Here it is, the final chapter of Sonic and Knuckles' story. Exactly 10 chapters long, yay me.

Enjoy, and don't forget to review. Also, please read my notes at the end of the story to know more about my upcoming project. Thank you. :)

Chapter 10: Apology

After leaving the crash site of the Egg Citadel, Sonic made his way back to the Mystic Ruins. The blue blur picked up the pace and continued to run like his life depended on it, and it was somewhat true. Sonic knew he had an important task to do, and he would do it no matter how beat-up and tired he was.

After a few minutes of running across the city, forest, and mountains, Sonic finally made it to his destination: Tails' workshop. The blue blur allowed himself a few moments to catch his breath, then quickly went inside Tails and his shared home.

The workshop was exactly the same when he had left, the smashed TV was still there, and the floor was still broken.

"I guess Tails was too angry at me to get these fixed." thought Sonic to himself. Suddenly, a smile crossed his face and he spoke quietly to himself, "Or he was just too busy doing something else."

Sonic then quietly walked upstairs to Tails' room. It was just like when he had left. The door of Tails' bedroom was close, and everything looked normal. The blue blur peeped through the keyhole like he had done earlier, and saw the sleeping figure of his best friend still in bed, with his back toward the door, just like before.

Sonic stood up straight and breathed deeply to calm his nerves down, trying to come up with an apology.

"Just go inside and say sorry for being an annoying, insensitive, stubborn, egotistical, insufferable, idiotic jerk, then ask him for forgiveness. Great, look what you're making me say, Knucklehead." said the hedgehog irritably under his breath.

At the same time on Angel Island, a certain echidna sneezed loudly, even though the air was not very cold.

"Sonic, you can do this." Sonic muttered to himself under his breath. Apparently, the task that he was about to do was a bazillion times more difficult than facing Eggman's forces and the deadly Egg Naga.

Once he made sure he was ready, Sonic gently knocked on the door, patiently waiting for a reply from his best friend.

"Go away, Sonic." piped the soft voice of the two-tailed fox inside the room. Sonic visibly flinched when Tails spoke to him in such a cold tone, but it was understandable. Sonic had called Tails by the name he hated the most in his life, so the fox had every right to be angry at him.

However, there was something off in the fox's tone. Despite the coldness of that tone, Sonic could feel something strange, like the anger in it was somewhat forced.

The blue blur smiled a little in relief and said back in a gentle tone, "Tails, I just want to talk to you for a while. Could you at least hear me out? Just five minutes. Promise."

After a moment of silence, Tails' voice spoke up on the inside of the door and told Sonic to come in. Needless to say, Sonic was screaming internally that Tails had agreed to talk. The blue blur opened the door gently and walked inside.

Tails didn't even bother to sit up. Instead, he just lied on his bed with his back turned toward Sonic, indicating he was still mad at his blue friend.

Sonic, knowing full well how Tails acted when he was angry, kept his distance. He pulled a small stool under Tails' bed and sat down, looking at his seemingly despondent best friend. There was an awkward silence after that, for neither uttered a single word.

"So, Tails…" said Sonic after a while as he tried to break the ice and the tension that was obviously filling the air, "What have you been doing all day?"

He could see Tails flinch slightly, but he pretended not to notice. "Still as honest as always." thought Sonic as he tried to suppress a chuckle.

"Sleeping…Why?" said Tails after thinking for a while.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought you might have taken the Tornado and gone out for some fresh air, or maybe took your time sending some messages to your friends somewhere." said Sonic jokingly.

"What is it you want to talk about, Sonic?"

Sonic stopped joking immediately and looked at his best friend with the most serious face he could work up, not that Tails could see him anyway.

"Tails…I just want to say that I'm truly sorry for what I did. You were right, I was a stubborn jerk, a bad friend." Sonic stopped for a while before continuing, "I'm really, really sorry for hurting you, Tails. Could you…forgive me?"

It wasn't often somebody received an apology from Sonic the hedgehog. In fact, nobody had ever seen Sonic apologize sincerely at all, mostly due to his normally playful and sarcastic nature. Tails was pretty much the only exception.

Tails said nothing, he just lied still, not moving a muscle or doing anything that indicated he had heard Sonic's sincere apology.

"Look, Tails. I know you're still mad, and you have every right to be. You don't have to forgive me right away, or for a few days, weeks, months even, but I just want to let you know that I really am sorry for my stupidity and actions. I know how badly I hurt you, and I promise I'll never do it again. I just hope that…we can still be friends, you know…bros."

Again, Tails lied still, unmoving. Sonic sighed and stood up. He muttered "I'm really sorry" one more time before heading outside. By now, the sun had already set, and it was night time already. After all he had been through, Sonic had lost his appetite, and he didn't even feel like eating his favorite chilidog anymore.

When Sonic was about to close the door, he looked back at Tails once again.

"Goodnight, Tails. See you in the morning...little bro."

When he was about to close the door, he heard Tails' soft voice speak to him.

"See you…bro." The last word was a bit softer than the rest, but it was still loud enough for Sonic to hear.

The cobalt hedgehog's ears perked up almost immediately when he heard that last word. A happy smile formed on his face as he looked at Tails' form on the bed.

"Yeah, see you. And thank you...for everything" was all he said back before closing the door. Tails might still be angry at him for what he did, but that one word was more than enough proof that the two-tailed fox had already forgiven Sonic for his mistake.

"Everything will be back to normal tomorrow." Sonic thought gleefully as he went into his bedroom and fell onto his soft bed.

The exhausted hero slowly closed his heavy eyelids and soon drifted to a peaceful sleep. The smile that had formed on his face since he left Tails' bedroom still remained, and it remained on the speedy hedgehog's face all night long that night.

Tomorrow was going to be a new day.

THE END (for this side of the story)

Author's note: So that's it for this side of the story. Thank you very much for your time and precious comments.

If this story turns out to be a success, I will put up Tails' side of the same story when I have free time from school. I have a some ideas for what was going on outside the Egg Citadel at the same time Sonic and Knuckles were going through hell inside the fortress. Also, for our favorite two-tailed genius, all hell breaks loose.

Anyway, thank you everybody for reading my story. Please review and tell me what you think about the story as a whole. Your opinions matter to me. Oh, and check out my other stories as well if you have time. If able, I'll spend some time rewriting and correcting the (numerous, actually, too many to even attempt to count, I know) mistakes in my first story "The Origin of the Unbreakable Bond" (That story was my favorite to write. Took me about a week to finish the draft).