In The End
An end to the writer's block has come. Sonic and Sally have a bad day in the city. Some disturbing material in this story, a tear jerker if I've done my job right.
Sonic and Sally copy write SEGA and/or Dic
There was nothing particularly special about the day it ended. No feeling of foreboding dread, no dreamed premonition, no nagging negative feelings. It had been a day like any other. The sun had been bright, the day warm and pleasant with a refreshing breeze that occasionally tickled passed with comfortable coolness. There had been no long drawn out goodbyes, it was as any other quick trip to the city. Sally had nodded in Antoine's direction as she walked by, but she hadn't spoke. She had waved at Bunnie, hard at work in the communal garden and asked how the crop was doing. Better than usual, the rabbit had replied, lifting her organic hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Bunnie had plucked a couple bright orange carrots and handed them to her. Sally made a detour to her hut, planning on simply laying them aside till later, then on impulse began to quickly chop them up. She had a stew simmering slowly on the top of her old wood stove and they would be a nice addition. She lifted the metal lid, inhaling deeply. She and Sonic would miss having dinner with the others, but once they got home the stew would be waiting and already she felt a certain amount of anticipation at the idea of curling up with him on her worn couch and sharing a quiet meal. If Sally hadn't taken the time to add the carrots to her soup she would have missed saying goodbye to Tails, for she had not sought him out. He was not the sort of child to sit in one place and there was little point in interrupting his play to tell him to be good and she'd see him later. He just happened to walking past her front door as she existed and he stopped to show her the thin piece of plastic Rotor had molded into a flying disc. She had kissed his cheeks and his nose and reminded him she wouldn't be home in time to tuck him in, but promised to read to him a little extra tomorrow night. He had smiled and told her he already knew which book he wanted to read.
The trip into Robotropolis was uneventful, ordinary. It was just a quick salvage trip to recover a hodge-podge of different items. Things that look useful, things that could be used as parts for a hundred different things. Sonic always called it a "yard sale trip" and Sally always chuckled a little when he said it, more out of affection for him than the humor he intended with the term. It wasn't hard to find things in the city, trash was everywhere after all. The remnants of their destroyed civilization were strewn about on every street, lying in mountainous heaps like blizzard snow drifts. The hardest thing about the entire trip should have been climbing about the trash mountains. Even this was nearly second nature to them now. They had been doing this sort of salvaging since they were young kits. Their very first tentative steps into the ruined city had been to do that very thing. Nothing should have gone wrong, but somehow everything did.
It wasn't unusual for Sonic to play around, to cut-up during even dangerous missions. It was a stress reliever for him, Sally knew and tried to forgive the less than professional behavior. She had come to expect some amount of goofing off, but that day Sonic had been more subdue. Sally suspected she knew the reason for his calm demeanor.
"I'm gonna see if I can get someone ta save us some dinner." He had told Sally as they stood by the grotto, waiting for a power ring to surface earlier that day.
"I started some stew this morning, we can have that when we get back."
"Stew?" He had not sounded particularly enthusiastic.
"Yes stew." She smiled slightly and leaned into him, nudging him lightly, her shoulder pressing against his. "And after that maybe some . . . dessert." She breathed the last word heavily into his ear and he shivered.
"Dessert?" He questioned in a whisper.
"Maybe." A soft, sultry sound passed her lips to tickle his ear once more before she moved away, stepping up to the pond as the ring emerged. He had been on his best behavior for the rest of the day and it was clear he was trying to stay in her good graces.
Sonic picked his way carefully down a mountain of mangled rubbish, a few steps behind Sally. She paused in her steps so he stopped as well. He watched as she picked up a tiny motor, like might be found in a blender or some other small appliance and put it in her pack. She was about to continue on then bent again, plucking up the tattered remains of a stuffed animal. Exactly what it had once been was unclear, so faded and ragged its body was. Sally shook it off slightly, studying it in the dim light, her eyes taking on a distant, hazy quality. Sonic studied her in silence, wondering what she was thinking. He knew her thoughts were probably with the little boy or girl who had lost the toy, almost certainly on the very day they lost their freedom. Their will and effectively, their life. It was a harsh thought and it made him shiver. He knew that had to be what she was thinking, but he wanted to pretend it was something else. Perhaps she looked at the doll and longed for a tiny baby to give such a thing too. She was young, they were both still relatively young, but surly she was old enough to want that, if only on occasion. He wanted that occasionally. Sonic's lips curved upward in a slight smile, picturing her standing there, holding that once loved toy, her middle swollen and round with life. He wondered if she would take to wearing some sort of dress or whether she would simply continue to wear only her vest and boots. He was so engrossed with his daydream he didn't notice the slight shift of the ruble beneath his paws. Suddenly the slight shift became a rolling migration, the entire pile either falling in on itself or tumbling to the street below.
"Sonic!" Sally shouted, tossing the stuffed animal aside and attempting to dash down the moving mountain. Somehow she remained upright until the last few feet. She tumbled, but landed with nothing more than a skinned knee and an aching shoulder. In a heartbeat she was up, assessing the situation. She had expected Sonic to be somewhere nearby, but he wasn't. Panic grasped painfully at her heart, but she forced it down into the pit of her stomach.
"Sal!" She heard him call from somewhere on the other side of the now crumpled pile and she rushed toward his voice, again expecting him to be standing unharmed on the other side. He was not. Sally found him, his right leg buried in ruble from the knee down. She crouched down, quickly, but carefully removing the items that had pinned his leg. After a few minutes which felt like hours Sally was able to free the hedgehog. Blood ran in rivets down his leg, sticking in tacky clumps to the blue fur there. Sally inspected him in grim silence, jerking off her vest to wrap around his leg.
"It's a deep gash, but if we can get the bleeding under control and get back to Knothole you should be fine." She grasped his shoulder firmly and pulled trying to help him up. Sonic cried out in pain and she set him back down.
"Ankle's broke." He ground out, tears glistening in the corners of his eyes. Sally gently removed his shoe, then his sock so she could better see. His ankle was indeed broken. More than broken from the look of it. Shattered would probably be a better description. Bone jutted out from multiple angles and his paw hung limply, completely useless.
"Gods." Sally whispered, then cleared her throat, smiling slightly. "Okay. It's going to be okay. We'll find something to use as a splint. I'll . . . I'll find something for you to put your weight on. It'll be slow going but we should be able to make it home." Before the last word had passed her lips the sound of sirens could be heard drawing closer.
"Swatbots. Ya gotta go Sal."
"No, I won't leave you."
"Ya got no choice. Go."
"There's always a choice." Sally stood, looking frantically around for something to defend herself with, but there was nothing of real use. "Where's your pack Sonic?" She asked thinking desperately of the power ring within. She didn't know if it would honestly help considering the extent of his injuries, but it was worth trying.
"It slipped off when I fell." The warbling sound was closer now and Sonic reach out, shoving her forcefully. "Get outta here Sally!"
"No."
"Stop bein' stubborn! You're the one that made the rules, 'member? If a team mate is beyond help ya have no choice but ta leave them!"
"You aren't beyond help!"
"I am! I can't get away Sal. You can. Please . . . please go. Please."
"I . . . I can't. I . . . I just . . ." She made a desperate, pained sound. "You wouldn't leave me. I know you wouldn't. You'd stay . . . even if it meant you . . . that we both . . ."
"Yeah, but I'm the dumb one Sal."
"That isn't dumb, that's devoted."
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. You're too important. Ya have ta . . . ya . . . you're Princess Sally. Your story ain't supposed ta end! Ya live happily ever after. Ya live!"
"This isn't a story Sonic and I can't have my happy ending without you. I don't . . . I don't even know who I am without you." She dropped to her knees, hugging him carefully to her chest. "You're part of me. The only constant that's ever existed in my life. I can't loose half of myself and function. I'll just bleed to death . . . my soul will slowly, painfully die."
"I think ya need ta see a shrink." He told her softly, wrapping his arms around her, resigning himself to the harsh fact that he could not escape the now visible Swatbots and that she had no intention of leaving him to face them alone. Sally chuckled softly, the sound pained more than anything else and nodded, the fur on her cheek tickling against his own. Together they waited as the Swatbot's marched to the place they sat, huddled together. An instant later they were pulled from each other's arms and carried toward the looming shadow of Robotnik's stronghold.
For a long minute Robotink said nothing, his tiny red eyes simply staring intently at the pair before him. The Princess was glaring at him, her eyes hard, her lips pulled into a snarl. The Rodent leaned on her pathetically, one large paw dangling limply in the air. It seemed to have taken a lot out of him, just getting up off the cold metal floor where the Swatbots had dropped him. Too bad he hadn't just stayed there, cowering on the ground like the beaten animal he was.
"I do love company." He said at last, his voice loud and full of cruel mirth. "A Princess and her hero, no less . . . a day to remember." He smiled, his teeth large and blocky. "I'm sorry I'm all out of crumpets and tea, but I do have a warm robotisizer waiting for you." He waited, expecting some snappy comeback from one of them, but they remained silent almost as if they didn't hear him at all. They seemed only interested in each other. The Princess had turned her cold eyes away from him to focus on Sonic, her hand brushing lightly over his forehead before moving upward to slide over the quills that sat atop his head. Funny, Robotnik had been under the impression the spiky protrusions were always sharp. Annoyance buzzed within him and he frowned. He hadn't expected begging, not from these two, but he wanted pitiful declarations of revenge. He wanted witty, rude comments. He wanted their attention. "I am feeling rather generous today." He told them, his voice booming. "I'll let you choose who goes first." Finally they looked at him, but it was a brief glance. They looked at each other again and the hedgehog whispered something he couldn't quite hear.
"I'm first 'Buttnik." The Rodent said after a moment, his face hard and completely void of any readable emotion.
"Ah a brave hero to the very end I see. You're only saving her from the same fate for the briefest of moments."
"Yeah, whatever." Sonic snorted and turned away again, not willing to waste valuable time focusing on the dictator. He looked to Sally again and smiled sadly. She returned the gesture and he leaned against her more heavily, pressing his muzzle against the side of her face. "Thank you." He breathed softly. Robotnik had it completely wrong. Sonic volunteering to go first was far from a selfless act. He could not stand the idea of having to watch Sally's pain, of watching her transform from the warm, soft being he had known his entire life to a cold, lifeless machine.
"I'll even give you a moment to say goodbye." The bald man said with a tone that was full of mockery. He leaned forward, wanting to see every pained tear, every choked declaration of devotion and love. Sonic shifted slightly in Sally's arms so they were face to face, their noses nearly touching. Sally's eyes locked with his own and her mouth opened, then closed again. There had been thoughts of this before in Sally's mind. She liked to plan for the worst and felt a certain comfort in knowing what she would do, what she would say if such situations should ever take place. She had imagined herself going into some long, mournful monologue. She had pictured teary promises and wept words of love. None of that happened. None of that fit with the emotion of the real moment. There was nothing to say. Nothing that could be said. Words did not exist to encompass what passed between them as they gazed into each others eyes.
"Sonic." She whispered, remember the first time she had christened him with the name, remembering every time since that day she had spoken it. She had said it in moments of frustration, in fits of anger, in whispers of love, and in shouts of passion. It could and did mean everything she could ever feel in her heart for him.
"Sal." A reply with far more weight than a single syllable had ever had before. It was paragraphs, a volume of books all crammed into one breathe. She nodded slightly to show that she knew, that she had heard all he had to say wrapped within his name for her.
"How pathetic!" Robotnik crowed, clearly disappointed. "Have you nothing to say? Do you think so little of each other?" He made a disgusted sound and waved a hand toward them. "Take him." Sally could hear the harsh metal clank of approaching feet and felt the feather light brush of Sonic's lips against her's before he was lifted up and away, tossed with no concern for his injuries into the glass cylinder. She saw him wince in pain, but he pulled himself into a semi-standing position, leaning against the glass enclosure. Robotnik chuckled and flipped the switch that prepared the machine for use. A low humming filled the room and he laughed louder still. "I do hope he cries out." The glass itself was of course sound proof, but he had installed a microphone within the mechanics at the top of the technological marvel. He liked to hear their screams.
"He won't." Sally replied, not look at him, her eyes holding Sonic's from across the room.
"The process is quiet painful. Or didn't the rabbit freak tell you?" Bunnie had told Sally of the pain she had felt and had described it as a 'surprising' kind of pain.
"He won't." She repeated with certainty.
"We shall see, won't we?" He leaned forward, pressing the large red button. The hum changed in pitch, the chamber beginning to pulse with light. Sonic's eyes opened wide and his jaw clinched, but his lips stayed firmly together as the process began. Sally focused on nothing but the two green orbs staring back out at her. She did not glance down to see what she already knew was happening. She did not look away to reply to the horrible, evil teasing of the man beside her. She held Sonic's gaze till the very last moment, till his lips moved in a silent request to look away. Her eyes closed then, tears burning the insides of her lids. The sounds ended and still her eyes remained closed. She didn't want to see him, didn't want for even a moment to have to remember him that way. Robotnik was laughing hysterically, like he had heard the funniest punch line to the funniest joke ever written. He was gasping for air, choking on his joy. It made Sally feel sick. "Don't you want to see my latest creation Princess? Don't you want to see your hero now? Perhaps say that goodbye you were so reluctant to indulge in earlier?" Her eyes remained closed and she didn't reply. "Your turn M'lady." He said, his chuckling drying up now. Sally felt metal fingers, smaller than a Swatbot's brush her arm. Her fur bristled at the knowledge of who it was and she pulled away quickly, opening her eyes just enough to see the floor before her.
"I'll walk." She replied, moving forward and into the open tube before Robotnik could even reply. Her eyes closed again.
"Have it your way." He replied as if her complacency pleased him. She knew different. She knew he had wanted to see the former Sonic drag her kicking and scream and begging that he remember her to the chamber. The humming began again, louder now that she was the one inside the tube. Her eyes remained closed, happier moments from her life playing against her closed lids. She was glad she'd had a chance to kiss Tails goodbye and she pictured the man he would grow into. She promised herself that even if she wasn't there to see him grow up she would see him again. She knew the others wouldn't give up. In her absence she was certain Bunnie would lead them on and there would one day be victory. She would be in this tube again some day and her eyes would open again to see those she loved. The pain began and it was rather 'surprising' despite the fact she had been expecting it. Her eyes snapped open, but thankfully her vision was too blurry to see anything beyond her tiny glass prison.