Hello everyone! This is going to be a short one-shot idea based on a comic from b0uncy-ball that takes place in the aftermath of Forces! Hopefully you all enjoy it! Let's get started!

Flashbacks

"Are they still there?" The fox mentally asked himself, panting from exhaustion. Landing on his feet among the ruins of what used to be a house, it's walls decaying and crumbling. He looked over his shoulder and found no sign of the pursuing robots, letting out a sigh of relief. He made his way behind one of the walls and sat down, trying to calm his racing heart.

Opening the backpack that he wore and fishing through it for a moment, he pulled out a small laptop. Opening it and checking the coordinates that the rendezvous was supposed to be at. There had been talk of this sort of thing for a while, getting organized so they stood a chance against Eggman's forces but without Sonic...

Tails dwelled on the thought for a moment, eventually minimizing the program that displayed the coordinates and opening his personal files. Browsing through their contents until he eventually stopped at his photos. Gazing through them brought back good memories, of times before this whole thing, before the war. Before Sonic had...

"Don't go there Tails... Don't go there..."

Continuing to gaze through the photos, his eyes glazed over. This was the happiest he had been in a long while, allowing his mind to wander freely as much as it wanted. So much so in fact, that he was blissfully unaware of the sounds of metallic feet marching outside his hideout.

"Attention resistance personnel," One of the machine's began, "Surrender yourself and you will not be harmed."

The statement snapped the kitsune out of his trance and he stuffed the laptop into his bag in a panic. Jumping to his feet as his heart sped up, he decided his best bet would be to make a break for it. Rushing out of his hideout and taking to the skies, the fox continued to run for his life, bullets whizzing past him every second as he scrambled to dodge everything. Before he could get too far however, an aqueous form materialized among the ranks of the machines. Chaos' arm extended, throwing the fox to the ground.

As he sat back up again, he found himself face to face with one of the rotary guns of the machines, which began to spin up. He instinctively threw himself to the side just as the weapon fired at where he had been, peppering the dirt and rock. As he lifted off again however, he made a fair amount of distance between himself and the machines, however their tracking and the sheer number of bullets being launched at him caused one to strike his left leg, causing him to gasp in pain. Unable to focus on his flight anymore with the injury, he fell to the ground, rolling end over end as he landed.

Eventually he came to a stop, slowly rising back to his feet as a few soft whimpers escaped his mouth. He knew he had some distance between himself and the machines, but it wouldn't be long before they were on top of him again. Limping toward another piece of wreckage with a few grunts of pain. He slowly made his way into a mostly intact building, peeking out through a small crack in the wall as the machines approached and seemed to look around for him. The kit held his breath the whole time, along with fighting back the flashes of agony from his leg.

Eventually the machines left and Tails let out a breath. Relaxing as he took a look at his leg. The injury was pretty bad, a small constant trickle of blood seeped out into his fur, and it even hurt as he thought about it. As of now however, he lacked the proper medical equipment to fix it, so it'd have to stay how it was until he met up with the other Resistance members.

He pulled back out his laptop, he'd been interrupted during what had possibility been the best moment he'd had since this war, and he intended to get back to it. As the device was removed however, Tails came to the horrifying conclusion that it was completely destroyed... The screen was cracked beyond recognition, and the device itself was banged up significantly, it had probably been destroyed in the fall.

"No..." The kit spoke quietly, "No, No! This can't be happening, I- I-" Tears quickly blurred the fox's vision as he started to cry. Not for the destruction of the device, or even the fact that he only had a vague clue for where he was headed...

But for the pure and simple fact that he'd never see Sonic's face again...

-X-

The fox's eyes shot open, he found himself in his bed in Resistance HQ. The war had ended weeks ago, but still he couldn't get those thoughts out of his mind.

"Oh, sorry!" A voice commented, "Didn't mean to wake you buddy."

Tails looked over to the source of the voice and found Sonic looking out the window of their shared bedroom. His half of the bed hadn't been made yet, and the hedgehog looked like he had just gotten up.

"You ready for another day of clean up? It's nice out today!" The speedster continued, Tails simply stared at him, his eyes a sea of turmoil. Sonic looked over at him to which Tails turned his head away and hung it in shame, dangling his feet off the edge of the bed.

"Tails..." Sonic added, a rare sorrowful tone in his voice. "Listen, I'm sorry I wasn't around when... The war happened..."

"Don't be..." Tails responded, sounding on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough to save you before..."

The kitsune's voice trailed off before he could finish as he choked back tears. He made his way across the room to his desk, sitting down in the singular chair present.

"Tails, that's enough sorrys, I'm sure you did your best."

The kitsune was silent, merely keeping his head hung in shame. He grabbed the laptop from nearby, it's dented casing a reminder of his failures. He had recently finished the repairs last night and he figured he'd check to make sure the thing ran. The screen was still cracked but at least it was functional. As he went through the files however, he stumbled upon the photos again. Tears instantly filled his eyes as the memories returned to him again and he threw his head down onto the desk and into his arms. He let himself cry as he was completely overwhelmed with emotions. Sonic let him work it out to himself for a moment before approaching, putting his arms around the kitsune.

"Hey... Hey, it's alright. Besides, we can't take a new one with you all teary eyed!"

Tails' crying quickly ceased as he returned the embrace, allowing only a few more sniffles to escape. Eventually however, they stopped entirely too, leaving only the two of them with a promise that things would eventually get better.

Alright everyone, that's it for today! Let me know your thoughts! Until next time!