AN: A different take on my favorite pairing. There are so many ways to handle their love story. In this, I'm going to aim to be more neutral. We may never find out why Robotnik took over or what started the fight in the first place.

Summary: Starting right after "Bartleby the Prisoner" when Sonia helps Bartleby get away, he decides to take the bull by the horns. He's done playing games. Will she accept his proposal?

Prologue

Twenty years ago, at the age of three, Bartleby had watched his godfather, Dr. Julian Ivo Kintobor Robotnik, successfully gain control of the realm of Mobotropolis. He didn't understand everything, only that the ones who counted preferred Robotnik over the present queen and had helped him drive her out. Robotnik had justified it to the boy many times.

"When a kingdom's leader is taking them down the path of ruin, the citizens have a responsibility to remove that leader and replace them with someone more competent."

The mink-boy hung on every syllable the man ever spoke. To his young, naive, mind this man was the smartest in the universe. Whenever he needed anything, this man had been there. He had shared everything with this man, including his misery when his dearest Sonia had jilted him to join the Freedom Fighters. He didn't care that her mother was Aleena, Hedgehog Queen. Her true identity of princess didn't influence Bartleby one way or the other. She was his Sonia and he adored her. And that was not a secret. Yet, he had always made it clear that he would never betray Robotnik. No one knew his connection to him but his loyalty was never called into question.

Until now…

Bartleby stared down the city's tyrannical ruler with the most menacing glare he could muster. The man had betrayed him. Had betrayed him so thoroughly that he could no longer find it in his heart to forgive him. "So, Your Honor, I'm changing my plea to guilty."

Robotnik looked at him with surprise. "What?" He demanded.

"You heard me. I'm changing my plea to guilty. You're right. I have been working with my dear Sonia. She is the only one who has ever really loved me. She and I are leaving the city tonight." He knew he was taking a real chance but he was through. He needed to call Robotnik's bluff. He felt a great, seizing pain in his chest. He had trusted this man…

In the mine drill's mounted television, Sonia watched the trial with horror as Bartleby said those things. They weren't true.

Sonic looked at her with confusion. "Sonia, is that true. You're leaving tonight! With him?"

Sonia shook her head. "No… we never made any such plans… He challenging Robotnik! For me! Guys, we have to go. The Ruby Mine… it can wait. We have to go now!" What was Bartleby doing? He was going to get himself roboticized. "Hold on Bartleby. Just hold on."

Manic nodded and turned the drill around, tunneling towards the city. He hoped they would make it in time. He looked at his sister, watching her wring her hands together in anxiety. "I bet he'll be okay. Bartleby is just putting him on the spot to prove to the other aristocrats that Robotnik is all bark and no bite."

Sonia nodded. "That's exactly what he's doing but what concerns me is Robotnik has never just been all bark. So I don't know what he thinks this is going to prove. I've lost Lady Wyndemere, I can't lose Bartleby too." She put her hands over her eyes as she tried not to cry. She was barely aware of Sonic coming to sit beside her. "Guys… I can't… I can't do this anymore. There's too much to lose, I can't. I love him." She looked at Sonic, expecting to see an expression of betrayal at her statement.

Instead he smiled and hugged her. "It's okay sis. You need to do what's best for you, what would make you happiest. We will support you, whatever you want to do. If he wants to join us, he's welcome and we'll accept him as a brother." He promised. "But… if you would prefer to leave the city… we would miss you but we would understand."

Robotnik didn't know how to handle Bartleby's revelation. His eyes held such pain and betrayal. He realized that Bartleby had figured out his plan. "Bartleby…"

"Shut up old man! You're going to listen for a change! Because I finally have you pegged. All I am is a… is an ATM to you! Well fuck you! You want my money so badly! Fine! It's yours! The combination is 4077! Take it and may you have joy of it! But I am leaving the city with Sonia tonight." He got in the man's face. "What are you going to do about it, Godfather…" He whispered the last, practically spitting in his face out of apparent disgust.

Robotnik watched a single drip from his eye. He felt as though he had just belly flopped into the Mobian sea. He had no words or even the strength to do more than stare as the mink turned and stomped towards the exit. Sleet approached the mink to attempt to stop him.

"You think you're going just that easily, do you?" Sleet challenged the mink. He was ready to have the boy roboticized at a word from the despot.

Bartleby turned and glared at the man at the judge's desk. "Do you want to roboticize me now, godfather? Go ahead, give the order, I won't fight. What's the point? I'm done defending you! People of Robotropolis, before you sits a coward! Not some great monster! A pitiful coward who can only get what he wants by hurting others. So lonely and bitter… Don't fear this man. Pity him instead for he will never know love."

Sleet looked into the green eyes that shone with tears, yet seemed to glow with an intense fire. Something had changed in the nobleman. His stance was stiff and he closed and opened his fists and his body trembling. He didn't know if it was fear or the pain of being sold down the river.

Something seemed different about his boss too. The man's expression was unreadable but there was a change in the atmosphere. It felt as though there was a black cloud in the room whenever he was around him but some of that cloud seemed to lift, ever so slightly. "Let him go, Sleet…." Robotnik said softly. The wolf nodded and stepped aside but his eyes followed the blond. The bit of dark cloud that had lifted seemed to settle on Bartleby instead.

The courtroom was silent as a tomb as Bartleby walked past Sleet and Dingo. He heard them asking the rotund dictator what they should do. He felt a chill starting to set over him. He had just shouted at his godfather. Instinctively, he felt great guilt for it but he knew it was the right thing to do.

He made it outside just in time for the Sonic Underground van to pull up. Once inside, he felt Sonia pulling him safely into her arms. "I'm so proud of you…" She whispered.

He nodded as he pulled away, looking around desperately. Sonic handed him a plastic bag in which he promptly vomited. "I'm sorry my love… I'm sorry… I didn't want to lie like that but I had to call his bluff. He was using me to hurt you. He betrayed me and I can't forgive him this time."

Sonia pet his hair. "You did great Bartleby." She kissed his cheek.

"Yeah!" Sonic said. "Welcome to the fight!" He didn't expect Bartleby to join the resistance but he needed to make the invitation. He needed to let him know that he was on his side.

The nobleman shook his head. "I'm sorry Sonic, but I can't join the resistance. My godfather had no problem betraying me. But I have a conscience. I can't betray him."

Manic nodded. "No more than we could betray our mom. Don't worry, we get it now. We saw it on the broadcast and Sonia explained it on the way here. So what do you want to do? You know you can't go home now."

Bartleby nodded. "Oh, I meant what I said about leaving the city. I can't fight against him but neither can I continue to protect and enable him. I'm sorry for helping him for so long. I just… I believed for so long that… that I could bring him back… Bring back the good, kind man that I looked up to and loved. I must accept that man is dead and will not be coming back. It is time for me to grieve and move on. Sonia, please, come with me. Marry me and be my wife. Let's start over…"

Sonia looked into his eyes and saw that intense glow. She wanted to say yes. She wanted a new life somewhere new, away from this mess. Let Robotnik have Robotropolis. "Bartleby..."

Bartleby shook his head, expecting her usual argument. "Your mother is just as much responsible for this mess. She and Robotnik are both acting like children and it is time we stopped letting them. She drags children into these battles while she hides away, safe and warm. We've been playing war games that are getting neither side any closer to victory! The war will continue on forever unless we put a stop it ourselves!" He looked down and began to weep with the stress of the events. "I just want it to stop. Please, my love…" He pleaded.

Sonia looked at her brothers. They both nodded. "It's okay Bartleby, you don't have to beg. Of course I'll marry you. Of course I'll leave the city with you. There's nothing I would rather do."

Robotnik finally found the strength to go back to his castle. He kept hearing Bartleby's words in his head. It almost felt as though he'd floated out of his body and watched the scene unfold from above.

He sat in his overstuffed chair and sighed. "What have I done…" He had never seen Bartleby that angry before. He thought over his plans. The court trial had only been a ruse to lure the hedgehogs he hated so much into his grasp. He would never have roboticized him. He had only wanted to punish that princess for breaking his godson's heart. He hated the Hedgehog Family for destroying his life. For destroying his work and costing him his best friends, his wife, and even his right arm and leg. "I sought to destroy them… Maria… but… oh Maria, I only destroyed him… Maria… Albern, Delilah, I'm sorry… now he's gone..." He closed his eyes as if in silent prayer. Had he given the boy all of the skills he would need to make it without him? Had he taught him all of the values he himself lacked? He would never know. "Please… watch over him now…"

Manic drove their van to a hangar where Sonia chose a purple coupe-plane. "Sonia, where will you go?"

Sonia shook her head. "I don't know. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you." They packed the trunk with a few bags that they'd gotten from his mansion and their hideout. She looked at the grounds of Dresden Estates. "What will happen to the people here? Robotnik won't go after them in retaliation will he?"

Bartleby shook his head. "Nahh, he wouldn't dare now. Take advantage of this, Sonic. You're never going to get anywhere attacking him with weapons. He will always overpower you there. Find a peaceful way to do it. A peaceful way does exist." Bartleby said as he loaded up the plane with a stolen provisions. "We are going to be completely neutral. We won't have our peace interrupted again. Either they will learn how to be adults or they will never have a place in our lives again. Personally, I wouldn't mind that last overly much."

Sonic nodded. "Well sis… if… Look… you can always come home. You always have a home with us. No matter what. We'll fight your corner to the others for you. When you get settled please at least let us know you're safe."

The triplets hugged each other tightly. The memory of finding each other in the club caused their medallions to glow brightly. "Someday, we are going to be together…" Sonia sang softly, in a legato tone.

Manic's voice answered her, wavering in his voice. "Life will be… so much better…" He thought about their first battle with the SwatBots together. "We will build a bond no one can break…"

"Someday…" Sonic finished the shortened rendition of their meeting song. The song that had led them to each other that first night. The night he lost his Uncle Chuck. Fighting like this, they had only suffered. The war had taken so much from all of them. He couldn't blame Sonia for leaving. It didn't make it any easier. "Good bye sis."

Sonia got into the plane with Bartleby, their hands entwining on the center console. None of them were aware of the two pairs of eyes watching them from afar.

From a hilltop far from the mansion, a figure in a red cloak watched the plane take off for the southern skies. Amethyst eyes shimmered with tears. Aleena remembered when she first held her oldest child, her precious Sonia, in her arms. She remembered how she felt when first those coal black eyes looked up at her with love and admiration. When she first abandoned her child on the doorstep of the Baroness Wyndemere, her heart had shattered so completely. She missed her children terribly and longed for the day when the prophecy would come true and they could be a family. But now, that future was no longer possible. "Oh, Jules… Watch over her for me…"

From his caves, the Oracle watched with a smile. "Good luck my dear. Here's hoping your plan works." He had trained these three for this moment. It all came down to this. He waved his hand and an image of a shadowy figure appeared. "Phase Two has begun. We are on track for Operation Mobius."

AN: Sonia and Bartleby have taken matters into their own hands. Will their plan succeed. Do they really hold the trump card.