Tails flew as fast as his tails would carry him. He flew till he was exhausted, whereby he flew to the ground and began sobbing his heart out.
"Why does everybody hate me!" he wailed to the now dusky sky. "How come I can't do anything right? Why is Aunt Sally so mean? God, help me!" he cried out loud.
"Oh, come on mate, cheer up." said a voice. Tails started and turned. It was Knuckles.
"Oh, hey K-Knux," sniffed Tails. Knuckles immediately saw the gash on Tails' cheek where Sonic's spin attack had hit him.
"Shit, who did that?" he gasped.
"Sonic did."
"Why?"
"Cause he hates me. Everyone h-hates me. Cause I d-do everything wrong." Tails cried, bursting into a fresh wave of tears.
"No, they don't. Who hates you?"
"S-Sally does. And you and Shadow. From when you h-had to put out the f-fire in my garage, 'member?" Tails sniffed.
"Hey, I don't hate you." Knuckles reassured Tails, kneeling down next to where Tails was sitting, "No one's perfect, and accidents happen."
"A-Aunt Sally said that I was an accident and that I was j-just a genetic defect."
"Well, that's not true. I knew your parents; of course you were planned, buddy. And don't believe anything that Sally says about genes, okay? You know full well why you've got two tails, don't you?" said Knuckles comfortingly.
"No, why?" sniffed Tails.
"Cause you're special, that's why. I bet all those kids only teased you cause they were jealous that you could fly and they couldn't."
"Really?"
"Sure! You the coolest when you fly. Who else do you know flies without one of your pro airplanes?"
"No one?"
"Exactly. That's why you're the coolest, man."
"Thanks, Knux," Tails gave him a watery smile.
"Now, why don't you come back with me and I'll get Aunt Sally to apologize about those nasty things she said to you."
"I'm not going back." Said Tails blandly. "Period."
"Come on, bud. Give 'em one more chance?"
"No. I'm not going back. Everyone hates me in Shi- I mean, Knothole."
"Tails, no one hates you for those little things. I don't care that I had to eat a chilidog with onion on Monday. Heck, I thought it was pretty good. See? If you hadn't forgotten the order, I would have eaten the regular one, and I would never have found out how tasty onions are."
"Yeah, but that's you. I'll bet everyone else has something against me."
"No, they don't. Come on. Give it a go."
"Well... let me think it over."
"Sure. Come back whenever you're ready." said Knuckles. He gave Tails a gentle pat on the shoulder and walked off into the night.
Tails thought about what he had said. It's funny... usually Knuckles is more full on and not sympathetic. Maybe he was honestly trying to cheer me up. Well, if I do go back, I can hang with Knux if I'm bored. Feeling better, Tails took a breath and started to fly home.
Sonic arrived home exhausted. He had searched Knothole high and low, in every nook and cranny, and he was nowhere to be seen. It was night, and Sonic was starting to get very worried.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," he told himself over and over again. "Perhaps I should try Tails' house, I haven't tried there yet," and he gathered his last ounce of energy and sprinted off towards where Tails lived.
Tails arrived home, also exhausted. It was well into the night now, and it had started to get cold. Tails landed outside his house and went inside. He built a fire, put a bandage on the gash on his face and curled up on the couch opposite the fireplace to settle down. He had almost fallen asleep when there was a knock on the door. Tails groped for the CCTV remote and switched it on. It was Sonic.
"Fuck off, Sonic."
"I'm sorry, Tails." Sonic called from outside. His voice sounded very upset.
"I told you to fuck off,"
"I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"
"What part of "fuck off Sonic" is difficult to understand?"
"Can I come in for one second?"
"What, so you can hurt me again?" Tears welled in Tails' eyes as he remembered it.
"Look, I am so sorry about what happened; can I come in for one second, please?"
"Okay, but no funny stuff."
"Righto." Sonic opened the door. He walked over to the couch opposite Tails' bed and sat down, facing Tails. His eyes were red and puffy: crying.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" asked Tails.
"Well first, I'm really sorry about what Sally said to you."
"Humph,"
"Well, I had a good old shout at her after you left because frankly, what she said was really mean."
Tails rolled his eyes. "When did you notice that, Sonic?" he said sardonically, "I thought you were supposed to be the quick one around here,"
"Yeah, anyways, she didn't know that your parents are… you know?"
"Dead?"
"Yeah, so she felt really bad about what she said and everything."
"So she should,"
"And second, I want to apologize about when I spin-attacked you."
Tails absent-mindedly put his paw where the graze was.
"Is it bad?" Sonic asked, worried.
"It bled a little, but no biggie."
"Good. Um, do you want any help over the next couple of days, while your face heals?"
Tails was taken-aback. "Er, thanks, Sonic. I, um, don't you have work to do?"
"Well, yeah, but, since you're my best pal, it's only fair that I stick around and give you hand cause I hurt your face and all."
"Well, I, um, I suppose I'll need a bit of a hand…"
"Cool. I'll be over tomorrow morning. Get a bit of a rest."
Sonic looked very relieved. He stood up and shook Tails' hand.
"Friends?"
"Friends,"
"See ya, bud," said Sonic as he walked out the door.
Tails suddenly heard something move outside. He got up, and listened carefully. Something rustled again outside. Tails opened he door and looked around. Something rustled from inside a bush. He peered inside. There was a power ring, glowing red and vibrating. Tails picked it up. It was warm. He went back inside and got into bed still holding it, though it had stopped glowing. Tails shut his eyes and contemplated what had happened that day. He fell asleep. He dreamed of the fight in Sally's house, flying to Angel Island, meeting Knuckles. However, all throughout the dream one thing kept pumping through his head. "Let me go, everyone here hates me, so take me somewhere where I'm appreciated,"
Then the ring began glowing again…
