Chapter 2

Sonic woke early at the sixth hour call, broadcast to every legal residence in Mobius, via the Robotnik's wall-viewer. He ate the mechanically prepared breakfast with Chuck, his foster father, and bid him good-bye for the day as Chuck climbed on the iron trolley for a factory in Cowford. When that was done with he got down to business. Education lasted until age fourteen, but assignment to the workforce came when you were sixteen. This meant that he could do any legal activity he wanted, but granted, there weren't many.

He mostly sat on street corners playing his guitar, saving up to rent it for another month. He used the outdated physical currency from the time of the hedgehog monarchy, fifteen years ago. Today however, he planned to rendezvous with the Manic kid he met to figure out if they were really brothers. He had gotten Chuck to admit last night that he had been found on the morning after the revolution, but the elderly hedgehog had added that it probably wouldn't mean anything in reality. Sonic had "forgotten" to tell him about Manic. It was best not to worry him.

OOOOOOOOOO

The sleek elevator came to the ground floor, letting out a hiss as the doors opened. Sonia stepped out, dressed in the least spectacular, dirtiest outfit she could find, and she still wasn't sure she'd blend in well enough. Her mother was doing something somewhere else, and Sonia had told the servants she wanted to stay in her room. She didn't worry overly much about her safety, planning to use a mix of explaining the consequences of harming her and unarmed self-defense that had been included in her tutoring.

She walked down the streets as if she had reason to be there. She was just a local girl going to her brother's, right, no need to be bothered. As she passed by a human pounding his fingers against a guitar, Sonia heard music she had never felt before, and liked it: it had fire, emotion inside. She let the sound well up inside, feeling every drop of rage and sorrow put into it, even if the message disturbed her; You killed the king, you tyrant. The moment was broken by a voice behind her.

"No, no; back, back. It'll be my head, not yours they take." It was Manic.

"Hello to you too." Sonia put out.

"This is a bad idea."

"Look," Sonia interjected. "Do you think I'm you sister or not."

"If your that naive, then no. Besides you actually need to provide the proof:" Manic pulled out from under his vest a green jewel pendant. "One of these."

"Funny seeing as you're the one who came looking for me. Besides, that would be easily made by a jeweler."

"So it isn't crushed by a sledge hammer, or melted in a furnace, or even get hot?" Sonia stared at him.

"You know this how?"

"'Cause I didn't want to do this! 'Ya got to bother 'bout your family Manic, they abandoned you after all.' Ridiculous. D-donkey didn't even take the other kid when he could" He let out a sigh of frustration. "Yeah. So I decided to find my siblings and leave it at that. Badness knows I don't want to meet the tramp who bir-" Sonia hit him once across the face, realizing what he would say. "Sorry miss genteel, but I can't think up another reason we'd be ditched like this. Welcome to the gritty reality."

"Why should I even trust to you?"

"You shouldn't, and that's the best I can give."

"I'm going home."

"Good idea. Then I won't get hunted down like a rat."

OOOOOOOOOO

That was a bad idea. Sonia thought as she tiptoed back to her room. She was left less than convinced by "Manic's" talk. It wasn't even a real name. And he probably didn't even know about what her real broth-ers were colored. He was just green because most hedgehogs were. Completely coincidental.

OOOOOOOOOO

That was stupid. Manic thought. Acting so barbed to the person he had been trying to interest would definitely work against him, but she had been acting so dumb. Standing, in the middle of the street, dressed to the nine. He had probably saved her life.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Yeah, so we have a sister, I've met her twice, once today actually, and she doesn't believe me." Manic said.

"This helps us how?" Sonic asked. The two had met up by Sonic's house so they could continue their discussion about the past and the present.

"Thought you might want to know."

"How big is this family anyways?"

"Unless we were quadruplets or quintuplets before my master found us, just three."

"Right. So what are we gonna' do about…"

"Sonia's her name. Normally I'd say a big break in to find where ever her heirloom's being hid and force her to accept her past, because I know she has one. But that'd probably mess things up even more, so we'll wait."

"Big… break in. As in breaking and entering."

"oh, yeah… I am apprenticed to a thief, but I'd like to state that there's worse."

"Like what?"

"Things so sundry I would not mention them for the sake of your childish innocence. Let's start a band." Manic concluded, totally changing the conversation's topic.

"Why?"

"Nothing better to do. We both like playing. Might get some cash."

"Oh. What do you play?"

"Drums, or anything like them."

"I think we'll need more people."

"Sonia'll join once she gets her act together."

"You know this how?" Manic let out a laugh.

"She's rich. They all play piano or violin."

OOOOOOOOOO

Sonia put her head down against her enormous grand piano. The entire business had just left her even more confused. She knew "Manic" couldn't possibly be her brother yet… she had seen a jewel like his before, only it had been pink, like her. Her mother had been looking at it, and put it away as soon as she saw Sonia.

"You looked trouble, dear." Apparently her mom was back. Nalsia had a hard time understanding the phrase "Doesn't want to be disturbed."

"It's nothing." Sonia mumbled lifting her head.

"Why don't you play some waltzes? That always cheers you up." Sonia nodded, and began pressing keys from memory, but something kept forcing its way in, until conceding, she played it. Perfectly pitched her fingers fell, playing the line over and over, just trying to shut out everything that kept happening to her.

"That… that's not a waltz dear."

"Waltzes were for rebels in their time." Sonia yelled over the rising music. Then a thought hit her like a brick from nowhere. Her mother had said Bartleby had heard a lot about her. Why would he care? She stopped, playing eight keys at once in a discordant mess. "It's an arranged marriage, isn't it?"

"What?"

"With the man you showed me, Bartleby. You and his parents want us to marry." Sonia's eyes were narrowing at the audacity of what her mother had done.

"Well, I didn't want it to work out like that. I thought if… Bartleby's a nice gentleman… What do you want?" Sonia replied without knowing it.

"To leave."

"Where are you going to go?"

"My brothers, of course."

OOOOOOOOOO

Nalsia Windemere sat blank-faced in an armchair. A dream daughter was dead, filled up with hate and cynicism in seconds. She said nothing as Sonia came into her room, opened the jewelry drawer, and pulled out a pink jewel on a gold necklace, muttering something to it before placing it over her neck. She said nothing as an alarm indicated how much monarchial coinage was pulled out from the safe. She said nothing as she was told that the entrance elevator had descended to the ground floor. She said nothing when asked if she wanted something to eat. She only fell asleep when she was too tired to stay awake.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Okay, ya' coulda' told me you had to return it."

"Well, I almost had enough money. Probably could have made it if you hadn't come along."

"You were running outside your house."

"Well, that's what I felt like doing."

"Ya' know, I wouldn't mind lending a hand."

"No."

"Just a little…"

"No. I don't want to be connected to your crimes."

"Oh, come on, it'll be fu- Unholy… manure! Is that you, Sonia?"

"Yes." A girl said. Sonic turned to see his sister. She was a pink hedgehog, unsurprisingly, wearing jeans, a jean jacket, and a purple headband keeping her head-spikes vertical. Her face and hands were amazingly clean. And trailing around her neck was a gold chain, with a pink jewel on it.

"Look, I've told you once-" Manic began

"I'm not returning." The brothers stood in silence, before Sonic asked it:

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It's okay…"

"I said no!" Sonic shrunk back an inch surprised at the rebuttal of him trying to help.

"Er, well then, do we all agree we're siblings?" Manic interjected. Twin answers of "Yes." came back at him. At that moment, the three gems flashed a bright light, there was the distinct sound of a bell, and twelve waste bins in various parts of the nearby city fell over simultaneously. "I think we can also agree that did not just happen."