Wow, so many reviews! (happy smile) Thanks guys. Hmm...I should kill off Sonic more often weg

FriedBrickWall: (grins) Well, it probably takes two minutes to review :P Certainly less time to review than to read ;) I'm not sure when they find time to write in the diaries either...somehow they manage ;) And no, I'm sure Knuckles won't mind being thrown either ;) (Knuckles: I have a better idea. How about I come out and write the story and YOU risk life and limb in here?)

Treasurehunter: Thanks :) And no worries; I'll continue (am also working on a sequel to this one)

TC chan: Yes, it makes perfect sense, and that was the effect I was going for :) I'd been working on Sonic's fall from about chapter 2 onwards, writing and rewriting, so I'm glad it worked :D

Samantha27: Sadly, I don't usually forget stuff when I'm writing; it's sort of my forte ;) Besides, if I'd taken the fall out, I'd have had to rewrite the summary and a lot of filler paragraphs; I'm kinda lazy :P

Guardian's Log no. 11461

So we're off again. I managed to persuade Tails to pull me along the rail and away from this place. I've lost my taste for rail-grinding...not that I ever really developed it. We're planning a crazy, suicidal attack on Robotnik's fortress. Unfortunately, I swore I'd help him, swore it by the Master Emerald, so there's no way out.

I think Tails has accepted the fact that Sonic's not coming back. Emphasis on 'think'; it took a while for us to leave as Tails wanted to double-check the canyons. I might've let him, except if I had I don't think we'd ever have got away. It's got to be hard on the kid though. Sonic was pretty much all the family he had.

That's a thought; if we succeed in this damn stupid mission, what's going to happen to Tails? Is he expecting me to adopt him? Well...he's welcome to come back to the Island with me, but I don't do that happy family crap.

--Knuckles the Echidna

Dear Diary

RIP Sonic. Me and Knuckles'll carry on the fight for you. Can't write any more just now.

--Tails

"Knuckles?" Tails said. "Can't we just check, see if Sonic's—"

Knuckles growled out a few choice epithets, silencing the fox. In fairness to him, Tails had been asking the same question over and over again for the past fifteen minutes.

"Okay. Okay. Yeah. You're right." Tails padded over to the campfire despondently; he hadn't flown since they'd left the rails. Knuckles wasn't sure if this was because of his depression or because he simply wanted to give his tails a rest. Tails flopped down in front of the fire – the dawn air was still cold – and glanced up. "Hey Knuckles, d'you remember how me and Sonic met you?"

The words I try not to screamed up the echidna's throat and evaporated. If this was the kid's way of coping...well, alright. Reaching up, he selected a likely-looking branch and broke it off, then speared several sausages on the end and sat down to hold it over the flames.

"Yeah. You arrived out the blue and Robotnik convinced me you were going to steal the Master Emerald. Like a prat, I believed him." He shrugged. "Got over it in the end though, didn't I?"

"After you dumped us into an underwater labyrinth!"

"Hydrocity," Knuckles said dismissively. "Yeah."

"And you always laughed at us just before doing it!"

"Yeah?" A reluctant grin appeared on the echidna's face. "Can you blame me? Especially with the look on Sonic's face; that whole What? Not again! expression was pretty funny."

Tails turned the glare up a few watts.

"Only to you!"

"That's alright. I was the only one I wanted to entertain. Besides, I don't get many visitors in the sacred part; they all tend to make a beeline for the theme park. I make my own amusement where I can."

Tails gawked at him.

"You have a theme park?"

"Yeah. Cost me a large chunk of my hoard to put together, but it's been well worth it; most people don't even know the Master Emerald exists now. What did you think, kid? That I was the only person living on that island?"

"Yeah! When I asked you, you said you were!"

"You asked me if there were any other echidnas. You didn't ask me if I was the only person who lived there. What did you think Carnival Night Zone was about? I was there when Robotnik tried to sabotage the opening of it. He turned the whole thing into a giant claw machine." Knuckles shook his head. "Man, there were some strange entries in my log during that time."

"You keep a journal?" Tails said incredulously.

"A log."

"What's the difference?"

"This was started by my father, who was the guardian before me. It's been passed down." Knuckles shrugged. "Other than that, no real difference. I like to update it at night, just before I go to sleep. It's the closest thing I got to an actual hobby."

"Don't you ever wanna get out and meet people?"

"I have a sacred duty, kid, one that I can't just disregard as and when I please for no better reason than to meet people. And besides, I don't like them."

"You told me once that you understand people completely," Tails protested.

"That's why I don't like them." Knuckles turned the sausages over and wished he'd thought to grab some bread as well.

"But you said you liked S-Sonic." Tails' voice caught slightly on Sonic's name, but he rallied bravely and continued. "An' you like me, right?"

Knuckles shot him a look. It was easy to forget that under all his mechanical genius, the kid was just that; a kid.

"I like individuals just fine, Tails. It's people as a whole I can't stand." He stared into the embers, wishing there was some more wood; the sausages would take forever to cook at this rate.

"Knuckles?"

"Hm?"

"Sonic's…" Tails swallowed hard and then plunged on. "He really is dead, isn't he?"

It was only with a supreme effort that Knuckles managed to refrain from saying that that was what he'd been trying to tell Tails all along, but he managed it and settled for, "Yeah kid, he's dead."

Tails pulled himself off the ground to sit down on a large, flat rock and stared morosely into the fire, not really seeing it.

"I should've stayed back. I could've helped him."

Here it comes, Knuckles thought darkly. The guilt trip. The whole oh-why-wasn't-it-me-it's-all-my-fault deal.

He sighed. It had looked like being such a nice day as well. Oh well, maybe he could still salvage some of it.

"Kid, you didn't kill Sonic. His death – yes, his death," Knuckles added sharply, seeing Tails wince away from him, "his death was not your fault. It wasn't my fault and it wasn't your fault. Okay?"

"You should've warned him."

"I tried. It wasn't my fault he—" Knuckles broke off and pointed. "Tails, look out behind you!"

The fox sent him a withering glare.

"Oh puh-leeze, Knuckles. Like I'm really gonna fall for that old trick."

"Yeah?" The echidna dropped his hand. "Funny. That's pretty much what Sonic said when I tried to warn him. You don't think I wanted the guy to plunge to his death, do you?"

There was a silence, one which was too awkward and too long.

"Oh." Knuckles reached out and turned the branch over again, starting to brown the sausages on the other side. "Oh, I see."

"You could've caught him."

"For the love of the emeralds, kid, don't you think I tried?"

"Why didn't you grab him, Knuckles? You saw him so why didn't you go back and grab him? Why didn't you save him?"

Knuckles lifted the branch out of the fire, selected the most well-done of the sausages and took a bite. Chewing and swallowing, he stared hard at Tails, spoke coldly.

"Why didn't you?"

Tails recoiled as though Knuckles had struck him.

"I tried! You know I tried!"

"I know you failed, kid. You want to point fingers, point 'em at yourself."

"I hate you."

"You said that already," Knuckles said, refusing to rise, although there was a level of venom in Tails' voice that hadn't been there the first time. "Like I told you, if it makes you feel better, hate me all you want. I don't care. I don't even care if you want to think Sonic's death didn't mean anything to me." Knuckles lowered his voice to an intense growl. "But I'll be damned if I let you think that Sonic died and all I did was stand and watch it happen!"

"You were happy enough to do that on your precious Island."

"How many times?" Knuckles said testily. "I believed what Robotnik said, that you two were coming to steal the Master Emerald. Fine. Okay. My bad." He considered. "And anyway, I didn't want you dead all the time."

"Took a few volts to the head to change your mind, though, didn't it?"

Knuckles swore. He'd been doing that a lot lately, he noticed.

"And how do I know you're not gonna abandon me?" Tails added.

"I swore by the Master Emerald, didn't I?"

"Not good enough," Tails muttered into his fur.

"You picked the oath, kid. As it happens that's one of the promises I can't break, even if I wanted to." Knuckles shook his head and took another bite of the sausage. "Such a thing would stain my honour irreparably."

"Oh sure!" Tails yelled, leaping to his feet. "Yeah, but that's not gonna do me any good, is it? I'm about to get pulverised by one of Robotnik's pets and you can just waltz off with no more than a stain to your oh-so-precious honour!"

Knuckles stared at him, unsure how to proceed. How did you explain to a recently bereaved two-tailed fox kid that honour was everything to an echidna, more important than food or drink, even more important than their own life? You did nothing to tarnish it, upon pain of disgrace, exile or even death. Knuckles would no more do anything to besmirch his own honour than he would offer up the Master Emerald as a raffle prize.

"I think you just went along with it because you knew you could weasel out anytime you wanted," Tails continued, breathing heavily. "Sonic was right all along; you're nothing but a coward!"

There was a very long, very deadly silence. Judging from the slow flush creeping across Tails' face, even he knew he'd gone too far.

Knuckles nodded slightly, as though an unspoken question had been answered.

"You're hurting, kid, hurting bad. I respect such things – believe it or not – and so I'll pretend that you didn't say that. But I'll tell you something; pain or no pain, screaming and shouting insults at me isn't going to accomplish anything except a sore throat." When Tails continued to stare at him, Knuckles offered the branch. "Here, have a sausage."

"Don't want a sausage," Tails muttered.

"I don't care if you want it or not. I'm telling you you're gonna eat it if I have to hold your nose and ram it down your throat myself. You haven't eaten in three days, and the last thing either of us want or need is for you to pass out just as Robotnik's showing up."

Tails shook his head mutinously, although he knew the echidna was determined and strong enough to make good on his threat.

"I said I don't want a sausage."

Something in his tone got through, because Knuckles withdrew the branch and said calmly, "Alright then, what do you want?"

Tails hesitated.

"We're not leaving to take Robotnik down or do anything else until you have some food inside you," the echidna added immovably, "so you might as well choose now." He placed the food carefully next to Tails and busied himself tying the two sleeping bags together to facilitate travel. Knuckles himself never used the things; the spare one had been Sonic's, and even the echidna balked at the idea of asking Tails to leave it behind. Hell, it was all the kid had to remind him of his hero.

"I want a salad."

Knuckles laughed in disbelief.

"You want a what?" When Tails turned a somewhat pained look on him, he held up both hands in surrender. "Whatever. You want a salad, we'll find you one, long as you're going to eat it. In the meantime—" he glanced around, then snagged a fruit and tossed it over— "start with that," he added, sliding the remaining three sausages off the branch and storing them for later. The sooner he could get some food down the kid the better; Knuckles was really starting to worry about Tails, although he'd never admit as much to the fox.

"Knux!" Tails said suddenly. "Knux, look!"

Knuckles followed the pointing finger to see the glint of the sun off metal robot armour, swore loudly, imaginatively and for a considerable amount of time before catching sight of the nothing-void and jerking back convulsively.

"Where did that come from?"

"It appears out of thin air." Tails dropped the fruit. "We gotta go."

For once, Knuckles didn't argue. He wasn't sure why, but even looking at that void terrified him.

"It's moving faster than it did before," the echidna said, edging away. "And it's expanding as well."

"The bots don't seem to mind it," Tails said, rather sourly.

"I don't think Robotnik fits his minions with a fear chip, Tails. Besides, what do they have to worry about? They don't need air, so losing it shouldn't bother them."

"Knuckles?" Tails tensed. "I think they've seen us."

Knuckles was sure they had. Robotnik's minions didn't waste time shooting at empty air. Tails clenched his fists and took off.

"Let's get 'em!"

"Let's not." Knuckles caught hold of Tails' ankles and dug his heels into the ground, putting all his weight behind it. Taken by surprise, the fox dropped, sending them rolling over in a tangle of arms, legs and spines. Raising his head, Tails spat out a mouthful of dirt and turned a killing stare on the echidna.

"What're you doing?"

"Saving you," Knuckles said tersely. "They outnumber us by about seven to one and most of 'em are underneath that void or whatever the hell it is."

"No contest!"

"You're right, kid. It wouldn't be a contest. It would be a damn execution. Ours," Knuckles added, just in case there was any misunderstanding on this point.

"Sonic could have—"

Knuckles grabbed Tails and yanked him flat against the ground as another hail of bolts and bullets erupted over their heads.

"Keep it down!" he hissed. "They're probably on sound sensors."

Tails thrashed about in an attempt to free himself and then, when struggling had no effect, twisted around to bury sharp teeth in the echidna's arm, in the part unprotected by the glove. Growling in pain, Knuckles clenched his jaw, bearing the pain as best he could until finally snapping. Twisting around, at the cost of considerably more agony to his already bleeding arm, he seized Tails by the back of the neck and squeezed, gently at first but then gradually increasing the pressure until Tails yelped and released him. Still holding the fox in that vice-like grip – although he did alter it enough to let Tails draw breath – Knuckles ran for his life, carrying Tails in one hand and the sleeping bags securely tucked under the other. As the distance between them and the bots increased, he thought they stopped firing but wasn't about to turn and check, didn't, in fact, stop or even slow until they'd reached the relative safety of one of several caves inside the cliff face. The echidna looked around. There was a tunnel leading off to the left – where it lead, the Master Emerald alone knew – and like most caves, it was cold and damp, but it would have to do.

"Alright," he said grimly. "Let's have us another little chat, shall we?" He hurled the sleeping bags onto the cave floor and then deposited Tails scarcely more gently on top of them. The fox winced, rubbing his sore neck, then got to his feet, scowling as Knuckles moved to block his path.

"Get out the way, Knucklehead!"

"Sit down." Knuckles shoved Tails back, not roughly but firmly enough to send him sprawling onto his backside. "Sit down, kid, and give me a minute to try and talk some sense into you."

Tails eyed him sullenly and also somewhat warily, and the echidna sighed.

"For the love of the emeralds, Tails, I don't mean physically. But we need to talk. Or rather, I need to talk and you need to listen. Then if you want to throw your life away, go ahead because I'm sick of having to watch your back every half-step of the way. I swore to help you, not babysit you."

"I'm not a baby!" Tails protested, fur puffed out in righteous indignation.

"Then stop acting like one!" Knuckles shot back, not missing a beat. "Shut up, sit still and listen for once. Point one. Sonic could have tackled those robots, but Sonic could also run faster than the speed of sound, something neither you nor I can manage. Point two. Sonic. Is. Dead. You're not gonna change that, no matter how many robots you smash or arms you chew on," the echidna added rather sourly. His arm was still bleeding, albeit sluggishly. "Point three. You think Sonic would have wanted us to take down Robotnik? Fine. I agree. You can't call it revenge since Robotnik honestly had nothing to do with Sonic's death, but you picked the right thing; it would be a fitting tribute. But you are not going to do anything besides get yourself killed all the time you charge into things in that headlong manner."

"Sonic always did."

"Which brings us onto point four, Tails; you are not Sonic, no matter how much you want or may have wanted to be. You think Sonic would want you to get yourself killed? I guess some people might think it shows the ultimate loyalty, but to me it seems to be nothing more than bloody stupid. You can't replace him, kid. No one can."

"Knuckles?" The sudden hope in Tails' voice sent a chill down the echidna's spine, and he cursed himself and his impatience; if Tails had seen Sonic's body, at least it would have given him some form of closure.

"Yeah?" he said warily.

"Knuckles, the Master Emerald; it's real powerful, right? And you're the guardian. If I fly you back to your island, can you use it to change what happened? Bring Sonic back?"

Knuckles took a long, deep breath.

"The Master Emerald is incredibly powerful, Tails, yes," he said heavily, and then paused before adding in quieter tones, "but not that powerful. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"You won't help."

"Not won't; can't. I'll stick with you until we're through—" one way or another, Knuckles added grimly to himself— "but I'm not going to sit back and let you hang onto some false hope. So I'll tell you this straight and let you come to terms with it in your own way; you are never going to see Sonic again and if you keep trying to toss your life away on one dumb act after another, then it's almost a good thing he died when he did because the disappointment of that would probably have killed him." He stepped back and away, leaving a clear path between Tails and the exit. "That's all I have to say to you, which is a relief seeing how my voice is giving out. You still want to go out and get yourself killed, fine. At least my conscience is clear." That last was far from true – Knuckles' conscience had been incredibly active ever since that fated rail-grind – but Tails didn't have to know that.

The fox turned away, curling up into a tight ball of misery.

"Knux?" he said in a somewhat muffled tone.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. 'Bout your arm, I mean."

The echidna opened his mouth to say that Tails damn well ought to be, then changed his mind. The kid didn't need any more recriminations.

"It's okay," he said tersely. "Try it again and I'll break your damn neck, though." He sighed. "Lie down and get some sleep, for once."

"I been sleeping the whole time, Knux!"

"You've been lying down, kid, but you've not been sleeping. Don't think I didn't notice your eyes were open most of the time." The echidna glanced towards the cave mouth. "I don't think they'll come in here, but if they do, I'll wake you."

"Yeah?" Tails lifted his head to look at Knuckles. "What 'bout you? You can't've slept much either."

"I don't need to yet. I can draw on the power of the Master Emerald to give me energy. I'll have to pay it back tenfold later on, but I'll deal with that when it happens."

He watched as the fox slowly relaxed, sliding down to lie on his side and starting to snore quietly, and sighed. Two people against Robotnik...that was nowhere near enough. Knuckles had guts but he was no fool. They'd be slaughtered. Slaughtered, and then Robotnik could take the Master Emerald whenever he pleased. Oh, the traps would slow him down a little, but Knuckles couldn't hope for them to stop him entirely.

Alright. As Knuckles watched, Tails whimpered softly in his sleep, limbs twitching rapidly. The echidna didn't need telepathy to work out what the poor kid was most likely dreaming about.

So a frontal assault's out the question. Fine. We're gonna need stealth and finesse to carry this one off.

Knuckles nodded to himself, well satisfied. Stealth and finesse...that required help from certain people and he knew exactly who they were.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a damn clue where to start looking for them.

Okay, so that's it for now. Sorry it took so long and please review!