𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝟸

ℂℍ𝔸ℙ𝕋𝔼ℝ 𝕊𝕀𝕏𝕋𝔼𝔼ℕ

❝ 𝚒 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 ❞

🌟

Tails grunted, shuffling from beneath the metal and stone rubble. The ashes felt grainy against his gloved palms pressed into the ground, his face squished into a displeased expression as he crawled out into the hazy open. Knuckles was already out, the fall from within the robot not leaving a scratch. Tails shivered under the machine's shadow, recovering less hastily from the incident that replayed after being etched into his memories - tilting of the robot, leaning harsh enough for himself and Knuckles to sail between its teeth along with the emerald after his successful hologram act.

He shook his head, his sapphire stare breaking through the fog as his muzzle scrunched upward from the entrance of a peculiar scent. Tails scanned the surroundings with a tunnel darkening through his thoughts as his widening eyes searched for only one thing, a hand resting to his crooked knee that squeaked in pain like a mechanical joint that yearned some oiling.

Sonic. Where was he?

Tails could still smell the burning, and the fog ahead thickened to more of a deathly black than a light grey. His heart stopped, a mysterious figure slowly moving behind the heated clouds. Robotnik, looming over a faint bundle of flames. Tails' heart jumped, and he felt dizzy for a moment. Sonic and (Y/n) must be there, targeted under that sinister scarlet stare of the robot flared through the mist. As it cleared, he could see its foot raised and its eyes burning with evil intentions. He could sense it, the foot ready to stomp down and crush Sonic and his family to their demise.

"NOOOOO!!!"

Tails darted for the circle of fire bursting orange and a vicious dark red through the greyscale landscape, stumbling over the ashes about one step into it. He felt a jolt run up his arm, and turned to see Knuckles gazing sorrowfully into his soul. Those amethysts, glazed with acceptance, ignored his instinct to grab Tails by the wrist and hold him back from further travel. Pinpointing those flames felt like locating death, and the echidna didn't want to lose the fox now that Sonic and (Y/n)'s death was certainly seconds away.

Thump

Crumbs of stone from the demolished bridge and fragments of metal with scraps from the crushed car bounced up from the impact, the robotic foot slamming into the ground. Tails blacked out and his mind felt unresponsive for a moment. That was it - they were gone. There was nothing he could do. It felt like he was trapped inside a nightmare that would leave you so terrified and shaken you would lose sleep for the rest of the night, and his throat burnt dry.

His eyes felt wet, tears brewing. His heart thumped up into his mouth, the palpitations rippling over his tongue that wanted to scream. His stomach wrenched as Robotnik hissed a villainous laugh through the metal teeth, the machine clenching its fists in a sickening form of achievement. Taking four lives just like that? On purpose, no accident in sight? Only Robotnik would respond as such...

"I GOT HIM!!! I FINALLY got him!"

Tails felt his heart sink, and the grip from Knuckles tighten. The fox took a shaky breath, running in the other direction to bury his face into the echidna's rough chest. Knuckles softly returned the embrace, Tails' shuddering arms wrapping around his back to keep the fox's scarred vision away from the trauma just for a moment. He needed that - a moment to process what had just happened. His hero, gone. The one he had watched since the baseball incident that introduced him to his family that laid there with him. Everything felt like it was gone, Tails holding back a cry.

The slam extinguished the fire, draining the view of any colour pardon the hideous red in the machine's eyes. Its foot stayed in the ground, like a shoe crushing a bug. An almighty rumble rocketed underground, shaking Tails harder as he breathed out a small cry into Knuckles' shoulder. Robotnik continued to laugh evilly, so dang proud of himself, until something cut him off.