Trust
Chapter 1: So Long
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog and other related characters. Kyla's my own vixen, so please don't sue me if it resembles anyone dead, alive, or fictional... Okay. That was dumb. I've been reading too many book disclaimers.
Author's notes: This is my first Sonic fic. This is inconsistent to any of the Sonic series, so don't go telling me 'this character isn't like that!' or 'That's not right!' Got it? Anyway, I hope you people would enjoy the story.
/We've been keeping it from them for how long?/
/Ever since we came here, brother./
/Are you still alright?"/
/Yes. I'm fine. For the moment... but if we are unable to do anything soon.../
/Damnit! We don't have anything needed here. Only he has what we need./
/... It's a never ending circle, isn't it? Everything returns to him, doesn't it? He holds us, even without gracing us in his presence.../
/Yeah... I had been afraid of that....../
/Is something on your mind?/
/You like him, don't you? The other one. Not the same person we were talking about./
/...... yes.../
/Don't worry, sis. We'll think of a way. Of course, the answer might just come to find us.../
Princess Sally watched Tails out of the corner of her eye as she talked about the day's events with the rest of the gang. It was technically the ex-freedom fighter team. Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Mina, Amy and herself were present. The time being a hot summer afternoon, they were cooling off at the mall.
Sally could tell that Tails was rather distracted even though the younger kit did not show it. They were used to his demeanour. Some time ago, Sally had thought that it was her imagination. But as time passed, she found that her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. Tails was growing, and not just in the physical sense.
He still hung around with them, but slowly, at a rate following that of adolescence, he started to speak up less and kept to himself. Also, Tails was known to show his temper more physically now. The fox still followed Sonic around, but Sally discovered that Tails was starting to act aloof around Sonic, and doing things more independently as well.
The squirrel nodded to herself. Tails was growing and changing. But there was something else about him which did not seem like that of a growing adolescent, and it kept tugging at her mind. However, she had not been able to identify what was it.
"I think I'll hop over to the new shop, kay? Wanna check out what new stuff they have and whether it's good," Tails spoke up during a break in the conversation, taking along his half finished drink.
"I'll come with you, Tails. There might be some new software I can use to upgrade Nicole," Sally stood up as well.
"Okay, Aunt Sally," Tails smiled a little.
"Have fun," Sonic called, before reverting his attention back to Antoine's joke.
Once out of earshot, Sally started a conversation with Tails. "So, Tails, how's school?"
"School's great, but I think I dislike Mathematics. Especially Advance Mathematics," Tails replied.
"Why do you hate maths? I know it's a little hard to study, but everything usually falls into place once you get the formulas, right?"
Tails looked at her with a little grin, his eyes gleaming. "Well..., you're right, Aunt Sally. But I think you misunderstood. I don't find maths difficult. It's too easy. In fact, I believe that I've completed the entire syllabus, while my teachers are still bumbling along the easier sections," he informed her. "But it's for the benefit of others, so I guess I shouldn't complain."
Sally blinked. "Oh my. I'm so sorry Tails, I always forget that you're smarter than most of us," she said apologetically.
Tails sighed. "Don't worry, Aunt Sally. Every thinks of me as a twelve year old kid and treats me accordingly. I'm used to it," he assured the squirrel. "Besides, you're very intelligent yourself. How else did you get us out of the mess made by Robotnik?" he added, earning him a smile from her. "And if I didn't hear your wrong earlier, your father's still giving you hell?"
Sally faked a groan. "I'll say. He drags me to every counsel meeting and tries to get me to make decisions. I mean, why does he need me to decide the day's menu for the mess hall? Okay. I'm fine with decision making, but does he have to dictate what I wear? He doesn't seem to give a damn about how I feel, but he sure puts lots of energy into caring about how I present myself," she rolled her eyes. "Now I know why Elias wanted to run away those years ago," she sighed.
"I know how you feel, Aunt Sally. My sympathies," Tails said softly. "I'm sure you miss Elias, don't you?"
"Of course I do. He's my brother. Even though he tends to side with my father, and I haven't really known him much," she sighed softly. "Well, enough about my family. The Tornado SS is getting along just fine, am I right?" Sally changed the topic to Tails' favourite subject.
"The Tornado SS is doing great! It probably won't be long before it's up and flying!" Tails answered enthusiastically. "The main thing I have to do nowadays is to program the computer and transfer some stuff from the Tornado to the SS. And if your father ever finds out what the SS can do, he'll blow his top," Tails grinned mischievously.
Sally glanced at Tails. "What do you mean?"
The proud owner of the Tornado SS chuckled. "The tornado is a complete arsenal by itself. Missiles, guns, lasers; you name it, the Tornado's got it. It's got a complete stealth coating to avoid detection. Auto pilot and automatic defence systems enable it to control and protect itself, meaning the rider as well. There's remote controlling to ensure that I have complete manual control overriding of commands, if I have to," he listed some of his new plane's abilities. "And as a last resort, the plane can be detonated, exploding with a power equivalent to a couple of energy bombs."
Sally's jaw dropped. "T-that's...! Tails Prower, you are so dead if anyone from the palace was sent to check your plane! Didn't you know about the rule my father set prohibiting possession of any kind of weapons?"
Tails grinned. "They won't be able to find the plane, for one thing. Besides, the weapons were practically scrap metal. They can't do anything by themselves. Most of them require the Chaos Emerald to power 'em," he explained.
"Tails, you scare me sometimes," Sally placed a paw on her face and muttered.
"Anyway, here," Tails reached inside his glove and extracted a chip which had gave to the squirrel. "That's the prototype of the chip I use in the Tornado SS computer. It can boost computer processors. But when you use it on Nicole, you'll find that Nicole will do things very independently. You'll probably need time to get used to it. It'll practically become person-like." (AN: I wanted to put human-like, but I figured it was the wrong word, so I just threw in the closest thing I could think of.)
"Really? Thanks, Tails," Sally planted a little kiss on the kitsune's cheek and ruffled the fur on his head.
The fur on Tails' neck bristled the moment he entered the apartment he shared with Sonic. There was someone sitting on the couch, and the door had no sign of a forced entry. It couldn't be Sonic since he was still hanging out with the others at the mall.
"Prowler, Prowler. A pleasure to meet you again after all these years," the intruder got up and bowed slightly, respectfully.
"Kyla. It has been a long time, as you said," Tails greeted. "About time too," he added darkly.
The intruder was a vixen around Sonic and Sally's age. Her fur was creamy in colour except for the end of her tail and the tip of her ears which were light grey. She also had black eye-markings flowing down her face to the base of her muzzle, like tracks made by tears. "Miles..."
"Tails. That is my given name now," he told her softly as he took a seat. "And why didn't you come earlier? I never thought that it would take you this long to find me. You have any idea how long much longer we have?" he snapped.
"I know. That is the reason why I chose to appear now, instead of earlier. Your parents want you back, Tails," Kyla told the kit. "And even you know that only now, would you be most willing to return with me," she bowed her head slightly.
"So. It has come to this, irregardless," Tails murmured. "But why does father want me back?"
"You already know it, Tails. He wants you to take your places next to them," Kyla answered. "And he is the only one with the solution to your problem."
Tails frowned. "How can I be sure that you're telling the truth? It could be a lie you made up to bring me back to my father for his own manipulation."
Kyla took a sealed letter from the pocket of her long pants and a signet from the inside pocket of her jacket and handed it to Tails.
Tails broke the seal. He recognised it. He took out the letter, reading it twice over before sighing and leaning his head back against the backrest of the couch. Can you come back tomorrow? I've still got to tell my friends before I can leave.
"Very well, Tails. Tomorrow, at this time, I'll be back," Kyla came over to him and bent forward, kissing Tails on his lips. "I'm sure that your grandmother would be glad to see you once again," she added before leaving.
Tails' eyes had widened when she kissed him. And remained that way even after she had left.
"There you are, bud. I thought that you were going to keep yourself locked up in your room all day," Sonic called to Tails as he finally left his room the day after Kyla's 'visit'.
Tails mumbled something unintelligible before leaving the apartment.
Sonic frowned a little at that. Tails had never been one to be cooped up in his room, unless he was doing something related to mechanics. From what he could not hear from Tails' room, Sonic concluded that the young fox wasn't doing anything mechanical.
He decided to follow Tails since he had nothing to do, and he also wanted to find out why was his little buddy so... moody.
He discreetly followed the young fox, something he found difficult to do. But he did anyway. He ended up following him to the large garden in the middle of Mobotropolis. Tails seemed really distracted, not even glancing behind himself occasionally.
It didn't take the cobalt coloured hedgehog to notice that Sally was waiting for Tails on one of the benches when the youngster sat down next to the squirrel.
"You wanted to tell me something, Tails?" Sally asked the moment the fox sat down. She sensed that something was wrong, something was worrying Tails. "I won't get angry at you even if I don't like what you're going to tell me," she added as assurance.
"I wanted to tell the gang, Aunt Sally. But I didn't know how to tell them," he looked up at her sadly. "I'll be leaving Mobotropolis. Today. And I probably won't be coming back," he told her, looking at his feet, swinging them slightly.
"What?! Why?" Sonic jumped up in front of the two from his hiding place amongst the bushes. So much for being discreet.
"Sonic, what are you doing here?" Sally narrowed her eyes slightly.
"It does not matter, Aunt Sally," Tails muttered. "Like I have said, I will be leaving today. I will be going back to my homeland. I know you found me when I was only five, Sonic, but I do remember my homeland. And my so called guardian came to me yesterday, to pick me up," he told them sadly. "I wanted to say goodbye to all of you one last time before I go, but I did not know what to say, how to tell everyone. It's so sudden that I never really got to think about how to let everyone know. So I decided to meet you and tell you, so that you would tell everyone for me," he hung his head. "I'm sorry."
Sonic sat down next to Tails. "Why didn't you tell us earlier? You know, to prepare for it earlier? You must know that you would be going home one day, right? So why did you keep quiet about it?"
"Because I did not intend to go back home," Tails said bitterly. "I wanted to stay here for the rest of my life. But a problem occurred. So I have to go," Tails gulped, swallowed the lump in his throat.
Sonic was about to ask why, but Sally spoke up first. "It's alright Tails. It's your own private affair as to why you wanted to stay here, so I won't ask you why. I know problems would occur sometimes, so I understand your need to go back."
Tails looked up at his 'aunt', eyes brimming. "Thanks, Aunt Sally," he leaned over and hugged her, tears falling in little streams.
Sonic though about it for a while. He didn't want to leave his best friend alone to face whatever made him want to stay here. He didn't want his buddy to leave in the first place. 'Damnit!' he though to himself. He knew that whatever made Tails need to go back was important, so he couldn't make Tails stay, didn't want to. So...
"Tails, how about we come with you?" Sonic suggested.
"What?!" Tails yelped when he heard that, jumping a little. "You can't!"
Sonic and Sally looked at the fox in puzzlement. "Why not?"
"Because...! Because... you just can't!" the fox panicked. "It's a very private matter, Aunt Sally. I can't have you follow..."
Sally nodded, remembering her former words. "Alright... can you tell me where your homeland is?"
Tails calmed down slightly. "It's not on his continent, Aunt Sally. It's on another continent, one that you'll never know about, never find, unless you're allowed to, or already know where it is," Tails looked the ground.
Both the squirrel and hedgehog arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Tails?" a new voice intruded upon them. "Are you ready?" a cream colour fox wearing a dark blue jacket and similarly coloured long pants with boots appeared from the darkness of the night, where the lights couldn't reach.
"K-Kyla..." Tails got up sadly. "I've been very happy with you guys, Sonic, Aunt Sally. I'm glad that I got to be part of the adventure in defeating Dr. Eggman. I won't forget you, and I hope you guys won't as well," he said softly, until it was almost a whisper. "Goodbye..." he turned. "Okay, Kyla. We can go now," he addressed the older fox.
Kyla nodded. "Let us go, then," she led the way. Then she paused. "Where is your baggage?" she inquired.
"On the Tornado SS. I won't be taking the same transport as you. I'll fly my own plane," Tails replied. He turned to look at the squirrel and the hedgehog one last time, waving. "Goodbye..."
Then, he finally left, disappearing into the darkness with Kyla.
Kydra (AKA author): I've decided to take up this personal fox character of mine for this Sonic fic. Anyway, to clear up some stuff, Sonic and Sally and most of the others are 20 year old. Tails is 12, since he's supposed to be 8 years younger than Sonic.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll try to reply in the next chapter. Also, please note that chapter uploading would be inconsistent since I can only type well when I'm in the mood.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Trust. Have a nice day.