Chapter 4: Two-Faced Hero

A distressed moan and wheezes broke the sounds of the crackling fire. A black ear twitched, rotating in the direction of the sound, "Sonic, you awake?" he peeked inside the the lean-to to find the blue hedgehog was indeed awake, holding his head in his hands.

The blue hero gasped for air, panting from the effort, he finally managed a few sentences, "Oww...The lights...please...turn them off."

"My deepest apologies, but it is afternoon." he crawled in the little shelter, sitting beside his brother, "Sonic, what the hell happened last night – you know you're barely fifteen and far too young to be drinking."

Blue ears twitched, and emerald eyes fluttered open, then squeezed tightly shut again in realisation, "...I don't remember."

"I know you remember. Now out with it."

"Dude, you're not my mum." coughing and gasping for air, he reached toward his backpack, only to have it taken out of his reach.

"Out. With. It."

"Gimme my inhaler and aspirin, and I will!" he spat between pants and gasps.

"Your inhaler?"

"YES!"

"Fine." huffing, he passed the bag back to the hedgehog who took it and started to savagely look through the bag for said inhaler, "Can you breathe well?" he asked shortly after Sonic took several puffs from the inhaler.

"Yeah..." he clenched his eyes shut, then looked back in the bag for an aspirin. He looked up hesitantly at the ebony hedgehog who glared at him with his arms crossed, "What happened...?"

"You were drunk and about to have sex with a girl you just met at a pub." he pointed to the hedgehog's crotch, "You about lost your virginity if you haven't already."

"Ohh..." he slumped into the blanket he had wrapped around him, "Not again..."

"You'd better give me an explanation for this "not again." " studying those emerald eyes, he widened his eyes in realisation, "O-oh...you're not a...you've done this be..fore."

"Yeah..." he looked away, "I...lost it a couple years ago t-to A–"

"Rose?"

He nodded, "The Christmas party. Afterwards we went to a friend's house, got drunk, and I got her pregnant."

"But she doesn't have a litter." he reasoned. He had known Rose long enough that he was sure she didn't have one.

"She miscarried because her body was underdeveloped."

"Is that why you stay away from her?"

"Yeah." he said, his voice barely a whisper, "I just don't want kids anymore. Every girl I meet wants to have a litter."

"Sonic, it's not your fault – you guys were young and didn't know any better. But once you finish puberty, you won't have that problem anymore."

"I don't want a litter, Shadow!" he turned on his side, wrapping the blanket around him, not wanting to relive the painful memories, "I don't care that I'm still not done with this shit or not."

"I know...the pain of losing something..." he closed his eyes, shaking his head to attempt to shake the memories from his mind, "...losing something you love so dearly."

Several minutes passed before either said a word. Sonic still lay huddled in his blanket, and Shadow still by his side to keep the depressed hedgehog company.

Sonic sat up, burying his face in his palms once again, "Augh...my head."

"Drink this, then lie back down and sleep some more." he gave him some of the water from the water cooler jug he took from the pub the night before, "It helps to sleep off hangovers – especially after all night of drinking like you did."

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"The pub."

"I'm not even gonna ask..." he shook his head, "No thanks, Shads. Let's just get this brotherhood thing over with if you don't mind."

"The aspirin hasn't even kicked in yet."

"You're right, it hasn't. And this headache's a bitch."

"Suit yourself, then." unrolling a map, he pointed to a side street, "G.U.N. Headquarters are here, and we're seven miles away from it."

"Okay, let's get our stuff and head out then."

"Oh, and Olgilvie?"

"Uhm...yeeaahh?" he nervously made eye contact with the crimson-eyed hedgehog beside him.

"Promise me you won't go out drinking like that again."

He rolled his eyes, knowing he would say this when he used his real name, "Yeah. Whatever Shadow." he turned, readying himself to jog off.

Grabbing the other's arm, he forced him back around to face him and make eye contact, "You're far too young for this sort of thing. I don't want my little brother drinking."

Pulling away roughly, he snapped, "I'm not your brother, Shadow!"

"I don't care if you don't believe me or not. I got myself into a lot more trouble than just drinking and sleeping around, and the drinking is what started it for me, like you."

"Pshh. Yeah. Right, brother."

"Promise me, Sonic."

"Fine." he crossed his arms, relaxing a little, "I promise."

"I expect an apology once that hangover goes away."

"You're not getting any apology!"

"Sure. Whatever, grumpy pants." he laughed, but soon stopped as he dodged a spinball attack, "We'll see about that apology later."

"G.U.N." he pointed to the spot on the ground beside him, "NOW."

"Don't get smart aleck with me, hedgehog."

He made a face, mouthing the words at the ebony hedgehog, "Don't get smart aleck with me."

A/N: Cool fact: the original name of this chappie was 'the Past Life of My Brother.' It didn't seem fitting for the subjects covered in this...so, well, yeah, it's been changed XP

And yeah...this is a tell-all story about the brother's lives. Stuff that we've all done we're ashamed of, our shameful indulging of our favourite food, our embarrassing names...

Up next: G.U.N. Headquarters. The DNA test and documentation results reviewed and revealed.

~Andi Rose