Prologue
Their relationship started like any other – a femme fatale and a tough guy stumbling upon each other and captivating one another with their charms. She was Rouge the Bat, a curvaceous young woman with teal eyes and a determined personality; he was Knuckles the Echidna, a fiery redhead with adventurous violet eyes. Flirting came naturally to both of them, the party animals rarely without a man or woman by their side, and so it was only fitting that he initially laid his gaze on her under the purple lights of a bustling night club.
He occupied one end of the bar with his friends, a group consisting of long-time pal Sonic the Hedgehog; Tails Prower, who was finally old enough to drink; and Silver, a new addition to their squad. After ordering a round, the echidna spotted Rouge sitting alone at the other end of the bar. He got the urge to approach her, but the club was too crowded to simply walk through the sea of patrons, and he was soon distracted by the beers getting passed to his group. When he looked her way again, she was gone. But he had captured her image in his mind, hoping to spot the beautiful bat again some other night.
The morning after, Knuckles left Sonic's crash pad in search of an ice cream parlor to cleanse his palate of the night-old booze. He saw her yet again, the breath-taking beauty standing to the side as she waited for her order; but she wasn't alone, enthralled in a conversation with a friend of her own. The bold flirt thought about approaching her anyway, but realized he couldn't in his condition – a bit hungover and still stinking from the night before, he didn't want to risk rejection. So, he convinced himself that she would be around and he would get his chance.
Biding his time worked out for the echidna, eventually ending up in the same aisle as Rouge while grocery shopping. He watched the gorgeous woman search through band-aids for her preferred brand, then summed up the courage to talk to her. After introducing himself, he brought up the night he'd seen her alone at the bar and confessed that she looked stunning; she reciprocated his interest, accepting when he asked her for a date. Later that night, he took her to a fancy Italian restaurant, justifying the cost as he was entranced by her striking wit and incredible looks.
It wasn't long before Knuckles fell in love with her, their whirlwind romance taking the couple through the stages of a relationship fairly quickly. When he inevitably proposed, Rouge excitedly said yes, the two blinded by an infatuation with each other that wouldn't last. Their engagement spanned over the course of many months, Knuckles landing a lucrative position in a business career while Rouge continued working as a government agent. They lived together at Rouge's home most days, but the echidna kept an apartment closer to his workplace for long nights when the drive would be too exhausting. Unfortunately, it also allowed him to keep a secret that would eventually destroy their relationship.