Heyo.
Just a warning - this is an emotional one, sorta. You've been warned.
Also, I'm going to try and start replying to signed reviews personally from here, so if you leave a review, I'll be sensing some love to your inbox personally 3
Thanks again for all the support, reviews and guidence. And many thanks to the betas, who catch all my terrible wording and redundancies.
Happy reading!
FURTHER REPERCUSSIONS
Coming to an abrupt stop on the outskirts of Knothole, Sonic finds himself immediately hit with a wave of nostalgia. Memories of doing the exact same thing after hundreds of missions flood to the forefront of his mind and he feels suddenly unsteady. He presses a hand to the nearest tree trunk and lets it to take his weight as he lightly licks his top lip, allowing his eyes to sweep across the familiar scene.
Stillness sits heavily as the village wakens with the dawn. Most of those already active seem to be children, a group of them chatting and playing in the rich spring grass without noticing his appearance. Around them, phantoms of resistance members skim between homes and pause to talk amongst trees, faces of the fallen churning nostalgia into regret as he tries to blink them away.
The clutch of homes he remembers being the entirety of the settlement has expanded in the near seven months of his absence. Half a dozen new builds accented with sturdier materials - concretes, bricks, mortar - have sprung up, scattered amongst older wooden abodes and effectively doubling the rural village's size.
Keeping with the aesthetic of their predecessors these are all built in the shadow of broad forest oaks, obscuring themselves and Knothole's location from aerial discovery; a necessity in the past, this need for privacy has evolved from simple survival into a harmony with nature unmatched by any other settlement Sonic knew of.
A smile creeps onto his lips despite the seriousness of his visit, because he's home.
In the city, something was almost always open; Rouge's stayed open until three in the morning, some seedier ones until five or six. Fast food joints always kept operating half hour after the nearest bar kicked out, to catch the drunks who needed to soak up the booze with grease and salt. The azure hedgehog wasn't one to get drunk, but he did appreciate a quick, cheap meal after a late-night insomniac run through the streets.
Yes, the city was made for his buzzing mind and frantic feet, but it never cultivated calmness. His erratic thoughts and racing mind would never still when stimulated from without. It made him twitchy to keep moving, to find something else to engage with, and in response he found it hard to settle in the evenings and his sleep problems compounded.
Knothole always had the opposite effect. Its people woke and slept with the sun, submitting to the natural rhythms of life as he had once done himself, and carried out their daily activities at a leisurely pace. Deadlines were non-existent, attitudes were friendly regardless of who you were, and the conversation came easily.
He takes a deep breath of forest air and finally takes his hand from the trunk to walk forwards. It's only a moment before the children - orphans of the Forces Saga and adopted into Vanilla and Cream's care - notice him and sprint over, giggling and shouting with excitement that the Hero of Mobius has visited two times in a single week.
A chuckle escapes his throat as they descend on him, a couple of the youngest clinging to a leg each as the others take his arms and hands and attempt to lead him to the clearing they were playing in. He makes an exaggerated show of struggling to walk, swinging his legs in wide arcs as he stumbles forwards, much to the amusement of the kids. Three sharp claps silence them all as one, heads spinning to look towards the sound.
Vanilla stands in her doorway with her hands still clasped together in a completed clap, though they move to her hips now as she gives her charges an exasperated look. "What have I told you about smothering him whenever he visits? He's too busy for this nonsense! He'll come by when he's good and ready. Until then, you have chores to complete. Unless you have already tidied the playroom and made your beds?"
They slowly peel themselves off of their blue idol, sharing looks that easily conveyed that they had not done so yet and were attempting to assess if the elder rabbit knew this and would punish them if they lied about it. Sonic chuckles and ruffles the nearest head. "Go on. I need to see Tails first, but I promise I'll come by after if you do those chores, okay?"
Squeals of excitement sound, and then they're gone, running full pelt for the house and squeezing past Vanilla in the door frame to get back inside. She contorts around them as best she can, bracing herself on the frame with one arm as she lifts a leg to let another squeeze through beneath it, and chuckles softly once they're all inside, shaking her head and returning to a sensible standing position to observe the hedgehog. "Thank you. They are always neglecting their chores, no matter how few they have."
He shrugs. "No problem. You know I don't mind." A brief silence passes between them, but Vanilla turning back to her house prompts him to speak before losing her attention "Uh… is Tails..? I mean, I heard about… and I came to check..." His smile falters as she catches his gaze once more. His jaw tightens a little, and he swallows hard without intending to.
Concern for his little buddy is difficult to hide, but even harder to voice, the fox as close to a brother he's ever had.
Thankfully, she connects the dots herself, saving him the need to express the thought in a sensible manner. "He's in the workshop, as per usual." Her own expression has tightened, but it isn't specifically upset or angry, both emotions he'd expected to see twist her features. What she portrays is closer to concern. "You heard about Amy." It's a statement, not a question. He nods emphatically and she sighs, looking back into her home and, he supposes, towards the children in her care. "I spoke with him, but… beyond the educational part of our discussion, he did not wish to share much." Her upper body pivots towards him as her arms fold across her chest. "He may be more open with you…"
That does little to put his worries aside. Her frown disconcerts him and he forces that trademark grin back to his muzzle to reassure her, an index finger coming to rub his nose. "That's why I'm here, to make sure he's okay. I'll drop by after, as I promised the kids, to get you up to speed."
She smiles kindly and nods. Not waiting for her to respond, he raises a palm in farewell and begins to head for Tails' home, antsy both to get this conversation over with and see his little brother.
oOoOo
"The Workshop" was set at the boundary of Knothole, the rear of the wooden structure hidden beneath the denser canopy beyond. It had once housed Rotor, the village's principle mechanic and electrician, until he'd passed away at the beginning of the Forces Saga, and had passed to Tails by default as his apprentice.
In the last six months the building had almost doubled in size thanks to its new owner, but not in the way most would expect an abode to. While the main two-storey wooden build that lacked modern touches resembled other old homes, the large metal sheets that comprised the actual workshop attached to it did not.
This workshop space was easily twice the size of the home, and had increased by more than half since its new resident took over, making plenty of space for planes, boats, nuts and screws, and storage. Inaccessible from without, one has to head inside the home to locate the door. This both keeps its contents at least somewhat secure and contains construction noise more effectively than an exterior door could.
It would have been perfect if not for the means of its acquisition.
For Tails, becoming the village's only mechanic, electrician and computer technician had been a shock to begin with, but he was forced to learn fast by the combined threat of Eggman and Infinite. By the time Sonic had been rescued and Shadow resurfaced, he was comfortable enough in the role to informally accept the position - taking it formally in the aftermath and the frequent enquiries of concerned villagers - and fell into his duties as second nature.
It had taken three months for him to move into the house, though. A part of him refused to admit his friend and mentor was dead, let alone just… slide on into his house and displace his memory. Amy had been the one to kindly remind him he spent more than ninety-five percent of his time in the workshop and would be more likely to crash in a bed than at a desk if it was closer, mentioning Rotor would want him to move in and keep the home intact.
A few days of reflection later, he'd moved in. What little the walrus had was carefully stored away rather than thrown and suddenly he had his own house, out of Sonic's spare room and away from the awkward threat of moving in with Vanilla and his childhood crush, Cream.
The space had been daunting to begin with. He'd never had an entire house to himself before, minus when Sonic had moved out of their shared home, but even then it hadn't been his. This house is all his responsibility, entirely his to fill with junk and sentimental things, and he has no idea how to decorate a home to make it cosy.
Now, he's accustomed to the excessive space. While most of it is still empty, the bedroom is nicely furnished and homely, and the living room has a number of cushions and throws Cream made especially for him (much to his embarrassment, but he could hardly refuse them, could he?) to add some colour to the room.
He pauses in tinkering with a broken generator and goes a little pink, thoughts of the young rabbit and her recent, more feminine physique. Now a young teenager a few years his junior, her hips and breasts were slowly beginning to blossom, though Tails had been oblivious to such changes until his recent interaction with Amy.
As the blush spreads to his ear tips he closes his eyes, willing memories of that experience away as he had done numerous times since. The pink hedgehog had forcefully engaged him in an act he was both legally too young to take part in and had no knowledge of what he was doing, but he didn't feel any resentment. It was an intriguing experience for the fox, and he had enjoyed it, to be honest...
Not to mention it was Amy. Why would he have questioned her? He trusted her - still did - but now he felt he shouldn't, by the way Vanilla had reacted to his questions on the matter. Since then, Amy had vanished and no one would talk about it, instead patting him on the head and speaking condescendingly about how much they regretted his "trauma" and would make sure it never happened again.
I wish Sonic was here. It's a thought he's had many times since the sibling figure moved to New Metropolis. He'd even felt discarded for a while before realising that this is what happens in life; people fall in love and move away, families split and spread out.
As long as you make the effort to keep in contact, distance makes the heart grow fonder. At least, he was always very pleased to see Sonic whenever he visited, and they spoke as easily as they always had whenever he dropped by, sometimes staying in Tails' spare room (much to the kitsune's amusement at the role reversal) before heading off in the morning.
But Sonic would've spoken to him candidly, not like he was a child. He pines for someone to actually talk about it with.
A creak signals the opening of the workshop door. His ears perk and he looks towards the entrance, an excited quiver of energy shooting down his spine as the conspicuous bright blue fur comes into sight. Without hesitating he sets the generator aside and hops to his feet, too glad to see his brother to ponder on the coincidence of the hero's appearance while in his thoughts.
"Hey!" The hedgehog jumps slightly at the exclaimed greeting, their gazes meeting as Tails slows opposite him, the hand he'd raised in greeting falling slightly at the uncertainty on the others face. He's never seen the other so jumpy, and notes his quills have bristled slightly, though they're actively lowering now in recognition. "You alright, Sonic? You look like you've seen a ghost…"
Emerald irises blink a few times before replying, tone fast even for him. "What? No. I'm fine! I just… you know, expected you not to notice me enter, like usual." He scratches the back of his head as Tails frowns, tilting his head curiously at the hedgehog's odd behaviour. The elder seems to notice and regains his composure, usual grin cracking his muzzle as he heavy-handedly ruffles the fox's head. "Was in the area and thought I'd check in. So how're you doing, Buddy?"
Tails lets his expression slip into one that reflects a bored disbelief. "Twice in one week? Is it my birthday?" The ruffling of his head pauses abruptly as worry crosses the others face, and he snorts. "Chill out, big bro. We always celebrate my birthday in summer, remember?" Sonic relaxes slightly, so he continues. "Besides, I know why you're here, anyway. You heard, huh?"
The deer-in-the-headlights look returns. "Heard… what?"
Usually is amuses him when this happens; when he acts like the adult while Sonic flounders to grasp words to explain himself, though usually it was because he got caught eating an entire batch of chilli by himself, not dancing around his little brother's sexual awakening.
The fox's expression turns to exasperation as he finds little humour in the other acting as obtuse and ignorant of his intelligence as everyone else. He sighs and turns away with a roll of his eyes, headed back to his work. "Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, I don't see why-"
"No, wait, Tails I-" He pauses, his back still to Sonic as the cerulean mammal tries to compose his thoughts into a real sentence. Seconds slip past in silence before he finally speaks, drawing teal eyes back to see him looking away as he nervously rubs a forearm. "Look, I'm sorry, this isn't… exactly something that's easy to talk about."
It takes a moment for Tails to realise his brother is… embarrassed? Guilty? He's not sure, but it's not something Sonic has ever been in front of him before. The emotion echoes in the kitsune simply for viewing it, and he doesn't like it, shaking the feeling away quickly to ask the burning question. "Why?"
Confusion is the first thing to cross Sonic's face, so he elaborates, putting his own feelings into words with ease. "Why is it difficult to talk about? Its something everyone does, right? We should be able to talk about it openly, not shy away from in public. Sure, I understand discretion with details but the actual act is so universal, why's it so taboo to discuss with friends and family..?"
Tan lips open and shut soundlessly. Tails finds himself frustrated at the lack of response, desperate to understand something bothering him he hopes Sonic has some insight into. Instead, the hedgehog becomes more direct, avoiding a more complicated question for a mildly easier one. "Yeah, I heard about Amy. Did you… want to talk about it?"
He smiles weakly, glad his older brother is speaking plainly again. "I would, yeah. Because no one here will talk about it with me. They just smile sympathetically and ask if I need anything. It's so frustrating!"
Sonic chuckles and pulls himself onto the edge of a nearby desk. His ankles cross as his hands brace on its surface, the smile easier once more. The kitsune takes this as a sign to get comfortable and sits cross-legged on the floor before him, tails splaying out behind him and hands on the compacted dirt below.
"They're just worried about you, bro. Technically you're too young to engage in any of that still, and it's… kind of my fault for not talking about it with you before I left… then you might've been in a better position to decide what you wanted." Sonic looks up from his sneakers to study the other, a frown developing on his face. "And you are okay, right? You seem pretty good for someone who just got, you know… abused…"
A shrug of golden shoulders makes the expression deepen uncomfortably, so Tails busies himself grooming a tail as he speaks to avoid that worried expression. "I mean, I don't feel abused? Like I said, it's a natural thing that everyone does. Maybe I was a bit young to get involved, but it just feels like I gained some experience that'll benefit me later, not that I had my innocence taken or anything that serious…"
The hedgehog sighs deeply, and when Tails looks up he's rubbing his forehead with a gloved hand, eyes tightly closed. "Okay. That's something, at least…" His hand lands back on the table as his eyes open to accompany a sad smile. "You're excessively logical, you know that? At least I can tell Amy you haven't been scarred for life. She was understandably worried about you."
Tails' ears perk up slightly, and he begins to speak faster than his brain can process what's coming out of his mouth. "You know where she is? Is she okay? Vanilla said Knuckles took her somewhere, but wouldn't say where. Is she on Angel Island? She's not in jail or anything, right? I didn't mean to get her into trouble, I just-"
Gloved hands raise defensively, a chuckle in Sonic's tone as he interrupts him. "Whoa there, slow down, lil bro! One question at a time! Most people can't keep up with that level of word vomit." He snickers as his hands land back on the desk. The guilt is gone from his expression, but the smile he offers is still pained, and Tails manages to decipher regret in his features. "She's fine, living the high life with Shads over in Station Square. Last I saw her, she had a new wardrobe and was baking cookies. Happy. Not in jail."
It's Tails' turn to blink. "With… Shadow?"
Most of his own interactions with the dark-furred hedgehog were short and awkward. Not really uncomfortable - Tails appreciated how direct he was, saving them time in stressful situations - but he was not one to socialise. Since the Resistance had disbanded after Eggman died, he'd heard nothing of their former ally beyond Sonic telling him he'd returned to GUN.
That being said, the last thing he'd expected to hear was someone actually living with him, especially Amy, as the pair interacted even less than he and Tails had. A frown creases his brows at that realisation, concern for how desperate the pinkette must have been to end up in Shadow's home at the forefront of his mind.
"Easy there, Bud. You'll give yourself wrinkles." Tails refocuses on his brother to see a twinkle of humour in his eye. "She's there because she wants to be. And I can personally attest to Shads being protective of her." His hand rises to his jaw, and Tails eyes widen slightly at the bruise there, the worst of it under his chin while a little purple blossom breaks up the peach of his muzzle.
The vulpine shakes his head with a sigh. "Can you ever just hang out and not hurt each other? What happened this time? Did you-" He pauses as previous sentences come back to mind, making connections with the physical evidence Sonic is actively rubbing at. His speech slows as his mind beings to sift through possibilities. "Wait… he punched you because of Amy? That doesn't make sense. You're engaged to Sally, so it's not a rivalry thing. Did you upset her or something? What did you do?"
Sonic flinches at the insinuation, and it's immediately obvious he's hit a nerve. They're back to the hedgehog playing child again, twitching and looking away from the other as Tails' frown deepens in concern. His tone flattens into disappointment, knowing from past experiences this was the best way to make him talk. "Sonic. Tell me what happened."
Said hedgehog swallows uncomfortably and still won't look at him. His tone is high and nervous, legs fidgety and swinging. "Uh… well, you see… when I visited last time, I didn't…" He clears his throat loudly and grips the edge of the desk. His eyes squeeze shut as his speech quickens, ripping the bandaid off so to speak. "I didn't know the Heat had started and I ran into Amy and she and I… well, we did… I got caught up in pheromones and…"
He doesn't need to finish the sentence. Tails already understands the implications, and he's sure that's clear on his face when Sonic hesitantly half-opens one eye to study him only to open both rapidly and wave his palms towards the youngster defensively. "It was an accident! I got wrapped up in the moment, and she thought that meant we were gonna be a thing! And I said something stupid and left, and then she… and then she…"
"She abused me." The quietness of his speech makes his older brother visibly cringe. "She did to me what you did to her…"
Silence stretches between them as this processes in the teenager's head, because everything makes more sense now; the fact that he was her chosen target was intentional, an act to hurt the one who hurt her. There was no denying she gave into her urges, but who they were aimed at was no coincidence.
Sonic had abused her trust, and in turn she abused his brother.
Where did that leave them now, though? Tails isn't one to allow emotions to dictate his life, but nothing he's ever experienced before has been this personal. He's lost loved ones, seen others turned into robotic slaves by a maniacal human scientist, and actively engaged in combat since he could keep up with the azure hero.
Loved ones you remembered and honoured, friends you could mourn and make more, but innocence… that should have been his to lose when he was good and ready, either as an adult or through his own poor choices as an older teenager. Instead, it had been ripped from him, and not accidentally as he originally thought.
He pities Amy, as he does other females now he knows what the Heat is about; to be at the mercy of your own biology, driven to acts you didn't want to engage in. That's something he cannot fathom right now. After Vanilla had explained the process, he had forgiven her almost instantly as his friend, and worried for her when she disappeared.
Now he realises it wasn't even her fault, because his own brother put the events in motion. The role model he'd aspired to be like all his life was now the cause of his premature adulthood, and the cogs in his head seemed to seize, logical thought cast aside for a confused blankness he's never experienced before.
"Tails…?" The sound draws his attention back to the cause of his emotional distress. To his credit, Sonic has vacated the desk to kneel before him. A hand has raised to touch him but faltered a few inches from his fur, the concern written across his features marred with a nervous nausea. "Look, little buddy, I… I know an apology isn't enough, but..."
Emptiness engulfs the kitsune as his world slowly begins to crumble around him, all of the certainties he thought he knew now without foundations because this man - his brother and hero - had been revealed to be intrinsically flawed, just like everyone else.
Finally, a gear in his head judders, and he asks the only question that comes to mind. "Does Vanilla know?" The hesitant silence that follows is all he needs. "Good. So she didn't lie to me, at least." He stands abruptly and heads back to his desk, taking up the generator once more as a distraction from the unfamiliar emotional turmoil.
From across the room he hears Sonic stand slowly, and Tails can only assume he's taken aback by his relatively calm reaction, even though his insides are in turmoil. The steady creaking of metal on metal soothes him as he works to repair his target, helping his mind slowly resume its usual thought patterns in monotonous familiarity.
He doesn't look up as halting steps signal the hedgehog's approach, followed shortly by quiet speech, a previously unanswered question finally being resolved. "Shads decked me because I slapped her. For what she did to you." He pauses in his repair, staring at the mechanical object with a disdain he can't bring himself to turn on his former idol. "I was… I was so angry I didn't even realise I started it all… but now I've realised, and I'm sorry, Tails. If I could take it back-"
Emotion finally explodes into the void and he slams his screwdriver down, glad Sonic has the sense to stop talking in that moment. "Just stop, okay?" He can feel his features twisting into an unfamiliar scowl but he doesn't care, turning it on his brother as he raises his voice. "You're right, an apology isn't enough. You can't take it back and you can't make it better, so why are you still here?"
Tears prick at the edge of his eyes but he wills them away, refusing to cry in front of the cerulean that's causing all his distress and garnering a twisted satisfaction from the hurt on the other's face. When the hedgehog fails to move he stands and reiterates his feelings, pitch and volume rising of their own accord as he points towards the door. "Go. Now. Get out of my house."
In a blink he's gone, loose papers swirling in the space he had occupied just moments before. Anger bleeds out of the kitsune rapidly, leaving a leaden heaviness in his muscles that forces him to drop back into his chair. He feels exhausted and heavy as he pivots to stare at the broken generator before him, its serenity by lacking emotion mocking him in the aftermath of the recent argument.
He pushes his feelings down and reclaims the screwdriver to work again, but only seconds pass before it clatters to the table as Tails buries his face in his arms. Tears carve tracks through his fur and soak his forearms, pent up emotion finally permitted the release it so desperately desires.
Slowly, tears give way to a blissful numbness - a lack of cognition Tails never believed he would appreciate - and he stays there, sniffling softly until he falls into an uneasy sleep.