Chapter 2
A Guardian's Duty
By Formerly Known As
Author's Note: Wow....I wrote a second part to this...weird...Okay, anyway I wrote the second part to Hero. It doesn't follow the same format as the first...Oh, why am I writing this? It's not like I have a reason to put in an author's note. Well, there is a second part on the way...hopefully soon. And I'll shut up now and let you read my work.
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Sonic continued to walk down the street, still lost in his own thoughts. He
managed to smile and say something witty to the few people who greeted him, but most
people kept their distance. There was just something about the hedgehog's posture,
something about the way he hunched his shoulders, something about his slumped slow
pace. Something that told people to stay away. There was some strange light burning in
his eyes, a dull light that cast more shadows than illuminated things. People could tell, he
didn't want to be bothered. Sonic didn't even notice them.
He continued to trudge down the streets of Station Square, avoiding the ones that
had too much foot traffic. To Sonic, too much foot traffic was even one person. So he
wandered off down one street then another. He turned down countless side alleys, since
most of them had less traffic than the main streets. It truly was a strange sight to see the
blue hedgehog, who based his life on speed, walking aimlessly around. And there was
something undeniably sad about the sight.
That was what Knuckles noticed, more than anything else, as he trailed his friend
from above. Using a mixture of gliding and climbing, Knuckles found it exceedingly
easy to follow the depressed hedgehog. After all Sonic wasn't going fast. In fact, the
echidna realized, Sonic was basically going at a snail's pace. And not just a snail's pace
for him. A snail's pace period. Little old ladies in walkers were going faster than Sonic.
Something was definitely wrong.
Knuckles had known something wasn't right with Sonic since that whole incident
on ARK. He had known something was wrong even before Sonic had come back from
the battle with the Final Hazard. He hadn't known what was wrong, but he could tell,
something was wearing away at his friend, eating him from the inside out. Even then he
had his suspicions as to what was wrong. When the whole ARK incident had ended,
Knuckles had come to the shocking realization as to the true nature of the problem.
The problem was Shadow.
Knuckles hadn't really been involved in the whole affair. He'd helped keeping
ARK from crashing into the earth and he'd helped them get the shuttle. But that was
about it. The rest of the time he had spent casing around after the Master Emerald pieces.
The echidna had just barely met Shadow before he'd died. Knuckles hadn't had any real
interaction with the black hedgehog. He hadn't battled Shadow, or even really talked
with him. Hell, Knuckles had only been in the same room as the hedgehog maybe once
or twice. But still, Knuckles had noticed something when he had been around Shadow.
There was an energy to him, a power. And it wasn't just the power of chaos
control. There was something deep and mysterious about him. Something that pulled
you across great depths. Something that made you look the black hedgehog in the eye
even when you knew you didn't want to. And his eyes, his deep, crimson eyes. Eyes
deeper than eternity, yet hiding nothing.
It had shocked the echidna the way Shadow, so cool and emotionless on the
outside had eyes that spoke so much. Eyes that spoke of everything that was going on
inside. Eyes that spoke of all the hurt and anger and horrible things the hedgehog had
been through. Eyes that never hid the grief that must have ravaged his soul.
Recently, Sonic had met Knuckles' eyes. Sonic had been telling him to go fuck
off and find an idiot who wanted his attention. The echidna hadn't been surprised by the
words. Sonic had always said things like that to Knuckles. Not when Tails or Amy was
around. But when it was just the two of them, Sonic didn't mind letting his language
grow a little more colorful. Neither did Knuckles. No, it wasn't Sonic's language that
had left the echidna staring in shock. It was the look in Sonic's emerald eyes.
Sonic never hid what he was feeling. At least that's what most people thought.
But the hedgehog was good at taking people by surprise. His actions seemed
spontaneous and wild. He always seemed carefree and ready to make a wise crack at any
second. But there was more going on than meets the eye when it came to Sonic. Always
had been and always would be. He didn't hide his emotions, not at all. But sometimes
he let one emotion mask another.
When Knuckles had looked into Sonic's eyes, they were bright and hot with rage
and anger. Crackling with frustration. But Knuckles had seen beyond it all and seen,
deep in Sonic's eyes, a grief. A sorrow and sadness, deep within his soul. A sorrow that
all his anger and frustration couldn't hide. It was the same sorrow that Knuckles had
seen lodged within Shadow's eyes.
It was then that Knuckles had made his choice. Knuckles had confronted Sonic
that day because he had been planning return to Angel Island. Return to his duty. But
after what he had seen in his friend's eyes, Knuckles realized that he had a duty here first.
Knuckles muttered a curse as Sonic turned down another small side street. He
was wandering farther and farther away from the main drag. Getting into some
dangerous neighbor hoods. It wasn't that Sonic couldn't take care of himself. Knuckles
just didn't think it would be a good idea for Sonic to get in a fight right now. Not when
he was so touchy. So ready and willing to fight. Knuckles glided silently after Sonic,
trailing him through the city.
Amy and Tails had both agreed that Sonic needed space. To think. To grieve.
To work his way through this thing alone. Well, Knuckles was giving Sonic the space he
needed. He just made sure he knew what was happening in that space. Knuckles had his
duty to his island. But he also had his duty to his friends.