Work Text:
The adults were arguing. About what exactly, the kids couldn’t hear exactly, but it was loud, and they were agitated. It had been a couple weeks since life had changed as they knew it, and the refugees from Robotropolis had stopped arriving a couple days ago. After the third day of no new people, the adults had taken over one of the few huts in Knothole for themselves, and shunted all the kids into another hut, with nobody but Rosie to look over them.
Naturally, a fight had broken out between the kids, with Antoine and Rotor on one side, Bunnie and Sonic on the other, and Sally electing to stay out of it.
“I’m telling you, we gotta get over there and figure out what’s going on!”
“Sonic, we must listen to the adults! They know what they are doing. Why must you insist on-”
“Will you all be quiet?!” Sally hissed, standing on her tiptoes so she could see out the window properly, though her legs were beginning to tremble from the strain. “We’re all going to get in trouble if anyone hears us arguing about this!”
The other kids all went quiet, with even the other younger stragglers shutting up, even though Sally hadn’t been talking to them. Sonic zipped over to the same window Sally was looking out of, standing next to her and trying to look out as well, though he made sure to stick his tongue out at Antoine before doing so.
“What are they talking about, Sal?” Sonic asked.
“Not sure,” Sally said. “I can see a lot of moving through the windows, though. They’ve got a table set up with a bunch of stuff on it.”
“Maybe they’re making a plan? Would be about time.”
“Sonic, whatever it is they’re doing, I’m sure they’re trying their best.”
“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t know it by the state of this place.”
“Sonic.”
“What, am I not allowed to voice my opinion? Because my opinion is that-”
“Sonic, get down, Rosie’s coming back!”
Sally shoved Sonic down from the window just seconds before Rosie came back inside from visiting the other hut, and Rosie didn’t bother to hide the suspicion in her eyes when she looked at the two of them. Sally tried as hard as possible to look innocent, but Sonic just glared back at her.
“Hello, children,” Rosie said, the tiredness in her voice creeping in around the edges. “I trust you’ve all been staying here, doing as you’re told?”
They all mumbled some version of “yes”, all except for Sonic, who continued to stubbornly glare at her, until Sally shoved him, at which point he looked away. He still didn’t say anything.
Rosie just sighed. “Regardless, I think you all deserve to know that most of the adults are going to be heading out in a couple days, to head back into the city.”
That managed to get the kids attention, with both Bunnie and Antoine gasping, Rotor wringing his hands together, and Sally blinked, trying to look as strong as possible, despite the fact that the idea of any one of her father’s- and now her- subjects going back into Robotropolis was absolutely terrifying. Sonic only flanked once at Rosie, before returning to glaring at the floor.
“Is my uncle going with them?” Bunnie said, hand in front of her face.
“He was actually the one to propose the idea. They’re going to try and rescue as many survivors as they can, as well as exploring the forest to try and find anybody who got lost.”
“There’s not gonna be any survivors.”
Rosie glanced over at Sonic, and a sharper tone entered her voice. “Sonic, it’s not polite to-”
“It’s been weeks, and Robotnik caught most of the city on his first sweep through. Everybody’s either wandering through the forest, in Knothole, or they ran farther away. They’re just gonna get themselves caught.” There was a bit of a growl in Sonic’s voice.
Rosie’s voice was softer when she next spoke to him. “Sonic, I know you’ve been having a tough time ever since your Uncle-”
“The adults are done, right? So we don’t need to be stuck here any more.” Sonic barrelled over Rosie’s words. “Can we go now?”
There was a pained expression on Rosie’s face, but she nodded, and no one was surprised when Sonic shot past her, out the door. Bunnie was only a couple seconds after him, and she made a beeline straight for the adult’s hut, where Sally could see her uncle coming out the front door. Antoine followed Bunnie, Rotor followed Antoine, and the rest of the kids all filtered out. Sally and Rosie remained in the hut. Sally was playing with the ends of her dress, and Rosie was just staring at the place where Sonic had been, her eyes downcast.
Before Sally could speak, Rosie said sadly, “I don’t know what to do with that boy.”
Sally didn’t know what to do with him either. Sonic had always been impulsive, loud, and energetic. Ever since they’d had to flee Robotropolis, leaving Uncle Chuck behind, he hadn’t been any of those things. And Sally didn’t know what to do about it, not while she was trying to keep herself from falling apart as well.
“He’ll be back to his old self soon,” Sally said, even as she continued messing with her dress, exacerbating the already existing tears in the fabric. “Especially if the adults are right and they’re able to rescue some people.”
“I can only hope you’re right, dear.” Rosie flashed Sally a smile, before glancing down at her dress and wincing. “Hopefully they’ll also be able to get some supplies. Would you like me to ask Beauregard to get you some more practical clothing?”
“No, they should focus on the people first,” Sally said. “If that goes well, maybe next mission I can ask Beauregard myself to get supplies.”
Rosie smiled. “Of course, Princess. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m off to find Sonic.”
Rosie left the hut, her dress brushing against the leaves outside, and left Sally alone. From the open door she could see the Mobians all milling about outside. A couple parents who were about to go on the mission were giving their kids hugs, and other adults with no children had clustered together in a group away from everyone else. Sally could see Bunnie talking with her uncle, and even from a distance she could hear the distress in Bunnie’s voice. Antoine and Rotor were standing off to the side, clearly with no idea what to do. As Sally’s eyes strayed over the remainder of Knothole, she saw more people- a fox general who served under her father talking to his pregnant wife, a couple kids and teenagers standing about with no adults coming over to them. There were some adults who also were standing by themselves, even though Sally knew that most of them had kids.
There was no sign of Sonic.
There was movement from the small cluster of people that was Bunnie, her uncle, Antoine, and Rotor, and Sally turned to see Bunnie’s uncle heading over to her. His face was emotionless, and behind him Sally could see that Bunnie was crying.
“Princess,” Bunnie’s uncle greeted. “I take it that you’ve heard that we’re going to be going into the city.”
“I have,” Sally said, drawing herself up to her full height, like how she had seen her father do when he was talking about important things. “Are you going to head out soon?”
“As soon as the sun sets we’ll go,” he said. “Hopefully the darkness will make it easier to remain undetected. We should be back by mid-morning at the absolute latest.”
“... And if you aren’t?”
“You shouldn’t have to worry about that, Princess,” he said, leaning against the wall. His hat had slipped down, hiding the expression on his face. “But just in case- I already told Rosie this, but we’ve got roughly enough food to last us another week, and we’re leaving some weapons behind some of the huts. They shouldn’t be necessary, however.”
Sally nodded. “Let’s hope not. Is there anything else I should know?”
“It’s unlikely, but Amadeus’ wife is pregnant. If she goes into labor while we’re gone, you’re to alert Rosie, and assist her in any way that you can.”
“Okay,” Sally said. “Is that all?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Just- make sure to take care of Bunnie while I’m out.”
And then he left without as much as a goodbye, heading back over to Bunnie. Sally stood where she was, hands clenched in her dress. The sun was low in the sky, and a decent chunk of the adults had already gathered together. As he passed her, Bunnie’s uncle took the hat off his head, and placed it on top of hers. Sally could hear Rosie off somewhere at the edge of Knothole, calling for Sonic, who still hadn’t reappeared.
Sally’s hands remained clenched in her dress, and it was beginning to rip.
---
The adults weren’t back by mid morning, or any of the next day. Rosie had gone to look for them at noon, and she hadn’t come back yet. Without most of the adults around, the kids and teenagers had elected to spend most of the day milling about in groups, talking amongst themselves. As the day wore on, the conversation got darker. Bunnie had yet to leave the makeshift bed that had been set up for the kids in the first couple of days, and neither Antoine nor Rotor had left her side yet. Sonic hadn’t come back overnight, and he didn’t come back in the day either.
It was getting into the evening when Sally went out to look for him. She had ditched her dress and jewelry on the bed before heading out, and was now in the Great Forest. It was even scarier than it had been multiple weeks prior, when she and Sonic had been fleeing, hand in hand while hoping against hope that Robotnik was too busy destroying their home to hunt them down.
She had no idea why she went to the area she did, but after passing through various pathways which had been trampled into place by fleeing Mobians she arrived at a clearing where all the grass and flowers had been pressed down into a mushy mess, with some flowers having their stems snapped, but still struggling to rise up. Sally sat down on one of the rocks at the edge of the clearing, shaking a couple of stray leaves out of her hair, which piled around her shoulder and down her back. She was going to have to get it cut if they were going to be living in the woods.
“You can’t stay here forever, you know,” she said into the still air. “Rosie’s going to get worried about you.”
There was nothing but silence, and she sighed. “None of the adults that left are back yet.”
“Figures.” Sally jumped, and whipped around to see Sonic sitting on the other side of the rock, back turned to her, quills all puffed up. “They should have known better.”
She couldn’t entirely disagree with him. “They just wanted to do something good. And who knows, maybe they’ll come back sometime later-”
“They won’t,” Sonic grumbled. “I bet half of them are robots already.”
“Sonic,” Sally breathed. “You can’t just say stuff like that.”
“Why not? I don’t think any remaining adults are going to be interested in things like discipline right now.”
“Maybe not, but you still shouldn’t say it.”
“Hmph.” Sonic curled in on himself more, spines bristling, but he didn’t say anything else.
Silence settled in the clearing. Sally wasn’t used to silence with him, even after a couple weeks of Sonic’s sullen behavior.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Sally said. “You’re not the only one who’s lost someone, you know.”
She felt Sonic shift behind her, but she didn’t turn around. “Bunnie probably just lost her uncle. She might need someone to talk to about that, but you’re busy being all mean and stuff.”
Sonic shuffled again, and he mumbled something under his breath that sounded vaguely like an apology. Sally’s fists unclenched ever so slightly, and this time, the silence was slightly easier.
“Are all the adults really gone?” Sonic’s voice was muffled, from where he had pressed his face into his knees. His voice was the shakiest she had ever heard it.
“Yeah.”
“I was really hoping that they would come back safe.”
“Me too.”
“... What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
Sonic mumbled a bad word under his breath, but he moved his hand over, resting it next to Sally’s, and she took it. He gave her hand a small, comforting squeeze.
“We’re gonna have to make a plan, aren’t we?”
“Yeah. We’ve only got enough food for a week.”
“I saw some berries while I was out here.”
“Thanks,” Sally said, her voice hollow.
“Hey,” Sonic said, and she turned her head to see him looking at her, a small smile on his face. “You’re smart, and you’re good at plans. You can probably come up with a plan to get us food.”
Sally just sniffled quietly. “I guess. But I don’t know what to do about the rest of everything.”
“Whatever it is, we can deal with it. You’re smart, I’m strong, and everyone else can fill in the gaps.”
“Whatever you say,” Sally said, but a small smile was creeping across her face. “But you can only help if you’re actually here the whole time.”
“I’ll try to stick around,” Sonic said. “So do me a favor and don’t get the rest of us caught, okay?"
“I’ll do my best,” Sally said.
They stayed like that for a while, until the sun set. The next day was going to begin soon, and Sally had no idea what was going to happen during it. There was so much to do, especially now that they were all by themselves, alone in the woods. And even if they got through the next day, there would be many days after that.
But somehow, she had the feeling that while it was going to be difficult, she would get through it. Especially with her friends- and Sonic- alone with her.