The world was empty. It was cold; so very, very cold. His body ached. His eyes were tightly clinging shut, his eyelids holding onto one another firmly, unwilling to let go for fear of what they might see. And then it came. A pain in his chest. It struck sharply once and he still kept his eyes blind, hoping it would go away. And then it came. Again. And it was not just a moment; it was unremitting, chronic. The pain moved to his throat and squeezed. He was suffocating. His eyes flashed open and were immediately flooded in with water. They blinked again to ward off the obtrusive water, but when they opened, even more was there. And everything was a shade of blue. Yet there was nothing. Nothing was a shade of blue, and nothing was everything.
He was in the water. He couldn't swim. In his mind, he was dead. It didn't matter if he could reach air, for he would never escape this eternal gulf. Suddenly, he was lifted. Not by his own volition, for his arms and legs were unwavering, but he was lifted. He felt a body grip his sides and thrust him upward, and suddenly the emptiness collided with another emptiness, and he was above the water, gasping for air instinctively, mechanically. He spun around and his memory awakened, and for the first time since the cataclysm, his memories knew he was not alone. Vector, the crocodile, was awake again, and could swim. Drenched, he was moving silently, as his friend towed him, slowly but steadily away from the site of the deluge.
They moved, as one, in silence, for they were too exhausted to speak, and what could be said? The water parted with each swoop of the one arm; the other arm held close the body unable to swim.
"I know your intentions are virtuous, but I must dissent. Should we reveal the Truth to him now, he will lose focus. We cannot bring too much into his world at once, or he will be unable to fulfill the destiny he must repair."
"And should we let the City speak for itself? It cannot hide forever. Should It return before we tell him the Truth? Wouldn't you rather he hear it from your lips?"
"We must hope it secretes until the time has come. We must use our invisible hand and our invisible face to turn the cogs. He must wield the focused virtue before he can be painted into the big picture."
And then there was darkness.
"He turned away."
"He had another motive."
"But he turned away, and disavowed parts of the Truth. He turned away because he didn't know; you wouldn't speak."
"I spoke."
"But you didn't tell him what he needed to hear."
"It would have been too much. Already much was upon him. The Truth is too heavy. I am too much a burden."
"But he turned away because he didn't know."
"He turned away and he would have turned away regardless! The time is not now!"
"And Entropy will have its reign because of this?"
"Entropy has long reigned; Entropy has long reigned."
"Not like this!"
"You forget history. When under the tower, the madman was crushed, Entropy had its reign. When the Daitoshi faded, Entropy had its reign. And Entropy has not usurped the throne; it has long reigned. It simply came from hibernation."
"This is not a game! Hakyoku is nothing to take lightly! Maybe he should know! Then maybe this Kyouhen, Hakyoku wouldn't be in the history books of our future generations. Maybe Entropy would have been dethroned."
"Don't you tell me! I think I have the right to make my own decisions regarding him. Haven't I the right?"
"Yes, you do. But I think perhaps you should not be so stubborn…"
"Stubborn? You fail to fathom the immense burden there would be upon you if you were fed so much at once! You cannot fathom!"
"Perhaps not, but…"
"He is not mentally prepared yet for such the monumental Truth; it is not yet time!
"…"
"The ending is yet unwritten; he shall yet write it; he holds the Quill."
And then there was a mountain.
And then it was struck down.
The world hung from a thread.
And all the trees uproot'd.
And then there was a flower.
And then there was a boot,
and then it crushed the flower.
And then he was mute.
And then there was a knife,
and then it cut the thread,
and then the world fell,
and then everything burned,
and then there was no refuge.
And then there was no refuge.
And then there was no end
to the persecution
that was in his head.
Even he was his own
closest enemy.
Even he wasn't on his side,
And even he would scorn him,
and scorn his every move.
And even he was bitter,
so he'd always reprove.
And 'vrything he ever did,
no matter how small,
was always monumental
when he took the fall.
And then there was a circle.
And then there was a knife.
And the knife cut the circle.
And the knife cut his life.
And there were
a thousand times
when he wished
that the lines
of the circle
would just meet
but the knife
but the knife
.
cut his life.
Dreaming once again about what he had done wrong, he beat himself and beat himself and took the blame; never forgave. And he turned and turned and writhed.
And where once there were many, there were now none. The Truth hid them. Like the clawed dais, the few clutched the secrets of the many and hid with the thing they held tightly to their bosoms, and from beyond the beyond glared scornfully at those outside.
All will come with patience of time.
"So, what should we do?"
"About what?"
"Hakyoku… Kyouhen…"
"He will find a way."
"But we don't even know what else is coming. It may become far too big for him to handle."
"We'll have to put faith in the rest of the world. Perhaps he will even join with them."
"And what if he cannot, or what if they cannot?"
"We can lead him to the Relics if the need arises."
"And just hope?"
"We are not gods, my friend. We can't just push a button and annihilate the enemy. We must entrust the deed to him."
"Sir?"
"Yes, Snively?"
"Construction is going as planned. Do you have any further orders for me?"
"Not now, Snively. Just be on the ready. Have you made the appropriate preparations for stage three?"
"Yes, sir. Stage three is ready, sir."
"Excellent. I will launch stage three tonight, then, after midnight."
"W-w-what should we d-do?"
"Calm down for a second," said Sally, though she too was visibly nervous. "Do we even know for sure that we're being tracked?"
Rotor slowly nodded. "It's in working condition."
"Hey," said Sonic. "Maybe it's not even Robuttnik's! Maybe it's something you put on there to keep track of where we are, and you just forgot!"
Rotor shook his head. "It's Robotnik-made. I can tell."
"I am not liking zee sound of these!" said Antoine.
Tails looked up at Sally like a little child. "What does this mean, Aunt Sally?" he asked, fear in his eyes.
It took a few moments for Sally to force out a reply, but it came, abrasively, through her throat: "I… I don't know, Tails. Not for sure, I don't know. Why… why don't we just go to sleep and … worry about it in the morning?"
Sally cast her glare around the group, and they knew not to betray her silent order. They knew she didn't want to worry Tails unnecessarily, so they nodded and walked nervously away. Perhaps Sally should have been worried for Antoine too. He stood rigid. "Go on to bed, Antoine," said Sally. "We'll discuss this tomorrow. There's not much we can do now, anyway." Antoine didn't move. Sally nudged him. "Antoine…" "Oui, my princess. I am to be sleeping now, while Robotnik is to be killing me—" Sally elbowed Antoine forcibly, and he quickly shut up, heading shakily to his hut. Tails was still looking up, wide-eyed, at Sally. "Go on to bed now, Tails."
Tails nodded silently, and slowly walked to his hut, pausing once to look back over his shoulder at Sally, and then continuing once she returned his look.
Everyone slept but did not sleep.
Sonic was half-asleep. His eyes were closed and his senses were detained, but he could not fully drift off. The world was so far away. They had met resounding success with their last mission so why couldn't they just celebrate? Everything always had to go wrong! Everything was just a mirage now. It had all looked so good afar but when seen from close up, it vanished and there stood Robotnik, laughing and marring him and tearing his revelry to shreds.
And then a thousand voices came like a thousand needles in his brain. Who could tell how many voices there were really? They came as a thousand. And when they came, loud and rousing, Sonic left his head to meet an equally unhappy reality. And he could hear the heat.
Sonic was not normally a quick-waker, but he could feel the harsh heat like sandpaper across his chest. And his eyes blinked open like a mousetrap that had been sprung on its prey, after long waiting. And he threw the space from over him, and rushed outside. And then he saw.
Red.
Red, orange, red.
He could hear the red, orange, red, and feel it, and smell it, and above everything else he could now see it as it consumed. It consumed what it touched, slowly devouring in order to fuel itself and keep going and grow larger and stronger, like an omnipresent parasite.
Sonic stood in loathing awe, as he looked and saw the color encompassing all. Everything before him was tinted red, and the whole sky before him flickered and danced. The burning orange was the one, malevolently magnificent light, and it lit the world as it destroyed it. It illuminated the world, as if to flaunt its destructive power, laughing as it shined its discerning light upon its prey so that anyone present would be able to observe its show of destructive might as it incinerated and then devoured the thing it made visible.
Sonic heard movement from his left ear. "Sonic! Sonic!" Sally's hand met his shoulder. "Sonic!" She nudged him but he didn't respond. "We have to get underground, now!" Sonic didn't respond. She reached and grabbed his arm with both hands, dug her feet into the ground, and pulled him from his standing spot.
But he could not avert his gaze. It ensnared him. It enthralled him, and he could not look away. The blaze consumed, and the parasite captivated his mind. Sally pulled him away and his eyes burned, a reflection of the horror he had witnessed and could not escape.
"Has everyone been evacuated?"
"SWATbots came. I don't know if they set the fire themselves, but they came."
"I know! I saw the SWATbots! But has everyone been evacuated?"
"I think so, except for the ones the SWATbots captured."
"How many?"
"How should I know? If I'd sat around counting—"
"They don't know about the underground part of Knothole, do they?"
"I don't think so. The Tornado's hangar is above ground."
Tails was sobbing. "Home… my home… Robotnik… home…"
"Sonic?"
Sonic was staring blankly into space.
"Sonic?"
He started, for the first time since he had been woken, blinking several times and then turning to answer the call of his name.
"…so, Robotnik's found us…" Sonic stared at the ground.
"Sonic…"
"Ever since Robotnik took over, and tore our lives apart, leaving most of us alone and orphaned, we've struggled. We found each other, and ever since then we've been trying to build a new home. Robotnik destroyed our world so we built another here in Knothole. Robotnik tore our families from us as we cried, so we've been trying to build a new family.
"And then, in the blink of an eye, it was all taken away again. Robotnik struck us down, so we built up again. But now he's stuck us down again, and what do we do now?"
"He's taken our home again," replied Sally dejectedly, "but this time, we're one up."
Sonic looked up to catch Sally's caring eyes in his.
"We're one up. He's broken our home again, but this time he hasn't taken our family."
Sonic tried hard to smile, but it just wouldn't come.
Bunnie stepped over now. "We'll build a new home, an' it'll be better than the last, sugah-hog." Bunnie placed her hand on Sonic's shoulder.
Sonic didn't look up. He could still see the fire crackling, dancing, spitting in his eyes. "Robotnik…" Sonic slowly stood up, and Bunnie let go of his shoulder. "Robotnik… Robotnik… you'll pay. You'll pay for this."
Bunnie reached for him again. "Don't get ahead of yourself, sugah! It's not safe tah go up there yet. Don't be too hasty. The SWATbots are still there."
Another voice came suddenly from behind Sonic. "So… this is your life, huh?"
Sonic reeled around, fist raised. "Shut up!"
It was Knuckles, who stumbled backward an inch, not expecting this reaction. "No, I didn't mean it like that!"
Sonic stepped forward again, and Bunnie restrained him.
Knuckles looked to the floor. "Trust me. I feel your pain."
Sonic's rage subsided, but he did not speak.
Knuckles looked back up again. "I have no home."
Knuckles returned his gaze to the soil. "And I have no family."
Sonic's gaze, too, shifted to the ground. He spoke, but in a whisper, almost mumbling. "I watched it burn…"
"Sire."
"Ah, Snively…"
"Knothole has been razed, your lordship."
Robotnik grinned. "Most excellent."
"We've taken some prisoners. Noone important, but they'll still be workers nonetheless."
"Yes." Robotnik paused for a moment. "Recall the SWATbots in Knothole. We've burned the wretched place; they're not needed anymore. The Freedom Fighters have no place to go. Relocate the SWATbots to the S2 construction site. We can always use more workers there."
"Yes, my liege. Right away."
Snively turned and exited the room.
Robotnik turned back to his eyes. He let out a laugh.
"So, what do we do now?"
The answer was silence.
"We need help."
"I could have been telling you zat much."
"Other Freedom Fighters."
"That's right," cried Sally, raising her arm. "We ran into some from Tarahassas[1] a while back."
"And?"
"And…" Sally paused, and then turned to Sonic. "Sonic, you remember where Tarahassas is, right?"
Sonic had collected his wits at this point – somewhat, at least – and blinked before nodding his head.
Rotor stepped up from further down the tunnel. "The coast seems clear," he said. "At least right around the stump."
"Go, then, Sonic," said Sally, half-smiling, choking on the false smile. "You can get there quickly."
Sonic raised his head and spoke, unusually soft for his character, and devoid of his trademark wryness and animation: "And what do I ask them?"
Sally's response took a moment, but it came: "Just tell them we need their help; that we've been attacked; to send as many as they can." After a second, she added: "And ask them if they know of any other Freedom Fighters."
Sonic nodded, and pulled himself to the surface, through the discreet tree-stump that served as the gateway between hell and haven. Once again the scene was upon him.
The world was burning. His world was torn from his crying hands again. The green sanctuary, once untouched by the cold hand of metal, was now red and orange and dancing away what once had been home. And now Robotnik knew where it was. They couldn't build it here again. This place was dead. He smelled the smoke and ash and preempted a tear with immense haste, blowing the world behind him, covering it, adrenaline coating it, running so he could not think of it. He tore up the ground.
It was black. And then what was an eternity was blinked away. He felt the weight upon him, and at first wished he hadn't awoken, if it had brought this heaviness upon him. He shut his eyes but realized that he couldn't make himself sleep again. With another blink, he rose to his feet.
He didn't remember where he was, or what had happened, or why he was here, alone, deserted. He gazed around, and as far as he could see in one direction, barren desert. In the other direction, far off, a forest, but that was far off and there was much aridity between it and him. He gazed down, now, at himself, and saw that he was bruised. Yet he still couldn't answer himself. Only could he bring more questions. Why was he wounded, alone, and confused?
He looked up, now. The moon was farther away than ever before.
The Tarahassas Mountains were sparsely dotted with plant cover: a few bushes here, a patch of grass and weeds there. The climb was not terribly steep, but inclined enough to slow Sonic down. Still, he tore up the mountain with notable speed.
Suddenly, he stopped. "Where was the entrance, again?" He hadn't taken note of this small detail; he racked his brain for the answer. And when he found it, he managed to laugh oh-so-softly. The entrance was at the base of the mountain, but it should be on the other side. Sonic wasted no time in retreating back down the mountain, and circumnavigating it to reach the spot he thought he remembered once entering. Yet he saw only the mountain, same as before. He did not ponder this for more than a few moments, though; staring wasn't his thing. "I guess it wouldn't be too good if the entrance was obvious… man, it sure would have sucked if the entrance to Knothole underground was obvious…" Sonic shuddered at the thought, but again didn't brood on it for long. "There was a branch," said Sonic aloud. He quickly spotted a lone branch sticking out of the side of a rock pile. He approached it, and pulled it. This produced a grinding sound; what an odd branch it was to make a grinding sound. The grinding didn't come from the branch's chafing of the stones, however. It came from the mountain shifting. Just to Sonic's left, a part of the mountainside was rotating on an axis through its vertical center. As the rocks turned as one, they formed two hollows, and Sonic quickly dashed through. As Sonic stepped forward, down the hall within the mountain, he heard the grinding again behind him as the door closed.
"Halt!"
Sonic stiffened. After a moment, he spoke: "Yo; I'm Sonic and I come on behalf of the Knothole Freedom Fighters."
"Freedom Fighters?" The speaker emerged from the shadows, and Sonic could now see that it was a bobcat. "Hm… you look familiar."
"I've been here before. It's really important now. I need to talk to your leader, or all of you at once."
The bobcat was silent for a second, and appeared to be scrutinizing Sonic. When he looked up to make eye contact, he replied, "Very well. Come in."
The bobcat led Sonic down the hall. As they turned corners, scattered faces looked up to see who it was that passed.
"Han!"
A goat turned in response to the call.
"Yes, Zoru?"
"Outside Freedom Fighter here to see you."
The goat, Han, shifted his gaze to Sonic. "Ah, have we met before?"
"Yeah, briefly. My friends and I rescued one of your guys from Robotnik, I think; I think his name was Robin?"
"Ruben."
"Yeah. I come from Knothole and bring word from Princess Sally."
"Ah, the Princess. Of Acorn?"
"Of Acorn."
"Continue."
"Robotnik found Knothole. We're hiding underground now. I'm here to ask for your help. To send as many of your people as you can to help us."
"I express my deepest condolences to you, but I'm afraid we can't just abandon our own home. I don't know what help we would be anyway."
Sonic gritted his teeth but did not yell. After several moments, he looked around the room, at the rock walls and the stone ceiling. Then he looked at Han again. "You guys seem to be pretty good at digging."
"Yes…"
"We could sure use your help digging underground Knothole." Sonic wasn't sure exactly why, but it seemed true enough to him that perhaps enlarging Knothole's underground would be beneficial, and regardless he had to convince Tarahassas to help.
Han sighed.
"Pleeeeeeease," Sonic said, with a smile, like a youth trying to get his parents to buy him that new bicycle.
"Well, I suppose you did save Ruben. We owe you one—"
Sonic interrupted. "It's more than that. We are one. We should work together to fight Robotnik."
"I'll send some of our guys with you. Just stay here while I go get them."
Han brushed past Sonic and disappeared around a corner.
When Han returned, he was accompanied by three others: a lynx, a beaver, and the woodpecker, Ruben. They carried chisels and picks and the lynx carried a plump black briefcase.
"This is Rand Shiro, the lynx; Kaire, the beaver; you know Ruben, I presume."
"Yeah," said Sonic, who after a moment blurted out: "Oh, one more thing!"
"Yes?"
"Do you know of any other bands of Freedom Fighters?"
"Actually, yes, we recently met a group from the south. I'll send that information along with Rand if you'll just wait a moment."
Moments passed. And when they were gone, Sonic nodded and uttered a thanks, and turned back for the door as Rand Shiro, Kaire, and Ruben followed, tow in tow. The trip back to once-Knothole gave much time, and there was much to talk about.
"We can't rebuild here. Robotnik knows where it is."
"So where can we build?"
"…Underground."
"What kind of life is that? Hiding underground—"
The stump in the soil ceiling opened, and the conversation was interrupted. Sonic dropped through the hole, and then came a pile of metalstuffs, and a fat black briefcase, and then a lynx, a beaver, a woodpecker. But Sally, not one of them, was first to speak: "I'm Princess Sally Alicia Acorn; thank you so much for coming."
It took the newcomers a few seconds to get oriented after dropping through the hole in the one floor to land, imperfectly—jarringly—, on another. Once they had their bearings, Kaire spat out a simple stuttered "sure." Rotor, who was present, caught the pile of rusty metal on the floor in his eye's corner, and remarked, "What's this?" as he pointed.
They did not instantly grasp what it was Rotor was referring to, but the realization came flutteredly. "Oh, that," said Rand abruptly. "Digging tools."
An idea came suddenly to Sally. "Digging—digging tools! We can rebuild Knothole. Somewhere else in the Forest. We just have to dig our way there!"
"But that would take forever… such a long distance," said Ruben, who had been informed of the situation by Sonic during the trip to once-Knothole.
"But we have to start—…to try," said Sally.
"It might not take that long," said Rand. "I packed along a special something." He motioned with his head to the bulbous black briefcase. "It'll still take time, but at least it might be possible. We couldn't hope to dig that far with just picks and chisels."
"What is that, exactly?" asked Sonic, eyebrows raised.
"A pack of explosives, made especially for digging," answered Rand. "I only have so many, but they're quite good while they last."
"Well, then," said Sally, with a slight trace of what might have been a smile, as she pulled out Nicole and pulled up a map, "let's pick out a site for the new Knothole… Knothole II."
If it was a promise, it was a far-off one. Everybody knew that regardless of any optimism, it would not be quick. Rand's package made it swifter than impossible, but by no means quick, perhaps not even a reality at all. There was no cure-all, no panacea. But they drowned themselves in faked optimism until they could no longer breathe.
[1] The Knothole gang met the Tarahassas Freedom Fighters (from the Tarahassas Mountains) in the dismal Volume I.