Slow Train
By Formerly Known As

Disclaimer: Sonic and company are property Sega. I own them only in my dreams, and Sonic's nightmares.

Part 1
Morning

The sun rose slowly, sending weak, flickering rays across the landscape. Sonic watched from his bed as the first tentative rays spread out across his far wall. He sighed with the mixed emotions of relief and frustration as yet another night came to its end.

It had been yet another lousy night for Sonic the Hedgehog. He had barely slept at all, and what sleep he did manage to get was haunted by nightmares. He wasn't really certain anymore which he preferred, the sleeplessness or the nightmares. The nightmares were hellish things, never the same, yet each had a certain resemblance to every other. Sort of like episodes in a TV series, Sonic mused to himself. A lot of the same characters, reoccurring plots, complete with their own set of retched cliches even. Each unique and horribly special, and yet still a part of a whole. And he always managed to get the role of lead actor. Too bad no one had bothered to give him a script.

And yet, on the other hand, the lack of sleep was really wearing at the hedgehog. He couldn't run at his usual speeds, for his normal instinctive attention and reaction to little details while running (useful in keep him from hitting things, running into things, tripping over things, or doing other things that aren't normally a big deal unless you happen to be traveling at speeds nearing the sound barrier) turned out to be not so instinctive. He had realized this on a run down the jungle paths of the Mystic Ruins when he nearly broke both his legs in a nasty tumble he would normally have avoided. In fact, it was a tumble he had avoided many times before, usually with absolutely no thought at all. But with as little sleep as he'd been getting lately, normal day to day tasks were quickly becoming chores that Sonic was just too weary to tackle.

What was more, Sonic was beginning to worry what he'd do if Robotnik decided to try and take over the world again. Defeating Eggman's evil ploys were never a walk in the park, though Sonic did enjoy the challenge. But with Sonic as weary as he currently was, he just didn't know if he would be able to cut it. He already wasn't even able to run at his regular speeds. How would he ever be able to handle the complex stunts needed to defeat Eggman? It would be easy to lose a battle in the condition he was currently in, or even get himself killed.

What was worse, Sonic feared he'd let his friends down. His last adventure, the whole ARK epic, had taught the hedgehog just how easy it was to lose someone. Sonic had thought he had won, thought it was all over. He had been cocky, confident in that last minute. And, though Sonic couldn't prove it for sure, he couldn't help but feel that if he had kept his guard up, kept on his toes just a little longer, that he could have saved Shadow. But he hadn't. And Shadow had died because of it.

Sonic's ear twitched slightly, hearing drawers and cupboards being opened and closed, and plates and bowls and silverware clinking softly. Sonic smiled a little. Sounded like Tails was up already. The kit had always been an early riser (provided he didn't stay up all night tinkering with some new invention) so it didn't surprise Sonic to hear him bustling about in the kitchen, preparing breakfast from the sounds of it. Sonic left the young fox to it for a time, knowing that Tails enjoyed his early morning time alone, preparing breakfast and fiddling with the toaster that, despite all of Tails's genius, never worked properly.

Sonic smiled slightly, as Tails began to hum softly in the other room, out of tune as usual. Tails was Sonic's best friend, practically his little brother. The two had been together for a long time now. Sonic had, almost single-handedly, raised the little fox, from the lost and lonely seven-year-old who'd trailed him through the forests, to the budding eleven-year-old genius he was now. It hadn't always been easy for either of them, but somehow the two had survived together and Sonic wouldn't have it any other way.

But now that Tails was becoming older, old enough to join the fight against Robotnik (after all, Sonic himself had begun fighting and defeating Robotnik at the age of nine), Sonic began to worry what would happen to his young friend. Tails was smart and clever and more than capable of handling himself against anything Robotnik could throw at him. But Sonic still worried. He had seen, when Shadow, a fellow he barely knew, who was maybe his enemy, definitely his rival, and possibly, just maybe, a friend, had died with Sonic unable to help him, that it didn't take long to lose a friend. Death could happen within seconds, someone you cared for could be gone before you even realized it. And there was nothing you could do to reverse death.

Sonic sighed and decided he had better get himself out of bed before he got stuck on such a depressing train of thought that he'd feel like killing himself. Or someone else.

He tossed the tangled covers aside and grabbed his gloves from the bedside table. He slipped them on, while swinging his feet over the edge of the bed and into his soap shoes, left conveniently at the edge of the bed. He then hopped out of bed and wandered over to the door. He glanced at his reflection in a mirror next to the door, running his hands through his spines a few times, then shaking his head a bit to get them to lay normally. He considered taking a shower, but decided he'd con breakfast out of Tails first, before Tails became to involved in an invention to worry about fixing breakfast (or lunch as it sometimes was by the time Sonic got up) for a starving hedgehog.

Sonic slipped out of his room and down the hall.

"Hey," he said to Tails, plopping himself down on a chair near the table.

Tails looked up in surprise from the pancakes he was fixing. When his gaze met Sonic's, worry flashed across the young fox's face.

"You had those dreams again, didn't you?" he asked softly.

Sonic sighed and shook his head. "No. I had those nightmares again."

Tails shook his head, looking back to his pancakes. "This isn't good, Sonic. How long have you been having them now?"

Sonic folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them. "Don't know. About…three weeks maybe?"

Tails swallowed nervously. Three weeks? Sonic had been having them for that long? Tails had known the nightmares had been plaguing the hedgehog for a while now but three weeks? That was ridiculous.

"Maybe…maybe you should see someone about them, Sonic," suggested Tails cautiously.

Sonic snorted. "Who would you suggest?" he asked sarcastically.

Tails shrugged. "I don't know…a psychiatrist maybe?" he said tentatively.

Sonic looked up. "See a shrink?! No way! I'm just having nightmares! I'm not crazy!"

Tails flipped his pancakes over carefully. "But has it really been three weeks? That's a REALLY long time. I'm not saying you're crazy…but if it's been three weeks…then something's wrong, Sonic. And…you should get some help to fix it."

Sonic crossed his arms stubbornly. "No way Tails. I'm NOT seeing a shrink."

Tails shrugged, placing some pancakes on a plate. "Okay. Not a shrink then. But there's probably SOMEONE who can help you. Maybe Miss Rouge would help you out."

Sonic gave Tails an incredulous look. "Rouge? How could SHE help me?"

"Didn't you know? Miss Rouge was studying to be a psychiatrist before she became a treasure hunter and professional spy. She's not an actual psychiatrist, but she's had some training as one. She could help."

"I don't know," Sonic said suspiciously. "I don't think I really trust her. Besides, how do you know so much about her?"

"Well Amy told me some, she and Rouge have become really good friends after the whole ARK thing. Being, you know, the only two girls in our group."

"I didn't know Rouge qualified as part of our 'group'" muttered Sonic.

"And also," continued Tails with a grin over his shoulder at his older friend, "I did a little research on her on my own!"

Sonic grinned. "Get out of here! You did some research on the mysterious bat girl?"

Tails grinned happily himself, plopping down a plate full of pancakes in front of Sonic. "Yep! I hacked into government files and everything! Amazing the kind of random information they keep on employees."

Sonic laughed. "You little scallawag! So does Rouge know?"

Tails shook his head as he grabbed the butter and syrup, placing them in the middle of the table, then returned to the stove to fetch his own helping of pancakes. "Nope, and I'm sure not telling her! She'd pro'ly kill me or something. Did you know she knows like five types of jujitsu and other fighting styles? She's really well trained."

Sonic snorted, drizzling syrup all over his pancakes. "I didn't, but I bet Knuckles did!"

Tails gave Sonic a confused look. "Huh?"

Sonic just grinned bigger and began shoveling pancake in his mouth.

Tails shook his head, wondering if he'd missed the joke, but followed suit and began eating with relish. But as he continued to devour his own breakfast, Tails watched Sonic out of the corner of his eye.

And the young fox didn't like what he saw.

It was plain to see, even to someone who didn't know the blue hedgehog as well as Tails, that Sonic was on his last leg, so to speak. The hedgehog was simply, utterly exhausted. The circles under his eyes stood out clearly, a bad sign, since Sonic's fur usually covered them up well. His quills and fur had a slightly greasy look to them and it appeared that the hedgehog was getting EVEN thinner. Even the hedgehog's manner, as he hungrily devoured pancakes, spoke of tremendous weariness. His legs were sprawled out underneath the table, Sonic was wasting no energy to keep them up. Even his back and shoulders were slumped forward. In fact, the only thing Sonic seemed to be putting any energy into at all was just remaining sitting in the chair and shoveling pancake into his mouth.

And this was a very bad sign to see in the normally high energy hedgehog, who held his shoulders high (even when frantically devouring breakfast), who (despite his tendency to run off into some dirty messy situation) always kept his quills immaculately groomed, who was always moving, always full of energy…of life. It boggled Tails to see his hero looking like this, looking this exhausted. Even in the middle of a mission, off fighting Robotnik, missions that lasted days on end with little rest and even less food, the hedgehog always maintained his poise. To see him breaking down like this, even when he KNEW Sonic was trying to keep up his appearances…it scared Tails. It scared Tails very badly.

But if this had really been going on for three weeks…Then it was little wonder the hedgehog was looking like this, unable to maintain appearances.

But it still left Tails feeling scared and lonely and helpless.

Because it didn't take a genius to know the hedgehog would be next to worthless in any battle situation.

Sonic, as usual, finished eating first. He always had to be the fastest at everything it seemed. The blue hedgehog looked up at Tails, an almost pleading look in his eyes.

"Hey, Tails. Got any more?" he asked.

Tails laughed a little, pouring even more syrup over his own pancakes. "Nope! And if you're so desperate for some more you can make them yourself!"

The hedgehog sighed faintly in frustration, but apparently Sonic wasn't all that hungry because he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the table and waited for Tails to finish eating.

The young fox proceeded to do so, still chuckling slightly. Things were bad, but they weren't too bad yet, for as long as the hedgehog retained his appetite, the world was still functioning properly.

Not far behind the hedgehog, Tails finished up his meal and leaned back as well, with a sigh of contentment. "So…what are we going to do today, Sonic?" he asked shyly. As of late, the two had been busy doing separate things, living separate lives. It was unusual for Tails to ask what they were going to do, for usually, each one had their own plans for the day, be it racing or tinkering with a new invention or even simply lounging around.

But Sonic seemed oblivious to this aberration, as he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Well…" began Tails, taking Sonic's silence as an encouraging sign. "If you don't have any plans…why don't we go to Station Square and see if we can't find Rouge or Amy? It'd be nice to see Amy, again," Tails hurried on, seeing the slightly disgusted look on Sonic's face. "We haven't seen her since…what? The Ark Incident?"

Sonic flinched a little at the mention of Ark, but nodded. "Yeah. We've all been really busy as of late. It WOULD be nice to see how Amy's doing, even if she is a total pain."

Tails grinned. "Then it's settled! We're off to Station Square. If we hurry, we can probably catch the early train!"

Sonic sighed a little, remembering once again how ridiculously early in the morning it was, but he flashed Tails a quick grin, crossing his legs on the table. "Who needs to hurry when you've got my speed?"

Tails laughed. "Yeah, well, even with your speed, we'll get nowhere if you just lounge around all day. Come on, Sonic! Let's go!"

With that the young fox grabbed both plates off the table, dumped them in the sink, and whizzed out of the house, tails spinning like mad.

Sonic shook his head. "What's that kid been puttin' in his pancakes? Pure sugar?" Then he shrugged. "Then again, why would he need to put anything IN the pancakes when he pours half the bottle of syrup over them? Hey, Tails, wait up for me!" he called after his young protégé.

The blue blur streaked out of the house after the little fox, who was busy laughing and catcalling over his shoulder.

Sonic returned both catcalls and laughter to the young fox, dashing off after him. For a time, he left the nightmares, the stress, he let it all go and simply raced his young friend across the Mystic Ruins to the train station.

For now, it would be enough.

For now, it was all he had.