It was a quiet night in the Mystic Ruins; peaceful but yet oh-so-dull, having to spend every day's night shift the same way. But the guardian of the Ruins hardly minded. His duty to guard the Master Emerald had been handed to him since he was very young and it had been years since then. But tonight felt different. There was a disturbance in the air. But nobody was around.

The red echidna rested his chin on the palm of his glove, his eyes darting around cautiously. A shadow flew overhead. In a flash, he lifted his head and looked up. Nothing. He narrowed his eyes.

"Where are you, ya little coward," he growled protectively, clenching his fists in preparation.

"You're like a dog protecting his bone. It's just me, you doofus."

The echidna spun around, following the voice to a white bat that stood behind him.

"You're dangerously close to the Emerald, Rouge, back off. I don't wanna hurt you," he said.

She folded her arms and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Who says I'm here for your stupid emerald?"

"Well, why else would you be here?"

She cocked her hip to the side and planted a gloved hand on it.

"Can I sit?" she asked. "You know, I'm a guest here in your, uh," she looked around the jungle, disgust riding her face, "home, and you don't even welcome me? Not quite the gentleman if you ask me. This is why I would never date you."

"Never said I was on the market. Don't care to be. And even if I was, I don't go for selfish, manipulative women anyway," he said.

The two stared each other down intensely. She narrowed her eyes, deciding to maintain her tongue.

"Speaking of dating, I didn't know Sonic's girlfriend was cheating on him."

"What?"

"You know. The cute little pink girl that always hangs around him."

"I know who Amy is, I've known her longer than you," he said, growing annoyed. "They aren't dating. Never did."

"Oh? Well, that's a relief. At least now I know that she's faithfully engaged to Shadow," Rouge smiled, watching Knuckles' eyes expand in disbelief.

"Wh-what are you talking about? Shadow's been staying at Amy's for a bit but she's only taking care of him. Nothing else is going on."

"That's not what I saw," Rouge said, mischief shining in her eyes. "I was at the jewelry store and—"

"What were you doing at the jewelry store?" Knuckles asked, crossing his arms.

"Window shopping. I wasn't going to steal anything!"

The echidna shifted his position and stood in front of the Master Emerald, blocking most of it from her view.

"Continue," he said.

"Don't trust me, huh? Smart boy. Anyway, I saw the pink girl run in there and I thought to myself, how odd is it for someone to be out in the cold without a jacket. And, being as curious as I am, I stuck around and watched for a while to see what she was in there for. Not long after that, Shadow came by and I saw him disappear into the store as well. So I watched through the glass to see what was going on, and, all of a sudden—you ready?—he asked the salesman for a ring and he slipped it on her ring finger! And then he paid for it! He got her an engagement ring, Knuckles! Did you hear me? They're engaged!"

Knuckles looked at her blankly, thoughts not clearly processing through his head. The white bat waved her hand in front of him.

"Hello? Earth to Knuckles."

After another moment, the echidna opened his mouth to speak, a tangle of confusion rolling off his tongue.

"Uh… how do you know that they're really engaged though? Couldn't it just be…you know…a friendly gesture between two friends? I mean she's been taking care of him and all."

Rouge rolled her eyes once more.

"Knuckles, you really should get out there and date. You'd learn a thing or two about how these things go. You don't get your friends a ring and place it on their ring finger to thank them for something they've done. Would you ever give me a ring if I did something nice for you?"

"You don't deserve anything after trying to steal the Master Emerald."

"I gave you the pieces back! You act like I'm the most hideous thing in the world!"

For a moment, he eyed her, taking in her beauty despite the anger that was plastered on her face. He blushed and looked down.

"You're not hideous," he said quietly. "But I think I do get what you mean. It is a little bizarre for Shadow to give her something that symbolizes pre-marriage. Knowing Shadow, I don't think he's aware of what he's done."

"Knowing Amy, I'm sure she's aware of it and yet she accepted it anyway. Doesn't that say a lot?"

Knuckles stopped to think for a moment.

"Yeah, it kinda does."

"I smell wedding!" Rouge sang.

"Wait a sec. How am I supposed to believe what you tell me? For all I know, this could just be a cracked up story you made up in your head."

Rouge groaned in frustration.

"You're gonna have to learn to trust me someday," she said. "But it would be silly if I made this up. Why else would I fly alllllllll the way over here? It's definitely not just to visit you. Please!"

The white bat began to step off the platform and spread her wings in preparation to take off.

"Wait! Why'd you come to me about it, though?" Knuckles asked.

Rouge looked over her shoulder, a sly smirk playing upon her lips.

"To gossip," she answered, and with that, she took off, her form disappearing into the night sky.

Uncloudless: Super-dee-duper short chapter, I know. I needed to focus on these two to get the plot moving in the direction that I want it to but I don't want to focus on them too much because they're only the supporting characters. The next chapter will definitely be longer, I promise!