A day early, which is good. You can read it earlier. :P I'm aiming for 15 Chapters, but the fic could easily be shorter or longer. Also, expect a sequel after it's finished. Please read and review!

Tails was on his way back to his house, but suddenly his face started to hurt. After what had gone on between him and Knuckles, the punch to the face had been completely forgotten about. He wiped his hand on his face and saw blood in his hand. Knuckles had hit him harder than he had expected.

I can’t let Amy see me looking like this. Tails thought in his mind. He walked over to a nearby creek and stared at his reflection the water. While one half of his face looked completely fine, the other half was scuffed up. There was blood coming from his nose and terrible black and blue marks across his muzzle. He took a handful of water and splashed himself in the face.

“Geeze! What happened to you?” Someone asked. Tails knew that voice.

“You’re not real, go away Sonic…..” Was his response, not even bothering to turn around.

“I heard what you did to Knuckles. Now I’m not happy with him either, but you’re definitely being too hard on him.” Sonic said, ignoring Tails’ comment.

“For what? Being too hard on him for trying to ruin my love with Amy?” Tails questioned. He still was looking into the water.

“Oh, is that so?” Sonic said crossing his arms. “What about me and Amy? Have you forgotten that we were together before-”

“Before the incident! Right!” Tails interrupted. He stood up and walked up to the hedgehog.

“I don’t know why my mind is doing this to me, but you’re gone! Dead! Why can’t you just leave me alone!?”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Sonic said in a mocking tone. Tails didn’t take that very lightly as he turned away from Sonic.

“Shut up!” Tails yelled.

“The point is, if I’m dead, then why are you even arguing with me right now?” Sonic questioned.

“Because…….I’m going crazy….over this whole thing….” Tails had calmed down a bit. He sat down in front of the creek again. Sonic sat down next to him.

“Everything has just gone to chaos without you here, Sonic….” Tails said. He eyes began to fill with tears. “I….I just need someone to look up to….”

“And now you know why I’m not leaving you alone, bud.” Sonic said. Tails turned to him with a smile on his face, but the hedgehog was gone. His ears drooped down.

“Back into my mind again……” Tails said with a sigh. He stood up and began walking back to his house again. I’m gunna need to make up a story for this bruiser……no……I can’t lie to Amy…I need to tell the truth.

Back at Tails’ house, Vanilla was busy keeping Cream company while Amy sat down impatiently waiting for Tails.

“So he just walked out of the house without saying anything?” Vanilla asked. Amy just nodded and sighed.

“He’s been acting weird ever since the incident.” Amy said. “I guess he’s closer to Sonic than he lets on.”

Just then, the door opened, and Tails walked in. Amy ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. She was about to give him a kiss, but noticed his face.

“Oh my gosh!” Amy said with shock. “What happened!?”

“Knuckles and I just weren’t getting along, that’s all.” Tails explained. “He said a few things to me…….and I said a few things to him……I….I told him he’s not coming to the funeral.”

Amy give him an angry look.

“No!” Amy shouted.

“But-”

“No!” Amy shouted again. “Knuckles is one of Sonic’s best friends too. Don’t you know how hurt he’ll be if he can‘t go?”

“You got to let me explain the whole story! It was all Knuckles’ idea from the get-go to have Fiona try to break us up! He even thought I was the one who killed the Sonic.” He paused. “That…..that just hurt…..so much that I just can’t ……I just can’t forgive him.”

“I don’t care what he did.” Amy said, ignoring Tails’ reasons. “What I care about is what you do. And I don’t like this at all.”

“You mean…..you mean you don’t care that Knuckles thought that I….killed Sonic?” Tears started to appear in Tails’ eyes again. Amy hugged him.

“Those are just words.” Amy said quietly into his ears. “Just ignore them. Who cares what he said. Just….patch things up with him.” She kissed him and smiled. “O.K.?”

Tails nodded slowly, but grabbed his face with a grunt of pain.

“But first…” Amy said. “Let me deal with that.”

She filled a bucket with warm water, grabbed a rag, and brought Tails into the kitchen. Vanilla just shook her head confused.

“That poor boy is experiencing so much at once.” She said quietly. “No wonder he’s going through a world of emotions.”

“But Tails is a determined person.” Cream said. “He can get through this easily.”

“I hope so, darling. I hope so….”

“How does your face feel?” Amy asked.

“A lot better, thank you.” Tails responded, followed by a kiss from Amy.

“Now, are you going to apologize to Knuckles now or what?” She asked giving him a look.

“Of course.” He smiled, which was then followed by, “Anything for you.”

Tails kissed Amy one more time, then headed for the door. He was quickly stopped by Cream.

“Wait!” She said.

“Yeah Cream?” Tails asked confused.

“Just want to know if you’re feeling O.K.” She said.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks. Why do you ask?”

“I’m just worried about you.” He put his hand on her shoulder.

“Listen…I know I’ve gone through a lot, but I’m determined to get though this without a problem.”

Cream smiled. Tails had almost mimicked what she had said to her mother just a second ago.

“I want to know if you’re feeling better, though.” Tails said.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Cream said. Tails looked at Vanilla, and she nodded smiling. He smiled back and headed out the door.

“I’ll be back in an hour. See ya guys in a bit.” And with that, he saluted a good-bye, and headed out the door.

The walk to Knuckles seemed to take a lot than it would normally. Tails didn’t even know what he would say to him. He still didn’t like the idea of apologizing for something that he knew was right, but then again, Amy was right too.

“Man….I just don’t know what is right anymore.” Tails said with a sigh. “I’ve voices from anywhere telling what to do, and whenever I do something on my own, it’s wrong.”

He approached the door. As he looked over, he could see where his body had hit the ground when Knuckles hit him. Yeah, he was hit that hard. The fox put his hand up to the door, to knock, but pulled back.

“Why…why am I afraid to do this?” He asked himself. He was afraid. Maybe he was afraid that he had ruined his friendship with Knuckles, maybe he was just afraid Knuckles would pound him in the face again, or maybe he was just afraid of losing his pride.

“I….I just can’t….” He said out-loud, but the door opened anyway.

“H-Hi….” Tails stuttered quickly.

“What ever happened to you not seeing me again? It’s only been an hour.” Knuckles said with a sarcastic tone, looking as if he was unaffected by Tails before, but inside he was.

“Don’t give me that,” Tails said, a little angry by the remark. “I still want to know why you thought I killed Sonic.”

“It’s the whole thing called jealousy, Tails. I thought you liked her…no…loved her from when you first saw them together.”

“Amy and I were just good friends until the incident..” Tails started. He began to tell Knuckles the entire story. Robotnik, the bomb, the cliff, even the first kiss. Knuckles was just puzzled.

“Wow.” Knuckles said. “After going through that, I feel terrible for putting more problems on your shoulders.” He looked away. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t deserve to go to Sonic’s funeral.”

“Actually, Knuckles……the real reason I came here was to apologize for how I acted. I’m willing to forget all of that, since it’s all over with.” He waved his arm over his shoulder. “Come on. Amy and I could use some more help preparing the funeral.”

They began walking back to Tails’ house, when Knuckles elbowed him in the side and smiles.

“So, was it Amy’s idea to have you apologize to me?” He chuckled.

“Of course. You don’t think I’m that nice, eh?” He smiled.

“Women will be women.” Knuckles laughed. Tails used to never understand what that meant, but after what he’s been through, the joke made sense now, and he started to laugh, too.

“There’s still something that bothers me.” Tails said.

“What?” Knuckles asked.

“Who attacked Cream?” Tails responded. “And the cuts looked way too much like the marks that your knuckles leave. It’s as if they wanted to frame you.”

“That’s crazy…I don’t have any enemies…well besides Robotnik.”

Tails and Knuckles looked at each other surprised. Neither of them had seen Robotnik in a long time.

“Of course!” Tails said hitting himself in the head. “That makes perfect sense. Robotnik loves to create senseless violence.”

“So….what are we going to do about it.” Knuckles asked.

“I don’t know.” Tails said shaking his head. “There’s no time to worry about that now though. Amy’s waiting for me back at the house.”

“Awww…little girl misses her boyfriend?” Knuckles joked. Tails punched him in the stomach and laughed.

“Quit it!” Tails said. “Come on….let’s get a move on.”The two rushed back to Tails’ house. Just as the kitzune thought everything was fine again, more problems appeared. Robotnik had another scheme, and knowing how his last to kill Sonic worked, chances are he’s sure this next one will work just as well.