Chapter Text
Tom and Maddie were both so happy their kids were okay. Sonic, Knuckles and tails being home a thought to be dead Shadow and a brand new pink hedgehog named Amy was quite surprising however. If you told them 3 years ago they’d have 5 children, they would probably think you’re as crazy as Crazy Carl. However, now their family of 3, turned to 4 with sonic and then a wopping 5 and now it seems like it will be turning to 8 with the two new hedgehogs.
The thought of now having 5 kids- let alone alien teenagers - was quite terrifying and definitely strange but they weren’t going to turn away children just because they’re a little overwhelmed. Money wasn’t an issue since G.U.N. Had been giving them money since they were looking after multiple aliens that they definitely didn’t want to deal with. It’s just the thought of 5 different aliens with different abilities- Sonic with his speed, Knuckles with his- well Knuckles, Tails with his…well tails that he could fly with, Shadow with his weird teleporting thing and Amy with her…giant Hammer - they weren’t sure if they had the right materials to look after them, they were quickly running out of space in the house and Amy definitely wasn’t going to share a room with all the boys. Maddie wouldn’t allow that. So, they were in a bit of a stump.
They thought about moving into another house, getting more space, or even perhaps extending their own home so the kids could have their own rooms or- at least something, she was sure G.U.N. Would help, Maddie would get pissed at them if they didn’t, after all they were using HER kids as weapons as if they weren’t little kids. Tom was equally as stumped on what to do, the kids however- they had their own plans.
All the little alien teens were hanging out in the attic - aka Sonic, Knuckles and Tails room. Sonic and Shadow were on Sonics own bed, Knuckles was on his own with Amy and Tails was on his little desk, tinkering as he talked with the others.
“Aghhh” Sonic dragged a hand across his face, “this house is going to be so crowded! I don’t think Mum and Dad can fit anymore beds up here…”
He looks around the tightly fit attic, his race car bed, Tails plane bed and Knuckles truck bed took up most of the space, they couldn’t fit anymore beds let alone cots for the two new additions to sleep up with them.
Amy tilts her head, “Why would we stay here? This is the humans Realm Sonic, we have our own and it is beautiful! We should just move back there! All together! Come on, Knuckles, Tails, you know what I’m talking about!” She smiles, unfortunately neither Knuckles or Tails held the same values as she did.
The two glanced at each other, nervousness obvious on Tails’s face, you might not have noticed it on Knuckles but Tails and Sonic knew him both well enough to see unsureness on his own face.
Amy faltered at seeing their reactions, her ears falling back on her head a bit, “What? What’s wrong? Mobius is a wonderful planet!! It has wonderful people, animals, food and definitely no government trying to use us for our powers or crazy eggman people hunting us down!” She huffs dramatically, rolling her eyes slightly until she Tails deflate.
“The place ain’t all that great…I mean…I didn’t have family until I found Sonic! Mobian isn’t the best place for people who are different…and unless you haven’t noticed…we are very different..” Tails trails off, Looking away from the rest of them, he knew what it was like to be shunned, after all his two tails attracted so much unwanted attention that his own parents abandoned him and left him all alone in the world when he was just a little kit.
Knuckles nodded his head in agreement, “Yes. And being the last of my tribe alone in that planet wasn’t the best. People always tried to pick fights with me just because I was an echidna! It was dishonourable! So many people in lost battles fighting me, a lone child echidna!” He scoffs at the mere thought of remembering what had happened to him on that planet, his whole tribe dying, leaving him alone to be used and fought by anyone he accounted.
Sonic hums, “I don’t remember much of Mobian since I haven’t been there in like….13 years but all I remember is having to hide from everyone because of my power and having the ONLY person that cared for me, die because someone found me. I spent 10 years on this earth hiding from everyone and everything Amy…I have been alone for so long and I finally found parents- and- and brothers! I’m not giving that up for a planet that hasn’t once done anything for me…”
By the end of Sonics little rant he was panting, he got a bit worked up, his eyes glowing blue slightly, everyone seemed a bit startled at the amount of emotion he was feeling. Shadow leaned his hand over and pat Sonic’s back a bit awkwardly, he was still getting used to being around other people again, so he was trying his best. Sonic laughs a little at his attempt to comfort and calmed down, the rest seemed to laugh as well as they saw Sonic calm now.
“What?” Shadow grumbled at them all, “He was upset. I was helping.”
Sonic shook his head, laughing, “Sorry Shadow, we’re not laughing at you- it’s just I didn’t expect it and they’re laughing cause I am” he snickers a bit.
Shadow seemed to relax a bit after realising they weren’t in fact laughing at him.
Amy paused again and looks at them with a sigh, “Look I get you all have had bad experiences, but I haven’t and I think you all should give it another chance! Do you really think Tom and Maddie want to be dealing with more of us? They are probably annoyed about more aliens being here- let alone living with them!”
That made Sonic, Knuckles and Tails, growl at Amy, they were all still used to being in a family, even though Sonic had been with them for 3 years and Knuckles and Tails 1 and a half years, having a family was still foreign to them. After all the three had been alone for so long that it would take them a while to get used to it, and Tom and Maddie both did so much for the three of them, reassuring them that they were all family, despite none of them being related in any sort of way.
Even Shadow was upset at Amy saying that, He might barley know Tom and Maddie, but he knew Maria, and she was like a sister to him, saying that they’re annoying to be around Because their humans and they’re all aliens meant that Shadow was not Maria’s brother. And if that was true then she had sacrificed herself for nothing. For an annoyance. And he would not let her sacrifice go in vein.
Amy- noticing the tension, put her arms up in defence, looking away a bit nervously, “Look guys I’m not saying they’re not your family- but come on! They’re humans, we’re all Mobian’s! They can’t look after us, they don’t NEED us so-”
Sonic cut her off, “No. just because they don’t need us doesn’t mean we don’t need them! Plus we don’t need Mobius too! Shadow has never lived there, I haven’t been there since I was 3, Tails and Knuckles both hate Mobius, so what’s the point in moving there?!” He huffs angrily.
Amy glares at him for cutting her off. “BECAUSE, Sonic. Look at this place! This is a human world! We don’t belong here! They don’t have room for us! And we shouldn’t bother them! Haven’t you thought of the financial burden they’re probably having from having 3 super alien children in the first place?! They couldn’t have 5!!!”
Sonic deflated at that, he always felt insecurity when it came to Tom and Maddie and their financial stuff, it’s why he never asked for anything from them, not just because he was getting used to being in a family, but because he didn’t want to be a burden to them. He knew how hard they worked and how much they tried to help Sonic and his brothers.
This time, Knuckles spoke, “Pink Hedgehog. I do not like your implications. Mother and Father are FINE. They-. They do not have any burden and you shouldn’t say they do without knowing them! You are just making up lies so we go back to Mobius with you! You can come go as you please but this is my brothers and I’s home! And we are not leaving-”
Sonic once again cut him off, “Knuckles….I think she may be right…I mean- I love Mum and Dad but maybe we are being burdens to them…I mean…I don’t think they make THAT much money…” he trails off, looking down.
Tails spoke up softly, “Due to Mom being a vet and Dad being a police sheriff…they make about $195,000 in total together and not to mention the tax they have to pay…and the for the house…and the damages we’ve made to the house as well as a pet…two adults and three kids…they definitely don’t have enough money to deal with us…especially because we’re the reason their house keeps getting destroyed all the time…”
Tails was looking at his desk sadly, his tails wrapped around each other on his lap, which was something they did when he was upset, Sonic was busy staring at his gloved hands and Knuckles had just scoffed and looked away, he was more visibly upset.
Shadow and Amy looked at the three brothers, sympathy clear to the both of them, they looked at each other before awkwardly looking away.
They stayed in silence for what seemed like hours but in reality was only 10 minutes when they hear Tom yell out.
“Kids!! Dinner is ready! Come down!!”
Dinner was awkward to say the least, none of them wanted to say a single thing to each other, they all ate in complete silence, unable to say a single thing to each other.
Tom and Maddie, noticing the very obvious tension decided to say something in order to…well break the silence.
“So…we were thinking of either getting a new house or extending it so all five of you can have your own room!!” Tom spoke excitedly, he seemed happy about the news, however it just made all the kids look even more upset.
The three brothers, their children, all looked at each other with dismay, which only worried Tom and Maddie even more. Maddie once again tried to cut through the tension with a topic change.
“So, Amy. It’s nice to finally see another girl in this house! It was getting a little cramped with all the boys in the house!” She smiles, giggling at her little joke.
However, the joke only made their children look more guilty. Amy just chuckled awkwardly and nodded at her, not saying a word to either of them.
Shadow didn’t speak either, just looking down at his food as he barley ate.
“Alright. What’s going on? Why do you all look so upset? What happened?” Maddie demanded from her sons, looking at them, concern riddled across her face. Her three sons all looked at each other and gulps.
“Boys. Listen to your mother. We just want to help, so please- tell us what is wrong” Tom joined in, trying to give them his best smile without looking so nervous as to not make them nervous.
Sonic spoke quietly, to the point no one but the other aliens could hear him.
Maddie eyebrows furrowed, “Sorry blueberry, what was that?”
Sonic looks up, tears slightly in his eyes, “I-I said are we a burden to you both?! Do you not have any money because you’re always cleaning up all our messes? Are we ruining your peaceful life by making you look after us?!”
Tom and Maddie jumped, startled at both what Sonic was saying, and the volume he was using, they both looked at their other two alien children and saw that they were just as emotional as Sonic. Seeing such raw emotion from Knuckles wasn’t something they saw often, which made them just realise how serious their children were about this.
Maddie took a deep breath and looked at them, “My poor babies….none of you are a burden to us in any way, none of you could EVER be a burden!!” She stood up, walking to stand between her three alien sons, “Our financial situation is not something you kids need to even worry about, but both Tom and I have more than enough money to not only look after you three, but also Shadow and Amy, so just don’t worry about a single thing..” she held Tails face in her hands, noticing that he was close to crying.
Tom moved over, crouching between Sonic and Knuckles, “And even if we weren’t, it wouldn’t matter because we both love you three all so much, and if we were poor we would spend our little money looking after you three because you are all the most important things to us, because you’re our sons. Nothing will ever change that. I hope you three realise that, because you three are the highlight of both our lives. I promise.” He plants a kiss on both Knuckles and Sonic heads.
They would only hope that their little speeches would help them understand that no matter what their situation was, their little alien sons were the most important things to them.
Unfortunately, their speech did the exact opposite of what they wanted it too. Instead of it getting their sons to realise how much they love them, it just made the three boys feel more guilty that they’d use all their money to focus on them instead of themselves.
When Maddie and Tom woke, they felt a bit off from the night before, but they shook it off as just thinking about how their sons were upset and not the fact that something could be wrong now. So, they headed down and made breakfast like every other day.
Once Maddie was finished, Tom called out for his sons and the two new little hedgehogs to come down for breakfast. After a few minutes he called them again…then again…and still no answer from any of them.
“I’m going to check on them, maybe they’re all still asleep, tired from the emotional night we had last night.” Tom said, worry evident in his voice, Maddie nodded nervously, and motioned for Tom to get them.
After a minute of waiting, Tom came running down, he was panicked and looked close to tears. “They…they weren’t there Maddie! None of them! All that was there was this note…”
They sad at the couch in the living room and read the letter together, tears in both their eyes.
“To Mum and Dad,
I’m sorry. We’re sorry. We didn’t want to leave with no word to you both, so we’re writing this letter in order to explain why we left. We just want to let you know that we love you both so much and it has nothing to do with you two because you have been nothing but the best parents we’ve ever had, and we love you. We do. We left because we didn’t think you appreciated more of us here…we wanted to stay but were already too much of a burden to you all, I mean Knuckles breaks the house on accident multiple times, Tails has exploded the garage more times than we can count and I’ve ran through our walls just out of excitement.
You don’t have anymore room in the house and thinking about the fact that you’ll have to pay for more room or a new house is just too much for us, you all have done too much for aliens that aren’t even your real sons…
We’re not fit to be in the human world, we’ve created too many problems for you, more problems than happiness and love. Not to mention we’re not human, we don’t fit into the mould that is to be a human. We will always be alien creatures that will never understand what it is to be human. We will remain monsters in a world that doesn’t understand the monster, and for that we must leave. If we stay here then we will just be tied down by the nature of the humans who want to hurt us, we were left alone for so long that we cannot understand the concept of family and what it is like to be able to depend on others. Our family will now into two, perhaps our two broken halves were brought back together, causing the light to shine again. But for now, our halves must remain a broken light, two broken halves of a family we once was.
Just know that none of this means that we don’t love you. All three of us will always see you as our Mum and Dad and we will forever be grateful for everything you have done for us! We just don’t want to burden you any longer. And for that we say goodbye.
Goodbye Mum and Dad, We love you so much.
Love from your three sons, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails”
Maddie and Tom were now sobbing in each others arms as they finished the letter, Ozzie’s head was their laps, he was whining, wondering where his alien brothers were. Which only made Tom and Maddie sob harder as Ozzie couldn’t understand the concept of their brothers being gone for what seems like forever.
Their sons had left them, and in return left holes in both their hearts as they cried for their sons to return home to them.