Father of Mine
f'ather n. male parent; forefather, ancestor; originator, early leader; priest, confessor; oldest member of a society.- v.t. beget; originate; pass as father or author of, act as father to; fix the paternity of –f'atherhood n.
There is more to a father than this…
A father is someone who stitches your scabs when you fall… A father is someone who tells you not to cry, because big boys NEVER cry… A father is the opposite of a mother and plays in the mud with you rather than cooking or doing the dishes… A father is someone who tells you that he loves you no matter what and that whatever happens; they will always be yours and nobody else's. A father is somebody who hugs you and tells you everything will be okay. Everything will be perfect… perfect… someday…
A father is a father, nothing more.
Fathers are people who don't follow the cruddy definition in a dictionary… Instead, they let their children know that they love them.
That is all that matters.
The young four-year-old azure hedgehog broke down into painful sobs as he looked up at the setting sun in the horizon… its beautiful mixes of pink and orange suddenly turning into a shade of gray right before his very eyes. The soft plains of grass rolled in waves towards the sun, making land itself look like an ocean and not a lonesome island in the middle of nowhere. The afternoon butterflies flew away, their dazzling colors of yellow and blue leaving with them; no longer bringing meaning to the evening…
The world was so empty.
Nothing mattered to the blue hedgehog anymore except of what was about to come… Of what was destined to break his already dwindling heart.
In the blur of his tears, he could see his father walking away. Not looking back but just walking. Walking away from him…
…so far away that the only thing the blue hedgehog saw was just a light blue shadow in the horizon.
And yet he didn't know why his father was going…
And it was a pain he had never experienced before.
He shook his head in a trance, wishing this were all a lie. That the world was a lie. That his father was still in the house with his mother and not over there… by the sun where nothing else existed on the world except a never-ending emptiness. That he wasn't leaving and everything; everything that the hedgehog knew right this very second, was all a lie. That the word 'empty' was a lie…
He let out a muffled cry, his hand reaching towards the horizon but never getting its grip around it. Of course, it was way too big for a child's hand to carry. To get the concept of… To understand.
'I don't understand.'
"NO! DAD!"
The blue hedgehog's small feet finally started to move, his old red sneakers scuffing up the dirt as if there was no other importance in the world than the figure who was leaving. He gave all that he had to his feet, pleading for them to go faster before it was too late. Too late to stop him…
"Dad! No! Stop!"
His father stopped as he turned around, dropping all of his bags senseless as he felt the wind slap him across the face; a sudden breeze coming over the world. Another shadow…
The running blue hedgehog opened his arms in an embrace as he seized his father's leg, nuzzling it and crying onto his father as if he was about to disappear at any given minute.
Any minute or at any second…
It never made a difference.
"Sonic?"
The four-year-old looked up at the sound of his father's voice, sniffling and still enfolding the leg in his arms. His ears twitched at the sound of his fathers breathing, making every second a torture for him. More tears streamed from his emerald eyes as he did, crying into his father's fur and pleading him not to go.
'Don't go… don't go…'
The empty world that enveloped Sonic was now hated… It was the world that was taking his father away. Or maybe… just maybe… it was him?
'I'm not… good enough?'
The small hedgehog felt two hands coming to the his own, two fairly large hands covered in perfect black gloves that were usually used when there was an event such as fishing or hunting…
They even had that same fishy smell Sonic loved.
The small hedgehog already knew what was about to come. It was a thing his father always did when the small hedgehog was sad or hurt. When he had ran too fast and tripped over his own shoelace… It was what his father always did for him.
A pair of arms came over the blue hedgehog's waist as he was pulled up to his father's eye level, his father's bright hazel eyes staring back at him with misery. The blue hedgehog choked back more tears as both of their eyes connected to each other's, both sharing a deadly connection no one could break. No words were spoken. The only sound was the wind, which was whispering reassurance to them both …
But none of which Sonic had listened to.
Refused.
'Dad? Do you refuse to be with me?'
Heartbroken, Sonic began to cry.
'Big boys never cried but I did.'
"Daddy! Please, don't leave! I promise I'll be better! I won't be bad anymore-"
The father held his son closer to his body, warmth coming over the small one who was lament. The father's eyes filled with invisible tears as he heard the proposition his son was making for him… a whole guilt trip that he had to travel.
"I w-won't run to the forest when you-u tell me not to-o! I won't talk to strangers like you tell me not t-to! I'll take a bath when I need to! I won't d-disobey!"
"…"
"I-I won't disobey! I won't-"
"Sonic-"
" I'll n-not cry! I won't cry anymore! I won't cry when I fall! I won't c-cry when you're ma-a-d! I won't cry! I PROMISE! I won't c-ry!! Please, d-don't leave me-"
The elderly hedgehog stroked his son's quills, letting the azure hedgehog cry into his furry, peach chest before he would tell him that he had to leave. He didn't want to… It was something that he had promised not to do when his son was born. To never say good-bye…
Because good-bye was like saying that you were never going to come back…
The small hedgehog refused to let go, not looking at his father straight in the eye nor letting him see the small crumbled piece of paper in his hands. The paper that he had made just a while ago for his own father…
The one who was leaving.
He looked over his father's shoulder, staring at the sunset before them as the brightened ginger sphere descended itself inside the world. His tears glimmered through the light as he looked at such a sight. The sun looked as if it was never going to come back up again… Like it was saying good-bye.
'Why wouldn't it? The grass was waving to it…'
"Sonic…"
The juvenile hedgehog finally turned to his father, whose light blue fur shined like the colors of the sky. He shook his head once again, wanting to bury his face in his father's chest but couldn't. He looked up at the half darkened sky then again at his father. He would give up the sky for his father to stay. He would give up the ground for his father to stay. He would give up his world for his father to stay…
Of course, such thoughts came from such a young mind.
The small hedgehog feebly wiped some of the tears that came up in his eyes, his heart bleeding in its insides and crying on its outs. He had never felt such a pain in his heart in his life, even if he was still in his youth. It was worse than a scab… There was no band-aid to fix it.
"Dad… don't go… I promise…"
His father sighed, clutching his son closer and closer to where his heart was.
"Sonic, look at me," his father demanded, his voice shaky and sad. The blue hedgehog obeyed, staring at his father dead in the eye. Deep into his father's eyes were the same images the blue hedgehog saw before… Himself.
It was painful, yet he managed.
"Sonic, everything you just said… You don't have to change-"
Sonic gave a confused look, his head still shaking; beckoning his father not to say good-bye. No good-byes…
No good-byes…
"Sonic, I love you the way you are and don't forget that. I love you the way you are…I just-"
His father paused, letting his son stare at him as he bit the bottom of his lip. He forced his tears not to show in front of his son.
"T-Then why are you leaving?"
Sonic stared at his father, waiting for an answer. He tugged on his father's fur, his eyes literally begging for a reaction. His father did nothing, and again they both looked at the setting sun. There were no more butterflies. Not one. The grass had stopped waving and became still. His father took a deep breath before again, he spoke…
"I have to leave because- I have business to take care of. The world is in a fight right now and I have to protect our world for it to end. Bad people are attacking and I have to stop them…"
"But can't other daddies fight?! Not you?! Daddy, please stay! Let the bad people win! Stay with me and mommy!!"
More tears.
"Sonic. It isn't like that. I HAVE to fight the bad people… Be everyone's hero. Please, be my son and take care of your mother-"
"Dad, but-"
"Don't wait for me. Let me go… Be my son and let me go. Be a good boy and take care of your mother for me. I have to fight. Sonic, I have to be everyone's hero…"
Sonic pondered at the word 'hero'.
"Sonic, don't think I'm leaving you because I don't love you. Don't you ever think that for a minute! Don't, because no matter what happens to me I will always love you! And wherever I am, you will always be my son!"
Sonic watched as his father's expression turned more and more depressing… His calm facial features for when he had tucked Sonic in bed, gone. For when he had laughed at Sonic for splashing bath water on him, gone. Everything was gone.
"Sonic, don't forget that! Look at me and don't forget it! Promise?"
His father held out his pinky to Sonic, holding him with one arm and staring as deeply in his eyes as he could. Sonic stared at the pinky, his emerald eyes examining it as if it was about to fly off his father's finger and run away from him…
'Daddy, the last promise you made was that you would never leave…
Can you look at your bags and tell me that you aren't about to?'
The sun was gone and the colors were no longer there in the sky. In the world… no where… The pink and the orange… the primary… they were no longer there.
Colorless.
Sonic then held out his own pinky, gripping it around his father's and giving a forceful smile. "Dad…"
And together they made the 'pinky promise'.
"I promise…"
His father's strained face turned to a relieved one as he held his son in a never-ending embrace, giving him a soft kiss on the forehead as he did. Everything was colorless.
"Dad?"
"Hmph?"
The sun was no longer with them, for it was gone. Only a tall, dark shadow stood over them. Day was no longer to be found. It was reported to be lost by the forest, the trees, and the chimneys and for Sonic. He nuzzled his father's chest, whispering:
"Can you tuck me in before you leave?"
Sonic's father gave a short laugh to his son, grinning and nodding his head. Sonic gave a soft smile back before yawning again to himself.
"Sure."
The little hedgehog's ears laid back at the answer as his father began to carry him home, rocking him gently as they walked on and on through the boundless roads of dirt and grass below their feet. Sonic stared at the stars from above them, savoring their bright colors inside of his mind before them too, would disappear. Sonic's eyes began to get heavy as he nuzzled his head on his father's shoulder, his vision blurring as the only sounds that came to his ears were the footsteps of his father's feet and the soft breeze blowing through his quills. He gave a soft whisper in his father's ear before drifting off to sleep…
"And never… say… good-bye…"
Sonic's eyes fluttered open, the morning sun drenching his room with a pool of light, which glimmered on the sides of his walls. Sonic noticed himself tucked in and smiled. He then looked over at his window, noticing that the dark shadow was gone.
With a beam, he quickly rushed himself out of bed and out of his room. He wondered what he and his father were going to do today. Fishing? Swimming? Mud fighting? Who knew?
He called out through the rooms joyfully, his little feet echoing behind him. He dashed to his father's room, which was too soaked in the sun's light.
"Dad?"
He wasn't there… Sonic then raced to the kitchen.
Not there.
Outside.
Not there.
The attic.
Not there.
And there, Sonic the four-year-old Hedgehog, remembered the other night.
"Oh…"
He stared at the polished floors under his feet, the caramel oak wood staring back at him with a familiar face…
"Daddy… Never say good-bye…"
Far away from his son, Jules the Hedgehog walked farther and farther away from his home, silently praying that his son would not feel hurt without him by his side. That he would not grow up to be a boy, but a hero just like him. Guilt traveled through his very body as once more, he took another step away from his home… His wife and his son…
The morning that was upon him never did give him a lighter mood.
"Damn this world and all the bad people in it," he cursed to himself.
He gripped on the crumbled piece of paper in his hand, tears begging to come out of his eyes but none of which had fallen… He didn't look at it again, for he had already done so after he had tucked Sonic in bed and gave him one last kiss on the forehead. Never had he said good-bye…
He traveled more and more, his heart swelling with hatred towards himself. In the breeze, he could hear the murmurs of his son, whispering as he did in his sleep.
"I love you, dad…"
Nothing could ever take away such words from him…
On the crumbled piece of paper was a composition. The grammar was amazing but there was no imagery. There weren't big words or small ones for that matter. There were no similes, metaphors… nothing. No, for it was the composition of a four-year-old son who had simply written the words with a blue crayon to merely make his father happy with whom he was…
You are my hero, dad…
Authors Note: After a whole freaking week of planning this story and trying to get it started, here it is... Not so good for my first Sonic and Jules fic but eh... It's good enough to be posted. So...yay... XD
Alrighty, for all of you who DO NOT know Jules the Hedgehog...
Jules the Hedgehog is Sonic's father in the Sonic Archie comics. He is also Uncle Chuck's brother and the husband of Bernadette Hedgehog. He was actually the first Mobian in history to be put through the roboticizer. When he had been badly injured during the Great War (a.k.a Mobian Wars) his brother put him into a machine, hoping that it would heal him. But not knowing Dr. Robotnik screwed up the whole invention, Jules got turned into a robot. Poor him... ;-; Later, Jules was turned into somewhat of a 'tool' and he was forced to put his own wife into the roboticizer. Now, ten years later after the whole incident and following Robotnik's fall, Charles sought a way of retoring his brother's freewill, thus everyone had their own brains and they were not mind controled robots.
So, as time passes, everyone starts to get de-roboticized because of some other planet's invention, except for Jules. Instead he remained in his robotic state while his wife and the others were all...well... not robots (derrr...). So after many years, Jules finally reunites with his son Sonic, and goes through some father and son problems (Jules not feeling like a father; etc...) so... yeah... poor Jules. Tough little hedgie who went through a lot...
So in honor of Jules the Hedgehog and the strength he has towards his son and everyone he knows, I made this. NEVER EVER have I seen a fanfic with him in it so THIS WILL BE THE FIRST! HAR! XD
So I hope all of you enjoy this story... It was before Jules was roboticized and when he left his son. I never knew how old Sonic was but I would guess about three to four years old. lawl. This is a Sonic and Jules FATHER AND SON fic. So I hope you guys read this and enjoy it. c:
By the freakin' way, review if you would like to! TOOTLES!