Author's Notes: Hi guys, I'm baaaack! I lied again about publishing this in November! Enjoy this sinful treat, and I present you with The Tails and Trials of Love! Favourites and Follows much appreciated! This will contain many characters and homosexual pairings, including fancharacters (i.e Mirius which is supposed to be a vessel for me!) and the plotline will eventually trail the edges of suicide and self-harm(cos I'm strange like that). Mainly will revolve around SonicxTails (cutest couple) and also MiriusxSilver. I will do my best to develop Mirius so you don't hate him for being super vague and yeah I do have a soft spot for Robotnik! You'll see that in a while XD Please review so I can improve my writing if you think I just plain suck(but please be nice about it). I appreciate all those who followed and favourited "Tails of Love", and I promise not to disappoint! Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic and Co., SEGA does, but i own Mirius and Percival. However, anyone can use them, just ask first(I'll say yes, but mutual consent is a courtesy). I will also provide a heads-up if a lemon is present! Enjoy!
~Chapter 1~
Mobius. A place where global warming was not a problem, due to the overabundance of trees, neither was war seeing how the only real antagonist, Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, had reformed and had started on a self-imposed community work order(CWO) by building a theme park with the obnoxious name of "Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park", as well as finally getting his teaching degree. In short, Mobius was Paradise. Well, at certain times. Now was not one of those. It was a horrid stormy day, the kind that caused trees to bend knee to the ground, people to be swept off their feet and buildings to groan and sway as if they had a drink too many. Today was basically the polar opposite of hell. Yet, amidst the sweeping currents of wind, a small yellow biplane flew. Buffeted by the winds, the pilot had to be skilled and focused. He was the former, but not the latter.
~Tails' POV~
The rain lashed down on Tails' face, stinging his skin, as he piloted the Tornado about a volcano in the vicinity of his home village. From his current position, he could see the Mobian High School of the Sciences and Arts (MHSSA), where he studied, with its large brass bell in its receptacle, and he could see plumes of steam from where the rain entered the cone of the volcano near Bygone Island, where he lived. On any other day, he might have deemed the scenery beautiful, in the way a bolt of lightning is beautiful; terrible and yet magnificent. However, he was in turmoil within, with its ferocity rivaling that of the storm. Inside him, a war was being waged between his logical mind and his emotional heart; a savage, relentless duel of words, emotions, opinions and memories.
"It is wrong and disgusting!" His mind would cry.
"Nonsense! You love him, go tell him that!' His heart would answer.
"What if he hates me?' His mind would shoot back.
"At least you would have tried" His heart would riposte.
"Your religion of Solarity will never accept that! You will burn in the Abyss forever with Iblis and sinners!" His mind exploded at him.
"Fuck that!" His heart screamed, certain in its conviction, that love could transcend all, even religion.
He sighed. He could not deny it. Although it was abnormal, unnatural, and disgusting, he could not help it. Deep within, he knew. He loved Sonic. Not as a brother, but as a lover.
He did not know when his friendship with Sonic had transitioned to love, but he knew with certainty that it had. A sob built in his throat and he scrubbed as his eyes to clear them, dislodging a gallon of water that had collected in his fur onto his face, blinding him further. When his eyes finally cleared, he saw a bolt of lightning flare from the heavens, before streaking down to strike the engine of the Tornado. The engine exploded, flinging him away from the wreckage, filling his nose with the stench of diesel and concussing him into senselessness. The last he saw before slipping into the dark embrace of unconsciousness was the sight of his plane plummeting to the village below.
~Sonic's POV~
The crash of lightning startled him awake. That, and the strange sound of an… explosion? He was about the slide back into the comforting arms of sleep again when he saw the flaming wreckage of the Tornado, and, more importantly, a yellow fox with two tails descending at terminal velocity. All thoughts of sleep fled his mind as his eyes popped open, and he sped off to save his best friend.
As the adrenaline rush faded, he came to the conclusion that lightning must have struck the Tornado, and it exploded. He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized Tails was mere metres from the ground. He put on more speed and launched himself into the air, aiming himself at Tails. With a dash worthy of his title, the "Blue Blur", he managed to catch him, but crashed into the ground with Tails under him, fracturing several of Tails' delicate ribs. He slapped Tails across the face a few times to attempt to revive him, but failed. "No….nonononononono… NO!" His anxiety rose as he called Tails' name repeatedly to no avail. He scooped Tails into his arms and raced to the hospital, with the words whispered repeatedly, "Don't die Tails, don't die now buddy".
With fifteen minutes of non-stop running, only slowing to adjust Tails so he wouldn't fall off, he finally reached the Mobian General Hospital, where he knew his friend Blaze worked at. He smashed through the swinging doors with his unparalleled speed, screaming blue murder as he screeched to a halt.
"I NEED A FUCKING DOCTOR! MY FRIEND IS IN AN EMERGENCY CONDITION! SOLARIS-FUCKING DAMNIT!" He cast rapidly from side to side, in an effort to find someone to help him. Just then, an anthropomorphic cat stepped forward. "This way, quick." She ushered him, while pulling out her pager. "Head Nurse to Blaze. Come down to Emergency immediately." She spoke with a tone that bore no insubordination, that was the epitome of the virtue of not suffering fools gladly. All this, and yet at the same time already questioning Sonic about Tails' particulars.
"Hmm… An explosion you say? Name of Miles 'Tails' Prower? Alright, you fill in the rest." And with that, she thrust the clipboard into his hands. Sonic's hand snaked across the paper without a pause; so well did he know his friend. He handed it to the Head Nurse, and she stuck it into the receptacle that was at the foot of a hospital gurney, before lifting Tails up onto it with a gentleness which belied her demeanor.
"Hmm… He is still clothed… That could pose a slight problem."
"Huh? What d'you mean?"
Without a reply, the Head Nurse pulled off his aviator's goggles, and his shirt in one swipe, dumping them into Sonic's hands. "Whaa…" was all he could go before she pulled off his remaining clothes, underwear and all, in another swipe, and dumped them, again, into Sonic's hands. Sonic turned away from the sight of his best friend naked, blushing furiously. The Head Nurse didn't give him much time to do so, her voice breaking through his thoughts again. "His clothes are pretty charred, so I don't think they would have much value being worn again, so a bin is here." She gestured at a nearby trashcan. "I'll be wheeling him in shortly, so you can sit here." He could barely keep up, so preoccupied was he with Tails. He ran his hand across his soft golden fur, wondering if the next time it came out, it would still be warm to the touch. Numbly, he slumped onto a cold plastic bench nearby, dark thoughts plaguing him. No, he would do what he did best: be on his feet. He straightened, and began to walk up and down the same corridor, lost in his thoughts.
~Blaze's POV~
Blaze was resting in the nurse's lounge, nursing a hot cup of tea, exhausted from her rounds. She sighed as she thought of all the patients she would have to attend to in about fifteen minutes. I've got to give who what again? She thought as she tried to remember. She sighed again, defeated by the simple task of trying to remember. She was a part-time nurse at Mobius General Hospital, yet she felt that she had a larger amount of responsibilities than most of the full time staff there. The head nurse had taken a dislike to Blaze almost immediately, and now she found herself swamped with work. She had three times as many patients under her care than any other part-time staff here, and there was not much she could do about it. Curse her! Blaze snarled in her mind. This was the only line of work she could find that she enjoyed doing, and she also needed the money to pay for her university fees. She stretched back, enjoying the relaxing sensation of stretching. Her cup in one hand, she felt for the biscuit tin with the other. Her hand found the tin, but before she could remove the tin from its cabinet, the sudden buzz of her pager jolted her, and she dropped her cup. She swore violently under her breath as she fished out her pager to answer it, and cursed louder when she saw the caller. She pressed the "Answer" button as she scrabbled for some tissues to clean up the fragrant, albeit sticky mess.
"Head Nurse to Blaze. Come down to Emergency immediately." Came the peremptory voice of the head nurse. Blaze pressed the "End" button and flung it violently across the room, shouting "WHY NOT ADD MORE TO MY PLATE, YOU WHOREMONGERING, MOTHERFUCKING BITCH!" she slammed her clenched paw onto a low nearby coffee table, and wisps of smoke rose from her fist. An entering nurse was taken aback at her choice of words, but before any comment could be made, she had stood up, snatched a biscuit out of the tin and stalked out, muttering "If I am going to work overtime, I may as well be fed."
She was fuming all the way from the lounge to Emergency, but as she threw the door open, a flash of yellow fur startled her out of fantasies of what she would do the head nurse, one of which involved sticking her into an anthropomorphic cat sized candle and lighting it, after which she could enjoy her screams. Surely that isn't Tails? She thought as she strode briskly into the Operating Theatre. For all her faults, the head nurse had recognized Blaze's talents at her job, and had accordingly given her the privilege of preparing for operations, and as an assistant in the actual operation. She grabbed the patient's particulars as she ran to the laboratory in which the preparations were made. The name confirmed her worst fears. "Name: Miles 'Tails' Prower. Nature of injury: Explosion/Burns. Treatment: Operation." The sheet of laminated paper stated coldly. A sudden icy flare of determination manifested itself in her, and she whispered to herself, "Then I better do my best to fix him." She busied herself with selecting the required instruments, and threw them into a sink filled with disinfectant. She then gathered them and wiped them with a sterile wipe, before placing all of them into an oven. A ding startled her as she was perusing the patient's particulars again, and she laid the now clean instruments on a sterile piece of paper in a tray on a cart, which she wheeled into the operating theatre.
~Sonic's POV~
He paced up and down outside the operating theatre as his anxiety built within. Eventually, he grew tired and flopped down on a plastic seat beside a coffee dispenser. Should I call Mirius? Mirius was a friend in the Mobian High School of the Sciences and Arts, who was really intelligent. Rumour had it that he could make chemicals with household stuff that could kill people, yet he had done nothing of that sort. Still, he did nothing to dispel those statements, with the deflecting statement "People can believe what they want to believe." Still, he had been a good friend all these years, always open to a long talk if anybody wanted to, playing the role of confidant if called upon, and had an exceedingly acerbic tongue when it came to defending his friends. Yes, he would be the perfect person to call. However, it would be better if everyone were here. He dropped a message into the group that consisted of him, Tails, Amy, Mirius, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Knuckles and Rogue. Everybody replied that they could come, even Rouge, who usually was busy with what she called "girl stuff". Mirius was the first to arrive, together with Silver, his oldest and best friend. Mirius gasped as he collapsed into a plastic seat, and Sonic wordlessly slid a cup of iced coffee into his hands. He nodded gratefully and finished it in one draught. Silver crashed into the seat next to him, and the first question on his lips was "How is Tails?" Sonic could only reply "He's about to go under." Mirius looked up at him and stated, with conviction, "He'll be fine." Sonic could only nod, and ducked his head to prevent them from seeing the sudden upwelling of tears. "Thanks." He rasped. He could not cry. He would not. Sonic the Hedgehog does not cry, he told himself. Yet his heart rebelled, and he felt like he was being torn apart from inside. "What would I do if Tails dies?" Was the question currently haunting him and spinning around and around inside his mind.
~Blaze's POV~
"Scalpel. Scissors. Clamp." The surgeon's voice was a constant drone as he constantly requested new instruments and skillfully manipulated each one to cut open Tails' body to remove shrapnel, reset his broken ribs and repair his burned skin. The surgeon worked tirelessly, his tools chewing through Tails' delicate skin, his hands fluid as he attended, with great detail, every part of Tails' body. He set Blaze the task of ensuring that after he had cut open Tails and finished what business he had in there, the open flesh would be sutured by her. Her fingers moved in a repetitive blur, attending to where the surgeon had left off. In two and a half hours, they finished up the surgery by spreading a salve across Tails' body and encasing his chest in a cast. He then tasked Blaze with wheeling Tails into Intensive Care as he stepped out to speak with Sonic.
Blaze saw a cobalt figure in the doorway of the theatre as the surgeon stepped out to declare the operation a success. She saw the rest of her friends too: Mirius, Amy, etc. But the joy that usually rose in her when she saw her friends was quashed by an overwhelmingly numbing exhaustion. Her mood was not improved by the sight of the head nurse as she wheeled Tails into a ward, but as she turned to leave, as voice halted her. "Wait!" The voice of the head nurse rang across the room and Blaze turned to confront her. The severe visage of the head nurse remained unchanged as she spoke. "I need to speak to you privately, so would you mind if you followed me?" Blaze resisted the temptation to sigh as she followed the steps of the head nurse.
After about two minutes of trailing the head nurse, she found herself in the head nurse's office. When the door closed, the head nurse's face softened into an uncharacteristic smile. "I am pleased to announce that you have a permanent place here with us, Blaze." Blaze was nonplussed for a second, exhaustion and confusion evident in her face. "I-I don't understand." The head nurse smiled. "You are now a permanent, full time nurse. My distant attitude was a ruse, a test if you will. You have a passion for nursing, and I don't intend to waste that. You will receive the full salary of a nurse, with full benefits. Your work schedule can be altered to suit your studies, which I presume will take place at the Mobian High School of the Sciences and Arts?" Blaze nodded, dumbstruck. "Welcome to nursing, Blaze. Well, as welcome as anyone can be while still performing the same duty for the past six years." Blaze felt a tear pooling at the side of her eye, and she thanked the head nurse with a heartfelt appreciation. Maybe she isn't so bad after all. Gotta scrap the life-sized candle idea then. Then a thought struck her. "My friends!" The head nurse gave her one of her rare smiles again and said, "Take the rest of the evening off then, and spend it with your friends. I believe they are still in the ICU. If you hurry, you should be able to catch them." Blaze could not believe her ears. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she exclaimed before sprinting out towards the stairs, taking them two at a time.
~Sonic's POV~
In about half an hour, all his friends had arrived, and some were pacing up and down. Shadow and Silver stood by the window and tried to peer into the theatre while Sonic and Mirius sat on the plastic seats, unmoving. Amy and Rogue were the only ones pacing up and down and generally generating the majority of movement in the group. I don't think I can cope if Tails died. I really don't think I can. As if reading his mind, Alisa reached over to grasp his arm. "He will be fine, but you really have to stop worrying so much. I'm here for you. Remember that." She stated with a firmness in her voice, an underlying resolve of steel behind every word. Sonic impulsively reached over to hug him, tears now unrestrained and spilling from behind his eyelids. "What did I do to deserve such friends?" He sobbed into his shoulder. "Thank you so much." He managed to choke out. Suddenly, the buzz of the operating door opening startled him out of the embrace and the flashback he was having, of all the times he had spent with Tails, running through the Green Hills, the Mystic Ruins and fighting Eggman together. He rose and swept the tears out of his eyes, heading for the surgeon to receive the news, be it good or bad.
The surgeon stepped out, his face grey with exhaustion. He gestured at the coffee machine in an unmistakable gesture-pour him coffee. Sonic complied, and the surgeon slumped into a nearby seat. He accepted the proffered cup and drained it, before sighing with appreciation. "He is in a stable, but critical condition. We will keep him here for two weeks for observation." Everybody heaved a visible sigh of relief at his words, with Sonic turning away for a while to surreptitiously wipe his eye. "Can we see him?" Mirius asked, his tone not unlike that of a demand. "The surgeon waved his hand in a vague gesture of "go ahead". They all strode past the partially unconscious surgeon and to Tails' bedside. Sonic arrived first(duh) and thus opened the conversation.\
~Tails' POV~
"How are you feeling? Does it hurt? Where does it hurt? What did they do to your fur? What is on your arm?" The last question in particular made Tails squirm and cover himself with the blanket. "Nothing." The onslaught of questions by Sonic enquiring about him made him feel warm inside, and brought a rosy tint to his muzzle. "Thanks Sonic, but that is way too many questions." He joked, while laughing. He immediately regretted doing so as a sharp pain pierced his sides from the still-broken ribs trying to set. His laughter cut off in a sudden gasp and hiss of pain. Sonic paused in his rambling to see Tails with tears in his eyes from the stabbing pain. "Are you REALLY alright?" "Yes, I am. I'm just making these noises because my body is delighted to be in such agony". Solaris, Sonic can be dense at times. Yet the close proximity of Sonic bending over his bed made another part of his body infuse with blood as well. He desperately tried to stem the onrushing of blood to his "lower regions". His body refused to comply, and with Sonic touching his face, it was even harder. (A/N Pun. Ha ha). Nevertheless, his desperate attempt succeeded, and all he saw was a slight hump in the lumpy sheets. He hoped Sonic hadn't realized anything. Seeing how he was fussing over Tails, it was unlikely that he would notice Eggman entering the room naked. (A/N Oh yuck.) He was in the company of his friends for half an hour before the nurse shooed them out, stating "Visiting a critical patient may only take place for twenty minutes." Tails bid them farewell and promptly fell asleep, his mouth in a cute 'o' as he snored lightly.
~Sonic's POV~
As they departed the ward, they could see a flustered and breathless Blaze dashing towards them. Silver stepped in front and caught Blaze as she almost hurtled past them. The impact almost knocked both of them over and he had to use his powers to avert a catastrophe. "I got a promotion! YAY!" Blaze was dancing around like a fourteen-year old schoolgirl. "Ohkay, can it wait until we get in the car?" Silver asked. The car was Mirius's as he was the only one capable or inclined to drive. Meanwhile, Shadow stepped past them as he pulled out his bike keys. He had driven here on his fancy black motorbike, which was incomprehensibly, extravagantly expensive, but then again, he lived in a mansion opposite Tails' parents, Amadeus and Rosemary Prower, a teacher at MHSSA and a model cum part-time writer respectively. "Goodbye, and goodnight to all of you." Shadow bid them as he pulled away in a screech and leaving the stench of burning rubber.
The whole group piled into the car as Mirius started up the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot. Blaze exploded in joy as soon as the car started moving. "I got promoted, I got promoted, kiss my ass all you interns." Blaze trilled in a singsong voice. "And all you jobless pathetic slobs." Blaze poked Silver in the face as she continued. Sonic sighed and covered his ears as Mirius fumed in the front and finally snapped, shouting "Shut up!" Blaze continued in her annoying voice, "At least I have a full-time job, it pays the bills." To which Mirius retorted, "Oh yeah? I've got a scholarship that more than pays the bills, allows me to buy whatever I want within reason, and extra to save up. What does your job have going for you?" "Shaddup." Was the only noise heard from the backseat as Blaze was silenced. Sonic broke the awkward silence. "Have you all finished your holiday homework? I still have some left. By that I mean a thirty-four centimetre stack." Mirius rolled his eyes as he chided Sonic. "Surely I have reminded you countless times to complete your work early? Must I remind you oh-so-many times?" Sonic rolled his eyes but as Mirius took his eyes off the road to lecture Sonic, he failed to notice the speeding truck laden with much construction material hurtling to them. "MIRIUS! WATCH OUT!" Mirius turned to see the truck, too slow to do anything.
Review please if you thought I sucked, and favourite if you liked it! Please? (Big eyes)