Author's Notes: Another rewritten chapter, can't talk now, I am in a hurry. Byeeeeeee...

Chapter III: Getting to Know You

"Ow!"

"Don't move, or you may untie the stitches and we would have to start again."

"I know, I know."

Mina woke up with a killing headache. She couldn't really remember what happened since her head was still spinning; she put her hand over a soft texture, just like her bed.

Wait, her bed? Wasn't she still at the base? What exactly happened? She slowly put her bare feet on the soft, velvety floor and stepped up from the bed. She recognized the space she was at: Flower-patterned wallpaper, some band posters, post-it notes with random lyrics of songs, a small guitar on a corner; she was in her room. She felt relieved, she was at home once again; but that feeling didn't last long as she remembered what happened. That hedgehog guy, he had taken the emerald from her. She kicked the bed angrily at her stupidity, and muffled under her breath.

"How could you be so stupid Mina! You big idiot! Getting yourself fooled by every pretty boy that crosses your way! Twice!" She thought. However, just before she could complete her thoughts, a little, high-pitched scream was heard downstairs, followed by some words.

"Goddamn it! That hurt." A masculine, but young voice said.

"Don't swear." A feminine voice answered.

"Sorry, my bad."

Mina quickly ran downstairs, just to find her mother sitting with a green, young hedgehog male. Her mother didn't notice her as she was concentrated in stitching a wound on the guy.

"Almost done…." The woman's tongue stuck out slightly as a sign of concentration. "There, that should do. Just don't move too much, ok? It needs time to…" She turned around, to see the younger mongoose female watching the scene. "Mina?" She stepped off the couch. "Mina, sweetheart… how are you feeling?"

"What is he doing here?" Mina pointed at the hedgehog boy who did nothing but strike a shy smile.

"Mina-"

"And where the heck's the emerald?" Mina walked around the room searching, ignoring her mother and the visitor until she found what she was looking for, the brown bag. She opened it, still ignoring her mother's requests and took out the blue, shining jewel. "You're lucky you didn't miss it, or I would pry your head open." Then, without her seeing it coming, her mother angrily slapped her hand, making her drop the jewel. "Ow! Momma!"

"That's how you treat your guests?"

"What? He's not a guest! He's a little-"

"Hold your words lady!"

"But-"

"Mina!"

Mina remained quiet, her face that of a little grumpy child, the hedgehog snickered a little.

"What're you laughing at?" She asked angrily.

"Nothing." He said with a silly expression, Mina sighed.

"Momma, we shouldn't have him here! He's a thief! He was at the base, stealing!"

"And what were you doing there at the base as well, hmm?"

"I…"

Her mother stared at her in disappointment. "That was a highly irresponsible thing you did, going to an Egg Base is suicidal! What exactly were you thinking?" The young mongoose remained silent and ashamed. "Good thing Manic saved you."

"Wait… who?"

"Manic."

"That's me." Both turned their heads to see the hedgehog, who was waving his hand. "Hi." He smiled.

"You can't be serious. That's what he told you?"

"He didn't tell me anything. He brought you home, you were unconscious, and he was bleeding." The mother pointed at the wound. "He had been shot." Mina looked at the wound and frowned as everyone remained silent. "Don't you have anything to say?"

"What?"

"Like 'sorry' or something?"

"Gah alright." Mina let out an exhasperated sigh. "I'm sorry."

"Never mind that." Manic smiled. "Well, I suppose I'll be going."

"Going where?" Mina's mother asked.

"Nah, I can't stay here, I don't want to be a bother."

"Absolutely not, young man! You're not being a bother! Not at all! What is more, I insist that you stay here for the night, I mean, you look hungry."

"Momma-" Mina whispered in disagreement between her teeth, only to be shushed.

"Well- yeah." He smiled. "Maybe just a little."

"And, no offense," She continued. "but you could have a shower as well."

He chucked softly. "Yeah, I suppose."

"So it's done! You're staying here until tomorrow, ok? Now, I'll go prepare your bed, Mina can go help cook dinner…"

Manic turned his view to the mongoose girl, who was staring at him harshly, and he sure believed he felt a mental shiver inside him.

After a while, Mina and her mother started cooking dinner; Mina washed and peel the vegetables while her mom baked the potatoes and cooked the meat in the oven. The delicious smell reached Manic's nostrils and his stomach rumbled and roared endlessly. Mina's mother looked at the young hedgehog man standing there with the looks of a stray dog which had not eaten in days and laughed. "You hungry Manic?"

He scratched his back in embarrassment and smiled weakly. "Well, it has been a long time since I didn't have such delicious food to eat."

She laughed while Mina rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess you're a lucky guy, we'll be having dinner in a moment."

"Well yeah… um, I'll go take my shower now."

"Oh alright, just wait a second-" She turned to her daughter. "Mina, could you please get Manic some towels?"

Mina left everything she was doing and went upstairs with Manic. She stopped in front of a closet and opened it, then got some towels and closed it. She kept going until they reached a door and opened it, revealing the bathroom.

"Okay." Mina started explaining: "There are the shampoo, conditioner, and the soap-" She pointed two bottles, blue and cyan and a bar of soap respectively. "Don't throw water outside the tub, that's why we've got curtains and don't you think about coming naked out of the bathroom, I have enough things to worry about." With that she went downstairs, obviously she was still angry, but Manic didn't give it much of an importance, since he knew she would get over it sooner or later.

After Mina left he closed the door and put the lock on, he didn't want to make the ladies feel uncomfortable. He put the towel on the bar where the curtain hung, took his clothes off, got into the tub and turned the water on. He first let the warm water fall on him smoothly, letting him relax for a while, then he took the soap and started washing himself with it, he started coughing but he paid it no mind. Then again he coughed, again and again, hacking and coughing fervently, like an endless routine, he knew this was something serious now, he was having an attack.

Meanwhile, Mina and her mother kept talking on the kitchen while preparing dinner.

"Momma-" Mina started. "He'll steal something sooner or later."

"Oh for Aurora's sake Mina!" Her mother finally said. "He's a good man, if he weren't, he would have left you for dead!"

"I don't personally believe he saved me mom."

"He brought you here, you were unconscious, he definitely did."

She sighed. "Well whatever."

"Besides…" She smiled. "He's a pretty handsome guy, now isn't him?"

"Oh stop with that mom. I don't want anything with men anymore, is a waste of time."

"…Are you saying this because of what happened with him?"

She remained silent for a while. "I was too young… and too stupid. After all, he wouldn't care about a country girl, he had a princess."

"You're a princess too Mina, don't let anyone convince you of the contrary."

She smiled. "Thanks momma." She remained silent for a while. "But I gotta admit he's good looking." Both laughed shortly, and she talked again. "Why didn't you take him to a doctor?"

"What?"

"He's got a bullet wound on his shoulder, don't you think he should be taken to a doctor?"

"When your father was a soldier for the kingdom, I took a small course of medicine, I was almost a nurse." She answered. "I took a look to the wound, it came clean through and did not damage bones or nerves, which is really lucky on Manic's part. Stitching it seemed the best option. He'll be fine, don't worry."

But Manic was everything but fine at that time. The coughing became more and more severe and Manic was hacking his lungs out; and then, without expecting it, a bolt of nausea came upon him and he dropped everything in his stomach on the tub. A mess of whatever he had eaten and a large amount of blood started filtrating out to the sewer, and Manic felt so tired his legs gave in and he slipped to end face down on the tub floor with a large clank, loud enough to catch the attention of the two women down in the kitchen.

"What was that?" Mina asked.

"My god, Manic…" Her mother guessed as Mina ran upstairs to check on the hedgehog. She turned the handle of the door just to find it locked and knocked on the door instead.

"Manic? Are you okay?" The tone in her voice, first cynical and angry towards him had turned of concern, she placed her right ear on the door, hearing the sound of running water and soft panting. "Manic?"

Manic heard her from the other side, he was still conscious, but he was exhausted. He slightly shook and trembled, but managed to make a response still lying on the tub floor, loud enough for Mina to hear: "I'm- I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I… I slipped. Don't worry, is nothing serious."

Mina still felt uneasy, she felt something was wrong, but decided not to mind it since he said he was "fine". "Okay, dinner's almost ready, hurry up with that shower, ok?"

"OK." With that, Mina walked downstairs. Manic still laid on the floor, slightly shaking and curled up in a ball, letting the pain go away for a while.

After dinner everyone prepared themselves for sleep, Manic went into what used to be Mina's father's studio inside the house, now the guests' room. He put the brown backpack on a table near the bed and opened it. He took out what seemed to be a small, white plastic container and opened it, letting two small pills fall on his hand. He did a quick motion and swallowed them crudely, then closed the container and put it on his bag again. He was ready to go to sleep until he heard something coming from downstairs.

"Absolutely not! I'm not letting you do this! You think this is a game?"

"If I thought it were, I wouldn't be doing this!"

He slowly opened the door and walked downstairs to see Mina and her mother having an argument.

"I will not lose my only daughter. For the love of the gods Mina! Mobians are dying because they decide to fight!"

"For freedom! They are fighting to set us free! You think that's not worth it?"

"Is not worth it if you're going to die young for a… a dream!" Mina gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes in response, however, her mother kept going. "I thought we had talked about this Mina, I thought you wanted to give up on this Freedom Fighter stuff and become a singer."

"I thought so too momma! But-" She looked at her mother in disbelief. "You actually think that is enough? Every single time, I hear of people who die, everywhere, for this cause, and I feel like I'm doing nothing. I mean, I am singing for the Resistance, but I can not feel like I'm doing good singing and making records and concerts and going famous while people keep dying every single day!"

"Mina, it IS enough, you're doing the best you can."

"Is not enough. Is never enough! I want to feel like I'm needed! I don't want-" She sighed. "I don't want to be useless."

Manic meanwhile frowned, those words seemed familiar. Of course, he had felt the same several times with his brother and sister, and that had been the reason why he left them behind, that had been the reason of everything that was happening now. He slowly left them both and walked upstairs as an uncomfortable silence invaded the room.

He woke up in the early morning; the sun didn't come out yet, but the sky was painted with shades of blue and orange. He put on some pants, a white t-shirt, his old red sneakers and a gray-ish jacket for the morning cold. He slowly left the room and did the same as he walked downstairs. He was ready to open the door until…

"Do you normally leave without saying goodbye?"

He turned around to see Mina's mother sitting in a couch. "Oh, I'm sorry Isabella, I just didn't want to wake you up."

"I was awake for a long time now, I had to say goodbye to someone."

"Someone?"

"Mina's leaving."

He frowned. "Mina? Mina's… leaving?" The mongoose nodded. "Leaving where?"

"To whenever resistance members are."

"I thought this was the place for resistance members."

"It is, but now they are in all parts of the world, maybe… she'll find some group and settle up and fight like she used to do when she met-" She sighed. "When she met him."

"Who?"

"Sonic."

Manic frowned even more. She knew his brother? How on Mobius did she knew him…? Well, that would have to wait. "I gotta leave now."

"I hope you have a good journey Manic."

"I hope Mina will find what she wants."

"Me too."

With that, he left the house and started walking, only to find that someone, not very afar from there he found someone staring in direction to the house. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just… I dunno." Mina answered, her face was one of silent sadness.

"If you're not sure of what you're gonna do, don't do it. Your mother loves you and she doesn't wanna see you get hurt."

"Who told you that, she did?" She said, as if she were acusing him of getting into her business, but he remained quiet.

"I figured myself."

She sighed. "I have to do this."

He remained silent while he stared sternly at her. "Do you have any idea where they are?"

"Well… I know some are in the Acorn Kingdom." He pressed his lips together and frowned. "Okay, maybe I don't know much but-"

"Okay, listen." He started. "I'm going to Robotropolis, I know a place where Freedom Fighters reunite very often, I can take you there, but nothing else."

She opened her eyes wide. "You serious?"

"Yeah."

She smiled. "I guess you're not much of a lost case after all."

"Thanks, I highly appreciate that. Now come on, we have to get going if we're going to be there soon."

They started walking to the north entrance to Knothole, just as Mina gave her last took to the house, in a signal of a new step in her life had made the first step.

THOU SHALLT LEAVE A CRITIQUE DO IT DO IT DOIT