I got inspired after seeing the footage of the new game and this practically wrote itself
Warning: Contains heavy Sonic Forces Spoilers

Night Snare

Tails swallowed thickly, staring up at the dark ceiling above top bunk. It was happening again. First the sound of sheets rustled in the bed below, followed by quiet yet pained groans that eventually lead to the string of incoherent words currently leaving the older mobian's mouth.

It had been a little over a month since both Eggman and Infinite had been defeated with the smaller Sonic that he had grown attached to returning to his own dimension. Two weeks since his older brother Sonic turned up at the workshop to stay for a while. Don't get him wrong Tails was overjoyed that Sonic had chosen to put his feet up at their home for a while. Ever since the fox had become self-sufficient Sonic gradually began to leave the workshop for extended periods of time. Whenever the hero decided to come home he would usually only stay from a couple days to a week. This had been the longest Sonic had stayed for an extended period of time.

Tails put it down to the nightmares. Ever since his big brother had returned he suffered frequent nightmares every night sometimes multiple times a night. It happened so often that Tails had memorized each stage down to a tee. Sonic was currently in stage three. Stage four would include thrashing around widely and mumbling words like "no," "stop" or "get away from me". Stage five usually started with a scream or a loud cry as Sonic would awake, jolting up into a sitting position where he would stay for a while and try to calm down his heavy breathing. The final stage, number six, was the blue hedgehog lying back down and going back to sleep. Sonic never spoke of the nightmares and Tails never brought it up.

With a sigh the little fox pulled himself up, climbing down the ladder of the bunk bed they shared as quietly as possible. Tails never liked to be in the room when Sonic reached stage five. The first time he witnessed it by chance, having stayed up late to tinker with a couple inventions in the lab. It was when tiredness finally got the best of him that Tails decided to hit the hay, only to come short as he witnessed the hedgehog from outside the bedroom through a crack in the door bolt up with a scream. Tails stayed where he was hoping that Sonic wouldn't leave the room, until the hero finally went back to sleep.

He hated it. He despised knowing that Sonic was in so much pain and knowing there was nothing he could do. Tails didn't need to be a genius to figure out why the nightmares were occurring or what they were about.

Sixth months Sonic had spent in solitary confinement by the hands of Eggman, supposedly tortured on a regular basis. He certainly didn't look affected by it after joining up with Knuckles and the resistance. Then again Sonic was never one for showing his fears nor did he really let anyone see that he was incredibly upset or hurt over anything. Sure he had his down days but a nice long run to clear his head usually sorted that out. Fact of the matter was, if something bothered Sonic he would move on forward instead of dwelling.

Tails again swallowed as he silently crept down the stairs towards the kitchen, his thoughts jumbled. It could be entirely possible that his brother had been pushing back his anxiety the entire time, putting on a front to help get himself through it all and give his friends the courage to continue fighting.

Having poured himself a glass of water, the kit almost dropped it when he jumped at the all to familiar cry ringing throughout the workshop. He had hit stage five. Tails sat at the small, rounded table in the centre of the room while he waited hopefully long enough so that by the time he returned to his bedroom Sonic would be asleep. Blue eyes glanced down at a small notepad and pen he had left there earlier in the day, having planned that he would be down in the kitchen at some point during the night. Picking up the pen Tails began jotting down ideas, brainstorming, coming up with any ways he could improve the Tornado.

Before long an hour had passed by without the fox even realising it. He stood up, putting his now empty glass on the side and making his way back upstairs. Pausing outside the slightly ajar bedroom door, Tails peered into the bedroom. Sonic appeared to have fallen back asleep. Sighing in slight relief the fox entered the room only to freeze when he bumped the door on his way in making it creak loudly.

A head full of blue quills snapped to the direction of the door. "Tails? That you buddy?"

Rats! Sonic wasn't asleep. "Y-yeah," he replied, trying but failing not to sound too startled.

Sonic sat up, giving his friend a concerned look. "You alright? What're you even doing up so late?"

"I could say the same for you," Tails countered.

The hero raised a brow. "Touché. But you know I don't need much sleep." He shook his head. "Seriously though, are you sure you're okay? You haven't been yourself lately."

Tails resisted the urge to repeat his earlier statement. Instead he took a seat on the edge of the bottom bunk. "Sorry Sonic, I can't help but worry about Sonic, er...the other one. I hope he made it home okay." It wasn't a complete lie. The thought did plague his mind from time to time.

A reassuring smile spread on the hedgehog's lips. "Don't worry pal, I'm sure he's fine. I bet you the other Tails is keeping an eye on him."

"I guess you're right..."

Apparently that wasn't convincing enough judging by the frown that crossed his face. "Wanna sleep down here tonight?" he asked.

Tails gave a meek smile. It was a tempting offer. "Do you mind?"

Sonic's face lit up. "Of course not!" He shifted towards the wall so there would be more room for the fox.

"Night Sonic," said Tails after getting under the covers.

"Night pal," Sonic responded, rolling over to face the wall.

It wasn't a rare occurrence for this to happen, though less so than it used to. If something bothered, upset or scared Tails to the point he was unable to sleep and Sonic found out he would always offer. Sonic's presence always brought the fox comfort. Tails smiled fondly as he remembered the days when he was much younger, sneaking into Sonic's bed after experiencing his own nightmares. The hedgehog never once scolded him for it when he woke up and eventually started offering a spot in his bed if he noticed something off about his little brother. Tails was thankful for that.

The smile remained on his lips as he fell back into slumber.

Until he woke up mere moments before his face smacked into the hardwood floor after receiving a heavy shove to his side."Wh-wha?"

Tails didn't even have a chance to start processing what happened when the hedgehog in the bed sat up suddenly with a loud cry. Blue eyes widened at the sheer look of terror on his brother's face, mouth agape whilst sweat dripped down blue fur. It was the first time Tails had witnessed it so close. To say he was unnerved was an understatement.

He remained seated on the cold floor, waiting with bated breath for his brother to try and calm down. It didn't take long before glazed emerald eyes wondered to the fox. "Tails…" he mumbled, his still half asleep brain trying to piece together what had just occurred. Realisation dawned on him of what the child must have just witnessed. "Tails- I," he covered his face with his hands. "Shit Tails' I'm so sorry, okay?"

Tails chewed the inside of his cheek, a bad habit he had picked up many years ago, as he went through the possible responses in his head. "No," he simply said.

Sonic glanced at his, obviously confused. "No what?"

"It…" Tails started, "it's not okay. You've been waking up screaming right from the day you got back home. And I'll bet you fifty rings that this started long before you decided to come home." He picked himself up, sitting back down on the bed next to the hedgehog, a pained expression on his face. "You're hurting Sonic. Real bad. And that hurts me because you're my brother and you're not explaining to me why you've been like this. Did you really think I never once heard you when you wake up? Heard you yelling in your sleep for someone to 'stop it'? To 'get away'? Do you think it's easy knowing that your big brother is so deeply disturbed by something he constantly has reoccurring nightmares and that there's nothing you can do about it!"

Tails looked away, rapidly blinking away the tears that had formed sometime during his rant. "Why wouldn't you tell me anything?" he asked quietly.

Sonic sighed, now sitting sideways on the bed with his back against the wall. "I… I can't, Tails."

"Why not!"

"Because it's hard telling your little brother that you were tortured for six months straight! And even after breaking free I still can't escape because every time I close my eyes all I see is-" Sonic cut himself off, gritting his teeth and glaring down at the bed sheets.

Tails' eyes were also downcast, ears folded back. How could he be so stupid? Even if it had been a mere rumour he heard whispering around the resistance base of course it would be difficult for Sonic to talk about it. But they weren't mere rumours at all. It had actually happened. Sonic, his big heroic brother, had gone through something so traumatising that Tails couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like. "…I'm sorry," he said after a short time had passed.

Sonic ran a hand down his face, sighing heavily in an attempt to calm himself if only a little. "It's… not your fault Tails."

The fox leaned against the back wall next to the hedgehog. He looked up at him and asked, "Do you wanna...?"

"No," Sonic quickly dismissed. "It's really not a nice thing to talk about."

A few seconds passed.

"Every day?"

A few more passed.

"Sometimes twice. Thrice." Sonic brought his knees up to his chest and rested his chin atop of them. "Sometimes I lost count."

With a shiver Tails pulled the covers over them a little. "I can't imagine what it must've been like. You looked so confident while we fighting though. Like it didn't even affect you all."

Sonic scoffed. "Are you kidding? The first time I saw Infinite again after the rookie broke me loose I was shaking in boots. I beat Zavok up so mercilessly because I was so angry at how I let myself get in that situation in the first place. And right before Shadow reappeared, the real one, his fake tried to attack me and all I did was stand there and cover my eyes like a coward."

"First of all, you wear sneakers, not boots," Tails started, the comment earning a quiet chuckle from his brother. "Second of all, that Zavok was a fake, so even if you had gotten a little too rough with him it wouldn't have mattered. Thirdly, again it was a fake and thankfully Shadow turned up at just the right time."

"I still stood there like idiot," Sonic huffed. His demeanour appeared to be much more relaxed than earlier.

The fox yawned, the lack of sleep he'd been suffering recently had started to catch up on him. He leaned his head against Sonic's shoulder. "You are an idiot."

"Hey!"

Tails giggled, letting his eyes slip shut. "No one's blaming you for the way things turned out, Sonic. They're not pointing the finger laughing or yelling about how scared their great big hero is. What was it you used to tell me? Way back around the time we encountered Chaos for the very first time?"

A gentle smile made it's way onto Sonic's muzzle at the old memory. "It's okay to admit that you're scared," he recited. "Because even if you do, your friends are always by your side."

"Bingo!" the fox said tiredly. "We'll get through this, Sonic. We always do. Whether you want to talk about your dreams or not. We could always just sit and play video games or watch movies until you feel ready to go back to sleep after a nightmare."

Sonic bit his lip, wrapping an arm around Tails' shoulder. "What'd I do to deserve such a caring, understanding, awesome little bro like you?" he gushed.

"Don't forget smart," Tails added.

"Don't toot your own horn."

The two chuckled, leaning against each other under the covers for a while. That was until Sonic scooted across the bed and stood up. "What're you doing?" the child asked.

"I'm pretty much awake now. Think I'll go for a light sprint across the country."

"But it's still dark," Tails pointed out.

Sonic winked at him before reaching down to grab his shoes. "Plenty of time for you to catch up on your sleep."

Laying down on his stomach, Tails pulled the covered pretty much over his head. "Be careful 'kay?"

"I always am."

"G'night Sonic."

"Night bro."

I doubt that the whole 'torturing' thing was really as bad as I made it out to be in this fic, but ehhh... it made for some brotherly bonding. This is pretty much one of the first fics I've completed in years so forgive me for being rusty.

Thank you for reading u.u