' Screw the emerald' thought Knuckles, as he marched away from the jewel that had stolen most of his life away from him, as well as his love. ' What has it ever done for me? I don't care anymore, I'm finding her, no matter what it does'. Then he stopped, frowned, backtracked, and went back to sitting on the emerald shrine steps. ' Who am I kidding? If I ever left the emerald and it was captured, the chaos emeralds would fall out of control and all mayhem would break loose'. He slouched on the emerald. Sitting on the steps for a few more moments, before standing up again and shouting to no one in particular " What are you doing? I can't forget Rouge!". He sat again " The emerald is more important than anything, you know that" he said. Sighing he buried his face in his hands, before removing them again and shouting " Who asked you!". He growled and said " Great, now I'm arguing with myself". He once again took a seat. " You started it" he muttered under his breath. Knuckles shot up again and yelled " I did not!". He frowned and growled, before throwing his head up into the sky and shouting " SHUT UP!".

Knuckles face dropped. He began to realise just how lonely he was. Stuck on the island, doing nothing except sit in front of the emerald, day after day, year after year. How the time had passed, he didn't know. He missed his friends. He missed Tails, Amy, the Chaotix crew, dare he say it? He even missed Sonic. That irritating hedgehog was constantly annoying him, but he was still good natured and caring and a good best friend. But most of all, he missed Rouge. They had been so close when he had left her, but the emerald had been calling in his mind, softly at first, reminding him of his duty. But after a while its whispers turned to nagging and after almost shouting, just when their lips had almost touched. The sound had almost deafened him and he had run away, cursing and crying, before returning to the emerald, whimpering to himself for days after. Since then , he hadn't seen her, or anyone and, once again, his solitary nature began to take a toll on him. He would often think he could see a silhouette of his father, Locke, standing over to the hill, his thick locks flowing gently on the evening breeze, his beard dancing in the wind. Other he swear he heard his mother calling, or the rattling sound of Tails plane, come by with Sonic just to say hi.

But after rushing up there as fast as his legs could carry him, Knuckles had realised no one was there. He would search for hours on end to see if he could find whoever his mind had conjured up. And when they failed to make themselves present, Knuckles would resentfully turn on himself, shouting abusive insults from one end of his brain to the other, and of course never winning. One time, Knuckles had taken his heavy fist to his skull, cracking open his head in an effort to try and prize the images of his friends and family out of there.

Knuckles sighed in defeat. The arguments and images had been getting worse lately. He had to find someone to talk to. He had to find Rouge.

AUTHORS NOTES

It's short I know, but it will get better trust me. And longer. Please R+R and keep reading!