Chapter Text
Sonic stared down at the edge of the cavern, where the earth had cracked and split under brutal hands that now mocked his team with an unfeeling, unremorseful laugh. Rain flooded downwards from dark clouds above and thunder cracked overhead, he felt almost sick to his stomach like one gust of air could push him over the edge, both physically and mentally. But no words came out of his mouth, or tears out of his ears, while everyone around him sobbed and wailed, screamed out in anger or completely lost themselves in hysterical laughter, Sonic just fell to his knees. He couldn't save anyone this time. The world he and his friends worked so hard to protect was ending, and the only solution….
Even Eggman stood behind Sonic, not speaking a word, he looked remorseful, guilty ,
it's not good to hold a grudge, especially in certain death,
Robotnik held his hand out to the hedgehog, Sonic at first looked somewhat surprised, , so he propped himself up, and shook the doctor's hand.
“Sonic-” tails said as he approached the pair, wiping his eyes dry “i think i have a solution… but we don't have much time”
Tails walked off, looking over his shoulder silently asking Sonic to follow , the hedgehog only nodded in response, then turning to eggman, “c’mon”
“...sure”
The villain still cackled at the group, sitting atop rocks that spiralled high into the sky , like a throne, jagged and steep, they had won this was their chariot, their reward.
Whatever those puny heroes had to stop them would be useless, they had already tried over and over again, just to be crushed. It was fun, seeing the determination slowly fade as they tried, but now the world would crumble, at their own hand, this multiverse wiped like the rest, leaving an empty space they could mould to their own desire.
“Go on you “heros” go try another plan, i'm reeeeally sure it will work this time” they took a moment to laugh at their own joke “whatever you have planned, i'm always ready”
Tails picked up the pace, almost running, fueled by the rage of the nonstop mockery, rushing towards their last resort, the only chance they had. The chaos emeralds.
Knuckles sat at the bottom of the master emerald, almost clinging to it, he knew that, as the world was ending, he had failed at his one purpose , he sobbed, knowing he failed his long gone tribe.
“Knuckles-” tails said as he approached, somewhat hesitantly seeing the state his friend was in,
“What is it , fox, another Plan ? Just for us to get defeated again? I want none of it, i’d much prefer to spend my last moments here, sobbing at the feet of my failure then have my spirits crushed again by that monster! ” tails looked down at his feet , ashamed and knuckles comment
“Hey back off knucklehead! Look, Tails is trying his best alright? This isn't easy for anyone” Sonic growled at his friend, “Everyones upset alright? Don't be angry with us because we're trying”
“Oh and i'm not trying?” Knuckles retorted angrily
“Knuckles i didn't say that-”
“Whatever i know what your here for, just take the emeralds and go, keep me out of it” Knuckles snapped, as he shoved the emeralds into sonic's hands, turning away from him and sitting back at his post
Sonic solemnly nodded as he and tails walked away,
“He's hurt, try not to take it personally tails” Sonic reassured his friend as they walked “ i know.. “
“Anyway, what was your plan? Want me and shads to go super and beat him up?” Sonic said trying to lighten the mood
“We already tried that, we tried almost everyone's super form, and hyper form, but i have another idea”
Sonic looked at him, puzzled, but not untrusting, tails knew what he was doing.
Robotnik finally caught up to the pair, out of breath, not used to running so far so fast
“Jeez…..you really oughta….. Slow down sometime….”
“Sorry eggman, we forget you where--”
“Human?” he replied with a raised eyebrow, still wheezing
“Yeah- guess that happens when the majority of your friends are anthropomorphic animals” Sonic shrugged
“Anyway- I was thinking, the chaos emeralds respond to thoughts and transform them into power right? Well, what if we all came together, and used the emeralds to wish for the universe to… reset”
Sonic and eggman looked at eachother, concerned, tails noted that and clarified
“Look, their just gonna try again if we wish for the universe back to the way it was and their magic would obviously be too powerful to just wish to undo, from my calculation the only chance we have is ny resetting the timeline, we’d all be reborn into new lives, and maybe have a chance to remember this life-”
“Tails, are you sure this is the only way?” Sonic quizzed
“Positive, we've basically already tried every other option..”
“ Id also have to agree” robotnik chimed in “ i've been running algorithms over some decisions as well and found nothing else”
Sonic sighed
“I don't wanna put this world to waste, I don't want it to all have been for nothing, all the times we've saved the world? I want to guarantee I'll remember, in some way…”
Tails thought for a moment, then had an idea
“I think there's a way we can do that but we gotta be fast.. Obviously time is ticking”
They explained to everyone else the plan, at first hesitant they all agreed it was the least they could do. So they prepared their goodbyes, and one last gift to the new world they would create.
“Ok, we have to do this, now, is everyone ready?” tails explained, holding tight onto the emeralds, “We can't waste any more time”
Most everyone nodded, nervously.
Knuckles was still hurt, angry, but he knew this was for the better.
Everyone they could gather held onto or close to the emeralds, Heroes, Friends, Former enemies, all used their combined thoughts for this last wish, and it came true.
The sky crumbled away in the background, clouds and stars falling or melting away into nothingness, as ground fractured and split below, tides crashed higher as the moon and sun hung side by side in the sky as it dissolved, then, everything stopped, it was all white, everything was blasted away in a bright light.
“No..No what is happening?? What are you doing? Stop that! Stop That!-”
The villain just vanished into nothingness, gone, plan ultimately failed
Cream clinged onto her mother, scared, confused “Shh, shhh its ok my baby its ok” Vanilla comforted her, trying to hold back tears, holding her in her arms as they both faded away
Vector, espio and charmy looked at eachother, and in their last moments, they had one last, tearful, team fistbump “thanks for raising me you guys” charmy smiled at them as they all disappeared into the void
Amy looked at sonic “Wow, the end huh? I'm really gonna miss everything, and i'm really gonna miss you… I love you sonic but I guess I didn't really try to hide that huh?” she laughed, Sonic hugged her, feeling her slip away into the emptiness “I know, rest easy amy, you were as much of a hero as the rest of us, ok?” “ok.” and she was gone
Silver and blaze looked at sonic, they held hands as they embraced their demise, “sorry we couldn't save your world..” silver said solemnly, finding it hard to smile “But thank you, for being our friends, and teaching us how to smile again” blaze said, smiling at him warmly, waving goodbye as the pair of them turned into nothing
Sonic then greeted shadow, who brought him into a hug, “Y’know sonic, you were like a brother to me” shadow replied honestly “we were always rivals but we still cared about each other” Shadow laughed into sonics shoulder “Of course shads”
Shadow then turned to his team, smiling at them, for the first time in what felt like forever “no regrets in meeting you, my friends, you where both some of the best people i've ever met, you changed me,” he said as he brought rouge and omega into a hug “s-shadow-” rouge sputtered out “ill miss you both, dearily, team dark for life” he replied, rouge laughed, omega even laughed, tears streaming down their faces face as they faded away
Sonic turned to eggman, shaking his hand again, then turning it to a high five, “Sorry i kept trying to kill you” the doctor laughed, fading into the endless nothingness
Knuckles looked at Sonic, almost everyone had disappeared already, he couldn't speak a word, only being able to give Sonic a final fistbump.
“I'll see you next time, eh tails? “ Sonic laughed as everything around them disappeared and he felt his body almost crumbling away, “yeah, i'll see you next time” He laughed, tears spilling out of both of their eyes uncontrollably as they embraced each other in a hug as a new world was rebirthed around them.
And the new world was born, just like that, seemingly instantly.