Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Get back here you freak!!”

The little fox fit continued to run through the streets of the small village, careful of not tripping over his feet as he focused on getting away from the angry bull behind him.

He paid no mind to the hateful looks coming his way. Of the way mothers shielded their kid’s eyes when he ran by or the utter disgust on the elders’ faces. Too used to it after all those years and too focused on losing his pursuer.

He didn’t plan on getting caught, he knew what he was doing wasn’t really considered legal- but he wasn’t hurting anybody! Besides, is not like anyone was using that stuff anyway, it wouldn’t hurt if he just took some of it, right?

“Eek!” He had to make a last-minute duck after multiple rocks were sent flying his way. Some of the kids in the playground had caught sight of him and decided to join in on the fun, giggling as they picked up whatever they could find and aimed it at him. 

It certainly complicated things, but this wasn’t the worst situation Miles had found himself in, not by a long shot.

He knew these streets better than anyone. Rounding a corner sharply to get out of the kid’s firing range, Miles kept running until a familiar alleyway came into view. He sent an apologizing smile to the lady on the flower stand as he grabbed some dirt from her pots, throwing it behind him and leaping over to the alley as the dirt created a small smoke bomb on his trail, shielding him from the officer’s view. 

He used his momentum to jump and land behind one of the many trash cans in the dirty alleyway. His small frame allowed him to practically disappear behind them. Miles held his breath as the red bull that had been chasing him for a while now continued to run down the street, mumbling some words under his breath that he didn’t quite manage to hear.

He stayed in his hiding spot for what he estimated was 10 minutes. Ears flickering as he registered the sounds coming from the street.

The commotion had certainly died out, citizens going back to their usual activities while making some not very nice comments about him. But more importantly, he couldn’t hear the security guard anymore, which meant it was time to move. 

He didn’t like staying in one place for too long, and the last thing he needed was for someone to find one of his hiding spots again. He was extra careful as he stood up, slightly hissing as his knee protested the movement, still sore from his last beating. The adrenaline had worn off, but no one seemed to have noticed him. Good.

He quietly made his way to the outskirts of the town, the forest beyond more welcoming than anyone in the village had ever been to him. It wasn’t until he had triple checked that he wasn’t being followed that he finally headed for his current hideout. 

It wasn’t as nice as the cave he had found during winter, but after Slash and his gang had found it, he had never been able to go back to it. This new place was near a waterfall and had enough plants around to shield him from view. Hopefully they wouldn’t find him as easy this time.

Miles finally took off the worn-out bag from his shoulders, laying down the tiny screws and wheels he had worked so hard to get and had gotten him into so much trouble.

He didn’t like stealing, but he didn’t have much choice. Each time he tried to ask something nicely, people would either give him hateful looks, laugh at him or in the worst case just started kicking him until he went away. 

Even then, he refused to snatch things from people’s hands. Everything he had, or even ate, was from the trash or leftovers he found. Sometimes, he was lucky enough to find whole pieces of food or half meals in the trash cans around town. Anything that was left behind by others was useful to him.

However, his resourcefulness wasn’t always enough. Work on his latest project had been put on hold for weeks now as he hadn’t been able to find the pieces he needed. Miles had scavenged all the possible places, but it was no use. His only choice was the town’s junkyard, and it wasn’t really stealing when the stuff he grabbed was going to be destroyed anyway, right? At the very least he could give it another use.

The junkyard’s security guard didn’t seem to think the same though. As soon as the bull had caught sight of Miles, after he had gotten distracted marveling at all the technology in there, he had chased him all over town while yelling means things his way. 

It didn’t matter now, but it meant that sneaking in there would be much more difficult the next time he needed something this specific. Shame, Miles loved every second he spent in there, to think people would throw away so many useful things just like that when half of the stuff in the junkyard was still functional- Miles certainly didn’t understand why people would trash their old, entirely functional, electronics just so they could buy the newer ones in the market.

Miles shook his head, he had to focus. 

Very carefully, he pulled the rusted, silver watch he had been working on for months now from under the rock he had been hiding it in. He had found it in the trash of some family last winter, it looked old and had stopped working a long time ago, but it was the most intriguing thing Miles had ever seen. 

It was unlike any other machine he had seen. Most of them were big with all sorts of engines and complicated systems, but the watch was so simple yet so complex at the same time. It fascinated him. He promised himself that, one day, he would fix it right back to its original state. Something so unique deserves to be treated with love and care. Besides, it was a challenge, and Miles loved anything that could test his mechanical skills.

He swiftly got to work, his hands working with precision and care as he started to replace the old pieces with the “new” ones. He had taken apart every single watch he had found in the junkyard, studying its insides and taking the pieces he needed. It wasn’t easy, and the system was very delicate, but he slowly started to get the hang of it. 

He must have spent hours working on the watch, as by the time he finally called it quits for the day, the sun was just about to disappear in the horizon. His stomach complained quite loudly, but he was too mentally exhausted to try and find any food. 

Instead, he put all of his strength into climbing one of the trees nearby. His knee hurt as he made his way to one of the sturdiest branches, and his stomach was a bit sore from both lack of food and the many hits it took a few days ago, but it was fine. He curled up into a ball and settled in for the night, tails coming in as a blanket.

Miles eyed them with a mix of hatred and love. His tails helped him when it was cold, and lately, he had found out he could use them to boost himself when he ran and could even get him to jump higher than any of the other kids! But at the same time, they were the reason nobody liked him. 

He was… wrong, at least that’s what everyone told him. Everyone else only had one tail, but he was born with two. Each time someone saw them, they would immediately change the way they saw him, saying mean things or calling him names- Miles didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, but everyone acted like it was this horrible, hideous thing- so it must be true, right? He was a freak.

He curled up further in himself, slightly shivering as a hard gush of wind flew by, body aching with bruises and an empty stomach. He could bury himself on projects all day and ignore all of his worries and hunger, but it was by night where he had nothing to distract himself with, where he had to face his situation. 

Miles hated the night. 

It just made him remember he would have to live like this for the rest of his life, wondering if he’d be able to eat something tomorrow, begging for his hideout not to be found, hoping none of the bullies went too hard on him next time. 

Miles went to sleep like all nights, with tails covering his body and tear tracks on his cheeks.

Sonic the hedgehog was having the time of his life.

The wind brushed against his spikes, the evening sun leaving a nice, warm feeling over his body and the sounds of the forest mixing around him as he ran past- This is the life he was always meant to be a part of. What he was born to do.

He grinned as the edge of the forest came into view, the line of trees disappearing in what appeared to be a cliff. Sonic just laughed as he quickened his pace, launching off and enjoying the few moments when gravity held no power over him. When he was free.

His eyes narrowed as he rapidly approached the ground. He curled his body, transforming into a blue spiky ball that rolled down from the hill that awaited him at the end of the cliffside. As soon as he made contact with the ground, he unfolded and dashed away with the same drive he always carried.

The city skyline finally took shape in the distance. The landscape turned from trees and plains to stores and buildings. Sonic had to stifle a laugh as he finally came to a stop in front of a chili dog stand, startling the poor owner who practically jumped a foot off the ground on his arrival.

“Hey there, I’ll be having the triple deluxe combo with extra chili to go, thanks.” Sonic just leaned on the food cart, tapping his feet as he waited for the dog to regain his bearings and process his order, as well as the reaction he knew was about to follow.

“You-you are Sonic the hedgehog!”  The dog practically shouted as he rearranged his apron and hat. Ah, there it was. Same good ol’ response to his arrival.

“The one and only! And do you mind speeding it up a little? I’m on a tight schedule.” Sonic winked as he counted down in his head. Three, two, one…

“EEEKKKK! It’s Sonic!! He’s here!!” Yup, here comes the fans. Sonic took a second to take a deep breath and put on his easygoing smile before turning to face the growing crowd that was forming around him.

“Oh em gee! Can you please give me your autograph?!”

“Sonic! Over here!”

“How was it fighting Robotnik?!”

“Why are you so blue?”

“Is it true you can run as fast as light?!”

“Please marry me!!”

Okay, if someone had told him that becoming famous meant he had to deal with crazy fangirls 24/7, he might have reconsidered going on all those interviews after kicking Eggman’s butt. But who can blame him! They were basically begging for him to appear on their shows! They gave him good money for it, and he didn’t think that being a celebrity would be this bad. Just look at how happy people looked in those fancy magazines covers! But thinking about it now-

“M-Mister Sonic? Here’s your order. A triple deluxe combo with extra chili on it, i-it’s on the house!” The dog shily tapped his shoulder to get his attention, a bag of deliciousness in his hand.

-Okay yeah, maybe Sonic could deal with the crazy fangirls if it meant he got free food.

“Thanks! Well, I’d love to stick around, but I gotta speed!” He made sure to grab the bag before speeding off, the screams from the crowd disappearing the further away he got from the city.

Sonic stopped a few miles away from there. A nice little hill with a view to the ocean. Sonic might not be too fond of water, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate the sight from a safe, solid distance.

He sat down and took a bite of his food while his other hand reached between his head quills, patting around until he found what he was looking for and took it out. He unrolled the map on the grass in front of him, using one of his quills to draw his notes on the forest and city he just visited.

After he finished, he drew back and analyzed the paper. Those were the last two spots he had not visited on this island. The forest had been particularly fun, there were plenty of falls for him to mess around with and seemed to have been relatively untouched from Eggman’s destruction. He would definitely go back there. As for the city, hmm… Sonic took another bite of his chili dog and, after chewing on it a bit longer, declared they were good enough for him to go back for. The fans would be a problem tho.

And that was always the problem. No matter where he went, after he saved the world from Eggman a month ago there was literally no place for him to go without getting swarmed by fans the second he stopped.

He was excited at first. He had gone from being a nobody to a world-wide celebrity overnight. Of course, going from getting weird looks due to his speed to being admired by everyone he met had been jarring, but it was also what he had always wanted.

At least, that’s what he thought he wanted. He soon realized people were just there to watch his skills or “uniqueness”, rarely did any of them show any interest in knowing him more personally. Hell, he sometimes thought that if he hadn’t stopped Eggman, people would just see him as a freak, the same way they did back in his home island…

Sonic shook his head, no point in thinking about the past.

Instead, he had to focus on the future. What did he truly want? He had thought becoming famous would help fix his problems, but it had kind of backfired and created even more. He knew for a fact exploring was when he felt the happiest, so maybe the answer had something to do with that. But he had already seen everything this island had to offer; his map was proof enough of that. So then what-

A glint caught his eye. There, down by the city’s ports, was a small landing field full of planes from all different sizes. The glint on one of them hitting his eyes as his owner applied a fresh coat of wax on it.

Sonic stared at the plane and then down to his map. Perhaps it was time to go somewhere else. He was sure he wouldn’t find what he was missing here, so maybe taking the Tornado out for a new adventure might be what he needed.

Sonic puffed out some air and grinned. Only one way to find out. He quickly packed his trash on the bag that once held the chili dogs and put his map back into his quills. Stretching a bit before standing straight on the hill. 

Sonic gave the ocean one last look. The sun was just starting to set in, painting the horizon in beautiful oranges and blues, he stared at it a second longer before he disappeared in a blur, making his way to where he had left the Tornado.

This was the start of something great. Sonic could feel it.

Chapter Text

Miles woke up to the sound of a crash.

It shook the ground, flickies flying off from their nests at the commotion. Miles himself almost fell off his tree from the surprise, so he couldn’t exactly blame them.

He held on for dear life to the branch he had used as a bed, careful of not making any noises as he left a few seconds pass. He would have liked to stay there longer, but his arms were starting to hurt from the position, so he silently jumped down to the floor.

He hissed more loudly than he would have wanted, the landing had reawakened the pain in his knee. On the bright side, it had completely woken him up.

A smell hit his nose. It was acrid and sharp in a way that made him want to cover his face. However, it also had an artificial feeling to it, one that reminded him of the gas station back in town.

Miles thought he might have a good idea what it was, but just to make sure… yup there it was. High above the trees, smoke was forming from what appeared to be the beach, judging from the way the wind was blowing.

Miles should probably leave. On any other occasion, it was probably Slash and his gang playing some stupid game or preparing some type of “joke” for him, but this fire didn’t appear to be made from the wood found around the beachside, it lacked that woody tint to it. Instead, Miles was certainly sure it was something chemical, and no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, his curiosity always got the best of him.

He made his way towards the beach as cautiously as he could. The closer he got, the stronger the smell became, it got to a point where Miles had to use one of his tails to cover his face, and hid behind some of the leafier plants on the outskirts of the forest. But it was worth it.

There, halfway buried in the sand, was the best thing Miles had ever seen. A small red plane with white decorations on its sides. It seemed to be a single engine aircraft, judging by its singular propeller at the front, but he was certain it could achieve incredible speeds. Miles could only imagine what a sight the plane would make in its full glory. Unfortunately, it seemed he found it in one of its worse moments.

Miles’ admiration for the aircraft had to be cut short as his ears flickered at another sound. A blue hedgehog with red shoes and white gloves that Miles could only assume was the pilot, judging by the dirty spots in his fur, was frantically running back and forth from the shore to the plane. Even from this far away, Miles could make out his panicked expression and slightly hear his cut-out swears under his breath.

The hedgehog seemed to be trying, and failing, to draw water from the ocean in a small bucket and throwing it onto the plane’s engine, where the fire most likely originated. Miles knew that simple water would be of no help with a chemical fire, and it seemed the hedgehog figured it out too after the flames only continued to grow.

He could practically see the gears moving in the hedgehog’s head as he stood still for one, two seconds, before he snapped his fingers and moved to stand right in front of the plane, his back against the engine.

Miles was about to do something, did the hedgehog really not know how dangerous it was to put your back to a fire??, but what he did instead froze him dead in his tracks.

The hedgehog had dropped down, arms stretched on the ground to carry his weight, and began to run. Miles watched in shock as his feet turned into a red blur, throwing a ridiculous amount of sand onto the plane’s engine in a matter of seconds. Gaining that amount of speed in so little time was absurd!! It was even crazier that he managed to create enough force for the sand to practically go flying, but it worked.

The fire disappeared between a blink of his eyes and the next. In its place, even more of the plane had been buried under sand. It seemed the hedgehog wasn’t too happy with this outcome though, as he grabbed his head with his hands and threw it back in an exaggerated gesture, a groan of frustration leaving him as he did. 

Miles was too stunned to do anything but watch as the hedgehog straightened back up, shook his head, and brought a hand to rest under his chin, a thoughtful expression in his face. The only thing giving away his impatience was his foot, bouncing up and down in increasing speed until it became a red blur that sent some small grains of sand flying around it.

He seemed to have found a solution, for he stopped bouncing his foot, gave a shrug at who knows what, and sped up towards the town.

Miles just stood dumfounded in his hiding place. It took him an embarrassing amount of time to process what had just happened, but he finally gained enough clarity of mind to step out and towards the buried plane, letting his tail fall from his face now that the smell was gone.

The hedgehog had certainly been… something, but Miles didn’t really have the time to unpack that whole deal. He wasn’t sure for how long the pilot would be gone, especially considering his surprising speed; so, if he wanted to get a good look at his plane, he had to be quick.

Miles made his way to the side right of the plane. It seemed it had fallen at an angle, two of its ailerons sticking up from the sand. Wait a second, two ailerons on the same side! It wasn’t just an airplane; it was a biplane!

He couldn’t stop his tails from wagging in his excitement. He ran over to the tail of the plane and stared at the decoration carved there. A thick white line created stark contrast to the red coating of the biplane, a blue star symbol in the middle, two wings expanding on its sides.

Miles could stare at it for hours; he shakily brought his hand to touch the metal, wanting to make sure this was real, that this wasn’t some sick joke or prank. He was touching a real plane!

He practically jumped 4 feet off the ground, tails helping him gain the altitude, before he forced himself to calm down. Shaking his hands and drawing deep breaths until he could focus again.

First things first, he had to clean off the sand from the biplane.

Miles looked around for anything that could help him in his task, his eyes caught on the bucket the hedgehog had been using to draw water from the ocean; it hadn’t helped with the fire, but maybe it could help in cleaning up this mess.

He picked it up and began to pour as much sand into it before dropping its contents further away from the aircraft. It was a tedious task, but Miles was determined to fix this magnificent machine up to its original glory.

At least, that was the idea. He soon realized that it would take him hours just to clean the front side of the biplane, he didn’t even want to think how long the rest of the plane would take.

But Miles wasn’t one to give up, he took a step back and analyzed the situation, a hand resting on his chin.

Maybe if he grabbed some of the leaves from the palm trees nearby? They were heavy though, and he would have to bring them down somehow… no, that wouldn’t do. A shovel would be of help, but he doubted he could find a complete shovel in the garbage around town, not to mention he would have to carry it all the way here and hope that Slash didn’t find him on his way back. So then what-

His train of thought stopped short as Miles stared at the spot the hedgehog had used to run in place.

There was a relatively deep pit from where the hedgehog had drawn the sand from. It was different from the rest of the beach, so Miles guessed that was the reason it had caught his attention. He looked at it a while longer before going back to the plane. One of the blades of the propeller was slightly sticking up from the mound. Most likely one out of the two blades.

Two blades… An idea started to take form in Miles’ head. His sight jumped from the pit, to the blade and then to his tails. Yeah… yeah! That could work!

He dropped down into the same pose the hedgehog had been using, arms stretched on the ground to carry his weight, but instead of running, he started to spin his tails.

He moved them in increasing speed, following the same pattern as a propeller would. Soon enough, Miles could feel a small breeze starting to gain power on his back. He risked a peek at the biplane and couldn’t help the gasp that left him. The sand was being blown from the stream he had created!

 A soft giggle formed in his throat, but it quickly turned into full on laughter.  He- he was using his tails to help somebody!! Miles couldn’t believe it, everyone had told him that his tails were only a problem, but this- this-!

Miles lost his balance in his excitement. One of his arms gave out and he could feel how gravity was trying to claim him. He brought his hands to his face, tensing up for the moment he would crash against the ground-

-Only, it never came.

A nice breeze was brushing against his body. Miles slowly removed his hands and opened one of his eyes in confusion.

He was- moving? The trees around him were starting to merge into the background, the three locks on his forehead flying in the wind.

Miles could only blink. He carefully looked down and saw that his feet were just- hovering?! He was about to freak out before a new sound hit his ears. One that was coming from behind him.

His eyes widened even more. His tails were still spinning, propelling him forward at a speed he didn’t think was possible for him to ever achieve.

Miles was speechless. A part of his brain was screaming over how illogical this whole thing was. But another, younger part that he hasn’t felt in a long time, was just happy.

His laughter returned; the sound so alien that it took him a moment to recognize it as his own. He spread his arms, just enjoying the wind as it hit his face, and continued to run on the beach. A light feeling in his chest.

Miles had no idea for how long he had been hovering, but he soon felt an exhaustion creeping in from his tails. Stopping had been tricky, it had been messier than what he would have liked, but he managed to go back to where he had started. In front of the biplane.

He had gotten too caught up with all of… that. That he hadn’t noticed his efforts had paid off.

The biplane was free of sand. A small portion of the front was still buried, but it seemed to be from the landing. All the way from the propeller to around the midpoint of the plane seemed to be covered in soot left from the fire, which was a shame. Miles would have loved to see the plane in all of its red glory.

There wasn’t a lot he could do to get the plane out of the ditch it had gotten into. But Miles knew for a fact that he could help fix the engine. It seemed to be the cause of the accident, after all.

Miles made his way over to the front and opened the engine hatch. Some smoke flew out as soon as he did, making him cough a little, but he got a good look at what the problem was.

There were many, but as with all things, Miles took it one step at a time.

He took out a screwdriver from one of his tails, it was a miracle it hadn’t fallen off, and started working in getting all the burned pieces out.

It was going to be a long day, but there’s nowhere else Miles would rather be than surrounded by machinery.

Okay, so, maybe Sonic should have brought the Tornado over for a checkup before he took her out on an adventure, sue him.

But it’s not as if he knew that leaving so suddenly would lead to the engine catching fire! Sonic had been busy enough drawing a course where he assumed was an archipelago, he thought that looking at the Tornado’s fuel would be enough.

But as always, his decisions came to bite him in the butt.

He had been enjoying the view from the skies when a burning smell hit his nose. Sonic didn’t even have enough time to panic before multiple red lights started to appear on the Tornado’s board, visible smoke coming soon after.

What happened after that was sort of messy, Sonic would forever deny being the one responsible for making all those high-pitched screams, but the important bit was that he didn’t die while landing the Tornado.

Or well, crashing would be more like it.

Come on now, between landing in the middle of the ocean while being surrounded by water or making a messy landing on some random island, Sonic would argue he got off the hook easily there.

 After taking care of the fire that had erupted from the Tornado’s engine, Sonic had a brand-new set of problems waiting for him.

First off, he had to figure out where he was. He may or may not be regretting doing so little research when it came to visiting new places, but where was the fun in that? The point of exploring is finding things out yourself, marveling at all those hidden wonders all over the world with the satisfaction that it was your own hard work what brought you there. Where’s the fun in reading it from a guide?

Priorities, Sonic, priorities.

Right, yeah, figuring out where he was. His best bet doing that would be by finding some sort of civilization. He knew from experience that, if a town didn’t settle by the ocean, they’d probably be somewhere in the middle of the islands they lived on, closer to the rivers and lakes, so he should probably go there and decide according to the stuff he found.

Welp, better get going. Standing in front of the Tornado’s crash side wouldn’t get him anywhere. As soon as he figured out what he was working with, Sonic would spend his time fixing the Tornado and trying to get her back in working order. He was no mechanic, but hopefully someone could help him or at least give him the proper tools for Sonic to at least get the Tornado back in the sky. He would hate leaving her behind in such a poor condition.

Sonic dashed into the heart of the island. He kept an eye out for any signs of civilization, but he also took his time to admire the natural beauty of the place.

Sonic wasn’t blind to the possibility of him getting stuck here for a while, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate the magnificence that each place had to offer. That was life, after all. You can’t always plan for what happens next, but you can take it one step at a time and appreciate what the universe throws at you.

Fortunately for him, the start of a road began to form under his feet. His quick steps echoing against the marble. He followed the path and soon enough found himself in front of a wooden sign, yellow letters popping up against a white background.

“Welcome to West Side Island!”

Hmm, that name did ring a bell, yeah. Sonic hadn’t read much about the place, but it seemed to be your average, run of the mill town with the same hundred or so citizens. But Sonic wasn’t one to go by just surface level impressions. Who knows, this town might be hiding some amazing things just waiting to be found.

With that thought in mind, Sonic ventured into the small community. There was a main road with all sorts of stores lined up at its sides, some smaller roads leading to what appeared to be residential areas. At the main road’s end was a roundabout with a nice little playground in the middle, the City Hall overlooking it all.  

Sonic whistled. For a small town, this wasn’t half bad. Way better than some of the other places he had been to before.

He continued walking on the pavement, arms at the back of his head as he whistled a tune that had been stuck in his head for a while now. Some of the citizens had stopped what they were doing to stare at him, kids tugging at their mother’s hand while pointing at him.

Sonic’s steps faltered a bit as he heard whispers around him, going slightly out of tune as some of the faces turned into disgust. It all was familiar to him; in a way he didn’t like. Not one bit.

It wasn’t until he caught sight of his own reflection at one of the store’s windows that he let his body relax. He was a mess, quite literally.

His body was more black than it was blue, dirty spots covering him from head to toe. He had forgotten to wash out all the grease he had gained while on the crash, no wonder people were looking at him weirdly.

Welp, he could take care of that later. Right now, he needed to get some basic supplies and something to help him with the Tornado’s current sand problem.

Sonic finally found a hardware store, the chime of the small bell marking his arrival.

It was exactly what one could expect. All sorts of tools were decorating the walls on his right, while the left one held multiple building materials, there was a displayer under the counter filled with all sorts of gadgets and other things Sonic couldn’t even name. But that wasn’t what Sonic was looking for.

“Uhm, hello? Is someone here?” Sonic asked aloud, hoping he hadn’t caught the owner on their lunch break.

“On the back, son.” A deep voice responded from deep inside the shop.

Surely enough, there was a small door leading to what appeared to be a garage on the back of the store. Sonic opened it and found himself in a decently sized workshop. If he had to describe the place in a word, it would be rustic.

A green walrus was hunched over an old car. A wrench on his hand as he grumbled some stuff Sonic couldn’t quite make out from the distance. Sonic quickly realized the store wasn’t only a hardware store, but also a mechanic shop. It made sense that a town like this would have two places in one, the opening on the garage leading to the residential area Sonic saw earlier.

“Dammed two-tailed freak, grabbing my old tools- Ah, hello there. Sorry for the mess.” The walrus took notice of Sonic’s presence in the doorway, still looking around the place. “Name’s Wally, at your service.”

Wally turned around from the car and faced Sonic with a hand stretched out in greeting, he had a white beard on his face that went down until his midsection. His eyes were tired, yet kind and his gloves were filled with grease.

He seemed to take notice of it too as he pulled away before Sonic could shake his hand, taking off his gloves and looking for a new pair. “Heh, you’ll have to excuse me there. I kind of forget how dirty one can get back here. My wife has to keep reminding me.”

Sonic gave a small laugh at that. “No worries, Wally, I get what you mean.”

“Oh my, it seems I have finally met someone who’s messier than me. Martha is never going to believe me, been tinkering around much?” Wally had evidently seen Sonic’s appearance, going to grab a clean towel and damping some water on it. “Here, it should help getting that off.”

“You could say that, thanks!” Sonic carefully took it from his hands, working swiftly and getting most of the grease off. Blue being once again visible. He would still have to take a bath later, but it would do for now.

“No problem, son. Now, is there anything I can help you with?” Wally asked as he took the now dirty towel, putting it on a drain nearby.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you had some biplane blueprints by any chance? Oh, and a shovel, thanks.” The mechanic stared at him as if he had grown a second pair of eyes. Before shaking his head and giving out a laugh.

“Aren’t you a weird one, hm?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Well, you are in luck. I used to be a pilot, back in the day. Now let me see here…” Sonic’s excitement continued to grow as Wally went to an old cabinet, opening a few drawers until he pulled out some blue papers.

“These are some of the ones I have, but until I know the exact model they won’t be of much help. I’m guessing you’re a traveler?” Sonic skimmed over the papers one by one, picking the ones that looked like the Tornado.

“Yeah, ran into some problems with my girl.” Sonic returned the blueprints that he didn’t need back to Wally. “I’m just trying to fix her up now.”

“I could give her a look then, but I’m afraid it will have to wait until tomorrow. I promised my wife, Martha, that I’d spent the afternoon with her today.” Wally returned the papers to the original spot, grabbing a shovel that was hanging on the wall and handing it to Sonic.

“I would appreciate that a lot, thank you so much, Wally” Sonic patted around his quills until he felt the bag that held his rings. “How much do I owe ya?

“It would be 35 rings, and take this, is on the house.” Wally handed him an old brown bag while he took the money from Sonic’s hand. A smile on his face.

Sonic carefully stuffed the papers in there before putting the strap over his shoulders, bag hanging on his left side. “You’re too kind, I’ll see you around, Wally!”

“Have a nice day, son!”

That had gone surprisingly well. Sonic left the store by the residential side after waving goodbye to the mechanic, watching as kids played around and the parents laughed together. It really did look like the perfect little town.

His stomach grumbled loudly, and Sonic was reminded it was lunch time. He guessed going to a restaurant wouldn’t be such a bad idea, and he could grab enough take out for the night and breakfast tomorrow.

This time, when he walked down the pavement, he was met yet again with looks from the kids and parents. But those were of surprise and admiration. Soon enough, Sonic was surrounded by excited children that bombarded him with questions or asked to take a picture with him.

Good, good.

Sonic made his way to a restaurant, a growing crowd following his every step as he gave them his iconic easy-going smile.

Miles hated the night.

He knew he couldn’t keep doing this forever, but the sun setting in officially killed any hopes he had left.

Miles knew he was risking it, working this long on a stranger’s biplane was dangerous. But he couldn’t help it!

Machines were his thing, unlike people, they were predictable. They had patterns which they followed down to the last letter, they were programmable in any sort of way he could dream of, they were reliable.

If he could, Miles would spend as much time as he could surrounded by machines. Their repetition brought peace to him.

But like everything else in his life, nothing ever worked out.

Miles prided himself on his hearing, years of looking over your shoulder did that to you, so when he heard footsteps in the distance, he knew it was time to go.

He hid his screwdriver back into his tails and used them to propel himself into the same hiding spot he had used earlier that day. He tripped halfway there, scrambling the rest of the way while using his tails to cover his tracks.

And good thing he did, for the hedgehog reappeared a few seconds later at the beach. Fur now a deep blue.

He was… surprised it seemed.

He had almost lost his footing as he arrived, letting a shovel he had been carrying fall to the ground, as he stared deeply at the biplane.

After a few minutes, he slowly made his way closer and kneeled next to all the burned pieces Miles had taken out of the engine. He took one of them in his hands, spinning it over before checking the engine itself.

The hedgehog looked to his right, where the pile of sand that had once been over the biplane now stood, and examined it with the same thoughtfulness he had used on the plane.

Between a blink and the next, the hedgehog was dashing all around the beach. Looking high and low for something.

Or maybe someone. Miles’ brain not very helpfully supplied.

He had to suppress a flinch as the hedgehog came dangerously close to his hiding spot. Miles’ heart was beating so hard he almost feared the hedgehog could hear it.

His green eyes scanned around the forest, slightly squinting them as he focused on something. Miles released the breath he didn’t know he had been holding as soon as the hedgehog moved to look somewhere else.

It went like that for a few minutes. Him dashing all over the beach, triple checking some spots even, until the hedgehog had seemingly given up.

His posture was stiff, and his movements more calculated as he made his way to the tail of the biplane, opening a small compartment and taking out some bags.

They turned out to be some camping gear. The hedgehog got the tent up in record time, right beside the plane, and lit a small lantern before settling in for the night. Miles could swear he heard a disappointed sigh coming from him.

He watched the hedgehog until his breaths became even, waiting for a few more minutes before he deemed it safe to go back. Quietly making his way over to his hideout.

It had been a long day, and not only for him it seemed, so Miles decided he should follow the hedgehog’s lead.

His knee hurt as he made his way over to his branch, stomach sore from not eating anything for what was 2 days now. But it was fine.

Today was one of the best days Miles had been a part of. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt that light feeling in his chest as he ran around the beach, so he guessed that was important.

And the hedgehog… Miles had never seen someone like him before.

From what he had seen, the hedgehog seemed to be a strange character all around. His movements were spontaneous and carefree, not bothering regulating himself at all. He was confident, it seemed.

His fur had been way cleaner than it was when Miles first saw him. The blue of his quills making a nice contrast against the last rays of sun off in the distance. His eyes were an emerald-green as he searched around the perimeter, Miles could almost make out a few moments where they appeared to be glowing, most likely a trick of the light, though.

But his speed… that was what intrigued Miles the most.

 It was incredible. The way he zoomed past everything like it was nothing, the fluidity in his movements as he moved around and the cyan blur he left behind…

Miles would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little jealous.

The hedgehog was different, like him. But at the same time, he was nothing like Miles.

His speed was a resource, it could be used for all sorts of purposes, for helping people or pulling out fires as he demonstrated today. It was a tool.

His tails were nothing more than a burden. Always taking up space, always in the way of everything and always the reason he wasn’t accepted.

Not for the first time, Miles asked the universe why it had given him two tails.

And as always, it gave no answer.

Sigh, at least they weren’t entirely useless. They did help him store some light things in them and if he somehow managed to replicate what happened today and turned it into something reliable…

A yawn interrupted his train of thought. Yeah, that would be nice.

Miles went to sleep like most nights, with tails covering his body and an empty stomach.

Chapter Text

Sonic had a hard time falling asleep.

That wasn’t uncommon for him. Living life as he did, not every place that he settled in for the night in his adventures was safe. While on his journey stopping Eggman, Sonic had found himself staying wide awake while keeping an eye out for any Badnicks the Doctor might have sent his way.

What was weird, however, was the reason for his restlessness.

His journey to the local town had gone smoothly. The food had been good, with Sonic buying enough to feed him for the next day or so, the people seemed nice and the mechanic there had been kind enough to offer his help fixing the Tornado.

But the thing was, someone else had already gone and started doing that.

By the time Sonic had returned, the Tornado was near impeccable. If someone were to see her now, they wouldn’t know that she had been buried under tons of sand that same morning. And not only that, whoever had taken the time to uncover his biplane had also started doing repairs to her engine.

Sonic was no mechanic, but even he could tell that the person who had been helping him knew what they were doing. They had taken out almost all the burnt pieces in the Tornado’s engine, leaving them neatly organized on the sand right beside her in the same order Sonic guessed they belonged under normal conditions.

All except for one. A single, tiny screw was left a little further away than the other pieces. It wasn’t carefully organized like all the others, instead, it seemed as if it had been dropped while in a hurry.

It was that detail what kept Sonic from sleeping. He kept spinning the screw between his fingers, staring at it as if it were to answer all his questions.

Who was the one responsible for cleaning the Tornado? Why had they left in such a rush? Why haven’t they sticked around long enough for Sonic to meet them? And why had they decided to help him?

Sonic sighed, it was pointless, and he knew it. Whomever had helped him was probably long gone now and it wasn’t as if they were about to materialize if Sonic thought hard enough about ‘em.

He would have much better chances in the morning, hopefully, his little secret friend would return and Sonic could get to meet them. He might not know who this person was or what they wanted, but one thing was for sure. Sonic wanted to thank them and get to know them better.

With that thought, Sonic finally allowed himself to relax. Drifting off into his dreams until the morning singing of some flickies nearby woke him up.

He gave a long yawn as he stretched his arms, continuing to move them around until he was satisfied. Sonic then grabbed his head with one of his hands and started rotating it, some satisfying pops following.

Sonic stood up then, making his way over to the edge of the beach. The waves were slowly going back and forth, Sonic staring at them and flinching a little when they came too close for his liking, but he had to do this. He had to properly wash off after all the stuff that happened yesterday.

He took a deep breath, drew all his courage, and dipped into the water as fast as he could. He made sure he was still standing as he did so, quickly washing off any and all dirtiness before dashing back to the beach.

He released his breath and wanted to do nothing more than hug the earth he stood on, but thought better of it and decided to get the excess water off him.

He shook his head, the movement soon propagated to the rest of his body, and grinned as water went flying everywhere, drying him up.

There, that took care of his morning routine. Sonic then made his way over to his little campsite, opening the bag the mechanic had given him, and fished out one of the pizza slices he had brought from the restaurant yesterday.

It didn’t taste nearly as good cold, but meh. He didn’t really feel like heating it up, Sonic wasn’t that picky unless it came to chilidogs. A bad chilidog was something he could never forgive.

Once he was finished, Sonic spared a look back at the Tornado. He was going back in town to get Wally’s help fixing her but… his gaze wandered to the burnt pieces, in the same place they had been yesterday. He just hoped that whoever had helped him would come today.

He shook his head, one problem at a time. First order of business, getting the town’s mechanic over so he can check the Tornado.

Sonic stood low, knees bent, and dashed forward.

He knew where the town was now. So instead of using the same path from yesterday, he took a sharp left, a new portion of the forest expanding in front of him.

He yearned for the speed, the way wind hit his face and the sun glimmered from the leaves on the trees above. This is what he was born to do.

He extended his hand outwards, his fingers grazing the tips of the grass, before using it to grasp the ground, taking a sharp turn around a boulder and towards an open field full of rocks.

Sonic jumped from one of them to the next, building his momentum to push himself forward and slid under a fallen tree at the edge of the field. A cyan blur on his trail.

His sight landed on the biggest tree he had seen on the island so far. His eyes widened a fraction of a second, a grin starting to appear on his face soon after. Knuckles rubbing his nose before accelerating.

Sonic jumped onto the trunk, using his momentum to run vertically over the tree’s surface. He started to circle it, going faster and faster until the sky became visible from in between the leaves.

As soon as his feet touched the tip of the tree, Sonic jumped. He relished those precious moments of lightness, closing his eyes as everything came to a stop around him, before squinting them in determination as the ground rushed to meet him.

He curled up into a ball, bouncing a few times before unrolling and continuing in his track. Laughter filling up the space around him.

As soon as the town materialized on the horizon, Sonic began to zigzag to decrease his speed, finally coming to a stop with his shoes scraping the ground in the middle of a playground.

The cheers that followed made him smile. Straightening back up and dusting himself a little, Sonic high fived some of the kids before making his way over to Wally’s hardware store.

The walrus was at the counter this time, it seemed he was helping settle down an argument with a young couple regarding their house’s renovations. He turned his head to the door as soon as Sonic stepped in, a smile on his face.

“Well, if it isn’t the hedgehog of the hour! How you been, son?” Wally immediately stopped talking to his clients, all his attention now on Sonic. An air of excitement around him.

“Oh, you know. Running around, greeting kids, making sure my plane doesn’t catch fire again, the usual.” Sonic joked as he made his way over to the walrus, excusing himself to the couple who also stopped their arguing to stare at him.

“I figured as much if the rumors I heard were true! Mister Sonic the hedgehog.” Wally winked at him, Sonic stiffening a bit at the mention of his name, the couple were practically bursting with joy once they realized who was in front of them.

“Guess it’s true what they say, word does travel fast in small towns, huh?”  He tried to cover up his sudden nervousness as he leaned on the counter, grinding his teeth together in a tight smile.

Wally either didn’t seem to notice or care, instead pulling a pen and a notebook and offering them to the hedgehog. “It’s not often we get a world-wide celebrity around here. Would it be okay if I got your autograph? My son’s a big fan of yours.”

“Sure! Sure, I’m all for helping the little guy.” Sonic quickly signed his name on the paper, gripping the pen a little tighter than was necessary.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you mention who you were when you came in yesterday? I wouldn’t have charged you anything!” The walrus suddenly stopped in his tracks, eyes widening in realization. “Wait a minute, Sonic the hedgehog shopped at my store! Oh, this is huge! You mind if I use that on my publicity?!”

Sonic gave a dry laugh, his movements stiff as he retuned the notebook. “Nope! Not at all!”

Wally could barely contain his happiness, oblivious to Sonic’s change in demeanor. “Oh, I can already see it,” He brought his hands over his head, slowly separating them. “Wally’s Hardware, Sonic the hedgehog’s top choice!”

Sonic’s face was starting to hurt from how tight his smile was. “Yeahhh, well, that’s nice and all, but I was wondering if you could help me with my biplane? You mentioned you could give her a look.”

Sonic flinched a bit as Wally’s face came incredibly close to his. “Anything for you, Sonic.” His movements were awkward as he looked around for a backpack while still trying to keep eye contact with the hedgehog. “In fact, let’s go right away! I wouldn’t want to keep Sonic the hedgehog waiting!”

Sonic was visibly taken aback by that, glancing over at the couple who had stars in their eyes. “But what about your clie-“

“They can wait, you are Sonic the hedgehog after all!” Wally was now forcefully making his way out from behind the counter, grabbing Sonic by his arm and practically dragging him out of the store.

That was until he suddenly let go and Sonic was left on his own to reclaim his balance. “Is it okay if I touch you?!”

“I- uh, I guess-? Aigh-!” Sonic hadn’t even finished before Wally gripped his arm and dragged him once more down the street. The attention from the citizens just worsened his nervousness.

“Perfect! Oh, I hope someone gets a picture of this! I’m touching Sonic the hedgehog!”

See, this is why Sonic didn’t like his fame. He was fine with just being another face in a crowd, happily going about his business without any looks of disgust or fear. Making friends with people because of his personality, not his persona.

He was perfectly fine with Wally; he had been nice to him yesterday and had even gifted him a bag out of the kindness in his heart. But now, the walrus was just using him as a mere decoration to boost his sales.

He had completely changed the way he treated Sonic, and he hated it.

Sonic took a moment to look away, taking a deep breath before putting his easy-going smile on his face and facing Wally, who was still dragging him quite aggressively.

“Hey, Wally, buddy? I think I’d be best if I took the lead. You know, to show you where my biplane is?” He patiently told him, hiding the tightness in his voice.

Wally immediately pulled away, almost as if he had been burned, and gave Sonic a bow. “Oh, of course! How dumb of me, I am so, so sorry, Mister Sonic.”

Sonic snatched his arm away a bit more rudely than necessary. “Just Sonic is fine.”

“Right, yes, sorry Mist- Uh, I mean Sonic.” The hedgehog just rolled his eyes at that, starting to make his way over to the Tornado. The sooner he got this over with the better.

The walk back had been awkward. Wally had tried to ask him all sorts of questions, some of them about his opinion on his latest marketing ideas, to which Sonic just responded with hums or empty words.

Sonic almost gave a sigh of relief as the beach began to form in the distance. He was about to speed there when something caught his eye.

Or rather, someone.

Hunched over the Tornado’s engine was a small, yellow fox. It was hard to make out any details from the distance, but Sonic could see the happiness on his face as clear as day. He had three locks of hair hanging from his forehead and wore a pair of worn-out red snickers, some tape had been rolled over them to extend their use. His fur appeared to be dirty, with multiple brown spots around his body, but what drew Sonic’s attention was his small, almost fragile frame.

That, and the fact that he had two tails.

Now, Sonic had seen many things in his travels, but never had he seen something as unique as that. They were happily bouncing as he worked, what appeared to be a screwdriver on his hand, and it was then Sonic realized that it had been him who had helped clean the Tornado. He couldn’t be older than 6! Just how in the hell did this kid manage to not only understand the inner workings of a plane engine, but knew enough about it for him to remove the pieces safely?!

Sonic was about to do something, anything, but for the first time in his life, he was too slow.

“Get out of there, you freak!” Wally’s scream had spooked the fox. His tails froze and his fur puffed up. A look of utter panic and fear crossed his face, and Sonic watched in surprise as the kit dropped down, started spinning his tails, and dashed away at amazing speeds.

Sonic was too stunned to do anything but watch as the fox disappeared into the forest, a trail of dust behind him. It was Wally’s sigh what somehow brought him back, an apologetic look on his face.

“I am so, so sorry you had to see that, Mister Sonic.”

“See what exactly?” Sonic asked coldly, fists clenched tight.

Wally merely puffed out some air, his face showing utter disgust. “That thing, it usually stays closer to the town, I have no idea what it was doing this far out.”

Sonic’s eyes widened at that; his blood boiling hotter with every word the walrus spoke. “The kids usually take care of it, making sure it doesn’t cause any trouble, augh but look at that.” The mechanic pointed at the bag he had gifted Sonic, the food he had saved for later was now gone, only crumbs remained. “That dammed two-tailed freak, always taking what ain’t his.”

Sonic was seriously having a hard time trying not to punch the man in front of him right here and now, there was so, so much stuff that was wrong with this. The walrus, however, was completely blind to Sonic’s anger, merely stepping closer to the Tornado and checking her engine.

“Great, so this is what that mistake of nature decides to do with the tools it stole from me. I’m sorry to inform you, mister Sonic, that the damage is worse than I had expected,” He turned back to face Sonic, shrugging as he continued with his report. “The pieces are quite easy to replace, but who knows what that thing did to your engine. It’ll take me a while to-“

“Out.”

Wally had the audacity to look surprised, brows furrowing in confusion. “Excuse me, what-“

“I said, out.” Sonic took a step forward, his voice low and a death glare on his face. “You came here to check the Tornado’s engine and so you did. So, get out.”

“B-But I still haven’t done anything, M-Mister Sonic! Let me at least-!”

“Goodbye, Wally!” Sonic gave him a smile, eye twitching with barely contained rage.

The walrus opened and closed his mouth in rapid succession, almost looking like a fish, before he finally read the room and merely nodded. Head low as he made his way back to the village.

Sonic counted to 10 in his head, slowly drawing in breaths and letting them go, until he punched the ground with all his strength. Sand flying everywhere.

That was so, so messed up.

How could someone, anyone, say something like that about a kid?!!

He was too worked up, arms trembling and sight struggling to focus on anything.

That was until he saw the bag, the same bag that the walrus had gifted him.

Sonic didn’t register what he was doing until he heard the splash of the bag as it landed on the ocean. His arm stretched out.

Okay, yeah, Sonic needed to calm down.

He sat down on the beach, fingers digging into the sand as he processed what had happened.

He had finally seen who his mysterious helper was. A fox kit with two tails that had what was probably the happiest smile Sonic had ever seen on his face as he worked on the Tornado. He was just a kid. A bright, small child that had somehow managed to uncover the Tornado from the sand and had ran almost as fast as him.

That kit was extraordinary.

But that same kid was apparently hated by everyone in the town?! It didn’t make any sense! Was everyone there so hypocritical that they casted out anyone who was different?!

He could feel his knuckles tightening up their grip on the sand. Deep breaths, Sonic, deep breaths.

Okay, so he had only seen Wally treat him like that, so maybe he was the exception and not the rule-?

He did mention that the kids “took care of it” tho…

Sonic shook his head; he would give the town the benefit of the doubt. Just this once, before he drew any conclusions.

Just one thing was for sure, that kid had been terrified when he heard the scream. Not only that, but the little guy had been starving, as it seemed. Eating the leftovers Sonic had brought. Not that he minded, if he was hungry, Sonic wasn’t about to stop him.

The sun was setting in now. Sky turning into all sorts of blues and oranges, and Sonic decided he should turn in for the night early. Sleeping would help him figure out his thoughts.

Before that tho, he opened the hatch on the Tornado’s tail and took out some emergency rations. They weren’t much, but hopefully the kid would like them.

There hadn’t been much food left when Sonic took off for the town, so the kit must still be hungry. He made his way over to the edge of the forest where the fox had disappeared and left the food there, hoping he would take it while he slept.

And so, Sonic went into his tent. His stomach rumbled a bit, but he paid it no mind, the kid needed the food more than he did.

Sonic went to sleep with the hopes that, wherever he was, the kid was doing good. And would hopefully take the food Sonic left for him.

Chapter Text

That was close, too close for Miles’ liking.

He had been careless, too caught up tinkering with the biplane, that he hadn’t noticed the hedgehog’s arrival, the town’s mechanic following close by.

He barely had any time to get away, the walrus screaming and already making his way to him. He remembered the last time he had caught him, the tire iron he had used to hit him with had left some nasty bruises. He didn’t want to go through something like that again.

Luck seemed to finally be on his side, his tails started spinning and he managed to put a good distance between them before he tripped over in the middle of the forest. Heart beating a mile a minute.

The hedgehog could catch up with him any second thought. His breath sped up at the thought. He scrambled, forcing himself to move despite the pain shooting up from his knee, and clumsily hid behind a bush. Clasping his hands over his mouth to not be heard.

Miles stood still for what felt hours. Breathing finally slowing down to a reasonable speed, and waited for while longer just to make sure.

He wouldn’t risk it, not again. He tripled checked his surroundings, the only sounds his ears could pick up was the distant chirping of some flickies and the dripping of water from the nearby waterfall. His eyes scanned around for any signs of movement, but apart form the gentle swing of the leaves, there was nothing.

Miles let out a sigh, even if he couldn’t see anyone, he wanted to be quick about this. He stood low, prepared his tails, and boosted himself to his hideout.

Unfortunately for him, Miles still had trouble when it came to slowing down. He got to the small clearing where he stayed but couldn’t slow down quickly enough and fell into the small lake that hosted the waterfall.

The water was cold, he gave a shriek as it grazed against some open cuts that hadn’t healed yet, a sharp pain following.

Miles clutched the edges of the lake with all his strength, pulling himself out of the water as fast as he could and laid down in the grass around him.

Okay that… that wasn’t ideal. He hissed when he tried to move around, pain expanding all over his body. Great, the water had reawakened the pain on his cuts.

He had thought he had dulled them out by now, already used to them from how often Slash and the other kids used pointy sticks to poke at him, but now it seemed he had to deal with them again.

 Miles was shivering, his fur completely soaked, and the movement did not help at all with his pain.  He had to dry himself off.

There weren’t many options for that though, the wind wasn’t nearly as strong today for him to dry quickly and he didn’t really feel like going to the town to wash off on one of the towels people left on the clothesline. So, his best bet was to stand in the middle of the clearing and wait for the sun to warm him up.

Which wasn’t that appealing in on itself. At least, until his sight went to the rock he had hidden the silver watch under.

He had kind of forgotten about it during yesterday's whole deal with the biplane, too excited at being able to work on such a machine, but now that he had messed up and the hedgehog would probably expect him next time… yeah, it was better for Miles to forget about the plane entirely and return to his original project.

His hand shook a little as he reached for the clock. Bringing it close to his chest while his other hand reached into his tails and took out the tools he needed, making sure he was sitting in a place where the sun could easily reach him.

He drew in a steadying breath and got to work. It was considerably harder to fix the watch with how his whole body shivered from the cold, but before long he let himself get immersed in his job. Pains of his body and cold forgotten to the monotony of the tasks.

As usual, Miles lost himself in his work until it was physically impossible to continue, the night’s light wasn’t nearly enough for him to see what he needed to do.

He gave a sigh, yet another reason why he didn’t like the night. But at least he had gotten a lot of progress done, while the watch wasn't still fully functional, it only required a little more work before it would be back to its former glory.

He absentmindedly took notice of the dryness in his fur. At least he didn’t have to worry about that anymore. However, as he made his way to his usual branch, the pain from the cuts returned full force and Miles had to take a moment to just breathe.

There was no way he was going to climb the tree in his current condition, but Miles couldn’t just sleep in the ground either, too many bad experiences had taught him how bad of an idea that was, so he had to come up with something.

He started to pace around, tails frantically moving as he struggled to draw any ideas. Augh, just why did he have to go and crash into the lake?! He still couldn’t use his tails on a reliable way, so why had he gone ahead and continued to spin them without a plan-

Wait, he had been spinning them in imitation to a plane’s propeller, right? But a helicopter’s rotor system operated under the same principle, so what if…

Miles stretched his arms at his sides, he was about to do something really stupid that he would never live down or something that would potentially help him for the rest of his life.

He closed his eyes, drew in a breath, and started to spin his tails. Just that this time, in a vertical way rather than horizontally.

Air began to form around him, the locks in his head brushing in the wind, before he felt himself getting lifted off the ground.

He couldn’t help the gasp that left him, extending both his arms and legs to try and stabilize himself. He was- he was flying!! This was unbelievable! Laughter filled the space around him.

His happiness was short lived, however, as a wave of exhaustion crashed against him. This was taking way too much energy, and keeping his center of gravity was proving to be difficult.

He pushed himself a bit more, gaining more altitude until he was within arm’s length of his usual branch. Miles took a few steadying breaths, and threw himself onto it, grasping at it as if his life depended on it. Which, it kinda did.

Miles breathed a little before he properly settled in on the branch, ignoring the sting of his injuries. Once he was certain he wouldn’t fall off, Miles brought his hands to his face and started laughing. 

That had been... it had been crazy. A fox who could fly- who would have thought!! Miles let his laughter die down before he curled up into a ball and settled in for the night, tails coming in as a blanket.

Those last two days had been the most eventful in Miles’ life.  First the biplane’s crashing, the hedgehog’s speed and now his tails… it had been amazing.

So many things he never thought possible were now available to him, there were so many things he wanted to test with his tails, theories on his potential limits and ways to make them more reliable. And Miles was… excited. For the first time in his life, he had something to look forward to.

As sleep began to creep in from the edges of his consciousness, his thoughts wandered to the hedgehog. All of this had happened because of him, after all.

He felt bad about eating his food, Miles had resisted the temptation for as long as he could, but had lost the battle and ate the pizza slices he had left on a bag near the biplane.  Hopefully he could make it up to him by fixing his plane.

That was, if the hedgehog even allowed him to get close to it again.

The lightness in his chest slowly disappeared at the thought. He hadn’t seen the hedgehog’s reaction to him messing with his biplane, too caught up escaping from the mechanic, but he was certain he was going to hate him for touching his stuff. Just like everyone else did.

But even then, Miles felt he owed him. It had been the hedgehog who had led him to discover the many things his tails were capable of, and his biplane had brought the most joy he had ever felt in his whole life.

…And he may or may not be feeling bad about eating all his food.

That settled it, then. Miles would try to work on the hedgehog’s engine while he went to town. Doing as much as he could even if the hedgehog probably didn’t want his help. It was the least he could do.

With that thought in mind, Miles let sleep take him without the usual complains coming from his stomach until the first rays of light hit his face.

The flickies hadn’t even started their morning singing, but Miles was already preparing to leave his branch.

He careful made his way down, set the watch in his usual hiding place, and dashed towards the beach.

He wanted to start his work as soon as possible. He knew the hedgehog would probably be there, but Miles wanted to be ready to start as soon as he left. He would just wait around in the same bush as always.

The sight of the biplane on the beachside was common to him now. The hedgehog was sleeping in his tent just like he had expected, snoring loud enough for Miles to hear him from the distance, and had a blanket lazily thrown over his body.

Miles had to fight back a snort, he did look a little silly like that, but had to suddenly regain his balance as he tripped on something, arms flailing at his sides.

After making sure he wouldn’t fall face-first, and that he hadn’t woken the hedgehog, Miles looked down to see what was responsible for almost ruining his plans.

A small, metallic box had been left on the edge of the forest. It was small enough to go unnoticed, but once Miles knelt to see it better, he realized it was a standard ration compartment.

He opened the lid and… yup. Inside were some cereal bars, dried fruits and even some cookies. A single bottle of water on its right side. Miles’ mouth watered at the sight, but he shook his head.

No, he was not going to eat any more of the hedgehog’s food.

Miles closed the lid, he probably just… drooped it! Yeah, that was probably it. He had seen the hedgehog run at incredible speeds; it wouldn’t be a stretch if he had accidentally dropped his food while on a run.

He should return it to him. Miles gazed back to the hedgehog and then to the box, surely the hedgehog wouldn’t wake up if he went and left the rations near him, right?

Miles tiptoed his way over to the biplane, making sure to be as careful as possible, and stopped a few feet away from the sleeping hedgehog.

He looked around for a place to leave the box. Ough, he should have thought of this earlier, and his gaze landed on a lantern right in front of the hedgehog. There was no way he could miss it if he left it there.

Three things happened after that.

One, the hedgehog had taken that exact moment to stretch his arms and accidentally hit Miles. Two, Miles jumped a foot off the ground and dropped the box. And three, the box hit the hedgehog right in the head.

The hedgehop was up in an instant, standing up and flailing his arms around. “Wazhteh-I’m up, I’m up!”

Miles could do nothing but stare. Oh no, no no no no! This can’t be happening- it can’t! how could he have been so stupid?! Please, please let it be a nightmare, please-

“Hey, are you okay there?”

Miles flinched as the hedgehog approached, scrambling back in the sand until his back hit something cold and metallic. He hissed in pain, drawing his knees close to his chest. Tails puffed up and hugging him close.

“Wow- I- It’s okay, little guy, I won’t hurt you.”

No, no that was a lie. Everyone always said that, the hedgehog wouldn’t be any different. 

“Oh Gaia- Um, A-Are you hurt there, buddy? Do you need help-?”

Miles grabbed his knees until his knuckles went white. I-It was okay! Hopefully this one wouldn’t hurt as much as the others. H-He, he just had to stay still and do as he was told. Y-Yeah! It would hurt less if he did! Yeah-

“Wow, hold on there, you’re hurting yourself-“

Miles shirked out loud as the hedgehog tried to grab him. Curling up impossibly further in himself and keeping his eyes shut. Shaking getting worse, when had he started shaking-?!

“Shot, oh no- this is bad, this is ba-“

Noises started to mix together. It was too loud, too much. He drew his ears close to his head. Please, please not again, not again.

He braced himself for the hit he knew was about to come. Tensing up in a weak effort to protect himself. Teeth clenched as he waited for the fist to collide-

-Only, it never came.

Was- was this some type of joke-? There was no way Slash and the others would leave him like that, right? N-No, this must be- it must be a prank! Yeah! Yeah, that was probably it. They would hit him when he least expected it-!

Miles kept his guard up. He knew that they would strike as soon as he relaxed, he just had to be strong, to wait just a little longer. They would grow tired of him eventually, they always did. He just had to wait long enough until that happened.

But… nothing came.

Miles decided to risk it, opening one of his eyes slightly to see-!

-A blue hedgehog sitting in front of him. Arms at his sides which continued to go up and down, following his breathing.

He stared at him, waiting for the moment when he would strike. But the hedgehog remained seated, drawing in breaths for four seconds, holding them for seven, and letting them go in eight. Movements exaggerated as he did so.

It was then Miles took notice of his own breathing. It was coming in fast; he could even distantly hear his own, ragged breaths as he tried to keep air in his system. Hating how that didn’t seem to work.

The hedgehog merely continued with his exercises. He- he seemed calm. Maybe Miles should try and follow his movements-?

He shakily started to draw breaths in for four seconds, it was surprisingly difficult. But after a few tries, he managed. He held them for seven and finally let them go in eight.

Slowly, but surely, the world began to gain focus around him. His ears perked up at the sound of the waves as they reached the beach, some flickies chirping in the distance and the relaxed breaths coming from in front of him.

He let his arms fall from where they had been hugging his knees. Fingers digging into the sand around him and nose picking up the salt in the air. 

It was… peaceful.

After another, shaky breath, Miles opened his eyes and was reminded of where he was.

The blue hedgehog was sitting cross-legged in front of him, but with a comfortable distance between them. His back was against something cold, and Miles soon realized he was leaning against the biplane.

A few moments passed, the hedgehog patiently waiting for him, and Miles decided to get this over with as soon as he could.

“Please don’t go too hard on me.” His voice was scratchy to his own ears, barely above a murmur.

The hedgehog visibly flinched at that, ears flattening against his head. “I-I’m not going to hurt you.” He drew his hands up in surrender. “I promise.”

“Everyone always says that,” Miles looked away. “it’s never true.”

A few minutes passed, marked only by the sound of the waves, before Miles heard a sigh.

A soft, metallic ‘click!’ was heard before the sound of footsteps against the sand drew closer to him. He just closed his eyes, too tired to try and shield himself. But nothing happened.

He opened one eye and saw the hedgehog kneeling close to him, a water bottle in his hand as he offered it to him. “Are you thirsty? I figured you could use this.”

Miles eyed the bottle with suspicion. His mouth was pretty dry, but he didn’t really trust the hedgehog…

His thirst ended up winning, a shaky hand grabbed the bottle and brought it close to his nose. He couldn’t smell anything weird in it, not like the other times, so he deemed it safe enough to drink from.

He slowly brought it to his mouth, but as soon as the first drop hit his tongue, he practically gulped down the entire bottle.

The hedgehog went to grab the bottle, but sharply stopped before making contact. “Wow, careful there! Wouldn’t want you to choke now, would we?” He gave an awkward laugh, trying to improve the atmosphere.

“Sorry.” Miles finally brought the bottle down, barely any water left in it.

The silence was back once more. Only this time, it was broken by the grumbling coming from Miles’ stomach.

The hedgehog merely chuckled. “I see someone’s hungry, hm?” He reached for something behind him and brought it to his lap. And Miles recognized it as the metallic, ration compartment from earlier.

The same one that had started this whole mess.

Miles stared as the hedgehog went ahead and took one of the cereal bars from inside, opened it up, and offered it to him.

Miles flattened his ears against his head, heat gathering in his face. “I ate all of your food tho, yesterday.” He brought his tails to cover him, wanting the ground to just eat him up.

“Oh, it’s okay, I’m not hungry.” The hedgehog’s statement was cut short as yet another rumbling sound was heard. Only this time, it wasn’t coming from Miles.

He couldn’t stop the snort that left him. As soon as the sound was out, Miles curled up into a ball, scared of the hedgehog’s reaction. They stared at each other for a bit before the hedgehog shook his head and gave a small laugh. “Okay, so maybe I’m a little hungry. Tell you what,”

A ‘Crack!’ was heard as the hedgehog split the cereal bar in two, offering the other end to him. “we can share! Is that okay with you?”

Miles stared at the food for a while, going over all the pros and cons, before nodding his head. He was pretty hungry. Taking the cereal and taking a bite out of it, albeit, more careful than he had been with the water.

The hedgehog made sure he ate first before he, too, took a bite of his food.  He settled down more comfortably, a knee up that rested his arm and the other stretched out in front of him, and put the metallic box in the middle of him and Miles.

They ate in a nice silence, each taking food from the box and eating it, before the hedgehog spoke up.

“So,” he started with his mouth still full. “you’re the one who’s been helping me with my biplane, hm?”

Miles looked down in shame, the hedgehog sparing a look at him before continuing. “You did an amazing job.”

That took Miles by surprise. “You’re not… mad?”

The hedgehog turned to look at him; head tilted in question. “Why would I be mad?”

“I dunno,” Miles hid his embarrassment with another bite on his cookie. “that’s how everyone reacts when I mess with their stuff.”

“Well, I’m not like everyone else.” The hedgehog winked at him before staring back into the ocean. “But going back though, you did great with the Tornado.”

“That’s its name?” Miles couldn’t help the way his tails wagged behind him.

“Yup! The Tornado’s been traveling with me for a while now,” He gazed back at the aircraft, a fond look in his eyes. “she’s a great plane.”

“Yeah,” Miles followed his gaze, a hand coming to touch the biplane. “I’ve never seen something like her.”

“Wanna get a closer look?” Miles stared at the hedgehog as if he had grown a second head, mouth agape.

“You… are letting me near your plane again?”

“Sure! You’ve been helping me get her fixed up, the least I can do is properly present her to you.” The hedgehog’s smile was… genuine it seemed; a hand stretched out towards him.

Miles stared at it. On one hand, this could all be a trap. Some sick, twisted joke specially prepared for him, bringing all his hopes up just for them to come crashing down.

In the other one, however…

The hedgehog had multiple opportunities to do just that. He had been vulnerable in his panicked state, and he did nothing; in fact, he helped him calm down. He had offered him food and didn’t cast him out. He was even offering to show him his plane!

Maybe… maybe the hedgehog was telling the truth. He wasn’t like everyone else.

Miles let a smile form in his face, a firm grip as he accepted the hedgehog’s hand.

“Yeah, yeah I would really like that.”

The hedgehog’s expression was kind, some tension leaving his body before helping Miles onto his feet.

“Great, let’s get started, buddy.”

Sonic the hedgehog was at a loss for words.

Now that… that was new to him.

He had been expecting many things when he had been woken up today, something hard and cold landing in his head, but not a terrified child.

The same one he saw tinkering with the Tornado yesterday.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing up so early in the morning, but when Sonic tried to properly greet him, all that his saw was pure panic.

His blue, innocent eyes were dilated into small dots. His breathing speeding up to a point Sonic worried he wasn’t getting any air in and body trembling against the Tornado’s side.

Sonic didn’t know what do to, everything he tried only seemed to make it worse. He paced in the beach in increasing speed, panicking over how he could help this kid, until his own breathing began to increase.

Deep breaths, Sonic, deep breaths- Wait! That was it!

That always helped him calm down, hopefully it would do the same for the kit.

He sat down, a little further away from the fox, and began with his exercises. Exaggerating so the kid could see them more easily.

It took a while, but the kid took notice and started to copy him. Sonic had to contain the breath of relief he wanted to give so as not to disturb the sequence.

Sonic waited for him to make the first move. He didn’t want to scare the child more than he already had, but his words only made him more worried than he had already was.

Gaia, just what happened to this kid?

He remained curled in a ball, as if trying to take as little space as possible. His baby blue eyes jumped from one place to the other, following his movements closely as if waiting for something. His body was in no good shape either, his fur was a dull yellow, multiple dark spots all over his small frame, some areas were uneven, and Sonic worried over what his fur could be hiding.

But that could wait. Even from this far away, Sonic could tell this kid was way smaller than he should be for his age. He seemed to be closer to 4 years old, and man, didn’t that thought crush his heart, but was worryingly skinny, even showing through his fur.

His first order of business was making sure this kid ate something. Once he managed that, he made sure to be as careful as he could, his movements slow and all where he could see them.

However, Sonic was still curious about this little fox kit.

He had stars in his eyes as Sonic showed him around the Tornado. She wasn’t in her best condition for Sonic to show her to a kid, but he didn’t seem to care, tails happily wagging behind him.

In fact, the kit seemed to know even more than Sonic, correcting him in the pronunciation of certain parts of the plane or going into detail regarding the functions of buttons Sonic had never given a second thought.

This kid was a genius.

So just what happened to him? Sonic had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t taken care of back home, if he even had a home to begin with. But he wasn’t about to ask that to a kid, it had been hard enough getting him to open enough at the idea of looking at the Tornado, he wasn’t going to destroy his chances.

Instead, he went for a more middle ground. A conversation topic where he could hopefully help the kid figure some things out.

“Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

The boy stopped playing with the Tornado’s control stick in the cockpit to look at him, movements a bit more apprehensive. “Um, yeah, I guess?”

“Yesterday, after you finished looking at the Tornado, you just dashed away. How did you do that?”

“Oh.” His hands dropped from the console, bringing them to his chest and fidgeting with them as his gaze fell to his tails. ”Are you sure you want to know that?”

“Of course!” Sonic could tell the kit was self-conscious about them, but he wasn’t going to let him dwell on it and loose himself in his head. “I’ve never seen someone do that before! You have any idea how many people I’ve seen who could maybe match my speed?”

The kit shook his head and sonic raised his hand, fingers forming a circle. “Zero. You have something special going on there, kid. Who knows, maybe I could teach you a thing or two.” Sonic chuckled and brought a hand to his neck. “Heck, I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve crashed against stuff trying to control my speed, sure could’a used someone to help me back then.”

The kit brought his hands to rest under his chin, tails shifting as he thought, before he looked back at Sonic. A fearful yet determined look on his face.  “Okay, I think I can show you.”

Sonic grinned at that. He carefully watched as the fox dropped down, brows furring for a second in concern as he heard a small hiss, and waited for him to get into position.

He lightly bent his knees, put his arms at his sides, and started to spin his tails.

Sonic stared in surprised as he bolted across the beach, a cloud of dust following. He shook his head and grinned as he sprinted until he was side to side with him, going surprisingly fast.

“That was amazing!” He had to yell for the fox to hear him, wind brushing against their faces. “How you doing there, buddy?”

“I-I think I’m doing good!” The kit replied, laughter following soon after.

The sound was so sweet, so innocent. Sonic wanted to make sure he would hear it again, that the kid would be happy. “Great! Try using your hands for balance, bring ‘em close to your chest!”

“Like this?” He did exactly as he was told, Sonic giving him a thumbs up.

“Exactly! Now, let’s try practicing some turns, okay?”

“Okay!”

“Just throw your weight a little to the side, let gravity do the rest. Like this!” Sonic sprinted forward, demonstrating the action before returning to the fox’s side.

A spark of pride filled his chest as the kid managed to do it first try. It was Sonic’ laughter what filled the space this time. “That’s how you do it! You’re a natural at this!”

A small, tentative smile began to form on the kit’s face. His mouth opening to respond-

-but a yelp was what came out.

Sonic acted fast, the kid had tripped on something and was on his way to crashing face-first into the sand. He dashed and caught the fox in his arms, digging his feet in the sand to slow them down.

They managed to stop safely. The kit was trembling, Sonic quickly kneeled and helped him to his feet. Hands hovering but not really touching him. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so.”  He was hugging himself, eyes going from one place to the next until they settled on Sonic. “You saved me.”

It was a statement more than it was a question. Sonic merely shrugged his arms, eyebrows slightly furrowing. “Yeah, I wasn’t about to let you fall.”

“Why?”

Sonic softened his expression. “Because everyone deserves to have someone there to catch them.”

They stayed in the middle of the beach for a while, the sound of the flickies in the distance marking the time. Before Sonic stood up. “We can call it quits for the day if you want. You’ve already made way more progress than I had expected.”

“No, no…” The fox intervened, bringing a hand to his face and using his palm to clean some dust on his snout. “I… I think I want to try again.”  His gaze returned to Sonic; a pleading look in his eyes. “Please?”

Sonic’s emerald eyes softened even more, chuckling a little as he shook his head. “Sure thing, buddy.”

The kit’s enthusiasm returned ten-fold. A new motivation in his movements, tails happily waging behind him. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“No problem, kid. Now,” Sonic settled down into his usual starting pose, knees bent and a grin in his face. “you up for a race to the Tornado?”

The fox kit’s brows furrowed in determination, dropping down to copy Sonic’s pose. “Always.”

“That’s the spirit! You ready? Three, two, one… GO!”

The beach was filled with dust clouds and blurs of cyan and orange, laughter from two different voices dancing in the air around them.

Miles finally understood the meaning for the word ‘happiness’

That light feeling in his chest whenever he ran, when the laughter was around him… so that’s what it was.

He head been happy as he raced around with the hedgehog. When the wind hit his face, he felt as if he could do anything. He felt free.

And the hedgehog… it seemed Miles had been wrong about him at first.

He had been genuine, about everything.

It was… weird to actually trust somebody. For him to finally meet someone who was telling the truth. But it had also been refreshing.

He had been kind to him, Miles couldn’t even remember the last time something like that happened! And had been teaching him a lot of things too!

He explained and showed him some blueprints that allowed Miles to figure out the model of the Tornado and how her inner machinery worked, now he knew exactly how to fix her. He had helped him control his speed, being with him every step of the way and catching him when he felt.

Miles wasn’t really sure why that had struck with him in particular. But it meant a lot to him.

The hedgehog was patient with him, ironic considering how fast he could go, and answered any and all questions he had. He was happy around the hedgehog.

But like everything else in his life, nothing ever worked out.

Miles’ exactment began to drop as the first droplets of water did. Thunder in the distance soon following.

He was lucky he wasn’t running this time. His whole body froze up, fur puffing up.

The hedgehog took notice, he stopped stretching and focused all his attention on him. “Something wrong, buddy?”

“I-I have to go.” Miles’ voice trembled a bit, eyes going from the clouds in the distance and back to the hedgehog.

He was about to respond but was cut off by Miles’ yelp. Lightning had struck in the distance, way too close for Miles’ comfort.

“I-I’m sorry, I had a great time with you t-though!” Miles was turning around now, going back into the pose the hedgehog had taught him, and prepared to take off.

“Oh, well, I won’t keep you then. But just know you can stay with me, if you want? My tent can help if you’re scared of the storm.” Miles’ utter surprise at that was enough for him to momentarily forget his fear, tails going slack on the ground.

“W-What?!”

The hedgehog threw up his hands into the air. “Only if you want too tho! Man, I’m bad at this…” He grumbled that last bit, but Miles’ hearing was able to pick it up.

“N-No, it’s just- I don’t want to bother you anymore.” He brought his tails close to him, fidgeting with his hands.

The hedgehog’s expression softened at that. “It’s no problem, really!”

Miles stared at the small, singular tent by the Tornado’s side. The hedgehog followed his sight and slammed a hand to his head. “Oh, right! Here, just give me a sec-“

And true to his word, it took him mere seconds to make proper accommodations for both of them.

A small, blue tornado formed from where the hedgehog was going back and forth near the biplane. Miles couldn’t make out many details, but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

Where there had once been a singular tent, there were now two sleeping bags. The cloth from the tent had been used to create a makeshift roof above them, its extremes held by the Tornado’s upper aileron and a shovel which was neatly planted on the ground. A small lantern stood in the middle of the bags, providing enough warmth and light for them.

The hedgehog stood right beside his creations, making jazz hands. “Ta-da!”

Miles could feel the smile forming in his face. “You’re sure I won’t be bothering you?”

“Nah,” the hedgehog threw his hands forward, inviting him over to the small shelter. “now come on! The storm won’t get close to us, but the rain will. Better get inside before you get soaked!”

Miles laughed a little at that, and slowly made his way over to the hedgehog.

He took off his old red snickers and settled into one of the bags, the fabric so soft that Miles practically melted into it. Hedgehog following suit.

“Everything good, buddy?” He asked, and Miles merely gave a hum.

“I’m glad.” The hedgehog responded, sprawling himself in his own bag.

They stayed like that for a while, sleep slowly claiming Miles as some small droplets of water crashed against their shelter, before the hedgehog spoke up.

“Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Hm- yeah-?” Miles sleepily replied, the hedgehog slightly chuckling.

“I don’t really expect an answer but… what’s your name? I don’t think you’re comfortable with me just calling you “kid” all the time, are you?”

That took away the sleepiness from Miles. He turned to look at the hedgehog, resting his weight on his arm.

“I don’t really mind you calling me that, really.” Miles bit his lip; he wasn’t really comfortable telling his name to anyone though…

“I figured as much, but maybe I could try calling you something else? Like a nickname!” The hedgehog suggested and Miles tilted his head in question.

“What’s that?”

“You know, something that friends call each other! Tell you what, you can give me a nickname and I’ll give you one too!”

Miles’ mouth was left wide open, voice barely above a whisper. “You really mean that?”

“Um, yeah? Wait a second- are you crying?! Oh, Gaia, I broke him-“ Miles laughed at the hedgehog’s surprise, a hand coming to wipe away his tears.

“Heh- no it’s just that… I’ve never had a friend before.” Miles gave the most genuine smile he could muster. “Thank you.”

The hedgehog’s face was completely blank, and Miles laughed yet again. He soon shook his head, his expression the softest he had ever seen. “Well, I’m thankful you’re my friend too.”

They just smiled at each other before Miles looked down, fidgeting with his hands. “I think I would like to try that nicknames thing.”

The hedgehog beamed at him. “Alright, I was thinking I could maybe call you… Tails?”

Miles went to respond, not really comfortable with it, but the hedgehog shook his hand, stopping him in his tracks. “Now listen, I know you’re not exactly happy about them, but just think off all the amazing things you can do with them!”

The hedgehog stood up, back straight as he began to speak, an admiration in his voice. “You can use them to run almost as fast as me! Do you know how cool that is?! You told me you used them to clear the Tornado, they help you sleep at night and are the fluffiest things I’ve ever seen! They are special, buddy. You are special.”

Miles was speechless, no one had ever said anything remotely nice about his tails. But the way the hedgehog talked about them… It was all true, too. They even helped him fly…

The hedgehog’s happiness seemed to increase ten-fold; Miles hadn’t noticed he said that last bit out loud. “See?! This is exactly what I’m talking about! Oh, you so have to show me that tomorrow!”

Miles laughed a bit at his excitement. “Well, when you put it like that… I guess they are pretty cool…”

Miles took a steadying breath, a new spark in his eyes. “I think I like that nickname.”

“I’m happy to hear that, Tails.” The hedgehog’s smile was the brightest so far. “Alright, so now’s your turn! What should my nickname be?”

Miles- No, Tails brought a hand to his chin.

The hedgehog had named him something unique to him, so he should probably do the same?

“What about… Hm... Spike?”

Tails couldn’t help his snort at the hedgehog’s reaction. “Excuuse me?”

“Oh, you know. You named me after my tails, I should get to name you after your spikes!”

“Yeah, I get that, but not even about my mad skills or speed? What about Speedy? Wait, no- scratch that, that’s worse-”

Tails went howling with laughter. Having to take several minutes to calm down, stomach sore. “U-Unless you want me to call you Spiky!”

“No. Nope, I am not dealing with that, thank you very much!” The hedgehog tried, and failed, to keep a straight face, but he soon joined Tails in his laughter.

After he could control himself enough, the hedgehog cleared his throat a little louder than what was reasonable, drawing Tails’ attention. “Okay, let’s try this now.” He stretched his hand towards him, a smile on his face. “Hi! I’m Spike, Spike the hedgehog.”

He stared at the hand and took it on his own, a strong grip as he shaked it. “Tails, Tails the fox.”

And so, Tails settled in for the night.

For the first time in his life, with a comfortable place to sleep, a full stomach and a friend at his side.

Chapter Text

Sonic the hedgehog rose up with the sun.

The first rays of light were just starting to appear on the horizon. Ocean reflecting the warm hues over the water.

He yawned as he stretched, rotating his arms and moving his head around. After he was satisfied, he carefully got up. Taking care of not waking the little figure on the sleeping bag next to his.

He stared fondly at him. Yesterday had been an eventful day, but Sonic was happy that he got to meet this kid, that he got to meet Tails.

It was clear this kid had gone through some rough stuff in life and it broke Sonic’s heart in many ways. What, with the way his ears flickered at the most imperceptible sounds, or how he flinched each time Sonic tried to touch him. He had no idea how deep the damage went, but Sonic vowed he would do anything in his power to make his life a little easier.

No one deserved to live a life of solitude and pain.

Sonic quietly made his way over to the Tornado’s cockpit, looking under the seat and taking out the small chest that held his most precious possessions.

He took out the chili cans, a sausage package and some bowls. Carefully settling them down in the Tornado’s lower alerion and taking the bowls with him.

After making sure they wouldn’t fall off, he made his way out of their makeshift camp. Taking a long look around the beachside, eyes focusing on a palm tree at the edge of the forest.

Perfect. Sonic dashed to its side, he looked up and… yup, some coconuts were resting just below its fronds.

He took a few steps back and set the bowls in the ground, crouching down and spindashing into it. Careful of not using too much force to damage the plant but enough for two coconuts to drop down into the sand.

Sonic spared a look back at Tails. His ears were pointed in his direction, but otherwise it seemed as if he was still asleep. Good, Sonic would like to surprise him.

He grabbed one of the coconuts, took one of his quills from his head and poked a hole in it, letting the water drop into one of the bowls before doing the same with the other.

There, first part of breakfast done, now onto the second.

He returned to their camp, tiptoeing a little as he put the bowls by the lantern in the middle, and started working on making a small fire.

Grabbing a few sticks and twigs, Sonic made a perimeter with rocks from the beachside and worked on getting a spark. He almost cheered out loud when he managed, having to silence himself at the last second. Right, it wasn’t just him anymore. It was something weird to think about now, huh.

He sat down by the fire, grabbing a pointy stick and stabbing a sausage in it. It wasn’t long until the smell of something cooking expanded in the air and, just as Sonic expected, the sound of someone sniffing following.

“Morning, buddy. Slept well?”

A yawn was his answer, Sonic just chuckled as the fox kit slowly sat down beside him, sleep still clear in his movements.

“Good morning, Spike.”

Ohhh right. He was going by Spike now, wasn’t he? Wasn’t the worst name he has been called, Egghead came up with plenty of creative names for him, but it was… weird. He would have to get used to it.

It wasn’t as if he was going to share his true name with the kid, he already knew what type of reaction that would follow. Sonic was happy with how things were.

And as much as he hated to admit it, a part of him was scared that Tails would start treating him differently after he found out who he was.

“You hungry, buddy?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

Sonic gave him the sausage he had been cooking, grabbing a new one and repeating the process. “Here, it’ll take a while before they are done. But hey! It’s the process what matters, right? At least that’s what I’ve been told.”

Tails giggled at his complaining. “I didn’t take you for one to wait around.”

“And I’m not! I would much rather just buy ‘em at a stand or something. But I doubt anything’s open at this hour. Besides,” Sonic reached behind him and grabbed one of the chili cans. “I wanted to share this with you, it’s my favorite recipe! Right off my especial stash!”

Tails’ ears flattened against his head at that, hands coming together to grasp at the stick. “Are you sure you want to share that with me? It sounds… important to you.”

“That’s exactly why I wanna share it with you!” Sonic’s heart clenched at the way the kid referred to himself, almost with disgust, but he kept his high spirits. “Today’s special buddy.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah! It’s our first breakfast as friends!”

Tails looked at him with a hint of doubt. “Is that a thing?”

“Yup!” Totally didn’t just make that up to justify giving this kid a proper meal, he would refuse if Sonic told him the truth. He was certain.

“Huh.” Thankfully, Tails seemed to drop the topic, just spinning his food until it was evenly cooked.

After Sonic’s was done too, he opened the lid and poured the chili over the sausages. “I usually eat them in a hot dog bun, but oh well, hope you enjoy, Tails!”

The kit’s ears seemed to perk up at the nickname, a gentle wagging of his tails following. “Thanks.”

Sonic watched in endearment as Tails’ eyes widened after taking the first bite, practically shoving the rest of the food onto his mouth. “Wow, don’t go too fast there, bud! That’s my thing!”

“So’wy.” Tails shrugged his arm as he responded, mouth still full as he used the back of his palm to clean his muzzle.

“There’s some coconut water too if you’d like. Figured you’d get thirsty.” He signaled bowls with a nod of his head.

“Wow, thanks! I’ve always had trouble getting them down from the palm trees.” The kid happily took one of them and started drinking, tails picking up speed.

“Really?” Sonic arched a brow. “Huh, I thought flying made that easy for you.”

His tails went stiff, the kid hiding his face in the bowl. Shot, way to go, Sonic! You made him nervous!

“I-I’m sorry about that-“ Sonic jumped to try and fix his mistake, but Tails merely shook his head.

“No, is just…” The kit shrug both shoulders, hiding his face between them. “I still don’t know if I can fly-? I kinda figured that out yesterday and I’m pretty sure it was just luck.”

“Really?! Huh, could have fooled me! What, with the way you ran yesterday!” Sonic moved one of his hands from one side to the other, imitating a ‘Whoosh!’ sound as he did.

Tails snickered a little at that. “Yeah, but it’s nothing special, really.”

“Uhh dude? We’re talking about flying, right?! ‘Cause I’d say that’s really special.” Sonic stood up then, dusting himself off and extending a hand towards Tails. “Come on, I’m sure you can do it again. And if anything happens, I’ll be there to catch you.”

Tails stared at his hand, blue eyes going over multiple emotions before they settled in determination. “Okay.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Sonic helped him onto his feet, a part of him worried of how light the fox kit was, but he pushed it aside for now.

“Okay, Tails.” Sonic rubbed the base of his nose with his knuckles, a grin on his face. “Let’s see what you’ve got!”

Tails was having the time of his life.

The morning sun left a nice, warm feeling over his body, wind brushing against his fur and a friend at his side.

The hedgehog, Spike as he had come to call him, had been with him every step of the way. True to his word, he stood watch as Tails continued with his attempts at flying, dashing over in the blink of an eye whenever he lost balance or a current of wind threw him off course.

He was careful with him, cheering him up when things didn’t work out or advising him when he made mistakes. Is this what having a friend was like?

Tails almost felt empty then, was it possible to miss something you never had? All those years spend on his own, looking for anything that could help him on those cold nights… Tails wasn’t sure he could go back to that now.

They spend their morning running around, switching between racing with each other as Spike taught him more things and Tails trying to control his flying.

He had gotten more consistent with it over the course of the morning, Spike’s advice being surprisingly on point most of the time.

It wasn’t until the sun was at its highest point that they decided to rest for a bit, his tails were feeling pretty tired.

He may be getting better at controlling himself while airborne, but it still took a lot out of him doing that for long periods of time.

However, Tails wasn’t one to just sit around, and it didn’t look like Spike liked it either.

Instead, Tails got started on properly fixing the Tornado. Now that he didn’t have to worry about looking over his shoulder every minute, he could focus on salvaging what he could from her engine.

The moment Spike showed him the toolbox he usually carried on his biplane made him fly in excitement, doing laps around the plane despite his exhaustion.

Tails got immersed in his work, using his namesakes to grab or store the tools he needed and humming a little song to himself as he continued restoring some of the burnt parts.

“How you doing there, bud?” Tails flinched a little as the hedgehog dashed to his side, having stopped running laps around to look at his work.

“I’m doing good, I guess. I managed to repair most of the pieces, but these are the ones I couldn’t fix, sorry about that.” Tails gave him a list of the pieces he had to buy, a pit of guilt in his chest.

Spike gave a whistle as he skimmed past it. “You kidding? I thought I had to buy a whole new plane at this point! This is nothing!” He even puffed some air from his nose, shaking his head in disbelief. “And these are some things that even I know what they are! How did you do it, Tails?”

He just brushed off his hands dismissively. “Oh, it’s nothing, really.”

Spike gave him a serious look then. “Dude, you really gotta start giving yourself more credit.” He went to touch his shoulder, but stopped halfway through. “This stuff you do? I don’t know anybody else who could do it. And trust me, I know lots of people.”

Tails just brought his hands together and gave an awkward laugh. Looking everywhere but at the hedgehog.

Thankfully, Spike decided to change the topic. “Anyhow, it’s a good thing you gave me this list,” He brought a hand to rest on his neck, posture now a little nervous. “I kinda have to go back to town, we need more provisions for the night and stuff. Is there anything you need?”

Tails stopped fidgeting with his hands, a cold feeling washing over him at the mention of the place. Of the reminders of what he truly was. “Not really.”

Spike took notice of his change in demeanor, a worried expression on his face. “You sure about that, Tails?”

“Yes.” His bluntness surprised even him. The hedgehog almost visibly flinching but trying to cover it up. Tails took notice.

Spike looked like he wanted to say something else, opening his mouth but shutting it just as fast. “Alright, then.”

Spike folded the note Tails gave him and stored it in his quills, walking down to the edge of the beach and turning his face to him. “I should be back in a few hours, see you here then?”

“Yeah… yeah. I’ll continue working on the Tornado.”

Spike gave a thumbs up, but even he could tell it felt empty. “Catch ya later, buddy.”

And with that, he was gone. A trail of dust and cyan was left in his place.

Tails gave a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. That had been… weird. Even he couldn’t tell what caused his high spirits to disappear, but the mention of that place… of the people there and what they said about him…

He brought his hands to his arms, hugging himself close. He didn’t want to think about that, at least not when he had been feeling so happy just moments ago. He wanted to feel happy.

His gaze wandered back to the Tornado. Maybe fixing her would help him? Fixing stuff always brought peace to him, this time wouldn’t be any different.

Except, it was.

His hands started to tremble, his grip loosening and Tails found himself on the ground in multiple occasions trying to grab the tools he had dropped.

What was happening to him? He couldn’t focus no matter how hard he tried, the edges of his vision blurring and a tight feeling in his chest.

This wasn’t normal, right? There must be something wrong.

There’s always been something wrong about you, Miles.

Miles’ breathing began to pick up, his own thoughts weren’t doing him any favors. He had to calm down.

His gazed focused on the forest in front of him. Going for a walk there usually helped when he felt like this. Yeah, yeah that would help him figure out… whatever was going on right now.

His feet began to move before he could process it, the rays of the sun disappearing the further he got in. He started to blink rapidly, just focus on something else, Miles, anything….

His hands were holding tightly onto his arms, tails tensed and close to him. Every sound seemed to be amplified around him, the leaves’ rustling in the wind, a flickie’s cries for his mother in the distance, the laughter of children-

Wait, that wasn’t right. He must be imagining things, right? His breathing came in ragged, a dryness in his throat following soon after. He had to calm down.

He tried to remember the breathing technique Spike had been doing yesterday. How did he do it? Was it up for seven and held by four? No, no that wasn’t right. There was an eight in there somewhere, but how did he do it-?!

He yelped as he tripped over something. There was no one there to catch him.

Miles felt the air leaving his lungs, pain expanding over his body like a disease. 

A hiss escaped from his clenched teeth as he brought his knee close to his chest. Why did it hurt so much-? His body’s trembling on the ground just made it worse.

 “Yo! Guys! Over here!” 

That voice was… familiar, somehow? Miles thought he had heard it before. But when-?

“What is it now, Lev? It better not be another false alarm.”

Miles forced his eyes to open. Two figures, a tall green one and a smaller peach colored one were approaching him. The sight was familiar to him, a cold feeling growing in his chest with each step they took.

“See? I told you guys I heard something! And you didn’t believe me, tch. There he is, Slash.”

No, no no no no. This can’t be happening, it can’t! It can’t be him.

“Huh, will you look at that. Turns out you ain’t as useless as I thought, Lev.” A shadow moved behind his eyelids, a third figure joining the group. “So, this is where you’ve been hiding, hm?”

The sound of a boot hitting the ground reached his ears. Small, cold grains fell against his body soon after. “What a dumpster, then again, only something like you could live in a place like this.”

“Ha! Look at the way it trembles! Oh man, I’ve missed this.” Wicked laughter filled Miles’ ears. “Don’t you think it’s time we showed it its place again, Slash?”

A fake humming noise came from in front of him. “Yeah, it has been a while since I’ve punched something.” Miles could feel the smile coming from him. “Tusk?”

“Yes, Slash?” A third voice joined from his left, the cracking of knuckles coming from his direction.

“You know the drill.”

Miles couldn’t stop the scream that left him as harsh hands grabbed his tails, raw coughing coming soon after when his back hit the trunk he had been launched into.

A punch in his cheek made him lose his balance, body landing against the dirt. His fur tinted in greens and browns. 

He didn’t bother trying to get back up. The punch against his stomach was expected, but it didn’t stop his body’s response, tails weakly hugging him in an attempt to shield him.

Laughter bounced against the trees around him, the sound getting drilled into his head with each punch he took.

A particular hard kick managed to get a sound out of him, body desperately trying to curl further in himself at the pain. He didn’t manage to move before rough hands grabbed his arms and held him up, feet hanging limply from the ground.

Miles let his head fall; it was easier this way. He bit his tongue to prevent any noise from escaping him, it would be worse if that happened.

Two hands grabbed his cheeks almost delicately. Their touch quickly turned bruising as a knee hit his jaw. Miles could taste blood.

There were multiple voices around him, but Miles didn’t try to understand them. The pain coming from his tails as they were used to drag him in the ground clouding his brain.

He weakly felt his body getting thrown further away from the group, a kick at his back making him roll into a puddle. He couldn’t distinguish if the wetness in his face came from his tears or the dirty water.

Silently, he just begged for it to be over.

Just waiting for someone, anyone to help him. 

For Spike to help him.

“’The hell’s this thing talking about?”

“I think you hit it too hard this time, Slash, you broke it.”

Miles gave a hiss as his head was forcefully dragged backwards by the locks in his head. “Just what do you think you’re doing, huh?!”

His vision flashed white as he was once again shoved into the puddle, rocks hitting his head. “You really think that someone’s gonna help you? Please.”

He gritted his teeth as more of his head was buried in the water. “Listen here you abomination. You are nothing. You hear me? Nothing. There’s not a single person on this whole planet who would give a damn about you. Tch, just look at yourself.”

“You are nothing more than a freak, a mistake. We’re doing the world a favor by taking care of you.” Miles brought his ears as close to his head as he could, Slash coming to whisper. “This is exactly what you deserve. You got that?”

Miles weakly nodded his head. He was slammed into the ground again.

“Answer me, you monster.”

“Y-yes, Slash.”

“Good.”

The pressure finally left his head and Miles was left to his own in the muddy water.

“Oh, and one more thing.” The voices were getting further away, but Miles still heard the message. “Don’t bother trying to hide from me again, I’ll always find you.”

The laughter finally went away, the silence from the forest being of no comfort to him.

Miles just closed his eyes, letting sleep take him where he could no longer feel the pain in his body. Tear tracks mixing with the dirt in the puddle

Tails was nowhere to be found.

That fact shouldn’t bother Sonic as much as it did. The kid was free to come and go as he pleased, after all.

But he couldn’t help a slight worry from creeping in.

Mainly because Tails had acted… weirdly before he left.

He should have seen it coming, what, with the way he reacted to anything and everything, but at the time, Sonic didn’t consider that the mention of the town would affect him this badly.

Tails had completely shut down. The spark in his eyes disappearing in a blink, posture stiff and an emptiness in his words.

That worried Sonic.

And that worry only got worse when he arrived at the town. He made a mental note to come back as soon as he could, wanting to check up on Tails but giving him some time to himself, so he didn’t bother with the usual greetings or autographs he usually gave around town.

He made a beeline towards the closest grocery store he saw. Skimming past the aisles and grabbing everything he could need for a few days. Enough to feed two people.

As he was checking out in the register, he decided to confirm his suspicions regarding Tails’ reaction and the town itself.

“Hey, you haven’t seen a yellow fox around, have you?” Sonic asked casually, pretending to be really interested in a random magazine by the counter.

The cashier, who seconds ago was vibrating with happiness, stopped in the middle of her work. A look of utter disgust on her face. “Oh no, did that two-tailed freak bother you, mister Sonic?  I’m so, so sorry you had to see that.”

His eye twitched behind the magazine he held in his face. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s just that that thing just loves messing around with our nice town, always taking things, tampering with the machines at the back or scaring the kids,” A chill went down her spine. “it’s just a curse. Everywhere it goes, trouble follows. I just hope it didn’t ruin your stay on our island, mister Sonic. I can always call the kids to get it off your back.”

Sonic grabbed his bags and headed out, gritting his teeth together. “That won’t be necessary.”

He didn’t bother sticking around to hear the cashier’s reply, stomping down the street and drawing deep breaths.

This town was full of hypocrites.

Sonic finished the rest of his shopping at record speed, pulling the note from his quills and buying the pieces written there at the walrus’ hardware store without a word.

It wasn’t long until he was back at the Tornado, with no Tails in sight.

He set the bags down near the biplane, the uneasiness in his chest continuing to grow.

“Tails? Buddy? You in here?”

No response. But it was fine, right? The kid just probably went off to… calm himself down, maybe?

Yeah, yeah, he had been pretty agitated before he left. He just had to give him some time.

He would come back, there was no way he would just leave the Tornado like that.

There was no way he would just leave Sonic like that.

Right?

Sonic just gave a sigh.

If Tails wanted to leave Sonic wasn’t about to stop him. Just like how he couldn’t stop the hurt in his chest from forming, a familiar emptiness making his way back to his heart.

He really enjoyed spending time with the kid, he was the most intriguing person he had ever met. A young, brilliant kit with a bright future ahead of him. One that treated him like he was normal, like he wasn’t just some freak show or untouchable celebrity. Someone who appreciated him for who he was, not what he represented.

Sonic would be lying if he said he wouldn’t miss him, not to mention he wanted to be there to help him, given no one else intended to, but he wouldn’t force him to stay either.

Tails would return if he wanted to. Sonic would respect his decision.

He turned to face the Tornado. There were only a few things left before she could take flight again; Tails had done wonders in fixing her.

He grabbed the blueprints and the components Tails had written, he was no mechanic, but Sonic was certain he could follow the design and continue the work from here.

He shook his hands, jumped a little in place and set his brows in determination, time to get to work.

He continued to install the new pieces, making an effort to not think about how late it was getting and how he missed a fluffy yellow presence at his side, when he heard a sound.

His ears flickered slightly in the direction, his hands stopping their motion at tightening some screws, and he turned his face to the forest’s edge.

He held his breath, expecting a little fox to come out and greet him, but instead, he was met with three kids coming out of the forest. Laughter following their movements,

“I swear to Gaia, if you got us lost again, Tusk I swear I’m gonna- Oh my gosh.” A gray bear cub stopped in his tracks, eyes wide as he set his sight on Sonic, hand dropping from where he had been attempting to punch his friend from what it seemed.

“Look! My dad never lies, Slash. There he is!” A small walrus, who appeared to be Tusk, had stars in his eyes as he rushed closer to him. “He even got me his autograph!”

“Remind me never to insult mechanics again.” The third kid, a red monkey, whispered as he, too, was left frozen at the sight of the hedgehog.

Sonic merely sighed, drawing a deep breath before putting on his easy-going smile. Turning to face the kids. “Hey there! Aren’t you guys a little far from home? It’s getting late.”

 The bear cub practically threw himself towards Sonic, grinning with too much enthusiasm for his liking. “Oh, it’s okay, Mister Sonic. It’s okay if we call you Mister Sonic?” He didn’t give him time to reply before he continued. “We were looking for you actually!”

“You were?” Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah!” the monkey replied, “Well, technically we came to get rid of the thing, but who says we can’t do both things?”

Sonic felt a shiver going down his spine, a sudden stiffness to his movements. “What are you talking about?”

The walrus kid was oblivious to Sonic’ change in demeanor. “People around town told us it had been bothering you, Mister Sonic, we just came here to fix that.”

“I’m sorry it happened in the first place,” The bear continued. “it won’t happen again, I promise.” A sick smile formed in his face; pride clear in his posture. “I took care of it.”

Sonic could feel his fist tightening, he didn’t bother trying to hide the coldness in his voice. Didn’t bother with the way the bear flinched as he practically materialized in front of him. “Where.”

“What the-! Huh, where’s- what?” The bear choked on his words; Sonic paid him no mind.

“Where is he.”

“Are you talking about the freak?” The monkey asked incredulously, having composed himself enough from the shock to have a look of utter disgust. “Uh, we just took care of him back at the forest, why?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you want to have a go at it too?!” The walrus gushed. “I would love to see that! Do you mind if we take pictures while you do tha-“

“Now you listen here.” Sonic cut the kid off before his words caused him to do something someone of his status shouldn’t. “I don’t want to see you, any of you close to me or that kid. Got it?”

It was the monkey’s time to choke on his own words, pathetically trying to come up with excuses. “What? but- we just- that thing was- we were helping you-?”

“I said. Got. It?” Sonic hissed, taking a step towards the kids.

They moved their arms around, failing to form any actual words before the bear stopped them, teeth grit together. “Let’s go guys.”

He didn’t give time for his friends to respond, already turning around with his fists tightened. “Come on.”

Sonic didn’t stick around long enough to hear the rest of the conversation. Already dashing deep into the forest, heart beating loudly in his ears.

'The kids usually take care of it, making sure it doesn’t cause any trouble.'

Sonic pushed his feet to move faster, forcing his eyes to focus on anything that resembled him from the blur of color around him.

'I can always call the kids to get it off your back.'

How could he have been so stupid?! It was all there, right in front of him. Why didn’t he realize it sooner?

'We came to get rid of the thing.'

No, no, no. Please, tell me he’s okay. He has to-

'I took care of it.'

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Sonic was too late.

He weakly knelt in the middle of the forest, hands shaking as he saw the small, bruised form in front of him.

“T-Tails?”

He recoiled his hands as quickly as he could when the kid flinched at his touch. His muddy fur trembling with his movement.

Sonic brought his hand to his face, the other one curling into a fist.

Why did I let it happen?

He forced his gaze to focus on the kid.

He was trembling, his frame rocking with every shiver he could manage, weakly trying to regain some warmth. His fur was so dirty, it seemed it didn’t belong to the kid he saw that same morning, barely any yellow left among the browns and greens and… reds.

Sonic drew in a sharp breath. He sent whispered apologies as he once again brought his hands to the kit, trying to soothe him when he once again flinched and yelped. Words slurring together in a panic.

“n-no please. don’t I-I can’t, I’m sorry-“ His trembling got worse, Sonic could feel his breathing picking up as he held the kid in his arms. Carefully lifting him up from the puddle he was in.

“Shh, It’s okay, Tails. It’s okay. It’s me.” Sonic’s voice felt weak to his own ears, hugging the kid close and drawing deep breaths. Hoping the kid would follow like he did before.

“Do you remember our little game, buddy?” Sonic drew in breaths for four seconds, held them for seven, and let them go in eight. Repeating the process and counting quietly so Tails could pick it up.

The kid didn’t follow. He shook his head, more apologies coming from his lips and breathing picking up in speed. Sonic’s heart broke.

“Shh, it’s okay Tails, please. It’s me. It’s Spike.” Sonic tried to reassure him, letting Tails’ head rest near his heart. Forcing his breaths to be stable.

That caused a reaction, one of his ears perking up at the name while the other one remained glued to Sonic’s chest. Sonic felt how his rambling stopped. One of his eyes slowly opening. “S-Spike-?”

“Yeah, it’s me, little buddy. It’s me.” Sonic let a small, genuine smile show in his face. A wetness in his cheeks.

“Y-you are here… what- what are you doing here…?” His breathing picked up again from where he had momentarily calmed down. “You s-shouldn’t be here- they- they-!”

“Shh. Listen to me, buddy, okay? Are you listening to me?” Sonic made eye contact with him, a determined look in his face as he spoke. “I won’t let them hurt you, okay? You are safe with me.”

Sonic hugged him closer, closing his eyes as he rested his chin on his head. “I promise.”

Tails went limp in his hold, breathing stopping completely for long enough that Sonic worried something worse had happened to him. His voice was hoarse, but sweet when he spoke. “O-Okay.”

“Okay.” Sonic replied. “Okay…”

 He slowly made his way back to the Tornado. Every step measured as he carefully held the kid in his arms, breathing stably as he slept. Ears listening to his heartbeat.

Gaia, Sonic thought. What am I going to do with this kid?

Chapter Text

Miles was running.

He knew that was happening. Wind crashing against his face, the forest melting into a blur of colors around him, his ragged breathing sharp against his chest-

And yet, he wasn’t moving.

The forest was moving, but his legs weren’t, tails limp at his sides.

He forced his feet to walk, to run. But nothing happened. The wind still clashed against him, forcing his eyes shut. He pushed against the current.

Laughter began to echo around him, going from barely above a whisper to a pulsing scream in his ears irregularly. His breathing picked up, the sound triggering something primitive inside him.

He tried to run. Tried to scream. Nothing happened.

His eyes dashed from one place to the next. The shadows on the trees taking forms before disappearing when he blinked. A new voice joined the laughter in his ears. A familiar one.

Miles shrieked as an invisible force punched him in the stomach and made him fall, but no sound came out. The grass on his feet turning liquid and taking him down, down, down below.

The laughter continued to echo around him as he descended further below. Lights creating shadowed outlines that continued to mock him, to hurt him.

They began to form words, whole phrases that trapped him and threatened to steal the little air he had left. Each one making it harder to focus.

‘Ha! Look at the way it trembles!’

The light from above started to disappear completely, the shadows around him getting more defined. Sharper.

‘You know the drill’

The pressure increased, face furrowing in pain as something dragged him by his chest. Eyes struggling to focus on the dim lighting.

‘You are nothing. You hear me? Nothing.’

The darkness finally took a defined form in front of him. Two tails casting a shadow over him as a pair of blue eyes peered at him. An emptiness in them.

‘This is exactly what you deserve’

He did nothing but stare at himself. He stared back.

Miles woke up with a gasp.

His heart was beating loudly in his ears, breaths ragged and painful. A dryness in his throat every time he tried to draw breath.

He forced his teeth together as a yelp of pain tried to escape him. Body feeling sore and heavy when he tried to curl in himself.

He closed his eyes, pleading to whatever was out there that he hadn’t made too much noise. That they wouldn’t find him.

His ears remained high as they focused on the sounds around him. Moving them around in search of the footsteps he knew were coming-

But nothing happened.

In fact, the silence that surrounded him only managed to confuse him more than he already was.

His ears could only pick up a certain flickering off in the distance, the sound of waves as they gently arrived on what he presumed was the beach somewhere on his left. The sound was familiar to him, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.

Miles had no idea where he was, that much was clear, but it meant he had to make sure that there was no immediate danger. He took a few steadying breaths before risking it, slightly opening one of his eyes.

A blue hedgehog was sitting a comfortable distance away from him, a leg propped up that supported his arm while the other one was crossed near him. Slightly hunched over himself and staring deeply at the campfire in front of him. Flames casting his face in shadows.

Miles’ mind ached with familiarity at the sight. Despite his confusion, something inside him seemed to relax when he recognized the figure, letting the tension leave his shoulders from where they had been ready to dash away.

The hedgehog made no move to acknowledge him. From what Miles could tell, he seemed to be deep in thought, lips moving as if he were speaking; but no matter how hard he tried to focus, Miles couldn’t understand the words.

His eyes then wandered to the rest of his surroundings. It was dark, Miles’ eyes catching the many stars in the night sky, the only source of light being that of the campfire. It seemed it was only the two of them on the beachside.

After looking down, he found himself inside of a sleeping bag, a soft fabric covering him. To confirm his suspicions, Miles looked behind him and… yeah. The outline of a biplane was visible thanks to the warm hues of the flames.

He had been here before.

Miles took a few breaths; he knew this place, but his mind was still not focusing. He brought a hand to his chest to help with his breathing but was surprised when he found a soft fabric there.

Startled, he looked down at his body, taking off the blanket that was placed over him. Eyes widening at the many bandages that covered his frame.

Well, that explained the lack of utter agony he had come to associate with his beatings. He had been feeling a weak ache ever since he woke up but hadn’t really processed it until now.

Miles hissed a little when he saw some red starting to form on the bandages, he must have reopened some of his injuries in his panic. But that meant someone had taken the time to close them in the first place, but who-?

A new sound reached his ears. He turned his head to the direction and let out a small gasp at the sight.

The hedgehog- Spike, that was his name, wasn’t it? -had brought a hand to his face. His body more strained than when he had last seen him, and he was… trembling? A glint on his muzzle and a choking noise made Miles stop in his thoughts.

Miles could only stare. Spike continued to tremble, what appeared to be apologies coming out of his mouth in rapid succession. Spike was… he was crying.

He didn’t feel his feet moving, didn’t process getting up and making his way over to Spike, until he put a hand on the hedgehog’s shoulder.

Spike flinched at the touch and wiped his head in a second, wide, green eyes staring at worried blue ones.

Spike looked so lost, never did Miles imagine him carrying an expression like that. He always looked so confident, so hopeful… the hedgehog in front of him looked nothing like that. He looked… scared.

Spike stared at him for a second too long. He shook his head, quickly bringing a hand to his face to wipe away his tears, and gave him a smile that felt- wrong. A tightness in his features that didn’t belong there. “H-Hey there, little buddy. What are you doing up so late?”

Miles felt his brows furrowing. This wasn’t real. The hedgehog in front of him was as fake as everyone in the town had always been. He didn’t like that look on Spike. He wasn’t genuine like that.

The hedgehog’s “grin” started to flicker in the silence that followed. His emerald eyes, now with a reddish hint at their sides, desperately tried to maintain eye contact but faltered each time. Miles waited, slightly squeezing his shoulder when it appeared as if the hedgehog’s face was about to crack from how tense it was.

For whatever reason, it was that simple movement what managed to break through the façade. Spike’s body went limp, head weakly hanging on his shoulders with a tired sigh. Miles could hear the sharp breaths coming from him.

“S-Sorry about that, bud,” Miles’ ears went to press against his head when Spike turned his head to look at him, slightly flinching in concern at how devastated the hedgehog looked. “I shouldn’t be making you worry.”

Miles wanted to answer. To reassure Spike that, whatever had happened to him, was alright. That he shouldn’t be bothering over him in the first place, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth.

It was the burrowing on Spike’s brows at his silence what brought him to action. In a blink, he had closed the small distance between them and grabbed the hedgehog’s sides with his arms. Holding tight in fear that, if he wouldn’t now, he wouldn’t get another chance.

Spike stood completely still for long enough that Miles feared he had just made the worst mistake of his life, but the tension left his body as soon as he felt a pair of arms hold him close. One coming to his head to gently- so gently -brush his fur, the three bangs on his head rocking with the movement.

Neither of them pointed out how hard they were trembling, how tightly they were embracing each other or the tears that fell out of their faces. They simply let themselves be. Let themselves know that the other was right there, in front of them. In their arms.

“I-I’m sorry.” Spike’s voice was barely above a whisper, words catching in his throat. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Miles’ brows furrowed, he opened his mouth again to try and finally explain to Spike that: No, he shouldn’t be worrying about him. Shouldn’t be apologizing to him because… because-!

The sound he managed to get out instead was a hiss. Pain blooming from his stomach so suddenly that his arms let go of their tight grip.

Spike withdrew as if burned, hands pressed firmly against his chest in a flash. Emerald eyes wide open as he stared at Miles’ hunching form.

It took him several seconds before he moved to action. His eyes blinking rapidly before they settled on Miles’ lap, the fox followed his gaze and- Yeah. His bandages barely had any white left in them, a sharpness in each breath that he took.

“That’s not good…” Miles’ keen hearing barely managed to catch Spike’s words from under his breath. “Ju-Just- Stay here. Okay, buddy? I’ll be right back.”

Miles stared as Spike took a hesitant step back, head going back and forward from the Tornado and back at him. Something flashed in his face, too fast for Miles to make out, before he turned around and made a beeline for the biplane. Dust now in the place where he stood.

Miles was left alone on the beach then, the crackling of the flames in the campfire his only company as the shadows around him seemed to grow.

His breaths were short and painful. Stopping midway as the sharpness in his stomach forced him to release the little air he managed to gather.

But even then, Miles’ head didn’t focus on the pain. Spike’s words repeating endlessly in his head like an old, broken radio.

‘I’m sorry.’ Miles could feel the trembling in his voice, the tears on his face, the tightness in his posture. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

Spike had been so desolated, so distraught and destroyed and-

And it was because of him.

Miles had been the reason why Spike was suffering.

He… He really was a curse.

All this time, all those screams and beatings and swears that he had learned to ignore through his whole life… they were true.

He was a mistake. An- an abomination that only brought misery to those around him.

He had tried, tried so so hard to change. To try to fix himself. To try to fit in, to help people around the village- To help Spike.

But it always ended up the same way. In trying to fix things, he ended up breaking them.

He broke the radio at that old woman’s house. Broke the only toy they had at the orphanage. Broke the only tent that could have been his shelter. Broke that one TV and that engine and- and-!

And now he had broken Spike.

That bright and confident hedgehog, the only person who had ever been kind to him- He had gone ahead and ruined him. Left him in pieces and crushed him and it was all because of him-

Miles could feel a weight in his throat that pulsed erratically, a wetness in his cheeks and a sting in his eyes.  And that sharp pain that just wouldn’t stop coming from his chest-

And he deserved it. This was… this was what he deserved.

It couldn’t have been longer than a few minutes, but Spike had reappeared as quickly as he had left at Miles’ side. His hands trembling so much that the box he now carried was threatening to fall off.

As soon as he heard his footsteps approaching, Miles forced himself to just stop. He is the reason why Spike was like this. He wouldn’t hurt him anymore than he already had, he couldn’t.

He forced his breaths to be even, bit down on his tongue so no sound could betray how painful the action was. His eyes blinked as fast as they could until his vision wasn’t just a blur of color. Stayed perfectly still as Spike’s eyes seemed to stare into his soul and shifted into that wounded expression.

Remained silent as Spike slowly knelt in front of him and set down the box he had brought, as he opened his mouth but shut it just as fast. As he brought his hands to Miles’ stomach but flinched each time they were about to make contact.

Miles only stared as the silence stretched between them. And just gave a small, almost imperceptible nod when Spike quietly asked if he could change his bandages. If that’s what he wanted Miles wouldn’t stop him, he wouldn’t hurt him with a denial. Couldn’t hurt him again.

Miles’ eyes desperately tried to settle on something on the horizon. Anything. He couldn’t look at Spike, couldn’t see the hurt in his face. The hurt he caused him.

So, he didn’t. He just stared blankly past Spike’s shoulder as he worked with a kindness he didn’t deserve, carefully removing the bloodied cloth from his stomach and starting to clean his wounds.

Neither of them said a word as the last of the fresh bandages were finally applied. As the fire grew weaker with nothing left to fuel it, the beach slowly ran out of warm hues and let the cold, blue ones paint it with its color.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but Spike’s voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. “Look, bud, I-“ Miles’ didn’t catch the expression on his face as he turned to look away, shadows covering his face. “I- I think it’s better if I just- leave.”

W-What-? Miles’ eyes sharply turned from his blurred gazing somewhere in the horizon to Spike. He was looking over his shoulder now, hands tightly gripping his arms as he physically refused to see Miles.

His whole frame shivered with the deep sigh he took, words flat as he continued. “It’s just that- I’m trying to- If I stay here they-“

Miles didn’t make out the silent curses Spike muttered as he struggled to find the words, a ringing in his ears obscured everything else as he physically felt something snap inside of him. A numbness following soon after.

This was it. The moment he was waiting for, the one he dreaded but knew couldn’t be avoided.

Spike was getting rid of him.

He didn’t blame him.

Not really.

He knew it was a matter of time; it was a wonder that Spike had allowed him to stick around for as long as he had. But a small part of him had been hoping- dreaming that maybe-

But like everything else in his life, nothing ever worked out.

“It’s okay.” And, oh. That was his voice that cut through Spike’s rambling, wasn’t it? It was rough and hoarse to his own ears. “I get it.”

Spike’s speech came to a sudden stop, hands frozen where they had been gesturing alongside his words. Voice broken in a way Miles couldn’t place. “You do?”

“Yeah.” He grunted as he stood up, careful of his new bandages and ignoring the way Spike’s hands moved as if to support him subconsciously. “It’s fine.”

Miles took a moment to catch his breath and re orient himself, it was never easy to balance after one of the harsher beatings. But he would manage. He always did.

He took a hesitant step forward and, after making sure he wouldn’t fall, continued making his way to the edge of the forest. After a soft rustle came from his back, Miles turned around and was greeted with the worried face of Spike.

It was the same haunting look as when he had woken up. Miles turned away, struggling to find a way to make it stop.

“Well, thanks. For everything.” He settled on that. Experience taught him that people liked to feel good about themselves, as if they had sacrificed something and deserved to get recognition in return. He wouldn’t have put Spike in that category before, but he couldn’t read him now. Couldn’t understand him.

Before giving Spike time to respond, he turned away and headed deeper into the forest. He ignored the hedgehog who was just standing there on the beach side, a cold campfire at his feet.

A part of him was scared that Spike would only come running after him, would materialize and do- something- He didn’t even know anymore.

But he didn’t.

And Miles settled on the facts.

Spike said he didn’t want him. He wouldn’t come looking after him. No one did.

Even then, he took one of the many routes he had planned when choosing his hideout to lose anyone who might be following him. He remained low, hid in some of the bushes, and waited until the sun finally settled on the horizon to make his way back to his small clearing.

Miles just stood there for what felt like hours. The sound of the waterfall, one that usually brought him a relative sense of peace and stability, was nothing more than a dull echo in his ears.

He felt… empty. Numb.

A glint caught his eye, he slowly looked to where it was coming from and- Oh. That’s the old, rusted silver watch he had been working on, light hitting it just right to make it shine in the early morning.

He stared at it and, between one blink and the next, found himself kneeling beside the rock that hid it. Watch in his hands as he absentmindedly rubbed his fingers on its glass.

Broken. Useless.

Just like him.

There was a sharpness in his eyes and a tightness in his chest. His whole body tensed as he held the watch above his head- when had he gotten up?- and prepared to throw it away because he didn’t want to see it anymore-!!

But he crumbled.

He fell to his knees and held the watch close to his chest. Whole frame trembling with each sob that tore through, tears staining the grass beneath him.

He didn’t know anymore. Didn’t know why he was so emotional when seconds ago he had been feeling so hollow. Didn’t know why he was holding on to dear life to the very machine he was about to destroy. Didn’t know why Spike had bothered to tolerate him just to send him away-

And he hated not knowing, not understanding.

He stayed curled up in the ground, tails weakly coming to wrap around him despite how sore they felt, until his tears ran dry. A light headache had formed behind his eyes by the time he managed to calm himself down enough to acknowledge just how tired he was.

His whole body felt heavy, the injuries he had been ignoring from yesterday slowly made themselves known even through the bandages that partially muffled the pain. His emotions were running wild, he had no control over them.

He silently looked up to the usual branch he slept in. A memory, of wind flowing around him and feeling weightless as someone cheered him up beside him, made a sharp pain shoot into his heart.

He wouldn’t be climbing today.

Instead, he simply laid down in the grass and curled up into a ball, tails coming to wrap themselves and keep what little heat he could manage. Watch held closely to his chest as he tried to shut off the world around him.

Miles went to sleep like all nights, just before this whole thing had happened, with tails covering his body and tear tracks on his cheeks.

Sonic didn’t sleep that night.

That wasn’t unusual for him. Ever since defeating Eggman and having to deal with his newfound celebrity status, he often found himself just staring at the sky. Struggling to fall asleep as his mind continued to wander.

What was unusual, however, was the pit he felt in his chest.

Yesterday’s events continued to repeat endlessly in his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see water stained with red, a shivering frame in his arms, his own shaky hands as he struggled to clean wounds.

That desperation that clawed at the edges of his heart, the despair- the fear. It was unlike anything he had felt before.

Sure, he was Sonic the hedgehog! The one who faced against the deadliest enemy Mobius had ever seen and survived! Who defeated Doctor Robotnik and prevented him from making animals into living batteries! He had faced his own deal of close calls.

But never like this. Never when it came to someone else. 

Someone he cared about.

Sonic physically grimaced and shut his eyes, as if the action could erase the anxiety he felt each time he thought about the kid. About…

He stopped spinning the same, tiny screw that had been left carelessly on the ground 3 days ago around his fingers. Back when he hadn’t known who had been helping him with the Tornado, back before he had hurt him.

Sonic slowly rose into a seated position at the beach side, ignoring the sand that had clung to his quills after having spent the night on the floor. The waves at his side glimmered with the first rays of sun as it rose in the distance, warm hues dancing over the icy blue waters. He didn’t care.

A glint caught his eye. A little further away from where he was seated, the Tornado glimmered as sunrise slowly began to settle and hit her with its rays at just the right angle to meet his eyes.

He remembered the small chest hiding under the seat of the cockpit, the smell of something cooking and soft giggles in the early morning.

He didn’t eat breakfast that day.

Instead, he rose to his feet and started to walk. To run.

His whole body felt stiff, limbs heavy and slow in their movements. He didn’t care; Sonic pushed forward. He always did.

The sand under his feet rose after he passed, palm trees and other flora melting into a blur of color at his sides as he gained speed.

He did not see a small shadow at the edge of his vision, did not hear his heart pounding loudly in his ears as his eyes focused on the colors around him, desperately looking for anything that resembled-

Sonic muffled a curse as he tripped and almost fell headfirst into the sand. Focus, Sonic, damn it! The beach suddenly lost its appeal, and he took a sharp right turn and headed deep into the forest.

The same way he had when he disappeared among the trees that night- Sonic shook his head. No, no he wouldn’t think about that, not now.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? He never thought things through.

He pushed his feet to go faster, ignored the soreness at his knees as he threw his weight a little to the side, let gravity do the rest-! Ignored what sounded like laughter at his right side as he focused purely on the road ahead.

He couldn’t see it. Plants and vegetation covered everything on the ground, and he relied purely on instinct to know where he was going. His breathing felt sharp and came out quicker than he was used to. It stung.

He almost came to a complete stop when something yellow and fuzzy came into view at the distance. He held his breath as he approached, a dryness in his throat as he tried to say something-, but let it go as he passed the group of golden flowers.

‘It’s better this way,’ Sonic firmly reminded himself. ‘They can’t hurt him like this, you can’t hurt him like this. ‘

‘That’s not true and you know it.’ A harsher part of him called out so suddenly that it almost made him lose his equilibrium as he landed, finishing his jump over a fallen tree trunk. ‘It’s going to happen even if you’re there or not.’

‘But I’m just going to make it worse! What happened yesterday- it had been personal. They had been looking for me but found him.’ Sonic grit his teeth as the ghost of a weight settled on his arms. One that was too light for someone so young, trembling too hard for someone that small-

‘So that’s it, then? Just leaving him behind to deal with it on his own? Running away from your problems like usual?’ He hissed as his arm skimmed against a sharp branch, leaving small scratches on it.

No, no, this was different. He was doing this for Tails. He was doing this to protect him.

 ‘Is it really for him? Pushing him away? Or is this just another one of your excuses?’

His rhythm became more frantic. The stiffness in his limbs throwing off his pace and making him wobble from left to right. Straight into more branches.

‘You haven’t changed at all. You’re still that egocentric, selfish kid.’  

Sonic’s leg cramped, locking itself in place so suddenly that he didn’t have time to brace himself as he tumbled to the ground. He tried to curl into a ball to soften the blow, his limbs were too stiff to answer him.

He roughly made his way downhill, body bouncing against dirt and grass, until finally rolling to a stop in the middle of the forest. Face staring at the sky above.

Sonic just… stayed there. His own breaths the only sound around him as he stared aimlessly at the horizon.

A flickie passed overhead, the air brushed softly against his face and Sonic did… nothing.

He did nothing because… there was some truth to it, wasn’t it?

Maybe… maybe if he hadn’t been so distracted, so happy about finally meeting someone earnest, he could have seen it coming. Could have prevented it. Instead of just selfishly trying to live in the moment and ignore the consequences.

Like he always did.

Sonic closed his eyes, brows furrowing as he went over every moment, every small detail that he had missed and tried to figure out where it had all gone wrong- When he heard a scream.

He was on his feet in an instant, ears flickering above his head and eyes desperately trying to locate where it had come from because he recognized that voice.

He was speeding straight at the source as soon as he heard another one off at the distance. His heart was pounding harshly in his ears, muscles tense as he pushed himself to go faster- to fulfill his promise-

He had been too late once.

He wouldn’t let it happen again.

“I told you I’d find you again.”

Miles didn’t have time to open his eyes, time to process what that voice meant, when he felt his tails being forcefully grabbed.

He yelped, instinct taking over and feet kicking widely around before his mind could catch up because someone was here- someone was on his hideout-!

“Auch! That thing just kicked me-!!”

“Quit it, Lev! Just help me grab it-“

“Rgh- I’ll make you pay for hurting me, you hear?!”

His eyes snapped open as hands roughly pushed him to the ground, air leaving him and teeth set in a snarl as pain exploded on his back. Something warm and wet sticking to his fur under the bandages

Everything was blurry, colors mixing into dancing blobs in front of him. There was a- a green one and a red one and-

No. Realization settled over him like cold water. Vision finally focusing long enough for him to recognize the gray bear cub that sent panic into his head.

Slash was standing right in front of him, hands crossed over his chest as he glared at him with a hatred he had never seen before on his face.

Tusk had him pinned by the chest and one of his arms, ignoring the string of curses that Lev was muttering as he grabbed his other arm and rubbed his cheek, a bruise starting to form on the monkey’s face.

“You never listen, do you?” Slash’s voice immediately silenced the other two. Tone low as he approached Miles. “I thought we made it clear we didn’t want you lurking around back in town.”

Miles’ breath staggered; words slurred together in fear. “B-But I haven’t-“

A hard slap against his cheek made his vision dance again, Slash’s silhouette doubling as he kneeled in front of him. “Just how stupid do you think I am, hm?!”

He took a sharp breath as Slash’s feet came close to the bandages on his stomach, instinct telling him to curl up and protect his weakest side but body too weak to listen to him. “You really think you can go around stealing bandages without anyone noticing?? Tch.”

Miles shook his head because No! He hated stealing- he hadn’t stolen anything from the town and the bandages were-

Miles bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood as he muffled the scream he let out, body weakly curling into himself as Slash slowly pushed his feet against his stomach.

“I should remind you your place just for that, you mutant.” He felt clawed hands grab his cheek, Slash’s face millimeters away from his. “But no, you just had to make it worse for yourself, didn’t you?”

Miles wasn’t sure if the wetness he felt on his face was from his tears or the fresh blood oozing from the puncture Slash was making. “I’m starting to think you enjoy this. Is that it, you freakshow?”

He didn’t dare move his face. Eyes wide as he tried to compel how much he hated this, all of it. The beatings, the hatred, the loneliness-

His face was harshly thrown to the side, a stinging sensation on his cheek as Slash’s claws left a line there when it moved. Fresh blood warm against the cold air.

Miles barely caught sight of Slash’s hand, making some sort of gesture as he finally stopped pushing his weight into his stomach, before he grit his teeth as he was roughly pushed into a standing position. Feet barely touching the ground on his tiptoes as Tusk and Lev held him by his arms.

They were moving before he could properly process it. Sounds muffled as his mind struggled to understand what was happening, why they were looking for him so soon after his last beating when he usually had some time in between them. Why Slash was so much crueler than usual.

Something wasn’t adding up. And Miles couldn’t figure out what it was and it was going to cost him since he must have down something bad, he always did-

He hissed as the grip on his right arm became bruising, Lev’s voice harsh as he spoke. “Hey! The boss’ talking to yah!”

“Are we even sure it can hear us? It looks pretty out of it-“

“Is that questioning I hear, Tusk?” Miles barely made out Slash’s figure as he sharply turned to the walrus, who just froze in place and shook his head as the bear stared coldly at him. “That’s what I thought. Now move it! The guys are growing impatient.”

W-What? Th- The guys-? What is he talking about-?  

“Oi! I see ‘em! There they are!”

“Is that him?! Is that the guy?”

“Of course it is! Who else would it be? That’s the one thing responsible for everything wrong in this town! My mom said so!”

“Eghh! It looks even worse in person! Why does it have two-?!”

“Shut it.” Slash’s voice cut through the chatter like a knife. The group of what Miles now recognized as almost every kid in town stopping their blabbering to stare at him. Miles tried to make himself as small as he could.

In the silence that followed, Slash’s long, heavy breath suffocated Miles. A sense of wrongness and must get away filling his head as Slash turned to look at him with that glint in his eyes, that sharpness in his smirk.

“Now, would you care to do the honors? Tusk, Lev? We don’t want to keep our guest waiting.”

And just like that the noise came back full force. Cheering, laughing, yelling- Miles kept his ears close to his head to muffle the sounds. As fruitless as it was.

Miles didn’t notice getting dragged into the middle of the crowd until his back contacted something cold and metallic. His eyes snapped open, and he bit down a yelp as Tusk and Lev forcefully grabbed his arms and held them behind the cold surface.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I know you’ve been waiting for the grand show,” Slash bowed down to the crowd mockingly, sharp grin always in place as he walked around the circle the kids formed around them. “but don’t worry! The show’s just staring.”

He paused and pointed at Miles with his still bloodied claw, a look of disgust on his face. “I know you’ve all heard the stories about the thing. The monster…” Slashes’ eyes flashed with… with something- Miles was having too much trouble just breathing to actually focus on what that meant but he should be paying attention-

“…The curse.”

Booing from the kids around him made him flinch, the sound somehow increasing in intensity even as his wrists were tied together and the world tilted. That shouldn’t happen- right-?

“Disgusting, isn’t it? How our beautiful town has been forced to deal with problem after problem just because this thing refuses to leave.” Slash turned to look at him for just a second, but it was enough for Miles to see the raw hatred on his face. He had never seen him like that before-

“But that’s not it! Not only can’t that freak just leave us alone- no. But he thinks he’s better than us! That he should have all the attention!” Kids began to murmur among themselves as Slash gave them a few seconds to process. Doubt, confusion, wondering- it was all there.

And then, it clicked.

Whispers turned to shouts. Kids of all ages turned to Miles with a newfound hatred that he was unfamiliar with, a sea of people who just wanted to see him hurt. Insults, dirt, a few rocks- it was all thrown at him.

And in the middle of it all, the ringmaster of the whole deal, stood Slash with a sharp grin as he stared right. at. him.

His laughter was almost lost to the roars of sound around him, but Miles was too familiar with Slash’s voice to not distinguish it. “You really thought you could keep the Sonic the hedgehog to yourself? That I- We -wouldn’t do anything about it?”

Slash came closer, bowed down to whisper in Miles’ ear as he put a hand to his shoulder that burned to the touch. “Pathetic. Even if you didn’t have that extra tail everyone here would know how much of a monster you are.” He retreated just enough so that anything Miles could see was his cruel grin. “How selfish.”

Miles went limp as Slash finally retreated, laughter following his every movement and bouncing on his head over and over again as his tired mind tried to process-

Just to bite his tongue to keep from screaming.

Hot white pain shot from his shoulders as he was forcefully dragged upwards by his wrists. Eyes desperately looking around to reorient himself-

He looked behind him and was greeted by a flagpole. The same one that was right in front of the City Hall. In the middle of the town.

His wrists were bound by some rope, the same one that was currently being pulled to drag him higher and higher. Cheering by the kids increasing as his altitude did.

And Miles- Miles just hung limply even as his whole body shook with the harsh pulls. Numb as the pain came to a point where he couldn’t figure out where one ended and another began. Couldn’t figure out if what was bleeding was his stomach or his heart-

CLANK!

“Hey- what’s that?”

Miles drowsily looked down as the shouting came to a sudden stop. Whispers filled the air as Slash forced his way forward onto the small, silver watch that had landed right at Miles’ feet-

No-

He had fallen asleep while holding his watch- He didn’t have time to hide it- It was still with him-

“No!” Miles didn’t register his own ragged voice, eyes locking on the one thing that had kept him going this whole time. The one thing he had poured all his heart and soul into- That brought him any sort of joy now that he was gone-

“What the hell? Is this another thing you stole-?” Slash carelessly picked it up before locking eyes with Miles, he saw the exact moment where recognition replaced confusion. “Ohh. Oh. I see how it is.”

Slash mockingly held the watch by its chain, dangling it where Miles could see it. “It’s one of your inventions, isn’t it?”

“Please- please don’t- “ Miles felt tears on his cheeks, desperation bleeding into his tone. “I’ll- I’ll do anything-! Just- please!”

Slash went on as if he wasn’t there, actions exaggerated as he carefully moved the watch around his hand. “Why, but It looks so delicate! It would be such a shame if something happened to it…”

Slash’s eyes were full of cold fury as he stared straight at him. “…Wouldn’t it?”

Miles begged him to stop.

The watch crashed against the floor.

Miles screamed.

“NO! PLEASE- DON’T- STOP!!”  Feet stamped over the watch; kids dived in to grab it only to throw it into one another. Pieces fell out, laughs rang out, Miles screamed.

No one listened to him.

“PLEASE!” Miles wept. “STOP!”

Slash stood proudly in the middle of the crazed crowd, a twisted smile on his face as he held eye contact with him-

Slash was punched to the ground, a cyan blur followed.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Miles stared, eyes stretched wide, as the crowd went into a sudden silence and stepped back. A cloud of smoke slowly dissipated to reveal a tense, blue hedgehog.

Slash stood up from the ground, roughly pushing aside any kid who was too close and turning around in fury. “What in the hell- HEY! What’s your problem you- Sonic-??”

“I told you to stay away from him.” His voice was cold, gaze unwavering as he slowly made his way to Slash. The crowd retreating with each step he took.

Slash flinched as the hedgehog came closer, eyes looking around for support but finding none. “T-Tch- so that’s it, then? You’re really gonna stand up for that thing?”

Slash’s bitter laugh was crooked, empty in a way that Miles soon recognized was faked. “Who would have thought- So this is what Sonic The Hedgehog is really like? Huh?” The bear gained more bravado as he went on, taking a step towards the hedgehog. ”Defending small little monsters that can’t even- ACK-!”

The crowd gasped as Slash was grabbed by the belt on his shoulders, feet barely touching the ground as the hedgehog held him. “I gave you guys a chance.” He held his other arm out, signaling to the town. “I gave all of you a chance. A choice.”

His gaze returned to Slash, who flinched as their eyes made contact. “And what did you do with it? What did you guys choose?” His voice dropped lower, tone sharp and a cold hatred in his words. “You went ahead and hurt a little boy who only wanted to be loved. To belong.”

“And why? Huh? Do you think this is just some game or something?” The hedgehog smirked and let out a huff of air. Shaking his head slowly. “Nah. You wanted it to hurt, didn’t you? Couldn’t stand knowing you weren’t the center of attention.”

He sighed and paused, dropping his smirk entirely. An emptiness in his voice when he finally continued. “It’s sad, really. You all- you’re kids. You have so much in front of you, so much you could do! That you could be-!” Miles could pinpoint the exact moment the hope died out, another heavy sigh following.  “Turn’s out, you guys decided to be something else.”

With one last look at Slash, the hedgehog pushed him away. Left to scramble for balance as the hedgehog looked up and locked his gaze to the crowd. “Now go, all of you. I might have left you off with a warning last time.” His fists tightened and Miles’ hair tingled with the static in the air. “I won’t make that mistake twice.”

And just like that, the crowd dissipated. Kids ran out in all directions, scrambling to get away, and in a matter of seconds- silence.

Just the fox and the hedgehog, in front of the town hall at the end of the village.

The hedgehog remained tense, gaze flickering over the buildings nearby. After a few minutes, presumably making sure that everyone had left, he turned to look at Miles.

Those emerald-green eyes were piercing, filled with so many emotions that he couldn’t begin naming. Miles could have sworn they were glowing with energy, something deep- raw -clinging to the edges.

Miles looked away, letting his head drop to stare at the ground. The same one that held the remains of his creation, crushed bolts, shattered glass, splintered hands- it was unrecognizable-

He hissed as he felt his body moving, a whispered apology coming from behind him as the world slowly returned to its natural height. Miles barely felt the ground on his feet as the hedgehog brought him down, swift hands carefully untying the ropes on his back and letting his shoulders finally rest.

He didn’t care.

As soon as he was freed, Miles collapsed to his knees. Trembling hands coming to grab what little survived of the silver watch, carefully trying to fit the pieces back together- only for them to fall apart.

He tried again, shakily brought one of the watch’s hands onto the screws and applied pressure to keep it together. The pieces slipped through his fingers as soon as he let go, landing soundlessly on the ground.

Broken.

The wetness in Miles’ face was making his vision blurry, he blinked to clear it just in time to stop himself from grabbing shattered glass. The watch’s face was broken in half, numbers barely readable from all its cracks.

Useless.

Miles’ mind struggle to find a solution. Too much had to be replaced, too little was functional- if anything was functional at all! There was a noise- a voice? -at his side that kept trying to gather his attention. Miles pushed it aside, desperately clutching the pieces as if they would fit and work if he held tight enough- could fix what was broken- But it was useless, useless!

Just like hi-

“Bud, please. We need to move. Now.” Miles flinched and was pulled from his thoughts at a ghost touch on his shoulder. The hedgehog was standing behind him, worried eyes staring at Miles before looking up and back at him again.

Miles raised his head and followed the hedgehog’s sight. The villagers, some of them being dragged by kids, were gathering on the main road. Whispers and cries were heard in the distance, faces showing anger, shock, disgust, disappointment- All directed at them.

The hedgehog tensed, taking a careful step forward and putting Miles behind him. Fists shaking and quills held high in warning.

Miles ran away.

His tails were sore, but Miles didn’t care, ignoring the pain and forcing them to spin and propel him forward. He ignored the shouts going behind him, the sticky sensation coming from under his bandages, the tears on his face- he ignored everything-

He almost lost his balance and crashed when he heard footsteps behind him. Miles didn’t dare to look back, tightly holding what little he managed to save from the watch as he spun his tails faster.

Wind crashed against his face, the forest melted into a blur of colors around him, his ragged breaths sharp against his chest-

Miles heard a voice, sound echoing around the woods, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once, laughter pulsing in his ears-

He hissed as some sharp branches made contact with his fur. The sounds were growing closer, he couldn’t outrun them. Miles took a sharp turn to the right, heading deeper into the forest in an attempt to- to what?? He couldn’t escape- they always found him- always-

Miles yelped as he tripped on something, one hand holding the pieces close to his chest and the other stretched forward to soften his fall. He was falling, the ground rushing to meet him, body tensed for the pain that would follow-

The hedgehog dashed and caught the fox in his arms, teeth clenched together as he dug his feet into the dirt to slow them down. A trail of smoke on their wake.

Miles heard a grunt before the world tilted sideways. A pit formed in his stomach as they went rolling down a hill, strong arms holding him close and shielding him from the impact.

They finally came to a stop in the middle of a small clearing. The hedgehog was on his back, breaths heavy and rocking Miles, who remained curled on his chest. Rising and falling alongside the hedgehog’s breathing.

The hedgehog held him tightly, hands trembling slightly before loosening their hold after a few minutes. He blinked, words catching in his throat before, finally, coming out. “You- you okay there, Tails?”

Tails.

Miles scrambled away as if burned. Dragging himself backwards until he physically couldn’t, the pain in his stomach forcing him to stop and breathe.

He yelped as he felt a hand come close to his shoulder, bringing his tails to shield himself before looking up. The hedgehog drew away, drawing his hand back as his eyes darted from side to side.

“I-I’m sorry,” His voiced was clipped, mouth opening but nothing coming out. The hedgehog took a steadying breath before trying to continue. “I just- What happened before- I tried to-“

“Why.”

The hedgehog’s rambling stopped, one of his ears flickering towards Miles’ cold voice, as he hunched over himself. Miles grit his teeth together as he slowly stood up, one hand coming to press against his stomach and the other holding tightly to the watch’s pieces. “Why are you doing this?”

Miles took a shaky step forward, forcing his pain aside as he stared at the hedgehog’s eyes, voice empty. “One moment, you’re here. And the next- you’re leaving?” He shook his head, body trembling with- with something Miles couldn’t name. “And now- now you come back?? I just- I can’t- Why?”

The hedgehog looked away, bringing his hands together and fidgeting with them as he struggled to reply. “I-I’m sorry, Tails, I just-“

“And stop calling me that!!” The hedgehog flinched at his volume; Miles’ mouth set in a snarl. “I’m not- I’m not Tails, okay?!! That’s-that’s not me!”

Miles let go of his stomach and gripped his head, some of his fur falling out from the force. “Tails is not some scared kid. Tails is not a hurt, broken little monster who- who can’t even do one thing right!!”

He shook his head, a sharp feeling in his eyes. “No, Tails- Tails is better than anything I’ll ever be.” Tails had a friend. Miles didn’t have friends. “Even- even if Tails was the only thing that’s- that’s ever-“ That’s ever made me happy.

Miles sighed, head hanging low and blinking back tears. “I’m not Tails.”

He shook his head, barely lifting it enough to see the hedgehog’s face through the blurriness in his eyes. “And now… and now you’re here? You- I don’t even know who you are!”

“I don’t care if you’re some celebrity! Or-or if you’re just some nobody- I don’t care about that!” He ran the back of his hand against his eyes, attempting to clear his tears. “What I care about is that you were the only person in my life who’s ever- who has-“

He choked on his words, tears falling freely from his cheeks. “I don’t understand.” He crumbled to the ground, tails coming to weakly wrap around him in defense. “Why are you doing any of this? Why do you keep trying to help something like me only to- only to-!!”

He never finished that sentence. He curled up on himself, hugging his arms and hanging onto the broken pieces with what little strength he had left.

Miles didn’t know how long he stayed there, crying in the middle of the cold forest. But, by the time he vaguely heard someone coming closer, he was too tired to do anything about it.

He felt the grass under him shift its weight as someone slowly knelt in front of him. It wasn’t long before Miles felt two hands come closer and carefully, so carefully, bring them around him for a hug.

“You’re not broken, little buddy.”

His body shook with another whimper, the arms around him squeezed gently before the hands drew a comforting pattern on his back. “B-But I am.” Miles quietly sobbed. “I’m- I’m a mistake, I always end up making things worse-“

“No, you don’t.” Spike’s hands gently grasped his cheeks and lifted his head up to look at those vibrant, determined green eyes. “You’re a kid. A brilliant kid who never should have had to suffer through any of this in the first place.”

Spike sighed, exhaustion and… regret in those emerald orbs. “I messed up, bud. I messed real bad. I thought that- if they didn’t see you with me- then maybe, maybe, they would leave you alone.”

He huffed; disappointment clear in his voice as he continued. “But I should have known better. I know those types of people, they don’t even need a reason to do what they do.” Spike smiled weakly, a faraway look in his face combined with hurt. “I should now.”

Miles gasped, eyes widening as Spike just looked at him with- with understanding. “You- were you too-?”

“Yeah… I was.” Spike kept smiling at him before sighing, shaking his head slightly and furrowing his brows. “Which only makes me regret it more that I left you alone with them.”

His thumb drew comforting, slow circles on Miles’ cheek. “Bud, you deserve so, so much better than this…” his tone took a higher note, the corners of his eyes shimmering. “…better than me.”

Miles’ brows furrowed at that. Spike must have seen the objection he was about to make, for he just stared at him knowingly, tears starting to fall off his cheeks. “I’m not what you need, little buddy. I really, really wish I was but… I’m not.”

Spike took a moment to draw in a deep breaths, in the same way he had taught him what seemed to be so long ago, before continuing. “I… I failed you, man. Failed you so bad… I never should have left you. Never should have abandoned you-”

He chuckled, slowly and without any humor in it. “But I did. And for that- for that I don’t have any words…“ Spike let his forehead touch Miles’, desperation and regret filling his voice. “I’m so, so, sorry, little buddy-”

Miles threw his own arms around Spike’s torso, hugging him as tightly as he could.

“No.” Spike flinched backwards, taken aback by Miles’ words. “No, don’t say you’re not what I need.”

Miles burrowed his face on Spike’s neck, words slurring together but determined to get though. “You’re the only one who’s ever made me feel… made me feel like I belong somewhere. That’s made me feel happy and that I’m not just some freak or-or mutant…”

Miles drew back to look him in the eyes, a small smile on his lips. “You’re the best person I’ve ever meet. You’re so strong and kind and genuine…” He allowed his smile to grow, a twinkle in his eyes despite his tears. “You’re the person who I want to stay with.”

Spike stood frozen for a few seconds. Miles didn’t have time to blink before he felt weightless, Spike lifting him up from the ground and spinning in circles.

“Oh, man-“ Spike’s voice was small, filled with relief, happiness and some small concern. “I-I can’t promise that I won’t make mistakes.” He stopped spinning them to look Miles straight in the eye, tone serious. “But I can promise you this. I won’t leave you again if that’s what you want, little buddy”

“Miles.”

“Huh-?”

“That’s… that’s my real name. Miles.”

Spike’s joy and smile were warmer than the sun, his laugh filling the space around them as he squeezed him. “Oh, Gaia. Guess we should have done this sooner, huh?”

Spike carefully let him on the ground, kneeling and extending his hand in front of him. “I think it’s time we do this right. Hi! Name’s Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog.”

He brought a hand to rub behind his quills, a slight embarrassment in his tone. “I know this isn’t how things should have gone but… Miles, I really, really care about you. There are so many things I regret in my life but meeting you- knowing you isn’t one of them.” His eyes shone with determination, a gentle glow at their edges. “I’m not the best at... any of these things. But I swear to any god out there that I’ll try my darn best. If you’d let me be there for you, let me be your friend.”

The fox stared at the open hand, at the promise of what could be, if he wanted to. He let himself relax and smile brightly as he shook Sonic's hand firmly. “I’m Miles, Miles Prower.”

He looked down at the pieces in his other hand. The watch had been crushed, yes. But it wasn’t broken, it could be fixed. It just needed time, love and care.

“But... you can call me Tails. Miles "Tails" Prower.”

Chapter Text

The sun shone brightly as it slowly descended, clouds splitting its rays in a mix of colors. Orange, purple and the bright blue of the sky painting the horizon and reflecting their light on the water below.

Waves gently brushed on the shore, meeting with the brilliant sand only to retreat and come back once more. A slow, endless dance that created its own music.

Up on a cliffside, overlooking the calm beach, stood a red wooden workshop, sheltered by the forest surrounding it. Metallic pieces were scattered around the structure, some providing stability and others supporting the heavy gadgets, solar panels and windmills on its roof. A long landing platform stretching in front of it.

On the inside, a multitude of tools, blueprints and rough sketches were scattered around the many desks and shelves. Photo frames depicting smiling faces and beautiful landscapes hung proudly on the walls. The beeping of machinery and gentle humming filling the space.

Multiple computer monitors stood above a large desk, camera feeds on some of them and half-made 3D models in others. The wallpaper on the larger one showed a picture of a smiling yellow fox holding the camera, a pink hedgehog doing heart symbols with her hands and a blue hedgehog snickering as he looped an arm around a very irritated echidna’s shoulder.

A wooden archway marked a division from the cozier “living” area and the garage. Metal reinforced the inside walls, half-way put together gadgets and engine pieces were placed on some tables against the walls. A mini fridge laying under one of the cabinets.

And right in the middle of it all, a red biplane stood proudly. Fresh coating glowing under the lights as its pilot worked on her engine, humming happily as he bent over and tightened some screws.

“That should improve fuel consumption.” He took a step back, grabbing a nearby towel and wiping the grease from his bright yellow fur, tails wagging slightly as he put his hand to his chin in thought. “Should take it out to compare the data tho…”

One of his ears flickered at a sound in the distance. The fox dropped the towel on a nearby table and raised his arm in front of him, looking at the communicator on his wrist.

Three.

Two.

One-

“Aaaaand that’s how you finish running ‘round the island and back! How did I do?!!”

“32.78 seconds. Not bad, but still behind your personal record.” The fox stopped the chronometer on his communicator, using his other hand to brush off the dust the hedgehog kicked up on his arrival.

“Aw, come on! I knew I shouldn’t have taken that detour…” He threw his head back dramatically, groaning as he lazily made his way around the plane before shaking his head and looking at the engine, letting out a long whistle. “Huh, ya finally finished with that update, little bro?”

“Yup! It’s all ready to go!” His tails waged happily as he grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge and threw it at the hedgehog, who caught it without looking. “Just gotta do a few test runs to see how its integrating with the system and it’ll be done!”

The hedgehog winked at the fox as he drank from the bottle, a grin coming to his face as he leaned against the wall and opened his mouth for a sly retort before an alarm ran out from the computers.

They tensed immediately. The hedgehog dashed from the garage and into the workshop, leaving a cyan trail as he leaned over the desk and stared at the monitors, the fox close behind.

“An Eggman sighting, over by Seaside City.” The kid sat down, quickly opening windows and live news data of the event. Reports showed a giant robot rising from the ocean, an army of badnicks slowly crawling out beside it and heading into the city as citizens ran away.

“Looks like the Chaotix are already handling the evacuation, G.U.N is mobilizing as we speak.” The fox continued, blue eyes going from one screen to the next. “I was wondering what the doctor was up to- but I wasn’t imagining something of this scale!”

The hedgehog took a moment to watch the screens before grinning, straightening up and rubbing under his nose with his knuckles. “So, Egghead’s stepping up his game, huh? Well, that just means more robots for us to crash!”

He put the bottle on the desk before stretching, jumping in place in his excitement before shaking his hands and offering one to the kit. “Ya ready to test that new upgrade, Tails?”

Tails turned from his computer and grinned, taking his hand with determination and letting his namesakes wag behind him. “Always, Sonic.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Sonic laughed as he pulled Tails from his computers and into the garage. He jumped on the Tornado’s wing and patted the space below it for Tails to hop on, the kit doing a quick check of the biplane’s systems. “Now hurry it up before we miss all the fun!”

Tails arched an eyebrow. “Sure, ‘cause the last time you went off in an adventure without a proper checkup you totally didn’t crash land on some random island. Right, Spike?”

Sonic groaned, letting his head drop to ignore the grin coming from his little brother. “That was one time-“

“Which I’m sure you learned from.” Tails giggled and finally hopped on the Tornado, her engine letting out a powerful roar and propellers spinning as her systems came online. “Hang out tight!”

And with that they took off. The wind carried their laughter, the Tornado slowly ascending and leaving a trail of smoke behind her as they rushed into adventure. Together.

And as the sight of the Tornado slowly disappeared on the horizon, a beautiful, shiny silver watch stood proudly on the kid’s desk. Light hitting its crystal in a way that made it glow and steady ticking filling the space as its pieces worked together.

And in its case, a phrase was delicately carved into the metal, one that always stayed inside of the kit and the hedgehog’s hearts wherever they went. No matter what.

“Brothers forever.”