Chapter Text
Sonic couldn’t remember a time before Jules and Bernadette. They had kind of…always been. They protected him, cared for him, and loved him. He couldn’t imagine his life without them. Then they were gone. He couldn’t quite recall how it happened. He remembered fire, screaming, and his dad telling him to run as fast as he could to Uncle Chuck. After that, it was Uncle Chuck and the Knothole FF. He grew up with a squirrel named Sally, a jumpy Mobian named Antoine, and a turtle named Tommy. They were raised by Uncle Chuck, an older woman named Rosie, and sometimes another older woman came with an older man, but Uncle Chuck never introduced them. When he turned 5, he started doing small missions for the FF. Uncle Chuck protested him getting involved at so young an age, but Sonic had to do something: his parents were gone. Sally would cheer him on, learning how to fight and defend, and Tommy was learning computer stuff from Uncle Chuck. When he was 6, he learned why. They had been robotized. He begged Uncle Chuck to let him do more dangerous missions: he was fast enough to get away from any robots. He didn’t want anyone else to get caught. When he was 7, he managed to convince him. That’s when he learned about his past. Jules and Bernadette had adopted him in, and he had 2 twin siblings. He told Uncle Chuck, and he set out to find them. When he did, he learned Uncle Chuck had been captured and robotized. Not wanting to put anyone else at risk, he stayed with his siblings Manik and Sonia, learning about how the cities worked from Manik and Sonia showing them both how to act as proper people instead of street rats and fighters. He had been with them 3 years: meeting other groups of FF, breaking people out of prison, and generally being a nuisance to Robotnik. That’s when Manik went missing. He and Sonia looked all over the house, until Sonia shouted, “I found something!” Sonic appeared by her side, looking at the paper as if it had offended him in the most horrible ways. “It says he’s got a bad feeling about the prophecy, so he headed to Delphius to get more information. He also said he’ll be back soon.” Sonic paused, worry filling his face. He didn’t want to lose another person, not ever again.
“He should’ve let us to go with him! We’re not supposed to separate, and I don’t want either of you getting hurt!”
“I-I’m sure Manik’s going to be fine. He’s always been able to handle himself.” Sonic wanted to believe her, but Manik also had a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble when he was alone…They waited nervously, Sonic alternating between comforting Sonia and being comforted. He didn’t like not knowing what was going on. It had been almost 10 days before their decrepit living quarters got a knock. Sonic pulled the door open to see a very tired Manik. “Manik, where have you been?!”
“I left a note, bro.” Sonia gently pulled Sonic back, making eye contact. Sonic took a deep breath, finally feeling the rage coming off of his brother. Something had gone wrong.
“What happened?” Sonia asked. Manik hesitated, but said hollowly,
“…I read the prophecy.” Sonic paused: the oracle had shown Manik the prophecy itself instead of giving a synopsis?
“What did it say, bro?” He took a deep breath, and recited,
“It shall come to pass that a tyrant shall possess the world, controlling a mindless army and casting the world into darkness. The queen shall be slain 5 years after the tyrant gained control. A royal and 3 kindred spirits with noble hearts shall claim the throne from the tyrant after they have discovered the value of trust.” Sonia’s face showed absolute horror, but Sonic was angry. He’d lost someone he’d never even got to meet: his birth mother. And he’d been chasing after a lie for 3 years now. Manik said in a joking manner, “So, uh, yeah. Oracle lied.” Sonia said softly, covering her mouth,
“So, mom is…” Sonic’s fist moved faster than his brain, his lips following suit.
“Why’d you go alone?!” Manik was stunned, wiping a bit of blood away from his lips. Sonia shouted,
“Sonic, you’re just-” Sonic snapped, furious,
“Butt out! We should’ve gone together.” Manik seemed to swell up in indignant anger,
“Yeah, and get Ro-butt-Nik on our tail AGAIN. I just…ugh! Sonic, I’m not exactly the trusting type.” Sonia said quietly,
“We’re siblings. You should’ve trusted us.” Manik growled, clearly frustrated,
“I do! But Sonic deal with everything with feet and fists, and you take time to process things! It was faster, and I can be pushy when I want to be when I’m not worried about you guys!” Sonic shouted,
“What was the whole point of us looking for mom if she was-” He swore. Manik stood up from the ground, shaking his head clear. Sonia was just confused. “What have we been doing for the past 3 years?!”
“Bonding. Bro, I know you’re livid, but you’ve got to chill. We’re all upset.” Sonic shook his head as Sonia continued,
“Manik’s right. We need to stick together and-”
“No, we don’t. I’m done.” Sonic growled, throwing everything he had into a bag: there wasn’t much. “I’m going back to the freedom fighters in Knothole. At least there I know who I can believe.” Sonia protested,
“Sonic, at least let us talk it out first-”
“Love you guys. Be safe.” He was gone, running off quickly. What was the point of leaving the Knothole FF if it did nothing?! He returned to Knothole easily, Rosie looking up from a quilting project as Sally, Antoine, and Tommy also looked over at the ragged looking blue hedgehog that was almost in tears. Rosie wrapped him in a hug.
“What’s wrong, Sonic? All Chuck said is that you headed off before…”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Miss Rosie…but I’m not going to leave again, not until we take down Ro-Butt-Nik.” Sally grinned, looking at the now 10-year-old hedgehog with happiness as she wrapped him in a hug. “Okay. What’s been happening here?”
“We’ve got some new reports of things. We’ve decided to start referring to Robotnik as Eggman.” Sonic snorted, wiping his tears away. “I thought you would like that. I also got a gift from Miss Vanilla-”
“Who?” Tommy explained,
“The lady who comes sometimes! She’s wanted to give Sally a gift for her birthday.” Sally revealed a small machine in her hand with a wide smile. Sonic realized how much he had missed his friends.
“This is Nicole! She’s really helpful and very nice. Miss Vanilla said Mr. Bean-her husband-helped develop her, but the original creator disappeared a while ago.” Sonic nodded. Sally continued, “We also got a bit more intel about some kind of dangerous machine that Eggman is working on, but we couldn’t find any details.” Rosie suddenly said firmly,
“Kids, get inside.” Tommy grabbed Sonic while Antoine grabbed Sally, both quickly obeying the older woman.
“What’s up?” Tommy explained,
“Someone not in the FF is coming.” Antoine said, shaking slightly,
“And I think they are from the Arctic.” Sally tried to pulled her head up, but was slightly too short for the window: Sonic didn’t fare much better, but Antoine had no issues, having already hit his last growth spurt.
“I can’t…see…” Tommy said quietly,
“But if we’re quiet, we can hear.”
“I told you not to come here: if you’re seen-” A woman with a strange accent Sonic had never heard before said in a rush,
“Tundra has lost it. He wants to-I can’t-I don’t care what happens to me, but I can’t let him do that.”
“Mom, why are we-” It was a boy, likely about the same age as Antoine.
“Hush: I’ll explain in a bit.”
“…It’s just him?”
“I would get the others out, but it’s too risky. Please, keep my son safe…”
“Mom, what’s-MOM!”
“Kids, you can come out. What’s your name, dear?” Sonic was the first one out, followed by Sally, Tommy, and then Antoine. It was a slightly pudgy lilac walrus, who looked bewildered.
“Um, Rotor? Why’d my mom run off like that?”
“I’m afraid you’re going to be staying here for a while, Rotor. The Boss of the Arctic has decided to start robotizing children.”
“What? But why would…I…Um…” His confusion only seemed to have grown. Sonic offered his hand.
“Hey! I’m Sonic the Hedgehog. I actually just got back from an adventure myself.” Rotor took the hand, but seemed uncertain.
“R-Rotor. Wait, is this the FF base of operations? Dad’s going to kill me…” Sonic noticed more than a little fear in his voice, but Sally took over, offering her own hand as Sonic let go.
“I’m Sally. Welcome to Knothole.” Rotor nodded, muttering to himself as if he was trying to piece things together.
“Robotizing…could I join? I don’t think I could fight, but my mom always said I’m pretty good with tech…” Tommy grinned, pulling him away from the crowd as Sally turned back to Sonic. As they headed off, he said cheerfully,
“I’m sure glad to meet another tech head! I’m Tommy, and that’s Antoine!” Rosie shook her head, but sat down, going back to her quilting. Sonic frowned as Sally continued quietly,
“I know you just got back, but we found a plan involving Eggman near Green Hill. Do-”
“Definitely!” Sonic said eagerly. He decided Robotnik-EGGMAN-would pay for what he did to all of his family. Sally handed him an earpiece with a smile, helping him set it in after so long. “I’ll stop any plan he’s got!”
“I’ll provide support. Good luck!”