"Checkmate!" cried Tails, slamming his pawn down and cornering Sonic's king. The kitsune grinned smugly as he adjusted his glasses, watching Sonic's emerald eyes desperately search for a way out of the trap he'd fallen into. Sadly, there was no escaping Tails' pawn army. He had not lost a single piece, and all Sonic had left was his king. The hedgehog leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and huffing.

"I say you cheated."

"Sonic, we've played this game three times today. You simply don't have the finesse for it."

"Yeah, yeah, so you keep telling me," muttered Sonic. The two adoptive siblings rose to their feet and stretched. Sonic was now twenty years old, and while he was just as fast and energetic as he was before, Tails had managed to calm him down enough to play strategy games with him. Of course, Sonic lost every time, but he enjoyed the days with the kitsune. Tails yawned, and glanced at the clock.

"It's almost midnight, Sonic. Do you want to stay here for the night?"

Sonic shrugged, rubbing his chest a little. It had become an irritating habit for him, ever since his chest had started hurting almost a year ago. For some unknown reason, the area around his lungs hurt almost constantly. It was worse when he ran or relaxed for too long. It had been tricky, but he had found a way to keep his running pace steady and keep moving enough when relaxing to maintain a relatively painless life. Tails had suggested a doctor multiple times, and even when Sonic had given in and gone, nothing unusual was found. However, the pain often got in the way of his day-to-day life, and constantly threw monkey-wrenches in their plans.

The fox sighed. "Does it hurt too badly?"

"No… no… I'll be fine. I'll take the couch."

"Are you sure? If you'd be more comfort--"

"No, Tails. I'm fine, really. I'll just see you in the morning, okay?"

Unconvinced, but not willing to argue, Tails left to his own bedroom above the workshop. Sonic laid out on the couch kept in the living room off the garage. He slept there most every time he stayed with Tails. The only reason anything had changed was Sonic's inability to breathe well when lying on something too hard. Needless to say, Tails' couch was not the most comfortable thing in the world. On more than one occasion, Sonic had woken up with a migraine from lack of oxygen, and would have to spend the rest of the day in the darkness of Tails' closed workshop trying to lose the massive headache.

If being cooped up was not nightmarish enough, anytime Sonic was in a dark place or night fell, the pain increased. At first, he thought Dark Gaia was trying to channel him again. However, Tails had used Chip's old bauble, which Sonic still wore around his wrist, to check. Much to Sonic's relief, Dark Gaia was still peacefully residing in the core of Mobius. Yet he was still wondering why the pain would hurt worse in the evenings and in darkness than out of it, and lack of an answer plagued him every night.

He winced as a sharp pain pierced his chest, then faded before coming back. It came with his heartbeat, and he had grown used to having to slow his heart rate down at night to sleep. Instead of keeping it steady, like in the daytime, he had to quiet it in order to breathe, and then hope he would, by some miracle, be able to fall asleep. Tonight was not a good night, mainly because he was on the couch instead of his own bed. A particularly painful stab caused him to jerk upwards, and he barely bit back a yelp of surprise. It doesn't normally hurt that badly… Something's wrong.

A little concerned, but figuring he could ask Tails if he had somehow managed to make the couch even more uncomfortable, he lay back down. However, he was not permitted to simply fall back asleep. Tails entered the living room with his arms crossed. Sonic smirked. "You never went upstairs, did you?"

"No. I knew it was getting worse, Sonic! I may beat you at chess a lot, but it was never so distracting. I cornered you with pawns."

"Tails, I don't think you can use my defeat at chess as a logical explanation--"

"I'm not, Sonic! I saw you, and heard you, just a minute ago! Something is really wrong, and we have to find out what. We can't keep putting it off."

"We're not! We went to the doctor, he couldn't find anything. You checked the Gaia levels, they're fine. What else do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, but this can't go on anymore! Sonic, you're constantly in pain, even though you hide it. I'm sure there's something we can do. Do pain meds help?"

"Not at all. Tails, it's alright. I'm sure it'll pass, okay? You're the only one who knows, and I want to keep it that way. If we make a big deal out of this, it'll only get worse."

The kitsune sighed, clearly stressed. "If you say so. But you're not sleeping out here tonight. Get upstairs. I'll take the couch."

"Tails," murmured Sonic, reluctant to force the fox out of his room.

"Go!" snapped Tails. The hedgehog obeyed, leaving the fox alone. Tails sat on the couch, and once he was sure Sonic was gone, ran to his computer. Typing frantically, he searched all the medical websites he could think of. He was determined to find a cure for his brother, no matter how late he stayed up. It was almost five in the morning when he quit, coming up with a fruitless search. He glanced at the numerous articles he had printed off. So far, Sonic had Costochrondritis, Pleurisy, Cancer, and hundreds of other diseases that had "chest pain" as a common symptom.

The fox took his glasses off his muzzle and rubbed his eyes, which burned from hours of computer work. All his "answers" still did not explain the worsening of the pain in the dark or at night. In fact, unless he was having panic attacks, nothing just got worse in the dark. Frustrated, Tails turned the computer off and walked over to the television. Of course, nothing worth watching was on this early, but he was so tired he didn't care. He watched with glazed eyes as old cartoons and sitcoms flashed before his eyes, cracking overused jokes and making fun of people who had died decades ago. He flipped aimlessly through the channels until one caught his eye.

A documentary on biblical demons played ominously on the screen, flashing images of gruesome exorcisms as they told horrifying tales of destroyed lives and painful transformations. They certainly did not appear to be friendly beings. They were pure evil, intent on killing and tearing lives apart. People acted out-of-character, suffered from pain, and their emotions went completely out of whack. Tails sat in front of the TV, watching with more interest than the other shows, but still not much, as episode after episode of the show came on. When Sonic came down from the bedroom, it was ten.

"Tails? Did you even go to bed?" Tails jumped and whirled around, surprised to see Sonic up already, since he had been struggling to breathe all night. The only reason Tails knew this was because he could hear him moving restlessly, even from the computer room. "What is this, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a show I found. It's actually interesting, in a scary kind of way."

Sonic looked at the television skeptically. "Uhuh. Why are you watching exorcisms, anyway? You were always too scientific for the supernatural stuff."

"I know, but nothing else was on. I don't know why, but it explains a lot, and there's proof out there for it."

"Tails? I'm pretty sure you've lost it."

"Maybe, but I might look into this. I read a book about it once, but I hadn't thought about it since. It could make a nice research paper."

"Very nice. I'm going to grab some breakfast and go home, alright? See ya 'round."

With a sigh, Tails stood and followed his brother to the door. "Be careful how fast you run, okay?"

Sonic laughed. "Yes, mother."

He watched the blue trail of his friend fade into the distance, until Sonic dipped over the horizon and out of sight. Curiosity piqued, he turned back to the TV, only to see the show fading into advertisements. With a sigh, Tails turned it off and grabbed his library card. No matter how interesting the demonic show might be, he had research to do.

Oh no... is it another story?! When the others aren't anywhere near done?! Yes, yes it is. Updates on this won't be as often, though. ToK and LfW are my focus. =) So don't spaz. Hope you enjoy it, though!

~Wolf~