Big Brother

Chapter 8: Past a Mile in your Shoes

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

Contrary to popular belief, Knuckles the Echidna was not a very good at waiting. Yes he was very good at guarding the Master Emerald but that was not waiting, he was fulfilling the duty that had been forced upon him. While Sonic may not be able to tell the difference the Guardian knew that these were two very different actions. Protecting the Master Emerald did not just mean sit and stare at it; it involved going around, checking his traps and keeping the island safe. Defeating Eggman also comes under this duty. The human had come for the powerful gem several times in the past and that in its self made him a threat to his mission in life. And of course he had to look after himself; there were plenty of places to get food and water on the island if you knew where to look. That explained why this felt like it was taking an eternity.

The echidna was sitting in the living room of Tails' workshop, trying to keep his mind busy while he heard news of how Sonic was. Amy, Cream, Cheese and Tails were all upstairs helping in some way or form, he could too if he wanted to but he decided that it was already too crowded in the bedroom so he kept out of the girls' way. Originally Tails was down here with him, pacing and blaming himself for what had happened before he bolted upstairs to see what was happening. He had not come down since.

He didn't like being away from his post for this long unless there was a good reason as to why. The main reason is mostly to stop Eggman which in a way was keeping the Master Emerald safe. Others included finding the shards of the emerald those two times it had broken or if he needed a favour from one of his friends, which didn't happen often. However, the spiky blue loudmouth was hurt, taking a blow to the head and as much as the hedgehog annoyed him he didn't deserve this. Neither did his fox friend, his mental state was another reason as to why he was still here.

Tails' mental state was fragile enough, saving the world and looking after the blue blur was stressful enough without only being eight and having to raise yourself as well. Then he makes up some story about reality changing and that Sonic should be ten years older. As the only person who knew about this Knuckles found himself the most concerned but surely the girls had noticed something was different. They're around enough.

His trail of thought was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. He saw that they belonged to Amy and Cream, the latter holding Cheese in her arms. They didn't look happy.

"How is he?"

Amy answered after glancing at the rabbit. "He's going to fine in time. He took a bad hit to the head but he's Sonic, he shrugged of falling from the Egg Carrier. He needs rest."

This confused Knuckles. "If that's all why do you look so down?"

"Its Tails" the hedgehog said with a sigh.

"Chao chao" Cheese said in the same tone.

"Mr Tails thinks that it is his fault that sonic got hurt" Cream explained. "He said that he was going to say with Sonic until he wakes up. Poor Mr Tails, I don't think I've ever seen him this sad."

"So now what?" the Guardian asked.

"I don't think it's a good idea to leave him alone" Amy said, which Cream and Cheese nodded in agreement.

"Are you staying Mr Knuckles?" the rabbit asked.

"I can't. I have to guard the Master Emerald."

"Really?" she replied sadly.

"You can't even try to stay?" Amy enquired with a huff.

"Believe me, I would if I could but I've been here long enough. If I don't go soon Angel Island will drift too far away from the mountains for me to get back by myself. And I don't know if I trust Tails to fly the Tornado in this state" he explained.

"Hm, I guess I can let you off this once" the pink Mobian said, crossing her arms.

"Be careful Mr Knuckles" the younger Mobian said, both her and her blue companion waving.

"I will" Knuckles replied, opening the door to leave but stopped. "Make sure the kid doesn't do anything stupid." With that he went through and closed the door, sprinting into the horizon.

"I guess he does care" Amy said, still a little miffed that the Guardian left.

"That's unfair Amy" Cream replied. "Mr Knuckles has to watch the Master Emerald so he can't stay. But that doesn't mean he doesn't care." She let go of Cheese who flew towards the window, only to start pointing and crying. "What's wrong Cheese?"

Both girls looked outside the window only to find the sky red. "I didn't know it was that late" Amy thought out loud.

Cream and Cheese's face fell. "Amy, we have to go back home before it get dark or else Mama will be worried."

"I know Cream" the older Mobian said reassuringly. "I think we have enough time to make Tails some dinner, don't you?"

"I think we do."

The fox was sitting on the end of the bed watching his sleeping brother. The girls had wrapped a bandage around the top of his head, a job that was harder than usual because of his quills. "At least he looks peaceful now" he thought. His mood had not lifted and now that he thought about it, the scene was exactly like it had been the night he had made the wish. The older brother sitting at the end of bed watching the younger brother sleep, it brought back some more unpleasant feelings. Judging by the colour the room was the day was nearing its end.

He heard a knocking at the bedroom door. Amy, Cream and Cheese poked their heads in. "Can we come in?" the oldest Mobian present asked.

"Sure" he replied quietly. He notice Cream had a tray of food in her hands.

"We made you some dinner" she explained. "I hope you like it."

The fox made a weak smile. "Thanks, it looks good."

It didn't do anything to raise the pair's spirits. "Tails, we have to go now" Amy said. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I will be, when he is" he replied, downtrodden.

He had no idea how long he had sat there, the only indication of time passing was the sky which had turned dark. Once again the stars were shining and the moon was bright, bright enough to light the room. The fox could guess that it was hours since the girls left and he had his food, which was nice. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts and worry that he had not moved.

"I don't get it. Sonic never seemed to have these problems" he thought for the hundredth time that night. "He always seemed so laid back, did he hide this stress from me? But how, I know Sonic better than anyone else and I never noticed anything." He sighed. "I could really do with you being here."

He heard the little hedgehog stirring. "Tails?" he asked.

"Hey Sonic, how're you feeling?"

"I have a banging headache" the replied, rubbing his head. "What happened?" Then a memory resurfaced. "Eggman! What happened to Eggman?"

"Thanks to Amy, Cream, Cheese and Knuckles we were able to drive him off but not before you..." Tails trailed off, not wanting to remember that event.

"Oh, well that's good" he replied before asking, "What's wrong big bro?"

He hesitated and looked away before he answered. "I couldn't save you or even help and look, you got hurt. I'm an awful big brother."

"Don't say that!" the little Mobian burst out. "Yeah I got hurt but I'm fine now. Plus you told me not to fight. I'm sorry for that. Just please don't be sad."

"I don't want to be but after that I... I lost it and attacked Eggman."

Sonic's eyes widened. "Whoa, really?"

"Yeah, if Knuckles hadn't had stopped me..." he trailed off again for the same reason.

"Why's that bad? You would taught Eggman a lesson."

"Because it's not right" he snapped back. "I'm not comfortable hurting people like that. He was so defenceless, it wasn't fair."

"But why?" In Sonic's mind beating up Eggman was a good thing, maybe it would cause him to stop trying to make his lame-o-land or Eggmanland as he called it.

"Because I was brought up not to be like that."

"By that guy you never told me about until today? I don't even know his name."

Tails hesitated again. He was frazzled and couldn't think of a good lie. He had enough of this deceit.

"His name is... Sonic."

"Huh?" That really got the hedgehog's attention. "Your friend has the same name as me?"

"No!" he cried out, "he is you!"

"What?"

"Sonic, you're not my younger brother. You're my older brother. You're supposed to be fifteen, not five."

The fox's exasperated look was met by one of utter confusion. "Are you sure I'm the only one who banged his head?"

"It's true! This only happened because I wanted to know what is what like to be a big brother but I ruined everything." He grabbed his head with his hands. "All day I've made nothing but mistakes. I don't know what to do. I'm only good with machines not looking after people. I now realise that I could never have been a better big brother than you but you try to release some of that stress on me and I wish you out of existence. I now know how hard it is." His eyes welled up. "I'm sorry for everything" he cried out before sobbing into his gloves.

"I've never seen him like this" Sonic thought. "It's scaring me."

At that moment, unbeknownst to everyone, even its Guardian, the Master Emerald started to shine in an intense light that would have blinded anybody present. It quickly enveloped the emerald and expanded across the island and soon the land itself, enveloping everything in its path before everything was white.

As this was happening, Knuckles had just reached the island's surface after scaling the side of the landmass. "Phew, finally at the top" he got out before pulling himself on to his feet. "Maybe I should learn how to fly a plane just in case Tails' insanity doesn't go away." He then saw the light rapidly approaching him. "What is that? The Master Emerald is in that direction. I knew I was away for too long" he berated himself before he quickly dashed towards the light which quickly covered him.

"Amy, what's that?" Cream asked as they had just reached her house, only for the light to now to quickly approaching them. Cheese was cowering in his owner's hands.

"I don't know" the pink Mobian replied with a serious look on her face. In an instant her Piko Piko Hammer was in her hands. "It's heading this way though, so get ready." The rabbit barely had time to nod her head before the light was upon them.

The fox was too busy with his emotions to notice the light's arrival but Sonic did, however before he was able to say anything it was already upon them. The next thing the hedgehog knew everything was gone. He was still in the same sitting position he was in but the room was gone, as was Tails. The bandages around his head were gone as well. He didn't panic though, because as soon as the light consumed him new memories filled his head. Or perhaps old memories would be a better term.

He led on his back. "What is it with big brothers and breaking down like that? Is it really that difficult?"

"I think that depends on the little brother" an older version of his voice said. Looking up from his current position he saw an older blue hedgehog who looked exactly like him standing over him.

"Enjoy the show big other me?" the smaller Mobian asked.

"Oh yeah, I just enjoyed watching my little bro mentally break down several times in one day" he replied, his voice full of sarcasm and his eyes rolling.

"It was a simple question" he shot back. "No need to bite my head off about it."

The older speedster sighed and crossed his arms. "I know, I know. Sorry about that, I just don't like this situation."

Little Sonic nodded and got to his feet, a serious expression on his face. "Yeah, I hear that. I mean who could change your world to look like mine, drag me into it, alter my memories so that I think everything's fine and kick you out of the world?"

Big Sonic nodded, his expression the same. "Not just that but why as well. The only reason I can think of is so Tails would get the chance to be the big brother but what the point of that?"

The younger hedgehog stamped his foot. "How could I've not seen that everything was wrong with the world? I knew Tails was hurting but for some reason I couldn't think of why."

"At least you could try and cheer him up. You know how hard it is to watch your little bro keep breaking down like that and not be able to do anything about it."

"So you were watching, I knew it" he exclaimed getting a confused look from the other him. "I thought I could feel you around kinda. Back in the hanger you stopped him from doubting what was right, right? How'd you do that?"

"I have no idea but I'm glad it did as we'd both be in trouble if Tails started thinking that his memories were fake."

"So big me, did you find out who did all this?" he asked hopefully, but his expression dropped as the older Mobian shook his head. "So all day you did nothing?"

"Hey I didn't ask to be bound to Tails in spirit" he shot back.

The younger hedgehog turned his back to his other self and crossed his arms. "I thought old people were meant to be smart."

Older Sonic's eye twitched at this comment. "Old? You little brat! I don't see you coming up with anything either."

"You're ten years older than me; I just guessed that you would have more brain power. Plus I was busy."

"Busy making Tails cry, no wonder the Tails in your reality wanted a break."

That hurt, but he refused to let his eyes water in front of his parallel counterpart. "If you were a better brother a better old man that your Tails wouldn't have wished this to happen in the first place."

"Old man? Do I have to pound some manners into you brat?" he growled clenching a fist and ramming it into his other palm.

The other speedster mirrored the action. "Don't break a hip geezer."

With that they both leapt at each other, rolling around while grabbing each other. It wasn't a real fight, more like wrestling with each and that was something they were both used to doing to get the TV remote with their respective Tails'. The tussle lasted for a few minutes before they bumped into something solid but wet.

Both Sonics looked up to see a person made of water standing over them. If it wasn't for the green blobs that looked like eyes and the brain that was clearly visible in his liquid body it would have looked like a statue. Just looking at this being bought back unpleasant memories for the pair. It looked down towards them, causing the hedgehogs to instantly get to their feet and jump away.

"Ah, it's the living water" the younger speedster shouted.

"Chaos" the older Mobian said, identifying the creature in front of them as Chaos, the God of War and Chao. Something then struck him. "Wait a sec, you're good now right?" Chaos nodded.

"Oh yeah" the other hedgehog said, rubbing the back of his head as he did. "So if Chaos is here then..." He pointed at the water creature. "You did this."

"I don't think so" older Sonic said. "This doesn't seem like something Chaos would do."

"Changing the world isn't something anybody seems to do" younger Sonic retorted.

"True, I'll give you that one. What I meant to say that Chaos isn't likely to do all this." He closed his eyes and put on his confident smirk. "You on the other hand could do this" he shouted to no one in particular. "You have all the power of the Master Emerald to use Tikal."

Mini Sonic was going to comment on the fact that the deceased echidna was not present but another voice from behind spoke first. "Very good Sonic, I'm impressed you figured out it was me."

They spun around to see a female echidna with peachy orange fur and blue eyes behind them. She wore a white tribal dress with a green and red square pattern around the bottom of it. Her gloves were like mittens but unlike Knuckles' lacked the spikes, the cuffs of which were blue bracelets. Her shoes were sandals with bandages wrapped around them and some of her legs. She had two white stripes on one of her dreadlocks. And wore both a necklace and headdress made of gold. This was the ancient echidna spirit who lived in the Master Emerald alongside Chaos, Tikal.

"Wait, you did this?" the little speedster asked.

She nodded. "Why?" Macro Sonic enquired.

"I granted the request of both Tails'" she replied. "Sonic, your Tails wished to know what it was like to be the older brother..."

"We know that" they both said at the same time. Afterward though they both felt a shiver as Chaos appeared right behind them.

"Could you tell Chaos to give us some space?" the younger hedgehog asked.

"He just didn't like how you interrupted me. Chaos, please be good." The God then moved back. "May I continue?" They both nodded. "What you may not know is that I heard that wish and decided to grant it."

"You can do that?" the older speedster said, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"I do have all the Chaos energy in the Master Emerald, like you just said."

"I meant that you could hear him."

"Oh that. Yes, but only because it was a pure wish made on a star. Normally I would ignore it or do something small to try and make it true to some extent, but since I am still thankful to you for restoring to how he once was I decided to grant it."

"You pulled me out of my world for that?" the younger Mobian shouted. "Why? And why me?"

"And why put Tails through that if you're thankful" the other Sonic joined in.

"To help bring you closer" she answered.

"What?"

"Now Tails understands what you go through and how it makes you feel so now you can relate to each other even more."

"And me?" the other speedster asked.

"I have some limited ability to traverse realities parallel ton ours and in order to allow my plan to happen I brought the little Sonic and reshaped our world to resemble that one."

"About that..." he spoke up again. "Why not just put his Tails in my world?"

"Because I did not want Sonic to worry band the other Tails wanted to know what it was like to not have Sonic to look after, I thought I could do both at once. Afterwards I kept Sonic's spirit in the world similar to myself and altered the little Sonic's memories so that he wouldn't notice anything was wrong."

"Wow" Big Sonic gasped. "You're kinda scary when you want be."

Little Sonic looked down towards the 'ground'. "Did... did he miss me?" he asked quietly.

Tikal nodded. "Of course he did. He spent the whole day looking for you."

His expression lifted. "Can I go and see him?"

"Yes, Tails has learnt the lesson so I can now restore everything back to how it was. This even will only be remembered in this world by us and Tails. In your world Sonic..."

"Everything will stay the same" the young speedster finished. "I'm fine with that." He turned to his other self. "Well, I guess this is see ya."

"I guess he replied" before holding out his palm which the other slapped straight away. "Give your Tails a break once in a while" he said with a smirk.

The grin was returned. "You better make sure your Tails stays happy or else."

"Or else what? You won't exist in our world anymore."

"You think that would stop me."

"Nah." With that the already white world became even brighter before everything vanished once again.

The next thing he knew Sonic was back in his own room with Tails sobbing in front of him. He instantly knew what to do to make his little bro feel better, give him nice big hug.

Tails found him in an embrace but the other person felt bigger than him, which was a surprise. He thought that the only people here were him and...

"You did fine little bro."

"Sonic?" It was Sonic, his Sonic. Not the little hedgehog that he had to look after but his best friend, his hero, his big brother. He quickly returned the hug. "But how did you get back to normal?"

"Tikal changed everything back to normal after you figured out that looking after someone all the time is hard" he said with his trademark grin.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Sonic. I know now that it's difficult and stressful and sometimes even you need to blow off steam. At least you knew who to aim it at" he said, his voice ladled with regret.

"No I don't. You are not the person I should be taking it out on" he replied."I'm really sorry to put to through that."

With that look in his eyes, Tails knew that he was telling the truth. "Yeah, put at least you didn't almost beat up someone" he said, with a half smile.

"True, true. And that's not right, so I'm going to have to make sure you don't do it again." The fox knew what this meant but it was too late, Sonic put him in a headlock and gave him a nuggie.

After struggling for a minute or so, Tails finally got out Sonic's grip. "Ha ha." His face fell. "You make it look so easy. You do one thing and I'm feeling better already."

"To be fair Tails, I make everything look easy as I'm a pro." The hedgehog smug look was met by Tails' "no you're not face". "Okay, so I'm not. But you make my job a lot easier by being the best little brother ever. I mean, back then I wasn't as cool as I am now."

"Yeah." The kit replied, his tone indicating that he wasn't convinced by the hedgehog's last statement. "Not how I would put it, but yeah you weren't as cool as what you are now." A second of silence passed. "Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I ever thank you for always being there went I really needed you?"

"Hmmm" the hedgehog replied, putting on his thinking face. "Maybe once or twice but that was a long time ago." He was then piled on by the fox, who pulled him into another hug.

"Well, thanks for everything Sonic. I could never imagine life without you."

Sonic grin crept back on his face. "You're welcome. I don't want to think what life would be like without you. If I had some wish to be granted I don't know what it would be as I already have the world's best friend and best little bro."

"And I have the world's best big bro" he said with a yawn. The hedgehog then found the kit's eyelids drooping, the day's events and all of his worrying must have tired him out. Before he fell asleep Tails was able to get out "Thanks for being you."

The blue hedgehog smiled. "Right back at ya" he said before he also fell into slumber with his best friend by his side, huddling up to him.

"Thanks for being you too."

Author's Note: As promised, one rewritten ending. Well I stay that but it's more of the extented version of it. I hope that it's better than how it was. I've also gone back through the past chapters, correcting mistakes and putting thoughts in italics (why didn't I do that in the first place?).

Thanks for reading and there will be more. Please review.