DISCLAIMER & AUTHOR'S NOTE:This fic is about Knuckles the echidna, who is a character owned first and foremost by Sega, so Archie comics can go and do something to itself in a corner while ranting about unauthorised fan fic, since THEY DO NOT OWN HIM. I'm not making a certain red-headed teen confess his undying love to a certain fat bald principal, and I'm not making a certain skinny misogynist with a paper crown snap and do things with a knife that are totally contrary to decent family values. So Archie comics can just back off. By the way, to stave off any frightening messages, I do NOT think the aforementioned pairing in question works, nor do I think said hat-wearer would do such a thing. I'm just sayin', is all. Anyway, the other characters, whom I shall not name at this juncture are by and large the property of Sega. The only one who isn't is some random echidna near the end of the story who I haven't bothered to name. Anyway. This isn't my first fic, but it's the first one I've ever finished. So here it is. Review it!
"Quills"
Knuckles awoke to the sound of flickies chirping, and to the warmth of sunlight streaming in his window. He yawned, stretched, and then was assaulted by a blue ball of speed.
"Wake up, wake up, move it or lose it, time to get up Knux, let's go!" it shouted in his face.
Knuckles swung groggily at the annoyance, sending it across the room. "Ow!" squeaked the hedgehog that the blur had resolved into. "That HURT! You're so MEAN! MOM"
He blurred out of the room.
Knuckles rubbed his eyes, taking care not to use the backs of his hands. What was THAT about? That hedgehog had acted in a way and certainly demonstrated a speed that was classic Sonic. But that hedgehog couldn't be more than six. And what was he doing in this house, anyway? This wasn't his room. He got up... and found his gloves waiting beside his bed. He shrugged. Something must have happened, and he'd been brought here. He'd find out soon enough what was going on. He pulled on his gloves and went through the doorway, going into the hall. He walked down the hall, and ran into an older blue hedgehog.
"Hey, slugger, careful there!" the hedgehog said. Knuckles stared at him. He looked really familiar, and yet... Knuckles shrugged.
"Sorry, sir." he apologized (diffidently.
"Sir? Hmph. I suppose you could call me that. Growing up, I guess. Come here! Give me a hug"
Knuckles went wide-eyed as the older man suddenly gathered him into a crushing bear hug. What was going ON here? He smiled weakly at the hedgehog, and went the rest of the way down the hall, emerging into some sort of kitchen. There was another blue hedgehog in there, this one female. She was cooking something that smelled good, and she had that odd, met-her-before feeling the other older one had evoked. She looked up and saw Knuckles.
"Good Morning, sweetie," she said cheerfully.
Knuckles said nothing, momentarily taken aback. Was there... had they... but this woman was old enough to be his mother! And he was still only sixteen. No. Nothing had happened. But then, why?
He realised he had been staring at the woman with panic in his eyes for several seconds.
"Good morning," he replied.
His mind was spinning. Who were these people that called him 'sweetie' and 'slugger' and hugged him at random? Where was he? And where had that little blue hedgehog go-
He was suddenly flat on his back on the floor. A blue SOMETHING had shot through the room and knocked both of his legs out from under him.
"Hah! Gotcha back!" shouted the little blue rodent that had skidded to a halt across the room.
"Sonic! That is not appropriate!" shouted the older hedgehog woman. The word hit Knuckles' mind like a sledgehammer. Sonic. It WAS Sonic. But he wasn't six! Then it hit him. The odd familiarity of the older hedgehogs. THESE WERE SONIC'S PARENTS! He HAD met them before, but they had been roboticized - how - ? But, yes, successful deroboticizations HAD taken place, he knew that, something about an alien with a christ complex, but he'd heard that Sonic's father couldn't be - then HOW?
"But Moooooooom, he HIT me! I just went to get him up and he hit me and it's not faaaaaiiiiirrrrr!" the younger animal was wailing.
"I don't care, Sonic. I've warned you about using that speed of yours on any of our friends. And to misuse it like that on your own brother-!" scolded the hedgehog Knuckles now knew to be Bernadette. Sonic has a brother? Knuckles mused to himself. No he doesn't. Then he realized - he must have been warped to one of the other zones! He'd heard that Sonic had siblings in one the other zones at least, why not this one? Zonic would be mad when he found out someone else was sending people zone-hopping. Knuckles sighed. Another weird zone adventure. Wonderful.
His back hurt. He sat up, started to rub it, then - "OW!" Knuckles yelped. Something sharp on his back had skewered his hand! He brought his hand around, saw blood. "Oh, dear!" said Bernice. "Be CAREFUL, Knuckles! Come with me right now and we'll bandage that up in the bathroom"
Knuckles allowed himself to be helped up, stunned by the revelations and the pain.
"Careful dear, don't trip," said Bernice. "I don't know, it's bad enough you've got those odd growths on your hands, you don't need to skewer yourself on your quills as well"
Knuckles shook his head. Quills? Echidna quills grew on the head, not the back. And they weren't sharp... he didn't have quills on his... on his...
"Bernadette," he started to say.
"Now, just watch it, young man. That's a little too familiar. Call me Mom"
Mom? Knuckles looked wildly around, and saw the mirror across the bathroom he'd been led into. He was still red, he still had his knuckle-spurs, but he was... he was.
He descended into darkness, screaming.
Knuckles sat bolt upright, in a cold sweat. He hurled the covers aside, and charged from bed, down the hall, and out the door. He didn't actually own a mirror. He launched himself into the air, and glided as fast as he could through the moonlight, touching down by the side of the lake. He flopped down at the edge of the water and stared wildly down at the water. And then collapsed. Head quills. Flatter, broader head than a hedgehog. He felt his back. Smooth. He sighed happily.
Then he stopped. There, his mother and father were still together. He wasn't a Guardian. And he had - he had a little - he paused. No, an unbroken family wasn't worth it. Even an absence of Wynmacher and his Darth Vader underpants wasn't worth it. Even something Knuckles would have probably grown up quite differently with, a father who knew how to love his son in a way that showed, wouldn't be worth it. NOTHING was worth THAT. Knuckles went home, actually cracking a rare smile. He might have to deal with the little twerp, but at least he wasn't related to him.
"Guardian! Guardian!" a voice shouted. Another red echidna charged up, winded and wheezing. "Guardian, that blue hedgehog and some robots have landed in the middle of the city and their battle is destroying our homes"
Knuckles' face twisted. Of course, being his big brother might have offered some tiny degree of control ... if that were possible.