He is My Master

64: Lay Me Down To Sleep

                 *******EXCLAIMER*******
I DO NOT OWN THIS NOVEL IM MERELY TRANSFERRING IT TO WATTPAD CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL AND GIVE KUDOS TO AUTHOR Chiisai Kitsune ON FF.NET HERE

    

"There was a me there, wasn't there."

Sonic paused mid-movement. The blue hedgehog had been busy cleaning up the kitchen like he had promised (and predictably eating the day's leftovers, the insane metabolism of the hero of Mobius obviously trying to make up for a week lost living on portions for ordinary mortals). Now, a spiky head briefly poked up to peer over the edge of the opened fridge door, before then the whole hedgehog straightened as he saw the figure in the door, kicking the fridge shut with a foot.

"Hey, Knux. What up? Thought you'd gone to sleep in a tree or something."

"Yeah. Found I couldn't, actually. Something kept me wondering."

The echidna had left after dinner, but had now seemingly returned when he had seen Sonic still working alone in the kitchen through the window, Sonic supposed. Shadow still wasn't back yet, so for now it was just the two of them, Tails already soundly asleep upstairs, Rouge out flying somewhere. However, Knuckles looked slightly tense and awkward for no reason the blue hero could discern. Violet eyes narrowed at him.

"I think there was another version of myself in that dimension that you met. Am I right?"

Sonic blinked for a moment, taken aback, but then let himself sag slightly against the kitchen counter he had previously been wiping, a sort of sad half-smile on his face.

"I...yeah. That wasn't a tribe of porcupines who guarded the Master Emerald." He gave an apologetic grin. "And the son of the Guardian I freed wasn't called 'Kneecaps'."

Knuckles gave him a dry stare. "Yeah. I figured."

"Look, I'm sorry for not mentioning it, I guess I didn't wanna...yeah." Sonic ran a hand through his quills and turned his head away, briefly studying the ceiling. The truth was, he hadn't felt comfortable talking about the family they both knew the echidna who was the last of his kind in this world would never be able to have. Much like glossing over Tails' background in the other dimension, it had seemed much easier to paint over the truth with what had felt like a kind lie at the time.

But of course, Knuckles by now had lost some of that naivety he'd once had, hadn't he...

Sonic drew a breath. "The other you...he was a pretty cool guy, actually," he said, just before giving a slight grin and adding, "So, not much like you at all, obviously."

"Hardeharhar, hedgehog." Knuckles' tone was sarcastic, but there was no sting in his words. There was a moment of silence and when the echidna spoke again, his expression was once again serious and somewhat softer. "Though, really? Was he, uh, similar? "

"Actually...yeah, kinda." Sonic rubbed the back of his head, giving a slightly embarrassed smile. "He was actually one of the really few people over there to treat me decently, y'know? Despite this, I mean," he said, off-handely gesturing at the collar still around his throat. "I thought he was...a really good guy, yeah."

"Was he," Knuckles replied, nodding a bit as if in approval. "That's...good," he said, and then again seemed a bit awkward, like he was fiddling with words. Sonic could relate. Neither he nor Knuckles were as skilled at always finding the right phrasing to frame sometimes complex thoughts, the way Amy or Tails often could. After a few moments, Sonic took pity on his friend and rival, and crossed his arms, leaning sideways against the fridge.

"C'mon. Spit it out, Knucklehead. What did you really come here to ask?" he offered with a lazy smile, in fact curious what could have stumped the usually blunt and direct guardian so.