The palace in Mobotropolis was a mess, a maze of corpses and fires, sparking electronics and darkened corridors. With Anima's death, all light was extinguished, save that provided by the burning corpses themselves, those few figures to have survived the carnage now gripped by fear, both of the being who had committed the atrocity, and the new demon that stalked the halls. None of the survivors had managed to get a good look and survive, so most fled from it, and so those remaining few cowered in hovels and hiding holes that meant certain death were they to be discovered.
Despite the grim, macabre gloom seeping into every corner, only one room rang with the sound of combat, two blades striking sparks from each other in the darkness, lit by auras and oil lamps so old they were relative antiques.

Sally had no qualms about killing her father – it was the sole reason she was there. There in the darkness, clad in a torn, blood-stained dress and wielding a sword given to her by one of the few people who gave a damn about her, a sword forged from Megatal and thus as tough as any diamond. Even so, Maximillian Acorn, one foremost swordsman in the entire kingdom, clad in battle armour and wielding the sword of Acorns, he was still a formidable opponent, one that could easily win with Sally in the state she was.

Despite this, both were evenly matched - though Sally's movements were still slightly restricted by her clothing, her father's age was clearly hindering him. She rushed forward, swinging her blade at his neck. He ducked under it, and lunged, aiming a stab at her stomach. She sidestepped, recoiling with shock.

"I thought you were trying to force me to marry that ape, not kill me!"
"I can have you rebuilt, minus that defiant streak, of course."
"Like you did with Nicole?"
"Please, nothing so roughshod."
Sally snarled, and pressed her attack again. Striking a series of ringing blows off the family blade, seeking to force through his guard by dint of strength and blows struck. The grizzled veteran parried each blow methodically, countering with soft parries that absorbed the blows when directed one way and sprung it back at Sally when directed another way. Her arm was slowly being numbed by the impacts when she abandoned the plan, backing away a few steps into the gloom.

"Believe it or not, dear daughter, I don't want to kill you." He squinted into the darkness, his night vision somewhat reduced by age.
"Then why are you trying? Why did you kill my mother?"
"The same reason that we lock blades now." He smiled again, that same tired, condescending smile. "She was too rebellious, and you have inherited that trait. She was smart and beautiful, much like yourself, but she never did as she was told. She had to be removed for the sake of the kingdom."
So he had killed her. He had always maintained that Alicia Acorn had died in a plane crash, an unfortunate accident while she was taking herself, Sally, and Elias, her brother, on holiday abroad, and that Sally had been the only survivor.
Another lie.

"You bastard!" Sally growled, running forward. The swords locked, leaving them pushing against each other.
"Oh, you must understand, I didn't want to do that. But she was taking you away from here, and I needed an heir. She had already corrupted your brother, beyond him being any use to me, so you would have to do. After all, you were only two years old, much too early to even understand your mother's teachings. A pity that the lynx girl and her mother had to go and do what Alicia would have done anyway."

Sally broke the lock, and jumped back to avoid another swing from her father. seizing her chance, she leapt forward, and slashed downwards, cutting clean through Max's left forearm. He growled with pain, as Sally backed away again, and glared at her.
"You are going to pay dearly for that." He hissed, one hand clamping over his arm to staunch the blood.
He's pissed off now. Good, he'll be less focused, and it'll be easier.

He looked down at the damage, the shattered nerve endings screaming at him to stop, and slowly, the blood supply to his forearm was cut off, the flow of blood trickling down to nothing, and he looked back to his daughter. "Nanites. A more recent addition to my armoury."
Max lunged at her, though the attack was much clumsier now - the Sword of Acorns was clearly intended to be a two-handed weapon, and since he was now lacking in that department, he was going to struggle all the more. Still, he was strong, and knew his way with a blade.

He spun, dragging the weapon round through the air towards Sally, a low swing designed to slice her legs from under her. She swept the tip of her own weapon down, catching Max as he completed the swing. It tore the blade from under her, the momentum boosted by her deflection and he stumbled forward, running into her. Apparently he was still feeling the pain keenly enough for it to be a problem.

They tumbled to the floor and rolled apart, blades flailing against each other as they both sought to return to their feet. Sally was first up, her lithe frame, athletic tendencies and pair of arms meant she recovered faster than her older, more tired and bereft-of-an-arm father. Her sword was already swinging when he raised his own, hastily parrying the attack, the block so weakly formed that he shuddered against it.

Sally withdrew slightly, then lunged, trying to stab him in the stomach. He sidestepped, and slashed at her side, forcing her to call off her attack and guard herself again. The blades crashed together, and Sally found that, despite her advantage in the physical sense, the greater weight of the Sword of Acorns was still a problem. The blow made her stumble slightly, his greater physical strength and heavier blade knocking her light body off balance.

In an instant, he was aiming another cut at her legs, but she regained her footing, and jumped over it, landing slightly to the side of Max. She slashed at his back, putting as much strength as she could into her attack. He turned, and blocked the strike, but, like Sally was before, he was knocked off balance. Unlike her, however, he was sent to the ground.

But he was never one to give up. He had been king for so many years, and it wasn't his way to lie down and die when it suited someone. As Sally approached, slowly, for despite her brave words she still had some subconscious reservations about killing her father. This was the weakness he could prey on – he would make sure his reign survived, by hook or by crook. Every warrior, every swordsman, knows a few dirty tricks.

He struck out with his foot, catching her quite unexpectedly on the ankle. The girl cried out and stumbled, her balance gone, hands flying out instinctively to arrest her fall. With what remained of his strength Max dragged the Sword of Acorns into the air, bringing it down through almost sheer momentum, and it collided with the flat of Sally's own weapon, and the sword left her grasp.

The pain that ran through her arm as it was jerked from her grip finally let her legs give out, and she tripped to her knees only as Maximillian regained his footing and kicked her sword away, the tip of his own great-sword inches from her face.
"So it has come to this." He muttered to himself as much as her. "Forced to condemn my own daughter to the executioner's block, my own hand no less, but none shall know of your betrayal, fear not. This duel, brilliant as it was, will go unremembered and Sally Acorn will take her place on the throne, continuing her father's legacy."
"Fuck you." She spat, still defying him as he raised the ancient heirloom to deliver final justice. The blade flashed down…and froze, a shining hand fastened around the blade edge itself.

"Anima! Stand aside!" the king roared, angered by his proximity to victory being drawn ever further away.
"Not this time, Maximillian. You should have thought better before you enslaved me, used me to enrapture your daughter, and then replaced me." Nicole spun her avatar, remembering what it was like to feel the palace as her skin, and jerked the Sword of Acorns from Max's grasp. The old king was thrown by the act, both mentally and physically, his grip slackening and trying to turn it into a run.

Nicole completed the turn by handing the Sword of Acorns to Sally, a weapon fitting for her that she could continue the fight as Max, seeing the development, scooped up the fallen Megatal blade. He examined it in the half-light as Nicole and Sally exchanged greetings and thanks, and the king found the blade far more to his liking. It was lighter and shorter, far easier to wield single-handed, and though she now had the weight of the Acorns behind her, Sally was once again facing a foe who was fully equipped.

Sally stepped forward once more, still moving at a slower pace. She brandished her weapon, circling Max, as he shifted his position to follow her, never presenting any weak spots. Despite this, when Max spoke again, his words were directed at Nicole.

"If you have control of the palace, why am I still alive?"
"Because I need to time to fully regain control of it. Anima made a few changes too. I have to get rid of those first."
"Not to mention that defeating you is my task." Sally added. "But... Nicole? What happened to your body?"
"I'll explain later. Stay focused."

Sally nodded, and headed towards her father again. The swords clashed in a clumsy manner, neither combatant experienced with the weapon they held. Max broke the lock, and slashed at Sally, but she parried it without too much trouble. He took another swing, and she blocked that too. Sonic's sword didn't have the weight, nor could Max put the strength behind it needed to get passed Sally's defence.

He swung again, and this time the blades locked, neither moving an inch. He struck out with his leg, tripping Sally and knocking her down again, and raised his sword over his head. Before either Max or Nicole could move further, however, Sally vanished a blur of brown, red, and blue. She skidded to a halt on the other side of the chamber, and look down at her feet.

"Forgot I could do that..." She muttered, smiling, as she turned back to her father, her eyes glowing purple. "Super-speed. Remember that little experiment? You can't have forgotten; Fiona ripped your side open. I'm a chaos adept, well done." Then she remembered what else she could do with it. While Miles had balanced the energy within the two Mobians, Sally's mind-set had remained so that she preferred support and defensive power over the more barbaric slash & burn style chaos powers.

She channelled her power into her muscle, her bones, her skin, a shimmering aura of light rising from the surface and playing about her. For an adept such as Miles or Sonic, the effect would have been unremarkable, but as a novice adept, Sally did not know how to quell the aesthetic nature of her powers just yet.
As the aura diminished once again, fading into the darkness, it seemed as if it had granted no effect at all, but Sally knew different. She moved forward, a slightly lurch brought on by the shift in her concentration to take into account holding her chaos energy in check, and Max picked up on it, hanging back slightly and trailing his sword as if forgotten.

Sally lunged forward suddenly, her speed propelling her a mite faster than he had predicted, but nonetheless he had prepared for the move. She could not move extremely fast or risk losing focus, and he still raised his guard in time to stop the downward stroke from the Sword of Acorns. He did not, however, have time to register the effect as the sword slipped straight through the Megatal, and ripped a vertical gouge through Max's chestplate. He registered the pain flaring as the skin was burned by the edge of the blade and drove himself backward in agony.

"Vibrating something so fast that you pass through the molecules." Nicole noted with a hint of surprise. "You got that from Sonic?"
"Yes. It's a bit tricky, but it works."
"I'm impressed that you managed to transfer it to the sword."
"If it can be done with clothing, why not weapons?"
"Good point."

Max steadied himself, and swung at Sally once more. She countered perfectly, using her powers to augment her strength, and, thinking back to her father's previous attacks, she snap-kicked him in the stomach. He rolled out of her immediate reach, and forced himself up, but his movements were slowed dramatically by his injuries. His nanites had sealed up the wound, but that didn't stop the pain from affecting him.

Sally headed over to him again, even her more careful movements sped up by her powers. Max swung at her, and again, she countered flawlessly, pushing his blade down, and then pulling hers back up and slashing across his torso, just below the ribcage. Once again it ripped through the armoured plate, burnished steel no match for the ancient weapon. An angry red line appeared on Max's chest as the nanites raced to repair the damage, but without painkillers, every strike further weakened the proud ruler.

He kept fighting, his lighter blade affording him greater movement to compensate for injuries. He twisted it in the air, a feint that he had not taught Sally, scoring a gash across her stomach, receiving for his troubles the Sword of Acorns embedded into his foot. He bellowed as the agony overwhelmed him, the multiple wounds finally getting through to him and the Megatal sword slipped slowly from his fingers as he sunk to his knees, unable to gather the strength to pull the sword from his foot.

Sally stumbled in her own loss of control, hands going to the wound as blood seeped from it, golden light playing across its edges. The wound began to heal almost immediately, chaos energy running through the damaged molecules, forcing them to heal and then multiply far faster than they would normally, until once again smooth skin stretched over the wound, pink as if several days healed, though no fur grew.
"Extreme enhancement on the rate of healing." Nicole explained for the king, still struggling to fight back the pain from overcoming him. "Chaos energy regenerates the flesh three times faster than normal, and Sally's set of powers means she heals even faster than that."

"Now, I think I owe you something." Wrapping one hand around the golden-engraved hilt of the Sword of Acorns, Sally tore it from her father's foot, the wound leaking deep crimson droplets onto the floor. "My mother and my brother died because of you. Make sure you say sorry to them." She drew back the weapon, her eyes meeting his.
"Go ahead." He gave her one last withered look, the fight slowly draining from his eyes as the blood left him, and Sally drove the blade home.
It punched through the centre of his chest, ripping through his armour and ribcage, puncturing the heart and coming out the other side. He seemed to deflate slightly against the edge, but he was not yet done.
"I never found them…" he choked. "I didn't recover their bodies…" another wad of blood came up. "They're alive for all I know." and that was the last thing he said. He had been physically dead as of a few seconds ago, when his heart had been split by his own sword. Only now did his mind catch up, as his eyes blanked over, taking on a serene, grey contrast, and his face went slack, along with his arms.

Disgusting. The queen tore the blade from his body the way it had gone in, staring down at him, trying to fathom not his words, but why he had said them. What had prompted him to tell her that? Why did he give a shit about what she thought or wanted?

Nicole seemed to sense her friend's thoughts, and approached her carefully.

"Did you know about that? There being no bodies?"
"No, Sally. The records say they are dead. He probably wanted to mess with you. It's something people that are going to be executed have been known to do right before they die, but deliberately get it cut short to get on the nerves of their executioner."
"Still, was he lying?"
"His readable signals, such as heart rate, were all out of whack because he was dying. I cannot tell, but I have no reason to doubt that he was telling the truth."
"So...they might be alive?"
"It's possible."

At that moment, the door opened, and Sonic stepped in, still in his Darkspine form. He saw the dead body of the former king, and a wide grin broke out on his face, as, with a violent burst of fire, he reverted to normal. Sally and Nicole headed over to support him, noticing his fatigue, and he wrapped his arms around Sally, enveloping her in a tight hug.

"You did it, Sal. You got 'im." He panted. Sally smiled back, though she was slightly less overjoyed.
"Yes... I did."
"I got a call from Tails on the way up here. They succeeded too. And it's pretty plain to see that Anima's not with us anymore."

Nicole nodded, smiling.

"Yes, she's gone. She almost turned me into a slave program, but she failed."
"What about your body?" Sally cut in.
"It's gone." Nicole shook her head. "It wasn't meant to handle hacking, or holding two programs in it at the same time. My organic brain burnt up fighting Anima."
"What about Emerl?" Sonic asked.
"He's okay. Unconscious, but he'll be waking soon. I have another me down there, monitoring him."
"Phew. Er, say, Nicole, you mind if I talk to Sal alone?"
"Not at all, but I might I suggest you go to the next room? You don't really want to have a 'private talk' with a dead body in the room."
"Er, good point."

Sonic led Sally away, into the small antechamber adjoining the throne room. The floor here was not free from the fighting, but it had been limited to bloody footprints Sally had tracked through on her way in.
"What is it?" she asked, concerned. This was already out of his normal behaviour.
"Ok, first, I don't normally say stuff like this, so if I fuck it up, just…bear with me, alright? I'll get it right after a few laps."
"I still don't know what you're going to say."
"Well, here I go." He dove straight into it. "Probably not the best time to say this, after all that's happened…but…well…when I was fighting Ken, it was so he wouldn't go after you. When I finished fighting him, I held onto my form, I moved as slow as I've ever moved before to keep it, so that if I appeared and found you were having trouble I could get in the way. You're important. I mean, everyone is…but you're the only person I've ever met who hasn't cared about who I am, who's stayed in my life anyway. I gotta say, Sal, I love you for that."

A long moment passed before Sally responded, and then she just kissed him, simply, quietly, a silent admission of her own feelings that mirrored his own.
"You're a strange one." She muttered when they broke apart. "you have a funny way of meeting people, saving princess in alleyways."
"That's how I roll, I guess." He sighed.
"But we've still got one last problem."
"What's that?" he frowned.
"With dad now dead, I'm queen, and I really don't want to be."

As it was, the immediate trouble was over. The king was now dead and Sally his successor, as being the only one as definitely alive – they had decided not to tell anyone about the possibility of Alicia or Elias being alive just yet – but there were still problems to address. Under the new law, hunting adepts was now prohibited, as they were citizens like any other. With Nicole's help, soldiers and policemen loyal to Sally and the new throne hunted down anyone continuing these activities, and had them tried in a new court. The councillor Hamlin was found guilty of crimes against the throne, and was sentenced to life in prison. Four other council members met the same fate, the decision to condemn them almost unanimous each time.

The streets were harder to purge – years of indoctrination had left the population with one of two mind-sets; either they liked adepts, or they didn't, and most were firmly set in one of those two beliefs. As soon as word began to spread of Sally's rule, reports started coming in of specific groups, protest marches, some violent, some not, gripping the city. Many of the offenders were nobles or those with some standing who had benefited from Maximillian's rule, and the official retaliation was spearheaded by Geoffrey St. John, newly-appointed protector to the queen and her regent.

Like the rest of the populace, the military and police departments were also fragmented and riddled with confusion, so the actual manpower had been severely reduced.
The streets could not have been held without the most unorthodox of allies. Every city, including Mobotropolis, had always had crime. Gangs of all sorts, drug dealers and mobsters. All of them rose up in defence of the new queen and country. They had seen adepts as the downtrodden, like themselves, and seeing what the chaos adepts had achieved through the revolution, now sought to improve their own standing, and aided the police and military in holding back the tide of protesters, however misguided their reasons were.

True, that small band, Sonic, Sally, Miles, Fiona, Emerl and Nicole had achieved all they wanted, the elimination of two threats to the empire, the legalisation of being an adept and the termination of a rogue AI and installation of a new one, the sudden shift in political stance had thrown the entire kingdom into turmoil. Sally battled through it all, in courtrooms and on the streets, proving herself many times over in the eyes of her subjects. She did not fight alone, either – rumours began to spread of the supersonic hedgehog by her side, the two kitsune and the unblinking robot, and how the city seemed to shift and change to their advantage. It took the team and their allies almost eight months to resolve the situation into something more stable, and that was when Sally announced her intentions.

"Thanks for all being here – thanks for all being there the entire time. I couldn't have lasted alone." Sally was on the verge of tears, but none objected. Only those present were ones to whom such a delicate matter could be entrusted. There were the original five who had been with her when the fight had started and ended, but there were others, all of whom needed to hear what was to be said. Rosemary Prower was present, though Amadeus, Miles' father, was not. He was conducting the last efforts on the streets in Geoffrey's absence, for the skunk, along with Hershey, were present in this enclave. The council chairman was there, leaning on his cane and soaking up information.
"That's what your father did." Miles consoled her. "Look where that got him. We're here to help you through this." In recent months, Miles had relaxed considerably. His usual snappy demeanour had diminished significantly, to be replaced by one still guarded, but more amiable and pleasant. He would never truly be as carefree as the others – it was in his nature, this somewhat dark void, but he was a calm, cool person instead of the paranoid, chilling man he had been before.
"Speaking of which, why have you assembled us?" Geoffrey asked. "While I have complete faith in Amadeus, I do not like to be away from my work for long."

"I know, I know, but please, Geoff. It's important that you are here – for you see, very soon your service, protecting me, will no longer be required. I'm resigning."
"I don't think it works that way." Fiona added, her head nestled between Miles' head and shoulder.
"Well, I don't think there's anyone who gets a say in it. I don't want to be queen, frankly monarchy is a system that doesn't work precisely because it involves placing all the power with one person. It's not something I want to have to bear the burden of. I've thought long and hard when I have been able, and I want to turn the Acorn Kingdom into the Acorn Empire. Ladies and gentlemen, friends or otherwise…" she glanced quickly at Sonic, "I intend to make us a republic."
The result was quiet shock, as she had expected, but she was not done. "We already have a council, do we not? Max only created it as a front to look as if he followed the will of the people, but it's an effective decision-making body. The system works. People are elected, not born into it, and the decision is made on the collective thoughts of all those present. It's far more effective than any monarchy I can ever run. Rosemary, I want you to lead this, alongside Harvey." She motioned to the owl. "Harvey, I know you will judge fairly, as you have always done, and Rosemary, I trust you to make the right choices."

They were all afraid to speak, something that worried Sally. "Did I say something wrong?"
Miles spoke up again. "I think many of us understand and support the idea, but don't want to say anything that might offend. You put us in a difficult position. But if I'm honest…yes, I do support the idea, a democracy is better than a monarchy, but it isn't the reason I've been waiting for someone to speak. I've just been watching Sonic fidget. Anyone notice that he hasn't been able to sit still at all? It's not him being restless. I'll give anyone who can guess why five rings."
Sonic shot a glare at his friend. "Dude! Do you have to go and spoil the thunder like that? I was trying to be discrete."
"Sonic, you're crap at being demure, remember? Come one, let's get this over with. I think he has something to say." Miles motioned for Sonic to stand, a smile slowly spreading across his features with what he knew.

The hedgehog reservedly pushed himself from his seat, stepping forward from behind Sally and dropping to one knee. He was shaking. For the first time Miles could remember, Sonic was scared. Scared of something.
One hand, trembling so fast it appeared still took Sally's hand, and he gulped down his fear. "I was going to save this for later, when we didn't have an audience, but someone decided to ruin it. Sally?"
By this time, the squirrel-queen had some inkling of what was going on, but she was still slightly shaky about it. She knew that she should know, but for some reason it wouldn't click. "Y-yea?"
"I didn't think I'd ever amount to anything, considering all that I did, running away from anything, but now here I am, asking a queen…Sally Acorn, will you marry me?"
D-do you even have to ask?" Sally almost broke down there and then, the combined power of the reform and all of a sudden a proposal almost overwhelmed her with emotion. Luckily Sonic was there to catch her as she near-fainted.
As small as the group assembled was, it was the best damn cheer Sonic had ever heard.
"Now Tails, you have to do me a favour!" the hedgehog cheered.

"What's that?"
"You've gotta make that proposal to Fiona." Sonic smirked, believed he had caught his friend in his own trap, but Miles and Fiona simply smiled at each other.
"He beat you to the mark, Sonic." Fiona smirked at him. "He asked me yesterday. I said yes, on one condition. He has to lighten up a bit. Stop being such a pessimist."
"I like the sound of that. Go for it." Sonic nodded to the vixen.
"It's time for me to lighten up." Miles admitted. "We've been through hell, but that's behind us now. I'm not running from a devil anymore."

These guys had faced a lot. They had been though a life of misery and pain, the law and military, they had fought soldiers, guards, two kings and even a computer, they had fought against politics and protests, and they had survived two marriage proposals in the space of forty-eight hours. The road ahead was bound to be tough, but after all they had been through, they could damn-well cope.

Now may not be the best time to bring this up, but this was a collab with my friend and fellow writer, Therix. It was done on DeviantART where we employed a system wherein I posted the even numbered parts, and he posted the odd ones. Strangely, since Chapter 1 was listed as a prologue there, it was actually 0-14, and not 1-15 chapters there. However, to spare you having to flick back and forth between pages, I uploaded all of them here, owing to the fact that I created the concept for this series, and also posted the most chapters.

The reason I am writing this all down is simple: I;m going to post our final thoughts on this series from both of us. Here is Therix's:

Now honestly, I had no idea what the heck I would be seeing when this kicked off. I have always been a critic when it comes to writing, and I was afraid at points that it would get the better of me. Thank god I kept it in check; I owe Vorahk some leniency. It's not to say we didn't come to blows at points – there were scuffles, but there was comedy in equal measure, and I can honestly say it's a pleasure knowing this odd, creative, and slightly-unhinged guy. This doesn't mark the end for Sonic fanfiction for either of us – I continue to write Violet Era, and Vorahk has all manner of stuff going on that I've heard of or haven't. It's the end of Splintered Shadows, but this world may be revisited in time, alone or as a duo once more. I don't know what he's going to say about this, but I enjoyed it.

And now it's my turn. Well, it's over, and I have to say that right, now I'm grinning so much I might have been exposed to Smilex. There was some stuff that surprised me in writing this, or rather, in reading Therix's additions. I think the biggest surprise is how well I think our segments have meshed. Answer me this: Can you tell who did what bit without being told yourself?

This is the first time I've written douchebag Tails, but naturally he's a bit of a softy on the inside.

And yes, Alicia and Elias aren't dead. So if we do come back to SS (Either with me soloing or Therix joining because he's bored), they'll probably show up there. Likely with Megan and Alexis in tow. We've got a lot still to show in the SS-verse, like what Robotnik is actually up to, and how Super forms that aren't Darkspine work, so I might end up doing some supplementary side-stories occasionally. It's not on my list of priorities, though.

I hope you all stick around to view my next uploads, which will be solo efforts. Vorahk295, signing off.