Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sonic is Eggman's greatest creation.

He was made to take over South Island, the first step in the creation of the great Eggman Empire, which will soon encompass the entire world.

…

Sonic doesn't really know what any of that means. But when his creator talks about it, he sounds so excited. If it makes him happy, Sonic wants to see it through.

He owes, well, everything to Doctor Eggman. He's the only reason Sonic exists after all. The only reason he can see, and feel, and run and fly.

He's probably also the reason the people run away from him. Not their fault, he looks really scary. And kinda cool, to be honest.

It's a simple affair, really. Eggman sends him somewhere, he scares the residents and the badniks (that name's so silly(does Sonic count as a badnik?)) come in and occupy the area.

They took over most of the island by the time something went wrong.

Very wrong.

The simply named "Marble Zone", an area of extreme lava- not volcanic- activity, ruined monuments and underground tunnels older than the people living on the island.

And that lava activity gets extremely violent at times, which is why very few people live in the area.

And Sonic should have seen the writing on the wall. A geyser sprouted right beneath him, buffeting backwards with far more force than he's made to handle. He flew straight into a marble pillar, and then

Nothing moved. He couldn't move his arms. Couldn't move his legs. Couldn't move his head.

Only his eyes still answered to his commands, not very helpful when one's face down in the ever so slightly singed grass. It didn't smell of anything. Nothing did.

SOS sent. Status reports said he had a hole near his processing unit.

But why would a hole cause him to shut down if there's no internal damage? He shouldn't be able to see, let alone think.

The answer laid just outside his current field of view. But before he saw it, he heard it, about the same time he felt it.

thunk thunk thunk.

Something was hitting his visor. That's how he knew in which direction to turn.

A little bird. Pecking away at Sonic's eyes. It seemed… what was that word? Curious? It started looking around, ignoring Sonic completely. And then…

It flew away. Far away. So far Sonic couldn't follow it with his eyes anymore.

Where did it go? Why was it here?

A familiar sound cut through his thinking. His creator's Eggmobile. He's arrived. Surely this will all make sense, right?

"DAMN YOU!" Is he… is he angry at me? "I knew I should've figured out an alternative from those- GAH!"

What is he angry at?

He let out a long sigh. "Come here." He hopped out and, more carefully than anything he's ever done, picked up Sonic, and took him to the Eggmobile, and they were off.

“Don't worry. I'll fix you up, and you'll never need those stupid flickies again.”

…

What's a flicky?

Is it that bird?

I… need a flicky?

Why?

It was alive. It kept me alive.

Am I a badnik? Are all badniks like me? Do they all have a flicky?

Father doesn't talk to them though…

Why?

…

That bird… it was in me. It was trapped in me.

Why?

And now it's free… why was it trapped in me?

Are there more?!

Am I

Am I trapped too?

The last area Eggman has yet to take over.

Green Hill Zone. Exactly as the name says, grassy hills as far as the eye can see. Perfect for a run.

… Sonic isn't allowed to run. He has to take over South Island. It's what he was made for. He was made to expand the Eggman Empire.

…

Motobugs. The most basic badnik in their forces. The simplest of designs. It almost looks friendly.

…

Father's going to be so mad at me…

Sonic's hand goes through the motobug's shell like it was made of butter. He hits something not made of metal in its center, and his fears are confirmed.

He holds it as carefully as he's ever done anything in his short life, something so soft and fragile like this shouldn't be in a machine of conquest.

And yet it was. It was in Sonic in fact,until a few hours ago.

The little bird looked so scared in Sonic's hand. It refused to fly away, even when Sonic tried raising it into the air. It wasn't even wounded. Just scared.

Sonic must have a heart, because in that moment it broke.

So many thoughts going through his head at that moment. Any of them could have won out and he'd make a decision.

This time, his final thought was

I need to make this right.

Despite the citizens running away in fear, nothing stopped Sonic from driving his creator out of South Island.

Chapter Text

West Side Island.

That's where the Chaos Emeralds flew to after Sonic liberated South Island, and because of that, the newest target of the terrible Doctor Eggman.

It's also the residence of the unfortunate Miles "Tails" Prower, a little fox kit, the local freak born with two tails.

It's a constant source of mockery and bullying for him, and today, with all the robots going around and the need to get to safety, it's almost baffling how they're still coming after him.

Case in point, while they were busy with him, one of those badniks, a big one, came crashing down right next to them. It was pure luck they didn't get hurt, but at least they got out of Tails' hair.

Not that he wasn't going to run away too, he just tripped before he could. Any fear of a chase that'd ensue were quelled when the badnik didn't even move after it landed on the ground.

…

Can he… salvage it?

CRASH BAM SKREEEE

Well no, someone was already doing that.

Wait… someone destroyed that badnik. There's someone on the island fighting back against Robotnik's army! And they saved Tails from those bullies! Who is it!

Tails got up quickly and ran around to see his savior. One moment he saw blue quills.

The other… he saw

And then it saw him.

The black screens in place of eyes… the red projections in place of pupils…

Its metal claws dug through the badnik's shell like paper maché.

Its torso, a hollow engine, Tails could never outrun it.

It stood up, towering over him.

It reached into its engine, and pulled out a

A…

A marker?

Sonic practiced for this exact moment. He can do it without even needing a mirror at this point. Helps that his movements can be far more precise than regular folk.

A single line curving upwards in the plate where his mouth would normally be.

With a brand new, award winning smile, he gives the fox he just rescued from bullies an enthusiastic thumbs up!

…

He ran anyway

Sonic's enthusiasm was thoroughly deflated.

One day that's going to work. It'd be a lot easier if I could talk.

The chirping sounds from the little guy in his hand, the flickie he dug out of that big badnik got his attention back.

He still had trouble getting them to fly away, but this time not because they're afraid, but because they're too unafraid. Little things started clinging to Sonic like he was a mama bird.

Or rather World's Best Perching Spot.

Usually he'd outrun them and they'd move on, but when he has to dig them out like this, it takes a while for them to leave.

After he finally got it to leave, it was back to finding the Chaos Emeralds and stopping Robotnik.

Tails snuck around to one of the towns to try to sneak out some food for himself, something he had to learn to do since he's out a home.

This time, he didn't get caught. When this happens, he tends to leave as soon as he can with a bit of peace. But this time, because of the invasion, he hung around this one establishment that always has the news on.

He heard something that caught his ear.

Breaking news! Could it be?! It appears that the evil Doctor Eggman's blue robotic freak , designated name "Sonic" has turned its wrath against its own creator!

Could this mechanical murder machine be West Side Island's last hope against the inorganic invasion, as it was South Island's?!

"Freak…"

Tails said by accident, almost risking getting caught and thrown out or having to run away.

That's an insult hurled at him constantly, even earlier in the day, before that "mechanical murder machine"…

Saved him.

…

Speaking of mechanical murder machine, the screams and the people running away in fear meant an actual one had arrived in the town.

That doctor came crashing through the air in one of his flying vehicles, this one with a massive hammer attached to the front.

Following right behind him was Sonic. He had gotten a few licks in, given by how the doctor's vehicle was smoking from the side.

Despite that, it got one clean hit on Sonic in the chaos, and by sheer bad luck, he was sent careening in Tails' direction, crashing into the building Tails had been sitting next to.

The impact was nasty. Tails was unharmed but the same couldn't be said for Sonic though. Peeking inside through the curtain, there were several exposed wires in his right arm.

He seemed more annoyed than anything. For supposedly a cold calculating machine, he's not very keen on self preservation.

He went right back to the fight, which ended soon after since the… Egg Hammer was already really damaged.

Eggman got away again.

…

Tails thinks he can fix Sonic's damaged arm. He knows there's a workshop in this now deserted town, if he can grab it maybe he can-

Sonic saw him.

Looking at him again, now that he's the only thing around, it's hard to ignore that he is still the scariest thing Tails had ever seen. It's hard to pierce through the instinct he brings out to get away.

He pulled out the marker again, drawing that same smile and thumbs up again.

If it's an attempt to be less intimidating, it's not really working. But it did exist, so Tails gave his best thumbs up anyway.

Sonic seemed to get excited that it finally kinda maybe sorta worked. Got so excited he took off without waiting, damaged arm and all.

"HEY WAIT!" Tails gave chase, struggling to keep up at first.

Then, all of a sudden… his tails kicked in, propelling himself faster, hovering inches off the ground.

Huh. Little guy is keeping up.

Sonic had that thought when the chase began, and let it happen for the rest of his run through West Side, from Casino Nights Zone to Metropolis Zone.

It seems he wanted something but he never really said anything so Sonic never really stopped.

After Eggman got away one more time, he took off to an air fortress, and sadly, the kid had to stay behind. Nothing personal, obviously, it's just

Sonic can fly.

Which…

Might not actually have been that big of a boon…

He got really badly hurt chasing that fortress. He crashed landed on one of the wings, unable to fly anymore without some repairs.

Right. Who's going to repair him? He's a killing machine created by a guy who wants to take over the world. No one's going to help that.

Moments like these, Sonic has a certain… aspect to his programming. One less… personable, but far more effective.

He doesn't like using it.

But it was enough to take down Eggman's laser death trap.

And he got away again.

The thing about that "mode", it really doesn't let Sonic know how badly he's damaged. He ends up barely able to move as he watches Eggman flee into a rocket ship to the Death Egg.

Couldn't do the purpose he was built for, and now can't even do the thing he wanted to do.

Well…

at least he'd survive the fall. Maybe.

If it lasted a few moments instead of several minutes definitely. And if didn't hit the ground and instead a plane retrofitted with a rocket engine- wait what?

Looking back at the pilot seat, it was that little fox. He forgot to ask his name… that's bad.

He locked the controls and jumped right next to Sonic in the incredible turbulence, just to

Fix him?

Starting with the exposed wires in his arm, followed by the rockets on his soles, a panel on the inside of his engine, and shifting one of his eye screens into place.

In record speed, Sonic could fly again.

He stared at that fox for several seconds. That was the first person to ever help him.

"GO!"

And Sonic startled to his feet when he remembered what he was being helped with. Taking a big rocket powered leap, he grabbed onto the rocket and held on for dear life.

And Tails watched him take off.

And he didn't come back for a while.

And then the Death Egg came crashing down on the sea.

In the sky, looking for any sign of an escape pod, or just Sonic falling from the sky…

He found a mote of light.

Kicking up the engine to get closer, he saw Sonic.

Golden, glowing and surrounded by little birds.

When Sonic saw him, he pulled out a marker and did the same smile and thumbs up routine as before, this time with an added wink.

That wink

Was not something Sonic could do earlier in the day.

Chapter Text

Sonic had started to notice some things going on with his chassis. Not the damage that Tails had to fix almost on a daily basis, no. His chassis was… changing.

It started with being able to "blink". Tails didn't say anything, since he hadn't known Sonic for long before it happened, but when it changed from just his visor changing to actual eyelids, that was shocking.

It seems to happen when he turns Super. Which is strange, because the emeralds usually vanish and scatter when they're depleted, but they're sticking with Sonic for a while.

He doesn't know why they're doing this.

And then came his birthday.

Or his creation date? Do robots get birthdays?

Sonic wants a birthday but can't tell if he should have one.

Well, Tails wanted to give him a gift,even though he won't say what it is, so he certainly thinks Sonic deserves a birthday. It's still hard to accept that when he was made to eventually take over his island too.

Well, he wouldn't have to linger on that for long because trouble reared its ugly face again.

He had no idea what it was, just that it sucked him into a purple vortex,and soon he was running through Green Hill again.

Sonic ran some diagnostic checks to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, and had to run it again when the layout did not match his memory banks.

By the time he got to the end, he was starting to worry about Tails. Looking around the big white void he found himself in didn't bring him any relief.

Eventually, Sonic found himself in a strange mirrored wall. His footsteps echoed even though he was surrounded by void otherwise.

When the wall almost reached its end, Sonic paused. He hasn't looked at a reflection in a long time, not wanting to see the appearance his father creator had chosen for him.

It's not him.

But for some reason he decided to turn his head that time. And he saw

He saw

A blue hedgehog. Not a machine. The red eyes were the only reason he figured he was actually looking at his own reflection.

This person… they're everything he wants to be, but can't. This strange place… how does it have such a clear sight into his mind?

The reflection met Sonic's hand when he reached out to touch the mirror. It was so much more expressive than Sonic was, it looked at him with a fondness that Sonic could not express himself.

It was…

This place is kinda freaky. / "This place is kinda freaky."

That voice… Sonic can't gasp, but he desperately tried to. It took his metaphorical breath out of him. He can barely tell why.

A shift in the light and Sonic turned his head to the source, a door at the end of the hall, slowly closing. Sonic got ready to chase after it until

There was a boom. A sonic boom.

All the glass shattered to pieces and out feom behind them emerged

Sonic the Hedgehog.

A blue blur speeding through the air, with a confident grin and no hesitation.

It entered the door before it shut Sonic out, and the void vanished into the scene behind it. The Death Egg Robot that Sonic fought, much bigger than before stood in front of…

"Wow, what a throwback, Eggman. Are you doing this just for my birthday?"

Eggman said something but Sonic didn't hear it. He was too focused on that person. They dodged attacks like they were in slow motion. They moved through the environment in a blue streak, faster than Sonic's eye could discern detail.

At one point, the Death Egg Robot caught them midair, catching them between its spikes.

The metal arms creaked, slowly being pushed apart by the one they were supposed to be crushing.

"You know, I ran into Knuckles on the way here. Reliable guy to have on your side." One final push sent the Death Egg Robot stumbling back. "Too bad you blew it! SUCKS TO BE YOU!"

One final punch straight in the robot's chest, and it was sent tumbling backwards, sparking and beaten.

"So, what's all this about, Egghead? Did you uh… did you find the fountain of youth or something?"

Eggman… the younger Eggman was sucked into a purple portal too.

And the two Sonics went back to White Space.

Apparently the Tailses had found eachtoher in the meantime. Seeing his little buddy was a relief, but it was kind of overshadowed by the sight of a taller version of him.

Big Tails handed Sonic a tablet so he could use text to speech to talk. Apparently that was the birthday gift Tails wanted to get him, since his Tails was pretty upset when Big Tails just said it.

Turns out, these are future Tails and… future Sonic.

"He's incredible! And so fast!"

His Tails' excitment was mutual. AGREED.

The voice that came out of the tablet was extremely robotic, just because it was the default that was set.

Despite that, his future self's reaction was that of regret. Future Tails' reaction was more… opportunity.

"Oh, you see-" "Tails don't -" "Sonic is a girl."

Some things aren't meant to be processed by a computer. Sonic is no usual computer though, so this should make sense to him.

"I'm so sorry little guy."

And… it kind of does. It explains some things to him. But how does his future self's reaction make sense? Surely it does, and he can figure it out.

"Why did she react like that?" Even future Tails didn't understand.

DO YOU REMEMBER THIS? Sonic asked of future Tails.

"This?"

MEETING YOUR FUTURE SELF YEARS BEFORE

"Well… no…"

THEN SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER THIS EITHER

AND NEITHER WILL I

Sonic tried to enjoy the scenes from hi- from her future while she could remember them.

She met things called Wisps, one of them, the purple one turned her into an even spikier ball than usual. Her future self got turned into a rocket, which is pretty silly as someone who once had an actual rocket for a chest.

A city ravaged by a fire hurricane from even further into the future than not even her future self seems to get why it's there in the first place. Something to do with a time traveler called "Silver"?

Running from a massive truck.

Frankly, for another one of her creator's schemes, it was rather exciting, if a bit overwhelming.

Before long, they were ready to fight the Time Eater, Eggman's new toy to try and take over the world.

To everyone's (not really) surprise, past Eggman and future Eggman were working together the whole time.

One thing, or rather seven things that the Sonics had over the Eggmen were the chaos emeralds.

"Ha!" Future Eggman scoffed at the implication. "You think two of you are enough to take down two of us AND the Time Eater?!"

Future Sonic wasn't deterred. "That's where you're wrong, Egghead." Future Tails tossed a vial to her. "It's two of me-" inside the vial was several pieces of fur and quills of different colors. "And everyone I know!"

Friend bio-data successfully copied

Using the seven chaos emeralds, Sonic turned gold.

But her future self stayed blue, and took off into the air.

From her back sprouted two metal wings.

She looked like a mechanical angel. Sonic looked like an angel.

"WHAT THE HECK?! HE CAN GROW WINGS?!"

…

"Ahem" Eggman had to correct his past self. "It's actually she."

"WHAT?! I DIDN'T BUILD HIM TO BE A GIRL!"

"OHOHOHO" future Sonic startled sparking with electricity. "I'M GONNA KICK YOU ASS EVEN HARDER NOW!"

Future Sonic, before they defeated the Time Eater, took one look at the back of her past self. She saw tiny little wings sprouting from her back.

The Time Eater didn't stand a chance.

Saving the birthday chili dog from splattering on the ground, everyone had returned to future Sonic's time, including past Sonic and Tails.

They continued the festivities.

Sonic was sitting on the sidelines, letting any animal that came across her to perch on her.

Soon after, her future self did the same thing. Guess that's a habit she won't lose.

"Sorry little me. I wish there was a way to have you remember."

IT'S OKAY

"You don't have to-"

YOU FIGURED IT OUT. I WILL TOO

"… Yeah."

A purple vortex appeared again, this time to take Sonic and Tails to their time.

"Enjoy your future, Sonic. It's going to be great."

"Well… happy birthday, Sonic. I just need to get a new voicebank since I was just testing this one- HEY, GIVE IT BACK, IT'S NOT READY YET-"

✧☆HELLO, MY NAME IS SONIC☆✧

…

"Yeah… that's Cyber Singer Mika… I told you it wasn't done!

"Sonic?"

✧☆AM I A GIRL?☆✧