Word Count: 3,951
Fandoms: Sonic Prime
Characters: Sonic, Nine the Fox
Relationships: [gen/platonic] Sonic & Nine
Warnings: Autistic meltdown (mostly based off how I experience meltdowns)
Author's Note: Crossposted from Ao3, original posting date 14 December 2022. This was written and posted before Prime was released, and so Nine is a little bit OOC, but considering I was working with almost nothing, I think I did okay. This was also the first time I had written anything in 6 or 7 years.
The city is disgusting, slick and oily and dirty, the streets crawling with rats and the gutters clogged up with rubbish. Sonic can barely breathe through the smog. Not even the sky is spared, heavy with acidic red smog that smothers any glimpse of the stars.
His nerves are still fried, skin tight and itchy from the power overload - he can make wormholes, apparently. Super cool, super exhausting. He's running on next to empty, he can feel it in the way his knees threaten to buckle under him with every stride, the way his breath stutters in his lungs.
The energy from the Paradox Prism is still foreign in his veins, exhilarating yet burning. Beside him, Nine doesn't seem to be faring any better, still trembling from the shocks dealt to him. The thought makes Sonic grit his teeth, almost choking on the hot anger that surges through his chest. Eggman, all of them, are going to get what's coming to them.
This city doesn't make any sense, their surroundings just seeming to repeat as they blow past street after street. He isn't even sure what direction they're going anymore. Nine seems to know where they are, where they're heading, but he can only run so fast, and the army of badniks after them are ruthless, dozens upon dozen of them every turn they take. He's out of rings, and he doubts he's just going to come across any in this backwards city, and he's got Nine to take care of - he's has to play this very, very safe. No room for error.
They burst around a corner and directly into traffic, and Sonic yells as he scrambles to grab Nine and throw them both out of the path of a truck. Its engine roars in his ears as it thunders past, but Sonic's already up, darting between cars as he runs through the lanes, ignoring the angered shouts and beeping, hoping he can lose the badniks in the confusion. Nine clings to him, and he tightens his grip on the kit.
Not that he can really be called a kit anymore, Sonic thinks distantly as he feels the heat of laser fire on his back. He's a good half head taller than his own Tails back home. Sonic's heart clenches a little, but then the road in front of him explodes and he stops thinking about anything other than what the f-!
Nine lets out a surprised yip as they're blasted back and slammed into the ground, and Sonic loses his hold on him. He manages to roll with the hit, immediately leaping and kicking the badnik that shot at them out of the air. It swerves out of the way and Sonic's forced to twist midair to avoid another shot, landing awkwardly on the broken asphalt. Behind him, Nine stumbles to his feet, fists up in a defensive stance. He's fighting to keep his balance, listing to the side, and Sonic hears his breathing hitch as he struggles to right himself.
Dozens upon dozens of badniks descend on them, blocking any escape, and Sonic throws his arm against Nine' chest as he backs them both up, eyes flicking from bot to bot. As Nine's back hits the wall, the badniks start charging their weapons, the sound low and dangerous.
Nine let out a tiny, broken whimper. He sounds terrified.
Sonic sees red.
In a flash of blue, bright and searing against the red haze of the city, he's ricocheting off of walls and cars and rubble, his shoes suddenly alight with that strange, blinding light, electricity running through his veins. His vision whitens out, and he's acting on instinct alone, lashing out with shaking limbs, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest in a way that makes him feel good, makes him feel alive.
He hits the ground, the soles of his shoes ruined and smoking. The badniks rain down around him, torn to shreds.
"What," Nine says, voice shaking, "was that?"
Sonic laughs, almost hysterically, shaking out his hands and bouncing in place. He's still feeling jittery with leftover energy from whatever that was. "I'm not sure! It was-" he turns to face Nine, and his words die in his throat.
Nine is pale, deathly so, leaning against the wall heavily. His mechanical tails hang limp from his back, knees looking about two seconds away from giving out. He's looking at Sonic with wide eyes, breathing fast.
He still looks terrified.
"The badniks are gone," Sonic tries. "They're not gonna get up again."
Nine doesn't say anything for a long while, the street silent apart from the crackle of flames. Any traffic is long gone, cars and trucks left idling, their drivers having fled at the first explosion. The smog seems worse, heavier, burning the back of Sonic's throat as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. The burnt rubber of his shoes are starting to rub against his feet uncomfortably.
Finally, Nine pushes himself up from the wall, not meeting his eyes. "We should go," he says. "They'll send more." He turns and starts limping down the street, but he gets two steps before he stumbles.
Sonic's there in the blink of an eye, catching him by the shoulders before he falls on his face. "Nine?"
"I'm fine," he grits out. "Let me up."
"Yeah, I don't think so." Sonic pushes at him until he's sitting properly on the ground, noting how Nine winces and shifts his weight to take pressure off his hip. "You hit head at all? You landed pretty rough back there."
"No it's not- I'm fine, we need to run before they find us." He shoves away from Sonic and forces himself to his feet, mechanical tails whirring as they help lift him. Something cracks, and Nine cries out as he crumples.
"Nine? Nine!" Sonic scrambles his side, hands hovering as Nine curls in on himself, shaking. "C'mon buddy, talk to me." Gently, he coaxes Nine into sitting up, taking most of his weight as he leans heavily on his shoulder. "Where does it hurt?"
"I'm not- it doesn't-" he takes a deep, shuddering breath in. "It's my tail-"
Sonic freezes, heart jumping up into his throat. "You got hit?"
"Yeah, and I didn't bring my bag, all of my replacements at back at my workshop, I don't know what I'm gonna do-"
It's then that Sonic notices the metal limbs around Nine's tails, how one of them is bent at an awkward angle. An entire segment has been crushed, the plating peeling away enough that Sonic can see the wiring and gears beneath. Sparks fly from the joint at the slightest movement, and it's not just smog clogging up the air, Sonic belatedly realises, but smoke pouring from the artificial limb.
"Oh," Sonic breathes, almost dizzy from the relief. "That's- okay, we can work-"
"That's 'okay'?" Nine' voice is shrill, and Sonic flinches back. "It's not-! You don't-! Without these I'm nothing and I can't fix it, I don't have what I need-" He chokes on his words, burying his face in his hands, claws digging into skin. Sonic reaches out, but quickly snatches his arm back as Nine starts kicking, heels dragging in the dirt. A high pitched whine escapes him, the noise strangled.
Oh shit, Sonic thinks. He recognises this.
Sirens start wailing in the distance. They can't stay here. He scoops Nine into his arms, gritting his teeth when the kit sobs into his chest, and bolts down the street. They just need somewhere out of the way, away from the lights and the noise, where they'll be safe for even just a few minutes.
It's a narrow laneway that Sonic finds, nothing more than the gap between two ugly buildings made of crumbling bricks, and it'd be barely wide enough for them to stand side by side if Sonic wasn't carrying Nine.
Gently as he can with jittery limbs, he drops to the ground with Nine half in his lap, putting himself between the fox and the street, hoping the shadows cast by the buildings will hide them from any curious eyes. The broken tail twitches and sparks on the ground beside them.
"You with me?" He asks, and Nine presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, hunching over himself, almost curling up completely in Sonic's arms.
"I need to fix this, I can't-" He chokes around his words. "I just need to fix, but I can't- my bag-! You ran out and I didn't get to grab anything-"
Sonic heistates, unsure what he should do, unsure how similar Nine is to Tails. "Deep breaths, c'mon, buddy, I know-"
"My bag's in my workshop, you don't-!" He starts struggling suddenly, pushing against Sonic's chest, and Sonic immediately opens his arms. Nine half tumbles to the ground, pressing up against the brick wall, metal tails scraping against the ground behind him.
"It's gonna be okay-"
"It's not!"
Sonic shifts, scooting as far as he can from him to give him space in the cramped alleyway . "It's going to be okay, I promise. There's nothing we can't figure out together."
"But I can't, I can't fix this, I need my bag and I don't have it-!"
"That's fine, we can-"
"It's not, it's not, it's nothing, I- nothing, I'm-" He chokes around the rest of the sentence, ducking his head and grabbing at his fur.
They're past talking, okay. "I need you to do something important for me, okay? Just take some deep breaths, that's all you gotta do."
Nine doesn't reply, just presses the heels of his hands against his eyes harder, shuddering. He kicks out again, and Sonic carefully shuffles a little further away.
"Nothing, my bag-"
"That's okay. Deep breaths for me, yeah?"
Nine sucks in a breath. Sonic hums. "Perfect. Easy. Just keep doing that, okay?" He sucks in a deep breath of his own, exaggerated and loud, and to his relief Nine does his best to mimic him.
They stay like that, just breathing. For how long, Sonic's not sure. Nine keeps hiccuping, keeps starting to panic, but every time Sonic coaxes him through it, talks to him in a gentle voice.
After what seems like an age, Nine has seemed to calm enough that he's no longer on the verge of hyperventilating, no longer kicking out or getting caught in loops. His ears are still pinned back against his skull, still pressing his hands to his eyes, holding himself so tight he's shaking, but it's a start.
Sonic shifts his weight. "Can I come closer?"
He hesitates, but nods, before fully tucking his head into his knees and rolling half into a ball. His tails - the real ones - curl around him, and the metal ones twitch against the ground. Sonic scoots a little closer, until he could wrap an arm around him if he wanted to. He doesn't.
"We can work through this, figure it out together. Okay?"
He doesn't uncurl, but he does make a small noise of affirmation. Sonic smiles gently, even if the Nine can't see it.
"You don't have your bag, and your bag has tools in it."
Nine whines into his knees, nodding.
"Don't you usually carry something on you? A screwdriver?"
Nine pauses at that, but very slowly, he nods again.
"So you do have something. Not as good as your bag, I know, but it's something. It's a start."
"Not… I can't do. Can't do a lot."
"Maybe not, but you can do a lot more than if you had nothing." Sonic wants to point out that even with just a simple screwdriver, Nine could almost do anything he sets his mind to, but he knows he needs to keep things as simple as he can for now. Objective facts - a screwdriver is not nothing, and therefore something could be done.
They stay like that for a minute, Sonic leaning back against the bricks and Nine curled in on himself as he sorts through everything in his head. Eventually, he slowly emerges, reaching behind him to pull something from the fluff of his tails, and Sonic sees a glimpse of metal. A small, worn screwdriver, the handle covered in stickers. He smiles - some things never change, huh.
"I won't… I might not be able to fix it properly."
"Maybe. But it'll still be better than what it is now, and hey! You've still got your six other tails. Plus your usual two. It might suck, but you can still manage. "
"I don't- I don't know if I can, it's been forever since I haven't had them…"
Sonic risks wrapping an arm around him, squeezing his shoulder when Nine hesitantly leans into him, just a little. "Doesn't sound like a great situation, sure, but we'll figure it out. Together."
Nine doesn't say anything to that for a long time, just sits and trembles quietly. Sonic tugs him a little closer, heart twisting.
"I'm sorry."
Sonic looks down at him, surprised at the break of silence. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."
"No, I… that was. I shouldn't have done that."
"What? No, it's fine. You didn't do anything. Sometimes things just happen. Today has been, like, a big day. Huge day, even."
"I- I'm better than that. I should be better than that." He ducks his head, curling into his knees a little more. "It's stupid."
"It's not- there's nothing to be ashamed about. I get overwhelmed sometimes too, I get it."
Nine looks up at that, peeking over his arms. "You do?"
"Yeah, bud. It sucks. I normally dig a hole and bury myself for a bit, but…" he glances around, at the concrete and asphalt and bricks. "Guess that's not really an option here, right?"
"Palm trees, you said. Sand?"
"Lotta dirt and grass, too. Real nice." He smiles, strained. "You'd love it."
"I've never been out of the city."
"I'll get you out," Sonic decides then and there. He'll tear this city down brick by brick if he needs to. Nine hums.
Sonic lets them sit for another few minutes, but he can feel the walls closing in, can hear the sirens getting closer. Nine said the Chaos Council has eyes everywhere, and he knows it's only a matter of when, not if, they find them.
As much as he's loath to do it, he shifts, nudging Nine into sitting up. "I know you're tired, but we're running out of time. You ready to tackle that tail?"
Slowly, Nine reaches for his damaged tail, and Sonic is a little worried about it shocking him, but with a click and a hiss of pressurised air, he unhooks the destroyed segment entirely. The rest of the tail goes limp, finally stopping its glitching and sparking. "I… I'll try. I'll see how much I can get done."
He'll have it fixed and working again in minutes, Sonic is sure. He gives him a thumbs up. "Your best is all you need, bud. We'll figure something out from there."
Sonic watches as he fiddles with the joint, twisting it this way and that, before spinning the screwdriver in his fingers and getting to work. He seems unsure, shaky, but within minutes he's bent over his work, brows furrowed, each movement deliberate and confident.
As he works, Sonic glances around. He's not used to everything being so… closed in. Back in Green Hill, his Green Hill, everything was open, able to see for miles all around. Somehow now he feels more exposed; anyone or anything could be hiding just out of his sight, waiting for him to turn his back.
There's scuffling at the mouth of the alleyway, the sound of something metal scraping across the ground, and they both freeze. Quills bristling, Sonic twists to face the source of the noise, planting a hand on the ground, ready to launch into action. Behind him, Nine hunkers down a little more, bent protectively over his tail, hackles raised.
For a few moments, nothing happens. Sonic strains his ears as hard as he can, flicking them this way and that, but he can't pick up anything else.
"It was probably just a rat," Nine says. "There's plenty around, and they can get pretty big."
"Yeah," Sonic agrees, but doesn't take his eyes off the street. Behind him, he can hear Nine shift and pick up his screwdriver, returning to his tail. Sonic hauls himself to his feet, inching a little closer to the street, sighing in relief when nothing jumps out at him. Stupid creepy city.
He turns back to Nine, who's already half dismantled the metal tail, gears and rods and computer chips and wires set neatly on the ground in front of him, all carefully sorted.
His hands are still shaking, Sonic notices, and he's not sure if it's from the adrenalin or exhaustion, or something else.
"Here," he says, reaching up and rifling through his quills for the emergency food he always keeps tucked away for situations like these. He drops a granola bar in Nine hand, and laughs when Nine screws up his nose and he brushes away the loose quills from the wrapper.
"I didn't have you pegged as someone who carries food around like this. This is awfully prepared for you."
Which, okay, fair, but still. "Well, they're not really for me, I usually carry them around for you. Uh, other you."
Nine pauses unwrapping the bar. "What?"
"I know you, bud. You love to get all wrapped up in your projects, and if I left you to your own devices you'd try to live off mints alone, so someone's gotta make sure you don't waste away…" he trails off. He'd kept his tone light, teasing, but Nine is looking at him as if someone's pulled a rug out from underneath him. "What?"
Nine doesn't answer, just looks down at the bar, but doesn't make a move to eat it.
There's a reason why Sonic carries those bars specifically, because it's one of the only types Tails can actually eat. This isn't Tails, though. "Shoot, do you like those? I could probably scrounge around and find something else."
"No," Nine says, sounding choked, finishing unwrapping it. "You don't have to- I like these. They're my favourite."
Sonic smiles, relieved. "Good. I don't have any water on me sorry, but I'm sure there's a vending machine around here somewhere." He doesn't have any money on him, but hey, he's never been against some light destruction of property. The vending machines are probably evil, anyways.
"T-that's fine. You don't have to."
"I know I don't, I don't have to, but…" he hesitates, struggling for words. He's always been bad at this, the expressing feelings, especially when it's so obvious to him, obvious enough that it's beyond describing.
Of course he's going to get Nine some water if he's thirsty. Why wouldn't he? "I want to," he finishes lamely, and hopes it's enough.
Nine doesn't meet his eyes, nibbling on his bar. "I don't see why, why you'd care."
"Because we're friends? What other reason would I need?"
"We're friends?" He asks, small and timid, and oh, doesn't that break Sonic's heart.
"Of course we are. We always have been. We always should've been." He scoots closer, ducking his head to meet Nine's eyes. "I don't- there's never been any doubt. You and me, buddy, that's it. You're my brother."
Nine freezes. "Brother?" He immediately tries to back track, looking away, dropping his half eaten granola bar to his lap and picking up his screwdriver. "That's- that's insane. I'm a fox and you're a- what, a hedgehog?"
"Yes, I'm a hedgehog, jeeze." He rolls his eyes. "It doesn't matter. We've been together since you were, like, four."
"Four? When I... you said…?" Sonic lets him think it through, tapping his foot idly. "You stuck with me?"
"I've been saying it this whole time, Nine. Yes."
"I don't…" He shakes his head rapidly. "Whatever. I... whatever. I'm almost done here, we should be able to move soon."
Sonic wants to scream, to grab Nine by his shoulders and shake him until he gets it, until he has his friend, his brother, back, but he doesn't. Nine's muzzle is still tear stained from his meltdown, he's tired and stressed and overwhelmed, and apparently he's been alone his whole life. Sonic can't push this now, not without making it a hundred times worse.
Instead, he leans back against the wall, keeping an eye on the street and an ear on Nine, fighting off sudden, bone deep exhaustion. The silence, awkward and tense and heavy, drags on as Nine tinkers, slowly putting his tail back together.
Nine inhales sharply, and Sonic jumps and glances towards him. "I didn't mean… I don't want to-"
"It's okay," Sonic says, even though it isn't, because it's not Nine's fault, and all that matters is making sure Nine's okay. He can deal with the rest later.
"No, it's not, and I just. It's not that I don't believe you, but. It's just- oh hey!" He cuts himself off with a gasp, eyes lighting up. "I fixed it!" He turns the mechanical tail over in his hands, and sure enough, it's no longer sparking or glitching. Nine holds it up for Sonic's inspection, and Sonic automatically leans in closer to look, everything else pushed to the back of his mind.
"I knew you could! Damn, you can't even tell it was broken." He's not exaggerating, the only remainder of the damage are some scuff marks and scorching.
Nine pulls it back to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut and kicking his legs against the ground again, but he's smiling, and his tails are flicking happily behind him. Sonic beams at him, the joy infectious. His inventing was always the most pressing thing on his mind.
He straightens, twisting to reach behind himself and reconnect the limb. "It's not perfect, I still don't have my bag or anything, I need to recalibrate a lot but it's a lot better than what I thought I could do-!" He pats around blindly for his screwdriver, and Sonic scoops it up to hand it to him. He takes it without hesitation. "They'll be fully functional, I'll be fully functional, so it'll be okay!"
With a flourish, he pulls his hands away, and the mechanical tails whirr as they unfurl, lifting him from the ground. Sonic can't help but ruffle the fur on the top of his head, and his heart sings when Nine grins up at him, giddy.
"I say it's time we split, yeah? The eggheads won't know what hit them!" He bounces on the balls of his feet, sparks running across his body as he throws a few mock punches, lightning fast. "Just lead the way."
Nine has that glint in his eye again, maniacal and sly, despite the eyebags and fur matterred with soot and grime, and suddenly the claws of his tails are digging into the side of the building and he scales it like some big, metal spider. Chaos, that looks cool. "Try to keep up," he calls out below him, and oh, ho ho, if that's how he wants to play it, Sonic will play right along.
In a blur of light, he runs up the side of the building, ignoring Nine's little oof as he blows past him. By the time Nine scutters up onto the roof, looking a little windswept, Sonic is lounging on the ground, inspecting his gloves.
"Gotta do better than that, lil' bro."
Nine hesitates for a split second, almost too fast for Sonic to notice, before he smiles, eyes bright.