OK, if anyone who reads this in the next few days after my posting of this story has checked my profile recently (which I doubt) you will have noticed that I have been incredibly ill and stressed out so far this week. So, what better to do to get my mind off my own misery than to give it to my favorite yellow, two-tailed fox as well? If that sounds sadistic then, yes, it is, but if you had whatever disease I have had recently you'd do it too just to get some relief! This was a quick fanfic oneshot inspired mostly by my own experiences and played out by my favorite character, Tails. (You always hurt the ones you love, right?) Any reviews and comments are welcome since they will distract me from my continuing misery. Anyone who reads this a long time after it has been posted is still welcome to review as well, but I'll probably at least be healthy again by then. (I hope!) Thanks and enjoy!
Oooops! Almost forgot the disclaimer! I don't own any characters in this story. They all belong to Sonic Team and Sega. At the time I wrote this, I did own the bad cold that all the characters have, though. :(
Germ-O-Phobic Fox
It was a slightly less than beautiful autumn day in the part of Mobius on which Sonic and the rest of his friends all lived happily. Tails was on his way down the road to visit a good friend of his, Cream the rabbit. Normally, he wouldn't go to see the young bunny unless she had asked him to, but Sonic had run off this morning and Tails really felt like having someone to talk to for once. He crossed his hands and twin tails across his body for warmth as a chilling breeze passed by on his way to Cream's house. Upon reaching the cozy little hut, Tails knocked politely on the wooden door and waited for a response from inside. After what seemed to him to take almost too long, the door finally opened to the sight of Vanilla, Cream's mother.
"Oh, hello there, sweetie!" Vanilla smiled at the sight of the yellow fox in the doorway. "Come on in and get out of that dreadful breeze."
"Thanks, Mrs. Vanilla, but it's not so bad out there," Tails answered as he stepped inside quickly.
"Of course, honey, with your long fur you would be warm even when it snows!" Vanilla playfully remarked. "Cream and I aren't so lucky though, I'm afraid. That's why we wear clothes all the time, especially when it's cold."
"Is Cream here, Mrs. Vanilla? I kinda came to see if she would play with me for a while," Tails got straight to the point of his visit.
"She's just upstairs, sweetie, but I'm sorry to say that she won't feel like playing much today," Vanilla spoke as she walked towards the small house's kitchen. Tails, not wanting to talk to her behind her back, followed the mother rabbit as he asked his next question.
"How come? Is something wrong with her?" Tails questioned Vanilla directly.
"Yes, dear. I'm afraid that Cream has come down with an awful cold, and she really needs to stay in bed and rest until she gets better," Vanilla answered calmly.
Cream is sick?! Tails thought at the words Vanilla had just used. Poor Cream! I hate being sick. Last time it happened to me, I made a huge mess all over my room when I got sick to my stomach. I doubt Cream will want to play today if she feels like that! Just then, Tails noticed Vanilla pour a generous amount of what looked like chicken noodle soup into two large bowls. "Oh, no thanks, Mrs. Vanilla. I already ate before I came over," Tails politely declined as he inferred that the first bowl was for Cream and the second for him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie! I forgot to ask if you were hungry when you came in! If you want some soup, you can have some, too," Vanilla quickly spoke up, concerned that her usually perfect hospitality had failed her today.
"Hang on, I know that one of those bowls is for Cream, but who is the other one for if it's not for me? Does Cheese feel sick, too?" Tails wondered out loud.
"Oh, no, you silly little thing!" Vanilla said as she giggled softly to herself at the fox's misconception. "Cheese is just staying with Cream right now, and I doubt that Cheese could eat a whole bowl full of soup if he wanted to! No, dear, the second bowl is supposed to be for me."
Tails stood dumbfounded at the revelation. "But, does that mean…?" he started saying before Vanilla anticipated his question and interrupted him in a very polite manner.
"I'm afraid so, sweetie. It's very hard to take care of someone who is sick and not get sick yourself, you know," Vanilla answered the fox's unspoken question.
Tails was stunned at the motherly rabbit's last sentence. She's sick, too! Everyone in this house is sick except Cheese! Actually, since Cheese is with Cream right now, he might get sick, too! I've got to get out of here before I get sick like everyone else!
It was a little known fact that ever since his horrible illness years ago, Tails had become somewhat of a germ-o-phobe. With the memory of his suffering permanently ingrained in his mind since then, Tails had always avoided anyone who so much as sneezed one time until he was sure that they weren't contagious. However, Tails had always managed to keep his avoidance subtle so that no one would be suspicious of the kit's secret fear. Now, at the realization that he had entered a contaminated house and been talking to an infected person this whole time, Vanilla could see the fur on the young fox's face that wasn't already white turn noticeably pale.
"Are you feeling all right, honey?" the concerned mother asked Tails after observing this phenomenon. "Maybe I should make another bed upstairs for you to rest a while," she suggested as she set down the bowls of soup and began to walk towards the stairs to prepare for another potential patient.
"Aaahh! NO! Ummm… I mean, I really have to be going, Mrs. Vanilla. I think I left something turned on at home," Tails covered his sudden outburst with a plausible excuse to leave this house filled with sick people at once. The last thing Tails wanted was to be put upstairs closer to Cream where he would be much more likely to catch her disease as well. "Bye!" Tails shouted over his shoulder as he quickly dashed out the front door of the rabbit's den into the relative safety of the outdoors.
Vanilla watched the door close on its own as Tails made it all the way to the road again before it could shut entirely. "He certainly was acting strange all the sudden," she said as her motherly instinct told the older rabbit that something she had said had chased the young fox away. A weak call from upstairs, however, broke her concentration before she could figure out exactly what had offended the yellow kitsune. Knowing that Cream needed her more right now, Vanilla picked up the bowls of soup again and walked upstairs to tend to her ailing child.
Tails continued on his way down the road at a slightly brisker pace, clearly unnerved at his close call at Cream's house. Soon he came across the entrance to Amy's small, domed house and saw a most unusual sight. The pink hedgehog had clearly just arrived home with a drenched and shivering Sonic in tow. Looks like she finally caught him, but what happened?! Tails ran up to the scene of Amy tugging Sonic into her front door with her arms beneath each of his shoulders in a crude one man carry. "Sonic! What happened?!" the worried fox shouted in greeting.
Sonic gave no response save for a loud sneeze which made the yellow fox immediately grind to a halt a good distance away from his friend. Amy instead answered Tails' question as she continued to pull Sonic inside. "Your big hero here tried to run away from me when we were visiting the Ice Cap Zone today, and he fell into a half-frozen lake and nearly drowned!" Amy shouted, clearly still angry at the incident.
"I'm t-t-t-tellin' ya, Amy, t-t-t-that l-l-l-lake w-w-wasn't near h-h-h-half f-f-f-frozen!" Sonic managed to say as his shivering caused his words to come out horribly distorted. The blue hedgehog then went into a small fit of coughs that made Tails step back even farther from his suffering buddy.
"Even after nearly drowning and freezing to death, you still make jokes?!" Amy commented as she shifted the blue hedgehog in her arms. "Well, you can't escape me now because, after that little trick of yours, you'll be in bed for the rest of the day at least!"
"Wait, Amy, do you mean Sonic is going to get sick?" Tails worriedly asked what the pink hedgehog had inferred from her last sentence.
"Ha! I think it's already too late for that, Tails. He's been sneezing and coughing all the way back here! Oh well, it's not exactly what I planned, but at least we get to spend some time together after all," Amy happily voiced her plan to nurse Sonic back to health before letting out a loud sneeze of her own, almost dropping Sonic in the process. "Oooohhh, Great! Now look what you've done, Sonic! I've caught your stupid cold, too!" the pink hedgehog shouted angrily at the blue one in her arms. Sonic managed a weak smile in response, which only further infuriated Amy at her boyfriend's snide reaction.
Tails, realizing that yet again he was dangerously close to two more infected individuals, quickly turned on his heels and dashed away without any warning or goodbye to the two ailing hedgehogs. He heard Amy yell something along the lines of how she and Sonic would be fine, and thanks for caring before he was out of earshot. Officially scared now from all his possible exposure to dreaded germs and viruses within the last few minutes, he decided to abandon the rest of his country walk and instead retreat to the safety of his own house. He was almost within eyesight of his cliff-side home when a loud voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey, what's the rush, Tails?" Knuckles shouted from the side of the road ahead of the hurried fox.
"Oh, heya Knuckles!" Tails said as he stopped to address the red echidna. Tails felt safe talking to him because he had never heard of the guardian of the Master Emerald being sick in any way.
"Hey there, little guy," Knuckles used his almost derogatory nickname for the two-tailed fox, "You wouldn't happen to know where everyone is, would you? I just came from your house, and you weren't home. Plus, I can't find Sonic anywhere!"
"Sonic is with Amy right now," Tails told the echidna.
"Really?! No wonder I couldn't find him then, that's the last place I'd look!" Knuckles joked.
"Him too, I think!" Tails agreed as he let some of his stress escape in a short chuckle at finding someone healthy to talk to. "He tried to run away from her on their date in the mountains and fell into a frozen lake. Now Amy's taking care of him because he's sick, and I think Amy already caught it from him, too."
"Ha! That's so typical of Sonic," Knuckles thought aloud as he pictured a comical version of the scene in his mind. "Strange, though, it seems everyone is getting sick recently." Almost on command, Knuckles raised a cupped fist to his mouth as he stifled a quick couple of coughs.
Tails illusion of safety was shattered as he noticed this tell-tale sign and decided to ask Knuckles the same question he had asked so many times already today, "Knuckles, are you sick, too?!"
"Meh, just a little cold; nothing I can't handle!" Knuckles responded pridefully. "If you want to see someone who's really sick, you should visit Rouge. She tried to steal the Master Emerald again yesterday, but she collapsed from her fever before she could even lift it! I had to carry her home, and that's probably how I got this stupid cough in the first place. You should have seen the look on her face, though! Oh, I'm telling you, it was priceless! I bet she never… Uhh, Tails? Are you OK, buddy?" Knuckles' long winded story came to an abrupt halt as he noticed the shocked stare from the strangely pale fox.
"He's probably just stunned at the thought of you and that bat together in any way other than an argument," a voice suddenly materialized from nowhere as a creature stepped out of the shadows of some trees next to Knuckles and Tails.
"Shadow! Please tell me you aren't sick, too?!" Tails shouted, abandoning all efforts to hide his anti-germ obsession.
"Of course not. Ultimate lifeforms don't have to worry about something as pathetic as a stupid cold," Shadow bragged while simultaneously wiping a finger across his nose with a short sniffle.
"Then why the runny nose, your most Ultimateness?" Knuckles taunted as he noticed the subtle movement.
"I don't know what you're talking a… ahh ahhh AH-CHOO!" Shadow spectacularly failed to hide his secret ailment.
"Ha! See, I knew it! You're sick too, just like the rest of us!" Knuckles reveled in his clear victory over the dark hedgehog.
"Well, at least whatever disease I have must be ten times worse than yours, or I wouldn't even feel it!" Shadow shot back at the red echidna, furious at being called out so easily.
"You wouldn't know a cold if you were frozen solid for a hundred years!" Knuckles quickly retaliated.
"Heh, shows how much you know, muscle-head! I WAS frozen solid for almost a hundred years!" Shadow jumped on the open opportunity to insult Knuckles again.
"Hey! I may be sick, but I can still use my fists perfectly fine!" Knuckles threatened.
"You couldn't hit me if I was dying," Shadow coolly responded.
"Arrgghh! I can arrange that for ya!" Knuckles angrily shouted before lunging towards the black and red hedgehog. Shadow easily side-stepped the attack and landed a quick punch to the red echidna in retaliation, but it only made Knuckles even angrier.
Tails watched as the two sick Mobians started fighting in a blur of fists and coughs before deciding to make his retreat as fast as possible. If whatever flu virus was going around was bad enough to even get Knuckles and Shadow, Tails knew that he definitely didn't want to catch it as well. Reaching his home in record time, Tails immediately locked his door and ran to his shower. After a very long and meticulous cleaning, he made sure to dry off completely to avoid his damp fur from making him catch cold easier. Then, he dashed over to his kitchen and proceeded to take some vitamins that should help his body fight off any infection he could possibly get. Finally, he hurried into his room and disinfected every single surface he could find, just in case the flu bug had already made its way in there as well. As a final coup-de-grace, Tails even found a medical air-filtering face mask and secured it across his white furred mouth area. Convinced that he was now germ-proof, Tails got into his bed and proceeded to get an early good night's rest as a final extra precaution.
The next day…
Sonic walked out of the room with a thermometer in his hands and a worried look on his face. The red liquid of the device had climbed to a level that he knew was dangerously high after he used it a minute ago.
"Is he OK?" Cream's voice broke the silence first as Sonic noticed that the rest of the gathered group of all his friends were waiting for his news.
"I'm 'fraid not, Cream," Sonic answered, "Whatever he has is way worse than that 24 hour thing we all got."
"He probably got a little bit of it from all of us, so his is just as bad as all of us combined!" Amy sullenly remarked.
"He spent the most time with me that day, so I'm probably the main one he got it from," Vanilla said sadly from her seat next to Cream in the crowded living room of Tails' house.
"At least I covered my mouth, unlike Mr. Ultimate Lifeform over here!" Knuckles angrily burst in.
"I never even got close to the pup," Shadow replied.
"Well, it doesn't matter who gave it to him now, but it's probably gonna be a while till he gets better again," Sonic settled down the crowd. "Remember last time he got sick really bad?"
Everyone's heads sunk down on their shoulders as they realized how bad off the poor fox must already be.
"I suppose it's just going to be a matter of time and lots of rest now, honey," Vanilla tried to cheer up the gloomy crowd and Sonic in particular.
"Yeah, poor little guy," Knuckles agreed.
Inside the room Sonic had just come from lay a single figure in his bed that was almost constantly moaning. His whole head was tinted red from his intense fever while an ice pack perched on his bangs between his two triangular ears provided little relief from the sweltering heat. His face was contorted in agony as he clutched his stomach in an attempt to alleviate the pain from his intense nausea. His bed's covers were all out of place as he constantly shifted positions underneath them to try and find some small comfort. The floor around him was littered with used tissues, but none were in the bedside trash can which now had to serve another, more revolting, purpose. Overall, Tails was the epitome of misery as some unknown disease ravaged his small body mercilessly.
Tails couldn't understand why this was happening to him. He had been so careful all these years since the last time he got sick. He had even done everything he could yesterday after getting home to prevent getting sick from his accidental exposures to the other infected people, but all to no avail. Now he, the only person who wasn't sick yesterday, found himself the one and only person sick today, and he didn't just have a small cold like the rest of them had had either. All the fox could think as the irony of the situation, paired with another wave of nausea, struck him was, Why me?