THE FALSE HARLEQUIN
By LazerTH
For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?
Matthew 9:5
Author's note: Sonic, Tails and their friend Lazer join forces to fight alien invaders... but the False Harlequin is pulling all the strings! Will they expose the truth in time?
Disclaimer: The Harlequin is owned by Wingless Rain. Lazer and his family are my creations.
888
The sounds of the city faded away in the sudden acceleration. The roaring wind pressed against Sally's face, streaming through her red hair. Then they were on the open plains between the city and the forest, the grass blurring into a uniform green sheet like the dice tables of Casino Night Zone.
"You still with me, Sal?"
She had her arms around his neck. "Just don't let go!"
Sally was lighter than an acorn in Sonic's arms. He ran with such breathtaking velocity; she was not sure that his red shoes touched the ground at all. He did not slow in the least when entering the Great Forest, but he hopped with her from tree to tree swifter than any monkey could swing. The damp earthy scent of soil and leaves was more familiar to Sally than the city's glittering air-conditioned comforts. She had spent most of her life here, hiding.
"We're really free, now, aren't we?" she asked. "Now that he is gone, we can go anywhere, do anything…"
That cheeky grin marked his face. "Say the word, Sal, we'll move back into the forest. Or how about a cave?"
His legs cleared the forest floor, its browns and greens giving way to the grays and whites of the mountain range overlooking the Serene Ocean. Sonic traced a spiral path from the base to the peak of one mountain so quickly that the dust from his ascent had not cleared by the time he arrived on the peak, making the whole mountain look like a giant drill ready to pierce the heavens.
"Who says you can't do art?" Sally asked, looking down at his handiwork.
"Tails banned me from using paints after I turned the Tornado blue."
"Is that so. I'll have a talk with my nephew."
The bundle carefully strapped to Sonic's back, away from his sharp quills, wiggled her arms and feet, squealing.
"Did you enjoy the run, Paula?" Sally asked, climbing down from Sonic's neck to check on the infant.
Sonic looked straight ahead at the Sun rising over the sapphire sea, pouring its daily offering of molten gold onto the waves.
"I've never been happier, Sal," Sonic said, taking the wriggling furry squirrel child from her mother and holding her up in the sunlight. The child laughed, the sound echoing among the peaks. She had not heard an echo before, and looked around in wonderment to see who else was laughing. Paula's eyes were blue, like the sky, like his quills, like Sally's eyes. He saw his future in those tiny eyes, as the sunlight shone through her soft fur. Beside him, Sally smiled, wrapping an arm around his waist. She stood beside him and looked up at their daughter, too.
888
Far from the city sounds, the waves of the Serene Sea met the shore with ponderous thunderclaps. There was a different hedgehog standing there, with a different child in his arms. As it rose above the horizon, the Sun revealed the strange red colour of their quills, marking them as foreigners to this country of Grandia.
But the father, who his friends called Lazer, had suffered much to stand there with his infant son in his arms. He had fought with the Freedom Fighters in the name of the Acorn Kingdom to liberate Grandia from tyranny. They had won. It was over. All that remained was to rebuild the city, as New Mobotropolis, and reestablish trade with neighbouring territories. Lazer, however, was no good at diplomatic relations.
The sound of heavy footsteps on the sand behind him caused his long red quills to rise in annoyance.
"Every day, I tell you not to follow me, yet every day, here you all are."
He turned to cast a sidelong glance at the church congregation, standing with hands or paws clasped, gazing at him and his son.
One of the devout said with a loud voice, "Crimson Flame, please teach us the will of the holy sword!"
Lazer's voice was low but powerful. "It is neither holy nor a sword. R'Thrys chooses to look like one."
"At least show us its regal frame! Pluck it from the ether!"
"No. Go home."
Faces downcast, the congregation shuffled off the beach, leaving many trails in the sand. Between the footsteps trod another foreigner to Grandia, a red hedgehog like Lazer, but she was far more graceful in appearance. Her soft brown eyes checked his habitually furrowed red brow, beneath which burned two hard narrow black eyes, like twin obsidian stones floating in a river of lava.
Her voice was light and airy. "My husband Lazer, how fierce you look this morning."
He made a conscious effort to lower his quills and smile.
"My wife Rebecca, I was preparing to greet the Sun with Ashlar."
Rebecca gestured with both paws upheld, as though cradling the sky in her arms. "It has arrived, you and our son may proceed."
Lazer had changed the day he met their son for the first time. He was no longer constrained by his father's command to spare life, but by the pure love that grew and grew the more time he spent with his son. He knew that he could never again take a person's life. If he did, would he not be killing someone's child? Someone's parent? And where would be the wisdom and justice in that?
He greeted the morning sun with his son Ashlar safe in his arms. They were on the western shore outside New Mobotropolis, with the frothy foam of the Serene Ocean bubbling around his toes. The clean salt wind filled his lungs and he began to sing.
Singing. For joy. It was his mother's song that echoed off the rocks, rolled over the seashells, then stretched up and out to herald the dawn.
Herald of the morning's chorus,
Source of life in all the world,
Shine your beams so bright before us,
Golden wings of light unfurled.
Truly you have taught us mercy
By your warmth shone free to all.
Pierce the dark and teach us to see
Truth and wisdom in your call.
Rebecca picked up the tune from the second stanza, and together they sang for three more stanzas before the song ended. This was the song Lazer's mother sang at dawn every day for as long as she lived, and now he would do the same for as long as he lived, no matter what. He had a reason to sing, now. Ashlar squealed, his eyes bright, and Lazer knew - without having to read his thoughts - that his son shared his joy.
Beside him, Rebecca placed her paws upon Lazer's shoulder, and leaned against him, her rock, who could not be moved.