Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Come on, this isn’t funny!”

“Nope. It’s hilarious!”

“Give it back, Scourge!”

“Make me!”

“Fine!”

That was the start of this weird situation the twin hogs found themselves in. Weird for them, at least.

Sonic was just about to eat a chilidog in the park when it was snatched from his hands by his direct opposite. It was exceedingly rare that Scourge came to his world willingly these days. And the few times he had, he never confronted the blue blur directly.

But here he was now, spinning the stolen chilidog on top of his palm. His shades were up so he could see that the smug grin on his face was more playful than malicious. He made a big show of slowly bringing the confiscated food item to his gaping maw, sticking his tongue out and going “Ahhhhhhhhhh” in a taunting manner.

Then Sonic tackled him to the ground, and the fight began.

Sonic pried his chilidog out of Scourge’s hand and threw it high into the air. The green hedgehog squawked and pinned his counterpart to the ground. The two of them began to struggle to be upright to catch the prize.

Sonic got the menace on his stomach and reached to catch the chilidog. Yet, Scourge was just as fast, and he managed to shove his blue twin out of the way and snatch it from the air. He saw the other hedgehog get up and he tossed it back into the air for another round.

What followed was a whirlwind of shoving and pinning, occasionally tossing the chilidog back into the air so that they could keep wrestling for ownership of the coveted prize. Punches were exchanged, but never landing in places that would knock either out of the running for the food. At some point, Scourge had licked Sonic’s face, and he nearly lost their battle to the Moebian due to how disgusted he was. Still, in the end, he managed to get Scourge down with a throw and catch his food one more time. He went to take a bite.

But so did Scourge.

He thanked his reflexes that he managed to pull back before Scourge could bite through his fingers. The green hedgehog managed to chomp down half of his chilidog while it was in his hand.

Sonic looked at him in disbelief as he laughed with his mouth full. He was quick to chew and swallow before resuming his laughter.

“You are so gross, dude.”

The comment only made Scourge laugh harder. The hero of Mobius went to reprimand him, but stopped himself when he really saw Scourge.

He’s never seen the Moebian so carefree and... happy before. There were no condescending smirks or mocking laughter or victorious taunting or anything to suggest that he was intending to cause hurt in the first place.

Wait a minute...Was he... playing with me?!

Sonic couldn’t believe the conclusion he came to. Yet, all the evidence pointed to the entire fight being nothing more than playful roughhousing. A friendly tussle. A fair wrestling match over something so meaningless and innocent.

The laughter died down and Scourge looked up at him from his spot on the ground. He gave a teasing smile to the hero, his eyes full of mirth.

“Aww come on, Blue. You scared of my germs or something? I saved you half!”

He couldn’t deny it any further. Scourge was actually being friendly with him. Him, of all people!

He offered a retort in order to hide his shock.

“Well knowing you, you got all sorts of diseases in that mouth of yours. I can just smell the rabies from here.”

“Well if you’re not gonna eat it, I’ll just--”

The green hedgehog got up and reached for the other half of the chilidog. Sonic held it far away from him and pushed on Scourge’s head with his free hand.

“Get away from my chilidog, you trash goblin!”

Scourge halfheartedly reached out for the food, licking his lips as he played the part of a hungry menace.

“C’moooooon, I’m starvin’ here!”

“Get your own!”

“Why would I do that when I can just take them from you?”

“Scourge!”

“Be a pal, Blue! Give to the needy! Feed the hungry! Whatever mushy hero slogan will get you to hand over that ‘dog!”

Sonic quickly stepped away, causing Scourge to fall back down. He took one look at the half-eaten chilidog before stuffing it in his face. Scourge looked up from the dirt in offense.

“Hey!”

“What? It was mine first!”

“But I wanted that!”

“Well tough! Already ate it!”

“Oh that’s it! C’mere you!” Scourge tackled his counterpart and brought him to the ground. The blue hedgehog stuck his tongue out in a taunt. “I’m gonna pull that chilidog out of your stomach!”

“I’d like to see you try, Green Bean!”

Sonic shifted his weight to roll Scourge onto his back, but it ended up sending them both tumbling down a hill. Once they landed on the bottom of the hill, Sonic found himself still under the Moebian. Scourge looked down on him with a sharp grin of triumph.

“Yeah that’s what I thought, Blue. I--”

“SONIIIIIIIC!!!”

Sonic only just got his bearings in time to see Scourge looking away, his face covered in fear.

And then Scourge was flung off of his body at high force.

He heard his counterpart groan in pain somewhere to his left as he looked up at the newcomer.

“A-Amy?! What are you doing here?!”

“What? A girl can’t just go for a walk in the park?”

The pink hedgehog extended a hand to the other, and Sonic took it to help himself stand back up. He briskly made his way over to Scourge’s side to check on him.

The ex-king’s eyes were on him for a moment. They were unfocused and sightless. But then they rolled back as he passed out with a low groan. Sonic resisted the urge to shake him in order to wake him up. Inspecting the rest of his fallen counterpart, he noticed Scourge’s ankle being bent the wrong way.

“Amy, help me get him out of here.”

“What? Why? He was attacking you! And after everything he did to us before, I think I’m letting him off easy!”

The world was not so quick to forget that this green hedgehog attempted to conquer and kill. He was a villain to this world. And Sonic, caught up in having fun with him, had forgotten the image his counterpart had procured in the past.

“He wasn’t attacking...He was just...playing around,” Sonic explained, hating how his voice died toward the end of his sentence. He shook his head and lifted one of Scourge’s arms around his shoulders, gesturing to Amy to do the same on the other side. “C’mon. My parents’ place isn’t too far from here.”

The pink hedgehog frowned as she moved her hammer to her other hand so she could support Scourge’s body with Sonic. “I don’t understand...”

“That makes two of us, really...”

Jules Hedgehog could not tell you why his son had brought in his evil duplicate into his home. Or why said evil duplicate was resting in the guest room bed. 

Still, his son had asked that he watched over Scourge while he and Amy went to get some things to help him. And with his wife out of the house, he really had no choice. So there he sat. On a chair in the guest room. Watching over this sniveling little coward that once called himself a king.

He replayed the night he met the green hedgehog from his memory banks. The night Scourge broke into his home to try and get the jump on his son. He recalled calling him out for being the jealous coward he was. He was ready to do whatever it took to keep his family safe.

Still, something the young hedgehog had sobbed out stuck out to him.

“Just a bunch of empty words. You’re no different from my old man after all.”

Scourge had been afraid when Jules noted just how cowardly he was. But he left in tears, with those words hanging out from the window. It unnerved him.

Because, with that sentence, the green hedgehog had also called him out.

No, the Robian wouldn’t have hurt him. Not that night. Not after he saw his son’s counterpart for what he truly was: A sad, scared kid who hated that his mirror image was happy when he wasn’t. He saw everything his son could have been if he was just a bit more alone growing up.

Perhaps, that anger and bloodthirst was just a way for the young man to mask how lonely he really was. It made him think more about what Scourge had told him of his home world.

He was pulled from his musings when he heard a rumbling groan. Scourge was waking up, it seemed.

“Mm...wh...dad...?” His voice was little more than a raspy whisper as he opened his eyes by a fraction. They were unfocused, looking right through the Robian. He seemed so lost and confused.

Jules wasn’t sure if he should play along. He stayed silent for the moment.

“Wai’...tha’s silly...y’r not m’ dad...” Scourge mumbled with a lopsided grin. “Cuz I killed ya. Mus’ be dreamin’ ag’in. Hiiiiiii dream dad.”

This was new information. Scourge implied last time that his own father was dead. That he “just isn’t.” He never mentioned how Anti-Jules died. Scourge killed him? When? Jules prepared to stand up when he realized that such measures would be pointless against a semiconscious young hedgehog who most likely has a considerable concussion. 

“Yes, hello.” He had to play along now. Evil or not, his son trusted him with Scourge’s well being. And the green hedgehog clearly suffered a rather serious head injury.

The organic hedgehog reached out a hand to grab at the Robian. Jules was mildly amused, since Scourge was too far away to actually touch him, so he ended up just grabbing the air.

He couldn’t help the pang of worry that worked through his system when he saw how scarred up that arm was.

Scourge wasn’t wearing his usual leather jacket, since he was tucked under the covers. His arms were usually covered, so it’s no surprise no one ever commented on the scars before. The Robian took note of how most of the scars looked rather uniform in terms of width. They slashed through the peach skin and crossed over each other. It even appeared that some of them were bite marks. Bite marks from rather sharp teeth.

Jules could make an easy assumption based on how sharp the young man’s claws were and how plentiful incisors were in his grin.

“Heeeey dream dad? C’n I ask ya somethin’?”

“What is it?”

“...Yer no’...Yer not th’ Caped Boogeym’n, righ’?”

Confusion flowed through his circuits at the delusional Moebian’s question.

“What do you mean?”

“‘S jusss...y’wear a cape...’n the Caped Boogeym’n killed ma...Buh y’wouldn’t do tha’, right?”

Jules was at a loss for words. What should he do? Should he say No and risk breaking Scourge’s delusion of a dream? Should he say Yes and hope it feeds into Scourge’s idea that he’s dreaming? Did he want the young man to come back to his senses? How would he react if he realized just what he said?

If he reacted poorly, it could get messy.

“Sonic’s good at smashing bots. Want to see what I can do?”

Despite the green doppelganger's cowardice, Jules knew a threat wrapped in a promise when he heard it. And he saw it in those crazed blue eyes and that too-wide grin. The willingness, the urge, the desire to kill him.

He felt like he took too long to calculate the right answer.

“Well, what do you think?”

Turn the question around. Make Scourge think about it. Make him feed his own imagination.

The way tears welled up in those sightless eyes made the Robian think that maybe that was the wrong approach.

“Righ’...Course...Pa’s never wrong...” Scourge threw the blanket off of himself and swung his legs off the side of his bed. “Sorry...” A bit of clarity made its way into those icy blues as he reached for the leather jacket hanging off of the chair Jules was sitting on. He slid it on his arms without another word and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, strange looking ring. “I’ll just go...now...”

The Robian watched as the other’s brows furrowed in confusion. He stared at the ring like it owed him money.

“Scourge?”

“Wait...This is the ring I took from Zonzon...If I got this, then...” The young hedgehog looked at the Robian, realization and horror dawning on him. “You’re...!”

He stood up, only to cry out in pain. His ankle was still injured. He dropped the ring, creating a portal on the floor. Scourge couldn’t keep his balance and fell into the portal.

And Jules, without thinking, jumped in after him. He wrapped his arms around his son’s mirror image and flipped them so that he was under the young man.

He braced for impact.

Chapter Text

“It got Simian!”

“Boss, we gotta move!”

“Scourge, get a move-on!”

“Don’t just stand there, you useless hedgehog! Or are your legs and super speed just for show?!”

“Miles...Miles, come on! Come with us!”

“Stay away from me! I never needed you! And I don’t need you now! So leave me alone! I HATE YOU!”

The memory faded just outside his reach. He struggled to return to it, as though he could fix his mistakes of the past. They were running from...He needed to get his little buddy away from...from...

Ugh, thinking is just too hard for him right now.

Miles...He missed Miles. He missed that arrogant brat that plotted his downfall every second. He missed that cowardly fox that was too scared to defy him. He missed his little brother that used to follow him around until he formed a gang proper. He missed the kid he had first killed for.

He’s pretty sure he heard Fiona in that memory, too...

Fiona...Fiona...What a woman. She could wrap any sucker around her finger and use them as stepping stones for her to climb up to the top. She claimed he was at the top, but he knew better. Beneath those big, fluttering lashes and that gorgeous body was a witch attempting to cast a spell on him. A spell that would put him beneath her. Just another step to bring herself higher. He knew she didn’t really love him. No matter what she did, he was nothing to her but power and status. He knew that. Yet, he allowed himself to pretend that she loved him. He pretended that they were for real. 

Because, from the moment he saw her, Scourge had fallen in love with her. And he fell hard.

It was self-destructive and unhealthy, what he did. What he allowed her to do to him. He allowed her to spit venom at him and throw punches at him, only to have her hanging off his body like she was the actual arm candy between them. Of course, he threw his fair share of acidic words at her. Where she was frequent with her words, he was calculative and lethal. When he struck, he struck in the weakest points of her being. They hurt each other in the worst ways possible. Even when the world was ending, she threw her toxic hate in his direction. Yet, they couldn’t find it in themselves to leave. They both felt like only the other understood them.

But...in their final moments...

“...Flying, throw him in.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“What the--HEY! GET YOUR TONGUE OFF ME, YOU FREAK! FIONA, GET HIM TO LET ME GO! THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”

“Sorry, babe...One of us is gonna live, and the smart money is on you!”

“HEY--OOF! WAIT, NO! FI! FI, NO! DON’T DO THIS TO ME!”

“I love ya a lot, Scourge. Just know that.”

“NO! NO, DON’T YOU SAY IT LIKE THAT! FIONA! FIONAAAAAA!!!!”

That had been his last coherent moment before he woke up to nothingness.

Nothingness...Wait...

Scourge finally opened his eyes. He was met with blackness with two red dots.

His super form?!

He wriggled himself free of his super form’s arms and fell on his chest. He picked himself up, only to fall back down due to the pain in his foot. The situation felt a lot like prison.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Super Scourge growled out. There was a metallic twang in his voice that threw the hedgehog off.

He blinked harshly and rubbed his eyes. He forced himself to take off the fear goggles for just a moment to see what was really going on.

Metal Sonic? No, the tin can didn’t talk. So that means this must be...

“Eh?! What do you want from me, ‘dad’?!” He made sure to pour every drop of hatred he could muster into that word.

“Well, for starters, I would like you to just settle down! I need to check for a concussion.” Scourge gave Jules a low growl in warning as he approached, but the Robian simply ignored him. He stuck out one of his robotic thumbs, and a little flashlight came out of a hidden compartment. He shined the light in the Moebian’s eyes for half a minute before nodding to himself and putting the light away.

“You done?”

“It’s not looking too good for you right now. Try not to make sudden movements.”

“Whatever. You’re not actually my dad. I’ll do what I want.”

Scourge went to stand up, but apparently didn’t learn his lesson. Aside from his ankle still being injured, he experienced sudden vertigo and fell into Jules’s arms.

“Will you stop?! You’re gonna make yourself worse.”

“Worse than I already am? You flatter me--HURK!” The Moebian covered his mouth as he violently gagged. Jules held his quills back as a preemptive measure. Luckily for the both of them, Scourge managed to keep the half a chilidog down in his stomach where it belonged. Once he felt confident enough to speak again, he batted the metal hands away from his spines. “...Shaddup.”

Once more, Scourge went to stand up. This time, he went slowly, putting his weight on his good leg. He nearly fell back down again, but Jules had caught him and wrapped one of Scourge’s arms across his shoulders on his bad side. The green hedgehog didn’t fight it, yet he didn’t seem too happy to be helped.

“Don’t give me that look. I’m only looking after you because my son asked me to.”

“...Where’s my ring?”

“Your ring?”

“My warp ring? The thing that allowed us to get here in the first place?”

Jules looked around them, but all he saw was White. Not a speck of color could be seen anywhere but themselves.

“I don’t see any ring...”

Jules could see the moment Scourge registered what he said. He saw the blood drain from the young man’s face. He violently lurched forward, falling from Jules’s support. The Robian was quick to hold back those green spines as the ex-king emptied his stomach into the white void. He merely watched as Moebian’s sick fell into the infinite void of whiteness that made this plane of existence.

“No...No no no nonononononono NO!” Scourge looked all around frantically. He went to run, but winced as pain flashed white hot in his head and his foot protested nearly as loudly. He felt the world spinning as his own thoughts began to spiral. “No, I can't be stuck here again! Not again! Not again! Please, no, not again!”

He couldn’t think straight! It was like his brain was skewed. In an attempt to put it back into place, Scourge repeatedly hit the side of his head with the heel of his palm.

Come on, stupid brain! Just work! You can do this, just work, for once! You can’t be stuck! You can’t be! So just work, for once in my life!

Cold, unrelenting hands grabbed his own, stopping him from trying to get his brain working like an old TV.

“Hey! Hey, let go of me! Let go!”

“Will you stop being such a child?! Throwing a tantrum will not help the situation at all!”

The sentence made him see red.

With strength the Robian was not expecting, Scourge jerked one of his arms so that one of the robotic limbs was in front of his face. With a war cry, the Moebian bared his teeth and chomped down on the metal arm.

His bite was strong enough to bend and actually puncture the Robian.

The moment he was free, he backpedaled away from Jules as far as his foot would let him before protesting again, something falling out of his quills as he moved. He curled in on himself and began to chew on his fingers while the other hand harshly pulled on his own green spines. The display made Jules stop and think about all he had seen of his son’s mirror.

He recalled a moment during the Great War. When he was organic. The way his heart used to raced at night. The uneasy energy he had no way of releasing. His quills had felt so heavy on his head. He had felt the need to pull them out. He had to! His fingers had kept shaking to the point of numbness. He had chewed on them to try and get feeling back. He had to hold back his tears to keep himself from waking others.

It was like looking into a crude mirror of the past. He wondered if Sonic ever felt the need to indulge in these unhealthy behaviors.

He wanted to stop the young man. He truly did. Yet, he understood exactly what he was feeling. And when he himself had been like this, someone touching him did not help. Instead, Jules turned his attention to the thing that fell from Scourge’s quills.

A phone.

Curious, he picked it up and turned it on. It asked for a 4-digit pin number. Jules wondered if Scourge was as predictable as his own son.

0623

And he’s in.

The screen changed to a chatroom of sorts. Perhaps he could use this to help Scourge calm down.

kaboom: u jus cant get gud help these days

Blue_Justice: hey im good help!

modern_masterpiece: doubt

certified_hood_classic: doubt

kaboom: doubt

fleetfeet: doubt

true_culprit: Excuse me, are you folks Scourge’s friends?

fleetfeet: Ooooh is he dead?! Tell me he’s dead! Archie said he had a head injury!

kaboom: super wtf

Blue_Justice: STRANGR DANGR!

Zonic: Please identify yourself. And explain why you have Scourge’s phone.

certified_hood_classic: and here u sed u were taking a pain day off

true_culprit: My name is Jules Hedgehog. Scourge is still alive, but he is very stressed.

prime_suspect: I just got back from the store and now my dad has Scourge’s phone?! Where are you two?!

true_culprit: Sonic? That you, son?

kaboom: ew ur dad found us

Zonic: Boom, this is serious!

true_culprit: I’m not sure where we are. Scourge dropped a warp ring of some kind, and he fell in. I jumped after him to make sure he didn’t get hurt, but now we are in the middle of nowhere.

true_culprit: Quite literally.

Zonic: Is it completely white?

true_culprit: Yes it is.

Zonic: Stay where you are, sir. I’ll have a small party of Zone Cops find you and bring you two back to your dimension.

true_culprit: Alright. Thank you.

fleetfeet: Oh but don’t hesitate to roll over and die! I wanna see them carry your bodies in bags! It’d be so funny!

Blue_Justice: i dont like talking to super anymore

kaboom: morbid much?

Zonic: Calm yourself, Super. No one is dying for your entertainment.

modern_masterpiece: Hey Z, can Terios go with the party to get Scourge? Vanilla and Cream are on kitchen duty today and he really doesn’t want to be alone.

certified_hood_classic: jus send him to the kitchen, too

Blue_Justice: hnnnnnn is scourge ok, archie’s dad?

true_culprit: Who’s Archie?

prime_suspect: me, dad.

true_culprit: He’s stressed.

kaboom: What about his warp ring? Just use that.

true_culprit: I can’t find it.

modern_masterpiece: z what the heck the cops are so fast

Zonic: It’s a curse.

Zonic: But it sounds like they are on their way. Please, try to calm Scourge down.

fleetfeet: I thought he had daddy issues worse than Blue Boy. This ought to be hilarious.

Jules turned the phone off and walked over to Scourge. The young man had stopped hurting himself, thankfully. His head was tucked between his bent legs as he choked back sobs unsuccessfully. The Robian lowered himself to his knees and gently placed a hand on one of Scourge’s shoulders. The Moebian looked up, barely revealing his tear-flooded eyes. Jules offered the phone back as a sort of peace offering.

“Your friends have sent help to bring us back. And someone mentioned a Terios? I must say, Scourge. You have some very strange friends.”

The green hedgehog snatched the phone back and tucked it between his quills. He then turned his back to Jules and once again buried his face between his legs.

“Wh-Whatever...Just leave me alone...’s what you’re good at.”

Jules was starting to get sick of the other’s childish behavior. It was one thing to hate him. But, it was another to blame him for things he had no part of. He was certain that’s where Scourge’s disdain was coming from.

“I said this last time, and I will say it again. I am not your father.”

“No kidding.” The ex-king lifted his head one more time and wiped his eyes dry. He looked back at the Robian in outrage. “My dad would’ve shut up by now.”

“By the sound of it, he wouldn’t have even bothered to try. Like it or not, though, we’re stuck together until that help comes around.”

“No we ain’t,” Scourge grumbled. He slowly stood up, testing his ankle. It was agony, still. Yet, he couldn’t find himself to care. He needed to get away from the Robian before his oldest wounds reopened. He wouldn’t be able to handle it.

He began to walk. Slowly. It didn’t matter how fast or slow he walked. It was all the same in a world where direction and time no longer exist. It didn’t matter if he was in pain or not. His death was pointless since he would just wake up again. Alone.

Except, he’s not alone, this time.

“You really shouldn’t be moving. You still have a concussion. Not to mention your ankle is still sprained. You should rest.”

Scourge didn’t even bother to look back at his new follower. “Oh what’s it to ya, anyway? I ain’t your son. Why should you care?”

“Once again, your well-being was given to me as a responsibility by my son. He’d be crushed if I failed him. Even if it is for your sake.”

“Tch...Figures...Just like Prison...”

“One of your friends mentioned Zone Cops. It made me wonder...I figured that you would’ve been put back in prison a while ago. What happened?”

Scourge stopped and looked back at the Robian in disbelief. He fully turned, and Jules couldn’t help but feel like he’s missing something obvious.

“Ha...Hahaha...AHAHAHAHA! Oh you can’t be serious! You are! You’re totally serious! What happened?! What happened?! Take a good look around, ‘dad’! See all this nothing?! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED! THIS! THIS!” Scourge was gesturing wildly at the surrounding white void. He threw his head back and laughed harder. “Can--Can you believe this moron?! Asking what happened! Amazing! I see where Blue gets his stupidity! HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Scourge, you need to calm down!”

The Moebian looked at him. His icy blue eyes were wild and manic. His grin was too wide and tight. He looked crazed and hysterical.

“CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN?! NO, YOU LISTEN HERE, YOU USELESS BUCKET OF BOLTS! THIS WAS MY HOME! MY KINGDOM! MY PEOPLE! I WATCHED IT ALL DIE! I WAS THE ONLY ONE LEFT! AND YOU ASK ME WHY I’M NOT IN PRISON?!”

Jules suddenly found himself being pinned down by his son’s mirror image. The grip on his metal arms was enough to make the plating groan and bend. He struggled against the hedgehog, but the young man was stronger.

“Let go of me! Scourge!”

“IT’S GONE! Y’HEAR ME?! IT’S ALL GONE! IT’S ALL GONE AND I WAS LEFT ALONE IN THE VOID! I WAS STUCK HERE FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG! ALONE! YOU CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS LIKE! WHAT HAPPENED?! WHAT HAPPENED?! HOW DARE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU SO MUCH! I--”

The tirade of shouting stopped as suddenly as it started. Scourge’s body was pried off of Jules as someone outfitted the green hedgehog with a golden collar. The Robian heard the sounds of handcuffs tightening. He looked around and saw people in rather strange uniforms. Scourge struggled against them.

“Hey! Let go! Let go of me! I ain’t done anything wrong! You can’t do this!”

“Sir, the Anomaly has been subdued,” one of them relayed.

“Take this collar off, and I’ll show you how subdued I am, you screw!”

Someone else went to the Robian and inspected the damage Scourge had caused. They huffed out a laugh when they noticed the damage caused by Scourge’s bite. “Hey, looks like Snot got a bit of a snack out of this poor guy!”

Jules watched the fight leave Scourge at the word “Snot”. His quills completely relaxed and his body became deadweight. His eyes were unseeing, looking almost like a dull gray from how soulless it made him look. The hedgehog’s whole being trembled as he seemed to be lost in his head.

Like the final piece to a puzzle, everything seemed to click into place.

The sudden change in behaviors, the self-quilling, the stress vomiting, the tremors...He was in the front lines of the Great War! He should’ve noticed the signs of being shell shocked right away!

With a righteous fury in his circuits, Jules shoved the person inspecting him away. He pulled Scourge out of the hands of the other two people holding him down. He found himself ripping the collar apart like it was made of paper. He crushed the cuffs like empty soda cans.

Scourge was so young...And that thousand-yard stare didn’t even belong to an adult of any age! Jules wasn’t going to stand for it. Especially if these people were the cause of Scourge gaining that stare.

“Keep your filthy hands off of him, you scum!”

The outsiders looked at each other, unsure with how to proceed. The Robian stared them down, daring them to take one malicious step forward. He only looked back when he heard Scourge let out a weak groan and fell forward. Jules scooped him up in his arms. The young man’s face was so pale and clammy. He was panting from exertion, which is something he never saw in his own son.

“Scourge? Scourge, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong.”

The Moebian slowly blinked at him. His voice was so soft, it could barely be heard. Like the most gentle of breezes of the wind. “Weak...feel...so weak...”

One of the uniformed outsiders dared to take a step forward. “Sir, if you would kindly hand over the Anomaly, we will look over him and--”

“I told you to keep your hands away from my son!”

The young hedgehog couldn’t handle the effort of keeping his own head up as his eyes rolled back. Jules felt his neck for a pulse, feeling relieved to find it. It was weak, but it was there.

“What is going on here?” A new voice asked.

Accompanying the new voice came a new uniformed outsider. This one was slightly shorter than the rest of them. He was followed by two new people. One of them seemed to be a child, given his height and apparent shyness shown by hiding behind the other new someone that the uniformed outside brought.

You’ll forgive Jules for mistaking the other one to be his son for a moment. Even if he was wearing a baggy shirt and sweatpants. And using crutches.

“Officer Zhadow, sir! We had previously apprehended the anomaly for kidnapping a civilian of the Archie Prime dimension. But, as you can see, we weren’t prepared for them to be working together.”

Zhadow lifted his visor to properly glare at the offending officer. “And that means, what? That they just decided to run away together? To do what? Or did you just make an assumption and try to look like a hero? Think, for once!”

The new trio walked past the officers to Jules. The Robian brought the unconscious hedgehog closer to his being, on guard against any more mistreatment. His son’s lookalike brought an ungloved hand to the green hedgehog’s forehead and frowned.

“He’s burning up...What happened?”

“I’m not sure. He was mostly fine before these people came around and collared and cuffed him.”

The small hedgehog reached up to try and hold onto Scourge. Seeing this, the Robian lowered himself to give the child access. Instantly, the little one’s arms wrapped around the young man, sobbing into the leather jacket.

Zhadow turned his attention to the other officers and began to reprimand them for their brash actions.

“Terios, what’s wrong?” Not-Sonic asked the young hedgehog. Jules noticed how he had wanted to bend down, but couldn’t while leaning on the crutches.

“I...He’s dying! Scourge is dying, and he isn’t taking any Anarchy Energy from me! I don’t understand! He never has a problem taking energy from me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! He’s dying, and I’m not helping him! I’m s-s-s-sorry!” Terios bursted into fresh tears.

“Hey, none of that! If you did all you could, then you got no reason to cry!” Not-Sonic stated boldly, trying to sound gruff and mean. “What you should be doing is trying to figure out what we can do to help him! So turn off the faucet and start thinking!”

While the Robian would have protested against being so demanding of this clearly distressed child, he couldn’t argue that the methodology seemed to work just fine for little Terios. He wiped his tears away and stared at Scourge, as though the answers were written on the Moebian’s face. Not-Sonic looked over at Zhadow, who had finished scolding the officers.

“Hey, Zhads. What about that high signature of Anarchy Energy you were trying to locate? Did you find it?”

“Not yet, but I have this feeling that we’re close right now.”

“THAT’S IT!” The sudden shout of the little hedgehog started everyone there. “I remember reading some of the professor’s notes when he wasn’t looking, Mister Zonic! If-If we want to charge something full of Anarchy Energy, we should go to the source!”

“The source?”

“The Mother Beryl, obviously!”

Chapter Text

In terms of weirdness, Moebius was up there on the list of strange dimensions. It was just as mysterious as it was strange. It was different from almost every other dimension. This Mother Beryl was just one of those things that was so different.

Zonic had never even heard of it before. No dimension had something like it, as far as he knew. While, yes it does sound like the Moebian counterpart of the Master Emerald, it had its own quirks.

According to Terios, legends said that the whole planet was formed with the Mother Beryl at its core. As the planet was being formed, it created the ideal conditions for the massive cluster to continue to grow. Eventually, these clusters breached the planet’s surface and emitted life-giving energy. Thus, beings evolved overtime to use this energy to grow, and that is how life on Moebius began proper.

The small hedgehog lamented that he never got to see what Moebius was like on the surface. He talked about how he had longed to escape to the planet while he was on the ARK. And once he was finally on the planet, GUN had kept him locked away and forbid him from being on the surface.

Zonic reflected when he said that. He realized he, too, never really saw Moebius. In his mind, he had deemed it unworthy of his time, believing it to be a cesspool compared to Mobius Prime. He wondered how much of it was just as beautiful before it was all wiped away.

His gaze fell on the green hedgehog that laid unconscious in the arms of the Last Robian. He’d have to ask him when this was all over.

Hours, or perhaps minutes or even just seconds, went by until the group saw something new. Something with color. Something real.

“This must be it, then,” Zhadow murmured.

Zonic wasn’t prepared for the size of this crystal.

To say it was enormous would be an understatement. And the moment the group got closer to it, all of reality seemed to be restored. They found themselves in a cave that was illuminated with clusters of green beryl all over the walls. Small orbs of light lazily flowed off of these clusters, dissipating when they touched something. In front of them, the massive beryl seemed to pulse energy every other second.

Zhadow visibly shuddered and fell to his knees, holding his arms close to his chest. The other three Zone Cops surrounded him and assisted him back onto his feet. Zonic shared the same sentiment, twitching as each pulse hit his body.

“This feels so overwhelming,” he commented.

Terios ran ahead to a specific section of the massive cluster. This part of the beryl seemed to be flat and smooth, as if someone had manually carved it to act as an altar.

“Here! Here! Put Scourge here!”

Jules nodded and walked toward the makeshift altar with Scourge in tow. He nearly tripped over a small cluster, breaking off a small piece of the crystal. He regained his footing, finally making it to Terios. He laid down his son’s mirror on the flat beryl. The small hedgehog noticed the broken fragment and ran over to pick it up.

“What now...?” Zhadow asked his Moebian counterpart. He was hoping they didn’t have to stay too long. The massive amount of Anarchy Energy going through his body was making him sick.

“This...This has to work...It’s pure Anarchy Energy here! It has to work!”

Zonic stood behind Terios. “It will. It probably just needs a moment.”

The two hedgehogs waited with bated breath. Zhadow barely couldn’t stifle his groan of discomfort. He limped over to Zonic and offered him a warp ring.

“I can’t stand to be here any longer. It’s too much for me. We did our job here, so I’m taking these boys home. Use this to get back to Archie Prime, but I’m gonna need it back.”

Zonic smiled and took the ring, “You know Scourge is gonna take this, right?”

“Worth a shot...”

One of the other Zone Cops opened a portal, and all four of them went through.

The blue hedgehog made his way to a flat stone and sat down, setting his crutches beside him. He couldn’t stand for too much longer. This was supposed to be a pain day for him, and he was planning on resting. Yet, here he was, on a Pseudo-Reality within Moebius with only some painkiller in his body to ease his aching knees. He kept his eye on Terios, who was standing at the altar Scourge was lying on.

He didn’t notice the cobalt Robian taking a seat beside him.

“Hey.” Zonic nearly jumped out of his skin. “Ah, sorry. I should’ve warned you I was here.”

“It’s fine, sir. I’ll live.”

“Good.”

“Is there something you need, sir?”

“Just Jules is fine. No need for sirs.”

Zonic smiled. “No can do, sir. Your No Zone counterpart was the greatest officer the force has ever seen. I’d be doing him a great disservice if I didn’t refer to you with proper respect, sir.”

“Really? Just an officer?”

“I mean, yeah he was my dad. But...He was also my hero. He was everything I want to be now and then some. He...He died saving me...Heh. Really, that’s the only way that stubborn old man would’ve allowed himself to die.”

Jules barked out a laugh. It warmed his core seeing that a version of his son turned out okay in the end, even if he wasn’t there the whole time.

“Sounds like you’ve made peace with his passing.”

“Yeah...Helps that I was the one who closed his final case...But, that’s a story for another day.”

“And here I was hoping to hear your whole life’s story.”

The two of them laughed. Zonic was feeling lighter. Even if his own father was gone, he was glad to share a moment of levity with some form of his hero.

Jules looked back to the two Moebians. “...I’m worried for him.”

“Me too...I’m not sure Terios even knows what he’s doing.”

“It’s the only thing we have to work with...He said some worrying things to me earlier.”

“Worrying how?”

“He straight up told me he killed his own father. And that his mother was killed by a ‘Caped Boogeyman’ of some kind.”

Zonic frowned. This was all new information. He knew Scourge didn’t have a good home life, only mentioning his father in disgust and never saying a word about his mother. He knew they were both dead, but...Scourge killing his father? He must’ve done it at a rather young age, and Scourge was very different before his mutation. Anti-Sonic wouldn’t have the heart to kill anyone in cold blood.

There was more to this story. He just knew it.

“That...is indeed pretty worrying...It also implies he witnessed his mother’s death...He had to be rather young...”

Zonic leaned back and stared at Scourge. His skin was regaining its color instead of remaining that clammy pale state it was earlier. Whatever was going on was working. It was a slow process, but it was indeed working.

He looked back at Jules.

“You called him your son earlier.”

The LEDs that made up his eyes blinked at the Zoner sitting beside him. “Did I?”

“You said, and I quote, ‘I told you to keep your hands away from my son.’”

“...I didn’t realize.”

The organic hedgehog smirked and shifted a bit to get a little more comfortable. “I didn’t take you as the type to get attached to feral punks with zero tolerance for potential father figures.”

“Neither did I, but...He’s a soldier, that one. He’s been through far too much. And I have a feeling he did it all alone. Part of me wishes I took some real initiative the night I met him. Rather than scaring him off, I could’ve...I dunno...I could’ve done something to help him.”

“He wouldn’t have accepted it, sir...He barely accepts help now. Don’t beat yourself up for not offering help. You only saved yourself the trouble of feeling hurt.”

“...How long was he here for him to change his tune so much? He’s gone from a sniveling coward to a completely broken soul.”

Zonic let out a sigh, looking down at the ground. “We can’t know for sure. Time doesn’t exist here. It could’ve been days. It could’ve even been hours. But it also could’ve been decades, and we’d never know. We do know it was around a year, since this entire dimension was wiped away by the Super Genesis Wave, but time moves differently depending on the dimension...”

The Robian took note of how the organic hedgehog slumped a bit. He couldn’t help but see more of his own son’s mannerisms. The great empathy in his eyes. The desire to ease someone of their sorrows and pain.

He placed a hand on top of the younger hedgehog’s head and ruffled the quills between his fingers. The Zoner chuckled and playfully batted the hand away.

“Well, the most we can do is help his future, right?”

“Yeah...Yeah, you’re right, sir.”

“Enough with the sir, kid. You’re making me feel older than I am.”

“...Well you seem pretty old to me, sir.”

The two of them laughed.

“You have some nerve, son.” Zonic stopped laughing abruptly. Jules took notice of what he said and started to backtrack. “Uh, well, I mean, son as in younger male. I didn’t mean--”

“You don’t have to justify yourself. I know it better than anyone else, and I’ve come to accept it. I’m a version of your son. It comes with the territory. So, don’t worry about it.”

“...You can call me ‘dad’ if you want.”

Emerald green eyes seemed to shimmer at that. Jules noticed that this hedgehog’s fur and eyes were a couple shades darker than his own son’s. The differences were subtle, if you didn’t already know what to look for.

“Thanks, dad...”

A sudden burst of light brought their attention to the altar. The small orbs of light emanating from the clusters of beryl grouped together behind the altar. The energy began to feel oppressive and overbearing. Terios himself was being pushed away by some invisible force until he was far enough from Scourge that a barrier formed between them.

The small hedgehog began pounding and kicking and slamming against the barrier of solid energy that separated him from his guardian. Jules shot up and ran over to check on the child while Zonic gathered his crutches and worked his way over to the barrier. He tried to tap a crutch to the wall, but it went right through it like it wasn’t even there. Expecting to have hit something, Zonic nearly lost his balance. Yet, he found that he himself wasn’t able to go through the wall of energy.

Scourge, for the first time since he first passed out, opened his eyes. Instead of icy blue irises, his eyes were completely green. He slowly sat up, not looking anywhere nor saying anything. The large orb of light started to form a shape.

A voice echoed in the cave. A woman’s voice.

“You’ve finally come, my son.”

Scourge turned to the light, slowly standing up from the altar.

“...Mom...?”

The light condensed and faded away. In its place was another hedgehog. A purple hedgehog with a familiar silver crown on her head and an elegant white dress lined in silver.

“Look how big you’ve gotten! I’m so happy to see you again. Come come! I have so much to show you!”

The apparition turned and started to walk away. Like a corpse reanimated from the dead, Scourge took slow steps in following the woman.

“Mom...”

“No no no nonono NO NO NO NO NOOO! IT’S GONNA TAKE HIM! IT’S GONNA TAKE HIM! NO! NO! IT CAN’T HAVE HIM! DON’T LET IT HAVE HIM! PLEASE! PLEASE!”

The Zoner straightened his back and turned to the two civilians. Jules held little Terios by the torso as the small Moebian struggled against him to get back at hitting the barrier. He was practically inconsolable as he screamed. Zonic took a deep breath before addressing them.

“Calm down! I have a solution.” Terios finally stopped his screaming and struggling at the sound of the Zone Cop’s voice. “Nothing organic can go through that barrier. But one of us here isn’t organic.” He pointed at Jules. “You have to go in there.”

The Robian let go of the child. “And what should I do when I am there?”

“Look, sir--er dad--er Jules--er whoever you are! I don’t know what you’ll find in there, but you need to bring Scourge back! He’s important to a few people these days. So, please...We need your help here...”

“Please, Robot Man...You...You can’t let it take Scourge! He’s all I have left! I can’t...I can’t be alone again!”

If he wasn’t already planning on doing it, he would’ve been convinced by the looks of desperation on their faces. He silently nodded, turning to the barrier and walking through with zero hesitation.

The world completely changed once he was on the other side.

Chapter Text

Sensations were new. Familiar, yet so impossible. The ability to actually feel his own warmth was such a foreign concept to the Last Robian.

Looking down, Jules nearly went into shock seeing his old body in perfect health.

His body. His organic body. The body he grew up and nearly died in. His life before being Roboticized.

“How is this possible...?” He muttered out loud, his voice missing its usual metallic twang.

“Ma! Ma! You reawwy means it?!”

Jules looked up from his musings to see a pair of hedgehogs walking away from him. The purple hedgehog from before. And a tiny baby blue hedgehog holding her hand.

“Of course, my sweet little prince. Have I ever lied to you?”

“But...Reawwy? I saves them? All of ‘em?”

“The whole planet, sweetie. And everyone in it.”

The hoglet stopped walking and let go of the woman’s hand. He turned to face her fully. Jules could see the massive grin on his face missing a few teeth.

It hurt his heart how much he missed his own son’s childhood. He missed getting to see his own son with a grin like that.

“An-An’ I’ll be a hewo?! I’ll be the hewo king?!”

“The people will remember you forever and ever, Maurice! And they’ll celebrate you every day.”

The hoglet squealed in delight. The previous Robian frowned and found himself going after them. Something was just not right about the way she answered that question.

As he walked, the world seemed to show reflections in flat crystalline plates in the air. They seemed to be happy memories of the baby blue hoglet and the woman. Mostly of her tucking him into bed and reading a story.

“Good night, Maurice. I love you, my little prince.”

“G’nigh, ma.”

The two phrases echoed around him. It was mind-numbing, the way it bounced everywhere in his head. He needed to break away.

"Scourge!" He found himself calling out to the hoglet with a strange urgency.

What...What was the rush, again?

No! You can't let this place get to you, Jules! Those boys outside are counting on you!

The hoglet looked back, confused but still happy.

"Pa?! You hewe, toos?! Hooway!! Now I haz ma and pa wit’ me! Dis’ th’ best day evah!"

The baby blue hoglet held his hand out. Jules couldn't help but take the little hand in his own, relishing in the feeling he could liken to holding his own son’s hand. His heart swelled at the sentiment. Seeing the small child holding both his and his own mother’s hand with pure joy on his face as he practically skipped forward...

Forgive him once again for indulging in this fantasy just a little bit. He deserved a little bit of selfishness for all the sacrifices he’s made in this life.

“We’re almost there, Maurice. Are you ready?”

“Yeah!”

The group of them kept walking until they arrived at a throne. The two adults let go of the hoglet’s hands and he ran up to the throne. He tried to climb onto it, but he was just too small. The woman let out a fond chuckle and helped the baby blue hedgehog sit down properly.

For the first time, Jules spoke directly to the woman.

“What’s happening here?”

“Our little prince will restore our world with the power of the Mother Beryl. Anarchy itself will use him as a vessel until it’s all returned to existence. Or until he can no longer handle that much power...” The woman seemed so...disheartened with that last sentence. Still, with a look of determination, she removed her crown. She turned to the hoglet with a sad smile. “Are you ready to be king, Maurice?”

“I’m ready, ma!”

The way the child looked up at her with such trust and happiness...There was something wrong with this.

“Wait.”

She stopped halfway from placing the crown on the little boy’s head to look at the current outlier.

“What is it, Jules?”

“What do you mean by ‘until he can no longer handle that much power’? What happens if he can’t handle it?”

“He can handle it. He is very sensitive to Anarchy Energy. He can handle enough to restore our planet.”

“But...there’s nothing left of this dimension. All of it is gone.”

The hoglet let out a gasp, his coal black eyes widening in horror. He looked to the woman for anything to ease his worry, but she offered nothing but a look of shame on her face.

“Ma...Ma, is aww gone? Not even space? No staws?”

“...I’m sorry, my little prince.”

The echoing memories changed. Instead of pleasant feelings and safely being tucked in, the scene showed something darker. Something depressing. Random people being beaten and robbed. Cruel laughter echoed around the area. Cruel laughter which was cut off by a scream, which was then also cut off by...well, nothing.

“It got Simian!”

“Boss, we gotta move!”

“Scourge, get a move-on!”

“Don’t just stand there, you useless hedgehog! Or are your legs and super speed just for show?!”

The hoglet shot out of the throne, trying to run back to the woman. As he tried, he was pulled back by chains cuffed on each limb. He struggled and pulled until one of the chains broke, freeing one of his arms. When it did, the hoglet grew older. He was still that baby blue color, but he grew in height. And his eyes, while they were still coal black...

The look of resignation and loneliness broke Jules’s heart.

“Th-That’s right...It’s all gone...”

Jules turned to the woman with a bit of anger in his heart. “You were going to let him sacrifice himself to attempt to save an entire dimension?! What if it failed?!”

“It told me to...Anarchy commanded me to bring him here...It doesn’t care that it’s all gone. The moment our son approached the Mother Beryl, Anarchy was prepared to do whatever it takes to restore reality. I didn’t want this to happen to my little prince! But Anarchy is already approaching!”

“Anarchy...But-But Anarchy is just a bedtime story to keep kids in line! No way it’s real!”

“Oh, Maurice, I’m so sorry, I--”

“THAT’S NOT MY NAME!” The hoglet screamed out as he struggled again.

The reflections changed again. It was brighter, yet blurrier in vision. The feelings of hate and cruelty were replaced with anger and outrage.

“Hey! You’re not Sonic the Hedgehog!”

“I AM!”

“Are not!”

“Am too!”

“Sez who?”

“Sez me!”

The chain holding back his other arm broke apart. His appearance changed again. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black boots, and black sunglasses. His fur became a dark blue. Just barely a teenager, now. Young and starting to realize just how bad of a hand life had dealt him.

And with that change, Jules knew exactly how to get the boy back to his friends.

“You told me you killed your father. Why? Why did you do that?”

“What?! Our son killed you?!”

“I-I-I don’t--”

“You need to remember! Before...whatever Anarchy is shows up and uses you!”

“B-But, I really don’t--”

“You don’t have a choice, if you wanna live!”

“Jules, I don’t think this is--”

“Why did you kill your father?!”

“TO PROTECT MILES!”

The reflections changed once again. The feelings of outrage and anger turned into fear and shock. The scenes became red. Blood red. A child’s nervous laughter echoed around them.

“SONIA MAURICE NEEDLEMOUSE, JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH THAT CROWN?!”

“I-I-I-I was j-just showing Miles mom’s crown! That’s all, I swear!”

“DON’T YOU LIE TO ME, YOU LITTLE MISTAKE! YOU WERE GOING TO STEAL IT WITH THAT FILTHY STREET RAT, WEREN’T YOU?! BAD ENOUGH YOU TOOK HER FROM ME! NOW YOU TAKE WHAT’S LEFT OF HER?! YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT! I SHOULD HAVE NEVER LET YOU TAKE THIS THIEVING ANIMAL IN AS A PET!”

“LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!!!”

A chain binding one of his legs snapped. The living hedgehog fell to the ground, his jacket sporting flames and his sunglasses turned red. His quills were finally that signature cobalt blue, and his eyes were that iconic emerald green. A near perfect replica of his own son.

“That’s it. You’re almost out! Come on, just a little more, Scourge!”

The Moebian shot Jules a withering glare. It didn’t mix well with the emotions coming from the reflections. To see his son look at him with such hate...

It really didn’t belong there.

“Oh just SHUT UP already!”

“Maurice, that is no way to talk to your father!”

“THAT IS NOT MY FATHER!”

Jules held out his hands as though trying to calm down an angry beast. He stood between the young hedgehog and the woman. He could see the cobalt blue hedgehog trying to break his other leg free.

The reflections changed once again. Towering figures grew to the size of mountains in those panels. Fists and nondescript foodstuffs were flying toward you. All while tinted with prison orange. Feelings of pain and fermented contempt radiated throughout the whole area. These feelings were so much stronger than anything else prior to it.

“I cut a deal with Finitevus to get us on the Cosmic Interstate. Then we got ourselves arrested, and now we’re here to break you out! Now tell me--Who loves ya?”

“You moron! You and these lame freaks are gonna get me KILLED!”

The chain on his leg snapped. From Cobalt Blue to Emerald Green. From Emerald Green to Icy Blue. From very average to all too sharp. From just too long to far too short. From angry to downright furious.

All wrapped up in a prison orange jumpsuit and thick golden collar.

Scourge looked at the woman and snarled like a wild animal. He lunged to attack her, only to be held back by one more chain. It connected to his collar like a leash. He struggled and growled against his bindings. Jules noted that he looked no better than a rabid dog, fighting to the bitter end before it’s put down.

“YOU! YOU DID THIS! YOU LIED! YOU LIED TO ME! I TRUSTED YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!”

The chain started to pull the Moebian toward the throne.

“I’m so sorry, Maurice...I never wanted this...”

“LIAR! YOU’RE A LIAR! I NEVER SHOULD’VE BELIEVED YOU!”

Angry tears flowed down the young man’s face. He swiped at the air, as though he could hurt the accused from his distance. Jules went to grab his hands to get him to stop, but he found that he, too, was bound by a chain.

What? Why?! What’s holding me back?! What am I forgetting?!

His internal struggle was halted when he heard a gurgle.

Water had crawled up Scourge’s chain and began to encompass his entire body. Pure jade eyes appeared behind him, looking otherworldly and cold.

Scourge stopped moving. His eyes filled with that same alien jade. He no longer exhibited any anger or animalistic rage. He was perfectly still. The memories and reflections faded to nothingness.

The woman clenched a fist. With newfound determination, she ran up to the submerged hedgehog. She somehow batted the water away from his face and held it gently in her dainty hands.

“Who killed me?”

“Wh...Mom...? Who killed...?”

“My son, you saw my murder that night. Who killed me? You must remember who killed me.”

“Wh--But...But the Caped Boogeyman did it! I remember that!”

“My child, who was it that night? Who did you accuse that night? You must remember. Don’t let Anarchy take you.”

It was late at night. He only wanted someone to get him some water. He was just too little to reach the sink. Surely his ma wouldn’t mind getting something for him to drink.

“It’s over, Jules! I can’t stand this any longer! My kingdom won’t fall into decay because of your pride!”

“My pride?! Aleena, the world will never know peace like this ever again if you take the throne back!”

That was his ma and pa! They were awake! That should make things easier.

“Jules, what are you--MMPH?!”

The hoglet poked his head into his parents’ bedroom. He saw two figures struggling in the dark. It stayed like that until the one on the bottom stopped moving. The top figure slowly raised up, revealing it to have a cape billowing in the wind coming from the open window. It slowly turned to face the child, its face being lit by the light coming from the doorway to reveal--

“No...No, it--it can’t be...! No way! He’s too much of a coward! It can’t be!”

“I’m so sorry...I’m so sorry you had to see it...”

“No...No way he...No...Please, no...!” Scourge looked at the Mobian wide-eyed. “You...You killed ma...?!”

Jules Hedgehog couldn’t stand seeing his son like this. Afraid of him! It broke his heart! His own boy, looking at him like he--

My son...?! No! No no no NO! He is not my son! I am not his father!

He hadn’t realized he had forgotten it. The Moebian wasn’t his son. He wasn’t Sonic. He was Scourge!

He pulled against the chain. Upon snapping, his organic vanished, leaving blue metal in its wake. Sensations were lost to him again, leaving him to feel nothing but the warm buzzing of his circuits.

A loss, for sure. But one he was going to have to accept if either of them were to get out of here.

The water came back, submerging the young man again. The woman--Aleena, Jules corrected himself---gingerly placed her three-pointed crown on top of her son’s head.

With a warcry, Scourge bent all the way backwards, the water fleeing his body like a swarm of ants being scared off by a predator. His jumpsuit flew off, leaving behind the Scourge everyone knew and loathed.

Except, not quite.

His quills turned an Onyx Black, shimmering with color like oil. Even his clothes changed to this style. When he finally straightened himself, his quills were pointed skyward and his eyes were pitch black with small glowing red pupils.

He grabbed his collar and pulled it off like it was nothing.

The hedgehog turned around and glared at the mass of water, directly at the jade eyes. It let out a cry that shook the very foundation of reality.

“GO, MY SON!”

The young hedgehog looked at Aleena. He threw himself at her in a tight embrace that was short lived. Jules could tell he didn’t want to leave her behind.

“...Thank you, mom.”

Faster than his processors could handle, Jules found himself grabbed, and it all snapped to black.

“So, tell me what happened again? My memory banks have come up blank.”

“Scourge had used the Anarchy Energy of the Mother Beryl to become Hyper Scourge. He then proceeded to break through reality and got you out of there.” Zonic carefully wrapped fresh sports tape around his knee joints as he retold the previous events to the Robian.

It was wild what happened when Hyper Scourge broke free from the Mother Beryl’s power. It didn’t help that after Terios’s stunt afterwards called for paperwork that he didn’t want to do.

He’ll give the 411 to Zhadow and have him deal with it. It’s his mission, anyway.

“Did he bring me home? Where is he now? Is he ok?”

There was an edge of genuine worry coming from his voice box. It made the Zoner smile.

“He carried you back home, sir. He’s currently resting in a completely different zone. He’ll be just fine when he wakes up again.”

“Yo, Z!” Jules turned to see his son, his real son, run up to them. He hugged his father. “Hey, dad. Man, am I glad to see you in one piece still. You had me worried sick, you know! Don’t you ever do that to me again! You know how bad mom was pacing when she got back?! I had to lie to her, dad! You made me lie to my own ma about where you were!”

Zonic fiddled with a silver bangle underneath one of his socks and turned sideways. He tossed a warp ring while Sonic berated his father for the stress he ended up causing back at home.

He dropped onto his own couch in his own home. He laid down with a sigh of content as he got comfortable and opened the chat on his phone.

Zonic: I’ve made it home.

Blue_Justice: yaaaaaay!!!

fleetfeet: aw boooo

modern_masterpiece: scourge be speepy stll

kaboom: wb z

certified_hood_classic: send pic

modern_masterpiece sent an image hedgiepile.png

fleetfeet: omg he curl like cat

modern_masterpiece: big bro scourge moment

Blue_Justice: wAIT THE WYA HE HOLDS TERIOS IM

Zonic: My heart can’t take how cute this is!

prime_suspect: bruh u just dipped???? didnt even say bye????

Zonic: It’s my day off. You’re lucky I brought your dad home at all.

kaboom: so do we gotta hied now? cuz ur dad found us?

modern_masterpiece: lol

certified_hood_classic: on itr