Chapter Text
Darkness. It was nebulous with how big it seemed. But it was almost nice that he didn't have to worry about all of the many thoughts that swirled around his head every day. He could just be for a bit before he went back to his norm.
….
If it wasn't for that steady click…click…click…click that was constant. Like something was turning on and off.
A thought came to him after floating in his annoyance for a few seconds.
It sounded like a specific light. Tails knew what kind but he didn't want to think too hard right now. He was exhausted at the moment. After pulling a few all-nighters and when Sonic did manage to pull him away from his workshop to go to sleep, Eggman attacked.
So much for that since both their adrenaline carried them through.
A second thing started to get through the darkness.
Was it a light?
Tails registered that it was blinking in tandem with the steady clicks he was hearing.
A distant feeling of annoyance swelled through his mind.
Was Sonic really turning on and off the lights in his room right now?! After all of the attempts at trying to get the kit to sleep, he's interrupting that?
Tails realized he didn't have any aftertaste of chili in his mouth so they definitely skipped their celebration after beating Eggman. Sonic must have really wanted Tails to go to sleep.
That fight was a doozy.
After getting swatted and swarmed by the badniks, Tails had to perform some pretty risky maneuvers to get them off and away.
Apparently risky enough that he heard not just Sonic call his name but Knuckles as well. And then…. and then….
Tails felt his brow furrow right before he sucked in a shocked gasp.
Pain.
Blue eyes flew open and immediately filled with tears as his body was thrown into sudden awareness.
Tails breathed through the sudden pain and blinked back the tears as his mind categorized the clicking noise, 'Emergency lights .'
They only turned on when Tails was flying through dark skies or a crash.
Finally getting a handle on the pain, Tails looked around as he took deep calming breaths.
He could hear as well as see sand settling. Only the thinnest cracks of light showed through the rocks around him. Mostly above and behind. He felt his fur was matted against his head on the right side of his face and figured he got some sort of scrape when he crashed.
Finally catching his breath, Tails went to undo his seat belts only to find it jammed. He sighed before using his claws to cut through them. The fox reached forward to open the compartment that held a small emergency kit but froze when he felt the plane shift and creak.
Tails swallowed his nervousness before looking around more critically. His eyes caught on the rocks above him before following the few that were supporting them. He bit his lip when he noticed the Tornado caused this cave in but was also holding all of the rocks up.
Unfortunately,Tails couldn't see anything underneath him. He didn't know if the plane was on solid ground or was precariously perched.
Slower than before, and mindful of all the noise and movement, he reached for the compartment door again. He idly noticed the blood that trailed down his arm, he figured it was from his head wound and ignored it for now. He kept his body leaning hard against his seat so the weight wouldn't be thrown off too much and breathed out shakily when he was able to get the small bag. Tails held it against his chest for a moment before taking out the flashlight and looked for the safest place in the small cavern.
If the Tornado couldn't keep up all of the rocks, Tails needed a backup plan.
Also if Sonic decided to try to spin-dash in and find him, there was a chance of everything falling anyways and they both get trapped…. Or worse.
Determination set against Tails' features. There was no way he was going to let that happen if he could help it.
He flexed his feet and what he could of his tails, his tails were sore, probably bruised but it didn't seem like anything was broken. Tails gingerly got his feet under him. Pausing every time he heard a creak or felt the Tornado shift. He felt a twinge in his left thigh as he slowly stood from the crouch and figured he’d have to check that out as soon as he was out of his current situation.
Now from his slightly higher position, he used the flashlight from the emergency kit to look for a safer area.
His heart stuttered when he saw the deep cavern in front of him. Tails swallowed and looked behind himself to see that there was only barely a ledge the Tornado was on. He hummed nervously and looked back up to see where the rocks wouldn’t end up tumbling down and realized with a heavy feeling that the small alcove across from the cavern was his best bet.
His ears flattened and he winced when a sharp pain came from one of them. Tails closed his eyes and took a deep breath before nodding to himself.
That alcove was currently his only shot. Even if it was possibly only a few feet wide. And he’d be trapped.
Tails’ brow furrowed again, why hadn’t anyone tried to contact him yet? He glanced at his wrist communicator and realized it was off. He blinked again when a hazy memory came to him.
Tails grunted as he pulled the yoke up and harshly to the right. The badniks were relentless this time around and one had disabled his weapons on the front. Besides, that did nothing to the badniks that were swarming from the sides and inside of his weapon range.
“Tails! Watch out for the mountain!”
The fox squinted and tried to see past the swarm that was crowding around him. He immediately went to steer the plane away but couldn’t. He felt his body tense before it started to spasm and then the pain of the electricity hit him.
One of the badniks electrocuted the Tornado and by extension the fox seated in the pilot seat.
Tails wasn’t aware of his loud, pained screech that echoed out of the plane as it shut down entirely and continued on its path towards the mountain. But he did hear the loud panicked calls of his name from both Sonic and Knuckles .
Tails blinked again and looked back to his communicator. He could see a slight singe underneath where the band sat and took a few breaths. He was now very aware of how he felt his heart beating and tried to ignore the racing thoughts about electrocution side effects.
He needed to compartmentalize and get to that alcove fast.
Both Sonic and Knuckles had to be on their way in and he couldn’t be in the Tornado if everything fell.
Tails carefully slung the bag around his shoulder and pointed the flashlight at the area he needed to get to fast. He mentally planned his route along the wing of the plane, knowing he’d have to jump and immediately fly as fast as he could to that alcove. Tails nodded to himself and slightly bent his knees. It reminded him of his thigh but he ignored it for now.
He needed to focus and be as fast as his brother.
Sonic glanced at the Tornado as it leveled out, “Tails! Watch out for the mountain!” He looked back to his opponent and avoided the next attack from the robot, knowing the fox would have plenty of time to react. A loud pained screech he’d never heard before and would do anything to never hear again made his stomach drop.
Sonic spun around and gave his entire attention to the plane. All of the lights were off, the propellers weren’t moving anymore and it was still on its same path, “TAILS!” He was about to speed after the plane but was hit by the robot that he forgot he was fighting.
The hedgehog grunted as he slid across the ground and shook his head before looking back up when he heard the impact. He watched the tail of the Tornado get buried by various rocks falling from the mountain itself. Sonic didn’t realize he was repeating a single word over and over, “No, no no no no no…”
Knuckles had watched the plane as the loud cry of pain emanated from their communicators before cutting out,"Tails!" He knew he had to make sure Sonic was covered. It would be too much of a distraction for the hedgehog and was proven right when he saw Sonic get side smacked by the robot.
The echidna quickly pummeled Eggman’s creation before his attention was taken by a loud noise. He looked back and saw smoke rising from the mountain side and felt his shoulders droop. Oh no.
Purple eyes found Sonic, who was staring at the crash site in horror, still on the ground.
Sonic's vision didn't stray from the wreck as Knuckles helped him to his feet, "We-we have to get to him. We have to get him out of there."
Knuckles' reply was cut off by the loud cackle of laughter.
"Took the little fur ball out quickly with that one didn't I?"
Sonic turned and glared at the Dr. He didn't bother with any quips, he just started to charge up his spin dash.
Knuckles stepped back when he noticed the anger behind Sonic's action and then looked back to Eggman. He only barely heard Sonic's direction but he heard it, and he wasn't going to question it.
Knuckles threw the spinning ball right at Eggman's ship.
The rest of the battle only took a few more minutes with the Dr. realizing there were no quips or remarks from the hedgehog and when he caught glimpses of Sonic's face, all he saw were serious, steely green eyes. Robotnik ended up retreating fairly quickly.
Sonic made a single step to go after him but stopped himself and turned towards the still settling mountain. He brought his wrist up and hit a couple buttons, "Tails?"
As soon as Knuckles saw Eggman start to leave, he immediately started running. He knew the speedster would catch up and overtake him anyways but his worry for the fox grew the longer he waited for Tails to talk through their communicators.
"Tails, please come in buddy."
Knuckles made it to the base of the mountain and said nothing about Sonic's slight waver in his voice. A blue streak stopped right next to him but he just stared up at where the Tornado disappeared, "We need to be careful. We have no idea what the inside of the mountain is like."
Sonic seemed to be vibrating with the need to go head first but knowing it could endanger Tails kept him next to the echidna.
A slight rumbling that quickly grew louder stole their attention.
They both watched in horror as the smallest bit of the tornado that was visible move before the large and heavy rocks on top of it caved inwards. Knuckles immediately grabbed Sonic's arm when the sound of the metal plane getting crushed echoed around them.
Contrary to what he thought would happen, Sonic didn't move.
Green eyes stared at the boulders as fearful tears started to well up inside them. Sonic turned towards Knuckles slowly, "He's…what if-"
Knuckles grabbed Sonic's other arm and slightly shook him, "We're going to find him."
Sonic blinked a couple times before nodding and turning back.
Knuckles quietly took a deep breath. Sure the look the speedster had was a shock. He'd never seen those big of emotions on Sonic's face before. But what scared the echidna, what truly terrified him was the slow turn. The absolute desolation he showed in that moment.
Sonic wasn't ever supposed to be slow.
Knuckles started climbing up the mountain side to the area of the cave in. He felt more than heard Sonic follow.
“I’ll keep checking in on the communicator.” Sonic tried to center himself when they got to the ledge. But nothing could prepare him for the sight that met the two of them.
The Tornado itself wasn’t near them. It was at the bottom of what looked like a steep cavern and crushed underneath the rocks and boulders.
Sonic’s breathing deepend as he started to panic. A high pitched ringing and his blood rushing through his ears was all he could hear. He let out a barely audible, “Tails?” Before yelling “TAILS?”
Tails huddled as close as he could get to the back wall of the small makeshift cave. He held the bag against his face as the dust settled so he wouldn't breathe in as much and after a moment, he slowly opened his eyes and lifted his ears.
A small pain reminded him about his injured ear but it wasn't as bad as before.
'Probably adrenaline .' he thought to himself, hoping it wouldn't wear off too fast. He was aware of something hurt in his left tail and leg and knew the stunt he just pulled most likely didn't help. He all but tumbled on his landing and took that momentum into a roll to get to the back of the alcove.
He let out a small whine as a headache started to make itself known.
Tails looked around the small area and took a steady breath. It wasn't as dark as before but he was still unable to see much outside of the cave.
For now, he turned back on his flashlight and pointed it at a wall before taking off the fried tech on his wrist.
Tails winced at the solid burn that followed the band and immediately went to wrap it up with the supplies in the first aid kit.
That done, he started to work on fixing his communicator. Tails half hoped Sonic and Knuckles would find him before he was done. He was also glad that he put a few little tools in the kit in his downtime.
Tails yawned. He was tired but knew that sleeping would probably be a bad idea in this location. Tails rubbed one of his eyes and huffed at himself. He needed to stay awake.
He twisted a couple of the wires together and used a few unneeded bits from the flashlight and grinned when he saw the screen light up. He jumped when he heard a muffled yell of his name. He got up quickly and stumbled as dizziness hit him. Tails shook his head before taking a deep breath. He’d never heard Sonic sound that panicked before.
“Sonic!” Tails coughed into his paw before trying again, “Sonic! I’m over here!” He tried climbing the rocks to see if he could catch any sort of glimpse of his brother through the cracks. After he slid back down the second time, he switched to the communicator. Tails hit a couple buttons before speaking into it, “Sonic?”
“Tails!” The kit relaxed when he heard the relieved voice of his brother, “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”
“I’m, uh, here.” He was never that great at lying to Sonic. The hedgehog could always read him easily, “I had to leave the Tornado. It wasn’t safe to stay in it.”
A broken laugh sounded from the communicator that made Tails frown in worry, “Yeah. We can see that buddy.”
Tails’ heart sank, “Is it bad?” He felt guilt crawl its way up his throat at destroying Sonic’s plane.
Knuckles’ voice came through this time, “If you stayed in it, you’d be flattened.” An alarmed noise was cut off when Knuckles ended his reply and Tails tilted his head at it.
Tails sighed before retreating to the wall and sitting to lean against it, “I’m sorry about the Tornado, Sonic.”
There was a pause before the hedgehog’s voice came through again, “All that matters to me is that you’re alive, lil’ bro.” Tails felt his good tail wag gently at his brother’s calm and reassuring voice, “Do you know where you are?”
He smiled and closed his eyes, “I’m across from where the Tornado was. There was an opening I had to get into when everything started falling…” He yawned again, adrenaline finally ebbing away now that he could hear his brother.
“We think we see what you’re talking about.” There were some mumblings from Knuckles and Sonic sighed, “Do you think you’ll be able to fly out when we get an opening?”
Tails opened his eyes again and looked at his left tail and leg. He bit his lip but knew he took too long to answer when Sonic called out again.
“Tails, you didn’t answer my earlier question, are you hurt?”
The fox sighed before replying, “I don’t think I can fly right now.” He felt something start to bubble up from his stomach and he tried to take a deep breath to control it, “I think one of my tails is sprained. And my leg hurts,” Tears started to well up and Tails immediately went to wipe them as his ears tried to flatten against his head. He whimpered when he felt his ear twinge again.
“Buddy?” Sonic’s voice shifted to worry again.
“My head hurts too and I’m really tired, Sonic.” Tails felt himself get out with small hiccups. He heard some of the rocks outside getting shifted around and looked up when a small opening appeared. Knuckles heard peeked in and Tails only briefly saw the small flash of shock before the purple eyes steeled to their typical steady gaze.
“Ready to get out, kid?”
Tails nodded and stood back up slowly. He noticed Knuckles didn’t comment on his appearance or the fact that he wasn’t hurried in making his way over. Tails reached up and grabbed the large hand that was extended through the hole and realized he must have looked bad with how gentle the echidna held and pulled him up and out.
The other hand steadied him as he stumbled to stand on his own.
Tails sniffed and wiped his eyes again before he looked up to find Sonic. He blinked at the unfiltered worry. And the next thing he knew, he was being hugged tightly. Tails felt burning in his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He heard Sonic mumbling to himself and he didn't try to listen. Tails was too tired and just wanted to go to sleep.
Tails relaxed a bit more and sighed knowing he was safe now, "Mmmgonnasleep." His words slurred together as the last of his adrenaline finally faded away.