I'm late. Woohoo! I'm sorry guys, I wanted to get this out before Forces release, but y'know life happens and all. Still, here is the conclusion of the Forces of Fate Trilogy. Hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, if I did this would likely be Infinite's backstory.

Fate Realized

Sunset Heights.

It always came back to Sunset Heights.

But this?

This was ridiculous in every single sense of the word.

The resistance had made a mad dash for the city when they heard that it had straight up vanished. Completely obliterated. To have seen Amy check on the satellite only to scream and break out into tears at the sight of the smoldering crater in the ground where the city used to be was definitely a memory none of them wanted to keep.

They had cried a bit too. Sunset Heights was their home after all, and to see everything they had grown to know and love just be absolutely destroyed was horrifying. It engulfed them in rage.

A massive castle stood where the city used to be. It was entirely black in color with trimmings of ruby red, seeping out of it was a very familiar wispy red energy lapping into the wind before dissipating into nothing.

Their fists were clenched, teeth grinding together as they took in the sight of the castle. They didn't know it, but their own blue energy rolled off of them I waves at the pure fury of what he had done.

The others were just staring in horrified awe, trying to wrap their heads around it.

But the time for gawking was cut short as the man of the hour appeared on top of the castle, his arms crossed as he adjusted his mask.

"Well… well… the cavalry's arrived." Infinite said in his usual calm and collected manner. "You all have done a wonderful job disposing of my associates the doctor, the god of destruction, the bucket of bolts and that pathetic Zeti. You even managed to turn the ultimate life form. Bravo, you should be proud of your accomplishments."

He actually made the effort to clap for them in a slow, sarcastic manner.

"But those five were merely pawns in this game of chess and while you remain with all your pieces, the true king still has more than enough defenses to lead the opposition to their doom."

He then gestured all around him before speaking again. "This is Infinity Castle, the setting for the final move and the destruction of your forces, your world and all there ever was."

With that, he vanished and there was a loud roar of chatter as everyone wondered what to do.

People were scared. Knuckles was trying his best to take control of the situation while Sonic attempted to comfort some of the younger members of the resistance, at least that's all they could really see with so many of them present.

They didn't really care though and instead focused on the castle. There it stood with its doors towering high above them. Several of the familiar red cubes floated about, the energy giving them chills as it collided with their , they glared at the doors knowing that he was inside. The one that had taken this city, enslaved their world and disrupted Chaos energies with his mere presence. Infinite was waiting for them to strike and they weren't going to wait for another invitation to put an end to all of this.

Their own blue energy flared around them and with a mighty roar, they shouted. "Hey!"

Everyone stopped at this and looked to them. They turned around o that they faced the entirety of the resistance, something that would've terrified them a few months ago, and probably would've today, but the nerves seemed not to react due to the far more pressing matters to attend to.

"Infinite is in there and he's waiting! We may never ever get a chance like this again and you're all here fighting like kids wondering what to do?"

"Some of us are kids!" Charmy spoke up to which he was shushed by Cream.

But they ignored him. "We've come a long way and now it's almost over. We got Eggman, Metal, Chaos and Zavok. We freed Shadow! We've almost taken our world back. We've done it all and we've done it together, now all that's left is him. I'm going to face him, it's my destiny. But I would love it even more to do it with the team that's always stood by me. So who's with me?"

Sonic immediately stood up, looked them in the eye and reached his fist out to them. "Well of course, I am partner. When we join forces, the sky is the limit!"

They returned the fist bump.

Knuckles walked up to them with a smile. He patted them on the back with a chuckle. "Hey, the whole speech thing is supposed to be my thing, rookie."

They returned the smile before the Echidna readdressed the resistance. They're right though. Many of you came to the resistance terrified of Eggman, Infinite and the rest of his goons. You were timid and weak couldn't even take a wimp like Sonic on in a fight."

"Hey!" The hedgehog in question called out, eliciting a few lighthearted laughs from the crowd. Even they couldn't help but stifle a few chuckles at this.

Knuckles smirked at Sonic to which he returned the gesture, a silent conversation seemed to pass between the two before he continued.

"But now a lot of you have become so brave. You fought for your world and showed you had what it takes to be real heroes. I'm proud of you all and now it's time to go in there and take our world back for good!"

The resistance cheered at that, now fully prepared to fight and save the world.

Knuckles then turned to Sonic and put a hand on his shoulder. "As always, you take the lead."

But Sonic shook his head. "Nope. Not this time, Knucklehead. This time, my partner takes the lead."

They were surprised by this. "Oh, Sonic. I couldn't-"

But he just shook his head and smiled. "Nope, no buts. You've earned it. Besides, you were born for this fight."

They beamed at this and with that, they cast their Wispon aside, allowing the power they'd honed to come forth and surround them in its comforting cerulean haze. It was time to fight fire with fire and take back the world.

And so they charged, leading the resistance into the iron doors of the castle to their destiny.

~Fate Realized~

When they broke through the doors of the castle, they expected some grand hall with Infinite sitting on some ridiculous throne. They expected to immediately get attacked and have to shield everyone from Infinite's powers. They had expected Infinite to give the resistance a long winded taunt about their doom. But what happened, they didn't expect. But honestly, they should've.

When they entered the castle, they arrived in a hotel lobby of sorts with a check-in desk and everything. It was odd, confusing the resistance to no end.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" Knuckles shouted

It wa that moment they all felt a twinge of hatred for the echidna as a very familiar noise rang out in their ears. The sound of ruby delusions.

Wth its sounds of distortion, they were all lifted into the air, spinning around as the color in the room shifted to a blood red.

People screamed and cried, but amongst it all, they caught sight of the younger Sonic with a rather annoyed look on his face, almost as if he were saying "Again?!" while the others continue to scream.

It was then when the sound rang out again and everything disappeared in a flash of white.

~Fate Realized~

When they had reappeared they found themselves in a completely different location.

This one actually did look like a room found in a castle, being a lavish library stacked with books as far as the eyes could see. They were amazed by the sight but didn't have time to gawk for long.

It was as if a trumpet had sounded and someone began to play some funky beats, but a robot had flown in front of them sporting the design of some sort of police chief with a sherrif's badge and all. But propped onto its shoulder was a massive rocket launcher charged and ready to strike them.

Without a word, the robot fired proving that it was definitely a heavy hitter.

The shot narrowly missed them as they dove to the side, rolling into a crouch and returning fire with a laser from the palm of their hand.

But it quickly flew into the air before firing another barrage of explosives at them, but they kept diviing away, returning laser fire of their own that robot seemed to easily avoid.

At one point, the robot managed to blast a hole in the wall where they managed to catch a glimpse of a familiar chameleon battling it out with a robot of his own. This one was green in color and whipping out a sword that easily blocked his shuriken.

"Espio!" They called out.

The ninja looked in their dimension only for the hole to begin to be filled in with Infinite's energy, closing off their view of one another.

But that was all the robot they were facing needed as it fired, sending them flying into one of the bookshelves at their side.

They growled, energy flowing around their body as they rose into the air and sent out their own blue cubes that surrounded the robot. They closed in, zooming round and round before it had literally wiped the robot from existence.

They couldn't help but cheer at that, finally gotten a hang of the cubes.

But they didn't have much time to celebrate as it seemed out of nowhere, the younger Sonic appeared chasing after a similar purple robot wildly swinging a mace atop motobug.

Not wasting time, they fired off a laser that would've blow it to bits. But instead it phased through it only to set fire to a bookshelf behind it.

And just as quickly as the two appeared, they disappeared and soon they were lifted off their feet again and teleported to a new location.

This time they were in what appeared to be the castle's theter which had rows upon rows of seats and a massive stage with the curtain drawn.

They gave a rather confused look at this until the curtain rose to which they immediately got into a battle ready stance.

Floating there was another one of these robots, this one yellow and dawning a tophat which it tipped in greeting before disappearing into a puff of smoke. There was a moment of confusion before a new figure stood in its place. This one was a bird that sported red boots and stood atop a gear that matched the green color of his feathers. It was none other than Jet the Hawk, the winner of the first World Grand Prix.

This raised even more confusion that they unfortunately didn't have time to process as the legendary rider of the wind flew straight into them, taking them atop their board for a ride atop the heights of the theater.

They were dazed for a moment before looking up at the smug bird.

They fired a laser at the bird, hitting it right in his tuft of white feathers causing him to immediately disappear and for the robot to take his place again.

Taking to the skies themselves, they flew at the sputtering robot and fired a laser right into its chest, destroying it instantly.

As soon as they destroyed it, the room turned red and they could feel themselves being pulled from the theater.

"Not this time!" They shouted as they became alight with their own blue energy to counter the red. It shone brightly and with it they were able to pull themselves through, choosing the curtain that the robot had come out of as their target.

When they went through, the entire scene around them was erratic. They caught glimpses of all their friends fighting one of the robots on their own in different rooms of the castle in a sort of glitch effect. Scenes erratically shifted and changed in front of them before finally solidifying into a single one. This one was the opening to some place with giant doors facing them.

They were just in time to see Sonic boost into another one of those robots. This one was red in color, wearing a crown and wielding a scepter. Or at least it was before the boost sent it into pieces.

He came out of the boost and dusted off his hands with a smirk. "And that's how it's done. You thought you could take me on, but you were no match for me. You call yourself a king in that get-up but looks like I was the one to dish out a royal butt whooping. You could've at least tried to put up a fight, your high-"

"Ahem."

Sonic stopped dead in his wisecracking tracks. "Oh! Hey buddy! Uh… how long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to hear you talking to a pile of scrap metal."

The hedgehog nervously chuckled at that, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't suppose you can forget about that, could you?"

"Nope."

"Great… first Tails catches me and now you too?"

They laughed. "It's okay, Sonic. I promise not to tell anyone."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Although, that might be a good conversation starter with Tails."

The hedgehog groaned in annoyance to which they lightly punched him in the shoulder, smiling at him. Sonic returned the gesture and smiled back.

"Alright, so where are we Sonic?"

"I'm pretty sure we're right outside of his throne room. That one robot with the whole king get-up was tougher than any of the others. If he's anything like Eggman or any of the other goons I've dealt with in the past, they usually like to give us a big appetizer before we take the main dish."

They nodded. "You got all of that from one robot?"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah. Plus if the gigantic doors of looming darkness are anything to go by then…"

Speak of the devil, the doors creaked open showin a hazy purple energy for them to go through.

"Looks like he's inviting us to party. You ready to kick his butt and save the world, buddy?"

They looked towards the swirling darkness. It danced about, promising danger, pain and suffering if they crossed over to face him. If it were just a few weeks before, they would've run away screaming in fear regardless of what Sonic the Hedgehog: world's greatest hero, had told them. But no, that swirling darkness promised freedom for all, the destruction of unspeakable evil and most importantly, their destiny to break fate and prove to Infinite that there was more to them than being his other half. They had the power and would be able to take him, especially with Sonic by their side. In fact, it didn't matter to them that Sonic wanted to do this. They were doing it because they wanted to face their destiny and make the world a better place.

With a grin, they faced the massive doors and began to walk towards them. "Let's go."

~Fate Realized~

When they entered the throne room the first word that came to mind was overkill. The place was large and lavish going far beyond the eyes could see. Tiled floors embroidered with the pointed infinity symbol were on the floor, statues depicting the being in various art styles stood side by side around curtained windows, there was a massive painting depicting him as a knight slaying what appeared to be Perfect Dark Gaia on the wall just above a throne that was far too big for really anyone. But there he sat, looking into one of those mystic cubes he seemed so fond of.

Infinite continued to look at the cube, but spoke up. "So the two of you managed to succeed while the other rabble ru like headless chickens through my castle? I'd say I'm surprised, but with someone of your reputation and the power of my other half, it really was quite predictable."

They clenched their fists and met the bored deity with a glare. "You have no room to say anything! We're here and sooner or later the rest of the resistance will come!"

Infinite chuckled. "Really? Reliance on your pathetic friends? Where are they now, child?"

"Fighting through all your stupid illusions, Infinite." Sonic replied. "But me and my partner are done with those and are about to give you a real beat down."

"Is that so?" He asked. He clenched his fist, the cube disappearing before he rose up into the air, the red aura slowly fading into existence around him. "Show me then!"

With that, he thrust his arms outward, a wave of energy unleashing itself around him as the sounds of distortion rang out around them.

But this time they were ready. Mirroring his motions, an inverted version of the sound was heard, causing the wave to recede and explode around the masked one.

"What?!" Infinite gasped, shaking his head in pain before he glared at them.

He zoomed ahead to make hi other half pay, trail of red following after him.

Sonic was quick to meet him though, boosting ahead and clashing into the masked deity. This knocked him backwards only for Sonic to follow it up with a homing attack.

Infinie surprised them though, jumping onto his hands at incredible speeds and kicking the blue blur away in one fluid motion.

The sound rang out again as he quickly teleported towards them, his hands already around their arms.

But Infinite was immediately surprised when he did not see fear in their eyes but a calm smile on their face. "Oh darn, you got me."

But the smile turned from a look of calm to immense satisfaction. "Not!"

"Wuh-" But it was too late, the inverted sound of their power had let out only for a wave of energy to surge forward, knocking him off his feet again.

With a well-placed laser they added, "I'm not afraid of you anymore, Infinite. With my friends we can take anything you throw at us."

Sonic followed up the laser strike by speeding towards him and delivering a roundhouse to his face. "Yeah! That's it, buddy!"

They grinned at him only for that to fall as Infinite fired a beam of his own at the hedgehog, hurling him away with a cry.

"That's what happens to your pathetic friends. Like you, they will all face their fate."

He flew towards them only for them to do the same causing them to clash and waves of energy to ripple and wash over the room. But it didn't stop there, they kept attempting to bulldoze into each other to which flashes of red and blue illuminated the room as they flew about.

They wanted nothing more than destruction of the one that caused so much damage to their world.

But among all the rage they began to tire. They could only go so far with their abilities and Infinite…? Well his name didn't lie. He was relentless in his attacks, completely unwavering no matter how hard they hit them.

Of course, this did not go unnoticed. "Just as I suspected, you are unable to use your abilities without tiring. Inadequate and weak you are, thinking you could stand a chance against me."

They let out a furious yell, fist reared back into a punch as they charged him.

But Infinite caught them by the arm, the aura around them immediately fading while Infinite's still glowed a dazzling red. With a shake of the head, he scolded them. "Absolutely pathetic. With all that rage and the supposed power in all of your friends you should've easily defeated me. But now you hang at my grasp like the true save to fate you are."

They struggled, attempting to break free, calling forth the power they needed to take him. They only got a light tug in response, but not nearly enough to do anything.

"Time for fate to be realized." He stated. With that, the glow began to intensify to which they sceamed.

But then they felt the energy come alive in them again. It wasn't much but it would be enough.

With a mighty roar and the last of their energy, they fired one last laser into his face, completely catching him off guard and sending him flying. But with that, they no longer had him to keep from falling.

They dropped like a stone, hitting the ground with a loud thud. They groaned in pain at this, their entire body ached, they knew they could no longer fight.

They looked up to see where he had fallen only to be incredibly shocked.

Infinite was clutching his face as broken pieces of silver fell off of his face revealing ghost white fur mixed in with the striking black of the rest of his form. One eeye was yellow and the other blue, the latter of which had a nasty scar over it, which they were sure was a gift from the gods.

His teeth barred his gaze fell on them, completely engulfed in rage.

They barely registered what he had said when he raced towards them lifted them up in the air by their throat or whatever it was they had been shouting at them when he did so.

They heard the familiar sonic boom from their friend but they didn't know what exactly he did to stop him.

All they knew as they dazedly stared at him is the pain that came when the red light began to blaze around them They saw his malicious grin and knew it was the end. Still, they glared at him one last time before their body disappeared and the world with them.

It was over.

Fate had been realized and all seemed grim.

Still, despite the falling darkness,

The light of hope continued to shine.

They may be gone,

But this world still had hope.

R&R