Even if it brought back bad memories, the night was beautiful.

Sonic looked up to the stars, a soft smile on his face. Ever since he was young he loved watching the stars. They seemed to speak to him in their own, silent way. Tails had always laughed amicably at him when he spoke about how the stars seemed to whisper little secrets into his ears.

Despite how silly this activity was, he liked it. It brought back memories of the better days, where things were oh so much simpler than they were now. Closing his eyes, the blue hedgehog took a long, deep breath, letting the moist forest air invade his nostrils, fill up his lungs, his entire being, before he let it go, his chest lowering as the precious air exited his nose and mouth.

For a long, silent moment he sat there, eyes closed, nose to the night sky, relishing in the fresh air and the feeling of being free again.

Well, not completely free... Frowning, he opened his eyes, his left hand rising to run his fawn chest, almost feeling the hard black fur that could, at any time, replace the azure and peach pelt.

Tails was going to do some tests tomorrow, to figure out more about the parasite in his veins.

Speaking of the kit, he should get going.

Climbing off the roof was harder when your body hadn't had a physical activity -or proper food- in years. Sonic took extra care to not fall, for they had found out not too long ago that even the simplest incidents could injure him greatly seeing his weakened state. The lack of nutrients rendered his skin easily breakable, and his bones brittle like toothpicks. Despite how he hated it, he wasn't in a condition to do much other than sit there and let himself get cared for like a baby.

He hated it. Being helpless was not his thing...but he was out of his league. The enemy was in his blood, inside his mind, tearing at it and howling for freedom. Every day felt like a race against the clock as his friend ran around struggling to find a solution to their problem.

When Sonic had been trapped inside the cage, his mind has degraded slowly, poisoned by the black cells. His memories faded away and instincts took over, turning him into a merciless, deformed being who's only purpose was to survive. Now his memories were back, and his mind was his own once more. His body had returned to its normal form, but he often found that some things became different overnight; claws, fur or tail changed, bringing him to a panic until he was throwing up the black blood -and his stomach- in a bucket, the Chaos Emerald Shadow had gifted him held rightly in his hand.

Carefully opening the front door, Sonic tiptoed in, silent like a ghost as he passed the large red echidna dozing on the living room couch. He walked up the stairs, passing the door that had been painted blue long ago before entering the one shaded yellow.

Tails was asleep on the bed, curled up in a tight ball. The azure hedgehog paused, watching his brother sleep, before stealthily making his way on the mattress and laying down, the instincts that had yet to go away forcing him to sleep in a manner not unlike a feral dog. Tired and aching from the climbing he had done earlier, he closed his eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.

Unknown to him, the fox was awake.

Tails opened his eyes slowly, looking down at the blue hedgehog happily snuggled against him. Sonic's face was inches from his own, and even from there he could see the two pair of fangs that had caused his brother so much pain over the last few days, stubbornly refusing to shrink even if the panicked hedgehog pressed the Chaos Emerald into his mouth -almost frying his tongue in the process.

Golden eyes...gleaming white teeth coming at him, ready to sink into his throat and rip it out...

The fox shivered, scooting away from the sleeping hero. It broke his heart to do so, but the memories were too raw for him. He had been moments away from death at the hands of his brother, as unwillingly as the act had been, and it wasn't something he could forget instantly.

For the third time since they started sleeping in the same mattress, the two-tailed fox sleep on the other side of the bed, away from his brother as if he expected him to suddenly jump up and tear his head off.

xxxxxxx

The sun rose quickly enough, and with it Sonic.

The former hero shook himself as he emerged from the bedroom, Chaos Emerald already in hand as he forced back whatever black cells had accumulated overnight. His fur had grown darker and his ears had grown out, sharper and fox-like, but he managed to force it down by the time he came down the staircase.

He had to wonder what would happen when the cells finally won the battle.

I can't think about that. Focus Sonic. Forget the thing crawling around in your insides. Act like yourself for once.

He tried to smile, a action that felt fake and forced against his lips. It took a few moments to get it right, his jaw muscles used to only sneer threateningly at the guards and snap at the small parcels of food he had been allowed to eat when he had been in his cage.

"Good morning, Knuckles!" Sonic smiled weakly at the taller male when he spotted the Guardian emerge from the living room, trying to look as cheerful as possible.

The echidna paused, eying the younger azure with a suspicious glint in his eyes...and suddenly grabbed the stone the boy was holding and brought the Chaos Emerald against the hedgehog's forehead.

Sonic shrieked, a sound loud and inhuman made the windows rattle. A hand was brought up and smacked the echidna away as he rushed to the bathroom just in time to empty his mouth of the black blood that had pooled in it into the toilet. He coughed and spluttered through the flood of dark material, doing his best to not choke. It clung to his teeth and tongue, viscous and unnatural, and made him retch even more at the realization it was coming from him.

"Eight...I can smell your weakness..."

The blue hedgehog flinched. Not now. Anywhere but now. Forcing the hissed whispers at the back of his mind, he concentrated on his current predicament.

"W-What was that for?!" Tails, awakened by the horrible banshee scream, shuttered from the doorway as he watched his brother empty his body of the black liquid. He was standing behind Knuckles, as if the echidna would shield him in case the blue hedgehog lost control.

"He was trying to smile again. Rasgnarök did just that before trying to take your head off."

"I-I was..." He spat blood into the toilet, which was pitch black at this point. The viscous liquid seemed to move unnaturally, separated from the water like if it was oil. Sonic swallowed, wincing at the taste of the liquid. "-trying to change my actions a bit. I'm tired of being weak and hopeless! I want to smile again! I want to forget about the fucking maniac parasite inside of me!" Another wave of nausea hit and he doubled over, nearly throwing up a lung.

The quantity of black blood pooling in the toilet was overwhelming. It looked as if he had spat half of his body weight...then he remembered his mass was lesser than Tails, and that was saying something. What seemed to be a lot to him was probably nothing to someone like Knuckles or Shadow.

"But the fangs..."

Sonic sneered, a image that made both of the Mobians reel back at the ghastly sight of the black blood oozing in between the sharp teeth. "They're stuck that way! Even the Emerald can't do shit to fix it! I'm glad it's the only permanent change, at least the rest of my body decides to join the ride!"

Knuckles' eyes softened.

"Sonic..."

"Just..." The Blue Blur looked away, wetting his lips, feeling the strange ash-like taste of the black blood rubbing against his tongue. He almost wanted to retch again. He rose to his feet, swaying slightly as his weakened muscles screamed for mercy.

"...leave me be."

Sonic walked past the sad fox and the regretful echidna before rushing out of the house. His shoulders were tense and his ears were flat against his skull. The blue hedgehog hurried out of the residence, not noticing that the Chaos Emerald the crimson Guardian was holding become dull and faded as he passed by it.

He needed some time alone.

Yeah, mean Knux is mean. Well, he's trying to keep everyone safe. He is kind of hard to write, since he is a character that is serious, but can be sent into a frenzy over the smallest things. Yesh, I got to check He is My Master again. The author does a wonderful job of portraying Knuckles...

Anyways, this is set a few days after the events of Bloodlust. Just for you know.

NOTE: Okay, remake officially began! Yay! This won't take a week like Bloodlust had, it will take more since it's so much bigger and I want it to be well written. I will continue to update my other stories, but it won't be as quickly as normally. I will continue to write bits of the newest chapters though.