Authors Note: Did the lazy Cytrus really write something? Now that's a surprise, enjoy it while it lasts ;). Don't hesitate to send your comments, even the cruel ones, ESPECIALLY the cruel ones cause it's a very demented piece of work. Well, onto the show.

„To believe"

            The sun was beginning to set, it's last gentle rays fell upon the closed eyes of a certain red echidna. He was obviously thinking, perhaps meditating, and didn't even stir when darkness engulfed him. Maybe he didn't even notice, to deep in his own thoughts. He surely had a lot to think about. Really a lot…

Knuckles opened his eyes slowly and reluctantly. He had made a mistake, one of many lately. He shouldn't have wasted his precious time thinking, it did him no good. Just a few hours ago he was just disoriented, now he was utterly confused.

"Aren't you lonely sometimes?"

He wasn't… The stars and the moon were all hidden behind clouds, all animals on the island were asleep, technically, he was alone. But he knew he wasn't, he could see the pulsating, green light and feel the soothing presence. The presence of the master emerald. To some, it was just a stone, source of power or even a mere legend, but to him it was so much more. It was his life, his first memory, the only being that saw him laugh and cry, even the goal of his life was strictly connected to it. Even if it's presence was soothing though, he still couldn't call it his "friend"…

"You can't live through your life without having a friend, meeting one is inevitable…"

Somehow he couldn't make himself see it as an inevitable event. He saw it as a blessing, something that finally filled the gap in his life that he had always felt.

Finally, he had a friend.

He had someone to talk with, laugh with, someone to open to. Although he was rarely gliding, he felt like he was flying all the time. Although he didn't  know nor understand the feeling, he felt that it was good, and he enjoyed it as much as he could.

"Eggman, Robotnik, Julian... It seems that I have quite a lot of names…"

…and quite a lot of faces too. Maybe if he didn't tell Julian everything he knew about the master and chaos emeralds, the older doctor wouldn't want to use them, Sonic wouldn't appear on his island and it wouldn't be scarred by the battles that took place because of the conflict.

If he didn't.

But he did.

"Friendship consists of three things: actions, words and thoughts, it's sad that they're all rarely good at the same time…"

He had heard about Sonic before, the hedgehog was supposed to be the typical hero; great, unbeatable, clever, pleasant and modest, he was none of the above. He talked and acted like a jerk with an oversized ego, he probably was a jerk anyway, and the guardian didn't even dare to think what happened in the blue one's head. One thing was sure though, even if they ended as allies, Knuckles the Echidna could not, would not be Sonic the Hedgehog's true friend.

"Let me guess, Eggman tricked you again? You're the most gullible echidna on Mobius!"

The most gullible echidna on Mobius?

Yes?

No?

Did it matter?

No, it didn't.

To tell the truth, whenever he met with Julian, he always felt an weird urge to allow himself to be tricked once again. Why? Probably just so that he could talk with his first friend once more. Even if the friend would happily crush him and turn anything alive into robots.

It sounds stupid.

Quite frankly, it is stupid.

But really, isn't world stupid more often than not?

Sonic and Julian were as different as two creatures could be, but they had something in common. They both asked questions. Some were different, some similar, one the same.

"Why?"

Their responses to his answer were quite different though.

Sonic told him that that's called stupidity.

Julian said that that's a weakness.

"There's no man without a weakness, a perfect man's weakness would be the fact that he is perfect…"

And he sat there, in front of the most important object in his life, and thought.

The thinking didn't help him in any way.

Was it a weakness? Stupidity? Crime? Maybe a sin?

His answer?

"I always wanted to believe…"

.