Espio hated his current life.

This wasn't even a teenage over-exaggeration of depression. He had a pure and hatred for his life. The chameleon would much rather be resting in a deep slumber of a nightmare than have to wake up to the blurred and brutal reality he had to face daily. Within what was only a mild 3 months Espio's life had turned from the calm and peaceful life of a detective to the forceful, abusive life with Vector doing absolutely nothing other then violently encourage that he continues as he is. After all, Espio's body did make the two of them a lot of money.

Charmy wasn't even part of his life anymore. He didn't exactly know how it'd happened but Vanilla the rabbit had found out about the scenario and wouldn't let Charmy suffer. The chameleon was glad Charmy wasn't subjected to this abuse like he was, or even witnessed it, but it pained his chest to think that Charmy wouldn't even visit Espio anymore when he needed that small bee to hold him close and try and make him laugh. There were very rare times where Espio would see Charmy at the park and tried to speak to him, just have a tad bit of happiness in his life, but the bee always ran. Espio can clearly remember the words he repeats, about how his life is much better now then it ever was with that cruddy agency. It was for the best, after all, that Charmy was kept away from him. But how could he even live on like this? Sixteen and virginity already unwillingly taken away from him.

Rape would be the wrong term, though. It wasn't their fault-Not that Espio can clearly remember who it was-they didn't know Espio wasn't doing this because he was getting the profit. They didn't know that in reality a drunk crocodile was threatening him in many ways and hitting the living daylights out of Espio until he gave in to another night of the horny male specimen. They didn't know Espio didn't want the sex, after all Vector did always drug him before their arrival so he was as…Sleazy and as open-legged as possible. Everyone was too downright horny to ever notice that, though. The chameleon had gone through more men in the past few months than Vector had with women in his whole life. He'd learnt a whole lot of names that he didn't even know existed and he knew that there were mainly two types of people who…hired him: The horny and the losers. On one hand, you've got someone who has a lot of money and just wastes it (in Espio's mind it's downright wasted anyway) to insert your junk up in that hole and abuse it until it's sore…And on the other hand you've got the person who is so lonely and can't get anyone they use their money to feel loved and satisfied with life by having sex with a complete and utter stranger. Espio didn't even know this many homosexual people existed in Seaside Hill alone.

He'd attempted to end this current life 2 times before because he'd rather be a dead corpse then an alive corpse feeling so degraded and dirty with his life that he doesn't have any other purpose then to be fucked. One attempt was him overdosing on the drugs Vector gives nightly, causing him to pass out in almost an instance and waking up with a green reptile blaring his loud voice down at Espio in hospital. Other actually came to visit, but not many stood near him, they all stood as close to the door as possible and spoke with as little emotion as possible. Had he changed that much? Did these people he called his friends hate him more then himself? No. Of course not, at least they could look at him.

The chameleon couldn't even look in the mirror.

He didn't even want to be himself anymore.

Where was he now? He didn't know many details, but he had taken the train to Westopolis and was now wandering about the dark and dingy streets of the dodgy area. Espio didn't want to go there, but Vector knew Espio hated places like that, and therefore he went there to prevent Vector finding him. All he had was a couple of notes in his shoe and a very shaken up attitude. Muscular hedgehogs were glancing over at him as he walked along; He didn't blame people for calling him feminine compared to those steroid-ridden monsters.

Espio did know someone who lived there, one of the friends of his family who was an archivist. Though, Espio wasn't sure where he lived. He didn't know the address, and he was not feeling very confident with himself to even ask people, he was in no mood to do favours again. He had to stay somewhere for the night though, and Westopolis was an extremely-to his own surprise-popular place. Maybe he could find someone he's done a case for to at least feel safe in this city, the crime rates here are high after all. A familiar face would do the chameleon good right now…

But the only familiar face he found was someone he had known all to well. All Espio was doing was walking through one of the plazas and there he was: Tall, muscular, rough. He was smoking what seemed to be weed along with a bunch of other dope-heads, all chatting and laughing. The chameleon wasn't surprised that someone who had hired him had this as a background story, but why did the guy even make the effort to go all the way to seaside hill just for a fuck? Now that Espio notices it, he has an arm around some girl with an hourglass figure and huge bust. That's probably why, he was cheating on her as he wanted a guy fuck and clearly, Seaside Hill was one of the easiest places to do that. It was over 100 miles away after all, it was just surprisingly coincidental that Espio had seen him, there and then.

Before Espio could even continue walking, he noticed Espio too, his grey eyes focuses in on the chameleon and taking in Espio's appearance all over again, just like he did that day. Espio didn't want anything to do with him, or drugs, or sex or anything like that. He just wanted to get away from it all and seeing someone who had 'used his business' was not a good start to this.

The chameleon slowly walked away, but he could hear the shouts of the male who was eyeing him, the grunts replaying a very dirty memory in his mind on how the chameleon was so drugged up he allowed them to chain him to the bed and repeatedly shove things into his ass before inserting that thing he doesn't want to remember up there too. It was one of the longer deeds he had to do, and even thinking about it left a very thick, cringing taste in Espio's mouth. He really didn't want to experience that kink again.

The 'predator' caught up to him, spinning Espio around and slamming him into a wall, eyeing him up and down. With a moan, Espio felt a bruise bumping on the back of his head, and was forced to look at the hedgehog in front of him. Eyes glaring at him and then softening up followed by a light chuckle. "What the fuck are you doing here, whore. Go get your ass back to seaside hill, I know you missed me and I gave you a great fuck but geez you want me this bad?" His cocky voice said, letting a finger poke Espio on the chest and trail downwards. "Hm, but if you really want I don't mind doing it here and now, gotta be quick though I got customers."

Espio gritted his teeth together as a finger traced his body, he didn't want this, in fact he didn't ever want to have sex with anyone again. He'd done it too much for him to think it's ok to just do it again, and with this guy? He definitely didn't want that…But he was stupid enough to go Westopolis after all. "I didn't come here for you." He whispered, letting his eyes drop down to his feet so he didn't have to bare the thought of eye contact. "Please, just let me go."

"Let you go? Let you fucking go?! What do you think I am Mr. Softie ice cream?! No, fuck you!" He spat into Espio's face. "Our last fuck was too fucking good to just let you walk away, I need another round of that tight…" His voice trailed off, and so did his fingers, working his way down to Espio's ass and groping it roughly "Hot…" He then said, breathing deeply down Espio's neck. "Ass…"

"Get off me…" Espio muttered, attempting to push the much larger hedgehog away. "I don't want this…! Ah shit…" His eyes closed tightly in a wince as one hand tugged at his tail. "S-Stop it!"

"Stop it? Hm…No. I want this and I usually get what I want so…"

All that was on Espio's head at the time was how to escape and where he was suppose to go without seeing anyone he might know, that may be the best option. Rail canyon is usually deserted, but so is the mystic mansion…But Espio had reasons for not wanting to go to either of them. He just wanted the pain to inflict him and then he'll just leave again, use the rest of his train fare to live in frog forest. At least theres always fruit around there, you can't get anything here without a homeless hobo fight going on.

The pain, for some reason, never came, and the chameleon was dropped. Not that he didn't get any pain from that; Landing on your butt on such a gravelled pavement caused nothing less than scratched and cuts. Yellow eyes beamed opened, and he glanced around to see that the perpetrator was still over him and pinning him, but his head was facing the other way, looking at someone who had decided to be…A good samaritan. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"My problem?" The figure spoke, walking closer to them. "Oh I don't know, maybe the fact you were about to clearly rape this fucking guy! Maybe that's my problem, or more, what the fuck is your problem?! Why don't you just go and bang your slut before she latches onto someone with a much bigger dick than you, which won't be very hard."

Espio watched the figure stop and cross his arms in annoyance. "Do I need to chaos blast your ass out of here? Is that what you want Brian?" The smaller hedgehog who had now appeared was continuing to speak, and the two had begun arguing. The smaller hedgehog hadn't actually taken a look at Espio properly, but Espio knew that face was familiar. Luckily for him, that familiar face was not familiar for the same reasons as…Brian's was.

It wasn't exactly a face you could forget. An onyx colour to his shimmering fur, red highlights all over. Dominating and menacing look to his tan muzzle and lips, deep crimson eyes you couldn't forget when they starred right at you. The chameleon was trying to remember who exactly he was, he knew it was somewhere back when he was on a mission with Vector and Charmy, everything else seemed like a big blur to him about this guy, he didn't know a thing. The voice was also all to familiar too, and that move…Chaos blast, they were hit with it right? Was this guy…An eneme? He just didn't know.

But whoever this guy was, he saved him. So he clearly was a good guy, and Espio felt relieved when Brian had walked away and the chameleon was left along with this 'dark horse' of a hero. Once Brian was out of sight, the smaller hedgehog turned to face Espio and knelt down to him. "What did that bastard do to you?" He quietly asked, taking in the slightly shaken body that was leaning against the wall.

"You stopped him before he could…" He replied, trying to get back on feet. "T-Thank you very much, that was very nice and very brave of you to do…"

"Hmph, brave? I'm too use to Brian I guess. I hate his guts." The dark hedgehog spoke, watching as the chameleon finally was on his own two feet and dusting himself off. "Wait a minuet-

I know you."

The hedgehog took a step back and analysed the reptile in front of him: Pink scales, ivory horn, amber eyes. His body looked bruised and broken but the hedgehog wasn't focusing on that, but more how the chameleon chose to stand with pride despite the battering. The two starred at each other for a while until it clicked.

"Grand metropolis."

Espio blinked and suddenly all the memories came flooding in. After getting out of the power plant in just the nick of time they bumped into this hedgehog and his two comrades, had a pointless brawl, then realised the fight was pointless and parted. Espio wasn't surprised he himself remembered now, as Vector was just so stupid to go on his instincts back then and it was one of their most ridiculous fights, other than the one with Team Rose of course. "Oh yes, that's…Correct." Espio agreed, nodding. This guy sure was busy if he was 'use to Brian' but still, he was somehow able to remember the chameleons face. Was it all that intriguing? "That was over a year ago…"

"It was? Time sure does quicken for me" He stated, turning his head to look out to the main street at the gang of people walking past them and minding their own business. After a long pause he added, "I'm Shadow, Shadow the hedgehog."

"I'm Espio." The Chameleon stated, trying to send Shadow a small smile. Now that he knew the hedgehogs name he felt a bit more safe, but he was not going to be a burden to Shadow, not after Shadow had done that for him. It didn't matter to Espio how easy that was to the hedgehog next to him, it meant just as much to Espio either way. "I should get going home," Espio lied, letting out a sigh. "I don't really want to see…Brian again."

"Hm.." Shadow said, clearly not buying the lie. "I've never seen you here before."

"Well I…" Espio paused and felt a sweat drop on the side of his forehead. "I actually live…at Seaside hill."

"Seaside Hill? Seaside Hill?!…What the fuck are you doing in a shit hole like this then?" Shadow then asked, shaking his head. "Thats fucking ages away."

"I know, I was just…Visiting the archivist, he's a family friend." The lie wasn't as big, but he didn't exactly expect Shadow to believe him either.

"The archivist moved away to Mushroom Hill over half a year ago, I use to visit him for information." Shadow then stated, rolling his eyes. He couldn't say that Espio was bluffing, as saying you're visiting an archivist isn't something that could be said on the spot. Shadow would never say that anyway. "You can sleep on the sofa at mine for the night if you want." He then suggested, pulling out a cigar from his pocket as well as a lighter and lighting it. "It wouldn't bother me that much. Just don't fucking disturb my sleep."

Topaz eyes watched at the black figure in front of him began puffing on his cigarette, smoke arising from the cigar and contributing to the filthy air above them. He wasn't sure whether he could entirely trust Shadow, but he trusted the black stallion more than anyone else on the streets of Westopolis. "He did…?" Espio then said, lolling on his tongue to try and avoid answering the second question with a simple yes, he didn't want to come across as desperate, despite actually being desperate. Espio couldn't exactly say no though, then he'd be stuck on the streets and might have to end up fucking Brian if it meant getting to sleep in some shelter. "I…If thats really not a problem. Is there anything you want me to do in return?"

"In return? There are some things I'd like you to explain but that's it." Shadow then answered, letting his smoke covered lips blow the steam and smoke upwards. "Mainly about what Brian-God I fucking hate that guy-said and did."

Espio raised an eyebrow: What did Brian say to him? He couldn't remember a thing he said, but he assumed it couldn't be that bad. It's not like Shadow asked for sexual favours, just some information. Maybe Shadow was a detective too? Espio didn't really know, but he didn't care that much either. All he knew was Shadow had a rivalry with this Brian guy and Espio would be the one to help him unveil some facts about Brian. Maybe it's to do with his sexuality, or cheating on hourglass woman? It didn't bother Espio that much though, as he inhaled the thick musky smoke in front of him. Shadow might be his way out, for now, and Espio needed all the opportunities he could get if he wanted to try and live a new life. In all honesty, Espio was thinking the worst, that Shadow would lead him to his house and penetrate him, but for some strange reason, he wanted to trust Shadow, he wanted to put his trust in Shadow. He really did.

"I don't see why I can't do that for you so…" Espio answered, sending Shadow a very grateful smile "Sure."