Chapter 11: Flower Garden
Knuckles found
himself nervously rocking back and forth in the foyer of the mansion as he
awaited Amy to finish up with her lesson. He stood quiet as possible as his
eyes shifted around the room. It was a large room, but it felt extremely
cramped to Knuckles the Echidna. It might have been caused by the fact that
Prince Sonic, Prince Manic, Prince Shadow, and Tails were all in the room with
him.
The orange two tailed fox was as friendly as always. Prince
Sonic and Prince Manic were fooling around as they were known to do. Luckily
they had a deck of cards to keep them busy. Tails was playing with them as he
attempted to draw Knuckles in with pleasant conversation.
This didn’t make the red echidna uncomfortable. Go Fish was
always a fun game to him. What was making him feel uncomfortable was the
staring. Red eyes just kept borrowing into him. It was putting Knuckles on
edge. He would normally shout out and say something, but Knuckles knew Shadow’s
rep all too well from rumors. He wasn’t about to try to take on a prince of the
country.
Knuckles perked up as he heard rapid footsteps coming into
the foyer. He wasn’t quick enough though.
In less than a minute, Amy had jumped up and wrapped her
arms around his neck. She had a huge smile on her face as she unintentionally
took the air out of the male.
Knuckles smiled as he grabbed her and held her up with ease.
“I can’t breathe with your hands so tight around my neck. I need to breath to
live.”
Amy’s mouth became an O shape as she placed her hands behind
her back. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
Knuckles nodded as he put her down. “How was your lesson?”
“Piano is hard,” she mouthed. “Garden now.” She grabbed
Knuckles by the arm and began to pull him away.
“Hey Amy, you know this guy?” Sonic appeared in front of
them in a flash.
Amy nodded. “He’s my friend!” she signed. “I’m going to show
him the garden.”
Sonic laughed. “You sure do make friends quickly.”
Amy nodded as she continued to pull Knuckles away towards
the garden.
“Amy, why are you in such a rush,” Princess Sally gasped as
she appeared at the end of the all.
“She’s excited because she has an old friend visiting,”
Rouge explained with a soft smile as she put away her wings. “Amy, you can’t
wear those shoes in the garden.”
Amy sighed. She dropped down to the ground and attempted to
take off the heels. They were really pretty heels, but Amy couldn’t undo the
small clasped that held the shoe to her feet. She glared at the shoe before
turning to Rouge. “I can’t get them off,” she signed with a sad look on her
face.
Knuckles knelt down beside her. In a soft voice, he
explained in as simple words as possible how the clip worked. It took Amy a few
minutes, but she was able to figure it out and take off her shoes.
“I did it!” She mouthed as she ran to Rouge and held up the
shoes with pride.
Rouge smiled. “That’s very good Amy.”
“I can show him the garden now?” Amy signed.
“You need shoes before you can go into the garden,” Knuckles
informed her.
Amy nodded.
It took a few
minutes, but they eventually found Amy a pair of shoes that she could wear in
the garden. Amy walked in the middle of Knuckles and Rouge. She held onto
Knuckles’ arm as she pointed around at every plant. Sally and Sonic followed
behind them. Tails walked beside Sonic. And Shadow walked in the back. He kept
staring and observing everyone like a snake.
Amy jumped with joy as she raced ahead. She climbed up a
tree so quickly that Rouge barely had time to mutter a protest. Knuckles raced
after her, afraid she would fall and bust her head open. The pink hedgehog
plucked apples off of the branches and used her skirt as a basket. She plucked
off one per person.
She beamed as she jumped down and her feet tapped the ground
with ease.
“Amy what were you thinking?” Knuckles and Rouge yelled in
unison.
“It is not proper for a lady to climb trees!” Rouge held the
young girl’s arm.
Knuckles held onto Amy’s shoulder. “You could have fallen
and gotten hurt. Or worse, died from head trauma.”
Their lectures were different. They were given at the same
time. Amy wasn’t sure who to focus on first. But Amy got that both had the same
message; Don’t climb trees.
Sonic’s loud laughter broke the lecture.
“What is so funny Prince Sonic?” Rouge glared. She didn’t
find any of this funny.
“You two,” He said between breaths of laugher as he pointed at
her and Knuckles. “You two sound nagging, over protective parents.”
Tails was giggling as he nodded in agreement. Sally had her
hand over her mouth. It was a failed attempt to hide her smile and stifle her
giggles. Shadow just watched with the same expressionless face as always.
Rouge and Knuckles both stared at all of them in surprise.
Knuckles’ face turned red as he turned away from them muttering. Rouge took a
breath before she set her eyes on Shadow.
“What are your thoughts on this Prince Shadow?” she asked
calmly. Shadow would take her side on this matter.
Shadow stayed expressionless as he looked everyone over. “I
never thought I would say this sentence,” he began after a long silence. “But I
agree with Sonic.”
“How?!” Rouge shrieked. Shadow never agreed with Sonic. He would
always take the opposing side.
Knuckles even arched an eyebrow at Shadow. He had always
heard how Prince Shadow always took the opposite path that Prince Sonic took.
“You two sound just like Aunt Aleena and Uncle Jules when
they lecture my cousins,” he stated. “Plus, you both have been secretly
checking each other out when you think no one is looking. Just admit you both
have a crush on each other, go out for lunch or something and leave Rose at
home so she doesn’t have to be in between you two.”
Rouge glared at Shadow. “I have not.”
“Really?” Shadow tilted his head. “What do you think Rose?”
Amy was laughing, though no sound came out. She slammed an
apple into Knuckles’ hand before placing one with softer touch in Rouge’s. “He’s
right.” Amy mouthed to Rouge. “I noticed yesterday.”
Rouge wanted to smack that huge, toothy grin off of the pink
hedgehog’s face for that. She glanced at Knuckles and he refused to make eye
contact. The apple was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world to him
the way he was looking at it.
Amy handed out the rest of the apples. She smiled as she
handed Shadow one. “Thanks for teasing them for me,” she signed. “Though your
staring habit is still creepy.”
“It’s a habit that won’t die.” Shadow stated as he took a
bite of the apple. “Good apple.”
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