I guess it all had to end eventually.

But I didn't think it would be with death.

And I didn't think it would be mine.

It seemed too easy, Sal sent me to Robotropolis to get a load of parts for something or other I didn't really listen and I ran into a patrol.

Easy enough, I spin, slice, dice through em, strew their parts from here to the great beyond, grab the parts in a Sonic-second, high-tail it back to Knothole, and give them to Sal. Maybe try and do something to make her laugh she is so high-strung - I swear the frogs in her bed weren't my idea - I'm more subtle, then hang around with double-T, make some chilli dogs...

You get the picture.

Except this time - it went wrong.

I don't really remember it exactly - knowing that the red stuff on the floor isn't tomato sauce is enough to give you the heebie-jeebies - and there was so much of it, my mind's kinda a blank. I know I got a lot of em before it happened, but one must've had enough juice left to fire that shot.

Ever felt something the size of a pea go through you, at the kind of speed I run at?

You don't want to, trust me.

Pain ain't enough to describe it...felt like my insides were shredded, torn up, thrown into a blender, then shaken up and down again and again...

Times that by ten, and you're getting close.

So I lay there, couldn't get up, and knowing that this wasn't just a flesh wound.

They say when you're close to dying, your life flashes before your eyes.

I had more time, so it was more like a slideshow.

I remembered back when it was Mobotropolis, and I lived with Uncle Chuck, and Sal was an annoying, cute kid, instead of an annoying pretty girl...

Did I say that...wow...too late now I guess.

Except...um...yeah! I still had the handheld comp-thing Sal gave me to record stuff on.

"Important things Sonic"

That was important.

Ok, that's done.

Where was I? Oh yeah, lying there, my life flashing, or blinking, before my eyes.

I saw the takeover, running to Knothole, growing up there, finding Tails - my mondo best bud, fighting Robuttnik - that time we went back in time, when Sal found her dad again...loadsa stuff.

Then I heard - and felt - footsteps, and each one jarred me, I grit my teeth, cause I wasn't about to let lardbelly see me down.

We threw back and forth the usual jibes, retorts, and I tried to say my final...what the heck did Sal call it? - epitah, think it was. She said it was some sort of final speech, final words or something like I said, I tend to tune out when she starts speaking. And all the time, he seemed the same Robuttnik as usual.

But his eyes showed it, and I dunno, I guess I saw something in them which made it easier to say.

"Robotnik?"

My eyes were closed, and I couldn't breathe, felt like someone was squeezing my chest. Just wanted to sleep...so tired, but I had to stay awake...if he would do it.

He amazed me.

"Yes?"

"Do something for me?"

He hesitated, like I figured, but then, he nodded.

Wow - I thought - Lardbelly has a heart!

"D...Don't let my friends see me like this" I tried to get the words out, but it was painful, each word just made my eyes water and fire fill my lungs. "I know I'm gonna die, and I don't want my friends to see me like this...T...Tails'll be freaked...and the others..." probably the most important speech I've made.

That was my epitah.

And he agreed.

So I died.

I heard people say that when you die, you stick around to see what happens, then leave for whatever's after that.

So I did.

I saw what Robotnik did.

I saw the others find me.

I saw Sally cry.

Tails hadta be told by the ring pool.

He was waiting for me to play dirt-hockey.

They had a funeral, and I saw me, which was uber-creepy, lowered into the ground.

I could hear thoughts - and Uncle Chuck's were the worst.

'An uncle shouldn't outlive his nephew'

Dammit...why can't I comfort him!

Why can't I do anything!

And then he caught em all, one by one, and they became his slaves.

Like, when I was gone, so did the spark.

"I'm not the glue that holds us together!" I wanted to shout at them.

But I can't.

I'm stuck here.

I won't leave till I know they're okay.

I watch over Uncle Chuck, Tails, Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine.

Sally.

I taunt Robotnik, and I know he can hear me.

Cause I ain't going anywhere.

Not yet.

Disclaimer: Sonic, Robotnik and related characters (c) Sega. Sally and related characters (c) whoever owns SatAM.
Authors note: People seemed to like 'Resolution' - should I do the reactions of the other characters? Which ones?