Jamie000

He’d never questioned that before. Of course he was here, he was real. He was the guardian of the Master Emerald, this was what he was made for.

And in the beginning, it was annoying when the others came up. Why did they keep bothering him? He had his duty, he didn’t have the time—or desire, if he were honest—to play host. If they didn’t need him for something important, they could get lost.

But then . . . things changed.

He’d been trapped in cyberspace. Here but not here.

All alone on a strange island. Surrounded by strange creatures. It shouldn’t have felt as lonely as it did. He was used to being alone on an island, after all. Had been his choice, for crying out loud. But on Ares Island, he’d been trapped in some sort of cage, unable to break free. That was different.

. . . wasn’t it?

Yeah. That was different. He had the whole of Angel Island to roam, lots of space and open air. No cages in sight. He could come and go as he pleased.

Except, he couldn’t, could he?

He couldn’t go down to the planet below, just to visit. He couldn’t go see some of those places Sonic was always going on about, or see the ancient ruins Amy showed him books of, or just . . . drop in on his friends because the urge struck.

Why not?

It wasn’t like Angel Island itself was a cage of sorts, right?

He furrowed his brow. He’d never thought of Angel Island like that before. A cage. Keeping him trapped.

Keeping him isolated.

Keeping him in that line between being real, and being just a part of a system. A cycle.

Was he much different than the titans? Roaming their islands, standing watch, attacking those they deemed a threat? Couldn’t they be seen as the guardians of their little domains, just as he was?

Prisoners of their own duties?

Knuckles looked back at the last place he’d seen the Tornado. Ever since that whole ‘adventure’ on the Starfall Islands, he’d found himself looking forward to his friends’ visits more. Found himself feeling lonelier more often.

Found himself wishing, more often, that he could leave.

He loved hearing Sonic’s tales of their friends below. But after each one, Knuckles felt more disconnected than before. He missed so much being up here. Life went on without him. His friends thought of him, asked about him, visited him, but hearing things second hand kept him feeling separate from them.

Here, but not here.

Would there come a time when they stopped visiting? When their lives took them on other paths, ones that didn’t leave much room for going out of their way to visit a lone echidna on a floating island?

He supposed that was a possibility.

A very likely possibility.

Knuckles sat back down on the top step of the shrine. The Master Emerald glowed a soft green behind him, he could feel her reaching out to him, as she always did when he started down this mental path.

He had this whole island to himself.

That never made him feel small before.

But right now, he felt like he was right back in that cyber cage.

Only this time, no one was fighting to free him. No one fought creatures to gather totems to unlock his prison.

Because the only one keeping him trapped was himself.

He pulled his legs up, wrapping his arms around them and resting his forehead on his knees.

He wanted to leave, but he couldn’t.

He could leave, but he didn’t want to.

He was free, but he was a prisoner.

He had friends, but he was alone.

Life had been so much easier before Eggman had crashed on his island. He hadn’t known what he’d been missed. Hadn’t cared about anything but his floating home. His duty.

Things were so much more complicated now. It hurt his head. And his heart.

No matter what happened, he always ended up back here.

Alone.

Where he should be.

And where he didn’t want to be.

Knuckles hoped Sonic would come back soon.

And he hoped he’d stay away. That they’d all stay away.

Because being alone was a lot easier when you didn’t know what you were missing.

And right now?