Work Text:
He's racing through the Dark Hollow, still trying to wrap his head around the why of it all.
It was the kind of betrayal Sonic would expect from Eggman, or even Shadow if their goals didn't quite line up; not someone like Merlina. Did she ever consider him a friend?
Probably not.
Sonic just kept on running, his speed among the few things he could count on at the moment. The other was the oversized letter opener sword in his hand. Truthfully, he almost missed Caliburn's constant scolding; it'd fill the awful silence with something.
"Sonic!" Caliburn calls.
"Yeah?" Sonic replies.
"I have something I need to ask you. It is of the utmost importance." There's an unusual somberness in his voice.
"That's ominous." Sonic jokes. "What's up?"
Caliburn sighs. "Are you ready to confront Merlina?"
It's a loaded question, Sonic's smart enough to know that.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. But Merlina's a friend, and I gotta try. For her sake and everyone else's."
There's a moment of silence, and Sonic braces for a lecture about how a knight should always have complete faith in himself.
Instead, Caliburn smiles. "Spoken like a true knight," he remarks. "Regardless of what happens, I'm proud to have served you, Sir Sonic."
"Alright alright, enough of the sap," Sonic says to disguise how touched he is by the praise. "...But I appreciate it, Caliburn. You weren't a half-bad teacher."
Before Caliburn can reply, the throne room comes into view. Sonic brakes sharply, but the giant doors in his way open themselves like magic. And it probably was magic, considering the person on the other side.
He lets himself skid through the doorway, stopping right in front of the throne- and Merlina. She doesn't move or react to the Knight of the Wind's sudden presence, eyes closed in a dissonant display of serenity.
"I've been expecting you." she says neutrally.
Sonic ignores her. "Just one question before we settle this: why'd you do it? Weren't we trying to save this kingdom from the underworld?"
"This kingdom will fail, one way or another. Such is its fate." Merlina pauses thoughtfully. "Do you know what is to become of this kingdom?"
"Beats me."
Merlina stands up, and Sonic feels the air change. It's almost like when they first met, except now she's the villain that needs stopping instead of the innocent who needs saving. Funny how that works.
"Lancelot and Gawain's rift shall doom the Round Table," Merlina explains, as if she'd seen the whole thing happen. "Arthur is struck down by his son Mordred, and departs for Avalon."
"..."
"This was to be our ideal world. But it will not last... King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table will end in ruin." Merlina opens her eyes, despair etched into her features. Sonic does nothing, letting everything he'd heard sink in. It just couldn't be right. Arthur had been struck down, yet Gawain and Lancelot worked together just fine to try and stop Merlina's plans. She'd made her own prediction untrue.
"The King Arthur my grandfather Merlin created led to nothing but mistakes... But I can succeed with the power of the scabbard. Creating a kingdom that never ends." A sigil appears between her hands, and when Sonic sees what it conjured, he finally understands.
It was the flower Merlina picked and watched wilt all that time ago.
Sonic saw it in her eyes, the complete lack of hope and resignation to the eventual end. He knew firsthand how crushing that could be, and just how much it would twist your way of seeing things.
"What good is a world that goes on forever?" Sonic retorts.
Merlina looked hurt by the question. "My sorrow at its ruin runs deeper than the depths of the underworld. Do you not understand?" she pleads.
He could understand her sadness, but not paralyzing the world and dooming everyone in it.
"No, and I don't want to!" Sonic roared, lunging at Merlina. She didn't react, and as Sonic swung Caliburn, a barrier appeared out of thin air to block the strike. He flew back, the stone floor painfully breaking his fall.
"Your efforts are futile." Merlina says icily, burning anger seeping through her calm facade.
Sonic forces himself back up and charges again. He slashes and slashes and slashes, sparks flying from every impact, but the barrier held strong, showing no signs of damage. He's repulsed again, this time barely managing to land on his feet as he makes impact with the ground.
"No... way!" Sonic groans. He expected resistance, but she's more powerful than King Arthur ever was. In the moment he takes to recover, Sonic feels something coming, far too late to stop it.
"Sonic!"
Then his hand is forced up by Caliburn, just barely saving him from a blade wreathed in azure fire.
"Caliburn!"
"You fool! A knight must always be on his guard!" Caliburn says, voice strained. Sonic pushes back against Merlina's blade, trying with all his might to fight her off. He can't let her win, he can't.
Merlina merely raised her hand, and Sonic could only let out a "No!" as she brought her hand and the blade down to slice through Caliburn. His blade clattered to the ground, leaving Sonic only with his broken hilt.
Caliburn's eyes were closed and lifeless.
She'd destroyed him.
As soon as he processed what had happened, Sonic only saw red. He didn't care that he was hopelessly outmatched, he didn't care that Merlina would kill him like she did Caliburn, he didn't care about any of it. He wouldn't run.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" he yelled, all of his grief and anger over Caliburn flowing out. Sonic charged hilt-first, deflected almost effortlessly.
He charged again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Sonic could barely move, the pain unbearable and his vision swimming. But he got back up.
"Sir Sonic, you've done enough!"
"No, Sonic! There is no point in continuing!"
He disregards Percival and Lancelot. "A knight... never... flees... his foe, right?" Sonic wheezes out.
"You FOOL! This no longer has ANYTHING to do with chivalry! Get out of there! RUN!"
Merlina looms over Sonic, the consist of blades and the thing at the center of them just daring him to continue. "It was never about chivalry for me," he says in defiance of Gawain. "I just gotta do what I gotta do, that's all." Sonic's heart told him to try, and he'd keep trying, trying to save Merlina and the kingdom from destruction.
Power surged through him, and one word occupied his mind:
Excalibur.
When it was all said and done, Sonic could only feel sorry for Merlina. She'd fallen too far into her own sadness to see the truth of things; maybe he could nudge her in the right direction.
"Merlina," he began. "Every world has its end. I know that's kinda sad, but..." Sonic saw the flower from before. He picked it up and, being as gentle as he could, placed it in Merlina's hands. "...that's why we gotta live life to the fullest with the time we have." The flower may have wilted, but it was beautiful before, and there'd be plenty of beautiful flowers in the future, too. "At least, that's what I figure." he concluded.
Merlina stared at the flower, and, to Sonic's delight, he saw the spark of life in her eyes. It wasn't much, but...
She could live again, and he'd be there for her. That's what friends were for, after all.