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Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are copyrighted to Service and Games (Sega of America/Japan), DIC entertainment and Archie Comics. This work is protected under copyright law. The author grants his permission for free, unaltered distribution of this work. Any other use is prohibited, and will put you in violation of Title 17 of the US Code regarding Copyright restrictions. Blah blah blah.






AUTHOR'S NOTE

"Demon" is something of an aesthetic piece, in that it is written almost entirely in the abstract. Some segments of this story are drawn from my feelings towards the recent tragedy in New York City; others were inspired by more personal matters. I only hope that I didn't get too carried away with all the symbolism and everything. There really *is* a meaning hidden in all this -- honest! Just understand that I wrote this to *say something* rather than to tell a story.

On a more positive note, "Demon" is my first G-rated fanfic. Yeah, I know. Scared the heck out of *me*, too.

As for upcoming projects, I'm currently in the process of composing a new fic entitled "Bloodbound": an adventure serial of sorts that will take place in New Mobotropolis, told entirely in Tails' POV. Also, keep an eye out for a special Halloween edition of "Night," complete with two new dream sequences as well as my final touch-ups and revisions. In the meantime, visit my website, wouldja? The Stephen Zacharus Library can be found at www.geocities.com/szacharus.

Ah, well. Until next time... latersville! --SJZ.







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Stephen Zacharus
DEMON

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It was nearly midnight and the Museum of New Mobotropolis was ready to close. The staff made an exception, of course, when Princess Sally Acorn had decided to pay them a late-night visit.

"I won't be long," she insisted. "There's something that I need to see."

The museum staff graciously accepted her, knowing very well what that "something" was -- the very same "something", in fact, that the Princess had made a point of seeing on a weekly basis for the past year. Perhaps, they thought, it was a form of mental therapy. Perhaps the Princess wanted to remind herself of exactly what it was that the rest of Mobius was trying to forget.

The truth of the matter was that not even Sally knew what kept drawing her back to the museum. She smiled at the staff members ruefully, gathering her wits. At long last, the Princess drew a deep breath and entered the heart of the museum.

The marble hallways were empty -- void of warmth or light or anything living. Ancient relics of Old Mobotropolis were enshrined in glass display cases and on pedestals. Works of classic literature that had survived the mass book-burnings during the Coup were safely tucked-away in the Museum Library. Artworks of long-forgotten painters and sculptors were on display in the Gallery. Nay, nothing here had any relevence to Sally. Her destination lay at the end of the deep corridor that was waiting for her ahead. The dark passage gaped like a mouth, drawing her, inhaling her.

She suppressed a shudder, swallowing grimly and forcing herself into the darkness against her will. Even after months of this torture she was never prepared for it. She was terrified.

"What are you doing here, Sally?" the Princess whispered to herself in the dark. Something deep inside of her cried out like a small child, wanting to flee back to the light, wanting to escape what was lurking in the shadows ahead of her, wanting to forget that it ever existed.

No, she decided. Even though it was torture, she had to see it again. "I can't forget it," she thought. "I *won't* forget the evil that forged us into who we are today. It's my duty as a Princess. It's my duty as a Mobian."

Her eyes soon adjusted to the darkness... and she saw it.

The cold, dead cylinder of glass and metal loomed over the Princess scornfully, grinning -- almost as though it were reveling in its undying influence upon Mobius. Black, paralyzing fear burned into Sally's soul as it had countless times before, stealing her breath, clutching her psyche. The machine's sinister magesty arrested her gaze.

On the wall beside it was a plaque.


"Let this device stand as an eternal
reminder of the evils of tyranny --
an enemy that we, together, fought
and defeated.

"May the Goddess be with those who
have given their lives for our cause."


There, standing directly before her, was the very entity that had personified the Freedom Movement. They hadn't been fighting a war with Robotnik -- they never had. Their war was against fear itself. Their war was with the Roboticizer.

Sally gathered the courage to step forward. The chilling, gleaming shaft whispered of countless sins, breathed of darkness. It taunted her. She found herself wondering what it would be like to be trapped inside such a machine, helpless to stop its light from descending upon her and swallowing her.

She couldn't help herself. Fear and morbid curiosity were fused into a whole. Silently, delicately, Sally reached her hand out to the Roboticizer... and touched it.

The radiant cold from the machine drove into her core. It was there -- in the deep of the museum, her hand upon the most vile invention in the history of her planet -- that the entire legacy of the Roboticizer seemed to flash before Sally's eyes.

Hoplessness.

Captivity.

Solitude.

Fire.

Death.

Scars.

Loss.

FEAR.

Trapped and hurt and alone and without hope, her friends -- her *family* -- were cast into this machine. No pity. No remorse. No one to save them as the faceless drone at the control panel threw the switch. Pain. Electric pain, surging forth without guilt or shame, transforming them into the very face of their enemy. Loss of freedom. Loss of control. Cold, mindless slavery.

Princess Sally collapsed in a heap, sobbing, convulsing, clawing at the marble floor in anguish. So many lives ruined, so much to be repaired, so much to reflect upon. It was overwhelming and terrifying. For years she had wished for the pain to vanish... and it never did.

Perhaps that was the reason for why she kept returning to the Roboticizer exhibit. She wanted to confront her ultimate fear, to stare it in the face and conquer it once and for all. And yet she couldn't. The Roboticizer continued to overcome her -- stronger in death than it ever was during Robotnik's rule, for now it was immortal. Memory, indeed, had proven to be the most powerful form of defeat.

Sally blinked away her tears and stood, turning from the demon that loomed before her. She could stand in its shadow no longer. Quietly, she hurried down the hall and towards the distant light.

She never looked back.




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