The Lost Knight
By Kellie Fay
Disclaimer: Sonic and Co. Belong to Sega and all connected parties. My creativity demons just require I do this.
Special thanks to ShadAmy1Fan for being on this whole ride with me. Just a tiny Epilogue after this. If you remember Eli always said he never has one reason for doing anything. This festival will benefit more than just Sonic, but I'll let the story do the telling.
Chapter. 26. The Shaman would open the gateway and the whole clan could see and speak to our ancestors
Just before the festival Tails did manage to get Cream to tell him a few things. Mainly it had to do with the gifts one could bring for either an ancestor or someone else who was gone. Once Tails knew that he managed to construct a pair of elaborate model airplanes for his mother, and grandmother. He suggested to Sonic, Shadow, and Silver that if they had someone, they wished to honor they should bring gifts for them. Shadow asked Cosmo for a bouquet of starflowers for Maria, and he and Sonic agreed to each bring a gift for Sonic's distant cousin who possibly provided Dr Gerald with Shadow's Mobian DNA.
Sonic had an old compass, something he got from his mother so he would never get lost. Now after years of traveling he had the whole planet memorized. He wondered if Chance could use the compass to find his way back to them.
On the day of the festival at twilight, Sonic, Tails, Shadow, and Silver arrived on Angel Island to see the place transformed. Colorful ribbons decorated the trees. Candle holders of clay and stone were scattered about each elaborately decorated or carved holding a brightly colored candle in one of the seven Chaos colors.
Several ornately embroidered blankets surrounded the Alter of The Master Emerald each with a huge spread of food. On the blanket in front of the Master Emerald rested an enameled painted clay bowl with nothing in it. Sonic wondered at the bowl, but there were other platters with plenty of food so Sonic didn't worry about it.
Once everyone was seated Knuckles, who looked a little uncomfortable, greeted them.
"Thank you all for coming," he said. "My parents suggested that since I have friends it would be a good idea to celebrate The Festival of the Ancients the way it was meant to be celebrated. I've never had anyone to do this with before."
"So, tell us already Knux, what is this festival about?" Sonic asked impatiently.
Knuckles smiled amused. "You all know I've always said that Echidnas have a very strong connection to their ancestors, but the way they explained it to me, only a handful of the clan would see and speak to ancestors on a regular basis. Usually it had to do with their ancestor like the fact that Eli is a Shaman, or like me I'm an orphan so my parents would come to me. On this night though, the first full moon after Summer Solstice, the Shaman would open the gateway and the whole clan could see and speak to our ancestors."
"So, what do we do?" Silver asked.
"First we honor the ancestors," Knuckles explained. "If you brought a gift for a friend or ancestor, place it by the Master Emerald." When everyone placed their gifts Amy and Vanilla passed out cups of some drink. Kunckles instructed, "before we drink, we need to give some to the ancestors. Pour a little bit of your drink into the bowl in the center."
A little confused Sonic did so. Then Knuckles raised his own cup; when the others copied the gesture Knuckles said, "We welcome our ancestors to our table and invite them to share with us." He saluted the bowl then he and the others drank.
The drink tasted strongly of star fruit and pineapple, but there were some herbs in there too that reminded Sonic of Cobbler's herbal medicines. Once the salute was finished Knuckles invited everyone to eat.
The food was amazing, but that was a given. Rouge, Espio, Amy and Vanilla all helped him gather the resources and prepare the feast. There were no chili dogs, but Knuckles did have others of Sonic's favorites. By the time, the moon was high in the sky Sonic felt full and a little sleepy, but he knew Knuckles said there was supposed to be some sort of ceremony.
After a little while Knuckles offered them one more drink, and again each one of them were told to pour some in the bowl for the ancestors. Then he took his instrument sat down and began to play.
Sonic loved when Knuckles played that tree branch thing. It had a pitch and an energy that would completely relax him. He could feel the energy from the Master Emerald humming pleasantly in the back of his head. It almost seemed to make a hum that made it sound like Knuckles was part of a band, instead of playing by himself. He knew he shouldn't fall asleep, but it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. He swore his eyes fell closed for just a second, but when he opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting in front of an actual band of four echidna's each one playing a different instrument and none of them were Knuckles.
What the…? Sonic tried to wrap his brain around the idea that he was now seeing dozens of Echidnas around him. Then he realized that this was the dream palace that he and Amy would find themselves in all the time. Knuckles once cornered did explain that the palace was created by his ancestors and was a safe place within The Dreamscape for living Echidnas to visit their ancestors. Even though after the first time Sonic and Amy had subconsciously sought each other out, Knuckles mentor Eli wanted to make sure that they always met in a safe place, and the palace was available.
The Shaman would open the gateway and the whole clan could see and speak to our ancestors.
Knuckles didn't mean they would come out and we'd see them. He meant that they would bring us here! Now Sonic was sure that this had to do something with his aborted dream but looking around all he saw was everyone enjoying themselves including all his friends. He saw Tails and his sisters over with Cosmo, Cobbler of all people, and another Kitsune that looked almost exactly like Katrina. Vanilla and Cream were talking to one of the echidnas and a male rabbit.
Oh man! Finally, Sonic began to understand. Here in this safe secure place within dreams one could find spirits of loved ones. He saw Shadow and Rouge talking to a blond girl, and an elderly man that looked a lot like Eggman. Sonic was a little worried, was it a good idea having him here?
"Sonic it's all right. We're keeping an eye on things."
Sonic turned around, and saw Knuckles standing behind him with an older male and female echidna next to him.
"Knuckle, this is …wow!" Sonic said.
Knuckles couldn't help but smile. "Surprise."
Sonic still suspicious asked, "So what brought this on?"
Knuckles shrugged. "My mother didn't like the fact that I always celebrated by myself, and Eli convinced my father that it would be a good idea to pass on our culture and history to others."
Sonic still wasn't buying that this was the only reason, but he decided to say nothing.
Knuckles meanwhile gestured to the two echidnas next to him. "Sonic, this is my mother and father. They've seen you, but you haven't seen them before."
Knuckles father looked at Sonic slightly disapprovingly, "You don't plan on getting my son killed again anytime, soon do you?" He asked.
Sonic had a feeling that Knuckles father didn't really like him, but knew he needed to be polite. Throwing his hands up in surrender he said. "I'm sorry about that, but I didn't plan on it the first time. I'm really grateful that Knuckles came to save me."
"Dear, you promised you'd behave." Knuckle's mother said. Knuckles father grumbled under his breath.
That so reminded Sonic of his parents he relaxed. He began to wander around checking on his friends. Shadow visited with not only his friend Maria, but his creator, and Sonic swore he saw Shadow smiling at one point. He stopped by to say hi to Cobbler. She assured him that her prisoner could not escape, and she only came by to say hello.
Silver eagerly talked to all the echidnas and was having the time of his life. Sonic saw Espio speaking to some tough warrior looking echidnas. Rouge also mingled, and as usual flirted with the echidna spirits.
Amy also chose to hang out with the Echidnas who dwelled in the spirit realm. Every time Sonic saw her Amy was with Eli, and a female Echidna that looked familiar. Sonic couldn't help but feel like Amy was waiting for him to come to her.
"Hey, your Sonic right?" A voice said behind him.
Sonic turned around to see a hedgehog a slightly lighter color blue than himself. He stood a little shorter than Sonic, but if Sonic didn't know better, he would swear that he should know him. He looked way too much like someone from his family.
"Have we met?" Sonic asked a little puzzled.
The hedgehog shook his head. "Nope never met, not that I didn't want to, but you know things happen. I just wanted to ask you to be patient with your dad. He's still hurting something awful because of me."
Now Sonic understood. "You're Chance!" Thinking about giving a gift to a cousin of his father that he never met seemed very abstract, now he was talking to that individual which dead or not made him very real.
"Pleased to meet you kid," Chance nodded. "Like I said, you gotta be patient with your dad. He's been carrying around this guilt for years, and it doesn't help that you look a heck of a lot like me."
Sonic took a good look at Chance and could see that they did look a bit alike, then he considered he always was looking for his next adventure. "I've got a feeling that we act the same way too."
"From what the Echidnas tell me pretty much," Chance said with a sigh, "Jules is dealing with it wrong of course, but in his warped reality he thinks he's protecting you."
"Driving me away was a bad way to stop me from traveling, Sonic pointed out. "But my mom always told me that him hating me had more to do with him than it had to do with me. I just couldn't deal with his attitude." Now Sonic thought about what he knew about Chance. "But enough about my dad, how can we help you?"
Chance now gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. "You can't stop helping people. Just like your mom." He stopped and thought. "I don't rightly know what you can do to help me. I mean I'm dead I know that."
"Can you tell us how and where you died?" Shadow asked coming up behind Sonic.
Chance shook his head no. "Sorry son, I can't. I don't remember dying. One of your friends here said that has to do that there is nothing in the physical world that I can focus on. The only reason I'm here now is that one of those Echidna fellows came and found me."
"Eli?" Sonic asked.
Chance nodded. "That was his name. Came looking for me. I haven't gotten a clue how he found me."
Shadow considered, "Eli in his lifetime was a Shaman, and he has been dead far longer than you. He understands this realm more than we do."
Sonic gave Shadow a puzzled look. "What are you thinking Shadow?" He asked.
"I've told your father before that if I had an opportunity to end up back on Earth, I would try to find Chance. If Eli could find him within the spirit world, maybe he can help us find him in the physical world." Shadow explained.
Sonic glanced over to Eli who was teaching Amy to dance with a female echidna, who seemed familiar, helping. He was surprised at the surge of jealousy he felt at that moment. "It looks like he's busy right now," Sonic said.
Shadow looked at Sonic and frowned. "Well I want to talk to Eli." He suddenly grabbed Sonic by his ear. "And from what I hear, you need to talk to Amy."
"Ow! Shadow!" Sonic yelled. He struggled, but his dark reflection had him firmly.
Shadow turned to Chance for a moment. "Excuse us for a moment, I will be back." He pulled Sonic with him to where Eli was teaching Amy the dance moves.
"Excuse me," Shadow said to Eli. "I need to speak to you about a project." Then he pulled Sonic over and dumped him in front of Amy. "You two need to work out whatever is bothering you both!"
Eli burst out laughing. "You are not subtle Hedgehog."
"I never said I was," Shadow replied.
Amy looked at Shadow annoyed. "Shadow this isn't helping."
"I don't care," Shadow shot back. "You two work it out. I'm tired of it." With that he grabbed on to Eli and walked away from them.
Amy looked Sonic up and down. "You don't have to say anything Sonic, it's okay," she said. She began to walk away, but Sonic didn't like how Amy sounded like she just gave up on him. He grabbed on to her arm to stop her from leaving.
"Hang on," he said. "What do you mean by that?"
"I understand how you feel," Amy said simply, "It's okay if you don't want to talk to me."
"What makes you think you understand how I feel?" Sonic asked.
Amy gave him a look that made him think he was going to get a bop on the head from her hammer, but instead she said, "You care about me and you want to be with me, but you don't want to be tied down. Like I said, it's okay I understand."
"Well I don't understand," Sonic snapped back. He wanted to talk to her privately and this part of the palace was more like a grand hall with everyone here. "Come on," he said to her and pulled her off to one of the side rooms they found when they explored this place in their dreams.
They went into a small balcony room overlooking the garden they found their first visit here.
Out on the balcony was a daybed couch. Sonic made her sit down and stood over her. "Okay now, what is with you?"
"Excuse me?" Amy asked, "I'm not the one running off to hide in a chao garden."
Sonic sighed. "Guilty as charged. At first, I went over there just to make sure I shook everything Merlina stuck in my head, but later it was just easy to be out there to think. I knew I was just running around in circles in my head, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't mean to upset you."
Amy smiled. "I told you, I knew that. I understand."
"That's what's bothering me. You're being too understanding. What do you want Amy?" Sonic asked.
Amy looked instantly uncomfortable. "What do I want?" She echoed.
Sonic didn't want her to dissemble. "Amy, you jumped dimensions, and took on a sorcerous with nothing but your hammer, and before that you nearly got yourself killed because of me. So, what do you want Amy? What do you want to get out of this?"
Amy looked slightly pained at the question. "I don't want anything anymore," she insisted. "I just want you to be happy."
However, for some reason Sonic could see in his mind glimpses of some of the things motivating Amy,
"It matters somehow to you." Shadow said.
Amy nodded. "I was thinking about Sonic. He touches everyone's lives, but he doesn't want to get too close. He hates holding still. He can be gentle like a breeze or as destructive as a hurricane. He is the living embodiment of the spirit of the wind."
Shadow answered, "So you believe that Sonic is either the incarnation of this spirit, or this spirit holds Sonic's soul."
"It's obvious isn't it?" Amy snapped back on the verge of tears again. "He belongs to the wind, and he's never going to belong to me."
With a heavy sigh Shadow said, "Amy, back on the Ark, Maria had a poster in her room with a saying, 'if you love something set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours if it doesn't, it never was.' In the end she did set me free."
"But what about me, Shadow!" Amy asked. The threatened tears started to fall. "Why am I bothering doing all this work to get Sonic to notice me and love me if he can't?"
Shadow knelt next to the bed and took Amy's hands in his. "Amy, he does like you very much, but not the way you think he should. He is not obligated to be your perfect image of a boyfriend, he never was. Can you still say you love him if he is not what you want him to be, but simply what he is?"
"Of course, I love him!" Amy shot back forgetting to keep her voice down. "All these weeks hanging out with him, I love him even more now than when he was running from me, but that only makes it worse"
…
"Would you Amy Rose pledge yourself to our purpose, and in doing so pledge yourself to serving his needs? If you were sealed to our needs our power could restore you."
"You mean you could bring me back to life, and I could be with Sonic?"
The Air spirit laughed. "Little one, it would be your duty to be with Sonic, to serve his needs before your own."
To serve Sonic's needs before mine? I guess it's only fair. Amy squared her shoulders and faced the Spirit directly. "What do I have to do?"
…..
When Sonic tried not visit you in the middle of the night after you guys got back from South Island he came and ended up sleeping at Angel Island. He had one of those dreams there but didn't quite wake up all the way. Since I knew he was having problems I had Eli's token with me and he calmed Sonic down, but he didn't go back all the way to sleep for a bit. He seemed aware and talked to me, but he didn't remember in the morning. He told me he won't say no to you anymore; never, no matter what you ask for. It freaked him out that you almost died because of him, and he knows the only reason you're not dead is because Amu brought you back for him."
…..
Sonic's eye went wide. He had no idea that Amy knew all that, or that she now had a direct pipeline to his mind. "Amy, what did you do?" he asked. It only reinforced the idea in his head that he had to do something for her. He never wanted anyone to sacrifice anything for him.
"Stop it!" Amy said tears threating in her eyes. "You didn't do anything. I was stupid for thinking it wouldn't matter if I died, but I don't regret promising Amu I'd look after you, and I will never abuse the gifts she gave me, or what Knuckles told me."
If that declaration didn't shock Sonic, he could somehow feel Amy's emotions the way he saw her memories. She loved him, she didn't regret any of her choices, she would eagerly do it all over again, and she was content with being whoever Sonic needed her to be.
"That's not fair to you. What do you want?" Sonic repeated.
"I just want you to be happy, Sonic." Amy said, "that's all I want."
Sonic wondered if pledging herself to the Spirit ofAir somehow changed Amy. Before that Amy had always been about what she wanted, but now everything she wanted was for him.
Does it matter if it did?" Amy asked.
Sonic realized that she could still read his thoughts and emotions. "If you can read what I'm feeling you know how I feel if someone is hurt because of me."
Amy smiled. "You're presuming that this hurt me. Then to Sonic's surprise she sent him her emotions. The only time she felt bad was when Sonic felt bad. Ever since she pledged herself to Amu, was happier than she'd ever been. When she went into Season, she knew that she threw things out of kilter. All she wanted was for Sonic to regain his equilibrium, and if that meant keeping his distance from her for a while, she was okay with that.
Sonic didn't want to keep his distance from Amy. He just wanted to do right by her. Well if Amy could explain why with her emotions so he could. He just let all his feelings flow letting her know how much he cared, and how much she meant to him, and just to punctuate it he pulled her to her feet and kissed her wrapping his arms around her in a tight possessive embrace.
Amy returned the kiss, the embrace, and the emotions reminding Sonic of that blissful moment right after Amy broke the spell on him. "Ames, lets blow this party," he said.
Amy looked at Sonic confused. "How?" She asked, "it's not like we're here physically."
Sonic smiled. "Considering all the things Knuckles didn't say when I finally figured out how we got here the first time, I made it a point of asking Pie a lot of questions about The Dreamscape while I was visiting with her. Nothing like an eight tailed kitsune to tell you how to navigate a spiritual realm." When he saw Amy looking and feeling as eager as he did, he said. "Close your eyes and think about being exactly where we were when Knux started playing."
He did the same. When he could feel the grass under him again, he opened his eyes. He still felt a little out of it, and he swore he still could hear the party somewhere in the back of his mind, but it worked. He looked over to where Amy sat, still blinking trying to focus.
"You good Ames?" Sonic asked getting to his feet.
"I think so," Amy answered. "I just feel a little buzzed."
"Yeah me too," He said helping her to her feet. "I think it has to do with that juice Knuckles gave us. Do you still think you hear the party too?"
Amy tilted her head and her face grew puzzled. "Yeah I do," she admitted.
"I'll see if Tails or Pie know why later. Let's go."
"Where?" Amy asked.
"Not far," Sonic said gently pulling her along. "Just away from the group for a bit." He guided to her to an alcove on the opposite side of volcano avoiding the Echidna shrine.
Vines and palm trees shaded the alcove. Sonic then took Amy into his arms. "Now, where were we?"
…..
Knuckles came out of trance slowly. The potion Eli taught him to make made him feel a little fuzzy, but otherwise he felt alright. To his surprise the bowl where everyone had placed their offerings was empty. I'll have to remember to ask Eli how they did that. He saw everyone still under the potion's effects, either still in the realm of dreams, or simply asleep. He did notice Sonic and Amy were missing.
They're fine, His father said. I think they decided they didn't want everyone to be aware of what they wanted to do. They're a little way past the shrine. I wouldn't disturb them if I were you. They are occupied.
"I guess they worked out their issues," Knuckles said with a chuckle. "I only hope it sticks."
It should, His father assured him. I think the girl is going to be more careful with her cycle in the future. She never wants to upset Sonic like that again.
"On that note will you and the others allow her to isolate in the shrine again? It has been a couple of months," Knuckles reminded him.
It will be another month or two before we have to worry about that, but yes, she was very respectful, and didn't disturb us. She can stay again. You are right it is probably the only place we can keep her that he won't try to get to, but if they keep dreaming together we'll have to see about creating a place for them, and get them out of our palace.
"I'll leave that to you and the others Father." Knuckle said with a chuckle. He looked about at the others starting to stir.
"Woah, that was a party," Tails said putting his hand to his head. He looked down fondly at his sisters still sound asleep. "Thank you Knuckles I really appreciate this."
"If I had known about your mother, I would have asked at least you last year," Knuckles answered, "And probably Shadow too. I was glad to do it, and my father had to admit Eli was right, the ritual works much better with more people and connected spirits involved."
Suddenly Tails noticed the two missing hedgehogs. "Where are Sonic and Amy?"
Smiling Knuckles said, "According to my father they're on the other side of the island and they are occupied."
"Good," Tails said flatly. "Having both of them tiptoe around each other was getting frustrating."
"I agree," Knuckles said. "I don't know what was worse, dealing with a frustrated Sonic, or Eli who is more of a prankster than Sonic, trying to fix the situation his own way."
Be lucky you didn't die then when those knights came to kidnap Sonic. You don't have to spend all of eternity listening to him yet. I do. Knuckles father reminded him.
Forgetting that Tails was sitting right there, Knuckles answered. "Just remember Father, Eli is teaching me how to be a Shaman for our group. I do have to listen to him often."
"He is?" Tails asked. Then realizing that it was meant to be private said, "sorry I kind of heard some of that."
Knuckles nodded. "The drink Eli taught me to make will be in our systems for a while yet. If you think you're hearing things you're still very attuned to the world of the spirits. It will wear off in a few hours. Eli and my father think our group could use someone who can do some magic and considering how Sonic has been around the Dark Chaos Emerald he could use a healer fluent in Chaos energy." Now Knuckles gave a small laugh. "Maybe it is a good thing that Eli is teaching me. He died just before my clan bound themselves to the Master Emerald. He's actually Air orientated, and I think I will need his perspective on how to deal with Sonic."
"Eli is the one who tested Sonic when he came looking for me right?" Tails asked. When Knuckles nodded yes, the young Kitsune laid back down and pillowed his head in his hands. "Good maybe having you as a healer here will keep Sonic from running to Pie every time he's upset."
With a smirk Knuckles said, "Considering that Sonic and Amy are bonded even if he does run off on us Amy can find him, and magic won't block that bond."
Tails now sat up again. "Sonic and Amy are bonded? Like in the ancient tales? Are you sure?"
"No doubt," Knuckle said.
Tails frowned a bit. "Most of the tales about bonded couples I've heard are about all the trouble they get into. You know this means we're in for it."
Knuckles gave Tails a quizzical look. "Sonic got kidnapped, and I nearly got killed. How much more trouble can we get into?"
Tails laughed. "You may have a point, but this is Sonic and Amy we're talking about here."
Knuckles did stop and think about it for a second. The scar across his middle began to throb a little. "You're right we are in so much trouble."