No Brotherly Love 2: Echoes In Time

Chapter 5: Bloody Knuckles and Sweaty Palms

Horror consumes me for nothing more than a bitter moment as my mind tries to comprehend the possibilities of how the person that stands before me is really here.

"Knuckles…" I mutter, still in disbelief. His body seems to carry great weight, as his back is bent, his arms hang loosely and his head is barely able to look up. His body, without a doubt, is consumed by the Darkness.

A disgusting gurgling sound can be heard before it speaks. "Sonic…I know you…"

"It is you…" I say, before slowly moving forwards towards it. "Knuckles…How…?"

"Because of you…" He hisses aggressively, making me step back for a second, before collecting myself. "You did this…To me…It's all your…It's all your fault…"

"Don't blame me for this." I counter, the fear I felt not long ago vanishes from my being. "I have nothing to do with…Whatever you are."

"I've been tasked…To…" He trails off for a second, looking around fearfully, like something's watching. Suddenly he backs away, his body stiffens and he spits, "They lied to me…They told me they could help her!"

"Help? Help who?" I ask as I start to follow him as he continues to move away.

He lets out a sorrowful moan, before hanging his head. "For her…For Rouge…" I try to move closer, but he becomes hostile. "But you…You ruined it! You ruined everything!" I myself start to take steps back, only for him to move forward with each step. "They killed me…Because of you…You didn't help us…You abandoned us! And we suffered…Because of your weakness…Your goddamn pride! Now she's dead…" For a spilt second, he seems like he'll break down crying, but that all disappears and is replaced by rage. "She's dead…Because…Because you killed her!"

He lunges at me, tackling me to the floor. Struggling, I manage to place the soles of my feet against his chest and kick him off.

"I had to! She was suffering, Knuckles!" I scream.

"Liar!" He too exclaims before charging at me.

He wraps his arms around me and continues to run, picking me up. He sprints through walls of metal, making me cry out in pain.

"Stop…Knuckles…!" Then I feel it…The Darkness. "Knuckles…Don't…"

He throws me to the floor, and laughs wickedly. "I'm gonna enjoy taking her from you…As you took Rouge from me…"

"What did you say?" I spit, before slowly standing up. "I'll kill you…" And then the Darkness takes over. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"

I sprint towards him, full speed, and plough my fist through his chest, enjoying the feeling of his breaking ribs against my fist, before flooring him with the very same punch.

"No…Please…" He begs, but I'm gone now…And only the Darkness remains…

"What did you say about killing her?" I cackle, watching as he tries to crawl away. Between his quiet pleads of 'Please's and 'Help me's, I follow him, strolling alongside his crawling form. "You know…" I bend down and grab him by his neck. "I never liked you." He then thrust my hand upwards, making him shoot up through about three levels. "And you know what else…" I grin, jumping up to the level he now lies on. "I'm gonna enjoy watching you bleed." I finish with a crooked smile, before kneeling next to him and ramming my hand through his skull, causing the black liquid inside to splatter everywhere. I stand up and walk to the hole I made and look back at him. "How pitiful."

Then I jump down the hole, transforming back to my normal self as I do so. Confused, I look around, and notice the large hole above me.

"What the…What did I do?" I ask myself, scratching my head. I turn my attention back to finding Amy and continue forward.

After about eight minutes of searching, I start to become worried. My calls become more frantic and fearful, with a hope in my heart that she is alright.

"Amy! Amy, where are you?" I tried to be as quiet as I possibly could before, hoping to avoid attention, but that worry has vanished now. I need to find Amy.

"What're you crying about, spikey?" I hear a voice call from the shadows beside me. Thankfully, it's a familiar voice. Amelia strolls from the shadows, all calm and collected, seemingly not fussed about how worried she'd been making me. Frankly, I think she liked to see me all worried.

"I see you're alright." I cross my arms, a serious expression plastered onto my face, a fake mask hoping to hide my relief. Can't have her using my kind nature to her advantage, can I, no matter what those intentions may be?

"Yeah." She smirks, looking at her nails. "I started to worry that you wouldn't be able to take care of that thing yourself, so I came back to help. Luckily, you had it under control…Surprisingly. So, fortunately for me, I didn't have to hurt my pretty little hands.

I scoff, jokingly. "Sure…C'mon Doctor Jones, there's an adventure awaiting us."

"Doctor Jones?" She frowns, missing the joke.

I turn to her, and evil grin on my face, hoping that she'll start to fret about what I mean. "Oh, nothing."

"Wait!" She calls. Bingo. "What do you mean 'Doctor Jones'?" I carry on walking, whistling as I do so. "Hey! Blue boy! What do you mean?"

We carry on walking for a short while, and she continues to pester me about what I meant earlier. I try to distract myself from her nagging when a horrible thought comes to mind.

'What happened to Knuckles…?' I think to myself. I ponder it a little more, and my memory is blank. He was there, in front of me. His words are incoherent, and I can't make out what he's saying. But he's infected, I know that much. But whether 'infected' is the right word to describe him is debatable, but either way, he's not normal…Not anymore. Fear grips my heart as I become worried at what had happened. 'I don't know what happened…It's all a fuzz…Anger…It's all the same as before when…I changed…Could I have…? No! Not to Knuckles…Not Knuckles…Right?'

But then I remember, to my darker self, my old feelings have no meaning, lest they be for Amy. My Amy, that is, not the one beside me, who is still babbling…

"…So are you gonna tell me or not?" I listen in again.

"Nah…" I smile, earning a glare from her. Life, though it has it's bad points, is amazing. And even things like that evil stare reminds me of that, as does the thought of losing Knuckles. Though the days may be dark and may become even darker, I will live every second like it's my last…And it may just be, more than ever now.