Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. Another one-shot begged to be written first.

… And a Good Friend

It has been almost a month since Miles Prower has last seen his best friend. Just like before he opened up to Sonic that one faithful night, Miles is at home, not in the mood to get up from the couch. He is pretty sure that this is what a depression looks like.

He goes by his original name again. He doesn't want to be reminded of what he has lost. It's also why he tries is hardest to see as little of his friends as he can without hurting their feelings or alerting them that maybe he isn't as 'fine' as he portrays himself to be. Every time he sees them, every time they call him Tails, he remembers not only the limb he lost, but mostly the freedom he'll never get back again.

Another reason why he won't see his friends, is because when he does, he's unsure on what to do. Everything he used to like doing, is linked with the person he once used to be. Now that he is this empty shell of a child once full of life, he doesn't do anything more but hang around his home, watch some tv and sleep. After all, it wasn't just a tail he lost. He lost his identity.

His entire life has been formed around the existence of his two tails. If it wasn't for them, his parents might have still been there for him. And otherwise, if they truly were unable to take care of him, he would have been living in an orphanage instead of being dumped onto the streets to fend for himself. He had thought he was cursed, doomed to live a life of hunger and pain, bullied by strangers who for some reason thought it was okay to torture a child because of a birth deformity.

And then he was proven wrong when a certain blue hedgehog took it upon himself to teach Miles to love his extra appendage. He offered him a home, a new name and a brand new point of view for him to discover to his heart's content. The flying had enabled him to take on a new role in his life as that of a sidekick and a younger brother of the world's most renowned superhero, Sonic the Hedgehog.

All of the sudden, he had a home, food and warmth and a place where he could learn. Finally he was able to saturate his curiosity and quench his thirst for knowledge. He had a goal and a guardian to look up to. He became a real person, or at least had a model of a person he could grow up into. And even though his youth was still far from the picture-perfect childhood Sonic always told him he deserved, he loved life.

But now everything might have been for nothing. Because the person he had envisioned himself to be in the future, the person he had so desperately wanted to become, was a person with two tails. He wants to be Tails. Now he feels like all he has left is his intelligence.

He can't be a sidekick anymore. He can't help his friends in their constant battle to keep the planet safe. He isn't even sure if he can still be Sonic's little brother. He can't fly.

Oh how he misses the flying. Sure, taking one of his planes up for a spin whenever he wants to is more flying than most Mobians can even imagine themselves to be able to do, but to Miles it isn't the same. Propelling yourself through the open air, nothing but you and the wind whistling past your ears, being able to control your flight with the flick of a tail, that's where the magic is found according to Miles. Piloting a huge metal bird through the skies is not the same as being the bird soaring over the clouds.

Another thing he has always loved when flying, is the constant competition with nature. The wind would challenge him sometimes, pushing and pulling from all sides, like it tried to play him. Other times it would be rain, forcing him to use his other senses, anything but sight. He liked how mother nature would always push him to his limits. She could take him down easily, put him in his place like adults have always done for as long as he can remember. But she doesn't. Instead she allows Miles to mess around in her sky, only occasionally keeping him on his toes with a sudden gust of wind or a steady downpour.

The same he would always experience during his races with Sonic. Of course the blue hedgehog could beat him hands-down without even breaking a sweat. But there is no fun in that. Instead, his older brother would push him to the best of his abilities, always daring him to go a little faster than last time. Sometimes he would even let Miles win. Every time would end with the both of them laughing and having fun.

He sighs. That's another thing he won't be able to do anymore. Without his tails propelling him forward, giving him that extra speed, the fastest Miles can manage is a simple sprint. No way spending time with Sonic will ever be as exciting as it used to be.

Basically, he is just another Mobian now. Nothing special. Once, before he met Sonic and his other friends, losing a tail would have been a blessing. Like a dream come true. Now he just wonders why Chaos hates him so much, always finding another way to put him through hell.

Slowly, Miles lowers the rest of his body onto the couch, laying his head on one of the pillows against the armrest and closing his eyes. He needs sleep. Yes, that sounds good; sleep. Maybe when he wakes up, everything will turn out to be a nightmare after all.

When he wakes a couple of hours later, although to him it feels like mere minutes, he isn't alone in his house anymore. A cobalt blue hedgehog is standing in front of him and even though he used to bathe the fox as a toddler, Miles still feels a little creeped out by the idea of Sonic watching him sleep.

"S-Sonic?" his voice croaks a little and his eyes are still clouded with sleepiness.

"Hey bro, what're you sleeping for in the middle of the day? I thought the catnaps were my thing."

Miles narrows his eyes a little, now that his head has cleared up.

"How did you even-"

"Snatched the back-up keys, man. Seriously, little bro, you had me locked out of, what is legally my house, for an entire week. I just wanted to make sure I could get back in next time."

He glares at his older brother, not because of real anger, but more by design. He understands why Sonic did this. And to be honest, Sonic would never have made any of these kind of drastic decisions if Miles didn't force his hand first. The hedgehog trusts people to make their own choices in their own time. For him to believe that his best chances lie with intruding on someone else's privacy, even though Sonic has every right to it when it comes to Miles, means that the two-tailed fox has really worried his big brother.

But after that stormy night he had shared with Sonic, he realised how much he had worried his friends by totally ignoring them. He promised himself he would never do it again. Ever since, he always opened up the door when they knocked, and wouldn't refuse too many of their invites to come over and do something fun.

"I won't lock you out anymore, Sonic. Promise," Miles tells him honestly.

Sonic smiles at him, a cocky one like he already knew Miles was going to tell him this. He throws the keys back onto the cabinet on the left-side of the door, then comes over to sit next to his brother.

"Yeah, didn't think I would have to use them either. But when I knocked and you didn't open up, you got me worried again. Of course I didn't know that this time you were really sleeping."

The smirk on Sonic's face softens and turns into a gentle, proud smile. It isn't often that Sonic fully voices his pride or brotherly love for the yellow fox, but Miles can always tell by the look on the hedgehog's face. And he can't help but smile too.

"Anyway," Sonic says, moving back up from the couch again and moving towards the front door. "I got you a little get-well-present. And yeah I know it's late," he adds, giving Miles a playful wink while disappearing through the front door. He leaves it open though, and keeps talking.

"It sort of had to be built still. And I can tell you, none of those so-called mechanics out there are as smart or fast as you are. Now I remember why I got myself a techno-know-it-all-bro a couple of years back. Sure, you gotta feed and wash them every once in a while, but they're way more practical."

Miles rolls his eyes good-naturedly. Leave it to Sonic to hide an obvious compliment into another one of his jokes. He's glad his bro is back again. He knows his rather depressed attitude has been the cause of more than a couple of awkward moments between them, especially the night he broke down. Sonic hates tears and he's always very uncomfortable in tense situations. Miles thought it was the reason why he hadn't seen Sonic in quite some time now, but apparently other things had kept the hedgehog away. He wonders what the present might be…

Then, all of the sudden, multiple things happen all at once. First, Miles hears someone shouting. Or more specifically, he hears Sonic yelling something along the lines of: "Watch out!" and "Sorry bird!" Quickly after, the blue hedgehog comes flying into the house, zooms over the couch and grabs the surprised fox still sitting there under both his arms. Luckily, they make it back outside with only two photographs and a small coffee table as casualties.

Only when he is outside, and feels the wind running through his fur and his feet dangling in the air, Miles realises he is flying again. The sun is there, the birds are there, the wind is there. The highest branches of the trees beneath him are tickling his feet. Normally he would be annoyed by that and increase his attitude, since he is awfully ticklish. But not today. Today he just laughs.

A low chuckle right above him reminds him that this time, he isn't flying alone. Sonic's strong hands keep a firm hold underneath his arms and are the only attachment Miles still has to the real world. Everything around him seems too good to be true.

"Nice to hear you laugh again, Tails," Sonic tells his little brother.

He doesn't correct him. He doesn't want to anymore. For the first time since he lost his tail, Miles feels like Tails once again. And even though he isn't sure how he could even have lost such a big part of his identity that he couldn't even feel like himself anymore, he is more than happy to be Tails once again. Tails is happy, Tails is carefree. Tails is the younger brother of Sonic the Hedgehog. Tails is smart, Tails has friends. He feels like the luckiest person that has ever existed.

Tails can't keep it in any longer. He shouts out his delight for the world to hear: "Whoohoo!"

And that's all the incentive Sonic needs to rev up their speed and fly his younger brother over the beautiful land they call home. They fly over Station Square, a place Tails hasn't been for weeks. They move over the woods they both love so much and even soar across the ocean. Finally, Sonic lands them both at the beach where their first home still stands proudly.

"How was that, Tails?"

The fox and hedgehog sit side-by-side in front of their old home, Tails tinkering with the jetpack in his lap. He is still astonished with the work the mechanics have done. How his brother was able to find people willing to work on something as complicated as a jetpack, especially since materials and research into the mechanisms probably cost a lot more than Sonic has to spent, is beyond him. And all the time it must have taken… All of that just for him.

"It was the most amazing thing ever, Sonic."

Neither of the Mobians is looking at the other. But both show they are listening by quick ear-twitches the other can see from the corner of their eye. Sonic's gaze is trained on the blue, orange-turning sky in front of them.

"I didn't know flying was so important to you," he mumbles. "I mean, I know you loved it. That you still love it. But I didn't figure not being able to fly would drag you down the way it did."

For the first time in weeks, Tails manages to keep a bright smile etched on his face, even when his best friend sobers a little.

"I know, but I don't think the inability to fly is what hurt me in the end."

Tails glances sideways long enough to catch the look of surprise on Sonic's face. It prompts him to go on.

"I thought I missed the flying, that without it I could never be happy again. That I can't be myself anymore because I can't fly. But after today, I don't think so anymore. I thought flying was the only way I could hang out with you. Sure, we do stuff besides running and stopping Eggman, but our entire friendship is basically build on me being able to keep up with you."

Sonic wants to interrupt, to tell his brother that that's not true. He wants to tell Tails that the fox means so much more to him than just a sidekick. He wants to apologise because he never meant for Tails to feel like that. But before he gets the opportunity, Tails continues.

"I don't know Sonic, I was just scared then. I lost a big part of me. The flying was important to me, my tail was important to me. But you guys are so much more important, Sonic. And I was afraid that I would get kicked off the team if I wasn't a real help anymore."

"But Tails you… I mean, we would never… How could you even think-"

Tails giggles slightly, but Sonic hardly notices as he flounders for the words he can't find. Lucky for him, Tails is just full of them today.

"Safe your breath, big bro," he smiles. "I know you'd never give up on me."

Seeing his brother completely relaxed, his sky blue eyes void of any accusation the hedgehog might have expected after all Tails told him, Sonic allows a small, playful smirk on his face.

"You do now, huh?"

"Yeah. Because you did all this," Tails says, his hands indicating not only the jetpack, but the beach too. And for a moment or two, Sonic wonders if Tails means more than just the present he gave his little brother today. But whatever else Tails might be thankful for, it doesn't matter right now. Sonic knows already anyway.

"You could have left me pouting in my house after the first attempts to get me out. But you didn't. None of you did. And you, Mr. Impatient himself, actually waited on a bunch of slowpoke-mechanics to make me a jetpack, just because I was a little down. That alone makes me feel like the most important person in the world."

"Because you are the most important person in the word. At least in mine," Sonic butts in, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. "Don't you even dare to think otherwise."

And with that, all else is in the past. The rest of the evening the brothers are engaged in a heated tickle-fight. And even though they both know Sonic let him win, Tails comes out victorious and gets to fly them home.

And if the Mobians of Station Square would look up that night, they would see a blue blur being carried through the sky by a flying fox, like they have seen so many times before. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Sorry if there are any mistakes in here, I don't have a beta. Please tell me where they are and I'll fix them. Also, I thought it was really hard to write Tails so down and depressed and all. Especially since I knew what was coming later in the chapter. So if you guys could tell me if you liked that part, or any other part of course, or if you have any tips, tell me! Thank you all for reading, favouriting and all the rest and please don't forget to review! -Jay