If I haven't responded to anyone's reviews/messages yet (I think I responded to most of you though), I'm getting there. Anyone who's talked to me longer than a week knows I'm kinda terrible at time management and getting back to people. Usually I'm good about responding to reviews though, and commenting on other people's stories if I've told them I would, but lately I've just been taking my sweet time I guess. XD

Meant to update yesterday but forgot. But hey, today's just as good a day as any. :3

You probably saw this one coming. ;)

CHAPTER 20: THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

"Nope, can't do it."

"Can't do what?"

Sonic glanced up at the window as Lucas approached it from the other side, rubbing morning tiredness out of his eyes. "Get the magnets out," the hedgehog replied, looking at the tops of his wrists, where the scars were just visible above his gloves. "I mean, I can, but I really really don't want to. I mean, I want to, but…" He sighed nervously, ditching that sentence all together and seeking a more adequate one. "Yeesh, why couldn't he have just put straps around my wrists to hold the magnets on, or something?"

"Probably because it's a lot easier and less painful to tear through a strap than it is to tear through skin."

"Thanks," Sonic muttered, giving his friend a deadpan glare. "Makes perfect sense now. Epitome of wisdom." He pulled off his gloves and ran a bare finger gently over the jagged mark near his opposite hand. "Really, though, I need to ditch these things at some point."

"This red lighting is really obnoxious this early," Lucas commented pointlessly, stretching. Then Sonic's words seemed to register fully in his tired mind and he cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, I could help you, you know," he said somewhat absently, still trying to wake up and, Sonic thought, not quite realizing what he was getting himself into. "What are you going to use, anyway?"

The hedgehog eyed him skeptically for a moment, then shrugged and set something thin and smooth on the window ledge. "A few chunks of those destroyed robots from the other day are still in here," he said, flicking the thing lightly with a finger, making it spin. "This one was nice and sharp."

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Nope," Sonic said, "but it's the lesser of two evils, that's for sure." He shot an accusing glance behind him at the ever-present magnetic panel as if to indicate his point, then took his gloves off and deposited them next to his bed. The gesture was firm and final; ready to do what he had to do. Mostly.

Lucas considered for a moment, suddenly looking a lot more awake, eyeing the two-inch slice of metal as if it might have some suggestions. "All right, uh… all right. Like, right now? Okay. Listen, why don't you sit on the window ledge like you did before?" he gingerly picked up the makeshift knife. "I'd be able to reach your hands and ankles that way."

"Works for me." Sonic jumped up to the window, grabbed the bars, and slid his legs through in one smooth motion.

"Comfortable?"

"Guess so," he said, sticking one hand between the bars as well so Lucas could examine it. "As much as I'm going to get, anyway, right?" He tried to laugh but it came out dry.

"I am… not experienced in this type of thing. At all."

"Me neither," Sonic said. "But, I mean, I think it's pretty straightforward. Just, y' know…" he made a cutting motion with his hand and shrugged. "…Yeah."

"Hooo boy," Lucas laughed nervously, "can I retract my offer?"

"Nope, too late," Sonic said with a smirk, aiming for some semblance of nonchalance. "The first one'll be the toughest for both of us though. Quicker you do it, quicker it's over."

"This is sabotage," the human grumbled.

"You're telling me!"

"Yeah, yeah… I know it's Eggman's fault. Sorry, I'm just totally out of my element right now. Uh… I'm going to start with this hand," he said, turning the hand Sonic had offered to look at the scar. He bit his lip, unable to decide if he was more nervous for his own sake or for Sonic's. "Okay?" The hedgehog nodded. "If you flinch, I'm going to freak out and worry I messed something up. Just being honest."

"Then I, uh, won't."

"All right… here goes."

Lucas laid the blade to Sonic's skin. Hedgehog and human took a simultaneous deep breath. Time seemed to pass in slow motion before Lucas drew the blade very tentatively across the top of Sonic's hand.

For several seconds they were both convinced they were actually getting somewhere.

"…Offer some resistance, Sonic, will you?"

"Well put some pressure on it, then!" Sonic positioned his hand better on his leg, letting it serve as a foundation. "Jeez, I'd have done that if I got any indication that you were actually trying to start."

Lucas raised an eyebrow and met Sonic's indignant expression. "Guess we're both wusses, huh?"

"Speak for yours-AGH!" Sonic cried out, lurching as his skin finally gave way to Lucas's cautious cutting motion. His opposite hand flew reflexively off the bar it had been gripping, which in turn made him lose his balance, bottom sliding off the narrow window ledge. His arms flailed instinctually for something to catch himself on and only found a very unfortunate Kai who had just entered his cell. One of the hedgehog's feet stayed caught between the bars momentarily as the rest of him fell, so he ultimately landed on his head, taking Kai with him in one hand, in what was perhaps the most dignified and graceful maneuver to take place in Meka Tower that day.

The shoe that said foot normally occupied stayed wedged between two bars up at the window like it was laughing at him.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" Lucas asked, peeking down at him. The hedgehog was crumpled on the floor quivering, a bead of blood rapidly forming where the knife had slightly pierced his hand. For a second Lucas's heart stopped, until he realized the blue blur was shaking for good reasons.

"Man… I'm s-so sorry, Kai…" Sonic managed, so debilitated by laughter that he didn't even bother trying to get up yet. The chao looked at him, startled and confused, having no idea what had just happened. His gaze couldn't seem to quite focus on the hedgehog, and his emotive sphere shaped into a dizzy spiral. "I… I think I land on my head more than my feet these days!"

"At least you're hard-headed," Lucas remarked, leaning on the ledge and watching as the hedgehog wiped at his eyes and got up.

"Yeah, I guess that's a… wait." Sonic blinked and didn't continue, unsure whether he should agree with Lucas or fix him with a look.

"You gonna man up, or what? I don't have all day," the man joked, strumming his fingers on the ledge.

"Hey!" Sonic grinned good-naturedly, picking himself up by the bars and sliding his legs through again, this time putting a little more effort into ascertaining his balance. "You watch it, my friend!"

"Watch it? You're not the one with the knife here!"

"That's…. true. Well, in that case, how about we finish cutting through this issue while my adrenaline's going, yeah?"

"If you think you can handle it this time."

"I only lost my balance!" Sonic said stubbornly.

"Guess we can't be too confident in your sitting abilities, then? You either get to feel silly for falling or for flinching. Take your pick."

"I'll decide later. Come on! I wanna get this over with already!"

"You asked," Lucas said, and got to work. Sonic steeled himself and tried not to pull away.

Ow. Owwww. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. Too slow, ow, go faster, slice it open already, it's only an inch and a half long for Chaos's sake, ow.

Sonic turned his head to the side a little, squeezing an eye shut and making some peculiar noises in his throat, but kept his hand limp as it rested on his leg. His other hand had a white-knuckle grip on the bar once again.

Lucas snagged his gaze, concerned. "If I'm—"

"Yeah, spare me."

"Granted." Albeit slowly, Lucas finished making the incision. It was shallow; it had to be, since there was very little substance between his skin and the actual magnet. It wasn't much more severe than an everyday accidental cut, except that it was longer and it was on purpose, which made it seem quite a bit more painful. It didn't bleed at a dangerous pace, but the amount of red seeping over Sonic's skin still wasn't all that encouraging considering there were three more cuts to make… "Don't bleed so much," the human muttered. "The droids are going to notice the stains if we leave any."

"Talk louder, my veins can't hear you."

Lucas chuckled. "Because this is totally the time for sarcasm."

"It must be, if you're laughing!" Sonic said, exuding humor.

"Psh, whatever, Sonic." Lucas rolled his eyes, not looking at him and continuing with what he was doing. "Anyway, I was going to say that we can have Kai bring us some stuff to clean up with. I doubt he'll mind."

"Yeah, good thinking," Sonic said, both eyes closed now as Lucas began to work with the opening, trying to ease the magnet out with his fingers. "Nngh…"

"This is the hard part, I imagine… right? Ugh, it hurts just watching myself do this… I'm trying to be gentle about it, but it's a stubborn little bastard. I mean, I could press on either side of the cut and try to squeeze it out, but then you'd just bleed more, and…"

Sweet Chaos, Eggman. You are a total ass.

"Just do what you gotta do," the hedgehog said.

"Pain hurts less on the exhale, by the way," Lucas added. "Apparently. Not sure where I heard that."

"Awesome, I'm afraid to inhale," Sonic muttered. Lucas looked up at his face for a moment, gauging his sincerity. Though discomfort was evident, the grin he was so used to was there, too. Finally, Lucas relaxed into something of a comfort zone in his task. He realized his uneasiness resulted directly from his anticipation of Sonic's responses, and thankfully, Sonic didn't seem to be taking himself all that seriously. Maybe this wouldn't be so horrendous.

Kai recovered from his dizziness and popped up into the event once more. Wanting a closer look at what was going on now, he approached the window, looking at Lucas and then at Sonic. When he saw what Lucas was doing to the hedgehog's hand, he blinked, disturbed and intrigued, and then backed off, determining it would be best to leave them to their own devices for the time being.

"Wait Kai," Lucas said. He didn't look up from his bloody task. "Eggman have any band-aids anywhere? Gauze? …Paper towel?"

The chao nodded, heading off to get some, still looking sufficiently perplexed.

"Got this one," Lucas said after a moment, pulling out the piece of material. Sonic let out a breath neither of them had noticed he was holding. "There we go… Heh, made you sweat a little, did I?"

Sonic laughed. "You're sweating more than I am! Can't handle a little blood?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey, you started it!"

"Time to continue it," Lucas said, turning over Sonic's other hand and pressing the sharp metal to his skin. Sonic winced.

Yeah, yeah, it's all well and good that you've finally stopped being so reserved around me since that incident. But now's not a fantastic time to express it.

Lucas made the opening somewhat faster than he had the first time, for which Sonic was grateful. The magnetic plate seemed determined to make up for that, though, stubbornly holding its ground beneath his skin.

"I have to be hurting you right now… This one just doesn't want to move. I think the inside of your hand healed around it or something."

"That's… just… lovely," Sonic managed. Lucas caught onto his pained tone and tried to be gentler, but gentler, of course, meant slower.

Kai returned, this time welcoming himself to Lucas's cell, carrying a first-aid kit bundled up in a thick towel that was probably heavier for him than he was making it look. He offered one of his special little smiles to Sonic, appearing to have realized what was going on.

After the incident, the chao had been the first to gesture to Sonic about removing the magnets.

"Thanks, man," Lucas said to Kai. "Hey, care to help? Could you fix up Sonic's other hand, there for me?"

Kai did so with haste, opening several of the bandages and placing them across the open wound tenderly. When finished, he popped into Sonic's cell, where the majority of his hedgehog friend was located. "Eh… How's it going Kai?" Sonic asked as the chao brushed against his arm in greeting.

"Heya Sonic, this is going to hurt."

"Oh, so you'll tell me about that ahead of time."

Lucas looked up. Eye contact. Stupid grin. Check.

"Try not to move. I don't want to lose my grip on it."

"M'kay."

"The thing is, I'm going to have to…"

"Dear Chaos, Lucas. Just do it. You're killing me here."

The teasing expression turned into a grimace when Lucas tugged the magnet forcefully. Sonic sucked in air through his teeth, twisting uncomfortably as the thing began to separate from whatever it had been connected to beneath his skin.

"You were supposed to breathe out there, not in," Lucas retorted. "Exhales, remember?"

"Oh quit it. I can handle this myself." The hedgehog looked back down and would have folded his arms if not for his awkward position. "'Sides, I don't need anyone else trying to dictate when I breathe, m'kay?"

Sonic.

"You're ridiculous," Lucas muttered, trying to hide a mutual grin. "Just trying to help, though. You're doing it wrong."

"'…You're doing it wrong?'" Sonic repeated. His toes curled as Lucas continued fiddling with the magnet. "Really, you're going to throw lines like that at me while you're pulling a chunk of metal out of my hand?"

Lucas broke into a fit of laughter. Sonic laughed at him laughing. Quietly, Kai fluttered toward the hedgehog's hand where the flat magnetic strip was still sticking halfway out and pulled on it quickly.

"Rrrgh! Oh, jeez Kai, what'd I ever do to you?" Sonic remarked. For a second the chao looked somewhat self-conscious, but then Sonic smiled. "Hey, I'm just messing with ya, pal! At least someone is trying to make this quick."

Lucas gave him a haha-funny look. "You want them out or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. But let's not make it a day-long endeavor, hm?"

"It'd certainly kill some time," Lucas mumbled with a smirk.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Oh, thought you said something sarcastic under your breath. My mistake."

"Yup, your mistake. Hey Kai, other hand?"

The chao already had band-aids at the ready this time. Gently, he wiped blood away with his free hand, then stuck them on neatly. Sonic gingerly massaged the sore area.

"Want a break?" Lucas asked in a tone that sounded teasing on the surface, but beneath which was some level of genuine concern.

"No way." Sonic winked. "We're already halfway done, and I feel fine anyway. Thanks though."

Lucas reached down for one of the hedgehog's feet, turning it a little to examine it. "Sonic?" he asked after a moment, dark eyebrows going downward in a frown. "The ones in your feet are just outside the Achilles tendons. I'll have to take my time so I don't go too deep or hit the wrong thing. I know it's worth the trade-off for ya, but I figured I should let you know so you don't think I'm trying to be an ass or anything."

"Well, what're you waiting for, then? It's worth the trade-off a million times over. Let's do it." Oh frick oh frick oh frick. Got this. I got this.

"Thought you'd say something like that. Okay. Just try and stay still. I don't want to do anything that'll keep you from being able to run."

"…Because I have anywhere to run right now," Sonic muttered.

"You know what I mean." Lucas dropped to his knees, putting himself at the level of Sonic's feet, and removed his shoes. "So hey, do these things help you go fast? Can't believe I forgot to ask that until now. People hear a lot of rumors about your shoes."

"Not exactly," Sonic said. "They're made especially for protection, otherwise the friction at the speed of sound would tear my feet apart. They've got nothing to do with the speed, though. People do know that, right?"

"Most of 'em," Lucas said. "Like I said, rumors."

"Well, if there was some speed mechanism in the shoes, why would I be the only one with them?" As he felt Lucas touch the back of his foot, he moved it involuntarily in a knee-jerk reaction, avoiding the anticipated pain.

"Kai, hold this leg still for me, Sonic's a little jumpy."

"Yeah, Kai, I might accidentally kick him in the face." Sonic twitched his leg intentionally now, just enough to make Lucas flinch back. "Oh, sorry. A little jumpy?"

"I hate you."

"All right, all right, sorry." Sonic chuckled tentatively, looking down at him. "Truce for now so you don't chop my foot off?"

Lucas laughed. "Yeah, okay."

They both fell silent, Kai still fluttering around in their midst.

Sonic let his head fall back, closing his eyes. He felt a bead of sweat run off one of his quills and a droplet of blood trail down his heel as Lucas drew the makeshift blade across his skin again. He was right; it was close to the Achilles tendon, and they had to be careful. There would be an abundant amount of time for picking on each other later. Now, his focus had to be on keeping still.

When he opened his eyes again, Kai drifted into his field of vision, still holding the magnet he had helped remove. He looked at Sonic meaningfully, then tossed it on the ground. The hedgehog chuckled gently. "'S right, pal."

A few seconds passed uneventfully, Kai making content circles around his head. Then pain seared into his foot, making his face contort in sudden agony. Kai murmured something incomprehensibly, but the tone conveyed consolation.

"Steady, Sonic," Lucas said. "You all right?"

"Ehehe, no sweat," Sonic replied, sweating. He bit his lower lip, trying to ignore the tugging going on below. "This is a non-issue."

"If you say so…"

Looking like he remembered something, Kai squeezed out of Sonic's cell and zipped away down the hall. Lucas paused in his motions to watch him go. "Jeez. What's that all about?"

"Maybe he's just getting another towel?" Sonic suggested. "Didn't seem like anything was wrong."

"Yeah, I hope not," Lucas said. "Hey, this foot's not bleeding as much, by the way. I'm having a hard time getting it out, if you can't tell, but it's actually pretty close to the surface. I'm surprised it didn't break through your skin when it was holding you to the wall. Guess you're thick… -skinned."

Sonic didn't respond, again trying to figure out if that was a compliment or an insult.

"Okay, anyway. I'm going to keeping working on getting it out. You cool?"

"Like a cucumber," Sonic said lightly. "Breeze on a hot day. Lemonade with ice. Holoska."

"…Heat stroke."

The hedgehog blinked. "…Well played. Mmph-!"

"Three down, one to go."

Sonic looked down through the bars, watching Lucas dab at his foot with the towel. "Won't miss that one, I gotta say."

"Me neither. Everything feeling right? Aside from the obvious, I mean."

Sonic rotated his foot, making sure everything still worked. "Yup, sure."

"So, Sonic, I was wondering about something," Lucas said as he wrapped a bandage around the hedgehog's ankle. "I get the impression Eggman wasn't always this bad. I mean, from what you've told me, and what I've heard on the news and stuff… but then again, I guess I've never been directly involved in Eggman's plot before, so maybe I wouldn't know." He wiped his hands on a clean part of the towel and again picked up the piece of metal. "What changed?"

The blue blur relaxed the muscles in his leg, letting his foot hang limply as Lucas worked on it. Ironically, it was easier to not move if he didn't put an active effort into not moving. "He wasn't really all that different," he said. "It just wasn't quite to this extent before. Creep never gives up, though. His last plan involved killing Amy if I didn't bring him a Chaos Emerald quick enough. Never mind the fact I had to bring it through a freaking space maze."

"Would he actually have done it?"

Sonic shrugged. "Couldn't exactly wait around to find out. I'm not sure."

"I'm guessing you found some way around giving him the Emerald and still managed to save Amy, right?"

"Actually, no," the hedgehog said. "I mean, yeah, I saved Amy, but I didn't get around the rest of it. Thing is, he only gave me a few minutes, and I was halfway across Space Colony ARK at the time. So I had to act fast. There wasn't really time to do anything else. It's one thing to – ow – it's one thing to do things your way when you can, but not when someone's life is at stake like that."

"So you gave it to him, then?"

"I gave him a fake Emerald that Tails made. Thought I was really clever, doing it that way, but it turns out he had a trap for me too." Sharp pain pierced into his foot again and he paused for a second to let it pass, unintentionally accentuating the suspense of his story. "This capsule thing appeared around me, and he launched me into space. Barely had time to react, which is weird. Usually I'm the fast one, not Eggman."

It was the shortened version of the predicament. He left out the more specific details, like telling Tails it was up to him now, and Amy breaking down completely. He didn't want to remember the devastated looks on their faces that day.

"How did you survive?" Lucas asked, stopping what he was doing momentarily to let Sonic finish the story comfortably.

"I caused Chaos Control… with the fake Emerald. It teleported me back onto Space Colony ARK, even though it was never meant to have those abilities. I mean, Tails created it using some of the properties of a real one, but it still never should have been able to do that. Even now, we don't get it. But I'm just glad it worked."

"Yeah," Lucas said, wondering about that mystery somewhere in the back of his head, "me too. Had to have been scary."

"I thought I was through. I know it sounds crazy with how many messes I get myself into, but it's not very often I think like that. I mean, I always know it's a possibility, but…"

"But there's a difference between possibility and reality."

"Yeah… exactly." Sonic's jade eyes drifted away from the moment briefly, and Lucas swore he could see exactly what the hedgehog was thinking about. It only lasted an instant before he fell back into the present, meeting his gaze. "Having trouble with that one?"

"What? Oh." The man remembered he hadn't finished his task yet and looked back down. "Eh, looks like we're saving the best for last," he muttered. "And by best, I of course mean worst."

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked him, more curious than worried, though there was a little of that too.

"It's… crooked. I can't just slide it straight out like the others. I'll have to either try to turn it so the narrow side can come through the cut, or cut you open a little more. Deeper. Hopefully it won't be bad enough for you to need stitches or anything, since bandaging your wounds is about the best we can do in here. I'll be as careful as I can though."

Sonic appeared oddly rigid. "For future reference, I don't really care for vivid descriptions of things that are about to cause me a lot of pain. You could have just left it at it's crooked and this is gonna hurt."

Lucas pointed at him with one finger. "I'll take note of that. Because, you know, me practically operating on you is likely to be a regular thing and all."

"Oh, stop it, you."

The man laughed lightly. "Will do. Brace yourself."

"Will do."

Instead of attempting any further conversation, Lucas got right to the gruesome task, trying to make it as quick as he could for the hedgehog. For his part, Sonic managed to suppress what would have very likely been a scream, but not the strained, tortured "Ow…" that worked its way out from the back of his throat.

"Twenty seconds," Lucas said firmly, encouragingly, almost as though he was making it a game. His manner had changed completely from when he had first started the task. He had gone from uncertain and worried to accepting and strong. Sonic wanted his help. Sonic had put faith in him. "Give me twenty seconds. Trust me. I'll get it out."

The blue blur, ever willing, played along and gave a nervy thumbs-up. "N-no worries…"

"You're doing fine, Sonic."

Fifteen seconds.

Pressure. Pushing. Cutting. Hot agony that felt deeper than it was. It took everything not to pull his foot away or… well, kick Lucas in the face, as conveniently as it was located. He grasped at the imagery of that funny-because-you'd-never-do-it notion, trying to amuse himself. But making an active effort to ignore the pain made it even harder not to.

Ten seconds.

Lucas was pressing around the gash, trying to right the magnet from the outside. Blood gushed from the back of his foot, and continued its journey down the arch to finally drip off toes curled with tension, leaving a trail of sticky, splotchy red in his fur. He could picture exactly what Lucas was doing, thanks to his words previously. Could feel each motion causing more blood to ooze out in unnervingly heavy bursts. It was correlated perfectly with the pain. The bad kind of pain. The kind that felt on the verge of danger.

Five seconds.

He wanted to pull his foot back and stop the flow of blood with his own hands and massage the hurt away. But he couldn't, not yet. They had to get the last magnet out. He would trust Lucas… and himself. It was almost over either way. If he was bleeding as badly as he felt like he was, Lucas would do something about it. So it couldn't be that bad. It just seemed that way to him. Only slow seconds left. If Lucas couldn't get it, he would stop, and they would try again in a bit. One way or the other, it would work out soon enough.

Finally, the thing came loose all at once. His eyes dilated and he pulled back involuntarily, making Lucas suck in his breath in surprise. While they were reacting, the small magnet clattered to the floor.

"…Ouch."

"Well said."

That elicited a hearty laugh from the hedgehog, who reached up and wiped sweat from above his eyes. Meanwhile, Lucas was already holding another towel to the open wound, trying to slow the blood flow with hard pressure. "It's okay, it's okay," the man breathed in relief. "You're losing some blood but it's not as bad now that I've stopped messing with it. Man, you clot fast."

"I guess I do everything fast," Sonic said, still breathless from the draining experience, but otherwise fine.

"Well look," Lucas said, wiping his hands off on a black cloth Kai had brought, "we're all done here. I'd set these magnets near that panel in case someone activates them again. Wouldn't want them to slice through you on their way there or something."

"Sweet, thanks a lot," said the blue blur, pulling his legs back through the bars and hopping down. He caught sight of Lucas wiping his hands and crossed his arms, strumming his fingers on the opposite shoulder playfully like he was impatient for the wet rag to make its leave. Just then, Kai came back into his cell, managing to get a plate full of syrupy pancakes in there with him. "What's this?" Sonic asked, grinning as the chao handed him the delicious looking meal. "Oh man! Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had something good?"

Lucas actually looked mildly hurt. Kai held up a tiny finger, then left Sonic's cell, disappearing again. Fortunately, he was gone for only a few seconds this time, retrieving another plate that he had set down in the hallway just outside of Lucas's view. Smiling, he handed it to Lucas through the bars and went, "Shhh."

Lucas grinned. "Now this is how it should have been the first time you brought me a pancake, Kai, eh? Doesn't look like Eggman's gonna have a great morning, does it?"

Sonic was just about to ask Kai if he had brought himself any breakfast, when the chao snagged one of the smaller pancakes from Lucas's plate and took a bite, looking up at him playfully.

For a peaceful period of time, things were just perfect. The magnets had been removed, Sonic hadn't lost too much blood, and the panel that had posed him the biggest challenge he had ever faced was now little more than an inanimate, useless chunk of wall. They swallowed down their (extra) breakfast in relative comfort.

"Man, Sonic. You don't even look tired."

Sonic shrugged. "We just got up an hour ago, didn't we?"

"Are you deliberately missing my point?"

"Uh, no?"

"Never mind," Lucas said, shaking his head. "The important thing is you've got one more level of freedom than you had yesterday."

"Works for me." Sonic kept eating. Lucas, for some reason he couldn't quite pinpoint, had expected a more enthusiastic response than that. As he studied the hedgehog, he realized why that might have been. Sonic had rarely looked any less comfortable than he did right now, magnets or no magnets. Like he was free in his mind even if not physically. Like he'd been that way all along and the magnets being removed was just the physical world catching up to his mindset.

Smiling slightly, Lucas turned back to Kai and their plate of pancakes. He didn't know exactly how Sonic had worked himself out psychologically, only that he had. And that was what mattered. That and, just as they had yesterday, they had taken one small step closer to success.

Of course, that tended to be the moment when things went wrong.

"Lucas."

Lucas's gaze snapped to Sonic, who had just whispered to him sharply. Just from the look in those green eyes, he knew better than to say anything. But his own eyes asked the question for him: What's wrong?

"Listen. Eggman."

They couldn't make out the words. But that was most definitely Doctor Eggman's voice somewhere down the hallway, apparently coming toward them. Unless he had been nearby all along.

"Kai," Sonic said quietly, "you gotta leave, bud. You're the only one who can."

Eggman had said yesterday he would be back for both of them. None of them had forgotten. Regardless, the chao shook his head.

"It's okay. No magnets, remember? It's okay, Kai. I promise you." Sonic realized he was always making promises to people lately. Reassurances. "Please."

After a moment of heartbreaking deliberation, the chao did, making eye contact with both Lucas and Sonic before doing so as if letting them know he wouldn't be far.

Lucas shifted his gaze. In the brief moment before Sonic realized he was being glanced at, the man could have sworn he looked afraid. Even if just a little.

Magnets or not, Eggman was a different kind of threat than he had ever been before. And the blue blur was still trapped.

"Heya Lucas," Sonic said. "Know what's going on?"

"No idea, Sonic."

They both waited, frozen, prepared. But Eggman stormed by their cells without even giving a passing glance.

xxx

"We just have to face it." –Sonic, SatSR

xxx

In Chapter 21: Espio encounters Knuckles on a lower floor and tells him everything. Their discussion brings about some answers and more questions. And Knuckles has some news to share himself…

xxx

Gotta admit, I had oodles of fun with this chapter. XD Particularly with the dialogue. The situation provided a lot of opportunities for fun dialogue.

After three Sonic chapters, we'll finally take a look at how other characters are doing again next chapter. Haven't seen much of Knuckles since the end-ish of chapter 10, so it's about time. 0.0

Oh, and also, this story just topped 100k words. I've never actually done that before. :3

Later! Thanks for reading! :)