-DISCLAIMER-

Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters/themes © SEGA and/or Sonic Team.

All other characters/themes © Kathryn Christine Starcrafter/Lumorean Arts.

-DANCE FOR THE MOON-

Watch Me Dance

The sight of twilight was always breath taking, exceptionally so to those who revered themselves as children of the night. Echidnas, were not, nor anything close to, nocturnal. Especially not a certain scarlet one bequeathed the name Knuckles. Though not fond of darkness, nor the beings that lurked in its shadows, that didn't mean he couldn't have an insecure infatuation with one of its offspring. In truth this fixation was still all new to him, the emotions it brought making him rapturous and aroused.

Through the humid, blanket-like air of a storm once passed he sprinted towards the desolate edge of his island. The damp, marsh-like earth squished beneath his heavy shoes, keeping his destination sprite in his mind. He skid to a stop right at the embankment, the velvety heavens glittering with silvery gems far beyond the horizon. Across the ebony sea a diminutive cityscape rested, the outline glowing only vaguely within the shadowy light of the oncoming night. What made it so prominent from this distance was the lustrous, multi-colored orbs sprinkled over the prodigious metropolis. From his island gentle sounds could still resonate in the echidna's ears, mostly just automotive horns. Across the way the full moon glistened like a grand street lamp along the edge of Station Square, its reflection shattered in the black mirror of Emerald Ocean.

Someone lived down there, someone very important to him. He would never admit that to her, nor anyone that questioned. It was his invaluable secret that no one had the right to hear. She was an ivory bat, a sleek spy and thief that could charm even the most temperamental dragon into submission. And that dragon had been a territorial guardian to a gem of infinite power. She had an obsession, if you will, with jewels that often lead her into scuffles with the solemn echidna. Those fights always intrigued him. They excited him in the sense that she was his exact opposite, as yet there was an indistinguishable thread that intertwined him to her. There were similarities buried beneath far more adversities that left him to believe that it was impossible to be friends let alone something greater. Though, as of yet, that had been proven wrong. They were dangling on a swinging rope of friendship that often threatened to snap on occasions of crisis, whether the world was in danger or the two had gotten into a disagreement.

Even still he harbored the emotions she gave him, hoping against hope that something would eventually become of them.

So, why had he abandoned his post? Why had he escaped to the edge of his prison to loom down upon the city in which she dwelled?

It had all happened the night before, actually. He was doing a regular survey of the island, ensuring all was at peace, when he happened to glance down at the only city his island could view. Though it wasn't exactly the city itself that caught his attention, it was the moon just off the shore. He watched as blackened specks began gliding in its light, gracefully, almost like a dance. From a distance he could not see what they were but he knew they had to have wings of some sort. The affair ended abruptly before the echidna could decide whether to investigate or not so he let his curiosity about the situation be.

Through the next day he could think of nothing other than the choreography he had witness the night before. His inquisitiveness was growing and feeding off his mind like a lawless beast, desperate to find at least one piece of the puzzle that could decipher what had happened. He concluded that it had something to do with Rouge, or at least bats in general. Something about the way the creatures moved reminded him of her

gracefulness in flight, her perfection in riding the wind. At the thought not only did this beast inside of him grow to irrational proportions but now another one had joined it, one with an urge to rip open his ribcage and fly off to her location and ask her if she had anything to do with that night.

Currently both wrestled with the another to catch a glimpse of the shadows blackening the moon. It was the same as the night before. Knuckles growled as his face wrinkles in irritation at the racing thoughts. A third creature had then been awoken from its uncomfortable sleep. It began to quarrel with the other two, screaming to remain on the island with the Master Emerald and to forget the whole situation.

Finally, something snapped. Two of the beasts had been killed, leaving one to roar in victory. He sprang from the island's edge on well oiled joints and shot his arms out to the air. His scarlet dreadlocks flailing for a moment before catching the tempest and propelling his bulk into the horizon.

After nearly fifteen minutes his flight at last descended onto the far border of Emerald Beach. His dreadlocks gingerly settled upon hiss shoulders as the air dissipated beneath them. Amethyst irises peered into the distance where slimming figures clustered against the sand dunes and frothing waves. Some had taken to flight while others remained land bound.

Cautiously he crept towards the ones that remained standing. As he drew closer he could tell the masses were indeed bats of various species, perhaps the eldest in their late twenties. A multitude of spectrum could been seen just from this length, each bat's fur giving off a reflective sheen from the moon's pale luminescence. Each one adorned themselves in garments of similar colors to their pelt. If one was violet only blues and purples cloaked its skin, black-fluffed ones covered themselves in only ebony, and whites seemed to favor the flow of silk.

In truth there was only one who's radiance shimmered like freshly fallen snow. And he knew instantly that it was Rouge. With the gentle draft her taffeta gown fluttered about her bare legs and feet like the waves washing up onto the shore. Her head turned upwards, turquoise eyes bore into the heavens above.

As Knuckles drew close it was like stepping into a square overlaid with pigeons, bats lifting to the air in participation for this ritual. Upon hearing his approach with those excellent ears her face spun to him. Their eyes met in profound silence. Then she smiled, and began to gait towards him with a leisurely stride that seemed almost forced. She stopped only when they were but a foot apart, eyes still clinging to his.

"Rouge, wha-" He found his lips sealed by two of her petite fingers, canceling the next syllables.

"You'll see." It was as though she knew why he had come.

Her voice enchanted him into silence, leaving him only to watch as her dark-lilac wings expanded in a rush of air, lifting her deliberately into the inky sky. So he planted himself there, bewildered and uneasy, to wait and see what she had to offer him.

She twirled majestically about the humid, salty air. Her garments spiraling tightly to her form, exhibiting the luscious curves and tawny skin that lay beneath. The echidna's heart pounded at the sight, wishing the spell-link grip she had placed on him would weaken so he could glide to her and caress her voluptuous body in his arms. His glove-less paws to pull those hips to his.

Rouge spiraled higher and higher, into the bodies of her kin. The scarlet guardian could have watched her for hours, each supple movement stroking his eyes to demand him witness every second. The creature deep in his chest purred loudly, kneading his heart like a content kitten.

And he would have remain like that were it not for a sight that made the beast turn to savagely gnaw at his pacemaker. Rouge had glided up to a silver male with azure eyes, sweeping back and forth across him, trying to grasp his attention. And by the look of his face he was more than pleased with what he saw. Knuckles began grinding his teeth as the two returned to the sands, securing a more secluded patch towards the other half of the shore. As they nuzzled each other affectionately the echidna couldn't help but snarl and glare daggers at the bat that had stolen Rouge's attention. The beast deep inside slashed at his rib-cage as if to escape and devourer this cur.

He couldn't stand it any more, his fingernails nearly drawing blood from his palm. He turned on his heels and bolted into the urban jungle, desperate to find a structure high enough to send him straight back to his Master Emerald. He drove his clawed knuckles into the side of an unsuspecting building and worked his way to its height. Punching with a bit too much venom near a few windows and just about shattering them as he ascended.

Upon reaching the zenith he glowered down at the location he knew her to be. Again milling his teeth at the thought of her down their making out with a bat she didn't even know! At least she and him had hand moments together, times of peace and equality where differenced no longer mattered. She knew him and he knew her. This male couldn't have possibly gained such knowledge of her with just a glance as he had in the past two years of friendship -no matter how unsteady it had been.

To steam off his aggression, Knuckle began to Shadow Box against a vent near the edge of the rooftop. But the images of her embracing and fondling that gray bat poisoned his every thought. The echidna gave a final yelp with one last punch before vaulting into the open air and plummeting down to the screeching, light-bathed streets below.

-END OF CHAPTER-

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