Chapter Text
There are many times in life where you feel like things are in your control. The routes you take to go to work, the amount of time you spend to do school work, what you chose to eat on your lunch break. Even deciding on which college to attend after you somehow earn a big scholarship. Things like that you can get by in life. None of those were happening for Tails today, unfortunately.
Instead of dealing with those mundane things, he was currently falling to his death.
Yes, you read that right.
Our lovable two tailed-fox was currently falling, due to his body and brain suddenly deciding to shut off midway when he was flying at a certain height, and was currently falling to his ultimate demise.
It didn't start off that way though, it started off like any other morning for him on a typical Thursday, making sure all his gadgets were charged overnight, raising the garage door to his lab to let in the early morning breeze due to this year's summer being more hot than previous years, and making himself some breakfast.
Well, making himself and Sonic some breakfast, since he was visiting after some time traveling and were going to be meeting up with some of their friends later on in the day. It was going pretty well, until the part where he had to fly to the location came into fruition. For the first time since he was little, trying to fly was a challenge.
Tails weaved back and forth as he struggled to keep up with Sonic. It felt like the more he pushed, the slower he got. He decided to move his body to go up higher, hoping that the wind current from the breeze would do most of the work for him. It seemed working for the most part, with it bringing him at a height and speed where he didn’t need to push as hard, only taking back control when it felt like he was going to suddenly drop.
He could have kept that up for awhile, if it wasn't for a small issue he knew was going to interfere with his plan, and that came up not 5 seconds after he had predicted it.
“You okay back there, keed?” Sonic suddenly yelled back at him against the wind.
“Yeah!” He could feel his voice crack a bit as he tried to answer back.
“It's just that you’re going a bit slower than usual! Not that you're slow in general, but today it's very noticeable!” He turned his body around, now running backwards with unspoken skill. “Do you need a minute?”
That made Tails shake his head, trying to keep himself awake and not make it noticeable since Sonic was now within eyeshot, his tails starting to feel more cramped by the second. “Nope! I'm okay!”
“You sure?” He said with concern, whether it was genuine or that faux concern he tended to do, Tails couldn't tell.
“Yes.” The response came out in an annoyed growl, banking to the left before he could even see Sonic’s reaction to it and continued to move through the tree limbs, carrying himself up higher until he was over the canopy.
He could feel his head lolling a bit to the side, but he still kept his eyes forced open for as long as he could. It was only when he decided closed his eyes since they felt like they were dry and protect them against the wind was when his body finally lost the fight against the exhaustion.
Which brings us back to our regularly scheduled read of Tails falling to his imminent death due to his mental gas tank going to zero in record time.
Which would be the case if he didn't snap himself awake at the very last second before he crashed face first into the sharp, pointy branches of the treetops and did an unceremoniously yell while trying to get his tails whirring again. While they did move at his quick request, only to the extent where he was not only flying upside down, but backwards at his current speed which definitely didn't make him feel sicker than he already was.
Tails quickly turned his body around, narrowly avoiding a thick branch that would have left a nasty bruise on the side of his head, not accounting for the even higher branch that hit him right in the gut, stopping him mid-flight and starting his descent to the ground once again. Flailing his arms, he tried to grab onto anything to hold onto, but each time he did was just out of reach as he continued to fall. With a final push of strength, his tails moved just enough to launch himself forward and quickly shifted his direction to the left as a huge tree trunk blocked his initial course, gradually decreasing his speed as he got closer to the ground below.
Tails stumbled over his feet as he felt his double appendages finally give out from exhaustion, making him nearly crash to the dirt beneath him. Resting on a knee, he rubbed his fingers against his eyes to get the leftover sleep from them as his eyesight was getting a bit blurry. It seemed like the fatigue was finally catching up with him despite the short naps mixed in those cups of coffee that Sonic will definitely notice have gone missing in due time. The insane reasoning for that was because of an upcoming event that was going to start later today within the night.
The Hyperionis Outburst, aka the Hyperion Shower, that was named after the Titan of heavenly light, highlighting its brilliance and bright light, was going to be visible with the clear, cloudless skies and wouldn’t be seen again for another 59 years. A perfect way to celebrate the end of the summer season in his opinion. Hopefully he can stay awake enough to see it with his own eyes. He was tracking the route of the shower for weeks, trying to pinpoint the exact location that could have dark enough skies to see it without the effects from light pollution and making sure the phases of the moon wouldn’t interfere with it.
Luckily for him, that one place happened to be in the same area where Cream and Vanilla lived, not too far off from where their house was. Afterwards, it was just a matter of convincing Sonic to let him not only stay up late to see it, since he didn’t know about the late nighters, and planning out the afternoon with the Rabbit family and enjoying this life changing experience.
Tails moved his eyes around to see some of his belongings had slipped out of his pack during the mini tumble. It was mostly just pens, pencils and a mini notebook, but there was an odd amount of protractors that definitely was more than needed. He didn’t even remember packing one of those, why did he have four of them?
He sighed as he packed them back up into his pack. “Chaos, I must be more tired than I thought.”
“Hmph, I’ll say.”
A voice spoke up from over his shoulder, causing him to let out a high pitched scream and blindly swing his pack back towards him to fend off the sudden intruder. He definitely hit something as he heard a grunt as the bag hit something sturdy, quickly taking the moment to spin himself around and bare his fangs in a sloppy attempt to seem threatening, the growl climbing up his throat slowly dying away once he saw his accidental target.
The blue hedgehog stood a foot away from him, understandably farther than where he was moments ago, rubbing the side of his face, having a look of mild annoyance directed right at him. The cooler he was carrying lay on the ground beside him. Tails straightened himself up as he felt his cheeks start to warm up, looking down at the ground.
“S-Sorry.”
Sonic only stared at him for a second, pursing his lips and reaching down to pick something up, Tails followed his arm to see him reaching for his now discarded Miles Electric, brushing off some of dirt caked on the back of it.
When did that fall out?
“I think it was when you fell asleep while flying, bud.” Sonic said as he handed the device back to him.
Tails felt his face grew hotter when he realized he had said that out loud, really confirming the case that he was starting to get sleep deprivation and probably had seconds before he would receive a “scolding” from him about how important sleep is for a kid his age. Those definitely got annoying at this point.
Sonic made a face, looking almost offended. “You really think me saying that stuff to you is annoying?”
Dang it! He did it again!
He growled out a groan and sunk down the ground, scratching the sides of his head in frustration. A not-so-subtle “snrk” made him look up and saw Sonic’s smirk peeking out from behind his hand as he failed to hide it.
With a scowl, he grabbed a small pile of gravel near him and chucked it at the hedgehog’s legs, causing him to move swiftly out of the way as only a few pebbles hit their target.
“If one of those rocks ends up getting in my shoe, I'm tossing you in a lake.” He half joked, making Tails roll his eyes.
“Be thankful I didn't toss them at your dumb head.”
“Do that and you'll be put in air jail for a full hour.”
“I can fly, so that won't work on me.”
“You nearly crashed to the ground not five minutes ago thanks to your ‘flying’, so yeah it’s a definite air jail sentencing.” Sonic gently lifted him up by the arms, steadying him as he wobbled a bit. “I didn’t even notice you were falling until I heard you yell, by then you were already on the ground.”
”I was just tired, that’s all.”
”And why is that?”
Tails shifted his eyes up to see Sonic staring expectantly at him. He just gave him a shrug. “No reason.”
”No reason at all?”
He shook his head. ”Nope.”
“Huh.” Sonic tilted his head to the side, barely breaking eye contact. “Are you sure it wasn’t because you were tracking the meteors late last night?”
The small bit of confidence he had in that moment deflated instantly as he hung his head down. “…Yeah.”
“Figured that, You look like you're getting bags under your eyes.” Sonic cupped his face and moved it around in his hands, his brows furrowed. “This looks pretty severe for only one night.”
Tails let out a distracted hum. “It was a pretty long night.”
That response got Sonic to pause his inspection, eyeing the kit suspiciously. “Come to think of it, you’ve been looking pretty tired for the past couple of days now.”
Tails felt beads of sweat start to form on his forehead as his eyes looked away from Sonic’s intense stare.
”Pssh, I don’t look THAT tired, it’s just been really hot for the last couple of days so it's been affecting my sleep schedule.”
”We have air conditioning, Tails.” He deadpanned, placing a hand on his hip.
“Then, it was really hot if we had it and it wasn’t making much of a difference.” He shifted on his feet awkwardly as Sonic continued to stare at him, this time fully raising a brow. That was enough to crack before he got the dreaded look of disapproval. “Ok fine, yes I was up late.”
Sonic closed his eyes, breathing a long sigh through his nose. “Tails-.”
”I know, I know. I shouldn’t be doing that because I'm a growing boy and sleep helps with my development. But I had to! This is a phenomenon that happens once in a person’s lifetime and I don't want to wait for someone else to record or write about it and read about it secondhand when I could track it and see it for myself with my own eyes!” His voice cracked a bit, causing him to start coughing. Sonic tried to help by patting his back, but he shrugged his hand away.
“I promise I won't pull anything like this again, but I have to see it through. I put too much in already to just let it go like that.”
Sonic stayed silent for a moment, shifting his attention towards the direction of the path they were walking on that led out of the woods. Tails could feel his heart rate quicken as he thought of the worst that he could do, or even say whatever was on his mind that could make them turn around and go home.
In which concerning Sonic, is endless knowing how unpredictable he can get. Right when he was preparing to argue, he finally looked back his way.
”OK, here’s the deal. Typically I would put my foot down on this sort of thing, but today I’m just lightly tapping the break so to say. Because we made a promise to the others to meet up for today, we’re still going.”
Tails let out a huge relieved sigh, though it was interrupted by a light tap on his forehead. “But if I see you nodding off while walking or even sitting down again during the night, you’re turning in no matter what time it is.”
Tails felt his mouth drop a bit. He shouldn’t be surprised at this “compromise” that he was setting for him, it barely felt like a compromise more than an ultimatum. Especially since he was using his “parent voice” to make it worse.
”Yes I am, that’s how you know I'm being serious.” Sonic grinned.
Oh my god. He keeps doing that. He’s going crazy, he’s definitely going crazy at this point.
“No you’re not, you’re just tired. Or sleep deprived in your words.” He slung an arm around him, making the kit unconsciously lean against him. He didn’t realize how tired his legs felt until he did that. “So, do we have a deal?”
Against his internal protests, he knew this was a fleeting battle anyway with him feeling his energy draining further by the minute.
“Fine, it's a deal.” He mumbled out.
”You promise that you won't do this again?”
“I promise. In fact, I’m making a double tail promise.” He finished as he twirled his appendages out behind him, twisting them together until they couldn’t go any further.
”And when I tell you to get some rest, you’ll do it without arguing?”
”Yes.”
”Including tonight?” Tails attempted to roll his eyes but Sonic quickly poked him in the middle of his forehead to make him stop. “Enough with that sass, it’s a simple yes or no.”
“Yes. I agree with your dumb terms.”
”They’re only dumb to you because you didn’t make up the conditions for once.” He teased, giving him a quick poke to the ribs, making Tails squirm out of his grasp and glared playfully at him. Sonic merely gave him a gentle smile while grabbing his discarded bag off the ground, zipping around to pick up the cooler and other items that he had missed from before.
Tails held out his hand to accept the bag back, only to see Sonic shift it onto the front of his chest and get down on one knee, motioning a hand to his back. “Alright, hop on.”
Tails could only blink and stand with his hand still reaching outward as he looked at him puzzled. “Huh?”
“You're obviously too exhausted to fly correctly and walking will just make you even more tired, so I decided to just carry you until we get there.” He turned his head round. “It's still a bit until we get there so you'll be able to get a few winks in.”
“Are you serious?”
“I'm afraid there's no arguing against it, if that's what your next move is gonna be.”
There he goes using the darn Parent Voice™️ again. He was definitely using it on purpose this time. He could argue against it, despite knowing that his brother’s guard was already up for a potential one, but he was also pretty tired to even put the effort into one and was close to just sleeping while standing up.
Instead, Tails stood firm and crossed his arms as he frowned at him. “I'm too old for that now.”
He fought the urge to close his eyes and cringe at the way he said that out loud, the amused expression that grew on Sonic’s face didn't help either. “You're too old for what?”
“To…be carried.” He said in a softer voice, realizing how childish it sounded.
“Uh, since when?”
He mumbled a “I don’t know” under his breath, rubbing his eyes again as he did. Why was he being so difficult about this? He could use the rest and was basically given a free ride to take one before they got to Cream’s house, so why couldn’t he just take the offer for once?
It just felt childish to him, even though he himself was still a child. The last time he remembered ever being carried like that was when he was seven, afterwards it felt too embarrassing to be treated as such when everyone else around him was older.
He was almost nine years old now and didn’t feel like that type of thing was necessary.
It wasn’t necessary.
While he was busy contemplating, he didn’t notice that his body was starting to sway once again, this time actually going off balance and falling sideways. Sonic caught him without missing a beat and quickly shifted him so he was already securing his legs to hold. The strength to keep his eyes open was long gone the moment he was settled on Sonic’s back and could only rest his head against his shoulder and wrap his arms around his neck.
The smaller quills on his shoulder gently poked against his cheek, but not enough to where it hurt. His feet were no longer touching the ground and his body relaxed as the gentle motion of Sonic’s walking slowly lull him into a slumber.
“You good up there?” He assumed that’s what he heard Sonic say, he couldn’t even tell at this point.
“Mmm-hmm.”
That’s all he could mutter out before he completely blacked out and drifted off to sleep. Hoping that the real, true reason why he's been up for the past few days doesn't come back to haunt him once more.
He'd rather dream of nothing at all than to dream of that cold, dark beach that’s been haunting him again.
Just anything other than that.
❊~~~~~~~~~~❊~~~~~~~~~~❊
₊⊹₊⊹₊⊹
“Hello? Hellooo!”
She cupped her hands over her mouth as she looked around, squinting against the sun as it shined against her eyes. She didn’t remember how she got there, or even the destination of where she was walking towards. How long she was there for, not even recalling the moment she woke up.
All she knew that something was calling to her, a presence of sorts that called her towards the beach.
She did a double take. A beach? How did she end up here?
Instead of grass, grainy sand was now under and covering her feet and felt a cool ocean breeze brush against her face.
She didn’t recognize this beach, there was nothing else in the area that could help her with it either. The sand even felt different, it didn't feel warm and powdery like the beaches back home, it was clumpy, hard and cold to the touch. The color was different as well, instead of the overlapping colors of gold and tan, this sand was pale gray and spotty, seeing what looked like black rock-like objects hidden within the loose grains.
What on Mobius was going on?
Her eyes continued to glance around until a shape in the distance made her stop.
Was it a shape? No, it was a person. They looked small in height, not tall like the average adult. It kinda looked like a kid.
She focused very hard on them, it was another kid! and they were waving at her. She squinted her eyes, seeing that they were actually waving to themselves, as if to motion her over to them.
She went to move her legs to go towards them, but she stayed in one place no matter how her legs moved. It's like her legs weren't touching the ground even though she could still feel the sand around them. Her hand reached out to the kid, seeing them turn around towards her in response.
She still couldn't see their face but could see that their eyes were glowing against the fog, followed by their mouth moving. No voice came out as they did, but the forming of the words looked familiar.
“What? I can't hear you!”
They were saying her name. Why were they saying her name??
“Who are you?!?”
They didn't react to the question, only continuing to say her name as their body started to fade away into the fog.
Cream.
Cream.
Cream.
₊⊹₊⊹₊⊹
“Cream!”
The small rabbit jolted awake, a small gasp escaping from her. She blinked rapidly as the blurry view of her ceiling soon fixed itself and soon became clear. No longer did she feel that cold, dark sandy beach, instead she felt the warmth of her comforter and sheets and the softness of the pillow under her head.
She was safe in her room. Still at her home. She continued to lay there for a moment, the last image of whatever she was seeing still embedded into her memory as she tried to make sense of it.
Cream’s had a fair fight with nightmares before, some pretty bad that they prevented her from actually getting sleep and would return here and again. But this was different, it didn't feel like a nightmare she didn’t even recognize that place. It didn’t look like Angel island or Seaside Hill, Emerald Coast or any other places she’s been to in the past.
And yet it felt like she was there like it was a distant memory of a past encounter. Where was it, and who was that random kid?
She rubbed her eyes, pushing away her giant ear that was still covering part of her face. Turning her head, she saw Cheese still asleep in his little miniature bed on her nightstand, letting out soft snores. She pulled the covers over her head with a small groan to block the light peeking out through her curtains, it felt like she didn't catch a wink of sleep despite going to bed early last night.
Maybe she was just too excited about today to fully go to sleep, but even when she was sleeping all she could remember was that sad, sandy beach. Perhaps that was what kept her up?
“Cream?” A small knock at the door startled her, her mothers voice speaking through the wood. “Sweetie, are you alright?”
Cream pulled her covers back, sitting up and clearing her throat. “Yes, mother! I’m okay!”
Her response ended waking Cheese from his slumber who groggily glowered at her, due to the sudden volume she was speaking in, making her give him an apologetic look. “Sorry.”
The doorknob turned, Vanilla peered her head in, Chocola came fluttering in soon after and flew to a half-asleep Cheese and patted at his head as an attempt to wake him up.
“Are you still in bed? I thought you were up already when I heard you talking.” Cream watched as she tugged the belt around her house robe tighter, her mother tended to do that even when she didn't need to.
“Oh, you did?” She didn't recall hearing herself speak, but it wouldn't surprise her since she remembered yelling out in the dream. She looked away and tugged at the fabric. “It was just a dream I was having.”
Vanilla let out a hum, opening up the curtains. “Was it a bad one?”
No. That's what she wanted to say. She felt the uneasiness loom over her head like a scary dark rain cloud, like the one she had in the dream. Maybe it was some random occurrence, maybe it meant something else entirely. With the adventures she's been on in the past, both normal and dangerous, anything was possible. Her mother must have taken notice of her silence since she fully walked in and made her way over to the bed. Cream could hear the sound of her slippers become muffled against the carpet, their familiar blue color and shape coming into view of her peripheral vision.
The bed creaked and bent under her weight, her hand reaching for her daughters but still kept its space from fully holding onto it. “Honey?”
Cream closed her eyes, breathing in for a moment before forcing a fake, cheerful smile. “It wasn't that bad. I don't really remember most of it anyway.”
Vanilla held her gaze to her daughters, knowing deep down Cream wasn't telling the full truth. “But are you okay, though?”
Cream nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay.” She replied, still holding that look in her eyes, but decided not to pry anymore than she needed to. “Just come down when you're ready then, Gemerl is helping make pancakes with the blackberries I bought yesterday.”
That made both her stomach growl in anticipation and Cheese's eyes light up upon hearing that, even making the chao fly over the two, with Chocola following after him.
Gemerl had really upgraded his cooking skills over the last couple of months, everything he made went from tasting horrible and oily to tasting like heaven in the end, especially when he would experiment by adding additional ingredients.
“Really? Oh, I love his pancakes!”
Vanilla feigned shock, cupping a hand to her cheek. “Oh no, hopefully not more than mine.”
“No, I could never love them more than yours, mama.” Cream laughed as Vanilla nuzzled their noses together, ruffling the base of her ears.
“Thank goodness, I thought I was losing my greatest skill for a moment.” The two were interrupted by the two chaos coming in between them, Cheese landing on Cream’s head while Chocola still hovered above them.
Vanilla motioned her head towards the door. “You two can head on down if you want. He should have a batch finished.”
Cheese let cheerful “chao!” and immediately flew out the door, plowing through Chocola and leaving his twin in a dizzying state in the air. Vanilla effortlessly caught him before he could hit the floor.
“On second thought, I better help him make more before Cheese eats them all.”
Cream giggled. “He won't be able to eat all of those by himself.”
“Oh, yes he would and he has.” Vanilla shook her head with a sigh, pausing when she saw Cream still sitting in the bed. “You coming?”
“In a bit, I'm still feeling sleepy.” Another lie. She really hated doing that.
“Just don't stay in bed too long, okay?”
“OK, mama.” Cream gave her a smile, not realizing that it didn't reach her eyes this time, but Vanilla definitely noticed.
She sat back against her pillow, watching her mother silently and waiting for the closing click of the door before she kicked off her covers and quickly went over to her desk, scouring through the draws for paper and her art supplies. Slamming a paper down, the faint memory of the dream soon etched itself onto the blank sheet as she scribbled away, the details were a bit hazy, with all she managed to draw out was a small part of the beach.
What she managed to get of the random kid was the outline of their body and their glowing eyes, it still brought a chill to her spine even through the lighthearted likeness of her art.
Who could she even ask about this? Where could she even look into this? What sense could she even make of it overall?
So many questions yet no direct answers. Maybe Amy could help her by using her fortune cards, they usually help with telling stuff that happens in the future. Or for Amy's sake, deciding to use it on what outfit she should wear for the next day.
“Chao chao!”
Cream’s ears perked up at the sound of Cheese flying back into her room, happily holding and chewing on a pancake in his tiny arms, somehow managing to open the door while carrying an item bigger than him.
That alone brought a smile to her face. “Did you already start eating without me?” She said with fake betrayal in her voice, crossing her arms.
The chao merely nodded, the dot on his head turning into a heart as he took another bite, making nomming noises as he did.
“Ok. OK, I'm coming.” She went to get her slippers, noticing Cheese leaning over the desk, his eyes curiously looking at the picture. He tilted his head in wonderment and pointed at it with his syrup covered arm.
“I'll tell you about it later,” She fought the instinct to cringe as some drops of the syrup got on the paper and motioned him to the door. “Come on, I wanna get some before Chocola and mom eat the rest.”
Cheese flew on ahead, Cream followed suit before pausing at her door, taking another glance at her desk. The paper was still within view, the presence of it still taunting her, beckoning her to go back into thinking about it again.
She clutched the doorknob in her hand, trying to swallow the lump forming in her throat. It shouldn't scare her, it didn't have to scare her. It was just a random dream, that's all it was.
Just an odd, random dream and that's what she had to accept for it.
As she finally left, nothing stirred in the now quiet bedroom, only the muffled sounds and chatter coming from the kitchen.
That was the case until a small sound came from one of the windows, a shuffle then a gentle shaking coming from the frame. The pane of the window moved and shook a bit before it slowly moved and creaked open.
Not a soul was entering through it nor was there anything even there, only the warm sunlight still peeking through the curtains. A slow whoosh flowed through the room, rustling the scattered papers on the desk, the drawing that Cream drew mere minutes ago moving more than the other sheets.
The corners lifted and fluttered, as if the wind was attempting to move it. A stronger gush blew through, moving the drawing off the desk and sliding onto the carpet. The soft wind continued to move the paper across the carpet to the hardwood floor until it moved underneath the wardrobe until it hit the base of the wall. The window then slowly closed, the latch clicked back in place. The room grew quiet once more, as if nothing even occurred.
❊~~~~~~~~~~❊~~~~~~~~~~❊
It's odd how time travels by when you go to sleep at night. Sometimes you feel the hours slowly pass by, sometimes you don't and you wake up as if it's only been 20 minutes when in reality it’s been seven hours. It definitely felt like the latter for Tails. It felt like only five minutes had passed when he felt his body being gently bounced up and down, interrupting his sleep.
“Tails.”
Sonic’s voice was close to his ear, too close making his head turn away with a groan. Sonic lightly jostled him again, trying to place his legs on the ground.
“Tails. C’mon wake up.”
“Nnno.” He let out what could be considered a whine, trying to sleepily hold onto one of the hedgehog’s back spines. Sonic winced at the pulling, managing to pry his hands off his spines, taking him by the shoulders and gently shaking him.
“You can sleep some more later, okay?”
Tails forced his eyes open, squinting against the light of the sun. Sonic feigned a pained groan as he held his back and cracked it. “Man, you need to lay off those snacks. You’re starting to get heavy.”
“Speak for yourself.” He said through a yawn. “Is that why you woke me up, because I’m too heavy?”
“Partially, but it’s actually because we’re here.” He walked a few steps ahead of him, making a grand gesture with his hands once they passed by one of the trees.
Sure enough, the view of the little brown mailbox and white picket fence that circled around the Rabbit residence soon came into view, followed by the sight of the familiar cozy, little house only a few steps away. The flower bushes had grown a bit larger and taller from the last time he was here and were trimmed very nicely, along with the lone swing that was hanging from the tree in the yard that had its old ropes changed to newer, stronger ones.
Seems that Gemerl had definitely kept himself busy with those tasks.
“We're here already?” He stretched his arms, letting out another yawn. “We got here quickly.”
“Eh, I wouldn't say that.” Sonic rubbed hands against his quills to straighten them out, handing Tails back his bag. “I was walking for a bit so I didn't wake you.”
Tails paused when he went to open the fence gate, his eyes widened in surprise. “You actually walked??”
“Yeah yeah I know, big shocker, I actually walked. Only for a little though, then I did a small jog the rest of the way.”
“Why? I could have slept through it if you just ran like normal.”
“I didn't want to risk you being woken up, or worse fly off my back because you were dead asleep.” He slung his hand on Tails’ shoulder. “Not that it matters, but I'm pretty sure you were drooling on my shoulder the whole time, so I figured I would get revenge for that on a later date.”
“Oh okay, sure.” Tails knocked the gold knocker on the front door. “I'll just tell Vanilla that you threatened me to toss me into a lake with cement attached to my shoes.”
That caused Sonic’s grin to wipe away immediately, the only expression he could read from it afterwards was mild horror.
“The heck? I didn't even say that last part!”
“Yeah, but she doesn't know that.” He gave him a grin so mischievous that it even rivaled the ones he would present to others.
“You know you really scare me sometimes.”
“Good.”
The two were interrupted by the sound of the lock to the front door unlocking. The door swung open rather quickly. On the other side was Gemerl, holding onto the doorknob with the same blank expression as he always presents to everyone.
He raised a hand, waving it in a circular motion. “Greetings, Sonic and Tails. You are both seven minutes late from your designated arrival time.”
Sonic chuckled at the robot's bluntness. “We would have been here sooner, but Mr. Astronomer over here fell asleep while he was flying so I let him get a few winks in.” He motioned his head towards Tails with a sly grin, who merely frowned at him.
Gemerl tilted his head. “His last name is not Astronomer, it is Prower.”
“Yeah, I know that man.” Sonic rolled his eyes. “We really need to get you a humor update or something.”
Gemerl moved aside as they both entered into the main room. “I do not need an update or upgrade, I am fully operational and ready for battle when needed.”
“Good, that means you can kick his butt for me if I ask you to?” Tails spoke up, half-joking, nearly breaking his moody facade at Sonic’s appalled expression.
“I don't usually “kick butts” to those who are friends of Cream and Vanilla, but I will do whatever task you ask of me, including destroying his butt by kicking it.”
“Oh, that's wonderful to hear.” He masked his passive-aggressiveness with a fake smile, making Sonic lightly scoff at him.
“You’re so hostile today. What, do you need to take another nap, you big baby?”
“The only thing I need right now is to not look at your ugly face, it hurts my eyes even glaring at you.” He demonstrated by covering his eyes with his hand and turning away from him.
“Oh, really?” Sonic idly placed the cooler down, quickly moving behind him and grabbed him up in his arms. “Well try this!”
“Hey!” Tails attempted to wiggle out of the full Nelson hold he had him in, but it was hard considering his feet were no longer even touching the floor. “I do not condemn this illegal hold!”
“Oh, NOW you don't like being carried? You can easily get out of this!”
“This isn't a hold, it's a kidnapper’s grasp! Put me down!”
“Never!”
Gemerl interjected. “Do you still need help kicking his butt? I can still assist you if you need it.”
Tails went to answer but Sonic quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. “Nope, he requires no assistance at all!”
Tails managed to throw him off balance by wrapping one of his tails around his leg, making them both fall to the ground but it didn't loosen Sonic’s grip. The two began to wrestle and pin each other down, being slightly mindful of the vase that was near them so they didn't knock it over, until they almost did and Gemerl had caught it before it hit the ground.
“Boys?”
The two paused in their tussling at the sound of Vanilla’s voice, both looking to see her standing in the doorway bewildered as she wiped her hands against a hand towel, with a worried frown on her face. “What on Mobius are you two doing?”
They both scrambled to their feet and dusted themselves off. Sonic moved towards her first, holding out the cooler, giving her a fancy bow like a classy gentleman.
“Got the order you humbly requested. Two cases of Chao cola and HoneyDew milkshakes delivered while they’re still nice and cold.”
Vanilla took the cooler, giving him a grateful smile. “Oh, thank you, Sonic.” She then turned her direction to Tails, who was trying to fix his mussed up fur. “How are you doing, Tails dear?”
“I’m okay, Ms. Vanilla, other than the scraps I just received.” He nodded his head at the perpetrator in question. “Thanks again for inviting us.”
“It’s my pleasure, Cream was so thrilled when you told her about the meteor shower. It’s all she’s been talking about for days.” She placed the cooler on the kitchen island, the boys entering close behind her. “I heard it’s supposed to be quite a beautiful sight.”
“It is! And the weather is supposed to be perfect for tonight!” Tails boasted, jumping when one of the mixing bowls near him started to move on its own.
A small ‘chao!’ sounded out from the bowl, a smaller bowl popped out of it before rolling off the small head of Chocola, who was covered in head to in leftover cookie dough, eagerly eating it off his stubby arms.
“Chocola…” Vanilla shook her head, gently taking the chao and wiping his body off with a cloth. “Not again, I swear I keep telling you not to do this again.”
“If it involves your cooking, I definitely don’t blame him.” Sonic chimed in, gently petting the chao on his head, earning happy chirps in earnest.
“You’re too sweet, but that won’t get you to eat the cookies any earlier than they can be baked.” Vanilla replied, giggling softly when Sonic dropped to his knees dramatically. Tails only shook his head while Gemerl merely stood there, blank faced.
“Your cruelty has no bounds, madam.”
“They’ll be ready in another half hour if it helps.” She finished cleaning off Chocola, letting him fly around free.
He pinched his fingers together. “A bit. It helps only a little bit.”
“My sincere condolences, dear.” She opened a window placing a freshly baked pie on the windowsill to cool.
Tails looked around, surprised to see the one member of the family was still missing. “Hey, where's Cream?”
“Oh, she's in the backyard with Amy. I don't think they went too far.”
Sonic’s ears perked up. “Ames is here already? Geez, did she spend the night here or something?”
“No, she just got here early. She wanted me to help her with a recipe for the picnic later.”
“Pfft lemme guess, her famous strawberry shortcake again?”
“It's actually a new one, kale burgers.”
“Kale burgers? Really? Wow, she's seriously lost her mind.” He mumbled over to Tails, making the fox nudge him to shut him up.
“Do you want us to help you with anything?”
Vanilla placed a hand to her chin. “You're fine Tails, but I could use Sonic’s help. I forgot to get some hazelnuts for this last dish, do you mind running down to the market and picking some up for me?”
“Absolutely! BRB.” He jumped up, zipping out of the kitchen and out the front door before hearing anything else.
Vanilla shot Tails an amused expression. “He's sure spritely today, isn't he?”
“If by “spritely”, you mean him drinking 3 cups of coffee before we even left the house, then yeah.”
“Sonic should inherit a healthier diet, otherwise his body will be sickly in his later years.” Gemerl spoke up.
“Be sure to give it to him in writing, maybe he'll listen to you if he reads it.”
“Noted, I will do this when he returns.”
“I don't doubt that you will.”
With that, Tails left through the back door into the yard and quickly found the girls sitting not too far away from the house. They both were sitting in the grass underneath the shade of the tree, both feeding a few flickies that were near them, joyfully eating the pieces of bread and fruits that they gave them. Cream was watching Cheese as he seemed to be in a conversation with one of the flickies, quickly holding him back as he started angrily shouting in chao language at it after it greedily swiped an apple from his grip. She turned him away, her face lighting up upon seeing Tails.
“Mr. Tails! Hi!” She raised a hand to wave at him, giving Cheese the opportunity to slip from her arms and launch himself at the treacherous flicky. Amy let out a yelp as the group of the birds flew up and around them, quickly covering herself and Cream with her arms to try and protect them both. Tails quickly flew over, seeing the girls covered in feathers and leftover slices of bread, Cheese had given up on his quest for revenge and was instead checking on Cream, who was shaking the feathers off her. Amy sighed as she got up, taking off the bread that landed on her head and finally locked eyes with Tails.
“Hey.” She said with almost no emotion.
“Hi Amy.” He nodded and gave her a small smile, which in turn managed to bring a smile out of her, even though she gave the sandwich she was previously holding now scattered around on the grass a mournful glance.
“That's the last time I'm eating something when feeding flickies. I didn't even have to take a bite of that dang sandwich.” She nudged her foot against some of the discarded toppings.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“It's not you that I'm mad at.” She motions her head over towards the main suspect in question, narrowing her eyes at the chao. Cheese noticed her seemingly vengeance glare, shrinking back a bit before he got up the courage to fly to her, nudging against her cheek as his own form of apology.
Amy stayed stoic for only a few seconds before the tough exterior melted away and she gathered Cheese in her arms, hugging him back. “Oooh. Fine, I'll forgive you this once.”
The three of them decided to start cleaning up some of the mess when a small boom echoed in the distance, a high whirring sound traveled through the valley until it got closer, a trail of dust moved up and down in between the trees until it stopped right in front of the house. Tails’ ears only moved as a reaction but he continued to clean up, both of the girls were still distracted by it.
“What was that?” Cream questioned.
Amy let out a hum. “If I were to guess, and it’s a very small guess, I think that Sonic just showed up.” As she finished, the back door swung open. Sonic stepped out on the porch, waving at the trio as he saw them.
Amy smiled and waved back while Cream jumped up and down, waving her hands above her head. “Hi Mr. Sonic!”
Sonic got over to them in about two seconds, being careful not to kick up any of the grass or dirt on them. “Hey guys. I would have been out here sooner but Gemerl was trying to lecture me on my eating habits and I was not standing around to listen to that mess.”
“I tried to warn him, I told him that you were too stubborn for your own good.” Tails joked, shielding himself when Sonic zipped over and gave him multiple flicks at the side of his head.
“The evil seed in you is growing too quickly and I don’t like it one bit.”
“There’s no evil in me-, would you stop that?” Tails swatted his hand away.
Sonic relented, but had to catch himself from falling over when a sudden weight around his waist nearly took him off his feet, but he merely smiled as he glanced down at the culprit in question, the girl’s bright honey-brown eyes happily staring up at him, her little tail wagging as she continued to hug him.
“I’m so glad you’re here! You've been away forever!”
Sonic chuckled, fondly rubbing her head. “Cream, I just saw you almost two weeks ago, remember?”
“Yeah, but that was such a long time ago. It felt more like it was years!” She groaned, hanging her head back dramatically as she did. Sonic hugged her back with one arm while fluttering his fingers against her neck, making her head snap back up and scrunch up her shoulders as she shrieked and tried to wiggle out of his grasp.
“What, you're gonna tell me that two weeks feels like a year now? What are they teaching you in school nowadays?” He held onto her for a few seconds before releasing her, making her stumble backwards and into Amy, who caught her easily before she could fall.
Amy tsked as she settled Cream back to her feet. “You speak a lot of talk for someone who didn’t even bother graduating high school.”
“Well, neither have you yet, so I guess we're both in the same boat.” Sonic hissed through his teeth when Cream suddenly decided to hang off his arm while placing her shoes on his leg like he was some blue jungle gym. “Oof, ok easy. You’re gonna squash the gift I got you guys.”
Cream gasped and immediately let go of him. “You got us presents?”
“Hmm, maybe I did, maybe I didn't.” He pretended to play coy, making Cream puff out her cheeks at his teasing. “I'm just kidding, here.”
He reached inside his quills, pulling out a small brown bag, inside were four sandwich sized items wrapped in clear plastic. Each one of them looked like white-breaded sandwiches that had multiple pieces of strawberries, blueberries and other fruits mixed inside of the dough of the treat, with a sliced peach-looking fruit being in the center of it.
Cream's eyes lit up as she jumped in place. “You got us fruit tarts!?”
Sonic quickly shushed her. “Yes, just be discreet about it, okay? Your mom doesn't know I got these.”
“Thank you!” She took one and began to eat one, her ears moving happily as relished in its sweet flavor. Cheese, who was receiving pets in Tails lap, immediately flew over to Cream, managing to break off a piece for himself before she could shoo him away. Sonic held out the other tarts to Tails and Amy, the latter graciously accepted the offer and ate the tart immediately.
“Oh, for once I'm glad you got something that's basically a snack food.” Amy said as she almost devoured the whole tart.
“I’m glad I decided to get extras,” He looked around the grass, taking notice of the food crime scene around him. “What even happened here?”
Tails sat down on the grass. “Cheese got mad at a flickie and tried to attack it and we got covered in food we were feeding them.”
“Huh, and here I thought Amy had tried to make her world famous kale burgers.” He grinned cheekily at the pink hedgehog, trying not to crack up at the very angry scowl she was giving. “I’m just saying, it was a bad idea from the start.”
Amy held her death stare for a few more seconds before taking a deep breath in, switching it to a forced smile. “You won’t be saying that when it’s all we have left to eat later on.”
“You forget I got super speed and can just get something myself, right?”
Amy went to answer back but Cream beat her to it, looking at Sonic with sad eyes and her lip pouting. “But I made a special pie by myself today for the picnic. Did you not wanna try it?”
Sonic's smug grin dropped, his ears pulled back upon Cream's expression. Aw crap, she’s pulling the sad eyes on him. Unbeknownst to him, Amy seemed to notice the guilt forming and went to move beside the young girl.
“Yeah Sonic, don't you want to try a food that this poor girl spent hours working on for us to eat during the picnic like a good friend that you are?”
“I never said that I wouldn't-.”
Tails moved on the other side, joining in on the guilt trip. “Yeah, what kind of friend would you be if you refused to consume such a homemade delicacy?”
He narrowed his eyes at both of them, even more so once Cream noticed what they were doing and changed her expression to match theirs. “You all are so evil.”
“Not as evil as you refusing to eat this poor child’s dish, you absolute monster.”
“Really Ames?”
“Yes really, you need to feel that shame you've brought on yourself.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Amy! Cream!” The group saw Vanilla peering her head out from the kitchen window. “It's almost time to go! Come on in, we need to change before we leave!”
“Okay!” “Coming!”
The girls got up and ran off before the boys could even ask what Vanilla was talking about, racing across the lawn and into the house, leaving the two by themselves to their lonesome. Tails, trying to find something to ease his boredom, began plucking and tugged at the blades of grass, twirling around each strand around his fingers. Sonic chose to sit back against the trunk of the tree, closing his eyes blissfully, taking in a gentle breeze blowing by.
Tails glanced back at his brother a few times every couple of seconds, expecting him to peek an eye open at him to show that he didn’t fall asleep as quickly as he seemed, but the hedgehog’s eyes still remained closed and relaxed. He didn’t want to admit it but he envied him. The skill to just find whatever area or stable surface that he can and just take a quick snooze right there and then. And here he was, feeling anxious and nervous jitters to where he was taking it out on the grass and could see the physical reaction of it through the twitching of his tails and he didn't know how to express it that didn't make it sound like he was going insane.
“Dude, I can feel you staring right at me.” Tails jumped a bit as he could see the green of Sonic’s eye peeking under a barely open eyelid. “It's honestly getting scary.”
The fox sighed as he turned away before he could see the same, annoying smirk on Sonic’s face whenever he would catch him doing something and make a joke out of it. Instead all he heard was silence, almost deafening silence if the rustling of the leaves didn't fill it.
“Bud.”
He heard Sonic say, fighting back the groan in his throat due to whatever he was going to lecture or tease him about this time.
Instead of that, he felt a palm of a hand lay across his shoulders, not in a manner to turn him around so he could look at him, but a gentle touch that felt more to help him ground himself from going too deep into his thoughts. His hand stayed there, even when he could hear the sounds of the grass crunching underneath a weight and felt his presence move beside him as he continued to stare out.
“You wanna try and tell me what's really going on?”
Classic move. He should have known that he was going to ask about this again, seeing through that obvious lie from earlier.
“Would you believe me if I told you?”
“I would if it's something that's bothering you, I can tell you wanna say it but you won't say it.” Sonic shifted his arm around him, pulling him in a bit closer. “Why would I not believe you?”
‘Because it would sound crazy’
“Because it would sound stupid.” He felt his eyes widen and fur stand up on his arms.
Crud, why did he say that? Why did he say it like that? He could have done another fib on the top of his head like before.
But he didn’t, and now he had no way out, other than Sonic pretty much keeping him there so he couldn't leave if he wanted to.
“Stupid? What on Mobius do you mean by that?”
“It's just,” He struggled to find the words again. Why can't he say it?
Just say it.
Say it.
“I've been having nightmares.” He laid his head on his knees, trying to hide his face away. That got Sonic quiet again, though he could feel his fingers flinch a bit against his shoulder, that counted as a reaction at least.
“I’m guessing they must be pretty bad ones then.”
Tails shrugged, rather nonchalantly despite him not wanting to shrug the feeling away like it was nothing. “They’re not that bad, they've just been keeping me awake.”
“If they're keeping you awake like that, then they are definitely pretty bad, buddy.”
He knew that. It was obvious that was the case from his lack of sleep and the sign of bags under his eyes.
“And what were they about?” Sonic probed.
“They were so strange, I'm just in a place that I don't recognize. It's dark and cold and I'm…all by myself.” He tightened his eyes against the memory he tried to make himself forget so many times before. “Sometimes it looks like a jungle, or a cave but most of the time I find myself on a beach. Just a desolate, cold beach with clouded skies.”
“It's…I don't know how to explain it, but it's just that every time I'm there, it feels like I shouldn't be, and I have no idea why.” He rubs his fingers against his eyelids. “It always gets me so scared and then I end up waking up in the middle of the night.”
He leaned back against the trunk of the tree, still feeling Sonic’s hand, albeit a bit firmer than before. “It's been like this for almost two weeks now.”
The expression he saw on Sonic’s face could only be determined as disbelief, even though he knew there was more stirring underneath his usually cheerful mask.
“Two weeks? Gods, why didn't you tell me?”
“Like I said, I thought it was something childish to make such a big deal of so I wanted to see if I could handle it myself.”
“What's with you and things being childish today? You're still a kid yourself.” He moved himself to face him more when Tails didn't look up. “You're not even in the double digit age yet.”
Tails shoved Sonic’s hand off him. “Yet I was able to handle everything else that came my way when I was half the age you were when you started being a hero! This shouldn't be the thing that makes me feel so helpless after everything else I've been through on my own!”
His panting that came afterwards was heavy. He didn’t say a lot but it felt like he was talking for hours on that thought alone. Whatever reaction Sonic had he didn’t allow himself to see, he didn’t want to feel the guilt of letting him see himself like this. The fur on his tails and arms started to frizz up as the frustration began building up. He shouldn’t get upset over this, he knew better to not get upset over something like having bad dreams about an unknown place that scared him. The all too familiar burning feeling in his eyes started up, he quickly rubbed his palms against them.
Don't you dare. Don't you start crying over this.
You're better than this, you're stronger than this. You're above crying over something this miniscule.
The internal pep talk did not help. Of course it didn't, he was basically scolding himself for something he couldn't control and it wasn’t making him feel better.
He felt his body tilt sideways, something latching onto the back of his neck. The side of his face pressing solid and warm. Sonic had his head tucked against his chest, gently rubbing his finger and thumb against the rim of his ear, immediately making his body go limp as he felt a wave of ease overtake him.
“Don't be so hard on yourself.” Sonic murmured, as if he was trying to not talk loudly even though it was just them out here. “Sometimes, things like this take time to work through.”
“I know that but-.”
“No 'buts'. If you know that, then that's all the more reason to take it easy and figure out what's wrong.” He switches from scratching his ear to rubbing his back. “But don't put that pressure on yourself to figure it out, it might end up making you worse for wear in the end.”
Despite his mouth feeling dry to even say anything, Tails managed to croak out the one thing in his mind. “I hate it when you're right sometimes.”
“As long as you're open to admitting that I'm right, then I won't argue against it.”
Tails sniffled, disguising it behind a laugh. “You're so annoying.”
“You forgot to add “incredibly charming and very intelligent” in the sentence.”
“I'm not going to tell a lie that's so obviously a lie.” He brought one of his tails up and smacked it against Sonic’s face, making the hedgehog immediately push it away, spitting out the strands of fur from his mouth.
“And you really need to brush your fur more.”
“Hey, I brush them.”
“Yeah, not enough.”
Before he could continue on whatever banter was about to be made, muffled sounds of voices coming from the house picked up in his ears, soon followed by the door opening with everything stepping out in their new, changed outfits.
Cream skipped out first, wearing a green suspender skirt with a white undershirt with puffed sleeves, a small straw hat with a strap hanging off her neck, with Cheese sitting inside of it while simultaneously slipping out of it. Amy followed immediately after, wearing a long, flowing yellow sundress with tan sandals and a brown sun hat with the chin strap secure around her neck. Her yarn woven bag hit against her side while she walked. Vanilla came out last with Gemerl and Chocola, wearing a simple dark gray pair of overalls with brown boots, and a small green checkered scarf around her neck. It was pretty rare seeing her in such a casual outfit after many years of only seeing the usual dresses she wears. Maybe this event really was bringing a change in certain things.
Sonic whistled at the trio. “Wow, looking good ladies!”
“You guys really got dressed up.” Tails gave Cream a little high five as she beamed at the compliment.
“Mother took us shopping to celebrate the meteor shower tonight!” She spun herself around, the green outline of the dress twirling along with her. She pointed to the embroidery flower on one of her straps. “I added in the little flower myself.”
Sonic gave her a thumbs up. “Very cute.”
“What about mine, Sonic?” She did a twirl just like Cream did. “Does mine look cute?”
Sonic immediately shrugged, looking bored. “Eh, it looks alright.”
Amy's eyes widened, placing a hand on her hip. “You could have put some actual effort in that response.”
Sonic held a hand to his ear. “Oh, sorry. That should have been expected from a guy as heartless and shameful as I am.”
“Oh! Don't you make it about that!” Amy gasped out, sounding mad but with a smile on her face.
“I am, it was just your mistake putting that in my head in the first place. So you have no one but yourself to blame for this.”
The two continued while Tails helped Cream and Vanilla gather up the supplies and baskets, motioning them to start walking ahead while he followed, walking backwards and watching as they didn't notice them leaving. Once they were all near the front of the house, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out to get their attention.
“Let's go lovebirds! We're waiting on you!”
The two hedgehogs finally stopped and saw that they were almost completely alone, seeing the others moving ahead without them. Sonic breaks into a jog, purposely slowing down enough so Amy could hear him.
“Hey-! Don't leave me with her! She's crazy enough for me to not handle alone!”
“Sonic, I swear I will-!” Amy went to throw a swipe at him that he easily dodges.
“See? That's definitely the start of a threat!”
❊~~~~~~~~~~❊~~~~~~~~~~❊
Floral Forest Glade.
The northern glade near the village wasn't too far of a walk from where the Rabbit house was. The area itself was usually not used for special occasions or even normal events since the population was pretty low and everyone would have get togethers at their homes or at the park in the central area. So on a rare occasion like this, the townsfolk decided to use this area as a way to view the Hyperion Shower as a way to bring the community together for the end of the summer.
The glade was rather beautiful from the handful of times he'd last seen it. There was a tunnel of trees whose branches curved inward as you traveled through them leading out into the open, a small wooden bridge that was over a creek that had flowing water and the view of the mountains in the far distance was a full on spectacle once the sun started setting. Luckily, they were going at a slow pace on the way that allowed him to enjoy the scenery itself, letting his mind wander while he trailed behind the small group.
Gemerl was with Vanilla, mostly helping carry the heavier supplies that she couldn't carry herself, impressively balancing the containers of food and basket with ease. Cream was skipping happily in front of them, in her own imagination as she balanced across falling logs and huge stones with Cheese and Chocola flew side by side, having their own little conversation in their language.
Sonic was in the middle with Amy while the Rabbits and Gemerl were up in the front. The two hedgehogs had been chattering about something, with Amy doing most of the talking while Sonic walked beside her, hands behind his head and casually nodding his head to show he was listening even though he was already tuning it out.
Having gotten quite bored with the conversation, he quickly zipped to the front and left Amy as she continued chatting, to which she sighed in annoyance, visibly showing on her face that she shouldn't be surprised. Tails decided to take one for the team and volunteered to listen to her previous conversation, she complied with some hesitancy knowing he was just trying to cheer her up but decided to go along with it.
While the two of them talked, Sonic had gotten comfortable at the front, now comfortable enough to start walking backwards, with a few glances shooting behind him to make sure he didn’t trip over anything. Tails could barely see what he was saying to Cream due to the distance, all he saw was him saying something directly at her, seeing her react by abruptly stopping and placing her hands on her hips, looking a bit offended, but Sonic quickly made a silly face and stuck out his tongue that caused her to start laughing, jumping from the rock she was balancing on and reach out to grab him, causing him to move as she attempted to follow him.
“Cheese! Chocola, come help me get him!” She called out to the chao, who quickly went to her aid and tried to latch themselves onto him, only to grab onto thin air as he avoided them both.
“Oh c'mon! I know you guys are faster than that!” Sonic called out, not dwindling his pace. Cream, Chocola and Cheese both tried to catch up, still trying to tag him but he effortlessly moved out of the way with each attempt. “I'm not even trying that hard!”
“Mr. Sonic, you're cheating!” She panted, a wide smile on her face.
“What? Nooo, I'm not cheating!”
“Yes, you are!” She went to jump at him, missing him entirely and flapping her ears to brace herself before she could hit the ground, landing and crossing her arms. “You're moving too fast for me.”
“Shouldn't be that surprising, but wouldn't consider that to be cheating,” Cream huffed turned her nose away from Sonic in mock anger, missing the teasing grin growing on his muzzle before he moved close next to her, holding up both his pointer fingers. “But this is!”
He started poking at random spots on her sides, causing her to squeal out and squirm away, only to back into Sonic’s attacking hands whenever she did. She managed to wiggle for only a second before Sonic wrapped her up in his arms, spinning them both around, all the while Cream was laughing her little head off. Vanilla watched the two of them as she walked past them, softly laughing behind her hand. Gemerl paused in his strut, his cold unblinking gaze caused Sonic to stop the spinning.
“I suggest you stop spinning Cream.” His head motioned towards her, still in a giggly state. “It is not healthy to spin a child her age around carelessly like that.”
“Oh, she's fine.” He waved him off. “I did this with Tails all the time and he turned out fine.”
“That's still up for debate.” The kit spoke up as he passed by the two of them, Amy nudged him as she choked back a laugh. “I'm just saying.”
“What you're saying is false anyway,” He adjusts Cream to one arm, with her wrapping her arms around his neck. “Besides, I needed to lighten the mood after hearing about how great oregano tastes when you put it on caprese skewers.”
“Don't you diss the art of culinary master!” Amy yelled out, half looking back at him. “It's very tasteless.”
“I can't help that it sounds too much for a hot food!”
She turned around and pointed at him. “You're too much for hot food!”
“That absolutely makes no sense!” That had both Tails and Cream laughing at her statement, the former letting out a shriek once Sonic suddenly moved her to where she was hanging sideways, still being held by his one arm. “Don't you start laughing at that! That's so rude!”
While he was distracted, Cheese miraculously flew down right on top of his head, covering Sonic’s eyes with his tiny arms, making him release Cream and feigned being blind. Chocola managed to get a hold of one of his outstretched hands, gently chewing on the fabric of the glove.
“Get him, guys! Stick it to the man!” Amy cheered the chao on. Cream moved beside her, gleefully watching her chao “fight” Sonic, who was now playing dead on the ground while they continued to beat him up. Tails decided to stop and watch the show with them, but decided against it when he saw Vanilla up ahead on the path, her face looked patient but her body language said otherwise.
He walked over and got their attention. “Alright, come on guys. I wanna beat him up as much as the next guy but we still have a ways to go.”
The girls followed his advice, with Amy quietly taking a quick photo with her phone before Sonic could notice. The hedgehog managed to get up, the chao still attached to him like adorable Velcro. Only now Cheese was hanging off and swinging from one of his head quills while Chocola was still chewing on his wrist while he attempted to gently tug him off.
Tails chuckled at the sight, earning a small glare from his brother.
“I'm glad you found me being mugged by a bunch of water babies so amusing.”
“They’re barely the size of your hand and yet they still took you down. Can't really be impressed by that.”
“You say that and yet you still can't beat me at arm wrestling after all these years.”
Tails went to retort, but the thought immediately deflated once he knew that he was right about that tremendously. “Shut up, jerk.”
“Keep trying, short-stack.” He gives him a pat on the head, moving on ahead to catch up with the others. Tails smoothed down his ruffled bangs, glancing his eyes around the scenery.
He took notice of how the rays of the sun were peeking through the leaves, lighting them enough to allow a light green glow to overshadow the ground and the nearby foliage that made it seem like a painting come to life. He could even hear the babbling of the brooke not too far away and could hear the flickies chirping to one another. It was one of the reasons why he loved visiting the countryside, it was always so peaceful.
He got so lost in the moment, he didn’t notice that a few pickies that were happily eating some acorns, suddenly take off and run as if something randomly spooked them, or the fact that when he looked in the direction they came from, he saw the person's eyes before he could properly comprehend it and locked onto them before jumping back in shock and nearly falling flat on his butt.
Quickly regaining his balance, he could still see the outline of their eyes, still staring right at him hidden in the shade of the trees, yet he couldn't see the outline of their body or even their face, it's like they were completely casted in the shadows despite both of them being in a well lit area. He felt the hairs of his fur rise up in alarm and his whole body stiffen up. He didn’t dare move towards them or even call out to them, all he could do was stand there as they continued to stare at each other as the unease continued to creep up on him.
He decided to take the chance and slowly opened his mouth, trying to think of what to yell out to the stranger…
“Tails!”
He jumped nearly a foot in the air as Sonic’s voice called him from further down the path. “Tails! Did you fall asleep again?”
“No! Uh, I'm coming!” He looked back at the area, flinching to see the person or whatever the heck it was, was there no longer even there. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, still not seeing any signs of what he saw, or what he thought he saw.
“I still must be tired, I’m just seeing things. Yeah, yeah. You're just seeing things”
Hearing himself say that made him sound crazy. Trying to convince himself of something like that was easier said out loud when he knew deep down it wasn't the full truth. But it’s all he could do at this point. He took another daring scan around the woods before finally flying ahead to catch up with the others.
Little did he know that his instincts didn't fail him and he just imagined the sight, that there actually was someone there that whole time, they had been watching everything and they continued watching him even when he disappeared from sight.
The figure's eyes narrowed, their brows furrowing. They backed up and slipped into the dark cover of the foliage, soundlessly disappearing from view.
