It had been yet another fight with Eggman's many creations, a barber-bot this time. It was designed to simply chop stuff whether it was people or buildings or whatever. It's spinning blades managed to cause a lot of destruction before Sonic and the team could destroy it. It was just one more victory for the team. They'd been having a lot of those lately.
After the fight Sonic, Tails and Amy were sitting on the ground, taking a break before they'd head home. It was only noon and none of them had anything in particular to do so Amy suggested they'd celebrate their winning streak with a party that night.
"I've been thinking about having one for a while now, but after that successful victory just now, we just have to do it!" Amy chimed happily. The pink hedgehog really loved parties and enjoyed organizing them. "And we still have plenty of time to arrange it!"
"I don't know Amy, parties are a lot of work," Tails hesitated "are you sure we should do it today? Why not tomorrow?"
"Because by then the mood will be gone, we have to do it today when everyone is still hyped and excited, duh!" Amy then proceeded to pull out a notepad and a pen and threw it at Sonic. "Sonic, take notes. We need to get some things for the party, so just write what I say, okay?"
"Sure thing, Amy!" Sonic responded and started writing down the things Amy was listing, since he was the only one fast enough to keep up with Amy's babbling.
While Sonic, Amy and Tails were sitting around merrily planning the party, Knuckles was helping to clear out the area. A lot of damage had been made in the fight, especially buildings had been destroyed so there was a lot of junk that needed to be moved away. Knuckles figured since it was kind of their fault all of that destruction had been caused, he might as well help out, especially when moving around big boulders or brick wall pieces was no problem for him. Being strong and all.
He was just finishing up when he heard Amy completing her list.
"And, that should be everything!" She declared proudly, taking the finished list from Sonic and going through it once before turning the paper over and writing something on it. When she was done she handed the paper back to Sonic. "This is a list of the people attending the party."
Sonic took the list from Amy, looked at it, then frowned and said, "I don't think Knuckles needs to be on the list."
Knuckles stopped dead on his tracks. He was behind the corner of a building so he couldn't be seen by the others. Why would Sonic say that?
"Huh..? What do you mean?" Amy questioned.
"He never comes to these things, he's too busy protecting that stupid rock of his" Sonic stated.
Knuckles bit his lip. This always happened. Sonic had always made fun of the Master Emerald and of Knuckles for constantly staying by it, but he didn't realize it was that much of an issue for the blue hedgehog.
"Well.. that's true, but you know it's not just some stupid rock. It's the Master Emerald." Tails added nervously, not liking the tone of his blue friend's voice. "We should at least ask him if he wants to come."
"Nah, don't bother. He's gonna say no anyway," the blue hedgehog hissed and crossed his arms in annoyance. "and even if he did, he'd probably just spoil the mood anyway. "
"Sonic!" Amy gasped, not expecting her friend to say that.
"It's true! He's boring, he barely talks and even if he does it has something to do with the Master Emerald! " Sonic snarled with a hint of something in his voice.
They all knew it. Knuckles was very passionate about his guardian duties and didn't have many chances to loosen up. The red echidna knew it too, but having done it for his whole life, he didn't know any better. He wasn't good at interacting with other people and usually just stayed out of the way whenever he was in the middle of a gathering of Sonic and his friends. And if people talked to Knuckles it was them who asked about the Emerald, not knowing what else to talk to him about. Knuckles just answered their questions.
"Well, I guess you're right." Amy agreed sadly. "But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be invited, he has been helping us after all.."
"Tsk, some help he was.." Sonic muttered, looking down at his bruised leg. Knuckles had pushed him hard during the fight, resulting in Sonic bruising his leg. It wasn't bad, but it stung a bit.
"He saved your life!" Amy insisted. She had seen it clearly. "If Knuckles hadn't pushed you, you would've been hurt way worse by those blades!"
"And who says I needed his help!? I would've been fine by myself! " He snapped, fists clenched. "I don't need him!"
Knuckles's heart sank. After all the things they had been through together, Sonic says he doesn't need him? Tears swelled up in his eyes. He ran. He couldn't stay there any longer. Couldn't stand to hear anything else.
He ran through the rumbled city, through the thick forest and back to Angel Island, his home. He didn't go back to the shrine where the Master Emerald was. He wandered deep into the forest, running blindly as far as his legs took him. Not focusing on his surroundings, he tripped on a large tree root above the ground. Thanks to his quick reflexes he didn't fall, grabbing hold of the said tree, stopping to catch his breath. His knees shook under him. Leaning his back against the tree, he let himself fall down.
Sitting there at the foot of the tree, he hugged his knees and he cried. Knuckles the Echidna, known for his strength and guts of steel, cried because of the hurt caused by the blue hedgehog he had considered to be his friend. Whom he thought had also considered Knuckles his friend, a part of the team, a brother even. Had it all been a lie? All this time, had Sonic just used him? Why would he have invited Knuckles to all those adventures if he didn't need him?
The red echidna felt so confused and betrayed he didn't know what else to do but cry. With his head low and his whole body trembling, he wept. Not even bothering to stop his tears. No one was there to see it anyway. He was alone. Now more than ever.
It wasn't uncommon for Knuckles to be alone. Heck, he practically grew up like that. He had little contact with the outside world, his only friends being all the animals and the nature itself on the island. He didn't really meet other people before Eggman and Sonic appeared on Angel Island for the first time. After that he met Amy and Tails and some other friends of Sonic. From there on, Knuckles went to many adventures with those three, whether it was saving the world or something more casual, like defeating one of Eggman's latest creations. Amy, Tails and Sonic had relied on him for his strength and his power to control chaos. Or so he had thought.
Knuckles worked well with Sonic and others, their teamwork was effortless and they always managed to solve whatever that was troubling them. But after the peace had been restored and Sonic, Amy and Tails would go out to eat or just hang out, Knuckles was rarely included in those activities and he usually found himself back at the Angel Island.
"Shouldn't you get back to that rock of yours?"
"You can go back now."
" We'll call you if something comes up."
"I've got things to do, go guard that rock or something"
'Of course, I should have realized it earlier.' He thought to himself. 'They always sent me back here because they didn't want me around.' Knuckles sobbed, his eyes hurt from the pressure of his tears, but he was just so upset. Now that he thought about it he realized that wasn't the only thing that'd been happening. Lately Sonic had been acting like a complete jerk around him. They'd been fighting a lot. It wasn't uncommon for them, they were kind of rivals and all, but lately the fights had been much more... personal. Sonic insulted him, blamed him if things went wrong on their missions and it sometimes felt like he was really trying to beat the living shit out of him. Knuckles hadn't payed that much attention to it, figuring Sonic could have just been having a bad day. But now he knew that was not the case.
'He hates me.' The realization struck him like a bullet and he froze. It all made sense. 'How come I didn't see it earlier?'
Knuckles had always had trouble trusting people. He didn't know whom to trust and whom not to. It's not like anyone had ever taught him that. It seemed he always made the wrong choices . He had believed Eggman when he'd said Sonic was trying to steal the Master Emerald. He believed when Sonic had told him they were friends. Why was he always wrong about everything? He wasn't good at reading people which made it easy for people to lie to him and take advantage of him. He hated that.
"I'm such a fool.." the heartsick echidna muttered. He didn't even have the energy to cry anymore. A few tears made their way down, quietly.
Knuckles was so deep in his own thoughts he didn't know how much time passed. He didn't care. For the first time ever, he didn't even think about the Master Emerald.
Knuckles the Echidna was miserable.
And no one was there for him.
Meanwhile, back on Mobius the party was just starting. Amy, Sonic and Tails had managed to arrange the party in just a few hours. It took place at Sonic's house, since everyone knew where that was. The place was all decorated, there was music, lots of food and drinks, even some party games were planned. The quests had just started arriving. All of their friends were invited so the place was full of people and the mood was cheerful. Rouge had even managed to bring Shadow with her.
Amy was chatting with Cream when she noticed Rouge and Shadow entering. Merrily, she ran to greet them. She gave Rouge a big hug and the bat hugged back.
"I'm so glad you could make it!" Amy smiled cheerfully, releasing her friend from the hug. Then turning to look at the black hedgehog. "You too, Shadow! It's been a while."
Shadow only nodded, looking around the room with his usual frown on his face.
Rouge too did a quick scan around the room and soon noticed the absence of a certain red echidna. "Where's Knuckie?" she inquired.
"Uhh..," Amy looked down nervously before saying, "he wasn't invited. Sonic said we shouldn't bother since he's always busy guarding the Master Emerald."
"What?" Rouge exclaimed. "It's not like anyone is going to come after the Emerald tonight! Eggman got his ass kicked and I too am here, just having a good time with no plans on stealing that precious gem of his whatsoever!"
"I know," Amy put her hands up, trying to make Rouge quiet down a bit. She looked around her quickly and went closer to the bat and Shadow so they could hear her whispering. "It really seemed like Sonic didn't want him to come. He was pissed because Knuckles pushed him during our fight with the barber-bot or something."
Shadow raised his brow at this. "The faker got pissed because he got pushed a little?"
"Well, in order for him not to get chopped up by the barber-bot's blades Knuckles had to push Sonic out of the way rather hard and he ended up crashing into a rock and hurt his leg." The pink hedgehog explained.
"Knuckie saved his life, why on earth would he be pissed at him?" Rouge was annoyed. Sure she was always trying to steal the Emerald, but she only did it to tease the echidna. She had grown quite fond of the guy so hearing someone act like this towards him made her mad. "I swear I'm going to kick his ass!"
"Please don't," Amy pleaded. " I don't know what's wrong with him. He's been really cold towards Knuckles lately, it's not normal. They used to be really close.."
"Did something happen between them or something?" Rouge asked. This was turning interesting. She wanted to know what had suddenly caused Sonic to turn cold against his friend. "When did it start?"
"Let me think..." she furrowed her brows thoughtfully. "Around three months ago, I think? After the tornado incident."
"The one where you had to ask Silver for help? " The bat remembered the incident. It had been a dangerous one that could've easily destroyed all of Mobius if not for Silver. "Shadow, you were there too, right? You, Sonic, Silver and Knuckles worked together?"
Shadow only nodded. He too remembered that day, but not for reasons one might imagine. Another kind of incident had occurred that day. It all started to make sense now. "I'm leaving." He announced and just like that, he left. Leaving the girls to solve 'the mystery' by themselves. He had someplace to be.
Shadow hadn't known Knuckles for that long. Okay, he didn't really know him at all, just that he was the last of his race and that it was his duty and fate to protect the Master Emerald. He'd met him through Sonic and kept seeing him every now and then. They hadn't really talked, but Shadow held deep respect for the echidna. He'd seen Knuckles fight bravely against all kind of enemies and knew he was capable of controlling chaos, much like himself, possibly even better. His loyalty for his duty was also admirable.
It was only recently when he came to realize that he felt something else than respect for the guardian. He wasn't sure what it was, but it caused him to have a weird sensation in his stomach. He caught himself thinking about the echidna a lot. He thought about how alike they were. Both of them were loners, had no family, no memory of how they came to be. He felt like Knuckles shared his pain. Loneliness. Perhaps the most painful thing in existence.
Sure, both of them had friends or something like that, but none of them really understood what it meant to be alone. Shadow wanted to know Knuckles. He had never felt a desire to socialize with others, but this was different. There was something about the echidna that made the black hedgehog curious. And that's the reason Shadow now found himself on the Angel Island. The guardian's home.
Having been there before, he easily made his way to the shrine where the Master Emerald rested. Untouched and oddly unguarded. Knuckles was nowhere to be seen.
'That's unusual.' Shadow pondered and made his way around the shrine, looking around for the echidna. Where could he be? The black hedgehog frowned in annoyance. He hadn't expected this.
Keen on finding the missing guardian, Shadow headed into the forest.
The forest was huge, it covered more than half of the whole island. There were trees of all sizes, some had just started growing and were still smaller than most people, but some were as massive as skyscrapers. They had definitely been there for a long time. The forest was filled with many exotic plants, Shadow had never even seen most of them nor could he name them.
After walking for a while a natural avenue of trees took him to a lake. A big, round lake where the water was crystal clear and the rays of the setting sun bounced off of it's surface. The air was warmer there and a small summer breeze ruffled Shadow's fur gently. He closed his eyes and that's when he sensed a presence. He smelled the air in order to locate it. He now knew where the guardian was.
He approached the location slowly. He didn't want to alarm the young echidna, he could react rather violently when startled.
He spotted Knuckles sitting at the foot of a large tree, with his arms around his legs and his head low. 'Well, that's a rare sight.' Shadow thought to himself and made his way to the echidna.
Shadow walked to his side, not wanting to go right in front of him in case he chose to attack or something. He wasn't sure if he was sleeping or if he was indeed just sitting there quietly. What he didn't expect was what came next.
Hearing the light sound of footsteps, Knuckles stirred. He knew it was Shadow, he had learned to recognize different people by their smell. The black hedgehog smelled of gunpowder. But why was he here? He didn't like the idea of Shadow seeing him like this, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He looked up at his unexpected visitor.
Shadow was slightly shocked when he saw the state Knuckles was in. He had clearly been crying, there was no doubt about it. He could see the dried tears on his cheeks, his eyes were puffy and unmistakably filled with sadness. Shadow wasn't that familiar with emotions, but this one he did recognize. And somehow that hurt look on the young echidna's face made him feel bad.
He knew Knuckles wasn't one to show his emotions so openly. For him to be like this, whatever Sonic had done must've been pretty horrible. Shadow grit his teeth. He felt so angry towards the blue hedgehog at the moment.
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft sniffle coming from the red echidna. He looked at Knuckles closely as he wiped his face on his arm, casting eyes down, clearly embarrassed by the current situation. He probably hadn't expected anyone to find him like this.
"What are you doing here?" The echidna muttered softly.
"You weren't at the party so I figured I'd come and keep you company." Shadow stated. In a way it was true, right? He figured he shouldn't ask why he'd been crying or what Sonic had done to him. That could wait.
Knuckles chuckled. "You? Wanted to keep me company? " A frown found it's way to his face. "Stop joking around, why are you here?"
"I don't 'joke' around." The black hedgehog said seriously. Surprised how suspicious one could be about someone just wanting to hang out with him. Was it so rare? Didn't anyone ever spend time with him? " Are you saying you don't want my company?"
"No, I just don't understand why you'd do that." Knuckled mumbled. "We don't even know each other."
"You're right, we don't," Shadow sat down next to the echidna and turned to look at him in the eyes. "but we could. "
Knuckles was confused. The hedgehog he had only met a few times comes to his island and wants to get to know him? What was going on? He met his gaze and tried to find some sort of answer from the hedgehog's eyes, but it was no use. Knuckles just couldn't read him. Not that he was any good at reading anyone, so he just gave up.
"Why?" the red one simply asked.
Shadow sighed, closing his eyes. "Do you want to hear the truth?" He opened his eyes and waited for a response. Knuckles nodded so he continued. "I am interested in you."
"Huh?" Knuckles was now completely lost. "What the hell does that mean?"
"What I just said. You have caught my interest and I wish to get to know you and I want you to know me." Shadow explained, suddenly the weird feeling was there again. He felt it at his stomach. Nervousness? He didn't know since he wasn't familiar with feelings like this.
"So like, you want us to be... friends?" Knuckles inquired. This was so weird.
"I guess so.. If you want to, that is." The black one answered.
This time, Knuckles could see something in those red eyes. Expectation and something sincere. He realized the hedgehog might really be serious and even if he was not, he was pulling it off really well. But for him to be trying like this, it couldn't really be bad right?
Knuckles gave a small smile. "I think I'd like that."
Shadow smirked. It was as close to a smile as he could get. "Great."
They sat there for a while, talking about little things. For example Shadow asked Knuckles about the different plants he'd seen on his way and Knuckles then explained them to him.
"It's really nice up here." Shadow spoke softly. "On Angel Island I mean. Everything is so.. different."
Knuckles smiled, he had finally calmed down and was back to looking normal. The presence of the hedgehog had distracted him from his self-pity. "It really is. You should see it on the midsummer's eve. That's when it's in it's full glory."
"Hmmm..?" Shadow just hummed. For the first time in forever, he felt peaceful and content. Was it the beautiful nature of the island or the accomplished step towards friendship with Knuckles that caused it, or both? He didn't know nor did he care. " I'll have to come see it then."
Their peaceful chat was disturbed by the loud growling of Knuckles's stomach. The guardian blushed a little. "Guess I forgot to eat." He muttered.
Shadow raised his brow at this. "How long have you been here anyway?"
"Uhh.. since the sun is going down, I'd say about few hours..." He mumbled. He hadn't even realized.
"That's a long time.. " 'A long time indeed to wallow in misery.' Shadow thought to himself. "Let's get something to eat." He said and stood up.
"Yeah, let's." Knuckles smiled again, food sounded really good right now. He got up, but suddenly felt really dizzy and almost fell back down, but thankfully Shadow had reacted quickly and grabbed his arm so he didn't.
"Woah there!" Shadow said and helped Knuckles to steady himself. "You shouldn't get up so fast after not eating for so long. Your blood sugar levels must be really low right now, you could pass out."
"Thanks, doc." Knuckles smirked after getting his balance in control. He stretched his arms above his head. Having stayed still for so long didn't do him any good. He took a couple of steps just to test that he wouldn't fall down again. He noticed Shadow watching him and that he looked kind of.. worried. 'Seriously?' Knuckles wondered. It kind of warmed his heart, but he didn't know why.
"Don't worry, I can manage." He assured with a playful smirk on his face.
Shadow's eyes widened, he hadn't realize he'd been staring. "I wasn't worried!" He quickly said. Okay, he had been worried a little, but he wouldn't admit it.
"Sure." This time, Knuckles laughed. The hedgehog was turning out to be an amusing fellow. He started walking out of the forest along the side of the lake. " Let's go."
Shadow stayed still for a while. The way Knuckles had laughed caused something to stir in his chest and he felt warmth go through his body. 'This must be happiness.' He realized and walked after the echidna. Maybe befriending Knuckles was the best decision he had ever made.
tbc