FicWad

Manic woke up, feeling like he had been trampled in a swatbot stampede. He saw Sonia, sitting on the edge of his bed and wiping her eyes with a tissue. "Sonia?"



"Oh, thank goodness." Sonia said, turning to face him. Her eyes were red and the fur around her eyes were matted from crying. "We weren't sure you were gonna make it."



"What happened?" Manic asked.



"You had the Mobian flu." Sonia replied. "You had a really high fever. I guess it finally broke. We were so worried about you. You've been asleep for awhile."



Sonic rushed in. "The doctor should be here whenever he finishes up his other calls." He said. He glanced at Manic. "You're awake now? How are you feeling, bro?"



"Awful." Manic said. He looked around and realized he was in his room at their palace in Mobotropolis, formerly know as Robotropolis.



"Oh." Manic sighed. "It was a dream."



"What?" Sonia asked.



"I had a really stupid dream." Manic replied.



"What was it?" Sonic asked. He sat down on the bed. "We could use a good story after all this."



Manic waved his hand dismissively. "Aw, you don't want to hear it."





"I'm curious now." Sonia replied. She slid closer to her brothers. "It couldn't be that bad."



Manic told them the whole story.



Sonia laughed while Sonic looked at him like he was crazy.



"I told you it was stupid." Manic said, adjusting his pillow.



"I'm trying to remember if the medicine's side effects include weird dreams." Sonic replied. "I guess it's better than nightmares."



Manic propped himself up on a pillow with Sonic's help. "You have them a lot, huh? I hear you scream at night sometimes."



Sonic nodded slowly.



Sonia patted Sonic on the back. "I dream about what happened to my foster family too."



Queen Aleena walked in. "How's Manic?"



"Mom?" Manic asked.



"His fever finally broke." Sonia said.



Queen Aleena went over and knelt down beside Manic's bed. She brushed Manic's forehead spines out of his face. "Do you feel a little better, sweetheart?"



"Maybe a little." Manic said. "I'm starving."



"I'll get the maid to make you some soup." Sonic said. He got up and ran out of the room.



"He does know we have an intercom, doesn't he?" Sonia asked.





"It wouldn't matter if he did." Queen Aleena replied. She pulled Manic's blanket back over him. "Sonia, did you tell your brother the good news?"



"Oh, I forgot." Sonia replied. "We were able to reverse Farrell's roboticization a couple of days ago. The first thing he asked about was you."



Manic grinned weakly. "Awesome."



"As soon as you're feeling better, he'll visit." Sonia said. "Actually, we're throwing a huge banquet for the de-roboticized Saturday. You should be better by then."



Sonic rushed in, carrying a stack of letters. "Your soup's being made." He said, handing Manic the letters.



"What're these?" Manic asked.



"The kids you've been giving drumming lessons to made you get well soon cards." Sonic replied.



Manic looked through them. "Whoever made this one could make us some awesome concert posters whenever we play again." He said, holding up one of the cards.



Manic set the letters aside as soon as the maid brought him the chicken noodle soup. "Thanks, miss."



Sonic sat down beside Sonia. "Oh, sis, did you-"



"Tell him about Farrell?" Sonia asked. "Yeah, right before you brought him the cards."



Manic tasted his soup. "So what about Lady Windermere or Uncle Chuck?" He asked. "Did they get de-roboticized?"



"Both of them were de-roboticized yesterday." Sonia replied.



Sonic sighed. "My foster family died not long after their house was raided."



"I'm so sorry, bro." Manic said.



Queen Aleena hugged Sonic.



Sonia handed Manic a picture. "We found this yesterday."



Manic took it. He recognized his mom and siblings, but there was an unfamiliar teal male hedgehog in the picture with them.



"Is- is that our dad?" Manic asked.



Sonia nodded.



"He died fighting Robotnik." Queen Aleena said. "He was making sure we could get out of the palace safely."



Manic stared at the picture. "I wish I could remember him."



"Sonia and I have been looking through the palace archives to find some videos." Sonic said. "We only found a few. Ro-butt-nik destroyed most of them."



Manic narrowed his eyes. "Maybe we should roboticize him and then send him to the junkyard."



Sonic nodded.



"We have laws for treason." Sonia said. "We're letting the royal court settle it."



"We're royalty." Manic replied. "We should make the decision on that."



"Even we aren't above the law, Manic." Queen Aleena said, putting her arm around Manic's shoulders. "Seeking revenge doesn't make you any better than Robotnik."



"Yes, Mom." Manic and Sonic replied.



Queen Aleena kissed her children on their foreheads before leaving the room.



"So now that you're feeling a little better, do you want to watch one of the videos we found?" Sonic asked.



"I'd want to see it whether I felt like it or not." Manic replied.



Sonia put on their home movies, using a projector to show the video on the wall.



Sonic and Manic slid over to let Sonia sit beside them as the video started.