Okay, so vacation is over at least for me and school starts up again. Ugh. So, if I don't write in a while…have mercy!!! I hope to get off from school tomorrow but if I have to go…enjoy this. It may be my last for a long while, so I'm gonna make this good! (Hopefully!) Kthxbye!

Essential

Ryo dug his ungloved hand into the middle of a bowl of cheesy snack food things and pulled up a handful, stuffing it into his mouth. "Aero," he said as he chewed. "I'm bored."

Ice blue hedgie groaned and his head poked up from beside the bed on the other side of the suite. "Hell, I know. But what are we gonna do for fun?"

"Didn't you vow to "avenge Sonic and Tails", and all that?" Ryo gestured aimlessly, still remembering Sonic's cold hands moving along his body and how sensitive he'd been to the touch. It was like touching an ice sculpture. Aero didn't answer the first question, for his head had disappeared again, so Ryo spoke once more. "Is Sonic always like that? He was so…" Ryo swallowed what was in his mouth as he searched for the right word. "…frigid."

Aero's feet appeared on the bed. "No, Sonic isn't always like that."

"Then why was he acting so weird?"

Aero huffed. "Sonic's stomach was empty, that's all. He just looks and acts more wild when he's really hungry like that."

"Oh." Ryo snacked on more of the fattening cheese things. "Say, wonder why I don't act like that when I'm hungry."

"Probably same reason I don't."

Ryo transferred to his stomach. "Explain."

Aero's head appeared again, this time his chocolate eyes were hidden by dark sunglasses. "No one can starve as long as Sonic can. Don't know why that is, since he's got the most calorie-draining superpower in the universe. But, that's just the way it is. I'm sure even you, oh most dedicated of anorexics…"

"Hey!" Ryo injected, thoroughly injured. Aero only smirked and continued.

"…couldn't last as long without eating as Sonic can. Hey, you fainted in my arms on the twelfth day of your fast. Sonic wouldn't even skip a step until at least the twenty fifth day!"

Both hedgies gave themselves to thought about that. Aero yawned indiscreetly and Ryo turned over onto his back, tracing the rib lines his mother had told him to erase. He could barely feel them anymore, unless he sucked in his breath, of course. Sonic had surely been thinner than that! "How thin is he really?" Ryo asked at last.

"He fluctuates frequently. I think he's somewhere between fifty two and seventy two if he's back to eating regular meals. I think, if he's been fasting for a long time, he's probably around thirty."

"Pounds?"

Aero nodded, yawning again. Ryo whistled through his teeth. Silence again. Then…

"Hey, any chance you wanna check out Xzero's room?" Aero queried.

"Whose Xzero?" Ryo questioned.

But Aero's answer was a huge smirk. "Follow me." Was all he said.

~ST~ST~ST~

"Your Majesty, I don't know about giving Radovan to such a commoner." Inferna told the young prince over tea as they watched Sonic practice with his sword in the courtyard. "What if our best horse is injured, or if he does, while with the knight?"

Tails growled under his breath. "I know what I'm doing, Inferna. Sir Sonic took care of me before I knew I was a prince and I'd trust my life to him."

"To a commoner?" Inferna scoffed. "You are a strange prince, my lord."

Tails chuckled. "He's much more than just a "commoner" to me, Inferna."

The sorceress observed the fox's careful appraisal of Sonic's figure and wondered if her eventual place by his side as queen would be effected by such a small, insignificant blue creature.

~ST~ST~ST~

The door which hadn't been opened in ages clicked as the keycard passed through and two hedgies entered, one cautiously and the other curiously. "Aero," Ryo shivered. "I'm not getting good vibes. Can we go please?" And the chocolate hedgie trembled as he set foot into the forbidden territory.

"Be quiet." Aero ordered. "It's not like we're trespassing. Dad hasn't rented the room out to anyone yet." But, despite his confident exterior, on the inside he was trembling. Even though Sonic hadn't let him within twelve feet of the now-deceased alter ego of our familiar blue hero, what ice blue hedgie had heard, though little, was enough to give him nightmares. But, then again, they do say curiosity killed the cat, and Aero shared this trait with his super-fast old friend.

Now, he sat down at a computer desk, probably left over from Xzero's short stay here, and opened the portable computer there, turning it on. "Hmmm. It's asking for a password…"

"Don't do it, Aero! What if Xzero…" Ryo protested.

But Aero interrupted him. "What if Xzero what? Xzero is dead as a doornail!"

"Doornails were never alive." Ryo answered smartly, sitting beside his friend who had hacked the computer.

"So? Then that means Xzero never existed to begin with. Hmmm. Favorites." Aero navigated the computer and Ryo watched, unaware that the most likely person knew what they were doing and was following their every move.