Heart's Desire (Dark Mobius)
A short chapter about how, why, and when Dark Enerjak Knuckles had sapped the life essence out of his once-beloved, Julie-Su.
Written in the same continuity as "05:23 AM, outside the Fortress Gates"
_________________________________________________
A gnarled, hideously constructed spire stood tall and proud, looming over Julie-Su as she stood, intimidated, in its shadow. She shuddered as she glanced at it, finding the construction of it to be eerily similar to the tower of Mt. Fate, a remnant of Echidna history that was best left a remnant. As she studied it, she tried not to let her emotions get to her as she lay in wait. She, and some of the other people taking residence in the Knothole Fortress, had formed a raid group in order to surmise where the Dark Legion had been keeping the vast instances of kidnapped citizens. After sixteen years, they had finally uncovered the base of operations in which the strangely familiar robot-like creatures that had been terrorising them had been spawning from; they had found the origin site of the prelates.
This leg of the journey, she had asked to do on her lonesome. If Knuckles was still in there, he would never lay a finger to her - and if he wasn't, then she wanted to go out on her own terms, rather than lay as a sitting duck. She was confident that he was still in there, and a selfish part of her wanted to coax it out. She couldn't lie; that was half of her reason for visiting. She wanted to talk about them, their daughter, and the future. More specifically, she wanted him to know that she wanted him out of the picture. She knew, in her mind, that it was a lost cause - but in her heart, she had grown desperate - or perhaps numb. She laid her tired eyes upon the spire, taking in the architecture with a disdainful eye. Knuckles had never been one for dark colours, finding them much too macabre - and yet, here stood this obsidian tower, aching into the sky with gnarled tendrils. It wasn't like him at all.
Truth be told, she didn't want to face that man; everything about him made her skin crawl, and her stomach churn. As much as she told herself that 'it' wasn't Knuckles, she knew deep down that whatever force 'Enerjak' was, had simply whispered to Knuckles’ darkest desires, twisting and turning his frustrations into a dangerous hatred, a rage-fuelled power. What Knuckles had become, was within him all along - it just took the wrong mentor to bring it to the forefront. She knew it all too well - after all, she knew him better than anybody. She knew that all of those years of being a political pawn, the early age at which he was saddled with such power and responsibility, the fact that despite it all, he was ridiculed and left on the sidelines time after time, had all worn down on him, until he finally snapped under it all.
Of course she knew this by heart, she had been the one by his side as he slowly declined into utter inhumanity. As much as she loved him, she had no intentions of ever becoming anybody else's pawn ever again. Yes - she had left with their unborn child still in her womb when his admittedly heavy-handed intentions of peace had curdled into that thirst for revenge and power. The hardest part to bear, was that throughout it all, he had kept that naive idea that he was doing it all 'for the greater good' - deep-down, he still considered himself to be doing the right thing. She wished, with all of her heart, that she could accept that lie, and stand loyally by his side. It made her wince that she knew that she would still be by his side, had he not have become so controlling over her - she wasn’t in this for good, nor evil; she just wanted to feel okay again. The second that Knuckles had become unhealthy for her wellbeing, and not a moment before, was when she had chosen to split. She knew all too well of all of the blood on her hands.
Mustering her strength, she clenched her fists, wearily watching the spire; it had no doors, no entry - the only way to announce her presence was to shout. ”Knuckles?“ She called out, feeling a disgusting shudder run down her back as she felt those piercing eyes tracking her. She turned around slowly, feeling her heart beating in her throat as she gazed upon his gold-plated visage.
”I thought that you would never announce yourself, my dear.” Knuckles grinned, though his voice had a gentle touch to it that made her skin crawl. His feet touched the ground as he removed his mask, smiling at her gently. Though it seemed well-intentioned, she couldn't interpret his curled smile as anything other than deeply malicious. He spoke softly, “Have you finally come around? I do miss you so.”
Julie-Su didn't falter, steeling her face so as not to show any emotion towards him. In the moment, that selfishness took over; she needed to know. “I'm not here to talk about us getting back together. I'm here to talk about our child... Amongst other things.” She couldn't bring herself to call him by name for a second time right at this moment - this wasn’t the man that she had fallen in love with. What was left of who he used to be, had become twisted, and withered, into something sinister, and gnarled.
His smile dropped as he rolled his eyes in boredom. “Oh, don't tell me that you've come here to have an argument.” He massaged his temples, exasperated. “It seems that every time our paths cross these days, you have something new to yell at me about.” he groaned, stepping forwards, reaching for her face. “I still love you, 'Su. Let's talk about that.”
She didn't flinch, but her stomach turned at his touch. She squinted at him incredulously, feeling only disgust. This was all strangely familiar to her, but she could not quite place it - vague memories of somebody that she had been warned about, years prior, creeped up from the edge of her mind. She frowned, ”Is that what this is to you? I'm yelling at you, is that it?” She felt her blood racing, her anger boiling. She had gotten much better at managing her anger in her years raising her child, but it was starting to reach a boiling point here, now. She swallowed it down, exhaling. ”I want you to stop trying to contact Lara-Su. The girl's only just learnt about the mess you've made, she doesn't need you ruining her future as well as her past.”
He rolled his eyes, keeping his hand on her cheek as he sighed. ”That's no way to behave, now, is it? I just want us to be a happy family.“ He leant in close.
She felt only disgust, looking into his eyes, how weary, haggard, and desperate he seemed. All of this power seemed to be wearing him down - or perhaps, it was that loneliness. She almost felt sorry for him; but she reckoned that’s what he wanted her to feel. That’s what had stung the most, in all of this - she was no stranger to manipulation tactics; she just never believed that she’d hear them coming from the mouth of the man she’d once trusted with her life. Knuckles held her face, tilting her chin up rather forcibly. ”I still feel the soul-touch, 'Su. I know you do, too“ he whispered into her ear gently. He held her face, locking his lips with hers with a sense of pushiness.
In an instant, Julie-Su raised her knee, delivering a devastating blow to his stomach as she pulled away from him. She glared hurtfully at him as she paced backwards, reaching for her blaster as she shook her head in utter betrayal. ”You're not that same man who I shared the soul-touch with. You're not my Knuckles.“ she stepped back, piecing it all together; of course she knew where that sense of deja-vu was coming from... Lara-Le had warned her, years ago, of the past wives of guardians, of her own ex-husband, the guardian Locke. Her brow creased at this crushing realisation, her stomach turning. She didn’t want to say it, but the words seemed to escape her lips. “You've become just like your father.” she whispered, in a mix of rage, and horror.
His head snapped towards her almost uncannily, losing that gentle gaze as his rage took over. “No. I'm nothing like that man.” He snarled, his lips curling, sharp teeth bared as his eyes darkened. ”Damnit, woman, why can't I get through to you?!“ He roared, stepping forwards. ”I'm telling you that I love you!“
“And I'm telling you, that I don't love you!” Julie-Su yelled back, letting that red-hot anger take over, like a bull to a matador's flag. “I've moved on, Knuckles! Auroras sake, I've even remarried! I left because of you, because of what you've done - and you can't even begin to come to terms with that!” she spat, steeling herself in defence as he cornered her against the featureless outside wall of the spire.
He glared as if he was trying to pierce her heart with his stare, his jaw quivering with rage and remorse. “Remarried...?” He all but hissed, looking forlorn as he searched for the truth in her furious eyes. “Remarried?!” He repeated with a bellow, grabbing her by the wrists in an instant, pinning her up to the wall. “No, no! I am the one who loves you! I am the one who deserves you! We’re soul-touched! You're mine, you're supposed to be mine!” He sounded near desperate, “We were supposed to rule the world, before you became pregnant with that... Thing.. And decided to run from me! I don't know who got into your head... I've done this all for us, my dear, I'm building the perfect future... I even reunited all of echidna-kind for you! Don’t you remember, when you couldn’t walk the streets without gaining scorn? Legionnaires and Echidnaoplians all live together under my rule! I did it all for you!”
Julie-Su felt disgust and fear, as she tried to kick herself free. ”You took charge of the Dark Legion, is what you did! You didn’t disband it! All you did was that you started working with my sister! And then you made her disappear, just like everybody else. What did you do with her, Knuckles?! Where is she?! What ... Are you going to do with me?“ she could hear the fear in her own voice; it hurt her to call him by his name, but she needed to know. She needed to get through to him.
Knuckles squinted at her, gazing at the spire as a hole in the wall yawned open behind them, edged with an emerald-green light. ”Oh, her? She’s safe... You'll be quite safe with me, too.“ His lips curled into a rather menacing grin as she gazed around her at the inside walls of the spire with pure terror.
”By the walkers...“ She whispered as her eyes widened, feeling queasy and mortified from the sight. Chained to the walls, as far as the eye could see, were the limp bodies of hundreds – no, thousands of mobians and overlanders alike, many of whom she recognised.
”Those robotic creatures… Prelates… are people. They were always people.“ She whispered to herself in utter terror, her mind struggling to wrap around just how awful of a deed the man she had once loved had committed.
”Very clever, my dear.“ he darkly chuckled, holding her close to him. ”They're mine... You, too, will be mine. I was hoping to have you 'whole', but as you've refused to cooperate...“
”You're a monster.“ she whispered in disdain, deciding not to give him the satisfaction of struggling. ”You're not just like your father... You're worse.” She gurgled as he used that ghastly power, stealing the life-essence out of her.
Her body seized as he coaxed a ball of light out of her chest - her very soul, ripped from her body. It was over in a flash; he held her limp, lifeless body in one hand, and the orb which had contained her life-essence in the other.
Knuckles heard a horrified gasp from behind him. He turned his head slowly, quietly, staring at the source of the sound.
Scarlette Rabbot stood there, her hands over her mouth. “Oh my stars...” She whispered, backing up in fear. She had seen all that she had needed to; Julie-Su's fall, the bodies, the truth of the spawning sites of the prelates. She knew, though painfully, that she had to ditch the poor woman and relay the information back to the rest of the Freedom Fighters. Without a word, she boosted away at breakneck speeds to recuperate with the raid group.
Knuckles let the woman abscond, watching her disappear with a certain air of remorse; sure, he could hunt her down easily, but right now, he was more interested in the woman in his arms. He glanced back at Julie-Su’s empty body, closing her eyes so that it looked as if she were perhaps sleeping.
Stroking her hair gently, he put his forehead to hers. “You'll be happier this way, anyways, my darling. We're finally together again, aren't we? Just like we're supposed to be.” He held her limp body in his arms tightly, sighing deeply as he cradled her.
He studied the orb, holding it, too, close.
“Now we just need to be reunited with our daughter, don’t we?”