This is a new short story I came up with. Mind you, it has angst and suspense and isn't as fluffy and light-hearted as my first fic.

Enjoy!

A Broken Wing…

It has been a little over a week since the incident. Yet to anyone who knows the normally chipper and enthusiastic fox kid, it seems like it has been months since they have last seen him smile. Not that his friends have seen much of him lately anyway. He hardly opens the door for anyone other than his doctor, who only comes by because Tails refuses to come to the hospital on his own accord to have his bandages changed.

When it is one of his friends knocking on his door, he doesn't respond. Later, when the call him on his cell after their fruitless visits, he claims he had been sleeping at the time. However, dark circles underneath his eyes tell their own story.

This time it is going to be different though. Sonic is certain his best friend will open up the door for him. Because even though the genius fox has been forcing himself into this self-imposed isolation for days now, there is not a chance in the world his little brother will sent him away now. Not with this huge storm coming up and thunder already rumbling from far away over a foaming ocean.

Yet, if Sonic is so sure of himself, then why is he walking over to his best friend's house instead of running, leaving the Sonic Boom in his wake which he is so well-known for? Sonic doesn't even know the answer himself. None of his friends have ever made him this nervous before. And this isn't just any friend of Sonic's, this is his brother. He used to bathe the kid when he was a toddler, a simple visit shouldn't feel so uncomfortable.

Soon the inevitable occurs and the Mystic Ruins come into view. When Sonic comes to stand in front of the house, his fur is uncomfortably clammy. Judging from the clouds, the slight drizzle of rain coming from the sky will soon turn into a steady downpour. Sonic really hopes Tails will let him stay the night instead of sending him off to get completely soaked on his way back .

Sonic takes a glance towards the hangar which holds the Tornado and also doubles as a workshop for Tails to tinker. Usually, Sonic would go to the hangar straight away, because that's the place Tails always is when he stops by. But lately no one has even touched the handle of the garage doors.

With a sigh, Sonic knocks on Tails' front door instead. A week ago he would've shout out his arrival, opening the front door himself since Tails would always leave it unlocked when he was home. But a lot of things have changed these past few days and the door being locked practically twenty-four/seven is the least of Sonic's worries at the moment.

After waiting a minute or so, the door still doesn't open. Sonic tries another time but to no avail.

"C'mon buddy, it's me," Sonic speaks up, loud enough for the fox to be able to hear from the other side of the door. Still nothing. Sonic sighs again, this time out of frustration, and starts tapping his foot the way he always does when his patience is wearing thin. Not that he had much to begin with. He is sick of being ignored by his younger brother. He only wants to help.

"Open up the door, Tails!"

He realises his mistake the moment the name slips past his lips. Seconds later, the hedgehog hears a key being twisted in a lock. Slowly, the front door opens to reveal a yellow-furred fox.

Sonic thought he had been prepared for this. He isn't. On the plus-side, the fox looks healthy. He is clean and his fur is brushed. There isn't even a single smudge of oil on him. It doesn't look like he has skipped meals either, like he does when he is working on a project non-stop.

But Sonic hardly notices any of this. He is focused too much on the fox's eyes. The usual bright blue orbs are grey and stare right through the hedgehog. The dark bags underneath them can be seen through the thin layer of yellow fur and are a testimony of how little Tails has slept these past few days.

"What is it, Sonic?" The fox asks, his voice cold. He turns his head away from his brother's eyes and Sonic guesses he is probably fed up with being stared at all the time. And even though Sonic is only focussed on his face, not the place everyone else keeps being drawn to lately, the hedgehog can still see how the prying eyes make the fox feel uncomfortable.

"Sorry for saying that, bud," Sonic apologises sincerely. "It slipped. I didn't mean to."

The fox shrugs but the tenseness doesn't leave his body. He scrutinizes Sonic with a watchful eye before turning around and walking back inside. He leaves the door open and Sonic takes the invitation without a moment of hesitation, glad Tails finally lets him in. Maybe the oncoming storm is making the fox feel more vulnerable than Sonic first thought.

When he walks in, he keeps his eyes trained on the back of his friend's head. He won't forgive himself if Tails catches him looking at his mutilated back instead.

"How have you been doing lately?" Tails asks, trying to sound casual as he leads Sonic over to the couch. He disappears into the kitchen for a moment, coming back with two cans of soda. Sonic easily plops down, catching the drink Tails tosses him. All seems familiar enough but both brothers can feel the suspense inside the room. Unresolved problems, repressed for days, rub against each other until the tension is almost tangible.

"Oh, I've been doing just great," Sonic answers Tails' question sarcastically. "Been hanging around the city a lot. With the weather the way it is, I've been crashing with Cream, Cheese and Vanilla from time to time. Don't know if you noticed, but even Knuckles has come down of his island more and more. You think it's because of this, you know, weather."

Tails flinches at the insistent look he gets from his older brother, wincing at the snarky undertone at the end of Sonic's sentence. The fox is smart enough to read in between the spoken lines.

Firstly, Sonic hates to spent too much time in the same place. And when he does stick around, he always spends the night at the Mystic Ruins. Unless they're both invited elsewhere. Second, Knuckles hardly ever comes down from Angel Island, only when it is an emergency. Even when there is a holiday or a birthday party to be celebrated, Knuckles only stops by for a couple of hours. It must have taken a lot for the hot-headed echidna to visit Mystic Ruins not only once, but multiple times this last week, leaving his important duty as a guardian on the back-burn.

I didn't even bother to open up the door for him, the fox thinks sourly.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles out loud, sinking down into the spot next to Sonic.

His best friend allows a small smile to creep on his face. "Apology accepted," the blue hedgehog replies smoothly.

" If-," Sonic continues without missing a beat. "You tell me the reason for locking me out."

Pale blue eyes freeze the moment the words leave Sonic's mouth. A glare, which might as well be mistaken for a painful grimace, creeps onto Tails' face and for a moment, Sonic feels like he doesn't even want to know what's bothering the fox.

Well, of course he knows the culprit of Tails' pain. It's pretty obvious. But apparently there is more to this than just the physical wounds on Tails' body and since the fox refuses to seek out any help from his friends, Sonic worries this might be way over his head. Tails always talks to him. Ever since the kid told him all about what happened on Cocoa Island when he was just a little fox, there have never been secrets between the two of them. And Sonic isn't going to allow Tails to rip their friendship apart just because the fox thinks his problems are too big for his friends to handle.

But before either of them can say anything else on the matter, a loud clap of thunder rolls through the sky. Sonic softly curses when Tails' ears fall flat against his head, a trembling tail moving around his body like a safety blanket. A lightning storm is the last thing his little brother needs to be dealing with right now.

Leaving everything he wanted to confront the fox with for later, Sonic quickly takes matters into his own hands. A couple of minutes later both brothers are covered by a mountain's worth of blankets, a big bowl of chips wedged between them, and neither really watching the moving playing on TV. Tails is far gone into his own world and Sonic can't help but let his eyes drift back to the unresponsive fox sitting next to him. Tails doesn't even flinch anymore when lightning strikes. He just sits there in a miserable, trembling ball of fluff and blankets.

"You know, Tails, you'll probably feel ten times better if you'd just tell me what's bothering you. I'm here for you, all of our friends are. We just want to help you."

Rain keeps pelting down against the window. Claps of thunder follow the strikes of lightning fast, as if light and sound are competing with one another. It reminds Sonic of when he still thought he could be faster than light.

"You can't," Tails mumbles, finally speaking again, and for a moment the hedgehog wonders if Tails just read his mind. Soon he realizes though, Tails just responded to what he had said earlier.

"Come again?" Sonic tries, unsure of what the fox means.

"I said you can't."

Tails stands up, the blanket falling off of him, giving Sonic a glimpse of the heavy bandaging running along his brother's lower back. The younger doesn't see the grimace on Sonic's face though. Eyes flash around wildly before settling on the hedgehog on the couch again.

"You can't help me with this because I used to help you with it."

Pain shimmers in bright blue eyes. Tails' features are contorted into a painful expression. It's ugly in an awful way. And Sonic can't help but feel slightly responsible for it. Nothing would have happened if he had taken better care of his brother.

For a moment, neither of the brothers dare to say anything. Tails looks like he's on the verge of completely breaking down and Sonic has no idea what to do.

"I just want to fly!"

Flying. A simple feat that used to be as natural to Tails as walking was, even though he is the only fox that is able to do so. It made him so special. It had always made him special, but ever since Tails befriended Sonic, it also made him proud. Ever since, it was Tails and Sonic, Sonic and Tails; the blue hedgehog and the two-tailed vulpine, the fastest thing alive and the flying fox.

Now, they'll never be like that again unless Tails takes one of his beloved bi-planes up in the air.

Lightning strikes, quickly followed by the thunder. The immense scare of the boom, combined with the emotional trauma the fox is dealing with, cause him to collapse on the ground in a sobbing mess. He desperately tries to cover himself with a quivering, fluffy tail but fails miserably. Because… because there is only one.

It was Eggman's doing. One of his new creations got lucky. Sonic doesn't even really understand what happened that day. He just remembers Tails bleeding badly from a gaping wound that looked like it would never close; Knuckles pushing cradling the limp fox into the blue hedgehog's arms, urging Sonic that he's got it covered; running Tails to a hospital and having to wait forever till he could see his buddy after they had taken him away. The last thing he remembers is waiting for his little brother to wake up, wondering how he is supposed to tell his two-tailed best friend that he didn't have two tails anymore.

He kneels next to Tails and again his eyes catch the white bandages wrapped around his younger brother's lower back. The wound had been too severe. The tail that had been attached to the fox's body on the exact spot where the bandages are thickest, had been barely hanging on by the time Sonic got Tails to the hospital. The doctors had eventually amputated it to give the rest of the wound a chance to heal.

"I wanna fly. I wanna fly so badly," the yellow child sobs wetly. Sonic gathers his broken brother into his arms and holds him tight.

Refusing to tell him any more senseless promises of: "it's going to be alright" and "you'll be okay", Sonic doesn't know anything else to say other than:

"I know."

The rest of the night they spent together on the living room floor.

Don't worry, there is another chapter coming after this one, and that one will be way less angsty. I hope everyone liked this and if anything is unclear or if you have any tips or compliments, please review! -Jay