"Wait up…"

Knuckles didn't want to wait. He wanted to turn and snap at Sonic that there wasn't time to wait, that he'd wasted enough time already. But he couldn't. "Wait," was the very least Sonic was entitled to demand of him. He glanced sideways at hedgehog, loping alongside him.

Sonic smiled lightly. "Or we can talk on the go. Whatever."

Knuckles returned his eyes to the trail. He hadn't realised it was a trail. He'd thought he was just following the easiest route, but it was a path and that's how Sonic had followed him. He'd been distracted. Careless. Predictable.

"Why did you follow me, Sonic?" That came out brusquer than he'd intended and he glanced warily at Sonic again. The hedgehog was frowning but didn't sound angry when he spoke.

"You got blown up, in case you missed it. We were about to go back, then Amy asked how my head was after the blast and…"

Sonic trailed off and, surprised, Knuckles looked at him properly. Sonic smiled again and shrugged, looking - as far as Knuckles could tell - mildly embarrassed. "Well, I suddenly thought someone should probably check you weren't in a heap somewhere with concussion or something."

"I'm not."

"Yeah. I can see that." Sonic fell silent again but continued to keep pace with him. Knuckles couldn't think of anything to say to either continue or end the conversation. Was this the right chance to apologise? He lined up various phrases, trying them out in his head but Sonic spoke again first.

"Look…" he said. "Knuckles... Are you okay?"

Knuckles came to a halt. Sonic stopped a second later and a few steps ahead.

"I just said I was," Knuckles pointed out.

Sonic shook his head. "You said you weren't in a heap somewhere. There's a bit more to being okay than that y'know?"

Knuckles looked at him. Sonic didn't look back straight away, instead flicking a twig over and over with the toe of his sneaker. After a moment, he kicked it away and met Knuckles' eyes.

"Not trying to crowd you but… It's just… if something was up with Tails I'd know. And if I'd upset Amy half the planet'd hear about it. You though…" He shook his head. "I mean I totally get why you want to search for the Emeralds your own way. I totally get that the city's not your scene. What I don't get…"

Sonic stared at him again then shrugged without finishing.

"Look…" he said again. "Just tell me if I've ticked you off. Or tell me Eggman span you a good story. Or he blackmailed you. Or, I dunno, brainwashed you with some robot-y ray we didn't know about. Anything. Something that's done with, that's over, that we can forget about. That we're cool now. Or tell me what's wrong. 'Cause I'm not getting much of an 'okay' vibe here."

"It's not over, Sonic!" Knuckles tried but couldn't stop himself. "We're nowhere close to getting home - do you even-" He caught himself with abrupt realisation, forced himself to keep looking at the hedgehog, not turn away, though sudden shame burned on his face.

"Eggman said you weren't even trying to get back," he muttered. "He said you brought us here on purpose and you'd stop us going back."

"Why would I do that?" Such total astonishment filled Sonic's voice and face that Knuckles wanted to dig himself into the forest floor there and then and never look anyone in the face ever again. He was a fool. An idiot. Every stupid thing Sonic had ever called him and the hedgehog was still talking.

"Cream's family are back there. All Amy's friends. Everything Tails has ever worked on - he loves the setup he's built there. Everyone we know is back there… You can't think I'd swap that forever just for a jolly?"

He stared at Knuckles who needed all his self control not to look away as Sonic went on.

"I mean, you've gotta be missing that island of yours, right? It's not like you'd swap-"

But Knuckles had flinched involuntarily at the mention of the Island and Sonic stopped talking. His expression changed.

"Oh. That's what's eating you?" Sonic didn't wait for an answer. "You really are homesick, aren't you?" He shook his head. "Sorry, Knuckles, but you can't just let Eggman know that kinda stuff - he will play you like-"

"I can't help it!" Knuckles cut across him. There was sympathy in Sonic's voice but no understanding. Knuckles had no idea how to make him understand. Not without humiliating himself further. "It's…"

He grimaced. "Yeah, it's 'eating me'."

Sonic also pulled a face. "Hmm. You make that sound a lot more sinister. Okay. What can I do?"

"Nothing." Why did Sonic even assume there was anything he could do? "Just… We have to get back. Find those Emeralds and get back."

Sonic smiled. "I'm on that."

Knuckles nodded wearily and let his gaze slide away from Sonic's.

"Thanks," he said after a moment. "For grabbing me when the robot blew up."

"No problem." He could hear the smile in Sonic's voice. "Thanks for blowing it up."

Knuckles shrugged, thoroughly embarrassed, and his voice fell back to a mutter. "Seemed the thing to do."

Sonic chuckled. "Totally! Maybe without the standing on it at the time though. So where are you going next?"

"I don't know." But the mention of it prompted Knuckles to start moving again. Sonic kept step with him.

"You hungry?"

"What?" Knuckles turned to stare because that had come out of nowhere.

"You want to grab a snack first?" Sonic's tone suggested he thought this a perfectly ordinary suggestion. Knuckles looked around them, pointedly.

"You see many junk food stalls around here, Sonic?" He'd said it without thinking, by reflex, and he screwed up his face in remorse- he was already snapping at Sonic again?

But the hedgehog was smirking when he looked at him.

"I've got a bigger radius for 'round here' than you, Knux, buddy. I can be out to the nearest chillidog stand and back again before the snacks are even cold." The smirk became a grin. "Or you can do some awesome guardian-ing, hero-of-the-wilderness-ing and pluck us something from a hedge that doesn't suck."

Knuckles repeated this wording to himself with incredulity, shaking his head slowly, but the utter unconcern in Sonic's tone was strangely calming.

"There's fruit," he admitted. "We're almost too high for it and they're probably getting over-ripe."

Sonic waved off these disclaimers. "That'd be a start."

Knuckles changed course, loping back along the curve of the hill to return to the scrubby bramble and berry bushes he'd seen earlier. Sonic followed willingly enough at first but as Knuckles started gathering the blackberries, haws and sloes, he baulked

"Hey! Ow!" he protested, glaring at the thorny stems as if they'd actively attacked him when he'd reached for the berries. "Y'know, Knux, when you said 'fruit' I had in mind something like a nice fat pear or some ripe apples…"

Knuckles shrugged. "This is what there is."

"Huh." Sonic pulled a thorn from the back of his glove and held up a single hawberry between his finger and thumb. "This is going to take forever." He stuck in it his mouth and made a face. "They're not even that great. Tell me this isn't what you've been living on? How do you even manage to get them without getting prickled to death? Can we revisit the 'junk food' idea?"

Knuckles ignored all but the second question from this flurry. "You gather them by being careful, Sonic. Anyway," he ventured a jab, "I'd have thought hedgehogs were in favour of prickles."

"Oh very funny." Sonic flicked one of the hard, little fruits at him in disgust which only made Knuckles relax a little bit more.

"Here." He gestured for Sonic to hold out his hand and deposited half a dozen blackberries into it. "These are the sweet ones."

"Yeah. I do at least know blackberries." Sonic tasted one then gulped the rest. "They're pretty good. Thanks."

He tapped a foot as Knuckles rummaged further in the scrub. "But I still want a proper meal. Come back to Chris' place with me and grab something."

This caught Knuckles sufficiently by surprise to make him turn too quickly. Blackthorn spines raked his leg and he had to fight to stop himself glaring at Sonic, who had winced, clearly not having meant for that to happen. Sonic didn't comment on his clumsiness however, instead going on with the conversation.

"You can pick up any supplies you want, have a proper rest…" Sonic's eyes narrowed. "Clean up whatever that is you've managed to do to yourself under your arm there that you're not telling me about…"

Knuckles' hand had gone to the healing gunshot on his side before Sonic had finished speaking, too startled by this unexpected observation to stop himself.

Sonic didn't comment on his reaction either. "Call it reconnaissance if you like," he went on. "You're just finding out where me and that Chaos Emerald are in case you need to come and punch my lights out for it further down the line."

Regardless of the sarcasm lurking behind Sonic's light tone, Knuckles could appreciate the face-saving intent of his wording.

"Am I likely to need to?" he asked, carefully matching the hedgehog's mostly-joking tone.

Sonic shrugged. "You tell me, buddy."

"All right."

Sonic frowned. "Is that 'all right' to the telling, the punching, or the visiting?"

Knuckles' muzzle twitched in involuntary amusement that had almost become unfamiliar.

"Yes."

Sonic's outrage at this level answer was predictable, but when he turned in exasperation and headed back down the track, it was at a pace that Knuckles knew he could match. A pace that was an invitation. An invitation as unspoken as the apology Knuckles still hadn't managed to find but that was also there nonetheless. Knuckles watched him for a second or two, glanced up at his original route and back at the hedgehog, then stirred his weary limbs into a run once more.

He caught up easily and Sonic gave him a sideways glance and a wink before wordlessly picking up the pace just enough to be considered a challenge. Knuckles matched it - Sonic's antics were familiar and even though Knuckles' tired body protested, the rest of him welcomed that familiarity. He needed all the familiarity he could get so far from home.

He have to return to the search for the Emeralds soon enough. Every nerve in his body insisted upon it. But he could take this one brief rest and let familiar company - for however short a time - stand in for familiar ground.

-END-