Chapter Text
It had been a long time since the last incident, and while Tails didn’t want to admit it, he was bored. No earth-shattering catastrophes, no alien invasions, no dimension troubles; everything was just fine, and that was the problem. Growing up in constant turmoil, he thought he’d be happy for the absence of it, not crave it. Wishing something bad would happen just so he could be useful was…bad to say the least.
Feeling red-hot shame start to blossom in his chest, he sighed and dropped his screwdriver and traded it for a wrench that was lying just within reach. He tightened a nut on the underside of the Tornado, his beloved biplane (ok technically it was Sonics, but it was really his in practice) before dropping the wrench on the hangar floor.
There. Good as new!
He rolled out from underneath the plane and sat up to appreciate his handiwork. The Tornado looked beautiful, and he nodded in satisfaction. He knew to never underestimate the importance of maintenance.
There was only so much he could do with the Tornado though, and without a catastrophe that needed solving, Tails wasn’t much of an inventor. Necessity is the mother of invention, and all that. Pushing himself off the floor, he raised a hand to wipe his forehead, streaking it with oil.
Dammit. Would he ever learn not to do that? Tails started inspecting the rest of himself. Tousled fur, worn-out and dirty clothing…it was hard to remember to take care of himself when Sonic was out of town. Actually, when was the last time he’d eaten? He started trying to piece together when that was, but was interrupted before he got anywhere worthwhile. Someone was knocking on his door with hard, decisive knocks that implied that it was no trifling matter. It would have to be, to justify knocking on his door at this hour.
Was is the cops? Tails quickly reminded himself that he hadn’t done anything wrong (recently, at least), and was a little embarrassed that that was his gut reaction. He dusted off his denim overalls and went to answer the door. Maybe Shadow was pissed off at him for some reason? He couldn’t think of anything he’d done to deserve this treatment, but there was probably something. The knocks were getting louder and more frantic the closer he got, so he called out to whoever it was.
”I’m coming, don’t worry!”
The knocks stopped, and Tails could only assume that meant that they’d heard him. He finally made it to the door and opened it.
”Is it an emergen- WOAH!”
Standing on his doorstep was none other than Surge the Tenrec, face tight and serious. He hadn’t seen her much the past few years, as they’d (Surge and Kit, that is) moved to a different town. He had no real way of keeping up with them, but Sonic had popped by to check on them (discreetly) and it seemed that they were doing relatively well. Surge looked almost the same as he remembered her, with only small differences showing the passage of time. She was holding something large bundled up in her arms and Tails belatedly realized that it was Kitsunami, his old rival. He was passed out, nuzzled up against Surge like a child (although, he supposed he still was one), with a pained expression on his face. Tails may have looked like shit, but at that moment, Kitsunami looked worse. Way worse.
”Is he okay?!” Tails forgot about all the other questions he wanted to ask at that moment, panic hitting him at full force. The question seemed to tick Surge off.
”DOES HE LOOK OKAY TO YOU?! MOVE!”
He instinctually stepped to the side to let her in, not caring about her rudeness. They had bigger fish to fry. He followed her into the main living area of his house.
”Put him on the couch-” Surge carefully placed the unconscious fennec fox on the cushions, and Tails continued. He needed more information. ”-what’s wrong with him??”
”Do you REALLY think, that if I knew that, I would be here with you?!” she snapped, before kneeling down to be by Kits side, facing away from him. What she said next was so uncharacteristically quiet that Tails had to strain his ears to hear.
”…can you fix him?”
Wha-
FIX HIM?? He didn’t even know how he got into this state! He needed to calm down. Surge was stressed, and him being stressed wasn’t going to make things better. Right now, he needed her to talk. He steeled himself.
”First I need to know what happened to him.”
She was still not looking at him, so the only way Tails could tell that she’d heard him was by the swivel of her ear. A tense silence ensued.
”That’s not what I asked.”
”Please Surge, I really need to know-”
”I don’t know, ok?!” she said with a little too much force, finally turning her head towards him to meet his eyes. ”He just- started deteriorating! He started moving slower over the course of a couple of days, and then he just-” She struggled to find the words. ”-collapsed! And now he won’t wake up!”
He’d just…shut down? By himself?
”Let me take a look at him.” He moved toward her. She tensed, clearly not wanting him anywhere near Kit, but she relented and stepped back. Grateful, he leaned over Kitsunami to inspect him.
Suddenly it felt weird to be so close to him. He hadn’t seen him in person in years, and while they had left off on a relatively good foot, his and Kits relationship was doomed to be awkward. Now he looked at the boy who’d tried to kill him several times, his first rival. Kit had grown a little, but was still short, and Tails noted with a dull pride that he was now taller than him, when they had been roughly the same height before.
The most notable difference between the Kit before him and the Kit in his memory, was his face. He’d developed new markings, not unlike Tails himself had (a darker brown on the edges of his limbs, his ears and between his eyes), but Kits were distinctly Fennec fox face markings. Two lines that reminded him of tear streaks ran from his eyes down his snout. It looked good on him, he thought. There was nothing externally indicating anything was wrong with him, save for the pained expression and notable sweat. It was like he had a fever, but when Tails put his hand on his forehead it was cool. Kit reacted to his touch with a pained grunt, and Tails removed his hand like he’d burned it.
”Well?” Surge was naturally impatient, and the situation wasn’t making it any better.
”He seems fine.”
Before he could continue, she answered him with a disbelieving huff and a pointed glance in his direction.
”Well, obviously he’s not.”
Tails tried to summon all the patience he had, since it seemed Surge had none. He took a deep breath.
”What I mean is, I can’t tell what’s wrong with him. I may need to- um…”
There was no good way to say this. He tried anyway.
”…open him up?”
He grimaced. Surge had stilled and was now looking at the wall with the biggest eyes he’d ever seen. She seemed to be mentally somewhere else and Tails started considering escape routes. Perhaps through the skylight…
”Alright.”
Huh? He looked back at her, stunned. She was looking at him like he was an idiot.
”Well obviously I didn’t bring him to you so you could give him a pat on the head and send him home.”
He supposed that made sense. The thought of him basically operating on Kit still seemed to upset her though, and he realized what a huge show of trust this was. Or desperation. Then, another thought struck him.
”You do know I’m not a doctor, right?”
He seemed to have a special talent for pissing Surge off. She practically threw her head back in frustration.
”Of course I know that! But what is a normal doctor going to do? We’re not- we’re not…normal people.” She said the last bit quieter, like she didn’t actually want anyone to hear it. Tails felt bad for bringing it up. However, she quickly tried to smooth over her vulnerability by acting nonchalant. She closed her eyes and put her arms behind her head in a relaxed manner.
”Besides you’re a ’good guy’. You’re like, practically forced to help!”
He blinked. She was somehow asking him for help but still spinning it like she was in control, and Tails couldn’t help but laugh. That was so like her.
”Yeah, I guess so,” he finally ceded with a smile.