The storms were so ahead of the forecast and so hard that Sonic had initially suspected artificial interference. Some new Eggman device, some precursor to some new world shattering crisis.

But it was only the weather.

It hammered at the exposed windows, slammed rainwater so violently against the door that it swept in at every edge until they'd jammed rags in the cracks. Lightning lit up the sky, shattering the dark as night noon and making Tails' elaborate Christmas lights dip and flicker as the power sagged or surged.

And it had gone on and on. The thunder and lightning came and went but the wind and the rain were unceasing.

Unusually, it was Tails who was pacing rather than Sonic. Alternating circuits of the room with intense scrutiny of the weather information he was monitoring.

"There's just no safe window at all," he said during one of these passes. "Not for days and days." Sonic joined him at the computer and looked at the charts and diagrams despite that fact he was taking Tails' word for their interpretation.

"We promised, Sonic," Tails turned away from the screen, his ears lowered and his face miserable.

"I know, buddy. I know." Sonic forced a smile. "But Knuckles is probably the least likely person on their whole planet to take offence that we didn't make it for the holidays. He probably wouldn't even notice it was Christmas if we didn't point it out in the first place."

Tails was not consoled. "We promised."

Sonic sighed. "I know."

It had been almost unspoken promise. One Knuckles himself probably didn't even realise they'd made. But it was a promise of sorts all the same. A consensus from almost as long as they'd known the echidna. Come Christmas they went up to the Island, or they hauled him down to the surface. They made sure that however many solitary Christmas there were in his past, there were none in his future.

Except that this year there would be, unless the weather defied Tails' science and predictions.

Sonic crossed to the back of the room where the sense of it being a living space disintegrated into a muddle of stored parts and half finished projects spilled through from the workshop next door. He picked up a radio.

"I guess we'd better warn him."

Tails stared back at his weather charts as though searching for any last hope of conditions suitable for take off. Sonic squeezed his shoulder.

"It's not even safe to run out there right now, never mind fly."

Tails slumped and nodded.

"You're right."

Sonic keyed transmit and carefully kept any trace of disappointment out his voice when he spoke again. The weather was no one's fault and no one needed to feel bad about it.

"Hey Knux, you on?"

There was a moment's delay, probably while Knuckles hunted for wherever he'd left the radio this time and then his voice crackled over the airwaves. Calm and collected. Darkly amused even.

"Sonic. Enjoying the weather down there?"

Sonic huffed and played the game. "Oh sure. Lounging on the beach. Practically tropical."

"My understanding is that the tropics are prone to thunderstorms, downpours and typhoons."

Sonic waggled his hand in mid air in a 'so so' wave, as though the echidna could actually see it.

"Yeaahh… We've seeing a bit of that."

"It's not flyable, Knuckles!" Tails burst in. "We can't come and get you."

"I know, Tails. It doesn't matter."

Sonic gave the echidna points for tone of voice, which was reasonably sympathetic, but marks off for wording.

"It does matter!" Tails protested at once.

Knuckles audibly back-pedalled. "I mean… It's okay? I'm not disappointed."

Sonic winced. "Rude, Knux. Rude! Gimme the spade now."

"What?"

"Stop digging," Sonic clarified.

"What?" Genuine bafflement all but radiated over the link.

"Just say: It's disappointing but you know it can't be helped."

A pause, then, more as a question than a statement Knuckles repeated, "It's disappointing but I know it can't be helped?"

"That's right."

Another pause before the echidna spoke again.

"I'm sorry."

Sonic blinked. "Huh? Why?"

"I could have come down sooner. I could see the weather system building up. I didn't think it would be so fast. I got it wrong."

"Me too," said Tails.

There was a bang loud enough to be picked up by Knuckles' mic and Sonic frowned.

"Have you got the Island in this same weather system?"

"Yes. I'm quite close. I thought I'd be shortening your the trip, but it built up faster than I expected. It's unbelievably big."

"We saw on Tails' maps," Sonic agreed. "What's that noise? Tell me you're not literally out in it, perched on top that rock of yours or anything stupid."

The pause was longer this time.

"I have a wind break."

"Knuckles!"

A soft laugh cut off Sonic's protest.

"I'm in one of the shelters at the base of the temple. I repaired it weeks ago and re-thatched it. The snow's a good insulator."

Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Okay. You had me. Very funny. So if you're all tucked up indoors what's the banging and crashing?"

"I knocked the woodpile over. I was about build up the fire to cook when you called."

"You have snow?" Tails jumped in over the top of the explanation. "Now I'm disappointed!"

"Don't be. It's too windy to be the fun sort."

Sonic smirked. "Oh now you admit there is a fun sort?"

"I admit there's a sort which makes you turn up here and harangue me into larking about in the stuff, hedgehog."

"Yup, that's the fun sort," Sonic grinned. "So whatcha cooking?" He asked the question casually, knowing that 'are you okay for supplies' would be met with scorn.

This way Knuckles answered without comment.

"Baked potatoes, pepper-greens, root mash, chestnuts, grain and honey cakes, dried-fruit pudding."

Sonic's eyes widened. "Peckish are we?"

"You're the one who told me everyone 'stuffs their face' at Christmas."

"Oh yeah."

"If you must know, I was going to bring some of it with me. I'd already pulled everything I wanted from the caches before the weather turned – it needs cooking and eating now or won't keep. The shelter's too warm."

"Well you can demonstrate your cooking prowess again once the weather clears. We'll have a Christmas: The Sequel party instead. You can stick to the cake and pudding side of things though."

"The amount of sugar you put away, Sonic, you should have been born a hummingbird."

"Fuel!" Sonic said blithely.

"We should have a party afterwards," Tails said firmly.

"With cake?" Sonic insisted.

"Cake, yes. And snow!" Tails agreed.

"It would be quite easy to position the Island to retain the snow," Knuckles allowed.

Sonic put his head on the side at how natural Knuckles made that seem. "Presumably it'd be equally easy to just clear off out of the bad weather too?"

The pause was longer this time.

"It does no harm, the occasional hard freeze. Some of the old writing said it was necessary for the health of the ground and growing things."

"Uhuh, and on the basis of Old Farmer Echidna from hundreds of years ago you need to fly into the biggest storm on the planet right now?"

A sigh was audible over the link.

"No… not really. I needed line of sight for the radio, okay? Especially in these conditions. I knew you'd call even though you couldn't come. I… didn't want anyone to be… disappointed."

Just for once Sonic didn't find himself tempted to be flippant.

"Yeah," he said. "Us neither. Sucks missing your friends over the holidays, right?"

"Right!" Tails said leaning closer in to Sonic and the radio.

Knuckles made an uncertain sort of sound that could have been agreement.

"Okay. Sonic said. "Go eat. We'll call tomorrow okay? You can tell us how your pudding turned out and I bet Tails knows some games we can play even over the radio."

Tails nodded, beaming.

"I'll call," Knuckles agreed without so much as a token protest. "Keep safe."

Then in a completely different tone of voice, as though proud of himself for remembering, announced.

"Merry Christmas!"