3. Living Inside Pockets

"I don't like it."

Bunnie sighed. "We talked about this. I'm a Freedom Fighter –"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to go this time."

"This time, next time, what's the difference?"

"The difference is… the difference is…" Knuckles clearly hadn't though his argument through. His expression morphed temporarily from stern to flummoxed. It made him oddly endearing.

Bunnie smiled. "You knew this about me when we met," she said gently. "I can't stop bein' who I am, Knuckles, an' I can't let my friends rush off into danger without me."

His frown deepened. "Sally said you don't have to go."

"Sally-girl says a lot of things."

He looked like he was about to say more, but his mouth stayed shut tight. Bunnie gave him a moment, before turning away to finish washing the dishes. She paused only when he grabbed her arm – the metal one, without hesitation, which was only just starting to not feel weird.

"Don't go."

"Knuckles, honey -"

"Please."

That stopped her short. Being a hermit so long had done diddly-squat for Knuckles's manners, possibly even less than it'd done for his social skills. Using 'please' was as much an admission of weakness as throwing himself off a mountaintop to prove he could go splat.

But what he was asking her to do … Bunnie didn't know if she could ever forgive herself if something happened to her friends and she wasn't there to help. She remembered the time Sally was captured by Robotnik and replaced with a robot clone. She'd been a whisker away from robiticisation when Sonic came to the rescue. Cat hadn't been so lucky. Bunnie still didn't know if he was working in one of Robotnik's factories or dead. Remembering how she'd felt that day, and all the other days one of them was captured, or hurt, or worse … Bunnie knew that as long as she was capable of going on missions, she would. Being a Freedom Fighter wasn't just a title, it was a way of life.

She'd tried to explain this to Knuckles, sitting of an evening staring up at the stars, and he sort of understood. He was the Guardian, after all – he knew all about responsibility – but if Bunnie was being totally honest, she knew he was a bit snobbish about that. It'd never even entered his head that something less mystical could be as bone-deep. She'd chosen to be a Freedom Fighter. She'd made a conscious decision where he'd had no choice, so of course he viewed hers as … not inferior (not after that burning village), but a lesser calling. He seemed to think that she could choose not to be one, too.

Bunnie knew it didn't work that way. Once you chose to fight Robotnik you were in it for the long haul – victory or death, whichever came first.

Death? So not the thing to be thinking about when convincing someone you love to let you go on a dangerous mission – especially if that mission was into a death-trap like Robotropolis.

Bunnie gently uncurled Knuckles's glove from around her wrist. "I can't stay behind. Sally-girl didn't fight to keep me back as much as she could've. That means they do need me, even if she didn't say it out loud." A thought struck her. "You could come too."

Knuckles looked scandalised.

"What, a lil' Freedom Fighter raid is too small for the Guardian?"

"I have a responsibility -"

"I know, sugar. So do I. That's my point. I can no more say no to this mission than you can say no to defendin' that there Emerald. What keeps you from goin' is what forces me to go – responsibility. Y'all can understand that better n' most, can't you?"

He lowered his eyes. It wasn't defeat, but it was as close as she was likely to get from him. "I don't want …"

Bunnie leaned across and, unannounced, planted a kiss on his cheek. She still enjoyed the astonished expression he got when she did that. "I'll be careful."

"Like you were before?" He didn't need to spell out what he meant. The memories of Sonic carrying her back to Knothole, and the following days where she flickered between life and death, were still etched in both their minds.

Bunnie couldn't defend herself, so she didn't try. She shrugged and said simply, "I got clumsy. It won't happen again."

"You nearly died."

"Because I underestimated how gosh durn good a SWATbot can aim when it wants. Don't worry, sugar, I ain't lettin' 'em get the better of me again. No siree."

Knuckles folded his arms. "Do you know how I felt when that happened? Do you know what it's like to be cut out of the loop at a time like that? They wouldn't even let me in to see you."

"Knuckles, honey -"

"Helpless!"

She blinked at the vehemence in his voice.

"I felt completely helpless. I've been guarding the Emerald's power all my life, but I still couldn't do anything. I refuse to feel like that again."

"I ain't stayin' behind, sugar."

"We'll see." And with that he stalked out of the room.

Bunnie watched him go. She loved Knuckles, more than she would've – could've – ever predicted when Sally introduced him to Knothole those few short months ago. Back then he'd struck her as unsympathetic, serious and austere, but once you got to know him you realised he had a kind of charming innocence under his grumpiness. Yet she'd learned that he could also be hot-headed, and when he got a bee in his bonnet he could be unbearable until he worked things out for himself. He accepted help poorly, always demanding an impossible degree of perfection from himself. He was equally poor at accepting that the world didn't always fit in with the way he felt it ought to be. Despite the tragic events he'd lived through, Knuckles still believed that life followed a set pattern, with Good winning out over Evil and his own logic prevailing over both. He experienced fresh surprise whenever it didn't – like now.

Bunnie turned back to the washing up she'd volunteered to do. She knew it'd be useless to try to talk to Knuckles until he came to a better understanding of the situation. He had to get to grips with things by himself. It was the way he operated and no amount of talking or wishing from her would change that.

A few moments later she heard footsteps behind her. "That was fast."

"You think? It felt like an age. Antoine wouldn't leave me alone."

Bunnie whirled. "Oh, Sally-girl, I thought you were Knuckles."

"Do I disappoint?"

"Not if'n you're fixin' to help me with these here dishes."

"You volunteered to do those."

"That was 'afore I done realised how much Sugar-hog ate."

Sally smiled and came forward to pick up a tea towel. She took the first plate Bunnie had set on the drying rack and busily set about wiping off stray suds. "So," she said after a while of companionable silence, "You and Knuckles."

"Uh-huh." Bunnie kept washing.

"How's that going for you?"

"Don't you mean 'how are you findin' life away from Knothole'?"

Sally flushed. "Am I that transparent?"

"Nu-uh, sugar. It's just the first thing I'd wanna know if'n any of y'all moved out." Bunnie handed her another plate. "It's all right. A lil' bumpy in places, but I expected that. Knuckles has been on his own for so long, he's everwhichway befuddled about livin' with someone in his pockets all the time. But the island's a big place." She shrugged.

Sally nodded. "The offer still stands, you know…"

"Sally-girl, I appreciate the concern, but I ain't ready to throw in the towel just yet. I'll admit, sometimes I hanker for the hurly-burly of Knothole, but I don't regret a thing."

Sally's expression was a little pained, but mostly accepting.

Bunnie was struck by how accommodating Sally had to be of everything and everyone around this place, and it occurred to her how they used to sit up at nights just talking about nothing in particular because it was the only opportunity Sally got to act like someone other than The Little Princess Who Wasn't.

She dunked a dish and left it under the water. "Listen, you want I should do somethin' with that nest y'all call hair?"

"Excuse me?"

"Don't kid a kidder, Sally-girl. You got more split ends than a field o' corn. Ain't you been takin' care of yourself while I been away?"

"Of course I have."

"Then obviously I ain't done my job proper, if'n that's what you call takin' care of yourself. Soon as we're done at briefin' we're gonna get us some o' that there honey shampoo an' dewberry conditioner, a stiff comb, an' a pair of scissors. 'Less you're fixin' to grow it long." She tipped her head to one side to study her friend. "Actually, it might suit. 'Course, I'd have to snip the fringe back a smidge, an' that there cowlick's gotta go no matter what…"

"I'm only going to Robotropolis! It's no like Robotnik's going to appreciate a new look," said Sally.

"No, but Sonic might."

She reddened.

Bunnie smirked. "I done missed our girl-talks."

"You and me both," Sally said with feeling.

"It's so cool, Baby T," Tails enthused. "I get to go on a mission. I never get to go on missions. This one's just recon – that means we're just looking around and stuff – but that's okay. It's like Sonic said; Aunt Sally worries about me because I've been little for so long it's hard for her to accept that I'm not little anymore, so I have to prove myself to her. If I do okay on enough recon missions, maybe she'll agree to let me go on a real one again – one where I actually get to do stuff."

Baby T just whuffled softly and butted Tails for another sugar cube. Tails giggled and forked it over.

The terrapod herd didn't come through Knothole often, but when they did they tended to use the village as a rest stop on their migration route and stay for a few days. On the last stopover a group of five younglings had elected to stay and form a new herd, and while Sally had worried their immense size would give away Knothole's location, the creatures had eventually won her over.

Tails loved it; he rarely got to see Baby T, who was still called that even though he now towered over the little fox. He still wasn't as big as his mother, but an adolescent terrapod was still a force to be reckoned with – not that you'd know this by watching him with Tails. Baby T had been the instigator of the younglings' separation. Confident and assertive, he acted as leader to his four-strong herd and was proving almost as effective as his mother.

Tails rubbed at Baby T's snout and giggled even more when Baby T chewed playfully on his hand. Terrapod teeth were wide and flat, built for grinding leaves and fauna into easily digestible paste, but he gripped the fingers of Tails's glove gently and wrapped his stubby trunk around Tails's arm in a gesture of affection.

"But wouldn't it be cool, Baby T? I mean, I'm already a Freedom Fighter in name, but if I could just get Aunt Sally to see me as one for real -"

Baby T suddenly stopped and raised his head. A low noise rose in his throat, not quote a growl, but not a happy noise either. Tails turned to look at what had caught his attention.

"Knuckles?"

Knuckles overawed Tails a little. Being a Freedom Fighter had long been the ultimate rung in the ladder of Tails's mind. Even being royalty seemed less than fighting Robotnik. Then Knuckles came along with his Guardianship and his floating island and suddenly … suddenly there was another strata for Tails to think about, and he wasn't yet sure where to put it in his mental hierarchy. Seeing Knuckles stalking through the huts with a face like thunder made Tails back up a step before he remembered that he was trying to make a good impression on Sally. Good habits continued even when Sally wasn't around, so he squared his chest and stepped out to greet the echidna.

Knuckles looked startled. "You're…"

"Tails." Tails stuck out his hand.

Knuckles looked at it. "Yes. I remember."

After a long moment Tails let his arm drop back to his side. "Were you looking for Aunt Bunnie? I think she's still washing up. She made me promise to keep watch of Rosie's hut to make sure she doesn't try to do too much after making that huge meal for everyone. It's important for Rosie to rest." He nodded self-importantly. "Her heart's not so good, so we Freedom Fighters try to look out for her."

Knuckles regarded him with arms folded. "I'm not looking for Bunnie." There was something odd about the way he said it, as though he was trying very hard to keep his voice level.

"Are you okay?" Tails asked.

"I'm fine."

"Only you look like something's bothering you."

"Do all Freedom Fighters feel this urge to fight others' battles for them?"

Tails was puzzled. "We protect those who need it. We have to be strong for those who can't. It's sort of a superhero thing." He could've bitten back that last remark. Not even Sally knew that was how he saw Freedom Fighting, and he wasn't sure she'd be pleased if she ever learned of it.

Yet Knuckles didn't comment on it. Instead he said, "And I'm sure you'll do brilliantly. All three feet of you."

"You don't have to be tall to act tall!" It was one of Sonic's favourite phrases when they trained and Tails started to flag, or thought he couldn't do whatever task he'd been set. You had to think like a Freedom Fighter before you could be one, and being a Freedom Fighter was everything Tails had ever wanted outside of defeating Robotnik and discovering the identities of his birth parents.

"No, but the extra inches might keep you from getting killed in Robotropolis."

Tails was annoyed. Just because Knuckles was a guest and Aunt Sally's friend didn't mean he had the right to be mean about stuff he didn't even understand. Just because he was Bunnie's … whatever he was to Bunnie, that didn't mean he'd earned the right to treat Tails like some dumb little kid. "How do you know? Have you ever been there?"

"I … no, I haven't."

"Then you shouldn't talk about what you don't understand. It's like Aunt Sally says; it's better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

"Let me guess; she says that to Sonic?"

"Not all the time."

"I thought as much."

Tails scowled. He'd been feeling so good, and now Knuckles had come along and ruined his mood.

Baby T rumbled softly, sensing his friend's annoyance. He took a step forward, making sure Knuckles could see the size of his feet. Terrapods weren't especially acrobatic, or even fast when compared to other creatures their size, but there was a reason Mobians treated them with respect. To a terrapod, showing off your feet was just one step below throwing down a gauntlet for a fight.

Knuckles eyed Baby T with apprehension.

"It's okay, buddy," Tails soothed. "Knuckles is just in a bad mood because he can't get his own way."

"Excuse me?"

"That's it, isn't it? You don't want Aunt Bunnie to go to Robotropolis but she's going anyway, and that ticks you off."

Knuckles boggled at him. "How did you know that?"

"So that is what's bugging you?"

"I never said that." Knuckles puffed out his chest and folded his arms across it.

Tails shook his head. Knuckles was acting just like Sonic did when Sally got one over on him. He'd thought hurt pride mixed with bluster was a purely hedgehog thing, but apparently it applied to echidnas, too – or at least to Knuckles. Someone towards the back of his brain a thought popped up asking why there weren't more echidnas to test this theory on, but Tails pushed it aside. Now was not the time. He'd ask Aunt Sally about it later.

"I'm not 'ticked off', as you put it. I'm just concerned for her safety – more than she is, apparently."

"Why?" Tails was genuinely puzzled. "Aunt Bunnie' can take care of herself. Aunt Sally wouldn't let her go if she couldn't. They've both been going into Robotropolis since they were my age."

"Yes, and look where it got them. You can't tell me Bunnie's robiticisation was intentional."

Tails had to admit that it wasn't. "But that was an accident."

"Exactly." Knuckles sighed. "Why am I even talking about this with you? You're just a kid."

"I am not just a kid!" Tails flared. Baby T made a 'haroo' noise and nuzzled his arm. "If you're so worried, why don't you come along on the mission? Then you'll see for yourself how the Freedom Fighters can take care of themselves."

"That's the second time someone's told me I should go," said Knuckles. "But I have responsibilities beyond just the war against Robotnik. I can't risk leaving the Emerald without a Guardian."

"But you're already down here now – oh." Tails realised Knuckles wasn't just talking about leaving it unattended while he visited Knothole. He meant if he didn't come back from Robotropolis.

The sum total of Tails's knowledge about the Emerald and Guardian was the brief rundown Sally had told all the Freedom Fighters, so he didn't know how the duty was transferred when Guardians died, or how you even became a Guardian in the first place. Sally had intimated Guardianship was something mystical, a sacred task that had existed long before even the House of Acorn. Tails had come away thinking it must be like royalty, with one generation bequeathing it to the next.

Except that Knuckles had lived all alone on Angel Island for a long time. It was all anyone could talk about when Bunnie left to go live with him. The older biddies called it disgraceful and talked about Bunnie like she was some brazen hussy, when they weren't talking about Knuckles like he was a lecher who'd stolen her away. So that meant Knuckles had nobody to bequeath Guardianship to, which meant if he died…

"Oh," Tails said again.

Guarding the Emerald was a big deal. Tails knew this. Sally had said it was a source of great power that could be manipulated in more ways than anyone could predict, like the Power Stone in the creek that produced Sonic's power rings. The Emerald kept the entire island afloat, which was just a small indication of what it was capable of. It couldn't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands – like Robotnik's.

In Tails's mind Robotnik was the ultimate evil. What he could do with something like the Master Emerald didn't bear thinking about.

"I … guess I see what you mean."

Knuckled harrumphed. "She shouldn't go. It's not safe."

"Neither is doing nothing," Tails pointed out.

"Sometimes doing nothing is even harder than doing something," Knuckles replied cryptically.

"You mean it's harder to watch her go than make her stay?"

"You're a precocious kid, you know that? But I suppose I should've expected that, with Sonic and Sally as parent figures."

"I am not a -"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Then he turned a left without so much as a goodbye.

"Aunt Sally?"

Sally looked up from her maps. "Hey, Tails."

Sat on the table beside her, Bunnie turned and waved at the little fox. "Hey, sugar. You okay? You look all tore up about sumthin'."

Sally, too, had noticed Tails's frown. She immediately left off the planning session she and Bunnie had fallen into. "Why don't you come in and tell us what's bothering you, honey." She only got out the pet names when she was being motherly, and she only got really motherly when Tails acted like the little kid he forever claimed he wasn't.

"I'll be back in a minute, Baby T," Tails called out the door. After an answering honk he came fully into Sally's hut. "Can I ask you something?"

"Is it the mission? Are you worried about it?"

Tails shook his head. "I don't know which of you would be best to ask, and I'm not worried about anything. I can't wait to go on the mission."

"Oh." Sally struggled to keep the disappointment from her voice.

Bunnie leaned forward. "What's on your mind, sugar?"

"I was just wondering … why is the Emerald on Angel Island so important?"

Sally looked at Bunnie, who blinked. "Y'all been talkin' to Knuckles, sugar?"

"Well we talked, but we didn't really talk to each other. It was more like I talked and he talked and then he went off somewhere to grouse."

Bunnie nodded. "That sounds like Knuckles."

"Tails, why the sudden interest in the Emerald?" Sally asked.

Tails shrugged. "I just realised I don't know much about it. And since it's so important to Knuckles, and he's going to be around here sometimes now, I figured I'd better learn more about it so I don't tick him off or offend him or ask dumb questions. You know, so he doesn't think I'm some dumb little kid."

"Well," Sally began, folding her hands under her chin, "the Emerald's a bit of a mystery, actually. Nobody except the Guardian knows where it came from, but what I do know is that it's a way of controlling chaos energy."

"Chaos energy?" Tails looked even more confused.

"Chaos energy is like … it's the energy of everyday life and events. It's linked to probability and the power of chance – the more chance that's at work, the more potential for chaos there is, and so the more chaos energy there is. This floats about, perfectly harmless, until it comes into contact with esoteric conduits like wands and special focussing crystals and things."

"Huh?"

"Chaos energy is like magic, sugar," Bunnie provided. "Or rather, magic is one type of chaos energy. It's like air – it hangs around everythin' and everyone, an' it's important for helpin' the universe work, but we can't see it or feel it or touch it. It's just kinda there, an' some folk have ways of makin' it so it's not invisible. They can bend it to their wills an' use it to make junk happen that wouldn't or couldn't usually happen."

"Oh. You mean like that wizard guy in the Forbidden Zone. And Naugus."

Sally was grateful to Bunnie for translating. Most of what she'd learned had been from NICOLE and the few documents they'd been able to save and recover from the castle library, so she'd never had to explain them to anyone else. "Yes, Tails. They used either objects or their own bodies to control the magic, which, like Bunnie said, is a form of chaos energy. The Emerald is another way of controlling that energy, but it's a lot bigger and a whole lot more powerful."

"So Knuckles takes care of it because it's dangerous, right?"

It was Bunnie who answered. "Knuckles guards the Emerald because it's what he was born to do, sugar, but also because he believes with his heart and soul that if he doesn't, some cotton pickin' varmint might hear tell of its power an' take it upon theyselves to try an' use that power for their own ends."

"Like Buttnick," Tails said, almost proudly.

"Uh, yeah, like Robotnik. But not just that ol' no-count jelly-belly. Knuckles guards the Emerald 'gainst any critter who might try to use it. That much power has a way of corruptin' folk if it ain't used proper, so he keeps it from bein' used at all.

"Oh." Tails dropped his eyes.

"You were going to ask why he hasn't used it to defeat Robotnik already, weren't you?" Sally guessed.

"Uh-huh."

"I asked the very same thing when I first learned about that rock," said Bunnie.

"Me too," said Sally. "And Knuckles told me that while the Emerald might be able to overthrow Robotnik, the effects of releasing as much chaos energy as we'd need might do even more damage than has been done already." Sally looked down at her maps, her eye automatically settling on the zone where the last opening onto the Void had been spotted. "Just getting rid of Robotnik the man wouldn't stop the destruction done by his empire, and if the Emerald took our request literally and killed him, we'd have no way of knowing how to undo some of the things he's done."

Tails nodded slowly. "I … think I understand, Aunt Sally."

"Did that help?"

"Uh-huh. But I still don't understand one thing."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Aunt Bunnie went to live on Angel Island because Knuckles was all alone and lonely and she loves him – which is totally gross, by the way."

"Noted," Bunnie said with a smile.

"She had to go there because Knuckles has this big important job to do, being the Guardian and stopping beasts from misusing the Emerald's powers, so he couldn't leave and come to live in Knothole permanently. But what I don't get is, if the Emerald is safe, and if Aunt Bunnie went to live with him because she loves him, and he loves her, and love is supposed to make you happy, why is Knuckles still such a grouch?"

There was a beat. Then Bunnie started laughing so much she fell off the table.

"Oh, sugar, that done cheered me right up. Oh – ha ha – oh that's grand – hee hee."

"Uh, you're welcome?" said Tails, unable to understand what was so funny.

To Be Continued…