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Contains Sonknux.","count":"5","submission_left_submission_id":"1666363","submission_left_file_name":"2380288_ChaotixChan_sb3.rtf"}],"description":"The terror is finally over for Team Sonic. They have shown their zombie-turned-normal counterparts what it's like to feel love, and they no longer have reason to cause suffering. Now, on the eve of their first anniversary, Sonic and Knuckles are reflecting on that long, crazy journey, as well as their relationship, which will never be broken.","description_bbcode_parsed":"The terror is finally over for Team Sonic. They have shown their zombie-turned-normal counterparts what it's like to feel love, and they no longer have reason to cause suffering. Now, on the eve of their first anniversary, Sonic and Knuckles are reflecting on that long, crazy journey, as well as their relationship, which will never be broken.","writing":"What Lies Within You\n\n[b]Knuckles' P.O.V[/b]\n\nA loud thud from somewhere in the room broke me from the trance of love. It didn't wake Sonic-he was still peacefully asleep in my arms. More thudding from outside, what sounded like footsteps out in the hallway.\n\n\"Sonic, wake up.\" I whispered, shaking him awake.\n\n\"Mmm, what...?\" he said, groggy from sleep.\n\nAn even louder thud came from behind the sliding closet doors. Sonic was wide awake now, and we were both on our feet, our eyes searching the room for who-or what-was stalking us.\n\nThe thudding, the footsteps, the sounds outside the window-the were all getting louder, coming closer. Sonic side-glanced at me, his eyes wide with fear.\n\n\"Knuckles,\" he said, \"I think it's-\"\n\nSuddenly, the window shattered, the bedroom and closet doors were barged down, and they surrounded us.\n\n\"The zombies!\"\n\n[b]Sonic's P.O.V[/b]\n\nTails, Amy, and Sticks rushed into the room and joined the battle. Fortunately, by now and mostly thanks to Knuckles, I had recovered enough to fight. As Tails and Amy went up against their own counterparts, I spindashed Sticks' and mine off their feet. But then the zombie Knuckles grabbed me and held me above the floor. I screamed as I felt a stab of pain behind my left arm, then farther down. His spike had stabbed me and was dragging downwards, making the wound bigger. Blood seeped out and stained my blue fur red.\n\n\"Let him go!\" Knuckles shouted angrily. After pushing the zombie Amy off of him, he punched his zombie counterpart in the back, making him drop me. I grabbed my wounded arm, groaning in pain, blood soaking my glove. Tails and Sticks fought the zombies off, and we fled the room and took off running down the hall.\n\n\"How do they keep finding us?!\" Knuckles asked in disbelief. \"They're blind!\"\n\n\"Maybe they can smell us, or hear us.\" Amy suggested. \"Where are we even going?\"\n\n\"Who cares?\" I said. \"Right now we've gotta lose them!\"\n\nWe turned right and hid in a pitch black room. It was so dark we couldn't see each other, even though we stuck close together. The blood from my wound ran down my arm and dripped to the floor, and I silently prayed the zombies wouldn't hear it. But if they didn't need eyes to find us, who knew how strong their hearing was?\n\nThe zombies' running footsteps grew louder, paused, and continued, slowly fading. We stood in silence a moment longer, then Tails opened the door a crack and peeked outside.\n\n\"All clear.\" he said, and we all sighed with relief. He opened the door farther, letting some light in. Enough for them to see my injured arm. \"We'd better get something on that.\"\n\n\"Maybe one of these rooms has something we can use.\" Amy said.\n\n\"Or maybe there's something in here but we just can't see it.\" Knuckles said. \"Seriously, where's the light switch?\"\n\n\"Let's try feeling the wall.\" Tails said.\n\nOur hands slid across the wall, searching for the light switch. It hurt to move my left arm, so I used my right. At some point, my foot caught on something on the floor and I almost tripped. I looked down in confusion, but of course I couldn't see anything.\n\n\"Found it!\" Sticks called out, and the room flooded with a sharp white light. I shielded my eyes, blinded at first, then lowered my arm as I got used to the light. What we now saw sitting on the floor in front of us both confused and unnerved me.\n\nIt was me. Not a zombie, but the actual me. Well, almost. His arms and legs and the entire left half of his head were robotic. His cybernetic eye was blacked out and he appeared to be asleep.\n\nWas this another memory? I tried to think of what memory this version of me would represent. Then, just as I was coming to realize what it was, the new Sonic's cybernetic eye glowed red and he woke up. When he saw us, his expression turned deadly and dangerous. He stood up and glared at me with hatred.\n\n\"You shouldn't have gotten rid of me.\" he growled.\n\n[b]Knuckles' P.O.V[/b]\n\nThis was from when Sonic found that old mech suit in the cave. When it corrupted him and made him completely evil. After we destroyed the microchip that was controlling him, he never wore the mech suit again, saying he preferred having his feet on the ground.\n\nNow it was here, and it wanted revenge on Sonic for tossing it aside.\n\n\"I had every reason to get rid of you.\" Sonic stopped looking scared and was now looking angry. \"You made me act like someone I wasn't, like some incredibly rude and evil jerk.\"\n\n\"Don't you remember all the cool stuff you did with me?\" the robotic Sonic asked. \"All the [i]swag[/i] my creators had?\"\n\n\"You made me insult and attack my friends and ally with Eggman!\" Sonic shouted. \"I'm glad I stopped wearing you. And I don't care that you can't control me anymore, I'm never wearing you again!\"\n\nThe evil Sonic scowled. \"You're gonna regret saying that, hero!\" he said angrily.\n\nHe swiped at Sonic with his robotic arm, sending him falling to the floor. He cried out in pain as he landed on his injured arm. Angered by this, I swooped in and grabbed the evil Sonic by his legs.\n\n\"How dare you hurt my Sonic!\" I shouted, and swung him in a circle before throwing him against the wall. Amy and Sticks pinned him by his arms and legs while Tails reached into the robotic half of his head and pulled something out. The microchip that turned Sonic evil. His robot eye dimmed to black and he slumped to the floor, powered down. Amy destroyed the microchip with her hammer.\n\nI helped Sonic up. The blood from his wound had made a small puddle on the floor. \"You okay?\" I asked.\n\n\"Yeah, I'm fine.\" he said. He rubbed his injured arm. \"Man, that hurt.\"\n\n\"I'd kiss it better, but I don't wanna get blood on my lips.\" I joked, making Sonic giggle.\n\nTails looked worried. \"At this rate, the wound could become infected.\" he said. \"We'd better get it treated fast.\"\n\nSonic's P.O.V\n\nWe searched the rooms for something to treat my arm with. Before long, we found a room filled with medical supplies and medicine. Most of them were used up or covered with infection, but we found some clean bandages and bottles of antiseptic that would do just fine. Tails rinsed off the blood, soaked the wound in the medicine, and wrapped it up. Now Knuckles kissed it, and I smiled and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the lips.\n\nWith that taken care of, we checked the remaining rooms on this floor for a way home-with no luck-before going up to the top floor. There was only a single door at the end of a long hallway, and from behind it came a purple glow.\n\nWe all stood in silence, watching it.\n\n\"You guys think that's it?\" I finally asked.\n\n\"Only one way to find out.\" Tails said.\n\nWe walked slowly down the hall, and I opened the door. The room behind it was neither too big or too small, and completely bare except for two things. One was a control panel with a lever, currently set at a glowing purple light. And the other was a dark purple portal.\n\nThe exact same one that brought us to this world.\n\n\"This is it.\" Amy said quietly. \"Our way home.\"\n\n[b]Knuckles' P.O.V[/b]\n\n\"I can't believe it.\" I said. \"We actually found it.\"\n\nTails walked over to the lever. There was another light next to the purple one, this one green and not glowing. \"I bet if I switch this, the portal will reverse and take us home.\" he said.\n\n\"Why don't we just go through it now?\" I said and walked toward the portal. Only for some invisible force to push me back, stopping me from entering.\n\n\"I think you just answered your own question.\" Amy said.\n\n\"Do it, Tails.\" Sonic said eagerly. \"Switch the lever and get us out of here.\"\n\nI could see why he was the most anxious to leave. This place had brought back more bad memories for him than the rest of us. Memories of having our allies turned against us, facing his worst fear and nearly dying by it, himself becoming evil and attacking us. It was no wonder he wanted to leave this world the most.\n\nBut before Tails could put his hand on the lever, the zombie versions of us rose up from the wooden floor and lunged for him.\n\nSonic's P.O.V\n\nTails screamed in fear, but we acted quickly and rushed to save him. I spindashed the zombie versions of Amy, Knuckles, and me away from him, but another-I couldn't tell who-grabbed me and threw me into a corner, and I groaned in pain as my injured arm hit the wall.\n\nI heard Knuckles cry out, and he soon hit the wall after me. I noticed his arms as I helped him up-they hung limply, and by the positions of the bones, they were either broken or dislocated. Our friends were soon thrown into the corner with us, and the zombies formed a tight half circle around us.\n\nWe were trapped.\n\nKnuckles groaned. \"If I could use my arms, I'd ground pound us out of here.\" he said.\n\nThe zombies came closer, and we huddled more tightly together. Amy started to cry.\n\n\"I think this is it, guys.\" she said tearfully.\n\nSeeing her cry suddenly made me want to do the same. The realization of what she said struck me, and I wrapped my arms around Knuckles, tears now falling from my eyes as well.\n\nThis was it. We were done for.\n\n\"Knuckles,\" I said, looking up at him through my tears, \"kiss me one last time.\"\n\nWe were about to die, it was the least he could do. We leaned in close and kissed for the last time.\n\n\"They've stopped!\"\n\n[b]Knuckles' P.O.V[/b]\n\nHearing Tails exclaim that stopped us in our tracks. We pulled away and looked at the zombies. Tails was right, they had stopped moving in and were closely watching me and Sonic.\n\n\"Kiss again.\" Sticks said.\n\nKeeping our eyes on the zombies, Sonic and I quickly kissed again. Our doubles went up to each other and kissed, and then something incredible happened.\n\nThey began to change. Their dull, grimy fur and matted quills became perfectly smooth and full of color. Their wounds healed and the blood dripping from their empty eye sockets disappeared, eyes full of life taking their place.\n\nThey were whole again, now looking exactly like me and Sonic. They smiled with complete happiness and kissed again.\n\nThe zombie Tails, Amy, and Sticks smiled, too, then the great change began to happen to them. Their dead, worn-down states magically became whole, living ones. Then it happened to the room we were in, everything old and broken was repaired, the gloomy conditions brightened, even the dark, cloudy night outside became a bright, sunny day. The purple and green lights on the control panel turned red and blue, and the dark purple portal was now a bright red one.\n\nEverything dark and evil had disappeared.\n\nThe bandages on Sonic's injured arm fell away, and the wound was gone. My broken arms were healed, too, and I could move them again.\n\n\"Wow.\" he said, both because of us healing and all the evil conditions vanishing.\n\nOur doubles-no longer zombies and now exact copies of us-smiled gratefully at us. Sonic's double stepped forward.\n\n\"Thank you.\" he said.\n\n[b]Sonic's P.O.V[/b]\n\n\"For so long, all we've known are negative emotions.\" my former zombie double said. \"Sadness, pain, despair. The only pleasure we've ever had was teleporting people from other worlds to our own and tormenting them with their worst memories and fears.\"\n\n\"But you showed us what it's like to feel love.\" said Amy's double. \"So we no longer have need for such heartless actions or terrible emotions. You've saved us from our miserable world, and we can never thank you enough.\"\n\nAfter the team and I cast each other looks of intrigue and astonishment, I smiled. \"Well, we're very glad to have helped.\" I said.\n\nTails' double walked over to the control panel and switched the lever to the blue light, and the portal turned a soft blue. \"The portal will take you guys home now.\" he said.\n\n\"And one last time,\" my double said with a smile, \"thank you so much.\"\n\nI nodded. \"Of course. Take care.\"\n\nOur doubles gave us one last grateful look before we stepped into the portal and returned to our world.\n\n[b]Three Months Later[/b]\n\nI sat on the flowered grass as I looked up at the moon. I absently ran my fingers across the grass, which was dotted with tiny flowers. The small lake before me displayed the moon's beautiful reflection.\n\nThis was where Knuckles and I made our relationship official. I still remember that wonderful night, giggling as Knuckles led me to this spot, marveling at how beautiful it was, laying down on the grass, kissing and caressing, and making love under the moonlight. It was now the night before our one year anniversary, but our relationship wasn't the only thing I was reflecting on.\n\nI heard someone come up from behind me and sit down. His hands wrapped around my waist, and I smiled and leaned back against Knuckles' chest. He kissed me between my eyes.\n\n\"Beautiful night, isn't it?\" he said.\n\n\"Yeah, it is.\" I replied. Knuckles shifted so he was sitting next to me. We were silent for a while, listening to the water flowing and the faint chorus of crickets. Then I finally said, \"What a journey that was.\"\n\nKnuckles nodded in agreement, then gently laid a hand on mine. \"It pains me so much that you were hurt the most.\" he said sorrowfully. \"I should've done a better job at protecting you. Seeing you scared and in pain as those memories came back to you...\" He looked away, his eyes shining with upcoming tears.\n\nI pressed closer to him. \"You did help me, Knux.\" I said. \"You comforted me when I was hurting, and when we were alone in that room, you helped me forget about everything, if for just a while.\" I smiled up at him. \"Everything that was happening to us just vanished from my mind then, and all I knew, all that mattered to me, was my love for you.\"\n\nI reached up and kissed Knuckles' cheek. \"I'll always be thankful to you for that, Knux, and being there for me when I needed you.\"\n\nMy boyfriend's sweet smile returned and he pulled me in to kiss me. I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him. There we sat for a few minutes, gently kissing, until we briefly separated and lovingly looked each other in the eye.\n\n\"I love you, Knuckles.\" I said softly.\n\nHe smiled and caressed my face in his hands. \"Say that again.\"\n\n\"I love you.\"\n\nHe leaned in and kissed my cheek, then sweetly returned, \"I love you, too.\" as he kissed my lips.\n\nKnuckles gently pushed me down so he was laying on top of me, and we lovingly started kissing again. I could feel it again, that feeling from when we were in the room of the manor. Everything else ceased to matter. All I cared about, at that moment, was my love for Knuckles, my sweet, precious, amazing boyfriend. He was all I wanted, all that mattered to me.\n\nAnd I wanted him. In the most powerful of ways, I wanted him.\n\n\"Oh, Knuckles,\" I moaned, \"I want you in me.\"\n\nHe pulled back and smiled knowingly. \"What was that?\" he said.\n\nI looked at him with pleading eyes and said, \"I want you inside me.\"\n\nHe nodded in approval. \"Anything for you, babe.\" he said.\n\nI smiled and closed my eyes and he spread my legs apart and pushed inside me.\n\nI can never say this enough, Knuckles, but I love you.\n\nSonic, you know this well enough already, but I love you.\n\nAnd no matter what, I will always love you.\n\nThe End","writing_bbcode_parsed":"What Lies Within You

Knuckles' P.O.V

A loud thud from somewhere in the room broke me from the trance of love. It didn't wake Sonic-he was still peacefully asleep in my arms. More thudding from outside, what sounded like footsteps out in the hallway.

"Sonic, wake up." I whispered, shaking him awake.

"Mmm, what...?" he said, groggy from sleep.

An even louder thud came from behind the sliding closet doors. Sonic was wide awake now, and we were both on our feet, our eyes searching the room for who-or what-was stalking us.

The thudding, the footsteps, the sounds outside the window-the were all getting louder, coming closer. Sonic side-glanced at me, his eyes wide with fear.

"Knuckles," he said, "I think it's-"

Suddenly, the window shattered, the bedroom and closet doors were barged down, and they surrounded us.

"The zombies!"

Sonic's P.O.V

Tails, Amy, and Sticks rushed into the room and joined the battle. Fortunately, by now and mostly thanks to Knuckles, I had recovered enough to fight. As Tails and Amy went up against their own counterparts, I spindashed Sticks' and mine off their feet. But then the zombie Knuckles grabbed me and held me above the floor. I screamed as I felt a stab of pain behind my left arm, then farther down. His spike had stabbed me and was dragging downwards, making the wound bigger. Blood seeped out and stained my blue fur red.

"Let him go!" Knuckles shouted angrily. After pushing the zombie Amy off of him, he punched his zombie counterpart in the back, making him drop me. I grabbed my wounded arm, groaning in pain, blood soaking my glove. Tails and Sticks fought the zombies off, and we fled the room and took off running down the hall.

"How do they keep finding us?!" Knuckles asked in disbelief. "They're blind!"

"Maybe they can smell us, or hear us." Amy suggested. "Where are we even going?"

"Who cares?" I said. "Right now we've gotta lose them!"

We turned right and hid in a pitch black room. It was so dark we couldn't see each other, even though we stuck close together. The blood from my wound ran down my arm and dripped to the floor, and I silently prayed the zombies wouldn't hear it. But if they didn't need eyes to find us, who knew how strong their hearing was?

The zombies' running footsteps grew louder, paused, and continued, slowly fading. We stood in silence a moment longer, then Tails opened the door a crack and peeked outside.

"All clear." he said, and we all sighed with relief. He opened the door farther, letting some light in. Enough for them to see my injured arm. "We'd better get something on that."

"Maybe one of these rooms has something we can use." Amy said.

"Or maybe there's something in here but we just can't see it." Knuckles said. "Seriously, where's the light switch?"

"Let's try feeling the wall." Tails said.

Our hands slid across the wall, searching for the light switch. It hurt to move my left arm, so I used my right. At some point, my foot caught on something on the floor and I almost tripped. I looked down in confusion, but of course I couldn't see anything.

"Found it!" Sticks called out, and the room flooded with a sharp white light. I shielded my eyes, blinded at first, then lowered my arm as I got used to the light. What we now saw sitting on the floor in front of us both confused and unnerved me.

It was me. Not a zombie, but the actual me. Well, almost. His arms and legs and the entire left half of his head were robotic. His cybernetic eye was blacked out and he appeared to be asleep.

Was this another memory? I tried to think of what memory this version of me would represent. Then, just as I was coming to realize what it was, the new Sonic's cybernetic eye glowed red and he woke up. When he saw us, his expression turned deadly and dangerous. He stood up and glared at me with hatred.

"You shouldn't have gotten rid of me." he growled.

Knuckles' P.O.V

This was from when Sonic found that old mech suit in the cave. When it corrupted him and made him completely evil. After we destroyed the microchip that was controlling him, he never wore the mech suit again, saying he preferred having his feet on the ground.

Now it was here, and it wanted revenge on Sonic for tossing it aside.

"I had every reason to get rid of you." Sonic stopped looking scared and was now looking angry. "You made me act like someone I wasn't, like some incredibly rude and evil jerk."

"Don't you remember all the cool stuff you did with me?" the robotic Sonic asked. "All the swag my creators had?"

"You made me insult and attack my friends and ally with Eggman!" Sonic shouted. "I'm glad I stopped wearing you. And I don't care that you can't control me anymore, I'm never wearing you again!"

The evil Sonic scowled. "You're gonna regret saying that, hero!" he said angrily.

He swiped at Sonic with his robotic arm, sending him falling to the floor. He cried out in pain as he landed on his injured arm. Angered by this, I swooped in and grabbed the evil Sonic by his legs.

"How dare you hurt my Sonic!" I shouted, and swung him in a circle before throwing him against the wall. Amy and Sticks pinned him by his arms and legs while Tails reached into the robotic half of his head and pulled something out. The microchip that turned Sonic evil. His robot eye dimmed to black and he slumped to the floor, powered down. Amy destroyed the microchip with her hammer.

I helped Sonic up. The blood from his wound had made a small puddle on the floor. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said. He rubbed his injured arm. "Man, that hurt."

"I'd kiss it better, but I don't wanna get blood on my lips." I joked, making Sonic giggle.

Tails looked worried. "At this rate, the wound could become infected." he said. "We'd better get it treated fast."

Sonic's P.O.V

We searched the rooms for something to treat my arm with. Before long, we found a room filled with medical supplies and medicine. Most of them were used up or covered with infection, but we found some clean bandages and bottles of antiseptic that would do just fine. Tails rinsed off the blood, soaked the wound in the medicine, and wrapped it up. Now Knuckles kissed it, and I smiled and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the lips.

With that taken care of, we checked the remaining rooms on this floor for a way home-with no luck-before going up to the top floor. There was only a single door at the end of a long hallway, and from behind it came a purple glow.

We all stood in silence, watching it.

"You guys think that's it?" I finally asked.

"Only one way to find out." Tails said.

We walked slowly down the hall, and I opened the door. The room behind it was neither too big or too small, and completely bare except for two things. One was a control panel with a lever, currently set at a glowing purple light. And the other was a dark purple portal.

The exact same one that brought us to this world.

"This is it." Amy said quietly. "Our way home."

Knuckles' P.O.V

"I can't believe it." I said. "We actually found it."

Tails walked over to the lever. There was another light next to the purple one, this one green and not glowing. "I bet if I switch this, the portal will reverse and take us home." he said.

"Why don't we just go through it now?" I said and walked toward the portal. Only for some invisible force to push me back, stopping me from entering.

"I think you just answered your own question." Amy said.

"Do it, Tails." Sonic said eagerly. "Switch the lever and get us out of here."

I could see why he was the most anxious to leave. This place had brought back more bad memories for him than the rest of us. Memories of having our allies turned against us, facing his worst fear and nearly dying by it, himself becoming evil and attacking us. It was no wonder he wanted to leave this world the most.

But before Tails could put his hand on the lever, the zombie versions of us rose up from the wooden floor and lunged for him.

Sonic's P.O.V

Tails screamed in fear, but we acted quickly and rushed to save him. I spindashed the zombie versions of Amy, Knuckles, and me away from him, but another-I couldn't tell who-grabbed me and threw me into a corner, and I groaned in pain as my injured arm hit the wall.

I heard Knuckles cry out, and he soon hit the wall after me. I noticed his arms as I helped him up-they hung limply, and by the positions of the bones, they were either broken or dislocated. Our friends were soon thrown into the corner with us, and the zombies formed a tight half circle around us.

We were trapped.

Knuckles groaned. "If I could use my arms, I'd ground pound us out of here." he said.

The zombies came closer, and we huddled more tightly together. Amy started to cry.

"I think this is it, guys." she said tearfully.

Seeing her cry suddenly made me want to do the same. The realization of what she said struck me, and I wrapped my arms around Knuckles, tears now falling from my eyes as well.

This was it. We were done for.

"Knuckles," I said, looking up at him through my tears, "kiss me one last time."

We were about to die, it was the least he could do. We leaned in close and kissed for the last time.

"They've stopped!"

Knuckles' P.O.V

Hearing Tails exclaim that stopped us in our tracks. We pulled away and looked at the zombies. Tails was right, they had stopped moving in and were closely watching me and Sonic.

"Kiss again." Sticks said.

Keeping our eyes on the zombies, Sonic and I quickly kissed again. Our doubles went up to each other and kissed, and then something incredible happened.

They began to change. Their dull, grimy fur and matted quills became perfectly smooth and full of color. Their wounds healed and the blood dripping from their empty eye sockets disappeared, eyes full of life taking their place.

They were whole again, now looking exactly like me and Sonic. They smiled with complete happiness and kissed again.

The zombie Tails, Amy, and Sticks smiled, too, then the great change began to happen to them. Their dead, worn-down states magically became whole, living ones. Then it happened to the room we were in, everything old and broken was repaired, the gloomy conditions brightened, even the dark, cloudy night outside became a bright, sunny day. The purple and green lights on the control panel turned red and blue, and the dark purple portal was now a bright red one.

Everything dark and evil had disappeared.

The bandages on Sonic's injured arm fell away, and the wound was gone. My broken arms were healed, too, and I could move them again.

"Wow." he said, both because of us healing and all the evil conditions vanishing.

Our doubles-no longer zombies and now exact copies of us-smiled gratefully at us. Sonic's double stepped forward.

"Thank you." he said.

Sonic's P.O.V

"For so long, all we've known are negative emotions." my former zombie double said. "Sadness, pain, despair. The only pleasure we've ever had was teleporting people from other worlds to our own and tormenting them with their worst memories and fears."

"But you showed us what it's like to feel love." said Amy's double. "So we no longer have need for such heartless actions or terrible emotions. You've saved us from our miserable world, and we can never thank you enough."

After the team and I cast each other looks of intrigue and astonishment, I smiled. "Well, we're very glad to have helped." I said.

Tails' double walked over to the control panel and switched the lever to the blue light, and the portal turned a soft blue. "The portal will take you guys home now." he said.

"And one last time," my double said with a smile, "thank you so much."

I nodded. "Of course. Take care."

Our doubles gave us one last grateful look before we stepped into the portal and returned to our world.

Three Months Later

I sat on the flowered grass as I looked up at the moon. I absently ran my fingers across the grass, which was dotted with tiny flowers. The small lake before me displayed the moon's beautiful reflection.

This was where Knuckles and I made our relationship official. I still remember that wonderful night, giggling as Knuckles led me to this spot, marveling at how beautiful it was, laying down on the grass, kissing and caressing, and making love under the moonlight. It was now the night before our one year anniversary, but our relationship wasn't the only thing I was reflecting on.

I heard someone come up from behind me and sit down. His hands wrapped around my waist, and I smiled and leaned back against Knuckles' chest. He kissed me between my eyes.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" he said.

"Yeah, it is." I replied. Knuckles shifted so he was sitting next to me. We were silent for a while, listening to the water flowing and the faint chorus of crickets. Then I finally said, "What a journey that was."

Knuckles nodded in agreement, then gently laid a hand on mine. "It pains me so much that you were hurt the most." he said sorrowfully. "I should've done a better job at protecting you. Seeing you scared and in pain as those memories came back to you..." He looked away, his eyes shining with upcoming tears.

I pressed closer to him. "You did help me, Knux." I said. "You comforted me when I was hurting, and when we were alone in that room, you helped me forget about everything, if for just a while." I smiled up at him. "Everything that was happening to us just vanished from my mind then, and all I knew, all that mattered to me, was my love for you."

I reached up and kissed Knuckles' cheek. "I'll always be thankful to you for that, Knux, and being there for me when I needed you."

My boyfriend's sweet smile returned and he pulled me in to kiss me. I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him. There we sat for a few minutes, gently kissing, until we briefly separated and lovingly looked each other in the eye.

"I love you, Knuckles." I said softly.

He smiled and caressed my face in his hands. "Say that again."

"I love you."

He leaned in and kissed my cheek, then sweetly returned, "I love you, too." as he kissed my lips.

Knuckles gently pushed me down so he was laying on top of me, and we lovingly started kissing again. I could feel it again, that feeling from when we were in the room of the manor. Everything else ceased to matter. All I cared about, at that moment, was my love for Knuckles, my sweet, precious, amazing boyfriend. He was all I wanted, all that mattered to me.

And I wanted him. In the most powerful of ways, I wanted him.

"Oh, Knuckles," I moaned, "I want you in me."

He pulled back and smiled knowingly. "What was that?" he said.

I looked at him with pleading eyes and said, "I want you inside me."

He nodded in approval. "Anything for you, babe." he said.

I smiled and closed my eyes and he spread my legs apart and pushed inside me.

I can never say this enough, Knuckles, but I love you.

Sonic, you know this well enough already, but I love you.

And no matter what, I will always love you.

The End","pools_count":1,"title":"Through the World of Neglect Ch. 5","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"text/rtf","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"1","rating_name":"Mature","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"3","name":"Violence","description":"Mild violence","rating_id":"1"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"t","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"60","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}