The small fox landed next to him, looking exhausted. Which made sense, this fight had been going on for way too long.
"Sonic, my tails hurttt." The kit complained, his hands on his knees. "I know, keed. We'll figure this out." Sonic swiped a finger under his nose. Really, he didn't know if they would "figure this out" like he had said. But a good mindset at least helped, right?
Another wave of badniks flooded into the greenery as the duo swerved away. "Sonic, what do we do!?" Tails cried, carrying Sonic in the air. "The only logical thing, fight." The blue blur said oh-so dramatically. Tails nodded, a determined frown of his figure. They lowered to the ground, Tails' panting too obvious. The hedgehog glanced at the fox before spindashing another badnik.
After getting rid of the last batch of badniks, Tails was practically clinging to Sonic to stand up, and the hedgehog in question was starting to sweat as well. Robuttnik had really tired them out this time.
Suddenly, a large mech rose out of the ground. "BEHOLD, MY EGG CRUSHER 2!" Sonic scoffed. He wasn't in the mood for this. "Alright, 'buttnik. This was fun and all, but I really gotta jam and juice, y'know?" Sonic took a deep breath. "Well blue menace, I would understand, but I need someone to test out this eggcrusher model." Robotnik explained, grinning evilly. Sonic groaned. "Fine, let's get this over with."
Sonic looked down to see Tails' eyes drooping. "Don' worry, kid. After this, we're up, over, and gone, 'kay?" All he got was a drowsy, barely there nod.
Why didn't the kid sleep last night. Of all nights.
The eggcrusher pounded the ground with its feet, as Sonic maneuvered away from it. Tails managed to as well. Geez, he had a lot of endurance.
The mech began to shoot lasers at the duo, as Sonic quickly grabbed Tails' arm and sped around them. The poor thing was practically asleep. It was a miracle they were still standing.
They continued to barely swerve around Robotnik's attacks, each one coming after the next. Never a break.
Suddenly, the large badnik pounded the mountain near them, sending tons of dirt, grime, rocks, and boulders straight toward the brothers.
Sonic's eyes widened. They really didn't need this right now.
Thousands and thousands of loose rock came tumbling down, and Sonic, with low stamina, maneuvered around them (at best).
But there was one thing he forgot about. Tails.
He simply heard the doctor laugh, before flying away. And then he remembered.
Tails.
He began to panic. "TAILS!" He yelled, running around the battle site.
"TAIIILLS!" He yelled once more. And he kept yelling. And yelling.
Until he saw an ear sticking out of under a boulder.
He stared at it for a second, before running over and attempting to lift the large rock.
Thoughts were swirling through his head.
Why didn't you save him?
You only care about yourself. Just like you on Christmas Island.
You're a huge failure of an older brother.
The more and more tears starting forming the more and more he started to believe it.
He really screwed up. Really bad.
The moment the boulder was pushed off the hedgehog grabbed the passed out kit and placed him in his lap.
"Tails..?" His voice wavered. Tears were almost about to fall.
The kid looked like a mess. He had bags under his eyes, his fur was in shambles, and…
And his head was bleeding.
Sonic quickly checked his pulse, and it was so damn small.
His breath hitched. His mouth was in squiggles. And a single tear ran down his cheeks.
He cuffed Tails' face in his hands. It was so lifeless. If only they had money. If only medical help was free. If only, if only, if only.
It was then and only then when Sonic burst into full on sobs. He had never done that before. Yet he was now.
He hugged Tails close to his chest. And he just cried.
"Miles, I'm so sorry. I'm so so so sorry." He rambled on.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry.
"Miles, please. Please get up." He said between anguished sobs.
He didn't.
"Miles.." His voice was barely a whisper.
Why. Why did he think he was up to this? Why didn't he just bring Tails to a family who loved him and cared for him. Why did he bring a four year old child on a battle field? What part of him thought that was smart?
Tails' pulse lowered.
"No.." Sonic whispered. It would only get worse from here. There had to be something he could do!
The fox kit's ear twitched before his eyes twitched slightly and he groaned. Sonic gasped.
"M-Miles..?"
Tails then barely opened and began blinking owlishly at the hedgehog.
"S-Sonic? Why are there two 'f you? An' why you cryin'?"
"W-Wha-? Me? N-Nah, it's just onions, little buddy." Sonic smiled softly at the kit. Obviously that was a lie, and Tails knew that. "And it's probably your double vision." Sonic gently rubbed Tails' head. "Your head feelin' ok, kid?" Sonic asked.
"Huh? O', y-yea'." He slurred. That was a lie too. Though, both had a hard time lying. Too good at being honest to make it sound real.
"Weren't we jus' fightin' Robotnik?" Tails asked, looking around the battle field at the best of his ability.
"Yeah, but you don't need to worry about that right now, bud." Sonic replied.
Sonic let out a relieved sigh to see that Tails' head wasn't bleeding anymore. Obviously, he probably injured it badly, but the boulder only covered the middle part of his body. So he should recover after a day or two. Keyword being "should".
He needed to be more careful. More watchful.
He promised that to himself. That he would never allow something like that to happen again.
If only his naive self knew what the future held.
Originally posted on Archive Of Our Own - lulu_writes