____

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"ᴏʜ, ꜱɪᴍᴘʟᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢ, ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏɴᴇ?

I'ᴍ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴ' ᴏʟᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇʟʏ ᴏɴ"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"So, do you have a last name?"

"No."

"That's alright! Knuckles doesn't have a last name either so it's nothing to be embarrassed about!"

"Okay."

Amy, Knuckles, and (Y/N) continued to wander the forest together. Although no longer hand-in-hand, they stuck together like glue and refused to be five feet apart.

The lovely, pink hedgehog held a handkerchief as she gently wiped (Y/N)'s roughed-up face. (Y/N) had no idea what Amy was doing but leaned into her hand anyway as her gloved hands were quite soft.

Amy stuffed the handkerchief into her pocket. She smiled happily before she finally noticed the lack of gloves on (Y/N)'s scarred paws.

"Hey, (Y/N)... where are your gloves?"

"What?"

"Your gloves-"

Amy holds up her hands, showing her clean, white gloves, and knuckles also held up his.

"- like these! Do you have any?"

"... No."

(Y/N) looks at his hands. He could see the individual scars and sores on his greyish paw. He slightly traced the largest but simplest scratch; the one he was given when he accidentally fell with the glass head on.

'... I hate school.' (Y/N) grumbled.

He was caught off guard by the feeling of tracing his hand- or more specifically two things tracing his hand.

(Y/N) looked up to see both Amy and Knuckles looking over his left hand.

Pinky looked sadly appalled, her hand rubbing over the loose or lost skin, as Knuckles held in a huff, his hands looking at the evident burn marks and past infected areas. Both felt empathy build each time their eyes find a new scar or wound.

"What..?"

Green and purple eyes met (Y/N)'s blank, black ones. He was confused as to why they seemed so worried.

He hated how it reminded him of himself.

Amy spook up, "(Y/N)... what happened?"

"..."

"Do you not want to talk about it?" Knuckles tried his best to keep his usual, tough behavior, but he could help but feel bad for the Wolf. His voice, unknown to him, went soft as he continued to hold (Y/N)'s hand.

(Y/N) shook his head and looked away.

"No..."

"Okay... How about we change the subject?"

.

The sky was filled with beautiful pinks, blues, yellows, and reds as the bright sun began to set on the horizon.

The animal trio continued to pace the forest- yes, they're still stuck in the fucking backyard. The sounds of leaves crunching and crickets chirping were heavy, but they were never louder than the sound of Amy's cheerful chatter and the occasional sigh from Knuckles.

The hedgehog was currently conversing with (Y/N), asking him simple little questions to get to know him better.

"- There are many other flowers that I like, but personally, I love daisies the most."

"Okay."

"Do you have a favorite flower, (Y/N)?"

"I like... this one."

"... (Y/N), that's a weed."

"Oh :/"

Knuckles stops to look at the setting sky, causing both Amy and (Y/N) to stop as well. Amy pranced in front of (Y/N) and placed her hands behind her back with a smile.

"Oh, this is a good question! What is your favorite food?"

"No."

She tilted her head.

"No? Do you have too many?"

"No. No favorites. No food."

"Eh??"

Knuckles, who had been listening to the conversation, looked at (Y/N) in concern. He didn't want to assume, but he had been noticing how poor (Y/N) looked. His eyes were baggy, his clothes were tattered, his hair was a mess, and he looked way too skinny. Everything about him screamed hobo but Knuckles didn't want to just flat-out ask if he was a bum.

Knuckles but into the conversation. "(Y/N), when was the last time you ate?"

(Y/N) sat in thought before holding up his paws. Quietly, he began to count on his fingers.

"One moon... Two moons... Three moons-"

Amy winced whenever he counted another day and Knuckles huffed when the number passed ten.

The Echidna suddenly and roughly grabbed (Y/N)'s arm and marched off. He declared that the group would eat something and then rest for the night to continue their search tomorrow.

"Wait, Knuckles! What'll we eat!? We're stuck in the middle of a forest!"

"Berries or something- I don't know! We'll just smell them to figure out whether or not they're edible."

Amy grumbled and ran after them.

'Cue the music...' She sighed.

.

[No like literally cue the montage music bro]

.

The group looked at what they gathered.

Two apples.

A pile of yellow berries.

Four of what they hoped were pears.

-And a bundle of seed-filled grapes.

"Well... at least we found something!" Amy smiled and sweatdropped.

(Y/N) picked up a pear. "... What the fuck am I looking at-"

Knuckles cleared out an area as Amy started a fire in the back. The three all sat around the fire, (Y/N) in the middle with Amy to his left and Knuckles to his right, and peacefully roasted their food.

Amy held up her stick to (Y/N), showing off her cooked, yellow berries.

"Look, (Y/N)! Perfectly roasted berries!"

(Y/N) held up his stick too, showing his cooked apple. Knuckles looked over, uncooked grapes in his mouth.

"... (Y/N), it's on fire."

"Oh :/"

They all ate happily. Amy giggled and chuckled every time she had to wipe (Y/N)'s face, and Knuckles handed (Y/N) food because he always accidentally burned it.

When they were finally full, they all rested near a large, oak tree and sighed, satisfied.

Amy was fiddling with (Y/N)'s hand and nails, counting each scar- starting other every five seconds because she can't see. Although her hands were covered by gloves, she could still feel the rough skin on (Y/N)'s paws. She couldn't help but feel awful at the thought of how much this would've hurt him; mentally or physically.

She looked up at (Y/N), guilt coating her eyes and curiosity lacing her voice.

"(Y/N), did you come from Mobius?"

Knuckles perked up, also slightly curious about the answer.

"No."

"Thought so... So what's your world called? What's it like?"

(Y/N) stiffened. Hesitantly, he made eye contact with Amy. He muttered one word, sending chills down Knuckles's spine. Amy felt her blood turn cold and her eyes go wide.

"Hell."

Despite the uncomfortable and unwelcoming silence before, the animals begin to converse again.

Amy is obviously trying to be more cautious about her questions while Knuckles remained silent in thought.

'Another world? Does that mean people from other worlds are here too? And hell... that was a very morbid way to describe a place you grew up in... Just what did that wolf go through..?'

Amy gasps and stood up, causing Knuckles and (Y/N) to freeze in alert. She dust off her red dress and smiled over at Knuckles.

"I just had a great idea! What if we go to the big city?"

Knuckles quickly shut down the proposal. "No, that is too risky. We don't know what those creatures could do to us."

"But just think! Sonic could be running around there looking for us!"

He paused and held his large fist to his chin.

"That's a good point..."

"The city is dangerous." (Y/N) spoke up- or rather whispered.

"Don't worry!" Amy summons her hammer and holds it out for (Y/N) to see. "We're heroes back where we come from! I'm sure we could hold out together!" Knuckles agrees with a nod.

(Y/N) glances between the two.

'I heard that... so many times before...'

He looks down before hesitantly nodding causing Amy to cheer and Knuckles to smile.

"Horray! Alright, let's-" "Nope. Tomorrow."

The echidna interrupts Pinky. He tosses four large, heavy leaves onto the wolf and hedgehog, causing them to tumble over due to the weight.

Amy huffs in anger as (Y/N) struggles to get the red hammer from off his stomach.

"Hey! Why not!?"

"Look at the sky, Rose."

The sky was covered in bright stars as the moon began to show on the horizon. It was a beautiful sight, the moon glows encasing the top of the tall trees and some of the forest floors, but yet, it was still pitch black. The only light was coming from the fading fire pit they collectively made.

"We'll get lost just trying to look for the city. It's best if go early morning. Most creatures won't be up, and we'll be able to sneek by and spot Sonic because he always takes a morning run."

Amy sighed but nodded and laid back down.

"Yeah... good point."

She snuggled under the large leaves. Her body subconsciously leaned over to (Y/N)- who gave up on trying to move the hammer- and hugged his side.

Knuckles also got under the makeshift blanket to (Y/N)'s right. He put his hand behind his head and tucked the other one beneath the grey wolf as a pillow.

The three were huddled together under the stars. Although alone and vulnerable, they felt safe in each other's presence. It was like a guard dog was beside them all night keeping them safe and secure.

... Well technically there was.

(Y/N), although tired and full, kept his eyes open almost the whole night. His body may have been pressed down by Amy's very heavy hammer, but it didn't stop him from trying to release himself.

At about 4:03 am, he finally escaped the object's clutches.

'Should I just leave..?' He felt very conflicted. (Y/N) could easily just walk off, not risking the chance of getting attached anymore than he already is.

He could also just stay.

(Y/N) could use some strong friends. Besides, it'll be nice to have someone look after you instead for once, and the chance of them being captured or easily hurt is very low. Amy and Knuckles looked very capable to beat ass- like he literally watched Amy wack a tree down as Knuckles threw a whole ass bear 15 yards away.

'Six was strong...'

(Y/N) shook his thoughts out of his head.

'Don't think about her... She doesn't deserve it...'

His eyes landed on the duo sleeping before him.

Knuckles's hair was entangled with leaves. He was slightly drooling and, occasionally, his feet, hands, or tail would twitch. His body was sprawled out; half of it was covered in the leaf blanket and the other half was left in the cold.

Amy was snuggling a stick. Her dress was slightly crumbled, showing the shorts she was wearing underneath. She was frowning and grumbling and (Y/N) could slightly make out her ears being pinned to her head in the dark.

(Y/N) sighed.

'Looks like I'm staying...'

He silently snuck back to his spot under the makeshift blanket. Before (Y/N) could make himself comfortable, he was grabbed by something gruff and something soft.

He squinted his eyes to see what exactly happened before relaxing at the sight of Amy hugging his waist and Knuckles holding his head softly.

Pinky was no longer frowning or grumbling, rather she was smiling and even softly purring.

(Y/N) decided it'd be wise to not move again. As he looked up at the stars, his eyes grew heavy and the sounds around him blurred.

'... Please don't be a dream.'

Eventually, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

.

.

.

Chapter 3 - Missile Wrist Rampage - Coming Soon

------------

.

.

Second chapter is-a done!

Yeah, this took like forever to be updated. I feel like I should just force myself to make chapters so y'all don't have to wait ten fucking years.

You know what? I'ma do that.

I'll work on the draft every Tuesday and then post it by the end of the week...

... Now watch as I never do this cause I'm a lazy fuck.

Anywho-

I hope you have a fabulous day or night!

food water.

Drink Eat.

And I'll see you hopefully next week.

Bye Bye!

- S t a r

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ

ꜱᴏ, ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴇ ɢᴏ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴡᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Song - Somewhere Only We Know by Keane