Betrayal

by CrystalMaiden77

After Knuckles gets into a fight with Sonic for the sixth time to prove he can beat him in a fight, Sonic gets fed up. After five years of one of his closest friends turning on him, Sonic realizes that he can't forgive him this time.

Sonic was standing over Knuckles, who was lying on the ground of the park covered in bruises. Knuckles had fought against him again, and had just been beaten in a fight by Sonic again. Sonic sighed, shaking his head with his arms crossed, and said in a resentful tone, " Really, Knuckles? This is the fifth time you've been tricked by him! How is it even possible that you got tricked by the same lie you were told four times by someone you knew for a fact wasn't trustworthy?! "

Getting up, Knuckles said, " I don't know... these things just... happen... " clearly out of breath, still looking annoyed at losing. He couldn't understand why he kept losing to Sonic when he was physically stronger than him. Taking purely strength into consideration, he should've won. Knuckles slowly stood up and briefly rubbed his right arm, only to quickly stop and clear his throat when he saw Sonic looking at him, to avoid looking weak by showing that he was actually hurt.

Knuckles said nonchalantly, " Alright, so, now that that's over with, I guess you're gonna call me an idiot, again, huh? Okay, let's get on with it, we're going to lunch soon, and Tails has a new sandwich recipe for us to try. " There was a silence, as Sonic looked at him coldly and resentfully for four seconds straight, and then just walked away while ignoring him.

Knuckles immediately suspected something was wrong, because under normal circumstances, Sonic would yell at him immediately, instead of coldly glaring at him and leaving without saying a word. Following him and trying to hide that he was worried, Knuckles said, " Um, Sonic? " He forced a chuckle and said, " Aren't you gonna say anything?... Aren't you gonna, call me an idiot, and, say you're ashamed to be associated with me, and so on?... Not that I want to be insulted by my friend, it's just that you usually don't skip right to the ' ignoring me ' part. What's going on? " The two of them were standing near a bridge over a river in the city's park. Aside from the sound of the river below, there was a dead silence.

" YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE! " Sonic snapped, glaring at him with his fists clenched. Knuckles gasped, startled by Sonic's sudden accusation. He was expecting Sonic to simply be annoyed with him and ignore him for a while before silently forgiving him, like he always did. Shocked at him coming to that conclusion so fast, Knuckles could only stammer, " Wh-What?! "

" Nobody could be stupid enough to get genuinely fooled that much by someone he knows for a fact he can't trust! Of course you'd be tricked when you first met him, you didn't know any better! But the last few times, you had no excuse! And it all makes sense to me now! "

Knuckles stammered, " Wh-Wh-What are you talking about?! " seeming to be panicked. Sonic exclaimed, " Eggman didn't trick you at all! You just used it as an excuse to get into another fight with me, because you are so desperate to prove that you're stronger than me, that you'll even work with my sworn enemy to try to win one! "

Seeing how angry Sonic was, Knuckles realized that the secret was finally out, and no amount of lying could change that. He sighed, and said in frustration, " I'm not a bad friend just because I tried to compete with you a couple times! What about all the times I've helped you? What about all the good times we had together? "

" Oh, you mean the good times where you tried to beat me up? Oh, yeah, I loved the times where you betrayed me and worked with my mortal enemy! How many times has that happened, now? Oh, yeah, FIVE! " Knuckles said in frustrated disappointment, " Are you ever gonna let that go? " Sonic exclaimed furiously, " NO! You betrayed me! You tried to beat me up, multiple times, without even having a good reason! You didn't try to hurt me because you were on Eggman's side- "

" What's so bad about that? If anything, this should make me more trustworthy, because I'm not actually tricked as easily as you thought I was, so I'm more reliable than I made you think. You used to think I had actually been supporting Eggman when I fought you! Now you know that I wasn't, because I wasn't tricked! I haven't been on Eggman's side since the first time he tried to take the Master Emerald from me, and that can't be anything but a good thing! I've never wanted you to die or get sick or get permanently injured or even feel miserable, and Eggman does! Heck, even before we became friends, I still didn't want Eggman to take over the world! I didn't support him on the goals he really had, and I never will! So what's so bad about this? All it means is that I was just fighting you for my own reasons, and never because I turned against you! This should make me more trustworthy, not less! "

When Sonic was listening to him making excuses, he was becoming increasingly frustrated until he finally couldn't take it anymore. He snapped, " MORE TRUSTWORTHY?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How, are you, ' reliable, ' if I can't trust you not to hurt me?! At least when I thought you were just gullible, I thought you were only fighting me because Eggman had tricked you and you wanted to do the right thing! At least then I thought your reason was sympathetic! How can you expect me to respect you for starting fights with me on a whim just to try to satisfy your ego?! At least when I thought you were just gullible, I believed that you would only try to hurt me if you thought I was doing something evil, and I trusted you to never want to hurt me when you knew I was doing nothing wrong. But now I can't even trust you with that! Even when I'm doing good, even when I'm stopping Eggman's plans, even when I've done absolutely nothing to hurt you, you still feel the need to try and beat me up, and you expect me to believe that we're ' friends? ' "

Seeming a little more hurt than frustrated, Knuckles said, " All I'm trying to do is compete with you! There's nothing wrong with getting into a competition with your friend to work off stress! " Sonic shot back, " If all you want to do is compete with me, fine, we can do that on our own time. But one of the worst things about it is your timing! Every once in a while, you accuse me of being evil and try to beat me up, and if that wasn't bad enough, you do it at the worst possible times! You've always tried to fight me when I was already busy stopping Eggman's plans and needed you to help me! What kind of a friend are you?! Do you actually think that beating me up would have no negative impact on my ability to stop Eggman's plans? What if I had to go to the hospital?! What if I had died?! What if Eggman swooped in and killed me while I was unable to fight anymore because of you?! I was right, you are an idiot, because only an idiot would do something that irresponsible! It's either that or you don't actually value my life and only care about actually winning over me! If you truly cared about me, you'd never even think about doing that! You don't see Tails trying to hurt me, because he's a true friend, unlike you! "

Desperately trying to think of something to say in his defense, Knuckles pointed out in frustration, " H-Hey, I wouldn't try to hurt Tails! Or Amy, for that matter! And neither would you! It's not like I'd hurt people who have never hurt me! But you've hurt me plenty of times! By that logic, you never cared about me at all, and so you aren't my true friend, either! Oh, but I guess the rules are different when it involves you! "

" You don't get it, do you?!... First of all, we started out as enemies, because the first time you saw me, you attacked me and stole all my Chaos Emeralds! Why the heck wouldn't I wanna hurt you after that?! And not only that, but you kept antagonizing me after I got every single one! I wouldn't have wanted to hurt you in the first place if we weren't enemies! I would never have attacked you if we were friends! I wouldn't have attacked you, if we were on the same side! I wouldn't have attacked you if you were in the middle of fighting Eggman and doing absolutely nothing wrong! But I can't ever say the same for you! You would beat someone up even if you knew they didn't deserve it! I am nothing like you! How can you expect me to believe that I should trust you with anything if I can't even trust you not to hurt one of your friends? I can't even trust you with the most important thing a friend can be trusted with, and you actually have the nerve to say that this makes you more trustworthy! REALLY?! "

Knuckles was having an increasingly difficult time trying to hide the fact that he was getting genuinely worried and upset. Sonic was actually disappointed in him. He had never stopped to consider just how it made Sonic feel to be betrayed over and over again without even so much as an apology. In a stunned silence, Knuckles started to wonder if he really was a good friend. Sonic continued resentfully,

" I don't think you understand the gravity of what you did. You betrayed me five times in a row! Even once was bad enough! We started out as enemies! Our friendship started out shaky to begin with! The entire reason I forgave you, and decided to be your friend, is because I trusted you. I trusted you to never work with Eggman again. I was already having a hard time trusting you, and then all of a sudden you betrayed me by working with Eggman again! Anyone else would've completely given up on you! It's bad enough, that you worked with him once, but then you had the nerve to do it a second time, and without even so much as an apology?! If I had known when I first became friends with you, that you were just going to hurt me again, I would've never even considered it! How could you do that to me?! I trusted you! And the only reason I forgave you, despite your complete lack of an apology, was because I thought Eggman had tricked you. I thought you were trying to do the right thing. I thought you were trying to fight me for a good reason, but obviously I was wrong. "

Knowing by now that trying to say anything in his defense would be pointless and just make things worse, Knuckles instead focused on trying to not get too upset while simultaneously trying to make it clear that he was regretful. Unfortunately, the message didn't get through. Sonic continued resentfully, sounding a lot more disappointed in him than angry,

" And then we were friends again, and it actually seemed like I could trust you for once, because years had passed without you doing what Eggman wanted once. We went from kids to teenagers without you betraying me again, and I was proud of you, for realizing you made a mistake. I was really beginning to trust you. I got a better opinion of you. I actually believed that you would never hurt me again. But it turned out I was wrong. You betrayed me at the worst possible time you had ever done it in your life. Not only was it after an extremely long period of being completely loyal to me, but it resulted in Eggman being able to steal two of the emeralds and give them right to Chaos! You showed up when I needed your help, and all you were was a nuisance! How could you do that to me?! It was the worst thing a friend had ever done to me, and you didn't even say you were sorry. You even continued to act antagonistic towards me after Eggman left! It was bad enough for me when I thought you were just being an idiot, but if I had known that you didn't even think you had to fight me in the first place, I would've ended our friendship right then and there, because you would've proved to me that no matter how much time had passed, no matter how long we were friends, you would always continue to betray me... You didn't change, and you never will! "

Finally feeling like he was done telling him off, Sonic turned his back to him, believing that Knuckles had finally understood the gravity of the situation. He wanted to make it clear to him that betraying him was not something he deserved to just have shrugged off without even an apology, and that he had no reason to trust him again.

Unfortunately, that silence was eventually interrupted. " Sonic... " Knuckles said. He sounded like he was feeling ashamed and upset, rather than frustrated and victimized. It was almost as if he felt guilty. " I... Look, I know... I understand now... I didn't realize just what I was doing when I started those fights with you. I wasn't doing it to betray you or, upset you. I wasn't even doing it to spite you. I just wanted to prove to myself that I was actually capable of winning a fight against you. My entire purpose on your team is to be the tough guy, and that requires me to be stronger than you, and if I can't even manage that... then what am I good for? "

He sighed, and continued, " If I had won in our second fight, it would've been good enough for me, because it would've proved that I could do it. I would've never fought with you again, because I would've had no reason to. All I wanted was to win for once, not to let you down... It wasn't because I hated you. I would never want anything to happen to you. I wouldn't want you to get killed, or get sick, or, get permanently injured or anything like that. Fighting you was just to try to make me feel better about myself... It wasn't because I was secretly your enemy or anything. I never stopped being on your side!... I always cared about you... "

There was a silence. Sonic's lack of response wasn't entirely encouraging. He hoped it was because Sonic was listening, and not because he had decided to never speak to him again. Knuckles said with genuine regret in his tone, " I can't even begin to tell you how much I regret what I did to you. If I had known that I was making you feel this way, I would've never done it. You've gotten annoyed with me a lot, but I never realized you were disappointed in me, and now that I know what it feels like, I can't stand it. I don't want you to be disappointed in me... I want you to be proud of me... This isn't exactly easy for me. I'm not the kind of guy to talk about my feelings or anything like that. It's why I have such a hard time apologizing to you. I've got a reputation as a tough guy to protect, and I don't want people to lose respect for me because I show any weakness and let it slip... But maybe apologizing doesn't make me weak. Anything that takes as much effort as that, can't possibly make me weak. I'm sorry, Sonic... If trying to win a fight with you has damaged our friendship that much, I'll never do it again. Because even if I won the next time, you would never forgive me... Nothing is worth losing your friendship. If there's anything I can do to fix this, and get things back to the way they used to be, I'll do it for you... "

There was a silence. Knuckles wasn't sure what that silence meant. Did it signify that Sonic was preparing himself to turn around, swallow his pride, and forgive him? Or did it mean he wasn't accepting his apology, and was angryand indignant at being expected to? He couldn't stand not knowing. He considered speaking again, and decided against it when he realized it would decrease the impact of his apology. If he wanted to get forgiven, he had to wait for it. Pressuring him for a response would only imply that he felt entitled to forgiveness. After a couple seconds, he saw Sonic start to shake. Confused, he knew that it could mean one of two things - he was either crying or enraged - and decided to hedge his bets on the former, placing his hand on Sonic's shoulder to comfort him. He hoped that, if he was angry, doing that would calm him down, making it a good idea regardless of how Sonic was feeling.

Sonic turned around so quickly it startled him, and confirmed his worst fears. He was glaring at him with his fists clenched. He stammered in frustration, with his voice breaking, " Don't you get it, knucklehead? I'll never forgive you! I have no reason to forgive you! I, I-I hate you! "

There was a silence, as Knuckles stared at him in shock, looking hurt. After a few seconds had passed, he finally responded angrily, " Well, then I hate you, too! " lying just to show him how it felt. There was a dead silence. It hurt to hear that coming from him. Sonic had suspected it, but actually hearing it from him felt a lot worse than he could've ever imagined. None of his friends had ever said that to him, no matter how upset with him they were. None of his friends had said that to him and meant it. He had to force himself to continue glaring at Knuckles instead of letting his face show how sad he was, to try to hide how hurt and upset it made him feel to hear one of his closest friends say that to him; and while he didn't know it, Knuckles was feeling the exact same way. Before anything else could be said, Sonic ran home at the speed of sound, instantly leaving in a blue blur. Knuckles was so shocked and disappointed by his reaction that he didn't try to follow Sonic as he ran home. He just stood in place, staring at him as he left.

He couldn't believe it. Sonic had rejected his apology. In a way, it made sense; there was no reason for Sonic to forgive him for something he had done five times in a row with no signs of stopping ever since he had met him, and if he did accept his apology, then he ran the risk of being even more devastated if Knuckles ever broke his promise and let him down. Sonic didn't want to get his hopes up.

Knuckles thought back to all of the times he had fought with Sonic, and the reactions he had gotten. Each time, Sonic was incredibly upset, and expressed annoyance with him for turning against him. The amount of time it took Sonic to stop being irritated with him and reluctant to work with him increased each time. By the fourth betrayal, it had gotten to the point where he would spend the rest of his adventure being annoyed with him, as well as several after that. Knuckles remembered how Sonic had used to be friendly towards him, even nice to him, a long time ago, until their friendship deteriorated to the point where they couldn't be alone with each other without Sonic being disrespectful towards him at every opportunity. Thinking back, it all made sense; Knuckles could pinpoint the time their friendship took a turn for the worse right down to the fourth time he fought with him. He had been a traitor that day. He had been one for years.

Knuckles was left with the realization that it was his fault that the friendship had fallen apart, because of all the times he had betrayed Sonic's trust by hurting him when he needed his help. Five times was enough. Sonic could only forgive him so many times until he couldn't do it anymore. He could only look at him with frustration and disdain. There was no friendliness or respect left in his eyes. It had been replaced with resentment. His friendship was over.

Devastated, Knuckles tried to deal with the situation as best as he could without looking weak. He knew that it could have turned out much worse. Sonic could have completely lost his temper with him instead of just responding to his apology with cold disdain. He could have actually addressed the apology and directly rejected it instead of simply telling him to leave him alone. He could have yelled at him and stormed off, gone on an angry rant, or even attacked him and made the end of their friendship clear. Sonic could have ended the friendship a lot worse than he did. But thinking about how lucky he was to have avoided a worse reaction didn't make him feel any better about earning the hatred of the most important person in his life.

After all those years of taking forgiveness for granted, he was finally facing the consequences of his actions. It wasn't until now that he realized the gravity of what he did. He had tried to beat up Sonic five times simply to prove he could do it. He tried to beat up his best friend when he wanted his help. And that was the definition of a betrayal.

One of the worst parts about his situation was that he wasn't just losing Sonic. He was losing the rest of his friends, too. If he couldn't be around Sonic anymore, then he couldn't be around anyone that Sonic spent most of his time around, which included Amy and Tails. So if Sonic didn't want to be his friend anymore, he wouldn't be able to see the rest of his friends anymore, either. After all that Sonic had done for the world, his friends would feel that they owe it to him to respect his wishes and not bother with Knuckles anymore. So he didn't just lose Sonic. He lost everyone else, too. He was all alone, with no one left to support him. He was devastated. He couldn't go back to being all alone. But that's just what he was going to be forced to do, only now, he wasn't just alone. He was hated and alone.

Faced with an overwhelming amount of negative emotions at a situation that looked bleak, Knuckles responded by acting angry and storming off, suppressing all of his sadness in order to avoid breaking down and looking weak. He knew that no one was watching, so he wasn't trying to stay strong for other people. He was trying to stay strong for himself. If he didn't keep his feelings under control, he would feel weak and pathetic, and lose all respect for himself, extinguishing any hope he had left.

After a few minutes, his thoughts started to get harder and harder to ignore, and Knuckles took off running as fast as he could, looking angry as he tried pushing his worries to the back of his mind. As he ran out of the meadow and into the city, he found the entrance to the Aquatic Mine that he had used so long ago, and ran into it, wanting to try and distract himself. By navigating through a place he hadn't been to for years by focusing on his memories of a time when Sonic liked him, he could give himself something to think about that didn't depress him.

As soon as he reached the inside of the Aquatic Mine, Knuckles ran to the area above a hole in the ceiling using his jumping and climbing skills, activated the switch that drained all of the water from the mine's major lake, and returned to the now dry lake, in an even bigger hurry. He found his way back to the underwater passageway leading to the Air Necklace. Finding it increasingly harder to hide his sadness, he acted even more frustrated, and after taking a deep breath, he started swimming through the underwater tunnel as fast as he could.

As he was swimming through the tunnel, he started finding it increasingly difficult to suppress his feelings and distract himself from losing his friendship with Sonic. Near the end of the tunnel, he had started shaking, and as he started swimming up to the surface of the water as fast as he could, he became more and more stressed out, until finally, he reached the surface of the water. Finding himself in a small enclosed space where he was surrounded on all sides by rocky walls, he gasped for air, climbed onto dry land, and his tough exterior broke.

As soon as he gasped for air, he closed his eyes and started coughing and exhaling in short sharp breaths, shaking as he sat down on the dry land. Trying to convince himself that he was only shaking because he was cold, he gasped for air again, soaking wet from head to toe. His face was wet from being underwater for so long, to the point where not an inch of it was dry. Trying to dry his face, he took off his cold wet gloves and started wiping his face as much as he could, exhaling in sharp breaths and shaking with his eyes squeezed shut as he felt absolutely miserable. It was there, in the small hidden place where he was completely alone, that he finally stopped trying to look angry, and accepted his sadness at last.

He stayed there for so long that he had lost track of time. Even long after he had become dry, he had still continued trying to dry his eyes, desperately trying to make them stop watering for reasons he knew too well.

Eventually, when he couldn't stand how tired he was anymore, he finally felt like he was capable of going home without looking as sad as he felt. Seeing that it was night as he left the Aquatic Mine, he slowly made his way back to Angel Island, with an expression of resentment on his face in case anyone saw him, and eventually made it back to his house at the stroke of midnight. Once he reached his bed, he collapsed onto it in exhaustion, passing out from lack of sleep, not even being able to get under the blankets in time.

The next morning was a grueling one, one that he considered to be the worst morning of his life. He woke up lying on the top of his bed's blankets, with a pillow underneath his head, feeling cold and tired. The only part of his body that wasn't freezing was his head, and he was so exhausted that even though he knew it was 8:00 in the morning, he didn't feel like moving a muscle. Groaning, he forced himself to get out of the bed to start his day. He wished that he could just go back to sleep and not guard the Master Emerald, but he knew that now that he couldn't be around Sonic anymore, he had no excuse not to do it.

As he forced himself through his breakfast trying not to fall asleep, he remembered how he could just tell the Master Emerald to shrink itself down so that he could carry it wherever he wanted, allowing him to guard it and enjoy himself with his friends at the same time. He didn't have to spend all of his days standing in front of the emerald, bored and lonely on Angel Island, when he had friends. He was forced to face the fact that those days were over now, and he had nothing left to do with his life but stay on Angel Island all alone and guard the emerald until Sonic needed to use it, as if that would ever happen. He felt useless, lonely and depressed, all from that one thought.

Still not feeling well, he finished his breakfast and forced himself to walk outside and into the Master Emerald shrine room, bringing the shrunken Master Emerald from his room to inside that big marble palace of a shrine. He placed the small emerald into a large pedestal, and watched as it automatically grew into a gigantic emerald right in front of him. He sighed, and spent hours after that standing in front of a giant emerald staring at a wall, doing absolutely nothing.

It was clear that if he had nothing to do but stand in front of an emerald all day, he wouldn't be able to not start thinking about what had happened to him yesterday; there was nothing to distract him, because he was alone with his thoughts. The only thing that could happen to distract him would be if Rouge tried to steal the Master Emerald again, which would force him to stop thinking about Sonic and fight her.

But he wasn't sure if he could fight her. Although he didn't want to admit it to himself, he was in no condition to fight. He was still feeling miserable, and dreaded the possibility of being caught in such emotional turmoil, especially by Rouge, which could actually happen if she showed up at the wrong time.

But if that wasn't bad enough, his feelings weren't the only things making him in poor condition to fight. The only part of his body that wasn't feeling unusually cold was his head, which was feeling increasingly warmer as time went by. After a few hours, Knuckles started shivering, and complained, " Why is it so cold in here?! " in denial about his condition.

That wasn't even the end of it. He had woken up in the morning feeling tired and exhausted, and only became worse as time went on. It eventually got to the point where he had to sit down because he was feeling so weak. Breathing deeply, he said in exhaustion, " I gotta sit down... " and groaned, coming to the conclusion that he was suffering the after-effects of not falling asleep until midnight. " I'm never staying up that late again... " he groaned.

As time went on, Knuckles became increasingly weakened and ill, until he finally accepted the idea that he was in no condition to guard the Master Emerald. With his hands on his head, he sighed, and said, " What am I doing? I can't guard the emerald like this! I feel like I'm about to pass out!... What was I thinking? Thinking I could ignore how I was feeling and distract myself... I'm such an idiot... " He realized that a better idea would be to just take the emerald to his room, hide it under his bed, and sleep there until he felt better.

But that plan was easier said than done; by that point, he was too weak to stand on his own. Forcing himself to stand up only gave him a head rush and made him feel even more exhausted. He felt like there was no ground beneath his feet. He saw stars as a red haze blocked his vision, and felt dizzy and out of balance. Three seconds passed, and he started seeing double. Knuckles weakly moaned and collapsed, losing consciousness after falling forwards onto the cold hard floor.

Meanwhile, Rouge had started her day in an incredibly good mood. She had been given a vacation by her employers at GUN recently, and was happy at starting her vacation, free of the responsibilities that her job required her to do. To start off her day, she had decided to drop by the Master Emerald's shrine room and see if the emerald had been left there unguarded. After the inevitable fight with Knuckles, she planned on going to the mall to buy some new dresses, and spending the remainder of the day relaxing on her couch, watching movies. Those were her plans for the day as she cheerfully made her way to Angel Island with a smile on her face, without a care in the world.

After entering the island, she made her way through the jungle and reached a large golden colored building with stained glass windows and murals painted on it. Recognizing it as the new Master Emerald shrine, she opened the doors to go inside, and walked down the hallways full of statues and relics on her way to the room with the Master Emerald.

When she finally entered the room, Rouge gasped at what she saw. Knuckles was collapsed on the floor unconscious, lying on his side in front of her. She exclaimed with concern, " KNUCKLES! " and rushed to his side, frightened of what could have happened to him. Rouge placed her hands on his back, and it felt unusually cold to the touch. " He's freezing! No, no, no! Knuckles! " Even more scared at the possibility that he was cold because he had died, she said, " No, no, you can't be dead! " She pushed him with both hands to turn him over on his back, and placed her hands on his head, checking to see if he had gotten a head injury. " Are you alright?! "

As soon as she placed her hand on his forehead, she felt a hot sensation and gasped, pulling away in concern. " Oh my god, you're burning up! " she exclaimed in fear. " You have a fever!... Oh, Knuckles... " As she stared at him in sympathy, examining him, she noticed how tired he was. He had bags under his eyes.

Overwhelmed with sympathy, she placed her hands on his chest to check his vital signs. His chest was rising and falling at a dangerously slow and irregular rate. His pulse was weak, but it was still there; and he was still breathing, but just barely. " Thank goodness... Knuckles?... Say something! Speak to me! " she pleaded with him, forcing back tears. There was no response.

She looked at the Master Emerald, her hands still on his chest keeping track of his heartbeat. She knew that she could use this as the perfect opportunity to steal the emerald, but she would never forgive herself for doing so. Knuckles needed someone to help him. He was ill. If she didn't help him, he might actually die. She looked over at him with panic, and noticed a sad and depressed look on Knuckles' face as he laid there on his back unconscious, giving her even more sympathy. After a brief hesitation, she said, " That emerald can wait! You need my help NOW! "

She lifted him up by the back of the knees, and stood up with him, with his head on her shoulder and her arm supporting his back. She said with concern, " I'll take you home. I'm gonna get you some warm blankets and a cold compress... " and carefully carried him in her arms as she brought him home.

When she made it to his room, she carefully lowered Knuckles into in his bed, and covered him over with the blankets. " Knuckles, wake up... " she said softly in concern, still to no response. Still worried about him, Rouge rushed out of the room, found her way to the washroom, got out a cold compress and thermometer out of the First Aid Kit, and returned to Knuckles' side. He was still in a deep sleep. She sighed, sat next to him in his bed, and started gently holding the cold compress to his forehead to cool him down. Since his mouth wasn't open at the moment, she decided to wait until he had woken up to check his temperature. Filled with concern for him, she sighed and gently stroked his head, feeling sorry for him and hoping he would be okay. " Please wake up, Knuckles... Please… " she pleaded, hoping he could somehow hear her. He was lying in his bed unconscious, with no signs of waking up.

As soon as Knuckles had fainted in front of the Master Emerald, he had started to dream about what he couldn't get out of his mind, his friendship with Sonic ending. He dreamed that he was lying on the ground of the park after a fight with Sonic, too bruised and in too much pain to fight anymore. Sonic had fought with him especially hard this time, and it made him wonder if he was in a bad mood. Not wanting to look pathetic and weak by making it clear how hurt he was, Knuckles forced himself to stand up despite the stinging pain, and acted nonchalant about the whole fight, saying with a smile, " Well, now that the fight's over, why don't we go after Eggman and give him what he deserves? Come on, it'll be fun! "

He managed to stand himself up, and looked over at Sonic, only to see Sonic giving him a cold and resentful look of disdain with his arms crossed. Instead of insulting him, he didn't say a word. There was a dead silence. Trying to hide how nervous it was making him, Knuckles said with a forced chuckle, " Sonic, uh... You aren't mad at me, are you? " Sonic looked even more frustrated with him. " S-Sonic, you're not gonna hold this against me, are you?! " Knuckles said nervously, realizing how much trouble he was in. Finally, Sonic couldn't take it anymore, and snapped.

" OF COURSE I AM! This is the fifth time you've done this to me! How can you expect me to forgive you when I can't even trust you not to betray me five times?! " Knuckles gasped at how angry Sonic had gotten. " ' B-Betray?... ' D-Do you really mean that?! "

Sonic shot back, " YES! It doesn't matter if you say you were tricked, that doesn't mean you should get away with trying to beat me up! One of the whole points of having a friend is that they try to prevent you from getting hurt, not try to hurt you themselves! Here's a tip about how friendship works. You can either be my friend or try to beat me up. Not both! " After a shocked silence, Knuckles said, " Does this mean you're never gonna forgive me? "

Sonic said resentfully, " Don't you lecture me about not being forgiving. Ever since I met you,

I have gotten very good at forgiving. You join Eggman's side and spend my entire adventure making things harder for me, I forgive you. You try to prevent me from getting Chaos Emeralds to beat Eggman, I forgive you. You try to beat me up, when I'm expecting your help... I forgive you!... And for what?! What's the point of forgiving you if you're just gonna do it again?! Every time you turn against me, I think about how upset the rest of my friends would be if I gave up on you, and it guilts me into giving you another chance, no matter how many times it's happened! I've been feeling like a doormat letting you get away with it over and over and over again without any sort of consequences and I'm sick of it! Enough is enough! No more second chances! I've given you a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance, and a fifth chance, even though you never even apologized to me and I'm through with it!... I can't do this anymore... "

Sonic became increasingly stressed out the further into his rant he got. It was clear that he was incredibly upset about one of his own friends turning against him, and had been holding back his feelings about it for years. Something about them all coming out at once caused him to have a difficult time telling him off without his voice cracking by the end of it. By the end of his rant, he had gone from resentful to furious to sad and depressed, trying to keep it together. Knuckles was shocked at what had just happened. He felt guilty for making him that upset as Sonic said quietly with a depressed tone of resignation,

" You don't do anything to make it up to me after trying to beat me up as if you don't even feel guilty about it in the first place. You just assume that I'm gonna forgive you and then do it again. You've been taking my forgiveness for granted. And I can't do this anymore... I've given you so many second chances, and always ended up regretting it... I give up. There's no point in going on with this when it isn't healthy for either of us! I want our friendship to get better. I want that more than anything. But it's only gonna get worse. "

He looked away, and said sadly, " I have to end it now. It's for my own good. So I can't forgive you anymore. " Knuckles gasped sharply. " Sonic- " he began to say, only to be cut off.

" I don't ever want to see you again... " Sonic said in resignation, giving up on him. He tried to walk away, but was stopped when Knuckles put his hand on his shoulder, saying with a panicked tone,

" Hey, wait! " about ready to beg for forgiveness.

" Just STAY AWAY FROM ME! " Sonic exclaimed in frustration, causing Knuckles to take his hand off his shoulder looking startled. Sounding more hurt than angry, Sonic said quietly, " I'm done... " with a cracking voice and tears in his eyes. He ran off into the distance, leaving Knuckles standing alone in the middle of a field, looking devastated.

It was at this point when he stirred in his sleep, and weakly moaned, " Sonic... " in a shaking whispered voice, surprising and worrying Rouge, who wondered what he was dreaming about as she kept holding a cold compress to his head.

His dream went forwards in time to when he was back on Angel Island the next morning. He was on his way to the Master Emerald shrine when he heard a familiar high-pitched voice shout his name in a rage, turned around, and saw Amy running towards him with her hammer ready. Thinking fast, Knuckles jumped to the side, causing Amy's hammer to smack into a tree behind him and get stuck. Then, he quickly got back up, yanked the hammer out of Amy's hands and threw it off into the distance as far as he could, causing her to gasp in fear at being left defenseless.

Amy was frightened, only to look sad and confused at Knuckles placing his hands on her shoulders and giving her a worried look instead of an angry one. " What's going on? Why did you try to hurt me? " Still intimidated by him, Amy answered while shaking in fear,

" Sonic told me and Tails that you said you hated us and didn't want to be friends with us anymore, so I got Tails to secretly take me here to confront you on it. Please don't hurt me! " This made him feel even worse. He was forced to face the fact that he was so well known for hurting his friend that even the friends he would never hurt, would still think that he would try to hurt them. Amy's eyes were filled with fear. He couldn't stand seeing her so scared of him, even if she had just tried to smack him with a hammer, and the last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him.

" I can't believe Sonic would lie to you like that... " Knuckles said in disappointment, unable to believe that Sonic would try to ruin his friendship with Amy and Tails. Shocked, Amy exclaimed at him, " Lie?! What do you mean?! "

He explained unhappily, " Sonic and I had a fight yesterday, and after he beat me, he said that he couldn't forgive me anymore. He said that I had turned against him too many times just assuming that I would get forgiven, and he was sick of feeling like a doormat giving me second chances because of you. I tried to apologize to him, and he just told me to stay away from him and ran off... He said that he was done forgiving me. I haven't seen him since. "

Amy said sadly, " That's awful!... I can't believe Sonic lied to us... Why would he lie about something like that? " Seeing that she believed him, Knuckles finally took his hands off her shoulders, trusting her not to get her hammer back and attack him with it.

" It must have been because he didn't want you and Tails to bother with me anymore, so he just told you I didn't want you to see you anymore to keep you away from me. He thought there was nothing good about you guys staying friends with a traitor, so he had to make you think I would hurt you if you confronted me, " he said, clearly looking ashamed and depressed at the situation. Amy gasped. " A traitor?! He called you that?! " Knuckles sighed, and answered, " Basically... "

There was a silence. Amy quickly put her arms around him in a hug, overwhelmed with pity. Knuckles quickly decided to return the hug, even though it made him look like he had gone soft, because showing Amy that he appreciated not losing her friendship was worth it. He was thankful that she was still his friend, even if Sonic wasn't. Amy told him, " Oh, Knuckles, you're not a traitor! You're a great friend! " filled with pity for him.

After she finished the hug, Amy told him with a smile, " Don't worry, Knuckles. I'm gonna tell Tails about this. We're still gonna be your friends. Even if we have to hang out with you in secret, we'll never abandon you. " Knuckles sighed in relief at hearing that. " Good, " he replied. Amy smiled, and said optimistically,

" I'm sure Sonic will forgive you eventually. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder! Eventually, he'll remember all the good times you had together, and things will go back to normal! We just have to be patient. " Amy ran away with a smile, picking up her hammer from the ground before leaving the island. Knuckles sighed, having no hope that things would turn out that way.

Soon, he was surprised when everything in his vision faded to black, and he began to lose all sensation; his dreaming had ended.

He slowly began to regain consciousness. Feeling incredibly tired and weak, he became aware that he was lying in a warm soft bed underneath some warm blankets, with most of his body being a lot colder than normal. He still felt sore from the bruises Sonic had given him just a day before. He felt like his head was overheating, but he felt a cold object being held to his forehead cooling him down, which he greatly appreciated. He was unable to ignore the fact that he had fallen ill and was in no condition to guard anything anymore, but he still appreciated how he had been taken to a warm bed where he could get better. Soon, Knuckles started to wonder who had taken him to his bed in the first place. He didn't want to open his eyes when he felt so tired, but he had to find out who was helping him out.

Knuckles weakly moaned as he slowly opened his eyes, not being adjusted to the light after having his eyes closed for so long. He gasped at seeing that the one at his bedside was Rouge, who was holding a cold compress to his forehead looking extremely concerned about him. Rouge said with concern,

" Thank goodness you're awake... It's okay. I didn't take the emerald. You matter more to me than any old jewel. I saw you passed out on the floor, and I couldn't bring myself to leave you there all alone! I had to help you, Knuckles. You have a fever!... You're in no condition to be guarding anything right now... You need to rest. "

Knuckles didn't know what to say. He couldn't believe that Rouge cared about him so much. He thought that she only thought of him as a nuisance. While he was disappointed that he wasn't being helped by one of his friends, it was still comforting to know that at least one person outside of Sonic's group of friends cared about him. He was so exhausted that he could barely move, and the fact that he was still sore from Sonic's fight with him didn't help, but he still managed to summon enough strength to smile at Rouge, proud of her for doing the right thing.

She deeply appreciated his reaction, but she still couldn't help but be worried about him. She picked up the thermometer with her other hand, and said with concern, " I need to check your temperature. Open your mouth. " She quickly placed the thermometer in his mouth, and took it out after seeing what it had to say. She looked worried, only to reassure him, " Your fever isn't bad enough that you have to go to the hospital. You can just stay here for a while. You'll be fine in a couple of days... " Knuckles sighed unhappily. She went back to holding a cold compress against his forehead, and asked, " Do your friends know that you're sick? " knowing that he would be prefer to be helped by one of his friends.

He said in a depressed tone, " No... I don't have friends anymore. " Rouge gasped. " What?! Why not?! " she asked, feeling even more sorry for him. Knuckles didn't really want to talk to her about it, not really liking the prospect of opening up to a selfish jewel thief. But after losing his friendship with Sonic, he had felt so alone that he needed someone to talk to. It would make him feel a lot less alone if he told Rouge what he was going through, and since she would be on his side for the time being, it would also make it easier for him to be okay with her taking care of him by getting himself to trust her more. Deciding that telling her the truth was worth it, Knuckles sighed, and explained,

" Sonic and I had another fight... Usually after we have a fight, he forgives me for it. I mean, he doesn't outright say he forgives me, but he lets me help him and hang out with him. He'd be annoyed with me for a while, but he'd still be my friend, and he wouldn't hate me for it... But this time, I wasn't so lucky. I expected to be insulted, but instead, he just gave me a long resentful look before walking away. He didn't bother to speak to me at all. He didn't say a word. I asked him what was going on, but he just ignored me. It doesn't sound so bad, but trust me; it was. We were walking together in dead silence... It really felt like he resented me. "

More upset than before, he continued, " Eventually I couldn't stand it anymore, and I... I gave him an apology. It's not something that I ever do because it makes me look like less of a tough guy, but I was desperate... And... after I apologized... I put my hand on his shoulder, to show him that I really meant it... and he just shrugged it off and told me to leave him alone. "

There was a silence. It was easy to see that Rouge felt sorry for him. She clearly understood the gravity of the situation. Trying to reassure him, she said, " Well... even if Sonic doesn't want to be your friend right now, you're still not gonna be alone. "

" You don't understand. All of my friends spend most of their time with Sonic... If Sonic doesn't wanna be around me anymore, and he's always hanging around Tails and Amy, then I won't be able to be around them, either. If I lose Sonic, I lose everyone!... I... I have no one left. "

Rouge sighed, and put her other hand on his shoulder, getting him to look at her in surprise. She said with sympathy, " That's not really true... Knuckles, I need you to know that, no matter what happens between you and Sonic, I'll always be there for you... I know it's hard to believe coming from me, but it's true. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always talk to me. "

Knuckles looked over at her nervously, and became relieved at realizing that she was telling the truth. While he wasn't sure if he wanted a jewel thief for his only friend, it was certainly better than nothing. After a silence, he finally smiled, and said, " Thank you... " Rouge was relieved that he appreciated what she said, but she still couldn't help but be worried about him.

" I'm sure Sonic will forgive you eventually. I mean, absence makes the heart grow fonder! Eventually, he'll remember all of the good times you had together, and all of the times you helped him, and he'll miss you... " This reminded Knuckles of what Amy had said to him in his dream. He smiled at the hope it was giving him, and said, " You're probably right. He'll miss me... We just have to be patient. "

Rouge smiled. " I'm glad I could make you feel better... Try to go back to sleep, alright? You need your rest. I won't leave your side, I promise. " Feeling tired, Knuckles nodded, and closed his eyes. Rouge smiled, and stayed by his side as he drifted off to sleep with her holding a cold compress to his forehead.

It was clear that Knuckles was getting better just by her being there. She knew that his friendship with Sonic ending had made him so stressed out that it weakened his immune system and made him end up with a fever. But just by comforting him, she was causing him to regain his strength. She cared about him more than anyone else in the world. No matter how long it would take her to nurse him back to health, she wouldn't stop until he recovered. And if Sonic hadn't come to him to forgive him by then, only then would she go and confront him about it. Knuckles' friends didn't need to know that he had a fever right now. If they found out, they would go check on him, and bring Sonic along before he had forgiven him; it would only make things worse. She couldn't get anyone's help. This was something that she had to do herself.

By lunch time, Knuckles had gotten an hour of rest. When he finally woke up, he slowly opened his eyes, and saw that Rouge was walking into the room carrying a bowl with a spoon in it. Under her arm were some paper towels. Confused and tired, he asked sleepily, " What's this? " slowly sitting up from his bed. Rouge carefully gave him the bowl, revealing it to be half-full of soup, and said nervously, " I brought you some chicken noodle soup. I know it's kind of cliché, but it'll make you feel better. "

As Knuckles started with the soup, Rouge placed paper towels over the blankets still covering part of his body as he sat up in his bed. Staying at his bedside, she watched him have his lunch with concern. He seemed to be feeling a little better just from drinking the soup, and he clearly appreciated it.

After about a minute, Knuckles asked her, " Aren't you gonna have lunch, too? " Rouge hesitated, before answering nervously, " I don't want to leave your side just to make myself some lunch. You still need my help. " Knuckles raised an eyebrow as he looked at her while having his soup, thinking she was making a foolish decision. He deadpanned, " Don't you have any soup left over? You can just have that. You shouldn't starve yourself and go without lunch just because you're taking care of me! You need to be able to help me until I recover, and that won't be easy if you're hungry all the time. If you're so concerned about me that you don't want to leave my side, go to the kitchen, get some lunch, and then come right back here. It won't take long. "

Rouge nodded, and left the room, wondering whether Knuckles said that because he cared about her or because he was taking advantage of an opportunity to call her an idiot. She hoped it was the former, or at least both, as she quickly left the room, poured herself some soup, and carefully went back to his side, careful not to spill her soup. After she returned to his side, the two of them spent several minutes having lunch in silence, with Knuckles being too tired to feel like focusing on anything other than having his soup, and not wanting to converse with someone he still didn't entirely trust in the first place. Rouge wanted to talk with him to break the silence, but she knew that it would be better if he just focused on finishing his soup, and she couldn't think of anything to talk about that wouldn't depress him by reminding him of his situation with Sonic. Asking him about any of his adventures would just upset him by reminding him that Sonic used to like him, and make him feel even worse by stressing him out. He needed to get better as soon as possible, and that wouldn't happen if she stressed him out.

Knuckles tried not to get distracted by any old memories, but the silence did nothing but make him think about them. As Knuckles tried to focus on having his soup, he couldn't help but think back to what had happened that had led him to make the decision to betray Sonic for the first time. Remembering a time back when he was a child, he had a flashback as he continued with his soup.

Knuckles was leaving his house for the day. It was morning, and he was planning on spending another day standing in front of the Master Emerald as it stood in its pedestal, gigantic and out in the open. He had nothing to look forward to but one long, boring day standing in front of an emerald with nothing to do. Only Eggman showing up would liven up his day, and he didn't entirely want that to happen. It had only been a month since he had fully recovered from his last encounter with Sonic and Eggman, where he had been electrocuted by him after a fight with Sonic that had already injured him enough, making him injured to the point where he was forced to leave it to Sonic to get back the emerald that he was supposed to be protecting in the first place. He had been so injured that he was forced to get into a temporary truce with Sonic and trust him to get his emerald back. He didn't like the idea of trusting his enemy to deal with his other enemy and bring back the Master Emerald to him, but he had been so injured that he had no choice; all he was able to do was punch to pieces a wall and lower the bridge to the Sky Sanctuary. That was it, and just thinking about it made him ashamed.

After that day, he had to spend weeks at home in his bed recovering from being beaten up and electrocuted by two different people, keeping the Master Emerald shrunken and under his bed while he recovered on his own, forced to take care of himself, with nobody there to help him. For the first time in his life, he had felt lonely. He had spent most of his life being all alone, and he was fine with it, because he was able to entertain himself all by himself, and didn't have a reason to miss social interaction because he had never had any memories of it to make him appreciate it. But after he met Sonic, things had changed. He started to miss having other people on the island with him. Even if the social interaction was negative, it was at least social interaction, instead of being all alone with no one to talk to. He had to spend all of his time recovering by himself, with no one there to help him. There couldn't be a stronger reminder that he didn't have any friends.

Just thinking about it made him angry. Sonic presented himself as a hero, but when someone he knew got injured, he did nothing to help him; he just left him all alone making him recover for weeks by himself. Just thinking about it made him aggravated. Sonic wasn't a hero. He only cared about himself.

While he was in the middle of thinking about all of this, he was surprised at seeing Eggman flying towards him at walking speed, sitting in his trademark Eggmobile. Remembering what Eggman had done to him, Knuckles was annoyed just at seeing him.

As soon as Eggman came up to him, saying casually, " Oh, hello, Knuckles the Echidna. Long time no see! " Knuckles growled, causing Eggman to look a little shocked. Eggman asked in confusion,

" What? What's the matter? Why are you so unhappy to see me? " Knuckles rolled his eyes at Eggman being selfish and callous enough to seemingly forget why he wouldn't want to see him again, and deadpanned angrily, " You electrocuted me and stole the Master Emerald. " Eggman replied, " Oh, right. I guess it would make sense that you'd still be mad at me about that. Have you recovered from your injuries? "

Frustrated with Eggman suddenly acting all polite to him and trying to strike up a casual conversation after everything he had done to him, Knuckles growled, rolled his eyes, and walked away from him shaking his head. He thought to himself resentfully, " He just doesn't get it. "

Eggman followed him, floating in his Eggmobile at walking speed as Knuckles walked away from him. He quickly ended up just behind him, almost floating right next to him, so that Knuckles couldn't ignore him. " You didn't answer my question! Are you still too weak to fight? " he asked. Knuckles growled at being called weak, since being strong was the entire thing he based his pride on; that, and being the guardian of the Master Emerald, which he had already failed miserably at because of him. After turning around to face him again, he said resentfully, " No... I'm fine... No thanks to you! " He turned away, and complained under his breath, " Or anyone, for that matter... "

Surprised and confused, Eggman said, " W-Wait, are you saying that no one helped you recover?! " Knuckles looked back at him, surprised at how Eggman had heard him. That mad scientist must have had remarkable hearing. Knuckles replied resentfully, " Yes. Why do you care so much? " Eggman commented in genuine surprise, " It's just that Sonic and you both turned against me after that fight, so I had assumed that the two of you became friends. And Sonic always tries to present himself as a hero, so, you know, you'd think that someone who makes that claim would back it up by helping someone recover from their serious injuries... I certainly wasn't expecting him to just make you deal with them all by yourself! I would've assumed he would've at least sent Tails to help take care of you! That certainly is weird... You'd think that he would help his own friend recover from being injured to the point where he can't fight for weeks! Not to say that I think Sonic is a good person, because I don't, but if he had helped injure Tails, he would have helped him... Why wouldn't he help you? "

Knuckles sighed; Eggman may have been evil, but he made a good point. Being reminded of how lonely he felt having to take care of himself, Knuckles said resentfully, " Sonic's not my friend. " Confused, Eggman asked, " Huh? Why not? "

" Because he's a smug cocky jerk who thinks he's better than me and tries to present himself as a hero even though he didn't do a thing to help me recover from my injuries and just left me here to forget about me. That's why, " Knuckles explained with resentment, annoyed at just thinking about Sonic. " He doesn't care about me... " he said with his arms crossed, looking depressed. He said under his breath, " No one does... "

" That's odd... If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you still hated Sonic... " Eggman commented with his hand on his chin. Knuckles said angrily, " Not as much as you! " knowing that while Sonic was a selfish jerk, Eggman was still a lot more of a villain than him. Knuckles thought of both Eggman and Sonic as evil, just to different extents; Sonic didn't want to use the Master Emerald to power giant destructive machines or trap animals in robots or take over the world. He was too lazy for that, and didn't have the intelligence to build the kind of machines that would allow him to accomplish such goals. He was a hero because doing heroic things was thrilling and exciting for him. But even if he was a hero, his personality didn't exactly match up to that. And that made Knuckles hate him. But he didn't want Eggman to think that he hated Sonic more than him, because after finding out what Eggman was really like, that was impossible, and he found such an idea offensive by principle. Still, Eggman was at least being a lot more polite to him than Sonic ever was. Sonic had never even tried to strike up a friendly conversation with him, not even after he had brought back the Master Emerald to him in the Tornado. He just brought the emerald to him and immediately left without saying a word. Sonic never visited him once.

Instead of getting offended at Knuckles' response, he nodded in understanding, and commented, " True. I did try to steal the Master Emerald and use it to power a robot, and hurt you when you tried to prevent me from doing that. I'll admit it, your hatred after that is understandable. But at least I'm honest. Sonic plays a part in injuring you by beating you up in a fight with him, and witnesses you getting electrocuted right in front of him trying to do something he didn't see as evil, and despite all that, he still didn't feel sorry for you enough to try to help you recover from your injuries! He may think of himself as a hero, but he sure doesn't act like one. He tried to act like he cared about you and liked you and was on your side, but then he goes and forgets about you when you're no longer needed! I didn't expect Sonic the Hedgehog to just use you and discard you like that. I had assumed that you two became close friends and that he cared about you, and liked you, and respected you, but after hearing that he basically betrayed you, it's starting to look like I was wrong. "

Just hearing that made Knuckles incredibly upset, and he turned away from Eggman after crossing his arms, not wanting him to notice just how depressed he was at the idea that Sonic didn't care about him. He didn't have any friends. If Sonic didn't like him, then he was truly all alone in the world, because if Sonic didn't support him, no one did. Not even Tails came to visit him, and Tails was supposed to be the nice one. If anyone cared about him, it had to at least be Tails. But it started to seem like neither of them cared. Why would they care, if they just forgot all about him the instant he stopped being useful? Sonic had manipulated him, intentionally or unintentionally, into thinking that they had become friends, just to stop talking to him as soon as he brought him back the Master Emerald. Just thinking about that upset Knuckles so much that he clenched his fists, expressing his feelings with anger instead of looking weak by showing how lonely and abandoned it made him feel. He started shaking, with his sadness turning into anger as he thought about Sonic, and how he had humiliated him by beating him in a fight effortlessly, and then getting him to care about him so much that he started finally feeling lonely.

Noticing his reaction, Eggman continued, still in that same intrigued tone, " By the way, how much did Sonic hurt you?... Did he ever apologize? "

Knuckles didn't want to answer that first question, because it would make him look weak by admitting how much he had been hurt by someone not as physically strong as him. But he couldn't help but think about the answer. After that fight with Sonic, he had been covered with bruises from head to toe. He was still able to run and jump and everything, but it was painful; there was a reason he had stopped fighting with Sonic, instead of continuing with the fight to avoid the humiliation of being defeated. He had to put his left arm in a sling and wrap several bandages around his arms, chest, legs and head, and it took a long time for him to recover. Sonic may not have realized how much pain he caused him, but the fact remained that he hurt him, and even though they supposedly joined sides at the end of the adventure, Sonic never even apologized for hurting him, let alone help him recover or at least come visit him to see if he had recovered from being electrocuted to unconsciousness. " No, " Knuckles said after a silence, sounding resentful, but disappointed.

" Seriously?! Did... did Sonic even seem to regret it at all?! " Knuckles sighed. " No, " he admitted with his head hung low. After a shocked silence, Eggman commented, " Wow. So, he played a major role in giving you long-lasting injuries and didn't even regret it... All it took was you initiating the fight with him for him to justify to himself injuring you... "

Sounding annoyed, Eggman genuinely complained, " I hate how self-righteous he is. Always claiming to be a ' hero ' and calling his enemies ' the bad guys ' even though he does nothing but fling mean-spirited taunts with that smug evil smirk on his face, and call himself a hero for doing whatever he feels like! Say what you will about me, Knuckles, but at least I'm not like that! "

Knuckles nodded in agreement immediately. He hated to admit it to himself, but despite being evil, Eggman did have a point. Sonic certainly didn't have the personality of a hero, and he did a lot of callous things that would be uncharacteristic of one, all while continuing to think of himself as purely noble and heroic. He was self-righteous, and did have a very high opinion of himself, and did stop talking to Knuckles instead of giving him some company every once and a while. Eggman added resentfully, " And he's always getting away with it... " shaking his head. Knuckles looked at him, just angry at the thought.

Eggman continued melancholically, " No matter what he does to annoy people, he never gets what he deserves. It's like karma's forgotten somebody... I suppose he'll never get what he deserves. I suppose he'll never know how it feels to be led to believe that he had made a lifelong friend who would take care of him if he was hurt, only to be forgotten about and discarded. He'll never pay for what he did. That's the way of the world. "

" Well, maybe we can change that! " Knuckles exclaimed, angry from at hearing all of that. Pleased to hear that, Eggman said in excitement, " You really think so?! YES! Together, we'll show Sonic what karma is! He'll know how it feels to be on the losing end of a battle! Right, Knuckles?! "

He looked nervous and worried as his old bruises seemed to ache again; he was still sore from the last time. Feeling insecure about his ability to beat him in a fight, Knuckles said resentfully,

" The last time I fought him, I lost. He's just too fast for me. We have two completely different fighting styles, and it's just not fair for me... " He sighed in resignation.

" If you can't beat him in a fight the normal way, then you'll beat him the best way! With my Eggmobile, so user-friendly that anyone could operate it, you'll be showing him what it's like to be on the losing end of a fight without any risk of injury! Sound like a plan?! " Eggman said in excitement, clearly pleased with getting Knuckles back on his side. " Well, I've never operated one of those things before, but I suppose it's worth a shot. I'm in! " Knuckles replied, looking forward to getting his revenge.

Before he knew it, he had been accompanying Eggman in a quest for vengeance. He had never originally planned to fight Sonic again, but after Eggman's encouragement, he was back to his old ways, but this time, without the sympathetic excuse of protecting the emerald from someone. Just looking back on it made Knuckles feel immensely guilty. He felt like a traitor, a horrible person... and a villain.

He remembered how Sonic had reacted to seeing him again. Rather than being happy to see him, Sonic looked confused and surprised, which at the time, felt like a huge confirmation of his belief that Sonic never thought of him as a friend. And when he laughed at Sonic like he was his enemy again, Sonic immediately looked angry, even more angry than he had ever been with him before, rather than looking like his feelings were hurt from his friend turning against him. Back then, he had taken that as even more confirmation of his belief that Sonic never stopped hating him, and felt pleasure in pressing the switch that activated the trap that sent Sonic away.

He remembered seeing Sonic again after he activated that first trap on him, and how angry Sonic was at seeing him again. Confronting him on what he did, Sonic responded to his laughter by exclaiming, " I TRUSTED YOU! How could you turn against me AGAIN?! How could you DO this to me?! If you just wanna be my enemy for the rest of your life, then GO RIGHT AHEAD! Turn against me! See if I ever trust you again! "

Knuckles scoffed, and said skeptically, " Yeah, right. There you go again, presenting yourself as the good guy, as usual. You beat me up and forget all about me, not doing anything to help me recover from my injuries, and you expect me to believe you're a hero. " Sonic responded angrily, " You started it! " angry that Knuckles was thinking of himself as the victim for being defeated in a fight he himself started.

Knuckles ranted angrily, " And when's the last time you even talked to me? Have we ever had a friendly conversation? You barely show up on my island at all! It's like you've forgotten all about me! I was ELECTROCUTED TO UNCONSCIOUSNESS, and you didn't even try to see if I was okay! You didn't check on me when I was recovering by myself - I could've been DEAD for all you knew - and you didn't care! You expect me to believe you're my friend?! You don't even bother to visit me. "

Sonic was confused and annoyed at hearing that. He asked resentfully, " What are you saying, Knuckles? " wondering just what kind of person he was accusing him of being. He couldn't believe Knuckles actually thought that he didn't care that he was seriously injured. He thought Knuckles knew that he was a hero by now!

" You expect me to believe you're my friend?... Ha! You're not manipulating me again! Robotnik showed me your true colors! You're not my friend! You never cared about me! You're nothing but a self-righteous arrogant jerk who does whatever he feels like and cares about no one but himself! And you're not getting away with it any longer! You're finally getting what you deserved, Sonic the Hedgehog! "

Sonic gasped, and exclaimed, " You're on his side, AGAIN?! You TRAITOR! I thought you changed! And you have some nerve calling me the one who's self-righteous! You wanna be enemies?! Fine! LET'S BE ENEMIES! I'll make you regret trusting him over me! "

That was the last thing Sonic had been able to say to him before Knuckles activated the trap on him. They had spent the entire adventure hating each other. They had gone back to being bitter enemies, only worse, because Knuckles no longer had a righteous reason for it. He knew that Sonic wasn't going to use any of the emeralds for evil, especially not the Master Emerald, but he wanted to fight with him anyways. Just thinking about it made Knuckles depressed, and Rouge kept silent, not wanting to stress him out by expressing her pity of him again.

After Knuckles lost his second fight with Sonic, Eggman had been so frustrated and disappointed in him for his incompetence that he threw him in a cage for the rest of the adventure. While he was in that cage, he had a lot of time to think. It made him realize back then that he had been wrong to let Eggman talk him into turning against Sonic again, after Sonic had gone through so much trouble getting the Master Emerald back for him. He thought about how, when Sonic found out he had turned against him again, he was livid, and realized that his unusually furious reaction, and him calling him a traitor, didn't confirm his belief that he never thought of him as a friend. It did exactly the opposite. It proved him wrong. Sonic had been devastated by the betrayal, and expressed it through anger to avoid looking weak, doing just the same thing he would've done if he was betrayed by someone he cared about.

Knuckles had realized in that cage that by betraying someone who cared about him for his own selfish reasons, he was no better than Eggman. He realized that just because Sonic didn't try to nurse him back to health from his injuries didn't mean he never cared about him. It just meant that Sonic wasn't the type to feel comfortable with taking care of someone, especially someone who had been his enemy so recently, and he had faith that Knuckles could take care of himself, and didn't realize how injured Knuckles really was, and didn't know he wanted his company at all, and he and Tails were probably too busy to help him anyways. And just because Sonic never hung out with him or had conversations with him, didn't mean that he didn't care about him. Sonic may not have known that Knuckles actually wanted that in the first place. So he didn't spend any time with him because he assumed Knuckles was still the same loner he was most of his life, not realizing just how lonely he had become after meeting people for the first time and finding out what he had been missing. He realized that Sonic really was his friend; he was selfish and insensitive, but still his friend. Sonic never wanted to make him feel like he never cared about him. Knuckles felt awful at realizing this, and was faced with the idea that by trying to take vengeance against Sonic, he might have ruined his only chance at ever having someone care about him. He would spend the rest of his life with no one there who cared about him, all alone with no one to support him. And it would be all his fault. Looking back on it, Knuckles realized that the way he felt in that cage was almost the same way he felt right now; like he had lost his best friend for the rest of his life, and did everything to deserve it.

After Sonic rescued him from his cage, he shook his hand, but with no intention of starting a friendship with him. There was no friendliness or respect in his eyes. There may have been a little sympathy at him being trapped in a cage by Eggman, but Sonic certainly wasn't eager to become lifelong friends with someone who betrayed him like that. He only shook his hand because he wanted to make sure that the fighting would stop for the rest of his adventure. As soon as he realized that, Knuckles had decided that something had to change. He had to get Sonic's friendship back.

A day after Sonic had finished his adventure, Knuckles found him again, after spending all day searching for him in the city, asking the people around him where he was. When Sonic saw him in the forest on his way home, he was startled, and gasped, standing in front of Tails to protect him. After all, Tails was just three years old at this point, although still just as much of a genius. Knuckles looked unhappy at seeing how little Sonic trusted him, and immediately knew that he had to get him back on his side as fast as possible, or else Sonic would hurt him again.

Knuckles awkwardly cleared his throat, not feeling comfortable with apologizing, and said nervously, " Sonic? Can we... can we talk? "

Tails looked at him in concern, but Sonic only glared at him with his arms crossed, not trusting him at all. With eyes full of hatred, he said skeptically, " About what? " still resenting him. The situation didn't look promising, but it was clear that Tails sympathized with him, at the very least. That one fact encouraged him to keep on going. Knuckles said to him reluctantly, with a depressed look on his face and his head hung low,

" About our last fight. " Sonic said resentfully, " Do you honestly expect me to forgive you for that? For betraying me, and acting like I deserved it? How do you think that made me feel?! " Taking pity on Knuckles, Tails put his hand on Sonic's shoulder and said, " Calm down! He's obviously feeling bad about what he did. Just look at him, Sonic... I think he's changed! "

Sonic sighed in exasperation, facepalmed, and said in a tone soaked with disdain, " Okay, fine... I'll listen to you speak. But this better be good. " Seeing how Tails' idealism was causing him to encourage Sonic to give him another chance, Knuckles realized that if he wanted Sonic as a friend, he had to take full advantage of it. If Tails really sympathized with him, he would be the one who would convince Sonic to forgive him. He didn't have to convince Sonic. After all, no matter what he said, Sonic could never forgive him right away. All he had to do was convince Tails to let him spend time with the two of them until eventually, Sonic forgave him as well.

After a brief hesitation, Knuckles lied nervously, " I was tricked. " Sonic looked at him resentfully. Knuckles said with a nervous look on his face, " I was tricked by Robotnik into turning against you. He, he lied to me that you had been trying to find all the Chaos Emeralds so that you could use them to take over the world, and, since I didn't know you well enough to know any better, I-I, I believed him... "

Tails clearly felt sorry for him, and said sadly, " That's awful! That was so mean of him, manipulating you like that! Oh, Sonic, you can't hold this against him, it wasn't his fault! " But Sonic only looked at him skeptically. " Do you actually expect me to believe, that you were stupid enough to be tricked by him into turning against me, TWICE?... Yeah, because that makes sense! You're such a LIAR! How could you possibly be duped into fighting me by someone you know for a fact is untrustworthy? "

Knuckles admitted sadly, " Because I was upset by the fact that you hadn't helped me when I was recovering from my injuries, and by the fact that you didn't hang out with me or visit me, and he took advantage of that. He manipulated me into thinking that you never cared about me, and it hurt so much that I ended up turning against you... I really did appreciate how you had gotten my emerald back, and it gave me a lot of respect for you. It made me, well, not like how I had opposed you so much. I didn't want you to hate me. In fact, I wanted your approval. But... then I had to spend weeks recovering from my injuries taking care of myself, and I was all alone on Angel Island and you didn't visit me once, so I started to think that you didn't care about me... I felt like I didn't have any friends, and that I never would, that I would spend my entire life just completely alone without anyone to keep me company... "

It was a little embarrassing admitting all of that in front of Sonic; it made him look like he had gone soft. But it was doing an excellent job of tugging at Tails' heartstrings and getting him to realize he was sorry without him humiliating himself even more by actually saying it. Tails finally exclaimed, " Oh, Knuckles, that isn't true! We're your friends! We'll always care about you! Right, Sonic? " Clearly feeling sorry for Knuckles, he looked at Sonic pleadingly.

Sonic had spent the entire time looking resentful of Knuckles, being very unwilling to trust him again. It was clear that being betrayed had severely hurt his feelings, and he was expressing it through glaring at him in bitter resentment. He didn't want to forgive Knuckles and get his hopes up just for them to be crushed when he fought him again. So instead of forgiving him, he said to Tails in a protective panic,

" Tails, don't you see what he's doing, he's manipulating you! He's trying to pretend that he's all sorry to trick you into letting him off the hook! Even Robotnik electrocuting him didn't get him to stop fighting on his side! He's obviously a trillion times more loyal to Robotnik than he'll ever be to us! I don't care what his flimsy excuse is, he's not getting away with betraying me! "

Tails looked at him in shocked disappointment at Sonic refusing to forgive him, and so did Knuckles. Sonic scoffed and said in annoyance, " Tricked into thinking I wanted to abuse the Chaos Emeralds. What a blatant lie! He knows that I get the emeralds all the time and it's only to beat Robotnik! How could anybody in existence possibly fall for such an obvious lie as me wanting to suddenly use them for evil, and a lie from someone that he'd have no reason to trust?! No one could possibly be that stupid! He's hiding something! He HAS to be! It's the only explanation that MAKES SENSE! "

" Sonic... " Tails said with a shaking voice. Sonic gasped at seeing that he was crying. With a catch in his throat, Tails begged, " I know that he hurt your feelings, but you HAVE to forgive Knuckles! He's changed! He doesn't wanna hurt you anymore! Please, you HAVE to trust him! If you don't, then he's gonna spend his entire life all alone regretting the way he treated you and drove off his best friend in the world! Can you imagine how horrible that would feel?! It doesn't matter why he turned against you, because he's never gonna do it again! Please, Sonic, give him a chance! I think he's telling the truth! He's a better person now, and he'll prove it to you! He'll be a wonderful friend if you just give him a chance! "

Tails started wiping away tears as much as he could, overwhelmed with pity, and Sonic was shocked at seeing how much sympathy he felt. Not wanting his best friend to cry anymore, Sonic sighed, and whispered to him reluctantly, " Fine. But if he ever hurts me again, I'm done with him. " This gave Tails hope, and he smiled, confident in his belief that Knuckles would never hurt Sonic again and they would have a wonderful, life-lasting friendship because of it. Tails nodded, and happily went home ahead of him, leaving Sonic alone with Knuckles.

Sonic sighed, went up to Knuckles, and said with a nervous smile, " Knuckles?... I've changed my mind. I... I've decided to give you a second chance. " Knuckles gasped, and smiled at him actually saying that without Tails being there to hear it. He knew that Sonic was only accepting him as a friend to humor Tails, but just the fact that he was saying that to him without Tails there, instead of resentfully warning him to behave now that he could get away with it, gave him hope. He knew that as long as he was a good friend to Sonic and didn't hurt him again, he would be able to get Sonic to warm up to him enough to forgive him for working with his sworn enemy, and he would finally get to have his approval. " Really? "

" Really, " Sonic said with a nervous smile. He chuckled a little, and said with a genuine smile,

" I guess it could be possible that you could have actually been tricked. And even if you weren't, we could still make good friends, as long as you don't act like my enemy anymore. You could help me a lot, and it would be much better than not having you as a friend at all! And to be honest, well, you seem like a pretty admirable guy, I mean, you're strong, and dedicated, and all, so maybe this could be good for me, having you around... Sure, there's a risk that you could turn against me again, but hey, I take risks all the time! Why not this one? If it works out, I'll have myself a life-lasting friendship that I'll really enjoy! So what do you say? " He put his hand out, and said with a smile, " Friends? "

Knuckles smiled. Even though Sonic had been pretty insensitive in what he had just said to him, the mere fact that he was genuinely smiling at him and accepting him as a friend, made up for all of it. He was going to shake his hand with the intention of starting a friendship. Knuckles couldn't be more happy about that. He shook his hand, and said, " Friends, " proud of himself for having the courage to make the effort to get his friendship back.

The two of them went to Sonic and Tails' house after that, making their friendship official. The period of time after that and before the next betrayal, was the period of time when their friendship was the best it ever was in their lives. They went from kids to teenagers without fighting once. Three years passed, and the two of them were great friends... until Knuckles made a mistake that ruined everything. They had gotten into an argument that ended up getting Knuckles so annoyed with him that he ended up snapping and using Eggman as an excuse to fight him again, betraying Sonic for the first time in years and causing their friendship to become vitriolic for a long time afterwards. By that point, Sonic had gotten so used to thinking of him as his friend that he was too emotionally attached to him to just give up on the friendship and tell him to leave him alone. So he forgave him, and trusted him not to hurt him again, only for it to happen again. And again. And again.

Knuckles sighed at finishing the last of his chicken noodle soup, being forced back to reality. He had ruined the best friendship he ever had, and there was nothing he could do to salvage it. Every time he betrayed Sonic, Sonic didn't just have to make himself forgive him for the most recent betrayal. Every new fight reminded Sonic of the previous ones and reopened old wounds, getting him annoyed with him for an extended period of time as he remembered in great detail how he felt each time his own friend turned against him. Each betrayal got harder and harder to forgive, because they added up. Looking back on it, the fact that Sonic didn't let him off the hook this time made perfect sense. Sonic couldn't forgive him anymore. There was too much to forgive.

The following night, Sonic was having a dream, one that was far from pleasant. Knuckles had betrayed him again, and gotten into yet another fight with him. By the end of it, Knuckles was lying on the ground in pain, defeated.

He managed to get himself to stand up, and said with a confident smile, " Well, now that that's over with, how about I help you give Eggman what he deserves? " Frustrated with him for betraying him again and expecting to be forgiven, Sonic coldly gave him a look of resentment with his arms crossed, responding to him with dead silence. " Sonic?... Aren't you gonna... go after Eggman with me? " Knuckles said, looking confused and worried. There was a silence.

Finally, Sonic said to him in exasperation, " I'm done. " He started walking away from him in disdain, causing Knuckles to say, " Wait, you're done fighting Eggman? You can't give up! " Sonic sighed in frustration, and turned around to look at him. With a tone of disappointment and exasperation, Sonic explained to him without raising his voice once,

" I'm done giving you second chances. I can't do this anymore. I'm done with forgiving you every time you turn against me and trusting you not to hurt me again, because you're just gonna let me down. I can't have a friend who thinks it's okay to hurt me. I've been doing this since we were kids, and it's wearing me out. This isn't worth it, Knuckles... This is just completely done. "

Sonic turned around and started walking away from Knuckles as he stared at him in stunned silence. It was clear that he was panicked and worried about not being let off the hook. He stammered, " WHAT?! Our, our friendship?! You're just, you're just, that's IT?! You're just ENDING it?!... You can't be SERIOUS! "

Sonic turned around to face him and continued to give him an exasperated look with his arms crossed, responding with cold silence. It was easy to see that Knuckles was stunned, unable to believe how bad things had gotten, and not being sure what he could do to fix things. Sonic was just about to turn around and walk away, only to see something that prevented him from wanting to do so.

One of Eggman's robots quickly flew towards him on a jetpack, landed on the ground, and grabbed Knuckles with its metal claw, all in just a second. He gasped. Right after grabbing him, the robot used an electrified metal object to electrocute Knuckles through the heart, and threw him back to the ground before flying away to safety, escaping any sort of punishment. Within seconds, Knuckles had gone from standing in front of Sonic to lying on his back unconscious.

Freaked out, Sonic exclaimed, " KNUCKLES! " and rushed to his side. In a panic, he kneeled down beside him and placed his hands on his chest, checking his pulse. There wasn't one. Overwhelmed with fear, he gasped at discovering that being electrocuted had stopped his heart. " NO! " Sonic exclaimed.

He was devastated. He felt as if he was responsible for his death for failing to prevent it, and felt incredibly guilty for ending his friendship with Knuckles right before he had died. He felt miserable, both at losing one of his closest friends, and at losing him right after he told him he was never going to forgive him again. He said quietly in despair, " No... I didn't want it to end this way... "

He started shaking, and placed his head on his chest, pushing into it with both hands in desperation. It didn't do a thing. Overwhelmed with painful emotions, tears started to escape his eyes, and he felt ashamed. He cried into his chest quietly, not being able to handle losing his friend. He pleaded with him, " Don't die, knucklehead... I'm sorry! I never wanted to lose you! " He tried to stay as quiet as he could, breathing in sharp gasps and exhaling in sharp breaths as his friend's chest became wet with tears. He was left alone with his thoughts, not being able to think about anything other than how much he wanted him back.

Suddenly, Sonic felt a heartbeat in Knuckles' chest, and gasped, shocked at the realization that he was alive. It was as if, somehow, apologizing to him had brought him back to life. He exclaimed, " KNUCKLES, YOU'RE ALIVE! " ecstatic with relief as his friend started breathing again. Knuckles was still unconscious from his injuries, but his pulse returning had given Sonic such hope that he was certain he would soon wake up. It didn't make sense to him that he would return to life just because he had placed pressure on his chest for a while, and if he had known he was dreaming, he would've understood why he was so lucky that time. But he was so happy at getting him back that he didn't care how it happened.

Sonic immediately started thinking about what he'd do when Knuckles woke up. He had it all planned out; he'd tell him how happy he was that he was alive, help him sit up, put his arms around him in a hug, and tell him how much he means to him, apologizing to him for making him think otherwise. Soon, he heard Knuckles weakly moan, slowly waking up.

Suddenly, his vision faded to black, he lost all sensation, and his dream ended abruptly, at one of the worst possible times. When Sonic woke up, he found himself alone in his bed in the dark. He was devastated. He was just about to apologize to Knuckles and tell him that he didn't want to lose him, only to have that experience ripped away from him by waking up at the wrong time. He felt incredibly lonely and miserable, remembering with guilt how he had rejected Knuckles' heartfelt apology without even acknowledging how it made him feel. Even at that moment, when he was still frustrated, exasperated and disappointed in him, just hearing Knuckles apologize to him for hurting him for the first time in his life, meant a lot. He was proud of him for doing it, and he felt immensely guilty from not even bothering to tell him that. It had been difficult for Knuckles to swallow his pride and tell him that he was sorry, and Sonic couldn't believe that he had been so heartless as to just refuse to acknowledge his apology and how grateful he was for him making the effort.

Feeling lonely and guilty, Sonic found himself desperately wanting to apologize to Knuckles, not wanting to lose his friendship forever. But something held him back. It might have been the fear that Knuckles would be too mad at him to accept an apology and would never forgive him, or it might have been reluctance at swallowing his pride and going through the humbling experience of apologizing, or it might have been him not wanting to talk to him about something he felt so terrible about and risk breaking down crying in front of Knuckles because of it. He soon realized that it was all of the above. Getting his friendship back would make things better, but actually going through the process of doing it would be too upsetting for him to do right away. He knew that Knuckles wouldn't be the one going to him trying to get his friendship back, because he had already tried to apologize to him for hurting him so much, and for the first time in his life, only to be coldly rejected. So it was entirely up to him to get things back to normal, and it made him feel even worse knowing that if he couldn't bring himself to do it, he would lose him as a friend forever.

He thought back to what had happened in his dream, trying to figure out what it had meant. He soon started to panic at the scary thought that his dream was warning him that Knuckles was in danger, or gone forever, and became frightened and worried at thinking of all the possible ways he could've gotten hurt and all of the things that could've happened to him while he was alone, with no one around to help him. He knew that without his friends, Knuckles had no one to help him if he had to go to the hospital, so such a fate befalling him on Angel Island could kill him.

He thought nervously, " What if Knuckles fell down a cliff and broke his legs, or got electrocuted, or had a heart attack because of the stress that I had put him through?! What if he came down with a fever somewhere that nobody was able to help him? If anything happened to him on Angel Island while he was all alone, no one would be able to help him! What if something happened to him right after he got home?! What if I'm not able to save him in time?! He could be dead! And I would never be able to tell him that I'm sorry! " Hoping nothing had happened to him, Sonic started shaking, tossing and turning in his bed, desperately trying to go back to sleep and distract himself from his guilt-ridden concern.

Several minutes passed, and eventually, he realized that he would never get back to sleep. He looked over at the clock on the radio next to his bed. It was 3:00 in the morning. Sonic groaned, knowing how tired he would be that day from missing out on so much sleep. Trying to distract himself with some television, he quietly left his bedroom and snuck downstairs to the living room, trying to be quiet enough to not wake Tails up. He turned on the TV and started channel-surfing with the volume down low, trying to figure out what to watch. But nothing would stop his thoughts from returning to his childhood friend.

He thought while annoyed with himself, desperately trying to get himself to be angry at Knuckles again to make the guilt stop, " What am I doing? This is a guy who's betrayed me five times in a row! Why am I missing him so much? Why am I freaking out about his safety? What's wrong with me?! Only one day spent without him and I'm already missing him?! This is ridiculous! What about all the times he's argued with me or tried to injure me? I shouldn't be missing a friend like that! Why can't I just stop caring about him so much and forget about him already?! "

But that wouldn't stop him from feeling guilty. He sighed. Sonic had tried remembering all of the times he couldn't get along with Knuckles, but his guilt only caused him to wish that their friendship was better, and make him miss him more, increasing his desire to get his friendship back so that he could try to make it better. No matter how much he didn't want to, Sonic ended up thinking back to all of the times Knuckles had helped him, and enjoyed himself with him, and made him smile. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was wrong. He did have good times with Knuckles. He just didn't remember them.

Sonic sighed sadly, and turned off the TV. Devastated, he thought, " I didn't want to lose Knuckles as a friend… I just wanted him to stop betraying me... I just wanted him to learn his lesson by finally getting some consequences for his actions... I got him to apologize and promise he would change, and then what did I do? I told him to leave me alone and ran away from him! All because I was so upset that if I had stayed there with him, I would've broken down crying in front of him! If I had just stayed there and let him see me in just one little moment of weakness, everything would have been fine! But no! I had to have my pride and ruin everything! "

Trying to remind himself of what his life was like before he lost Knuckles' friendship, he found the photo album in the living room, and started looking through it at pictures of him, Tails and Knuckles enjoying themselves together, longing for those days. Soon, he was unable to take it anymore, and tears left his eyes.

At 6:00 in the morning, Tails went into the living room, and saw Sonic sitting on the couch with a depressed look on his face, looking through the photo album of pictures of him and Knuckles from when they were kids. Feeling sorry for him, Tails walked up to him, and said compassionately,

" You miss him, don't you? " He sat down on the couch beside him as Sonic nodded reluctantly, ashamed at being caught in a moment of weakness.

Tails hadn't gotten a very accurate story from Sonic about what had happened between him and Knuckles. He had been told that Knuckles had gotten so frustrated at losing so many fights with him that he said he hated him, and didn't want to see him anymore. That story should have caused Tails to completely turn against him, but it didn't. He had known Knuckles for so long that he was able to quickly figure out that if he ever told Sonic he hated him, he would never actually mean it.

Tails put his arms around Sonic in a hug, causing him to return the hug and sigh. Tails reassured him, " I'm sure he didn't mean it when he said he hated you. I know him. You're his best friend. He cares about you more than anyone else in the world! He would never ever say that to you and mean it... He's just not apologizing because it'll be embarrassing. I know he cares about you. He would love to be your friend again. I just know it. "

Sonic sighed. Those words hit close to home. On the one hand, it reassured him that Knuckles wasn't mad at him and would gladly agree to be friends with him again, but on the other hand, it made him feel even more guilty for not being able to make himself apologize. He said sadly,

" I never wanted to lose him... No matter what happened between us, I never wanted to lose him... I just didn't want him to hurt me anymore... But he kept doing it so much that I lost all hope that our friendship would ever get better... that it would get back to the way it was when we were kids, after he stopped working with Eggman and started being my friend, and went years without doing anything to hurt me... I never wanted him to hate me! " Feeling miserable, he broke down, and Tails tried his best to make him feel better, feeling terrible for him. Sonic's morning was easily the worst morning of his life, and he couldn't imagine how bad it was for Knuckles. He just hoped that he would get the courage to apologize to him soon, and get everything back to normal.

Three days later, Rouge was still taking care of Knuckles, and it was clear that he was getting better. At first, he could barely even stand on his own and needed help just walking around the house, but after a few days of rest, he was finally able to walk without any help. He had felt a little reluctant about the whole situation, since he was leaving the Master Emerald unguarded and being taken care of by someone who tried to steal it, but the more he spent time with Rouge helping and comforting him, the more he trusted her. He went from not speaking to her very often to watching TV with her and having conversations with her. Things had changed so slowly that he didn't notice it at all.

The situation had gotten better, and Rouge appreciated it nearly as much as he did. It certainly felt better helping him when he was clearly appreciating her company, and she liked how he was opening up to her. It almost made her dread when his fever would end, but she still knew that she would rather he get better as soon as possible than be ill any longer than he had to. She was thankful that he was getting better, even if it meant things would go back to normal, with them fighting each other and arguing with each other as their only way of interacting.

It was 10:00 in the morning, and the two of them were on the couch in the living room watching TV. Knuckles' house didn't always have a TV; since he spent his life guarding the Master Emerald, he never had one or felt the need for one. The only reason he had one was because Sonic and Tails bought him one as a birthday present. He didn't actually know when his birthday was, so everyone just let him decide what day of the year it would be. Just looking at the TV brought back memories. In fact, a lot of stuff in his house weren't there before his friendship with Sonic; even the couch and armchair in the living room weren't always there. If it weren't for Rouge being there to distract him, he would've been a lot more depressed about all of the reminders in his house, instead of being able to ignore them.

When the commercials came on, Knuckles sighed, and Rouge looked over at him in concern. She was sitting on the armchair across the room from him; he still didn't want her to sit right beside him yet, since it had only been three days. " Hey, what's wrong? " she asked him curiously. Knuckles looked up at her. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it with her. " Nothing, I'm just... nothing, " he lied in a mildly annoyed tone.

Worried, Rouge came up to him, and asked him, " Well, this doesn't seem to be about Sonic; you look too annoyed for that. What's wrong?... Anything I can help with? " He looked back at her. She had been helping him so much lately. It was certainly a nice change of pace. A part of him encouraged him to ask her for help with what he was worried about, while another part of him was a little more restrained about the idea. But she wouldn't leave it alone until he told her truth, so he sighed, and explained,

" I'm supposed to be guarding the Master Emerald right now. But I can't. I'm in no condition to do that, so I'm stuck here. So now it's in a room completely unguarded where Eggman could just come in at any time and take it away! It's like... it's like I'm abandoning my duties. "

Feeling sorry for him, Rouge sat closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. She said to reassure him, " It's not so bad. Could someone actually steal it right now anyways? I mean, just look at it! It's huge! You can't exactly pick it up out of the pedestal and walk away with it, not unless you've got some sort of superhuman strength! Eggman could only take it with him by grabbing it with a crane from above! But now that you've built that shrine and put the emerald in a room like that, I don't think that's gonna be possible anymore. Could Eggman even fit through the entrance to that room? " She chuckled at the imagery of Eggman getting stuck in the entrance to the room, and it caused Knuckles to smile a little.

" See? It'll be fine, " Rouge said to him, thankful that she could cheer him up. As they went back to watching TV, Knuckles thought back to when he built the shrine of the emerald. He remembered how he had built it in response to Sonic, in an argument with him after their third fight, asking why he didn't just put it in a place where it couldn't be taken by Eggman from above, saying that he was the worst guardian ever for failing to put the emerald in a safe place instead of out in the open. He remembered going back to Angel Island and building the shrine to prove him wrong about him only being able to protect the emerald by standing in front of it and attacking its thieves. All he had done was build it one brick at a time using a bricklaying glue he got from a construction site to stick the bricks together, and he was shocked at how well the building turned out; it was much sturdier than he expected it to be. He remembered how he had specifically built the entrances to the rooms in the shrine to be so narrow that only people who weren't Eggman could get in there. Of course, that still left Rouge, but he could deal with her; she never stole the emerald without it breaking into pieces and scattering around the world first.

He remembered how he was so engrossed in building that shrine that by the end of it, he was giving it unnecessary touches to make it look better, like putting in stained glass windows and painting murals on them to make them look more echidna-like, or finding ancient relics of the echidna tribe such as statues and placing them in the shrine's halls for decoration, and he was so proud of the result. He looked up at the shrine by the end of it and felt such pride that he had actually managed to build a building that was practically a monument to the echidna tribe.

But the best feeling of all, came from when he invited his friends to see it. He didn't tell them that he had built it until they saw it with their own eyes, because he knew they would never believe him if he told them about it. He remembered how amazed Sonic, Tails and Amy were, especially Sonic. It felt especially good seeing Sonic be impressed with him. Sonic was still annoyed with him over their last fight at that point, which was why he was fine with not being spoken to until the shrine was completed, so the fact that he was actually impressed with him, and proud of him, for doing something that he couldn't do, felt amazing. Sonic actually smiled at him in approval when he realized the sheer magnitude of what he had done. Sure, he compounded it by playfully teasing that he thought he was only capable of punching stuff and that constructing buildings required more math skills than he had, but that only made how proud he was of him even better. It highlighted how rare it was for him to give him compliments and say that he was proud of him for something, and made the compliments all the more valuable.

Knuckles looked back on that memory and wondered what truly caused him to be so proud of himself for making that shrine; the fact that he made it, or the fact that his friends were so amazed with it. He realized that, while he wanted to believe that he was only building the shrine to make up for all the times the emerald got stolen and fulfill his duties as the guardian better, that wasn't his only motivation. And while by the end of it, he started decorating it with echidna relics with the motivation of making a historical monument to the echidna tribe, that wasn't the only reason. He knew that it was that moment when his friends saw what he had achieved that it was all worth it. That was why he had built it; to prove to Sonic that he could do more than he thought he could, and finally get his respect for once. Even if Sonic was only proud of him for one fleeting moment, it would be worth it. That was how much Sonic meant to him; just the desire to get his approval would give him the drive and determination to accomplish the best of his potential. Even though they constantly argued and fought on occasion, when you got right down to it, Sonic was still his best friend, and it was never more clear than that moment.

Knuckles started thinking about how, despite how much Sonic meant to him, he still tried to downplay their friendship, sometimes even denying that he was his friend entirely; as if he hated him, and was ashamed to be associated with him. That certainly wasn't the case, but it still must have looked like it. He felt guilty about doing that now that Sonic wasn't his friend anymore, and wished that he had been more honest. Part of the reason he didn't want to make it too obvious that he thought of Sonic as his best friend, was because it would make him look like he had gone soft; expressing that he liked and admired Sonic would make him look like less of a tough guy than insisting that Sonic was overrated and he wouldn't admire him like everyone else. It wasn't until after his fourth betrayal, when Sonic started always treating him with resentment when he was alone with him and making excuses not to spend time alone with him, that Knuckles started to realize how wrong he had been to downplay his friendship with him. It made Sonic think that he didn't care about him at all.

Just seeing the way Sonic reacted to that fourth betrayal caused him to realize how much trouble he was in. A part of him knew, deep down, that betraying Sonic again would be the last straw and end their friendship entirely, and that caused him to stop denying that he was his friend, and become nicer to Sonic out of guilt, hoping that by no longer acting antagonistic towards him, he'd get their friendship back to the way it used to be. And not just the way it used to be before his fourth betrayal, but the way it was after the first one, when they were kids. While Sonic did at first have a lot of trouble trusting him and liking him because of the fact that he joined Eggman's side again, he went for so many years without treating him like an enemy that Sonic eventually caved in and warmed up to him. All because he had started being friendly to him, showing him that he cared about and respected him, instead of acting antagonistic to him like they were still enemies.

After Sonic finally started to trust him again, that period of time marked the best their friendship ever was. They actually got along, most of the time. It was such a shame that the second betrayal eventually came and put an end to all that. Sonic simply acted angry with him and insulted him once, but it was easy to tell looking back on it that he wasn't just angry; he was devastated. He thought Knuckles would never betray him again, and then he did. And even back then, a part of him had felt guilty about turning against him after going so long without doing so, but he didn't want to look weak by apologizing to him for it, especially since if Sonic didn't forgive him, then he would have just made himself look weak for nothing. So instead of being a good friend and expressing his guilt with an apology, he covered it up by acting annoyed with him for the rest of his adventure, and not going with him on it. He didn't have to not join Sonic on his adventure; the second time the Master Emerald broke into pieces and he had to find them, Knuckles started to accompany Sonic on his adventure right after he had found the emerald shards in Aquatic Mine. As soon as he was capable of accompanying Sonic on his adventure and helping him out, he stuck with them as long as he could. Looking back on it, Knuckles wondered if the major reason he accompanied Sonic that time was out of guilt, trying to make up for not helping him at all the last time.

That wasn't the only thing he would've have been trying to make up to him for. Just an adventure before that one, Knuckles had betrayed Sonic again, not letting him get one of the Chaos Emeralds without a fight. And when Sonic defeated him and then went to see if he was okay, since he had fought him with far more force than necessary from his anger at being betrayed again, Knuckles remembered attacking him when his guard was down. He felt even more guilty just thinking about it. That was almost two betrayals in one. He had never hurt Sonic right after the fight with him ended before. The period of time right after a fight with him was a period of time when Sonic trusted him to not hurt him again, when he was expecting him to make it clear that they were friends again. But he didn't. Knuckles hoped that he hadn't given Sonic the impression that they were enemies again, even if for a brief while, because if he had actually become his enemy, that was exactly what he would've done, hurt him instead of becoming his ally again. Looking back on it, it was amazing that Sonic took him back as a friend at all. He didn't do anything to make it look like he felt bad about the way he acted. He was too proud for that. But Sonic forgave him anyways, and let him accompany him on his next two adventures without even mentioning the betrayal.

Knuckles tried to make himself feel better about the third betrayal by reminding himself that the other reason he attacked Sonic was because he didn't want him to figure out that he was too injured to actually help him all that much, since it would make him look weak. After all, Knuckles collapsed with his eyes closed right after he punched him into the sky, without even a second's delay. But it failed when he remembered that they first became friends when Eggman electrocuted him, making him too injured to really help Sonic, but he still lowered the bridge to the Sky Sanctuary Zone for him anyways. He didn't attack Sonic to get him to leave him alone, he helped him the best he could. He supposed the difference was that, in his third betrayal, Sonic didn't know that Knuckles was really that injured, so sending him flying away with a punch would prevent him from finding out he had hurt him so much. By contrast, when he got injured right after Eggman stole the Master Emerald, he was electrocuted right in front of Sonic, so there was no point to trying to keep him from finding out he was hurt, and he was hurt by someone other than him, so it didn't make him look nearly as weak being honest about the fact that he was injured. So there was no excuse for him attacking Sonic after the third betrayal. All he was doing was keeping him from realizing how much he hurt him and expressing his frustration at not being able to win a fight with him, a frustration that he shouldn't have even had, considering that Sonic was supposed to be his friend.

Looking back on it, he couldn't believe how quickly their friendship had gone back to the way it was before that third betrayal. He couldn't believe how quickly their friendship had improved from the way it was after his second betrayal, despite his complete lack of an apology and his trying to hurt him again just one adventure later. Despite all of that, Sonic still let him accompany him on his adventure, when he had every right to tell him off for his lack of loyalty and give up on him. Instead, he forgave him. In fact, he forgave him so much that he let him accompany him on his next adventure right after that, where it was just him, Sonic and Tails, spending the entire adventure working together in the same places at the same times, enjoying the time they spent together. It was amazing how quickly things had gotten better. By the end of the adventure, Sonic even thanked Knuckles for helping him, acknowledging that he couldn't have gotten so far without him. That was how much their friendship had improved.

And then the fourth betrayal came. Not only did he fight with Sonic again, but for the first time in his life, he actually got Eggman's help fighting him. Eggman and him were actively working together to defeat Sonic. It was as if they were on the same side again, but worse, because even when Knuckles was Sonic's enemy, he still didn't fight him with Eggman's help. That betrayal looked exactly like he had permanently become Sonic's enemy and decided to make it official, by doing something against him that he had never done before. True, the real reason he got Eggman to help him was because all of those other times he lost a fight with Sonic made him almost lose all confidence in his ability to beat him all by himself, so getting someone's help felt like the only way he could win against Sonic. It was insecurity, not malice, that caused him to get Eggman to help him. But that didn't make things better.

He quickly realized to his own horror that if he had actually won against Sonic in that fight, Sonic would have been killed. He was just satisfied to attack Sonic until he couldn't continue the fight with him anymore, proving that he could beat him in a fight and was stronger than him. But Eggman actually wanted Sonic dead. Knuckles realized looking back on it that if he had successfully beaten Sonic that time, Eggman would have immediately swooped in on his injured body and killed him at the quickest opportunity, and there might have been nothing he could've done to stop it. Just thinking about the sheer magnitude of what he did in that fight made him devastated. True, it wasn't as if he had joined Eggman's side and spent the entire adventure antagonizing him, like he did on his first betrayal when they were kids. But what he did was almost just as bad, doing something that he would've done if Sonic was his enemy and he wanted to make that official. Just thinking about it made him depressed.

Looking back on just what he had done, it became far more understandable why Sonic reacted with an unusual amount of anger towards him when the fight ended. It wasn't because Sonic was especially frustrated at him being " duped " by Eggman to fight his own friend for the fourth time in a row. It was because what he did to him was so hurtful, so hateful, so blatantly antagonistic, that it was like they were enemies again. Sonic couldn't believe he had actually tried to fight him with Eggman's help. It was bad enough when he was fighting him all on his own. But that fourth betrayal had Knuckles openly and obviously fighting him on Eggman's side, exactly like he would have if he had actually betrayed him.

He must have known, even back then, that what he had done to Sonic that time was so bad, that if he had acted antagonistic towards him after the fight, insulted him, or even acted a little frustrated with losing, Sonic could've completely lost it with him and refused to forgive him. That was why Knuckles acted so friendly towards him after the fight, and actually helped him on his adventure afterwards, whether he liked it or not. He was trying to make up for the worst fight they had ever had by being nicer to him after a fight than he had ever been before. He realized even back then that he was in such deep trouble, in such genuine danger of losing Sonic as a friend, that if he didn't try to make it up to him right away, he would lose him.

It was bad enough that he wasn't apologizing. He wasn't even acting apologetic. Even in a situation that bad, he still couldn't manage to swallow his pride and apologize to him. He just forced a smile and tried to make up an excuse for getting into another fight with him. He was just about to lie to Sonic that Eggman had brainwashed him, only for Sonic to interrupt him furiously, so angry at the betrayal that he didn't even care about the details. And all he could do in response to Sonic yelling at him furiously, was flinch with his eyes shut and tell him to leave him alone about it, trying to hide his fear. Sonic then left him alone just as he had said, running away from him in disdainful disgust without giving him a chance to offer his help, because of how angry he was. He said he wanted Sonic to leave him alone, but he didn't mean it like that. And Sonic probably knew that, but took the excuse to leave anyways. Before Knuckles could even get the chance to apologize. The first sentence out of his mouth should have been, " I'm sorry, " but he just couldn't get himself to say it, and by the time he realized that he needed to say it that time, it was too late. Sonic had left.

Knuckles had wanted to reassure Sonic that he still cared about him, that he still liked him and respected him, even if he couldn't bring himself to apologize, so being unusually friendly to him ever since then was his only option. And even after that, he still couldn't restrain himself from acting like he thought he was better than Sonic to avoid looking weak, an attitude that must have gotten on Sonic's nerves.

He remembered that he could tell by the look on Sonic's face that there was real resentment in him, and had every reason to worry that Sonic was thinking of him as a traitor. After all, he hadn't told him before the fight why he was fighting with him, or even made that clear. The last time he fought him, it was clear that he was fighting him over a Chaos Emerald, and while that wasn't something a friend would do to him, it was at least an excuse. The time before that, Eggman was there to say that he tricked him, giving him an excuse. But on that fourth betrayal, it wasn't immediately obvious that he was fighting Sonic for any good, honorable reason. He didn't look like he was trying to keep Sonic from abusing a Chaos Emerald or stealing the Master Emerald from him. He looked like he had joined up with Eggman to beat him in a fight, and there was nothing good about that. Without any sort of immediately obvious excuse that would show him as trying to fight Sonic for a righteous reason, Knuckles was in very real danger of Sonic thinking of that betrayal as a betrayal; not just him being tricked and trying to do the right thing, but him actually betraying him, joining Eggman's side. That was definitely what it looked like, and no one said anything to him to imply otherwise. So after that fight ended, Knuckles had every reason to be concerned that Sonic actually thought of him as a traitor. He had every reason to be concerned that at that moment, when Sonic was glaring at him in resentment and contempt, that Sonic hated him.

That thought had filled him with such anxiety that he immediately became pressured to force a friendly smile, and act nicer to him than he had ever been after a fight. On the surface, he seemed to be nonchalant about the whole thing at worst, and at best, embarrassed about being caught supposedly being " tricked, " again, as he started to say something that would reassure Sonic that he had just been tricked, and would never support Eggman in his evil goals. When Sonic yelled that he let Eggman trick him again, while it did startle him from the sheer magnitude of his anger, it soon filled him with relief that Sonic didn't think of him as a traitor, that he actually believed that his friend could be stupid enough to be successfully lied to four times. He was so relieved when Sonic assumed he was tricked again that he overlooked how Sonic's voice was full of nothing but resentment. Before he could even offer his help, Sonic told him he would see him later, and ran off, looking irritated with him, making him regret ever getting Eggman's help in a fight with him in the first place.

Looking back on it, Sonic's enraged reaction and subsequent reluctance to get his help seemed to foreshadow his reaction to the fifth betrayal. A fourth betrayal was painful enough, and then he had the nerve to betray him again, and after spending such a long time being nothing but friendly to him. It really dawned on Knuckles just how much it must have upset Sonic to have his own friend turn against him that much. After that fourth betrayal, their friendship took a turn for the worse. While Knuckles tried to make things better by always being friendly to him from that point on, Sonic only interacted with him when he was alone with him and had no choice but to talk to him, and when that happened, he treated him with nothing but resentment, preferring snarky remarks and hateful insults to any sort of friendliness. It hurt to remember that. And it hurt to remember that it was all his fault.

That night, Sonic's dream was far from pleasant. In the city park, Knuckles was lying on the ground face down, clutching his chest, groaning in pain. One of Eggman's robots had injured him while he was fighting the others, and he had been made unable to continue fighting. Sonic quickly came over and fought off all of the robots for him, unaware of just how hurt he had been. Eventually, Sonic finished off all of the robots, and smiled at a job well done.

" S-Sonic? " Knuckles said to him, in an exhausted voice that was quieter than usual. Confused, Sonic looked over at him, and said, " What's up, Knuckles? " wondering why he sounded depressed. Knuckles was lying on the ground in front of him looking tired and miserable.

" I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything I did to you. I'm a horrible friend. I'm nothing but a nuisance. You're my best friend and I treated you like dirt. All I did was turn against you and try to hurt you instead of trying to help, and took it for granted that you would forgive me. You don't deserve to be treated that way... You're better off without me... " Knuckles apologized in a weak voice, with his tone full of shame.

With a sad look on his face, Sonic was stunned into silence at hearing him say that. Knuckles wasn't acting like himself at all. He had never apologized to him for fighting with him before, especially not years after the fact. He had never called himself a horrible friend. He had never called him his best friend; he usually didn't acknowledge that he thought of him as a friend at all. He had never expressed such approval of him by saying that he didn't deserve to be treated the way he was by him, and he had never said that he would be better off without him. On the one hand, it was heartwarming that Knuckles was actually apologizing to him for his role in their rocky friendship, but on the other hand, just the fact that he was doing it was cause for concern. He sounded weak, exhausted, and depressed, and spoke to him in a tone of complete resignation. He sounded like he was giving up. He never gave up! It only took a couple of seconds for Sonic to get worried. " Knuckles, you never apologize to me... What's going on? "

Suddenly, Knuckles moaned and lost consciousness, collapsing face down on the ground. Panicked, Sonic gasped, and exclaimed, " Knuckles! " He rushed to his side, kneeled down beside him, and shook him briefly before turning him over on his back to examine him, and saw that he was clutching his chest. Scared, Sonic carefully pulled his hand away from his chest, and gasped in horror at seeing that it was stained red. It all made sense now. Knuckles had apologized to him because he thought he was going to die. He had felt guilty about the way he treated him for years, and knew that if he didn't choose this moment to apologize to him, he would never be able to.

Before he could get the chance to check his pulse, his vision faded to black, and his dream ended at the worst possible time. Once again, Sonic had woken up in his bed in his dark bedroom, completely alone. While he was relieved that Knuckles hadn't actually died in front of him, his nightmare still reminded him of the situation he was actually in, and made him feel guilty about it. Knuckles had apologized to him for years of a rocky friendship, and his apology had been ignored, causing him to feel as if his best friend thought of him with nothing but bitter resentment. He had lost one of his closest friends because he was too upset to accept his apology.

Remembering how he had gotten multiple consecutive dreams that something had happened to Knuckles, he couldn't help but get increasingly worried that his dreams were trying to warn him about something. He knew that if anything happened to Knuckles while he was all alone on Angel Island, there would be no one there to help him. He could've been dead right now. He could've been lying on the ground somewhere too injured to take care of himself with no one around to help him, and with only a little time left. Sonic couldn't stop thinking about how, if he only had the courage and humility to just go to Angel Island and reconcile with him, the possibility that he would die in such a way would be made far less likely to happen, because he would be able to find him and help him if anything happened to him. He felt incredibly guilty, more guilty than he had ever felt before, and spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in his bed, miserable and alone.

A week after Sonic and Knuckles had their fight, Knuckles had finally recovered from his fever. Rouge had checked his temperature in the morning as she usually did that week, and was surprised to see that he was back to normal. " You don't have a fever anymore... " Rouge said in shock. Knuckles smiled, and said, " Thanks, Rouge. "

She said unhappily, " You're welcome... " Knuckles got out of his bed and stood up, saying to her, " I really mean it. You saved my life back there. If you had left me on the floor of the shrine, there's no way I would've lived. I'm proud of you... I would have never expected you to care so much about me that you'd spend an entire week nursing me back to health, but you proved me wrong. I won't forget this... "

He started to leave the room, and Rouge said, " Wait! " He turned around to face her in confusion. She asked, " What... what now? " Knuckles chuckled, and said, " I'm gonna have my breakfast, and then go back to guarding the Master Emerald, of course! " Rouge sighed, and said nervously,

" That's not what I meant... I meant about us. " Knuckles looked confused, and felt concerned at seeing how upset she was.

She said sadly, " I don't want us to just go back to being enemies, Knuckles. I don't wanna go back to our only form of interaction being fighting over the emerald! I want more than that... While I did feel sorry for you when you had a fever and wanted you to get better, there was also a part of me that... really appreciated being able to spend time with you, and show you that I care about you... We got along better this week than any other week in our lives. We actually had conversations together and, spent time together! You actually liked having me around... I don't want that to end. "

She looked depressed, and Knuckles finally realized what was going on. She had grown attached to him. He couldn't just go back to being her enemy, when they were so close that week. He would be making her feel the way Sonic made him feel, only worse. He sighed, put his hand on her shoulder, and admitted,

" I've grown attached to you, too... " Rouge said in amazement, " Really? " and he nodded. " It was a nice change of pace, actually getting along with you and all. I didn't want it to end, either... We don't have to go back to fighting. Just don't try to steal the Master Emerald anymore. That's all you have to do. And then things don't have to go back to normal. I... I wouldn't mind having you as my friend... or even something more. " He chuckled, feeling shy all of a sudden, and Rouge hugged him, overjoyed at what he had said.

Happy, Rouge exclaimed, " You really mean it, Knuckles?! " unable to believe her good luck. Knuckles answered with a smile, " Of course... " He had grown to appreciate how she had treated him with such love and kindness that week. At first, he had been a little uncomfortable with her unexpectedly putting her hand on his shoulder, stroking his head, or hugging him to comfort him, but it only took a few days for him to start to really appreciate it. It had gotten to the point where, when he was finally able to walk on his own without a shoulder to lean on, he pretended he still needed help just so that Rouge could be close to him. He was shy about admitting it, but it was nice being close to her. When their hug finally ended, Rouge smiled warmly at him, and said to him, " Thank you so much, Knuckles... We'll try this out, and... see where it goes. " The two of them chuckled.

After a silence, Rouge said to him with concern, " So... about Sonic... " Knuckles stopped smiling, and looked depressed at hearing that name again. They hadn't talked about him for days. Rouge said, " It's been a week, and he still hasn't made up with you... Do you want me to talk to him? "

There was a silence. Finally, Knuckles shook his head, saying, " No. " Worried, Rouge explained to him, " You know, just because Sonic hasn't apologized to you yet, doesn't mean he's still mad at you. He's probably just too embarrassed to try to swallow his pride and apologize. I mean, he has got a lot of it! And he might be so upset by the situation that he knows that just talking about it with you would get him really... sad... and he might not want to embarrass himself even further by looking vulnerable in front of you... "

Knuckles looked depressed at just thinking about Sonic being so sad because of him, but the idea also gave him hope. Rouge said with a serious expression, " So, my point is, if he's not going to apologize to you, and you're not going to go for a second try apologizing to him, then neither of you are going to end up apologizing and your situation will stay exactly as it is. One of you needs to do it. And Sonic hasn't showed up here yet, so it looks like it's gonna have to be you! I know your first apology didn't go over so well, but it happened right after a fight and he couldn't have possibly forgiven you that fast, and there's no way in hell that you giving him a heartfelt apology didn't mean anything to him! There's still a chance that your friendship could get better, and while it might be a little risky to try to apologize again, it's better than doing nothing. It's all up to you. He has to have forgiven you by now. He needs to know that you're not mad at him. Go find him, and show him how much he means to you. "

She smiled at him, knowing that he would do the right thing. Knuckles sighed. He knew what the consequences of failure would be, but Rouge was right. He couldn't just give up. He had to fix things. There had to be a way. He looked determined, and said, " I'll do it. "

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails and Amy had found out from the news that Eggman had sent robots to the town's concert hall to destroy the place, and that everyone had to be evacuated from it. This caused Sonic to decide to go and destroy those robots, as he usually did when something like that happened. He had hoped that engaging in dangerous situations like he always did would help distract him from what had happened between him and Knuckles.

As soon as he found the building, he ran inside and started fighting the robots inside, defeating them effortlessly, but without the signature smirk that he usually had; he still couldn't stop feeling guilty about Knuckles. The building was full of white pillars and corridors with white walls and a ceiling with murals painted on it.

Eventually, with only one more robot left to go, Sonic ran into one of the larger rooms, and gasped at seeing Knuckles fighting a giant red robot. He had some bruises on him, but he didn't seem to be slowed down as he fought his foe, dodging its attacks, quickly getting it closer to defeat. Shocked at seeing him again, Sonic exclaimed, " Knuckles! "

The robot smacked Knuckles so hard in the chest that he was thrown into the marble pillar behind him. He collapsed on the floor in a daze, his eyes squeezed shut, clutching his chest in pain. Sonic gasped, feeling responsible for what had just happened and hoping he hadn't been killed.

Suddenly, he heard Amy cry out, " KNUCKLES! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! " Amy rushed to his side from the hallway behind him, overwhelmed with concern. She had followed Sonic into the building, wanting to see how he was doing. Sonic was shocked and worried at how Amy was now in harm's way, but immediately directed his attention to finishing off the robot trying to kill him at the moment.

Meanwhile, Amy desperately tried to help Knuckles in any way she could, hoping that he wasn't too injured as he laid there on the floor in a daze. " Knuckles! It's me, Amy! " she said, trying to wake him up. He groaned in response to his name, and whispered with a shaky voice, " A-A-Amy? " sounding weak. Terrified, Amy said to comfort him, " Yes, it's me! It's gonna be okay! I'll help you up... "

Standing behind him, she tried to pull him up to a standing position, having to have one arm around him holding him close to her to keep him from falling over. " There you go, " she said with a smile. But when she took the arm away, it was clear that he was too injured, tired and dizzy to stand on his own, and Amy gasped with sympathy when he leaned on her for support, having his arm around her on the other side of her neck to keep balance. " M-My head... " he weakly moaned. Breathing heavily and irregularly, he groaned weakly, closed his eyes, and his head lowered in exhaustion as he slumped over, making Amy even more panicked.

" KNUCKLES! KNUCKLES! " she cried out, seeing him pass out in front of her. His grip loosened and slipped away from Amy as he lost all strength, and his legs gave out from underneath him, causing him to collapse on the floor unconscious. Amy gasped, and called out, " KNUCKLES! "

As soon as Sonic defeated the robot at last, he ran over to Knuckles, and exclaimed, " KNUCKLES! ARE YOU OKAY?! " He rushed to his side, and placed his hands on his back, trying to wake him up as he lightly shook him. " SPEAK TO ME! SAY SOMETHING! " he said desperately, hoping that he wasn't gravely injured. He noticed that there were bruises all over him, and rubbed the back of his head, trying to find out if he had a bump on it. He gasped at discovering blood, and said in a determined tone, " I have to get him to my house, NOW! "

He turned him over on his back, lifted him up, and started running at the speed of sound while carrying him, hoping that he wasn't too late. He ran into his home, rushed into his bedroom, laid Knuckles down in his bed, and threw the pillow across the room to keep it from getting stained, all at the speed of sound. He ran to the washroom next to his room to get a First Aid Kit and washcloth, brought it to his bed, dampened the washcloth with disinfectant, and carefully put the washcloth under his head before it could even hit the mattress of the bed from being laid down on it, all at the speed of sound; he was going to take full advantage of his super speed now that he really needed it. Shaking, he called out, " TAILS! COME HERE! " while checking Knuckles' chest for blood. Thankfully, he didn't find any.

Tails rushed into the room, and gasped at seeing what was going on. " What happened?! "

Sonic said in a panic, " A robot attacked him! He's hurt! Quick, bandage his head! " Working fast, Tails put bandages on his head while Sonic held his head up with the wet washcloth in his hand. Thankful at the main problem being solved, Sonic sighed in relief, and said nervously, " Put that pillow under his head, " still holding his head up. Tails carefully placed the soft pillow beneath his head, and put his hand on his shoulder, pitying him. Examining him, he put his other hand on his chest, and felt him just barely breathing. His pulse was weak, but it was still there. Worried, Tails covered him over with the blankets, and said, " Sonic, he needs to go to the hospital... " Sonic sighed, and said, " Alright, call an ambulance... " allowing him to go find his phone. Knuckles was lying in the bed unconscious and injured, and it was impossible not to feel sorry for him. Sonic pleaded, " Don't die, knucklehead... Don't die... " hoping that he would wake up.

After calling an ambulance, Tails went into his room and said sadly, " Alright, they're coming... Do you want me to leave you alone with him? " understanding the depressed look on his face. Sonic nodded, causing him to quietly leave the room. He waited, for several minutes, hoping desperately that he would wake up, and trying to keep himself together.

Eventually, Knuckles weakly moaned, and began to regain consciousness. He soon became aware of how much pain he was in. He was covered in bruises, and felt sore all over his body. Most of his body was aching. He felt a stinging pain in his chest and the back of his head, and quickly remembered where it came from. He felt bandages on his head, with the back of his head being wet, and realized that he was lying in a warm soft bed underneath the blankets. Tired, confused and disoriented, he slowly opened his eyes, and saw Sonic at his bedside looking concerned. He was sitting on the bed beside him, and smiled in relief at seeing him wake up.

Remembering what had happened right before he passed out, Knuckles smiled at him, thankful and relieved that Sonic cared about him enough to help him so much. After waiting an entire week for an apology from him and never getting one, he had become concerned that Sonic was never going to want to be his friend again, and was worried that he was going to leave him behind. He said weakly, " You saved my life... " still managing to smile at him.

" Of course I did. I would never let you die... I care about you too much. " There was a silence, and Knuckles wondered if it meant they were friends again. Sonic sighed, with the smile fading from his face. Taking that as a bad sign, Knuckles was just about to apologize to him again, only for Sonic to look guilty and interrupt him, saying sadly,

" You don't need to apologize again. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I never should have put you through all this. You're one of my closest friends and I made you think that I hated you. You don't deserve to be treated like that. I know I was upset about all of our fights, but I never wanted to lose you! I just wanted our friendship to get better, so that they wouldn't happen anymore... And then you gave me a heartfelt apology for it for the first time in your life, and it meant so much to me... but I was so opposed to you finding out how upset I really was that I just walked away from it!... I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did! "

Sonic was becoming increasingly sadder as he got further and further into his apology. By the end of it, his voice was breaking. It was easy for Knuckles to see that he felt incredibly guilty. Soon, he saw tears in his eyes. He couldn't stand seeing his best friend like that. Feeling sorry for him, Knuckles managed to sit up from the bed and pull him into a hug to comfort him. It was a little painful, since his chest was really sore from being smacked by the robot he fought earlier, but it was worth it. Sonic immediately returned the hug, thankful at the act of kindness. Knowing that he was unable to see his face at this point, Sonic finally allowed the tears to escape from his eyes. He found it a little embarrassing being seen in such a vulnerable state, but he was so grateful that Knuckles wasn't dead that he didn't care about looking weak. He just wanted him to know that he cared. He had been so worried about the possibility of him dying that he was thankful for his every heartbeat, because it reminded him that Knuckles was alive and everything would be okay.

Feeling consumed by guilt, Sonic said sadly with his voice breaking, " I never should have driven you away... You were always such a good friend... I was just so focused on a few mistakes that I forgot about all the good times we had together!... You have no idea how terrible I felt about this! I felt so guilty, I kept having these dreams that something happened to you! I was so worried about you! I kept worrying that something had happened to you after that fight with nobody there to help you! And then I finally saw you again and I caused you to get distracted and get hurt and I'm so sorry, Knuckles!... I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're alive and here and we're friends again, and everything can go back to normal... "

Suddenly becoming worried, Sonic asked, " This hug isn't painful for you, right?... I-I'm just asking, since you're so bruised and all... " Finding it heartwarming that Sonic was apologizing to him and telling him how much he meant to him for the first time in his life, Knuckles chuckled and said to him, " I'm fine. Even if there was pain, it's worth it. I'm just glad to see that you're not mad at me anymore... And I still mean that promise I gave to you. I'm never gonna hurt you again. Things are gonna get better between us, Sonic. I mean it. "

Relieved, Sonic finally smiled, and said, " Thanks, Knuckles... " no longer crying into his shoulder. Understanding that Sonic was no longer upset, Knuckles ended the hug at last. He was a little relieved that nothing was against his sore chest anymore, but he still appreciated the hug, and knew that he was going to miss it.

Suddenly, they heard the doorbell ring, and Sonic chuckled, knowing that it was Amy, who he had left behind when he ran home without her. After he heard the front door open, he called out with a smile, " Tails, Amy, he's awake! " in a tone that made it clear that he wasn't nearly as worried as he was before.

Soon, Tails and Amy rushed into the room and took turns hugging Knuckles in relief, expressing how happy they were that he was alive and back with them. He seemed to really appreciate it. It was clear that he had been worried about losing their friendship, too, and was just thankful to have them back. " Tails, Amy!... I missed you guys, " he said with a smile. He knew it was making him look like he had gone soft, but in a situation like this, he felt that it was worth it. After all, he'd have plenty of opportunities in the future to establish himself as a badass; he didn't have to be one all the time. Everything was going to be okay; he just knew it.