I would ask that you read The Death of a Champion first. This story is the sequel.
Love Spins: The Sequel to “Death of a Champion”
She remembered. She remembered everything. She remembered all the pain it brought her when he died, the hole in her heart, the tears down her face. It just brought back all the pain she felt. She had married, reluctantly, but married. She married a young king she had once loved before. He wasn’t completely Mobian, though. He had a tragic past, a painful one. Getting half of your body replaced with machinery isn’t exactly a dream in anyone’s book. Ken was a good man, but it wasn’t what she had pictured those years before.
Sonic’s death was the only thing she could think about when her parents had bit it. Robotnik had upped his ante since Sonic was killed, and he turned to the next best target, the former king and queen. Max and Alicia had no chance against his horde of new Deathbots. Elias defended them as much as he could, but took a fatal blow. He died instantly. Max and Alicia soon followed their son in death. Meg and Alexis had managed to escape, but brought the grave news to Sally. Sally wept like there was no comparison, other than when her beloved had died. Ken comforted her, but it was to no avail, she wanted to be alone. That’s all she wanted to do.
Sally sat in her room staring at her mirror. She saw in her eyes all the tension, the years of war and strife, the years of love and loss. She wanted out, and would do all she could to do so. Suicide? She agreed that it was beneath her. She wouldn’t want to pass on her grief to those who love her. She would be doing the same thing to them that Sonic had done to her when he passed.
“Sonic...” she said, as she spoke it for the first time in five years. Five years. It had been that long since the speedy hedgehog had been cut down by their archenemy. She wanted Sonic to comfort her. Ken had tried, and she thanked him for it. She loved Ken, she really did, but it wasn’t true. Sonic was the only one who had made her life worth while. She loved him deeply, as deep as the Mobian Oceans would allow. The pain in her heart bit at her life. She didn’t care about her parents’ death anymore. She only cared about him.
She wanted comfort, but only he could offer it. She wanted to hear him say its okay. She wanted him to tell her she would be fine.
That’s when it hit her. She threw on her old blue vest and boots and hurried out of the Castle. She ran as fast as she could, tears streaming down her face. She needed to hear his voice, just once. Just to hear the rhythmic coo of his breath as it penetrated the air. She needed his assurance that everything would be okay.
She managed to hit the edge of the Great Forest, or at least what was left of it. She saw Freedom H.Q. in the distance. That was her target. She would find him there. She knew she would. Sonic always stashed his favorite things in his room at the old hideout, and she wanted them, she needed them.
She burst into his old room with tears and a smile. She saw his racecar bed and the lamp at its side. His dresser was against the far wall.
She lunged at it with such fervor that she thought it was Sonic himself. She wanted him, she needed him. She opened his drawer to find his old collection of CDs he had stashed over the years. Most of them were his solo records. In his down time, he would write songs, record them and save them for when the war was over. He wanted to be a musician after his hero status became obsolete. The CDs were her ticket to comfort. They had his voice recorded in them, they had his heart in them. She searched frantically for a CD player, but she couldn’t find one. Her heart sank. She sat on his bed and sobbed. Her shoulders rose and sank with every tremble of her teary body. She wouldn’t hear him. He was gone.
“Sally...?” a feminine voice said, “Are you okay?”
Sally couldn’t believe it. “N-Nicole? Is th-that y-you?” Sally and the Freedom Fighters had shut Nicole down after the Iron Dominion invasion to prevent further problems. She was amazed to find her still operating. She walked into the Brain Trust Lab to find her core computer still activated.
“Of course it is, Sally. What is wrong?”
Sally sat on the lab chair in front of Nicole’s monitor, her chest heaving with the momentary sobs of her sorrow. “He’s gone, Nicole...He’s gone...”
“Sonic has been dead for five years, Sally. You know this. Why the sudden shock of his death?” Her monitor beeped and turned on to reveal her old lynx form she had used when she was fully operational.
Sally looked up at her like a little kid crying in front of her father. “Because I need him in my life somehow! I can’t just let him die anymore!” She put her face in her hands and cried.
Nicole processed this information. She didn’t understand, couldn’t compute how a dead person could return to someone’s life. Then she came across some coding from many years ago. She remembered letting Shadow and Sonic physically interface with Gerald’s Diary, and Shadow was able to see, hear, and touch his creator and Maria. Nicole had to do the same thing for Sally.
“Sally?”
Sally sniffed and looked into her monitor with teary eyes, the dry droplets hardened on her cheek fur, “Yes?”
Nicole looked down on Sally, “If you were to physically interface with the data, you might be able to find what you’re looking for.”
Sally was surprised, “Y-you can do that?” She knew Nicole could do almost anything, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up, not only to be crushed again.
“I can. It will only take a few minutes of preparation. Please insert the disk into my CD drive.”
Sally inserted the disk and waited, her mind reeling with the possibility of seeing Sonic face to face again. Her heart yearned for this, she felt like it was the only chance she had left. She needed to see his face with his signature smirk, with his thumb jammed in the middle of his chest. She wanted to feel his soft fur against hers and be held by him again. She needed this. She forgot about Ken, she forgot about her life. She just wanted him and only him. Her fantasies were interrupted when Nicole beeped her out of her thoughts.
“It’s ready, Sally. Do you want to see Sonic again?”
She held her hands clasped and looked into Nicole with glassy eyes, her whites welling up with tears again, “Yes.”
There was a flash of light, and then warmth. Sally awoke in the same place, in front of Nicole’s core computer in the Brain Trust Lab. It was midday, the sun was bright, and the aroma of lilacs and daisies filled the air, and yet, she was alone. No one was there to comfort her, no one was there to hold her. She’d missed it. She broke down and wept hysterically, the hot tears pouring out of her eyes. She missed her chance. She would never see him again. Her life was meaningless. All of her hoping and dreaming was crushed once more. She had to get out.
She couldn’t make it very far out of the room when she landed with a thud on the dirt floor. Her heart panged with sadness and grief. He was truly gone. There was nothing she could do to get him back. Nicole had failed, and she was alone.
“Yo, Sal!” a voice rang from the open door of Freedom HQ.
She didn’t hear him. She was imagining things. There’s no way he could have said that. He was gone. She looked up from the ground to see her beloved standing in the doorway, thumb smashed into his chest, teeth clenched in a smirk, and his free hand on his hip.
It was him.
“Oh, Sonic!” She dove her head into his chest and could feel its warmth. She wanted this to last forever, and it would, but this wasn’t him. The real Sonic had died, his spirit meeting his fathers. This Sonic was the remnants of a CD created by him. It wasn’t her Sonic. She thought about this and looked at him with a helpless look. She began to tear up, “Y-You...you’re not really my Sonic are you...?” She got up off him and turned away. “Y-You’re just a computer program.” Tears ran down her face once more.
Sonic was taken back by this, stood up and turned her around to face him. He had to think about what to say. He was the real Sonic. He had Nicole download his soul on his death bed, but how was he to tell her? He figured it’d be best to be straightforward. “When I was about to die, I didn’t know how I could prolong it...In my last breath, Nicole downloaded my soul into that CD you found...That’s why I died three hours ahead of time...But I only did it because I loved you, and wanted to see you again. I’m still Sonic, and you’re still my Sal.”
Sally covered her mouth with her hand and looked into his eyes. “I know...” Sally ran up to him with tears pouring down her face and leapt on top of him. She pushed her lips into his with such force that he was taken back. Her hands wrapped around his head and his slid around her head and back.
She’d found him once again.
They broke for air and stared into each others’ eyes for the first time in five years. Sally looked into his and found yearning, hope, and yet anguish. Such traits marked that of a hero, and she loved it. Whatever yearning he had, she could match, whatever hope, complete, and whatever anguish, comfort. She was his forever, and him, hers.
Sonic rushed into her and landed his lips on hers. All he wanted was her, and he would prove it in time.
In that moment, the song he wrote played for her. It was what she needed in a time of grief. He had written it for her and her only.
You’ve got so much life to live
and so much hurt to give,
so don’t grow up so fast.
Yeah don't grow up so fast
Try being young when you’re young,
you’ll have time to rest when you’re gone.
Balancing the wire, now you’re holding on.
Just let go and take the fall.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Sweet, sweet adolescence…
thought it would be better, but it isn’t… sweet disappointment.
Fighting for the wrong side you figured out,
it’s never too late to make a difference now.
There’s nothing that can ever hold you down.
Take, take, take, take, take ‘em out.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Like the feeling of being singled out, I think it’s time we run for cover now.
Or take the blame.
It’s not a game, and there is no way out.
I think it’s time we run for cover now.
Just take the blame.
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
The night was long, their love was strong. Their spirits lived on in a world filled with love and joy. Sally was free, Sonic was free. Now they could enjoy each other all they wanted. Peace.
In memory of Boyd Hayes, Jr.
Sonic & Related Characters (C) Archie/SEGA
Southside (C) The Wedding
Love Spins: The Sequel to “Death of a Champion”
She remembered. She remembered everything. She remembered all the pain it brought her when he died, the hole in her heart, the tears down her face. It just brought back all the pain she felt. She had married, reluctantly, but married. She married a young king she had once loved before. He wasn’t completely Mobian, though. He had a tragic past, a painful one. Getting half of your body replaced with machinery isn’t exactly a dream in anyone’s book. Ken was a good man, but it wasn’t what she had pictured those years before.
Sonic’s death was the only thing she could think about when her parents had bit it. Robotnik had upped his ante since Sonic was killed, and he turned to the next best target, the former king and queen. Max and Alicia had no chance against his horde of new Deathbots. Elias defended them as much as he could, but took a fatal blow. He died instantly. Max and Alicia soon followed their son in death. Meg and Alexis had managed to escape, but brought the grave news to Sally. Sally wept like there was no comparison, other than when her beloved had died. Ken comforted her, but it was to no avail, she wanted to be alone. That’s all she wanted to do.
Sally sat in her room staring at her mirror. She saw in her eyes all the tension, the years of war and strife, the years of love and loss. She wanted out, and would do all she could to do so. Suicide? She agreed that it was beneath her. She wouldn’t want to pass on her grief to those who love her. She would be doing the same thing to them that Sonic had done to her when he passed.
“Sonic...” she said, as she spoke it for the first time in five years. Five years. It had been that long since the speedy hedgehog had been cut down by their archenemy. She wanted Sonic to comfort her. Ken had tried, and she thanked him for it. She loved Ken, she really did, but it wasn’t true. Sonic was the only one who had made her life worth while. She loved him deeply, as deep as the Mobian Oceans would allow. The pain in her heart bit at her life. She didn’t care about her parents’ death anymore. She only cared about him.
She wanted comfort, but only he could offer it. She wanted to hear him say its okay. She wanted him to tell her she would be fine.
That’s when it hit her. She threw on her old blue vest and boots and hurried out of the Castle. She ran as fast as she could, tears streaming down her face. She needed to hear his voice, just once. Just to hear the rhythmic coo of his breath as it penetrated the air. She needed his assurance that everything would be okay.
She managed to hit the edge of the Great Forest, or at least what was left of it. She saw Freedom H.Q. in the distance. That was her target. She would find him there. She knew she would. Sonic always stashed his favorite things in his room at the old hideout, and she wanted them, she needed them.
She burst into his old room with tears and a smile. She saw his racecar bed and the lamp at its side. His dresser was against the far wall.
She lunged at it with such fervor that she thought it was Sonic himself. She wanted him, she needed him. She opened his drawer to find his old collection of CDs he had stashed over the years. Most of them were his solo records. In his down time, he would write songs, record them and save them for when the war was over. He wanted to be a musician after his hero status became obsolete. The CDs were her ticket to comfort. They had his voice recorded in them, they had his heart in them. She searched frantically for a CD player, but she couldn’t find one. Her heart sank. She sat on his bed and sobbed. Her shoulders rose and sank with every tremble of her teary body. She wouldn’t hear him. He was gone.
“Sally...?” a feminine voice said, “Are you okay?”
Sally couldn’t believe it. “N-Nicole? Is th-that y-you?” Sally and the Freedom Fighters had shut Nicole down after the Iron Dominion invasion to prevent further problems. She was amazed to find her still operating. She walked into the Brain Trust Lab to find her core computer still activated.
“Of course it is, Sally. What is wrong?”
Sally sat on the lab chair in front of Nicole’s monitor, her chest heaving with the momentary sobs of her sorrow. “He’s gone, Nicole...He’s gone...”
“Sonic has been dead for five years, Sally. You know this. Why the sudden shock of his death?” Her monitor beeped and turned on to reveal her old lynx form she had used when she was fully operational.
Sally looked up at her like a little kid crying in front of her father. “Because I need him in my life somehow! I can’t just let him die anymore!” She put her face in her hands and cried.
Nicole processed this information. She didn’t understand, couldn’t compute how a dead person could return to someone’s life. Then she came across some coding from many years ago. She remembered letting Shadow and Sonic physically interface with Gerald’s Diary, and Shadow was able to see, hear, and touch his creator and Maria. Nicole had to do the same thing for Sally.
“Sally?”
Sally sniffed and looked into her monitor with teary eyes, the dry droplets hardened on her cheek fur, “Yes?”
Nicole looked down on Sally, “If you were to physically interface with the data, you might be able to find what you’re looking for.”
Sally was surprised, “Y-you can do that?” She knew Nicole could do almost anything, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up, not only to be crushed again.
“I can. It will only take a few minutes of preparation. Please insert the disk into my CD drive.”
Sally inserted the disk and waited, her mind reeling with the possibility of seeing Sonic face to face again. Her heart yearned for this, she felt like it was the only chance she had left. She needed to see his face with his signature smirk, with his thumb jammed in the middle of his chest. She wanted to feel his soft fur against hers and be held by him again. She needed this. She forgot about Ken, she forgot about her life. She just wanted him and only him. Her fantasies were interrupted when Nicole beeped her out of her thoughts.
“It’s ready, Sally. Do you want to see Sonic again?”
She held her hands clasped and looked into Nicole with glassy eyes, her whites welling up with tears again, “Yes.”
There was a flash of light, and then warmth. Sally awoke in the same place, in front of Nicole’s core computer in the Brain Trust Lab. It was midday, the sun was bright, and the aroma of lilacs and daisies filled the air, and yet, she was alone. No one was there to comfort her, no one was there to hold her. She’d missed it. She broke down and wept hysterically, the hot tears pouring out of her eyes. She missed her chance. She would never see him again. Her life was meaningless. All of her hoping and dreaming was crushed once more. She had to get out.
She couldn’t make it very far out of the room when she landed with a thud on the dirt floor. Her heart panged with sadness and grief. He was truly gone. There was nothing she could do to get him back. Nicole had failed, and she was alone.
“Yo, Sal!” a voice rang from the open door of Freedom HQ.
She didn’t hear him. She was imagining things. There’s no way he could have said that. He was gone. She looked up from the ground to see her beloved standing in the doorway, thumb smashed into his chest, teeth clenched in a smirk, and his free hand on his hip.
It was him.
“Oh, Sonic!” She dove her head into his chest and could feel its warmth. She wanted this to last forever, and it would, but this wasn’t him. The real Sonic had died, his spirit meeting his fathers. This Sonic was the remnants of a CD created by him. It wasn’t her Sonic. She thought about this and looked at him with a helpless look. She began to tear up, “Y-You...you’re not really my Sonic are you...?” She got up off him and turned away. “Y-You’re just a computer program.” Tears ran down her face once more.
Sonic was taken back by this, stood up and turned her around to face him. He had to think about what to say. He was the real Sonic. He had Nicole download his soul on his death bed, but how was he to tell her? He figured it’d be best to be straightforward. “When I was about to die, I didn’t know how I could prolong it...In my last breath, Nicole downloaded my soul into that CD you found...That’s why I died three hours ahead of time...But I only did it because I loved you, and wanted to see you again. I’m still Sonic, and you’re still my Sal.”
Sally covered her mouth with her hand and looked into his eyes. “I know...” Sally ran up to him with tears pouring down her face and leapt on top of him. She pushed her lips into his with such force that he was taken back. Her hands wrapped around his head and his slid around her head and back.
She’d found him once again.
They broke for air and stared into each others’ eyes for the first time in five years. Sally looked into his and found yearning, hope, and yet anguish. Such traits marked that of a hero, and she loved it. Whatever yearning he had, she could match, whatever hope, complete, and whatever anguish, comfort. She was his forever, and him, hers.
Sonic rushed into her and landed his lips on hers. All he wanted was her, and he would prove it in time.
In that moment, the song he wrote played for her. It was what she needed in a time of grief. He had written it for her and her only.
You’ve got so much life to live
and so much hurt to give,
so don’t grow up so fast.
Yeah don't grow up so fast
Try being young when you’re young,
you’ll have time to rest when you’re gone.
Balancing the wire, now you’re holding on.
Just let go and take the fall.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Sweet, sweet adolescence…
thought it would be better, but it isn’t… sweet disappointment.
Fighting for the wrong side you figured out,
it’s never too late to make a difference now.
There’s nothing that can ever hold you down.
Take, take, take, take, take ‘em out.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Mom and Dad will be just fine.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Follow me back down into the southside.
Like the feeling of being singled out, I think it’s time we run for cover now.
Or take the blame.
It’s not a game, and there is no way out.
I think it’s time we run for cover now.
Just take the blame.
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
Get it, get, get, get it right .
The night was long, their love was strong. Their spirits lived on in a world filled with love and joy. Sally was free, Sonic was free. Now they could enjoy each other all they wanted. Peace.
In memory of Boyd Hayes, Jr.
Sonic & Related Characters (C) Archie/SEGA
Southside (C) The Wedding
