Lair of Naugus

Cold metal hands grip my back, shaking me, waking me. My eyes shoot open. Blurry, sleep-deprived vision making out only a thick red haze mere inches away. Blinking rapidly, my eyes come to focus on the unmistakable sight of a glowing red visor SWATbot! It looms over me. My heart pounds away in terror. I stagger backwards. My blue boots marked a desperate and squelching trail across the concrete floor. A gurgle escapes my throat as I drew a breath to scream, but a gloved hand clamps over my mouth from behind.

Mm. I moaned pitifully.

"Calm down princess, it's just Ari. Look," Sonic said reassuringly. I drew several deep breaths through my nose, and felt an immense sense of relief when the 'SWATbot' pried off its chrome helmet; revealing a stocky ram with a curved pair of horns and a pair of soulful, hazelnut brown eyes beneath.

Ari met my wide-eyed gaze with his own. Though his eyes were firm, I saw traces of loneliness, and a little desperation even as they became unfocused. These were eyes of experience. His fur was matted; and a strong, musky body odour wafted forth from the exposed portion of his torso. Beneath his breath, I picked up the stench of alcohol. All the signs pointing to someone living alone for a while. Still, in spite of his odious personal hygiene and an eccentric lifestyle, he was a Mobian; a living, breathing Mobian.

My breathing slows down and Sonic uncovers my mouth. "You scared me. I nearly had a heart attack," I said with an odd unassailable confidence for my fluttering heart.

"Sorry princess, it's just good to see another Mobian again after so long." The ram spoke waveringly, as though it was unused to the sound of his own voice.

"Now that 'Sleeping Beauty' is up, we need a way in; any ideas?" Sonic asked with a playful smirk. This earned him a dirty look from me which he waved off.

Ari nodded and said, "Robotnik had his fortress sealed-up tight ever since your last escape, but I think I can get you into the castle if I slipped you through the loading docks on the West Wing."

"We'll be disguised as cargo, correct?" I clarified.

"Yes princess, " Ari said as he stepped aside to reveal two metal bins filled to the brim with robot parts. Reaching below, he swung open a latch revealing a hidden compartment just large enough a Mobian to sit comfortably within and motioned for us to enter. "You see, it's a false top. The overhead sensors will only pick up the metal parts on top. Allowing me to smuggle you through," Ari elaborated with an odd sense of neediness to his voice, almost as though he wanted, no, needed us to obey.

I frowned, climbing into a metal bin was ... unappealing to say the least. For a start, we would be virtually blind and deaf within, making it a certain death trap if something went wrong. A chill ran up my spine as I struggled to come up with cause for protest. "Look this is stupid. I'm not going in," I protested.

"Princess, I must insist you …" the ram began, reaching for my arm.

Just then, I realised something like a bolt from the blue., "Ari? The castle never had a West Wing."

Like a switch, Ari's demeanour flips from eccentric hermit to predatory thug. With a snort, he barrelled into me. He was large, especially with his bulky unergonomic armour; that should've meant slow, but nothing could be further from the truth. Ungulates like him moved so damned fast. He blindsided me and smashed the side of my head with a metal fist, causing me to bounce against an empty wine rack.

As I reeled from the weight of the blow, he spun around, bucking me so hard that I flew a dozen feet before crashing down. Luckily, my body armour had borne the brunt of the blows. Nonetheless, it was hard to think, hard to decipher what was happening. My eyes wouldn't focus and I couldn't draw in more than a wheezing, shallow breath. "Clever girl," the ram snarled, venom dripping from every syllable as he stalked toward me. "Couldn't go the easy way, could you?"

It was that threat that got me to focus. Being brought before the dictator to be turned into his robotic thrall, left trapped within my own body as a screaming voice while the dictator committed unspeakable acts of terror through me. I don't know if there's a more terrifying fate in all of Tartarus. Maybe there is, but I don't have the imagination to envisage it. So, when someone threatens to take my freedom - the scarcest commodity in all of Mobius. I notice and I act.

My brain was still too addled for complex decision-making. Luckily, there was an easier option: my weapon was still strapped securely to me. At that range, even with my fuddled head, it was like hitting the broad side of the barn.

I brought my laser rifle to bear; he saw it of course, and he tried to his momentum. Most likely, he didn't think I would do anything drastic. He probably expected me to threaten him so I could run. Maybe I should have. But I didn't. My finger wrapped around the trigger. The laser rifle was an Overlander response to the Acorn's Kingdom's SWATbots. It came with a few power settings, ranging from 'laser-pointer' to being able to punch through a few meters of steel at the maximum setting.

Unfortunately for Ari, it was set to the latter. There was no recoil, no kickback. Only a searing blue-beam of light which tore through Ari's makeshift armour like a fist through wet tissue paper. Instantly I smelt burnt hairs, flesh and plastic. He staggered, but I didn't relent. Instead, I fired again and again. Under the withering onslaught of fire, Ari twitched before falling to the floor with a crash.

I recalled looking at his supine form and thinking of just how easy it had been to take a life. He was so still. His eyes still open and staring blankly at the ceiling. I expected him to twitch at any moment, to blink, cough or breathe so that his chest would rise that fraction of an inch to show he still lived. My sensitive ears could still pick up the marching feet of SWATbots above, but it might as well be white noise. I had killed a fellow Mobian and the realization crept in slowly. I could barely move, barely breathe. Until I heard Sonic`s barely audible protests.

"Hey, Ari what's going on outside … what gives?"

Like a rubber band of tension, I snap back into regular awareness and drew a lungful of air, only to choke as the ceiling above exploded into a cloud of dust and dark hulking forms dropped through.

There was no time to reflect. No time to mourn. No time to plan. Just enough time to rely upon honed combat instincts. I crouched and kneecapped the nearest SWATbot with a well-aimed blast, causing it to buckle and crash to the floor. A metal hand reached for me through the swirling dust cloud. Using all of my inherited agility, I sidestepped, sliding toward the SWATbot's least armoured spot, it's 'armpit'.

Tseew! Another down.

More emerged through the slowly dissipating dust cloud. Already, I had wasted too much time. Throwing caution to the wind, I ignored them all. I vaulted over their downed comrade, pulling the bolt securing Sonic in place and ducking behind the bin for cover in one smooth motion. The wily hedgehog swiftly burst forth from his makeshift prison. Taking only a moment to adjust to his new surroundings, he faced his foes with a confident smirk. The effect on our surviving assailants was instantaneous. As every SWATbot forged within the furnaces of Robotropolis had been programmed to consider the hedgehog's apprehension its ultimate priority.

"Priority One! Hedgehog alert!" they chanted, training their weapons on the blue speedster. Clutching my own, I leaned out ready to lend a helping hand. In retrospect, I needn't have bothered. Sonic was already in the thick of the fray. He zig-zagged around the narrow confines of the cellar like a blue pinball. Each of his movements was like a dance, carefully choreographed. Every bounce from robot-to-wall, wall-to-robot held just enough momentum to clinically dissect his foes. In a matter of seconds, the dozen or so SWATbots were a pile of mangled limbs.

"Why the nerve of that ram," Sonic growled as he came neatly to a stop, stomping his red sneakers into the ground. "Never thought he would sell-out to ole Buttnik. Where do we go, Sal?"

"Up!" I yelled. "Get up on street level as fast as you can. We need space to manoeuvre!"

"Righto Sal, hold on. I'll head on up to the older parts of town. That way we'll lose Robuttnik," Sonic replied.

Sonic scooped me up gently, bridal style. Carefully bracing my neck against the crook of his shoulder before bounding up and onto the foggy streets where an atrabilious semblance always hung. Above, there had to be an entire company of SWATbots with Buzz Bombers acting in support. Like their fallen brethren below, they gurgled, "Priority One! Capture the hedgehog."

"You're too slow, slowpokes; Up, Over, and Gone!" Sonic challenged, before leaving our foes in the dust.

Through borrowed memories and my imagination, I could envision it. Mobotropolis as it was. What can be said about this city that hasn't already been said by every wandering minstrel and two-bit poet who ever visited? Mobotropolis was a jewel. Not a rough one, either. It was polished, cut, shaped, and beautifully set. It gleamed, it shimmered, glistened, and glowed. In its heyday, it was home to millions and drew the envy of others. It was a brilliant white star by day. A sea of a thousand lights by night.

Radiant. That's the word for it. It's no accident that it was built where it is, no quirk of economics, fate and happenstance that brought it into being. No, Mobotropolis was the result of deliberate and concerted action by Sally's forebears within the Acorn dynasty. All guided by the unerring judgement of the Source of All. Their collective actions over the generations forged a beautiful city with civilization, technology, and nature coexisting in perfect harmony.

But the city's brilliance casts some of the darkest shadows. Like a hidden plague devouring its host from within, Robotnik was able to subvert the Kingdom's automated defences, transforming the once beautiful city into the stuff of nightmares, but he couldn't destroy everything. No, here and there, traces remained.

I recognized our surroundings, but scarcely so. What should have been a bustling street in Lower Mobotropolis was now endless rows of dark and shuttered storefronts. Gone were the food vendors and their proprietors in bright clothes selling hand-made wares, fine clothing, and delicacies from wicker baskets. Gone were the children playing amidst the crowds, their collective laughter blending into a symphony of joy and life.

There wasn't much time to bemoan though. The air became a blur as Sonic raced through the labyrinth of streets and gradually our surroundings morphed into the unfamiliar. While in no way could Old Mobotropolis be described as a slum. As after all, though the streets were clean and the buildings in good repair during the days of King Acorn; Sally was never allowed to visit. Peering over his shoulder I could observe the Robotropolis garrison mobilizing. Buzz Bombers filled the smog-filled sky like locusts while an army of robots moved to cut off all avenues of escape.

"Behind you!" I called as Sonic ducked beneath an outstretched Robian arm. I wasn't exactly sure whether my advice was help or hindrance to Sonic's incredible speed and reaction times as he never complained. But after Sonic dodged the umpteenth bot, I realized something: we were no closer to the way out than we were a few minutes ago. "Sonic! Where are you going? We need out. Not in circles!"

The speedster seemed to snap alert. He assessed his surroundings., "What am I doing here?" he exclaimed. "Sorry, Sal. Must've spaced out. This way!" Sonic cranked a hard-left turn and picked up speed. We had wasted invaluable time. More and more of Robotnik's minions filtered from the factories, clogging up the streets and even the narrow alleyways.

"Um Sal, am I going crazy or did we wind-up right back where we were?" Sonic questioned. I looked at my surroundings. He was right. We were right back in the same area of boarded-up storefronts and cheap tenements with crumbling facades. Sonic slowed to a stop. I felt a cold chill. Something wasn't right. "No way," he whispered upon slowing to a stop.

"Is there something going on? Some new weapon of Robotnik?" I theorized.

"This makes no sense," Sonic began. "I was headed for –"

Then, I saw it; with some effort, a faint glow of light leaking from an alley. Working electricity? Here? It was a slim chance of finding good shelter and hunkering down till the search was called off. "Over here!" I got to my feet and sprinted over.

"Well, I'm outta ideas Sal. I guess yours is as good as any." the hedgehog shrugged and followed suit toward a nondescript tenement nestled between two larger buildings.

Mobotropolis is an old city, but not the oldest, not even the top ten. It's also a city with strictly limited space and had significant difficulty in sourcing materials suitable for construction. That means that a lot of Mobotropolis is built on top of and out of well ... Mobotropolis. There are a lot of things that result from this, and the sight before me was one of them.

The building before me had been partially dismantled, connected and incorporated with others to create a single larger structure. Sally had spent most of her life in the carefully designed maintained environs of the palace and the university. So, I could safely attest to have witnessed her first true experience with Mobotropolis architecture.

The end result was… disturbing. Doors were set into the wall at uneven intervals, their styles and settings wildly different. Some needed steps to reach them, others were flush with the floor. A few were actually off-kilter, the result of a settling building that hadn't been corrected when it had been folded into the new construction. However, it was clear that the light did not originate from any part of the long-abandoned tenement. Instead, it seeped forth from a narrow seam of bright-golden incandescent light from an unassuming brick wall Curiously, I felt my eyes kept sliding away as if some negative magnetism was at work to keep it hidden.

"Sal? What are we doing here?" the hedgehog asked, wearing a puzzled expression.

"No, can't you see it?" I pointed at the uncanny phenomenon.

Sonic scratched his head. How could he not see it? I knew this was important. Someone or something was drawing us here. Surely, they wouldn't want us dead. It would have been much less of a hassle to let Robotnik's minions finish the job. A missile exploded behind us. If the sound of marching robots didn't cue me in, the trembling alley certainly had. We were running out of time.

Lacking any available scientific method other than the empirical, I stuck my weapon experimentally into the seam of light. It felt like pushing against jelly. Then it pulled. Hard. I had to unsling my weapon before I was drawn-in myself and the seam swallowed the much larger weapon whole

"Whoa, did ya see that? Maybe it's some sorta portal," Sonic commented after he saw my weapon disappear into the seam.

I wanted to disagree with his assessment. If NICOLE were here she would have raved at my utterly reckless decision making. There were so many ways this could go terribly wrong, but we were out of options. I took the hedgehog by the hand and went in head first into the Great Unknown.

It's hard to describe the sensations experienced, but for a moment, I was neither here nor there … disembodied. Sally is a scientific person, and she knew that being conscious during teleportation didn't make sense. Especially since teleportation isn't so much a way to send someone somewhere, but rather to destroy the original and recreate a copy, perfectly complete in every detail. As to how long I spent in that state, I do not know. It could have been an eternity or a split second. It's hard to tell without any frame of reference. In any event, the next thing I was aware of was the feeling of my insides knotting up and dry retching on a hard-rocky floor.

Taking the moment to recover, I had plenty of opportunities to observe our surroundings. We were in an underground cavern; a shallow stream ran through the room, depositing into a cenote of clear sparkling fresh water. Behind us, the seam of light had disappeared, leaving only a smooth cave wall.

While there were no robots. I was on guard for any signs of our mysterious benefactor, but there was none, no reception awaiting us. What was more worrisome was our ability to see anything at all. The cavern should have been pitch-black without any discernible source of natural sunlight. Perhaps, the rocks here were coated with some sort of natural luminance to give the illusion of natural lighting.

Growing on the rocky outcrops above were clusters of glowing, unnatural looking purple fungus which bathed the ceiling of the cavern in an unearthly glow. While below grew strangely well-manicured plants which sprouted small berries. In spite of there being no trace of habitation in years, it was surprisingly well maintained, with no sign of intrusion, natural or otherwise. Clearly, there was nothing at all natural with the way the cavern was laid-out, however much its former ascetic inhabitant wished.

The walls of the cavern were left buck bare, with no tapestries or paint to cover the bare rock. In the centre of the room, a high full body oval mirror, rimmed with jewels, marked the room's sole opulent item. We had fresh water and a safe place to stay, the lack of safe food was going to be a problem. Luckily, I had brought some stale protein bars for such an occasion

"Want some?" Sonic asked, interrupting my observations with a fistful of berries.

"Gah!" I yelped in consternation as with no suspicion whatsoever Sonic popped one into his mouth, with a look of satisfaction plastered over his face. "Hey, those could be poisonous!" I cautioned.

"Hey, it's alright. They're blackberries. We have em all the time. Sides, we should celebrate gettin away from ole Buttnik. On the professional Smooth-Save-O-Meter, I'd say ya scored yaself a hundred! Way to go, dudette," Sonic said, giving me a congratulatory pat on the back and proceeded to pop another berry into his mouth. "Sides, this is some good grub."

I facepalmed. "This place is strange. Wouldn't a garden like this have overgrown or decayed with-out regular care? I imagine the water stream is seeping into the soil and sustaining them, but some of these plants wouldn't survive without sunlight either," I explained to him.

"Sal, only you could get sucked in by a magic portal and be concerned about the food on the other side," Sonic said through a mouth full of berries.

"Will you take anything seriously? We're stuck. Did you see any way out of this cave beside diving? You can't swim. So, I'll have to do it. "I sat down with a huff. Sonic put his hand around me and no matter how irrational it seemed, I calmed down and drew a deep breath. "Okay, there's got to be another way out. One that isn't immediately obvious."

Magic. The word felt foreign on my tongue. If push came to shove and we were unable to find an alternate way out. Meaning, I had to guage the depth. Knocking a loose stone into the hole, I counted the seconds till I heard a barely audible clink. It was deep, much too deep. My heart sank. The experience swimming in relatively well-lit pools and relatively calm streams was utterly worthless for such an endeavour. Involuntarily, I heaved a great groan of disappointment.

"We'll be stuck here for a while. Diving will be our last option after we've exhausted all other possibilities," I confirmed. He nodded knowingly before motioning for me to sit by him. I followed suit and proceeded to inspect the hedgehog for injuries. It was a ritual we practised. The hyperactive hedgehog sitting perfectly still and letting Sally fuss over him.

Sonic touched a hand to his waist. "Ya know Sal, you've got something, it's all tight and twisted and bottled up, right here." I slipped a hand into my vest pocket where the Acorn family ring sat in its usual spot and fingered the tarnished ring. "Ya used to take it off, ya know, put it on the nightstand and not worry bout it, but it's always there now, like a big ole anchor."

I peered deep into Sonic's olive-green eyes, examining him for injuries before replying. " Julayla, a friend of my mother gave it to me after I solved her challenge. She would hold a perfectly ordinary acorn over her head like so," I said, raising an arm high over my head to illustrate. "She said that I could have my mother's signet ring if I could take the acorn from her hand. She was much too tall for me to reach for it directly, but I did eventually figure it out shortly before-" My face fell and I resumed my inspection.

After a quiet minute of looking pensive, Sonic snapped his head up and blurted, "Look, I need to well, thank you, first. For getting us outta that sticky situation."

"You're welcome."

"I . . . yes. You jus seemed so angry. It's kinda disturbing. But I . . . well, I remembered what you're going through, and now it all makes sense. I should have realized it before."

I scoffed. "Realized what?"

"That I've been through the exact same thing. In fact, I think maybe I went through it just so I could be prepared. I'd wondered why it happened and what I was supposed to learn."

I paused my inspection. "What did you go through?"

Sonic continued talking "There's that one time when I became a knight in an alternate version of Mobius. I think it was like a test. To get me used at your way of seeing things." He said as I continued my inspection of Sonic's frontal body in silence.

"Huh, ya seem to be taking the dimension hopping thing in stride," he commented.

I moved my hands to the back of his head. "Not really, I've seen weirder. Hell, there was the time where our alternate evil selves dropped in. There were also several High School worlds; those got really weird. Mobius is like the Swiss Cheese of realities; it's got holes everywhere."

Sonic, eyes still on the ground, shuffled his sneakers on the rocky floor. "So I wanna want ya ta know that if you need to talk about problems like friendships or work or, um, relationships—"

I shook my head and snorted. "We're in a strange place and all you want to do is bring this up again. As opposed to ... I don't know, brainstorming a way out? I've no idea what you're insinuating Sonic." I squeezed my eyes shut and after a moment asked. "Did someone put you up to this?"

"Nah, can't ya jus appreciate that I'm doing this as a friend?"

"Please tell me you're joking." I shook my head again, sighed deeply and set my helmet down.

"I'm not. It's just if ya wanna talk bout anything that's got you bothered like, ya know, ex-boyfriends—"

Though outwardly my stoic expression remained unchanged I felt heat flush into my cheeks. "What's with the sudden interest in boyfriends?" I asked in a mellow tone.

"Moi think it's the perfect time to discuss this. You've always said how it's important to take a minute, a 'Sally-minute' and discuss things," he chided, rubbing thoughtfully on his chin "So what was he to ya? A fling? A one-night stand? A little twee dalliance?"

I leaned in close as though preparing to whisper some forbidden secret before running a hand through the stiff blue bristles of his back spikes until I was satisfied that he was unscathed save for a stray piece of linoleum which was embedded within a forest of quills. I kneaded my way through the forest of bristles and pulled it out, none too gently, and a few bristles came with it. "Owie, watch it," Sonic hissed.

"Who is she?" I asked.

The red in his face deepened, and he dipped his head almost to the ground. "It's like this," he said in a meek tone. "There was this other Princess who's really nice. And I just saved her kingdom and thought-"

"Damn," I cursed standing straight back up, "What's with you and royalty all of a sudden. It's like you`re a chick magnet for all those goo-goo-eyed damsels in distress."

"What? Sal, when I danced with Blaze, I was royalty, too. A talking sword said I was King."

"Sure, whatever. Hold still," I said as I grabbed a hold of Sonic's chin and ran a finger through his cheek. "Blaze, huh? Sounds like a minx. If you want my advice, stay away from her."

"Look, she's a cat. And what's a minx?" Sonic asked.

"Never mind," I snapped.

"Look, you don't even know Blaze."

"I don't need to."

Sonic backed out of my grip. "You're supposed to be like a Warrior Judge—a judge, which means you have to be fair-minded! You can't just say something like somebody you don't even know, ain't I right! How can you just say—?"

I bent down, put my hands on my knees so I could level with him. "I'm not your Princess Sally."

"Look, maybe I came on the wrong foot. Blaze isn't as much a girlfriend as a friend. If you'd let me explain—" Sonic began to say.

"I would, except I don't care, Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog," I said, cutting him off.

"Okay, fine, if he ain't bothering you, then what is it? I could feel anger coming off you like heat off a fire, and you try real hard ta make everyone else angry, too." The hedgehog cocked his head quizzically. "I've tried to give you a smile, but even a blockhead like me can see it didn't work out."

I could still feel anger simmering within, but I believed I had it under control. I took a deep breath and said, "Nothing can cheer me up. I'm sorry for taking it out on you. It's not your fault." But to my own ears, my words sounded mechanical and unconvincing.

"Whose fault is it?" he asked.

"Mine, but I can't tell you about it," I replied.

Sonic said quietly, "Uncle always said, some things have to be cut so they can heal."

Then the anger boiled up, and I exploded. Teeth clenched, my dented helmet clattered to the floor and I shouted, "Do you want to peel my life back like an onion? Flay off my skin and look inside?" I continued whispering, crossing my legs and rested my hands on my knees, "You don't want to know what I did in that cellar you understand? Just keep your fantasies of the tough 'Tomboy Warrior Princess', alright? You do not want the real Princess Sally, you understand?!"

He shook his head. "I wanna be your friend."

"I'm not your superlative friend," I said picking up my helmet, swinging, and tossing it into the cenote which created a loud splash. "I'm your commanding officer and I will win this war for us, but I am not your friend. I can never truly be your friend. Do you understand that?"

"No."

"And you never will, but that's the way it is," I said resignedly.

"No." he trembled. He shut his eyes as though gathering himself, and when he opened them again, he said, "Tell me what happened to you."

I clenched my teeth and stabbed his chest with my finger. "I told you—"

"You're not Princess Sally," he said and my blood froze. "You never were. You're Sal. Our Sal. There's no Princess Sally." He looked up, brow knitted., "But you wanna tell someone. It's eating you up." he sat back and crossed a gloved hand over his breast. "Cross my heart, what ya tell me will stay with me."

"So, 'Hero of Mobius'. Are you trying to be a confessor, too?" I asked.

"A what?" Sonic asked in reply.

"Never mind." I dropped to my knees, and put her hands on his cheeks and sniffled. "You won't be able to keep it to yourself anyway," I said. , Sonic remained silent, waiting as I swallowed down a lump in my throat and rested my arms on my lap. "And you do not know how much I've wanted—"

"I do."

I swallowed, considering. Memory. So much of what I am is based on memories that aren't mine. It sickens me to speak of them like my own, but who would I be if I not for Sally's memories to fall upon? I knew what this meant. I knew what I faced, but I knew also that she had already decided. Hesitation now was pointless. "Okay," I said. "I'll tell you."

Within the fireplace, the once proud and blazing inferno had begun to give way to soft, half-heart crackling. As it costumed the last of its meal, the fire began to slow, becoming lethargic, as though exhausted from burning. The light turned a deep orange before the leaping flames were reduced to smouldering embers crawling across blackened logs, like the last dying gasps of a living thing.

It's night. Knothole. I lay the floor in fetal position and clasping my hands above my head, counting the minutes to my next watch shift. In front of me were a fire poker, a thin layer of ash and a singed photograph where King Acorn stared back with a fixed grin. Pressed tightly against his form, a younger Sally looked up at him with unabashed love shining from her eyes. She beams with the smile of a daughter who thinks her father will always be there for her.

I whimpered and trembled in self-pity. Never before was I more acutely aware of my burden as the lynchpin of the war effort. It may have been self-adulation, but if I became compromised by fear, self-doubt and weakness, my friends would be left in a lurch. I had started the battle, and I would finish it. No matter the personal cost. No matter the unfairness of it all. A pathetic whine slips through a crack in one of the remnant logs. It reminded me of baby birds. Too hapless to do anything save for cry to their parents for nourishment.

"Sally Girl?" a drawl echoes through my room. Without loosening my hands clasped over my head, I stare wide-eyed at the southern belle. Her face unmistakably concerned as her basil green eyes sept across the room. She must have noticed the tears, the dying fire and the charred picture. Never before had I felt so naked. So exposed.

She had knocked. I'm sure that she did. Bunnie doesn't pay it much mind when her friend was slow to answer. She just went on in; assuming I would be hard at work as usual. It's not an altogether unreasonable assumption. Sometimes, Sally could be both blind and deaf to the world when she really got into something. Like the time NICOLE was able to download Robotnik's citadel schematics. She spent days in her study, formulating plans, strategizing. Only stopping for sleep and meals until eventually, Sonic had whizzed by to steal NICOLE, forcing an infuriated, bleary-eyed Sally to emerge blinking into the light, like a new-born pup.

"Bunnie," I whispered, rubbing one teary eye with my arm. "Didn't hear you come in." I sat up. My fingers trembled and my nose quivered and ran. My eyes flicked to the charred photograph and futilely reached over to pick it up. "I guess I must've knocked this into the fire. How clumsy of me…" I said in a futile attempt to inveigle the scene.

"Sally Girl," Bunnie snapped, "ya don't have to lie to me."

"What?" I asked, blinking back tears of self-pity.

For a second, I attempted to draw myself together. Like a mighty ocean-going trawler whose boom was reeling in shoals of thrashing fish. My fingers flexed in and out. My jaw squared. Our eyes locked, and the façade crumbled. I sniffed; just holding the broken frame my hands.

Bunnie sat beside me. Gingerly, rubbing my back with her regular hand. It was a playbook she developed to control her newfound strength. She had to be careful to get the balance just right – flesh for friends, steel for enemies. "Shush, Sally Girl." she murmured.

"But it's not okay, Bunnie. What if … what if he can't come home? What if I really lost him?" I asked her through my tears.

Bunnie swallowed. "That's a whole bunch of what-ifs."

I sniffed again. My chest convulsed as I held in a new wave of sobs. Bunnie rubbed my back harder, forcing my head onto her shoulder. Sally rarely accepted help unless she had specifically asked for it. We stayed that way for a long time. That she took it now must have caused her friend no small amount of worry. Bunnie waited for what seemed like an eternity, ready for me to howl in pain, shriek and rage at the unfairness, the indignity of it all. Gradually, my breathing evened out and I got to my feet. Just like that, I was back to normality or at least a semblance of it.

"Thanks, Bunnie," I said with a strained smile.

"Don't mention it," Bunnie took to her feet. "But don't you wanna take a day off? Let me pull a double-shift for ya. Ah'm stronger than ya. Ah can take it."

I cut her off. "Thanks for the offer, Bunnie, but I can't slack off. I need to set an example for the others. Now, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell the others about this." Sonic's on duty before me, and given half-a-chance he leaves before his replacement arrives." I made for the door but paused looking back.

"Thanks, Bunnie. Really."

"I'll help clean up here if ya don't mind," Bunnie offered.

"Would you? I'd be really grateful..."

I looked up at Sonic "I was twelve when the coup began, Tails was a toddler back then. I played with him until he was all tuckered out. I read him stories and lulled him to sleep with lullabies. He snored so softly afterwards and I thought to myself. 'This is heaven. This is what I want.'" I sniffled.

"I dreamt that, after we won, I would settle down with some nice, reliable guy, get married, and I would spend the rest of my life playing with babies." I smiled faintly and crossed my arms as though I were cradling something. "And Tails would always be my baby. He still is in some ways."

"At that age, I pictured the man I married looking a lot like Dad." I looked down at my hands and turned them back and forth: they were fine-boned and delicate like my mother's, but lined with calluses. "Dad told me I had to be smart. He said I had to be strong. He hired the best tutors money could afford and put me in gymnastics. But most importantly of all, he taught me to be tough. 'Don't cry, Bean,' he always said. When I made a mistake, he told me to pull myself up by my bootstraps. 'You're gonna do big things,' he said. 'Terribly big, and you need to be strong.'"

I stared into the sky. The tears ran freely down my cheeks, and for once I didn't bother to wipe them. For a moment, I choked, swallowed, found my voice, and added, "But then the day came when mum was killed by the Overlanders and Robotnik showed up." I closed my eyes, shook my head, and slapped the ground. When I opened my eyes again, I was surprised to find Sonic's hands on my shoulders.

I leaned forward and tucked my head between my knees. "Have you ever known anyone, so towering, so . . . majestic . . . that you couldn't help but love, no matter what they did?"

After a moment, Sonic's voice barely audible, he whispered, "Yes."

"My dad wasn't a big man, and he towered over him. Robotnik had all the right words for him. He spun his yarn as a defector from his own people. He promised to deliver the tools of war to win against the Overlanders and soon he had dad looking up at him like a dog gazing at the master who feeds it. Robotnik made him look ridiculous, and he took him from us!"

He lowered himself down beside me. "I'm sorry."

"Sonic. I was happy. Just once. Just once in my whole damn life." I bent my head down. My vision blurred, and I could see droplets, glistening like jewels in the sunlight, falling to the grass.

I wipe my face. "When the coup seemed to be a short-lived affair, we would be the first to greet the new-comers. I hoped to see Elias again, but time after time, we came away disappointed. Geoffrey's parents were responsible for the evacuation you know. And one day, Geoffrey confessed my Dad ditched me." I chocked, breathing through my nose till the pressure on my ribs lightened. "I can't tell you at the time just how much I thought of myself as broken, defective, and flawed in some way. In some ways, I still do."

Sonic ran a gloved hand through his blue quills three times in quick succession. A storm of emotion ran through his face at once: surprise, amazement, and finally shame at my candidness. He looked indecisive before lowering himself down beside me. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head, sighed deeply, laughed and shrugged. "I gave up my dream a long time ago, Sonic. It was stupid. The world isn't nice enough to allow a reunion like that to happen. I was just a kid anyway. My dad was right about one thing though: I have to be tough. Big girls don't cry. If you're not tough, the world will chew you up and spit you out."

"I don't believe that," Sonic stated.

"Then you don't know. To survive, you have to be strong, and you have to rely on yourself."

"We rely on each other," he said. "Ya don't have to be all tough all by yourself"

"You remind me a lot about Nicole, you'd get along." I huffed.

"Who? Your lil' handheld thingy?" Sonic asked, confused.

"Just an acquaintance I used to know. She was a good person. But she'll talk your ear off about God." I replied.

"I don't know what that is," he said quizzically.

"I suppose, neither do I." I rose to my feet, taking a few deep breaths until my anger subsided and I felt my venomous thoughts blowing in the wind. "This never happened," I hissed., "Now let's start looking"

A change fell upon the hedgehog as I paced in pensive silence through the cavern. Searching for a way out. Back straight, eyes shut tight with anxiety, hands clasped behind; Yes, things were different, I thought. Sally is the reserved one and the hedgehog was the active, hyper one. This is the natural order of things, but for today, all order was thrown out the window. "Sal?" the hedgehog asked.

Abruptly as I began, I ceased wearing a trench through the centre of the cavern and flashed the hedgehog a sidelong glance. Had the events of the past few minutes not left me a veritable bundle of nerves I would have come up with some witty snipe that would highlight my acerbic wit. Sonic froze before my gaze, probably questioning his wisdom in attracting my attention.

"Sal, I know your hard on yourself," he began, "But ya make things better. Much better than they have any right to be. Ya were there for me when we got Uncle Chuck free."

I stare at the hedgehog conflicted. It terrifies me, nauseates me. Intellectually, Sonic would never be able to match me. It hurts at times, knowing that I will never have the relationship with him that I want; the one I hope to have. The one I deserve. I know I can never fully open up to him with my concerns, hopes and ambitions. When I attempt to start a deep and meaningful conversation with him, he laughs and teases me until I surrender to him physically. It hurts and yet… I love that we're in love.

"You remember that?" I asked.

"It was the first time I saw him in years. Ya knew the risks of bringing him home," Sonic choked. I knew it hurt him to remember. He never talked about his past. "Ya think ya did bad for us," he said, tenderly stroking my cheek with his finger, I didn't recoil, "but ya don't know how good ya make things."

"No," I said. "You can't compare my actions to what Robotnik did to your Uncle."

"Why? Ya the first person to do good for me, for us, since the war started," he said. "Ya make things better. Not perfect. But mondo good." He continued to stroke my cheek for a few minutes as I digested what he'd told me. I analysed what he was trying to do. Deciding his intentions were pure and that I should concede to him. I would be wrong to say I was better, I wasn't, but since then, I thought a lot about what Sonic told me, and why he had. My emptiness came from an unattainable expectation of perfection. Sally wasn't perfect. So, I shouldn't expect myself to be. I shouldn't assume I was worthy if I were perfect, nothing if I wasn't.

"So, where do you think we are?" Sonic asked snapping me from my introspection, his attention span for deep conversation ran out.

"Look, what makes you think I know more about this than you? Trust me, I'm just as confused as you are. If it helps. I know we're still somewhere in Mobius given we're still picking up signals from Robotropolis."

We worked on our hands and knees, rapping every solid surface and leaving no stone unturned within the primitive dwelling to find a secret passage. Till at last, I came before the mirror in the centre of the room. It had that patina of age over the bronze frame. Likewise, the surface of the glass was splotched black in places. I stood and stared at myself. The mirror showed me what the world saw, somehow it didn't seem right. Inside I was fireworks and rage and frustration, but all the world saw was the calm and composed Princess Sally. Perhaps I would take the mirror with me; it didn't belong in this old dump anyway.

Running a finger over the frame, I felt cool ridges and grooves and the layer of dust clinging to the surface. However, as soon as my fingers made contact, the surface of the mirror seemed to ripple like water. I withdrew quickly in shock.

"Say, Sal, you found something?" Sonic asked.

"I think it might be our ticket out," I replied.

"Say, ya recognize that?" Sonic asked, pointing at the back of the mirror.

I stooped over to take a closer look at the worn symbols on the back. Only two were barely legible. I traced the faded patterns of the first. Then, it clicked. The Royal House of Acorn. Just what would it be doing here in this forsaken cave? The other was much harder to decipher. I wracked my borrowed memories for anything to compare with but came up blank. Though I had the strangest sense of déjà vu.

Just then, a faint voice sounded somewhere among within the cavern, accompanied by a voice that faded in and out as if drifting on the wind. "Naugus. I know you're there." The voice was familiar somehow. I felt like I should've recognized it. I clenched my fists, bent my knees, and went up on the balls of my feet as I scanned the ceiling overhead.

"Who's there?" I demanded.

The voice came yet again. "Nagus? Don't you recognize me?"

"Err Sal? Who are you talking to?" Sonic asked.

"Shush. I can't see you," I called to the mysterious voice.

My eyes scanned the ceiling before falling upon the mirror. A faint violet mist seemed spilt forth from the mirror surface as it shimmered becoming translucent. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of another world beyond. A world of crystal. The lips on the figure seemed to move. But the noise didn't originate from the mirror. It was almost as though a ventriloquist was throwing his voice across the room. It was surreal. My knees wobbled. I dropped to the floor in panic as I clutched my head in distress. What was going on? This couldn't be real.

"Sal, what's going on?" Sonic asked, concerned. He followed my gaze to the mirror.

This time, his voice came nearer. Seemingly flitting about me. One moment, it spoke from over my shoulder and the next it whispered in my ear. All the while, the mist within the room grew steadily thicker. "I have wandered this forsaken place," said the voice which sounded increasingly deranged and most unlike any frame of reference my borrowed memories afforded. "I've found out you could escape when you previously could not with …"

Sonic kicked the mirror away. Breaking my gaze. It was like I had come out of a trance. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "What was all that about Sal?" Sonic asked with a worried look on his face. I don't respond and Sonic makes a grab for my arm. His fingers tighten around my wrist and at once my fragile mask of composure slips. Maybe if my nerves weren't so frayed. Maybe if the last person trying to grab hold of me wasn't trying to sell me to Robotnik, I wouldn't have given into the panic.

"Let me go, hedgehog!" I whimper hysterically.

"Nuh-uh Sal, not until ya tell me what's goin' on up there," he said.

"Let me go!" I begged and to my immeasurable relief, he released his solid, vice-like grip.

"Okay new rules. No touchieé till ya say otherwise," the hedgehog mumbled as I rubbed my wrist.

Taking a few moments to recover, I returned my attention to the mirror. As my fingers brushed across the surface I felt heat glow through my stiff fingers and into my wobbly arms. What happened next is almost impossible to describe, and surely impossible to comprehend for anyone who has not experienced it themselves. An explosion of images appeared in my head. I powered through the bombardment of images, filtering through them. Home, I thought; an image of Knothole appeared in my head. It seemed warm and welcoming.

"Step on through," I said in a flat tone. "I won't be joining you right away."

"Sal. I-... If this was about earlier again. I'm really sorry," Sonic began to say.

Sally was there when her mentor: Julayla, passed on. Somehow, it almost didn't seem real, similar to a waking dream. Time slowed and every detail was as clear and sharp as glass, but all the same, it was as incomprehensible as though reality has yet to set in. It's a moment when the world wheels chaotically about, and Sally realizes, 'She's still here...', but her mentor is not. The enormity of the change has yet to register. It's disorienting, like a capstone, fallen into the sea. There is a foreboding of terror and a sense of relief, knowing it's over, but uncertainty on where to begin.

Her final words were burned into Sally. Ingrained into her very being.

'Hush favoured one. There are to all things seasons and time is in short supply. You bear the mantle of leadership with honour and grace. Though you might have longed for other paths, the duties of your birthright could not be denied. From the first to the last, you have studied long and hard. Ever growing in knowledge and spirit, and as your teacher, I would have expected no less. An elegant solution. Such wisdom cannot be taught. It must be acquired. You are ready; farewell beloved one.'

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"I guess I'm feeling a little lonelier tonight," I answered.

"Tonight, is almost yesterday Sal, and there will be many tomorrows ahead," Sonic said, he moved a hand to my shoulders to comfort me, but stopped there, remembering his earlier promise.

"Thanks, Sonic, it's okay," I said softly.

His expression morphs into one of hope. He expects me to change my mind and come home with him, but I was adamant. He takes a breath as though to protest before letting go, "Alright Sal … I trust you know what you're doing." I avert my gaze as he leaves through the mirror in a golden flash of light.

Next was perhaps the dumbest mistake I've made.

I went to the mirror. Altering its destination. She could see it so very clearly in the mind's eye. My bedroom. Sally's old bedroom back in the castle. It was pristine. Untouched by the ravages of the coup. Just like the day she had left it.