The day was quiet, the whole gang was relaxing at Chris's house. Sonic was avoiding Amy, who wasn't doing a very good job at following him around. Cream was playing with Cheese and Knuckles was napping. The guardian of the chaos emerald rarely got to rest, so he was relishing this moment of peace.

"Hey, Red!"

He groaned and looked up to see Rouge the bat come swooping in from outside. She had on her usual smile that made Knuckles feel a little warm. The two had slowly been forming a relationship over the year and were getting closer. He had even kissed her not too long ago.

"Sup?" She asked sweetly, sitting beside him casually.

"Nothing," He shrugged, smiling at her, "What brings you to town?"

"I don't know," She dusted off her gloves and stretched, "Just bored, I guess,"

There was a sudden, and random scream coming from downstairs, followed by a shatter. Both Knuckles and Rouge jumped to head down to see what all of the commotion was about. They found the culprit was Cream, who was horrified by a green hedgehog with long crimped hair hanging over his eyes banging all over the counter tops and pots and pans with a set of drumsticks.

"The hell!?" Rouge exclaimed.

"Manic?" Knuckles blinked.

The green hedgehog stopped his beat and looked at the red Echidna with wide eyes, "Knuckles, man! How's it hangin!?" he jumped up and off the counter, sending Knuckles a high five, "Long time no see, Bro,"

Manic had gotten taller, in fact, he looked like a Sonic double, save the crazy hair and green fur. His voice had also matured.

"What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked, confusedly, "I thought you were still in hiding,"

"We got bored. Thought we'd swing by to check Sonic out, ya dig?"

Knuckles heart skipped a beat, "…We?"

"You know this hedgehog?" Rouge spoke up, feeling shoved aside. Knuckles blinked, shaking his head and remembering his manners.

"Yeah. Rouge, this is Manic, Sonic's brother," He introduced, "Manic, this is…My…er… This is Rouge the bat,"

"It is a pleasure," Manic winked at her, kissing her hand in an attempt to be seductive. He gave her a wiggle of his eyebrow. Rouge grinned, but recoiled her hand thoughtfully.

"Charmed,"

"Manic, you said…we…" Knuckles brought that back up. Manic turned his attention to the red Echinda who looked like he was hanging on a word. Manic grinned mischeviously at him but made a zipping of the lip motion. Manic, obviously hadn't changed a bit in personality. This made Knuckle's temper flare, "Manic!" but at the exact same time, another voice chorused with his with a higher pitched, "Manic!"

Knuckles felt his skin grown cold when the door opened and in stepped a purple hedgehog who's face sent him flying right back to when he was just a kid. He couldn't believe he was staring at the first girl he met who could take out a swatbot. The first girl who he ever kissed…or kissed him. The first girl… he loved.

She didn't see him at first, she was too busy yelling at her younger brother, "I told you, we have to wait until we know for a fact he lives here. We can't just go barging into-" she stopped short when she noticed who was watching her.

The first thing he noticed was that her voice wasn't that squeaky thing it used to be, either! She a softer voice, (I'm imagining whoever does Katara's voice from Avatar. It'd suit her. You should imagine it, too)

He wanted to speak, but found himself locked in her emerald eyes. Her mature form nearly killed him. She wasn't as thin, but now had Rouge's figure. She had lost her 90's outfit and was now dressed much more stylishly. She had on a pair of black pants that fit her curves perfectly and a white vest, similar to the blue one Sally used to wear. Her hair was parted, and didn't hang in her face like it once did. She was a woman now, and very appealing one at that.

"Knuckles?" Oh God. The pained look in her eyes made his heart ache.

"Sonia?" Was all he could muster.

The moment was short-lived however with a sharp, "Ahem?"

"Uh… Right. Sorry, again," Knuckles said quickly, clearing his own throat, "Sonia, this is Rouge. Rouge, Sonia,"

"Sonic's sister I presume?" Rouge questioned coyly.

"Yeah, that's me," Sonia smiled at her. She looked at Knuckles who wanted to say something. Anything, but found he was powerless to his own feelings, "I'm… guessing Sonic is here, huh?"

"Yes. He lives here," Rouge grinned in forced politeness. She could see the chemistry between this new girl and Knuckles, and she wasn't happy about it. Not one bit, "You came to see him?"

"You bet we did! We haven't seen our bro in a minute!" Manic jumped in, putting his arm around his sister, "Sis here was in a tissy for like a year, wantin to come see Sonic and what if he needs help. Blah blah blah,"

Sonia's eyes fell on Knuckle's and she smiled sadly, also being able to see there was something going on between him and Rouge. Knuckles returned her sad smile with a look that seemed to red, 'I'm sorry'

OooOooO

The reunion was sweet. Sonic was overjoyed to be reunited with his brother and sister and promptly started showing them off and going into great detail of his heroic adventures, making sure not to leave out a single glorious moment that showed how amazing he still was. Amy was very interested in these new comers, and welcomed them very sweetly. Manic even apologized to Cream for scaring her.

"So how does Knuckles know them but I don't?" Amy asked once the stories were all done, annoyed that she was unaware of a part of Sonic's life but Knuckles knew about it.

"I met them when I first met Sonic," Knuckles admitted, taking a seat on the far side of the room, "We were kids and they were looking for their mom,"

"Knuckles helped us find her," Sonic added, smirking to himself, and then at Sonia, "But I think he had ulterior motives than just taking down Buttnik,"

Sonia and Knuckles both blushed and avoided the other's gaze, "right. Because I need more motivation than saving all of Mobius and protecting the Emeralds,"

"No joke," Rouge added, sitting very close to Knuckles and tracing small circles over his chest, "He nearly went ballistic over that thing when we first met,"

"You tried to steal it," Knuckles reminded her with a curious look, "How would you expect me to react?"

"Did you two get along when you first met?" Tails asked Sonic, growing easily bored of Knuckles and Rouge. Everyone's attention turned back to Sonic as he grinned again.

"Not exactly!" Sonic laughed, "First time I ever wopped Knuckles in a fight,"

"Excuse me, big brother, but I recall Knuckles winning that one," Sonia reminded him, poking his head.

"No way!" Sonic exclaimed, "You remember, don'tcha Knux?"

"Yeah. I remember… you were just as much a punk then as you are now… if not more," Knuckles grinned. Everyone laughed, including Sonic.

The night went on, Rouge had gone home and everyone was winding down for bed. Knuckles decided he would retreat to the roof where he sat there, staring up at the sky with a mind full of thoughts. He had honestly forgotten about her. After all that time, she had, honestly, been erased from his mind all together. But now… now all of these feelings and memories and memories of feelings were all flooding back, blowing him away slightly.

He put his face in his hand and groaned. What was he getting himself into?

"Knuckles?"

Knuckles picked his head up to see Sonia walking over to him. She took a seat beside him and smiled, "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Go ahead,"

She sighed, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the stars, "It looks the same here… the sky,"

"The only thing that looks the same from home,"

She couldn't help but smile at him, "You're the same,"

"Please don't say you mean that," he half laughed, moving his hand over her head, "I'm taller than you, now,"

"and your tummy's gone!" She joked, poking his now flat stomach. He laughed a bit and gave her the most honest smile he could. She blushed, "I've really missed you, Knuckles,"

" You missed me?" he echoed in shock, "Sonia, I turned you over to Robotnik. Because of me, you were almost Robotisized!"

"But you saved us, and stopped the Chaos," She reminded him. He watched her face grow sad, "It must have been so hard for you to make that choice,"

"I was tricked. Just like always," He sighed, shaking his head, "But… the hardest part… was after I met back up with you guys… You were so happy I was okay. I mean… Manic even said you were willing to risk saving Mobius in order to save me,"

She turned her head and sighed. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them there, "yeah. I went to hug you and you stopped me… and you were all gloomy after Manic said that… At first, I thought you were just being nice, ya know, to not get my hopes up or something,"

He looked at her slowly, urging her to turn back and look at him, "You were willing to save me before the rest of the whole world, Sonia… You chose your loyalty to your friend over Mobius," He explained, "I had just chose the other. I felt like a dick… but when I saw them take you away to be robotisized… and I saw that look on your face, I…I lost it"

She blushed, nodding as she recalled the incident "I'd never seen you so angry before,"

He put his hand over hers. For a moment the two were silent, staring at each other. Amethyst eyes met emerald ones as they looked deep in the others eyes. Their faces drew closer, wanting to place a kiss on the other, "I wasn't angry… I was terrified,"

She could feel his breath as he spoke on her face, his whisper making her skin tingle a bit. She had to admit, his deep voice made him a lot more appealing. Even though, he always was to her.

"Sonia…" He muttered, shutting his eyes and pulling his face closer. She slowly began shutting her own, leaning into his kiss but just before their lips met, she turned her head, biting her lip and breaking the moment.

She tucked her head down and rested her forehead on his chin, "Knuckles, aren't you with Rouge, now?"

He gulped and shut his eyes, pulling back slightly, a few words getting trapped in his throat so all he said was something like, "uh…er…uhm… W-well…"

She shook her head, looking back up at him. Something that felt like a bullet to the heart rung out when he saw tears lingering in her eyes. Her lower lip quivered, holding back the will to just break down right there.

"…Sonia," He whispered, moving his hand up to cup her cheek but she flinched, jutting her face away and turning.

"Coming here was a mistake," She told him, getting up to run, but she hadn't even taken a single step before she was grabbed. Knuckles had stood, taking hold of her wrist, unabling her to run off.

"Wait," He begged, "What do you mean mistake? You came here to see Soni-"

She cut him off by flipping her head back over her shoulder to let him read her face. Her lip pouted and her eyes narrowed in the most pained face he had ever seen on her… even worse than the time he had betrayed her. His eyes widened when it hit him like a ton of bricks. His eyes closed and he said softly, "me… you came to see me,"

"I need to go," She told him, pulling her hand from his grasp as she ran off. He stood there, watching her run off, knowing there were tears streaming down her face.

"Sonia! I'm… Sorry…"

OooOOoooOooOo

Woah! End of chappie 1!

Who will win Knuckles? Sonia or Rouge?

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