Cosmo's POV
"You seem stressed," I said. Tails was entirely focused on the scanner's readings that he had not heard me at all.
"So far, your readings seem normal," He said, still typing away. He turned for a brief second to ask me, "Did you say something?"
"Nevermind. I can tell your busy."
His brows furrowed, "Are you okay, Cosmo? Your readings say your fine, but I can't tell if you are."
I sat up straighter, "I could say the same for you, Tails. Lately, I need a scanner to tell me how you're feeling."
He smiled at the joke, but brushed away my concern. I just wish he would tell me what's worrying him. Hm... maybe I should to try different approach.
I slid off the examination desk, and came by his side. I tucked my arm under his, knowing how much affection means to him. I told him, "I know something's bothering you. You have dark circles under your eyes."
He looked away, ashamed. I rested my head on his shoulder, "You're worrying me. I just want to help you, but I can't if you don't say anything."
He replied, "I'm not worried, I just... have a lot on my mind."
I put my hands on my hips, giving him a look, "Tails, that is worrying!"
He crossed his arms defensively, "No it's not! There's a difference! If I was worrying, there would be a lot more stress eating."
I cocked my head at the baked goods by his desk. He blushed, "That's my breakfast?"
"It's past lunch," I frowned at him.
"It is? Geez, you'd think I'd look at my watch more for the time," He said, doing that.
I sighed, looking away from him. "Tails, why can't you tell me what's wrong? You trust me for other things, but never for your own well-being. I trust you with mine."
He finally took me seriously, his ears folding down, "I'm sorry. It's a bad habit I've gotten into lately."
"Well, I don't like it. It doesn't suit you."
"I know, it's just that since finding out Sonic's keeping secrets from me, I've just been hurt," Tails finally confessed to me, "He means well, I'd like to think he does, but I don't know! He isn't here for me to ask, and I can't take it out on Oz anymore! So it's just frustrating! I love him, but I want to punch him sometimes! It's like he doesn't care! I know he does, but does he really if he keeps hurting me like this?!"
He huffed, calming down again. He took a deep breath, and let it out. "Sorry, but that was cathartic."
"I could tell," I said. I placed my hand on his shoulder, "I don't mean to force it out of you, but you really should talk about this more."
Tails nodded. Then he started to giggle, a big grin growing on his face. I asked, "What?"
He giggled, "I think we had our first fight."
"I don't think that's something we should be laughing about," I said, but I was giggling as well. He laughed at me, and I pushed him to the side.
His watch started beeping. An incoming call. He answered it, stifling his giggles, "Yes?"
"Tails! Is Oz with you?" Amy's panicked voice asked him. That stopped the laughter.
"Isn't Oz with you? On your date?" He asked.
"He's gone! I can't find him!" She sounded as if she had been, or still was, crying.
"Did he run off again?" Tails asked, annoyed. How disappointing. I just got him happy too.
Amy protested, "No! He left for a second! He wanted to surprise me with something!"
Tails said, "And surprise, surprise, he's gone. Sounds like something Sonic would do."
She suddenly yelled, startling us, "You're not listening!! I think he got into a fight and was taken somewhere!!"
Tails held his one ear, the one she screamed into, and said, "Okay, okay. I'll send over the Chaotix. They'll help you find him."
"You should be down here too!" She scolded.
Tails wasn't amused, nor fazed, "I'm busy! I'm working with Rotor on that weapon so we can prevent this from happening again! I only had to stop to run a few scans on Cosmo."
Amy scoffed, "Of course you stopped for her."
Tails took offense. He snapped, "Listen here! If you find some real evidence, I'll make sure every Freedom Fighter in the capital is down there! So why don't you start looking!"
He hung up before Amy could say anything. Tails paused, "I shouldn't have said that..."
I winced, nodding.
"I think you need sleep," I told him.
"Yeah... that's a good idea..." He sighed.
Third Person's POV
They snuck in through the backdoor.
Myles poked his head into the living room. Silver was reading, and Sonic was still fast asleep. No sign of Valorie or Rose. He gave Charlie and Connie a thumbs up. All three went through the backdoor again to come through the front.
Myles said, "We're back."
Silver looked up from his book, and smiled, "That was quick."
"It was a half day," Myles said, throwing his backpack down. Silver noticed Connie's red face, to the dismay of the two boys.
"What happened? Were you crying?" Silver asked her, kneeling down to her eye level.
Connie adverted her eyes towards the floor. Myles and Charlie peeked over Silver. Cass, Chocola, and Shadow snuck into the living room, and headed towards the stairs. They needed a little more time. At that moment, Connie saw Chocola out of the corner of her eye, and started crying again. The trio used the distraction to their advantage, and made their way upstairs quickly.
"Oh no no no!" Silver consoled, picking up Connie in his arms. He rocked her a little. "Ssh, ssh, it's okay, it's alright. The school day's over. You don't have to cry anymore."
Silver glanced at the two boys, mouthing, "What happened?"
They shrugged, feigning ignorance. Charlie offered, "Why don't we bring her upstairs? Myles and I are going up there anyways, to start our homework. The two of us can tuck her into bed while we're up there."
Myles wanted to kick Charlie but didn't. Silver offered to take her up himself, but Connie protested through her tears, "No! Please, I want to go with them!"
"O-Okay," Silver said, putting her down. He was puzzled but didn't want her to get more upset. Connie took Charlie's hand, and the six-year-olds went upstairs.
Myles followed, "I should probably go with them. Y'know?"
Silver said, "Yeah, if-if you need help, at all, just call me. Alright?"
Myles nodded, "Of course, of course."
As he went upstairs, he heard Silver say to himself, "Huh. Kids these days are so self-reliant. Or, they're not Marine."
Myles was the last to enter Connie-or rather-his temporary room, and shut the door. He was immediately stared down by Shadow.
Myles shrunk against the door, "Heh. You're-You're scarier than Shades..."
"Is he my doppelgänger?" The dark hedgehog asked. Myles nodded in confirmation, sliding all the way to the floor.
Connie was still trying to stop crying. Chocola crawled across the floor to her, still unable to fly after all of that. Charlie pushed him down, "Leave her alone, you pest!"
"Stop it!" Connie scolded him. She picked up the chao, and cradled him. "It was accident!"
"We nearly died!" Charlie argued, "How can you call that an accident?"
"We weren't going to die," Cassidy reasoned, coming between the two. "We were about to fall into another dimension. Until you saved us, Shadow."
He gave a curt nod, not one to talk or emote frequently. But his mind was reeling. So this is where Sonic's been hiding? With all these whiny humans? He pushed the idea away, recognizing that they were whiny kids that were shaken up by what happened. Still, it irked him that now he was stuck with them, and Sonic on top of it.
Myles struggled to think, rubbing his temples with worry, "God... What are we gonna do...? What's Val gonna say...? What are we gonna say? God, we're in so much trouble..."
Charlie held his legs, staring blankly, "Hector and Eli are going to kill me for this. If Valorie doesn't first."
Cassidy leaned against the bed, "My sisters don't even know about Sonic. If they found out about any of this, they'd send me back to our old country."
Connie was quiet, hardly holding the chao, just allowing him to sit in her lap. Chocola was rightfully ashamed, not making a peep. When she did speak, she mumbled, "What about Mr. Shadow? Where will he stay?"
The kids looked at the hedgehog to see if he had any input. He didn't. Connie continued, solemn, "Mother asked Shades if he wanted to live with us since he doesn't have a home. But Shades told her that since Myles, Sonic, and Rose live with us, she can't take care of him too..."
She paused in case anyone wanted to speak. She asked, "Can Mommy not take care of all of us? Cause I don't want Mr. Shadow to be homeless...." She was welling up again, the third-to-fourth time today.
Shadow put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Thank you, but I can take care of myself."
Connie sniffed, wiping her face. Cassidy stood to get her friend some tissues. Chocola gave Connie a remorseful look, still feeling guilty for what happened. Charlie's anger was now gone, apologetically petting the chao with a finger. Myles organized his thoughts again, and started to come up with a plan to break the news to everyone.
Then the door opened.
Heads turned to Silver, whose jaw fell open. "You... weren't at school, were you?"
Shades' POV
I knew right away I wasn't on Earth.
I found myself in a field of tall grass when I had just been sitting on the roof. Then some bat came over and instantly confirmed it for me. She stared at me with wide eyes, her jaw dropping. I didn't move, but waited for what she was going to do next. Finally, she walked over, never taking her eyes off me.
When she was a foot or two apart, she spoke, "You're Shadow's doppelgänger?"
"You tell me," I told her, "Who's Shadow?"
She looked me over, "Yeah, you're him. But how'd you get here?"
"That's what I would like to know."
She smirked, as if used to this kind of reply. The bat held out a hand, "The name's Rouge. What's yours, handsome?"
"Shades," I said, ignoring her hand. "How do you know about the doppelgängers?"
She put her hands on her hips coyly, "I met your friend, Oz. And since you know, you've met Sonic, right?"
I gave a curt nod. Rouge gave one back.
"Good," She said, "Now we can update each other as two what's going on. Although," She turned on her heel, "We've got ourselves a bit of a problem. How are we gonna explain two humans being here instead of one? I'll have to report this down in HQ."
I heard a beeping noise. Rouge looked at her watch. "That must be them," She said, and it opened to a call, "Rouge here."
"Rouge! Is the rest of your team with you?"
"Uh..." Rouge glanced at me, then at a robot I hadn't noticed until now. It was glitching out, "Sort of. What's the matter, Tangle?"
"The commander wants everyone back! We have an emergency situation!"
"How so?" Rouge asked, "Is Eggman on the move? To be honest, I thought he died."
"No! We just heard word that Oz is missing!"
I stiffened, "Oz?"
Rouge repeated, mildly surprised, "Missing? How'd that happen?"
"Not sure, but the Chaotix are already on the case, and the Freedom Fighters are on alert."
"So they need us, huh?" Rouge raised a brow, then shrugged, "Figures."
"That's not all. We received a ransom note in HQ just a few minutes ago."
"For Oz?"
"For Honey the Cat and Mina the Mongoose. They're being held hostage by a gang back in Casino Park. They're willing to let them go in exchange for a hearty amount of rings."
"Son of a bitch," Rouge groaned. "You didn't give them the money, did you?"
"No. We're planning a rescue. That's why we need your team."
She sighed, "I've got my own problem here. We're still far from HQ so keep me posted."
"Yes, ma'am."
The call ended there. Rouge looked up at me, "You came at the worst possible time."
I asked, "How far are we from Casino Park?"
She looked at me, "I'm not taking you there."
I stood up, "Then where was Oz last seen?" She rolled her eyes at me.
"You haven't been here for five minutes, and you already want to throw yourself into hell." Rouge smirked, "You're Shadow, alright."
Third Person's POV
Valorie and Rose didn't come home until late. They pulled into the driveway, and sat there in silence. The girls hadn't gone to the store.
Valorie was on the verge of tears, but didn't cry. Rose looked anxiously at her mentor, so desperately wanting to console her. But even she was shaken. Val took a deep breath, both hands still clutching the steering wheel. She said, "Rose. What happened stays in the car. We don't mention this to anyone."
"But what about-"
"No one."
Rose shut her mouth. Valorie was dead set on it. "Do you understand, Rose?"
She said quietly, "Yes."
They got out of the car and approached the door. Valorie took another breath before it opened. Silver smiled awkwardly, "Hello!"
Rose managed a simple, "Hey."
Silver told them, "I put the kids to bed, and sent Charlie home. I thought you'd be back earlier."
Rose lied, "We got held up. We couldn't make it to the store." She sat on the couch next to a blue hedgehog. He was making pained noises in his sleep. Probably a nightmare. She petted his head, brushing quills out of his face. There was nothing else she could do to help him.
Silver looked between the girls, "Are you two okay? Did something happen?"
Neither of them answered. Val silently went upstairs. Silver worried she'd see Shadow in Myles' room, but she went to her own room. Connie was asleep in there. Val sat down on the bed, and watched over her daughter.
Meanwhile in the other dimension, Tails still hadn't slept a wink. He had been tossing and turning in bed for hours, and a migraine was starting to form. Finally, he had enough. The fox got out of bed and went somewhere else. Sonic's room.
He remade the bed, it was still a mess from when he searched the room. When the bed was neat enough, he slipped in. Memories came instead of sleep.
The bad ones appeared first, the ones where Sonic would avoid him or convince him to do something that were deemed less dangerous. But then, there were good ones. Getting into trouble together, rambling about inventions while he listened. Then there were memories of Uncle Chuck, which took him by surprise. Inventing together while Sonic just watched. Listening to him and Sonic play guitar. Tails was overwhelmed by the memories, putting him to tears.
He sobbed into the pillow. It felt good to cry. For the longest time, he felt that couldn't. He never finished grieving after all. He wailed so loudly, he feared someone would hear him. No one else was on the Hailstorm.
Except for one.
He heard the storming sound of footsteps in the hall, but they slowed down. Amy opened the door. She had been angry at him for what he said over the phone. It was diminished as soon as she saw him.
She approached the fox worryingly, the older sister in her taking full control. "Tails? Tails, are you alright?" She asked. He rolled over in bed, still crying.
"I'm sorry... Amy, I'm so sorry..." Tails cried. "I was being so rude..." She didn't care about that anymore.
She hugged him, biting her tongue when his claws dug into her back. She soothed him, "I forgive you. I wasn't being nice either. Is that why you're upset? Did I hurt your feelings?"
He sniffed loudly, and shook his head in her shirt. Amy asked patiently, "Then what is it?"
The orange fox raised his head to look at her.
It reminded her just how old the genius was. He bawled, "I want my big brother! And my uncle! I want Sonic! And Chuck! I just want them back!"
Her heart broke at these words.
She hugged him even tighter. She had no clue what to say to him. When she was his age and lost Uncle Coffee, no one knew the right thing to say. Now with the roles reversed, she could see why. She sat there quietly, and rocked the small boy back and forth, letting him cry. She mumbled, more to herself than him, "He'll be back. He will come back."
Tails whimpered at the words, knowing who she meant. He believed her. And he believed in Sonic, no matter how much he was hurting.
(8/8/21)