Author's Note:
MAN This story got away from me so quickly! It wasn't meant to be as long as it was haha. I hope it's in character and not too out of place!
And of course, another story to do with Tails' fear of lightning because I am an absolute sucker for it. Hurt/Comfort with a bunch of brotherly fluff!
Hope you like it!
"If I continue at a lower altitude for the remainder of this trip, I'll make it home before it hits 9 o' clock, even in the rain." Tails muttered to himself, an attempt to keep himself calm and collected.
He currently sat in the tornado, wind whirring past his ears as the plane flew across the land, albeit a bit lower in the sky to avoid rough winds. Rain hurt too when traveling at high speeds, but there wasn't much he could do except flatten his ears down and endure it.
No sign of lightning yet. Just rain; that was good.
This storm was completely unexpected, high winds causing the clouds to blow completely off their course and straight into his path before he could avoid it.
It took a lot for storms to catch Tails off guard as of late; he was often checking the weather and making sure his flight paths would avoid storms if possible. Storms weren't all avoidable, but it helped to have an idea of when they'd happen.
He was currently flying back home from taking the Tornado out on a test-flight. He had just upgraded a few parts to do with the engine itself, as well as some different tests within the controls themselves. It proved stable enough to take it out for a flight on ground-tests, so that was what he did.
He had checked the weather before heading out, too. There were mentions of storm clouds moving in far south of his and Sonic's home, but the direction of the winds should have kept the storms from moving north towards where they were this time.
It seems that the winds decided to be fickle today, since they must have brought the clouds right to him, leaving him within this problem.
Arms tensed as they held on to the wheel, his eyes roamed over the controls once, twice, three times to check again that everything was set up correctly. He could always put it on auto-pilot... It wasn't like his auto-pilot couldn't handle a storm, after all, it was primarily made for exact situations like a surprise storm. But he wasn't that far from home... He could make it, yet. Plus, he was testing it, and that would be less effective with auto-pilot.
He could do this. It wasn't the storm itself that scared him, after all. Just a bit of rain was fine-
Just as his mind was reassuring him, the worst luck struck him abruptly, as a flash of lightning struck down a fair distance away. It made the fox jump, plane jittering as his arms jerked the wheel. So much for that idea!
Even worse, he felt his stomach drop as the air seemed to suddenly still around the plane, and it dropped a fair distance down. He rushed to keep the plane safely in flight through the pressure drop in the air, successfully leveling the Tornado before he plummeted too far.
His heart was pounding, and Tails wasn't sure if it was from dropping or from the lightning that had shown it's ugly face moments before.
Another lightning strike hit down very close to him this time, somewhere into the forest. The kit yelped, hands shaking, but managed to keep the plane level.
"Y-Yeah o-okay, maybe I s-should land." Electricity striking the ground could be a very convincing thing. He'd rather walk in the rain than get struck out of the sky, anyway..
Checking his coordinates, it looked like he wasn't that far from the house after all, though it would be a fair distance on foot. He lowered the plane in the first open clearing he saw in the forest below, landing a little rocky and jittery, but otherwise it was well enough.
He sat in the seat for a moment, the rain pouring down and soaking him through even more so than when he was up in the sky, and he realized how cold he'd been up there with the rain on him. His fur was thick so it took a bit for him to get cold, unlike Sonic or Knuckles, who had thin fur and got cold a lot quicker.
Down on the ground, without the wind blowing through him like it was at high speeds, it was a bit warmer, but it only made him more aware of his shivering from being up in the air.
He wondered if Sonic would scold him for this one; usually he came pretty prepared and kept things like coats and hats in the storage compartment on the plane- but due to this just being a quick test flight in the middle of upgrading, he had left the clothing behind in the garage. In hindsight, he should have at least grabbed a hat for himself.
His mind jumped back to the present at the sky's angry rumbling, the sky above lighting up in early signs of another strike going to happen. Scrambling to move with a slightly panicked squeak, he jumped out of the plane's seat, and down to the ground, where he was sheltered a little more by the plane itself.
No flash of lightning yet. It allowed him to breathe, and he looked around the forest. He knew the direction he had to head, but his body struggled to move forward- more keen to succumb to the fear than his brain was.
Just as he'd convinced his body to move towards home, however, the storm didn't seem to want to allow it. The clouds rumbled, and electricity struck down close by, so close that Tails could feel it in the ground, and he yelped, falling down to the wet ground. His namesakes refused to work for him, tucked close to his body and showing his fear.
"Come on, Tails," He whispered to himself, trying to steel himself enough that he could stand up and start walking, and face his fear. "You just need to go home, and then you'll be better. Sonic should be coming back soon too-" Another lightning strike, and the fox couldn't help it when his brain shut down all thinking, his mouth stopping mid-sentence and instead let out a squeak.
He shuffled close to the plane instead, unable to even walk to the trees, and pulled his legs to himself, making himself small. "Okay, maybe I can't do it." He whimpered, staring out into the downpour.
Sonic sped to the house he shared with Tails(or more like, the house he crashed at sometimes more than he really lived there). The rain was rough, the winds tempted him to fall over sometimes, it was pretty rough!
The speedster supposed he was lucky to be coming home at a time like this, since he figured the twin-tailed fox would be nervous over the storm. He was looking forward to chilling out on the couch with some food, likely a chilidog, if they had any at the house right now.
As he opened the door to the home, lightning bolted down somewhere far off, making the hedgehog cringe, half-expecting to be instantly tackled by one orange fluffball as soon as he'd entered.
Except, there was no fox kit there to greet him, and there certainly wasn't any audible noise from him in the house, either. Maybe he was asleep before the storm began? The fox didn't often have the best sleep schedule, so it wouldn't be surprising to find him asleep somewhere right now.
Thinking it better to not call out in case the fox was asleep, he closed the door behind him, looking around. No sign in the living room. Moving around to each room told him the fox wasn't in the kitchen, or his room. A boom of thunder sounded outside, but no squeak or yelp was sounded.
Hmm... The last place to check was the garage itself, so Sonic stepped up to the door leading into it, and opened it quietly. Looking inside, he was left confused and surprised.
Within the room, was no fox. Even more surprising, was that there was a massive lack of a plane within the garage, as well.
"Did he go out in this storm?" Sonic spoke to no one in particular. "No, he couldn't have. He must have left before, which means he might be..." His heart sunk at the thought. "Oh no, he must have gotten caught in the storm..." All thoughts of food tossed to the side, he sped back to the door, opening it roughly and heading out into the rain without any caution.
He lifted an arm and looked down, at a watch that was almost permanently attached to his wrist for communication purposes. He remembered that Tails had programmed a way to ping the Tornado's location from the watch itself, in the case of a crash, or if they got separated, they may have a way of finding their friends again by going to the Tornado. Or, a more unlikely reason; if someone were to steal the Tornado. But that part was very very unlikely, given Tails' constant fiddling with house security already, no one would make it very close.
In any case, this locator would help him find the plane, and by extension, Tails.
Finally figuring out how to ping the Tornado, it pinged northeast of the house. It wasn't super far, either. A good distance, but that's nothing for the fastest thing alive.
The return ping of location also told him that if it was a crash, it wasn't a bad one that rendered the Tornado beyond repair. Good.
"I hope he didn't crash the Tornado," He worried out loud. "Don't worry bud, I'll find ya!" He sped off in the direction of where his watch showed the plane's location.
The rain and wind made him shiver on the run, it seemed that the depressing weather made it a bit colder out, but that didn't bother him that much.
Looking around as he went just in case, eventually he found himself very close to the location and skid to a stop just in a clearing within the forest, a brightly colored plane sitting within the center of the small field. It didn't look damaged, so Sonic crossed crashing off his list of problems.
But if the plane was just sitting here in the forest, where was Tails? Did he leave?
The flash of light, followed by booming thunder didn't phase Sonic, but it left him with an answer, since he heard his adopted brother's muffed yell from the plane.
Ah. He didn't leave, then. Poor guy.
"Tails?" He called out, walking forward and around to the other side of the plane, where he'd heard the voice come from.
When he'd moved to the other side, he spotted the furball, orange fur puffed out and curled up against the plane itself, ears flattened and face pressed into the fur of one of his namesakes.
It seemed that he didn't hear Sonic the first time, so he called out again. "Tails?"
Thankfully, the fox didn't seem too far gone in his fear, as the second call did the trick. His head jolted upwards, eyes wide. "Sonic!" He exclaimed, and made no hesitation to scramble towards the hedgehog, who met him halfway and caught him in his arms rather easily. "How'd you find me?"
"Your locator is pretty handy," He nodded towards his watch, grinning for a moment. "Are you hurt, bud? What are you doing out here in the storm?" Sonic asked his own questions now, looking over Tails' head and body for any injuries, just in case.
Another flash from the sky earned him a squeak, and he pressed closer to the older, unable to speak for a few seconds. Eventually, he looked up again at Sonic. "Um, I'm alright," The kit replied. "I was uh, I didn't expect the storm to hit this close to home." He struggled to make logical sentences to explain what he was doing as the sky rumbled further, and broke off from talking completely when another lightning strike hit a little too close to them.
The ground shook with the crash. Tails screamed, enough that it made the speedster's ears ring for a moment- or maybe it was the loud thunder that came alongside the crash that did that; He wasn't sure which, and wasn't going to think on it too much.
Instead he pulled Tails closer to him as he glanced towards the sound, making sure that there wasn't a forest fire growing or a fallen tree about to come near them. The lightning had both sounded and felt like it hit very close to them.
"Tell me later," Sonic said as he leaned back close to the fox's ear in attempts to gain his attention. The poor fox had pressed his whole face into the hedgehog's shoulder, trying to hide. He was shaking pretty badly, breath erratic. "Let's get out of the rain for now. I'll carry you, okay?"
At that suggestion, Tails managed to lift his head to look at Sonic again. "I-I can walk," He said, words stuttering and hard to get out.
Sonic raised an eyebrow, disbelieving him. "Your legs are shaking, bud. I'm holding you up more than you're holding yourself." And it was true. The fox was almost kneeling at this point, only really standing by holding onto the hedgehog's arms with cold hands rather than keeping himself up with his own legs.
Tails shook his head, stubborn, but didn't seem to be able to voice his argument any further.
Sonic sighed. "You carry me all the time, so I'll just be returning the favor. Come on." He moved a little lower to properly lift the fox, who may have been reluctant, but didn't move to stop him, and instead clung to his shoulders as was lifted. His namesakes pressed close with a good amount of force on either side of their hips, as well, a testament to how frightened the fox probably was. Sonic didn't blame him for being scared.
The twin-tail was still small enough that carrying him wasn't trouble, though even if it was he didn't have any right to complain. The fox had carried him while flying many times, and he'd bet that would be much harder than just carrying someone while walking.
As he turned and began to head off away from where lightning crashes seemed abundant, Tails pressed his head into the space between the older's quills and shoulder, right against his neck, and stiffened.
"What is it?" Sonic asked, figuring the stiffening wasn't from his fear.
"What about the Tornado?" Sonic glanced back at the plane, and shrugged with the shoulder that the fox wasn't pushing his face into. "It'll be alright. We can't move it anyways in this." Sonic responded. "We'll come back when it stops raining."
A far off rumbling promised that wasn't happening anytime soon, and Tails squeaked in response to the noise, turning his head to hide his face amongst the blue and tan fur of his older brother instead, ears pressed into his skull.
Sonic sped off now, prepared to get back to their home as quickly as he could. He noted, that the fox's breathing was still quick, and he wasn't sure if it was getting worse or if it had been worse before he'd found the fox. He moved an arm to pull the fox closer to his chest in a means to calm him as they rushed back to the house.
It didn't help that the storm's electricity almost seemed to chase them on the way, and Sonic cursed in his mind that the rain clouds must really be out to get them if they were this determined to scare Tails this much.
Each lightning strike threw the fox further into his fright, causing a yelp from the poor 8 year old and a further effort to hold onto the blue one. The grip was almost painful. Sonic moved a little quicker to get back to the house, and offered small reassurances, as he registered that the twin-tail's erratic breathing was getting worse.
When they entered the house, Tails only noticed by the sudden burst of warmth, and only after a few moments of being inside. He completely forgot that it was rather cold in that storm, too preoccupied with his own fear, which had locked up the young mechanic's mind away and left him shaking. He didn't move to get out of Sonic's grip, and though he did hear Sonic saying something to him, the words themselves weren't registered.
Instead, he just stayed put, taking what comfort he could get at the moment, panicked mind winning out over the logical side of his brain which told him he was safe to move. He shifted his legs, which were wrapped around Sonic's sides, then his namesakes, to stay closer to him.
Just as the door was closing, another set of thunder and lightning made itself known, making the fox gasp, instincts confirming that staying within his brother's arms was a good idea.
It didn't last, though, since the hedgehog moved them both to the couch within the living room, and carefully deposited the fox on the cushions. Or, tried to. Tails' arms didn't cooperate, and he didn't want Sonic to leave him yet. So he held onto the other's neck weakly, the 8-year old mind taking over, and letting out a whimper in an attempt to convince the hedgehog to stay, instead of speaking like he might if he were less frightened.
Sonic's hands moved to grab his own and gently tugged them off of him, and he chuckled quietly in the dark(the hedgehog had his hands full when walking in and wasn't able to turn on a light quite yet). "It's okay Tails, I'm just going to get some blankets and pillows. We can camp out on the couch tonight."
This wasn't the first time something like this happened, and they had a closet full of blankets and pillows both for times like this, and for their other friends if one crashed here for the night.
It took a little convincing, but Tails' let go of him, and pulled himself into a ball on the couch, another strike outside left him yelling into his fur, and he found that this time, it hurt his lungs. Why did it hurt his lungs?
Sonic suddenly appeared in front of him, dropping pillows and blankets alike to the ground and kneeling down in front of the couch to get on eye level. Tails looked at him, as he filled the fox's vision, and he recognized the worry within those green eyes, even in the dim lighting.
"Tails, listen to me," He spoke quietly, moving his hands to the fox's shoulders. Since the fox couldn't muster the energy to speak or move properly, he twitched an ear instead.
"Breathe like I am, bud. Slowly," He seemed to start exaggerating his breaths, chest expanding and deflating slowly, and that's when it clicked in the vulpine's mind that he was hyperventilating. Did Sonic only notice now, too?
Aware now, he began to attempt to copy the hedgehog's breathing as best he could, not very well at first, but eventually it slowed, and the burning in his lungs began to ease.
He swallowed audibly, still tense and unwilling to move despite being a little more calm. Sonic nodded, looked satisfied with his slower breaths, pulling away and turning to start piling the fallen pillows and blankets up onto the couch around them, until they were surrounded with fluffy and comforting layers of warmth.
He scooted up next to Tails then, too, and didn't hesitate to pull the fox against him and move into a laying position, knowing he was one of the only things in the world that would genuinely help Tails with his fear.
In response, the twin-tail buried himself against the hedgehog, tails curling up around him as he pressed as close as he could get into the other's arms, welcoming the feeling of protection that came with it. He squeezed his eyes shut, in attempt to not see the lightning. But the thunder still rumbled, and that made him jump, too.
Sonic hugged him close, though, and offered kind words quietly, as he pulled blankets closer around them, covering them. "You're alright, Tails." The fox pushed close, an ear swiveling to listen to the words as he finally began to calm down to a point of being able to think again.
He was tired.
"Sorry, Sonic." Eventually, his voice cut through the air, a little rough-sounding.
"Why's that?"
"You shouldn't have had to come get me, I should have been able to get home by myself.."
A hand pet his head a few times, and he felt more than heard the quiet laugh from Sonic.
"We've all got our fears, Tails. Things happen, I'll always be here to help you. You've helped me plenty too, after all. I'll keep telling you this no matter how many times we get caught in storms." The hedgehog hummed, and then continued. "What were you doing out in weather like that?"
The conversation paused when the sky outside rumbled again, but it didn't place Tails back into that locked-up panic again. He replied after a moment. "I wasn't out in weather like that originally, I just needed to do a test-flight for some upgrades I did to the Tornado's engine... I checked the weather, I swear," Tails said, his ears drooping. "The wind changed direction abruptly, and caused the storm to come here very quickly."
"Weather sure does have it out for us today, then, huh? Don't worry Tails. Things like that happen sometimes, that's not your fault. I'm just glad that you didn't crash the plane, sounds like you knew when to land and stay safe to me. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome for that!" After a second, Sonic added on playfully, "Though I guess if we had some chilidogs afterwards it may have been better."
It was nice to hear, and Tails listened intently to his words, managing to smile slightly at the praise. He found his eyes felt heavy when he tried to open them to look at Sonic, so he closed them again, mind working a little slow at the moment.
"Thank you, Sonic." He whispered, slowly drifting off into unconsciousness.
"Anytime, Tails." He barely heard the words before he dropped completely into dreams, lulled by the protection of his brother.
Author's Note:
That's it! :D Thank you for reading! Let me know what you thought!