These are not songfics. Let me just get that fact out of the way right now. They're short stories inspired by songs. I discovered Scribbler doing something similar with the Kingdom Hearts Videogame series, and decided I'd like to give it a shot.
Standard disclaimers apply. Reviews and concrit are both appreciated.
3. I'll Try, Jesse McCartney, (The "Return to Neverland" Soundtrack).
Tails isn't all that sure exactly when he grew up.
He knows that it probably didn't happen too suddenly, when he wasn't expecting it. It was gradual enough that he didn't notice (too wrapped up in tools and machines and the X Tornado's repair jobs and he really had to get that mecha's left side schematics up to scratch...), but still a lot faster than it should have been. It mainly occured somewhere between the ages of eight and twelve, he figures. After he met Sonic. It's in the middle of that period where things began to get complicated.
Tails knows that he's smart. Smarter than a lot of the other kids and creatures around him. Smarter than anyone – even Sonic– sometimes realise.
Tails thinks a lot. He's good at that. He's thought about things long and hard enough to know that Robotnik is one big, scary guy underneath all of that bravado. (And even if he wasn't, he's still got a bunch of awful weapons that Tails really, really doesn't want to ever feel the pinch of. And he has sometimes). Smart enough to know what hurts and what doesn't. To know when they should panic just a little, and exactly how many volts it takes for a doomsday machine to disintegrate a moon, rationed against the number of Chaos Emeralds that machine is using at the time. He knows that he can take care of himself at a younger age than most people and...
He's happy that he can do that. Really. He's happy that he's as in control of himself and his environment as he is. He's happy that he's not a burden on anybody else. That he can help save the world with all his smarts and skills and that nobody picks on him anymore –not just because they know who his friends are, but because they know who he is, too.
But sometimes, Tails finds it a little difficult to do what he sees other kids doing. He can't see himself running about and drawing on sleeping people's faces like Charmy does, or baking cakes and decorating them with icing and flower crowns like Cream. Sometimes, Tails even wonders just how the heck Amy can put so much time and energy into chasing Sonic about the place, like there isn't some madman plotting and scheming far above them, planning to take other the world (again).
But then, she's asked him similar questions about the amount of time he spends in the workshop.
Tails is lucky that Sonic's there really. because Sonic dislikes all that technical, mechanical stuff just enough that he'll sometimes show up out of nowhere, drag Tails over to the Tornado and suggest that they go for a run (he means, of course, that he'll run, and Tails will hop in the jet and fly alongside him, following wherever Sonic wants to go –which is everywhere, all at once).
Sometimes it's better not to think, Tails figures. Sometimes it's better to just hop in the X Tornado and take her across the dunes of a desert, or fly low over the ocean waves with Sonic clinging tightly to the left wing (it's always the left wing, too, force of habit, Tails, figures). To stay airborne until dawn, or until your fuel runs low –whichever comes first (it's usually the dawn. Tails has designed the X tornado's engine capacity to maximum efficiency. He values these hours alone with his best friend too much to waste them by running out of fuel halfway.) Better to just smile and fly and laugh and try to do five loop the loops and interspersed barrel roles in one go without your best friend falling off your wing. The world feels... different to Tails during those times, with the wind cutting patterns in his fur and dragging at Sonic's quills.
That's what Sonic showed him. Because Sonic's like that. Sonic knows things that Tails, even with all his skills and smarts, knows fine well he wouldn't have realised otherwise: life's too short for worrying about a lot of stuff. The really important thing is to fly.
"I am not a child now.
I can take care of myself.
I mustn't let them down now-
Mustn't let them see me cry.
I'm fine. I'm fine.
I can finally see it.
Now I have to believe:
All those precious stories.
All the world is made of faith,
And trust,
And pixie dust."
