FicWad

Manic walked his twins, Glitch and Cyber, through the Green Hills park. He had his old hoverboard strapped to his back.

Glitch had his hoverboard Tails had made him under his arm while Cyber lightly skated along in the air shoes Shadow and Sonia had given her for her birthday.

Glitch pointed at a statue ahead of them. “Is that Uncle Sonic’s statue?”

Manic nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

Manic, Glitch, and Cyber reached the statue.

“He looks cool.” Glitch said, looking up at the statue.

“We got some videos at home if you want to see them.” Manic replied.

“We definitely want to see them.” Cyber said. She looked at the flowers, cards, and stuffed animals as Manic laid another letter on the statue. “Wow, he had a lot of friends.”

“Some of them were just fans.” Manic replied. “He was the hero of Mobius before Uncle Shads was.”

“Did we ever see him?” Glitch asked. “Like when we were babies and just don’t remember him?”

“He died four years before you were born.” Manic replied. “Two years before I married your mom.”

Glitch and Cyber hung their heads.

Manic noticed a drawing of Sonic fighting Metal Sonic (where Sonic was losing the battle) taped to the statue and ripped it off. “Tasteless jerk.” He muttered under his breath as ripped up the paper. He threw it in the trash.

Glitch and Cyber, who didn’t get a good look at the picture, gave Manic puzzled looks.

“Dad, why did you do that?” Cyber asked. “Someone worked hard on that.”

“That was someone’s idea of a sick joke, not a tribute.” Manic replied. “Your uncle died fighting that stupid robot and he totally destroyed it.”

Manic started to walk away, then noticed Glitch’s hoverboard. “Oh, sorry.” He said, turning off the path to head to the loops. “We’ll ride for a while.”

Manic texted Shadow, letting him know about the picture. He figured it was a sign of a new villain or Eggman actually had been in hiding for a while.

Shadow confirmed it was indeed Eggman who finally rebuilt his lab and bots after the former destroyed them when he couldn’t find Eggman.

Manic quietly seethed. “He better hope Shads finds him before I do.” He muttered under his breath. He realized he said that out loud, then looked at his kids.

Neither of the twins seemed to have heard him.

Manic breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t need the kids to worry about any of this.



*

Manic, Surge, and the twins sat on the couch, watching the old videos of Sonic.

“He was pretty cool.” Cyber said.

Manic nodded. “He was.”

The last video showed Manic, Sonia, and Sonic hanging out just days before the fatal fight.

Sonic had his arms around his siblings, talking about how awesome their last concert together was.

Manic hadn’t thought about their band in a while and smiled weakly.

Surge stroked Manic’s spines.

“Whoa, wait.” Glitch said. “Dad, you were in a band with uncle Sonic and aunt Sonia?”

“Yeah.” Manic replied. He checked his watch. “Oh, sorry, we’ll have to watch them tomorrow. It’s bedtime.”

Glitch and Cyber groaned.

“It’ll still be there.” Manic said, getting up. “You’ll enjoy it better after a good night’s rest.”

Glitch and Cyber reluctantly got up and headed to their rooms.

*

Manic and Surge settled back onto the couch after putting the twins to bed.

Manic quietly shut the videos off.

“Is it too hard for you to watch the videos with them?” Surge asked.

“No, I can watch them without breaking down now.” Manic replied.

Surge snuggled beside Manic, laying her head on his chest. “He’d be proud of you.”

“Thanks, Babe.” Manic said, rubbing Surge’s side.