Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! While I don't have a love story for you, I would like to share my appreciation for all my wonderful readers by giving you a new chapter. Enjoy! And don't forget to review!

"Do you trust me?"

Sonic never imagined he would ask that question of Tails and not immediately know how he was going to answer. He stared at Tails, the fox's blue eyes glinting purple from the red lights. Sonic did his best to maintain his smile in an attempt to look confident. In reality, he shivered imperceptibly. He had no idea what he was going to do. This would be at least Prison Island difficulty, only this time they were short one very important player.

Sonic paled, but he held his smile. Tails pressed his lips together into a thin line. And then, possibly by miracle alone, he nodded.

Sonic's heart lightened and he released a silent breath. With it evaporated some of the weight from his shoulders. "Okay, so what're the chances of me tearing through the shielding covering the exits with a Sonic-spin?" Sonic asked.

"Um…virtually nonexistent," Tails replied. "This is pretty strong stuff. We're not dealing with Eggman here. We're dealing with the government. They have funding."

Sonic's eyes widened. "Great, Eggman with funding." He frowned. It wasn't his thing, making plans. He liked jumping into action and making reckless decisions that Knuckles yelled at him for while it was happening and grudgingly acknowledged as right after the fact. But Tails needed someone trustworthy and Sonic needed Tails's trust. "So…so…um…okay, so how do they get more soldiers or whatever in through the lockdown?"

"Well…based on what I understand—" Tails's voice cracked, and he cleared his throat before trying again. "—they might consider this, uh…a hostage situation."

Sonic tensed. For a moment, he couldn't even hear the sirens over the sound of the roaring in his ears. They thought he…was holding Tails…hostage.

Wait.

"Tails," Sonic said in a low voice, "how much do you trust me?"

"Um…" Tails said. He pulled away slightly. "What do you mean?"

"How good are you at acting?"

Sonic kicked out the grate and leaped to the ground, one arm wrapped loosely around Tails. When they hit the ground, Sonic raised his arm and tightened it against Tails's neck. Though Knuckles had long since run off in a fake search, the single guard remained ready for when Sonic passed through. And now he stood there, almost strangling his little brother. Tails clutched at Sonic's arm, though Sonic purposely stiffened his arm a couple inches away from even making contact.

The guard jumped, reaching for the gun hanging from his belt. "Don't," Sonic said in a low voice, tightening his arm.

The man froze, his hand handing in midair. "What do you want?" he said evenly.

"You're going to let me out of here," Sonic said. He kept his voice low to hide how much it shook. Tails's back pressed against his stomach and his tails wrapped around Sonic's torso. His body was too warm, too alive. And even though he didn't hold a gun, Sonic still felt like he held too much power in his hands.

In this position, he really could hurt Tails.

"Calm down," the man said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Let's just think this through."

"Let me out," Sonic said tightly, "and no one'll get hurt."

Sonic heard pounding footsteps down the hall, and Knuckles skidded back into the room. His eyes widened when they landed on Sonic nearly strangling Tails. He stared wordlessly at Sonic for a long moment before he found his voice and roared, "TRAITOR!"

Sonic pressed his arm against Tails, actually making contact now. Tails's fur stood on end. Sonic wondered if Tails still trusted him. Knuckles, probably seeing the—not fake—fear in Tails's eyes, made no move to approach. "Just let me out," Sonic breathed.

"Let him go," the guard said patiently. "You don't want to hurt him, Sonic."

"So let—me—go," Sonic choked. All he could do was repeat the words over and over again. He had nothing else. Because, despite what everyone else thought, Sonic wasn't a killer and he most certainly didn't know how to be.

"Okay, okay," the man replied. "I'm just going to go ahead and release the lockdown, and you're going to release the fox."

"And then I'm going to kill you!" Knuckles added, his fingers tightening into fists at his sides.

Sonic swallowed hard. He tried to focus on Tails's heart pounding against him, but it fluttered unevenly and only made him anxious. And this time, he couldn't run away. "Knuckles, stay out of this," the guard warned. "Listen, Sonic, we all just have to stay calm. I'm going to release the lockdown."

Sonic nodded. "Do it then."

He wondered how he'd be able to fix any of this when the nightmare was over. Knuckles looked stricken. His mouth hung open like he'd forgotten to close it. Only then did Sonic realize that Knuckles had actually begun to forgive him. And now….

The guard slowly backed away toward the desk. As he moved, the shift of weight caused the gun at his side to twitch. "Wait!" Sonic said suddenly, and the man froze. "Put your gun on the floor and kick it over to me."

The man complied, but Sonic saw Knuckles's eyes widen. Even Tails's body tightened. He wished he could shout at the both of them that he only wanted the gun so the guard wouldn't pull it and accidentally hit Tails, that he'd never even dream of using something like that. The guard slid the gun across the floor, and Sonic stopped it under his foot. "Okay, now open the door," he said, a miniscule amount of pressure releasing from his chest.

"You don't want to do this," Knuckles shouted. "You don't want to hurt Tails."

Sonic nodded curtly. "No, I don't. So open the door and I won't have to."

Knuckles took a small step forward. Sonic narrowed his eyes, recognizing how the echidna was trying to test the waters. He didn't think Sonic would do it. Sonic stiffened, not sure what to do. He didn't want to press his arm any harder against Tails's neck. If he did, he was sure he would hurt him.

The guard still moved slowly toward the desk, keeping his eyes on Sonic as he did so. But Knuckles would cover the distance between himself and Sonic before Sonic could get away. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I—

Tails slid out from under Sonic's stiff but shaking arm and dropped to the ground. Knuckles took a lunging step forward. Sonic stood frozen, for once too shocked to move. But then Tails ripped out the gun from beneath Sonic's foot and pointed it at Knuckles.

Knuckles froze. The guard froze. Sonic stopped breathing. The world stopped turning. Time stopped moving. The only thing that existed was Tails with the gun in his hand. "You're going to let both of us out of here right now," he breathed.

No one moved. No one knew how. Sonic wondered if he was actually still alive, if any of this was real. Who was this kid on the ground in front of him with a weapon in his hand? "Do it," Tails said, raising the volume of his voice. He clicked off the safety. The gun shook in his hand, but he didn't lower it.

"Tails, are you crazy?" Knuckels shouted. Sonic glanced at Knuckles and saw how his chest rose and fell rapidly. He realized that while Knuckles had trusted Sonic to not hurt Tails, he didn't trust that Tails wouldn't pull the trigger.

What was going on?

"Open the door, Knuckles," Sonic said.

Knuckles met his eyes. Sonic hoped he could see the fear there and see that their overwhelming shock was the same. That neither of them knew what was going on. And that, honestly, neither of them really knew if Tails would follow through. "Do it," Knuckles said finally.

Knuckles's voice snapped the guard out of his trance. The man closed the distance between himself and the desk. He typed in a code on a keypad, and the door to Sonic's back slid open.

Before anyone else could respond, Sonic pulled Tails into his arms, snatched the gun from the fox's hands and threw it to the ground, and sprinted out the door. A small army stood outside, apparently only beginning to assemble. They stood by in small, disjointed groups. Some of them loaded guns. But just as they looked up in surprise, Sonic's breeze rushed past them and Sonic was already gone.

Tails's namesakes filled Sonic's arms more than the fox's tiny body. He felt like a stuffed toy. A child's security blanket. But only moments ago, he held a gun to Knuckles. Sonic glared straight ahead as he fled the city, leaving more than one person whose trust he needed behind. He wondered if there would be any chance of salvaging a friendship with Knuckles when all of this was over.

Sonic gritted his teeth. "What were you thinking back there, Tails?" he snapped.

"Knuckles wasn't going to buy it," Tails shouted over the wind. "I had to do something or they wouldn't have let us out of there. I thought on my feet, just like you always do."

"You pulled a gun!" Sonic protested. "And on Knuckles!"

"I know, but now you can't leave me behind!"

Sonic clanked down at Tails, but he quickly looked up again, frowning in confusion. He dashed into a forest, dodging trees as he went. Only when the trees thickened until Sonic couldn't weave through them while running did he slow to a stop. He set Tails on the ground in front of him. Tails wavered on his feet, between the dizziness brought on by Sonic's speed and the uneven ground and roots beneath. "What are you talking about, Tails?" Sonic said, folding his arms across his chest.

Tails steadied himself against a tree and looked away. "I don't want you to be mad at me," he mumbled, kicking at the dirt.

"Buddy," Sonic said softly, "just tell me what you meant. Why would you point a gun at Knuckles?"

Tails looked up at Sonic though his body still turned away. "Would you really have taken us with you? Are you telling me you wouldn't have just run away cuz you thought I'd be safer without you?"

Sonic stepped toward him. "Tails—"

"No!" Tails shouted. He shoved Sonic away. "Now you can't leave me behind anymore. If I go back, I'll be arrested."

Sonic's mouth fell open. "You did this all on purpose?"

"Of course I did!" Tails replied. "How could I not? You keep leaving and now somebody wants to kill me and you just want to run away? No! I'm always safer with you."

"You're not," Sonic said desperately. "You'd be safer without me! I know too much; the killer's going to find me. You'd be safer with official, military protection."

"No, I won't! Do you know anything about banks, about where Amy was killed?" Sonic winced when Tails said her name, but Tails ignored him. "Banks, especially that one, have some of the best security in the world. If there's so much as a hint of a threat, they act. And Amy still died." Tails took a step toward Sonic. "What does that mean for me, huh? Do I even stand a chance? The way I figure, the best chance I've got is by your side."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "But I though that you thought that maybe I was the killer?"

"I still don't know that you're not," Tails said evenly. "But even if you are, the safest place I can be is by your side. You're the only one who can protect me from any evil, maybe even your own."

Before Sonic could respond, Tails threw his arms around Sonic and buried his face into his big brother's shoulder. Sonic stiffened. He felt out of place, at a loss. "It doesn't make what you did okay," Sonic muttered.

"I know," Tails mumbled. "It doesn't make what you did okay either."

Sonic's heart fell. The edges of his eyes itched, but he refused to admit to himself why. After a moment, the tension of his body collapsed. He wrapped his arms around Tails and closed his eyes against the tears.