From "Friends" to "Parents" (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Wise words

"You saved me."

Still a little shaky from almost drowning, Sonic sat back on the damp sand and turned to study the gruff echidna next to him curiously.

"Don't talk to me," Knuckles grumbled, taking his own seat in the sand a couple feet away and crossing his arms over his knees. "I'm not in the mood."

Oh no, he wasn't getting away with it that easily.

With a tiny smirk of determination, Sonic scooped up some damp sand next to him, mushed it into a ball, and hurled it at the echidna's face.

The reaction was instantaneous. Knuckles' eyes widened with fury, and he climbed back to his feet with an indignant shout of "How dare you attack me, in my hour of sorrow!"

Sonic threw more sand at him. "Why did you save me?" he demanded, getting a third sand ball ready, only to get knocked flat by a massive sand ball from Knuckles instead.

"Because you saved me first," he heard the echidna huff back as he crawled out of the giant sand pile and shook the grains off his face. "Which clearly gave you a tactical advantage I do not understand," Knuckles finished, sounding frustrated.

"It wasn't a tactic," Sonic pointed out, reclaiming his seat in front of the pile he'd climbed out of. "I couldn't just let you die."

Confusion appeared amidst the anger in Knuckles' eyes. "Why?" he demanded, although his tone had softened ever so slightly. "I've been trying to destroy you since the moment we met."

That was the moment when Tom's words from the rowboat came flooding back to Sonic, and he found himself echoing his . . . friend's words with a smile. "Because being a hero isn't about taking care of yourself. It's about taking responsibility for other people."

The thing was, it didn't feel like he was just passing on wisdom from one friend to another. It felt . . . deeper than that. Like . . .

"Hm. Wise words." Knuckles finally relaxed and sat back down beside him. "An ancient earth proverb?"

Sonic smiled. "No sir, that's a Wachowski family special. I got it from a guy in a rowboat." His smile softened as he thought about it just a little more.

There was that word. Family.

Tom was his family. Maddie was his family. But it felt like such a general word. They definitely didn't feel like siblings to him. So . . . that meant . . .

". . . Someone who means a lot to me," he finished, still smiling, just lost in thoughts.

He didn't have time to think about it too much longer. The sound of a plane nearby alerted him, and he frowned and glanced up. "Wait a minute, what's that sound?"

As it turned out, Tails had "borrowed" the biplane from the wedding and used it to fly his way over to join them. He heard Tails hollering something from way up there, something about him needing rescuing, and he rolled his eyes with a fond smile.

"That sly little fox!" he exclaimed, overjoyed that his little buddy was alright. After all, he hadn't seen him conscious since Siberia.

He turned back to Knuckles, who was staring sullenly at the ground. "Come on, knucklehead," he said with a grin. "We're not beat yet."

Knuckles ignored his words. After a pause, he ventured, "On the mountain you told me you'd lost everything. The way I did." He frowned. "But you seem . . . so hopefully and free. How did you move forward, despite failing, again, and again, and again, and again--"

Sonic's shoulders slumped and he rolled his eyes at each "again." "Okay, I didn't fail that much," he scoffed. His smile returned. "But I didn't do this all alone. I found a new family. New friends. And you can, too."

New family. As opposed to his old family, the one he'd lost. Longclaw, his adoptive mother. New family, Tom and Maddie were his adoptive . . .

The weight of those thoughts was too much for him to focus on in that moment.

So instead, he extended his hand down to Knuckles. "You don't have to be alone anymore," he promised, remembering how often he'd wished to hear the same words from someone for all those years he'd spent in isolation.

Knuckles studied him for a few more hesitant seconds, and then finally took his hand.

Tails came running to join them just as Sonic doubled over, clutching his hand, shouting, "Ow--ow--ow--ow, are you kidding me with that handshake!"