HELLBOUND {Sequel}

Thirty-two

__Everyone had met up in the Medical Bay as the Chaotix were finishing up treatment. Luckily they were okay. They didn't suffer any fractures or head injuries. They just had lots of cuts and bruises. Charmy was laying down in his bed while Vector and Espio were sitting up. Vector was looking at Tails when the fox walked up to him.
__"How you feeling?" Tails asked tiredly.
__"Little banged up, but we'll be fine." Vector then proceeded to pop his neck and back before he relaxed. "You best ask Espio what happened. I'm still trying to figure it out."
__Tails nodded and walked over to the purple chameleon. "What happened exactly?"
__"That old human has figured out how to locate me," Espio rasped shamefully. "So I had alerted the enemy."
__"It's not your fault, man," Tails reassured him. "At least you're alive. That's what matters."
__Espio nodded. "We found something to work with at least. Eggman isn't finished fixing up his robot yet, and he's not going to be for a while longer. But he's been working on making a huge army. As for his next step, I believe he does intend on attacking the city. That much I know."
__This was when Charmy sat up with a grunt. "We couldn't figure out why Sage had locked herself in that room until the alarms went off. It was apparently a part of a large garage where she came out in that unfinished robot and attacked us."
__"By the time she came outside I couldn't react," Vector muttered. "She knocked me out before I could fight back."
__Tails was starting to feel bad. They got hurt because he sent them in there. He wasn't going to openly blame himself now because he knew everyone would be upset with him and tell him otherwise. But he brought himself to smile as he gave Vector a gentle pat on the arm. "Thanks for doing all you can. You three deserve lots of rest. We can handle everything right now."
__Vector smiled at Tails for the first time in a while and nodded. "You take it easy, too, kiddo."
__Tails had to force himself to keep smiling as he backed away from them and walked out of the room with T-Pup following closely. He moved beside the door and leaned against the wall. He let out a sigh as he shook his head. Well, we have something important from them anyway. He looked over as Knuckles walked out of the room and tapped his arm. He waited for Knuckles to look at him before speaking. "Have the others take a look at that Death Egg, will you?"
__Knuckles nodded right before he rubbed the top of Tails's head and walked down the hallway.
__"Tails." Scourge walked, or rather limped, out of the room and stood right in front of the fox. He had a tired, yet serious look on his face. "It's later."
__Tails groaned as he crossed his arms. "Come on, Scourge. There's more work I need to do now."
__Scourge shook his head. "You're just standing there, and I'd like to get this done before I pass out."
__This made Tails look at the dagger that Scourge was still holding. Using its power still drained a lot of energy out of Scourge, especially since he's kept using them after coming to Mobius. The more often he would use an Anarchy Barrel the more energy it took. Tails decided to give in. He motioned for Scourge and T-Pup to follow him into the meeting room. There was a gaint hole in the wall and there were still some wisps flying around in confusion. Tails chose a spot along the right wall and sat down. Scourge followed to his left and struggled to sit down, grunting as he did. Tails then grabbed T-Pup and set it in his lap. He didn't look at Scourge. "Well?"
__Scourge sighed as he put away his dagger. He kept his right leg extended out while he brought his left knee up and hugged that one. "We seriously need to find a way to do something about those panic attacks."
__"I know what has to be done for that already," Tails grumbled. "I just haven't done anything because I didn't want to give up caffeine and alcohol, nor did I want to see a doctor about it. Other than that, there's nothing I can do about it."
__"Well, you need to."
__Tails started lightly growling. "I don't need anything."
__"That panic attack earlier just about got you killed," Scourge retorted. "There wasn't anything I, or anyone else, could do to make you snap out of it."
__"At this point you need to stop trying to," Tails groaned. "No one here knows how to properly help someone with a panic attack. You guys just keep making it worse."
__"That's because if we don't try to calm down soon enough you run off and start hurting yourself!" Scourge spat.
__Tails turned to Scourge with his ears flattened. "Wha...? How do you know about that? I never told you."
__"I asked Sonic about it last year," Scourge explained. "Back when he was taking me and Fiona to find The Devil. I already knew then that you couldn't just crowd a person with a panic attack and try to force them to be calm, yet your friends always resorted to that. I figured even they couldn't be that stupid, so I asked Sonic about it and he said when you manage to get away from everyone without passing out you'd start pulling out your hair, hitting your head on random shit, bite at yourself, run into everything, and claw at yourself... He even said you have a scar somewhere on your arm." Scourge then grabbed Tails's left arm and started messing around with the fur on his forearm and revealed three long scratch marks from the shoulder to the elbow that had scarred and faded some. "Shit, dude."
__Tails proceeded to smack Scourge's hands away right before he fixed the fur on his arm. All of that was indeed true. If Tails ever had a panic attack for a certain amount of time he would constantly make harsh movements and actions on himself. No one knew the real reason why he did that, but he knew very well why. He never admitted this to anyone, but ever since he grew up with a lot of normies being disgusted with him Tails had started hating himself. He only ever "liked" himself whenever he was with people he cared about. But with everyone growing more distant he didn't have a way to like himself. This brought on the idea that no one else needed him and thus made him more introverted. But he still loved everyone deeply and didn't want anything to happen to them because of him. "I'd rather that than getting everyone else hurt trying to calm me down in the middle of a battle."
__"Tails." Scourge scooted himself against the fox and wrapped his arm around him. He gave T-Pup a little pat on the head before he spoke. "Why are you so insistent on helping everyone else and not yourself?"
__Tails sighed and tried to move away, but that made Scourge tighten his grip to keep him still. "My family is important to me. If I don't have them, I'm nothing. If something horrible were to ever happen to us, I rather them lose me than me losing them."
__Scourge then pulled Tails into his chest and hugged him tightly. "You're not the only one who feels that way, bud. I, and everyone here, would die for the ones we care about. You're not special. Why do you want to be left out?"
__Tails moved his arms to hug Scourge's waist. "I'll only tell you right now. Everyone else has a life worth living. My life is only worth living to me if I can be of use to anyone, but no one really needs me anymore."
__Scourge pulled Tails back up and let the fox put his back to the wall again. "You're being ridiculous. We all need you."
__"That's only because Sonic and Sally are gone," Tails objected. "Once Sonic comes back, I'll no longer be needed."
__"Shut up, stupid." Scourge then sighed. "I depend on you everyday. Since we left you to find our own place to stay, I kept finding myself in some kind of predicament that I couldn't get myself out of. Each time that happened, I wanted to run straight back to you for help, but I didn't want to bother you. You had to house me and Fiona and you finally had the girl you loved back in your life. I just couldn't bring myself to turn to you."
__"Scourge, having you and Fiona stay with me was one of the best things that happened in my life," Tails muttered. "No matter what, I wanna be there. I need purpose. If I can't have that, then I'd happily throw away my life in this war to ensure victory for you all."
__"You can't do that," Scourge said softly. "You're already Eli's godfather, and I wanted to make you my son's as well. So don't you dare die on me. You have to promise me right now."
__Tails finally made a genuine happy smile. "You're ridiculous, you know that? Fine. I promise. Happy?" Scourge had then leaned his head against Tails's. "Scourge?" Tails carefully looked at the green hedgehog, who looked to be asleep. He reached his right hand over to poke at Scourge's face. He was out cold. Tails couldn't help but titter. Just had to hold out to make sure I agreed with you before passing out, huh?
__Just then the Destructix walked in one by one. They all stared down at them in confusion. Flying was giggling as he bounced up and down. "Oh! Oh! What do we have here? Is it nap time for 'ol snot?"
__"Perfect timing," Tails rasped. "I probably don't need to ask, but can you guys bring him back to the medical bay so he can rest properly?"
__"You need not worry," Lightning reassured him. "We'll take care of him."
__Simian had walked over to them and carefully picked up Scourge. Tails was surprised as Simian threw Scourge over his shoulder and started walking out of the room with the others.
__"Ar! Aroo!" T-Pup had hopped off of Tails's lap and started walking towards the hole.
__Tails grunted as he struggled to stand back up and followed T-Pup outside. He looked to his left and saw Shadow standing against the wall. Lots of snow kept falling and sticking on to his black and red fur. He had his arms crossed and his eyes shut. He didn't even look when Tails and T-Pup discovered him out here. Tails turned his head to look around but didn't see anyone else. It was just Shadow who had listened in on him and Scourge. Tails had to stifle his sigh as he went to stand next to the black hedgehog. He still wasn't  acknowledging Tails or T-Pup as the little robot dog went to sit beside his rocket shoes. Tails couldn't help feeling extremely awkward as he tried to figure out how to start conversation.