Warning: The true anti-Sonic's written spiral into madness, which mentions thoughts of suicide.
49 - The Deadly Spiral
"Blue," Scourge began. "I'm so happy that you understand your own faults. Pretty grown up of ya to admit, and I admire anyone who can pull up their big girl panties and take every brunt of the mistakes they've made like a man. You're right. It's because of your extremist pacifism, that I'm here today fucking you over in the ass, without even so much as having the audacity to spit on it first. But," He started to sneer while shaking his index finger while 'tsk tsk tsk'ing. "You forgot one little glaring thing," He placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head. "I'm still the one with the whip here, and what I say goes. Ergo," He cracked his knuckles and pulled his arm back. "You do what I say, or pay the consequences."
His eyes.
His eyes were red and-
There was some spit on the floor.
Sonic clutched his stomach and forced his food to stay down so he wouldn't puke. Scourge had given him a pretty gnarly right hook in his gut, that almost made him throw up. It's been over ten minutes since he did that, but the throbbing was still there and was only just now slowly going away. Sonic didn't move, as he was cornered against the wall near the canopy bed. His body was shaking a little, and the corners of his eyes were moist. He was clenching his teeth not just out of pain, but rage. He was so lucky his energy was down right now. If it wasn't, they'd have themselves a fucking fist fight to the death with blood flying everywhere. Only Sonic wouldn't be the only one with bruises this time, piece of shit.
Still, something was odd.
Scourge didn't hit him again. His eyes had turned red to keep him still, but soon they faded back to blue and he stopped swinging after the very first hit. He gave Sonic a very strange stare, before making a small smile. He knelt down to Sonic, reached down to grip his wrists, snatched him up on his feet and tossed him onto the canopy. The hero yelped as his anti-double crawled on top of him. He tore off his royal top, and planted his palms on Sonic's knees. That's when Sonic immediately began to panic. Scourge was going to...
T-To-
"N-No..!" Sonic tried to kick and shove him off, but Scourge swung a fist into his face. Blood spew out from his nose, and Sonic could have sworn he saw flickies flying around his head. He fell limp against the bed, with his head fully dropping onto the pillows. Scourge leaned down to his muzzle with a smirk, before planting small kisses against his cheek, right onto the very place that he punched. "N-No...N...S-Stop..." Sonic muttered. "D-Don't...Don't...Do this..." He murmured in a pathetic voice.
The green hedgehog planted his lips fully onto Sonic's now bloody ones, strangely being more gentle while consummating. "Mmn," He broke the short lived kiss for a second. "Sorry baby, but I'm sick of you back talkin' me. I want that sexy body of yours, and I'm gonna get it whether you like it or not." He neared closer to connect their lips again, with Sonic weakly trying to turn away. But once he did, Scourge punched him in the chest to knock the wind out of him. Sonic gasped and hacked, turning his head away completely to try and gather his oxygen back into his lungs. While he did that, Scourge shoved his legs apart and slammed his pelvis against his prime-twin's.
Sonic tried moving again, still trying to fight. He tried kneeing Scourge, but missed, and he was only punched again. This time, in the jaw. Sonic gurgled blood from between his teeth, his arms twitching. He wanted to raise them to help push him off, but he couldn't. He was too weak, in too much pain. "N-No..." Sonic barely breathed. "I-I...Can't...Shadow...Shadow..."
Scourge ignored him, and lowered his gaze to his crotch. He made a leer, and allowed his tongue to dangle out from between his lips. "Fuck Stripes. I'm about to get some well deserved lunch."
"No...Don't...Please-"
A scarlet red glint shined in Scourge's eyes, directly into Sonic's. "Shut your damn mouth already Blue, and do what I say."
The hero's pleas instantly stopped, and his eyelids became half lidded with a haziness clouding in his irises. The corruption didn't hesitate in Sonic's mind, as he was too vulnerable in this state to fight it. Sadly, he became his mind slave once again. All that spunk he had from before? Gone. All that talk about fighting Scourge to the very bitter end? Gone. All the fight and drive in his will, was gone.
He began to slowly smile with lustful intentions, and his legs opened more up to his captor. "...Do it." Sonic, now fully under Scourge's spell whispered. "Do it, please. I want it, I want you so bad-" He stifled another cough thanks to the punch from earlier. "Fuck me, do it." He raised his legs in the air for his anti-self. "I don't care about Shadow anymore, I just want you, Scourge. I always wanted you, to be inside me and take me. To finish in me, to make me yours. Do it, please. We can't wait any longer."
A devious grin planted itself on Scourge's face. Yes, this was all he's ever wanted. To have someone this beautiful in his bed, to want him for him and no one else. To so willingly give themselves up to him, willing to make love. Sweet, passionate love. Scourge couldn't stop the drool from spilling out of his mouth, he was so ready for this moment. So ready to finally be happy, to finally have the love he's always wanted.
"Sonic," Scourge muttered with a rather, more softer smile. A smile that was happy, a smile that was satisfied with the fact the he would have to mind control his crush just to find happiness. It was okay, this was fine. He was happy with this, he could finally be happy. To claim the very person who's given him strength and hope all those years ago, was a blessing. And he'd finally get it. "I love you so much."
Just as Scourge was about to dive his head down in between his blue legs, something happened.
"My, I never noticed this before but, you're quite a gorgeous specimen, prisoner seventeen."
"Oh my, you're not even hard yet. We can fix that though, right sweetie?"
"N-No...Please...Don't..."
...
...Haha, no.
Not now, no.
No.
He was so close, he was right there. He could just do it, just take him. Penetrate him, love him, rape him, love him. It was all right here, everything he's ever wanted. All he had to do was claim his prize, that was right underneath him, waiting for him to give him pleasure and love.
So why was he hesitating?
Why couldn't he do it?
"You're so screwed up, but I could have saved you too."
"...What?"
"I could have saved you from yourself before it was too late."
...
"If things were different, I'm sure we could have been..."
...
"...I can't do it." He whispered, a distraught expression striking his muzzle. "I...I-I can't, do it-"
Sonic's eyes abruptly widened. That corrupted scarlet red disappeared from his eyes, and he mustered up what little strength he had left to raise his leg and kick Scourge square in the chest. His anti-self was knocked back a bit, startled by the hit. Sonic barely managed to break himself out of the control. He loved Shadow, he couldn't betray him again. He'd never be able to live with himself if he let that happen! He meant what he said earlier: He'd die fighting Scourge off before he'd ever let him take advantage of him again! The hero gave his anti-twin an angry glare, before spitting out blood onto the sheets.
But before he could throw any words at him, Scourge wasn't even paying attention to him. He didn't even care that he broke his control and kicked him. The green hedgehog looked bewildered and terribly saddened, standing up from the bed and dragging his hands over his head. "I can't do it, I can't-Why can't I do it? I want to do it!" He started yelling to himself out of no where, his hands forming fists and beating himself in the head. "Damn it! Damn it, DAMN IT!" He screamed. "I want to hurt you, but I can't. I want to rape you, and I can't!" He yelled. "I-It's you. It's because of you!" Scourge suddenly turned and pointed at Sonic. "It's because of you that my freakin' brain keeps fluctuating like this. And I don't fucking know why!" He didn't get it. Was it because of Fleetway? Fleetway's impatience was causing severe corruption, that had to be the reason why he was feeling like this. But it was getting bad, really bad.
Sonic flinched at his erratic movements. Chaos, what the fuck? Sonic still didn't dare to move, he needed to keep an eye on this bastard.
Scourge was hyperventilating, bashing his fists into his head over and over while screaming at himself. "No, it's wrong. It's wrong, it's wrong. I know it's wrong, it's always been wrong. But I can't-! I can't help it!" He cried while turning directly to the blue hedgehog. "I-I love you! I love everything about you! And I fucking hate everything about you at the same time!" He shouted. "You're so fucking, perfectly imperfect! You're beautiful, you could get anyone you wanted at the snap of a fucking finger!" He yelled. "You're a heartthrob, and yet you can't keep a stable fuckin' relationship to save your damn life. Meanwhile," He gestures to himself. "I'm some scarred, ugly looking thing that would never be able to find someone who actually loves me. Not with this fucking ugly mug, and not with this cursed heat cycle. And the funny thing is, we look just-a-fucking-like! You can get anybody you want, and yet I'm stuck with looking like this."
The hero began narrowing his eyes at him, and watched him carefully.
"I was born weak, because my dumb ass mom was too braindead to give birth to healthy children." He growled at Sonic. "But you get to be spawned without shitty parents, and was made perfectly by the spirits themselves. You grew muscles, while I grew an eating disorder just like step-daddy Zonic. You weren't forced to purge!" He then fell to his knees on the floor, and just sat there looking down with his hands lowering to rest in his lap. "You had the privilege of being ignorant to the truth of Chaos Born, and didn't go crazy like Zonic and I. You're surrounded by friends and family who aren't even fuckin' related to you, while I have a whole blood ancestry based on violence, death and war. I don't have real friends, and I never had. The one real girlfriend I had for years, only ever wanted you and used me for a substitute." He held up his hands and gripped the fur on the sides of his head. "You're a hero, you're selfless, you're compassionate, you're loyal, you're so fucking sweet and I hate it. I hate all of it!"
What-
...What was happening right now?
"You say I did some of this stuff out of selfishness, out of revenge." He chuckled a little, bitterly. "Well, I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't feel good to kill Zonic after what he's done. And I can't say it wouldn't be good to see you suffer after you lived a life of happiness, while I lived a life of pain." He punched his fist into the floor. "But it's not just about that, and I swear to God I'm not lying about this!" He hollered while clenching his eyes shut. "You're right, I should have killed you when I had the chance, but I couldn't! I was going to kill you back when I first had you, but I couldn't go through with it. After you said that to me,"
"I could have saved you from yourself before it was too late." Sonic sniffed. "Something horrible happened in your life for it to turn you this way. And I'm sorry for whatever happened in your past. I'm sorry I couldn't be a friend to you instead of a bitter enemy at the time. Would have been a whole lot better than this, after all." He joked with sorrow in his voice. Mobius Prime's hero looked back down in shame. "If things were different, I'm sure we could have been.." He couldn't finish his sentence. Because all the light and emotion in his eyes faded away as he fell unconscious for the final time that day.
"You were so nice to me. Even after I beat the fuck out of you, and made you choke on your own vomit, you still said that to me and meant every single damn word of it." His arms shook, and his mouth made a rather melancholic grin with moistening eyes. "Haha, I hate this. I hate you, but most of all, I hate myself."
Sonic's eyes couldn't grow any bigger than they were at this moment, witnessing Scourge release tears.
He sniffed and stubbornly wiped his eyes with a grunt. "That's why I hate you. I admired you so much when I was young, you were everything to me and I never even met you. I just knew you as some beacon of hope, that all Chaos Born weren't bad. Shit, that's why Zonic loves you, you know? I wanted to be just like you, I wanted to be you. I mean, who wouldn't right?" He said with a much softer voice. He slowly lifted up his head to meet Sonic's confounded gaze, his smile becoming just a bit warmer. "I was so jealous of you. I was so envious, so angry that you had it all and yet had nothing at the same time. You were a commoner, you had no blood relatives, and you weren't entitled to power like I was. You were homeless, basically an orphan, was severely ignorant about your powers and had nobody to help you or love you when you first started out." He laughed a little harder and shook his head. "And yet you lived a happier life than most people in your world ever could. Than I ever could despite all the privileges I had set up for me. That alone, makes you the strongest person in the universe, with or without chaos powers. And even still, none of that shit mattered to you."
The hero watched as Scourge's icy blue eyes glossed over with an emotion he never thought he'd ever see in the hedgehog. It was, happiness, and love. Positive emotions were swimming through his irises, he wasn't numb to those emotions at all. He looked so joyful just talking about Sonic and frankly, he didn't know how to feel about that.
"Even if you did grow up into royalty like me, even if you did have a family, even if you did grow up as some sickly ugly thing, it wouldn't have meant jack shit to you." He said. "You would have turned out exactly the same way as you are now. Your whole speech that you gave a second ago? You were right about almost everything, Sonic. I ain't shit compared to you, and I never was. And that's because the Divine Spirits made it that way. They set me up for failure and purposely made a world that mirrored yours negatively." He said. "They made you nearly flawless, and me, abhorrent. And even knowing that, I still have the biggest stupid ass crush on you. Because I wish I were you, I wish that I wasn't the anti-Sonic, and I wish I was the prime instead. I," He sniffled. "I wish my fucking life wasn't planned out for me. I could have had a chance, just like Stripes."
...
...Alright.
That was, nice to know and all.
But-
Sonic didn't kneel down with him, and he didn't stand by him for comfort.
No.
Just, no.
Sorry.
Scourge was still the bad guy here. While he appreciated him being honest with him at all while exhibiting a much more humane side to him that he desperately needed to see, it wasn't enough. It wasn't good enough. He did too much damage, too much harm to him and his loved ones. Sonic's pity-well was dried out, and he wouldn't be filling it up again for a very long time. "Scourge?" He softly addressed. "I'm so happy that you fought against your cycle and actually sat down to talk to me. If you had did this the first time you kidnapped me, we wouldn't be here." He said.
Scourge nodded with furrowed brows. "I know. And I'm sorry." He sniffed. Wow, that actually sounded genuine, too. Where was this side to Scourge all along? This was what he needed to see, this entire time. Not that madness he witnessed in No Zone, just this. Just, talking. No delusions of rape, no threats of killing his loved ones, no destroying worlds, no kidnapping, just talking.
The hero continued. "While I'm even more glad that you apologized to me, you know there's no going back from any of this, right? Everything you just told me just falls on deaf ears." Sonic shook his head. "I'm sorry too, because I can never, and will never forgive you for anything that you've done. I mean, you just tried to rape me a second ago." He scrunched up his face in repulsion. "You're right, you really could have had a chance. Honestly, I have a feeling that we could have been real tight. You're so different from me, and I love that in people. I love people who have nothing in common with me, 'cause in my eyes, that just makes you all the more interesting."
"Ha," Scourge chuckled. "Right, that's why you started to like Stripes."
Sonic nodded with a glare. "Yeah. He was nothing like me, and he hated the way I went about my work as a hero. He still does 'cause he hates that I'm pacifistic just like you do. He chewed me out during the war in No Zone because I froze up when I saw all the dead bodies. But you know the difference between him and you are? That was just a small problem in the grander scheme of things." Sonic glowered with stronger irises sharpening. "We argued, had awesome make-up sex and made up like it never happened. What you did, had permanently damaged a lot more than you think." The hero looked to the side. "I can't imagine, how traumatized Tails and Cream are right after the state you put my world in. Amy is probably an emotional wreck, Knuckles is probably losing his shit, and I can't even fathom how Rouge feels about Shadow's well-being right now." He said. "Shadow personally wronged me many times, but you wronged three entire races. The people of No Zone, your own people of Moebius, and the people of Mobius prime. Not once, not even twice. You fucked up over, and over, and over, and over."
Scourge became silent.
"Was Shadow an idiot in the past? Yes. Did he screw up more than once? Yes. But he had the chance to change and be saved. Hell, both times weren't even completely his fault. Black Doom was mentally manipulating him while everyone else were lying their asses off to him, while the commander of GUN tried killing him the second he heard rumors of Shadow working with Black Doom before anything even started yet. We still weren't exactly friends at the time. By then he was convinced everyone wanted to kill him, since GUN acted like a bunch of morons and made the entire world go after him for a complete fucking lie." Sonic stated.
Scourge remained silent, because he was correct.
"At the start, Gerald wanted Shadow to be this great thing that helped innocent people of their illnesses. But then he turned him into a murderer all for the sake of his selfish revenge. You see where I'm getting at here?" He asked while struggling to stand up, and get out of the bed. "Shadow was set up to fail too, more than once. He had a great chance of being saved, especially since a lot of what he did wasn't directly his fault. At first, Shadow was basically programmed to be a killing machine. The second go round, he was practically defending himself from the entire planet for something he had nothing to do with yet. He truly didn't have a choice." He said. "You don't, and a lot of what you're doing now is directly your fault. Instead of killing your people, you should have just ran away like you did after being released from No Zone prison the first time. That's what Shadow did when Black Doom tried to get his hands on him the first couple of times. He went on his own to find out what really happened in his past by himself. Instead of screwing with your heat cycle, why didn't you try to find a way to stop it another way? You're a super smart guy, and you had the good Eggman in your world. You could have found a way to stop it without mutating yourself."
Scourge stiffened, nothing but the truth.
Sonic found himself saying the exact same thing once again to the same person, once again. "My problem with you is still the same, Scourge. You should have just tried to do something else instead of going straight to killing people. And you know what? Maybe you weren't right in the head even way back then. Maybe you were delusional, and thought you had no other way out. But you still knew it was wrong, which is why you feel guilty at all. You weren't that messed up in the head, right? That's what Shadow did. He wasn't all there either, but a part of him knew it was wrong and he finally had the strength to question himself and venture out to go about things another way. That's why he first felt attracted to me, because I knew there was another side of him that never wanted to be like this in the first place. That's how we started talking and getting to know each other, because I wanted him to stop being so scared and just do what he thought was right. That's how we developed crushes on each other, and I became his one way out, without putting a fucking gun to his head like you would. I finally understood him thoroughly, and vice versa. You had a chance in the past, but I couldn't reach you back then. And I'm so sorry for that, I really am. But now?" He shook his head again. "No, you have no chance in hell of being saved anymore."
The green hedgehog stood up and dusted himself off. He picked up his royal top, pulling it back on. "Good, 'cause I don't wanna be saved."
At this point, that was kind of obvious now.
Sonic said nothing back in return, but continued to stare at him.
"Look, Blue." Scourge added. "You're right, I could have did things differently. Maybe all of this bloodshed wasn't worth it, and I guess I do feel some level of guilt. After all, I don't like being the reason why you're in so much pain, whether you deserved it or not." He sighed heavily. "But, I made this bed. I need to gather the balls to lay in it, and sleep in it. I caused so much shit, and I rose the stakes way too high to back down from it now. I was alone, and I thought I'd stay that way forever, like now. There was never any hope for me, so why try asking anyone for help if all it would get me is no where? I tried that with Zonic, and he screwed me over. Granted, it wasn't his fault, but it didn't matter. They made one threat, and Zonic easily caved. If he was in the Divine Spirits' pockets, who's to say everyone else wasn't or wouldn't out of straight up fear?" A sigh. "I'm sorry I couldn't find another way, but it's too late. I put matters into my own hands, so I'm gonna be the one to wash the blood off of them."
Scourge dabbed his eyes with his fingers to check for anymore tears, before wiping them off on his top.
"I just, had another outburst just now. That's all. Nothing more." He turned away. "I really do love you, but you keep distracting me. My emotions keep conflicting with my powers and It's fucking up what I have planned. I don't want you dead, but I need you dead. I can't be selfish anymore and have you for myself forever." He began walking towards the door to the bedroom. "I'll have food brought up to you with chaos control. I can't keep looking at you or else I'll go insane."
"..."
Again, Sonic said nothing and watched Scourge leave.
That was fine, he had nothing more to say to him. What a damn waste of life, he really could have had a chance. All they had to do was talk, years ago. Nothing could be done now, though.
The only thing Sonic would worry about now, is escaping.
...That didn't seem to be possible right now.
Perhaps what he could do to fix his energy wavelengths, is contact Hyper. Sonic could usually speak with his super forms anytime he wanted, but not if they were drained of energy like Hyper was right now. At least, not with some real tough effort. If he concentrated and meditated hard enough, maybe he could speak with him. He had food in his body, and Scourge sincerely promised to give him more food. He had some energy to spare to focus and talk with him. If he could get in contact with Hyper to get some of this havoc sorted out, maybe, just maybe, he could restore his power and boost himself back up to the way he was before.
He would take Zhadow and Shadow's advice from before, and meditate.
Focus, breathe.
Focus...
...Breathe.
He was sleeping peacefully now.
As much as he hated to admit it, Sonic prime was right. Hyper was a villain but, Sonic prime himself wasn't. Using his power didn't turn him into a bastard. Instead, he used his powers for good and restored Zonic's health. All they were waiting for now, is for him to wake up. The doctors checked him, noticing that he was breathing normally and that his body was pretty stable as of right now. Whether or not his mental health was still an issue remains to be seen, but that didn't matter. He was alive, and he was no longer dying. Right now, Zonic was in great condition. It was truly a miracle.
His eyes were closed, his peach muzzle full in color. His fur was shiny and looked as if it was just groomed even though no one touched him. He looked great right now. Once he recovered, it'd probably be like waking up from a great dream. He looked so peaceful like this, so at ease, so void of stress or anger. No misery, no insanity, no purging, no guilt dragging down his heart, just utter bliss in a steady slumber.
Zhadow gently placed his hand on the side of his muzzle, caressing his face and silently sighing to himself. Perhaps their love transcended through every single reality there was. He and Zonic were in love, and Zonic once mentioned to him that other Sonics in other realities were infatuated with other Shadows. How ironic. But if only Sonic prime knew just how important he was not just to Shadow prime, but to Zonic as well. He was Zonic's pinnacle, once upon a time. All he knew, all he could understand. His only friend, who didn't even know he existed. He couldn't just sit here in his lover's room doing nothing. While he hated being away from him, he couldn't let his brother-Err, hypothetical brother, fall at the hands of Scourge. Shadow prime was doing all he could, all by himself. No doubt he'd be stopped by several roadblocks, he'd need assistance.
He needed to do something to help.
And that's why, Zhadow already had a plan in motion. He had sent a protocol for No Zone's wifi to connect back to Mobius prime. For some reason, it kept failing and disconnecting despite the fact that nothing was losing power. They've been having issues ever since Scourge returned, but the war was over and done with. Not to mention his control over Mobius prime was gone. He didn't know why that kept happening, but if everything went well, he'd be able to connect to Mobius and speak with Miles prime once more. In fact, he should check on that right now.
Zhadow reluctantly pulled himself away from his commander, and made his way out of the hospital room.
It took him maybe ten minutes to reach Zonic's office. He walked to the back of the room, a key in hand. The secret back door that led to the reality room, was soon unlocked and opened. Zhadow marched inside and made a beeline for Moebius' monitor. He stared at the screen carefully, before pressing his fingers against the buttons to flip through channels. No, no, no...He needed footage from inside of the king-Ah. There it was, the kingdom. Now to zoom in and get a shot of the castle...There we go. Okay, he didn't see Shadow prime outside of the building, perhaps he was already inside. In fact, the front castle doors seemed to have been severely damaged. He must have busted his way in.
Maybe he could try to connect-"Gah..!" He was immediately shocked by scarlet red corrupted energy. He snatched his fingers away with a growl, the anti-Sonic must have put some kind of barrier over his own castle so Zonic wouldn't be able to view from the inside. Cheeky bastard. Okay, if he couldn't connect there, he could always talk to someone else instead. He smirked. He moved a few feet away to another monitor, where Mobius prime's monitor was located. He placed his hand over the screen to push the channel buttons quickly, switching to the viewing of Station Square. Okay now where was-Huh? Weren't Sonic prime's friends located at GUN HQ? And why was there still a blood moon there. The sky was still so red despite Scourge having been disconnected. What was going on with that...? Shit, he got distracted.
Perhaps they moved, but to where? Shit. Zhadow continued flipping channels. Well they couldn't have gotten that far, right? He'd have to move to the side of the monitor and look for it's router cable. Okay, there it was. Yes! It was active and the Warden's permission was still granted, the protocol worked. All he had to do now was push this button aaaand, voila. There we go. Now to search for a signal. Loading, searching, finding...Come on, come on. Work, damn it.
Damn it, work already-"...Sonic!?" Oh, good. Zhadow blinked. "Sonic-No, Shadow! It's you!" He immediately saw an orange fox, but he wasn't the anti-Miles. This was Miles-prime, just as he predicted. Good, he was still alive. The transmission was now showing a rather odd location that he didn't recognize, but he did see some of Sonic prime's other friends in the background. "Y-You're alive...! Thank God." The vulpine said with tears forming in the corner of his eyes.
Zhadow felt a little bad for ruining the moment, but, duty calls. "I, am sorry for disappointing you, Miles prime. I am not Shadow prime, I am Zhadow of No Zone. I'm sure you're familiar with Zonic, an ally of Sonic and Shadow prime. You aided us during the war." He briefly explained. Once he told him that he wasn't actually Shadow, the droop of utter disappointment and despair drawn on the child's face nearly made Zhadow wince. Damn, poor kid. Not only that, but the boy had black bags under his eyes. When's the last time he slept? He hoped he didn't wake him up. "Again, I'm very sorry."
"Oh, no, it's fine." The boy mumbled. His eyes tried brightening up a bit. "They're still okay, right? I know Sonic's been kidnapped again, Scourge contacted us not too long ago."
He wanted to nod, but as of right now, he had no idea if that was true. "I am not sure. Shadow prime left No Zone yesterday, I do not know of his well-being as of now. I can't even connect to Scourge's castle to check up on Sonic prime through my monitors." Tails made a scowl and squeezed his eyes shut with despair. He looked down in sorrow and covered the side of his face in silence. Zhadow frowned and tightened his fist. "However," He exclaimed, making the fox boy flinch and look back up at the screen. "What you're using now to speak with me, how are you connecting to the universal wi-fi?"
"E-Err, I'm using a laptop that's connected to a robot. It calls itself the anti-Omega. But," The kitsune looked behind him for a second. "He seems offline, for some reason. The wifi still works, though."
"Of course," Zhadow briefly turned away with a brief realization. Zonic previously asked for Zespio to check files involving the anti-Robotnik, revealing info on a robot named the anti-Omega.
"There! Do you see it, commander?"
"I do." Zonic spoke breathlessly. He rose a brow, utterly confused by what he was seeing. That robot, that looked like the exact model from Sonic's world, but it wasn't. That poor machine was destroyed decades ago. It was a rogue machine of Dr. Robotnik prime, and worked for that organization GUN along with Shadow prime and Rouge prime. And it was red, wasn't it? But the machine Zespio was pointing at, this thing was light blue. Almost cyan. "Zespio, go through anti-Mobius' files and look for Dr. Kintobor's profile."
That would just make things even easier. Perfect! "Good," Zhadow said. "Listen to me very carefully, because I'm going to help you get in contact with Sonic prime."
The vulpine's eyes widened with great hope, and he began smiling instantly. "R-Really? I'm all ears!"
Zhadow nodded. "Indeed. Now," Okay, he's learned a lot about other realities thanks to Zonic over the years, hopefully he knows enough information to get this right. They couldn't afford to make mistakes, and they didn't have time to fix up errors. He thought about all the locations on Mobius, and then stared at the background Tails was in as of now inside the screen. "Where are you right now?"
"We're at Angel Island."
Oh this was just too perfect. Zhadow smiled a little. That's why he didn't recognize the location, but he did know some information about it. Including the Master Emerald. "Excellent, that makes our jobs a lot easier." They had Knuckles prime over there if he wasn't mistaken, the temporary guardian of all of the emeralds. There was also a big incident with the Master Emerald and this Chaos being, and now there were spirits living inside of the large gem as of now. "And Knuckles prime is with you as well, yes?" He watched Tails nod, boosting his confidence in his plan even more. "Even better. Tell him to speak with the Master Emerald and speak with the female spirit that resonates inside of it."
The fox's brows rose. "Wait, hold up. You know about Tikal and Chaos?"
Zhadow nodded, kind of. He barely remembered what they were because his memories of Sonic prime's world was a little faded thanks to his coma. "I can't explain why right now, just understand that Zonic and I know a lot about your world. But never mind that." He said. "The reason why I can't get through to Sonic, is because the anti-Sonic put up a corrupted field over his castle. We need something powerful to pierce through that field." He explained. "So, I want you to get Knuckles prime to contact the spirit inside of the emerald. Once you do that, ask her this,"
Tails listened attentively. "Yeah?"
"Ask her to use the universal wi-fi to connect to No Zone, and teleport a phone from here, to anti-Mobius."
Shadow sighed as he moved to the next projection. He looked over at Maria's spirit, who patted his shoulder with a small, but tired smile. Their eyes were getting strained, they still haven't found anything noteworthy yet. All they saw were Scourge's-Err, anti-Sonic's progression in reforming his country. And in all fairness, he did a damn productive job. Criminals were becoming employers of their own companies, hobos were snatching jobs and getting paychecks as fast as they possibly could, and orphans were finding good homes with good people to love and care for them. The disabled were getting healed thanks to his chaos powers, the mentally impaired were getting free education and special programs to help fix their underestimated brains that held great potential.
The anti-Sonic only ever showed his super form whenever someone in need required special attention, like a severe injury or a bad illness that modern medicine alone couldn't fix at the blink of an eye. Slowly but surely, his people were starting to respect and even love him. Not the monarchy, but the anti-Sonic. They loved him. They began cheering his name whenever he walked down the streets with royal guards, tossing roses at him instead of trash, bowing to his feet in honor instead of utter fear. Their faces brightened, smiles plastered and almost stuck on their mugs. Children hopped for joy, thinking of him as some A-list celebrity than a king.
Anti-Sonic loved the attention, but unlike Sonic in public, he was severely shy. He would hide his face, blush, get all squeamish and grin like an idiot. Alongside him would be the anti-Eggman, Dr. Kintobor. A truly benevolent man who believed in the prince's dream to reform everyone. Things were going great for him, and he had achieved what he always wanted: To be a hero in his own way. He was puking a whole bunch, but his attitude increased just like everyone else.
So what was the fucking issue here?
Where was what they needed? Where was the thing that would help him defeat the Scourge they all knew and hated now? Damn it. Sigh. Welp, on to the next slide. Shadow flicked the switch and took a step back to watch the next projection and read along with Maria. Once more, he began reading out loud. He crossed his arms, and his eyes scanned from left to right.
"It says," He began. "...'Life was going so great for me. Where did it all go wrong?" Shadow swallowed hard. Why was he getting Gerald vibes from this all of a sudden? He started getting a bad feeling about this, and he didn't like it. He cleared his throat and continued. "...'I managed to reform the entire population of my kingdom in just a year's time. Everyone's so happy now, and so am I. But every time I made progress, father would get so angry. 'How dare you preach to them as if you're their rightful ruler? You're just the spawn of the Devil! You evil pram! You're not even sacrificing your organs like you're supposed to! You should have died in your mother's stomach long ago! We all should have died! You're just going to become another demon, don't you see? You're evil!' I never understood why he said that to me, until I started poking my nose in places I had no business.'"
Maria's eyes narrowed, and she got closer to the projector with careful eyes while Shadow continued to read.
"...'I love reading, and one day, I want to become an author and write tons of books about super heroes. So, I always swing over to my father's study and look for old books to read to brush up on my skills in writing. But, I, touched something I shouldn't have. I found a slide in an empty book-!'" Shadow's eyes began to widen. "Maria-"
"I know, I sense it." The girl said as her posture slightly tensed up. "It's getting stronger, I'm looking for it right now. Just keep reading."
He nodded and did as she asked. "...'It's a slide that belongs to a projector. It belonged to a secret viewing room underneath one of the bookcases. I found the projector and placed the slide inside. I wasn't supposed to be out of my room right now, but I was too curious. And then, I did something that destroyed my brain. I saw something, I witnessed something that revealed everything to me. Why my father called me the Devil, why my mother was brain dead, why my siblings mysteriously passed away before I was even conceived, it all came together,'"
What he was reading right now, maybe he should just stop while he was ahead.
"...'And God do I wish it didn't.'"
Many Years Ago
...And God do I wish it didn't.
This slide looked brand new, and this book was clean. It was like someone deliberately placed it here.
The projection wasn't just some still imaged slide, it-it-it was something straight out of nightmarish picture book. Things moved, everything was animated. But as the projection of the images contorted, so did the world around me. The room in which I was watching the projector in, began twisting and turning. Walls melted into the floors, the darkness spread until everything became pitch black. I saw nothing but that projection, and my eyes wouldn't turn away no matter how hard I tried moving my body. I was paralyzed, I couldn't scream. I didn't realize what was happening until the visions of the projection began.
The projections, of the truth that I was ignorant to. The projection showed me the history and purpose of Chaos Born, things that I thought I already knew about. About how Chaos Born are meant to eventually rule over their respective realm, and how every Chaos Born has one single Overseer to watch over them all. Which was all controlled and dictated by the Divine Spirits themselves, with the Light One and the Scarlet One making and destroying worlds. The Light One created my world, while the Scarlet one created Sonic prime's world. The pure deity made it so that my world started out as nothing but misery, while the demonic deity made it so that the hero would live the perfect life.
But, w-why? That wasn't fair. Why was I shafted? I know he's special, after all, he was made specifically in their image. That's why he's so beautiful, unlike the rest of us. But still, why can't we all live happily? Why are some of us meant to live horrible lives? According to the projections, the light one and the demonic one created our worlds as 'experiments'. To see what would become of me and Sonic prime with such opposing worlds. They already had our fates in mind when making us, but once we're created, we make our own choices from there. They wanted Sonic prime to be this wonderful thing, but they didn't create his personality. The same went for me. Ironically, Sonic prime didn't start off as a benevolent and kind hero. He was selfish and brash, while I was meek and weak.
But that's not all I saw.
Not only did they plan for me to be raised in a miserable environment, but they had something even worse planned for me. I thought the tyranny from my ancestors was just in my world.
This was not the case.
In every single reality, no matter the Sonic spawned into that universe, things would always end up the same. Not only would they take control of their respective worlds, but they would enslave all of the innocent people already living there, and force them to do their bidding forever. They would become fodder to us, so they could mate with us and create even more Chaos Born. T-They, they want us to abuse our powers and murder anyone who dare stand up against us. Once everyone's enslaved, there's no going back. Their minds are completely gone, and they become lifeless dolls while their souls convert into more chaos energy, that's fed to the Divine Spirits.
Apparently, this is what happened thousands of years ago in Mobius prime before after the original ancestors gave up the Master Emerald to those strange echidnas. The scarlet one got bored of their own spawns, caused them all to kill each other, and devoured all of their energies like one big appetizer. The other deities were cross with him, but there was nothing they could do but start over. They didn't just have a history for killing innocent normal people, they killed and devoured other Chaos Born too! Their own f-fucking children!
A-And...A-And even worse, it spreads like a damn virus. Soon, I will also turn mad and become like my mother and father. I will become a tyrant my people won't recognize, enslave them, mate with them, eat them, reproduce, and let the spirits devour my people. Then, they'll just push the reboot button so I can endure this nightmare all over again for future generations!
I-I, I'm going to kill everyone.
I'm going to hurt everyone-I'm going to force myself onto everyone!
No wonder my father kept trying to indirectly kill me, I do need to die! We all need to die! We're all just going to hurt and kill everything we touch, we're monsters! Devils, every single one of us! All of the people whom I've learned to know and love, they're all just going to die by my own hands. And once the spirits get bored of me, I too will be devoured and killed just like them.
And it'll happen again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again...
And again...
Again...
Again...
Again...
Again...
The world is spiraling.
The world is spinning.
Nothing is real.
I am nothing.
They are nothing.
I need to die.
We all need to die.
...
I'm gonna do it.
I-I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna kill myself.
Just like father always wanted.
I can't keep using these, I need to write in something else. Something my father can't get his hands on before he perishes.
...That book, I'll take the book.
"...'I'll use the book as a diary to document everything I've come to know thus far. Perhaps even find a way to stop and destroy this cycle. While that happens, I'm going to prepare to...Kill, myself. If all else fails, that'll be my last resort.'" Shadow swallowed hard, before slowly taking his eyes away from the wall.
Something told Shadow that the would have to watch that cursed slide the anti-Sonic was so scared of. Perhaps that was the true cause of his madness.
Suddenly, Maria floated in front of him. Her eyes were void of hope, and were filled to the brim with an ominous aura of dread and paranoia. She looked very scared right now. Shadow could easily sense why too, because in that projection alone, he could tell that particular slide would be something he'd never be able to face alone. He was blessed that the girl was with him right now. "You don't have to watch with me, Maria."
She shook her head and grasped his hand tightly. Her hand was warm. "We're doing this together, just like everything else that we've done."
That's right. Unbeknownst to Shadow, this entire time, Maria's been with him. Not behind him, not in front of him, beside him. Every step of the way, she did it with him. They were always together, and went through everything together. He nodded, as he knew her decision was firm and final. While still holding her hand, he walked over to the projector, and flipped to the very next slide.
He took a step back with her, and prepared his eyes for the truth.
They began reading the text and-
"...dednammoc era uoy sa od dna og won ,ylereves dehsinup eb lliw ecnelosnI .ti fo tuo thgir uoy ekat ylisae os nac ew ,ecnetsixe otni uoy tup ew sa tsuj dnA .doolb ruo era uoy ,ekatsim on ekam tuB .gnidne reven eb lliw rewop ehT .erom ecno dlrow eht revo noinimod ruoy tratser llahs uoy ,yhtrow uoy meed ew fI .sevlesruo dlrow eht fo tser eht ruoved llahs ew dna ,enod si boj ruoy ,taht retfA .ygrene gniruoved erofeb ,nroB soahC rehtona ecudorper ot latrom eno tsael ta htiw etam ot erus eB .esaelp uoy sa ti trotxe ,sruoy si dlrow ehT .uoy ot sselesu era ohw slatrom eht no deef ,uoy tsniaga sdnats taht gnihtyna lliK .reuqnoc ot si ereht gnihtyreve emusnoc lliw uoy dna ,dlrow siht evalsne lliw uoY .mihw yreve ruo evres lliw uoY .nroB soahC era uoY. YOU look there, your home. It is YOUR OWN GOD. Welcome to the sky. There we are."
..!
T-The images, t-the walls...!
Everything was twisting, turning, spinning out of control!
His eyes were going in directions they shouldn't be, drool was foaming out of his mouth. He couldn't control his body, it wouldn't move. His heart was beating, beating way too fast-! He couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe. The history, the history of these monsters were too graphic. Too much bloodshed, too many bodies being shown. The mutilation, the forced reproduction, the screams, the mind control, the cannibalism, the madness was too much for him to handle! He couldn't look away. Even as his eyes were bleeding, he still couldn't look away. He just wouldn't for the love of Chaos look away, for even one second! Please!
But-
No matter where he looked, it was all the same.
A world of nothing but Chaos Born, nothing but hedgehogs, nothing but beings that looked like hedgehogs. All the same face, all the same voice, all with the same eyes, laughter and bodies. The people were dead, everyone was dead. Tails was dead, Rouge was dead, Knuckles, Amy, Vanilla, Cream, Cheese, the Chaotic, the Babylon Rouges, Eggman, every single one of them was dead. Dead at their feet, all for their will, for their benefit.
And behind it all was...
Was...
The spirits, who looked just like Sonic.
...
Shadow didn't realize he was in a fetal position on the floor, crying blood from his eyes.
Maria worriedly tried to get him to wake him from this grand nightmare.
"Do what my commander did, and open your eyes. Do that, and you will see the complete truth."
Do you remember when soldier Zhadow said that to you?
Yes, you saw the truth now. You understand, and it is horrifying. But don't let that stop you! Get up! Get to m̶̶̨͙̪̦̦͙̬̗ͪͥ͆̊̍̐̕ý̷̷͌͑̉̿͗̔̆ͩ͐̽̂̏ͥͩ̏҉͔̗͚̦̼̦ ̢̨̰̹͙̻͍̾ͬͭͤ͆̇͐̀̕͝h̛̤̪̥͖̺̘͂̌̊̈̂͊̈͋ͭ̄͋͘͜ͅǫ̵̸̃̈̈͆̃̆̎͛͞҉̱͔̣͔͕͎̹͖̘̪̬͓͔̥̠͎ͅs̡͕̲͚̣̖̰͍̫̠̺͔̫͆̃̌̔̂̌́t̷̨̟̮̦͓̄̓͊ͨͮ͛̒̍ͧ̿́̋͌͊̋̅ͣ͑̚͠! You'll never be able to get him back if you don't find that slide.
Wake up.
Get up.
Get up, now.
Now, I said.
Now!
GET UP.
NOW!
With a strong and painful gasp, Shadow woke up from his nightmare.
He sat up with a start, blinking several times while coughing violently. His spit splattered onto the floor, and his arms shook as he desperately tried holding himself up. Maria patted his back, whispering him for him to please keep calm so his body can stop going out of whack. Shadow closed his eyes and tried to calm down.
"N-No," He grunted. "I'm not fucking done, not yet!" He growled.
He forced himself off the floor and whipped his head at that projector. Maria tried to stop him from making any rash movements, but Shadow wasn't stopping for anything. Not now.
"Turn that thing back on!"
Maria blinked at his words. "B-But Shadow-"
"There's no time, Maria!" He demanded. "We need to get Sonic back, and the only way to defeating Scourge is in that slide! I don't care what horrors are stashed inside," He stood in front of the projector and shoved his finger against the switch. "I will look it in the eye without fear. I'm getting Sonic back no matter what, and nothing will fucking stop me!"
The human girl stared at her best friend with dire concern. Not because of his tone, but because of the hands whom he was playing into. And yet, there was nothing she could do to stop him.
Because in the end, this truly was the only way to get Sonic back.
END - 49
YES.
RUN LIKE CHICKENS WITH YOUR HEADS CUT OFF.
RUN IN IGNORANCE YOU SLAVES.
Edit: Sorry for the wait. College life, 'nuff said. Hope you enjoyed. And...
...I hope you've been paying attention. :)