Peaceful (Knuckles x Tikal) A/N: I'm sorry, but I can't do anything with Manic or other underground characters! :(

Requested by Sonicgirl

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She loved the fact that he was so interested by his own culture. He loved the fact that she loved that about him. So now they both just sat together at the altar, content and mildly amazed by the other's company…

Tikal didn't look fully alive and compact, but she wasn't really transparent and ghostly either. It was just, that if you looked at her out of the corner of your eye, then her silhouette looked blurry. Like she blended in together with the background, even though that wasn't possible with her fur being bright orange and the ruins being green and fading grey.

Sometimes, it looked like she glowed a bit. Like she somehow had absorbed some of the Master emerald's power, and glowed like one of the emeralds. She hadn't done that, though, or else Knuckles would have felt it with his chaos-senses.

Knuckles had some dirt on his gloves, from being out and looking for herbs earlier. His fur was bright red, and he was positive that he did not look blurry no matter which direction you looked at him from. He sat and leaned against one of the steps which led up to the altar, and Tikal sat next to him.

Neither really… did anything in particular.

Tikal hummed softly to herself, and Knuckles had closed his eyes. A lively breeze swept over the field in front of them, and ruffled and rustled in the trees. Beyond the island was only a sea of clouds and endless blue, and an occasional eagle here and there… It was quite peaceful…

"…Are you sleeping?" The sudden question had Knuckles opening an eye, and glancing over at Tikal.

"No," he said. "How so?"

Tikal hummed. "It looked like you were asleep like that."

Knuckles hummed. And then a sudden question struck him. "Do you ever sleep?"

Tikal blinked at the question. She tilted her head, and said slowly, "…No. I don't… think so. I'm not sure. The Master emerald is so different from this world – I can't really say." She hummed a little more. "…But I dream," she then said.

"You do?" Knuckles tried not to sound amused. "About what?"

"The past," she said simply.

"Oh."

Knuckles hoped he hadn't gotten her upset – he was bad with both words and comfort. She looked happy though, so he supposed it was okay. She had folded her hands in her lap, and drawn up her legs so that her feet pointed to Knuckles.

Knuckles shifted subtly so that he was closer to her, and so that he wasn't leaning against the steps anymore. Tikal just hummed a bit more, and then she said, "I wonder how… it would have been if we had met in the past." -Knuckles wasn't sure what to reply.

"Maybe…" Tikal paused. She then looked at Knuckles intently.

"Do you know anything about ancient echidna courting methods?"

"What-?" –was Knuckles' first exclamation and thought.

Tikal wasn't fazed. "You know, when you get flowers for someone or go to nice places together and holds hands and kiss and-"

"You mean dating?!" Knuckles almost choked out. Tikal's face lit up.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed. "What I meant, was that if we had met in the past, then maybe we could have… 'dated'?"

…Knuckles had absolutely nothing to reply to that. Thankfully Tikal seemed to be content with his various expressions – they were undoubtedly very funny, and Knuckles was glad that Sonic wasn't here with a camera – and the echidna girl shifted a bit closer. And somewhere, the sun began to set, and Knuckles was thankful that his fur was already bright red…