Guardian Angel

Author's notes 1:

For clarification:
- Knuckles: the Knuckles from the canon dimension
- Knuxy: the Knuckles from Silver_Lea's Sonic AU, who moved to live with Knuckles on Angel Island when he turned 18.

For a bit more info on them, you can read my other fic Reminiscence, or you can check out @xxsilverleaxx on Tumblr!

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It's weird, to be dead and among the living simultaneously.

He hadn't suffered when the fateful day came, which Knuckles presumes he should be grateful for; dying had been quick and painless, almost as unremarkable and familiar as falling asleep. And when he opened his eyes again on a different plane of existence he has met his ancestors, the spirits he had always felt around him but which he had never been able to give a name and a story. They are kind to him, and they revere him for how well he always protected the sacred Emerald and for his devotion to keeping the island safe, but most of all they help him learn to live with the fact he has... passed away. Died. Perished, in a desperate bid to protect the magical gemstone and his beloved island from an attack. He had been taken from life too soon, that was certain, but they help him accept he had died with dedication to his purpose and while fighting for those he cared about- exactly how he wanted himself to.

The only problem is that Knuxy, his beloved little brother, is out there on his own now.

And he has not taken Knuckles' death well at all.

Knuckles does what he can; he sticks close to the other, he talks to him softly during night-time and louder during the day like they did when he was alive still, and whenever possible he tries to sneak in some fruit onto the other's plate as he sleeps or drags an extra blanket over him when their cave is especially cold. Instead of wandering over the outstretched plains and dense forests of Angel Island like the other spirits tend to do he remains at the shrine where he used to live with the other, trying his hardest to support the younger echidna and looking after him as best he can. But the fact that he is a ghost now, invisible to the living and mostly intangible also... makes things a bit difficult.

Because no matter what he does, there is no acknowledgement of his existence.

Knuxy does not react surprised when tasks are done overnight without him lifting a finger, when there's more food stored than he has gathered himself – he tends to gather very little, much too little for a young adult – or when fires spring to life before he can light the matches or the twigs, and it frightens the late Guardian more than he dares admit. His young successor is not taking care of himself, too shaken up by Knuckles' unexpected departure from his life... It is the only regret of his that lingers just like he does in the world of the living.

And despite how much he tries to connect with his little brother, show him that he is still there, the other simply does not hear him.

It is there the whole problem of the matter lies; Knuckles is well aware Knuxy does not have the connection to the Emerald and the spirits of the echidnas that he himself was born with, that enabled him to talk to Tikal and Chaos in the magical gemstone and feel the island as if it were a part of himself. He honestly is not sure the younger echidna even knows he is watching over him still, but the lack of recognition his actions tend to lead to is enough to confirm his worst fears. Instead Knuxy spends his days staring out over the horizon with tears pooling at the edges of his eyes, if those aren't blank and unseeing instead, or he frantically paces around the shrine of the Master Emerald with his mumbles cutting through whatever calming word Knuckles is saying to him. The other has had only bad days and worse nights in the month since his death, and it fills Knuckles with an abject terror he did not know the departed could feel.