All Sonic the Hedgehog characters and situations are (c) the Sega Corporation, DiC
Productions, and Archie Comics. Based heavily off of situations written for DiC by Ben
Hurst in the episode "The Void", and by Len Janson in the episode "Sonic Boom", so
some familiarity with those episodes will help the reader. Questions and comments are
more than welcome, so send them to charpalm@mediaone.net
Rated PG for language and a short scene with very graphic violence.
Foreknowledge
A Sonic the Hedgehog story by Tristan Palmgren
---
Chapter 1: To Love and Lose
---
Timeline: From the King's perspective, two years have passed since his banishment into
the Void.
---
The scratching of a pen's tip, scribbling facts and figures on a thick piece of worn
parchment, was the only noise in that echoed off the distant walls and numerous crystalline
stalactites of the castle's throne room.
King Maximillion Acorn, heir to the Mobotropolis Royal Crown and exile, stifled
the noise of even his own breathing. He had long ago learned that he preferred the Void's
silence to sound. Sound was a distraction, dragging him out of his work and back into
reality. Any time he so much as looked upon his surroundings, all he could think of was
that he wanted to shed them like a reptile would a crinkled and dirty skin, and be cleansed
of it forever. The crystal rocks poking haphazardly from the floors and walls, the angles
of the skewed yet surreally familiar doors and hallways, all would remind him of what a
disgusting mockery this castle was.
Silence let him submerge into the task; submergence let him forget.
His work gradually consumed the parchment's available space. With mild
annoyance, he flipped the sheet over and began working in a clean space. He rarely set
the pen down, or even took it away from the sheet, but when he did, his eyes always
drifted over to a sketch drawn in the margins of the page. It was rough, and not
professionally detailed, but the basic shape alone was discernible. It was a large circle,
inset with other smaller circles: the portal to the Void. A single word was scrawled next
to it, deeply enough to leave a dimpling on the thick parchment. It read "Escape".
The scraping sound of an old, wooden door opening shattered the silence. King
Acorn took his eyes away from his work, peering upwards.
"How goes our work today, my aged apprentice?" a rasping voice inquired.
Footsteps echoed across the cavernous throne room as the figure drew closer to the
workbench.
King Acorn grimaced. Over the past two years, he had come to hate that voice
with a bitter intensity that he had only felt for one other person in his life. He reluctantly
set the pen down on the parchment, positioned so that it carefully hid the sketch of the
Void, and turned his chair to face the newcomer.
"Not very well, I'm afraid," the King replied, looking his 'master' straight in the
eye. "As seems usual with a case like this. I'm still afraid that there really is no way out
of the Void, beyond being dragged out from the outside."
"I expected as much from you," Ixis Naugus replied icily. He stepped closer,
laying his hand down on the King's workbench. His hand idly flicked the pen aside, and
regarded the drawing with a raised eyebrow.
Max Acorn held his breath, feeling like a child for fearing Naugus so.
Thankfully, Naugus only viewed it with an air of chilly disinterest. "Becoming an
artist in our old age, Max?"
"It seems the only way to pass time while trapped here, master," Max reluctantly
responded, secretly thinking to himself that Naugus was in no position to make jabs at his
age.
"No matter. I've come here because I wanted to show you something," Naugus
said, stepping over to one of the false throne room's blank walls. "Come," he beckoned.
Max stood up, following a few steps behind the bearded wizard. His boots
clacked across the stone floorings louder than Naugus's footsteps.
"You resent being taken away from your work," Naugus said matter-of-factly, as if
he could read the King's mind. "But I've made some discoveries you'll be interested in.
With the surveillance device we built."
Max nodded quietly. He and Naugus had built the machine over a month ago; the
work that went into its construction was the only thing the King had to be proud of for the
past two years. It allowed a person trained in its use to view events in the real world as
they were happening, by opening a microscopically small fissure in the air, an invisibly
small portal that would lead to the Void. Although nothing from inside the Void could
escape, light and sound heading inward could be captured. The micro-fissure was capable
of being opened anywhere in the world, from Robotnik's most secure laboratories to the
ocean floor. It was the ultimate scrying device, but Naugus had forbidden him to use it.
"How well do you remember your daughter, Sire?"
Max stopped dead in his tracks, unsure of what to do. Showing any signs of
weakness would usually only invite more of the sorcerer's abuse; right now, though, he
felt nothing but weak.
Memories flashed before him, images as vivid as if they were happening right now.
He remembered the first time he had ever seen her as an infant, fur still damp, coiled up in
her new mother's arms. He saw the smile that had lit up her face when he dropped her off
at Rosie's, the morning before the coup. It had been the last time he had seen her. He
could never forget that smile.
"That well, eh?" Naugus chuckled. "Do you wish to see what has become of her
in your absence?"
The King felt his lips move almost automatically, answering before he had a chance
to even think. "More than anything in the world."
Naugus raised a flattened palm the air. Max stepped backward involuntarily,
cursing his servile fright. He had thought for a moment that Naugus was going to strike
him, but the palm remained steady.
**I was never like this before**, the King thought sourly, **I had willpower. I
was a leader, not a servant.**
A heavy, bass thud reverberated throughout the throne room. Max fought back
his instinct to flinch. When he glanced back at Naugus, he saw that the floor in front of
the empty wall had shot upwards, crumbling the rock around it. A large, flat video
monitor almost half the size of the throne room had risen from the ground. Naugus
lowered his hand, nodding in satisfaction.
That was the trouble with interacting with Naugus. The old wizard didn't look
like much of a foe. His long, bleached white beard and the horn growing out of the middle
of his forehead only lent him the ludicrous appearance of an insane beggar. Yet, a single
motion in his fingertips could split the earth and change the world...
The monitor crackled to life, spitting out static and then the haunting howl of the
Void. Somewhere in the real world, Max knew, a micro-fissure was opening. The image
cleared up slowly, wavering for several moments before finally becoming steady. Colors
gradually resolved themselves from the gloom, but there still wasn't much to see.
This wasn't from any fault of the camera itself, but instead just from the general
lack of light from the real world. The micro-fissure had opened indoors, in a corridor
glowing only with the dim red color of low-power light bulbs.
"Where is this?"
Naugus's face twisted into a sneer. "This is your glorious capital city. It's been...
redecorated by that low life, War Minister Julian."
More memories flooded back to the King, none of them pleasant. Years-old anger
stirred within him -- Julian was the only person that he hated more than Naugus.
He heard footsteps slap down against the metal floors. Echoes made it difficult to
say exactly how many people were making the noise. Within seconds, three figures ran
into view from below the micro-fissure, and stopped below one of the muted red bulbs.
Soft light played across their features.
Two of them he didn't recognize, but his jaw dropped when he saw the third. It
was his daughter, Sally Acorn, but she had changed in a way that Max had never
expected. She had grown.
The face on the monitor was definitely the sleek, regal face of the Acorn heir, but
over a decade of growth had worked their way into her features. She was taller, much
taller, and possessed the budding body of a young adult female. The King pegged her age
at around sixteen or seventeen years of age.
The biggest change, though, was the eyes. Not a spark of innocence was left.
"That's im-impossible!" Max stuttered, feeling his heart sinking. **I've lost eleven
years out of my daughter's life. ** "I've only been trapped in the Void for two years!
She was five when I left!" **My daughter's grown eleven years without her father. **
**Eleven years. **
"She couldn't have grown that much in only two years. There hasn't been enough
time!"
Naugus threw him a disgusted glance. "Time? Have you forgotten where you are,
lackey? Time is something that happens to other people."
The King snapped his muzzle shut, and watched.
---
"'Twan? C'mon, Sal, the hedgehog can do this by himself."
"No, Sonic, there are too many guards!" the Princess protested.
"And you think that, of all people, Antoine can help me?"
"Zat is zee plan, you fuel!"
The heavily accented fox planted his hands on his hips, staring crossly at the
hedgehog, trying to look as menacing as possible. He didn't pull it off. The blue-quilled
hedgehog's eyes rolled upwards, and he shook his head.
King Acorn narrowed his eyes, examining the fox. He was dressed in the garb of
the Royal Guard: his daughter's bodyguard, perhaps? The guard thrust an angry thumb at
his chest. The metal buttons on his uniform's shoulder glinted in the poor light. "I'll have
you knowing zat I am being much too very brave an' strong for zose miserable SWATbots."
The hedgehog, Sonic, cast a wry glance at Sally. "Is he full of himself, or what?"
"His ego's smaller than yours," Sally snapped back. She took a deep breath, and
shook her head. "Sonic, now is not the time to change the plan! We agreed on this last
night: you and Antoine distract the armory's guards, while I sneak in and plant the
explosives. If you had problems with it, you should've brought it up then!"
Sonic merely shrugged. "I just know that 'Twan's gonna mess it up, just like he
always does."
"Use your head! There are too many SWATbots for you to take on alone."
"Talk about your oxymorons. There's never too many. Later!"
The hedgehog's legs whirled around in a circle, revving up like a motor. His
sneakers appeared to not so much as speed up as opposed to *blur*. A high-pitched
whine that the King had only heard once before screamed through the air.
Sally grabbed the hedgehog by the shoulder before he could take off, a resigned
expression on her face. "Just... be careful, okay?"
"As always, Sal."
She leaned forward, planted a quick peck on his cheek, and let go. The hedgehog
took off.
---
Max turned to Ixis Naugus. "What's become of my daughter's life? That one was
Sir Charles's nephew, I know. But what of the other? And what were they doing?"
"Questions, questions," Naugus sighed. "You should recognize the other. He's
the son of one of your former advisors."
Naugus didn't need to finish, as long-forgotten memories filled in the pieces of the
puzzle. "General Francois D'Coolette," the King said. He hadn't thought of the stern old
man in quite some time; now his son was apparently an important fixture in the Princess's
life. So much could happen in a decade.
"I've only been watching them for a few days, so I'm not entirely sure," Naugus
confessed, "But they seem to be part of a roguish band of Freedom Fighters out to destroy
dear old Julian. Your daughter is their leader, apparently."
King Acorn's gaze fell back to the monitor, and to his daughter. Although much
time had passed, she was still only a child in her mid-teens. Leading a group of Freedom
Fighters?
Max remembered himself at that age – the responsibility of being heir to the throne
weighed heavily upon him. He'd had to feel and act old even as a teenager. The same
thing must be happening to Sally, only her dire situation must be magnifying the
phenomenon a hundredfold.
Naugus continued speaking, occasionally gesturing at the screen. "Right now,
they're trying to bomb one of Julian's armories. The hedgehog will try and distract the
metal men standing guard outside, while the Princess and her bodyguard are supposed
sneak in and plant several explosives." A smile twitched at the corners of the wizard's
lips. "Unfortunately, that won't happen."
"You've seen this before, then?" the King asked. "You know what will happen?"
"Oh, yes." The smile grew wider. "That's why I wanted to show it to you." He
snapped his fingers, and the camera view changed.
Max suddenly had a very sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned back
towards the monitor.
---
The corridor had apparently widened out into a larger, box-like room. A set of
double-doors consumed most of one of the walls. Two of the city's robotic police force,
Julian had called them SWATbots, the King recalled, stood motionlessly on both sides of
the doors. Red light glistened off their helmet's amber visors.
There was a flash of blue, and suddenly the hedgehog was standing between them.
A chuckle echoed through the room, and then he was gone again. A trail of dust marked
his passage through one of the side corridors.
The two guards didn't hesitate to give chase. In unison, they both raised their
arms, leveling them at the retreating hedgehog. Bursts of crackling blue energy erupted
from their wrists, slamming into the walls nearby the Freedom Fighter. Metal split and
crumbled, shooting sparks in every cardinal direction.
The King winced. The city's police force hadn't been equipped with laser cannons
anywhere near as powerful as what he had just seen. Julian must have retrofitted the
Peacebots with them after the exile into the Void.
"Priority One Hedgehog – Freeze!"
Sonic dashed around a corner, and out of the guards' line of fire. One of the
robots continued to pursue him. The other stopped dead in its tracks.
Max heard Naugus's chuckle. "The Freedom Fighters hadn't planned for this
scenario."
The SWATbot reached down to its left wrist, expertly punching a number of
buttons in rapid succession. It held the wrist to its face. Judging by the layout of the
buttons and the appearance of a small, meshed speaker, the King guessed that it was a
communication device of some sort.
"Alert, Warehouse 6-G," the SWATbot ordered. "Flank the building. Seal off all
entrance and exit points."
The SWATbot turned on its heel, and marched back over to the armory door.
"What's happening, Naugus?" the King asked.
"Julian apparently got tired of the Freedom Fighters outwitting legion after legion
of SWATbots," Naugus's voice dropped to a hiss at the mention of Julian. "So he
upgraded their AI programs to more effectively deal with diversionary tactics. It... catches
your daughter by surprise, I'm afraid."
As if to prove Naugus's point, two pairs of footsteps began echoing down the
corridor drew the remaining guard's attention. The camera angle rotated slightly, just in
time for the King to see his daughter and the uniformed fox run around the corner. They
skidded to a halt almost immediately.
"Soneec did not distract zee guards! Zat stupeed hedgehog! He failed!" Antoine
groaned under his breath.
The SWATbot began to raise its laser-augmented wrist. It wasn't even going to
give them a warning.
"Antoine, duck!"
The Freedom Fighters tried to jump back behind the corner. Antoine wasn't fast
enough. The SWATbot's wrist glowed, and spat laser at the fox's chest. Even the King,
from his distant vantage point, could tell that there wasn't enough time to dodge. The fox
hastily cast up his right arm to deflect the blast.
Throwing up his arm at the last minute saved Antoine's life, but the damage to the
fox's body was severe. The laser burned through his arm's fur and flesh, searing and
melting both, before finally being absorbed by his forearm's bone. His uniform's sleeve
burst into flames.
Antoine screamed with a pain he had never known before.
Sally grabbed Antoine by the neck, and dragged him back around the corner. Her
shocked eyes quickly surveyed the wound, and, in a single motion, ripped the sleeve of his
uniform off his shoulder, and flung the still-burning fabric onto the floor.
Smoke licked upwards from *inside* the wound. The laser's energy had not only
charred and cauterized the flesh, but the bone as well.
Antoine's eyes and mouth were clenched tightly shut. He held a trembling left
hand over the wound, trying to contain some of the smoke as if it were blood. His jaw
wavered.
"Oh, no," was about all Sally could manage. Empathy stronger than anything the
King had ever felt surged in her eyes.
"P-Princess," Antoine stuttered, jaw still trembling treacherously. "I cannot move
my hand, Princess."
The fox's right hand hung limp. There had obviously been some damage to his
nervous system.
"I don't know if-" Sally was interrupted. The SWATbot's metal boots were
echoing up the corridor, getting closer. It was running towards them. Without thinking,
she grabbed Antoine's good arm and began running. The fox was able to keep pace, but
just barely. "Come on!"
---
"Naugus," the King started, and then thought better of it. "Master, I implore you.
Tell me what happens to my daughter!"
"See for yourself." The wizard's bony fingers snapped, and the camera view
changed once more.
---
It was another dimly lit amber red corridor, nearly identical to the others that the
King had seen, except that this one was somewhat lengthier. Both ends of the corridor
stretched far off into the distance. There were no doors or markings anywhere, only
uniform gunmetal gray walls. The complex the Freedom Fighters had infiltrated was
obviously very large; that gave Max a modicum of hope. It would be easy for them to
stay hidden in such a vast, empty facility.
Sally and the wounded fox were running down its length, hardly stopping for
breath. The fox was still nursing his wounded arm, although thankfully no more smoke
was emerging from the wound. Occasionally, he would drip of small blotch of blood red
on the ground beneath him, but the laser's searing heat had cauterized most of the gash,
sealing the arteries. Whimpers recurrently issued from his throat.
Sally glanced behind her. "I think we lost it." But they didn't stop running.
The high-pitched whine the King had come to recognize as the hedgehog's
speeding legs grew louder, and a streak of dust rounded the corner up ahead. It slowed as
it approached Sally, and the burred streak of blue became recognizable as Sonic.
"Yo, Sal, did you-" the hedgehog cut himself off when he saw Antoine. "What the
hell? What happened?"
The fox only whimpered, jaw trembling. He cupped his good hand protectively
over the injury.
"There was a guard still at the door," Sally said hastily. "He shot Antoine."
"Still there? But I thought I had both of them running after me!" Sonic scratched
his head, his eyes wide open in alarm.
"Doesn't matter now," Sally said. "We need to get him back to Knothole. Maybe
Booksh-"
"Priority One Hedgehog," a security bot's voice rumbled from the end of the
corridor. The three Freedom Fighters spun instantly around, facing it's raised forearm.
The laser-augmented wrist glowed menacingly in the poor light.
"It's a trap!" Sally's whisper got caught in her throat.
Sonic raised his clenched fists. "It's okay, I'll get us out of this-"
The SWATbot spoke once more, interrupting the hedgehog. King Acorn felt a
shiver ripple down his spine. His jaw ached from being clenched shut for so long. "New
orders – shoot to kill."
Without further warning, a laser bolt screamed down the hallway and slamming
into Antoine's throat. The fox flew backwards, smashing bodily against the far wall. A
spray of blood glimmered against the ceiling, in stark contrast to the cold gray metal. He
slumped to the floor, and didn't move again.
The hedgehog gasped, and tried to rev up his legs and escape. Sally only had time
to whisper something unintelligible before the SWATbot fired again.
One shot caught the hedgehog's leg. He fell to his knees, too shocked from pain
to try and move. The next laser hit him squarely in the center of the chest, throwing his
body backwards to finally fall, belly up, on the floor. The laser had instantly burned
through the outer layer of flesh and had smashed through his ribcage with sheer, brute
force. His internal organs had been instantly cooked by the scorching heat.
Sally involuntarily stepped backwards, hands almost covering her wide-open
mouth. She looked like she was screaming, but could force no sound to emerge from her
lips.
"No," the King cried. A tear rolled down his cheek. "Naugus, make it stop!"
"That is beyond my power, Max," Naugus cackled, almost gleefully. He was
enjoying this. "We cannot escape the Void. This is all happening in the real world."
Sally couldn't take her eyes of the corpse of the hedgehog. Her breathing came
out suddenly, in slow, muffled gasps. She looked as if she were too afraid to say anything,
as if taking any action whatsoever would prove that this was reality, and not simply the
terrifying escape of nightmare.
She tore her gaze away from the gruesome remains of her only love, and towards
the robot still standing at the end of the hallway. Its wrist glowed with unspent laser
energy.
"Priority One Target eliminated. Priority Two: Princess Acorn. Surrender or
die."
Sally stood shock still in the corridor. Everything was horribly quiet.
"Surrender or die," the SWATbot repeated.
A whisper, too soft to be heard by the SWATbot, escaped Sally's throat. "Kill
me."
The King had been biting his lip, and only noticed it now when blood started
trickling into his mouth. He couldn't even feel the pain from the cut.
"This is your last warning."
Sally's fist curled up into a ball. She tried to speak again, but her voice choked up.
The SWATbot didn't acknowledge it. Instead, its wrist began to glow brighter as it once
more prepared to discharge a laser burst.
A gloved metal hand swept down from around the corner and knocked the
SWATbot's arm to the side. The laser beam exploded harmlessly against a wall. The
Princess didn't even flinch.
"No, no," a deep voice chuckled ominously, "we can't let her get off that easy, can
we?"
The King's face twisted into a snarl. "Julian."
The SWATbot obediently lowered its arm as Ivo Robotnik stepped into the light.
More robotic guards had appeared behind him, as well as a shorter, frailer human with a
ridiculously bird-like nose. Robotnik's red eyes gleamed with a red light all their own as
they surveyed the carnage.
"The hedgehog is dead... it just makes me feel warm, and alive, for the first time in
years. I feel... hungry for more. Wouldn't you agree, Snively?"
"Yes, sir," the bird-nosed human said, mouth curled in disgust as he looked at the
remains of the Freedom Fighters.
"Dig up and clean out some of the old stoves from King Acorn's royal kitchen.
And have the SWATbots take the hedgehog's remains there."
"But that's just-"
"This is one meal that I'm really going to enjoy."
Resignation overtook revulsion on the smaller human's face. "Yes, sir."
Robotnik's forefinger and thumb squeezed a lump of flab on his arm. "Oh, pinch
me, I must be dreaming. Sally Acorn is also in my grasp." A wide grin split his face.
"Tell me, Princess, how does it feel?"
Sally's expression went blank. Without another word, she simply turned around
and began running towards the opposite end of the corridor.
Robotnik sighed, and took a step to the side to give the SWATbots a clearer view.
"You," he jabbed his thumb towards the nearest guard, "shoot her in the leg."
Sally didn't cry out, didn't even utter a single whisper, as the laser beam cut her
down. She stumbled to the floor, incapacitated, with blood oozing from a new wound in
her calf.
"Retooling the SWATbot AI was a marvelous idea, Snively. Simply ingenious."
"Oh… thank you, sir."
Julian's boots echoed down the corridor as he moved towards Sally's fallen form.
"One more order, Snively."
"Go ahead, sir."
"Warm up the roboticizer."
---
The video screen flickered in response to Naugus's command, and the scene
changed. Some time had passed, but the King couldn't tell how much. Sally imprisoned
in a clear glass tube in the center of a large, cavernous room, leaning against the wall for
support. From the camera's angle, Max could just barely see the charred and singed fur
around the wound in her leg.
"Well, Princess, you and I both knew that it would only be a matter of time,"
Julian grinned. "After all, you and your friends have taken so many risks in your attacks
on my city. It was only a matter of time before the dice rolled my way, for once." The
obese man tweaked his flaring orange mustache. "A shame you and your friends are
finished thanks to that rather stupid coincidence. I would have preferred it if your demise
was more dramatic."
The frail human looked down, occasionally tapping a few buttons on a computer
console. "Therite field at maximum. Ready to roboticize."
Sally's hands pounded against her glass cage. The tube muted out all sound, but
her eyes were wide open in the universal human expression of fear.
"Activate."
Electric blue flashes of lightning arced down from the ceiling of the glass tube,
tearing across the Princess's body. Her toes seemed to... mesh together, and reform into
one solid block of metal. The effect swept up her legs, changing warm fur and flesh into
cooling gray steel. Her wound disappeared under a sheath of metal.
The King rushed forward, pounding his fists against the titanic video monitor. He
heard someone shout, and recognized his own voice. What hurt the most was the fact that
there was nothing he could do. Not even his helpless cries of protest would carry over
into the other world.
Julian's grin grew wider. "Goodbye, Princess. It's been fun."
Sally's fists clenched, fingers fusing into one solid chunk of metal. Her arms
straightened as the bone itself was chemically twisted into a solid metal rod. Her
midsection was flattened, the electricity burned up to her shoulders. A blood-curdling
scream managed to break free of the otherwise soundproofed roboticizer. Sally's face
actually bent, changed its shape. Her blue eyes clenched shut.
When they opened again, they were a solid mechanical red.
King Acorn sunk to his knees, mouth agape.
"100 percent roboticization factor, sir," Snively reported, fingers playing across
the computer console. The glass door popped open, and the robot emerged from the tube.
Robotnik walked over to it, rapping the robot's head gently. It didn't react.
"You can still hear me, can't you, Princess? Your mind is still trapped in there.
Helpless. But capable of seeing, and hearing, and feeling. I can only imagine how
torturous that must be. Oh, this is too good... Worker bot, your first duty is to go to the
castle kitchen and to assist in preparing the feast."
"Yes," Sally droned.
"Afterwards... hmmm... we'll put you on sewer patrol. How does that sound?"
"Orders acknowledged."
"Make sure that you enjoy yourself, Princess. Remember, I like my meat rare."
Naugus's bony fingers snapped. The video screen blurred, and finally faded into
nothingness.
---
For a moment, there was no sound in the false castle's throne room. Then a
hissing noise, like two weathered bricks scraping against one another, became audible, and
began to grow louder.
It was Naugus, laughing.
"That was too much," Naugus rasped, still chuckling, "I enjoyed that, and I'm
enjoying your reaction even more. I've seen that scene before, but this time had to be the
most fun."
"That... that wasn't real. It couldn't be."
"I'm afraid it was real. And it took place eleven years, four months, and thirteen
days after you were exiled from your kingdom."
King Acorn held a hand out to the blank screen, brushing his fingers across it.
"Sally... nothing deserves to die like that."
"But she didn't die," Naugus corrected. "Julian transmuted her flesh to metal."
"Worse than death," the King mumbled. His vision blurred as his eyes teared over
again. "Please, Naugus, there must be something we can do to stop that!"
"It's already happened, Max. It's history." Naugus grating laugh echoed across
the throne room again. He held up his palm, and the blank video monitor fell back into the
floor. The King watched it recede into the rock. "And besides, I don't wish to save those
rodents."
"You said it yourself, Naug-" Max stopped himself. "Master. We're in the Void.
Time is something that happens to other people. There must be something we can do to
stop this! There has to be!"
Naugus's tone darkened. "You little fool. You think I showed you that out of any
sort of pity?"
"Then why-"
"I showed it to you to have a little fun. You're becoming surprisingly
insubordinate of late, Max. You seem to think that there's something waiting for you out
there, in the real world, if only you can escape."
King Acorn felt himself tremble involuntarily. An emotion, something that the
King had never experienced before, began to well up within him, and drown out even his
sorrow. Whatever this new emotion was, it was primal.
"I wanted to demonstrate to you how completely and utterly inept your futile
dreams are. There is nothing out there waiting for you, Max. Even your daughter lies
among the dead. There is no reason left to be alive, other than to be MY servant. Is that
clear?"
A rage the like of which the King had never felt before took over. There would be
time for mourning later. Now it was the time for anger. His fists clenched. "You... you
showed me my daughter's death... just to torment me?"
"Your life from before the Void is over, Max. I want you to recognize that only
servitude, to me, sustains your existence now."
Naugus's eyes burned.
"Do you understand me? There is nothing left for you to live for out there.
Nothing but me."
"NEVER!" His shout pierced the air, shocking even himself. Naugus took an
instinctive step backwards; Max's trained eye recognized it as a show of weakness. The
King rushed towards Ixis Naugus, fists balled up as weapons.
He didn't make more than two steps.
The sorcerer leveled his index finger at the King like it was a weapon. Green fire
spewed from the rock itself, singing Max's fur and knocking him off his feet into a jarring
impact with the floor. The blow knocked the wind out of him, and for a moment he
wasn't able to focus his eyes.
"Never attack a wizard. I thought that you'd learned that the first day you came
here."
The world came sharply into focus suddenly. Naugus was standing over the
King's prone body. With a snap of the sorcerer's fingers, invisible hands grabbed Max by
the shoulders of his military uniform and lifted him high off the ground.
"Pray you never make a mistake like that again, Max." Naugus snarled. "Have
you learned the lesson I wanted you to, hm? Tell me, what is your reason for living now?"
The King struggled against the unseen arms suspending him in the air, but was
allowed no quarter. "To see my daughter again," he choked.
Searing, terrifying acute pain shot through his body for the longest time. Even
though it couldn't have been more than three minutes, it felt like an hour.
"Wrong answer. Why do you live?" Naugus asked again, calmly.
"Sally," the King gasped.
The pain lasted longer this time. When it was over, the King's breath came out in
long, drawn-out weeps.
"Why do you live?"
Nothing mattered now except the pain. The King felt something in his soul snap.
There was no choice but to submit. "To serve you, Master Naugus," he sobbed.
"Very good. Is there anything left out there, in the real world, waiting for you?"
"No, master!"
"Do you wish to escape to see your daughter, Princess Sally Acorn?"
The King's head hung, and he paused for several breaths. "No, Naugus."
Max felt the arms release him, and he fell quite some distance to the floor. He
almost didn't feel the impact. The pain had numbed him to almost all sensation but itself.
"Remember it always. I was hoping this lesson wouldn't need to be as... messy.
You disappoint me."
Without another word, Naugus left the throne room. The King waited until he
was sure that Naugus was gone, and then sunk to the ground. He didn't even feel himself
sobbing, or notice the tears beading together on the floor.
---
Max Acorn wasn't sure how long he had lain there; it was as if no time at all had
passed, and yet the world itself had leapt a century into the future. In the Void, he knew,
this was half-true.
That thought clung to the King's mind as he dragged himself across the false
throne room, and to his old workbench. He landed in the chair heavily, and with a single
heave, threw the book of worn parchment aside. It landed with a clatter somewhere
outside the field of his vision.
"You old fool," Max muttered under his breath. He wasn't sure whom he was
talking about: himself, or Naugus.
Naugus certainly wasn't the most astute judge of human nature. It was clear that
he had been angling to coerce Max into more work. Now, the last thing on his mind was
doing anything that that... creature demanded.
But Naugus was right. There was nothing left to live for, now. He had barely
managed to sustain his existence on hope for two years. The hope that someday he would
break free of the Void and be reunited with his family, and reclaim the kingdom and the
life that were stolen from him. Whenever hope had failed he would bury himself in his
scientific studies, and numb the pain that way.
Now he couldn't bring himself to either hope or work.
He reflected on Sally's last few moments as an organic being, standing shaken and
traumatized over the bodies of the other Freedom Fighters. He had only come to know
the others in their last few moments of life, but from what he had seen, the King knew that
they most have been very important to his daughter, especially the hedgehog. Was what
he was feeling right now the very thing that had flashed through his daughter's mind
standing in the corridor?
With them gone, did she too feel nothing left to live for?
In his mind's eye, the King saw himself standing in the very same corridor,
kneeling over his daughter's slain body. A SWATbot stood leveling its laser-augmented
wrist at his forehead.
Nothing and nobody left to live for.
Max's whisper echoed his daughter's last words. "Kill me."
Footsteps once more echoed across the rocky floor of the false throne room.
These weren't the heavy sounds of Naugus's strong, imperious strides, but a pair of feet
that moved with practiced stealth. This was the third occupant of the Void, a person that
Naugus had yet to discover. He was well hidden.
The King ignored the irritating grating of wood against stone as he turned his chair
around. "Ari. Did you-"
The ram stopped in the middle of the room, as if afraid to approach any further.
"No, I didn't know that would happen. I left that world before then. But... I did know
your daughter as she appeared on that screen. As a Freedom Fighter, and not a child."
"You knew that a decade of my daughter's life had gone by? Then why didn't you
tell me?"
"Would you have accepted it if I had?"
Max held a hand to his eye, pretending to rub it clear but discreetly wiping away
the formation of a tear. He shook his head. "No, no, I suppose I wouldn't have. To
think that you have known my daughter, as an adult, even though you only arrived here
three months ago? To me, it's only been two years since Mobotropolis fell. And for
you..."
"...over a decade."
"I would been almost insensate, unable to concentrate on anything else."
Ari stepped forward again. Ever since he had been thrown into the Void, he had
remained here, in this room or a hidden bunker nearby, to stay hidden from Naugus. Both
of them knew that if the sorcerer ever found Ari, he would either be killed or converted
into one of Naugus's servants, like the King.
It had scarcely been a year since Naugus had begun to trust his servant enough to
teach him some minor magical tricks, for use in his studies. Although the king's budding
talents were still small, they had proven to be useful. Soon after Ari arrived, Max erected
a magical ward around the throne room that would be able to fool Naugus's bizarre
sensing power. The sorcerer would never be able to sense Ari's presence. Unfortunately,
the limited range of the ward kept him chained to this single room.
"Exactly. I didn't tell you because you never would've been able to concentrate
on what Naugus tells you to do. He would've killed you."
The King sighed, looking down at the floor. "I see. Now that I... that I know, is
there anything you can tell me about my daughter? I just want to know... what I missed."
"She saved my life once," Ari said, "just after we first met. She risked her own to
do it, too, even though I was the one who sold out her friends to Robotnik."
The King glanced over at the wall where the video screen had been.
Ari continued. "Seeing her roboticization, on Naugus's monitor, was as much a
shock to me as it was to you. Nothing deserves an existence like that. Not even
Robotnik. But at least I feel better knowing that, while she was out there and alive, she
did good. She helped a lot of people, many more than just me. She leaves a fine legacy
behind, your Highness."
"I won't be able to see any of it. I can't be there for her. And she still ends up
suffering a fate even worse than death."
"We're in the Void, sire. We can't change any of that. But we can do one thing.
Sally deserves a better memorial than either Naugus or Robotnik have given her."
The King looked up, meeting Ari's eyes.
"She's a completely different person than the one I left behind in Mobotropolis,"
Max said. "I can't give her that. I don't even know my own daughter anymore."
Determination sparkled in his eyes. "That's another thing we can change, though."
He stood up, marching in a straight line towards the throne room's large doorway.
His cloak swept through the air behind him.
Ari watched him leave. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to use the surveillance device that blasted wizard keeps locked up.
Look in on my daughter's life before her roboticization."
The ram frowned. "Naugus has forbidden you to use it, though. He'll be... upset
if he finds you there."
"Who the hell cares?" The King slammed the door behind him as he left.
Productions, and Archie Comics. Based heavily off of situations written for DiC by Ben
Hurst in the episode "The Void", and by Len Janson in the episode "Sonic Boom", so
some familiarity with those episodes will help the reader. Questions and comments are
more than welcome, so send them to charpalm@mediaone.net
Rated PG for language and a short scene with very graphic violence.
Foreknowledge
A Sonic the Hedgehog story by Tristan Palmgren
---
Chapter 1: To Love and Lose
---
Timeline: From the King's perspective, two years have passed since his banishment into
the Void.
---
The scratching of a pen's tip, scribbling facts and figures on a thick piece of worn
parchment, was the only noise in that echoed off the distant walls and numerous crystalline
stalactites of the castle's throne room.
King Maximillion Acorn, heir to the Mobotropolis Royal Crown and exile, stifled
the noise of even his own breathing. He had long ago learned that he preferred the Void's
silence to sound. Sound was a distraction, dragging him out of his work and back into
reality. Any time he so much as looked upon his surroundings, all he could think of was
that he wanted to shed them like a reptile would a crinkled and dirty skin, and be cleansed
of it forever. The crystal rocks poking haphazardly from the floors and walls, the angles
of the skewed yet surreally familiar doors and hallways, all would remind him of what a
disgusting mockery this castle was.
Silence let him submerge into the task; submergence let him forget.
His work gradually consumed the parchment's available space. With mild
annoyance, he flipped the sheet over and began working in a clean space. He rarely set
the pen down, or even took it away from the sheet, but when he did, his eyes always
drifted over to a sketch drawn in the margins of the page. It was rough, and not
professionally detailed, but the basic shape alone was discernible. It was a large circle,
inset with other smaller circles: the portal to the Void. A single word was scrawled next
to it, deeply enough to leave a dimpling on the thick parchment. It read "Escape".
The scraping sound of an old, wooden door opening shattered the silence. King
Acorn took his eyes away from his work, peering upwards.
"How goes our work today, my aged apprentice?" a rasping voice inquired.
Footsteps echoed across the cavernous throne room as the figure drew closer to the
workbench.
King Acorn grimaced. Over the past two years, he had come to hate that voice
with a bitter intensity that he had only felt for one other person in his life. He reluctantly
set the pen down on the parchment, positioned so that it carefully hid the sketch of the
Void, and turned his chair to face the newcomer.
"Not very well, I'm afraid," the King replied, looking his 'master' straight in the
eye. "As seems usual with a case like this. I'm still afraid that there really is no way out
of the Void, beyond being dragged out from the outside."
"I expected as much from you," Ixis Naugus replied icily. He stepped closer,
laying his hand down on the King's workbench. His hand idly flicked the pen aside, and
regarded the drawing with a raised eyebrow.
Max Acorn held his breath, feeling like a child for fearing Naugus so.
Thankfully, Naugus only viewed it with an air of chilly disinterest. "Becoming an
artist in our old age, Max?"
"It seems the only way to pass time while trapped here, master," Max reluctantly
responded, secretly thinking to himself that Naugus was in no position to make jabs at his
age.
"No matter. I've come here because I wanted to show you something," Naugus
said, stepping over to one of the false throne room's blank walls. "Come," he beckoned.
Max stood up, following a few steps behind the bearded wizard. His boots
clacked across the stone floorings louder than Naugus's footsteps.
"You resent being taken away from your work," Naugus said matter-of-factly, as if
he could read the King's mind. "But I've made some discoveries you'll be interested in.
With the surveillance device we built."
Max nodded quietly. He and Naugus had built the machine over a month ago; the
work that went into its construction was the only thing the King had to be proud of for the
past two years. It allowed a person trained in its use to view events in the real world as
they were happening, by opening a microscopically small fissure in the air, an invisibly
small portal that would lead to the Void. Although nothing from inside the Void could
escape, light and sound heading inward could be captured. The micro-fissure was capable
of being opened anywhere in the world, from Robotnik's most secure laboratories to the
ocean floor. It was the ultimate scrying device, but Naugus had forbidden him to use it.
"How well do you remember your daughter, Sire?"
Max stopped dead in his tracks, unsure of what to do. Showing any signs of
weakness would usually only invite more of the sorcerer's abuse; right now, though, he
felt nothing but weak.
Memories flashed before him, images as vivid as if they were happening right now.
He remembered the first time he had ever seen her as an infant, fur still damp, coiled up in
her new mother's arms. He saw the smile that had lit up her face when he dropped her off
at Rosie's, the morning before the coup. It had been the last time he had seen her. He
could never forget that smile.
"That well, eh?" Naugus chuckled. "Do you wish to see what has become of her
in your absence?"
The King felt his lips move almost automatically, answering before he had a chance
to even think. "More than anything in the world."
Naugus raised a flattened palm the air. Max stepped backward involuntarily,
cursing his servile fright. He had thought for a moment that Naugus was going to strike
him, but the palm remained steady.
**I was never like this before**, the King thought sourly, **I had willpower. I
was a leader, not a servant.**
A heavy, bass thud reverberated throughout the throne room. Max fought back
his instinct to flinch. When he glanced back at Naugus, he saw that the floor in front of
the empty wall had shot upwards, crumbling the rock around it. A large, flat video
monitor almost half the size of the throne room had risen from the ground. Naugus
lowered his hand, nodding in satisfaction.
That was the trouble with interacting with Naugus. The old wizard didn't look
like much of a foe. His long, bleached white beard and the horn growing out of the middle
of his forehead only lent him the ludicrous appearance of an insane beggar. Yet, a single
motion in his fingertips could split the earth and change the world...
The monitor crackled to life, spitting out static and then the haunting howl of the
Void. Somewhere in the real world, Max knew, a micro-fissure was opening. The image
cleared up slowly, wavering for several moments before finally becoming steady. Colors
gradually resolved themselves from the gloom, but there still wasn't much to see.
This wasn't from any fault of the camera itself, but instead just from the general
lack of light from the real world. The micro-fissure had opened indoors, in a corridor
glowing only with the dim red color of low-power light bulbs.
"Where is this?"
Naugus's face twisted into a sneer. "This is your glorious capital city. It's been...
redecorated by that low life, War Minister Julian."
More memories flooded back to the King, none of them pleasant. Years-old anger
stirred within him -- Julian was the only person that he hated more than Naugus.
He heard footsteps slap down against the metal floors. Echoes made it difficult to
say exactly how many people were making the noise. Within seconds, three figures ran
into view from below the micro-fissure, and stopped below one of the muted red bulbs.
Soft light played across their features.
Two of them he didn't recognize, but his jaw dropped when he saw the third. It
was his daughter, Sally Acorn, but she had changed in a way that Max had never
expected. She had grown.
The face on the monitor was definitely the sleek, regal face of the Acorn heir, but
over a decade of growth had worked their way into her features. She was taller, much
taller, and possessed the budding body of a young adult female. The King pegged her age
at around sixteen or seventeen years of age.
The biggest change, though, was the eyes. Not a spark of innocence was left.
"That's im-impossible!" Max stuttered, feeling his heart sinking. **I've lost eleven
years out of my daughter's life. ** "I've only been trapped in the Void for two years!
She was five when I left!" **My daughter's grown eleven years without her father. **
**Eleven years. **
"She couldn't have grown that much in only two years. There hasn't been enough
time!"
Naugus threw him a disgusted glance. "Time? Have you forgotten where you are,
lackey? Time is something that happens to other people."
The King snapped his muzzle shut, and watched.
---
"'Twan? C'mon, Sal, the hedgehog can do this by himself."
"No, Sonic, there are too many guards!" the Princess protested.
"And you think that, of all people, Antoine can help me?"
"Zat is zee plan, you fuel!"
The heavily accented fox planted his hands on his hips, staring crossly at the
hedgehog, trying to look as menacing as possible. He didn't pull it off. The blue-quilled
hedgehog's eyes rolled upwards, and he shook his head.
King Acorn narrowed his eyes, examining the fox. He was dressed in the garb of
the Royal Guard: his daughter's bodyguard, perhaps? The guard thrust an angry thumb at
his chest. The metal buttons on his uniform's shoulder glinted in the poor light. "I'll have
you knowing zat I am being much too very brave an' strong for zose miserable SWATbots."
The hedgehog, Sonic, cast a wry glance at Sally. "Is he full of himself, or what?"
"His ego's smaller than yours," Sally snapped back. She took a deep breath, and
shook her head. "Sonic, now is not the time to change the plan! We agreed on this last
night: you and Antoine distract the armory's guards, while I sneak in and plant the
explosives. If you had problems with it, you should've brought it up then!"
Sonic merely shrugged. "I just know that 'Twan's gonna mess it up, just like he
always does."
"Use your head! There are too many SWATbots for you to take on alone."
"Talk about your oxymorons. There's never too many. Later!"
The hedgehog's legs whirled around in a circle, revving up like a motor. His
sneakers appeared to not so much as speed up as opposed to *blur*. A high-pitched
whine that the King had only heard once before screamed through the air.
Sally grabbed the hedgehog by the shoulder before he could take off, a resigned
expression on her face. "Just... be careful, okay?"
"As always, Sal."
She leaned forward, planted a quick peck on his cheek, and let go. The hedgehog
took off.
---
Max turned to Ixis Naugus. "What's become of my daughter's life? That one was
Sir Charles's nephew, I know. But what of the other? And what were they doing?"
"Questions, questions," Naugus sighed. "You should recognize the other. He's
the son of one of your former advisors."
Naugus didn't need to finish, as long-forgotten memories filled in the pieces of the
puzzle. "General Francois D'Coolette," the King said. He hadn't thought of the stern old
man in quite some time; now his son was apparently an important fixture in the Princess's
life. So much could happen in a decade.
"I've only been watching them for a few days, so I'm not entirely sure," Naugus
confessed, "But they seem to be part of a roguish band of Freedom Fighters out to destroy
dear old Julian. Your daughter is their leader, apparently."
King Acorn's gaze fell back to the monitor, and to his daughter. Although much
time had passed, she was still only a child in her mid-teens. Leading a group of Freedom
Fighters?
Max remembered himself at that age – the responsibility of being heir to the throne
weighed heavily upon him. He'd had to feel and act old even as a teenager. The same
thing must be happening to Sally, only her dire situation must be magnifying the
phenomenon a hundredfold.
Naugus continued speaking, occasionally gesturing at the screen. "Right now,
they're trying to bomb one of Julian's armories. The hedgehog will try and distract the
metal men standing guard outside, while the Princess and her bodyguard are supposed
sneak in and plant several explosives." A smile twitched at the corners of the wizard's
lips. "Unfortunately, that won't happen."
"You've seen this before, then?" the King asked. "You know what will happen?"
"Oh, yes." The smile grew wider. "That's why I wanted to show it to you." He
snapped his fingers, and the camera view changed.
Max suddenly had a very sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned back
towards the monitor.
---
The corridor had apparently widened out into a larger, box-like room. A set of
double-doors consumed most of one of the walls. Two of the city's robotic police force,
Julian had called them SWATbots, the King recalled, stood motionlessly on both sides of
the doors. Red light glistened off their helmet's amber visors.
There was a flash of blue, and suddenly the hedgehog was standing between them.
A chuckle echoed through the room, and then he was gone again. A trail of dust marked
his passage through one of the side corridors.
The two guards didn't hesitate to give chase. In unison, they both raised their
arms, leveling them at the retreating hedgehog. Bursts of crackling blue energy erupted
from their wrists, slamming into the walls nearby the Freedom Fighter. Metal split and
crumbled, shooting sparks in every cardinal direction.
The King winced. The city's police force hadn't been equipped with laser cannons
anywhere near as powerful as what he had just seen. Julian must have retrofitted the
Peacebots with them after the exile into the Void.
"Priority One Hedgehog – Freeze!"
Sonic dashed around a corner, and out of the guards' line of fire. One of the
robots continued to pursue him. The other stopped dead in its tracks.
Max heard Naugus's chuckle. "The Freedom Fighters hadn't planned for this
scenario."
The SWATbot reached down to its left wrist, expertly punching a number of
buttons in rapid succession. It held the wrist to its face. Judging by the layout of the
buttons and the appearance of a small, meshed speaker, the King guessed that it was a
communication device of some sort.
"Alert, Warehouse 6-G," the SWATbot ordered. "Flank the building. Seal off all
entrance and exit points."
The SWATbot turned on its heel, and marched back over to the armory door.
"What's happening, Naugus?" the King asked.
"Julian apparently got tired of the Freedom Fighters outwitting legion after legion
of SWATbots," Naugus's voice dropped to a hiss at the mention of Julian. "So he
upgraded their AI programs to more effectively deal with diversionary tactics. It... catches
your daughter by surprise, I'm afraid."
As if to prove Naugus's point, two pairs of footsteps began echoing down the
corridor drew the remaining guard's attention. The camera angle rotated slightly, just in
time for the King to see his daughter and the uniformed fox run around the corner. They
skidded to a halt almost immediately.
"Soneec did not distract zee guards! Zat stupeed hedgehog! He failed!" Antoine
groaned under his breath.
The SWATbot began to raise its laser-augmented wrist. It wasn't even going to
give them a warning.
"Antoine, duck!"
The Freedom Fighters tried to jump back behind the corner. Antoine wasn't fast
enough. The SWATbot's wrist glowed, and spat laser at the fox's chest. Even the King,
from his distant vantage point, could tell that there wasn't enough time to dodge. The fox
hastily cast up his right arm to deflect the blast.
Throwing up his arm at the last minute saved Antoine's life, but the damage to the
fox's body was severe. The laser burned through his arm's fur and flesh, searing and
melting both, before finally being absorbed by his forearm's bone. His uniform's sleeve
burst into flames.
Antoine screamed with a pain he had never known before.
Sally grabbed Antoine by the neck, and dragged him back around the corner. Her
shocked eyes quickly surveyed the wound, and, in a single motion, ripped the sleeve of his
uniform off his shoulder, and flung the still-burning fabric onto the floor.
Smoke licked upwards from *inside* the wound. The laser's energy had not only
charred and cauterized the flesh, but the bone as well.
Antoine's eyes and mouth were clenched tightly shut. He held a trembling left
hand over the wound, trying to contain some of the smoke as if it were blood. His jaw
wavered.
"Oh, no," was about all Sally could manage. Empathy stronger than anything the
King had ever felt surged in her eyes.
"P-Princess," Antoine stuttered, jaw still trembling treacherously. "I cannot move
my hand, Princess."
The fox's right hand hung limp. There had obviously been some damage to his
nervous system.
"I don't know if-" Sally was interrupted. The SWATbot's metal boots were
echoing up the corridor, getting closer. It was running towards them. Without thinking,
she grabbed Antoine's good arm and began running. The fox was able to keep pace, but
just barely. "Come on!"
---
"Naugus," the King started, and then thought better of it. "Master, I implore you.
Tell me what happens to my daughter!"
"See for yourself." The wizard's bony fingers snapped, and the camera view
changed once more.
---
It was another dimly lit amber red corridor, nearly identical to the others that the
King had seen, except that this one was somewhat lengthier. Both ends of the corridor
stretched far off into the distance. There were no doors or markings anywhere, only
uniform gunmetal gray walls. The complex the Freedom Fighters had infiltrated was
obviously very large; that gave Max a modicum of hope. It would be easy for them to
stay hidden in such a vast, empty facility.
Sally and the wounded fox were running down its length, hardly stopping for
breath. The fox was still nursing his wounded arm, although thankfully no more smoke
was emerging from the wound. Occasionally, he would drip of small blotch of blood red
on the ground beneath him, but the laser's searing heat had cauterized most of the gash,
sealing the arteries. Whimpers recurrently issued from his throat.
Sally glanced behind her. "I think we lost it." But they didn't stop running.
The high-pitched whine the King had come to recognize as the hedgehog's
speeding legs grew louder, and a streak of dust rounded the corner up ahead. It slowed as
it approached Sally, and the burred streak of blue became recognizable as Sonic.
"Yo, Sal, did you-" the hedgehog cut himself off when he saw Antoine. "What the
hell? What happened?"
The fox only whimpered, jaw trembling. He cupped his good hand protectively
over the injury.
"There was a guard still at the door," Sally said hastily. "He shot Antoine."
"Still there? But I thought I had both of them running after me!" Sonic scratched
his head, his eyes wide open in alarm.
"Doesn't matter now," Sally said. "We need to get him back to Knothole. Maybe
Booksh-"
"Priority One Hedgehog," a security bot's voice rumbled from the end of the
corridor. The three Freedom Fighters spun instantly around, facing it's raised forearm.
The laser-augmented wrist glowed menacingly in the poor light.
"It's a trap!" Sally's whisper got caught in her throat.
Sonic raised his clenched fists. "It's okay, I'll get us out of this-"
The SWATbot spoke once more, interrupting the hedgehog. King Acorn felt a
shiver ripple down his spine. His jaw ached from being clenched shut for so long. "New
orders – shoot to kill."
Without further warning, a laser bolt screamed down the hallway and slamming
into Antoine's throat. The fox flew backwards, smashing bodily against the far wall. A
spray of blood glimmered against the ceiling, in stark contrast to the cold gray metal. He
slumped to the floor, and didn't move again.
The hedgehog gasped, and tried to rev up his legs and escape. Sally only had time
to whisper something unintelligible before the SWATbot fired again.
One shot caught the hedgehog's leg. He fell to his knees, too shocked from pain
to try and move. The next laser hit him squarely in the center of the chest, throwing his
body backwards to finally fall, belly up, on the floor. The laser had instantly burned
through the outer layer of flesh and had smashed through his ribcage with sheer, brute
force. His internal organs had been instantly cooked by the scorching heat.
Sally involuntarily stepped backwards, hands almost covering her wide-open
mouth. She looked like she was screaming, but could force no sound to emerge from her
lips.
"No," the King cried. A tear rolled down his cheek. "Naugus, make it stop!"
"That is beyond my power, Max," Naugus cackled, almost gleefully. He was
enjoying this. "We cannot escape the Void. This is all happening in the real world."
Sally couldn't take her eyes of the corpse of the hedgehog. Her breathing came
out suddenly, in slow, muffled gasps. She looked as if she were too afraid to say anything,
as if taking any action whatsoever would prove that this was reality, and not simply the
terrifying escape of nightmare.
She tore her gaze away from the gruesome remains of her only love, and towards
the robot still standing at the end of the hallway. Its wrist glowed with unspent laser
energy.
"Priority One Target eliminated. Priority Two: Princess Acorn. Surrender or
die."
Sally stood shock still in the corridor. Everything was horribly quiet.
"Surrender or die," the SWATbot repeated.
A whisper, too soft to be heard by the SWATbot, escaped Sally's throat. "Kill
me."
The King had been biting his lip, and only noticed it now when blood started
trickling into his mouth. He couldn't even feel the pain from the cut.
"This is your last warning."
Sally's fist curled up into a ball. She tried to speak again, but her voice choked up.
The SWATbot didn't acknowledge it. Instead, its wrist began to glow brighter as it once
more prepared to discharge a laser burst.
A gloved metal hand swept down from around the corner and knocked the
SWATbot's arm to the side. The laser beam exploded harmlessly against a wall. The
Princess didn't even flinch.
"No, no," a deep voice chuckled ominously, "we can't let her get off that easy, can
we?"
The King's face twisted into a snarl. "Julian."
The SWATbot obediently lowered its arm as Ivo Robotnik stepped into the light.
More robotic guards had appeared behind him, as well as a shorter, frailer human with a
ridiculously bird-like nose. Robotnik's red eyes gleamed with a red light all their own as
they surveyed the carnage.
"The hedgehog is dead... it just makes me feel warm, and alive, for the first time in
years. I feel... hungry for more. Wouldn't you agree, Snively?"
"Yes, sir," the bird-nosed human said, mouth curled in disgust as he looked at the
remains of the Freedom Fighters.
"Dig up and clean out some of the old stoves from King Acorn's royal kitchen.
And have the SWATbots take the hedgehog's remains there."
"But that's just-"
"This is one meal that I'm really going to enjoy."
Resignation overtook revulsion on the smaller human's face. "Yes, sir."
Robotnik's forefinger and thumb squeezed a lump of flab on his arm. "Oh, pinch
me, I must be dreaming. Sally Acorn is also in my grasp." A wide grin split his face.
"Tell me, Princess, how does it feel?"
Sally's expression went blank. Without another word, she simply turned around
and began running towards the opposite end of the corridor.
Robotnik sighed, and took a step to the side to give the SWATbots a clearer view.
"You," he jabbed his thumb towards the nearest guard, "shoot her in the leg."
Sally didn't cry out, didn't even utter a single whisper, as the laser beam cut her
down. She stumbled to the floor, incapacitated, with blood oozing from a new wound in
her calf.
"Retooling the SWATbot AI was a marvelous idea, Snively. Simply ingenious."
"Oh… thank you, sir."
Julian's boots echoed down the corridor as he moved towards Sally's fallen form.
"One more order, Snively."
"Go ahead, sir."
"Warm up the roboticizer."
---
The video screen flickered in response to Naugus's command, and the scene
changed. Some time had passed, but the King couldn't tell how much. Sally imprisoned
in a clear glass tube in the center of a large, cavernous room, leaning against the wall for
support. From the camera's angle, Max could just barely see the charred and singed fur
around the wound in her leg.
"Well, Princess, you and I both knew that it would only be a matter of time,"
Julian grinned. "After all, you and your friends have taken so many risks in your attacks
on my city. It was only a matter of time before the dice rolled my way, for once." The
obese man tweaked his flaring orange mustache. "A shame you and your friends are
finished thanks to that rather stupid coincidence. I would have preferred it if your demise
was more dramatic."
The frail human looked down, occasionally tapping a few buttons on a computer
console. "Therite field at maximum. Ready to roboticize."
Sally's hands pounded against her glass cage. The tube muted out all sound, but
her eyes were wide open in the universal human expression of fear.
"Activate."
Electric blue flashes of lightning arced down from the ceiling of the glass tube,
tearing across the Princess's body. Her toes seemed to... mesh together, and reform into
one solid block of metal. The effect swept up her legs, changing warm fur and flesh into
cooling gray steel. Her wound disappeared under a sheath of metal.
The King rushed forward, pounding his fists against the titanic video monitor. He
heard someone shout, and recognized his own voice. What hurt the most was the fact that
there was nothing he could do. Not even his helpless cries of protest would carry over
into the other world.
Julian's grin grew wider. "Goodbye, Princess. It's been fun."
Sally's fists clenched, fingers fusing into one solid chunk of metal. Her arms
straightened as the bone itself was chemically twisted into a solid metal rod. Her
midsection was flattened, the electricity burned up to her shoulders. A blood-curdling
scream managed to break free of the otherwise soundproofed roboticizer. Sally's face
actually bent, changed its shape. Her blue eyes clenched shut.
When they opened again, they were a solid mechanical red.
King Acorn sunk to his knees, mouth agape.
"100 percent roboticization factor, sir," Snively reported, fingers playing across
the computer console. The glass door popped open, and the robot emerged from the tube.
Robotnik walked over to it, rapping the robot's head gently. It didn't react.
"You can still hear me, can't you, Princess? Your mind is still trapped in there.
Helpless. But capable of seeing, and hearing, and feeling. I can only imagine how
torturous that must be. Oh, this is too good... Worker bot, your first duty is to go to the
castle kitchen and to assist in preparing the feast."
"Yes," Sally droned.
"Afterwards... hmmm... we'll put you on sewer patrol. How does that sound?"
"Orders acknowledged."
"Make sure that you enjoy yourself, Princess. Remember, I like my meat rare."
Naugus's bony fingers snapped. The video screen blurred, and finally faded into
nothingness.
---
For a moment, there was no sound in the false castle's throne room. Then a
hissing noise, like two weathered bricks scraping against one another, became audible, and
began to grow louder.
It was Naugus, laughing.
"That was too much," Naugus rasped, still chuckling, "I enjoyed that, and I'm
enjoying your reaction even more. I've seen that scene before, but this time had to be the
most fun."
"That... that wasn't real. It couldn't be."
"I'm afraid it was real. And it took place eleven years, four months, and thirteen
days after you were exiled from your kingdom."
King Acorn held a hand out to the blank screen, brushing his fingers across it.
"Sally... nothing deserves to die like that."
"But she didn't die," Naugus corrected. "Julian transmuted her flesh to metal."
"Worse than death," the King mumbled. His vision blurred as his eyes teared over
again. "Please, Naugus, there must be something we can do to stop that!"
"It's already happened, Max. It's history." Naugus grating laugh echoed across
the throne room again. He held up his palm, and the blank video monitor fell back into the
floor. The King watched it recede into the rock. "And besides, I don't wish to save those
rodents."
"You said it yourself, Naug-" Max stopped himself. "Master. We're in the Void.
Time is something that happens to other people. There must be something we can do to
stop this! There has to be!"
Naugus's tone darkened. "You little fool. You think I showed you that out of any
sort of pity?"
"Then why-"
"I showed it to you to have a little fun. You're becoming surprisingly
insubordinate of late, Max. You seem to think that there's something waiting for you out
there, in the real world, if only you can escape."
King Acorn felt himself tremble involuntarily. An emotion, something that the
King had never experienced before, began to well up within him, and drown out even his
sorrow. Whatever this new emotion was, it was primal.
"I wanted to demonstrate to you how completely and utterly inept your futile
dreams are. There is nothing out there waiting for you, Max. Even your daughter lies
among the dead. There is no reason left to be alive, other than to be MY servant. Is that
clear?"
A rage the like of which the King had never felt before took over. There would be
time for mourning later. Now it was the time for anger. His fists clenched. "You... you
showed me my daughter's death... just to torment me?"
"Your life from before the Void is over, Max. I want you to recognize that only
servitude, to me, sustains your existence now."
Naugus's eyes burned.
"Do you understand me? There is nothing left for you to live for out there.
Nothing but me."
"NEVER!" His shout pierced the air, shocking even himself. Naugus took an
instinctive step backwards; Max's trained eye recognized it as a show of weakness. The
King rushed towards Ixis Naugus, fists balled up as weapons.
He didn't make more than two steps.
The sorcerer leveled his index finger at the King like it was a weapon. Green fire
spewed from the rock itself, singing Max's fur and knocking him off his feet into a jarring
impact with the floor. The blow knocked the wind out of him, and for a moment he
wasn't able to focus his eyes.
"Never attack a wizard. I thought that you'd learned that the first day you came
here."
The world came sharply into focus suddenly. Naugus was standing over the
King's prone body. With a snap of the sorcerer's fingers, invisible hands grabbed Max by
the shoulders of his military uniform and lifted him high off the ground.
"Pray you never make a mistake like that again, Max." Naugus snarled. "Have
you learned the lesson I wanted you to, hm? Tell me, what is your reason for living now?"
The King struggled against the unseen arms suspending him in the air, but was
allowed no quarter. "To see my daughter again," he choked.
Searing, terrifying acute pain shot through his body for the longest time. Even
though it couldn't have been more than three minutes, it felt like an hour.
"Wrong answer. Why do you live?" Naugus asked again, calmly.
"Sally," the King gasped.
The pain lasted longer this time. When it was over, the King's breath came out in
long, drawn-out weeps.
"Why do you live?"
Nothing mattered now except the pain. The King felt something in his soul snap.
There was no choice but to submit. "To serve you, Master Naugus," he sobbed.
"Very good. Is there anything left out there, in the real world, waiting for you?"
"No, master!"
"Do you wish to escape to see your daughter, Princess Sally Acorn?"
The King's head hung, and he paused for several breaths. "No, Naugus."
Max felt the arms release him, and he fell quite some distance to the floor. He
almost didn't feel the impact. The pain had numbed him to almost all sensation but itself.
"Remember it always. I was hoping this lesson wouldn't need to be as... messy.
You disappoint me."
Without another word, Naugus left the throne room. The King waited until he
was sure that Naugus was gone, and then sunk to the ground. He didn't even feel himself
sobbing, or notice the tears beading together on the floor.
---
Max Acorn wasn't sure how long he had lain there; it was as if no time at all had
passed, and yet the world itself had leapt a century into the future. In the Void, he knew,
this was half-true.
That thought clung to the King's mind as he dragged himself across the false
throne room, and to his old workbench. He landed in the chair heavily, and with a single
heave, threw the book of worn parchment aside. It landed with a clatter somewhere
outside the field of his vision.
"You old fool," Max muttered under his breath. He wasn't sure whom he was
talking about: himself, or Naugus.
Naugus certainly wasn't the most astute judge of human nature. It was clear that
he had been angling to coerce Max into more work. Now, the last thing on his mind was
doing anything that that... creature demanded.
But Naugus was right. There was nothing left to live for, now. He had barely
managed to sustain his existence on hope for two years. The hope that someday he would
break free of the Void and be reunited with his family, and reclaim the kingdom and the
life that were stolen from him. Whenever hope had failed he would bury himself in his
scientific studies, and numb the pain that way.
Now he couldn't bring himself to either hope or work.
He reflected on Sally's last few moments as an organic being, standing shaken and
traumatized over the bodies of the other Freedom Fighters. He had only come to know
the others in their last few moments of life, but from what he had seen, the King knew that
they most have been very important to his daughter, especially the hedgehog. Was what
he was feeling right now the very thing that had flashed through his daughter's mind
standing in the corridor?
With them gone, did she too feel nothing left to live for?
In his mind's eye, the King saw himself standing in the very same corridor,
kneeling over his daughter's slain body. A SWATbot stood leveling its laser-augmented
wrist at his forehead.
Nothing and nobody left to live for.
Max's whisper echoed his daughter's last words. "Kill me."
Footsteps once more echoed across the rocky floor of the false throne room.
These weren't the heavy sounds of Naugus's strong, imperious strides, but a pair of feet
that moved with practiced stealth. This was the third occupant of the Void, a person that
Naugus had yet to discover. He was well hidden.
The King ignored the irritating grating of wood against stone as he turned his chair
around. "Ari. Did you-"
The ram stopped in the middle of the room, as if afraid to approach any further.
"No, I didn't know that would happen. I left that world before then. But... I did know
your daughter as she appeared on that screen. As a Freedom Fighter, and not a child."
"You knew that a decade of my daughter's life had gone by? Then why didn't you
tell me?"
"Would you have accepted it if I had?"
Max held a hand to his eye, pretending to rub it clear but discreetly wiping away
the formation of a tear. He shook his head. "No, no, I suppose I wouldn't have. To
think that you have known my daughter, as an adult, even though you only arrived here
three months ago? To me, it's only been two years since Mobotropolis fell. And for
you..."
"...over a decade."
"I would been almost insensate, unable to concentrate on anything else."
Ari stepped forward again. Ever since he had been thrown into the Void, he had
remained here, in this room or a hidden bunker nearby, to stay hidden from Naugus. Both
of them knew that if the sorcerer ever found Ari, he would either be killed or converted
into one of Naugus's servants, like the King.
It had scarcely been a year since Naugus had begun to trust his servant enough to
teach him some minor magical tricks, for use in his studies. Although the king's budding
talents were still small, they had proven to be useful. Soon after Ari arrived, Max erected
a magical ward around the throne room that would be able to fool Naugus's bizarre
sensing power. The sorcerer would never be able to sense Ari's presence. Unfortunately,
the limited range of the ward kept him chained to this single room.
"Exactly. I didn't tell you because you never would've been able to concentrate
on what Naugus tells you to do. He would've killed you."
The King sighed, looking down at the floor. "I see. Now that I... that I know, is
there anything you can tell me about my daughter? I just want to know... what I missed."
"She saved my life once," Ari said, "just after we first met. She risked her own to
do it, too, even though I was the one who sold out her friends to Robotnik."
The King glanced over at the wall where the video screen had been.
Ari continued. "Seeing her roboticization, on Naugus's monitor, was as much a
shock to me as it was to you. Nothing deserves an existence like that. Not even
Robotnik. But at least I feel better knowing that, while she was out there and alive, she
did good. She helped a lot of people, many more than just me. She leaves a fine legacy
behind, your Highness."
"I won't be able to see any of it. I can't be there for her. And she still ends up
suffering a fate even worse than death."
"We're in the Void, sire. We can't change any of that. But we can do one thing.
Sally deserves a better memorial than either Naugus or Robotnik have given her."
The King looked up, meeting Ari's eyes.
"She's a completely different person than the one I left behind in Mobotropolis,"
Max said. "I can't give her that. I don't even know my own daughter anymore."
Determination sparkled in his eyes. "That's another thing we can change, though."
He stood up, marching in a straight line towards the throne room's large doorway.
His cloak swept through the air behind him.
Ari watched him leave. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to use the surveillance device that blasted wizard keeps locked up.
Look in on my daughter's life before her roboticization."
The ram frowned. "Naugus has forbidden you to use it, though. He'll be... upset
if he finds you there."
"Who the hell cares?" The King slammed the door behind him as he left.