Phantomgurl12344: How can I answer you if you don't sign in? Anyway, thanks so much for all of your kind reviews. And by the way, that was the end of Autonomous. There is no more.

Adventurgal: Thanks very much! No probs about the login...and in my opinion Sonic is always a smartass!

Hopefully you guys actually get these shoutouts because I have no idea whether you're reading this or not!

And away we go!

Chapter 9

The next morning Tails was still there when Sonic woke, crying a little but at least not alone. Sonic pulled Tails close to him, since Sonic moved a lot in his sleep and at some point Tails had been pushed away. He snuggled Tails, and Tails buried his face in Sonic's chest and cried a little harder. Sonic felt sadness overcome him but he didn't know why. He blinked hard. Now was not the time to cry.
After a few minutes Tails sat up and wiped at his eyes with his fists. "I miss mommy a lot," he said sadly. "I need a mommy hug."
"Sorry," said Sonic, not knowing what else to say.
"Can I have a Sonic hug instead?" asked Tails. "That's almost as good as a mommy hug."
"Well, sure," said Sonic in surprise, and he put Tails in his lap and hugged him as hard as he could. After a minute Tails let go and said, "Sonic hugs are the best kind, since I can't have mommy hugs no more." He sniffed a little but did not cry.
"Thanks," said Sonic, feeling good at this and a little bit guilty for feeling that way. He had never been the best at anything before.
"Did you lose your mom, Tails?" asked Knuckles, who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Uh-huh," said Tails.
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Knuckles.
"Will you be my friend, Knuckles?" asked Tails.
"Me?" said Knuckles in shock.
"I don't have none," said Tails, "'cept Sonic. An' he's my brother anyways, mommy said. An' I like you."
"Uh, I guess so, " said Knuckles, and Tails jumped off the bed and gave Knuckles a hug. Knuckles stood there like he had been stunned. Then Tails stepped back. "Do you wanna come with us? We're goin' home to Em'rald Hill."
"No, " said Knuckles. "I have to stay here on Angel Island. I've got a job to do."
"Angel Island!" said Sonic. "We've been goin' the wrong way!"
"We are now," said Tails. "We weren't before. The island's movin' the wrong way."
"We better get goin', then," said Sonic. Sonic and Tails decided to have breakfast before they left, and for once Knuckles hung around, although he did not eat. After they had said their goodbyes they walked to the end of the island and looked down.
"How did we get up here?" asked Sonic.
"The island was down there," said Tails.
Sonic sighed. He would have to jump off a giant floating island onto the land below. He was not looking forward to it, but he really wanted to go home. He was tired of being in places he knew nothing about.
He picked Tails up and jumped off before he had time to think about it. To his surprise it felt really good, like he was free and invincible. He hit the ground far too soon and started running. "Ooh," said Tails. "Look, Sonic! Stardust Speedway!"
"Huh, " said Sonic. He had heard of Stardust Speedway, where the fastest races in the world were held, but it was so far away he had never thought he'd be there. "We'll come back here sometime, okay?"
"Okay," said Tails, and he chattered on and on while Sonic ran, Sonic having to concentrate a little harder on his words because of the wind in his ears.
After running for several hours they finally reached Emerald Hill. Sonic had been paying attention to his body this time but even though he had run farther than before, he did not feel anything like he had only a few days ago. He was pretty hungry, but he didn't feel sick at all. He had a suspicion that whatever had happened between him and Tails had something to do with it. Tails could go for long periods of time without eating anything at all, and would barely even be affected. Some kitsune thing maybe.
Sonic and Tails recovered from their trip quickly, as young children do, and Sonic made sure to watch Tails at all times. He knew what an awesome responsibility he had now.
He had to raise this little kitsune, and he was no more than a kid himself.
So he did his best, making sure Tails washed his hands and brushed his teeth, but did not tell him to say his prayers like maybe he should have. After seeing the innocent Rosemary soaking in a pool of her own blood, Sonic could no longer believe that there was anything out there that watched out for him.

Sonic had taken to wearing gloves after his accident, to cover the scars, and Tails had long since forgotten about his role in saving Sonic's life. After only a few months his rescue of the hedgehog had faded to a dim recollection of jumping out of a tree, and likewise he barely remembered his mother or his father. His mother he did miss, remembering things she used to do at the strangest times, but the way he missed his father was worse. Tails would wake up crying from dreaming about his father, saying he was killing people and doing bad things and it wasn't true was it Sonic?, but Sonic had no answer. He knew what Amadeus did for a living and Tails didn't. Tails only missed a vague memory of the day his father had finally hugged him. Sonic remembered everything. He had always remembered everything.

So when Tails stared at his hands one day when he was washing them (because he never wanted Tails to know the agony of training pants when Tails was perfectly able to learn without them), Sonic tried to hide them so he wouldn't have to revisit the past once more, like he always did when looking at the scars. Tails already had one of his hands in his own tiny ones and looked at it carefully, Sonic helpless to stop him.

"What happened to them?" he asked in his little voice. "It looks like it hurt real bad, Sonic."

"That was the easy part," Sonic muttered bitterly.

"Easy part of what?"

"Let it go, willya?" Sonic snapped.

"Is it what makes you cry when you're sleepin'?

He felt a flash of embarrassment.

He'd been crying in his sleep?

And Tails hadn't told him?

"You clueless little twit!" Sonic shouted. "You in your safe little world, where nothin' bad ever happens! So you lost your parents! Big deal! You barely 'member them anyways. I lost my parents a long time ago, an' I gotta 'member every damn second of it! So don' you go actin' like you know what's goin' on jus' 'cause you saw me cryin'! It ain't like I told anythin' 'cause you ain't important!"

"I jus' wanna help you, Sonic," said Tails. "I don' like it when you cry. It makes me wanna cry too."

"That's all you're good for!" shouted Sonic. He felt a little dizzy and there was a red haze in front of his face. There was a terrible pressure in the back of his head and it was all Tails's fault! Why couldn't he have left Sonic alone?
"You're just a stupid little kid! Leave adult stuff to me, you can't deal with it! And if you ever ask me that again, I will get so mad at you!"
"You a'ready are," said Tails.
"Don't talk back to me!" said Sonic, and he raised his hand and hit Tails in the face.
The pressure and the haze disappeared, leaving him frozen in an endless, painful second.
He had hit Tails.
The worst thing about it was the look on his face. He wasn't crying. Or shocked. Or sad.
He looked like he had expected it.
Sonic sat down on the edge of the bath and put his face in his hands. He wanted to cry but if anyone deserved to it was Tails. "I...I'm sorry, big guy," said Sonic. "I...I didn't mean to hit you. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't mean what I said."
"Then why'd you say it?"
"'cause my dad used to talk to me that way," said Sonic, and he knew that he would have to tell Tails about the scars and what had caused them. He offered his hand to Tails, a little nervous that he would be mad, but the little kitsune took the fingers and Sonic brought him to their room. He climbed into bed and put Tails in his lap.
"This is a scary story, Tails," said Sonic. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"I'm brave like you, Sonic," said Tails.

Some people may not want to read the next part, which is why I've cut it off here. If you've read The Beginning, the next chapter is going to be more of a closer look at what happened to Ogilvie in Chapter Four. That part was labelled mature for its content and so will Chapter Ten of Me and You Together. If that kind of thing disturbs you then don't read it. I'm putting it in to demonstrate Sonic's need for Tails and to explain why he is so sad and so protective of Tails. I have hinted a little at what happened to him in previous chapters but have not directly stated it. Again, please do not read it if you don't want to know.