A/N: This was another one of my favorite ones to write! Also, sorry this came out late, I saw the new My Hero Academia movie yesterday, and I was very tired after my outing when I got back home. But better late than never!

Also, thanks to MrGoodWriter96, Asriel, and CreativeKitty975 for catching a few mistakes I missed in the last prompt! Apparently I forgot to change Day 11 over to Day 12, and I also accidentally wrote a few paragraphs in first-person, since I'm so used to writing Chris in first-person.

Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the prompt!

4 Reviews

Guest

Gotta go fast, Eggman! Time to burn off all those calories!

MrGoodWriter96

That was actually not intentional! I was so used to writing Chris in first-person in Chaos on Earth that I didn't realize I had accidentally done it here! I'll go ahead and edit those as soon as I can.

Super duper waffles

After Eggman blew up half the moon, literally every single country in the world as well as the United Nations unanimously condemned Eggman for his reckless actions, as well as lack of foresight. They made plans to capture him, but he went up in space afterward, plus Sonic and his friends were already on their way up, so Remerson asked them to hold off until their adventure was done, knowing Sonic's positive track record. Even though Sonic still had an arrest warrant out for him, he asked everyone to hold off.

The trickier part is the Egg Moon arc that came afterward. Eggman still had a lot of hate, even when he was supposedly making amends. In fact, international Twitter kept calling him out for the Solar Balls when it was discovered what they were doing on the west coast of the United States.

However, when it was revealed that the Phantom Ruby was behind all this, the governments were left with confusion before accusing Eggman of his actions once again.

thor94

He really is unlucky... And since we're now going onto Number 13, how much more unlucky can he get?

CreativeKitty975

Same here! Even though Eggman wasn't even there in the chapter, he should still take responsibility since it's his robots that did it!

Day Thirteen: Team as a Family
Prompt: Team as a Family

Chris tried his hardest to hold back tears as the hatch of Eggman's Hurry Up And Go Home Version 1 closed around him. He was really going to say goodbye to his friends forever. It took literally everything he had to construct a portal to take him to Mobius, and there was a chance that he couldn't reactivate it because there wouldn't be enough resources on Earth for it.

As the engines activated and he began to lift off the ground, his heart started to beat faster and faster. His biggest regret was not being able to say goodbye to Sonic and his other friends. He was going to miss them terribly.

He gradually began to pick up speed and altitude, and as he looked down, the ground got farther and farther away. His prior conversation with Eggman got him thinking about what would possibly happen to his body once he returned to Earth. While there was a chance he would become 18 again, he could either shrink even more and become younger than 12, or there was even a chance that he could become older than 18. Either way, his friends would have aged without him, and since he spent close to a year in space, it meant 12 years would have passed on Earth. He was sure his grandpa had passed away by now, and a number of other things could have changed in his absence.

He didn't know if he wanted to take that risk, but if Eggman was right, he now had less than three minutes to return back home or his window would close forever. And it was too late for him to change his mind, because the capsule he was in was moving so fast that he couldn't stop it even if he wanted to, not that it had any controls inside. It was practically an escape pod.

Bye, guys… I'm really gonna miss you… Please forgive me for not being able to say goodbye…

He noticed a blue shape running along the ground next to the capsule, and when he saw Sonic winking and flashing a V in his direction, that was all it took to bring the waterworks on. His view of the grass and trees below were already blurred by the extreme motion of the capsule, but they became even more blurred by the tears that drowned out his vision.

Even when he couldn't say goodbye to his friends, Sonic came to say goodbye to him.

He didn't have to do that.

He didn't have to go out of his way just to say goodbye to him.

And yet, here he was. He wanted to make sure Chris had a proper sendoff, and Chris was so grateful deep down that he had such caring friends that it brought the tears on even more.

Now that he had closure, he felt like he was finally ready to let go and return to Earth. He would miss them all terribly, but at least he was able to say goodbye.

But fate had other ideas…

Right as it was about to reach terminal velocity, a single spark ignited in the capsule's engine, before the whole thing burst into flames. He instantly began to panic, and there was nothing he could do since there were no controls inside the cockpit. There wasn't even an eject button, and even if there was, he knew he wouldn't be able to survive the fall, especially since it was traveling at well over 200 miles per hour. Even worse, the cockpit was getting warmer by the second.

Sonic did not hesitate once he saw the first flames. Effortlessly breaking the sound barrier, he sped forward and leaped straight toward the Hurry Up And Go Home Version 1, before curling his body into a tight ball. He smashed straight through the cockpit, being careful not to send glass and debris everywhere, but he couldn't help that it threw the capsule off course.

"Hang on tight, Chris!" Sonic said between gritted teeth as he ripped the safety harness off. Then, right as the shuttle started to plummet, he grabbed Chris, cradled the boy in his arms, and leaped off the shuttle. He landed on the ground, bending his knees to absorb the shock, and took off running through Green Hill Zone. Seconds later, there was an incredible explosion behind him.

Sonic wasn't just there to say goodbye. He had been at the right place at the right time.

Roughly two minutes later, Sonic set Chris down on a hill and inspected him for any sign of injuries. Fortunately he didn't seem to be hurt, or even burnt for that matter; just shaken up.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" the hedgehog asked him.

"I-I… don't think so–" Chris started to say, before he looked over at Sonic. "But…"

Sonic's features relaxed when he noticed that there was a complex mess of emotions in the boy's eyes. He seemed to piece together what happened.

"So… I guess you weren't planning on sticking around much longer?" Sonic said. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

"I…" Chris faltered for the words to say. "I'm… n-not supposed to be here anymore… I'm supposed to be back on Earth now…"

Sonic took a few steps back and forth, watching Chris as he poured his heart out.

"What do you mean?" he asked, even though he was sure he already knew the answer deep down. He wanted to hear it from Chris himself.

"Eggman… told me that everything we did was because of destiny," Chris explained, and Sonic cocked a brow. "And then he told me that both Earth and Mobius were aligning, and I only had three minutes to leave until it's too late. That's when he sent me in the shuttle to go back to Earth." Chris looked down at the ground. "But… three minutes are up and it's too late now…"

Sonic's first instinct was to say that Eggman's claim was a lie, but what if there was an ounce of truth in it? This was something he had to tread carefully.

"We'll find a way," Sonic said with a confident smile. "We'll get you back to your folks in no time. It's just gonna be a little longer until you can see 'em all again."

"But you don't understand!" Chris said, taking Sonic aback. "Because time moves differently here, and six months here is six years there, and we were in space for like a year, so it was like… what, 12, 13 years there? And… And now Helen's gonna be too old for me, and Grandpa's probably already dead by now, and–"

"Hey hey hey," Sonic said, gently placing his hand on Chris' shoulder. "Easy, easy. Take a deep breath. We're gonna find a way. And even if we don't, you're more than welcome to stay with us."

"Chris?!" an astonished Tails exclaimed as he made his way up the hill toward them. "How are you still here? I thought you already went back to Earth!"

"I-I thought so too," Chris said, looking down at the fox as he joined them. "But the ship I was in caught on fire for some reason, and… and Sonic rescued me before it crashed into the ground."

"So that was the explosion we heard…" Tails mused, before he noticed that tears were threatening to prick his eyelids. "Um, is everything okay?"

Chris slowly shook his head. "I… don't think I can go back anymore…"

Tails tilted his head slightly in confusion. "Why not…? I can always build a portal or something, or we can find a way to use Chaos Control and–"

"I-It's not that," Chris said. "It's just that six months here is six years on Earth, and I figure I've been here for like… maybe 13 years or something…? And… and I'm worried that everyone's gonna be too old–"

He stopped himself before he could go any further. He didn't want to think about what would happen with Helen, or his grandpa, or anyone else for that matter. However, it seemed like Tails was already thinking the same thing that Chris was.

"Actually… I have some bad news," Tails said. "I think the Galaxy Corridor may have messed up our perception of time."

"What do you mean…?" Chris cautiously asked.

"I checked my calendar app, and…" He looked crestfallen as he looked up at Chris. "It may have seemed like a year to us, but here on Mobius… it's been seven years."

Chris looked stunned. He stood there in complete silence as he did the math in his head.

"Then… that means on Earth… it's been 84 years…"

His pupils shrunk as he realized what this meant for him.

Grandpa wasn't the only one who had died.

His maid, butler, parents, Danny, Frances… Helen…

They were all gone too.

He felt tears welling up in his eyes as he came to the realization that he truly couldn't go back home again. He felt Sonic's hand on his back as he started to cry.

"I'm really sorry, Chris…" he heard the hedgehog softly tell him, before Sonic gently guided him into a sitting position on the hill. Tails sat down on the other side of him, and the three of them sat there for what must have felt like ten minutes while Chris sobbed his heart out.

No words could come from either of his friends. There was nothing they could possibly say to him that would make him feel better. In fact, in a way, it was better if Chris didn't return home again.

The worst thing about Chris being trapped on Mobius forever was that he never got to ask for Helen's hand in marriage. They never fully tied the knot, and now he would never be able to do that. He would never walk her down the aisle. He would never be able to be a father to her children. And he couldn't help it being his fault because he was the one who selfishly closed the portal behind him, because he knew his friends would try to stop him.

He hated himself with every fiber of his being, and he would do anything to reverse time to the point before he stepped through that portal if he knew what kind of repercussions it would have on him, both physically and mentally.

The only enemy who was worse than both Eggman and the Metarex was Chris Thorndyke.

Because what kind of sick, twisted individual would prevent his childhood crush from joining him in the adventure of a lifetime?

What kind of evildoer would have so little trust in his family who raised him since birth, that he would accuse them of trying to stop him from visiting Sonic when the portal was safe?

What kind of villain would shut down the portal to prevent his closest friends and family from following him.

The answer was simple; he was living in that villain's body.

He was so busy wallowing in his self-pity that he didn't hear three sets of footsteps joining him on the hill. So when he opened his eyes, he was almost startled to see Knuckles, Amy, and Cream there with him. He had even been oblivious to Sonic filling them in on the situation.

Chris took a few shaky breaths before looking around at his friends.

"I don't know what to do now…" he said, his voice still sounding strained from crying.

"Hey, remember that talk we had on Angel Island?" Knuckles asked, and Chris looked over at him. "That offer's still open, y'know. We'll help you build."

"You made a deal with Chris?" Sonic asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Yeah, you know when we were on Angel Island earlier?" Knuckles asked, and Sonic nodded. "Chris and I were chilling at the shrine for a bit, and I told him he could build a house here." He squinted before looking down. "Though I still can't wrap my head around the whole lease and contractor thing Earth has."

"Yeah, same," Sonic said with a dry laugh. "They're not that different from the UF people after all." He patted Chris on the back. "But yeah, Chris. You could always have your own house here and everything."

"Yeah, come live with us here in Green Hill," Amy said with a smile.

Chris didn't see any other option. Sure, he could live with other humans in the United Federation, but he had seen maps of Mobius before, and it was very far away from where South Island was, plus he didn't know anyone from there, so he would feel like a stranger. Plus, he was sure they had their own version of a Social Security number, and he was practically invisible to other humans, so he didn't think it would be worth the risk.

Chris was just about to open his mouth to speak when Cream beat him to it.

"Mr. Chris, we can be your new family!" she said excitedly. "And you can live with us forever!"

"Chao chao!" Cheese said.

Chris looked up in realization. That was the answer. In his grief, he had never realized that he used to see his friends as an extension of his family. Seven years later, that idea had still not changed. Sonic was the best big brother figure he could ever wish for. Even though he was at least 19 years old inside, he was 12 years old on the outside, yet he still saw him as his big brother. Amy was like a big sister to him, and Tails and Cream were his little brother and sister. Knuckles was like his cousin who lived far away.

He knew what he had to do.

"I… I wanna admit something…" Chris said, looking around at all his friends. The others looked at him, wondering what he was going to say.

"You good?" Sonic quietly asked.

"Y-Yeah," Chris said, trying to swallow back the sudden nervousness he now had. "Um… when we were on Earth, when you guys were living with me… I came to realize that you were already like family to me. So…" Chris smiled through his tears, even though it must have come off a bit lopsided. "You're already my family."

"Yaaay!" Cream cheered as she wrapped her arms around Chris in a big hug, and Cheese did the same. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

However, Knuckles, Amy, and Tails were a bit surprised at this news, but it was welcome all the same. To them it was a resounding yes.

"I'm so happy for you, Chris!" Amy said with a beaming smile.

"We'll help you get settled in right away!" Tails declared. "In fact, I'm gonna make a new floor plan app on the Miles Electric. It should be ready tomorrow!"

"Okay!" Chris said, feeling much happier now.

As Chris and his friends chattered happily, Sonic had a knowing smile.

When Chris saw him go super for the first time, when it looked like he was about to leave forever, Chris had admitted to Sonic that he and his friends were like family to him. Anyone else would think that Chris was being too clingy to someone who had to return home, but Sonic knew what it was like to go through a time where he had no friends. Before he met Tails, he didn't have anyone else. So Sonic knew the exact kind of pain that Chris had gone through before he literally fell into his world.

So no, Sonic didn't think for a moment that Chris was being clingy, especially since he had been Chris' very first friend. In fact, it was thanks to him that Chris was able to make human friends who would stay with him even after Sonic returned home.

However, it was the kindness of a child that offered Chris infinite hope after he had lost everything.

The party of six gradually made their way down the gently sloped hill and headed back toward Cream's house, where Chris had been staying since he came back from space. To think that minutes ago, everyone thought they were saying goodbye for him for the final time.

Now they were welcoming him to his new home, where Chris would live happily ever after.

A/N: That concludes day 13!

While "Multiple Whumpees" was tempting, I wanted to go with "Team as a Family" since I felt like it fit Chris more, and it took a moment of thinking but I decided to go with an alternate take on the ending of Sonic X Episode 78. I'm very pleased with the result, let me know what you guys think!

Tomorrow's theme is "Left for Dead!"