A/n: As of this being uploaded the story is almost complete. The reason I'm posting this is because I'm looking for some motivation since I've become lazy recently and nothing motivates me more than reviews. Thank you to everyone who reviewed in the last chapter. Fun fact this whole chapter was written 9/12. The only thing that was written recently was this author note. Anyways I own nothing except for OC's and the plot. (it is 9/12 as of me typing this).

He was running down a long white hallway with one question going through his mind. 'Where am I?' He started to hear screaming in the distance and the further he went into the hall the louder the screams became. It didn't take long for him to realize that those were Tails screams.

"S-Sonic!"

"Tails!" Sonic yelled running down the hallway faster.

"Sonic help!" Tails cried out.

"Tails hold on!" Sonic said running even faster putting his all into it. He had to find Tails. When he finally got to the room his brother he tried to open it but found out it was locked. Sonic started throwing his body against the door trying to break it down. What he saw next horrified him.

"S-s-s-sonic…" Tails croaked barely above a whisper before he dropped dead onto a table.

'No….No!" Sonic yelled.

"Tails! Tails!" He yelled banging his fists on the door futilely before sliding down onto the floor weeping.

While on the ground he heard someone say, "You just weren't fast enough…"

"Sonic!...Sonic!...SONIC!" Tails yelled in his big brother's ear causing him to fall onto the floor and causing Tails start laughing hysterically.

Sonic picked up his head and glared at the blonde playfully, forgetting about his dream. "You sneaky little, you're gonna get it!"

Tails let out a small squeak before making a beeline for the door. Despite the child's efforts however Sonic was much faster than him and caught him with ease. Once he had the blonde in his grasp he started to tickle him mercilessly.

"S-S-Sonic! S-stop it!" Tails commanded between giggles.

"Only if you say 'Sonic is the faster, cooler and better looking of the Hedgehog brothers.'

"N-never!"

"Alright then," Sonic said intensified his tickle attack. It didn't take long for Tails to crack.

"Sonic is the faster, cooler and better looking of the hedgehog brothers!" Tails yelled causing Sonic to cease his attack and release Tails from his grip. The child fell on his knees trying to regain his breath.

"No fair Sonic, you always catch me," Tails whined.

"What can I say. I guess I was just born fast," Sonic said with a cocky grin.

Tails got back to his feet and Sonic ruffled his hair.

"Get dressed, I'm going to get groceries and if I have some money left over we can stop by the hardware store."

Tails face lit up before deflating, "But Sonic, don't you have work today?"

'Crap.'

"My boss decided to give me the day off. Something about me having too many hours, it's fairly complicated and I'd rather not bore you with the details," Sonic replied relieved he was able to think of something so quickly.

Tails seemed to be satisfied with this answer as he replied with a 'okay' before walking out of the room to go get changed. Sonic closed his door and changed into a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans. He walked into the bathroom, (where he saw Tails brushing his teeth) and looked in the mirror debating if he should try to comb his messy blue hair to make himself more presentable since he would be on the lookout for potential jobs today. Normally Sonic didn't care about his appearance for school because he just didn't care about school but if he was going to look for a job he might as well try to look somewhat presentable.

Sonic went under the sink and pulled out a tub of hair gel. He took out a glob and used it to slick his hair back. He looked at his appearance in the mirror and felt quite pleased with how he looked. He was about to leave only for his hair to go back into its original messy state and causing hair gel to splatter onto the mirror causing Tails to giggle. After that Sonic just decided to forget about it. Once Tails was done brushing his teeth the two left the house. Sonic grabbed Tails hand as Station Square was always full of a bunch of people especially on a Saturday and the last thing the teen needed was to lose his little brother to a crowd.

While on their way to the store they saw and food vender and Tails asked if they could get Chilidogs. Sonic was going to say no but realization dawned on him that he forgot to make the kid breakfast (not to mention he was quite hungry himself).So, Sonic caved and bought them each one chilidog. Once the food was in his hands and paid for Sonic savored every bite of it. It wasn't common for him to be able to eat chili dogs on the budget he was on. If he couldn't find another job immediately then his budget might force him to have to stop eating all together.

The two brothers continued their way to the grocery store. The store Sonic bought food from wasn't the best. It was on the "bad" side of town, a lot of shady people came here and it wasn't exactly sanitary, but the food was cheap and the blue haired teen would take what he could get.

Sonic grabbed a carriage and walked over to the canned foods aisle with Tails in tow. Sonic and Tails started to look for dented cans, since they were 5 cents off.

"Sonic I found one," Tails said as he extended his arm to grab it only for a cockroach to crawl on top of it. The grade schooler recoiled his hand in disgust and gave his big brother a shrug.

The teen sighed in annoyance and continued to search for dented cans. After the two found at least 2 dozen dented cans Sonic moved onto the produce section. Although it was almost impossible to find fruit and vegetables that weren't rotten he could at least try.

While looking at the apples an overweight woman wearing nothing but a bra and underwear walked by. Sonic's face contorted in disgust as he used his hands to shield his little brother's eyes from such a sight. When the woman left Sonic removed his hands from his little brother's eyes and Tails went back to looking from edible apples. He had a feeling that whatever his brother had just blocked his vision from wasn't pretty. After getting some fruit Sonic also got some bread and milk and also some mint candies. Mint candies were Tails's favorite food so they came in handy when Sonic needed to bribe him.

When the two got out of the store Sonic looking at what he had left. 3 dollars, well a promise was a promise. After they dropped their food off back home the two walked into the hardware store. Tails looked around in awe as he soaked in the sight of the tools that laid before him. Most kids his age were into super heros or video game characters, and although Tails did love video games nothing could come close to the love he felt when it came to building things.

While his younger brother looked around Sonic decided to starts browsing himself, not that he planned on really buying anything. While looking at the wooden boards they had on display a sign on one of them caught his eye.

Help wanted!

Where? Central Station Hardware Store.

As owner for more details.

Sonic smiled and sped over to the counter. Behind it was a bored looking kid with acne all over his face reading a comic book. Sonic rang the bell and the kid put down his comic and looked at Sonic was a bored stare.

"Welcome to the Central Station Hardware Store. How may I help you?"

"I was hoping I would be able to speak to the owner," Sonic said trying to sound polite.

"Sure, just give me a second. Hey Bill!"

"Yeah?" Came a voice from the backroom.

"There's a customer that wants to see you!"

"Tell him I'll be out in a sec!"

The teen turned back to Sonic.

"He said he'll be out in a-"

"I heard," Sonic replied.

The owner came out a couple seconds later. He was a balding man in his mid 40's and he smelt of cigarettes and beer. It took all of Sonic's willpower not to gag or say something.

"Hello their I'm Bill Cowcher, but you can just call me Bill," the man said extending his hand to Sonic.

Sonic and the man shook hands while the teen resisted the urge to shiver due to how sweaty and clammy the mans hand felt. The owner came off as unappealing but to be fair this was a discount hardware store on the "ghetto" side of town so the teen really shouldn't have such high standards.

"Nice to meet you Bill. I'm Sonic Hedgehog."

"Well then what can I do for ya?" Bill asked.

"I saw your 'help wanted' sign over there and was wondering if I can fill out an application."

"Forget the application," Bill said taking out a pen and notepad, "I'll just have the interview now."

After answering a few questions such as age, phone number, etc the interview ending.

"Okay Mr. Hedgehog I'll call you and let you know if you got the job."

Before Sonic could utter his 'thank you' Tail interrupted him.

"Sonic?"

Sonic excused himself and walked over to Tails and knelt down to his level. "What's wrong buddy?" He asked noticing the sad tone in the kid's voice.

"Why are you looking for a job here? What happened to your job at the diner? Did- did you get fired?"

'Uh-oh!'

Sonic raked his brain for an excuse but couldn't think of one. Due to his older brothers hesitation in answering Tails came to the conclusion that Sonic did infact lose his job. So the 8 year old walked up the counter and asked the owner, "How old do you have to be to work here?"

"Doesn't matter to me as long as your punctual," Bill responded.

Sonic realized what his little brother was doing and stepped in, "Oh no Tails you are not going to get a job."

"Why not? You have a job."

"Yeah but I'm 15 and you're a little kid."

"Am not! Besides we need the money," Tail argued.

Sonic groaned, "We'll have this discussion when we get home," Sonic said grabbed Tails arm, "I'm sorry for all the commotion Bill."

"Nah it's fine. This is better than my soap opera's."

Sonic tried not to look too weirded out by that statement and dragged the non-cooperative boy back to their house. There is where Sonic finally let him go and looked at Tails seeing a childish pout on his face.

"Tails you can't work."

"Why not?"

"Because your a little kid, you could get hurt."

"Not-uh, you go to work all the time and come back fine."

"That's cus I'm a adult."

"No you're not Sonic. You're 15, you're not legally adult until you're 18!"

"Well I'm the oldest in this household therefore making me the adult so what I say goes end of discussion!"

"No Sonic! I'm getting a job whether you like it or not!"

Sonic felt so frustrated at this moment he just wanted to scream, "Go to your room!"

"Make me!" Tails yelled.

"Miles Prower Hedgehog go to your room right now or you're grounded!" Sonic yelled.

Tails let out an drawn out angry groan before stomping over towards his room and slamming the door shut.

Sonic walked over the couch and sat down with a sigh. Who knew raising a kid would be so difficult. The teen could only wonder if he was that much of a pain when he was a kid.

When Tails got to his room he slammed the door shut and plopped down of his bed, his back to the door.

'Stupid Sonic. Why can't he just listen to me for once?' Tails thought to himself. The boy knew he was only 8 but he could do things normal 8 year olds couldn't. He could read college level text books, he could invent thing and hack into computers. He was more capable than any child out there but why couldn't Sonic see that?

Tails contemplated this and before he knew it a half-hour passed. He heard his door creak open. He didn't bother to look. He already knew it was his brother. Not long after the door opened he felt a weight on his bed.

"Tails."

No response.

"Tails."

Still no response.

"Tails, I know you're awake."

Tails didn't budge and stayed silent and unmoving. The hedgehog sighed and placed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

"Look Tails, I'm sorry for yelling at you early. I'm just worried about you. There are a lot of weirdos out there and if you ever had to come face to face with one...well...I don't wanna think about what could happen. Not to mention your only 8 years old. I had to give up my childhood so I could stay with you, I don't want you to have to do the same.

Tails still didn't respond or even look at him. Sonic let out a sad sigh and was ready to get up and walk out of the room when Tails finally spoke up.

"Sonic…"

The teen looked over towards the boy.

"I know you just want to protect me but we need the money. If you don't have a job by next Saturday I'm going to start looking for a job okay?"

The blue haired teenager sighed knowing that little brother was just a stubborn as he was and if not then more so. So although he knew he'd probably still try to stop him from getting a job, to prevent another fight Sonic said, "Okay."

"Thank you, Sonic," Tails said as he got up from his laying position into a kneeling one and hugged his big brother.

"Your welcome, bud," Sonic responded hugging Tails back.

Sonic didn't want Tails to be so worried about money. After all he was the older one, worrying about money was his job. Sonic wished he could go back in time and stop that fire from ever happening. If that fire never happened they wouldn't be in the predicament they were in right now. Unfortunately for the two however was fate was merciless even to children.

A/n: The rest of the chapters will be released when I finish the story and will come out once per week. Think of this as a second trailer. Bye!