Archive of Our Own ^beta

Knuckles carefully laid the hedgehog down, mindful of the injuries, a slight whimper escapes from him nonetheless. They needed a way out of here. The smoke surrounding them was only growing more thick and infused.

He quickly glances at Sonic who laid before him, eyes squint shut and teething his bottom lip to prevent crying out,

Which turned out to only be brief when Knuckles applied pressure to his wound causing him to cry out unwillingly. Boxer gloves began to stain a ruby red as he tried to stabilize the bleeding. One hand was quick to swat away Sonic’s has he attempts to rid away the pressure causing him more pain.

“Stop fighting me, Relax. Let me help you.”

It didn’t stop the whimpers and groans Sonic would try to suppress. He hissed as he could feel blood overflowing his side.

“I know, I know it hurts but you have to let me do this,” Knuckles doesn’t ease his hold instead applying more pressure as blood continued to seep through.

Sonic’s breathing only becomes more ragged and the thick fog and smoke isn’t helping him either. He wants to pull out that piece of shrapnel logged in his leg that is only causing hot painful flashes to ensue and becoming increasingly annoying but Knuckles isn’t letting him.

“Knux just -ah- lemme—just let me- ahg-“ he attempts to lift his head to eye the red one but he’s dizzy despite laying down. He brings his mit to his mouth biting on the fabric as his head falls back down to the ash filled grass.

“Not here, Sonic. You’ll only bleed out more and I can’t have that. One injury at a time please,” he tries to sound serious but his voice only shows worry. He’s never seen Sonic like this, in so much pain and visibly struggling. He’s usually downplaying his injuries but it seems like he can’t this time which only worries Knuckles more. He’s breathing too hard and he’s afraid he’ll pass out and he can’t have that occur right now.

Knuckles feels a hand wrap around his wrist pulling at him, he’s quick to jump out of thoughts as he eyes glassy emerald eyes

“M-maybe ease up a little?” Voice sounding desperate.

There’s so much blood that Knuckles himself is trembling. He’s never had a friend this injured before and he’s Sonic’s only shot at getting out of here. He almost feels himself going into shock.

The hand around his wrist loosens and it’s when he looks up to face the blue hero to realize he’s nodding off and Knuckles doesn’t hesitate to bring a hand to his cheek attempting to arouse him.

“No- No sleeping. Come one wake up. You’re going to be alright.”

Lids flutter open to the gentle tapping. He brings his own hand atop of Knuckles’ ridding it from his cheek. His head lolls side to side as he breathes deeply.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Knux.”

Knuckles is a bit taken aback, “I was reckless and I didn’t listen and now- now I-“ he doesn’t finish as he lets out a strained cry from the pain in his leg which only worsens as Chaos Energy attempts to heal his wound but can’t do the work as the foreign object still remains in him causing only painful flairs to shoot up from his leg. He’s white knuckling grass as it’s the only thing he can grasp on to that isn’t Knuckles. His breathing grows ragged and his dizzymspells aren’t ceasing.

“Breathe. You’re alright. It’ll be okay. Just breathe.” He doesn’t know what pocesses him to do so but somehow his paw finds its way between the ears of the hero petting back his quills in an attempt to comfort his charge beneath him. Admitting he truly does care for Sonic is hard but this is one way of showing it he supposed. Sonic’s in a haze and on the brink of unconscious anyway so he was sure to forget this moment.

Coughs fill the air as it only becomes thicker. The sun is setting quick and dusk is on the brink of arrival. He figures the only choice he has is to try to find a way out of here.

His hands remove themselves from Sonic’s side. Sonic himself is still dazed and mostly unaware but still awake which is good enough for Knuckles. He’s careful to slip two strong arms beneath his frame and pick Sonic up bridal style as careful as possible.

Sonic is unaware of what is happening until he turns his head and finds his face burying into the Guardian’s chest does he realize they’re moving. Where he’s unsure nor does he really care. Sleep is so tempting but Knuckles is shaking him every once in a while as he navigates his way out of the dense forest.

The bleeding although not completely has slowed to the point where Knuckles is comfortable wrapping some cloth he had pocketed from long before when they’re able to find a place to settle, out of the forest until the rest of their friends are able to locate them. But for now, they’re tired and they need to trust the fact they will be alright.

Unfortunately he’s unsure how long that’ll take and himself being the Guardian of Chaos and knowing ancient knowledge of the power of Chaos; he knows well, eyeing it, the metal lodged in Sonic’s leg cannot remain. He doesn’t want to risk causing more injury but he doesn’t have a choice knowing it’ll only hurt Sonic more in the long run as his energy attempts to heal around it.

Knuckles makes his way to where Sonic’s secondary wound was. He finds a tree branch nearby and picks it from the ground.

“Hey, you still with me?” Knuckles asks gingerly, hovering over him.

Sonic turns his head to face him, he can only nod as those flares continue to throw him for a loop.

“I need to take that thing outta your leg, try to stay still as best as you can okay? I’ll be quick I promise.”

Those green eyes flash fear briefly but quickly settle as he’s been wanting to take that darn thing out since earlier. He nods again.

Knuckles hands him the branch from earlier and Sonic knows its for him to bite on. He doesn’t hesitate to chomp down on it, his breathing picks up and begins to tense up but tries his best to relax as Knuckles wraps his hands around metal.

The Guardian gives a quick countdown before he rips the shard out of Sonic with the hedgehog letting out a muffled pain filled yell. His vision whitens briefly before he feels that hand on his check again. His vision is blurry and he wishes to pass out but he tries to remain conherent for his sake as well as Knuckles’ but it’s becoming harder. Those flairs are replaced with white hot exploding pain on his leg almost as he had the limb chopped off. It’s an exaggeration but that shard had gone deep
into his flesh, he cringed at the thought.

Kncukles is saying something but it’s muffled as his hearing is blocked. The stick he had in his mouth is no longer there and he feels those large mits return to his leg this time as he can too feel his own blood drizzling down the side of his thigh.

Eyes are closed and squinting hard as Sonic bites his tongue to prevent curses from leaving his mouth. He wants to say something but the more pressure Knuckles adds he could only keep letting out more grunts and whimpers.

When he is able to talk he finds himself just simply able to apologize over an over as his head lolls. He’s not 100% sure why but Knuckles thinks he knows.

Sonic couldn’t recall the last time he’s been hurt like this, especially this bad. None of his friends have never seen him displayed like this before, and when he did come home from fights most were simply just scratches and bruises that were easy to tend to. He’s never been this vulnerable in front of anyone most especially in front of Knuckles. He wants to feel embarrassed and wants to tell Knuckles he really is okay but he’s too tired to care and in too much pain to lie to himself.

He doesn’t realize how much time has passed and it’s the realization that hands on his leg are now gone and covered in fabric not meant for it. His senses tell him he’s now laying atop of Knuckles’ lap, head resting on his thigh which boggles his mind briefly as he knows the stubbornness of the Guardian and he should just climb off before Knuckles pushed him off himself.

But he’s surprised to feel hands on his shoulder and chest encouraging him to lay back down again. His vision is dark, probably the fault of nightfall setting in.

Although his hearing is still somewhat clogged, a mixture of his daze and the explosion that had occurred from earlier, ears still ringing from such, he was able to make out a few words from Knuckles telling him something.

Relax…

They’re coming…

Rest….

You need it…

I’ve got you.

He afraid, so terribly afraid that Knuckles will ditch him when he gets the chance, that when he opens his eyes again he’ll face angry opposing royal purple eyes slandering him over his mistakes. But when he faces those same eyes they only read worry and calmness. No anger or annoyance found anywhere especially in his features. With that he assures himself he’ll be alright and he’s confident Knuckles will be there alongside his friends, when he wakes up.

Knuckles watches his friend finally slip into a peaceful slumber and it’s awhile later when he hears a familiar engine flying overhead does he realize they were going to be okay, just as promised