The Greatest of Hunts
By DreamShadow
Chapter Five: Greater Heights
The next morning a somewhat-dazed Knuckles yawned upon waking up. He opened his eyes slowly, still slightly heavy from the long night's sleep... then opened somewhat quickly when the realization hit. He remembered having the nightmare again, what would have been the third night in a row, but he remembered how it changed and then realized he actually slept through it...
As his eyes adjusted Knuckles noticed he was oddly warm for having no blanket... He glanced down and was quite surprised to see a wing over his side, Rouge's wing to be exact... Knuckles only then realized she was behind him, still asleep against his back apparently, her breathing was still slow and steady. He looked down passed the wing to find Rouge's arm was also around his midsection in embrace, but what he didn't expect was to find his own hand in the night had found hers and was lightly holding onto it on top of hers. Knuckles hadn't even noticed it, but also didn't find himself removing his hand, just as content to leave it there.
The red echidna laid there quiet, trying not to wake Rouge up, but not wanting this to end so soon, as well. He couldn't remember a time in his life he felt this comforted, actually at peace, no worrying about an emerald, no fighting Eggman, just the quiet sound of Rouge's breathing and the feel of her heartbeat against his back... It was the same heartbeat that interrupted his dream, the one that calmed him so much and made the nightmare nothing but a memory. Had Rouge been sleeping so close to him all night? It seemed more like it was just how she rolled over in her sleep, but she must have done this intentionally... Knuckles was so used to living his life alone and here in three days Rouge let her defenses and pride down just for him to sleep through the night, it was unimaginable.
Knuckles started to doze off again, content to stay like this a little longer and sleep in, except Rouge had different plans as she started to stir, rolling over the other way, her arm and wing pulled from Knuckles in the process. The echidna was somewhat surprised to be irritated at his sleep cycle's bad timing for waking him up just as she did that. Regardless he didn't have much to do now but get up and stretch out, getting the stiffness of a night's sleep on solid stone out of his system.
The red echidna stepped around Rouge's still-sleeping form and out of the alcove, looking up from the desert landscape. He didn't realize until he looked upward that it wasn't that bright, the storm clouds of the previous night weren't gone yet and though they were no longer raining, they were still thick enough to keep the desert sun from beating down on them. Knuckles turned around to glance at Rouge, who was taking this moment to push herself up from her night's sleep, obviously handling it a little better with her boots and gloves giving her a pillow.
"You picked an odd way to sleep, didn't you..." Knuckles said. Rouge glanced away slightly, just remembering what she did last night. She was afraid if she made eye contact she might end up blushing, she wouldn't have been able to live with herself for it.
"...you looked cold, that's all." She explained, preferring not to explain why she really did it. "You were still soaked, you shivered in your sleep." Knuckles wasn't sure if she was lying or not, it was hard to tell with her looking away... like she was trying to avoid embarrassment rather than lie.
"If you say so..." He replied, not wanting to dig any deeper. "...thanks, though. It's been a while since I slept that well." Knuckles didn't seem to know what he was saying until he was done saying it. The comment drew Rouge's attention, surprising the white bat by the sudden drop in defenses.
"...don't mention it." She replied hesitantly. "Just making sure you slept well enough to finish the trip." Knuckles was somewhat surprised that Rouge didn't return with the usual quick jab of an insult. Thinking back on the last few days with Rouge, he began to realize she had been slowly retracting her claws the whole time. When it began, her insults had some acid to them, then they were just in jest, and now non-existent.
"The trip won't last much longer, anyway." Knuckles explained, putting this new curiosity aside with the rest of the piled up thoughts he had collected on this trip. He glanced down the path they had yet to take, off into the distance. "We're less than an hour from the edge of the desert, from there it's simple." Rouge stood up, stomping slightly on her newly replaced boots, making sure they were on right. She stepped over to Knuckles, still pulling her gloves on as she walked, looking out at what he was looking at. Off in the distance stood the trip's most imposing sight, a large volcano, still somewhat active by the looks of the black smoke rising out of the top.
"...You're kidding me, that's supposed to be simple?" Rouge said in confusion. "What kind of definition are you using?" Knuckles smirked slightly, glad he still had something to surprise her with but also somewhat disappointed that she didn't know better by now.
"I thought you would notice by now, everything but the desert has had a shortcut." He explained, drawing a curious look from her. "You'll see when we get there." Knuckles's eyes passed downward, looking at the bandages around her waist, one of her hands over the wound, possibly without her even realizing.
"How is your wound doing?" Knuckles asked. Rouge glanced down, just realized she was holding on to where she was cut by the emerald shard. She quickly put her hand down, not wanting to show if it was bothering her.
"Still sore, but it's doing better." Rouge said. "You don't have to worry about me so much, you're starting to make me think you actually care." The comment was said in joke, but it managed something unexpected, Knuckles turning away instinctively to hide a slight blush, something he never did in his life! The echidna wasn't even sure why he did it, he just couldn't help it. He wasn't even sure if he could stand anything else he had to figure out as it was.
"Uh... Let's just get going before those clouds break." He said quickly, starting off. Rouge watched him walk a second, not entirely sure what just happened. Did that comment really make him that uncomfortable? She was starting to lose hope of ever being able to read Knuckles... She shrugged it off and started after him, still trying to decide how to read that reaction.
**********
The day progressed on without much excitement, the clouds overhead seemed to thin considerably as they walked through the edge of the desert, the sun nowhere near as intense as it would have been in the middle of Sandopolis. As they approached the base of the volcano Rouge now noticed the lush foliage surrounding the base and extending up the side, thick but not nearly dense enough to block their way.
Knuckles stepped farther ahead of Rouge, approaching a patch of tall grasses and large leaves as tall as he was, moving his hands to pull the plants apart. He stepped into the patch, making his way through carefully, cautious of breaking any of the plants and revealing whatever they were hiding. Rouge picked up on her companion's unusually careful movement and followed suit, stepping through the grasses carefully.
"I'm still waiting for this shortcut, Knuckles." Rouge said. "I don't intend to claw my way up a volcano if that's what you had in mind." Knuckles remained silent, knowing the answer would be obvious in a minute. He stepped out of the foliage into an open area, with Rouge close behind. In front of them stood a small platform with what looked like a large purple ball held by an almost alien device.
"It's a transport sphere." Knuckles explained, stepping over to it. "After Eggman first went after the Master Emerald I had to go the long way through the volcano to catch up with him and barely missed him. This was my first solution before I moved the smaller island away to guard the emerald, they would have worked but they have too limited a range." Rouge stepped over to the large sphere, putting a hand over it, moving it across the top as if making sure such a thing was real.
"So what happens now, wish where we want to go and click heels together?" She said, looking over to Knuckles. He smirked slightly to her before making a quick leap up to stand on the emerald, turning back and looking down at her.
"Hop on. It goes to a cliff at the middle of the mountain, we can rest there before finishing up." Knuckles explained. In reality they could finish in the next few minutes, but it would end the trip and he still had so much to figure out about her and how he was acting around her. He stepped back as Rouge bound up, landing just in front of him. She looked down at the orb that was now under their feet, expecting something from it.
That came quickly in the form of a bright flash of light, making Rouge hide her eyes from the brightness. The light faded fast, letting Rouge open her eyes again, glancing about. The sphere had done it's job as she found herself standing on a different orb with a high view of the island, most of what they crossed through in the last couple of days in view. She hopped down to the large cliff under them, glancing around at what was closer to a plateau than a cliff, the area even including more of the same foliage from the base level, with the inclusion of a set of fruit trees near the middle, and a small lake with a slight steam to it.
"Well, this island even has hot springs..." She noted, stepping closer to the hot water pond. "Between this and that crystal cavern, I'm tempted to move in." Knuckles hopped off the emerald, landing beside Rouge, who was still taking in scenery. The plateau's pond was just the size of a pool and cut off by an extension of the rock face of the volcano that cut the platform almost in half save for a path through the foliage that edged the cliff.
"Let's get the Master Emerald to it's resting place before we look at real estate." He said, pulling the backpack off and setting it down. "Last chance to rest or clean up before we're done, after this all we have is one more trip through the sphere." Rouge nodded in response, stepping away from Knuckles. If this was their last chance before the trip was over she'd have to report in now and just make sure Knuckles wouldn't hear her make the call.
"Right, then I'll just get in a nap, take it easy on the wound till you're ready." Rouge said. She walked passed the pond and to the line of tall rocks lined with fruit trees, walking passed and disappearing from view behind them. Knuckles watched her walk off, wondering what she needed to be alone for just to rest... Maybe she didn't want anything he did to wake her up.
On the other hand it was the first time Knuckles was alone since this trip began. He stepped over to the hot spring, sitting cross-legged at it's edge. At least he'd have some time to himself, it was time without distraction to think about all the things that had been weighing on his mind, including this newest one. He blushed! Knuckles, last of the echidnas, rock hard guardian, and he blushed! It was as humiliating as it was confusing! Why would he just do that out of nowhere? Especially over what caused it, a joking comment implying he didn't care.
Why would she think that, though? He took care of her when she was injured, sacrificing his one vanity to do so, the gloves that hid his vile-looking hands with the sharp bone sticking from them. Sure, there have been times on this trip where tempers were flared but they made up and went on, he never even apologized to Sonic for their arguments but it was different with Rouge.
Wait, wait, he was getting ahead of himself. Thinking this through Knuckles just realized the core here, did he really care for Rouge? The way he was thinking this out, he was assuming he did, was he really so stuck on being the lone guardian that he was oblivious to his own feelings? Those were his old habits haunting him, though, he was always like that. Even when he was on a mission with Sonic and Tails his only mindset was to just get his part of the job done so he could leave and return to his watch over the Master Emerald. He just didn't realize that until now, it was just so hard to see beyond something he had been doing since before he could remember. It took this situation with Rouge to make him realize that.
What if that was what it was? Not just caring about Rouge, it didn't feel like the right term. Maybe it was something he didn't realize he could feel... it felt strange, almost alien. Sitting here, thinking these last few days over, he came to realize how much he did that he never did before, like worry about her condition when she got hurt or feel bad after an argument. And the things he never felt before, the concern, the companionship... and again, the caring he didn't know how to describe. He only realized that part this morning when he awoke with Rouge embracing him, the calm he felt with her that close and how it calmed his nightmares...
Thinking this over so much, Knuckles realized another feeling. He felt lonely... He glanced around, hoping Rouge was back by now, but what felt like hours was mere minutes. It was bizarre, like something from his soul was missing, leaving a deep void. He never stayed with anyone for such a long time, never had these experiences before with anyone, he didn't know what to think. Then his thoughts passed on a possibility that actually scared him, what if he felt this way constantly? A few days with Rouge and he couldn't stand time without her, what if she left when they were done and this feeling never went away? Knuckles felt yet another feeling he wasn't used to, dread... It felt like he'd rather have the Master Emerald gone at this point.
This was close to driving him insane, he had to talk to Rouge, maybe if he got some of this out in the open with her they would get solved faster, at this rate he was only going to dig himself deeper. Knuckles stood up and turned to where Rouge walked off, starting over himself, hoping she wasn't already asleep. As he approached the rocks and plants separating the two halves of the plateau he heard something odd, almost like... beeps from a phone? Knuckles stepped over quietly to a pair of large stones with a gap between them big enough to look through, stopping and ducking down slightly to keep from sight, in case there was someone else there. He peeked through the gap, surprised at what he saw. Rouge was standing there, definitely not taking her nap, her back to where Knuckles was spying. She was just moving up a cell phone to her ear, as if she just finished dialing a number, the beeps he heard before... What was she doing, though?
"This is Rouge, reporting in." She said into the receiver. Knuckles kept low, out of sight in case she turned around, keeping as still as he could. From the caves he knew how good her hearing was, he'd be too easily discovered if he made any major movement.
"Good, Rouge, after last night we feared we lost our agent." He said. There was a tone of lying she could hear even over the phone's small speaker, obvious he was only concerned about the emerald. "Make your report." He ordered. Rouge took a deep breath, steadying herself for this.
"Your interruption last night ruined everything." She said. "The echidna found me out and destroyed the emerald. Something about better it be gone than let it fall into the wrong hands." Knuckles held down an urge to burst out and ask what was going on, though it wasn't hard to piece together. Rouge came just for the Master Emerald? All this they went through and shared and she only came for the emerald? What confused him more was what she was talking about, the emerald was still in his backpack, without a scratch. Why lie to her boss?
"Then get him to restore it." The president ordered. "Your report indicated that the echidna can repair the Master Emerald regardless of how damaged." Rouge almost forgot about that part, she detailed everything in that report.
"He won't do it against his will, I already tried." She lied again, better at it than her employer was. "The mission's a failure." Knuckles continued to listen, though his mind was too occupied to listen well. He wasn't angry, that was the odd part, he was upset, even hurt... It was a strange hurt, too, no physical pain but it was worse than any punch or kick or blast he had ever taken in his life.
"...why do I get the impression that this is just what you want me to think?" He said. Rouge felt her breath stop suddenly, hoping she wasn't caught so quickly. "What is it, Rouge? You feel pity over taking the Master Emerald from him? You want that power for yourself?" There was some relief in the fact that her actual motive wasn't so easily spotted, but she was still on the spot, and quickly learning that duty and desire had no place coexisting.
"You wanted my report, that was it." She said into the phone. "Take it or leave it, that's it." Rouge pulled the phone away from her ear, glancing down at it. Her sensitive ears could still hear the president going on, she didn't care anymore, though. Her decision was made. If both her and Knuckles were going to be slaves to objects, it might as well be the same one. Rouge made a quick pass over the side of the cliff with her arm, releasing the phone as she did. She watched it descend, bouncing against rocks, the plastic casing breaking open and scattering bits and wires around as it came to a stop at least fifty feet down, now in too many small parts to continue bouncing off rocks. Rouge looked down at it, still amazed she actually did it, but also feeling a great relief from it.
Knuckles was now completely lost, the hurt was still there but now he wasn't sure what to even think about it. He stood up, still watching Rouge, and stepped around the rocks, heading toward her. Rouge heard the footsteps and felt a deeper dread now as she turned, watching Knuckles approach. What surprised her was that he didn't look angry, he looked emotionally hurt, it was a state she couldn't have even imagined Knuckles being in.
"So, care to explain that?" He said, stopping about a yard away from her. Rouge was too panicked to speak immediately, even if she could explain what she was just doing.
"...I take it you heard the whole thing..." She finally said, just to confirm her fears. Knuckles responded with a simple nod, still waiting for that explanation. "...Fine... I won't lie to you, not anymore. I was ordered to come here to take the Master Emerald, but I won't, I don't want to, I never wanted to. It was either follow orders or spend life in one of their friendly prisons." Knuckles heard the words, but only the first ones hit him. All this and the whole time Rouge came here for the Master Emerald. Was she just stringing him along this whole time just to keep his guard down?
"Rouge... Do me a favor and leave the island. Now..." The echidna turned away from her, stepping back to the other side of the plateau. Rouge was stunned for a second before following after him.
"Wait, that's it?" She asked as she walked after him. "Knuckles, I'm telling the truth, I don't want the emerald! Not for them or myself, not anymore!" Knuckles stopped in front of the transport sphere, turning back to look at her, the hurt still in his eyes but also anger.
"And that's supposed to change the fact you've deceived me this whole trip?" He spat. "You came to me with a lie, kept it this entire time, and wouldn't have even said it if I hadn't overheard that phone call. As far as I'm concerned, you're no different from the first time we met..." The red echidna turned his back to her again, proceeding to change the path of the transport sphere. Rouge still stood a yard or two behind him, feeling like she could break down right there. She shook off that feeling as best she could, she just gave up everything she had to protect the only person she ever loved, she couldn't just back down now. Knuckles was back to paranoid guardian, though, it would take something desperate...
Rouge quickly darted up behind Knuckles, repeating the act from the day before, delivering a kick to the bottom of his backpack that knocked Knuckles forward a bit and forced the Master Emerald to fly out of the backpack and into the air. Rouge was more prepared for this one and jumped up, taking the emerald in midair and landing in front of Knuckles, on top of the transport sphere. She turned to look at Knuckles, who was looking on in confusion, not sure what to think. He didn't have time to react before Rouge disappeared in a beam of light, taking her away. Knuckles quickly leaped up to the top of the transport sphere, not sure at all what to think now, running mostly on instinct. It took a minute for the sphere to recharge before transporting him, as well.
**********
Knuckles reappeared deep within the mountains of the Floating Island, in what looked like an underground temple surrounded by blue-tinted rock, the Hidden Palace. He quickly stepped off the sphere and looked ahead at Rouge, still holding the shrunken Master Emerald, but not attempting to run or escape. She was looking on at the Super Emeralds in the center of the room, massive versions of the Chaos Emeralds and each pulsing with the same life as the Master Emerald, each untouched from their platforms surrounding the largest one, still vacant. The white bat glanced over to Knuckles, trying to keep a calm face but obviously concerned about Knuckles.
"It goes in the large platform up there, right?" She said, hoping for a simple answer. Knuckles only nodded, still upset and not in the mood to go to detail. Before Knuckles could come any closer Rouge turned to one of the Super Emeralds beside her, quickly hopping onto it. With another quick leap she bound up toward the emerald set higher up, putting up a leg and kicking off from the large gemstone, turning in the air and ending her acrobatics by landing on the large empty platform, letting out an audible grunt as the sharp landing agitated her wound.
"...Then get up here and finish this job, I can't make this thing go back to full size." Rouge moved the Master Emerald into what looked like a nest of long green crystals, setting it in the center where it somehow stood on it's point without help. Knuckles watched this, just getting more confused about what Rouge was up to.
With his hands free Knuckles had an easier time making it to the large platform, using the Super Emeralds like a staircase until he landed on the platform across from Rouge, the shrunken Emerald between them. The red echidna reached out to the emerald, drawing out it's energy until it pulsed brightly and expanded, returning to it's original size and fitting the emerald nest completely. With the Master Emerald in place both of them jumped down, landing lightly on the floor below, both turning to look at each other immediately.
"...Why does everything you do lately just confuse me more..." Knuckles said, tired of keeping in so many questions that Rouge could answer so easily.
"I was hoping to show you I'm not after the emerald." She replied. "You wouldn't have given it to me if I had asked to carry it here and replace it myself." That part was true at least, but it was far from reassuring, at least in his newly-shattered mindset.
"That doesn't change the fact that you came here to take it." Knuckles said, turning his gaze away from her. "Even if you were ordered, didn't you even think of telling me about it?" Rouge remained silent, not sure what to say. Maybe Knuckles wasn't the only one who had trouble seeing passed their duty. "...Proof you did intend to take it. That you lied to me about all this, this whole time... I don't know how I could trust you at all anymore." Rouge looked on in some disbelief, was he really this hurt over this? The tone in his voice reached far beyond paranoid claims, like he was hating what he was even suggesting.
"Knuckles, please believe me, I value your trust more than any stupid gem, if I thought I had a choice about it I wouldn't do anything to damage that trust!" Rouge was at the point of pleading, almost desperate for some change of luck here. "...I know now I should have told you, but at the time, in my mind, I didn't have a choice. Just give me a chance to keep that trust before you completely forsake me." Knuckles returned his glance to her eyes, seeing her sincerity in their desperate gaze. This was getting to be too much, with everything else weighing on his mind he would be lucky to ever think straight again. At this point he just wanted it over with.
"...Come on." He said simply, turning back and walking over to the sphere. Knuckles put a hand on the purple orb, then jumped on top, letting it take him away. Rouge looked on at this, not sure what to think or expect now. Was she getting this second chance? She quickly stepped toward the sphere, following after Knuckles, hoping he wasn't so upset that she didn't already lose her chance.
**********
When Rouge emerged from the transporter she found herself high in the sky, much higher than the Floating Island reached. She jumped down to a squared off chunk of land, glancing ahead where Knuckles stood, glancing at her, the same hurt and confusion in his eyes. Rouge decided that if things were on his terms for now it might be best to let him decide the pace. She glanced around, stepping passed him, looking out into the distance all around them.
"Sky Sanctuary." He explained, answering her unasked question. "This is where I was supposed to go if someone was after the Master Emerald. That transport sphere can change destinations if I want it to as I go through, it's a last measure to guard the emerald." Rouge's steps brought her to the far edge of the platform, letting her glance down to the Floating Island far below, a couple hundred feet at least. "You can float down from here, shorter than walking all the way back through." The white bat turned back, looking over at Knuckles, the hurt glare still in his eyes.
"So that's it...?" She said. "No chance to prove myself, no way at all to keep your trust?" Knuckles closed his eyes, clenching his fists. He just wanted this over with, this whole trip had only confused him more and more and now he was at a point where he had no idea what to think about anything.
"...Knuckles, of all people, I was hoping you would understand what it's like to be a slave to an object." She said. This was all she had left, if Knuckles didn't believe her after this she would be completely lost. "You know what it's like not to be able to question what you do with it. You have to guard the Master Emerald, so you do, no questions about it when you should have dozens, and you can't keep yourself from obeying. Even leaving it with the Super Emeralds, you're putting it in a place only you can get to, keeping it safe,,, obeying it." Knuckles's glare softened slightly, the truth to her words sinking in.
"We're more alike than you realize." She continued. "That phone was only there so I could be given orders, to follow without question, and face consequences if I didn't. Same as you, I had to follow what it commanded even if it's a roundabout way of doing it. Knuckles... It was you that made me realize what that phone did to me, the curse it had on me like the Master Emerald has on you. Whatever consequences I'll face for it, I don't care, I'd prefer them to hurting you like this..." Rouge took a deep breath, calming herself after that pouring of words. Knuckles, on the other hand, felt like breaking down at this point. Every word was truth, they were the same things running through his mind all day, and the words she spoke made something in the pit of his heart ache. But the uncertainty remained in his mind, the trust that was losing grip.
"Rouge, I just don't know anymore..." He said, his voice somewhat shaky. "Believe me, I want to trust you, but... knowing you came here and lied to me all this time, I don't know how..." Rouge lowered her head, not even sure herself...
Thinking back over what she did to Knuckles, Rouge came back to what she did for him. Her sacrifice, defying her orders, and it was something she had to do in a moment of desperation, something she learned was the fastest teacher there was, it was the only time since coming here that she knew what she wanted. The white bat turned around and stepped to the edge, looking over the side. They were literally floating in the air and it was as least a hundred feet even back to the floating island, let alone down to the ocean.
"Knuckles, something I had to figure out recently was that the most important choices in life are ones that are decided in a single moment." She said, just now turning to look back at Knuckles. "Some things can only be realized when you have to realize them." With that Rouge put one foot back, the heel of her boot now off the edge of the platform, a fact Knuckles was quick to notice.
"Rouge, what are you doing?!" He shouted. "We're too high up, if you fall there's no surviving it!" Knuckles stood his ground, though, he didn't know what she was doing but she couldn't really be thinking of jumping. But that was what she planned, Rouge was making the gamble of her life on this. Her wings couldn't catch the air to glide or even slow her fall from behind, if she fell back only one thing could stop her from hitting ground, but she wasn't afraid at all. Rouge looked on at Knuckles, her eyes open without any sign of their usual seductive glance and her smile without it's cocky intentions, it was all pure.
"I'm not scared, though, Knuckles." She said. "I trust you." With that Rouge took her other foot off the platform, kicking off slightly with her other foot as she fell back and off the platform. Knuckles felt his heart stop cold as it happened, the scene all too familiar from his dreams. There was more horror to this in that Rouge did this intentionally, trying to prove something that wasn't even clear to him! His instinct kicked in, rushing after Rouge as fast as his legs could take him, bounding off the edge head first, heading down to her falling form. She wasn't that much farther down that he was, Knuckles was just hoping he could gain enough speed to reach her. The echidna closed the gap quickly, Rouge's wings slowing her fall slightly, just enough to get Knuckles catch up. As soon as he was in reach Knuckles put arms out, closing them around Rouge's midsection, hanging on tight as he pulled up, his dreadlocks flaring as they caught the air and slowed their fall. Her own arms came up and went around his neck, holding on tighter as their fall was jerked as it suddenly slowed down.
"What were you thinking?!" Knuckles said once he was sure he had her in his grip and slowed down. "That was a fatal fall, are you insane?!" He pulled away from her enough to look her in the face, only to realize she still wore the same smile and look in her eyes, he hadn't even noticed if she had that the whole time or not.
"I wasn't scared, though." She explained. "I knew you'd catch me." Knuckles looked on into her eyes, she was serious. They didn't show any fear, no nervousness, she knew he would dive after her. All that talk about not trusting her and she held that kind of trust for him...
"I don't care, that was still foolish!" He continued. "What if I tripped?! What if I couldn't catch up?! You have any idea how much you scared me, I thought I..." Knuckles suddenly caught himself before the words could pass his lips. Was that how he really felt? It was hard to believe, but as he did it seemed to clear all the confusion from his mind. "...I thought I was going to lose you." Knuckles's eyes softened as he said it, a great pressure lifting from his mind as he did.
"Well, well, the brave guardian can be scared after all?" Rouge teased. She managed to draw a calm smile out of the echidna holding her, though his eyes still showed how much he was coming to terms with it all.
"I didn't think I could be..." He replied. "Just... tell me what made you do that!" Rouge's smile became a smirk, somewhat glad at his response to being scared.
"Knuckles, I know your life is supposed to be all about keeping to yourself." Rouge began. "But somewhere in this trip I figured out you only realize things when you're forced to turn away from that. When I got cut by the emerald shard... or before that when you saved me at Meteor Herd. The only time you open your shell is when you have to, but how would you see what you really wanted to if you never had to open it again?" Knuckles looked on at her, amazed she did something like that just so he would see that himself.
"...Knuckles, I'm sorry..." She continued. "I never would have lied to you if I knew it hurt you so much, I just-" Knuckles shook his head, stopping her from continuing.
"It doesn't matter anymore..." He explained. "You're right, I do understand what it's like to obey an object without question, and I couldn't see passed my own shell to learn for myself. But more than that... I don't care anymore. Regardless of why you came here, the moments we had were real, in those moments I... I mean, Rouge, I..." Knuckles closed his eyes briefly, trying to find these words to say this well of feelings in him, he just wasn't good at this kind of thing. When he opened his eyes to continue, one of Rouge's hands came to his mouth, keeping him from speaking again.
"Knuckles, for once on this journey, act like a guardian and just... run with your instincts." Rouge pulled her hand from his mouth, lightly moving it across his cheek until her fingers took a light grip behind his head. Knuckles was somewhat stunned for a second, but that was quickly dissolved by a new desire in him, those instincts taking over. The two closed eyes as they closed the gap between their heads until their lips met in the middle in a soft, cautionary kiss. The kiss was brief, but the two were quick to resume, their own passion taking over in a deeper, more meaningful kiss. The same words and thoughts went through their minds, but didn't need to be said, both knew how much they loved the other, and each kiss only showed it more and more as each was deeper and more loving than the last, both lost in this new rush of emotion.
Suddenly the two were forced apart as they finally touched land, both too caught up in their moment to know the ground was coming up under their feet. Both opened their eyes as they got their balance, looking on at each other, each sharing a look of love in their glance. They were back in Mushroom Hill, surrounded by familiar green-leaved trees and orange fungus.
"...So what comes next?" Rouge finally said to break the silence. Knuckles took a second to think that over himself, though it didn't seem to help.
"Honestly, I don't know..." He answered. "This is just so new, I don't even know what to think about it all." Rouge thought it out a bit longer before smiling, an idea forming.
"Fair enough, then let's not worry about what comes next." She said before glancing around briefly. As soon as she had her bearings she started back down the path they had taken days before, back toward the Master Emerald's chamber.
"Rouge, we're done with that, where are you going?" Knuckles asked in confusion. She stopped and turned around to look back at him, her familiar smirk returning.
"Girlfriend's duty to drag the boyfriend around." She said. "Unless you want to be left alone again, which I should hope you'd be tired of by now." Knuckles had to hold back from blushing at the boyfriend remark, but it took a second to realize he really didn't mind it so much... Though it might take a while to get used to calling Rouge his girlfriend. She turned and began to walk again, this time with Knuckles following to catch up with her. She was right, Knuckles was tired of being alone so much, especially now that he finally realized the love he had for the white bat that showed him what life could offer when his shell was finally down.
End Chapter 5
Next: Chapter 6 - Epilogue
By DreamShadow
Chapter Five: Greater Heights
The next morning a somewhat-dazed Knuckles yawned upon waking up. He opened his eyes slowly, still slightly heavy from the long night's sleep... then opened somewhat quickly when the realization hit. He remembered having the nightmare again, what would have been the third night in a row, but he remembered how it changed and then realized he actually slept through it...
As his eyes adjusted Knuckles noticed he was oddly warm for having no blanket... He glanced down and was quite surprised to see a wing over his side, Rouge's wing to be exact... Knuckles only then realized she was behind him, still asleep against his back apparently, her breathing was still slow and steady. He looked down passed the wing to find Rouge's arm was also around his midsection in embrace, but what he didn't expect was to find his own hand in the night had found hers and was lightly holding onto it on top of hers. Knuckles hadn't even noticed it, but also didn't find himself removing his hand, just as content to leave it there.
The red echidna laid there quiet, trying not to wake Rouge up, but not wanting this to end so soon, as well. He couldn't remember a time in his life he felt this comforted, actually at peace, no worrying about an emerald, no fighting Eggman, just the quiet sound of Rouge's breathing and the feel of her heartbeat against his back... It was the same heartbeat that interrupted his dream, the one that calmed him so much and made the nightmare nothing but a memory. Had Rouge been sleeping so close to him all night? It seemed more like it was just how she rolled over in her sleep, but she must have done this intentionally... Knuckles was so used to living his life alone and here in three days Rouge let her defenses and pride down just for him to sleep through the night, it was unimaginable.
Knuckles started to doze off again, content to stay like this a little longer and sleep in, except Rouge had different plans as she started to stir, rolling over the other way, her arm and wing pulled from Knuckles in the process. The echidna was somewhat surprised to be irritated at his sleep cycle's bad timing for waking him up just as she did that. Regardless he didn't have much to do now but get up and stretch out, getting the stiffness of a night's sleep on solid stone out of his system.
The red echidna stepped around Rouge's still-sleeping form and out of the alcove, looking up from the desert landscape. He didn't realize until he looked upward that it wasn't that bright, the storm clouds of the previous night weren't gone yet and though they were no longer raining, they were still thick enough to keep the desert sun from beating down on them. Knuckles turned around to glance at Rouge, who was taking this moment to push herself up from her night's sleep, obviously handling it a little better with her boots and gloves giving her a pillow.
"You picked an odd way to sleep, didn't you..." Knuckles said. Rouge glanced away slightly, just remembering what she did last night. She was afraid if she made eye contact she might end up blushing, she wouldn't have been able to live with herself for it.
"...you looked cold, that's all." She explained, preferring not to explain why she really did it. "You were still soaked, you shivered in your sleep." Knuckles wasn't sure if she was lying or not, it was hard to tell with her looking away... like she was trying to avoid embarrassment rather than lie.
"If you say so..." He replied, not wanting to dig any deeper. "...thanks, though. It's been a while since I slept that well." Knuckles didn't seem to know what he was saying until he was done saying it. The comment drew Rouge's attention, surprising the white bat by the sudden drop in defenses.
"...don't mention it." She replied hesitantly. "Just making sure you slept well enough to finish the trip." Knuckles was somewhat surprised that Rouge didn't return with the usual quick jab of an insult. Thinking back on the last few days with Rouge, he began to realize she had been slowly retracting her claws the whole time. When it began, her insults had some acid to them, then they were just in jest, and now non-existent.
"The trip won't last much longer, anyway." Knuckles explained, putting this new curiosity aside with the rest of the piled up thoughts he had collected on this trip. He glanced down the path they had yet to take, off into the distance. "We're less than an hour from the edge of the desert, from there it's simple." Rouge stood up, stomping slightly on her newly replaced boots, making sure they were on right. She stepped over to Knuckles, still pulling her gloves on as she walked, looking out at what he was looking at. Off in the distance stood the trip's most imposing sight, a large volcano, still somewhat active by the looks of the black smoke rising out of the top.
"...You're kidding me, that's supposed to be simple?" Rouge said in confusion. "What kind of definition are you using?" Knuckles smirked slightly, glad he still had something to surprise her with but also somewhat disappointed that she didn't know better by now.
"I thought you would notice by now, everything but the desert has had a shortcut." He explained, drawing a curious look from her. "You'll see when we get there." Knuckles's eyes passed downward, looking at the bandages around her waist, one of her hands over the wound, possibly without her even realizing.
"How is your wound doing?" Knuckles asked. Rouge glanced down, just realized she was holding on to where she was cut by the emerald shard. She quickly put her hand down, not wanting to show if it was bothering her.
"Still sore, but it's doing better." Rouge said. "You don't have to worry about me so much, you're starting to make me think you actually care." The comment was said in joke, but it managed something unexpected, Knuckles turning away instinctively to hide a slight blush, something he never did in his life! The echidna wasn't even sure why he did it, he just couldn't help it. He wasn't even sure if he could stand anything else he had to figure out as it was.
"Uh... Let's just get going before those clouds break." He said quickly, starting off. Rouge watched him walk a second, not entirely sure what just happened. Did that comment really make him that uncomfortable? She was starting to lose hope of ever being able to read Knuckles... She shrugged it off and started after him, still trying to decide how to read that reaction.
**********
The day progressed on without much excitement, the clouds overhead seemed to thin considerably as they walked through the edge of the desert, the sun nowhere near as intense as it would have been in the middle of Sandopolis. As they approached the base of the volcano Rouge now noticed the lush foliage surrounding the base and extending up the side, thick but not nearly dense enough to block their way.
Knuckles stepped farther ahead of Rouge, approaching a patch of tall grasses and large leaves as tall as he was, moving his hands to pull the plants apart. He stepped into the patch, making his way through carefully, cautious of breaking any of the plants and revealing whatever they were hiding. Rouge picked up on her companion's unusually careful movement and followed suit, stepping through the grasses carefully.
"I'm still waiting for this shortcut, Knuckles." Rouge said. "I don't intend to claw my way up a volcano if that's what you had in mind." Knuckles remained silent, knowing the answer would be obvious in a minute. He stepped out of the foliage into an open area, with Rouge close behind. In front of them stood a small platform with what looked like a large purple ball held by an almost alien device.
"It's a transport sphere." Knuckles explained, stepping over to it. "After Eggman first went after the Master Emerald I had to go the long way through the volcano to catch up with him and barely missed him. This was my first solution before I moved the smaller island away to guard the emerald, they would have worked but they have too limited a range." Rouge stepped over to the large sphere, putting a hand over it, moving it across the top as if making sure such a thing was real.
"So what happens now, wish where we want to go and click heels together?" She said, looking over to Knuckles. He smirked slightly to her before making a quick leap up to stand on the emerald, turning back and looking down at her.
"Hop on. It goes to a cliff at the middle of the mountain, we can rest there before finishing up." Knuckles explained. In reality they could finish in the next few minutes, but it would end the trip and he still had so much to figure out about her and how he was acting around her. He stepped back as Rouge bound up, landing just in front of him. She looked down at the orb that was now under their feet, expecting something from it.
That came quickly in the form of a bright flash of light, making Rouge hide her eyes from the brightness. The light faded fast, letting Rouge open her eyes again, glancing about. The sphere had done it's job as she found herself standing on a different orb with a high view of the island, most of what they crossed through in the last couple of days in view. She hopped down to the large cliff under them, glancing around at what was closer to a plateau than a cliff, the area even including more of the same foliage from the base level, with the inclusion of a set of fruit trees near the middle, and a small lake with a slight steam to it.
"Well, this island even has hot springs..." She noted, stepping closer to the hot water pond. "Between this and that crystal cavern, I'm tempted to move in." Knuckles hopped off the emerald, landing beside Rouge, who was still taking in scenery. The plateau's pond was just the size of a pool and cut off by an extension of the rock face of the volcano that cut the platform almost in half save for a path through the foliage that edged the cliff.
"Let's get the Master Emerald to it's resting place before we look at real estate." He said, pulling the backpack off and setting it down. "Last chance to rest or clean up before we're done, after this all we have is one more trip through the sphere." Rouge nodded in response, stepping away from Knuckles. If this was their last chance before the trip was over she'd have to report in now and just make sure Knuckles wouldn't hear her make the call.
"Right, then I'll just get in a nap, take it easy on the wound till you're ready." Rouge said. She walked passed the pond and to the line of tall rocks lined with fruit trees, walking passed and disappearing from view behind them. Knuckles watched her walk off, wondering what she needed to be alone for just to rest... Maybe she didn't want anything he did to wake her up.
On the other hand it was the first time Knuckles was alone since this trip began. He stepped over to the hot spring, sitting cross-legged at it's edge. At least he'd have some time to himself, it was time without distraction to think about all the things that had been weighing on his mind, including this newest one. He blushed! Knuckles, last of the echidnas, rock hard guardian, and he blushed! It was as humiliating as it was confusing! Why would he just do that out of nowhere? Especially over what caused it, a joking comment implying he didn't care.
Why would she think that, though? He took care of her when she was injured, sacrificing his one vanity to do so, the gloves that hid his vile-looking hands with the sharp bone sticking from them. Sure, there have been times on this trip where tempers were flared but they made up and went on, he never even apologized to Sonic for their arguments but it was different with Rouge.
Wait, wait, he was getting ahead of himself. Thinking this through Knuckles just realized the core here, did he really care for Rouge? The way he was thinking this out, he was assuming he did, was he really so stuck on being the lone guardian that he was oblivious to his own feelings? Those were his old habits haunting him, though, he was always like that. Even when he was on a mission with Sonic and Tails his only mindset was to just get his part of the job done so he could leave and return to his watch over the Master Emerald. He just didn't realize that until now, it was just so hard to see beyond something he had been doing since before he could remember. It took this situation with Rouge to make him realize that.
What if that was what it was? Not just caring about Rouge, it didn't feel like the right term. Maybe it was something he didn't realize he could feel... it felt strange, almost alien. Sitting here, thinking these last few days over, he came to realize how much he did that he never did before, like worry about her condition when she got hurt or feel bad after an argument. And the things he never felt before, the concern, the companionship... and again, the caring he didn't know how to describe. He only realized that part this morning when he awoke with Rouge embracing him, the calm he felt with her that close and how it calmed his nightmares...
Thinking this over so much, Knuckles realized another feeling. He felt lonely... He glanced around, hoping Rouge was back by now, but what felt like hours was mere minutes. It was bizarre, like something from his soul was missing, leaving a deep void. He never stayed with anyone for such a long time, never had these experiences before with anyone, he didn't know what to think. Then his thoughts passed on a possibility that actually scared him, what if he felt this way constantly? A few days with Rouge and he couldn't stand time without her, what if she left when they were done and this feeling never went away? Knuckles felt yet another feeling he wasn't used to, dread... It felt like he'd rather have the Master Emerald gone at this point.
This was close to driving him insane, he had to talk to Rouge, maybe if he got some of this out in the open with her they would get solved faster, at this rate he was only going to dig himself deeper. Knuckles stood up and turned to where Rouge walked off, starting over himself, hoping she wasn't already asleep. As he approached the rocks and plants separating the two halves of the plateau he heard something odd, almost like... beeps from a phone? Knuckles stepped over quietly to a pair of large stones with a gap between them big enough to look through, stopping and ducking down slightly to keep from sight, in case there was someone else there. He peeked through the gap, surprised at what he saw. Rouge was standing there, definitely not taking her nap, her back to where Knuckles was spying. She was just moving up a cell phone to her ear, as if she just finished dialing a number, the beeps he heard before... What was she doing, though?
"This is Rouge, reporting in." She said into the receiver. Knuckles kept low, out of sight in case she turned around, keeping as still as he could. From the caves he knew how good her hearing was, he'd be too easily discovered if he made any major movement.
"Good, Rouge, after last night we feared we lost our agent." He said. There was a tone of lying she could hear even over the phone's small speaker, obvious he was only concerned about the emerald. "Make your report." He ordered. Rouge took a deep breath, steadying herself for this.
"Your interruption last night ruined everything." She said. "The echidna found me out and destroyed the emerald. Something about better it be gone than let it fall into the wrong hands." Knuckles held down an urge to burst out and ask what was going on, though it wasn't hard to piece together. Rouge came just for the Master Emerald? All this they went through and shared and she only came for the emerald? What confused him more was what she was talking about, the emerald was still in his backpack, without a scratch. Why lie to her boss?
"Then get him to restore it." The president ordered. "Your report indicated that the echidna can repair the Master Emerald regardless of how damaged." Rouge almost forgot about that part, she detailed everything in that report.
"He won't do it against his will, I already tried." She lied again, better at it than her employer was. "The mission's a failure." Knuckles continued to listen, though his mind was too occupied to listen well. He wasn't angry, that was the odd part, he was upset, even hurt... It was a strange hurt, too, no physical pain but it was worse than any punch or kick or blast he had ever taken in his life.
"...why do I get the impression that this is just what you want me to think?" He said. Rouge felt her breath stop suddenly, hoping she wasn't caught so quickly. "What is it, Rouge? You feel pity over taking the Master Emerald from him? You want that power for yourself?" There was some relief in the fact that her actual motive wasn't so easily spotted, but she was still on the spot, and quickly learning that duty and desire had no place coexisting.
"You wanted my report, that was it." She said into the phone. "Take it or leave it, that's it." Rouge pulled the phone away from her ear, glancing down at it. Her sensitive ears could still hear the president going on, she didn't care anymore, though. Her decision was made. If both her and Knuckles were going to be slaves to objects, it might as well be the same one. Rouge made a quick pass over the side of the cliff with her arm, releasing the phone as she did. She watched it descend, bouncing against rocks, the plastic casing breaking open and scattering bits and wires around as it came to a stop at least fifty feet down, now in too many small parts to continue bouncing off rocks. Rouge looked down at it, still amazed she actually did it, but also feeling a great relief from it.
Knuckles was now completely lost, the hurt was still there but now he wasn't sure what to even think about it. He stood up, still watching Rouge, and stepped around the rocks, heading toward her. Rouge heard the footsteps and felt a deeper dread now as she turned, watching Knuckles approach. What surprised her was that he didn't look angry, he looked emotionally hurt, it was a state she couldn't have even imagined Knuckles being in.
"So, care to explain that?" He said, stopping about a yard away from her. Rouge was too panicked to speak immediately, even if she could explain what she was just doing.
"...I take it you heard the whole thing..." She finally said, just to confirm her fears. Knuckles responded with a simple nod, still waiting for that explanation. "...Fine... I won't lie to you, not anymore. I was ordered to come here to take the Master Emerald, but I won't, I don't want to, I never wanted to. It was either follow orders or spend life in one of their friendly prisons." Knuckles heard the words, but only the first ones hit him. All this and the whole time Rouge came here for the Master Emerald. Was she just stringing him along this whole time just to keep his guard down?
"Rouge... Do me a favor and leave the island. Now..." The echidna turned away from her, stepping back to the other side of the plateau. Rouge was stunned for a second before following after him.
"Wait, that's it?" She asked as she walked after him. "Knuckles, I'm telling the truth, I don't want the emerald! Not for them or myself, not anymore!" Knuckles stopped in front of the transport sphere, turning back to look at her, the hurt still in his eyes but also anger.
"And that's supposed to change the fact you've deceived me this whole trip?" He spat. "You came to me with a lie, kept it this entire time, and wouldn't have even said it if I hadn't overheard that phone call. As far as I'm concerned, you're no different from the first time we met..." The red echidna turned his back to her again, proceeding to change the path of the transport sphere. Rouge still stood a yard or two behind him, feeling like she could break down right there. She shook off that feeling as best she could, she just gave up everything she had to protect the only person she ever loved, she couldn't just back down now. Knuckles was back to paranoid guardian, though, it would take something desperate...
Rouge quickly darted up behind Knuckles, repeating the act from the day before, delivering a kick to the bottom of his backpack that knocked Knuckles forward a bit and forced the Master Emerald to fly out of the backpack and into the air. Rouge was more prepared for this one and jumped up, taking the emerald in midair and landing in front of Knuckles, on top of the transport sphere. She turned to look at Knuckles, who was looking on in confusion, not sure what to think. He didn't have time to react before Rouge disappeared in a beam of light, taking her away. Knuckles quickly leaped up to the top of the transport sphere, not sure at all what to think now, running mostly on instinct. It took a minute for the sphere to recharge before transporting him, as well.
**********
Knuckles reappeared deep within the mountains of the Floating Island, in what looked like an underground temple surrounded by blue-tinted rock, the Hidden Palace. He quickly stepped off the sphere and looked ahead at Rouge, still holding the shrunken Master Emerald, but not attempting to run or escape. She was looking on at the Super Emeralds in the center of the room, massive versions of the Chaos Emeralds and each pulsing with the same life as the Master Emerald, each untouched from their platforms surrounding the largest one, still vacant. The white bat glanced over to Knuckles, trying to keep a calm face but obviously concerned about Knuckles.
"It goes in the large platform up there, right?" She said, hoping for a simple answer. Knuckles only nodded, still upset and not in the mood to go to detail. Before Knuckles could come any closer Rouge turned to one of the Super Emeralds beside her, quickly hopping onto it. With another quick leap she bound up toward the emerald set higher up, putting up a leg and kicking off from the large gemstone, turning in the air and ending her acrobatics by landing on the large empty platform, letting out an audible grunt as the sharp landing agitated her wound.
"...Then get up here and finish this job, I can't make this thing go back to full size." Rouge moved the Master Emerald into what looked like a nest of long green crystals, setting it in the center where it somehow stood on it's point without help. Knuckles watched this, just getting more confused about what Rouge was up to.
With his hands free Knuckles had an easier time making it to the large platform, using the Super Emeralds like a staircase until he landed on the platform across from Rouge, the shrunken Emerald between them. The red echidna reached out to the emerald, drawing out it's energy until it pulsed brightly and expanded, returning to it's original size and fitting the emerald nest completely. With the Master Emerald in place both of them jumped down, landing lightly on the floor below, both turning to look at each other immediately.
"...Why does everything you do lately just confuse me more..." Knuckles said, tired of keeping in so many questions that Rouge could answer so easily.
"I was hoping to show you I'm not after the emerald." She replied. "You wouldn't have given it to me if I had asked to carry it here and replace it myself." That part was true at least, but it was far from reassuring, at least in his newly-shattered mindset.
"That doesn't change the fact that you came here to take it." Knuckles said, turning his gaze away from her. "Even if you were ordered, didn't you even think of telling me about it?" Rouge remained silent, not sure what to say. Maybe Knuckles wasn't the only one who had trouble seeing passed their duty. "...Proof you did intend to take it. That you lied to me about all this, this whole time... I don't know how I could trust you at all anymore." Rouge looked on in some disbelief, was he really this hurt over this? The tone in his voice reached far beyond paranoid claims, like he was hating what he was even suggesting.
"Knuckles, please believe me, I value your trust more than any stupid gem, if I thought I had a choice about it I wouldn't do anything to damage that trust!" Rouge was at the point of pleading, almost desperate for some change of luck here. "...I know now I should have told you, but at the time, in my mind, I didn't have a choice. Just give me a chance to keep that trust before you completely forsake me." Knuckles returned his glance to her eyes, seeing her sincerity in their desperate gaze. This was getting to be too much, with everything else weighing on his mind he would be lucky to ever think straight again. At this point he just wanted it over with.
"...Come on." He said simply, turning back and walking over to the sphere. Knuckles put a hand on the purple orb, then jumped on top, letting it take him away. Rouge looked on at this, not sure what to think or expect now. Was she getting this second chance? She quickly stepped toward the sphere, following after Knuckles, hoping he wasn't so upset that she didn't already lose her chance.
**********
When Rouge emerged from the transporter she found herself high in the sky, much higher than the Floating Island reached. She jumped down to a squared off chunk of land, glancing ahead where Knuckles stood, glancing at her, the same hurt and confusion in his eyes. Rouge decided that if things were on his terms for now it might be best to let him decide the pace. She glanced around, stepping passed him, looking out into the distance all around them.
"Sky Sanctuary." He explained, answering her unasked question. "This is where I was supposed to go if someone was after the Master Emerald. That transport sphere can change destinations if I want it to as I go through, it's a last measure to guard the emerald." Rouge's steps brought her to the far edge of the platform, letting her glance down to the Floating Island far below, a couple hundred feet at least. "You can float down from here, shorter than walking all the way back through." The white bat turned back, looking over at Knuckles, the hurt glare still in his eyes.
"So that's it...?" She said. "No chance to prove myself, no way at all to keep your trust?" Knuckles closed his eyes, clenching his fists. He just wanted this over with, this whole trip had only confused him more and more and now he was at a point where he had no idea what to think about anything.
"...Knuckles, of all people, I was hoping you would understand what it's like to be a slave to an object." She said. This was all she had left, if Knuckles didn't believe her after this she would be completely lost. "You know what it's like not to be able to question what you do with it. You have to guard the Master Emerald, so you do, no questions about it when you should have dozens, and you can't keep yourself from obeying. Even leaving it with the Super Emeralds, you're putting it in a place only you can get to, keeping it safe,,, obeying it." Knuckles's glare softened slightly, the truth to her words sinking in.
"We're more alike than you realize." She continued. "That phone was only there so I could be given orders, to follow without question, and face consequences if I didn't. Same as you, I had to follow what it commanded even if it's a roundabout way of doing it. Knuckles... It was you that made me realize what that phone did to me, the curse it had on me like the Master Emerald has on you. Whatever consequences I'll face for it, I don't care, I'd prefer them to hurting you like this..." Rouge took a deep breath, calming herself after that pouring of words. Knuckles, on the other hand, felt like breaking down at this point. Every word was truth, they were the same things running through his mind all day, and the words she spoke made something in the pit of his heart ache. But the uncertainty remained in his mind, the trust that was losing grip.
"Rouge, I just don't know anymore..." He said, his voice somewhat shaky. "Believe me, I want to trust you, but... knowing you came here and lied to me all this time, I don't know how..." Rouge lowered her head, not even sure herself...
Thinking back over what she did to Knuckles, Rouge came back to what she did for him. Her sacrifice, defying her orders, and it was something she had to do in a moment of desperation, something she learned was the fastest teacher there was, it was the only time since coming here that she knew what she wanted. The white bat turned around and stepped to the edge, looking over the side. They were literally floating in the air and it was as least a hundred feet even back to the floating island, let alone down to the ocean.
"Knuckles, something I had to figure out recently was that the most important choices in life are ones that are decided in a single moment." She said, just now turning to look back at Knuckles. "Some things can only be realized when you have to realize them." With that Rouge put one foot back, the heel of her boot now off the edge of the platform, a fact Knuckles was quick to notice.
"Rouge, what are you doing?!" He shouted. "We're too high up, if you fall there's no surviving it!" Knuckles stood his ground, though, he didn't know what she was doing but she couldn't really be thinking of jumping. But that was what she planned, Rouge was making the gamble of her life on this. Her wings couldn't catch the air to glide or even slow her fall from behind, if she fell back only one thing could stop her from hitting ground, but she wasn't afraid at all. Rouge looked on at Knuckles, her eyes open without any sign of their usual seductive glance and her smile without it's cocky intentions, it was all pure.
"I'm not scared, though, Knuckles." She said. "I trust you." With that Rouge took her other foot off the platform, kicking off slightly with her other foot as she fell back and off the platform. Knuckles felt his heart stop cold as it happened, the scene all too familiar from his dreams. There was more horror to this in that Rouge did this intentionally, trying to prove something that wasn't even clear to him! His instinct kicked in, rushing after Rouge as fast as his legs could take him, bounding off the edge head first, heading down to her falling form. She wasn't that much farther down that he was, Knuckles was just hoping he could gain enough speed to reach her. The echidna closed the gap quickly, Rouge's wings slowing her fall slightly, just enough to get Knuckles catch up. As soon as he was in reach Knuckles put arms out, closing them around Rouge's midsection, hanging on tight as he pulled up, his dreadlocks flaring as they caught the air and slowed their fall. Her own arms came up and went around his neck, holding on tighter as their fall was jerked as it suddenly slowed down.
"What were you thinking?!" Knuckles said once he was sure he had her in his grip and slowed down. "That was a fatal fall, are you insane?!" He pulled away from her enough to look her in the face, only to realize she still wore the same smile and look in her eyes, he hadn't even noticed if she had that the whole time or not.
"I wasn't scared, though." She explained. "I knew you'd catch me." Knuckles looked on into her eyes, she was serious. They didn't show any fear, no nervousness, she knew he would dive after her. All that talk about not trusting her and she held that kind of trust for him...
"I don't care, that was still foolish!" He continued. "What if I tripped?! What if I couldn't catch up?! You have any idea how much you scared me, I thought I..." Knuckles suddenly caught himself before the words could pass his lips. Was that how he really felt? It was hard to believe, but as he did it seemed to clear all the confusion from his mind. "...I thought I was going to lose you." Knuckles's eyes softened as he said it, a great pressure lifting from his mind as he did.
"Well, well, the brave guardian can be scared after all?" Rouge teased. She managed to draw a calm smile out of the echidna holding her, though his eyes still showed how much he was coming to terms with it all.
"I didn't think I could be..." He replied. "Just... tell me what made you do that!" Rouge's smile became a smirk, somewhat glad at his response to being scared.
"Knuckles, I know your life is supposed to be all about keeping to yourself." Rouge began. "But somewhere in this trip I figured out you only realize things when you're forced to turn away from that. When I got cut by the emerald shard... or before that when you saved me at Meteor Herd. The only time you open your shell is when you have to, but how would you see what you really wanted to if you never had to open it again?" Knuckles looked on at her, amazed she did something like that just so he would see that himself.
"...Knuckles, I'm sorry..." She continued. "I never would have lied to you if I knew it hurt you so much, I just-" Knuckles shook his head, stopping her from continuing.
"It doesn't matter anymore..." He explained. "You're right, I do understand what it's like to obey an object without question, and I couldn't see passed my own shell to learn for myself. But more than that... I don't care anymore. Regardless of why you came here, the moments we had were real, in those moments I... I mean, Rouge, I..." Knuckles closed his eyes briefly, trying to find these words to say this well of feelings in him, he just wasn't good at this kind of thing. When he opened his eyes to continue, one of Rouge's hands came to his mouth, keeping him from speaking again.
"Knuckles, for once on this journey, act like a guardian and just... run with your instincts." Rouge pulled her hand from his mouth, lightly moving it across his cheek until her fingers took a light grip behind his head. Knuckles was somewhat stunned for a second, but that was quickly dissolved by a new desire in him, those instincts taking over. The two closed eyes as they closed the gap between their heads until their lips met in the middle in a soft, cautionary kiss. The kiss was brief, but the two were quick to resume, their own passion taking over in a deeper, more meaningful kiss. The same words and thoughts went through their minds, but didn't need to be said, both knew how much they loved the other, and each kiss only showed it more and more as each was deeper and more loving than the last, both lost in this new rush of emotion.
Suddenly the two were forced apart as they finally touched land, both too caught up in their moment to know the ground was coming up under their feet. Both opened their eyes as they got their balance, looking on at each other, each sharing a look of love in their glance. They were back in Mushroom Hill, surrounded by familiar green-leaved trees and orange fungus.
"...So what comes next?" Rouge finally said to break the silence. Knuckles took a second to think that over himself, though it didn't seem to help.
"Honestly, I don't know..." He answered. "This is just so new, I don't even know what to think about it all." Rouge thought it out a bit longer before smiling, an idea forming.
"Fair enough, then let's not worry about what comes next." She said before glancing around briefly. As soon as she had her bearings she started back down the path they had taken days before, back toward the Master Emerald's chamber.
"Rouge, we're done with that, where are you going?" Knuckles asked in confusion. She stopped and turned around to look back at him, her familiar smirk returning.
"Girlfriend's duty to drag the boyfriend around." She said. "Unless you want to be left alone again, which I should hope you'd be tired of by now." Knuckles had to hold back from blushing at the boyfriend remark, but it took a second to realize he really didn't mind it so much... Though it might take a while to get used to calling Rouge his girlfriend. She turned and began to walk again, this time with Knuckles following to catch up with her. She was right, Knuckles was tired of being alone so much, especially now that he finally realized the love he had for the white bat that showed him what life could offer when his shell was finally down.
End Chapter 5
Next: Chapter 6 - Epilogue