The Random Adventures Of Sonic And Friends

Even the Strong Need Someone to Take Care of Them

{Fluff, sick fic, found family, Knuckles and Amy being siblings}

   Something was wrong with Knuckles.

   He'd woken up tired, and his head had been pounding all day. As he made his rounds throughout Angel Island, he started to get really cold. He'd chalked it up to the chilliness of exploring one of the cave systems inside the island, but now, as he lay in a shivering mess atop the Master Emerald, out in the bright sunlight and soaking up heat from the Master Emerald's energy, he knew this wasn't from the actual temperature. Something was wrong with him.

   He forced himself up to get some water, but his legs were shaking. He dragged himself to the nearest spring and collapsed by its bank, barely able to stick his face down and slurp up some water with his long echidna tongue. In the water's reflection, his face was somehow both too pale and too flushed at the same time.

   He hadn't felt this way... well, ever. The closest thing he could compare it to was eating some poisonous berries when he was very young. He vaguely remembered them making him shaky and nauseous for a couple of days. He knew what to eat and not eat now, and he hadn't had a similar experience in years.

   Besides, he couldn't have eaten anything poisonous. He knew the island's flora like the back of his mitt, and nothing he'd eaten in the past few days was remotely unfamiliar.

   There could only be one reason he was feeling this way.

   Sonic.

   Yeah, he jumped to blaming Sonic for things too often. But this time it actually had to be his fault. Sonic and Tails had flown by on the Tornado a couple of days back. Sonic was... a little off. He'd coughed quite a bit, and got actually tired after running around the island for only a few minutes. That had gotten Tails worried, and he'd decided to cut their trip short to fly back. Knuckles had mostly been annoyed before, but now he was realizing that he was probably getting whatever Sonic had.

   It was a strange and horrible feeling. He'd never been truly sick before.

   He dragged himself back to the Master Emerald, barely managing the energy to climb on top of it. And there he stayed. He went through alternating periods of sickly hot and deathly cold. The sun disappeared below the island, and the sky grew black. The coolness of the night felt good on his fevered skin, until the chills came again, and he didn't have the energy to go find one of the homemade blankets he had tucked away. So he lay there shivering again.

   He slept fitfully. The sun rose over the edge of the island. He didn't feel any better.

   Eventually a few of his island Chao came and started to buzz around him, chattering at one another in concern over their protector. Knuckles weakly waved them away. He didn't know if the Chao could catch whatever he had, but he couldn't risk it. They were too small and weak, and he honestly wasn't sure if he was going to survive this thing.

   The Chao stayed close by, though. They brought some chao fruit and left them on the edge of the Master Emerald, then flew back to a safe distance to continue watching over him. Like he'd always done for them.

   Knuckles nibbled on a few of the fruit. He hadn't eaten in at least a day, but although his stomach was growling, it didn't feel like it really wanted food in it. Sure enough, once he had taken a few bites, his stomach began to twist and churn. He all but fell off the Master Emerald and instinctively crawled over to the grass, where he started to cough and retch violently, sending stitches through his sides. And to his surprise, the fruit came back out. He could never remember food coming back out that way after he'd eaten it, and that's when he decided that he was definitely going to die.