Knuckles sat atop a volcano, watching the lightshow in the sky. Sonic had assumed his super form through the power of the Chaos Emeralds and was fighting some threat to the entire world. Again. By this point, the echidna really didn't care about the details anymore. He just guarded the Master Emerald and tried to enjoy the adventure as best he could.
That night, he would be having a much easier time enjoying it than usual. Next to him sat Rouge the Bat, a treasure hunter he had met the last time Eggman had destroyed his emerald. She had asked him to come help with a project, which was when all this mess had started. Or more accurately, it started when Sonic somehow managed to get up to Angel Island and tell him Rouge needed him. The only way to contact Knuckles was in person, and he liked it that way.
"You should really get a cell phone, Knux," Rouge said, turning her attention from the battle to Knuckles. The echidna didn't blame her. Watching Sonic beat up monsters and robots got boring after about the tenth time.
"I'm not paying twenty bucks a month just so I can have a device that makes annoying ringing sounds when I'm doing something important." He said.
"What could be so important on the stupid island of yours anyway?" She said, wrapping her arm around him. "Besides, I might want to call you."
"In that case, I'm definitely not getting one," Knuckles said, grinning. The bat girl had grown on him since she had first tried to steal the Master Emerald.
She lay her head on his shoulder, and he pulled her close. This was the first relationship he had had with anyone since... well ever, really. His best friend was probably Sonic, and at least half of their encounters involved him trying to punch the hedgehog for something or other. Guarding a rock on an uninhabited floating island didn't give much opportunity for socializing.
They sat in silence, watching the smaller orb of light race towards the bigger one. If their lives didn't depend on the outcome of the conflict, it would have been beautiful. After a few minutes, they were interrupted by someone tapping furiously on Knuckle's shoulder.
"Knuckles,my sensors-"
"Tails, this had better be important," the echidna growled.
"It is! My sensors are picking up a huge energy surge. This whole volcano is about to erupt!"
Knuckles and Rouge were immediately on their feet. "Run!" They shouted in unison. Tails was in the air, flying down the slope with his twin tails. Knuckles and Rouge jumped up and glided down right behind him, leaving the ground just before it started shaking. Knuckles clutched the Master Emerald closer to his body as lava began to spew from the caldera.
"Why didn't you tell me this could happen?" He shouted to Rouge over the roar.
"I thought the Master Emerald would fix it! That's why I needed you."
"What? I didn't do anything. You didn't tell me to do anything."
"There are seven crystals here that give off energy readings very similar to the Chaos Emeralds," Rouge explained. "I brought them together in the volcano so I could take them all when Sonic gets finished. That's why I needed you and the Master Emerald. I thought that it would be able to negate their energy, like it does with the Chaos Emeralds."
"Listen, bat girl. Next time you need me to do something-"
But before he could finish, a flaming tree branch came rocketing through the air and hit them both. The Master Emerald was knocked form Knuckle's grip. Rouge was unconscious and falling quickly toward the lava flowing beneath them. Knuckles knew he could only save one. He had a choice to make.
But really, it was no choice at all. He had already made it. Back when he first realized he would spend his whole life guarding the Emerald, when he had seen his ancestors slaughter an entire race over it, when he had cut the power to the space colony ARK, and every single moment he had spent guarding it, he had made the choice. Nothing could change that now.
Knuckles swooped low and grabbed the Master Emerald, just as he had sworn to do. As his hand closed around the jewel, a scream of pain tore through the air. Rouge must have woken up just in time to hit the lava. He turned back to see flames consuming a furry hand sticking up above its flow. She was gone.
Once more Knuckles sat atop Angel Island, his home. He had lived there his whole life, nothing but him and the Emerald. But only now did he realize what it was to be alone. He would never see Rouge again, the only girl he had ever loved. He probably wouldn't see any of friends again either. There's no way Sonic would visit him again after what he did. And he sure wasn't about to leave the Emerald unguarded.
He sighed and gazed into the splendor of the green gem. "I guess it's just you and me then," he said.
The Master Emerald remained silent. As it always was.