CHAPTER 20
Redemption
Sally found herself in a eerie wasteland. Among her were piles of scrap metal, gigantic gears, and rusted machines that have long since expired. All was still until a familar voice broke the silence.
" Hello Sally " said the voice in a calm cold manner.
Sally reconized the voice instantly. She tightened her fists and tensed her muscles. " Snively. "
She turned and saw him back in his human form. He was standing there, his hands behind his back. " Yes, amusing isn't it? Through all your efforts to destroy me I still remain. You were so sure this time that I was gone for good this time weren't you? "
" How are you still alive? " she asked, angrily.
" There are some parts of me that can never die. I am eternal. "
Sally picked up a sharp jagged piece of scrap she picked up in her hand, and lunged at him ready to bury it in his heart. He caught her by the wrist and threw her to the ground.
" You cannot kill me. You will never be rid of me. I will always be stuck with you. That is your fate. "
" No! " she screamed, throwing a desperate kick to his stomach. He grabbed her leg and punched her hard sending her into a pile of rubble. She scrambled to her feet and began to run.
" Running away? Look how small you are when you don't have your friends to stand behind you. Pathetic. "
He appeared in front of her and delivered a hard uppercut to her stomach, then two left and right hooks sending her down. His long hand wrapped around her neck and picked her up. He held her off the ground letting her choke until she began to squirm violently. He released her, only to punch her hard in her stomach. The ground went soft under her, as she fell through onto a old stairwell. She gripped the side of the bars and got up and began to descend downwards. Mr Snively was right behind her, taking swipes at her head. She turned around blocking a kick he threw at her. The rusted stair well broke under her weight and she began to fall.
She grapsed onto the end of the stairs hanging over complete darkness. Mr Snively stood over her looking down upon her, contemplating to let her fall or not. Slowly, she pulled her body up and got over. She surprised him, springing up to deliver a blow to him. He fumbled back, letting out a curse before giving her a hard slap across the face. Her balance was lost, and she fell back into darkness. She could feel herself falling through blackness, but she didnt feel herself hit ground. When she opened her eyes she was on solid ground. A thick mist clung to the area, with gnarled twisted trees around every corner. The ground was littered with tombstones, some overturned and others smashed. She could feel a great lonelyness to this place.
" It doesn't matter what you do to me, Snively. My friends are what make me strong " she said out loud.
" Friends? " he laughed from the darkness. " You dont have any friends. They are all against you, Sally. You are not in your world any longer. All they have been doing is taking advantage of you. They are all using you, manipulating you, and you are letting them! "
" You're lying! " she screamed angrily.
" Am I? You do realize these who you call your friends may look similar but infact are completely different with different intentions. What are you thinking right now? How to kill me? Hahaha, you are so naive of the great blasphemy that is vieled over your eyes. Trust is something easily broken but difficult to build. "
His voice trailed off. Sally searched her way through the darkness. But then from in the darkness was something that at first made her heart leap in happiness, but then sank to despair. She gazed upon Knothole Village on how she remembered it, but there were no villagers. It was empty. Desolate. She saw her love, Sonic the Hedgehog. She saw Swat Bots grab him and throw him into a portable robotisizer. She raced as hard as she could to try and save him. He kicked and cried banging inside the tube, but they were cut short by a bright flash from within. The robotisizer exploded along with him, the image disappearing into smoke. Sally sobbed to herself.
" Too slow Sally. You always were " his voiced called.
" You're messing with my mind aren't you!" she spat. " This isn't real! "
" How long are you going to keep resisting me? You cannot defeat me."
Sallys mind went numb. He was right. She couldn't defeat him. But she couldnt give up but what difference would it make .She was all alone and she had used up every last resort. Perhaps he was right. He appeared out of the dark, standing over her like a vulture.
" Tell me...for all this power you have...why are you still second fiddle compared to Robotnik? "
" I believe in Julian's work. That is why I joined him from the beginning. But I learned much from him, and from his mistakes. But Robotnik is not one to be defied as you should know. Not even I would dare turn against him at this point of the game. "
" So that's all you are...just like how I remembered you. Too scared to make a change for the greater good. Just a small little puppet on strings. "
This struck a nerve to him. He threw Sally down to the ground.
" Don't you speak to me like you know anything about me! " he snarled. " Nobody knows me! "
" What is there to know. Your a spineless coward with a superiority complex " she said cockily with a grin that would make Sonic proud.
He lunged at her to drive his fingers right through her but then a light deflected him back. He looked at her shocked. Sally smiled.
" You can't fool me anymore. I know that we're inside my mind now. None of this is real. "
" No, your wrong! " he spouted. " Now die! "
He was blown back by a blast of light knocking his hat off. She looked at him, a fire in her eyes.
" You wanted to go inside my mind without my permission. Now I think its time we take a look at yours. "
His eye bulged. " No...dont you dare! Stay out! NOOOO! " he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Sally dissapeared and he felt for the first time powerless to stop her as his mind was picked open. He tried his best to escape but he was trapped. Sally felt herself passing through inside him. He scratched and clawed at himself, screaming like a tormented animal.
" GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! " he screamed. but then his deep locked away memories opened before them like a treasure chest that was never meant to be opened. Try as he might to fight against her he was powerless. Long forgotten memories came flooding back like a dam bursting.
It was a very long time ago when Mr Snively was but a mere boy. He no longer looked ugly or hideous but more of how Sally originally knew him 'cept he had long brown flowing hair. He didnt have any friends to play with. He grew up during war times with the humans against the mobians. His entire family had abandoned all exept for Uncle Julian who would become Robotnik later on. His father had him by accident and when he was born his mother died. For this his father hated Snively, blaming him for her death and abandoned him. Snively lived with a very cynical society of people. They were always encouraging their children to be open minded towards other cultures, but only when it suit their whims. Uncle Julian never played with him much. He said he was always working on a secret project that he wouldn't tell anyone about. One day when he was out in the forest taking a drink of water he came across a mobian. She was the first mobian he had ever seen. She seemed to have a rather playful personality. Her fur was snow white and her hair strangely a deep chocolate brown. She had puffy cheeks with dark beautiful eyes.
" Who are you? " he asked curiously.
" A-Alicia " she said nervously.
" You're the first mobian I've ever seen. "
" And you're the first human I've ever seen. "
They smiled and laughed. From here on they became good friends. Snively didn't tell anyone about her and neither did she about him. Over time as they grew up they became more than friends and fell deeply in love. Snively hated that he had to keep her a secret. One night he snuck out of his window and had an evening with the devil in the forest with her. As they lay together they both felt total happyness. As Mr Snively watched his memories play before him a tear fell from his eye. When Snively went home that night he was confronted by his mad uncle. He grabbed Snively, shaking his frail small body.
" You little weasel! " he snarled. " For the course of your life I have given you shelter, put food in your mouth, and given you a place to call home, and how do you repay me!? By betraying your kind by fraternizing with a mobian! A fucking animal Snively! "
He threw Snively down onto the ground. As Sally watched this she could feel the pain right now Mr Snively was feeling with these old memories. She turned and watched what was now unfolding. Snively was beaten severely by his uncle, his ribs shattered and one of his shoulder dislocated. Alicia burst out of her hiding place and jumped onto Robotnik's back clawing and tearing at him trying to save him.
" No! Please get out of here! " Snively pleaded. Julian grabbed her and threw her down on the ground and began to choke her.
" No don't hurt her! " he screamed rushing over to stop him but getting backhanded away.
Robotnik squeezed harder as she gagged, her eyes now dead and her body limp. Snively sobbed in the corner as he watched the only thing he had ever loved die and he was powerless to stop it. Robotnik approached him slowly and menacingly as his long shadow slid over him. Robotnik's hand lunged for him, grabbing his collar jerking him in a whiplash motion.
" You should be thanking me. If the others had found out they would have put you to death. "
He cringed in terror. " Please...dont hurt me! "
Julian formed a sick grin and laughed. His memories skipped ahead till he was a young man about 20 years. He was as still as small as a dwarf. He worked quietly in his lab taking up Alchemy. He had been studying hard to try and crack the secret to transmutate metals into gold. A lost art in the search for tried and tried but to no sucess. Every now and then the sick hole in his heart where the love of Alicia once was would come back like a painful memory and he would burst into tears. Over the years his heart went cold and black through the actions of Robotniks influence. Once in awhile he would sneak out and visit the mobian villages but the children screamed and ran in terror from his ugly appearance.
" Help! Its a man monster! Help! Help! " they screamed.
" Wait! I just want to talk to- "
A sharp arrow pierced his shoulder. He turned and saw the villagers taking out their weapons.
" A human! Your not wanted here. Get out! "
It drove Snively mad. All he had ever done was try to be nice but any kindness was responded with fear and hatred. After a time he had begun to hate the Mobians just as Robotnik did. Eventually he began to join him in his plans. He hated his people and he hated the Mobians. When his people abandoned them on Mobius and took off and after the great robotisization spree he found himself lonely once again. He eventually gave himself a project to somehow cure himself of his short stature and grow back his hair. He used all of Robotniks technology available to him to try to alter his appearance so that he might grow taller and more handsome. To finally be able to look himself in the mirror.
His personal experimentation only seemed to make things worse for him. He caused his body to become more sickly and grotesque until after exhausting all other options he turned to something he had never taken seriously before. Magic.
He scrounged up data files of the wizard Naugus. He was the greatest wizard of all Mobius, but the most dangerous. He studied years learning his most sacred spells, learning new ways to make himself stronger. The more he learned from Naugus's black books, the more it began to disfigure and toxify his body. He had grown tall just like he had always wanted but was more twisted than ever. At this point being taller was enough, especially with a new invigorated powerful body. This power granted him a new air of confidence, and manipulation over others.
He felt a strange dark power inside of him well up the more his hatred grew. The spells had granted him an unnatural lifespan. Over a thousand years had passed since Snively was the small dwarf from Sally's memory. Unfortunately for him Robotnik had also found his own way to cheat death and live forever. Through the power of science he kept an everlasting grip over Mobius, and his nephew. Because of his recklessness, the magic now kept him bound to living in the life he created. There were no spells to fix the damage he had done to himself, nor was he able to kill himself. His body had become too powerful and rejected all forms of weakness a mere mortal suffered from.
Ages would go by of Snively living alone in isolation. The memories of Alicia faded from his mind, but there was still a great despair in him. Sometimes he would try to spare a Mobian from Robotnik, but they would always react with fear and anger towards him. He tried to turn his pain on others, to make them suffer like he has. To drown whatever was left inside of him with carnage and bloodshed. It never worked. The feelings of regret would eventually stir within him. Not regret for hurting others, but for what he has become. A puppet on strings.
Sally looked over at Snively who had become silent and withdrawn. His usual sadism was gone, his face blank. He sat, slumped forward, his head bowed slightly. Sally blinked .When she looked at him, there no longer was that malice he flaunted. He seemed almost frozen in place, defeated. After a long silence, he spoke.
" Go away. "
Go away? After all this time? After all what he had done, chasing and hunting her down. No, she couldn't let this go. He was still inside of her mind. There was nowhere for him to go now. She hated him, and everything he had done. To forgive his crimes was unthinkable. But perhaps there was more to him than just evil. Deep down there was once a boy who wanted to love someone. Was that why he was so obsessed with her? Did he remind her of something he had once lost? Seeing all this seemed to unhinge something in him. Sally approached him, that he seemed to recoil away.
" Get away! " he hissed. " Stay back! "
" What are you afraid of? "
" Get away! " he yelled, his voice cracking.
He dropped to his knees, bowing his head and began sobbing uncontrollably. " Alicia! " he screamed, sobbing harder. " I'm sorry, I failed you! I couldn't bring you back. I ruined everything! "
Sally approached him, offering her hand. He looked up at her, staring deeply into her eyes. They seemed to remind him so much of her eyes.
" Do you really want to be alone? "
He curled up into a ball shaking.
" You can't bring her back. But you can go to her, if you wish to. "
Mr Snively's form seemed to melt into smoke, revealing not the long gangly figure but the small dwarf he once was. He looked at her with regret, and sadness.
" You no longer need to live for hatred." she said. " Your Alicia is waiting for you, go to her. " She leaned in and gave Snively a sympathetic kiss. He looked at her wide eyed, speechless. He rose to his feet, his body now glowing white. She watched him ascend into a door of light that seemed to open up, beckoning him forth. She saw someone standing at the gate, taking his hand and walking with him. The two dissapeared into the light.
Sally awoke with her friends standing over her. She had been patched up heavily, and had been moved from where the battle had taken place. Antoine smiled.
" Welcome back, m'princess! " he said.
She embraced him, everyone accounted for. All of them helped bring the long life of a tortured soul to rest. The next step of their journey was about to begin.
