Sonic's Unwanted Harem

19. Talk PT. 03

The guardian lets out a breath. "I'm... I'm fine..."

Sonic just raises an eyebrow and turns his body to give his friend his full attention. "You sure? You seem out of it, bro."

Another deep breath leaves the echidna's lips as he settles himself down. "Sonic, we... we need to talk."

"O-kay. What's up?" Sonic is about to jump off his bed to go sit next to his friend but is stopped when Knuckles raises his hand and shakes his head. "Knuc-"

"Just... don't, okay?" Knuckles is struggling with this. He's glad to know that Sonic has all of that junk out of his system, but he can't stop himself from thinking about what happened before they both blacked out.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Knuckles isn't the type to push him away, well, not anymore. So why is he doing it now? The last time that happened was when- 'Oh no...'

Knuckles can see the realization hit Sonic like a bag of bricks before he narrows his eyes. "You weren't going to tell me?"

Blue ears lower at the question. "Knuckles, I-"

"You know what he did to me. In fact, had it not been for Amy and Tails, I'd be dead right now." Red fists tighten as Knuckles recalls the unwanted memory.

Sonic looks to the ground, not knowing what to say. Fleetway's seal broke two days before he met up with Knuckles, so he had plenty of time to tell the echidna once they saw each other, but he didn't. He didn't mean to keep it from his friend, it's just things escalated quickly. "Look, I didn't mean to keep it from you. I promise. I just-"

"How long?" Purple eyes focus on the green ones, seeing some guilt and shame dance in them. He's not trying to make his friend feel bad, that's not his plan at all. He just, he feels a little betrayed that Sonic would keep this from him. "How long has the seal been broken?"

"Its... only been two days." Sonic quickly stands to his feet, startling the echidna just a bit from his motion. "But I swear to you, I didn't mean for you to find out like this. Heck, I was reminded of what happened to you-" Sonic instantly covers his mouth, really wishing those words never came out. No one knows that Fleetway would torment him by forcing him to relive the moments he was in control and they're not supposed to know. That's what he promised himself; to not tell anyone about it.

Knuckles just blinks his eyes before he stands up and walks in front of Sonic. "You... saw...? How? Why?"

"When," Sonic drops his hands to his side. He really hates that he let that slip. "-before he was sealed, he would torment me, force me to watch what he did when he was in control."

Knuckles fists are almost white from how hard he's clenching them before he takes a breath and relaxes. "Does anyone know?"

"That the seal's broken?" Sonic questions, already hating where this is going. Fleetway has caused damage to everyone he knows but what he did to Knuckles? Knuckles had to deal with Fleetway's power, to distract him while the others were trying to find a way to have Sonic come back. But it was too much for the echidna; he nearly lost his life and that almost caused him to walk out of Sonic's life.

Forever.

"No," Knuckles tries to hold Sonic's gaze but ends up looking to the side. "-about you being tortured by him. How long has that been going on?"

Sonic looks towards the window, watching as some kids are playing in the distance. "... since he came into existence. He's... always tortured me when he was able to take control..."

Knuckles snaps his head towards the hedgehog in disbelief as his eyes slightly widen. "And you haven't told anyone about this?"

A small smile goes across peach lips as Sonic gives a small shrug, still refusing to look at his hurt friend. "I'm used to it, well, kinda, so it's not that big a dea-"