Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Sega and Archie.

The Bonding of Broken Souls

By Jameygamer

Locke sighed as he stared out over the edge of Angel Island, an island floating in the sky, his home. It was evening, and the sun was going down. The sun setting on the horizon almost saddened him, as he had lost not one, but two people very close to him only a few days earlier. It was bad enough that that fiend, Mammoth Mogul, who had infiltrated the island to steal its power source, the Master Emerald, not only took the life of his only son, Knuckles, but also his love, Lara-Le, as she tried in a vain attempt to save his life. The two hadn't been close at all for the past several years, but when she ran over to Knuckles' body after he fell to Mogul's attacks in the Hidden Palace, having followed him to the home of the Master Emerald, she looked back at him with sadness in her eyes, realizing there was no escaping their fate any longer. And then she just said to Locke, in a kind but heartbreaking way, that she loved him, she was sorry for leaving him, and she would take care of their son. Locke, along with Knuckles' girlfriend, Julie-Su, who was watching from the shadows of the Chaos Chamber, were powerless to prevent what happened next. Mogul, in one snap of his fingers, vaporized both of them mercilessly in an instant, with Locke only being able to see a flash of blue light and then immediately after, visions of Knuckles being pulled by Guardians past into a brilliant white light symbolizing the afterlife, with his mother, Lara-Le, holding his hand as she followed right behind, then the two vanished, like ghosts of a dying dream. As the light faded and the scene returned to normal, Locke saw that they were truly gone, with Mogul laughing in triumph. Locke immediately broke down, crying as the reality that Mogul had killed his son AND his love in one fell swoop for merely getting in his way hit him hard. The satisfaction on Mogul's part soon faded, as the Freedom Fighters, led by Sonic the Hedgehog and the Chosen One, Miles "Tails" Prower, were able to bust into the room, finding out what had just happened and, using the power of the Chaos Emeralds to avenge their fallen comrade, Sonic and Tails turned into their super forms and defeated Mogul, resealing him in the Master Emerald, which he had been released from after Dr. Robotnik destroyed the gem to feed his Chaos monster the pieces, and restoring the Chaos Emeralds to their proper places in the palace. Even with their victory over Mogul, the fruits of victory turned out to be bitter, as Mogul had still destroyed everything Locke held dear, leaving him a broken echidna in the days that followed. And he was not the only one.

Julie-Su couldn't help herself. She still doesn't know why she keeps coming back to Knuckles' old cave, even though its primary resident was dead. Witnessing her love being turned to dust should have convinced her that he was gone, yet she still kept going to the places she used to find him at, hoping beyond hope that he would be there, to no avail. She couldn't accept it. He wasn't truly dead, was he? No! Mogul probably sent him somewhere, and she had to find him! It took a long time for her to finally accept the fact that, yes, he was truly dead, and wasn't coming back. Still, she continued her search for him, until, one day, in Knuckles' cavern, she found Locke, looking over his late son's personal belongings. The fact that he was packing everything up in boxes finally drove the point home, but for some reason, she didn't cry. Instead, she spoke, getting the old echidna's attention.

"Julie? Why are you here?"

"I thought I might help you get Knuckles' things," she replied.

The two worked long into the night, cleaning the place up, and when it was all done, they sat down and began reminiscing about the things they did with Knuckles, with Locke also talking about his marriage with Lara-Le, the divorce, and her planned remarriage to another echidna before she ended up calling it off for unknown reasons only hours before she died, apparently sensing a need to reconcile with Locke before her passing. Julie-Su talked about meeting Knuckles, their first kiss on the pier, some of their adventures together, and what she had hoped to do with him one day. Once she said that, she started crying. Locke, feeling the need to comfort her, pulled her into a tight hug, as she buried her head in his chest. At this point, Locke started thinking about how it got to this. He had experimented on Knuckles before he was even born, just to prevent what he saw in that nightmare so long ago. Knuckles was made so powerful, so strong, that he thought he had averted his eventual doom, but alas, it was not meant to be. Locke thought about what went wrong, and then it occurred to him: When Robotnik blew up the Master Emerald, he inadvertently released Mogul, who, as a result, regained his powers and was able to locate the Emerald's new hiding place. When Lara caught up with Locke in the jungles of the island, she made him tell her about everything that happened, and why it happened. After she heard what he said, she hugged him, saying all she needed to know was why, then she said a simple thank you, and ran off, and that's when he realized what was about to happen. If he had only kept his mouth shut, and if only he had picked up on Mogul the minute he was released, then he would have saved their lives. His mind returned to reality and he remembered holding Julie. The young one had cried herself to sleep in his arms. Quietly, he began stroking her hair and quills, noting a small warmth in his chest as he did so. He initially ignored it, but as it got stronger, that's when he realized what it was.

Soultouch.

The warmth in your heart that tells you when you've found someone to love the rest of your life. The sign you've found your soul mate.

Gradually, Julie's eyes opened, gazing at Locke's azure ones. Locke knew she felt it too. The only way to explain this was that, since they lost their loved ones, their souls, broken in half, would merge with each other to remake up the whole. Julie only smiled, as she looked upon her newfound love, the one who would take care of her and help her deal with her loss. All she could do was lean up and kiss him in a sweet fashion. Locke closed his eyes as he joined the kiss, finding a way to deal with his loss by moving on and starting life anew with his new love.

The two started going out on dates regularly, yet everyone else thought it was merely counseling for what had happened that day. They were all shocked when Locke, who was much older than Julie-Su, proposed to her when he invited her into Haven for something. Yet, their relationship turned out to be a fairytale romance, and Locke and Julie-Su were eventually blessed with a daughter, who they named Lara-Su, in honor of Locke's wife. As he looked at his new baby, the new Guardian of Angel Island, who was sure to make her parents proud, he could almost see the ghostly images of Knuckles and Lara-Le, smiling upon him, happy that he, for the first time in a long time, had a great future ahead of him with his wife.

With Julie-Su.