"What took you so long?" He stood up straight and went to unlock the door to their hotel room. "Espio wanted to talk to me," He answered carelessly, not letting off the nature of the earlier conversation with the colour-changing chameleon. He followed Sonic into the room. The room was amazing, crimson velvet curtains hung from the full-length French windows, which opened up to a balcony with a beautiful view of the sea, the calming sound of the waves and salty smell wafting through the open windows. The carpet was pure white and so thick the two hedgehogs could practically feel the soft texture through their shoes. There was a white (fake) leather loveseat against one wall, with a famous painting of the sea-side that you could see through the expensive windows, painted by one of Mobius' most famous artists. There was a widescreen TV built into the wall opposite the comfy couch, with (as Sonic quickly noticed) 300 channels of cable TV. A few potted plants were placed around, and there was a small cupboard with a lamp and phone next to the entrance door. There were three doors leading off the living room. One led to the kitchen, with every cooking appliance they could possibly want. The next was a bathroom (Shadow couldn't help but notice that the bath was easily big enough for two) and the last was a bedroom with a double king sized bed with red velvet duvets that matched the curtains that were also used in the living room. Sonic noticed the bed at once when he walked in and laughed softly.
"Do you reckon Espio did this on purpose?" Shadow looked at him smirking.
"Hey, I'm not complaining," Sonic smacked him playfully over the head.
"Don't even think about it, we just got out of hospital, remember"
"Yeah, but it seems you healed a lot more quickly than expected," he pointed at Sonic's arms which were moving freely. "How did that happen?" He poked at his healed arm as if it would magically give him the answer.
"Easy, I heal quickly, and I have the ability to heal anyone else too, just takes a bit of chaos energy," Shadow explained.
"Oh," Sonic was quiet for a while, looking deep in thought, then he looked back at Shadow, "but wouldn't you need a chaos emerald for that?" Shadow shook his head.
"Not me, I was taught back on Ark to be able to do important stuff like that without chaos emeralds, of course there's some things you just can't do without them, like, chaos control for instance." Sonic nodded.
"I see, sort of," he blinked and smiled, "I can't be bothered trying to understand all this now, but you have GOT to teach me how to do that." Shadow laughed.
"In good time, good time." He sat down on the comfort on the bed and looked at the ceiling. Sonic sat down next to him.
"What did Espio talk to you about anyway?" He met eyes with the red-streaked hedgehog. Shadow shrugged.
"Not much, just saying he hadn't seen me for a while and crap like that," he blatantly lied straight to Sonic's face. Sonic frowned, there was something in Shadow's eyes that told him he wasn't being completely honest with him, but he shrugged the feeling off and looked down to his stomach as he heard it grumble loudly. Shadow smirked at the smaller hedgehog. "Hungry?" Sonic grinned sheepishly.
"Maybe a little," he made his stomach protest, "OK, maybe a lot." He paused, "There's a resteraunt downstairs, feel like eating out for a change?" Shadow nodded. "Good, because I'm hungry now, come on!" He grabbed Shadow's arm and in a streak of light they were both gone. In his rush Sonic forgot to lock the door, and Espio came out of his camouflage and walked into the room.
"This could work to my advantage; all I need is to get Sonic away from Shadow."
Half an hour later, Sonic was tapping his fingers impatiently on the table.
"What is taking so long for this food to come?" Shadow shook his head at his friend's impatience.
"Calm down, I'm sure it won't be longer." Sure enough it was only a few moments afterwards that a waiter came with a pizza the size of Sonic's head, but it didn't seem to phase Sonic as he opened his mouth as wide as possible, trying to cram a whole slice in his mouth at once, and choking and coughing finding he couldn't quite do it. Shadow laughed at the blue hedgehog, taking his time eating his food. Soon, the waiter came back with the bill for the food; Sonic took a quick glance, then again trying to figure out if he had really read what he thought he had read. "How much? I'll just be a sec Shadow I think I need to get some more cash, I'll be right back." Shadow just carried on eating, not seeming too bothered, he was too bust thinking about Espio.
"Don't worry, take your time," he replied lazily as Sonic sped off. Sonic walked down the corridor to his room and went in quickly looking for something.
"Where did I leave my wallet? I don't even remember putting it down," he took a moment to try remember where it was and sighed, "it must have been in my house when it burned down, just fantastic." He sat down grumpily and grumbled under his breath. "Stupid tree fall on my house I should use that thing for firewood, watch the stupid thing burn," he carried on mumbling and didn't notice when Espio silently came up from behind him. The chameleon raised one hand and with one swift punch to a pressure point in the back of Sonic's head and the blue hedgehog was out cold.
Downstairs Shadow was getting impatient.
"Where is he?" He rested his head on his hand and took one last look to see if Sonic was coming back before standing up. 'I can find him and get back here in just a minute I'm sure no-one will mind'. He nodded his head to his own thoughts then ran off to try find the blue speedster.
He noticed the door to their room open and he went in, his pace a little faster than usual. Inside it was silent, he looked over to the couch and saw a small piece of paper on it, he eyes scanned it quickly, then he growled menacingly under his breath.
"Espio," he ran out of the room, leaving the room empty and in darkness.
Espio carried Sonic turn the dark corridors, twisting and turning, the blue hedgehog still out cold in his arms. He eventually reached his destination, a bedroom as dark as the halls of the building, with a huge bed covered in deep purple quilts, and matching drapes hung from the posts kept to one side by golden ropes. He laid Sonic on the bed carefully, sure not to wake him up, then left locking the door behind him, he had big plans for him, but they could wait until he was awake.
He entered a room with countless TV s stacked on the walls, each showing a different place, one was a hallway, which a familiar black and red-streaked hedgehog was continually pacing up and down. Espio zoomed in on the image, when he gave up with his detective work (business was poor, everybody just went to the police these days), he managed to sneak out a few things they used back at the headquarters, these surveillance TV s being just some of them. He focused on the image as malevolent thoughts drifted through his mind, 'I should get rid of him quickly, but I don't see why I can't have my fun with him'. He laughed softly and watched the distressed hedgehog pacing a little longer before leaving the room, 'but I believe my guest should be waking soon, this one's fate can wait.'
Shadow once again paced back up the hallway, hands behind his back, mind full of unanswered questions. 'Where was Sonic? Where had Espio taken him? What would he do with him?' Shadow shuddered at that query, he knew full well what Espio could do Sonic if Shadow didn't find him in time, but how could he find him, Espio could've taken him anywhere! He continued pacing the corridor, then stopped and sighed irritably, 'Well, I'm not doing anything standing here, I can at least look'. Full of concern and worry and not a clue of what to do, Shadow started his search for his blue friend.
Espio walked in and watched as Sonic stirred from his forced sleep, eyes groggily opening as he groaned under his breath. He rubbed the back of his head where a headache was forming fast, and his eyes narrowed as he finally saw the chameleon's purple form in the doorway, emerald orbs adjusted to the darkness.
"What? Espio, where am I?" Espio slowly strode towards the confused hedgehog, a smirk slowly growing on his face as he got closer to him. Sonic found himself backing away every time Espio got closer to him, eyes refusing to leave him, he wasn't sure of the way his friend was acting, there was something strange about it. 'Yeah, that and you've woken up in a totally random place feeling like someone whacked you over the head with a sledgehammer', he rubbed his head again, the pain slowly numbing. Espio came closer, only a few steps away from Sonic now.
"Nowhere special, just a little place I like to call home, somewhere where no-one can disturb me," he snickered at the thought, 'no-one to stop me when I try have my way', the smirk widened as he practically stood on top of Sonic, who's eyes met his and refused to look away, searching the yellow orbs, trying to figure out the answer to the colour-changing charmeleon. Espio continued coming closer and closer, Sonic backing away at every advance, until the blue hedgehog found himself leaning against the headboard with Espio leaning over him, inches away from his face.
"Espio?" Sonic tried to back away further, but found he was already as far as he could go, and he resided once again to searching his eyes to try find an answer to his unspoken question. He leaned in closer, breathing against his face, tickling his azure fur. He ran his hand up along Sonic's side, listening to the hedgehog's murmur of confusion, then his breathing catch a little as his hand travelled sideways to his chest, then lower to his stomach, softly stroking the smooth peach skin.
Sonic took Espio's hand and tried to move it away from him starting to become afraid now, he swallowed nervously as he found the ex-detective wasn't going to be moved so easily, just pressing in to his stomach slightly harder.
"Es-Espio, what are you doing?" Espio moved his mouth up to Sonic's ear, which twitched as it felt the hot breath against its fur, folding back but listening carefully at the same time while Espio gave his whispered answer.
"Just having a little fun is all Sonic." Sonic tried to mouth his head away as Espio's mouth pressed briefly against his fur, started to slowly realise what Espio had in mind. 'A little fun, he doesn't mean…no! He can't, I mean, no, I won't let him.' Sonic took both his hands and firmly pushed Espio away, showing clearly that he wasn't going to go along with this by the determination in his eyes. Espio chucked softly, then used his camalauge to blend into his surroundings, disappearing from Sonics' eyes.
He re-appeared a little later behind Sonic, and quickly took both his hands and cuffed them to separate bedposts before Sonic could even try to comprehend what was going on. It was too late when Sonic tried to escape, his was already trapped, arms raised above his head, he was able to move them a little, but not much. He tugged hard at the bonds, trying to escape, but soon realised he couldn't, they were made out of strong metal, and fell to the bed with a sigh, looking around to find Espio, who was slowly crawling his way back to his position leaning over the blue hedgehog.
Once again he ran his hand up Sonic's side, listening as he struggled to keep his breathing even, he wasn't going to go without a fight, he couldn't make go along with this.
"Espio, stop it now!" Sonic snapped at him and tried to move away from his touch, grolwing under his breath in warning.
"It's too late now Sonic, you can't escape, and your little boyfriend will never find you here, from tonight, you're mine," with those words, he pressed his lips frimly against those of peach, feeling the soft texture and tasting the flavour that a certain black hedgehog had only a short while before, but this didn't feel the same, Sonic didn't want this, and he attempted to escape Espio's grip, whimpering as he found any chance of escape impossible as two purple hands tightly held his head in place as Espio sampled more of the hedgehog's sweet lips. He retreated back, panting softly, eyes growing dark with desire as he whispered to Sonic.
"All mine."