Chapter 10: Will you marry me?
Angel Island- 2:00 p.m.
"And so you see, that's what happened." Shadow finished explaining what had just happened to Sonic. "That's why I think it best that we get a hold of Tails right away. Where is he anyways?" Sonic shrugged his shoulders.
"All he told me was that he was going to test a new energy system for his plans. He should be back soon. Knowing him, he probably stopped by to see Amy. After Amy and I broke up, he's been spending all his spare time with her. I'm really glad they're getting along so well. I wonder if he's planning on-" his statement was cut short by the opening of a door. Tails walked in, his face downcast, dragging his tails sadly on the ground behind him. He threw his house keys across the room and onto his kitchen table before slouching down into a seat, his ears plastered down on his head. He let out a heavy sigh, not taking notice of the two hedgehogs sitting on his couch. Sonic stood first, making his way over to his depressed friend. "Hey, Buddy. What's got you down all of a sudden? Didn't your new energy system work?"
Tails raised his head and nodded slowly. "Yeah…but that's not what's upsetting me. It's Amy…" Sonic knelt down so he made eye contact with Tails.
"Why? What happened?"
"I…I don't know. I feel so stupid for not knowing, but I must have done something wrong. Why else would she leave?" Before Tails could continue, Sonic cut in.
" Wait! She left?! Where?!" Tails shook his head slowly.
"I don't know. All she told me was that she needed to get away. She said she'd be gone for a few months. She seemed pretty upset when she was telling me, but she wouldn't tell me the reason why she was leaving." Sonic stood up again.
"Hey, Buddy. Don't worry. I'm sure everything will work out for you guys. There's no way you're the cause of her leaving. I'm sure she'll come around and you'll be back together in no time." Tails smiled a little at Sonic's words.
"Thanks, Sonic."
Tails had noticed Shadow on the couch the entire time Sonic talked to him. Shadow re-explained everything to Tails and soon they were all upstairs in the room Orange was in. Tails knelt down next to her. He had to hold her head back to pour down some medicine to bring her temperature down. She swallowed and slowly came to, opening her eyes slowly but closing them quickly to block out the light.
She moaned. Her head was spinning and she was still feeling sick to her stomach. Shadow got down on his knees to ask here some questions. "Orange? Do you remember anything?" She moaned again and opened her eyes slightly. Her vision was blurry at first but soon cleared.
"Sha…Shadow?" It was all she could manage to say at first and she closed her eyes. A few silent moments passed before it hit her. All her previous thoughts came flooding back to her and her eyes snapped open. She sat up quickly, nearly falling back over from dizziness. She held her head, shaking it as though that would end all her problems.
It didn't help though. "Knu…Knuckles. That bastard! He's been cheating on me this entire time!" Tears were falling down her face. Shadow grabbed her shoulders and shook her a bit.
"Orange, that's not what happened. Let me explain-" She pulled away from his grip, shaking her head and yelling.
"NO! I don't want to hear it! I saw it with my own two eyes! I'll never forgive him!" She had completely forgotten she was carrying his child. Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she stood on shaky legs. She pushed past the others and locked herself in the bathroom. Shadow turned to Tails and Sonic, shaking his head and sighing.
"She's not going to listen to us. We need to find Knuckles and have him tell her." So Sonic, Tails, and Shadow split up in search of Knuckles. Orange was sitting against a wall in the bathroom. She searched her pockets for something but when she didn't find it, she made a small disappointed noise. She looked around the small room and noticed another pair of clothes on a chair. They were hers from earlier when she took a shower.
She picked them up searching the pockets with more success this time. She brought forth a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Taking one of the sticks into her mouth, she lit it, taking in a long, shaky breath. She could feel new tears forming in her eyes. She tried to keep them back, shuddering from the attempt. She pulled her legs up, hugging her knees to her chest.
She removed the cigarette from her mouth a moment to exhale, smoke pouring out into the air. She blinked her eyes a few times, a couple of tears escaping and falling down her cheek. She buried her face back into her knees.
Finding Knuckles wasn't too hard considering Sonic and Shadow's speed. It was convincing Orange that the incident with Rouge was a complete accident that was going to be hard. Knuckles was more than happy to return to with the others to Tail's house. He was relieved to know Orange was safe, but he doubted whether he'd be able to win Orange back. When they reached the house, they headed straight up to the room they left Orange in. They knew Orange was still in the bathroom because the door remained locked. Knuckles approached the door slowly, hesitating before gently knocking.
The light knock on the door had Orange jumping a bit as she snapped back to reality. What she didn't expect to hear next was Knuckles' voice. He sounded nervous. "Or…Orange. It's me, Knuckles." she heard him say through the door. She was going to tell him to go away but decided against it, curious as to what he would say next.
There was a long silence before he continued. " Orange, I never meant for anything that just happened to have happened. I'm sorry. You must think I'm a big jerk. I can't blame you for being mad at me. I just want you to know how much I care for you. You mean the world to me. I'm sorry. Orange?" More silence followed and then a sigh from Knuckles told her he was leaving. He had sounded so broken up. He reached for the door preparing to exit when he heard a whispered voice through the bathroom door. He stopped in his tracks, turning suddenly.
"It's complicated…" There was a long pause and everything seemed to stop. Knuckles just stood where he was standing, staring wide eyed at the bathroom door. It seemed like she would never continue speaking. Finally she spoke up in a still hushed tone. "All my life I've had a hard time trusting anybody else other than my brother. That is until I met you. Whenever I'm around you I feel so safe and like nothing can ever hurt me again. I've never felt that way around anybody else in my life and don't want that feeling to go away…but…I just don't know what to do now. I want to believe you with all of my heart. I really do! But I'm scared. Scared of ever getting that close to anybody ever again and…And I…I just need some time to think, okay? I'm sorry." A new flood of tears came streaming from her eyes and she once again buried her face in her knees and just cried to herself.
She wasn't expecting Knuckles to respond to her words but when he did, her eyes snapped back open. His voice was still soft but at the same time harsh. "Goodbye, Orange. I'm sorry you feel that way. I did my best to make you feel safe but you still don't completely trust me. And it seems like you never will. If you can't trust me by now then I don't know what to say about our relationship. Maybe it was never meant to be the way I thought it would be. If you feel like talking things over, I'll be at my house. I can't guarantee that will fix anything between us however." Orange couldn't bare to listen to anymore of this.
"Please, Knuckles. Just leave. I told you I need time to think." Without so much as a second glance back, Knuckles turned to leave.
"I'm leaving now. Goodbye." With that said he left to return home. Things had not gone as well as he had been hoping them to go. All hopes he had of winning her back were quickly fading.
Orange curled up into a little ball on the floor as sleep began to take over her weary body. She felt herself being swept into a world of dreams. She opened her eyes shortly after, awakening to a mist filled area. Everything in her dream felt so real. She found herself surrounded by a cloud of almost purple fog. She was outside by a lake that could barely be seen. She could hear the sound of a small brook nearby that emptied into the lake and trees were surrounding her on all sides. Orange felt surprisingly calm in this place, almost as if she had been there before.
She stood still, waiting for the mist to clear. That's when she heard a voice calling out to her. " Orange…Orange…" She turned suddenly at the voice, searching for the source of the voice. It was soft and sweet, feminine too.
"Who…Who's there?" She turned her head up and caught sight of a bright light forming around her. It took a few moments for the light to form in front of Orange into a beautiful young echidna. Orange realized moments later who it was. "M…Mom?" Orange held her breath for a few seconds before slowly letting it out and trying to regain her composure.
"Hello, dear." her mother spoke to her. Orange sighed and smiled.
"You scared me, mom. I haven't seen you since I was 14 years old. Why haven't you come to visit me in my dreams, like you used to?" Her mother reached her hand out to run her delicate fingers over Orange's cheek.
"I'm sorry, dear, but you needed to move on in life and let me go. I will always be with you and take care of your family." She then reached her other hand down to Orange's stomach. "It will be a good child. A boy. And things will work out for the both of you." Orange's eyes snapped open at the information.
"Do you mean Knuckles and me?!? But…we had a fight! I don't know what to do! I really wish you were still here to help me through this! I can't do this alone! I need you!" Her mother just smiled at her daughter and replied gently.
"Child, I am always with you. You are never alone. And Knuckles will be with you too. I have seen the dispute between you two and if you truly love him, you will go to him now and believe him." Orange felt her eyes watering up and threw her arms around her mother in a tight hug.
"But…how? How can I believe him when I saw it with my own two eyes?!" Her mother pulled Orange closer and stroked her dreadlocks back.
"Things are not always as they seem. Listen to your friends and go to Knuckles now. If his story fits theirs' then take him back. I must be going now. Goodbye, Orange." Orange could feel her mother slipping away from her grip and she called out, tears now falling down her face.
"Wait! Please don't leave me again! Not yet!" Before her mother completely disappeared, she turned back to Orange and kissed her cheek gently.
"Orange, you've grown into a lovely young lady and I'm very proud of you. I know that you will make the right choice." Orange wiped away her tears, watching as her mother left and everything around her also began to disappear.
Orange awoke once again in the bathroom on the floor. She pushed herself up slowly, throwing her cigarette in the toilet and flushing it down. She opened the window to let the smoke out, vowing then and there not to take another cigarette for the remainder of her pregnancy. "I won't dare put my son in danger." She pushed the door open to go find Shadow and have him explain everything to her.
Knuckles sat at home in his room, not having had the heart to return to the shrine of the M.E. He sat at the end of his bed looking at a small box he had retrieved from his dresser. He sighed as he opened the small box looking at a small gold and diamond ring he had in there. "And to think I was going to ask you to marry me…" He sighed once more before closing it. "But it looks like that will never become a reality. There really isn't anything more for me in life." He couldn't help the tears that wanted to fall from his eyes.
He rarely cried but just this once he didn't care. He let them fall freely, leaving wet streaks all down his cheeks.
Meanwhile, Orange ran out the door of the house, running down the path to Knuckle's house. Shadow had explained the whole thing to her and she knew right then and there that Knuckles wasn't lying to her. She loved him and trusted him. She was still feeling a bit light-headed but that wasn't going to stop her from going straight to him and fixing all of this. She threw on her clothes and ran out the door before anybody could stop her.
She reached Knuckles' house in a matter of minutes, panting and knocking on the door with all her might. She waited a minute before the door opened even a crack. Knuckles peeked out, having to catch his breath when he saw who it was. "Or…Orange?" He didn't have time to say anything else before Orange had forced her way in and had her lips forcefully pushed up against his. Knuckles' eyes snapped open as he was pushed back against a wall, causing old photographs to fall to the floor from where they had been hanging.
Knuckles' shock quickly changed to relaxation as he got more into the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her slender body and pushed back against her lips. His eyelids slipped halfway shut as Orange licked her tongue across his lips and teeth, begging for entrance. Knuckles happily obliged, opening his mouth enough for Orange to dart her tongue in and wrap it around her lover's. They stayed like this for what seemed like forever before they pulled away to catch their breath. All Knuckles could say between pants was, "Wow! That pant was pant amazing!"
Orange smiled playfully at him. "I believe you…" That was all Knuckles needed to hear. He pulled Orange into his bedroom and picked up the box on his bed. He had Orange take a seat while he kneeled down on one knee, presenting her the box. Orange's breath quickened suddenly as he opened the it.
She looked to the beautiful ring shining in the sunlight that filled the room, and then to Knuckles. "Orange, will you marry me?" Everything seemed to stop around her as she accepted the ring. For the longest time she couldn't manage to say anything. Finally she managed a whisper.
"Yes…Yes! YES!" she threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, I'll marry you, Knuckles! I love you!" Knuckles hugged her back tightly, the happiness in his voice breaking through clearly.
"I love you too, Orange! And I always will!" With that said, he picked her up and threw her onto the bed. He kissed her deeply as he began to take all her clothes off. And so they made love, Orange enjoying every second of it.
A/N: I finished chapter 10! I finished chapter 10! I can't believe it but I finished chapter 10!