It's already April?! What the heck happened?

It''s been a rather busy year so far, and I've found it hard to prioritize writing over more 'important' matters. Hopefully, I can find a new routine and make some progress again =).

This chapter has been lying around for a while and for some reason I'm always getting really anxious about reading my writing again after a long time ^^;. I just know there's going to be something I want to revise, and I'm dreading the time it's likely going to take. But, whoever is still here probably wants to read this chapter anyway, instead of my lame excuses for not getting anyhing done. So, here you go!

Quick reminder, I guess; previous chapter: Sonic has just successfully entered a Star Post portal in a hidden chamber beneath the ruins of Tikal, and it looks like we're off to Mobius!

dianapinto19041: Thanks for the kind words =).

Chapter 19: Not the Leash He Thought

Sonic popped out of the portal, easily catching his fall in the sandpit he'd ended up in. A shiver ran down his spine when the cold of the night hit him after being in the jungle for so long, but he couldn't help a grin spreading on his face.

He'd done it!

He'd opened a Star Post portal, focused on one location for a change, and was now right where he wanted to be: The playground near Jen's place.

It had taken him only a split-second to leap into the void, but it was enough for him to decide that if he could gear up the temple Post twice in a row, he could just as well get it to work a third time, too. He'd gladly run back south on bare feet if it meant that, this time, he'd leave with a proper goodbye.

Sonic took in a deep breath of cool air and turned to face the Star Post again, looking the thing up and down then feeling his grin fade into a frown. Wasn't he supposed to have a vision at this point? He didn't exactly have much to go by but that's what had happened when he got out way back at the island, right?

Then again, the temple Post hadn't given him one either… so this was either a really, really good sign, or his cue to start looking for flat stone surfaces to slide his fingers across…

Sonic crouched beside the smooth and barely weathered casing that entirely hid the spinning mechanism of the Post before him and trailed his fingers from top to bottom until they reached the sleek shiny ring that appeared to be its spinner. He'd barely touched it, but it moved as easily as if someone had oiled it a minute ago just for him. Sonic blurted out a disbelieving laugh then laughed some more, rising and pumping his fists into the air.

»Yes! Frickin' yes!«

#

Jen looked ready to tear up.

It was a few days later and they'd decided to go on an extra-early hike back to the playground to have the place for themselves. Now, the sun was just creeping up the horizon, casting the woods into a warm light that would still need a while to drive the mist out from between the trees.

They'd spent most of the way up here talking, but the closer they got to their destination, the quieter they became. Now they simply stood there—Sonic by the Star Post, and Jen and Allan by the edge of the sandpit—breaths fogging in front of their lips.

Jen was hugging a large cloth bag in one arm, the fingers of her other hand interlocked with Allan's. Even he looked a little lost.

Sonic had the strangest mix of excitement and wistfulness churning inside him. He wasn't sure if he could take it if Jen actually decided to cry right now.

"So," he began, then frustratingly had to clear his throat. "I've got a feeling you guys are gonna do pretty good without me." He managed a grin.

Jen let out a slightly stuffed groan. "You're impossible."

She let go of Allan's hand, dropped the bag into the sand and fell to her knees, pulling Sonic into a tight hug.

Sonic blinked away the inevitable wetness in his eyes. "Don't do that," he mumbled.

"Shut up," Jen whispered.

Sonic reluctantly drew his arms around her hulking form and she pulled him tighter in response, purring lightly as she did so. When she let go her eyes were brimming with tears, but she had a resolute expression.

"And you're sure you don't want to visit some time, now that you're able to use those?" she asked.

Sonic shook his head. "Nah. Trust me, if this goes well, I'm keeping my distance from those things for as long as possible."

Allan looked as if he was trying hard not to roll his eyes.

Jen nodded. "Fair enough. I'll have to deal with that then." She smiled with some effort. "But I'm not letting you go without a couple of things."

She placed the heavy cloth bag into Sonic's arms and he took a hesitant look inside. Aside from his bunched up scarf, it turned out to be mostly travel magazines and one small, thick book. He pulled it out. "An English to English dictionary…?" He gave her the kind of dubiously amused look that came right along with an unspoken 'are you serious?'

She shrugged. "Just making sure you're not going to unlearn everything."

Sonic put the book back into the bag, shaking his head, then faced her again. "Thanks, Jen," he said. "For everything."

Jen nodded, lips tight. She was about to get to her feet when Sonic remembered something. "Ah, wait. Almost forgot." Jen watched as Sonic rummaged around in his pocket.

He pulled out a single silvery ring—the newest looking coin in his meager collection—still mentally questioning himself why he hadn't gotten the idea much earlier. She allowed him to take her hand and place the coin into her palm. "You'll be lucky to get a scoop of ice cream for that, but, uh… maybe it'll work as a necklace or something…," he said, scratching behind his ear.

She shifted the coin between her fingers, looking at it from all sides, lips curling into a smile. "I might get back to you on that ice cream one day."

"No regrets," Sonic chuckled.

Allan finally joined them and stuck out his hand for Sonic to shake.

"Apparently you two are better at farewells than I am," he said. "So: sorry if I've been a bit of a dick at times."

It looked like a feeble attempt at covering up the fact that he didn't seem to be taking this whole thing easy, either. Sonic clasped Allan's hand and they both shared rare moment of agreement.

"Let's try not to drag this out now, huh?" Sonic said.

Jen nodded, then bent down again to give him another brief hug. When she stood, she snuffled and nodded again. "OK, I'm good now."

Allan nodded as well, taking her hand.

Sonic took one last, deep breath of Earth air, then turned to activate the Star Post.

'…So stay on track and don't look back', as they say.

#

A cool autumn breeze brushed Sonic's fur as he stepped out onto the grassy edge of a steep rock face, its foothills extending as far as he could see. Scattered, puffy white clouds obscured most of the view into the blocky mountains below, with the odd conifer poking through. But whenever the clouds parted just right, he could see all the way into the distance, where the coast of Westside Island made a sharp crescent into the glistening sea and the buildings of the capital stretched out into the main land.

Up here, the air smelled of soil and ore, but he felt as if he could already taste the strange blend of cut grass and sea breeze that was present all over Emerald Hill, and it made a deep nostalgia well up inside of him.

Emerald Hill. He almost couldn't believe it.

From his spot—some remote Star Post all the way up in Hill Top—he had a bit of a trek ahead of him. But even with the sorry state his shoes were in, he couldn't care less.

At first, he just thought it'd be smart to pick a location where he was sure he wouldn't be spotted coming out of the portal, but then it also sounded more and more like a good idea to have a bit of control about suddenly being among his own people again. Not only would there probably be somewhat of an adjustment-time, there was also a small chance of someone recognizing him (you couldn't quite go unnoticed being a super fast blue hedgehog…), and he kinda didn't want to deal with the possibility of being confronted about what had happened on his very first day back.

At this point, he was more than fine with it if taking the slow route meant it would take him some more time returning to the people he considered home.

#

Then sun already hung low in the sky and bathed everything in an orange light when Sonic left the woods he'd been strolling through and emerged on a path that cut deeply into the surrounding grassland, snaking down an incline. It was a path he'd walked at least a thousand times. In a couple of steps he'd round a corner and the path would lead to a gravel covered turning area that made up the blind end of a road, loosely surrounded by a handful of slightly eccentric houses carved out of chunks from the split trunk of a giant tree.

It had taken him almost the entire day to choose going here first. But ultimately, he'd decided, that he owed his folks a lot more of an explanation that he did Tails. And that was that.

In the center of the gravel square a single lamp stood halfway swallowed by a tree, its light stuck in the tree's crown. Each time he came here he expected someone to have put a bench underneath, sitting there and reading a book or something. But there was still neither a bench, nor anyone around at the moment.

Opposite of the square a gravel covered road lead downhill into other parts of the neighborhood that belonged to a small-ish suburb of Emerald City. The road could've been paved years ago, but at some point they city had apparently decided that this treatment was either reserved for satellite controlled smart-highways, or routes where they really, really didn't want people to go off track. Not that it usually helped much.

Sonic headed for the first house to the right, not too different from the rest of the lot. His folks thought it was cool to live in one of those wooden carve-outs. But probably no-one on this end of the road had expected that the various ways of dealing with the very, very odd kinds of insect infestation a house like this could have, would become such a common topic of conversation.

Somehow, they'd managed to squeeze two stories into the vaguely half-barrel-shaped chunk of trunk, but the home was still only slightly taller than a one-story Earth house.

The front door was overhung by one half of a balcony that at some point had belonged to Sonic's room. From there, a bunch of carved steps lead across the rounded roof to a halfway finished terrace, then back down all the way behind the house to what he knew was a much more finished garden and patio. A car that probably classified as something like a Jeep stood with its nose beneath the other half of the balcony. Any average Earth vehicle looked like a sports car compared to the thing.

Everything about the place was just how he remembered it.

…Right down to the bump he'd made into the car years ago. Sonic grimaced.

He hadn't been the one driving.

Back then they'd managed to drag him on vacation—the 'endless car ride with your parents' kind of vacation.

They were driving down a narrow serpentine road bathed in late afternoon sunlight, with them marveling at the scenery and Sonic pretty much sulking in the backseat. At some point Shan got up and stuck his head through the open roof, one knee resting on the seat. He began taking pictures, wind whipping through his blue fur and quills. At first glance he probably would've passed as Sonic's father—for a while Sonic thought he was his actual uncle because everyone referred to him as such—but on second glance you could tell they weren't even loosely related. The guy had chest fur, for Chaos' sake.

Leash smacked the back of her hand against his hip, her wild head of maroon quills scraping at the back of the seat. "You're blocking the view."

"That's because you're supposed to look at the road and not at the scenery!" he called back.

"Now I also have your butt to look at. Think that's making it easier?"

Sonic made a face.

Shan snorted. "Just put the car on auto and get up here."

"I would've done so already, but this is a dumb-road and unlike you I'm trying to set a good example by thinking of our collective safety." She made a point of glancing at Sonic through the rear mirror.

Shan gave her an incredulous look. "When was the last time you've seen that kid come home without a new bruise?" He pointed vaguely at Sonic. "Besides, it's nice to not be sitting in a seat that's permanently vibrating for a change, because someone can't keep his foot from bobbing against it." He lowered his head to give Sonic a glare that faded almost instantly. Sonic made a point of sitting up straight anyway. He turned to look out of the window which was currently facing a wall of rock.

Shan leaned further into the back of the car, one of his arms still resting on the roof. "You know, as far as I recall, you're the one who was excited about the Zone. So, we're here now. In case you haven't noticed."

He had noticed. But just because he'd been excited about the place didn't mean they had to go there first chance. The reason he'd talked about it was because he'd already been here a couple of weeks ago. He was perfectly aware that this was an attempt of them doing something nice not only for themselves, but also for him, but the fact that it was taking hours to get here—hours in which he felt like his legs were burning up from the amount of resting they had to do—took all the joy out of it. And this time he even felt like he had to try extra-hard not to get on their nerves because of it.

Sure, he could just hop out and go for a run once in a while to cool off, but that would mean they'd have to know about his speed, and he'd sworn to keep that to himself until he was at least twelve and could somewhat officially decide on his own what he wanted to do with his Flow.

They'd gone around a bend and the view opened up again into the valleys of the canyon they were crossing through. Looking out and potentially seeing all the cool stuff made sitting still even worse at this point, though, so Sonic sunk back into his half-reclined position, arms crossed and leg bopping.

Shan rubbed his face and slid into his seat. After a pause, he said: "Did they seriously call this Zone Landslide Limbo?"

"Yup," Leash said. "Some places really went overboard when they had that renaming contest, didn't they? But as long as we're not gonna do a 'landslide limbo' anytime soon…"

Sonic glanced at the windshield's head-up display. Two hours until they reached their destination—two more hours of his insides churning with agitation, and the last break had only been half an hour ago. He would've sunk deeper into the seat if he could.

Maybe he should just finally get it over with. Just… tell them and spend the next couple of weeks until his birthday trying to avoid whatever they had in store for him. But then he'd probably still have to spend these last hours inside the car—only with them having something other to talk, or, uh, argue about.

Or maybe … His gaze wandered towards the open roof. Nothing really kept him from getting out before that discussion even started… Plus, he hadn't jumped out of a moving car before—gotta try something new every day.

…Couldn't he have reached that point before feeling like he hadn't just celebrated his twelfth but twentieth birthday on the backseat of this car?

Sonic straightened again, absently starting to flex his legs. He leaned forward between the two front seats, pulling the two out of their conversation.

"I was here a couple'o weeks ago," he said. "When we went on that school trip."

Leash glanced at him sideways, gradually developing the look of someone that got handed a math problem out of nowhere. Shan shot her a dubious look.

"Wait," she said. "I thought your school trip was to Aquatic Ruin. No wonder the neighbor looked at me oddly."

Sonic shrugged. "It was Aquatic Ruin. I just got bored halfway and went here instead for a while."

It never actually went well when he told them this kind of stuff as casually as possible.

Leash hit the breaks and faced him with a gray-eyed glare. "Sonic, what the f—!" Her lips formed a line as she struggled to swallow the word. "How do you manage to get bored on days that aren't even regular school days?!"

Some other car caught up to them, honked, then passed by.

Sonic shrugged again.

Shan put a hand on her cheek and tilted his head towards the windshield. She reluctantly faced the road and began accelerating again, plucking his hand off.

"…Wait a minute," Shan said after his own moment of mental maths. He toggled the HUD's map and had it calculate the distance between Aquatic Ruin and their current location. It was a several hour-long drive that, even if Sonic had been the kind of person who enjoyed vegetating in buses and trains, clearly didn't make sense to do as a round-trip on a single day.

Leash's eyes widened. "Ha! I knew it. I knew it."

Shan, who'd apparently come to the same conclusion, turned to face Sonic, coming almost nose to nose.

"How?" he asked.

Sonic was just done getting his shoes comfortable. "On my feet," he said, grinning. "Check this out!"

He leapt on top of the center console, head already halfway through the open roof. The road was still barely wide enough for two cars side by side, but at least there wasn't another bend coming up. "Don't break, okay?" he said before hopping on top of the roof and then somersaulting into the air, trying to lose the car's momentum.

Sonic spread out his arms and legs at the peak of his jump. The airflow hitting his face sent a rush of energy through his body that seemed to reach into every single strand of his fur. The car kept moving away as he floated in midair for a moment, then gravity got a hold of him and he prepared for the road to snag his feet away on impact.

He misjudged only slightly, curling and rolling before coming back onto his feet at a good pace to run behind them for a while. Not half bad for a first attempt. He began catching up.

Leash hit the brakes.

"Wait, what?" Not enough space. Not enough space to brake. Bad angle for a side step. Rock wall too close. "Shitshit_shit_—"

He ground his heels into the tarmac, arms flailing as the car came rapidly closer. He could dampen the blow by curling up, but he couldn't curl up now, he'd just gain momentum again. He twisted, now digging his toes into the ground trying to gain more traction, then hit the car with a thunk, tensed quills taking most of the blow but then making him bounce off again, strung like a badly tuned instrument.

Sonic fell to his hands and knees, feeling for a moment as if someone had just rang a car-sized bell right next to him.

A pair of slightly hysterical voices approached.

"—Oh gods, Sorrysorrysorrysorry—Are you OK?" Leash knelt down beside him first, then Shan crouched down at his side, offering a hand.

Sonic took it without looking and got back to his feet, taking a moment to regain his balance, then couldn't help but grin. The grin quickly turned into a laugh. He had no idea why it was so frickin' exhilarating to come out of a stunt (mostly) unscathed, but here he was.

Leash had already switched into doctor mode, looking him up and down. When she (probably) didn't find any serious damage, she exchanged a look with Shan who'd removed his hands from Sonic in a 'not my fault' gesture.

"We adopted a freak," she said.

"How hard do you think he hit his head?"

Leash bent forward just a little to get on Sonic's eye level, probably checking his pupils. "You know, we could've just taken another break," she said, maybe a little more articulate than necessary. "Just say so next time."

Sonic shook his head. "Nah," he said, gradually regaining his composure. "I needed that."

She blinked. "You needed that." Leash pointed at the dent in the trunk lid.

Sonic winced, glancing back and forth between her and the car. "Un, no, not _that_—"

"Then what the heck were you trying to accomplish?"

"Uh, well, I—" His hand went to the back of his head. "You know, I'm just really, really fast." He shrugged, palms open, and grinning somewhat desperately. "And sitting in that thing is driving me nuts. Figured, I could just run behind you for a while, and—"

"How fast?" Shan asked after gesturing for some other car to move along.

"…Like, car-fast? I mean, not that one." Sonic thumbed back at theirs. "At least like a race car. Or a small plane, maybe…" Man, he was gonna get Miles to time him next week.

"Since when?" Shan seemed just a tad anxious.

"…Three years…?"

For some reason this caused Shan to whine. "Aw, crap."

Leash began to cackle instead. This had gotten just a tiny bit weird.

"I win," she said.

"You cheated!"

"I'm a doctor, but I'm not his doctor. I. win." She raised her arms, index fingers pointing towards the sky.

Shan groaned, then bent down to fiddle something from the ankle bracelet he kept his rings on. He pressed it into her palm with a mock-frown, and she smugly began walking back to the car.

Sonic watched them with increasingly knitting brows.

Leash paused at the trunk, inspecting the lid for a moment, then opening it a gap and closing it again.

Shan joined her. "Does it shut?"

"M-hmm, seems alright."

They began heading for their respective seats.

"Oy!" Sonic called, making them face him again. "…That's it?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah. That's it," Leash said, shrugging. "Show off, already!"

Shan gave him a thumbs-up.

Sonic blinked.

…That's it…

It only managed to sink in when they actually began driving away (and when another car with a slightly flailing driver eventually honked past him).

But it was a pretty cool vacation after that.

Sonic rubbed his face, trying to get himself back into the present. If this was what he got from looking at a bump in a car, he didn't want to know what was going to surface when he went over to Tails' place later.

He adjusted the strap of Jen's cloth bag on his shoulder and shifted his gaze towards the front door of the house. It was probably okay to just unlock it and waltz in now, but ringing the bell seemed like a slightly better idea. Just in case this time there'd be a proper freak-out for once.

He pushed the button and waited, trying not to think. Rehearsing stuff in his head had never gotten him anywhere anyway, and he knew he'd figure this out without a clever quip on his lips. After what was probably about half a second the reality of the moment hit him and he felt an entire day's worth of suppressed anticipation bubble up inside him. His foot tapped at a speed that was probably also worth timing someday.

Behind the door's windows the blurred shape of a person appeared, pulling the door open without checking who it was first. Leash looked just the way Sonic had last sen her: A maroon hedgehog with an untamable head of quills and nothing on aside from a pair white-strapped doctor's slippers because wearing clothes at work was as far as she would go. She and Shan were both a bit younger than his actual parents would've been now, and the older Sonic got the more… casual this whole arrangement began to feel.

She looked him over (not without missing to raise an eye-ridge at his shoes) and blinked.

"Hi," Sonic said, wincing a bit at how hoarse his voice sounded. He still managed to put on a grin. "How've you been?"

She face-palmed.

It was a genuine face-palm at first—all including the 'shake your head in disbelief' part—but when she looked up again she took a moment to wipe her eyes. Then she pulled him into a tight hug.

"You idiot," she said in a muffled voice.

"Yeah, I'm glad I'm back, too," Sonic said, a treacherous sting in his eyes.

"What were you thinking," she said, briefly gripping him by the shoulders as she let go of him again. "—Jumping into a Star Post portal just like that?"

It was strange looking down at someone again.

Sonic caught himself scratching behind his ear. "Guess I got you worried, huh?"

Her mouth opened in disbelief. "Sonic, we both know I'm not mom material, but that was a dumb question."

"…I figured," Sonic mumbled.

"Alright." She sighed. "I assume there is a good explanation for you not even calling for half a year? 'Lost your phone while jumping floating boulders in Windy Valley' won't count this time." Her lips twitched withholding a smile.

"Trust me, you haven't heard that one before." He chuckled.

She shook her head and stepped aside, letting him enter the wooden floor corridor then let the door fall shut after him. Sonic's eyes were drawn to a bunch of family photos on the wall, then he noticed Leash's gaze on him. A comment on his shoes seemed imminent, but she actually looked… impressed?

"Do you have any tips for Shan to get into shape? I think I could appreciate that."

What? He blinked, then grinned. "Sorry, I only know the hardcore version of getting fit." Why the heck did his cheeks feel warm?

Leash laughed. "Please tell me I'm not the first person commenting on your looks."

Sonic grimaced. "…Well, it's at least slightly better coming from you than from the people I've stayed with…"

Her smile faded into a momentary look of concern. Now she probably thought he'd been in prison or something. …Which wasn't entirely wrong, in a way. But the look fell off again before Sonic could say anything else. "Well, let's hear it," she said, turning to walk inside.

"Where's Shan?" Sonic asked as he followed her.

"Basement. I'll fetch him."

Right. Probably composing and stuff.

Sonic was left alone in the hallway, finally slipping out of the remainder of his shoes and walking after her for two-three steps until he reached the spot where they'd carved out the upper half of the right wall so that one could look down into the slightly lower leveled living room. If he decided to leap across the parapet now, he'd land directly on the couch below (and get a very stern 'hey!' for it).

Towards the back of the house, and with access to the terrace, two steps connected the living room to the kitchen that was on the same level as the entrance. None of the walls in here had sharp corners, making everything look a bit cave-like. But the light wood floor and white walls made it all look rather bright and fancy instead of dark and rustic. Sonic felt so frickin' tall in here, it was almost as if the ceiling was touching his head when he could in truth hardly reach it stretching and on his toes.

Leash and Shan returned from the basement. Shan wore a patterned scarf and still had the clip of some headphone stuck in his quills. For a brief moment Sonic wondered whether those two had ever been disappointed that he'd never started calling them mom and dad, but then they'd never exactly called him 'son' either (rather 'the kid'), so they were probably even.

Shan stood there with mouth agape for a moment before he seemed to become aware of it and snapped it shut. "Chaos," he said. "We thought you were dead!"

Blunt people could be refreshing.

"Can't get rid of me that easily." Sonic smirked but couldn't help feeling all fuzzy inside again. Geez.

"Gods, you're still standing there," Leash said. "Come on in."

Sonic slowly nodded, then followed her down the two steps into the living room. Shan stopped him for an embrace then looked at him in mock indignation. "When did you get taller than me?"

#

On the opposite side of the couch table, Shan hovered over one of Jen's magazines, slowly turning another page.

"So… they all look like this," he half-asked half-stated.

"Eyup," Sonic said, taking a sip from his third can of chaos soda and nestling deeper into his end of the couch. Everything was so frickin' comfortable he almost couldn't deal with it. How had he lived without quill-proof stuff for so long? There was something about furniture made for your size and body type.

"They're just… one species?" Shan added.

"Yeah." Sonic said. "They do come in different colors though. Or rather, different shades of brown."

Shan nodded absently. "…Is that a cat?"

Sonic stretched his neck to get a glimpse at the open page. "Yep. The pet-version of one," he said. "And nothing compared to those frickin' lynxes," he muttered. The last time he'd run into one he'd gotten scratches in places where the sun doesn't shine….

Shan looked surprised. "They're adorable. If we ever get friendly with those guys, I think I want one."

Leash failed at suppressing a grimace.

Sonic leaned back again, letting them leaf though the magazine at their own pace while snacking on a bag of chips. He was pretty sure he'd eaten all of their leftovers by now (and almost didn't feel bad for it), but hey, you never knew what was coming. Leash shot him a look that somehow managed to say 'how the heck can you eat this much and still look like this' all at once.

He shrugged, popping another piece into his mouth.

She rolled her eyes then took a moment to grow almost serious again. "And our model student managed to learn one of their languages in only half a year?"

Sonic began to protest on a full mouth, but she interrupted him.

"What've you got?"

He thought for a moment, swallowed, then began speaking in English. »'S there anything specific you want me to say or am I just supposed to talk nonsense until you—Oh.« Sonic just now realized something and began to snicker. "Oh," he repeated, finally breaking out in laughter. "No way."

Shan and Leash exchanged a look that managed to combine confusion and a sense of 'we knew it all along'. Eventually Leash gave Sonic a stern look. "Care to enlighten us?"

Sonic took a shaky breath to steady himself. "Your name. In their language it means something like 'tie down'? Or, you know, the lead you use keep your pet from running off. Like, the total opposite." He grinned. "Unless, maybe they heard you going on about being home in time for dinner all the way to their planet."

"Well, you've certainly never had a problem with the latter," she muttered.

Shan chuckled. Leash took a crumpled napkin and threw it at his head where it bounced off harmlessly.

"But," Shan began. "Since you're apparently brighter than we thought. Any plans on returning to school now that you're back?"

Sonic almost let out a groan. What kind of change of subject was that?

Of course he didn't have any plans yet. Or rather, he'd decided some time ago that ten years of school were enough and that he didn't need the extra year. What was he gonna do with higher education anyway? Become the world's fastest lawyer or something?

…Wait, that would actually be useful.

"…I'll see if they still let me take the tests?" he offered, sounding a little more doubtful than he wanted to come across. It was worth a shot though as long as they didn't make him sit in classes until then. Maybe he could somehow play out his absence and just catch up in his own time—he wouldn't be the first to do that (although it would probably be the first time for him to do that…).

Shan looked somewhat satisfied (plus, it wasn't as if he'd had a straight path of education either), but Sonic decided to change the subject before he could broach it again. "So… now that you know what happened to me: anything interesting going on over here?" He thought for a moment. "Did you hear from Tai— Miles?"

Leash's eyes widened in surprise. "You haven't gone to him first?"

"N—no. I thought about it but I had a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about first."

She blinked. "Oh, really? Shoot." Now even Shan looked curious, removing his attention from the magazine.

Sonic shook his head, sitting up. "You gotta tell me about Miles first. 'S there anything I should know?"

"No, no. Don't worry," Leash said. "Miles is as fine as he can be. He's just very… help-resistant. I suppose you're rubbing off on him."

"…Heh. Can't argue with that…"

She resisted rolling her eyes. "Still. You came here first. What could be important enough for that?" Her gaze briefly flickered to the empty plate on the table as she seemed to try and not add an 'aside from food' out aloud.

Sonic suppressed a grimace. It was hard not to read an accusing tone into her words, and she had all the right for it, but it still stung when others pointed out your habits. However, there was a reason he'd come here first… Now he just needed to find a way to get it out. Sonic fidgeted with the empty can in his hands.

"I—Um, well—I kinda wanted to apologize for always running off as a kid. You guys took it so much better than you should've." He looked up and could only read a 'go on' on their faces. Sonic rubbed the back of his ear. "I also should've told you about my speed way earlier. I mean, after that I didn't even give you a chance to find me most of the time." He licked his lips. "But—"

"—But you always thought we'd send you to military school," Leash finished for him, crossing her arms.

"What? No. That's not what—Well. Yeah…" Sonic said, deflating. "I heard you talk about it once and, eh—" He shrugged. "I mean, it's not dumb. I could be set for life instead of living off of basic income." It was something that technically hadn't ever bothered him, but it wasn't exactly thinking into the future, either. Never mind that he wouldn't even get the full sum if he missed his last year of school. Gah…

Shan ran a hand across his face and Leash seemed to suppress a laugh. "Did you hear that conversation to the end? I think it ended somewhere along the lines of 'he'll spend eighty percent of his time in shackles and the rest of it trying to skip duty'".

Shan nodded with increasing agreement.

Sonic blinked. "Oh c'mon, I'm not that bad."

"You are when someone tries to tell you what to do."

"…Okay, maybe I am that bad."

"But, to be fair," Leash added. "At the time the most irritating thing was to see you come home all bruised and not talking about it. We thought you got into fights all the time."

Sonic suppressed a wince. "Yeeah, I did, kinda. With the ground. And obstacles, mainly." He gave a sheepish grin.

"And do you know how many 'Sonic skipped school' notes we got? I never understood how that got better after you met that Miles kid." She paused for a moment, apparently having gotten herself into an inquisitive mood. "You know, in hindsight we thought it was obvious why you always resisted so much whenever we wanted to go on vacation. But I still don't understand why you've been difficult with that even before getting into your Flow. I know you didn't 'hate' us. So what was up with that?"

Sonic held back a groan, rubbing his forehead. Chaos, he hadn't wanted to talk about that, too, now. The reason was such a dumb one. But, knowing himself, he'd probably miss the next few dozen other chances of being close with those two again—despite best intentions—, so it was either now or never. He took a deep breath.

"Okay," he said, letting the air out again. "That's the thing: Back then, I kinda believed it was my fault that they took the ferry." He paused, gauging their reactions. He didn't need to clarify who 'they' were. There had only ever been one ferry ride in his life.

The look of raised eye-ridges he got was an all-encompassing display of 'you can't be serious but go on, Mister', which felt like a clear step up from their previous reaction. He continued. "—Y'know, I mean, without me they could've just fit into the Tornado and everything would've been fine. And I thought the same could just as well happen to you, so, yeah, that's about it." He shrugged. It really wasn't the kind of thing that warranted a shrug, but it was already a fuzzy enough feeling to be on exactly this particular couch right now, and he couldn't have them get all emotional on him again.

Leash struggled to resist the impulse of pulling him into another hug, apparently sensing how he'd meant it.

"I hope you've stopped thinking about what happened in that way. Because that's just plain absurd," Shan said.

"I know." Sonic said, shaking his head. "I can't exactly forget it, but: sorry for trying to protect you with kid's logic," he gave a lopsided grin.

Leash rubbed her temples. "Duly noted…"

After a while of quiet, Shan asked: "So, any idea what we should tell people if they ask where you've been?"

"Eh, just tell 'em I've been stranded on an island in the Wicked Wild or something and only just managed to get off on a boat—And the one who rode the boat was a girl named Tikal." He grinned.

Apparently the raised eye-ridges from before hadn't been their top performance. Eventually though, Shan just said, "Okay," as if Sonic had made a perfectly sensible suggestion.

...But then Sonic had no idea what other stuff those guys tended to tell everyone else about him.