Revelations

Melinda awoke with a groan and stirred under the sheet, trying to clear the fog from her head. Her thoughts were still scattered and she wasn’t sure where exactly she was or how long she had been out. She only knew that the cold metal against her back meant something had gone horribly wrong and she likely needed to make herself scarce.

Not wanting to make a scene, she listened intently for signs of life in the room around her. After what felt like several minutes of nothing but the gentle ticking of a clock breaking the silence, she decided to make her move and cautiously sat up, pulling the sheet down to her chest.

A normal person would’ve been shocked at their surroundings, but then again she wasn’t exactly a normal person and waking up in a morgue wasn’t entirely alien to her. It also brought some level of relief as she could have, and had woken up in far worse places after feeling the cold, familiar touch of death temporarily and fruitlessly claiming her.  

As the last of the fog cleared from her mind, she immediately remembered how she wound up bidding yet another temporary goodbye to the world of the living. She had been driving down main street on her way home from shopping and a delivery truck had come speeding out of a side-street right into the driver's side door of her car. The last thing she could remember before waking up here was searing pain all over body and the feeling of the car being thrown before she blacked out.

Oh how she would love to call up that 1-800 number and tell someone exactly how his driving was. It was an enticing thought, but outside of a horror movie a call from a dead woman complaining about her killer would be written off as a prank and not worth the risk to her cover.

Looking down at her bloodstained fur, she only had one immediate conflict and mild embarrassment with this whole mess. She really wished she’d have woken up with clothes on because sneaking out of a hospital in nothing but a sheet wasn’t high on the list of repeat performances that she enjoyed taking part in.

She also felt bad about the fact she would have to ask her easily embarrassed son to go into her room and find her some clothes to bring along when she met up with him. He was probably already a nervous wreck from waiting for her to get word to him without that little hurdle. Showing up covered in blood was also likely not to help matters. He was smart and mature for his age, but his understanding of her healing factor still didn’t do much to calm the instinctive emotional reaction to seeing his own mother looking like Bloody Mary Worth herself.  






Had anyone even told him yet? He could be at home right now thinking her dead for real or in some sort of deep trouble. What about Sonic? If Miles did know Sonic likely did as well because those two were like brothers. That would mean undertaking the delicate process of letting him in on what she really was. She guessed when she re-grouped with Miles they would have to talk about that one. Even if he was unaware of her current situation the two were to close to keep Sonic out of the loop forever. Some of his other friends would likely have to be let in as well.

Those things would have to wait, however. Her her main concern was finding her way out of the hospital and to a phone, she would also have to see about recovering some of her things later on if they hadn’t been given to Miles yet. He more than likely would’ve had an interesting experience explaining the scottish broadsword in the backseat of her car and the dagger on her belt. She prayed if that was the case he remembered all those times she claimed to have studied ancient history in uni and rolled with it. The dagger could be written off as a combination of protection and the eccentricities history buffs often have.

She pulled the sheet tightly around her like a dress and as she climbed down off the table, thanking God that she hadn’t been shoved in a storage drawer yet. Not daring go looking for a light-switch, she relied on her naturally good night vision to find the door as she crossed the room. There was luckily no signs of life other than her own careful footsteps and nothing but a dark hallway greeted her as she cautiously eased open the door.

Peeking around the heavy wooden door she could plainly see the light from above illuminating the sign that marked the stairwell at the end of the hall. They must turn the basement lights off after the morgue staff leaves for the night and leave the rest of the place lit up, even after visiting hours. She figured it would be best to look for an emergency exit in the stairwell instead of trying to sneak through a hospital that was likely full of patients and staff. Introducing herself as the corpse that just came through trauma a few hours ago likely wouldn’t end well, or really in anything that didn’t involve a priest and liberal usage of the word zombie.

Of course, they’d have to deal with a body they’d assume stolen, which would mean they’d end up contacting Miles and Sonic before the next day was through to break the news to the next of kin and the person they’d assume was keeping an eye on him. She would owe that poor kid big time for the hell she was putting him through.

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A shiver ran down her spine and she pulled the sheet closer around her body for warmth as she dialed the numbers on the pay phone that luckily sat right across the street from the hospital. A cold August night was not the most opportune time to be using an outside payphone while nearly naked, save for a thin sheet obviously designed more to protect a corpses modesty that for warmth.  

The phone rang once, twice, three times before a kid’s voice answered, one she knew well.

“Hello?”

“Miles, it’s me,” She barely spoke above a whisper, not wanting to draw to herself in the unlikely event that someone happened by.

“Mom? Are you okay? I was getting worried because it’s been hours since the accident and you were torn up pretty bad,” She could tell he was trying to stay calm, but he was obviously a nervous wreck and couldn’t hide that fact from her. She knew him too well for that.

“Honey, I’m fine. Are you doing okay?”

“I think so. I mean, I feel better now that I know you’re okay,” He sounded unsure and she could tell something was bothering him. Her maternal instincts made her want to talk to him about it right there, but she knew it would be best to wait until they were face to face.
 
“Miles, I need you to meet me somewhere but there’s something I need you do first. Can you do that, sweetie? Can you help me eith something?” She really did need his help, but she also figured getting his mind on the task would help calm him.

“Is something wrong?” He sounded worried.

“No, everything’s fine. I just sort of woke up, how do I put this?” She searched for the right words to say it delicately without embarrassing him too much, “If I said I woke up in my birthday suit, would you know what that meant?”

“Oh God. Mom,” embarrassment had definitely began to creep into his voice.

“Would it be less embarrassing if I mentioned I’m wearing a sheet?”

“A little”

“If it helps I could make into a toga or something,” She spoke in a obviously playful tone, intentionally try get a laugh out of him to ease the tension.

“Mom!” He said with a chuckle, just as she hoped he would. She could barely stand to hear him so upset and it was just as much a relief to her picturing the smile that must have brought to his face.

“I mean, I’m sure I could make one of those Roman crowns out of this bush behind me. That way I could even tell anyone that asks that the theater bus broke down.”

In reply to that they both broke down laughing, him in response to her joke, and her simply because it felt good to have a genuinely happy moment again after an evening that must have been hell for him, just as it was for her..

“Feeling a little better?” After several moments she finally caught her breath and found the ability to speak again.

“Yeah, I’m just glad that you’re okay,” She could hear the difference in his voice, he was still nervous but it was obvious that he had calmed down and his mood had elevated considerably.

“Think you can pack me a change of clothes and some soap with my other things, and meet me at the workshop you have in the ruins?”

The workshop in question wasn’t much, just a place to store his and Sonic’s plane, the Tornado and for them to occasionally spend a couple nights in when things were busy. There was a shower there she could use and it would give her and him some time alone to talk before one of his friends got worried and caught up. They needed to come up with a way to break it to them gently.

“Yeah, I’ll get things ready as fast as I can and see you there. Just be careful since you don’t have your sword,” He was a smart kid and obviously knew that some immortals would jump at the chance to come after her while she couldn’t effectively fight back.

“I promise I will, but be careful to,” She knew he could take care of himself, but it didn’t stop her from worrying about him just as much as he did her.

“I will. See you soon, mom.”

Her mind now at ease, one thought creeped to the forefront as she began to plan her next move. She absent-mindedly spoke it aloud as the realization hit her

“How the hell am going to make it to the Mystic Ruins?”

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“Oh, this wasn’t one my better ideas.” She groaned at the sudden impact as the train came to a halt. She had managed to make her way to the train-station a few blocks from the hospital and stow away in the baggage car of a train that was making it’s next stop in the ruins.

“Squawk! Suck it up! Squawk!”

“You’re lucky I like animals to much to make fried parrot out of spite!” She cursed the annoying bird that had been her only company the entire trip. It’s owner had definitely not taught it any manners but DID teach it a very colorful vocabulary and repertoire of phrases.

“Like you’d do it, toots!”

“Listen here, featherbrain, I-,” She was cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps and knew he’s have to make herself scarce.

“You’re in trouble!”

“I want to make very clear that you haven’t won and I’m making a tactical retreat!” She hissed through her teeth as she made her way to the back door of the car and forced it open.

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She let out a sigh of relief as she reached the top of the cliff and the workshop came into view. The light in the window and familiar sounds of tools told her that he must have gotten there first and decided to work on something while he waited. He tended to put his mind to his work when he was nervous as a coping mechanism of sorts.

Rather than risk beating in the door, she crept around to the side of the building where she could see the light from the open garage door. Scanning the inside of the building she quickly spotted Miles with his head buried under the Tornado’s maintenance hatch as he fiddled around with something on the engine. Engrossed in his work, he didn’t notice her or respond as she made her way up behind him

He jumped when she placed her hand on his shoulder, and the the sounded of his head colliding with the metal hatch echoed into the night.

“Ouch!” He exclaimed as he slid to the floor, rubbing his head.

“Crap, are you okay, hun? I really didn’t mean you startle you like that.” She crouched down and gently brushed his hand out of the way to inspect for for injuries, “Here, let me see it.”

He reached up and placed his hand on hers, “Mom, I’m fine. I guess I just didn’t hear you come in”

“Sorry,” She adjusted the sheet around her body and sat down next to him

“I really didn’t expect you so soon, I figured it would take longer for you get here on foot,” Miles crossed his arms and leaned back against the the fuselage, facing her.

“I actually caught the 2:00AM from Station Square, it was the luggage car special if you catch my drift,” She gave him a sly smile

“I hope it it was pleasant, at least”

“I had a great time, except for the sudden stops and that damn parrot”

“Parrot?” Miles cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll explain later, right now I’d like to get cleaned up. I feel like Carrie White,” She looked down at the stained sheet covering her form like some macabre parody of a wedding dress.

“I didn’t want to say anything, but you do smell like that fridge Sonic forgot to plug in last summer,”

“Hey!” She laughed as she reached out and playfully messed up his head fur, “The gas and oil you seem to bathe in every time you work on this stuff doesn’t smell much better.”

“You can’t complain when I learned it from you!” he lunged forward and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

“I guess not.” She returned the hug with her free arm and held him close as they both laughed.

It was a moment of calm, of happiness that melted away the stress of the night and temporarily put her mind at ease. The questions and fears looming over her faded for that instant because the moment was all that mattered. A moment of peace and genuine happiness between mother and son.

It was several minutes before they finally caught their breath and separated

“I left your things by the bathroom.” Miles crossed his legs on the floor as she stood up.

“I hope you didn’t have too much trouble explaining the... “ She trailed off for a moment before motioning with her fingers to signify quotation marks ““Equipment”, that was with me”

“Your coat and the stuff you we’re carrying was the easy part. I think they kind of assumed the dagger was for protection, and you’re coat was untouched in the back save for some dust and debris from the crash. I just brushed it off.” His face turned bright red as mentioned the coat.

“Something wrong?” She found his reaction odd, as her coat didn’t seem like something he’d be embarrassed to handle. She even used to let him cover himself with it as they watched TV when he was was younger.

“I didn’t notice at the time, but I guess after I pulled it out I was hugging it like some kind of security blanket and wouldn’t let go. Sonic mentioned it later because it freaked him out and he was afraid I’d gone into shock or something.” He averted his gaze, obviously embarrassed, “I just feel stupid for being that worried”

“Hey, I’m sure it was a stressful moment,” she leaned back against the tailfin of the plane.

“I just felt dumb because I knew you’d be okay.”

“Maybe, but no-one else did and I’m sure it was hard when no-one was there to talk about how I’d be sneaking out of the hospital morgue dressed in a bedsheet later, which reminds me. I don’t know if there was any cameras down there but if you see anything about leaked footage of a ghost roaming the hospital basement, download me a copy, ” She said.

“Thanks, and I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckled.

“Did you have any trouble getting my sword?”

“Er, not really. I got the some funny looks when I snapped out of it and fished out of the car, though,” He rubbed the back of his head and grinned, “I remember Sonic talking about it looking like something out of Braveheart.”

“I’m honestly kind of surprised he was able to recognize a Scottish sword that WASN’T a claymore, he’s smarter I give him credit for.” She gave a playful smirk.

“He did manage to keep this plane from falling apart before I met him. I mean, only barely but it still flew,” Miles grinned right back

“Hey, there’s some stuff I want to talk about after I get cleaned up. Find some warm clothes and we can go for a walk. I’ve spent way too time stuck inside cramped spaces today,”
“
Sure thing.”


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Melinda let out a sigh of relief and ran a hand through her matted hair as she made her way towards the bathroom mirror, letting the sheet wrapped around her body drop to the floor as walked. The duffle bag in her hand made a soft thump as she tossed it on the counter with her sword resting on top.

She wasn’t wrong when she assumed she looked like hell and the first thing she noticed was the blood streaked down her face from what must have been a head wound. She looked down and ran her fingers over the similar stains on her chest and stomach, then picked at the matted fur. She instinctively ran her finger over a particularly dark spot below her breast, along one of her lower ribs and winched.

“The hell?” She looked down and saw a bit of fresh blood on her finger tips.

She stepped closer to the mirror and noticed something shiny in her side, barely large enough to visible. She ran her fingers over it again, more carefully and felt something hard and brittle embedded into her side. She dug in with her nails and carefully grasped the object before gently pulling it out.

She held it up to the light, a shard of metal about an inch long and half as wide as it’s biggest.

“I hate it when that happens,” Occasionally large chunks of debris like bullets or the aforementioned shrapnel could interfere with her healing abilities and keep wounds forced open, and thus had to be dug out.  

She tossed the chunk of metal in the sink and pulled a bottle of soap out of one of the pouches on the side of the bag before stepping across the room and opening the shower door.

A moan escaped her mouth as she fiddled with the knobs and finally felt the warm water run over her body, she just stood there a moment, letting it wash over her before scrubbing at a spot on her stomach.

She took the moment to think about what she had decided to do and how she would go about it. Normally her kind would handle this sort of thing by packing it up sneaking away to somewhere they wouldn’t be recognized, somewhere they could make a new identity for themselves. Not this time, though.

The thought of sticking around somehow had crossed her mind, but it was at that moment when she held her son close and listened to him laugh that she knew she couldn’t run. She would obviously never leave him behind and she also knew she couldn’t rip him away from his friends. She could never hurt him like that.

Instead of running she would stay and face this mess. With his help she’d find a way to explain what was going on to everyone in their lives. Granted, that was easier said than done because it wasn’t like she could just walk up to them and unceremoniously spit it out. Detailed explanations and convincing would be in order.  

“Hi, I just wanted to let you know that even though I died in a horrible car wreck I’m better now because I’m actually a 1200 year old immortal warrior that just found your friend in the woods when he was a baby and adopted him.”

She began to scrub her matted hair as she contemplated the best way to break the news to everyone.

Sonic and Knuckles had both seen some strange things in their travels, so they would likely be the easiest to break it to. If it came down to it, the old tried and true method of demonstrating her healing factor would do the job. A simple cut on the hand could suffice with no theatrics or fanfare. She still had no idea why so many of her old friends went straight to mortally wounding themselves when a small demonstration is much less traumatizing for those involved.

Amy, well Amy’s potential reaction honestly scared her the most because that hammer really looked painful. Maybe Miles or one of the others she told first would know of a way to handle it.

Then there was Val and her daughter, Cream. That poor kid probably lost it the minute someone explained to her what had happened. She have to be careful and patient dealing with both of them.

For the next few minutes she simply tried to relax and enjoy in the feeling of the warm water rinsing away the soap from her fur and taking any last bits debris and blood with it, watching as the swirl of red being washed down the drain slowly faded away and was replaced by nothing but water.

After finally shutting off the water, she grabbed a towel and dried the water from her hair before quickly rubbing it around her shoulders, arms, torso, and finally legs in an attempt to dry as much of the water from her fur as she could. She then grabbed her tail and began to work the water out of the matted and soaked fur as she made her way over to the counter.

She rummaged around in the bag, pulling out her undergarments and slipping them on. It felt good to finally be wearing something besides a sheet. When she looked up into the mirror she adjusted the straps of her bra and smiled, glad to finally be looking like something resembling normal. It was strange how quickly things were settling down for the moment.

Her jeans were the next thing she fished out of the bag. She savored the feeling of finally putting on some warm clothing as she pulled them on and buttoned them up before pulling up the zipper. Almost instinctively, she began rummaging through her pockets and pulled her wallet from her right front pocket. She ran her thumb over the upraised dark blue Celtic design set against the light blue leather of the wallet, which remained surprisingly clean and untouched.

The image on her ID smiled back at her when she flipped it open. She could almost recite the information from memory just the way she wrote it nine years ago when she had to adopt a legal identity for the first time in years to adopt Miles.

Melinda Rosemary Prower, born March 7, 1986 on Cocoa Island. Height: 4ft, 6in, Weight: 90lbs, Hair: Black, Eyes: Green.

Over half of it was fiction of her own invention, even her birth place was a lie because she couldn’t really list a place that no longer existed outside of historical documents. Her first name and physical description were the only things were things that weren’t outright lies serving to mask her true nature, and soon most of those would belong to a women seen as dead by the system while she carried new ones. It was the same endless cycle repeating itself.

A list of names cycled through her head as she quickly finished dressing. She had been a honorary member of the MacLeod clan once, would a name like be too obvious with the legacy it carried? Reinard maybe? She’d have to come up with something.

She made sure her gear was secure and pulled on her her overcoat before reaching for the doorknob. The next few hours were going to be interesting, to say the least.

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It was a clear night with the stars and mooning showing brightly against the deep black sky, and their light reflecting off the Master Emerald. The two sat upon a rock high up on the hill overlooking the shrine.

Melinda glanced over at Miles, who was sitting with his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt, looking up at the stars.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s been bothering you? I mean, outside of the fact I died tonight.” Melinda asked.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to come home,” Miles answered.

“MIles, you know I’d never leave you behind, right?” She placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I know, but I just didn’t know what to do because everyone saw you die and it’s not like they’ll just forget. I didn’t know what was going to happen or what we were going to do,” he began to nervously ramble.

“Calm down, we’ll figure this out,” She gently pulled him a little closer.

“Will we have to move away or something?” Miles gave her worried look.

“No, of course not. We’re staying right here,” She smiled down at him.

“How? Everyone thinks you’re dead.” Miles questioned, she could tell that he wasn’t convinced this was going to work.

“I’m still working on that part. but listen: We’ve both made some of the best friends we could ever hope for here and I’m not going to run away from that, nor am I going to make you run away from it and leave them behind,” She spoke firmly, but gently.

“So, we’re going to tell them? Do you think they’ll believe us?” He asked.

“Well, I assume Sonic was with you when you identified the body, right?” She said.
“Yeah, don’t remind me.” He shuddered.

“Then we have one person that already that saw me clearly dead, and yet here I am.” She waved her free arm in a motion not unlike a model presenting her new outfit.

“I guess, but is anyone going to believe the part where that’s because you’re like 1,000 years old and immortal?” He asked, still obviously confused at how all this was going to work?”

“Remember the first time I explained to you, after you found me lying dead in the living room?”

“Yeah, I was little at the time and I had almost cried myself to sleep next you by the time you woke up. I thought you were dead because I kept begging you to wake up, but you wouldn’t.” He closed his eyes and shook his head.

Her eyes widened and she considered slapping herself for a moment. “Miles? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to remind of you of that right now. You’re probably already stressed as it is”

“No, it’s okay. It’s not really a bad memory anymore because it was also the night you told me all about immortals, and started telling me stories about all the things you’ve seen and done.” He managed a weak smile.

“You didn’t really believe at first though, did you?” She once again relaxed, relieved that she hadn’t upset him.

“I didn’t really know what to believe, until you showed me” She watched the look of realization spread across his face as he spoke.

“So you remember how I showed you?” She asked with a knowing smile.

“I remember you said you wanted to show me something, and told me I had to trust you. You took out that knife you keep hidden on the back of your belt and started to slice the palm of your hand open. I was scared because i didn’t know why you we’re hurting yourself, but then you held out your hand and showed me. The cut kind of glowed and sealed up, there wasn’t even a scar.”

“It was then I explained to you about an immortal's quickening, our life-force. I explained how it gave us the ability heal our wounds like that, sense each other, and even gifted us with perfect memories.” She finished the story.  

“I actually remember getting a little excited because it was like something from a comic book, I remember thinking about how you were like a real-life superhero.” He said

“You we’re somewhere between to scared and too excited to sleep, so we watched cartoons until you passed out. I remember you clinging to me on the couch.” She softly laughed as the pleasant memory played back in her mind.

“So you really thing we can make this work?” Tails asked as he looked up at the stars.

Before she could answer they both heard familiar voices nearby and approaching foot steps.

“What makes you think he’s out here?” The first voice was unmistakably Knuckles.

“I remember him saying they used to come here together.” The second was without a doubt, Sonic.

“ I guess we’re about the find out, I hope it won’t come down to putting on a demonstration like that, but I’m prepared it does ” Melinda leaned in close and whispered to Miles.

“Uh-oh,” Miles quickly turned around to face the pair, “Hey guys, what’s up,”

“Sonic, am I going crazy or is that…” Knuckles trailed off mid-sentence.

“Depends, are we looking at Tails sitting next to a vixen who has her back to us, and also happens to have long black hair, and who happens to be wearing a tan trenchcoat?” Sonic answered.

“Yes,” Knuckles spoke carefully, “and did you just describe who I think you did?”

“Melinda?” Sonic gulped.

“That’s what i was afraid of,” Knuckles said

“Guys, I know what you’re thinking and I can explain everything.” Miles said, “You see there’s these people, and mobians that are sort of, well, they-” He stopped mid-sentence as Melinda gently placed a hand in his shoulder without turning around.

“Honey, why don’t you let me try to explain? You’ve done plenty for me today,” She slowly turned around and crossed her legs atop the stone, looking directly at Sonic and Knuckles,

“What are you, some kind of robot sent after him?” Knuckles dropped into a fighting stance and raised his fists.

“Guys, calm down! It’s really my Mom.” Miles frantically tried to call them down.

“Miles, it’s okay. They have every right to be suspicious and I’m sure we can get this straightened out,” she gently pulled him back.

“Lady, I don’t what you are but there’s no way you can be Melinda and I think you need to stop taking advantage of my little bro’s grief like this” Sonic shouted

Melinda closed her eyes for a moment and smiled, it brought a certain warmth to her heart seeing first hand like this how much Mile’s friends truly cared about him, and hearing out of his own mouth that Sonic considered him as a brother.

“What are you smiling about,” Sonic cautiously stepped forward.

“He was alone for so long, and I spent so many years watching him bullied and forsaken. I have to thank you for truly being the first friends he ever had and the best he could ever hope for.” Melinda answered.

Knuckles began to lower his guard and Sonic followed suit.

‘I remember the day you helped him home after one of those little punks gave a particularly bad beating, of course you didn’t look much better. He began to idolize you after that and the day came that he learned to keep up and followed you to that old rust-bucket of a plane and fixed it up.” She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to look at Sonic.

“Is, is that that really you? How?” Sonic stepped forward, his anger obviously subsiding.

“It’s a long story, I’d recommend you both take a seat.” She said.

“I’ll stand,” Knuckles said

Sonic simply shrugged and sat down in the grass, not taking his eyes off her.

“I was born a long time ago, in what you now know as Scotland, in a place that’s now known as the home of the MacLeod clan. My tribe didn’t exactly keep calendars but the first season I actually saw the date written out based on the modern calendar was in the mid-10th century, and I was already about 100 years old by my best estimate,” She paused, anticipating the obvious question.

“You’re over 1100 years old? How is that even possible when you barely look older than Rouge?” Knuckles questioned.

“20,” She said.

“What?” Knuckles asked

“I’m physically around 20 years old by my best count because that’s when I became like this, when I died for the first time.” She answered.

“Wait, how is that possible? No One can just come back from the dead,” Sonic questioned.

“Yet, here I am in one piece and just as healthy as you are,” She said

“Hold on, what’s your real name?” all eyes suddenly turned to Knuckles as he spoke.

“Melinda, well, sort of. I took this name during my time in modern Scotland because it was derived in part from Melissa, my actual given name and sounded a bit more local.” She answered.

“No, your last name,” Knuckles clarified.

Melinda just laughed as Miles and Sonic looked back and forth in confusion.

“Does someone want to fill me in?” Sonic asked.

“Prower can’t be her real surname.” Knuckles answered.

“Knuckles, what are you talking about?” Miles asked.

“Well, your name and always struck me as odd because it’s not even really a name. It’s just a French word for “Archaic”. It also couldn’t be any kind of given name because if she was telling the truth, she was like 800 years old when it entered common usage,” Knuckles explained.

Melinda gave him a sly grin  while Sonic and Miles just looked on in shock. He may have been gullible and sheltered, but he definitely wasn’t stupid considering the little language lesson he just gave his friends.

“Uh, Mom?” Miles looked up at her with questioning eyes, his confusion obvious to her.

“You’re friend is smarter than either of you assume, probably due to how much reading time he has on his hands down there,” Melinda caught Knuckles tensing up out of the corner of her eye as she put an arm around Miles and pulled him closer. She wondered if he still thought though her a threat, “I was born before anyone really had last names, and the last one i took before I found you was way too suspicious to most anyone alive now, and definitely to other immortals”

“Wait, so you adopted me with a fake identity?” Miles asked

“Yes, I choose the name because I liked the irony in having a name that literally means archaic, I am a walking relic of the past, after all.” She answered, wiping a tear from her eye.

“What was it?” She noticed he looked almost hurt.

“If you’re afraid I’ve hidden something from you, I haven’t. You already know.” She could still see the two out of the corner of her eye as she spoke to Miles, Knuckles seemed to legitimately be getting nervous and Sonic simply watched intently, she could feel his gaze as he looked right at her.

“I don’t quite understand,” Miles said.

“Don’t you remember when I told you about how I fought in the Scottish Rebellion, and who I fought along side? How I was made an honorary member of their clan?” Melinda said.

“Wait, you mean you were really a MacLeod?” Miles asked.

“So your name was Melissa MacLeod as of something like 200 years ago?” Knuckles questioned before she could answer.”

“Knuckles, are you going to fill the rest of us in on what’s going in that thick skull of yours?” Sonic asked.

















“She was the most beautiful women I had ever seen and everything from her firely orange fur to that the flowing raven hair that nearly reached her hips captivated me, but that beauty concealed sharp steel and the heart of a true warrior. Yet even then, she had a certain vulnerability and a vast capacity for kindness. I could see it all reflected in those breathtaking emerald eyes that somehow reflected both boundless compassion and an unbreakable will.

I could see her strength when she spared with the others at the barracks, fighting with a savage grace that was unmatched by any man there. She fought with speed and skill that seemed almost inhuman and mirrored that of the best masters I had ever seen despite her young age.

Her compassion was revealed to me as she played with the village children and I watched her comforting a young girl that had fallen and hurt her ankle. As she held this child and quietly whispered comforting words I realized that she would make a brilliant mother and wondered if maybe she had grew up with a younger sibling and developed these instincts helping care for them.

I saw both together as one the day some thug decided beating up little boys was a good idea and she knocked several of his teeth out without a second thought. I don’t even think she noticed all the people staring at the aftermath because her full attention with was on trying to stop the poor kid’s broken nose from bleeding.

The same bastard took it out on another kid later that night, but this time he tried his luck with a knife. When some of us found the three of them he was beaten unconscious and she was sitting in the dirt, cradling the child and sobbing. He had died in her arms before she could even lift him off the ground and it tore her apart worse than any wound could.”

  “What the heck was that?” Sonic asked.

“It’s an old journal page I found in the ruins,  the date was smudged but I could make out that it was in the 1800s. another torn scrap I found mentioned the name Melissa MacLeod,” Knuckles said.

Melinda grew silent as the memory came to front of her mind, and she instinctively wrapped Miles in a tighter hug.

“Are you okay?” Miles asked as he returned the gesture.

“I’ll be okay, honey. I just had a bit of a moment when i remembered that night.” Melinda took a deep breath and relaxed her arms without completely letting go.

“I thought that place had been abandoned for centuries, except for the guardians.” Miles said.

“They have, they wiped themselves out long before my time. The things on that page happened in a small settlement miles from here.that was mostly made up of natives from a neighboring clan. I’m still not entirely sure what happened to them but I guess the man that wrote that journal made good on his plan to travel, and he must have lost those pages there.” Melinda said as she rubbed her eyes.

“Wait, so that story Knuckles just told was really about you?” Sonic asked.

“Yes.” Melinda answered.

Sonic seemed to be sizing her up, she could tell that he was deep in thought and debating if he should believe any of this or not. A smile eventually spread across his face.

“I don’t know about Knucklehead back there, but I think I’ve heard enough to roll with this, and everything he just said tells me you’re a good person, no matter what you are. You’re also my best friend’s mom and so I guess I can trust his judgement call that you’re still cool. Sonic said.

“Wait, so if THAT’S what he knew about her, why is Knuckles so nervous?” Miles asked.

“Yeah, Knuckles, why so skittish?” Sonic added.

“How was I supposed to react when I thought she was dead?” Knuckles questioned.

“Wait a minute, were you afraid?” Sonic teased.

“Of course, I was trying to protect-” Knuckles stammered

“What’s the matter, thought she was a ghost?” Sonic said with a smirk.

“Of course not, why would I ever believe such superstitious nonsense-” Knuckles tan cheeks started to turn as red as the rest of his face.

“I can’t believe it, the great guardian of the shrine is afraid of ghosts,’ Sonic broke down laughing.

“How can I be afraid of something I don’t believe in?” Knuckles stammered

Sonic simply answered with continued laughter.

“Well, I guess things are almost back to normal,” Miles said with a smile as he and Melinda watched the two argue.