Guess who's back! ME! Lol. Yep, seeing as so many of you love this story, I felt really bad to just leave you hanging like this so Ive finally managed to make time in my busy schedule to update! Home life is getting a bit better now and Ive even got my own flat! YAY! Please keep reading and reviewing to let me know you are still interested in this fic…Here we go again guys!

Chapter 10: Revelations.

"Great. What do we do now?" Bunnie asked.

"We should go and catch up with Sonic and warn him." Knuckles replied for Sally. At this, they set off running as fast as they could towards Sonic but they took a different route so they could get past the robots easier. At first, they weren't sure how to find them but soon they noticed that they simply had to follow the trail of blood and they would reach the two eventually.

"This is sick." Rotor said as they followed the trail.

"I know, but at least it makes it easier for us to find them." Sally replied although she was disgusted herself.

Finally, Antoine spotted Sonic up ahead and as the group got closer to them, they could hear Sonic desperately talking to Tails.

"C'mon lil' bro, you've gotta stay awake now. I know it's hard but you've gotta try o.k?" He said as he continued walking. It was obvious that Tails wasn't doing very well. "PLEASE lil' bro, please stay awake…" He continued. The others heard the desperation in his voice.

"Hey Sonic! The bots are following ya'!" Rotor called out and Sonic turned round to see Rotor about 20 meters away. He turned his head to the left and noticed that Rotor was right. SWAT-bots were pouring down the path he had come down moments earlier and were also around 20 meters away.

"Oh GREAT!" Sonic sighed. He thought things couldn't get worse for him right now.

"You're gonna have to run Sonic!" Sally cried out. She knew it wouldn't be good for Tails but it would be even worse for him if the bots re-captured him.

Sonic stood and thought for a moment then took off at a run. The bots opened fire and before Sonic could get very far, a laser beam hit him in his left leg causing him to stumble and Tails to fly out of his arms.

"Oh God!" Sonic called out as he grabbed his leg and winced. Instantly he got up and hobbled over to Tails. Bunnie and Knuckles were taking out the robots quickly and soon there was nothing left apart from a pile of scrap metal. The group ran over to Sonic who had now dropped to his knees in front of Tails.

"I dropped him! I can't believe it-I dropped him!" He kept repeating over and over as he scooped up Tails and was hugging the lifeless body close to him.

As the others approached, Rotor grabbed the med kit and then realised something. But before he had chance to say anything, Sonic said it for him.

"The blindfold came off Sal...It was my fault...I dropped him!" He said quietly. He was choked up and his leg hurt.

"Did he see the light?" Rotor asked. Right on cue, Tails opened his eyes and immediately began screaming in agony as best he could through the blood in his throat.

"CLOSE YOUR EYES TAILS-NOW!" Knuckles yelled at him but it was too late. Tails had passed out again with the pain.

Bunnie screamed.

"This is like a bad dream." Sally said solemnly.

"It is a bad dream remember-my bad dream." Sonic said.

"We've just got to get him home as soon as possible now." Sally said.

Knuckles now picked up the unconscious Tails and began running on with him. The others followed with Sally at the back helping Sonic to hobble along as fast as he could with his leg-which was still pretty fast compared with most animals.

The rest of the journey luckily went without disaster and soon they had reached the out-skirts of Knothole. Half of the village was waiting for them when they arrived as they had heard over the radio that they were on their way home.

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Knuckles yelled at them as the village gathered round eager to see the battered Tails. As Knuckles frantically tried to push a path through the crowd with Tails, he became very angry.

"YOU ARE ALL SICK! WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANT TO COME AND SEE A DYING FOX SO MUCH THAT YOU WOLD ACTUALLY BLOCK THE PATH TO THE HOSPITAL!" He yelled at the top of his voice. The crowd went silent and a path was cleared through the rabble like the parting of the sea.

"Why does he always have to be so...truthful..." Sonic asked. What Knuckles had said about Tails dying had made it hit Sonic hard. He let go of Sally and, forgetting entirely about his leg, ran straight to the hospital hut where he grabbed Bookshire and dragged him outside back towards Tails and the others.

"C'mon Doc! Tails is gonna die if you don't get there now!" Sonic shouted as he dragged the doctor along. Bookshire quickened his pace and they joined the flood of villagers who were pouring from their houses and joining the rest of the crowd who had now completely mobbed Knuckles and Tails. Sonic and the doctor could clearly see the red echidna in the centre of the group. He had lifted Tails above his head in a vain attempt to keep him from being hurt further. They finally got to the crowd and Sonic yelled at them.

"Pass him this way!" He yelled and the villagers began to pass Tails over their heads towards Sonic like he was being carried along by a wave.

Tails reached the edge of the group and Sonic grabbed him before dashing back to the hospital hut and running inside closely followed by Bookshire.
Knuckles finally managed to clear a path through the crowd and also followed Sonic. Sally and the rest stayed behind for a while to try to answer some of the many questions that the villagers were swamping them with, mainly, what had happened to Tails and was he really going to die like Knuckles had told them.

"Listen!" Sally shouted above the noise. "I shall hold a meeting to discuss and answer all of your questions as soon as we find out what is going to happen to Tails, but right now, I have to go and see if he is going to be o.k." She said and began to walk through the crowd in the direction that Sonic, Bookshire and Knuckles had taken. Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine caught up to Sally and all four walked together to the medical hut leaving the crowds behind standing and gossiping between themselves.

"Do you think that Tails is going to die?" A male ferret asked his friend, a black wolf.

"I dunno but if he does, whats Sonic gonna do?" the wolf replied.

"They're always together." A female racoon said.

"If he dies, it wouldn't surprise me if Sonic killed himself!" The ferret added.

Back in the medical hut, Sonic had placed Tails down on the bed and Sally was dressing Sonic's leg in bandages where he had been shot. Everyone else was gathered around the bed Tails was lying in and Bookshire was performing various scans. He attached a drip and some other wires to Tails who was also given a series of injections by a nurse.

"I'm amazed he has survived this long." The doctor said adding yet more tubes and wires.

"So what happened to him? I've never seen anyone with this many injuries!" The nurse (a cat) asked.

"We don't really know. But I'm not sure if I want to find out, I mean, it must have been terrible whatever that Robotnik did to him." Sally replied with a worried tone in her voice.

"Well..." Knuckles began. He decided that it was time to come clean.

"On the first day, he was hit on the head by Robotnik's minions and taken from the forest and put into a cell in his fortress." Sonic looked up at Knuckles outburst and he and Sally came over to the others. Knuckles continued.

"From there he was beaten at 30 minute intervals by Snively and Metal Sonic then was subjected to various experiments using torture tools to see which ones would work the best to get him to tell Robotnik the location of Knothole. Tails refused to tell him where it was so Metal Sonic broke each of his arms, legs and tails one by one but even then Tails wouldn't tell them anything. He said that Sonic told him not to say anything if he ever got caught so that was what he was going to do..." Knuckles said and paused for a moment.

Sally began to cry and everyone else was in great shock but still no-one even tried to interrupt Knuckles by asking him how he knew all this.

"By now, Robotnik was getting really mad so he told Tails that he had caught all of us and he would kill us if he didn't say anything. Again, Tails didn't say anything because he knew that it was probably a trap so he just told Robotnik that Sonic told him not to say anything even if lives depended on it. Then, a few hours before we came to get him, Robotnik took him to the outskirts of the city where several robots pinned him to the floor and forced him to look at the sunlight so, you see guys, Tails was already blind before we got to him-it wasn't you're fault Sonic, he was blind before you dropped him, it just hurts like hell whenever the sun gets in his eyes now." Again Knuckles paused. Sonic looked at his feet.

"I told him not to tell anything..." Sonic said.

"Don't go blaming yourself now Suga-hog, ya' know, Tails wouldn't tell Buttnik the location of Knothole anyway-even if ya' said it was o.k to." Bunnie re-assured Sonic.

"Finally," Knuckles said. "Robotnik saw us coming so he personally stabbed Tails in the stomach and got Snively to beat him up some more to make him look his worst for when we saw him. For some reason, Robotnik seemed to have convinced Tails by this time that it was Sonic that was beating him-remember he couldn't see who it was, so that's why he was so screwed up when we came to get him..." Knuckles said as the first real tear of anguish had had ever shed streaked down his face. This shocked the rest even further.

"Poor, poor kid..." Rotor finally said.

"E az ad zee 'ard time yez?" Antoine managed to say.

"Yes Antoine, he's had a hard time. Poor little guy." The cat said.

"Well, I just thought I'd better tell you so that you know the proper extent of his injuries so maybe you could treat them better." Knuckles said as he wiped the tear he had shed away.

"Yes...well...thankyou...but it may be quite inconsequential now..." Bookshire said.

Throughout this, Sonic still had not spoke. Sally noticed this.

"Sonic?..." She asked him cautiously.

"Could you leave me alone with him for a sec guys?" He slowly replied.

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea if the doctor leaves." Sally said. Sonic looked to Knuckles again.

"Sally, Tails will be o.k for a few moments and Sonic will shout Bookshire if anything goes wrong won't ya'?" Knuckles said.

"Sure I will." Sonic replied.

"Anyway, I'm sure you are all wondering how I know all this. Come sit outside and leave Sonic for a bit while I explain..." Knuckles said as they followed him out of the hut. As soon as they had gone, tears began to fall down Sonic's face. He gave a little sob which for some reason woke Tails up. Sonic didn't notice until Tails coughed.

"Who...who's there?" He asked nervously. Sonic noticed that the beeping of Tail's heart monitor had quickened and he realised that Tails was afraid.

"It's o.k lil' buddy, it's just me." Sonic said and stroked the Kit's forehead.

"S...Sonic?" Tails said.

"Yep. We got you out of there dude. You're in Bookshire's hut now." Sonic said.

"I hurt all over...but...its o.k...I...Ididn't tell Buttnik where...cough Knothole is..." Tails croaked out and then coughed again.

"I know lil' bro. I'm really proud of ya'. I don't think I would have been able to keep my mouth shut after what they did to you." Sonic said and gave a little sniffle.

"I know now that...that it wasn't you who did those things to me...was it?" Tails asked seemingly still unsure. It hurt Sonic to think that Tails actually believed that he was capable of doing such evil things to his best friend but then he checked himself. Tails had been through so much lately that his head was probably as messed up as his body.

"No Tails...I wouldn't do anything to hurt ya' ever-o.k?" He said.

"Yeah cough Sonic." The fox replied. "Where is everyone else?"

"They're out side-ya' want me to get them?" Sonic asked.

"Um...sure but wait...tell me hon...honestly, how bad am I?"

"Er...Tails...I'll jus go get Bookshire an' he will be able to explain better than me..." Sonic said but the real reason that Sonic said this was that Sonic couldn't bear to tell Tails himself that he was blind. Maybe it was better that Tails couldn't see. Sonic thought to himself as he went to fetch the others. At least then he wouldn't be able to see the state the rest of him was in-that would scare the hell out of him. He thought that it would be best if he got Bookshire to leave the blindfold on for now.

"I'll be right back bro." Sonic called as he left the hut. He thought he heard Tails cough again as he left...

So, there it is, an extra long chapter to say sorry for being away for so long like that. All you need to do now is tell me what you think! A big thanks to everyone who wrote nice stuff to me about my message for chapter 9 too-I really apreciate it!