"Breaking News! The former commander of the Royal Guard and head of the Insurrection aimed to bring democracy to the kingdom Amadeus Prower has been confirmed to have been shot dead at 10:15pm last night." That dreaded news story had spread across the entirety of the kingdom like wildfire.
Everyone everywhere knew of the events that had occurred in that castle on…THAT night.
That night when HE had taken his father away from him…that night when he thought that everything could be resolved…that night when he thought he could finally be a part of a proper family again.
But all of that hope, all of that happiness and childlike joy in his heart had been ripped away from him in a matter of minutes.
Tails was slumped back on his bed, his limbs heavy and both his head and heart pounding in almost indescribable agony.
His once silky, golden yellow and snow white fur had turned a darker mustard yellow and cloudy grey colour as he had gradually stopped maintaining it. He lacked the energy to do so.
He had been drained, emotionally and physically from the events that had occurred over 3 weeks ago, he even had to be carried back home and into bed since he had been so shaky on his feet in the aftermath of what he had almost done.
He had grown thin as well, he felt sick to his stomach whenever he ate something for some reason, like some kind of parasite, eating away in the pit of his stomach, so he ate very little, only taking small nibbles from his meals at a time.
Miles felt a cold, metallic snout nuzzle his hand which was dangling over the bed, small mechanical sounding whines sounding in the quiet room.
Miles sat up on the bed and turned to see the very familiar shape of a small robotic dog, which was yellow, white and grey in colour. It was rubbing it's cold metal snout against his hand.
The small fox allowed himself to smile, just a little bit anyway, he allowed himself to begin to lightly stroke the mechanic hound's snout.
"Hi T-pup…" he said in a low rather hoarse voice.
The little robot wagged it's tail happily as it leapt up onto the bed, trying to snuggle against it's master. Miles slowly wrapped one of his furry little arms around the robot dog while it lay down on his lap.
Miles took a deep breath and allowed himself to stroke the robo-dog's titanium frame, T-pup had been programmed to take care of it's master and recently it's cpu could detect high levels of emotional distress that the small boy was bearing so it was it's duty to make sure that Miles was ok.
Speaking of Miles, the small boy sighed again sadly, asking his mechanical companion in a voice barely above a whisper,
"W-why T-pup…Why do things have to be the way they are?"
His ears suddenly pricked up when he heard the door to his bedroom slowly open, it was his mother.
Rosemary Prower had been badly affected by the death of her husband and it showed, her face was particularly haggard, much like Miles's and like her son she had dark circles under her eyes and rather unkempt fur.
Yet despite how awful she looked, she was giving a somewhat…forced smile, she was holding two mugs of hot chocolate in her hands.
"Tails! Here's some hot chocolate sweetheart." She said in her usual sweet, kind voice whenever she spoke to him.
The smaller fox allowed himself to smile once again as he gratefully took the steaming hot liquid and took a small sip.
"Thanks mum…" he croaked out weakly.
Rosemary smiled back at her son and sat down on the bed next to him, drinking from her own small mug.
But her face sunk when she saw Miles's unkempt and scruffy fur along with his drooped namesakes. But this was to be expected after all, Amadeus's death had taken an extremely heavy toll on the young boy's mental health, just like it would for any other child.
She knew what had been going on and she had been trying her best to give him space, but what her child was doing was only going to make things worse, a lot worse and she needed to talk to him about it.
"Tails…" she said in a low, grave tone.
"Yes mum?" Tails spoke back in an equally low voice.
"You can't keep doing this to yourself sweetheart…your just hurting yourself even more." she spoke, setting her mug down on Miles's small bedside table.
But her son plastered another small smile on his face and responded to her quite calmly,
"Doing what mum?"
Rosemary sighed and placed a warm hand on Miles's shoulder sympathy burning in her eyes,
"All of this…isolation, you never leave your room, you barely eat or drink anything, your fur is a mess and you smell like a damp dog."
Miles flinched slightly from her mother's somewhat harsh tone of voice, but deep down, he knew she was right. But he didn't want to seem even more weak than he already knew himself to be.
"I-I'm fi-"
"Tails…you're clearly not fine, I know that you're still hurting from the death of your father…I am as well, but doing this isn't going to help…"
The small boy flinched, even the most brief mention of his father was still taking him back to that horrible night, that horrible night that had robbed his father away from him and his mother.
"Mum…Please I-"
"No Tails. Stop lying to me, I can tell whenever you do." Rosemary spoke again, this time in a more stern voice. Clearly showing that she could see right through her son.
The little Mobian sighed and buried his snout in his hands, he could feel small tears welling up in his eyes once again, he knew his mother was right and that he couldn't keep up this façade for long, but he was scared…he was scared of being judged again, he was scared of hurting anyone else again, he was scared of that…thing escaping and causing anymore havoc.
"I-I know M-mum…S-sorry."
Rosemary's face softened, her motherly instincts kicked in and she placed a warm hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed it to comfort him.
"It's ok darling…I know it hurts, I know…" she softly whispered to him.
Miles allowed himself to let out a small whimper but once the noise was out. It was very difficult to stop and from that small whimper came another, then another and it kept on going to the point where he couldn't hold in or supress his feelings any longer and he started to sob.
He was tired, tired of the hurt, tired of the loss. He didn't understand why fate had targeted him specifically. Making him feel all of this pain, all of this heartbreak, he wasn't even over ten and he had already: Been seemingly abandoned by his parents, viciously beaten and bullied in public all the while being homeless and starving and being drawn into life threatening situations before he could even walk or talk properly. Perhaps the death of his father was the straw that broke the fox's backs.
But Rosemary gently pulled her son into a warm, inviting embrace, not wanting to let him go. Letting all of her son's heartbreak melt away in a torrent of tears and sobs.
Miles couldn't stop sobbing though, he didn't care if he was soaking her mother's dress with his tears, he was tired, hurt, hungry and sapped of his strength and will to carry on.
He curled his tails around himself as he buried his muzzle into Rosemary's shoulder, letting out all of his sorrow while she cradled him.
It took what seemed like hours, hours of heartbreak slowly working it's way out of his system for him to slowly begin to calm down and only slightly pull himself together.
He pulled away from his mother, tears still streaming down his cheeks, his lip quivering and his small frame shaking, Rosemary gave him another warm smile and placed a hand on his shoulder,
"There we are…have you calmed down?"
Miles's throat was hoarse and dry from all of the sobbing rendering him unable to speak as he steadied his rapid breathing, so he nodded his head slightly.
Rosemary smiled at her son and invitingly pulled him into another soft and warm hug. She said to him,
"Excellent, you've let out your sorrow and that's a start, I know the road to recovery will be rough and filled with bumps along the rod. But just know that your father and I will always be proud of you. Our little genius…Although you definitely need a bath, I'll go and run you one now." Ruffling his son's hair she slowly stood up from the bed and left the room.
Tails smiled slightly, it was small but it was one nonetheless. He turned to the bedside table and saw a small, brass picture frame next to his rocket shaped nightlight.
He grasped it in one paw and turned it to look down at the photo, it was a picture of his father playing with him when he was a small baby, he had never thought he'd ever see himself look so filled with naïve, childlike glee while his father pulled a silly face at him.
Tails sighed and placed it back down on the bedside table, he knew it would be rough, living without him. But he needed to try, because no matter how dark things could get. There would always be memories to cherish and people to embrace him.
"Tails! Your bath is ready, come on! It's a bubble bath, your favourite!"
He smiled again, more gleefully this time and leapt up and rushed out of the dark and mangy bedroom, ready to continue to live his life to it's fullest.
The end…