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Below the winter sun, trapped in the snow with no force of will left within him as the flickies chirped on top of his head, laid Metal Sonic; rusting, wet, broken and abandoned. The robot could not get up. The robot didn’t want to get up. He had failed. His whole purpose in life, his primary directive: to annihilate Sonic the Hedgehog. Failed. His secondary directive: serve Doctor Robotnik. Failed. The word failure should have been printed into all of his circuits.
He had been in that forest for ages —more specifically one year, two months, one week, two days, thirteen hours, twenty-five minutes and five seconds— and he had the whole view studied. He had been waiting patiently for the tree behind him to fall down on him. He had calculated that it would take approximately six months to do so, and now that the six months had passed, it was the last day. Only two hours remained, then the failure would be no more.
Similar noises from everyday could be heard until the two hours almost passed. Until he heard a new noise. Crushed leaves and puffed snow as boots touched the ground again and again. Metal Sonic didn’t move, however. He wouldn’t fail this.
A pink hedgehog strolled through the forest whistling, cleaning herself of the snow she caught on the way. Her walk, however, was interrupted when she stumbled over the robot’s metal quills. She fell to the floor, catching herself with her arms before falling face first, and looked back at what she thought was a rock, before it turned its head and the machine’s red eye pierced into her soul. He then returned to looking at the ground. The girl didn’t matter, he still had to be punished and regain the honor of the Eggman Empire. He couldn’t fail again. These words kept repeating in his head as the tree began to crack.
Its branches began falling as soon did the log. He would finally be useful for something, even if it was for death. This was how he would best serve Doctor Robotnik. However, the girl pushed him to the side. It wasn’t dramatic or theatrical, she just pushed him away. From one push he had again failed.
The girl looked at the robot with concern, asking it if it was okay. It did not respond. The girl was familiar to the robotic hedgehog but it wasn’t clear where he knew her from. He, however, knew he had done something bad to her, which made him wonder, why was she even worried about him?
She made him stand, cleaned his face with her fluffy winter gloves and smiled at him. His eyes faced hers before swifting downwards. He was still immobile, his joints rusty and filled with mud and snow. He nevertheless made the effort to move his legs, but it ended in him falling to the ground again. The girl giggled before again making him stand, and then she put his head on her shoulder and passed his arm over her other shoulder.
The metal brushed with the pink hedgehog’s soft fur, cold and fluffy. Her jacket was warm and her gloves were tender, their wool making them very comfortable to the touch. She smiled as she took him with her.
After a long time of walking, she finally talked. “How did you even get there, Metal?”
The machine darted his eyes around, unable to choose a target to focus his sight on. He then faced the opposite of the girl, trying to disguise his burning servos. The girl smirked before continuing to walk. The snow made a satisfying crunchy sound when it was stomped on, the soothing sun beams hit the robot’s hard shell. He looked downwards the rest of the trip.
“Well, let’s get you back to–” She said before stopping in an instant. She looked at the ground and made a humming sound, before looking up again, frowning and turning back. She then stomped and stomped on her way to a nearby town. Metal Sonic wanted to ask where she was going, but he couldn’t do so without a voice box. Despite the robot’s inability to speak, the girl answered him as if he had spoken. “To my house, dummy.”
Metal Sonic briefly stared at the hedgehog, disengaging the moment she returned it. The trip felt longer than the time Metal had been in the forest, as if the sun had stopped moving and Mobius had stopped spinning; only his servos and circuits continued to run alongside the girl holding him while the world paused.
What was that feeling? He didn’t know; but he liked it. It was strange, it was… emotional. It wasn’t logical or sensical, it wasn’t something that he had been programmed with. Dr. Robotnik had made him intelligent, he had made him be able to learn procedurally and gradually, in order to better imitate his copy. He had learned to fight, he had learned to hate, he had learned to destroy. But he hadn’t learned this… What had he learned? What was it? Why now? How?
As the robot was lost in thought, the girl snapped him out of it as she sang enthusiastically. “We’re here!” She carolled. Metal Sonic made the effort to look up. There was a colorful, bright and big town, with distinguished flower fields that washed the whole town in their mixture of warm and cold colors: reds with oranges, greens with purples, and the most striking pinks and blues. The buildings had funny shapes, it looked as if each of them were personalized to fit their owner.
The girl went down the hill, quickly approaching the town and soon entering it. The townspeople waved and smiled at them, greeting the hedgehog. They didn’t scream, they didn’t run, they didn’t beg for help. It was strange, unusual… pleasant. The deeper he got the more attracted he was to the town; the cottages were charming, traditional but sturdy; decorated with geometrical patterns Metal found beautiful.
The girl who everyone greeted as ‘Amy’ finally stopped in front of a house; a medium-sized white abode, the roof looked like long hair, tied back into a ponytail, with a sign at top of the main door that said “Future.” with a wooden, meticulously cut heart above it. Of course, flowers were present, just like in the rest of the town. Amy opened the door, carefully as to not drop the robot, and entered the house. She left Metal Sonic on the couch, in front of the CRT. The closet creaked as Amy opened it to pull out a red blanket; she closed the closet and gently let it fly on top of Metal’s legs. He looked at the blanket before trying to move further, falling back into the couch the moment he did.
“Hm, we should probably degrease and oil your joints, don’t you think?” The robot gently assented. Amy chuckled.
———————————————————————————
Metal Sonic stood in the kitchen, rolling rice in his hand into cylinders. Salmon was chopped as fast as a blue hedgehog and carefully placed on top of the rice balls. While doing so he played a recording of Candy Store he had done when they had watched Heathers live in Station Square. The house was decorated in blues and purples, pictures of the two of them on trips, events or other such things.
The front door slowly creaked open as Amy walked in holding three bags full of groceries. She hummed the same song Metal was playing, walking with her eyes closed to the kitchen and leaving the bags on the table before opening her right eye and looking directly at the robot. “Hey, handsome.” She said, Metal quickly disengaging from eye contact. Despite not being made of flesh and bone, Amy could perfectly tell when he was flustered; it was so easy to fluster him too.
Metal Sonic continued putting salmon on top of the rice balls before finishing and putting them all on a tray, showing them to Amy still without making eye contact. “I Have Made Nigiri For You.”
“My favorite? Please, Metal, you shouldn't have!” She said, eyes beaming as the summer Sun and sparkly pearls for teeth.
“It Is A Special Occasion."
Amy picked up a nigiri and chomped on it. “Which is it again?”
“It Has Been One Year Since You Retrieved Me.”
“Oh yeah! It is, isn’t it?” She said as she swallowed the nigiri whole, got out and pinched the robot’s iron cheek. “One entire year with your cute face around!” She smiled. The pinched cheek forced Metal Sonic to stare into the hedgehog’s eyes; her beautiful, dazzling green eyes.
“What’s that look, hm?” The robot hadn’t noticed he had started swifting his eyes and that his joints were twitching incessantly from the tease. Amy laughed before putting her arm around the machine’s shoulders. “Man, you’re so easy.” She again chuckled.
She fell back on the couch, the weight compressing the cushions as she patted the one next to her. “Well come on, silly! It's movie night.” Metal sat on the couch, strangling the poor cushions, and lowered his hands on his knees.
Amy had chosen an animated movie about wolves, but Metal didn't pay attention to the movie as he couldn't stop looking at her; he gently closed his fists, never taking his gaze off her. Amy paused the movie in the middle of eating another nigiri. “Anything wrong, Metal?”
“No. In Fact: The Contrary. I Can Not Stop Looking At You. But I Do Not Know Why. I Only Know I Like It.”
Amy blushed before smiling, and getting up from her laid down position to gently caress the robot’s face. “I think I know what you mean.”
“Do You?”
“Yeah, I've been feeling like that for a while too.”
“Have You?”
Amy gave him a slight, gentle slap on the cheek before chuckling. “Stop asking me those things, you dunce. Of course I have.”
“I Am Sorry.” He said, moving his eyes in a direction other than Amy's.
“Don't apologize.” She pulled his head closer as he gazed at her eyes again. “You are the cutest robot I've ever seen.” She cuddled his neck. “And with such a cute voice too, I'm so glad Tails could give you a voice box.”
“Yes. Thank You For That… Again.”
“It's a gift for me as much as it was for you.”
Metal looked at his hands, one he put on his chest where his turbine was. “I Do Not Know What This Feeling Is. It Is So Strange. So Illogical. So… Nice.”
“I think I do know.” She pulled the robot closer as her lips touched his metal carcass, his microchips frying, endless electricity going inside him, so much so he was scared he would zap Amy. For Metal Sonic, the moment lasted forever, galaxies were born and died at the speed of light at the same time as they were in contact. When Amy pulled out of the robot's face, her lipstick was cemented into his would-be mouth. He looked down at his mouth before again staring into Amy, now hyperventilating and with passionate eyes gazing at his. “I love you.”
There was a pause after, neither of them knew what to do. Metal Sonic then hurtled at the pink hedgehog, pulling her in for a right hug, trying to do the same she had done on her neck with the lipstick she had stained him with. Her fur was fluffy and warm, but incredibly soft as well. Amy fondled Metal’s back and put her head on his shoulder.
“I Love You Too Ames.”