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Arsenal Pyramid was an insult.
There was no other explanation. There were far better places to build a weapons factory than the middle of an out-of-the-way wild zone. Green Hill was nice to look at, but it held no strategic advantage whatsoever.
However, it was one of Sonic's favourites, if not his absolute favourite place. He didn't quite know what made it so beautiful to him, but he loved to relax here.
Fortunately, not many people knew this. Unfortunately, one of them was Eggman.
So, Arsenal Pyramid had been built. Despite its position, the scale and advanced technology of the building had made its early establishment crucial to the war. Tails could imagine the man laughing as he ordered the trees cut down and flowers flattened.
"Green Hill..." he muttered. "I didn't know it was this bad." He looked up when Sonic patted his shoulder reassuringly. For a moment, his older brother's face was unreadable, staring strangely at the wasteland that used to be a lush paradise, before he snapped back to make eye contact, grinning at him.
"We'd better hurry up and fix it, hey?"
"Right." Tails glanced at Sonic's remaining injuries. He had healed fast, but... "Are you sure you're okay?"
"You mean with these?" Sonic looked down at the bandages scattered around his body, then waved dismissively. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm fine."
Tails nodded, still a little apprehensive. He remembered how Sonic had looked when he first came back – the cuts and bruises all over him, a mix of old and fresh, the stumble in his walk, the way he had subtly flinched when the fox had ran over to hug him, and shaken slightly as he cried, as if holding back tears himself.
But he had volunteered to go on this mission, saying that he had missed going out and fighting, and he owed Eggman some payback. Tails went with him, for fairly obvious reasons. There was an unspoken agreement between the brothers that they weren't going to let the other out of their sight for a while.
"C'mon. Let's go make our grand re-entrance, hey?"
He certainly sounded fine. Tails stood up fully, returning the confident smile. "Yeah!"
They vaulted over the hill together, running down to the first patrol of Egg Pawns. Sonic barrelled into the machines, tearing most of them apart before they had time to process him. Tails followed in the air behind him, picking off the robots he missed with a laser Wispon.
Sonic reached the edge of the defensive ditch around the pyramid, pausing for a moment to let Tails catch up. He grabbed his older brother's outstretched hand, and shot across the gap, tossing him into another group of robots and firing a few shots at the larger ones in one fluid motion before leaping into the fray.
It didn't take long to clear the area. The element of surprise was a large part of it, and the fact that the base had been built working under the assumption that Sonic was dead probably helped too. As Tails landed, he quickly scanned the area for any more robots that might be hiding, waiting for an ambush.
Sure enough, an armour-plated sniper was positioned atop a generator, charging up a powerful-looking laser shot. By the look of the gun, it could sear the flesh off the average Mobian, and probably disintegrate a smaller one.
"Tails!"
He saw a red dot appear over his heart.
Tails aimed his Wispon at the vulnerable spot on the robot's neck, and fired two shots. The first tore a gash in the armour, while the second sent the faceplate spinning off. He carefully lined up a third shot, that would fry the delicate internal computer.
But it went wide, streaking over the robot's head, as he was suddenly tackled, falling on his back. Tails yelled in surprise, struggling to get off another shot before the robot could fire. He managed to extract his gun arm from the thing restraining him with moments to spare, and quickly fired the killing shot, watching the robot spark and collapse.
Tails twisted his head, looking over at whatever was holding him down, and then he heard the muttering.
"I'm sorry Tails, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry -"
"S-Sonic?"
" I'm sorry, please don't, I'm SORRY - "
Tails yelped as his brother squeezed him tighter, fingers digging painfully into his pelt. "Sonic, that hurts!"
The panicked apologies cut off, as Sonic seemed to choke, shuddering like he'd been shocked. He slowly loosened his hold and looked at the fox carefully. Tails could see a mixture of fear and confusion in the hedgehog's eyes.
Finally, after an uncomfortable silence had fallen, Sonic let out a long, jagged breath. He sat up, gently pulling Tails with him, and began to very softly stroke his head as he slowly got control of his breathing.
"You okay, Tails?" he said quietly.
That sounded more like Sonic. Always concerned for others, always ignoring himself. Tails thought sometimes that he could lose an arm and still see his younger brother's papercut as more important.
"What happened, Sonic?"
"I don't really know, bud," he lied. It was clear from his tone, and haunted expression. "I haven't done this in a while. Guess I just... panicked."
Tails looked at his brother properly, remembering again the flinch and the shaking. He looked at that strange, blank look in his eyes, and tried to remember where he had seen it before.
"Sonic?"
"Yeah?"
"What..." he began, then stopped, carefully putting into words the question in his head. "What happened to you?"
Sonic froze again, and Tails recognised that look. He had seen it in mirrors. It was the look of someone using the last of their mental strength to desperately hold back memories.
"Can't get anything past you, huh?" he muttered, and hugged him a little tighter. "That's my little bro. Smartest kid on the planet." The compliment would have sounded bitter, but Sonic clearly didn't have the heart to make it anything but genuine.
"You don't have to tell me. I'm just -"
"I saw you die."
Tails stopped dead in his backtracking. It was said so quickly, almost casually. The speed reminded him of tearing off a plaster, or pulling a tooth. "What?"
"Back on the Death Egg. With those illusions. I saw you die." Sonic kept speaking quickly, as if trying to keep up momentum. "All of you. A lot. But you the most."
"Sonic..."
"I didn't want to see that again, so I panicked. Sorry. I'll try and be more trusting." He exhaled hard, like he had just finished a marathon. "That's everything."
Tails hugged him back. He didn't know what else to do.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Didn't want you guys to worry. You've got important things to worry about."
"Important – Sonic, you just had a panic attack! Why would you think it isn't important!"
"Look it's just... I can deal with this myself, alright?" Sonic let go, gently pushing Tails away. "C'mon, let's go."
He tried to get up, but Tails hugged him again. "No way," he said, muffled but with force. "You're still shaking. I'm not getting up until you feel better."
"Kiddo, we've gotta finish this."
Tails shook his head. "It can wait for a little while. My big brother's more important."
Sonic was visibly taken aback, but soon relaxed, laughing slightly and putting an arm around Tails. "Jeez, nothing stops you, huh?"
"No way. Not even you."
"Guess so." He sighed, taking a moment to enjoy the hug, before ruffling his kid brother's hair affectionately. "We do actually need to finish the mission, though."
"You feeling better?"
"Yeah, actually. Thanks. I guess I needed that." Sonic smiled at him. "And... I guess we can talk about this later. If you think it's that important."
"You promise that?"
"Sure."
"Then fine." Tails let go reluctantly, shooting Sonic an attempted serious face that ended up as a pout. "Don't go putting it off. As soon as we're back at the base, I'm your therapist."
Sonic laughed again, with real carefree delight this time. "Just another thing for you to be great at, huh?"
"... Piloting, aeronautical engineering, computer science, general mechanics, and making my big brother feel better. That's actually a pretty good resume for a nine-year-old, isn't it?"
"Sure is, bro." Sonic patted his head. The shaking was gone. "Sure is."