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Green energy pierced the horizon—A tidal wave descended upon him—Red energy clawed at him from all sides—Metal limbs… a goliath, chasing to crush him—White light… infinity burning within his soul…
Sonic shot bolt upright. A strangled yelp escaped his lip as an icy wave of chills ran down his spine. His breath was a gasping sputtering mess for several seconds while he struggled to reorient himself. Where was he… What… something was wrapped around him, and it was dark and… Oh—sleeping bag.
The battle was over. They were home. They’d won.
He shoved the sleeping bag down around him, until it sat at his waist. It was making him sweat. Or the dream had, and the covers were not helping. He’d given his bed to Tails for the night. A quick glance up to his immediate right revealed a small mound under the covers sleeping peacefully. Good. No need to disturb the fox over his slightly bad dreams.
Sonic dropped his head to his knees and forced a slow, calming breath. He was fine. Everything was fine now. He dragged one hand down across his face, then shook his spines out, and huffed a frustrated breath. The dream had left him feeling antsy. Adrenaline tingled in his limbs, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. At other times, he might sneak out for a midnight run, but… there were so many reasons why he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that tonight.
He considered other options for a moment. There wasn’t much. He had two companions sleeping in his room tonight, and he didn’t want to do anything that would wake them up. He sighed, and gave himself an all over shake. That felt pretty good. He stretched down, tapped his fingers to where his toes hid, beneath the sleeping bag, and tried to release his tension with a steady exhale.
Halfway through the following inhale, something rattled his focus. A muffled bump, and a long groaning creeeeaaak, from the ceiling boards above made him freeze. What. Was. That!? Sonic swallowed his hitched breath and tugged his way out of the sleeping bag to stand. A squirrel? No way. Too quiet. A raccoon? Maybe… but, could a raccoon climb to the roof? He stared up at the port window. It hung tilted open—normal. The moon was out. Not visible at his angle, but enough light was streaming in for him to see. He forced himself to take a deep breath, and thoughtfully glanced around his room.
Tails was sleeping just ahead of him, and, oh. Knuckles wasn’t on the beanbag chair anymore. It had been out of view from his spot on the floor. Sonic padded quietly around the bed to take a closer look. Had the echidna just rolled off or… nope. No echidna on the floor. He glanced back up at the port window. Well… that probably meant it wasn’t a racoon on the roof.
Sonic’s brow crinkled as he considered what to do. Had Knuckles awoken from unpleasant dreams like he had? Or, oh no, had Sonic been snoring? Yikes, that’d be embarrassing. Hmm. Maybe he just needed some fresh air? Sonic didn’t know anything about where Knuckles was from, but if it was at all like the island home Sonic vaguely remembered, a certain open-air feel had always stuck with him about the lifestyle.
Sonic sighed. He wasn’t going to get any answers by standing around here in the dark. He should probably at least check if the Echidna was alright—he’d had a rocky couple of days too.
Sonic stepped up onto the nightstand that stood next to the beanbag for a slight boost, then hopped up and grabbed the windowsill edge with practiced ease. He pulled himself up and through the porthole. He stood, and then looked around.
Sure enough, Knuckles was standing far across from him, at the back edge of the roof. The echidna’s back was to him, and he seemed to be staring up at the stars. It was odd. He looked almost peaceful perched there on the roof ridge, under the glow of moonlight. Sonic wondered if he should just leave him be. It didn’t seem like the echidna had noticed him yet. He watched a moment longer, then turned to slip back inside, but just as he did, the figure across from him shifted slightly, and Sonic caught a brilliant glint of green flicker with the moonlight.
Immediate ice cold dread washed over him. No… He couldn’t. This couldn’t be happening again.
He crossed the roof in a blink, landing just out of arm's reach of Knuckles. He was vibrating with furious energy inside, and sparking lightning at his fists.
“KNUCKLES STOP! You can’t! We… We made a vow.”
Knuckles didn’t even startle. He casually looked over his shoulder, and stared at him for a moment wholly unfazed by Sonic's presence. He turned forward once more, head tilted toward the sky. Several seconds passed that way, desperately tense for Sonic, but then Knuckles did turn around to face him fully.
The echidna frowned, as he met eyes with Sonic and said, “I am not using the Master Emerald, hedgehog.”
Sonic blinked. The lightning fell away, and he suddenly felt way off kilter. “You’re… not?”
When Knuckles merely continued to stare steelily at him, and several more seconds passed where Sonic still felt all of his internal sirens, and panic buttons shrieking, he forced himself to form words to elaborate his question. “Okay… okay, so… WHAT are you doing out here then, Knuckles? Cause, I gotta be honest man, you are freakin me out right now. Like, what the H. E. double hockey sticks dude! Like, it has already been, aaaa DAY, meant in the worst way possible, and now you’re standing up here with THAT, and I'm not sure I can handle another crisis ri—”
“—You believe me to be dishonest?” Knuckles asked.
“I…” It struck Sonic that something in the Echidna’s tone had shifted—it was not firm or steely, like the moment before. It was familiar though. Sorrowful—like it had been on the beach after their escape from the temple. Sonic met his eyes. He appeared almost… hurt by the question.
“No…” Sonic corrected. “I don’t think you’re dishonest Knuckles. But… I don’t understand. What are you doing out here? Why do you have the emerald?”
Knuckles’ expression crumpled slightly at the question. Embarrassment? Shame? Sonic couldn’t tell—didn’t really know Knuckles well enough yet to parse out the intricacies of that change.
Knuckles glanced up to the dark sky above and heaved a great sigh. His whole posture slumped with it, and his eyes fell closed. It looked like exhaustion. Sonic felt it himself—like when he laid back down, he would sleep for days, barring any nightmare incidents—but there was something else. Something, from that tone before, from his eyes, that Sonic was almost tempted to call… vulnerable—if the last two days of absolute chaos hadn't painted his overall impression of Knuckles, with all that ferocity and immeasurable strength, into something that made vulnerable seem… impossible. Silence stretched around them as minutes passed.
Sonic began to wonder if the echidna had any intention of explaining himself at all. He supposed, maybe, that was ok. He didn’t know how long Knuckles had been out here, but surely it had been enough time to activate or disappear with the Master Emerald, if he’d wanted to.
It startled Sonic when Knuckles moved. He lowered himself down, quite suddenly, and it ticked a twinge of concern within Sonic. Maddie had checked over all of them after the battle. None of them had escaped unharmed—they were all bruised and battered, and bandaged to some protest, but no injury had been life threatening. Surely he couldn’t have hidden something… “Are you hurt?” Sonic blurted out, alarm getting the better of him.
Knuckles opened his eyes and finally looked at Sonic again. He studied Sonic for a moment, his head tilting to one side with whatever thoughts were brewing there, then with a single curt shake of his head, he answered, “I am unharmed.”
“Oh… ok. Um… what’s wrong then?”
Knuckles stared back at him for several seconds. He shook his head side to side, and then said, “you asked what I am doing here—why I have taken the Master Emerald.”
“Uh, yeah… yes.”
“I was… I am showing it to my elders. To… my father. I… hoped it might bring them… peace.”
“Oh.” Sonic stared dumbly at Knuckles for several seconds as understanding washed over him—and guilt for his reaction, and uncertainty about how to respond.
“Oh…” Sonic took a few steps closer, hesitated, but then forced himself forward. He sat down next to Knuckles. “That’s… you mentioned a… a battlefield in the sky?”
Knuckles looked at him, then down to the gem in his lap. He absently brushed fingers over its surface and nodded. “It is where they rest now, among the stars. They watch over us.”
“I see. That sounds… nice. Maybe Longclaw is there, watching over me too.”
The immediate way Knuckles turned on him with an incredulous angry glare, made Sonic lean away in surprise. It actually made his fur stand on end, and he gasped a breath in a second of shocked fear. He raised his hands up, half as much to indicate his yield, as a way to shield himself from any blow that might come. “Uhh, or not. Or not! I’m sorry!?”
When a strike didn’t come, Sonic lowered his hands slightly, to gauge the situation. Knuckles was staring at him—not angrily anymore. His eyes had gone, wide and contemplative—uncertain. He turned, and stared out at the dark landscape beyond them. After a moment he spoke.
“You have proven yourself a truly honorable warrior. If… if the owls, if your Longclaw held even a fraction of that same honor which you possess, then… then perhaps there was much I did not understand about their tribe.” Knuckles glanced back up at the stars then. “And… yes, they too would watch over us from the great battleground above.”
It took Sonic a few seconds to realize he was now staring at Knuckles, thoroughly stunned at that immediate turnabout, and the caliber of the discrete compliment neatly hidden therein.
Knuckles really was… something.
Before Sonic managed to think up any sort of appropriate response to that, Knuckles heaved a great sigh and hung his head.
“It was I who strayed from the path of honor on my quest.”
“The path of… Are… are you serious?”
Knuckles glanced sideways at him like he didn’t understand why Sonic was still talking to him.
Right. Very literal, straight forward sensibility with this one.
Sonic wracked his brain for a moment with best guesses of the right thing to say. He was good at jokes, and quick comebacks, not motivational speeches. That was more Tom's department, and Sonic had already used up that chip today. Maybe… maybe keeping it simple was best—use Knuckles’ own language, so to speak.
“Knuckles… I don’t think that’s what happened. You didn’t stray from honor.”
“I aided that madman. I led him to the Master Emerald like a fool!”
“Robotnik lied to you. Right? At every opportunity, I’m guessing. You didn’t know. How could you have? You’ve clearly not spent time here on Earth before. He used that against you. But once you did know, you made a choice to help. You chose to protect people. To protect my town, and this planet. That’s pretty noble if you ask me. That makes you honorable in my book.”
“But if I hadn’t acted so single-mindedly towards completing my quest—”
“But you did. I get it. I had a… well not a quest, but a rule to follow once too. When Longclaw sent me away to escape, she told me—‘never stop running,’—and I didn’t. It’s why I was alone. For years it was all I knew to do, until everything changed. Your destiny was a bit like that too, wasn’t it?”
Knuckles frowned at him. “I wasn’t told… but yes, my quest… it was all I knew to do too.”
Sonic nodded his understanding.
“What changed for you?” Knuckles asked. “Why did you stop running?”
“Robotnik found me. And I found people who I wanted to protect.”
“I see.”
“Look. I don't really know much about… no scratch that. I don't know anything about how we’re different—about your Tribe, or my Longclaw. I don’t even know how I ended up with her. She was just… my everything. I don’t remember anyone else.”
Sonic closed his eyes briefly, and tried to steer his thoughts back on track. He was straying.
“I don’t know much about you either Knuckles, but I… we’re connected. Part of the stuff that made me, me, made you, you too. And whether or not I'm supposed to say this, because of whatever warring sides there once were… I trust you, I know you are good. We never could have won today if you hadn’t separated the Master Emerald from Robotnik.”
Knuckles had been staring off into the horizon for most of that, but for a second glanced over at Sonic. He looked uncertain. Sonic pushed on.
“You can stop running too. You restored the Master Emerald. Your tribe can rest. And… and there’s no doubt, Knuckles—your… your elders, and your father are watching over you with great pride today.”
And oh, that did it.
Knuckles whipped around to stare at him wide eyed. For a moment he looked every bit the young echidna he really was. Sure, he was fiercely skilled, he was powerful, and foreboding with that deep voice, but Knuckles was young and lost, too. Just like Sonic once had been. Sonic could see himself reflected in those amethyst eyes. All the years he’d spent utterly alone. Never a soul to lend a kind word, or help of any sort. And for Knuckles—Sonic wondered if it had been worse than that. That prowess in the way he fought—Sonic couldn’t imagine that just came from training. What had Knuckles had to survive, after losing everything? What had he endured? Sonic could still remember the bone deep loneliness he’d lived with. If not for Tom and Maddie, would he have misplaced his trust too? He couldn’t help but wonder… had Robotnik been the first, to ever offer Knuckles help—even if in deception? Was he the first to pay even the barest of compliments? Had Knuckles seen that as true kindness?
Suddenly Knuckles spoke, breaking off Sonic’s rambling thoughts.
“You really… believe that?” the echidna asked, barely holding back the quiver in his voice.
“Yeah, Knucklehead. I really do.”
A little gasp escaped the echidna, and then he turned his face away and almost folded himself over the Master Emerald, like one might squeeze a rather large plushy.
Sonic politely held his comments and distance at first—he really did get it—but when after a few moments he heard a distinct sniffle, he turned uncertainly toward the echidna. He hadn’t meant for that. Far be it from him to judge tears, but he hadn’t meant to distress Knuckles.
A wayward thought—that barely two days ago he’d complained to Tom that he was too mature for hugs—struck him. It didn’t matter now, but he’d been so wrong about that. What did actually matter was that he knew a version of what Knuckles was feeling. And he knew how to cure it.
He slid over, and reached an arm around Knuckles' back. The echidna tensed for a moment, going stalk still. Sonic held his breath, and prayed he hadn’t miscalculated. He squeezed a sideways hug, tugged Knuckles’ towards him slightly, then brushed a hand gently up and down his back. The tension in Knuckles’ shoulders did ease after a while, and after a moment, he leaned ever so slightly more into Sonic.
Several minutes passed in quiet, save for the soft brush of fur, and the occasional stray sniffle.
Eventually, it was Knuckles who broke the silence. He untangled himself from the gem, sat up a little straighter, and wiped the back of his arm across the wetness in his eyes. He sighed.
“This is not what I thought it would be. I thought it would… feel different.”
Sonic blinked. He wasn’t tracking. “What would feel different?” he asked.
“Fulfilling my destiny.”
Knuckles pulled away from him slightly then. Enough to look Sonic in the eyes.
For half a second it hit Sonic like deja vu—pleading eyes, desperate to belong—like Tails only the night before. He almost laughed as a sarcastic inner voice asked how he of all creatures had become the authority on belonging, but… no. No. He knew. He understood now—how powerful it was to have friendship; how powerful it was to become family.
Sonic reached out and placed his hand over the comically larger one that rested nearest to him on the Master Emerald. He laced his fingers around one of the spikes there, and closed his eyes. Something sparked, and then suddenly he realized he could almost sense it—energy—a zingy sort of sensation, and something that felt like… connection. Was it the Master Emerald? Was it… Knuckles? He couldn’t tell, but when he opened his eyes, Knuckles was staring at him with a surprised sort of near smile.
“You feel it?” he asked inquisitively.
“Yeah.”
Knuckles didn’t offer any kind of explanation, but nodded and looked up to the stars with a contemplative sort of expression.
Sonic took the opportunity to speak his piece.
“Knuckles… Maybe destiny isn't a single thing that we can achieve. Maybe it’s like… like a… a path, that we’ve arrived at together—with Tails too, right? You said it yourself—our new tribe. It’s… this is so different, than where any of us came from, but… I really believe we can do this. We can be something better. Together. We can build our destinies together.”
Knuckles glanced at him, then back up to the sky, before another light gasp escaped him.
He flipped his palm around and shifted until Sonic’s hand was completely engulfed within his grip. Knuckles squeezed him back with a gentleness that Sonic might have thought him incapable of—a gesture that he interpreted as a wordless, thank you.
“I would like that very much, Sonic.”
Sonic couldn’t help it—he beamed a bright smile back at Knuckles. After a moment he tipped his head up to gaze at the stars too. He imagined Longclaw smiling down on them both.
He sighed a long waning breath, which turned into a hefty yawn. It prompted Knuckles to speak again.
“I have disturbed your rest. Do you wish to return inside so we may sleep?”
Sonic considered it for a moment.
“Actually, if it’s alright with you, a few more minutes here under the stars sounds kinda nice.” He leaned all the way back to lay against the roof, and tugged at Knuckles to follow suit.
Knuckles glanced down and smiled a real smile at him. “Here under the stars, we are in good company.”
Sonic tugged at Knuckles’ hand twice more, prompting the echidna to resituate the emerald at his side, and lay back too.
“In good company… Yeah Knuckles. We are. And this time, we’re going to keep it that way.”
FIN
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