A/N: For those of you who haven't read the Robotnik war: The untold story, this won't make any sense. For those of you who have, thank you for taking the time to read it. Now onto the reason I wrote this. Ever since I finished that story I always felt like the ending should have been different. I kept going back to it while working on other ideas, as it nagged at me that the last chapter didn't seem to wrap up the story and war properly. But at the same time I wasn't sure I should alter something already done so I turned it into a oneshot. Some of you readers might prefer the original ending, some of you might see this a better ending, but whatever your opinion I wrote this to show a more emotional side of things. In life, we do not always get a happy ending, not everyone is a winner, sometimes you will sacrifice everything to achieve something only to have it slip between your fingers and be lost forever. Just like glass, everyone is shattered with every mistake and misfortune again, again, and again. But every time we piece ourselves back together, there is a new crack in our fragile souls, a new piece of knowledge, a reminder of an error, but something we can learn from, and become stronger from it. And at the end of our lives, with our glass nothing but cracks from being shattered throughout life, we can say "I've made it." and help piece back together those who think their shattered lives can't be fixed. It takes one word to save a life, one word to end a life. So the next time you see a shattered soul, remember that they have cracks just like you, and instead of kicking the pieces around you can help put them back together.

"DO IT! DO IT! Please…"

"We've arrived your majesty."

Sally came out of her deep thought, as the black armored car she was in, stopped.

"You know you can just call me Sally." Sally huffed at her bodyguards in fine black suits.

Glancing out the window Sally gazed at Knothole, at how beautiful it had become now that the war was over. It was a massive city now, with families walking about freely without a care in the world, many of them catching up on lost time from being roboticized. Tails had seen to de-roboticizing everyone when Robotnik was defeated. It took years, but the little fox did it, and Sally remembered seeing the tears in Sonic's eyes when his Uncle Chuck, was permanently back in his body of flesh.

Sally smiled contently. After that it was just one good thing after another. They got her Father out of the Silent Zone, found out her mother and brother were still alive and well, and everyone pulled together to rebuild, even the Dingos. Then, Sonic asked her to marry him. Now that, that was one of the best days of her life, and every KFF fighter was there to see it, and thank her.

Fiddling with the wedding ring on her finger, Sally's smile turned into a frown, as she remembered why, she was here.

'I admire and enjoy what we accomplished every day I wake up and see Knothole, so the least I can do is remember what we lost.' Sally thought.

The moment Sally pulled the lever on the door, all her bodyguards piled out and surrounded her before she could even put a foot on the ground.

"Just, guard the car or something." Sally ordered them and rolled her eyes at them. Of course her father, had decided to put extra security around his entire family, and when Sally had protested putting guards to protect her and looked to Sonic for support, the darn blue furball just rubbed his neck and smiled sheepishly while agreeing that it was for her safety.

"Don't know if I should hate, or love, my husbands protectiveness." Sally muttered.

Straightening out her blue jacket she walked down the sidewalk. The jacket, shorts and blue boots, was something she had miraculously been able to keep, with how her mother protested the looks, but Sally had to admit she had missed her mother's lectures about dressing properly as royalty. As annoying as it was sometimes, it was just her mother showing how much she cared for her daughter.

Filling her lungs with the cold winter air, Sally tucked her hands into the pocket in her vest, as she trudged along towards her destination.

"What I am supposed to say? After all that happened with nothing to show but death and misery, while others find peace?" Sally questioned herself, while nodding and smiling at a few KFF fighters who passed by, greeting her with salutes and smiles as they celebrated.

Speeches were nothing compared to this, all you did with a speech was talk about victories and losses, but they always ended with some sort of happy words. But this? There was nothing happy about it.

"Mom! Mom! Look! It's Princess Sally!" A little fox girl yelled excitedly, as both her mother, and Sally stopped and greeted each other.

"Just Sall, if you don't mind." Sally said to the girl with a wink.

"Thank you , for what you did for all of us during the war." The girl's mother said, and gave Sally a hug. "Now I don't have to fear for my daughters safety."

Returning the hug, Sally replied quietly. "I didn't do much, it was the KFF fighters that fought and the millions of other rebel fighters that died to give us this."

Her stomach and chest always wrenched themselves at remembering all those battles, and times she had sent soldiers to their deaths. Soldiers who could have been here with family, celebrating what they all fought for.

"No, you gave us hope, led and rallied us when we all gave up on winning, and living." The mother told Sally. "You led us to victory, even though you might not have fought the battles we did, without you we couldn't have won them at all."

Sally held back tears as the mother released her hug, and patted her cheek.

"Could you visit my daddy? He'd be really happy to see you!" The little girl piped in.

Ruffling the girl's hair, Sally answered with "Of course! Is your daddy home?" She shook her little head.

"He's sleeping at the cemetery." Sally's heart sunk at those words.

"I'm...I'm sorry."

"It's alright." The Mother said. "He died two years before the war ended, during one of the last major battles." She gave Sally a sad smile. "Because of you, his death wasn't in vain."

"Oh! We gotta go! Or we'll be late for my friends party!" The little girl said and tugged relentlessly on her mother's shirt.

"Alright, let's get going. It was nice seeing you ." And with that, the two left.

'We all lost something in this war. Along with pieces of ourselves.' Sally thought, then shook her head. "I need to stop getting sidetracked!" She chided herself.

Sally sped her up her pace to a jog, and made her way into the cemetery.

It was true, even Tails and Amy seemed different now, as much as it pained Sally to acknowledge. And all it took was being in one battle, when they were coming to rescue her, for it to happen. Sally almost couldn't stand looking Tails in the eyes. Every time she did, she saw that look in them, the look that all KFF fighters, her friends who fought, even Sonic had. The look of something unexplainable they lost, something that had forever changed them.

The sound of a guitar, reached Sally's ears as she came close to her destination, and saw Cream, who was waiting for her with someone else.

They greeted each other with a hug, then Sally spoke in a hushed whisper. "How have things been, how is...he." Both Sally, and Cream stared remorsefully at the Hedgehog playing the guitar beside the tombstone.

Cream held back tears as she replied "Good, me and my mother own hundreds of orphanages and schools now to help the children without families, to give them something to look forward to in life, and prepare them for it when they grow up. We even have another hospital being built."

Sally was filled with warmth inside at Cream and her Mother's efforts to help everyone they could.

Cream was much older now, she had grown into a strong yet meek adult, just like her mother. They didn't just help and save countless lives by building orphanages and hospitals with their wealth. They gave several large lump sums to rebuild cities, helped farms, factories, and even the government get set back up and running again. But even with all their donations and spending, they had countless gold to spare.

The roughly five hundred thousand tombstones going for miles in this cemetery, dedicated to those who fought would never have been made if not for them.

"None of this would have been possible without, my uncles, Woodstock and Mortifer, giving us the locations of their hidden caches. We owe them so much for all they did." Cream told Sally, and wiped a stray tear away. "And yet they never asked for anything in return."

Sally's grief stricken eyes stayed fixated on the Hedgehog playing the guitar. His cybernetic fingers, danced along the strings ever so gently, like they were made of glass, the notes of the tune a diary, filled with so much sorrow, and pure agony. It was as if he was searching, begging, for a moment of happiness to be found in that diary of his, only to relive the memories of how everything was taken from him.

"Why must I live and suffer?" the notes seemed to say. "What have I received? For the price of all those I lost? Where is the reward for all the dead that lay cold and still beneath the ground? Show me, what their sacrifices, my sacrifices, was all worth in the end?"

Feeling something wet, Sally touched her cheek, and realized she was crying.

"He's been keeping himself occupied learning the guitar lately, and taking walks with me." Cream continued. "He still doesn't talk, but he's eating properly now. He still refuses to take his pain medication though, for the physical damage he received. Last night we had to rush him to the hospital because he was in so much pain, the doctors were afraid he'd go critical, but he fought, even with all that pain, he fought anyone who tried giving him painkillers, even mother."

Sally placed a hand over her mouth and turned away so she wouldn't start sobbing.

"She said she still can't get him to open up about the mental scars, or the trauma either." Placing hand on Sally's shoulder, Cream looked at her, desperate for help. "That's why I asked you to do this. Maybe...I don't know….maybe this will help him, by getting back into the only thing he knows?"

"Why call me?" Sally's voice cracked as she asked Cream, as the music from the guitar continued to haunt her. "I did this to him. Because of me he's...broken." Just like that, the memories came flooding back.

It was days after the funeral held for Mortifer and Woodstock, when reports came in about a ghost haunting where they had died. Everyone passed it off as rumors, but Sally didn't. The moment she was healed up, Sally jumped on a ship with Blackjack and flew back to the place of their death. If they were alive she would help them, even if she had to dig them out with her hands for years.

After all, they sacrificed their lives to save hers, and if the data was correct from Nicole, the army of Cyborgs based off Woodstock down there that had been destroyed by some sort of blast they created, would have wiped out the KFF, and any other resistance within days had they not stopped them and deleted Robotnik's data. So in a sense, they owed the brothers everything. But neither Sally, or Blackjack were prepared for what awaited them.

Sally had found him, slumped against the remains of a Swatbot, missing his left arm that had been torn off from the elbow down, with only the mangled flesh and bone for a stump left. One of Mortifer's legs was sliced and stabbed so badly, that it looked about ready to fall off. How he had not bled out Sally had no idea.

She had fallen to her knees in shock, and wept as she reached out to make sure he was still alive.

Suddenly, Mortifer looked up at her, and grasped her hand with his only arm. The skin on his face was covered in third degree burns, and places where armor was missing, showed that his entire body was burned like that. Later they found out that Woodstock's personal shield he built for Mortifer had activated, and just barely had enough power to save Mortifer's life.

His arm trembled as he put Sally's hand against his head.

"Kill me."

Sally had try pulling her hand back in horror, at realizing he wanted her to kill him with her energized blades, but his grip held her hand in place.

"Do it." He begged, as Sally radioed for an emergency medevac.

"DO IT!" Mortifer screamed.

"DO IT! DO IT! Please…"

That was the only time Sally ever saw Blackjack cry, when they got Mortifer on the plane.

What followed was an absolute nightmare.

They had to replace his arm and leg with cybernetic ones, and he constantly screamed in pain whenever he was awake, even with medication, until his voice gave out. The doctors believed that the the pain meds were working, but, his mind was traumatized, and was constantly reliving it all over again.

Eventually, he came to, but Mortifer then started staring at nothing, as if no one existed, even when Blackjack, Vanilla, and Cream visited him.

Only a part of Mortifer's mind came back when he was healed enough to be in a wheelchair, and they took him to see Woodstocks grave.

For hours, he stared at the grave stiffly, as if waiting for his cybernetic brother to jump out and yell "Haha! Told you I was invincible!" from behind the tombstone. Until he realized, Woodstock wouldn't.

Slinging his burnt holsters with his damaged duel pistol over the tombstone, Mortifer patted the top of the tombstone, like he was patting the head of a child, like how he always patted his brothers head, before wheeling himself back to his room.

Blackjack couldn't stand seeing Mortifer so broken, and went on to stay on the front lines for the rest of the war.

Knuckles, would come to visit time to time, and tell Mortifer about his plans to keep the Chaos emeralds safe, not caring that talking to Mortifer was a one sided conversation.

Vanilla and her daughter Cream, came everyday to help Mortifer with his daily needs, and every night, Vanilla would hug Mortifer and sing him to sleep.

Sally never could bring herself to face Mortifer, not after her causing him and his brother to be stuck down there and left to die because of her. But she had seen glimpses of a distraught Vanilla as Mortifer slept, weeping "What did we do to deserve you. What did we do for you to take our place, and sacrifice you and your brother's hearts of gold.

For months, Sally couldn't sleep at night, with her mind always knowing, that if she had just done one thing different, just one thing, Mortifer and his brother would be fine right now.

It took Sonic and all her friends combined to keep Sally from stepping down as the leader of the KFF.

When the day finally came and they defeated Robotnik, Mortifer stayed at Woodstocks grave, while everyone celebrated.

"Because we both know my uncles would have done the same for any of us, that they would have sacrificed what they did to save you, to save the rest of us." Cream comforted Sally. "So don't blame yourself. As soldiers they viewed it as their duty to sacrifice everything for others. And Woodstock would hate it if he knew you blame yourself for their choice to do so."

Sally nodded and scrubbed the tears away. She had to do this, after all she owed them everything. The freedom from Robotnik, the safety of the families and citizens in Knothole, even their new kingdom and getting to see her family again, and living to marry Sonic and have a happy life.

Slowly, Sally approached Mortifer who seemed oblivious to her, as he continued his sorrowful song while staring, with his only eye, at Woodstock's grave, hoping his brother could hear it. His scar covered face was like a battered, blank slate.

"If you want, I could give a job."

Mortifer stopped playing his guitar, and turned to face Sally as she spoke, surprising her.

For moment Sally fell silent, this was the first time she had visited him after all him and Woodstock had done for her and the KFF. But there wasn't any malice, or anger like she had expected, just empty, hollow eyes.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Sally refused to break eye contact with Mortifer as she continued.

"I'm going to be travelling to dozens of different, and new countries that have formed since the fall of Robotnik. And will be doing a lot of negotiating for peace with all of them but, most of them will be hostile at first as they try and clamber for power and territory. I need someone I can trust for when things get bad."

Mortifer remained silent, but his eye was now focused on the rusted pistols on Woodstock's tombstone.

"My father's bodyguards don't have your skills, and your one of the few I can trust to have my back when Sonic and my friends aren't around."

She hated asking him this, asking him to be her bodyguard after what Mortifer and his brother did for her.

Even her father hated her doing it, mostly because he regretted sending Mortifer's battalion, his family, to die, but also because her father was afraid of losing his daughter to Mortifer. No matter how much she reassured him Mortifer only despised him and had no intention of vengeance, and had even saved her own life, he still didn't want to risk it. But, they were out of options of how to get him back in his right mind, and maybe him going with her and seeing all that he had saved would help.

Maybe Mortifer doing the only thing he knew how to do, being a soldier, would help.

"So, do you want the job?" Sally asked and stuck out her hand.

If it helped him, even just a little, Sally would jump on the chance to do it, no matter how much she hated it, she owed Mortifer that much.

Raising his cybernetic arm beside his normal arm, Mortifer stared at it for a moment, then glanced back at his duel pistols, before looking at Sally again.

A/N: Let me know what you guys would like to see more of and what you thought of this little oneshot.