"Here it is; the museum," Sonic said as he stood in front of a tall building, even going as far as to gesture a hand up at it.
"You've never been here, right?" he asked, looking up at Knuckles.
Knuckles shook his head. "Nope, this is my first time here!"
Sonic nodded, then grinned wide and opened the door for him. "Maybe we'll see some awesome echidna culture stuff!"
Knuckles grinned back. "I hope so!"
The two headed inside, staring around at all of the artifacts and paintings.
Sonic whistled. "Big place. Impressive." He didn't visit museums often, so this was a nice surprise.
"Whoa..." Knuckles looked around in awe. "In a place this big, they gotta have something about echidnas!"
Sonic nodded. "For sure."
They walked around for a while until Sonic noticed one of the artifacts; a mural of a pharaoh that shared Sonic's likeness.
"Hey, Knux, check it out!" he exclaimed, imitating the pose on the mural.
"Cool!" Knuckles chuckled. "Hey, look at that!" he added, pointing at something.
Sonic turned to look, but stopped as he heard a voice behind him.
"It's you two!"
A decently-tall male stood behind them, looking like he worked at the museum.
"Uh...who's that?" Knuckles whispered to Sonic in confusion.
"Dunno," Sonic replied with a shrug.
The male walked up to them and bowed. "I'm one of the workers here. I'll admit, I was really surprised to see you two here!"
"You... are?" Sonic asked. "Why?"
"You don't know?" he questioned. "You two are in a relationship, aren't you? Please tell me it's true!"
"U-um...yeah...?" Knuckles was very confused now. "How did you know that?"
"Because you two are perfect incarnations of the ancient 'Runaway Prince' legend!" the male replied, looking excited.
"Runaway... Prince?" Sonic repeated.
"Yes, yes, come this way!" the man told them, leading them down one of the hallways.
Knuckles wasn't really sure what was going on, but he followed the man anyway.
Hey, maybe this guy knows something about echidnas, he thought.
The man brought them into another room, then showed them a mural. "It was a countless number of years ago; back when castles and royalty still existed."
The mural showed what was basically Sonic and Knuckles, both holding hands and looking to be running somewhere. It was rough, but it got the message across.
"A hedgehog prince's life was saved by an echidna peasant, and the two grew to love one another. Not wanting the peasant to face the consequences of their relationship, the prince took him far away to where no one would suspect or find them," he explained. "It's a very popular love story among museum goers."
"Wow..." Knuckles gazed at the mural. "They look just like us, Sonic!"
"It does..." Sonic mused, eyes wide as he stared at the mural as well.
The man grinned. "It was said shortly afterwards by a fortune teller that the two were meant to be together, and, if they were ever reincarnated, nothing could keep them apart."
"What's 'reincarnated' mean?" Knuckles asked curiously.
Sonic looked over at him. "It's kinda like, when someone dies, and their soul goes off to live off in another body at some other point in time," he explained.
He stared back at the mural. He couldn't put his finger on why, but he got a strong sensation from it; maybe it really was his past life...
Knuckles put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "'Nothing could keep them apart', huh?"
Sonic got where Knuckles was coming from. "Our dreams..." He glanced over at Knuckles. "You don't think...?"
"Whoa..." Knuckles' mind was officially blown.
Sonic blushed sheepishly. "I guess that'd explain it," he muttered. "You were a completely different world."
"Yeah..." Knuckles smiled softly. "I guess that's why we fell in love so fast. We kinda already knew each other without even realizing it!"
Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I guess so!"
The man grinned. "You were destined for it right from the start."
"Did ya hear that Sonic?" Knuckles asked excitedly. "We were always supposed to be together!"
"Yeah!" Sonic exclaimed, equally as excited. "Though, heh..." He put a hand behind his head sheepishly. "I bet I would've fallen for ya anyway."
Knuckles blushed. "R-really?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Sonic asked with a grin. "You're nice, funny, and a really cool guy all around~" he added.
Knuckles became even more flustered. "S-Sonic..."
Sonic's grin softened into a small smile. He gently grabbed Knuckles' hands, looking up to him. "I mean it..." he said in a hushed tone.
Knuckles' face flushed in embarrassment, but he grinned at Sonic. "You're awesome too," he said with a giggle.
Sonic flushed, then giggled as well. "You're the only one who can make me look like this when you say that," he said, pointing to his red face.
Knuckles grinned.
Then he remembered that the museum guy was still standing nearby.
"Oh, u-um..."
Sonic smirked. "Ignore him."
He locked Knuckles into a kiss; he never cared about what the public thought.
Knuckles' face turned completely red, but he wasn't complaining. He kissed back, wrapping his arms around Sonic in a hug.
Sonic chuckled. The man smiled at the two, then left the room to give them their space.
Sonic gripped Knuckles' shoulders tight, lost in the kiss. The height gap between the two actually made it better in his eyes.
As they continued to kiss, memories stirred in the back of their minds. Somewhere deep in their subconscious, they could remember doing this long, long ago, in a different life.