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CHAPTER SEVEN

When I open my eyes I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop from crying out. My head is throbbing and it's really all I can do not to roll into a fetal position and try and hold my brains in. I don't think I've ever had this bad of a headache before. It's really dark and that's not helping.

What the hell happened?

Trying to remember only makes my head hurt more, so I try to relax instead. It will come to me if I let it.

Oh, that's right. Knux got me after all.

I'm leaning against a wall somewhere. As I come back into the world, details start to trickle in.

I think I'm in the shrine.

My eyes adjust to the gloom a bit more and I can just see his outline, maybe 20 metres away. He's sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. One leg is flat on the ground and the other is bent, and his arms are crossed. It hurts to try to distinguish his dark figure from the rest of the blackness so I close my eyes and tell myself that I don't need to feel this pain, that I know what the problem is and I'll deal with it when I can. After a little while it fades enough for me to work around it, and I put the palms of my hands flat against the wall behind me and push myself up. My legs are a bit shaky at first, but once I get them under me they're fine.

A nagging voice in the back of my head tells me to sneak up on Knux and snatch the Emerald from him, but I push it aside. I already tried to bash his brains in. Stealing the Emerald from him now would require me to be more of a jerk than I want to be right now.

As I walk towards Knuckles, making no effort to quiet the echoing of my footsteps, I feel a shiver of uneasiness down my spine. I fought Knuckles over a Chaos Emerald. I fought Knuckles over a Chaos Emerald to save Eggman.

I clench my fists hard and focus on that instead of my thoughts.

Once I'm close enough to make out the white glow of his eyes I stop. "Hey Knuckles."

"Hey Sonic."

His voice sounds funny. Like he has a cold.

I try to think of why that would be and am instantly treated to a horrible flashback of me wrenching his head to the left. The sound of his nose breaking.

I stand there for a minute feeling really uncomfortable and disgusted with myself. My hands are opening and closing on their own in a sort of waving motion so I cross my arms instead, not wanting him to notice. I can't believe I broke his nose.

"Uh… thanks for bringing me in here." I'm going to ask him for the Emerald after doing that?

"It's raining."

His voice is flat and I can't tell what he's thinking.

"Well that doesn't usually stop you." I shrug and look at the floor.

"I'm not giving it to you."

I let my arms drop. "Knuckles, seriously? Why can't you? It won't hurt. Promise." It's too tense in here. I sound stupid and trite but at these times I can't help making idiotic jokes.

Knuckles moves his head a little bit and looks up at me, eyes locked on mine and more serious then I'd ever seen them. "You sure about that, blue?"

I pull in a breath and let my legs fold onto the ground. "Knux, I'm sorry. I didn't… I didn't mean to take it that far."

"Sonic…" His hands are moving up and down his arms a little. "If I wasn't so convinced you were crazy I would have thrown you in a corner somewhere and forgotten about you. But this plan of yours is so bananas that I decided to give you a second chance."

"Well, it's what I do." My fingers dig into the dirt in front of me and play with the little rocks that come loose.

He sits up, uncrossing his arms. His eyes are intense, shadowed by the brows meeting over them. He looks at me hard, then leans back against the wall, puts his hands in his lap, and starts staring at them.

"I don't know why you want to save Eggman, Sonic. But I won't help you. If you want that Emerald you're going to have to go and get it." He sounds strong, confident, but I don't know. I'm also getting a vibe like he's trying to tell me two things at once.

"Knux, I don't wanna fight you again. But I don't know what to tell you."

"Are you stupid, Sonic? Do you work at this or does it come natural?" He presses his fingers into the ground and shoves himself against the wall to brace himself better.

I stop fiddling and look up at him. I hadn't realized I'd looked away.

"I don't wanna argue about it anymore." I stand up and start walking away. I hate this. I feel like I've failed. Maybe if I come back in a few days, with a few of the Emeralds. Maybe then he'll listen.

I head down the exit path inside the shrine, a bitter taste in the back of my mouth . I'm so disappointed in myself. I've wasted all this time and gotten nowhere. And now I'm leaving Knuckles in the shrine with a broken nose that I gave him because I don't have time to help him like I should. I mean if I break a guy's nose I oughtta help him out.

I step out into the open air and the first thing I notice is the sky. It's grey, with thick, heavy clouds, but through one of them the sun is fighting its way through.

The second thing I notice is the Chaos Emerald.

It's on the path just ahead of me. Not hidden. Not dropped. Just there.

I look back at the entrance to the shrine behind me.

Geez am I stupid.

I walk forwards and bend down on one knee to pick it up. It was definitely placed there. It's slick with rain that quickly soaks my gloves. As I stand back up I brush the mud off my leg.

I get a bit of a funny feeling in my stomach. I'm not sure what it is. But it doesn't feel very good. Like kind of a sick, hollow feeling.

I start walking away from the shrine, my shoes making little sucking noises as I pull them out of the mud with each step. When I get into the forest I feel better. I love the smell of rain in the air, and it calms me down. No matter what happens, no matter how dirty something is, one day it will rain and wash it all clean again.

As I continue through the forest, little droplets of mist in the air condense on my skin and I shiver. It's making me cold but the discomfort helps me focus. I want to go see Tails, but I don't have time to get there right now. I need to sleep. I should probably eat too but my headache is growing and sleeping is usually about the only thing that helps. I'm trying so hard to ignore it that I almost walk into about eight trees and knock myself out. As it is I end up with a bad bruise on my arm from hitting a knot with it.

By the time I make it out of the forest and get off the Island, what remaining light in the sky is fading and I know I need to hurry and find somewhere to go. If it rains again I don't want to be caught outside in it. Usually I like being out in the rain, but right now I just want to crash and stay that way, and that won't happen if rainwater is going up my nose.

I make it to the edge of Hydrocity before it gets too dark and, me being me, someone lets me stay the night at their place. Weirdly enough they have a treehouse, so I grab a blanket off them and head in there.

It's a big tree, taller than the house itself. I clamber up the branches and pull myself inside. It's solidly made and looks old but sturdy. I wonder if the tree grew with the house in it or if they put the house in after.

I wrap myself in the blanket and look outside. I can see the ugly little buildings out there. They're all made of these weird coloured, mismatched bricks, as if someone counted how many bricks they had and when they didn't have enough made the rest out of Play-Doh. I hope there are no Chaos Emeralds there. I'm really not in the mood to figure out their waterway right now.

I yawn and close my eyes. I'm gonna be soggy when morning comes but I can't bring myself to care. I have one Chaos Emerald. Only six more to go. I can do this. Everything's gonna be alright.