His plans of making the fox tagalong had obviously failed, due to the fact that if he had he would fall asleep the minute they stopped running.

Which meant that he was going to explore alone, which he in all honesty didn't mind, though he couldn't help but have a nagging feeling in the back of his head. He wasn't worried per se, but in all honesty just curious, which was the reason why he didn't ask about anything. Curiosity was different from worry, and the hedgehog knew perfectly well to leave people alone when they didn't want to say anything. Except of the knucklehead, as he was a joy in itself to mock and annoy even though he received bruises from whenever he did.

But it was worth it.

Shaking his head, he pushed the thought back, thinking that he couldn't do anything about it now and therefore didn't need to spend energy on it and instead put more speed into his sneakers. Those shoes were his life saviors – without them his feet would be burning up quite literally. Usually he ran through a pair once a week, but ever since he had left the little genius carefully examine them, he had made them heat resistance, meaning that he now only needed a new pair whenever somebody else normally would.

Feeling his feet taking one lightning step ahead of the other, he smirked and then broke the sound barrier, effectively making a sonic boom, headed towards his destination. This feeling alone was amazing. The wind brutally ruffling his quills, his fur getting pushed back into his skin as everything was a blur around him, green forests, tan landscapes, and grey mountains all passed by him in seconds. Being the fastest thing alive you needed to have quick reflexes or else you wouldn't get that far. He jumped, leapt, grinded on rails, ran through loops, somersaulted, flipped, and screamed happily into the air, running along his favorite tracks, feeling the adrenaline course through his body. This was what he lived for.

He lived for these very moments, moments where he could do as he pleased, run as far and as wide as he wished letting his feet carry him to wherever. Passing through brightly lit zones with high skyscrapers and wild colors, zones with thick forests, bushes and vegetation filled with lakes and swamps, badniks and animals alike roaming the area. Zones with high mountains, cold areas and most definitely endless ravines, zones with broken down temples, pillars to jump and crawl over, sunken, and murky water that ate up the zones themselves.

Then there was the zones that made no logical sense, zones that had deserts and ice landscapes in the same area, popcorn machines that launched him into the air and mushrooms that made you go high up into the air alike, some of the zones were completely and utterly weird.

But the weirder they were the more he liked it, the more he didn't understand the more he could understand, and the more fun he could have. Running through the zones were something he enjoyed the most, running through his favorites and avoiding those he could.

Practically any zone that had water in it he refrained from, while zones that had long meadows to run on, high mountains or thick forests were his favorites. The ones with the cities were a bit more debatable depending on which city he went through. Studiopolis was downright fun to soar through, while Central City could be a pain.

With his speed he had no concept of time, as it was a thing of you either keeping up with it or it keeping up with you. You could pay attention to it and plan ahead, run in jog if he wanted to get there later than sooner, or you could completely dismiss it, run however you liked and then eventually you would figure out how much of it has passed. The latter he usually did, as Sonic really didn't have any appointments that he needed to keep up with, and therefore let time flow just as freely as he did.

He was pretty sure that it was around noon when he reached Westside yet again, the time it had taken to reach this with the Tornado had doubled with his feet. Normally he was faster than the plane but being in the air meant that you completely ignored the high mountains, ravines, thick forests, and other natural obstacles in your way. He had hardly paid attention to any of it, his mind filled up with adrenaline and thinking ahead rather than where he were.

Running through the forest, he eventually saw the sandy beach ahead of him and threw his heels into the ground, way before he could manage to fall into the water.

Sand was spiraling up, behind him, as he was halting in his acceleration, feeling the sand underneath his shoes as he completely stopped. Putting his hands on his hips he took in a deep relaxing breath, once again feeling the sun warm his cooled body in the wind, opening his eyes he hadn't realized were closed and scanned out in the ocean.

There, in the distance, he could see the mountains of the biggest island in the middle and the mountains of the smaller one to its right side. Now that he saw it, he didn't think that he would have noticed them, haven't he seen them before as they were pretty far out than first expected. Thinking to himself that the only way to gain information was to speak to the locals, he turned his head around, looking for someone to talk to.

The last time he had been here was when he had taken off with Tails and hadn't really gotten the chance to talk to anybody more than plainly scolding and hadn't therefore made any contacts. A couple of people were on the beach, some young people it seemed that sat in the sand and talked, having a drink in their hand while a bit further away from him were a family playing in the sand, a couple of other people that either walked around or played in the water.

Not wanting to go anywhere near the wet stuff he walked towards the couple who sat the closest to the forest, all eyes fastened onto him. If it was because he was famous as always or because he had made a dust cloud he didn't know. Though he did note the fierce look the dark colored brown wolf had in his eyes when he made his way over to them.

"Hi! I was wondering whether or not you-," –

"Piss off," The wolf spat, the grey female wolf beside him looking just as fierce if not angry at him.

Sonic didn't do any other thing than just simply did as he was told and walk away. He was in a way too good mood to fight anybody and didn't feel like getting that ruined any time soon. Looking around, he wondered who else he could talk to, but the same look was in the eyes of the father from the family and the other people were still too close to the water for comfort so instead he began jogging alongside the beach, close to the forest.

Tails had been right yesterday – the zone itself was beautiful with thick forests and a perfect beach, though people were rude and didn't want to have anything to do with foreigners.

Emerald Hill would have been a prime zone for him, if people here just learned to accept things as they were, which was a somewhat common theme throughout Westside, as a lot of people didn't like when anything was changed or abnormal. Other areas of Mobius had it easier, took people as they were as they were too busy to spend energy on dwelling on how other people looked and acted, something that Sonic could admire.

His ears peeked and the hero in him skidded to a stop when crying flashed past, him.

Immediately throwing his heels into the sand and created an even bigger dust cloud, his shoes were hidden underneath the small grains as he halted in place. Taking a few steps back and jogging backwards, he strained his hearing to hear the sobs one more time. No people were around here for some reason, most likely because a bunch of stones were in the way in the water, and more mussels and seaweed were in the shore, emitting a smell of dead fish.

Turning his head towards the saddening sound, he then saw a small figure, curled together with their back turned to the beach. Whoever it was, it was a red rabbit, their ears going down to their waist, wearing a yellow shirt and blue shorts. Sitting hunkered over, legs hidden in their chest and their face crying into their kneecap.

Sonic could feel the Deja Vu overwhelm him as he slowly walked over to the small figure, had dealt with alone and crying kids before. Whenever he reached an area where a building had fallen over, an explosion had happened, or someone simply got stuck in an elevator he had more times than once met a kid who was separated from their parents in the panic of others.

Kids reacted differently to shock, as it was only few of them who didn't cry depending on how old they were. Looking at this one, he presumed that they were either five or six, determined by their long ears and the small round fluff tail on their end.

The ears turned towards him, when he came close enough, their head whipping around to see who it was, which only made the hedgehog smile. As it was a stranger, the rabbit quickly rubbed their eyes and then looked back down at their kneecaps, like nothing had happened.

"Hey big guy, are you alright?" Sonic asked in a soothing voice, crouching down behind him

He let the kid take their time to figure out what kind of person he was, small green irises darting around the hedgehog's face before they shook their head, a sniffle escaping their nose.

"I – I got lost," The voice told him that it was a male, and the low pitch also confirmed his suspicion being more determined with five than six.

"From your parents?" He continued in a practiced soothing voice, smiling softly at the kid. The rabbit was calmed down from his expression alone, before he nodded let a tear drop down his cheek.

"I – I was building sand ca-castles when my mo-mom disappeared and now I- I do-don't know whe-wher-where she is," He explained, began crying again in between his words, letting his head fall back down into his kneecaps, hugging his legs.

Sonic hated when children cried – mostly because he hated any kid being miserable or sad and therefore wanted to do anything in his power to make them stop.

That's why he grinned and before the kid had time to register what happened he was scooped up, making the cry drown out in a surprised yelp. Sonic balanced him on one arm, the kid looking somewhat frightened from the sudden movement, though he stopped crying.

"Then I guess we'll find her," The hedgehog smiled, then let his gaze fall around the beach. "Where were you building castles?" He asked, looking back down at the small rabbit.

Said child, still seemed bewildered or confused that he was being held, but eventually let his face fall back to the beach and pointed towards the direction Sonic had been running.

"That way. I was building over there so I went to go lo-look for her," He explained, while the hedgehog followed his direction, walking in a fast pace, holding on to the rabbit with both hands.

The small kid relaxed slowly with every pace, becoming a tad bit heavier in his hold, one hand holding on to a blue shoulder while the other fingers tugged around his fur on his chest. His eyes darted around the beach, searching himself for the parent that were gone.

"Next time: Just wait until your mom comes back. She will find you where she left you alright?" Sonic took his time to lecture, making the small rabbit look back at him with an apologetic face.

"I'm sorry mister," The hedgehog shook his head, let a big grin go over his features.

"Don't call me mister. Call me Sonic," The ears peeked up immediately, the sadden face was almost completely gone from surprise, his eyes wide.

"Sonic? As in Sonic the Hedgehog? The hero Sonic!" He exclaimed, apparently realized that he was holding on tight and let some of his fingers lose from holding on to him.

Said hedgehog only smiled wider, took a moment to look around the beach before coming back to him.

"Alive and kicking," He winked.

The kid's eyes got impossible larger in that small face, emitting a chuckle from Sonic, while he heard the softest and warmest 'wow' escape the small one.

"Will?" The rabbit were caught out of his hero daze, his ears flying up and whipping his head around from the calling. "William?!" –

"Mom!" He called and would have squirmed out if Sonic hadn't had a good hold on him. He knew that If kids heard their parents call that they would automatically run over to them, which could get them more lost in case the parents were further away than anticipated.

Sonic got a better grip around him, walking around and followed the sound of the calling himself. Turning his head he saw a small sand castle in the dry sand, a bucket next to it that had formed the structure, and a few paces away from it a pink rabbit that hat turned their backs to them wearing a green dress with white daisies on it.

She turned her head in seemingly wild directions before she jerked her body around, hearing the hedgehog walking closer to him. A bit of shock situated in her eyes from seeing the blue form walk with her kid in his hands, but she relaxed the minute that the rabbit's eyes shone, and his eyes got watery.

"Mom!"

Sonic immediately crouched and put him down, making the rabbit run towards his parent, throwing his arms around her in a hug, while the mother bended down and hugged him back. The hedgehog smiled, enjoyed this very moment.

This was one of the reasons why he was a hero and why he kept being a hero. The shine in the parent's eyes, the relief and the happiness that shone in them, the children's squeals, and squirms to get over to the ones they love. The moment they are reunited, mom and son, father and daughter, brother, and sister.

He was one of the people who made them go back to whatever pathway they had decided, steering them in the right direction after they have been going the complete wrong direction. And that he enjoyed doing more than anything.

The pink rabbit picked up her son, named William, and tickled his nose making the red rabbit giggle and smile at her mom. Eventually her gaze fell back to the hedgehog, a giant smile of appreciation on her face.

"Thanks for leading him back to me. I had just turned around to get something and when I got back, he was gone. I have no idea where he went," She explained, looking back at the red rabbit who snuggled his face into her shoulder.

"He went looking for you," He said, making the pink rabbit look back at him. She then sighed, shook her head lightly and chuckled a bit.

"I should have told him I guess," She pondered. "Anyway, thanks again for the help," –

"Hold on, I was actually looking for someone to answer a question for me," Sonic said, crossing his arms over his chest with a smile. Though, the pink rabbit looked at him with flat eyes, said irises darting over his body and analyzed him.

"You're that hedgehog who saves Mobius aren't you?" She then said, making the hedgehog nod and smirk, giving her his trademark thumb's up.

She apparently still considered if she wanted to talk to this stranger who had saved her kid, but eventually her eyes softened, putting the rabbit back down when he asked if he could build another castle.

"Sure. What are you thinking about?" She said, while William sat down in the sand, immediately began filling the bucket up with sand, all sadden emotions completely negated from his face.

Sonic turned around and pointed towards the mountains in the distance.

"See those mountains? The one closest to us is on a big island and the other is another smaller island close to it. I saw them from the air yesterday, there's two small islands surrounding the bigger. I was just wondering if you know its name or something?" He said.

His question made her relax, as she apparently had expected something far different from what he asked, as he was just curious about some big rocks sitting in the middle of the ocean. She glanced down to make sure that the rabbit was building with the sand instead of eating it, putting her hands on her hips, and nodded towards them.

"I don't know about the smaller islands, but the biggest is named Cocoa Island. I don't' know a lot about it other than some kind of destruction, explosions or war or something was going on there a couple of years back. What I know is from other people around, so you'll have to ask others if you're still curious."

Sonic had listened carefully, noting the name in his head and when a questioning expression turned up in his face.

War?

If there had been a war going on a couple of years ago then he would most likely have heard of it. The only reason that war happened was because Eggman was on the first side of it. He didn't know any other villain or any other country that would start something, let alone on a very small and insignificant island.

That though, made it more interesting, as there apparently was something there that made people go mad about it. He smiled and nodded at her, glancing at the kid.

"That's fine, thanks for telling me though," He said, and then crouched down, making the rabbit whip his head around towards him.

"And remember what I said. Stay around if your mom walks away okay?" He said, winked and smiled at him.

William smiled back and nodded, before returning to his sand castle build.

Sonic got up from the ground again, waved and said goodbye to the mother rabbit before speeding up, leaving a dust trail in his track.

If he wanted to explore those islands, then he needed to take the plane. No way he was swimming. That wasn't even an option.

When opening the door, he doesn't know if he was disappointed or worried to see the fox wide awake, sitting in the couch in their living room. His legs were pressed against his chest, yellow arms wrapped around them and his chin were resting on his kneecaps, looking through the TV, that was playing something. He could tell that he hadn't slept – either wouldn't or couldn't.

Sonic turned his head around towards the toaster and saw that the bread was at least gone before his head returned to the living room. Exhausted blue eyes travelled towards him when he gently kicked the door back in place, a faint smile on his lip in a greeting, saw the slight guilt in them too from disobeying the request he had given him.

"Hey Sonic. Had a nice run?" He asked, his voice sounding just as tired as his eyes.

Sonic saw the pleading, his eyes and face practically radiated of 'don't ask me' when he opened his mouth. Instead he let a breath escape him, let his eyes travel over the tired yellow form before shrugging and casually walked over to the fridge

"It was good, bright sun, nice breeze as always," He said, pulling out a Chaos Cola from the fridge, kicking it closed.

"You were out for quite a while, its past noon. Where'd you go?" He had been taking gulps of his cola meaning that he couldn't see his expression, though he answered as he placed the bottle on the table.

"To Emerald Hill," He said, taking the bottle in hand as he turned back around.

Tails' face was one big question mark, bewilderment stuck in his eyes as he shook his head.

"Why?"

It sounded almost ludicrously, and there might even be tad bit of anger hidden there as well. Sonic pretended it didn't happen, taking another gulp of his drink.

"To get some answers about those islands we passed yesterday. I thought about them all evening yesterday, couldn't get them out of my mind. Oh, and by the way people haven't changed, met a really rude wolf who just told me to piss off. But I brought a child back to their parent who had gotten lost, which she then in return told me something about the island," He explained, had placed himself in the dining chair, eyes looking into the living room where the small fox had pressed his cheek into his knee, ears completely erect and turned towards the hedgehog, wanting to hear every syllable he told him.

"Oh," He started, his eyes drifting away from Sonic. "Then what did they say?"

The fact that he asked told the hedgehog that he was curious. Which wasn't abnormal in itself he was always willing to listen to his adventures and stories whenever he went out himself, but this was different. In some way he knew it had a connection to whatever he was ravaging his mind with.

"She said that the biggest island was named Cocoa Island, and that something apparently happened there a couple of years ago. She mentioned a war, but that sounds weird to me, thinking that Eggman is the only one who starts them," He said, taking another sip before his eyes met back at the tired form.

Tails hadn't reacted the slightest, and for a moment he didn't know if he had listened at all. His eyes were staring into nothing, apparently stuck on the edge of the table were Sonic sat.

His sudden quietness and the fact that he wasn't surprised to hear this told him that he already knew. Somehow.

He then hears him whisper something, something so low and so soft that he's not quite sure if he gets what he's saying.

"I came from there."

A really low whisper, like it wasn't supposed to come out of his mouth, but that it was his brain itself that had taken control over him. Sonic shook his head in confusion, was pretty sure that he had heard wrong.

"You what?"

Tails' eyes went wide, his head whipping up from the laid position, realization swarming over his entire body as he jumps out of the couch, throwing a hand towards Sonic.

"Nothing, I said nothing," He said, tails whipping in some hidden emotion, walking towards the kitchen. Sonic recognized the dismissive sentence, the same way he had said it in a quick manner.

"No, I just didn't quiet catch-" –

"I said nothing Sonic, really, I didn't say anything," He continued, walking past the hedgehog and over to the sink

The hedgehog followed him with his eyes, as the fox was about to pull out a glass from the cupboard but instead sighed and rubbed his temples with both hands, as a headache apparently sprang in his forehead.

"Can I have coffee?" –

"No," Sonic said, in a firm and low tone, making the question completely out of discussion.

Another sigh left the fox, before picking up the beforementioned glass and turned on the faucet.

"You can have your pillow and your bed," He said afterwards, taking his last gulp of his bottle while Tails drank a glass of water. When the fox put the glass back on the counter, his eyes once again froze into the sink, his mind clearly considering and thinking. Sonic let out a sigh of his own, getting up from the table and turned towards him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Tails, I hate to see you miserable. What's wrong bud?" His tone took a more soothing edge than the annoyance he had expected.

He didn't react outwardly, other than his tails calmed down and went limp to the ground. His consideration became deeper in his frown, his eyes now shooting back and forth on the counter.

"I can't-" He started. "I can't tell you."

The four-year-old fox, Sonic would have picked up with a smile and said that 'of course he could', the six-year-old fox he had nodded to and said 'You can tell me', but the eight-year-old fox in front of him he couldn't do either of those.

Even though eight was still a pretty young age, Tails was one of the most mature people he had ever known. He wasn't dumb, he didn't do child-like actions just to hide something that he had done wrong, and he didn't say that he couldn't tell him because he didn't want to. If he couldn't, then there was a very valid reason for it.

"Why?" Sonic instead asked, which was a question that respected his no, but there was still a worried older brother who didn't like seeing his charge exhausted and struggling.

Yet again Tails was frozen in place, the gears in his head most definitely thinking about something else than the Tornado like he had told him. That was pretty much solved.

"Because it's-" He bit his bit. "Not-," His eyes found the toaster to fix on "Okay," He said, and then shook his head almost violently, turning his whole body around to the hedgehog, tails whipping after him.

"I,-" A sigh. "I – need to consider a few things. I know you're worried and I'm sorry but there's just-," He seemed like he was about to panic, Sonic clearly seeing that the fox was struggling with some tough emotions, but where the heck they came from he had no idea

He was about to say something, but a waving hand and a deep sigh interrupted him.

"I'll. I'll go upstairs instead and sleep. And when I wake up, I'll even have figured out a way or will figure out a way to tell – to say. To-" He trailed of. "To say something. Alright?" He reassured, more for the hedgehog's sake than his own.

He wanted to say that it didn't matter, that if he didn't want to say anything then that was fine. But he hated the idea that Tails was struggling this much with something that clearly regarded those islands. He clearly had something that he couldn't decide on whether he wanted to say or not, something that apparently was very, very tough to figure out.

"Alright bud," Sonic said, in the same soothing voice from before, watched as Tails walked passed him and walked the first steps up the stairs. "I'm gonna take the Tornado for a spin, explore those islands for myself. Want me to wait so you can come with?"

The fox stopped dead in his tracks, his head glancing back at the hedgehog. The determination returned, that fierce look in his eyes that appeared whenever he mentioned it.

"No," He then said, his eyes catching the banister. "Thanks," He remembered afterwards, a deep sigh escaping him as he walked the last steps up the stairs and closed the door to his bedroom behind him.

Sonic watched for a second, before he walked down the stairs to the workshop, jumping into the cockpit of the Tornado.