By now he was tired from all of this thinking.
He didn't have any unanswered questions anymore; he had gradually figured everything out on his way back to the workshop. He didn't feel necessary bad that he knew, if that had been the thing that the fox had struggled with since yesterday. That was mainly the reason why he came back, not to tell him that he knew something about him, but rather because Tails was miserable.
And now that he had a few keys, then maybe he could help him to feel alright again, as that was his main priority right now.
The plane drove slowly into the hangar as he turned off the engine. The late afternoon sun was shining in from the open hangar door, the only thing that had been normal and calm the entire day. Sitting in the cockpit for a moment, he let a breath escape him before he jumped out, noted that the fox wasn't down here to his relief.
Half-way walking and jumping up the stairs he looked into the living room rather than the kitchen, saw that he wasn't there either. Taken some steps into said room he walked up the staircase and stopped in front of the first door he came to.
Turning the knob, the door creaked as he opened it a bit, leaving it ajar so he could look inside. The first thing he heard was a soft snore, and then he saw a tail and an arm hanging on the side of the bed, the yellow heard turned towards the wall.
Closing the door again with a satisfied smile, his legs carried him down the stairs again. He glanced at the clock on the wall, figured that he had been gone a couple of hours, and it was almost dinner time. With that in mind he walked over to the fridge, hauling out an open package of pink hot dogs and finding a can of chili in the cupboard. This had been their dinner yesterday, was going to be today and most likely also tomorrow until Tails got tired of it and made some pasta.
The process of chili dog making was automatic for him, he didn't even have to think when reaching for pots and tools, which he was grateful for as he had thought enough as it was.
Though, he couldn't get his mind off of the fox sleeping upstairs, couldn't comprehend how he could do as he did. He wasn't mad or confused but just plainly sad about it. That fox had apparently many more bumps and indents on his road than Sonic originally had thought, might even have more than himself.
Although he didn't like comparing people's pasts like that. Everybody had a story, everybody had their own way of growing up, creating their road, and creating their indents. If they made them or not nobody would know. But if you start comparing how much more one was miserable than the other then there was no point to even have those bumps. An uneven and boulder filled road was not for show, it was for experience and knowledge gain.
Whenever something happens that is beyond one's control and creates these bumps, then you have to move on at some point. Walk around the boulder or jump over the gap, as you can't stand still. If you stood still then you didn't make progress, then the road becomes shorter and you don't want that to happen. It doesn't matter how bumpy your pathway is as you only need to learn from it.
You can glance back and look at them, takes notes about what you can learn from that and then continue your stride. That's the only way to do it if you want to have a clean road. Though that is impossible.
Stirring in the chili, as the pot began to boil ahead of him, he somewhat hoped that he hadn't invaded Tails' privacy. He had gone to the island though he knew the fox was anxious about it and had explored it. That he got to know a part of the fox that he hadn't shared before was a coincidence in itself.
He hadn't meant to know, other than when he asked how the kid looked like, because curiosity had eaten him alive. But he had only gained that knowledge for one purpose only, and that was so he could help his sleeping little brother.
Something was troubling him, and he was done wondering and worrying.
Pulling five breads out of the oven, he kicked it closed with his foot and found two plates from the cupboard.
"Taaieels, dinner!" He called loudly, had called for him many times before much more because he was down in the workshop rather than his bedroom. He hollered once more just in case he didn't wake the first time, pulling out two bottles of Chaos Cola in the fridge and placing them on the table.
As he had put five hotdogs in their own bread blanket, he was in the process of lathering them with relish and cheese when a door behind him was opened from the upstairs. Putting each pot in the sink, he placed three hot dogs on one plate and two on the other, placing them on the table while he in the corner of his eye saw the fox walk down the stairs,
"Slept well?" Sonic started, putting the cheese and condiments away again into the fridge and sat down by the two hot dogs. Tails quirked and eyebrow at him, had most likely been sure that the hedgehog had gone for the plate with three, but he shook his head.
"I've been eating fruit all day, figured you haven't eaten besides the toast this morning," The silence that came afterwards told him that he had been correct, as his charge sat down in the chair opposite of his. Sonic opened his drink, taking a big gulp out of it.
"Gotten a couple of hours," He answered, while taking a bite of his first chili dog, the hedgehog throwing his legs on top of the table, tipping on the chair, while he happily chewed on his own. He noted that the rings were gone under his eyes, but the tiredness still hang around his frame, as a couple of hours compared to the fact that he had been up for more than sixteen wasn't enough.
Another bout of silence fell around them, while they ate, a thick and tangible one that could be poked if you wanted to, temporarily getting shattered from the 'hiss' the carbonated drink made when Tails opened his soda.
How was your flight?" Sonic swallowed his piece, picking up his next hot dog.
"It went fine. A bit of turbulence but that was expected – might have fried the engine a bit," –
"Go figure. Now I have to check that you didn't crack up the crankshaft," Tails chuckled, even though the hedgehog had no idea what he had said. "How you flew the plane before you knew me, I have no idea."
Sonic laughed at that, taking a giant bite out of his food, looking thoughtfully into the ceiling, lacing a hand behind his head.
"Did you – arrive?"
The hedgehog's gaze fell on the fox who wasn't looking at him, but the last hot dog that was on his plate, picking it up in his hand. He chewed his last bite out of his favorite meal, joining the other hand with the neighbor behind his head.
"I did. I didn't see that the entire forest had burned, everything is still growing but there's trees everywhere burnt to crisps. I didn't get to the mountains or the lake though," Tails' ears peaked up at that, interest suddenly flashing through his face.
"Why? You're never one to turn down a cave system exploration," As always the fox could read his thoughts about what he wanted to do there. Sonic bit his cheek, before he got up from the chair taking his plate with him.
"I got distracted," He said, putting his plate in the sink before returning to his drink. "I went around the side of the island where there was a burnt house, books and stuff everywhere. Then I kept running and ran into a village, asked what had happened there," He took a sip of his drink before his gaze returned to the fox.
As expected, he had finished his food though he looked into the plate as if he were sad that he was done eating. His ears had gotten back a bit, his tails completely limb on the floor.
"And what – what did they say?" He asked, even though he could clearly hear the hesitation in his voice, the small yellow head looking back up at him.
Sonic let out a breath, letting the fox know that he knew, while he walked into the living room, Chaos Cola still in his hand as he slouched down into the couch.
"They told me that there had been a war. Some birds called the Kukaku empire or something, invaded the island, ransacked the village, and hurt the ones who were there. The leader wanted the Chaos Emeralds, which by the way I had no idea they were there, but they couldn't find them. This guy told me that the birds eventually went away because someone drove them away," He explained, taking another sip of his coke.
He purposely left out that detail, the most important piece of the entire thing that the guy had told him about. Curiosity made him turn his head back to the fox, who were now looking down at his hands, the small fingers fidgeting with each other.
He didn't say anything, though he could see that his brain was racking again, was considering, and thinking. Another beat of silence overfell them, thick and tangible, and Sonic was about to accept it when Tails' head quirked up.
"Did – did they mention. Anyone?"
Sonic looked at him, and he knew he didn't have to say anything as the fox could read it off of him.
He knew that he knew, his best friend was well aware that he knew the facts and the stories, but he wanted to hear it from him. Hear him say it.
"The guy I talked to said that there was a kid," He exhaled. "He was apparently annoying and bothered the village, but I don't think that was the case. He said that he antagonized the birds and collected the emeralds from the village and was the reason why they're not having a good time. He made them flee, but he was still at fault for what had happened there. For some reason," He bit his lip, letting another breath escape him.
"He said that he was really intelligent, used machines and had an extra limb," He left out the details, looking back at his best friend.
The fox had been looking at him, listening intently at his words, but looked back down when he mentioned the last sentence, his ears completely back into his skull.
Sonic knew it, but he had to ask.
"Tails? That was you right?"
He didn't get a bodily response or a verbal one at that. He kept fidgeting with his fingers as if he hadn't heard his question. His eyes completely fixated on his hands. A couple of heartbeats went through the entire house.
Everything was silent, completely still and just. Quiet.
"I-," He let out a breath, before looking back at the hedgehog. "I wanna tell you something."
It was like he had started a new conversation, completely dismissing the hedgehog's question, but he knew that it had something to do with it. His silence urged the fox to continue, but he bit his lip, looking back down at his hands.
"But it's difficult," He said, apparently remembered that he had something to drink and took a small gulp of the carbonated beverage.
"Take your time," Sonic said, taking a sip at his own drink, before his eyes returned to the TV, letting the fox think.
And he did. For a long time.
They sat a couple of minutes where none of them said anything, but the atmosphere still spoke of the conversation they had.
When ten long minutes had passed the hedgehog eventually turned on the TV, but still glanced back at Tails in case he was ready to say something. On occasions he would raise is head and open his mouth, only to close it again and either sigh or rub his temple.
After fifteen minutes the fox got up and placed his plate in the sink and began doing the dishes, obvious thoughts still ravaging his mind. Slowly sipping at his drink Sonic knew that the topic was still hanging in the air, as he watched a movie he had seen before, samurais and ninjas fighting on either side of Asia, trying to take control over the emperor's throne.
When Tails did the dishes, he sat back down by the table, apparently not making any conclusions yet as Sonic turned his head towards him, but he didn't say anything. Over half an hour passed when the fox moved to stand instead, crossed arms and raw lip from biting it. His tails were the best indicator for his thought process, sometimes being totally limb, then they would whip up only to relax.
Many times, he shook his head, opened his mouth, and closed it again. At some point he sat on the floor rather than on the couch, but whatever he needed to do to collect his thoughts Sonic was willing to let him do. The fact that he didn't go down in the workshop or upstairs to sleep again, told him that he was thinking. Thinking very hard.
Eventually after an hour and a half he sat beside Sonic on the couch, legs curled up into his chest, and head on his knees. His eyes travelled through a fight scene between the top clan of the ninja and a noble samurai destined to die right then and there if you didn't know the construction of a movie. Sonic had finished his drink a long time ago, was surprisingly patient though that was courtesy of the movie.
It wasn't until his ears perked up at a sound he hadn't heard in a while.
Turning his head towards the fox, he sniffled, eyes watery and slightly red.
Tails didn't cry.
Of course, when he was a toddler being four years old, he did but being eight he hardly ever cried. The most he got out of him was a couple of water droplets in the corner of his eyes but that was it. These were streaming down his cheeks.
The hedgehog blinked bewildered at him and held out a useless hand towards him. But Tails raised a palm, wiping his eyes with his other hand and got up from the couch, walking towards the kitchen. The hedgehog muted the movie, following his charge with his eyes as he sniffled and got a glass and filled it with water. Drinking it in one large gulp, the glass was forcefully slammed into the counter, resting his head in his other hand, letting out a huge sigh.
It was at this moment that it occurred to Sonic that there was more to it than him just living on another island and getting chased by a village. Something happened, that he was having difficulty accepting, something that he had spent an hour and a half thinking about. And he really didn't want him to struggle anymore.
He breathed out.
"Tails, if you don't wanna share then that's okay. I know the bulk of it, you don't have to-," –
"I came from there!"
His voice was surprisingly strong, determination overshadowing the previous sadden expression. A determination that had unspoken words. He chose to stare out the window, the evening night settled a long time ago rather than the hedgehog.
"I - I didn't come from Emerald Hill I came from Cocoa Island. I lived there in the beginning, in my own lab by the southern side of it," He explained, his entire body completely still.
"I – The village didn't like me. I was weird and – abnormal. I wasn't allowed in there and was left to take care of myself," He stopped for a second, until a shuttering sigh escaped him.
"I was around three and a half when they came. The Battle Kukku Empire came, set the forest on fire, and demanded the Chaos Emeralds. I – I didn't know what to do," He could hear him fight back the tears that threatened him yet again.
"I invented some machines and used. Bombs. To fight them off. I fought them for days, burning my fur, hungry and exhausted. I was so scared."
He paused again.
"Eventually I found the Chaos Emeralds and went against the leader. They had a hidden base, a third sister island that everyone apparently had accepted was just there. I went in there and fought the Great Battle Kukku The fifteenth. I won."
He was silent, a silence that told both of them that the victory wasn't a good one.
"When they left, I was blamed for the destruction of the entire island. They burned down my house, destroyed my machines," He whipped his face with his hand.
"Then a cargo ship came to the island, were I snug onboard and came to Emerald Hill. Then, you know the rest," He ended.
A big breath left him, a breath of relief, although Sonic could tell that he was still anxious. Something was on his mind, something that he expected the hedgehog to notice though he couldn't.
All he could think about was a three-and-a-half-year toddler battling against his enemy, fighting in a burning forest, and the only thing that supported him was himself. He was blamed for what the birds did and was blamed for being something that was out of his control, though that was old news.
"I'm – sorry Tails, I didn't know-," –
"You don't understand," Sonic's eyes were filled from the surprise as sudden rage was lacing around those words, his charge spinning around, completely tear-filled eyes and wet cheeks adoring his face, hands fisted at his sides. "You don't understand what I had to do," –
"Yes I do! I understand that a fricking kid fought an entire army of-" –
"They weren't badniks!" He yelled this, walking back into the living room, tails whipping behind him, a fierce look completely plastered onto the bewildered hedgehog.
"They weren't robots Sonic! They were living and breathing beings! I used bombs on them, I kil-"
He stopped, let out a breath that let tears escape his eyes.
"Killed them," He said, the anger defeating with those two words, his entire body slumping together and tails going limb. "So, there. You can go, leave, run, and don't come back. You taught me that we help and save mobians, we don't fight them, but I've been disregarding that rule ever since I was three. So, you can go. I understand," He had been fired up in the beginning, but it died down the longer he came in his sentence.
His eyes met his shoes, closed them, and let another breath escape him, letting the water sitting in his fur roll down and hit the floor.
Sonic did nothing but blink.
This he hadn't expected. This he had never seen Tails do, and this he hadn't thought would happen. He hadn't been anxious about telling him, or not wanting to tell him a secret because it was his own. He had been scared, of what Sonic might say. What he might do and what he expected him to do. He was fully expecting that the hedgehog was angry with him, that he was furious about him killing living beings, and therefore wouldn't talk to him anymore and leave. That was why he was sad, why he was standing in the middle of the floor looking like somebody who had already lost their very best friend and brother.
He got up from the couch, Tails' ears sinking lower into his head, though Sonic only walked over to him, kneeled down to get in his eye height and placed both of his hands on his shoulders.
"Tails look at me," He had that serious edge, a tone of voice that Sonic the hedgehog only wore if the situation needed it, and clearly this did.
The fox complied, lifting his head from the floor, and looked at the hedgehog, blue eyes completely broken.
"I am not going to leave you because a three-year-old needed to defend himself from a bunch of birds. You were already alone, you were bullied and ridiculed for something that is out of your control. You had no one to support yourself against, you had nothing. You used bombs against them because that was the only way for you to survive. And with that, you saved an entire island despite what they say. You saved them, and nobody can take that away from you. I'm not leaving or running away from you because you did that. You didn't kill anybody in cold hard blood, you defended yourself. You're a hero," He had been shaking him a couple of times, shining emerald green eyes completely fixated onto the watery blue orbs. He hadn't grinned, hadn't chuckled or anything like that, he had been determined.
Serious. Something that the hedgehog wasn't yet in order to convey this message to his little brother he needed to do that.
Tails' eyes darted around his face, as it looked like he didn't believe him, or wanted to believe him.
Then he saw the relief, saw, and felt the breath that escaped him, as he sniffed again, now relieved tears going down his cheeks rather than fright.
Sonic got up from the floor and tightly took his arms around him, hugging him close to his chest. Tails returned it, shaking arms tightening his grip around the hedgehog's back hiding his face in a blue shoulder. He let him be, let him be as it was, let him get that fright out of his system, take aboard that relief and let him be in it.
"Thank you," He whispered, making the hedgehog leave his chin on the fox's head, ran his hand up and down the fox's back.
"Of course. I love you Tails, and you'll always be my little brother no matter what you might have done. I don't care. I know who you are, and what you have endured. That wasn't fair. Nothing about it was fair," He said in a low voice, felt the fox breath in a gasp for air between sniffles.
"I love you too Sonic. And it's okay. It's in the past like you always say. It's over now, and I couldn't be happier for who I am now," He answered back, hugging the hedgehog closer, gaining control over his breathing to stop the flow of tears still running.
Sonic grinned, finally, padding his back.
"I'm glad for who you are as well. Though those sarcastic comments is sometimes best left unsaid," He made Tails chuckle, which was perfect, as the fox pulled back, whipping his eyes with his hands, an amused gleam in the wet eyes.
"It's pretty hard to ignore someone who speaks to a dead robot you know," He grinned, the hedgehog crossing his arms over his chest, looking at him with shining eyes.
"In my defense: You weren't supposed to hear that," –
"Then who was?" He said back, had gotten the water out of his face, though his eyes were still a little red. Sonic opened his mouth to retort but didn't say anything.
"Thought so," Tails said, padded his friend's shoulder with a sigh and slumped against the couch, completely exhausted. Sonic shook his head amused, before sitting beside the fox, throwing an arm over his shoulder, and tugged him to his side.
"Now I know why you won't install bombs into the Tornado," He remarked, making Tails nod, while the hedgehog turned the volume back on, on the TV, felt his friend completely relax against his hold, the weight on his chest now completely gone and his mind clear.
"It's just not. Pleasant," He said, felt his own head fall against the hedgehog's shoulder.
Sonic grinned, returning his attention to the movie, as the fox ended the conversation. The topic that had almost destroyed his mind for the last two days were now over, the fear of the hedgehog getting mad at him was gone and a secret he for a long time had wanted to share was now gone.
Sonic turned his head towards Tails when he hummed thoughtfully.
"I wanna go there," He said after a bit, eyes fixating on the movie, though he was completely calm.
The determined edge was gone, the thoughtfulness and the hesitation was resolved. He said it in a matter-of-fact tone, that it was just something that he wished to do.
"Then we'll go – tomorrow. After you've gotten some sleep," He grinned, squeezing Tails a bit, making him grin and let out a breath.
Maybe three minutes later, he looked at him again when he's breath deepen, and saw his eyes had closed, his entire body resting up against the hedgehog's. He smiled at him, thinking that he wanted to watch the end of the movie before he dragged him up to bed afterwards. He was glad on his behalf.
Not because he had gotten the whole truth, he couldn't care less about what happened, but because his best friend was now alright again. He could sleep without his mind being filled with questions and hard emotions; he could once again be the fox he had always known.
Tails' path was most definitely bumpier than his own but that didn't matter. He had jumped that gigantic huge gap and was continuing alongside the hedgehog's.
Nothing else mattered but that.
Standing with his arms crossed, he could feel the cold breeze through his fur, watching his friend curiously.
Flying here had been like any other day, grinning, throwing meaningless banter at each other, Tails complaining that yeah, he most likely had cooked the engine. He got chewed out a bit for that, before they fell back into laughter, taking their air trip like any other day.
But when the island came into view, and the nose dived down to land the fox had gotten quiet, his eyes darting around the island and letting a sigh escape him.
Sonic could practically see the memories flash past his blue eyes the moment both of them set foot on this place. Then Tails had led the way, to exactly where the hedgehog knew to where and now, he stood back at the burnt down little house.
His best friend was a few steps in front of him, looking at the house. His tails was wailing in slow strides, up and down in a neutral emotion, not hinting at any anger or sadness. His head turned around to a stump that he stood beside, the hedgehog watching as he led a hand caress over it, his glove becoming gray. He let a breath escape his nostrils, glanced at Sonic, and gave him a faint smile.
"Welcome to my home," He exhaled, looking back at the small house. "After it got burned down," He said afterwards, took the first steps towards the small building.
"You build it yourself?" Sonic asked curiously, following after his friend.
The fox looked down at the door when he stepped on it like the hedgehog, he grinned at it before he continued his walk, his eyes slowly looking around the small space.
"I had to. The people in the village didn't want me to stay there," He explained, as the hedgehog followed in after him, the both of them filing half of the space that the house consisted off.
He followed Tails' finger when he pointed to the left of where the worktable was, and afterwards behind him.
"There was a bookshelf, and a window beside it. And behind us was my bed, and my worktable's still here," He said, walking over to it. Now because he was taller it reached to his hip, letting a gloved hand run over the table. Moss had grown in crevices and the wood was moist from rain, but it hadn't burned like the rest.
"I made some oil that was fire resistance, looks like I should have made it for my whole house," He chuckled lightly, turning around and sat on the table, letting a hand go over the edge where it was blackened from getting burned.
"How'd you get food and water?" The hedgehog asked curiously, picking up a burnt book from the floor that didn't seem completely destroyed.
"The water in the lake is clean enough that you can drink out of it. Food I got from the forest – fruit and berries and stuff like that. But because I'm a fox I was often queasy because I couldn't get meat. So, when I got too nauseous, I sought it out in the village. I would ask people whether or not they had something that I could prepare for them, a remote, a clock or something.
A lot of them kicked me and told me to run back to the forest, but there was a few who complied. When I fixed it, I got some food from them, but the next time I would ask they would spit at me, saying that they never had talked to me before. The village wasn't that big, people would know if someone helped me. It was only in winter when there weren't anything growing that I would, uhm, rummage - through their garbage."
Sonic had been listening intently, his eyes gazing around the small house after Tails had asked for the book, had been paging through it uselessly while explaining. But at the last sentence the hedgehog had looked back at him, disbelief more than anything deep in his eyes.
"People didn't give you anything in the winter?" Tails shook his head silently, putting the book beside himself hopping down from the table.
He crouched down and moved some wood out of the way underneath the worktable. Sonic watched as he then took his hands around two handles and lifted a board away from the floor. He crouched down beside him, couldn't help but smile when he saw the relief in the fox's eyes.
"It's still here," He said in a low voice, taking a hand into the hole. There was a lot of papers, blueprints and a single notebook, a small stash of ideas and brainstorms.
He immediately picked up a blue paper, grinned at it and then showed it to the hedgehog.
"This was my first working machine. It was a robot dog named T-pup. He could get through small tunnels in the mountains where I didn't fit," He explained, while Sonic took hold of the paper, looking at the design. It did look like a small dog, with a big head and he could read from the small scribbles that he had designed it after a real dog, meaning that it would wag its tail and lick his face
A pang of sadness ran through him, thinking how lonely he must have been back then. The paper was crumbled and old, the lead from the pencil falling off of the piece when running a hand over it, but he could see the sketch of the dog. Numbers, calculations and sketches of gears and instruments were all around it, ideas that needed to be scribbled down quickly before they got away.
"You went to the mountain?" Tails nodded again, letting a careful hand go through the papers that were there.
"When I fought the army, they were all over the place to look for the chaos emeralds. I had to follow them and get the emeralds before they did, I've been everywhere, to the two islands as well," –
"How?" The hedgehog asked, the minute the fox pulled out another blue paper, just as crumbled and old as the one he had in his hand.
"Because of this," He said, gave the hedgehog another piece of paper. "This is the Sea Fox. It was a submarine I used to get to the smaller islands. It didn't have a lot of fuel so I couldn't take it to the coast. Or, it was called the mainland back then," To the hedgehog it looked more like a giant drill rather than a submarine, the front of it being a drill, though the top of the body had a small dome to house the small fox inside. The numbers indication how big the submarine was, made the hedgehog realize how small the fox had to be back then.
His hand went through the other papers, picking it up before dropping it back down into the hole, apparently not nothing of importance.
"What are the others?" –
"Just bomb designs, and improvements on components I found around the island," He quickly explained, though he picked up the notebook that was there. There was dust littering around it, and the pages were practically falling out of the frame.
Opening it, it revealed to be more ideas, a three-year-old's language that the hedgehog couldn't read but Tails seemed to be able to, from the way that his eyes crossed the pages one line at a time. A sigh escaped him, going through a couple of more pages.
"This is some more ideas, ways to think about how I could get off of this island. I thought of a bigger submarine, even a blimp and the last things I thought about was a plane. Man, I loved planes. Whenever they flew over the island I would just stare up at them, dream about how it was to fly it myself," He said, then caught himself in his own daze, closing the book and his cheeks going a little red. "Sorry," –
"No it's fine. I get it. You were – most likely lonely," Sonic added, taking the book away from him when he was handed it, opened it back up.
There were pictures of future designs of transportation vehicles and small gadgets he had no idea what would mean. Numbers and calculations, either scribbled out because they were incorrect or underlined with more than three lines for the correct answer.
"I was. I mean, the only 'conversations' I had was when the kids sought me out in the forest because they were bored. They bullied and attacked me, called me a freak of nature, an abomination and that I would never find any friends. And after the war with the birds they burned down my house and then it just got worse. I got an infection one time I was lucky that my arm didn't-" He stopped dead in his track, memories getting the better of him rather than words, another up-giving sigh leaving him.
Sonic looked at him for a second before throwing an arm over his shoulder, rubbing his arm.
"That was back then," He said. "All of that is over," –
"I know," Tails answered, putting the panel back over the hole, covering the last of the papers though the blueprints with the robot dog, the submarine and the notebook was left beside them. "But it still hurts," He breathed out, slumping a bit against himself taking a look around him.
"One day a cargo ship came to the island, and I quickly realized that it was my ticket out of here. I snug onboard and luckily, I wasn't found. I then got off when it hit Emerald Hill, and then things just continued from there. Except for the fact that nobody knew what happened on Cocoa Island due to the fact that we – they lived so isolated," He shrugged.
"Then I was just bullied for my brain and my tails," He said, his voice still in that matter-of-fact tone like it didn't matter anymore. Sonic squeezed his shoulder, making the fox look at him, shining green eyes gazing back at him.
"Then I found you. And brought you into a hell of a lot more danger than a few bullies," Tails chuckled at that, shaking his head.
"A lot more. Man, I remember Chemical Plant – you were so scared that I would fall into the water that you fell in yourself. Now if you would've just told me that you were afraid of water…" –
"And if you had told me that you could fly then we wouldn't have had that problem," Sonic grinned, ruffling his bangs as he got up from the floor. The fox picked up the blueprints and the notebook, hiding them temporarily in his left tail before getting up beside the hedgehog.
Taking another look around the house, he let a small smile cross over his face, letting his hand go over the worktable. A silent farewell to what he had back then, making Sonic leave out where the door once had been, giving him the silent moment.
His ears then peeked when he heard voices and footsteps, and suddenly saw through the not-so-hidden trees three people walking towards the beach, their backs turned to them. Two of them were wolves while the third was a dog, the group most likely seeing the plane land and was now curious as to who were here.
Tails stood beside him a couple of moment's later, looking at the three people that got tinier in the distance, getting closer to the beach.
"I think they saw the Tornado," Sonic remarked, looking back at his sidekick who nodded, putting his hands on his hips and his tails whipping slightly.
"Then let's go meet them. Make sure they don't do anything to the plane," He said, turning towards the hedgehog who nodded and began walking, following the inhabitant's steps.