A/N: I know! I'm so sorry I took forever. Feel free to berate me with random comments. But I really do have alot of projects to work on. I'm sorry... and there's no update for this month (ducks frying pan). Sorry. I have grad coming up, with a three day trip to Ottawa... and we have to hand in lots of stuffs for report cards...

I'll write as much as I can during Sundays, though! (ducks random flower pot)

Disclaimer: If I owned Sonic and co., people will probably hurt me for what I'm about to write...

Character Ages

Sonic: 23

Amy: 20

Tails: 16

Cream: 14

Eggman: Unknown

Metal Sonic: Unknown

Knuckles: 24

Rouge: 26

Shadow: Older than I'll ever live to be...

Vector: 28

Espio: 24

Charmy: 14

Sonic didn't know where he was. He was just wandering… wandering around… wandering around the dark… seeing yet unseeing…

'Help me, Sonic!'

Sonic felt himself twitch at the sound of the voice. Who was that? It was so familiar… so vaguely familiar…

'Sonic! Please, come back! Help me!'

'Come back?' he though curiously. 'Come back where? I don't know where to go…'

Then, he saw her. The pink-quilled girl who had captured her heart.

'Help me!' she was shouting. 'Sonic!'

Sonic tried to run to her, but something held him back. He looked down at his legs, but nothing was stopping him. Nothing held him back.

Then why couldn't he run?

'Sonic!' Amy was holding out her hands, reaching for him. Suddenly, a hole opened up under her, swallowing her.

'SONIC!' she screamed.

'AMY!' he shouted back. He forced his legs to run, commanding them to. But they wouldn't listen. Amy's screams grew further and further away…

'HOLD ON, AMY!' Why wasn't he running? 'AMY, I'M COMING!'

Suddenly, he could run. He ran like he never had before, multiple sonic booms echoing behind him. Without thinking, he jumped into the black abyss, his hands outstretched as he reached for Amy.

Sonic grabbed her hand, pulling her to his chest. He hugged her tightly as they stopped falling.

'Amy… are you alright?' he asked.

Amy looked up at him, her eyes lustrous with unshed tears. 'Please… come back…'

Sonic was confused. 'Amy… I'm right here. I'm right here by your side…'

He saw her shake her head frantically. 'Come back…' Her voice was getting softer… weaker…

'A-Amy?' He stuttered. He saw her quills turning transparent. Her eyes were starting to fade away as the tears fell.

'I love you… please come back…'

Sonic clutched onto her small body, pulling her tighter to him. 'No! Don't leave! Stay here with me!'

He saw her smile a small smile, and reached up her hands to touch his face. Without knowing, tears were starting to fall from his eyes as well.

'Come back…' she said yet again, her voice barely heard now. Every second, her body was starting to grow dimmer and dimmer.

He leaned closer to her face, his tears running freely. 'Amy, I'm right here. I won't leave you…'

'Don't you know that I love you?'

Amy was almost gone now, her strawberry scent the only thing that wasn't disappearing. Suddenly, he closed the space between her lips, and kissed her.

He closed his eyes, as the electricity ran through his body. This was better than running, more exhilarating than all the dangerous tasks that he had ever done. Everything felt sharper, clearer. It felt like the world itself had opened up a tiny secret to him, a secret that he had waited his whole life for. He pressed his lips even harder against Amy's, willing her to stay. Her lips pressed back, and he could feel her hugging him tightly. He ran his hands through her soft quills, rubbing them soothingly, as if trying to reassure her of something.

Then, he pulled back, expecting Amy to have stayed. But she was gone. Her scent stayed on him, but she was gone.

The only other thing left of her was a whisper in the dark.

'Come back…'

Sonic found himself hugging himself, trying to deny the fact that Amy wasn't coming back.

'Amy… you're gone…'

He felt lost, for the first time in his life, the wonderful feeling gone, so quickly that he could never chase it, no matter how fast he was.

He didn't know where to go next.

He didn't know where to run.

But he did know one thing.

This time, he was the one who was going to have come to her.

Amy pressed her lips harder against him. He was still shaking in her arms… shaking so hard. She never thought that her first kiss would be like this. Sonic wasn't acting the way that she dreamed. He didn't sweep her off her feet as he carried her off into the glowing sunset. Instead, they were standing in a decimated hideout, with the rain falling like a thousand stinging needles. The radiant colours of the sunset was the flashing lightening, as the thunder accompanied it's soundless tune. Her friends were sprawled around her, trying to gather themselves together, not clapping or cheering like the scene in her imaginations. And she wasn't hanging tightly onto his neck as he rushed them off at the speed of sound. She was holding awkwardly onto his arms, as he shook and struggled in front of her with his inner self.

Those childish dreams seemed like a lifetime ago.

She had never felt her passion and love pounding as hard as it did now, at this moment. Sonic needed her, even if he never needed her before.

'I need him to come back. I want him to come back.'

All of the sudden, as if he heard her, Sonic stopped struggling. He relaxed in her arms.

'Amy… I'm right here. I'm right here by your side…'

Amy almost gasped out loud, for those thoughts weren't her own. They sounded strangely like…

'…Sonic…?'

That's when she felt it. Another pair of lips, pressing back on her own. Her heart thudded in her chest. Sonic was reacting! Not only that, but he was kissing her back!

He hugged her back tightly. She felt his hands rubbing her back, her quills almost bending towards his hands as they work their way through her fur. She felt Sonic flood her thoughts and senses, not noticing anything else around her. The breath that she breathed was the breath that Sonic breathed. This seemed almost unreal, like those dreams that she always had when she was little. He even tasted the way she thought he would – the world that he always protected, the wilderness that he loved.

They broke apart.

"Sonic… are you… back?" she asked, between her panting.

For a second, she saw that pair of rich, green eyes, filled with love as they stared back at her.

The next, her right cheek was stinging unmercifully as she was thrown back to where her friends were crowded together in a protective circle.

Someone caught her, but what did she care? Slamming into a steel wall would've felt all the same to her. She couldn't have cared less. Her cheek burned as a river of fire ran down it, like Sonic had branded something there with a red-hot iron. Something that screamed at her to return to reality.

That Sonic didn't love her. That those eyes… those beautiful, shining eyes… they were fake. It was all fake. He had broken down her resolve like he always had, but he didn't leave enough pieces for her to build it up again. Not like the way he always left just enough for her to rebuild it like before. Nothing could bring it back. Not even that small, whispering voice of hope in the back of her mind. Even that had abandoned her, left her in the dark when she needed it most. It was like the voice had been extinguished as easily as a candle when it decided to risk it's life dancing with the wind.

Someone shook her, pleaded with her to snap out of it. But she felt like she was dead. Was this what death was like? No, this was worse. Was this heartbreak? Maybe it was. Or maybe she just dropped into another world, into another body, and soon she would wake up back in her small, cozy apartment in her nice warm bed. Maybe she will wake up like she always did when she had nightmares – sweating, her blanket covered in tears. Maybe. But her cheek… her damn burning cheek… was telling her otherwise.

Knuckles placed a hand on Cream's shoulder as she shook Amy's arm for god knows how many times. Cream's face was covered with tears as she looked up at Knuckles, her sweet, innocent face asking for comfort. Begging for it.

But Knuckles could give none. No words of comfort sprang forth to his lips, nothing to extinguish his own despair.

As gently as possible, he pried Cream loose from Amy. Immediately, the horrified rabbit buried herself in Tails, quivering uncontrollably as Tails stroked her head softly, his own tongue empty of words. Knuckles turned Amy to him, almost dropping her when he saw the blank, empty look that she gave back to him.

'She's dying,' he thought to himself. 'Maybe not physically… but she might as well be.'

He closed his eyes, clenching his fists. He could feel the despair slowly being pushed away, felt it turning into anger. Anger that constricted his chest, hatred that burned his throat. For one horrifying, delicious second, he wanted to feel his fingers around Sonic's throat, wanted to squeeze the air and life out of him.

For one second, he never wanted to see that smirk on his friend's face again.

He swallowed hard, trying to force that feeling away. 'It's not his fault… not his fault… it's just him being influenced by the Master and Chaos Emeralds… it's not his fault…' But didn't Metal Sonic say something about the victim must already have a dark side to him? No, he didn't want to think about that, or Metal Sonic. Not the one who was stone cold and dead on the ground with a hole in his chest.

"And guess who's going to be dead next, Knuckles?" asked a quiet, menacing voice that drifted towards him. "You."

Knuckles started, then looked up at the cobalt hedgehog. His head was down, and he was looking at the ground, at the slight trail of blood that belonged to Amy. He squatted down and ran his fingers along the trail, as if trying to remember the map that it made. "You know…" he said, still trailing the blood lightly with his fingers which seemed to dance along the river of red, "… that girl… what makes her so special?" he asked, as if curious about something at school. "Why does she pull my other side so strongly? A simple touch, a simple kiss," he looked up at the sky this time, the rain falling onto his face. "They could be washed away so easily, the touches, the hugs." Now he was facing them. Were they imagining it, or did they just see a soft gleam in the killer's eyes?

"You love her," they all echoed back simply. Nothing seemed simpler than that question.

Lightening seared across the sky blindingly, mixing with the flash of Sonic as he disappeared as easily as blinking.

"Wrong answer."

Something fast and hard struck Knuckles to the side, sending him flying against the wall. He struck it with a sickening crash, causing him to let out an involuntary cry of pain. Something warm and wet was pooling from the top of his head, and he didn't need to see it to know that it was blood. Blearily, he looked up from where he was, trying to decipher the blur of shapes in front of him.

Echoing footsteps were walking towards him. As his eyes cleared, he saw Sonic, walking towards him slowly like he had all the time in the world. The quills on his back were no longer the azure blue of the sky, but were now also raining blood. Surprisingly, he did not go after the others who were crowded in a group, minus Shadow.

Shaking, he got up, using the wall as support. His head throbbed with pain, and he almost passed out as a headache coursed through him. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists so tightly together that he felt blood.

Sonic stopped in front of him, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Do you really think that he clings to her like a burr because he loves her?" he asked, voice full of scorn.

Knuckles couldn't answer. Sonic's voice felt like it was coming from inside him, increasing his headache even more. He wanted to cover his ears, but that would be showing weakness.

"Can't you tell?" Sonic's voice sounded like it was calling them all 'stupid.' "He's desperate."

The red echidna forced his body to slowly turn and face him. His friend and rival. His complete opposite.

"Desperate." Sonic hissed that word like poison rolling off his tongue. "He doesn't love her. He clings to her… only because he wants to save himself."

Knuckles closed his eyes for a second, the feeling of wanting to wring Sonic's neck returning again.

"I know what he thinks about you all. Every single one of you-"

"Shut up."

Sonic didn't seem surprised. On the contrary, he seemed please to get such a reaction from Knuckles.

"What's the matter, Knuckles?" he mocked, enjoying himself. "Don't you want to know how I really think about you?"

"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!"

Despite the pounding headache, despite the blood running down his face, he rushed at Sonic. So fast, in fact, that he managed to catch Sonic off-guard and nail him with a pointed fist across the face.

Sonic sailed through the air, but managed to land back on his feet again. As soon as he touched the ground, he flew towards Knuckles at an impossible speed.

Knuckles managed to block Sonic with his arms. He skidded along the ground, black marks appearing to mark his path. Quickly, he turned around as Sonic appeared behind him. He threw a punch, but only to have Sonic duck to dodge it. Sonic stood back up again, the punched at the side of Knuckles's head.

Knuckles landed heavily on the ground. More fresh blood ran down the other side of his head, making the pounding ten times worse. He tried to get up, only to fall down on his side again. 'No…' he thought weakly. 'I must… get… up… to protect the others…'

He weakly turned his head to the sound of approaching footsteps. His eyes caught a blur of blue walking towards him. 'Is this what Death looks like?'

It stopped in front of him. "Knuckles is such a gullible idiot sometimes," Sonic said out loud, as if he was reading from a book. "Seriously, he's the guardian of the Master Emerald, but who does he call up when it's missing? Me, of course. Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that I was the guardian of the Master Emerald."

Anger flared through Knuckles again, fueling him. He got up again, trying to kick Sonic and trip him. Sonic didn't even bother to move. He just lifted his foot, then made it come crashing down on Knuckles's leg. Knuckles bit back a scream as he heard the bones in his leg crack.

Sonic kicked his leg to the side with a look of contempt. He continued walking up to Knuckles, his eyes shining as they looked at his helpless form. "Why does he bother living up there all alone on that floating island anyway?" he continued, walking ever closer to Knuckles. "It's not doing the Master Emerald much good. Even Eggman can fly right up to it and just pick it right off. How many times has he done that now? I'm probably gonna loose track soon."

Knuckles closed his eyes to the world. He tried to concentrate on his anger. Nothing but his anger. He needed it to help him. Help him to get up and protect the others! But it didn't work. There was that tiny seedling of fear that was planted inside his anger. He could feel it starting to grow and trail it's icy cold fingers down his back. That fear also told him something. As much as he hated it, he couldn't kill Sonic. He just couldn't. It just wasn't the same as smashing robots, or overpowering someone into submission. Now that he thought about it, he'd never killed someone with his own two hands before…

'But Sonic is now,' said a bitter, cold voice inside of him. 'Are you saying that you're weaker than him?'

Knuckles couldn't move. He was going to die. He'd failed. Failed the Master Emerald, failed his friends…

… even failed Rouge…

'Maybe… maybe I am weaker than Sonic…'

"Good-bye, Knuckles," said Sonic.

Knuckles tried to make his heart feel as cold and as unfeeling as ice. He didn't want to feel the anger, despair, and betrayal that threatened to haunt him even in death.

Even through his closed eyelids, he thought that he could see Sonic's grinning face as he started to strike…

"NO!"

Knuckles quickly opened his eyes in surprise, but he wished that he never had.

"ROUGE!"

Lightening illuminated the silhouette of Rouge who had thrown herself in front of him. Her pure white fur was starting to stain with red.

She coughed up blood. Sweet smelling blood that sickened Knuckles to his stomach.

"Stupid, stupid Rouge!" he cried out. The tears that were starting to form in his eyes betrayed the words that he spoke. Angrily, he wiped them away before looking at Rouge again.

"Is that… any way… to thank me?" she asked weakly, trying to laugh. Instead, she just coughed again, more blood landing on the ground.

"Rouge…" he choked back a sob. This wasn't the time for him to be weak! "Rouge… why did you…?" he couldn't finish the sentence. He gently stroke her face, no longer the beautiful white that reminded him of the moon.

"Don't be stupid…" Rouge said weakly, her voice almost drowned out by another fit of coughing. "Let's just say, if I had to give my most precious jewel a name, I would name it Knuckles…"

She smiled a bit. Then, she put her head down on his chest, and closed her eyes, the colour of the green of the seas.

"Rouge? Rouge!" he shook her as gently as he could, calling out her name desperately, as if Rouge might not hear Death whisper her name if he did. "Rouge! ROUGE!"

There were sobs behind him, but he ignored them. 'Rouge isn't gone,' he thought to himself, his mind racing. 'She's just pretending… she's trying to distract Sonic… she is, I just know she is!'

He couldn't bear to look at her face, so peaceful and quiet. 'Wake up!' he wanted to scream at her. 'Wake up! Call me stupid. Steal the Master Emerald.' Finally, he looked away from her face, only to see the grin of her killer's.

His stomach lurched when he saw the blood that covered his hands. Blood that was once Rouge's. It was everywhere on him. Splattered on his face, dripping down his hands. 'Everywhere…'

His voice was barely heard over the sound or the falling rain. "Rouge… god, she's a total slut. Skimpy outfit, flirting with every guy she sees… she even flirted with me! It was disgusting."

Knuckles growled, hugging Rouge protectively against his body, as if trying to protect her from Sonic's harsh words. As if she could still hear them.

"It's like she thinks she can get anything she wants by being a total whore. Guys, gems, the government's favour… all in all, your typical bitch."

Knuckles could feel himself losing consciousness. His anger could only lead him so far. Maybe it was his turn to finally die now… maybe Rouge was calling him, whispering his name so that he could follow her as Death guided them to their final resting place.

Together.

Sonic smiled as he saw Knuckles's head thump down onto the ground with Rouge on top of him.

"Sonic! H-how could you?"

The voice made him turn to Tails, his fists clenched together in anger, his eyes showing fear as he gently shoved Cream behind him.

"Don't worry…" Sonic said. "You're next."

A/N: Is Rouge really dead? Well, you probably know the answer. What about Knuckles? Do I really have a secret hate of them? Would I really kill two characters out of the main Sonic cast for the sake of a fic? WOULD I? Think about it (smiles evilly)
Answers to Anonymous Reviews:

DeniedLuv: Ummm... I don't know if I should be happy you cried, or regretful. Thanks for reading, anyway!

Donna: Thanks for reviewing!

that confedential damit: LOL love your name. Thanks for reviewing!

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