Following Forever

Author's Note: This is a Knuckles/Amy fanfic.  The characters might seem out of character, but this is an unusual situation.  I thought they'd be a cute couple, but I already know not everyone will agree with me.  So, flamers don't tell me stuff I already know.  Everyone is also older.  Since I'm not sure how old everyone was to begin with, I just made Tails 15 and the rest of the characters ages can be determined using that.  And finally, read and review!

Chapter 1

            Knuckles sat up late into the night writing a special letter.  His heart was pounding in nervousness as his hand guided the pencil.  "Dear Amy," he wrote, but sighed.  Not good enough, he thought to himself as he crumpled up the paper, this had to be perfect.  "Gentle Amy," he started on a new paper, "You have always been on my mind since I first saw you.  Even the glowing emerald pales in comparison to your beauty and your delightful laughter.  You may love Sonic, but I love you.  Follow Sonic if you must, but I shall always follow with my hand outstretched."  The echidna finished his letter with, "Love Eternal Knuckles."

            He gazed up at the stars and thought about how it all began.  He had never had a weakness or fear until he met her.  Living alone was lonely, but never seemed so much so.  Amy had become his greatest weakness in that he would do anything for her.  His greatest fear was that he might one day lose her.  He had tried to teach himself not to care like he had for years, but it was impossible.  He was smitten.

            Birdy tweeted getting his attention.  The bird had arrived her one day and had seemed to know Amy.  She had walked by one day and Birdy had twittered in happiness when he saw her.  But the little bird stayed with Knuckles and became his messenger.  It sometimes had a little bit of trouble flying with the huge pendant hanging from its neck, but Knuckles helped him since he wouldn't give it up.

            Knuckles rolled up the letter and tied it to Birdy's neck.  The pendant was set aside where Birdy could find it.  The small bird flew out the window and Knuckles turned to go to sleep.

***

            The next morning the echidna was woken by a tapping on his window.  Grumbling, he opened the window and Birdy toppled in clutching a letter in his claws.  Knuckles quickly opened it and he smiled as he read the letter.

            "Darling Knuckles," it read. "I've been waiting forever for you to say you loved me.  I always loved you more than Sonic, but you always seemed to ignore me so I settled for him.  Meet me tonight at the waterfall in the Ancient Ruins.  Love, Amy Rose."

            Knuckles tucked the letter into his pocket and spent the day getting ready for his date that night.  Finally, it was night and he used his special ability to glide down from Angel Island to the waterfall where his true love was waiting.

***

            Amy's heart sang as Knuckles glided down.  Smiling, she ran over to him as he landed and jumped into his arms.  The echidna gave her a quick kiss and glided back home with her.

***

            Knuckles served her a wonderful romantic dinner and they spent a part of the night dancing.  After that, they sat and talked until Amy fell asleep, her head resting on his shoulder.  He kissed her gently on the forehead and tucked her into his bed.  He slept on the couch and so, didn't notice when Amy woke up around noon. 

            'Sonic!' she thought to herself as she hurried to wake up Knuckles.  Sonic would be so angry when he found out she loved someone else…

Chapter 2

            Sonic had started to get worried when it was already noon the day after she said she had to run a quick errand.  He wandered through Station Square asking around for her, but no one had seen her.  Finally he found himself at her apartment.  He knocked a few times, but she wasn't home.  Worried, he called Tails and told him about the situation.

            "I'll go check to see if Robotnik's got her again." Tail reassured him.

            "Alright." Sonic said and put away his cell phone.  Sighing, he sat down on the apartment building's steps to wait.

            Meanwhile, Tails buzzed through Robotropolis, but Robotnik didn't have Amy, so he went to find Sonic.  He found him still sitting on the steps and looking glum.  Sighing, he landed by the blue hedgehog (no pun intended) and caught his attention.

            "She wasn't there was she." Sonic said softly.

            Tails shook his head and sat down next to his friend. "Did she say where she was going?"

            "No."

            "Did you say anything mean to her?"

            "I didn't say anything at all to her.  Do you think she ran away?" Sonic asked looking up at the fox.

            "She could've.  If she did, we can't do anything about it."

            "I see."

***

            Amy had rushed towards her apartment, her loose hair flying behind her as she ran.  She hadn't bothered to fix it on her way out.  Knuckles had offered to take her straight to Station Square, but Amy told him to just drop her off at the waterfall.  He said he'd wait for her and she had just smiled.  'Whatever happens, don't forget about me.' He whispered.  'I will never forget you, Love.' She whispered back, then turned and ran off before she changed her mind.

            'There he was,' Amy thought to herself as she saw Sonic sitting on the steps.  "Hi," was all she could say as she walked up to him and Tails.

            Tails jumped up and hugged Amy, but Sonic just glared at her.  "Where were you?" he growled.

            "Um…on Angel Island," she said softly.

            "All night?" Sonic said, still glaring at her.

            "Yes.  You see I – I love Knuckles…"she whispered, not looking into his eyes.

            "What!" Sonic yelled, standing up.  He tried to slap her, but Tails grabbed his arm.

            "I'm sorry!" she yelled back and tried to run off.  Sonic threw Tails off his arm and went after Amy.  Catching up to her, he hit her in the back of the head and knocked her out.  Tails caught her as she fell and Sonic turned away.

            "Let's take her far away where she'll forget about Knuckles." Sonic said in a flat tone of voice.

            "But-" Tails was cut off as Sonic glared back at him.

            "Let's go." And they set off to get the Tornado to fly to the other side of Mobius.

            A ribbon that had fallen out of her pocket lay forgotten on the pavement.

Chapter 3

            It was dusk and Knuckles was worried.  Amy hadn't returned yet, so he went to Station Square. 

Birdy was sitting on a fence looking out at the ocean and chirping sadly.  Knuckles saw him and picked him up.  "What happened?" he asked the bird.

The small bird flew up and looped towards the ocean then picked up a ribbon from the ground.   He dropped it into Knuckles hand and the echidna sniffed it.

A strong scent of Amy; it was her ribbon.  And, what's this?  A smell of Sonic and Tails.  He sensed a lot of anger and had a feeling that Amy had been hurt.

Angrily, he growled and went off towards Tails home.  Maybe he would make it there in time.

When he got there, he found the house emptied out.  A small note was tucked behind the lever that opened the door for the plane to take off.  He opened it up and growled as he read it.  "Damn you Sonic!" he said as he dropped the letter onto the floor.  Birdy hopped over and peered at it.

"Dear Knuckles," was written in Tails' untidy scrawl. "Sonic has gone crazy!  He's vowed to keep Amy away from you at all costs.  He's taking her far away.  I don't know where; he refused to tell me until we left the ground.  I want my dear friend Amy to be happy and she wants to be with you.  Hurry up and rescue her Knuckles!  Your Friend, Tails."

***

            Tails carefully piloted the plane, seeming calm to the watching Sonic.  But Sonic couldn't see the tears streaming down the young foxes face.  He didn't want to do this, but Sonic had already hit him for balking.  Amy was still out and Sonic had tied her to her seat.  It wouldn't do to have her wake up and jump out of the plane.

            Sonic had friends on a small island in the middle of nowhere.  They would help him when no one else would.  Knuckles would never see Amy again if he could help it.

His thoughts were interrupted as Amy groaned and woke up.  "Sonic?" she said, confused.  She tried to sit up and woke up completely as she realized she was tied down.

"Knuckles!" she screamed as she tried to wriggle free of the ropes that bound her.

            "You won't see him ever again, b#$*@!" Sonic yelled at her and hit her again.  She was knocked out and Tails turned around and yelled at Sonic.

            "Don't you dare hit her again!  I don't want her hurt!" he shouted.

            "Are you turning against me too?" Sonic said calmly.

            "N-no.  She's my friend too though…" he trailed off and turned to continue piloting the plane.  He couldn't do anything against Sonic.  He just wasn't strong enough.

***

            Knuckles was standing at the runway with his eyes closed.  Air currents twirled around him and he could tell that the plane had taken off and flown towards the north.  Opening his eyes, he leaped of the runway and rode the shifting air currents after the plane.  

            Time passed and he heard the buzzing of the plane's propellers just around the cloud up ahead.  He found the fastest wind current and rode until he could grab onto the plane's tail.  Sonic had fallen asleep and Tail pretended not to see Knuckles.  The echidna untied Amy and gently picked her up. 

            It would have been so easy to just glide away at this point, but unfortunately Sonic woke up before Knuckles could get off the plane.  Amy woke up when Sonic screamed at Knuckles.

            Tails tilted the plane, dumping Knuckles and Amy out.  Knuckles caught an air current and whispered to Amy who had her arms wrapped around his neck.  "Whatever happens, don't let go."

            "I'll never let go." She whispered back.

            Suddenly, they were interrupted by a scream behind them.  Sonic had thrown Tails out of the plane and now he was aiming the guns at them.  The poor fox toppled through the air, unable to just start flying in midair like Knuckles.

            Knuckles dove after Tails and grabbed him just before he hit the ocean far below.  Carrying both the fox and Amy was too much for Knuckles though and he barely managed to make it to a small rock outcropping.  He left Tails there and flew off into the sky, dodging Sonic's gunshots.  Amy squeezed her eyes shut and held on tight.

            Finally, Sonic's guns clicked empty, but the crazed hedgehog just kept squeezing the triggers.  Tails flew up and landed behind Sonic and proceeded to tie him up as Amy and Knuckles flew towards the Floating Island.

Epilogue

            Sonic spent a month in an insane asylum before he was finally released.  At first, Knuckles and Amy stayed far away, but eventually they came to see Sonic.  Sonic didn't seem to remember the episode at all and they opted not to tell him. 

            Tails had gotten lashed in the face by Sonic while tying him up and had a long scar marring his face.  He was happy with his looks though and managed to get a girlfriend for a while who liked tough guys.  He was too nice though and she broke up with him.  Her cousin decided she liked him though, so he didn't stay single long.

            Knuckles and Amy were married a short time after, and vowed never to go anywhere without the other ever again.

The End