Chapter Text
“Don't try to live so wise
Don't cry 'cause it’s alright
Don't dry with fakes or fears
'Cause you will hate yourself in the end”
- Wind, Akeboshi
“Heh, Knux, you’re better than that, and we both know it!”
Sonic’s voice rings out in the backyard of Wachowski household after he lands one more successful kick on his brother’s arm, Knuckles being too slow to dodge it. Tails lifts his head up from where he observes the computer programme he designed, which analyses his brothers’ improvements.
“Looking good Sonic! Your base power has increased by five percent from your last spar. Which is a lot considering that it has only been-“
“Thanks, dude!”
“But I wasn’t finished yet…” Tails mutters to himself, deducing that Sonic won’t be listening to one of his analyses anytime soon. He doesn’t fault him, though, he is trying to hold his own against the last echidna warrior, who fought to death with various monsters his whole life. On top of that, they are forbidden from using their chaos energies, keeping their emotions in check so that they don’t spark accidentaly is a hard task. Especially for Sonic, since he has less experience than Knuckles, his control over his powers heavily rely on his mental state. Tails recalls the moment they had the conversation with their dad, when Sonic had begged them to allow them train everyday, and not just when him or mom is home.
“Alright, I’ll allow it! But-“
“Yeah! Wait! But what-“
“No sparky powers!”
“But where’s the fun in that, Dad?!”
“Actually, it’s called chaos energy and I don’t think they can easily-“
“Sorry Tails, whatever it is called, I want none of it, or you’re forbidden from sparring without our supervision!”
“No fair!”
“What’s it, Hedgehog? You afraid you lost your only, very slim, chance of winning against me?”
“Nah, I can totally win against you, I’m a lot faster!”
“That only matters until my punch collides with your fragile body!”
“That’s what I’m talking about, Knucklehead, you won’t be punching me in the first place! No colliding whatsoever!”
“Guys, can you keep this enthuiasm limited to sparring, please.” Tom had intervened, and they had went out to eat food. Tails’ heart warmed at the memory. Despite the popular belief that young kids would forget small moments, instead keeping the emotions in their hearts into adulthood, Tails feels as if his brain has a separate storage reserved for his family. Maybe it is because he didn’t have any other memories regarding a family, or heartfelt moments with someone, anyone, so his mind is like a blank space. Still, he is glad that he found his family, and he hopes they have lots of time together to make memories he’d remember for as long as he lives.
“Seriously Knux, are you alright?” Sonic’s voice takes him out of his trance, and he worriedly glances at Knuckles, who grunts in response. His expression looks distressed, and he’s panting a lot more than usual. Tails looks over at the computer to somehow find an answer. The programme doesn’t detect any decrease in Knuckles’ base power, but he is shown to be falling into defensive a lot. Tails compares the data to the previous fights, and sees that this has been the case for the several of their latest spars, which parallels the rising trend of Sonic’s base power. The answer is clear to Tails, Sonic is catching up to Knuckles. Sure, Knuckles is a powerhouse, even without generating chaos energy, but the amount of power behind his punches only matters if it collides with Sonic, like the latter had argued before. Albeit less powerful, Sonic can easily pack a nasty punch or kick using his momentum and take Knuckles by suprise.
But that doesn’t really explain older boy’s frustrations, Tails thinks the boy would be proud of his brother, having declared that Sonic is a noble warrior and all, right? Maybe he feels under the weather today, and the spar is straining him. The thought worries him more, since Knuckles has a bad habit of not telling anyone when he’s unwell.
“Knux, you’d tell us if you were sick, right?” Tails says, and Knuckles frowns. Sonic backs away from the fight, awaiting an answer, but the echidna gets more annoyed. Sonic and Tails’ eyes meet, and they pass worried glances to one another in every passing moment Knuckles doesn’t answer them. Then, just after Knuckles catches his breath, he lunges at Sonic, who narrowly avoids one hell of a punch. Tails gasps, and Sonic chuckles to dissipate the bad mood.
“Dude, this is giving me flashbacks! None of ‘em are good. At all!” Sonic says, his voice trembling slightly, and he is exerting himself to avoid Knuckles’ attacks. The programme alerts Tails of Knuckles’ increase of powers. In fact, he is on the verge of sparking. Tails also notices Knuckles’ short breaths, his eyes are unfocused, and he doubts Knuckles recognises his opponent as Sonic at the moment. Not anymore.
“Sonic, I think you guys should wrap this up, quick!”
“Buddy! What a great idea! Right, Knux?” Sonic slides to a stop, and holds out his arms defensively. Knuckles halts in his step.
“What it is, hedgehog? Afraid you’ll lose?”
“Nope! No need to be afraid when it’s you I’m sparring! It’s all to improve, right?!” Sonic says, trying again to lighten the dark aura he can feel surrounds Knuckles.Tails is about to sigh in relief but red sparkles envelope Knuckles’ fists, making Tails doubt that the words got through to Knuckles the way Sonic intended them to.
“Then you must have forgotten who you’re up against!” Knuckles declares, and before Tails can interfere, he lands a punch on Sonic’s stomach, sending him to the other side of the backyard.
“Knuckles! Stop this right now! What is happening? This isn’t you!” Tails shouts while running towards Sonic to check on him, but the hedgehog waves him off. He glances worriedly at Knuckles, who is holding his chest, and clenching his jaw. He chuckles, but the sound lacks humour.
“You are still the same, hedgehog. Thinking you can beat me with your clever word plays. But you lack experience. “
“What? I just said I’m not afraid because you’d never hurt me! I wasn’t messing with you, Knux!” Sonic pleads, but Knuckles snarls, running up to Sonic, who has no choice but to kick him across the face with his lightning-covered leg. Knuckles sways on his feet, but doesn’t fall, and scrunches up his nose.
“Chaos, that should have hurt, I’m sorry. C’mon Knux, we should-“Sonic is interrupted by a punch delivered to his cheek, and he falls to the ground.
“You’re unskilled Sonic. No attack from you can hurt me!” Knuckles shouts, and Tails feels himself quiver. Sonic groans, and stands up, ready to face Knuckles. But Tais throws himself in front of Sonic, surely Knuckles wouldn’t hurt him too, right?
“Move out of the way, fox! This is between him and I.”
“What are you saying, Knux? What did I do to you?!” But their brother doesn’t answer, instead shoves Tails to the side, with more force than necessary. Tails stumbles, but doesn’t fall. He starts to get worried, and he can’t for the life of him make sense of Knuckles’ actions. He glances at Sonic, whose whole body shines with blue electricity, and he looks pissed.
Tails’ breath gets caught in his throat. Their eyes met, and Sonic realises he is shaking. Sonic hasn’t really seen Tails this afraid before, the glimpses of fear would dissappear from his sky blue eyes the moment Knux or him’d look at him, reassuring him that they’d protect him. Sonic figures they don’t look like his heroes right now. Quite the opposite, and the realisation angers him more. He growls.
“Don’t you dare touch him! He is our little brother, remember quick or I’ll make sure you never forget!” He rolles up into a ball and launches himself on Knuckles, who catches him with his hand. Sonic recognizes the scene they are in too well to his liking, and he can feel on his throat what could happen next.
His body is slanmed, hard, and Knuckles’ hand closes in on his throat, he can feel his pulse ringing on his neck as fingers threaten to choke him-
He shakes his head, no, Knuckles wouldn’t, won’t do that again, right?
Right?
The tension against Sonic increases, but he pushes against it.
“Same old moves, Sonic! Did Longclaw really teach you nothing more?”
“Maybe she couldn’t because your tribe killed her and orphaned me, remember?!”
“You are unworthy to be called that great fighter’s apprentice! You bring dishonour to her, and my tribe’s name!”
Knuckles shouts, and Sonic lets out a battle cry, pushing further against Knuckles hand, and Knuckles can feel his muscles hurt. Sonic’s quills hurt his skin, even with the protection of his glove, and he struggles to stand upright.
“Guys, please, cut it out, I’m scared!” Tails’ timid voice rings out, but both of them are deaf to him. So Tails takes it on himself to snap them out of it. He grabs the water bottles, flies over them, and pours all of the water on Knuckles, who turns to him for a second. Sonic’s force is too much in that second of carelessness, and Knuckles’ arm moves backwards, and Sonic throws himself to the ground. He unfurls, and Tails sees the tears strolling down his face. He quickly approaches Tails and looks him over, and embraces him.
“You’re okay, buddy. You’re fine. It’s alright.” Sonic whispers in his ears between sobs, Tails’ too shaken up to return the hug. His sky eyes are glued on Knuckles’ form, who collapsed on the ground, his quills wet, he has one arm over the other.
“Knuckles, are you-“He tries to ask, but the echidna scoffs and storms off into the house, effectively silencing him. He embraces Sonic back, who is trembling against his body. It hurts to see his brothers fight, especially when he knows how much they love each other. Sonic slowly tears himself away from the hug, he wipes his tears away, then sits on the grass. Tails collapses there too, a feeling of nothingness overtaking his insides. He doesn’t know what to think, he doesn’t know who to blame.
“Something is wrong with Knuckles.” Tails says without facing Sonic, and the older boy whips his head to other side.
“Duh. Figured when he almost killed me. Again.” Sonic says, flailing his arms in frustration.
“I don’t think he can think straight right now, Sonic.” Tails mutters, trying to be calm and gentle. He is aware Sonic is too sensitive to care about Knuckles right now.
“Oh? He could think straight enough to taunt me with Longclaw! Didn’t seem too troubled when he was insulting me, did he?”
“He did! Something is going on, I’m telling you!” Tails says with a tone higher than he intended to, standing up with frustration. Who is he angry at? Doesn’t matter, He knows he is angry at himself the most becuase he didn’t, couldn’t, stop them sooner, because he was afraid. What kind of little brother is afraid of his brothers? He feels his tears blur his vision. Sonic places an arm over his shoulder, urges him to sit back, and he presses him to his side. The affection breaks Tails into sobs, and he burries his head under Sonic’s arm. Sonic looks up at the sky while Tails cries against him, and sits straighter.
“He hates my guts, that’s what’s going on. He resents me for his tribe’s death.”
“No… It can’t be. He loves you!” Tails stutters, hiccups wracking his small figure, he looks up to Sonic but Sonic hushes him.
“Not anymore, bud. Not anymore.” He whispers, as Tails’ painful sobs rise.
They sit there in silence, not caring about how much time has passed, with occasional cries of either or both of the two interrupting the quiet. Tails feels his eyes itch from crying too much, and he is barely awake. Sonic hasn’t let him go for even a second, and his eyes hasn’t left the sky either. The darkness starts to fall, that’s when Sonic stands up, Tails right behind him.They enter the house, after a while their parents unlock the door, and they slowly make their way to welcome them. Maddie and Tom open the door with beaming smiles, huge packets in their hands, but their expressions falter when they see their kids. Maddie is quick to abandon the packets on the ground and Tails reaches to her, she answers him by taking him in her arms.
“Oh, baby! What happened?” She says, looking to Tails then Sonic, and Tom gently ushers Sonic to the kitchen since he is going there to drop the packets.
“Sonic, care to explain what happened? Where is Knuckles?” Tom asks once they are in the kitchen, and Sonic just shrugs.
“Dunno where he is. We were sparring, then he escalated it.”
“What? Are any of you hurt?” He asks, then looks over Sonic to find that he has a bruise on his cheek and stomach, his eyes widen.
“Why didn’t you show me?!” Tom says, gesturing to the bruises which Sonic acts suprised about.
“I didn’t even realise…Don’t worry, I’m fine. Nothing I can’t deal with. But Tails was so scared, dad! I… I felt like a monster.” Sonic explains, and Tom crouched down to his level to embrace him in a hug. A few moments past, and Maddie barges in the room with Tails still in her arms, a panicked expression on her face.
“Tom! Knuckles is gone!” Maddie says, tears threatening to spill. Sonic quickly breaks the hug, and Tom stands up.
“What do you mean he is gone?!”
“He even took the emerald and rings!” Maddie says, placing Tails on the floor then covers her face with her hands.
“He b-broke our promise… We even power-bumped on it!” Tails sobs, and Sonic places a hand on his back.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find that Knucklehead and drag him here myself to apologise!” He declares, and tries to rush out but Tom stops him in his tracks.
“Buddy, I won’t allow you to run around in this state. Where will you search, anyway? He could be at the other side of the universe and we’d have no idea!” Tom exclaims, and in that exact moment, his phone pings. He quickly takes it out, only to see a message from Wade.
Knuckles is with me. He looks a bit shaken up, and he says his arm is a bit sore. But otherwise he is fine. I’ll bring him over once we’re done talking.
“He is with Wade!” Tom excitedly shouts, relieved, then he remembers his son ended up in Reno the last time he was with Wade. Still, he figures it’s better than him being on a different planet. Probably.
His family collectively let out the breaths they’ve been holding, And Tom makes a mental note of thanking Wade for his incredible and almost comedic timing. Tails even hugs Tom’s legs with glee. He places a hand on fox kit’s head. Now that their oldest is found, Tom points out Sonic’s bruises to Maddie and she leads him to living room to examine him.
“Tails.” Tom calls out, and Tails raises his head. Tom crouches near him.
“Do you know what happened to Knuckles’ arm? He told Wade it’s sore.”
“Um… He held Sonic in air when he spin-dashed on him. Then I poured water over Knuckles, once his attention was lost Sonic’s weight made his arm move backwards.” Tails sheepishly explains, and Tom nods. They stand in silence for a while, Tails barely keeping his eyes open. He is tired from all the crying and adrenaline, it takes every inch of his willpower just to stand still and nor throw himself in his dad’s arms. He squeals in suprise when the man somehow reads his mind and takes him in his arms.
“How are you feeling?” Tom softly asks, he knows Maddie must have examined him with utmost care but his eyes search for any injury anyway. Tails shrugs.
“I’ve felt better.”
“Bet.But I’ll need more than that if I ever hope to catch a glimpse of what’s going on in that genius brain of yours, bud.” That gets a giggle out of the kid and his muzzle gets pinker, which makes Tom grin.
“I… There was something wrong with Knux.The way he talked, his posture… It all reminded me of when he was…”
“Your enemy?”
“Yeah. And Sonic, I know he felt different too. He was so furious when Knux shoved me a little-“
“He shoved you?! Oh, he is so getting grounded!” Tom quips, trying to lighten the mood, but Tails looks at him with watery eyes. Tom gently directs his head so that it’a resting against his chest. Tails slightly gasps, but doesn’t protest.
“Please leave your brothers to us, Tails. It’s our job to help them, and you, feel better, not yours. Now tell me, how do you feel?”
“I… why does it matter? I’m not the one who fought.”
“Of course it matters! It must be hard on you to see two people you admire fight. I know how that feels.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, when I was little, ıt’d feel like the end of the world when my parents argued. They didn’t argue often, but when they did, it was like they went away and their evil twins took their place.”
“Were you scared?” Tails asks, his voice barely louder than a whisper and he burries himself into Tom. He places his hand on the kid’s back.
“I was. Anger brings out everyone’s uglier, darker feelings, and I’d be scared that the prettier sides of my parents were all lies, a front which anger smashes open. But I was wrong.”
“How so?”
“Because there is no ugly or pretty feelings, only real ones. The fury Knux felt, or the betrayal Sonic acted upon… They are real. We’re all trying to be seen, to get our feelings across. And sometimes we butt heads while doing that. But ıt’s okay.”
“How… How is it okay, when it hurts everyone?”
“Hmm… Good question. I like to think that as long as we love each other, healing will follow every hurt. We’ll help each other up from where we fell, even if it’s an endless dark hole or a vast ocean.”
Tom explains, squeezing the child to his chest, he hears Tails hum in consideration.
“That makes sense.”
“I’m glad it does. I was just spitballing and hoping for the best, honestly!” Tails lifts his head up, and tiredly smiles up to him. Tom’s heart warms upon the sight, and he tilts his head so that their foreheads touch.
“Thank you, dad.”
“No need. It’s what a dad does.”
“But you do it the best!”
“Is that so? It kinda helps that I have the best sons in the world- no, the whole universe!” Tom declares, and Tails’ namesakes flick with excitement as he lies his head on Tom’s shoulder and lovingly squeezes him.
“Should we go check on mom and Sonic?” Tails asks, and Tom nods, hurrying to the living room, where Sonic sits upright with Maddie on his side. Tom sits on the other side of Sonic, and places a hand on top of his head.
“Mom, is Sonic okay?” Tails asks, but before she can answer Sonic pipes up.
“Of course I am, buddy, don’t worry!”
“Sonic, I think Tails’ looking for a proffesional’s answer.” Tom says, turning his eyes to his wife, and Maddie chuckles.
“His bruises’ placements scared me, but thankfully no broken or cracked bones. They’ll heal in a day or two. No need to worry your pretty head, hon.” Maddie reassures, then ruffles her youngest’s head. Sonic pouts, and Tom cracks a smile at him, knowing full well that he’ll revolt, mainly for dramatic effect.
“See, I told ya!”
“But hearing it from mom reassures me more!”
“Now, you’ve hurt my feelings, am I not reassuring enough?”
“No. You’re reckless, care-free and over-confident!”
“Ah, c’mon! What is with my brothers attacking me both physically and emotionally today?!”
“Sonic, it’s not an attack if he’s telling the truth!” Tom interferes, which makes Sonic cross his arms.
“It is if my ego’s bruised!” He says, trying to sound hurt, but everyone in the room knows that he is acting. Sonic hardly gets angry at Tails, and never actually stays angry for long. His lips break from a pout into a smile, and he places his hand on Tails’ shoulder.
“I’m glad that someone’s keeping me in check, though.”
“No fair! What do you think I was trying to do, when you tried to play the hero every night, mister? Before you pulled the ‘you’re not my dad’ card? Now Tails does it and it’s okay? “ Tom quips, and Sonic groans, looking at Maddie as if saying ‘are you seeing this?’ with his gaze. Maddie giggles.
“Don’t look at me like that, baby, you had it coming.”
“Is that so? No mercy for good ol’ Sonic today, huh? I get it!” He says, and he knows that it’s obvious he is enjoying this. He keeps up the act anyway.
“Only the Sonic the Hedgehog would be this dramatic.” Tails says, groggily, the warmth radiating off of Tom is lulling him to sleep.
“Sorry bud. That mere adjective isn’t sufficient to describe the theatrics and flair your brother displays. He is the drama prince.” The family breaks into giggles, Sonic not even caring to keep up the act anymore.
“Drama prince? I like it. I’m sure Knux will- would too.” Tails says, and they fall silent. He looks at Sonic to gauge his reaction, a bit anxious that he has soured his mood, but he can’t help himself. For him, there is always red to their yellow and blue. Sonic scoffs, realising that everyone is waiting an answer from him.
“I doubt Knux’ll like anything about me anymore. “ He confesses, and takes Tom and Maddie by suprise. Tails is far from suprised, in many hours they sat at the backyard together, Sonic insisted that Knuckles didn’t like him anymore; resented him, even. But he is glad that Sonic told his thoughts to their parents, they can help him process his thoughts. Just like his dad helped Tails earlier.
Tom looks down at Tails, and figures maybe it’d be easier for Sonic to open up if he tucks Tails in for the night. Because Sonic cares too much about what Tails thinks of him, and always strives to improve himself to be worthy of Tails’ admiration. He is Tails’ hero, and unfortunately, he’s too well aware of it. Which results in him hiding his emotions under a mask until Tails’ out of sight.
“Alright, I think we’re past your bedtime, Tails.”
“But I’m worried about Knux. Can I just stay up until he comes?”
“No need. And Knux won’t be happy to find out he made you mess up your sleep schedule, right?”
Tails contemplates, looks at Sonic and after earning a nod, he accepts going to bed. When Tom and Tails’ are out of sight, Sonic deflates on the couch, Maddie looking worriedly at him.
“What is it about Knux not liking you, honey?” She asks, draping her arm over his shoulder, he pulls his knees towards his body and rests his forehead against them.
“Can’t I just go to bed, too?”
“You can, if you’re sleepy. But we both know you won’t be sleeping until you calm yourself down.”
“Or burn the bedding with my sparks.” Sonic says, with a chuckle devoid of joy, then lifts his head to face Maddie.
“Mom, do you think Knux resents me for his tribe’s death?”
“He’d have said so earlier if he did. You two came a long way past being enemies, why’d he start resenting you, now?”
“I dunno… Maybe he realised I was never worth Longclaw wiping out his whole tribe. Or that I was the reason the fight happened the first place. If I hadn’t exposed myself, then all of them would still be alive!” Sonic nearly shouts, and Maddie envelopes him in a hug, hushing him as he cries.
“Maybe you were careless, or didn’t think it through, but you were three, Sonic.”
“Why does it matter?” Sonic asks between sobs.
“Because children break things, Sonic, be it vases or rules, and it’s a parent’s job to pick up the pieces the best they can. And Longclaw, she did wonderfullly. I think, no, I know that she is resting easy, relieved that she could save you. I’m eternally grateful to her for saving my son.” Sonic starts wailing upon hearing her words and she takes him in her arms to place him on her lap, squeezing him to her chest. Once his cries subdue, he looks up at her, with so much love in his eyes that Maddie thinks her heart will burst.
“I’m grateful too. To her, you and Dad. All of you raised me, even at times you weren’t with me physically.” He says, and she can feel her eyes fill with tears. She smiles and wipes Sonic’s tears away. At that moment, Tom sits beside them, letting out a gasp and placing his arm on his chest.
“You started the waterworks without me? Man, I missed the only chance I didn’t have to hide my tears under masculinity!” Sonic wetly chuckles.and Maddie giggles at her husband’s antics.
“But dad, you cry all the time.”
“Now that’s a filthy lie and you know it! I’m the manliest man ever, I never cry!” He exclaims, but all of them know Tom is barely keeping the tears in after seeing his sons this devastated. Maddie flicks his forehead, and Tom whines between his laughter.
“I won’t allow you to inspire toxic masculinity in my sons! Not on my watch!” All three keep laughing, until the tears are no longer from sadness, but joy. When they calm down, Maddie places Sonic on the couch, and Tom places his hand on Sonic’s head.
“You feeling better?”
“I… I am. I still think I messed something up with Knux, though. Like Tails said, it wasn’t like him to escalate a spar like that. Still, I can’t figure out what I did.”
“Sonic, you’re not you without plenty of bad decisions and jokes that you take too far sometimes; but you wouldn’t not realise something you did hurt him. Even Tails didn’t notice, and he was an observer, he wasn’t too high on emotions like you two were. Maybe in this instance the only solution is talking it out with Knux.”
“Your dad is right, hon. I bet you just misunderstood each other until it started to sound like the truth.”
Sonic hums in consideration, then nods to himself, and Maddie lets out a relieved sigh upon deducing that he is convinced. She doesn’t trust she’d be able to bare seeing him blame himself anymore. Sonic looks up at her with half-lidded eyes, and stifles a yawn.
“I guess I gotta go sleep, too.” He declares, earning a nod from his parents. Tom attempts to stand up but Sonic waves him off, and dissappeares to the attic in a blink of an eye.
“Two down, one more to go.” Tom mutters as he checks his phone for any word from Wade, which he finds to be none.
It is going to be a long night.