Recursion Error
Episode 88- The finish line was somehow reached
Sorun didn't really know why that portal spit them out here of all places.
By all accounts the place was completely and utterly unrecognizable to him. A shingle beach on the edge of a freshwater lake so large and vast that from just standing there he wouldn't be able to differentiate it from an ocean if it weren't for the different smell. Thing was there were precious few lakes in the world on this sort of scale. So he hadn't had to think too hard on what this place was within a second of seeing it. And there was no shaking off that sense of familiarity he felt just seeing it. The lake.
The lake...
"Well... there it is," Sorun said, mostly to himself, Silver standing behind him and silently watching. He bent down and picked up one of the numerous rocks composing the beach they were standing on. "The last piece of evidence that even some alternate version of my home ever existed. Gone."
He threw the stone. It'd gone further than he would have thought it'd gone, given the amount of strength he put in it. He watched with a lost expression as it hit the surface of the lake and sunk into the water.
It wasn't much of a surprise. He knew from reading a map, way back when Sally showed him one of the world. He'd always known it was gone here on Mobius, but it was another thing seeing it in person. Having visual evidence drive home the fact that Sorun was the last living testament that his people and culture ever existed, that, even if it would have been different in some sense, this world's version of his home hadn't even survived in a physical capacity.
Because this world's Detroit was gone. Obliterated. Annihilated. At least his was still out there. Dead and hollow, but there were still things there, things he wanted, pieces of culture that solely belonged to him now as the last living human of that zone, and now that he knew the key components to traveling between zones with Yamato he'd been silently debating grabbing the numbers to his home from Tails or Nicole and going back there. One day. Maybe. If he ever worked up the nerve.
But this Detroit, or lack thereof, was here. Or more accurately the evidence that it no longer existed was here. And all it served was a reminder to Sorun for how alone he really was.
"I don't get it," came Silver's voice, who stepped besides Sorun. He was giving the lake a confused look. "It's just a bunch of water."
"Before aliens came into the picture and the humans of this world thought it'd be the greatest idea ever to dissect their ambassador this lake used to be split up in five parts," Sorun explained as he reached for another stone. "It was a part of a country called America. Two peninsulas called Michigan that broke the lake into the five Great Lakes. They were the biggest freshwater lakes in the whole world." He threw the second stone. "My home was there. Detroit. It was the biggest city in Michigan.
"Of course then the aliens bombed the whole world with gene bombs. And either those gene bombs completely destroyed Michigan or thousands of years of continental drift and shifting tectonic plates just caused it to sink into the lakes. Or maybe some combination both, I don't know." Sorun bent down for a third rock while Silver silently listened to him, shifting his attention from the water to Sorun. "Either way it's gone, and now the five Great Lakes are this... Super Lake, I guess, that feeds into the river cutting the American landmass completely in half. Or what used to be America, at least," he mumbled, rolling the rock around in his hand.
"That's... huh," Silver said, watching as Sorun threw the rock. He turned back to Sorun and tried to give him a helpful smile. "I, er, bet it was pretty neat living next to a lake this big, huh?"
His efforts didn't bear any fruit, but Sorun breathed heavily out of his nose for the effort Silver put in anyway. Even if it didn't wipe the frown off his face. "Well, that's the thing, Silver. In all that time I never actually looked at the lake. Like really looked at it. Few passing glances, maybe, but that was it. Seeing it now, I dunno. Just feels final."
"Final?"
"I just thought... there was maybe something here, you know, something I'd recognize, the tiniest shred of something that connected me to the life I used to have before coming here." Sorun gestured out to the lake. "But there's nothing. Just a bunch of water. It's all gone."
Silver winced, and then made a sad frown as he stared out into the water. "Well, uh... maybe there's still something there?"
"Hm?" Sorun bent down to pick up another rock.
"You know, under the water!" Silver replied. He tried to sound helpful, but the forced smile he held was wavering. "You don't think we could just go down there? Maybe look for something you recognize? Hey, maybe you had a Sorun Prime that lived here and some of his stuff might be there!"
"Who cares about that guy?" Sorun asked. When he turned to glance at Silver he saw him surprised and a bit stunned, forced smile frozen on his face with wide eyes. "In all honesty I doubt there ever was a Sorun Prime. My zone was pretty unique, wasn't even connecting to the Cosmic Interstate. Don't even know if that place could be considered part of the multiverse. The Eggman from that last zone said the laws of physics are slightly different in every zone, but mine must have been really out there with no Chaos energy. Then again there is a Statue of Liberty here..."
"Eh, maybe you're right," Silver said. "We saw a bunch of different versions of Sonic and other people in those zones, but we didn't see any other Soruns."
"Mm." Sorun ran his thumb over the latest stone he'd picked up. It was flatter and more smooth than any of the other ones he'd thrown so far. "Well, in any case, even if the city did just sink into the lake it's been thousands of years. Doubt there'd be anything substantial left at this point. Worst part is Michigan didn't even get the worst of it. A bunch of island nations like the Philippines and New Zealand are straight-up gone. The only islands on that side of the world that still exist is Australia and Japan, and that last one got turned into a giant geode inhabited by rock-eating birds. I still don't know how that last one happened."
He threw the stone at the water, and in the same motion turned to Silver. Due to how quickly he'd turned Sorun wasn't able to note how the stone he'd thrown had skipped across the water's surface fifty times before sinking in.
"Anyways! I gotta announce my return. And that's... yeah, that's gonna go great," Sorun mumbled out, shoulders falling at the realization. It was only now that he was about to actually do it that he realized how nervous he was over the whole thing. What people's reactions would be, what he was even supposed to do or say, how to act. He felt anxious just trying to keep track of it all. Almost sick at the thought.
"So do you have any idea what you're going to say to them?" Silver questioned.
Shrugging, Sorun wondered, "Maybe I can go in and just act like nothing happened? 'Ah, hey guys, how's it going? Huh? Enerjak? Yeah I dunno. Why? What's new with you?'"
Silver struggled to maintain his helpful grin. "I, um... don't, really think that'll work, Sorun. And they'll ask about me."
"Ah, yeah, you and the whole future thing." Sorun rubbed his chin in thought. "Speaking of which, should we actually tell them about the whole 'we need to prevent the apocalypse' thing?"
"Why-why wouldn't we?"
"I mean if we bring awareness of the problem to everyone won't it make it harder to predict- eh, on second thought we're already butterfly-effecting everything just by hanging around, no getting around that, I guess," Sorun reasoned with himself. He put five seconds of thought into the matter and then pointed out, "I don't really want to panic them. Plus they got their hands full with the Eggman thing-"
"So you want to lie to them?"
"Nnnno," Sorun answered with a heavy amount of hesitation. "If they ask tell them, I just don't want-"
"Well they're gonna ask where I'm from and why I'm here, Sorun, there's not really any getting around that."
"Okay, alright, we'll play it by ear." In hindsight they had a week of preparation. They probably should have used it to actually prepare for this thing, and now Sorun was finding that he felt like kicking himself for never doing so. But planning was never his strong suit anyways. "Just maybe, eh, maybe keep the traitor thing quiet? It'll do nothing but cause problems and I'm still not convinced that's actually real."
Silver made a small nod. "Okay. So where to first?"
"Where, indeed?" He gripped Yamato's sheath with both hands and stared down at it in thought. There was one place that immediately stood out to mind. "Their war with Eggman's still going on. Gotta be at least one person at the old HQ."
"Sure, but wouldn't it be easier if we just went back to the city you live in?"
Nope. Couldn't do that. Nicole lived in that place. "U-uh, well, you know, there's a lotta people there and I kinda wanna ease into this, so I say we go to the HQ first."
"Oh, okay." To Sorun's relief, Silver made a shrug of acceptance. "So we're going right now?"
Sorun's hands tightened around the sword's sheath. He looked behind him, at the lake and the horizon filled with nothing but water. The sun had just now set completely on them, and his nerves were making him on edge for this. Nevertheless, he still pulled the sword out. "Yeah," he said, his voice nearly a croak. "Sure, let's go."
"Alright. Hey, one more thing?"
Sorun looked up. "Hm?"
"I, um... so I left our backpacks back in that last zone by accident, so could we-?"
"Nope. Can't. Need the numbers and it's too far to walk."
Silver deflated at the news, but gave an accepting nod anyways. Sorun hadn't noticed, too focused on the current task at hand. It was taking him longer than usual to cut a cross into the air so it would fold into a portal. His hands shaking so hard from fear was making it more difficult than normal.
Sorun didn't have fond memories of the Freedom HQ. Fond memories of the people, maybe, but that was it. He just didn't like being there.
It was the place that he first arrived into this world from, after he'd been dragged against his will. It was the place he had to resign himself into being a Freedom Fighter in, back when he was one and hated every second of it. Just being near it was a reminder of those times, and he tried to think as little about the place as possible.
So naturally he'd do everything in his power to avoid ever going there again. But the alternative was going back to New Mobotropolis and seeing Nicole, so it was off to the HQ they went.
He didn't have a plan for what he was gonna say. Zip. Zero. Zilch. And for how nervous he was over this whole thing, when he stepped out of that portal and in that first millisecond caught a glimpse of the old HQ and was reminded how much he hated it, he realized he was about as tired as he was nervous. Maybe even more tired than nervous. Because quite frankly he was just done at this point.
With all those emotions causing a turmoil in Sorun, he hadn't stepped through the portal normally. Not with confidence, not with nervousness, eyes darting around fearfully, not even in anger at having to step foot back in this place. No, when Sorun walked through that portal his entire form was hunched forwards, sword and scabbard held so loosely they were scraping against the ground, with a facial expression that read "I don't fucking care about anything right now".
Oh, but Sonic was there, so that was good. Sitting on the couch. Holding the most comical expression of shock on his face when Sorun walked through that portal, eyes practically fixing to pop out of his head. A face that at any other time he would have laughed at, but right now Sorun just couldn't bother. So he'd only regarded the wide-eyed, frozen hedgehog sitting on the couch in front of him for a second before lazily swinging his sword behind him after Silver walked through behind him to close the portal.
"Hey, I'm back." That's all the energy Sorun could spare to say before stepping over and collapsing into a sitting position on the couch next to Sonic. He dropped the implements in his hands on the ground, causing them to flash and converge into the Emerald, and then slumped forwards on the couch while staring at the ground and hoping, praying, Sonic would just roll with it and treat his sudden resurrection like normal.
The stuttering from the other teen sitting next to him was telling him it just wasn't so.
"Uh- wha- you- Sorun, you- y-you're- holy- WHAT!?" That final exclamation from Sonic didn't make Sorun so much as flinch. He did, however, heave out a heavy sigh while Sonic continued to yammer on. "S-Sorun, you're here! You're okay!"
"Evidently." Sorun glanced to the side, half-expecting to see Sonic attempt at poking him to make sure he wasn't a ghost. He wasn't, thankfully, but he sure was looking at Sorun like he was one. "What's with the look? I just got stuck in a giant crystal. Not even the first time that happened to someone."
"No, Sorun, you... what are you talking about, you disappeared when we stuck you in that thing!"
"Ah, really? Alright."
Sonic nodded so quickly it hurt to see. "Yeah, after Knuckles and his dad magicked you in that thing there was this big flash of light, and poof! You were gone!" he quickly exclaimed. "We- we all thought you died, Sorun! We tried everything but nobody could find you! We couldn't even figure out what actually happened! Where'd you go?"
Sorun responded by clapping his hands together, fingers pointed forwards. "Time travel, Sonic. It's... complicated." That last word was hissed out venomously. He should have figured something wacky would happen to him with all the time shenanigans he'd been pulling, but at least it meant Silver was at least somewhat accurate in getting them into the right point in time. To some point after he got sealed in the Master Emerald. He didn't want to imagine what things would be like if Silver messed up and sent them to before that, if he'd have to deal with some time clone or something. He had enough problems.
The answer Sonic received caused him to recoil back, and his face twisted in confusion and surprise. "Time travel?" he repeated. "What?"
"Yeah, I don't really wanna talk about it," Sorun said. Frankly speaking he wanted to recount that specific tale as little as possible. And things like all the robbery and murder would have to be omitted forever. "I, uh, I went here, then there, then I was all over and now I'm back." He bent down and picked up the blue Chaos Emerald. "Was walking all over the mega road- the ultra freeway- whatever that road connecting the multiverse together is called, I was going left and right using Yamato to cut into different worlds trying to find this pla-"
He paused when a sudden thought struck Sorun. One thought specifically aimed at the Chaos Emerald he was holding. His thoughts ran through a couple of loops, and after coming to a final conclusion he made a small hum. "Huh. Guess there's just eight of these things now."
"What?"
"Yeah time travel's nuts like that, don't worry about it," Sorun said, dropping the gem back at his feet. "How long have I been gone, anyways? Few days? A week?"
"Uhh... no." Sonic didn't look at all satisfied by the answer given by Sorun, and looked like he wanted to fire off about a million different questions, but thankfully he managed to restrain himself to answer Sorun's question. And the human teen did not like that awkward look Sonic was wearing. "You, um... that was a few months ago, Sorun." He grimaced a bit, glanced to the side, and then looked back at Sorun. "Like, winter ends in a week."
"... Ah." Yeah, that would make it awkward. Also made the situation with Nicole significantly worse. His heartrate was spiking just thinking about it, and Sorun's face made it look like he wanted to die for real at the moment.
"Yeah..." Sonic exhaled through clenched teeth, rubbing a hand behind his head while making it a point not to look at Sorun's face. "Guess we're, uh, gonna... gonna have to get rid of that grave, huh?"
Sorun shriveled a bit more. "I got a grave?"
"Mhm, we, er, there was a whole funeral and everything." When Sorun didn't respond Sonic tried putting on a forced smile to cheer Sorun up. It didn't. "If it makes you feel any better there were tons of times they had to get rid of statues of me when people thought I died, so I know how you're feeling right now."
Sorun glanced at Sonic. "Did I get a statue?"
The hedgehog flinched. "N... no, it was just a headstone."
He glanced away. "I see how it is." Fucking guy had to one-up him in everything.
"So yeah, that's... yeah..." Sonic finished, voice trailing off.
"Mm," Sorun sounded out.
"..."
"..."
"... Honey didn't hire somebody to replace me, did she? Because I really need that job-"
"Hey, when are you guys planning on restocking the fridge?" came a new voice from off to the side. The owner of the voice stepped within Sorun's peripheral view, causing him to look towards the source of the noise. "I don't want to be that guy but-"
The voice cut himself off the moment he spotted Sorun, and then stopped mid-step. Sorun was equally stunned when he saw Knuckles walk into view for completely different reasons. He'd wager Knuckles was shocked seeing somebody that was supposed to be dead suddenly completely fine and sitting on a couch. There was even the beginnings of a smile growing on his face.
For Sorun it was the complete opposite. He saw Knuckles standing there. He also kept seeing flashes of gold superimpose themselves over his image, saw his growing smile flicker between a kind one and a cruel, manic one. He kept imagining that helmet flickering over Knuckles' head and was even unconsciously reaching towards the blue gem sitting near him. And then Knuckles spoke out, and the illusion shattered. Sorun shook his head and it was just Knuckles standing there. Speaking normally. Not like a maniac.
"Sorun! Buddy! You-you're back!" Knuckles happily exclaimed. He stepped forwards, continuing with, "You have no idea how glad- man, I can't believe-!"
When Knuckles had moved forwards, Sorun had slid further down the couch, away from him while making sure the blue Emerald was still in his vision. Knuckles froze at the movement, and at the wary look Sorun was holding on his face. The smile dropped off his face and he lifted his mitts up in a reassuring manner.
"Um... everything okay, man?" he hesitantly asked Sorun.
"I don't know, Knuckles. Is everything okay?" Sorun asked back. "No deific brain worm parasites here to ruin everyone's day?"
Knuckles winced at that. He felt Sonic shift around uncomfortably at the mention of Enerjak. Silver was mainly just standing off in the corner silently watching the whole exchange, but whereas the other two Mobians were exuding an aura of awkwardness he just seemed mainly curious and seemed satisfied to just observe.
"Umm, Sorun?" Sonic asked from besides Sorun. "You do see it's Knuckles, right? You can relax."
When Sorun answered, he didn't turn his head to Sonic. He kept his eyes trained on Knuckles. "I know for you guys that was months ago, but for me that was literally last week. The experience is still a bit raw."
Knuckles recoiled at that, going as far as to take a step back. He didn't seem overly hurt by the statement, but his expression visibly fell all the same. It did nothing to change Sorun's attitude or mood, who only kept glaring at him.
He nearly lashed out when Sonic touched his shoulder, though he did draw his hand back when Sorun flinched at the gesture. "Okay, Sorun, I get it, but Enerjak really is gone-"
"I know it's gone, Sonic, I killed it myself."
For some reason Knuckles looked off-put by that statement, and it was reflected in the expression he made. Sorun grew confused at that expression, and when he turned back back to Sonic he was even more surprised to see Sonic was holding the same expression.
"What's with those looks?" Sorun looked back and forth between the two, and then focused on Sonic. "Did you... what, did you not see me cut the thing in half?"
"No, we did," Sonic assured him, glancing at Knuckles and then back at him, "we just, you know... we just didn't expect it is all."
"You didn't expect it?"
"Well he was-"
"It, Sonic, it was an it, it barely even had an identity of its own," Sorun snapped.
Rolling his eyes, Sonic amended, "Fine, it, we just assumed you would use your sword to separate it from Knuckles like you did the first time. You know, just send it back to where it lived."
Sorun was more surprised that that was the conclusion everyone came to out of any other. "... No, dude, it's dead. The forever kind," he said. "I mean the original idea was I was gonna separate out Enerjak's Chaos Force link with Yamato, but when I tried it didn't work. It can't cut those links that give powers. And I could separate them, yeah, but there wasn't much stopping it form re-possessing Knuckles and I didn't have any other way to deal with it."
He would have thought that explanation would be satisfactory. There weren't any other options and it was an insane god parasite that wanted to ruin the whole world. What other choice did he have at the time? He would have assumed it'd be enough of an explanation, but when he looked at Sonic's face Sorun just saw a pensive, unsure expression on him. Like he didn't fully agree with Sorun's reasoning.
"It's just..." Sonic began, a bit quiet, "did... did you really had to go that far with Enerjak?"
It took a few moments for Sorun to even comprehend what Sonic was asking. "It... It soul-snatched the whole world, why is this even a question?"
"I get it, but-"
"No, Sonic, you don't. You keep saying that but you don't," Sorun interrupted. The feeling from being shaken at Knuckles' mere sight wore off in an instant as anger began to worm into Sorun's tone. "I was alone during that whole fight, do you even get that? You know what was going through my head the whole time, hearing the things it was saying, that I was fighting a god knowing no matter what I was gonna die in the next five minutes with all your bodies strung up on the wall behind it-!?"
He would have went even further than that if Sorun hadn't become aware of how loud his voice had grown. Or grown aware of how concerned Sonic's face had grown, which only served to irritate Sorun even further. It was more difficult than he would have liked, but he managed to calm himself down with a deep breath.
"... I did the best I could with what I had, alright?" Sorun finally muttered, leaning forwards on the couch while looking down. "I thought it was the only way to free you all. For all I know it was. So yeah. When I couldn't cut its link, I just cut it. None of you were there. What was I supposed to do?"
Because he really wanted to know if there was some magical solution the whole time he could have used to solve that problem without nearly killing himself. Was waiting for Sonic to give him some kind of grandstanding speech and to be lectured why he shouldn't have ended the existence of what basically amounted to a parasite. But when he glanced up at Sonic all he saw was that conflicted, sympathetic look he was giving in lieu of the previous look. Less apprehension and more understanding.
Somehow that was even worse, and Sorun didn't know why. Like arguing the point with Sonic would have actually made him feel better.
"No, Sorun, I didn't mean... everyone's grateful for what you did," he said. "I... yeah. I know you tried, Sorun. And I get you wanted to be done with the whole fighting thing and that whole experience must have been terrifying for you, so... just, thanks. For saving us."
It'd been more than he was expecting, and he sounded genuine. Which wasn't all that surprising to Sorun. In the whole time he knew Sonic he only knew him to be genuine, teasing, or sarcastic. Rarely ever actually upset. But he'd take the thanks if it meant an end to any and all topics surrounding Enerjak. He'd leave that topic alone in the past forever if he could.
But he probably couldn't. Not when Sorun lifted his head up and saw Knuckles, and wondered if he'd be reminded of that thing every time he saw him or heard his voice. Not when he was wondering if there would ever be a time he wouldn't have to pause to remind himself it was just Knuckles and he didn't need to attack him.
Probably never, really. But it would be fine as long as he just maintained the outward appearance that everything was fine. No problems that way.
"It's fine, whatever, don't worry about it," Sorun assured them. He leaned back into the couch and stretched his legs out, doing his best to appear as casual as possible. He asked another question that'd been bugging him. "Speaking of which, everybody's okay, right? There wasn't anyone left out or anything? All the souls got returned back to their bodies?"
"Yeah, all of them," Sonic confirmed. The answer and change in topic made some of the tension leave his body and he slacked further into the couch. "No husked-out bodies with unaccounted souls, nobody getting body-swapped, none of that. Whatever you did really did fix everything."
Sorun made a small nod. "Alright. Alright, yeah. Yeah, that's good. That's good to hear." Of all his screwups in life at least that was one thing he could put on the list of "things I haven't screwed up". That one could probably go on the top of what was admittedly a depressingly short list, even. And relieved him a bit in that, whatever fallout he was going to have to endure as a result of all this, at least it'd been worth it. He wasn't so sure how long he'd be able to hold that sentiment.
"Guys, did you already clear out the fridge? We just stocked-"
The new person that just walked into the room cut themselves off when, Sorun presumed, she saw him sitting on the couch. He already knew it was Sally from how the voice sounded, and based on Knuckles' reaction earlier he had a pretty good idea of what her face would like like when he glanced over at her.
Yeah, it was about what he expected. Stunned silence and an admittedly more subdued look of surprise than what Knuckles and Sonic had worn. Her expression still made it seem like she was looking at a ghost, which, to be fair, wasn't completely out of the ballpark. She opened her mouth to try and speak, but at first only a stuttering sound came out. Then she shook her head, blinked a few times, and tried again.
"Sorun. You're... you're alive."
"Despite the world's best efforts it seems," Sorun replied. "And believe me, it tried really hard."
"I... will take your word for that." Her eyes shifted upwards towards the shy-looking white-furred hedgehog standing near the back of the living room. "Who's he?"
"Oh, that's Silver. He's, like, from the future or something, it's not really all that important."
Almost robotically, Sally turned back towards Sorun. The surprise had already worn off, and she seemed shockingly calm at the moment. "The future," she dully repeated.
"Mhm, yeah."
"..." She sighed out and reached up to pinch the point between her eyes. She held the position for a few moments and closed her eyes, seemingly thinking about something, and then lowered her hand while asking, "Right, Sorun, could you and I talk in private for a moment?"
That hadn't been a request Sorun was expecting to hear. Granted he hadn't been expecting anything, and yet still he was taken back a bit from the request. Sonic and Knuckles looked equally off-put, though Silver just seemed nervous and was making it a point to shy away from people's looks.
"Okay?" He didn't really know why that was the first thing she was asking, but Sorun didn't really see a reason to refuse. "Silver, I... I'll be back, I guess?" he said, giving a shrug to the hedgehog who only sent a confused glance back his way. Sorun didn't know how to respond to that so he just turned to Sally. "So, like... off to the side private-private, or-?"
She'd turned around before he even finished. "Just follow me," she said. She walked off in what Sorun vaguely remembered was the direction to the lab in this place. All he could think to do was follow her as he tried to figure out what was going on.
It was, indeed, the lab Sally took him to. Was about the same as he remembered: a well-lit, metal-lined room full of computers and machines that looked out of place in an underground bunker with dirt walls. He didn't know what needed to be discussed that they needed a whole room in private. So private she made it a point to close the door behind them so they were sealed in the room. Really, he couldn't imagine what she could possibly have to say to somebody she thought dead five minutes prior.
Even stranger was that, after she'd closed the door and walked back in front of Sorun, who was so bewildered he could do nothing but just stand there, she just... stared at him. No blankly - her face was continually shifting through a myriad of emotions the longer she examined him, but for the life of him Sorun couldn't figure out what they were, or what was even going on in her mind that this was how Sally was reacting to his sudden resurrection.
Really, it was so strange that he couldn't help but comment on it.
"So, uh... you didn't pull me to the lab just to make sure I'm not some kind of robot doppelganger Eggman made or something, did you?" Sorun awkwardly asked. She didn't respond at all. She just kept staring at him, expression locked in... concentration? Confusion? Utter loss at what to say? "'Cause I'll freely admit that sounds like something he'd do, so I'll do an x-ray test or whatever, but-"
"No, Sorun," she interrupted, voice completely calm, "I believe it's you. You're the only person I know that'd be so flippant after coming back from the dead."
"... I mean I didn't technically die, but thanks, I gue-"
"It wasn't a compliment."
Sorun's mouth clamped shut, and then his lips thinned as he thought over Sally's words. He wasn't able to come to a conclusion and only became more confused. "Uh... so what-"
Slap!
The weirdest thing was he'd seen the hit coming. He didn't know if that meant Sally'd been holding back or something else was going on, but he'd been able to perceive her flattened hand racing towards his face. Sorun still hadn't been able to dodge despite that, though, because he'd been so astounded by what she was doing that he literally didn't know how to react. He'd registered the slap coming. Was even able to identify that the slap was indeed a slap and that he should move. But the idea that Sally, who treated him more nicely than most others, was doing this after learning not even minutes ago that he wasn't dead after months seemed so wrong, so alien and backwards, that Sorun just didn't know how to react.
As a result he'd eaten the hit. Felt her hand smack him right across his face with enough force to whip his head to the side. He could tell just from the burning sting in conjunction with the dull throb there was probably a large, angry red handprint on his face. But the pain just barely registered above Sorun processing that Sally just slapped him, and it took a few seconds for the message to actually get through.
It did get through, though, and he didn't know whether to feel angry over the fact she just slapped him or completely lost over the fact why he just got slapped. He'd inhaled deeply and looked back at her, and he legitimately couldn't believe she had the audacity to look upset at him.
"Why... do you keep hitting people, Sally?" Sorun asked, doing a remarkable job of keeping his voice level and calm.
"Do you have any idea what you did?" she asked him, voice low and angered. "Any at all, Sorun?"
He threw his hands up. "No, none," Sorun replied, voice becoming bitter as some of his growing anger leaked through. "Enlighten me. Enlighten the guy who just finished the worst road trip in his life what he did, Sally, do it, enlighten me."
"Nicole! The kiss!"
"Oh, that." Yeah, now he understood why she was so mad. And now suddenly all the anger and bitterness was washing out of him and the burning sensation on his cheek was all but forgotten when he was reminded of that particular event. Where he was once upset at her now he just felt slightly fearful, and was suddenly finding it extraordinarily difficult to hold eye contact with her. In fact he failed and found his eyes drifting down towards the floor. "She... told you about that, huh...?"
"No, don't do that, look up. Look at me," Sally snapped. Sorun did so, albeit with great difficulty, and he visibly flinched back at the angered glare she was giving him. "Do you have a single notion of how much grief you put Nicole through with that stunt you pulled?"
He didn't really want to answer that question. More because of the intense guilt he was suddenly feeling more than anything else. And that he couldn't even think up of a good excuse for why he'd done it other than "I needed a pep boost", because he sincerely doubted Sally would take that as an excuse. Hell, he wouldn't even take it.
"Well!?"
Sorun shuddered at Sally's raised voice before asking in a quiet voice, "What do you even want me to say? I thought I was gonna die again, there was nobody else-"
"I do not believe for a single second that you decided to kiss her because she was the last available option on the planet, Sorun, so don't you even-"
"It wasn't even a mouth kiss, why are you getting on my case with this!?"
"Because I have never so much as seen you hug someone, Sorun," Sally ground out, causing Sorun's voice to go silent. "You're just... not physically affectionate. At all. So you can imagine how even that kind of kiss looks for you."
He couldn't even deny it. It showed as much when he turned his head away from Sally's glare. "What would you even know about how I feel?" he asked.
She made a short sigh. "You're really gonna make me do this?" she asked. When Sorun didn't respond, she made another short sigh. "Alright, fine. I know about that letter you wrote to the newspaper."
The last time Sorun felt such blind panic it was when, for a split second, he thought he'd died when King Shadow cut his head off. He snapped his gaze back to Sally, eyes as wide as they could go and face pale, and his panic only increased when he saw the completely serious look on her face. She'd only make that accusation that was completely correct if she knew it was correct. And that damn confidence she was exuding spelled out that she knew she was right. Which she was. Which terrified Sorun, because that letter was supposed to be a secret nobody but he knew about because he wrote it and Honey because his boss was nosey.
"How?" he asked. More demanded, with the frantic tone Sorun had taken. "H-how could you possibly know that?"
The angered look on Sally's face was transitioning into frustration. "Do you think, and I want you to think real hard on this one, Sorun, that it's a very strange coincidence that Aly's name and my name sound suspiciously similar to each other?"
"Wait, hold on, give me a minute." He actually looked down at his hands, like he was counting off fingers, and for a moment Sally's expression was replaced by one of complete disbelief as Sorun began sounding it out to himself. "Sally... Aly... both have an A in them, I guess, L and a Y, too... kind of in the same position but it's missing another L... Sally, Sally, SSSS... aly? Saly!"
His head snapped up, and a loud, audible gasp left Sorun when he finally figured it out. He didn't want it to be true, but the logic was sound. And it was the only explanation for how she could possibly know he wrote that letter when he'd used such a clever pseudonym. But unfortunately, when this revelation came to mind only one single response managed to rise in Sorun's mind.
"Oh my god, Sally, your romance advice sucks!"
The remark was apparently so unexpected that she became flustered upon hearing it. "W-what!?" And now she looked insulted. "What is that supposed to mean!?"
"Man, I read your response to my letter! 'You might be looking at a game over otherwise if you do nothing,' what was- what even was that, huh!?"
"I was trying to be relatable to you by using a bunch of game terms! I was trying to help you!"
"By using a bunch of cringey wording I had to fight to read through!?"
"Do you want another slap!?"
Sorun shut his mouth at that. Sally crossed her arms in response, giving him a pointed look while saying, "And I'll have you know many people find my column and advice laudable. It's not my fault you chose quite literally the worst time to enact on it in what was equally the worst way possible, Sorun."
Shoulders slumping downwards, Sorun asked in a defeated tone, "But how did you even know that letter was mine? I used a really clever pseudonym and everything."
He didn't know what to feel when she gave him an almost pitying look. "Sorun, I... I just read it. I figured it out."
"No. That's impossible." He shook his head, refusing to believe it was something as simple as 'she just figured it out by looking at it'. Not after all the work he put into crafting it. "Nobody could have possibly cracked that code, Sally, there's just no way."
"A four-year-old could have cracked it, Sorun, it wasn't that hard!"
Sorun made another loud gasp at hearing that, and then wilted when he realized, yeah, she was definitely smart enough to piece it together on her own. Hell, if he'd known it was Sally behind that whole column he would have never made that letter to begin with for fear she'd figure him out. How was he supposed to know?
"... You still don't know for sure who I was talking about in that letter-"
"Sorun."
"Fine, Sally, evidently you have the entire narrative already, so what do you want out of me?" he asked her. "I-I-I like her, there, I admit it, you Columbo'd your way through the whole mystery."
She gave him a glare through narrowed eyes. "And you really thought the best way to display those feelings was to-"
"I made. An irrational. Decision," Sorun bit out through grit teeth. "I make a lot of those. It's not like I'm trying to be a screwup here, Sally, these things just happen."
"Sorun-"
"And-and you know what, you weren't there! Alright? Lit-literally the whole world's population got their souls sucked out by that thing, I had to be the guy to do something about it because Nicole couldn't and the other guy wasn't up to it, I wasn't thinking, okay, I was freaking out and it was a gut reaction I don't know okay I don't know why I went and did that I just did-"
"Sorun!" The yell caused Sorun to stop mid-rant, startled from the way Sally had suddenly raised her voice. She'd also clamped her hands over his shoulders to hold him in place. He hadn't realized how hard he'd been shaking until she'd physically forced him to become still. And now he saw a majority of the anger that she had held was being replaced with concern.
"Look, Sally, just- listen, look, I, look, listen it's, look, I, I... there was, there was nobody else. You were all supposed to be there to fix everything like you usually do but you weren't there so I had to do it and-and I can't do it like you guys can." His hands were still shaking despite Sally holding him in place. He wished they weren't. "And she was the only bright part in all that, you know? And then I got thrown into a giant crystal while crumbling into dust and got spat out in some messed up alternate future, and you guys still weren't there so I had to fix everything again and I did so all that stuff never happened but I..."
He turned his head away. He didn't want to get into all that. Ever. If he had it his way that whole event would be buried forever for how much he detested his time in that alternate future.
"I'm... but I found Silver, and that was all a week ago, so... yeah I'm, he's, he's a great guy, you know, you should really introduce yourself to him sometime," Sorun said. "I'm over all that, everything is fine, I'm just, I'm, I'm attempting- this is my attempt- what I'm trying to say is, back then, the kiss with Nicole, I, um, I wasn't really in a good headspace. At the time. 'Cause things were bad. But it's fine because we're all here now and all the problems are gone forever. I made them gone forever."
Sally didn't look like she believed him so much. Concern had bloomed into worry, and while she'd let him go, she was making it a point to continue to stand close to him. The next words she spoke were made and spoken in extreme care.
"Sorun, are you sure you're doing okay?"
He probably would have laughed if he was in the mood. But he wasn't, because the current mood he felt didn't allow it. He didn't even know what the mood was, what he was feeling. This nervousness eating away at him, and at this point he wasn't even sure what he was nervous over, just that he was, and somehow that was more maddening than the nervousness itself. "When even was the last time I was okay?" he asked her back. The response hadn't made any of her worry fade. "I'll be fine, I just... you know, barely managed to get past the whole Earth thing, then this all happened and I... would, just like some time. To come down from all that."
Because really that just what he wanted most. He just wanted to go back home and go back into the routine he had before the Enerjak incident. He wanted his steady days and casual postal job back. Just to hang around town and with friends without having to worry about anything. He'd gotten there, just for the briefest time. Gotten to a point where everything was fine, like back on home, and he just wanted to go back to that and stop thinking about all the things that happened back then.
"How is Nicole, by the way?" he asked her. Because as much as he just wanted to forget all that and move on there was that one, single mistake following him and he needed to address it.
Sally glanced to the side and grabbed at one of her shoulders. Not an encouraging reaction. "Well, you saw what happened the first time."
He internally winced, but on the outside Sorun just looked sadder. "So that bad?"
"Not... as bad as then," she hesitantly added, though the pensive look Sally had on her face told a different story. "She's just been really withdrawn. Runs the city and doesn't do much else. I stop by her servers to keep her company sometimes."
"Oh. Um. Thanks for that."
Her blue eyes shifted back to Sorun, and now he couldn't read her expression at all. "I'm her oldest friend, Sorun. Of course I wasn't going to leave her alone with sometime like this." When Sorun didn't respond Sally's features furrowed and she spoke again. "It's part of why I'm upset at you. I get it, before you start I get it," she said when he opened his mouth to speak. He paused, and then closed his mouth to allow her to continue. "I know the whole fighting and saving the world thing just isn't for you, Sorun, and I know you've been struggling with a ton of things ever since coming here and your original home and everything. I understand the situation with Enerjak must have been extremely stressful on you, and I get with all that and you thinking you were going to die again you were prone to do something rash. I can't even be that mad at you since your actions lead to everyone being saved, so thank you, Sorun. Sincerely, thank you.
"But you need to understand that what you did to Nicole? Sonic did the exact same thing to me before getting stranded in space, so more than anybody I sympathize with what she's going through. And no matter the reason I can't say I appreciate what you did, Sorun."
He probably deserved feeling like somebody just punched him in the chest. It never even dawned on him that she went through the same thing. For a moment Sorun was even furious he did something as egregious as make the same mistake Sonic made once. But it was all lost in all the mixed emotions Sally was sending him. Thankfulness, sadness, bit of anger. All justified and warranted, he would admit.
"I just want to fix it, Sally." It was the honest truth. As honest as Sorun could get, at least.
"Then go fix it," she said. "To tell you the truth I always just thought it was Sonic but now that you did it, too, I can't help but wonder if every guy is just as hopeless when it comes to these things. Honestly, do you all think we like getting our hearts broken? Seeing people profess their feelings for us before going off to die?"
This time Sorun did manage crack a wry smile. It was so small it was nearly imperceptible, but it was there. "Well. A man oughta be a little stupid once in a while."
"Clearly." Sally palmed her own face and shook her head. More in bemusement now. "Just go. You're competent when you try to be so I'm trusting you can't possibly make this any worse, Sorun. Just go home and talk to her."
"Yeah, I'll... I'll go ahead and go do that." He gave a stiff nod. Part of him wanted to comment further on the slap, but he decided against it after figuring he probably deserved it. "I'm off, then. So... be seeing you, I guess?"
"We still live in the same town, so yeah, I'd imagine."
He turned to leave at that. Out of a desire to go back home and a desire to go see Nicole and fix what he did. Or even just to see her again. He didn't know which desire won out over the others, just that he needed to go back to New Mobotropolis.
"And Sorun?"
He was halfway to opening the lab's door when he heard Sally call his name out. When he looked back she was wearing the first smile he'd seen since coming back.
"I really am glad you're back," she said. "And I meant it when I said thanks. Just go home and stop worrying about saving the world, okay? We'll take care of it."
He mirrored her smile. "Yeah. I'll do that."
When he exited the lab and made it back to the HQ's living room he was met with the sight of Sonic standing in front of Silver. The former had crossed his arms but was otherwise standing casually while looking at the other Mobian with a relaxed, if attentive, look. The latter seemed to have lost a majority of his shyness from earlier but still looked a bit nervous standing in front of Sonic.
"So... the future," Sonic said.
"Mhm, yeah," Silver confirmed.
"Huh." Sonic tapped his foot a few times. "So how's it look over there?"
"Oh, um, well... not, uh, not good." Silver's eyes shied away from Sonic's. "Pretty bad, actually."
"Aaand you're here to fix that?"
"Yep! Yeah, I'll, I'm gonna make sure none of that happens, so please don't worry."
"I wasn't?" Sonic saw Sorun enter and shifted his attention to him. And then he made a heavy wince when he saw the slowly fading red mark on Sorun's face. "Eesh. I know that handprint anywhere."
"Hardy har, shut up." Sorun bent down to pick up the blue Emerald. It shifted into Yamato upon contact, after which Sorun stood up. "You know, I got my sword back. I can still turn you monochrome until a new set of blue fur grows back in."
"You can only make that threat once before you sound like a jerk saying it, Sorun."
"What does that tell you about me?" Sorun pulled the sword out and cut a cross through the air. "Silver, come on," he said as the cross folded into a portal. "We're going home."
"Okay!" Silver nodded at Sorun, taking a double-take at the half-faded mark on his face but seemingly shrugging it off, and then turned back to Sonic. "Hey, it was really nice meeting you!"
After giving Sonic a parting wave Silver walked out through the portal. Sonic watched him depart, and then turned to Sorun while quirking an eye ridge upwards.
"So that's your new friend?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, picked him up from the future."
Sonic shrugged it off. "Alright. Future really that bad?"
"Literally apocalyptic."
He tensed up a bit at hearing that. "But he's gonna make sure that doesn't happen?"
"Yeah, it should be fine. Don't worry about it, Sonic."
"I'm not, I'm not. Just... tryin' to look out for everyone," he coolly replied. "Um, is this something we need to be involved with?"
"Kinda would prefer you didn't actually, so his future knowledge doesn't get messed up," Sorun said. "He actually doesn't have much to begin with, but too many changes could skew things. Really just ignore him and keep doing what you guys do normally and it should work out."
Sonic accepted the answer with a nod. "If you say so. You gonna be alright?"
"I mean, hopefully." Sorun turned towards the portal. "Have a good night."
"Yeah, you too."
As Sorun left through the portal Sorun couldn't help but note he'd actually managed a cordial conversation with Sonic despite all the stress he was undergoing. He took it as a good sign.
The portal hadn't taken the pair into New Mobotropolis. It'd taken them just outside the city proper. In the woods near the wall surrounding the city. Just seeing it brought on an assortment of emotions in Sorun that made him queasy, just seeing those immaculate, off-white walls. And terrified. Because no amount of mental preparation could prepare him for this. Strange to say because it literally became worse the longer he waited. Ideally he'd just rip the band-aid off and go right in.
But at the moment it felt like Sorun's boots were full of concrete and he couldn't help but become completely frozen at seeing those walls and be reminded of what was inside. Who was.
"Wow, so that's the place, huh?" Silver observed. "I'd, well I'd say it looks nice but the, eh, the wall there is kinda... kinda in the way of the view. Sorun, how come we're outside the city and not inside it?"
"I change my mind, Silver," Sorun answered in a level tone. "Let's just live out here."
Silver turned his head to Sorun in confusion. "Huh? For how long?"
"I don't know, forever?"
Silver's expression flattened. "Is this about that girl?" he asked.
When Sorun's head whipped to the side to meet Silver's gaze, his expression tightened with anxiety. "Of course it is, Silver, I'm freaking out here what am I supposed to even say!?" he hissed out.
He took a step back before responding. "Sorun, aren't you overreacting a bit here?" He had the gall to flash Sorun a reassuring smile, like his whole world didn't feel like it was collapsing in on itself at the moment. "From everything you've said about her she sounds like a really understanding person. Won't it all be fine if you just talk with her?"
"... MAN, WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW!? YOU NEVER EVEN MET A GIRL BEFORE IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE BEFORE YOU STARTED TRAVELING AROUND WITH ME!" Sorun yelled out. "Understand, she'll understand, oh, yeah, she'll understand something alright, she'll understand I'm the worst person in the world and I'll honestly be surprised if she ever decided to look me in the eye again!"
"Uh, so, so she won't understand?"
Visibly deflating, partly out of exhaustion, Sorun ran a hand over his face and turned away from Silver. "I don't know, maybe, she might, it's hard to know what she's thinking most of the time and her being an AI that thinks on a completely different level than us doesn't help."
"... She's an A-what?"
Sorun turned back to Silver in surprise. "I forget to mention that detail? Eh, whatever, it's not important." He waved off Silver's confusion and turned back to the walled city. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to say. Dunno if there even is a right thing to say in this situation. I mean, do I just go for it? Say whatever's on my mind? I'm coming up with nothing but blanks, here, Silver, how'm I supposed to say what's on my mind when I'm getting nothin' but static here?"
"Yeah, I don't know, Sorun." Silver looked up into the night sky. "What I do know is that it's the middle of the night and I'm tired. I want to sleep in a bed. If you don't make up your mind I'm just gonna float us into the city."
Feelings of betrayal tore through Sorun as he faced Silver with an appalled expression. The hedgehog stared back with a bored, somewhat serious look, which Sorun could only take as Silver telling the truth. So he made a mental curse and turned back to the city.
"Alright, fine, we're going," he grumbled out quickly, removing Yamato from its sheath. "I'll teleport us outside my house and just... deal with it in the morning and hope beyond all rational thinking she just doesn't know I came back."
It was a plan that might be in futility, something he realized as he cut a second portal in the air. Seeing as she quite literally had her eyes on the entire city via the security surveillance network. He didn't think even a miracle would allow him and Silver to slip into his house and spend the night under her nose without her catching on. There was a spark of hope there in Sorun that they could, though. That spark that knew, in actuality, it was really hopeless but the reality of the situation was too terrible to face, so it latched onto an unreasonable, false hope.
But yeah, he was pretty sure they'd be able to pull this off.
Walking out of the new portal Sorun was instantly hit with the familiar smells of New Mobotropolis. Certainly smelled nicer than Detroit, that was for sure. Cleaner and fresher. He recognized the section of the residential district he lived in and all the houses next to his. Most of the lights were out due to the time of night, barring a couple, but he was less focused on that and more on the structure standing before them.
His house.
... No, yeah, it was just his house, nothing about it had changed since he left.
"Alright, there it is, go go go go!" Sorun quickly whispered out, gesturing forwards in a rushed manner after swiping the portal closed. Silver turned around to give him an odd look, but the white-furred Mobian stalling only made Sorun gesture more frantically. Silver flinched away from Sorun as a result, and then shook his head as he walked across the small lawn and stopped in front of the front door.
It all went wrong when Silver tried opening the door. With dawning horror Sorun realized he couldn't open the door. Because it seemed beyond all belief to be locked.
"Hey, Sorun, the door's locked," Silver blandly stated as he attempted to turn the door's knob to no avail.
"What!?" Sorun stepped behind Silver and peered over his shoulder to ensure he was telling the truth. Maybe he was just turning the knob the wrong way. But no, when he looked he saw the knob was turning just the barest amount. It was indeed locked. "That-that's impossible! I didn't even know my door had a lock!"
Silver paused in his futile knob-turning and glanced over his shoulder at Sorun with an incredulous look. "How could you not know your door has a lock?"
"It's a nice neighborhood, okay!? I never needed to lock my door!"
"Oh, well, maybe that lady standing behind you can help us out!"
He honestly could have shot him and it would have alarmed Sorun less than the sentence that spilled out of Silver's mouth. He'd frozen, completely, hard enough that it felt like his heart had skipped a beat. In fact it probably did. His hands became clammy and moist, enough that it felt like Yamato would slip out of his grasp. And no matter how hard he tried he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do.
"Maybe it isn't her," he reasoned with himself. "Maybe it's just someone else. Someone who isn't Nicole decided to stand outside my abandoned house now of all times. Yeah. That's gotta be it. There's no way she managed to catch us this quickly. It's just someone else here for some inexplicable reason."
It had to be. Couldn't be Nicole. Not a chance. All he'd have to do was turn around and confirm his completely rational explanation and he'd see that-
Sorun didn't even managed to turn around all the way. He hadn't even seen her face. All he saw was a single brown and black arm and a bit of her purple dress, and then he turned back forwards at Silver, who currently looked like he didn't know what he was supposed to do, standing there in front of Sorun's door. But as far as Sorun was concerned Silver didn't even exist right now because Nicole was standing behind him and holy fuck he did not know what he was supposed to do.
"Hey, I could really use some advice right now. Yeah, man, I got nothin', you're on your own. MAN, FUCK YOU." Sorun inhaled deeply to calm himself. It didn't work. "Alright okay okay alright alright okay. I got this. I don't got this. Go for it. Go for what? Go for go. Go? Goooo...!"
Fortune favored the bold and the virtuous. Sorun wasn't either of those. He didn't think so, at least. Did it matter? He didn't know. He was just standing there with his back to her like and idiot and he needed to do something but he didn't now what to do. Just turn around and start saying words. Without even thinking, to just go for it. His only chance at salvation was to do this and hope for the best.
"Heeeey, Nicole-" came Sorun's near-casual greeting as he turned to her fully. But he'd cut himself off and froze yet again when he was able to see her fully and see her reaction to seeing him.
He remembered the first time he'd done something like this. When he'd been resurrected from death, and she'd literally tackled him to the ground and had been overcome with so much relief she'd been crying. It was an oddly fond memory of Sorun's. That somebody cared about him so much that that was their reaction to seeing he wasn't dead. He truly didn't think he was the kind of person that warranted that kind of response, yet he'd got it. Because she was just that kind of a person, maybe. He'd been expecting a similar reaction this time around.
This was most assuredly not the same reaction as last time. There wasn't any tackling Sorun to the ground. No tears of relief. None of that. She was just standing there. A few meters away from Sorun. Face completely devoid of all emotion. Completely. She was just staring at Sorun with a completely blank expression, almost robotically. With Nicole that was probably an accurate term.
Sorun had no idea what the hell this meant. His mind whirled and ran with wild theories, but none of them had any substance or grounding with the reality of the situation. And the reality was he was flying blind without a map and had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. So much so he just stood there, unsure of what to do as he stared at Nicole, who was only blankly staring back.
Click!
Sorun jumped slightly when he heard that sound, along with a small creak afterwards. He turned around and saw that the door to his home behind Silver had opened. He weakly pointed at the opened entrance while turning back to Nicole, uttering a small, "Uh-"
"The door. For your friend." He didn't like how eerily calm Nicole sounded. He didn't like that at all. "I assume you want the conversation we are about to have to be a private one."
"That'd... be ideal, yeah," Sorun quietly replied. He turned to Silver and made a shooing gesturing at him. "Silver, go. Go in the house. Go."
"Yeah, sure." He awkwardly looked between the pair of them, and then made to enter the house. He only got a single step in before stopping and turning to ask Sorun, "Which room is the guest-?"
"The room at the end of the hall is mine, literally just go into the other bedroom!"
Silver made a rapid nod and retreated into the house, nearly slamming the door behind him. That left Sorun alone with Nicole, a prospect that never before had sounded more terrifying. And as he turned back to her he realized just how far out of his depth he was, and how his mind was just utterly blank with how he was supposed to handle this. So he took to following his own advice and opened up with the first few words that fell onto his tongue.
Unfortunately it turned out to be a poor choice in the end, as he'd opened up by saying the stupidest thing imaginable.
"I can explain-"
"You can explain." Her interruption was made so abruptly Sorun nearly bit his own tongue. "You can explain why you disappeared when they locked you in the Master Emerald. You can explain why you've been away for months. You can explain being gone for such an inordinately extended period as to make all of us think you had perished. You can explain making me think you were gone forever yet again. You can explain all of that."
"Yyyyyyes."
"Then by all means. Explain."
Sorun gulped. Here went everything. "So I went to the future, right, and-"
Nicole turned around. "Good night, Sorun," she said. He genuinely didn't believe she was going to leave it at that, but to his shock she was actually starting to disappear. And it was with panic and dread that he realized she probably actually didn't believe him when he said he went to the future.
"Wait-wait-wait, hold on, I'm being serious!" he yelled out in alarm. He refrained from sighing out in relief when Nicole's body reformed, but he nearly lost his already crumbling composure when she turned around and he saw that slowly darkening expression she was wearing. "I really did go to the future, okay?"
"You truly expect me to believe you being locked inside of the Master Emerald somehow lead to you experiencing something as ludicrous as time travel?"
"What- how is time travel any more unbelievable than all the other stuff that's happened?" an exhausted Sorun asked as he thrusted his hand out to the side. "From the aliens to the crazy genius guy with the robot army to gods to all this Chaos junk that, for all intents and purposes, can literally do anything as far as I can see." He held Yamato up, which at the moment felt like it weighed a million pounds. "You don't even know the things I've been doing with this thing."
Perhaps a poor choice of words, because Nicole's expression was darkening more quickly. He tried backpedaling on his words to try a different approach. "Would I seriously make this up? With this context?"
"..." She glanced away from him, which for all Sorun knew might have been a good sign. "No. You're not that dishonest."
"'That' dishonest?"
"You frequently lie by omission. I overlook it because I trust you have your own reasons." She looked back at him. Her face was still set in a heavy frown, but it wasn't as dark or hostile as it had been before. "But no, you would never lie about something as serious as this."
Sorun wasn't even surprised she knew him that well. "Okay, so... yeah. That's what happened." When her expression didn't change he added, "Nicole, I got back as soon as I could. It's literally only been a week from my perspective. Time travel isn't the most accurate thing."
He noticed some change in her when he said that. It was nearly imperceptible, and her facial expression didn't change in the slightest, but it was there. There way her posture just ever-so-slightly straightened and how her eyes suddenly became just a bit more attentive of him.
"Is that so?" she asked.
"It's... it's so, yeah."
"It's so," she quietly repeated. Her green eyes swept over the yard they were standing in, and then fell back on Sorun's blue eyes. "Sorun, there are a number of things we need to discuss, and a great many of those things I would prefer to speak of in a setting that provides a greater amount of privacy than your front lawn affords."
Sorun tilted his head in a questioning manner. "I, uh..." He pointed his thumb behind him at the house. "We... could talk inside...?"
"No. Not with your friend there." Her eyes glanced down a bit and she grabbed at her arm. "More than that, this is a great deal of information. I need some time to process all this and figure out just precisely what I want to say. And I imagine you're exhausted from your... trip." She looked back at him. "So please just go to sleep. And in the morning come to my servers in the science center. We can talk there."
"Okay? I mean, yeah. That sounds... yeah, sure, yeah, totally. Absolutely. I will, I will do that. Yes." He'd maybe been a bit too quick in agreeing, had barely even thought about it, but he couldn't help it. As far as he was concerned her wanting to talk to him later was the greatest victory he could have asked for given the circumstances, and he'd take what he could get.
He didn't know if that was the reaction Nicole was looking for, though. Or even if she was looking for anything in particular. She just looked conflicted at his answer. "Sorun, please don't take this the wrong way. I really am happy that you're back. Happy beyond words. This is just... a lot. So I need some time."
"Yeah, no, that's... I get it."
"Alright." Nicole's body began to fade away. "Welcome back, Sorun. We'll speak further tomorrow morning."
"Tha-" She disappeared before Sorun could even get the full word out, "-nks... huh." He blinked at the spot where Nicole had disappeared, leaving him alone in front of his house, and thought back on the conversation he just had.
Overall, it could have gone worse. So much worse he'd been genuinely terrified of what was going to happen. He'd expected some kind of verbal assault that would have shredded apart his very being, or even just cold dismissal of his presence. The fact she just wanted to talk... well, he didn't actually know. It spoke volumes either how big of a chance he had at saving this whole mess or how mad she really was at him, and Sorun honestly couldn't tell which reality he was dealing with. Somehow that was even more scary - not knowing anything.
A drawn-out, tired sigh left him, and he slumped his shoulders. Whatever. He'd deal with whatever it was tomorrow morning, and it was only now he realized how right Nicole he was. He was wiped, physically and mentally. He plain doubted he could have a drawn out, highly-likely emotional discussion in this kind of state. Not without screwing something up even further.
So he entered his house, closing the door behind him. He flicked on the nearby light switch and was reminded on just how depressingly barren his house looked. How... blank it all was. He never bothered to decorate in any capacity. Not even so much as a throw rug. It was a dismal sight to look at.
"Christ, I almost forgot I lived like this," he muttered out as he approached the kitchen. He set Yamato down on a nearby counter and dug into his pockets to bring out the only two items he'd manage to save over the course of this entire trip: the space fork he'd stolen from the ARK and the bottle of ketchup he stole from that one guy.
Shaking his head at the souvenirs, he tossed the ketchup in his vacant fridge and tossed the fork on the kitchen counter near where the drawer containing his other utensils were.
Having access to free water out of his faucet again was great. Being able to use his own bathroom again was great, too. But after all that he really just wanted to crash into his own bed and go to sleep. It was bad enough that he was actually excited about the prospect of waking up in his own room knowing he was finally back home.
So he'd trudged into his abysmally barren room, dragging the katana behind him. He shut the door and approached the side of his bed, holding the sword up with both hands. He unsheathed the sword halfway to look at the flat of the blade. Blue eyes briefly shimmered in the sword's reflection as he stared.
"The ability to go to any zone as long as I know the coordinates, huh?" Sorun thought to himself. "They probably still have the numbers to my old home sitting around, so... could I?"
He genuinely didn't know. It was a universe not connected to the multiverse proper they needed seven Chaos Emeralds just to access, but Yamato circumvented a lot of those rules due to its nature. He managed to get back here using it, so Sorun was left wondering if it really was possible. For him to go back to Earth via the same method with Yamato.
But Sorun wasn't sure he wanted to. For sure if he could there would be things he'd want to collect. His gaming PC and other consoles among them. Other pieces of media. Pieces of a lost culture he missed. But the problem with that was that he'd have to go back home and see the ruins. Confront the fact that everything and everyone he knew back then was dead. And he had a hard enough time seeing it the first time without needed to add the image of dead people in the streets as he walked through it. People he would probably know.
"I don't even know if it'd work," Sorun thought as he pushed the sword back in its sheath. "Even if it could, I don't... maybe. Maybe one day. But I'm not ready for that. Probably'll never be."
He set down the sword on the nightstand next to his bed. It transmuted back into the blue Emerald the instant his hand lost contact with its surface, and Sorun was left grimacing a bit. He wasn't sure he wanted a blue nightlight shining right next to his head the entire night. So he picked it up and threw it in the farthest corner of his room so the light didn't hit him as much.
Good enough.
He barely registered his body hitting the bed before he fell asleep.
