Did I experience a dream? I wasn't sure I could experience them, but I also wasn't sure how else to describe what I last recalled. Some of my senses were dulled. I thought I heard Amy's voice. She was crying, very upset. I couldn't tell what she said. I didn't want her to be upset.



I felt light and warm, not exactly in the way Amy made me feel, but it wasn't unpleasant, either. I saw colors in no particular pattern, in no kind of order. It was... calming.



Then, I woke up. I was online... I had no damage. I didn't recognize this room. I was on a table.



"Hey...!" Belle's voice. I turned my head to look at her. She grinned at me. "There you are," she said with a soft tone. "You should have all your data... What's the last thing you remember?"



"The last thing..." I thought back.



...! I remembered. I... I fought Amy. My Master told me to kill her. I-- I stabbed her. I--



"Sh-she's fine!" Belle quickly interrupted my train of thought. "Amy is okay. She's wounded, but she's recovering well. She'll be back to normal in no time. You two have been healing in your own ways, I guess," she hummed.



"Where is she?" I asked.



"I'm not telling you that right now since I don't want you leaving just yet. I still need to make sure your systems are functioning the way they should."



I growled, frustrated. "I'm fine. Tell me where--..." I lay back. No, I didn't deserve to see her. I wounded her. Why was I capable of hurting her? "Nevermind... She will be better not seeing my face."



"You're so dramatic," Belle mumbled as she checked some of my wiring. I realized then that I was connected to a computer that displayed my system information. I looked around... The workshop we were in seemed familiar the more I looked at it. Was this... Tails's workshop? I was here? Why? How? "Sonic had to pry your head out of her hands even when she was unconscious. She was so worried about you that she pretty much had a death grip. She didn't care about her own pain at all."



Amy always cared for others more than herself, a part of her that I loved as much as I found disturbing. Wait, Sonic? I did not mistake our location, then. Belle fixed me here willingly? "... I'm confused."



"H-hey," I heard Tails. I abruptly turned my head; Tails stepped into my view with a welding torch. He gave me an anxious smile, then averted his eyes. "I-I guess... Sorry for not helping you before. I was working on something else and assumed you were on Belle's good side for that. If I helped sooner..." His voice trailed off. "Um, anyways, Belle still did a lot of the work here."



I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't even sure whether or not I wanted to reply to him.



"I'll... leave you two alone. You got this from here, Belle." Tails put down the torch and walked out of the garage to another part of the house.



Belle sighed, making me turn to look at her again. "I'll start from the beginning... There's plenty of good news mixed in with the awful situation you and Amy dealt with... But even more good news, that's over. You're both okay." She gave me a sympathetic smile. "Um... You were right about the power source. I didn't even have to do anything special... I put the flower in the container and Lonnie's whole body lit up. It was... strange and beautiful." She coughed. "Uh, I woke her up and she left with her hammer after a cheerful 'thank you'. I have no idea where she is."



Par for the course, I figured. At least Belle wasn't hurt.



"I tried to message you and tell you, but the message wasn't going through. I had a bad feeling... So... I-I asked Sonic for help and gave him your last known trajectory, which was towards an Eggman base. I didn't tell him anything except that I was worried that something was going to happen. A little while later, he and Tails came back with you and a knocked out Amy... Tails and I stayed here to fix you, while Sonic went to Vanilla's house. He was kinda panicking and wanted her to get some immediate care before taking her anywhere else. They patched her up and the Chaotix were already there, so they took her to the hospital. Sonic was too worried she would be in more pain if he sped her over there."



... Maybe Amy would have died if Belle didn't call for help. I was glad she did. I didn't say anything.



"Some more good news... You no longer have the loyalty patch. You're not bound to Eggman anymore."



...!



"Tails helped me with it and I didn't even ask him. It was really tricky, but thankfully I had some stuff figured out already and Tails was able to help me through some of the rough patches. We got you all fixed! None of your data should be missing or corrupted. Uh, hopefully."



That partially explained why Tails gave me an awkward apology. I surveyed all my data to confirm Belle's suspicions... Everything was there. I had all my files. My memory, unfortunately, had no gaps. "I'm fully operational..." And I had no more ties to my Master. He wasn't my Master anymore...



"I-I guess I'll tell you some bad news, though you can probably figure it out," she muttered. "When all of this happened, there was no way to keep you and Amy a secret. Pretty much everyone put two and two together since it's hard to hide Sonic and Tails rushing you both to get help. But, it's also why I got to fix you here, so..."



Honestly, I didn't know what to think. I was very frustrated in a sense, but... "It doesn't matter anyway," I replied, defeated. "Eggman already found out. He discovered our relationship when he last fixed me... When Cavalier Sonic took me down."



Belle carefully removed the wires that connected me to the computer, then checked over me one more time. She gave me a saddened smile. "Well... When Amy feels better, maybe you two can do some more stuff together, you know, without you having to sneak around."



Do more stuff together? Maybe we shouldn't have done anything together. My love for her brought her pain. She was wounded because of me. I knew I couldn't stop it, but why couldn't I? I should have done better. I should have been stronger. I wasn't strong enough.



"... O-okay, maybe you should go see Amy," Belle muttered. "You need to see first-hand how she doesn't hold anything against you. You don't have the loyalty programming anymore, Metal... You won't hurt her again."



"Once is enough," I said back.



"So that's it? You're not gonna see her again?" The Hedgehog's voice. He appeared in the doorway of the workshop, passing a smug grin. I didn't want to see his face. "Kinda dumb. Y'all went through all of that, and your decision is to not see her?"



I nearly clawed into the table. "Make yourself scarce, Hedgehog."



"Now that is not the kind of hello I expected from the guest we lovingly cared for these past few days," he said with a dramatic sigh. "Actually, maybe it is. Eh, whatever." He gave an annoyingly nonchalant shrug. "I was gone all yesterday and found something of yours, too!"



"L-let's not fight," Belle said quietly. "Metal, you were really messed up when he and Tails got you out of the Eggman base..."



What, did she expect me to say thank you? I didn't ask them to carry me away or fix me... I didn't deserve their assistance. Whenever Amy said it didn't matter what I deserved or didn't deserve, I wasn't sure this scenario applied.



I didn't want to be here. There was a back way Belle and I came through when I was in that awful pawn. I looked around to try to find it-- the Hedgehog sped towards it right as my vision locked on.



He grinned at me. "You don't wanna chat, even when you have that fancy voice? You're not even curious what I got?" He revealed an object in his hand--



!!! I checked the panels in both of my arms. I had everything except...



Why did he have it? I-- He sped out of the house! I went after him. We whipped through the streets and out into the woods. I overclocked myself to catch him.



He skidded to a stop, causing me to overshoot. I crashed into a tree as I tried to stop myself, then I rocketed after him. The Hedgehog laughed, taking off again as if he had any hopes he would be able to escape me.



"Guess you're completely fixed!" he shouted. "Glad to have you back, buddy!"



I swiped at him-- he narrowly dodged me.



"Hey! I know you can talk. What'd I do to get the silent treatment?"



"Give it back," I hissed.



"Why's it matter, huh? Is it for Amy even though you don't wanna see her?"



"None of your business!" I snapped.



He was so annoying! It didn't matter whether or not I had my loyalty programming, I couldn't stand him. I wished he would leave me alone and go drown himself in a kiddie pool.



"Hey! I found it when I went back to the Eggman base to get Amy's hammer. You must've dropped it when your, uh, everything got crushed-- so you're lucky I saw it! And you're thanking me by--" he dodged me again; I tried to punch him. He laughed. "Actually, you know what, this is kinda fun."



"Insolent!!" I screamed. "Give it back to me!"



"What's the magic word~?" he cooed.



"Now!!!"



"Eh-eh! Wrong!" he laughed again. I wanted to squeeze the life out of his pathetic body!! "Race me for it!"



It wasn't his to bargain! He was disgusting! Despicable! I hated him!



Every time I got close enough to grab it from him, he lunged or rolled into a ball, allowing the terrain to take him further. I studied him and adapted in turn. The next time he did anything that--



There! He rolled into a ball again. I sped in front of him and kicked him in the air before he could stop. I spiraled upwards to catch him in the air; he unfurled at the same time and deflected me with a kick. What was a race became an infuriating game of keep-away. I grabbed him as he descended in the air, yet he was still as squirmy and irritating as ever. He punched me upside the head and got out of my grip, then barreled towards the ground. I went after him-- I went into overdrive.



"Gotta be faster than that!" he called. He curled into a ball before hitting the ground, then took off again. I crashed into the ground, then went at my top speed towards him. I didn't care if I needed to be fixed again!



He ran out of the forest and back into the city, hopping on top of buildings that progressively got taller and taller. I launched myself off of each building to build up more energy, fantasizing bashing him into the concrete at the same time. During the entire chase, he was hollering and giggling like an incessant child. Of course he was entertained by this chase. Horrendous creature.



I finally tackled him down and gripped him by the neck when he briefly had no idea where to jump next. He gave me an irritating grin.



"Okay, you got me!" he said with a wince. He opened his palm, revealing the ring in his hand. I snatched it and got off of him, sitting at the edge of the building. As much as I wanted to beat his face in, I needed to make sure the ring had no damage. I held it up in the light and checked the engraving on the inside.



A few seconds later, he sat beside me and gave a confident sigh. I was very close to pushing him off the building. He was too close to me.



"I guess it's the right time to tell you. I figured you out when you beat the snot out of me back at the library," he said with a chuckle.



What? I turned my head and stared at him.



"I know the way you fight too well, buddy. That put a whole lot of other things into perspective, too. I know you don't care what I think, but I'm happy for you and Ames." He calmly watched the city skyline. I re-checked the ring, then stored it in one of my arms. "Don't get me wrong," he continued, "I have a ton of questions. Here's one: how'd you learn to cook?"



My glare intensified.



He laughed again. "Okay, fine, not on friend terms yet. Here's a question that I would really like an answer to, though... What are you going to do now that you're not bound to Eggman? Are we still going to fight?"



I had no interest in telling the Hedgehog anything he did not need to know, and he certainly didn't need to know about my own plans for the future. I would at least answer his second question: "We are not and never will be friends, regardless of who we both are on amicable terms with. I'll always fight you because I can't stand you."



"Weirdly, that's a comforting response. I'd be bummed out if we never fought again," he said, grinning. "But I don't think that means we won't be friends. You've already done a lot in moving past, what-- becoming better than me?" he snorted.



"I am better than you."



"I think I'm the best Sonic, and you're the best Metal. That's fair, right?"



"The best Metal is better than the best Sonic," I replied. "Especially because you're so annoying and also you're ugly. And I hate you. You disgust me."



He went into a fit of laughter despite how serious I was. I let him stew in his own aggravating joy. "Oh, you're using that voice fully now! Hahah!" He calmed down after a brief moment. "Despite you saying you're better, I did win our last race... Peculiar," he hummed.



I squinted at him. "You won nothing. Our last altercation had you eating dirt."



"I mean an official race!" he said with a grin. "That was just us hanging out for fun."



"We did not hang out and you are not fun."



"Oh, please. Your life would be so much more boring without me around," he said with a yawn.



"It would also be less aggravating."



He laughed again. "Look, you're talking to me more already! I tricked you into having a conversation with me, heheh."



Irritating. I crossed my arms and did not reply to him.



"Anyways... Must be pretty serious if you had that on you, huh?" He gestured towards me, likely meaning the ring. "Don't worry, I won't ask you about it. But... Belle's right. You should go see Amy. I'm sure she's bored being stuck in a bed... And it'll do her a lot of good to see that your tinhead's on your body." He snorted to himself. "Just don't freak out the hospital staff." He pointed to a building only a few streets away. The hospital...



She was stuck in a bed? I caused her significant pain...



...



The very least I could do was apologize to her. She deserved that much, even though she deserved far more than to see my face again.



"You're welcome, by the way!" Sonic said with a dramatic sigh. "I don't think you dropped anything else, though Belle did have to take your stuff out to fix your arms. You're quite the hoarder, huh?" He snickered. "You a fan of photography?"



"What did you see?" I asked, threatening.



"Ooh, is it private? You scared I'm going to find something else out?"



"Did you go through my things?!"



Sonic swung his legs as he sat at the edge of the building like a random lost child. "Y'know... I'll have to get back to you on that. Maybe a rematch will jog my memory?" He grinned at me.



"Answer me."



"Hmmm... Nah, I'm good."



I squinted at him. He squinted back, except he had that smug look on his face that drove me crazy.



I shoved him off the building.



"Wh--hey!!" He shouted in surprise, then hollered excitedly when I took off after him. He found his footing on the side of the building and eagerly sped off. I continued to chase him and hoped to smash his face through something harder than his skull, a difficult challenge on its own.



Irritating. I chased him out of the city-- I realized then that I sped out of the city at all. Sonic hopped over me and went in some other direction. I stopped chasing him.



... Maybe I would visit Amy after all. I had to figure out what I wanted to say.