Chapter 5: "Sally's Gone!"

Tails burst into Sonic's room with great panic. "Sonic! Wake up!" he shouted.

The hedgehog shot up in his bed, spines bristling. "What's going on?" he demanded, with a grumpy voice. He'd been having a wonderful dream, running over mountains and across lakes, never slowing or pausing to take in his dreamscape, just reveling in the freedom of the wind rushing through his quills and his feet churning in endless motion.

"Sally's gone!" Tails wheezed as he fought to catch his breath.

"What?!" Sonic jumped out of bed, all grumpiness instantly gone.

"I woke up and found… My keys… were gone," he explained. "I… went to tell Sally… but her room was empty… I can't find her anywhere!"

Sonic ran a hand through his spikes. It wasn't like Sally to disappear without a word to anyone like that. What in the world would drive her to such drastic actions? Then it hit him. She was getting back at him for disappearing over a year ago. "Dammit," he muttered.

"What should we do?" Tails asked, having settled somewhat.

"Nothing," Sonic replied simply and lied back down in his bed.

"What?" Tails asked full of disbelief.

"Nothing," Sonic repeated, "She's a grown woman and can make her own decisions."

"Shouldn't we go after her?"

"No. She needs time to get over my reappearance. It shook her pretty bad when I first returned, remember?"

"But-"

"Look, Tails, she left to try and hurt me. Wherever she is, she's safe. Besides, I have a rough idea of where she might be."

"Which is?"

"None of your concern. If we try to follow her, it's just gonna make her madder and do even more dangerous things. Believe me, she'll be back in a couple of days. She just needs to cool off."

Tails looked ready to argue more, but Sonic silenced him with a warning look. He stepped back slowly, gave Sonic a disappointed glare, and then left the room.

Sonic sighed and tried to fall back asleep.
* * *

Knuckles set a bowl of fruit salad before Sally and one in front of Julie. The two were seated at a finely made wood table in Knuckles's cabin. The entire structure was full of quaint hand-carved furniture. The chairs, the table, the fireplace, all of it were lovingly crafted by the Guardians in generations past. It had an antique feel to it and was actually quite comfortable.

Knuckles seated himself between the two, picked up his fork, and started to eat. Sally and Julie also speared some fruit chunks and began to eat. The fruit was sweet, tangy, and obviously ripe. In fact, it was probably the best mango Sally had ever tasted. Knuckles may not have much skill with actually cooking anything, but he could make a mean fruit salad. Pineapple, mango, banana, kiwi, and grapes were all mixed into an exquisite entrée.

Julie plucked a grape out with her fingers and proffered it to her boyfriend. Knuckles obediently opened his mouth slightly and Julie popped the morsel in. He chewed it and grinned at Julie. She smiled back, leaned over, and gave him a peck on the lips. Sally dropped her gaze to her bowl and tried to focus on it as if it were the most interesting thing in the world; her appetite no longer present. She felt a bitter jealously rise up in her stomach, and instantly felt guilty. She shouldn't blame Julie for having a satisfying relationship, when she didn't.

It took a moment before she realized that Julie was talking to her. "Sorry. What were you saying?" Sally asked.

"I said, 'I'm glad you could visit us, Sally,'" Julie repeated.

"Oh, it's my pleasure, really," she replied. "Things have been pretty slow around the base," she continued.

"Really?" asked Knuckles. "I would've expected Sonic's return to have rocked more than a few boats. Er, no pun intended."

"Oh, believe me it did," she assured the crimson echidna. "In fact, that's actually part of why I came."

"Is it? And here I thought it was because you missed us," Knuckled joked, laughing at his own wit. Julie giggled a little bit too.

"No, I did miss you guys! It's been to stressful at camp, so I thought a little R&R with my friends would help take my mind off other matters."

"Well as we've already said, you're always welcome," Julie reaffirmed.

"Well, I'm not sure all of what we could do," Knuckles mused aloud, and effectively shifting the subject, "There's really not much to do here."

Sally grew a rather suggestive smile. "Am I to take it you two have been, let's say, romping around when you get bored?"

Julie and Knuckles both blushed deeply (although it almost blended in with their respective peach and red fur). "No, er, I mean- Not-" Knuckles stuttered, while Julie was at a complete loss for words.

Sally laughed and waved a dismissive hand. "I'm kidding! Just messing with you. Boy you two are easy!"

Julie relaxed a little, although Knuckles still looked uncomfortable about his potential sex life being mentioned. "We mostly lie around and watch clouds," Julie replied, carefully. "Although someone tends to fall asleep," she added, elbowing Knuckles gently.

"Well excuse me for nodding off on soft grass in the warm sun," he responded indignantly. "Sonic does it all the time, and gets away with it."

Sally tensed a little at the mention of Sonic's name. Fortunately, Julie picked up on the motion and tried to steer away from that particular subject. "Sally, you're our guest so I think you should decide what we should do," the pink echidna suggested.

"I don't mean to impose," Sally said, "If you have anything that needs to be done…"

"Nah, the duties of a Guardian can be dreadfully boring most days," Knuckles assured the chipmunk. "As long as I'm on the island, if an emergency were to arise, I can handle it; although I seriously doubt that."

"Well in that case, whatever you normally do is fine with me," Sally finished.

"Nope. We aren't going to squander your visit with child games, I have a little something I've been saving for such an occasion," Knuckles affirmed. He strode over the pantry, reached in, and produced a bottle of wine.

"How did you hide that from me?" Julie demanded.

"I hid it with the pots and pans," Knuckles answered as he returned to the table, "Lord knows you don't cook."

"Cheeky whelp," Julie huffed good-naturedly. Knuckles selected three crystal cups and placed them on the table. He took his corkscrew and removed the foil, screwed the cork, and pulled it out with an audible "pop!"

"Is it wise to drink so early?" Sally asked.

"Why not? It's five o'clock somewhere," Knuckles answered dismissively. "You visiting us by yourself is worth celebrating. For once, a calamity doesn't have to bring us together," he noted wryly.

Sally shrugged in acceptance. It was good enough reason for her. A little liquid courage might do her some good, besides Julie and Knuckles would be drinking with her. So she supposed that getting drunk first thing in the morning didn't constitute her being a drunkard.

Knuckles served the drink into the clear glasses and set the bottle aside. Julie and Sally picked up their chalices, and gave the blood-red liquid a small swirl. Knuckles picked up his and sniffed it expertly, Sally almost laughed at how noble-like he looked sampling his wine like an upper-classman. The three clinked glasses and sipped their drinks. The wine had a robust flavor typical of its kind.

After everyone downed their first glass, Knuckles courteously refilled each of their glasses and repeated the gesture. Knuckles and Julie finished before Sally, but patiently waited for the chipmunk to finish hers. Sally set the glass down and cleared her throat. "Wow. That's actually pretty good, what is it?"

"A bottle of a batch my grandfather, Sabre, made while he was Guardian," Knuckles told her, "There are quite a few barrels under the surface. I guess he found a hobby to do instead of being bored."

"Did your father know about it?"

"I'd imagine so, since Sabre was his father and mentor. Even if he hadn't told my dad, I'm sure he found it while he was Guardian. I swear that man knew everything about the island."

"Do you miss him?" Sally asked tentatively. She knew his father's whereabouts was a mystery to everyone and a touchy subject for the echidna. It was presumed that Locke was dead, and his ex-wife had remarried a wealthy businessman (also an echidna), but honestly, no one ever found his body.

"Sometimes. But it's been so long, if he wasn't dead, he would've returned already. I've had time to come to terms with it." Knuckles ignored social protocol and refilled his glass and downed it in one long gulp.

"Hey, now's not a time for sad thoughts," Julie interrupted, "We're supposed to be having fun."

"You're right, Jules," Sally agreed. "Any ideas on what else to do, other than getting drunk off our asses?"

"I have a pack of playing cards around here somewhere," offered Knuckles, only half-looking for them.

"Great, we can play Go Fish or Old Maid," Julie suggested.

"I was hoping for a more adult game," Sally protested.

"Poker?" Knuckles checked, suddenly looking kind of eager.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Here they are," Julie announced from the living room, pulling them out of table drawer.

"Great, let's play," Knuckles chuckled as he rubbed his palms together.

"What are we going to play for?" Sally questioned.

The trio thought for a while then Knuckles ventured hopefully, "Perhaps articles of clothing?"

Julie and Sally stared at the echidna then looked at each other and laughed hysterically. "Whoo-hoo! In your dreams, Knuxie!" Julie howled with mirth.

Sally put her head on the table and pounded it as she shook uncontrollably with laughter. They both laughed until tears rolled down their faces and their sides ached. Knuckles shrugged and tried to look nonchalant (rather unsuccessfully). "It was only a suggestion," he mumbled embarrassedly.

"I think Knux has got some rings lying around somewhere," Julie stated as she began a search for the said rings.

Sally still giggled a bit at Knuckles' absurd suggestion, and then a thought crossed her mind. A particularly dirty thought. If Knuckles was interested in both Sally and Julie, then maybe, just maybe, there was hope for Sally's plan after all. It would just take careful handling and manipulation. Something Sally had a definite talent for.

New Author's Note: Another fine chapter from Promises. I guess this one could be labelled "saucy", but it's more suggestive than anything else. Oh, and for those of you who read the original (such as GoldenBullet and Random Guest), stay tuned, I may just surprise you with the subsequent installments. I'm not giving any spoilers, but I have thought about changing the ending slightly. Cheers!

And now, in response to your reviews: thanks to all of you for your reviews. To Mischevous Whisper, thank you for your review on Chapter 3, that was the kind of feel I was going for and I'm glad someone else got the same feeling reading it. To GoldenBullet, in all honesty, this is pretty much a rewrite/edited version of the original, so I would think that it couldn't be any worse and only slightly better. Regardless, thank you and as I've said earlier, keep an eye on this as it progresses. You may notice a few tweaks later in. And finally to Random Guest, I think I saw your review on the old story and it shocked me to find that people were still stumbling across this old relic after I left for an extended period of time. IMO, if this is the best fanfic you've read, you probably just haven't read many. I would say this fic is in the top 50%, maybe, but not in the top 10%. In any case, it really improves my self-esteem with your opinion on my characterization of the said characters. Moving on, I agree that it is very frustating with the way many fanfic writers portray their characters (especially Sally, Knux, and Sonic, among others). You could say my frustration with poorly made fanfics is part of what prompted me to write my own. Knux lusting after Rouge wasn't a big one for me; it was mostly either him being portrayed as an idiot or as a straight up asshole. Also the idea that he's some super cool guy that's lucky with ladies is false. He's cool, yeah, and may be a chick magnet, but he's also kinda naïve and uncomfortable around most women (as a result of his isolation on Angel Island). So when a girl hits on him, he often doesn't register the hidden message or misinterprets it. I don't expect to change the entire fandom's view on Knuckles, but one grain of rice can tip the scales. I just want to create the best portrait for Knuckles possible.

Continuing, I have tried my hand at a crack couple. The result was "The Mobian Experience", which, for the moment, is complete. It's Knuckles x Nicole and was postively received, I'm pleased to say. If you're interested, check it out on my profile page. In the second part of that section, I am working on a new setting for the characters in my "Age of Mobius", which will probably be up in Nov. or Dec. It's a fantasy/adventure series divided into seasons and updated in episodes. Currently, I have at least five seasons planned, and may extend it to six or seven depending on whether I can think of a reasonable foe for the heroes to face. The main cast will be: Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, Dr. Robotnik, and a smattering of extra OCs. It will also have my own fursona/OC in it as a major recurring character. Let's see if I can generate some hype for it. And finally, I try to avoid high school romances (mainly because they're overused, cliché, and often has nothing to do with canon), but I may test my skill with it later on.

*Wheeze* I think that's longwinded enough for me. See you all later, TheEpicTales.

Bonus! My Original Author's Note:

Author's Note: Wow! I actually did it faster than I anticipated; it took me only slightly over an hour. So Sonic is onto Sally's game, but the poor guy has no idea what she plans to do while she's gone. Tails is even more disappointed in his hero. I don't know where Cream and Amy are yet… Maybe they're still sleeping? Julie is unsuspecting of Sally's motives, but for how long? And what about Knuckles?! He seems a bit perverted in this chapter. I'm thinking he is actually kind of serious about a three-way but we can't be sure. He could be very well just being a horny teenage boy. Anyways, it is here that I official draw the line and say that this fanfic has crossed over into the T Zone. You can probably expect lemonyness to consistently appear in later chapters. Enjoy.