Me: Hello, my fellow readers/ writers. And, welcome to my newest story-

Sonic: Technically, it's a one-shot.

Me: Same thing. Anyway-

Sonic: I don't think so. I mean a one-shot is a-

Me: Nobody asked you to define it for us, Sonic.

Sonic: Geez, no need to be so rude. I'm just trying to be nice.

Me: Interrupting me in the middle of my sentence isn't exactly what I would call n-

Sonic: Since when do I interrupt you in the middle of a sentence?

Me: Ya just did it, Son-

Sonic: No I didn't!

Me: That's it! *Throws hands up in air and heads towards the door* I give up-

Sonic: But, what about the introductions.

Me: How about you just do them, ok-

Sonic: Okay.

Me: *Growls and leaves the room*

Sonic: Sheesh. What's her problem? Anyway, welcome to "Thank You!" We all hope you guys enjoy and leave lots of reviews. And also have an awesome Thanksgiving. Now-

Me: *Pokes head back in* Que the story! In your face, Son-

Sonic: You know, it wasn't very nice of you to interrupt me.

Me: Argh! Que the story!

TTWD Ch. 1: You've Got My Back -

"I appreciate everything you do, honestly, but sometimes I wished, you would just stop and consider your own well-being for once."

He dipped his hands into the depths of the small oval bowl that sat on the wooden desk beside him, filled to the brim with icy cold water and small half-melted ice cubes.

"You can't go without me!"

Tails grabbed the elbow of a peach-colored arm, forcing the retreating figure of his brother to pause at the entrance to the multicolored bi-plane. The owner of said peach-colored arm breathed deeply through his nose, using the hand that was currently unoccupied to pinch the space between his eyes.

"Buddy, we've been over this-"

"I know, Sonic!" He tightened his grip on Sonic's arm, a determined look in his eyes. "But, I feel better now!"

Sonic raised an eye-ridge at his statement, his face displaying an expression of disbelief. Tails faltered slightly at the look, his eyes looking away from Sonic's, though he could hardly blame the hedgehog's apparent look.

He was sick.

He grasped the light blue rag that laid curled up beneath the surface of the water, completely submerged by the icy liquid.

For the past week, Tails had been stricken down with a severe case of the flu. Sonic had hypothesized that the cold had first developed after they were forced to go on an unsuspecting mission to the snowy mountains after learning that some of Eggman's robots were supposedly spotted there. Due to the fact that Eggman hadn't been active for the past month or so, both Sonic and Tails had promptly dropped everything and hurried out the door.

Without any winter clothing.

Long story short, Tails had fallen ill and Sonic was, well, Sonic, meaning that the undoubtedly lucky hedgehog had gotten away scot-free without even so much as a sniffle. But, nevertheless, the simple fact that Tails had managed to get sick in the first place seemed to worry Sonic to the ends of the earth. The hedgehog wasted little to no time in forcing Tails to reside in the confines of his bed, stuffing him with large doses of medicine that, at least in Tails' opinion, would've made a grown man groan. But, and Tails wouldn't ever truly admit it to Sonic, after a few days of this treatment, the tight grip of the flu began to loosen and Tails started to feel better.

And just in time, too.

That very morning, Sonic had switched on their television and discovered that Eggman was attacking South Island. Tails, having woken that morning with no symptoms of the flu ever even affected him, had assumed that Sonic would've easily let him go along to stop the evil madman. But, he was surprised when Sonic, instead, said:

"No."

He then snatched it out of the water, as if he was a grizzly bear, struggling to nab a fish, and-

"You really feel better?" Sonic questioned, sternly.

Tails nodded, curtly, his eyes becoming interested in the grease-stained floor of the garage. He felt slightly uncomfortable as Sonic stared at the top of his head in silence.

"Alright then."

Sonic began to descend from the edge of the wing, forcing Tails to peel his hand off his elbow and return it to his side. He watched, nervously, as the hedgehog began to pace in a slow circle around him, his vibrant green eyes seeming to analyze his entire body.

Tails rose an eyebrow, watching the hedgehog, curiously. "Sonic-?"

"Cough?"

Tails blinked, his mind taking a moment to realize that Sonic was questioning whether or not the symptoms that had accompanied his sickness still lingered. "Uh, practically non-existent."

Sonic clasped his hands behind his back. "Sneezing?"

Tails shook his head, suddenly feeling as if he was speaking to a drill sergeant. "Not for several hours."

Sonic narrowed his eyes at his response, making Tails gulp, nervously. The hedgehog then slowed his pace, making another small circle around Tails, before he halted directly in front of the fox. Sonic's eyes ran over his face for a few seconds and, when he couldn't find what he was looking for there, he extended a hand towards Tails' forehead, resting it there for several seconds.

"Hmm…"

Tails swallowed, nervously, struggling to reign in the desire to squirm underneath Sonic's hand as he listened to the hedgehog's humming.

"Well, it's official." Sonic released Tails' forehead and, instead, placed his hand on his chin in thought. "You don't have a fever either."

Hope shined in those big baby blue eyes of Tails. "So, does that mean I can go?"

"Mm, I don't know, bud." Sonic folded his arms across his chest, the serious expression he wore like a fake mask, now, forgotten and replaced with a look of uncertainty. "Just because you feel better now, doesn't mean you won't end up feeling sick later on."

"But, I'm fine!" Tails insisted, gesturing to himself. "Honestly!" He added a second later, seeing the unease in his brother's face.

-wrung it out, thoroughly.

Sonic rubbed at the nape of his neck, sighing. "Tails…"

"Please." Tails begged, clasping his hands before his face. "We both know you need me for this."

Sonic huffed, eying the expression of determination that clouded Tails' expression. "Are you sure you're feeling one-hundred percent better?"

Tails nodded, excitedly, a large smile breaking out on his face. "One-hundred-and-ten percent, sure."

That statement made Sonic's wall of resistance crumble and, with a light chuckle, he ruffled the bangs on top of Tails' bangs. "Okay. Then, it's decided. I'll let you come-"

"Yes!" Tails cheered, ducking from underneath Sonic's hand and rushing towards the plane. "I can go!"

"If-" Sonic put extreme emphasis on the word, successfully managing to recapture Tails' attention, "you promise to tell me that, at any given time, you feel even the least bit sick."

Tails nodded, absentmindedly, as he climbed onto the wing of the bi-plane. "Don't worry, I promise."

With vacant, empty eyes, he surveyed the thin rivers of the icy liquid that raced down his fingertips and dropped back down into the awaiting bowl.

"There he is!"

Tails' ears strained to hear Sonic's shouted words over the harsh winds that they flew through. Out of the corner of his goggled eyes, he spotted Sonic- who was squatting on the wing of the biplane, his feet shoved into the footholds implanted there- pointing his finger down at the area below them. Tails followed Sonic's finger, taking a moment to stare down at the side of the bi-plane.

He and Sonic were currently flying over South Island- a place that, at one point had been the only "home", Tails had known, but was now only a reminder of the lonely past life that he had once lived- where everything seemed almost exactly the same as when Tails left.

Except for the giant robot stomping through the middle of the island and the madman laughing, maniacally next to it.

"Alright!" Sonic screamed, drawing Tails' attention to him. When his eyes landed on the hedgehog, he saw that Sonic had stood up from his crouched position, an expression of amusement overtaking his features. "Here's the plan."

Tails laughed, making sure the sound was loud enough for the hedgehog to hear over the wind. "Ha! You have a plan!"

Sonic pouted at the statement, his arms folded across his chest. "What? You think that I'm incapable of coming up with a plan?"

"It's not that I think that you're incapable of coming up with a plan, Sonic." Tails smirked. "It's more like I think you're incapable of coming up with a plan that has more than one part and doesn't include the words 'attack' or 'fight'."

"Okay, then! How about I engage-" Sonic wriggled his eyebrows at Tails, "Eggman head-on while you, back me up from in the Tornado."

Tails smiled. "Fine. But, you do realize that 'engage' is technically the same as att-"

He was interrupted mid-sentence when Sonic suddenly unhooked his feet from the footholds and took off running towards the edge of the bi-plane. The hedgehog squatted, throwing a quick thumbs-up to Tails, and dove off the edge. Tails watched, intrigued, as Sonic let loose a "Woohoo!" that resonated through the air before he curled into a spiky ball, his body aimed at the one thing that would cushion his fall: Eggman's robot.

He folded the dim blue rag, it's color slowly disappearing into a full color-possibly due to one-too-many washes-, once.

Sonic landed on the robot's head with a dull crack- the sound easily reaching Tails' ears, despite the altitude in which he was currently flying at- which, in turn, caused Eggman to squawk in surprise and fumble at the control panel on his EggMobile. The madman shook his fist at Sonic, screaming something at the hedgehog that, from Tails' experience with dealing with the egg-shaped villain, most likely involved the words 'insolent' or 'rat'. Sonic retorted with a remark- a snide one- according to the bright red hue that now colored Eggman's face. The madman gestured, wildly, at his latest creation, apparently going into some sort of monologue about his newest plan. He was interrupted when Sonic, fed up with listening, bounded upwards, curled into a ball, and, once again, aimed himself at the robot.

This time, Eggman was prepared for the attack, a wicked grin overtaking his features as his fingers pushed the buttons on his control panel. The robot swung it's arm through the air, attempting to bat away Sonic as he drew closer. In response, Sonic uncurled, ducking underneath the robot's swing. The machinery followed up with a quick left hook, forcing Sonic to find purchase on its arm and backflip back to the ground. Sonic landed, squarely, on the ground, skidding back a few feet. Eggman cackled at this development, fingers flying across his control panel.

Tails gripped the steering wheel, tightly, aiming the plane closer towards the battle. For a moment, the ground below blurred, and he blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision.

"Tails, can I get a little backup, here?!"

Sonic's urgent voice pierced through the sudden fog that had descended into his mind, clearing a pathway to his thoughts. Tails shook his head, rapidly, his goggles suddenly feeling too tightly plastered to his face. Readjusting his grip on the joystick, Tails pulled the nose of the plane down towards the unintentional battlefield below where Sonic was hopping around in crazy twists and turns in order to avoid a dozen missiles that were spontaneously shooting from the chest of Eggman's robot. Lining the X-Tornado up with the robot, Tails' thumbs repeatedly pressed down on the bright red button on the top of the joystick, shooting several lasers from the bottom of the plane at the robot. Said machine stumbled backward at the force of the lasers as they impacted its body, marring its exterior with numerous burns. Sonic flashed a quick thumbs-up towards Tails before he used the robot's sudden lapse in defense to curl up and spin dash towards what he assumed to be a vulnerable point on the robot.

Eggman, however, sensing what the hedgehog was planning, managed to steady the robot and, with the jerk of his own miniature version of a joystick, he commanded the robot to swing its arm out. Without any hesitation, the robot swung and effectively slapped Sonic away with a sharp 'twank'. The hedgehog went flying through the air and slammed into the ground, his body making a small hole where it impacted the earth. Eggman laughed, maniacally, at this development, pointing a finger at the downed hedgehog as he seemingly gloated.

"Sonic!" Tails shrieked, worriedly, into the earpiece, unable to see through the thick wad of dust that now covered the area that Sonic had landed in. Although, that worry soon dissipated when, barely a second later, Sonic hopped from the dust, seemingly floating in mid-air before he curled up once more and shot himself towards the robot.

Eggman, distracted by his own ego, reacted with a scream and frantically reached for his control panel, struggling to focus his efforts on controlling his robot. He was, unfortunately, too late to stop Sonic when he collided with the robot's chest, the hedgehog's sharp quills easily tearing through the suddenly fragile armor of the robot before he popped out the other side, leaving nothing but sparking wires and a large hole in his wake. Eggman yelled at the hedgehog, spitting out angry words as he punched his dashboard in distaste of the current events.

"You did it!" Tails cheered, a slight lightheaded feeling seeping into his head as he watched as, several feet below, Sonic landed squarely on his feet.

"It's not over yet," Sonic stated, simply, dropping back into his battle stance. His statement was proven to be accurate when, instead of exploding, the robot regained its footing, albeit sluggishly, and begun to fire more missiles from its chest. Sonic turned heel and ran from missiles, realizing quickly, as they continued to follow him, that they were heat-seeking missiles.

"Tails," Sonic murmured through their earpieces, a light tone in his voice despite the danger that lurked behind him, "wanna do your bro a favor and get rid some of these missiles?"

"My pleasure." Tails responded, although his tongue felt heavy as if it was replaced with a block of lead when he did.

Twice.

Tails carefully aimed at the missiles, which were trailing about two feet behind Sonic and rapidly gaining, trying to still his suddenly trembling appendages and repeatedly pressed the red button on the joystick. Once more, lasers shot out from the X-Tornado, impaling one or two missiles and causing them to prematurely implode and barely leaving a dent in the dozen or so that still continued to follow Sonic.

"You wanna give that another try, Tails?" Sonic questioned, narrowly dodging a missile that exploded at his side.

"I'm trying." Tails muttered, quietly, the lightheaded sensation from earlier, swirling stronger in his head.

Tails' thumb found the button on the joystick once more, and after aiming at the missiles, he unleashed the X-Tornado's lasers upon them. This time, several missiles imploded upon the lasers' impact, creating small clouds of dust and shard to appear behind Sonic. The hedgehog slowed his pace down, turning his head to the side to see if all the missiles had been hit. Sonic's eyes widened when three missiles flew out of the dust cloud, heading directly towards him.

Sonic raced away once more, his feet a slight blur. "I think you still missed some, Tails!"

"Sorry, I…" The rest of the words seemed to come to a screeching halt at the tip of his tongue as the lightheaded feeling was kicked up to another notch, forcing Tails to screw his eyes shut in an effort to stave off the dizziness that accompanied it.

If Sonic took notice of Tails' sudden radio silence then he made no acknowledgment of it as he trekked it back to the robot, which seemed off-balanced due to the gaping hole in its chest, multicolored sparking wires spilling out. Eggman, who seemed busy trying to get his robot to operate properly, jerked the joysticks forwards. The robot stumbled forward, drunkenly, its giant feet close to smashing Sonic into the ground. The hedgehog merely dodged to the side before he jumped into the air, and onto the shoulder of the robot. Sonic smirked, watching as the missiles grew closer before he backflipped into the air. Just seconds after his departure, the three missiles slammed into the chest of the robot, erupting into a fiery explosion of metal and coating the robot in a thick dark fog. The robot teetered on its feet before it tumbled backward in a smoking pile of metal.

Sonic landed firmly on the ground in a crouch, smiling wickedly at the destruction that he had caused while, also, enjoying the obvious annoyance that Eggman was currently displaying. The fat doctor was slamming his gloved fists over and over again into the dashboard of his EggMobile, cussing and cursing intelligible words underneath his breath.

"Insufferable spikeball... my precious creation... stupid blue rodent."

"Looks like I broke your little toy, Eggy." Sonic quipped, raising to his feet and crossing his arms in mild satisfaction. "Might as well give up now."

"Oh, shut up!" Eggman hissed, glaring heavily at the hedgehog.

Sonic held up his hands in mock offense. "Hey, I'm just telling the truth, man. You might as well give up and leave unless you want to do it," he cracked his knuckles, "the hard way."

Eggman frowned, unamusedly, at the threat. "Fine. I'll retreat for now, but," it was Eggman's turn to grin evilly, "not without leaving something behind."

Before Sonic could comprehend the meaning behind Eggman's words, the madman pressed a button on his control panel. Sonic jolted into action when the robot's "militated" chest suddenly started to shift, causing Sonic to back away a few feet. Smoke billowed from the robot's chest, making Sonic assume that it was just going to explode before a lone missile shot out. Sonic steeled himself to ricochet the missile only to find that he was not the missile's target when it veered away from him. He watched, curiously, as the missile flew upwards towards the... X-Tornado.

"Tails!"

A third time.

Tails' sky blue eyes were squeezed shut, a throb of pain had begun to thump in his head alongside the lightheaded feeling, making it nearly impossible for him to open them lest the queasy sensation that had been slowly spreading throughout his stomach were to worsen.

"Tails!"

Sonic's panicked voice crackled from his earpiece, frightening him. With trembling fingers, he pushed down the button that activated the earpiece. "S-sonic?" His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears and he could only imagine how it sounded to Sonic on the other end.

"Tails, there's a missile heading right towards you! You gotta move the X-Tornado outta of the way!" Sonic commanded, the words rushing through the earpiece.

Tails fought to peel his eyes open, his non-dominant hand gripping harshly at the side of his head. He hissed, a sound he hoped had not made its way through the earpieces when a sharp pain raced through his head like electricity through a wire. Tails gulped, dizzily, as he stared at the X-Tornado's built-in radar, a bright red dot blinking rapidly as it grew closer to the position of the plane.

"Tails!"

The world blurred around him, the controls before Tails seemingly tilting and shifting in place. He tugged his brown pilot goggles from his face, pushing them back until they practically sat on top of his head, and, vigorously, rubbed at his burning eyes.

"TAILS!"

Tails peered through his trembling digits, a red shadow cast over his face from the radar, at the red-and-white colored missile that was soaring right towards the X-Tornado, it's path marked by the smoke that billowed out behind ' fingers reached for the joystick, even though it was too late, his mind thick and heavy with fog. A dark blur seemingly flashed before his eyes before a blinding fiery explosion rocked the front of the plane. Tails were jerked forward, his forehead smacking into his dashboard and everything then went-

White.

Until the rag was folded into a thick, long before rectangle.

Tails' eyes popped open, his baby blue orbs staring up at the bright blue sky above as he panted, heavily.

'What happened?'

Tails struggled to sit upwards, his arms feeling like a pair of noodles as they trembled underneath him.

"Woah, steady there, big fella." Tails started when two hands clapped themselves onto his shoulders. He wearily picked up his head and stared into the familiar emerald eyes of Sonic. The hedgehog smiled brightly at Tails, carefully helping the fox up into a sitting position.

"S-sonic?" Tails muttered with uncertainty, his throat sore as if he swallowed a bagful of rocks that settled heavily in the pit of his stomach. He winced when a sharp pain echoed throughout his head. Tails raised a heavy hand to rub at his head, his fingers continuing to explore his forehead until they stumbled onto a large bump. "W-what happened?"

"Well~" Sonic drew the word out, yanking Tails' hand away from his forehead, "you kind of crashed the X-Tornado."

"What!" Tails shrieked, only to cough harshly into his fist.

Sonic patted, comfortingly, on the fox's back, his brow creasing in concern at the sound of Tails' coughing. "Woah, calm down, bud. Don't go getting yourself all worked up now."

Tails ignored the hedgehog's concern in favor of looking around the area they were in. They were currently underneath the shade of a large palm tree, the ocean a mere twenty feet away. "Where is it?"

Sonic sighed at his insistence and pointed in the opposite direction that the fox was searching in. "It's over there."

Tails followed Sonic's pointer finger to the left where the X-Tornado stood. The front of the biplane was smashed into a tall, thick palm tree, the wheels still spinning from the force of the impact. From where Tails sat, he could see that at least one or two of the propellers were bent backward.

"Honestly, if you asked me," Tails turned his head back to Sonic, biting back a wince at the fiery sensation that accompanied the action, noticing that the hedgehog still had a slight smile on his face, "the damage could've been a lot worse."

"Sonic," Tails began, his tone thick with shame. "I-I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should've-"

"Uh, uh," Sonic cut him off, wagging a finger in the fox's face. "No apologies."

"But-"

"No, 'buts', Tails. Look, we can worry about all of that, later. For now," Sonic rose his hand up in the air and placed it on Tails' forehead as he pushed back the fox's bangs, a frown gracing his lips when what he was looking for was apparently found, "I'm worried about this fever you're starting to develop again."

Tails gave him a sheepish smile. "Looks like I was wrong about being totally over the flu, huh?"

Sonic chuckled, weakly. "Way past wrong. But, that doesn't matter right now." He grasped Tails' limp left arm, draping the limb over his shoulders. "What matters now is that we get you to Amy's. Actually, scratch that. I'm less likely to be threatened if I take you to Vanilla's."

Tails nodded, distantly at his plan, allowing the hedgehog to help to his feet. For a moment, it felt as if gravity had increased itself upon his shoulders, making his legs wobble as soon as his feet touched the sand.

Cough! Cough!

His fingers trembled as he handled the still dripping rag.

Tails nearly toppled over when Sonic suddenly lurched forward, falling into a kneel as he coughed vigorously into the closed fist of his non-occupied arm. Tails blinked, dazed for a moment at the sudden turn of events before he fell to his knees beside Sonic.

"Sonic!" Tails placed a hesitate hand on the hedgehog's back, unsure of what had caused the sudden decline in the hedgehog's health. "Are you okay?"

It was a stupid question to ask, seeing as the hedgehog was obviously not okay, but, nevertheless, Sonic gave him a weak nod as soon as the fit died down. "Y-yeah." He took his arm from around Tails' back and placed it on the ground, hunching over slightly. "Just… just give me a minute."

Tails frowned, worriedly as he listened to Sonic's heavy breathing, watching the hedgehog lower his head towards the ground and muffle a few coughs with his hand.

Drip.

Droplets splattered onto the wooden floor below him, making a light pitter-patter.

Sky blue eyes widened in shock, disbelief racing through the expression of their owner as they studied the red droplet that suddenly appeared on the sand. The droplet seeped into the white sand, turning it the same ugly vibrant red color before it was joined with another. And another. And another.

And another.

Tails' eyes traced the droplets back to their creator, his breath hitching in his chest.

It was coming from Sonic's underbelly.

He sucked in a deep breath through his nose, swallowing down the sudden pain that had congealed in his throat and-

Why?

Tails watched, frozen in place as a tiny puddle began to develop underneath Sonic's hunched over figure.

Why is Sonic bleeding?

Sonic let lose another rough cough, seemingly curling into himself.

Was he hurt during the fight?

Tails' s brow furrowed, his mind racing with questions. 'No, he wasn't.'

But, why wasn't he?

Sonic struggled to straighten up, using the hand not cupped around his mouth to push himself upwards.

The missile hit him, didn't it? Shouldn't he have been hurt?

Tails stared at the abandoned, forgotten biplane, observing the several obvious dents in the front of the plane and the bent-in propellers.

Shouldn't the X-Tornado be more damaged?

Tails gulped, his mouth suddenly dry as a desert.

So, why not?

"Come on, Tails." Tails' attention became redirected to Sonic, studying the hedgehog who just barely managed to get himself into a kneeling position. Sonic kept his body angled away from him as he rubbed at his face. "We gotta get you to Vanilla's."

Unless…

Tails quivered, a thick lump growing in his throat. "Sonic," the hedgehog paused, his face hidden from view, but Tails could tell that he had acquired Sonic's attention by the subtle twitch of his ear, "w-what happened to the missile?"

Held it in, momentarily before he released it.

Sonic's back muscles tensed, the two large quill on his back, stiffening. "What?" He mumbled, his voice muffled by his hand.

"The missile." Tails repeated, sharply. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, ignoring the ache that had started to take root in his bones, as he trembled. "Y-you warned me that a missile was coming towards me and the X-Tornado-"

Sonic coughed, weakly. "Tails-"

Tails continued, making no sign of even acknowledging the hedgehog's weakened voice. "A-and I couldn't get out of the way in time. Then... t-then..."

The dark blur.

Tails' eyes widened, a sudden realization dawning upon him. "Y-you jumped in front of the m-missile."

The air released from him in a quiet whoosh.

Silence befell the area, even the ocean that had been roaring peacefully beside them, now was silent as if sensing the tension that hung heavily in the air. Time seemed to stand still between the two of them as Tails kneeled there, the wet sand below his knees suddenly feeling like quicksand, sucking and pulling him under, and Sonic who remained frozen in the same position, his head pointed down towards the ground.

"Y-you,"Tails' tiny voice shattered the quiet. The young fox gulped, helplessly, mouth suddenly very dry, "jumped in front of the m-missile, d-didn't you?"

Sonic remained silent, refusing to acknowledge the fact that their moment of silence was truly over.

"S-sonic, please tell me you didn't." Tails murmured, quietly, his voice shaking as tears pricked at the corner of his eyes.

When he received no answer, he stumbled forward, drunkenly, his knees feeling as if there were about to buckle underneath him. In response, Sonic twisted his body around, completely, making sure that his back was the only thing that was visible to Tails. He then hunched himself forward and made himself look extremely small, almost curling up.

"Don't look, Tails," Sonic mumbled, quietly.

He plopped himself down into a small wooden chair that sat near a small bed, his body protesting at the movement.

Tails' wobbly knees trembled before they finally crumbled underneath him, his legs crashing into the wet, sticky sand below him. Tears pricked at the corners of his watery blue eyes as he stared, painfully at Sonic's back.

"Why'd y-you do it, S-Sonic?" He whispered, shakily, placing his face in his hands.

"Tails."

He started when Sonic called his name, the word so quiet that it was practically inaudible, and he pulled his head from his hands to peer at the hedgehog. Sonic had his head turned to the side, an unreadable expression on his face. Tails' breath caught in his throat when he spotted the thick smudges of red that coated the edges of Sonic's mouth.

Tails raised a hand towards the hedgehog, concern bubbling up in his chest. "Sonic-"

"Tails," Sonic mumbled his name once more, ironically shushing the fox's distressed words with his unusually soft voice. "I-I'm f-fine."

"Sonic..." Tails called, indescribable emotions clogging his throat and preventing all but a few words from pouring out. "Y-you... You're not..."

"I-I'm fine," Sonic stated firmly, his words wobbly and weak. Instead of assuring him, all the words managed to do was make Tails' heart clench up in agony. "We just n-need to get to Vanilla's h-house."

Tails sniffled and gave him a weak nod. Although Sonic was obviously lying about being fine, he was right.

They needed to get to Vanilla.

The motherly rabbit was, unfortunately, used to the two of them randomly bursting into her home after a long battle against Eggman, displaying their battle wounds to her. But, never once did she kick them out. She would always just smile sadly at the two of them and usher them into her cinnamon-scented home, softly questioning them on their battle with Eggman as she gently tended to their wounds.

Tails scrubbed an arm across his face, rubbing away any dirt or unwanted tears that happened to be there, and winced when he neared the tender bump on his head.

This was no time for him to fall apart.

All that mattered at the moment was that he had to get Sonic to Vanilla and pray that she could handle his injuries.

Confident in his plan, Tails scrambled to his feet, his shaky knees and pounding head voicing their dislikes about the sudden movement. Once balanced equally on his own two feet, he stumbled towards Sonic; the blue hedgehog had returned to his original position of leaning his head back towards the ground and away from Tails' line of sight while his body remained hunched over.

"Sonic, you're right. W-we need to get to Vanilla's house." He neared the hedgehog and held his hand out towards him. "Come on, I-I'll help you up."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them as Sonic remained eerily quiet, the hedgehog making no notion of even hearing him.

"Sonic?" Tails called, worriedly. Once again, Sonic failed to answer; the hedgehog didn't even give him the usual flick of his ear to signify that he was listening. "C-come on." Heart racing, Tails retracted his hand and instead placed it on Sonic's back. "W-we have to-" Tails froze, the rest of the words drowning in a sea of panic in the back of his throat.

Sonic felt cold.

Tails suddenly felt very sick, swallowing thickly as he felt the unnerving icy coldness of Sonic's body through his hand. "Sonic!" He shook the hedgehog, his hand lightly pushing on Sonic's back. "W-What's wrong?"

It was a stupid question for him to ask.

Everything was wrong.

Sonic obviously had a large bloody wound that was continuously leaking, like that of a leaky faucet, life-sustaining liquid every second that the two of them stood there and onto the white sand of the beach. And, Tails himself most likely had some kind of a concussion, judging from the persistent ache in his head and the lightheadedness that accompanied it, and not to mention, the vengeful return of his sickness.

Tails shook his head, pushing back the persistent worries that plagued his mind into the very corners of his mind, and focused on the matter at hand. Despite his consistent shaking and cries, Sonic had made no verbal response nor body signal of any kind, causing Tails' heart to leap up into the back of his throat. Once more, he jerked the hedgehog's back, slightly rougher than he intended to do. "Come on, Sonic." He cried, his voice thick with emotion and panic. "We gotta go."

To his relief, Sonic started to shift, his body moving forward as if the hedgehog was about to get up. But, that relief soon dissipated when the hedgehog continued to fall forward.

"Sonic?"

He swallowed, thickly, the icy coldness of the rag causing his hands to feel frozen and numb.

Like a puppet cut from its strings, Sonic slammed limply into the white sand, his body making a light thud as it connected with the ground.

Tails stood there for a moment, seemingly shell-shocked with the sudden turn of events, before he was crashing down to his knees once more next to the fallen body of Sonic.

Why couldn't he do better?

"Sonic?"

His voice was tight and weak with indescribable feelings as he sat there, the sand wet and sticky below him. He stretched a hand out, his fingers trembling, to touch Sonic's unusually still body.

He scrubbed a moist hand alongside his face, not caring about the droplets that soaked into the fur on his face.

"C-come on…"

Tails lightly pressed on Sonic's back and slightly jerked the hedgehog's body side to side. The hedgehog's silent body merely lolled alongside the movement, but other than that, Sonic was perfectly still.

This had to be some kind of cruel joke.

Maybe Sonic was just faking it in order to teach him a lesson. Maybe his injury wasn't as bad as it really was and Sonic was pretending that he was heavily injured in order to make sure that Tails never did something like this again.

"T-the joke's over, Sonic." He stuttered, shakily. "I-I get it. I-I won't do it again."

But Sonic still didn't move.

He didn't jump up and laugh at his own personal joke. He didn't point jokingly at Tails, teasing him for believing in something that was virtually impossible to occur.

He just continued to lay there on the steadily-turning-red sand, almost seeming as if he was not even breathing.

He could've prevented all of this.

Almost as if he was truly bleeding out.

He could've stopped this all from every happening.

Almost as if he was truly dying.

But, he didn't.

Tails clenched at the hedgehog's suddenly cold body, tears that were once unrestricted, now falling from his sky blue eyes without any restraint.

"SONIC!"

And now look where they were.

His dull, tired eyes became captivated by the suddenly too small figure in the bed beside him, resting somewhat fitfully underneath its sheets. He stared, not breathing and not blinking before he remembered that he had to breath and released a breath.

He then leaned forward, the wooden chair creaking lightly underneath him. His fingers trembled uncontrollably as he raised the rag, still dripping, over the bed, icy liquid dotting the cream colored sheets below it. He placed the rag on the forehead of the figure below, a frown marring his features when he noticed the flushed, pale cheeks of the small figure.

"Will he be okay?" He asked, uncertainly, his voice hoarse.

His fingers lightly touched the figure's cheeks, taking note of the startling warmth that was evident there.

"He'll be fine, dear," Vanilla answered, her voice smooth and gentle yet firm in her reply. "He just needs some rest."

He retracted his fingers when a sharp pain ran through his body like lightning, forcing him to clench at the source of the pain with a light gasp.

His stomach.

"But, honestly, Sonic," Vanilla tsked, her eyes soft with worry. "You should be more concerned with yourself. Tails just has a high fever and a slight concussion. But, you-"

Sonic forced himself to sit up straighter with a strained grunt, grasping at with the tight bandages wrapped snugly around his waist. Beside him, Tails remained in a deep feverish sleep, oblivious to the hedgehog's pain.

"Have something so much worse."

Me: Wow! That was a doozy.

Sonic: And we're done now, right?

Me: Nope.

Sonic: What do you mean, "no"?

Me: I mean is that we have another chapter or two of this to go through.

Sonic: Ugh.

Me: Stop whining and-

Sonic: Finish out the end of chapter 1?

Me: What did we talk about?

Sonic: To not interrupt you when you're speaking.

Me: Okay. Then, don't-

Sonic: Thank you all for reading this story and I hope you guys enjoyed it and leave behind lots of reviews. Also, we want you guys to know that-

Me: The next update will be in Locked Up Tight!

Sonic: Hey, no interrupting!