Chapter Text
The war had taken a huge toll on everyone. As leader of the resistance, Knuckles had dealt with a lot of stress during that time. After months of living in close quarters with several people, Knuckles thought he would enjoy the solitude of the island again. It was true--to an extent. In order to keep the Master Emerald safe during Eggman's attack, the guardian had shattered the gem, sending her shards across the land. As soon as the war had ended, he had set out to put the emerald back together. It was a simple yet time consuming task for him. Now that she was safe and sound sitting on her alter again, Knuckles found himself becoming restless. His life had been so drastically different during the war. He wasn't used to the calm, quiet nature of the island anymore. It was a relief to be back, yet at the same time it felt strange to be home.
During his time as leader of the resistance he had been forced to converse and work with other people. Knuckles was used to being a one man show. The only time he teamed up was when he had worked with Sonic and Tails every once in a while. Now that things had finally settled down, Knuckles found himself feeling somewhat lonely. It wasn't an emotion he was used to having. He had lived alone for most of his life. He had never needed anyone. In fact he prided himself in his independence. That all changed after he met Sonic an Tails. Suddenly he had friends, and the number only grew. The company was nice, but always on his terms. His island. His rules.
There were many thoughts knocking around in that echidna skull of his as he sat silently in front of the emerald's shrine. The war with Eggman had made him realize several things. The foremost on his mind was the survival of his species. It was something that he had put off for far too long. Knuckles wasn't the greatest at social interaction, after all he spent most of his life interacting with very few people. What frustrated him most about the whole thing was how often his mind would come back to Amy.
'Amy...,' Knuckles mentally scolded himself for allowing that crush to happen. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms. His brow furrowed as he became increasingly frustrated with his own feelings, '...of all people why Amy? The girl obsessed with Sonic.'
Amy had been by his side during the entirety of the war. They had worked so closely together, spending nearly every day with one another. Knuckles felt he had learned a lot about her during that time. She seemed so different--much more mature than he had remembered her. She had shown incredible leadership and strength right alongside him. He admired that. Much to his surprised she hadn't constantly talked about Sonic. Perhaps that was because she knew he was no longer available. The only talk of Sonic was when they expressed their concern for his well being or reminisced about their adventures with him. They had all thought Sonic dead. It had been a miracle to get him back.
His thoughts were interrupted when he opened his eyes to see what looked like Amy in the distance. Immediately he stood up, convinced his mind was playing tricks on him. But there she was. He couldn't help the little smile that grew upon his muzzle.
"What are you doing here?", he asked, trying to hide his happiness behind that tough guy exterior.
"Nice to see you too!", she huffed playfully at him.
Knuckles smirked down at her. Before the war, he had barely given her a second glance. As she stood in front of him now, he could only admire how beautiful she had become in his eyes.
"I saw the island in the sky again.", she gestured to the Master Emerald. "Everything okay up here?"
"Mm. Things are back to normal here. Luckily the island didn't take too much of a hit from Eggman. Guess he didn't care to waste any time here once he figured out the emerald was gone.", Knuckles explained.
"I'm glad the island was spared." She smiled. Checking up on the island was just an excuse to see him. She knew that. She wasn't fooling herself. Neither did she care. She had been aching to see him.
"Yeah." Knuckles closed his eyes. She was too cute when she smiled. It was best not to look. "How are things going down there?"
"Things are coming along quickly. Rebuilding is a lot of work, but with so many people putting forth an effort, everything is being done in record time. Life will be back to normal soon."
There was a lull of awkward silence.
"It's nice to see you again.", Amy whispered.
Afraid he might show some sort of weakness in response to her words, Knuckles quickly turned on his heel and ascended the shrine steps. "Nice to see you again too."
Amy was a bit confused as to if this was an indication that the conversation was over. Was she was supposed to head on home? She didn't come all that way just to spend a lowly five minutes there, so she pursued him. Once he reached the top Knuckles was somewhat surprised to see Amy had followed him. He took a seat in front of the Master Emerald and stared at her.
"Soooo..." Amy tapped her hands at her sides. "Are you just going to sit here all day?"
Knuckles furrowed his brow.
"Not that that's a bad thing!", she quickly added. With that look he had given her she was afraid she'd touched a nerve. "But don't you get bored?"
"If you must know, I don't always just sit here. Sitting with the emerald is relaxing, but it's not all there is to do on the island."
"Well," Amy took a seat beside him, "what else do you do then?"
Knuckles felt like this was some sort of interrogation on how he spent his time. "Hiking. Swimming. Gardening. Rock climbing. Fishing. The island offers me many things."
"But not companyyyy!", she cooed.
"I've never needed company and I'm not about to start.", he huffed, but immediately regretted saying such a thing to her. However, it seemed to affect her very little.
"Come on Knuckles, admit it, you missed me!", Amy teased.
He simply looked at her without giving any verbal response to that.
"That settles it. I'm going to come visit you more often. You have everything you need here except someone to talk to!" This was her chance to spend some time with him without the worry of war. She was going to snag it!
Just as he was about to open his mouth, Amy shoved her finger over his lips. "No, no! I insist. It'll be fun, I promise!"
Knuckles blinked at her. How could she stop him with just a finger over his mouth? Yet there he was, completely giving in. What kind of power was this that she held over him? He didn't have it in him to object. If he was being honest with himself he didn't even want to object.
"Fine.", he agreed, trying not to sound eager in the slightest.
"Great!" Amy bolted up and clapped her hands. "I'm here now. So how about you show me around the island?"
Knuckles lifted himself up with a smile. Now that was something he could get behind. He was proud of his island. The thought of having her around was already something he was excited for, but he wouldn't let on.
“Let’s go.”, he nodded.