Chapter 23 - Doing the Right Thing

“So, how are things?” Sally asked, carefully. She wasn’t sure how Ekyt would react. Humans are so unpredictable!

“Fine, Princess. Is everything well around Knothole?” “Oh, yes!” Sally exclaimed. “Hmm. I see one problem, your highness.” Ekyt said thoughtfully. “What’s that?” Sally asked. “Tails. He seems to think that you…how to put this…Don’t have much use for him. I know it isn’t true, but when he came to ME…” Sally nodded. “I know. I don’t mean for it to come out that way. I guess we all care too much. I don’t mean to treat him like a kid, he’s done as much as any of us.” Ekyt hadn’t expected her to agree. “Well, thank you. I guess I’d better go guard…” Ekyt froze. Damn! He hadn’t thought of being a guardian since he was helping Tails with HIS problems. Sally looked concerned. “Is something wrong?” she asked. Ekyt was sweating a little and used the back of his hand to sweep it off his forehead. “I…um…well…I’m not a guardian anymore…yeah.” “Oh…” was all Sally could manage. “If you’ll pardon me…” Ekyt left as Tails ran in to talk to Sally. Soon, all was right with their world.

But not with Ekyt’s.

The jungles were always his favorite. Now they were a haunting memory. He knew he had to go back to civilization, but not yet… He thought to himself “I’m glad to do it for Locke. If this is what it takes for him to come back, I’m glad I did it.” It was hard to swallow either way, but selfish was not a word Ekyt wanted to be described by.

Tiffany (Shadowthe_hedgehog) had a day off since Prince Elias was on his father’s council today. She ran into Ekyt, who was up to…she didn’t really want to know, on second thought. He was preoccupied, and it looked like he had all but stopped trying to fix things. And there was a lot that needed to be fixed…

Whenever someone asked Ekyt “What happened?” Ekyt ended his response with “I had a choice between saving someone else’s life, or enjoying mine.” Everyone seemed to be stunned, but understanding. Everyone who knew Locke was glad he was back. Everyone who knew Ekyt, on the other hand, wished he WOULD come back. He was there, physically, but mentally…

As Ekyt laid on the cool grass, his head propped up on an uncomfortable log, a shadow approached him. “If you’re here to kill me, think twice. I’ve got nothing left to lose.” He spouted without getting up. “Far from it.” Linda’s smiling face greeted him. He scrambled to get up. “Sorry about that.” He mumbled. “Someone been bothering you?” she asked. “Just one luckless guy from the Dark Legion. He decided to try to knife me. But, I don’t die so easy, I guess…” He pointed to a small cut on his arm. Then to a larger gash across his shoulder. “You play with knives, you get cut.” Ekyt said simply. Linda sat down next to him. “Aren’t you going to ask what I’m doing here?” she said teasingly. Ekyt raised his head, searching her eyes briefly. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m juts kind of lost I guess…” She put an arm around his shoulders. “No worries. I’m here to stay, at least for a while. After Tiffany and I talked (Last issue) she told me that they’re looking for a bodyguard for Knothole’s brain trust. You know, Rotor, Dr. Quack, Sonic’s Uncle Chuck. It’s temporary, but I took some time off from the force (She’s a police officer for the EPD- Echidna Police Department –NG) to do this. I figured you could a little company.” Ekyt hugged her gratefully. “I’ve missed you.” He said, then laughed at how lame that was. She hugged him back. “It’s no problem. If I had MY world yanked out from under me, I’d be depressed too. Things’ll get better. If someone brought ME back from the dead, I’d be grateful, to say the least.” “Yeah. I was happy to do it for Locke.”

Speaking of Locke…

SORRY, YOU’LL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT ISSUE! TIFFANY AND LINDA GET THEIR FIRST ASSIGNMENTS, LOCKE RETURNS, AND THERE’S GONNA BE PLENTY ‘O CHAOS!

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