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The first thing Tails could feel as he began to wake was something brushing against his shoulder, right before fingers began scratching behind his ear.
Still stuck in a sleep-induced haze, a purr vibrated in his throat as he snuggled closer to whoever was scratching him.
There was a steady stream of sunlight shining down on him, making him just want to slip back into slumber for just a few more hours.
Then, there was a consistent series of taps to his forehead, not hard enough to hurt but not soft enough to go unnoticed.
He let out a weak growl, but the taps persisted, until the fox kit was reluctantly forced to open his eyes, blinking up with furrowed brows at Sonic’s blurry face.
The blue hedgehog, from what he could see, was smiling, a barely heard chuckle escaping him.
He held up his hand, the other one stopping scratching his ear to sign as well.
Tails wanted him to keep scratching that spot, it felt nice.
“Morning Tails.”
Tails sat up, rubbing his eyes as a small yawn escaped the three-year-old.
“Good mornin’, Sonic!”
Sonic reached out to ruffle Tails’ bangs, the fox kit letting out a small shriek as he tried to push the hedgehog’s hand back.
Tails pushed himself away with a laugh, landing in a small heap on the grass.
Sonic held the foxes’ glasses for him to take, the fox smiling as he grabbed them and slipped them on, making sure they were on right so they didn’t slip off, although the accessories usually ended up doing just that.
He felt a small tap to his nose, looking up to see his brother gesturing to their little camp, which was all packed up.
He looked back up at Sonic, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
They’d been staying in this particular area for a while now, a small abandoned campsite to be exact, if the old circular metal fire pit nearby said anything.
Sonic smiled, standing up and stretching his back, holding a hand out for Tails to take, hoisting him up and giving him a hug before pushing him back slightly.
“Surprise you.”
The two were still learning sign language, Sonic having not needed it before Tails, so any sentences Sonic was able to form were choppy at best and indecipherable at worst. But he was trying.
It didn’t take long to translate the two signs he used, Tails before watching in curiosity as Sonic dug into his hoodie pocket, his face seeming to brighten as he found what he was looking for.
Tails pushed up his glasses, squinting at the small slips of paper that Sonic was now holding in his hand.
His eyes scanned the text printed on it, eyes widening at the logo that was clearly visible.
These were two train tickets.
For the Rocky Mountaineer.
Tails let out a big gasp, his eyes widening as he watched Sonic’s other hand rise, the hedgehog signing three simple words.
“Happy birthday Tails.”
- ~ -
The two, their camp successfully packed up in the two backpacks they owned, were now standing in a crowd, waiting to board the Mountaineer.
Tails was hopping up and down, his eyes practically shining as they waited.
He had one of his little Thomas trains– Henry, if Sonic was correct– in his hand, the others stuffed in his little backpack. The long green train was being held in a vice grip, so tight Sonic was partly afraid he would end up crushing it.
He had on Sonic’s hoodie, the fox practically demanding it and leaving Sonic in just his usual oversized t-shirt and shorts. He didn’t mind, but he liked wearing his hoodie.
The piece of clothing was swallowing his little brother, nearly touching the floor. The sleeves had to be folded just so he could actually hold things.
The fox kits’ two tails were also twisted together, to appear as if they were one.
Sonic hated making Tails keep his fluffy appendages together, but he didn’t want anyone taking notice.
Seaside City was known for Mobians disappearing, specifically children, if they showed any Chaos abilities or unique abilities in general. And Tails being a fox with two tails that allowed him to fly? Sonic didn’t want to take any chances.
As soon as they were on the train, he would tap their shoulder three times again. That was their little signal for him to twine or untwine his tails.
Hopefully he wouldn’t have to ask Tails to hide them ever again.
The two received odd looks, likely because they were very clearly children with no adult figure in sight. But they didn’t need an adult, they didn’t need a parent, Sonic was able to care for the two of them, and that was enough.
“Sonic, can you tak’ out Percy? I wanna s’ow ‘im The Moun’aineer!”
Sonic let out a small huff of amusement, nodding as he unzipped Tails’ little backpack and dug through it, pushing past slips of folded paper, a child’s book, a sticker sheet, and a box of crayons before he finally found the thing he was looking for.
Pulling it out, Sonic frowned as he looked at Thomas.
He handed it to Tails nonetheless, reaching in again until he finally found Percy, handing that one to his little brother before zipping the backpack closed.
Tails held all three of them in his hands, making sure they were all facing the train as his smile grew wider.
Sonic smiled, remembering when he had first become practically obsessed with the franchise.
They had been in Seaside City a few months back, about half a year after Sonic first found him on the ferry coming back from Westside Island. The fox kit was still scared, clinging to Sonic and doing basically everything the hedgehog asked him to.
And then one day, Sonic needed to go and try to get some cash, and couldn’t bring Tails with him. So he did the one thing he could think of, and brought Tails to a toy shop, hoping he could just leave the fox kit there until he was done with whatever odd jobs he could find.
Tails had looked around, his nose twitching slightly, before his already crappy vision caught sight of the TV. He let go of Sonic’s hand, waddling over to the little seating area and sitting down on the little chair, eyes fixated on the TV and ears perked to listen as much as his shoddy hearing would let him.
He’d been reluctant to simply leave Tails there, afraid the fox kit would wander off, but the human behind the counter, a human in her late teens if Sonic could guess, said she’d watch him until Sonic came back.
Sonic had been grateful, and when he’d returned about three hours later, Tails began yapping up a storm about the show he’d been watching, and asking if he could get one of the little metal trains that was from it.
Just as Sonic was about to sign that they couldn’t, that they needed the money for food, the same human from behind the register spoke up, gesturing for them to come over.
She’d looked around, making sure the coast was clear before handing one of the small packages containing Henry out to them, saying she would pay for it.
Tails had been ecstatic, rambling on and on to Sonic as they walked back to their camp, his little hands clutching his new toy train the entire time.
And now they were here, with Sonic finally having earned enough money for food for a few weeks, and these train tickets.
He kept an eye and ear out, listening for any type of authority that was possibly here.
The jobs he did to get this money was… not legal, to say the least. The people he did jobs for, mostly transfers of some definitely illegal goods, didn’t always give him what he had earned.
So he had to resort to stealing to get more, snatching wallets from people and using his speed to get away fast.
Not all of the ones he stole carried cash, but the ones that did he would take from.
There were subtle differences between the humans that he could pick out, and it steadily became easier to determine who would carry cash, and who would carry those weird money cards.
He’d done his best to avoid any prying eyes, but as months went on, the police had started to snoop just a bit too close to the hole Sonic had begun to dig himself.
This train ride was for Tails, Sonic had done this for his little brother.
Everything Sonic did was for him.
But at the same time, this would be a fresh start for the two of them, the Mountaineer taking them to a place where no one would know them, where Sonic would be able to care for Tails without any large worries of either of them being kidnapped or taken away by the police or those foster care systems.
With the money he’d managed to get, the hedgehog was just barely able to afford these tickets, getting the two a small sleeper cabin on the train. And while it was a bit more expensive, it would give them some privacy from nosey people.
Tails was very excited about this when Sonic signed it to him, the fox raving about the views he’d read in the books at the library.
And just as Sonic was starting to get antsy, it was finally time to board, the Conductor stepping off to give instructions on where to go depending on the numbers on their train tickets.
The Conductor was a dog Mobian, which made Sonic feel just the tiniest bit safer. This also almost made Tails start squealing, since, as Sonic has learned from Tails and their intense reading of all things train, Mobian Conductors were not all that common, especially on passenger trains like this.
It didn’t take much longer after train car numbers were being called did Sonic and Tails finally board, a few humans and Mobians alike giving them odd looks as they squeezed past them to get onto the train.
Sonic had to lift his brother up to the steps so he could scramble on, and had to jump onto the first step himself.
It didn’t take long walking down the hallway to find the door that led to their little sleeper area. Opening it revealed two cushioned seats across from one another with a table in the middle. A large window sat on the wall, and pretty flower wallpaper decorated the others.
He gently pushed Tails in, the fox actually squealing as soon as Sonic closed the door, the two of them positioned across from one another.
He set his backpack onto the seat next to him, opening and digging through it to find one of his two books he wanted to reread.
When the train gave a jolt, the wheels beginning to grind against the tracks before slowly beginning to move, Sonic looked over to see Tails now glued to the window, his snout pressed against it, breaths leaving little circles of fog on the glass.
Sonic let out a quiet chuckle, looking out the window as well to look at the view.
It was nice, they could see the ocean and a bunch of cliffs overlooking the water down below. A light sprinkling of clouds decorated the sky, and they could see people on the beach nearby.
Sonic had always been cautious while in Seaside City, since a lot of the underground jobs he’d done had people threatening to push him off the cliff face. It didn’t help that he had no idea how to swim, and while Tails had more knowledge of it than he did, the hedgehog was still careful taking him to the beach to play.
But this was nice. He no longer would have to look over his shoulder.
He could raise Tails properly now.
It was only a few minutes later, as Sonic was getting to the next chapter in his book, that there was a knock on the cabin door.
Tails looked over with him, the fox still being glued to the window.
“Com’ in!”
The door slid open, revealing the Conductor and a younger, smaller Mobian. They were a… wallaby? Maybe a quokka?
The Conductor looked a bit shocked at seeing two children there, but he quickly composed himself and tipped his hat to them.
“Greetings you too! How are you doing?”
Tails let out a squeal, still pressing one hand against the window, and now using his other to wave at the two of them.
“Hi!! We’re doin’ good! How-how’re you?”
The Conductor let out a chuckle. “I am doing good as well. My name is Holly, and as you can hopefully tell, I am the Conductor. And this,” He gives the quokka beside him a pat on the back. “Is my assistant and trainee, Barry!”
Barry raised a hand, giving a wave and smile to the two.
The Conductor smiled at the two, holding up his ticket puncher. “May I see your tickets please?”
Tails had snatched the tickets from Sonic’s hands before the Conductor even finished his sentence, holding them out to the two with a bright smile on his face.
The Conductor let out a little laugh, taking the two tickets in his hands and punching a hole into each of them before holding them back out to Tails.
Just as Tails took them, Sonic saw the Conductor and Barry’s expressions shift.
“If I may ask…”
Sonic raised an eyebrow.
“Where are your parents? You two do appear to be rather young to be traveling on your own.”
He looked to Sonic for the answer, but the hedgehog only gestured over to Tails, giving a small smile at his vague confusion when he looked at the fox kit.
“Sonny can’t sth-peak so I gotta for both o’ us!” He smiled. “Our parents are in Hid-Hydro City! We went ta’ visit som’ fam’ly in Seaside City and now we’re headin’ back!”
Sonic nodded when the Conductor turned to look back at him, and he seemed to take it at the foxes’ word.
Thank Chaos he had Tails practice what to say.
They obviously didn’t have parental figures, but they couldn’t just say that, so Sonic and Tails had to give a little white lie.
What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
The Conductor nodded, then seemed to perk up slightly before turning to look at his trainee.
“Barry, would you be so kind as to show them how to make the table and chairs into a bed?”
Barry jumped slightly, giving a nod and a quick, “Yes sir!” before taking a step into the cabin car, shoving their little notebook into their pocket.
It didn’t take long to show them what to do, as it wasn’t too hard. And after the quokka had, they asked what Sonic and Tails would like for dinner and drinks, since those came with having the cabin.
Once the two left, the brothers were left to their own devices.
Tails stayed attached to the window for as long as he could, watching in fascination as the scenery passed by and the sun slowly dipped below passing mountains.
- ~ -
Sonic had to get back.
Tails was waiting for him.
He might have screwed up.
He didn’t know the layout of this building, he shouldn’t have even come up here in the first place.
But the crow said he had a better chance of finding stuff in here, he didn’t have a choice. He needed to get more money.
He turned a corner, finally spotting the exit at the end of the hallway.
Tails must be scared, Sonic’s been away too long, he’d left a note that he’d only be gone an hour or two, it’s been five.
Just as the young hedgehog was about to pick up speed and get the heck outta dodge, a hand came out of nowhere and shoved him to the side, slamming him against the wall.
He blinked the sudden spots out of his eyes, trying to ignore the pain flaring up in his arm and side, only to see a police officer staring down at him.
The human man was practically glaring holes into him, face twisted into the most hateful scowl Sonic had ever seen.
The officer grabbed his wrist and held him up, holding it in such a vice grip that Sonic was scared he would break it. The man’s other hand reached out to grab Sonic’s, ripping what little money he’d managed to make and steal that day.
Hopefully he didn’t check Sonic’s pockets.
“Animal scum like you don’t deserve to live among us if you do things like this.”
Sonic froze, looking up at the human with wide, fearful green eyes.
The officer smirked, holding out the money and waving it in Sonic’s face.
“What, got nothing to say, little spiky monster?”
“Davis, that’s enough.”
Sonic’s eyes darted over to a second police officer, who was looking back and forth between the one holding Sonic and Sonic himself.
“The kid’s learned his lesson. Look at ‘im. He obviously did this for a reason.”
“If it just went back to where it came from, it wouldn’t have to steal.”
“Just let him go. We can talk about this later.”
The officer holding his wrist let out a scoff. Sonic could see it in his face that he obviously didn’t want to, but he reluctantly released Sonic, letting him hit the ground with a loud thud.
He held his wrist in his hand, a grimace settling over his face as footsteps rang out.
He looked up, feet sliding against the ground to push him back, eyes widening at the sight of the second cop.
The officer kneeled down, looking back at the first cop before turning to Sonic.
“Get out of here kid. Don’t steal again either, I don’t want to have to arrest you if we catch you doing this a second time.”
Sonic had definitely done this more than once.
Nonetheless, he rapidly nodded his head, pushing himself up and backing away from the two officers.
He looked between them, focusing on the first one before turning tail and booking it down the hallway, pushing the door open and running out of there.
But, for some reason, something he couldn’t decipher, he chose to stop.
The door started closing, but he just stood there, ears perked as the two officers started speaking.
“John, that was too far. You didn’t have to do all that.”
“That little vermin stole from Agatha, I should have gone a lot rougher with it.”
“Simply stopping him and asking for the money back would have been enough.”
“Those monsters are taking over our way of life, they don’t deserve the decency of a simple stop.”
Sonic shook his head.
That wasn’t true.
That wasn’t true.
That wasn’t–
- ~ -
Sonic shot up, his eyes scanning his surroundings, hands holding the blanket in a tight grip.
He inhaled as the small cabin room finally came into focus.
He wasn’t in Seaside City anymore. He was on a train, heading far away with Tails.
Sonic slouched, pressing his hands against his eyes and letting out a shaky breath.
They weren’t taking over.
They weren’t.
That man was wrong.
He… he had to be wrong.
“Sonic?”
Sonic’s head shot up, spotting Tails by the window, his bright blue eyes looking over at the hedgehog in either concern or fear.
“Are you okie?”
Sonic let out a smaller breath, giving a quick nod to his little brother, who nodded back and turned to the window.
He was looking out of it, watching the fields and trees as they passed by.
Sonic sat up more, shuffling over to Tails, throwing his blanket over the little kit and wrapping him up.
Tails gave a little laugh at that, burrowing further into the fleece blanket.
“Can’t sleep?”
Tails nodded. “I wan’ed ta’ look out da’ win’ow again. It’s pretty.”
Sonic gave a mute chuckle at that, nodding back before looking out the window as well.
They sat like that for a while, neither seeming ready to go back to sleep anytime soon.
And then, there was a small tap to Sonic’s arm.
He looked over, seeing Tails looking down, their eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
The fox kit proceeded to fingerspell his name, then used the sign the two had chosen for him, which was ‘fast’. Then, the child held up one last sign towards Sonic. Sonic hadn’t seen this one before.
The kit had his thumb, pinkie finger, and index finger out, while his middle and ring finger were pressed against his palm. Sonic raised an eyebrow, which prompted Tails to speak.
“When- when we were at da’ libr’ry las’ week, n’ I was readin’ that book on sign wit’ you, I saw one ‘dat was cool.”
He held it up again. “‘Dis means ‘I love you’.”
Sonic let out a small gasp.
Then, Tails was engulfed in a hug.
“Ph-Thank you for ‘dis, Sonic. ‘Dis was the best birth’ay ever.”
Sonic could only muster a weak nod back.
He had the best brother ever.