Chapter Text
Whiteboards aren’t a thing Sonic has ever wanted, the guy is technically homeless and has no use for a whiteboard himself. He doesn’t know what kind of store would have a whiteboard in stock. He’s pretty sure they just sort of appear in classrooms whenever they’re needed. Would that be an office supply? Sonic can’t even think of an office supply store off the top of his head. Whiteboards aren’t a food thing so it’s probably not going to be at a normal food market. Tails did drag him to a hardware store once and that had a pretty wide variety of stuff and- oh they did have whiteboard material. Big slabs of it!
With a blur and a gust of wind Metal and Sonic arrive at the big warehouse of a hardware store. It’s both fancy and the ugliest place Sonic has ever been. Automatic doors are pretty snazzy but the concrete floors and industrial corrugated steel walls leave much to desire when it comes to decor. Sonic continues to drag Metal by the hand as they zip through the center pathway reading the isle headers. No whiteboard category in sight. This leaves Sonic with no choice; he has to talk to an employee.
Tracking one down isn’t hard. The employees of this particular hardware store all wear high visibility orange vests. “Excuse me, would you happen to know where whiteboards are?”
The human employee turns around confused before looking down. Non-human folk aren’t common in this area, Sonic doesn’t blame him for not expecting a person under five foot tall. “Come again?” The human blinks.
“Whiteboards?” He offers a smile. Meanwhile Metal is locking eyes with a bird hopping about on the floor. It must have gotten through the automatic doors on accident.
“Yeah, uh, you can’t have that in here.”
“The whiteboards?”
“No, that thing.” He points to Metal. Oh. Right. Metal is still feared by the general public. It’s not even that Sonic forgot, it’s that he wasn’t expecting there to be any formal rules against robots existing in public.
“Oh, him? His name is Metal. He fits in and out of the doors just fine.” Sonic plays dumb.
The employee grumbles dragging his hand down his face. “Eggman and his machines aren’t allowed in here. It’s company policy.”
“He’s not working for Eggman anymore, right pal?” Sonic nudges the robot with his elbow.
Metal snaps to attention and beeps in response.
“Was that a yes beep or a no beep?” Metal really needs to work on his nonverbal communication skills. Metal just stares at him. Chaos just throw him a ball already. “Metal you have to nod or shake your head.”
Metal tilts his head down looking up at Sonic. It makes him look angry from Sonic’s perspective. Sonic can only wonder if Metal is aware of this. “Nevermind, just trust me, he isn’t and if he is I’ll kick his ass.”
“I’m sorry, he still has to leave.” The employee does not get paid enough for this. “Don’t make me call security.”
As much as Sonic would love to stand up for what’s right, he doubts Tails would bail him out knowing that Metal is involved. He knits his brows together looking at Metal as if trying to apologize. They walk out of the store together. Sonic feels gross about the whole situation. People have a right to be weary of Metal, he doesn’t want to be angry at them for being victims in the past. Sonic takes a seat on the curbside and Metal joins him. He wants to say it’s unfair but really it’s not. Metal is living with the consequences of his actions and no one is obligated to forgive him. At the same time, he wishes the world would give Metal some grace. Metal’s actions have consequences but that doesn't mean his actions were choices.
He looks over to Metal. If Sonic feels terrible he can only imagine Metal feels infinitely worse, and yet, Metal seems mostly unphased by it. Sonic thinks he’d feel better if Metal looked upset too, at least then he’d have any inclination that the robot knows this isn’t normal. Metal notices him staring and looks away awkwardly.
Metal never had a chance. Of course he’s evil, that’s all he’s ever been expected to be. Shadow had the benefit of his work for Eggman being brief, but Metal? He wasn’t that lucky. Sonic can’t help but think that maybe if he had gone back for him on Little Planet and worked with Tails to fix him up before Eggman went back to pick up what he had abandoned for who knows how long- Metal would know. Metal’s a robot, if his systems were still somewhat operational he could probably tell Sonic exactly how long he was left alone there down to the second. That's something that makes computers distinct from an organic brain, they keep logs and have perfect recollections of what they were doing at any given second of their existence. He could’ve had a chance.
“Is it always like this?” Sonic asks. A simple yes or no works here. He hopes the answer is no, but truthfully, a yes would explain so much about Metal.
Metal tilts his head. Sonic should probably be more specific with Metal. “I mean, like, when you go out in public, are they always so, I don't know, I wouldn't call that hostile or particularly rude. I guess what I mean to ask is- is it normal for places to kick you out because of what you are?”
Metal pretends to blink at the question. Sonic knows he doesn't need to blink, he doesn't even have eyelids, the robot is playing this blinking animation for his benefit. Why? What the hell does it mean?
Metal stands up and walks away. His fist tightens. Sonic sighs, all these questions must be frustrating to the robot. There's no point in sticking around. Sonic follows him close behind. “Mets? Hey, where you goin?”
He doesn't even look back at Sonic, he just keeps walking. “Oh c'mon don't be like that. We can get you a whiteboard somewhere else.”
The robot's head turns as if to peek over his shoulder. He shakes his head. Sonic tries to reason with him, lure him back into an optimistic outlook. “Okay so no whiteboards. Pen and paper still work fine. There's plenty back home.” Like an ant lured by the sweet scent of a toxic bait, Metal hesitantly plays along with Sonic's plan. The robot turns to face Sonic waiting for him to lead the way.
In the Prower household Tails paces waiting for Sonic to come home. It's not every day a time traveler stops by looking for his brother. Perhaps it is every day? That's the funny thing about time travel, those who don't engage only ever get to see one timeline. For all Tails knows Silver could stop by his home every day of the calendar year each day in a slightly different timeline.
“Is he always this late?” Silver asks.
“Kinda. He's never on time when you ask him to, but he's got a way of showing up when he's really needed.” Tails shrugs.
“Weird.”
Sonic walks through the door, his arms in bad shape from the acid splashing. The wounds are only skin deep but that doesn't make them any prettier to look at. Tails is quick to bother him about it.
“Sonic! What happened? Are you okay?”
“Awe geez, I'm fine.” Sonic gently pushes Tails off of him. “I explored the old chemical plant for a bit. Relax.”
Tails knows there's no getting Sonic to be more careful. He drops the subject. Sonic's eyes turn to the stranger in the home. “Who's this?”
“Me? Oh uh, I'm Silver. I'm from the future.”
“Yuh huh.” Sonic narrows his eyes, skeptical. He brushes Silver off, immediately going for Tails's desk. He snags a legal pad and a blue ball point pen and prepares to head out.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“This sounds important, Sonic.”
“He sounds like a liar to me.”
“He's trying to save the world from a robot apocalypse!” Tails insists.
“Cool. Good luck with that.” Sonic turns on his heel to leave.
“What is with you today?”
“I destroyed the timestones back on Little Planet, remember? This guy isn't from a future I have anything to do with. See ya!” And Sonic is gone.
Tails blinks. Sonic makes a good point. “How did you get here without a timestone?”
Silver rubs the back of his neck. “I didn't? You can't actually destroy timestones, they just get displaced forward in time. For a while the timeline won't have any stones until one day they appear more or less exactly in the location they were destroyed in. They're kind of like chaos emeralds.”
Tails turns to close the door only to find Sonic didn't go far. He's at the treeline with Metal Sonic. Great. The fox is grateful Sonic has acquired the decency to not invite the robot into his home this time. Knowing what Silver has told him it still feels wrong to see the two together. What if Metal uses Sonic to further whatever Eggman's plans are for the robotic apocalypse in the future. “Today's your lucky day. He brought Metal Sonic.”
“Are you sure that's Metal Sonic?” Silver has seen Metal multiple times by now. He's had plenty of confirmation that the robot is in fact Metal Sonic. If he's a copy of Sonic he's not a very good one.
“Yup.”
“He looks nothing like the hedgehog.”
“I don't think he's designed to. Built to match his speed, not looks.” Tails thinks about it only to come to an ironic conclusion, “He's nowhere close on that front either. I can't think of a single designed purpose he's actually good at.”
Silver finds this odd. He supposes not every invention can be a success. Though if this were one of Marines failed contraptions the robot would've been scrapped for parts by now. Silver floats himself down to the treeline next to Sonic and Metal. “I was hoping you'd know where Metal is.”
Sonic and Metal sit on a fallen log. As sonic hears Silver he puts an arm out to tuck Metal behind him. “What do you want with him?”
“I have some questions for him about Eggman.”
Sonic relaxes. He looks to Metal who seems unphased by all of this. If Metal isn't bothered by this there's no reason Sonic should be.
“Do you know where Eggman is?”
Metal shakes his head no.
Sonic adds a bit of information. “We don't even know if he's still alive.”
Silver goes pale. Paler than usual. Assuming Eggman is dead, that would make Metal Sonic the most likely to create his bad future. “Oh. I'm sorry for your loss?”
Metal tenses up but doesn't respond.
The cogs turn in Silver's head. What would a robot get out of turning everyone into machines? Silver isn't the most tech savvy. He approaches robots not as computers but particularly dangerous people. “Do you like being a robot?”
Metal shakes his head ‘no’. Sonic once again feels the need to interject. “He doesn't ‘like’ anything. He's uh- Hey Metal, can you go in there and work things out with Tails?”
Metal seems hesitant. “C'mon just give it a try? One apology could go a long way.”
Metal stands up and heads towards the house with his writing implements in hand. Sonic sighs, “Walk with me.”
Silver raises an invisible eyebrow but follows along for the stroll.
“Metal is a bit weird. He doesn't really do the whole feelings and opinions thing. Er- okay he does but he's not going to admit it. A lot going on up there in his head.”
“Weird.”
“I dunno. I don't think Eggman ever wanted him to have feelings. He clearly has them. But- It's like he doesn't think he's supposed to. Getting a real answer out of him is tricky.” Sonic carries on. He continues to try and explain what the robots' whole deal is. Metal is both incredibly complicated and disgustingly simple. While Sonic doesn’t particularly care if Silver gets the answers he's looking for, he does care about Metal. The better Silver is at talking to Metal the less likely he's going to have to clean up after a violent outburst.
Meanwhile Metal is in his own special kind of hell. Hell is not a place in a forgotten afterlife. No, hell is wherever Tails is and Metal recognizes that it's entirely his fault. Metal scribbles down an ‘I'm sorry’ on his legal pad and holds it out in front of him while he waits at the door. It's a dry day and still Metal manages to look like a wet dog.
Tails catches a glimpse of Metal and jumps. So much for Sonic being smart enough to keep him away from the house. Tails doesn't trust him or his apology, his only saving grace is that Tails recognizes Metal isn't geared up to attack him right at this moment. “You can stop acting like a person. You're not fooling me.”
Metal turns his head, looking around before examining his stance. Is he acting organic? Metal doesn't know what Tails is talking about. The accusation throws him off guard.
“Why are you here?”
Metal taps at the ‘I'm sorry.’ on the legal pad with his claw.
“Sorry for what?” Tails isn't buying it.
Metal turns the page and writes smaller this time. He doesn't know what he's done wrong. He has a few theories but calculates writing all of then out in list form would end poorly. He instead narrows it down to ‘everything’ just to be safe.
“Everything.”
Metal nods. He's getting such a bad score in social interaction. Holy fuck this is awful.
“I don't believe you.”
He scribbles down some more, ‘I've done a lot of things.’
“What do you want?”
Metal avoids admitting he wants anything. He wants to live, belong. But he could never admit that, not now, not to Tails. The fox wouldn't believe him anyway even if he were capable. Metal is at a strange point in his artificial development. He's capable of wanting but has not the self awareness of his own feelings to recognize it. Of course metal is strange in other ways, resenting any sign of organic life as inferior distractions from the things he's been told are supposed to matter. ‘Elaborate.’
“What do you get out of being all buddy buddy with Sonic?”
‘He cares about me.’
“Yeah, I've noticed. I'm asking what you get out of it. What do you have to gain?” Tails doesn't get it. Metal is a robot designed to kill Sonic.
Metal hesitates. ‘A friend.’
“And what do you need that for?”
‘I don't.’
“You know what I think?”
‘No.’
“You need me to like you so you can spend more time getting what you really want out of Sonic.”
‘I don't need anything. I have no purpose anymore. I don't want anything.’
“Then why spend so much time with Sonic?”
Metal writes a few lines and crosses them out. He lands on an answer. ‘A robot without an objective to pursue shuts down and succumbs to the elements.’
“That doesn't answer my question.”
‘My only remaining objective is to defeat Sonic.’
Tails finally gets it. If he kills Sonic successfully he'd shut down. By keeping Sonic alive he prolongs his own existence. “You're stalling.”
Metal nods.
“You can stall anywhere else you know. You don't have to be his friend.”
‘He's nice to be around.’