Chapter Text
After a year in Mobius, Sonic and his brothers began to get restless, he didn’t want to be away from his parents this long, none of them did. They let their own selfish guilt take control over them instead of listening to their actual parents! They wished more than anything to be with them again.
Sure, Mobius was beautiful, none of them doubt that, but they didn’t feel like they belonged their either. Just like in their town at Green Hills they were casted away for being different, except it wasn’t because they were aliens and humans weren’t just used to them. No. It was because Sonic had powers, Knuckles was an echidna and Tails had two tails. They were an anomaly in their own planet and somehow, they felt even more like monsters here than at earth.
The adventures were fun for a while, but they began to get boring, the boys missed their mum and dad, more than anything. At first, they wanted to go back, but they felt guilty and the more they waited the more and more it felt awkward to try and see them again.
Which was why Sonic was so glad that his older brother came up with the decision to see them again.
“Brothers. It is time we go and see Mother and Father once more. We have abandoned them too long…and it is not right to abandon tribe…we shouldn’t have left them in the first place!! We should’ve stayed. We knew better than to think our own parents and tribe did not want us and yet we were dishonourable and left them…” he trailed, looking off in sadness.
Tails and Sonic’s both ears fell back on their furry little heads, they agreed with their big brother of course, they wished they never left their parents, they were the first ones to show them kindness after being shunned and left alone for so long.
“I think…I think you’re right Knucks…I miss Mum and Dad…I mean- we’re just kids! How can we make the decision to leave our own parents?!..I just…I want to see them again…” Sonic was almost curled in a ball by the end of his sentence, Tails leaned on him in comfort, but it was obvious that he felt the exact same way.
“I think we just decided it for ourselves. We will see Mother and Father again! Tonight! The sooner the better! We have been gone far too long.” Knuckles held out his hands to both his brothers and helped them stand up.
They all looked at each other and for the first time, they were happy. They would see their parents again.
When the three brothers entered Green Hills through one of their ring portals, Sonic hesitating more than his older and little brother, after all he lived with his parents for a year and a half longer than the other two, and the guilt to that just made it worse. They had looked after him for 4 years and yet he left them and didn’t give them a chance to explain themselves or help him and his brothers. He should’ve known better, he knew humans better than both his brothers.
Tails reached out and held his older brother's hand, pulling him through the portal, he gave Sonic a reassuring smile, although it was obvious he was also nervous.
“It’ll be okay Sonic! I don’t think mum and dad would be that mad…They’ll forgive us! I promise!!” Tails exclaimed, Sonic sighs a bit and nodded to his brother. Not because he believed it, but because he didn’t want his baby brother to more anxious than him, he knew how Tails got.
Knuckles pushed them both forward towards the house- their house in the distance.
“Come now brothers, Mother and Father have been waiting long enough.” He urged them to move quicker.
As they walked the three began to get more anxious, their feet shuffled across the dirt covered ground as their moves became more sluggish, anxious about facing the parents they abandoned just a year before.
“Maybe we should just go now guys…I mean we were gone for a year! What parents would want to see us now?!” Sonic grumbled anxiously.
“Parents that love their kids!!! That’s who would want to see us! You don’t think…they actually don’t love us anymore...right?” Tails looked up at his blue furred brother anxiously. This made Knuckles immediately cut in between so Sonic wouldn’t say anything else stupid.
“Do not worry young kit! We shall see our parents and they shall love us! It would be dishonourable if they no longer loved their tribe-” Knuckles was cut off by a very upset Sonic.
“But we abandoned them! Isn’t that dishonourable or whatever?! How do you know they will love us?! We were so stupid that we thought the only way to help our parents was to leave them!! We’re terrible!!” Sonics eyes began to glow slightly as he got more and more emotional.
That was until Knuckles punched his brother lightly on the chest.
“Young brother. You should listen to yourself! Our parents will forgive us! I know they will! So get it together! Do you really think Mother and Father would hate us?!”
Sonic flinched a bit and looked down in guilt, Tails was looking between his two older brothers hoping another fight won’t actually break out between them.
“Now come along little brothers. Mother and Father are waiting for us. I know they miss us. I can feel it in my heart!” Knuckles exclaimed, sounding more motivated than ever.
When they arrived at the house, everything was exactly the same, the house, the garden, the shed, everything. It was as if they never left in the first place. That only made the three brothers more guilty. It was like everything had frozen since they left.
“Perhaps coming back wasn’t a good idea.” Knuckles mumbles, being less motivated than he was before, his two younger brothers just looked more anxious, after all if their older brother – who rarely fear – was feeling this way then how were they supposed to face their own parents?
Just as they were about to leave, the door opened, Maddie walked out, seemingly to go get the mail, she was in sweatpants and a crop top, her eyes were puffy red and her hair wasn’t straightened, her natural curls out for the first time, unkept and messy. She froze when she saw her sons that had been gone for a year.
“Uhm Tom! I think I’m so tired and distraught that I’m imagining our sons in front of our house!!” She called out to her husband, who immediately ran out to see what she had meant.
Tom was also in sweatpants and a plain white shirt, Tom’s hair was unkept as well, gel not holding it together like it usually does. His eyes were red and puffy, he had obviously been crying as well, he looked at his sons and froze.
“Maddie. I see them too…” he choked a bit, tears starting to come to his eyes, “Boys…is that really you?” Maddie reacted the same way, her eyes filling with tears as her sons began to move forward a bit, but only a step. They were too scared to face their parents, even if they were crying right in front of them because they missed them. They couldn’t face what they had done.
“Mum…” Sonic whispered, tears starting to fill his eyes, but he wiped them away aggressively, not wanting to seem weak.
Knuckles and Tails ran ahead of Sonic, something he wasn’t used to. Being last. But he knew that he wouldn’t be able to step anymore forward without feeling even more guilt deep inside him. Knuckles and Tails wrapped their arms around their loving parents. Tom and Maddie held them both close, tightly as well, not wanting to let go in case they disappeared. Tears were flowing down the faces of every family member. They were all so happy to see each other again. And yet Sonic wasn’t with them.
He was stuck 3 meters away, unable to move his feet. He didn’t want to ruin their moment…or perhaps he didn’t forgive himself enough to allow himself to be comforted by his parents, the ones he had longed for his whole life and left a year ago, just to wish for them to be with him the whole time once again.
Tears flowed feely down his face as well as he cried for everything, cried for his parents, his brothers that he took away from them, the home he had left, everything.
Maddie looked over at him and she whispered softly to him, “Baby…” she choked out, “Come here baby, Mommy’s here now.” She cried softly, a smile bright on her face.
Sonic took a slow step forward, he choked out, letting his inner child free once again, the little hedgehog who had longed for parents, a comforting pair of arms, a gentle smile, anything, after Longclaw died.
“Mommy” he cried and ran up to them, hugging both his parents and brothers tightly.
Tom shushed them all softly, “It’s okay boys…we’re here, we’re together again…There’s no need to worry anymore…” he smiled through his tears and wiped his sons eyes, “We won’t let you go again, I promise my little aliens, Mommy and I love you all so much…”
Maddie nodded, stroking two of her son’s fur softly, “Exactly. And we will always be here even when we are gone and lost, our souls will be living in the stars, looking down on our precious babies.”