Arrivederci, Sonic The Hedgehog

experimenting with vhs filters on some tails drawings i did recently! ^^ i think they look pretty convincing-- someday i want to make a full short or episode or something of some seperate ova verse if i ever get the time or resources lol

The credits page art from the ‘Mecha Madness’ 48-page special of Archie Comic’s ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’.

“BOUND FOR FREEDOM, YEAR FOUR, DAY FOUR: “Steel”

“Steel Souls”

((TW: SUICIDAL IDEATION, MENTION OF SUICIDAL THOUGHTS))

“I wanted to kill myself.  Do you remember that?”

It takes Sally a moment to respond.  Her glowing eyes remain distant at first.  But eventually, slowly, her glassy gaze shifts to Sonic, who sits right across from her.  “When I was Roboticized,” the hedgehog continued.  “After I’d gotten my free will back.”

He stretches his hand out a bit, fingers flexing forward…re-enacting an old memory.  “I could remember all the terrible things I’d done, all the friends I’d hurt.  Didn’t matter if I’d been in control of myself or not…it was still me.  It still felt like my fault.”

Sonic pauses to look at Sally.  Her robotic form sits limply on the ground, like a puppet without strings.  But those eyes…they remain focused to him.  The hedgehog knows now, he has her attention.  Because he knows what he’s saying sounds all too familiar to her.  “For a minute there, I really thought about givin’ up,” the hedgehog continues, his hand still outstretched.  “I’d been pretty roughed up, so I thought maybe I could just…turn it all off at that point, y’know?  Didn’t feel like it woulda been that hard.”

For a moment, Sonic closes his eyes to really let the memory rise to the surface.  Computerized vision, filled with waves of static and cracked glass…electricity crackling out of control up and down a metallic frame…joints and bolts all bent and broken.  It was just about as near death as the Freedom Fighter could ever recall being…as near to the edge as he had ever gotten.  One last step really would have been all it would have taken.

But.

“Only I didn’t.  Even though I felt like I should…like I had to…I didn’t.”

He opens his eyes and looks right at her, leaning over and letting that open hand wrap around those steely claws.  “’Cuz you were there,” he tells her.  “Holding onto me.  Cryin’.  Beggin’ me t’stay.  So I stayed.”

There is motion in Sally’s robotic body then.  Brief, slight, just a little flicker of her hand.  But Sonic sees it, and it drives him.  “And I’m so glad I did,” the hedgehog tells her, pressing their heads together gently.  “’Cuz once I did…once I stepped back from that edge…suddenly it was like I couldn’t even remember wantin’ t’go over it in the first place anymore.  And from there, it was easy t’keep steppin’ back more ‘n’ more…t’find my balance again.”

Again, a flicker of motion.  Her head, angling up just a little to better meet his.  “Right now…I know you’re in a bad place, Sal,” he says.  “Real bad.  Maybe even worse than I’d been.  But…”

He wraps his other arm around her.  Gives her a moment to react.  Gently pulls her closer.  “Please.  Please hold on.  Give me…give yourself…that chance.”

And then…the princess speaks.

“…I don’t…I don’t know if I can….”

Her voice echoes with that metallic tint, but the words are a whisper.  They are her first words in several days.  “Part of me wants to believe you…” she says.  “But another part of me…all it can feel is the Hurt.  All it can hear is the crying.”

A shudder passes over Sally then.  Sonic’s instinct is to tighten his grip, but instead he lets it pass, even as he does not let go.  “You said…for you, that feeling passed…” the princess says.  “But…right now…I look back.  I look forward.  And this…”  There is a strange break in her voice then, a distortion that warps its sound for a moment.  “This anguish is all I can see…all around me…all inside me….”

“Do you see me?” Sonic asks, his hands moving to cup her cheeks.  

It takes the robotic squirrel a moment, her head again moving just slightly so her eyes can best see his.  And as she sees the tears brimming in his eyes, dotting his cheeks, she answers, “…yes….”

“Then hold onto that,” he tells her.  “Hold on to knowing that I want you to stay.”  He keeps going, voice strong and shaky at the same time.  “I don’t want a life without you in it, Sal.  Without even the chance of gettin’ you back.  So I am begging you.  Please.  Don’t give up.  Stay with us.  Stay with me.”

They stay like that, together, still.  Until, finally, her arms lift up and find their way around him.