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Knuckles’ brief and humiliating battle with Shadow the Superior Hedgehog mostly hurt his pride. At least that’s what he believed until the adrenaline wore off.
The injury to his wrist had been such a shock of pain he hadn’t been able to reign in his reaction. But the pain was gone a moment later. There were other things to focus on. It wasn’t until he and Tails were tracking down both hedgehogs that it began to ache. By the time they took shelter at Tails’ Garden of Chaos, the injury revealed itself in its entirety (and definitely not while he was impersonating a Pokemon).
But Knuckles didn’t have time to be injured, so he did as he had always had and ignored it. It probably wasn’t that serious anyway.
But then he woke up restrained beside Sonic and Tails and tried to flex his way out of their chains. The tension made his wrist throbbed in warning: f Knuckles did not respect this injury, it would get worse. He might have ignored this and forced through the pain after Shadow released his black portal of death… but as nice as free hands would be, the chains ensured his brothers would not be swept away. So long as the strength of his teeth could carry them through.
And carry them through they did!
Unfortunately they were carried to a new problem–for Knuckles at least.
Waiting for Tom to free them from the chains with his cutting bolts might have been a good time to inform the Pretzel Woman of his injuries. She had gone to lengths to impress on him her desire for honesty with these situations. Plus she seemed to always find out about them afterward anyway, no matter how old they may be.
And yet… Knuckles said nothing. If he reported his injury, the healer might force him to stay out of the fight. Team Knuckles needed him! Who else would break glass in case of emergency?
Then everything fell apart.
Knuckles couldn’t whine about his achy wrist when Tom lay gravely injured. When Maddie left them behind, her eyes so distant and sad. When Sonic betrayed his vow to protect the Master Emerald from misuse–and then after. When the fox looked so small and hurt. When Knuckles looked into the uncertainty of his youngest brother’s eyes.
He was an echidna warrior. The Most Dangerous Warrior in the Galaxy! And the only family still at Tails’ side. He had to be strong and sure.
Many things happened after that. Occasionally his wrist would flare with stabbing pain, but Knuckles was well practiced in ignoring such things. There was too much at stake to waste time feeling hurt.
And then… then they were in a hospital room.
The Pretzel Woman hugged them each. First Sonic, then Tails, then Knuckles. She asked the three of them if they were okay. Knuckles looked to his brothers first, but found them both watching Tom mournfully. The doctors said he was doing well. He should be fine, but he would have to stay a few days.
In his heart Knuckles squirmed between his desire to honor the Pretzel Woman and report his injury and his shame: how could he complain of something so minor when their Donut Lord had been cut low? And when he looked at his brothers’ anxious faces, he had that feeling again. That urge to be strong and steady because that was what they needed when everything felt fragile and unsure.
This was all to say that Knuckles wasn’t needlessly hiding his injury until the Donut Lord got out of the hospital. He had many reasons to keep it to himself. And he thought of more as time passed. A week later, Tom was home and recovering. All their attention needed to be on caring for him. Two weeks after that, they were celebrating their family being whole again. Knuckles didn’t want to ruin that. Two more weeks after that and too much time had passed. Maybe the Pretzel Woman would never find out?
Knuckles’ wrist barely hurt at all anymore! Unless he rotated it. As long as he moved his arm and hands in very specific ways, he would be okay. Unfortunately, while trying to show off his skills with a particularly heavy hammer, he rotated his wrist and it let out a horrible pulse of pain. It throbbed the rest of the day, but he ignored it until he woke the next morning with his glove feeling painfully tight. His mind went to the ‘abscess’ incident from so long ago.
With no small amount of dread, he realized it was time to tell the Pretzel Woman.
*
“Knuckles?” Maddie asked. “Why did you shove me into the coat closet?”
Knuckles looked up into the shadows where her face would be. The closet was a strategic decision to lessen prying eyes and ears. The fewer people that knew of his injury the better. But he would admit he was also glad for the darkness. He had to take this like a warrior and confess, but the gloom fortified his courage.
“I must report an injury,” he said quietly.
He heard the Pretzel Woman inhale. The air shifted as she moved and suddenly a light flared. Knuckles glared overhead. He’d never noticed the thin chain hanging from the ceiling, it was far over his head but within easy reach for the giant human.
The closet was still strategic… but now he could see Maddie’s frown.
“Where?” She asked, kneeling down. “Show me.”
Knuckles fumbled with the cuff of his glove. The last time he’d had a hand injury they had to cut his glove off. This new one was made differently. The cuff unstrapped easily and Knuckles was able to remove his injured wrist with minimal jostling.
Freed from confinement, the injury was clear. Years of wearing the arena’s shackles had worn the fur from his wrists so it was easy to see how his brown skin was stained red. The skin was tight, flesh swollen over the aching joint. The color and swelling weren’t as bad as the time with the abscess. The pain was… comparable. Knuckles hoped this would not be the same issue. That had been… unpleasant.
The healer took his fist in her tiny hands and began feeling along the joint. Knuckles held still and did not show any weakness, even when her nimble fingers pressed down on a place that sent a jolt down his fingers. She asked him to relax and moved his hand forward and back and side to side. She rotated his hand in just the way that hurt most.
Knuckles wasn’t sure how to react to this. Logic told him he should conceal that it hurt. But the Pretzel Woman had made it abundantly clear she did not like when he did that. Curse his wrist for not being stronger!
“Did that hurt?” The Pretzel Woman asked.
Knuckles realized he had been glaring at his wrist and met Maddie’s eyes sheepishly. “It’s not so–”
She raised one of her thin brows and Knuckles’ mouth clicked shut.
“That is the worse spot,” he said. Even in the safety of the closet, it was as close to admitting to pain as he was willing to get.
“Well…” The Pretzel Woman looked thoughtful. “I’d like to do an x-ray.”
Knuckles grimaced. He hated the ex ray machine. He had to lay down in strange positions and the energy the machine created made his nose feel like it was full of spiders. Then the machine made portraits of all his secret injuries, new and old, and then Maddie got upset! But Maddie was already going to be upset. Knuckles didn’t know how, but she seemed able to tell the age of his wounds when she took her x-rays.
His shoulders sagged in defeat. “Alright,” he said. “I will do the x-ray machine.” Perhaps if he cooperated now, she would be less angry with him when she inevitably found out he had concealed his wound.
Maddie frowned down at his wrist. “When did this happen?”
Or she would find out now.
Sure, Knuckles could lie. Sonic probably would–trickster that he was. But not Knuckles. He bowed his head and prepared to face her wrath with honor.
“My first battle against Shadow…?” Against his will, his voice lilted up at the end. Pathetic. Own your shame, he scolded himself.
There was a pause and then the Pretzel Woman leaned back. “Knuckles,” She dropped his name like a stone. “Is this injury weeks old?”
Knuckles stared down at the discarded glove in his hand. “I… apologize.”
“No!” The Pretzel Woman stabbed one of her needle-thin fingers at him. “ No, I thought we were past this Knuckles! I thought you were getting better!”
Knuckles swallowed, his throat felt strangely thick. He’d expected anger, not this… disappointment.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, closing his eyes as though he might shut out his shame. “Many things were happening and then Tom was injured and then recovering…” He trailed off. He dared to open his eyes and glance up at Maddie from under his lashes. She watched him with an unreadable expression.
“That… was a really hard time,” she said.
Knuckles didn’t know what to say to that. They’d all thought they were going to lose one of their tribe. Saying it was a ‘hard time’ felt too small, but he had no better words to describe it. “I did not want to make it harder. Not when my injury was so much lesser and Sonic and Tails needed me to be strong.”
Her face softened, though her eyes were pained. “Sonic and Tails are strong enough that you can take care of yourself–”
“They were frightened.” He’d been frightened. Knuckles looked away, staring at the thin closet door, all that shielded them from unseen enemies. An echidna warrior was afraid of nothing, but when the ambulance doors closed on Tom’s pale face... Knuckles hadn’t known the last time he saw his father would be the last time he ever saw him. He hadn’t known if that last look into the ambulance was the last time he would ever see Tom.
“They were frightened and I did not want to place concern for me on top of that…”
Maddie sighed and shifted from kneeling to sitting. She was shorter than him like this. He wasn’t used to looking down at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry you had to step up like that. And… I’m proud too.” She offered a soft, tired smile. “You’re becoming quite the good brother.”
Knuckles studied his glove intently. He wasn’t sure why–usually he loved to boast. The Pretzel Woman had strange powers indeed.
“You can always tell me when you’re hurt.” She took his good hand in hers. “I want you to promise me–”
“I cannot.” Knuckles withdrew his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Wha–why?” The softness that had come to her voice lessened as anger took root.
Knuckles was ready to take it full-force. “I cannot promise to always be forthcoming with injuries. This has proved it.”
“Proved what?” She crossed her arms. A dangerous sign.
“If you had known I was injured, would you have let me come on our mission at the G.U.N. headquarters?”
“No.”
“Then I cannot promise.” Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest to show his decision was final. The move was definitely not undercut by his pained wrist not moving into place correctly.
“Knuckles. ” Her tone was dangerous. He avoided her eyes, but even without looking he could feel her glare like shards of ice.
“You needed me,” he said. “What would have happened in case of emergency if I had not been there to break the glass?”
“We probably would have come up with a whole different plan!”
That was probably true. “But what if that plan failed? I am the strongest of all of us even when my wrist is damaged–what would happen to you without me?”
“Knuckles, that’s not the point. The point is to take care of yourse–”
“The point is that I will never remain behind while my tribe goes into battle without me. Not again!” With his arms crossed, he could not study his mitts, so Knuckles just stared straight ahead. He could not look Maddie in the eye right now. Of course, he didn’t need to when she wrapped her arms around him. Hugs were something he was still getting used to. They were surprisingly powerful things. He stood perfectly still and focused on breathing and blinking.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just… I want to protect you, you know?”
“That is what I want to do.” Knuckles breathed in her scent. She smelled of baking and breakfast, of her husband, their family, and various oils and lotions she used to keep her skin and hair clean and healthy. He didn't remember his own mother but he thought this was probably what a mother should smell like.
When she pulled away it seemed both too soon and too late. Knuckles wanted to follow after her just as much as he wanted to back away. Hugs were very strange things indeed.
“We’re at an impasse,” she said. “What are two family protectors to do?”
Knuckles considered this. “Hopefully, not ground me?”
“I’ll never punish you for being hurt,” she said quickly.
Knuckles leveled her with an unimpressed look. “But you so often get angry.”
Maddie’s returning expression was equally unmoved. “That’s because I love you and… if I can’t stop you from getting hurt, then I at least don’t want you walking around in pain. Not when I can help.”
“We are at an impasse,” Knuckles rubbed his injured wrist to hide his expression. Like hugs, he was still getting used to ‘I love yous’.
Maddie took the hand from him and touched it gently, with the hands of a healer. “Can you just… just keep trying to get better at telling me?” She asked. “Even if you can’t promise.”
Knuckles nodded. “I cannot promise, but… I will try anyway.”
Because Knuckles loved her too.