Author's note: After Sonic Lost World

Calm before the storm

A content sigh left the blue blur as he stared into the night sky, the stars above him sprinkled like sugar or salt over a black and endless canvas. He had been laying here for hours already, and could continue looking, counting, and observing as much as he wanted to.

It was a shame really, that he had actually been up there more than two times in his life, and he had never gone close enough to touch a star yet. Despite his genius buddy claiming that he would in no way get to any proximity to one as he would be one molten puddle of blue fur as he had kindly explained. But still, a part of him wanted to get up close.

They were one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen on this planet – a cloud free night, with stars speckled across the entire sky. He knew that he could see more stars in winter, but he had to settle for the still cold night air in the summer. He could always run to Holoska for a stargaze night, and sometimes he had even seen northern lights there, the area being more prone to it due to technical factors he didn't care to remember. All he knew about it was that it was beautiful and was something that he could stare at forever.

The hero of Mobius smiled to no one but himself, as he sat with his legs crossed at the ankles, switching around to not get cramps, hands laced behind his head. The roof of the workshop was specifically built with flat tiles for the sake of him being able to come up here and stare at the sky. Sometimes he liked to be awake at night, despite being able to see nothing in the darkness. Hedgehogs had bad eyesight in general, which was one of the reasons why he liked the sun and warm weather more than a cold night. Albeit, because it was night, he could therefore see all the small speckles of lights that appeared around him. Fireflies swarming around in the jungle, floodlights from archeologists that had time loops camera set up somewhere in the forest and the stars and the moon that shone brighter than any other light in this area.

It was because of the moon that he was out here, the astronomical rock body orbiting the planet, half of it missing though it was still doing its course. A part of him wanted to go there, and he knew that he could but had more important stuff at the matter to do.

Something was happening – he could feel it under his fingers, a boiling adrenaline that told him that something was on its way. And it wasn't the usual Eggman attack on a random village or his failed plans at taking over the world. A part of him could feel that this was going to be different, that there was something mewling and waiting to be activated. He knew it and his friends knew it, as they had been preparing after all.

The most prominent evidence that they had was the natural behavior of Eggface. He wasn't being normal – generally he would announce that he had some big plan about to be unleashed, would have gained the hedgehog's attention in one way or another or would have seen it through the news. The madman wasn't subtle like that, didn't hide his secrets and wasn't at all quiet. The most peace they got was about a week or something, but he had been dead quiet for months. No news, no attack, no nothing that suggested that he had some plan undergoing – if he had been any more ignorant, he would have thought that the old man had retired. But a part of the hero knew that Eggman was never going to give up, despite him giving him the chance.

But this time he had a sneaky suspicion that everything was fine, and that something big was going to happen. He had had that same feeling the day before he had been turned into a werehog against his consent, which had led the entire world to split apart. That hadn't been an easy job to put it all together. And now, he got that same sense, an alarm in the back of his mind that reminded him that the ol' egghead wasn't being the same and was acting differently.

Nothing had been happening, and a part of him wanted to seek him out and ask questions himself. But instead, he had merely thought that time would tell, running around, doing his own explorations and only came back when he wanted company or if someone needed him. He had been gone for weeks at a time, only to return to his friends to say hi and then be gone again.

He loved living like that, being free and doing whatever he felt like doing because there were no bonds that tied him down. He had nothing that required him to be kept in place, and he could do what he wanted. And that was his way of wanting to live. That was his desire.

But he wasn't dumb – when everybody else had agreed that Eggman had seemed suspicious he had returned and him and his friends had thought of plans to getting a hunch to as what was going on. Tomorrow they were doing their first step, which meant that he needed to be well rested.

With that thought in mind, he reluctantly got to his feet on the roof tile, stretching his back with his arms above his head, and looked at the stars and the moon one last time. 214 stars – a new record.

He smirked to himself as he glided down the tiles, took a hold of the gutter and swung inside to his open window. He turned around and closed the glass pane, while kicking off his shoes, getting thrown around randomly. He hissed to himself when one shoe hit the cupboard he had in the back, the glass pane in the wood furniture rattling, though the items inside remained still and none seemed broken.

With that settled, the hedgehog closed the window and drew one curtain to not allow the sun to get in his eyes come morning. With a yawn, the speedy blue plumbed down onto the edge of his bed, looking at his socks and thought that he would change them tomorrow. He laid down with a swing of his feet, his red blanket nice and warm as it covered his body, the hedgehog turning towards his closed door, emerald green eyes droopy from sleep. He yawned again before he settled comfortably, thinking that tomorrow was going to be interesting.

"Sonic? ... -Sonic?"

The hedgehog grumbled into his pillow when his shoulder was being shook, having turned around in his sleep at some point, groggily pulling the blanket over his head, making the shaking stop. He let out a 'humph' being well aware who it was.

"Sonic I – I don't think this is correct."

The hedgehog lifted the blanket off his head, and turned towards the only other person who lived in this house. In front of his bed stood his sidekick, wide blue eyes devoured of sleep clutching his Miles Electric in his hands, tails whipping agitated behind him. He recognized that stance and that mood, the fox having a problem which he couldn't solve, meaning he was frustrated.

And Sonic was well aware that he couldn't figure it out even if he tried.

"And you wake me to help you?" He asked, rubbing one hand into his face, yawning as he could feel his eyelids still heavy, being able to fall asleep in seconds if he closed his eyes. Though Tails wasn't deterred, biting his lip as he clicked on the tablet in his hands and practically shoved it into his face.

"Looks at this graph. The data analysis points suggest that the approximate signal transmission should reach around 250, though it only hits 247 which isn't that far from the main point and is still viable for our check out point, though this small discrepancy could make the whole mission fail. If we don't have the correct datapoints we could miss the targets. I suspect that it's the ray that's disrupted in the demodulation, but I was so careful, but then it could be the frequency that." –

"Tails," Sonic groaned, having squinted his eyes, and turned away from the tablet from the sudden light, having barely seen the graph that his sidekick had mentioned, his mind scrambling around in the sudden cannonball of information and had only stopped him now from being sleepy alone.

He dared to look back at the tablet that was still in his face, catching the fox's blue eyes blinking at him, clearly expecting some kind of input.

"I don't know. Go to sleep, you look like you need it," He grumbled, turning around in his bed to get away from the light letting out an annoyed sigh. He didn't enjoy getting woken up, let alone woken up and thrown immediately into a scientific question that he couldn't even answer while being fully awake.

"Sonic I can't! This is important!" The fox pushed, the hedgehog letting one blue ear flick towards him, but closed his eyes to slip back into his limbo, hoping that he would give up and go to bed.

Instead, he let out another sigh as he could hear him pacing around in the hedgehog's room instead, small feet which still had their shoes on, walking around in a small circle.

"I think it's the demodulation that's wrong, though I don't know if it's in the transmission or in the broadcast, though I suspect that outworking the internal signal modulation would have its discrepancies no matter the method. I could move the frequency criteria, but I highly doubt that we'll reach 500, but it's the only option we have, other than just starting over from scratch which I can't do because we must go tomorrow and if the transmission is wrong then we could run into the wrong targets. We have no idea what it is so tracking down the badniks is our best chances despite having the variable changed in the-" –

"Tails," Sonic sighed this time, his ears having been pinned to his head, trying to block out the motormouth but had slowly realized that it didn't matter.

He turned his head around again, seeing as the mentioned fox had stopped in his pacing, standing in the middle of the room, eyes wide.

He knew that Tails had been up most nights by now, having caught him asleep in the workshop for two days straight, but had no idea when he woke up after he had dragged him up to his bed. He was aware that the fox thought of this as important, his role being not critical but urgent enough that his calculations could determine the outcome of the mission. And normally he was fine with it, didn't doubt himself one bit and trusted his own abilities.

But right now, he was trying to ask for help from Sonic about calculations and transmission… things. A part of him wanted to walk up to him and yank him into his room, though he was too tired to initiate that thought. "I'm sure it's fine. Go to bed," He said, turning his head around again, putting his blanket over his head just to make a point.

"Sonic I think this is-" –

"Are you aware that you're in my room?" –

"No, listen! I'm telling you something is wrong. If the frequency modules aren't working properly then the disruption could be the answer to the missing three points, which wasn't worrisome but it's not perfect either which means things can go south quick. I suspected that City had broadcast issues within the transmission signal which could be the discrepancy I'm watching, but the demodulation suggests that-"

He tuned him out after that, having closed his eyes and could feel the sleep slowly dragging him back into dreamland. He didn't hear Tails speaking after a bit, instead found himself back into the quietness of his own mind. Until a hand started to roughly shake his shoulder again, groaning into the pillow and turned his head around, annoyance making him open his eyes.

"Are you listening to me?!"

Sonic would have been the first one to speak up, telling him that he should drop it and go to bed, but the fox's expression only made his mouth open. His ears were drawn backwards, and his eyes had narrowed a bit, clearly mad that he had fallen briefly asleep, his tails lashing. No, he wasn't mad he was frustrated, Sonic was aware. Blue eyes darted around the hedgehog's face, the tablet in his other hand making his face visible in the darkness of his room.

Sonic wanted to sleep; the hero of Mobius needed his beauty sleep if he had to be up and ready for tomorrow, but he tried to get the cobwebs dusted away in his mind, categorizing the situation, and getting solved as to why he wouldn't let him sleep. Tails had only woken him up when he was younger, being scared of a nightmare or because he couldn't sleep, a young kid wanting reassurance and safety in their guardian.

He had never woken him up because of a math problem, let alone a math problem where he sought out Sonic's help for the correct equation. And he looked more than tired, frustration clear in his mind, and he knew that fox well enough that he wouldn't go to sleep until that frustration was resolved. Somehow. He decided to pick up the battle, running both hands into his eyes to get rid of the sleep, turning around in his bed.

"Okay fine. Sorry. What do you need bud?" He had already regretted asking, but he knew that he wouldn't get peace before that graph or whatever got solved. He felt a little better about the tired smile that the fox gave him, tapping something on the tablet and actually had the courtesy of turning down the light a little on it, before gently turning it towards him.

"You see? Those three points are missing right?" Sonic studied the figure in front of him, could see that the yellow line did not reach the 250 he had been rambling about minutes beforehand. "And like I said it's not that big of a deal, but I still don't understand why it isn't perfect," He explained, turning the tablet towards himself again, seemingly scrutinizing the numbers there, like they had personally offended him – which on another plane of existence, they might have.

Sonic briefly tried to rack his brain for a scientific answer, but he was still on the verge of dreamland and decided that that thought process was more than impossible this late at night. Chaos, what time is it? He let it slide, instead tried to deconstruct the long rambling the fox had done beforehand, having no knowledge of the process or what half of the words he had said meant, but caught on to something that he had talked about.

"You said something earlier about the internal – something," –

"The internal signal modulation," –

"Uh, proparbly. And that it would be wrong no matter what you did. So, can't it be that? If the points are missing because of the eh process or method or something being wrong, then there's nothing that you can do about it right?" He suggested, throwing out his hand to emphasize his point, Tails' blue eyes looking at him. They blinked briefly, the hedgehog practically seeing the mental gears twisting and turning more than one way, looking at the tablet, back at him, and back at the screen.

"That. Could be it," He said, a wide grin appearing on the hedgehog, tugging the blanket closer to himself.

"Well, problem solved!" He happily exclaimed, turning around again in his bed, a satisfied smile on his lips, from the conclusion.

"No, it's not solved, it could be something else," He sighed out loud as he felt the mattress shift, the fox sitting on the edge of his bed, could hear the small fingers at work with the Miles Electric. "I have no way to check if that's it, then I would have to start all over again," –

"Tails, you're the smartest person on this planet, I know you're right and you know you're right," Sonic said, having closed his eyes but was far away from sleep.

"Sonic that doesn't justify it. Even if it's only three points, it could still cause a disaster. I don't know if-" He cut himself off, a moment of contemplating thinking filling the silence, because a defeated sigh made the conclusion.

The hedgehog turned his head around again, looking at the fox that sat next to him. He slowly realized that this was more than just a few calculations being wrong. Tails looked more than defeated, letting a hand run down his face as he tiredly looked at the numbers, though the experienced big brother could tell that he was looking through them, thinking about something else entirely.

"Alright bud – what's wrong?" He asked, as he struggled to sit up, untangling his red blanket from under him and rested against his bedrest, pulling the last vestiges of sleep out of his eyes with a head shake.

The fox looked back at him, opened his mouth to repeat the wrong calculations most likely regarding the graph again, when he caught on that Sonic wasn't talking about his Miles Electric anymore. He briefly looked at the tablet again, and bit his lip, one hand letting go of his homemade piece of technology and fiddled with his right tail tip in his lap.

"Nothing. It's just that – Shadow, Rouge and Omega has been gone for a month and we have heard nothing from them," He said, looking at the tablet but looked up at the hedgehog again, his eyes wide and calculating.

The hedgehog on the other hand blinked confused, thinking when Tails had ever worried about them. Of course, they cared about them and would come to their aid if they ever sent out an emergency beacon or something of the sorts, but years had passed where they hadn't seen them or talked to them. Why he was suddenly worried over them being gone over a period of a month was abnormal.

"And why do you think about that?" Tails let out a quick sigh, making the experienced hedgehog know that the fox thought it was ridiculous himself, padding his tail tip and left it alone.

"I don't know. It's just weird that they disappeared out of the blue like that you know? I've tried calling GUN and asked where they are, but they won't tell me anything. And – I have a suspicion that Eggman has something to do with it," He said, frowning at his own tablet, mental gears working again. "We know he had had been building this 'weapon' for a long time now. The transmissions tell us that," He bit his lip, looking at the tablet in his lap which presumably had given him that information.

"But I can't help but to think that tomorrow is just one big trap. That whatever Shadow, Rouge and Omega got themselves into we're about to get that as well," He explained, the puzzle pieces finally falling into place, the tiredness beforehand gone as Sonic intently listened to his little brother's worry, eyes looking and reading.

"And you're worried that, that one little detail that is wrong in the graph is gonna send us into that trap, right?"

Tails' eyes were fixated on the Miles Electric that still showcased the figure, nodding slowly.

"Dude don't worry about it. Like you said that minor detail means nothing in the long run. Things will turn out fine tomorrow I know it will. And even – if – something doesn't work out then we'll figure it out. Like we always do. Don't worry about something that you can't do anything about, you know that," Sonic encouraged, giving him a small push that swayed the fox a little before he sat still again, his eyes not leaving the tablet.

In the dim light from the screen, the hedgehog could see how tired Tails was, his form partially slumping forward, and his eyes devoured of sleep, seemingly empty out of any emotions after figuring out what was really wrong. The blur opened his mouth to suggest that he went to bed and get some sleep when he was interrupted.

"I know," Tails sighed, as his hand absentmindedly rubbed up and down his other arm. "But I can't help but to think what happened to them. If they got attacked or something," He further explained. "I – we. Don't know what this weapon is. What if they're-" He cut himself off again, looking briefly at Sonic before he returned back to the Miles Electric.

He then frowned and closed the tablet with a button and tossed it into the end of the hedgehog's bed, running both hands through his face. Said hedgehog had already guessed what that end of the sentence was, wondering how he came to that dark of a conclusion, reaching out a hand and put it on a yellow shoulder.

"Tails what gave you that idea? They're fine – it's Team Dark we're talking about, I'm sure nothing happened to them," He reassured, as the fox's hands fell, his head leaning a bit forward as his fingers fidgeted in his lap, still in quiet disagreement.

Sonic racked his brains once more, trying to figure out how first, Tails had come up with that idea and second why he wondered if they had been badly hurt or worse. The mission had been planned around and put in place in the course of two weeks, after they had agreed that Eggman had been too quiet, and this 'weapon' which they had caught in a secret conversation over radio, was worrisome, considering the fact that egghead hadn't introduced it yet.

He would normally have boasted, even if it weren't even done yet. Knuckles were actually down here from the island, sleeping in their living room, getting ready to check around Windy Valley and Speedy Highway as promised, while Amy were snoozing at home in her own apartment, taking the train tomorrow down to Spagonia and the surrounding cities while Chaotix was going to check out Metropolis. They were searching and looking for Eggbreath, the quietness making them feel uneasy, and therefore had to take some kind of action.

Nothing had happened yet, they hadn't evens started searching, nobody had gotten hurt or anything. Sonic let out a sigh, as he scratched the back of his head with his other hand, figuring out nothing from his mind search.

"Look bud, don't worry about it okay? I'm sure they're okay. We can try give another call to GUN tomorrow if that's going to make you fe-" He was cut off again, but not by verbal interruption but rather because Tails leaned his head back and landed on his right shoulder, eyes closed and let out a sigh.

Sonic blinked in confusion from the sudden reaction, thinking what had triggered that action, when the fox suddenly gasped for a breath and sobbed.

Confusion settled only for seconds at a time, before guardian- and big brother instinct kicked in and reached out to hug him, one hand settled on his back, the other in the back of his head.

"Hey, hey? What's going on bud?" He called, as he felt Tails practically slump into him, leaning into the physical comfort, as he sobbed again, the hedgehog looking to see saltwater tears running down his face.

He would have moved to remove them, but the fox turned fully towards him, his own arms avoiding the spikes on his back as yellow arms clung to him, completely burrowing his face into a blue shoulder, hitching for breath, and crying. Sonic remained perplexed slowly realizing that he wouldn't get and answer out of him right now, and instead slowly rubbed the kit on the back of his head, shushing in a low voice, to try and calm him down.

Had something happened? Was there some news that he was afraid to tell Sonic? Was he hurt? He didn't know, and a part of him wanted to ask, but felt Tails cling closer to him instead, and therefore decided to remain quiet.

He shifted back against his headrest and wall again, pulling the fox with him without resistance, and settled on letting him be for now, shifting his little brother onto his lap like when he was a small cub, afraid of the big dark world. Tails didn't respond to getting moved around, merely kept unleashing his inner frustration, staining both yellow and dark blue fur but Sonic didn't care, merely left his cheek on the top of his head, and kept shushing when he could hear the fox hitch for breath.

They remained for moments, the hedgehog remaining as the comfort that his sidekick wanted, the other clinging and crying, trying to catch his breath, and remained silent.

Tails usually didn't react this way, hadn't seen the fox bawling since he was smaller, eight out of ten times it being from the thunderstorm that had ravaged outside. The fox he knew was confident and knew his own abilities, always discussed with anyone who tried to underestimate him and were more than a perfect sidekick in various battles. Whatever had happened, or was happening he didn't know, had deeply triggered that inner kid that he knew he was. That kid who wanted to play around in the snow in Holoska, wanted to make sandcastles and doing breathe-holding contests at the beach and wanted more mint candy than what was good for him. Usually that kid was hidden away pretty good, but right now there was something that made him feel completely broken, something that Sonic wanted to resolve right away.

Luckily, it seemed like he was collecting himself, the gasps for breath becoming less frequent and the sobbing appearing between longer intervals, though the tears were still falling.

"Now," Sonic tried, keeping his voice low in a comforting gesture "How about you tell me what's really wrong?" He lifted his head and left his chin on the top of the fox's head instead, waiting for him to be ready. A couple of heart beats passed them, before Tails let out a deep sigh, but kept his head snuggled, turning it a bit to not sound muffled.

"I've – I've been dreaming about you. Lately," He admitted, his voice sounding hoarse and even more tired than before. Sonic let out a hum of understanding, having dealt with that before, though a long time ago.

"And I can guess that they're not good dreams, right?" Tails shook his head against his shoulder in response, taking in another breath to sob again, though Sonic rubbed his back carefully, drawing meaningless patterns into the yellow fur. "What happens?"

He could have guessed it by now, though he felt the fox stiffen from the question, either considering answering or were reliving images and pictures in his head. He guessed the latter, as the fox moved his head into the dark blue fur again, could feel one tail wrap around the hedgehog's waist, an unconscious move that wanted to protect him.

"It's. It's different every time but it's the same outcome," He struggled to not cry out again, settled on trying to stop the tears by pressing his face into the bony shoulder. "It's mostly badnik fights, but also traps, and lava and water and-" He paused with a sigh, the hedgehog feeling the fox's grip around him tighten.

"And you die."

It was said in almost a whisper, muffled and hidden, though Sonic had heard every bit of it.

Those nightmares had happened before, back when he was younger and was afraid that he was going to be left behind, not that the hedgehog ever would have. A toddler waking up with a gasp, crawling over to the hedgehog beside him in the cave or under a palm tree, crying against him until the hero woke up and reassured that he was okay. Those dreams had disappeared some time after Tails had disabled the bomb in Station Square, though he didn't know if they still occurred but didn't tell Sonic about them.

They all had nightmares, the hedgehog had nightmares, and he could guess that the fox dreamt something like that every once in a while, but had been getting better at dealing with them himself. But either the dreams were really bad, or he had dreamt them more than once at a time.

"Almost every night," Tails suddenly continued, having calmed somewhat, but was still clinging to the hedgehog, their hearts beating against each other, reassuring the younger that the elder was still alive in his grasp.

Sonic understood and didn't blame his action, he wouldn't have either way, as he had an easy solution for it, chuckling in a low voice, his hand still drawing on the fox's back.

"Then there's nothing to worry about litl' bro. You know me, I'm going to be fine. I get into situations that's dangerous yeah, but I always come out of them, right? Nothing has ever happened to me, right?" He looked down at the yellow head that was still concealed in his shoulder, raising a brow in false mockery. The fox seemed to be thinking about the statement, sniffled and turned his head sideways, leaning against his chest instead, clearly showing the tears that sat on his cheeks.

"You got turned into a werehog," He deadpanned, brow furrowing slightly.

"Yeah okay, something happened back then," Sonic admitted, still looking at his sidekick's face, though he was looking into the wall as the hedgehog moved his hand and ran a thump under the fox's eyes.

"But I made it out of there alive. And I survived the blast on in the space amusement park, defeated that time eater thing and I kicked butt up on Lost Hex," He enumerated, leaving his hand back on the back of Tails' head, watching as the furrow in his brow seized. His charge remained still after that, seemingly trying to work his way around the hedgehog's explanation, seemingly trying to find a flaw or somewhere along those lines where he had been too close to being defeated.

"Why are suddenly worried about this now? Apart from the dreams," He asked, still looking at his little brother, pulling him a bit more upright.

Tails didn't react from the movement, was instead thinking about the hedgehog's question, could almost read every thought that passed his mind from his facial expressions alone. But he let out a defeated sigh, closed his eyes against the hedgehog's tan chest, tears suddenly reappearing.

"I don't know. I just have this feeling that something. Bad is gonna happen tomorrow. Something, really bad Sonic," He explained, hitched for a breath and let the tears run, arms tightening around the hedgehog's back.

"I don't wanna lose you Sonic!" –

"Shhh, you're not losing me okay?" The hedgehog was quick to dispel the situation, leaving his cheek on the top of the fox's head again, in automation alone rocking slowly from side to side, squeezing him slightly. Tails was quick to calm down before it spiraled out of control, taking deep breaths, as he let himself sway with the small movement. Sonic couldn't blame him, having that same thought stuck in the back of his head.

Everything was out of the ordinary, the normal trivial days had been quiet with an evil mastermind acting abnormal and suspicious to a point where he knew that tomorrow wouldn't be a normal mission of looking a bit around the place. He didn't blame him for having that thought, since that possibility was more valid than any other day or any other mission would have been.

He briefly thought about how to fix it, being well aware that he couldn't outright tell him now that everything was going to be fine, since the both of them knew that tomorrow would be different. He breathed out a long sigh, could feel the fox starting to lose his consciousness, feeling more and more heavy against the hedgehog.

"Let's make a deal okay? I'm gonna promise you that I'm going to be okay tomorrow alright?" Tails was quick to let out a scoff, sniffing while he caught his breath.

"Sonic you can't promi-" –

"Yes I can. I'm doing it right now aren't I?" He asked, quirking a brow at his charge but continued.

"I promise you that if something really bad does happen tomorrow then I'll be fine. You just need to hold on to that hope and that faith in me okay? Like you always do. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow but I'm going to promise you that I'll be fine," He said a bit more forcefully, hopefully getting his words across to his worried younger brother.

"Okay?" He ended, looked at the face that had fresh saltwater tears sitting on his muzzle, blue eyes yet again calculating, despite the heavy desire to sleep that sat in them.

He looked like he wanted to argue and tell him that he couldn't promise himself something of the sorts, although he accepted that he had lost the battle, sighing and burrowed his head in his chest.

"Okay. But then you better keep it," Sonic snickered to that, padding his back, still swaying from side to side, giving himself a mental big brother point.

"I'm gonna keep it," He said letting out his own sigh, feeling exhausted from using his brain in the middle of the night like that. "Are you okay again?" The fox nodded against his chest, still clinging to him as if letting go meant that he would run off or something.

Sonic smiled from the conclusion, letting out an exhausted breath himself, the conversation having ended, and the problem solved. Well, the problem with the equations on the Miles Electric wasn't done, but he could guess that it had been the least of their problems. But still, the fox was hugging him and didn't seem like he wanted to let go.

That thought seemed to course through Tails' head, letting out a 'hmm' in thought, moved his head and looked up at the hedgehog. His blue eyes were slightly red from the tears, some of them still sitting on his cheeks, blank and devoured of emotion, only exhaustion remaining.

"Mind... if I stay?" Sonic smiled as he yet again ran a thump over his cheeks and pulled him with him as he settled down on the bed, pulling his red blanket over the both of them.

"'Course not, bud," He said, the fox curled on top of him, like when he had been a toddler back then, his tired head resting on his chest, arms still loosely hugging the hedgehog. He kicked off his shoes when he remembered he still had them on, falling to land on the floor beside the bed, letting out a sigh.

"Thanks," He said, as he closed his eyes, seemingly ready to fall into the limbo and stay there for all eternity.

The hedgehog did nothing but have one arm slung over him, letting out his own sigh of tiredness, yawning into the ceiling. He had expected him to be somewhat heavy, but he realized how light he still was, despite being four years older since the last time he had been sleeping by his side. Both tails were longer and fluffier, one of them still being around his waist and was squashed underneath his back, but that didn't seem to matter, while the other had slithered down the side of the bed.

Sonic went over their conversation one more time in his head, being well aware that Tails was right. Something was going to happen tomorrow, something that he couldn't run away from. He didn't know what it was and what it could be, other than he knew that he was running through Green Hill while the fox checked around the place in City. That was their plan for now – and whatever happened afterwards he guessed that he would see tomorrow.

A part of him wondered how long Tails had had his nightmares, if he maybe had wanted to tell the hedgehog sooner but he hadn't been around to be told. He didn't want to think about it, and instead relished in the fact that it had been resolved for now. With a promise that he was going to keep. He was going to make sure of that.

He felt his own eyelids drifting closed when the fox's breath deepened, already felling just a bit heavier against his chest, clearly asleep.

And soon, he swam back into his own limbo, his own dreams of chili dogs and hanging out with friends, thinking that they couldn't know now. They would first know what happened tomorrow, and what dilemma they would have to solve this time.

It shouldn't be that big of a deal, it's still Egghead…

- right?