Sonic stared at the large, stone portal gate in front of him, his younger self standing by.
"You ready for this?" he asked.
His younger self nodded.
'Right,' he thought with a sigh. 'Wasn't much of a talker back then.'
The blue duo were merely waiting for their twin-tailed companions to finish a receiver they were working on.
"Sonic!"
The two hedgehogs turned to see the younger Tails running towards them.
"We just finished the receivers," he said as he approached. He handed a small radio to his respective Sonic before handing another to the older Sonic.
"We don't know what you'll find in there so best to be prepared," the younger Tails said.
Sonic nodded before raising his brow.
"Where's Tails?" he asked, not seeing his little fox bro.
Little Tails pointed around the corner, just passed the portal. "He went off to check something, looked like he saw a ghost though."
Sonic frowned. "Wait here."
Without waiting for a response, he dashed off in the direction Tails had pointed to. His eyes quickly glanced at on object that peeked over the columns of the gate.
"A tree?"
He turned the corner and noticed his Tails.
"Yo, Tails!"
No response.
Walking up beside him, he looked at his face. Tails glared forward, standing stiff and clenching his hands fiercely.
Following the fox's line of sight, he saw a mechanical door. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the mark on the door. It was Tails' emblem, two fox tails. Why did it have Tails symbol on it? He glanced up and his eyes widened. He knew what the door was now. It was a portal to the past, but unlike the other portals, which had been cities and landscapes, this one was of space. Within it, he spotted two large space ships, linked together.
"The blue typhoon," he gasped.
And it was linked to Eggman's ship. Then that meant…
He spotted it, a small planet covered by a massive tree. He knew exactly where this portal went. His final battle against the Metarex. When Cosmo had died and Tails had pulled the trigger.
Several things had passed through Sonic's mind when he learned that they were traveling through time.
The first was, 'I can change it. I can save them.'
But that thought was soon drowned out by another. 'No you can't. If you save them you will have never met Tails, and do you really want to leave him where he was, being bullied every day?'
'No,' he had reasoned. 'Everything has to happen the way it did. No matter how bad it hurt.'
He was certain that his younger self had had similar thoughts too.
Sonic turned his eyes back to Tails. He could tell his mind was working a mile a minute. He knew he was searching through his memory, looking for some way the event could be avoided. Sonic knew Tails kept a secret notebook, where he would write ideas on the event. He wrote in it anytime he had a nightmare about it. And Sonic saw something he feared in Tails eyes, hope. But this was a hope that would only lead to heartbreak.
Sonic had been worried that parts of his past, things he regretted, would come back to haunt him. In a way it had, but not in the way he could have predicted. He regretted this day, more than any other, because he had hurt his little brother. He hadn't been good enough. He hadn't saved her, and that had hurt Tails deeper than any physical pain could have. The worst part was that he was responsible, and he could do nothing about it.
"Tails, you can't."
Tails had shot towards the door faster than Sonic had expected. But Sonic was still faster and grabbed him around the waist. The fox flailed, beating at Sonic's arms.
"Let me go!" he cried, pounding and kicking as tears rolled down his face.
"You can't Tails!" Sonic grunted. The boy was stronger than he thought, but considering what he was trying to get to, Sonic wasn't surprised. "Everything has to stay the same!"
"No, we met our younger selves! I can do it! I can save her!" Tails screamed.
Sonic's hold nearly broke as he heard the desperation and hope in Tails' voice.
"Tails, you're the genius! Think! We can't remember meeting our selves! What do you think that means?"
His words seemed to sink, the fox slowly stopped struggling but Sonic could still feel the sobs that wracked his body.
He set Tails down on his feet. With a sigh, he walked in front of Tails and placed a hand on his shoulder. His other hand forced the fox to look him in the eyes. His heart broke seeing the running tears on his brother's face.
"Hey, buddy," he spoke softly. "I know how you feel. I want to rush in there and change it just as much as you do." He put his hand on Tails shoulder. "You may have pulled the trigger, but I was the one with the Chaos Emeralds. I was the one with the power to make miracles." Sonic couldn't look him in the eyes anymore. "I wasn't strong enough, and because of it you got hurt and Cosmo had to die." He shut his eyes. "I'm supposed to be your big brother. I'm supposed to protect you and I failed."
The phrase 'why him' had passed through Sonic's mind multiple times when it came to Tails. The fox had done so much to help him, and yet he was the one who seemed to suffer the most, first with his parents, and then with Cosmo. And, just when the scars where beginning to heal, this happens, bringing the pain to the forefront of their minds
"I know it's tough, Tails," he said, once again staring into the foxes teary eyes. "The chance to change everything, to make everything better, is right in front of you and you can't do anything." He shook his head slowly and let out a sigh. "I know. I've got some things I want to change too." He smirked. "But if I did, I wouldn't of met you and I don't think that's worth it."
Tails hugged him, sobbing into his chest.
"It hurts, Sonic," he cried.
"I know, bro," he whispered as he pulled the crying fox closer.
It hurt him, too. It hurt him that this was all he could do.
It took a bit but the fox had finally calmed down. Sonic told the fox to go clean himself off at the Green Hill Zone entrance.
As Tails flew away, he turned to his younger self leaning against a wall. He was glaring at him, his arms crossed and his foot impatiently tapping.
"What happened?" he asked.
Sonic just closed his eyes and walked past him. "Nothing."
"That wasn't 'nothing'," His younger self growled as he jumped away from the wall, his fist balled. "Tails may cry sometimes, but nothing like that." Little Sonic turned to look at the gate. "That pain I saw in his eyes," he mumbled. "I don't ever want to see that again!" he growled, shaking his head.
Sonic had forgotten he had a temper back then, and when it concerned Tails safety or well being it didn't take much to set him off.
"He's my brother, too. And I want to know how to help him," Little Sonic said as he marched up to him.
"That's just the problem," Sonic said. He opened his eyes as he turned his head towards the white sky. "We can't. He's feeling pain we haven't yet."
Little Sonic's eyes went downcast. "Then what do we do?" he asked softly.
Sonic turned to him. He knelled down and put his hand on his younger self's shoulder. "Simple. We do what we've always done. Be his brother."
Little Sonic sighed. He nodded.
"Good," Sonic said standing up. "Now let's go kick that Time Eaters but."
Little Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"What? Don't like the name. Tails said it fit."
Little Sonic shook his head before walking off.
Sonic scoffed. "Like calling Eggster's mech Big Arm was soooo much better."