With a bright flash of amethyst, Y/n appears back in his room on the Arc. He looked at himself in the mirror to see his younger self in a suit. The door opens and he expects to see Gerald Robotnik, only for Shadow to barge in and grab his arm.
"Shadow?!"
"No time to explain!" the black hedgehog exclaims as he pulls Y/n along.
"W-wait!" Y/n tries to budge from Shadow's grip. "Where's Maria?!"
"She's dead!" the Ultimate Lifeform shouts. "The government is here and I have to make sure you get out of here alive!"
No... No, Y/n has to do this again?
"Anarchy...! CONTROL!"
With a bright flash of light, Y/n goes goes in time once more. This time, he's trying to convince Maria to just hang out with him in his room.
"Y/n, I want to dance with you at the party," Maria whines.
"Yeah, but I'm not good with lots of people," Y/n says. "We'll stay here. Watch some movies and eat some food. Whaddya say?"
"Come on! I promise you'll have a great time," Maria tells her best friend.
Y/n sighs as he couldn't help but not fight with Maria. So they end up going to the Comet Ball and dance together, only for Maria's face to scrunch up in pain as her legs buckle.
"Maria? Maria!"
Y/n goes back in time again, this time convincing Maria to stay in with him. That is assuming that the military agents wouldn't find them there.
"You were right," Maria tells Y/n as she snuggled up to him. "This is way better."
Y/n smiles at this before his door slides open to reveal a military soldier.
*BANG!*
He goes back again.
*BANG!*
And again.
"Maria!"
And again.
*BANG!*
And again...
"NOOOO!"
And again and again and again and again...
Y/n even tried to warn everyone ahead of time and get them safely off the Arc. But it was no use. No one listened to him. Not even Maria and Shadow.
Y/n sighs as he leans against a control console where Maria and Shadow's dead bodies lay before him. He then pushes himself to his feet as sparks surround him.
"Anarchy...! CONTROL!"
In another flash of purple, Y/n appears in his room. Maria entered in alone this time as she didn't enter with Gerald or Shadow. Her smile filled Y/n with joy, but his smiled dropped which Maria noticed.
"Y/n? Is something wrong?"
Maria walks up to Y/n in concern, only to be brought into a hug.
"Why does this keep happening?" Y/n asks as he's close to crying, holding the blonde as if she'd vanish into thin air. "Aren't we allowed to be happy?"
Maria pulls away from the hug and looks at Y/n in the eyes. She brushes aside one of his hairs and holds his cheek.
"Come on," she says. "Let's have some fun. Maybe it'll help."
Y/n nods as he follows Maria to the ballroom. There, Y/n watches Maria dance from the side. Her smile was so bright and pure. Why would anyone want to take it away?
"Hey. Are you okay?"
Y/n snaps from his thoughts to see Maria standing in front of him.
"Do you need to talk?" Maria asks. "Or maybe something else? You don't look like your usual self."
"... I only want you," the boy going insane from repeated fails states. "You're the only thing that matters to me anymore."
With that, Y/n closes his eyes as gunshots ring out through the Arc. Tears fall from his eyes as he catches Maria's now bloodied body and falls to the floor with her, holding her close as the military soon leaves. The boy heaves and sobs as he looks down at Maria's body. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He screamed. He screamed with all his heart... with all of his anger and sadness.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
The scream shakes the entire Arc, but it quickly stops as Y/n returns to sobbing. As he did, a growing blue light catches his attention and he turns to see a portal opening. Out of it walks a hedgehog with white-ish silver quills and wearing a jacket.
"Good evening, Y/n L/n," the silver hedgehog greets the grieving boy.
"Wh-who... who are you?" Y/n asks as the portal closes.
"My name is Silver the Hedgehog," Silver introduces himself. "Our world's Guardian of Time."
"Guardian of Time?" Y/n questions as he wipes away some tears. "What do you want?"
"To help you," Silver states. "This, sadly, is where it all starts for you. With the dead of Maria Robotnik. So overwhelmed by loss, you will seek to find answers and escape to tell the world of the tragedy here."
"Can you help me bring her back?" Y/n asks the hedgehog. "Help bring Maria back?"
"I'm sorry, Y/n... but I can't. No one can. It's no use," the Guardian of Time states. "Her death? It's an Absolute."
"Absolute?" Y/n questions.
"Unchangeable. Unmovable," Silver informs. "Without her death, you would never be were you are in the present. You would've never found that Anarchy Beryl. If you erase her death, you'll never be the man you are in the present."
"I'm saving her!" Y/n declares as he stands to his feet. "I don't care what happens to me!"
"And what about our universe? The timeline?" Silver asks. "I'm sorry, but time always seems to correct itself. No matter what... you can't reverse an Absolute. I know by experience that it's no use."
"If you know by experience what this feels like then help me fix it!" Y/n yells at Silver as he walks up to him. "Nothing is impossible! You can see that clearly in me! I've hopped worlds with a machine made by my own two hands! I just need more power."
"Even the Ancient Walkers couldn't reverse an Absolute," Silver tells Y/n as he places a hand on his shoulder, only to be shrugged off.
"You don't know that! If I can just get my hands on some more Anarchy Beryl," the boy declares, "I'll be strong enough! Stronger than even those stupid Ancient Walkers."
"You cannot torture yourself like this," Silver tells Y/n. "There's no hope here. Maria is gone. You can't save her."
"No," Y/n turns to face Silver.
"Y/n, if you do this, you can end all of reality!"
Y/n doesn't listen as his eyes glow amethyst and purple electricity sparks around him.
"Stop this, or I'll be forced to make you stop," Silver informs Y/n as his eyes shine blue.
"You'll have to catch me first," Y/n smirks.
Silver grunts and shoots his hands forward, firing forward a beam of his psychokinetic energy at Y/n. The boy takes the hit head on as his Anarchy Beryl absorbs the energy an explosion rings out.
"Dammit..." mutters Silver.
When Y/n opens his eyes, he finds himself back in the warehouse he and Sonic were staying in. He feels around his body and then moves his necklace aside to see only a scorch mark where Silver shot him. He laughs before his eyes catches something.
Eyes. Eyes with barely visible silhouettes as if they were made from the stars themselves. They all stared at him, but yet not at the same time. As if they were looking at him through another plane.
Y/n rubs his eyes and looks again, only to find the silhouettes gone. No trace of them whatsoever.
"What...?" Y/n shakes his head. "No. No time for that. What I need... is more power."
Y/n's eyes spark with amethyst energy and determination.
Timeskip...
In a lab, Y/n is seen standing on a platform with a new exoskeleton suit on his torso. It was bulkier and gauntlets wrapped around his arms, and on his back were holes where Anarchy Beryl would go and inject themselves into him.
In front of him was Princess Alicia...
... Patch...
... Boomer...
... Miles...
... and Sonic.
Sonic was sleeping on a chair while Alicia watched from the side as Miles and Boomer messed with the control consoles.
"I still don't understand why you want to do this, L/n," Miles tells the human. "It's going to be extremely painful."
"And with your mental illness, I don't think it could be controlled anymore after this," Boomer warns. "This is dangerous, even for us."
Y/n looks up to see mechanics arms above him holding purple crystals of Anarchy Beryl. He sighs and looks back at Miles and Boomer.
"I need this power."
"You mean you want this power," Alicia corrects. "And you also apparently have a death wish."
"I need this power," Y/n objects. "I die, then I'll die knowing that what I was doing was for the better."
"If you say so," Boomer shrugs.
"Activating systems," Miles says as he pushes buttons and flips switches. "Systems ready to go. Ready when you are, L/n."
Y/n gives a nod, but Patch stops the twin-tailed fox before he could do anything.
"Attendez!" he orders Miles before turning to Y/n. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I need to," Y/n states.
"Is she worth all of this?" Patch asks.
"Wh-what?" the human questions in shock. "How'd you...?"
"No sane man is willing to suffer like this for his own glory and power," Patch declares. "Is she really worth this pain?"
"Every moment of it," Y/n says without hesitation.
Patch stares at the human for a moment before nodding towards Miles and Boomer. They get the message and start up the process and create an energy shield around Y/n.
"What's with the shield?" he asks.
"Precautionary measure," is all Boomer and Miles say.
They flick more switches and press more buttons, and the mechanical arms descend down to the human. He follows them with his eyes as Sonic wakes from his nap and watches. The arms glide down to Y/n and carefully insert the Anarchy Beryl into the holsters in the exoskeleton. The gears turn inside of it as the suit accepts the crystals and pull them close, and then Miles presses a big red button. The amethyst crystals jab into Y/n's back, making him cry out in pain as the Anarchy Beryl glow brightly with power with purple electricity dancing around the human.
The lights flicker rapidly as Y/n screams in pain, the electric bolts of energy shooting off of his body and on to the shield. They bounce harmlessly from it and ricochet all across the inside around Y/n, while every strike makes the members of the Suppression Squad flinch.
And Y/n was in so much pain. Excruciating pain. He's never been in more pain in his life. It felt like a war was raging inside of him, or like his body was being torn apart and put back together instantaneously over and over again. He hated it. He almost wanted it to stop, but the thought that he could save Maria kept him going. He had to keep going!
"Miles! Boomer! Stop this right now!" Alicia orders the two. "He'll die if this goes any further!"
"I hate to agree, but I am!" Sonic declares. "Stop this now, or I'm gonna bloody my knuckles punching your faces in!"
Miles and Boomer nod in fright and go to shut down everything. However, they stop when a voice calls out...
"NO...! I CAN...! DO THIS!"
Everyone turns to look at Y/n who was struggling to stand on his own feet. He had spoken through his painful experience, surprising the Suppression Squad.
"KEEP...! GOING...!" Y/n orders them. "DON'T...! STOP...!"
"Mon Dieu..." Patch mutters in shock.
Y/n continues to scream in pain before one of the bolts dancing around him shoot forward. It breaks through the shields and strikes a nearby wall, blowing it up. Everyone turns to the destroyed wall in shock before Y/n screams again and another bolt flies out and destroys some machines.
"Take it down, now!" Patch orders.
Miles and Boomer obey and go to the control consoles, only for it to be blown up by another energy bolt.
"Everyone, run!" Alicia orders as she runs out of the lab.
The other Suppression Squad members follow after her as Y/n screams in agony. The energy bolts shoot all around him and destroy more and more of the lab as Y/n's eyes glow bright purple. He starts to float into the air from his own power before he lets out another scream, this time creating a massive energy surge that destroys everything around him.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!!!!"
The blast violently sends the Suppression Squad to the floor, making them cover their heads from any debris. When the dust settled and everyone looked back at the lab, Sonic's eyes widen in shock as he sees that everything around the lab had been obliterated. It was a miracle that he and the others survived the blast.
"Y/n...? Kid?!" Sonic called out to his human friend as he stands to his feet. "Can you hear me?!"
There was no answer. No one came to heed the hedgehog's calls.
"No..." the hedgehog mutters as he falls to his knees.
"I apologize, Sonic," Miles says as he dusts himself off. "This was not my intention."
Sonic yells as he punches the ground, only for a large explosion to catch the Moebians' attentions. They all turn to see a massive cloud of purple fire and electricity rising into the air.
"What the hell...?" Sonic questions.
"That's the town nearby!" Alicia declares in shock.
Sonic, not knowing why, suddenly gets back on his feet and speeds over to the ruined town. At the town, fire and destruction was everywhere with people screaming for their lives. Some were even on the ground dead.
"Who did all of this...?" Sonic asks himself.
A loud bellow of maniacal laughter catches his attention and he turns to see a human figure hovering in the air. Amethyst electricity danced around him, and Sonic's eyes widened in shock.
"IS THIS ENTERTAINING ENOUGH FOR YOU?! HUH?!" Y/n asks no one before unleashing an energy wave and destroying another section of the town. "COME ON! SHOW ME SOME BLOOD!!"
Two Years Ago...
In the desd Space Colony Arc, the ballroom was littered with the dead bodies of its residents. A flash of purple appears and someone drops on to the scene, falling to his knees as he heaves and pants from exhaustion and pain. He then looks at himself and then his surroundings before laughing in victory.
"I'm alive..." he tells himself. "I did it."
The human stands to his feet and looks around, spotting the bullet ridden bodies of Shadow, Maria, and Gerald. He then looks at himself before reaching his hands out as he activates his powers. He grunts and yells as amethyst electricity shoots from his hands and lands upon the bodies of his fallen loved ones. He yells again as the lights in the Arc flicker and the entire space station shakes as if there was an earthquake.
The bodies of the two Robotniks and the hedgehog float into the air as the electricity begins to heal their wounds and fill them with life. The human yells one more time and Gerald, Maria, and Shadow all gasp as their eyes shoot open. The figure then gasps himself as he drops the electricity and falls to the ground, dropping the three he had just reanimated to their feet.
"What the hell?" Shadow questions as he feels himself.
"What happened here?" Gerald asks as he looks around before spotting his granddaughter. "Maria!"
"Grandpa!" the blonde girl calls out as she runs up to the scientist.
They hug and their savior looks up at them. He smiles and laughs with relief.
"I did it..." he says. "I really did it..."
"Y/n...?" Shadow questions as he turns to the human boy.
"Y/n?" Maria repeats as she parts from her grandfather. "Y/n, what happened he--WAAH!"
Maria jumped back with her grandfather as she saw her friend's face. It was scorched with lightning burns and his hair was burnt and spiked, his (E/C) eyes mismatched in pupil size that were bloodshot and his smile seemingly unhinged, but full of joy at the same time.
"Maria!" Y/n called to the blonde as he stood to his feet, smiling. "I-I did it! I brought you back. I brought all of you back! Ahahahahaha!"
"Y/n..." Gerald said in worry. "What happened to you, son?"
"Pain. So much of it..." Y/n muttered with his smile dropping before bringing it back. "But it doesn't matter now. I have you guys back! All of that pain was pointless now that--!"
Y/n screams in pain and agony as energy surges around him and bolts scorch his body. It soon subsides and he shakily keeps standing.
"Y/n..." Shadow says in worry as he steps forward.
"I'm fInE!" Y/n exclaimed. "I'm fine... You're all here and tHaT's all that matters."
"Y-yeah, but--" Maria cuts herself off with a scream as she looks at her arm.
Y/n looks at her arm to see that it was melting away into a purple light. He looks at his other friends... his family and sees that they were all vanishing into purple light, little by little.
"N-n-no! No!" Y/n says before he smiles. "D-dOn't worry! I can fix that! I'll fix this."
Y/n then looks around to see the entirety of the Arc vanishing. He panics, repeating the word 'no' before screaming and shooting his hands out. Amethyst beams of electricity fire out and try to reconstruct the Arc, only for the human's efforts to be for naught.
"THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" Y/n exclaims. "NO! PLEASE, GOD, NO! DON'T DO THIIIIISS!!!"
Y/n strains himself as he uses all of his might to keep things from collapsing, all the while Maria, Gerald, and Shadow slowly vanished more and more.
"What's going on?!" Shadow asks in a panic.
Y/n looks around, only to see that own efforts were failing him. Then he sees someone watching from a distance. Someone smaller, but seemingly more imposing with power than the other silhouettes watching him from before.
"Y-you! Please, help me!" he calls out to the figure. "HELP ME FIX THIS! I DON'T WANT THE WORLD TO DIE!"
(But it is.) the figure said with a booming voice. (Just not this one.)
Y/n became confused before he turned to the three people he's done so much to save. A tear goes down his cheek as he watches Shadow disappear. Then he realizes... it's his world that's dying. His everything...
"No... No, please!" Y/n turned back to the figure. "Please, fix this!"
(What?) the figure asked as he walked forward, only to reveal himself to be a boy with glasses in a hoodie with the words 'NASA' on the front. "Like how you fixed them?"
Y/n's eyes widened in shock as he looks at the previously imposing figure... only to see that he's only as old as he is! But he could see that his power was even greater than his.
"You... you're a god! I can feel it!" the human tells the kid. "You can--"
"Maybe, maybe not," ShallotStudioz says. "But not even gods can change what fate already has written."
"Then punish me," Y/n begs the author. "Not them! Not Maria!"
"I can't... It's already been written," ShallotStudioz states. "I can't interfere anymore than I already do. You, more than anyone else, should understand that messing with things you don't understand only brings more destruction.)
ShallotStudioz fades back into his realm, leaving as a silhouette before completely vanishing. Y/n looks around in horror as he realizes what he's truly done.
"No... NO!" he cries as tears threaten to spill. "I didn't mean for this to happen! PLEASE!"
"Y/n!" Maria and Robotnik call out to the boy as the grandfather fades away.
"What did you do...?" Maria asks as she, too, fades away into nonexistence.
Y/n screams in sorrow as he begins to let fate take its course, only for a blue glow to cover him and blind his vision. When it fades away, Y/n finds himself in a forest near a town. He looks around, only to find Silver there with a sorrowful look in his face.
"I am... so very sorry," the hedgehog tells the human.
"Y-you..." Y/n stutters before he shakes with rage. "Why did you do that? Send me back! Now!"
"I can't," Silver says. "Even if I wanted to. That place and the people inside of it was erased from all of time."
"B-but... I'll never see them again?" Y/n asks.
"I'm afraid not," Silver says. "No one will ever remember that the Arc ever existed other than you and me."
"No..."
Y/n drops to his knees as his tears finally pour down his face. He lost everything... his everything.
"I'm sorry," Silver apologizes. "If it makes you feel any better, fate has another plan for you."
Y/n grows angry and looks up at the Guardian of Time, only for him to stop when he sees something. Then he grows a massive unhinged grin and stands to his feet.
"O-of course," the human mumbles. "Of course...! Haheheheh. Is that all this is to you? Something to entertain yourselves with?"
"Who are... Who are you talking to?" Silver asks Y/n who passes by him.
"You don't see them?" Y/n asks Silver who shakes his head. "Yes... of course. They'd only show themselves themselves me. They're all punishing me! Hahahaha!"
Y/n grabs his face and drags his fingernails down the sides of his head. He draws blood, but his face heals itself as his blood drips down his face and he laughs even more.
"Y/n...?" Silver calls to the human as he reaches out to him. "Are you--?"
Y/n spins around and fires an energy bolt at Silver, sending him flying back and crashing through some trees. He looks at his own sparking hands and laughs to himself before floating up into the air. Sparks dance around him and he looks around, spotting a nearby town which makes him smile a toothy grin.
"Want a show?" he asks with a grin. "I'LL GIVE YOU AN ENTRTAINING ONE!"
He dashes off to the town with blazing speed, leaving Silver behind in the dust. Once he arrives, the townspeople look up at him in surprise and even fear.
"HOW'S THIS FOR A SHOW?!"
He shoots his hands forward and fires bolts of Anarchy Energy on to the town. Explosions and screams echo throughout the town, death and destruction rising with every energy blast Y/n sent out.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Y/n's laugh echoes through the skies.
Y/n laughs like a madman as he unleashes more blasts upon the two. He then turns to see the starry silhouettes watching in shock and horror.
"IS THIS ENTERTAINING ENOUGH FOR YOU?! HUH?!" Y/n asks them before unleashing an energy wave and destroying another section of the town. "COME ON! SHOW ME SOME BLOOD!!"
Without knowing Sonic was watching him, Y/n continues to destroy the town. Fire burns all across the buildings and people either lie dead or run away screaming in fear. Y/n laughs in joy from all of the destruction. All of the chaos... all of the bloodshed... all the death... all of the anarchy.
"Anarchy...? I like the sound of that," the human states with a massive grin. "Hehehahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M ANARCHY!"
Anarchy releases a massive energy blast from his entire body, basically destroying the entire town in a single blow.
Present Time...
Anarchy stares down at the locket in his hand. His spiky hair sways from the wind blowing through the air. Footsteps catch his attention and he turns to see Scourge with a stone crown on his head.
"You ready, old pal?" he asks the human. "The plan is about to unfold."
Anarchy looks at Scourge for a moment before he turns back to the locket. His eyes linger on the cracked picture of Maria before his lips curl into a massive mad grin. He clenches a fist around it and creates a ball of electric amethyst fire around it. He then opens his hand to reveal that the locket was burning and melting in his palm. He drops the locket, ready for the big finale he's planned.
"Ready as I'll ever be," he tells Scourge.
The hedgehog nods and speeds away. Anarchy begins to bellow in a massive fit of laughter before he looks directly at the readers, their starry silhouettes looking upon him in pity.
"Ready for the big finale, readers?" Anarchy asks all watching. "Let me tell ya... IT'S GONNA BE ONE HELLUVA SHOW! HAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Storm clouds brew above as thunder booms and lightning crackles. Anarchy was ready. He was going to have everything he ever wanted, and he's going to take back everything stolen from him.
Even if he has to steal everything away from his doppelganger to do it. His loved ones, his life, and his power. Whatever it takes to get her back.
(I am so, so sorry... Y/n. Just know that in another time... in another world... you have everything you've ever wanted. Maria... Gerald... Shadow... Happiness and love. Sadly, this world can't allow that. And for that I am deeply, truly sorry.)
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