I'll Be Here For Ya! [Sonknux]

Hurt

Not a fan of the chapter name lol

Warning- this chapter has mentions of sh  do not read this if that is triggering to you!

Knuckles woke up with a slight headache. The echidna couldn't remember much of whatever he had been doing. He let out a groan of pain and frustration.

"Knuckles! Are you ok?" The voice of Tails was heard. "What happened?"

Knuckles closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears, overwhelmed by- pretty much everything to be honest. Everything seemed too bright and loud. It had never been like this on Angel Island.

... Angel Island...

The Master Emerald!

Knuckles jolted up at the sudden thought of his emerald. Unfortunately, the intense light seemed to hit Knuckles faster than he could get up so the echidna had to cover his eyes.

"Take it easy Knux." Sonic's familiar voice almost scared the echidna.

"But I need to be at Angel Island! I-"

"Don't worry I checked on the Master Emerald for you. There's nothing to worry about buddy."

Knuckles couldn't help but feel disappointed at himself. How could he be so foolish. All Sonic did was hug him. Why was it so draining?

Tails ran to turn off the lights and made sure any natural light was mostly kept outside. "Is that any better Knuckles?" Tails asked in an almost whispering tone.

Knuckles simply sat where he was with his face buried in his hands, as if he were crying but he couldn't let himself do that. Especially in front of Sonic.

Sonic and Tails sat either side of Knuckles. They didn't say anything or try to touch him. Tails knew that would cause further stress for Knuckles.

As Sonic stared at the echidna, he noticed a few dark red lines on his arms, slightly hidden by the bandages Knuckles wore. He looked closer and gasped as he realised that they were scars. Not like the rest of the echidna's scars though. Sonic recognised them. Sonic had them too but- Sonic didn't hide them. Why was Knuckles hiding them?

Sonic was snapped out of his thoughts as Knuckles removed one hand from his face to glare questioningly Sonic. As he realised what Sonic was looking at, he quickly covered his arm with his other hand, mentallly cursing at himself for not hiding them better.

"Knuckles... you-"

"Shut."

Sonic couldn't stop worrying about him now. How long had Knuckles been doing this? Why was he hurting himself? Why are they being hidden? All his other scars are shown with pride- why aren't these? How many more are there? Was Knuckles about to cry? Knuckles never cries...

Knuckles placed over hand over his eyes and sniffled. Bringing his legs to his chest, trying to hide himself as much as possible. He just wanted to disappear.

"Knuckles it's ok! You shouldn't feel ashamed to cry" Tails tried to comfort the echidna.

As he heard that, Knuckles pretty much just broke into tears. He pulled Tails into a hug like he was some kind of teddy bear and cried into his hair. The two stayed like that for ages as Sonic watched. Eventually, the echidna lifted his head, letting go of Tails as he turned to Sonic. Sonic hugged the echidna, earning pretty much the same treatment that Tails got from Knuckles.

Knuckles felt stupid after a while and forced himself to stop. It made him feel worse though. He wanted to pull Sonic into a hug for hours... but he doesn't understand why.

"I should go- I can't stay and bother you forever"

"You're not bothering anyone Knuckles! You can stay as long as you want." Tails smiled "are you hungry? All you've eaten since you got here were a few grapes."

"How long have I been here?"

"Around four hours?"

"FOUR HOURS? No no no- I need to-"

"Knuckles. When did you last have a proper meal?" Sonic interrupted.

Knuckles thought for a moment. He couldn't remember. Just the thought of eating made him feel sick. Sonic glanced at Tails with a worried expression.

"Why don't I cook you something?" Tails asked.

"No I don't need it."

"Knuckles you need to eat."

"No I don't."

The fox sighed "I will cook something. Me and Sonic need to eat now anyway." Tails got up from where he was sat and began walking to the kitchen. He might only be an eight year old but he knows how to cook.

Knuckles growled in frustration as the fox left. Sonic stared at Knuckles's arm once again, this time gaining the courage to gently stroke his fingers over the scars. This easily caused the echidna to give him an angry glare.

"Show me the rest of them Knux."

"No"

"It wasn't a request Knuckles."

Hearing his full name and not just his nickname from the hedgehog felt unusual. Knuckles carefully started to unwrap the bandages on the arm that Sonic had seen. He wanted to avoid showing as many as he could.

Sonic grabbed Knuckles' now bare wrist and took a closer look at it. Most of the scars seemed old but there was a large amount which seemed pretty new.

"What about the rest?"

"What?"

"Knuckles I know this isn't all of them."

Knuckles swallowed hard and unwrapped the bandages on his other arm, shivering slightly as he did. Not that Sonic scared him. What Sonic could be thinking is what scared him the most. Sonic grabbed Knuckles' arm the same way he did to the other. This one had mostly new scars.

Sonic let out a sigh of disappointment. He let go of Knuckles' arm and the echidna put the bandages back on as fast as he could. Knuckles also let out a sigh. But Knuckles' sigh was of relief.

Sonic hadn't seen all of them.

---