Disclaimer: *Sigh* Why do those dumb lawyers make us poor writers make these stupid things? Bah! Anyway, I don't own Miles 'Tails' Prowler or any of the StarFox team, although they are barely involved and Tails is almost my character (after I added a few touches to him).

Introduction: Well, my brain was kinda hyper after I played Sonic for about six hours straight at a friend's house AND watched 'We Were Soldiers' the other night, so I just decided to write something about our overshadowed Tails. Poor little guy; he doesn't get much attention. This is centered a bit more on StarFox than it is Sonic, so I'll just file it under StarFox. As always with my stories, this has no reference whatsoever to my other fictions. This is based on an alternate universe setting. Oh, don't worry, you don't have to know anything about Tails. Frankly, I don't know anything about him either. Ack, must I say more? He didn't meet anyone in the Sonic series, and he is a loner, a bit. This is set when Tails was thirteen and a war is brewing. Somehow, he is dragged in with all the commotion going on, and in the battlefield, he meets with an escapee, who is kinda hot...



Most of the jets actually required keys to work them, so Tails and Krystal had to search inside the base. The front door wasn't locked for some reason, so Tails was free to search all around the base.

Most of the place was office and office in neat rows of doors and walls. The hallways were tiled with clean white flooring and smaller hallways branched off left and right here and there. Tails figured he could find a key in the barracks.

The sleeping quarters were also a clean white. Everything was white from the desks to the beds. The only thing special about the place was that the bomb went in there and there was dust everywhere, not to mention dead bodies and blood.

"Whoa," Krystal said as they entered through the door. Most of the beds were bunk beds. Several rooms branched off near the left side of the room, probably to the officer's dorms. Tails counted thirteen dead people near the far wall, where the gaping hole was. A large chunk of the wall and ceiling were also missing there. What caught Tails' attention the most was the dorm door labeled: Colonel Alex Brophy.

"This is my uncle's room," Tails whispered, pointing it out to Krystal. She jiggled the knob on the white door, but it didn't budge. She looked through the blurred window in the door, but saw nothing. Tails sighed in disappointment, but that was before he saw Krystal ramming down the door with her shoulder. With a cry of frustration after trying fruitlessly to tackle it down, Krystal smashed the window with the butt of her rifle and reached her paw into the other side. There was a small click as she unlocked the door from the other side.

Krystal opened the door to reveal a nice, large room with a twin bed and white spreads. There was a nice, white-painted oak table and chest on the left side, whereas the bed and the closet were on the right side. Tails noted the large hole in the right wall from an explosion. He also picked up a disgusting odor, not unlike the one in the soldiers' dorms: The smell of death.

"Alex!" Tails cried as he bent over his uncle's mutilated body. He must've been caught in the blast. His face was in an expression of terrible pain and his body was bloody and severed by shards of wall. He was behind the bed near the dresser and the phone, apparently going to call Tails before he died. Tails felt tears streaming down his cheeks.

"That's your uncle?" Krystal asked, looking at the pure-white tomcat, now bloody and tattered. He was wearing the colonel's jacket. His thick, black piloting gloves covered his paws. He had a key poking out of his pocket...

"A jet key," Tails picked it out and showed it to Krystal. The handle was black plastic, covering the radio transponder. The key itself was thick, shiny steel with plenty of teeth and lines to make it very hard to copy. Krystal took it with a nod and stuck it in her own pocket.

Krystal turned to leave, but she stopped as she noticed Tails standing over the chest. Tails used his paws to pry it open to reveal an assortment of documents and files. Krystal looked at him in curiosity.

"They're just a bunch of papers," she said, "They're not worth going through. Lets go find another key so we can get out of here." Tails ignored her. Instead he started to flip through the documents. Most of them were just office memos and official requests, but near the bottom, Tails found a few dossiers.

"Hey, check this out," Tails pulled out a document labeled 'Amy Rose', "Who's she?" Krystal walked over and examined the picture inside the document. It was a photo of a young hedgehog, no older than fourteen, standing in front of a field. She was wearing a scarlet dress and a matching headband. The most peculiar thing about her wasn't her weird dress or her bright green eyes; it was that her thick locks fur and quills were pink.

"Who's she?" Krystal squinted at the picture and the official records, "Just a civilian, nothing very important other than her father was a major in the army. So what?"

"There is a reason why she's here," Tails flipped through pages of her history and schooling records until he found a official request dating to two months ago, "Get this: 'Amy Rose is to be transferred under the command of Colonel Alex Brophy in four months from this time. Prior one month to that, however, she is to receive special ops training from Captain Mason Hound. Her protection is the priority of anyone that reads this document or knows of its existence, as of which goes similar to the four other 'special' children. Even though two of these children are under the command of Venomian forces, I, General Pepper of the Cornerian Army, must request anyone who reads this document to keep silent of the secrets. An attempt to reclaim the fourth and fifth child will take place six months to date. In the meantime, however, officers, search for unidentified 'specials'. Thank you for your time in this important matter.' Then it's signed the general."

"Ugh, just another government conspiracy," Krystal shook her head, "Come on, let's go." Tails got up, but he pocketed the picture of Amy and the request.

They raced back out the base and into the landing field. The cement slabs were broken and cracked, but they looked okay for takeoff or landing. Tails found Alex's ship easily; it was the one with a picture of a mean- looking lion on it, just like Alex described. It was an Invader IV class, one of the latest and fastest models yet.

"Hey, this thing only seats one. Aren't you coming with me?" Krystal asked. Tails shook his head. Krystal frowned slightly, but understood anyway.

"HEY!" A loud voice called. Tails and Krystal spun around to see a swarm of Venomian troops heading toward the base from the forest. It looked like some draft army. They were all scattered around in no particular order. About five hundred, Tails guessed. Tails took out his rifle and aimed it at the army.

"Come on!" Krystal shouted, dragging Tails onto the Invader. Tails shrugged her off and dumped her instead into the cockpit. He clamped her arms down as he pressed the autopilot sequence for Venom on the dashboard and closed the canopy. She screamed and flailed against him. Tails waved goodbye as her jet flew off. The thick glass canopy muffled her yells and pleas.

"You were a good friend."

'When you leave me, When you turn away, That will be when, My aching heart will pay.'

Tails heard the words playing in his mind for some unknown reason. The footsteps drew nearer, and when Tails turned around to look, they had already surrounded him. A blue falcon drew a pistol and...

**Temporarily Krystal's point of view**

Well, I couldn't do anything; he set the autopilot to let up after I escaped the atmosphere. I turned my head to look back at the disappearing ground. They were all around him, but he wasn't raising his gun or anything! A blue bird, which I can barely distinguish as wearing a corporal's uniform, held a pistol up and... He fired! Tails dropped down on the ground in a crumpled fashion.

I couldn't say how long it took me to get back home, but in my mind, it took almost forever. When I landed back on Venom, it seemed that there was a rebellion. Everyone, even the women and children, were shooting at the remaining Venomian army. Andross managed to escape his palace and fly off to somewhere unknown, but we burned down the main political buildings and killed a lot of Andross' advisors and generals. They ended up surrendering within a month.

A month after the rebellion on Venom ended, there was news from Corneria that the Katinian reinforcements had arrived and they crushed the Venomian army. A week later, a message from the president of the United Planets of the Lylat asked us if we, Venomians, would like to join the Confederation. We, of course, agreed.

I didn't hear anything of Tails after the war, but the death toll on Corneria and Venom, including civilians, numbered over four thousand. Most of which were bombings, but I could just imagine now, Tails, among the countless dead, being buried in a big hole with all the others.

Today is the mark of three years after the war. I still remember Tails' friendly face, his smirk and his enthusiasm, but his bravery, above all. Many people say he was merely repaying a debt. I saved his life, and he, in turn saved mine. Whenever I tell someone the story and they respond by saying that, I would touch my folded staff, still strapped in a leather pouch behind my back. I kept a secret from him, and now I regret it with all my heart.

Towns are being rebuilt. Those identified soldiers were given proper funerals. Life went on, but I live on with the knowledge that Tails was one of those unidentified people. No one knew of his brave deeds. No one knew how he sacrificed his life for mine.

Tails is always on my mind. He will always be there. No matter what I do, his warm features would come back to haunt me. He will always be in my memory.

Even though I still think of Tails, there is something else that bothers me from time to time. What was that Amy Rose girl about? Why was she ordered to go under the command of Tails' uncle? Every day I look in the papers for Amy Rose. I search the Internet for Amy Rose. I ask around the entire system for Amy Rose. I guess it's just my idea of pointless knowledge.

**

A/N: Another tragic death. Yeesh, people are gonna come after my blood now. Now, I wonder why Falco shot Tails. How did he get out of the prison? Ha, ha! I'm gonna continue, don't worry.