Hello Everyone!
Gatekeeper here, hope you all are staying well and happy.
Wondering what you all thought of the last chapter. I know it's different from the rest of the story, I had a lot of small thoughts and interactions I wanted to show but I'm not sure if I wanted to go into full detail with all of them.
Anywho, hope you enjoy!
Sincerely,
Gatekeeper
Chapter 20: Of Judgement, Justice and Jury: One Day Before Trial
Eggman was, finally, in a prison cell. With a sigh he sat down on the stone hard bed that sat in the farthest corner of the cell.
He'd expected to be here as soon as he woke up from the attack, but apparently the Princess had showed some mercy towards his injury. As he thought about it, his left chest throbbed with pain.
2 inches. He had been two inches away from death when the medical staff had gotten to him. Had Minister Xain not been in a panic from his abrupt escape attempt, he probably would have been much more precise with it.
Eggman almost wished he had been.
He shook his head. "No no, none of that. I have to trust that the Princess will be fair."
He groaned and put his head in his hands "It would also be fair to say that there's no easy way out of this."
"Not with that attitude, there won't be." A smarmy voice said from nearby.
Eggman looked up from the bed, and visibly sagged when he saw who stood at his cell door.
It was Sonic.
Sonic quickly lost the small smirk he had on as he watched his oldest enemy. "Hey."
Eggman gripped the bed. "...Hello."
"I uh, never thought you'd be in one of these, to be honest." Sonic said as he chuckled "You always were prepared to get away. If I didn't know better, I'd say you already had made a way to escape."
Eggman swallowed hard. That particular thought had passed by more and more often over the course of his stay at the hospital.
They stayed in silence for a while before Eggman took a deep breath to focus himself "What do you need, Sonic?"
"From you?" Sonic shrugged, "Nothing really. Thought I'd come stop by. It's been too quiet without you around. Seemed like a good idea to say hi."
Eggman scoffed. "It sounded like a good idea to say hi to your worst enemy? Come now Sonic, I know you're not an evil genius but surely you realize that's not good enough of a reason to come here."
"Who said I came here to visit my enemy?" Sonic questioned before crossing his arms. "I came here to see the guy who saved the Princess."
Eggman could feel an ugly swell building up inside. A surge of thick and ugly emotion came over him as he spat out. "Is that who I am now, Sonic? Eggman, the Princess Saver! Ha!" He barked out a cynical laugh as he turned around, facing away from Sonic. He raised his hands in a mocking cheer "Look at Eggman! What a hero he is! Surely he could do no wrong! His shoulders trembled as he tried to calm himself.
Sonic shuffled, taking a deep breath himself. "Do you regret doing it?" He said softly.
The dark tide rushed, and broke through Eggman as he spun around.
"OF COURSE NOT!" He roared. "BUT THERE'S MORE THAT I DO!"
He rushed towards the door and slammed his hands on the bars with a clang.
He pounded on the door with his hands, interchanging with each point.
"I REGRET JOINING WITH MINISTER NAUGUS!"
"I REGRET BETRAYING KING ACORN!"
"I REGRET TURNING INTO THAT... THAT THING!"
"AND I REGRET...I... I regret..."
A weak thump sounded as Eggman's hand hit the bars as his knees gave out, causing him to kneel awkwardly in front of the door.
His voice ragged, he continued. "I regret everything I have done to you. You, and your uncle Charles. Your family, all of Mobius! Look what I have done! Look what I did to Tails! To Cream and her family. To everyone."
He looked at his hands. "I have blood on my hands, Sonic. My family's blood. My hands are red and my soul charred black. I know what I have done. I know the price that is to be paid. I will pay it, in full, but it will not be enough. My death will do nothing to rebuild what I have destroyed."
Silence took over again, as Eggman sat there drained from his outburst.
"So... if you dying wouldn't do anything, then what would?" Sonic asked.
Eggman sat and stayed quiet for a while before letting out a small laugh. "The only thing, not that it would ever happen, is to help bring back King Acorn."
Sonic was shocked, his jaw falling open. "King Acorn's alive!? You know where he is!?"
Eggman gave him a puzzled look. "...Of course I know where he is, I'm the one who locked him away."
"Oh..." Sonic shuffled his feet. "Well we all kinda thought that you had, uh, made him a permanent disappearance, y'know?"
Eggman nodded his head. "Well... it's not without precedence, I grant you that. Oh, and Minister Naugus is also in there with him. You should probably know that."
Sonic nodded. "That would be helpful." He paused. "...You do realize you could have used that as a bargaining chip with your trial, right?"
Eggman pondered that awhile. "...Yes. Yes I could have. Imminent death has a way with messing with perceptions, however."
"Definitely, I totally gotcha. Been there a couple of times." Sonic affirmed.
Sonic sat down to be eye level with Eggman. "Hey doc, you remember what I asked you when we last met up? About if you meant what you said?"
Eggman looked up and stared into Sonic's eyes. "Yes." he said. He took a deep breath.