Chapter Text
Tails had recently gotten back from his first solo adventure. It gave him some questions.
Where did he come from? He didn't want to find that place again, especially knowing how he was treated.
But he doesn't remember anything of those early years except for meeting sonic.
★★★
It was the best day of his life. He was 4. He was just out, trying to get some food, that's when 2 other kids who were too old to be bullying a toddler.
Not an uncommon occurrence. Sonic told him the area was filled with superstitions. And when a fox was born with 2 tails, they didn't celebrate it. The opposite in fact.
Tails nor sonic knew what happened to Tails's parents. They could have died or maybe they just abandoned him. Tails didn't care to know. That was in the past and all he could focus on was the future.
But from what sonic could remember tails had been living in a hut he built himself just a bit out of town, and he was scavenging for scraps and books. Teaching himself to read fairly well for someone that age.
But he had to be careful for people like those bullies. Kids were the worst and adults weren't much better.
But that particular happened in a flash, one day he was getting beaten up, his tail yanked, the next the bullies fell on their butts and got their tails pulled. Then a blue hedgehog. A bit shorter than the bullies appear.
Tails had seen that hedgehog in the news paper. Having defeated Dr Robotnik a few towns over.
He was unknown, but all everyone knows is that it took this child to do something a small army could barely do. Kids were talking about him. And now he here is in a remote village Infront of them.
The hedgehog got into one of the bullies face and pointed at tails, almost to ask 'why the hell are you bashing him up?!'
Didn't matter what he was trying to communicate. The bullies didn't answer. Instead pushed the hedgehog away.
"WHAT THE HELL MAN?! Some here you are! Get away from us!"
One of them screamed, before being dragged by the other one. They ran away, tails between their legs.
The hedgehog turned back to tails and gave a thumbs up tilting his head, asking if tails was okay
"Yeah, I'm okay..."
The hedgehog smiled. But then they heard voices of adults. The hedgehog gestured towards them to say 'go to them, they'll help'... If only he knew. But then the hedgehog ran away.
Tails didn't want to go with those adults. So he ran into the Forrest where the hedgehog ran.
But he got lost.
According to sonic, he had found tails multiple times and brought him back to the village, but tails kept going back to get away. That's when tails found a plane. It's engine is smoking.
Tails has a special interest in planes. The one person that was nice to him was an elderly pilot who taught him to read and fix planes. But he died a while ago.
Tails wandered over and somehow fixed the plane. But the propellor started spinning causing a lot of noise. That's when the hedgehog ran over hearing the noise. A look of shock on his face.
He looked back at the fox then scrambled through a bag and pulled out a pen and paper and wrote something and went to hand it to tails but then stopped.
Sonic had mentioned that he didn't think tails could read so he was wondering how to communicate as he was mute back then.
But tails looked at the notebook which said 'did you fix this all by yourself?'
"Yes... I like planes... And yours is cool"
The hedgehog looked at tails, surprised a child this small could read.
He then wrote 'Whats your name? And how old are you?'
"Everyone calls me miles prower... I don't know if that's my name or a pun the town uses to make fun of me... But everyone calls me tails... To make fun of me... And I'm 4"
The hedgehog was surprised. But then it started to rain. He wrote 'I'm sonic. Sonic the hedgehog, where are your parents?'
According to sonic tails just started sobbing and he slowly gathered information out of tails, why he was bullied and that he didn't have a family. That's when sonic asked, 'want to join me on my adventures?'
And like that, sonic practically adopted tails. Raised him.
★★★
Tails got to his workshop to see sonic there to greet him.
"Heya bud how did it go?" He asked. For a while tails yapps about his adventures. Then there's a pause.
"Now that I'm older is there anything you'd want to tell me that you couldn't tell me before?"
"What do you mean? What brought this question?" Sonic asked.
"While I was on my adventure, something happened that got me curious about where I came from. Before you. I don't want to find them or anything. But I just... Want to know"
Sonic pauses for a moment.
"I'm pretty sure I've told you everything I remember about it. I guess after a while I went around your island seeing if anyone was looking for you but no one claimed you as their child. Past that I've got nothin. But hey, if you ever want to go back I'll take you"
Sonic smiles. Tails does too.
"No thanks. Maybe in the future but I'd rather spend time with my real family."
Tails hugged sonic who hugged back.
"I feel the same way" sonic mutters before looking at tails directly, "the chaotix are helping to hoast a BBQ at vanilla's house tonight if you wanted to come."
"Yeah! It would be great to see everyone again. I'm just going to take a small nap first. Wake me when it's time to get ready"
"Right o bro" sonic gives a thumbs up.
★★★
Sonic watches tails go to his room. He sits back. That conversation got him thinking of that day, and those leading up to meeting the best thing that's ever happened to him.
Sonic doesn't know where he came from. All he remembered that whatever left him alone with no family and home was so bad that it was repressed and left him mute.
The world was no help either. He doesn't remember much of his childhood. Only his name, his speed and how to write.
He'd been completely alone for a few years, surviving which went about as well as a small child who took care of themselves while being homeless would. Quills matted, improper diet and he was sick all the time.
He had gotten some ideas about his childhood from a recent folder he found on an Eggman USB that had notes about the hedgehog the moment Eggman had met him.
Apparently he found some robots with chewed wires. Then flickies released. Then he came face to face with sonic for the first time. And sonic won.
Since then he'd been toying around with him, building obbies and taking the name sonic used to mock him. That was until he realised sonic was a genuine threat.
He tried again and again to defeat sonic but even when Eggman had the upper hand he couldn't quite do it.
He researched sonic, finding that he was about 7 at the time but he was too small for that. Sonic was probably the runt of the litter.
But he soon learner different as he tried to follow sonic home to destroy him there. Only to find sonic didn't have one.
The years went by. From what Eggman accounted for 3 years, he created metal, sonic met Amy. Yada Yada Yada.
Point is one day after a victory he was a lot further away from anywhere he knew. And during the fight his plane had broken down
He went to a remote village to with foxes to look for parts and tools. They gave him strange looks. Almost looking scared. But then he saw a kid being bullied by other kids way older than him.
Sonic jumped in and bashed him. After threating the kids they ran and he checked on the fox.
He then heard adults, turning around to see him. Figuring they'd help the fox, he ran. Every time sonic ran into adults it was bad. Especially here. Probably because they didn't know him. so he didn't want to be found by them after attacking 2 of their kind.
A few times throughout the day he found that same fox in the woods, and he brought the fox back to the village assuming he got lost.
Soon it was getting dark, he decided to cut his losses and head back to sleep in his plane. But when he got close enough he heard the propellor running. He rushed back to find the fox there.
After learning more about the fox, his name, age and the fact that he has no where to go, Sonic's heart ached.
He really wasn't in a position to take care of anyone.
Hell, he had to scavenge and steal to feed himself most nights. Though since he beat Eggman people had been kinder and gave him free food, but that was rare and he still couldn't give himself proper meals. Nor could he take care of himself.
But he couldn't leave this toddler in a place like this. So he reached out his hand, asked if he wanted to go adventuring with him.
And ever since then he'd been taking care of him. Sonic thought of how Robotnik took Sonic's name for him to make fun of him, 'eggman' and made it his own. He encouraged the fox to do the same and now tails is his name.
It's been hard and stressful. But he's so proud of tails and who he is today, and can be relieved that that's because of himself. Happy he didn't leave him at that village.
Tails is the most important person in Sonic's life, he didn't even realise how much he depended on tails being around to keep whatever anxiety disorder he has in check.
Since tails went away on his own adventure, sonic has been struggling to sleep at night, stressed about what could be happening in Tails's life, if he's hurt and sonic can't protect him.
He never voiced that stress though. But even if tails is 15 now, sonic will always see tails as that baby he saved from his abusive home life.
Sonic looks up and realises it's about time for tails to get ready, he speeds up and shakes tails awake.
"Time to get up bud"