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It was no lie that long, dark and cold corridors were scary, it didn’t matter if it was in a movie or on your usual day, the feeling of being alone in such a place caused everyone to feel uneasy, no matter who you were. But one can get used to the feeling, at least a little, if they have to walk down these hallways every hour of the day, grey dirty and slightly broken walls being part of your daily life, making you forget that you, a few years back, were only but surrounded of life, animals, trees, the great blue sky and the deep blue of the ocean, hugged warmly by nothing but green and blue. Tails found himself with this routine, walking down a hall carrying a small box and wearing a dirty white coat, a scientific coat, as he likes to call it. After a few long and agonizing minutes, he reached a rusty metallic door. It's a wonder how it’s still functioning, with the sounds it makes while opening almost makes it look like it'll fall like a domino, huh, domino, he hasn't played it in years.Entering the makeshift lab, he placed down the box on top of his desk, opening it with a small piece of glass that acted as a knife.-Ok… let’s see what the search team managed to find.- He spoke to himself, it wasn’t unusual, the amount of time he spends alone is enough to make a person mad, but he isn’t, he can’t, everyone needs him to stay sane, since he’s one of the only people who can do something about the… situation… the world finds itself in. Emptying the box, he found a couple things that may be useful, a rusty screwdriver, a pair of gloves, some screws and a matchbox, the rest didn’t matter, he thought as he left the box on a corner of the room, where the rest of the boxes where.He picked up a marker as he made his way to his “board”, where there was a list of all the things he needed to finish his never ending projects, most needing a new screwdriver, since the last one broke. The sudden loud noise of the door opening made him jump a bit, not truly expecting any visitors at these hours, he’s usually the only one awake at 2 am, never letting the hours go to waste. What wasn’t surprising was who was visiting him, Amy always putting everybody's well-being before herself, even if her eye bags were as dark as the night.-I thought I told you to go to sleep before the clock hit 11 pm.- She spoke as she looked at him with a slight frown, showing her tiredness of his behavior towards himself.He smiled a bit before returning his eyes to the board.-Your sleeping schedule isn’t any better.- Her frown only deepened before softing back, walking further into the lab to sit down on the only chair inside, her back hitting the chair with enough force to almost make it fall. Tails side eyed her, analyzing her expressions and movements, she seemed tired, even more than usual, she obviously had a headache by the way she was pitching the bridge of her eyes. And not less importantly, she had a whole new set of bandages around her arm, all loosened. It seemed like the search outside didn’t go so well, not like it ever did.The searches happened two times a week, needing to re-supply the base with as many items they could find, but only a small number of people could go out to search, so the hands to bring the supplies were severely limited. He left the marker on the side before making his way to her, grabbing a fist of bandages, inside the lab where several tools that have more than once created injuries that needed treatment, the bandages where essential. Crouching down, he holded Amy’s arm and began replacing the bandages, ignoring the violent scratches and bruises decorating it.-Only half of the team managed to get back.- She suddenly blurred out. He paused a bit before resuming his work.-What happened out there?.- Amy slumped even more on the chair.-We were exploring one of the buildings at Spiral Hill, everything was so quiet it seemed we were the only ones there. We didn’t even realize we were surrounded until one of the group didn’t have their head attached to their body anymore.- Finishing the change of bandages, he walked back to his desk and started working on one of his projects.- We had to escape and lost some of the stuff we found, when we made it to a safe place, only half of the group survived.- She brought her hands to her face, rubbing away the exhaustion.-Is Knuckles ok?.- He questioned, in such situation as Amy described, it wouldn’t be unnatural for Knuckles to stay back and make time for the others to get away, a trait that isn’t seen much these times, but no one could blame the people who chose to run away and save themselves when one is facing one of those things. Tails still remembers the last time he has seen one of those, tall and lanky forms chasing after you, some of them didn’t even have mobian traits anymore, they were just a black mass or just one part of the body still remained recognizable. But what he remembers the most were the eyes, the bright colors of eyes a normal mobian has faded away to just pitch black, sometimes the eye socket gets too big and the eyes just end up hanging outside of it. He hopes to forget one day of such images, especially Stick’s, he still remembers the horrible form her body took, and the way she screamed when one of her arms just slided away and left the bone in view.-He’s fine, he was injured before we were surrounded, he didn’t have much choice but to let me drag him away.- She chuckled a bit, remembering how mad he looked when he twisted his leg in a hole when they were exploring some unsafe ruins. Tails nodded while twisting one of the wires inside the small device, adjusting it to fit inside the small frame. The quiet took over the room as the only sounds were the small beeps the device made. They don't talk much anymore, only when Tails needed more supplies, like food or materials. Or when Amy needed one of his projects and needed to see if it was done. It was truly a shame, how their friendship shifted and transformed into something completely different from what it was before, from close friends to almost strangers. They both missed it, having long talks about anything that came up, or just enjoying each other's calming and unique presence. But they both couldn't risk getting close again, it could be a step-back for what was happening now, a distraction for what was more important. But even if that didn’t exist, they still wouldn’t talk, not after the main factor of their friendship disappeared from their lives.-Did you find any sign of…?.- He didn’t finish that sentence, he didn’t need to, they both knew what he was referring to.-...No.- She responded, looking towards the ceiling, her mind remembering everything from the search. While everyone had the only mission to find supplies or food, she and knuckles had a secondary task, a task that they did on every single search. It was the main focus when everything started, two different search teams went outside of the base, one did the main mission while the other did the secondary one. Both equally important. But thanks to the passing of the years, everyone stopped caring and focused on the main thing, gathering anything to survive.-How long has it been?, it’s difficult to keep track of time when you are constantly on the move.- She asked while staring at Tails’ back, noticing how his shoulders dropped and how both of his tails stopped moving when she responded to his question. But there was no answer, he continued working and completely ignored her. It seemed he didn’t need a reason to continue talking, since the only thing he viewed important in a conversation with Amy was already answered. Getting the feeling she wasn’t welcomed in the lab anymore, she stood up and made her way out of the room, only wanting to rest and gather as much energy as she could for the rest of the week.-6 years, 7 months, 5 days, 2 hours and 50 minutes since the infection began.- She suddenly heard, stopping in her tracks just in the middle of the door. Tails' head dropped down even lower, his fist clenching around the device. -6 years, 7 months, 8 days, 10 hours, and 35 minutes ever since…- He stopped to swallow down the knot forming inside his throat. - ever since Sonic… went missing.- _______________________________________________________________ He was annoyed, he couldn’t sleep, what were the chances that they would run into a trap made by those things? Did they have brains?, they couldn’t have one even if they tried. Everything inside them was rotten and un-mobian, no sign of who they used to be and how smart they were, it didn’t make sense, his head couldn’t get around it, making his brain more active and stopping him from sleeping and getting some well deserved rest after such a long journey. He rested his back against the bed, tired from all the running he had to do, running at maximum speed with a broken ankle does no good to your body. He still needed to talk to Amy about the next search, they needed new members now that half of the team was killed off, and it wasn’t like anyone would volunteer, going outside was like walking directly towards a bear trap, luck being the only thing that could make you not lose a leg, and honestly?, they didn’t have any left.The med bay door opened smoothly, since the med bay was one of the most important parts inside the base, it was constantly checked over by mechanics and repaired at least four times a week, and with the amount of people that came in with injuries, it needed special cleaning services too, making sure no kind sickness stayed inside the base. Knuckles turned his head to the door only to groan and turn back around, his annoyance skyrocketing and a headache beginning in the back of his head after seeing who was so nice to visit him at these hours.-What do you want, Shadow? I don’t have the patience to deal with your shit right now.- Shadow huffed as he made his way inside, sitting down on one of the chairs beside the bed, uncaring for Knuckle's opinion about his presence.-I told you I would come and talk to you after you got back from the search, remember?.- Knuckles rubbed his eyes, tiredness washing over him like rain, right, he forgot. Before leaving with the search team a day ago, Shadow and Rouge approached him saying they wanted to talk to him about something important, but Knuckles said he couldn’t and they could speak once he got back. Leaving Shadow and Rouge to hope he actually got back.- Where is Rouge?, you both wanted to talk to me didn’t you?.- He questioned, realizing she wasn’t there with the hedgehog.-She was too tired and needed to sleep.- Knuckles slumped back again against the bed.-Right, ok.- As if he didn’t need rest right now, -And what was it you guys wanted to talk to me about?.- Shadow searched inside one of the pockets on his jacket and pulled out a hologram sphere. A hologram sphere was one of Eggman's forgotten projects; he didn’t see a point in making them since they weren’t useful in fulfilling his past wishes. But ever since the infection started, their function became key for communication, they could transfer information without making noises that could alert the monsters, they were easy to carry and helped in locating cities, towns and sometimes even monsters themselves, but that function is still a work in progress.He turned the hologram sphere on and it projected the planet, a big red dot could be seen in the projection, while the names of the continents and countries were shown as well.-This hologram sphere is the latest and most actualized model Eggman has created, it doesn't work with solar energy anymore, it works focusing on the chaos energy of every living being, including the planet itself, Gaia. --Gaia 's? I would ask how that works but I think it’s better to let you continue.- Knuckles smirked, knowing damn well he wouldn’t understand a thing of how the machine works even if Shadow made a whole presentation with a power point about it.Shadow ignored Knuckles and continued.-Since it works with Chaos energy, it might help us find survivors around the world.- Shadow used his fingers to zoom into the red dot, making it smaller and allowing the view of other smaller dots, those ones having the color green and indicating every single person inside the base. -Of course, since it’s so small, the maximum distance it can reach is only 5 kilometers, allowing us only to observe the living beings inside the base and 3 kilometers of empty land. But the Doctor said if we managed to get to one of his old bases, he might be capable of creating a bigger model, expanding the maximum distance it can reach to an absurd lev--Hold on a second.- Knuckles interrupted, holding his hand up to Shadow’s face. -Are you suggesting you want the search team to go out to one of Eggman's old bases to find stuff that might help him make something?. - Knuckles looked at him as if he just said the stupidest thing in the world.-Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.- Shadow responded.-Do you- Do you even know what’s out there?, I know you aren’t in the search team, but I’m sure you saw some when all of this begun--Yes Knuckles, I do fucking remember seeing them, it’s not like I can forget about them.- Shadow stared angrily at Knuckles, does this idiot think he was memory loss?, of course he remembers, no one can forget, as much as he would like too. He still remembers vividly how everybody started losing their mind and attacking one another. Families and friends killing each other, screams taking over every single sound the planet made, the color red and pitch black taking over every surface that existed. How their bodies mutated into horrible and disgusting forms, limbs breaking and twisting into directions they should never be pointing to.Cream was one of the infected, nobody knew she was until she attacked her own mother, her body was melting and her bones and muscles were covered in a black substance that was obviously responsible for the mutation. He remembers having to cut Vanillas arm off so she wouldn’t get infected after Cream attacked her. He remembers hearing Cheese's and Chocola’s cries as they watched Cream scream in pain, obviously the mutation making her feel extreme levels of pain. …He remembers having to kill the poor kid in order to stop her suffering, using a chaos blast on her.He remembers.He remembers very well.Memories flashed on both of them, remembering the horrors of the first day, how many friends they lost, and how much suffering they had to endure to get where they are now. Shaking his head, Knuckles ripped his focus away from his memories and looked down, ashamed by his own words.-Sorry… I just don’t think it’s a good idea to go so far away. The closest Eggman base is 3 weeks away, it would be less if we had some vehicle or something, but we can’t use anything that may create noise, it’s not safe.- Knuckles pointed out. He was right, the use of any sort of vehicle was off limits, they were reserved for emergencies in case the base got attacked, and not only that, but they make too much noise, and thanks to past experiences, they know those things can hear very well. - Half of the team got killed, they are death, not only that but it’s most likely none one would like to join on their own free will.--Knuckles…--Also, the food, we lost a lot of things when we got surrounded, they were good things, food, water, spare parts for machines, em- bed sheets, pillows.--Knuckles.--I’m injured! The tank of the team is injured!, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t go there without getting in the way--KNUCKLES ! - Shadow voiced loudly, tired from all Knuckle’s nonsense. -This.- he pointed at the hologram sphere, hoping to finally make Knuckles understand the important point of this plan, - this might help us find Sonic.- Knuckles stared blankly at Shadow, he hasn’t heard anyone say that in such confidence for such a long time it truly caught him off guard.-..what?.--If mine’s, Rouge’s and Eggman’s theory is correct, if we connect this thing to a big antenna once it’s upgraded, it might be capable of finding any chaos energy signal around the world. And since I have very good memory, I know Sonic’s energy is similar to the energy of a chaos emerald.- As Shadow explained the plan, the mention of the chaos emeralds reminded Knuckles of the day when all chaos emeralds lost their power without explanation and became as useless as a normal gem. It was similar to what happened when they lost all their power thanks to Eggman using them without care for his evil purposes, but this time there was no reason behind it, they just simply… stopped working. Something happened to the master emerald too, but it didn’t lose any of its power like the others, no, it turned into dust. The magnitude of the panic Knuckles felt when he witnessed the master emerald turning from bright green into a dark grey cannot be described with any word inside the alphabet. And it only lasted for a few seconds, before his attention was ripped away after hearing Mighty’s terrified screams. It disappeared, just like all the emerald's power, just like Sonic.-Wait, why are you guys telling this only to me?.- Shadow paused his explanation after hearing Knuckle's question.-What do you mean?.- He questioned, unsure of what he was referring to. Knuckles pulled himself up, so he’s sitting on the edge of the rusty bed.-Well, if what you are saying is true, then this is great news!. The possibility of finding Sonic might help improve the people's hopes! .- Knuckles let his lips form a smile, his mouth not used to the genuine feeling after such a long time. -Heh, that’s what he was the best at, making people smile and helping them find hope when everything was lost.- It was almost unnatural, but never unwelcome. God, he hasn’t smiled in such a long time, the mere memory of the time he spent with Sonic brings him such a joy he doesn't feel he deserves. He has done such horrible things to help the people he loves, to protect them, countless nightmares hunting him in his sleep, filled with faces of the people who became such horrible monsters, hurting him, tormenting him. But Sonic didn’t appear in those dreams, he never did, his own brain deciding it couldn’t stain his memory, it was one of the only things helping him continue his fight for survival, the hope of seeing him again one day.-It… isn’t that simple.- Shadow looked down sadly. -If what I just told you was spread across the base, everyone would be filled with hysteria and they would want to go out and look for him.--That’s even better!, if their hopes skyrocket, then they would find a reason to join the search team!- Knuckles exclaimed happily.-Knuckles!, if we rush the search then everyone could die! - Shadow exclaimed at Knuckles, irritated at the echidna. How could he not see how dangerous it could be for everyone if the plan got leaked?. -We need to be discreet about this, only a small number can know, that’s why we decided on only telling you for now.- Knuckles stared at Shadow, in a way… it made sense, telling people could create a big amount of chaos, remembering the fact of how big of a figure Sonic is to the entirety of Mobius and its people. But it still didn’t sit right in his heart, not telling them that a river of hope had started flooding. Sonic has helped so many people to the level of absurdity, how could anyone believe that one hedgehog has saved the world more times than the number of leaves inside a tree?. Everyone. Everyone would believe it, they have seen it with their own eyes after all.-Still , why are you guys only telling this to me?, why not talk to Amy?, I’m sure she would agree right away if you guys told her the plan.- Shadow looked away for a moment before sighing and turning back to Knuckles, his head resting on his hand.-We thought about it, but we came to the conclusion it would be better if someone really close spoke to her. You may not believe it, but Amy has grown slightly aggressive at everyone inside the base. She may speak with us normally sometimes, but her aggression and frustration is noticeable. She only talks normally with you.- Knuckles was taken back, Amy?, aggressive?. That didn’t fit inside his head, of course he noticed Amy not speaking as much as before, he would be a fool if not after all these years. -I’m not saying she’s violent towards us, god no, everybody knows she'd rather sacrifice herself than let anyone get hurt. But she obviously doesn’t not want to speak to anyone at the moment, that’s why we haven't talked to her about it. - Shadow stood up from the chair and walked to a broken sink on the wall, grabbing a big bottle of water stored under. -For that reason, I want you to talk to her.--Me?, why me?- Knuckles tilted his head, him talking to Amy at the moment made him shudder, the results of their recent search flooding inside his head. He and Amy fought when they were escaping, she was dragging him away and he was mad over it, yelling at her to throw him in the direction of the monsters so he can gain her time to escape. Her crying and panicking face flooded his head, yelling at him to stop being selfish and wishing to leave her alone in this mess. He never wanted to make her cry, he just wanted to protect her, but it seemed she didn’t appreciate his selfless act. He needed to stop doing that, trying to act similar like him isn't giving any positive result, not like him anyway.-I believe you are the only one that can bring up the topic, talking about Sonic never ends well with her.- Shadow sighs, remembering the time someone said Sonic’s name close to Amy, it ended with a broken leg and a big amount of yelling.-If you think it’s difficult with her, you can’t imagine talking with Tails.- Knuckles looked sadly to the floor, he hadn't spoken with Tails for weeks, he was missing the little guy. Shadow finished his drink and placed the bottle down, walking to the door of the medbay. He stopped and looked back to Knuckles.-If you believe in the plan, go and talk with Amy, it’s up to you and her if the plan happens or not anyway. - Shadow opened the door and was about to exit before stopping for a moment. - but I recommend you do it, I want to find him too you know? - And with that, Shadow left, the door closing smoothly behind him. Knuckles looked from the door to the sheets of the bed, observing his hands while countless memories flooded his brain, filling him with nostalgia and longing. He truly wanted to see Sonic again, he considered him his little brother after all. His annoying, stupid and kind brother. He flopped back against the bed, closing his eyes and curling himself on the sheets, bringing his legs close to his chest. He was tired, insanely exhausted, he needed rest. He will talk to Amy tomorrow morning, she’s probably sleeping at this hour anyway. And into a deep sleep he fell, his eyes closed as his brain created a dream for him to wander on, a big green hill filling his view, the distant mischievous laughter was the last thing he remembered before falling into a deep and relaxing sleep . Allowing him to enjoy the first dream he has had in years.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Knuckles never liked the base, it was too creepy in his opinion. It’s true it has kept all of them safe from the monsters outside, but he never got used to being surrounded by so many walls, they weren’t even pretty walls, they were just empty and broken. Not to mention the lack of fresh air inside the base, it smelled like dirt, sometimes the smell of smoke took over the place, but that only happened when Eggman or Tails suddenly got creative. Was it so hard to make at least one window?, it didn’t even have to be a big one, small would be enough, he could at least get a whiff of nature, he was surrounded by it in his early years of life after all, it was impossible to forget. But then the memories of what was out there re-entered his mind, making him immediately regret that dumb idea.
It was a big base, not as big as Eggman's other bases or space ships he had created in the past, but it had enough space to host a lot of people, a maximum of 500 souls, organic beings, the number goes up to 540 if he counted all metallic beings. It was an Eggman base for chaos sake, it’s bound to be filled with machines, machines Eggman refused to get rid of even if they took an absurd amount of space, his base, his rules, as he stated before.He was slowly limping down a long hallway as he made his way to Amy’s room, she wasn’t in her room so often, she could always be found in the med-bay helping with the injured or in the central zone, where she organized everyone and kept them updated on what was seen outside. Knuckles was always there for support, mostly because some people got desperate to go outside after not being out for years, so they took it out on them, blaming the search team for everything bad that has happened. He knew what was happening did no good to people’s mental health, but how could they blame it on them? everyone has suffered from the infection, especially them from his point of view, they were the ones going outside after all.
He stood outside Amy’s room, knocking on the door as softly as he could, his big hands did not help at all. He could hear some noises inside the room, and finally the door opened, revealing a very tired Amy, who was holding a small book under one arm.
She snapped awake after seeing him, pushing the door wide open so she could reach out and hold Knuckles by the arm.
- Knuckles! What the hell are you doing here?, you shouldn’t be walking here with a broken ankle! - She hissed at him, pointing at the bandaged foot and the mullet he was holding under one of his arms.
- Sorry Amy, I wanted to talk to you and I couldn’t wait for your visit. - He limped as Amy guided him inside her room, sitting him in the cushions of her bed, taking the mullet and resting it against the wall.
- I was going to visit today you know…- She muttered, looking annoyed, Knuckles really should stop bothering her so much, every time they went outside she kept a close eye on him, he didn’t want to be a burden, but he couldn’t help putting their safety first before his own, he needed to protect them from those things, he couldn’t lose anyone else, he wouldn’t be able to handle it.
- Oh, sorry. - He smiled at her, an action that caught her off guard, she hadn't seen his smile, a genuine smile, in years.
- What’s gotten you so happy? - She chuckled and sat beside him, -Please share it, I’m desperate for a good mood right now. -
Knuckle's smile dropped a bit before resting his back against the bed, his hands rubbing his eyes. How could he even begin?, he couldn’t just say that they found a way to find Sonic, he wasn’t even sure it would work!
Giving her false hope is the last thing he wanted to do, there were so many times where they thought they were getting close to finding him, only to find themselves in an alley with no exit.
To give an idea, the search team found a trail of footprints in one of their past explorations, the form of the print was the same as the base of Sonic’s shoe, the level of happiness that filled them was absurd, they looked like children chasing a balloon while following the trail. Especially Amy, she had a permanent smile painted on her face that reached the base of her eyes, which were sparkling with hope. He was happy too, he imagined finding the bastard and punching him in the face for leaving them for so long, countless scenarios filled his head with hope as they walked.
All the excitement got destroyed when that trail led them straight into a cave filled with corpses, the odor made their eyes water from how disgusting it was, most of them were headless, missing limbs and torn chests, organs peeking from inside the bodies or just laying around inside the cave.
The creature responsible for the bizarre scene was eating one of the corpses, it was an infected female mobian whose arms were long and skeletal, its face was missing the lower half, allowing a long deformed tongue to hang out of it. Knuckles noticed one of its legs wasn’t as deformed as the rest of the body, a shoe attached to it being the only remaining thing that symbolized it was a mobian before, once they took down the monster, they found out the shoe had a similar base as Sonic’s, but it wasn’t his.
He remembers the look on Amy's face, it was devastated, all her hopes going down the drain like garbage.
She took the job of raising people’s hopes when everything started, telling them to keep their face up and don’t give up even if the situation was shit. She was often meet with negative responses, not everyone appreciating her efforts of helping, they saw her attempts as false hope, as if she was lying so they join the “suicide team”, a nickname some liked to call them.She stopped her attempts after years of zero progress on finding Sonic.Before talking about the plan with her, first he needed to make sure they were still on good terms after what happened in the search. If she still holds a grudge against him because of his reckless attitude yesterday, he needs to be careful at how to approach the conversation with her.- I was wondering…- He began, lifting himself up from the bed, now sitting beside her. - How are you holding after what… happened in the search.- Amy looked away for a moment, pondering how to respond.
- I’m fine, Knuckles, a bit… frustrated at how things turned out.- She let out a sigh and smiled bitterly. - I never expected our luck to last long, we were running inside the wolf's mouth over and over again without any repercussions for a long time, what happened was… expected to be honest.- Knuckles agreed.
For a few months now, there have been no losses during the searches, there were close calls of course, but never to this magnitude. Not only mobians lives were lost, but also important resources needed for the base to sustain itself. A lot of machine parts Eggman and Tails requested to be found were lost, medicines for the sick and food too.
- But.. as selfish as it seems… - She continued. -... I’m happy I didn’t lose you.- Knuckles snapped his focus away from his own thoughts and stared at her, a heart-broken smile decorating her tired face.
- I’m… truly sorry Amy.- Knuckles mumbled, his hand resting on Amy’s shoulder. - About the way I acted I mean, I just… didn’t want you to get hurt by those things, there were so many… my mind screamed at me we wouldn’t make it, that you wouldn’t make it.-
Amy only observed Knuckles, getting slightly concerned at her intense gaze.
- Ha - Amy blurred out suddenly, surprising Knuckles by the sudden chuckle. - You know… I’ve noticed something about your behavior when we go out, you get all protective and stuff over others but at the same time not caring about your own safety. The: “I almost died, but at least nobody else got hurt” kind of behavior.- She glanced at him before continuing. - … it reminded me of someone…- Amy bit her lips and frowned. -... you are acting like him, aren’t you?.-
Knuckles didn’t say anything, his throat was insanely tight, he chose to stare at the floor.
- I’m right, aren’t I?.- Amy rubbed her eyes before bringing her legs close to her torso, hugging them and using them as support. - Why do you… do this to me Knuckles?, you know the pain there is inside of me with him not being here and you chose to go out and act like him?, what will you get doing that?, leave me alone to deal with everything?.- She snapped, her hands shaking and her eyes getting teary. - I can’t do this without you… I just… I don’t want you to be like him, I won’t allow you to leave me alone ... .- She hid her face between her legs. - I won’t… be able to… handle it.- Neither of them moved, an uncomfortable silence taking over the room as Amy’s voice went more and more silent.Knuckle's head was low, his eyes staring deeply at the floor. Before the infection, they weren't as close, they hung out and spent time with each other, but they didn’t depend emotionally on each other, compared to the present.
Knuckles sees Amy as a younger sister, they both share some similarities after all, they both were strong physically, their hair style was similar and the color of their fur was similar as well, hers was a hot pink and his was red, a bit different but they were both inside the warm color palette.
Amy also sees Knuckles as a sibling, a nut-headed older brother, his care for nature is similar to hers, nothing compared to his love for the master emerald, but if one focused enough, they should be able to see that love and care was similar or almost the same as his love for his friends. They both cared for their family, they didn’t express it the exact same way, but it was still there.
Their personalities clashed sometimes, but both of them wanted the best for what they viewed as important, forming a weird brotherly bond. If you throw inside that bond a bunch of traumatizing experiences, the loss of what they care about the most and add more than 6 years of close death encounters and isolation, the result is what they have now.
Knuckles scooted closer to Amy, he pondered what to say, many ways of comfort running inside his head, he supposed Amy didn’t want to speak to him right now, there was a big chance whatever he said would only make things close, so he went for the best he could come up with.
The bed sheets twisted as Knuckles wrapped his arms around Amy, his head resting on her shoulder, one of his hands was rubbing her back and the other was petting her head. A bit after everything went to hell, he remembers seeing a lot of parents comforting their children after witnessing the horrors the monsters created outside, it took a while for them to calm down of course, erasing such images from their head was impossible, but it at least helped relax them.
Amy didn’t move or make a sound, how long has it been?, how long has it been since she received a hug?. It wasn’t long actually, when they got back from the search, she was hugged by Rouge, who was glad to see she was okay and returned almost without a scratch. But this was different, she hasn't been vulnerable emotionally in front of someone else in a long time. The last time someone saw her like this was when the disaster began, after finding out about Cream’s passing, she fell to her knees and cried herself to exhaustion, Vanilla was beside her, both of them sobbing over Cream’s body as it was burned away. Back then, they didn’t know if the infection could spread through the air, burning the bodies of dead infected was the safest option. Some months later, they found out the infection didn’t spread to the air, she found Vanilla crying again inside her room that night, she chose to leave her alone.
She took long rapid breaths before finally breaking down, snapping her body around and wrapping her own arms around Knuckles, hugging him as tightly as her damaged arms allowed her, finally freeing all the fear and sadness inside her heart.Long minutes passed before silence took over the room again, both of them were still holding each other, choosing to enjoy the moment before it passed. After believing enough time had passed and confirming he was still on Amy’s good side, Knuckles was able to create a bit of space between them, Amy still holding him in a death grip.
- Amy… there's another reason I came here to talk to you… - Knuckles rubbed his temples as Amy lifted her head up and faced him, rubbing away tear marks on her cheeks with the back of her hand.
- What is it? - Her haze became serious after sensing Knuckle's uneasiness, it wasn’t usual to see him nervous, he normally chose to keep his composure even in dangerous situations. Which gave her a hint this was more of an emotional problem rather than a physical one, he never dealt with those right. Knuckles rubbed the back of his neck before talking.
- Yesterday when I was in med-bay, Shadow came to visit me. - Knuckles started.
- Shadow?, why would he visit you?, from what you told me, both of you aren’t on good terms.-
- We aren’t, but he needed to talk to me about this… something he, Rouge and… eh… Eggman, I think?, have in mind. - Amy tried to read Knuckle's facial expression, noticing him getting more nervous, but he looked away, avoiding eye contact.
- What is it? What do they have in mind? -
- … - Knuckle’s mouth stayed shut, his throat once again tightening.
- Knuckles… please tell me, you're killing me. - She grunted, what was so bad that made Knuckles so nervous? If it involved Eggman, it surely wasn't good. Don’t get her wrong, Eggman changed a lot since the infection began, he didn’t do evil plans anymore or anything related, he focused on the improvement of the base and other stuff related to machinery. But that didn’t mean he gained her full trust, she knows that if he sees convenient, he’s capable of throwing someone else's life away to ensure his, that’s just in his nature.
Knuckles took a few deep breaths before finally turning to her, reaching out and holding Amy’s hands.
- He told me.. they have found a way to…- Knuckles swallowed down the knot inside his throat as he forced himself to complete the sentence. -…find Sonic.-There was a long pause as Amy processed what Knuckles said, she let out a loud sigh as she adjusted her position on the bed, slipping her hands away from Knuckles' own, her face forming a deep frown.
- If this is some kind of prank, it’s not funny. - Knuckles flinched in surprise at Amy’s flat tone.
- I’m not joking Amy! Shadow came to med-bay and told me all about this plan they have, something with radars and chaos energy…other stuff too, but I’m not lying!- Knuckles rambled, trying to convince Amy this was indeed not a prank and it was real, moving his arms around as he rushed to explain.
Amy clutched the bridge of her eyes, trying to make sense of what she just heard. If there was actually a plan to find Sonic, why wasn’t she told about it long ago? She knew Eggman, he’s not the kind of guy that just magically comes up with something, he needs time to develop it before it works. Meaning if he truly has a plan to find Sonic, he had it inside his sleeve for a long time.
But Shadow and Rouge?, that was new. Even with her questionable preferences, Rouge always placed the safety of her close friends first, not wishing to harm others in exchange for her personal goals. The fact she kept something like a full plan to find a long lost friend behind everyone else's back was unexpected, and keeping it secret with a person she clearly disliked?, even more.
And Shadow…he didn’t like Eggman, even less than Rouge, something happened between the two when everything started that set a permanent boundary between them, she didn’t know what happened exactly, she asked Rouge one time but she just shrug it off and said she shouldn’t worry about it, witch made her, in fact, worry about it.
- Look… I know you have your doubts, I do too!, but this is the best shot we have in my eyes.- Knuckles grabbed Amy’s hands once again, forcing her to look at him. - Just… listen, please.-
Amy let Knuckles explain the plan for fifteen minutes, she often had to remind him to go slow because he was mixing up stuff or repeating them, making it very difficult to understand. She was sure Shadow gave him a more detailed and understandable explanation of the plan compared to Knuckle's version, a hologram sphere working as a map?, weren’t those for communications?
Even with Knuckle's lame explanation, she got the basic idea.
- So… they want to form a small group that will go to one of Eggman’s old bases and upgrade a device that will scan the… world? - Knuckles nodded rapidly, expectant of Amy’s response. - and who do they have in mind? they won’t just send random people, I’m sure.-
Knuckles grabbed his chin, trying to remember if Shadow mentioned the group’s members.
- He didn’t tell me that part, he just wanted me to talk to you so you give the green light, you are practically the boss around here.- He shrugged.
Amy glared at Knuckle's comment before a sudden thought flashed across her mind.
- Wait, does Tails know about this? - Knuckles looked towards the door, as if he was seeing the other side of the base where Tails lab was.
- I was actually thinking … not to… tell…. him. - His voice got quieter as he finished the sentence, rubbing the back of his neck.
-... Are you stupid?.- Amy was baffled, how could he say that?, not telling Tails was the same as if she didn’t tell the child of a dying mother they found a cure for her.
- I just… don’t think it’s a good idea to involve the little guy in this, I mean, you have seen him more than me, he's close to passing out every single day from exhaustion, I don’t think he’ll handle it well…- Knuckles defended his opinion, he cared a lot of Tails, they haven’t talked in months, but he got the feeling that if he told Tails about the plan, he would move mountains to come along, endangering his safety.
- Knuckles, do I have to remind you every single time? Tails is not a kid anymore, he’s an adult who cares about his brother more than anyone in the world, hell!, he probably cares more about him than he cares about us. - Amy stood up from the bed. - You can’t just… hide from him the only possible chance we have on finding Sonic, it’s… it's not right.-
Both of them knew how much suffering Tails had to endure these past years, him and Eggman were the brains behind the operation of the base, they worked day and night repairing machines, fixing broken parts, creating new gadgets for everyone and countless other things they couldn't remotely understand. Not only that, but the emotional toll he was taking was immense, he lived with Sonic all his life, he knew him better than anyone, they were the closest, they were a family. And for that to be ripped away so violently, was something they couldn’t possibly imagine, finding Sonic was the only fuel impulsing Tails to keep going… he probably would give up if his brother wasn’t the living phrase: “never give up even if you broke apart”.
She really wanted to find Sonic, but she wouldn’t go with the plan until she heard his opinion about it.
Amy walked to the door, giving Knuckles his mullet back before doing so.
- I’m talking to Tails, if he's okay with it, then so am I. - She stated before leaving the room, leaving the door open so Knuckles can exit easily.
Knuckles didn’t have time to object as he heard her walk away, he signed before lying down once again in the bed, both hands covering his face.
- Shadow is going to kill me…-____________________________________________________________________
A loud hissing sound is the first thing he hears after entering the room, accompanied by loud clanking of countless robots walking around. It hurts his ears a bit, especially the scratching of metal against metal, sadly, having good hearing has its ups and downs .
He groaned out of annoyance before a gloved hand rested on top of one of his shoulders, gently squishing it.
- I know you don’t like it! but it’ll be quick, I promise! - Rouge practically yelled, the loud sounds forcing her to speak loudly, Shadow winced a bit, but nodded anyway.
They walked further inside, passing by numerous robots, who were either carrying heavy boxes, cleaning or fixing damaged equipment. Some of them stopped for a second to stare at them before returning to their work, they were probably scanning them to see if they were any danger to their creator, or “father”, as they liked to call him.
Once they reached the end of the room, they spotted Eggman sitting in a chair, his head was low as he seemed very focused on fixing something they couldn’t see, he was clearly annoyed as a trail of “tsk” and “ugh” left his mouth.
- Eggman!, we are here!, what did you call us for? - Rouge yelled to get Eggman’s attention, but it didn't work thanks to all the noises in the room. After a few more tries, Shadow groaned in annoyance and approached Eggman, grabbing the back of the chair and forcing it around, Eggman yelped as his world blurred from the rapid movement.
- WHO DARES TO…!?- He didn’t finish as he recognized who interrupted him. - Oh crap! You are here already? I didn’t expect…- Eggman stopped for a moment, seeing Rouge clutching her ears and Shadow’s annoyed scroll. - Um… wait a moment. - He stood up from his chair and approached the large group of robots, he took a deep breath before yelling out loud. - STOP MAKING SO MUCH NOISE YOU STUPID ROBOTS! - All robots froze, dropping everything they were doing before standing up right in a respectful act.
-... I - Eggman pointed at Rouge and Shadow. - …have guests.- All robots immediately picked up everything and left the room in a hurry, not wishing to annoy their father any further.
Rouge watched the scene and chuckled a bit. It was pretty cute how all Eggman’s robots became shy and submissive when he’s angry, especially since all of them look pretty intimidating, some things just never change, do they?
Eggman coughed a bit thanks to his sore throat, he breathed again before facing the duo.
- Now that it’s finally quiet, let's go straight to business. - He crossed his arms behind his back and returned to his desk.
- What is it this time Doctor? I have more important things to do.- Shadow crossed his arms, annoyed at the sudden call he received minutes back.
He was guarding the entrance of the base when his communicator buzzed with a message from Eggman, asking him to come as quickly as possible to his lab. He didn’t want to come, the only reason he and Eggman talked was thanks to the plan, something must have happened that required his assistance, Eggman wasn’t fond talking to him either.
- Well, hedgehog. - He glared at Shadow, who frowned in response. - The reason I was forced to call you two, was thanks to this.- He grabbed the screen of his monitor and shoved the screen to Shadow’s face, who groaned at the intensity of the brightness.
Rouge leaned close to Shadow, who was rubbing his eyes, and tilted her head in confusion.
- Those are the security cameras outside, what’s up with them?.- Shadow blinked a few times before focusing on the screen.
- This is a recording from yesterday, I was checking them to see if they were damaged before I… got curious… about their recordings. - He trailed off and looked away, hiding his face from the bat’s piercing eyes.
Rouge hummed and smiled, looking at Eggman with a sly smirk.
- Isn’t the observation team the only ones allowed to see their recordings?.- Eggman groaned loudly.
- Can’t a man get curious once in a while? Give me a break! - He complained. - I was just having a little fun! Is that a bad thing?! -.
- It wouldn’t be if it was someone else. - She giggled at Eggman’s tantrum, he was such a man child sometimes.
- UGH! -.
- Doctor, get to the point.- Shadow intervened, glaring at both of them.
Eggman reached out and pressed the recording to speed it up, stopping when a group of people were shown.
- As you can see here, this is the exact moment the Search team returned. - Both recognized Amy and the others carrying Knuckles inside, all of them covered in soil and blood. Amy explained to them the horrors they experienced outside, how half of the team got killed and how they lost almost everything they found. Rouge tried to comfort her, but she just told her she needed rest and some time alone. - and this… - Eggman speeds up the video again. -... is a few hours later.-
The video was almost black, shining stars were the only thing decorating the night. A few seconds passed before they both flinched as they spotted a large mass running across the screen, it stopped for a moment before glowing eyes stared deep at the camera, it stayed still before running once again, disappearing from the cameras line of sight.
- Was that…? - Rouge was pale, covering her mouth from shock.
- It seems the search team didn’t return with nothing. - Eggman clutched the bridge of his eyes, very annoyed. Shadow thought for a moment before looking up to Eggman, remembering something troubling his mind.
- What about the radar? Did it see it coming? -
- That’s the thing… it didn’t. - Eggman picked up another screen, it was connected to one of Eggman’s hologram spheres. - It hasn’t received any signal from outside other than the search team, it should be able to detect any movement in a two kilometers radius every second of the day, yet it didn’t detect this one.-
Shadow grabbed his chin, how was it possible? Eggman is a smart person, a very smart person. He never creates something that doesn't work, hell, he was sure the Doctor would rather die than bring shame to himself, a lot of situations in the past are evidence of this self-destructive mindset.
- Then.. Why did it detect the search team but not whatever that thing is? - Rouge questioned, she leaned against the desk and rested one arm on top, much to Eggman’s displeasure, he never liked when someone touched his stuff..
- After reviewing it over and over again, I came to a not so good realization. - Eggman rubbed his head, Jesus, his headache was piercing his skull. - The reason it detected the search team, along with everybody else inside the base, was thanks to DNA print it has recorded in its systems. - He grabbed the hologram sphere and showed it to them, both Shadow and Rouge tilted their heads in confusion.
-Elaborate. - He demanded.
Eggman groaned before continuing. - Before finishing the latest update for the hologram sphere, I collected DNA from every single mobian, including myself, inside the base. I assumed the hologram sphere would also detect those things, since they were mobians in the past, but now I just came to the conclusion… they are a completely different species, they aren’t mobians anymore.-
-...so it doesn't recognize them as one.- Rouge contributed, already catching on.
- Right on point bat.- They both went silent, not liking the new information, Rouge thought she should probably inform Espio, it’s a giant update for his guide in the infection. He began writing it a few years after it all began, he wanted everyone informed on how the infection worked, even if she thought it wasn’t such a good idea, she still supported him, along with Amy and Knuckles.
-... I assume the plan won’t work unless we fix this.- Shadow concluded.
- You mean, unless I fix it. - Shadow rolled his eyes. - Since we don’t know in what state that rodent is in, it’s a 50/50 chance on finding him with how our plan currently works.-
As depressing as it was, it was true, they didn’t know if Sonic was infected or not, it was highly probable, it was impossible for him to have survived for so many years alone inside that chaos without getting infected. They wanted to find him, sure, but finding him alive? That was even more difficult than breaking a chaos emerald in half.
- What now? Is the whole plan ruined by this?- Rouge questioned, feeling her hopes drop lower and lower, finally a flame of hope bursted to life only to be extinguished by a bucket of water.
- Not exactly. - Eggman pointed out, catching Rouge's attention. - If we had some of Sonic’s DNA, the plan can return to its original course, just as it was.-
Now there was a solution, but also a new problem: how the hell were they going to find Sonic’s DNA after more than 6 years of his absence?.
The three of them thought deeply, the only way to get Sonic’s DNA was if they got their hands on the last thing Sonic touched before disappearing, but how would they know what it was? Before Sonic disappeared, the three of them hadn’t talked to him in weeks.
Rouge's ears suddenly shot up, coming up with something.
- Why don’t we ask Tails? He's probably the last person Sonic had any contact with before disappearing.- Eggman hissed, a nervous expression forming in his face.
- I don’t think that's a good idea, the fox is too closed in on himself to talk about anything, especially about Sonic.- He remembers the last time he talked to Tails, they were fixing a large machine that had multiple malfunctions, requiring both of them to fix it. After the infection began, Eggman was forced to cooperate with them in order to survive, it led to Tails and him somehow bonding, it was all thanks to them being the only ones with a super intelligent brain. Back to topic, he said Sonic’s name while making a joke, he was trying to light the pressure in the room, the silence was unbearable, the look Tails gave him still made a chill run down his spine.
Rouge huffed before turning to Shadow, she stared at him with a neutral expression before her face dropped to a frown.
- …I’m not even going to ask you, you are probably going to make it worse.-
Shadow made a “tch” sound and looked away.
- Alright you big babies. - She signed and walked back to the door. - I’ll do it, since you don’t give me another choice, but both of you owe me a big one. - She left the room before leaning her head back in. - A really big one. -
And with that she left the two of them alone, they glanced at each other before looking away, both of them with their arms closed and a deep frown painted on their faces.