Chapter Text
There is one thing about being a young hero that no one tells you, you lose those close to you in the battle. Be it your sibling, friends, close relatives like your father….or mother. Our heroes knew just that the moment the war started years ago, they’d experience all kinds of loss. Loss of comrades, loss of homes, loss of their entire people, but the worst thing they’ve ever lost were their families.
Many heroes lost their families. Of course some were able to get them back by all sorts of means, some were derobotized, others were freed from the Madman’s hands. Unfortunately, not many were so lucky, some were lost to the war, others could never return home, and others were lost even before the war began.
But within this world of loss there has been light in the darkest times for our heroes. Those who formed bonds with each other, stronger than anything in this world. Complete strangers who used to share their pain, now bound for life with their love and care for one another. Willing to put their lives in danger for them.
What happens if a being, who is fueled by the suffering of others, manages to corrupt one of these found families?
There are many stories of this nature.
This is one of many stories of the sort…
——————
Angel Island
A fun chuckle within a makeshift home by a mountain side, it came from Mighty the Armadillo of the Chaotix Freedom Fighter group. A young mercian armadillo, who found his way to the floating island and fights to protect his new home from the forces of Dr Eggman and the Dark Egg Legion. He was up watching old tv shows he and his siblings had set up in their old home.
He heard something fall to the floor, that’s when he noticed his baby sister, Matilda, and his little brother, Ray, had fallen asleep next to each other. What he heard was a book that Matilda was reading, which fell to the floor as she drifted to sleep. The eldest smiled at the sight, his heart was filled with joy as he watched the two children slept sweetly together. He never thought he would ever see them like this, not even in his wildest dreams. That dream was gone for so long, ever since Ray was lost in that camp all those years ago. But now it was real, here in front of him.
He turned off the tv and started to pick up the children, easy work for him. If he could bench press tanks, carrying two children under 10 was nothing. He walks to their shared room they had in this home, it was the only room there was here actually. They would constantly argue over who would sleep in the living room, which Mighty would always win cause the kids would be too tired to argue back and they end up taken to the room.
The red armadillo placed the children in their respective beds. His sister was first to be placed and covered by the sheets. He caressed her head letting her know she was safe and sound, he was content with a sleepy huff she gave. He tried not to chuckle at the answer.
Next was his brother, Mighty did the same for Ray, getting him into bed slowly so he doesn't wake up. Once he was done, he carefully removed the squirrel's goggles and scarf, placing them on a nightstand in the room.
As he tucked the boy in he saw him shaking and groaning. Mighty sat down on the bed and caressed the boy's head sweetly, thanks to this Ray's dream became more peaceful and he smiled in his sleep. A single word came from the boy's mouth as he slept.
"...Mom..."
Mighty was shocked by his little brother's sleep talk. Ever since they went in search for Matilda, Mighty has been questioning about Ray's parents.
Where were they?
Who were they?
And, if they were lucky,
Were they alive?
Just because his parents were dead that doesn't mean Ray's parents were too.
When he was able to get into the Eggnet back in Mercia, he searched for information on Ray's parents and led to a dead end. Same thing happened when he visited Matilda, when she had to stay due to unfortunate circumstances.
He had asked the Baron if he could search for any information about Ray's family, thankfully the Baron granted his wish and Mighty stayed the whole day looking in the Eggnet and in other documents for any information or whereabouts of them.
And both searches lead to the same place....
No where...
Mighty felt he let his best friend, his brother, down by not being able to get any information about his family. All he wants is that Ray can have a loving family, where he could be happy and safe, whether it's with his parents or with him and the Chaotix.
"You're ok, buddy" Mighty whispered to Ray reassuring him he was safe and that he isn't alone.
“I’m here and I'm not going anywhere”
Mighty placed his hand on Ray's head one last time before getting up and leaves the room. Stopping at the door to see the two sleeping children once more.
Mighty smiled and closed the door carefully, trying not to wake the children. Making his way back to the living room, he saw how messy it was, the armadillo sighed and began to clean up the mess as quietly and quickly as possible.
Picking up the pillows they’d used, cleaning the cups they used, picking up Matilda’s book and placing it on the table. He sighed as he laid down on the couch, content with his brief work.
‘Mom’
That’s the first time he ever heard Ray call out for his mother since the labor camp they were in. He remembers when they were in solitary confinement he heard Ray crying, calling out for his mom so softly as if he was too scared to make a noise.
‘Hey, little buddy, it’s gonna be ok’ He remembered what he asked him
‘Y-Y-You s-say that…’ the tiny Squirrel replied, his stutter being worse than present day. Truth be told Mighty didn’t know if he was stuttering due to his crying or not. ‘B-But w-what makes you s-s-sure that w-we’ll be ok?’
The armadillo couldn’t see him face to face due to being separated by a wall but he had a feeling that they sat back to back on the other side. ‘To be honest?…I don’t…but I’ll make sure you’ll be ok.’ He was never sure why he said that, probably just to calm him down. He reminded him of himself when his parents were taken from him and his sister.
Regardless of the reason, he was firm in that statement he told him. He wasn’t going to fail, like he did to his parents nor sister.
‘R-Really?’
‘Yeah, little buddy’
There was a minute of silence between them until the frightened boy spoke again.
‘Th-thank you, m-mister’
Mighty chuckled, ‘Mister’ was used more for his father than him. Of course, why would he be called ‘Mister’ if he was only 10 years old? He let it slide and smiled.
‘Sure thing. Say what’s your name? How old are you?’
‘Oh I-I-I’m sorry! I didn’t introduced myself yet’
‘Don’t worry about it…its not like we were brought here for a field trip’
That made the scared child laugh. Good, at least Mighty could calm the boy down. He remembers his parents words if he were to get caught by the Mercian king’s guards ‘be sharp, don’t show fear and remain calm’
‘Hehe, y-yeah….M-My n-n-name is Ray…It’s n-n-nice to m-m-meet you, m-m-mister’
‘No need to call me mister…you can call me Mighty’
‘Mighty…right…thank you’
Mighty smiled at the sweet memory of a dreadful time. Even after the events at the slaver camp, it was a time he needed to keep hold of the good that came from it.
His thoughts were stopped by the door of the room open. He got up and saw his little brother stepping out rubbing his eyes. Mighty sat up and looked at the boy.
“Ray? Is something the matter?” He asked the tired Squirrel. Ray looked at him, his tail flopped on the floor, which showed the armadillo how tired he was.
He only walked up to his brother and sat on the couch next to him. Ray leaned on Mighty and brought his tail to his chest. Mighty places a hand on Ray’s head and rubs his head sweetly. He could feel Ray trembling, he must've had a bad dream after being put to bed.
“Hey Bud, what you doing up so late? Are you here to kick me off the couch again?” Mighty asked him jokingly to his brother.
“N-Not this time…” The small squirrel answered with a tired yawn as he scooted closer to the armadillo. “I had a bad dream…”
Mighty sighed. “Yeah I figured…wanna talk about it?”
Ray only shrugged his shoulders to answer his question, which was odd for the boy. Mighty found it strange for him to do, he always tries to answer him as well as possible. When he gets a bad dream, he normally tells Mighty about them or just goes to lay next to him in bed to calm down.
“Ray?... Are you ok?” Mighty asked him with more worry in his voice.
“I-I-It wasn’t a dream, p-p-per say. M-More like…a m-m-memory?...I don't know”
“Ah…I see what’s going on sort of…” Mighty said “So…what was it about? Was it when Angel Island was under Eggman rule and the dingos? Knuckles being Enerjak again? The Sand Blasters?”
“N-N-No…none of the a-a-above…”
Mighty thought about it again, there's been so many things that all the Freedom Fighters went through that he couldn’t count them all. But there's one thing the Freedom Fighters nor the Chaotix went through that they did.
“Was it the Labor Camp?” Mighty asked, looking at Ray, who just curled more to his tail. Mighty tsked as he took Ray with his arm and hugged him tightly, assuring him that he was safe and sound.
“Oh Ray… It’s ok”
“I-I-I know…but that’s n-n-not all”
“Hm?”
Ray pulls out from his tail a small red collar showing it to Mighty, whose eyes grew wide as he saw the old and tiny accessory in his brother’s hand.
“I-I think I didn't had a-a bad dream…but I…I think I r-r-remembered w-w-what happened… before arr-riving to the camp…m-meeting you” Ray looked at the collar in his hand with dread, his whole body shaking as he was slipping away bit by bit, disassociating from the world around him.
Mighty noticed and acted quickly on it. Bringing Ray closer to him, tightening his grip on him slightly and began to speak to him calmly and peacefully.
“Ray…I need you to stay with me, ok?” Mighty said as he took Ray’s other hand and squeezed it, to ground him to the real world. “It’s ok to be scared of those memories, and more so when it's things like that. I’m only guessing that what hit you was…a lot… and that it hurt. You don’t need to tell me everything now and, when you choose to do so, you will…but please don't lose yourself within them.” Mighty held him tight, placing his head on top of his. Ray’s eyes fluttered as the drowsiness took over him little by little
“Just know that you’re not alone in this…The others got your back…”
Mighty felt Ray both shaking and stiffness go away.
“We’re home, where no one can hurt us. Away from danger…”
Ray’s tail fell as Mighty took him in his arms and hugged him.
“And know that Matilda and I will never leave you…no matter what”
Mighty smiled as Ray gave him a tight hug, which was reciprocated to the boy. The eldest noticed the time on the clock and it was very late for them, he stood up with Ray in his arms ready to put him to bed once more. Until a small thud hit the couch behind him, he turned back to find the red collar where he was sitting.
‘Must’ve slipped from Ray’s hand’
Mighty took the fallen collar and walked back to the room after turning off the remaining lights around. Stepping in carefully to the room, he slowly tucked Ray to bed, placing the collar on the nightstand next to his goggles. He yawned and stretched his back, it was his turn to go to bed. But before he would walk out, a big bushie tail would wrap his arm getting his attention.
“C-Can you sleep in with m-m-me?…please?” Ray asked half a sleep “I…I don’t wanna be s-scared by that a-again”
Mighty smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, buddy…I’ll sleep in with you…” Ray moved back so his older brother would fit in bed. Mighty covered them in the blanket and Ray added his tail on Mighty for more comfort, which Mighty always appreciates.
“Night Mighty…”
“Night…Ray” Mighty spoke with a tired yawn and once his head laid on the pillow, he instantly fell asleep.
Ray looked at him with a sweet smile, he slightly got up and looked at Matilda. The girl was so tired she never registered when he left nor when they came in. He gave a small and silent giggle then began to go to bed.
“Seems like…I won this time”
With that, the boy turned off the last light in the room. Moving back slowly to the bed, curled up next to his brother, and went to bed with a smile.
Happy being with his family here.