Avoiding his friends was something that came naturally to Sonic. He knew it shouldn't have been a means of coping by any stretch, but he couldn't bear to face anyone for fear of showing vulnerability. After his uncharacteristic spell of desperation, Sonic wouldn't take any chances. He tried not to dwell on it, sighing as he felt the caress of the sun's warm rays filtering through the trees in the forest he currently resided in. It had been a few days now since he'd been on the run. He'd only make the occasional pit stop to rest or eat.

In the evening, he came upon a roadside diner and decided it was a good time for a bite before his venture over to the next town.

As he ate, Sonic was half tuned-in to the weather forecast on the television when the next report began and images of Angel Island descending onto the ocean flashed onscreen.

Sonic froze mid-fry and quickly called out to the attendant.

"Hey. Do you mind turning up the volume?"

The attendant at the counter obliged, and Sonic paid close attention to the report.

"…today marks the fourth day since the mysterious floating island crashed near the site of the Mystic Ruins," the reporter continued, "But still no word on why this phenomenon has occurred once again. The investigation continues as people across the country are in a state of alarm, and rightfully so. The Island has a history of crash landing on earth in the past, with the events that follow being catastrophic. Many are speculating it could be a sign of yet another disaster to come, while others do not believe it to be a cause for concern. Whatever the case may be, we will keep you up to the minute as this story develops…"

Sonic tuned out the television as soon as the report was over. He sat quietly in his booth, as he processed the information; any semblance of tranquility he had managed over his three-day excursion was quickly vanishing. He was rapidly being overtaken instead by worry, and even a bit of guilt. He knew it was no coincidence that Angel Island falling had occurred immediately after his fight with Knuckles. But he also couldn't believe the guardian would be willful to go to such an extreme.

"Unless…" Sonic couldn't think of single thing that could have caused the guardian to abandon his duty to the Master Emerald, except for the one that was staring him right in the face. "Ugh… what is that knucklehead thinking?" he muttered to himself.

As much as he hated to face it, Sonic made up his mind to get to the source of his woes, if only to put everyone else's minds at ease.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sonic's first stop was Tails' house.

"Maybe you'll have better luck reaching him than I did," Tails explained as he handed Sonic his yellow tablet. "I've been trying to get ahold of him since I got back. Apparently he tried contacting me a few times when I was out of town, but he never left any voicemails so I didn't think to return his calls. Then I heard about the island falling and when I went to check it out for myself, well…"

"The Master Emerald was gone?"

"Yep. And Knuckles was nowhere to be found. Sonic, I'm really starting worry. What if he's in some kind of trouble? I should've tried reaching out to him sooner…"

Sonic admired his young friend's earnest attitude, although he wished Tails would be a little less inclined to put himself down for things out of his control.

"Don't sweat it, Tails…" Sonic reassured him. "Knuckles is a big boy. He can take care of himself. I'm sure it's nothing. You know what? I bet Rouge finally got the jump on him and took the Master Emerald for herself. They're probably duking it out as we speak."

Tails looked hopeful for a moment, happy that his friend could always make any situation better.

"Yeah. You're probably right Sonic…"

Sonic waited impatiently as the call connected and rang, but it was to no avail. He only heard the prompt to record a voice message.

At first he was hesitant to leave a message, but seeing his friend's concerned face made him quickly change his mind.

"Knuckles," he started nervously. "If you get this… call Tails back. He's really worried about you... We all are..."

He ended the call immediately and handed the yellow tablet back to his friend.

"Let me know if he gets in touch with you."

"Where're you going?" Tails asked as Sonic made his way to the door.

"I'm gonna go check out the island for myself. I'll be back soon, buddy."

With that, he was off to the mystic island itself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At the isle where the Master Emerald's shrine resided, there was no trace of the green gem, or of its guardian. Sonic didn't know why he expected to find something there. He supposed he just needed to see it for himself to believe it. He wouldn't give up, however, and made the decision to scour the island in search of clues to the whereabouts of the missing guardian.

It took him nearly all evening, but Sonic covered all of the inhabitable parts of the island, ending at the burrow to no luck. He knew it was a longshot, but there were certain places of the island only Knuckles could easily navigate through. Well aware of the risk he would be taking, Sonic began his exploration of the Red Mountain area.

Whereas most of Angel Island was lush and green, and covered with abnormal fauna and the odd animal species only native to it, there were other areas like Red Mountain that were drab and barren of anything resembling life.

Sonic sped through it, jumping from cliff to cliff and bouncing off canyon walls, when he narrowly missed falling through what was now sunken onto the ocean. He took a moment to recompose himself, but he was quickly beginning to lose his determination.

"Shit. This is ridiculous…" Sonic groaned to himself, still shaken up and clinging on to the side of cliff. "Knuckles could be anywhere in the world right now and here I am traversing this death trap in the middle of nowhere."

As he reeled himself up, Sonic also made up his mind to head back to Tails' house until he could come up with a better plan besides blindly searching for the guardian.

He headed out of the Red Mountain area, treading across an unsteady strip of land. Normally, he'd run across it, light on his feet, but he was so downcast about everything at the moment that he hadn't paid any mind to it. The ground quickly began crumbling beneath his feet.

Sonic raced to outrun it, reacting too little too late. Just as he reached for the edge, he was sent tumbling into the watery void below with a frightened cry. His body hit the water and he tried in vain to grab onto something to keep himself afloat, but there was nothing there, and nothing else he could do but flail his arms, a feeling of dread overtaking him. His worst reality was coming true, as he felt himself beginning to plunge further every time he came bobbing up for air, until he could no longer rise above the water. His vision darkened, but not before he heard his name being yelled, and a splash of water in the distance.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sonic awoke in a coughing fit, spewing up water while his ribs felt like they had been crushed. Even before he looked upon his savior's face, he knew by the feel of the arms holding him up, it couldn't be anyone other than the guardian.

Knuckles held him close to his chest as Sonic steadied his breathing, still in shock from nearly drowning.

"You idiot. What the hell were you doing?" Knuckles asked softly. Even though his words were harsh, the feeling behind them were more affectionate than he let on.

"This idiot was looking for you… Remind me never to do that again," Sonic answered, beginning to regain his strength.

Knuckles let him go once he was sure Sonic could sit up by himself, then stood up.

"Thank you… I owe you for that," Sonic said, genuinely grateful to the echidna.

"Yeah, okay."

Knuckles brushed it off, seemingly returning to a previous temperament, and turned to leave without warning.

"Hey wait! Knuckles, where the hell have you been? Everyone's worried, you know? The Master Emerald is gone. The island is… down here."

The guardian turned to look at him, and seeing his face now, Sonic saw nothing but contempt. His confidence was quickly waning.

"Oh is it? I didn't notice," Knuckles retorted, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Sonic, I'm well aware of the state my island is in. I'm the one that left it this way."

"Why? Was it… because of our fight?"

Knuckles scoffed in disbelief.

"What do you think?"

There was a brief silence as the tension quickly rose between the two former rivals.

"Alright. Well if you aren't gonna say it, I'll go first. I'm sorry, Knux. Sorry for the way I left things off with you."

"What good do you think that's gonna do? Do you think that's somehow gonna undo your betrayal?"

Sonic's mouth became unhinged, totally taken aback by the remark. It took him a second to form a response.

"Knuckles, what are you still going on about? You really think I—"

"There you go again… I'm so sick of you patronizing me, Sonic! You think I don't know what you did?"

Knuckles tapped on his communicator watch, furiously unsnapping it from his wrist, and held it up for Sonic to see.

Sonic was shocked to see the candid photo of himself sleeping in Shadow's embrace. The screen faded to black, but that image would be emblazoned in his memory forever.

"How did you—?"

"How do you think," Knuckles cut in.

"Shadow?" Sonic snarled out the name, clenching his fists. "He sent that to you? I shoulda known. That son of bitch... He's the only person that would feed you all that bullshit about me."

"Is it, Sonic?! Is it really all bullshit? Because from where I stand, this photo," Knuckles said shaking his watch, "is undeniable proof that everything he ever told me about you is true. Can you imagine that I didn't believe it at first? That I didn't want to believe it? Oh, of course you can, because you take me for being some kind of idiot!"

"No, Knuckles, I've never—"

"Shut up! When you left with no explanation… I didn't know what to think. You didn't even say goodbye! I thought you left because you were done with me, and you didn't want any of the things you said you did. And then when you came back with that phony note… I still second guessed myself. I still gave you the benefit of the doubt. I went looking for you to apologize for everything I accused you of, and for what? You didn't deserve it. You went off to do exactly what you were denying."

Sonic didn't have an immediate response, too shaken up by the admission to speak.

"I… I know…" Sonic started quietly. "God, don't you think I know that? It was stupid… and selfish, and I regret every second of it."

"Good. At least you acknowledge that. But if you think that's gonna make a difference to me…."

Knuckles huffed, and in trying to maintain a level head, he turned to walk away, but Sonic quickly caught his wrist. He could feel the hedgehog's hand trembling as he held on to him.

"Knuckles, wait, listen to me… I know what I did was totally out of line. But, that isn't the only problem here… Don't you see what's going on? Shadow has been pulling our strings from the start. This is what he wanted. For us to be at odds so that he could keep me going back to him."

"You say that like you didn't want it, but you played right into it, didn't you? Sonic, I'm so sick of all this fighting. Nothing's ever gonna justify what you did, so why don't you just shut up and leave me alone?"

"Com'on, Knux, don't be like that…"

Knuckles looked right into Sonic's glistening emerald eyes. The hedgehog seemed to be on the verge of tears, and his face was full of remorse. It was enough for Knuckles to stay put and hear him out.

Sonic swallowed hard and let go of Knuckles' wrist before speaking up again.

"You know our friendship has always meant a lot to me… and if you don't, I'm telling you right now. I don't want to lose that. I don't think you do either."

Knuckles let out a sigh, unsure of how to answer that.

"Talk to me. Let's clear the air. No more fighting," Sonic urged.

Finally convinced, Knuckles plopped down on the hard ground while Sonic followed suit, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"I don't know what else to tell you, Sonic. I can't ignore what you did. I mean, I look at you now and all I can think about is you sleeping with Shadow… I hate that you did, because I know that you did it just to spite me. I'm not saying I can't take part of the blame. I know I was at fault somewhere, too. I could have talked to you before it got to the point that it did. I know I made a mistake. But what you did was far worse."

Sonic kept silent, feeling like he deserved to be berated.

"Even so, I… I meant what I said that night in my burrow… I love you. Man, I feel stupid saying it, but I do. I always have. As a comrade, as a friend, and even beyond that. You changed my life for the better, Sonic. And it's hard to see you with someone else. It's even harder to let you go."

Sonic shook his head in disbelief, eyes searching the echidna's face.

"Knuckles, don't say that… You don't have to let me go… I don't want you to..." Sonic uttered. At a loss for words, he leaned over on his knees, throwing his arms around the echidna's shoulders.

Knuckles tensed up at the embrace, pulling back slightly.

"Sonic. Don't…"

As Sonic retreated from the embrace, Knuckles was shocked to see the hedgehog's tear-stained face.

Perhaps it was because of the trauma he had experienced only a few moments earlier, but Sonic couldn't help being an emotional wreck.

Knuckles fought hard to hold back tears of his own before he spoke up again.

"Just, be honest. I don't want you to feel pressured into choosing something you don't want. You can keep living your life the way you always have. It isn't… wrong. I just don't see myself ever being able to take part in it."

Sonic sniffed and wiped his eyes, embarrassed for how easily he'd lost his composure.

"Okay… but, before you make up your mind, you need to understand something first. You don't know how hard it was for me to admit to myself that I'd fallen for you. For someone like me… after all the one-night stands, all the nameless faces, after Shadow… to have found something worthwhile with one of my closest friends. It scared me. Just knowing that your attraction for me went further than pleasure, further than friendship even. That changed everything for me. It's one of the reasons I left without giving you an explanation. In retrospect, I think I was also punishing myself for ever thinking I could make it work with you. I wasn't sure if I could return that love to you. I know it sounds stupid, but that's the truth."

Sonic paused for a minute, thinking over what he was going to say next. He took hold of one of Knuckles' huge mitts in his own hands, looking deeply into the echidna's shining violet eyes.

"Knuckles, you've always had my back. Hell even now, you pulled my ass out of the water. I'd be fish bait right now, if you hadn't rescued me. You're always there for me, whether I deserve it or not. I can say it wholeheartedly now. I love you. So if there's any chance we can make it work, I want to give it another shot. I don't want to go back to my old life."

Knuckles silently took it all in. He raised his hand, wiping away a tear that had involuntarily slid down Sonic's cheek. Seeing Sonic's hopeful eyes staring back at him, he lunged forward, pressing his muzzle against the hedgehog's in a desperate kiss.

Sonic was taken off guard for a moment, but he quickly recuperated, melting into the kiss as it became more passionate and less needy.

Knuckles brought him closer, sliding Sonic over his lap so that he straddled him. He broke the kiss after a moment, nuzzling the crook between Sonic's head and shoulder.

"You're freezing," Knuckles noted. He could feel Sonic's shivers running through his entire body.

"I've felt worse. It's no big deal. I bet you are, too. You're just as soaked as I am."

"I'm not the one that almost drowned. Com'on. Let's get you somewhere to warm up."

Knuckles jumped to his feet, taking the opportunity to scoop Sonic up in his arms.

"Hey, I can walk," the hedgehog protested.

"But you can't glide. The ground here is really unstable. One misstep and we're back to square one. Unless you want to take another swan dive."

"Good point."

"Hang on to me."

Knuckles climbed up a cliff, finding a level jumping off point to start gliding.

"What I don't get is how you managed to slip up so badly, Sonic," Knuckles started as he glided across the dark horizon. "I mean, I know you take all kinds of risks every day doing what you do, but that was careless, even for you."

"I know. Guess I lost focus, after realizing I wasn't gonna find you. Lucky for me, you found me first. Where were you anyway? I looked everywhere for you and I couldn't find any trace of you."

"I was… underground. Actually, I wanted to leave the island altogether. Just to get away for a while. But ever since the news reports started, people have been flocking over here trying to figure out what caused the fall. I decided to stay put because I wanted to keep an eye on the shrine in case anyone started wreaking havoc on it. Then today, I got your voicemail."

"Oh, right. I almost forgot."

"Yeah… I knew you'd come looking for me so I tried to stay out of sight. I had hoped you'd give up and leave quickly, but that obviously never happened."

"You know I can't give up when it comes to things that are important to me."

"I'm… glad you didn't."

That earned the guardian a tender brush against his lips.

Knuckles cleared his throat before speaking up again.

"What about you? How'd you know to look for me here?"

"Well, what can I say? I just know you that well, Knux. I knew you couldn't stay away from the island. I mean, where else would you go?"

"Hey, I take offense to that, you know? There's plenty of places I'd go."

Sonic shrugged, shooting him a cheeky grin.

"In all seriousness, though, Sonic… You're right. This is my home. It's the only one I know. Unlike you, I can't go wandering off whenever I please, no matter how badly I want to. Would it surprise you if I told you there was a time when I envied you for it?"

"Nah. It doesn't surprise me. I totally get it. On the contrary, I've wished that you were more like me. More open to escaping your little floating paradise, so that I might be able to see more of you. Still, the fact that you're so committed to your duty is something I've always admired about you, too. You have such a strong sense of responsibility and that's what makes you all the more amazing. Besides, I might have lots of places to go, friends all over the world to see, but I only have one you. And not that it's ever really bothered me before, but I've never really had a place to call home… 'til now."

"Yeah? Where's that?"

"Wherever you are."

Knuckles clutched Sonic tightly, and even after they landed softly on the grass in front of his house, neither let the other go, smiling brightly at each other with the most dumbfounded expressions, until they both leaned in for another kiss.

In the midst of their kiss, Sonic felt his spines being pressed against the wooden door of the burrow, impressed by how quickly Knuckles had got him all hot and bothered this time.

"Sorry," Knuckles apologized, trying to catch his breath. "We should probably get inside to warm up."

"Oh, I was already feeling the heat. But, that way works too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Inside the burrow, Knuckles quickly got to work, starting the furnace and throwing some vegetables into a pot while Sonic lit up candles around the house.

"Thanks. Nothing like a little mood lighting and some hot tea to end a pretty shitty day," Sonic said, as Knuckles handed him a cup of tea.

"Day? Try week," Knuckles suggested, sitting down on the couch next to the hedgehog. He pulled up another blanket, wrapping them both in its fuzzy warmth. "It wasn't all bad though. We're here, and we're together, aren't we? And we're probably closer than we've ever been."

"Yeah. It's just… I think about how it could have all been avoided if we'd just been honest with each other from the start. And I know most of that is on me. If I had just told you about… Shadow. About everything really. It wasn't like, I was planning on keeping it a secret forever."

Sonic shot Knuckles an apologetic look.

"Don't beat yourself up about it anymore, Sonic. Neither of us knew what we were getting into with this. Even if you're experienced with some things, neither of us have ever been in a relationship. But, this is how we're gonna make it work, right? We're going to trust each other enough to talk about anything."

"Yeah, that's a promise. There's still a lot I want to tell you about… my past. But that's…"

"A story for another day?"

"Yeah."

"What about Shadow? You said he was the one that put all this in motion. We both know he isn't the type of guy to give up easily."

"This last time I saw him… I really drove it in that I didn't want to sleep with him anymore. If he still doesn't get it, well… we'll just have to burn that bridge when we come to it."

Knuckles' brows twitched in curiosity, and he let out a soft chuckle.

"Doesn't the saying go cross?"

"Yeah, but, believe me, I don't ever want to cross that bridge again. But man, I'm beat. I don't even wanna think about that right now. All I wanna do is curl up next to you, get all warm and cozy, and just relax."

"Well, the Master Emerald is in a safe place for now, so we'll have plenty of time for that."

"A safe place, huh?"

"Yeah I… sort of threw the shards inside a volcano."

"Wow. You really were serious about getting away. Well, I'm glad you're not in a hurry to restore it. We're gonna have to take full advantage of the time we have 'til then."

Sonic leaned in, kissing Knuckles to make his point clear.

"Mm, I like the sound of that," Knuckles said through a smile, as he returned the kiss.

Sonic laid his back on the couch, pulling the guardian down with him as they kissed.

In that moment, there was no wanton friction, no force, no desperation. In that moment, Sonic knew, he had made the right choice.

End

A/N: Yes, that's it! So it's not the ship most of you were hoping for and I know it was kinda cheesy, but I really wanted it to end this way. I hope someone out there liked it. There really isn't a lot of Sonuckles out there, and that being one of my OTPs, it's just disheartening. icrie;_;

For those of you wanting more Sonadow, I have an idea for a prequel to this story, solely about Sonic and Shadow, as their relationship was mentioned here a few times. It's short so I'm really considering writing it, since some of you were interested in that.

And I doubt anyone cares, but I also have an idea for a sequel that'll focus again on Sonic and Knuckles as couple, but not so much on drama this time. I'm thinking it'll be a supernatural/romance story.

And last but not least, I want to say I appreciate all of you who took the time to read this! Those of you who comment always make my day, but even those I see just following or adding this to their favorites always bring a smile to my face. Thank you! :D