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Home by ~Gojira007



Continuity Info: This takes place in Archie Comic’s continuity shortly after the events of #77(at which point Eggman had entered the story and our heroes had come home from their first battle with him in space).  Everything that happened after that issue is disregarded. The events depicted in this story act as a substitute for the events that take place at this point in the comics.  All similarities to Sonic X are intentional.



You’re falling back to me

the star that I can see...

I know you’re out there,

somewhere out there...

You’re falling out of reach,

defying gravity...

I know you’re out there,

somewhere out there...

-“Somewhere Out There”, Our Lady Peace



Home

by Blue Eyes Shining Dragon



Sonic had been there only a week, and already he knew one thing about this new planet he was stuck on: he hated it.  Hated, hated, hated it.  The air was thick and very often the hedgehog found himself coughing on it.  There was hardly an inch of forest left in the areas he’d seen so far.  The creatures that inhabited it all bore a vague resemblance to Robotnik, though most were far more fit and had five fingers instead of only four.  In short, this “Earth” was no Mobius.  Sitting atop a tall skyscraper that stood in the center of Station Square, the city Sonic was now forced to call home, he sat in frustration.  “One week...” he sighed to himself, “It’s hard to believe it’s been so long already...”

The events that had brought him to this new world were still fresh in his mind.  When the evil Dr. Eggman had begun sending his mechanical minions to gather as many Chaos Emeralds as they could find, it had not taken long for Sonic and his friends to take action.  Despite the risk involved, he, Tails, Knuckles, and Sally had gone to Robotropolis to find out what the maniacal genius was up to.  It was only too late the small group realized they had been followed by young Amy Rose, and things simply got worse from there.  Eggman had been preparing to use the emeralds to power some sort of machine, the purpose of which Sonic had no interest in learning.  Alas, in his attempts to destroy the device, the hedgehog inadvertently created a chain reaction in the emeralds, causing them to erupt in a burst of light as bright as a star.  What exactly had happened was still a mystery to the hedgehog even now, but whatever it had been, Sonic felt it safe to assume it was what had landed him on Earth.  “Sonic ” a familiar voice awakened the hedgehog from his memories.  

“Hey, li’l bro...”  Sonic said as he turned to face the flying form of Tails; he, as well as Knuckles, and Amy, had also been brought to Earth.  Sally, however, had been left behind, a fact Sonic was both thankful and sorry for.  “What brings you up here?”

“It’s getting late, and Chris was wondering when you’d be getting home.” the fox explained.

He was referring to Chris Thorndyke, a young Earth boy from a wealthy family who had found the Mobians when they had first arrived on Earth.  Showing remarkable kindness, he offered to allow the group to stay at his home until they could find a way back to their native planet, and that was where they had been staying ever since.  To answer Tails’ question, Sonic turned his gaze back to the starry sky as he said, “I dunno...when the stars stop shining, I guess...”

The fox understood.  Sitting down next to his friend, he too turned his eyes skywards.  “I miss ‘em, too...” he said with a deep sigh.

“What d’you think they’re doing right now?...” Sonic asked quietly.  “Without us?”

Tails did not know.  If it had been a few days ago, he might have been able to guess: no doubt Sally had raised the alarm, desperate to find a way to bring them home.  Yet it had now been seven days by the Earth’s calendar, which Tails had calculated was more or less the same as Mobius’, and so the answer was less clear.  After all, how much effort could the ragged kingdom of Knothole afford to expend on finding them?  Despite Sonic’s previous prominence in the war effort, the reinstatement of Sally’s father Maximilian Acorn as king had seemed to diminish the hedgehog’s importance.  Now it was a royal matter to deal with Eggman, and so Sonic’s absence might not have been felt so drastically in that regard.  The question, then, was of their friends.  Tails was certain they were all worried, but he guessed Sonic held that knowledge as well, and it was far from the more definitive answer the hedgehog was looking for.  More to the point, however, the fox could tell there was another unspoken question beneath what Sonic had said: what did Tails want them to be doing?  “I think...I think they’re doing alright...” he finally answered more than a bit timidly.

Sonic chuckled at the shy response.  “You don’t need to hold back with me, Tails...just tell me how ya feel...” he said.

The fox nodded.  Speaking more confidently, he said, “I think everyone’s gonna be worrying in their own way.  Rotor’s probably working on some sorta machine to bring us back, and Bunnie and Antoine’ll probably be snuggling each other for comfort.”

At that last part, Tails could not resist speaking with an exaggeratedly coddling tone, making big doe eyes and clasping his hands together.  Both he and Sonic got a good long laugh out of it.  Once they had aired their amusement, the hedgehog’s eyes became wistful again, returning to the stars.  “And Sal...?” he asked.

“Aunt Sally...” Tails started, but stopped suddenly.  The child had not yet given himself time to think about his surrogate aunt, nor how much she most likely worried for his safety.  It took him a moment, but once he had come to terms with the realization, the fox spoke with genuine longing in his voice, “Aunt Sally’s probably sitting down by the Lake of Rings right now, looking up at these same stars...just like us...and thinking the same thing we are: ‘When am I gonna see them again?’”

With a small laugh tinged with the same feeling as Tails’ words, Sonic said, “Yeah...that sounds like something Sal’d do...”

After that, neither one spoke for a while.  They simply looked up into the pitch black night, each one thinking about what lay on the other side of those stars.  They were not the only ones.  Standing atop a building near where the duo now sat, Knuckles the Echidna also watched the small lights with a home-sick heart.  Even in Station Square’s outer regions, where Chris’ house was, Amy Rose could see the stars through the windows, and the same feelings coursed through her heart as well.  All four of them were looking for the bridge those stars made, the promise that even if it looked as if their world was gone, it was in fact right beneath the same sky.  Time seemed to pass into nothingness as the group watched the stars from their own vantages, but eventually its toll began to be taken.  A loud yawn coming from Tails brought Sonic back to Earth.  Patting the fox on the back, he jovially chided, “You’d better head back to Chris’ place, Tails...it’s lookin’ to me like you’re running on empty.”

“Aw, don’t baby me Sonic...I’m too old for...” the end of Tails’ sentence was swallowed by another, more powerful yawn, earning him a brotherly look from Sonic.  “Alright, alright...I’ll see ya in the morning...” he mumbled, slowly taking off toward Thorndyke Mansion.

“Goodnight, Tails ” Sonic called out as the fox flew off into the distance.

The hedgehog could feel sleepiness closing in upon him as well, and knew it was time to turn in for the night.  With one last look to the sky, he whispered, “Goodnight to you, too, Sal...I’ll find a way back, for all of us...I promise.”



............................................................................................................................................................



Seven days.  Sally simply could not believe it had been seven days, and they were still no closer to bringing Sonic and the others home than when they started.  Still, Rotor promised he was working as hard as he could to complete a machine based on his research of the energy patterns generated by the Chaos Emeralds, and so the princess was forced to suffice.  Antoine and Bunny had taken to spending their nights together in a single hut, both wondering the same thing as everyone else: where had their friends gone?  For Sally, it was a question far more pressing: where had her family gone?  The stars in the night sky her only company, as they had been every other night she had come to the Lake of Rings after a hard day’s work trying to figure out ways to speed up the process of finding the lost quartet, Sally found herself slowly but surely falling asleep.  Realizing it was time for yet another restless night, she looked to the stars and spoke, “Goodnight, Tails...Sonic...wherever you two are...”

She rose to her feet with that.  The squirrel then turned from the lake, preparing to return home to try to get some sleep, though her anxiety had made that all but impossible at this point.  Then, suddenly, the young princess could have sworn she heard words...faint and fleeting, like a gust of wind, but definitely there.



“Goodnight to you, too, Sal...I’ll find a way back, for all of us...I promise.”                        

    

“Sonic...?”

Turning back to the lake, she saw nothing.  “What were you expecting?” she asked herself.  “You’re tired...your mind’s probably just playing tricks on you...”

Yet it had sounded real...real enough that, when Sally did arrive home, she slept comfortably for the first time since her friends had disappeared.  In her dreams, she saw a bridge of stars, and at its end, she saw her family waiting for her...



End