Just a quick note before you dive in; this story is the first of a trilogy, all three of which will centre mainly around the trials and adventures faced by the young heroes made for each other. I'm currently studying at University, so updates may be slightly spardoic, but I'm devoting a little time every day to writing what I wish to end up as both an engrossing read and a personal success. I'd be deeply grateful if you could spare the time to review it; constructive criticism only builds a better writer. Oh, and tell me what you enjoyed too, of course.
That's about it. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.

A young, twin-tailed fox stood behind a wall of thick glass, knowing that the next few seconds would determine whether he could have a few rare hours of peaceful sleep, or if his wounded soul would torment him for yet another night, granting him no rest until his throat was dry from crying and his pillow stained with tears.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed a button.

"Come on, please work..." implored the fox, praying that the plant sitting in the clear specimen chamber in the next room would survive, bringing him one step closer to achieving happiness in life once again. He watched as his incredibly complex machine hummed smoothly to life, parts working in tandem to start producing the bursts of radiation which he seriously hoped the plant could withstand. The orange fox's heart began to pound as the machine really got going, releasing its peak concentration of radiation. Each moment that the plant stood tall lifted his spirits, every passing second of its survival giving him a wonderful feeling of hope...

But no. His face creased as the plant's leaves similarly started to shrivel, the first sign that it was doomed to share the same fatal fate as all the others.

"N-no, why won't you - I can't - please don't-" his mind despaired, a crushing sense of defeat silencing him yet at the same time burning his insides like bile.

Tails collapsed to the ground, eyes stinging while the machine died down.

Until now no failed trial of this experiment had produced a reaction in him that powerful. Then again, that was because at those times he knew his machine could be improved. Every stage of the process could be optimised, each part refined. Most importantly, he had believed that his hope would never die and that he would never give up.

But after five months of nothing but frustration, his resolve was starting to crack. Besides, this machine was now the absolute best he could possibly make it; there was nothing left to perfect. It was supposed to be his masterpiece of engineering as well as the solution to his long state of depression. And he had failed.

Tails didn't even need to look into the workshop to know what had become of the plant. He knew that by now it would be a withered, blackened mess. His head sunk lower as he reflected that he and the plant now actually had a lot in common.

Pressing another button which would immediately cleanse his whole workshop of the harmful radiation, he returned to the only slightly larger part of his house where he lived and slept. Not that he slept much anymore; in fact he actively avoided it whenever possible. Even if he could master his emotions enough to fall into a slumber, there was no escaping the inevitable nightmares, the bombardment of broken but all too real images in which he had already killed the person he loved most in the entire universe countless times.

Tails' thoughts remained dark as he retired to his room, wondering who would really care if he removed that pane of protective glass and allowed the radiation to consume him. As if in answer, his eyes fell upon the plant sitting in front of the window, the beautiful flower atop its stem swaying gently.

"Of course, you would care wouldn't you Cosmo?" Tails said. This plant was the one he eventually hoped to place safely in his regeneration machine and was the only thing that was left of his beloved friend after her death. Well, at first it had only been a seed, but after its planting, it had grown astonishingly quickly. It had just seemed right to keep her name as it was in life.

"I swear I won't give up." Tails told the plant, gently stroking one of its leaves. "Ever since you died I've promised that I would never stop trying to give you the life you deserve, and I intend to keep that promise." Although he didn't say it out loud, he knew that he practically owed Cosmo his life anyway; she had sacrificed herself to save not only him but also every one of his friends and a lot of other lives besides. The worst part, by far the most hideous twist of his entire life, was that he had been the one forced to kill her. The raw guilt weighed him down every day, and even if he could bring her back he didn't think that he could ever forgive himself. What would she say to him? "I just feel so lost, Cosmo." Tails spoke, wishing for some otherworldly force to carry his words and thoughts so she could hear him. Oh, how he missed her...

A knock at the front door snapped him out of his muddled thoughts. A visitor? At this time? Tails checked his watch and realised that it was half past one in the afternoon; a very normal hour for someone to visit. "Ugh...what's wrong with me?" Tails knew that his erratic sleeping patterns were affecting his sense of time, but this was just shameful.

Going downstairs and opening the door revealed Sonic the Hedgehog standing on his doorstep, tapping his foot as though the eight seconds he'd been made to wait for an answer were the longest of his life. Tails couldn't help but smile. "Hey Sonic, good to see you!"

"Heya buddy, how's it going?" Sonic replied, his trademark grin plastered all over his face.

Tails' smile faltered. "Uh, not so good, to be honest. I keep trying, but..." he trailed off.

"Hey, no worries, I know you'll get it right in the end!" Sonic was of course fully aware of Tails' efforts to bring Cosmo back to life; all of his friends were. Tails would often like to think that it was his pure love for Cosmo that had kept him going through these hard times, but he knew that without the regular visits by his friends he would have grinded to a hopeless halt quite a while ago.

"I don't know, maybe. I just feel like I've done all I can to get it functioning right but nothing seems to work."

"Tails, you need to rest." Sonic said, his tone turning more serious. "No offense, buddy, but you look a bit of a wreck."

"I feel like one." Tails sighed, looking down at himself. The sheen which his orange and white fur usually retained had vanished, leaving it looking messy and unkempt and he didn't need a mirror to know that his eyes were sunken, their normal sky-blue colour somewhat diminished. "I want to rest but I'm just so afraid that if I don't keep myself busy, my mind will ruin me with those images and nightmares and -"

"Listen to me, Tails." Sonic cut him off. "If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. That radiation might be a bit strong, but you're still doin' good with that other thing, yeah?"

Sonic was right, as usual. The fact of the matter was that even if he perfected the radiation to the point where every plant in the world survived it, there would be no point in putting Cosmo in the chamber; for all its complexity, the machine was incomplete. It needed one more part, the final stage of the process which would perform the actual regeneration. The radiation's background presence was necessary for a successful regeneration, but if the plant was already dead by the time the last stage kicked in, it would be like performing CPR on a skeleton. In the dark.

The problem was that to some extent the part needed to be made out an extremely rare material, so rare in fact that Mobius' scientists had never been able to study its effects and uses to give it a suitable name, forcing them to name it after the person who discovered the first tiny fragment: Mowarium. Tails liked to call it Nowherium.

Despite this, many Mobians were in agreement that there was likely at least one huge supply of it deep underground, but no-one knew where. For this reason he had spent many hours of reading books and surfing the Internet on its appearance, chemical make-up and known physical properties in order to help him build a detector that would be able to guide him to any Mowarium within 100 miles. Unlike the fiasco he was having with the rest of the machine, this project was actually paying off. Indeed, he was expecting to complete his detector within the next few days. Even so, having every last molecule of Mowarium in the world at his disposal would be useless if he couldn't get everything else perfect.

Forcing a more positive attitude to mind, Tails managed a smile and said "Yeah, the detector is coming along well. Thanks, Sonic. You guys always know how to make me feel better."

"No problem Tails. So long as Eggman isn't around, we can all feel a lot better anyway."

Tails chuckled. "Yeah, I'm glad he hasn't showed his ugly face since we've come back. Still, where is he? I can't imagine him ever stopping his stupid plans for an 'Eggman Empire' and he's had loads of time to make his next move."

"Yeah, we'd all like to think he's turned over a new leaf but something tells me he's out there finishing his next ridiculous scheme." Sonic pondered, more to himself than anyone. "It doesn't matter, though." he said, turning his attention back to Tails. "He could come at us with a robot designed to smash hedgehogs, crush foxes and cook medium-rare steaks all at the same time and we'd still blow it up."

By now Tails was full-on laughing, something he hadn't done in a while. It felt good. "Haha! Yeah, he likes his food, doesn't he? For a guy with a massive brain he's very narrow-minded."

Sonic winked. "Too right. Anyway, he's not a concern at the minute, what you need to focus on is getting some rest, some time to regroup before you try to tackle the problems you're having. Promise me you'll at least take the rest of the day off; go for a run, have a decent wash and do something you enjoy, yeah?"

"I promise, Sonic. I'll just drop water bombs on Amy's head and see how long it takes for one of her hammers to appear, eh?"

Sonic laughed. "You won't have to wait long, buddy. Or even better stick post-it notes all over her laundry telling her to leave me alone! She's been a nightmare recently..."

"Is her charm still not rubbing off on you, then?"

Expecting a typical 'Hell no!' response, Tails was genuinely surprised when Sonic paused uncertainly, his eyes now averted to the ground.

"Ah, I don't know, Tails. Maybe 'nightmare' is a bit strong. I have been spending quite a bit of time with her, but I still think I'd like her more if she stopped pestering me for attention."

Tails smirked and nodded slowly, a plan already forming in his mind. Yes, this would be an excellent distraction for the rest of the day. Before he could think of something witty with which to tease him, Sonic changed the subject.

"Oh yeah, as for your sleep trouble, take a couple of these just before you go to bed." Sonic held out a bottle filled with small pills. "Before you ask me where I got them, they're actually what you gave me a while back; you of all animals should know I'm more of a snoozer than someone who always sleeps at the same time, so I don't need 'em. Should keep away those bad dreams, too."

Feeling slightly more assured, Tails accepted them. "Thanks Sonic, I'll give them a go. Anyway, I'd better go and have that shower."

"Yeah, I gotta dash too. Oh! One more thing." Tails raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Cream said she's gonna come round tomorrow, give you some more company. We can't have you getting like you were a couple of months ago, can we?"

Tails shuddered. He didn't want to remember those few weeks when he'd fallen ill, meaning that no-one had come round for a while out of fear of catching whatever he had. Feeling obliged to continue on his regeneration machine and with nobody to talk to, he had been forced to cope with both loneliness and his own shoddy work, which had become sub-standard simply because of how terrible he felt. By the time anyone was sure that he was no longer contagious, he had become so angry and reclusive that he'd actually lashed out at Sonic when he first visited again. Tails had sworn that he would never allow himself to become like that again. For Cosmo.

"Please don't remind me, Sonic. I still feel terrible about what I did. And yeah, I'd like to see Cream again, it's been awhile."

"Yeah, let's not dwell on the past. I've really gotta go now. I'll see you later Tails! Remember to enjoy your free time!" And before Tails could even reply, Sonic was a blue blur on the horizon.

"I'll try – no, I will enjoy it." Tails told himself. He shut the door and bounded upstairs to clean himself up.