Author's note: There's enough swearing in this chapter that I almost feel like I should warn you all ahead of time.
Sonic waited until he was sure Tails was asleep before finally calling Shadow. As the phone rang, Sonic found himself wondering why on earth Shadow had given him of all people his cell phone number before finally remembering that the first time Esplouge had darkened their lives, Shadow had been unwilling to keep in contact with anyone else. When the seriousness of the situation finally hit him, Shadow had given Sonic his cell number with very strict instructions not to prank call him after everything was said and done. Sonic had agreed, at the time only caring for Tails' safety, and this situation felt serious enough that it deserved some of the darker hedgehog's attention.
How Shadow would feel about the matter, however, remained to be seen.
Shadow picked up after what felt like an eternity, and by the sound of his voice, Sonic could tell he wasn't in the best of moods.
"Sonic, what the hell do you want at this time of night?" Shadow asked angrily.
"Oh, like you were even asleep," Sonic jeered, trying to lighten up his own mood at Shadow's expense. "Anyway, ... um... I need your help with something."
Shadow paused for a moment, seemingly shocked and trying to think of a response.
"You're asking for my help?" Shadow asked, sounding a little skeptical. "With what, may I ask?"
It was Sonic's turn to pause, his eyes darting restlessly toward the stairs to Tails' room, as if afraid the fox would come down them at any minute. He wasn't exactly comfortable with Tails knowing about this conversation until he was sure of what was going on with the fox.
"It's Tails," Sonic began unsurely. "He's been acting... a little weird. Oh, who am I kidding, there's something really weird going on with him, and... I just wanted to know if you knew anything about it."
There, now his question was out in the open and Shadow had to pause in thought, trying to figure out the best way to respond, unable to come up with much more than an almost suspicious;
"What makes you think I would know what's going on with him?"
Sonic's eyes darted toward the stairs again.
"He... He's mentioned you," Sonic explained, self-consciously lowering his voice. "Hating you, wanting to kill you... Seriously, if you know anything..."
"Maybe I do," Shadow cut in, his voice cool and flat. "And maybe I don't. Tails and I haven't exactly been seeing eye to eye as of late, he's mentioned that, I assume?"
"Yeah," Sonic said, feeling himself growing frustrated. Why was Shadow playing games with him?
"What did he say specifically?" Shadow asked.
"Just that he hates you," Sonic said. "He never told me why. Seriously dude, if you know anything about this, you'd better tell me. Now."
Shadow paused again.
"You're not going to like what you hear," Shadow said finally. "You're really not going to like it."
"I. Don't. Care," Sonic said, emphasizing every word as he spoke. "I just want to know what's wrong with my friend. I don't care how painful it might be to hear, I need to know what's wrong with him."
Shadow paused, seeming to size up the situation.
"Where should we meet, then?" Shadow asked finally, confusing the blue hedgehog.
"What are you talking about?"
"... I'm not comfortable saying anything over the phone," Shadow said. "He could be listening in."
"Who, Tails?" sonic asked. "No he's not, he just went to sleep a little while ago."
"How can you be sure of that?" Shadow asked. "Are you in the room with him? Can you actually see him sleeping right now?"
"... Well, no, but..."
"Look, this really isn't the kind of thing he needs to hear," Shadow continued. "Wasn't that your mindset when you called me? Otherwise I can't imagine why you would leave him for even a second if you're as worried about him as you sound..."
Sonic paused for a moment. He looked to the stairs again, now wondering if Tails really was listening in silently on one of the other phones. After all, he had at least three or four in his house, and one of those phones was in his room...
"Okay, fine," Sonic said finally. "We'll meet up tomorrow."
"Where?" Shadow asked. "And what time?"
"... I really don't want to leave Tails alone," Sonic said. "Can't you just come over here? He likes to experiment, we could always distract him with one of those..."
"I'm not comfortable with that," Shadow said. "He could still walk in and hear us talking, and he really doesn't need to hear any of it."
"Why does it matter if he hears it or not?" Sonic asked. "It's about him, isn't it? Besides, how long are you planning to take on explaining what's going on?"
"... Look, I'll just look for you tomorrow," Shadow said. "Just tell him you're going out for a run or something."
"But..."
Sonic heard a 'click', signaling that Shadow had hung up. Sonic stared at the phone, feeling more than a little annoyed before setting it back down, not even bothering to hang it up.
The stupid thing will run out of batteries and turn itself off, Sonic figured bitterly. That, or it has a timer of some sort or something like that. Tails probably tripped it out at some point, anyway...
"Jesus, you're no help at all," Sonic muttered under his breath, heading for the guest room he usually occupied when he stayed at Tails' house.
He stopped the moment he turned around. Sonic was now face to face with Tails, and something about the fox seemed...
Wrong.
That was the only word Sonic could think of to describe the expression on Tails' face. It was just wrong. Sonic had seen this exact expression before, although the only time he had seen it, it had been on Esplouge's face. It was an expression that seemed so forced, so utterly fake, as if Tails were trying to appear happy even though he was absolutely furious on the inside. And despite his own ego and bravery, Sonic found that seeing this expression on his friend was absolutely terrifying.
It terrified him when he thought of what could be going on in Tails' head. Sonic wasn't necessarily concerned for his own safety, rather, he was concerned for Tails'.
"Hello, Sonic," Tails greeted, his voice falsely sweet. "What're you doing?"
"Nothing," Sonic answered defensively. "Um, I thought you said you were tired. Weren't you asleep?"
Sonic noticed that Tails was holding something, although he couldn't quite tell what it was. Tails grinned at him, although everything about that grin just felt wrong.
"And miss all the fun?" Tails asked, his voice full of false cheer. "I don't think so~!"
"Really, Tails, I think you should go back to sleep," Sonic said, trying to fight back the feeling of terror that was growing inside of him. "Early to bed, early to rise, right?"
Tails continued to smile at Sonic hollowly, playing unconsciously with the object in his hand.
"So what happens if I never go to sleep?" Tails asked. "People who go to sleep early wake up early. People who go to sleep late wake up late. So what the fuck happens if someone doesn't fucking sleep?"
Despite Tails' outburst, Sonic was sure he heard Shadow's voice come from the phone. But that didn't make any sense; even if Sonic hadn't hung up, Shadow still had.
Right?
"What the fuck happens, Sonic?"
Sonic reached for the phone, not caring whether or not he was holding it right side up.
Oh my god, Tails really was listening in, he knows what Shadow and me were just talking about, and what the hell's going on?
"Shadow, get the fuck over here now!" Sonic screamed, sure that even if he was holding the phone wrong, Shadow would hear him.
Sonic saw blood dripping from Tails' hand and put together what he must have been holding.
Glass.
Just like Esplouge would have done.
"Oh my god..." Sonic muttered, terrified.
"Sonic, what the hell is going on?" Shadow's confused voice asked from over the phone. "Is he in there with you?"
"I've only slept once since he died," Tails continued, his voice significantly quieter than it had been mere moments ago. "Did you know that? It was that same night, and I slept next to him. He was still warm. Ha ha... But then he got all cold, and even getting the chaos emerald near him didn't warm him up. He's so fucking cold, Sonic! Even now, he's probably freezing his ass off in that closet I stuck him in!"
In the confusion of the situation, Sonic couldn't make heads or tails of the fox's words. All that would register in his mind was that Tails was going insane, and no amount of carefully cultivated denial could block that out anymore.
His best friend was going insane, and Sonic could slowly feel his world turning upside-down.
"Wh- wha...?"
"And you..." Tails said seeming to address the phone. "It's your fucking fault he's not here anymore, Project fucking Shadow! Yours and Sonic's both!You fucking bastards couldn't bear the fact that I had someone else who cared about me! Esplouge was my friend, and you both drove him to death! You fucks!"
"What the hell are you saying?" Sonic cried, confusion and fear seeming to take over his every thought and action. "He tortured you, or have you forgotten about that?"
"It's your fault!" Tails shouted, seeming to run out of energy. "Everything is your fucking fault! Now I have to live for both myself and him! Do you have any idea how hard that is?"
"What the fuck are you talking about, Tails?" Sonic shouted.
Sonic dropped the phone in favour of avoiding the glass Tails had nearly cut him with. Tails slashed at him repeatedly in the same blind fury Sonic had seen Esplouge adapt, and Sonic found that he didn't want to run away. Even now, his primary concern was Tails' safety over his own. All he could do was dodge Tails' attack and hope the fox got tired out before too long.
And then a stupid chair had to get in his way and trip him up.
In moments, Sonic found himself on the ground, staring up at Tails who was now sitting on top of him, his usually soft blue eyes now filled with a terrifyingly uncharacteristic fury.
"Should I just slit your filthy throat and be done with it?" Tails asked teasingly. "Or should I fucking torture you first for what you did to Esplouge?"
Before Tails could respond, Sonic shoved Tails off and was now pinning him to the ground, the shard of glass Tails had been using now a safe distance away.
He feels so much lighter now... Sonic realized with horror. How long has it been since he's eaten anything substantial?
"He. Tortured. You," Sonic said angrily, his eyes welling up with frustrated tears. "He didn't care about you at all. He was screwed up. You know that. Why are you still trying to defend him?"
"I'm the only one who will," Tails said, his struggles finally starting to die down. "I'm the only one who's ever cared about him and my head really fucking hurts right now, can you shut up for three minutes?"
"Maybe you should have thought about that before you fucking attacked me!" Sonic shouted angrily. "Seriously, why? Why do you care about him more than you care about me? After all I've done for you and all he's done to you... Why?"
Tails appeared shocked by this statement.
"What would ever make you think I cared more about him than you?" Tails asked flatly. "I care about you both equally. You should know that."
"You just tried to kill me!" Sonic shouted, barely noticing as Tails flinched. "Did you ever try to kill him?"
"As a matter of fact, I did!" Tails shouted back, trying and succeeding to match Sonic's volume. "And it ended up pretty much like this!"
Tails' voice dropped significantly before he continued.
"All you have to do now is cut me. Esplouge practically cut my spine open when I tried to... to..."
Tails let out a frustrated scream.
"I'm so fucking tired, why can't I fucking sleep?"
"You slept last night," Sonic countered. "And this morning. You slept in a long time, remember?"
"Oh, I was faking it, you idiot!" Tails yelled. "You wanna know what I was really doing? I was spending all of my time trying to figure out how to wake him up!"
"Wha...?"
"Esplouge is just sleeping," Tails said, his voice dangerously quiet. "He always wakes up after a while. He's just sleeping and he's really, really tired. He doesn't get enough sleep, so he just gets a lot all at once to make up for it. I'm going to fucking wake him up!"
"Tails, what the hell are you saying?" Sonic asked. "Do you have any idea what you're saying?"
"I just want to go to sleep!" Tails screamed. "I'm so fucking tired!"
"Why didn't you tell me you were having sleeping problems?" Sonic asked angrily. "Did you even try to get help for it? What have you been doing recently, anyway? What the hell's going on with you?"
Tails smiled, although it was clear that it was forced.
"I already told you," Tails said quietly. "I've been trying to wake him up."
"He's dead Tails!" Sonic nearly shouted. "You know that!"
Tails continued to smile at him.
"He's just sleeping," Tails insisted. "He has sleeping problems, and I'm just taking on the burden for him for a little while. He'll wake up someday, and then I'll be able to fall asleep again. I just have to wait for a little while."
"Tails... What are you saying?" Sonic asked. "What's happened to you?"
"If anything he's said can be taken seriously, he may have just gone insane from a lack of sleep," Shadow's voice said from behind Sonic. Sonic turned his head to see and sure enough, Shadow was standing there behind him, his red eyes fixed on Tails cautiously.
"But I'm sure that's not all of it," Shadow finished. "After all, he did have a little killing spree the night Esplouge died, and I'm pretty sure he had been sleeping okay up until then."
"What?" Sonic asked, looking from Shadow to Tails. He had skipped questioning when Shadow had even gotten there and was immfediately wondering what on earth the dark hedgehog was talking about.
"Tails, is that true?" Sonic asked.
Sonic found that Tails' eyes were fixed on Shadow. The fox looked absolutely furious.
"I thought their blood would wake him up faster," Tails said. "He likes blood..."
"Really?" Shadow asked mockingly. "Because I remember it a little differently..."
"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Sonic shouted, looking from Tails to Shadow and back, hoping that one of them would answer him. He couldn't stand not knowing what was going on, especially when his best friend was involved.
"Has Tails ever claimed to actually be Esplouge?" Shadow asked, looking to Sonic.
Sonic stared back at Shadow, his expression hard.
"Yes. What's going on, Shadow?"
"I don't know exactly what's going on with him," Shadow explained. "But he's not himself anymore, so to speak."
"I'm still me!" Tails shouted, struggling against Sonic again. "I'm not going crazy!"
"Yeah, and that time I tried to blow up the earth was just a bad mood," Shadow countered. "I was going insane back then, but I got past it. But the thing is, I had to be willing to fix things and to admit that there was something wrong with me. No amount of therapy can help if you're not willing to make yourself better."
"I'm not crazy!" Tails shouted again. "I don't need fucking therapy!"
"I'm not saying you do," Shadow continued. "I'm just saying that you need to realize what you're doing. You murdered people, Tails. You've been claiming on and off to be a dead person, and right now you're claiming that that same dead person is still alive. Doesn't something seem a little off with that?"
"He's just sleeping," Tails said, his struggles dying down again. "He's just... He's just asleep..."
Without warning, tears began to slide down Tails' face. Sonic felt his heart tear itself in two, wanting nothing more than to comfort his friend. But how could he comfort Tails if the fox was likely to try to kill him again at any given moment? How could he tell Tails that "Hey, this guy you cared about is dead, but other than that, everything's fine"? How could Sonic break apart this horrible illusion Tails had been living in for months without expecting Tails to do something absolutely insane in response?
What the hell was he supposed to do?
"Tails..." Sonic said helplessly. "We just want to help you. Shadow and I just want to help you. Can't you see that?"
"Why did Esplouge leave me, Sonic?" Tails asked. "I thought he was my friend, I thought I could help him... Why did he leave me?"
Sonic finally felt it was safe to let Tails up, so he slowly helped the fox up. Tails clung to Sonic and cried on his shoulder. Sonic looked to Shadow for further instruction, but the dark hedgehog merely stared back seeming unsure of what to do next.
"Tails..." Sonic said softly.
"I'm... I'm so tired, Sonic..." Tails sobbed.
"Then don't you think you should go to sleep?" Sonic asked gently, sure the danger had passed.
"I... I can't," Tails objected. "I have to know why he left me..."
"It'll be easier for you to focus if you're rested," Shadow offered a little bluntly, trying and failing to sound friendly.
Tails looked toward Shadow, seeming surprised the dark hedgehog was even there. He clung tighter to Sonic, as if he were a child clinging to his parent for protection from a particularly scary stranger.
"Shadow's right, Tails," Sonic said. "You need to get some rest."
"Okay," Tails agreed finally, sounding defeated. "You're probably right. I probably just need some sleep."
Sonic began to lead Tails away toward his bedroom, grateful Tails had finally given in and had agreed to get some sleep.
Now he just had to hope that Tails actually went to sleep.
"Hey, Sonic," Shadow called after them.
Sonic looked toward Shadow.
"We're not done talking yet," Shadow finished. "Finish putting him to bed, then we'll talk."
Sonic nodded in agreement before leading Tails up the stairs and to his bedroom. He tucked Tails in, feeling much like a parent as he did so. He waited a few minutes, making sure that Tails really was asleep this time before going back down the stairs to join Shadow.
This was going to be a long night, Sonic thought bitterly. A long, hellish night...
