Recursion Error
Episode 106- We die a little every day
Something was thrown into Sorun's cell.
Sorun's eyes slowly flickered open. He wasn't sure how long he'd been chained up in here - a day, two at most, he wagered. In this dingy, dark cell in this holding area. Such were the conditions that the object that had been thrown into the cell at his feet was glaringly obvious to see: a large, blue gem that glowed with an intense, blue light. A Chaos Emerald. His Chaos Emerald.
"..." Sorun slowly tilted his head up. Beyond the bars of the cell there was only one single figure. A cybernetic echidna head, suspended in a clear, floating ball with multiple mechanical tentacles jutting from it. Dimitri was unmistakenly recognizable, but at the moment Sorun just felt so mind-numbingly empty at the moment that he didn't even know what to feel or how to react.
"... Well, I see the auto-coagulating effects of the artificial blood have proven to be effective, at the very least," Dimitri remarked, his gaze going down to the large puncture marks at Sorun's sides that still dully throbbed - they'd ceased bleeding long ago. His tone was clear and even, that mechanical twang still behind his voice as he spoke. "I was quite worried about that. The effects had never been tested on non-echidna bodies-"
"What is this?" Sorun interrupted. His voice sounded hollow, quiet and scratchy. Nearly broken from how quiet he spoke.
"The... Chaos Emerald that was brought along with you," Dimitri carefully answered, seemingly thinking Sorun had been referring to that. "They had it under tight lock and key, but with my credentials-"
"I know what it is, you moron," Sorun breathed out, tired eyes still looking up at Dimitri. "Why are you giving it to me?" Because as far as he knew the Dark Legion echidna fell in with Snively and his Yurashia lot. And Dimitri was included in that.
"Ah." The expression on Dimitri's features lowered slightly. A slow, rattling sigh left him, his head bubble lowering a bit in elevation so he could look Sorun in the eyes. "Before I explain, let me speak plainly and inform you that I was not informed of the Iron Queen's ambitions of world domination before the Dark Legion was folded into the Iron Dominion's forces. It was my understanding operations would strictly be kept to Yurashia territory and no further outside of its boundaries. It was my assumption that the woman and Snively would be satisfied ruling over an entire continent." He made another sigh. "It seems... I was mistaken. On all accounts."
"..." Sorun paused to consider Dimitri's words. Due to the complete and utter lack of any other thoughts going through his head, Sorun managed to reach his conclusion to Dimitri's words after only a few short seconds. "I'd have believed that... if you hadn't said all that before I even mentioned anything on the matter."
Dimitri didn't visibly react. His expression, however, did fall further. "... I was directly in the center of the Republic of Acorn's capital city when we spoke of this, Sorun. I needed to say what I said for the sake of my people. For your sake, too, lest you forget."
"Your 'help' is the reason someone dear to me is dead and I'm in here," Sorun blankly replied, not even hesitating in speaking his mind as he looked down at his right hand. Still mangled and torn from the mix of real and artificial bone bursting out from the skin and muscles. All the exposed bits of meat were dark and cold, the edges of torn skin beginning to turn black. He was fairly certain it turned gangrene a while ago.
Dimitri looked down at Sorun's hand along with him, a pang of sympathy spreading over his face. "... I'm sorry," he stated simply, looking back at Sorun's face. And Sorun himself reacted by blinking once, because he could tell Dimitri was actually telling the truth. There was more emotion in that phrase than he'd ever heard from him every time he spoke. "The motors I installed within your skeleton were to assist with locomotive efforts, both in recovery and when you... began to deteriorate. I never imagined it would be used against you, Sorun, I... sincerely was trying to help."
"..." Sorun found himself believing him this time. And begrudgingly he would admit the cybernetics had been helping him immensely, right up until the end there. He could accept Dimitri genuinely did mean well.
There was still the matter of the Chaos Emerald sitting in his cell, though. Why Dimitri was giving it to him.
"Answer the question of why this is in here with me," Sorun said, patience rapidly wearing thin. "Is this really you flipping against Regina and the rest?"
"That would imply our interests were ever aligned to begin with," Dimitri muttered, expression morphing into a bitter one. "I'd told you the only reason I allowed the Dark Legion to be absorbed into the Iron Dominion was on the contingent that Regina use her abilities to remove the bombs that had been implanted in our cybernetics. But she didn't." Some of the metallic tendrils extending from Dimitri's head ball flailed around a bit, as if especially aggravated. "She told me right to my face that the devices' construction was 'far too advanced' to be safely removed without detonation, as if she couldn't just deactivate them entirely with a wave of her hand. She and Snively offered us inhibitor chips to be implanted that would block an activation signal of the bombs' trigger, as if they just expected me to trust such things weren't sabotaged in some way. Or used as leverage against us."
"You're surprised?" It's the only thing Sorun could think to say in order to react to what he heard. There wasn't any surprise on his face, no shock, not so much as a single twitch of a micro expression on his face. After what Snively had done to Sorun, to him, such a thing sounded completely in line with him. Deep down he was almost even irritated at Dimitri for not having expected such a betrayal.
"... I shouldn't be," Dimitri sighed out, the tentacles growing limp and hanging down. "It was my ultimate desire above all else to help my people and they reneged on their promise. I don't feel obligated to display any more loyalty to them when they've shown me none in return."
He paused, red, mechanical eyes looking down at the blue Chaos Emerald sitting in Sorun's cage. "You never reneged when I asked for your aid," he mumbled out. "I realize neither of us is the other's most favorite person. I realize you had your own reasons and didn't do it out of the kindness of your heart. The fact remains after a lifetime of having to second guess every single ally and acquaintance of mine, having to have weathered betrayal after betrayal... well. To say it plain I just appreciated you 'playing it straight' with me, as it were."
"..." Sorun's eyes went down to the Chaos Emerald sitting at his feet. "So this is what? Gratitude? Revenge against Regina and Snively?"
"Perhaps both of those. Perhaps more. Truthfully, this is just something I felt like doing," Dimitri confessed to Sorun. "I heard what happened besides. I won't... pretend to understand you well enough to know what's going on through your head, what you might be thinking of doing. But if that second meeting of ours had any indication..." Dimitri paused, head swiveling off to a random direction. "... I'd rather not have my echidna brothers and sister be trapped under the yolk of the Iron Dominion."
"You are making a lot of assumptions," Sorun quietly said. He made a short breath. It was whatever in the end. Dimitri's motivations and reasons didn't matter much to Sorun when the key to his liberation, to everything, was literally right there at his feet. And he'd rather take it while he could before something came along to rip this chance away.
He lifted his boot up and rested it on top of the Emerald, instantly feeling its connection. A blue, spectral blade appeared hovering in the air, shooting forwards and directly impacting the shackle holding Sorun's intact arm up. It flopped down to his side, feeling completely numb after having been forced to be held up for so long.
"E-egh..." Sorun did his best to ignore the numb, tingling sensation crawling up his left limb as he pulled the Emerald towards him with his leg. It skittered forward across the floor, landing in his hand where it shortly transmuted into the Yamato there after. And afterwards Sorun just stared at it.
There it was. Freedom. Freedom and... everything else, right there in his hand. So many possibilities all of a sudden that it was dizzying to Sorun. What did he even do now? Now that he had this? What were his options, the best course of action?
"... One thing at a time," Sorun thought to himself. He lifted the katana up, letting the blade rest in his lap as he stared down at it consideringly. "... Leave," he told Dimitri, not bothering to look up at him.
A surprised sound left Dimitri. "Pardon me?"
"The doorway. To the holding area," Sorun elaborated, still staring down at the blade. "Do me the favor of keeping a lookout, would you? I need some time for this next part." He paused, looking towards his defunct right hand. "And it won't be a pretty sight besides."
"I... see." Dimitri seemed like he wanted to argue, but upon hearing Sorun's tone - that eerily calm, commanding tone - he thought differently and hovered off. Sorun watched him until he'd disappeared beyond the doorway, and then sighed out once he left.
"Right... right." Sorun maintained a firmer grip on the sword's handle with his left hand as he looked down at his right arm. So many things were supposed to go right once he'd gotten this thing. An end to his sickness, a doorway to his new life. Now he couldn't help but think of this metal thing inside him with thoughts full of nothing but contempt and disdain. He couldn't stand it being inside of him. It was just a constant reminder of everything that had happened and he wanted it gone.
He couldn't heal his arm like this with it in the way besides. Or anything else that was wrong with him.
"..." No thoughts ran through Sorun's mind as he sluggishly removed all of the clothing on his torso, tossing it all haphazardly to the floor. There wasn't anything to think about the fact that everything was going so terribly wrong. That everything was ruined and he didn't even know what to think about it, let alone do. What does he do with the fact his entire world came crashing down? Again?
He didn't even so much as flinch when he rose Yamato up to his right shoulder and used it to cleanly cut his entire arm off, eyes still staring blankly ahead with a thousand-yard stare.
It'd been about ten minutes that Dimitri had been standing behind the entrance to the holding area before he'd heard two distinct sounds behind him: slow, uneven footsteps, and the metallic scraping sound of something being dragged along the metal floor.
"Sorun?" Dimitri had turned around towards the source of the noise, floating back a bit further in. He'd only made it a few feet before something was tossed down onto the ground in front of Dimitri: a metallic skeleton, missing a few pieces and a limb as if it'd been removed in pieces at a time. Sparking at various points from where it was damaged and leaking white, artificial blood as it laid there on the ground.
Dimitri had just floated there, staring in shock at the sight. The unexpected nature of it and how he was just confused at just seeing it there. And then his eyes traveled up to Sorun, standing in front of him. He was lightly panting, as if just having gone through some tremendous effort. Mouth hanging open as he breathed heavily and looked at Dimitri, physically looking no worse for wear. Even his beyond-damaged right hand from earlier looked completely healed over.
"I tore out your garbage skeleton and grew my own back," Sorun panted out, shoulders moving up and down slightly as he stared at Dimitri. There was a massive pool of white blood and a severed arm behind him from the cell he'd come out from - the artificial blood he'd used Yamato to separate from his body so he could use the Chaos Emerald to regenerate his real blood.
It hadn't been an easy task to use Yamato to remove his whole skeleton. It'd been painful. Arduous. Somehow throughout it all Sorun couldn't bring himself to overly care all that much. His brain felt like it was in a constant flux now that he was moving around and doing things. If he wasn't thinking about anything he was just flashing back to prior events in New Mobotropolis, of how he'd felt that tiny body in his hand just die so suddenly, how his own demon had bitten down on him and crippled him, that damn mocking laughter he'd been forced to endure.
No. He hadn't been able to really think about the pain as he removed his skeleton and grew the real thing back.
"..." Dimitri seemed shocked by what Sorun said. There even seemed to be a few moments where he just floated there in place as if trying to figure out how Sorun had accomplished what he said. And yet, the proof was right there on the floor: the artificial skeleton. And Sorun standing there just fine as if possessing a skeleton already.
Eventually he just sighed in acceptance, looking back up at Sorun. "You're not long for life without that," he reminded him.
"I don't care anymore," Sorun mumbled out. There was a small part in the back of his mind that stirred in panic at hearing that, but he ignored it. He just couldn't bring himself to care about about something as inconsequential as his life expectancy of all things given everything that was immediately happening. "Besides," he murmured out, "can't have the crazy lady controlling me again," he added, as if an afterthought to quell the distressed parts of his mind.
"Be that as it may, you... agh. As you will," Dimitri mumbled out as he saw Sorun's breathing slowly come more and more under control. He paused at seeing the expression on Sorun's face. He looked thoroughly beaten, lost. Eyes vacant as if there were barely even any thoughts running through his head.
"... What are your intentions now?" Dimitri hesitantly asked.
"I don't know," he admitted. What even did he do now? What was there to do? He glanced down at his hand holding the Yamato - if he really wanted to there was nothing stopping him from just opening a portal and going back home right now. But what did he even say to anyone that saw him? And what-
Sorun blinked once. Invasion. He'd almost forgotten. "What's going in in New Mobotropolis?" he asked, looking back towards Dimitri.
"It isn't ideal, I'll tell you that upfront," Dimitri began. There was a grave sort of undertone to his voice that had Sorun on edge for some reason; the feeling made him uneasy. "The Iron Queen brought over significant numbers from each of the conquered Yurashia clans over here to Northamer. Half remain here in the Egg Dome, which they commandeered following Eggman's... psychotic break." Dimitri hummed, head bubble turning a bit to the side. "Speaking of which, from what I hear the addled fiend escaped his own confinement from here some time ago, directly underneath Snively's nose. I'm unsure of what came of him."
"..." Sorun inhaled a deep breath. "There's too much happening for me to think about that," he decided, expression growing even more withered as he shook his head. "Just... tell me where everyone is."
"That, I couldn't give you a concise answer of," Dimitri confessed. "Half of the Iron Dominion's forces remained here in the Egg Dome to be held in reserve while the other half were moved to New Mobotropolis to aid in the invasion. Which by itself has been going... well for the Iron Dominion. Last I heard."
"... Well, huh?" Sorun murmured out, eyes drifting down towards the floor. The news should have been more impactful to Sorun. It should have, should have felt like a spike going through his chest, he knew it was supposed to feel terrible. But after everything that had happened hearing that his new home was being successfully subjugated just felt like a dull thud he could barely register.
"I believe I heard word of the Iron Queen and Snively planning on subjecting the populace to forced cybernetic augmentation. Mentions neural reconfiguration and lobotomies... it's echidna technology that Lien-Da and the other Dark Legion echidna stationed over in New Mobotropolis are assisting them with."
There was another dull throb that Sorun felt in his chest. It was worse than mere subjugation. It was a worse, more crude version of the roboticization that Eggman had subjected people to this world in the past. It sounded like a bad parody of things he'd seen in video games he'd played in the past. It didn't even sound real.
And yet he wasn't even surprised. Sorun wished he was surprised. Wished that hearing all these horrible things created more of a reaction out of him, that the images of all the friends of acquaintances he knew in New Mobotropolis flashing through his head, the images his brain was conjuring to make them half-metal cyborgs with vacant, thoughtless expressions, elicited more reaction out of him than the dull throbs he felt to his heart that he barely even felt. Like a body going numb from suffering so many punches to the point that he didn't even feel the punches anymore.
Numb. That's how Sorun felt hearing all these things, he realized. No horror, revulsion, outrage and fury, sadness and grief or worry over everyone he'd grown so close with. Just numb acceptance to it all, like it was routine, to be expected. Was the world really so bad he just expected things like this now? Was he just used to all the horror?
He didn't know what to do with that.
"The others doing anything about it?" Sorun mumbled out, eyes still on the floor. He couldn't believe nothing was being done about it. For all the bad constants of this world there was at least a few good constants as well.
Dimitri paused. "I... have no knowledge whatsoever of whatever it is the Freedom Fighters may or may not be planning," he admitted. He was speaking carefully now. Overly carefully, as if he were afraid of saying something that would upset Sorun. "Any attempts by the local populace of wresting back control of the city has proven to be unsuccessful due to Regina using her abilities to... leverage the city's security measures against the people," he said, sounding uncomfortable as he turned his head away from Sorun's gaze. "The AI system was unable to resist-"
"Just say her name. I got the meaning," Sorun interrupted, blinking once as he looked down at the floor. He meant Nicole. He meant to imply that Regina used the same tech-controlling powers she'd used on him on Nicole. And at her basest level Nicole was technology. The entire city that was made of nanites was technology. Like it should even be any wonder Regina managed to take it over so fast.
Sorun picked his head up. Hearing from Dimitri that Nicole had just been taken over by Regina felt different than all the other news he'd heard so far. It wasn't just another dull ache - that voice in his head that had been steering him on had suddenly gone eerily silent. He didn't like it. He didn't like this unfamiliar silence. He didn't like any of this news, of any of this happening, he didn't...
He hated all this so much...
"I've heard enough. Stop it." Sorun made a short breath, expression still set in an exhausted, morose appearance. "Regina and Snively. Would they be here... or New Mobotropolis?"
"They go back and forth between here and there to coordinate efforts between split forces, I can't say for certain their current... if it were here I would assume they'd be in the throne room they converted the Egg Dome's command center into, but I-" Dimitri cut himself off, continuing to look up at Sorun and the way he just looked do slumped forward and tired. "What are your intentions, Sorun?" he repeated.
"Who knows. I'm not sure myself." Sorun sighed out, looking down at the sword in his hand. Simply going home and waiting for the Freedom Fighters to do something so it all blew over... it didn't really seem like an option now with the city under siege. With everything just... going so wrong. What could he do?
The dim lights in the holding cell glimmered off the sheen of Yamato's blade. Were certainly options. A few, at least. Sorun just... didn't know what to do with them. But he had to do something. With what Dimitri just said it gave Sorun the impression he didn't have forever to deliberate, and somewhere deep in his heart there was a small sense of urgency to make a decision quickly before more people were irrevocably lost.
Before all that, though, Sorun realized he needed to decide what he'd do with Dimitri right over here.
"... I should kill you." The words came out as matter-of-fact as Sorun looked towards Dimitri, staring at him dispassionately. "But... twice now you've saved my life. So where do you want to go?"
"Eh...?" There'd been a brief moment where panic writ itself on Dimitri's mechanical features, the head bubble he was in floating back. And then he paused at Sorun's words, seeming more confused than anything else as he heard his words. "Go... wh-what do you-?"
"Yamato. I can make portals with it," he reminded Dimitri, holding the sword up halfway. "You can't exactly stay here, having just busted me out and all. I don't imagine a lot of people had access to where they were storing the Chaos Emerald they took from me." He made a small sigh, looking towards the doorway to the holding area. "Then again... who knows if it matters. If I..."
He cut himself off, shaking his head. "Just pick somewhere. You can't stay here."
"I-I don't..." Dimitri stammered out, almost seeming like he was cut off by the question. As if he hadn't even stopped to consider what he'd do after he freed Sorun. "I'm not... entirely sure," he confessed. "I don't exactly have refuges set up in the event of something like this. I've nowhere to go."
"... Then go to my place. Hide under the bed or something, I don't know." Sorun made a single slice in the air, a small portal forming in front of the both of them. "Just don't touch any of my stuff." He paused. "... Take one of the books if you want. But put it back after."
"That's... generous." Dimitri seemed taken aback by the offer, genuine surprise showing on his face. He looked back and forth between the portal and Sorun, some of his mechanical tentacles twitching in an uncertain manner. "Sorun, regarding... whatever you decide doing, regarding the echidna who allied-"
"Do not. Just don't, Dimitri," Sorun said, shaking his head. "I'm not putting any thought towards them whatsoever, as far as I'm concerned they're all the same to me. Just leave already before I change my mind."
"... I understand." Dimitri made a resigned sound and turned around, floating through the portal. Sorun barely even waited a second after he disappeared before he slashed the sword again, closing the portal and leaving Sorun alone. Completely alone in this holding area.
The first thing Sorun did was walk over towards the nearest wall. He pressed his back against it, slowly sliding down into a sitting position as a long, weary sigh left him.
"I feel like I'm falling apart," he whispered under his breath, holding his free hand up to his head. It all seemed too cruel to be real, as if it were just some fever-driven nightmare he was experiencing. How every facet of his life just seemed to be... unraveling right before his eyes. All so soon, all so suddenly. Without any warning whatsoever. It made Sorun's head spin, how unreasonably fast it all crumbled away.
What was he even supposed to do about all of it? Could he even do something? Should he? Sorun's own thoughts felt like such a mess of a whirlwind he could barely think, let alone reason with himself over what he was supposed to do.
He heard a small sniffle from besides him. Laconically, Sorun's head listed off to the side, where he saw himself sitting besides him against the wall. Legs pulled up to his chest with his face pressed up against his knees. Sorun didn't know what to make of the sight. It was unfamiliar, strange-looking. He wasn't used to seeing such a sight.
Eventually, the other Sorun rose his head up from his knees to look at Sorun. He was a miserable sight, both in the state he was in and how he was conveying himself with his expression. Sad and anguished beyond all belief, and past all that just tired. "I'm sorry," he whispered out to Sorun.
"..." Sorun blinked once. "What...?"
"I just... I tried so hard, you know?" he murmured out, shuffling a bit in place as he stared ahead. "I tried so hard to steer us onto what I thought was the right path. A normal life - just living in peace. I thought it would be the perfect fix-all for everything. And so many times..." He thumped his head back against the wall, making an invisible sound only Sorun could ever hear. "So many times I held you back from doing things because I thought it was the right thing to do. That this place, these people we'd come to befriend and ingratiate ourselves with... they all had a way of doing things. And if we followed those ways everything would be fine. Everyone was strong, they could take care of things, and until now it'd been working..."
He sounded so frustrated. Defeated. Like all the hope and belief had been ripped right out of him and all that was left was confusion and despair. It's exactly how Sorun felt.
"... But no. This world just... evidently fucking sucks. We could do every single little thing completely right and make no mistakes, but because this place is filled with megalomaniacs with god complexes or powers or whatever the hell else, it just... it doesn't stop!" A few tears ran down the other Sorun's face as he ran a hand through his hair. "How many times!? It's insanity! Over and over, one after another, no matter how many times we keep fighting and things keep settling down, it's just... it just keeps happening."
A slow, long-suffering sigh left him as his hand limply flopped down to his side. "Now people are dying," he murmured, visibly deflating from where he sat against the wall. "Virgil will never come back. He's just... gone forever. Other people, people we know, might be gone forever because of the borg bullshit Dimitri was talking about. I can't do it anymore."
"..." Sorun made a slow blink while looking at Sorun. "What are you-?"
"I was wrong. Alright? I was... I thought, that if we just kept to everyone else's standards and played along with the status quo that everything would work out again like it always did. That we could calm down and settle up all peacefully, so things would be fine and I wouldn't have to worry about everything falling apart, but it isn't working, none of it's working, none of it will work. So I'm done. I'm..."
Sorun trailed off, making a few choked breaths. And then he turned towards Sorun, shuffling towards him until he was right in front of him. Leaning forwards and placing his hands on Sorun's shoulders. Sorun made a confused sound, staring right at Sorun with an unsure expression.
"It's gotten to the point where things are happening that can't be undone and I just don't have it in me to steer you straight anymore and keep us from falling apart," Sorun admitted in a sad, anguished voice. "I've been trying to do both at once for so long and it's been running everything so ragged, I can't, and... and at this point I'm not even sure this world will let me steer us to some peaceful resolution while appeasing everyone around us at the same time. And it's what I want. I want so, so badly for you to just be... happy. All I've done is try everything in my power to give us a life that'll give you that. But this world just won't let it happen.
"So I'm not gonna try anymore. I'm not gonna... have your mind crumble away trying over and over again trying to appease everyone else's standards of what's right and wrong when it's not even gonna fucking matter in the end. It just doesn't work and we can't anymore. I'm sorry. That's just... how it is."
"..." Sorun continued to stare at the other Sorun. He didn't react at all when his hands slid over his shoulders so that his arms could wrap around his neck and tightly hug him against him. A choked sort of sob leaving the other Sorun before he spoke again.
"S-so I'm... I'm gonna go. Okay? I'm gonna go. I'm gonna leave you alone so I can just focus on making sure everything in this head doesn't fall to pieces, alright?" Sorun mumbled out, stroking a hand over the back of Sorun's head and through his hair. "I'm not gonna try and tell you what to do anymore. That's on you now."
"H-hey-" Sorun began to protest. He stopped when the other Sorun moved his hands back to his shoulders, leaning his head forwards so that both of their foreheads were touching.
"Forget what other people think, alright?" he said. "Forget what our friends think, what the Freedom Fighters think, what anyone else thinks. You should just do whatever it is you think is the right thing to do. Because their way just doesn't work. Because the world doesn't care about us, so we shouldn't care what it thinks." Sorun leaned his head back, looking Sorun right in the eyes as he squeezed down on his shoulders. "I'm gonna take care of everything in here, alright?" He poked his forehead. "So you take care of everything out here. However you think is best. And if that means you wanna go and start killing... go for it, man. Just go for it."
"..." A slow breath slowly left Sorun as he looked up at himself. "I don't want you to leave," he said, voice quiet and hollow. Everything was so hard already. Too hard for Sorun to take it without having another voice to help him through it all. "I-I don't want to be alone."
"You'll be fine," Sorun assured Sorun, voice cracked and broken. "Whatever happens... you'll be you. Alright? Whatever decision you make, however you choose to go forwards from here on out, it'll be the right thing to do because you said it was. Don't listen to anyone else. We can't do that anymore," he said, breathing shaking as he released Sorun's shoulders. "Make your own right. It's all this world's gonna allow. And you..." His eyes drifted down towards the sword Sorun held, laying in his lap. "... You got the power to make all that happen. So do whatever you want."
"..." Sorun looked down at Yamato, his own reflection gleaming off the flat end of the katana. He made it sound so easy. It... would be easy. Whether it was something Sorun actually wanted or not was...
... He never even thought about it. To have a peaceful life without worries with all his friends - that was all he had wanted. To just... live and not worry. That was the one, sole thing Sorun wanted above all else. And he was right. He didn't even know if the world would let him have something like that. At the very least, it was becoming more and more clear that his current way of doing things just wasn't cutting it. Something had to change.
Maybe it was just him that needed to change.
"..." Sorun looked back up. There was nobody there. Just him, alone. Sitting there with his back against the wall. Just him and his sword. Sorun tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, a slow breath leaving him. "It's quiet." A beat passed as he continued staring upwards. "... I don't like it."
He wasn't sure how long he sat there thinking. Maybe minutes, maybe an hour or two. Sorun just... sat there. Thinking, once in a while tapping at the sword resting in his lap. About what to do, and how to proceed forwards. Empty ideas bouncing around his completely empty head, because the more Sorun deliberated on it the more and more he realized there was really only one thing he wanted to do. He wanted to save his home so he could go back to living peacefully. And he didn't want to have to think about or worry about people hurting it anymore. He just wanted to fix things.
"Hey! Hey you!"
Sorun's eyes lazily drifted forwards. It was... one of them. One of those Yurashia Mobians who had been guarding him. A lynx-looking one dressed like a ninja. The bodysuit with bits of armor and weapons strapped to his body and everything. He saw Sorun was outside of his cell and was running towards him, drawing the single-edged straight sword that was strapped to his back.
"..." Sorun grasped Yamato and slashed it outwards. It cut through the lynx's legs with absolutely zero resistance, cleanly enough that the resulting blood spatter made a crescent shape in the floor behind him.
The lynx screamed out. Sword clattering onto the ground as he fell onto his back, face twisted in pain as his arms automatically grabbed at one of the stumps of his leg. The screaming was cut off when Sorun's sword stabbed into the ground right next to his head, causing his eyes to snap open and fear overtake his expression when he saw Sorun kneeling above him, hand on the handle of the sword.
"W-wait, wait!" he pleaded out. Sorun twisted the sword stabbing into the ground, the blade's edge pointing towards the Mobian's neck now. "No no no, wait, please-!"
Sorun pushed the sword down on an angle, right onto the Mobian's neck. Like a paper cutter slicing through a sheaf of papers. Or a guillotine. His head was instantly severed from the rest of his body, a single whispery gasp leaving the lynx before he went completely still and silent. Dead.
"..." Sorun tilted his head down at the corpse in a curious manner. It was so easy. Just like that, just... just gone. He could keep doing that, no problem. With Yamato he could...
Yamato.
"..." He looked down at the sword in his hand. With this, sure. He could solve all of this no problem. But the issue was this was all Sorun had, and he'd never absorbed this Chaos Emerald in consideration of his own health, never permanently bound it to himself. And if he dropped it or one of these people somehow wrenched it from his grasp, that would be it. He'd be captured again and there would be no Dimitri to bail him out a second time. He needed more than this. He needed...
Sorun's eyes glanced down at the lynx's body. The blood seeping out from where he'd severed his head from his shoulders. For a brief moment he'd recalled the last time he'd been captured. That coyote, that not-Antoine whose blood accidentally got into Sorun's mouth. One single tiny drop of blood chock-full of Chaos energy because, from what he could see, every single Mobian in existence was a walking reservoir of power. He hadn't wanted to indulge at the time because of how wrong it seemed. How inhuman.
Now he just didn't care anymore. He wanted to save his home. Forget everything else.
Sorun reached down and grasped the severed head sitting on the floor. He lifted it above his head, watching as the blood dripped from the severed part of his neck and towards the floor. There'd been zero hesitation on Sorun's part, not second-thoughts, nothing. Just utter silence in Sorun's own head as he opened his mouth and let the blood drip into Sorun's mouth-
His eyes widened, pupils blowing out slightly as the taste hit him.
He remembered one of his earliest birthdays where his mother gave him that one drink. He was... fairly certain it was just normal store-bought tea with an unreasonable amount of sugar put inside of it because he, as a picky child, hadn't liked how normal tea tasted. Maybe it wasn't the best parenting, what his mother had done with that tea just so Sorun could stomach it. Or maybe she'd just made an exception that one time due to it being his birthday. Maybe it was still an irresponsible choice due to how young he'd been at he time.
Sorun himself hadn't cared at the time. It was a time where he'd been absolutely immersed in love to the point that half of that celebration had just been his own mother holding him. The sheer warmth of that time was a feeling he was never able to really replicate. But now he was so keenly reminded of that time he couldn't help but feel those emotions wash over him again.
He remembered that diner he'd go to with his friends. That tiny, quaint, rinky-dink little diner with the shitty burgers that Dave just adored for whatever reason. But the fries had been the best in the city, at least as far as Sorun was concerned. And there was just something about that in-house cola they sold that made it better than any other soda Sorun had ever drunken. He didn't know what the owner put in that stuff. An unreasonable amount of sugar, maybe. Sorun just remembered tasting it reminded him of all the times he and his friends would go there. Celebrating something, maybe Sorun winning a game tournament or whatever. A holiday, someone else's accomplishment. Just... hanging out. Really, they used every single little excuse they could all find to go to that place as much as possible.
And that soda. That damn soda would be there every time, because Sorun was practically addicted to it. And he'd never cared. Those days drinking that soda that was likely stripping years off his life was just a reminder of all the good times he'd had in that place, with those he cared about more than anything else. It tasted like home.
That Mobian blood tasted exactly like all of that. Like over-sugared tea that tasted of warmth and love. Of sugary soft drinks that tasted like home. It tasted like all that and more.
Laughing.
Sorun didn't even know when it was he'd stood up, running his hand through his black hair streaked with strands of white. He was fairly certain he'd been so overwhelmed with how mind-numbingly good that blood tasted he'd blacked out for a moment or two, because the next time he became aware of his surroundings he was standing up above the fresh corpse he'd made. Laughing and giggling, staring down at the body as feelings of absolute bliss coursed through him.
"Everything feels so great," Sorun thought to himself, looking down at his hands. The fingers on his right hand were... blackened, with dark scales and hide appearing in place of the skin on his fingers, and the nails elongating into sharp claws. And more than that he felt good. Strong and light. Not quite to the extent Devil's Body made him feel, but it was a similar sensation nonetheless, if less so. All from just a few mouthfuls of that blood.
And he was laughing, he realized. Quiet, breathy giggling that he couldn't help let out because of how strong he felt and that blissful taste lingering in his mouth. His home was being invaded and people were being hurt and he was here laughing, he realized. The absolute absurdity of it caused Sorun to run his clawed hand down his face from the absurdity of it all, deep lines being cut into his flesh that sealed shut and completely healed moments later.
"... Man." Sorun's hands dropped down to his side, a final breathy laugh terminating into a sigh as his head tilted up to the ceiling. A small, near-delirious smile on his face. "I think... yeah. I'm just gonna kill everyone."
It could work. He could do it, with power like this coursing through him and a sword that could cut through anything.
Green-glowing eyes flickered to the ground. He'd ended up dropping the sword at one point and now the Chaos Emerald was lying down on the ground, he'd reached for it, but then stopped when he saw his right hand reaching out towards the gem. "Left one," he decided, grabbing the Emerald with his left hand and transmuting it into the sword while leaving that clawed right hand open.
"..." He looked towards the open entranceway to the holding cell that lead off to the rest of this place. A last single laugh left Sorun as he ran towards it, clawed fingers scraping grooves into the metal wall as he ran past.
A/N- In which I'm gonna have to turn this story's rating from a T to an M after I upload the next chapter. Which honestly with some stuff that's happened earlier in story I probably should have already, but eh.