Hey, Sorry for the long delay (Yet Again) Due to an unfortanate incident with a sandwich I was ill for several weeks.(and still am) Anyway here it is.

Chapter 8 : Waking Thoughts

The young fox ignored the pain in his arm and continued his work as best he could. After what was basically a crash landing, Tails discovered that the damage to the aircraft wasn't as bad as it seemed. It didn't take him too long to patch up most of the damage and get the tornado back into an operable condition. Now he was frantically working to get his new self-designed engine working, he knew that without it he would have no chance of catching up in time to be of any help to Sonic.

Helping the hedgehog was the only thing Tails could think about, he had spent the past few months doing his best to impress him. Sonic was like no one he had ever encountered before, he had shown the fox kindness and encouragement. But he had also given him something that Tails thought he could never have, A sense of self-worth. Now the kit was determined to prove his worth to Sonic, he just wanted to repay him for everything he had done. The thought of letting Sonic down was the only thing Tails was worried about now, he closed up the engine and climbed back into the cockpit.

'I've done everything I can, if this doesn't work...'

Tails started to wish that he and Sonic had made a more detailed plan. There had been no mention of how they were getting off that wing fortress afterwards. Nor had there been any talk about what they would do if they failed to stop it.

'Even if we were too late, Sonic would still have a way for us to stop the death egg. He wouldn't just give up...'

Tails started up the engine and carefully guided the tornado up into the sky, he reached out and placed his fingers onto the switch that he had installed to operate the booster with. He had no idea what was happening on board the wing fortress but he knew Sonic needed him, he pushed down on the switch and in response the large metal cloud in the far distance started to get a lot closer.

At that moment on board the wing fortress Sonic had just broken his way into the main control room, there was no one else there and it appeared to have been evacuated in a hurry. After reading a few of the displays the hedgehog learned that an escape shuttle had been readied for launch several minutes earlier, he tried to operate some of the computers to hopefully find where the launch bay was.

'Ugh, I wish Tails were here, he's better with this kind of thing than I am.'

Sonic paused for a few moments as he thought about his friend. After a minute or so he reminded himself that he was running out of time and started to read through some of the craft's blueprints, upon learning his new destination he noticed some additional data. It was a timer presumably for the launch of the escape shuttle, with forty seconds remaining on the clock. Sonic turned and bolted out of the room, hoping that he had memorised correctly the way to the launch bay. The hedgehog found it difficult to run fast due to the corridors being cramped and having many turns and intersections where he was forced to slow down. He continued as fast as he could regardless, occasionally kicking himself off a wall and painfully crashing his shoulder into some railings. With seconds to spare he reached the bottom of a long hallway and spotted a sign pointing the way into the launch bay, Sonic used all his strength combined with his high momentum to literally smash through the steel doorway and into the bay. The large launch door was already fully open and led out onto a long runway supported by scaffolding which extended a fair distance away from the door. Sonic ran towards the shuttle that was parked right at the beginning of the runway but was knocked off his feet by the initial blast of its engines as they powered up. The hedgehog jumped back to his feet and sprinted out after it as fast as he could. It was only a few seconds later that he had reached the end of the runway, but the shuttle was already several hundred metres in the distance.

Sonic stood still at the edge of the runway and watched as the shuttle sped off into the distance. He couldn't accept that he was too late, he tried to think of some way in which he could catch up. But for all his speed, and all his determination, he was powerless against the law of gravity. He knew it would only have taken a few extra seconds and cursed at himself for taking so long in the control room, if he hadn't spent time thinking about Tails then he would have been here sooner. He started to wonder if he would have been better off not taking the fox with him.

'No, I couldn't have left him behind. I doubt I could even have gotten on board this thing by myself... And I would probably have given up a while ago, he's given me something to fight for. I guess we're all screwed now, but is Tails already gone? No doubt the tornado crashed...'

"Could he have survived?"

Sonic lifted his head as he heard the distinct sound of another aircraft, the tornado shot into view alongside the runway as if it was a heaven-sent answer to Sonic's question. The hedgehog quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and ran over to the edge. The plane's pilot leaned out with a warm smile on his face.

"I told you I wasn't going to give up didn't I?

The only answer Sonic could give was a grin, he glanced up and down the plane and could clearly see the fuselage sections that had been quickly replaced. He was surprised that such extensive damage could be repaired so fast. After he jumped up into the back seat the tornado accelerated away from the wing fortress, Sonic finished strapping himself in and then leaned forward and placed his hand on Tails' shoulder.

"I'm glad you're okay Tails, you had me worried there."

Tails couldn't really think of an answer to give, so he stayed silent as Sonic continued to speak.

"That thing is really fast, do you really think we can catch it in this?"

"Don't worry Sonic, I did more then just repair the plane. Watch this!"

Tails pressed the switch to bring his new booster on line and pushed the throttle up to the max. The engine seemed to go quiet for a few seconds then Sonic was thrown back in his seat as the small aircraft shot through the sky like a thunderbolt. His hope renewed, the hedgehog started to smile even more but then stopped when he realised what it meant. It was just a few minutes until they caught up to the shuttle from the wing fortress, Tails turned to look at Sonic as they approached it.

"Sonic its gaining altitude rapidly, the tornado can't maintain this height. I can only keep up with it for another few minutes, we need to make our move now!"

Sonic swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. He undid his seat belt as Tails positioned the tornado directly under the shuttle, the hedgehog noticed a ladder along the underside of the shuttle's hull leading along to a service hatch and knew it would be his way in. Sonic jumped up out of his seat and took a firm hold of one of the metal bars on the shuttles hull, there was barely a metre between both craft so it was within arms length. Tails started to undo his harness but was stopped when his hand was pulled away by Sonic's

"You'd better leave that on, I'm going up here alone."

"What? No! We've made it together this far, I'm not backing off now!"

"Think about it Tails, the death egg is sitting in the upper atmosphere. I promise I'll destroy that thing but there's no going back, It's a one way ticket."

Tears were started to run down the fox's face as he struggled to undo his harness.

"Sonic please! I don't care if there's no going back. So far my life has meant nothing to anyone, at least this way my death might mean something."

"You're life means something to me Tails, and I'm not going to let you through it away!"

Tails cried out as he pushed Sonic's hand away and started to loosen the straps.

"You promised! You promised you would never leave me behind!"

The fox tried to get up from the cockpit but failed when Sonic delivered a strong kick to his stomach. Before Tails could recover from the blow, the hedgehog grabbed one of the iron bars on the shuttles exterior and took one last look at his friend before swinging his legs back and kicking the tornado's control lever.

The small red aircraft dived steeply towards the ground leaving Sonic hanging from the shuttle craft.

--Flashback Ends--

Tails yawned as he rolled over, he wasn't fully awake but he was well aware of Sonic's absence. He rubbed his eyes and took a few moments to think about the night before. He was really happy when Sonic came to comfort him, but now he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

'How did Sonic even know I was upset? Did he hear me crying? No, I think I was keeping pretty quiet compared to the thunder. '

Tails hoped there would be some other reason for Sonic's reactions, he wasn't proud of his phobia and it embarrassed him to think of Sonic hearing him crying over something as silly as the weather. As the fox thought about it he realised that there may have been other reasons as to why he had been so upset. The thunder was almost certainly part of it, but it was nothing compared to Tails biggest fear. For the past few days he had spent much time with Sonic and was glad that they were still the best of friends, but that was the problem. The fox had been doing his best to shove his stronger feelings for Sonic aside and had decided he would rather have Sonic as a friend than risk losing him completely. It seemed to be working until the events of the previous night, now the fox had finally realised that he couldn't fight off his own feelings for long. He was glad to be friends with Sonic but it was never going to be enough for him, he knew he wanted so much more. Tails started to wonder how an almost perfect friendship could have caused something like this, he didn't understand why friendship had to be the limit. He loved Sonic, so why couldn't he tell him? He wondered how he had come to be in this situation, was it his friendship that had developed into love or was it something else entirely. Tail laughed quietly to himself as he realised the question he was asking himself was almost unanswerable. When exactly does friendship become love? Was there anything else in between? Even before these stronger feelings emerged there was always a difference in the way he and Sonic had treated each other compared to their other friends, so what was this? Best friends? Or something more? Can you be more than friends without being lovers? Tails stopped thinking about it when he realised that he was going in circles.

As the fox climbed out of bed he noticed how bright it was outside, as he pulled the curtains open he used his hand to shield his eyes from the glare. As he left the room he noticed that the front door was open slightly, after walking open and opening the door fully he spotted his friend. Sonic was sitting on a large rock uncomfortably close to the edge of the nearby cliff, Tails left his house and went to join the hedgehog. As he walked over he realised that the weather looked a lot better than it actually was. The grass was damp under his feet and the gentle heat from the sun was constantly interrupted by a cold breeze. Sonic looked up at his friend as he got nearer.

"Awake at last? I thought you were going to sleep all day."

Tails smiled and answered as he sat down beside Sonic.

"What did you expect? We were up pretty late last night."

Sonic nodded and returned the smile, after a few moments Tails started speaking again.

"Thanks Sonic. You know, for last night."

"Don't mention it buddy. Are you feeling better now?"

Tails replied with a nod but stayed quiet.

"I knew you didn't like storms, I couldn't think of anything else to do."

Tails surprised Sonic when he wrapped his arms around him and held him tightly.

"That was the best thing you could have did, thank you."

Sonic returned Tails hug briefly but the fox continued to hold on to him.

"Erm... Tails?"

Tails let go and backed away from Sonic a little.

"Sorry Sonic, I didn't mean to... Sorry"

Sonic looked confused at the fox for a few seconds before speaking.

"Hey its okay, Never mind. Why don't you go get your sneakers on and we'll go for a quick run before breakfast?"

Tails smiled and nodded.

"Great."