sir, you did not." He chuckled nervously, and Knuckles looked at him with confusion, before shrugging nonchalantly.

"Whatever, dude," he said, "I woke you up because you have a call waiting."

"A call? From who?" Tails said, his face lighting up, "maybe it's Sonic!" He leapt over to the other side of the bed, seizing hold of the phone with his heart jumping for joy.

"Sonic!" he cried into the receiver.

"Hi Tails," came a woman's voice from the other end, "it's Doctor Samuels."

"Oh," said Tails, his heart sinking, "I mean, oh! Hello Kate! How are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," said Samuels, clearly flustered by Tails' enthusiasm, "How are you though? I heard you got hurt in the fighting, and I was really worried about you."

"Actually, I'm fine. I got badly burned, but then not long ago something amazing happened. A burst of Chaos Energy healed me completely. The doctors can't believe it; they're keeping me in for tests."