-DISCLAIMER-
Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters/themes © SEGA and/or Sonic Team.
'The New Age Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' © Kathryn Christine Starcrafter/Lumorean Arts.
-THE RETURN OF METAL SONIC-
Chapter 4: Redemption of a Sun God
When the morning came it felt cold, Solaris distant even though her bedroom windows faced the east. Elise moaned, for she did not sleep well. Her dreams were dark, forgotten yet present in the form of a heavy weight on her chest. She rolled on her side to face the balcony, where all the trouble had begun. At first its sight only reopened wounds. She closed her eyes from the intensity of the sun. A brief breeze scented with morning dew drifted forth from a crack in the sliding glass doors. The curtains fluttered delicately, sending the draft to envelope the downcast princess.
She inhaled deeply of the cool air and wrapped around it was a smell not natural at such a time and place. Lilies. She had some in the palace gardens but they were few and not that strong none the less. She perked and gingerly sat up, letting the light sheets roll off her body. Drowsy still, she rubbed her eyes and stretched. Again another gust crept through and Elise realized that Sonic must have returned in the night to shut the doors ever so much, for they had been left unattended in her depression. She wondered then if she had not truly cast him away. She drew in another deep breath and again smelt the familiar fragrance of flowers. It was far too strong, almost like there were some in her room.
Elise glanced then to her bed stand and the sight immediately warmed her heart. She reached forward and plucked the object so softly laid upon a tiny scrap of paper that had the simple word 'sorry' etched into it. Elise couldn't help but smile, mood lifting with each awakened second. In her hand now was one flower that could not have come from her garden. This delicate lily, named Panda because of its dappled monotone markings, only grew in soil made fertile from the ash of active volcanoes. There was only one person who could have gotten this within the span of a single night -there was no volcanoes near Soleanna, nor vendors toting such wares. With that single realization all the darkness of the night melted like the coming of spring after a harsh winter.
The day promised to be warm and sunny, so Elise dressed in a pair of jean shorts and white tank top. After, with flower in tow, she trotted down and had a quick breakfast of cereal and fresh fruit. She then spent the early morning in a blissful daze. The whole world was nothing but young love, though she had yet to realize her truly starstruck condition. Her flighty behavior attracted the attention of the young maids, who were her age and indeed most her friends. She was embarrassed at first but only told as much as the collision in the rain. This satisfied for the most part but the chatter eventually circulated through the manor to finally settle onto the ears of none other than the Emperor, her father, himself.
It was at around high noon and Elise had contented herself to lean against one of the pillars that connected the manor into the gardens. In one hand twirled the stem of the Panda Lily which she had been gifted. A permanent smile remained pasted to her rosy cheeks with eyes glistening euphorically.
"Elise."
All of a sudden, like the shattering of a platter of fine china, the young woman's world came crashing down. Her arm flung down and she turned to address her flesh and blood who at the moment set her heart to thunder.
"You seem very upbeat today, my dear. Any particular reason?" He came to face his daughter with an otherwise becoming grin. When she didn't answer immediately he added: "I've heard from some of the girls that you have found someone you actually like."
"Maybe, I don't really know." Elise spoke shyly, eyes still on the flower.
"Well that must mean you have a guy in mind." He pressed further, eager to hear what he had been hoping for.
"I do but, he's not really someone you'll like."
He bellowed a laugh. "How can you say such a thing. I've yet to even meet him. So, who is the lucky fellow?"
Elise really didn't want to tell her father anything, sad as it may seam. For she knew there would be only one characteristic that would send his mood plummeting. However, she did take this moment in thought, dropping her gaze and concentrating as to why Sonic the Hedgehog made her feel the way she did.
Even though there were countless words to describe him without alluding to his physic she only said: "He's not a prince but he is very nice and charming. He's really well known so I bet a lot of girls like him besides me."
"So then, what's not to like?"
And she looked up to her father with courage, his hazel irises to her misty-blue ones. "He's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog. And I think he may be the one."
He was silent, though his eyes had indeed shot wide for a second. This time when he gave a more gentle chuckle it held a hit of malice. "You can't be serious my dear? You've always had this strange fetish with him. Why all of a sudden, do you feel like an Animal could make the perfect suitor for you?"
Elise had known that the fact that Sonic was an anthro would be the biggest deciding factor. Truth be told she had no idea that it was even possible for one of her kind and one of his to have feelings beyond friendship. Then what was she feeling now? What had she felt last night when she had accidentally brought her lips to his? These emotions were so confusing but they had to have reason.
While she had been thinking this her father become impatient. "Elise, please be reasonable. If not for me or yourself, think of your people who will someday look up to you. Think of your mother."
At that comment the young woman shuttered, becoming offended and defensive. "How would you know what mom would think?"
"Because I was married to her for nearly twenty years! Now listen, I know she did love Anthros, but in the end that love had cost her very life. Do you just want to throw that sacrifice away? Throw her honor away?"
There was nothing she could think of to say at this point. Fed-up and distraught, Elise spun away from her elder relative to seek shelter in the flowering gardens beyond.
"Elise, get back here this instant!"
He bolted after her, though as soon as he passed under the gateway that was an arch of silver marble and climbing roses he found that she had completely slipped from underneath his nose. As said, the gardens were as a maze to any but those who had navigated its confines since childhood. It had been made such from Elise's grandmother, Elise the First. Hector, who had not even been born in the Country-State of Soleanna, knew little of the twists and turns that had been laid out within. As such he merely walked forward a few steps into the greenery, glanced around and once again angrily called to his disobedient daughter in vain. After a few choice words, growling behind clenched teeth, her father admitted defeat for now and retreated back into the much more familiar hallways of the manor. He had had enough. It was time to end this before it got too far, something he had hoped would not have to be.
Just beyond the entry of the gardens was in-fact a set of hedges that were indeed planted out similarly to a Celtic knot, spiraling around stopping abruptly and then spirally back. Spotted here and there were groves of all kinds of trees and floral life native to the nations of Sea-Shore. Countless dumb animals roamed the premises from chipmunks to foxes coupled with song birds of all kinds.
Elise had indeed shot straight into the labyrinth of which she had learned how to navigate as a child. Every twist and turn and short cut had been etched into her head from her mother who had indeed been the one to teach her. At the very center of the structure gargled a marvelous stone fountain inspired by days of old. Etched across its ivory surface were carvings in gold and silver of flora and fauna. It was three teared, the bottom hosting that of a parade of lions, the middle had a chain of serpents intertwining each other like a crown, and the top held an intricate cage of stone doves of which the water issued forth from open beaks.
The exasperated princess sat herself upon the edge, watery eyes peering into similar depths. Draped across her lap lay the lily beginning to wither. As she twirled it in her fingers she snapped off a larger portion of the stem and set the bloom on top of the rippling pool. She smiled as the delicate flower bobbed about and spun off with a brief blush of wind under the glistening, aqua waterfall drizzling from the second tear.
"You came back," Elise breathed, never lifting her gaze.
She looked off to the side and there sat the wind itself in manifested form.
"Why wouldn't I?" He grinned, and she couldn't help but do the same.
But her face soon dropped away, focusing intently on her fidgeting fingers swimming among the fountain waters. "Sonic, I have a question for you. I hope you don't feel offended but," she gave a quick and gentle laugh, "I bet you have so many girls swooning over you don't you?"
He blushed, though brushing it off soon after. "Well, ya'know, it comes with the job."
"I'm sorry. That was probably such a stupid question. I bet none of them are like me though, hm? Human."
His expression turned to that of a question itself. Why was she wondering such things and so opening musing to him of them?
But she didn't wait for an answer, seeming merely satisfied to have published the question. "Don't worry about it. I'm glad you stopped by. It amazes me how you manage to get in here even with all my father's stupid security."
"Hey, can't catch what you can't see."
"True. I wish I could move that fast. I could escape from here. No more walls, not more diplomacy or etiquette. To be free."
Sonic shrugged. "It's not really that great."
"So says the Blue Wind who experiences it every day."
The hedgehog slid from the Fountain's lip, standing proudly before her. "Alright, how about I show you?"
"And how are you going to do that?"
No sooner had she said that then the petite woman found herself being swept off her feet and clutched feverishly to the chest of the pretentious anthro. Even before she could speak in protest were his legs flexed, muscles taunt as the rush of air overwhelmed breath. And such noise became lost, driven by the wind they themselves caused. Elise strained her eyes closed as the very force stung and bit. Her arms had gone numb while clasped about her captor's neck feverishly.
But she could feel it. The very speed at which they traveled. Though fear still kept her blind she needed no sight to discern what was coming and what was going. When the rush became cold and the song of birds bright she knew they had passed into the forest which lay near miles from the Manor at the very outskirts of Old Soleanna. It was only then that she dare open her eyes and witness the swiftness at which his speed carried them. Beams of light from the canopy shot down at them like lasers, tree by blackened tree rushed past in a towering blur. Sonic ducked, bobbed, and weaved through those that had fallen and those grasping unexpectedly across the way. And her very body shifted with his as if they were one and the same.
Eventually he vaulted into the air at the presence of an age-old and advancedly decayed portion of stone wall blanketed by fern and moss. They were nowhere near one of the paved pathways or even dirt-paths spindly veined through the God's Forest. So this place, what was so special that it had once been boarded but not so special as to have been lost to time? Her answer was never truly given. For as the curtain of willows parted so was revealed a sight left for eyes that could truly appreciate its beauty.
Encircled by a fence of dilapidated stone, stark birches, and cradling yews stretched forth a field of crystalline waters dotted hear and there by the occasional stony spur. Bordering the softly sloping expanse lay grasses as green as beryls and flowers in such hues that as the wind drifted by it appeared as though a pastel rainbow had brushed the ground.
The anthro released his passenger and she stood in total awe. There were no words to describe her emotions, breath caught in her lungs. Eventually she drew in dewy air and let Solaris caress the bare skin along her arms and back.
She sighed, "it's beautiful."
He silently strolled to her side, watching the princess intently. "Well you know, I seem to recall you mentioning something about wanting to see new places."
And she grinned wholeheartedly. He really knew how to cheer a girl up. This here was another opportunity. One she just couldn't pass up. She reached down and slipped a couple fingers into the heel of one shoe and then the other to remove them. Feet bare, Sonic watched as she gingerly stepping into the shallow pool before them. Elise let the cool waters and silken soil seep between her fidgeting toes and in that moment again she felt alive, she felt like a child again, she felt free. She began laughing giddily, trotting through the glistening streams and hopping from rock to rock like a frog. The girl spun around in mid hop, landing -more acrobatically than the hedgehog originally thought of her- on a large flat of stone.
Elise called out playfully, "catch me if you can."
The look that he shot back was exactly what she was expecting. Sonic grimaced, chuckling unsteadily with a smile that was far less than compliant. He didn't want to find out exactly how shallow the pool really was.
"I thought you were a hedgehog, not a chicken!" she shot back.
Though still not entirely resolute, the mockery obviously struck a cord. So with sucked in breath he ran a bit to the shore and timed a jump perfectly to land only a few feet from his prey. She all the while continued to lead him deeper with that beautiful smile and harmonious laugh. To keep his mind off other matters he merely focused on that. And eventually he was laughing along with her, zig-zagging from stone to stone, allowing to be led away from stable ground.
But her movement did have a goal in mind, as he soon figured out. Around the center of the majestic crater stood a lone island among a sea of teeth. And upon that island rose in full bloom a cherry tree raining down fragrant, pink tears upon the isle's soft banks. She was leading him there. So with a finish line in sight the athletic anthro began to pick up speed. Leaping back and forth eventually he was right on her heels. Then she looked back and paused, that was her fatal mistake.
"Got'cha! Ha, Ha!" Like the night before, he jumped from behind, gripping onto her waist and forcing her to fall back onto the bank.
Out of breath from their game and laughter, they both remained where they lay, on their backs and facing upwards through the magenta canopy of the single arbor. The air around its circumference was sweet, the sunlight dripping through parted blossoms lulling. From within this tiny space it was almost as if there was no other world. This was it. This place, this moment in time.
Once she caught breath, "thank you," was the first thing Elise said.
"For what?"
"Just, for everything. I've never known anyone quite like you. You're one in a million, Sonic."
"I'm assuming you're feeling better, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then, mind telling me what was bothering you before?"
Elise was silent for a short moment, collecting her thoughts. "It was just something stupid. It honestly doesn't matter anymore."
Sonic didn't entirely trust her statement but at the moment he really didn't seem to care. It was so quiet here, so calm. In this place there was no strife, no suffering, no pain. No blood had ever fallen here. Its only blemish was that it had been lost to time. It was almost as though this place had once been sacred and still upheld that dignity.
In this dazed state her voice reawakened him for just one brief moment. "This place, it's so very familiar somehow."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I wanted to show it to you. I actually only just found it today while out running."
She giggled. "Only you would be able to uncover such a wonderful place."
He let the comment slide, as for some odd reason any witty comeback was lost in a blur of fading consciousness. Her words as well sounded distant, as if she too was succumbing to the tempting tranquility this place seemed to breathe. The branches swayed high above them as if beckoning them into some unknown. And just like that, darkness...
Darkness, the likes of which mimicked the Princess' near constant dream. But this wasn't a lonely darkness. No, it felt warm and inviting, as though an actual entity wrapped around her body like a swaddling cloth. Levitating, her figure weightless in this expanse, there was nowhere really to go.
Then, puncturing the melancholy atmosphere came a sudden burst of light. Both blue and white like the sky, it radiated with such intensity that the very shadows seemed to recede in horror of its brilliance. It came with a noise too, like droplets plunking upon a still pool. Spheres of this essence floated off into unknown directions, further scattering the lifeless shroud. Half dazed, Elise's sea-gray irises followed one of the sprites as it barely grazed against an individual she had not known was there.
"Sonic?"
His outline seemed to glow an unfaltering alabaster, highlighting every curve and line. The Anthro turned to her, a look of bemused confusion softening his features.
"Elise?" It was almost as though he was surprised by her presence. This was all so eerily familiar.
Then, suddenly, the ever encroaching brightness reached them, exploding in a shower of translucent droplets. Waves of soft serenity cascaded across their forms. They bore into the light yet it did not blind. Instead in its embrace appeared a misshapen form only known to one individual among the two. They were looking at a God.
He was both beautiful and terrible, soft and angular. Shape akin to a butterfly, his wings were bony like that of a snowflake seen through a microscope. His face was merely a smooth oval of ruby set into a polished, golden body like the crown to an urn. He had no legs, tapering off into a point, and his hands were spindly and pronged in three ever grasping fingers. The immortal spirit hovered above them, perhaps hundreds of feet away or a mere twelve. Neither onlooker could tell. But when his voice boomed and shook this world to its very foundation the two knew to keep silent.
I speak of a forgotten time, a broken future, a paradox in the void...
Clear, yet obviously ancient, with each syllable an image manifested itself in their memories.
So many lost thoughts, moments not meant to be. This didn't make sense. She had been attacked at the Festival? And where was her father? Dr. Robotnik? And Sonic had saved her... So many times...
Was that Blaze, with a silver hedgehog? Iblis trigger... So much flames. Elise, dead? No that wasn't possible, he saved her, he always saved her.
A ripple, it must pass...
I now return to you my debt. For my freedom so is yours.
Never forget... Always cherish...
We shall meet again, Knight of the Wind.
His light, brilliance beyond comprehension... It never faded, never wavered, eventually meshing into that of the real world. Only this light was not so grand. Through the dappled pink and green shivering high above them there came a citrus-y glow like that of the dusk sun. Both companions arose from their stupor, stiff and disorientated. They sat up, rubbing their eyes and limbs.
Elise was the first to speak. "Wow, how long have I been asleep? Sonic, you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here," he yawned from behind.
"You fell asleep too? How weird." She glanced over to him, he sitting cross-legged and scratching out his quills. "I had the weirdest dream though."
He peered over to her, emerald irises a bit dazed. "Come to think of it, so did I."
"I saw you, and I think Solaris, the God of Time. He was saying something about-"
"A paradox," Sonic interrupted her.
And in that moment they truly saw one another. But, this wasn't like when they had collided in the rain, nor on the balcony, or at the fountain. In this sight each beheld a revelation. It was as though what had once been long forgotten, buried beneath time immemorial, began gingerly percolating to the surface of their subconscious. It was almost the feeling of reminiscing with friends about the past, events once thought to be inadequate, not even worth remembering. And then, once remembered would come the realization of moments once cherished like precious stones. How could they have been forgotten so carelessly?
"I promise you, Elise, in the new present, and the future, we will be together. No matter what happens we will be together, forever."
"You'll find a way. You're Sonic, after all."
It did not come all at once, mere fragments of thought. But they were there, clear as day. These moments, they had indeed happened. There was no denying it. And like a blooming rose each unfurling petal revealed more insight into this 'Broken Future' that was, but not meant to be.
Breath lost, Elise was again the first to break the silence. "I remember, your promise. You actually kept your promise."
The cobalt hedgehog grinned, staring into her bemused face in pure adoration. "You doubted me?"
She laughed,"your ego is still too big for your head."
"Hey, see if I save you next time you're in dire peril."
"Of course you will. You're Sonic, after all."
He chuckled, "and you wonder why my ego's so big."
Her vision blurred, on the edge of tears she cried, "oh, Sonic. I missed you so much!"
She came forward and embraced him, locking her arms about his waist feverishly. He took her, running his paws around her shoulders and back in comfort, bringing her in closer still.
"Hey, it's not like I really went anywhere," he whispered sweetly, nuzzling beside her ear.
The run back took exponentially longer than it had on their journey down to the lake. Solaris had settled down and allowed his twin to take the sky in his stead. The stars had just begun to glimmer but the love struck girl noticed them not. Her focus was on the one individual who meant the world to her. Sonic merely trotted back through the path they had come, Elise comfortably molded against him. The air had become bitter so it wouldn't have been a most clever idea to run through the dead of night, anyhow.
As time passed, with every twist and turn, fragments of memories pieced themselves together, contributing to the whole. It was as though their moments together were going in reverse. By the time both had arrived at the outskirts of the manor the revelation as to why Solaris had been so gracious in returning to them what they had lost was revealed. They had extinguished him, yes. But only in the Mortal Realm. By doing so that had actually granted him a kindness. Freed from the bonds of the Emperor, he had returned to his rightful glory within the existence beyond. So they were most likely the only ones to remember the future that was never meant to be. Perhaps it was for the better.
The lithe hedgehog vaulted across preened hedges and sculpted flower beds. Past the fountain and up into the limbs of the prodigious oak that protected the balcony jutting off from her chamber. With one final leap he landed gracefully upon the marble guardrail where almost twenty-four hours before he had been. Elise slipped from his grasp, feet first with arms still hooked about his neck. He bent down and nuzzled the side of her nose and she smiled, shivering as his warmth transferred to her.
Sonic remembered the night before, when the influx of adrenalin had caused the two to come together in quite an intimate way. That moment when she had kissed him, it was as though a surge of lightning had shot down his spine. But when she pulled away the connection was lost, the essence between he and she severed. In that moment he had been overcome by a need so strong that all logic and decency no longer applied. Something in that moment when they had connected. A sense of familiarity, known yet unknown. That was what had brought him to kiss her back, and that was what brought his lips to hers once more. The only difference was he knew this time what made him long for her taste, her smell. This time he understood that he loved her.
When they had reluctantly parted Elise brought up a palm to gingerly stroke the velvety fur of his cheek, staring starstruck into his viridian irises. "You were the one I've been waiting for all this time. It really was you. I don't know how you did it."
"This time I think, it was both of us." He grabbed her hand, petting her knuckles with his thumb.
"I wish you didn't have to leave just yet."
"I'll come back tomorrow, bright and early. Then we'll have the whole day together."
"I'd like that."
Then, reluctantly, they released one another. Why did it have to end so soon? They had only just remembered. But he could not stay, she had to sleep. And despite his sometimes overwhelming impulses, he was a gentlemen. Elise stayed moments longer to watch him vault acrobatically off of the railing and back into the tree and down into the gardens and forests. All she could see by that point was a streak of navy-blue weaving its way in and out of opposing timbers. She smiled, clutching her heart with the hand he had held. The Princess of Soleanna was never one to place much on Fate or Destiny. But this time she had to admit, there was nothing else to explain it. Solaris' appearance had been the glue that stuck all of that drifting uncertainty and confusion in her mind together and thus becoming an understandable whole. It all made sense now. And there was nothing she would change even if time itself was forced to once again reset. She knew, no matter what, they were meant to be. And no force in all of time and space could change that.
-END OF CHAPTER-
Author's Notes:
The Panda Lilly mentioned here was indeed inspired by the animated series 'Avatar: the Last Airbender' © Nickalodean.
Solaris (as well as Illumina) play a larger role in the 'Future' series of events dealing with Sonic, as well as his and Elise's daughter Aleena II (aka Violet).