Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Hip and the Chao Garden managed to coax Manic out of hiding constantly in Sonic’s bed, moving instead onto the pull out couch so that Sonic could have his own bunk back. Not that Sonic minded sharing– Tails had been sneaking into his bunk since they’d moved in. And, the RV was made for adult humans who were much bigger than any of them anyway, so there was plenty of room on the twin bed for both of them. But he soon learned that the reason Manic hadn’t showed up until the afternoons ever since he’d met him wasn’t because he was busy in the mornings, or forced to work late nights because of his job. The guy just didn’t seem to be capable of sleeping at night.

His bleak mood made it so he still slept a lot more than usual, but more often than not when he was awake, it was well past midnight. And while he was trying his best to sleep when the others did, joining them in their goodnight routine and getting in bed the same time they did, Sonic watched back to back nights where Manic was awake and alert easily until 4 AM. And he could tell that being up, alone with his thoughts, and unable to sleep was steadily wearing on his brother. But no matter what he tried to do to help Manic feel safe and comfortable, none of it seemed to work. It hadn’t been that long since they’d moved in with him, and Sonic wasn’t a patient person when it came to most things.

Which meant that Sonic was pulling Amy aside after Manic had fallen asleep one morning to quietly ask if she had any ideas. She’d thought for a while and said she’d get back to him after she checked some of her usual ways of helping him.

After having sorted through the box of belongings that Manic still hadn’t really touched, Amy realized Sonic had missed more items that shouldn’t have been left– like the medicine Margo had sent him back for. So she was quick to ask him to take her back to Manic’s ruined house. 

Sonic looked skeptical. “And this’ll help him… sleep better?”

“Probably,” Amy admitted, though she seemed uncertain. “I… have an idea. But it honestly might make it worse for him at first.”

That hadn’t been too encouraging to hear, but after Amy also brought up the fact that Sonic had forgotten the pictures Ferrell had hidden away, he wasn’t feeling inclined to argue with her. How was he supposed to know they kept their photos hidden? Or that Manic even needed special medicine in the first place? Amy obviously knew more about Manic than he did, so he found himself just nodding and scooping her up to run them back to the city.

When they reached the broken remains of the tiny home once more Amy spared no time in striding inside after Sonic set her down. The stiff way she held herself betrayed that she was just trying to focus on the task at hand, and not pay too much attention to the state of the place now. To ignore the lingering scent of smoke and blood. She was doing a lot better than she had last time they’d been there. In a way this was also her childhood home, Sonic realized quietly. But it wasn’t the first time her childhood home had been ruined by Robotnik, so it was bitterly familiar, easier to push through the feelings. To not think about how once again she was having to peel the minimal remains of what was important to her and her best friend from the rubble Robotnik’s swatbots left behind. Manic’s home was in much worse state than hers had been. But Ferrell had been more likely to put up a heavy fight than her parents had been, so it wasn’t too surprising.

Sonic was just a little surprised to see Amy walk into Manic’s room first– he’d felt like that was the one room he’d done well on. The way she didn’t even glance around in any sort of curiosity betrayed that she’d seen it plenty of times before. The top dresser drawer was still pulled open and she reached up into the gap at the top, searching for something hidden there that she pulled out and handed to Sonic. He barely recognized it as a rare part for some mechanical thing. Tails had put up a fuss before about how annoying it had been to get one, if he remembered right.

Before Sonic fully registered what Amy had handed him she was already moving elsewhere in the room; towards the posters in cheap plastic frames. She plucked one of them off the wall and popped the back open, taking out a tiny stack of three pictures that she also handed to Sonic to keep track of. He couldn’t help looking at the top one, recognizing Manic and Amy from when they’d gone to the concert he’d met them at. They both looked extremely excited, and it seemed to have been a photo Amy had snapped of them while they’d been waiting for the show to start. The stage was in the background, and they were both smiling huge grins.

She was cracking open a hidden panel under the nightstand drawer next, handing Sonic more photos. He tried not to snoop, but he once again couldn’t help seeing the one on top. This time it was a group of scrappy looking kids with one adult opossum woman. Manic was part of the crowd, and looked to be in his early teens. Sonic wasn’t sure who they were, but they looked like friends of Manic’s, so they were probably other Black Market people. 

“We can look at them later, don’t worry,” Amy spoke up quietly with a bit of a knowing smile. Seeing how Sonic longed to look at and study each picture to learn more about his brother, but also wanting to respect Manic’s privacy and not pry. With that promise, he grabbed a bag off the dresser and stuck the photos and the part inside.

“C’mon,” Amy prompted, heading towards the back of the house now. “Manic doesn’t keep too many in here, the rest are in Ferrell’s office. Also you’ll want to make sure this doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. It’s what Ferrell gave Manic on you guys,” she added, slipping a datastick into Sonic’s palm and pressing it firmly to make sure he had a hold of it.

Sonic stared openly at the datastick, knowing that Sally would have been lecturing him immediately if she were there and also feeling insanely curious about what was on said files. He slipped it into the bag as well. “...I’m starting to wonder why Margo sent me to pick this place apart instead of you now,” he admitted, following Amy back to Ferrell’s bedroom.

He still lingered at the doorway, which made Amy laugh and gesture at him. “Probably because she wasn’t counting on you being too polite to rummage through someone’s personal belongings. If you weren’t then you’d be the obvious pick to scrape this place clean and find all the secret stuff fastest.”

That was a fair point that Sonic wasn’t sure how to respond to. Normally he wouldn’t bat an eye about scrambling through documents and pulling what secrets he could from them. But this was his brother’s house, and those were said brother’s dad’s belongings. He felt awkward even being in this room– in Manic’s dad’s room.

Something that Amy seemed to have no trouble with, opening Ferrell’s dresser and pulling a big, worn trench coat out from it as well as a scarf. “These should probably help Manic sleep better,” Amy declared, piling the clothes into Sonic’s arms as he sputtered a bit.

“Uhhhhh…. How?” he asked instead of what he was really wondering– why were they stealing a dead guy’s clothing?

“Manic used to sleep in Ferrell’s pocket when he was small enough to fit. Either that or the dresser,” Amy explained easily, checking a few more places in the room and finding just a few more photos. Into the bag those went, and Sonic carefully tucked the coat and scarf in as well while Amy kept talking. “Whenever he had trouble sleeping, or was having a bad day he’d go hide in Ferrell’s coat if Ferrell wasn’t available. Sometimes when I was living with them I’d find Manic in here when Ferrell needed to work.” Or perhaps sleeping off a migraine.

Sonic couldn’t help snickering at the small revelation about Manic’s past. He could see why Amy thought the coat might help but also hurt now. It was like when Sonic would trick Tails to sleep by tucking him down next to him and singing softly. A familiar comfort.

“What about you?” Sonic couldn’t help asking, following Amy to the office, trying to keep from focusing on the trespassing feeling prickling his form.

“What?”

“Manic went to Ferrell. Where did you sleep when you had a bad day?”

Was that too much to ask? Was it too weird? Amy didn’t seem to think so, just smiling briefly as she easily hefted the broken half of Ferrell’s desk over. “With Manic,” she admitted, pulling a drawer out and having to roughly thump the boards to get the hidden compartment to release. That seemed to be the main hiding place; a small binder and several cases of datasticks nestled inside that Amy fished out. “And sometimes we were both with Ferrell. This seems to be the rest. It looks like others have already come to clean out what was important regarding Ferrell’s work.”

Once again Sonic was having his idea of Ferrell rewritten bit by bit. The big scary crime lord had apparently not been that scary at all, and he’d have questioned the idea if anyone else was telling it to him. But it was Manic and Amy. Amy was approaching him now, taking the bag from his arms and tucking the rest of the keepsakes safely inside. “Okay, let’s get back. We’ve got all the photos now,” she prompted.

Sonic nodded once before easily scooping her up again, racing back to the edge of the city and beyond while Tails made sure to wipe their trace from any cameras that may have caught them.

This bag was bigger than the box Sonic had brought back, but Amy had no problem hefting it over one shoulder and walking up the stairs into the RV. Manic was up– no surprise there since it was late evening now, and Tails was tapping away at his computer. He looked up when Amy and Sonic entered, Sonic stopping to pull his shoes off and toss them into the basket they kept by the door. 

Amy went straight for Manic, who looked like he wanted to be doing anything but sitting there, half awake. “You look so tired,” she commented, setting the bag on the floor in front of him. 

He blinked a few times like he hadn’t noticed her coming in, before smiling wearily. “I am,” he mumbled. “Just adjusting… n’trying to fix my sleep hours. I’ll be alright.”

Amy hummed in agreement as Sonic drifted closer, sitting himself on the other end of the couch to give them a bit of space. “So, we went back to the house,” Amy informed him gently. Manic’s expression twitched, and he watched Amy open the bag. “Sonic didn’t know where to find all your photos and….”

And there was a lot that Sonic didn’t know about. Amy reverently pulled familiar fabric from the box and set it in Manic’s waiting hands. His ears tilted back and his face looked so stricken that for a moment Sonic thought this entire thing had been a mistake. But then he looked back at Amy and nodded a little bit, his mouth wobbling. “I dunno… I dunno what to say,” he managed to choke out. 

Amy pushed the coat closer to Manic’s body. “You don’t need to say anything,” she said. “Just go get some sleep. Real sleep. Please.”

Manic blinked rapidly, trying and failing to stop the watering, and a few tears escaped. “Okay,” he croaked, standing up quickly and disappearing into the back room just as fast. Amy watched him go, faintly smiling. 

Sonic swallowed nervously. “Was… that alright?” he asked, glancing after Manic. 

Amy nodded confidently. “Yeah, give him ten minutes,” she said. “He’ll be fine now…”

Tails had watched the entire interaction silently, soft sadness etched on his face. “I uh… I deleted all the footage,” he said. “Of you guys, there. And I went ahead and deleted any traces of Ferrell’s people there too– looks like Robotnik actually bugged the whole house… hopefully that’ll keep at least some of Manic’s friends safe.”

Amy smiled brightly at that. “He’ll appreciate that,” she said. “And so will Margo. I can’t imagine how the market’s doing… without…” She huffed a bit. “It’s probably bad….”

Tails looked back at his computer. “I got scans off the emerald, brief ones,” he said, pivoting the subject a bit. “It’s not much, but I can use it to keep working on the roboticizer cure. I’m gonna figure this out. We’ll get him back.”

Sonic nodded firmly. “We’ll get all of them back,” he said. “Everyones families. We’ll fix it all.”

They lapsed into quiet after that, only really broken up by Tails typing. A short while later, Amy stood up and walked back to the curtain to peek behind it. And well, Sonic was too curious to not follow. Amy was right, of course, because it seemed like Amy was usually right, especially about Manic. He’d returned to his place in Sonic’s bed, but now bundled under the coat he was sleeping more peacefully than Sonic had seen the entire time he’d been there. His face was buried in the fabric. 

Probably imagining days long past, but if it worked, it worked.

And it did, because over the next few days, Manic’s sleep hours shifted steadily. It was still a miserable transition, but it felt more like going uphill than scaling a cliff now. And the sleep and being awake with everyone else seemed to help his mood, his processing. He perked up and started to settle into something closer to what Sonic had gotten used to before the incident.

With the weather growing cold, Manic sorted through the clothes that Sonic had saved for him and started to venture out into the garden during the days. Amy would find him sitting near the stream, talking quietly to the chao that started to turn up in numbers to be with him. Hip would constantly claim his lap and have to be bullied into sharing. The young chao was starting to take on a slightly green tint to his coloring, even.

Manic was still sad, of course, but he wasn’t hiding away anymore. He was settling a touch, even if his heart still ached. He was eating more. He was sleeping a lot still, but most of his naps were outside, on the grass or on the blanket Sonic and Tails tended to take outside, buried in a small pile of chao. 

Which was how Cream found him in the afternoon on his second week being in camp. The girl hesitantly nudged him with her boot, her arms filled with a basket of fruits. “Um, excuse me, mister?” 

Manic sniffed a little and blinked blearily up to see who was poking him. When he didn’t recognize who it was, he slowly started to sit up, trying not to look too nervous about meeting new strangers. Sonic had said people didn’t come out here from camp... “Wh… hi?” 

The little rabbit looked a touch younger than Tails. She blinked at him with wide eyes, taking in the chao that were being gently rearranged as he carefully pushed himself upright. “Hi. Mr. Sonic doesn’t like strangers hanging out around his RV,” she said plainly but politely. “Are you new to camp? Getting lost around here is pretty easy, I can take you back.”

Manic’s mouth quirked into a small amused smile. This was Sonic’s security guard, then? She certainly eyed him severely enough for the job. “I’m Sonic’s brother,” he said quietly so that the chao that were still asleep stayed that way. “I’m staying with him.”

Her expression immediately morphed into something far more friendly. “Oh! Oh, hello!” she chirped, plopping down next to him with her basket. “It’s so nice to meet you! I’m Cream, what’s your name?”

Manic blinked slowly, still waking up. “Uh. Manic,” he said slowly. Hip let out a string of noises and wiggled his arm animatedly in the direction of Cream, only for another chao to peer over the top of her head down at him. Manic snorted softly. “And this is Hip. He’s still learning his manners.”

She somehow brightened more, reaching up and lifting the chao off her head. It was a soft baby blue, the same colors as Hip had been and most of the chao were, but it also had a bright red bow tied around its neck, like a bowtie. “This is Cheese! He’s my chao friend. I haven’t seen anyone get the chao to get that close other than Mr. Sonic! They must like you a lot!” she said, setting Cheese on the grass in front of Manic. “You know, they say they’re great judges of character? They only like good people.”

Manic raised an eyebrow at that, internally filing that away as an old wives tale. “That’s sweet,” he decided to say instead. “You know Sonic well?”

Cream beamed at him, watching with a lightly pleased expression as Manic’s pile of chao started to get off of him and head towards Cream and her basket of fruit she’d brought. “I’ve been friends with Tails for years now,” she explained as she started to sort through the fruit. “We kinda grew up here together. Here, little ones, everyone gets one.”

Manic watched her start taking out the bits of fruit and pass them out to the chao. Even Hip put his little arms up to accept one from his place perched on Manic’s lap, his tiny tail wiggling gleefully as he dug in. The scene got Manic to untense a bit, a tiny smile appearing on his face as Hip chowed down. 

The chao clustered happily around Cream and Cheese. “They really like you, too,” Manic commented lightly. 

Cream giggled softly, reaching out and petting one of the chao. “I’ve been coming here for years now, they’re used to seeing me,” she explained. “When did you move in? I didn’t realize Mr. Sonic had more guests, he didn’t say anything! Did you come with Miss Amy? I met her last week.”

Manic smiled faintly and nodded. “She’s been my best friend since I was a kid,” he said. “Probably kinda like you and Tails.” 

Cream nodded understandingly, settling fully in the grass like she intended to stay a while. “I love Miss Amy! She’s so kind. You must be too if you’re her friend!”

The girl was so genuine and sweet. Not a hint of pity or pain on her. Manic felt his body relaxing, enjoying her simple joy. “I try to be,” he offered up. It got quiet then, the two of them just watching the chao finish their treats and subsequently start trying to grab fruit from the chao who were eating slower. 

Manic gently helped Cream referee the theft, snickering. Once they finally all finished and started to disperse to play or explore, Manic sat back again and glanced at Cream. “Do you like magic tricks?” he asked abruptly, reaching for the deck of playing cards he kept in his fanny pack. 

Cream looked up at him, curiosity painting her features. “You know magic?”

“Just tricks,” Manic corrected, shuffling the cards. He’d normally do it a little theatrically, but today he just shuffled them plainly and then fanned them out for Cream. “Go ahead and pick one.”

Cream eyed him with playful doubt and then reached out to pick a card, taking one somewhere in the middle and flipping it over towards herself. She looked down at it and then back up at Manic. “Now what?”

“Put it back anywhere you want,” he instructed, letting her stick the card back into the deck. “Remember what it is, okay?” She nodded seriously and set her hands on her skirt, watching as Manic put the deck back together. “Now I’ll shuffle it…” 

Cream’s eyes lit up a little bit and it made Manic scrape together enough motivation to shuffle more dramatically as he grabbed her card and hid it so he could pull it in a moment. He found himself smiling as he finished the shuffle and then he looked mischievously at Cream. “Ready?”

“Ready!” 

Manic fanned out the cards and looked at them, then made a face. “Hm. Not here,” he said, before dropping the cards onto his lap where she could see them, and leaning forward to pull the card out from behind Cream's big floppy ear. “Here it is! Tadah,” he grinned.

Cream frantically felt at her ear, laughing. “How’d you do that?!” she giggled. Cheese was staring with a wide open mouth like he couldn’t believe what he’d seen. Her reaction only spurred Manic into doing it again, this time pulling a couple pieces of candy out of her other ear. 

“Looks like you got all sorts of fun stuff back here,” he teased. “Here. These belong to you.”

Cream held her hands out to accept the little sweets, thanking him. “We never get candy out here,” she said in a small voice. “Do you want to split it?” 

Manic’s heart softened considerably at that. His bag had tons more candy– he’d swiped it from Sonic’s catered table months ago and he’d been going slowly through it. Cream didn’t even wait for him to respond, stuffing the second candy back into his hand before tearing her own open. “You don’t need to–” he protested.

“No, really! I love sharing,” she chirped brightly, biting into the chocolate. “You seem really nice. Is it okay if I visit you again later? Anyone that the chao like, I like.”

Manic slowly unwrapped the candy she’d given back, marvelling at the soft, quiet kindness of this girl. “Yeah,” he said. “We can definitely hang out. I’m settling in… so that’d be nice. To make some friends around here.”

Cream just smiled brightly at him again, and Manic felt her sincerity down to his bones. He made a mental note to sneak some extra candies into her basket before she left, hopefully so that she wouldn’t notice until she was gone.

He spent the rest of the day with her, chatting about whatever topics Cream brought up. She talked about Tails, old stories from when they were small. And about her family– apparently she lived in camp with her sister. Her mother was long gone. She told him about Sanctuary– where most of the younger kids and older or injured adults hid far in the mountains. And Manic listened, filling in the gaps with any stories he could that didn’t pound in that he was… well, the Jester from the Thieves Court. 

They went on like that until the sun began to set, and Manic told her goodbye. He slept well again that night, blessedly, clinging to the ambient feelings that being with someone so nice had left. 

That next day Manic woke in the afternoon feeling… fine. Nothing was great, but it also wasn’t terrible. Trying to fix his sleep schedule to match the others was still going somewhat poorly, but Tails had assured him it was to be expected when he’d apologized for it. His biggest complaint now was that his head itched, and it was just annoying enough for him to finally give in and face the enormous task that was washing his quills. Something he hadn’t done in Sonic’s home just yet, and something that had felt too daunting for him to want to tackle until now.

The problem was that Sonic’s shower head was fixed to the wall. Which made washing Manic’s ridiculously thick, gravity defying quills even more difficult than usual. Sonic had given Manic a mildly confused look when he’d told them he was going to shower with a mildly apologetic tone. But now, after having not seen Manic for two hours since he’d gone in the bathroom, Sonic was openly staring at the door with growing concern.

Was Manic okay? He never took this long in the shower before? Sonic was used to him turning the water off and on while showering and figured it was just a habit he’d picked up to save water. But this was starting to get alarming. Amy had commented already that if Manic needed help he would ask, but at this point Sonic wasn’t sure.

After Sonic started tapping his thumb on his own leg in barely concealed worry and impatience, Amy took pity on him and stood up with a fond sigh. She said nothing to him, just strode over to the bathroom door and tapped a knuckle on it. “Do you want help?” she asked, a faint, knowing smile tugging her mouth.

There was loaded silence for a moment. Then Manic’s pathetic almost-whine answered her. “.... yeaaaahhh.”

Amy chuckled lightly, and put a hand on the door handle. “Okay, I’m coming in,” she announced, ignoring Sonic’s openly even more confused expression as he watched her. Help? What– why did Manic need help showering?

The bathroom was small, considering it was for an RV. And while it was made for humans and she had felt fairly comfortable in it before, trying to wiggle into the shower with Manic’s only slightly dampened head of quills was obviously not going to happen. Manic just squinted at her through one eye half closed by soapy suds having run into it, looking over from where he’d been trying to angle his head under the rather pathetic stream of water while also parting his quills to get to his scalp. It wasn’t working. None of this was working.

“...Oh boy,” Amy breathed out, not sure if she wanted to laugh or sink to the floor since this was now her problem. She was definitely going to get wet too, now that she saw the whole situation. That prompted her to tug her dress, her gloves and socks off and toss them out of the room. “Sonic? Can you get a stool and a bucket? Or a cup or something?” she called, completely missing Sonic’s bewildered look he’d given her discarded clothes. 

Mobians bathed together all the time, sure, but the RV didn’t exactly have the roomy accommodations to make it practical. Tails and Sonic only got to do that kind of thing when Diane forced them to go to the spa or something similar. So, it wasn’t that weird… but still.

“Uhhhhh…. Suuuurree?” Sonic responded, quick to grab a folding stool, and a bowl from the cupboard, but approaching the bathroom with obvious confusion. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine, he just needs more hands,” Amy snickered a little, taking the supplies from him and setting the stool on the ground in the shower. “It’s a short one,” she confirmed when Manic squintily blinked at it through his soapy bangs.

“Oh, okay,” Manic acknowledged, sitting himself down and bowing his head so Amy could reach easily.

Sonic’s eyes were wide as he watched them start to go through what was clearly routine and unsurprising, but he couldn’t pull himself away from where he was watching from the bathroom entrance. Even Tails had been unable to ignore his morbid curiosity and had come to join his big brother in gawking. And as Amy started using the bowl to collect water and dump it on parts of Manic’s head to rinse the suds off, occasionally having to set it down in Manic’s hands, to push part of Manic’s quills and hair around while also having to use her fingers to scrub some spots that had been missed, they other boys slowly started to understand.

“....How much hair do you have??” Tails ended up blurting after watching Amy work for way too long to be normal.

The question caused both Manic and Amy to snort. “A lot,” Manic huffed in half amusement, half resignation to his suffering. His voice was a bit muffled by all the water and the fact that he was speaking directly to the floor. “Wasn’t too bad when I was younger– Pop used to do it for me... It was only about as thick as Amy’s and just a little wild. But when I got older it just…”

“Doubled and spiked up completely,” Amy finished, snickering. “It really thickened up when he went through the big drop– they grew in so much denser…”

“That’s crazy, man,” Sonic snickered, breaking out of his hovering and stepping forward to see if he could help at all. “...you have to do all of this every time you have to wash them?”

“Yeaahhhh,” Manic sighed resignedly, turning his head when Amy directed him so she could get the sides. 

“Dang. Anything I can do to help?”

“Nah, it’s-”

“Can you get the showerhead switched out to one that comes off the wall and has a higher water pressure?” Amy cut Manic off as soon as he proved her suspicion right and refused to ask for anything not strictly necessary.

“Yeah, of course,” Sonic agreed easily, absently wondering which had more fur: Manic’s head or Tails’ tails in the winter. “That’s an easy fix, right Tails?”

Tails grinned and agreed easily. “I’ll get that pressure up too, it’ll be great.” Sonic ended up grabbing the shampoo bottle again too when they found another spot Manic had probably missed.

“...Sorry for using so much shampoo,” Manic mumbled, feeling sheepish and yet so incredibly spoiled with how easily Sonic and Tails had agreed to Amy’s request on his behalf, as well as all the help he was getting now.

“No worries, it’s just shampoo,” Sonic brushed off easily. So that large container he’d seen in the bathroom at their old home hadn’t just been soap for Ferrell or something. “We can just stock up for you. What kind do you like?”

“Whatever is fine-”

“Coconut oil,” Amy supplied again, “Also cocoa butter conditioner, and if you can get a quill comb too that usually makes it easier for him.”

“Aaaamyyyyyy,” Manic whined as she once again revealed his preferences that she had inevitably been the one to help him figure out.

Sonic just laughed again, smiling with warm fondness that Manic easily picked up on that caused him to fidget in shy happiness. “It’s fine, we’ll get what you like, no problem. I want you to be comfortable here,” Sonic assured easily. “After we’re done here let’s go make a list of what you want and I’ll make a trip.”

That was way too much. Manic couldn’t bring himself to take Sonic up on that offer, he’d already done so much for him already. He had a bed, and food, and clothes, and a home, he was fine. He didn't need all this extra stuff. Why was he being so spoiled? He hadn’t done anything but mope around and cry on them. “It’s really fine. Those are enough.”

“Manic, if you don’t tell him what you want you know I will, so help me,” Amy firmly warned, knowing that he knew full well she would do it. She punctuated the statement with an aggressive ruffle of the quills she was finishing rinsing.

“AaaaaAAAaaaahhh,” Manic gave a frustrated and embarrassed half whine half yell as he unnecessarily covered his already hidden face with his hands, his tail swinging back and forth in flustered unease. “It’s fiiiiine. I don’t w- I don’t need all of that stuff. Really. It’s okay.”

Amy didn’t let him keep hiding, both because they had finished rinsing his quills and because she wanted him to actually pay attention instead of brushing everything off as usual. So she dumped the last bowl of water on his head before she hooked an arm under his shoulders and hefted him upright.

She was lucky that Sonic took her place in pushing Manic into accepting more than the barest minimum. “But they’re nice, aren’t they?” he pressed, grinning and pulling Manic’s hands away from hiding his face. Amy wordlessly wrapped a towel around his quills, practiced in how to do it just right so that the towel wouldn’t catch on the sharps.

“....I don’t wanna be a burden,” Manic ended up mumbling instead of admitting Sonic was right. It was nice to have shampoo that made his hair easier to deal with and smelled nice. It was also nice to have clothes without holes in them in the winter. And cuticle oil for his claws. And a glass file instead of stone ones.

“You never will be,” Sonic promised easily, voice softening just a little. “I’m here now.”

He was starting to say that a lot, Manic noticed. Ever since their little fight where Manic had demanded to know where Sonic had been all his life if he actually cared about him. Ever since then Sonic seemed to be making a point to remind him that he was there now, and he wasn’t going to leave. Manic wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but sometimes it was a little too much. It made his eyes sting, and his throat feel tight, just like now. And he gave Sonic a mildly accusatory pout glare before he promptly leaned forward and thumped his sopping wet face against Sonic’s chest. “Okay,” he warbled slightly, hating how his voice betrayed him just a little.

Sonic just chuckled softly. Easily wrapping his little brother in a hug while Amy fetched a second towel to drape over Manic’s shoulders and then another for herself. Tails quietly excused himself to make a list of things he’d need to fix the shower head. 

Sonic mentally made a note to bring Manic to that spa sometime. When things had settled a bit more.

-x- 

A little over a month after they had returned to camp, Sally was marching out to the RV for a check in instead of waiting any longer for Sonic to come to her. Things had been a little crazy for her for the last four weeks, the backlash from the black market falling apart was affecting their operations as well. But it was actually a comment she’d overheard that had her finally seeking Sonic out. He was unpredictable, everyone's favorite wildcard, she knew that. She knew that far too well. But there were some things that she couldn’t just let slide. So after hearing through the gossip chain that some of her off field members of the resistance, namely Cream of all people, had recently been in contact with the Court Jester, Sally had to come knocking.

“Wow, I’m graced with a house call today,” Sonic greeted Sally at the door with his usual amount of sass. But he didn’t invite her in, resting his weight on an arm against the doorframe instead, and that was enough for Sally to know he didn’t want guests right then.

Which only served to stir her annoyance and suspicion more. “I’ve heard that Cream, and some other residents without clearance have been hanging out with the Court Jester-”

“Manic,” Sonic corrected her gently, but insistent.

“...with.. Manic,” Sally obliged, a bit uncomfortably. She could be political for him, if he insisted. “I just wanted to see what you knew about the matter. Considering, as far as I know, you’re still our primary route of contact.”

“I’m not keeping track of him twenty four seven, Sal,” Sonic reminded pointedly, folding his arms and leaning his shoulder against the door instead now. “If Cream wants to hang out with Manic that’s fine. He’s not gonna hurt her, and it’ll do him some good. They get along great.”

Sally’s eyes narrowed, and her mouth pursed, and then she inevitably heaved a sigh and rubbed a hand against her head. Without outright saying it, Sonic had just confirmed her suspicion. Like he annoyingly liked to do. “How long has he been here?”

Sonic’s usual smile fell a fraction. He wasn’t surprised by Sally’s reaction, but he was still disappointed. “...Since I got here. I went to pick him up, and he needed a safe place to stay.”

Sally drew in a calming breath and let it out through her teeth. “And you decided not to tell anyone that he was here? Nevermind the breach in revealing our location-”

“I’m pretty sure he already knew where we were,” Sonic interrupted, smile fading completely now. “And if he didn’t he could have figured it out. Also I didn’t want people crowding him, so no, I didn’t tell anyone he was here. And I wasn’t going to until he was ready. I told you before that he doesn’t do well with being smothered and asked a bunch of questions.”

He had told her that. And Sally also didn’t want to start an argument, so took a moment to actively calm herself again before speaking. “You know I don’t like surprises, Sonic,” she said, her tone much more relaxed now. It was easier to deal with things when she had facts instead of rumours.

“I know,” Sonic confirmed, actually looking just a little sheepish as he scratched his cheek with a finger. “I wasn’t sure how to let you know without having you squirming your way in here to hound him with a bunch of questions though. - Don’t give me that look. You know you’d be the worst one when it came to asking him things.”

Sally wanted to argue with him, but she wasn’t confident enough that he was wrong to do so. That, and Sonic had raised his gaze to look behind her, and that was the only hint she got that someone was there. Specifically, Manic was standing behind her, watching them silently, and she had no idea when he’d gotten there. She barely managed not to squawk in startle as she flinched away and backed up a few steps.

“Hey bro. Are you hungry? See anything cool while you were out?” Sonic greeted, smoothly ignoring Sally’s reaction. He’d seen it happen before. Manic could be eerily quiet when he wanted to.

Instead of answering right away Manic watched Sally with a steady gaze that she would have happily called unnerving. He was taller in person than Sally had expected.

Sonic knew Manic was just uneasy though, so he stepped down from the RV and carefully pressed into his space, butting their shoulders together and tapping his palm to coax him into holding his hand.

“...Is something wrong?” Manic eventually asked instead of answering Sonic’s questions.

He knew who Sally was, he recognized her face from the call Sonic had had with her some time ago. But the face to face meeting was a lot different than he’d originally been hoping. He was supposed to meet her with a Chaos Emerald in hand. Holding it out to her as a gift; a reward for her letting them borrow Sonic so many times. Some sort of peace offering for her to maybe see him as an ally.

But now she was watching him warily. Distance deliberately kept as she stayed outside his easy reach. Her gaze watching him with some strain of judgement that he’d seen on so many faces before. Felt the itchy sting at the base of his throat that he was unable to swallow down. Somewhere in there he could also sense she was afraid of him. But he didn’t want to acknowledge that, and therefore didn’t pay attention to it. He wasn’t anyone to be afraid of. He was just a pathetic little clown that had stepped too far out of line and ruined so many things for everyone. Instead of holding a Chaos Emerald for the Resistance leader his hands were empty, and he was taking refuge from her instead.

“No, Sal is just being nosy,” Sonic beamed easily. “She’s real good at that.” Pointedly teasing his childhood friend as he subtly stood between her and his brother.

Sally flinched, and huffed in mild offence at the jab, glaring at Sonic as Manic picked up a flustered wave of emotion that somewhat buried the judgement for just a moment. “As Commander it’s my job to remain informed,” Sally shot back with a glare. “And since someone decided to not keep me informed I decided to do my own investigating.”

Manic felt himself tense slightly at the comment, though he tried to remain relaxed. Sonic didn’t seem worried, just protective. And he was still teasing Sally by sticking his tongue out at her, so it shouldn’t be that bad. Manic was still feeling mentally scraped raw though, so everything felt weird compared to what he was used to. He found his usual confidence was suffering from more than just grief, but he still tried to respond in a somewhat normal way. “Whadda you wanna know?”

Sonic grinned at him, elated at the progress he’d made from hiding in the bunk bed and his joy causing a flutter to wash over Manic’s chest. A brief smile flashed across his features too before he pushed it back. He was getting rusty if he was allowing other people’s emotions to affect him so visibly. But it was hard not to feel happy when something he did made Sonic so happy– his brother's emotions were infectious. 

Sally seemed surprised to hear Manic ask her that instead of brushing her off, though he more felt it than saw it on her features. She studied him in wary consideration for a moment before she answered. “Well…. Sonic gave me a brief rundown on what happened a few weeks ago, but I was hoping for more information on the matter. Mainly what Ferrell did exactly to piss Robotnik off after having flown under the radar all these years.”

Manic hadn’t been expecting Sally to bring up his dad’s death as her first question, even though she had no idea of that part of the event’s significance. He felt his jaw tighten as his brow furrowed, hand gripping Sonic’s tightly as the other balled into a fist. He only faintly felt Sonic’s alarm – not at him but at Sally’s words – flow over him before he expertly smashed his own emotions down into a pit so that he wouldn’t break in front of a stranger. It was hard to talk, he would need a moment to force himself to do so. But Sonic beat him to it, stepping further in front of him and pulling him close to his back.

“If you wanted to know more then you should have just asked me,” Sonic almost chided, quickly doing his best to pull Sally’s attention to him instead of Manic. He almost wanted to shoo Manic into the RV, but no one else was here and there was no way he was going to leave him alone now.

“Oh, because you’ve been so forthcoming about everything you know already,” Sally sassed back. A rare moment of her pushing back like that, but one that he wasn’t going to react as expected to.

“You didn’t ask-” Sonic pressed.

“I don’t give that kind of information out for free,” Manic finally responded cooly. Dragging his experience forcefully to the front to be able to speak without a hint of tremor to his voice. The mask was cracked but he could still put it on.

“Ah…Of course. My mistake, Jester,” Sally withdrew, the levity from bantering with Sonic fading and Manic felt something settle in her emotions. As though something she’d thought had just been confirmed. For some reason the notion made Manic’s stomach feel heavy. Sonic scowled openly, forcing himself between them again.

“Yeah, okay, how about you scuttle off before you make yourself look like an even bigger jerk, and I’ll come talk to you later,” Sonic pressed, trying to shoo Sally away. He knew she was going to needle Manic with questions the first chance she got. That’s just what she did, and he knew she did it because having to take care of so many people made her information greedy. But this wasn’t the time.

“I don’t see why he can’t answer a few questions in exchange for giving him sanctuary. Someone of his rank would know a lot of secrets that could easily buy his protection,” Sally met what she perceived as Manic’s energy. If he was going to talk business, then she could remind him that he was arguably in the Resistance’s debt.

“Sally,” Sonic’s voice cut her name with a subtle warning. “I’m the one taking care of him, not you. He’s on my tab, in my house. Don’t push it. You don’t know what you’re stepping in.”

“Right. Because he’s your brother,” Sally drawled back, poking to see if somehow Sonic’s emotions were making him blind to the potential threat. “Has he proved that yet? Does he have one of the medallions?”

Manic couldn’t help the soft growl that rumbled in his chest at that question. “That’s none of your business,” he snarled slightly. No one but Ferrell, Margo, and Amy knew about his medallion. Other than Sonic and Tails recently of course. That was personal, and Sally wasn’t welcome there.

His reaction must have reminded her of who she was actually dealing with, for he felt her retreat in mild alarm. Whatever opinion she had of him in her mind caused her to back down, but also caused the wariness to solidify into her being fully guarded. Distrust seeping off her bones and making Manic’s stomach roll.

Then Sonic was there, getting fully between Manic and Sally as he wrapped Manic in a shielding hug, looking back at Sally blankly over his shoulder. “...He doesn’t have to prove anything,” he reinforced firmly, but quietly. “Not to me, or you. He’s my brother, and that's a fact. So go cool down, and we’ll come talk to you when we’re ready. I’m not going to let you keep bullying him just because you’re upset with me.”

“With someone like him within the Resistance’s boundaries-” Sally started, pushing back once again. She was nervous. Needing confirmation that it was okay for her to leave. Did she see Manic as a threat? The notion made Manic’s heart sink. Was he really that scary? That big a problem? That much trouble? 

“Sally, back off,” Sonic interrupted, just a bit louder this time. He wasn’t angry. Manic couldn’t feel anything from him other than protectiveness and an almost eerie calm. It was somehow strangely reassuring, and he allowed himself to be almost hidden by his shorter brother.

Sally stared at Sonic in half open surprise. She’d only ever seen Sonic get that way towards other people when it came to defending Tails. In the beginning Sonic had been reclusive. But even though he’d grown to be quite friendly with people she knew there were very few who Sonic held close. Tails was one of them. And now, apparently Manic was too. She couldn’t fathom why, but she knew better than to fight Sonic in any manner when it came to those he’d claimed. That was a losing battle. 

“...Alright,” Sally relented. “But I expect to see you in my office soon. With an actual explanation.”

She left then. Watching them over her shoulder, and nerves spiking when she finally turned her back on them. Had Manic been alone he would have stood there watching her until she was out of sight. But with Sonic there he started to lower his face into Sonic’s shoulder as soon as Sally turned. Or at least he attempted to, but Sonic wasn’t going to wait for Sally to be completely gone before he was pulling Manic into the RV with him, closing the door and locking it behind them. Tails had the keys, and Amy could knock and he’d let her in. Right now he didn’t want to be disturbed by guests as he guided Manic over to the couch and got him sitting.

It was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Sonic was giving Manic a quick look over, knowing that the questions had affected him and having somewhat felt him retreat after them. That somewhat familiar withdrawal that seemed somewhat similar to how he’d been after the two fights Sonic had helped him with. Sonic’s hands brushed against Manic’s cheeks as he studied him, watching Manic’s brow pinch and his lip start to tremble as the pure, open concern about him poured easily from Sonic.

“...I’m here,” Sonic breathed quietly, reaching around to carefully pull Manic into a hug. Slow at first so he didn’t startle him and then quickly wrapping around Manic’s form tightly when he choked a quiet sob and leaned into him. For the countless time since they had been at the city Sonic felt his heart skip when Manic’s emotions broke and battered into him. And just like every time before Sonic just held him tighter, and let him cry. This time wasn’t as bad as the first ones though. Manic was keeping to his word about not reducing everyone else to a crying mess again with him. Not that Sonic would have minded either way, he didn’t mind sharing Manic’s tears with him. But at least this time he could still talk.

“Sorry…,” Sonic apologized quietly on Sally’s behalf. “I’ll talk to her. It’s nothing personal, I promise. She’s got her own stuff she’s gone through. But I know she’s only acting this way because she’s afraid something bad will happen to the Resistance. I’ll tell her about the emerald – that Ferrell gave us the coordinates because I’d done enough favors for him – and that should calm her down. Nothing about you.”

Manic couldn’t help shaking his head slightly at the words. Still not able to believe how easily Sonic catered towards him. How easily he cared for him despite all the trouble he was causing.

“Should I just leave?” Manic choked out. “I’m just making problems for you–” The emotional strain and offered comfort was finally enough to pull the thought from his mind. To let him voice it.

“No.” Sonic’s answer was immediate, and his grip became just a little tighter. Almost like he was afraid Manic would disappear if he didn’t hold him close enough. “I wanted you to move in with me since the moment I met you. I’m not letting you go now. Especially not now that I know you don’t have anyone else.”

“I do…,” Manic protested weakly. He had people in the Market that he could stay with if he needed to. Kurt would take him, June would–

“Margo asked me to take you,” Sonic reminded, not needing to add that he would have tried to insist on it anyway even if she hadn’t. “It’s safe here. The Resistance soldiers are cool when you get to know them. They just need to see how cool you are, and they’ll be better. And if they aren’t you’ll still always have a home with me. The only reason I’m with them is to find you and our sis. So if we need to leave for a bit we can.”

Manic couldn’t help the soft snort Sonic earned from him when he called him cool. It made him a little flustered. And while he was feeling incredibly spoiled, almost unbearably so, the talking had helped. The tears had stopped and Sonic had smoothed out his fears again. But he also didn’t really want to let go yet, so attempted to see if they could stay on the couch for awhile. Hesitantly pulling his feet up and trying to make himself comfortable against Sonic.

He was pleasantly surprised when Sonic immediately obliged, pulling him close and flopping over onto the couch and squirming to get comfortable while bubbles of joy rolled off him. Dinner would need to be served eventually. But they could put it off for now.

Manic still felt a little off the rest of the night, and well into the next morning after Sally’s visit. That was the Commander of the Resistance. The essentially top owner of the space they were in. Having her so distrusting of him, having her imply that he needed to buy his safety there, made it hard for Manic to feel like he was free to leave the RV. Something Sonic inevitably noticed after Manic didn’t go out into the Chao Garden again like he had been doing. Instead staying on the couch as though he weren’t allowed to leave it.

It prompted Sonic to plop on the couch next to him for a talk. “What Sally said is still bothering you, isn’t it,” he pointed out, never one to beat around the bush.

Manic felt himself wince, and noticed Sonic frown a little and felt his concern grow when Manic reeled his emotions in tighter. As though Sonic had figured it out from him not keeping his broadcast in check.

“Look, she might be Commander, but she’s still a person like the rest of us. You don’t have to do anything she says so long as you’re not hurting anyone. And I know you’d never intentionally hurt anyone. So if you wanna explore, I’m all for it,” Sonic encouraged when Manic took too long to answer.

It was a bit of an odd thing to hear someone say about their Commander. Especially in something so military-esque as what Manic had seen from the Resistance. But then again, Sonic didn’t really seem to do structure. “...They don’t want me around,” he said softly. Actually willing to voice the thoughts in his head a little more now. “And I don’t want to make everyone nervous.”

“No matter what you do Sally is going to be paranoid. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m going to cause some irreparable disaster every time I open my mouth. It’s just the way she is, but the rest of the team isn’t so uptight,” Sonic rolled his eyes, pleased to earn a soft snort from his brother with his words. “Plus, they don’t have any say over you exploring the Chao Garden. They don’t actually own the Garden, they just park their butts near it because it’s the only way Sally manages to keep an eye on me. I won’t park in the camp, and it drives her crazy, so we compromise by staying somewhat close to each other.”

It was helping. The way Sonic spoke so dismissively of the Resistance leader, and yet also felt and sounded so familiar with her, made Manic start to feel a little more relaxed than before. If the Resistance didn’t have the Chao Garden as part of its boundaries, then why should he care about what Sally and the others thought of him wandering around in it.

“Most of the time no one comes further than the road down there either,” Sonic kept talking, nodding his head towards camp. “For some reason everyone says the Chao run away from them. But I’ve never seen it myself. They usually just get a little shy.”

Manic snickered again, feeling more and more at ease as he let Sonic’s words untangle the knots in his chest that Sally had put there. It just made Sonic grin more, and egged him on a little. “Why don’t we go feed the Chao together before I have to run a quick errand for the others this evening? I’ll bring my guitar, and show you the cool stage where I get the Chao to play music with me.”

That caught Manic’s attention, and he was sitting up eagerly. “Wait, you get them to play music with you?” He had no idea that Chao could play instruments. Maybe he could teach Hip to play the drums? Where would he find some that were small enough?

“Yeah! C’mon, I’ll show you,” Sonic laughed, getting to his feet and reaching out a hand that Manic quickly took.

It was easy to let Sonic distract him nowadays. Easy to let whatever insignificant thing Sonic wanted to talk about or have fun with consume Manic’s mind and push away the grief and tenseness everything else brought. They threw on coats and grabbed one of the field blankets on their way out, and Sonic was quick to pull Manic along to the space he’d been talking about. It was a little clearing on a flat hill, raised just enough above the land around it to indeed look like a stage. Manic kept up with him with excitement, the crisp air feeling good on his face as their breath fanned in front of them. It was only when they got to the edge of the clearing that Manic hesitated, immediately feeling uncomfortable with the idea of leaving the treeline.

Sonic paused as well. His head tilted slightly as he got a curious expression while thoughts started to solidify in his mind. He’d seen it a few times before, but now he was pretty sure.

A flutter overhead caused Manic to gasp and shrink down with a flinch, quickly looking up and moving to somewhat hide under some thicker overhead branches.

“Bird,” Sonic pointed once again to the sky where the creature had flown off to. This hadn’t been the first time Manic had been startled by the wildlife either. “You don’t… like being in open spaces, do you,” Sonic half stated half asked as he moved forward to gently take Manic’s hands and pull him forward to follow him again.

As expected, Manic was a little reluctant, but still hesitantly followed him. “Hahahaaa that’s how people get shot,” he blurted after a weak, nervous laugh, eyes still scraping the areas above them for some sort of threat.

Sonic’s brows raised as he sputtered slightly, having not expected that kind of answer but soon finding it wasn’t too out of place with Manic’s background. “Well alright, fair point,” Sonic laughed with him, continuing to tug him towards the little grassy stage while Chao were already starting to flock to them as well. “Promise I’ll keep an eye out for you and make sure they don’t get us.” He wasn’t about to tell Manic not to worry. Not when he had a fear of his own that no one knew about.

Manic had half been expecting Sonic to just assure him that his fear was unwarranted, especially considering where they were, so ended up snorting when his gaze snapped to Sonic instead. “Well when you put it that way,” he huffed weakly, trying to still his own unease and following Sonic more deliberately now.

Up on the little hill a small, weatherproof bin was stored under one of the trees. Sonic got the blanket spread out next to it and settled down while patting the spot next to him. It was enough to coax Manic into sitting next to him as he got his guitar pulled off his back and situated on his lap.

Before Sonic even started to strum there was already a multitude of Chao gathering. Just like every other time either of them came to the Garden. This time they popped open the little bin on their own and started pulling out various tiny instruments, babbling excitedly and piling onto the blanket in a bit of a clatter. It made Manic laugh softly, getting distracted when as usual Hip somehow appeared from nowhere and started crawling into his lap.

“Hey buddy,” Manic greeted, rubbing Hip’s head as usual and of course having to force him to share the lap space when some of the other Chao tried to crawl onto him as well. “Wanna learn how to play drums?” Manic asked while Sonic snickered at the scene of Manic’s Chao being extremely possessive of him.

They apparently did have a tiny hand drum that Manic pointed to when Hip just looked up at him in open confusion. Luckily one of the other Chao brought it to him, and Manic was able to start tapping it with his fingers while the rest of the group played too.

The music wasn’t anything close to what Sonic usually played on public stages. Soft, easy notes that the Chao could follow along with as Sonic hummed more than he sang. It made it so Manic didn’t have to teach Hip anything too complex, eventually being able to just pat his own thigh on beat while Hip copied him on the drum. It was nice. Just being able to sit and play music in a more peaceful setting.

Manic knew that he probably should have gone back to the RV only an hour after they had gotten there. The familiar pressure starting to build behind his eyes in his head as the sunlight was maybe just a little too bright. But it was fine. He was fine, it wouldn’t be one of the bad ones, it couldn't be. That had already happened, and it was going to be fine. So he just sat, and kept playing with the Chao up until Sonic had to leave to run that errand. Bidding the Chao goodbye by fetching them a bunch of late fall fruits from the trees and handing them out before they made their way back to the RV. It was only after Manic had waved Sonic off with a grin that he realized he’d waited just a little too long. Whatever medicine he took now would help, but wasn’t going to completely stop the migraine from fully manifesting. Which was fine, because it obviously wasn’t a bad one. Those ones always hit hard fast, and not gradually like the mild ones.

The only problem was that while Sonic wasn’t familiar with his betraying tells yet, Amy was. So when he reluctantly shrugged his flannel off to return deeper into the RV where Amy and Tails had returned from their errand, Amy’s brow quickly pinched into one of concern.

“You have a migraine.”

Amy’s quiet statement caused Tails to look up immediately, pulling the goggles up from his eyes. “What? Are you okay? Do you need one of the pens-?”
“No,” Manic calmed quickly, feeling his stomach roll a bit sheepishly at how Tails was quick to assume he needed the heavy duty medication. “No, I’m fine. It’s just a small one,” he assured, letting Amy subtly lead him to the couch to sink down on and pull his shoes off. He’d been planning on grabbing whatever headache medicine they had on his own, but Amy was already fussing. A quick dig through the medicine basket to grab a few pills that she brought over with a glass of water. And then she was back in the kitchen to put a kettle of water on the stove.

Manic just tried to relax, resting his head on the back of the couch while Tails continued to watch him with obvious concern that Manic could pick up in waves from him. It made him crack his eyes open and chuckle slightly. “Tails, seriously. I’m fine. You can go back to what you were doing. I’m gonna be okay.”

“...You sure?” Tails pressed, just to make sure. Just to double check because he knew Manic liked to brush things off.

“Yes,” Manic laughed a little, and tried not to wince while he bobbed his head in a delicate nod. “Promise. It’s just a headache. It’ll be gone tomorrow.”

“Did you have fun at least?” Amy asked, coming over with a steaming mug of peppermint tea that she carefully traded Manic’s mostly empty cup of water for. She was speaking quietly, but her otherwise more or less relaxed demeanor was inevitably helping Tails realize Manic was being honest. Or at least it was something that Amy wasn’t concerned about, and she knew him better than the others.

“Mhmm,” Manic nodded slightly again. “We played some music with Hip and the other Chao. You missed Sonic Chao playing a recorder.”

“What?! You didn’t take pictures?” Amy squeaked, obviously envious before Manic started laughing and betrayed the fact he was teasing her.

“I’m kidding. He wasn’t there. Maybe next time,” Manic snickered, his laughter forced short by his migraine.

“Pf- brat,” Amy puffed, lightly swatting his shoulder as he reflexively flinched away. “Wanna see what I’m working on?” It was an offer with an unspoken question if he would rather go to bed instead. Her way of gauging how well he was doing in spite of the migraine. He always appreciated her care.

“Yeah, show me,” Manic agreed easily. It was helping Tails calm down about the whole situation, so he was inclined to keep doing things just a little quieter than usual. Plus it always made Amy excited when she got to show him her projects.

“I was able to get some yarn from someone in camp. I’m gonna make us all some scarves out of it if there’s enough. What do you think?”

Manic honestly didn’t have a lot of opinions about Amy’s crochet projects other than to be excited with her over how cool it was that she was able to make things out of yarn. But he indulged her, and knew the right questions to ask to get her to feel content. He might tease her endlessly about her fortune telling, but he wasn’t about to make her feel bad for the crafts. Not after watching her make so many things for herself and her family.

The chatter was enough to convince Tails to return to what he was working on. And even though the pounding in Manic’s head got slightly worse he still managed to convince Amy to let him help with dinner after fussing over him a little more.

The evening errand run had Sonic returning to the RV much later than he would have liked. But he was pleasantly surprised to find the others were already cooking dinner when he got back, the warm scent of vegetables and probably pasta greeting him while he kicked the fresh snow off his shoes. Tails was at his computer, as usual. But Amy was bustling around the kitchenette while she had Manic perched on a stool next to the stove, absently watching the pot and stirring it occasionally. He was bundled in a blanket, and had something over his head, but Sonic didn’t think anything of it just yet. He was very familiar with having to fight Tails about the temperature setting in the RV during the winter months. Foxes grew winter coats. Hedgehogs didn’t.

“Welcome back!”

Amy’s greeting along with seeing a home full of people brought a warmth to Sonic’s chest as he beamed while shedding his coat as well.

“Hey! I was gonna ask what you guys wanted me to pick up. But looks like you got dinner covered,” Sonic admitted, nosily approaching to take a peek at what was cooking. When he got closer he realized it was an ice pack that was draped over Manic’s head, and he was squinting slightly while his ears were flattened under the blanket. Which immediately got Sonic distracted with worry. “Wait- Are you sick? Go lay down. Why are you helping? Did we stay out too long today?”

As Sonic started fussing in worry, trying to usher Manic to the bunk beds, Amy just snickered while Manic grumbled and pushed back in protest. “I’m fine. It’s fine. It wasn’t today. It’s normal. Jus’happens, let me help,” he half mumbled, readjusting his blanket and getting settled on the stool again after Sonic stopped pushing him.

“He’s okay,” Amy was quick to assure too, coming close to scrape the vegetables she’d been cutting into the pot Manic was watching. “He just gets like, normal migraines sometimes, but he doesn’t like to let it keep him from doing things when it isn’t bad. We’d do this a lot when I was living with them.” And when she remembered that Sonic knew now that Ferrell was Manic’s dad she added in a whisper to him, “Sometimes Ferrell would carry him around in one arm while we made meals. It was really cute.”

She wasn’t sure if it was too soon to talk about Ferrell with Manic, but the snort Sonic gave before gaining a fond smile made it worth it to talk behind Manic’s back a little. Manic’s comment about this being normal also ended up making Sonic remember what Margo had said about him. That every three or four weeks Manic would still get migraines that they could treat with regular medicine. She called them mild, but Manic still looked pretty miserable right now in Sonic’s opinion. All hunched up on the stool, shivering slightly as he pulled the blanket a bit more tightly around his shoulders. When Tails got chills with his migraines they usually called them bad episodes instead of mild ones.

“... You sure you’re okay?” Sonic pressed, hovering close but trying to stay out of Amy’s way. “I’m sorry if I made it worse…”

“Mm, you didn’t do anything but help. No worries,” Manic assured, giving a small shake of his head and then having to catch the ice pack that was perched near his ears before it fell. It was looking more lukewarm than cold though, so Sonic carefully took it to exchange it with another one. And then he absently rubbed his fingers gently into the base of Manic’s skull, knowing that sometimes helped Tails and grinning when Manic gave a happy noise in response. His eyes closed for a minute before he remembered he was helping cook, and he blinked them open quickly to give the pot another stir. At least he still seemed to be doing better than that morning. Emotionally anyway. So while Sonic was still worried, he figured he’d let it be for now, and let Manic keep helping with dinner for the night. Maybe he would actually sleep for the whole night too.

-x-

After the fuss Sally had made Sonic had been expecting to get frequent unwanted guests lingering around his RV that he’d have to chase off. She no doubt had told her fellow high ranking officers that Manic was there and once the secret was out it would spread through the Resistance camp like hushed wildfire. The Court Jester was among them, and had apparently been there for a while. Sonic didn’t think anything of it for now. People liked to gossip, and none of the high ranking officers had high opinions of Sonic in the first place. The grumpy bickering about his actions was expected, and not cared about in the slightest. It wasn’t like most of them knew what he did for them, and he was fine being seen as Sally’s little spoiled exception just because they were childhood friends.

She must have said something to the others though, for despite the rumours and hushed whispers no one actually showed up to hover around the RV like creepy fans after concerts. He hadn’t gone to see her yet, letting her stew a bit more as a way to get back at her for causing a fuss in the first place. But the fact that she wasn’t hounding him, and nothing seemed to have outwardly changed too much in camp made Sonic figure she was attempting to apologize and that it was safe to open the door when there was a light knock that afternoon.

Cream was standing there with Bunnie and Rotor, her basket full of fruit from the garden. “Hi Mr. Sonic! Is Mr. Manic here today? We couldn’t find him outside,” she explained, bouncing on her toes. 

Sonic smiled faintly and leaned back to see if Manic was asleep yet. He’d been saying something about taking a nap, about now, but he’d sat up on the couch when he heard the knock. “It’s for you, dude,” he said brightly. “Still up for a visit?”

Manic was already moving, dropping off the couch and heading over. Sonic was thoroughly delighted when his face visibly brightened as he stepped down the stairs. “Cream! Hey, good to see you again! Did you bring Cheese?”

Cheese immediately popped up from behind Cream’s ears and flittered over to give Manic a tiny hug, chirping gleefully. Manic’s smile widened and he held the little guy. “Hey, lil dude! Good to see you, too!”

Cream giggled softly. “He really likes you,” she said. “Do you want to go to the garden to pass these out with me?”

Manic was already grabbing his jacket and pulling it on. “Yeah, I do,” he said, shoving his boots on before stepping outside. Cream hopped up and down excitedly, backing up to make space for him.

“Oh yay! Oh– This is my sister, Bunnie, and our friend Rotor!” she said abruptly, gesturing at the new folks. Manic faltered a moment, like he hadn’t quite noticed them there. Cream didn’t pay it any mind, grabbing her sister's arm and pulling her forward.

Sonic knew he wasn’t usually one to be intentionally rude, but Manic openly stared at Bunnie’s offered handshake, at her metallic limb. “Hi,” said Bunnie, easily ignoring it. “Cream’s been talkin’ you up all week, so we decided we had to come see you ourselves. Nice to meetcha, Manic.”

Manic shook himself out of whatever freeze he was in and shook her hand firmly. “Nice to– Nice to meet you,” he stammered, trying to get himself back together. 

Bunnie just smiled a little sadly. “We saw what happened to Ferrell,” she said softly. “I’m sorry for your loss, you must’ve been pretty close… workin’ for him so much and all.”

Manic stared at her. They knew who he was, what he’d done, and they were… being nice to him? Letting him touch them on purpose? Not assuming he’d rob them blind and stab them in the back? “Th– Thank you,” he heard himself say, his voice smaller than he’d like. “I… You’re…”

Bunnie reached out and took his hands. “It don’t hurt,” she said. “If that’s what you’re worried about. He didn’t hurt at all, baby. And once our little genius Tails puzzles through it, we’ll get him and everyone else back.”

Manic must have slipped a bit because Sonic’s chest felt tight. Manic lurched forward suddenly and threw his arms around Bunnie’s neck. “Thank you– thank you,” he breathed out as Bunnie returned the hug, meeting Sonic’s eyes over Manic’s shoulder. Sonic smiled at her and threw her a thumbs up while Rotor sat awkwardly to the side staring into the trees.

Cream however, couldn’t stand to be left out and wrapped her arms around both of their middles. Both Cream and Bunnie waited until Manic started to pull away first, leaning back and scrubbing at his eyes quickly. “Sorry– that was a lot,” he laughed a little uncomfortably. “Um, hi. Bad introduction, sorry. I’m Manic.”

Rotor took that as his cue and shook Manic’s hand as well, apparently wanting to help segue into something less emotionally loaded. “Tails told me you were pretty handy! You’ll have to come tinker with us,” he said warmly. “I’d love to see your work.”

Manic agreed easily, casting a quick glance over at Sonic to make sure, to check, that this was all okay. Sonic motioned for him to go, nodding eagerly. 

That was all it took for Cream to seize Manic’s hand and yank him towards where the chao liked to play, and he went along easily with her and his new friends. 

With the new reassurance that everyone in camp wouldn’t immediately hate him, Manic felt bold enough to pull Sonic aside one morning and ask where Margo was exactly. She’d checked in a few times, always coming to the RV, but now that Manic thought about it, he had no clue where she was staying. Sonic’s eyebrows rose, leaning against the couch. “Think she’s settling in with the medics,” he replied. “I haven’t checked in on her much, she didn’t seem like she wanted us around… she doesn’t really know me or Tails.”

Manic grimaced a little bit. “Has Amy checked on her?”

Sonic frowned, scrubbing at his nose a bit. “Maybe? She’s been goin out, meetin’ folks in camp, making friends. She’s really good at people,” he said. “If she’s gone to see Margo she hasn’t mentioned it to me.”

Manic thought about that for a long moment, rubbing the back of his neck. “She’s great at people,” he agreed after a moment. “That’s how she got away with scamming people all these years.”

Sonic snorted in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

Manic waved his hand at Sonic. “The fortune telling? When I scam people I don’t dress it up. I just take stuff. Amy makes ‘em think she’s really giving them something,” he explained like it was obvious, standing up and brushing off his legs. “Lemme grab something, then can you show me where Margo’s staying?”

Sonic looked like he wanted to go into the fortune telling subject but Manic just headed back into the room to dig in his pile of reclaimed things. He took a few things out carefully and set them aside before bundling something up and tucking it into his fanny pack. Sonic couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but it wasn’t like he needed to be prying into all that. “Yeah, I can take you,” he said. “We’ll have to walk through camp.”

Manic stood up and nodded determinedly. “I figured. Let's get it over with.”

Manic was apparently an expert in being a shadow. Sonic walked through camp and his brother was on his heels, his head down and hands loosely looped around the strap of his fanny pack. He probably could have disappeared if he wanted to. Sonic wasn’t certain, but he was pretty sure he was doing something with his powers that encouraged people not to notice him. 

As such, nobody bothered them all the way down to the infirmary. Sonic didn’t come down here often, usually just dropping someone off for medical attention before getting out of there. Today it wasn’t too chaotic, nobody was waiting to be seen in the front of the tent that Sonic led Manic into. 

A familiar face noticed the visitors before too long– Dr. Zephyr was frequently front and center when Sonic dropped by. Sonic wasn’t exactly sure what the pecking order was among the medical staff, but he had gathered that the cat was high on the list. “Sonic,” he greeted calmly, drifting over. “What can I do for you?”

Sonic smiled and pulled Manic up next to him. “We’re looking for Margo Crobar,” he answered. “She in?”

The rollercoaster of emotions that Dr. Zephyr experienced in response to that request was loud enough that Sonic didn’t need Manic’s powers to notice it. Finally his expression settled into an uncomfortable looking grimace. “She should be in the bunks,” he said, gesturing to the left. “She’s not on rotation until tonight, so she might be sleeping.”

Manic didn’t seem perturbed by the weird reaction. “Thanks,” he said and headed off without pause. Sonic’s gaze lingered on Dr. Zephyr for a few more seconds, trying to puzzle out what was wrong with him, before trailing after Manic. 

The bunks where the doctors slept weren’t exactly private. Most of the bunks weren’t. Sonic cheated the system by bringing his own accommodations, but everyone else piled into these large, long tents with curtains hung between bunk beds to give the illusion of privacy. 

Manic didn’t seem to need to be told where Margo was staying, walking confidently along the line until he turned. Sonic simply followed quietly, coming to linger in the created doorway of Margo’s ‘room’.

She hadn’t brought much when Sonic had come to get her from her home in the city. A singular bag slung over her shoulder had apparently fit everything she needed. Being the newcomer had granted her being alone in this little section for now, and she’d claimed the bottom bunk and hung blankets on both sides to allow herself a place to hide.

There were disposable coffee cups and empty wine bottles lined up on the chest that sat at the end of the bunk bed. A small hamper overflowing with clothes that had various suspicious stains. Manic hesitated at the threshold for a moment, frowning. “Buckle up,” he muttered to Sonic before stepping forward. He sidestepped the clothes that hadn’t made it to the laundry pile and carefully pulled back the blanket that was acting as a curtain on their side. 

Margo’s glasses were sitting on the side table–a crate in actuality. That must have been Manic’s first clue that she wasn’t quite awake. He leaned into the bunk and set a hand against Margo’s little shoulder. “Hey,” he whispered. “You got visitors.”

Sonic drifted in after Manic, still hanging back but at least he could now see the little lump that was curled in the bed. She moved too quickly to have been asleep, whipping her head around to squint at the intruder. Sonic winced as Margo sat up and hastily started trying to put herself back together. “Manic!” she said, sounding a bit like she stapled the exclamation point on at the end. “Sweetheart, green bean, you gotta knock next time–”

As she hastily shifted around, Manic watched quietly. He didn’t point out the way her eyes were rimmed red, or her crumpled face fur that only came with sleeping with a wet face. Her claws were chipped up and her hair was falling out of its braid in sections that implied that it’d been done poorly in the first place. “Dunno if you noticed, but I don’t exactly have a door I can knock on for you,” Manic said instead of addressing all that. He offered a hand to help her sit up and as she came to sit up next to him it became more apparent that she was just a walking mess and a half. 

She must have been cleaning herself up when she came out to see Manic at the RV. “I’ll put in a complaint,” she quipped, trying to smooth out her rumpled clothes. “What’re you doing here, Manic?”

Manic yanked her closer into a side hug. “I wanted to come see you,” he said easily. Sonic couldn’t miss the soothing presence that Manic was pouring into the air around them. “Make sure you’re settling alright… are they being nice to you?”

Margo waved her paws around animatedly, laughing a little. “I’m used to a hostile work environment, it doesn’t matter,” she replied, which was not an answer that Sonic particularly liked but she just plowed on. “They seem happy to have extra hands around. And I’m more used to roughing it as far as missing medical supplies.”

Manic just snorted a little bit and passed her her glasses. “You are an expert,” he agreed. “I uh… I brought you something.”

Margo shook her head at that, taking the glasses and putting them on. “Oh hon, you didn’t have to do… that…” Manic hadn’t given her time to pause, quietly pulling the scarf that Sonic and Amy had taken from Ferrell's place out of his bag. The fabric was worn and well used, and Manic handled it like it might fall apart soon despite the fact that Sonic was certain it wouldn’t. Margo’s expression fell off her face, her mouth working up and down a couple times. 

“I thought it might help,” Manic explained gently, taking her hands and gently setting it across them. “Sonic took Amy back home and she grabbed some of Ferrell's stuff for me and I just…”

Margo blinked rapidly, like she was trying to get rid of the hot tears that Sonic could see gathering in her eyes. Her mouth pulled down into something heartbroken and she gripped the scarf before bundling it against her chest. “You– you didn’t…” she took a short breath. “You didn’t have to do this.”

Manic nodded a little bit, yanking her forward into his space and setting his chin against the top of her head. “He’d want me to,” he mumbled, his voice sounding a bit wet now too. Sonic turned politely to study the hallway while Manic took his turn holding Margo together.

For just a moment, at least. Sonic was certain the next time they saw her, she’d be back to normal. And maybe sharing this with her would help Manic too.

He waited until they finished, and they spent that afternoon chatting with Margo until her shift rolled around. The longer he spent with her, the more Sonic liked her. She told graphic, disgusting medical stories and laughed a bit like a hyena. She was unhinged and brilliant. On the way back to the camper, Manic quietly told Sonic about how she’d been the black market’s saving grace, and how several folks had called her the Queen down there. Sonic didn’t ask if that was to match Ferrell’s King title, it didn’t feel appropriate. Or honestly, necessary to ask. Slowly, with context clues, Sonic was building a picture of Manic’s crime family.

Honestly, he liked the way it looked. His little brother was loved. 

-x- 

While Sonic hadn’t seen much of a difference with the members in camp, it was quite obvious that most people simply knew how to hold their tongue when he was around. The knowledge that Manic was there brought mixed opinions from the camp members.

A few were like Cream and the others who had befriended Manic. Positive and welcoming to him, if a bit nervously distant once he managed to bring himself to venture further than just the Chao Garden. Most of the others were wary at best, and secretly bitter or scared at worst. Cream had been quick to defend her new friend, telling anyone that bad mouthed him around her that he was actually very kind, and that the Chao loved him and his magic tricks. Only a few of the ones she talked to reconsidered their thoughts. The others just told her to be careful, and keep track of what was in her pockets. People were already blaming the Jester for things going missing, even though no one could prove he had taken anything. 

The mixture of muddled emotions saturating the camp made following Tails to Rotor’s machine shop uncomfortable to say the least. No one was apparently willing to say or do anything with Tails around–just like when he came to camp with Sonic, but it was obvious the soldiers were giving Manic ample space as he moved through the tents and other cobbled together structures. Voices became hushed, and many times people startled when they noticed him. Scrambling away when they didn’t see him until they thought he was too close. He wasn’t even in arm’s reach even if he stepped towards them twice. What did they think he was going to do? Telepathically drain their bank accounts?

The fear that wafted off of them in waves mixed with judgement weighed on Manic’s shoulders like a steel jacket. He was usually better at stonewalling, but since Ferrell… it’d been harder. Bitter emotions stinging the back of his throat and just faintly smothering his lungs. He was used to the judgement, so shouldered that burden with relative ease. But the outright fear was new, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to acknowledge it. What had they heard about him to make them so afraid of him? And how much of what they’d heard was actually true? He knew he had a reputation for being pretty violent in a fight, but he didn’t really remember those. He hadn’t thought he was that scary. But maybe his point of view was skewed by the fact he was close to a lot of other people who were much more scary. Like Kurt, who was a literal assassin.

Tails must have picked up on his unease, because halfway to the machine shop he was sliding his hand into Manic’s palm and gripping him tight. “It’s okay. We’re just skittish. They didn’t really like me much either when I first got here,” he spoke quietly, trying his best to reassure Manic even though Manic could easily tell that the treatment was bothering him too. Tails was used to being bullied. And while the distaste wasn’t directed specifically at him, he was still within the path of the gazes.

Manic couldn’t bring himself to talk, but gave Tails’ hand a squeeze and tried to flash him his best reassuring smile. At least focusing on him made the trip a little easier. Focusing always made it easier to let other people's feelings slide off his back, easier to shut them out if something was already filling that slot. 

The shop wasn’t too far off the beaten path, Tails shoving the hanging door of the tent out of his way and letting Manic walk inside. “Rotor! We’re here!” he called as Manic ducked in with his in progress extreme gear under one arm. 

Somewhere deeper in the walrus called a greeting back. Manic couldn’t help but reach out mentally, just in case he needed to brace himself but–

Rotor wasn’t scared. He moved around at a relaxed pace, setting things aside so he could go meet his visitors, but he wasn’t scared. Not even when he came into view– he just smiled at Manic and started asking questions about the board he and Tails were working on. 

It took some time, but Manic found the tension in his body unwinding as he worked on his board alongside Tails, who was bouncing between that and what looked like various new ideas for weapons he was making with Rotor. The walrus was easy going as he asked Manic questions about the project. Chuckling and providing the proper names for various parts when Manic called them less than technical terms. It made it easy for Rotor to pick up on the fact Manic was self taught through experimentation, but he didn’t seem to hold it against him in the slightest. It coaxed Manic into trying to fully relax despite being within camp. And when Bunnie and Cream drifted through to see them, bringing along a coyote named Antoine who seemed a bit cautious at first, Manic did his best to be friendly. 

To his surprise, it worked, too. Antoine’s suspicion eased and he settled in. So maybe Tails was right. He just needed to show them that he wasn’t going to make trouble– in that way it wasn’t that different from the market where he’d grown up. He could figure out the new part he needed to play here. He could adjust. He’d won over the Court of Thieves, he could win over the Freedom Fighters. 

Framed like that, it suddenly seemed a lot less daunting and impossible. Manic flashed Antoine a genuine grin when he was asked about how he was liking it there. “It’s good,” he said. “It’s good to be here.”

-x-

“You know, for the fastest thing alive you sure took your time,” Sally couldn’t help giving a pointed jab at Sonic when he finally entered her office. He was alone, which Sally was surprised to see, and shrugged his winter coat off to toss over the back of the chair he then plopped himself down in.

“I was busy,” Sonic huffed back, though had to grin at the unusual situation of their roles being reversed. Normally he was the one teasing her about being slow, and she was telling him she was busy.

“For three months?” Sally raised a brow incredulously.

“Two and a half, but who’s counting?” Sonic grinned, leaning over the table and finding something to fidget with, like he usually did. He hated these meetings. Long, tedious and boring. It was hard for him to sit still.

“Well at least you were still able to keep on top of your other tasks,” Sally relented, taking the pen Sonic had from him and handing him a fidget toy instead. She liked that pen, and would rather he not break it by biting the end. “Care to tell me what actually happened now? Robotnik is a madman, but we all know he’s way too calculated to just up and take out the head of the Black Market without good reason. Things were reasonably stable underground until now, but he’s created a power vacuum and I don’t understand why… I’d understand grabbing the Courier after considering she was helping people escape. But that was only after the fall out.”

“The Courier got roboticized too?” Sonic asked, feeling his heart skip a beat. Was that one of the ones Manic was close too? Or just coworkers? He said that all the members of the Court took care of him. How long should Sonic wait to tell him? He didn’t want to hurt him, and send him right back into the depressed pit he’d been in.

“And a few others. It’s a huge mess down there. As far as our intel can figure out,” Sally confirmed. “It seems Roulette is taking control again. And most of the original members of the Court are either going into hiding, getting recruited by Roulette, or getting snatched up by Robotnik. It’s made quite the mess, so I would love to know what started this all. As far as I can tell, that weird … mass depression episode was after Ferrell was caught, so I can’t see that being the cause. And none of the Market members seem to know what happened otherwise. Either that or they don’t want to fess up, if they’re even willing to talk to us anymore.”

Sonic grimaced hard when Sally mentioned the strange empathetic outburst from Manic that had ended up affecting several city blocks. No one but he, Amy and Margo seemed to know that it was because of Manic, but he wasn’t about to tell Sally that. That would require him to tell her about Manic’s ability, and that wasn’t something he was willing to say. That, and Manic’s actual relation to Ferrell were something Sonic had decided only Manic was able to reveal.

But he did need to give Sally something so that she would stop fretting over unnecessary things, and he sighed heavily while sinking his head into his hands for a moment. How should he put this in a way that gave her enough information, and kept the personal parts secret? He’d thought about it a lot, but still wasn’t sure what the best answer was. “...It’s my fault,” he started, deciding that above all he wanted to plant in Sally’s mind that he was the one to take out her anger on if there was any.

Sally’s brows rose considerably at the admittal, but Sonic continued before she could speak. “Ferrel gave me a tip for an Emerald.”

Sally’s jaw dropped, her form rising in excitement that Sonic had to dash quickly before it got out of hand.

“We don’t actually have it anymore. And he only gave us the coordinates. Apparently I’d done enough favors for him that he had Manic bring me an envelope with the location of one of the Emeralds on it. Manic helped us get the Emerald, and we left it with him so-... to try and keep it off Robotnik’s radar.” He decided against telling Sally about their plan to have Manic deliver the Emerald to her as a surprise. She was already apparently having an emotional roller coaster as it was from what he was telling her.

“Waitwiatwait- You’re telling me that you actually got one of the Chaos Emeralds? You had it in your hands? Ferrell- We were right, and he knew where they were? Where is it now?” Sally rushed, apparently forgetting that Sonic already said they didn't have it anymore.

“Somewhere in the north ocean,” Sonic admitted bluntly.

“What?!”

“It went haywire, Sal!” Sonic protested. “What was I supposed to do? It’s what caused that angst blackout, and I didn’t know how to stop it, so I threw it out as far as I could. We can go get it later, but I think we need to research containment methods for them. They’re not as harmless as we originally thought.”

Sally froze as Sonic’s words sank into her head. Throwing a wrench in all of their plans, just enough to tilt them into an uncomfortable state. They couldn’t give up on the Chaos Emeralds completely, but there hadn’t been anything about them being unstable.

“...What? I thought they were from Chaos himself. How are they unstable?”

“I dunno, but they sure don’t feel right,” Sonic reinforced. The memory of being near the thing gave him horribly unsettling feelings all over. “I wasn’t around it too long, but it just… felt wrong,” he admitted, the tone of his voice and demeanor letting Sally know he wasn’t being facetious about this. “I know they’re our best chance to fight Robotnik. I just think we need to be careful with using them.”

He had good points. If the Emerald was what caused such a drastic effect on such a large scale then they definitely needed to do more research on them before they fully utilized them. If they could get more. 

“Did Tails get any additional data on them?” Sally asked, hopeful. If the Emerald was in Tails’ presence even just a brief amount of time she knew he would have learned at least something more about them than they already knew. It was strange he hadn’t said anything yet, but maybe he’d just been waiting for Sonic’s go ahead before giving them the data.

“I think so, but I dunno what,” Sonic admitted, having actually not wanted to even think about the weird thing at all for now. “I’ll see if-”

The door to the office slammed open as one of the resistance members locked eyes with Sally, frantic and having obviously been looking for her. “Commander! There’s a fight happening– the Jester guy’s gone ballistic! ”

Sally was on her feet just after Sonic lept to his.

“Where?!”

Sonic’s nearly shouted demand caught the soldier off guard, and he recoiled slightly while blinking at Sonic in surprise. Glancing at Sally to see her waiting for the answer as well before he responded. “The sparring tent-”

Sonic was sprinting out the door the moment he had a location, leaving his coat behind and barely managing to not use super speed. It didn’t matter right then that the soldier had told them Manic was the one that had started the fight, Sonic knew that it was someone else. He also knew he needed to stop it as soon as possible. And maybe break some bones for even thinking about picking a fight with his little brother.