"I Love You" (and other Sonic & Tails Stories)

Greater than Fear

Originally written by oooMarie198

The world lit up in a blinding flash, followed by an explosive crack of thunder milliseconds later.

Tails flinched at the noise, his breathing speeding up as he struggled to keep control of the biplane, adrenaline being pumped into his veins with a speed that could rival Sonic's.

"Just hang on", he chanted to himself, trying his hardest not to hyperventilate as his heartbeat thundered in his ears, "just keep her steady for a little while longer."

Sucking in a sharp breath and letting it out in a futile attempt to calm himself, the young aviator scanned the sky for a sign of his "brother", who had jumped off to intercept their enemy's camouflaged aircraft a minute ago. He knew the other had landed, he saw Sonic's shoes touch down on a grey wing and then his friend had disappeared into the storm with the small jet.

It was difficult to spot them in the hurricane.

The sea below raged as the sky that had been bright and blue mere hours ago darkened to a near blackness, lit only by the frequent flashes of lightning that were sparking up too close for comfort.

The air had grown chilly and the winds turbulent, blowing around the curtains of rain as if a mere silk cloth. Tails shivered when a current brushed over him, blowing his bangs to the side and pelting him with bullets of water, his fur on the right side growing damp.

More lightning sparked the sky, which made the fox, who was petrified of thunder and lightning, yelp as he was shook to the core by the earth shattering bang that followed, whimpering with terror as his fur that had not gotten drenched stood on end.

The storm had gotten worse.

As the frequency of the lightning bolts and accompanying cracks increased significantly, the fox grew even more apprehensive, practically putting all his energy into trying to keep his mind clear of terror and his fingers from trembling. He was trying his absolute hardest not to lose control of the biplane he had spent so long working on fixing.

His fox ears twitched at hearing another explosion and the little part of his mind that wasn't thrown in a frenzy due to fear brought logistics and science to the forefront of his brain, pointing out how the sound hadn't followed a flash of lightning.

Perhaps it was confusion or curiosity, or maybe it was just his worry, but as soon as he subconsciously made the deduction, his eyes snapped towards where the noise had come from and a shocked gasp escaped him. 

The aircraft he had been trying to locate a while ago was clearly visible, broken up by an explosion and its pieces being snatched away by the winds and waves but that was not what had caught his attention.

Sonic was falling.

Tails froze, eyes wide and sight fixated on the falling hedgehog. The world slowed down to a halt in that moment and the paralyzing terror that gripped at his heart dissolved away like dust.

Thunder rumbled and the sky roared, the world lighting up in an explosion of white that illuminated the speeding raindrop, but all of the chaos around him felt muffled, as the only thing he could hear being the heartbeat thundering in his ears and the only thing he could see being the plummeting form of a blue hedgehog.

Sonic. He had to save Sonic. Nothing else mattered.

Tails felt a strange calm wash over him and deep focus took over his mind, his eyes now narrowed in subconscious determination, the world falling away in a slow blur as he adjusted the controls and moved the yoke, throwing the biplane into a steep nose dive towards the limp hedgehog, taking care not to let it stall.