46 - We Didn't Have A Choice
Shadow tapped his fingers against his elbow as his arms were crossed, his legs also in a pretzel while sitting with impatience. He sat on some upside down small set of steps nearby while Maria just floated beside him with a worried expression. Though, she seemed more puzzled than worried at this point, and Shadow couldn't blame her. This whole Scourge shit has been one rabbit hole to the next, a huge convoluted mess that he struggled to comprehend with even the smallest detail. Any new discovery or clue that helped unravel the psychopathic green hedgehog's motives, only brought tons more headaches and frustration. Right now, the ultimate life form was slowly piecing together every single thing he had just heard from the strange spirit who claimed to be the true anti-Sonic.
"Hold on, just," He held up his hand to the spirit with aggravation. "Let me get some of this straight, alright?" He ordered. The spirit frowned with lowered green eyes and rubbed his forearm while nodding. Shadow cleared his throat. "Originally, Scourge, otherwise known as Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog, was born a blue furred, green eyed hedgehog. Due to his mutation, he caused his entire matrix to fall into disarray. The aftermath of the mutation was so detrimental, that it split him into two halves. One half being his soul, which is supposed to be you, and the other half is his actual body which holds his heart. The living husk, which is the one causing havoc now." He sighed heavily and gripped the side of his head. "Did I get all that right?"
The spirit nodded his head quickly, and his lips started to move. "Yes, that's all correct. I am his soul, and the one walking around in the flesh is the husk with the heart." He stuffed his hands in his hoodie pockets while looking downwards at the floor. "He-No, we, planned to separate ourselves. We knew the Master Emerald would cause a horrible side effect that could potentially split us up. At least, according to our calculations."
Shadow narrowed his eyes. "But why? Why do that? And you described the pain to be unbearable, so why do it? Why was that apart of your plan?"
"Scourge wanted to reverse his whole," The spirit made an awkward expression and gulped. "Estrous cycle."
Estrous cycle? Wait, was he talking about being in heat? "Heat? I don't understand, why reverse that?"
He kicked his converse sneakers back and forth. "It's long to explain, so I'll summarize." The spirit offered. "With every reality, the heat cycle for the Chaos Born ruling over that realm differs drastically. For Sonic prime, it's similar to regular Mobians. You all emit a stench that makes you all, well...Horny. But for me, for us," He winced with a pain Shadow recognized. He was opening old wounds, and he looked as if he was going to be sick. "I-It, it makes us very weak. We become unhealthily low on energy, and we wouldn't be able to regain any strength until we've satisfied ourselves. And not only that, but the stench you Mobians give off, is one hundred times that for us in this world. It's rancid, and it turns even the most stubborn mate fall to our every whim. And sometimes, they can get forceful, or violent."
That sounded seriously unfair, so he could see why Scourge hated having said heat cycle, and it would also explain why he was a sexual deviant. He didn't have a choice: Either be very sexually active to beat your heat cycle, or suffer. But that still didn't answer why he reversed the effects. "Okay, but that still doesn't explain why he did it. And if he reversed the effects of being in heat, how does that work out for him now?"
"You see, all Chaos Born, no matter the reality, are all supposed to lose their virginity at a specific time. This is because the Divine ones want our bodies to be ready to reproduce so we can eventually repopulate. For us, we waited too long to have our first time taken away. If you don't lose your chastity at the right time, you get warned by the Divine ones. We ignored that warning, and our heat was soon forced on us. We were in jail at the time, No Zone prison in the asylum. Actually," He paused for a second before looking up at Shadow. "You do remember the flashback Scourge showed you, right? Of Zonic?"
"Every Chaos Born has a due date to discard their chastity, but he's long passed due. If he doesn't go through with mating, he will be forced into his own estrous cycle, and he will suffer for it."
Shit that's right, they did see that in Zonic's flashback. "Yes, I remember." Shadow nodded with a softer tone. "The Divine Spirits don't have control over your heat cycle and how it works, so it forced itself upon you on it's own when you didn't lose your maidenhood at a give amount of time." Shadow noticed while he said this, that while the Divine Spirits didn't have control of their heat cycle, they still probably had the power to change it though. What gives? "You were forced to lose it at a young age, and in a disturbing way." He grimaced at the very mention of it.
"Well, that's why Scourge wanted to reverse the effects, so it wouldn't mess him up while he went through with his plan. But, when he reversed the effects, something bad happened that we couldn't predict. W-We, made a terrible mistake."
His sudden silence caused Shadow to flinch, and he immediately stopped tapping his fingers.
Oh shit.
Opposites. The opposite happened to Scourge after the mutation. "Wait, if he reversed the effects..." The biohog whispered. "That means, if his heat couldn't effect other people anymore, it would effect himself?"
The spirit nodded. "I'm afraid so. So instead of Moebians flocking to us like cattle, it turned Scourge that way. We truly made ourselves a complete opposite."
"And that's why he's so sex-crazed." He whispered back, uttering the true reason why he was a sexual deviant. "Why he's so hellbent on raping Sonic, why he thinks rape is the only way to love someone. Because that's what his heat made others think, and now he reversed that instinct onto himself." He stood up from the upside down stair case and jumped down to land on the floor while pacing. "So in theory, let's say Scourge already had a small crush on Sonic. When he reversed the effects of his heat onto himself, that small crush turned into an obsessive and abusive infatuation." He turned to the spirit. "Am I right?"
The spirit of the true anti-Sonic nodded. "Yup, that's it."
"Which also means," Shadow took a step back when he realized the point the spirit was making. "Scourge was never in love with Sonic, at least not to such an insane extent. He never wanted to hurt him, not like that." He turned to the spirit. "Is, is that true? This whole time, he's only hurting Sonic like that because of something he can't control? Because of something he accidentally placed on himself?"
The spirit nodded once more. "Yes. We like Sonic, sure. He's a good guy." The blue hedgehog spirit nodded. "We certainly respected him before we split in two. But that respect and likeness, it turned into something horrible." The spirit looked at Shadow with desperation. "But that's not all! It's not just the mutation that screwed us up. Thanks to the demon, he's been corrupting our minds, turning us even more mad as time goes."
Shadow hated to admit it, but he believed that. When he first met Scourge, he didn't think the kid was batshit insane, just aggressive and very cocky. He could remember debating with Sonic whether or not Scourge was actually a truly psychotic threat, and Shadow didn't think so at all. Scourge just, didn't come across like that. He never seemed that bad because the stakes never went that high, and he didn't act so nasty back then. But in No Zone? He went from zero to one million at the word 'go' in an instant. That whole scene at the spa, him ramming his head into the walls when Shadow fought Dark Sonic? It was all just getting worse and worse. Hell, he never acted that wild even when he tortured Sonic at the beginning. Scourge had already been crazy, but he still had his wits about him.
But now with this demon, it threw all of that out of the window.
Shadow blinked at the information. Huh. "So then," He slowly said. "That explains why he's so obsessed with Sonic, but what about you? You say you're his half, but if that's true, why are you a spirit?"
"Because the soul of a Chaos Born is strong enough to roam around as a spirit. And I'm not the only one. In this castle, the dead live here. It's haunted. That's why you can see your pretty human friend over there." He pointed to Maria in the back, who awkwardly smiled and waved at him. With a nervous smile, the true anti-Sonic waved back.
Woah, woah and woah. Haunted? First magic from kitsunes and now ghosts and spirits were real? While he was absolutely elated that Maria could be around him even after death, Shadow couldn't help but question how in the world any of this was even possible. Okay, sure, yes. Chaos power was a thing, and yes, deities were real and intervening. But, really? Ghosts? What else was there? A universe filled with nothing but female versions of themselves-? Oh.
Oh God, no wait, never mind.
"How?" Was all Shadow responded with. "How the hell is this place haunted? What's next? Is the world to Wonderland gonna pop up in front of me, too?" He asked sarcastically while rubbing his fingers against his head. He was growing a damn headache.
The blue hedgehog spirit sighed. "Chaos is a very powerful thing. It can be so powerful, so overwhelming, that it can warp and manipulate the very fabric of the world easily. It's why you can time travel, teleport, cause mutations, destroy planets and worse." He looked down to the floor as he continued to rub his arm nervously. "This is where Scourge's Chaotic Shrine is located, in this castle. A shrine has an overwhelming amount of chaos energy. That reaction alone is what's enabling us to haunt this place. But the demon is making it worse. His corrupted power is what's causing the entire castle to look like this."
That would explain the nearly impenetrable barrier that was placed onto the front doors of the castle. It had that nasty looking scarlet red aura on it, and the inside of the noble building had it, too.
Okay, let's do a small summation one more time. Scourge's Chaotic Shrine, whatever that was, was located in this castle somewhere. Thanks to that, a huge amount of chaos power was flowing through here. So much so, that it enables spirits to roam around. This includes Scourge's other half, which is his soul, and Maria, whom are also roaming around here. This entire castle was haunted, meaning not only can Shadow see them, but he can see other entities that could be here, too.
Shadow blinked. "You and Maria, you two aren't the only spirits around?"
The true anti-Sonic shook his head. "No, we aren't. Anyone who's died here in this building, is more than likely a spirit just as well. I've seen many of my family members around here." He gave Shadow a cautious look. "You better be careful. A lot of my relatives became mad before they died, and they look grotesque."
"Hmph." Shadow wasn't phased by that. Nothing could stand in his way right now. He had to get to Sonic, no exceptions. "If that's the case, then you'll help me." He suddenly declared. Maria flinched and looked down at the red striped hedgehog with shock, as did the true anti-Sonic.
"W-What? Help you...?"
The true anti-Sonic, according to Zonic, was a fairly decent, young, intelligent man who was never an actual threat to anyone until he 'opened his eyes' to the Divine spirits' truth. He didn't really become the asshole they all knew and despised until after he was put in the asylum, meaning that this was the anti-Sonic before he was raped and enlightened to the truth of his own race. Shadow could only assume he was kinder, more compassionate, or at least more merciful. More meek, cowardly, and too passive. "Yes. This place is a labyrinth, and I need to find Sonic immediately. Your other half could be hurting him as we speak. We're wasting time. How long have you haunted this place?"
The spirit scratched behind his head. "Err, approximately...Two years? Granted, I still followed my other half around whenever he left the premises, but my origin is here."
"And you've already lived here for more than a decade before you slaughtered your people. Meaning, you know your way around here more than anyone." Shadow crossed his arms as he watched the spirit's mouth fall agape. "And since you've already encountered other spirits, you can warn me of their whereabouts as we go."
"A-Are you serious?"
Shadow grunted in exasperation. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
The spirit hung his head low while sighing. "This is bad. If I help you, and if my other half finds out that I'm helping you-"
"That's your problem." Shadow growled while stepping closer towards the spirit. "This is your fault. You're the one who started this mess to begin with anyway. Let me ask you this, do you at least feel guilty?"
With a pause, the spirit looked off to the side and lowered his empty iris-less gaze. "...Of course I do. I never wanted to hurt all those people, and I never wanted to hurt Sonic prime. I didn't want any of this to happen. I just-" He shook his head while frowning. "I just wanted to save them, and I wanted to save future generations of innocent people." He slowly rose his head to meet Shadow's gaze. "And I wanted to save Sonic for a change, too."
"By killing him, sure." Shadow deadpanned.
"Death was a better choice than playing in their hands!" The spirit suddenly exclaimed. He could confidently conclude that he was offended by that remark. "Once you get manipulated by them, it's too late! There's no turning back! Everything gets enslaved and you turn mad! Just like all of my family members! I didn't have a choice!" He gritted his teeth and gave Shadow a glare. "It's only a matter of time before Sonic becomes a complete puppet. I want to prevent that, and stop the Divine Spirits' reign of terror once and for all!"
Shadow wasn't sure if he could trust his words or not, but one thing was for certain and without question: The anti-Sonic, definitely respected and liked Sonic in some way shape or form before he turned crazy. And even though he was a nervous and cowardly wreck, he definitely had some vigor left inside of him. So this was the prince before he was arrested, huh? That strength in his voice definitely held the passion of a former noble leader.
It was a shame that there was one thing wrong with what he said, that infuriated Shadow to no end.
The biohog just barely felt Maria's soft hand place itself onto his shoulder. She was looking down at him with concern, as she wasn't sure to make of this new acquaintance either. She looked worried, but Shadow could tell she was worried about something else, too. She then looked upwards at the twisted and warped structures of the castle. Something was wrong, and she could sense it. She just couldn't put her finger on what.
Shadow took that into mind, before looking back at the true anti-Sonic. "I refuse to let your other half kill Sonic." He stated firmly. "You say you wanted to be heard before it was too late, but when did you even try? You created all of this havoc without even attempting at getting help from him. If you had just explained yourself from the beginning, instead of creating this manic catastrophe of violence and death, he may have stayed by your side and actually listened to what you had to say. You could have made him listen to you the first time you kidnapped him, but no. Your other half got too greedy, letting his creepy mindset get the better of him and kept him as some mindless sex-slave." The ultimate life form tightened his hands into fists. "Sonic is a lot of things, but a killer, he is not. He is a pacifist, with a heart of gold that's overwhelming with a putrid amount of compassion that I still to this day despise. He would have heard you out, he would have tried to understand you, because that's what he did for me!" He yelled while shoving his thumb against his own chest.
The spirit flinched at his tone, even floating backwards with a slightly frightened expression.
"I hurt people, I murdered innocent people with my own bare fucking hands!" He hollered, and he could sense that Maria was placing both of her hands on his shoulders to try and calm him down. But he couldn't, his emotions were running high right now. What the anti-Sonic just said was utter garbage and he refused to let him spout more ignorant nonsense. "I hurt him, more than once. I hurt his friends, I nearly killed my world's Dr. Robotnik. And I didn't just screw up once. I did multiple times, nearly destroying the world twice. And yet, he still fought with his last breath to knock some sense into me, to get me to stop." He gripped his own chest fur, clutching it as he felt his heart pound faster with his own anger. "He took the time to learn everything about me, to understand why I was such a monster. And once he finally got the entire story, which he didn't need to listen to, he still went out of his way to grab my arm and yank me out of the darkness that was pulling me back to my old ways."
The true anti-Sonic listened, but his face still held strong doubt.
Shadow just continued. "If Sonic could help someone as horrible and despicable as me, what makes you think he couldn't help you? You of all people! You're his anti-self! His blood, one of his brethren. You're more connected to him than I'll ever be, so why don't you fucking get it!?" Shadow shouted. "If you're so damn obsessed with him, why couldn't you get that through your thick ass head!?"
"Because it doesn't work like that." Was all The true anti-Sonic replied with.
Shadow narrowed his eyes angrily. "What did you just say?"
The spirit shook his head while shoving his hands back in his hoodie pockets. "Please, please believe me when I say we wanted so bad to ask for help." He said, his tone quiet and meek. "Actually, we always wanted to meet Sonic before all of this. We were, fans of his. My other half and I, we thought he was amazing. We knew about his work as a hero, and we thought with his heroism, he could help us lead our kingdom better. But," He grimaced at the floor sadly. "We weren't allowed. The Divine Spirits prevented me, before I was mutated, to go and find him. No other Sonic, not even Zonic, was allowed to see him during his early youth." He floated off to the side a bit. "After I escaped prison, we...Didn't know what we were doing. All those executions in No Zone Prison nearly destroyed our brain, it made us stupid." He said. Shadow remembered Scourge did mention that before. "We went out of control, we could barely remember what our purpose was. All we had was a vague idea of Sonic prime and the Divine Spirits. Before we knew it, we were hurting Sonic prime. Stealing his identities, forming our alliance to destroy him and his friends...It all became a huge garbled mess, until we got our intelligence back after we escaped prison the second time around. But by then, Sonic's trust in us went down the drain thanks to our stupidity."
The biohog still wasn't phased. Like he said before, Shadow screwed up many times and Sonic still lent out his hand to him in forgiveness.
What was his point here?
"And then, we realized something awful." The spirit said. "We realized that Sonic prime was the Divine Spirits' original, their number one. He's more precious to them than any other Sonic in any other reality. Meaning, they monitor him at all times." He looked back at Shadow. "They would have never allowed us to get near him and try to talk out our plan. We're usurpers, traitors to them. Why would they want their favorite pawn talking to a dangerous rebel? The last thing they want is for Sonic to turn on them, too. If we attempted doing things peacefully, they either would have had Zonic arrest us again, or they would have killed us on the spot themselves. That's why we went out of our way to sabotage as much of Sonic prime's world as we could. We had to do things like this, through force, or they would have neutralized us a long time ago. Why they never just killed us themselves before all this, we don't know for sure. We have theories, but nothing concrete. Regardless, us creating havoc is what kept them at bay." He just sighed again. "Anyway, I'm not saying what we did was justified, but that's why we couldn't ask for help in a better way. But," He stared at Shadow with a particular glare. "Right now, my other half is asking for Sonic's help. Right now, right as we speak."
Shadow didn't like the sound of that, but he didn't have a choice but to take the spirit's word for it. If Scourge was only talking with Sonic, he could only hope that truly was all he was doing with him. He hoped even more nothing else would happen. "Is that truly all he's doing?"
The spirit nodded without hesitation. "Yes. In fact, him injecting Hyper with Fleetway's energy is the only reason why he's able to have a controversial conversation with him right now. He would have tried to stop him otherwise."
The biohog scowled. "Frankly, I don't care what your convictions are, I don't care about your reasoning for your actions anymore, and I don't care about either you or your other half." He said coldly. "I just want to find Sonic, and damn it, you will help me."
The spirit shook his head instantly. "But you'll ruin our plans. You'll ruin everything! We need to defeat the Divine Spirits-"
"I will help you defeat the Divine Spirits." Shadow stated, making Maria glance down at him in shock. "It doesn't take a genius to realize they're nothing but trouble if they've caused you and many others to go through hell. If a similar fate awaits Sonic, I have no problem with helping you defeat them with guns blazing, but not by murdering him." He said. "I love him, and the last thing I'm going to do is harm a strand of fur on his head. I will find an alternative method, even if it kills me instead. But until then, we find and save Sonic." He instructed forcefully. "Understand?"
Making an unsure frown, the blue eyeless transparent hedgehog fidgeted around. Then, he briefly looked up at the tall transparent human girl standing beside Shadow. She looked concerned, but also persistent. She was staring at the true anti-Sonic with a sense of desperation. She knew Shadow needed all the help he could get right now, and he could feel that she too wanted to save Sonic prime. Honestly, neither Scourge nor the true anti-Sonic actually wanted to kill Sonic, they just needed to. But if they could find an alternative and more merciful way, perhaps going against his other half could do some good instead of bad.
Finally, the spirit and soul of Scourge the hedgehog nodded his head.
"Fine. I'll guide you through the castle, and I'll help you find my other half."
"So that's everything." Scourge said.
When Scourge went into Sonic's room earlier to retrieve him, he took him to a very spacious and circular room with a single piano inside of it. There were tall and large windows in the back, with curtains drawn to keep out any light that could beam in. When Scourge took Sonic there, he didn't walk him there. He chaos controlled them there. Sonic assumed that Scourge didn't want him to observe or memorize the layout of the castle, or have any chance for him to escape from him side. This means that Sonic still doesn't even know what the outside of that room looks like. He didn't see the halls or any other part of the castle yet. Sure he's already been here before, but something told him that the appearance of the castle altered severely since the last time he's been here.
Before he knew it, he was taken to this lonely, dark and empty room with a piano sitting in the middle of it. Scourge was currently sitting on a cushioned piano bench in front of the large instrument, staring at Sonic with an unreadable expression. The blue hero stood in front of him, listening to him speak. Scourge had told him a bunch of information that explained why he did the things that he did.
Needless to say, it shocked him.
Scourge had told Sonic that he initially planned to mutate himself with the Master Emerald in order to disrupt his...Heat cycle, so that he would no longer be bothered with the process. Just in case it got in the way of his plans. Unfortunately, a seriously bad side effect was the consequence of doing this, something that not even he could predict. Scourge had reversed the effects of his heat cycle onto himself, which was why he was so obsessed with Sonic. Not only that, but because Scourge's shrine was located somewhere in this castle, huge waves of chaos energy was flowing throughout the building. Apparently, Chaos Born were able to stick around after death, and their spirits wander if there was enough chaos energy around.
So basically, anyone who's ever died in this castle more than likely was still walking around with their spirit intact. This damn castle was haunted. But oh no, it gets even more complicated. When Scourge had mutated himself, he separated his soul from his body. Meaning, his spirit was wandering around the castle as well. Also, Scourge could never ask for help or tell Sonic about the Divine Spirits before any of this happened. He explained that the divine ones would have did everything in their power to keep a rebel like him away from Sonic, and that they even would have used Zonic to keep him away if need be. Not only that, but when Scourge had all those failed executions attempts, it brutally damaged his brain. It made his default emotions anger, malevolence and mania, which is why he caused so much havoc with him the first time they met. Which was another reason why he needed to get mutated from the Master Emerald, so it could permanently heal this damage to get his smarts back.
This whole time, Scourge never actually wanted to hurt him like this. He was never in love with him, never genuinely obsessed with him. Everything he did, was all out of his control. The first time they met and fought, him stealing his identity, him stealing his girlfriend, hurting his friend, nearly killing him, kidnapping him, etcetera. Everything, wasn't directly his fault. He could never think straight, because his brain was too far gone from everything he had been through.
But...
None of that excused his actions now.
Scourge still committed mass genocide, twice, now three times in his entire life. He still got Sonic's friends hurt, he still destroyed his world and No Zone, he still put Zonic in a permanent state of insanity, he still kidnapped Sonic twice, and kept him hostage. He still did terrible things even after the fact, so why should he feel sorry for him now? The only thing Sonic could maybe forgive, is the fact that he never wanted to sexually harm him at all. But that was if Sonic believed any of this madness coming from his mouth.
Speaking of which, Scourge slowly glanced at Sonic and said: "Do you, believe me?"
Sonic frowned deeply, his eyes lowering and shifting towards the floor as he thought about everything he was told. That other half of him that was haunting this place, was that why Zonic was saying all those weird things back at HQ in No Zone? Was that spirit the very thing Zonic was hallucinating about?
"Ahahaha...Ahahahahaaaa..." There was a permanent smile on his face. "He's there...He's always there...Standing behind you...Hahaha...Ogilvie...You should say hello! Hahaha!"
"He even told me during his scanning that, he kept seeing things that aren't there. He saw someone who he claimed looked like himself, but he said it wasn't Sonic prime. He also said he saw someone else who looked like the anti-Sonic when he was originally blue."
No...
That was no hallucination, Zonic was actually seeing Scourge's spirit the whole time. But, how? If this castle was a place where the dead roamed, Sonic could understand why he could see the spirit now, but all the way in No Zone? How could Zonic of all people see a spirit then and there? And did he say he saw two people, not just Scourge's other half? Was that other person the hallucination, or was that real too?
After licking his now dry lips, Sonic asked Scourge a question instead of answering the previous one. "That other half of yours, does it follow you?"
Scourge nodded. "Yup. Since it's my soul, he follows me, the husk, everywhere I go. Watching me," He scowled. "Judging me..."
If it followed Scourge, that would explain why Zonic could see it all the way in No Zone. Sonic still didn't know what to make of this, though. As the hero contemplated all of this information, he saw Scourge graze his finger tips against the piano keys. Then, he began to tap a few black and white keys. Sonic didn't know how to play the piano, he only knew how to play the guitar. He could only assume Scourge knew how to not only play the piano, but other instruments as well. He began playing a small melody that Sonic swore he heard somewhere before.
As he began to play the piano, Scourge briefly glanced at Sonic before looking back at the keys. He didn't even have any notes held up, he was just playing freehanded. "I'm gonna be honest with ya for a sec," He said while raising his voice a bit so Sonic could hear him over the music. "I just want you to be happy. Ya know, before everything goes down." Sonic could tell the song that he was playing had a slow beat, and it sounded a little sad. "I am sorry for hurting you so much in the past. I did a lot of fucked up shit to you," He said in a gentle tone while pushing more keys. "I mind controlled you several times, making you touch me, letting me touch you. I beat you up, I hurt your boyfriend, I hurt Zonic, someone you look up to. I made you see some real fucked up things-"
"Yeah, you did." Sonic retorted with a rougher tone. "You think that apology is gonna fix how I feel about you?" He asked rhetorically. "I hate you, I freakin' despise you." He spat, his fists lightly shaking by his sides and tightly gripped. "You ruined my life, and many others. You destroyed my world."
Scourge sighed and ceased playing. He completely turned around to face Sonic with a blank expression. No sneer, no smarminess in his voice at all. "I know you do, and you should. Heck, that's why I never wanted anyone to know my past. I dunno about you," He stood up from the seat and began pacing around the piano. "But I like villains who don't have a backstory. Gives you an excuse to hate them, rightfully so. There's no sympathy card to be played." He placed his hands behind his back. "While I'd love nothing more than for you to love me, or at the very least respect me, I think it's better if you did hate me. Because you wouldn't be a good person if you didn't. Well, you wouldn't be in my eyes, anyway." He shook his head, as he started to sound like he was talking to himself. "No one should forgive bad people for unforgivable things like that. I never wanted you to feel like you had to take pity on me just because I went through some tough shit, I just didn't want ya to believe in Zonic all that much. At the end of the day, he's an enabler too."
"None of that shit was his fault!"
"And you're right." Scourge replied while turning his head towards him. "It's not entirely his fault, no. It's the Divine Spirits'." He rose his hand to point at him. "The evil bastards you keep inside of your body."
Sonic stiffened his posture, before scowling and looking away. "Don't point the finger at me, I didn't have control over what they did."
Scourge shook his head. "Didn't say ya did. I'm just saying you need to realize why I'm doing all of this. Blue," He cleared his throat and corrected himself. "Sorry. Sonic," He addressed with respect and sincerity, making Sonic raise his head and look his way. "I am asking you, as nicely and humanely as I possibly can before my personality alters again," His face grew serious, and he walked around from the piano to move closer to Sonic. The hero took a few steps backwards as a reflex, and Scourge stopped to hold his hand out to him. "Please. Listen to me, and help me stop them."
The blue hedgehog's frown deepened. "I don't know how to stop them, they're a part of me."
His anti-self nodded. "I am aware. That's why I'm hurting you so much, because you need to die."
Knee-jerk reaction? Sonic was obviously appalled and offended. "D...Die?" He repeated while blinking. "Are you kidding me right now? I don't want to die!"
"I know, but you're a hero. You need to make this sacrifice. You and I together, all we have to do is have a huge epic battle that'll cause a supernova. They'll cease to exist, other Chaos Born in other realities will soon die off. Then, I kill you, and I kill myself." He started to smile a little. "We could save the entire multiverse, then we can both be heroes. I'll finally be able to stand by you as a martyr, a true hero to everyone." His smile widened, and he started to pace around again while talking as if he was speaking to no one but himself. "Yeah, I'll finally be like you...I'll finally be what I always dreamed of being...A good person, who saves people, who can make people smile and be happy..." He turned back to Sonic, his expression changing drastically. A demented and twisted grin was plastered onto his face, his fangs in clear view with his now bulging and shrunken eyes glimmering with a false hope of malicious heroism. "Doesn't that sound great!?" He asked with a ghastly excited voice. "We'll both be heroes! We'll save everyone, together! How fun could that be!?"
Sonic's eye began to twitch as he started to back away even more and more, as slowly and carefully as possible. This guy was fucking insane, there was absolutely no sense in talking to him. He just switched his entire demeanor like a flip of a coin. "..." He couldn't even say anything, he was too disturbed.
Scourge walked closer towards him. "Ah? Where are you going? Didn't you hear me? We'll be heroes together! Isn't that nice? Wouldn't you like that? I can finally be a good guy!" Drool was falling from his lips. "That's why I wanna make your final days here extra happy and special, because it'll be your last hours alive. I wanna make you smile before that happens, and I want you to die without any regrets like me!"
Sonic ended up backing himself against a wall, his ears flattening as he could feel the full force of Scourge's madness looming upon him with his stretching shadow.
The green one grasped his prime self's wrists, holding them in his hands affectionately. "I'll bring you gourmet meals everyday, and I'll even let you run outside! You'll still be cuffed to me as a safety measure, but you'll still be able to run as free as the wind!" He said with glee. "I'm just as if not smarter than Tails, so I could make whacky inventions all day to make you feel nostalgia if you start feeling homesick." The red veins in his eyes were black-looking, just like his blood. And they were pulsing on his eyeballs. "If you start missing Stripes, I can make myself look like him. I'm really good at impressions! I'm good as roleplaying as Zonic too, I promise! You'll want for nothing, you'll be so happy!"
"..." The hero's peach lips quivered a bit, as they wanted to speak. "...You're, only saying that," He started off quietly. "You're only saying that, because of your mutation," He said cautiously. "Right?"
Scourge froze. "...Huh?"
Sonic furrowed his brows. "That's the mutation's heat cycle effecting you, it's making you talk like that. Isn't it? You just warned me that your personality would change soon. Was this what you meant?"
Suddenly, the green hedgehog let go of Sonic's hands and wiped his saliva dripping mouth with the back of his sleeve. He turned his back towards him, before heading off back to the piano bench. He slowly sat down, placing his arms between his legs with his hands folded. "Yeah," Scourge mumbled. "You're right, sorry. I," He placed his fingers onto the keys, lowering his head with a more mundane expression. "I acted out again." He murmured as he began playing that song again. Now he was acting as if nothing happened just now. "This song is called Claire De Lune, by the way." He said.
The hero slid down onto the floor, landing on his bottom as he placed a hand over his head. A puddle of Scourge's drool was sitting right in front of him. He was trapped in this room with a lunatic, he really needed to get the hell out of here. But how?
"Sonic," Scourge suddenly said to him. "You do realize that you're going to end up like me one day," He paused. "Right?"
Sonic blinked. "...What?"
"You'll turn mad like me, eventually." He said while pushing more keys, a beautiful and melancholy melody echoing throughout the room once more. "That happens to all Chaos Born, it's all in their plans. We all become tyrants so we can rule over our respective realities accordingly. I almost became a tyrant to my people, that's why I killed them before I lost control and enslaved them. Plenty of other Sonics in other realities have already turned. And soon," He tapped a few more keys with delicate pacing. "It'll be your turn."
He...
...Would end up just like him?
"That's why I always told you, all it takes is one bad day," He said. "And you end up just like me."
End up just like him.
"That's why it'd be better, if we all just died off."
Just, like him.
"I just wanna see you smile because of me. Laugh because of me. Hate because of me. Kill because of me. Love for me! Do everything for me!"
That's...
...Exactly what he would say, isn't it?
"No..." Sonic murmured to himself, his voice shaky. "N-No..." He was turning into him. He was turning into him.
No...
You'll turn mad like me, eventually.
Scourge wasn't even using his power on him to make him turn crazy, he didn't even say anything else to him. Sonic was internally having his own mental break down. Was, was all of that true? Is that why Zonic crumbled before he was kidnapped in No Zone? Is that why he nearly hurt Shadow in that apartment? Was that why he was born with two 'pure' deities and two potentially evil ones? Was he just, going to end up all like them?
Was, was this why...
Was this why he-
-Why he hurt Tails before?
Was this why the deities silenced Zonic? Was this why they kept trying to stop Scourge from confessing to Sonic all of this information? Was this why Zonic tried to poison Scourge to kill him? Was this why Sonic didn't see the truth, because the deities inside of him were influencing him from the very beginning? Was he really their puppet, just playing the hero for as long as he could until they changed their minds and forced him to become a tyrant too? Who would have been enslaved first? Amy, Knuckles, Tails? Since they obviously hate Overlanders, would they have made Sonic kill Eggman first? And is that why Sonic's never had a hard time with them? Because as their perfect Champion, Sonic was allowed to do whatever the hell he wanted without any restrictions? His view of the Divine Spirits were important, and his view of them was flawless before all of this.
Is that why they never bothered him yet?
They never wanted him to know that they abandoned Zonic and basically allowed Ogilvie to get raped as punishment. They never wanted Sonic to know that they made all the other Sonics in other realities turn crazy and power hungry. They didn't want him to know that they were ruthless and cutthroat. Or at the very least, they didn't want him to know that Hyper was. They wanted Sonic to believe that at the very least, Super and Hyper were the good forms of his. They wanted him to believe that they only existed for his benefit, even the bad ones. But in reality, he only existed for their benefit, because he was their number one Chaos Born.
Their number one puppet on a string.
They never rushed Sonic into mating at a specific age, because they wanted their number one puppet to actually enjoy having a love life. They didn't want to make it obvious that they didn't truly care about him, because they didn't want him to wake the hell up and revolt against them like Scourge did. That's why Hyper always whispered in his ear not to sleep with certain girls. He wanted his maidenhood to be taken away by someone who could help make Sonic a decent offspring. Any normal Mobian wouldn't do, they needed something better than that. Someone that wasn't quite a Chaos Born, but just as convincing. That person was Shadow, and that's why Hyper was happy when Sonic lost his virginity to him.
So their love, it was all planned.
It was all a sham, a plan created by the spirits. Him falling in love with Shadow, Shadow falling in love with him. Them having sex, them being semi-connected emotionally via wavelength, it was all bullshit. Was that why everyone on Mobius loved him? Because they were all supposed to eventually worship him as slaves? Tails' brotherly love, Amy's admiration love, Knuckles' guardian love, it was all garbage. None of this, none of this was real. Everything he's ever done, everything he's ever experienced, it was all lies.
Oh God, he was going to be sick.
Please, let none of this be true.
"S...S-Scourge?" Sonic stammered in calling his name. "Does this mean, since I'm the Champion and they want to keep me happy, that everything in my world is a lie too? Like my friends, my fame," He swallowed hard. "Even, Shadow?"
And then, Scourge did and said something Sonic wished he didn't.
He slowly turned to him with a sad smile, his eyes now lightly shining with empathy and sympathy. His expression was sweet, and his voice was even warm. He had stopped playing the piano again and everything, just to say these words to him.
"I'm so sorry, Blue."
...
Tears formed in his eyes.
Sonic gripped the sides of his head while clenching his teeth.
Scourge exhaled deeply, before standing up from the piano bench. "For what it's worth," The green one said as he began walking over to his prime self. This time, Sonic didn't flinch, and he didn't run away. He just sat there in the corner, glaring down at the floor as his tears slowly dripped from his lowered eye sockets. Scourge crouched down to his side, before sitting beside him. "The deities didn't make Shadow fall in love with you." He started to slip off his noble jacket, before wrapping it around Sonic's shoulders. "That part, his part was genuine." He slowly raised a hand and pet his head, noticing Sonic's flattened ears. "He's not faking what he feels for you, not at all. How you guys met, wasn't fake. I'm sure the Divine Spirits knew you'd eventually find each other, because I know damn well they knew of Shadow and what he was. But I'm almost positive they didn't manipulate you guys into getting together. That was all a happy accident. That's why I'm so jealous, because no one's ever felt as passionate and loving to me, as he does for you."
"N-No," Sonic whispered as more tears dripped below him. "T-They couldn't have been, lying to me this whole time. They can't do that to me. I," His body trembled. "I refuse to believe that, I can't accept that..."
The green one began to run his fingers through his blue fur. "I know Blue, but this is what I've been trying to tell you this whole time. I'm not the bad guy here." He said. "You saw Zonic's memories, and you heard what he said. There's plenty of other Sonics going through exactly what we're going through. This deadly cycle keeps repeating, over, over and over and it needs to stop. You can't ignore all of this evidence, this is for real." He lowered his hand to his face, caressing the side of his muzzle. "That's why there's no hope for us, that's why we need to be extinguished. But there's still hope for everyone else. For Knuckles, for Amy, Tails and other people in the multiverse. We can still save them, you can still be a hero. Even now."
The hero sniffled and closed his eyes. "Then why," He whimpered. "W-Why did you hurt so many people?"
"Because it was all to keep the Divine Spirits down. I needed to kill all those people so Fleetway could make a full contract with me, but I also wanted to destroy Angel Island and Christmas Island. Those were two gateways for the spirits to go to as a failsafe, and I wanted to get rid of that to strip them of even more power. Not only that, but it would stop anymore Chaos Born from your world to be spawned." He then frowned to the side. "Though, I don't think that plan worked, 'cause I can tell Fleetway didn't lose any power. But still," He said while placing a hand onto his shoulder. "You can still fix that damage anyway. If you turned into Hyper right now, I'm positive you could fix your world and Zonic's world in no time flat, because he's that powerful. And after you do that, we'll have our fight, die ourselves and free everybody." He tried to level with him. "Look, I know dying seems a little scary, but I'll be with you when it happens. You won't be alone, I promise. We'll end up haunting this place, but that's okay. I'll make sure you'll be happy, even in the afterlife."
But he didn't want to leave Shadow or his friends back at home.
He wanted Shadow.
He wanted to go home.
"Oh," Scourge sighed sadly. "You're probably still thinking about Shadow, and your friends when you leave them behind." Did he read his mind or something? "They'll remember you as a savior, Sonic. It's fine-"
"It's not fucking fine." He abruptly cut him off.
The green hedgehog just rose his hands in defeat and stood up from his side. He could tell he needed to be alone right now. "Maybe it's time you go back to your room."
Sonic didn't say a word back, nor did he protest.
He just kept his eyes closed as Scourge helped him off the floor, and chaos controlled them back in the king's bedroom.
END - 46
(EDIT: SO sorry for the wait, I'm working through some college stuff right now because ya girl just got accepted! Whaaat? Yeaaahh, that's right, y'all. I'm gonna be a college girl soon! Hell yeah! Anyway, that's why this chapter took so damn long to come out. Again, sorry.)
Remember when I told ya'll that something was very wrong with Scourge to make him act this way?
And remember how I said before that Scourge being this way was somewhat his fault? I still stand by that because even though Scourge's brain was damaged (which is why he acted a fool before the events of HNR), he managed to get a little better. Let's be honest, Scourge said before that the trauma to his head that he suffered in prison caused his intellect and better sense of judgement to go down the drain. That's BEFORE all of this happened. As you can see, he got his intelligence back, and his wits returned to him. In other words, Scourge could have went to get mental help to try and tame his insanity.
Would this have worked? Honestly, probably not thanks to the Divine Spirits. Their process of turning their 'children' mad happens eventually either way, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. But the point is, that Scourge would have at least tried. If he at least tried, he couldn't be entirely blamed. But he gave up the second he realized nothing would work to help him.
In my eyes, if you had at least tried, you're not entirely to blame.
But if you did absolutely nothing, then you're definitely no better, either.
(Join my Discord server for updates/discussions on HNR and other Sonadow goodness! The invite code is yCwbWvn.)
