Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Say the weather was good for fishing would have been a very bad joke. Because it obviously wasn't. The wind blew strongly, whipping the sea into monstrous waves that swept away anything in their path, including small, hapless boats.

Luckily Angel's Voyage was anything but small, the wood was strong, and its crew was prepared for this type of situation and even so, they were worried, but not because the boat was going to fall, no, but because the strong gusts of wind could modify its trajectory and turn their already heavy trip from one month to one of 2 months, if things went badly for them, in the best of cases they would only be delayed about 1 week

While the crew was trying to stabilize the ship and avoid losses, something different was happening in the captain's cabin. Reviewing each map with crosses marked on specific islands, a blue hedgehog was found, desperately searching for a piece of paper.

Inside the room the noise of the storm was barely audible, but it helped as long as it wasn't in the way outside. It's not that he didn't want to help, but his fear of the sea would be a problem as soon as the ship began to tilt. Besides, his friends had everything under control, while he continued looking for the damn map.

Little by little, the noise of the storm began to calm down, and the hedgehog raised his head to see through the window if it was over yet. Although the worst of the rain had stopped, it was still raining lightly, and the sea was still a bit rough, but it seemed safe to go out. So the hedgehog decided to leave the maps on the ground and carefully leave the cabin.

As soon as he opened the door, the smell of damp and wet wood reached his nose. What beautiful smells. The ship was already a home for the boy. He had been living at sea for some time with his companions, so that damp smell was something that made him feel safe and at ease.

"Great job helping, huh" was heard behind him , not as a claim, but as a mockery

The hedgehog turned around and saw his friend, an albino bat , with large peach-colored ears that moved quickly , paying attention to every noise that was formed inside the ship, her usually impeccable white vest looked dirty from all the hustle and bustle that had happened on the ship earlier.

"As kind as ever, aren't you, Batten ?"

The girl just laughed and took flight, with her magnificent and enormous black wings, searching for ropes

"At least tell me you found something new."

"Unfortunately not, that last shipment of maps had nothing salvageable " The hedgehog sighed and approached the mast to unwind some ropes "At this rate we will never manage to gather all the emeralds"

Batten stopped his flight to look again at the dejected hedgehog.

"Skiff , calm down " She gently lifted the hedgehog's face with both hands so he could see her— We've achieved a lot so far, it's not time to give up, it's time to move forward.

The hedgehog laughed lightly, took his friend's hands away, and simply walked away towards the edge of the boat.

"Nothing?"

A sweet voice was heard approaching him. A pink hedgehog approached him, her hands coiling a rope. Skiff just smiled sweetly.

"Nothing. I wanted to wallow in my misery, but Batten wouldn't let me." Skiff made a heart with his hands while pretending it was breaking.

The girl just laughed and threw a cloth in his face. The sailor decided to observe her, noticing that it was her vest that they use to hide their swords when they went to the city.

"Are we going out?"

"Of course! This last storm made us lose part of our food supply, we need to eat" The girl began to put the rope along with the other spare parts she had on the boat, then turned around and returned to her friend "Also, who knows, maybe now we'll get lucky and by pure chance find an emerald" The hedgehog gave small jumps of joy while holding her friend's hands with excitement, but he just snorted.

"Sure, just like the last three ports…"

The girl frowned in resignation, pouting.

"Of course we haven't had any luck, but aren't you glad to get off this ship , even if it's just for a little while?"

Skiff remained thoughtful, Black Rose was his best friend and the one he most enjoyed going on expeditions with, and the sooner he could set foot on solid ground, the better.

"Okay, let's go."

The two of them began to lower the boat, clearly receiving teasing from Rose, but in the end it was what most showed that they were friends, they could joke around all day and would know that there was genuine affection between them.

When it was time to row, they both took turns. It seemed like it wasn't, but the last mission had left them very tired and hadn't yielded any results. If they were completely honest, they had no intention of looking for anything, they just wanted to get some time off from the stress of the boat, maybe buy something nice for Batten , cooking tools for Catfish and Froggy , or something to keep Knuckles busy .

As they watched the water flow by, they decided to take a few seconds to breathe before continuing with their work.

"Doesn’t it make you nervous to be surrounded by so much water?" Rose asked,It was no surprise to anyone the terror that the water caused in Skiff, finding out was not very difficult, in any combat he sought to direct the enemy to areas that would prevent him from accidentally falling into the sea. Curious for a sailor , someone would think that this would make him incapable of carrying out his duties as a sailor, but that was not the case, Skiff was one of the best companions, he always knew what the ship needed, and although he normally let himself be carried away by his emotions and impulses he would never let his fear of water get in the way when it came to helping his comrades.

"Not at all, I'm a little worried the boat might capsize, but I think that I trust in you enough to know it won't." There you have it, the other big reason why they loved being with Skiff , he was perhaps the most loyal friend you could wish for and he trusted his companions completely.

Rose just smiled and continued rowing until they managed to board the boat on the sands of the beach, the girl decided to stretch, letting out a big sigh, she really felt tired and all she wanted to do was lie down on the sand, but they needed to move fast to be able to return to the boat before nightfall, it wasn't really late, in fact it should have been around 2 in the afternoon, but the storm caused the sky to darken, which gave the sensation that it was later than it really was.

"You want to lie down on the sand for a while, right?" Rose jumped a little in shock, turned around and saw Skiff trying to hide a laugh behind his hand, she felt her face start to heat up with embarrassment. "Hey, don't worry, I want to sleep for a while too, in fact , I have a suggestion for you" Skiff approached Rose and put an arm around her shoulders, putting some of his weight on the girl "You lie down for a while while I go get some food at the market, I'll come back and leave the things in the boat and then you can come with me to buy anything else."

Rose watched him, trying to analyze his proposal. It didn't sound bad, but she felt a certain guilt just thinking that he would be alone looking for food, since this was a mission for the two of them.

"No, it's okay, I'll go with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Rose withdrew her friend's arm and set off walking steadily toward Port City.

Skiff smiled as he began walking with Rose towards the village, it wasn't very big, but perhaps that was because most of the population was concentrated in the capital of the kingdom in the center of the main island of the Archipelago.

Several kingdoms were located on the continents, but a few were distributed around small islands that responded to a primary island (the capital), and this seemed to be the case, but despite that, the market felt largely alive and full of people everywhere, shouting prices and offers, it was a very strange warmth that Rose and Skiff were enjoying.

At some point after buying the food, the only thing Skiff realized was that he was no longer in control of the situation; now he just saw himself being dragged around all the stalls by his friend. He wasn't complaining, but it was funny how quickly it had all happened.

They passed by a mask stand, where Rose had just found very beautiful masks about the legends of the god of the seas: Chaos.

It was a beautiful mask, the artist who made it was definitely a lover of the legend, they would have possibly admired it more, but at that precise moment a series of screams began to resonate throughout the place, the shopkeepers began to close their stalls and hide their merchandise, Rose and Skiff quickly paid for the mask and determined to see what was causing the commotion they began to approach the square, but before advancing even a little further they heard a lady speaking from her stall.

"Hey, kids, hide."

The hedgehogs looked perplexed before nodding and approaching the woman behind the counter. They both stood there, waiting with the woman, a female Koala Mobian , while in the distance they continued to hear the chaos, and Skiff dared to speak.

"Excuse me, ma’am, What are you all hiding from?"

The lady turned to them with a face of total horror.

"Of the monster."

"Monster?" Rose repeated, genuinely confused. What was this woman talking about?

Suddenly she heard a small muffled laugh next to her, it was Skiff trying not to laugh , Rose looked at him angrily and just gave him a small elbow to make him shut up.

"Yes , it's a monster that arrived a year ago, misfortune has been following it, fires, floods, plagues..."

Skiff 's laughter was no longer contained, in fact it began to sound outrageous, Amy and the lady tried to calm him down, but it seemed impossible.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. Are you really telling me there's a monster here? Excuse me, but I have to laugh ."

And he laughed even louder again, the lady looked at him with suspicion, Amy tried to calm the situation, but at this point it was already unsustainable.

"Well, go on, boy," the lady said angrily, no longer willing to endure the antics of a rude young man, "run and try your luck with the beast."

Ah, here's the thing, Skiff loves a challenge, and this was definitely one, so despite Amy's complaints, Skiff got up and triumphantly left the hideout determined to find the beast.

Needless to say, he found the idea completely ridiculous. What were these people afraid of? Monsters weren't real. What next? A time-traveling hedgehog? A fire-breathing girl? A flying fox? It was all nonsense, a rumor that someone had surely told and others believed as the rumor spread.

Skiff ran towards the central square, looking to find a huge creature that was destroying stalls, but he found absolutely nothing, only the destroyed stalls, which surely, the same people had destroyed after their panic attack , so he just rolled his eyes in annoyance and decided to run around the square looking for anything that would give him a clue of the blessed beast, but he found nothing beyond fruit thrown all over the square, so he set out to return.

Just as he was about to turn around, he heard a small crack in the distance. It was a fish stand that had been abandoned by its owners during their escape. Skiff quickly realized it was a thieving thief trying to take advantage of the situation to get free food at the expense of the terrorized people. He might have ignored it, but that wasn't an option, so he decided to approach.

The silence and tension were palpable throughout the place, no one left their homes or dared to peer through the windows, so it was just Skiff and the elusive thief. The hedgehog decided to approach with a calm gait, trying not to attract attention. He walked casually but cautiously, and just before reaching the source of the noise, he saw it .

A little fox tail

The small, faded, dirty, and battered foxtail looked too small to belong to an adult. Skiff 's expression of surprise faded away, replaced by a puzzled one. A child? What was a little fox doing here? Where were its their parents?

No

More importantly, everyone had said the beast was dangerous and fled in fear, so why did they leave the cub here? Skiff 's face filled with sadness. Had they sent him here to die?

They couldn't be that cruel to a child, could they ?

Just as he was about to approach the boy, when he stood up, revealing a small fox cub wrapped in a cloak perhaps too large for his fine, petite build. He couldn't see its face, but he did see its size: small, too small; he must have been 7 or 8 years old at most.

Skiff made a small noise to get his attention, though it seems he didn't do it in the gentlest way, because the little boy jumped a little in fright, but eventually turned in his direction. Skiff became even more confused; this was definitely a child, but he seem terrified, but not scared by a monste... scared of him; as if Skiff were the beast everyone was talking about, as if at any moment he was going to jump out and end his life.

It was a red fox, with orange fur, a white snout, a small, poorly made fringe on its forehead, the cape covered its head so I couldn't see its ears, but it seemed that one was folded because on one side its little ear was marked under the relief of the fabric, while the other was not.

But most of all, he had the two biggest, bluest eyes Skiff had ever seen. They weren't blue like the big sea he sailed on every day, no, they were blue like the vast sky, the endless sky that belongs to no one. They were so bright, and they looked so scared.

Skiff perhaps didn't notice the long time he stared at the boy, he didn't even pay attention to the large fish the puppy had in his mouth, much less the crab he was holding in his hand, at least not until he threw the latter straight at his face.

The blow successfully stunned Skiff , allowing the infant to run off up the village. Skiff quickly snapped out of it and started chasing the boy. He wasn't upset, but he needed to know what was going on. Maybe the boy was lost and couldn't find his parents, so he decided to follow him, and as incredible as it may seem... It was difficult. He didn't want to use his real speed, he didn't want to scare the little boy.

Running uphill is complicated in itself, but that has never been a problem for him , weaving between the stalls was not difficult, not even when he had to jump over fallen merchandise, but the boy did not seem to have many problems either, he seemed to jump and run quite agilely, he knew every corner, and Skiff admitted that if he were not as agile and fast as he is, he would probably have lost him three streets back.

Maybe it was also the first time that someone had kept up with the little fox, because he turned around at each street hoping to have lost sight of him, but when he saw that the hedgehog was still chasing him, the little fox started to run more desperately and stopped thinking so methodically...or so Skiff thought. 

And in a corner he saw him stop panting and breathing raggedly next to a tumbril, Skiff was going to start approaching carefully, but then he noticed a look of malice combined with a slight fear, the hedgehog decided to slow down, but it was a mistake

A few meters from reaching the boy, he dropped the load of the tumbril in a single movement, a pile of barrels that ended up forming a large wall that blocked his way. Possibly the sound of relief he heard came from the little fox on the other side of the improvised wall, but Skiff was not going to give up that easily.

So he took a deep breath, took a few steps away from the barrels, and with all the speed and strength he could, he crouched down in a ball of spikes that rolled with force and precision towards the barrels. When he unwound, he was already on the other side.

He looked towards the barrels where now only pieces of wood and splinters remained, he would apologize later to the locals, but at this moment he had something more urgent on his hands, and it was the boy who was crouching in a corner, covering his ears with his hands, closing his eyes very tightly, while his tails tightened and wrapped around his body, it seemed that his cape had been shot away after his little test of skill and now lay a few inches from the boy.

Skiff was going to stop this ridiculous chase once and for all, so he decided to go over and talk to…

Wait

Two tails?

Skiff looked at the boy again, to make sure he'd noticed him correctly, and indeed, the small Mobian had two tails, equally thin and pale. Life had definitely not treated this boy well. If he could assume anything from seeing him without that enormous cape, it was that he probably didn't have a home, food, or family.

He felt sorry, no child deserves to be alone, so with all the courage and bravery he could muster he decided to speak.

"Hey, Keed , are you okay?" The fox seemed scared that the words were directed at him "I didn't mean to scare you, little one, come here, we can talk."

The boy only began to watch with more fear while with his hands he searched blindly for his cloak until he found it and decided to do what he had been doing for a while: run. And Skiff decided to do what he had been doing for a while: chase him.

He would have liked the chase to last longer and have been as exciting as the previous one, but before turning the next corner something shot out from behind a post and hit the right side of the fox's head, which made the little boy and Skiff stop looking for the origin of the projectile, until they found it, they were some Mobian children , a skunk, a quokka and a fox. All three had stones in their hands and began to throw them at the little two-tailed fox, who could do nothing but cover his head with both hands.

Skiff ran to act as a human shield for the little boy and shouted with all his anger at the group of children.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Can't you see you're hurting him?!"

But the children didn't seem to hear him, more absorbed in looking for bigger stones to throw at the other child, then he heard a small moan of pain behind him, turned around and saw how the adults began to throw food and objects at the child.

The confused hedgehog wanted to stop them, but then he heard it

"Get out, monster!"

"Leave the children alone, beast"

"Freak!, get out of town!"

“[...] a rumor that someone had surely said and others believed it as the gossip grew.”

Then everything clicked. The great evil everyone feared was this little boy, whose only sin, from what he could tell, was having two tails. Was that reason enough to call him a monster? Of course not. Skiff was about to move to continue acting as a human shield, but at that moment the boy looked up, seeing him again, and then he understood.

The boy looked at him in terror as if he were the monster, because that was how people behaved around him: as monsters, in the little boy's eyes, they were all huge, beastly creatures that attacked him and would end his life at any moment. That's why he wasn't surprised when the boy tightly grabbed his tail , bringing it close to his chest in a protective manner, and amidst all the screams and objects directed at him, the boy decided to do what he had been doing for a while: run away.

And Skiff decided to stop doing what he'd been doing for a while: chasing him. The boy didn't seem to calm down with anything, and maybe the feeling of an adult following him must be terrifying him, even more so after his little show with the barrels, so he decided to return with Rose, perhaps having a long discussion with the owner of the establishment. But just before he started looking for the way back, the entire town approached him, thanking him for having the courage to chase the monster all over the place.

Skiff said nothing, but a very strong hatred and rage began to fill his heart, while a sense of protection began to fill his soul, protection of a puppy he couldn't even say he knew.

Then he heard Rose's voice calling urgently from the crowd and he decided to go after her, looking for a way to get away from all those people.

When they finally managed to escape the crowd and the town in general, they decided to take a break, and Skiff began to narrate his entire pursuit to his friend. He needed her strong voice of reason. So he told her everything, from the fish stand to the attack by the villagers with rocks and food. By the time he finished, it was already late, around 5:00.

"...So the boy was there, staring into space, Rose, you don't understand, people were talking about him like he was a huge 10-meter man-killing beast, but he's just a cub."

Rose nodded, she hadn't seen the boy, but she blindly believed his friend's voice, and she knew well how crazy people could get with things that were different, she was going to start reassuring his friend, but her words remained in her mouth when a penetrating burnt smell reached her nose.

"Do you smell that?"

They both turned to the town where they saw a column of fire forming, both turned to look decisively before running towards the town's central square, this did not fix their emotions regarding the situation of the monster, but they were not going to let them die like that.

When they arrived they noticed the cause of the fear

Pirates

Both hedgehogs hid behind a pile of boxes and watched angrily as the captain, a human, demanded that the locals not speak about their presence there, threatening to return and end their lives if they dared to speak.

And what Skiff saw made him even angrier, the little fox from before was being held by the nape of the neck, held in the air by one of the pirates, a despicable gray wolf, while he rocked it and showed it to all his companions as if it were a trophy from a hunt, and possibly that was it.

The boy looked paralyzed, as if he had no control over his movements, but his eyes reflected absolute terror. The man said something to the boy that neither Rose nor Skiff could hear , but it must have been something quite cruel because everyone, except the boy, start laughing shamelessly.

Skiff couldn't stand it any longer and jumped straight towards the pirates, despite Rose's shouts demanding caution.

"Hey, you," Skiff shouted , pointing at the man holding the little fox. "Leave him alone."

The fox looked up, the only thing he could move in his current state. The other pirates looked at the hedgehog with a frown of utter boredom.

"Or what ?"

[...]

The screams inside the market grew louder and louder. People were shocked; the monster had gotten too close again. Everyone moved aside, avoiding the plague.

It was obvious, it was always like this wherever he went, he was used to it by now, he was just supposed to grab food and run. He knew stealing wasn't good, but there was no other way to survive.

His stomach hurt and his head felt like it was about to explode from the combination of the yelling at him and the lack of sleep, all he had planned was to steal something small, but everything got out of hand very quickly.

He was just leaving the market in the afternoon when he heard something fall. It was a little girl's apple. He turned around and, despite his better judgment, went back to pick it up and give it back to the little girl. The little girl took it in her little hands. She was a small Mobian hyena . In fact, she wasn't very small, about 8 or 9 years old, so they were almost the same age.

Maybe at that moment he should have run away, but when he saw the girl he couldn't help but think about what it would be like to play with her and other kids his age, just being kids who go to the park on Sundays, take classes during the week, and have shared picnics on Thursday afternoons.

And it was precisely that daydream that gave the girl's mother time to turn around to see what was keeping her daughter entertained, and upon noticing the two tails that were very slightly sticking out of her cloak, the scandal and fear began.

Everything had become chaos, and all the boy could think about was silence, a decent bed, and a meal. It wasn't much to ask, but now he had to watch people running away from him. Running away from a boy who could barely count to 50, who often confused left and right, who couldn't tie his shoes, and who just wanted someone to read him a bedtime story. He didn't even notice the trampling of his tail, which he had dropped on the floor.

The place was empty, it looked like a ghost town.

The little one didn't want to do it, but he probably wouldn't eat that well again for a while, he didn't always manage to go so far into the town unnoticed, and he decided to approach a fish stand, he was just going to grab one, he didn't even have a way to make the food last long enough outside, so no matter how much he wanted to he could n't be greedy.

So he rummaged through the crates, finding one full of crabs, he began to move them until he found a large fish , he put it in his mouth so he could return the things to the stand, but then he heard it. Someone had noticed his presence, so with fear he turned around finding a blue sea urchin, he had never seen it in the town, so maybe it came from out of town.

He stared at him, waiting for him to say or do something, but he didn't seem to react.

“If you don’t attack someone first, you won’t be allowed to cry when they take the initiative.”

He remembered those words etched in blood on his memory, so in fear he threw one of the crabs he had in his hand and shot away.

The persecution that arose afterwards was, in a word: surprising.

The locals would often chase him but never really keep up, and he'd often lose them after turning three or five corners, but this guy would easily be right on his tail. Every time he turned around, hoping to lose him, he was still there, his face determined.

He was afraid, how much damage did this guy who had been chasing him for so long want to cause him?

As he turned a corner he noticed the large wheelbarrow with barrels, and the gears in his head began to turn, so determined and making one last effort, because he was already tired, he approached the cart.

When he saw the hedgehog, he had slowed down . Was he trying to intimidate him? It wouldn't work. He'd attack first.

So he dropped the barrels, forming a large, impenetrable wall with that barrier. He decided to step aside to catch his breath, took off his cloak, and began checking his tails, hoping they hadn't been damaged by the trampling he suffered earlier.

But his rest didn't last long when he saw the hedgehog go through the barrels like a cannonball, how was that possible? He had destroyed them, and the only thing he had left as evidence were the pieces of wood scattered on the floor, now he was terrified, this guy definitely wanted to hurt him, he curled up into a ball in an attempt to protect himself, but again the hedgehog seemed to have frozen again, at that moment he heard his voice for the first time.

"Hey, Keed , are you okay?" Was he talking to him? "I didn't mean to scare you, kiddo. Come here, we can talk." His voice sounded so sweet, so loving, so empathetic, that for a moment he almost agreed to let his guard down.

No, he wasn't going to fall into that trap again, as best he could he looked for his cloak and decided to flee, he didn't get very far when he felt something hit his head, of course, it was obvious, the hedgehog had led him to that place so the locals could attack. He heard screams coming from the people and the hedgehog, no matter what they had said he knew he needed to run, once again, one last effort, so he grabbed their tails and fled, without even looking where he was going, he just wanted to get away from those people once and for all

Everything was going well until he realized that because of the screams he had accidentally returned to the square, he was about to turn around when he heard something strange, screams of fear, and it was strange, because seconds before they were booing him, he decided to go back a few steps and saw them.

Pirates

Large and dangerous, with sabers and pistols in hand.

The captain appeared to be a human, who shouted at the people, ordering them to give them everything valuable they had.

He was about to flee when someone stopped his escape, it was a big mobian , a kangaroo who looked at him with mockery.

"Ohhhh , poor child, are you lost?"

The little fox was about to run when he felt the kangaroo grab him tightly by the arm and begin to pull him toward the other pirates. He clawed hard at the kangaroo's fur and screamed as loudly as his lungs could, but the kangaroo wouldn't let him go.

"Captain! Look what I found, a little fox cub that strayed far from its mommy."

The boy's eyes filled with tears, he didn't want to be in this situation, he would rather return to his pursuit with the other strange blue guy a thousand times over, he was also terrifying, but at least he didn't speak mockingly like the others.

The human looked at the little boy and only raised an eyebrow, until his gaze fell on something, his tails. Then the boy paled.

"Who are this child's parents ?"

The captain demanded of the villagers, who only looked at each other in horror, but no one responded. Until a hand was raised. It was the mother of the little girl from that morning.

"Are you the fox´s mother?"

"No sir," the woman replied fearfully, while holding her daughter's hand tightly. "That one there is a creature we call the 'Monster'. We don't know if it has a name, but it definitely doesn't have parents."

The pirate just watched the woman with curiosity, analyzing her words.

"So there's no one to answer for him if I take him?"

The little fox's eyes widened in terror, no, he wasn't going to allow that, for once he wanted those horrible people to defend him, to shout that they couldn't do that to a child, but as usually happens with everything in his life, nothing could go right.

"Of course not" The woman quickly clarified

"In fact," Another citizen intervened nervously, none other than the owner of the bank" we will all agree that you take it along with everything we already gave you if in exchange you leave us alone today."

The whole town began to celebrate the idea. The pirate thought about it for a moment before agreeing.

"All right, you've earned my mercy for today." The pirate turned to look at the kangaroo. "Put him on the boat."

The kangaroo started walking with the boy still struggling, but no, he wasn't going to fall today, much less like this. He would be the first to attack, so to avoid crying, he had to take the lead. So with all the courage he could muster, he bit the kangaroo's hand. He knew it wasn't right to bite, but he felt such satisfaction feeling his teeth break the skin of that cruel man. The scream that came from the kangaroo's mouth echoed through the square. It was shrill and frightened both the people and the other pirates.

From the shock the boy's arm was released, so he decided to flee, hoping to lose sight of them, but he didn't get very far when he started hearing gunshots behind him, all of them hitting the ground, so he could infer that they were trying to immobilize him, hurt his legs so he couldn't escape, possibly he would have had a plan if he weren't terrified.

The pirates terrified him, they were the constant nightmare that didn't let him rest at night, they were the reason why he hadn't gone out to look for a better place than this island, he was terrified of finding pirates, and now he was being chased by them, and he only knew one thing, he was afraid, he wanted to cry.

He kept running until heat became present in the air, and then he saw it , they were burning the surrounding buildings to prevent his escape, they had blocked his escape by burning large barrels and stalls, in the streets, creating a dead end.

He was just about to look for an exit when he felt the presence of someone else, behind him was a wolf holding a torch, while moving his finger from left to right and shaking his head.

"If you're smart, you won't make us run any further, little one."

The fox wanted to change direction when another pirate approached him , a human like the captain.

"So much fuss over a ball of fluff?" The pirate started getting closer, too close. The boy started growling, baring his teeth and spreading his fur to try to look intimidating, but it seemed he managed to do the opposite. "Look at that. Do you want to be a big boy? Too bad, it doesn't suit you," the human said mockingly.

"The cub was ready to jump on the man when he felt a hand grab the back of his neck and lift him forcefully off the ground. Sadly, he was now defenseless ; it had been years since he'd felt this way."

His arms fell and his legs were left dangling, as if he were just a rag doll, his head also fell and the only thing he could do was watch helplessly as his body did not respond and have to hear the voice of the wolf that held him tightly while moving him from one side to the other in front of the human's face.

"See? I told you, you grab them by the neck and boom! No more screaming, tantrums, or anything."

The human smiled pleasedly, and the two walked back to the ship. All the little boy could do was think—think about how he was about to lose his freedom again, and no one would lift a finger to help him; all he would hear from the others were mockery and scolding. And maybe he deserved it; after all, people had lost a sale that day just because he was hungry that morning. Similarly, someone had lost their home thanks to the arson that had been set up solely to stop him.

And without being able to control it, a discreet, and just one small tear slid down his cheek and fell to the floor. And although it didn't seem like it, it made him happy, because people always called him a monster. However, he had a distant memory of someone who once said that monsters don't cry because they don't have feelings. He had just cried, because he has feelings, so he's not a monster.

The wolf arrived with the other crew members, while he was swinging it back and forth as if it were an object and not a child he was holding in his hand.

The captain smiled, and began to give orders for everyone to get on the ship.

"Calm down, kid" Said the wolf "We're not going to kill you, cleaning the blood will be very difficult to remove later." All the pirates started laughing.

Was it supposed to be a joke? It just meant that if he ever thought about killing him, he'd probably be thrown into the sea, and he knew it well, that's one of the most horrible deaths anyone could die.

"Hey, you" The boy raised his eyes, seeing the hedgehog from that morning "Leave him alone."

What?

"Or what ?"

The boy started to approach with another pink hedgehog behind him .

"Don't you dare come near us. Do you have any idea who we are?"

The hedgehogs turned to look

"Is that him?" the girl asked.

"Yes , I told you, a fox with two tails, it's cute, isn't it?"

Cute? Did they just call him cute? Did he misinterpret everything? Was this guy trying to save him?

"Hey! Don't ignore us!" The wolf shouted angrily.

"Ah, yes , that's right, they, yes, we know who you are" The blue one answered calmly "You are child kidnappers" To proceed to point at the wolf with boredom, the girl on the other hand did not look so calm.

“This?” The captain began as he approached the fox. “No, no, no, you’ve got it mixed up. This isn’t a kidnapping. It’s a gift the kind villagers gave me in exchange for not taking their lives.” With one hand, he grabbed the fox’s snout so he could face forward. The hedgehogs remained unperturbed. “I’d gladly give it to you, but if there’s one thing we pirates appreciate as much as jewels, it’s the strange things we have the honor of showing off to other pirates.” The man extended his free hand towards the hedgehogs. “But you know about that, don’t you? I mean, after all, you are the pirates of the Angel’s. Voyage , or not?"

The fox stopped thinking for a second, of course, they weren't coming to help him, he couldn't believe that for a second he allowed himself to feel a shred of hope in his heart, they were pirates too and they only came to make his life miserable like all the pirates he knew.

"Ah, it can't be, this again, haven't you understood that we are not pirates?" The blue hedgehog complained, before putting on a serious posture, as if he were ready to attack "And I thought I told you to let him go."

… What?

Then, without the little fox even having a moment to think…he saw it. The hedgehog curled into a ball and shot toward the captain, throwing him far away. That was how he had smashed the barrels. The wolf seemed about to flee, carrying him toward the ship, abandoning the captain when a saber stopped him in his tracks.

"Wow, I thought pirates were more loyal." It was the girl from before, and she held the weapon so securely that it seemed to cut just by looking at the edge. The wolf released the boy before grabbing his own sword.

"Okay , girl, I'm loyal, but to my own life and the captain knows it" Then he turns to look at the fox "You, stay there, dare to move even an inch and you will suffer my wrath"

Yes, he definitely wasn't going to obey that, and as soon as he regained the feeling of power over his own body he walked away, the only thing he saw was how the girl stopped the wolf's attack with her own sword, he took off his cape in order to regain a little more mobility.

"Do you know what I hate more than pirates?" the girl asked, looking at the man with disgust.

"What?"

"To those who pick on children, those who pick on the weak who can't defend themselves, I bet if that child were stronger than you , you wouldn't bother him in the slightest." 

Well this was confirmation that these guys weren't pirates, they were better, they were so cool.

The boy seemed so skilled in his hand-to-hand combat with the human, while the girl swung her sword so deftly, that for a second he was sure he saw sparks fluttering every time their swords clashed.

He wanted to see how the fight continued, but he heard a shot and managed to move quickly, he turned to look for the source of the shot, finding the human from before, the boy began to run trying to be free from his pursuers when he heard a sound of rather hurried footsteps behind him, then he felt himself being lifted from the ground, but not like a while ago.

The pirates from before had grabbed him roughly, not caring if they hurt him; to them, grabbing him was like grabbing an object. But the hands that now lifted him up and brought him closer to this person's body were so gentle, treating him with affection and with fear of being too rough, as if they truly didn't want to hurt him. Fearfully, he decided to look up, daring to believe that for the first time something good could happen in his life.

And there he was, the hedgehog from before was carrying him in his arms away from the pirates, there was clear anger on his face, but for the first time that anger was not directed at him, but at those who had hurt him, so for the first time in a long time he smiled, with genuine joy and snuggled deeper into the hedgehog's chest, enjoying the feeling of protection that he had been missing for so many years.

"Sorry, kid. I meant to get here sooner," the hedgehog said, not taking his eyes off the road. "But that man chattered a lot, and people say I'm the annoying one," the boy said, pretending to be offended. The fox laughed a little; both hedgehogs were entertaining.

Suddenly, he felt an external force throwing him out of the young man's arms. A net had been forcefully thrown in his direction by the kangaroo he had seen earlier. The cub began to struggle, trying to free himself, but the heavy rocks placed on the edges of the net only made him more entangled.

The blue hedgehog began to slow down. Wow, was he really that fast? Maybe he hadn't noticed before, between his previous feeling of surprise and the urgency to flee from the pirates.

"What's wrong with you?!" The hedgehog shouted, pointing angrily at the kangaroo. "You could have hurt him."

The kangaroo only laughs

"That doesn't matter, as long as I can get him to the captain in one piece, everything will be fine."

And without saying another word he approached the hedgehog with the intention of hitting him with his right arm, which was dodged incredibly quickly by the boy, who ended up on the kangaroo's left side.

"Yes , that won't happen while I'm here."

He quickly took the kangaroo's still-stretched arm over his shoulder, pushed on the kangaroo's feet, destabilizing it and thus turning it around by means of the lever he had created with his arm.

The kangaroo's body made a dry sound as it hit the floor.

"Well, that's what happens when you mess with us, don't expect to win, we'll always win" The hedgehog ran a finger under his nose as he raised his face with complete confidence, mocking the kangaroo lying on the floor.

But he quickly stopped to turn around and pay attention to the boy again, his face softened, and the mocking smile turned into a compassionate and kind one, he approached the small fox and bent down to get a better look at the mass of intertwined ropes that wrapped and imprisoned the tiny child.

He slowly lifted the net, avoiding any aggressive movements that might upset the puppy. When he finally managed to remove it, he got a better look at the boy. A small, spongy, trembling ball. But they were no longer looking at him with panicky eyes, only with confusion and a bit of excitement. And maybe the next thing he heard from the boy wasn't what he expected from someone who had just been through that whole ordeal, but it was something he expected from a child.

"Are you a hero?"

" Excuse me?" The boy asked with genuine confusion.

"Yes , are you a hero, like the one in the stories?"

The hedgehog gave a small laugh, it wasn't cruel like the pirates', it was sweet and reassuring.

"I don't think I am, but if it makes you happy, I'll gladly be a hero."

The boy smiled with excitement and decided to ask

"And now what?"

"I don't know , I didn't expect to get this far"

"Are you going to leave me here or are you going to leave me with the villagers?" The little fox didn't like either option, but it was better than being with the pirates.

"I don't know, what do you want me to do?"

No one had ever given him the option to choose before, no one had ever given him control of a decision before.

What did he want to do? Part of him longed for her to do what people always did: choose for him.

But he wanted the choice he made to be one and only one, and for him to choose it by his own choice would be difficult , and if at this very moment he had the ability to influence that decision, then he would take advantage of it.

"I want to go with you," he stammered, trying not to sound demanding. "I don't want to be here anymore, and you look so" Kind "awesome."

The hedgehog opened his eyes but quickly regained his composure.

"Do you really want to come with me?"

"Yes! I want to be like you, I want to be strong, I want to be able to defend myself, I want to be with people who don't see me with so much hate "He felt her throat tighten, like the words were beginning to die on his lips, but he wanted to say it, the only great desire he had "I want to live!"

And he couldn't resist it any longer , tears began to fall from his blue eyes, he tried to contain himself, but the emotions inside his body were too many to keep quiet, he felt pathetic, but at that moment he felt like some arms hugged him with so much affection, with so much love that he didn't know how to react.

"Okay , I can teach you all that, and I can give you that and more, but only if you want, I will never force you to do something you don't want to."

"Yes! I do!" If the fox could have seen the hedgehog, he would have noticed the tears of joy beginning to form in his eyes.

— Okay —The hedgehog hugged the boy tighter— Let's go home

Home

That sounded good, and for once the little fox closed his eyes with the complete confidence that for once, what would come in his dreams would not be nightmares, but the sweet dreams that mothers used to tell their children when they squeezed them.

The hedgehog carefully picked up the boy, possibly very tired, of course, the chase that morning showed him slightly what the boy was capable of, it would be nice to give the little one a home, it seemed that he deserved it.

Upon returning to port, he found everything exactly as he had imagined, with a victorious Black Rose standing in front of what had once been the captain's presumed right-hand man, all the other pirates seemed to have fled with their captain back to the ship.

"Total cowards, huh?"

Rose turned to Skiff with a small laugh.

"Of course, they're willing to sacrifice their captain if it means saving his life, and the captain is willing to sacrifice his people in order to escape." The girl kicked a bullet that had fallen to the ground. "Let's leave it here; the police shouldn't be long in coming for them."

The girl approached her friend seeing the small ball of fluff he was carrying.

"Skiff , no"

"Skiff , yes"

"Skiff , I know you want to take care of him, but think rationally for a moment, what do we know about taking care of children?"

Skiff turned to look at his friend,

"Maybe nothing, but that's no excuse, this child begged me through tears to take him with me."

"But …what if he has a family?"

The truth is, she didn't even believe that last one. What kind of family doesn't go crazy seeing their child almost given away to pirates? So Skiff just raised an eyebrow in mockery.

"Okay, but I won't explain the situation to Knuckles ."

"I knew I could count on you!" Skiff leaned closer to his friend so she could get a better look at the pup, and all she could do was give him a gentle stroke behind his ear. "By the way, I think I saw his cloak fall. I don't know if it's important to him. Could you get it?"

Rose nodded and went to get it. It was old and frayed, and it seemed to have had a badge before, but it had been torn off—strange. She carefully placed it over the boy, like a blanket.

"Okay, little one, let's go home." The girl smiled sweetly before stroking the boy's head again. "Sweet dreams."

And so they both went towards the ship, trying not to wake the boy. If they heard shouts of victory from the villagers upon seeing that the pirates had been defeated (and who possibly hadn't yet noticed that their saviors were lovingly carrying the monster in their arms), they decided to ignore them. The only thing they could think about was the epic story they would tell Knuckles upon their return.

Chapter Text

“Let me see if I understand,” Knuckles adjusted his hat, watching his two subordinates smile nervously. “I asked you to go get food, and instead: you fought pirates, carried out a chase, and kidnapped a child on top of that?”

“We didn’t kidnap him,” Skiff said defensively as he held the fluff ball a little tighter in his arms.

“Oh no? So what did you do?”

“We saw a child alone, there were no responsible adults around him and we brought him in with…ohhhh, well said like that, it does sound like a kidnapping.”

Knuckles could only snort, his crew sometimes had a bit too big a heart, but this was a situation he expected more from Rose than from Skiff.

“Do you have any idea how much a baby fox eats?!” He yelled in exasperation. The two hedgehogs in front of him jumped slightly. The echidna quickly felt guilty. He hated yelling at his companions, but resources were scarce, and the addition of that child could suppose a problem.

He was about to speak again when he felt Rose's hand on his shoulder, now she was looking straight into his eyes.

“Captain,” Rose began, “You know I respect you and I am completely loyal to you, but it’s unimaginable to me to think that you would abandon a child so easily.”

Knuckles sighed

“I don’t want to abandon him, but you know how difficult his presence here would be for all of us; it delays us in our mission.”

Rose thought for a second about her next words, these would be very important, they would make a difference in the little fox's future.

“Captain, we’ve been sailing for so long that I think you’ve forgotten why we’re doing this.”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten,” Knuckles replied, deeply offended. “We’re looking for the 7 Chaos Emeralds to…”

“What for?” Rose let go of the captain’s shoulder and walked over to Skiff and the boy. “I’ll remind you that we’re doing this to give everyone a better future, to bring about a future, and this new world can only be given to the generations of tomorrow, to the children who will come after us. But what will become of them if you show us so little mercy towards this child?”

It was only for a second, but only that second of hesitation in Knuckles was needed to make a change, and both hedgehogs knew it. They had succeeded.

“Okay, the boy can stay, but you will be primarily responsible for his well-being.” The equine turned to look at Skiff before pointing at him with his finger. “You were the one who came up with the idea, so I hope you take this seriously.” Skiff jumped slightly, unused to such seriousness from Knuckles. “As soon as the boy wakes up, I want you to take him with me. I need to check his wounds.”

Both hedgehogs nodded as they said in unison, “Yes, Captain!”

Knuckles left satisfied, and if either of the two boys noticed his small smile they wouldn't say so, surely he was as happy as they were to have the boy on board, but they definitely knew someone who wasn't going to hide their joy at seeing the new crew member.

So carefully they approached the main mast, where someone was resting on the highest point, with a small smile. Rose cupped her hands to her mouth so that she could amplify the sound of her voice.

“Batten! Come here, we've brought a precious jewel that we're sure you'll love.”

The girl perked up her large ears at the word "jewel." They might not have been pirates, but no one could refuse a precious stone, and Batten, in particular, was a lover of them. She had his own collection on the ship. Don't ask him where he got it, because she won't answer.

Batten could perhaps be a bit of a troublemaker and out of all of them she might be the one who best fits the concept of a pirate, but she is definitely not a bad person.

She opened her large, majestic wings to approach the boys, who only closed their eyes slightly as they watched the girl approach, moving the wind around her.

Both hedgehogs were holding back their laughter, their friend's reaction would definitely be something glorious, they saw her approaching with her ambitious look, ready to grab the precious stone that they had brought her, she closed her eyes and stretched out her arms with excitement, joining both hands in the shape of a pot, waiting to receive the precious treasure.

But that never happened, when she decided to open her eyes, all she saw was her two friends smiling widely with mockery, but at the same time with a little tenderness, so she decided to observe more carefully, she was too excited by the jewel that at first she didn't notice it, but the bundle that Skiff was carrying in his arms was much bigger than it should be.

She was barely about to ask when Rose cheerfully gestured for her to come closer. Batten narrowed her eyes, doubtful, but finally gave in. Then she saw it: in Skiff's arms, wrapped in a tattered cloth, was a child, a small fox cub, with vibrant orange fur—that wasn't normal for foxes.

Very carefully, she brought his hand up to the little boy's face, as if she felt it was an illusion and that when she touched the boy, he would simply vanish into thin air, but that didn't happen. When she touched his face, all she felt was battered and very dirty fur. His eyes narrowed, but a sad expression appeared on her face. She continued to examine the little boy's eyes when she saw something on his head that caught his attention: a skin color among all the yellow of his fur, right by his right ear.

Carefully, she took the boy's head in both hands and tilted it so he could see it properly. Skiff seemed to tense up for a moment, but seeing the gentleness with which Batten's hands held the boy, he calmed down.

Needless to say, that calm vanished when he discovered what Batten had noticed, in the midst of the commotion over the pirate raid neither he or Rose had noticed it, both hedgehogs froze upon seeing Rouge's discovery completely.

In the middle of the fur on his left side there was a very large ear, with the same color as the rest of his body, and inside it had a dirty white, However, on the right side there was nothing, literally, he had no right ear, it was only ⅓ of what should correspond to his little ear, but it seemed to have been cut off, even worse, there seemed to be a burn caused by a bullet impact on the edge of his ear, but it seems that after the impact someone had simply pulled hard and without consideration the piece of flesh, tearing off the skin.

Clearly, this had been going on for some time. The wound looked healed, but it was obvious it hadn't been treated by doctors; it was a miracle it wasn't infected. Skiff could only stare angrily. Had the villagers of that horrible town even attacked him with firearms? It was a good thing they'd gotten him out of there in time.

Batten gently ran his hand over the boy's ear, sadly, the puppy jumped slightly when he felt the other's hand rest on his ear, Batten moved away, and with a slightly more serious face turned to look at Skiff.

“Skiff, I want an explanation and I want it now.”

It was strange to see Batten so serious, but it made sense; she loved children, and seeing one like that must have been quite upsetting. Skiff and Rose turned to look at each other, a little dismayed, while trying to use their eyes to encourage the other to speak. In the end, Skiff decided to speak.

“We don’t want you to get angry, Batten,” Skiff said calmly. “This little one is a boy we rescued from Port City. He was about to be kidnapped by pirates and we decided to intervene.” It was strange, but within his serenity there was a touch of seriousness and even fury, something rare for the mocking and friendly hedgehog. “We thought he might have family, but he seems to be an outcast within his own people. I’m not even sure if he’s originally from that place. The villagers gave me to understand that he’s only been there for about a year, but I’ve seen with my own eyes the cruel way in which they treat him.”

Batten softened his expression, turning to look at the little fox, he looked so small and helpless, yet so hurt, she could have asked Skiff more, but he trusted him completely.

“Okay,” she smiled sweetly. “I believe you.”

Both Rose and Skiff smiled.

“And… What is his name?”

Both hedgehogs bristled, between all the movement with the pirates they forgot to ask his name

“You didn’t ask his name, did you?” Batten asked, a hint of mockery in his tone of voice. She knew her friends well, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw both hedgehogs nod embarrassedly. The girl could only laugh. “Well, I guess we have something to ask him when he wakes up.” Suddenly, she opened his eyes in surprise and began to move his hands in excitement. “Oh Gaia, there’s so much to prepare.”

“What are you talking about?” Skiff asked, genuinely confused. They had already rescued the boy, what else should they do?

"Well, first, we need to know its name," Batten pointed out, rolling his eyes. Skiff just snorted. It was obvious they had to do that. "Then we have to prepare a bath for the poor creature. Who knows when the last time I washed its fur was?"

Both hedgehogs looked at the fox's fur, tangled and full of dirt, he really needed a bath, Rose ran a hand over the boy's head and when she felt it slightly warm she opened her eyes in surprise, now she was as frantic as Batten

“You’re right, Batten,” the girl said, standing next to her. “There’s a lot to fix. We also need to give him a medical checkup and feed him.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Oh, Gaia, he’s a crew member now, let’s give him a proper welcome… Gifts!”

Skiff seemed more interested now. To be honest, he hadn't considered how much caring for the child would entail, but his friends were right. They were going to have to adapt their lifestyle considerably for the new arrival. He had to get him a bed, clothes, food, and medicine. It sounded like a daunting task, but for some reason, he was starting to get excited. Besides, the idea of gifts sounded good, yes, a proper welcome.

Rose quickly took the blanket covering the child before telling Skiff

“We need to wash and fix this, I can take care of that, Skiff, go and get a tub so the boy can bathe.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Skiff said cheerfully.

They didn't really bathe often, but they had enough water for a short dip or two during their expeditions, and they would refill their water supplies when they traveled to the inn in Green Hills to the south.

But they would have to make big exceptions for this child, he would definitely need a lot of baths, and very often.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” A loud shout was heard from above, the three sailors turned to the source of the noise, watching their angry captain approach the three with a jump from the forecastle “I told you clearly that I had to check him first, it is possible that the child is sick, or has more injuries, I need to heal him first”

“What?!” It was Batten’s turn to raise his voice. “The poor creature needs a bath. Many illnesses are caused by dirt. He needs to feel comfortable in his own fur.”

Things were definitely getting out of hand. Skiff could feel the boy moving in his arms. He was clearly about to wake up. Oh no, this was exactly the opposite of what Skiff wanted. Rose seemed to notice the boy's discomfort, so she started talking.

“Guys, I know we have doubts, but if you could be less noisy…” Nothing, the echidna and the bat continued fighting, as always “Guys?” she asked again more insistently “Guys” She said, demanding that they calm down “GUYS!” She shouted, and when she did she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, realizing what she had done.

All eyes turned to the boy, who at first seemed not to have heard the noise, but suddenly they saw him open his eyes, then quickly begin blinking, trying to wake up. His eyes finally managed to open normally, and he quickly settled his gaze on the blue hedgehog, remembering everything that had happened that afternoon. He smiled happily, but then he noticed the slightly frightened look on the boy, who only smiled nervously.

Curious, he turned around and saw the pink hedgehog from the beach. Well, that was normal, and in fact, it made him happy to see her again. Unfortunately, during this exploration of his surroundings, he caught a glimpse of two figures he definitely didn't recognize, and as soon as he saw them, his heart began to race in fear.

In front of him was a bat girl wearing a white vest over a navy blue shirt, blue pants, boots, and a yellow sash around her waist. The little fox began to get upset when he noticed the saber hidden from the average eye, but he wasn't the average eye and could clearly make it out. He also noticed the scarf she wore on her head, which gave way to her two large ears.

Perfect to listen to if you decide to escape in the middle of the night.

She also had two big wings, so it had to fly, and she was probably good, so that would be a big problem if he needed to run.

But the worst came when he saw the boy next to her, an echidna. Judging by the elegant clothes he was wearing (a vest and a white shirt with gold details, most likely gold thread) and the large hat on his head, he must be the captain. As a general rule, captains are the most terrifying, and this one was definitely no exception: his hands were large and he was obviously strong, plus he had something resembling spikes on his knuckles, enormous fangs, a gold tooth, and above all, a face that showed how unhappy he was with the situation.

And if the captain isn't happy with the situation, the crew will suffer. The boy was scared, trembling, and could clearly feel his fur prickling. But these guys just looked at him in confusion. Well, he wasn't going to turn down this opportunity, so he quickly kicked the hedgehog and ran off. Maybe he could hide in the hold. They weren't normally used unless they needed something, and he doubted anyone would be there at that very moment.

He heard voices shouting, but everything sounded indistinguishable to him. He was about to reach the hatch when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. It was pure instinct. He knew it was wrong, but he was scared, so he closed his eyes and quickly turned around to attack with his claws. He felt them tear someone's skin, but when he opened his eyes, the only person he saw was the friendly hedgehog.

But now he had three large cuts on his cheek, and a trickle of blood was coming from them. The hedgehog didn't look angry, just surprised. The other boys stopped in surprise.

The fox had now made a mistake, even more afraid than before, he opened the hatch, closed it from the inside and ran through small corridors until he found the door he was looking for: the cellar.

Entering, he bolted the door and sat down, very scared. Hesitantly, he raised his hand and saw the blood dripping from his claws. He couldn't hold it in any longer and began to cry. He didn't want this, he didn't want to be a bad boy, but he was scared, and he was stupid. Yes, that's definitely what he was. He was stupid and an idiot. Those people wanted to help him, and he just ran away and hurt the only person who had shown him compassion in so long, and he'd only known him for a few hours.

He was an idiot and if at that very moment they decided to throw him into the sea, he would accept it, he deserved it.

He tightly hugged his tails, realizing how dirty they were. The boys above looked so smart in their waistcoats and shirts, with those headbands and their fine boots. He definitely didn't fit in. They were up above, perhaps thinking about how to dispose of him, while he was sitting in a strangely lit cellar with nothing decent on. He didn't even have his cloak, boots, or gloves. To top it all off, he had that horrible scar on his ear, but even then, he didn't even have an ear. The worst thing about them were their tails. They were horrible, unkempt, dirty, and worst of all, a mistake of nature.

Sometimes he wonders what her life would have been like if she hadn't been born with them, but those tails were the only thing that truly belonged to him.

One second.

An illuminated cellar?

That was strange, normally people used to carry candles just to light up where they were passing, they didn't have a light that illuminated the entire room.

With great hesitation, he decided to get up, but a sound reached his ear. He turned around, searching for the source. What he found frightened him even more: a large figure was slowly approaching him, much larger than the imposing figures above.

The puppy was now terrified. If he ran, he'd probably be caught in the hallway. If he didn't run, this mysterious figure might kill him. He couldn't stand it anymore. He curled up into a ball, covered by his two tails, forming a makeshift shield, hoping that any blow would be cushioned by them. Inside his little cocoon of fur, he continued to cry, covering his ears with his hands—at least the one he had. The other was still covered by his little hand, even though there was really nothing left to cover. Phantom pain can be really hard sometimes.

However, the expected impact never came. All he heard was something being placed on the wooden floor, but he wasn't going to even think what it was. Then, he heard a soft croaking sound next to him. He cautiously opened his eyes and turned his head, seeing a small frog staring at him with its bulging eyes.

Her fear dissipated a little. Why was that little frog there? He didn't seem to be afraid.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I heard a voice, not really a deep voice, but strong and very calm. “Froggy insisted on checking on you.”

The fox calmed down a little. The stranger's voice was truly calm, almost lulling him without even trying. The little frog approached his face.

Maybe it wasn't all that bad. Very carefully, he unwound himself, crouching down, but still with his tails wrapped around half his body. What was beside him was...different.

He was a big purple cat, with a small hat, a red sash, and big gloves. But despite his size, he looked so calm and friendly. His eyes weren't fixed on anything; he was just looking straight ahead.

Very scared, the little fox dared to speak.

“Thank you” He lowered his ear in embarrassment.

The cat just nodded and sat there, saying nothing, doing nothing.

The little fox began to calm down further upon seeing the big cat's lack of movement, and carefully unwrapped himself so he was sitting more comfortably. Then he turned his gaze to what the cat had placed in front of him a moment ago: a bowl of soup.

“You can take it if you want.”

The fox was startled. Was it so obvious he'd been staring at the soup? But he couldn't accept it. He was a naughty boy, not the haberdashery. Sadly, he shook his head, but the cat just calmly turned to look at him.

“You look hungry, you should try.”

The little fox continued shaking his head.

“I don’t deserve it.” Sadly, he wiped away the tears that were falling down his cheeks again. “I hurt someone.”

The cat just remained silent, but the little frog just jumped onto the fox's lap croaking.

“You look so small, I don’t think you really hurt him.”

The puppy only shrank further.

“I did it, I didn’t mean to do it, but I’m an idiot.” The boy began to cry louder, but he tried to contain every sound that came out of his mouth with both hands. At one point, he put one of his hands over his mouth and began to bite it, hoping that would stop his crying, but it didn’t work.

“I’ve never heard of anyone hurting another person out of stupidity,” the fox stopped, turning to look at the cat. “But I have heard of people doing it out of fear.”

The little fox pondered the words. Of course, he had felt scared, but how would that fix things? There was still blood on his hand, and the friendly hedgehog's cheek was probably still hurting.

“That doesn’t justify what I did.”

"Not at all"

“What should I do?” The boy turned his gaze to his tails, grabbing them with affection and fear.

“I don’t know.” The boy looked at him again, surprised. Five seconds ago, he seemed to have all the answers in the world. “Has anyone ever hurt you out of fear?”

Too many times

He knew the people of Port City weren't bad, just scared, but that never made the beatings or insults hurt any less. He nodded sadly.

“And what would you have liked them to do at that moment?”

That they asked me for forgiveness

But he knew that would be impossible; those people would rather cut out their tongues than apologize to him. He hadn't really responded when he heard the cat nod; it seemed like words weren't even necessary for him.

“We can't control how others react to what we do or who we are, but when it's our turn to take control of the situation, we must do our best to make the best decision.”

Control

There it was, that word again. Control was definitely the foundation of everything. When someone had control over something, they were free to decide the fate of others, to choose their pain or their joy. This was the second time that day someone had granted them control over something, but it didn't feel anything like what people were saying.

Control was supposed to make you feel powerful, strong, cruel, in control of the situation and the people around you, but right now all I felt was fear, sadness, and for some reason, I felt smaller than ever. I just wanted to keep crying.

The big cat began to stir, sitting more comfortably. The frog hopped onto one of the cat's knees and turned to look at the fox, giving him an unspoken invitation to join him. A little nervously, he approached the cat and lay down on the floor, resting his head on the cat's knees, letting his body relax.

“You know, they used to scare me too.” The puppy listened attentively, without interrupting, but paying attention to what the cat was saying. “They are very strong, fast, and agile, while I was me.”

The fox thought, maybe even the big mobians felt fear, that was new.

“And how did you overcome it?” he asked curiously.

The cat turned to look at him, took a breath and returned his gaze to nothingness.

“I met them,” he finally replied. “I know they’re scary, but they’re all very nice.”

“But what if they don’t do it with me?” The boy curled up, starting to form countless catastrophic scenarios in his head, thousands of images where he tried to run away, flee and escape, but he wouldn’t get very far. “What will happen the day I want to leave and they decide to hurt me?” The boy began to sob, the cat turned to look at him, carefully lifted the boy’s head so he could sit back down, took the bowl of soup and stood up.

"You can leave whenever you want" The puppy turned to look at him confused "You are not here by obligation, I have no idea how you got here, but none of the crew members of this ship are prohibited from leaving, we are here because we are a family"

Family , he once had one, but it wasn't as nice as this man made it sound

“If you decide to stay or decide you want us to drop you off at the next port, I'm sure they'll respect your decision.”

“But how will I know I’ve made the right decision?”

“You don’t know, you never know, not even I knew.”

The boy understood what the man was talking about. He was afraid, but unless he was brave and went up, he wouldn't be able to be free from that horrible feeling of danger. He carefully got up, shook off the dust from having been on the floor, and began to breathe more slowly, trying to mentally prepare himself for what he was going to do.

He was just about to open the door when he heard the little frog from before croak, he turned around and saw it in the arms of the big cat.

The boy felt a little nervous about the request he was about to make, he didn't even know the man's name, but he wanted him to accompany him to face the terrifying sailors, he wanted to feel the tranquility he had just felt in that warehouse, even if now he was going to go somewhere else.

He was hardly about to speak when he saw the big cat approaching him, not in a threatening manner, in fact, quite calmly, and without saying a word he extended a hand to him, the boy took it with a smile, and so they both began to move forward.

“Big” The cat spoke, and the little fox turned to look at him with curiosity, raising his ear to pay more attention “My name is Big, but my friends call me Catfish, you can call me Catfish” The cat smiled sweetly, that was new, and amazing

Friend

No one had ever called it that, it was something new, and it felt good, I wish everything new was that cool.

They finally reached the trapdoor leading to the deck. The little fox, very scared, squeezed Catfish's hand tightly, hoping for comfort. Despite feeling calmer, he was still very nervous. But sometimes that's all it takes, isn't it? Moving forward even when you're scared.

So scared, but determined, he lifted the hatch. The first thing he noticed was the dark sky above him. When he had woken up a while ago in the hedgehog's arms, it had been getting dark, but it was obvious that some time had passed since then. The sky was now an intense dark blue, and above it rose stars, beautifully aligned, twinkling like diamonds, some blinking while others remained fixed. There were stars of all colors, and there were some that, he knew, weren't stars at all, but incredible planets that met his eyes as simply dots that would never remain fixed in the sky every night, they would dance as the year went by.

Seeing the stars was indeed comforting, he didn't really have a home while he was hiding in Port City, beyond a perfectly hidden cave in the depths of the island, but before having one he had been moving around a lot, so anyone would think he had lost track of time, but no, the unmistakable brightness of Venus had accompanied him, and thanks to this he was able to calculate that he had spent at least a year in Port City... regrettable if you ask yourself.

After taking a deep breath, he turned around and saw them there. All the sailors, including the hedgehogs from that afternoon, were going about their normal activities, smiling and all. The little fox finished climbing the stairs. The sound of wood being stepped on by his little feet caught everyone's attention, and they immediately turned toward the fountain. The boy froze; he was scared, very scared.

All eyes were on him, his breathing was starting to quicken, but then he felt a hand grab his, it was Catfish.

“You can do it” He said, in a whisper, but it felt like a cry calling for courage, okay, it was his time, he had to be brave, he frowned decisively, let go of his new friend’s hand and took a few steps closer, before stopping, he decided to take one last look at the crew before fixing his gaze on the floor, with fear and maybe a little shame, his arms remained stiff at his sides.

“I…” I try to start the conversation, when I hear everyone leave their activities aside, drop the boxes they were carrying, the ropes, everything. They put all their attention on him, not with a serious and threatening posture, but with a calm, relaxed and expectant one to whatever the boy said "I-I'm sorry for having upset a while ago and having tried to run away" With fear he turned to see the blue hedgehog, he had three marks on his face, then the guilt consumed him again "I'm sorry for having hurt you, when you were only trying to help" His voice was beginning to break, Oh Gaia, he wasn't going to be able to do this "I-I know I shouldn't be talking like this as if all this hadn't started because of me, and I know that maybe I don't deserve to be part of this ship, but" The boy raised his face and put his hands together in a pleading gesture "Please don't throw me out, I can really be useful, I know how to clean and I can take care of many things, I know how to tie the sails and everything, but if you want to get rid of me, please," He knelt down trying to stop his tears from appearing in his eyes, but he failed loudly, he could feel the water start to run down his cheeks “I would rather be thrown into the water than sold to pirates.”

The ship fell silent, the others couldn't believe what they had heard from the boy, it was definitely not what they expected, the girls looked at each other in dismay and then turned to see their captain who only seemed to be analyzing what to think, what to do, what to say.

Then, taking the initiative, the blue hedgehog began to walk towards the boy, slowly, not wanting to upset him, the enormous blue eyes that watched him were expectant of what the boy would say, the hedgehog had a serious expression, but when he got to a few feet from the boy he stopped and smiled sweetly, he bent down and stood leaning on one leg, being at the height of the boy who was still kneeling.

For a few moments the space was silent, the hedgehog seemed to be trying to think about what he would say next, but he didn't say anything until he saw the fox lower his hands.

“Do you want to know something?” He finally began to speak, the boy stared at him, and very scared, he nodded “We hate pirates.”

“Really?” the boy asked with genuine intrigue.

“Of course, this afternoon I just saw a group of ugly pirates try to take a little boy,” he said with a mocking tone. “You won’t believe this, but when I told the others, they were just as angry as I was.”

Oh, so it was a general consensus to hate pirates?

“Listen to me, boy” The fox pricked up his ear, attentive to what the boy was going to say “We will never let those guys or anyone hurt you, just like I did this afternoon, I will always defend you, and not just me, everyone” He said, extending an arm pointing at the other crew members

“But I hurt you.”

“But you just apologized, that's enough for me, you were scared.” He carefully approached the boy's hand, and the boy took it cautiously. “Also, I owe you an apology. I should have warned you about the other crew members on the ship and made a formal introduction to them. I'm very sorry.”

Carefully they both stood up, the boy supporting himself with the blue boy's hand.

"But I was a fool. It was obvious that if they had a boat there would be more people. I should have known, and yet I still take the liberty of playing the victim here."

The blue boy smiled sadly

“Kid, anyone would have been scared if they woke up to see a group of strangers out of nowhere.”

Tears started to flow from her eyes again, but this time they were from relief, and that felt…warm…good.

“Look, let’s put that aside and do what we should have done from the beginning: introduce ourselves.” The blue boy assumed a more confident stance and ran a finger under his nose while smiling with genuine joy. “Look, I’ll start, so you can see how easy it is.” He crossed his arms and calmly began, “Hello, I’m Skiff, Skiff the hedgehog.” The boy let out a small laugh. The boy had said that phrase with such confidence, as if it was something he said all the time, that it was somewhat funny. Maybe he didn’t notice, but everyone’s eyes lit up at the boy’s laughter. It was childish and tender, like only a child can laugh. Skiff smiled a little wider and continued with his introduction. “Let’s see. What else can I say? Oh! I know, I’m 26 years old, I’m in charge of terrain exploration and searching for supplies, and I love Chili Dogs!” When he finished, he saw the fox's reaction. He looked so happy and attentive that it made Skiff chuckle. "Your turn."

The boy stopped smiling and seemed to get nervous quickly, the pink hedgehog, who had been watching everything closely, decided to approach calmly.

“Don’t worry, it would be a little rude to ask you to introduce yourself if we haven’t all done so already” Skiff smiled gratefully as he saw the boy relax, the girl cleared her throat “Ok, let’s see, my name is Black Rose, although you can just call me Rose, I’m 24 years old, I’m second in command” She said this last statement proudly while placing a hand in front of her forehead in greeting, which made Skiff laugh, those two were cute, the boy thought “I love strawberry cake, and fashion” The girl smiled fondly as she saw the boy analyze everything he had just heard, she confidently turned to look at the bat “Come here! It’s your turn”

The albino girl lowered her ears with a little fear and began to walk, something unusual for her, she stayed a little behind where Skiff and Rose were, but both hedgehogs, upon noticing it, grabbed her arms to bring her closer. When she stood in front of the boy, she tried to maintain her composure, but her sad look and droopy ears gave her away.

“My name is Batten” she began nervously, but without losing a certain diva touch “I am 26 years old, and I am the navigation manager on board the ship” With hidden sadness she turned to look at the sea before continuing “My favorite thing is jewelry and I don’t have a favorite food, and I…” She turned to look at the boy again slightly blushed “I’m sorry if I scared you a little while ago, honey, it wasn’t my intention” The boy looked at her fixedly before nodding politely, that apology sounded so sincere that he decided to believe her, then she smiled.

Batten covered her face with her wings, the child was very sweet and polite.

“And it looks like it’s your turn, big guy,” Skiff said, turning to see Catfish, who was still carrying Froggy in one arm. He smiled fondly at the boy who was staring at him expectantly.

“I’m Catfish and this is Froggy, we make food, we like to fish” Catfish seemed to think for a few seconds about his next answer “Froggy and I are best friends, I’m 30 years old, I don’t know how old Froggy is” The introduction was so simple that the puppy just smiled happily, before returning his gaze to the crew member who terrified him the most, the echidna.

The man just sighed before walking slowly toward the others. He looked serious but confident. He carefully knelt down in front of the boy, and that scared the fox. What was he doing? Was he stooping to his level?

“First of all, I want to apologize.” He carefully took off his hat and placed it on the ground in front of him. “The commotion that caused you to wake up was my fault, so I am sorry and I ask for your forgiveness.” The echidna looked up at the boy, and then a small smile appeared, and wow, it really seemed genuine. “My name is Knuckles. People usually call me The Dread, but on this ship everyone calls me Knucks. You can call me that if that makes you feel more comfortable.” He carefully raised his hand so that it was in front of the boy, palm open, so as not to show hostility. “I am the captain of this ship, do you know what that means?”

I am the captain of this ship, and that means what I say is law.

“It means that I coordinate all the actions on board, so that we function, from the simplest to the most complex, but it also means that I must take care of each and every one of you who are here” The look on the little fox's face was somewhat difficult to explain, he was absolutely confused, but there was something in the sincerity of those words that made him want to continue listening “And that now includes you, everyone on this ship has decided to protect you and take care of you, no matter what, and I can promise you, that we will never abandon you”

“Even with my second tail?”

The echidna looked at him confused, then the boy spread his tails so that they would be visible.

“Even with them, you are now part of this family, and in a family we all take care of each other even if we are different” The boy began to feel his eyes burn “Besides, Skiff has been talking about how amazing your second tail was ever since you left” The echidna winked, the little fox laughed a little and carefully approached, he was going to accept the echidna's hand, when he suddenly stopped

“You haven’t said it yet.”

"What thing?"

“Your age and your favorite food.” The echidna blinked in confusion before starting to laugh.

“You’re right, how rude of me, I’m 27 years old and my favorite food is grapes.” The boy finally took his hand with a big smile, after hearing that, he didn’t find it so scary anymore, Knuckles stood up before saying affectionately “Welcome to your new home, the Angel Voyage.”

The boy was so happy, he had never had a home, this was new and exciting

“Okay, it’s your turn,” he heard Skiff say, as all the crew members moved closer to listen closely.

The boy, a little nervous, began to think about how to start.

“Start with your name, or your nickname,” Rose told him, to encourage him.

The puppy felt a little more secure.

“My name is Miles Prower, I don’t have a nickname.” He seemed to think about what he would say next before continuing. “But I wouldn’t mind one. I don’t really like that name.”

“Why?” Batten asked, genuinely curious.

"It's not mine and I hate it" He said sadly and a little angrily, if the others had any questions they decided not to say them, then Skiff took the floor

“Perfect, I have some suggestions,” he said, taking a step forward and extending his hand, then raised a finger, “Tails.”

“You’re joking, aren’t you? What kind of nickname is that?” Knuckles mocked. Miles thought it actually didn’t sound that bad, but decided not to say anything.

“Okay,” Skiff rolled his eyes in annoyance, before raising another finger. “Mangey?”

Batten was the one who raised her voice this time

"What kind of nickname is that? The baby's going to be bathed and healthy soon, don't give him such ugly names."

Miles agreed this time, he really didn't like that nickname.

“Okay.” He raised another finger again. “Nine?”

“Nine what? Nine heads, nine hands, it doesn’t make sense,” Rose said with mockery and a little annoyance.

Desperately Skiff raised a fourth finger

“Sails?” Silence reigned, everyone turned to look at the boy who nodded happily at the new name “Then Sails it is, you may continue, Sails”

The puppy smiled at the first use of his new name.

“Okay, so, um, I’m 10 years old.” He could hear the surprised gasp everyone gave for a moment, but they decided not to say anything. “What’s my favorite food supposed to be?”

Silence fell once again.

“What?” Batten asked.

“Yes, the truth is I've never had a favorite food, I usually eat anything that's edible” Sails began to mentally review everything that there was until now, when it came to surviving one couldn't afford luxuries like demand “But, what do you want my favorite food to be?”

“Kid,” Knuckles leaned closer to the puppy. “No one can tell you what you want, only you.” Maybe Sails didn’t notice, but the captain’s face was sad.

“Honey,” Batten leaned closer. “It’s not easy to survive, I understand, but from now on, we promise you’ll only have to worry about living. And we’ll start by finding your favorite food.”

“That’s right!” said the hedgehog as he ran up to Catfish. “This friend here won’t rest until we find your favorite food.” The cat just smiled tenderly.

Why do these people go to such lengths? It's just a silly whim. If I don't eat my favorite food, I won't die.

Sails thought shyly, however, he nodded his head in approval of his companions, who seemed satisfied with the gesture.

“Now, on to other matters,” Rose approached the boy. “It’s bath time.” Everyone turned to look at the boy, wanting to clearly record the before and after image in their memories.

Foam was gushing out of the tub, and the water had made the floor a deadly hazard for anyone. If they were completely honest, they didn't expect to need so much soap and water, but they didn't know the child was so dirty.

Inside a small room on the ship, a makeshift bathroom had been set up. Normally, they would wait until they reached an inn to clean themselves up, but this was an emergency. They could see the layers of grime forming on the boy's skin and fur; they couldn't leave him like that. Besides, they could stock up on water the day they arrived at the next port.

Inside the room there was only the little fox, who was very carefully cleaning his fur, a little afraid that if he fell into the water he would burn some unhealed wound, so focused was he on his task that he definitely did not hear the conversation the adults were having outside.

“Okay, I understand, but the ear? How could someone do that to a child? The miracle is it hasn't gotten infected yet.”

Everyone nodded sadly, Batten seemed to want to continue talking, but Skiff spoke up.

“That doesn’t matter now, the only thing that really matters is that he’s with us now” The hedgehog had a serious and determined look when he decided to see all his companions “And while he’s here, it’s our duty to protect him” He could notice everyone’s confused looks “ I know it’s not easy, and I declare myself responsible for having made the decision to bring him, therefore, I promise to take care of him, don’t worry”

Knuckles smiled, that was just the determination he expected from Skiff.

“Excuse me”

A voice came from behind them. Everyone turned to look at the bathroom door. There was the little fox wrapped in a towel, his feet, hands, and tails hidden from view. It made sense; despite having warmed up a bit recently, he would still act with a bit of caution.

Skiff approached the boy

“Everything ready, buddy?”

The fox nodded, a little confused, but seemed attentive to whatever they were going to tell him.

The hedgehog smiled before crouching down slightly to be at the boy's eye level. "Well, let's see, we're not a big crew." Of course, Sails had noticed that pretty quickly. "And this comes with disadvantages, but also with a few advantages, among them that we have enough space for everyone to have their own cabin."

Wow, that's weird. Sails knows that it's normal for only the captain and high-ranking officers to have single cabins, but if there was one thing he was starting to notice, it was that these guys were weird.

Knuckles approached. “Unfortunately, we didn’t plan on having a new crew member, so all the rooms are a bit full, so we’ve decided that at least for a few days you stay with Skiff.”

Sails' eyes widened. How exciting! He was going to stay with the cool hedgehog!. Maybe he didn't notice, but his tails started moving, although it wasn't noticeable to the others because they were still covered by the towel.

“So, Skiff will take care of you now.” Batten approached the boy and gently patted him on the head. “See you tomorrow, darling, rest easy.”

The girl walked away to the end of the corridor, to what Sails assumed was her cabin, and in this way, one by one, each crew member said goodbye to the boy, until only the puppy and the hedgehog remained.

“Well, keed, it’s time to sleep.” Skiff turned off the bathroom light and headed to his cabin, with Sails following cautiously. The hedgehog carried an alcohol lamp to light the way. When they finally reached the cabin, Sails was a little nervous. He was excited, but he didn’t know what was waiting for him behind that door.

Upon opening the door he saw a simple but cozy room, there were no great riches everywhere, in fact, there was not a single golden thing, there were only two hammocks placed at each end of the room, each with their respective blankets and pillows, there were a series of maps and books thrown on the floor, small drawings carved into the walls were present, silly drawings that were obviously the result of several hours of boredom.

“Welcome,” Skiff approached the little fox. “So, what do you think?”

“It´s very pretty and…simple.” The hedgehog frowned in confusion. The fox noticed and quickly tried to correct himself. “It’s not a bad thing at all! I’m just used to—no, more like, I know—no, I IMAGINE, that pirate ships have jewels and coins scattered all over the room.” The boy laughed uncomfortably. The hedgehog softened his gaze and carefully approached a hammock. He gestured for the boy to come closer.

“Maybe it’s not full of treasure, because this isn’t a pirate ship.”

The fox approached the boy, but did not climb into the hammock, a little afraid of invading the hedgehog's personal space, but the hedgehog picked him up and sat him in the hammock.

“They've been saying that for a while now, but if they're not pirates, but they have a pirate ship, then...what are they?”

The hedgehog laughed a little. He stood up from the hammock, causing the boy to become slightly startled by the abrupt movement.

“We are sailors” Skiff approached a desk where he took out some objects that Sails could not see “We have been going from island to island in search of some special objects” Skiff sat down once more next to the boy “Some powerful stones known as the Chaos Emeralds”

Sails frowned.

“Aren’t they supposed to be a myth?”

The hedgehog started to laugh

“Not at all, in fact, we already have three” The fox opened his mouth in surprise “We can show them to you tomorrow”

“But why? Why do you need it? Aren’t they supposed to be the only thing keeping us safe from the Chaos monster, according to legend?”

Skiff was surprised, it was not a common legend to hear, it was strange that this child knew so many things, but he decided to ignore it.

“No, he has always existed, what do you know about that legend?”

The fox remained thoughtful, he didn't remember the story exactly, but he knew the essentials.

“The story goes that the monster Chaos has always brought destruction to the seas, but that he was usually appeased with gifts offered by an ancient echidna civilization.” Sails turned to look at the hedgehog, who had a thoughtful expression. Sails was worried; was he saying something he shouldn’t? He decided to continue with the story, “But one day the monster wanted more than just fruit or jewels; he began to demand lives. So without warning or asking permission, he took the life of the leader’s daughter, Tikal, who was also the priestess. The echidnas refused to offer any kind of offering to the monster again. If he had done that to their closest priestess, what would he do to them?”

Sails decided to stop and look back at Skiff who was now staring at him, not angrily, just sadly.

“Do you know what happened next?” He asked, Sails saw him confused, he hadn’t understood his question “Do you know what they did to Chaos?”

The fox nodded a little fearfully.

“The echidnas used the energy of the Chaos Emeralds to seal Chaos within the Master Emerald, an object Tikal used to conduct her interactions with the monster. The emeralds were lost over time, and the echidna civilization perished. It is said that Chaos is still imprisoned within the Master Emerald, but whenever its power is strong enough, it can crack open, and when that happens, vicious storms are unleashed upon the seas.”

Sails finished his story, Skiff just nodded, carefully got back up and stood in front of the boy

“Well, things aren’t always as they seem at first glance, for starters Chaos isn’t a monster,” The hedgehog crouched down and carefully placed something next to Sails’ feet, who was a little confused trying to understand “Chaos, he’s a god”

Sails was surprised, then Skiff stood up and handed something to Sails, who grabbed it automatically, without thinking about what he was receiving.

“We know people hate Chaos, but maybe deep down, he is looking for the same thing everyone else alone in the world is looking for.”

Sails waited for the answer, Skiff just looked down at what he had given him, when the boy lowered his eyes he was surprised.

In his hands were a pair of brown gloves, with completely white fingers. They were a little worn, but overall, they looked in good condition. He carefully looked down and saw what Skiff had left next to his feet minutes before: a pair of boots. They were equally worn, but in good condition. If there was one thing that caught his attention, it was that both the gloves and boots seemed to be resized to be smaller than their original size.

Did the hedgehog adjust them for him?

Were they really for him?

Everything seemed so strange, but when he turned to look at the hedgehog his suspicions were confirmed, those things were for him, Skiff simply looked at him with joy

“Now, we are identical” With a smile he pointed at the gloves Sails was wearing on his hands.

Sails ' face , it was the first time someone had given him something so simple, yet so...cute, and he had just received it from the most amazing person in the world! He quickly got up from the hammock and hugged the hedgehog very tightly.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…” The boy said excitedly over and over again, Skiff just smiled and stroked the boy’s head tenderly, when the boy calmed down, Skiff decided to pick him up, and gently placed him on the hammock.

“Tomorrow will be your first official day on the crew, and we were also planning to go look for the fourth Emerald, however, we decided to make a pit stop in Green Hills,” Skiff explained, as he finished tucking the boy in. “Rest, Sails,” Skiff said as he turned off an alcohol lamp next to Sails’ hammock.

“Wait!” Sails shouted with a bit of urgency.

“What’s wrong, keed?” Skiff stopped as he turned to look at the boy.

"What is it?"

"What thing?"

“What you said earlier?”

Skiff was thoughtful, but genuinely didn't understand what the pup was talking about. Noticing this, Sails decided to explain a little more.

“What is it that all of us who are alone in the world are looking for?”

The hedgehog smiled sweetly, thought about it for a second and confidently replied:

"Love"