Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You saved me."

Still a little shaky from almost drowning, Sonic sat back on the damp sand and turned to study the gruff echidna next to him curiously.

"Don't talk to me," Knuckles grumbled, taking his own seat in the sand a couple feet away and crossing his arms over his knees. "I'm not in the mood."

Oh no, he wasn't getting away with it that easily.

With a tiny smirk of determination, Sonic scooped up some damp sand next to him, mushed it into a ball, and hurled it at the echidna's face.

The reaction was instantaneous. Knuckles' eyes widened with fury, and he climbed back to his feet with an indignant shout of "How dare you attack me, in my hour of sorrow!"

Sonic threw more sand at him. "Why did you save me?" he demanded, getting a third sand ball ready, only to get knocked flat by a massive sand ball from Knuckles instead.

"Because you saved me first," he heard the echidna huff back as he crawled out of the giant sand pile and shook the grains off his face. "Which clearly gave you a tactical advantage I do not understand," Knuckles finished, sounding frustrated.

"It wasn't a tactic," Sonic pointed out, reclaiming his seat in front of the pile he'd climbed out of. "I couldn't just let you die."

Confusion appeared amidst the anger in Knuckles' eyes. "Why?" he demanded, although his tone had softened ever so slightly. "I've been trying to destroy you since the moment we met."

That was the moment when Tom's words from the rowboat came flooding back to Sonic, and he found himself echoing his . . . friend's words with a smile. "Because being a hero isn't about taking care of yourself. It's about taking responsibility for other people."

The thing was, it didn't feel like he was just passing on wisdom from one friend to another. It felt . . . deeper than that. Like . . .

"Hm. Wise words." Knuckles finally relaxed and sat back down beside him. "An ancient earth proverb?"

Sonic smiled. "No sir, that's a Wachowski family special. I got it from a guy in a rowboat." His smile softened as he thought about it just a little more.

There was that word. Family.

Tom was his family. Maddie was his family. But it felt like such a general word. They definitely didn't feel like siblings to him. So . . . that meant . . .

". . . Someone who means a lot to me," he finished, still smiling, just lost in thoughts.

He didn't have time to think about it too much longer. The sound of a plane nearby alerted him, and he frowned and glanced up. "Wait a minute, what's that sound?"

As it turned out, Tails had "borrowed" the biplane from the wedding and used it to fly his way over to join them. He heard Tails hollering something from way up there, something about him needing rescuing, and he rolled his eyes with a fond smile.

"That sly little fox!" he exclaimed, overjoyed that his little buddy was alright. After all, he hadn't seen him conscious since Siberia.

He turned back to Knuckles, who was staring sullenly at the ground. "Come on, knucklehead," he said with a grin. "We're not beat yet."

Knuckles ignored his words. After a pause, he ventured, "On the mountain you told me you'd lost everything. The way I did." He frowned. "But you seem . . . so hopeful and free. How did you move forward, despite failing, again, and again, and again, and again—"

Sonic's shoulders slumped and he rolled his eyes at each "again." "Okay, I didn't fail that much," he scoffed. His smile returned. "But I didn't do this all alone. I found a new family. New friends. And you can, too."

New family. As opposed to his old family, the one he'd lost. Longclaw, his adoptive mother. New family, Tom and Maddie were his adoptive . . .

The weight of those thoughts was too much for him to focus on in that moment.

So instead, he extended his hand down to Knuckles. "You don't have to be alone anymore," he promised, remembering how often he'd wished to hear the same words from someone for all those years he'd spent in isolation.

Knuckles studied him for a few more hesitant seconds, and then finally took his hand.

Tails came running to join them just as Sonic doubled over, clutching his hand, shouting, "Ow—ow—ow—ow, are you kidding me with that handshake!"

Chapter Text

Sonic wasn't sure when Tom and Maddie had gotten there.

He remembered falling off the bridge. Darkness. Waking up. Seeing the Master Emerald nearby. Trying his absolute hardest to get to it, crawling, limping, anything because he couldn't run.

Just a little closer, just a little closer.

He'd gotten the Emerald. And no sooner had he picked it up than a pair of arms had scooped him off the ground and hauled him into a vehicle. Immediately afterwards, he'd heard a massive crash and felt the world shake, like something big had smashed into the ground where he'd just been.

It took him a minute to understand what was happening; his senses were still foggy. The arms that had picked him up were still holding him close. He was being held in someone's lap. Maddie's reassuring voice calling "We've got you." He felt the tip of her chin on his head, like she was clinging to him as closely as she could, making sure he was safe.

He vaguely heard Tom's voice yelling to hang on. Maddie's arms tightened even more around his chest and suddenly the car was flying, tilting, rolling, crashing. As if he wasn't in enough pain already.

Then they were crawling out and hiding behind the car. He dragged himself to the makeshift wall and rested back against it for just a moment, and then opened his eyes to see what was truly happening.

Ruins. Smoke. Dust. Surrounding them, as Maddie peered over the truck to see where the giant robot was and Tom fumbled to get to Sonic's side.

Remembering the weight in his hands, something suddenly clicked in his brain and sparked a bit of hope. "I got the Emerald, we can still defeat him!" he rattled out, still a little shaken. He stared at the giant green stone, tilting it this way and that. "How does this thing work? What do I do?" Robotnik had simply grabbed it and immediately absorbed its power, but Sonic had been holding it for several minutes and nothing had happened.

Then, to his absolute horror, cracks began to web their way through the Emerald. "What? No!" The cracks continued their way until the entire Emerald lost its brilliant green color and fell apart to pieces, leaving only small, multi-colored gems lying in their midst. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Just as quickly as his hope had appeared, it faded away.

And as if that wasn't enough to plunge his spirits down into despair, it was then that a giant blast of fire shot down around the truck, trapping them in a circle of searing flames.

A circle that was the same size as the foot of the metal monstrosity that Robotnik was controlling, ready to crush them.

Fear filled his heart as he began to grasp just how bad the situation was. He'd hurt his leg; he couldn't run away, much less bring Tom and Maddie to safety. The Master Emerald was broken. He couldn't crawl his way through a wall of flames. Robotnik was all but on top of them.

There was no escape.

"Y-You have to get away from me," he pleaded to the two humans, who'd both sat down on either side of him. "I'm the one he wants!"

Because while he didn't want to die, didn't want to let Robotnik win and take over the world, Tom and Maddie didn't deserve to go out with him. They were such kind people. Even before they'd taken him in, he'd watched them look out for each other and the people around them. He'd watched them make sacrifices for the sake of others. And they'd done so much for him. They'd given him the most beautiful room in the world. Provided him with meals, a home, a loving family.

They were his family.

And yet, both of them looked mildly shocked at his words. Like the very suggestion of leaving for their own safety was absolutely absurd.

"Hey." Maddie's voice, ever so soft. He turned towards her, and there was nothing but pure dedication and love in her eyes as she replied firmly, "We're not going anywhere. We're family."

She reached down and took his right hand, intertwining their fingers.

Her eyes shifted to Tom's, so Sonic turned to face him as well. There was a steady yet fierce love in Tom's eyes as he added on, "And families stick together." He reached for Sonic's other hand, holding it just as tightly as Maddie was. "No matter what."

The loud creaking of metal sounded over their heads. Robotnik was seconds away from crushing them.

Sonic turned his eyes to the ground in front of him, his chest tighter than it had been in a long time.

This was the end. They were . . . they were going to die.

Tom and Maddie had so much else in their lives. Tom was the sheriff of Green Hills, for goodness sake. Maddie was one of the most beloved vets in town. They had so many friends, they had their pet, they had their jobs and their house and their lives.

And here they were, sacrificing all of that for him, just so that he wouldn't have to die alone.

Sonic's eyes welled up with tears, and his hands shook as he gripped theirs in return.

They were his family. They were . . .

. . . they were his parents.

And he'd never gotten the chance to tell them that. Tell them how much he loved living with them, how much he'd loved being their kid without even realizing it.

He wanted so badly to tell them now, but his chest was so tight, so full of pain and anguish that he could barely speak. So he said all that he could, all that he believed was important and true in this, their last moments of life.

"I love you guys," he managed to choke out, fighting the tears back.

He felt both their heads lean against his, and Tom murmured, "We love you too, Sonic."

But right as the robot was coming down on them, he suddenly felt a different kind of fire in his chest. An exhilarating, energizing kind. And things blurred from there.

He remembered seeing a golden glow beyond his eyelids. Pushing the robot back off of them, with some kind of energy he hadn't had a moment ago.

And then he was flying, somehow. He didn't process this until later, but he was floating in the air, facing down Eggman in his giant, stupid machine. The stupid machine that had nearly killed him and his family.

He flew tight circles around the thing's head until it fell off. The alarm and fear in Eggman's eyes filled him with some type of sadistic pleasure. His thoughts were raging fragments of:

That's twice you've nearly killed my family.

You can hurt me, but you can't hurt THEM.

How dare you hurt them. How dare you even come close to them.

You can't hurt them anymore. I won't let you. I'll make sure you can NEVER hurt them or anyone else ever again.

Out loud, he only snarled through gritted teeth, "It's over, Eggman."

And the cruel doctor tried to negotiate with him. Like he was going to make the mistake of letting him stay alive twice. Give him a chance to hurt more people, hurt HIS FAMILY.

Robotnik couldn't hurt him. He tried, with the machine's giant fist. Sonic blocked and smashed it. Then he smashed the other fist. He smashed through the whole robot, over and over again, plowing through it, channeling his anger and hatred towards this cruel and terrible person for hurting the people he cared for the most.

"Okay, we're not friends," the guy even said as Sonic tapped the robot to fall over. The dumb words only made him angrier, but he clenched his jaw and refused to speak.

The robot fell. Robotnik fell with it, yelling something spiteful as he was engulfed in the flames. Sonic watched him fall, his eyes and heart on fire as he made certain the doctor was truly gone.

And then it was over. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, Sonic closed his eyes and drifted back to the ground, his fists still stubbornly clenched.

He heard his name echoing somewhere nearby: it was Tom and Maddie, joyfully calling his name, the sound of wildly running footsteps.

Knuckles' voice suddenly cut in with a harsh shout of "Wait! You cannot touch him! The hedgehog holds the power of the emeralds." His voice softened, sounding somber. "I'm sorry. He is no longer the Sonic you once knew."

Said hedgehog could hear every word, and was half tempted to just cut in right there and prove him wrong. But he wasn't quite ready to face all the emotions of having just almost died with his newly-named (?) parents, so he decided to lighten the mood with a little prank.

Keeping up the angsty act, he made a big show of creating a mini thunderstorm above him, with serious eyes and everything, all just to summon a chili dog. Hey, he was hungry, anyway. He hadn't eaten anything since Siberia, and that felt like ages ago.

He had a little too much fun dropping a couple more chili dogs from the sky on Knuckles' head, watching his parents snicker as the echidna admitted that no, Sonic was exactly the same kid they knew.

With some effort, he relinquished the little emeralds and returned to his normal form. The second he had, Maddie gushed his name and dropped down to hug him tightly. Tom was right behind her, and instead of keeping up the tough guy act and refusing the mushy affection like he used to, he welcomed the hugs.

Trying to keep the mood light, he joked, "It's good to be back in blue. The golden god thing was fun, but blue has always been more my color."

Tom winked at him. "Looks good on ya."

"Sonic," Tails suddenly said, and the three turned to the little fox. "You were the most powerful hero in the universe, and you let it go. Why?"

Sonic studied him for a few seconds, thinking. Tom's words had kept coming back to him, in one way or another. Even though he'd initially disliked the idea of being considered a kid, suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad thing anymore. Especially not when he had a couple as awesome as Tom and Maddie as his parents.

"Because . . ." He turned and grinned pointedly at said parents. "I still have some growin' up to do."

Tom and Maddie exchanged tiny looks and smiles at his words.

"And I kinda like being a kid," he added, with a bit more of a shy smile.

Tom smiled at him warmly. "And you're not just any kid," he reminded him, his voice ever so gentle and loving. "You're our kid."

Maddie nodded enthusiastically, then reached out and poked his nose. "That's right."

He smiled again, feeling almost sheepish, before Maddie opened her arms again with an excited, "Bring it in!" and pulled both Sonic and Tails into the embrace with her and Tom.

He leaned into the third hug wholeheartedly, joking again, "It's a good thing we didn't do this before, or you would've blown up."

Sonic wasn't sure if they could see through the act, could see how badly he'd been shaken up from all that had happened that day, but if they could, they didn't show it. Which he appreciated, especially since Tails and Knuckles were right there.

And now that he knew they were fine, they'd all be fine, they were all alive and well, he wanted to tell them all the things that he'd thought he couldn't. He wanted to tell them that he liked being their kid. He wanted to tell them that yes, he saw them as his parents, did this mean he could call them "Dad" and "Mom" now.

It was still a little fresh after everything. But he just needed a little time. Time to settle, time to bring his new friends (who were already feeling a bit like brothers) home to join clan Wachowski.

Just a little time. And then he'd tell them.

Chapter Text

Baseball. A family game of baseball. This was it. Sonic had to tell them now. It was the perfect opportunity.

Over a year ago now, this was the very place he'd come and ended up having a breakdown at due to his overwhelming loneliness. It felt like some kind of significance to find himself back here, only now he had a family to play with. A couple of parents. Two friends who already felt like brothers; an older brother and a younger brother. Leaving him right smack dab in the middle of them.

He wouldn't have had it any other way.

The game was surprisingly short-lived, because with Knuckles batting, the one and only ball they had ended up getting punched clear across the field and straight through the scoreboard. But there were no hard feelings. Instead of getting mad that they'd lost their ball and basically caused minor property damage, Maddie just suggested that instead they go out for ice cream. The mood didn't drop, not even for a moment.

Sonic answered Knuckles' questions about the earth dessert, while Tails glanced excitedly back and forth between them. As Tom and Maddie approached, Knuckles lifted Tails onto his shoulder and carried the giggling little fox to the truck. Sonic smiled after them, glad to see them getting along so well. As Maddie followed them with Ozzie, Tom hung back and knelt down beside Sonic, his eyes also trained on the other two alien children.

"I'm happy for you, pal," Tom chuckled, as Tails flew himself into the back of the truck and Knuckles considered it for a moment. "You've got your wingmen! Perfect friends to grow up with."

Sonic watched them for a moment longer, snickering a little at Knuckles exclaiming, "Ah, my victory chariot!" and heavily flopping into the back along with Tails. His heart was full, so full, and his smile was uncontrollable.

With a quick deep breath, he lowered his eyes, then turned them to meet Tom's directly. "I've got a lot more than that," he replied softly, then added, ". . . Dad."

He had so much more than just some friends to grow up with. He had brothers. He had parents. He had a home. A family. And he wasn't sure if he could express all that without tears. So he started small.

Tom stared back at him for a moment, surprise momentarily overtaking his expression, but then his eyes started glistening with joy, and he turned his face away, as if to hide tears of happiness from Sonic. "Race you to the truck," he finally replied, his voice cracking a little on the words. Sonic's smile widened at the silent acceptance, and he spun around, excited, as his father shouted "One-two-three GO!" and jumped up to make a beeline for the truck.

He gave him a couple seconds to think he had a chance, and then— just as Tom was calling back, "No, don't go easy on me, I want your best!" he sped ahead and slid stylishly onto the top of the truck. His cool pose was kinda ruined when he ended up sliding off and falling into the back with Knuckles and Tails, but that was more than okay.

Tom pretended to be disappointed at losing, but his smile was still glued to his face as he climbed into the driver's seat and pulled out, heading for the nearest ice cream parlor.

The truck drove much more slowly than Sonic or Knuckles could run, or Tails could fly. But none of them minded. Even though they could've got there so much faster, they preferred to ride along with the people who had loved them, accepted them for who and what they were, and given them a home.

After they got their ice cream, they relaxed in the outdoor booths; it was too nice of a day to spend indoors. Tails had begun explaining every fact he knew about ice cream to Knuckles, who listened with interest. As they remained preoccupied with that, Sonic slid over to where Tom and Maddie were sitting together on the other end.

Knowing exactly what he was doing, Sonic got onto his knees in the bench and gave Maddie a quick hug. "Thanks for the ice cream, Mom!" he chirped, then immediately slid back over to his brothers.

He could hear squeaking noises of surprise and happiness coming from his adoptive mother, as well as some light laughter from Tom. He heard them whispering excitedly to each other, but didn't eavesdrop. Dropping these loving bombshells was actually pretty fun. He really should've done it sooner.

-

The house had been badly damaged once again, but once again, neither humans blamed the aliens. It was Robotnik who had attacked them. Even though Knuckles had dealt most of the damage, they didn't hold it against him, either.

They just . . . knew. Knew it wasn't truly his fault.

Besides, with said echidna's brute strength, Tails' handyman mechanical genius, and Sonic's speed, it hadn't taken nearly as long this time to repair everything.

It had been a few weeks since everything. They'd bought a couple more beds for the new additions: a little airplane themed bed for Tails, and something bigger and more comfortable for Knuckles. The attic had plenty of room for all three of them, and Sonic had been more than happy to share the space with them. It took some adjustments and wasn't without some bickering, but it was all okay.

It was late that night where things finally got deep. When they finally got to say everything they wanted to say.

Technically, it was way past Sonic's bedtime. His parents generally wanted him in bed by 9, occasionally 10 if it wasn't a school night. Tails had been given a bedtime of between 7:30 and 8, being five years younger than Sonic. Knuckles was technically allowed to stay up till around 11, since he was the oldest, but he usually went to bed around the same time as Sonic, claiming he needed a full night's rest in order to be at full strength the next day.

Sonic had gone to bed when he was supposed to, but had been jolted awake a couple hours later from a nightmare. He didn't get them every night, but having the trauma he did, nights were hard sometimes. And this so happened to be one of those nights when he couldn't go back to sleep, despite the comfort of his bed and the soft sounds of both Tails and Knuckles breathing elsewhere in the room. Through the window, he could still see a light coming through the window downstairs, so he slipped out of bed and crept down to see if Tom and Maddie were still awake.

Sure enough, they were, although it looked like they were winding down. They were snuggled together on the couch, quietly murmuring to each other in inaudible conversation.

He almost didn't want to interrupt them, but he'd encountered this situation before and had always, always been told afterwards: "Don't worry about bothering us! If you want to talk, you come talk! Doesn't matter what time it is or if it looks like we're busy!"

So he took a deep breath and wandered quietly into the room with them. Their conversation fell silent as they saw him, then soft smiles crossed their faces. "Hey, bud," Tom greeted him quietly. "You alright? Can't sleep?"

Sonic bit his lip and shook his head. "Can . . . can I talk with you guys for a little?"

"Of course." Maddie shifted and pulled their blanket aside for a moment, inviting him to sit between them. He did so, making sure not to poke them with his quills.

"Did you have another bad dream? Is that what you wanna talk about?" Tom's voice was gentle, with a touch of worry. "Or is it about . . . today?"

"I— well, yeah, another bad dream," Sonic admitted guiltily, then waved his hand. "But I don't wanna talk about that. Yeah, it—it's about today. I . . ." He hesitated. "A couple weeks ago, during the fight—"

Maddie reached down and took his hand, squeezing it in hers.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't say it before." His voice quieted. "It's not . . . it's not that I didn't see you guys as my . . . my parents before. I just . . . I . . . last time I had a . . ."

He groaned. Words were hard sometimes.

"Are you talking about Longclaw?" Tom asked quietly, reaching down to rub one of the boy's shoulders.

"Yes," he mumbled. "She . . . she wasn't my real mom, obviously. I don't know who was. But she was the first person I could ever remember, and she was like my mother. Then I was stupid and she . . ."

"You were just a little one, sweetheart," Maddie murmured. "It wasn't your fault."

"You remind me of her, actually," he admitted with a shy smile. His mother grinned at that, and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

"And then I just . . . spent so much time taking care of myself that I thought I didn't need anyone to take care of me anymore," he went on to confess. "I felt independent, even though it was hard, really hard. I felt like I had to act like a grown-up. No one else was gonna do it for me."

"So it was a little hard to accept that there were people willing to be the grown-ups and take care of you again?" Tom asked.

". . . Yeah," Sonic confirmed, staring at the floor and trying his hardest not to fidget. They were both holding his hands, just like they had when they'd all thought they were going to die, and he didn't want them to let go.

"But—But I can accept it now!" he added hurriedly. "I love you guys. I like being a kid— I like—I love being your kid. It means . . . more to me than I can say."

There was silence for a few beats, and for a moment he feared he'd still said too much. But then the two leaned in even closer to wrap him tightly in a full, surrounding hug. "Bud," he heard his father whisper, his voice a little choked, "You have no idea how long we've been dying to hear you say that."

"We didn't want to force it on you," Maddie added, her own voice equally emotional, and she hugged him a little tighter. "We wanted to love on you and teach you and take care of you like our own kid for almost this whole time you've been with us. We were just waiting for you to decide if that's what you wanted, too."

Sonic's own chest was tight, in a good way, but he managed a light laugh. "You know . . . I used to pretend we were a family. Back when . . . back before . . ."

He didn't need to clarify when. They, all too painfully, knew.

"Well, no need to pretend anymore." Tom squeezed his hand again. "We're here for you. We're your family. We love you, Sonic."

He sniffled a little, fighting like crazy to keep the tears back, but it was hard. So instead of speaking and risking it, he just leaned further back with them and adjusted both his hands to sign back I love you.

The remainder of the night was fuzzy. He remembered one of them reaching over to turn off the lamp, then immediately cuddling in again. He remembered staying like that, just snuggled right between them on the couch, feeling more loved than he had in a long time.

And when he awoke the next morning, snuggled not just with his parents but also with his two brothers (who must've come to join them sometime earlier upon discovering Sonic's bed empty), he smiled to himself as he realized just how lucky they all were to have found each other.