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Love's Resistance	By : CearaIvory Category: +S through Z > Sonic Views: 1391 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic Underground, its characters, nor do I profit in anyway

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Reviews are most appreciated. If you take the time to read, please take a few extra moments to leave me your thoughts on the chapter. I do my best to answer all reviews. I am also currently looking for an artist interested in drawing a few scenes from the story.

AN: You'll notice a change in title starting a couple of chapters ago. I will be changing the title officially to reflect the change. I did not like the original title, didn't really seem to fit.

Love's Resistance

Chapter 6

Robotnik glared as he summoned Sleet and Dingo to him. "You failed to catch the hedgehogs again I hear." His voice was deceptively calm.

"Um...yes sire..." Sleet answered with a shaky voice. He didn't know what to expect.

Robotnik's eyes fell squarely on Dingo. "A video taken by the Swat-Bots show you clearly lying when questioned if you had seen the hedgehogs. Explain yourself."

"Well...um...I...I didn't know she was there...I didn't see her," Dingo tried.

"LIAR!" Robotnik shouted. "You did know she was there and you were going to let her go. That is not only a direct disregard of my orders, it's also high treason."

Sleet put himself between the obese overlord and his cowering friend. "Wait, sire, it's not Dingo's fault! I told him to let her go!"

Robotnik looked at Sleet. "You Sleet? You would betray me?"

"Not betray you sire but help you..." Sleet swallowed. "Your...your image with the nobles has taken a real beating hasn't it sire?" Robotnik did not answer but motioned for Sleet to continue. "They didn't like that you killed Bartleby, did they?"

"If you have a point Sleet, I suggest you make it," Robotnik's voice was menacing.

"Um...well, the one there was Sonia, his lover...she is most devastated and if the nobles learned that you didn't even give her a proper grieving period, well...they might side with the Resistance instead," Sleet reasoned. "May I...may I advise that you offer her and her brothers a grace period, a short time of immunity from prosecution, a mourning period if you will. Perhaps a short cessation of hostilities and a reprieve from taxes. Show that you can be the better man in this time of hardship. It might earn you back some favor if you make them believe that you are apologetic or repentant for his death."

Robotnik considered the proposition. He had a point. He had tried to seize the Montclair fortune only to discover the mink had bequeathed everything to the pink hedgehog. Apparently the will was so ironclad and wrapped up in legalese that he couldn't contest it without coming out the worse in the eyes of the nobility. He could take it by force but only if he wanted to jeopardize his rule even further.

"Your suggestion has merit, Sleet," Robotnik told him. "My image must be repaired before the war can resume. Yes, send a missive to the Montclair's lawyer. Have him present it to the hedgehogs."

Sleet bowed. "Yes sire, and what shall it say?"

Sleet had to refrain himself from wiping his brow when he and Dingo were dismissed. He glared at Dingo as they exited.

"Sorry Sleet, but thank you...for..." Dingo looked down in shame that he nearly spoiled everything.

Sleet shook his head. "Oh shut up, you...I couldn't let him punish you. But from now on, you must remember. She is the enemy. In one week, we'll be back to hunting her and her brothers. I can't keep covering for you."

Dingo nodded. "I understand Sleet. She is the enemy." He wondered if he would be able to keep to that however.

The day after the burial, Sonia insisted on going back to the mansion, despite the obvious danger.

"I have to go back. He wanted me to..." Sonia gave the Oracle the letter to explain the situation."

The Oracle read the letter. "I understand child. But you shouldn't go alone."

Her brothers had both agreed to go with her with the promise that after the solicitor had been and gone, they would either come back or return to the hideout. It was their first time getting a good look inside the gigantic mansion.

"Wow, this place is really huge," Sonic said as Sonia gave them a proper for the first time, for something to do beside sit and cry.

Manic's eyes would rest now and then on the pretty, valuable-looking trinkets that he had tried to lift on a number of occasions. Bartleby had said he could take them now but guilt over his attitude towards the guy held him back.

"You alright Manic?" Sonic asked. He expected Sonia to take this hard but now Manic seemed to be just as bad, ever since that letter. Or rather, before when they'd arrived at the courthouse.

"I'm fine Sonic," he told his brother, rubbing at his nose.

Sonic frowned. "Manic..."

He sighed. "It's just...I said and thought some really bad things about Bartleby that day. I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have thought it. Suggesting that he would throw Sonia under the bus to save himself. I knew he wouldn't, he hadn't yet. She was right about that. I didn't want to save him Sonic. And he...he says to take his valuables. How can I knowing how badly I thought of him? Knowing what we know now."

Sonic looked to see if Sonia was listening before answering softly. "You weren't the only one who wished bad things on him, Manic. I thought just as you did. We both misjudged him. But I think he knew we didn't have a high opinion of him, or any of the aristocrats. You'll do as he wishes with those things. Do it to make up for what you thought of him."

Manic nodded as Sonia came up to them. "What's up with you two? You're being very quiet all of a sudden."

Manic shook his head. "Oh it's nothing Sonia. We were just talking about...um..what we're going to do about Robotnik. Are you sure you don't want to help plan a good revenge?"

She pursed her lips. "No. I don't want anything to do with the Resistance anymore, I told you that. Bartleby didn't want me to fight, so I won't fight anymore."

Sonic put a hand on her shoulder to placate her. "It's okay sis. You don't have to." He hated the idea of his sister giving up but the Oracle had advised them not to rush her. He was sure she would rejoin the fight in time, when she was ready. Instead they would support her decision, no matter what it was.

Manic looked around for something to dispel the sudden thickness in the atmosphere. "Um, what's in here?" He dashed over to a room she hadn't shown them yet. He opened the door.

"Oh, that's just Bartleby's office...he did his work there," she explained. She held back as a small grin as she remembered that he did a lot more than just work in that room, on that desk.

Manic stopped just inside the room as he turned on the light. "Wow, Sonic, you have to see this!"

Sonic joined Manic in looking inside the study. "Whoa sis! It's you, everywhere!" Sonic wasn't exaggerating. The walls were covered with photos of her and Bartleby together. In every picture, his eyes were on her instead of the camera.

Sonia blushed. "You knew we were close..." she looked at one of the pictures. All that was left of all their time together was up on these walls, in those quiet frames. She reached up to trace his fond smile. "I miss him so much."

The doorbell interrupted Sonia's moment of grief. Her brothers followed her to the door, ready with their medallions in case it was a trap.

Sonia peered through the peephole. "It's okay guys, it's just the lawyer." She opened the door for a well-dressed old goat.

Big tortoiseshell glasses frame the wise-looking face and he held a briefcase in his hand. "I am looking for Madame Montclair, a Madame Sonia Hedgehog-Montclair. Would you be she?" he asked.

Sonia was confused. "Well, I'm Sonia Hedgehog..." Why did Bartleby give his last name as hers?

"Good, I am Sir Montclair's attorney, here to discuss with you the details of his Last Will and Testament," he bowed respectully. "I am Mister Archimedes Archibald. May I come in?"

"Um, yeah," she gestured for him to enter. "These two are my brothers, Sonic and Manic Hedgehog."

Mr. Archibald bowed before them. "A pleasure to meet you sirs. Shall we take this to the parlor? We do have much to discuss."

Sonia nodded. On the way, she asked. "Um, Mr. Archibald, why did you call me Madame Montclair?"

"Well, you were his wife, were you not? My deepest condolences by the way, he was a good client and he will be dearly missed." In the living room, he sat in the chair allowing the siblings to take the larger sofa. "I was surprised to hear he was married but he explained that you wanted it to be secret because of your involvement with the Underground. Oh yes, he did ask me to return this first thing when I arrived." The goat slid a small ring box to her on the coffee table. "He said you were worried about losing it in battle and asked him to hold onto it for safe keeping."

Sonia picked up the velvet-lined box and opened it. Inside was a pair of beautiful diamond rings just her size. An engagement ring, the one he had given to her, and what would have been her wedding ring. "Bartleby..."

Sonic took her hand as Manic hugged her, both offering comfort. "So, you said Bartleby told you..."

"Yes...he told me much about you. Don't worry, as his lawyer, everything is confidential. He came to me about a month ago. He was acting rather peculiar and he insisted that I help him draw up his will. I asked him if he had reason to believe he might need it but he just insisted and well, that is my job," he explained. "He insisted that he had to be sure you were taken care of in the event of his passing."

"Almost as if he knew," Sonia recalled the beginning of his letter to her. "I always thought he felt sure that Robotnik wouldn't touch him."

"Well, be that as it may, we should go over his last wishes before we ponder this mystery any further," the lawyer said as he pulled out the forms, reading from the top page. "I, Sir Bartleby Montclair, being of sound mind, do declare this to be my Last Will and Testament..."

In short, the will stated that he bequeathed everything to Sonia, whom he called his wife. There was a section asking Manic to take what trinkets he would like, or that Sonia would let him take, and sell them to fund the Resistance effort. The will tied up all the loose ends one would expect. All Sonia had to do was sign the forms.

Her hand hovered over that dotted line. "When I do this...it'll be like saying he's really gone..."

"Sonia..." Sonic said. "It'll be alright...we're right here." His hand covered the one with the pen. Manic's hand joined it.

She took a hitched breath and gave them a small smile. "Thanks guys." Their support gave her the strength to sign the dreaded line. "Sonia Hedgehog-Montclair"

The goat put the papers away in his briefcase. "Thank you. Again, may I extend my condolences for your loss." The goat prepared to leave. "Ah, I'm forgetting something again. Lord Robotnik asked that this be delivered to you when I spoke with you today."

Sonia took the letter and read it. "Robotnik must be in trouble. He says he's giving us and the Resistance a week's ceasefire to properly mourn for Bartleby. He also says that he is cutting taxes in half for a month. Lastly, there is to be a candlelight vigil for Bartleby at the royal palace on the last night of the ceasefire. All citizens, no matter their class, are invited to attend, even the Resistance."

Sonic's eyes went wide. "Wow, he is in deep shit to do that."

"We'll go, but we should be ready for a trap," Sonia said. "Even if he is just doing it to save his image for the nobles." She looked at the rings in the box.

Sonic nodded. "What's bothering me though is that letter, Bartleby's, and the Will. Why would he suddenly want a Will just out of the blue, with not even a sign that something's wrong?"

Sonia shook her head. "I don't know."

"Do you remember him acting strangely over the past few weeks?" Manic asked.

Sonia thought back to the meetings they'd had as well their nights together, if he had said or behaved in any way that might be construed as strange. "He...kept saying he didn't want to wait, that he wanted to marry me and not wait until the war was over. He was much more, I hesitate to say, clingy than he usually was. And you saw the pictures, so that's saying a lot. And he kept saying what I should do if something happened. Bartleby," she looked at the rings. "what did you know that we didn't?"

AN: Yes, Bartleby, what did you know that we didn't? I'm thinking of having Dingo recalling a conversation Bartleby had forced on him shortly before his death. The idea is that Bartleby was getting strange feelings, compulsions that he had to do these things, that his soul realized that his time was coming and warned him subconsciously either through dreams or omens or just a strange need to be positive that Sonia was looked after if he could not be there to do it. We might see an interlude concerning those feelings. Like I said, this will not be the last we see of Bartleby. His role, even in death, is rather critical. Let's just say that in order for many characters to survive this war and even for Robotnik to be defeated, he had to die. Note: He claimed Sonia as his wife because that was but one way to make sure Robotnik couldn't touch it.

I'm also trying to show that as mean as he is to Dingo, Sleet does care for him and is even a touch protective. To him, Dingo is like a little brother.
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Love's Resistance