CHAPTER 16: Are you dreaming what I'm dreaming?

Rouge found herself surrounded by white, everywhere she could see. Nothing but white. She didn't seem to be standing on anything, either. Not like there was anywhere to fall, mind, but she was sure she was standing on SOMETHING. She turned a full circle, looking around for any sign of where she might be. When she'd turned a full circle, she saw a large brown doorway. As she approached it opened up and revealed a large stone building housing a large green gemstone. Rouge recognized it as the Master Emerald, and ran for it, excited. As soon as she was inside the doorway, it vanished, and so did the Master Emerald. It was replaced by the one Rouge was least excited to see, given where she was: Knuckles. He was sitting on the iron stand that had held the Master Emerald seconds before, as if waiting for her. He looked at her as she approached, and stood up.

"Hello, Rouge," he greeted. "Glad you could come."

"Huh?" Rouge was confused. "Whaddaya mean, glad I could come? I don't remember being invited, and to here, of all places! You're not gonna throw me out?"

"Well, not exactly, no," Knuckles replied, shaking his head. "I want you to come and see me, in person."

"This isn't in person?" Rouge asked, puzzled. Knuckles didn't reply. He faded away, followed by everything around Rouge. She found herself standing in a white void again, this time with an all-black figure in front of her. She couldn't make out any of its features.

"Go to him," it said. "He likes you, you know. You like him too, deep down, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Rouge admitted. "Maybe I just pretended to know where the Master Emerald was in front of him a few times because it would mean being around him a bit longer. But where is he?"

"Angel Island," it said. "You know where that is?"

"Yeah," Rouge said. "But who are you?"

"Never you mind." The figure vanished, and so did the white void. Suddenly, Rouge was falling, very fast. She looked down. There was a LOT of air between her and the ground. Around 10000 feet of it.

"AAAH! Oh my god!" She spread her wings to try and glide, but it was no use. For some reason her wings didn't want to respond. All she could do was fall, knowing she was going to die when the fall turned into the landing. Quickly, that landing was coming. 7500 feet. She was going to die before she could even get the Master Emerald. Her eyes began to water. 5000 feet. She should've just gotten married, had children, and forgotten about treasure hunting. The tears were flowing by this point. 2500 feet. Hopefully it wouldn't hurt. Panic began to set in, but it was okay, since presence of mind wasn't going to save her. 1000 feet. It was almost here. 500 feet. She closed her eyes tight and prayed for it to be painless. 100 feet. She opened her eyes. The ground was so close. Fifty feet. She was going to land in the middle of the road. Forty feet. A bus was going to break her fall. Thirty feet. How many people would die with her? Twenty feet. How did she even get here in the first place? Ten feet. She tensed up- and jerked up with a scream, drenched in cold sweat. She wasn't falling, she was at home, in bed, at 8:00 in the morning. WHAT had that dream been all about? Why did she go from a white void, to Angel Island, back to that void, then to a 10000 foot fall at the end of which she just KNEW she was going to die? All she could think of was how convinced she had been that death was at hand. "All right Rouge, pull yourself together," she told herself between breaths while wiping away a tear; just because the fall was a dream didn't mean her reaction was one. She turned on the TV in her room, and switched over to the news.

"This just in," the reporter was saying, "two as yet unidentifed bodies were found in an alley earlier this morning. They were pronounced dead by the pedestrian that found them, and from this description of the bodies, she had very good reason. Both bodies were severely mutilated, with no internal organs or muscle tissue intact. In fact, the only tissue found, other than bone, was some of their skin, clinging to the bones. The bodies have been sent to a morgue, and the flesh that was found has been sent for DNA testing to identify the bodies. The woman that found the bodies, who shall remain anonymous, was transported to 1st Street Hospital after going into shock." Rouge's mouth had fallen open, and she had one hand over her mouth.

"My god," she said. "The poor things. Wonder what happened?" Jumping up, Rouge yawned and looked at her bedside stand. There were five coffee cups, one of which was only half-empty(or half-full, you optimist joiks!), an empty bowl that smelled like tuna salad, and a tall glass with sugar in the bottom. This had contained sugar water, with a LOT of sugar. "Wow, all that and I STILL couldn't stay awake," she said, a bit surprised at herself. She didn't look behind the table, where the bag of sugar had fallen after she had set it down the previous night, eating the sugar right out of it. She had taken the doctor's words to heart, and was fighting sleep with everything she could think of. Still didn't work, though. with another yawn, Rouge took herself into the bathroom for a quick shower. Ten minutes later, she was pulling on clothes, thinking about what the figure in her dream had said. Knuckles was at Angel Island... Well, she'd give it a try. Even if he wasn't there, at least that would be one less place for her to check out later on.

"I can't believe it!" Knuckles exclaimed in disbelief. "You're back here AGAIN!?" Rouge was standing in front of him wearing a pink T-shirt, sweatpants, and white tennis shoes. She often wore this attire, unless she was making a stealth run on a place.

"I don't know if I've been here before," Rouge said, "but I'm sure I've got a different motive this time around."

"What motive is that?" Knuckles folded his arms over his chest. Rouge hesitated for just a second.

"I..." She had a little trouble getting the words out. "I came to see you. Because I like you." Knuckles wasn't expecting that.

"Uh, thanks?" he said uncertainly. "How did you know to come here, anyway?"

"Came to me in a dream," Rouge said. "Why?"

"Because I had a dream with you in it," Knuckles said. He seemed a little disturbed. "You said you were coming to see me, and that I should be expecting you about this time. Sure enough, here you are."

"Whoa, WHAT!?" Rouge was shocked. "Someone told me to come in a dream, then someone tells you in a dream that I'm coming... You said it was me telling you?"

"Yeah, that's right." Knuckles could see that she was getting a bit disturbed too. "Why, who told you to come here?"

"I don't know. It was an all-black figure. I couldn't see who. Then my dream changed. Everything disappeared, and there was-"

"White all around you."

"Right! Then I was-"

"Falling from what seemed like 10000 feet."

"Yes!" Even more than before, Rouge and Knuckles were shocked. Knuckles looked at the ground in front of him.

"The falling makes sense if who or whatever's telling us this wants us to get moving," he said. "It's said that if you hit the ground you'll die, which might be why you always jerk awake."

"Uh HUH. You DO realize we're going into the near supernatural, right?"

"Supernatural or not, it makes sense."

"Yeah... It said you like me. You do, right?"

"Yeah," Knuckles admitted with a sheepish grin. "I do. Just like you said you like me. Wonder what's going on, though? I mean, why are we showing up in each other's dreams?"

"Couldn't tell you," Rouge said. "Maybe we just like each other that much. But anyways... Wanna go out and grab something to eat tonight?"

"Sure, if you don't mind paying. I don't have any money." Knuckles knew he was doing something a bit reckless, since Rouge wasn't the only one after the Master Emerald, but she was the only one that had found it, and he thought it unlikely that anyone else was gonna stumble upon it, realize what it was, fetch equipment to remove it with, then get out of dodge with it in the span of a few hours.

"No biggie."

"Yes, admit to liking each other. Go out on a date. Fall in love. Have children. Get married." Black was watching it all on a monitor. Inside the Master Emerald building, a fly was buzzing around near the door. Little did Knuckles or Rouge know, it was a camera. "Then, I'll be set to proceed with the plan."

"I don't think they'll have to go as far as getting married and having children, Black." The tall figure of Black master stepped out of the darkness behind Black, clad in its all-black cloak.

Well, that's another Knux/Rouge chapter outta the way. I have a bit of trouble thikning up content for these chapters, but then, when two people are constantly fighting over something, figuring out how to suddenly bring them together is a bit challenging. Anywho, R&R please. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I like cheese. Cheese is the answer to world peace, and famine in third world countries. Thank you.