Chapter Text
Sonic's eyes snapped open.
A nearly starless sky spread out above him. A decade of light pollution and the haze from Robotnik's factories dimmed the stars to nothingness, even hundreds of miles out from the nearest city. The curve of Sonic's mouth soured, half-lidded gaze as dull as the view. No matter how far he went, he'd never escape the reminder that lived in the rearview mirror.
With a grunt, he stretched his arms above his head until his back cracked. A low creak rolled through the top of the van he'd been sleeping on. The steel beneath his quills had warmed with his body heat, the night air comfortably mild out in the middle of the semi-arid desert. Sonic breathed in deeply; the dry, dusty smell of old dirt preferable to the oil and smog of the inner cities.
It'd only be a matter of time until Robotnik staked his claim out here, too.
Sonic scratched at his nose and sniffed, blinking up at the sky as he listened to the dead quiet around him. He didn't know what had woken him up. Only the humming of desert insects.
But something felt different.
His nose kept tingling and he rubbed at it again before closing his eyes. It was probably nothing. Maybe just the wind.
The van's roof was considerably less comfortable in the heat of the day. The sun baked the desert valley as well as the dented, dirty metal top of the van as it drove across the dry, endless miles stretched ahead of them. Sonic could feel the heat through the thick, rubber heels of his boots—the synthetic, black leather doing no favors against the sun's vindictive rays as the faded, cracked material soaked them up like a plant that hadn't seen the sky in weeks. Still, not even the discomfort sent Sonic inside the van. He crouched low, knees bent and the flats of his feet planted firmly against the metal roof. The dry breeze blew through his quills as the van coasted along at a measly seventy-five miles per hour.
If he jumped off and ran, he could cross the desert at least seventeen times and they still wouldn't be halfway there.
There was the tell-tale squeak of the passenger side window being rolled down; audible even over the rumble of the dirt caught in their tire treads. "Yo, bro! How's the sun treating ya?" A green hedgehog poked his head out the window, front quills styled in a wild array of spiked locs that blew back in the wind. "You cooked yet?"
"His brain was already cooked before he even decided to sit up there for the entire drive back."
Sonic's ears twitched, his sister's voice pointedly coming through the open window all the way from the driver's seat. "Beats being crammed in a tin can all day with the two of you," he grumbled.
"What did he say?" Sonia demanded, turning her glare on Manic.
"Uh…" Manic scratched at his cheek. "Think he said something 'bout it beats jamming on a tin can of tuna? Dude," Manic hollered back up at Sonic again, "we don't even have any tuna?"
Sonic silently mouthed "what?" to the world around him. Expression pinched with annoyance, he rolled his eyes and shimmied over to the edge of the roof. Getting down on his belly, he hissed as the hot metal seared his peach fur through the thin fabric of his tank top, then leaned forward to hang his head upside down on Manic's side.
"What?"
His siblings shrieked and the van swerved dangerously to one side. Manic clutched his heart as he pressed his quills into the frayed seat cushion, gaze darting between the hedgehogs on either side of him. Sonia's fingers clenched around the steering wheel as she steadied it, nearly leaving impressions of them at ten and two with how tightly she gripped it. Her fierce gaze stayed fixed on the uneven dirt ahead of them, refusing to look away, even if it was to berate her idiot brother.
"What?" Sonic repeated.
"What is wrong with you?" she snapped, easing her foot off the gas.
"Calm down. You're not even going that fast or anything," Sonic replied dryly.
"I'm going seventy-three off road," she spat.
"Oh yeah?" Sonic leaned forward a bit more, squinting at the dashboard. "Says sixty-nine now."
"Nice," Manic chuckled weakly.
"Oh grow up, both of you!" Sonia growled. "Sonic the Hedgehog, either get your butt in this van right this instant or shut your mouth and shove your backend back on the roof or so help me—!"
"It's not like I'm gonna fall—"
The front tire hit a divot in the dirt and the van lurched; worn, rusty axle groaning from the weight as the whole thing bounced. Sonic was flung from the roof, losing his grip as he tumbled forward and face-planted on the ground. Sonia slammed on the brakes, the passenger door swinging open before she even put it in park.
"Bro!" Manic darted over to him.
Sonic lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of dirt. "M'good."
Manic crouched down to help him up, but Sonic swatted him away, pushing himself up onto his knees on his own. The driver door slammed shut as Sonia marched around the van, hands on her hips as she stopped directly in front of her brothers, her shadow falling over them as she blocked out the sun. Though the heat of her glare was just as brutal.
"What was that about not falling?"
Sonic snorted, ignoring the dust irritating his nose as he got to his feet. "Well, if someone could actually drive instead of hitting every hole in the ground—"
"Oh, don't even start." Sonia rolled her eyes, then tossed her softened, side-shaven quills out of her face and turned on her heel as she strode back to the van. "It's a good thing your head's as dense as a rock so I don't have to worry about brain damage. You're already a lost cause."
"Could say the same about you and your personality, sis." Sonic dusted himself off, wincing as the pads of his fingers brushed a fresh scrape on his knee. "Or maybe should I call you 'cuz, since it rhymes with 'buzzkill.'"
"That's not how rhymes work, Mr. Lyrical Genius," she called back, the van shuddering as she wrenched the door open, then again when she slammed it behind her.
"Dude, c'mon," Manic sighed. "D'ya always gotta start stuff?"
"I dunno, Manic, d'ya always gotta be a suck up?" Sonic mocked as he brushed past him, reluctantly sliding open the side of the van to ride inside it this time.
With a huff, he flopped against the bench seat they'd set up against one side, a small table soldered into the floor that he kicked his boots up onto. He reached under the seat and grabbed a can of soda, cracking open the tab as Manic settled back in the passenger seat. It took a few tries to get the engine going again, and once it did, it was with a choked rattling sound. Sonic slurped his soda noisily, arching a brow when Sonia's eyes narrowed at him through the rearview mirror.
"You're the one who wanted me inside," he reminded her.
Sonia ignored him and flicked on the radio instead, cranking up the volume even though it was only static. Manic winced, but took over scanning for any radio stations that might've had a strong enough broadcast to reach them all the way out in the bolson boondocks. Chances were the only thing with a signal that powerful would be a Robotnik station, but there were a few free territories still scattered across the desert. Rebels who might be sending out some kind of coordinates or a call for volunteers. Nothing actually interesting.
Sonic let his head thunk against the window as he stared out at the scenery sluggishly shifting outside. His finger flicked the soda tab to the beat of a song in his head, one he'd yet to put to paper, but kept playing on a persistent loop nonetheless. There's something missing… something's not quite right…
A loud bang burst from the engine and the entire van shuddered. A non-stop knocking sound echoed from beneath the hood, more persistent than the old rust bucket's usual creaking and groaning. Sonia immediately pulled off on a stretch of flattened dirt and stopped the van once again.
"Whaddja hit this time?" Sonic jeered from the backseat as she and Manic both hopped out to check.
They ignored him. Sonic's ear flicked in annoyance, trying with all his might to stay slouched on the bench in the van, but his leg was already bouncing and curiosity piqued; even if his siblings would tell him his help would be useless. You just don't get stuff like this, Sonic.
With a groan, he bonked his head a couple of times against the window. Mind made up, he zipped outside in a blur of blue. Suddenly appearing behind his siblings, he peered over their shoulders at the engine. Manic jumped with a yelp; banging his head on the hood of the van while Sonia just sighed.
"Do you have to do that?"
"What?"
"You could just walk like a normal person. There's no one here to show off in front of." She gestured at the broad, empty expanse of desert around them.
"Hey, Sonia." Sonic waited for her to look at him, then he held up his middle finger.
She flicked him sharply on the forehead. "You're a child."
The tip of her claw left behind a sting, Sonic rubbing at it with a heavy sigh, "You would think that."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Means you don't know how to have fun or do anything other than boss people around."
"Just because I'm not as chaotically carefree as you doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun!" Sonia fired back.
"Sibs, could you cool it for like, five seconds?" Manic asked, elbow-deep in the engine.
"He started it," Sonia replied at the same time Sonic said, "She started it!"
Manic rolled his eyes and refocused his attention on the engine. "Think the old girl might've jammed her last juice. If we can push her to the nearest service station, I can maybe cobble together something, but it's not looking good."
"You can't just fix it here?" Sonic asked.
"I might need tools and junk that I don't have on me," Manic pointed out. "Plus we might be stuck out here for a while, and you know how Sonia gets when we're not near a bathroom."
"Excuse me for not wanting to pee in a bush," she huffed. "Or behind a rock."
"Last I checked, we are a rock band." Sonic grinned, but held both hands up as Sonia crossed her arms. "Fine, fine. But y'know, the rocks look like five star joints when ya compare 'em to some of those truck stops."
Sonia grabbed the map from the glove compartment while Manic closed the hood. She spread it out over the top of the van so they could all get a good look at the route. There were various symbols marked in pen scattered across it, identifying markers for Sonia to track their path. She traced her finger from one symbol to the east of them, then stopped somewhere in the middle of the great basin.
"We should be about here, so that means…" She tapped a black dot to the southwest. "We should hit one in ten miles."
"If it hasn't been shut down by Robotnik," Manic added.
Both Sonia and Manic looked to Sonic expectantly and he sighed, "Y'know, my speed isn't just some tool you guys can use whenever it's convenient for you."
Sonia shrugged. "Might as well make it useful."
Though a part of him wanted to refuse—the same part that recoiled at the idea of being under the thumb of the Robotnik Republic—his body was already humming with the idea of getting to run. To feel the wind rush past as the world blurred around him. Running filled him with the same burst of adrenaline and joy that performing did; the power and thrill that he was in control, and that wherever he ended up didn't matter.
If only he didn't feel like a caged animal on a leash—a service to his siblings. Eyes narrowed, he silently cracked his neck and bent his knees in an exaggerated lunge. Then he shot off like a rocket, kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake as the dry heat warped in the air around him. He veered southwest, taking a quick detour to loop around the canyons and rock formations tailor-made for a guy like him to speed through like his own personal obstacle course. If he went a few miles past where he was supposed to check, it was nobody's business but his own.
By the time he got back to where he'd left Sonia and Manic, they were still picking the grit out of their quills. "Yeah, service station's still there," Sonic told them. "It's pretty quiet, too. No dumb bots rounding people up."
"Fantastic," Sonia drawled, then coughed to clear some of the dust from her throat. "Any obstacles up ahead?"
"Nothing you can't carry the van over," Sonic answered, folding his arms behind his head.
"Then let's get this show on the road." Sonia cracked her knuckles. "Manic, you riding or walking?"
"Riding, dude." Manic scrambled to get into the van, this time taking the driver's seat.
"And I take it you're running?" Sonia arched a brow.
Sonic smirked. "Might've taken sixteen years, but you're finally catching on."
With a sigh, Sonia shook her head. "Just try and keep a low profile? The last thing we need is you getting the three of us stuck on Robotnik's radar."
"Or picked up by Freedom Fighters," Sonic sniffed, rubbing at his nose. "Don't need the reminder, sis."
"Really? Could've fooled me." With that she went to get in position by the driver's side, gripping the van's door as she started to push.
Manic shifted into neutral and the van practically glided over the dirt with how effortlessly Sonia moved it. Like it hardly weighed more than a marble. Sonic tapped his foot as he watched them roll off, then he zipped away to seek out what else the barren, desertified area had to offer.
Sonic eventually looped back around to help push—not that Sonia needed the assistance, but a little extra speed never hurt anyone in his book. They rolled up to the service station after about an hour, then the three hedgehogs each took on their own tasks. Sonia's was to wash the sweat and grime off herself in the restroom, while Manic popped the hood once again to conduct a more thorough examination. Sonic strolled into the convenience store attached to the service station, eager to restock on some critical snack fuel for the rest of the drive.
Unbeknownst to Sonic, from the shadow of the convenience store, a figure peered around the corner. Keen eyes zeroed in on the van and the hedgehog that had remained with it. As Manic hummed to himself, tapping out a beat against the engine with the handle of his wrench, he didn't notice the figure's silent approach until a shadow blotted out the daylight he needed to see into the nooks and crannies.
"Yo, sis, I said I got this covered—" Manic lifted his head out of the engine, fully prepared to find Sonia hovering over his shoulder, only to stop and hesitate as his eyes fell on a kid no older than ten, if that. "Oh. My bad. Can I help you?"
"I was actually wondering if I could help you." The kid was a fox, though not just any fox, Manic quickly realized, as the kid had two tails flicking behind him. "Sorry, I couldn't help overhearing you talking with your… siblings?" The kid smiled sheepishly until Manic nodded, then he continued. "It sounds like you have some engine trouble."
Manic snorted. "Tell me about it. We've had to cut corners on oil for the old girl and I guess she wasn't a fan of what I cooked up. From the all rockin' and knockin' going on in here, I'm thinking it's the rod bearings that need replacing."
"How old's the engine?" the kid asked.
"Heck if I know." Manic shrugged. "Pretty sure this hunk-a-junk's older than I am, so willing to bet the engine is, too."
"So you're probably looking at not only replacing the rod bearings, but the pistons, gaskets, crankshafts…"
"Man." Manic rubbed his oil-covered hand over his face, smearing grime across his muzzle. "There's no way Sonia's gonna wanna spring for a new engine."
The two fox tails flicked up and down. "I could fix it."
"Huh?" Manic blinked at him, then snickered. "Yeah, and I'm the Prime Minister of Robius."
The kid's brow furrowed, confusion flickering across his face before he elected to ignore it. "It's a four cylinder engine?"
"Yeah."
The kid grinned, and for a split second Manic could've sworn he was looking at Sonic. "I can make it run on three."
"That's some pretty big talk for a shortstack like yourself, kid."
Speak of the blue devil. Manic looked over right as Sonic tossed a bag of corn chips his way, just barely catching them before they smacked him in the face. As a result, he missed the way the kid's fur frizzed, shoulders stiff as he slowly turned to face the second hedgehog. If Sonic noticed, he didn't comment on it. He simply cocked out one hip as he leaned against the side of the van, eyebrow raised as he munched on his own spicy corn snack.
"I…"
"Dude, seriously? I hate sour cream and onion," Manic whined as he got a good look at the chips Sonic picked for him.
"That's all they had unless you want atomic chili pepper." Sonic pointedly shook his bag of corn chips. "And you're the biggest baby when it comes to anything spicy."
Their back and forth gave the fox kit a second to recover, his shoulders straightening as he fixed the two of them with a determined look. "As I was saying, if we eliminate one of the pistons, it'll balance out the engine, and I can do it without removing the ignition coil or fuel injector so it doesn't lose as much power. It's not the ideal way to drive your van, but if we can get the engine to turn on and you don't exceed 1200 rpms, it'll get you to the nearest city where you can pick up actual parts to do a full engine repair."
Both Sonic and Manic turned to stare at him—the former not understanding at all while the latter understood too well. "What?" Manic's jaw dropped. "Dude, that's crazy risky." A delighted grin suddenly brightened his face. "Let's do it!"
The kid perked up, but Sonic's eyes simply narrowed. "And you're gonna help us fix our engine, just like that?"
"Well…" Rubbing the back of his neck, the fox's eyes looked anywhere but directly at Sonic. "About that… I can get your engine up and running no problem, if you give me a ride to the next city."
"A ride?" Sonic arched his brow.
The kid nodded. "Yeah. I'm kinda stuck out here. And I haven't seen too many people pass through, so uh… I could really use a ride. That's it."
"Where are your parents?" Sonia suddenly interrupted, appearing on the other side of the van, having listened in to the tailend of their conversation.
To his credit, the kid didn't seem all that surprised by her appearance. "I don't have any."
"Aw, dude… m'sorry." Honest sympathy shone in Manic's eyes. "You're only like… what? Twelve?"
The kid shrugged with one shoulder. "Sure, let's go with that. Anyway, I've got people I need to track down and finding the nearest city would really help out with that."
"What's your name?" Manic asked, and Sonic and Sonia exchanged hopeless glances behind his back. It didn't take much to win him over.
"Tails."
"'Tails?'" Sonic choked on his own laugh. "Jeez, kid, who hated you that much to give you a name like that?"
"Sonic," Sonia hissed.
The kid stiffened, fur poofing up defensively. "It's a nickname."
Sonic held up both hands. "Whatever. Not like it's any of my business what you wanna be called."
The kid—Tails—pursed his mouth like he'd swallowed something sour, averting his gaze yet again to pout at the ground. His eyes trained on Sonic's boots, taking in the worn, black leather, silver buckles, and thick heels like they were the ones that personally offended him rather than the hedgehog they were strapped to. Sonic arched a brow, another quip on the tip of his tongue, but his words dried up in his mouth. They tasted like a chili dog that had been left out in the sun for too long—something he was supposed to find satisfying, but struggled to swallow.
Sonia cut in before he could give it too much thought. "Let's see what the two of you can do and we'll consider giving you a ride. Right now, you're nothing but talk," Sonia addressed the fox kit, then cast a sidelong glance at Sonic, prompting him to nod in agreement, though it was more of an uncertain bobble on his part.
Tails puffed out his chest; the white fluff streaked with red dust from the desert around them. His fur appeared otherwise healthy, bright despite the layer of dirt he was coated in. But that was an odd thing in and of itself. The kid wasn't wearing anything other than a pair of dirty socks, scuffed sneakers, and gloves. Still, the kid rolled up his sleeves like he actually had any and got to work.
Sonia gave Sonic a pat on the arm. "Keep an eye on them, I'm gonna make a phone call," she said.
Sonic's brow creased. "To who? Ow—!"
The heel of her boot met the toe of his with an instantaneous throbbing ache. "I'll be right back," she continued as she walked away, heading for the little convenience store.
Though Manic was more than content to ignore the antics of his siblings, Sonic could feel the eyes of the fox lingering on them. He was a sneaky little guy though, because when Sonic's gaze snapped to him, he was already looking away, focused on the engine as he and Manic checked each piston and the rod bearings. Exhaling heavily through his nose, Sonic slumped into the side of the van with a dull thunk, arms crossed and eyes glazing over as he babysat the two make-shift mechanics.
"Yikes. We're definitely gonna need a new oil filter, too." Manic winced as he looked at the one currently covered in metal shavings from when the rod broke.
"Yeah. I can clean it up some, but it would be a good idea to add one to the list of parts you'll need," Tails agreed, then pointed inside the engine. "Stick the piston in the cylinder, but don't connect it to the crankshaft or the fuel injector. Otherwise, it's gonna spray oil everywhere."
"So what? You wanna weld it to the cylinder wall?" Manic asked.
Tails grinned. "Precisely! You have a lighter and an aerosol can?"
Sporting a matching grin, Manic rose out of his crouch. "Sonia's got some hairspray in the van. I'm sure she won't miss a few spritz."
As Manic ran into the van to pilfer through his sister's things, Sonic stayed with the kid as he used an old rag to clean the oil filter of the metal shavings. "So where'd ya pick up on all this stuff?"
"I've kinda been around it my whole life. Guess it just stuck." Tails pointedly refused eye contact, but his two tails started twitching with agitation, flicking back and forth quickly.
"Huh." Sonic tilted his head to one side. "Where'd ya grow up then?"
"Somewhere pretty far from here. You wouldn't know it," Tails assured him.
Sonic took it as a challenge. "Try me."
Tails stopped working for a second, internally debating something as he held a staring contest with the oil filter, but changed the subject instead. "So the three of you… you're siblings, but are you like…?"
"Triplets? Yeah," Sonic sighed.
"Oh." Tails frowned, almost like he was disappointed by the answer. "And is it… just the three of you?"
"Nah, we left our grandma in the back of the van with the window cracked," Sonic snorted. "You see anyone else around here, kid? Yeah, it's just us. Been that way since we were kids."
"I see."
Sonic tilted his head to one side. "What about you? Kids like you aren't just hitching rides from strangers out in the middle of nowhere and far from home unless they're running from something." His eyes narrowed. "What're you running from?"
"Nothing." Tails finally looked up at that, blue eyes piercing as they held Sonic's hard stare with ease. "I'm running towards something."
"There's a difference?"
"I think so."
"Found it!" Manic hollered, bounding back over to them with a lighter in one hand and Sonia's favorite hairspray in the other. "Let's light her up, boys!"
"Perfect." Tails set down the oil filter so he could take the lighter and the canister. "Stand back. This isn't going to have the precision a welding torch would have, so sparks may fly."
Despite the warning, both Sonic and Manic flanked the kid on either side. Sonic peered over the kit's shoulder, watching as he melted the inside of the cylinder. "You sure that's a good idea?" he asked.
"Nope!" Tails replied cheerfully. "I don't recommend doing this at all if you can help it."
Sonic's eyes went half-lidded as he leveled a bland look on this bizarre kid. "You do realize if you break our van, the deal's off, right?"
"I won't break it," Tails assured him, but he refused to meet his gaze, which didn't inspire all that much confidence in him. "Your engine block's already cracked. Doing this to a good engine would be a terrible idea, but in your engine's current condition, you really don't have anything to lose."
"We could lose what we have left of it," Sonic pointed out, ear flicking up as he heard the crunch of Sonia's boots in the gravel. He glanced over and caught her pointed head jerk, beckoning him over to her. "Back in a Sonic Second."
"You're so full of yourself," Manic snorted, but offered a thumbs up nonetheless.
Sonic sidled up to Sonia. "So whaddja find out?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"Guy behind the counter said the kid just showed up a couple hours ago," Sonia whispered back. "First thing he did was ask if he needed to buy anything to use the bathroom."
"Let me guess," Sonic muttered, eye twitching at the memory of his own interaction with the owner, "guy said, 'what kinda business you think I'm running here?'"
"Exactly." Sonia snapped her fingers. "So then the kid asks if he'll accept an exchange of services. He offers to fix the guy's air conditioning if he can use the bathroom to wash up."
"Wait, seriously?" Sonic frowned. "But the air conditioning was fine."
"Yeah. 'Cuz he fixed it." Sonia nodded in the kid's direction. "Apparently he was working on fixing one of the gas pumps in exchange for some food when we showed up."
"So this kid's just going around offering to do things for random strangers in exchange for stuff? Who does that?"
"Well, what else is he gonna do?" Sonia asked. "Seems pretty resourceful to me."
"Seems a little too goody-goody for me. Think he's a Freedom Fighter or something?"
"I don't know… he doesn't exactly look like one." Sonia tapped her chin as she observed him. "He doesn't look like much of anything though. He's not even wearing clothes."
"Could've tossed 'em if they gave away that he was a Freedom Fighter," Sonic suggested. "Maybe they lost him on a supply raid or something. Kid would know better than to mention that to a bunch of strangers. And that's more reason for us not to get involved."
"We can't just leave him out here," Sonia argued. "He doesn't have any food or water and the next major city is still over a hundred miles away. And he's obviously not twelve."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"He had that same look on his face you always get whenever you make something up on the spot, except not as stupid."
"What look? I don't have a look," Sonic scoffed, jabbing his thumb into the center of his chest. "Anything I've gotta say is always stamped with the Sonic seal of approval. One hundred percent right whenever I'm right."
Sonia crossed her arms, gaze half-lidded. "Yep. Still just as stupid looking as ever."
"Oh shut up."
"Giving him a ride wouldn't be the worst thing," Sonia continued. "Besides, between the three of us, he couldn't get away with anything even if he did try something."
Sonic tapped his foot, arms folded as he sighed. "Whatever. I'm outvoted anyway. What difference does it make if I agree or not."
"Perfect. You're finally starting to see things my way," Sonia teased, striding back to the van with a toss of her head.
Sonic shook his head, leaning his shoulder into the side of the van. He watched as Sonia checked in with the two mechanics, peering into the engine to see what was going on. Manic was all too excited to show her, like a little kid showing off a science project or something. The actual kid in question, however, glanced over his way instead.
Their eyes met. Though the kid's eyes widened, they didn't immediately dart away this time. Sonic arched a brow, silently asking "what?" when the kid just continued to stare. The two tails he was obviously named for wilted, brushing against the dirt, and he offered a weak smile before busying himself with the engine again.
What a weird kid.