Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Framing the Shadow ❯ Reunion Part 2 ( Chapter 6 )

Framing the Shadow: Chapter 5 (part 2)

Wandering aimlessly in the depths of the forest, Knuckles frowned from realizing he was lost. His mind had been raided and plagued with thoughts of that voluptuous bat woman he couldn't stop thinking of for the life of him. With an annoyed groan, he ran a mitt through his dreads and turned around. "Looks like coming here was a bad idea… I should probably head back to camp…" he uttered, looking around. "…That is if I can remember which way I came from…"

Irritated that he was lost in the middle of nowhere, Knuckles lifted his attention to the dark treetops above him, looking for an opening. "It almost goes on forever…" he grumbled. Looking down, he barely noticed the bent grass that he had previously stepped on. "Looks like this is my ticket out." He uttered.

The moment he took a step, a familiar energy coursed through him, and paused him in his tracks. Knuckles stood perfectly still as he felt the sensation ripple through his chest, his arms, then resonate at his feet.

"…A Chaos Emerald…" he muttered, turning his back on the trail and heading off in the opposite direction.

After maneuvering through the dark forest, Knuckles felt the resonating vibes grow stronger as neared closer to the emerald. "It's close."

Minutes later, Knuckles found himself in a small clearing that seemed to be the only part of the forest where the light from the sky above could shine through.

Gazing at the oasis, Knuckles led his attention upto the patch of trees where the glimmer of the pale moonlight managed to spill through and illuminate the surrounding trees in a tinted blue glow.

Wordlessly, he trailed his eyes over the small spring before him that held the gleam of the moonlight on its pure crystal-clear surface that also reflected the blue tint to everything around it, including it's current visitor.

A light smirk inched across Knuckles' lips as he recognized this to be the same spring that Sonic had fallen into during their fight.

'That hedgehog…he was practically sitting on a Chaos Emerald, and he didn't even know it…'

Without another thought, Knuckles stepped upto the spring and gazed into its clear waters for the emerald. He tried squinting, but was still unable to locate the jewel.

"I guess there's no other way." he stated, reaching a mitt into the chilling water and fishing around. Seconds later, he retracted his hand with a blue gem in his firm grasp.

Eyeing the jewel, Knuckles recognized it to be the same color as the one Rouge had thrown at him in his dream. He unknowingly clenched it tightly to his chest as he recalled his dream. "Could that have been a message of some sort…?" he wondered, gazing into the lucid water that rippled in the moonlight.

He narrowed his eyes. "…Then maybe Rouge is still…" he trailed off, roughly shaking his head. "I've got to get my mind off her!" he growled, slightly turning away. "All she's been doing is making me feel guilty that I let her go like that… Making me feel like a failure…"

Angered, Knuckles turned away from the spring, and clenched the emerald in his fist. "…She's made it very clear…that I can't protect her, or the Master Emerald …or anyone else! Probably not even myself…but I don't care… Nothing but trouble, that's all she is." He remorsefully looked down, failing to realize how hard he was clenching the emerald.

"I shouldn't even be here with Sonic and the others. I should have just gone home…Home to the Mast Emerald. That's all I need… not some saucy gold digger. All she wants is the emerald... She would never stoop low enough to care for some lonely guy like me." Knuckles frowned, while battling with his emotions as his anger began to dissipate and regret moved in its place.

"Rouge… … wherever you are…you deserve better…" he muttered sadly. Turning to leave, he almost ran from the spring when another wave of emerald energy swam through him, forcing him to turn around. Still immersed in his sadness, Knuckles neared glared at the spring. But, with an annoyed curl of his lips, he tried to push his thoughts aside and walked over to the water. Peering into it, he could feel the presence of another Chaos Emerald resonate with his being, calling him to it.

Without a word, Knuckles began to fish in the spring again, when the ruffling of the treetops above him stopped him in his search. 'Someone's coming' He thought, then briskly took his hand from the spring and glided upto the treetops that were opposite from the moon-spilled opening. Hidden in the tangled branches, and a few thorny vines as well, Knuckles eyed the spring like a hawk.

Seconds later, a figure swooped down from the moonlit opening and landed right in front of the spring. With a quick movement of their wings, Knuckles squinted his eyes to get a better look and realized the entity to be female. A small gasp escaped him when he recognized her to be Rouge.

"Rouge…!" he mumbled, almost blowing his cover. He hesitated, not knowing if he should be happy to see her or too pained to even bother with her. There was a hurtful squeeze in his heart, but he forced himself to ignore it while watching her closely.

Near the spring, Rouge looked at her radar, then in the water. Her keen eyes were quick to search and locate what she thought was the emerald. Retracting it, her bright smile faded as she found it to be just a really shiny rock and tossed it aside.

With a groan, she looked at the radar, then in the spring, and just turned the radar off. "I know you're here…" she spoke smugly.

Knuckles could feel sweat trim his brow. 'Does she know it's me?' he thought, but still didn't move from his perch. He watched as she looked around, then stepped closer to the spring. Gazing lazily into the clear water, Rouge yawned and covered her mouth. Then for some strange reason Knuckles didn't understand, Rouge turned away from the spring and lifted her attention up towards the glowing moon above.

Almost seeming to enjoy its pale glimmer, Rouge dreamily eyed it with wandering thoughts. Such a simple sight as the moon was amusing to get her mind to drift to that echidna. "Knuckles…" she muttered, lowering her eye-lids in a sympathetic manner. "…He's probably guarding the Master Emerald now…without a care in the world."

Returning her eyes to the spring before her, Rouge wordlessly gazed into it as if its pale, yet pure hue could relate to how she felt. She didn't even know if she would see him again after leaving him so abruptly on the ARK. He even sacrificed his own safety to make sure hers was allright.

"That idiot…" she muttered.

Minutes passed, taking longer than desired, before she finally shrugged it off. "Oh well. His loss!" she reassured herself, and reached in her pocket for the radar. When she pulled it out, a small slip of paper got attached to it.

"What's this…?" Rouge wondered, taking the slip between her fingers and opening it.

"…This is…his number that he gave me." Standing silent for a few minutes, Rouge remained expressionless, then silently took out her cell phone. "I guess a call wouldn't hurt.." she murmured, punching in the digits.

'Oh no…' Knuckles thought, breaking into a sweat. 'Tell me I left my cell back with Sonic! Tell me I don't have it with-'

Knuckles' feverish thoughts were interrupted when the midi melody of "Never Scared" rang through the area.

"$#!+!" he cursed, trying to quickly reach for his phone, when he lost his balance and he fell out of the tree--- right at Rouge's feet.

With a start, Rouge leapt back and quickly put her phone away. She was caught in a gape as she saw that listless echidna trying to push himself up off the ground. "Knuckles!" she said, almost exasperated. "What the…why you…idiot!! You were spying on me, weren't you?!"

With a grunt, Knuckles lifted his warrior's face to her, which had been scratched by a few of the thorns as well as the rest of him.

Noticing that he was hurt, Rouge groaned and shook her head to hide her concern for his wounds. "You could have at least turned your cell phone OFF if you wanted to achieve being stealthy. You make a terrible spy."

"Thanks but no thanks, bat-girl." He growled, rubbing the open wounds on his face with his arm.

"Is that all you can say? A hello would be nice."

"Cut it out!" he growled, standing to his feet. "What are you doing here…" he mumbled almost grimly.

Not surprised with the way he was treating her, but not happy about it, Rouge crossed her arms. "You should know me better than that. There's a Chaos Emerald here."

Knuckles felt a frown snaking across his lips from every one of her narcissistic words. "You never change, bat-girl." He said, sounding sarcastic.

Rouge haughtily closed her eyes and turned away from him. "Then why bother me?" she asked, turning to him with one eye open. "I'm not after your Master Emerald…yet."

"Rouge…" Knuckles growled through gritted teeth. He had been concerned about her the moment he lost contact with her, and now that they meet up, and in such a reflective place, this was the way their reunion had to be?

He was still angry and confused she hadn't contacted him sooner or told him where she was going when she just decided to hop in a pod and leave. And from the haughty and almost playful way she was acting towards him, he didn't even bother to think she knew how torn he was. Turning his back to her, he gazed aimlessly into the spring. The thought of cleaning his wounds in it crossed his mind. It was much too pure to have its clear waters polluted with his blood.

Rouge, who followed his attention with her eyes, glanced at the spring, then back at him. "You know there's an emerald in there."

Knuckles said nothing, but took out the blue emerald that he had gotten earlier from the spring and looked at it. Its properties were vast and remarkable, but from it being the same gem from his dream that was associated with that bat-girl, he couldn't bare to keep it now. Slowly, he held it out for her to see, but didn't place his eyes on her.

"Take it…" he uttered, barely being heard.

Rouge winced. She was surprised to see Knuckles do such a thing, yet was dazzled even more by the rich blue color. Instantly her eyes became glossed over with captivation, and she stepped upto him and took it. Gazing at it with a dreamy expression, Rouge was almost at a loss for words. "It's beautiful…" was all she managed to say.

She glanced up at Knuckles, who had taken off one of his mitts and wiped his face and arms with it. She wordlessly watched him as he reached into the spring and uncovered the remaining Chaos Emerald. Putting his mitt back on, he turned to face her with a faint smirk on his lips and held up the ivory-colored emerald.

"This one is mine. You have what you came for, and I know you didn't come here to shoot the breeze with me, so you can just fly off again."

Rouge eyed him for a moment with a raised eyebrow. Just what was he getting at? It was almost true, but still…

Giving a small smirk of her own, Rouge opened her wings to full size and flapped in one place for a moment while looking at him.

"Thanks." She said with a wink. Then with a heavy flap of her wings, she was gone.

Staring at the opening in the trees, even after she had flown off, Knuckles found himself face to face with the moon-pale, full, and sympathetic. Guilty for hiding his feelings again, Knuckles sighed and put the emerald away. Turning to face the spring, his eyes narrowed in thought.

After a few more moments of regret and deliberation, Knuckles wordlessly whisked out his cell phone and changed the tone to "Silent" before turning on his heels and leaving out the way he came in.

*

Humming to herself with her new piece of jewelry in hand, Rouge eyed the gem once more, then looked back at where she had flown from. She had to admit, she did feel rather burdened by her and Knuckles' awkward reunion, but she did manage to get what she dropped in for.

"Well, to say the least, I'm glad that he's still alive…as well as Sonic and that fox-boy." She said, trying to lift her spirits a little. Looking at the emerald again, she lowered her eyelids. "Now I have to get one of these to Shadow…" she muttered. Then her ears twitched as an idea slithered into her mind. "Well, he is expecting me to get him an emerald from a bank, anyway, so…this one will just be my little secret. Besides, I'll get him that emerald first thing tomorrow."

With a yawn, Rouge covered her mouth and tried to steady her wavering balance in the air. "Ugh, this is beginning to be too much!" she groused. Then looking at the emerald, she landed a short distance away on the long stretch of a beach and held the gem close.

"Sorry Shadow. I've got a thing for sapphires…" she muttered wistfully, as if she hoped Shadow could hear her. "But I promise I'll get you your emerald by tomorrow." Looking down at the blue gem in her arms, she looked at it for a moment, not only indulging in its hue, but also reflecting on her encounter with Knuckles in order to get it.

Gazing at it keenly, she was interrupted by a yawn. "I better get home…" she said.

Then, with the utter of two words, she disappeared into thin air.

But unknown to her, also on the beach, was none other than Dr. Eggman. The schematic Dr., who was unable to fall asleep, heard Rouge's quite interesting words and sat up in his beach chair. "What's this about Shadow and Chaos Emeralds?" he wondered. "Could Shadow still be alive? Hmm…I must say this sounds a bit interesting. Why don't I find our friend Shadow and get him an emerald first? He'd be willing to do whatever I say then."

With that famous cackle of his, the Dr. quickly got to work on devising a plan.

~ "Never Scared" is property of Bonecrusher ^_^

-Mel