Author's Notes: As noted in my profile, I've been into the Sonic comics since they were published in 1993. However, I don't think anything will compare to my love of the Knuckles' arch and the Brotherhood of Guardians.

Just last year or a bit before—cannot remember—I decided to try my hand at some old fandoms for a bit. Knuckles the echidna/Sonic the hedgehog just happened to be the top of that list to try. As I dabbled a bit, I found an awesome group of peeps and decided to continue this run until I burn out of it. Since the fan base is much bigger and always growing compared to YYH, I have a feeling I'll have more than enough reasons to keep digging away at this.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the first fanfic I am going to try a go at.

Description: A village run by guardians and controlled by the Master Emerald. Zen-Ya thought the love she had for Guardian Spectre would be all she'd have to concern herself with until the dark history of the royal bloodline steadily starts to uproot itself. (AU) (Spectre x OC)

Rating: NC-17

Musical Inspiration: "Happy Nation" - Ace of Base (I'm an AB fan-not gonna deny it P: )
"Kyomu No Naka De Yuugi" - Malice Mizer

All she could hear was her own heavy breathing at first with a few flashes of the surrounding woods. The trees and bushes were black as the night sky, making it incredibly hard for her to see where she was going. Every time Zen-Ya remembered blinking, it seemed she would close her eyes for more than a mere second, thus, making the images jump about in her head. The sound of a voice off in the distance behind her made the young echidna female stop right in front of a fallen tree that was a foot away from a clearing for a moment to look over her shoulder nervously.

She was panicked, and her body was trembling either from the cold or from the overwhelming fear that crippled her. Her icy-blue eyes wandered about in thought, as she tried to focus on the voice. Then she heard it again, only a bit louder this time.

"Zen-Ya!"

The voice sounded frantic and low in tone. It was then it hit her who it was. Turning around abruptly, she had forgotten there was a fallen tree in her path, making Zen-Ya hit it with her stomach at first until placing her hands upon the massive trunk to heft herself over it and land on the opposite side to hurry across the clearing as quickly as possible. She was almost back in the cover of the woods until a hooded figure stepped out of the foliage before she got to her destination.

Digging her heels into the grass beneath her, Zen-Ya brought her hands up to prevent whoever it was from touching her, as their gloved hand was coming right for her. The face hidden no thanks to the starless sky and the hood over their head, Zen-Ya wasn't too certain who it was though she still felt threatened. Right before their hand could reach her, another came from behind the frightened woman and upon the fingers touching her forehead, Zen-Ya's body became taut and everything went blank.

As she struggled to wake, she could hear her name being called again and again. With it getting louder and louder, her eyes finally flew open to find the red-eyed guardian staring at her while holding her wrists down on either side of her. Apparently, she had been tossing in her sleep, and the male echidna was doing his best to keep her settled. Looking frantically about the room, she struggled to remember what had happened before hand. Her head was pounding and her body was sweating for some reason. When she tried to move her arms, the guardian kept her firmly still.

"I…I'm fine, Spectre…" Zen-Ya insisted, as she could hardly move her hands even an inch with how strong he was compared to her.

Spectre gave her a small unsure look before slowly releasing the tight hold he had upon her. "You need to take it easy," said the Mobian, as he stood upright once more in the wood constructed room. "You were thrashing about violently and sweating profusely."

As she moved her right hand up to her forehead, Zen-Ya saw the broken chain dangle before her eyes. Pulling her hand back a bit further, she furrowed her brow in confusion at the sight of the shackle that remained on her wrist. Reaching for the broken chain with her other hand, an image briefly pounded into the back of her mind. She could see herself in a candlelit room with the walls painted in a glowing emerald green with five hooded figures standing about her, but that was as far as the image progressed before it hurt her too much to think more on it.

Spectre noticed her holding her head in pain. His hands remaining at his side, he stayed close by in case she felt dizzy or ill after the prior ordeal. "Are you alright?" His eyes drifted over to the shackle she had previously touched making him ask: "Do you want me to remove that?"

Zen-Ya noticed what he was gazing at and shook her head. "N-No…I feel you should leave it."

Turning on his heels, the guardian wandered over towards the bucket of cold water he kept in the room when Zen-Ya was brought back to the village. Grabbing the handle, he brought it closer to the bed he had put the frightened female upon with a washcloth he also had on the wooden nightstand.

The bed wasn't the most comfortable for Zen-Ya, but she knew it was the best she had. It was very low to the ground and the wooden frame was starting to deteriorate mostly at the headboard, but she wouldn't be surprised if the frame itself was starting to lose its shape. In the past she often debated moving the mattress to the floor and just sleeping that way, but Spectre refused her from doing so, as he didn't want her sleeping on the ground like a poor person. Shaking the uneasy images from her mind, she watched as the guardian dipped the cloth into the water before wringing it out firmly. She bit at her lower lip, eyeing Spectre curiously up and down. "What…happened…?"

Spectre paused in what he was doing. It took him a moment before he was able to find the courage to even move his hands just to the edge of the bucket in front of where he was kneeling. "You got startled and ran off," he said simply, carrying that same neutral tone in his voice.

"You're being more vague than usual, Spectre," Zen-Ya felt the desire to point out. When his hand started to come over towards her with the dampened towel, she gently grabbed onto his wrist. "What happened…? I hardly…remember a thing."

The robed echidna continued to stare at Zen-Ya with that same blank look. It was always hard for her to judge what could possibly be going through his mind when he did such a thing. Of course, she knew it would be wise to see him in such a stance than see him furious—something she had seen before and hoped to never see again. "I am telling you what I know," Spectre said seriously. "I was walking about the village on my rounds, and I saw you stumble out into the open; you looked panicked. I couldn't get a coherent word out of you before you took off as you did."

Gently clenching onto the covers over her, she struggled to try and make sense of the images in her head. When she felt the cold cloth upon her warm forehead, she almost jerked away until realizing what it was. Zen-Ya could see the confused look in his eyes, making her whisper an apology. "I don't know why I am so jumpy. I guess I…I just don't know why I would forget all that I did." Moving her blond and brown hair out of her line of sight for a second, she did her best to get answers out of Spectre. "How long was I out for?"

"Three days, I think," Spectre answered. The guardian rarely kept track of the days. Whenever the sun was supposed to be up in the sky, it was usually very foggy and the clouds were thick and gray, almost making it seem like just another form of night. When she relaxed again, he went back to trying to cool her off.

Zen-Ya continued her struggle to get the memories to unfold a bit clearer, but it was still to no avail. She did remember that there was a cloaked figure that was trying to stop her as well as someone who grabbed her from behind. "Who brought me back…? Was it one of the other guardians?"

Once again, Spectre's answer was simple: "Sabre and Sojourner did."

She watched as he put the washcloth back on the edge of the bucket when he found himself finished. Zen-Ya couldn't help but shake her head at it all. He was doing his best to prevent from giving her as much information as he could, it seemed. Was Spectre intentionally holding back on her? It seemed odd for someone who vowed to protect her years ago. Wouldn't the truth do so more than a lie? "You're always so stubborn," she muttered, though she was aware Spectre could easily hear her gripe.

"So I've been told," grunted Spectre, as he got back to his feet once more to move the water elsewhere in case he may need it again for later. As he moved the bucket near the entryway to their room, he sighed a bit in defeat. A part of him wanted to tell her he was doing this for her own good, but he knew that would just arise more questions he was forbidden from answering.

Zen-Ya looked from her clenched hands to Spectre yet again to watch as he seemed to glide across the floor to where he had a candle lit to help illuminate the room a bit better. Grabbing onto the curved candleholder to lift it off of their wooden dining table, he ventured over towards the woman once more. She was often amazed at how he never made a sound. Everybody else always made the floorboards moan underneath their weight. While he had told her past wives were a bit startled by it, she couldn't help but be mesmerized and a bit curious as to what made his movements so quiet.

The metal helmet and the shadowed features of the dark furred echidna were kissed by the candlelight, as he brought the flame a bit closer to himself, so Zen-Ya could see him a bit better. "You best sleep. You're far from feeling one hundred percent better, I see." He moved the candle over to the nightstand, which was at par with where the young woman's head was. "Did you want me to blow the candle out?"

Her icy-blue eyes shifted to the candle flame to watch it dance for a moment. Staring into it after awhile, she swore she could hear voices hissing back and forth in her mind. Her eyes narrowing, as if to concentrate on the whispers, Zen-Ya could make little sense of them. Hearing Spectre call her name, it snapped her from her train of thought. "Oh—umm—no," Zen-Ya finally answered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's fine. Leave it."

Spectre merely nodded, leaving the candle where he placed it. Looking about the cramped living space, his eyes wandered over to the antique clock on the wall to note the time. It was nearing midnight from what he could see, prompting the elder to head towards the other entryway that was in their room. It was a simple sliding door across from the kitchen that led outside to a small balcony, which held a staircase that led down to the village; the other entrance, which was at the northern part of the room and not far from where Zen-Ya's bed was, led out into a corridor consisting of many other rooms and passageways about the main building.

"You're leaving?" Zen-Ya asked, sounding a bit unsure about his departure. She had just woken up from quite the ordeal, and while Spectre was far from the obvious nurturing type, she wanted him to at least be there.

His hand was merely on the handle at that moment when Spectre leaned back a bit to peek over past the archway of the room to catch his charge's eyes. "I am merely doing so for a moment," he assured her. Spectre's red oculars shifting back to the door before him, he closed them as if to gather his thoughts before saying: "I shouldn't be long."

All she could do was watch his shadow disappear behind the door he closed behind him given the oddly placed archway in their room that skewed her path of sight to that entrance. With the elder gone, Zen-Ya released a nasally sigh before resting her head back upon the pillow. Facing the candlelight, she tried her best to get the voices to come back and tease her senses once more, but she heard nothing. All was silent.

Praying for voices, she thought before closing her eyes in an attempt to get settled. What kind of a crazy echidna have I become…?

She wasn't sure how long she would remain out for. Zen-Ya hadn't paid attention to the time on the clock, which was right on the wall across from where she slept. However, she could have sworn she heard crying…and that crying sounded very familiar.

Sister Lara-Le…? Zen-Ya thought to herself.

The surrounding darkness in her mind soon made way for a saddened Lara-Le. Her knees to her forehead, she was crying quietly to herself. It was as if she didn't wish for anybody to hear her sadness. Everything else was dark. Zen-Ya couldn't make anything out, but it mattered very little, as the image was soon disrupted by the sound of nearby whispers.

"You're damn lucky we managed to get her back, Spectre!" Came a silent, yet very furious tone from the other side of the doorway.

Her eyes fluttering open, Zen-Ya saw that the candle had burned all the way down to nothing (or possibly drowned in its own wax). Looking about the room, she realized that the voices were coming from the other entryway, which led into the bedroom hallway. Moving the covers from her body, she quietly pressed her feet to the old floorboards to tiptoe a bit closer to the door. Feeling the dining table was good enough of a distance, she stood there to listen.

"She didn't get away. I thought that's all you cared about, Finitevus," Spectre seemed to growl in return.

"She's your responsibility," retorted Finitevus irritably in return. "She was the pathetic soul you picked out from this village; now, do your damn job in this, or I will have your head!"

When Zen-Ya heard Finitevus angrily stomp away down the hallway, she looked about the room frantically before hurrying as quickly back to the bed as she could. The last thing she wanted was Spectre to know she had been eavesdropping, let alone not doing what he asked. As soon as she had pulled the covers up to her neck to pretend to sleep, she heard the door creak open.

Expelling an irritable sigh, Spectre shut the door quietly behind him. Looking ahead to think on a few things, he soon shook the thoughts from his mind before pulling away from the door and heading back towards the bed where Zen-Ya 'slept'. He stared down at her long and hard making the female incredibly uncomfortable. She could always tell whenever he was looking at her. A part of her was worried he actually heard her scamper about the room earlier and was going to lecture her for it.

Instead, however, she heard his tattered attire whip about slightly, as Spectre moved from where he stood by the bedside. Releasing a quiet sigh of relief, her chest tightened when she heard his voice.

"If you needed something, you could have asked," said Spectre, as he leaned against the wall near the foot of her bed.

Relaxing her body, Zen-Ya blew an exasperated breath upwards to toss about her messy, bi-colored hair. "You're impossible to be sneaky around," she grumbled, as she moved onto her back to look over at the guardian. "I guess I just didn't want to…disrupt the exchange between you and the doctor."

Crossing his arms across his chest, Spectre closed his eyes as if to avoid the topic. "You wouldn't have been disrupting anything important," he said simply.

That was another thing that always baffled her about the elder. He never had another bed in the room and always slept standing up or sitting down. To Zen-Ya, that didn't seem quite comfortable. Moving over a bit, she motioned to the empty spot on the bed. "You can join me if you like?" She offered, motioning to the empty area beside her.

Opening his eyes, Spectre could just see in the lightless room the free space she had given him on the bed that was practically built for two. "No, I'm fine," replied Spectre with a simple wave of his hand.

Smiling briefly at him, she tried to do her best to put on a playful pouting tone. "So you don't care for me, do you?" While not ceremonially married, Zen-Ya did view Spectre as her mate and vise versa. Hearing the confused hum in his voice, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself at how the comment caught him off guard. "You know I'm not going to bite you or anything." Putting on a more serious rhythm to her words, Zen-Ya rolled her shoulders. "I guess after recent events I want you to be a lot closer than you usually are."

"I am right here," Spectre said, as the obvious seemed to go over his head.

Zen-Ya narrowed her eyes at his obliviousness. "I said closer than you usually are." Twiddling her thumbs, Zen-Ya looked over at the opposite wall where the clock and dining table was. "Ever since I met you, you've become increasingly distant."

"You were aware of who and what I was before you accepted my hand," explained the guardian, his dark outline the only thing she could really see though his helmet was coming a bit into focus. "I am sure you've even heard rumors throughout the village regarding my personality. Why would you accept me for who I am if that alone is not enough for you?"

"It's not that," Zen-Ya insisted quickly, almost offended he would think she was intent on changing him. "I guess, there are just moments I want you to do something simple like…" She paused, scrunching her nose up to think of anything simplistic he could do. "…I don't know, I guess sit down on the bed for a moment when I'm not feeling my best."

"Is that what you want?" Spectre's voice asked in the darkness.

Zen-Ya didn't answer. A part of her felt a bit disheartened that she had to tell him to do anything of the sort. She did accept him for who he was. Just his mere presence alone was enough to put her at ease. Asking him to be more loving would probably seem more like an insult to the guardian, so Zen-Ya merely bit her tongue.

As all these thoughts rushed through her, she felt the bed slightly sink to the right of her, indicating that Spectre was sitting there now beside her. Even in the darkness, she could see that he was looking at her. It was hard for the darkness itself to stamp out his crimson colored eyes. Even though she was sure he couldn't see it, Zen-Ya managed a relieved smile. Reaching nervously over to him, she found his arm and held onto it tenderly. She wasn't expecting him to react, so she just let him remain there on the bedside.

Feeling her arm about him, Spectre hesitantly moved his free hand. He was about to place his gloved hand on her own, but he stopped and he withdrew it back to where it was beside him. The painful reminder stinging his heart, the old guardian merely turned his head to look down at the floorboards he knew were there before shifting his sight back upon Zen-Ya. "I am sorry the prior exchange woke you. You should continue to sleep, however."

Taking in a steady breath, the young woman moved closer to her mate to nuzzle against his arm. When she closed her eyes to just enjoy his presence, the images of that night started to beat rapidly against the back of her head again. It caused her to release a displeased moan before placing her hand on the back of her head to run her fingers through her orange fur. "My head still hurts," she whispered to Spectre, not explaining why, as a part of her felt it would be unwise to explain what she was seeing in random bursts.

Continuing to gaze down at her in the lightless room with a neutral expression, Spectre moved his arm out from her embrace to help her lie back down upon the used mattress. He could feel she was going to put up less of a resistance as her body was going a bit slack from exhaustion. With her head soon upon the pillow, he moved the covers up to her chest at least to let her sleep. He didn't move from where he sat, as he knew that would merely give her more of a reason to fight to stay awake. Resting his arms upon his thighs, he kept his eyes fixated onto her to make sure she did do as he asked of her.

When not a single word was said for a few minutes, the guardian could easily tell that she was asleep once more. Removing his helmet in the darkness, he gently placed it off to the side to massage his forehead with a frustrated sigh. I'm sorry about the mess I've gotten you into, Zen-Ya, thought Spectre to himself. Know that whatever happens, I am sorry.