Chapter Text
“Cherish this time with them, but don’t forget, you’ve moved on.”
He believed it.
Could it be self-delusion? Possibly, but he did—he truly believed those words.
He believed that the gaping wound had finally stopped bleeding, had at last healed, and while the glaring scar functioned as a constant reminder of what it once was, it was no longer painful. It was just… there.
He believed he had moved past it, that he could put his tumultuous past behind him and carry on. To live by and for himself, in a constant search for his purpose while honoring the memory of those who were no longer with him.
He repeated those same words in his head so many times he lost count; more than words, they were just meaningless sounds. But don’t forget. You’ve moved on. Over and over again, ad nauseam. Every time he ran, every time he used Chaos Control, every time he took out an enemy and gained those abilities that were only testaments to his foul nature. Don’t forget. You’ve moved on.
It was a mantra that became a statement of something that was becoming less and less credible.
“You’ve moved on.”
But his heart squeezed every time he passed by them.
“You’ve moved on.”
But her excitement over simple things in the world was infectious. Her nagging at his unwillingness in their shared classes, more than annoying, was amusing. Her arms around him were just as warm.
“You’ve moved on.”
And maybe he had.
Maybe he had moved on, but those bright blue eyes watching him from afar were the same ones he remembered from 50 years ago, and since then, that knot in his chest had not untied.
At first, he tried to keep his distance; he knew perfectly well that if he got close to them, something would snap, and with it would take away all that willingness and resolve that he thought was harder than a diamond.
She was attacked, and ignoring that the two of them were there—wherever that was—no longer was an option.
Many things crossed his mind. That, even if his goal was the priority, maybe he could... stop for a moment. Find a way to change their fate, or just spend as much time with them as he could. Cherish that time with them, so short compared to the eternity awaiting him.
But the faker defeated him and took the fake Chaos Emerald. This race was no longer against time, after all, in White Space, time does not pass. No, this was a race against the fastest being on the planet. He had to fulfill his duty before he realized the deception, and from that moment on, a countdown was chasing him at the speed of sound. Once again, he had been left with no options.
Everything unraveled as soon as he claimed victory, and those ghosts of his past began to fade away.
But don’t forget. You’ve moved on. Don’t forget. You’ve moved on. Don’tforget, you’vemovedon. Don’tforgetyou’vemovedon. DON’TFORGETYOU’VEMOVEDON-
He can’t.
It doesn’t matter if he is selfish. It doesn’t matter what he has to sacrifice.
He can’t lose her again.
...
And he won’t.
***
“What a day, man!” Sonic exclaims breezily, stretching his arms above his head to get rid of the remaining tension from sitting in the plane for so long. It feels so good to get his feet back on the ground.
Tails chuckles from the pilot’s seat before descending to the ground to stand beside him. They both set course for home, mere meters from where they parked the Tornado.
“Of course your birthday would end with the near end of the world...”
“Heh. Y’know, that’s my brand. What kind of party would it be if we didn’t save the world in the process?”
Though he’s quite relieved that it’s over and all ended well. Sure, they were stranded in a white limbo where the role of time was irrelevant, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t feel like he’d been running for days with no end in sight. He’s fatigued from so much movement, not to mention that going super has its carnal consequences. He could sleep for several days straight if he put his mind to it.
Good thing there’s still a world and Sonic still has a place to rest; he doesn’t even want to imagine the consequences of a collapsed timeline.
Anyway, it’s not his style to worry about things that didn’t happen.
“It would be a party that clearly doesn’t have ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ written all over it... Oh, you’re right, it is your brand.” Tails shrugs and opens the door to their home, stepping inside. Sonic follows close behind, inhaling the scent of the place. It’s been so long since he’s been here, it’s a bit nostalgic, but all day has been that way, “Feel like doing something else, Sonic? Technically, there are still several hours left before your birthday is over...”
His little brother informs him by checking the watch under his cuff. Sonic scratches behind his ear, puzzled.
“Time travel, dude. I feel like my birthday ended days ago.” He sighs and glances at Tails. He looks a little sheepish, but ever since the party ended, he’s seemed a little agitated. Sonic doesn’t get a chance to ask him if something is wrong because Tails beats him to it (and not many can do that, but Tails has always been special).
“We might as well go straight to bed...”
There’s something odd about his attitude, the tone of his voice, the way he speaks. He knows Tails isn’t telling the whole story.
Fortunately, having interacted with a much younger Tails has given him the perspective he needed, unlocking an important memory from when they were a couple of homeless kids traveling the world.
At the end of every adventure, Tails would always ask to sleep next to him.
And, despite being a rough child who detested physical touch, Sonic never said no to him. It was a habit that continued for years until Tails, on his own, decided that it was no longer necessary, that he had grown up and was too old to keep acting like a ’little boy’, to keep getting upset about nightmares. He even went to the extent of acting like he had lost them entirely.
Sonic doesn’t believe him, of course. Having nightmares when you risk your life so often is almost mandatory—even he has them, though he would never admit that out loud.
...Hold on a minute. Maybe that’s part of the problem.
Bah, he’ll deal with that later. Currently, he’s facing a different issue.
He’s not going to force Tails to do anything. It’s part of why he ended up forgetting about their habit, but if Sonic can do something to help him be calmer, it’s worth a shot.
As it turns out, he has the perfect excuse in the shape of a birthday wish.
“There is something I want to do before the day is over, by the way.” Sonic begins, and Tails’ ears perk up with attentiveness. He is obviously trying to contain his excitement, “Let’s have a sleepover!”
Tails blinks, confused.
“A... sleepover,” He repeats, incredulous.
“Hey! Are you going to judge the birthday guy’s wishes? Not cool, Tails.” Sonic disapproves, shaking his head, causing Tails to burst out laughing. He’s at least regained some of his spirits. Immediately, a weight is lifted off Sonic’s shoulders. It’s better that way.
“Okay, sorry about that. Mea culpa,” Tails exhales, placing a hand on his chest in a sincere apology, ”I propose making a pillow fort in the living room if that’s okay with you.”
“If that’s okay with me? That’s a brilliant idea!” Sonic slips an arm around Tails’s shoulders, forcibly pulling him close to roughly rub his knuckles on his head despite his little brother’s protests, “There’s a reason you’re the genius and I’m not.”
“L-let go of me! Sonic!”
Sonic ponders as they carry all their pillows and blankets into the small living room of their shared home; he rarely gets the chance to enjoy himself in this way with the people he loves most, so he makes sure every pore of his body is saturated by the sensations, by every laugh and every tear. He wants to cherish it while he can, to live this moment with his best friend to the fullest, as something that will never come back.
He believes everything has an end and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s part of life—moving so fast means you’ll inevitably leave things behind, after all.
“Did you like your party, Sonic?” Tails asks him. He curls up in his blanket and turns to lie on his side, facing Sonic. He sounds drowsy and his eyelids look heavy, but Sonic doesn’t blame Tails; it’s been a long day (and yes, it’s because time stood still for a while).
Sonic, instead of giving him one of his classic cocky smiles, opts for something calmer; something more sincere, opening his heart so Tails can see all that’s inside.
“Without exaggeration, this is the best birthday party I’ve ever had, and that’s with our dimension almost being destroyed!”
Tails chuckles, “Was it that good? Seriously?”
“Yeah, it’s not always that my favorite people are all gathered in one place, and it was a lot of fun,” Sonic admits, his voice also sounding somnolent. He guesses he doesn’t have much energy left either. “How can I not like it when I can make Knuckles do dumb challenges because he’s too proud to refuse?”
“And Amy made you cupcakes, Cream, Cheese, and Blaze made you a flower crown, and the Chaotix sang a song in your honor...”
“Uh, maybe that part wasn’t so good, my ears are still ringing, and Silver joining made it worse. The kid didn’t even know the song!” Sonic groans, rubbing his forehead. He turns his eyes to the ceiling of their pillow fort, “But overall, I had a great time, and I’m glad everyone was there.”
Well, everyone except Shadow.
After defeating the Time Eater, everyone present at the fight returned to the park where they were celebrating the party. Even Silver and the younger versions of Sonic and Tails returned with them, but there was no trace of Shadow.
Rouge felt the need to apologize; after all, she had promised he would be there, but she also told him that Shadow had a pretty rough day, so she understood if he opted to skip the party altogether.
He shouldn’t worry, but Shadow is...well, he’s pretty tough. He has consistently demonstrated his skills.
By Gaia, Sonic watched him die, witnessed him falling to the planet from space, and the guy came back without a scratch except for his somewhat faulty memory. They are two sides of the same coin: they are just as stubborn to die, and not just anything is capable of knocking them down.
He wonders what happened and where Shadow ended up after the final battle.
Welp, that’s something for tomorrow. Right now, he’s in the middle of a sleepover with his best friend, and he won’t miss it for the world.
“Thanks for everything, Tails. Really.”
He turns to look at his little brother, but he’s already sound asleep, a peaceful expression covering his face, and Sonic can’t help but smile goofily at the sight of him like this. He props himself up on his elbows to lean over and sit up. He grabs Tails’ blanket, pulling it up to cover him. Once tucked in, Sonic goes back to lying down in his spot and closes his eyes.
Yeah, this is the cherry on top. There’s nothing else left for him to do today.
Definitely the best birthday ever.
Nothing can ruin this moment.
***
Suddenly, all his senses kick back in, his spikes bristling even before he could assess the situation and the potential danger. Sonic jumps to his feet, destroying the fort and waking up Tails in the process. Tails asks him what’s going on, but he can’t answer, focused on that sudden urgency.
It starts with a glass falling off the table, then a book from the shelf. Sonic squints and turns to the ceiling, noticing that the lightbulb has begun to sway back and forth.
Out of nowhere, the floor shakes with impressive force, almost knocking him to the ground without any difficulty.
“What the fuck?!”
“S-sonic! It’s an earthquake!”
“Tails!” Sonic grabs his hand and drags him out of the house in the blink of an eye. He’s not going to stay in there if he can help it.
Very rarely does he find himself in situations where he doesn’t have a shred of an idea what to do or how to act—not always is the enemy he faces a natural disaster. It’s far less predictable than Eggman (and that’s saying quite a bit) and impossible to hit with his body curled into a ball.
Being outside should be best. They live quite far from the city, and the meadow contains almost no trees that can fall on them. This must be the safest option.
“An earthquake? Here?!” Tails questions. His voice sounds hectic, and Sonic raises an eyebrow. Is there another problem besides the obvious tremor that’s shaking the earth? By his own admission, his senses do nothing but scream ’danger!’ when things are like this—no time to reason, but it’s all Tails can do, “This isn’t a seismic zone! It shouldn’t be shaking like this... S-sonic! The Tornado!”
Tails points to the plane behind him, and his body suddenly spins around, his eyes expanding and his breathing quickening as he notices a crack beginning to open up in the ground, right underneath the Tornado.
It’s as if Eggman has split the continents apart again. Could that have happened? No, the scale is considerably smaller, and the doctor has just been defeated. He usually takes much longer to regroup and reattack.
It’s not important; his priority now is to keep Tails safe. He’ll wonder what’s going on when this is over.
Tails wants to run in the direction of his precious plane, but Sonic stops him, firmly holding his little brother’s wrist despite his protests. It pains him, it really does. He knows how much that plane means to Tails, but he’s not going to let him risk it.
“Let go!” Tails yells, using his namesakes to fly and propel himself away. It’s not enough to get his big brother to do as he asks, and Sonic takes a deep breath. The stress is starting to get the better of him. He hates feeling so helpless and lost in a situation. Usually, he can respond to threats immediately. Not being able to do anything is downright pathetic, but he really can’t help it.
“It’s just a plane, Tails! It’s not worth the risk!” he tries to convince him. Besides, Sonic would never forgive himself if something happened to Tails. He ends up tiring, giving up flying, and landing on the ground, but a jolt stronger than the previous ones causes him to fall to his knees. Sonic kneels beside him, taking Tails’ arms, more for emotional support than physical ones.
Sonic turns in the direction of the city and, at that moment, witnesses an entire building collapsing.
He freezes. It’s as if his heart has stopped. It’s hard to breathe. That...
No, he doesn’t want to think about what that means, or the consequences, or that there were probably people inside that building.
He’s so lucky Tails didn’t see that.
“Sonic! The rift!” Tails cries out, and Sonic quickly turns around, finally focusing on something else that isn’t the city’s destruction.
The rift doesn’t end up swallowing the Tornado; instead, it changes direction and hastily opens up the earth in a line heading for them without any consideration. This alarms Sonic, he grabs Tails over his shoulder as if he were a vile sack of potatoes and jumps in time to avoid falling into the depths.
As he hits the ground, his ankle twists, and he falls on his butt with Tails on top of him. Tails pulls back, gaping as he watches the crack forming, he’s almost mesmerized.
Sonic hisses in pain, leaning down to grab his ankle and squeeze. He’s used to falling on platforms that move, but none with this kind of erratic movement. Tails asks him if he’s okay, but he can barely hear him with all the commotion of the ground separating under their noses.
The earthquake stops after a couple of minutes, and Sonic can hardly believe it, still feeling it.
Maybe he’s the one shaking this time.
What the heck is happening now?