Chapter Text
The world was falling apart.
To Antoine and Boomer, - correction, Rotor, it must have appeared as though a great, unfathomable, white light consumed everything they loved. In Oil Ocean Zone, the gleaming, vile swill streaming between the refineries and containers illuminated every hue of the rainbow as the sheer luminance of their inevitable end encroached. A myriad of colors bled on the horizon, gone in the blink of an eye as the presumptive apocalypse threatened every life on the planet. The longer she observed, the smaller her world became, and while she was certain others fled for the vanishing hills, Sally remained steadfast.
What they once knew, the fabrication that had replaced their reality, dissipated much like the murky oil bubbles. Old memories popped, replaced in Sally’s mind by the resurfaced truth. She had fallen, the shock of it jarring the memories from their vaults, and glimpses of her old life emerged in a burning ardor.
A traitor wearing his image sliced through her rope, her heart stopping in her chest. Her hand clasped in his as she emerged from her own tomb, awoken by a kiss. She mourned by his gravestone and endured a sorrow as dark and deep as a black hole. While leaning by his side, moonlight spilled upon them in hopes of continuing what they shared, recognizing the faults and tribulations that marred their relationship over the years.
The sharp difference between this world and the prior planet, the one where she belonged, was him. They had known each other for much longer than a mere chance encounter, and their mutual desire to provide protection never wavered. It was simply natural they would find each other again, but now, at the pinnacle of decimation, Sally remembered her final moments in the wake of their separation.
Before she opened her eyes to this Mobius, her former end came with the shock of burning pain searing through her chest, and Sonic’s scream faintly ringing in her ears. She, in a twist of agonizing mercy, hadn’t died before everything had been erased and replicated.
Sonic.
His name murmured in her mind. With nothing short of awe, she gazed at the Death Egg. It was a metallic divot in the distance, quickly enveloped by the light as if it were being submerged. Like completing a ritual, Sonic must have defeated Robotnik - Eggman - Julian - and now, although he was not by her side, she had never felt more connected. Time and time again, as expected, clockwork gains, Sonic succeeded, and while muscle memory prompted her chest to throb, Sally Acorn would live again.
In Sally’s arms, Pecky stirred. Weak whimpers cooed from his beak. He curled next to her shoulders as the silos burned brilliantly. Nothing existed beyond Oil Ocean and the Death Egg, the strip of the dwindling corporeality spanning between her and Sonic.
Her head tilted to the side. “Don’t worry,” she whispered, running her fingers across his head feathers. “Everything will go back to how it should be.”
Pecky hesitated. He looked at her, then nodded. He must have sought solace in her earnest belief.
Footsteps pounded. Rotor cried that everything was vanishing. He couldn’t have been farther from the truth, his shock palpable as she stated his genuine name.
Behind her, she was sure Rotor ceased. Like Antoine, he was entangled in brilliancy, and Sally soon followed. She extended her hand, immersing herself in intangibility. She wondered about the view from the Death Egg, and how the planet must have been endowed in the featherlight, soft glow. It was an assumptive culling, like a nightmare ready to be forgotten.
“See you, Sonic…”
Three simple words uttered separated her from the farce, and she was certain he finished the phrase. Their homecoming was assured as her vision faded. Only the Death Egg leered as she fell, the platform vanishing under her boots. She couldn’t hear Rotor, and Pecky disappeared, nothing more than the lingering touch of silk feathers in her arms. Such a sensation evaporated as her consciousness started to cease.
When she opened her eyes, she knew she would see him again, but words failed her. She didn’t know whether this would be cemented in her memory, or what to do next with the full horrors of Eggman’s scheme fresh in her mind.
For now, she drifted. Light nipped at her body, her weightlessness like zero gravity. In the blissful realm between realities, with veracity soon to return, she had everything to gain.
“Sonic?”
She called to the brilliance. Where nothing existed, not even the wind, her voice was stationary. It did not echo, nor did it go beyond her ears.
But elsewhere, whether thousands of miles away or next to her, came a response.
“Sal?”
She bristled. She could have sworn she saw his outline when she opened her eyes. Glimpses of strong cobalt blue flashed by her, instead, and she sank like an anchor into the colorless abyss.
“I can’t see you.”
“Same, Sally, but that won’t last.”
She reached, witnessing nothing, but definitely, fingers wrapped around her own.
“You saved us again. How many times is that?”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’ve done your fair share of rescuing.”
“Well, I don’t know how you did it, but you always find a way to set things right.”
Sonic’s response trembled, as if he had spoken underwater. He tightened his grip, thumb pressing hard on her palm. She couldn’t hear him.
Lower and lower, deeper and deeper, Sally slipped, feeling like she was removing a costume. Wind caressed her, crackling with tingling electricity, and then, his grip dispersed.
Already, her memories accrued on the false Mobius subsided, and she couldn’t shake the surprise on her face when she was alone, but her own joy blossomed into an expression once stifled in trepidation.
On her Mobius, as she braved the trappings of the Death Egg, and Sonic cradled her twice as hard, Sally knew she would return the favor, as she had done time and time again.