A/N- Yeah, I know, I was gone for a bit. Life slapped me across the face; I'm back now.
Recursion Error
Episode 105- The day the dream died
Present
"..."
Where did it go wrong?
Exactly how much strife and anguish did Sorun have to suffer through from the moment he'd landed on Mobius all in order to earn some semblance of a normal life? To claw something back resembling the life he once had, even if it was just on the surface, to live normally again? So many fights, so many battles, stress, death, dying. Sorun hated every single moment of it all and suffered through it because the dream was supposed to be at the other end of the tunnel.
A place to live. Stable job, stable income. Not having to worry for necessities. Group of supportive friends, pet, girlfriend. A sense of community. Safety. Home. Things... Sorun didn't think should have been so hard to obtain. Things he had obtained. The moment he went through with that surgery to get that new skeleton it should have been the end of it. He'd done it. It was finished. Everyone else could do all the fighting if there was more to be had. He was done.
He was supposed to be done.
"..."
This wasn't home, where Sorun was. This was a dingy prison cell they'd thrown Sorun into, shackling his one working arm to the wall.
"..."
Things were supposed to be safe. He'd been promised that. He'd been surrounded by some of the strongest people in the world in one of the safest cities in the world. It should have been fine. He should have been safe. The dream wasn't supposed to just... crumble apart like that. Like it was nothing.
"..."
Where did it go wrong?
1 day ago
Silver never came back last night.
It was a bit odd to Sorun, considering Silver flat-out lived in this house at the moment and didn't have anywhere else to go. And that... while nobody in New Mobotropolis disliked him (he was only somewhat sure of this) at the same time he wasn't exactly on amicable terms with anyone but Sorun. And to an extent Nicole. And the pet Chao. So it was odd to Sorun that he never came back to the house on the night of the disastrous concert incident, and even now, the next day, Sorun still couldn't find him.
"Where is he?" Sorun opened a random cabinet in the kitchen. No Silver, as if he'd been expecting Silver to just be huddled in there for whatever reason. "Hm..." He closed the cabinet. He didn't outright recall anything happening that would cause Silver to disappear. It'd been Sonic Sorun had been arguing with, not Silver. To make matter weirder Nicole said she hadn't even seen him return to his seat in the stadium after Sorun last saw him. So... he disappeared around then.
He didn't really know what that meant.
"Maybe he just had some weird epiphany about this whole traitor thing and found somewhere quiet to think," Sorun rationalized to himself, convinced that made complete and total sense. That was it. He was just... out somewhere. Thinking. Somewhere more quiet than the inside of this home. Surely that was it.
He sighed out. Wasn't much more to do on that front, he supposed, especially with him being alone at the moment. Nicole was off doing something important with the Freedom Fighters. Virgil was off in the park with Cream since her pet was the only other Chao in town and he liked to flaunt superiority over him. Which just left Sorun here.
Some yelling from outside drew Sorun's attention to the window. There was a gaggle of three Mobian children jeering at someone on the walkway right in front of his lawn... actually, wait, were those... they were. Those were the three kids that yelled at Sorun and threw rocks at him on his first day of Mobius. And now they were yelling and throwing rocks at someone else. A monkey Mobian - it was the same guy that crashed the concert yesterday, Sorun realized. They were throwing rocks at him.
"Egh..." Sorun made a disgruntled sound. For as little patience as he held for the monkey after everything that happened yesterday, he... supposed it wouldn't be responsible to stand by and let children enforce a behavior of stoning people. He looked down at his cane. It shifted from a metal implement into a Chaos Emerald. A wave radiated outward from his position and briefly turned the world grayscale as time stopped.
He had to hurry a bit. Ever since getting the artificial blood and skeleton these kinds of abilities were way more strenuous on him and he couldn't maintain them as long. He'd ran - not that he'd admit he ran - out from his home and moved as fast as he could towards the group at the front of his house, noting he'd caught them mid-throw of a rock. He stopped just in front of the monkey, doing his best to regain his composure and control his breathing to make sure he wouldn't look winded and lose his image. And after he did that he conceived of the plan - he'd turn the Chaos Emerald back into V's cane and bat the rock out of the air. He'd say some cool stuff to discipline the children and have them abandon their rock-throwing ways. And then the monkey Mobian would be so impressed with Sorun he'd have no choice but to talk to him and explain what he thought he was doing standing in front of his lawn. It was perfect.
It fell apart almost immediately. Time resumed at the exact same moment Sorun turned the Emerald back into the cane. He swung it upwards with the intent on intercepting the rock sailing towards the monkey. He missed. He missed hard, didn't even come close. The rock whistled past Sorun's ear and hit the monkey right on the face. He heard him make a quiet grunt. The three children at least did freeze when they saw Sorun just appear there from out of nowhere, faces shocked and eyes a tad bit fearful.
... Alright, hard fumble in the beginning there but maybe he could salvage it.
"Children, children, children..." Sorun's cane made audible tap! sounds as he slowly approached the three, who now all seemed very interested in the ground. "What did we learn about throwing rocks at other people?" Sorun's voice came out even, a slight bit chastising as he looked down at the three children with a vaguely amused look.
The three immediately began stammering excuses. "W-we didn't mean- we were only messing around-"
"We're sorry, Mr. Sorun-"
"He ruined miss Mina's concert!" The more rambunctious one, a cat child with purple fur so dark it was nearly black, shouted and pointed at the monkey. The other three hesitantly nodded in response.
"... Yes, I'm aware. I was there," Sorun calmly responded. "Regardless... you shouldn't throw rocks at people, terrible first impression or otherwise. Do you not regret what you did the first time around?" He knew for a fact they did. They sent him apology and get-well cards after he'd saved the whole town after Eggman teleported everyone to New Megaopolis.
The three children instantly stiffened, guilty expressions on all their faces. "Yes, Mr. Sorun," they all intoned.
"Good. Now run along and don't let me catch you doing this again, or I'll have to inform your parents and I'm sure they would be thrilled in giving you remission lessons on why throwing rocks at people is a bad thing to do." That seemed to do the ticket. The kids rapidly nodded and scampered off out of sight. It made Sorun a bit relieved that what he said worked. He didn't feel like dealing with children any more than he had to.
"And now to you," Sorun thought, turning to the monkey Mobian. He was looking over at Sorun, one hand rubbing the spot the rock impacted while the other held a red staff of sorts. His fur was a normal brown - one of the most normal-colored Mobians he'd ever seen outside Sally and her family - and his hair was... Sorun wasn't sure. Some weird fusion between a pompadour and a mullet.
Hairstyle aside, Sorun decided to make the first approach. "My sincerest apologies for how the children acted towards you," Sorun said, cane impacting the ground as he stood in front of the monkey. "I received much the same same treatment my first day here. They're quite vicious."
"Yes, I... noticed." The monkey sighed, a bit downcast but otherwise not looking all that concerned as he lowered his hand from his head. Sorun noticed the rock hadn't left a visible wound on him. "For your Overlander heritage, I imagine?" he asked.
A few blue, electrical sparks traveled up the length of Sorun's cane. The monkey didn't react at all. "Let's keep such comments to ourselves," Sorun suggested, the smallest possible smile on his face. "And set the record straight while we're at it. I'm a human. Not an Overlander."
"Is there a difference?" It wasn't a mocking question. From his tone to his facial expression the monkey seemed genuine in asking, which served to calm Sorun somewhat.
"Humans aren't Overlanders. And technically speaking my humanity is... of a different sorts than the ones from this zone," Sorun told the monkey. "I'm not from this zone."
The monkey blinked a few times. "Is there a... tangible difference?"
"There's a vast ocean's worth of black separating us, yes," Sorun vaguely confirmed. "That's irrelevant, though," he continued. "Where are you from?" He gazed at the monkey's long vest with the yin-yangs on it. "Somewhere... eastern, I imagine."
The monkey's eyes widened a bit, as if surprised Sorun managed to devise that much from his clothes alone. "You'd be right." He made a soft sigh. A... cloud of all things appeared beneath him. The monkey collapsed into a sitting position on the cloud, face a morose expression as he loosely clutched his staff. "I'm from Yurashia," he mumbled out.
"Yurashia," Sorun flatly replied. The land that used to be China thousands of years ago. And Russia and India and... really every country east of what used to be the European continent. "And you're a monkey. With a staff who can seemingly conjure clouds," he continued, eyes narrowing a bit at the sight.
"... Yes?" The Mobian looked up at Sorun with a slightly confused expression. "What's your point?"
Sorun heaved a sigh. Might as well get it out of the way. "So what's your name? Goku? Wukong? One of those?"
Those names only seemed to serve to make the monkey more confused. He didn't seem to recognize the names. "No...? My name is Khan," he introduced.
"... Of course it is." Sorun turned his head to the side, expression bitter. "You couldn't even give me that one, huh, world...?" he whispered to himself. Was the blatant 'Journey to the West' reference just a massive coincidence? Maybe, if the names were different. He'd seen weirder on this planet, but it still frustrated him.
"Um... I'm sorry if I did something. I didn't mean to offend," Khan said, tilting his head at Sorun's reaction.
"You did nothing." Sorun made a huff, turning back to the monkey. He didn't feel like explaining and getting sidetracked. "... Well, you did do something. At the concert yesterday," Sorun amended. "I took you for a raving madman with that entrance but you seem rather calm at the moment."
Khan flinched back from the words, guilt momentarily flashing over his face. "Right, well... you, too, seem rather calm compared to how I saw you yesterday," he pointed out. "Sonic spent the entire trip to New Megaopolis ranting and complaining about you. I'd... been under the impression from what little I heard of you that you were a more nobler sorts," he admitted. "Sonic assured me you'd help us."
Him. Noble. Sorun supposed his actions may have... inadvertently created that image. "It was nothing against you." That was only partially true. "It's... that Sonic asked me. You would have been much better off having someone else ask me."
"..." A small hum left Khan. He shifted around a bit on his cloud, placing one leg over the other as he looked away. "I see Sonic's comments weren't baseless."
"Meaning?" Sorun asked, looking right at Khan with narrowed eyes.
"Meaning," Khan continued, slowly looking back at Sorun, "if you're a shallow enough person to deny help to those in need of it purely because you don't like the one asking for said help, you seem to be about as shallow an individual as Sonic complained about. But that's just my observation."
"That so?" Sorun's eyes snapped down. He noted that the edge of the cloud Khan was sitting on was floating just above where the sidewalk terminated and his lawn began, with about an inch of cloud extending into his lawn. "You know, where I come from it's seen as poor form to step onto one's home and insult them."
There wasn't any visible reaction on Khan's part. The morose expression he'd worn earlier had shifted to an impassive expression as he regarded Sorun. "You find truth to be an insult?"
"More a lack of tact to be so," Sorun corrected. His eyes stayed on the spot where Khan's cloud floating above his lawn. It was irritating him. "In any event... whatever business you have here, it has precisely nothing to do with me. So kindly vacate yourself from my home."
Khan didn't respond verbally. What he did do was lazily look down where Sorun was looking, seeing the part of the cloud floating above the grass. And instead of leaving Khan just casually pressed the end of his staff onto the ground, pushing the cloud a few inches back so that it was entirely situated above the sidewalk. And then he calmly looked back up at Sorun.
"... Thank you." The words Sorun said didn't sound grateful. His voice was strained, expression brittle as he just barely managed to maintain a friendly expression. Even then a few more bolts of blue energy raced down his cane as his temper lost control.
And then Sorun heard it. The sound of footfalls so rapid it sounded like a singular, rapt tapping sound. The brief sound of crackling power and the wind rushing past Sorun as something moving extremely fast came to a stop right behind him. Sorun had made a slow, barely-steady breath as he turned around, not at all surprised to see Sonic standing there behind him. And not at all pleased, either.
Evidently Sonic himself wasn't overly pleased to see Sorun, either. He was scowling, which was already a rare-enough sight to see. Arms crossed, mouth set in an intense frown as the hedgehog looked at Sorun. Eyes flicked back and forth between Sorun himself and the silver cane crackling with blue energy.
"Can you maybe go one day without antagonizing someone?" Sonic asked, no amusement to be found in his voice.
"I'm making an effort," Sorun retorted. "Apologies for it going poorly. What do you want?"
"Oh, well, nothing much, I was just minding my own business before I felt you halfway across town," Sonic stated, eyes fully looking down at the cane. "You said that didn't do anything. That it was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill cane that was probably the most normal thing in your whole arsenal of weirdness you never talk about."
"I'm not obliged to tell you what I can do," Sorun said. He didn't even tell Nicole the secrets regarding his abilities; as if he'd tell Sonic of all people. "And anyway, it was nothing. I'm not one to start a fight out in public over mere words unlike some people," he added, giving Sonic a pointed look.
Sonic took a sharp inhale. The scowl he was wearing deepened. "That supposed to mean me?"
"One of us devolved to shouting during yesterday's... disagreement," Sorun pointed out. "It was assuredly not me."
"..." Sonic just stared at Sorun in disbelief. He held the stare for a few moments before breathing out, shaking his head. "Okay, Sorun, I don't... I'm not gonna pretend to understand what's going on with you, 'cause right now I'm a little too busy trying to head off a while invasion here, so if I could just scooch by you and get to Khan there-"
"A what?" Sorun interrupted. The blue sparks trailing up and down his silver cane disappeared entirely; any irritation and anger he felt as Sonic's presence disappeared in a flash the moment "invasion" entered his ears.
"Yeah, Sorun, remember that thing we needed help with yesterday?" Sonic began, a fake smile creeping on his face as he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "You know, that whole, 'hey, can you take literally two seconds out of your life two give us a ride to New Megaopolis?' thing? That you said no to because I guess you just felt like giving us a hard time? Well, it turns out we really needed it 'cause Snively came back with a bunch of weirdos from Yurashia-!"
"Wait-wait-wait, slow down." Sorun interrupted as a heavy frown began settling over his face. Some of this was starting to sound familiar, what with the repeated mentioning of Yurashia and a part of that one conversation he'd had with Dimitri shortly before his surgery. "Does this have anything to do with some technology-controlling woman?"
Neither of them even needed to answer. Sorun saw the instant he'd mentioned her Khan's face inflame in genuine anger. As if even just mentioning her set him off. Suddenly he looked a lot more like the raging monkey Sorun had seen in the stadium just yesterday.
"That would be Regina," Khan practically spat out with vitriol dripping from his tone. "Or as everyone underneath calls her the Iron Queen. Though I can't help but wonder how you know about her, Sorun."
"I was... briefly appraised of her. Briefly." Sorun said to him, and then looked back at Sonic. "Dimitri mentioned some technology-controlling woman was taking over Yurashia, but I never got a name before now."
"'Take over' is putting it mildly," Khan scoffed out. "She took over the four major clans that preside over Yurashia after killing one of their clan heads and forcing the others to fall in line behind her, not that they seemed to complain all that much. Her and the Iron Dominion stomped out any resistance that tried to oppose her; the entire Yurashia branch of Freedom Fighters was completely wiped out and I couldn't stop-!"
Khan cut himself off, voice beginning to grow heated. Guilt and regret intermingled with absolute rage was clearly present on his face, something both Sorun and Sonic recognized as they quietly stared at him. In Sorun's case he couldn't help but feel how Khan's expression was reminiscent of how he'd looked at the concert, and now he was getting the barest sense of why he'd been bent so out of shape. He was making it sound like a lot of things were lost in Yurashia's conquest.
"... She's a conceited madwoman bent on world domination and she isn't stopping with Yurashia," Khan breathed out, taking a moment to compose himself before looking back at the two. "I'd explained all this to the Freedom Fighters and Republic government already," he continued, looking at Sorun directly, "though I suppose you're filled in now as well."
"So it seems," Sorun mumbled out, glancing down. He felt troubled, and it was visible on his face. If it were just some crazy lady taking over Yurashia he wouldn't think too hardly about it, but now it sounded like she was coming here directly.
"And how do you even know about her anyway?" Sonic interjected, giving Sorun a puzzled look. "You said someone told you about Regina. Who?"
"Oh. The floating head guy, Dimitri," Sorun casually informed him. "It was while we were discussing my... health options. He made mention of the going-ons in Yurashia and what this... Regina lady was up to." Sorun paused, glancing down at the ground. "That said, he... said she was restricting her actions to Yurashia. He said he and the rest of the echidna were following Snively over to that continent to just stay there. He never said anything about Regina and the rest in Yurashia from coming here. Didn't mention a word about conquering other lands outside the continent or world domination. I'd have said something otherwise."
Sonic made a scoff, rolling his eyes while crossing his arms. "Yeah, well, they're here. The whole Iron Dominion. Looks like Snively sweet-talked them into trying for world conquest since Eggy's out of the picture, and I guess New Mobotropolis is first on their list of places to squash outside of Yurashia. They already set up shop in New Megaopolis and everything, in Eggman's old digs."
"... I suppose Dimitri must have been mistaken," Sorun murmured out, looking down in thought. A whole invading force from a different continent. That was... bad. Wrong. There wasn't supposed to be more of that. The fighting was supposed to be done with Eggman out of the picture. That was the point, the whole reason for... things were supposed to be fine now! "Or maybe they just... didn't tell him..."
"Yeah, or he lied," Sonic said, shaking his head. "You're really gonna trust a floating head in a bubble to tell you the truth of what Snively was plannin' the whole time?"
Sorun looked towards the blue hedgehog, giving him a dry look. "Well, yes. Considering he's done infinitely more to help me than you ever have."
"Would you knock it off?" Sonic snapped, seemingly finally having had enough with the passive-aggressive nature Sorun had been displaying this entire time. "Look, I don't know what your deal right now is, okay? Why you're acting like this or... or just what your problem with me is, but I don't have time for it, okay!? You know, I-I got a whole invasion to worry about here, I gotta work out all this with everyone else because it's so last-second, Espio flipped sides and we had to go through the trouble of stopping Knuckles and the rest of the gang from storming off to try and go get him-"
"He did what?" Sorun asked, blinking in surprise. There were a lot of words that Sonic said that flat-out just didn't register with Sorun. "Espio" and "flipping sides" made absolutely no sense to him. Because as little as they interacted, Espio was still a friend the last time Sorun checked. The words Sonic said didn't make sense.
"Yeah. Espio. He was in New Megaopolis - on their side with all those other Yurashia people," Sonic clarified, eyes narrowing at Sorun as he crossed his arms. "I don't know why, guy didn't say a word and Khan and I were a little busy dealing with the literal army bearing down on us, but he's with them-"
"I saw him yesterday, at that concert," Sorun mumbled. He felt confused, speaking in a puzzled voice as he spoke to Sonic. "He was running away with some... other guy, never saw him before. Was dressed like him-"
"Yeah, and maybe if you'd given us a ride to New Megaopolis like we asked we could've gotten there before he did! Maybe we could have actually done something-!"
"A difference of a few hours," Sorun cut in, "was not going to have any effect on the preparedness of a whole invasion force already dug into a city-"
"Well you don't know that!" Sonic exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "We're never gonna know 'cause you decided to be stubborn for stupid reasons and-!"
And that's when Sorun heard the alarms and tuned everything else out.
Present
Where did it go wrong?
"..."
Was it his fault? No. Sorun hadn't done any wrong- he had done no wrong. Nothing. Never. He'd done everything he was supposed to, and what ended up happening at the end of it? What?
No. No, no no no... no, he didn't do a damn thing wrong. He didn't kill his dream. Others did that he could point the finger at and blame, but Sorun? No. He refused to acknowledge it as anything different. What was he supposed to have done, if not what he did for so long? It'd all been perfect by the end of it. No. It wasn't on him. None of it was.
"..."
He didn't react to the jeering from some of the Mobians who would often hang outside his cell. His guards - the ones from Yurashia dressed like ninjas. Whatever jeering and mocking they said to Sorun, he didn't hear them. Too lost in his own thoughts, staring perpetually down at the floor of his cell. He hadn't said a single word since he'd been thrown in here, hadn't so much as moved. And they kept shuffling positions around so much he didn't bother to remember any of them.
Except that one. Another one of the Yurashia Mobians, some... white-furred badger-looking one with a black stripe in the middle of her face. She'd often just stand there and stare at Sorun with an unreadable expression, only recognizable because she was there so much. He didn't know what her deal was.
"Hey, Jian," one of the other ninja-looking Mobians called out. He'd walked up next to her, looking at Sorun in the cell. "This is the one? The one that tore out the Iron Queen's eye?"
"... So it would seem. Yes," she answered in a calm tone, her voice completely even as her blue eyes stared at Sorun. "He has not moved a muscle since being brought here. Nor has anyone treated him." She looked down at his right hand. "He's more than likely to lose that arm as a result. In these conditions..."
"He'd be lucky to die to infection," the other Mobian scoffed out, throwing his hand up over his shoulder as he turned away. "It's not a happy fate that awaits him back home in Yurashia once the Iron Queen has finished things here. Anyway, stop staring at him; there's things to go over with everyone else."
"... Right," Jian mumbled out, watching him walk off before looking back at Sorun. She'd kept up her stare for a number of seconds before walking off with him, leaving Sorun alone once again.
He barely noticed anything.
"..."
Where did it go wrong?
1 day ago
Sorun remembered hearing the alarm. He remembered Nicole announcing some warning over the city-wide PA system Sorun didn't even know existed until now. He didn't know what she said; he heard words, but hadn't listened, hadn't stopped to process them to understand beyond faintly recognizing some warning addressed to the citizens.
All Sorun knew was that something bad was happening and his very first thought was his pet Chao was in the park with no one but a little rabbit girl and her unevolved Chao to protect him. Or more accurately for Virgil to protect them.
So his gut instinct had been automatic, done without thought or consideration to himself. His silver cane had automatically transmuted to the Yamato. He'd swung the blade under his feet, creating a portal and falling through. He recalled Sonic shouted something at him, too startled to react in time before Sorun fell through and cut the portal closed behind him.
His feet had hit the artificial grass in the park. Instantly Sorun's eyes had started scanning around, searching. And... he'd seen them. His Chao, Virgil, in the distance. Too distinctive to miss. Protectively hovering in front of Cream and her pet, who were cowering behind him.
And then there were them. There, in two white, oval egg-like chairs that seemed to be floating off the ground. Snively, the absolute creature and cretin he was, was sitting in one of them, and from this angle Sorun could see him leering at the three. The woman in the second chair he didn't recognize. An Overlander woman, based on the fact she had least looked human, barring the dark green hair and yellow eyes. He could take a guess from the regal, Chinese-looking garb and crown she wore hat it was the Regina person Khan had been talking about. That Iron Queen.
And her height seemed to be on par with the average human's. Perhaps higher. It would be, just to spite Sorun further.
"All you had to do was stay the fuck home."
Behind the cold face staring towards them was utter, unbridled rage that started roiling inside of Sorun as he stared at them. No. No. It was supposed to be over, done with. How dare they. How dare they come to this place when everything was supposed to be fine? How dare the world do this to Sorun after everything he'd done to finally have peace?
The katana in Sorun's had transmuted into the blue Chaos Emerald, grasped in his hand. He Tricked, teleporting from that spot to right on top of the rim of the floating egg chair Snively was in. Crouching down, looking down at the man who was somehow even shorter than Sorun himself was.
Snively had felt it; the floating chair had wobbled a bit when Sorun appeared on top of it. "What in blazes-?" he'd began, turning around in his seat to look up. And then he'd froze, face going white as a sheet when he looked up and saw Sorun balefully staring down at him. Eyes practically bugging out of his head and breathing steadily picking up. He'd just stared for the first few moments, as if his brain was struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. Or perhaps he was having a flashback to their previous encounters.
Finally, he spoke. "You're supposed to be dead," he whispered.
"You'll wish."
With that succinct reply said, Sorun Tricked again right besides the group of three they were in front of. He wasted absolutely no time, the Chaos Emerald transmuting back into Yamato as he cut a portal behind them to the other end of the city. "Leave," Sorun ordered, staring straight down at Cream as he pointed at he portal. "Now."
The rage bubbling inside him increased when the rabbit Mobian shook her head. "But Mr. Sorun-!"
A frustrated growl left Sorun as he sheathed Yamato with a loud clack! He pressed the blunted end of the scabbard against her stomach and shoved Cream right through the portal, ignoring her protests entirely as she was sent tumbling through. He looked at Virgil, who nodded and just kicked Cream through the portal after her, the Chao screaming out in surprise as he flew through. And then Sorun unsheathed the katana and cut forwards to close the portal.
There. Done. It was just them here now, with Sorun's own brain feverishly working on ideas of what to do now. There was already one he was rapidly settling on as the sword transmuted back into his cane, the tip hitting the soft ground as he turned towards the small Chao floating next to him. He took a second to consider his words before speaking. "What I plan on doing here... wouldn't be something any of the others would approve of. You don't have to stay for this next part."
"Chao-chao." Virgil shook his head. For a moment Sorun felt a bit conflicted, but it eased off soon after. He would understand, whatever happened here. Sorun didn't know if it was the bond between him and Virgil or whatever else, but whatever happened, he'd stand by him. It's how it had always been. He gave a grateful nod to him before both he and Virgil turned back towards Snively and Regina.
"..." Sorun took a deep breath, trying his best to keep his anger in check so he could at least speak. It was becoming a worse and worse struggle as time went on. "Been a while," he greeted Snively in an even tone. "Gonna be the last, too."
For his part Snively had just been staring at first, in equal parts fear, bewilderment, and confusion. Sorun could see why - as he said, he was supposed to be dead. But he shook it off soon after when he saw the cane Sorun was supporting himself on, confidence slowly seeping back into his smug leer as he looked down at Sorun from his floating chair. "Well, perhaps reports of your death weren't entirely exaggerated by the sight of things. Not feeling as mobile as you used to, Sorun?"
"It's not good to make fun of the disabled, Snively. Karma won't like it." Sorun's eyes slowly drifted to the other egg chair floating next to Snively, at the woman sitting in it. "You, I've little interest in, but since you've thrown your lot in with Snively and your mere existence has caused me irritation as of late I suppose you can share in this up and coming part." He sighed out, hand tightening around the handle of his cane. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Why, isn't it obvious?" Sorun resisted the urge to blanch upon hearing the woman, Regina, speak. Her voice sounded haughty, so high and mighty and full of herself just from her tone alone. And she had a face to match. "To purview my soon-to-be new domain in-"
Nope. Couldn't do it. Her voice was like glass in his ears. "I no longer have any interest in the words coming out of your mouth. Shut up," Sorun interrupted, giving Regina a hard glare. She's snapped her mouth shut, giving Sorun an incensed, borderline-angry look. He ignored her completely and looked back at Snively. "You had a chance to back out of all this when your dear old Ivo hit the loony bin. What happened with that?"
"And what would you know about me, Sorun? What little interaction we've ever shared hasn't been the definition of cordial. In fact, I recall upon our first meeting by which I came to you with nothing but the best of intentions you threatened to murder me," Snively hissed out, clear anger in his tone.
Sorun didn't react at all, continuing to stare at Snively with an even expression. "... You're still mad about that? It's been eleven months, man. Get over it," he said.
"It's not just that!" Snively screamed. "The humiliations you set upon me after in future battles, the beating, how my very own uncle seemed to think you bore more worth to pay attention to than myself despite being nothing but a juvenile delinquent carried by abilities!" he exclaimed.
Sorun resisted the urge to scoff out. It almost sounded like he was he was jealous of the attention Eggman gave Sorun. Not that he himself understood why; the man tried to kill Sorun multiple times over and he was half-certain all that attention was just to get under Sorun's skin and mock him. But Snively was treating it like it was something more significant.
"He's probably just a moron," Sorun reasoned with himself.
"But..." Snively took a deep inhale to calm himself down. "This isn't about you and me... though that's rapidly being added to the repertoire I've planned. No, Sorun, this is about asserting our place as the figureheads of this world and taking our rightful place as its rulers," he said.
Regina decided to use that moment to chime in, looking more concerned with examining her nails as she spoke out. "And New Mobotropolis represents the seat of power of the controlling party of this region of the world. the Acorn Republic or whatever it is you lot decided to name yourselves. It will serve as a suitable-enough staging area for when we expand beyond Northamer's borders to lands beyond. It really is quite simple.
"..." Sorun tilted his head up to look at the sky. World domination for the sake of... he didn't even know. Because they felt like it, all their words seemed to imply. Snively was nearly as demented as Eggman was and it seemed this Regina lady wasn't too far behind him. He didn't know why he thought for a minute there was something deeper to it. Maybe there was, if he actually got to know the two of them better... but at the end of the day he just did not care in the slightest amount. He wasn't even sure why he was trying to debate with crazy people, especially since they'd obviously made up their minds.
"... What lofty ambitions," Sorun sighed out. He glanced down at his feet, pausing to consider. Maybe he was the fool thinking any better could come of this. But by the point they finished speaking Sorun had already made up his own mind about what he was going to do about this. "Well... Snively. Regina. As much as I'd love to wax philosophy, we're on a bit of time crunch here." He looked off to the side over at the other end of the park. "If Sonic isn't here yet, I can only assume that means he's gathering the other Freedom Fighters so they can all come here at the same time. Which means I've only got that long to do this next part."
Snively paused. "... Next part?" he repeated in a hesitant tone.
"Of course. They'd never let me eviscerate you two, and they'd never look at me the same way. If I claimed to use an aspect of my abilities I never tried before, though, and it went out of control and tore you two to shreds since I had no control... well, then, that's just an unfortunate accident, not malicious intent on my part." He looked back at Snively and Regina, making the smallest of smiles as the silver cane he held transmuted into the glowing, blue gem it truly was. "I never did like playing as a summoner in games, but I'm willing to give it a shot since needs must. So... woof, woof."
Anybody even remotely sensitive to Chaos energies would have felt the massive surge in energy that flared up in the center of the New Mobotropolis park before it rapidly turned into something far more sinister in nature. Rancid. Cold. From the perspective of Snively and Regina, one moment Sorun had been standing there holding the blue Chaos Emerald. And then there'd been an explosion of blue vapors crackling with blue electricity, concealing him entirely.
The cloud grew, towering over them. The first thing they'd heard was the snarl. Deep and guttural, something that would have rattled the bones of anyone who was present to listen. Next was the frost that was slowly starting to expand outwards from beyond the cloud that was beginning to rapidly dissipate, revealing the large, imposing silhouette inside of it.
"W-what...!?" Snively had stammered out when it was finally revealed just what it was standing before them. A dog. A dog that so large it towered over Snively and Regina; so large it looked like their bodies could easily fit into the mouths of one of the three identical heads protruding from its three necks that were currently snarling at them. Bound in so much muscle bulging from its skin it looked like just one of its muscle groups were larger than the floating chairs Snively and Regina sat in.
It didn't even have fur. It had ice in place of fur, growing across its body in jagged, serrated pieces, a constant cloud of frost hovering around it as three sets of eyes stared right down at Snively and Regina. The latter looked repulsed at the sight. Alarmed and confused, unsure of what she was looking at. In Snively's case he just looked fearful at the sight, shaking where he sat in the egg chair as he looked up at the thing in barely-subdued panic.
And then there was Sorun. He was riding atop the three-headed dog, sitting at the base of its necks with one of his hands around the chain acting as a collar for it. He looked down at them smugly, a small smile playing at the edges of his mouth as he looked at them.
"It's such a shame this thing mauled you two to death before I could get a handle on it. The dangers of trying out untested abilities in an uncontrolled environment. I'm sure the others'll understand," he said, tone almost mocking as he stared down at the two. "I'd wanted King Cerberus, but I'm sure the normal, trashy variant of Cerberus will be more than enough for you two-"
"You dare?"
It spoke. In a deep, dual-tone voice that seemed to reverberate the air around it. It was a voice that sounded wrong in every sense of the word. A voice that made anyone who heard it feel like there were ants crawling in their ears, a voice that sent chills right down to the bone more effectively than the air Cerberus was chilling around its body. And then the centermost head turned around, its red-glowing eyes staring straight at Sorun and not Snively or Regina.
"You dare to besmirch our name? You dare to insult us and label us inferior to our kin? And you, a mere human, have the utter audacity to ride us like a common, mortal mutt!?"
Sorun blinked in surprise. It sounded angry, furious at him, even. At him. It confused him greatly because it was supposed to be his. He'd completely expected it to be obedient and follow his commands like the weapons and powers he'd use the Chaos Emeralds to make. Like that Empusa he'd made that hadn't struggled at all against Sorun, even when he'd gutted the thing. But this... this was different. Cerberus was talking back to Sorun.
He frowned. Heavily, hand tightening on the chain collar it wore. That wouldn't do, not at all. "Listen to me, you miserable demon. I made you. You're mine. You don't get to disobey me-"
Cerberus bucked its body. The most Sorun had made was a surprised breath as he felt his body flip over, his hand still clamped around the chain collar as he fell towards he center head's mouth.
It bit him. Sorun couldn't even make a sound. It was going by so quickly and he was so confused he couldn't make a sound when its giant teeth pierced down through his torso. And then it tore him away from the collar and whipped its head towards the ground, letting go of and slamming Sorun right into the dirt.
And then it'd disappeared. The moment it threw Sorun at the ground no part of his body had been making contact with it, and it'd instantly disappeared and reformed back into the blue Chaos Emerald, which fell down on the ground behind him. Sorun couldn't find it in himself to care about that.
"Wh-why did...?" Sorun made a staggered, gasping noise on the grass where he lied, body trembling a bit from the sharp pain he felt radiating out through his body. Artificial blood had begun seeping through the large punctures in his torso, slowly straining the grass around him white. There were even a few electrical sparks that flew out from his wounds due to the artificial skeleton he had being damaged from the bite. "Was it... t-too sapient to listen...?"
Snively paused. He looked shocked and confused for the most part, having absolutely no comprehension of what he'd just witness. Even after Cerberus disappeared and Sorun was left bleeding on the ground he still didn't know what to make of it. And then he continued looking at Sorun, at the way he was lying on the ground and bleeding out. And then slowly all that shock and confusion began to give way to cautious smugness as he looked down at him.
"O-oh... oh ho ho. Well now... what was it you were saying earlier about the dangers of using 'untested abilities', Sorun? I'm not even going to pretend to understand what just happened but whatever it was seems to have blown back on you, hasn't it?" Snively asked, leaning over a bit in his floating chair. Resting his chin against his hand as he watched Sorun lie on the ground, bleeding out white as he struggled to regain his breath. "And my my my, that color and those sparks... I see that cane was far from show, was it? Dipped into the world of cybernetics for yourself, did you?"
"Oh, I can feel them in him," Regina sneered from besides Snively, looking down at Sorun's body. "Wires and electrodes, all crossing and surging across his body. I think he went and replaced his whole skeleton with metal!"
"You don't say..."
Most of the words Sorun were hearing went in one ear and out the other, none being processed and registered. He was mostly trying and failing to get up to his feet, repeatedly falling back down in the puddle of white blood. He was in enough pain that his body was shuddering. Worse than that it was slowly dulling and fading, coinciding with the cold that was slowly seeping into his body.
"Ch-chao!" He saw movement in front of his vision. Virgil, hovering above Sorun's face. He didn't think he'd ever seen such a look of concern on the Chao's face. He was usually more stoic than this, more reserved. Now he looked like he was in full panic, focusing completely on Sorun and all his wounds. "Chao-chao! Chao-chao chao! Chao!"
"Virgil..." Sorun's right hand snapped upwards, grabbing at the Chao, making Virgil shout in surprise. Sorun blinked once - he hadn't done that. He hadn't made the conscious decision to move his arm, to grab at Virgil like that. And yet his arm was doing just that.
And then his already-cooling blood grew chilled when he looked over at Regina, seeing a small, green glow around her hand as she gestured towards Sorun. And he instantly knew, remembered what Dimitri had said about her being a technomancer who could control technology. And realized his damn skeleton was technology. Every single bone below his head an artificial piece of cybernetic technology he could nearly feel her get a grip on.
"H-hey..." He made a weak breath as he tried pulling against her control, but it was no good. The motors in all the joints of his cybernetic skeleton, the things that were supposed to help with his mobility, were fighting against him. A fight he was losing, because his muscles were just too weak and he felt too exhausted from the blood loss. He couldn't do anything as his body slowly began to stand up on its own, still gripping Virgil tightly.
"Oh, I remember this pet of yours fondly," Snively continued in a mocking tone, face lighting up further and further in delight as he watched. "Station Square, I believe it was? You'll be happy to know, dear, that this little terror had been the one to tear apart the battle machine I had been in before Sorun practically beat my face black and blue."
"I'm not happy at all to hear that," Regina responded. She started waggling her fingers, her smile beginning to turn crueler. That green glow around her hand intensified and she'd began making more forceful gestures with her fingers. And, coinciding with that, Sorun's hand began squeezing down.
Sorun could feel it. Could feel Virgil's small bones began cracking underneath his grip, could feel the pain in his own hand from the pressure he was being forced to exert. He kept trying, trying as hard as he could to stop, but the damn motors in his hand's artificial skeleton were that much stronger than his muscles. He couldn't do anything.
"..." Sorun's breathing had begun picking up. Panic and dread, actual, true dread he hadn't felt in so long and had thought was behind him, began to sink into him as he saw his Chao getting crushed between his own fingers. He saw the pain spreading across his face and heard the small pained noises he made. "Just... just cut through my hand. Vi-Virgil, I can fix it, just... do something..."
He didn't. Virgil wasn't doing anything except staying there in Sorun's hand to be crushed. He couldn't even tell if it was because Virgil couldn't do anything due to not being able to move his limbs, or because he simply didn't want to hurt Sorun. Both were equally frustrating to him. Equally terrifying. He was hurting Virgil and the sight of it was getting Sorun's heart racing in a way that was making him break out in a cold sweat and making his skin itch.
"Hey... hey, you two, stop it," Sorun said, looking back towards Snively and Regina. It felt like a sword going through his chest, hearing his own voice sound so pleading to them of all people. People he hated more than anyone else in the world at this moment. Felt blazing anger at the sick, sadistic smiles they were wearing from watching the sight before them. Felt hopelessness at Sorun's ability to do absolutely nothing about this. A whirlwind of emotions that nearly made him lightheaded, and all the while he own hand was crushing his companion to death. "He doesn't have anything to do with this, just stop, don't-!"
"Don't...?" Regina echoed, sounding wholly amused as her fingers closed tighter. "For someone who should be begging at my dear Snively's feet for all the grief you've put my lovely man through you have quite the gall to be making demands here. Beg harder."
Sorun's hand tightened further in line with Regina's. It wasn't cracking anymore - he felt the bones beneath Virgil's flesh outright beginning to break now. "C-chao..."
His eyes widened further. Dying. He was dying. They were making him kill him. "I'll do anything, just... stop it..." he pleaded out, ignoring his pride screaming at him to keep his mouth shut, ignoring all he burning shame and humiliation it made him feel because he felt like Virgil was going to die if he didn't push these feelings down and do what they said.
But his fingers kept pressing down. Regina just laughed, continuing to close her hand and make Sorun's do the same, make him watch as Virgil's body was squeezed more and more.
"Mree-hee-hee!" Regina's cackling laughter practically sounded like glass scraping against his eardrums. It didn't even look like his begging was helping any. She never even so much as paused to consider the worth of his pleas. "Yes, yes that's right... keep going."
"Hey. Hey, I said I'd do anything!" Sorun shouted out, voice panicked and desperate as he looked up at Regina. She wasn't stopping, and that smile wasn't going away. She just kept closing her hand more and more. "I'm begging you, what do you want!? I'll do anything, just- PLEASE STOP-!"
CRACK!
He'd felt it before he'd seen it. Before he'd heard it, even, the subtle vibrations passing through Sorun's muscles and nerves before the sound registered with his brain. Felt it as Virgil's bones caved in completely and he felt the tiny Chao body in his hand go squish! right there in his grasp. Felt his tiny heartbeat rapidly slow into a complete stop. Felt blood from Virgil's mouth and the puncture marks on his body where bone was poking through splash onto his hand.
Sorun just stared. Stared at the broken, lifeless body being held in his hand. So limp and inanimate, like some... broken marionette.
"Virgil...?" Sorun murmured out, looking at the broken thing in his hand. That couldn't be Virgil, could it? It... looked like him. The silver, cylindrical horns, the blades on the arms, the blue coloring and wings. It was all there but Virgil wasn't supposed to look like a crushed corpse. He was supposed to be a living and healthy Chao, because... because things were supposed to be fine now. Sorun did all those things and went through so much because life was supposed to be normal now. Normal life didn't have crushed-up bodies like this.
He'd noticed movement, somewhere in the back of his mind. Saw from the corner of his eyes all the other the other Freedom Fighters arrive and stop just short of them, all of them seemingly frozen in shock. Sorun couldn't find himself acknowledging them. He heard muffled sounds of Snively and Regina saying something in some gloating tone, but it was all drowned out by the sound of Sorun's own heartbeat he felt thrumming in his ears.
All of it ignored. All of it. All he could focus on was the corpse of the Chao that slipped from his fingers and fell onto the grass beneath him. And the blood left on his hand. It was... sparkling. Tiny, miniscule motes of green light scattered across the blood.
There'd been so much Chaos energy inside of Virgil's blood, Sorun realized. Was so much. Energy that was suffusing into his body through the contact of blood on his skin.
"You really... were special... weren't you, Virgil...?" Sorun thought. Staring down at his hand with a detached, vacant stare as he felt the hand heal in all the wrong ways. Saw the skin split apart as true, organic bone began growing alongside the artificial, metal carpal bones already in his hand. And there simply wasn't any room - both the organic and artificial bones were tearing through the skin, ruining his hand from everything trying to fit in place. Turning the appendage into a mangled, unrecognizable mess of flesh and metal. He could see his own muscles squirming around it all like some mass of writhing tendrils as his body tried and failed to heal around all the metal in his hand. White blood flowing from the wound and slowly being replaced by red blood, mixing together into a pink substance dripping down and staining the grass.
The thought that this didn't hurt all that much didn't cross Sorun's mind, even though deep down he knew it should have been agonizing. But Virgil was right there, dead, with his blood on his hand, and it was all Sorun could think about. His body should be throbbing in pain from having been bitten by Cerberus, but Virgil was dead at his feet and his blood was all over Sorun. All his friends were screaming at Sorun and Snively and Regina were giving Sorun confused, disturbed looks because of his hand. But Virgil was dead and they made him kill him.
What did register with Sorun was that he could move a bit. For how much his hand was being ruined from the accidental regeneration that small boost of strength Virgil's blood gave him was letting him muscle through the servos in his skeleton.
"..." Sorun knelt down with more effort than he'd ever had to put into moving. Regina had pushed past the disgusted look on her face and made an intense frown, the glow around her hand intensifying. And he could hear the servos in his body straining, attempting to force him to move. And they were slowly gaining ground; whatever temporary strength that bit of blood afforded Sorun was rapidly fading. A few seconds more, at best.
He wanted to try and make it worth it. To get something out of the needless death. So Sorun reached down, placing his left hand on the gathering pool of blood growing around Virgil's corpse. Could feel all that power radiating out from the blood, all that Chaos energy that had been flowing inside of Virgil.
"... One more hit, buddy. I'll get one in for you," Sorun whispered out. For as much was there it wasn't nearly as much as what a Chaos Emerald provided. Surely not enough to make Yamato. Not one of his powers, likely. He needed something... weaker. Not as strong, not as powerful. Something that would last a couple seconds so he could get at least one single hit against the person who made him do this. He'd never felt a greater need to do anything in his entire life.
He made a decision. All that green light in Virgil's blood gathered around to a single point where Sorun's hand was resting above it. Forming a shape and solidifying into hard, cold steel. And Sorun pulled, tearing a claymore sword right out from that tiny puddle of blood, the screaming skull making up the hilt of the sword seemingly staring right at Regina who'd frozen in shock.
There hadn't been much thought put into Sorun's next action. It was less a thing he had to think about and more something he'd just done, almost automatically, on instinct. He'd used the last bit of strength his body had and reared his arm back, flipping the sword around in a reverse grip. And then he threw it - straight at Regina's face, with zero hesitation, with zero regard for the fact all his friends were watching.
The claymore sword sailed right past Regina's face. It hadn't been much power that constituted it, and it'd faded away before it even touched down on the ground, dissipating into motes of green light that quickly disappeared in the span of a second. But it'd done its job. Regina had screamed out, holding the left side of her face as blood poured between her fingers and down her hand. The edge of the sword had sliced right through her left eye and destroyed it completely.
"... Damn it..." It was the last thought Sorun managed to formulate as consciousness began to slip from him. He'd intended to take Regina's head off with that sword throw, maybe just skewer her face, but he'd only ended up taking an eye. The last thing he felt was nothing but bitter regret as he finally faded into unconsciousness.
Sorun didn't end up falling down. Regina still had a hold on his artificial skeleton; he passed out while standing up, upper torso limp and slumped over. It was a credit to her tenacity more than anything else, the woman pushing through the pain on sheer willpower to keep Sorun in her grasp.
"Regina!" This had been shouted out by Snively, who'd reached over to Regina in worry as she clutched her head in anguish. This had only caused Regina to lash out and hit Snively across the face, causing him to fall out of his chair and sprawl onto the grass.
"Don't touch me!" she screeched out, her hand going back to clutching at her face while the other one reached out towards Sorun. "That miserable vermin, he...! GAH!" Her one remaining eye looked at the Freedom Fighters all standing off to the side, some giving Sorun worried looks while others gave Regina and Snively furious looks. "And you all! Not one step or I'll have this wretch end himself!"
She flipped her hand around, causing Sorun's intact hand to fling up and grip around his own neck, threatening to snap it. It caused all the observing Mobians to flinch back, a few of which who'd been moving to step forwards freezing with hesitation and panic when they saw Sorun gripping his own throat. And then his unconscious body slowly started stumbling forwards, towards Regina and her floating chair.
"What the- stop it!" It was Sonic who'd been the first one to speak up in the group. He'd saw as Snively scrambled over to pick up the blue Emerald Sorun had dropped earlier. He'd wanted to move and stop him, but then he saw Sorun and how he was completely at Regina's mercy and stopped. The same reason nobody was stepping forward to help. "H-he's bleeding, look at him! He needs help! You can't just take him!" he shouted, pointing at the large gouge wounds on Sorun's torso.
"I most certainly can! And if you even think as to follow us you can guess what happens!" Regina shrieked at him, not even seeming to acknowledge Snively as he scampered back over to his own egg chair. "You, you all... this isn't over, not even nearly! When I come back I'll... I'll...!"
She didn't even get to finish, so wracked in pain she'd trailed off into an anguished sort of growl. At a snap of Regina's hand Sorun's body jumped up to the back of her chair, standing on the rim of the egg-like pod while his intact hand held onto the upper portion of the rim. His head, meanwhile, was still dipped down. Still unconscious to what his body was doing as the two chairs floated up and flew away, with everyone watching helpless to do anything.
Present
Where did it go wrong?
"..."
He was here. Snively. The person who'd done the most unforgiveable thing anyone had ever done to Sorun. It was the very first sign that Sorun had even displayed since being locked in this cell: he looked up. Looked up and just blankly stared at Snively.
"Ah, you're actually awake? From what the guards in this place have been saying I'd have figured you for a comatose vegetable, but then again who can rely on the observations of good-for-nothing animals, hmm...?" Snively hummed out, leaning close to the bars of the cell. He looked pleased with himself, overly smug. Like somebody who knew they'd just won everything and were on top of the world.
"..." Sorun blinked once, tilting his head at Snively as he stared back. The hate he felt for him was seconded only by the hate he felt for that woman. Or perhaps it was a reversed order, since she had been the one to force him to do the deed. He wasn't too sure.
He was sure of what he remembered, though. He'd made him beg. Him. Sorun losing hadn't been enough, he'd had to grind his pride into the ground along with it. Sorun hated it so much. Hated being in this position, hated his Chao was dead, hated everything Snively had done.
Was Snively where it went wrong? Was he just a product of the world outright refusing to finally give Sorun his peace? Was there even a distinction at this point? Or was it just because Sorun had pulled the stunt with the damn-
No. It wasn't his fault. Sorun had done nothing wrong. The world was wrong. Snively was wrong. Sorun wasn't.
"Er..." The smug look on Snively's face lowered somewhat when he saw Sorun just blankly staring at him in such a matter. Like he was being studied more than anything else. "In... any event, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that my dear Regina and I have finished occupying New Mobotropolis and... have been..." He trailed off, slowly growing more and more perturbed by the staring.
He'd taken everything Sorun had fought for and earned. Him - solely him. Snively. Because Snively was just another piece of this world that seemed to despise Sorun so much that he couldn't have something as simple and basic as a life. But Snively... he'd chosen to do what he'd done to Sorun. He'd chosen to take his dream away from him.
He made him lose.
"I'm starting to wonder if the others' reports about your state wasn't overblown after all," Snively mumbled out under his breath as he stepped back from the cell. Sorun's eyes followed him. "Well, whatever the case, as soon as we've polished things up here we'll be moving back to Yurashia. I'm sure my beloved Regina is all but eager to repay you for the grievous wound you inflicted on her. Ah, so many tools... the people in Yurashia are nothing if not creative."
"..."
Any smugness on Snively's face dropped off entirely at Sorun's blank staring. Now he just looked uncomfortable. "... Oh, forget it. You're taking all of the fun out of it," he grumbled out as he turned around and began walking off. "Maybe after we've subjected all your friends and turned them into drooling slaves you'll begin singing a different tune. Farewell for now, Sorun. I'll be sure we catch up more later in Yurashia."
"..." Sorun silently stared at Snively as he left. Even as he left the small prison and closed the door behind him, leaving Sorun completely alone, he continued to stare after him.
A/N- In a weird way the story was in a really good spot when I took that large break, since this chapter was the turning point where the tone for the rest of the story completely shifts. So there's that much, at least.