Disclaimer: Sonic, Robotnik and related characters are (c) Sega.

Authors note: Wow…I think this is the darkest piece of fan fiction I've written, it has a little violence, and language is damn a swear word? but it doesn't go past PG13 if at all. I was listening to 'Who wants to live forever' and 'The show must go on' - both by Queen while I was writing this, and I think the tone of music fits.

Resolution

Damn you.

Damn you hed--Sonic.

Damn you to hell - though I doubt you would end up there - we are after all, hero and villain, good and evil, light and dark.

Ying and yang.

No.

If there's a heaven, that's where you'd go, probably lie around all day, then run as fast as the eye can see.

G-damn it...I sound like a sentimental old fool.

Perhaps I am.

I always thought it would fall into place, the day I would finally be rid of you. From that point, taking over would prove simple. I would send robots into every corner of the planet, with no hero left to save and defend them. I would turn them all into robots, save for a minority left to fear me, and then, a select few, who needed to be able to feel, see, hear and FEAR ME, without the confines of a metal shell.

Such as your friends.

Then, I would sit in my throne room no need for a command chair, with nobody left to fight, watch a dozen screens, of my loyal robots terraforming the planet into something that was more to my liking. My servants would be your pathetic friends, broken down by losing you, and stare mindlessly, perhaps awaiting torture or even death, as I handed out to you.

I would leave them though. Despite how it may seem, I do not desire violence for all.

You were the one who ruined my plans, you were the one who would burst in, destroy my creations, leave my factories and bases in a pile of rubble, then run off, sporting that....that grin you had permanently plastered to your face.

Damn you again.

I only ever wanted to get rid of you - your friends, yes, they were troublesome, offensive, helped to bring down all I had worked so hard to build. But you were the one in front of it all. And without you, I did not want to cause them physical pain - I know how hard it is to lose somebody you care about, hedgehog, I had parents, who died before I began to walk this path. I remember, kneeling in front of two graves, placing flowers and crying for somebody I would never see again.

Your friends would have enough pain to deal with, everlasting pain, without the need for more.

So I would leave them.

Life would go on, day after day, with me, as supreme ruler.

Perhaps, instead of falling immediately, they would fight back, perhaps incensed by your death and wanting revenge.

Perhaps, by some sort of miracle, they would bring me down, and I would be punished.

I would expect nothing less than death for my crimes.

It would be enough, to know that I did what I desired all these years - that I had survived longer than my worst enemy.

My nemesis.

Either way, I would win.

Or would I?

I have spoken of what would happen if I destroyed you, as if it is some far-away dream, something which is not foreseeable, but glitters in the distance like silver.

But it is not a dream.

It has happened.

But not at all how I imagined.

I can picture it in my mind, as clearly as the day it happened...

- - - - -

Striding out into the clearing, kicking pieces of metal and circuitry aside, I surveyed the battlefield. Pieces of robots were strewn everywhere, making it look as if hundreds had fought here, as if an army had tried to repel them. It happened so often, that I was used to seeing it - the hedgehog and his friends had fought me often enough to guarantee a constant rebuilding of my robotic army.

What I did not expect, was the figure, lying around ten feet from where I stood - half propped up by an arm which hadn't been broken, but had blood running down it.

You.

...I walked the few feet over, casting a shadow over your body, and making you look upwards.

One eye was swollen, the other though, regarded me with surprise, then narrowed.

"Robotnik" you spat.

I noticed, with some amusement, that a tooth was shaken loose, falling to the ground, a whiteness contrasting with the silvery metal, and drops of blood.

"Sonic" I acknowledged with a nod.

"So...you finally...got me...then" you breathed, harshly, in and out, a slight rattling, perhaps a broken rib or two, behind it.

"I believe that my robots 'got you' hedgehog" I smirked, reverting to the nickname I used.

I half expected a sarcastic remark, but instead, you looked straight at me.

"You built them"

"True, but what does that have to do with it?"

Now, you smirked.

"When they catch you, you're gonna be in deep water" you stopped, coughing, trying to cover it with your hand, and finding droplets of blood on them, then grimacing at the pain it must have caused you. You spoke again, but I could see the pain in your eyes. "All those people you hurt, all those who were put in those robots, all those who lost families, lost friends, lost homes, lost everything they had, they'll all want a piece of you, and it ain't got nothing to do with the fact that you weren't the one to actually inflict that pain first-hand - just because it was the robots who ran people from their homes and actually hurt those people - you were the one who built them, gave them the orders, sent them out - you are gonna PAY Robotnik...big time"

"I'm so scared"

You didn't answer, just lay back, exhausted by that long speech, all full of heroics like I expected.

And I knew, you wouldn't last much longer.

"So hedgehog, how does it feel, knowing you've lost?" I asked

"Mighta lost the battle...but...I haven't...lost...the...war" you smirked, eyes dropping half closed. I could see you, fighting to give in to the tiredness that seeped throughout your body, into every limb.

I watched.

"Robotnik?"

It had been a few minutes, and I had almost thought you gone - then you opened your eyes, which had drifted closed, and saw that though the green pupils had dulled, there still dwelled a hidden intensity, which I had seen from other battles.

I had on mind to snap, throw back some comment, or at least answer with 'hedgehog'

But I didn't.

"Yes?"

"Do something for me?"

I almost laughed - my worst enemy, lying fatally injured, was asking for a favour.

"D...Don't let my friends see me like this" you stuttered, pain clouding your speech to a point where I strained to make out the words. "I know I'm gonna die, and I don't want my friends to see me like this..." you shut your eyes "T...Tails'll be freaked...and the others..." you had to pause then, tears running from your eyes - you didn't have the strength to wipe them away, and let them fall.

I don't know why I did it; perhaps it was some sort of weakness, an act of compassion.

I had what I wanted.

"Very well" I nodded, showing no emotion "You have my word that your friends will not find you looking like this"

You gave a half-smile, and a whispered response.

"Knew...you couldn't...be all...bad"

Then you closed your eyes, and your head sank to one side.

I watched as your chest rose, and fell, then failed to rise again. Then I walked away, giving the order to the robots still standing.

- - - - -

I was true to my word - your injuries were cleaned, and though you would not win any beauty contests, it gave some dignity to your death.

And when your friends did come to find you, they cried over the lifeless body, and carried it back with them, supporting each other.

I assume you were buried, though I never knew where.

Afterwards, the expected attacks by your friends did come.

But there was something missing.

There was no spirit behind it, no joking, no wisecracks, just attack after attack on my factories and bases of operation, again and again.

It wasn't long before I captured the first of them, that fox...Tails I believe, who cried for you as my robots carried him away. Soon, more followed - it was as I had always known - you had been the heart, the soul of that group, and without you, they could not carry on.

My dream did come true - I had rid myself of you, captured your friends, taken over the planet, made all but a select few into robots.

...so why do I feel so empty?

Why do I wander the halls of my fortress every night, unable to sleep...

Why do I rerun tapes of our battles...

Why do I long for the sounds of robots being destroyed...

Why do I feel uneasy looking at the blank expressions of your friends...

...Why do I see your face, looking at me, whenever I close my eyes...

...you are gonna PAY Robotnik...big time"

Am I paying the price now, not rotting in a prison, but by my own hand?

When I do sleep, I often dream of your last request...how you looked scared, and how I had never seen it before, not like that, not that pure, raw fear...

...D...Don't let my friends see me like this"

And your last words.

...Knew...you couldn't...be all...bad"

Is this why I feel empty, why I don't enjoy my greatest dream coming true, getting rid of my worst enemy, and having the world fall to my feet.

Damn you Sonic.

Damn you.