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He could see numbers over peoples' heads, and he wasn't sure why.
It started shortly after he became the fearless vessel of the Phantom Ruby; he would see numbers appear in the sky, over people's heads. Some people would have zeroes; Eggman's number had been zero for at least as long as Infinite could see it. Some people, however, had positive numbers; Sonic's was in the thousands! This intrigued him to no end, not in the least because his own number (which he could see in the mirror) was only in the hundreds. He once asked Eggman what the numbers meant, but Eggman didn't know what he was talking about, so he was on his own.
Occasionally, the number would go down. He'd watched Sonic's number go down plenty during his time on the Death Egg; it wasn't some kind of hit points, however, as he had hit several people and not a single one seemed to have their number go down as they were hit. He had yet to figure out why the number went down, but it seemed to be a universal truth that the number did, in fact, decrease until it hit zero.
The number being capped at zero posed a different question, one that Infinite was in even less of a position to answer: what happened when the number hit zero? He had never actually been around to see someone's number hit zero, although he had seen plenty of people whose numbers had already hit zero. It wasn't death, in that case, but what was it?
He'd eventually find out firsthand, whether he liked it or not. His number, like the rest, was slowly but surely following the downward march to zero. Who knew what would happen when it got there? Certainly not him.
It was a simple attack on the city. Nothing important should have happened; they fight, he shows up, they scatter, Eggman wins. And yet, here, the most peculiar thing happened.
He finally saw someone's number hit zero.
He had just finished blowing up some Resistance soldiers when he noticed a red wolf come out from behind cover; he noticed his number, one. The wolf looked at him, and as soon as he did, Infinite watched the number change.
Zero.
Nothing... visibly changed? Maybe it was a mental change? He doubted it since the red wolf was still vainly trying to pick up the Wispon and aim it at him. So if it wasn't physical, and it didn't seem to be a mental change, what was it?
He realized he had been vaguely staring off into space, and recollected himself. "I can taste your terror, child. All that anxiety and doubt... It's delicious." He fired a warning shot that landed at the wolf's feet; for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to fire a killing blow. "Give in to your fear. Flee, screaming, and I'll let you live." The wolf didn't exactly flee screaming, but it was fun to watch him eventually wipe the look of fear off his face, scramble to his feet, and run away.
It wasn't until he got back to his chambers and looked in a mirror that he realized his number had also hit zero.
Interesting...
As the war continued on, Infinite saw more and more of the red wolf. He had to admit, something about the wolf was... endearing. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. The war went on-- Eggman was losing, ever since Sonic came back-- and eventually, his every waking thought, save for the few needed to function in the here and now, was about the wolf. None of this made sense; why should he spend any time thinking about some random Resistance soldier, let alone some red wolf who, admittedly, had been more and more of a pain in his side in more than one fashion?
And then he remembered.
His number hit zero.
No.
This had to be some stupid coincidence, that his number hit zero as soon as he...
He could barely bring himself to admit it, but his number hit zero as soon as he fell in love.
Was this some dumb soulmates thing? Had he found his soulmate in some random Resistance soldier? It was increasingly the only answer that made sense. That was why he kept thinking about the wolf, why he was so endearing; he was his soulmate.
This would be the death of him.
Okay, he didn't intend for that to be literal. Yet, here he was, about to die over this dumb soulmate thing. After all, killing the wolf would probably throw a monkey wrench in the Resistance's plans, if not slow them down for a bit, but he just couldn't bring himself to deliver the killing blow.
"Impossible. I cannot be defeated."
"Wrong, loser!" The blue nuisance was annoying, as always, and he questioned now more than ever why Eggman didn't have him toss the pincushion into the harsh vacuum of space. "The things that can't be defeated are heart, soul, and the bonds of friendship. Three things you and your counterfeit cronies lack!"
Suddenly, Infinite felt himself rise off the ground. Was... was this what death felt like? "No, wait! I can still fight!" His eyes darted to the wolf, his soulmate, who looked thoroughly terrified, and tried to open his mouth again, to say something before he died.
But nothing came out, and he faded away.
The last thing he saw was the wolf's number, floating just above his head.
It was Zero now, and forever would be.