Secluded

5

Disclaimer: I own none of the mentioned characters

"Hey, is that-"

A smiling pink hedgehog was running towards the group, waving her arm in the air, smiling vibrantly.

"Oh no."

"Sonic!" she yelled as she rushed towards the startled hedgehog and tackled him to the ground in an affectionate embrace.

"Gah! Amy! How the Hell did you get here?" he asked, attempting to pry the over exited hedgehog off him, spraying dust in every which direction.

"The Chaotix brought me!"

"Huh?" he exclaimed, rising to his feet and dusting himself off.

Behind Amy, the three Chaotix members approached them, each smiling (Espio was more, sneering). Someone had come to rescue them. The evening sun washing over their bodies created a sort of brilliance that only intensified the salvation the Chaotix had granted them.

"How you guys doin'?" asked vector in his grizzly tone, smiling a toothy grin.

"How did you find us?!" asked Knuckles, running up to him with a smile on his unshaven and dirtied mug, overjoyed that they would get to leave the island.

"We looked for you!" yelled an exited Charmy, buzzing around the vicinity like a madman.

"What?" asked Shadow, folding his arms in disbelief.

"It wasn't as simple as that", began Espio, "Amy came to us saying that you and the others should have been back from your little trip a day ago and that she was worried. Being detectives, we volunteered to find you guys. We boarded our helicopter and flew around your intended course for e few days, until we noticed the wreckage of the X-tornado on this island."

"My GOD Amy thank you!" said Sonic as he brought her into a hug, expressing his great appreciation of Amy's selfless act.

"So get us out of here already" demanded Shadow in a very rude tone, no doubt sore about being stuck on an island with a broken leg, as he had no intention of staying there any longer.

"No need to be pushy. The copter is over behind this cliff, we landed it near that really deep trench."

'Trench?' Shadow pondered to himself, remembering the unexplored trench he and Sonic had seen not to long ago.

"Follow us" Vector said motioning towards the other side of the rocky cliff.

Everyone eagerly followed, overjoyed that they would get to leave the island once and for all.

Rouge was no doubt happy about leaving the island that had caused her a great deal of emotional distress, but somehow, disappointed as well. The island had granted her something that she wanted to have for a long while: more time with Knuckles.

Being around him made her feel happy in a way that she could not describe to herself, or anyone else but Knuckles. She didn't know why she started to love him in the first place, nor why being stuck on the horrible island had brought her somewhat closer to him, but farther away from Shadow.

'Shadow…' she thought to herself, watching him limp his way to the helicopter, which she still could not see.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" came the voice of Vector, echoing throughout the valley.

"What, what's going-hey where's the-"

"The copter, it's-it's gone!" exclaimed Espio, a look of utter shock and confusion painted on his scaly face.

Rouge's heart skipped a beat. Two beats. Sweat cascaded from her brow.

'The copter's…gone?!' she thought, horrified.

Her legs faltered as she turned the corner, forcing her to the dusty ground.

There was no copter, nothing but some disheveled dirt around were it should have been. Sonic approached the area in an unusually elephantine way.

"G-gone… impossible…" he said to no one in particular.

Everyone stared at the absent cliff, realizing their only hope for liberation from the island had only just slipped thought their thinning fingers like small gains of sand for no reason at all. Now, the Chaotix and Amy Rose had joined their game of Russian roulette.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GONING ON! THIS MAKES NO FUCKING SENCE! I WANT OFF! I WANT TO-ARRRGH!" Knuckles violently screamed, smashing the boulder laden ledge beside them and then slumping to the ground in frustration. The profanity ridden tirade of Knuckles ran inside the heads of the others as they stood on the island, staring into the unexplored trench.

Later that evening, night began to fall and shroud the night sky in a thick black veil of darkness. Insects buzzed and bit the deprived group as they huddled around the disheveled fire pit. They were not cold, but not happy in the least. Malaria was only a microscopic prick away and the disappearance of the helicopter left the befuddled and confused.

"It doesn't make sense…" said Tails, prodding the ground with a stick, almost as if he expected this to solve the helicopter mystery.

"Give it up Tails. God just hates us" jeered Shadow, becoming annoyed with Tails new favorite phrase.

"Don't worry guys, someone will come to rescue us" added Sonic, trying to be optimistic and lighten the mood, with no avail.

There was a silence, the soft hum of the frogs chirping to each other and the buzzing of the mosquitoes were the only sounds to be heard.

Vector spoke.

"You guys got anything to eat around here?" he asked in a mellowed out tone, one very different from his normal, happy voice.

Shadow lazily tossed him a banana which he ate in a ravenous fashion.

Amy seemed to be unexplainably wary of her surroundings, as if she was expecting to be ambushed by some unseen horror that hid in the creepers of the lush vegetation that grew and somehow survived on the island. Sonic felt pressured to comfort her, but could not find the strength to do so.

Knuckles lay in a secluded part of the clearing, facing away from everyone else. Noticing this, Rouge crawled her way over to him in an elephantine fashion, dirtying her sweaty body even more. She had learned not to care about her appearance over the time that they had spent on the island (this was apparent, as her hair had taken on a slight brownish look to it).

"Knuckles?" she whispered to his motionless form in a rather concerned tone.

"What?" he replied in an almost harsh tone, as if it were Rouge's fault that the helicopter had vanished.

"Are you alright?"

"I guess…" he mumbled, lifting up a stone and hurling it out to sea.

"I…I just wanted to let you know that, well… I'm not having any more fun on this island than you are, but we might as well take this time to…" she stopped, thinking about how to say the next part of her little speech.

"- get to know each other better" she blurted, a crimson red appearing on her cheeks.

Knuckles stared at her in a complex manor, replaying what she had just said to him over and over in his head. Was this her way of saying: "I love you?" no, he didn't exactly understand that concept. Angel Island had robbed him of that.

"What…do you mean?"

"Well, I-"

She paused, looking around her, noticing everyone could most likely hear her. Her eyes fell mostly on Shadow, fearing his reaction the most.

"Actually, can I talk to you in… private?" she asked, quavering slightly.

Knuckles heart skipped a few beats. Things rushed through his mind, blurred thoughts, just like before.

He hated that feeling, making his hands sweaty and causing myopia to set in.

"Sure, why not?" He said, trying his best to keep his cool.

They stood and trudged into the dark forest of the island together, off to who knows were. As they left, Shadows eyes followed.

Deep in the jungle, Knuckles and Rouge stood at the entrance to the clearing were Rouge had done her thinking earlier in the day. She felt somehow, whole in this spot and away from the world. She felt that it was a good spot to confess her feelings.

"Knuckles, what do you…think about me?" she asked, balling her hands behind her back and walking around aimlessly.

"What do you mean?"

"What's your opinion of me?"

He paused, and then spoke.

"Well, you're confusing. When I try to think about you, my head kind of turns to mush."

Rouge giggled. She hadn't done that for a while.

"You irritate me and sometimes get me mad, but other times, I'm sort of, amused by you."

They were both blushing, the moonlight revealing it to each others eyes.

"What do you think about me?" asked Knuckles, feeling more comfortable with the situation.

"Well, for me to say what I think about you would confuse both you and me. It's complicated, and I have difficulty explaining it to myself. I guess the best way to disrobe it would be…"

She walked up to him, eyes at the brink that they were almost closed and pressed up against his firm structure. She then planted a deep and meaningful kiss amount his lips, pouring all of her soul and spirit into it, letting out all of her anxieties that had been bottled up inside her flow in and out of the one that had caused the distress. The moment lasted forever for the two, and Knuckles eagerly returned the favor, spilling all of his feelings for her into the kiss, letting it intensify enough to sooth his craving.

They gripped each others backs, pushing one against the other to an extent that they might break in half. The empty pit in their body's was filled with one another's love and completed them, as they continued to kiss, letting the night swallow them whole.

Authors note: sorry this took so log to get out and sorry it was so short. I hope I didn't rush the knuxrouge part or made the disappearance of the helicopter to confusing. Irt will be revealed later, don't you worry.

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