Chapter 16

I awoke within darkness, my body heavy and hurting. What happened? My puzzled mind wondered. Where was everyone? Are they okay...Did I...do anything to them? A depression filled my soul as I slowly got up and looked around. I remembered being taken over...and almost killing someone. But, I couldn't remember who. It frustrated me, as, if I was angry enough to want to murder someone...then surely I'd remember them…

I shook my head...Now wasn't the time for that. I was sure I'd remember sooner or later.

A soft blue light was coming from some distance off. I saw nothing in any other direction so I began to walk to it. My footsteps echoed as I walked, the ground non-existent, but still somehow there.

My eyes widened as her sobs reached my ears, and her cool blue fur graced my vision. Kuro...my sister. She's here...but where is here, and why is she...? She was on her knees crying into her gloved hands, a small, flickering light emanating from her tiny body. Suddenly, her fearful, broken voice rang out.

"Who's there?!" My heart broke at this, and I knelt down behind her as she continued, "It's so dark...I can't see..."

"Turn around." I whispered softly, but she only curled into a ball, and continued to weep miserably.

"Why do you sound like him?" She cried out, "He's gone...and-" She sputtered and gasped as her breath lost itself in the sorrow, "He's not coming back! He...doesn't even remember me anymore."

"Who?" I asked, my heart shattering with her cries.

"My brother...Maurice." An ironic smile crossed her face, "Pathetic, aren't I? I couldn't even save the only one that ever truly mattered to me..." My head fell, but she continued, "All these years of hoping to see him. I finally got the chance...but now, it's gone. He had gone insane, and I had to erase everyone's memory of our adventure, of Ovi, of our parents...and of me..." She went back to kneeling and wiped her nose with her arm, "Well, at least he and everyone else are safe..right? They get their happy ending..." I nodded, but she couldn't see, "But..then why does it hurt so much?" She lost it again, "All I ever wanted to do was see him again! I wanted to talk to him, and hug him...was that too much to ask?" Her cries were getting louder as she became more and more angry at her tragic fate, "I could even go without talking to him...just a hug...just-something..anything besides this!" She began to pound the ground, the jolts of anger echoing in the darkness all around us.

I put my hand on her shoulder, her body flinching at my touch. It was here that she began to sing as a, I can only assume, way to calm herself down. But it was a haunting melody of anger and despair, her cruel fate leaving her blind to the one who listened with a melancholy silence right behind her:

"Was left below,

In the world we'd known,

Hoping that someone could find me.

Life underground,

It's over now,

Tried to leave all that behind me," I slowly knelt down, hugging her from behind as she sung, my eyes filling with tears as her beautiful and familiar voice washed over me. It were as though we had gone back in time, to an age where we were safe and sound. That age that had never truly been, but that we had once still known in our dreams.

"When he called my name,

The demon comes,

But was I to blame?

I tried to be good…

I really did..

Not sure I could," She didn't seem to be crying anymore, as the song was bringing out all of her emotion, and filling the empty void with it.

"Leaving this world,

Broken, unfurled,

Couldn't take anymore crying.

Been disposed of,

Once I found love,

Lights up above,

From stars slowly dying," I noticed three shadows just beyond our blue light, their forms familiar, yet distant. They looked to be in the form of two hedgehogs, and a young boy of eight. They just sat there outside light's reach, listening to my sister's song peacefully. The young boy even seemed to smile, as tears slowly traced down his cheeks, glinting in what little glow illuminated him.

"I once knew light,

Burning bright,

Shadows invade..

I've lost the dawn,

Sunlight's gone,

Left this dismal grave…" As I watched, one of the hedgehogs, the bigger one that looked to be male, began to shatter, like glass. His fracturing body slowly turned into black sand, that peaceful look still on his face. I watched with wide eyes as that expression vanished into that pile of dust, and blew away on some wind I could neither feel or see.

"I remain still,

Power of will,

Leaves me here to keep on crying," The female hedgehog was next, her body becoming beautiful blue petals that blew softly around us. One petal graced my cheek, kissing it with all the warmth in the world as she left...forgotten in time.

"I know somehow,

There's no point now,

To try and stop the hate,

The dying..," The little boy smiled at me before he met his end, slowly being turned into a thick cloud of dark smoke. It was how he had survived all these years, using such smoke to fool everyone. It was only fitting that it be his end, and he was content with it.

"No hopes, no dreams,

I have nothing,

Death is all that can salvage me.

The end's calling,

No more stalling,

Stars will fade,

And I'll stop shining..." Her voice stopped, all the shadows who once stood there listening all gone without a trace. I still held her close, and with a shock to the heart, I realized she was no longer moving. She wasn't even able to hold herself up as she collapsed in my arms.

"Please..." She whispered, "Who are you?" I nearly choked as the tears I had been holding back till now fell in full force.

"It's me, Maurice." I told her, placing her in my lap so that I could finally see her face. But my heart broke when I saw that she couldn't see mine.

Her beautiful green eyes were clouded over and stared at nothing, her expression one of peace as she smiled at my name, "Maurice...I know him." She giggled softly, her ears and quills becoming transparent as they slowly disappeared into a sky-blue light.

I was barely able to speak, "Yes...y-yes...I'm your b-brother...remember?" She nodded slowly, the smile growing more beautiful as a quiet joy filled her fading eyes.

"Maurice..." She repeated my name to herself, "What a wonderful young hedgehog." She mused, "For so long, I wanted nothing more than to hear his sweet voice...just one more time." She moved her face, trying to find mine as she buried her cheek in my arm, "Could I hear yours? You sound so much like him..."

I held her tighter, tears blinding me as I responded quickly, "Of course! You don't even need to ask!" We were children..just children. We had been abused, tortured, separated, and made into beings we didn't understand by people we didn't understand. Now here we were, back together once again, having to say our goodbyes. How was this fair? She doesn't even know it's me…

"W-would you..l-like a l-lullaby?" I stuttered, barely able to get the words out. She nodded, smiling as her arms and legs slowly disappeared.

"I would love that." She closed her blind eyes, snuggling against me.

"Okay..uh," I thought for a moment, trying to remember one she used to sing me. A memory filled my heart, and I began the song:

"It's not fair to be alone,

After what you've been through,

So let me just ease your pain,

Please let me stay with you," It was a song that she had sung me one night when I had been punished for trying to escape. I remember the feeling of being cold and wet as I cowered beneath the bed. She had knelt down and begun singing, trying to calm me as she brought me out and sat me on the bed, holding me close, just singing...just singing.

"I will show you love always,

Because I know deep inside,

It will be okay you'll see,

Though life isn't easy." Now our roles were reversed, I holding her as she slowly disappeared. Though she showed no signs of fear, I knew somewhere deep down, that she was terrified...and who wouldn't be at their own demise?

"I will stay her by your side,

I know it's frightening,

To think that you might now leave,

But that my sis is why," I began to change the lyrics, my grasp growing tighter as I began to rock back and forth. I didn't want to lose her, but there was nothing I could do...Or if there was, I didn't know what. In all my years, she was the last one I thought I would ever say this kind of goodbye to. I had always known that I would see her again, as we were both immortal and couldn't die. But somehow, this world had managed to do the impossible, and was taking her away from me in the cruelest way it knew how.

"You will see the sun again,

And feel the West Wind's warmth,

The sky will shine so blue,

This I know is true,

So please just stay here with me,

You are so dear to me,

My sweet sister of sky blue,

I will remember you..." She was now almost completely gone, her beaming face the only thing left remaining as she whispered,

"So much blood,

So much pain,

Just to see,

You once again.

Someday soon,

We'll meet again,

So they say,

Please tell me when...goodbye...Maurice." She was gone, vanished into thin, blue light. This light lit the endless night like stars as I fell into my hands, bawling like the child I am. Then, with a despair I couldn't explain even if I tried, I screamed. I screamed long and hard, the echo reverberating off the shadows and hitting me over and over again before I collapsed once more into my gloved hands, holding my face as I wept bitterly.

"Sonic?" A familiar voice filled my ears, and I looked up hopefully...but it wasn't her. A child Robotnik was standing there instead, illuminated by the blue light. His messy red hair, and cute green eyes were red and puffy, as though he too had been crying. He wore nothing besides a ragged, brown t-shirt, and ripped shorts. His knees and feet were rather red, as though he had just been kneeling on the non-existent ground. "Sonic...is that you?"

He gulped and took a step forward, his hand outstretched toward me. But, he reconsidered, and drew it back.

"I...I-" I hugged him tightly, my feet numb to me as I almost knocked him over with the sheer force of this speedy action. He gasped for a second before hugging me back, his tears warm and heavy on my fur, mine probably being the same on his clothes.

"I'm sorry." I don't know how long we stood there, the weight of our memories chaining us to that one spot and position. There were no words to exchange, no apologies to make. We had already made them all, and now, we both just wanted silence. We just wanted to know that the other was there despite what we have done in the past. But nothing lasts forever, this hug falling as a green light filled the empty space.

My children...A female voice greeted us, and we let each other go. I turned to see a giant, green gem that I recognized to be the Master Emerald. She was just floating there sadly, the blue light my sister had left becoming a part of the green light the Master Emerald held.

I couldn't speak, my voice too raw and too sore to work. Robotnik probably could speak, but he didn't, and instead held his head in shame. We were both still standing close together.

I am sorry...this outcome was not what I had desired. She spun silently, emerald light, like tears, falling to the ground just below her. I had hoped to erase all the pain and all the memories...but I am afraid that I am not able to erase yours. They are your family after all, and to erase your memory of them would be to erase your pasts...and therefore, your reasons to fight.

An anger flared in me. That was what she was sorry about? Not the fact that I just saw my sister vanish into pure light? The Master Emerald looked at me, and flinched. I guess my look was pretty explanatory.

Maurice...My dear little boy. Though it was I who erased it all, it was your sister who asked me to. I am just sorry I couldn't truly complete her wish. Suddenly more tears formed in my eyes as I leaned against Robotnik, the idea that I could have drove her to do such a thing, stabbed me in the heart.

I see you two are friends again… The Master Emerald watched us, My dear children… You must become enemies once more. Otherwise the balance will be tipped, and this world will become a power vacuum. There must always be a villain and a hero- She didn't finish though as Robotnik snapped, his hand cradling my head.

"Screw your balance! I just had to watch my father turn to ash, and now you're telling me that I have to betray my best friend all over again?" He held me tighter, "No, screw you! I just got him back! Look at him! He just lost his sister, and you dare to try to make him into an emotionless hero just to suit your sick needs?" He took my hand and began walking, I following without any hesitation, "We're leaving you sick bastard. Where's the exit?!" I couldn't help but admire this Robotnik as he led me away from the gem. This was my best friend, the friend that I remembered from so long ago.

The Master Emerald watched us gently, You can't leave without my allowing it, children.

"I DON'T CARE!" Robotnik screamed, bringing us to a run.

I don't know how long we ran, but eventually, we saw a light. It was a green light…? The Master Emerald stood in front of us once more, watching us with a glint of concern. Robotnik fell to his knees, and pounded the ground. I just stood there, my body and mind so numb that I just didn't care to move anymore.

Are you ready to hear my proposal yet, dear children? We didn't even answer as she continued, You don't have to betray each other or become true enemies. You just need to pretend. I wouldn't ask you to go back to hating each other, never. I just want the balance to stay correct so that no worse villains try to take your place Robotnik. She moved a bit closer to him, It would be another deal to protect your friend, but this time, you both would know about it.

Robotnik lifted his head and looked at her, then at me. He was huffing and puffing from the running, and could hardly speak. So, he just swung his arm, "Fine." He wheezed, "There's no other way...huh..."

I will allow you two some time then...to gather your thoughts. Goodbye, my dear children. She vanished into thin light, leaving my sister's stars glowing in the sky to light up our conversation.

We both just stared at each other for a few minutes before Robotnik finally spoke.

"It...won't be that bad..." He tried to be optimistic as he smiled at me, "At least...we'll know the truth...right?" His smile was fake, his big, green eyes filling with tears. I fell to his side and hugged him, the stars disappearing, one by one. "I'll stop kidnapping animals and turning them into robots." He mused as the tears fell down his cheeks, "We can play tennis together...maybe race if you want." He chuckled, choking on his tears, "We'll just...tell your friends...it's a secret plot that I'm cooking up..." He could barely get the words out as he talked, "We'll hang out sometimes...right?" He looked at me hopefully, my raspy voice answering him.

"Absolutely..." I uttered, "Wouldn't...miss it...for the world." We just sat in silence after that, waiting as the stars all faded from the sky, the world blacking out in silence.

I awoke on a hill beneath a large, oaken tree. The sun was rising in the east, dying the sky a beautiful hue of violet and crimson. The shadows on the trees just in the distance gave a wonderful contrast to the sky, the wind blowing all around me gently and calmly. It filled my lungs with sweet, fresh air for what seemed the first time in years.

Beside me was my best friend, Robotnik, dressed in his stupid disguise that he had made so many years ago, his hand in mine. He seemed to be fast asleep, his silly snore filling the mostly silent air. At the foot of the hill, I could just see all my friends, robotic and not, all sleeping soundly in the soft, green grass, and multicolored flowers.

Just in front of me were the spirits of two children. One looked like a younger form of Robotnik, with his red hair and fair skin, while the other looked to be a young, cobalt hedgehog with quills that defied gravity. They both sat hand in hand watching peacefully as the sun rose over the trees.

The little cobalt hedgehog turn to look at me, and smiled. Her mouth traced the words, "Isn't it beautiful?"

Thank you to all those that stayed with me through this entire story. You all have been amazing!

Thank You!