Chapter 5: We are Family

Sonic sat against the overturned truck, his blue fur covered in dirt and grime and the Master Emerald in his hands while Tom and Maddie were at his side, Robotnik's huge robot stomping ever closer to them. In the distance, he could see Tails and Knuckles getting up after falling from the head of Robotnik's robot.

"I got the emerald. We can still defeat him." Sonic said to Tom and Maddie, voicing his thoughts aloud before he looked down at the large emerald in his hands. "C'mon, c'mon, how does this thing work? What do I do?"

Suddenly, the Master Emerald's shining green suddenly dulled, becoming a lifeless gray before it suddenly crumbled to pieces right before Sonic's horrified eyes.

"What? No. No, no, no, no, no, no!" Sonic cried in a panic as the fragments of the emerald slipped through his fingers, leaving only the seven Chaos Emeralds that forged it in the first place.

Sonic could hear the loud thumps of Robotnik's robot as it stomped closer and closer, its footsteps practically shaking the earth around them.

"Look at the happy little family." Robotnik's voice echoed from the robot, not even trying to hide the disgust in it before it was followed by a massive stream of fire, creating a ring of flames around the truck and cutting off Sonic, Tom, and Maddie from Tails and Knuckles while also trapping them with the mad doctor.

"Y-Y-You have to get away from me." Sonic said to Tom and Maddie, his usually confident voice filled with fear. "I'm the one he wants."

Tom and Maddie looked at the blue hedgehog before Maddie shook her head, grasping Sonic's hand.

"We're not going anywhere." She told him firmly. "We're family."

Tom nodded before grasping Sonic's other hand, gazing at the hedgehog with a fatherly look in his eyes. "And families stick together, no matter what." He added softly.

Robotnik was right above them now, raising his mech's giant foot in a manner to crush them, with the shadow falling over the hedgehog and his parents.

Sonic felt tears building in his eyes as he grasped Tom and Maddie, no, his mother and father's hands.

"I love you guys." He whispered.

Tom rested his chin on his head. "We love you too, Sonic." He whispered back.

However, something was different. Wrong, even, as the emeralds did not react, simply sitting on the ground unmoving as Robotnik's foot came down.

The last thing Sonic heard was a horrified and heartbroken scream from Tails, the sweet and innocent young fox who he had come to see as the little brother he had never had, before everything went dark.

Sonic shot up from his bed, gasping in a cold sweat as he breathed rapidly. He looked around and realized that he was not under the foot of Robotnik's mech, but in his own room and on his own bed.

Good. It was just a nightmare. They hadn't been crushed. They defeated Robotnik. They won.

Sonic placed his gloved hand on his chest to slow his rapid breathing as he tried to calm himself down.

"Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog looked across the room to see Tails sitting up on his airplane bed, the fox kit gazing at him with a face full of concern.

Tails' breath hitched as he noticed the shaken look on his older brother's face along with the tears building up in the blue hedgehog's eyes.

Tails hated seeing his big brother looking so frightened. Sonic was always the one who kept cool under pressure, the one who helped him become more confident in himself. To see him this way, looking so… vulnerable, borderline broke his heart.

Getting out of his bed, Tails used his appendages to fly over to his brother's bed, landing softly next to the blue hedgehog.

"Are you okay?" He asked out of concern.

Sonic gazed into his innocent baby brother's eyes, not finding it in him to try and lie. "Just a nightmare." He said, looking down at his knees.

Tails frowned, not satisfied with that answer. "Can you… tell me what happened?" He asked almost hesitantly, not liking having to push this. But if it would help make his big brother feel better, then he would do it.

Sonic was silent for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should tell him, opening and closing his mouth as he continued to look down.

"I… I was back in that huge battle we had with Robotnik and I was sitting with mom and dad while Robotnik's mech got ready to squash us into paste. You remember that?" Sonic spoke with a shaky voice, swallowing the lump building up in his throat.

Tails tensed, biting his lower lip before he nodded. "How could I forget?" He said, leaning against Sonic's shoulder. "I thought, for a moment, you were gone along with Mom and Dad." The kit shivered, feeling water building up in his eyes but not enough to fall.

"But this time, instead of going all Super Sonic like I did before, nothing happened." Sonic continued, his voice breaking as he felt his eyes watering the more he spoke. "The last thing I heard was you screaming out to me before Robotnik…"

Sonic couldn't even even finish his sentence as he felt a sob building up in his throat. He covered his mouth with his hand and squeezed his eyes tightly shut to suppress the urge to fully breakdown, even while his shoulders shook and tears began slipping from his eyes.

Tails sat by Sonic's side, looking shocked and devastated by his big brother's sorrow, before he wrapped his little arms around the hedgehog's waist and pulled him into an affectionate hug. "It's okay, Sonic." He whispered softly, nuzzling under his brother's chin. "We're here now, aren't we?" He felt his own eyes burning with tears as he pulled back slightly, looking up at his big brother. "We're together. And we're a family."

Sonic felt his resolve crumbling as he hugged his baby brother tightly, breaking down into sobs as Tails hugged him back, trying his best to comfort his big brother.

"I-I know it's stupid, but I can't help but feel like it was my fault." Sonic sniffled sorrowfully. "I feel like I put everyone around me in danger."

"What? Sonic, you know that's not true!" Tails exclaimed in disbelief.

"I know, I know, but… I can't help but feel that way." Sonic replied, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. "If I hadn't so stupid, the echidnas would have never found Longclaw. If I had been such a baby, I wouldn't have gotten Robotnik's attention and Mom and Dad would still be living a normal life. If I hadn't taken you with me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt in Siberia."

"First of all, you didn't make me come with you." Tails stated firmly. "Yeah, you convinced me to come, but in the end, I chose to come with you." He then pulled Sonic into another hug. "And I don't regret following you, Sonic."

Sonic breathed in a shuddering breath."I'm still sorry you got hurt, Tails."

"It wasn't your fault, Sonic." Tails whispered, pulling away and looking up at his big brother. "I know you feel bad about leading the echidnas to Longclaw, but look at all the people whose lives you've impacted since then. Mom and Dad wouldn't have you as their son, Knuckles would still be wandering the galaxy alone, and I'd still be in my village. Before you, I didn't have any friends or any family. But you changed that. You became my first ever friend. You gave me a family who actually loves me and cares about me. You gave me a home that actually wants me. You became the big brother I never had. You gave me a second chance at life."

Tails felt tears leaking from his eyes, dripping down his furry cheeks as he poured his heart out to his big brother.

Sonic stared at Tails, eyes wide with a shocked expression and filled with fresh tears that threatened to spill at any moment.

Tails couldn't take it anymore as he threw himself at his hedgehog brother, wrapping his small arms around his waist and burying his face in his chest, his tails wrapping around the back.

"I love you so much, big bro. Don't ever forget that." Tails sniffled, his voice slightly muffled as he snuggled his head under Sonic's chin once again.

"Oh, Tails…" Sonic sobbed as he hugged the twin-tailed kit back just as tightly. "I love you too, little bro. So, so much."

"The fox is right, hedgehog."

Sonic and Tails briefly broke their hug and looked up to see Knuckles coming into the attic through the open skylight.

"Were it not for your… foolishness (apologies), we would never have come together today." Knuckles stated, placing a firm hand on Sonic's shoulder. "We would all still be outcasts had it not been for you, brother."

"And that's not all…"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all looked to see Tom and Maddie coming up through the entrance to the attic.

"If you hadn't come into our lives, we wouldn't be the family we are now." Maddie said as she and Tom sat down behind the three alien children with Maddie on the right and Tom on the left.

"And families stick together, no matter what, remember?" Tom added, wrapping his arm around the three kids.

Sonic felt a shaky smile form on his face as tears spilled down his cheeks again, but this time not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy.

"I love you guys." Sonic sniffled, wrapping his arms around Tails and Knuckles and pulling them close.

"We love you too." Maddie smiled as she and Tom wrapped them around the kids in a big group hug.

Tails and Knuckles gladly hugged Sonic back, the fox kit lovingly snuggling into the hedgehog's shoulder while the echidna fondly rested his chin on the hedgehog's head.

The small tribe of five stayed that way for several minutes, bonded together as the family they were not by blood but by love.

Sonic felt more happy than ever before as he embraced his family. His brothers and his parents were here, not out in the battlefield awaiting death, but in the comforting warmth of their home.

*SLURP*

"Augh! Ozzie! Gross!" Sonic exclaimed, laughing in disgust as the golden retriever affectionately licked his face.

Ozzie barked, wagging his tail happily as he continued to lick Sonic's face while the rest of his family laughed. The golden retriever even Tails a little lick, earning a squeal of laughter from the kit.

Tom and Maddie laughed while Knuckles smiled, fondly betting Ozzie as the dog continued his little love attack on Sonic and Tails.

Yep, they were certainly family alright.