The first time it happened, it was a simple procedure, made simple by the subject. She was there; the hardest part was over.

The easy part was actually a series of small, easier parts: a lever to be pulled, a button to push, an order to give. It was all over in a manner of seconds. The taunting was what made it longer. This was what it was like in Robotropolis.

What stood before Sally beyond the glass was not herself, but something like her. Not a copy, but a copy gone wrong. An evil twin. A horrible creation made by an equally horrible creation, maybe what their daughter would look like… no, act like. Be like.

And she was perfect, oh, how frighteningly perfect she was! Everything down to the last detail on her body, mimicked, mirrored, cloned, brought to life. But they would know, the targets, Sally’s friends. They had to, because there was one flaw in Robotnik’s wicked design: mentality. The mentality of his creation, evil to Sally in every way, was so powerful that it somehow managed to take a tangible form. The intentions leaked outside, into her face, into her eyes, into her grin.

They would notice it. They had to notice it, or they would all be done for, and Robotnik would win.

But… it was in that moment, that rarest of moments, when Sally let doubt creep into her brain, when her confidence slipped on its desperate hold on the rope dangling over the abyss. Everything, all of it, was hopeless for no less than one second. Sally thought of giving up, just letting herself die without a fight, and as she watched her evil twin walk out of Robotnik’s harsh steel control room, it looked for sure like it was all over.

This was a while ago, however. Years, at least. This already happened.

**********

Sonic crept up to the glass casket slowly, carefully, as though any sudden movement could break her already broken form. Only now did he realize how fragile she really was, or had been. He thought to himself… that maybe if he just realized it earlier… maybe he wouldn’t have taken her for granted.

All of their years together, everything they’ve been through, all of it amplified at the highest volume, insignificant experiences louder and suddenly more significant in light of her… her…

Death? Coma?

Departure?

What did the doctor call it? Who cares? She’s gone.

“She left me.”

Of course it wasn’t on purpose, she didn’t do it to intentionally hurt him. If anything, no fault lay on her at all. But it was hard for Sonic to find a focus for his anger, even on those who were really to blame.

He couldn’t hate the responsible. His revenge had already been carried out, but instead of catharsis, there was this. The same old thing. Sally was still gone and he was still alone. Robotnik was dead, the guilty captured, peace on the horizon, nothing mattered except her.

It was less of a victory and more of a draw. Less than that, they had won by attrition.

“She was the best. They had to get her in order to break us… to break me.”

It made Sonic angry. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was helpless. He couldn’t do anything to fix it. The promise he made to himself as a child was finally broken; he was powerless. All of his strength, speed, confidence, attitude, it didn’t mean shit. Even knowing this, the anger didn’t go away. He wanted to grit his teeth until they bled, bled down his chin, his chest, his stomach, his legs, his feet, he wanted to be covered in his own blood, he wanted to pound the glass in front of it until it broke, he wanted to get cut, he wanted to fight for her, kill for her, die for her, meet her wherever she was and tell her how he really felt…

But in the end, all he did was cry. All he did was lay down and accept it.

After that, it was easy. The anger just poured out of him, but changed into a passive form. Sonic fell to his knees and sobbed. He just wanted her back. He wanted to hear her voice again, to watch her walk, move, breathe, live again. He wanted to watch her smile, laugh, blink, swallow, all of the little signs of just how alive she was, how she’d never be.

He’d die without seeing any of that ever again.

Sonic didn’t register how long he was at her side. Seconds or hours blurred, became one, didn’t matter to him. But sooner or later, reality came rushing back to him.

“wwhy… are you crying?”

He was so stricken with grief that he didn’t recognize Sally’s voice and almost answered her. Instead, it took him a full second before bolting to his feet.

“… Sal?”

“who else?”

A smile appeared on his tear-streaked face. “Y-you’re awake.”

“how long was I out?”

He never answered. He swept her up out of the casket, into his arms, and squeezed, gently but as tight as he could, holding on, promising that he’d never let go ever again. It was a long time before he released enough to look into her eyes.

Yes. She was real. This was real. This was really happening.

“I missed you so much.”

This was, by every definition, a miracle.

“how long was I out?”

“Too long.”

They kissed. Everyone watching either smiled deeply or let out a gigantic cheer, and Sonic could have sworn that he heard trumpets blare. Nothing could ruin the moment; it would only enhance it.

Perfect. What a perfect way to end the war.

She didn’t even seem to remember that the person trying to kill her was wearing a Sonic mask at the time.

**********

Tending to Sally was easy because she recovered so quickly. Her strength and determination were an inspiration to the people of Knothole, and boosted morale up to an all time high. Every reward felt within reach with the Princess back in action, and even the task of DeRobotosizing the hoards of prisoners could not shake the foundation of their optimism.

In mere days she starting giving orders again, efficient, precise, quick and to the point. There was nothing wrong with what was to be done, but it was the way she told them, something unlike her. No one questioned it, of course, not yet. But a few had doubts.

**********

It was two years before reality set in again. The denial had run as long as it could, and by the end it was stretched out, so thin it barely covered the hideous truth anymore.

At first, the excuses worked for him. She needed time to recover from her ordeal. She needs more time to adapt. She’s stressed out about rebuilding our homes. She’s had a rough day. She’s upset about our inability to raise a family. The list goes on and on, but one day, it all stopped, and Sonic finally accepted what everybody else already had.

It wasn’t Sally.

The problems with rebuilding Mobotropolis, all of the setbacks, weren’t mere acts of God or Gods, nor were they the products of plain old bad luck. Someone had been sabotaging them. With this type of operation, it’s expected, but not in a continuous string for two years. Sooner or later, someone on the ladder had to be caught.

And Queen Sally was the highest on the ladder as you could get.

Sitting in his restored Mobian home, the home where he barely had a chance to grow up before the war started, Sonic wasn’t crying. The fact that the real Sally Acorn had been dead for years wasn’t enough to send him into another sobbing fit. He had shed his tears for her the day that she “miraculously recovered,” and now, once again, all he felt was angry, angry with her, angry with Robotnik, and angry with himself for letting this carry on for so long.

This time, though, he wasn’t helpless. There were many ways that he could handle this, and none were pleasant or particularly appealing. Then again, nothing really mattered without her… and she had been gone for a long time.

This time, he could set things right. He could fix it.

**********

When he ripped the skin off of Sally’s face, he felt a spray of hot liquid into his eyes, and it all went red. He kept on, ripping and pounding with feral rage, letting loose all that he had kept inside for so long, bringing up painful memories, to fuel the flames of his fury, letting every hit, bite, scratch, tear get their kicks in before each volley. She struggled, of course, even tried to fight back. She screamed and screamed and screamed until finally, the voice sounded fake and metallic. The thin white bones fell off, revealing a metal interior, and inside that, the components for the trickery. Robotnik had outdone himself. This model of Sally was better than the last. Even the smile looked real, had fooled even Sonic. But nothing compared to the real thing, not even the memory of the real thing. So Sonic dug and dug and dug into this trick until there was nothing to dig into anymore, until the parts and bits and pieces stopped moving. Until nothing was left to soil the memory of his beloved, the only thing that had ever mattered.

She was the only thing that ever mattered to him, and he never even told her that he loved her.

**********

A proper grave was built for the long-passed Sally of the House of Acorn. The ceremony was quiet and uncelebrated. The marker was blank and far from where anywhere would look, in the woods, in the place once known as Knothole, next to the ring pool and right about the spot where soldiers would hold watch.

Of the few that attended her funeral, only one would return every month, not to grieve but to watch, to wait, to think of moments forgotten and taken for granted, to think of all that could have happened, but didn’t.

**********

The years passed, and Mobotropolis managed to run itself, thankfully. The House of Acorn dead and never coming back, and Sonic being the most experienced, the person to look up to, there was no one for him to turn to for advice. Nobody who was Robotosized had lived, a gift of the departed saboteur.

His friends, some of them, were still there for them, but not for long. Bunnie was coughing and bleeding her way into an early grave. Rotor too. Antoine never really cared for Sonic’s company and so their relationship stayed on a greeting and departure basis only, just to be polite. Tails was into his own thing, mostly doing the job that Sonic should have been doing. Tails was usually too busy to set aside any free time for himself, let alone for Sonic’s interest.

Sonic himself spent most of his time in his chambers, alone, watching the beautiful decorations and signs of the new Mobotropolis, the new Mobius, get dusty and turn to shit. Weary from day to day, he rarely said two words to anyone and ate in increments of weeks. People were worried, but knew that they could do nothing to help him.

The King’s chamber was in a bad state of decay, for sure, but one item in the mess was kept immaculate, a diamond in miles of rough sand. Every night, for almost four years, Sonic would fall asleep looking at it, staring for as long as he could.

**********

NICOLE hadn’t been activated since Sally, the real one, died oh so many years ago. The imposter wore the computer on her belt all the time, but never actually used her, supposedly because the AI would have exposed her fraud.

The computer’s exterior had signs of damage written all over it, showing her age. During Mobotropolis’ “rebuilding,” the computer was dropped, smashed, thrown, and burned, all on accident. This carelessness was more evidence of the Princess’ long absence.

Staring at the scratches, scrapes, and cracks, Sonic didn’t even know if the old girl still worked.

Holding his breath, Sonic turned NICOLE on for the first time in almost six years. Almost immediately, he was greeted with: “What is up, my main hedgehog?”

It was amazing how beautiful this sounded to Sonic, in all of its emotionless glory, but he held back the tears he could feel coming, and tried to smile. “Hey, Nicole.”

For a while, he just looked at the computer screen, scrutinizing every detail, marveling in the fact that she was still in perfect working order. Sonic took in the moment, realizing for the first time that this was the only link left to the woman that he loved.

“Sensors indicate a discrepancy of six years, four months, two weeks-”

“Yeah. Yeah. You’re right.”

“Explanation requested.”

Oh boy. “It’s a long story, Nicole. I don’t really want to go into it.”

It was a long time before NICOLE responded, as though she were thinking of the most delicate way of asking why. In the end, she must have decided that blunt was the best way to go.

“Where’s Sally?”

Sonic really did want to answer her, tell her everything that had happened, expose himself, let his feelings out to her, finally give himself some relief, but… simply couldn’t. His breath caught in his throat, the tears broke out of his eyes and ran down his cheeks too quickly for him to stop them, his hands balled into fists, his face twisted into a painful grimace, and for the first time, his gaze broke away from NICOLE as he cried.

**********

Cowardice was the real reason that Sally’s personal computer stayed deactivated for so long. Sonic was really afraid of what he might have to confront, in himself as well as in her components. Really, he wasted time that could have been spent getting to know Sally’s past, what she did, what she felt, all of things that used to be a mystery to him. He could have used that time to heal instead of uselessly sulking by himself.

Wiping the tears from his eyes and breathing heavily, Sonic realized that he had a lot of catching up to do. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he began:

“She’s dead, Nicole.”

**********

“Assassinated?”

For lack of a better word… “Yes.”

“For how long?”

“About six years.”

“Sensors indicate surface damage.”

“You were in the care of a… an imposter. She tried to deactivate you permanently.” A thought then entered Sonic’s head; a disgusting one. The mere conception of it sickened him, shook him to the bone, but he couldn’t concentrate unless he got it out. “Nicole… do you have sound patterns of all the original Freedom Fighters?”

“Affirmative.”

“Could… could you…” Deep breath. “Could you do Sally’s for me? Just for a little bit.”

The machine paused again. Surely even she would know how pathetic this is. She’d decline, she had to. It’d be preferred if she did. He couldn’t do this to himself, he just couldn’t, but if he didn’t, he’d never heal. He’d never tell her what he always wanted to say. Yes. Sally’s voice, just for a little bit, of course! Somehow, this would make him better.

**********

“Nicole?”

A sweet, vibrating sound came out of the machine. “Yes, Sonic.”

It was…

It…

Oh…

It sounded…

Perfect.

**********

Sonic’s infrequent visits to the outside world became even less frequent when this happened. The change had boosted his spirits, of course, but in a counter-active way. He became paranoid of his newfound discovery, afraid of suffering through the heartbreak of losing Sally all over again. He was also worried about others trying to take her away from him, study her, cut her open and-

No! He would do all he can to prevent any of that from happening. Again.

The two of them mostly chatted about old times, old missions, tasks of the past. NICOLE used Sally’s voice all the time, never once reverting back to her default setting. Even she must have understood what it meant to the old hedgehog.

It couldn’t be like this forever, however. NICOLE was holding something back, something that she had kept hidden from most everyone for a very long time. When the time was right, she would bring it up, as delicately as she could, as she had been ordered by Queen Acorn herself.

But for now, she would have to keep Sonic happy, or as close to it as he could come, for as long as possible. That is, after all, what she was ordered to do.

**********

One more year.

Rotor was the only one he ever told, quite a long time after Sonic found out himself. Poor wheezing, dying Rotor. The conversation, the words Sonic spoke to him, passed by his eyes so quick, so fast, too fast, making his head swim uncomfortably. He couldn’t function, let alone think by himself. What he said, suggested, and did, it was all autopilot. Sonic finally stopped talking and waited for a response.

“Who else knows about this?”

“No one.”

Rotor stared at the deactivated personal computer, unable to fully grasp what he had been told. He felt numb, horribly numb, and yet strangely aware. This was a nightmare.

“What she-” it couldn’t- “What you’re saying is that everything-” what- “Our lives, what we’ve done-” no-no-no- “All of it was for nothing.” Pointless. “Pointless.” Useless. “Who I’ve loved, what I’ve built, the universe… it’s nothing.”

Rotor felt Sonic’s hand on his shoulder, heard him speak, felt his cold breath. “It’s not personal. You sound like someone did this on purpose.”

He turned to face him, on automatic. “How else would it happen?”

“Look, it’s not like some kind of experiment or secret conspiracy! It’s a fluke, plain and simple. Some people are lucky… and some people aren’t. We’re the ones that aren’t.”

“Bullshit!”

“You want to fight about it? Fine, but it won’t do us any good. It certainly won’t change the fact that we’re mistakes. We shouldn’t have made it this far. We shouldn’t be here! We’ve already lost. We’re dead.”

“Then… why are we still here?”

Sonic’s gaze fell to the inert NICOLE Rotor’s teary eyes followed. “She was there for us, every time we needed her. How many times would we have failed without her? What if she was never sent back in time in the first place?”

Rotor couldn’t speak anymore. He felt nauseous.

“In a way, she wasn’t. The people she needs to help, us, they’ll die without her.” He looked back to Rotor. “I mean, look at us, look at what has happened. We don’t deserve her. It would… it would have been better if we all really had died.”

**********

Time travel.

Instead a single stretch of time, you have multiple branches, like on a tree, and time travel is the ability to jump from branch to branch at any point in time of its growth. Once that happens, however, a new branch grows where that change occurs. The mere presence of something that was never supposed to be there changes it. Therefore, the original line still exists, but in an inaccessible form.

Maybe there’s a vein that travels to the heart. The vein works fine but for one reason or another, a second vein branches off from it for a quicker route to the heart. Both veins cannot exist together, and so the original is closed off, and unless the second is destroyed, it will remain that way.

It’s only a theory, and it’s a shoddy one at that. Time travel, in reality, is probably so complex that it cannot be confined by any rule or statement, other than, “It’s simply impossible.”

**********

NICOLE supposedly, according to her, came from a future where Mobotropolis was rebuilt, where Princess Sally was Queen Acorn. According to her, she was sent back in time in order to help the Freedom Fighters fight Robotnik in the hardships that were to come. If this is true, then who helped the Queen originally? If she made it fine and everything was just peachy, why would the Freedom Fighters need even more help?

So that begs the question: Is she lying, or is she just greedy?

**********

Of course, it could also mean that someone else, a different Sally, sent a NICOLE back in time knowing that it would travel to a different branch, so to speak, where they really would need help. This way, both statements can be true.

This means that, sooner or later, all branches will have the Freedom Fighters winning. Robotnik doesn’t stand a chance unless he breaks the chain. Or someone else does.

But how does this work, exactly? Who or what chooses which branch to jump to? Is it random or just the nearest possibility?

Can any of this work at all?

Is it even true?

**********

Sonic chose Rotor for a number of reasons, one because of his intelligence, another being that while Tails was closer to him, he was still, at heart, a kid, no matter how hard he worked or how many responsibilities he had. Growth to Sonic was only based on experience. Experiences.

Antoine just wouldn’t have understood, and Bunnie couldn’t do anything to help. And Sally was dead. On this branch, anyway.

From the looks of how things were going, it would have been a lot worse if Sonic had chosen anyone else, if this was how Rotor reacted. “Dead?”

“How can the chain continue if Sally’s dead? Sally’s always the one who sends her back. If we don’t do this, if we don’t send her back, then we die, over and over again. Robotnik wins, we lose.”

“That isn’t the problem, Sonic.” The anger flashed behind his eyes but stayed there. NICOLE was still laying on the worktable, deactivated, but as soon as she was awake again, she would tell Rotor what to do. After that, it would all be okay. “I’ll do it.”

Sonic smiled.

**********

… he bought it.

**********

It took less than ten minutes to do it. All NICOLE needed was a strong power source, and there were plenty of those in the city. Rotor had clearance to all of them, but more importantly, to the strongest one of all. As soon as she had told them what to do, they took her down the street to South Side Electrical, and gained access to the power transformers.

It was snowing outside. Most of the workers had gone home to spend time with their families. Rotor, Sonic, and NICOLE would have the privacy they needed.

While NICOLE prepared her systems for the process, Sonic debated whether or not he needed to smash Rotor’s face in. He seemed oblivious enough, the lovable goof, but you can never tell about things like this. Maybe he could see Sonic’s snapped mind, his broken soul, his will to live in shambles. Most likely, the bleak tale that Sonic had spun would be enough to distract him. If not, he could still tear him apart. Sonic had done it before, easily, with pleasure. It wouldn’t be hard to do it again.

“Ready,” came the ugly buzzing of NICOLE’s original voice, changed so as not to arouse suspicion.

Rotor started towards the computer, only to be stopped firmly in his tracks by Sonic’s arm. “I’ll do it,” he said.

Picking her up, he walked over to the transformer port, and held her close enough for her to link up. Sonic turned and smiled at Rotor.

“Thanks.”

Before Rotor could reply, blue sparks arced all around them, blinding him, throwing him backwards. When Rotor opened his eyes again, Sonic and NICOLE were gone.

**********

The stars winked and winked and winked at Sonic as he traveled faster than he ever had before, colliding with matter as thin as light. He felt the years traveling through him again. He felt himself die and get reborn and felt it all reversed. He saw how he died, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of times. He saw himself, he saw his friends, and he saw Sally… Sally… and he saw all of them die as well. They all died sooner or later. He wept, smiled, laughed, slept. All the pain, all of it. Soon, nothing moved, nothing lived, there was no space, no time, nothing, and it was great, the greatest ever. No mystery, no chance of getting hurt. Security. Then BOOM! there it was again, and it was even better, seeing birth, how beautiful it was. The universe engulfed him, enclosed around him, kept him safe for so long, and finally, let him go again. He couldn’t feel NICOLE anymore but knew she was there. She had to be, for this was how it was possible: time travel. He wanted more, he wanted to appreciate it, love it, cherish it, but saw it all swept away. Numerous possibilities opened ahead of him, doors in hallways, forks in the road. He could see himself in all of them, but couldn’t choose. It was leaving; Sonic was going away, towards his destination. He held the gaze of the branches of the tree before finally waking up.

**********

Sunlight pierced through the darkness first, so Sonic opened his eyes right away. He couldn’t remember anything after standing in the right spot with NICOLE His head felt tired and weary, and he wanted to rest, but he forced himself to stand.

Mobius. Turbulent, enslaved Mobius. He was back. He made it.

His destination was a small clearing in a wheat field, right by a small rock formation. A short distance outside of Knothole. It worked. It all worked.

A rustling behind him caught his attention. With lighting-quick reflexes, without thinking, Sonic dived into the nearest shelter, behind a rock, and made himself scarce. Only then did he notice that he was still holding NICOLE.

The comet trail… they, whoever, must have followed the comet trail…

The sign of NICOLE’s arrival. Whoever it is, they have seen it! Shit, shit, shit, they’ll find me!

Sonic, panicking, skipped through memory after memory in his head, throwing aside file after file, TRYING to remember who it was that first found her, if it was Sally that first came across NICOLE. Was it? Wasn’t it? It had to be, yes, yes yes. It was the same on every branch, too, on every single possibility, because this was the point where it all changes, Nicole changes it all! But FUCK! who found her, WHO found her, WHO fucking found her?!

Sonic, emerging from the other end of the clearing, followed the trail of the comet to the point of impact.

**********

“There… there it is.” Rotor finished telling his wildly spun tale, actually the truth, and expected Tails to scoff, balk, or at least laugh. He hardly expected an expression like what he received…

“No… he… he used her?!”

Not quite understanding, Rotor still found the power to nod. “Y-yes.”

“Why did you do it?!”

“Do what?”

“Fuck, Rotor!”

Rotor obviously missed something… something very important. He couldn’t think right. He was, very suddenly, forced back into the pilot’s seat, and he felt disoriented. “What- what did I do?” What did he do wrong? All he did was help a friend. Right?

Tails, staring into Rotor’s eyes, broke away, sighing.

**********

“Please, NICOLE. Do it for me.”

But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t do her voice for him. So Sonic, unable to deal with the fact that this was for his own good, suffered the embarrassment of going to Tails for help. He was a good friend, an old friend, who would do anything for his buddy, his bigger brother, his mentor, idol, no matter how pathetic it was. So Tails hacked into the mainframe and fixed it so that NICOLE would follow Sonic’s orders only. Tails knew well of the time travel capabilities, even studied them extensively for scientific research, but underestimated Sonic’s determination. It was impossible for anything to happen, right? Sonic didn’t even have access to the power that would be need-

**********

It was night Princess Sally noticed the trail of the comet from her hut. It was still visible even after it had already happened, marking the entry by tearing the sky open, a deep and angry wound, so pretty and yet it looked like it hurt. It looked deep and debilitating, almost like it was growing bigger and would never heal.

Sally hurried, but didn’t wake anybody up to investigate with her. After all, it had to be nothing, nothing at all.

**********

“Never mind, Rotor. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”

Nothing, nothing at all. That’s what they were: nothing. No matter.

Mobotropolis, and all of Mobius, started to flicker. Tails blinked.

Nobody said anything after that.

**********

Sonic held Sonic’s head when Sally came up, ten feet away from his body. Blood looked a lot different under the tear in the sky, but it was still the SAME!!!

Sonic had heard the footsteps, saw Sally, felt nothing. He couldn’t even smile.

All he could say was, “I love you.”

She couldn’t hear him. She was screaming too loudly.