Sonic jumped lightly on the balls of his feet, trying to get the blood flowing through his body once again. He knew he should be rushing past Knuckles and sprinting out the door. He didn't have time to wait. But not knowing the best way out and getting caught would only lead to higher security and no further chance of escape.

Knuckles watched him with a conflicted expression. He wore a frown offset by wide eyes. Sonic's heart lightened with the familiarity of his friend but couldn't bring himself to smile. Knuckles still thought Sonic might be a killer. And though it made Sonic's very bones ache with sadness, he knew he would have a chance later to prove Knuckles wrong.

"So what's the plan?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you the one with all the answers?"

Sonic sighed; this was exactly why he'd gone off after Amy's murderer on his own. "I was just thinking you might know the best way out," Sonic said coolly, doing his best to remain calm though his impatience boiled just beneath the surface. If given so much as half a reason, he would be running for it. All it would take was a lit match to set fire to the gasoline in his veins.

Knuckles looked away. Sonic could see the echidna's confliction in the tension of his body. "Yeah, I know a way," he grunted. "Let me get Rouge and Tails and make sure the coast is clear." He turned abruptly to glare at Sonic. "Don't run off."

"I won't."

"I mean it," Knuckles said, effectively cutting Sonic off. "The one part of this deal that you've got to remember is that if I get you out of here, we come with you this time. You get it?"

Sonic's eyes widened slightly. "I get it," he said softly.

Knuckles walked stiffly from the room, and once Knuckles closed the door, Sonic released a heavy sigh, shaking his head. He hated the prospect of getting his friends involved, especially Tails, but it was his only realistic option. At least this way he could keep an eye on Tails even if it simultaneously threw the fox into the fray.

Sonic's heart pounded against his chest more quickly than ever before. Not only was he stuck standing still, but adrenaline rushed through his veins like blood, preparing him for what he was about to do. He had to end this. To save Tails, to bring an end to the mystery, to allow him to finally truly mourn Amy.

The door opened to reveal Knuckles's return withRouge and Tails. Sonic's heart ached to look at his little brother. Tails held himself back, looking uncertain. At another point in time, Tails would be running into Sonic's arms like a little bundle of energy and joy. Now he stood back with the rest. Even Rouge stood back with a grim expression.

"We…we going then?" Sonic asked awkwardly. It was the only thing that came to mind, and he couldn't stand the eerie silence among the people he called his friends.

Tails nodded. He took a step in Sonic's direction. Though he didn't cross the length of the room over to his big brother, Sonic took even this small step as a positive. These days, not only did Sonic have to worry about hunting down Amy's murderer, but he also had to fight to earn back the trust of his friends because of the ridiculous false accusation brought against him.

Tails whispered, "Where are we going when we leave here?"

Sonic frowned. "I don't know yet. Amy's letter didn't give me the next destination."

"And did you really burn the letter?"

Sonic looked down at his left hand where the letters were secured inside his glove. No one but himself had seen the letters. Maybe it was time; he couldn't do this alone, not really, not anymore. His friends missed Amy as much as he did, yet only he had got to read Amy's last words. If they knew, though, they would end up on the killer's hit list. "No, I still have them," Sonic said softly, "but I can't let you see."

Knuckles glared. "If you want us to trust you—"

"You're just going to have to trust me this time!" Sonic snapped before Knuckles could finish. "I'm letting you guys get put in enough danger without right out handing you over to Amy's killer."

Tails's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "But I'm already on his hit list," he said in a small voice.

Sonic's heart froze, and he couldn't pull his eyes away from Tails. This shouldn't be happening, he thought painfully. He narrowed his eyes. "Not here; maybe later," he said quickly, trying to brush it off. "If we just stand around talking, we're going to get caught. Before anything, we've just got to get out of here. And since all three of you know this place better than me, I was hoping you could help come up with a plan."

Rouge shrugged and offered a smirk, the first one Sonic had seen in a long time. "Shouldn't be too difficult. You've broken out of higher security prisons on your own. Prison Island ringing any bells?"

A shiver ran up Sonic's spine. The image of Amy shaking a keycard in front of his face flashed across his mind. He clenched his teeth, tightened his hands into fists. "I didn't do that alone," he said tightly.

Knuckles stepped forward and threw up an arm in front of Rouge and Tails. Rouge rolled her eyes, pushing his arm down. "All right, so you won't be alone this time either. What difference does it make? Break down some doors, slip through a ventilation shaft, and we're out of here in no time flat."

Sonic forced himself to shake out his hands in order to unclench his fingers. "Let's do that then," he muttered.

"You think you can hold your temper for more than five minutes?" Knuckles snapped.

"You're one to talk!" Sonic shot back, not processing the words until they were out of his mouth.

Rouge shook her head. "And just like that, we're back to normal." Rouge turned her back and took a step toward the door, gesturing to them. "C'mon boys; we've got crimes to commit."

Sonic held Knuckles's gaze for a second. The corner of his lip twitched upward. But Knuckles broke his gaze and gestured for Tails to slip out in front of him and offered Sonic a warning glare. Sonic's heart fell.

Not back to normal quite yet.

Sonic glanced up and down the hallway before following Knuckles through the doorway. The hair on his arms stood up as he stepped out in the open. He felt exposed, naked. After sitting in a claustrophobic room for hours, the emptiness of the hallway tensed his muscles. His eyes flicked every direction watching not so much for people who might notice his escape, but for someone who might threaten Tails. Sonic yearned to sprint past Knuckles and jog next to the fox. If someone fired a bullet, Sonic then could at least throw himself in its path. Risking his friend's life to save it was not the way he'd been hoping things would go.

Rouge turned a corner in front of them and suddenly said, "Hey, there. I didn't realize anyone else would be around so late!" at a volume far louder than necessary.

Tails skidded to a stop, managing to stop just before be became visible. He stumbled back a few steps and collided with Knuckles. Sonic froze a few feet back. "We lost our spy," Knuckles hissed. "Anyone else have any bright ideas?"

Tails spun around. "The ventilation ducts," he said.

"It's too obvious!" Knuckles protested. "They're probably blocked and we'll end up cornered. And I'm not getting thrown in prison for him!"

Sonic tensed. He wanted to retort in someway but knew he couldn't. Knuckles no longer accepted his friendship, and now as not a good time to test how strong his resistance to it was.

But Tails shook his head. "I've studied the schematics. There's one that should get us through most of the building without any block."

Rouge's voice trailed around the corner, "No, I'm the only one still hanging around, but I'm on my way out."

"Fine," Knuckles snapped. Sonic imagined that they both felt the same press of time on their shoulders.

Tails led them down another hallway, skidding to a stop beneath a grate. He spun his tails until they acted like a propeller and lifted him off the ground. Though Sonic stood at a distance, he felt the breeze Tails created rush over his skin, so much different from the wind that whipped against his face as he rushed through a world of changing temperature and terrain. Somehow warmer…quieter…better. Sonic narrowed his eyes and firmed his expression.

Tails pulled at the grate and it came free with a clang. Knuckles glanced up and down the hall, but no one seemed to hear any of it. Save for whoever Rouge was distracting, the halls were completely empty. Tails lowered the grate to the ground and landed. He gestured up at the duct. "If I remember, this will lead to the main hall, just outside the entrance. That should be enough to get us out."

Sonic frowned. "What about any guards posted at the door?"

Knuckles's eyes snapped to Sonic's face. Tails stared at him as well, but his eyes looked far away. "There…definitely will be someone there. Probably more than just one. Um…" He furrowed his brow in thought. "How about…" He sighed and turned to Knuckles. "Knuckles I need you to go ahead and distract them. Just go to the door and act…normal."

"I'm not doing that," Knuckles snapped. He nodded in Sonic's direction. "I'm not just going to leave you with him."

"You have to," Tails whispered. "Someone has to distract them and they'll believe you a lot sooner than they'll believe me."

Knuckles glared at Sonic. "No," he growled.

Tails's fingers curled into fists at his sides. Sonic watched as his little brother narrowed his eyes. "Don't treat me like a kid, Knuckles. He's my brother and it's my life on the line, so I'm going to decide what we're going to do," Tails said. "So just go, okay?"

Knuckles winced, taking a single jerky step backwards. Sonic looked back and forth between them, not sure how to respond. "I don't like this," Knuckles said finally.

"You don't have to," Tails whispered. "Just let me do this."

Knuckles groaned and turned away. "Fine; we don't have time for this anyway." He dashed down the hall as if trying to get away as quickly as possible before he changed his mind.

Sonic turned to face Tails. He tilted his head to one side, blinking slowly. He swallowed hard. "Tails—" Sonic started.

But Tails cut him off. "You better prove him wrong," he said quietly. Sonic opened his mouth to respond, but no words came to mind. Tails flew up to the duct and offered Sonic his hand.

The ducts groaned from the weight, protesting every time either of them moved. Sonic followed Tails on his hands and knees. The cold air in the duct pushed through Sonic's fur straight to his skin. But he shivered not from the cold, but from the memory of the look on Tails's face. Hardened, broken, and all Sonic's fault.

Light streamed through the intermittent grates so that they could just barely see where they were going. But Tails apparently knew more about the ventilation system than Sonic thought, and he didn't so much as hesitate at any turn. "Tails," Sonic said. His voice cracked, and he cleared his voice before he started again. "Tails, you know…I'm not going to leave without you, right?"

Tails froze. His head dropped as he released a heavy sigh. "No, I don't know that," he replied. Sonic's heart skipped a beat. Tails glanced back over his shoulder. "Let's face it, Sonic. I'm hoping you prove me wrong too."

Just then, they heard Knuckles shouting below, "Where's Sonic?"

Sonic's eyes widened. He crawled forward, pushing past Tails to look through the slits of the last grate before the end of the duct. Knuckles stood in the tiny white lobby of the facility staring at a blue-uniformed guard at a desk. "You've got to be kidding," he muttered.

"What is it? What's he doing?" Tails said.

"You've met him," Sonic said, shaking his head. His shoulders fell, and he groaned, "It would have been a better idea to send Shadow as the distraction."

The guard below them replied, "He's being held, status unchanged." The man sounded half-asleep and Sonic wondered if Knuckles's shouting had woken him up. Sonic squeezed his eyes shut in almost physical pain. We could probably just have snuck out, Sonic realized.

"Well, he's not there now!" Knuckles snapped.

In moments, sirens wailed, and Sonic pressed his ears down against his head to try to block out the noise. Red lights glowed through the grates. Doors crashed shut as metal clanged over them to seal the building. Sonic turned around to face Tails. In the dim red light, Tails's fur looked orange. "So what do we do now?" Sonic shouted over the noise.

Tails looked at the grate. He released a shuddering breath. His earlier bravado was gone, leaving Sonic looking at the fox he remembered from so many years ago. When the bullies picked on him until tears fell from blue eyes. When they beat him up because he cried. He remembered the way Tails's eyes lit up to see the hedgehog run in and send the bullies on their way.

And the way he grinned when Sonic had turned to him and said, "Don't worry, bud; Sonic the Hedgehog's got your back now."

Sonic clapped a hand on Tails's shoulder. He saw the quiet, tearful glimmer in his little brother's eyes as his head tilted back to look up at Sonic. And Sonic offered his first real smile in a very long time. "Don't worry," he said. "It's nothing a hero can't fix."

If anyone can save Sonic from himself, it's Tails. I don't know about you, but I'm glad to see a flicker of normal Sonic returning. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!