Chapter Text
“The train to Station Square will be departing soon.”
The announcer voice echoed into the rustic jungle station. Amy hurried down the wooden staircase welcoming her to the Mystic Ruins and followed the well traveled path leading up to Tails’ workshop. It became a race against the clock, one she unceremoniously lost as her sprint came to a halt, the train wheeling out of the old station. The hedgehog's ears folded down in a fruitless attempt to block out the pained groans and creaks of metal scraping against metal. Had her hands not been busy carrying her delivery for Tails it wouldn’t have been an issue, but alas, all she could do about the situation was scrunch up her nose in displeasure.
Amy continued her ascent slowly without the threat of screeching train tracks hurting her ears. Her feet dragged behind her until she found herself before the familiar wooden door.
She took a breath. I’m not nervous to see my friend… no! Of course not? Who would be?
After a minor adjustment with everything she was carrying she left her hesitation at the doorstep and pulled out her courage to give it a firm knock.
“Tails?” she called out.
No response.
This is normal, she convinced herself, swallowing down the pit forming in her stomach. Amy gave Tails the grace of waiting for at least five more minutes before inviting herself in. She did it the last time she visited, so it was to be expected at this point.
This is a totally fine thing to do!
The light from outside pooled into the otherwise dark hallway, illuminating the mess that was lurking in the shadows. Unfinished gadgets and gizmos were strewn about and steadily growing a thin layer of dust to hide under. Amy noted that the place was still as dirty as she had last left it. With a small sigh she dropped the heaviest of her carrying load in the hallway and made her way inside.
“Taaails?” Amy called out again as she poked her head into the kitchen. It’s not like she was even expecting a response, she had a pretty good idea of where she would find him. Nonetheless, she put the containers of homemade meals she brought into the fridge. One quick glance at the sink told her that the dishes hadn’t been done, at least not since she was there to do them for him… just like last time.
Amy let out an annoyed huff, I’m not your mom… as she turned away from the sink and walked back towards the hallway. She gave pause in the doorframe, leaning against it with her hand as she looked around herself. Her brows knitted in determination as her other hand balled into a fist. She held it close to her chest, …but, I am your friend.
“I guess I’ll be back for you later.” She let out a small sigh as she put on a brave face despite the trash in the room with her.
Amy let her gut guide her to find her friend. Her legs took her over to the main computer room where she, indeed, found him hunched over his keyboard, his frame illuminated by nothing but the light from the screen.
“Hi Tails,” she greeted with a half-hearted smile, strolling up casually towards his side, “What are you doing?”
“Working.” The young fox skipped right to the point, not even bothering to look in her direction.
Amy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the attitude, “Oookay.” She shifted her weight as she quietly observed him tap away at the keyboard. His eyes were trained on the screen, looking both glazed over yet oddly focused at the same time. She couldn’t help but notice the bags under them.
“So…” she started, but the words caught on her tongue, “...any luck?”
“No.”
"Yeah, okay. Alright.”
Wrong question.
The conversation fell into silence. Amy froze in place. She wished she could just get up, open a window, and get some sunlight into the room. She wanted to let the warmth back into his house, though, if she did, she feared Tails would turn into a bat and fly out of her grasp never to be seen again.
“Hey, Tails…” Hesitantly, her words tried to reach out to him, causing one of the young fox's ears to turn in her direction. She continued, “...despite…well… literally everything…” she sheepishly grinned, “...is everything okay? I mean, are you doing alright?” She offered him a warm smile.
“I’m doing fine Amy. As long as I work on finding a way to find Sonic, I’m fine,” Tails responded matter-of-factly.
“Okay, I get that, but…” Her smile wavered. “...you’re always working on that-”
“If I’m not working on it, then who will?” Tails interrupted.
Amy opened then closed her mouth, looking down at the floor for a reply. Her gaze pointedly tried to avoid the images that flashed on Tails’s monitors: the scene of the crime. There was a 3D replica of the strange machine Eggman had dropped on the weather institute’s rooftop.
It was the last thing the doctor used before him and Sonic disappeared.
The workers of the building had wanted it disassembled but Tails insisted on keeping it there as is. It was his one and only solid lead on the case to figure out what happened and how to get his brother back.
Amy shook her head gently to push the memories to the back of her mind. She anxiously shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The rhythm of the busy typing from the tired boy accompanied her little thinking dance.
“You know…” she began, “...maybe Silver will show up and help us!” She put a determined fist to the palm of her other hand and nodded her head. “Yea! He could definitely-”
“We can't rely on him for this.”
Amy blinked. Tails's eyes were too focused on the screen to see the look she was giving him. It wasn’t until the wheels of his chair squeaked and his hands suddenly hovered in front of his keyboard that he picked up his gaze to look at her. His chair swiveled around to face Amy.
“Tails!” The hurt was clear in her voice. He didn’t need to see her eyes to accent the feeling from her reprimanding look.
“...I didn’t mean it like that,” he whispered. The young boy rubbed the back of his hands and averted his eyes. “It’s just…” He sucked air in through his teeth as he started to rub a sore spot on his neck. “...Silver’s powers aren’t that reliable. It’s not like we can sit around here and wait for the butterfly effect to crash his future before he shows up to help us.”
The large frown on Amy’s face slowly softened into a pout. She wasn’t fully satisfied with the answer and Tails could tell. He put his hands up defensively, tilting his head slightly to the side.
“Silver’s a great friend, Amy! I know he’d be happy to help us.” Tails studied the expression of his friend shift again, her mouth now a single hardpressed line. “We’ll ask him for help whenever he decides to show up, alright?”
“Right,” she agreed with a single firm nod.
The two looked at each other. Amy saw the corners of Tails’s lips struggling to curl upwards. She couldn’t help but admire the efforts, sharing a genuine smile of her own in return. Warmth filled the room, Amy wishing nothing more than for the moment to last.
Though fate did not bring such joy.
Within a moment, that warm, connected feeling grew cold, the air growing stale as the two friends’ hearts were bogged down by words left unspoken. Amy wanted to clear the air, Tails too, though neither could bring themselves to.
Tails threw his gaze to the side, “...So, anything I can help you with?” he asked, unprompted.
Amy blinked.
She began to sweat, “Don’t freak out, but…” This was a bad start. “...I dragged Metal Sonic here.”
“WHAT!?” Tails had failed step one.
“NONO- Not in one piece!” Amy tried to calm him down.
“Why…?”
Amy sealed her lips, Tails looked at her with wide eyes.
“Why did you bring Metal with you, Amy?” Tails pressed for an answer.
She pressed the flats of her hands together, struggling to keep a neutral expression. A sheepish smile spread across her face but Tails wasn’t smiling at all. His mouth dropped to a frown as she dodged the question.
“ Amy…” A pleading frustration seeped into his voice.
“I don’t know!”
They looked at each other, equally miffed by her answer.
“It just…” she tried to explain, her pointers poking each other, “...um…sort of happened?” She tried to shrug her shoulders casually.
Tails narrowed his eyes. Amy clasped her hands together, her smile widening in an unnatural way. This only made him squint even harder. Amy’s smile shrunk, sucking in her lips and resting her hands against her cheek. She could try all she wanted to sell this pitch for the story, but no amount of eyelash batting from her was going to make Tails buy it.
“So, what happened then?” he drawled.
“Well…” Amy sighed, the tension escaping from her body as she dropped the charade. “...I just happened to run into a lone Metal Sonic in the wild doing the usual of terrorizing innocent people! So I pulled out my hammer and gave ‘em the ol’ one-two-” She accented her motions with her fists. “And then the three-” She showed an uppercut, “And four!” She then followed with a final smack-down with the added sound effects. “I saved the whole square by busting up Egghead’s robot real good!”
“Uh-huh…” Tails nodded along, that part he had no trouble believing. “And then…? ”
“And THEN-” she emphasized, clapping her hands together. There was a beat of silence. Tails raised a brow. “ThenIdecidedtotakeitwithme.” She slurred the words together in quick succession under her breath.
“BECAUSE…?” Tails egged her on.
“BECAUSE I can’t just let a deadly Eggman robot litter the streets, Tails!” Amy threw her arms up over her head in exasperation. “Who knows what could happen if Eggman's robots fall into the wrong hands! We’d have an even bigger mess on our hands to deal with! That’s why!”
They sat in silence for a couple of agonizing seconds.
“...Okay, yeah, that makes sense.” Tails shrugged.
“YEA?” Amy fumed at his blasé response.
“Yeah! I think it was the right call to bring it with you.” He nodded, a bit more enthusiasm behind his words this time, “I know Team Dark are personally surveying for any activity around Eggman’s bases to make sure no one gets any funny ideas raiding those locations.” The fox flicked his ear in thought, tilting his head slightly. “Um, since you went through the trouble of bringing it all the way here though I guess we can just… store it in the basement or something.”
“Store it?” Amy raised both brows.
“Yes?” Tails raised one brow.
Amy didn’t respond, she chewed her lip instead.
“...What were you thinking I should do with it?” Tails daringly asked.
She hesitated to respond to his question. Tails tried to find her eyes, which had suddenly decided that the uneven patterns on the floorboards were the most interesting thing in this room and needed to be studied.
“I…” Her voice was wrapped in several layers of cotton, “I thought maybe, that you… that you wanted to rebuild Metal?”
Even so, her words broke something inside of him.
“Why would I do that?” He turned his nose up at the suggestion as he forced the words out of his mouth.
“Well..!” Amy smiled sheepishly as she went up to bat, “...I thought it might be a good way to take a break from everything! You know?”
Tails did not need to respond, the cold stare he gave was everything she needed to understand the colossal mistake she had made. He turned his chair to face the computer again and began to tap away. Amy’s ears lowered.
You did it again, Amy Rose! She berated herself inwardly. Her ears perked attentively when Tails spoke up.
“Sorry Amy, but I think my time is better spent trying to get Sonic back than working on Eggman's robot copy of him,” he responded in a way that almost sounded rehearsed. Amy looked at him with a worried expression. The way he managed to mask his anger with such politeness unnerved her.
“No- right, yea that makes sense.” She should have prepared for this outcome, yet she tripped over her words as she struggled to respond. “I’m sorry Tails, just- let’s just forget I even asked this. Okay?” She walked to his side and planted her feet as she began to find her footing. “It was stupid of me and I’m sorry. So don’t worry about it, alright?” She stayed by his side, waiting, pleading for him to still meet her gaze.
Tails sank into the chair. He looked up at her. Amy offered a weak smile.
“It’s okay, Amy.”
Somehow, she doubted that.
“Hmm,” Tails hummed in thought. “I could let you borrow some books and tools if you want to work on it yourself.”
Amy’s eyes shone. “Really?”
“Yea, take as much as you can carry.”
She placed her hand on top of his, grabbing his attention. Her smile was much wider, her eyes big and shiny as she was pushing back any tears threatening to spill out. “Thank you, Tails!” She pulled him into a hug.
“Ah!” His hand hovered stupidly at his sides before he gave her a pat on the back. “It's the least I can do. Think it’ll take quite some time before I feel like I can work with you on this one. Preferably after I get Sonic back home.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Amy was more than happy to have a project of her own to sink time into. Even if she had never dealt with robotics before – but how hard could it be? She could do anything she set her mind to, and she had decided that she was going to fix up Metal Sonic.
With all her new gear gathered and a broken robot slugged over her shoulder, she thanked Tails once again at the door.
“I promise, I’ll get this machine working in no time!”
“Sure,” Tails snickered, “If you don’t break it then it'll keep you busy, I bet.”
“Hey!” she laughed, “I’ll be careful, honest! I know I’m great at crushing bots, but I want to learn to fix them too!”
Tails offered a tired smile, “You’ll do great, Amy.”
Her eyes softened, a small yet genuine smile on her face, “Thanks again, Tails, I… I think I really need this.”
“I figured.” He shrugged lightly, “But hey, that’s what friends are for, right?”
Amy’s throat tightened. She swallowed, “Yea.”
The late evening's cool breeze ran through her quills. She had better start going if she wanted to make it back to home before sundown. They both said their goodbyes and she began her trek.
A sigh left her, turning into vapor in the cool air. What am I doing? With each step she took the realization sank deeper and deeper.
She went to Tails to offer him support and comfort, but here she was, leaving him probably feeling worse and ending up the one who got comfort and help instead. “That’s what friends are for!” Tails's words echoed in her mind.
She heard the tiny voice in the back of her head answer, Yea, what a great friend you are. Her brow furrowed as she swallowed the lump before it could continue forming in her throat.
The tools and the robot she carried grew heavier and heavier. She felt a dislocated metal arm brush against her as the robot almost fell to the ground. Panic rose in her chest as she quickly scrambled to secure it. She froze. A moment passed. The waves of anxiety rolled and crashed against her ribcage. She shut her eyes tight and focused on her breathing, waiting for her heart to return to its regular rhythm.
I can do this. You got this, Amy. She hyped herself up and began to readjust her grip before it would be able to slip from her hands again. I’ll figure this out! Her hair bobbed as she gave herself a reassuring nod. With Metal Sonic and everything she needed to repair it with was secured in her arms, she continued into the city.
Since Amy didn’t dare to ask Tails for a ride home, taking the bus was her best option. Amy wasn’t sure if the broken robot she was carrying counted as another passenger or not, but she figured that the best thing was to cover her basis and pay for Metal Sonic’s fare too, just to be safe. The busdriver didn’t argue, they along with all of the passengers just gave her confused stares as she dragged the Eggman weapon around. Amy ignored it. No one questioned her outright, but she felt their puzzled looks and still noticed how they subtly tried not to sit too close.
She closed her eyes but to no avail. The images were burned to the back of her eyelids. She could still see it: the fear in their eyes.
Amy could hear the panicked cries from the citizens as they ran away from the commotion in the town square. She ran towards the danger, only stopping to help the injured people get back to their feet to continue running. She shielded her eyes as the dust settled, getting a good look at the debris littering the streets. A figure began to take shape in the middle of the destruction.
“Hey, jerk! What do you think you’re doing?!” she called out to the mystery troublemaker. Amy puffed up her cheeks and her quills bristled with rage.
No response.
In the smoke a red light flashed, a target acquired. A split second later the wind from a jet propelled jump cleared out the area as sharp metal claws lunged towards her. She squeaked in surprise as she narrowly dodged to the side. The blades grazed the very edges of her quills.
“Metal!?” she shouted as she whirled around to face the robot, “What? But, how?”
The robot offered no answers. Claws outstretched, it went into offense. Amy held out her hands to summon her hammer. The handle materialized horizontally in front of her to block the attack. Its claws wrapped around the handle as they both pushed their weight towards each other. Amy dug her heels into the ground and gritted her teeth, now face to face with Metal Sonic.
“How?” she repeated, “Who gave you the order to attack these people? Your master is gone!” The robot's grip on the handle tightened. Amy let out a grunt as she tried to match the force applied by Metal Sonic. Standing her ground firmly. “He and Sonic they-” her voice cracked, “...they are both GONE!”
It had all happened so quickly.
Amy and Knuckles had climbed their way on top of the roof to confront Eggman and Sage head on. She was ready to destroy the weird lightning catcher machine Eggman had dropped on the weather institute’s building, built for only-Gaia-knows what purpose this time. All she knew was that it was summoning raging storms to their city, so it had to go.
Right before she could deliver her hammer blow her ears had picked up on the propelling of Tails as he carried Sonic up into the sky. He spindashed right towards Eggman and his machine when lightning struck from the sky, blinding them all.
When she opened her eyes, Eggman and Sage had disappeared into thin air.
The storm subsided and everything seemed fine until she noticed that even Sonic…
Oh Sonic…
Hot tears streamed down her face as she recalled the memory. Rage bloomed from her chest and out to her arms. She squeezed the hammer tight and with her new strength she slammed Metal into the ground with the handle. The robot couldn’t hold on, and with her hammer freed from its grip she followed her attack up with another hit. Metal rolled across the square, putting some distance between them.
“WHAT ARE YOU STILL FIGHTING FOR?!” she yelled. Her eyes burned as she glared at the machine now struggling to get back up on its feet. She hit it hard, but not that hard, right? Was it… hesitating? Her expression softened. Looking at Metal writhing on the ground she could sense what she prescribed to be the same confusion she felt. It must be scared too, not knowing what to do now, she figured.
“...You don’t have to fight anymore,” she suggested, loosening the iron grip on her hammer as she carefully approached, “We can figure out something else instead, alright?” She wrapped the words in cotton and offered a hand, “Come on.” She smiled.
Metal paused. It stared up at her with its red piercing gaze.
“HEY!” Her words failed to reach out as she got pinned to the ground, “What gives?!” she cried out in frustration.
How stupid of you to leave yourself open like that , an angry and spiteful voice chastised her in the back of her head, What kind of idiot are you to think you could talk sense into a murder machine?
Her rage came back burning hot as she struggled to break free from her restraints. Amy managed to lodge her hammer between them. She angled it in just the right way and with a push of a button the hammer head extended. BANG. Metal took a direct hit to its visor, cracking the screen. It staggered backwards and she hastily got up to her feet. I have to thank Tails for installing that, she thought for a split second.
“Well?” she challenged Metal. No way was she going to commit the same mistake twice. This time, she was going to wait for its next move.
Metal’s screen eyes flickered and half of it powered down. It turned on its jets and began to fly away. Amy jumped in place.
“What- hey! Come back!” she barked as she picked up the chase.
The adrenaline was slowly leaving her body. Her limbs felt heavy and she was not fast enough to keep up. Amy stopped and clicked her tongue in frustration.
This is bad. She can’t let a missing Metal Sonic be on the loose in the city. There was no Eggman base for it to return to, so she had no idea where it was supposed to go now. She couldn’t run around the entire place like Sonic or take to the skies like Tails or Knuckles, so she summoned her cards. Consulting the cards was her best chance to gain some insight to help locate Metal.
She drew three from her deck and studied them. “Hmm,” she hummed in thought . An idea began to take shape in her mind as she put the cards back and reshuffled the deck.
It might still be close by.
She closed her eyes to concentrate. In the midst of the darkness a vision flashed before her eyes. Sharp metal claws aiming at the side of her face.
Her eyes flew open. She took one step forward and turned just in time to meet the sneak attack head on. With a decisive swing she brought her mighty hammer down, smashing the robot right into the ground.
Amy looked down at the wreckage, noticing how its claw grazed her boots. It had been mere inches away from attacking her before she stopped it right in its tracks.
Amy let out a sigh, “Why…” She sank to the ground, her eyes still fixed on the pile of scrap metal before her. “What am I supposed to do with this…?”
Her heart hammered against her chest as rage and guilt fought for control over her.
I can’t just leave it like this. She chewed on her lower lip. Could I…? Maybe…?
Before her thoughts could fully form she began to pick up the pieces. This was far from a good idea. But she was the thoughtful one. The kind one. Who would she be, if she left the robot in disrepair out in the streets?
“Hang in there, Sonic.” She looked up at the sky, “I can fix this. We can fix this.” Her voice wavered as her shaky hands continued to tidy up the scene.
She could fix this. She had to fix this.
Finally, the bus doors opened at her stop. As soon as she got off the hedgehog began the final rush home. Her hands clung tightly onto the robot. Metal sounded against metal in her sprint to the door. She fiddled with her keys, her ears perked at the “click” noise and she quickly used her whole body to push her way inside.
With no time to spare, she began to work.
The kitchen quickly turned into a makeshift workstation. Pages from Tails’s books littered her kitchen table alongside screwdrivers and wrenches in various sizes, as well as nuts and bolts. They were laid down carefully on her table, displayed in a pattern only she could decipher. That way, she would remember the order to screw them back on later. It was the tidiest mess she could manage.
With some gentle coercion Amy began to remove the metal plate on Metal Sonic’s head to access what she had assumed to be his main computer. It was easy for her to see and judge which parts had been damaged on the outside; she had made those dents herself after all. But according to the books, if she could hook herself up to the machine and run some diagnostics she would have an easier time identifying what she needed to repair and what parts the robot could manage on its own. It seemed strange to her, but she had no reason to not trust her sources. If a computer was smart enough to tell her itself what it needed help with, that was all the better for her than trying to fix something that wasn’t even broken in the first place.
The metal plating slid off and Amy was exposed to the guts of the robots innerworkings.
“Woah.”
Amy blinked. She wasn’t sure what she was even looking at; just a technological highway made of wires, glass and metal rods that all lead up the complex machine at the center, the brain. She quickly took notice of the tiny lights that blinked like stars in the vastness of the circuitry. A pattern emerged the longer she stared until it dawned on her: they must be communicating with each other . It was a sign of life, as she understood it, that even if Metal Sonic was powered off that he was still running in the background. It was like how any mobian is still very much alive when they’re asleep, or well, perhaps a better description in this case would be unconscious.
Metals exposed head offered a glimpse into a world unlike anything she’d seen before, her curious mind piqued. Amy quietly admired the complexities that sat in front of her. Though, the longer she looked, she couldn’t help but shake the feeling similar to that of rising water, a feeling she could try her best to ignore but who’s tide would always ebb and flow. Her brow dipped and jaw clenched as the thought sank its hooks into her to drag her down to its depths.
This is Eggman's work.
She covered her mouth and nose as she became completely submerged in her mind. Her eyes squeezed shut. How could she ever admire anything he’s made? Really? Eggman!? A hurricane formed at the back of her throat, drowning out the sounds of the machines humming. He’s the worst person on this planet. She could extend her hand to many
… but him? No, never him. Her head spun.
Amy froze but the storm raged on. She had no choice but to ride out the waves and as the high tide began to recede. A counter thought appeared: This isn’t just Eggman's work. The scientist's genius inventions were his biggest strength and flaw, his rise to infamy and his fall. She had seen Metal Sonic turn against its master before. So did Gamma. Omega too. Metal preceded them both, but still hadn’t broken free from its creator. Why…? She didn’t have an answer. All she knew was that the line between Eggman and his creations wasn’t easy to draw. The road ahead was a razor blade she would have to balance on if she ever wanted to reach her goal.
Her hands clapped her cheeks twice. She had to get her head back in the game and focus!
After enough stalling she finally found which cable to hook up into her own computer. The screen lit up as words and numbers flashed across it in rapid succession. She couldn’t make any sense of what she saw. Her tired eyes averted her gaze from it, mostly because of the flashing. She opened a book to find something else to look at, but all she saw was the words swimming around on the pages. Any hope of making much progress was halted, but it was a good distraction. She didn’t want to look at the screen crunching zeros and ones right now. It felt… almost wrong, like she shouldn’t be privy to this kind of information or insight. She struggled to pinpoint exactly why she felt that way. Perhaps, unless she took a huge right turn in life to become a brain surgeon, she didn’t think she’d ever see these parts of a mobian. So… it wasn’t that strange to feel that what she was doing for the robot felt… weird.
The fans on her personal computer cried out as it fought against overheating itself. Amy shot an apologetic glance over at the poor thing. In no way was it built to handle running this sort of program. She put down the book to give it a gentle pat.
“It’s alright, take your time,” she encouraged it with a small smile on her face.
As her fingers brushed over the cable connecting it to Metal another thought entered her mind. If there was an output there also had to be an input, right? It only made sense, she imagined. So… is there a way to change Metal? Reprogram it? Remove the Eggman parts? The thoughts sped through her head before she could fully process them. Would it even still be the same as before? An image of a green tenrec and blue fennec flashed through her mind. Her spines bristled. She quickly pushed that thought to the side. It wasn’t helpful to her goal.
What exactly is my goal? she pondered. Well, it sure isn’t to reinvent Metal….
She watched the twinkling lights again. She imagined that if they had just put the robot away in a dark storage room that these flickers of life would eventually fizzle out, discarded and forgotten, going out not with a bang, but a whimper. A chill went down her spine, shuddering at the thought. Amy might have a fire in her heart, burning with righteous fury, but there was not enough spite in there for her to wish this fate on anyone - not even her greatest enemies.
A sense of newfound determination grabbed hold of her. It cemented her principles and gave her morals the high ground, offering her some much needed stable footing. She looked over at the computer that now presented her prompts to click through. She consulted her books on what to do and what to look for before beginning to tap away at the keyboard. This was all just because she wanted to help it get back on its feet again.
Yes… of course! That’s why! She assured herself. It was the easiest thing to tell herself; This is simply the right thing to do .
Amy opened the book again. Through its spine she felt the weight of the bodies of work it held. All the greatest minds' knowledge, condensed in her hand. This is what they could offer to make the world just a little bit better. Her mind wasn’t always the sharpest, nor was it dull. She had made peace that she couldn’t bring what these authors offered, and that was okay. If she could help change the world for the better, it wasn’t with her brain, but her heart. It was her compassion, her burning love that fueled her, that she would leave her mark with. People would remember her for its warmth when she was gone.
Her kindness would not be easily forgotten.
But may her kindness be forgiven.
Amy made herself busy working on Metal Sonic. Time moved in the blink of an eye, minutes, hours and days passed her by as she made steady progress on getting the robot up and running again. She told all her friends about the process and received a variety of responses.
From Team Rose, Cream was a bit unsure at the start but wanted to be supportive, meanwhile Big offered a simple “Ok” followed by a thumbs up emoji and no further questions asked. Amy didn’t dare to send Tails any updates - which wasn’t weird, since he was just so busy after all - but she could talk to Knuckles!
“You know… I think I’m getting the hang of this!” she told the echidna as she ran another program on her computer, her phone resting on the kitchen counter.
“Still working on that robot?” Knuckle's confused voice came from the speaker.
“Of course! What else?” Amy chuckled, a bit offended by the way he asked the question.
“What!? You know what I mean!” Knuckles defended himself.
“I really don’t.” Amy audibly rolled her eyes at her phone. “Did you think I’d fail or something?”
“Nah– or well, at this point I thought you’d have destroyed it from frustration at least once.” His laugh crackled from the unstable signal. “But I guess, you’d be too stubborn to give up even after that.”
“Ha-ha.” She glared at her phone, deadpanned. “You know me soooo well.”
“But am I wrong?”
Amy didn’t respond.
“Thought so!” Knuckles huffed with pride. They were both silent for a moment. Amy continued to work until her friend spoke up again. “I don’t really get it though.”
“Get what?”
“Why you’re bothering to go through with it?”
The line went quiet again. She had heard this question before and answered it enough times by now:“I don’t know”, “Why not?”, “It just felt like the right thing to do”, “It would be bad to do nothing at all.”, though none of these answers had sparked a lot of confidence.
“I…” Amy started, “I just want to help.”
“Help who?”
“Anyone!” Amy’s quills bristled slightly. She huffed in annoyance only to immediately regret her small outburst, “Sorry, it’s just… everyone is doing what they can to try and find a way to bring Sonic back and I’m just… here …doing this, I guess.”
“Helping someone that looks like Sonic?” Knuckles responded with enough blunt force to knock the wind out of Amy’s lungs.
“I-” she wheezed. “It’s not like that! Come on!!” she yelled at her phone, her face turning beet red. She threw a look at the Sonic copy sitting on her kitchen table and its dark visors stared back at her. She puffed up her cheeks, turning its head away from her.
“Okay then.”
“Anyway,” Amy hurried to change the topic, looking back at her phone. “Any luck with asking the Master Emerald for help?”
“No, I still haven’t found Sonic with it.”
“Ah, I see…” There was another lull in the conversation, “Well, keep me updated! If you find something.”
“Will do.”
“And keep me updated on anything else that happens! You know, you can always call to just talk to me about anything, yea?” You know, like friends do? Amy smiled at her phone.
“Of course, Amy.” Knuckles chuckled warmly. “Not a lot happens up here... Kinda difficult to move from this spot after everything. Last thing we need is for the Master Emerald to also disappear.” Knuckles’s voice began to sound fuzzy with static.
“I can think of a certain jewel thief you might have to look out for.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Heh, jokes aside, I understand. It’s alright.” Amy’s smile faltered. Still, even if Knuckles couldn’t see it, she fought to keep her smile intact. “Good luck and stay safe out there Knuckles.”
“Thanks, you too Amy.”
“Hah thanks, alright, talk to you later then.”
“Absolutely. Bye.” The line cut.
“Bye.” Amy took her phone and pocketed it.
A small sigh escaped her as she folded her arms and leaned against her kitchen counter. Her gaze wandered back to the robot facing away from her. Thinking back to what Knuckles said- or well, insinuated, made her blow a stray pair of quills away from her face and puff up her cheeks. Hmph.
“Whatever, Knucklehead…” she rolled her eyes to the audience of no one.
Her kitchen was kind of a mess. It had been easier to eat leftovers and order take out for as long as it had been transformed into her work station, but she would have to start using this as an actual kitchen and cook her own food again.
“Alright, let’s get back to work.” She rolled up her sleeves. If she had time to lean, she had time to clean.
Time moved on. Amy had no say in the matter, only the choices of how to spend it. Her life wasn’t that much more exciting than what Knuckles had described for Angel Island. She worked on Metal Sonic, did her daily routines of housekeeping and grooming and did her errands and grocery runs in the city. She never stayed for long when she was out. Her focus was to get the robot up and running, then her kitchen would be freed.
Could she, theoretically, just move her work station elsewhere? Of course! But keeping it like this gave her that extra push of motivation to get it all done sooner rather than later. It was a mess, but it was a mess with purpose.
At least it keeps me busy! Amy paused her work. What will I do after this? She blinked, she hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Oh well, she had time to think of an answer later. While she was just standing around she figured she could take a quick break to look at her phone.
No missed messages. No new messages. No notifications.
Amy put on a brave face despite no one being around to see it. This is perfectly normal! she assured herself. It wasn’t weird to have no one reach out to her, not when she was the first one to initiate it in most cases. Now she just happened to be extra busy - Everyone else is probably busy with their own stuff anyway - so, no one had tried contacting her. It makes perfect sense! she decided. That’s just how it is when you are the most organized out of Sonic’s friends-
Out of your friends, she corrected.
“…”
She put her phone to the side face down. Her heart hammered in her chest as she stared at it, her brows furrowing. She took a step away from it before swiftly grabbing it to make sure that it was still set at full volume and vibrations on. Just in case… she thought, … in case anyone needs me!
Or wants me.
Amy dumped her phone on the counter as if it had personally offended her. She wasn’t going to let the lack of distractions distract her from her not-so-little project she had in front of her. With her hands on her hips she looked Metal Sonic up and down as it sat on her kitchen table turned makeshift workbench.
She was so close. She could feel it. Even her tarot cards had told her so this morning; big things were coming her way. It was a promise, or perhaps a warning. She had elected to read it in a more optimistic way though. Amy was convinced that it was only a matter of time before she had cracked the code and put all the pieces together to get the robot up and running again.
One more twist here, another line drawn there, a push of a button and…
The machine rumbled to life. Excitement bloomed in Amy’s chest as the sound of fans whirring grew louder.
“Yes… YES!” She squealed and skipped around in the kitchen while Metal booted up. Amy bounced back to Metal as she saw the screen blinking to life. “You’re finally awake!” she greeted it enthusiastically.
Amy went in and out of focus in the cameras behind its eyes as the robot adjusted itself to the new environment. She grinned from ear to ear while Metal only sat on the table, silently processing everything.
“Surprised?” Amy smiled. “I bet you are, but wait until I tell the others,” she giggled, taking out her phone, “I got Metal Sonic up and running all by myself, haha! I’m giving Eggman a run for his money here.”
Amy posed for a celebratory picture of the two of them when she saw the robot move in camera preview. With its sharp claws, Metal severed the cables connected to it. Amy cringed and turned around.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” she chastised it, thinking about the replacements she would have to buy later.
The robot responded by lunging at her. With a thunk the claws dug deep into the wooden cabinet behind Amy as she narrowingly dodged out of the way towards the kitchen sink.
“Really? Is this the thanks I get for putting you back together?” She huffed as she watched Metal struggle to get its claws out of the kitchen cabinet.
Wooden chips and splinters flew through the air as Metal forcefully broke itself free. It snapped its attention toward Amy and threw itself claws-first at her again. The attack was easy enough to read for Amy to get out of harm's way once more. She wasn’t sure if machines could technically be tired, but by how rusty and messy it’s attacks were she had to wonder. A loud crash could be heard from behind her as the robot broke the dirty porcelain still left in the sink. Frustration brewed in her body as she stood in the doorway between the kitchen and hallway.
“Cut it out, you jerk!” Amy hissed and stomped her foot. Metal pulled its head out of the sink and turned around, making another dash after her as she made her escape into the hallway. The robot bounced from wall to wall like a pinball, scaring the framed photos out of their walled hooks and the souvenirs on the drawers jumped for covers. It all ended up on the floor.
Amy’s quills bristled. She summoned her hammer in a white-knuckle grip and barred her fangs. “STOP!” she yelled, taking a swing at the robot wrecking her home. She hooked Metal Sonic in the crease of the hammer socket, and with a full circle swing threw the robot onto her living room couch.
“I’m warning you, mister…” Amy took a step into the room, both hands firmly gripping her hammer. “...If you don’t stop this fighting I’ll-” she let out an annoyed sigh as Metal regained its bearings. “Just have a seat! We can talk about this, can’t we? You don’t have to fight anymore. I mean, there is nothing left for you to fight about! I’m giving you one last chance here.” Her grip on her hammer switched to just one hand as she extended the other towards Metal.
She could feel the machine's cold red eyes scan her up and down. Amy attempted to greet the scrutiny with a small smile. The air grew stale, until Metals claw dug into the sofa. It tore into the fabric as it launched itself towards her again.
Amy pulled up her hammer to block blow after blow. Her blood began to boil as she reached the tipping point. Her face flushed red from white hot hanger as pushed her assailant away and held the hammer high above her head.
“I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!” Her words rang out throughout the whole house. Her hammer came down and striked true. A direct hit and the once ceaseless machine stopped abruptly. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath.
Amy looked at the wreck by her feet. All her hard work had been smashed with just one single blow of her hammer. Her head dropped as her gaze studied the pieces on the floor, wandering from metal scraps to copper wire and electrical chips. The weight of the moment pressed down on her neck and her knees began to buckle under her. She leaned against the drawer in her hallway with one hand while she brushed her messy quills out of her eyes with the other.
“Haha…” Her laugh was joyless.
“Hah hah hah-” Breathless, she staggered her way towards her couch that now had several tears in it. She threw her entire body's weight onto it and watched as the stuffing tried to escape under the pressure.
“Haaah,” she sighed, emptying her lungs of air. She held still. She breathed in, and-
“ AAAAAAH- ” The still intact sofa cushion that she smacked in her own face smothered the rest of her scream. She rubbed her face into it even after her wailing had subsided. With one swift motion she removed the pillow and huffed sharply.
“Okay Amy…” she began, “...you can’t let this get you down.” she declared to the empty room. Her fingers dug into the cushion as her mouth swung between a smile and a frown. “Just… Get. It. Together!” she smacked the cushion against her face, hiding behind it from no one.
A moment passed.
With a deliberate motion she tossed the pillow to the side.
“You can do this,” she stated with new found strength, fists clenched with determination. “You can do anything you put your mind to!”
She rose to her feet and hurried over to grab a plastic container. The hedgehog carefully tip-toed into the hallway and knelt down as she began to sort through the pieces of the wreckage she had wrought.
“It’s fine. Just a minor setback. No point in quitting after one mistake. You’ll fix this.” She whispered words of affirmations to herself the whole time. Piece by piece her mess of a home was cleaned up and she slugged Metal Sonic over her shoulder.
She had to fix this.
The clicks of her heels echoed in her house as she strode over to her work bench, ready to start over again.
She had to.