Hey.

It's been a while, I know. University kinda sapped my creativity a little, but I'm back now. This chapter has been mostly finished for months now, but I just couldn't give it my all for a while so I decided to wait until I could. I hope you all enjoy it. Hopefully the next update won't take as long, but we'll see. Thank you everyone who has been reading this. I hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter Nine

Sonic loosened his grip on his brother but he did not let him go. He couldn't. He looked into Tails' baby blue eyes and all he could see were those eyes surrounded by blackened fur. He could see that limp, lifeless body lying in the grass. He could see that askew neck.

But none of that was Tails. None of that was his brother. Because his brother was here in his arms. Clean fur. Straight neck. Breathing.

How could he find the words to tell his brother all he meant to him? Those word's didn't exist. Not a single word existed that could accurately convey exactly how important Tails was in his life.

For seconds, just the briefest of seconds, Sonic had to imagine a world without the two-tailed fox. He could not picture that world with him in it. Without Tails there was no Sonic. There was a teenage blue hedgehog with superspeed. But there was no Sonic. That blue hedgehog may have friends or he may not. He may be a hero, he may not be. He may be alive… he may not be.

Actually, no. Sonic knew what would happen if Tails left him. That blue hedgehog would be alive, yes, but he wouldn't be living. He wouldn't have friends because he'd shut down completely. He wouldn't speak. He wouldn't even use sign. He may even forget to eat. And sleep. He'd probably get sick. The one thing that would remain of Sonic would be his drive to help those who could not help themselves. He'd still fight Eggman. He'd still fight any and every threat that popped up. But there would be no purpose to it. He would be doing it because it'd be the only thing he'd know how to do.

Sonic felt hands against his cheeks.

Tails was wiping away fresh tears he hadn't meant to let escape. He shouldn't be doing that. It wasn't his job to look after him. Sonic had to look after Tails. And he would. He wouldn't let what happened in his nightmare happen in real life.

Because if it did, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

"It's ok," Tails said softly. "We'll treat this like an off day, yeah? We'll just… just not do anything today. You don't have to do anything today, ok?"

Tails' hands were still against his face. Sonic untangled his arms from Tails only so he could grab Tails' wrists. For a moment he let those hands linger against his face before gently pulling them away. Sonic didn't let go. He shook his head.

"Sonic…"

He opened his mouth, intending to tell Tails he didn't need to waste his time. Intending to tell him not to worry about him. Intending to tell him he'd done nothing for six days now and didn't need to sit around for another.

But the words didn't come.

They got caught in his throat. The sound was wrong. His tongue wouldn't cooperate to form the words properly. Instead, all that fell out of his mouth was a stuttered choking. He tried again. And again. He folded his ears back. Then he made a frustrated mewling sound which was completely mortifying.

Tails squeezed his hands, bringing his attention back to the fox. He let go of Sonic's hands. A brief flicker of panic overcame Sonic's heart for a moment at the loss of contact. That uncontrollable shaking feeling started to return. Breathing was harder.

He reached for Tails' hands again, grabbing them before they could pull away completely.

Tails looked at him with a frown, eyes gleaming.

No. Damn it. He was worried again. That's not what he wanted. But… but he didn't want Tails to let go. Because if he did, he might cease to exist entirely. What if this was the nightmare? What if he'd passed out from the sheer panic of losing his brother and this was the actual nightmare? What if Tails left forever if he didn't hold him here in this world?

After shifting his hands around in Sonic's grasp, Tails held them tightly.

"I was going to say use sign," Tails whispered. "But you don't have to…"

Sonic let his forehead fall against Tails'. He couldn't have both, he realised. He couldn't tell Tails not to worry about him while his body also wouldn't cooperate. He couldn't tell Tails to stop watching over him if his own body wouldn't let him leave. He felt selfish. But Tails didn't seem to have any plans to go. Even though he probably had stuff to work on.

Tails' Lab flashed through his mind.

Maybe… maybe Tails could go a day or two without making some invention or performing an experiment of some kind. Maybe Sonic could quietly remove all the flammable liquid and gas from the Lab without Tails knowing…

But in the meantime, maybe this was ok. Maybe they could just stay here.

Sonic sighed. He moved Tails' hands to his shoulders so he could speak with his own.

With shaky hands he signed, 'I am sorry.'

Tails' ears folded back.

"You're not the one who needs to be sorry, Sonic," Tails said. "I am. I'm sorry about the inhibitors. I'm sorry I never asked. I'm sorry I didn't tell you how to get them off."

'How do I get them off?'

Tails hesitated.

'Tails.'

"There… there's a passcode," he said quietly.

'Which is?'

"I don't know…"

Sonic blinked. He didn't… then how did…? Why wouldn't he know?

Before he could ask, Tails looked away. He looked guilty. Remorseful. His ears were lowered. Sonic could see his tails shifting behind him.

"Knuckles insisted on recording the passcode," Tails whispered, like he was worried he'd be yelled at. "It has to be his voice. I don't even know what the word is."

Sonic whined.

"I'm so sorry…"

Sonic shook his head more forcefully than before. This was all Knuckles, not Tails. The fox may have made them but Knuckles had told him to. How had he ever been mad at the fox for doing something Knuckles had convinced him to do? He was fourteen. It wasn't his fault.

'I am sorry I was ever angry.' Sonic signed. 'I am not now. I should not have run off.'

He hesitated before signing his last bit.

'I missed you.'

Tails nuzzled his face against Sonic's chest. Sonic held him again. He curled around the fox, keeping him as close as he could. He knew he had to let the fox go at some point, but now was not the time. For now, before Rouge or Shadow came back, Sonic could forget about everything else but his brother. Because he was all that mattered. Just having him here in his arms would fix everything.

"Enjoying time with your brother?"

Sonic's eyes snapped open. His body became stiff. Tails looked up at him alarmed and confused. He called the blue hedgehog's name. Sonic didn't respond. That voice. It was familiar. It didn't come from within the room either. It trilled, rose and fell both in volume and pitch. It held a playful cadence but it came across wrong, menacing.

It wasn't Dark.

Super watched Hyper pacing from his tree.

He looked irritated. Super didn't want to bother him.

He swung his legs back and forth. Super was leaning back on his hands, paying close attention to the feeling of bark under his gloves. It was rough but kind of smooth in spots. He liked it. This was an oak. The birch trees in Hyper's domain were smooth all over, which he also liked. But when he needed a distraction, he needed more texture. That way he had something to focus on. That's why he'd chosen the oak.

Hyper had lots of pretty trees in his domain. Super wanted to sit in them all. They were all so different. But he didn't want to stray too far from the other super form. He looked really upset. Super hated it when someone else was upset.

A wave of panic shot through Super. He sat up stiffly, legs stilling. He couldn't place why he should be worried. He just knew that he was.

It was coming from Sonic.

He wished he could know why. He wished he could speak to Sonic. Wished he could calm his heart. His own was racing just as fast, just as hard. Super's ears flattened, fingers curling into the bark along the branch. He felt the wood loosen under his grip. He watched it flake off and fall away like leaves.

Super whined. It caught Hyper's attention. He hadn't wanted that.

Hyper wasn't pacing anymore.

"Super? What's wrong?"

Super shifted in the branch as Hyper walked over. He knew sign language. Because Sonic knew sign. He'd been talking to Hyper through sign for the last hour or so because his voice wasn't working. That meant Sonic's wasn't either. He thought how to form what he wanted to say. It was hard to describe, so he settled on one word.

'Panic.'

Hyper frowned. It didn't take him long to figure it out, Super could tell by his face. Sometimes Super just couldn't articulate what he meant. Thankfully, Hyper could read him pretty well.

"And I suppose you don't know why."

It wasn't a question. Hyper wasn't asking. So Super didn't respond. The white hedgehog growled. It was a deep rumble, a sound that was barely there. But it was there. It was wrong coming from Hyper. Everything was wrong.

"I told him," he said, a quiet edge to his voice. "I told that asshole if he didn't stop I'd go over there myself."

Super tilted his head.

'Who?'

"Dark."

Super blinked. Dark had spoken to Hyper? They never spoke. And Hyper hadn't left Super since they'd lost contact with Sonic. So he hadn't gone to see him.

That meant Dark had reached out. Dark did not reach out, not anymore. He'd only ever done that a few times. With him. Not Hyper. Dark had spoken to him like that. Three times. Super had been fascinated by the darker form. He was so… different. He'd never fully understood why Hyper had wanted to seal him away. He understood with Fleet because he was not very nice sometimes. Dark could also be not nice, but he meant well. Super knew he meant well.

He worried about Sonic like they all did.

Sometimes, Super thought he worried more. But, in his own way. Dark was very much made up of Sonic's deeper emotions, the things he keeps close to his chest, deep, deep, deep down. His avoidant personality. His anger. His sadness. His stress. Personified. But, like the rest of them, Dark was his own person. Super just wished he wasn't so combative all the time. Then Hyper wouldn't have helped Sonic seal him away.

'You spoke?'

"Before," Hyper said, still frowning. "He reached out. It was… odd."

'What did he say?'

Hyper folded his ears back. His eyes widened slightly. There was… regret there.

"I don't know. I… I didn't let him speak."

He looked up at Super.

"He reached out…"

'He never does that.'

"I shouldn't have been so snappy… Something's wrong. And I don't think it's just Dark."

Hyper was pacing again. He was concentrating. He kept up his pacing for ages. It took Super a moment before he realised Hyper was attempting to reach out to Dark's domain. Super focused on the Voidspace too, but found that he could not access it. That wasn't right. He knew Hyper had forbidden him from trying to contact Dark, but he knew the Voidspace, what it felt like. Right now he couldn't find it. In its place was nothingness. An empty hole where it should have been.

Super decided to reach out to Dark himself. It took a while. At first he was worried that Dark was ignoring him. Then he felt it, that cold, sad energy wrap around his own. The connection was desperate, he could feel it in the way it grabbed his energy tightly. He allowed his own energy to sink into the other's.

'Super?'

'Dark! Are you ok? Hyper's been trying to reach the Voidspace, but it won't let him enter.'

There was silence for a moment. The connection wavered, strengthened again.

'He's… trying to reach the Voidspace?' Dark asked.

'He regrets not listening. He does. I can see it. But we can't reach you. What's going on?'

Another pause. This time it felt deliberate. Like he didn't want to answer. Super worried at his lip.

'Super, I… It's a long story. But I did something bad. Really, really bad.'

Super heard the tone. He heard the thickness of his speech. It was hard to place what it was. It was a swirl of emotions. Super could pick up regret. He could pick up remorse. He could pick up… pain? Why could he pick up pain?

'Dark?' he asked, knowing the anxiety bubbling in his chest was his own this time.

'I'm sorry. Can you tell Hyper that for me, Supe? Can you tell Sonic for me when you have the chance?'

That nickname…

'Dark?'

'I'll let Hyper seal me away again once I fix this, I promise. I… I won't fight it.'

Super could feel his eyes burning.

'Dark, what's going on?'

'Fleetway.'

The connection Super had to Dark snapped. He wobbled on his branch, startled. Dark hadn't initiated it. He was just… gone.

Super hopped down from his perch and ran over to Hyper. He grabbed the white form by his shoulders to stop him. Hyper startled. Super took a step back. He could feel his eyes burning still. Hyper reached a hand out to him but he stepped away from it.

"Super? What-?"

'It's Fleet.'

Hyper stiffened.

"What do you mean?" Hyper asked.

'Dark told me.'

A flicker of surprise darted across Hyper's eyes. There was something like relief in that spark too. They all knew Fleetway was bad news. But that relief… That relief from Hyper at the mention of Dark. Why was he so relieved?

"You reached Dark?"

'He said he did something bad.' Super signed. 'He said he's sorry.'

Hyper flattened his ears.

'He said he's sorry.'

Dark could see blood on the floor.

His blood.

He'd tried to take them back to Fleetway's domain. And he had. He knew he needed Sonic's help, and probably Hyper's too, to seal him. But, he thought, if he could just keep Fleetway here, he'd be able to keep him from Sonic…

Fleetway was gone.

He was in his Voidspace. His domain.

He had access to the energy of his domain.

Dark wasn't sure if he knew how to use it. But he'd figure out sooner or later.

But now he was stuck.

Dark looked down at the wood embedded in his stomach. He was still trying to comprehend it. A massive stake of wood. In his stomach. Through his stomach. Through the wall behind him. He breathed slowly. It wouldn't kill him. But it hurt. Bad. And he couldn't comprehend how it had happened.

He'd just kept going… He'd kept going and he hadn't stopped.

At first, the wood barely grazed his skin. Fleetway had slammed it against him over and over and over and over. Dark had been winded, stunned. And he'd kept going. Fleetway had enrobed it in his energy after a while. Hot, scarlet energy. He'd managed to break the skin.

Then he'd kept going.

And going.

And going.

Dark shifted and grimaced. Blood seeped around the stake, down his legs. Dark had never… felt this before. He could feel the poisonous energy inside him. Flecks of it were still lingering on the wood. It made him nauseous.

This whole domain made him nauseous.

He leaned his head back against the stained wall. Hesitantly, Dark wrapped his hands around the stake. It moved slightly at his touch. He hissed through his teeth, stopping his hands from letting the wood go again. He had to get it out. He had to stop Fleetway.

He coughed, feeling the pain spike. He could taste metal. That wasn't good.

How could he have let this happen? How could he have blindly trusted that bastard? Now he had free reign to torment Sonic and it was all his fault. Dark growled lowly, half aimed at Fleetway, half at himself. He should never have been so stupid. How would breaking Sonic down really give him what he wanted?

He didn't just want freedom.

He wanted his old connection back.

How was he ever to gain that now? Sonic would never trust him again. He'd known that years ago, and still he'd thought this would work? He couldn't force it; he would never get back what he had with his host. Now he realised that. Now he wasn't fighting for himself. He supposed he never had been. Now he was fighting for Sonic's sanity, his freedom. He was fighting for Super's right to foster his old connection. And, though he may despise it, he was fighting for Hyper too.

The wood shifted as he applied more pressure. Dark grit his teeth and tried to ignore the way his stomach churned. The feeling was welling up into in his throat. Funny. The last time he'd actually experienced that was when he still had his connection to Sonic. He supposed he could still feel sick in extreme circumstances then. He'd never been hurt this bad before. It was all so foreign and strange.

Dark absently wondered what his plan would be once the wooden stake was gone. Fight Fleetway? Like this? It wouldn't exactly be the smartest move, but what else could he do? He couldn't let Fleetway do whatever his was planning. But fighting him, so badly injured like this, would do nothing for his chances either.

Did he really have the right to ask Super and Hyper for help?

He caused this. And would he even be able to reach them? Contacting them would require a lot of concentration and right now the pain flooding his system felt like too much of a distraction.

He tugged a little harder, ears flattening, eyes scrunched shut. His left incisor sliced through his cheek. He ignored it. With a lurch, he felt the wood disconnect from the wall behind him. He stumbled forward, a high pitched sound gurgling in the back of his throat. Once he was free from the wall, he ripped out the remaining length of wood and tossed it aside. Dark gasped. Agony raced up and down his legs, his arms. Dark fell to his hands and knees, his vision swirling. He coughed and spluttered, feeling blood well up passed his teeth. It dribbled out down his muzzle.

Dark shivered.

Moving so one forearm, flat on the bloody ground, could support his weight, Dark lifted his other hand to his stomach. He had to heal all he could as fast as possible. He was no longer conscious of time. He had no idea how long Fleetway had been left to his own devices. He had no way of knowing what was going on.

Fuck. He wanted to throw up.