"Alright, look man," Tails said, a serious look on his face. "I'm ok with you staying here, you know that."

"But?" Knuckles asked, looking up from his game that he had just paused.

"But, food costs money, as well as the spike in my internet, water and electricity bills, and I'm not made of that. So if you're gonna keep crashing here, I'm gonna ask you start paying rent."

"Bro, come on…"

"Knuckles, it's been like a month and a half. You gotta like, talk things out with her or something."

The echidna's brow furrowed. "Are you sure it's only been that long? Cuz it feels like it's been at least, like, six or seven months… hell, maybe even a year-"

"No, it's been like, two months at most, I assure you. But look, my point is that you need to either move on, talk things out with her, or start paying rent. Or all three. Preferably the first two. I don't mind your company at all, I'm just worried you're letting yourself go staying cooped up in here all the time."

"Yeah, I get it, man. It's just… this sucks, man."

"That's life, Knuckles. Life sucks."

Suddenly, Tails' phone began ringing. "Or does it?" he asked jokingly, pulling his phone out of his pocket and putting it up to his ear. "Hello?" Upon hearing the voice on the other end, he flashed a smirk at his echidna friend. "Oh, hey Rouge!" Knuckles rolled his eyes in response. "What's that, you're outside?" The echidna's eyes widened. As Tails reached the door, he stood up out of his seat and looked around in a panic.

Hanging up the phone, Tails opened the door, Knuckles clearly visible over his shoulder, saying "Hello!"

Sure enough, Rouge stood on his doorstep, a glum look on her face. "Is Knuckie here?" she asked, seeming not to notice the man in question sprint out of view.

"Uh, you know what?"

CRASH!

The sound of a window shattering to pieces somewhere in Tails' house rang out.

"…He just left," the kitsune finished.

"…Really?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah… sorry."

The two stood there, an awkward silence hanging in the air. "So was that all, or…?" the kitsune asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No," the bat sighed. "G.U.N. asked me to deliver a message to you in person regarding the old doctor. It doesn't seem like you're going to be able to see him anytime soon."

Tails' eyes widened in panic. "Wait, is he dead?! He died?!"

"Wha- No!" Rouge snapped. "He's being moved to a new holding cell! An off-world holding cell, to be precise!"

"Oh, thank Chaos," Tails sighed with relief. "Hmm… off-world? You mean, like a space station."

"Well, technically that's classified, but yes, he's being moved to a space station. Given his current health situation, it was deemed as necessary to move him to a lower gravity environment to greatly slow the spread of N.I.D.S. throughout his body."

Tails scratched his head. "They're going out of their way to keep the world's greatest terrorist alive? I get he's changed and stuff, but… hasn't he been battling that for seven years already? Why now?"

"I'm not sure myself, do tell you the truth. Neither I nor Shadow have the clearance to know the details."

"What about Omega?"

"They're… umm…" Rouge paused for a moment, clearly uncomfortable.

The kitsune's head tilted with confusion. "Something wrong?"

"…It's complicated. Complicated, and… highly classified."

"Ah. I… see…" An awkward silence fell over the two of them before he continued, "I guess it's good that the doctor is being moved to a better environment, but why did you have to tell me in person?"

"Because the fact he's being moved is so classified, we're not allowed to send you a message through the internet in case of a data breach."

"And I thought I was paranoid about my data…"

"Well, you know how the government operates."

"Trust me, I'm well aware."

Silence swept over them again. Rouge clearly looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't want to be the first person to acknowledge it. Tails let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Sweet Chaos, I'm gonna regret this," he muttered quickly. Looking up at her, he said, "Alright, let me guess: you've run out of people to vent to because you're dating an anti-social asshat and everyone else is busy so you're coming to me. Did I hit the nail on the head?"

Rouge blushed from embarrassment, averting his gaze. She rubbed her arm a bit before nodding slightly.

The kitsune rolled his eyes before opening the door wider. "Alright, come in, I got nothing better to do today."

The bat obliged without another word, taking a seat at his dining room table. Tails closed the door and went to pour the two of them coffee.

"So I'm guessing this is about Knuckles?" the kitsune muttered as he set aside a full mug and poured into another. "Unless you suddenly had some kind of epiphany where you realized you don't actually like jewels or something insane like that. Which, if that's the case, I'm not the right guy to turn to for your mid-life crisis. Go look for Vector or something."

"No, it's about Knuckie," Rouge replied, annoyed.

"Figures." Tails pulled out some coffee creamer and sugar and looked over at her. "You want any of this?"

"No thanks. I drink my coffee black."

"Gross," he remarked as he poured a lot of cream and sugar in his drink. "You're never too old for sweet things, you know. Sweet things taste better."

"Well, something nice and bitter is a good wake-up in the morning."

"Yeah? Well, you likely woke up bitter at the current state of your love life, I reckon."

Rouge tensed up. "What?"

"Let me put it this way- you left a dimwitted sweetheart for an angsty, bitter old man. And why exactly? Was it the mystique of the 'ultimate life form' nonsense? Were you bored and just wanted a new guy on the side?" Tails slammed a cup of black coffee on the table and slit it over to her, which she caught. "What could possibly be the reason for cheating on one of my closest friends, anyways? No matter what it was, it's not a good reason, I just wanna know."

Rouge looked down at the warm cup of black coffee in her hand in shame, staring at the subtle reflection of her face and the light fixture above her in it. "I… I don't know," she said finally.

"Yes you do," Tails replied bluntly, "you're just scared of confronting the truth."

The bat let out a sigh. "I wanted more… mystery, I guess. Excitement. I don't know. Something like that."

After a moment of silence, the kitsune replied, "What a Cliché."

"Shut up."

"So how's that mystery and excitement treating you? Like dirt, I presume."

"Shadow's a great guy," Rouge defended. "Just… not a great guy when it comes to relationships."

Tails took a long sip from his coffee before gently setting it down on the table. "You know, I just realized something."

Rouge perked up a bit. "What's that?"

"I really don't like you. Like, at all. Honestly, the more I talk to you the more I understand why Amy stopped hanging out with you a few years ago."

"…What?"

"You've always been kinda on the edgier side as far as our friends go, but something happened a few years back and it's like… now you're just kind of a bitch, to put it bluntly."

"Excuse me?"

The kitsune exhaled loudly, rolling his eyes. "I don't like you. A lot of us don't like you. You helped us save the world a couple times, and that's great! Doesn't mean we like the person you've become. We all stopped talking to you when you stopped acting like a friend and pushed us away with your bad attitude. Plain and simple."

Rouge was silent. He took that silence as a sign to continue.

"Look Rouge, maybe it's time you came to realize your actions have consequences. You've always been selfish, but it's just gotten worse and worse throughout the years. Now none of us want to hang out with you. None of us want to reach out and talk to you. We just follow you on social media because we feel obligated to since at some point in our lives, you were kind of a friend. Maybe you were a friend. It's been so long, I can't really remember."

Tails took a sip of his coffee as the bat across from him pondered his words. She brought the warm cup to her lips and took a small sip. A bland, bitter taste washed through her mouth. It tasted terrible. "Is it too late to get something sweet in this?" she asked.

The kitsune shrugged. "I don't know, is it? That's not up for me to decide."

The bat gave him a puzzled look.

Glancing between her and the cup in her hand, the connection was finally made. "Oh you mean the- yeah, sorry, I thought- you know I thought you meant like…" He stood up, turning to the kitchen to hide his face, which was now red with embarrassment. "I'll go grab some creamer," he mumbled.

As he left for the kitchen, Rouge sat and stared into the muddled reflection of her face in the black liquid contained in the cup. All she could do now was think about what he said. How he was wrong. How she didn't believe him. How he was lying.

But in the end, the only person lying was her to herself.

A crumpled up piece of paper hit the top of a much larger pile of similar papers in a small trash can, before falling to the ground. Amy let out an exhausted sigh of frustration. No design she made felt like it suited her. None of them screamed her famous catchphrase, "No need to fear, Amy Rose is here!" Nothing she made really seemed like something she'd actually want to wear, either.

She exhaled as she leaned back in her office chair, staring up at the ceiling. Designing outfits usually came natural to her. She got Sonic and Tails' outfits almost instantly. Knuckles wasn't too hard either. She knows herself better than anyone, so why was she having such a struggle? Standing up out of her chair, she walked over to her window and looked out at the flights of the city below. Her eyes drifted to the night sky above.

Part of her longed to see the Tornado IV flying through the night sky. Her mind wandered back to the night they looked at the start night sky. It may just be wishful thinking, but part of her felt like he wanted to tell her something else that night. "Oh, Amy," she said to herself with a sigh. "You're truly hopeless, aren't you?" A solemn look crossed her face as she stared out the glass, a soft outline of her reflection barely visible against the glowing city lights that faded into the night sky. As she gazed into her faint reflection, the gears in her head began to turn. Something about the black sky, the warm city lights and her face seemed to paint a picture.

The moon.

The sun.

The fortune teller.

Amy's eyes widened with realization. Her favorite hobby, ever since she was a girl. Something she'd often relied upon to guide her to through life. It was sitting right there in front of her all this time.

Without a moment's hesitation, she ran to her desk, grabbed a pen and started sketching.

"Hey, I'm back!" Knuckles said as he casually lugged a wrapped up pane of glass through Tails' front door. "Sorry about the window, I'll fix it tomorrow. What's for-" He looked up, only to see that Rouge and Tails were at the dining room table. "…dinner…"

"Facing your problems!" Tails said with enthusiasm. "And uh… I don't know, I'll make some grilled cheese or something later."

The echidna set the glass pane gently against the wall and began to slowly walk backwards towards the door.

"So help me Chaos, if you leave, I'm not letting you stay here anymore."

Knuckles groaned in frustration. He shut the door behind him and walked over to the table. "Fine." Pointing the door to the hangar, Knuckles looked the kitsune in the eye and calmly said, "Go."

"Way ahead of you," Tails said as he got up and headed to the hangar. "I don't think I can put up with her much longer."

The door slammed shut and Knuckles took Tails' seat across from Rouge. For a moment, the room was filled with an awkward silence. It was Knuckles who broke the silence. A simple "Why?" was all he asked. Rouge lowered her head in response. "I know you think I'm stupid," Knuckles continued. "Hell, a lot of people do. I know I'm dimwitted and naive, but I'm not blind. I knew. Of course I knew. You never were good at hiding things." He a took breath and looked out the window across the room. "I figured it would end soon, but it didn't. To be honest, I was scared of what you'd say if I confronted you. I didn't want to fight. I didn't want us to hurt each other." Knuckles closed his eyes and shook his head. "But we did fight, and did hurt each other, and you broke my heart and left me miserable. I was mad. Then I was upset. There's a lot of things I want to say to you, Rouge, but all I really wanna know is why you did it. So answer me…" Opening his eyes, the echidna locked them with the eyes of the bat across from her. "Why?"

Rouge thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know why," she said finally.

Knuckles frowned. "Yeah you do. You just don't wanna say it."

"I…" She looked away. "I don't know… I'm sure I had a reason, but I can't remember it anymore… Really, I can't."

"So… you cheated on me, broke my heart, and now you tell me there wasn't a noteworthy reason for doing so." The echidna just shook his head in disbelief. "And to think, I was going to propose."

The bat's ears perked up. "You- wha-?"

Knuckles smiled faintly. "I had a ring and everything. An ancestral emerald ring that had belonged to my ancestors at one point. I modified it by putting a diamond on it, one that I knew you'd love. A priceless artifact of my culture, and I butchered it to make it more appealing to you." He shook his head again, this time in shame. "Oh, what a fool I was. And to think, I actually loved you. I saw something in you once, but whatever it was is long gone."

Rouge grabbed his hands, leaning on the table to get closer to him. "No, it's not gone!" she yelled with tears in her eyes. "There's still something between us, Knuckie! I can feel it! I know I've been terrible to you, nothing can excuse that, but I promise you I'll be better! I love you Knuckie, really, I do!"

Knuckles blushed a bit. For a moment, he seemed to consider her words, but it wasn't too long before the blush faded and a frown appeared once again. "I wonder how your boyfriend would feel about you saying that," he muttered simply.

Rouge froze up, at a loss for words. She let go of the echidna's hands and sat back down in her chair. Knuckles smiled sadly. "I figured you hadn't broken up with him," he whispered. "Now you're coming running to another man, again, while in a relationship with someone else, again."

"Knuckles… it's not like that, I swear!" Rouge said desperately.

"Then what is it like? Tell me. Give me one good reason why what you're doing to Shadow right now isn't what you did to me."

"I… I… it's not like that…" was all she could muster.

Knuckles stood up and walked over to the front door. All she could do was watch. "For a moment, I thought I saw the women I loved again," he said almost nostalgically. "But I know what I'm worth as an individual. But as a man, I'll admit simple. So, even though you've shown that you're no good for me and broken my heart, I'd just like to say that… in another life…" He stopped by the door and turned to look at her. "I would've loved to see the look on your face when I proposed to you." Without another word, he opened the door, face towards the ground.

"I think you should leave," he muttered.

Rouge sat there, trying to think of something to say, but she couldn't. Not a single word of defense came to her mind. So, without fully realizing it, she stood up and began walking. Before she knew it, she was outside. As the door closed slowly behind her, she turned around and in an act of desperation, blurted out, "Knuckles, please, just give me another chance! I'll be good to you, I promise! We can rediscover our feelings again! Go on vacation or a road-trip for a while! I can make it up to you, I promise!"

The echidna didn't even look her in the eye when he coldly replied, "Goodbye, Rouge. I'd say don't be a stranger, but… you already are one, as far as I'm concerned."

And with that, the door shut in her face. She stared at it, longingly, wishing things were different. In the end, however, she was forced to come to the truth. This was her fault. This was the logical conclusion her actions had led her to. And the truth was difficult to bear. She turned around, tears in her eyes, and began to walk away from the house into the dark of night.

On the other side of the door, Knuckles exhaled slowly, a twang of guilt in him as he thought of her depressed face. His thoughts were broken by a creaking door. His eyes snapped to the now open door leading to the hangar, where Tails stood silently.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," the kitsune said quickly.

"I didn't say you were-" Knuckles started.

"Ok fine, I was! I was just concerned about you, ok?!"

The echidna smiled and walked over to his friend, taking him for a hug before ruffling his hair playfully. "You're such a kid sometimes, little bro."

Tails squeezed through his grip and began to fix his hair. "Hey, stop!" He yelled.

"I'm just messing with ya, Tails."

"I know, I know. So… you good?"

"Kind of. I don't know."

"Wouuullldddd fixing my window while I make some grilled cheese and tomato soup help take your mind of things? It's chilly in here." The fox shivered for emphasis.

Knuckles smiled. "Sure thing, bro. Can you put pepperjack on mine?"

"Odd, but sure!"

The two split ways, Tails heading for the kitchen and Knuckles grabbing the glass pane from against the wall and heading to the window. "Oh, and Knux?" Tails shouted, looking over his shoulder. The echidna turned to face him and he continued. "I'm proud of you. For standing up for yourself like that, I mean. Maybe one day you two can try again, but it's way too soon for that. You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for."

Knuckles smiled. "Thanks, Miles. I appreciate that."

"Don't mention it, man," Tails said, smiling back.

The two then returned to their separate tasks.

Author's Note: Short, but important. Next one will wrap up the Chaotix story, then the rest of this story will be much more Tails and Amy focused. Thanks for sticking through all the side character stuff, hope you like what comes in the future. Sorry for the late update, got into a relationship recently so I'm inspired to write this more.

As always, please Read & Review. Love you guys. See you next chapter.