Author's Notes: This is my first story and it will have later chapters for all those who are wondering. RR, but only constructive criticism please.

A World Away

White and black. That was all he could see. The world seemed to have evolved into those two colors. A lone figure trudged through the world these two colors created. Shivering the figure knew the meaning of both these colors. Night had fallen and, as expected in the winter time, it was snowing.

The figure was a young orange fox who went by the name of Miles Prower. By all standards he was normal with the exception of having no shoes or gloves that most of the other creatures wore. What was different about this fox were his two tails. He had always had them and from where he was from they were considered normal. Here in this strange land many people had shunned him, chased him away, or tormented him for his tails. At only five years old he didn't understand why.

Panting heavily Miles leaned against a tree and slowly sank to his knees, hugging himself tighter in a futile attempt to stay warm. Surveying his surroundings Miles looks for anything he could possibly use for shelter. Not far, a small hole in the base of a tree barely made its self visible through the flurry of snow. Getting to his feet Miles slowly made his way toward the crude shelter. Crawling in a far as possible, Miles curled into as compact a ball as possible and wrapped his tails around his freezing form.

A deep cough shook his small form. Sniffling, Miles pulls out an amulet buried in his chest fur. On an oval piece of silver a gold Chinese dragon circles a star cut ruby. Slowly tracing the dragon with his finger Miles remembers when his father first gave him the amulet. His father had told him it was a special amulet. His father had told him it was called a Loyalty Amulet and that it was connected to him in some way. Miles didn't quite understand it, but he had been told not to give it to anyone and to always protect it.

At the memory of his father tears began blur his vision. Tucking the amulet back into his chest fur he now hugged himself more to comfort himself than to keep warm. He had no idea how he ended up in this strange land or what was going on at his home to make him end up in this place. He could only remember fires and screaming. Someone had grabbed him, but in a way where he couldn't see or breathe. Eventually he passed out and upon waking he found himself in the middle of nowhere, alone and having no idea how to get home. Wandering around Miles had found little to eat and no help from anyone. Winter weather just made things worse with ice rain, snow, and cold winds that seemed to pierce him through his fur and eventually making his sick.

Miles could feel a sneeze coming on. Quickly sniffling and rubbing his nose in an attempt to stifle it, but only succeeding in quieting it. Wrapping his tails tighter around his thin form in an attempt to warm his body he closes his eyes. He felt so tired and weak. The odds of waking up alive in the morning were heavily against him, especially in his state.

Fast approaching steps alerted Miles to someone nearing his shelter. As the steps got closer they began to slow down till they stopped right outside. Miles' heart raced, the last time he ran into someone they had tried to tie him up and drown him a nearly frozen pond. Lucky for him he had gotten loose before they got him in the boat. This time he would hardly be able to fight back. He had not eaten for days and any water he got either came from melting snow in his mouth or chewing on icicles.

Miles held his breath, hoping that whoever was outside would move on and not find him. After what seemed like an eternity, Miles finally heard the crunching of footsteps in the snow growing slowly more distant. Letting out a sigh of relief, Miles let himself relax a little. Without warning a sneeze exploded out of Miles and the footsteps stopped. Miles' eyes shot open in realization of what had happened. Cocking his ears he could hear the footsteps returning until a pair of red and white sneakers stopped outside of Miles' shelter.

Once again squeezing his eyes shut Miles prayed that whoever it was would either think that they had heard nothing or if they did find him think he was dead. Miles could hear and feel someone's breath as they peered into the hole. Fear welled up inside of Miles and he could swear he could feel the person's eyes boring into him.

He heard the person outside shift their weight in the snow and soon afterword Miles felt a pair of hands slide him out of the tree. Miles' eyes shot open as he was lifted into a pair of arms and he struggled as best as he could as whatever creature had him held him slightly tighter.

"Whoa, there little guy. It's alright. I won't hurt you." A voice tried to reassure him. Unconvinced Miles attempted to struggle further, but soon broke down into a coughing fit and slumped defeated in the creature's arms. The creature held him closer to its body while Miles caught his breath.

Shaking uncontrollably not only from the cold, but from fear Miles looked up at his captor. A cobalt blue hedgehog looked down at him with could unmistakably be concern. What stood out the most about this hedgehog to Miles were his emerald green eyes. The hedgehog broke eye contact with the kit to look around the clearing and asked "where are your parents?"

Tears blurred Miles vision at the thought of his home. Hanging his head Miles did not attempt to look the hedgehog in the eye. After a moment Miles felt a hand on his head and an alarm went off in his head. Lowering his ears and moving his head away from the hand, Miles looked back up at the hedgehog not even trying to hide his fear.

With his hand hovering several inches away from Miles' head the hedgehog looked surprised, but smiled as he realized what was going on. Turning with Miles still in his arms the hedgehog began carrying the kit away from his shelter. Miles head looked around wildly as he realized the hedgehog planned on taking him somewhere.

"Easy there big guy," the hedgehog spoke softly to the terrified kit, "I'm just going to take you home to my place. You're really sick and from the looks of it you haven't eaten in a long time either."

This did little to calm Miles' nerves, but he did stop jerking around and settled for his fur standing on end and shivering.

"By the way, my name is Sonic." Sonic said in a cheerful voice. There was a long pause as Sonic waited for the kit to respond.

"Are you going to tell me your name?" Sonic asked slowly. Miles just stared blankly up at Sonic, fear still registered on his features. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the kit, waiting expectantly as he continued walking through the forest. Two swishing appendages caught Sonic's eye as they continued on and his eyes widened in surprise. Noticing Sonic's reaction to his two tails Miles flinched a waited for Sonic reaction.

"That is so cool!" Sonic exclaimed looking down at the young fox as the kit looked back in surprise. Excitement radiated from Sonic and smiled broadly. Cocking his head to the side Miles could feel himself beginning to like the hedgehog, but tried to blow out any such feelings. Now that Sonic had noticed his two tails, Miles just knew that this hedgehog was going to try to hurt him in some way everyone else he had previously met had tried to and in his weakened state there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

"Since you won't tell me your name, can I call you Tails?" asked Sonic. Thinking over the nickname he really did not mind and so did not show any sign of protest against it.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sonic declared upon receiving no answer. As Sonic continued walking, gradually the trees began to thin. With few obstacles the wind seemed to take this opportunity to blow exceptionally harder, pelting the two with snow and ice. Tails began breathing harder as his shivering increased and did his best to curl himself into a ball from his position in Sonic's arms.

"There it is, finally." Exclaimed Sonic. Not far off in the distance a small house could be seen in a small clearing near a cliff.

The sight of the cliff made Tails' stomach do somersaults. Walking up the front porch of the house Sonic opened the door to reveal an entry way leading to a living. Through another doorway Tails could see a kitchen. On the other side of the room a stairway led up into darkness and next to the stairs ran a hallway. A couch and a coffee table occupied the living room, but what caught Tails attention the most about the abode was that it was warm.

Moving toward the stairs Sonic flipped on a light and proceeded up go carrying the curious kit with him. At the top of the stairs a hallway led to three doors all of which were closed. At this point Tails let out a large sneeze that not only shook his small body, but startled Sonic who looked incredulously at the young fox.

Sonic suddenly burst out laughing. Tails felt his chests rapid movements as he laughed. Looking up at the blue hedgehog, Tails couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Wow, that was quite a sneeze Tails. I didn't think you would have something that big inside of you. I guess it's true what they say; big things come in small packages." Sonic commented as he opened a door to their left, which led to a bathroom. Kneeling by the bathtub still holding the kit Sonic turned on one of the faucets. Once the tub was filled Sonic gently set Tails in the water.

Immediately as Tails body touched the water he felt the warmth spread throughout the rest of his body. Visibly relaxing Tails closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh. His moment was interrupted as he felt some warm water dumped over his head. Shaking his head water droplets flew in every direction. Tails heard a soft chuckling. Looking up Tails could see Sonic wiping water from his face with the back of his hand. Seeing the kit looking at him he smiled down and grabbed a bottle from the side of the he squeezed several drops of some goo into his hand and rubbed it into Tails' fur.

Bubbles formed on Tails' fur much to the curiosity of the kit. As Sonic's hand brushed over the back of his neck, Tails couldn't help but let out an almost inaudible chuckle. Sonic's hands stopped rubbing. Tails looked up at the hedgehog wondering what had caused Sonic to stop. A mischievous smile slowly formed on Sonic's muzzle. Before Tails had a chance to react Sonic attacked Tails' ticklish spot. Squeezing his eyes closed and scrunching up his neck Tails smiled and chuckled as Sonic laughed along while tickling the young kit.

In the middle of a laugh Tails began to cough. At the sound of Tails' dry cough Sonic stopped fear for the young fox replacing the previous jolly mood of the room. Tails could feel goo rising into his mouth from deep in his throat. With a hard final cough Tails got the muck out of his throat and into his mouth. A hand instantly went to his mouth. He didn't want to swallow the stuff it was gross feeling the stuff in his mouth, but he didn't want to spit it out in the tub.

"Here, use this." Looking at the blue hedgehog he faces a small piece of toilet paper dangling from Sonic's hand. Taking the paper from him Tails spits the goo from his mouth into the tissue and gives it back to Sonic, who throws it into a nearby trash basket.

"Better?" asks Sonic, looking at the wet fox. Nodding Tails began rinsing the bubbles out of his fur with a little help from Sonic. Once he had finished Sonic opened the drain and, taking the kit form the tub, placed him on a towel and began drying him. Once as dry as possible, Sonic picked up the young kit and exited the bathroom and into a room across the hall from the bathroom.

The other room, Tails found was a bedroom. A bed, a night stand, as desk, and a dresser occupied the room, but it looked like no one resided in the room. Above the bed, Tails could see a window. Outside it was still snowing. The thought of still being out in the cold forest sent a shiver up Tails' spine.

Still holding Tails, Sonic walked across the room to the bed. Pulling back the covers, Sonic set Tails down and tucked him in under the covers.

"You rest here, while I go warm up some soup. You're as sick as a dog and I bet some food would help you a lot." Sonic told him exiting the room, leaving the door open.

Resting his head against the pillow, Tails snuggled down under the warm covers. This bed was different than the ones from his home. His bed back at home didn't stand off the floor for one thing and he had different furniture in his bedroom at home, but he for sure was not going to complain.

Tails' eyes began to droop as he lay there, but Sonic had said he would bring food. Not sure whether to trust the hedgehog or not Tails decided to stay awake and at least see. Sitting up slowly, Tails could feel his body ache not only from exhaustion, but from sickness as well. Pulling his amulet Tails stared down at the dragon. It wasn't the fact that they dragon was made of gold or that it surrounded a ruby, but that the dragon looked so real that it could fly off the amulet.

"What's that?" a voice interrupted Tails' thoughts. Looking toward the doorway, Tails saw Sonic standing there a bowl in each hand. Walking in he set the bowls down on the night stand and bent over to get a better look at the amulet.

"That's a neat piece of jewelry you have there. Where'd you get it?" Sonic asked, believing his question to be innocent.

Tears stung Tails' eyes. He wanted to go home and see his family again. He was scarred and didn't know what to expect and his life seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. Tears now freely flowed down his muzzle as he clutched at the amulet, closing his eyes he let out a sob. The bed suddenly dipped down under some weight and Tails felt an arm go around his shoulder. He did not flinch away this time and instead leaned into the body connected to the arm feeling the need for comfort of any kind; even if he did not completely trust them yet.

"Did someone in your family give you that amulet?" Sonic asked gently. Tails nodded, he could feel himself becoming attached to the hedgehog, but allowed himself to this time. He didn't care if Sonic turned on him and stabbed him in the back. He really needed someone right now and Sonic was the only one who had shown him any kindness so far since coming to this strange land. Lifting the small fox into his lap, Sonic hugged Tails to him and began rocking back and forth, comforting the depressed kit.

After the kit had finished crying Sonic set Tails back on the bed. "Here," said Sonic handing Tails a bowl of soup, "you're alright now. You can stay with me if you want." offered Sonic.

Tails looked up from his bowl to Sonic, surprised. "You see, I'm actually quite lonely here. I have friends, but it's not the same." Explained Sonic, looking down at his bowl then to looking back up at Tails. Tails was surprised, but felt a smile light up his features and nodded in response to Sonic.

Sonic's eyes lit up happily at Tails' response and began enthusiastically shoveling soup into his mouth. Returning to his own bowl Tails began eating the bits of vegetables and meat and slurping up the broth to finish. Blinking sleepily Tails let out a long yawn. Taking his bowl Sonic set it on the nightstand and stood up. Laying the kit down in the bed, Sonic once again tucked Tails into bed.

"Good night Tails." Sonic whispered to the already sleeping fox. Then picking up both bowls he quietly exited the room and closed the door, leaving an exhausted and sick kit to peacefully slumber.