Love Me

Chapter 35: Touch Me

Sonic stands over Knuckles' grace on Angel Island surrounded by familiar faces. The funeral for the echidna warrior was just finishing and they were going to go to Aldcliffe City for a repass to a restaurant Knuckles loved going to.

Tails gently takes Sonic's hand, Sonic squeezes it promptly, Tails can see the tears streaming down his face so he hands him a napkin so he can wipe his face.

"He always enjoyed watching over the Master Emerald with his pals... Now I guess he's gonna be guarding it forever, I guess"

Tails messages his back as Sonic sniffles trying to hold back his tears. As everyone stands there Nine looks on at Tails, he wonders how he's able to do it, to lie so well, to hurt others and not feel a thing.

To him, it's fascinating... And a little concerning at the same time.

Once they bury Knuckles, everyone except for Tikal and Rouge leave, those two having a closer connection to Knuckles then anyone else as of recient.

"This sucks" Sonic sobs.

"I know..." Tails responds, still keeping him company, "Death is a part of all our lives though, we'll all experience it sometime or another"

Sonic looks down at the dirt, "He left us too soon though... And we still don't know who killed him or Amy"

"What do you think we should do?" Tails asks.

"For the first time, I don't know actually... I feel so powerless, like I'm slowly loosing parts of myself I never knew were so vital to me" Sonic explains.

"You'll think of something Sonic, you always do" Tails says, covertly pecking his face.

"Thanks Tails" Sonic says hugging him tightly.

"Anything for you" Tails responds, hugging him back.

As Tails hugs Sonic he sees Nine looking over at them and then turning away to go to the ship. Tails frowns when he sees Nine look at him the way he just did, as if he was truly that evil.

---

Aldcliffe City

"How do you do it?"

Tails looks up from his phone and sees Nine looking down at him, visibly disturbed.

"Do what?" Tails asks, thrown off by the question.

"Lie like that to him" Nine responds.

Tails rubs his face and stands up from his seat, at this point the gang is at a restaurant Knuckles loved to go to for the repass, Sonic is talking to Rouge and Tikal at another table so he can't hear Nine and Tails' conversation.

Tails sighs and looks Nine in the eyes.

"Believe it or not... I really don't like doing this, all this killing. It feels barbaric" Tails responds.

"Then why do you do it when you know it will hurt other people around you. It's selfish"

"Sometimes there are things, secrets that you don't want other people to know. If these secrets or private things get out you're fucked, so you do what you must to keep anyone from telling them. And if that means killing someone, then it's an option"

Tails puts his phone down on the table and stands infront of Nine.

"If we didn't take care of Knuckles, he would have outed us both... And I still have to figure out how I'm going to handle Cream and anyone else if they get too close" Tails says.

"Tails, at this point the best way to relieve all this pressure is to just come out. If you do that you won't have to worry so much anymore-" Nine suggests.