A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait, but I didn't want to mess around with this chapter. It's definitely long and probably just as important, so I wanted to make sure I didn't rush through it or BS anything just to get it done faster. School starts up Monday, so I have no idea how committed I can be to this story for a few months, but I will try. It all depends on my work and how "in to" the story I am. I pretty much know what I want to do with it, it's just actually writing it and all the details that aren't always fun. Also, just so everyone knows, this is technically after Chapter 7 if you've been following along with the chronology of the story. I.e., from now on, the entire story takes place in the present, whereas some were flashback chapters. Anyway, hope you enjoy Chapter 10! (*EDIT*: I added one last paragraph to this chapter as of 1/21/09. It's not really important; it just adds to the "moment")

Chapter 10: A Distant Hope

Knuckles blinked and drudged slowly over to the wall that he could barely see in the dark dungeon. Extending his arm out, he felt the coarse stone on the palm of his glove, running his hand along the rough surface. In the chilling silence, the noise he made felt like nails on a blackboard, and without even looking behind him, he knew it was making Rouge uncomfortable. So he stopped and simply rested his forehead against the wall, his eyes closed tight.

Rouge, meanwhile, did not stand in her stance for long either. She soon began scuffing her boots on the hard gravel floor, trying to remind herself that she was in fact still alive and not in some nightmarish hell from which there was no escape. Growing impatient, she began to nervously tap her foot, growing louder with every touch of the floor. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she grunted out in frustration.

Knuckles was a little startled as he turned around quickly. "Would you please not do that?" he said in a more demanding tone than what his words would have meant. Rouge may have stopped her foot, but she would not remain quiet.

"I'm getting out of here," she said forcefully. "I'm not staying here with you." The emphasis she put on the last word seemed to push Knuckles into the wall a little.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" he said to the wall in front of his face, his voice littered with futility.

Rouge turned around to face him, but she couldn't really see him. And even if Knuckles was facing her, he couldn't have seen here eyebrow raised at him, making that face that said she couldn't believe what he had just said.

"I'll tell you what I plan on doing," she told him. "I plan on fighting. I plan on kicking and screaming. I plan on knocking some heads around. I plan on kicking someone's ass. I plan on taking control."

She began to walk over to him, and she began to feel his presence inches from her body. "I plan on not giving in."

Suddenly Knuckles furiously turned around to face her, and she tripped backwards unexpectedly.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" he barked at her. She only looked on in disbelief at his reaction. "This is it. This is the end. This is the last piece of this puzzle. After all these months and years of trying to fight through everything, it's finally become too much. We're finished."

Rouge's gaze never left his face as she stood up. "What's happened to you?" she demanded. "Don't tell me Tikal's weakened your resolve."

"Don't even talk to me about Tikal!" he shouted at her. He then lowered his hoarse voice, but only a few notches. "Tikal is everything to me. She's all I have in this world now." He grunted before finishing with, "And you've made damn sure of that."

Rouge felt her nose cringe slightly. "And where does Cuticla fit into that world of yours?"

Knuckles clenched his fists tight enough to keep the blood out. "I just told you. You've made sure I have nothing other than Tikal. You took my daughter away from me."

Rouge wanted to scream back at him. Months ago, she would have done so without giving it any thought. But now she was too exhausted and too tired of this everlasting tension. She was fed up with it. She was fed up with him. So she turned and walked to the other side of the cell.

"What?!" shouted Eggman.

"Yes sir," the robot replied cautiously. "The reports indicate that it is affirmative. There is an offspring of the echidna and bat somewhere out there."

"And how in the world did we miss this?!" fumed the doctor.

"Our intelligence sources from the bar that night confirmed that the child carried by the bat was in fact that of the ultimate life form, not that of the echidna."

"Did they check for any signs of false information?"

"The emotions were evident that night, according to our source. Those kinds of emotions could not be fabricated. It was unknown to even the parents of the child. We could not have foreseen this."

Eggman stuttered, trying to come up with a way to shoot down this new information. He refused to believe he had come so far in this direction only to have his initial best-case scenario there all along. Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Didn't Rouge take a paternity test?"

"Yes," the mech replied. "The test confirmed that the child is that of the ultimate life form. That is why we were led to believe—"

"Then how can it possibly be Knuckles' child?!" shouted the doctor. "The paternity test analyzes DNA—it's awfully hard to confuse the genetic makeup of the ultimate life form with the echidna guardian of the Master Emerald!"

"Sir, we are baffled by this development, but the reports are validated by the current DNA strand obtained by the collection units sent to capture the bat. The child in that apartment was the offspring of none other than the echidna."

Seeing no other way around this, Eggman slammed his fist on the table before him, letting out a cry of extreme frustration.

"So you're telling me that someone tampered with that paternity test?" he demanded from his minion.

"It would appear to be that way, sir," it replied.

"But…but those things are supposed to be locked away tight. You can't just walk into the hospital and swap a paternity test. To even have access to the results at all, you need to receive permission from hospital personnel. You need to have some sort of connection to the parents."

The robot remained silent for a few seconds before answering. "Perhaps one of their companions swapped the results," it claimed.

"But why?" Eggman wondered aloud. "None of them knew of my plot, I'm certain of that. Perhaps Shadow felt mischievous and decided to…oh, never mind! I shouldn't be wracking my brain around petty matters such as these."

The robot sensed that it was no longer needed in the lab and turned to leave when Eggman stopped it. "Wait!"

The mech walked back to its master to hear his command. "I've got an idea," he said gleefully.

Sonic heard the door knock and quickly walked over to go open it. He was relieved to see that Tikal had finally gotten there.

"Sorry I was a little late getting here," she explained quickly. "I just had to take care of a few things on Angel Island before I left." She paused to look around. She saw over Sonic's shoulder the mark on the wall from when he must have hurled his phone across the room. "How are you holding up?"

Sonic cleared his throat. "Considering the circumstances, I think I'm doing alright," he said sadly. "I just put Cuticla back to bed for a little while. It'll be easier to discuss everything without having to worry about her for a few moments."

Tikal looked down as she walked in slowly. "It would be nice for all of us to be put down to sleep for a little while," she said. "Maybe we might wake up from this nightmare."

Sonic followed her to the couch, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We will," he told her. "We'll get through this. I promise."

Tikal managed a small smile. "Knuckles would always say that," she told him. "And he'd want me to think it, too. We owe it to them."

"Yeah," agreed the hedgehog. "We've got to find Eggman's base!"

Tikal sat down on the couch. "But what about Shadow and Amy?" she asked him. "We haven't heard from them in weeks. Do you think something happened to them?"

Sonic bit his lip. "Maybe Eggman captured them, too," he said. "But I think if we try and follow Shadow and Amy's footsteps, we'll surely find those two and Eggman. And Rouge and Knuckles."

Tikal smiled. "That sounds like a great idea." She then frowned slightly. "But where did they go?"

Sonic's brow furrowed. "I think they went in the direction of the Sahara Desert. I say we make our way out there and hopefully pick up where they left off. Maybe we'll join up with them."

Tikal had one more question. "What about Cuticla?"

Sonic had an answer for her. "Our neighbors next door would be happy to watch her for us for a little while—they've done it before when Rouge and I go out. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Alright," said the echidna as she stood up from the couch. She let her lips break into a small grin at this glimmer of hope in front of them. "Let's go find our friends!"

Sonic nodded. "We will," he said firmly.

The Sahara was a cold place at night. For miles into the horizon, all that existed were hills of sand and shimmering stars dotting the night sky. It was actually a rather picturesque scene on a clear night with a gentle breeze blowing a few grains of sand from mound to another. Dust blowing in the wind would make small loops in the air before settling peacefully on the surface below, waiting only a second or two to be picked up again by the omnipresent wind. All that could be heard was the friction of grain on grain or the whistle of the wind through one's ears. The only source of light were the white dots in the sky or the occasional moonlight shining down upon the barren sand fields of Africa. It was easy to get lost in the scene.

Particularly when you're stunned to sleep and left to eternity to lie there and be swallowed up by the windswept sand grains.

It had been weeks, and after such a long time, the nature of the desert began to act on the immobile forms of Amy and Shadow. In fact, all that remained in visibility of either hedgehog was Shadow's white glove, his flame ring glowing in the reflection of the starlight above. Amy herself had been completely buried from all of the sand blown across her body to settle there softly as if nothing were different. But the unique feature of the stun guns used to immobilize the two of them was that they put their targets in an unusual condition of stasis that could only be disturbed by the will of some outside force. In short, someone who cared an awful lot about them would have to come along and awaken them with the power of their will. Until then, however, Shadow and Amy were helpless to the ways of Mother Nature and were left to be forever hidden under the sand of the Sahara.

The tips of Shadow's glove slowly began to sink beneath the sand, particle by particle.

Rouge felt the silence sitting between her and Knuckles in the dungeon. Finally, she could no longer ignore his claim.

"You kept pushing me," she told him. "Until I had no choice but to pull away."

"Please," he said immediately. "Let's not go through all of this again."

"Then why do you constantly insist that this was all my doing?" she demanded.

Knuckles paused to sigh for a moment. "I know I've made mistakes. I've admitted that I was wrong at times. But you never gave me a chance to make up for all that I did."

Rouge's jaw gaped at his figure in the shadows. "How can you honestly expect a second chance after the things you said? After treating me and the baby like trash, you think you can just walk back into my life as if everything's fine again? Because it's not Knuckles. And it will never be."

"I'm not trying to get back into your life anymore. I made it pretty clear that you aren't any focus of my life now or ever. I've moved on. I don't need to feed apology after apology to you."

Rouge tightened her upper lip. "Well I guess we're both just better off then?"

Knuckles crossed his arms and turned away, his eyes closed. "If you say so."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Knuckles didn't answer immediately. "Are you trying to say something about Sonic and I?" Rouge asked him.

Knuckles managed to smile mischievously. "I never said anything," he said in a tone that was dripping with guilt.

"You think I'm not happy with Sonic, is that it, you arrogant jackass?"

Knuckles let out a small chuckle. "Boy Rouge, you sure are putting words in my mouth. You sure everything's alright?" he asked in a smart-allecky tone.

"I'm gonna put something in your mouth," she warned him. "Keep talking like that and you'll have my boot knocking your teeth in."

Knuckles' didn't sound too threatened. "I'll keep that in mind," he said dryly, laughing a little.

Rouge grinded her jaws, but then suddenly she split her mouth into a grin herself, her eyes narrowing as she found the upper hand. "Or it could it be that you're insecure in your own relationship?" she purred in a goading manner.

Knuckles whipped around instantly. "What did you say?" he growled at her.

Now Rouge turned away and folded her own arms, eyes closed as she continued to smirk. "Trying to cover up for your own unhappiness, huh Knuckie—uh," Rouge suddenly cleared her throat. "Knuckles?"

Knuckles was caught off guard. "What did you call me?" he stuttered.

"I called you Knuckles," Rouge said quickly, but calmly. "What else did you want me to call you?"

Knuckles eyed her, now close enough to see her, but not very clearly. "You're trying to mess with me, I can tell," he said to her shadow.

Rouge tried to look bewildered enough for him to see. It wasn't too hard to force it. "What are you talking about?"

"You've always been that way," he said. "Ever since I met you. Somewhere along the way I forgot how manipulative you can be…."

Knuckles didn't get a chance to finish his point. Before going any further, Rouge found his face with her large white boot. She heard his body collide with the wall at the far side of the room. She resisted the urge to cringe at the noise of the impact.

Knuckles grunted as he stood up slightly dazed. He turned to look at her. Suddenly his sight became a lot more sensitive. Maybe it was the adrenaline. "What the hell was that for?"

Instead of responding, Rouge flew furiously at him, but this time he was ready for her. When he saw her leg swing around for another attack, he threw his fist in the way to stop it. Ignoring the impact of what felt like a sledgehammer against the back of his hand, Knuckles launched his other fist forward and landed an upper cut under Rouge's chin, sending her flying across the dungeon.

"I've had enough of you," he told her. "Let's settle this right now."

Rouge got up without too much trouble. "You're making a big mistake. And I'll make you regret it."

She suddenly pushed off the ground with her powerful legs and hovered in the air, daring Knuckles to jump after her. When he bit, she wasted no time in sending a heart-tipped boot at him, which knocked the echidna back to the ground in a split second. But almost just as quickly, Knuckles leapt from the floor and dove at Rouge, tackling her back to the ground. But before Knuckles could land a quick strike, the bat launched him to the ceiling this time. As he fell to the floor, she quickly stood up and swung her right foot to kick him into the wall, but Knuckles would not be beaten that easily. He used his dreadlocks to slow his fall just before she swung her foot around, and then he turned and fired a thunder punch at her. Rouge didn't have the time to react and found herself knocked backward to the other side of the room.

Knuckles' breathing was becoming labored. "You should just give up now. It's useless to challenge me."

Rouge stood firm once she rose to her feet once more. "If that's all you got, I can go all day with this," she taunted.

Knuckles ran full speed at her, but she saw it coming and sidestepped him. Once he passed her, she launched her foot backward and kicked him into the wall. But it didn't take him long to bounce back. He used his speed once more and knocked her backward, driving her into the other wall on the opposite side of the room.

Still on top of her, Knuckles saw her right arm come forward trying to strike him so as to knock him away. But he reached out and caught it just before her fingertips touched his face, and he held her there.

Her legs rendered helpless backed up against a wall, Rouge squirmed beneath Knuckles' will. "Let go of my hand," she commanded.

"Hmph, don't get any ideas," he grunted back at her.

Rouge only had to whisper at him they were so close. "I'm not the one whose hand is trembling," she said slyly.

Knuckles eyes widened quickly as he realized what she felt, and he immediately let go of her and backed off. The close contact had made him uncomfortable.

It was just what Rouge needed. Caught off-guard by her remarks, Knuckles did not focus on her massive boot flying towards him, and he was sent sliding across the stone floor.

He grunted as he stood up again. "What a surprise; you resorting to underhanded tactics," he said. "But you won't get me with that again."

"So I made you blush and practically stumble backward trying to get off me, is that it?" she implied.

Without a second thought about it, Knuckles sped furiously at Rouge, so fast she barely saw him. As he approached her, he swung his clenched fist at her face and knocked her back so hard she almost lost consciousness. But it wasn't enough to quiet her.

She slowly stood up, refusing to stop. "What's the matter, can't handle fighting me?" she taunted him.

Knuckles launched another punch her way, but she reacted this time. She stopped it with her own hand and fought hard to keep him from reaching her face. While she did this, Knuckles threw his other fist at her, but she cocked her head to the side and let his hand punch right through the stone wall. Knuckles refused to flinch as he stood Rouge down.

"You were never good for me," he grunted to her face. "I should have seen you for what you are and what you've always been; a ruthless thief who stops at nothing to get what she wants. I feel sorry for Sonic; he has no idea what he's gotten into."

Now Rouge was mad. Her eyes lit up with an angry fire as she threw Knuckles' hand to the side and kicked him so hard that he flew back into the opposite wall and was actually knocked inches into the wall, leaving an imprint of his body in the rock. But he found that it didn't faze him as much as it should have.

"What does Sonic have that you want so badly?" he jeered at her. "I mean, that was why you were after me, right? You just wanted the Master Emerald from me. What do you want from Sonic?"

Rouge suddenly flew at Knuckles, but he was able to grab her foot and hold her steady while she tried to push her way to landing another kick. She launched her other foot forward, but Knuckles met it with his other hand. They struggled that way for a moment or two.

"You don't even deserve me," said Rouge, her voice growing more fatigued with every passing breath.

"That's funny," said Knuckles, his voice also fading slightly. "Because I feel like I don't need you."

"I don't…" Rouge muttered. "…need you either."

With what felt like his last gasp of strength, Knuckles managed to hurl Rouge by her feet towards the left wall. She didn't have the power to resist it and found herself flying into the rock. But Knuckles was not done yet. He rushed forward to confront her again.

And that's when he stopped.

He had put his left hand up against the wall to both steady himself and to keep Rouge from escaping that way, and his right hand was ready to land another shot to her weakening form, but it did not come forward when his brain told it to. Something in his chest pulled on it like the string of a puppet. He felt a chill run down his spine and fought against it. But the more he fought it, the worse it seemed to get, and the chill didn't go away. In fact, it grew into a full body shiver. He bit his lip, but it did nothing to calm his nerves.

He forced an image into his head of Rouge sleeping with Shadow. But even as he did this, another image crept into his mind, this one of Rouge sleeping softly in their bed back home on Angel Island. He bit harder and shoved that image away and replaced it with one of her stealing jewels from around the world while fighting her own friends to get her way. But just as Knuckles began to focus on it, he was drawn to one of Rouge fighting fearlessly against the powers of her mother back on Malterr. His eyes darted around, seeking a vision of Rouge that he could cling to as if they were scattered on the wall and floor around him. Finally, he remembered her slapping him in that bar after he had walked in and confronted her and Sonic. No sooner had he began to think of that when he saw Rouge lying in that hospital bed, gently cradling her daughter…their daughter. Knuckles saw Rouge smiling down at the baby, and he couldn't help but smile himself. His face distorted itself, however, trying to fight the emotions building inside his heart, but he felt like that battle was fading fast.

Now that pull in his chest that kept his arm back from striking Rouge slowly released its grasp, and Knuckles felt his hand relax, but only slightly and for a moment. Soon, as involuntarily as his heart beating—and racing—inside his chest, his hand unclenched and slowly extended outward. His brain commanded it to return to his side and prepare for another attack, but his heart had taken over, and urged it to gently reach out to Rouge. Knuckles soon began to sweat, and he felt his throat seem to close up and his breathing became harder and harder. His stomach tossed and turned inside of him, and he could only swallow to try and calm himself. Trembling, his hand finally inched forward and felt Rouge's soft cheek. His heart instantly panged inside his chest and pounded against his rib cage. He felt afraid for his life.

Rouge's involuntary reaction was to reach up and smack his hand away from her, but something kept her hands glued to the floor. She expected to feel a stinging feeling the instant his glove reached her face, but the only thing she felt was a lump form in her throat. She didn't know what to do until she looked up into Knuckles' eyes and saw the fear in them. She saw the panic on his face. Something she had never seen from Knuckles. Beads of sweat ran down his blushing red cheeks, and she could feel his quick breathing on her own face. Rouge had never seen Knuckles look so terrified in his life. As if simply touching her fair skin would be the kiss of death and that he would be forever banished to a world of inescapable torture, Knuckles' hand shivered as he felt Rouge through his glove.

But as Rouge became drawn into this trance that held the two of them, her own face grew red from blushing. Knuckles felt it through his glove and felt her cheek grow warm. It was enough to calm his screaming nerves enough so as to know just what he was doing. But he still could not stop his heart from racing. What he could feel, however, were his eyelids relaxing ever so slightly. His mouth also loosened from its stoic form and actually start to tremble a little. Subconsciously, his other hand had freed itself from the surface of the rock wall and found the side of Rouge's neck while his other hand slid down her face to the opposite side of her neck. Knuckles felt like he held his world in his hands; everything that was near and dear to him right in front of him, in his gentle, calm grasp that felt like it could never, should never, let go. The thought overwhelmed him, and he felt the tears begin to seep from his eyes. But although his eyes grew cloudy, even in the dark dungeon, he was staring at the strongest source of light he would ever find. Knuckles then felt Rouge's hands move to rest on his shoulders. He hadn't ever remembered something that felt so empowering and yet so weakening. But when he saw Rouge's own tears begin to stream from her eyes, Knuckles could stand it no longer.

Knuckles lunged forward and met Rouge, letting go of everything. He let go of his anger, his pain, his pride. He let go of his nightmares, his premonitions, his memories. He let go of his commitments, his values, his promises. He let go of his strength, his will, his weaknesses. Everything.

Knuckles embraced Rouge and would never let her go. His lips would never leave hers. His face would always touch hers. His hands would always hold her. He would never leave her warmth.

Together, Knuckles and Rouge let months of distrust and anger wash away with a kiss that only grew stronger, an attraction that neither would ever let die again. Together, they quietly mourned everything that had happened the last year: the false paternity test, the doubt that crept into their minds about each other, the initial break-up, the long months without seeing one another, the glimmer of hope destroyed by the deeper mistrust of each other, the final split, and even the deaths of Tails and Cream. Then they mourned softly over their own current situation: their separation from their own daughter, being taken from their loved ones and friends, and the pain of not knowing what was coming next. All they knew was that they were the only ones they had at that moment and that they could find comfort in the other simply by looking deep into their eyes.

"I'm so sorry," breathed Knuckles as he struggled to merely tear his face away from Rouge for more than a second. "I missed you."

Rouge found it just as difficult to respond. "I love you…so much," she muttered. "And I'm sorry…that I didn't believe in you."

"No," he managed to reply. "I'm sorry…for not trusting you."

When Rouge could not rip herself away to respond, Knuckles went on. "Just promise me…that you'll never leave me again…."

Rouge, in the midst of the moment, decided not to immediately answer that request, and instead chose to make the most of the present, rather than worry about the future.

"So…" Sonic began cautiously as he and Tikal walked out of the apartment building. "How had Knuckles been holding up with everything?"

Tikal looked at him as they walked down the sidewalk. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Sonic tried to explain. "We all know a lot's happened over the last almost two years. And I haven't seen much of him at all since Cuticla was born."

It was fairly dark already with the sun going down, so there were not many people walking up and down the city streets, making it easier to have a more private conversation.

"It's been hard," Tikal admitted, but she knew Sonic already knew that much. "But we can still make each other happy. That much may just be enough to get us through it all."

Sonic nodded. "I know him and Rouge won't really talk anymore, and believe me, I hate it as much as you or anyone else does. I hope Rouge and I don't ever have to deal with any of that. But you and Knuckles should really try to come by more. I know he's stubborn, but he's also my friend, and we all need each other more and more these days. I miss seeing you guys so much."

Tikal looked down, afraid what she might say would cause more pain than necessary, but she felt she had to. "I couldn't agree more. And I know why you say that. What happened to Tails…."

Sonic did not interrupt her, but Tikal stopped out of caution for the hedgehog's emotions. After a few seconds, he responded. "I know. After Tails died," he said, finding himself still swallowing hard. "It really put some things in perspective for me. All of our days are numbered here in this world. One day, none of us will be here anymore, except maybe Shadow, but I think you get my point."

Tikal nodded as he continued. "We just don't know what we have until it's gone. Those memories of Tails—and Cream too—are all I have of them now. We'll never get to save the world together anymore…."

Tikal saw Sonic beginning to tear up, so she reached out and rested her hand on his own to comfort him. Sonic smiled and straightened his face out, refusing to be beaten again by this unrelenting agony.

"I'm alright," he told her. "But thanks."

Tikal smiled. "It's OK to accept that you might never get over losing your best friend," she told him. "Believe me, Tails' and Cream's losses will never leave my heart. And I won't try and deny that by fighting through it. It hurts…a lot. I wish they were here right now. And Knuckles and Rouge and Shadow and Amy. There's no shame in wanting that." She paused for a moment. "No one ever said Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't shed a few tears," she finished with a smile.

Sonic laughed a little. "Yeah," he said. "But they wouldn't want me to mope around and choke up every time someone mentions their names. That's no way to honor them."

"But you're not moping around," Tikal said as they began to reach the city limits. "You're going to find your friends. You're fighting on. You're not living in the past. You can move on without forgetting about the past. You still have a lot to fight for, and you haven't given up. And you won't."

Sonic could only continue to smile. "Thanks Tikal," he said finally. "It means a lot to have a friend like you. Knuckles must be a pretty lucky guy to have you in his life."

Tikal returned his smile. "I feel lucky to be in his. I don't know where I'd be without him." She looked away as if daydreaming. "It's funny, we've always been like brother and sister, you know? We kind of have this connection where we always seem to know what the other is thinking. If he's upset, I feel as though I carry the same pain. If he's elated, I can't get the smile off my face. Looking back on everything now, it's sort of ironic how we ended up together. I never thought it would happen, but I guess stranger things have come about, huh?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. If you had told me two years ago that I would be with Rouge, I might have thought you just walked out of the insane asylum, and not just because, well, she was with Knuckles at the time. But there's just something about her. She does make some pretty darn good chili dogs," he said, laughing.

Tikal laughed with him. She hadn't felt so loose like that in quite a while. "Well that's good," she admitted, still chuckling.

"Yeah," he replied. "But in all seriousness, she just seems so…determined, like no one else I know. She never gives up and she'd do anything for her friends. I know she doesn't have the cleanest record by any means, but I have to love the way she's turned her life around and committed to something like raising a child. Rouge means everything to me, and I couldn't go on without her."

"I know what you mean," muttered Tikal as the two of them reached the outskirts of the city and prepared to make their journey out to the Sahara.

Rouge rolled over and felt like she had just woken up from the greatest dream she had ever remembered having. Except when she turned, she saw Knuckles still lying there next to her. It was the most comforting feeling in the world to be with him at that moment in time.

"So…" he began as he saw her move to face him. "You never answered me."

Rouge looked confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

He sat up and looked at her. "Will you promise me that you'll never leave me again?"

Rouge smiled at him, but it was a bit nervous looking. "Can't we just enjoy the time we have now, and forget about commitments for one moment?"

Knuckles now looked concerned. "Rouge, why won't you answer me?"

Rouge saw that she could not avoid this any longer. "Because," she sighed. "Because we've already walked away from this. We've both moved on. We have our own lives now."

Knuckles shook his head. "No we haven't," he said. "What we just did shows how far we haven't gotten without each other. I felt that; that wasn't just a release of something pent-up for almost a year. That was the real thing. I love you. And you love me. Isn't that enough?"

Rouge frowned sadly. "It can't be," she said solemnly. "I know what we just did, and I know what we have. But how are we supposed to go back to Sonic and Tikal and tell them what happened? Do you think they'll just accept it and move on without even thinking about it?"

Knuckles had to think about it for a second. "What I do know is that I can't live a lie. I can't be with Tikal if my heart's with you. That's not fair to you, me, or Tikal. Are you prepared to keep this kind of emotion secret for the rest of your life?"

"I have to," Rouge told him. "Knuckles, I'm a mother now. I have to act responsibly, and so do you, being a father. We've made those decisions already. We can't go back on them."

"Being responsible doesn't mean hiding your emotions. Being responsible means being true to yourself and to everyone around you. I'm done with the mistrust and the lies. I'm tired of keeping this to myself. Rouge, you mean everything to me. Tikal will always be close to me, but she can never be what you are to me. Tikal is like my sister, and I tried to turn that relationship into a romantic one. But I think deep down, I knew all along it would never work. Somehow, some way, I would find my way back to you. And I have. So please, will you come back to me?"

Rouge looked down and shook her head. "I'm sorry Knuckles," she whispered. "I love with you everything that I am, but not enough to turn my back on Sonic. He needs me after everything that's happened to him in the last two years, with Blaze and then Tails and Cream dying. If I left him, I'd be leaving him all alone in this world, and it would just be one more loss in his life."

"But you're not being fair to yourself," Knuckles explained. "And I hate to sound this way, but you're not being fair to me, either. Sonic would still have you as a friend. And he would have me, Tikal, and Amy and Shadow once we find them again. He still has a lot to lose, even if he doesn't have you anymore the way he does now."

"It's not the same, Knuckles. How do you think Sonic would react if I told him, 'Hey listen, sorry but I'm going back to Knuckles. Hope your life is great.'?"

"Sonic wouldn't want you to lie to him and keep it together when your heart's not in it. If you go to him and explain to him that you've done some serious thinking about all of this, and that you've decided that it's best for everyone that you follow your heart, I know he won't say no to you. He would understand, Rouge."

"And what about Tikal?"

"Tikal would understand too. She knows what you and I once had, and how hard it is to let go of all of that. I know I plan on telling her the truth, that I can't be with her anymore. Not when I know who my heart really belongs to."

"I don't know Knuckles…."

"And think about Cuticla too. Wouldn't it be great for her to see her parents reunited, living the life we've always wanted for her?"

Rouge visibly struggled to make a decision. "I…I don't…"

Suddenly, they heard the lock of the dungeon door turn, and the door swung open instantly like a loud drum. Both Knuckles and Rouge, who were sitting near each other on the floor, looked to the light with disgust to see Eggman's outline cast over them.

"Well, well, glad to see you two have made up nicely," the doctor smiled evilly as he looked down at Knuckles and Rouge, who were close enough to suggest that something might have happened between them. "But your usefulness for me is upon us. Come, I will explain my deal to you along the way to the lab."

Knuckles and Rouge, seeing no other option at this point, slowly got up and walked to the door. They were guided by four fearsome looking guard bots that each looked armed enough to challenge a room full of prisoners. They led Knuckles and Rouge out into the hall past Eggman, who cackled maniacally as the group made their way down the dungeon corridor.

Knuckles, sensing the uneasiness and fear radiating from Rouge--and perhaps maybe himself as well--instinctively reached out and took her hand in his, letting the warmth of her gentle fingers be his solace. In turn, Rouge immediately grasped Knuckles' hand, and he could feel through it all of the emotions permeating her mind. Rouge turned to look at him, and Knuckles met her with a knowing glance, one that gave his promise that together, they would find a way out of all this; one that would do anything for her--for them.