Don't bring people into danger, unless you have no other choice

You didn't have to live here alone.

Normal mobians would find someone they liked, might even then adopt a kid, get a job, and live life like that. The criminals were much the same, despite the job part since their lifestyles was their jobs. But there was more to it than finding someone you liked and earn a family. You could join gangs, being part of the bigger systems, gain more enemies and become hotter on the solder's invisible watchlist.

Thieves were known to hustled together in groups, have different names, different goals and occasionally fought each other when a specific turf seemed interesting to both parties. Thimble riggers kept mostly to themselves since they didn't like sharing their money with anyone else, but sometimes they would reunite to either a bigger gig or exchange information to gain the upper hand. The burglars often worked together in groups while no one knew if the assassins worked together or not, since the ones who had ever been near one hadn't been alive to tell anyone.

Pick pocketers could either be by themselves or with others, the latter being the preferred option for the young fox. He didn't like the thought of getting anyone into danger because of him, let alone someone who was helping him. He had been targeted a quiet a bit ever since he had left his contacts, gaining his reputation and his name apparently reaching the royals, the evidence getting dragged behind him.

And now, he was pretty sure that he was hotter than ever, needed to move far away from his last area if he wanted to live another day. Right now, was the most terrible time of getting to the people he knew, since he knew there were eyes on him, despite his ears being his spies. Somebody wanted to get him, and he was pretty sure that it was the thieves, especially now that he had beat up a high-positioned one. And now they knew he was dragging the hedgehog around with him and had even participated in attacking them. Things were getting more and more dangerous, the longer he thought about it. He had been pushing back the panic and the fright as best as he could as they had moved, settling down underneath his fur, reminding him that there was a high chance that he didn't get to become nine years old. Not this year, not next year.

He sighed out the thought, figured that he needed to think about that later, as he rounded another corner. They had been moving faster to shake whatever was after them, heading to the west side of Croford, the area being more run down but less criminal activity. The market was further away and the area more broken down, meaning there was less mobians that lived here. That didn't give the criminals any targets, which meant this was the perfect area for them to remain. All in the cobweb knew.

He couldn't hide the frightened gasp when the hedgehog suddenly kicked a can, careening it over the cobblestone in the back area they had made their way into. He whipped his head around, not at all changing his mind at the sheepish look he good.

"Dammit Sonic, stay quiet!" He hissed in a low volume, yanked in his arm to continue their trek when there was no one following. The barrels and the boxes of storage had lessened with the missing occupants in this area, leaving bare walls and vines growing, the outer wall in the close horizon showcasing their encased prison.

"Do you mind with the language?" –

"And do you mind correcting me?" Tails said back, shushed him when he tried to say something else and decided to deal with the offended stare he got afterwards later, turning his head around a corner.

They were very close now, the area in question being too quiet for his taste, though he blamed the previous ruckus the soldiers had made, their search traveling back to the richer areas of town instead. Turning the corner and running past a well he looked around at the house he was searching for, night vision eyes seeing perfectly clear. He almost felt all his uneasiness drip out with the sight, couldn't hold back the relieved exhale.

To anyone else it just looked like a broken house, but to him it was the help he had been looking for. Broken windows with glass missing in some areas, the stone covered with age and vines, the roof missing some tiles, but despite that the house seemed in better shape than the others. It was bigger than the others around, a couple of boards boarding up the worst windows, sacks of sand up against the wall, prepared for anything that might attack them. Light was emitting out of the windows, telling the fox that they were doing business even Chaos knows how late at night.

He steeled his nerves as he walked towards it, dragging the hedgehog behind him and ignored the sputtering he was doing. Standing in front of the door, he looked around, his ears on high alert and took a couple of seconds to make sure that no one was around. When everything was still, even Sonic's shifting coming to a halt, he lifted a knuckle, took a sigh, and knocked twice on the door. The door had a small window that was boarded up on the other side, refraining from any curious souls looking in.

For a couple of seconds nothing happened, before his ears swirled towards the house, a couple of steps could be heard on the other side and the board on the window disappeared. A pair of yellow eyes were narrowed, looked at whoever was on the other side, before they widened in surprise. The pick pocketer simply nodded. The yellow eyes disappeared from the window, something getting unlocked on the other side like a bolt getting lifted out from its socket, before the door swung half-way open.

What looked back at the fox was a purple chameleon, a yellow horn in the middle of his forehead, while his head was in a triangular shape. White gloves on his hands and a darker shade of purple sneakers on his feet, a tan stomach, and a tan muzzle on his face as well. A belt was around his waist with what looked like some metal weapons and two pouches was fastened there, a brown cloak over his shoulders, though it only remained past his waist, revealing a curled together purple tail on his behind.

"Tails?" His voice was a bit hoarse, courtesy of the lack of sleep, his amber eyes scanning the fox as if he had seen a ghost. Disbelief and surprise were all there was.

"Hey," The fox greeted, couldn't hide the faint smile on his lips, though he tightened his grip around the hedgehog's wrist. "I need your help."

Any other thoughts that the chameleon might have had in the back of his mind was negated, when he saw the hedgehog, his eyes narrowing defensively.

"With dragging the prisoner around town?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest while the fox sighed deeply. Of course, they had heard, why shouldn't they?

"Listen, I'll explain everything I promise. But for now, I need you to listen to me and let us in," He said, licking his bottom lip and continued in a lower volume. "We're being followed," The stern stare turned critical instead, his eyes scanning over the young pick pocketer in front of him and looked back at the hedgehog.

Tails understood if he turned them away, he would understand why and he would accept a no, but he didn't know where else to go. Sleeping outside tonight could be deadly.

It took fewer minutes than he had expected when the chameleon sighed, opening the door completely.

"Hurry in," Tails spend no time, yanking the hedgehog inside, ignored the startled yelp he emitted from the sudden movement, the door closing silently behind them.

The room was nothing but a repurposed living room, large with a couple of chairs leaning against the wall. Boxes were stacked on top of each other in one corner, filled with supplies and possible food, tables and such pushed to the wall as well. To anyone else it might look like a waiting room, which in some reality it was, but to Tails it was sanctuary. Another door was in front of them, a raised and annoyed voice sounding from the other side of it.

A shiver went through him, suddenly realizing how cold he had been, the entire time, finally letting go of the hedgehog. In the moment with people he could somewhat trust around him, he let his other tail reveal itself from its hiding spot, wailing alongside the other while pulling down his hood, letting out a deep sigh. He let a hand go through his face, before he turned his body around towards the chameleon, as he walked a couple of steps in front of him.

"What are you doing here, now of all times?" He asked, though it wasn't said in an angered or annoyed tone, and his face told the fox something else. He was surprised, but not in the sense of bringing someone with him, but like he had been late for something.

He looked at him, before looking back at Sonic, the hedgehog thankfully remaining quiet for now and was instead looking around curiously.

"I'm in a tight spot Espio," Tails answered, looking back at the chameleon. He had helped him a lot in the past. He had been the one to show him their hideout, had been the one to teach him how to treat wounds and how to fight properly. He had been the closest teacher that he could think of, and he and the others had been the only ones accepting who he was. The chameleon looked back at him, arms crossed over his chest and his eyes critically looking at him.

"I see. That black eye of yours doesn't look very old," He stated, as if he was talking about the weather. "Are you feeling alright?" –

"I'm good," The fox quickly answered, was not in the mindset of getting asked about his health since it wouldn't matter if they remained on the street much longer. The roll of the chameleon's eyes had another opinion, but let the topic drop, and instead focused his attention on the hedgehog.

"What are you doing with him?" Realizing that he was being talked about, the hedgehog turned his head towards the chameleon, sending him a confident smile and even had the courtesy of waving. Tails sighed, looking back at his ally.

"He was messing up everything. Running around without thinking where he was going and brought a lot of poor people into trouble. I had to do something, or he would have taken down the whole system!" –

"Hey, I didn't know there was a system to begin with!" Sonic suddenly chimed in, with the first bit of anger the fox had heard all evening, putting his hands on his hips. Espio ignored it, instead turned back to the younger one.

"You could have ignored him. Let others do it instead," –

"I couldn't Espio, there's-!" He cut himself off, suddenly realized how much explaining there was to the whole ordeal. Starting from when the soldier intercepted him and up until now. "There's a lot of things that has happened," He said, looking briefly down at the floor to avoid the chameleon's gaze, but shook his head from the thought, looking back up.

"I need to talk to Vector," –

"He's busy," The chameleon quickly said, nodding towards the door, another raised voice reaching their ears. Tails narrowed his eyes at it, could feel the impatience ruffle around his body, well-knowing that neither he nor Sonic had time for something as trivial as whatever was happening on the other side.

"Not for long he isn't," –

"Tails wait!" Espio didn't get to reach out and grab his arm as he walked towards the door in time and opened it, without looking in.

A chair was in front of a table, the chair occupied by a white mobian rabbit, wearing a belt with a knife hiding in it and a blue vest over his chest. His voices had given away his gender a long time ago, was gesturing something with his hands. Across of him sat another bigger mobian, a crocodile in a bigger chair, his own hands on the table. He was a broad and large mobian, with big hands and his entire body green, a lighter color across his chest and down his body that ended out in a tail. Red small triangular spikes were protruding out along his spine, tall and broad. His maw was huge, with teeth aligned in his mouth and a pair of yellow eyes staring straight at the white rabbit. He wore a gold chain necklace around his neck, a pair of buckled gloves on his hands and black boots.

"-done. Now, pay up!" The crocodile yelled, his entire stance and voice alone telling everyone that he was annoyed, anger soon starting to settle in.

"I'm not gonna give up anything, because you didn't keep your part of the deal!" The rabbit stood up, slamming both hands into the table in front of him, being smaller than the crocodile, though it didn't intimidate him. Tails was standing one step in front of the door, watching, and listening intently, none of them registering that he was there.

"We kept our part of the deal! The deal was to assign a thief to steal two bottles of bourbon from the Croford inn on Greenstreet. You were assigned to keep his back covered, but when he was discovered you ran off, leaving him to chase the soldiers off himself!" –

"The plan never involved any soldiers; your guy should have been more careful!" –

"We can't guarantee for every mission to be successful. Sometimes things go wrong – you got the alcohol, now pay up!" Vector yelled back, the anger starting to spiral out of control any minute. The rabbit narrowed his eyes at him, putting one hand on the knife in his belt.

Tails having categorized the situation and saw the movement, walked to the left of the table, casually looking at the two.

"The deal was to cover a thief's back, and you didn't finish the mission," He said, standing by the table, looking straight at the rabbit, and ignored Vector's stare. The rabbit successfully confused, and anger dimmed let his hand fall from the knife, staring at the fox.

"Who are-" –

"But I guess fear overcame you and made you scurry away. Either the soldiers have you on some sort of watch list or you have done something terrible to avoid them finding you," The fox continued, his blue eyes analyzing and darting around the rabbit's face. "Stealing isn't easy any longer. Alcohol, jewelry, food, or clothes is hard to get by anymore, so getting caught is easy. Or perhaps you're hiding someone instead? Family member? Friends?"

He continued from the topic of theft, since the rabbit's face didn't change from the enumeration of the different items that was most popular to steal. He didn't react on contacts either, making the young mind think.

"Either way if I'm wrong there was something that made you avoid those soldiers. Maybe you got some bad reputation,"

A widening of his pupils, slight twitch at the lips.

Tails smirked. "Becoming enemies with the royals is pretty dangerous I could imagine. Stealing something from the soldiers is much more risqué than any other mobian. Or even attacking someone for the fun of it," The rabbit's large ears stood more erect, one hand clenched into a fist and his pupils got larger. "Attacking soldiers for sports is really dangerous. I get why you're scared of them. Bullying them, attacking them with a weapon."

He saw the sweat droplet fall from his forehead.

"You're hot on their list if you ki-" –

"Alright!" The rabbit suddenly yelled into Tails' face, letting his hands fall on the table. His eyes were wide in fear, his lips twisting nervously, as he looked at the crocodile and then back at the fox.

"I'll pay up if you don't tell them," The pick pocketer smirked satisfied, before he nodded. The rabbit proceeded to find a pouch from his belt and poured out some coins on the table, leaving the pouch as well.

"Take them. And then I'll never come back alright?"

The crocodile looked at the money, before he smirked himself looking at the rabbit as he put his feet on the table leaning back on the chair.

"Your decision pal," He said, putting his hands behind his head in a satisfied gesture. The rabbit nodded, looked at the fox with a pair of terrified eyes before he turned around, walking past the blue hedgehog and purple chameleon who had made their way inside as well. The door in the other room to the outside opened and slammed shut afterwards.

Tails couldn't hide the satisfied smirk on his lip, another successful secret revealed. He turned his head towards the crocodile afterwards, his gaze fastened onto the young pick pocketer.

"As sly as ever huh Tails?" He asked, making the fox smirk and shrug casually.

"I need to get my rewards somehow," He simply explained, as if his performance had been as easy as swiping something from a lonely basket. Looking at the crocodile himself, he couldn't stop the faint smile that appeared on his lips. "Good to see you Vector," He had to admit, was somewhat relieved that he was here and not on the street. The crocodile gave him a faint smile back, before slamming the chair back onto the floor and stood on the floor.

"Good to see you to squirt," He said, placing his hands on his hips, earning an offended stare instead. "You've grown since last I saw ya," The crocodile said afterwards, his amber eyes scanning over the fox in front of him.

Tails was not that tall, meaning that he was practically towering over him, but not in a threatening manner, far from. He was somewhat glad for the exchange, was happy to be around someone who didn't want to harm in in any way. At least, he was pretty sure of it – you could never know who you could trust and who you couldn't.

"It's been a while," Vector simply said, despite him knowing that 'a while' most likely didn't cover the two years that he had spent completely on his own. The croc said nothing else than look at the blue hedgehog that was in the room afterwards, said hedgehog blinking confused at him.

"And now you've come back to throw our entire organization into the hands of the soldiers, haven't you?" Vector said, crossing his arms over his chest and looked back down at the fox, this time his eyes narrowed in a clear warning.

Tails opened his mouth to say something, but found himself succumb to the crocodile's stare, making him close it again. It was true, the way that he had phrased it. In the panic of getting followed and the whole predicament of him visiting the castle and now hiding a prisoner he was getting this place into more danger than he ever would have. A stone of regret planted itself into his abdomen, looking away from the crocodile to the table.

"No, no this wasn't his fault," The fox looked up from the sudden comment from Sonic, taking a step closer to the crocodile, waving his hands in front of his face while shaking his head. "I'm the one who messed up. He's just helping me – I kinda forced him to," He explained, his attention remaining on Vector, catching on that he was the leader of the entire thing.

Tails blinked at him in pure bewilderment, having no idea why he was defending him. He owed him nothing as far as he was concerned. But he looked at the crocodile to see his reaction, said green mobian looking at the hedgehog with a pair of critical eyes. He did nothing but take in a huge breath of oxygen.

"Charmy!" He called throughout the building, the voice travelling far and wide in small rooms. The name hung in the room for a couple of seconds before something opened in the other room, a buzzing replacing the silence from beforehand. Sonic had to duck when a bee flew into the room, all but smiling and saluted the croc.

"Yes Vector!" He said in a tone of voice that resembled the soldiers. Tails knew he didn't have to but did it for the fun of it, found himself grinning at the younger mobian.

The bee was small, and his round body patterned with black and yellow stripes, an orange jacket keeping his chest warm. Black cuffs were around his wrists to hold his gloves in place while a pair of orange sneakers were on his feet. His head was bare and black, despite two antennas sticking out from his forehead, in the same yellow and black striped pattern, a pair of orange eyes looking expectantly at the crocodile.

"Show our guest the basement, give him some food and then you can take care of Tails afterwards," The bee had been listening intently, nodding at the right moments, but stiffened slightly and looked around the room, catching sight of the fox mentioned. His grin turned into a smile, something that the pick pocketer found himself mimicking.

"Tails! Good to see you!" He exclaimed, all but excitement shining through his eyes, a childlike innocent that he was somewhat glad he still had in a situation just like theirs. He remembered Charmy, despite being the one he had interacted with the least, but he had admired him in a way. He was younger than him, and still had that hope of thinking that everything was going to be alright one day, and that there would come a time where they didn't have to live like this. A dream Tails had a long time ago given up.

After the greeting the bee turned around towards the blue hedgehog, letting out a ludicrous sounding 'huh?' before turning back to the crocodile.

"But Vector, he's the prisoner! If the soldiers have covered their tracks then we could- "–

"Don't worry, nobody is gonna find us here. For now, he's our guest and we'll treat him as one," He decided, nodding reassuringly to the bee, who was flapping his wings in the air so fast that it was practically invisible. The bee turned back to the hedgehog who was now smiling appreciative at them, putting his hands on his hips.

"I really like that idea. Thanks for the welcome man," Sonic said, nodding towards the crocodile and winked at the bee. The small boy looked back at the hedgehog, then Vector and back at the blue one.

"Alright, your call Vector," He said, buzzing out of the room, waving a hand towards the hedgehog. Before he followed, he briefly looked at Tails still standing by the table, before he walked out, closing the door behind him.

The fox found himself letting out a sigh of either relief or anticipation, well-knowing that whatever he had done needed to be discussed. Vector sat back down in the chair, while Espio stepped closer into the room, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well then," The crocodile sighed out, gesturing a hand towards the fox. "I see you've gotten yourself into some trouble. That bruise looks fresh, not even a day old," Tails lifted a tentative hand to the side of his face, pressing softly on the spot where the dog had hit him, couldn't hold back the hiss from the pressure.

"It's nothing," He said afterwards, hopefully erasing his audible reaction to the bruise, could feel his right eye thumping slowly underneath his skin and a small headache remaining from the hit. Espio opened his mouth to say something but the croc silenced him by waving a hand in his direction, sitting more upright in his chair.

"If you say so," Vector declared, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What are you doing with the prisoner?"

Having expected the question, Tails had somewhat figured out what to say, shifting slightly on his feet, was rather glad that his cramped tail could wail up and down in slow strides with the other.

"I didn't have a choice. It started by a soldier seeking me out and requested my assistance in the castle," –

"A soldier?" Espio interrupted, quirking an eyebrow towards him. Tails nodded, looking back at the crocodile. He held that same expression, no surprise, or disbelief in his features just yet, but patience more than anything.

"Yes. They – knew I could read faces," He bit his lip, all in the room knowing that it was a bad thing. "So, when I got to the castle, I was lead, down to a prison cell where Sonic - the hedgehog - was. They asked him some questions and then I answered if it was true or not," He explained, the experience only a couple of hours old, the expression the hedgehog had sent him clear in his head. The practically begging of him to lie to the soldiers, to tell them that he indeed hadn't stolen anything, even though he had.

"I – He had stolen something in the castle, and I said that. He didn't," –

"You what?" Espio cut across again, his entire face wiltered into alarm. "What were you thinking?! Is that why the soldiers are after you?" He asked with a raised volume, placing his hands on the table with narrowed eyes. He was angry, and a part of him felt betrayed as well. Because he didn't want to look at him, he instead looked at Vector, his expression still not changed.

"No! No, that's not – or at least, I don't think that's why- " He trailed off, his thinking mind interrupting his words instead, blue eyes looking into the table.

He hadn't stopped to think if the soldiers were really after him, if they somehow knew that he had been lying to them and was after him as well. He knew the thieves at least were at this point, but if the soldiers were after him as well, then his situation was much more critical than he had first realized.

"Go on," Vector interrupted his thoughts, making him blink and nod at him, thinking back.

"When I was done, I made it halfway to the bridge when soldiers suddenly started coming out from the castle. I hid in the alley when Sonic stumbled into me. He had already stirred up trouble, messing up the system and made things difficult for the poor. He wants to leave the city, but if I let him run around and get there himself, he's going to get a lot of mobians in trouble without knowing. I couldn't leave him," He ended, exhaling out his frustration, shaking his head slightly at his predicament.

"Why put yourself into that kind of trouble?" The chameleon interrupted again, temper dimmed, and arms crossed instead. "You could have shown him the exit gate, which is closer than here, and let him figure out how to get out himself, you didn't have to bring yourself into it," Tails looked back, nodded in agreement since he was right.

There had been easier options than what he had done, going through half the city, putting himself in danger and traversed more than one area of operation for different criminals, meaning that he had more eyes on him more than ever. But there was a mystery behind it, something that he wanted solved. He looked down at his muddy and run-down shoes, drawing a circle in the floorboards with his right foot.

"He stole a Chaos Emerald," He mumbled, and didn't get to say or do anything else as Vector slammed his hands into the table getting to his feet.

"Are you serious? You risked your life for some magical crap that you have no idea is true or not!" –

"It is true Vector!" He found himself bickering back, ignored the way that the taller mobian gripped his head with his hands looking at the fox with complete disbelief in his features.

"He – he was sent out to collect them. And I. I can feel it," He said in a lower voice. "He said that he was destined to save the world, but I don't believe that. What I do believe is that he has some kind of power. I saw the emerald in his hand Vector it. It reacted to him," He continued, could feel his namesakes moving slower with his hesitation, the realization crossing his mind and the entire situation getting thrown back into his face.

The croc let out a deep sigh, putting his hands on the table and stared directly at the fox.

"Tails, you are the most intelligent mobian I have ever met. And I've met criminals thrice your age, and even they don't compare themselves to you. There must be some skeptical part of you that doesn't believe any of this," He reasoned, his eyes darting around the fox's face, desperately trying to show him the bigger picture. The fox didn't look back at him, instead looked down at the floor again, his foot stopping the movement.

There was a part of him that was skeptical. A part of him that believed that he had read a fiction book about magical powers in old jewels, and that he had found a mere trinket. But he couldn't let the feeling escape his abdomen, how much he could feel the emerald, the power that it had. He could see it, sense it, something that was beyond this world, something that was different. And yet, it might just be a dream, wishes and hopes of getting out of the web he had been tangled into as far back as he could remember.

"You're right Vector," Tails looked up from Espio's sentence, saw the two team members lock eyes. "He is the most intelligent mobian we know. And if he thought that coming to us was the wisest choice he could take, then there's a damn good reason for him to come here," He said, then looked back at the pick pocketer.

"Even if the emerald is magical or not, I bet you have a lot of trouble on your back," Tails felt his fur puff up from the mention, and nodded, looking grimly at the table.

"I was ambushed yesterday by three mobians, and today we ran into five. I've been roaming around thieves' area because my area is getting slimmer. There's sounds everywhere, and my hideout has been found. It's only a matter of time before-" He trailed off, biting his lip and sighed it out. He didn't want to think about that.

"Why didn't you come sooner?" Tails looked up from Espio's question, saw that his expression had softened and his voice a bit calmer. Care. Something that he had seen in him a long time ago. He looked back at him, blue eyes darting around the purple face before shaking his head.

"I didn't want to trouble you. Coming here tonight is dangerous enough," He explained, could slowly feel the exhaustion starting to arise in his body, as well as the hunger that was gnawing in his stomach.

He looked up when Espio shook his head, walked away from the table, and opened the door, disappearing into the other room.

"If you didn't want to trouble us then why did you come?" Tails looked back at Vector after observing the strange departure from the chameleon, his mind getting back to the task at hand.

"I need your help getting Sonic out of the city. We can't cross the gate because of the soldiers and the wall is heavily guarded, especially now," He said, had continued talking despite the heavy sigh the crocodile had let out mid-sentence, sitting back down in his chair. He rubbed his forehead with his hand with closed eyes, thinking about the situation as his tail heavily slammed into the floorboard, like an angry cat.

"You know that's really difficult," –

"I know it is. But I don't think we have a choice," The croc quirked an eye open to look at the fox, said pick pocketer looking into the table, his blue eyes staring straight at the wood with a frown on his forehead, like the table had offended him.

"I've been reading him. He's eager but doesn't want to bring people into danger. If he were forced to, he would be doing it himself, but he doesn't understand the system and what I'm getting is that he doesn't care about learning. He's confident and annoying as all hell but – whatever he was told to do he is determined to finish what he has started," He explained, looking back at the croc while crossing his arms.

"As far as I can read he's going to do something with or without our help, and the way that he moves around the alley, he's going to be making even more trouble than he already has done," His blue eyes darted around the croc's. "You know I'm never wrong," –

"I know you aren't. That's why we decided to help you in the first place," Vector sighed, getting up from the chair and turned away from him, joining his hands together on his back and looked out a window, half-way boarded up and only gave him minimal visibility to the dark night.

"You're far too young to be out there alone Tails," He had said it under his breath, in a lower volume and most likely to himself but the fox's advanced hearing heard the entire sentence, the blue eyes widening in slight surprise. The Chaotixs had helped him beforehand in the past, but none of them had expressed their opinions about him or his ability to be able to live out in the streets. But the way that the croc had said it, was with a sigh, a slightly lower note and bowed his head. Worry. Why, he had no idea.

"You should have someone to take care of you, instead of you taking care of yourself," Tails narrowed his eyes from the statement, an age old boiling anger in his abdomen temporarily sparking alive like hot lava in a dormant volcano.

"Well nobody wanted to," He said in a low voice himself, staring straight at the table as if he could burn through it with his eyes.

A beat of silence remained in the room, thick and tangible, a pair of agitated tails whipping up and down.

"But that still doesn't change the fact that we can't get you outside the city," Vector said, getting back to the topic at hand. Tails lifted his head, rather glad to be talking about something else, and opened his mouth to retort when he was interrupted.

"There is a way," He turned his head back to the door where Espio had reappeared, standing in the doorway and looking at the crocodile, having an empty bottle in his hand with a piece of cloth wrapped around it. "The sewers,."

The chameleon seemingly ignored the sigh that the croc elicited, as he reached the bottle over to Tails, the fox taking it in hand. The coolness of the glass went through the cloth and his glove, making him put it up to his right eye, the swollen and bruised organ cooling considerably from the lower temperature.

"That's even more dangerous than waltzing up to the guards and ask permission to get through!" Vector exclaimed, turning around on his heel to face the chameleon. "And with all of our faces and reputation engraved into every soldier in the city, I'm pretty sure that it isn't going to be a better plan," –

"With my stealth and Tails' ears it should be easier than normally. Besides-" He paused, looking back at the fox in question. "He doesn't have a choice."

He shook his head. "You can't stay here." Tails nodded with the acknowledgement, pressing the cool glass against his eye.

"I know. My plan was to search for a new hideout once Sonic was out of the city. I know I can't," –

"No," Espio shook his head, arms crossed over his chest. "You can't stay in Croford any longer."

Tails blinked at him in mild confusion, the words slowly settling into his mind.

"What?"

The chameleon nodded, looked at Vector, looked back at him.

"It's too dangerous. Having eight mobians attack you within two days is bad enough. And, you know. And now that you have lied to the royals you are in even more danger," He said, his gaze softened slightly, his hands digging into his arms. "I don't wanna run around an alley and find a dead eight-year-old fox. But if you stay then that is going to happen. You can't escape the system you know that," He explained.

"And I know you don't wanna stay with us," He shrugged. "Then there's only one option."

Tails had been listening intently, eyes narrowing in disbelief, as his mind had tried to find excuses. But as the chameleon had gotten to his end, he realized how much he was right, how much he couldn't defend it. He opened his mouth, realized that he had nothing to say and instead closed it with a sigh.

He slumped down in the chair adjacent to Vector, staring at the wall with thoughts whirling around in his mind. He was right. If he stayed, no matter how careful he was, no matter where he hid and no matter where he was. Someone was out to get him, and more people than one. Forcing Sonic through the city had only enforced that destiny.

"You're right," He exhaled, looking at his hand in his lap, suddenly feeling more lost than he had ever done before.

He always had a plan, was already prepared for his next six steps and what he was going to do with his day. You needed to be prepared for both the expected and unexpected, but now – he had no idea what was behind Croford. What kind of world was outside the city since he had never been there. Since he hadn't had the chance to.

He swirled his ears around when Espio walked again, lifted his head when the chameleon crouched in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder, amber eyes determined with a gleam of softness sparkling in the corners of them.

"There was once a very young fox that asked me what was on the other side of that wall. And then he said that he wanted to go out there and explore instead of being here. This is your chance. I don't wanna see you dead Tails. You're far to special for that to happen," He said, his voice low and gentle, his eyes darting around the fox's face to make sure that he listened. And he did.

And it was true. For a long time, he had wished to get out of the spider web, to escape this reality and explore something else, be somewhere else than forced into this mindset of rules and regulations. This was his chance. But now, it was too real, the operation at hand by his fingertips and the more he realized it the more he didn't want to go. He knew Croford, he knew the system and he knew how to get around. Outside was mysterious, outside was something he hadn't known before – but right now, you didn't have to be a genius to understand that the unknown is safer than the known.

A part of him wanted to cry, wanted to unleash the anguish, and how damn scared he was, how terrified he felt underneath his fur, the panic that was radiating underneath his yellow coat. But he controlled himself, knew that he wouldn't get anything out of throwing a tantrum of fright and sorrow and instead bit it back with a sigh, nodding while still looking into his lap.

"I don't know if you can trust the hedgehog you know that better yourself. But once you get outside, I know there's another city not far from here. It's a central market area, a city known as Kroxburg, close to the water and trading happens day in and day out. It should be a good place to restart, see if you can't find a simple job or something," Espio said, the fox feeling his hand squeeze his shoulder slightly.

"I don't want you to return to this system. You're smart, so you'll think of something," He looked up to a smiling chameleon, a softness and gentle thing that tried to reassure him of everything turning alright. But Tails knew better – knew that whatever was going to happen on the other side of that wall wasn't going to be as easily done as said. But he didn't have a choice.

"Okay," He instead decided to say, looked at Vector as well. "When can we go?" –

"Tomorrow," Tails' eyes widened, hadn't expected his departure to be so soon. The crocodile shrugged, then collected the coins that was still on the table from the rabbit earlier.

"There's two thimble riggers that needs to get out of the city as well. One of them is young but the other is older and more experienced. You'll be traveling under the sewers with them, then when you get out you decide what you do," The crocodile decided, looking back at the fox while crossing his arms, flashing him a smile of his own.

"Now, how about you go downstairs and get some food, wash up and get some sleep. We'll talk details tomorrow," He decided, while Espio got up from his crouched position, the fox following him with his eyes. Tails nodded and looked back at the crocodile with an appreciate smile, getting up from the chair.

"Thanks Vector. I'm sorry I can't pay for your hospitality, but I got some-"–

"Don't think about it. Getting that rabbit to pay up is enough payment from you already," He nodded, looking at the chameleon. "Do one last check around the perimeter, then come back and get some sleep as well. Travelling through the sewers is not going to be easy," Having decided amongst their conversation that the sewer was the better choice, the chameleon nodded in agreement, as Tails clutched the bottle closer to his eye, walking through the door.

"See you tomorrow," He departed, getting a wave from the two mobians as he went into the other room.

He walked into a corner and crouched down, taking hold of a handle he remembered when he was younger and heaved in it revealed a trap door. It was soundless as he opened it, revealing a ladder that went down into the ground, light emitting from the basement.

He let out a deep sigh he didn't know he had been holding, could feel the urge to either scream, cry or yell turn back with full force, but he pushed it away. Shaking his head and steeling his nerves he put a sneaker on the ladder and went down into the cool basement.

Despite being around four walls, a hidden area with no way of someone stabbing him in the middle of the night he still listened. Was still aware of every sound around him, especially now that every sound was completely foreign to him.

Getting some food had been a luxury, some somewhat stale bread with butter and a banana, and he felt better about the situation. It had been difficult to eat his meal when the nausea had returned, reminding himself that he either needed to swipe some sausages before they took off or find the gall to ask for some. The latter he had already decided not to do, since meat was as luxurious as a working electrical lamp to the richer mobians – he would make do for now.

Washing his face and hands from dirt and grime had made him feel a little lighter, the cool water feeling good on his swollen eye that would most likely get bigger when he woke up the next day. He hadn't had a proper bath for the rest of his body for a long time, and he could feel the itch and the dirt sitting in his pelt, checked himself every other day or so for fleas to luckily find none. With one tail dragging around itself, not being conscious of when it was limp on the ground or swaying in the air, he was a good candidate for the small insects, though he hadn't encountered any yet. And he didn't wish to get any for that matter.

After a brief talk with Charmy and telling him about their departure the bee had showed him to a room where three other mobians were sleeping. Two of them were most likely the thimble riggers Vector had talked about, could see one of them being small and completely hidden underneath a gray cover, a pair of blue sneakers put on the floor. Adjacent to them, was the other mobian, a black head with a red shell across their head and back was all he could make of them. Laying in their separate beds, actual beds with a thin mattress and covers, on either side of the room, two more beds was in the other end, one of them occupied by the one mobian he had dragged across town and the fourth empty, practically calling for him.

Wishing the bee, a good night he had beelined over to the bed, seeing perfectly well in the darkness, and stood in front of it, found himself looking at it before settling down. Putting both hands on the mattress he found that his gloved fingers could push into the thin foam, hitting the furniture underneath rather quickly. He kept his shoes and cloak on as he crawled into the bed, pulling the gray covers over him and rested his head on a pillow. The soft headrest felt calm on his bruised face, and found himself snuggling into the feather filled fabric, letting out a sigh of relief.

Tiredness quickly overcame him, and he wanted to do nothing but sleep. But there was something he needed to check before he could fall asleep, grunted quietly to himself before sitting crossed legged in the bed, pulling one of his tails in front of him. Fishing around in his fur he found his device, the scanner he had been building for a long time and placed it on the covers in front of him. Fishing out a screwdriver as well, he started disassembling his machine, thoughts in the back of his mind that somehow overshadowed his entire situation had inspired him to try something else.

Recalibrating and switching out wires, he needed a new chip if he wanted the memory files to last longer and the casing needed to be replaced as well. A part of him wanted to walk around and scan everything that he could, test out its limits and hold together information in its database, but he was anxious about bringing it out to the world.

He had felt the machine almost swipe out of his fur during his earlier fight and had feared that it might get flung into a wall or something. Not that he couldn't repair it or something, just as long as the parts survived the hit, and he doubted it would. It was fragile right now, and the only purpose it held was to-

"What are you doing?" He jumped at the question, managed to swallow his gasp as he whipped his head towards the bed to his left, the space between being two meters wide.

Through the darkness he saw Sonic's green eyes glint in his night vision, had either been observing him long enough for his eyes to adjust to the night or his eyesight was better than anticipated. A part of him wanted to hide the device back in his tail, but the common sense part of his brain knew that it was already too late, and claiming that it was nothing important could sent him into an argument he didn't want to indulge in right now.

"Just a device I'm building," He whispered, the two other occupants in the room sleeping soundly, from the snores that emitted from both of them. He continued as if Sonic hadn't asked anything, screwing some chips into place and rewired some wires, his brain working like a checklist, one thing calmly and concentrated done after the next.

"I can see that Captain Obvious," The hedgehog whispered back, making the fox sigh audibly, looking back at Sonic and was only met with an amused grin. "I didn't know technology existed in this part of town," He whispered too loud, as one of the other mobians in the room grunted something and turned around in their bed but wasn't woken up.

"Stay quiet," Tails hissed in his own whisper, continuing to tinker with his machine. "And it doesn't. I – trade a couple of things for the metal," He explained absentmindedly, his fingers working around the small electrical parts of his scanner.

A light chuckle made his ears turn to the bed, made it in time to see the hedgehog shake his head, before laying on his back, lacing his hands behind his head.

"That's the only thing I've heard you say all night: Stay quiet," He whispered, luckily in a lower volume, turning his head back to the fox. He shrugged in response, his left tail slithering down to the side of his bed.

"You're awful at being it," He furrowed his brow. "You make too much noise, walk around like you're some ordinary civilian and doesn't know how to- "–

"Do you always do that?" Tails blinked from the sudden interruption, though he wasn't offended but bewildered.

"Huh?" –

"You know. Analyze. Every time something is wrong you tell me one fact after the next," Sonic grinned, a thing that somehow made the fox feel calm.

That was the one thing he hadn't been able to deduce just yet – how this hedgehog made him feel utterly relaxed around him. If it was his whole nonchalant behavior he didn't know since it was more a course for annoyance than anything.

"You have to," Tails explained, returning his attention to his device. "You need to be able to categorize your situation, your surroundings. If you don't you could end up-" He bit his lip. "Dead."

From the sudden silence he looked back at the hedgehog, saw his eyes widened slightly in surprise, turning back to the blue eyes.

"Is it really that serious?" A part of him wanted to sigh and facepalm his face hard, but he let it slide. If it hadn't occurred to the hedgehog that their situation had been that dire, he doubted that he was intelligent at all and instead was a walking mess of ignorance.

"Yes," He therefore simply deadpanned, started putting together his scanner again, decided to test it out in the morning if he had the time. "Didn't those thieves give you any clues?" He turned his head to look at him, though the hedgehog simply shrugged, his legs moving under the covers and revealed a socket foot tapping into the air, as if he was listening to a silent song again.

"Eh, they were just thugs. And we managed, didn't we?" He smirked, looking at the pick pocketer with an amused gleam in his eyes. "You're a pretty tough kid you know?" Tails found himself scoffing at the hedgehog, screwing one of the last chips into place.

"You have to be. Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here, but most likely rotting in the bottom of the river," –

"Jeez, a bit morbid don't you think?" Tails shrugged without looking at him.

"That's just reality," He simply explained. "One wrong step and you could lose everything," The silence that remained afterwards, he welcomed, as he slowly put the last wires back into where they belonged.

"Well, from what I see you're certainly experienced," Sonic said from the bed, the only attention he got from the fox was the swirl of his ears. "But you should know it's okay to be scared," Tails blinked a bit confused before he turned his head towards him again.

Once more, those eyes held a certain concern, and at the same time they were – warm. Something about them, something about him had some sort of psychological effect on him, he could feel it. Sonic smiled, a thing that shared that warmth and that concern from his eyes.

"I might not be a great body language reader or something, but I saw you trying to act tough against those thugs. Good idea to have the upper hand, sure, but afterwards it's fine to take a breather. I think you're more scared than you show me," He didn't know where it occurred from, but a part of him felt partially uncomfortable. Was this how people felt when he read their minds from their face pulls?

He didn't answer him, instead let that feeling overflow him for a couple of seconds, thinking about what they were going to do tomorrow, the mere thought of travelling to the sewers making his plans of going with them to outside the wall more and more non-desirable. He shook it off his head, decided not to give the hedgehog an answer, instead screwed the last panel back on.

"It's okay you know?" Sonic apparently accepted the silent answer but felt compelled to continue.

"I got your back."

Tails turned his head to look at him from the sentence, critical blue eyes analyzing the hedgehog's face. He let him look at him, emerald green eyes meeting the cerulean colored orbs, a faint smiling coming over his lips as well. His quills didn't rise, his lips didn't twitch, and his eyes were rock hard. He was telling the truth.

In some weird world he apparently believed that he had his back, and that he could help him. But Tails knew the opposite was at stake, first of all because he would never see this hedgehog again after tomorrow's travel through the sewers and second of all because he wanted to work alone. Whatever trouble he was getting himself into, he wasn't going to let others endure as well.

He wanted to tell him that it was a lie, but his face told him the opposite, and up until now his analysis had never been wrong. He opened his mouth to say something but didn't know what to say and opted to sigh instead. The sigh was apparently enough of an answer, as the hedgehog chuckled lightly, pulling the covers closer to his nose.

"It's fine if you don't believe me. Just keep it in mind alright?" –

"Do you two mind shutting up?" Both hedgehog and fox head turned to the gruff voice from the other side of the room, a heavy sigh leaving the one with the red shell on his back.

"Sorry," Tails felt complied to say, tugging his device back into his tail, before settling down into the pillow, looking briefly at Sonic. The hedgehog winked at him in what he thought was mockery before turning his back to him, emitting a sigh of his own.

The fox snuggled his head into the pillow, the soft fabric cradling his head and made the desire to sleep ever so tempting.

"Sonic?" He whispered in a low voice, looking at the hedgehog's back as he pulled the gray cover closer. A questioning 'hmm?' came from the bed, while Tails looked at the floor for a bit, sighed and closed his eyes.

"Thanks for helping me," He said, tiredness already wrapping around him, pulling him into a deep limbo he hadn't been in for a long while.

"Right back at ya," He heard the hedgehog say as he drifted off into the darkness, a darkness that had engulfed him and yet, his ears were still on high alert.

Was still wary.