The Next Right Thing

Prologue

Warning: This story OPENS with suicide. While we're on the subject, suicide is never the choice to go with. Please, if you're feeling like it's the only way to go, please, call a friend, call your religious leader, call your family, anyone you can trust. Please.

Dr. Robotnik often prided himself on being a bastion of strength. Nobody could best him. And he finally proved that by capturing and roboticizing his greatest enemies. The Sonic Underground. When Sleet and Dingo walked in dragging the three, with the bane of his existence weighed by lead shackles so he couldn't get away and their medallions in Sleet's hand, he had rejoiced maniacally. At last, he had won. Pushing the button to turn all three of them into robotic slaves had been a great victory. He did regret not being able to save the pink hedgehog for his most loyal supporter but he had thought that having her as his robot servant would suffice. He had made her capable of performing the services of a wife.

However, Bartleby's reaction was much different than he expected. He had lost his temper for the first time since he'd known the boy, watching him break down so utterly. He shouted at him. "I hate you! I hate you! You evil bastard! She was right! You're nothing but a monster! I'll never forgive you!" The boy had run from the palace before Robotnik could stop him. He didn't chase after, hoping that in a few days, Bartleby would call him up and beg forgiveness for his outburst.

However, the call never came. On the third day, he sent his bounty hunters to fetch him. He just needed to talk to him. Make him see that it was the only way. They had won and he would surely find another love. There were many more fish in the sea, as they said.

He waited in the throne room, pondering how to make the boy forgive him. Surely, he didn't really hate him. He paced the room with concern as the wait went on. Finally, his phone went off and he answered it. "What is it, Sleet?"

"Sire… I… think you need to come. You need to come now…" The wolf sounded shocked, unable or unwilling to say more. Finally, his voice came over softer. "We found him…"

When Robotnik arrived at the mansion, running inside as fast as his thick legs could carry him, he found Sleet standing at the entrance to the parlor. Dingo was standing off to the side, shaking. For a bounty hunter, Dingo was very sensitive.

"Sleet, what is it? Where is he?" He asked.

The snowy wolf stepped aside with Dingo. "You need to see…" Robotnik had never heard such a tone from him.

Robotnik went into the room with ice filling his veins. In the center of the room, a sunken living area, the blonde mink sat, sprawled on the sofa. In his outstretched hand, an empty gin glass with a twist of orange peel. Foam trickled from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were open but they were glassy and unseeing.

"No… no… Bartleby!" He ran over to the sofa and shook the boy. "Bartleby! I command you to wake up! Wake up! Or… or… I'll roboticize you…" He ordered hopelessly. The boy didn't respond. The doctor touched two fingers to his carotid and felt his body begin to tremble. He smelled the glass. "Potassium cyanide…"

Now, he sat in Bartleby's room, having carried his body back to his bed. His chest felt heavy. "Bartleby… why did you do this? Over her? She betrayed you for her brothers. She was seeing other males. She was unworthy of you… Why… Everything I did was for you. So that one day, you could be king." He lowered his head as his back hitched and he felt wetness at the corners of his eyes. At this moment, his strength was gone and he was nothing more than a broken man, mourning his only true friend.

"He didn't want to be king, Robotnik…" A voice said as a green light filled the room. When the light settled, the despot looked at the Oracle of Delphius. "All he wanted was his princess."

"But why! She… she… she broke up with him." Robotnik demanded, standing up to face him. "He could have found someone else! She dumped him to join the resistance. To fight me. She betrayed him."

The Oracle put his hand on the young man's forehead. "You need to see something, Robotnik…" He pulled a white mist from the body. The mist coagulated and formed a round window before him.

In the window, he could see the pink hedgehog sitting with Bartleby. "So, we're in agreement. We'll be together in secret from now on. No one will know. Robotnik and my family will think we broke up." She said with an excited smile.

The mink clutched her hands. "Oh, my darling… to be with you, I would do anything. I love you so much. I'll arrange everything with the courthouse tonight. My wife." He kissed her deeply.

Robotnik watched with widened eyes. "But… they… she…" He felt his legs give out and he sat down.

"Her mother didn't want her with him while the war was at its peak. That's why they lied to everyone. Did you really need to roboticize her? Or were you under the impression you were getting revenge for him? An act of revenge he didn't want…" The Oracle chastised him. His own eyes were red, as though the seer hadn't slept for days.

Shaking his head desperately, Robotnik tried to think of something to say until he saw something laying on Bartleby's night table. It was a folded up piece of paper. He picked up the paper, a thin white stick falling from the letter. He forewent the letter long enough to pick up the distinctive white stick. His eyes focused on a pink X on the indicator spot. The letter was dated that same day she was captured. She hadn't fought back, he recalled from Sleet's tale of the capture. He had found it odd. His mouth fell open.

He read the letter over and over, his eyes darting from side to side as the magnitude of the situation finally hit him. "Oh, my gods… what have I done?" He leaned over, his grief overwhelming him as he sobbed. "Bartleby! Bartleby, I'm sorry. I didn't know! I didn't know! Please, please, come back! I'll make it right! Just come back!" He sobbed, hugging the boy to him, to no avail. He looked up at the Oracle. "Did you just come to gloat! To tell me that he was right, that I am a monster. Why are you here?"

"I watched them, living their illicit love. Doing their best to maintain some semblance of normalcy while she fought you to free her kingdom." The Oracle explained. "They loved each other and I had hoped that such love could lead to prosperity for this kingdom. You are a monster, Robotnik. Whatever your issue with Queen Aleena is… you're a monster in your own right. But you've got what you wanted. This kingdom is now yours. Aleena is dead. You took the only reason she had for living. The kingdom is yours. No one will challenge you further. Was it worth it?"

"Shut up!" The old man roared. "I get it! Why are you fucking here! If you're not here to tell how to fix it, then get the hell out! I don't need to hear it from you!"

The Oracle's lip trembled. "If you could fix it, would you?" He asked. The angry eyes changed to confusion. "What if I said it could be done?"

Robotnik stammered. "What? How? Tell me." He demanded. "I need my boy back. He's all I have."

"Somehow you have to change what you did. I'm not supposed to tell you about this but… the hedgehogs, I loved them as though they were my children. I will never have children to call my own. So I will help you." The Oracle was having trouble standing under the weight of his grief but he waved his hand and a circular, flat ruby pendant appeared.

From the doorway, Sleet asked. "Can… can we help him? We are partially responsible for this… We could have refused to work for him… we could have fought back but we didn't."

The Oracle nodded and waved his hand. Two more pendants appeared. One emerald and one topaz. "You need to choose a point in the past. It must be after you hired your bounty hunters. You must go back to the point and kill your former selves. The pendants will tie you to that new past so that you don't vanish as a result. But… you must be aware that you have one chance at this. Only one." He trembled with pain, hunching further. He began coughing, collapsing to his knees.

Robotnik dropped to his knee beside the mage as his body shook with painful, liquidy coughs. "What's wrong with you." He instinctively caught him as he suffered.

"By… helping you… change the past… I'm in violation of the laws of magic…" He hacked. "For that violation… my life is forfeit. That's… that is why… you only have one chance. Go…" The Oracle pointed at a closet weakly and it glowed. "If you… if you need… need help… Call on… call on my… former… former self…"

The scientist felt the old mage go still in death. He felt pain in his chest as he took the ruby pendant that had fallen to the floor. He put it on and plucked up the other two as he stood. "I understand." He looked to Bartleby. "I'll make this right my son. You have my word." He took a moment to caress his yellow hair. "You'll have your princess." He handed Sleet and Dingo their pendants. "We have a mission. And failure is not an option this time." He said sharply. He went to the glowing closet.

"Where will we go?" Dingo asked. "He said we have to pick a point… Which point?"

Robotnik nodded. "I believe I know the best point…" He ordered as he opened the door and they stepped inside.

AN: I know I've kind of got a similar story with Changing Fate. But decided to use a variation with Robotnik as our protagonist. I should say that I love the Father type character. I miss my father terribly.