Author's note: This had been sitting around unfinished for a while for reasons unknown - decided to finish it up and upload it, since I think it's a good story. Enjoy :3

Warning: Spoilers for Sonic Generations and Sonic Adventure 2

Mirror reflection

There really was nothing here. He hadn't known what to expect, what happened when everything was removed from the world, but certainly not this.

A part of him had expected a black hole, though he knew that you would hardly have the time to consider what was on the other side of one as you fall through, since gravity is nonexistent and would push and pull your body into different directions and turn you into a ball of spaghetti. There was a reason why no one had lived to tell what was on the other side of one

Another part of him had believed in dimensional travel, and the bridge between them were mere illusions of pictured events that had both worlds realities mixed into a pandoras box of confusion and nausea. A bridge that you travelled so fast through that it was hard to comprehend what was happening and your mind would explode from the visuals if you had epilepsy or not.

A third part of him believed that he would have been send out into space, the vast nothingness of the galaxy sending him to another galaxy through hyperspeed, despite his body not surviving the acceleration or the lack of oxygen. But his best friend could surpass the speed of sound, so he had learned to believe anything at this point.

As he was walking around, he therefore slowly started to believe that he was really here. A space between time and space. A white nothingness, with a surface to walk on, the edges of the worlds he both didn't recognize and was familiar with sitting in a gateway that he couldn't enter for reasons he didn't understand. He had just accepted that this was what it was at this point, accepting that he was living in a reality between realities, stuck in time itself, a phenomenon that was unstoppable to both death and destruction, something that was unbeatable.

And yet here he was, walking past Chemical Plant yet again, the foul smell of the familiar liquid reaching his nostrils even as he was walking by. Despite this, he still couldn't go in there, frowned at the thought since he wanted to. Not because he liked that place, in all honesty he would like to avoid it at all cost, but because he felt somewhat useless.

For some weird reason Sonic was the only one who could enter them, if it was a Chaos theory thing or because he had been there the most – which didn't make sense because they had been to Chemical Plant together years ago and as far as the fox knew Sonic hadn't gone there himself since then – or simply because the gate just 'accepted' him. The more he walked around with Sonic and the more time he spends with him; he had come to believe that the hedgehog was more special than he probably realized himself.

He had defeated Eggman many times, he had brought back The Master Emerald, he had defeated Metal Sonic, he had turned super and defeated Perfect Chaos, had been turned into a werehog and pieced the world back together as well as been to outer space and saved an entire alien species from, yet again, eggbreath. Granted, he had been with him during those times, but Sonic was surely the one during the work, telling him that he was being a good sport and an awesome sidekick while he ran around and saved the world.

There was apparently something about him that the world needed, either that or Sonic was a super magnet to adrenaline and danger, a theory he believed in more than the spirit of Mobius needing his presence in order to live.

He sighed when he came to Sky Sanctuary again, both Knuckle and Amy having disappeared somewhere, going exploring in the white nothingness themselves, the fox temporarily thinking how they were going to come back here. He reached out for the grapes that hung deliciously on the grape tree, but his fingers met either an air wall or a vacuum, he didn't know what it was yet. It felt more like the opposite side of two magnets trying to come near each other, but the force pulled the other one apart.

He groaned, and placed his hand on his hips, thinking when Sonic was coming back since he had promised him to bring back some food from one of the dimensions. Right now, he had gathered up some keys that had opened into a black hole looking dimension, one which Tails had happily stayed away from. It reminded him of the limbo he had been inside before Sonic had rescued him.

He shivered from the thought, rubbing his arms to get rid of the goosebumps that had appeared there, the experience still fresh in his mind. He shook his head, instead distracted himself as he usually did with some other questions that was lingering in his mind. Like how all of this happened, how and why precisely on Sonic's birthday that 'thing' had come and ate up the entire timeline. He didn't know yet if he were restoring it, rescuing it or something, everything was a giant mess to the logical thinking mind, trying to hold on to as much logic as he could.

Though, it was difficult, as he sighed again looking up at the moving platforms above and behind the gates, small plateaus and gateways that lead to subworlds within the ones Sonic already had visited. Those he couldn't even touch to his dismay, let alone get a closer look at them besides flying to get a profile view of them. He wanted to help, badly – if the entire timeline really was standing still like he thought, then he really didn't like the thought of standing around and doing nothing.

He hated seeing Sonic fighting alone, wanting to be by his side and make sure that he was okay. He had stuck around in Spagonia, doing as much research as he could, getting almost as much sleep as the werehog did. He had been doing his best to try and get the language translation correctly on his Miles Electric back on Planet Wisp, getting to know more about the generators.

Now that he thought about it, most of his work actually accounted of him using his brain, something that they had needed a couple of times. But now, there was nothing he could do but speculate. He had thought about rebuilding the Miles Electric, doing some rewiring and build it anew with the parts he had, maybe try and overload the magnetic force – or air wall – or gravitational pull he really didn't know what it was. He couldn't pull any numbers from it either, do some equations and simple math since he couldn't measure the number of newtons he was pulling against and calculated the difference of force. Which left him to keep thinking, something that he was starting to tire off since his gurgling stomach had been complaining for a while now.

He wondered if time passed in those dimensions Sonic was in, because it surely was going slow where he was. Right? Or it could be going fast, he just didn't have anything to compare it with. No sun, no moving shadow, no temperature change, there was nothing here. He would have gone mad if it weren't for the fact that he had something to look at and make him think.

He shook his head, gave up on the grape and kept walking again, his tails lasing behind him agitated from the same thought of feeling useless and helpless. There was nothing he could do but wait for Sonic to come back and brief him on the situation. What would happen afterwards he had no idea, since there was a giant wall of purple and black energy blocking his view. He was sure that there was something on the other side, he just couldn't reach around it or fly over it.

As he looked ahead, the energy wall keeping his view at bay, something else was in the horizon, moving fast and descending. At first, he was pretty sure that it was just something from the plateaus above him that had either fallen or dropped some rings or something. But when it came closer to him, his ears picked up a familiar sound, something he would never have imagined every hearing from anyone else but himself.

He stopped dead in his track, the thing in the air apparently seeing him to as it stopped, though it kept descending. It was yellow, and as he squinted his eye at it, he could make out limbs, arms and legs that came closer to the white ground. Curiosity overwhelming him from seeing something else but this white limbo he jogged closer, the body making out a familiar silhouette.

When he suddenly saw what, no who it was, he threw his heels into the ground and stopped in place, complete disbelief, and surprise flush against his face.

They were standing maybe fifteen feet apart, looking at the individual which was shorter than he was. Smaller and much younger. Four years he guessed. They had yellow fur, small hands adorned in white gloves and a pair of white and red sneakers on their feet, large yellow ears that was flicking. What was most noticeable was the pair of twin tails behind their back, twirling in familiar curiosity.

He was a fox. And not just any fox he thought. He only knew one fox with two tails and that was himself.

They were staring at him just as much, a pair of completely black eyes scanning over his own body, childish features making his mouth hang upon. Tails was pretty sure who this was.

A long awkward amount of time passed where the two of them merely looked at each other, the smaller fox's eyes darting around the older's body. The older swallowed something before he opened his mouth.

"Hi," Was the most creative greeting he could make out.

The mouth shut closed in that moment, as if he had told him to close it, though the surprise was much clearer in his black flints for eyes, still staring at the fox.

"Hi," The voice that echoed his word almost surprised him as much, the voice being much higher in tone, a toddler's voice. The little fox eventually lifted a hand, and pointed a finger towards him, tails behind him whipping quicker. "Are – are you me?"

That was the question Tails had asked himself through the whole process. Was it possible? Well, they were standing on the edge of all dimensions, all time and special recollection completely gone out of the window with this experience. Time had stopped, and with time stopping then surely it could go backwards as well. Though it could be a dimension hop, traveling through another gateway to this bridge between realities.

"I think so," Was the most specific answer he could give him. "What's your name?" That was the best evidence he could think of.

The smaller fox looked at him again, the surprise still standing strong and seemingly glued permanently onto his face.

"Tails," He answered.

So, it was true. It really was him! In pure disbelief he could do nothing but laugh, seeing the surprise from his younger self slowly dim and get confused instead.

"Me to," He clarified, getting his gigglebout out of the way, smiling towards the small fox instead. Realization crossing his own mind, the toddler's eyes widened from the conclusion, tails whipping excited behind him.

"Do you know Sonic?" –

"Yes! Yes, I do! He's my best friend!" –

"Mine too!" The smaller exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air as if he had won a great price.

Tails laughed again, having no idea if he was going insane or not, he might have fallen asleep and dreaming he didn't know, his eyes travelling back over the smaller him. Though his answer came back to his forehead, blinking in mild confusion.

"Wait. Yours too? Is Sonic here as well?" The excitement dimmed with the question, ears drawn into his skull and the excited namesakes slowing in speed.

"I don't know. I can't find him," A sadden note was to his voice, one Tails could relate to. Though he didn't give it much thought, instead furrowed his brow as he brought back an earlier memory.

Back when he had seen Sonic run off towards Chemical Plant and only turned around again to see him standing beside him. It was the fastest he had ever seen him move, but as he had run again, he had seemed – different. He hadn't known what it was at the time but the more he thought about it the more he knew. It hadn't been Sonic, or rather the older version of Sonic. And if the smaller him was here, then surely that hedgehog he had seen must be his younger versions' Sonic.

"I'm pretty sure he's here," The toddler beamed at his answer, ears standing erect again. "I thought I saw him earlier. He might be following the older Sonic around," He explained, while scratching his ear, getting confused himself who he was talking about. Though the younger him followed fine, eyes beaming with relief, tails twirling behind him.

"That's great! Do you know where he is now?" Tails looked past the younger twin-tailed fox, a weird realization in the back of his mind thinking that if he was ever going to meet another two tailed fox in his life then yeah it could only surely be himself. He could skim the outer edge of the dimensional portal Sonic had jumped through, thinking that if the younger was following him around then there was a good chance that he was there as well.

"I think he's in one of these – dimension portals. I'm pretty sure he'll be back soon," The toddler followed his hand as he gestured towards the black and purple swirls he had thought about, nodding in agreement.

"Okay," He merely answered, gaze locking onto the older fox again.

The smaller bit his lip, before he took some hesitant steps towards him, his walk a little clumsy with the growing big tails behind him. He stopped when he was in front of him, young eyes piercing into the blue irises. Tails crouched almost instantly, remembering the uncomfortable feeling of someone towering over him.

He mentally facepalmed as he had been wondering why the younger was so perplexed – he was the older one. What the toddler was looking at was a picture of what he was going to become. If he were four years old – which he was pretty sure that he was – he would most likely had been shocked at what he was going to look like as well.

"How old are you?" The toddler asked, peering around his body to look at the older fox's own tails, wailing in slow and calm strides up and down.

"I'm eight," Tails nodded with a smile when the toddler looked back at him, small black eyes widening. He was going to be at least eight years old. Something the older fox bit his lip at, remembering those kinds of thoughts passing the younger mind.

He looked down at the small hand resting by the younger fox's side, gently and timidly took hold of his right one. The smaller fox jumped from the touch, though Tails was merely resting the younger him's palm in his own, looking at the two hands. It was only now that he was accepting the idea, the realization hitting him like a brick wall, that this was indeed a younger version of himself. The palm was much smaller, his fingers not reaching out to his own, the hand warm. He looked up to see the younger him staring at the hands as well, before he looked up.

His face was still perplexed before a wide grin spread across his face, making the older Tails smile.

"You really are me!" The same realization had crossed the smaller as well, taking two steps back to get a better look at himself. The older laughed, standing erect yet again, letting him get a good picture at what he was going to become.

"Wauw! I'm gonna be tall!" The toddler exclaimed, walking around the fox in a circle, the older following him with his eyes as he thought that that was the first time that anyone had called him tall. "And my tails! They're going to become super long!"

He laughed again, as the younger fox stopped in front of him. "And my eyes. They're going to become blue!" Tails nodded to the statement, the change of color happening around the time he turned from five to six, the black irises slowly getting washed out and turned into his familiar cerulean color.

He was looking at the younger himself, not completely remembering looking like that, though he had hardly met a mirror when travelling around with the hedgehog. He was shorter than he remembered, though the round stomach and cheeks filled with healthy baby fat told him that he had been around Sonic for a while. The tails were whipping in excitement, small hands and young face giving the older a bright smile.

"So," The younger scratched the back of his head, the smile staying where it was. "Do you know where we are?"

He had no idea how much time had passed, had no idea what in general they had been talking about, had been sharing.

He had explained his theory first of all, talking about the timeline perspective, a bridge between realities where time wasn't existing. The smaller him had been intrigued, listening with ears perked and eyes shining, seemingly being excited at just hearing his own voice in an older tone. He had understood, giving his own theories, and compared it to his timeline theory – it was fun.

Tails was talking to someone who actually understood what he said and could follow along in his theories – Sonic tried, he just never got the bigger picture.

Afterwards he had asked about friends, trying to get an idea of when his younger him came from, and had concluded that when the younger him knew Knuckles but not Amy, they had been ripped out by the time after Angel Island, meaning that he must be close to being five years old. He had asked, and indeed he was four, spending a year with Sonic and experienced something that he would never forget.

The younger him had talked about it, the adventure in Chemical Plant, Oil Ocean, Mushroom Hill, the memories clearly flashing through the toddler's mind as he told the older him about it. And Tails knew, he understood, and knew exactly what he was talking about. The feeling of being free, the feeling of having fun and being around someone who had taken them along their journey.

It was somewhat conflicting, hearing the same experience come out of a younger him's mind, the memories fresher than they ever could be, and not having the same anecdotes saved in his own mind. Of course, he remembered being slightly sick in Aquatic Ruin, remembered flying for his life across lava pits in Hill Top and being hungry down in Hydrocity. But the smaller details, the traps, and the levers that the smaller him was talking about he couldn't remember. He figured that he had experienced so much now that the smaller details were easy to forget. The younger him had been on two lifechanging adventures, and he had no idea what awaited ahead of him.

For now, they had agreed on waiting for Sonic, the older sitting crossed legged a good bit away from the last portal he had seen the hedgehog jump into, having pulled out his Miles Electric to show the little him. He was standing beside him, eyes glued to the tablet, small fingers fidgeting since he wanted to try it out himself.

"This is the settings that shows you the microprocessors as well as the underclocked processors – I had to install them pretty quickly otherwise the tablet was heating up and almost overcooked itself," –

"Wow," The small impressed sound escaped easily the younger fox, looking as the older's fingers danced around the screen, flicking on and turning off various settings, showing him the basic layout of how he constructed it.

"It runs on flash memory, though I've considered changing it out for SSD but that would require a lot of reconfiguration of the motherboard and the design in general," Tails looked over at his younger self when the black eyes' curiosity was switched out for confusion, a frown set onto his forehead.

"What's reko… -reknofi… -recosni… rekufisutate?" Tails found almost an identical frown onto his own forehead, trying to figure out what word he had been asking about.

He remembered these incidents, Sonic more times than one saying a word which he didn't understand and would ask about. And more times than one he failed at repeating what the word exactly said, meaning that he had to retrack and figure it out for himself. This was harder than he thought, maybe he should have given the hedgehog some slack. Eventually his mind popped up with the word, looking back at him as the frown disappeared.

"You mean reconfiguration?" The toddler nodded, the word fitting together with what he had heard. "That just means putting some of the components apart, do some rewiring change the elements and put it together again. Like when you found a flashlight and made the battery last longer," –

"Oh!" The younger him exclaimed in understanding, having done that before. "Okay! Well that's simple," He said, peering at the screen again, before looking up at his older self.

"Can I take a look?" The blue-eyed fox nodded, giving the tablet to the younger him. He sat down and had expected him to place the tablet in his lap and fiddle around with the settings. Instead, he placed it with the screen facing towards the white limbo, found a screwdriver in a small tail and took it apart.

Tails blinked, the action happening so fast that he had barely registered it, though he knew that he could put it back together again. He watched as the smaller him picked out a chip, closed one eye and squinted the other, before picking out he motherboard, the green wired circuitry being broader and more advanced than in a regular tablet since it needed to be able to scan and catch signals, as well as hack any mainframe that he wished for.

It was kind of entertaining, watching essentially himself being excited over small chips, wires, and boards, holding the entire technology of his Miles Electric in his hands. The older ear's flicked when the younger him started to mumble, something he had caught himself doing, not being able to hold back a snicker. The younger him's head whipped up, apparently being self-conscious of his actions with the tablet.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked, being curious, but he couldn't help but hear a small sadden undertone as well. He shook his head to dispel it, gesturing a hand towards the vast array of the components that the Miles Electric consists of, laid out in groups in front of him.

"I'm not laughing at you. It's just funny to hear you mumble – I do that myself," The fox's face relaxed from the explanation, a shy blush crossing his muzzle underneath the white fur.

"Oh, I didn't notice," He said, had been observing a set of wires before something occurred to him, looking back at the older fox. "Is there something else – about me, that you still do?" The question was an odd one indeed but refrained from thinking about identity crises and instead observed the younger him, his features much smaller than his own.

"Well, they still move without my control," He grinned, gesturing towards the pair of small tails. "I'm still curious and I like to build. And fight badniks," The younger him beamed, the older well-knowing that he liked the same things. His interests and hobbies hadn't changed in the slightest, other than being more interested in them.

"What about flying? And running? Oh!" Something occurred to him, leaving the screwdriver on the ground beside the screen and looked up at his older self. "How about Sonic? How about you! What have you done! What adventures have you done?!" Excitement was all there was, the small face filled with glee of hearing the tales of what him and his best friend was going to endure once he was older.

Tails laughed at the childish request, opening his mouth as he was about to sputter out his experience with Chaos before he halted, mouth left open. It slowly closed with the realization, a questioning expression coming to the toddler as the blue-eyed one glanced back, looking at the gates of the dimensions.

The little him hadn't experienced that yet.

The gateways that was here the smaller him had experienced, but he had a feeling that the timeline continued after that, since first of all these things didn't get solved quickly and second of all there had to be something behind the wall of swirling purple and black energy. That was adventures he hadn't experienced yet, hadn't been a part of.

Would that mean something? If they came from different dimensions then it didn't matter, but if they didn't – he bit his lip in thought looking back at the toddler who was awaiting an answer. Could he tell him?

If they were from the same timeline then things might change – if he told him about the time where he thought Sonic was dead, where he had to fight Eggman by himself on the ARK, only to realize afterwards that he had escaped with Chaos Control. What if that hadn't happened? What if he it hadn't slipped out of his tongue to tell Eggman that it was a fake then what would have happened? Had Sonic defeated him then? Had they had the relationship with Shadow that they have now? Would he have changed? Would the others change?

Because he was pretty sure, that if he told his younger self that, then that anecdote would be glued to his mind and then he would most definitely not tell when the time came. He knew himself. And he also knew that if he told the younger him about certain time events, where if choices had been made differently, then things could change. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse.

It was the butterfly effect, time paradoxes where the timeline changed because past met future, becoming a part of the present. Something that wasn't possible and yet, here they were.

He was pulled out from his thoughts as his silence was taken as a negative thing, the ears of the smaller him falling into his skull, the excitement dimming.

"Is it that bad?" Tails shook his head quicker than he thought, the sadden expression leaving.

"No not at all, it's great! It's gonna be awesome but-" He sighed it out, since sharing his thoughts would make him understand better. "If you really are me, from four years ago. Then if I start to tell you about the adventures, we've been on then things might change you know? Like – let's say I tell you about a choice I made that was bad, and then you choose not to do it when it happens. Won't that change who I, eventually you, will become?" He asked, was careful with his choice of words, trying to make him understand.

The little him could in reality not care that much, since he was going to be who he was but didn't understand the whole concept of who he was yet. Tails knew who he was and was very happy about it thank you very much – he didn't want to change anything or get changed for that matter. He was happy about the choices he had made, had accepted the ones that had gone bad but was thrilled by the memory. The toddler frowned, thinking hard about what he had been told, looking towards the gateways.

"What – if you leave out the bad stuff and only tell about the good stuff?" Tails smiled at the suggestion, though he shook his head again, tails calmly waving behind him.

"That's still the same. Even if you choose to do the good stuff, you'll be careful about not doing anything bad. I don't think it's wise Tails," It was somewhat weird to say his own name like that, though he cast it aside, seeing the smaller him look back at his lap with a sigh.

"Okay… I just wanted to know," He paused, one of his namesakes landing in his lap, a small finger fidgeting with the end of it. "If things were going to be good," He looked away, a somewhat gloomy façade left behind. Tails looked at the back of his head for a bit, blue eyes scanning the young form. He knew what he meant.

"I can promise you this," His voice was strong, making the toddler look back at him, his eyes wavering a bit. "You won't return to Emerald Hill."

Ears perked up, and he could see the relief swimming over the four-year-old's eyes.

"Promise?" Tails smiled with a nod.

"Promise. And I'll also promise that you will be confident, and brave – and have the best time with Sonic," The toddler's smile widened, childish glee back onto his face, all gloomy and bad experiences forgotten with the news.

"Really?" –

"Really," Tails winked, making the toddler beam at him, looking at the dimension portal behind the older fox, then down at the disassembled Miles Electric before sighing.

"That's a relief," He said, his eyes looking into his lap, his fingers still playing with his white fur on his tail, before a huge yawn broke his expression, a knuckle rubbing at his eye.

Tails had no idea whether it was nighttime or daytime or not, having no idea if he napped or was sleeping for hours. He had accepted that he was just going to sleep whenever he felt like it, and therefore couldn't blame the toddler for being tired, since a four-year-old in reality should nap during the day. Though, that luxury had first of all been unknown and second of all disregarded due to travelling around with the fastest thing alive. You needed to keep up.

The cub's eyes were drooping as well as his ears, yawned again and looked around himself, mentally figuring out where he could lay down. Tails knew what he was searching for, looking for something that wasn't there since he was in a dimensional portal experiencing Chaos knows what. He had slept against Sonic every night being a toddler and had slowly grown out of it around the time he turned six.

He would either sleep beside him, in his lap, or curled in his stomach, depending on the temperature. He sought out comfort, a child need that he hadn't had in the first years of his life that he was catching up on. Now sleeping against Sonic was saved for thunderstorms, having lived alone without him ever since he built the house in Mystic Ruins, the hedgehog passing by for visits. He didn't dislike physical contact; he just wasn't starving for it anymore.

"You can sleep here," The toddler looked up and down at the larger hand that padded the spot next to him, settling for letting him sleep against him. The younger him was hesitant, looking at his blue eyes, every kind of thought from paradoxes to allowances passing his mind before he scooted over. He curled together, his back leaned against Tails' crossed leg, tail tips tickling his nose. The older fox smiled fondly at it, seeing the relieved sigh leaving the younger him. Fox instinct more than anything made a tail curl around the smaller form, another barrier that protected him against the vast unknown.

"Thanks," He said, before he closed his eyes, snuggling closer to the leg, enjoying the cocoon.

Tails found himself still smiling, blinked out of his daze suddenly realizing that he had managed to charm himself. He looked at the smaller fox for a bit, before he reached over him, taking the disassembled tablet and the components he had left out, deciding that he would assemble it. It was after all himself that had taken it apart in the first place.

It wasn't long until the toddler had fallen asleep, deep breaths and a quiet snoring giving away his state of mind, and not a long time passed after that when an odd noise appeared from the portal beside him. He turned his head, finishing up the last pieces of the Miles Electric, the swirl of the portal speeding up. For a moment he was afraid that it was going to suck them in or something when something dark blue suddenly jumped out of it.

It turned around and stared at the portal, one large hand scratching the back of his long spikes, making the older fox smile in relief. He was okay.

"Man, that was weird," He said to himself, making the fox roll his eyes into the sky.

"I thought we went over talking to things that can't answer back to you," He snicked from the visible jump Sonic did, spinning on his heel to face his sidekick.

"Ah there you are, dude you'll never guess what just," –

"Shh!" Sonic blinked confused from the shushing, the fox even putting a finger to his lips, before pointing at the yellow furred lump beside him.

The hedgehog's expression turned into more confusion before he walked towards him, Tails uncurling his namesake to make the little him more visible. Sonic immediately stopped in his track, eyes wide and staring at the smaller fox who was snoozing quietly.

"Dude? Wait – is that. You?!" He tried to keep his voice down, well aware that the smaller fox was sleeping. Tails found a mockery smile, tilting his head slightly at his older brother.

"No, his name is Fred, he's a raccoon from Apotos and was giving me bread and cheese because I'm hungry," Sonic snorted, giving his sidekick an amused snort.

"Fine sarcastic brat," He retorted, crouching down by the toddler. "I was just surprised, leave a tired hedgehog alone," Said hedgehog continued, before running a familiar hand through the bangs of the smaller fox. The touch was familiar enough, despite the larger hand, the fox relaxing, and a smile came to his lips.

"Well that's what happens when you leave hungry foxes behind," His amazement of having two sidekicks around were temporarily forgotten as he looked up from Tails' statement.

"Oh, right! Sorry, completely forgot," He chuckled, reaching behind his spikes, and pulled out two bundles of grapes. "Still this is awesome!"

The fox took the food from him before he forgot, having plucked five grapes, and put them in his mouth, chewing and ignoring the bitter aftertaste. He watched as Sonic was merely scanning the smaller form, his hand running through the bangs yet again.

"He's just like the kid I remember you being," He said nostalgically, sitting down crosslegged, the toddler being between them, and left a large hand on his back, the smaller fox emitting a satisfied sigh. "Though he seems much smaller," –

"That's because you're four years older," Tails quipped quickly, having stuffed himself with grapes, swallowing a good amount of them. "What'd you see in there?"

Sonic's head whipped up from the question, eyes blinking before his mind got back on track, the quick-thinking brain being easily distracted.

"Right! Man! I wouldn't have believed it but seeing the smaller you – alright, so I passed by this mirror wall glass-like thing and looked at myself. But there was this weird gate thing at the end where Eggman was talking to me! Before I had time to run, my reflection came ahead of me! The door closed in front of me, and then I was thrown out of there!" Despite being enthusiastic and mildly confused at the situation, he kept his voice low, emphasizing points with his other hand. Tails looked at the toddler beside them, nodding to himself.

"He was looking for the younger you. I might have seen him earlier, so it makes sense if he's in there now," He nodded towards the portal lastly, starting on the second bundle of grapes Sonic had given him.

The hedgehog followed his movement, the realization slowly coming to him as he looked down at the toddler with a smile.

"Looks like somebody missed me," The hedgehog snickered, making the sidekick snort as he chewed four grapes at a time, raising a brow at him.

"Who you talking to?" Sonic smirked, while rubbing the smaller kid behind the ear, the toddler smile widening without waking up.

"Well technically both of you, but that depends if you did or not. Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Tails let out a 'pft' swallowing the last grapes, the worst hunger satisfied for now, as he shook his head and looked into his lap, tails twirling lazily behind him.

"Nah, I always miss you," He said, as he threw the stem away, not thinking that he was littering since there was nothing around them. "Especially when I sit around and do nothing," He mumbled afterwards, haven't meant that sentence to escape out of his mouth.

He didn't look at Sonic, though he could feel the perplexed glare that he sent him.

"What do you mean buddy?" Well he couldn't back out of it now, let out a sigh that swayed his bangs upwards.

"S'just the fact that I can't do anything to help you. I can't go through those portals; I can't go on the platforms up there and I can't even touch the stuff around the gates. I've tried thinking of ways that I could do to try and make sense of where we are, what's happening but – there's nothing I can do," He explained, waving a hand towards the now assembled Miles Electric. "I can't get any signals, there's no timer that works and I can't scan that weird energy that is everywhere. I just feel – kinda useless you know?" He said, his glance landing on the smaller fox beside him.

When he was younger, he was excused – he was a toddler, had needs that had to be satisfied and needed to be cared for. He had Sonic's back nevertheless, was always ready to fly him out of harm's way, trying to come up with plans when the hedgehog drew blanks and scavenged for food with him when they were out in a forest somewhere. It was his way of thanking him, being grateful for taking him along for the adventures, an albeit small but certainly a way that showed him how much he appreciated it. How much he appreciated being cared for, being loved.

"Hey, drop that sad expression, that doesn't look good on you," He looked up at Sonic from the weird sentence. The hedgehog was smiling at him, kind of lopsided that made him look goofy, his eyes shining with something he had seen years ago.

"You are helping me bud. You might not be using your brain or building some kind of gadget but you're still being a good sidekick," He said, grinned and shrugged. "You're needy, ask for food and complain and shush me whenever I come back."

Tails snorted, but Sonic nudged him, regaining his attention, seeing that same smile plastered onto the hedgehog's muzzle.

"But you're here. You greet me at the portals and ask me if I'm okay. And, you know me I can take care of myself – but it's nice to know that there's someone around that doesn't want me dead. It's awesome having you around bro. Don't start to think that you'll ever be useless because that will never happen, alright?" He asked with that same grin, reached out a hand and ruffled the fox's bangs.

Tails was smiling as he swapped the hand away, feeling his entire abdomen lighting up with warmth. In reality he was a bit shocked to say the least, having never heard Sonic say those kind of words before. There had been a part of the toddler's life who thought that the hedgehog had kept him around because he had to and not because wanted to. It had taken time and experience to understand that that was not the case.

He had never heard it before, but those words confirmed that suspicion entirely. If there wasn't a toddler sleeping between them, the fox had mostly likely hugged him, but settled on giving him an appreciative smile instead.

"Thanks Sonic," The hedgehog smirked, lacing both hands behind his head with a satisfied sigh, and leaned back and rested on the white limbo ground, crossing his legs at the ankles.

"Anytime little bro. You know I'm here for you," The fox looked at him for a bit, before he shook his head, his one namesake instinctively curling back around the cub beside him.

"And I'm there for you too big bro," The hedgehog lifted his head to look at him, gave the sidekick one last wide smile before he leaned it back on the ground, closing his eyes.

"Alright enough mush. I wanna catch a couple a' minutes before the younger me returns – if he is me," He shrugged, before he let out another deep exhale, the smile staying on his muzzle. Tails snickered to himself but refrained from answering, letting the hedgehog get his beauty sleep since he knew he needed it.

He looked at the swirling portal, down at his Miles Electric and then at the younger version of himself, the small cub not having woken up by their conversation. Usually he had been a light sleeper back then, but a sixth sense had apparently concluded that it was Sonic who was there. Either that or he felt protected enough to not wake up. Tails took it as a compliment either way, wondering if he maybe should get some shuteye as well, as his mind began to wonder.

Now he felt ridiculous, thinking that he had been of no help at all, that he had been useless and just a whiny kid who wanted to get stuff that he couldn't. But Sonic had never seen it like that, he never did. He understood whenever he did something, whenever the fox was mad, sad, or frustrated about something, having never asked him to shut up or be quiet about it. He understood when something was wrong, and always had the right words to make everything alright. Tails had seen that been demonstrated, over and over again.

And now he understood that it didn't matter if he was four years old or eight years old – Sonic would always be there for him. And he would always be there for the hedgehog, the fastest thing alive and the hero of Mobius. Because that was what sidekicks, friends, best friends, and little brother's did.

They make sure that the older is alright, because he knows that the gesture will be returned. For as long as they lived.