Speedy's note: Before you read this, I gotta give out a warning for all Sonic/Amy-fans: You're not going to like this I guess. So if you decide to read on, don't bash me for it.
This story's very different from all my others. Besides being a story about flying, about the struggle to understand other people's feelings, about the brotherly relation between Tails and Sonic, it's mostly a oneshot about Sonic's strange relation to Amy Rose. It really isn't a Sonic/Amy story. Quite the opposite I suppose.
You can have multiple versions of Amy's suffering from that one-sided crush in various sorts of fics, I somehow happened to try writing the other side of the coin. It's a lot more serious than what I usually write and very likely will stay my only shot in this direction.

Title and general settings inspired by an instrumental song of the same name by Tangerine Dream.

Cloudburst Flight

Tails pulled the Tornado into a steeper climb and the engine roared in protest. A shudder seemed to run through the entire plane and the stick shook in his hand. Tails' eyes shot all the way open and his hand frantically pulled the throttle backwards, while the other decreased the climb rate again. The engine gave another angry stutter and for a short moment Tails thought he'd lost the thrust, but the noise faded into the familiar steady sound and the fox sat back in brief relaxation.

He shot a short glance up, but it seemed as if his passenger had missed the almost stall. Sonic's blue quills slightly swayed in the wind and he stared into the clouds just a few meters above them, greyish-white mists crawling downwards making it impossible to tell where exactly the cloud started. Everything was just unclear and foggy.

In a way it almost ridiculously fit Tails' current mood. He'd always thought he understood Sonic. He knew the hedgehog for so long and passed the major part of his life with him, so that he could usually read Sonic's feeling and thoughts like a book filled with bold capital letters. Unlike most people, he could even understand his love for running.

When Tails had been small, Sonic had sometimes carried him when running if the little fox had gotten too tired to go by himself. Tails still remembered very well, it'd been awesome. Sure, he'd seen nothing but a beautiful blur of all possible colours and heard just the wind screaming in his ears. Even to the day Tails sometimes found himself wondering how Sonic knew where he was running. Although the hedgehog had told him he saw everything just fine, Tails couldn't help but wonder what he saw then. How the world looked to his speedy friend.

But he knew why he loved and needed it. Sonic very likely was the only living being that had been born for running. Born for speed. And being born for something was one of those things Tails did understand very well. He was no usual guy either. As far as he knew, he was the only fox on Mobius with two tails. And therefore the only one able to fly.

Flying was great. For Tails, it was the ultimate feeling of freedom. Nothing around you besides air. Nothing solid. Nothing to hold you down or restrain you. You could move up and down and left and right and forwards and backwards and…You could just fly wherever you wanted. It mattered little to Tails if he was flying by himself or in the Tornado. It just was a need to fly at all. And just like Tails had been born to fly, Sonic had been born to run.

Sure, it seemed as if both of them had been born for other things as well. Fighting Eggman or something. But whatever it had been, they'd always understood each other. Until today.

Well, not entirely today. It had just reached a new dimension.

Tails looked up at his adopted brother again. He still seemed so… tense. Tails knew him too well not to see that he was troubled by what had happened. Maybe also by what he'd done. Tails didn't like to see him like that, but he didn't know what to do against it. Because he didn't understand him. For the first time he could remember, he didn't know why Sonic had been acting the way he had.

The situation had been something quite common by now. They had been in a city to get a few things they needed, Sonic had been looking for a new pair of running shoes and other stuff. And on the street they'd ran into Amy Rose. Well, more concrete, Amy had run into Sonic. And immediately stayed in that position by squeezing him half dead in a hug. So far really the usual thing. Tails knew Sonic was always annoyed by that, but it was... routine, in a way.

But today something had happened that seemed to have been more than Sonic wanted to let her do to him. She'd tried kissing him. For some reason Amy seemed to have enjoyed it. But as far as Tails knew, Sonic had not. Tails had seen him, his clenched fist, normally a clear sign of anger, but also a weird kind of uncertainty in him that you did not often see in the blue hedgehog. Sonic had walked a few steps with Amy until they'd been just out of earshot and talked to her. Just a few sentences. In a calm way that so absolutely didn't fit the anger Tails thought he'd seen just a second ago. And Amy had taken out her hammer and aimed for Sonic's skull. Of course she'd missed. Sonic had stepped aside and Amy had looked at him and – had broken down in tears. Tails wasn't sure if out of anger or sadness.

Sonic had just stood there. Looking at the girl crying her eyes out. And Tails had seen the struggle again in his brother's body language. Sonic didn't know what to do. But he'd done the thing Tails would have never expected of him.

He'd turned around and walked away. Without a word, but with drooping ears. After a moment Tails had followed him back to the biplane. None of them had spoken a word since then.

No, Tails didn't understand at all. Weren't they friends with Amy?

He looked up at the blue hedgehog again. Sonic was still standing as if he was a cast piece of metal like the wing he stood on and Tails could tell that very likely he didn't want to talk now.

But Tails needed to.

"Ehhm… Sonic?", he asked hesitantly, quietly, and he thought Sonic hadn't heard him, but then the hedgehog turned over his shoulder and Tails looked into his green eyes.

Sonic looked back and a soft, small glance focussed on Tails' face. "I know," he said, "I have to explain something, ey?"

Tails slowly nodded. "Sonic, I.. don't understand what happened… why did… what did you..?"

Sonic sighed and turned around completely, sitting down on the wing with his legs dangling left and right of the cockpit. "It really isn't easy to understand, Tails. I don't know if I do…"

Tails blinked. "You don't? But…"

"I know. You're probably thinking I'm being a big jerk leaving her there like that. I really didn't like doing it." Another deep sigh.

"Then, why did you?" Tails looked up at him.

The hedgehog's ears went flat, making him look even more miserable and Tails already regretted asking. "Sometimes you need to do things you don't like doing." Sonic was silent for a little moment, staring into the greyness of the clouds closing in all around them now. "Because if you don't do them nothing gets better."

Tails felt the frown crawling into his brow. "What did you need to do?"

Sonic's eyes returned out of the greyness to look at Tails. "I needed her to understand the truth."

Tails frowned really now. "The truth?" He looked up at the hedgehog, but didn't really notice him, his mind digging in the depth of his brain to understand what Sonic could have meant. And then he thought he had it. "About that being your girlfriend stuff? That again?"

Sonic emitted another sigh. "You say it, little bro. That again." The blue hedgehog ran a hand through his dampening quills. "It just started getting more and more in the last time, you know? I mean, everytime we meet her… she always clings to me, hugs me without bothering if I want to be hugged right then, talks my ears off with how nice and dreeeaaaamy it is being together, tells me I have to go out with her, wants me to tell her when we'll finally marry…"

"Sonic?", Tails interrupted, "That's what it has been forever, as long as we know her."

Sonic looked down on him. "That is the problem, Tails. She just doesn't get it. I don't want to be… what she wants me to be. I don't like to be cuddled without bothering if I want to be. I feel invaded… it's… invading…. my privacy. Invading me."

Tails ran a hand over his left ear thoughtfully. He remembered being in some town once and an old lady had picked the back then still small Tails up and hugged him half into a hypoxic coma because she'd thought he was oh so cute. The fox shook himself at the memory. If Sonic felt anything like that… "Maybe she acts that way 'cause she's in love with you?" Tails tilted his head questioning. Just as he'd feared, the conversation was reaching yet another topic he didn't really understand…

Sonic snorted. "She's in love with me? I thought so for a while. She's not in love, she's obsessed. She wants me as a blue, hedgehog-sized teddy. She doesn't care the least bit how I feel about that!"

Tails almost ducked at his friend's sudden outburst. "Ehh… maybe you're a little mean now…", he said carefully.

Sonic took a deep breath. "I don't know, Tails," he said, but he was seemingly calming himself down again. "I tried being nice to her, I tried being friends with her, meet up with her sometimes and do stuff together. I thought if I got to know her better, I'd understand why she does… what she does. But instead of being happy with what I wanted to do, she always tries forcing me into things I don't want to. Today was just the last thing I could stand."

Tails stared up at his adopted brother thoughtfully. He somehow could imagine how Sonic felt when Amy used him as her personal living plushy, but... "Don't you like her at all?"

Sonic tilted his head. "Sure I like her. I could be friends with her. If she'd let me, but friends isn't enough for Amy Rose. She wants me all for herself."

Tails gulped at the sound of bitterness in Sonic's voice. He looked into the hedgehog's eyes for a long moment. "Did you… did you tell her that? I mean, what you just told me? That's why she was crying?"

Sonic slowly nodded. "Yes. Although I was a little more… direct."

The two tailed fox frowned. More direct than that? "Then it's no surprise she was so upset."

A sigh. "I know. And don't think I damn liked having to talk to her like that. It's not nice. I don't like seeing people crying. Nobody. And not at all because of ME." Sonic suddenly looked away from Tails as if he couldn't stand the fox' gaze any more. "But if I wouldn't have cleared the matter now, I would have needed to do it later. It would have just been a delay and made things even worse. For both of us." The hedgehog slowly shook his head ad his voice was a lot quieter when he continued speaking. "I just hope she'll get over it. I hope she'll understand me, Tails. That we could just be friends..." Sonic sighed again. "It wasn't easy just leaving her there, Tails. It was damn hard. But if I'd tried comforting her, she'd taken me wrong, you know?"

Tails stared up at the hedgehog, then shook his head. "No, I don't, Sonic. And I'm glad I don't."

A long moment of silence. "Then you think I… you're angry with me for being mean to her?"

"No!" Shocked, Tails shook his head. "No! How could I? This is not my business. I don't have to live with that and so I can't tell you what you should do! If you think you had to do that, it's okay. Really, Sonic…"

The blue hedgehog still stared into the infinite greyness around them and for a moment following his gaze, Tails felt the feeling of being isolated sweep over him. As if the world around had stopped to exist; as if there was just the small plane with him and Sonic any more and the rest had just… vanished. And suddenly Tails found himself thinking that was a good thing right now.

"Sonic," he started again when the hedgehog remained silent. "I didn't mean to blame you… I just… just wanted to understand you."

Sonic's green eyes slowly found their way back to the little fox. "And? Do you?"

Tails hesitated a second before answering. If he said 'no', Sonic would probably feel even worse now… But he really didn't feel as if he could understand everything the hedgehog had said. "A bit… I guess," he finally settled.

The smallest impression of a smile tugged on Sonic's lips. "I guess I suck at explaining, huh?"

"Maybe it's me who sucks." Tails shrugged and shook his head.

Sonic's glance softened another bit as he finally looked into Tails' blue eyes. "No, I think you're just too small."

"I am –" Tails raised an eyebrow. "I'm not small, Sonic! I'm eight!"

Now the hedgehog really smiled. "Yes, you're eight. And for being eight, you are the smartest guy in the world. You're certainly a lot smarter than me. But you're still small."

Tails looked up at his best friend, wondering if he should be angry for being called a kid or glad that Sonic was smiling again. He decided for something in between. "What does my being small got to do with you and Amy?"

"It's a matter of growing up I guess. It's something you might understand when you're a little older." Sonic shrugged.

Tails frowned. "Ah. And you do understand all that 'cause you're maturity in persona, ey?"

Sonic gave a short laugh. "Then you're the first person to ever accuse me of that! Everybody else I know says I'm immature…"

Tails felt the grin spread over his face. "Sonic? Do you know the word 'irony'?"

The hedgehog rubbed his chin as if thinking about a difficult thing. "Hmm, 'irony'?... I guess I've heard it once or twice before."

The two tailed fox giggled. It felt like a relief. When he stopped, he looked up at his brother. "Are you okay again now?" Somehow Tails doubted that he would be just fine and bounce back, but he had pulled himself together enough to be joking again after all.

Sonic at least nodded. "Don't worry, Tails, I'll be fine. What 'bout you?"

"I'm cool if you are. You just confused me." Tails smiled again. "Now I guess I'll take your advice and wait until I understand, and then I'll tell you what I think about that whole thing today, okay?"

Sonic gave him a thumbs-up. "Alright, I'll be waiting."

"You better be," Tails said and laughed. He leaned back in his seat and for the first time really noticed how wet he was. The condensation water of the cloud around was already forming droplets on the metal surfaces of his biplane and both his and Sonic's furs were drenched.

Tails looked upwards to guess how long the cold dampness would surround them and smiled when he saw the deep blue of open sky above already peek through the curtains of whitish mists. Just a few seconds later, the Tornado left the last haze below and around them the world opened again.

Tails' eyes wandered over the cottony shapes the clouds formed from above. The whiteness was taking on a pink shimmer and small purple shadows; and the fox turned his head to the right, squinting into the sun. As an almost oversized orange round it was standing just a finger above the sea of cotton and Tails closed his eyes for a moment, drawing a deep breath as the warm beams started to dry his fur even in the cold air at this altitude.

Opening his eyes again, he looked up at Sonic, just to find the hedgehog still sitting like he'd been before; his hands on the wing on both sides and his head turned aside, smiling and the emerald green eyes half closed. "You know what, Tails?", he said quietly, "I suggest we take a nice flight home now, and when we're there, I'll rush and get us some dinner and we'll try and make us a nice evening, 'kay? There's no use being sad for the rest of the day."

Tails nodded, glad to have his brother back to a way he was used seeing. As it seemed, Sonic could deal with whatever exactly had happened between him and Amy today. Although it still was a question if she could. Tails forced himself to push these thoughts aside, they didn't help him at all. Nor anybody else. Sonic somehow was right saying they shouldn't let the entire day be ruined. Looking at the beautiful early sunset sky around, Tails had to admit it would be an utter waste. He smiled up at the hedgehog. "Okay."