Disclaimer: Because I have to. None of the characters therein belong to me, apart from Rowan, she is mine. And Alpha, but she's later. Thing is, these guys belong to Sega.
Orin: "I am knackered."
Sonic: "Enough so you can never write again? Please?"
Orin: *minor glare* "No. Just physically, there's lots of mental angst to be channelled into writing." *pats Sonic on the head* Not to worry."
Sonic: ¬__¬ "Who's worried?"
Knuckles: "Yup. That's depression. Not worry." *looking at Sonic*
Orin: *also looking* "You were at me to finish this!"
Sonic: "The key word being 'finish'. I mean you have your holidays now, why can't we?"
Knuckles: "We should make a Character Fanfiction Union…"
Sonic: "A what?"
Knuckles: -__- "Nevermind…"
Orin: "And I'm not on my bloody holidays! I'm working two jobs here, trying to fit commission-paintings in-between and taking care of two horses, one absent boyfriend *pauses to sniffle* I miss him…- and write as well."
Sonic: "Then don't write."
Orin: *Glaring dangerously*
Knuckles: "He means, it's a good thing women are multi-taskers then. That's what he means."
Sonic: *has just noticed Orin's Deathglare™, the one that usually pertains to violence* "Yeah, that's what I meant."
Orin: ¬___¬
WINTERHEART- Every Scar Is A Lesson Remembered.
Chapter 6
Ghosts"This prison has now become your home. A sentence you seem prepared to pay. It took a day to build the city. We walked through its streets in the afternoon. As I returned across the lands I'd known, I recognized the fields where I'd once played. I had to stop in my tracks for fear of walking on the mines I'd laid."
Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting.
******************
Darkness was there to greet Sonic when he awoke. He flinched on automatic and then curled into a ball to try and quell the nausea in his stomach. His back hurt, his legs hurt, his head and arms… even his spines seemed to be tingling in pain. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and tried to ignore the stinging inside that the simple action caused him.
He wondered if anything was broken…
It took a few moments for Sonic to stretch out, carefully, to avoid any unnecessary pain. A quick check, his mind running on an involuntary process of mental examination – legs, okay. Ribs, okay. Head… not so okay, and it was probably the reason for the sick feeling deep in his gut. Eyes… he blinked in the darkness; could see the suggestion of the faint outline of things in general around the room. Eyes were okay then.
And then he backtracked furiously as he shot up from his position, winced, stifled a cry and stared. The hedgehog blinked frantically against the dimness, wishing, not for the first time, that he could see better in the dark. He pulled a reluctant hand away from where it had been clutching his stomach and reached up to rub his eyes. It was more on reflex than anything else.
He blinked again, willed his eyes to focus, and then he slumped.
He was in a room. His room… But he had been-
"Crap!"
The hedgehog struggled clumsily out of the bed, every muscle in his body screaming in protest at the hasty movements. His stomach gave a warning lurch but he ignored it. Fumbling as best he could, he found his sneakers and pulled them on, wondering too that there had been someone there to actually remove them-
Tails?
He reached for the light switch, flicked it on, off, on, nothing happened. He frowned. Either the bulb needed replacing or- a power-cut? Still frowning, the hedgehog made stumbling progress out of his room and into the living-room.
Then he stopped. His stomach gave another heave, but with a new kind of nausea. A different kind. He reeled.
His home… His apartment… It was in ruins.
There was what used to be the book cabinet, filled with the books Sonic had never read, scattered across the floor, the massacred books and loose pages strewn in it's wake, like a trail of paper blood. It had always been wooden and worn, but Sonic had dragged it through ten flights of stairs to the street and up his own stairs to get it where it had been. It had taken a day and then some, and it was his.
The couch was ripped to shreds, the springs and coils of the bare skeleton sticking up through the left over fabric and fluff. The fabric had been moth-eaten and Sally had called it shoddy when she had visited, but it was the singular most comfortable piece of furniture Sonic had ever owned-
Glass, water, paper, shattered trophies from Sonic's foraging, the book he had been meaning to read someday, that had been on the side-table for the past year or so because he had never quite gotten around to it… 'Intensity' it was called. The paperback was singed beyond recognition, but Sonic recognised it all the same, the wall behind the book was blackened too. Someone had gotten angry. Or impatient.
Splintered wood, the fragments of what had been chairs… Sonic's compact-discs, his personal stereo system, a gift from his friends... Sonic froze - Felt his legs give, in a combination of sudden weakness and shock. He landed on his tail with a dull thump. And again, Sonic was reduced to the simple act of staring, mouth slightly open.
Knuckles the Echidna stared back at him.
Completely nonplussed.
The echidna stood smoothly from where he had been seated. Sonic noted idly that he had been fixing up some of the area around – what once had been – the living room table. Large hands brushed to get rid of excess dust and it rose in a little cloud as Knuckles moved forward past an armchair – also in bits. The echidna seemed to note Sonic's staring and cast a rueful glance around the shattered apartment.
"You're a messy housekeeper, hedgehog," was what he said.
Sonic's mouth was still agape. "You…" he tried, but it was about as far as he could get.
Knuckles lifted an eyeridge. But when Sonic did not continue, the echidna seemed to take his silence for wordless anger.
"If you're wondering, this was not my doing…" Knuckles spread his arms in supplication. "It looks like Robotnik came calling… And that you were not home."
He reached down to pick up what had been a fragmented piece of seashell. Then he shook his head. "It's a shame," he said. "I remember this place… It was nice here."
Sonic just continued to stare until finally even Knuckles' air held a hint of impatience to it.
"Sonic?"
No answer of course. Because Sonic was torn between righteous anger at the state of his home and complete befuddlement that Knuckles the Echidna was apparently standing in the midst of that wreckage. And that he was talking to Sonic about the state of his housekeeping when in fact, he should be dead. Talking as though he had not died, as though it were an everyday subject he was speaking of – like the weather – and that he spoke to Sonic over an everyday occurrence, like breakfast…
And. He should be dead…
The echidna had tilted his head to look down to where Sonic was still staring. His eyeridges were still raised, but there seemed to be more caution to him than impatience at Sonic's continued stillness. He was getting faintly worried. Subtly, the hedgehog saw a frown cross his face. He looked away again.
"You were hurt out there, not too much. But I imagine you have something of a headache." Again, the echidna had a knack for making the comment sound offhand.
But Sonic's silence had coalesced into something else, his breath skipped and suddenly Knuckles took a step back as the hedgehog scrabbled to his feet, in a renewed bout of panic.
"Amy," he gasped, wincing, clutching his stomach and lurching into unsteady motion all in one. And all while still trying to comprehend the fact that Knuckles was a mere meter away and staring at him in slight alarm. His breath stung somewhere inside still, perhaps he had pulled something after all. He struggled a few unsteady steps and the world tilted dangerously.
"Damnit!" Sonic stopped and was forced to lean against the wall for support. It was that or be forced to either tip over or throw up. His fist shot out and impacted with the wall in a flash of useless anger. Then Sonic panted lightly at the effort the combination of moves had caused him.
"Hedgehog?" Knuckles' voice was quiet.
Blearily, Sonic looked up at him.
Knuckles just looked right back and Sonic felt something strange twist in his gut. For a moment, he thought he was going to throw up, so he averted his head quickly.
Knuckles, he was… And Sonic's place would never be the same; Robotnik had invaded his home – and Amy!
Oh, God… If she was – he couldn't save her when she needed him – just like Knuckles, even though the echidna seemed to be fine. But he should not have been, and Sonic had to tell Sally, the Princess would be overjoyed, everyone would be. Especially Tails. No more guilt, but they had not let Amy be captured. And by Robotnik, again. And his home… And Knuckles just standing there as though-
Sonic moaned. Everything was happening all at once, and things that should not be possible, were. His home was the one place of escape… how could he ever live there again, knowing Robotnik had violated that sanctity?
And… He clutched his head.
And the echidna who had died nearly a year ago was not dead, or just a ghost. And all those times Sonic had imagined seeing the echidna, did that mean that he had been seeing Knuckles? That it was a ghost back to haunt him? He had good reason to…
The hedgehog slid down against the wall, head still clutched tightly between his hands. Everything was spinning. He closed his eyes at the sight of Knuckles darting forward, worry on his face-
But why should he be worried? He was there to haunt Sonic after all, and it was a good idea… Knuckles had wanted vengeance for the pain Sonic had caused him…
The world began to dim; faintly he felt hands grab him around his shoulders…
After all, what better revenge could Knuckles have hoped for than to let Sonic live with the weight of his death?
Oblivion claimed him.
*****
Amy had no idea how long she laid there, biting her lips and trying not to sob. Failing of course. She had always been one for crying, at absurd moments for the littlest things, the tears would come. She could not help it.
She was alone.
She had spent a time clawing at the walls of her prison – if she could call it that. She had pounded and raged and screamed her anger and indignation at unhearing unyielding walls of pure bright metal. Cold. Hard. Until she had exhausted herself and her fists were numb and her legs weak. Then she had stopped. Completely stilled, frozen in mid bearing, because there in the metal that was her prison, an image stared back at her.
She had caught a sight of herself in the bright metal. Somewhat distorted by shape and texture. Tearstains, and torn clothes, spines frayed and messy. She was a mess, and the distortion did not beautify her in any way. But still through that distortion, she could see a measure of the fatigue in the lady staring back at her; her eyes were deep azure pools of inertia. And Amy had stared at herself, long and hard. There had been a time when she had liked what she saw, who she saw. That time had passed.
It was long passed.
And then she had screamed some more, at the futility of it all, at Sonic and her reasons for hating him – loving him – it was all relative. At Robotnik, for being the fanatical, manic, petty person he was, unable to yield to a grudge, holding it to him until it consumed… just like her.
And then, when she could not scream any more, she had fumbled her way over to the bed, and collapsed. She had been asleep even before her head had hit the pillow.
It was only on waking, that the pink hedgehog had gotten some measure of control again. Her nerves were tattered and frayed, and she was as close to breaking as she ever had been. Consumed by worry.
Sonic could be dead. And she had no way of knowing….
She had seen his body on the ground; the cold, wet cement, and it had been the last thing she had seen before she had awoken in her prison. He had not moved at her screams, not even a flutter of those eyes. Sonic had always answered her calls in the past…
So, Amy worried.
But, seeking not to let the worry rule her, she had gotten to her feet, and examined her surroundings, as she had been taught by Sonic when she was younger. Know your prison, your environment- wherever it is. If need be, know how to use it against your enemies. Always. There were so many lessons he had taught her. Some painful, many not. And certainly, some of them were very useful.
That was how the pink hedgehog found herself roaming about her prison, seeking methodically for escape, taking note of areas that looked interesting, unusual. Trying to remain calm in the face of her captivity, trying to be objective and… like… Sonic.
The last part did not bother Amy as much as it should have.
After some thought, she had to admit, it was the strangest cell she had ever encountered. For one thing, it seemed to be many times the size of any other prison she had been in of Robotnik's design. In fact, it was huge. The entire confinement was made of sheer metal, and she was at its pinnacle. Her room was unlocked, and that was the first bizarre oddity to her imprisonment. There was a large metal balcony beyond it, and it led down some more metal stairs to a lower gallery – one that overlooked… nothing…
Just nothing. A pure deep cavernous space of emptiness… Amy had never seen such never-ending blackness. She had wanted to take something and drop it down to see when it landed, but she did not have the courage. Because she had a feeling that she would never hear that resounding echo.
And it was strange too, that she had plenty of available objects to drop. Her cell was furnished, albeit meagrely. But there was an adjoining kitchen and bathroom. She could obtain water at will, and there was enough food to last her at least a week, provided she ration the supplies out somewhat. It was that oddity that confused Amy most of all. Why would Robotnik put her in a place like that?
Alone…
No matter how many times she deviated from that line of thinking, Amy always found herself drawing back to it, against her will. The size and starkness of her cell was only made more apparent by the fact that she was completely alone. She had awoken alone, and with no idea to Robotnik's purpose on her capture. It was the unusual state of her prison that told Amy that it was something particular though, not just a random plan to infuriate Sonic – and the madman had the opportunity to kill Sonic, but he had not.
And that Sonic was alive, it was perhaps the only fact that kept Amy sane. She felt bitterness at first, when she realised it, but then the bitterness had faded amongst the shadows of worry. The truth was, she did not know if he was alive. But she avoided thinking about that. Amy refused to believe Sonic was anything other than alive, and on his way to help her…
Because… he was the only one who could. Sonic was the only one who would.
That was how Amy found herself shivering and alone on her bed, squeezing her eyes and fists against the barrage of tears that threatened to consume her. Crying was useless. Tears did not make any of her uncertainties coalesce into fact undeniable.
Even when she was racked by the Sight, Amy knew, for the first time in years, that it could lie too. She had not seen Sonic get hurt – not ever. Until now. She brought the images the bombarded her minds-eye as nothing more than worries brought to life by the sight of Sonic on the pavement, as she was taken away.
Nothing more…
But even behind closed eyes, the blood thudded so hard in her veins that Sonic's image had trembled before her. She was swept away by a certainty that in two seconds the world was about to end, and that her stupidity has caused it to happen.
And that Sonic would drown.
"It's dark…"
" I know, Sonic. Hold on!"
There was water, rain. Screaming in the wind – but that had already happened. And-
Robotnik's voice echoed in her mind, cold and toneless, uncharacteristic of him even through all his heartlessness.
"No. I've done this before, and this time around, I'll not pull him for capture…"
Amy squeezed harder. It had happened, then why was she seeing it so late – had it happened?
"Let him drown."
No. No it had not.
No. No! Think of something else… Something- anything else. Think of… not the pain. Think of... something- something else. The Island. In the sky. Think of the Island…
But the Island was gone. It was sitting cracked and broken in the bottom of the ocean-
Everything was different for him. Now. He could never be as he once was… Knuckles was changed, beyond belief, beyond return. Amy felt the tears flow, for him. She cried for him too, as she cried for Sonic.
"Corpses can't own… Not anything." A scarlet echidna scarred and alone, fur velvet soft with wetness and almost black in the firelight. A Guardian, wiping blood from a face with hands already stained beyond belief.
And looking satisfied…
Amy wanted to scream. It was why she hated being alone, more than anything else. Alone and afraid meant the dreams came. Sometimes even with waking eyes she could see. And she did not want to. All she saw was grief, and hurt and fire and screaming and death…
"You'll die too!"
And fury… And violet eyes meeting blackness unflinchlingly-
"I'm already dead."
And brutal, honest pain.
But.
"Sometimes," Amy whispered suddenly, her voice so quiet it left no echo in her cell. "Sometimes, it's the only thing telling you that you're alive."
"What is?"
She unclenched her fists, pulled herself into a sitting position and lifted her gaze to the ceiling, imagining she saw stars there amongst the screws and panels of sharp steel.
She knew what was coming, and it hurt.
"The pain," came her answer to the whispered future of her mind. Answering herself. Using his words.
She hoped he was all right…
*****
"-ou all right? Sonic!"
The words interrupted the bliss of unconsciousness, and brought with them a reminder and no small amount of pain, so Sonic strove to ignore them just a little longer…
Someone shook him. It was rough, Sonic knew his head bounced off the pillow, was surprised at this knowledge, because it would require a certain amount of awareness and it was easier to be unaware… The darkness was easier. Everything was easier than the fact that sometime he would have to-
"Wake up! Sonic!"
No. NO waking up. Not just yet. And anyway, there was no possibility that the voice he was hearing in concord with the shaking could be who he thought it was. Because he was dead. So, unconsciousness was easier. Sonic did not mind the unconsciousness…
Only it seemed the voice's owner did.
"-have the water running in the next room." Sonic strove to concentrate, to listen, because there was an edge to that voice that he knew instinctively should not be ignored.
"If you don't open your eyes in the next ten seconds – because I know you're awake- I will dunk you into it. And keep you there until you do open your eyes…"
That did it. There was only one person Sonic knew with the audacity to make a threat like that, and only one that Sonic knew enough about that he was aware it would be carried through if he did not comply.
Green eyes opened, blinking in the semi darkness – it was getting dark? And trying to focus on something other than the pain pounding and-
"K-Knuckles?"
The trembling in the voice that met his ears shocked him. Was that his voice? It sounded so very unsteady.
It was then that it hit him, and it hit him with all the impact of a speeding train. Really hit him. All over again and Sonic scrambled back on the bed in alarm, heart pumping. Scrambled back so far that he encountered space behind and fell to the ground again with another dull thump. And kept on scrambling.
Knuckles' head reappeared over him again, but the concern had been replaced by something all together more indecipherable. The echidna was frowning.
"Sonic…"
Because it had finally hit him – "Knuckles- Oh God- Oh crap."
The echidna's earlier congeniality had disappeared; he did not smile his time at Sonic's predicament. Instead, his look coalesced into something more urgent.
"Sonic, you need to listen."
But Sonic was still rather disorientated because all he as coming out with still was – "Oh God." And Knuckles was frowning more at him and his frown was growing darker and darker as the seconds and Sonic inability to sound rational ticked by.
"Oh cra-"
"Sonic!"
The hedgehog shook his head frantically. Eyes wide and staring. Staring at Knuckles. Pointing. Accusing.
"No! You're dead- I saw- I mean I never saw but everyone said and – You- You're dead!"
Knuckles' look softened somewhat. Sonic was shivering faintly.
"Do I look dead to you?"
"No!" Sonic's headshake bordered on hysterical and so did his voice. He scrabbled back a little further until his back spines encountered solid wall, and he was forced to stop. He did not mind though, solid wall was good, solid wall was real, it told him the whatever happened, that much was certain, he was not dead himself… Which was something he could not say for Knuckles.
Because Knuckles was dead, though he did not look it. Sonic knew he was, he had to be. Sally had told him so, Tails had told him so…and there was even a tombstone erected in his memory. Everyone knew that tombstones were only for the dead.
But he really did not look dead.
"No! And that's the problem! Because you are and everyone said, an it's been months and nobody's seen you, an' Sal said that if you were alive then you would've at least-"
"Sonic." The hedgehog blinked up at Knuckles, or rather at the sharpness of his tone. He stilled as Knuckles went on with, "You're babbling."
For a swift instant Sonic managed to look indignant. He glared. "I'm- Of course I am! I'm sitting here on the ground in my room talking to the ghost of one of my best friends!"
Knuckles looked briefly interested, he canted his head down at the scowling hedgehog. "Best friend?"
Sonic glowered at him flatly. "You're dead."
The echidna's affable expression melted into a relenting sigh. "I thought we had established, I'm not."
But his companion had been shaking his head before Knuckles had even finished his line.
"Nuh-uh," Sonic pointed at the echidna accusingly. "You. Are. Dead." He punctuated each word with a vicious jab of his finger. But he hardly expected Knuckles to reach down and grab that accusing hand in a firm, very solid- very real grip. Sonic flinched visibly and tried to pull back. "Ack! No! Leggo!"
Knuckles only looked at him pointedly, "Does this feel dead to you?"
"No! No!" Sonic jerked his arm again, against that grip and the subtle heat that leeched through Knuckles' glove, and it was heat. And the faint beat of a pulse. Knuckles was warm, and his hand was gripping Sonic's, and so it was solid. And solid was real…
Alive.
And then suddenly Sonic's struggling floundered, and like a fish out of water, he found himself gaping, and slamming on all his mental brakes, "No…Wait- It- it feels…."
"Alive?" Knuckles quirked an eyeridge, looked a little condescendingly at Sonic. His hand still gripping. "It's because I am. As alive as you."
The echidna squeezed Sonic's hand tightly then, just enough for the hedgehog to feel the pinch of the old strength he knew that Knuckles possessed. Sonic stilled, he looked up, blinked and met the cool darkened violet that he had only seen in his dreams – nightmares – since that day. The hedgehog stared a little longer, dared squeeze back.
"Red?" It was a hushed whisper, and torn somewhere between desperation and hope, and latching onto neither because both would hurt.
"Yes, Sonic," Knuckles' voice was overly patient. Gently though, he extrapolated his hand from Sonic's grip – which had tightened considerably upon discovering that Knuckles was in fact, very solid.
Sonic was still staring at him. "Oh… God," he said very quietly. "I need-I need… to sit down."
Knuckles blinked at him. "You are sitting," he pointed out.
Sonic never moved his gaze from Knuckles' face, even as he nodded his agreement, and said absentmindedly, "I know… But it seemed like the thing to say."
That got a smile from Knuckles, albeit it was very small.
"You'd think with all the weirdness in my life, I'd be able to cope better," the hedgehog muttered, still staring openly at the Knuckles. The echidna merely shrugged, watching Sonic as though he expected the hedgehog to faint again.
"So…" Sonic stared, numbly, and because nothing else came to mind, "What's up?"
*****
"So, you think she's at this base?"
"Yes."
"And that's why you're here?"
"Yes."
"To help me?"
"Yes."
"This base in the middle on the ocean?"
"No. Just a few miles out."
"Oh. Right."
Silence. Sonic looked at the echidna sitting across from him in the reconstructed chair that still looked so beaten it was a wonder it was holding together at all. The hedgehog blinked at Knuckles, studying the map on the just-as-beaten table. Knuckles remained focused. Sonic blinked again.
"You're dead. You know that?"
The echidna managed faint amusement at Sonic's deadpan expression. "Apparently I missed the memo," he murmured without undue drollness. He did not look up.
"At least, you're supposed to be. According to everyone else." Sonic studied the map himself, from a distance though, he leaned against the remains of the couch, with one battered pillow scrunched against his side another beneath him. There was a piece of the cabinet holding the couch upright. Half of it was missing.
"This majority doesn't include you?" It sounded absentminded, but Sonic caught the flicker of violet, and knew Knuckles was not as uninterested as he seemed. Sonic shrugged.
"Never has, Red. One in a million, remember?"
Knuckles shook his head. But Sonic went on, trying to be cavalier and not quite managing to pull to the cover up. "And I've always been a sucker for denial."
"Sally calls it 'perseverance'." Knuckles pointed out. Because Sonic's words were so self-depreciating, that Knuckles had to counteract. Sonic was not self-castigating. He had never been.
"Yeah well, Sally thinks you're dead," was the flat reply.
"We all make mistakes." The echidna pulled the map from the table and frowned at something, tilted his head.
Silence.
"So… You're really not dead."
Knuckles put down the map and threw Sonic a look. "No. I'm really not."
And despite his firmness, Sonic caught the distinct impression that Knuckles was fighting laughter.
"Hm. That's good I guess."
Knuckles looked impeccably curious. "You 'guess'."
"Poll's still out on whether or not this is all one massive hallucination." Sonic shrugged. "I'll keep you posted on the results."
"Of course." The echidna was not-quite smiling, but was not-quite not either. He looked trapped somewhere in-between.
"So… What've you been up to? Y'know, while being 'not-dead'." Though Sonic's voice was flip, his eyes had taken on a distinctive icy edge. "For the last ten months?"
He studied the tabletop idly, the cracks where the glass had been chipped. It was irreparable. Everything in his apartment was beyond repair...
"Sonic-"
"No, really." Sonic leaned forward, still not looking up. His eyes were narrowed and for the first time, he looked angry. A gloved finger traced one of the more prominent cracks. "D'you know, you had this colossal funeral. And there was crying, lots of that. And everybody went- well, except me, 'cause, you know. I'm denial-guy." He looked up. Met Knuckles' startlement. "Or, maybe the only one who actually believed you were not dead-"
"Trying to find my way here." Knuckles answered softly, openly. Sonic stilled, a deer caught in the headlights of a sudden revelation. Knuckles went back to studying the map.
Sonic was left blinking.
"Oh."
Silence.
Sonic found himself glancing around his apartment, trying to stifle the acrimony. Everything was ruined. He wondered if Robotnik had come himself, to oversee the destruction of Sonic's home. It was a perversity that Sonic would not put past the human. The thought of Robotnik in his room, rifling through his possessions- it made Sonic want to gag.
He growled instead, and his hand tightened on the edge of the table. There was the faint sound of cracking glass.
"Relax," he heard Knuckles say quietly, and blinked up.
Knuckles was watching him with dark eyes. And Sonic blinked again, fighting away the wonder and replacing it with the much more accepted scepticism. Knuckles tilted his head in askance, to which the Sonic shrugged.
"So…. You seem to know an awful lot about where Amy is… And this base."
The echidna's mouth quirked strangely. "The Doctor asked me to run over certain schematics… last year. In Robotropolis. I came across his operations too."
Understanding dawned on Sonic. He closed his eyes briefly. "Ah," he said.
More silence.
A sound from Sonic had Knuckles looking at him again. It sounded almost like a chuckle, but it was not, there was no humour to it. "Being your thorough-self, you decided to do a little research." Sonic guessed softly.
The echidna met his glance. Nodded.
Sonic leaned back and blinked slowly, his eyes fixed on the map on the broken table. Tapping his finger against his knee, he asked, "Did you ever trust him? At all?"
"Did you?" Knuckles retorted bluntly. And Sonic eyes flickered to the scar on Knuckles cheek. It was healed, almost. More than Sonic's was. That was impossible, because Knuckles had acquired his own scar nearly two months after Sonic had been given his- it was impossible. But then, so was Knuckles.
"Why did you stick with him then?" And Sonic knew it was past, and should be left alone, and he wanted to. But he wanted to know more. He needed-
"He was a means to an end," Knuckles said shortly, and stood. His demeanour was vaguely curt as he paced away from Sonic and the map, jaw hard, fists clenched. Sonic saw, and made note. There was an another one of those extended silences as Sonic studied Knuckles, and Knuckles let him look. The echidna was different. There were qualities there, that had never been before, that looked as though they had been sculpted from pain and suffering. And anger.
Knuckles had always hidden things, it was almost what Sonic had come to expect over time. And the only conclusion that Sonic could draw from his open air was that either he had discarded the habit of masking his expression, or he simply could not do so any longer.
Neither conclusion reassured Sonic. They both meant something had changed.
The hedgehog took a breath. He did not need to ask what those ends were. He had his scar after all. He nodded instead. "Right." Still watching Knuckles, whose eyes searched out the window for such a long moment that the hedgehog grew impatient.
"You should sleep tonight. While you can." Violet eyes were still fixed on something outside. Away from Sonic.
Sonic leaned forward and studied the map once more, a little futilely, since there was little it could tell him that he had not already committed to memory. He tried to quell the ire. Bit his lip and told himself to count to ten and take a breath, because an argument was exactly what he did not want, could not afford. But there was still Amy. Quietly, intensely, "I'm not that tired, Red-"
Knuckles' interruption was immediate. Timed with the sense of prefect flawlessness only he could pull off. "No. But we'll need light." He looked away from the window to Sonic, because the hedgehog looked ready for an argument despite his reservations.
"We're wasting time," Sonic pointed out, his voice clipped. Counting to ten had never helped…
"We have time." Knuckles was just as forward, just as terse. The echidna had abandoned the careful blank slate of expression he seemed set on fostering, despite his inability to. He was as cold as ice as he looked at Sonic. His gaze had the knife-sharpness of the most honed blade.
Sonic frowned, folded his hands under his chin, braced on them and studied Knuckles dubiously. Knuckles' only looked back, face carefully blank once more. The ice had passed. But there was a shadow in its wake. And Sonic shrugged. He knew the stubbornness there; it was the same part that had threatened to hold Sonic underwater until he opened his eyes. The same part that was willing to work with a man he did not trust in order to kill Sonic.
A means to an end.
"Fine," Sonic muttered. He gathered up the map and folded it as Knuckles watched him with muted surprise. Then, "And don't look at me like that." Sonic shot the echidna an emerald glare, simply because Knuckles looked so surprised at his show of reasonability.
Knuckles masked his surprise expertly. It was as though it had never been. "Like what?" As innocent as a newborn.
Sonic fought the reflexive scowl. Shot Knuckles a half-glare, and said, "Get lost then. I need my beauty sleep." And wondered that he could do it. Just like how he used to.
Knuckles was really, real. He was there. And Sonic could argue and glare, and the echidna could argue back… And it hit Sonic then, and the hedgehog had to fight the impulsive grin at Knuckles' smirk.
"I'm afraid sleep won't help you in that department."
Sonic flipped him off with a head-tilt.
Knuckles chuckled. "But I'll be back at dawn."
A nod from the cobalt hedgehog, who was still fighting his own smile. "I'll be ready"
And when Sonic blinked, Knuckles was gone. There was just the empty space behind the battered tabletop where the echidna had stood. His eyes narrowed and for a moment Sonic made no move at all.
"That's new…" he murmured then. The last traces of his smile faded from mind and face. And then Sonic sat; so still, the beginnings of a headache clinging to his temples. Alone. He sat, in the semi-darkness of his broken apartment, the streetlights offering up enough meagre light for him to read by, but not enough for provide the illusion of safety. His home…
The length of time Sonic sat there seemed immeasurable, as his mind raced, staring idly ahead at cracked walls with eyes that did not really see. The cold air coming from the crack in the window chilled him through his fur, reminding the hedgehog for an instant how vast and empty the night really was. That his home had been wrecked. Making him wonder.
He had promised Knuckles he would wait, all the while getting rid of the echidna so that he would not have to. He had promised Amy he would keep her alive. Safe. He had promised himself that he was done running…
He had forgotten to ask Knuckles how the echidna had found him. But had the suspicion too that Knuckles would not be forthcoming with any direct answer. The echidna was like that.
It was not so long ago that things were normal. As normal as they had ever been for Sonic. Everything had been so clear-cut. Fight Robotnik, argue with Knuckles, pal around with Tails, tease Sally. And live. Sonic had a rhythm to things. To life.
Now.
And as though Knuckles had never cautioned him, the hedgehog stood and regarded the folded map again.
A beat. A smirk. It was only slightly bitter. "I suck at waiting."
With a blast of defiance and speed, Sonic raced out of the apartment, the chaos in his wake a material testament to the conflict within. Trees, apartments, streets and streetlights flew past in a dizzying blur as Sonic raced to the pier, and the sea. And the base.
"Sorry, Red," he whispered ruefully to the rushing air. "I'm ready now."
Because Amy needed his help… And in the end, it was all about living.
*****************
TO BE CONTINUED…****************
I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this fic in the past, for reviewing, sometimes, authors hit a black-spot, and let me tell you, those reviews help. A lot. I sat here last night and read over every single review for Winterheart, and though there are too many to thank singularly, hugs to all.
It really can make a difference…
Anyway, I found some old notes on this chapter, and so if it seems rather fragmented, then I apologise. There has been a lot cut from the Sonic and Knuckles reunion scene, and maybe some would have liked to read it, but the fact remains, sometimes parts need to be cut.
I hate editing my stuff, I think we all do to an extent, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Edited this today, tidied it up (hopefully enough) for posting…
Sonic: "That chapter was wired."
Knuckles: "Don't you mean weird?"
Sonic: "Stupid typos."
Orin: "Bane of my existence too, don't worry."
Sonic: "I thought we were the bane of your existence, y'know, the unflagging motivation that keeps your mind awake on late nights when it should be sleeping, and that has you writing notes at work on little post-it things when you should be taking a break…"
Orin: O__O
Knuckles: "He's so wired."
Orin: "Don't you mean weird?"
Knuckles: "I don't make typos, I meant wired."
Sonic: "Oooon a completely unrelated note, you could have edited out more in this."
Orin: "As in all of it?"
Sonic: "Heh. How'd you know?"
Orin: ¬__¬ "Oh, call it a guess."
Knuckles is back! Wheee! And because I'm still feeling needy… Review? Please?
Take Care,
Orin.
