Chapter Text
It was getting dark; the sun was barely peeking from the sea’s distant horizon. The trio had only met up a few minutes ago, but each passing second felt like an eternity of agony.
Tails didn’t know all that much about the corruption and what it was entirely capable of, or what it had even felt like, but he knew–based on glimpses of Sonic dealing with it–it couldn’t have felt good. It wasn’t until he fully experienced the corruption himself that he truly understood what Sonic was really feeling the entire time. The most concerning part was it was barely a smidge of the corruption that had attached itself to him and he was struggling trying to stand! And by the looks of it, Amy and Knuckles were not faring any better than him, and they can endure quite a lot; arguably more than he can.
It really puts into perspective what Sonic can handle compared to them. Or… maybe it puts into perspective just how much he works to hide the things he deals with. Although Tails doesn't know how anyone can even try hiding something like this?
It was strange, though. The corruption was fairly similar to the digital, holographic forms they had previously, and yet, it feels entirely different. In those digital forms, there was no physicality what-so-ever, which made physically feeling anything, impossible. Emotions, sure, but nothing beyond that. No pain, no exhaustion, no hunger. In some ways, it might’ve been a blessing, considering they don’t entirely know how long they’ve been away from home with no real food or water around. But, in others, it was torturous.
Not being able to feel the ground beneath your feet or interact with everyday objects at your side. There was nothing you could do to pass the time, or even to help when needed. That was probably the worst part: sitting by and watching Sonic work constantly, night and day to free them. Gathering the emeralds, fighting off monsters, searching the islands, helping the koko, and then beating these giant titans before moving on to the next island; rinse, repeat. And Tails couldn’t do anything beyond using his eyes to spot an emerald. All while Sonic fought off some kind of digital sickness that clung to him like some parasite. Taking and taking without giving anything back…
How bad would it be if that’s kind of how Tails felt when hanging around the blue hedgehog? That he was just some parasite following the hedgehog everywhere he went, getting into trouble only for Sonic to put himself in harm's way to save him. That’s pretty much what he was spending his time doing on the Starfall Islands: standing around and waiting for Sonic to save him, while the hedgehog pushed and pulled through this corruption that weighed on him more and more. And Tails gave next to nothing to help.
The deep aching that coursed through his very being right now was both a painful reminder to get things wrapped up as soon as possible, but also a kind of weightlifter in a twisted way. It finally felt like he was needed for something more than just following the hedgehog around whenever he could really keep up. It was something he could help with, and now with his body present, he could actually help out, even if only a little. It was something and he was grateful he was useful for that little bit over anything.
He spared glances towards the others as they mindlessly paced around or shifted their weight where they stood; they were looking for distractions from the corruption too, it seemed. And though Tails didn’t like being caught up in his mind so much, this was the one time where it was helpful: keeping his mind off the persistent burning and screaming from inside, while helping to pass the time, apparently. His eyes met with the—now darkened horizon—and kind of stayed there for a while, until he saw a blasting streak of bright blue zip by and vanish behind hills.
“Guys, look!” He called out with a couple cracks to the sound that made him internally wince; hoping they hadn’t noticed.
Instead, their heavy eyes go from him, to where he’s pointing, and the streak of blue is zigzagging all over the area in the distance, almost like he’s looking for something, and fast.
“Sonic?” Amy spoke next and her voice was a little unsteady too, maybe it was just the exertion.
“About time.” Knuckles lightly grumbled. If Tails hadn’t known him as well as he does, he would’ve mistaken the tone for being entirely agitated, but the slightly worn sound it held said it was more of exhaustion affecting him than anything.
Then there was a small flash of light where the trail of blue stopped, and that little light went up to where a faded symbol appeared in the sky: helping a koko. Then the blue trail was speeding their way.
At first, Tails worried he wasn’t going to stop in time, but with an obviously abrupt twist—stirring up plenty of soil to make a dust cloud—Sonic drifted to a stop a few feet ahead of them; back to them. He quickly corrected his position to face them properly, but Tails didn’t miss the glitchy looking blue and red particles dancing off his quills. And looking at them now, Tails can clearly see the shifting patches of glitching particles over his eyes, too: one looking bluer and the other, red. His natural, emerald, green was almost invisible behind the strange, sharp look of the digital code.
Tails felt a little uneasy at the noticeable differences.
“I would’ve gotten here sooner, but I ran into some koko along the way.” He spoke, a little abnormally fast, even for him. It seems like he even noticed the pace inwhich he spoke as his gaze kind of lingers nowhere with an odd pinch, then he shakes his head with a smile, a light chuckle breaking through. “Sorry, I guess I’m not quite used to the-uh.. Added effects. It’s kind of weird, honestly.”
“You mean the ones that aren’t obvious?” Knuckles remarks, stepping past the fox, and Tails doesn’t miss how he keeps more weight on one leg than the other.
Sonic blinks at him; whether at the comment, or the way Knuckles is carrying himself, Tails isn’t sure.
“..What happened.” Sonic says in an uncharacteristically firm tone; no question behind it.
“We got the emeralds.” Tails clarified, but more-so to redirect, holding out his two respective emeralds, and the others followed shortly after.
“Took a little while, but we got most of them.” Amy added, she didn’t sound like she was really trying to hide how it was affecting her, even as she smiled.
Sonic wore an unreadable expression as he looked over each of them in an oddly careful manner, even down to their lightly trembling hands that held six of the seven chaos emeralds. His own hands pulled up quickly but froze at his sides as he seemed to mentally note their speed, then he carefully grabbed at the emeralds, to see their hands underneath.
He stood there, still enough that he almost looked like he did earlier when fully corrupted; watching the patches of corruption on each of their hands. And the clear comparison made Tails want to rip his hands away if it meant Sonic wouldn’t be like that ever again; then he blinked, and Tails could breathe.
“How?” Sonic asked point-blank, expression unchanging besides the subtle furrow of his brows. He has yet to look away from their hands, even as Knuckles is already yanking his back when the emeralds were taken.
“It’s no big deal, really.” Amy offers.
“Yeah; we’ve handled worse.” Tails easily answers, not bothering to mention how Sonic’s currently dealing with more of it than them. “And there’s just one more emerald to find now.”
Sonic’s mouth is hanging slightly, brows arching up a little in a minor show of surprise, but not quite. It was weird in moments like these, when Sonic’s expression wasn’t the usual ‘simple smiles and frowns:’ it made reading him so much harder, even with years of experience being around the guy. Maybe that’s just something Tails will never truly grasp, and he’s not quite sure how he feels about that fact, especially if he’s planning on leaving for his own adventures soon.
Sonic glances back to their hands for a moment, then spins around a little quickly as he sighs, emeralds in his hands and some already hovering around him. There’s a beat of silence and Tails is desperately wanting to know what’s going through the other’s mind before Sonic lets the last of the few emeralds hover up beside him.
“I’ll wrap this up as quickly as I can.” He states seriously, and the finality of it makes Tails actually fear for the enemy for once.
“Sonic, it’s okay.” Amy tries; hand, reaching for Sonic’s shoulder, and he tilts his head in her direction.
From here, Tails can’t see his face, but the way Amy hesitantly pulls her hand back and seems to be at a loss for words for a moment says enough.
“Be sure to give ‘em a few hits from me.” Knuckles comments from behind, a lint of teasing to his tone, and Sonic looks much lighter with that.
“Just- be careful, okay?” Amy’s voice breaks in a dry sort of way. “For real this time.” And her tone comes down to almost rival Sonic’s earlier one.
Tails waits in silence to see if Sonic does bother to answer that with his usual ‘fun-loving’ attitude or not. But whether he planned to, they don’t get to find out, because Eggman shows up soon after; last emerald, in hand.
Sonic takes it with his usual snarky remarks towards the doctor who seems the least bit interested in even being considered an ally right now. All seven emeralds hover around the—practically glowing—hedgehog, who doesn’t seem to notice how the emeralds shine and beam around him, more-so than they normally do; but Tails noticed, and he’s most certainly testing that later.
But as Sonic gives an agreeing nod to Sage and pointedly ignores Eggman, he looks in their direction. The emeralds swarm Sonic and rapidly spin in warning of what’s to come, and even as his quills lift and change color; his eyes lighting with a piercing red, Sonic’s eyes never leave them; a sort of knowing look behind those sparking irises. Cyan-blue and fire-red particles trying to hide the ruby red of his eyes. Before Tails can fully grasp that: not only did he just witness, first-hand, what Sonic’s transformation looks like when going Super close-up, but he also saw the soft look Sonic was giving them before his sharp features pulled into something far more intimidating.
Tails never did find out what that look Sonic was giving them, meant, as the aforementioned hedgehog was already shooting off like a missile.
Now the final fight is beginning and all he can do is sit back and watch from the sidelines, again. Strangely, though, he doesn’t feel too upset by that fact this time. He’s not sure what it is; whether it’s just the pain and exhaustion getting to him, or if he’s satisfied with the bit of help he managed, but he stands back and watches his brother fly into battle: golden and glowing, and with a new air of power to him.
Maybe it’s because he knows Sonic can handle this one on his own; if not, they’re all waiting right here to catch him if he falls.