Finally, there will be Mephilver and Fleetourge, too! Did you really think I forgot that? Oh, and before you ask - yes, Mephiles has a mouth. I didn't want to concentrate on that, so he simply has one.

10: A deal with the devil

A blue ear twitched upon hearing a strange noise. It wasn't the tray with food, so he looked up. He backed away, when he saw, that the wall opposite of the door sunk in the ground. Instead of leaving an empty space, where the wall had been, a row of mattresses, as new as they ever could be, appeared out of the floor, that turned around quickly to reveal them, making them build a very flat and soft frontier.

Sonic looked past it and discovered two more hedgehogs with him in the now larger room, a silver one and a green one. The silver one was closer to him and looked terrified from left to right, obviously, the walls on his both sides had moved and scared him. The green hedgehog, instead, looked with dull blue eyes over his shoulder and turned slowly, on guard, around, so that he faced the now bigger room. Something told Sonic, that the other two were also ukes, it let him feel a little safer. Ukes didn't rape ukes, as far as he was concerned.

"Hello.," he started. The silver hedgehog, who seemed about fourteen years old, looked at him, insecure. "H-hi...," he rasped, being pretty hoarse. "What's your name?," Sonic asked, feeling already protective towards the younger one. "I-I'm Silver. And y-you?" "Just call me Sonic. And you?," he asked the green hedgehog, that looked quite like him. He rolled his eyes. "Scourge.," he grumbled. "Y-you're not going to hurt me...right?," Silver asked, scared.

Sonic crawled closer – as weak as his legs were, as sick as he felt, since he woke up here for the first time, and as unsteady as the floor was, he didn't try to stand up and walk – until he could pet the younger one's head, like he used to do it with Tails. "Don't worry, nobody's going to hurt you, as long, as I'm here, promise." Silver smiled shyly and allowed Sonic to sit next to him.

They both looked over to Scourge and he slowly came a little closer. Sonic noticed the many wounds on his body, that made movement most likely very painful, while Silver was strangely unharmed. Not that he minded, he was not older than fourteen, Sonic estimated, while Scourge was maybe eighteen, a little older than him. They both didn't deserve being in this place and he wanted nothing more, than to protect those two.

All three hedgehogs looked up, when a new tray, bigger this time and with three portions of fruit, was let down from the ceiling. "Are you hungry?," Scourge asked, it sounded like a challenge. The other two shook their heads, ignoring the grumbling of their stomachs.

24 hours passed and Kylie was close to giving up. No matter, what she tried, the ukes refused to eat and drink and even to sleep (although they did nap, for a few minutes now and then) and got weaker and weaker. She had convinced Perringten to let them meet, as ukes were very social, and although they got to be friends already, they still refused to eat and it was obvious, that they had gotten worse since yesterday.

Of course, she could have just shown her face and they would have eaten, but she knew, what she had to do to them sooner or later and therefore, she was afraid. She didn't want to lose their trust, hurt them more with her betrayal.

While looking for a solution, she browsed through their files and noticed something interesting. Not only Sonic had built a relationship in this hell – Silver and Scourge did, too. They both had had close contact to two semes, who were locked away right now...in cells like Shadow's. Coincidence? Absolutely not!

Running out of options – and time, as the ukes were getting worse by the minute, it seemed at least like that – she decided, that this was the only solution.

She left the room and made her way up to the top floor, where Perringten's office was. She had never been there and was a little curious about how it would look like. She imagined all kinds of offices, from terrifying, with hedgehog skins at the walls, to absolutely crazy, with flower print wallpaper.

She was nearly too deep in thought to notice the thick oak wood door of the office she had thought of so much. Just in time she stopped, knocked loudly and entered.

To her surprise, the room looked like a typical study: a desk in front of a big window, a giant globe on her left with lots of tiny colorful flags on it, filled bookshelves at all walls. She jumped a little, when the chair behind the desk turned around and she was face to face with Perringten. "Dr. Ellen, what is it?," he asked calmly.

Kylie took a mental breath before she started speaking. "Sir, I might have found a solution for curing the ukes.," she started. Perringten looked at her with interest. "I could read in the files, that each uke grew close with a seme. I would try to let ukes and semes meet. As I experienced with 125 and 299, the semes might be able to help heal the ukes.," she explained, relieved, that she had an argument like her 'experience'.

"Hm..." Perringten pressed his fingertips against each other and looked at Kylie with a piercing glare while thinking. "The semes would for sure try to flee...," she heard him mumble.

Suddenly, he stood up, startling Kylie a bit, got out his mobile, dialed and put it to his ear, waiting for a response. "Perringten here.," he finally said. "Take the ukes of cell C and bring them to laboratory 08 for the aforementioned procedure.," he ordered and ended the call. He noticed Kylie's worried look, she knew of course, that those ukes were Sonic, Silver and Scourge. "Don't worry, it won't harm them.," he said. For some reason, she had the feeling, that he had left out the word 'yet' at the end of the sentence.

She hoped dearly, that she hadn't dug six graves with her suggestion.

Sonic woke up from his forced slumber. He noticed, that they were in the same cell as before, Scourge and Silver lay next to him. He just remembered, that one of the glass walls – there was one at each end left and right of the cell, with a door behind it – opened, together with the door and a man with a gun had entered, shot a dart in each of their bodies...and then nothing. As he hadn't eaten in days, the sedative had taken effect quickly, with the other two it was the same, he presumed.

Carefully, Sonic sat up and looked down on him. He was relieved to see, that nothing had been done to him. Next to him, Scourge sat up, groaning. He looked down, then at Sonic. "You have a new collar.," they both stated at the same time, as if they were twins.

They wore a simple brown leather collar, like a pet dog or cat would wear it. With a look on Silver between them, they noticed, that he had the same. Did they have their powers back? Hard to say, he was too weak and in too much pain to move, let alone run. Besides, his gut feeling told him, that this collar wasn't normal.

"Hey." His ear, that was closer to the voice, perked and he looked over to Scourge again. "Shouldn't...Silver be up by now?," he asked. Sonic's eyes widened. The small male was still sleeping peacefully. "Silver? Hey, Silver, wake up!" He shook a silver furred shoulder without success. "Maybe the sedative isn't worn off yet...because he's smaller?," Scourge guessed, he sounded pretty worried. Although he had seemed quite cold, Sonic was sure, that it was just an act, he cared for others, like he did. "I hope it..." Sonic searched for a pulse at the thin wrist. "His pulse is normal, at least.," he breathed in relief.

It was this moment, that Scourge started screaming in pure agony, startling the poor blue hedgehog.

Shadow didn't know, when the drugs had been replaced by a sedative, but when he woke up, he was in a barren metal room with an one way window in one of the walls, that was nothing but a mirror from his perspective. As he noticed, after standing up, he wasn't alone. Two other hedgehogs just woke up next to him.

He groaned, annoyed, as he knew them. One of them looked quite like him, but with turquoise stripes, pale fur on his muzzle and snakelike green eyes. He wore a collar like he had, with the number 143.

The other hedgehog had golden fur, a fawn belly and arms, swirling red eyes, ruffled raised quills and sharp teeth. His collar had number 101.

"Mephiles, Fleetway.," he growled. The others looked at him. "If it isn't Agent Shadow.," his dark 'twin' – they weren't related – Mephiles sneered. Fleetway, the golden hedgehog, also recognized him and grinned.

He and Mephiles were criminals, so Shadow was their enemy. "Good that you're here, I could use some exercise.," Fleetway grinned and cracked his knuckles.

Before he or Mephiles could attack, however, the one way window turned into a normal one and they saw a human on the other side. Shadow recognized him, it was the human, that had been in the ward, the boss of the woman.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen, hope you had a nice nap.," the old man grinned. "Who are you and what are we doing here?," Mephiles asked. "Straight to the point, I like that. My name is Jester Perringten, I am responsible for everything that happens here..."

"Oh, so you're this sicko, who captures us to fuck our brains out?," Fleetway sneered, interrupting him. "How rude. You see, I am...collecting. I collect very rare ukes and I need your help with some of them.," Perringten explained. "Yeah right. I would rather die, than help some bastard like you.," Fleetway replied coldly, as usual straight forward.

Perringten's smile didn't disappear. "You should watch your tongue, or it could become... painful.," he said calmly. "Really? Try me.," the light furred male replied.

Shadow asked himself, just for how long Fleetway had been caged here to be so reckless and – to say the least – stupid.

Perringten chuckled, obviously amused. "Oh, I didn't talk about you. I know semes like you, you are quite resistant to pain, even the worst torture can't break you." His eyes became cold. "But there is a little something, that breaks all semes and I gladly show it to you." He grabbed something the hedgehogs couldn't see and they tensed, trying to brace themselves for any kind of pain.

However, they couldn't have prepared for what he did.

By pressing a button on a remote, four little monitors flashed on the glass between the mobians and the human.

Shadow's jaw fell. On three of the monitors were pictures of one uke each – Sonic, Scourge, another criminal who often worked together with Fleetway, and a silver furred, seemingly younger uke with golden eyes. They looked like they were taken randomly, the picture of Sonic showed him sitting on his container on paradise, Scourge seemed to run from something and the silver male was curled up in a ball in a corner out of metal.

Under those three pictures was a video, a live stream from a surveillance camera, he guessed, that showed all three ukes together in an ocean of pillows and blankets.

Sonic and Scourge just sat up left and right to the unknown uke, talking with each other. It was hard to say about what, as the video was muted. The silver male between them was seemingly sleeping.

"Ah, I see, you recognize them?," Perringten brought them back to the present. Shadow looked at Mephiles and Fleetway, they both had their eyes glued to the live stream. Had they grown close to the other two ukes, like he did with Sonic? "What have you done to Silver!?," Mephiles growled, obviously meaning the uke he didn't know, verifying his assumption.

On the screen, Sonic and Scourge tried without success to wake Silver. Shadow could imagine, that they had been sedated at the same time and were now worried, as the youngest – he couldn't be older than fourteen – among them still slept.

"Oh, nothing. He's simply tired. I needed the ukes to take a nap not too long ago to give them one of those." He showed them a seemingly normal collar one would give their pets, but Shadow noticed some metal on the inside. He looked at the screen and really, all three ukes wore such a collar, all having a brown color. "This little thing here is much better, than their old ones, it not only suppresses their powers, it also gives them a small electric shock, when I press a button on here." He showed them another remote.

"Why should you do that? You need the ukes to be healthy, don't you?," Shadow asked, swallowing every curse he wanted to shoot at him. He had to restrain himself, or Sonic would suffer. "Oh, the electricity doesn't harm them enough to turn them barren, but enough to show them and you, where their place is.," Perringten grinned.

"You are the most despicable, sick creature I ever met.," Fleetway hissed, not at all getting the threat Perringten had just spoken out.

The human looked at him and smiled cruelly. "Seems like you haven't listened properly. Maybe a demonstration is in order."

He raised his hand with the remote and pressed one of the buttons. Immediately, a scream filled the room and they could see Scourge on the stream, screaming in agony and rolling around, trying to get the collar off. Sonic, totally shocked, had grabbed Silver and brought himself and the other out of the green uke's range, so they wouldn't get hit by his flailing limbs.

"Stop! Stop it!" Fleetway clawed at the image of his writhing uke. It was the only thing he could think of in his panicked state. "Please, please, please, stop it! Please!" Sobbing, he fell to his knees and hid his face in his claws. Scourge was suffering! Because of him! What could he do!?

His ears perked, when it became silent. He looked up, fearing the worst, but was relieved when he saw Scourge lying on his side, alive, panting and trying to breathe normal again, with Sonic, who had laid down Silver a few feet away, bent over him and trying to help. The video was muted again.

"I think, I got the point across.," Perringten said and put the remote away. "Now, I want you to listen carefully. As you might have noticed, your three ukes aren't feeling too well. They refuse to eat and have grown sick. Like this, they aren't worth anything. I want you to go to them and bring them back to better health. Make sure they are strong enough to carry offspring."

Six fists balled upon hearing that and growls were suppressed desperately. "If it is any comfort for you, you will father the children." Perringten made an uncaring gesture. "Anyway, I'm just warning you once: if you try to leave the cell without my consent, try to flee or harm any of my men, your ukes will suffer the consequences. Did I make myself clear?"

The semes didn't react, but Perringten knew, that they listened to every word he said. They would never endanger their ukes, even if they wouldn't die from the electricity, they would spare them any pain by instinct.

That's, what he thought – the feeling love was alien for him.

"Good. Then go, you're starting right away." The automatic door behind the semes, that had been close to invisible the whole time, opened.

Without a word, the semes turned around and walked out. The hallway they now stood in was full with guards, who seemed to watch their every movement, forming a second hallway in the normal one. They followed it to the cell of their ukes.

They walked side by side. Fleetway wiped away his tears. He and Mephiles looked at Shadow, as if searching for help. "We have no choice, we play along.," Shadow murmured under his breath, too low for the human ears and barely audible for the mobians. "Obey and the ukes will be safe. That's all, that counts right now. No fights, as long, as the ukes are close, got it?" The others nodded, barely visible. They kept being silent the rest of the way.

Sonic watched, how Scourge tried to recover. He wanted nothing more than cry: those collars were worse, than the last! And why did Scourge get these shocks? They were at their mercy, it seemed a random doing. It just made him fear this place more.

He flinched, when one of the glass walls moved up. He was torn between crawling in the corner farthest away from this door and staying where he was, so Silver and Scourge wouldn't get hurt. When the door opened, he was crying pitifully in despair, the stress, undernourishment and the sleep deprivation getting to him.

Suddenly, however, strong, yet gentle arms lifted him up and a familiar scent entered his nose.

Shadow would have liked to hurry, to run, knowing, how frightened Sonic had to be right now, as the attack on Scourge was without a reason, out of his perspective. But he had to stop himself: if he rushed, the humans would get the wrong idea and punish Sonic. So, he restrained himself and waited patiently with the other two for the cell door to open, when they stood in front of it.

Once the door was open, they stepped inside. His heart broke upon seeing the crying Sonic next to the trembling Scourge.

The door slammed shut behind him and he rushed to Sonic, picking him up in his arms. Sonic looked up, his eyes red from the crying, dark rings under his eyes from exhaustion, his fur matted with sweat, his face red from fever.

"Sh-Shadow?," he whispered hoarsely. Suddenly, he hugged him. "I-I thought y-you were d-dead!," he sobbed. "Shh, shh. Everything's fine, Sonic, try to relax. You need to rest.," Shadow soothed, rubbing his back. It was obvious, that he hadn't slept in a while. "I-I can't... th-they gave us those collars, they hurt Scourge! I-I don't know how, I-I need to p-protect Scourge and Silver.," he sobbed.

Shadow nuzzled him. "Sonic, it's okay, my friends will protect them. You can sleep." Well, they weren't his friends, but that was a story for another time.

Even though his words calmed Sonic a little, he still cried some more, having to let out all of his emotions, that he had saved up until now. After a while, his sobs got quieter. He leaned weakly against Shadow's shoulder, his eyes drooping. Only a few seconds later, he was deeply asleep.

Shadow walked with him on his arms over into the farthest corner, that smelt the most like Sonic, put one of the blankets on one of the mattresses, added a pillow, placed Sonic on the makeshift bed and covered him up, sitting next to him.

Mephiles walked slowly to his slumbering uke and picked him up. Silver noticed it subconsciously and blinked his eyes open. He was too thin and his usually shining eyes were lifeless. His body felt hot and his breathing was ragged.

"M-Mephiles?," he whispered, his voice hoarse and tired, the sedative had yet to wear off. "Hey, Silv.," Mephiles replied gently. The younger male smiled weakly and leaned his head against the other's shoulder. "I'm happy, that you're here.," he mumbled and fell asleep once more.

Mephiles knew, that Silver wasn't used to a bed – thanks to his powers, that weren't gone, just weakened, the small male had been able to show Mephiles, how he had lived, with the help of telepathy – that's why he held him close with one arm and built a nest-like structure out of the pillows and blankets with the other.

Finally satisfied with his work, he laid Silver down, covered him up and sat down next to him, watching his breathing.

"Scourge!" Once the door was closed, Fleetway ran to the green hedgehog, who rolled on his hands and knees, when he felt the other's presence and lifted himself up, not raising his head.

"G-good that y-you're h-here, F-Fleet.," he wheezed breathlessly, while forcing himself on his feet. "With you..., breaking out... should be... easy.," he managed to bring out between his pants. He trembled like crazy, even standing up had robbed him of more of his energy, than anyone would have thought.

He was too thin, two fairly fresh scars were on his torso, they looked infected and it was obvious, that he had a fever. Still, his willpower let him stand straight and not give up.

Gently, Fleetway hugged the weakened male, before he could collapse, not sure what else to do with the uke he saw more as a good friend, than his love...or so he thought. "No, Scourge, not now. You need to rest, you're-"

Quiet snoring let him interrupt himself. Scourge was already asleep, leaning against his shoulder, exhausted from the shocking and his health issues. Fleetway smiled, picked the hedgehog carefully up bridal style, prepared a bed, like Shadow did on the other side of the cell, placed Scourge on it and covered him up, before taking a seat next to him.

With that, all three ukes got their well deserved rest for the first time in days.

Kylie breathed in relief. After Scourge's fit, that had been caused by the collar – she didn't need to know, what it did in detail to know, that it was responsible for his pain, she had seen, how Scourge had tried to pull it off – the semes she had read about and Shadow had come in the cell of the ukes. They had coaxed the overly tired males to rest finally, which they now did, watched by the semes.

Before she could wonder, why the semes didn't think about exploring the cell for a way out, Perringten came into the room with a satisfied grin.

"I see they did their job.," he said while watching the semes. He held out a remote to her. "Here, take this." Kylie took it and looked at the three buttons in the colors of the three ukes: blue, green and white.

"This is the remote for the uke's collars, I'll give the guards around here copies in due time. Should one of them misbehave, punish the uke directly or punish the seme by electrocuting the uke. I'll count on you." And he left her again.

Kylie swallowed. He would know, if she disobeyed. She hoped, that the semes behaved, she could never press one of those buttons.

A few hours had passed, since the ill ukes had fallen asleep. The semes sat at their sides, watching them carefully.

They tensed, when they heard a foreign noise. They looked up and saw a part of the ceiling at the other end of the cell open and three trays next to each other, that were on a long metal plate with ropes on each of its corners, being let down.

The semes exchanged a glance, before Shadow, after checking Sonic, to make sure, that he didn't need anything, stood up and went closer to the tray.

On it were plates with food and little tags with their collar numbers. For the ukes, there were soups and mashed fruit and also tea and for the semes meat – luckily not raw – and water in plastic cups. Shadow took the soup for Sonic and sniffed it. Chicken soup, he couldn't smell anything suspicious.

But then he saw something, that had been under the bowl he still held in his hand. It was a piece of paper, smaller than his palm, with the drawing of a remote. And he knew, what remote. He got the message: they were constantly watched and if they didn't obey and did, what those humans wanted from them, the ukes would suffer – and right now, they should make them eat.

He crumbled the paper, put it in his mouth and swallowed it, making it disappear this way. He wouldn't scare Sonic with this. They wanted the ukes healthy and for now, he would assume, that the food wasn't spiked with drugs. Shadow took the bowl with the mashed fruits in his free hand, straightened himself and walked back to Sonic.

He noticed the stares of the other two, they had of course heard and seen the paper, but not the message and wanted to know, what it was. "Get your ukes to eat something, they're starved.," Shadow just said calmly.

He cleared a little space from all pillows and blankets, so he could put the bowls there without spilling something. He went back once more to get the drinks for them, as he didn't feel like eating. He didn't need to eat that necessarily, but he couldn't dehydrate himself, that wouldn't end well. Mephiles and Fleetway copied his behavior, getting the message without having to read it.

While they were at it, Shadow knelt down next to Sonic and gently shook him. "Sonic? Hey, wake up!," he whispered. The blue hedgehog groaned unwillingly, but pried his eyes open. "Sh-Shadow? What's wrong?," he mumbled groggily. "Nothing, don't worry. But you should eat, you look hungry." Or better: starved.

Sonic shook his head, waking up a little more. "N-no.," he said. "Why not? What's wrong?," Shadow asked. He watched, how the other got more and more nervous. "They...they did something to me. I...I don't know what, but...but...I-I'm scared." Sonic trembled and hugged himself, sniffing. To make it worse, his breathing started to become unhealthily fast.

"Sonic, Sonic calm down!" Shadow took the panicking uke in his arms and hugged him tightly. "Please, Sonic, calm down. You shouldn't work yourself up that much." "I-I can't help it. S-something has changed...I...I feel like a monster! I don't deserve to eat!," Sonic sobbed.

Even though he didn't remember anything of his dark form, he still had the feeling, that something was off. As if something evil had crept in his body and lingered there. He weakened himself to never let it appear again.

"Sonic, listen to me." Shadow gently tilted his uke's head, so he would look at him. "You aren't a monster and whatever they did to you, I'll protect you from the consequences. You don't have to be scared, as long, as I'm here, okay?," the dark seme soothed.

Sonic nodded tiredly, calming down again. Shadow shifted him a little, so that he sat on his lap, took the spoon, that had been in the soup bowl and brought it to Sonic's lips. "Come on, Sonic, eat at least a little. Only one spoon, please?," Shadow asked and hesitantly, Sonic opened his mouth to eat. He swallowed the delicious liquid.

"Like it?," Shadow asked. Sonic nodded. "Do you want more?" Again nodding. Shadow smiled and slowly fed the soup, then the mashed fruit and finally the tea to him one by one, encouraging him again and again, when he hesitated. Sonic ate, allowing himself to be hungry, at least as long, as Shadow was here with him.

Silver woke up from the scent of food. He opened his eyes and saw the bowls at the edge of his little nest. "Hey, Silv. Are you hungry?," Mephiles asked.

Silver frowned and hid himself in the blanket. "No!," he said in a muffled voice. Mephiles gently lifted the blanket and looked at the curled up form. "Why not?," he asked confused. "Th-they put bad stuff in the food." Silver wasn't educated enough to know terms like drugs or sedatives; he knew, what it did to his body, though. He had often enough experienced it here to the point, that he feared food.

"In here isn't bad stuff. I promise, it's safe.," Mephiles reassured. Silver hesitated, but then he came out of his hiding spot and tried to sit up. As weak as he was, it wasn't an easy task and finally, Mephiles decided to pick the male up and set him in his lap to feed him his meal. Without having to fear anything in his food, the young male happily ate, what Mephiles fed to him, his tail wagging a little.

Scourge opened his eyes, when Fleetway was just returning with the drinks – like the other two semes, he wasn't keen on eating anything and had left the dish for him alone – and looked around, as much, as he could, his body still hurt from the electroshocks.

"Hey, Scourge. Are you feeling any better?," Fleetway asked concerned, when he noticed the other's lack of movement. That wasn't normal for him at all.

"Not really.," Scourge mumbled. "Come, eat something, then you'll feel better." "Forget it." Scourge tried to turn away, but his body hurt too much to succeed. "Why not? Aren't you hungry?," Fleetway asked.

"No, that's not it. Those sickos just want us to be healthy so we can get pregnant. I'm not playing along. Do you know, how often they let one of those sex crazed beasts on me? How often they succeeded? I'm not going to let them win and if I have to starve to death for that.," he growled, pretending, as if these past weeks on the Island hadn't affected him that much, but they had.

He had never been someone to give up, but...here... He was close. So painfully close to consider any way of escape. Even a permanent one.

"Scourge, that's madness. And this isn't you, either! Since when are you letting the other win?," the golden seme asked. Fleetway knew, that encouraging Scourge to eat would sooner or later lead to even more rape, but he would get shocks again, if he didn't. Right now, his uke's health was his main concern.

Green ears twitched upon hearing that. "W-what do you mean?," Scourge asked, confused – and also a little offended. "Those sadists are most likely keen on seeing you as a defenseless, weak uke. Are you really going to let them see that?," Fleetway asked, a challenge in his voice.

Scourge bared his fangs, the seme had pushed his buttons with ease. "Feed me, now! I can't move!," he hissed. The other was only too happy to comply.

After their meals, the ukes fell quickly back to sleep, every one of them still exhausted and in need of rest. The semes brought the dishes back to the tray, so they wouldn't be in the way. They ignored the food for them still, not in the mood for it.

The tray was soon moved up and, after a good hour, returned with something less trustworthy, than food: medicine. On the metal plate were three small paper bags, cups with water, bowls with more water and clean towels.

Shadow, by now some kind of leader for the other two semes, went to the tray and examined the paper bags. In all three of them were small, light pink pills. Shadow read the small writing on the paper bag, it said, that the pills were against fever and pain. In Sonic's bag was one more, he assumed, that they had ways to keep track of their vitals and thought he needed it. Still guessing, that they wanted to increase the uke's health, he decided to trust the pills, for now. He sniffed the water in the cup and the bowl, but found nothing suspicious and also the towels smelled like soap only. Between the stuff for Scourge was also a small bottle with a liquid, that was, according to the label, an antiseptic, small cotton balls to apply it and bandages.

He looked at the impatiently waiting semes and nodded shortly, telling them, that the items were safe to use. He took those for Sonic and brought them over to the slumbering uke.

Just in time, too, because the blue hedgehog started to get restless. He moved weakly and whimpered. Suddenly, Shadow noticed movement under his blanket. He flipped it back and his eyes widened in shock: Sonic was clawing his own body in a feverish manner, staining the blankets, his fur and the mattress with blood! Immediately, Shadow tried to stop him, but the uke was surprisingly strong and the seme couldn't wake him up with words or shaking.

Now, he could only think about one way to wake him up. "Forgive me, Sonic." He lifted the smaller male up, cradled his burning body and bit in his neck, trying not to make the wound as deep, as the last. Sonic flinched, thanks to the pain, but he stopped hurting himself and, after Shadow had pulled him away to look at his face, he blinked his eyes open. He looked at the dark seme with tired, unfocused eyes.

Shadow could feel, that he had had a nightmare, something, that hurt his entire being to the point of trying to kill himself, which was the reason, why he clawed his body like that. All this could Shadow read in the lifeless eyes of his beloved uke. He didn't care for the reason why he could do this, Sonic needed him.

"Sonic?" The lack of... everything besides breathing of the blue uke unsettled Shadow. Was this a normal sickness!? Hard to believe... "Sonic?," he tried again.

Blink. His only response. A movement of the blue eyelids. Nothing more.

"Come on, Sonic, talk with me!," Shadow urged, while checking his new wound. It didn't bleed anymore, at least this wasn't something to be concerned of. Sonic kept being quiet. His body felt like it was burning, the fever was too high for a living creature to stand it for very long. Maybe he wasn't able to think straight. Shadow frowned, looking at him with pity. Poor thing.

He took the pills and gently put them in the uke's mouth he had opened beforehand and then gave him water. Being thirsty thanks to the fever, Sonic drank the water without noticing, that he also swallowed the medicine. Shadow then hugged the hedgehog once more and started to rock him carefully, until he fell asleep again, figuring, that rest was, what Sonic needed the most now.

The uke was just out, when Shadow heard someone coming closer. He looked up and saw Fleetway in front of him. "Here. Looks, like he needs it.," he said and held out the remains of the antiseptic and the bandages he used to treat Scourge's wounds. Shadow hesitated, but then took it. "Thank you." Fleetway just nodded and went back to his sleeping green uke.

Shadow treated Sonic's wounds, made a bed on the next mattress with clean blankets, so he wouldn't lie in his own blood, and placed him on it. He soaked one of the towels with the cold water and placed it on Sonic's head. He hoped dearly, that the medicine worked.

Silver was, as expected, not keen on taking the pills. Mephiles sighed. "Silver, what can I do for you to take those? They are good for you, believe it or not." Silver shook his head. "No." "Silvy, you know I would never give you something bad." The smaller male looked at him. "You and the other semes only do that because of the mean man.," he muttered under his breath.

Mephiles swallowed. He knew, that Silver could read minds, but he had hoped, that he was too tired and weak to do that any time soon. Well, so much for hope.

"Listen, Silver, he didn't leave us a choice. But I will only play along for the time being, I would never harm you in any way, even if he would openly order me to. I love you Silver, I really do. And I will protect you, for as long as I can."

Silver looked at him. "Do you mean love, like when Blaze says, that she loves me?," the naive hedgehog asked.

Mephiles smiled. His lack of wisdom was simply adorable. "No, Silver. I meant a kind of love, that's a million times better, stronger and purer, than the one of your sister.," he explained. "Oh." Silver turned beet red, although, judging from how he touched his hot cheeks in wonder, he still didn't understand the feeling too well. "Mephy? I...I love you, too?" He wasn't even sure, if he answered correctly. Mephiles petted his head. "I know, Silvy. Now, will you please take your medicine?" "Okay, Mephy."

Fleetway had different problems. Scourge's last nap had healed him enough to move without pain and after his wounds had been treated and dressed, he was now determined to flee – even if he couldn't stand up on his own because of how weak he still was. He didn't think about taking the medicine and didn't let Fleetway even talk about it.

"Scourge, relax. Please, you're in no condition to move!," Fleetway said, suppressing the millionth sigh. This uke really was a handful! But...he somehow liked this about Scourge. "Says who?," the green one hissed, but lost his balance when he had tried to sit up again and he fell back on the mattress. "Help me already!," he ordered.

"No." With as much force, as he dared, Fleetway tucked the other in. "Scourge, you are sick. We are locked in and I looked everywhere for a way out. We are stuck, at least for now.," he explained, lying about the 'looking everywhere'-part. Thankfully, Scourge had slept away a lot of time lately, so he would believe it.

The uke crossed his arms and frowned, while looking at his seme. "What are you not telling me?," he growled. Oh, dear.

"What do you mean?" Fleetway tried to lie, but Scourge didn't buy it. "You want to tell me, that you simply sit here with me, without trying to break the glass or digging a tunnel? I know you, Fleet. You wouldn't just stay with me on your own accord. Tell me, now!," he ordered.

Fleetway sighed. There was no use in lying – Scourge was too clever and he wouldn't stop prying. It was better to tell him, before he overexerted himself with trying to interrogate him. "Fine.," the seme said. And he told him everything, although he knew, that this would only encourage Scourge's attempts to flee.

"So...they force you to take care of me? And this idiot thinks you are my seme?," Scourge asked, once he had finished. To Fleetway's surprise, Scourge began to laugh hoarsely, until he coughed to the point he took the water, in that Fleetway had secretly dissolved the pills, and drank it in one gulp to help his sore throat. "Yeah, right. Fine then, let's stay, until I'm better. It's not like they can get me to mate with someone like you.," he chuckled, once he was done with the water, and put the cup back. Then he lay down again, finally feeling the exhaustion from his unsuccessful tries to stand up.

It became silent between them. Fleetway couldn't help himself – Scourge's words...they were...strange for him. Usually, he would shrug his taunts off, as if it was nothing, but this time... Was this place getting to him? Was he starting to...like Scourge? Like Shadow and Mephiles did with the other ukes? He admitted it, he was a little jealous, seeing how natural it seemed to be for the two ukes to be close to the semes, even to sit on their laps... But...did he want this with Scourge, too? Hard to say...maybe it was really just this place and he was overthinking things. It wasn't like he suddenly felt more for his best friend and partner in crime...right?

Scourge started to feel uncomfortable, when he noticed Fleetway's staring. It wasn't like those swirls were scary, he knew his eyes too good. He and Fleetway, they were the leaders of their gang. Even Shadow had a hard time against them both. They had spent endless nights together, around a campfire, drinking, celebrating...but he never thought for even a minute, that he could be a possible mate... At least, before he had come here.

When they had met on paradise, it had been such a relief, that he had been there, fighting the sex crazed semes off for him, when he couldn't, and yes, he had missed him, when he hadn't been send on paradise anymore.

Still, that this was now planned...EXPECTED from these humans, that he and Fleetway...NO. Definitely no. He wouldn't let them have their will.

"Hey, can you bring this stuff you used for my wounds to Shadow? His uke looks, like he needs it.," he said, to get Fleetway away for a while.

Fleetway jerked out of his own thoughts, looked over to Shadow and nodded without a word. He stood up and brought the material over to the dark seme. Scourge, meanwhile, quickly turned his back to the other and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He didn't want to face Fleetway just now.

Somehow, his last statement earlier had hurt them both quite a bit, for a reason they couldn't name.

And another chapter done! Hope you like it. I don't know when I will upload the next one, just wait for it. I'm still busy with exams, but nearly done. Then I'll have more time.