HELLBOUND {Sequel}

One

__Tails groaned as Hold Me Up by Conrad Sewell played from his alarm, which rested on the nightstand to his left of his corner bed. It was 5:30 AM. Tails sat up and stretched before leaning over to his phone. Instead of saying "Wake your ass up and do something productive, lazy cunt!", it said "Good morning." Not that it would be a good morning for sure, but ever since the incident with The Devil last year he tried to treat himself better for Cosmo's sake. He didn't want her to see what he used to do, especially since he promised to live his life a good one before he could meet up with her again in the future. But if he was being honest, it no longer felt like she was in his body. He knew she was there, but he just felt like he had a normal body and mind again; he was Tails.
__Tails carefully slid off of his bed and headed straight to the bathroom for his normal morning routine. Nothing changed. When he was done he went to water the tree while it was still dark. Despite Cosmo being within him, he was still willing to water the tree every morning and evening out of respect. When Tails got back inside and put his glass in the sink he went straight into his workshop where T-Pup had been sitting right as Tails opened the door. The robot dog was wagging its tail happily while panting as it stared up at Tails. The yellow fox couldn't help but kneel down and pat its head. These days it felt like T-Pup was his best friend. 
__Tails shook out all of his thoughts as he stood up and began to check all of his gadgets, gizmos, and vehicles to make sure everything was working properly. He did this every so often. It took a few hours for him to complete this, and this time nothing was wrong. Tails went back into the living room with T-Pup following after him. Tails didn't feel like having breakfast, so he just made coffee and went to sit on the couch in the living room. He turned on the TV first before he pulled out his phone while T-Pup hopped on to the couch and laid beside his right leg. Tails dialed Sonic's phone number and waited. No one picked up. Tails sighed as he hung up and put his phone away. He knew Sonic was busy now that he was father, but it still bothered Tails that he rarely saw him anymore. Not even Knuckles would call and check on them anymore. 
__Tails looked over at his gaming console by his TV. He babysat Avery about once every two months. He was spending more time with her than Bunnie and Antoine, or any of his friends in general. He did get to babysit Sonic's daughter once, but that was over six months ago. He didn't even know how big she was now. Pretty big by now he assumed since she was one-year-old. Something else that bugged him was that he hadn't heard from Scourge and Fiona since they moved out. Well, it was only natural. They got their real family back. They didn't need him anymore. Plus, they didn't have a way to contact him anyway.
__Tails's phone buzzed. He checked and saw that Sally had sent him a message. He didn't bother looking at it as he turned his phone off. Despite everything turning out fine last year, Tails was still really annoyed with what Sally had been doing during The Devil's healing period. She had been leaving Tails out of important missions, making decisions for him, and (even though it wasn't all that big a deal) bringing in other people into a situation that wasn't their business to begin with. But Tails never brought any of this up to her. He just tried to avoid her as best he could. He did feel bad because he was especially close to her while the Freedom Fighters raised him, but he wasn't a kid anymore. He always had to remind himself of that. 

__Later that night there was faint knocking on the front door. Tails made a grunt as he stood up from the couch and went to open it. Tails was almost disappointed when it was Cream the rabbit with her chao Cheese standing shyly over the old welcome mat. She looked tired and upset.
__"Hey, Cream," Tails greeted calmly. "Feeling okay?"
__Cream shook her head. "I need to get away from mother right now."
__Tails perked his ears in shock. It wasn't like Cream to need space from Vanilla. "Has something happened?"
__Cream made a scoff, something very out of character for her, as she crossed her arms. "It's mother and Vector." Tails winced when she didn't address Vector as mister. "I need some time away from them, but I don't want to rent out a hotel room and I can't really stay with Amy anymore now she moved in with Sonic. I also just don't want to stay in Sticks's den. Since you've been more or less quiet this past year, I figured you'd be the best person to turn to."
__Tails nodded. "I get it." He moved out of the way. "Come on in then. Stay as long as you need."
__Cream sighed in relief as she walked in. "Thank you. It'll be for one night." 
__Tails grinned as he led her over to the couch and they both sat down. "Wanna tell me in detail what's going on with your parents?"
__Cream groaned. "Vector is not my dad just because he married mother."
__Tails flattened his ears. "Right..."
__"I really was happy when they first got together, but over the years they've just been way too pushy with me. I've kept my mouth shut but this morning was bad. Vector was getting on my case about one of my guy friends. I got real annoyed with him and we began to argue. This got mother's attention and she was telling me that I need to be grateful that I now had a father that cared. Of course that just made us argue. Eventually I got real mad and stormed out when Sally asked us to get together in the park."
__Tails perked his ears back up as he leaned back on the couch. "Vector's trying too hard to be your dad while Vanilla is trying to force you to accept him as such," he inferred. "You're an adult now. Why don't you just move out already?"
__"I'd like to," Cream replied promptly. "But I don't want to be by myself. Before Amy got pregnant we had plans to move in together until we were ready to have our own families."
__"Ah. So, what's the plan after tonight?"
__Cream shrugged her shoulders. "I'll figure it out once we go to the second get-together tomorrow." She then looked at Tails. "You are going tomorrow, aren't you? You didn't show up today."
__Tails sighed. "I don't know, Cream. Things are different now."
__Cream groaned as she hugged her knees to her chest. "I know what you mean." She then shook her head. "We're only having another one tomorrow because so many others couldn't make it today and said they were free tomorrow." She stared at Tails for a few seconds. "Sonic and Amy said they'd be there when Sally called them today."
__Tails couldn't help but growl. "He'll answer his ex, but not his best friend?"
__"No. He didn't answer her," Cream reassured him. "He hasn't been answering any of us. Sally had to call Amy."
__That didn't make Tails feel any better. 
__"Well, for your little predicament," he changed the subject, "I'd say ask some of the other girls if you can stay with them. Even though I know most of us guys are good, I wouldn't want you asking us unless you have no other choice."
__Cream smiled. "You always know what to say."
__"Not always." He sighed.
__"What's been going on with you then?" Cream asked. 
__Tails sighed again as he grabbed T-Pup and laid it gently on his lap and started petting it. "I don't know, man - er! Ahem. Things have just been different since Sonic and Knuckles stopped talking to me."
__Cream nodded. "Amy had stopped speaking with me and Sticks as well. But I know she and Rouge talk regularly."
__Before the two can continue talking there was another knock on the front door. This made Tails annoyed until T-Pup stood up from his lap and stared happily at the door while barking. Cream stayed sitting on the couch while Tails went to open the front door. His two tails immediately started wagging happily as he stared at Scourge and Fiona. Both were smiling at him. Tails could not contain his excitement. "Holy shit!"
__Fiona started squealing as she jumped on Tails and hugged him tightly. The two fox's laughed as Tails pulled her inside with Scourge following them in. After Tails set Fiona down Scourge immediately grabbed him from behind and started to noogie him. "Sup, dude! Long time no see!"
__Tails continued laughing as he managed to pull out of Scourge's grip and stared at the two ex criminals with joy and relief, something he hadn't felt in a long time. While T-Pup went to get their attention Tails ended up looking at Fiona's stomach, which was about eight inches out. He pointed his finger at it but couldn't bring himself to ask.
__Fiona was giggling at him. "Guess who's pregnant!"
__Tails scoffed out a laugh. "Okay! I really didn't want to ask!"
__Fiona nodded. "Yeah, you don't ask woman if she's pregnant no matter what."
__Tails looked over at Scourge. "You did consent, right?"
__Scourge nodded proudly. "Yep. I wanted this baby. She didn't have to pull a Sonic."
__They all turned when Cream started giggling from the couch. Fiona started waving at her. "Hey there, sweetheart! How are you?"
__Cream stood up and went to join them. "I've been... okay." She made an awkward grin. 
__Scourge was looking at Cream skeptically before slowly looking at Tails. "You two a thing now...?"
__Both Tails and Cream backed away from each other. "NO!" They shouted. 
__Tails immediately calmed down and managed to smile again. "She's just staying the night. She's got some family issues now."
__Cream only nodded.
__"So, where's the Destructix?" Tails asked.
__"They're holding down the fort where we live now," Scourge explained as he crossed his arms.
__Fiona scooted closer to Tails while her smile grew bigger. "As much as we love them, we really missed you guys. And since they're not that close with you, they were fine staying behind."
__"Oh!" Scourge fumbled around his pockets and pulled out a phone. He turned it on and handed it over to Tails. "We're on the grid now. Give us all your numbers and what not."
__Tails gladly took the phone and added not only his number but all of the Freedom Fighters' numbers into Scourge's contacts. Yeah, that took over five minutes. But they managed to continue to talk and catch up a little. When Tails was finished he gave Scourge back his phone.
__"So, how are Sonic and Amy?" Fiona asked excitedly.
__Tails suddenly felt annoyed. "Hell if I know. They've been keeping to themselves all year, not that I blame them. I've been doing the same thing." Tails then shook his head and grinned. "But hey! We'll be seeing them tomorrow. Obviously you two are coming."
__Scourge nodded. "Yeah, man. Of course." He then smirked. "Safe to say we're staying with you for a while again?"
__"Oh hell yeah!" Tails looked at Fiona and Cream. "For tonight, though, the girls can have my room and us two can just sleep out here."
__"Sure. That's fine."
__Fiona's tail was swaying happily as she wrapped her arm around Cream's shoulders. "Hell yeah! Girls night!"
__Cream began giggling while Cheese flew around them with T-Pup hopping up and down.

__While the girls slept, Tails and Scourge were up in the living room. The TV was still on and the two had been talking and catching up for hours. T-Pup had already went to its charging station hours ago. Scourge had been shocked that Tails hadn't pulled out a single bit of alcohol. He had to explain to him that he managed to shirk off his addiction. It had been very hard on him, but he was able to get through it by convincing himself that drinking too much would poison not only himself, but Cosmo, too. 
__"What's really going on with you and Sonic?" Scourge had brought up randomly. He had been lying on the couch.
__Tails sighed as he readjusted himself on the floor. "Like I said earlier, he's keeping to himself. I've called him every week or so, but he never answers."
__"Why don't you just show up at his house like he always did with you?" Scourge actually sounded concerned for Tails.
__"I can't just do that. Amy's living with him, and they're raising their child."
__Scourge was silent for a minute. "Has Sonic recovered at least?"
__"We'll find out tomorrow."