Flashbulb

Flashbulb – A 20th anniversary fanfiction in honor of Miles "Tails" Prower

Timeline placement: Sonic is 20 and Tails is 13 because they decided that was how old they wanted to be.

Rating: K+

Pairings: None

Warnings: Nothing major, though I suppose I should warn against the lack of plot and dialogue. If you're bored by these stream-of-consciousness type fics then I'd suggest you back out now and save yourself the heartache. (Though, I won't claim this is a true SOC, but it's close enough.) Other than that, it should be suitable for all ages.

Notes: A big happy 20th birthday to our favorite fox! I wish there was more of a celebration for him, but alas, he's not a big deal like Sonic. Shucks. Anyway, this story may be in honor of him, but it's told mainly from Sonic's POV. After all, sometimes, those who are closest to us know us better than we know ourselves.

Disclaimer: All recognizable material belongs to SEGA.

Dedication: To my bestie, Yami-sama42, who shares a birthday with Tails. Happy 17th birthday Doodles~!

Enjoy!

Flashbulb

The landscape was alive with color, reds and oranges splashed across the ground and painted on the trees. The brilliant rays of the sun were filtering through the clear, crisp morning skies, adding warmth to the chill in the air. The world was quiet, only the barest of gusts ruffling the grass and breaking the serenity that clung to everything like a blanket.

Sonic sighed as he trudged up to the workshop, pulling his dark green jacket tighter around his shoulders. The wind tousled its way through his quills, whistling through the slits in the jacket and running its cold fingers up his back. The hedgehog shivered, punching in the code to open the door with a bit too much force. The door clicked as the lock disengaged and he pushed it open with his shoulder. It swung into a silent, dark house.

Fumbling for the switch in the dark, Sonic cursed lightly when he knocked a picture off the wall. It landed with a sharp crack and he mentally hit himself for breaking that photo again. It had been hanging there for years, and he always managed to bust it.

Eventually, Sonic's hands crossed paths with the light switch, and the room flared into the visible plane. There was a groan from the table and Sonic felt his lips quirk upwards into a smile. Tails had been asleep with his head resting on his arms, but Sonic's noisy and bright entrance had woken him. He glared at Sonic with tired blue eyes and the hedgehog smirked before shrugging out of his jacket and padding across the room.

"Go up to bed, kid," he commanded, pulling the fox's chair away from the table. Tails almost fell forward at the sudden movement, but Sonic was faster and he grabbed his friend by the shoulder to keep him in his seat.

Tails heaved an exhausted sigh and pulled himself to his feet before padding forward on wobbly legs toward the stairs. A few moments later, Sonic heard him take heavy steps up to the second floor and then the click of his bedroom door as it closed.

Sonic sighed once more, rubbing his palms into his eyes. He hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep either, but he figured the fox deserved it more than him. Besides, he needed to clean up that picture frame.

With a labored gait, he forced his feet to take him to the broom closet. After grabbing one of the closet's namesakes and a dustpan, he swept up the mess, making sure to get all of the small pieces of glass. All things considered, he probably didn't need the broom, but it was faster than bending down and picking up everything with tired fingers. The hedgehog dumped the dustpan onto the table before dropping into a chair. He eased the picture out from the broken frame with careful movements, making sure to keep it in perfect condition.

This particular picture was one of the oldest the hero owned. It was from Tails' fifth birthday, taken on a disposable camera. The fox was smiling cheekily up at the camera, a party hat perched crookedly on his small head, adjacent to one of his overly large ears. He was showing a yellow screwdriver to the photographer, presenting it with pride and honor. It was his first birthday present, given by his new best friend and big brother. Sonic felt a smile tug at his lips and he shook his head fondly at the nostalgia creeping up on him.

There was another picture hiding behind it in the frame, and one of his eye ridges rose. He pulled it loose after setting the other aside. The corners were creased and the colors were a bit faded, but Sonic felt his heart jerk unexpectedly nonetheless.

He hadn't set eyes on this picture in years. It was at least seven years old, possibly closer to ten considering how young both he and Tails looked. All wide eyes and round, Sonic himself couldn't have been more than eleven years old, which put Tails at around four. They were sitting on the wing of the Tornado, Sonic with his right arm thrown over Tails' shoulders and his left hand held up in his patented thumbs up. Tails had a beaming smile on his face, his eyes huge and shining and his hands held out in identical V for victory poses. The plane was sparkling in the sunlight, the paint shining like new. The wheels were lodged in the sand of a beach and the sky was a bright blue.

Their old house, the one on a secluded beach in Green Hill Zone was in the background. The gutted jet airliner that acted as the body of the house, the overgrown mountain, and even the retractable runway were clearly visible. This had to be the picture they took the day they had finally settled in.

Sonic barely remembered that day – it had been a single domestic moment in the middle of all of the crazy adventures he'd had – but he remembered taking this picture. It had been a hassle to set the camera up on a pile of rocks, hit the button, and then not knock it over when he darted back over to Tails. The shuffle to get into position before the flash went off was even worse, but it had yielded a few funny pictures, almost all of them involving Tails elbowing Sonic in the side or glaring at him. His memory was foggy, but he was pretty sure one of them dealt with Sonic himself taking a backwards dive off the plane's wing.

Slightly, the hedgehog wondered where those pictures had gotten to. Tails was a hoarder when it came to photographs and newspaper clippings, so they had to be shoved into a closet somewhere in the Workshop. Sonic pushed himself away from the table, his curiosity piqued, and scuffled up the stairs to check the junk closet in the hall. It was the most likely place the pictures would be, as any and everything was thrown in there, possibly never to see the light of day again.

After opening the door and seeing the clutter that met him, Sonic almost gave up right then. Those pictures were special, sure, but he didn't need to see them right this second. Of course, he could probably gain some brownie points from Tails if he found them and put a few of them in picture frames. His young friend had become a little ornery about Sonic living in the Workshop and not doing anything to help him keep it clean. Sonic always argued that he didn't technically live anywhere, but that response usually ended with something thrown at his head.

So, he steeled his nerves and dove in.

Approximately thirty minutes later, Sonic was back at the table with photos scattered over the wooden surface. His search had yielded a large bag of developed photos, still in their envelopes, all stacked together. There was also a photo album – left over from Tails' short obsession with picture taking when he was six – but it was only partially filled. About seven of the pages were covered with pictures, each carefully arranged so at least four could fit on each page without overlapping the others. Randomly, a newspaper article would intercede the snapshots, declaring great heroic feats of the blue hedgehog variety.

The first few pictures were general – flashes of trees in Emerald Hill Zone, the Tornado, and Tails' sleeping face. Though, there was one picture that caught the hedgehog's eye. It was an overhead shot of Sonic leaning over the edge of the Tornado's top wing, looking down at the scenery that passed below. The broccoli-like forms of the trees on the ground were just visible, along with the toy car shapes darting along on the roads. Sonic's face wasn't visible, but from the color of his fur and the complexity of his shoes, he had to have been at least thirteen. Tails had perfected the autopilot on the plane by then, so he must have been testing it when he decided to take a picture of his friend.

The next picture was of Knuckles, snoozing next to the Master Emerald. Sonic remembered this picture. It had been a dare from Tails – sneak onto Angel Island and take a picture of Knuckles without him noticing – and he hadn't hesitated in accepting. He lost of course; the flash on the camera had woken the echidna and he had immediately gone onto the offensive. It was a feat in itself that Sonic managed to escape with the camera intact.

The first newspaper article was from the Metropolis Tribune, the headline trumpeting SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SAVES WESTSIDE ISLAND. There was a short blurb detailing the rescue, but it was overlooked by the hedgehog when he noticed the small picture at the bottom of the article. It was of him and Tails, sitting on a beach in what was obviously Emerald Hill. Tails was stick-thin, though there was a small amount of roundness to his cheeks – a sign that he was on his way to a healthy weight –, and Sonic himself was looking lean as well. Tails was smiling and laughing while the hedgehog had his hands extended like he was telling a story, his own face split by a grin.

Sonic sat back in his seat, his hands tightening slightly around the paper. This had to be one of the earliest pictures he had of Tails, taken a few weeks after they had met. Slightly, he wondered who had taken it, and why he hadn't noticed, but then he shrugged it off. Those things didn't matter, not when they gave him such a perfect picture.

After that, the pictures bled together. There was the first photo taken with their personal camera, as opposed to a disposable, a shot of Sonic, green party hat on his head, a chili dog held up halfway to his mouth. Sonic had gifted the camera to Tails on his seventh birthday – a reaction to the picture taking obsession – and Tails had taken to it without abandon. Pictures of any and everything followed that shot: Sonic's shoes, the sand on the beach, Tails' screwdriver, a few clouds, even random people.

The next newspaper article was from the Chaos incident. It was a perfect, albeit black and white, shot of Super Sonic, right after transforming. He was floating a few inches above the water, his hands curled into fists at his sides, and his eyes determined and staring.

All of Sonic's breath left him. This was the first and only picture he'd seen of himself Super, the first and only time he'd gotten a glimpse of what other people saw. It was a little shocking, all of that power practically bled off the photo, and he couldn't do anything besides stare at it. Despite the monotone of the colors, he could imagine the gold, the intensity of the aura around him, the red of his irises, even the crimson of his shoes. In the corner of the shot, Tails was just visible with his hands held at his sides in tight balls. His face was an impossible combination of angry and helpless.

The album ended with a pair of pictures, one of Sonic and one of Tails, both smiling winningly at the camera. Sonic smirked at the shots, taking in each dip and curve of both of their faces. These pictures weren't that old; Tails must have just put them in.

He reached into the bag and grabbed the first packet of pictures. It was thick and the seam holding it together had seen better days. The hedgehog's gloved fingers flipped it open, and a maroon face smiled back up at him. Blue and tan features immediately split into a grin and he upended the envelope onto the table, scattering the photos in a messy pile.

All of the pictures had one thing in common: a small, flying, burgundy creature with shining amber eyes. Sonic's heart twanged as he gazed at his long-gone friend, wondering just how Tails had gotten a hold of these pictures.

In the next shot Sonic's eyes skated over, Chip was shoving an ice cream cone into his mouth, inadvertently getting it all over his face. The picture that followed was of Sonic and Chip posing with a few of the residents of Chun-Nan, all in differing martial arts stances. The one after was of Sonic sitting on the edge of a cliff in Apotos, facing the sunset, his feet hanging over the edge, Chip resting happily on his head. The next was of Tails sleeping on the couch in Professor Pickle's lab, one hand brushing the floor, the other crossed over his chest, and his mouth wide open. Chip was napping on the fox's stomach, using his namesakes as a blanket.

All of the shots had been taken with the professor's camera. There were a few pictures scattered in of random citizens, each with strange purple blobs hanging over them. Sonic remembered those people: possessed by Dark Gaia; the only way to free them was a bright flash of light. The majority of the rest were candid shots of Chip. The small god had insisted on taking as many pictures as possible, as if he knew subconsciously that they would have had to part ways at the end of their adventure.

It must have taken Tails some serious digging to get a few of these. Sometimes, when the picture was good, Chip had offered to give it to whoever was in the shot. The pictures had been scattered across the globe, in the possession of only a handful of people, but Tails had gotten them. Sonic wondered how he had convinced those people to hand them over: ask nicely, beg, offer to do something? Once again, Sonic decided it didn't matter, not when it yielded such a nice result.

He ran his hands through the pictures, pushing them apart from each other to get a good look. Unexpectedly his curious digits crossed paths with something that wasn't glossy like the pictures and his gloved fingers snagged it before he realized exactly what he was touching. He pulled it from the pile and his eyes narrowed when he saw that it was a folded piece of paper. He easily drew it open and his green orbs snapped to a widened position when he read the words scrawled there.

If you're reading this, then you've finally decided to look for all of our pictures. It's taken me months to gather all of these and some serious bartering with a few people, but I think I got them all. Happy 18th birthday, big bro. I know I didn't actually give these to you, but I figured it'd be neat if you found them in the closet on your own.

-Tails

P.S. You owe the village elder in Mazuri a ride.

Sonic snorted and shook his head. Leave it to Tails to hide a present in the one place he knew Sonic would never venture to.

Happy smile permanently on his face, Sonic turned back to the first two pictures from the broken frame and he gazed at the one that had been hiding behind the other. Tails was so tiny in that picture, barely taller than fifty centimeters. He had grown so much in the years spanning between then and now. He was a different person, brave, independent, genius-level smart, yet still so the same. He still jumped at lightning, still loved tinkering on the Tornado, still preferred Sonic's company over everyone else's. He had aged with a grace Sonic hadn't really noticed, but, as he moved to a more recent picture – Tails leaning against the Tornado-2 with his aviator goggles on his head and a smirk on his face – and placed it next to the older one, it hit him full force. Young Tails' smile was so open, inviting even, while the older Tails' grin looked more akin to something Sonic would have on his own face. It was strange to see how much the kid resembled him.

He never really claimed to have raised Tails. After all, he had only been a child himself when he adopted the fox as his younger brother. But, he couldn't help but feel a little pride when he saw how well the kit had grown up. He was perfectly adjusted, perfectly healthy, and perfectly at his full potential. Sonic could only imagine how he would have turned out if they hadn't crossed paths. The odds of him surviving past childhood were slim, but if he had, what would he have done with his life? Street kids didn't have many options, and none of them were ideal.

Tails was so kindhearted, so sensitive to those around him… Sonic couldn't picture his kid brother doing anything that wasn't beneficial to others. He shook his head, expelling those thoughts from his mind, and turned back to the pictures.

At random, he stuck his hand back into the bag of haphazard photos and grabbed one. It was a long strip, separated into four different panes, each different. Sonic's smile grew impossibly bigger and he chuckled. An arbitrary photo booth in the lobby of the hotel in Station Square had caught Tails' attention one day and he had dragged Sonic inside. The resulting pictures were hilariously unpredictable, each in varying states of organized chaos. The booth had been designed for humans, so the camera was set a bit high for the shorter mobians, and with Sonic's quills and Tails' extra appendage, they were a tight fit, but they had made it work. If Sonic remembered correctly, Tails was crouching on the seat with his knees bent and Sonic himself was standing on his tip toes, but both of their heads were clearly visible.

The first was the prep picture. Neither had been in a photo booth before, so it was a simple snapshot of the two facing the camera, Sonic holding obligatory bunny ears up behind Tails' head and the fox smiling winningly. The second was more adventurous – Sonic had Tails in a headlock, the blue eyed kid giving the appropriate opened mouthed face of shock and anger. The third was retaliation from Tails. The camera snapped right as the fox leapt at his friend, hands outstretched and face twisted into an adorable snarl. Sonic, in shock at the kit's hasty actions, was half tipped over backwards, his perilous stance on his tip toes betraying him. The fourth was a perfect best friend photo. The hedgehog and fox had their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, their free hands giving mirror thumbs-ups to the camera. Their smiles were nearly identical, as if they were holding back laughter.

"You found the pictures?" A sleepy voice cut into Sonic's inner picture critique and the hedgehog turned just in the time to catch Tails' surprised face before the fox managed to school his features into a curious expression. "Took you long enough."

"What time is it?" Sonic asked instead of rising to the prod.

"Little after eleven. How long have you been going through these?"

"Pretty much since you went to bed. I didn't get that far…" He grimaced. "Who knew we took this many pictures…"

"I did," Tails replied helpfully, padding to sit in the empty chair across from his friend. "That's part of the reason why most of them aren't in frames or an album."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "And you call me a slacker."

The fox shrugged. "Had to pick it up from somewhere." He grabbed a random photo off of the table and held it up for inspection. "This is a good one," he said after a time, glancing up to look at his friend. One of Sonic's eye ridges quirked upwards and he held out his hand for it.

It was a rare picture of Knuckles actually smiling. He was leaning against his hoverboard, smug grin pointed toward the camera. Sonic and Tails were standing behind him, each next to their own Extreme Gear, though their smiles were more easygoing. The date in the corner of the picture was only a few months ago, and Sonic tracked backward mentally, hitting immediately on the last tournament. Amy had taken the picture, he remembered, demanding that the members of each team gather for group shots. She had multiple copies made of each photo and distributed them to everyone, though Tails had squirreled the one of their team away almost immediately.

"How about we put this one in the spot near the door, bro?" Sonic asked, waving his hand toward the designated space. "The other picture is getting a little dated."

Tails nodded. "I can find a spot on the wall in the den for that one."

"Sounds like a plan. What do you want to do with the rest of these?"

Tails sent him a appraising look. "I wanted them in albums, but that'll take forever…"

"Oh, c'mon dude, with the two of us doing it, it'll take like a day!" Sonic's voice was full of enthusiasm – completely genuine too.

It didn't take Tails long to agree. It would do them both some good to get lost in some memories, especially considering he hadn't seen some of these pictures in years.

"Let's get to work!"

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