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Manic stared up at the ceiling since he didn't feel like getting up.



Today would've been Sonic's thirtieth birthday.



For a while, Sonia and Manic couldn't bring themselves to celebrate their birthday.



Recently, Sonia finally decided to celebrate her birthday again and was off at a resort with their mom and Jade.



Sally was invited, and was going to go, but she backed out at the last possible minute. It was still too hard for her and Tails finally told her he really wanted her to stay with him.



Manic still couldn't celebrate his birthday.



It just wasn't the same anymore.



"Daddy?"



Manic turned his head. "What're you two doing up so early?"



His seven year old twin daughters, Mania and Sonecia, were standing beside his bed.



Sonecia stood there, looking like she was about to fall asleep standing up as she played with her long, turquoise spines.



Mania happily drummed on the nightstand with the drumsticks her dad gave her.



"What is it?" Manic asked. "You two miss your ma?"



"Yeah." Mania replied. She stopped drumming briefly to brush back a few of her somewhat long sea green spines before starting up again.



Sonecia folded her arms and glared at Mania. "I'd still be asleep if it wasn't for someone waking me up because she was bored."





"Mania, you can't just wake someone up because you're bored." Manic said. "Find something else to do."





Mania stopped drumming and stuffed her drumsticks into her black hoodie's pocket. "I'm sorry, Sonecia."



Sonecia stuffed her hands into the pockets of her black T-shirt dress. "It's okay, I guess I needed to get up anyway."



Manic sat up and helped Mania and Sonecia climb up to sit beside him. "Is that the only thing bothering you?"



Mania pulled a little book out of her hoodie pocket.



"Where'd you get that?" Manic asked.



"I got it out of your backpack yesterday." Mania replied.



"I told her not to." Sonecia said.



Manic laughed. "You two sound like me and Sonic."



Mania opened the book and pointed to a picture. "Is that Uncle Sonic? Why don't we remember him?"



"Yeah, that's him." Manic replied. "He died before you two were born. He was really sick and the doctors couldn't help him."



Mania and Sonecia stared sadly at the pictures.



Sonecia sighed. "I wish I could've met him."



"Me too." Mania said.



"Today's his birthday." Manic said. "Well, it's mine and aunt Sonia's too, but we don't celebrate ours much."



"Why?" Mania asked.



"It's not the same anymore." Manic replied.



"I don't think he'd want you to be sad on your birthday." Sonecia said.



Mania flipped a page of the book. "Me either."



"Maybe." Manic said. "We have some videos of him if you want to see them."



"Can we watch them now?" Mania asked.



"Yeah, can we, Daddy?" Sonecia begged. "Please?"



Manic got up. "We'll watch some while we eat breakfast."



Manic led the girls out of his and Jade's room.



Sally and Tails were in the hallway.



Tails was wearing Sonic's medallion as always since Sonic had passed away.



"I told you not to wake your daddy up, girls." Sally said.





"We're sorry, Aunt Sally." Mania replied. "Do you wanna watch videos of Uncle Sonic with us?"



Sally smiled weakly. "I'd love to."
*
Manic got the videos ready as the girls sat on the couch with their bowls of cereal.



He picked up the remote and went to sit on the couch.



His bowl of cereal that he left on the coffee table was empty.



"Okay, who ate my cereal?" Manic asked.



The girls pointed their fingers at each other.



Tails shrugged.



Sally mouthed "Both of them" to Manic.



"So both of you, huh?" Manic asked. "If you wanted extra cereal, I would've let you have more."



"Sorry." The girls said, giving him sheepish grins.



Manic played the video and went to get more cereal.



When Manic came back into the room, the girls were watching an old concert video.



Sally and Tails were on the loveseat, watching the videos as well.



Manic sat between his daughters.



Mania tilted her head to the side. "Where are you at, Daddy?"



"I'm on the drums." Manic said.



"You look weird in orange or red." Sonecia replied. "Whatever color it is. It's hard to tell."



Manic laughed.



They watched a few more concert videos before getting to some videos of them hanging out. The first video was of the time Sonic tricked Manic into petting a goose.



The screen suddenly went blurry due to Sonic running off while his phone was still recording.



"What's wrong with the video?" Sonecia asked.



"Nothing." Manic replied. "He just forgot to shut the camera off when he ran."



"I forgot how fast he was." Tails said.



"That wasn't even his top speed." Manic replied. "They didn't call him the fastest thing alive for nothing."



Sally wiped her eyes. "I miss him so much."



Sonecia, Tails, and Mania laughed at the video where Sonic and Manic were attacked by the ostrich.



Manic ruffled the girls' head spines. "Hey, you wouldn't be laughing if that ostrich attacked you."



Sonecia raised an eyebrow. "Wait. What did the farmer do after Aunt Sonia turned the camera off?"



Manic's eyes widened. "Uh… well…."



"He killed the ostrich?" Mania asked.



Manic nodded. "Well, he was gonna do that for food anyway." He said. "It was actually pretty good."



Sonecia giggled.



Sally and Manic checked their watches.



"Oh, we'll watch these later." Manic said, shutting off the video. "Aunt Sonia, Ma, and Grandma are back and they're taking us to visit uncle Sonic's grave.



Mania climbed off the couch and walked over to Sally as she tried to stuff her dad's phone in her hoodie pocket.





"Manic, I thought she wasn't allowed to play with any of our phones?" Sally asked.



Manic checked his pockets. "Give it back, Mania."



Mania sheepishly handed the phone to him.



Sonecia got up. "You need to stop that, Mania."



Manic got up as well. "That kinda stuff landed me in prison before."



"You were in prison?" Mania asked.



Manic flinched. "Oh, I forgot I wasn't supposed to tell her about that yet." He said. "Don't tell your mom I said that, girls."
**
The family gathered around Sonic's grave.



Sonecia looked at all the flowers and cards lined around the statue. "He had a lot of friends."



"He didn't know most of these Mobians." Jade said. "He was a hero in the resistance."



"The what?" Mania asked.



"I'll explain it when we get home." Manic replied. He set Mania down and handed her a couple of flowers. "Go put these on his grave."



Mania shuffled over and laid the flowers down at the base of the statue. "Happy birthday, Uncle Sonic. I wish I could've met you."



Sonia buried her face in her hands and started crying.



Knuckles put his arm around Sonia and rubbed her arm.



Mania sniffled and ran back to Manic.



Manic picked up Mania and held her as she cried.



Queen Aleena laid a dozen flowers on Sonic's grave. "Happy birthday, Sonic."



Queen Aleena hugged Sally as she cried on her shoulder.



Tails kneeled down in front of Sonic's grave and laid the roses on the grave. "I miss you." He said softly.



Everyone else, except Manic, headed back to the limo.



"Happy birthday, bro." Manic said, wiping his eyes. "It's not the same without you. I miss you so much."



A red bird landed on Sonic's tombstone and chirped at Manic.



Manic remembered there was an old Mobian legend that red birds were sent as messengers to let Mobians know their deceased loved ones were safe.



Manic nodded at the bird.



The bird chirped and flew away.