characters: maddie, tails, knuckles, sonic, tom; antagonist oc (The Handler) doesn't appear but is important
relationships: the wachowski family
contains: dehumanisation, Knuckles has Trauma (what else is new)
read on ao3 here!
Maddie sorts through the letters. "Junk mail, junk mail, that's for Tom," she hums, "oh, that's new."
There's no address on the envelope. Which means somebody put it in the mailbox. She scrunches her face accordingly, carefully pulling it open.
Hm. It's... well, there's writing on it, alright. Maddie just can't read a word of it. It looks familiar, though— maybe from one of her boys.
"Tails, you have a translator, right?" Maddie asks, pauses, corrects herself; "Let's start here. Do you know what this is?"
"Oh, wow." Tails leans forward, openly fascinated, but his eyes don't track the words. "It looks like Mobian... who's writing to us in Mobian?
"I, um, can't read it, but I have a translator." He pulls out a little yellow camera thing, scanning the letter with it. "Doesn't look like it says who it's from. Huh... the echidna..."
He reads it hurriedly, expression twisting. "You're not gonna like this."
"Hit me."
"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski," Tails reads, frowning, "It has come to my attention that you are in possession of something very important and very dear to me. I speak, of course, about the echidna."
"In possession?" Maddie echoes, already nauseated by the words.
"It gets worse," Tails warns. "Red has been a crucial part of my operation, and I would be very appreciative if you would return him to me. I will compensate you for your troubles, of course; I have one million Earth dollars set aside for you."
Maddie hisses out a breath. "Jesus," she whispers. "That's a lot."
Tails looks at her— his gaze finds something behind her, ears flattening. She turns to follow and finds Knuckles standing there.
His purple eyes are piercing. "I apologize for listening," he starts. His voice is flat, eyes hollow. "Will I be allowed to say goodbye?"
Maddie feels like a fish out of water, mouth opening and closing and opening again. "What?" she finally manages.
"To the Lord of Donuts. And the hedgehog... and Ozzie," he trails, finally breaking eye contact to glance away. "When you return me."
"What?" Maddie repeats, her throat going tight. "No, baby, no!" She sees a misunderstanding coming a mile away and hurriedly adds, "We're not going to 'return' you."
"Return you?" Tails echoes, paws folding together, "Do you know who this is from?"
Knuckles looks over the letter with eyes that really don't see anything. "I assume it is the Handler," he says. Tails sucks in a breath. "I know of no others who would call me that."
"Baby," Maddie interjects, because she is not done, "baby, we are never going to get rid of you or replace you or 'return' you. Okay?"
He still looks so devastatingly doubtful. He doesn't look at her, eyes still following the words.
"Knuckles," Maddie breathes, "never. Never. Not in a million years."
"It is... a lot. Of Earth money."
"You are worth more than money ever could be."
Tails zips over the back of the couch with a speed to rival Sonic's, arms suddenly thrown around his brother. "Mom's right. Never!" He gives Knuckles a (rather ineffective) squeeze. He steps back enough to look the echidna in the eye. "Never ever. Sonic and Dad will say the same thing."
"What will we say?" Before Tom even has gotten through the door, Sonic is standing there. He talks through a full mouth, crumbs on his face.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Tom chides, setting bags on the table. He gives Maddie a little look, brows furrowing.
"We got a letter," Maddie starts, stops, thinks for a moment. "There's somebody who wants Knuckles." She holds up the terrible paper.
Sonic swallows too fast and chokes. When he recovers, shaking out his quills, he says; "Well, they'll have to go through me!"
"Us," Tom corrects, trying to read the foreign text, "they'll have to go through us."
"She has offered a reward," Knuckles murmurs, stepping out of what had become a circle around him. He folds his arms and very obviously tries to look unaffected. "A hefty amount."
"Hefty shmefty," Sonic shoots back, folding his own arms.
"There's no reward that could make us get rid of you, Knux," Tom assures.
Knuckles screws up his face and takes in a thin breath. He looks... conflicted. Maddie's heart breaks once more.
"Baby," she says, reaching out to take one of his hands, "remember what I told you in the clinic?"
He squeezes his eyes shut. "I am a... part of your tribe. Your family."
"Family is worth more than any money." Tails mimics the boys' postures and crosses his arms, face fierce. "If someone offered you a million dollars for me—"
"Never!" Knuckles cries, eyes wet. His shoulders heave with the force of his breaths. He steps back, rigid. "Least of all to— to the Handler!" His arms pull tighter to his chest, gripping at his sides. Literally holding himself together.
Tom and Maddie share a split-second glance. Sonic's eyes go wide, hands hovering. "Knuckles—"
"Okay," Maddie says, voice soft. "Nobody's gonna touch you, baby. You're safe here. We will do everything in our power to keep you safe."
"And us Wachowskis are pretty powerful," Tom adds lightly.
"I know," the echidna manages, "I know. I— I'm sorry." He glances up with wild, scared eyes. "I don't want to go back."
"You won't," Sonic says firmly, almost reaching out but thinking better of it. "You hear me? Never. Nobody's gonna lay their grubby hands on my brother."
"Yeah!" Tails casts a look over his shoulder in the direction of the garage, eyes alight with ideas. "Nobody's gonna get anywhere near you if we've got anything to say about it!" He pauses. "Maybe that was confusing."
"I got the idea," Knuckles manages, shoulders slumping. "I... apologize."
"You have nothing to apologize for. Not one thing," Tom tells him, voice soft but eyes fierce.
Knuckles' face twists. He starts, stops, starts again. His hands shift, clutching at himself.
Hugging himself, Maddie realizes. He asked them not to touch him and so she doesn't, but she wants to. She wants to hold him. She takes a little breath.
"I would like..." His eyes seal again, hissing. Like he's expecting to be hit. "A hug."
It ends up as a pile of Wachowskis, arms around each other. The best family around. Maddie kisses her boys and vows to not let anything pull them apart.
