List: IHeartSonAmy, Zeldaskeeper, Koollolly, Silverdawn2010, Sonic5521, GodsSonicGirl and, Thymistacles!
Thanks for the reviews and poll votes, everyone! I really enjoyed them!
So, considering my poll. The two characters that won (I was going to wait until I had ten poll votes, but I just couldn't wait. Besides, I love this idea!) were Kyler and "Uncle" Tails. After a bit of thinking, I managed this chapter. Hope you enjoy, and onwards, march!
Chapter fourteen
The Snowy Night
It started late in the night.
The child awoke to the voices, voices that were sometimes loud, and sometimes soft. Wishing to go back to sleep, the child rolled over in her crib, and grabbed her thumb to suck on, one of her only comforts when alone in the middle of the night.
The voices started getting louder, and the child wearily opened her eyes, noting almost immediately that the hallway light was on, for she could see a bit of light underneath the crack in her door. Blinking, the girl looked over at her younger sister, who slept soundly in her own crib a few feet away. Violet had always been the heavy sleeper, unless of course she awoke, screaming for a bottle from one of their parents. But Kyler had always been a light sleeper. Hence the reason she was even up to hear the commotion outside of the girls' shared bedroom.
Yawning, Kyler forced herself into a sitting-up position, and then stood quickly when she heard a slight yelp from somewhere outside. The child stiffened; that yelp had sounded like her mother's.
"Mama?" Kyler called quietly, alarmed. "Mama?" She called a bit louder this time.
She had only heard that kind of yelp once before, and that was when her parents had mysteriously come home with Violet. And she remembered being told that another baby would be brought home soon. But the word "baby" confused the poor child. Violet hadn't been a baby, had she? She had been Violet!
Another yelp, a hushed whisper, and suddenly Kyler could hear the garage opening. Her eyes widened. They were doing it again! They were abandoning her, just like they had when Violet came into the picture two years ago.
"Mama!" She screamed out her mother's name this time, hoping to get someone's attention before it was too late, before they left her and her sister. "Mommy! Daddy!"
But no one came.
The young child reduced to silent tears, realizing that she really didn't want to disturb Violet and get her all riled up too.
She couldn't believe this. They were leaving her. All Kyler really wanted was someone to be with her consistently, but she had never seemed to have it. At first, she thought she could trust her parents. But they just kept leaving her. And somehow, she felt she had been left behind before in life, making this separation from her parent's even harder.
The door suddenly began opening, and Kyler lurched herself forward in her crib, her tiny hands grabbing hold of the bars that separated her from the outside world. Never had she hated the bars more than this.
"Mama?" she called out hopefully, and then the whole door opened.
"No, no, honey," a soft voice assured her. A kitsune stepped into the dark room, smiling softly.
"Unca Taols'?" the child asked, surprised. The two-tailed fox only nodded and stepped forward.
"Hey…" His voice was soft and assuring, and the child almost wondered if it was safe to go back to sleep with him here. "Hey, girl, what're you doing up right now?"
"I heard 'em 'eaving," she replied, her tears resuming at the thought. "Thwey weft. Ageen."
"No, Kyler," Tails replied, and he gently picked the scared child out of her crib. Glancing down at Violet's crib, he quickly realized that the child was sound asleep, and he tip-toed out of the room, Kyler in his arms. "They aren't leaving you," he continued, once they were safely out of the bedroom. "They're just going to the hospital. You know how your Mom's expecting another baby?" Kyler nodded. She knew about it, but she still wasn't all that sure what this mysterious baby was supposed to be. "Well, the baby wanted to come out tonight," Tails said. "So your Mommy and Daddy just had to leave for a little while. That's all."
"A wittle while," the child echoed, and Tails nodded, smiling as he set his niece down on the couch near a window.
"Uh-huh," he explained gently. "They're only gonna be gone for a bit. And then they'll come home with a new baby brother or sister for you and Violet. How does that sound?"
"Baby…?" Kyler's voice was hesitant. Tails blinked, confused.
"Yeah, honey," he answered. "A baby. You know…Violet was one. Still is."
"But…" Kyler sounded confused and Tails let out a low sigh. This would be fun. He had never been good at explaining things. "But, Vi-wet is…Vi-wet."
"Yes, she is Violet," Tails agreed. "But she is also a baby."
"Ya cannot be two ''ings a' once!" Kyler retorted, folding her small arms across her chest, staring stubbornly back at Tails. The fox stumbled with his next words.
"Well, erm…Yeah, you're right about that, but, well…" The fox sighed angrily at himself. When Sonic had called him earlier, telling him to watch the girls for the night, he hadn't been expecting Kyler to be up and confused. "Um, but, Kyler, Violet didn't always have her name, Violet," the fox said. "Remember? We named her in the hospital, and you were right there with everyone and looking at your sister."
"Yeah, she did. She's alweeeys been Vi-wet."
"Um…how 'bout this," the fox suggested. "The word "sister". What's that mean to you?"
"I' mean I am big sister." Kyler's frown was enough to send Tails' mind into frenzy mode. The kid just wasn't getting it!
"Yeah, but the individual word, sister. You're a sister to Violet, right?" The girl nodded, looking bored as she stared out the window, where soft rain fell gently to the ground. "And, you're going to be a sister to someone new, soon."
"But…" Kyler turned back to her Uncle. "Unca Taols', am I gettin' anoother Vi-wet?"
"Kind of," Tails replied. "But it'll be younger. And it'll have a different, erm, attitude. It might look different too. And it's called a baby."
"I''s name is Baby?"
"Yeah, until we give it a new name."
A silence fell between Kyler and Tails, and the fox sighed, glad to see the child at least for now was out of questions.
"They'll be back in a wittle while?" Her voice startled the fox for a moment, and then he turned to his niece.
"Yes, a little while. Hey, you want some hot chocolate?" The little girl nodded enthusiastically, her first smile of the evening playing on her lips. Tails smiled back. "Alright. I'll go make some."
Ten minutes later, a small fire had been started in the fire place, the rain had turned to snow, and the hedgehog child and fox sat on the couch, sipping their hot chocolate while staring out the frosted window.
"Unca Taols'?" the child suddenly asked between sips of her hot chocolate. "Can ya tell me the story of how Iz get here?" The fox nodded, and he set down his warm drink on the coffee table. Kyler set hers down as well, and before the fox could protest, she had herself wrapped in his arms, and she snuggled into his warm fur. The kitsune blushed. The child was not known for being cuddly. Violet was, but even then, Tails couldn't remember a time when either of his nieces had asked for a story from him, and snuggled into him. He bit his lip, telling himself to act normal, and he began the story.
"It was a snowy night, much like tonight," the fox began. "The wind was much angrier though. And you were outside in it, in a very small basket. You had no blankets."
"How bigg waz I?" the child interrupted, staring into the fox's blue eyes.
"This big." The fox motioned her small size with his hands, and the child raised her arms and put her hands in Tails', trying to get a picture of it herself. She blinked in surprise.
"I was so smaell!" she cried out, shocked, and Tails chuckled as he lowered his hands and Kyler's while he was at it.
"Yes," he continued. "You were very small. A lot of us were worried about you."
Dawn was approaching when the phone suddenly rang, and Tails groggily reached for the phone he had placed on the coffee table hours earlier, in case the awaited phone call came sooner rather than later.
"Hello?" he asked tiredly, yawning.
"He's here," Sonic proud voice said anxiously. "Dash the Hedgehog. He looks just like me and he's already showing signs of being able to run like me and he's real small but not as small as Violet was, and he's…" Tails smiled, chuckling within. Staring down in his lap, he was a bit surprised to see Kyler silently resting there, her small thumb in her mouth as she sighed in her sleep. Slowly, Tails remembered the night before, when he had tried to explain the word baby to the child, and when he had told the girl's story over a cup of hot chocolate. A parent-like love washed over the kitsune, and he reached out and stroked the child's quills.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Sonic suddenly started. "How'd the kids do last night? They asleep the whole time?"
"Violet did," Tails practically whispered, hoping not to disturb his niece that he knew was a light sleeper. "But Kyler was awake before you had even left. I made some hot chocolate. She fell asleep pretty quickly afterwards."
"Good," Sonic replied, sounding a bit relived. "Hope she didn't give ya any trouble. She kinda goes crazy if me and Amy aren't nearby." Tails smiled, chuckling softly as he continued gazing at his perfect little niece.
"She wasn't a problem whatsoever," the fox reassured. "She was perfect." The fox vaguely listened to Sonic's spiel over the new son after that. Instead, he glanced at the dying fire not too far away, the fallen blanket of snow outside the window, the now cold cups of hot chocolate, and the sleeping child next to him. And he smiled at the memory.
Alrighty, so now that I've written about Tails and Kyler, those two options on my poll will be taken off. I would very much appreciate it if you'd vote for the next two characters. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
~Ksonic~