By the time they got back to camp, Tails was fast asleep.

He was only three, after all, and still particularly weak. He had fallen asleep just a few minutes into being carried back, curling up into a little ball of fluff in Sonic's arms, probably feeling more warm and comfortable than he had in years, despite the fresh bruises.

The silence on the slow walk gave Sonic time to think. He ran through their conversation, and everything leading up to it, and considered the implications. Tails was three year old kid, a toddler, and all he knew was misery. Until yesterday, he hadn't even had a concept of people treating him like a person. Violence wasn't anything new to Sonic, but this was something beyond the fighting he was used to. This was torture. A torture of a little kid, for no other reason than amusement.

Even if it was only those teenagers, clearly no one else had been interested in saving Tails. Therefore, Sonic felt like it was probably safe to declare the entire village an irredeemably cruel and despicable place. His anxiety about staying here was growing by the second. He had to get off this island, now, for both their sakes.

Sonic shook his head, putting his thoughts aside as he reached the camp. He carefully laid the kit down on the makeshift bed, and ran back in to town as quickly as was safe to retrieve his discarded bags. When he got back, Tails had woken up, and was wrapped in a little cocoon of warm blankets.

"Hey, buddy!" Tails looked up at him, managing a slightly nervous smile. "H-hello."

There were a lot of things Sonic wanted to talk about. This kid had been hurt his whole life, to the point where the mere fact that he was alive was something Sonic could hardly believe.

But for now, he merely smiled at him. "I'm guessing you've never had chilli dogs before, huh?"

Warm food alone was a new experience for him, and in hindsight it might have been better to start with toast or something.

"What do you think?" Tails didn't respond immediately, instead taking about half a second to inhale the rest of his lunch. He coughed a few times, eyes unfocused as he processed the taste.

He teared up a little. "Good," he said, in a way that implied something a lot more verbose.

"Cool!" Sonic ruffled his hair, grinning. "Good to have someone to share these with."

This simple remark seemed to surprise Tails more than anything else. He looked up at Sonic, expression questioning but still happy.

"Anyway!" Sonic got up, and started to rifle through the bags. Tails watched him curiously. "Where'd I put it... ah-ha!" He pulled out the pair of gloves he had bought earlier, handing them to Tails.

"Here ya go. Should be a lot warmer than those." He indicated Tails' current gloves, which were more hole than cloth, and had faded from what he assumed must have been white to brown, with hints of green in places, and a few mysterious reddish stains that he carefully ignored. "I would have gotten some shoes too, but I didn't know your size."

Tails looked up from staring at the gloves, astonished. He paused for a second, thinking, then took off one of his shoes and held it up, showing Sonic the tag on the inside.

"Eight, huh? Alright, I'll just be a minute!"

True to his word, it took Sonic exactly sixty seconds to grab his wallet, run back in to town, buy a pair of shoes and some socks, and get back. The fact that he was now almost out of money was of little concern to him. "These okay?"

They were the same style as his current, worn-out pair; wide and fairly plain, with white toes and a red heel. They were a fairly common style – cheap, but sturdy and practical.

Tails, at this point, was looking completely overwhelmed. "T-They're, um... thanks." He sat there awkwardly for a moment, clearly having no idea how to react to being gifted something, before putting on the new apparel. He looked a little strange, standing there with pristine clothes and dirty, matted fur covered in bandages, but his general impression was getting markedly closer to an ordinary kid.

"We're gonna have to clean you up at some point, kiddo." Sonic looked at the still gutted Tornado. "Well, I guess we should get out of here first."

The kit looked at him, shocked. "Out of here?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing you don't want to be stuck here any more than I do." Sonic looked back at him, smiling cheerfully. "So I figured you can come with me. I mean, I'm not about to just leave you behind."

Tails froze, completely stunned. His breathing suddenly became shallow, almost hyperventilating. For a while, the fox just stared at him. Just as Sonic was getting concerned, and opened his mouth to say something along the lines of are you okay, he abruptly burst into tears.

"Tails?" Sonic bolted over to him, quickly putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, shaking it gently to snap him out of it. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"You... You'd really... do that?" Tails looked up, sniffling. "You want me to come with you?"

"Of course! I just promised, remember?" Sonic pulled him into a gentle side-hug. "Besides, we're friends now, right?"

"Friends?"

"Best friends!"

Tails looked at the ground for a moment, thinking, before suddenly turning around and hugging Sonic as hard as he could. The hedgehog was taken aback, but he quickly returned the hug.

"T-Thank you."

"No problem."

"Definitely gonna need to find some work soon."

Clearly, taking care of someone else wasn't easy. Yesterday, Sonic had a little over a hundred Mobiums left in his wallet, an emergency fund saved up over months. Now, he had about twenty left. Enough for a few days worth of food, maybe, but nowhere near enough to hire a mechanic.

"To fix the plane?"

"Yep. Engine's busted, or something. That's why I'm here – crash landed. We'll need to get the Tornado fixed up before we can go."

Tails looked over at the broken biplane curiously. He got up, walking over to the toolbox, and dragged it to the open panel on the front of the plane. Sonic watched as he inspected the wrecked engine carefully.

"I think I can see how this works."

Sonic blinked. "What?"

Tails pointed at a blackened component. "This bit overheated. I think it's some kind of regulator? Then the heat made this bit -" he indicated a shattered connector of some kind "- snap. It's not a very big problem, but it stops the engine from working properly." He turned around, but faltered at Sonic's incredulous expression. "Or, well... I think that's how it went."

"Hold up a sec, buddy. You know how engines work?"

Tails tilted his head. "Is that weird?"

Sonic stared at him. This kid's three, right? Did he get confused? Lose track of time, or something? But he looked like a three year old, acted like a three year old, although a very traumatised one. Come to think of it, though, he did talk well, especially if no one had taught him.

"It's not weird. Just... how'd you learn that?"

"Um... I found some old books." Tails looked nervous again. When he talked about the engine, he had seemed enthusiastic. It was actually the closest he had come to sounding like a normal kid, at least in terms of tone. But now he looked fearful, like Sonic would reprimand him.

He can read, too? Sonic looked at Tails, and at the wrench he still held in his hand, and an idea occurred to him that was probably very stupid.

"Can you... fix it?"

Tails looked back at the engine, then at the toolbox. "Maybe." He paused, then slowly picked up another tool, looking over at Sonic as if asking for permission.

He nodded, and watched as Tails started to tinker with the plane. Sonic didn't know anything about science, but he didn't look like a little kid playing. He looked like a professional.

Sonic thought about this new revelation, cross-referenced it with his previous thoughts, and mentally drew a big red cross over the implications.

Tails had just fixed the Tornado.

From the start, Sonic had felt like there was something special about this kid. Even beyond the two tails, there was something about the impression he gave, like he was hiding something amazing.

Apparently, it was being able to fix a broken biplane at the age of friggin' three.

Sonic watched as the engine shuddered to life. Tails turned it off, looking satisfied, and hopped out of the pilot's seat, walking over to him. "I think it should work okay now."

The hedgehog scooped the surprised kit up into a hug, laughing. "Dude, that's amazing! I can't believe it!"

Tails' flinch barely lasted a second, something Sonic was happy to mentally note. "I-I didn't really do that much..." He yelped as Sonic leapt up into the cockpit, plopping him down in the passenger seat.

"Buckle up, kiddo!" Tails watched from his seat as Sonic practically flew around the campsite, packing everything up and throwing it into the cargo compartment. "We're getting off this island!"

"Where are we going?"

"I'm thinking the mainland – lots of stuff to do there." Sonic closed the compartment, and jumped up to the pilot's seat. "'Sides, I don't really have much fuel left. And anyway, anywhere's better than here, right?"

Tails smiled. It was still shy, but much stronger than before. Sonic ruffled his hair, and he actually giggled, actively leaning in to it. "Okay then."

Sonic turned around, confidently starting the plane. Tails was heavily scarred, both physically and mentally, and it was going to take a lot of careful effort to get him to a somewhat healthy point. He knew that there was almost no chance that the kid could ever lead a normal life, especially considering his new guardian.

But even if he had no idea what he was doing, he was determined to make this incredible kid's life worth living.

A/N Alright, that's the intro done! Thanks to the Discord for helping, as usual!