NOTE: This is the final chapter of Broken Glass. If you have skipped here to find out what happens at the end, don't. Read the story, it's worth it.

Sonic awoke to a loud beeping. It sounded like a heart rate monitor, but much louder. Sonic felt a vibration in his ears each time he heard the beeping, and tried to touch his ears before realizing he couldn't feel one of his hands. And, looking down at the hand in question, he realized why.

It was Metal Sonic's hand.

Sonic swallowed a scream as Tails came in the room. "Tails! Buddy! What happened to me?" Tails sighed and sat down next to Sonic's hospital bed. "You were in a very bad state. Dying, as a matter of fact. You wouldn't be alive right now had Metal Sonic not offered to help cybernate parts of your body." Sonic looked down at himself, realizing there were other parts of Metal Sonic's body where his left leg and part of his chest were before. "I look awful. Couldn't you have just replaced my whole torso?" Tails shook his head and gave Sonic an anesthetic before continuing.

"Now, I know your sneakers support a lot of your speed, but you are missing a leg. That- that might create some complications." Sonic gritted his teeth and tried to stand up. "Tails, we can worry about this later, if this body doesn't kill me first. Right now I have to stop Deadlock from playing God and finish the job." Tails begrudgingly nodded in agreement.

"About that. I've tracked Deadlock re-entering the atmosphere- yes really, he's coming down from the sky- and I think I've found a way to stop him. While my dad was working on- well, saving your life, I was putting the finishing touches on a little project of mine. It's an attack plane armed with weaponry from a previous timeline." Sonic raised his good hand. "If it's from a previous timeline, then how do you have it?" "Well, that's the thing, Sonic. I don't have it much longer." Tails said as he helped Sonic to stand up. "If Deadlock reaches the ground, then the weaponry will disappear from history. You need to use it to finish the job before that happens." Sonic gave a sharp nod. "Where is this plane?"

Tails motioned to the hospital exit. "I left it right outside."

With that, Sonic was gone in a flash.

Sonic flew the plane as fast as he could until he saw Deadlock falling in the distance. He slowed down, ready to fire. Tapping his comm, he called Tails. "Which one of these do I use?"

"All of them, Sonic! All of them!"

Sonic pulled every lever and pressed every button he could as a torrent of fire escaped the plane- there was no torrent of fire. There was no halt in Deadlock's course.

The weapons didn't work.

"Tails, the weapons aren't working! I'm going to need to fly the plane into Deadlock! It's the only way to end this once and for all!"

"Sonic, no! You can't do that! There's so many people here who care about and love you! Think about it, Sonic! Amy might even die out of depression!"

Sonic chuckled softly to himself. "Tails, that won't happen. Amy's strong, Tails. Just like you. Just like all of you."

For the most part, I'm not one to soundtrack this story, so to speak. But I highly encourage you to play "Cold" by Jorge Mendez. It will greatly improve this part of the story. So, if it's not too much trouble, flip that up, start playing it and come back here while it's going.

Sonic didn't know it, but the video feed was being broadcast by Tails all over Mobius. They could all hear what he was saying. "Sonic, you're live." Tails said to him. Sonic started speaking again.

"You've all been the best friends I could ever ask for. The very best." Sonic felt tears welling up in his eyes. "And- and I won't let you down. I- I want you to know, I-" Sonic broke down into tears. "I want you to know that your hero will always be there for you. Even when I'm not around, I want you to know you'll always be safe. This, everything that's happened, it's opened my eyes. It's shown me so much, it's taught me amazing things.

Tails, can you hear me, buddy? Good. Because I need you to be their hero. I need you to be the next Sonic.

And Knuckles, we may have not agreed on anything, but you were great, man. You were always great.

Amy, I know you're listening. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I left on this mission, met Judy, got lost in what I thought was right. But now I know that the answer was always right in front of me. There is no Sonic the Hedgehog without an Amy Rose. I- I- I love you, Amy.

And Shadow, I know what you're thinking. But don't do it. Don't change the timeline. I want you to know that this is the way things have to be. Sometimes, Shadow, time wants to happen. That's just the way life works.

I know there are some people out there who don't like me. I know. And that's okay. But I want you to know that I still stood up for you. And, when I'm gone, I want you to know that I'd still be your hero. I'm going to be your hero right now. Okay? I'm going to save you. It's going to be alright. Mobius will go on. Your lives will go on. You are all heroes. And you don't need to save the world to prove that. You are all amazing and talented. Even the worst of us can change. We can all be heroes. For some heroes, the answer is a long life. And for some of us, it isn't. Sometimes, we're defeated. And we don't get back up. But other times, we die for what's right. For the cause. So others might live. I don't have much time now. And to those who still refuse to stand by me, I will still be your hero. Goodbye."

There was an explosion above Mobius that day. Now, the Mobians had seen explosions before. Many times. But as the debris fell from the wreck, as Deadlock's destroyed armor fell to the ground, so did tears fall all around the world. Even Shadow buried his face in his hands. Mons watched with wide-eyed shock from the screen as he remembered that that was the hedgehog who had come so far just to clear his name. And he too shed a tear. Amber as well.

And just as Judy finally reached Mobius, she, too, saw the headline.

Deadlock was gone. But so was Sonic the Hedgehog.

I know that there were probably a good amount of you who were expecting a happy ending. But that wasn't ever in the plans. At the end of the day, Broken Glass is a war story of sorts. And it's not supposed to have some unrealistic ending where everyone makes it out unscathed.

I can still write a sequel, if you all really want it. But now I want to hear from you. Do you want a sequel to this? I'm talking to you reading this right now. Please, leave a review saying if you want a sequel to this or not. You don't even need an account.

I hope you enjoyed the story,

-Chimi