Chapter Text
He hated it.
He absolutely hated it.
Why did they have to crash here out of all places?
Tails stood on the sandy beach, drawing lines in the sand with the tip of his shoe. Predictably, the scent of the sappy birch trees he'd once grown to know hit his nose. He gazed miserably at the forest that stood before him.‘ Yep, this is home’ , he thought to himself. His view moved slightly to the right, revealing a worn out sign lined with cedar, reading: ‘ Welcome to Westside Island!’
Westside Island. His birthplace, the worst place he and Sonic could have possibly ever landed. The Tornado had run out of fuel while flying out of the newly destroyed Eggman base, so they had to land on the nearest island. Unfortunately, Westside was the island that met that quota. Tails had sworn they had enough fuel to go past this island, but luck has usually never worked in his favor.
Tails started quivering, letting his thoughts intrude his mind, ‘ Why here, why now? No, we can’t be here. I'm not allowed to be here. This is all my fault. What if we die out here? We need to hide, now. I- ’
“Hey, Tails? You okay, bro?”
Tails flinched, but turned his gaze to meet his brother. He had let them down, again! He crashed into the island they both had promised to never return to. Sonic had a concerned expression on their face, he almost looked like he was going to panic with Tails at this point.
“N-no, Sonic.. I…. uh.. Yeah. Fine”, Tails frantically answered.
Sonic raised an eyebrow, and sighed. They could clearly see Tails was lying.
“I know you hate this island as much as I do… but, if we want more fuel for the Tornado… we…” Sonic stopped, knowing all too well what he was saying was going to make Tails scared.
“We have to go into the v-village, don't we?”
Tails was still shaking, his tails swishing back in fourth out of anguish. He hated so much that he was so afraid. It was just a stupid village, so why was he so afrai-
‘ No. don’t think anymore about it. Let's get this one and done. ’, Tails thought to himself.
Sonic turned their gaze to the old Westside Island sign and nodded, “Yea, I hate it just as much as you do, but… it's our only option. I promise I will be right by ya the whole time.”
“The whole time?” Tails asked, unsure, even though he shouldn't be this worried, this was Sonic after all.
“The whole time.”
Tails took a deep breath of relief, and carefully started walking back to the Tornado. Sonic watching him, concerned. He needed to find something…something that he hadn’t used in years. His eyes immediately went to the glove compartment of the Tornado.
Climbing up into the plane’s seat, he reached into said compartment, and grabbed what looked to be a red bandana. Tails stared at the piece of fabric, its red and black plaid worn out from lack of usage. He unfurled the fabric, and moved his tails to face full front. ‘ Hello, ol’ reliable ’, he sadly jested to himself. He started to tie the fabric around his tails, making sure it was tight enough to make them look like one. Tails jumped down from the plane, letting the sand particles hit his shoes again.
Sonic gazed at Tails’ now tied-up tails with a frown. It wasn’t an angry frown, so to speak, but it was more of a concerned one. Tails knew Sonic was always very encouraging when Tails was afraid to show his extra tail when he was a toddler, but deep down, the both of them knew that the people inside that forest would not be too fond of him showing the extra appendage to the world.
“We’ll take this one careful step at a time, okay lil’ bro? I know you’re scared, and I want to do everything in my power to make sure you feel safe. Remember the breathing exercises I taught you when you were little? Just try your best to take in deep breaths when you feel the panic start to hit, alright?”, Sonic explained. They weren’t joking, like they usually would. It was weird, but it was not unwelcomed.
"Y-yea, thank you”, Tails whispered.
Sonic slowly reached his hand out to the fox kit, said fox quickly grabbing the hand back, almost if it was an innate behavior. Sonic gripped the kit's hand a bit tighter and started slowly walking. Tails would have never associated Sonic with slow walking, but yet here they were, keeping a slow pace, just for him. Tails felt so guilty for being like this, but thankful someone so caring and gentle had come into his life. Tails followed Sonic into the forest.
He was going to be an anxious mess, wasn't he?
There they were, his home village.
The place that caused him so much suffering, so much pain.
And it was all right in front of him.
The village looked the exact same as it was when he left. The houses were still made with wood from the nearby forest’s trees. The community still had stores still loud and bustling with customers. The—
Well, everything seemed the same.
Tails was frowning even more at that discovery. With that in mind, it's quite obvious the people most likely haven’t changed either.
‘Nonono, don’t think of the people, think of the task at hand’, Tails had thought to himself, his hand’s grip extremely tight on Sonic’s. However, his mind thought otherwise, and Tails started to gaze at the villagers, their gazes all meeting him. Oh great, they recognized him. The thought made Tails shiver deep within his bones.
His large ears could easily pick up what the villagers were saying, and they weren't very nice…
“Is that the mutated fox kit that left our village a few years ago?”
“Sweet Gaia below, it's the Prower’s freakish child.”
“Mama, is it true that it has two tails?”
“The Gods must be angry, the bad omen is back.”
“Why is Sonic with that monster? Does he know what he's holding onto?”
‘No.. no… don't focus on.. Must.. get to the repair shop.. No, don’t… please… Stop’, Tails’ mind quickly went on auto-pilot and started to shake like a leaf, his binded tails coming up to his back in a failed attempt to keep them hidden from people's sight. Tears were starting to fall down his now widened eyes. His breath was even starting to get short.
Oh, right, his breath. He needs to breathe. Right. Breathe.
He could hear Sonic murmuring desperately for Tails to breathe, so with all his might, he tried.
‘Okay… in’, Tails breathed deeply in, still shaking. ‘....And… out….’ , he exhaled. It was sort of working, but he was still so afraid, so ashamed. He looked down at the ground. He could sort of hear Sonic making growling sorts of noises at the villagers who even dared to look at them, but Tails could still hear the jeers, the scolding, the hate, the-
‘Ow!’
He had hit something while walking.
Immediately, he started to back up, head pounding in pain from the impact. Sonic quickly turned around to see what had hit Tails, only for their eyes to widen. Tails immediately mimicked Sonic's gaze after realizing what he'd hit,
“Miles. What are you doing here? Do you realize you are causing a disturbance?”
A large figure towered over them. Their pink silk dress, frilled with pale rose colored lace immediately catching Tails’ eyes. He gazed up further to meet the person's blue slitted eyes.
“Get out of my way, freak.” The figure snarled.
Their brownish-gray and white pelt with orange stripes near their cheeks surrounding those icy blue eyes. This was not just a random passerby, Tails knew, this was…
“Oh.. I- Mom….I-”
“Miles. GET. OUT. OF. MY. WAY!”,
Tails’ ‘Mom’ had screamed loudly in Tails’ extremely sensitive ears. It was already bad enough that his ‘Mom’ was using his old name, but it was made worse when his senses got taken over by the woman's yell.
Tails squeaked in agony as all the loud sounds hit his ears.
The whispers… the yell… the ringing of the doorbells… the children laughing… his own mental thoughts…It all hurt so bad. Tears came out of Tails’ eyes, and he started sobbing.
Sonic immediately recognized the signs of sensory overload. Sonic gave Tails’ Mom, or… ‘Rosemary’, as she called herself, a hateful stare, and mustered up all the energy he could give,
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"
Sonic felt like they had never yelled so loud before. Quickly, he picked up the hyperventilating, heavily sobbing kit, and sped off to locate a calm place.
Behind a building, perfect.
They would be back for Rosemary later, but for now, it was time to focus on his now disturbed little brother.
“Tails.. Shh.. you’re okay. No, no you're alright, I'm right here.. Shhh”, Sonic whispered. They were anxious, Sonic hated seeing their brother in so much pain, it just made their heart shatter. Sonic placed Tails on the ground near the building's back wall, allowing Tails to have some breathing room. Almost instantly, they reached out their hand into their quills, and grabbed their noise-canceling headphones.
‘Should've given these to him earlier, some kind of brother you are,’ Sonic thought.
He placed the headphones onto Tails’s now folded down ears as gently as possible, and gave him some space of his own to recuperate. Thoughts about his little brother's response to the yell reminded them of Tails when he was just a toddler.
Sonic wished Tails didn't have such horrid memories of past experiences. He wished he could take all of the traumatic moments in his life, and erase them out.
They remembered a time when someone could even mention Tails' extra appendage, he would start to panic, kind of like what he did when he bumped into his 'Mom'…
Boy, did he remember that. Four years ago, they didn't even know he had two tails at the time…
"Hey Miles, is it alright if I patch up a wound on your tail?"
The only response he got was a high pitched squeak from the kit laying next to him. His pupils started to shake.
There they both were, laying on the forest floor. Gaia knows how long they'd been laying there…
Miles had encountered some mean jerks who teased him so harshly, they physically hurt him. The bullies stepped really hard on Miles' 'tail' while Sonic was out for a jog. Miles insisted it was normal for this to happen, and Sonic shouldn't worry. Sonic knew this shouldn't be 'normal'.
Sonic was ashamed they didn't see any of this coming.
"...Miles, it looks like it hurts. You can fix it up yourself, if ya want."
There was complete silence for a few minutes. It was broken by the kit, eventually.
"...Do you promise not to… tell anyone?"
"Huh? 'Bout what?"
The kits already floppy ears folded even more, and he started to tug on them. Huh. Must be a coping mechanism.
"...About… what I'm gonna show you…", Miles whispered, still tugging nervously at his floppy ears.
Sonic was confused, what was he going to show them? It must relate to his tail, did he have something stored in his tail tie thing? or something else? Whatever it was, it was probably a sensitive topic to the toddler.
"'Course, buddy. I won't say a word."
The kit was shivering at this point, but reached for the red tie that tied his 'tail' up, and loosened it. Once unraveled, Sonic looked in awe at what they saw waving back and forth beside the toddler.
"Whoa…"
This kit didn't have a tail, he had tails. Plural. Two of them. He had an extremely rare case of polymelia.
'Polymelia, a rare birth defect where the individual is born with more than the correct amount of limbs,' Sonic thought to themself, mouth agape.
Sonic was a bookworm, and got a chance to read a book about genetics. Never in their life would they think it would come to use.
"Amazing, big guy! Absolutely amazing…" Sonic added, still gazing at the two masses moving separately.
"...A-amazing? Wh-? But, its… not… normal… it's scary. I'm a m-monster…"
"A monster? Kiddo, a monster, is someone who harms others, and doesn't care if they do. You are nothing close to that."
"B-but Mama told me I'm a monster! Mama's are always right!"
Mama? Whoever Miles' 'mama' was, needed to learn how to love their child properly. Because, all Sonic saw was a starved kid who was afraid of the way he looked, not a 'monster'. It started to make Sonic's blood boil.
"Your Mom is wrong, so wrong. She is so horrible for thinking that. There's nothing wrong with you, or your tails, Miles."
He heard Miles heavily gasp at the word 'tails', and the kit started crying.
"I hate my t-tails… they're bad… real bad… I don't wan' them anymore… they do really scary things…'nd make everyone angry, and I don' like when people are angry..."
Sonic didn't know what to say. They were just at a loss for words.
This poor kit was shoved away, all because of a genetic mutation. Sure, mutations as extreme as Miles' polymelia weren't quite as common as things like albinism or heterochromia, but that didn't mean he deserved all of the hate thrown at him…
This was the moment Sonic knew they wanted to help and protect the kit in any way possible.
"I'm sorry, big guy…"
Sonic slowly crawled through the dirt and sat close to the tree Miles was leaning on. Sonic made a gesture for Tails to come over with their hands. The kit automatically responded, clinging to Sonic's chest and started to sob.
Sonic didn't mind.
The kit even allowing himself to even touch Sonic was a major showing of how much the kit trusted them. The kit used to not even want to be touched at all, now here he was, sobbing on Sonic's chest.
"Why do I have two tails, Sonic?" he heard Miles sob.
Sonic sighed.
"... I dunno, kiddo, but just know I think there's nothing wrong with 'em."
To think that Tails was so horrified of himself for having something like an extra tail, upset Sonic. The recovery for Tails was slow, but they were so proud with how far he had come. As of now, Tails doesn't get that upset anymore when someone mentions the extra appendage, in fact he loves showing them off when he can. It was an improvement, for sure.
Sonic, realizing they were lost in thought, blinked twice and turned to see Tails not sobbing as hard as before. Good.
It took about a half an hour for Tails to calm down to small sniffles, and Sonic slowly moved over to Tails. Tails looked at Sonic, eyes still widened in fear. Sonic brought up his hands and started to sign, hoping Tails would sign back.
‘Are you okay, big guy?’
There was an awkward silence amongst the brothers, but thankfully, Tails broke it by signing back.
‘I think… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did, this is my fault.’
Sonic immediately gave Tails a look of confusion,
‘In what way was this your fault? None of this was your fault, that reaction to sound just comes with the package of having long ears!'
Tails quietly laughed, ears flopping back up.
Being a long eared hedgehog themself, Sonic understood Tails' reaction. He remembered Tails mentioning his father was a fennec fox when he was younger, a ‘ furnec ’ fox, as the kit used to mispronounce it. That meant his ears were unfortunately going to pick up basically every sound ever in that small village.
While both brother’s ears definitely were useful for finding secret underground bases or hearing things come their way, this situation was not a convenient time to have that ability, at all.
“Are you good to talk to now?” Sonic spoke quietly, just in case loud noises were still a trigger.
A nod. So, it was okay to talk a bit louder. A little smile came to Sonic's face. His little brother was okay. Good.
“So uh, Tails, about Mrs. Birthgiver, I’m sorry you had to encounter her today," Sonic grumbled.
Tails chuckled, “Mrs. Birthgiver, that’s a new one.”, his eyes gazing at the village from behind the building, “S’all right, really… I can't believe I did something so embarrassing like that…” Tails stopped to think for a moment, then continued, “...I just want to prove to my Mom that—that I am more than just a curse, this was a bad start for that, and… well… I-”
"You aren’t a curse, Tails. Ya just happened to pull a never seen before card in the genetic lottery basically, s’not a bad thing. I mean, sometimes it is, but for you, ya hit the jackpot.” Sonic interrupted the kit, knowing if they didn't, Tails was going to spiral into thoughts of doubt. The kit still had some major self-esteem issues, but Sonic always tried to make the kit feel better about himself no matter what.
Tails sighed, “I guess, but it doesn’t help when my ‘birth giver’ doesn’t listen…”
“I know, but you still want to attempt to patch things up, yea?”
A sad nod from Tails.
“Then, let's try."
"A-are you sure?"
"Positoovely!"
"Positoovely, that's a new one, Sonic. You are on a roll today!"
Sonic and Tails chuckled, the kit putting a hand on the noise canceling headphones to push them up.
"Ya want those headphones off your ears, little bro?” Sonic gestured to said headpiece.
Tails took off the headphones, and handed them back to Sonic.
"I think I’m okay now… thanks for your help, again…” He stated as he watched Sonic put the headphones back into their quills.
“Alright, no prob… Do ya remember where your birth-giver's house is? I'd like to have a… normal chat with her.” Sonic stated with a hint of anger.
A nod came from Tails, “Mhm, it's the house right next to the mayor's, I think? Its probably still there because she's the Editor-In-Chief of Westside's newspaper. The mayor likes good press about their island.”
“Ugh, of course she is,” Sonic sighed.
A laugh came from Tails.
“Anyways, ya ready? I'll be carrying you so we can get there more conveniently, if that's alright. ”
Sonic knew Tails loved getting piggyback rides. Just because he was a child-genius did not mean he emotionally was one.
“Yea! Also, don't forget we need to get more fuel for the Tornado once we are done committing chaos around here.”
“You betcha!” Sonic winked to Tails.
Sonic picked up his little brother, and carried him piggyback style, and just as they thought, Tails giggled happily. Sonic couldn’t help but grin at his little brother's laughs, Tails was happy, so Sonic was happy, especially since they were on the island they both hated so much. Sonic sped off, and prayed for the best.
Here it was.
The Prower household.
The wooden cabin was the same, right next to the mayor’s office house, and pretty small for Westside Island house standards. Its birch tree-based structure somewhat starting to be covered with moss
‘Well, this is it’. Tails thought to himself, as he gazed at the wooden door.
For some reason, even just looking at that house made memories flood fast to the kit's mind. This house was… an experience, to say the least…
“MILES PROWER!” Rosemary yelled, her voice was stern and cold.
She cornered Miles in the empty living room corner, her teeth bared out, making Miles all the more scared.
“M-mama! Please! I cn’ explain! J-jus let me-” Miles whimpered.
"NO!"
Rosemary stared at him with pure rage.
He had been caught sneaking out of the house during the busy hours of the day, again. He just wanted some scrap metal to make a new machine, but his Mother was not having it…
“Do you really think meandering around that junkyard looking for all that trash is going to get you somewhere? DO YOU?”
“W-well.. I-”
“MILES. YOU KNOW THE RULES," Rosemary interrupted, “You are stuck in this house for a reason. I do NOT want this island to see any flaws that we have. You have too many flaws to count, and nobody wants to know or see them. If you showed your… extra limb… to this island, you would ruin this family's reputation! YOU ARE A MONSTER. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
Miles was too scared to talk, he tugged on his floppy ears as an attempt to block out the loud yell. He let his mother continue.
“You know Miles, you could have been this island's most honorable citizen it has ever gazed upon… You could have been my talented, young boy… but… every single time I look at you, that extra limb you have, it only makes me imagine what you could have been… Imagine the things you could have done if you just… If you were a normal kit, Miles! Your father wouldn’t be dead if you weren't like this. I wouldn’t be constantly hiding you away from the world, but here I am. You should be ashamed of yourself for what you've done! Why have the Gods cursed me with a freak of a child?”
“M’sorry, Mama, I promise I won’t build stuff anymore if that makes y' feel better.”
Why Miles liked to build things, he never knew. His parents never knew or taught him how to build stuff like he did, so he knew something was wrong with him.
And his extra tail, he hated having it. It was the cause of all of his problems, his Mama's problems. It brought bad things to the village. Or at least, that's what his Mama told him. He wished the extra limb just poofed out of existence, never to be seen again. That would make Mama happy, right?
Rosemary growled at her son, making Miles squeak in fear after being lost in thought, his body backing up even closer to the wall.
“I want you to return those pieces of junk, and NEVER come back here.”
“...Huh?”
“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
Rosemary walked up to the shaking kit and grabbed him by the scruff. Miles squealed in shock as he tried to move his limbs, but they wouldn't budge. She then opened the entrance door to the house with pure rage, and tossed him out onto the sidewalk. Miles let out squeaks of pain after the impact. He looked up to see Rosemary’s eyes turned into slits, and she slammed and locked the door shut.
Miles had never cried so hard in his short life that day.
Tears started to form in Tails’ eyes, remembering he had to live in the woods for a year after that incident.
Thankfully, Sonic's check-up got him out of his thoughts of the terrible memory. Sonic tapped on Tails' shoulder and started to sign,
'Tails, you good? I can knock if you want…'
Sonic patted Tails on the back, giving a reassuring smile. Right, they were knocking on a door.
“M’fine… t-thanks, and yea. Knock, please.” Tails nervously shifted in place, fidgeting with his fingers.
'Okay, but first….' Sonic stopped signing and reached for their quills and pulled out a package of sliced cheese.
Oh, of course he does.
Sonic grabbed a slice from the pack, and slapped it on the door. It strangely stuck there, not even sliding off. How cheese was so adhesive, Tails had no idea. Tails rolled his eyes at Sonic. Sonic looked at their brother, confused.
“What? Gotta make this fun for ourselves somehow," Sonic stated in defense.
Sonic and Tails stared at each other for a few seconds before it was broken with Sonic turning around and knocking on the door with two simple pounds.
Knock knock.
They waited a few seconds, Sonic's foot tapping in light annoyance. However, they eventually heard the door creak open ever so slightly.
“...Yello?”, a small, squeaky voice asked.
Wait.
That’s not Rosemary.
“Hello, uh, yea, is this the… Prower household?” Sonic awkwardly asked. The door opened a little more, a sky blue eye peering at the guests knocking at the door.
'If anyone asks, we are looking to be paid babysitters. We have demon spawns on our hands', Sonic signed.
Almost immediately, the door opened quickly, and the squeaky voice shouted in shock,
“SONIC THE HEDGEHOG? AT OUR DOOR!? MELODY, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG IS AT OUR DOOR!”
Sonic kept signing to Tails, their eyes widened,
'If I could say every swear word in the history of ever. I would be saying them right now.'
Tails snorted.
Eventually, Sonic and Tails got to see a better view of where the voice was coming from. It was a fox kit, taller than Tails. Their cream and white colored pelt with some darker cream splotches, wearing gloves and sandals. They seemed to be focused on Sonic with their blue eyes, and Tails couldn’t be more thankful they paid no mind to him.
Soon enough, another fox kit came running up to the door, also extremely surprised. This kit, or ‘Melody’, had a red dress. Their brown, orange, and white fur stood out to Tails the most. That color scheme was almost similar to his birth-giver. While those two kits were gawking over Sonic talking to them, Tails couldn’t help but think,
‘Are these kits… Rosemary’s?’
There was a very high percent chance that, yes, they were. But who could possibly be their other parental figure? Besides that, how old were the kits? They looked to be about 5-ish? For red fox standards that is, both kits were taller than him, but Tails was the shortest, even though he was the older one. He didn’t ponder the thought much longer as he heard the voice he specifically was looking for,
“Girls, calm down, go to your room please. You can talk to Mr. Sonic later, okay?”, the voice chided.
Ah, there’s Rosemary’s voice.
“Yes mama,” the girls said in unison.
“Alright, my dearies.”
Rosemary came into view for the brothers. She walked up and gave both kits a kiss on the forehead as they both walked to their room.
From Tails peripheral vision, he could see Sonic signing to themself,
'Of course, they're spoiled brats too.'
Tails, on the other hand, was flabbergasted. That was not the ‘motherly’ figure he once knew. Rosemary was harsh, strict, and loud. Not once did she ever give Tails that type of affection. EVER.
“Hello, Mr. Hedgehog, and…”, she looked at Tails coldly, Tails could feel himself start to panic.
He knew it would happen, eventually, just not this soon.
‘Okay… just deep breaths, inhale… and exhale…’, Tails mentally told himself as he monitored his breathing. He clasped and unclaimed his hands as an attempt to keep himself distracted. It was working, for now.
“...Uh… Sorry for the bad start we had earlier today, Mr. Hedgehog. Anyways, what brings you to the Prower residence? I appreciate the visit.”
Whew, completely ignored. That was a close one.
Rosemary invited Sonic in the house, Tails making sure to follow behind their back so Rosemary would barely notice.
“Yes, uhm… hello, Mrs. Prower. I came here to talk to you one-on-one if that's alright. I brought my little brother Tails here to maybe er, uh…. Babysit? Yea. Babysit your kits while I talk with you about some grown-up things,” Sonic responded, improvising a statement as they went along.
Tails loved younger kids, but Tails was not so sure about those BABYSITTING those two…
…Well, if this was the way to gain Rosemary's approval, and patch things up between them, Tails would do it.
"Yes ma'am. That's right.", Tails shakily responded. Sonic took a quick glance back at Tails and nervously gave him a thumbs up.
“...Did you just call… I’m sorry… little brother?” Now it was Rosemary’s turn to be shocked. She probably never thought in her life she’d hear those words come out of anyone's mouth about Tails, let alone from the world-famous hero Sonic the Hedgehog.
“Yes, he's my brother,” Sonic stated sharply, rolling their eyes.
“I, well.. Come on in… and.. that fox can uh… babysit my kits… I guess. Will it hurt them?” Rosemary started to sweat nervously, her fur standing on end when staring at her first-born. Tails could tell she was faking a smile.
“No, ma’am, he's very gentle, loves playing with kids.” Sonic was just getting grumpy at this point, and nudged Tails in the direction of what looked to be a child's room. Sonic signed to Tails quickly, hoping Rosemary wouldn't bat an eye,
‘Don't worry, she's going to get destroyed, not physically, but definitely mentally.’
Tails nervously nodded with a smile, and headed into the room, albeit fearfully.
Sonic knew what they were doing, so Tails followed along. Tails stuck his chin up, and tried to be as valiant as he could be.
“So, your name is Miles per hour?”
Tails was, to make a long story short, not having a good time. The kits kept prying him about what he was hiding in his tail bind, or why he was named after a speed limit sign.
“No, Skye, it's ‘Miles Prower ’. Again, I share the same last name as you,” he told the cream colored kit.
Tails really was still in shock that he had biological half-siblings. He didn't even know Rosemary married someone else, or who the father of the two kits were. Whoever they are, they must be really busy.
'It's all my fault. Rosemary and Dad would've been happy together if I was never born…'
“No way! That's so weird! Is it true y’got two tails? Is the curse real? Oh! Mom constantly calls you a freak, what does ‘freak’ mean?”
Freak.
That was a trigger word for Tails, but he wanted to stay strong for these kits, he was technically their older half brother after all. So, after a tremble and a deep breath, he tried to respond as calmly and informatively as possible.
“Okay… one question at a time next time. You threw a lot out at me once. But first, ‘freak’...”
He shuddered at even saying the word.
“...i-is a negative term used for someone who is physically deformed, so yes, I am one, I guess. Secondly, yes. I do have two tails. And three, no, there is no curse. I am not cursed because of who I am. Your mother sometimes is going to tell you things that aren’t true, and you are going to have to interpret things for yourself, okay? Questionnaire done.”
Tails tried his best to not be angry at these kits, they were just learning off of what their parents told them, so of course they wouldn’t know.
“Can we PLEASE see your tails? We want to see the muttaton… murashun…”, The orange and brown kit tried to pronounce.
“It's ‘mutation’, Melody, and yea, why not, I’ve got nothing to lose.” Tails’ talking slowly turned into a nervous whisper.
He started untying the red piece of cloth off of his tails, and let them sway back and forth in their full glory to the kits for a few seconds, and immediately tied them back up. The kits were shocked, and almost scared.
"That's so FREAKY!! C'mon, show us again!", Skye had squealed excitedly.
Melody, on the other hand, noticed something strange about the base of his tails.
Oh no. Please don't mention the-
"Hey, why's there a big scar on one of your tails?"
There it was.
Tails flinched and started to shake. He did not want that memory to resurface ever again. He could feel his eyes starting to get watery, and put his hands on his head.
"Hey, Two Tails! What's a freak like you doing in the junkyard?"
Miles squeaked and quickly stopped scavenging around for materials in the piles of old machines. He turned around to locate the voice, only for that action to backfire.
He was slammed to the ground, and felt extreme pain surging through one of his tails. It felt like it was being flattened. He let out a screech of agony. He could sense that his two tails were moving separately, the free tail twitching in agitation.
His tail bind was gone.
Oh no.
The figure let out a gasp of shock at the sight of the extra appendage trying to swat them away.
"So, the rumors are true! You really do have two tails, don't ya, you monster?"
Miles tried to be brave, but the pain was just way too much to handle.
"I can' help it! I didn' choose t'-"
The person, who Miles identified as a type of monkey, stepped harder on the tail. Their hand clutching Miles' now taken away tail bind. Miles let out a loud cry as he felt the now stepped on tail get crushed.
"You can't help it? Oh, poor freak… maybe we could… fix it for you?"
…fix it?
"...F-fix? W-who is…'we'?"
"Me and my friends, of course…"
Miles vaguely saw a bear-like figure holding a knife, clenching it as if they were about to stab someone.
This was not going to go well at all.
He tried to respond, but all he could get out was a loud squeak.
"NO! MAKE IT STOP!"
Skye and Melody stared at Tails in shock. Tails' eyes were widened to the size of dinner plates, his breathing was short, and he was shaking like there was a blizzard outside. What in the world was going on with him? Melody was just asking a simple question.
"Melody! We gotta get someone to help him. He needs-"
"No. I want to see this play out."
Melody stared at the hyperventilating fox with interest, she looked at Tails as if he was some sort of science experiment.
Skye stared at her sister as if it was all the normal for her to be like that. Skye rolled her eyes, and started to walk out of the nursery room door.
"You have fun with that, but… I'm going to go get help. He must be having some freak allergic reaction, or somethin'."
The conversation with Rosemary was… Interesting…
"So, about your fox friend.."
"Brother."
Sonic was almost instantaneous to correct Rosemary on that fact. He and Tails were brothers, and there's nothing she could do about that.
"Sure, but ehm… I hope you realize… that fox is not what it says it is."
"I know exactly who HE is. Tails is not an ‘it’. I know he's your child, I know he's a child prodigy, and I know he has two tails." Sonic stated bluntly.
Rosemary just stared at them blankly.
"Since… you know that… why do you keep it … ahem.. him … around?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why do you keep him around?"
Sonic could not even comprehend that statement. Sonic remembered seeing Tails as a toddler, extremely malnourished and traumatized. If that poor kit was even left out there for a few more months, Gaia knows where he'd be.
"Nobody was looking after him. He was a homeless toddler, so I took him under my wing. Because it seems no good parental figures were surrounding him," Sonic scoffed.
"He had a father once, y'know."
Sonic rolled their eyes.
"Amadeus Prower. Commander of Westside Island's army. Exiled for keeping Tails alive as an infant. Unfortunately passed away. Tails told me all about him."
Rosemary growled. Sonic quickly signed to themself to let their thoughts out.
'How in the world did Tails end up with someone so terrible? Rosemary doesn't deserve Tails. What she does deserve is to be punted like a kickball! I'm so close to my limit, I seriously can't take this anymore.'
"Why are you moving your hands like that?"
Oh great…
"Sign language."
"No wonder Mile-"
"Tails, " Sonic corrected.
"I will REFUSE to call him that."
"Why?"
"It brings too much attention to his deformity. If that was his name, everyone would know the Prower family had a freak of nature in their bloodline!"
"I thought you were a journalist, Mrs. Editor in Chief of 'Westside Post Dispatch'."
Sonic gave Rosemary the most smug grin they could possibly give. Rosemary was all the more confused.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Rosemary raised an eyebrow.
"Ohoh, WELL, it's not like your son saved Westside Island, helped save Angel Island from falling, defused a bomb in Station Square, helped stop a space station from crashing into our planet, teamed up with Light Gaia to stop Dark Gaia, saved a whole other alien species, navigated a timeless world to stop a time monster, RISKED HIS LIFE TO SAVE ME MULTIPLE TIMES, and fought in a war no child as young as him should be fighting!!! NO, Nothing like that Rosemary, not important news at all! The whole world knows about Tails, ma'am. No doubt."
Rosemary just couldn't help but stare at the now angered hedgehog. Her son? Save the world? But he was a mutated outcast!
"You're lying."
"Believe what you want, you bi-"
"Sonic!! Your freaky fox friend is having some sort of freak panic attack!"
Oh no. Not again.
He was panicking, for the second time today.
Everything was all so loud. His vision blurred. He had no perception of time, space, distance. None of it. He was freaking out over something so stupid! He should be over it by now. He shoul-
"TAILS! BREATHE!"
Breathe.
Just breathe.
Tails focused his blurry vision on a cobalt blue figure he often compared to something of comfort. His eyes started to focus again to see a blue hedgehog's emerald green eyes staring at him in complete panic and worry.
Sonic…
"Tails, c'mon, square breaths with me, 'kay? Breathe in…. Stop…. Breathe out… and stop… Keep going, c'mon..."
Tails could feel himself following and repeating the breathing signals, and automatically felt himself calm down a bit more. He looked around to see his surroundings.
He wasn't in that stupid nursery anymore.
Instead. He was sitting outside the house, on a comfortable patch of grass, the wind blowing through his fur…
Much better.
"Tails, are you okay little bro?"
Tails blinked, and gave Sonic a shaky thumbs up. Sonic sighed in relief. They moved their head in the direction of the two chattering kits to the right of them and Tails. Sonic signed,
'Thank Gaia! Tails, I'm so so sorry.. what did those brats do?'
'Just… mentioned something that brought back bad memories. They didn't know, so it's not their fault. I was the one who panicked. It's not your fault either, quit apologizing.'
Sonic helped Tails up from the grass patch. And stared at him directly.
'Still gave them no right to ask something that personal.'
'Yeah, yeah…'
"MILES PROWER!"
Uh oh.
Rosemary stared icily at Tails, her tail lashing back and forth. The marble fox’s tone harsh.
"M-mom I-"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? You have scared my babies half to death with your unholy screeches! You not only are causing a disturbance, but you SCARED MY KITS! HOW. DARE. YOU!"
"I-Im sorry Mom- I-I…."
Tails stopped. Why was he apologizing? He didn't do anything that bad, did he? He didn't think so.
Rosemary's kits didn't look all that scared. They looked quite the opposite of that, actually. They were both laughing together.
They aren't scared of this situation. They just think it's funny.
Tails sighed.
'You know what, I don't have time for this.'
"...How dare I? HOW DARE I? Well, Mom, remember all of those times I would apologize to you for things I thought I did wrong? Because I WAS SCARED HALF TO DEATH? Well, guess what!? I'm NOT sorry I'm a cursed and deformed child. I'm NOT sorry for leaving this island for as long as I did. I'm NOT sorry for going to the junkyard to find scrap metal. And I'm NOT sorry for LEAVING YOU!"
Rosemary and her kits tensed up as Tails took a second to breathe.
"I know who I am now, Mom. And there's nothing you can do to change me. You wanted me to be normal, and I'm not. I'm not hiding anymore."
"..."
"Didn't expect me to stick up for myself, did you?"
Rosemary's mouth was agape, her kits gave Tails a look of shock.
Sonic, on the other hand, gave Tails a 'woop woop!'.
"GET HER BUTT, TAILS!"
Rosemary growled and took both her kits hands.
"I hope you never return here, ever. Get off this island, stay away from us, YOU DEMON!"
Rosemary picked up both her kits and started angrily walking away as fast as she could on her pathetic, pink heels. Her two 'demon spawns', as Sonic had called them, in her arms.
Tails had never felt so relieved in his life. Yelling at the person who had scolded you for your mere existence felt so good. And he didn't even need to prove anything to Rosemary to make her see that her son was brave.
He never needed to prove his worth to his mom, his home island, his village, or anyone.
He was worth keeping around because he was here. He was alive. And nothing could stop him now, not even his stupid Mom.
No, Rosemary isn't Tails' Mom.
He had another family now. And it was with Sonic.
It will take lots of time to heal from the hurt Rosemary had inflicted on Tails, but this was a small victory for him. For now, he would savor it.
"Tails, ya hungry?"
Tails looked back at the blue hedgehog, who was smiling like a proud parent who just saw their kid graduate from school. Tails opened his mouth to reply.
".. I suppo-"
Sonic tossed a cheese slice on Tails' face. Tails made a squeak as he reached for the slice and held it in his gloved hands.
"What was that for?"
"Your victory meal!"
Both Sonic and Tails laughed, and walked off into the distance.
"Sonic, let's get that fuel, I think we should head off soon."
"I think so too… and Tails?"
"...Yea?"
"Those jerks might be your biological family… but just know that I'm your real family, okay?"
"Okay."