Chapter 43

Sonic charged up a Homing Attack. It made a loud whirring sound as he did, slowly raising into the air and gathering wind energy to boost his dash forward in the air. Everyone whispered for him to stop, but he was already set in his decision. He was going to wipe all of these monsters off of Mobius.

"Driul kru frama?" One masked figure asked. It had a torn-off lip and wolf ears.

"Skras!" Another hissed. All of them turned to Sonic. He then released the Homing Attack, spinning at one of the figures at blinding speeds. The figure caught the sides of the Homing Attack, keeping it away from him. The other figures ran in to help the figure drive Sonic away.

"I'm not giving up that easily!" Sonic cried. He continued to spin, revving something up. Then, he shot out a leg from his Homing Attack. It spun with the Homing Attack, kicking the masked figure in the back of the head.

"Aks!" The figure cried as it was kicked into a tree. That's when everyone else launched a full-blown attack. Sonja placed Pico behind the log, and went in to fight. Tails and Sonja fought against the masked figures, but were no match for the sheer numbers they held. Sonic was quickly detained. They were brought to the fire.

"No, wait!" Sonic cried. He kicked and hit as the figures brought him over. "Sonja, Tails! I'm sorry!" Sonic screamed. He was thrown into the fire. It was hotter than any fire he'd ever been in. It was hotter than when the sun almost crashed down on him. He couldn't move. He was paralyzed by the heat as his skin melted off. He was going to die. He almost didn't notice a colorful blur above him. It sped by in an instant, though.

Sonja and Tails were carried to the fire, but that's when a booming, deep voice came into earshot. Sonic couldn't move his head to see who it was. But they said this. In English. "Keep the wife and the kit. We have use for them. Burn the man and feast on his flesh. Find the baby."

Sonic's blood ran cold, despite the intense heat he was feeling on the outside. They were going to keep his friends for... something... but what about Pico? The baby? Sonic couldn't do anything but scream as Tails and Sonja were carried off deeper into the woods. Then, one of the masked figures walked over to the log.

Behind the log, away from what Sonic could see, Pico was trying to run away on all fours. But he kept falling on his face each time. He squealed and trumpeted as the masked figure picked him up. Poor Pico had no idea what was going on, it was all so sudden. He couldn't even see who had picked him up. He flailed his arms and legs around as he trumpeted, in a fear nobody, let alone an infant should ever have to face. He didn't know what these bad people were going to do to him. He didn't even know why they wanted to do whatever they wanted to do.

Pico was carried over to Sonic's seared, perfectly browned corpse. Pico threw up on sight of it and started shaking uncontrollably while squeaking as the vile, yellow grassy slop fell slowly from his lower lip. Sonic had a permanent look of terror on his face. He was stuck in a position where his arms were above his head diagonally and his feet were stuck out diagonally to his sides. Pico noticed Sonja being carried off. He flailed his limbs in Sonja's direction, as Sonja tried to reach out to him. She screamed as Pico continued to squeal and whine. He made a long and loud trumpet sound as she disappeared from his view. His caretaker and mother figure was gone. Tears fell from his contracted, wet eyes as he screeched and cried out for Sonja. He mourned her leaving his endangered life for what may be good.

A pool of figures ran out from behind the treeline. Then, they began to dance and chant around the fire once more, with Sonic's cooked corpse inside. More figures brought a large wooden platter, and scooped Sonic out of the fire. Pico squealed and cried frantically, fearing for his life as the figure holding him held him over the hedgehog's cooked body with his arms in one hand and his legs in the other.

The figures chanted louder. "OWEEHASHA, OWEEHASHA, OWEEHASHA, OWEEHASHA!!!!" They sang. They were enjoying every second of this. Then, the figure holding Pico began to pull in both directions. Pico trumpeted in pain and sorrow as he closed his eyes, preparing for whatever happened after these people were done hurting him. His survival instincts kicked in as he tried running away in the air. But it was no use.

They kept pulling, as the pain rocketed through Pico's body. Pico could feel his body being torn apart. He squealed more. He knew he was going to die. His naive, simple mind looked back on his life. Although he was happy, and had some fun memories, he spent it mostly running from things that tried to eat him and his herd. Now, it seemed this was the fate he was running from the whole time.

He trumpeted one last time. He wanted his mommy. He wanted Sonja. His imagination conjured up a foggy image, a memory, of Sonja smiling warmly into his eyes. He missed her so badly. He just wanted to be in her arms again.

And then, he was pulled apart. Pico was dead.

His blood and organs splashed all over Sonic for extra flavoring. The masked figures let out a "SHURRKRA!!!" In celebration. Then, they dug into Sonic's flesh. They wasted none of Sonic's meat. They ate him until he was nothing but bones. The bones and discarded bracelet with a shattered green gemstone were left in the fire pit to burn for the next time.

Tails and Sonja were being taken... somewhere... Sonja was screaming and crying as she tried to break away. To no avail. These people had a death grip on her. "NO! YOU MONSTERS!" She wailed. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" She screeched horribly. She tried again and again to phase through, but nothing. Why wouldn't it work? Tails was begrudging. He didn't seem bothered that Sonic was cooked alive. He only looked bothered by this turn of events.

Eventually, they reached a large tent-like structure. It appeared to be in tribute to the mansion, as it beared the same shape and had holes poked out where windows would be in the mansion. The group of people carrying Sonja and Tails went through the curtain doors.

Sonja continued to cry. Not only for Sonic, but Pico as well. Who knows what those people could have done to little baby Pico? Tails looked at another masked figure. They sat in the center of the tent. This mask was that of a chihuahua. It looked like the face of Chip, Sonic's friend who gave him his bracelet, but blackened and scarred across the center. The figure held a wooden spear with a dark red tip.

Sonja rolled over in the cultist's grips. "What are you doing to us, you monster?!" She shrieked.

Silence. The masked figure then spoke. "Bringing you to salvation," It said.

"You killed my friends! You're going to kill us too, aren't you?!" She cried, unaware that she may be giving this monster ideas.

"No. We do not seek to kill you," The figure wearing the Chip mask spoke. "We seek to make you our own, and accept you into our religion."

"What religion is that?" Tails asked. Sonja bit her tongue.

"The Marlanic Followers," The figure with the Chip mask snickered. The mouth on the mask grinned. Sonja would have jumped back in fright had she not been held by these people. "We worship our great god, a god above any else. Above our own chief. Our god is the one that gave us birth, gave us life. Our god is almighty. Our god keeps us safe." The figure pointed its wrinkly, moist gray finger at Sonja and Tails. "Our god will keep you safe."

"Why would you kill Sonic and Pico?!" Sonja shrieked as tears flooded from her eyes. "You people are sick!"

"We did not kill them. They have ascended," The Chip mask figure spoke. There was a chuckle in its voice that boiled Sonja's blood. She wanted to break free and tear this person limb from limb. Then continue with the rest of the cult. And mayhaps, their stupid fictitious character they called their god. "We have done a great deed for them! We have saved them from that horrible world that they come from."

A red, glowing third eye opened on the Chip mask. The figure underneath seemed to cry and shake. "Their world is evil. Their world is wrong, and they are the sick ones for coming from it. We have salvaged them from their sinful lives, and have given them eternal existence in the heavens!" The figure squealed.

"What about us, huh?!" Sonja screamed. "We come from their world too, don't we? I knew it! You will kill us like you killed them!"

"Hmm..." The Chip mask figure said, its voice choking up and breaking under the tears. It extended its hand forward. "Give me your hand."

The other masked figures carrying Tails and Sonja let them down, and shut the curtains behind them. Sonja and Tails immediately tried to run over and open the curtains, but the curtains wouldn't budge. The only light in the room was the small ember in the fireplace.

"Don't you turn away," The figure said. It reached out its hand. Tails and Sonja felt an unknown force pulling them towards the figure. Then, it turned them around. They then reached out their arms, and, one by one, extended all their fingers. The Chip mask figure dropped its spear and reached out its own hand, and, with a slimy, clammy, cold touch, put it in theirs.

"You do not come from the same world as them, do you?" The figure asked, rhetorically. "No, no... you two... you two have hailed from the world of our great god." The figure paused, then started to snicker. "You will make fine additions to us, yes, yes."

"We will never serve you..." Sonja sobbed. She looked down at the ground to avoid looking at this disgrace any longer.

"In fact..." The figure mumbled. "Let me take something up with our chief. I will watch you as you fall to sleep. Sweet dreams."

Tails and Sonja, after hours of trying to scratch free, eventually got tired, and fell to sleep involuntarily on the ground by the curtains.

It was all a blur the next few days. When Chmask (what Sonja soon found was the masked figure with the scar on its mask's name) told them that she and Tails were to be wed. She was disgusted. She would never marry Tails. She had no romantic feelings for him at all. Wasn't he a child, anyways? But the two were forced into it like a perverted perception of a princess and a prince in a storybook. Tails accepted gladly. The cultists threatened Sonja by saying that if she did not accept, Sonic and Pico would go to a dimension worse than Hell, that not even the cultists knew of.

So, like Sir Gawain attempting to save his king in exchange for the freedom of his own heart, Sonja accepted. She was to wed Tails, not even knowing anything about him. But... this was hardly organized. Did it even count??? She wanted to believe above all else it didn't.

She felt sickened by herself.

Seeing him at the other end of the altar, Sonja felt more hazy and disoriented than she had the past few days. Something she thought was impossible. She was nauseous, and couldn't quite make out Tails' figure. What she could see didn't show up as the small two-tailed fox she somewhat knew, but a shadowy, towering human man. His features, Sonja couldn't make out. She could only see the wide grin on his face. It was maniacal and wicked.

Sonja's dress was not white and beautiful with sparkles on it like she had imagined her wedding dress would be. Her ideal wedding dress she had built up in her head while reading romance novels would be fit for a princess. But this was the best that the cult could make. It had effort and love put into it, but Sonja still hated these people. And their stupid dress. It was made of leaves, feathers, grass and hide. Sonja loathed it.

She stepped up the altar stairs. What must have just been two steps felt like an endless staircase. She took one step, and another. What felt like a century passed by in an instant. But it still didn't feel that way. This is supposed to happen when you're nervous about marrying someone, but it should be a happy nervous. She was not happy nervous.

"Tails?" Sonja asked. No response. The grin grew wider. She wanted to tell him to get her out of here.

The clergy, who wore the hammered-in mask of a pink hedgehog, cleared his throat. Then, he spoke. "Fellow Marlanic Followers, we are gathered here this night in the sight of..." Sonja couldn't make out those words.

The clergy continued. Something about this didn't seem right. It was all wrong, at least, from what Sonja had seen in the books. They didn't mention God. They mentioned a name Sonja couldn't make sense of. Marla... Martha? It didn't matter, she decided.

"Tails and Sonja, our new fellow followers, have joined hands, soul, and flesh to become one. Our new chief." That part certainly wasn't right. Sonja looked over to where the cake should be. That should be good at... least... There appeared the corpse of the chief she had seen before... Flies swarmed its rotting flesh. It wore no mask.

She suppressed the urge to vomit.

Two jingles played as the clergy tossed two golden, round objects at Sonja and Tails. They glistened and disappeared upon impact. Sonja and Tails both felt a kind of empowerment. But Sonja couldn't tell from where. "Now... unite!" The clergy wailed. The man referred to as Tails, who couldn't possibly be the same Tails as earlier, walked towards Sonja and swept her off the ground. The last thing Sonja saw were his lifeless, silver eyes.

Sonic. She wished Sonic was here right now. He would have swooped in at the last second and saved her from this nightmare. God she hoped it was a nightmare. She wished Sonic was the one in front of her right now. But this was not a nightmare. And Sonic wouldn't be coming back. Sonic was long dead. Her hero, her friend, the one she knew, trusted, and... and... he was gone. The light of hope that was the Blue Blur had been extinguished.

She just hoped they were truly in a better place, like these people promised.

Then, nothing.

Sonja and Tails, now one, wore the mask. The mask of the Marlanic Followers' god. The Mobian people's devil.

Bad ending reached: "Masked"

To go two steps back, go to Chapter 41