"When I was, a young boy
My father, took me into the city
To see a marching band
He said, 'Son, when you grow up
Would you be, the savior of the broken
The beaten and the damned?'"
He hadn't listened to the song in years, but lately this album was the only thing he listened to. Normally he'd be terrified that he was going back to his emo phase, but right now he didn't care. Miles Prower stared blankly at the ceiling of his bedroom, the songs of My Chemical Romance's most popular album traveling through his headphones and into his eardrums on an endless repeat. How long has it been? Three days now? It didn't matter.
Nothing matters. That's what it felt like, at least. Why was he taking this so hard? She hadn't rejected him. She hadn't broken up with him. She hadn't laughed at him for thinking he had a chance. How could she? She had no idea how he felt about her. He never told her how he felt. He had a couple of chances. Now those chances are all gone. Why? Because he was a coward.
Cowardice had always been synonymous with Miles, at least in his own mind. When was he ever brave? He was only brave when Sonic was him. The incident with Chaos? That was a fluke. That time Eggman took over the world? Now that was the real Miles Prower. Cowering in fear, begging for help from his older brother. His stupid, perfect older brother.
Sonic didn't even like Amy that way. He didn't have a romantic bone in his body. Hell, Tails wasn't even sure he'd ever felt any kind of attraction to someone before, man, woman or otherwise. It's not fair. It's not fair at all. What did Sonic have that he didn't? Speed, looks, bravery… the list went on.
Tails let out a frustrated sigh. It wasn't his brother's fault. It wasn't Amy's fault. He had ample time to tell her. He just didn't. At the end of the day, he couldn't shift the blame onto anyone. It was all his fault. He didn't want to think about it. If only there was something to block out the thoughts…
That's when it hit him. He'd sent Knuckles to the store, and he came back with something for himself. Tails got out of bed and shambled out his room and down the stairs. Knuckles looked up at him, his attention on the wrestling match immediately vanished. "'Sup?" the echidna asked.
Tails didn't reply. He just shambled over to the kitchen and opened a cupboard above the fridge. Inside sat a fresh, unopened bottle of Jack Daniel's. He swiped it out of the cupboard and walked over to where he kept the cups. Knuckles frowned. "Hey, no, that's mine!" he yelled as he stood up off the couch.
"I don't care," Tails replied unenthusiastically, grabbing a large glass out of another cupboard.
The echidna stomped over to the kitchen. "They make shot glasses for a reason, you know! You're not supposed to drink that much!"
The kitsune cracked the seal on the bottle and began to pour into the large glass. "I don't care."
Knuckles slammed his hands on the kitchen counter. "You can't legally drink for another few months!"
Tails glared at the echidna as he picked up the unreasonably full glass of alcohol. "I. Don't. Care."
"You're acting ridiculous," Knuckles said with a frustrated sigh. "You're acting like you're never gonna ever get another chance with her over one conversation you had. You're a genius, you should know how irrational you're acting!"
"I'm never gonna get another chance, you moron," Tails spat. "Look at me and look at him. I'm a loser compared to him!"
"You're not a loser."
"Right, I'm just a freak."
"You're not a-"
Tails slammed the glass on the counter, causing it to spill a little bit. Not that he cared. "Yes, I am! I'm a freak! A failure! And above all else, I'm a coward!"
"Tails, buddy, calm down. You're not any of that."
The kitsune angrily gripped both of his tails and pulled them forward. "LOOK AT THESE!" he screamed at his friend. "LOOK AT THEM! Do you know anyone else who has two of these?! Anyone?! No, you don't! Because I'm the only one on the whole planet! I'm a one of a kind, genetic mishap, freak of nature! The only reason I'm not still the world's punching bag is because everyone knows me as Speedy Gonzales' sidekick! If he hadn't entered my life, I'd still be getting picked on, that's a fact."
"Tails," Knuckles said as calmly as he could. "She doesn't see you as a freak. None of us do."
"Right. Because I'm her hero's sidekick. The guy she bought a toaster from out of pity for his failed business venture. Remember when everyone said I was gonna be something? That I was gonna be great and do great things? Remember how when I finally tried to capitalize on my constant inventing and machine tinkering, that venture failed so bad I would've fallen into debt if I hadn't saved up any cash? Remember that?!"
"Sometimes things don't work out, you're not a lesser person because of that, Tails."
"No, I'm a lesser person because I'm a coward. Never able to do a damn thing without someone by my side, you know? Always too scared. Always hiding behind Sonic… that's me. The pathetic, cowardly sidekick."
Tails picked up the glass again and raised it in a mock toast. "Here's to me!" he said with a sarcastic sense of enthusiasm. "Miles Prower, the poster child for child prodigies that grew up to be mediocre nobodies everywhere!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Do not-!" Knuckles started.
Too late. The kitsune had put the tall glass to his lips and began chugging. It tasted awful. It was horrendously bitter. He felt himself gag a bit, but shut his eyes and kept chugging, powering through the pain. His throat burned. Why hadn't anyone told him alcohol was such a thick liquid? Or that it tasted so utterly horrendous, for that matter? Once he had finally finished the glass, he set it on the counter and massaged his throat as fell into a coughing fit, leaning on the counter for support.
"That is disgusting!" he yelled when finally regained composure, still massaging his throat. "Awful… bitter… vile… gross…" He faced his echidna friend. "How the hell do you drink this crap?!"
"Well for starters, not like that," Knuckles said flatly. "Second of all, you shouldn't drink that at all. What's wrong with you?"
"Listen here, you- you-"
The room felt like it was spinning. Nausea hit the poor fox like a truck. A splitting headache occurred in his mind and he grabbed his head in pain. He could feel something rising in his throat. "Oh no…" Tails muttered. He ran to the kitchen sink and knelt over it.
Almost immediately, he started blowing chunks. He threw up in the sink, gripping the edge of the counter with intense force. Never before had he suddenly felt so intensely sick. Knuckles walked over to him and began consoling him, rubbing his back and patting it a little. "Can't say I didn't warn you, bud," he muttered.
Tails pressed the ice pack to his head, doing his best to stave off the nausea. Why he thought that was a good idea, he didn't know, but by now it didn't matter. "How ya feeling?" Knuckles asked him. The two sat on the living room couch together, Knuckles still occasionally rubbing his back.
"Horrible," Tails muttered, clutching a large bowl to his chest.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure that was a rhetorical question and you're gonna make me talk about it anyways."
The echidna smiled. "We don't gotta talk if you don't want to."
"Just say what you want to say."
"Are you sure? It's gonna be brutally honest…"
"I'm too tired to care right now, Knux. Just tell me."
Knuckles a deep breath. "Honestly, dude, this is kinda pathetic. You should really talk to someone, you know, like an adult. Doesn't have to be me, doesn't have to be Sonic, doesn't have to be Amy, doesn't have to be anyone. But you need to talk to someone and work through this. I get that coming from me that probably doesn't mean much, but seriously bro, I'm worried about you."
Tails nodded softly. "You're right. Of course you're right. I'm just… I've never been good with my feelings. I just… I didn't exactly have a normal childhood. I learned to just hide when things bothered me. If I didn't power through my emotions, Sonic, you, Amy… everyone else may not be around anymore. That's what it felt like at times."
The echidna brought his friend in closer. "None of us had a normal childhood, bro. Doesn't mean it's a valid excuse. It took me a while, but I learned to open up to people. Now I handle things in a healthy way."
Knuckles' phone buzzed. He checked it, only to see he had a new text message. A new text message from Rouge.
"Can we talk?" it read.
The echidna immediately broke from the conversation to type out a reply.
"No lol
Thx 4 reminding me block this number tho"
True to his word, he immediately blocked her number. Tails raised an eyebrow at him. The echidna glanced back at him and muttered, "Well, most of the time, anyways."
"Right," the kitsune replied, rolling his eyes.
Knuckles put his phone back in his pocket. "Look, point is, you gotta talk to someone alright? You can't keep doing this. I don't wanna see you fall back into that pit of despair again. Something tells me Amy won't be able to pull you out of it."
Tails nodded solemnly. "I understand. I'll think of something."
"Well, think of something sooner rather than later, alright?"
"Alright, Knux, I will." He thought for a moment. "I'm gonna go on a plane ride tomorrow. Give myself some time to clear my head."
The echidna nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll whip up a hangover cure for you. You'll need that tomorrow. Believe it or not, you're still drunk right now."
"I'm never drinking ever again," Tails sighed.
"This is Tornado IV to Station Square Air Traffic Control…" Tails said groggily. Even with Knuckles' hangover cure he'd whipped up for him that morning, he still felt tired. Not too much so that he couldn't fly, however. "Requesting permission to fly over Station Square. Just kind of flying around to get some fresh air."
"This is Air Traffic Control to Tornado IV," a voice said over the radio. "Good afternoon, Miles, hope you slept well. We'll get you on Eric's line pronto."
Tails let out a sigh of exhaustion. He checked his phone out of curiosity. More missed calls and unanswered text messages from Sonic and Amy. What was he expecting, exactly? He put his phone away and rubbed his face, letting out a small groan.
"MY MAN, MILES!" Eric yelled over the radio, snapping the kitsune awake. "Err, uh, I mean… TAILS, MY MAN! What brings you to Station Square today?"
"Well, uh…" the Kitsune muttered. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something, Eric. If you don't mind, that is."
There was a pause on the other end. "Y-you wanna talk to me?"
"Well, yeah, I guess… I got a problem, and I wanna talk about it with Sonic, Knuckles, or…" He paused. "Anyone else, really. You're the first person I thought of, I guess."
"Aww, jeez… that means a lot coming from you." Although he couldn't see it, Tails imagined the man on the other end was likely blushing. "So, what's on your mind then, M- Tails?"
Tails let out a long, depressed sigh. "Where do I even begin? Well, for starters, remember the other day? When I talked about liking a girl?"
"Uh-huh," Eric replied. "I remember. That was the same day you met with your ex, right? Glad everything worked out for you there!"
"Thanks, Eric. Anyways, well… she and I were talking the other night. I decided, stupidly, to ask her if she thinks that the guy she likes right now will be able to make her happy after the years of rejection. She said that yes, she thinks he would be able to make her happy. So, like an idiot, I just smiled and said I'd support her. I still haven't told her how I feel. Now I just feel like I'll never get the chance to."
"Damn, that's rough… I think I know how you feel. You think she's the one who got away, right? Right there, but out of reach."
"…Well, when you put it like that, kind of."
Eric cleared his throat. "Let me tell ya a secret, Tails. Jackie was almost the one that got away for me. I was always way too nervous to tell her how I felt, and before I knew it the guy she'd been asking for years finally agreed to go on a date with her. I thought I was done there and then. But you know what happened?"
Tails glanced curiously at his radio. "What happened?"
"The two were a complete mismatch! She'd been chasing him around saying she loved him for years and when they started going out, she realized they had nothing in common!" A loud, hard laughter erupted from the radio. "Wouldn't you know, I had a second chance! You bet you're ass I took that chance the second time!"
"So, you're saying there's still hope for me?"
"Maybe, I don't know for sure. If you do get another chance, then take it. If not, then try your best to move on and find someone new. It'll be really difficult, no doubt, but I'm sure you'll find someone out there who's right for you."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Miles, you're a smart guy. There's like, ten or so billion people on the planet. There's no doubt in my mind that there's someone out there for you."
Tails thought for a moment. Then, he smiled. "You're right," he said softly. "Thanks Eric, I really appreciate this. I think I'm gonna head home now, alright?"
"That's fine by me, Tails! I'm just glad I could be of help to you in some way. Just a small way of repaying my debt to you!" The loud, hard laughter busted out of the radio once again.
The kitsune frowned in confusion. "Debt to me? But, you don't owe me anything, Eric."
"O-oh, don't take that seriously! It's, umm, uh… a figure of speech! Yeah…"
Tails shrugged. "If you say so. It was good talking to you, Eric. Stay safe!"
"It was good talking to you as well, Tails! Have a safe flight home!"
Knuckles looked at the TV screen with a mixture of confusion and sorrow. He was playing the game Silver had told him about and currently, it was just a black screen with text boxes and the wolf character's voice over.
"What had I ever lost? It's a funny thing, to grow up with everything in life. When I was four I vacationed to Soleanna one summer. I did every year for the next two years and you know how much I appreciated that travel? You guessed it, I didn't appreciate it all. I met a kid in college. He said his parents had never left the zone. I didn't realize people didn't travel. I didn't realize how much I had and how little I had done to earn it."
Knuckles stroked his chin thoughtfully. "This is the weirdest game I've ever played," he thought. "I feel like if I were someone else, what this guy is saying might be a reality check to me or something."
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a plane landing outside. Not too long after that, Tails walked inside from the hangar, a soft smile on his face. "You feeling better?" Knuckles asked him.
The kitsune looked over at him and replied, "Yeah. I was a bit depressed for a while, but… I think I'm ok now." He pulled out his phone. "If you need me, I'll be upstairs. I gotta make some 'I'm-sorry-I-ghosted-you-for-three-days-or-so' phone calls."
Author's Note: Another short one. Not sure what the next one will be, but I hope you guys like how things are coming along so far. Apologies for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, I do proofread these before posting but I don't get a lot of sleep so I might miss some things. I plan on going and back and fixing things once everything is finished. As an aside, I do have an idea how all these stories are going to end off now. I don't know if the end will be too soon or not, but I will say we're in the falling action now. I'm really happy so many people enjoy this story. Be sure to read & review. Thank you all once again, writing this and seeing your feedback brings me great joy.