Notes: And we're back! You guys thought I gave up on this story, didn't you? Well, I certainly didn't intend on taking a 5-month hiatus, but that's what college will do to you. I had a fantastic year at school, but now it's summer! 'Bout time I finished another chapter. This one's a long one to make up for all those long, lonely months without updates. I'll try my hardest to make sure the next chapter doesn't take nearly as long to come out, so don't worry! Thanks for sticking with me!
Sonic trudged through the tall grass, something he normally loved running through. He loved the way the wind made it ripple, how it had that peaceful ocean-like look to it without actually being wet. Right now though, he hated the grass, getting tangled around his slow-moving feet and just serving as one more obstacle that acted against him. He hated this stupid collar, hated how slow he felt, hated how he couldn't feel any of the Chaos energy in the air with this thing on. In all honesty, he had never noticed how in tune with Chaos he actually was. He'd been sensing the energies in the air all his life, without even realizing it. Now that that connection was gone, he felt almost blind, like a huge chunk of him was missing. He wouldn't be surprised if he got lost in the Mystic Ruins, since the energetic landmarks he usually used to guide his way were now lost to him.
"Scourge!" he called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "Come on, man, I need to talk to you!" Looking around for any trace of the hedgehog, Sonic grimaced. Maybe his hunch was wrong, and Scourge really did take off for good. He could be all the way at Red Mountain by now, all the way on the opposite end of the ruins. He sighed. He hadn't realized how good of a sport Scourge had been the day before when he agreed to put the collar on and spend some quality time with Lil' T. Maybe he'd been too rough on the guy? Granted, he had every reason to be harsh, but perhaps threatening to send the Moebian back to prison was overkill. It was no secret that Scourge had been having nightmares, and the way he reacted around Big earlier… it was clear that the green one did not want to go back to that place.
'He only fights for himself, though. He's no team player. He's selfish, and arrogant, and ungrateful… ' Sonic looked around, not seeing Scourge anywhere. Even if he did find him, what would he say? Did he even want Scourge to come back? His past self had been right, Scourge was the strongest of any of them, but the guy was… well, to be frank, an asshole. How many second chances did one person deserve, anyway? Maybe he should just-
"You think you're so high and mighty. Doncha, Blue?" Speak of the devil. Sonic's eyes shot up into a nearby tree, seeing the green hedgehog he was searching for sitting amongst its branches. He was playing with the collar remote in his hand, inspecting the thin device.. "Ya felt bad for me, so ya got me outta jail. Then, when I'm not the eternally greatful, simply misunderstood sap you expected me to be, you flip on me and say that everything that's goin' wrong is my fault. Yeah, you and your gang are a real buncha angels."
Sonic frowned as he approached the tree. "Scourge, it's not like that, and you know it," he said, frustration in his voice.
"Oh, so then what IS going on here?" his anti-self glared down at him. "Because I sure as hell don't know. One minute you're sayin' we all need to trust each other, and the next you're breathin' down my neck 'cause I'm a potential threat, or 'cause I don't play well with others. So please, if you'd be so kind as to tell me what the fuck is goin' on in that head a' yours, I'd really appreciate it."
"I…" Sonic started, but realized he didn't have a counter-argument. He sighed. "You're right. I haven't been terribly consistent lately. As soon as I think I've got something figured out, something new comes into play. My temper hasn't exactly been under control lately either…" He looked down at the base of the tree, scratching the back of his neck. His fingers collided with the metal of the collar, reminding him once again of its presence.
"What, so your temper gets an excuse while mine gets me threatened?" Scourge yelled, giving Sonic a look that could kill. "Chaos, you are such a freakin' hypocrite-"
"Would you let me finish? I was gonna say that it wasn't an excuse for me being such a jerk to you. I knew what I was potentially getting myself into when Zonic and I got you out of Zone Jail. I shouldn't be getting mad at you because you're not a team player, since I knew that already going in. So… Sorry. You're right, I have been acting… well, holier than thou, and I shouldn't have threatened to send you back to Zone Jail like that. That was pretty low."
"Tch… Got that right," Scourge grunted under his breath. He crossed his arms, but his frown relaxed a bit. He hadn't expected Sonic to be the one to come chasing after him, and he certainly hadn't been expecting an apology.
Sonic rubbed at his neck, the inhibitor collar clearly taking its toll on him. "And we shouldn't have kept using this collar against you, either. You're a part of the team now, and we were barely acting like it. I mean, how can I expect you to trust me and everyone else when… when we're not even willing to trust you?"
Scourge's eyes shot open. "W-wait, so you're not mad about that?" he sputtered. "I tackled you, snapped that damn collar on you, ran off, and you're not mad?!"
"Well, I'm not happy about it, but I'm willing to let it slide," the hero smirked tiredly. "And to be fair, you didn't run all that far. Thanks for waiting up for me, by the way." Sonic sat down at the base of the tree, resting in the soft grass. The sun was starting to dip in the sky, an indicator of just how long they had been in Frog Forest. It had been a long day, and they were all tired, a little on-edge. He took a deep breath, finding that the circlet around his throat was even making that more difficult. He wormed a finger in between his neck and the collar, tugging at it. "...I never realized how tough this thing is on ya. I thought it just made you slower, and not as strong, but… I feel drained, or like a chunk of me is missing. I can't believe you lived with this thing for a whole year."
Scourge's eyes drooped tiredly. "Neither can I, sometimes," he said quietly. He shivered as his dream from the night before snaked its way into his mind. Zone Jail, Smalls… 'No,' he stopped himself. 'Don't go down that road.'
Sighing, Sonic glanced upward, looking through the leaves of the tree to the sky above. "You know what I think?" he said. "I think being evil for most of your life, then trying to turn it all around and save people instead… it's gotta come with a pretty steep learning curve, right?" He paused. Scourge's ear twitched as the green hedgehog looked away. "Yeah, you should have had Z's back out there, but you're still new at this. The whole reason I called you in was to help fight, and you did do the most fighting out of anyone out there. But if we fight together, it can all work more smoothly. We can kick more butt as a team than we can as… a group of people all fighting in the same vicinity."
"Wow," Scourge rolled his eyes, glancing down at his good twin. "Endin' that inspiring speech on a high note," he groaned.
"Eh, they can't all be winners," the blue one chuckled. "Look… as much as we dislike each other, we're almost done. We only have one Emerald left to find, and then we can fix this whole mess. So just stick around a little while longer?"
"Yeah, yeah." The Moebian jumped down from his seat on the tree branch and stretched his arms. "What, you thought I was gonna leave for real? I've seen you guys fight, you're all wimps. Leaving this world-saving biz up to you would doom us all," he snickered. Sonic got to his feet.
"So… truce?" the blue speedster asked, offering his hand to shake. Scourge raised an eyebrow and looked down at his outstretched hand. Instead of shaking hands, he pressed the button on the thin remote he held and gave the device to Sonic.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," he said, smirking as he began to walk back to the house. Sonic yanked the collar off his neck and took a deep breath, feeling everything come back to him. "You should have seen your face when I snapped that collar on you," the green one laughed. "Comedy gold."
"Shut up," Sonic shoved him, feeling more relaxed already. "Come on, I bet the guys are all waiting for us."
"About time. Lead the way, Blue," the Moebian said. Sonic eagerly took off, happy he could run again, while Scourge followed close behind. 'Almost done here… Just one Emerald left. But then what?' he thought, struggling to figure out a plan. He hadn't really thought past the whole 'saving the world' bit. He didn't think he'd get this far into it, to be honest. He was planning on crossing that bridge when he came to it, but that bridge was starting to get closer. What was he going to do?
The two approached the workshop just as Big exited the front door, tailless Froggy in hand. Scourge hung back a few feet while the feline thanked Sonic repeatedly for finding his friend, who was resting lazily in the cat's massive hands. After a hurried goodbye, Big and Froggy left to head into the deep jungles of the Mystic Ruins ("We have a whole day of fishing to catch up on!"). Scourge ducked inside the house, and Sonic followed after one more wave to Big.
The two younger hedgehogs and foxes were sprawled out on the various pieces of living room furniture, apparently exhausted.
"Before you ask," the older Tails said, noticing Sonic and Scourge come in, "Froggy put up a fight. Lil' guy sure does love eating those Chaos Emeralds."
The younger Sonic groaned from the couch. He was sitting upside-down, his feet up against the back of the sofa and his head hanging down. "I swear, the thing can tap into the Emeralds. He was zooming around so fast, we had trouble catching him." He looked up, noticing happily that his older-self was no longer wearing the inhibitor collar. He frowned at Scourge, though. "So, I take it Green is going back home to wherever he came from?"
Scourge glared at him, somewhat baffled that this hedgehog was the same one he was just having a conversation with a few minutes earlier. "Unfortunately for you, I'm staying," he said. The expression on the small hedgehog's face almost made him laugh. Lil' T, on the other hand, seemed excited by this.
"Alright! Does that mean I get to beat you at video games some more?" he asked as he sat up, stars in his eyes. Everyone else but Scourge laughed. The green hedgehog merely rolled his eyes and turned to go upstairs, away from everyone else.
"Wait a sec, Scourge," the older Tails said, stopping him in his tracks. "I, uh, looked into Time Energy while you were all away, and… I think everyone should hear what I found out."
The room got suddenly quiet as everyone turned to look at the fox. The way he was talking sounded like he had bad news. Sonic lowered himself into one of the living room's chairs as Scourge leaned up against the wall. Taking that as his cue to start, Tails picked his Miles Electric up off the coffee table and quickly skimmed the data being displayed on the screen. He puffed his bangs out of his face and double-checked his numbers. He clicked his tongue. The silence and tension in the room were palpable as the others sat around, waiting for him to say something. After what felt like an eternity, the fox cleared his throat. "Okay," he said, "after analyzing both the goo left behind from the time monsters and a sample of Sonic's contaminated blood, I think I can put together a cohesive theory as to what's going on with you guys exactly. Why Sonic's got that weird growing scar, and why Zonic's several years younger all of a sudden."
"You think?" Zonic asked incredulously.
"Hey, this isn't exactly rocket science! If it was, I'd have an easier time with it," Tails said frustratedly. He rubbed his eyes, which were looking tired. It seemed like he had been hard at work all day.
"So, what do you think happened?" Mini-Sonic asked, his elbows resting on his knees and his toes tapping furiously.
"Alright. The monster that left Sonic with that nasty gash infected him with time energy. Normally not a problem, that stuff tends to go away pretty fast from what I've seen. But since Sonic used Chaos Control right after, it got sealed inside of him, almost fusing with him. The energy I think... it didn't just latch onto Sonic, it latched onto his entire timeline."
"Sounds like Sonic's younger self should have been affected by this more than I was," Zonic said. "Where do I fit into all this?"
"I'm just getting to that," Tails said, staring down at the Miles Electric screen like his life depended on it. "The time and Chaos energy should have stayed confined just to this Sonic's timeline. But when he traveled to the No Zone to visit you, the energy recognized you as a Sonic from an alternate timeline. After all, that's all that different dimensions are, really- alternate timelines, all branching off each other."
"So, because I went to No Zone..." Sonic said, trying to understand, "the weird energy inside me attached itself onto Zonic, too? Is that what you're saying?"
"Precisely," the two-tail nodded. "And this is just a guess, but it could have spread even further. Zonic's world intersects every other Zone in existence. It's unlikely, but it's possible that the energy used that connection to worm its way into tons of other Sonics across the multiverse. Sonics everywhere, being infected with the time energy, even when the Time Eater and its goons haven't even reached their worlds yet..."
The room was dead quiet. It was troubling to imagine. Different versions of Sonic in all manner of alternate timelines... All of them potentially suffering from the side effects of having time energy in one's body. Not only aging or de-aging, like Zonic had, but perhaps being sped up or slowed down. Maybe being frozen in time. Maybe they were going in reverse, like someone just hit rewind on them. Would any of them even know what was going on? Would they have the slightest clue?
"Well," Scourge clapped his hands, "that is certainly one hell of a bomb you dropped there. But why ain't any of that time energy affecting me? Or what about little Sonic?"
"With Sonic's younger self... I honestly have no idea what could happen. He might get affected by the energy later, or he might not because his older self is already chock full of the stuff. There's no way for me to be sure. Sorry, Sonic," Tails said dimly, looking up from his device to the young hedgehog sitting across from him.
"Hey, don't worry about it," the light blue hog said with a half-shrug. "No news is good news, right?"
"I guess so, in this case at least," the fox tilted his head to the side in contemplative thought. "Anyway, Scourge, the reason why none of this mess is affecting you is because the energy doesn't recognize you as Sonic. Since you mutated with the Master Emerald, you're genetically different from Sonic, and the energy is having a tough time figuring out what you are and what it should do. At least, I think it so. This is all just speculation, remember. All theory."
"I just hope you're right about me," Scourge said, crossing his arms behind his head. "The last thing I need to deal with right now is turnin' into a little kid." He shrugged. 'What with the bad nightmares, the hallucinations... I don't think I need any more on my plate right now,' he thought, his stomach gently beginning to twist into knots.
Sonic held a hand over his chest, gingerly touching his enlarged scar. "So if I hadn't gotten that hit... if I hadn't gone to No Zone... I put all the other Zones at risk, didn't I?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "At the very least, it's my fault Z's like this."
"It's thanks to you I can run again," Zonic said firmly, gripping the older hedgehog's shoulder as his head drooped. "Right now, I don't care about being younger. I'll deal. You can't blame yourself for this Sonic, you had no way of knowing that any of this would happen."
"It doesn't matter that I didn't know. I still brought this mess to No Zone, and probably all the other Zones too, with my luck lately." He brushed Zonic's hand off of his shoulder. "Tails, just tell me there's a way to fix all this. That we can save everyone before it's too late."
"Actually," the fox said optimistically, "that part should be pretty straightforward. Defeating the Time Eater for good should clear all the time energy out of your system, and by extension, clean it out of all the other Sonics too. Maybe even just getting it out of your body will be enough to get it out of everyone, even if the TE is still alive." He smiled. "And besides, we don't know for sure if this energy is traveling between your alter-selves. It was just a guess."
Zonic nodded. "Zector and Zespio would let me know if anything weird was going on with the other Sonics. I'm sure all our dimensional counterparts are fine, Prime. You need to calm down, 'kay?"
"Well, I can't! I've been trying to stay calm, and to relax, and to stay positive like I always do," Sonic clenched his teeth. His fingers were wrapped tight around his knees, his muscles tense. "But it's hard. And I don't know if it's all the time and Chaos energy pent up inside me that's whacking me out, or if it's because I'm not running right, or because I'm hurt, or that Mobius is seriously in danger, or because I'm apparently the entire reason you got younger in the first place. But I can't calm down, Zonic. So stop telling me that I need to relax and take a chill pill, because I seriously just can't right now." Sonic shoved himself out of the chair and walked straight out the back door. A sonic boom was heard a few seconds later as the poisoned hedgehog took off towards who knows where.
"I... I didn't think he'd react this badly," Tails said softly after a minute of quiet left in the angry speedster's wake. "It's just a theory... There's no way to know for sure..."
Mini-Sonic shook his head. "It's also the only explanation we have for anything right now. I don't handle guilt well, Tails, you know that," the twelve-year-old said, looking out the window to where his future-self ran off to. "Sonic needs time to think. He just needs to sort everything out in his head, compartmentalize it all... Let off some steam. He'll be okay."
"You sure?" the fox asked, twin tails twitching anxiously. "I hate to see him like this."
"Everything will be okay," the smaller Sonic answered. "I'll be okay... I have to be." He gulped. It sounded like he was saying that more for his benefit than for anyone else's.
ooo
Sonic returned to the workshop later that night, but refused to talk to anyone. He made his way up to the roof without a word, and didn't come back inside for the rest of the evening. Both Tailses wanted to reach out and comfort him, until mini-Sonic told them there wasn't anything they could do to help right now. "I'm surprised he came back so soon, actually," the twelve-year-old said softly. "I thought he would have stayed out all night. But I can tell you one thing for sure, he doesn't want to talk right now." The subject was dropped after that.
After the meeting earlier, the members of the team were quiet and severely on edge. Zonic had been furiously scanning news feeds from other Zones, checking for temporal anomalies. He only stopped once Tails suggested he get some fresh air, and so he went outside to practice with his gun. His lack of progress only served to further fry his nerves.
The younger Sonic went for a run, following in his older-self's footsteps. Wherever he went, he came back with enough take-out for everyone, which was much needed since the cupboards were bare at that point. Even though everyone barely touched their food, it was better than nothing.
Scourge sat cross-legged on the couch, his foot bouncing vigorously as he watched the news with the volume turned all the way down. So much of Mobius was already under the negative influence of the Time Eater's power, he didn't want to believe it. He had tried to conquer the planet before, sure, but he hadn't intended to practically destroy it. After a few hours of this, Lil' T joined him on the couch, picking up the remote and changing the channel to some old black and white detective movie. The two brightened the mood up a little by making up new dialogue for the characters on-screen, but that was short-lived, as Mini-Sonic declared it was time for the kid to go to bed.
In fact, it wasn't long before everyone except for the teenage Tails decided to call it a night. The fox had resigned himself to his lab to continue the search for the last Emerald. When all the others were starting to wind down, he began to caffeinate. It was clear he didn't plan on sleeping that night. Scourge wondered for a moment whether or not he should join the kid in staying up, but decided against it. If they found the last Emerald tomorrow, that would be it- the big day. He should at least try and be well-rested for it, right? So the green hedgehog trudged up the stairs, found the top bunk in Tails' room to be empty, and climbed into the bed, quickly dropping off to sleep.
For what felt like the upteenth time, Scourge found himself once again in the long, ominous hallway. Doors were everywhere. The entire hallway was lined with them. They were on the ceiling and on the floor. Some started halfway up the wall and ended on the ceiling, following the corners of the hall. Some overlapped each other. There were too many doors. "Shit," Scourge breathed. This was already terrible. Just one door the last time led to the worst nightmare he'd had so far. Now the doors were everywhere, completely surrounding him. Something could jump out and grab him at any second, from any angle.
To add to the freakiness factor, the hedgehog wasn't in his normal leather jacket and sunglasses getup. He found himself in a roughed-up orange jumpsuit with an inhibitor collar around his neck. "Okay, completely vulnerable and powerless. With potential danger literally everywhere. What could go wrong now?" he said. He had meant for the words to come out loud and annoyed-sounding, but his voice was quiet and weak. He shuddered and glanced around nervously. He supposed he should start walking like he always did, but he felt frozen to the spot. As if thousands of pairs of eyes were staring at him, keeping him in one place. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of his neck, while all his quills stood on end. The hallway was entirely silent, except for a quiet, rhythmic murmur. Scourge couldn't make it out at first, but it steadily grew louder.
"Sonic… Sonic… Sonic…" It was the voice calling his name again. His old name, the one that the mirrors in Twinkle Park had called him, and the one that he heard a lot in this place. Scourge looked into the distance, but he couldn't see the unknown figure with the bleeding forehead that usually accompanied the voice. And the voice was so familiar, but he just couldn't peg it down… Who was calling his name? Where were they?
Scourge turned around, thinking the figure might be in the distance behind him. As he turned, he came directly face to face with a man. A blue hedgehog, with brown bangs and a bleeding bullet hole in his forehead. He had soulless white eyes, and his cold breath smelled of decay. He was wearing a guard's uniform from Zone Jail, which was unusual for him, but Scourge recognized him anyway.
Before he could fully grasp what was happening, the dead hedgehog screamed, blood bursting from its skull, and Scourge was catapulted into awakeness. He let out a short yell, and was breathing hard. He was shaking violently and covered in cold sweat. He couldn't think. He could barely breathe. That thing was going to get him. Where was he? He didn't feel safe. It was there, in the corner, in the darkness, he knew it. He could feel it. It was going to-
He took a few deep breaths, albeit shaky ones, to try and calm himself. He wasn't dreaming anymore. He was awake, he was safe. He wasn't in that damned hallway, he was in Sonic's house. He was at the workshop. He was safe. He sniffled and held his head in his shivering hands. 'Dad,' he thought, his eyes bulging wide. 'It was my dad. What the hell- why was my dad there. Was that him the whole time? What is going on- why was my dad there?' The thoughts raced frantically through his mind. This was bad. His nightmares had been getting progressively worse. How much worse could they get? That one only seemed to last a few minutes and he was a quivering wreck. He was scared, and Scourge the Hedgehog was not one to scare easily. 'My dad my dad my old man my dad dad dad why was he there dad what was he doing? Why was he wearing a prison guard uniform why was he there dad dad dad dad dad.'
After a few minutes, he had calmed down enough to think relatively straight. His breathing was less erratic and heavy, but still shaky. He pulled his blankets up around him in hopes that it would stop his shivering. 'What's happening to me…?' he thought nervously. 'Why do I keep having these dreams every night? Why do they keep getting worse?!' He gripped the sheets tight, his knuckles turning as pale as his face. He found himself wondering how long he could feasibly stay awake for. If he could just stop sleeping entirely... No sleep means no nightmares, right? Who cares he'd be less effective in a fight, if he could go one night without a nightmare he'd sell a kidney.
He warily glanced down from the top bunk to catch a glimpse of the alarm clock below. The clock sat on the nightstand at the head of the bottom bunk. It glowed 1:19 AM in bright blue. Scourge frowned and slipped back under the covers. Staying up would mean staying awake for hours, alone, in the dark, with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. Honestly, now that he thought about it, neither option seemed preferable.
'Maybe I'll just grab a glass of water,' he thought, still feeling uneasy. 'I still need to calm down some more.' He climbed down from the top bunk of the bed, trying to be quiet, as the younger hedgehog and fox duo were sharing the bed beneath him. He didn't want to answer any questions right now about why he was up. He just wanted to deal with this on his own, thank you very much. Scourge slipped silently out of the room, thankful to be in the hallway where the lights were dimly lit. He hated admitting it, but the darkness of the bedroom had freaked him out a bit. He didn't want to be seeing things any more than usual. He treaded down the steps leading to the living room, again trying to be quiet to avoid waking Zonic, who was on the pull-out couch.
'Zonic and Sonic… both of them are starting to crack, but they have reasons for it. The time stream is messing with them big time, which is enough to unnerve anyone. I'm just losing it for no reason,' the green hedgehog thought, his eyes momentarily resting on the teenager on the couch before he ducked into the kitchen. He pulled a glass from the cabinet above the sink and filled it with tap water. His hands were shaking, and the water threatened to spill from the cup. Scourge held the glass tight with both hands and leaned on the counter. 'This is ridiculous. There's not even an explanation for why I'm having these nightmares. One night it's about Zone Jail, tonight was my dad… This isn't making any sense.' He took a long drink from the glass, polishing off half of the water in one gulp. He hadn't realized how dry his mouth was. He set the glass down and rubbed his hands over his bare arms, feeling the goosebumps that he was covered in. He couldn't believe this. Scourge the Hedgehog, former King of Moebius, the mean and green hedgehog who wasn't afraid of anything, reduced to a shaking mess after a few bad dreams. He didn't get it. He was just fine before his birthday. That was when the nightmares started to happen every night, and they started getting worse and worse. What had happened, what was causing him to have these bad dreams?
He looked at the clock on the wall. It wasn't even 1:30 yet. There was no way he was going to be able to stay up all night. He'd been getting too little sleep lately, and had already spent most of the day before with bags under his eyes. He wasn't going to be able to avoid the nightmares forever, he knew that. But it didn't mean he couldn't try and stay up a little while longer, at least until he had calmed down.
He took to looking at the pictures that adorned the walls of the workshop's modest kitchen. Some of the photos were framed, some were not, but all of them were of Sonic, Tails, or their friends. Quite a few of them were from when the fox and hedgehog were still young, just starting out. Scourge's mind drifted to the two time travelers upstairs, sharing a bed like it was the easiest thing in the world. Back on his own world, he had taken in Miles, the anti-Tails, in as sort of his evil apprentice. The two worked together on tons of jobs, but they were never even remotely close. Miles had actually tried to kill Scourge a few times, when it was beneficial to him. But Sonic and Tails were inseparable, even eight years ago. They weren't related by blood, but they acted so much like family. The green hedgehog began to feel something rise up in his chest. Jealousy? Of Sonic? He shook his head and shoved the feeling back down. He looked down from the photographs, deciding to study the countertops instead.
'Isn't that what those reflections in Twinkle Park were saying, though?' he thought, the shakiness in his hands returning as the memory resurfaced. 'That I was jealous of Sonic, deep down…?' He exhaled sharply. It had only been a few days since he'd been busted out of Zone Jail, and he already didn't know who he even was anymore. Was he bad? Good? Scared and jealous? Strong and selfish? Just as when he was in Zone Jail, he felt like he was at war with himself, only now he didn't even know which side was which.
He suddenly heard a sharp gasp come from the living room, followed by a shallow panting and blankets rustling. Zonic had just woken up, and suddenly. Had the No Zoner had a bad dream as well?
Scourge downed the rest of his glass of water and placed the glass in the sink quietly, listening for Zonic going back to sleep. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now, he wanted to be alone. He never got any alone time in the workshop, something that was new to him. People always asking him if he was okay, if there was anything wrong… It was none of their business! He was sick of people caring and trying to stick their noses in his problems. He could handle this by himself.
Unfortunately for Scourge, Zonic did not slip back into the hold of sleep. He instead rose from the couch and shuffled his way into the kitchen, where the green hedgehog was standing over the sink, fists clenched. "Oh, Chaos!" the teenager jumped upon seeing him. "Jeez, you scared me. I didn't think anyone else would be down here…" Zonic said, his voice low as to not wake the others upstairs. Scourge merely grunted in response, scratching his short, choppy quills. Seeing that Scourge wasn't going to continue the conversation, Zonic tried again to get a response out of him (partly because he wanted to know what Scourge was even doing in the kitchen at 1:30 at night, and partly to make sure that he wasn't just imagining Scourge there, and that his tired brain wasn't playing tricks on him). "What's got you up this late?" he tried. "Too busy thinking about tomorrow?"
Scourge was about to say no, but he quickly changed his mind. He wasn't about to open up to Zonic about why he couldn't sleep. "Yeah, thinkin' about tomorrow" he said, still facing the sink wall. "Lemme guess. You had a bad dweam."
Zonic frowned, and tugged at something around his wrist. It looked like a ratty old bracelet, something a kid made out by weaving some string. It looked years old, at any rate. "None of your business.. And even if I did, I don't see why I'd want to tell you about it," he said. Ouch. And Scourge thought that Zonic was starting to trust him, too.
Then again, he did just insult the guy. Talking to people was hard.
"Look, I'm just on edge, alright?" the green hedgehog said, turning around to face him. "Just because I ain't younger like you are, or hurt like Sonic is, don't mean I'm not goin' through my own shit right now." He said this with a condescending tone, not even realizing it. Zonic, naturally, only got angrier.
"You think I want to be like this?" he asked darkly, pointing to his own face. "Oh, Zonic's been turned into a kid, he's allowed to mope all he wants. Scourge is such a unique, special snowflake because he has problems that don't involve becoming a kid again," he mocked. Scourge was slightly taken aback- he actually hadn't meant what he said as an insult, it just sort of came out that way naturally- and he frowned sourly.
"Whatever. I'm going back up to bed," he grunted, walking out of the kitchen and shoving past the smaller hedgehog.
"Good. I don't want to talk to you right now anyway," Zonic crossed his arms. Though he tried to look angry, his face still had the lingering fear from his nightmare. Scourge didn't notice though, as he was too busy angrily climbing back upstairs.
'Damn Zone Cop… I wasn't botherin' anybody, why'd he have to get all up in my business like that… Takin' everythin' I say, spinnin' it aroUND WOAH SHIT,' he thought as he tripped and quickly caught himself on the last stair. 'Jeez… Guess I do need sleep if I can't even handle stairs. Blue got any sleepin' pills up here?' He rubbed at his eyes as he slipped into the bathroom, turning on the light. Ignoring his reflection in the mirror (if his reflection looked like Sonic again, he'd flip), he yanked open the medicine cabinet and began searching through its contents. It wasn't long before he found what he was looking for.
Scourge slept hard that night, hazy and exhausted. He finally had a dreamless sleep, his first one in weeks.
ooo
The eldest blue hedgehog laid on top of the roof, staring up at the twinkling stars above. His head was full of thoughts, which he was trying to clear. He needed sleep. If all went according to plan, they were going to get the final Emerald first thing in the morning and finally end this thing. He was going to go Super, get rid of the energy trapped inside of him, and defeat the Time Eater once and for all. He was going to fix this mess that he'd gotten the world- no, the multiverse into. He needed to get some rest. But for some reason, he just couldn't.
The speedster exhaled softly and closed his eyes. He felt tired, exhausted even. Seeing what had become of Frog Forest that afternoon had worn him out, and he needed to sleep to process everything that had happened. But he couldn't fall asleep for the life of him. It was like there was some force keeping him awake, preventing him from slipping under into unconsciousness, even though he felt ready to pass out.
He rubbed his glove-clad fingers against the worn roof shingles, and tried to relax as the nighttime breeze enveloped him. He didn't feel right. He knew it was probably just his scar acting up, the energy sealed inside of him messing with his brain. But the hedgehog felt… anxious, he supposed was the word for it. He was looking forward to kicking the Time Eater's butt and restoring the proper flow of time, but part of him just… didn't want to. He wished time would stop altogether, that tomorrow would never come. That he could just curl up and stop existing, at least for a while. He just got this sense of foreboding thinking about it, like things weren't going to go exactly according to plan. What that meant exactly, Sonic had no idea. All he could do was hope they came out on top, and that no one got hurt in the process. But given how things were going lately, even that seemed too much to hope for.
'We sure have been taking a beating lately,' Sonic thought, his fingers twitching. 'I'm getting worse by the day, Zonic's still not used to being a kid, little me is stressed beyond all belief… and Scourge… there's definitely something bothering him. He hasn't been sleeping well, I know that much. Maybe the whole 'hero' thing is making him uneasy. He's kinda going against everything he's ever known, after all. Even if he wants to do it, it can't be an easy change to make. I mean, one second he was throwin' punches and snapping that inhibitor collar around my neck, and the next, he takes it off of me and lets the whole thing slide? And what was up with him when he saw Big? Just because Big looked like his cellmate, he blew up at him and ran away… Whatever's going on with him, I hope he sorts it out by morning.'
He looked up at the sky, stars twinkling and dancing in the blackness. They didn't form any shapes he recognized, like they were all in the wrong place. The night sky he was looking at could have been ancient, as if the movement of the stars over hundreds of millions of years had been reversed. He stretched his hand up, holding his fingers out and blocking some of the stars from his view. 'I have to fix this,' he thought, realizing just how much the rip in time had grown and spread. 'I have to put the stars back together. But… how? What happens if I can't fix the time stream, and there's too much damage? Is it just… game over?' It was a scenario he hated to think about, and usually refused to even believe in. There was always a way to win. But the hedgehog silently wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew. He had others helping him, sure, but he was the only one who had extensive experience going Super. He was the hero of Mobius, this was his responsibility.
He brought his hands to his forehead and clenched his eyes shut. 'You're over-thinking this. Worrying too much,' he told himself. 'Everything'll work out fine. Nothing'll go wrong, and if something does happen, you'll fix it. Just go with the flow and take this as it comes. Just like you always have. It doesn't matter what happens, just so long as you never give up.'
He was up most of the night trying to get himself to believe that.
ooo
"Guys! Last Emerald! I've got the location!" Tails shouted, running through the house at the crack of dawn. Everyone groggily opened their eyes, their bodies not wanting to move this early in the morning. The other fox and the three hedgehogs that were inside rolled out of bed, almost falling onto the floor, while the elder Sonic climbed back in through his bedroom window.
"Wha's goin' on?" he asked, mid-yawn. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his quills were a mess. It was immediately obvious that he hadn't gotten much sleep.
Tails poked his head in the room, looking much the same. The only difference was that the fox was brimming with energy, probably because of one too many cups of coffee. "I stayed up all night tracking down the final Emerald," he said, slightly jittery. "South Island's Marble Zone. Be ready to leave in ten!"
"Why do we have to go so early?" Zonic groaned, lying on the floor with his legs still on the bed, tangled in blankets. "C'mon man, just five more minutes-"
"Do you want the Time Eater to get the seventh Emerald? What would we do then?!" the fox exclaimed. "We need to get there as fast as possible! Come on!" He gripped Zonic's wrists and dragged him out of the clutches of the bed and out of the room entirely. Sonic merely blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to process what was going on.
"Marble Zone... ?" he mumbled, shuffling out of the room. "Great, I love starting my day off with a healthy dose of lava."
Ten minutes later, he would realize lava was the worst of his worries.
ooo
The whole gang insisted on going to Marble Zone on Sonic's old home of South Island. No one wanted to miss out on the last Chaos Emerald, and the Time Eater butt-kicking that was sure to ensue. The six exited the portal Zonic had opened up, landing safely in a relatively stable part of the old ruins. There didn't seem to be many fountains of lava spurting up around them, and passages underground were no where to be seen, which was unusual for the area. They seemed to be in sort of a field-ish part of the Zone, with massive buildings and marble pillars everywhere. The sky was unusually cloudy, and the air had a nasty chill to it.
The young Sonic shivered, taking note of the lack of birds and other wildlife around. "Not to be a downer guys, but I have a bad feeling about this…" he said, looking around.
"We can't worry about that now," Tails said, pounding a fist into his open hand determinedly. "We've got a job to finish! Can any of you feel the Emerald nearby?"
The two Sonics and Scourge all closed their eyes and focused, trying to pick up on the sensitive energies flowing through the air. Zonic tried the same with the scanner on his gauntlet (which was too loose on his arm now, so it slid all over the place). They all got the same result.
"No good," Scourge said, crossing his arms against his chest. "I can barely feel the Chaos Emeralds we have. There's too much interference here, too much of that time energy crap."
"Yeah, I don't feel anything either," the older Sonic said, feeling a dull itch inside his scar. "I'm with little-me here, I don't like this place. Everything feels off."
"But we can't give up!" Lil' T cheered, flying up to everyone's eye level. "What have we learned so far? The more time is messed up, the greater chance there is of an Emerald being close by! We just gotta look, that's all!" He soared around excitedly, somehow filled with energy so early in the morning.
"Yeah, but where do we start looking, bud?" Mini-Sonic asked, scratching his quills. "Marble Zone's a big place. We could spend all day here and not find it."
"Um, guys?" Zonic said, turning around slowly. He pointed to something in the distance, looking worried. "I'm not exactly an expert on volcanic regions, but… is that normal?"
The others all turned to see what he was looking at. A huge vent of steam was shooting violently out of the ground. Just then, the very earth beneath their feet began to rumble and shake. A crack formed in the rock, splitting the earth. More steam shot out of the new gap, and lava began to bubble up after it. The ground didn't stop shaking, and the crack elongated further and further.
"That doesn't look good," the Sonics said, taking a step back. The time energy surrounding them was thrumming excitedly. Something was happening, and it wasn't Marble Zone's volcano erupting. "What's going on?!"
"I dunno," Scourge said, "but there's more where that came from. Look!" He pointed up into the sky, where the dark clouds were swirling menacingly above them. Where there was no wind before, powerful gales suddenly began to blow. Volcanic ash and dust began to fly through the air, making it difficult to see anything. The ground shook and cracked even more, sending the group scrambling to keep their balance. They could make out the fissure in the earth cracking towards them, splintering the ground at a record pace. The ground gave a massive lurch, droplets of lava splashing up from the recently formed cracks. The clouds circled faster and faster, forming a sort of vortex. And then the unthinkable happened.
The chunk of land they were standing on began to float, being pulled away from the rest of the ground and dragged up into the air, into the dark clouds.
Mobius was beginning to be torn apart.
"Jump!" Sonic shouted, grabbing whoever's wrists were closest to him and leaping off of the small floating island, which was getting sucked up into the sky at a terrifying pace. The six of them landed safely back on semi-solid ground, but they knew they wouldn't be safe for long. Everyone took a split second to glance backwards at the impending danger, but they didn't waste any more time after that. The crack was racing along the ground now, spewing steam and lava wherever it went. It split off into different cracks, breaking in all directions group of hedgehogs and foxes were off and running- or flying, in the Tails' case- trying to escape. The air was filled with dirt, dust, and bits of gravel, and the wind grew hot. The ground was now shaking constantly, threatening to throw everyone to the floor and causing pillars and buildings to collapse all around them. Sonic could see more earth being ripped apart in the distance; it wasn't just behind them, it was all over the place. He sped ahead, taking the lead, and steered the group to the right, keeping them from getting sandwiched in the middle of two forming fissures. Lightning cracked, lighting up the sky. In the center of the cloud vortex was nothing but pure black, as if it opened up into a black hole.
'What the hell is happening?!' the older Sonic thought as he ran as fast as his feet could carry him. 'All this time energy in the air, this has got to be the Time Eater's fault. But how? Were we too late, did that thing find the Chaos Emerald? And if it did, how is it ripping Mobius apart like this?!' He downright refused to let himself think too much about what was happening. If he did, he was likely to think about Amy, and Knuckles, and his other friends, and everyone else on the planet that was crumbling right before his very eyes, and-
"Sonic!" Tails shouted, reaching his hand out towards the hedgehog. He was flying steadily higher, even though he had stopped spinning his tails.
He was getting sucked up, just like the ground was.
Sonic jumped and grabbed his friend's hand, dragging him back down to the ground. He was not going to let his little brother be taken away from him like this. He pulled Tails back down, the two of them landing on the rumbling ground just in time to see the younger Sonic jump up to grab his brother. Unfortunately, the two kids weighed less than their older counterparts, and their combined weight was not enough to overcome the force of the powerful wind. The two of them made it a few feet into the air before Zonic reached out for them, pulling them back down by the twelve-year-old hedgehog's ankle.
"Prime, we can't just keep running like this!" the Zone Cop shouted, helping the kids find their footing again. "We have to get to safe ground!"
"What safe ground?!" Sonic yelled back, sidestepping around the cracks forming at his feet. The earthquakes were catching up to them, and fast. Almost all of the surrounding earth was cracked up and unstable, with more bits of land flying away each second. The air was filled with massive chunks of land, sucked up by the virtual black hole in the sky. However, even with all this, Sonic refused to let himself stop running. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for; maybe if he ran hard enough, the last Chaos Emerald would appear right in front of him. Maybe he would come across the one corner of the planet that wasn't being torn apart, and all his friends would be there, waiting for him. Of course, deep down, he knew nothing like that would happen. It was too good to be true. But he couldn't stop, he couldn't give up; forget the rest of the multiverse, his home and his friends were in danger! He wasn't going to throw in the towel now! He was Sonic the Hedgehog, Hero of Mobius, for crying out loud! His world was in danger, and he had to do something!
The ground suddenly shifted below him, causing the hedgehog to trip up and fall flat on his face, skidding to a stop. He wiped the dirt out of his eyes and struggled to his feet, legs wobbling. He couldn't see the others anymore, as the air was too thick with debris. His face and hands stung from the impact with the hard ground, and the constantly shifting floor wasn't letting him regain his balance. The plot of land lurched forward again without warning, sending the speedster to the edge of a newly formed fissure, magma bubbling dangerously at the bottom. He tried to keep his balance to avoid falling in, but it was no use. One more quake, and he toppled over the edge.
Sonic tried to grab for the edge of the fissure, but his fingers found nothing but air. He didn't even have time to think about his impending death before he felt something wrap around one of his wrists and jerk him upward. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't falling anymore. He opened his eyes, which he had clenched shut.
"Are you going to try at all to climb back up, or do I have to haul your ass back up here myself?!" It was Scourge. The green hog was lying flat on his stomach, leaning over the edge, both hands gripping Sonic's arm. Sonic stared at him in shock before he managed to get a foothold on the edge of the cliff. He pushed with his legs while Scourge pulled, and he climbed up over the edge. Both of them ended up lying spread-eagle on the shaking ground, breathing hard.
"Thanks-" Sonic coughed, having breathed in some of the dirt and dust in the air. "Thanks for the save." He smiled. Of all the people that could have saved his life, he hadn't expected to be rescued by his anti-self.
Scourge spat, getting to his feet. "Whatever," he grumbled, holding a hand up to his eyes to try and see through the massive storm that had whipped up. "Shit, I can't see a thing in this! Where did everyone else go?"
"I don't know, I don't know if they saw me fall or not," Sonic answered, climbing to his feet as well. A sharp pain ran up his leg, the one his scar cut into. His lungs were burning too, which was a cause for worry. He had been running too much, and too fast. His strange scar was likely to deepen and spread again if he kept going at the rate that he was, but stopping to rest wasn't an option. Not with the planet crumbling beneath his feet. 'I can't keep this up. I can't run forever… but what should we do?' he thought nervously. He squinted his eyes, looking around for any sign of the others. The visibility was incredibly low, and the constantly shaking ground was no help. Lightning flashed suddenly, the crash of thunder coming almost immediately after. The bright flash of light illuminated the surrounding landscape. In the split second of light, Sonic and Scourge could easily see the silhouettes of the marble pillars and buildings that were still standing, of trees that were on fire, and…
"The guys!" Sonic exclaimed, pointing to their 10 o'clock. He and Scourge quickly sped over to the others, making sure to not fall into any more crevices on the way.
They arrived at their destination in seconds flat, and created a huge cloud of dust as they brought themselves to a stop. The other members of their group were no longer running for their lives- there was no where for them to run to. Everything ahead of them had broken apart, and the ground behind them was catching up. Tails sighed with relief as Sonic and Scourge approached.
"Whew, there you are! I was worried you two fell underground!" he said.
"Almost did!" Sonic smiled, trying to catch his breath after the painful run over.
"Can we focus here? The planet is kind of crumbling under our feet!" Mini-Sonic yelled, holding Lil' T close. The fox kit was starting to get really scared, exemplified by his namesakes instinctively curling around his body.
"Exactly," Zonic said, his arms crossed. "And if we don't find that seventh Emerald within the next few minutes, there won't be a planet left at all," The Zone Cop's muscles were tense, and his tone was angry. He wasn't accustomed to a situation being this far out of his hands, and his training was kicking in. It was time to take control. He turned to Sonic, both the younger and older versions. "Sonic, Sonic, you two are the most chaos adept out of all of us. Do either of you sense the Emerald nearby?"
The two blue speedsters closed their eyes and tried to tune into their environment. Normally, they could tell quite easily if an Emerald was nearby- this went double for the elder hedgehog. There was so much pandemonium happening all around them, however, that even when they focused as hard as they could, they could only pick up the equivalent of static. They frowned as they both shook their heads, letting their intense focus drop. "Nada, too much interference with all this madness going around!" they both said. Zonic took one last look around the distressing landscape. He grimaced.
"It's my duty to maintain and protect cosmic order, and we can't protect anything if we all get killed. Come on, we're all getting out of here, right now!" the Zone Cop shouted, slamming the button on his belt buckle. A portal opened up behind him with a zoop! "Everyone in!"
"Welp, not gonna argue with that," Scourge said, moving towards the portal. He took one glance back at the others, offered the most encouraging smile he could muster without making himself look like a total softie, and then jumped through the portal.
The Littles were next. "Tails, Zonic's right. It's not safe here, you gotta go!" Mini-Sonic said, pushing his little bro towards the portal.
"If I go, you're coming with me!" the fox protested, gripping his best friend's hand.
"I..." Sonic started unsurely. He didn't want to leave his brother, but at the same time he felt wrong leaving his home to crumble to pieces. He glanced over at his older incarnation. The two hedgehog's eyes met, the elder Sonic's expression saying enough so that words weren't needed. No timey-wimey mumbo jumbo involved- just understanding. The young speedster nodded and faced his twin-tailed brother.
"Alright, we go together. Ready? C'mon." He wrapped his arm around the kid's shoulders, steering him into the portal without looking back. The duo, like Scourge before them, vanished into the swirling orange light.
The older Sonic turned to his own brother. "Okay Tails, you're up."
"You're not coming with us, are you?" the fox asked, his features twisting into a disappointed frown. The kid sure caught on quick, alright.
"I can't. I'm not leaving Mobius behind, even if there's only a 1% chance of me being able to save it. That's why you gotta go. I'm not risking you dying, too," Sonic said, pushing Tails towards the portal.
"You can't do this on your own! You think I can't notice how hard it is for you to even stand up, let alone run? I'm not going to leave you behind!"
"See you on the other side!" The hedgehog gave his best friend one final shove, sending the two-tail through the portal. He exhaled heavily. Tails wasn't lying- it was getting harder for him to move around, that much was true. He felt guilty going on ahead solo, but it was for the best. He couldn't have anyone else risking their lives like this.
The only two left now were Sonic Prime and Zonic, both struggling to keep their balance on the rumbling slab of rock they were standing on.
"Sonic, don't make me force you through that portal," the Zone Cop threatened, taking a step towards the older hedgehog.
"Z, you more than anyone should realize why I have to stay! Mobius needs me!"
"Mobius needs you alive. We won't let Mobius die, but we need to get out of here NOW!" The wind was picking up, making it harder to hear. The two yelled even louder to compensate.
"I'm finding the last Chaos Emerald, and you're not stopping me!" Sonic growled, taking a step towards the Cop. His knees suddenly buckled underneath him, and he felt an intense burning sensation in his chest. He cried out in pain as he hit the ground. It felt as if his whole body was on fire. His muscles weren't responding to his commands, leaving him unable to do anything but curl up into a fetal position. He could barely breathe. The fire in his chest snaked up to his face, scorching across his muzzle and through his left eye. He gritted his teeth as he clawed at the ground, trying to get a grip on something.
He could feel the ground falling away from him, slipping out of his reach. He didn't feel like he was falling, though- it felt as if something was supporting him, holding him up.
"N-no… Z, put me down…" he choked out, trying not to let his voice catch. "I'm not leaving Mobius…!"
"Sonic, are you insane?!" Zonic hissed, lugging him towards the orange swirling light of the portal. "You can't even stand! I'm not leaving you for dead out here, you're coming with us whether you want to or not!"
Sonic tried to retaliate, to get loose- there was something inside him egging him on, telling him to leave the cop in the dust and do things his way. But the only sounds he could get out of his mouth were groans and suppressed screams as the burning feeling continued to sear through his veins. He was unable to do anything as Zonic pulled him through the portal.
Zonic stumbled out the other end of the gateway, the two hedgehogs landing in a heap on soft, grassy ground that was most definitely not on Mobius. Sonic, one eye clenched shut in pain, looked back through the portal to his home world. The final chunk of land they had been standing on had just been lifted up into the atmosphere. There was nothing but a lake of lava as far as the eye could see, and even the molten rock was being sucked up into the sky. The sky itself was pitch black, with purple and gold swirling around in it. Large spinning gears came down from the clouds, enveloped in something smoky and dark. It had multiple arms with massive claws, and it glared at the portal with piercing yellow eyes.
That was the last of Mobius that Sonic saw before the portal closed.
His frantically beating heart dropped to his stomach. The Time Eater. Mobius. Mobius was gone. He was in pain, he was on fire. Mobius was gone. The last Chaos Emerald was gone. His home was being torn to shreds and there wasn't anything he could do about it. The Time Eater was there. The Time Eater was consuming time and space, consuming his planet, consuming all the people who lived on it. Billions of people. His friends. His home. All on the fast track to destruction.
They had failed.
Sonic screamed. Everything hurt, and Mobius was practically gone, and they had failed. He had failed. Getting the dumb scar in the first place, bringing the Time Eater's power to No Zone, messing with the Emerald Locator so it took longer to find the last two Emeralds. All of this was his fault. And all he could do was scream.
He wasn't sure how long he screamed for, but when he was done he had tears streaming down his face and ripped out grass in his hands. He was still in a great deal of pain, but the burning of his scar had stopped getting worse. He was panting, each labored breath sounding close to a choke.
The others stood around him in silence, each staring at the spot where the portal had disappeared. The younger Sonic was reacting in much the same way as the older one; trembling, wet eyes threatening to leak, heart beating in his throat. He was hugging his younger brother tightly, but was unable to offer any comforting words. Both of the foxes were openly crying, unable to comprehend that their entire planet had probably been erased by now. There was certainly no more Marble Zone to return to, and the rest of Mobius had likely started to crack up and fall apart too. Even if they hadn't seen the whole world be destroyed, with the seventh Chaos Emerald gone and the Time Eater returned, they didn't need to see it to believe it.
Zonic turned his back on the others, blinking back tears as he made a call to Chief Zlaze. "This is Zonic," he said, his voice wobbling. "Mobius Prime is being torn apart. Evacuate the planet, get as many of the Prime Zoners out of there as you can." On the other end, Zlaze had been effectively quieted for the first time in recent memory. It didn't last long though, as she began barking orders to everyone she was with, and Zonic hung up. He ripped his helmet off and threw it to the ground. He couldn't process this. He and Scourge merely stood there dumbfounded, neither having a clue what would happen next. Mobius Prime had played huge roles in their lives, and in the existence of their own worlds. The Prime Zone had been the central hub of the multiverse, with every other universe in existence having branched off from it at some point in time. Scourge's world was a mirror of Mobius Prime, but what was it reflecting now? The No Zone couldn't exist without the Prime Zone, and neither could any other Zone. Mobius had been a constant in the multiverse, like the sun to the solar system. It had been there since before anyone could remember, and no one could imagine it suddenly not existing anymore. It was even harder for the two non-Mobians to accept now because Mobius had started to mean something to them. It was a beautiful world, and one that had started to feel like a home. But now it was gone.
"Sonic," Zonic said, breaking the silence. Everyone turned their heads to look at him, except for the older blue hedgehog, who was still lying face-down in the grass. "Both Sonics, and Tailses. I'm… I'm so sorry. This should never have happened."
"Damn right it shouldn't have!" the older Sonic shouted, his voice raw. He pushed himself up to face Zonic, and everyone took a surprised step back. His scar had cut straight through half of his muzzle and his entire left eye. His pupil was gone entirely, and his iris had turned a shimmery lavender. The part of his eye that was normally white had turned completely black. Hot tears were still streaming down his face, and he was shaking. "If you hadn't dragged me out of there, I might have been able to do something! Billions of people were counting on me, and now they're all doomed!" he cried, pushing himself to his feet. The pain shooting through his body was immense, but he ignored it.
"Sonic, if I hadn't dragged you out of there, you'd be… You'd be dead right now!" Zonic yelled back. "You collapsed, you couldn't move! What could you have done?!"
"SHUT UP!" In flash, Zonic was on the ground, and Sonic was standing over him with a fist raised. The Zone Cop's lip was bleeding, but he was more concerned with the fact that Sonic Prime had just punched him in the mouth. Sonic's eyes went wide, realizing what he just did. Everyone was silent.
"… Holy shit," Scourge breathed. The scene quickly erupted into pandemonium. The youngest hedgehog and the older Tails had pushed Sonic back down to the ground and were shouting, demanding answers from him while Lil' T helped Zonic sit up.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" the younger Sonic yelled, his voice still wet from crying. "Who are you, Knuckles?! You don't just punch people for saving your life!"
Sonic trembled, looking absolutely broken. "I… I'm sorry, I don't know what… Something just came over me all of a sudden, and I… I didn't mean it!" he gasped, looking up at his past-self and Tails. He turned his head to face Zonic. "Z, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"I know you didn't," the Zone Cop said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. HIs lip was still bleeding heavily; it was lucky that he wasn't hurt more, considering the incredible speed of the punch. He didn't think he'd seen Sonic move that fast since before his injury.
"He didn't mean to?" Scourge asked, hands on his hips and his foot tapping furiously. "What, was it an accident that he ran up and socked Chrome Dome in the face?"
"We're all a little… stressed out right now, is all," Zonic said calmly. "I'm not mad." He accepted the hand that Lil' T offered him and got to his feet.
"Are you okay?" the older Tails asked, taking a step towards him and eyeing his bleeding lip with concern.
"Yeah, I'll live. I've taken harder hits to the face before," Zonic shrugged. He spit some of the blood out of his mouth, and the conversation fell into a lull. The group was extremely tense, just struggling to process the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog had attacked one of his friends.
'What is wrong with me?' Sonic thought, staring at the hand that had contacted Zonic's face. There was a small spatter of blood on one of his knuckles, which he quickly wiped off. 'Just because Mobius is… you know… doesn't mean I have to excuse to hit anyone…! Zonic just saved my life, why did I…?' He held his head in his hands as he wracked his brain for answers. He didn't even know what he was doing until Zonic was on the ground. How could he justify actions he didn't even think about taking?
"So…" the younger Tails said, breaking the quiet. "Where are we?" Emerging from the portal, they had landed in the middle of a large field. There was a small river close by, and a bustling, smoggy city in the far distance. The wind was nothing more than a gentle breeze, and the only clouds in the sky were heavy looking storm clouds that wouldn't reach them for quite some time. They looked around, realizing that they had no idea where they had been brought.
"This is Moebius, Scourge's world," Zonic said with a huff. "It was the first place I thought of that wasn't sideways. We should be safe from the Time Eater here."
"Moebius? Huh. Cleaner than I remember," Scourge raised an eyeridge, looking out towards the faraway city. "That's… Mobotropolis over there, I bet," he said, mostly to himself. He looked around to the others, and saw that they were all looking at him. 'Are they… expecting me to do something?' He supposed he was the leading expert on Moebius, and they didn't really have a plan anymore. Two thirds of the group were now homeless. No one knew what to do. They all needed time to think and recuperate. Scourge exhaled through pursed lips and scratched the back of his head. "We need to rest. C'mon," he said simply, slowly leading the others out of the field and to someplace where they would hopefully be safe.
Notes: Well shit. That was certainly one hell of a ride. Bet you guys weren't expecting this much destruction and angst. Sorry if anyone seemed OOC here! Given the situation, I think everyone's relatively in character, but that's me. We're now a solid 2/3 of the way through this story! Whoooo! *confetti falls from the ceiling* I'm really excited for everything that happens next, and I hope you are too! Stay tuned! ;)
Oh, and thank everyone for all the reviews, follows, and favorites while I was away! I really appreciate all of them, and a lot of the reviews got me inspired to continue working on this story again. so if you want me to write faster leave a review haha, or just leave one because you like the story and it makes me happy C: