Part Four
I loved life so much
**"Benjamin...I'm from the future. I have to tell you, I sent a hero back to you. Please, give him this message from me!"
"But you are me! Can you tell me, tell me, please...how will it all end?"
"No...because I do not know. I can see a little, but it is foggy."
"Will the evil escape again?"
"I don't know...I don't know..." The future self shook her head. She saw shattered glass. She saw dead stars. She heard a whisper in her mind...
**You can't keep chasing after IT like this...you know that you must end it. You weren't supposed to exist this long.**
But she did not answer. Because it could not be true. She didn't want it to be true.
"No, I am afraid I do not know how it will all end."**
*****
Sonic followed after the girl.
"Where are we going, exactly?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said.
He walked alongside her. "What IS that thing?"
She peered down at him and the box he held. She was a good dealer taller than him.
"IT is evil."
"I knew that!"
She sighed. "IT is an evil energy. IT is made from dust and decay and death. IT swallows all life. IT thrives on souls..."
Sonic's eyes widened. "It eats souls?"
She nodded. "It keeps them within ITself. IT feeds off them, slowly...because IT gets pleasure from both the eating, and the pain the eating causes..."
The hedgehog rubbed his head. "Man, this is giving me a headache!" He thought of that scream he'd heard from Sally...or her soul rather. Had IT been feeding off her soul at that moment?
He shuddered hard and couldn't seem to stop. Benjamin touched her hand to his shoulder. For some reason, it soothed him. The tremors went away, and calmness replaced them.
He looked up at her. "Who are you?" The question tumbled out like a gasp.
"I am the Guardian of IT."
"But how did ya ever get tangled up with that thing?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it, looking confused. "I have always been around IT. Ever since I was born. IT seems that we came into being at the same time..."
He frowned. "What'd your parents think about IT?"
"I...I..." She faltered. "My mother..." She looked up at the sky, blinking. Sonic saw tears gathering in her green eyes.
"I...I do not remember a mother... But I must have one. Everyone has a mother."
He cleared his throat. "Maybe, she uh, died when you were little... A lot of our moms, the freedom fighters, I mean, a lot of our moms are dead..."
She looked down at him. "Is yours?"
He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, I really don't know."
"I do not remember being separated from a mother. Do not remember if there WAS one to be separated from..."
He suddenly felt very lonely. Separated from life and love. He wondered if it was her feelings somehow washing over him.
**With everything else weird happening around here, I wouldn't be surprised!**
He had the sudden urge to give her a hug. He embraced her a little awkwardly. She didn't seem surprised, but sank to her knees and hugged him back. They stayed like that for several moments.
The strange feeling faded away from him.
Benjamin released him and smiled a little. Like her whole aura, it was tinged with melancholy.
**He felt my sadness. It overwhelmed me for a moment. I cannot be wrapped up in myself. I must take IT away from here.**
"Thank you, blue one, for your help. But now, I must take IT to a safe place."
"Wait a minute...are you telling me to leave?"
She nodded.
"I don't think so."
"You cannot do anything against IT."
"And you can?"
"I am the guardian."
"Look lady, ya dragged me into it, and this is one hedgehog who doesn't back out when the goin' gets tough!"
She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, a black blur slammed into her. She screeched and toppled into Sonic.
The box went flying. Sonic leapt for it, hitting one knee hard on an outcropping of rock. He stumbled and belly-flopped onto the sand, his arms stretched out. The box landed in his hands.
He got to his feet, wincing. He glanced down and saw blood oozing from his scraped and bruised knee.
"Give me that box, hedgehog!"
The voice was familiar. Sonic brought his eyes away from his wound to glare at the face of Commander Packbell.
Packbell held out his hand, and gave Sonic a demeaning look. "Hand that over, hedgehog. It wasn't meant for your hands."
"Like I'd give you anything!" laughed the blue blur. "Except maybe this!" He bent down and snatched a rock, straightened up and whipped it at the android, all in one smooth fast motion.
The android's head snapped back, and he snarled. His hand rubbed at his face, smearing the oil that was his blood over his cheek.
"You'll pay for that, rodent!"
"So cliché!" laughed the hedgehog. "But you never live up to your promises, Pack*smell*."
Ben grabbed his arm urgently. "We must leave."
**He will not give up.** Her head reeled with his thoughts. There wasn't much there...just rebellion, and a smoldering hatred towards the fake man. **But we cannot stay here. The box cannot be broken!**
"Come, blue one! We must get IT to safety!"
The urgency in her voice hit Sonic like a hammer. It was doubled by intense anxiety, which seemed to flow from her hand through his whole body. He pried her hand off his arm. The feeling faded.
**How the heck does she do that? Nevermind. Guess she's right.**
"Ok, c'mon!" He handed her the box, and scooped her up in his arms. She was tall, and his knee throbbed with the increase of weight. He revved up and ran.
She clutched onto the box with both hands, nearly spilling out of his arms. He clutched onto her tighter, shouting, "Lean back into me, so ya don't fall off!"
She obeyed, trying to cuddle into his chest. Her long legs dangled, her feet nearly touching the ground.
**Man, this isn't working too well! This gal is bigger than Sally! Oh man, my knee!**
It burned like fire, felt almost like the nerves were exposed. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore it.
"Blue one, you are hurt! Can you continue?"
"Yeah."
"The fake man is far behind us now."
"Hey, better safe than sorry."
"You cannot run much further."
"Don't worry 'bout me, Benji."
"Please, you must stop."
"Just hang onto that box," he said, refraining from adding 'and keep quiet'.
**We hafta get as far away from ole Packers as we can! That creep'll end up bustin' the box for sure!**
They were in the junkpiles surrounding the city. He turned around a pile and let out a screech. A SWAT on a hoverbike was right there. It fired a laser, which he dodged easily. The girl's weight almost made him tip over.
He set her down.
"I'm gonna trash this bot, k? Hold this." He thrust the box into her arms.
"Blue one, let us just run!"
"It'll just take a sec." He zoomed towards the bot, which was zooming towards him. He leapt up onto a pile of scrap, and leapt off of that, doing a nice backflip. His feet came down hard on the back of the bot's bike.
This caused them to both crash. The bot flew off, bashing its head against the hard ground. A swift spindash from Sonic rendered it a useless pile of scrap.
After the dash however, Sonic wasn't in such good shape. He stumbled down onto one knee, clutching the other. "Ow man."
A worried frown crossed her face. "You are hurt!"
"Yeah," he grunted. "I pulled somethin' or somethin'."
She set down the box and helped him up, supporting his body. He gingerly put his weight on the injured leg. He winced.
"Can you walk?"
He took a few limping steps. "Yeah. Sorta."
She picked up the box. "I must get this to safety."
"Hey hey, you ain't going anywhere without me!"
She looked down at the box, then at him.
"I do not want to leave you, but the box must not be broken or we will all die."
**I know I know... but geez, if Packbell catches her...**
"I will be fine," she blurted. "Do not worry."
"You might need my help!"
She turned and walked away from him.
"HEY!"
She kept walking.
He struggled after her.
"You're gonna get hurt!" he bellowed.
She turned with hooded eyes and he felt a wave of...something...pass over him...
Her eyes...
Green like forest leaves, filled with sparkles...like looking up through the trees at night at the stars...
**Is she like that?** The thought struck him suddenly and he had no idea where it'd come from.
**Like what?
Like the sky...
No...
The stars...**
He stared at her and it seemed he could see through her, like she was so much light and empty timeless space.
"You ain't from around here, are you?" he said and laughed weakly.
"No." she said simply, and turned away again.
Although he had a feeling she could defend herself, he couldn't stop his ego, his 'the man must protect the woman' nature from welling up.
**She might need help.**
So, he followed after, getting irritated with every step. She wasn't slowing down for him, but that wasn't the annoyance.
**I shouldn't have any trouble catching up with anyone! **
He cursed his throbbing knee and forced himself to walk faster. It hurt, sure, but it seemed to be the lesser of the two evils.
**Because the ego is an insatiable thing.** Benjamin thought, after tasting his thoughts. She could read him like a book, a book with all the important parts highlighted. **He follows like any good solider would. Running blindly into the danger. He does not know that this is MY duty. This evil...IT won't get out again. Not this time.**
**You will leave it and run again, like before. You don't perform your duty, you shirk it. Don't you feel the wrongness of it all? The hedgehog saw it. He saw through you...nothing. You're nothing.**
Benjamin frowned. **Silence.**
They sounded like her inner voices, but couldn't be! **I am not nothing! I am a protector of life!** And she suddenly felt a great love for all she saw; the straggly grass, the sky, even the junkpiles.
It could not be her inner voices. It had to be IT, trying to warp her mind. She could feel IT's excitement through the box. She could almost hear it.
**YOUR SOUL IS MINE. YOUR LIFE IS MINE. YOU ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO TRAP ME AGAIN. SO IT SHOULD BE...ALL LIFE WILL END. I WILL BEGIN.**
**NO!** She mind-screamed, with such force her energy rattled the very glass she held.
Sonic saw the black energy seem to shrink in on ITself suddenly, as if fearful, then flared out, pressing ITself against the glass.
He shivered.
"IT is angry," she said. "IT wants out."
"How did IT get in there, anyway?"
"I put IT there."
"You mean IT's been out before?"
"Yes, IT was born free."
"How do you know?" he demanded, his knee throbbing madly. He wanted to rest, yet at the same time didn't, and that made him cranky.
"We are connected somehow, blue one. The evil and I. I...I think we are of the same things...the same material."
"Oh whatever," he scoffed.
**And I thought NICOLE was hard to understand! Maybe St. Jerk was right. This lady DOES sound crazy!**
"Where do you come from, anyway?"
"I am not from this planet. I am from far away. I have been to many places. I caught up to IT finally... IT had killed half of a planet. I trapped IT in this box. I do not know exactly where I was born."
"Why'd ya trap it in a glass box of all things?" he laughed.
"This box is made from me...it was created from my own mind and my wish to keep IT contained. While I hold the box, it is the hardest to break."
He frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"She sighed a little. "It is hard to explain. But think of something that you really believe in. Like your love for the princess."
He jumped. "How do you know about her?"
She hesitated." I could feel it in your head...in your thoughts..."
He decided not to question it. She was weird, that was all there was to it. Psychic, perhaps. He laughed inwardly. Scientific Sally would never buy it. She liked explanations for things. Which meant she wouldn't believe in this 'psychic' bullcrap. But he knew there was something about her, something maybe even beyond psychic. He thought of the way he could almost see through her, like she was made from astral dust, or something. It gave him the creeps.
"Fine, uh, so what were you saying?"
"When you believe in something strongly, then you pour yourself into it. You do not let anyone take it away from you. That is like me and the box. I want so strongly for IT not to escape, that the want actually strengthens the glass..."
"I think I get it," he said. **Yeah right. She makes no sense.**
She smiled. "It is alright if you do not understand, blue one. But the glass is strongest in my hands, which is why I must get IT away from here. You must leave this place on your own, or hide here and I will come back for you."
He scowled. "I don't think so. I'm coming with you."
"Then come," she sighed.
So she began walking again, him barely keeping up.
&&&&&&
They were still walking among the junk when they heard a voice yelling.
They both turned in the direction of the sound, and saw Packbell running towards them. He was a good distance away, but could cover the gap quickly with his android speed and stamina.
"Damn," swore Sonic. "He's always gotta pop up at the wrong time, don't he?
She nodded a little, then broke into a run. Sonic tried to rev up, but his knee hurt too much. He limped behind her, going the fastest he could in his injured state.
"Whatsa matter, hedgehog?" Packbell leapt out in front of them. They stopped. He grinned. "Hurt yourself, didya?"
"Aw, shove it, Pack smell."
"No need for rudeness," the android smirked. "Just hand over the box."
Benjamin clutched the box tightly in her arms. "You cannot have it!"
"Cut the crap, girly. You can't beat me."
She narrowed her eyes, and carefully set the box down behind her. Then she raised her arms above her head, closing her eyes as if deeply concentrating.
**The stars...their power is mine. We are connected. We are one?** She felt her hands tingle with intense energy. Her eyes snapped open.
Packbell saw something in her gaze that made him uneasy. He took a step backwards.
But before she could release whatever power she held, the hedgehog stepped in front of her. "Run, Benjamin! I'll hold him off!"
"No, blue one, let me fight!"
"Just run," grunted the hedgehog, focusing his gaze on the android. Packbell rushed him. Sonic tried to dodge, and managed to avoid the android, just barely. But the next time he wasn't so lucky. Packbell grabbed him up and threw the hedgehog hard into an outcropping of rock.
Sonic stood up again, swaying unsteadily. He blinked, holding a hand to his head. There was a gash across his forehead, and blood was dripping into his eyes.
Packbell charged him again, kicking him in the gut, then grabbing him by the neck and slamming his head repeatedly into the rock.
"NO!"
Packbell went flying. He lay sprawled on the ground, then got up in a daze, his mouth agape as he stared at the girl.
She'd shot something at him. A gun? No...her hands were empty.
She narrowed her eyes. The malicious expression seemed out of place on her face. He saw odd lights in her eyes...lights that shouldn't have been there. For some reason, that made him shudder. He shook it off and ran towards her.
She held out a hand, palm towards him. He felt an incredible surge of power from her direction, then went flying again.
Sonic stared at Benjamin.
"Wow, I didn't know you could do stuff like that."
She merely nodded, and went to help him up. He leaned heavily against her, then tried to support himself.
He couldn't. His entire skull ached...like a giant fist was crushing it.
"Oh man...what did he do to me?"
"It is ok...you will be fine." She put a hand to his head, and he felt better almost instantly. She smiled at him, a smile so sweet and tender, it reminded him of so many things...
Of laying in his mother's arms as a babe. **Funny, I could never remember that before. I never even remembered what she looked like before...**
It reminded him of Sally.
**Whatever happens Sally...it'll be alright. I won't let you get...get hurt by IT again.**
"Sorry to break up the lovely moment, really...but I'm pretty sure this is what Doctor Robotnik was interested in."
Packbell juggled the box between his hands.
"Put it down!" said Sonic.
"Please...be careful with it... set it down gently..."
"What the hell is this thing, anyway?" Packbell stared hard into the box.
There was something black in there. He couldn't really make out a shape. It seemed to move and bounce. But, the harder he stared, the more he saw something. He furrowed his brow, staring as hard as he could. Something seemed to be taking shape...
"NO! DO NOT STARE AT IT LIKE THAT!!"
**He is so evil, that IT will influence him...this cannot happen...not again....not again...**
Packbell looked up, his face eerily calm. His eyes, instead of their fierce red, were a shade of gentle pink. "What happens if IT gets out?" he asked, voice slurred, as if he were almost asleep.
"Do not listen to IT. Fight ITs influence." She approached him carefully.
"I want to know." His voice slurred further. "I wanna see." He lifted the box high above his head.
She sprang. He slammed the box down towards the ground. She reached her hands out...her fingers out. The box was going to land in her hands.
"NO!"
It hadn't.
It hadn't landed in her hands.
It'd shattered.
Against the rocks.
And was seeping out now, slow like toxic clouds, and just as deadly...
**No...it's more deadly. More deadly than contamination could ever be.**
Packbell shook his head, his eyes turning their normal color. The black shape rose up high above them, as if stretching. His mouth stretched in an 'o' shape.
"What have I done?" he whispered.
Sonic looked fearfully at IT, then at Packbell. He never thought he'd hear regret in that bastard's voice.
Packbell was standing the closest to IT. He tried to back away, but IT lashed out with incredible speed.
The evil backed away as if startled. Packbell collapsed to the ground, eyes dull, but seemingly alive.
"He is not real," Ben frowned. "He has no real soul to take..." Then she looked to Sonic. "You must run!"
The evil turned towards him. It lunged. He couldn't help himself; he screamed. He couldn't move. Suddenly she was in front of him.
"NO!" Her voice was not that loud...not even yelling, really, but for some reason it seemed to shake the very earth. The blackness halted in midair and spun.
"AHH..." IT seemed to sigh. Sonic heard no words out loud, rather, he felt them inside himself.
"That thing can talk?" His voice came out in a frightened squeak.
Both Ben and IT ignored him. IT spoke again: "I'VE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH YOU, STAR-SISTER. HOW SWEET YOUR SOUL WILL TASTE."
Sonic took several steps backwards, fighting off the urge to run. It was almost more than he could bear.
IT's very voice was like a shard of darkness penetrating his heart. It seemed to spread through him, staining him. He shivered and drew in a shaky breath. He felt dirty somehow.
Benjamin stared deep into IT. IT could not influence her...had no grip on her mind. "You will not have him...or anyone else ever again."
"NAÏVE. YOU ARE ME. I AM YOU. WE ARE SPLIT NOW. BUT JUST FOR A LITTLE WHILE. WE WILL BE ONE. YOU, DEVOURED."
"No."
"THE OTHER SOULS WERE NOTHING. YOURS IS THE SWEETEST, THE BRIGHTEST. YOU HAVE BEEN MY BEACON. WHEN I HAVE DEVOURED YOUR SOUL, I WILL HAVE INFINITE POWER." IT seemed to purr. "I WILL BEGIN THEN. LIFE WILL END. I WILL BEGIN."
Ben glared in defiance, then suddenly her eyes widened. **You have been my beacon.**
**Could that mean...
NO!*
She moved away from Sonic. The evil ignored the quivering hedgehog and floated after her.
"I know now," she whispered. "I was connected to you. I could trace your path...follow you. I did not realize you could do the same!"
Sonic stared at her. Her green eyes were filling with tears.
"What have I done?" she whispered.
"What?" demanded Sonic in a shrill voice.
She looked over at him. "I am IT's beacon. It follows me, blue one, don't you see? I have brought DEATH to every place I have trod."
"Huh?"
"IT wanted me! IT followed me...like a...like a magnet. And I ran, blue one, I RAN from it! Straight towards others to warn them...instead...I killed them..."
She stared at her adversary with wet cheeks. "I was too selfish to take up my duty. I knew I was supposed to fight, but I never did."
The evil seemed pleased. "YOU ARE AWARE THEN. THE CONNECTION? WE ARE ONE. WE WERE CREATED FROM THE SAME DEAD SPACE AND STARS. WE BOTH TAKE WHAT WE LUST FOR."
"I love life! I did not want to fight you, to die! I loathe you! You are worse than death. You are a thief."
"IT steals souls," Sonic choked on the last word. **IT stole Sally's soul...**
"IT devours what it does not have... I clutch to what I do not have. It is true."
**I didn't want to see.**
"Am I dead space, blue one? Did you see through me? To what I really am?"
He turned his head, but she saw the truth in his eyes. He had seen a glimpse of the real Benjamin...that timeless space...just energy in the guise of a girl... The thing that she had refused to believe for so long.
"I'm not real," she whispered. "I am not real..."
"But," began the hedgehog.
"No!" she interrupted. "I have denied it far too long. I am just a creation of the stars... and so is the evil. We aren't meant to be. That is why I must fight IT...and destroy IT."
She looked down at the ground on which they stood. It was amazing anything could live in the tainted ground near Robotropolis. But there was a tiny pink flower, bright against the gray ground.
"I clutched to what I did not have. Life. I loved life so much. I did not do my duty...destroy the evil. Undo us, for we aren't meant to be, because I wanted to live." She stroked the flower gently. "But I am a danger to life. I must give myself to IT now, blue one."
"No, you can't..."
"Don't be sad. Live please...love your precious life..."
"But...why do you have to die?" His voice came out like a scared child's. "Why can't you just hide the box where nobody will find it?"
"I cannot. I thought IT was hidden last time. I almost cost your entire planet their lives. If you hadn't had the energy to go back in time...
It is the way it must be. It is the way it should have been. Don't hurt for me, Sonic. I was never real to begin with."
A tear rolled down her cheek. IT hovered, filled with anticipation.
"YOUR SOUL WILL GIVE ME ULTIMATE POWER."
"You are wrong," she whispered. "We will both die..." She flung herself forward, arms outspread as if embracing. IT lunged forward into her. They made contact.
The sound was louder than anything he'd ever heard. He covered his ears, screaming. It was all through him...outside and inside, and shuddering through his soul. He felt the world shifting under his feet, and he fell to the ground.
He shielded his face. He looked towards where they were, but couldn't see. Light engulfed them, too bright to make out anything.
**Wait...I can see...**
He saw her silhouette...
"NO!"
The darkness was taking over her silhouette. She was being devoured...
"NO!"
The sound grew louder...Sonic couldn't identify it...but it sounded like all the voices in the world lumped together...threaded together with a strange rushing sound...like dead space. He clamped his hands hard over his ears, mashing them to his skull, but it wouldn't fade. He felt as if his body would explode.
Her brightness was overtaking the darkness.
Then the sound stopped.
Dead silence.
He saw them, merged...bright energy...dark energy... blended perfectly... like yin and yang.
She seemed to grow brighter and brighter, until she winked out, blending into the air...IT darkened until it was nothing more than a shadow on the ground.
The silence stretched.
He curled on the ground.
**Am I deaf?
No...**
Thump thump...
**What's that...?**
His heart. He heard his heart, the blood through his veins.
And then, birds chirping. A breeze playing through the leaves.
He felt the sun, shining down on his bright fur.
**I'm alive...**
He knew without looking that they were gone.
He suddenly realized what had happened...but at the same time, couldn't grasp it. It was like waking from a dream, and knowing the events, but not quite remembering them...
He blinked.
The smell of grass and earth wiped his mind clean, and he breathed in deeply.
**Thank the gods I'm alive!**
He struggled to his feet, then tested his knee. It hurt still, but not as badly as before.
**What a beautiful day!**
The sun wasn't usually so warm this time of year. But it seemed to heat the earth just for him today. The birds were happy too, flying and twittering above his head.
He let out a cry of sheer joy. Then he looked around, a bit embarrassed at his little display.
"Aw, who cares? I'm going home. And gonna give my Sally a nice big kiss when I get there...heh..."
**Maybe even tell her I love her. Cause although I'm alive today, who knows if I'll be tomorrow. And I want her to know.**
He stopped and turned around for a second. He stared at the space where Ben and IT had joined.
**Thank you, Benjamin, for your sacrifice. Even if no one else knows, I'll always remember. You were real in my mind, Ben.**
He breathed in again, and began the long limping trek towards home.
The tiny pink flower waved in breeze. Then titled its head towards the sun.
Today was a good day to live.
I loved life so much
**"Benjamin...I'm from the future. I have to tell you, I sent a hero back to you. Please, give him this message from me!"
"But you are me! Can you tell me, tell me, please...how will it all end?"
"No...because I do not know. I can see a little, but it is foggy."
"Will the evil escape again?"
"I don't know...I don't know..." The future self shook her head. She saw shattered glass. She saw dead stars. She heard a whisper in her mind...
**You can't keep chasing after IT like this...you know that you must end it. You weren't supposed to exist this long.**
But she did not answer. Because it could not be true. She didn't want it to be true.
"No, I am afraid I do not know how it will all end."**
*****
Sonic followed after the girl.
"Where are we going, exactly?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said.
He walked alongside her. "What IS that thing?"
She peered down at him and the box he held. She was a good dealer taller than him.
"IT is evil."
"I knew that!"
She sighed. "IT is an evil energy. IT is made from dust and decay and death. IT swallows all life. IT thrives on souls..."
Sonic's eyes widened. "It eats souls?"
She nodded. "It keeps them within ITself. IT feeds off them, slowly...because IT gets pleasure from both the eating, and the pain the eating causes..."
The hedgehog rubbed his head. "Man, this is giving me a headache!" He thought of that scream he'd heard from Sally...or her soul rather. Had IT been feeding off her soul at that moment?
He shuddered hard and couldn't seem to stop. Benjamin touched her hand to his shoulder. For some reason, it soothed him. The tremors went away, and calmness replaced them.
He looked up at her. "Who are you?" The question tumbled out like a gasp.
"I am the Guardian of IT."
"But how did ya ever get tangled up with that thing?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it, looking confused. "I have always been around IT. Ever since I was born. IT seems that we came into being at the same time..."
He frowned. "What'd your parents think about IT?"
"I...I..." She faltered. "My mother..." She looked up at the sky, blinking. Sonic saw tears gathering in her green eyes.
"I...I do not remember a mother... But I must have one. Everyone has a mother."
He cleared his throat. "Maybe, she uh, died when you were little... A lot of our moms, the freedom fighters, I mean, a lot of our moms are dead..."
She looked down at him. "Is yours?"
He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, I really don't know."
"I do not remember being separated from a mother. Do not remember if there WAS one to be separated from..."
He suddenly felt very lonely. Separated from life and love. He wondered if it was her feelings somehow washing over him.
**With everything else weird happening around here, I wouldn't be surprised!**
He had the sudden urge to give her a hug. He embraced her a little awkwardly. She didn't seem surprised, but sank to her knees and hugged him back. They stayed like that for several moments.
The strange feeling faded away from him.
Benjamin released him and smiled a little. Like her whole aura, it was tinged with melancholy.
**He felt my sadness. It overwhelmed me for a moment. I cannot be wrapped up in myself. I must take IT away from here.**
"Thank you, blue one, for your help. But now, I must take IT to a safe place."
"Wait a minute...are you telling me to leave?"
She nodded.
"I don't think so."
"You cannot do anything against IT."
"And you can?"
"I am the guardian."
"Look lady, ya dragged me into it, and this is one hedgehog who doesn't back out when the goin' gets tough!"
She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, a black blur slammed into her. She screeched and toppled into Sonic.
The box went flying. Sonic leapt for it, hitting one knee hard on an outcropping of rock. He stumbled and belly-flopped onto the sand, his arms stretched out. The box landed in his hands.
He got to his feet, wincing. He glanced down and saw blood oozing from his scraped and bruised knee.
"Give me that box, hedgehog!"
The voice was familiar. Sonic brought his eyes away from his wound to glare at the face of Commander Packbell.
Packbell held out his hand, and gave Sonic a demeaning look. "Hand that over, hedgehog. It wasn't meant for your hands."
"Like I'd give you anything!" laughed the blue blur. "Except maybe this!" He bent down and snatched a rock, straightened up and whipped it at the android, all in one smooth fast motion.
The android's head snapped back, and he snarled. His hand rubbed at his face, smearing the oil that was his blood over his cheek.
"You'll pay for that, rodent!"
"So cliché!" laughed the hedgehog. "But you never live up to your promises, Pack*smell*."
Ben grabbed his arm urgently. "We must leave."
**He will not give up.** Her head reeled with his thoughts. There wasn't much there...just rebellion, and a smoldering hatred towards the fake man. **But we cannot stay here. The box cannot be broken!**
"Come, blue one! We must get IT to safety!"
The urgency in her voice hit Sonic like a hammer. It was doubled by intense anxiety, which seemed to flow from her hand through his whole body. He pried her hand off his arm. The feeling faded.
**How the heck does she do that? Nevermind. Guess she's right.**
"Ok, c'mon!" He handed her the box, and scooped her up in his arms. She was tall, and his knee throbbed with the increase of weight. He revved up and ran.
She clutched onto the box with both hands, nearly spilling out of his arms. He clutched onto her tighter, shouting, "Lean back into me, so ya don't fall off!"
She obeyed, trying to cuddle into his chest. Her long legs dangled, her feet nearly touching the ground.
**Man, this isn't working too well! This gal is bigger than Sally! Oh man, my knee!**
It burned like fire, felt almost like the nerves were exposed. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore it.
"Blue one, you are hurt! Can you continue?"
"Yeah."
"The fake man is far behind us now."
"Hey, better safe than sorry."
"You cannot run much further."
"Don't worry 'bout me, Benji."
"Please, you must stop."
"Just hang onto that box," he said, refraining from adding 'and keep quiet'.
**We hafta get as far away from ole Packers as we can! That creep'll end up bustin' the box for sure!**
They were in the junkpiles surrounding the city. He turned around a pile and let out a screech. A SWAT on a hoverbike was right there. It fired a laser, which he dodged easily. The girl's weight almost made him tip over.
He set her down.
"I'm gonna trash this bot, k? Hold this." He thrust the box into her arms.
"Blue one, let us just run!"
"It'll just take a sec." He zoomed towards the bot, which was zooming towards him. He leapt up onto a pile of scrap, and leapt off of that, doing a nice backflip. His feet came down hard on the back of the bot's bike.
This caused them to both crash. The bot flew off, bashing its head against the hard ground. A swift spindash from Sonic rendered it a useless pile of scrap.
After the dash however, Sonic wasn't in such good shape. He stumbled down onto one knee, clutching the other. "Ow man."
A worried frown crossed her face. "You are hurt!"
"Yeah," he grunted. "I pulled somethin' or somethin'."
She set down the box and helped him up, supporting his body. He gingerly put his weight on the injured leg. He winced.
"Can you walk?"
He took a few limping steps. "Yeah. Sorta."
She picked up the box. "I must get this to safety."
"Hey hey, you ain't going anywhere without me!"
She looked down at the box, then at him.
"I do not want to leave you, but the box must not be broken or we will all die."
**I know I know... but geez, if Packbell catches her...**
"I will be fine," she blurted. "Do not worry."
"You might need my help!"
She turned and walked away from him.
"HEY!"
She kept walking.
He struggled after her.
"You're gonna get hurt!" he bellowed.
She turned with hooded eyes and he felt a wave of...something...pass over him...
Her eyes...
Green like forest leaves, filled with sparkles...like looking up through the trees at night at the stars...
**Is she like that?** The thought struck him suddenly and he had no idea where it'd come from.
**Like what?
Like the sky...
No...
The stars...**
He stared at her and it seemed he could see through her, like she was so much light and empty timeless space.
"You ain't from around here, are you?" he said and laughed weakly.
"No." she said simply, and turned away again.
Although he had a feeling she could defend herself, he couldn't stop his ego, his 'the man must protect the woman' nature from welling up.
**She might need help.**
So, he followed after, getting irritated with every step. She wasn't slowing down for him, but that wasn't the annoyance.
**I shouldn't have any trouble catching up with anyone! **
He cursed his throbbing knee and forced himself to walk faster. It hurt, sure, but it seemed to be the lesser of the two evils.
**Because the ego is an insatiable thing.** Benjamin thought, after tasting his thoughts. She could read him like a book, a book with all the important parts highlighted. **He follows like any good solider would. Running blindly into the danger. He does not know that this is MY duty. This evil...IT won't get out again. Not this time.**
**You will leave it and run again, like before. You don't perform your duty, you shirk it. Don't you feel the wrongness of it all? The hedgehog saw it. He saw through you...nothing. You're nothing.**
Benjamin frowned. **Silence.**
They sounded like her inner voices, but couldn't be! **I am not nothing! I am a protector of life!** And she suddenly felt a great love for all she saw; the straggly grass, the sky, even the junkpiles.
It could not be her inner voices. It had to be IT, trying to warp her mind. She could feel IT's excitement through the box. She could almost hear it.
**YOUR SOUL IS MINE. YOUR LIFE IS MINE. YOU ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO TRAP ME AGAIN. SO IT SHOULD BE...ALL LIFE WILL END. I WILL BEGIN.**
**NO!** She mind-screamed, with such force her energy rattled the very glass she held.
Sonic saw the black energy seem to shrink in on ITself suddenly, as if fearful, then flared out, pressing ITself against the glass.
He shivered.
"IT is angry," she said. "IT wants out."
"How did IT get in there, anyway?"
"I put IT there."
"You mean IT's been out before?"
"Yes, IT was born free."
"How do you know?" he demanded, his knee throbbing madly. He wanted to rest, yet at the same time didn't, and that made him cranky.
"We are connected somehow, blue one. The evil and I. I...I think we are of the same things...the same material."
"Oh whatever," he scoffed.
**And I thought NICOLE was hard to understand! Maybe St. Jerk was right. This lady DOES sound crazy!**
"Where do you come from, anyway?"
"I am not from this planet. I am from far away. I have been to many places. I caught up to IT finally... IT had killed half of a planet. I trapped IT in this box. I do not know exactly where I was born."
"Why'd ya trap it in a glass box of all things?" he laughed.
"This box is made from me...it was created from my own mind and my wish to keep IT contained. While I hold the box, it is the hardest to break."
He frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"She sighed a little. "It is hard to explain. But think of something that you really believe in. Like your love for the princess."
He jumped. "How do you know about her?"
She hesitated." I could feel it in your head...in your thoughts..."
He decided not to question it. She was weird, that was all there was to it. Psychic, perhaps. He laughed inwardly. Scientific Sally would never buy it. She liked explanations for things. Which meant she wouldn't believe in this 'psychic' bullcrap. But he knew there was something about her, something maybe even beyond psychic. He thought of the way he could almost see through her, like she was made from astral dust, or something. It gave him the creeps.
"Fine, uh, so what were you saying?"
"When you believe in something strongly, then you pour yourself into it. You do not let anyone take it away from you. That is like me and the box. I want so strongly for IT not to escape, that the want actually strengthens the glass..."
"I think I get it," he said. **Yeah right. She makes no sense.**
She smiled. "It is alright if you do not understand, blue one. But the glass is strongest in my hands, which is why I must get IT away from here. You must leave this place on your own, or hide here and I will come back for you."
He scowled. "I don't think so. I'm coming with you."
"Then come," she sighed.
So she began walking again, him barely keeping up.
&&&&&&
They were still walking among the junk when they heard a voice yelling.
They both turned in the direction of the sound, and saw Packbell running towards them. He was a good distance away, but could cover the gap quickly with his android speed and stamina.
"Damn," swore Sonic. "He's always gotta pop up at the wrong time, don't he?
She nodded a little, then broke into a run. Sonic tried to rev up, but his knee hurt too much. He limped behind her, going the fastest he could in his injured state.
"Whatsa matter, hedgehog?" Packbell leapt out in front of them. They stopped. He grinned. "Hurt yourself, didya?"
"Aw, shove it, Pack smell."
"No need for rudeness," the android smirked. "Just hand over the box."
Benjamin clutched the box tightly in her arms. "You cannot have it!"
"Cut the crap, girly. You can't beat me."
She narrowed her eyes, and carefully set the box down behind her. Then she raised her arms above her head, closing her eyes as if deeply concentrating.
**The stars...their power is mine. We are connected. We are one?** She felt her hands tingle with intense energy. Her eyes snapped open.
Packbell saw something in her gaze that made him uneasy. He took a step backwards.
But before she could release whatever power she held, the hedgehog stepped in front of her. "Run, Benjamin! I'll hold him off!"
"No, blue one, let me fight!"
"Just run," grunted the hedgehog, focusing his gaze on the android. Packbell rushed him. Sonic tried to dodge, and managed to avoid the android, just barely. But the next time he wasn't so lucky. Packbell grabbed him up and threw the hedgehog hard into an outcropping of rock.
Sonic stood up again, swaying unsteadily. He blinked, holding a hand to his head. There was a gash across his forehead, and blood was dripping into his eyes.
Packbell charged him again, kicking him in the gut, then grabbing him by the neck and slamming his head repeatedly into the rock.
"NO!"
Packbell went flying. He lay sprawled on the ground, then got up in a daze, his mouth agape as he stared at the girl.
She'd shot something at him. A gun? No...her hands were empty.
She narrowed her eyes. The malicious expression seemed out of place on her face. He saw odd lights in her eyes...lights that shouldn't have been there. For some reason, that made him shudder. He shook it off and ran towards her.
She held out a hand, palm towards him. He felt an incredible surge of power from her direction, then went flying again.
Sonic stared at Benjamin.
"Wow, I didn't know you could do stuff like that."
She merely nodded, and went to help him up. He leaned heavily against her, then tried to support himself.
He couldn't. His entire skull ached...like a giant fist was crushing it.
"Oh man...what did he do to me?"
"It is ok...you will be fine." She put a hand to his head, and he felt better almost instantly. She smiled at him, a smile so sweet and tender, it reminded him of so many things...
Of laying in his mother's arms as a babe. **Funny, I could never remember that before. I never even remembered what she looked like before...**
It reminded him of Sally.
**Whatever happens Sally...it'll be alright. I won't let you get...get hurt by IT again.**
"Sorry to break up the lovely moment, really...but I'm pretty sure this is what Doctor Robotnik was interested in."
Packbell juggled the box between his hands.
"Put it down!" said Sonic.
"Please...be careful with it... set it down gently..."
"What the hell is this thing, anyway?" Packbell stared hard into the box.
There was something black in there. He couldn't really make out a shape. It seemed to move and bounce. But, the harder he stared, the more he saw something. He furrowed his brow, staring as hard as he could. Something seemed to be taking shape...
"NO! DO NOT STARE AT IT LIKE THAT!!"
**He is so evil, that IT will influence him...this cannot happen...not again....not again...**
Packbell looked up, his face eerily calm. His eyes, instead of their fierce red, were a shade of gentle pink. "What happens if IT gets out?" he asked, voice slurred, as if he were almost asleep.
"Do not listen to IT. Fight ITs influence." She approached him carefully.
"I want to know." His voice slurred further. "I wanna see." He lifted the box high above his head.
She sprang. He slammed the box down towards the ground. She reached her hands out...her fingers out. The box was going to land in her hands.
"NO!"
It hadn't.
It hadn't landed in her hands.
It'd shattered.
Against the rocks.
And was seeping out now, slow like toxic clouds, and just as deadly...
**No...it's more deadly. More deadly than contamination could ever be.**
Packbell shook his head, his eyes turning their normal color. The black shape rose up high above them, as if stretching. His mouth stretched in an 'o' shape.
"What have I done?" he whispered.
Sonic looked fearfully at IT, then at Packbell. He never thought he'd hear regret in that bastard's voice.
Packbell was standing the closest to IT. He tried to back away, but IT lashed out with incredible speed.
The evil backed away as if startled. Packbell collapsed to the ground, eyes dull, but seemingly alive.
"He is not real," Ben frowned. "He has no real soul to take..." Then she looked to Sonic. "You must run!"
The evil turned towards him. It lunged. He couldn't help himself; he screamed. He couldn't move. Suddenly she was in front of him.
"NO!" Her voice was not that loud...not even yelling, really, but for some reason it seemed to shake the very earth. The blackness halted in midair and spun.
"AHH..." IT seemed to sigh. Sonic heard no words out loud, rather, he felt them inside himself.
"That thing can talk?" His voice came out in a frightened squeak.
Both Ben and IT ignored him. IT spoke again: "I'VE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH YOU, STAR-SISTER. HOW SWEET YOUR SOUL WILL TASTE."
Sonic took several steps backwards, fighting off the urge to run. It was almost more than he could bear.
IT's very voice was like a shard of darkness penetrating his heart. It seemed to spread through him, staining him. He shivered and drew in a shaky breath. He felt dirty somehow.
Benjamin stared deep into IT. IT could not influence her...had no grip on her mind. "You will not have him...or anyone else ever again."
"NAÏVE. YOU ARE ME. I AM YOU. WE ARE SPLIT NOW. BUT JUST FOR A LITTLE WHILE. WE WILL BE ONE. YOU, DEVOURED."
"No."
"THE OTHER SOULS WERE NOTHING. YOURS IS THE SWEETEST, THE BRIGHTEST. YOU HAVE BEEN MY BEACON. WHEN I HAVE DEVOURED YOUR SOUL, I WILL HAVE INFINITE POWER." IT seemed to purr. "I WILL BEGIN THEN. LIFE WILL END. I WILL BEGIN."
Ben glared in defiance, then suddenly her eyes widened. **You have been my beacon.**
**Could that mean...
NO!*
She moved away from Sonic. The evil ignored the quivering hedgehog and floated after her.
"I know now," she whispered. "I was connected to you. I could trace your path...follow you. I did not realize you could do the same!"
Sonic stared at her. Her green eyes were filling with tears.
"What have I done?" she whispered.
"What?" demanded Sonic in a shrill voice.
She looked over at him. "I am IT's beacon. It follows me, blue one, don't you see? I have brought DEATH to every place I have trod."
"Huh?"
"IT wanted me! IT followed me...like a...like a magnet. And I ran, blue one, I RAN from it! Straight towards others to warn them...instead...I killed them..."
She stared at her adversary with wet cheeks. "I was too selfish to take up my duty. I knew I was supposed to fight, but I never did."
The evil seemed pleased. "YOU ARE AWARE THEN. THE CONNECTION? WE ARE ONE. WE WERE CREATED FROM THE SAME DEAD SPACE AND STARS. WE BOTH TAKE WHAT WE LUST FOR."
"I love life! I did not want to fight you, to die! I loathe you! You are worse than death. You are a thief."
"IT steals souls," Sonic choked on the last word. **IT stole Sally's soul...**
"IT devours what it does not have... I clutch to what I do not have. It is true."
**I didn't want to see.**
"Am I dead space, blue one? Did you see through me? To what I really am?"
He turned his head, but she saw the truth in his eyes. He had seen a glimpse of the real Benjamin...that timeless space...just energy in the guise of a girl... The thing that she had refused to believe for so long.
"I'm not real," she whispered. "I am not real..."
"But," began the hedgehog.
"No!" she interrupted. "I have denied it far too long. I am just a creation of the stars... and so is the evil. We aren't meant to be. That is why I must fight IT...and destroy IT."
She looked down at the ground on which they stood. It was amazing anything could live in the tainted ground near Robotropolis. But there was a tiny pink flower, bright against the gray ground.
"I clutched to what I did not have. Life. I loved life so much. I did not do my duty...destroy the evil. Undo us, for we aren't meant to be, because I wanted to live." She stroked the flower gently. "But I am a danger to life. I must give myself to IT now, blue one."
"No, you can't..."
"Don't be sad. Live please...love your precious life..."
"But...why do you have to die?" His voice came out like a scared child's. "Why can't you just hide the box where nobody will find it?"
"I cannot. I thought IT was hidden last time. I almost cost your entire planet their lives. If you hadn't had the energy to go back in time...
It is the way it must be. It is the way it should have been. Don't hurt for me, Sonic. I was never real to begin with."
A tear rolled down her cheek. IT hovered, filled with anticipation.
"YOUR SOUL WILL GIVE ME ULTIMATE POWER."
"You are wrong," she whispered. "We will both die..." She flung herself forward, arms outspread as if embracing. IT lunged forward into her. They made contact.
The sound was louder than anything he'd ever heard. He covered his ears, screaming. It was all through him...outside and inside, and shuddering through his soul. He felt the world shifting under his feet, and he fell to the ground.
He shielded his face. He looked towards where they were, but couldn't see. Light engulfed them, too bright to make out anything.
**Wait...I can see...**
He saw her silhouette...
"NO!"
The darkness was taking over her silhouette. She was being devoured...
"NO!"
The sound grew louder...Sonic couldn't identify it...but it sounded like all the voices in the world lumped together...threaded together with a strange rushing sound...like dead space. He clamped his hands hard over his ears, mashing them to his skull, but it wouldn't fade. He felt as if his body would explode.
Her brightness was overtaking the darkness.
Then the sound stopped.
Dead silence.
He saw them, merged...bright energy...dark energy... blended perfectly... like yin and yang.
She seemed to grow brighter and brighter, until she winked out, blending into the air...IT darkened until it was nothing more than a shadow on the ground.
The silence stretched.
He curled on the ground.
**Am I deaf?
No...**
Thump thump...
**What's that...?**
His heart. He heard his heart, the blood through his veins.
And then, birds chirping. A breeze playing through the leaves.
He felt the sun, shining down on his bright fur.
**I'm alive...**
He knew without looking that they were gone.
He suddenly realized what had happened...but at the same time, couldn't grasp it. It was like waking from a dream, and knowing the events, but not quite remembering them...
He blinked.
The smell of grass and earth wiped his mind clean, and he breathed in deeply.
**Thank the gods I'm alive!**
He struggled to his feet, then tested his knee. It hurt still, but not as badly as before.
**What a beautiful day!**
The sun wasn't usually so warm this time of year. But it seemed to heat the earth just for him today. The birds were happy too, flying and twittering above his head.
He let out a cry of sheer joy. Then he looked around, a bit embarrassed at his little display.
"Aw, who cares? I'm going home. And gonna give my Sally a nice big kiss when I get there...heh..."
**Maybe even tell her I love her. Cause although I'm alive today, who knows if I'll be tomorrow. And I want her to know.**
He stopped and turned around for a second. He stared at the space where Ben and IT had joined.
**Thank you, Benjamin, for your sacrifice. Even if no one else knows, I'll always remember. You were real in my mind, Ben.**
He breathed in again, and began the long limping trek towards home.
The tiny pink flower waved in breeze. Then titled its head towards the sun.
Today was a good day to live.