I live! Sorry for the wait, HP 9 is still a work in progress... sigh... I shan't ramble as I can't be bothered. Also this is a mammoth chapter so grab your popped corn ladies and gentlemens!

Disclaimer: I owna noting! Tis no mine!

Were it not for the Ultimate Life Forms superior vision and thought processing, he would have missed it. The dilation of the pupils, the tensed quills and the slightest baring of baby canines would have all been lost on him, as they were the fox, were it not for his genetically enhanced abilities. Yet despite his gifts, despite the many warning signs prophesying the events to follow, he was taken by surprise and failed miserably to prevent the inevitable.

After the sharp intake of oxygen and momentary freeze, Sonic bolted. Almost falling to the floor as he yanked free from the bed covers, dived off the mattress and stumbled in sock clad feet to gain purchase on the varnished wooden floor. Despite his seemly uncoordinated efforts to remove himself from the room, he managed to do so without interference from the two, newly appointed, elders in the room.

His stubby form melted into the shadows that lay beyond the bedrooms threshold, where bedside lamps could not quite reach to put a comforting hand on your shoulder. The disappearance in spite of the dashing shade of cobalt fur the hedgehog wore with pride.

Tails was the next to gasp. The foxes head snapped to the right to pin Shadow to the spot with his urgent gaze. "The stairs." He need not say more, as that look filled Shadow in on all of the details. 'We didn't turn the hallway light on. He'll slip. He won't see the stairs. He'll fall down them-' Tails lunged over the bed as those thoughts continued. Shadow, however, was already gone.

Hand grasping the rounded wooden banister of the stairs the ebony agent, who used similar thoughts to fuel his determination, surveyed the area with scarlet eyes. Whilst they didn't glow in the dark, they certainly gave off a terrifying glint should the slightest slither of light touch them. His scan of the landing remained fruitless, forcing Shadow to resort to methodical searching. It barely took a second before the hedgehog had mentally dissected the house, prioritised based on speed and probability and darted past the bathroom door frame.

Tails spilled onto the landing as Shadow darted into what he himself would called Sonics least favourite place. He wasn't going to question The Ultimate Life Form. He wasn't stupid, he valued his life. The mere fact that the sapient had began to help was reason enough for the fox to wisely decide to resist tempting fate with his temperamental guest. He took off, instead, to the realm below so as to check for open doors or windows.

It was cold in this room, Shadow concluded. It seeped through even the thicker fabric of his gloves, leaving a chill to his fingers. Had a small, short furred creature came in, it would have came out shortly after on its own accord. The atmosphere was not pleasant, rather cold, dark and damp. The shower head above the unexpectedly luxurious bath was dripping on an intermittent basis, hinting to recent use if the moisture in the air was anything to go buy. Shadow had, expertly, positioned himself in such a way as to block the exit, be able to glimpse and hear most of what was behind him and have a good vantage point of the chosen room. It was this level of skill and experience that allowed him to catch the shimmying of a mop head, dancing in the cupboard behind him, as he checked the bathroom mirror. Shadow spun round and flew forwards.

Sonic had crawled on his belly into the storage cupboard after doing a circuit of what appeared to be another bedroom. Not wanting to be spotted by the adult who wielded the small body of water, he'd wiggled his blue butt though the gap the ajar door had left, wrestling with a hairy pole, to fit into a space in an equally blue plastic bucket.

Grasping the handle of the cupboard tightly Shadow swung it forwards until the seam was flush. And held it there.

When he heard the whoosh, he knew what was coming. Or so he thought. When the door wasn't swung open and light didn't blind him, to say he was confused was putting it mildly. Sonics brow creased the slightest bit, but just as he was about to lean forwards, the ajar door was no longer ajar. Finding the wood an inch from his nose, the hoglet was startled to realise what had happened.

He was 'locked' in.

Shadow stood there for a moment. The familiar sense of adrenalin at the thrill of the chase and fear of the consequences running through his veins. Now what. He couldn't risk the boy running for it again once the door was opened. But he couldn't keep him in there, that would be cruel.

"Sonic. I'm going to open the door. But when I do you won't run away, understand?" Not waiting for a response to his authoritative tone Shadow began peeling back the door.

The gap wasn't 6 inches wide before the blue cretin tried to run straight over the rocket shoes of the other. This didn't go down too well, and the youngster promptly found himself elevated off the wooden floorboards and held by the waist against the unmoving abs of the elder. Squeaks of indignation and thrashing greeted Shadow, who merely raised a brow and made to place the imp back into the prison he had released him from.

The child, irritated or irritating it was difficult to tell, was too busy fighting the strong hold of the adult who was less than impressed at this outburst. Resorting to 'roars' and hisses, simply hadn't helped his case.

Holding his captive just in front of the cupboards 2nd shelf, Shadow permitted a frown to grace his features as he stared directly at the cubs screwed-shut eyelids. Shadows 'frowny face' was very effective as he was one of the few people who suited one. Decision made, the dark hog simply plopped the hedgie in the cupboard, swiftly shut the door and took up his previous sentry duty. Then it hit him. Sonic the Hedgehog was mid tantrum.

A full on frown decorated the small forehead of the small hedgehog, raising a tentative paw the child pushed the door. It didn't move. He pushed harder. It didn't move. He hit it. It didn't move. Using the mop as an aid, he stood up and kicked it. Shockingly, it didn't move. Offended, the frown fell and allowed the eyes to widen before they searched the door.

There were a few dull noises at first, but after a few minutes of silence, soft sniffles reached The Ultimate Life Forms ears. "Sonic." A suppressed whimper was his only response. "I'm going to open this door and let you out. But when I do you will not run away this time, do you understand?" He didn't open the door, but pressed his ear up against the wooden panels separating them. A beat of silence later, his midnight brow creased. "Sonic. I asked whether you understood, do you?"

A sniff was heard before a mewled "Yes..." broke it's way though the wood. Shadow made an affirming sound and swung the door t'ward himself. Upon glancing down past his nose, he could see the bright blue little troublemaker with bleary eyes and quivering lower lip.

Shadow heaved an almighty sigh, stepped back once door still in hand, and motioned for the boy to step forwards. The step was more of a shuffle of one foot thus was not deemed satisfactory in the eyes of the judge, whose throaty noise prompted the lagging foot to shuffle to join the other.

Sonics gaze rested on the chunky shoes before him, it took a great deal of courage on his part to lift his eyes from them. Yet he was momentarily thrown off course when he caught sight of the stairs just behind the red striped pillars.

An involuntary step forwards and Sonic was once again in the air but this time in front of a face that was quickly displaying signs of frustration. And then the thrashing started. Again.

"I told you not to run."

"Neurgh-"

"Do you want to go back in?"

"Grungh!"

"Use your words, thank you." This was punctuated with a step towards the storage space.

"No!" This was punctuated by a steam of tears racing down both sides of his peach muzzle.

"Very well. I don't know how many times we will have to go through this but lets try again, shall we? Do. Not. Run. Do you get it now?"

"Yes!"

"Good."

Shadow set the crying boy on the compacted rug in the middle of the landing and closed the door. Pirouetting to look at the child with hands on hips, Shadow suddenly remembered the supposed reason for this turn of events. His hand was gloveless as it covered Sonics forehead, swooping the hot damp fur back and following his quills.

The blubbering ball of quills barely registered the contact through the haze of his headache. Nor did he notice Tails climbing the stairs two at a time and kneeling next to him, all the while shooting Shadow questioning glares.

A twisting knot of worry had wormed it's way down Tails gullet and taken up residence in the pit of his stomach. What was wrong with Sonic before? Where did he run off to? What did Shadow do to him? Did he look a little worse than he did earlier? And why was his big brother crying his eyes out!?

Shadow had already slumped back into the room Sonic had occupied not long ago, leaving the fox to scoop his young family member up as he took them both to that same room. The weight in his arms only moaned slightly.

Tails lay the hedgie on the bed, he'd only escaped from moments earlier, then looked to Shadow (sans gloves) as he rang out a damp faded cloth over the water bowl previous to heading towards the disorientated boy. Once there, Shadow placed the bowl in a convenient spot, sunk his newly free hand into the bushel of blue head quills applying slight pressure and wiped the now exposed neck with the sopping cloth.

Sonic jerked, unsure whether to be pleased at the refreshing release the faded rag provided or furious at the water weaving in and out the dusty blue quills all the way down his back. His dark pupils hid themselves behind crumpled blue eyelids. He could hear voices, couldn't make out the words though. He could tell the big hedgehogs voice as it rumbled lowly.

"Does he remember anything? Anything at all?"

"I thought so... He recognised me earlier but he all of a sudden got really tired, went for a nap and now-"

Attention returned to the damp hedgie as an unhappy squeak emitted from his little vocal cords. Shadows response was to tip the creature backwards and place the pink cloth under his chin. The two then returned to their conversation.

"Perhaps it has something to do with his temperature?"

"Could be. Vanilla says young kids sometimes get disorientated when they are tired or sick. If he's a bit of both it could just be his brain is lagging a little."

"So, nothing permanent?"

"Hopefully not."

Shadow merely 'hummed' at that. Once he had deemed the little body cool enough, he gathered up the items and headed for the door, being sure to throw a towel over Tails face before leaving. Tails grumbled at the action but set to work drying off his brother all the same.

Shadow set about finding a suitable place for the items he had previously used. He was a neat mobian by nature, though he didn't feel too much of an obligation to do too much tidying for the fox. He wasn't planning on staying long, so why should it bother him? After walking mechanically up the uneven staircase he reached out a bare paw to open the door handle to the room containing two irritants of his.

"Sonic! Stay still!" He froze, penultimate red furred finger twitching with indecision. "No-Stop-Oh come on! Don't curl up on me, I can't dry your stomach off then..." He lent back on his heels and breathed a warm sigh through his nose. This was a lot for the fox to handle. "Haha! What? Your tummy's not ticklish. Is it?" High pitched squeals of delight pierced through the heavy wooden door. Tails may have been a smart kid, but even he couldn't hide what he was. A kid. A smart kit that had came to him for help. A throaty sigh signalled his resignation.

Shadow finally opened the door to see a static blue hoglet, arms forgotten somewhere above his head, starting to loose consciousness with a smile draped across his face and a yellow fox, damp beige towel with ragged ends cast over the crook of one arm, pulling the covers to the childs naval with a tender smile.

The two 'big kids' exchanged a glance before vacating the room to have a 'grown up' conversation down stairs. Where curious, and more pointedly blue, couldn't overhear them.

Tada! There are probably so many issues with it, but my head be panned in so I shall upload before I procrastinate any more (also I wanna get on with watching my shows so meh) Hope you all enjoyed, please leave a review to let me know what ya think. Take care till next time!

Bletherskite