Sonic hummed to himself as he entered his brother's workshop, a plate containing a ham-salad sandwich in one hand and a soda in the other. The hedgehog wandered past workbenches filled with tools and spare parts, and ducked beneath the wing of a gleaming red biplane as he searched for his brother. He found the fox in question situated at his usual workstation, clicking away at his computer.

"Hey buddy..." Sonic said as he approached the fox, causing orange ears to perk at his voice, "Got you some grub!"

The fox hummed, not looking to the hedgehog as he halted beside his workstation. "That desk please, Sonic..." he gestured to a separate desk nearby, not once taking his eyes from the screen.

Sonic shrugged and did as he was asked, setting the sandwich and the soda down beside one another. He wiped his hands off and set them on his hips, peering over his brother' shoulder at the information on the screen. "So..." the hedgehog said uncertainly, "What'cha working on, little buddy?"

"Hyper-magnification quantum deblazeriser," the fox replied flatly.

"Oh," said Sonic, nodding his head sagely. "And, uh... what does that mean exactly?"

The fox turned and offered him a flat stare from behind opaque red goggles, not an ounce of emotion in his features. "Is it worth my time explaining? Because it would take a while to describe the function of-"

"Jeez, okay buddy!" Sonic raised his hands in surrender, "Forget I asked!" the hedgehog gestured to the food he had delivered. "Just make sure you get that down you, okay dude? I don't want you forgetting to eat again. Gotta keep up your strength, little buddy!"

His brother simply grunted in reply, his attention focused squarely on his computer screen once again.

Sonic sighed. Damn kid's gonna need glasses, he thought to himself.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it..." the hedgehog said as he turned to leave, "See you later, Doc. Don't stay up too late.

Another grunt was his response, and with that Sonic left the workshop.

The hedgehog meandered through the combined workshop-house with food on the brain, though he didn't get too far before a small bundle of hyperactive orange fluff slammed into his torso with a squeak.

"Ah! Jeez, Squirt!" Sonic gasped, his assailant hopping away, "What's the rush?"

"Blitz is tryn'a catch me!" the fox designated Squirt giggled, fiddling with a toy aeroplane, "An' he can't 'cos he's too slow!"

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" Squirt yelped and darted around behind Sonic's back as yet another orange fox, of slightly darker hue with spiked-back head fur, rounded the hallway and grinned. "Sorry Sonic!" 'Blitz' said with a smirk, "The squirt pounced me while I was nappin', so I'm after a little payback!"

"'E's lyin'!" Squirt giggled, tails swishing playfully, "I din't do nothin'!"

"Oh is he?" Sonic winked at Blitz, turning and wrapping a comforting arm around the smaller fox, "Well, I tell you what..." Squirt squealed as Sonic grabbed him beneath the armpits and began tickling abruptly, creasing up and attempting to curl into a ball with wild shrieks. "No... pouncing... your... brothers!" the hedgehog said as he tormented his younger brother, eventually relenting and letting the small fox go. Squirt yipped and tore off down the hall, scrambling over the wooden floor in his red and white sneakers.

Sonic and Blitz shared a lopsided grin, wearing the same cocksure pose. "Having fun?" Sonic said, raising an eyebrow.

Blitz chuckled. "'S'what little brothers are for, right? Tormenting?"

Sonic raised a wagging finger. "Not to rough!"

Blitz smirked and slicked back his spiky head fur. "Whatever you say, Sonic!"

With that the fox went off in pursuit of his prey, and Sonic was left with his hands on his hips and an incredulous expression over his face.

The hedgehog's next stop was the living room, within which a sullen figure slouched on the sofa, a gamepad in his hands and the sound of digitized gunshots crackling from the tv.

Sonic stood beside the sofa. "Hey, Blade, uh..." he said awkwardly, "What'cha playing?"

"Carjack Carnage Seven..." the fox replied moodily.

"Oh..." said Sonic, wincing as onscreen a car barrelled through a crowd of pedestrians. Beside him, Blade smirked at his older brother's discomfort.

"You..." Sonic said, thinking of something he could say, "Thinking of doing anything else?"

Blade shrugged. "Like what?"

"I dunno," Sonic replied, folding his arms, "Like... going outside for some fresh air? Seeing if Doc needs help in the workshop?"

Blade grunted. "No."

"Oh. So you're just gonna sit here and play video games all day."

"Uh-huh."

Sonic sighed at Blade's typical sulking response. This fox had a particular attitude problem, in a way reminding Sonic of Shadow. He'd even styled his head fur into a flap and dyed it black. However, where Shadow was driven to achieve his goals no matter what, Blade just sulked and slouched around.

"Okay well..." Sonic said, turning to leave the room as Blade's character began beating a man to death with a baseball bat, "Nice talkin to ya! We should have these conversations more often!"

Blade grunted, and Sonic shook his head as he left him to his game.

He wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips from the refrigerator, popping them open and inserting a handful into his mouth. He peered out of the window to the garden and found a final orange figure, cross-legged in the grass.

He shrugged, moving to the nearby door and heading outside to talk to his fifth brother.

"Hey!" Sonic called happily as he treaded over the grass, "What'cha doin'?"

The fair-furred individual designated Feather turned and offered Sonic a gentle wave as the hedgehog approached, a peaceful look over his face.

Sonic reached his brother and joined him on the ground, offering the bag of chips, which was declined.

"What's up, buddy?" Sonic said as he settled beside the fox, "Enjoying yourself?"

Feather nodded blissfully. "It's nice out here..." he said, running his hand through the grass and looking out over the sea beside the cliff upon which their workshop-home nestled, "With the wind, and the flowers and the ocean... I like it. It helps bring me... peace."

"Yeah I can see that..." Sonic chuckled, "You look like you're about to noddle off!"

Feather leaned back on his hands and let out a happy sigh. The normally shy and uncertain fox, more effeminate in build than his brothers, appeared perfectly at ease right here.

Sonic leaned back on his elbows and crossed his legs at the ankles, allowing the gentle fox's mood to influence him. "Yeah.." he said with a grin, "Sometimes it's just nice to lay back, not a care in the world..." the hedgehog lay down now with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "nothing to do but just lay here and enjoy the sun..."

Beside him Feather's brow creased. "Sonic..." the fox said, mild concern in his voice, "You... haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Huh..." Sonic offered a dopey grunt in response, declining to open his eyes. "Forgotten what..."

Feather gawped at his brother as though he were an imbecile. "Your... date? With Amy?"

"Uh-huh..." Sonic murmured, "My date w-" Sonic's eyes now snapped open and he bolted upright, tranquil humour evaporating instantly. "MY DATE WITH AMY?!"

Feather shook his head in disbelief, trying not to laugh. "You are unbelievable, Sonic..."

"Ah, jeez..." Sonic groaned, slapping a palm to his face, "I forgot about that..."

"Well you better get a move on!" Feather nudged his brother lightly, "If you want to be ready in time!"

"Are you kidding?!" Sonic gawped, "I only said that to get her off my back! I need to get outta here..."

"Sonic..." Feather folded his arms and tutted, "You're seriously going to bail again?"

"Damn straight! I thought this crap was over!" Sonic hopped to his feet and looked around nervously, as though the pink hedgehog might burst from the surrounding foliage at any moment. "Look, Feath, I'm getting outta here for the night! You guys get a takeout or somethin', make sure Squirt gets to bed on time, don't let Doc stay in that workshop all night-"

"Sonic..." Feather said gently yet forcefully, raising an eyebrow. "We can manage, okay?"

"Yeah..." Sonic tried to calm his breathing and shot the fox a thumbs-up, "Thanks buddy! And if Amy calls, tell her... jeez I dunno, tell her I've gone to rescue the... president... of space or something..."

"Wait, where are you actually go-" Feather didn't get to finish his query as Sonic boosted away in a flash of blue, causing nearby trees to rustle with the sudden wind.

"-ing..." Feather sighed. He shook his head, the lengthening head fur brushing against his shoulders, before he delicately rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around himself, taking one last look at the ocean before retiring indoors.

"Okay guys!" Blitz slapped a box of pizzas on the kitchen table with a huge grin, "grub up!"

The five foxes hungrily reached out to grab pizza and fries, bantering among themselves as they dug in.

"I wan' the cheese!"

"Who ordered the anchovies and... pineapple?!"

"Boys please, try and be tidy?"

"The anchovies and pineapple is mine."

"Ew dude, gross!"

"You just don't understand taste, faker!"

"I wanna soda!"

The organised chaos in the kitchen was just about contained as the foxes tucked in, Blitz and Blade occupied opposite ends of table while Doc took the side, Squirt settling himself on Feather's lap as the smallest fox smooshed cheese pizza into his face.

"Squirt, you're going to get grease all in your fur..." Feather said fussily, reaching for a napkin to wipe the smaller fox's face off.

Blade snorted. "Not like the goober can get any messier..."

"I'm not a goober!" Squirt cried defensively.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Hey!" Blitz raised his hands and grinned at the display, "come on guys, chill!"

"I find this bickering utterly pointless..." Doc said dryly, adjusting his goggles. "Could you please be quiet before you give me a headache?"

Blade offered his brother a rude gesture while Squirt stuck his tongue out.

The foxes ceased their bantering as they ate, until eventually their eyes flicked between one anothers' knowingly.

"Okay guys..." Blitz spoke up, "I think we know what time it is..."

Blade snorted. "Really? Now?"

"Part of the agreement, Blade..." Blitz glared sternly at his twin.

"We... did all agree..." Feather put in, gently stroking the back of Squirt's head.

"We gotta share with Tails!" Squirt said, folding his arms obstinately.

Blade huffed moodily as his brothers all looked at him expectantly, offering a resigned shrug. "Fine..." he muttered, "whatever..."

With that, all five foxes closed their eyes and relaxed, settling into their positions. Moments later, as one, they opened their eyes... and once again, became Miles Prower.

Tails blinked with five pairs of eyes, looking between himselves from five different perspectives. He sighed through five mouths, sluggishly coordinating his fractured intelligence.

He leaned back in his seat as Blade, opening his mouth wide. As Blitz he reached out and plucked a fry from its paper bag, nonchalantly tossing the morsel across the table and snapping it up in Blade's jaws. Meanwhile, he turned his head as Squirt and allowed himself, as Feather, to wipe Squirt's greasy face clean with a cloth. Across the table he stood up as Doc, grabbing a large bottle of soda and pouring himself a drink. While his other selves ate he drank, watching his other four bodies tuck in and savouring the bizarre sensation of eating and drinking as five separate beings.

Being a split consciousness was taxing, and disorienting, but after almost two weeks since fracturing himself he was becoming proficient in manoeuvring his separate selves around as they synced. It was also utterly fascinating, a state of being previously unimaginable to the twin-tailed fox. Perhaps he would write about his experience upon returning to an individual state.

If he ever returned to an individual state. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Not without effectively killing the five personalities known as Blitz, Blade, Feather, Squirt and Doc.

Tails settled all his bodies and continued eating. In silence, of course. What was he supposed to do, have a conversation with himself?"

He couldn't help but chuckle, a sound that was strangely eerie from five different mouths. He'd once felt so alone, being the only twin-tailed fox in existence. Now he was five twin-tailed foxes. Funny how things turned out.

He thought about his parents, who had seemingly abandoned him as an infant. At least, that's what he had been told by the people back in Emerald Hills. There was a chance his tormentors had been lying to him, just to make him feel that much worse about his condition, but Tails still harboured dark thoughts about his mother and father.

Huh. If they could see me now... he thought through five different minds, anger, melancholy, longing, uncertainty and ambivalence running through all five forms.

Then something snapped and Tails suddenly felt less... whole. He felt himself slipping, and four sets of ears perked out of sync while a small voice sniffled.

He turned his other bodies to find Squirt sniffling and rubbing at his eyes, and realised his consciousness no longer fully extended to the smallest fox.

He sighed. It seemed that his emotional compromise across five bodies had been a little too much, and Squirt had broken out of sync. Tails allowed his himself to recede, once again flowing back into his separate forms, the individual foxes regaining control while he watched, like a ghost, from behind their eyes.

"Hey! Hey, buddy..." Blitz left his chair, head pounding as his own personality took over, and moved over to Squirt who was now in a full on crying fit in Feather's lap. "What's wrong?"

Blade snorted from the end of the table. "What do you think's the matter?" he said darkly, glaring as Feather gently hushed and stroked at Squirt's head, "It's him."

Blitz gave his twin a stern look, but said nothing. He knew, as they all did, that Tails had been thinking of their parents. The nature of their relationship with the sixth intelligence was strange, but the five foxes were present in some fashion while Tails was in control.

"It's okay..." Feather cooed, settling his smaller brother, "It's okay..."

"I..." sniffled Squirt, rubbing at his eyes, "I wan' my mom and dad..." he looked up to Blitz with big wet eyes. "Why'd they 'bandon us, Blitz? Why'd they leave us 'lone?"

Blitz ruffled Squirt's head and offered a small smile. "I dunno buddy..." he said, his smile not reaching his eyes, "maybe they just lost us?"

Another snort, again from Blade. "Huh, yeah right..." the moody fox said, fixing his scowling eyes on Squirt's. "You wanna know why they abandoned us?" he said coldly, Squirt's ears flattening under the scrutiny, "You wanna know why they didn't want us? 'Cos we were a two-tailed mutant freak, that's why!

"Blade!" Blitz snapped, glaring at his twin, "That's enough! You're upsetting him!"

"I didn't do jack..." Blade muttered, glowering at a slice of anchovy and pineapple pizza, "You know I'm right, Blitz."

"We... don't know the whole story..." Feather said, ears drooping as he spoke up.

"Don't kid yourself, feather-head..." Blade smirked condescendingly, "Why else would they have just chucked us out on the street?"

"Maybe they really did lose us!" Blitz said, while Feather folded under Blade's condescending demeanour.

"And never come looking for us?" Blade spat, "Get real." Blade turned toward Doc, who had been characteristically silent through the whole conversation. "Come on professor..." he said darkly, "you know I'm right, right?"

Doc cleared his throat and clapped his hands on the table. "Blade's assumption is highly likely," the goggled fox said. "If we really were lost, and our parents cared for us, they would have taken steps to contact us when we became famous alongside Sonic for fighting Robotnik."

"Well..." Blitz said, running a hand through his spiked-back hair, "maybe they died!"

"In which case, there would be no point in searching," Doc replied emotionlessly, "It would be a waste of time and resources travelling the zones in search of parents who potentially abandoned us due to an unforeseen genetic mutation, who want nothing to do with us, who may by now have expired."

Blitz shook his head while Squirt buried his face in Feather's chest fluff, but said nothing.

"And you know it, don't you mister 'nice-guy'?" Blade muttered, glaring at Blitz, "You know there's no point in trying..."

"I wan' my mom..." Squirt whimpered, Feather continuing to stroke his head, "I wan' my mom..."

Blade scraped his chair back and scowled. "I'm done..." he muttered, turning tails and slouching away, "stupid conversation anyway..."

Doc cleared his throat and also left the table. "I have work to do..." the fox adjusted his goggles. "Excuse me."

Feather sighed and looked toward Blitz. "What do you really think happened, Blitz?" the effeminate fox said, "to our parents?"

Blitz palmed his face and shrugged. "You know what Feath? I dunno." the spiky-haired fox stood from his chair and looked sourly at the greasy boxes of leftover pizza. "And I don't really care..."

Without another word, the usually chipper fox strode from the kitchen without looking back.

Feather sadly watched his brothers leave, Squirt looking around to regard him with big pleading eyes. "Feather?" the smaller fox whimpered, "did I upset ever'body?"

Feather looked down to his 'little brother' and gave him a comforting smile. "No Squirt, you didn't upset anybody..."

Squirt snuggled into the other fox's chest, staring at the mess left on the table. "Wha' d'you think 'appened to mom an' dad?"

Feather smiled sadly. "I don't know, kiddo..." he said honestly, "maybe one day we can find out... everything right now is just... a little new, you know?"

Squirt nodded, and then his maw opened wide in a long, squeaky yawn.

Feather chuckled. "Ready for bed?"

Squirt shook his head, eyes drooping as he clung to his bigger brother. "Nu-uh..."

"Sure..." Feather replied. "D'you want to go watch some tv?"

Squirt shook his head again, snuggling deeper into Feather's fur.

"Do you want to stay here for a bit?"

Squirt nodded slowly, eyes almost completely closed now, small weight sinking into his brother's chest.

"Okay..." Feather said softly, "we'll stay here for a little while..."