Title: Captive

Pairing: Metal Sonic x Amy / Metalamy

Rating: K

Summary: Amy has been captured by Metal Sonic, but things don't exactly go as planned for the evil robot. They're stuck in a snowstorm and all they can do is sit tight and wait it out. How, pray tell, was Amy going to keep herself from dying of boredom with a robot that took the whole "silent type" thing to the extreme? Granted, it was because he didn't have a mouth, but still.

A/N: A MetalAmy fic I found that I wrote a year ago bwahaha. I'm actually quite fond of this lol x) Will probably write shorter drabbles etc. involving this pairing on my tumblr. If you'd like to check them out/see them as they come (since they'll probably never be posted here lol), then my username is keypeycreates :)

"Hey, you. Metal Sonic, right? I'm bored. You should probably learn how to be a more entertaining kidnapper, you know?"

"..."

"Hey! You can't ignore me. We're like the only two people in here."

"..."

"Urgh, you're worse than Shadow, you know that?"

Metal Sonic continued to gaze out of the mouth of the cave, selectively muting out her voice. The snow from outside fell violently in a fierce storm, making it impossible to travel. Metal Sonic did not approve of this; he'd calculated the time it would take to complete this mission, and he was supposed to have returned to Eggman's base with the pink hedgehog by 0800 this morning. He hadn't calculated the snowstorm-it had been a freak of nature, manifesting out of nowhere. No one would have been able to predict it but Metal Sonic didn't care. He should have anticipated this probability, regardless of how unlikely it was. He should have had a contingency plan.

He'd have to update his software when he got back to Eggman's base.

Right now, it was too risky to move. The snow, violent and angry, would freeze his engines and effectively tear apart his circuits. He was stuck here in the cave, with no one but an annoying pink hedgehog as company.

"Metal Sonic?"

Metal Sonic-even though he was a robot-wanted to groan. Unfortunately, a lack of an actual mouth made that difficult for him. Finally, he turned his head, staring at the pink furry sitting at the back of the cave.

'What?'

Amy didn't hear his silent question but she was glad that he'd finally acknowledged her. She was cold and hungry and even though this was her captor (a robot working for her most hated enemy!), Amy wasn't one to hold grudges. He was stuck with her here; neither of them could get out of the snowstorm. She would rather have some company-as bad as he was-than be all by herself. Even though he was her kidnapper, he hadn't hurt her-and she figured it would be a bit rude if she smashed him with her Piko Hammer while he just sat there staring out into the snow.

The pink hedgehog wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm cold," she complained, just to fill up the silence.

"..."

Metal Sonic didn't know what she was talking about-he didn't know what being cold was. He did, however, have a basic understanding that she was uncomfortable. His eyes gleamed as he scanned her body; her body temperature was lower than average. Metal Sonic remembered the command that Eggman gave him before he left for the mission:

"Bring that pink hedgehog to me," the fat man had said. "She's the key to Sonic's downfall-wherever she goes, he follows. I've noticed the signs, ohohoho. So bring her here, and I don't care what condition she's in. Just make sure she's alive."

Metal Sonic knew that for a living person, a lower temperature meant something dangerous. It was akin to how his circuits would freeze and malfunction if the snow managed to get into his hard drives. He had to keep her temperature within normal range, otherwise the creature would die and he would have failed his mission. He could not allow that.

So, silently, he turned his head and jumped out of the mouth of the cave, leaving Amy confused and slightly offended.

"What...? Where does he think he's going? Leaving a lady all alone like that!"

But despite herself, she began to inch closer towards the entrance of the cave. She shivered, trying to keep herself warm as she rubbed her arms. She peered over the edge of the cave and nearly shrieked-this wasn't just a cave! It was a cave in the middle of a cliff!

Amy backed away from the entrance, slightly pale. She could have fallen to her death just then, if she hadn't taken caution and actually looked down. She thought they were on the ground-level, not one hundred metres above it! She shivered and backed herself to one of the walls, hating how damp everything was. She didn't retreat too deeply into the cave because then it became too dark, and the fact that she couldn't see the end of it unnerved her greatly.

When Metal Sonic finally came back, she was more relieved than she would be willing to admit. A smile bloomed on her face and she jumped up, walking towards him. "There you are! Where did you go?"

Instead of verbally answering her, the robot dropped a pile of damp wood onto her feet, making her jump back slightly with a squeak. He then proceeded to douse the damp wood with oil before lighting it with a retractable flame from his finger. After awhile, and with constant tending, the fire came to life and Amy happily scooted closer, sighing with relief and holding her hands out to the open flame. To Metal Sonic, she smiled sincerely and said, "Thank you."

The robot stared at her and didn't respond. To him, he was vigilantly keeping watch over his hostage. To Amy, Metal Sonic was being a real big creep. She awkwardly looked away and sighed, resolving herself to a very, very long night with one of their most notorious adversaries.

-x-

The snowstorm wasn't letting up. And Amy was getting hungry.

She glanced at Metal Sonic, only to once again realise that he hadn't moved an inch from when she had last looked at him. 'Too bad he's a villain... and a robot,' she thought. 'He'd have made a fantastic monk.' Then, suddenly, her stomach rumbled, reminding her that it existed. Amy flushed and her hands automatically went up to cover her belly, scowling.

Metal Sonic, alerted by the irregular sound, seemed to come out of idle mode. His eyes flickered red and he focused intently on the pink hedgehog.

As if hearing his silent question, Amy sheepishly smiled and said, "I'm hungry."

Something processed in Metal Sonic's mind and he stood up. He began walking away from the fire and, impulsively, Amy stood up too and followed him. "W-Wait! Where are you going? Are you going to get food?"

The robot didn't answer her and leaped out of the mouth of the cave. Amy was hit with a feeling of deja vu and she sighed in defeat. She sat down by the fire again to wait for him, a small, amused smile making its way onto her muzzle at the thought that Metal Sonic cared enough to go get food for her.

But hours passed and nightfall was nearing, and Metal Sonic had yet o return. Worry ate at her (along with her empty stomach) as Amy peered out through the mouth of the cave. The storm had let up and it was no longer a whirlwind of snow out there-thank goodness-but it was still chilly. In the wake of the roar of the snowstorm, the sudden silence of the night was jarring. Beyond the cave, beyond the fire that Amy huddled close to, there was just a growing darkness. Because of the dense clouds, she knew there would be no moon, no stars-no available source of light once night came, and that thought frightened her.

It was ironic how she thought she'd feel safer if Metal Sonic was back. Why wasn't he back yet?

'He can't have just left me,' she reasoned with herself. 'Robots don't just suddenly abandon their objective, and I was his objective, right? It's the whole reason why he kidnapped me! But... But what if he got a message from Eggman, telling him he no longer needed me? What if he really did just... leave, because I wasn't needed anymore?'

The thought made her queasy. If he really did just abandon her, then there was no reason why she had to stay here! She didn't have a reason to stay here in the first place, so why exactly had she stayed here to wait for him? Frustrated with herself and angry, she stood up and marched towards the entrance of the cave. She was hungry and cold and alone, and she wanted to go home! She peered out and spied a few ledges that she could probably use as footing to get down from here. Gulping at the sheer drop, she fortified herself and slowly began to climb down, praying that nothing would give way and make her fall to her doom.

Half way down, she regretted her decision to leave the cave, because it was already getting way too dark for her to see and she didn't have a light source with her. Tears stung her eyes in frustration and she looked up at the entrance of the cave, where a warm glow emitted from the abandoned fire. The wind had picked up a little and she shivered, pressed up against the cliff-face. With helplessness and irritation like lead in her gut, she realised that she would have to go back up again, because she definitely wouldn't be able to navigate her way home in the dark and she'd most likely freeze to death if she tried.

Slumping a little in exhaustion and at the thought of her efforts going to waste, Amy took this chance to have a little break before she started her way back up. She squinted her eyes at her surroundings, at the dark forest surrounding the cliff, and in the quickly waning light she wondered where the heck she was because she didn't recognise this place at all. She was going to have so much fun trying to find her way back home tomorrow. With a sigh, she shifted and turned in order to start climbing back up, but by sheer chance, her eyes picked up on something.

It was a glint-a small, barely noticeable metallic glint from the disappearing light. With a gasp, Amy recognised the tiny body at the bottom of the cliff was Metal Sonic.

She didn't think about what she was doing; she just let her nature take over, her innate compulsion to help anyone in need. Instead of climbing back up to the cave, she continued to climb down, her movements a bit hastier than they were before, more determined. Guilt ate away at her as she climbed down; how long had Metal Sonic been down there while she had just been sitting at the top, getting cosy with the fire and complaining to herself? How long had the robot needed her help? She scowled to herself; it didn't matter whether Metal Sonic was her enemy or not, whether he was a robot or not, whether he was Eggman's creation or not-she had a duty to take care of anyone who needed her, and Metal Sonic needed her right now, she was sure of it.

The closer she came to the bottom, the darker it became, and Amy slowed down her progress in order to ensure that she didn't slip in her haste. However, despite the fact that she was being extra cautious, it did not affect her luck. As she set her foot down on a ledge and tested it to be secure, the ledge she had been standing on suddenly cracked. Before she had time to react, it broke away and she yelped, suddenly at the mercy of gravity as she fell. She flailed, her hands moving around wildly as she tried to catch a purchase, but everything was too slippery from the snow and she couldn't grab onto anything. She hit jutting rocks and platforms hard, rolling and tumbling and crying out in pain, until she finally met the ground in a sore, broken heap. Luckily, the recent snow had cushioned her landing, but when Amy came to, she groaned in pain.

Her body felt bruised and battered and, with a wince, Amy realised that her ankle was sprained and there were multiple cuts all over her body. With tears stinging her eyes, she gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it, thankful for the snow as it numbed the pain somewhat. She crawled towards Metal Sonic's unmoving body, wondering if it was a good thing or not that she wasn't shivering from the cold.

"Metal Sonic?" she asked in a coarse whisper, finally arriving by his side. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

The robot's eyes were completely black-there didn't seem to be any sign of life. If Amy didn't know any better, the body she was seeing was nothing more than scrap metal. She shook her head, trying to get rid of such morbid thoughts, and in the dying light she finally spotted the dead rabbit that had been secured tightly in the robot's clamped hand. Although seeing a freshly dead animal made her balk, some part of her was warmed by the thought that Metal Sonic really had went out in the snowstorm just to get her food. The thought fueled her, rallied her determination to take care of her captor, and she delicately put her hands on his metal chest.

"Metal Sonic? Metal Sonic?" She shook the robot, with no response. She stared at him, then back up at the cave, then at the dying light of sunset, and looked back at the robot. With an unsteady movement, Amy stood up, making sure not to lean too heavily on her injured foot and tried to drag the robot's body with her towards the edge of the cliff. However, all her efforts were for naught-Metal Sonic weighed a tonne! She pulled, straining herself, and gave a yelp when her hand slipped and she fell back onto her sore bottom. With a scowl, she realised that she couldn't possibly carry him back up to the cave! He was deceptively heavier than she assumed.

The only way they were going to get out of the open and back into the cave, she realised, was if he woke back up.

But Amy had no idea how to do that! 'Tails is the tech-wizard, not me!' she thought in dismay. She crawled towards Metal Sonic and examined him, her hands trying to feel for a panel or a convenient switch that would cause his black visor to come alive with an eerie, intimidating red. Come on! This was Eggman's most powerful robot, for goodness' sake! Surely he couldn't be bested by a mere snowstorm? But no panel was accessible to her without a screwdriver, of which she didn't have, and there didn't seem to be any convenient buttons or switches on his person either. Feeling sorely tempted to scream in frustration, Amy summoned her Piko hammer. 'Nothing like a good, hard tap-and by that, I mean a bashing-to knock something back into shape!'

"Wake up!" she demanded, and then using all her strength, she slammed down her hammer onto his metal chest. It was a good strike, pummeling the metal body an inch or so into the ground and creating a resounding CLANK! through the woods. There was a ringing in her ears that made her wince and she instinctively dropped her hammer. But then she became aware of another sound, a whirring kind of sound, and she squinted her eyes as something clicked and ticked and then there was a flicker of red, strengthening into a full-on, intensely red glow in the darkness.

With a surprised gasp ('It actually worked!'), Amy stumbled away from the newly-woken robot, feeling a little nervous now that she was actually reminded of what the owner of those steely, unfeeling red eyes was capable of. She prayed that she didn't damage his memory storage and he remembered that his mission wasn't to destroy her-not this time. There was a sound of whirring gears and Metal Sonic steadily stood up, albeit a little jarringly. He scanned his surroundings and eventually, his glowing eyes landed on Amy, who let out an involuntary squeak.

"..."

"... Mornin'?" Amy said, hopefully.

Something flashed through Metal Sonic's eyes and Amy squealed when she was suddenly lifted into the air by cold, metallic arms. With a rather shaky take-off, Metal Sonic blasted them into the air, the wind stinging her face; she instinctively snuggled into Metal Sonic's arms, even though she knew that he was hardly a source of warmth. But before she knew it, she was back at the entrance of the cave and then she was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor. She landed on her feet without thinking and she cried out in sharp pain, tumbling to the ground in a shaking heap.

Metal Sonic stared at her, scanning her, and finally seemed to process her scrapes and injuries. He dropped the dead rabbit by the fire and knelt by the trembling hedgehog, holding out a metallic, clawed hand that Amy couldn't help but back away from.

"I-I'm okay," she said, pulling her knees to her chest. "I just sprained my ankle." And there was really nothing they could do about it until tomorrow morning-right? "Can you, um, take me back to my friends?" she asked, knowing that this had zero chances of working. "It's not storming anymore and you can probably carry me back-it's just a sprain, but I'd still like to get it checked out-"

But Metal Sonic simply gave her a hard stare, unmoving, and she gave up on that ridiculous notion, feeling bitter. She pouted and winced, blaming everything on Metal Sonic-if he hadn't kidnapped her, she wouldn't be feeling so sore and hurt and hungry right now. You'd think he'd at least thank her for rebooting him instead of just leaving him out in the snow (but, again, the whole lack of a mouth thing, she supposed).

As if reading her thoughts, Metal Sonic moved away from her and towards the rabbit. Without preamble, he began to skin them with sharp claws, and Amy had to look away. It'd be a shame if she lost her appetite, so she'd force herself to eat it. Otherwise, the creature would have died for nothing, and this whole ordeal would have just been a complete waste of time.

"So," Amy said, trying to fill in the silence of crackling meat over the fire. "How come you were stuck down there? Like, why had you turned off?"

"..."

"Your batteries couldn't have died, because you're functioning alright right now. So... were you attacked by something?"

"..."

"Did it have something to do with the snow? I guess water and robots don't mix very well, huh?"

"..."

"You'd think that Eggman would make you waterproof. That's, like, one of the basic, logical things to do when building a robot for the sole purpose of destroying things, right?"

"..."

"Great conversation, thanks for that. I've never been with someone so talkative!"

Metal Sonic glanced briefly at her and she imagined that he was confused about her sarcasm, which caused her to smile despite herself in amusement. The robot, dismissing her, then turned back to cooking the rabbit. When it was deemed done, he gave it to Amy, who took it and tried not to think about what she was eating as she munched on the meat. It tasted like chicken; flavourless, bland, slightly charred chicken. She ate in silence, ignoring how Metal Sonic stared at her unblinkingly (he couldn't exactly blink) and wincing at the fact that every slight movement she made caused her ankle to flame up. Miserably, she stared into the fire that Metal Sonic had made for her, and said out loud, "The fire's dying..."

Indeed it was. There was still plenty of wood, but it was damp. The only explanation Amy had as to why the flames were struggling to stay alive was because the oil was burning out.

She looked at Metal Sonic hopefully. "Can you douse it with any more fuel?"

The robot shook his head. Negative. He didn't have any fuel to spare, which was probably why he couldn't fly Amy back to her friends either (if he even considered that a possibility). Amy resigned herself to a night of total blackness, peering out cautiously through the mouth of the cave. It was completely dark. The heavy, dense clouds denied any light from the moon and stars, and she shivered miserably. It was going to be a dark and cold night in a cave made out of stone with a killer robot as her only company.

The night was going to be swell.

She stared at the dying fire, the flames crackling in weak defiance to their inevitable fate. She scooted closer, just to take advantage of the disappearing warmth and to retreat from the growing shadows and chilliness. The movement caused her ankle to protest painfully and she swallowed a complaint. She'd been through worse. Everything will be better in the morning.

Then the fire was reduced to tiny, pathetic embers, spitting and retreating from the damp moisture of the wood, and Amy wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. She looked up in the darkness and Metal Sonic's face-a face that often was the subject of her nightmares-was barely illuminated by the dying light. He looked absolutely scary. Expressionless, but terrifying. Red eyes that glowed long after the fire died out, becoming the only source of light in the night. Amy trembled from the cold and from fear, feeling tears springing into her eyes because she knew, she knew, that the robot could still see her completely, wasn't bothered by the dark. But she was. And she was scared to be alone with this robot, a robot that had tried to destroy her and her friends countless times, a robot that had been her first kidnapper, her first real fear. Usually, she would try to lighten the situation with conversation, try to understand her enemy with words-but Metal Sonic couldn't talk, he was just a barrier of silence, and that frightened her more than she was willing to admit-because that meant she couldn't decipher what he was thinking. She couldn't look away from him, couldn't pretend that he wasn't there, because he would not stop looking at her-these twin red eyes in the dark-and his silence was deafening. He was... unknowable to her, and that unknown scared her.

On Metal Sonic's end, he had a lot of time to observe her, and to think. At first, he had been uncomprehending. Why had the pink hedgehog woken him up? Why hadn't she just left him there, at the bottom of the cliff, and waited until dawn to escape? They were adversaries-he was the enemy and she was his hostage. It was illogical for her to want his company, to want to help him. Furthermore, she had even risked her life to climb down the cliff to save him-she had been injured as a result, and from the way she moved so slowly and twisted her face when she didn't move cautiously enough, Metal Sonic figured that she was in quite a bit of pain. It was true-the snow and moisture had seeped into his panels and affected his circuits, and the strike she made on his chest had activated an emergency back-up program, rebooting him.

He couldn't understand this hedgehog. Why had she done that?

Why hadn't she done the things a normal hostage being held against her will would have done?

Instead, she talked to him, bantered with him, smiled at him, saved him, desired his company despite the fact that he could clearly see how afraid she truly was of him. Was that it? Was she just frightened about being left all alone, to the point where she'd even prefer the company of her enemy? It was a possibility; it was logical in the way that mortals were illogical, but still... Metal Sonic couldn't fully comprehend it.

And here she was, this little thing, shivering and staring at him like he was a monster. Which he was. But he wasn't hurting her, not right now, so why was she frightened? He could see the tears gathering in her eyes, picked up on her escalated heart rate, noticed her trembling and shaky breaths. Was it him that she was afraid of? Was it the dark? Was it both?

He had been programmed with emotions, he knew. Eggman had given him the hardware to store the software, had given him a 'heart', because apparently rage and hatred and ambition was important in order to defeat the blue hedgehog he was programmed to destroy. But he was also given the ability to learn-and with learning, there was also the capability to understand. With his own research, he'd learned many things that Eggman kept secret from him, and while he wasn't initially programmed to feel softer emotions, he wondered if he could still learn them.

He must have processed these emotions in some way along his learnings, because for some reason, he desired for the pink hedgehog not only to be in presentable condition to Eggman tomorrow, but he also wanted her to feel... safe.

She saved him without any regard for payment. The social norms that he'd researched dictated that he return the favour.

He wanted to return the favour.

Unable to speak any words to express his intent, he stood up and started his way towards her.

Amy jumped at the sudden movement, at the loud, echoing sound of metal limbs shifting, and she began to scream. "S-Stay back!" she yelled, scared out of her wits. Tears trickled from her eyes. "Please-I-I'm scared-"

But when the robot paid no heed to her and continued to advance, Amy summoned her hammer and blindly began to flail it towards the direction of glowing red eyes. She pushed herself back as she did so, knowing that her position gave her an awful stance to be swinging her hammer about, but she didn't care. She didn't want him near her! Not when she had no visibility; not when she was helpless like this and injured. No, she didn't want to feel any more pain-she didn't want it, didn't want to feel cold, metal claws digging into her flesh, she didn't-

Her wild swing was suddenly stopped and Metal Sonic was closer to her than ever before. It caused her to panic and kick out, which she instantly regretted as the vibration from kicking metal wreaked havoc with her sprained ankle. She whimpered in pain and then suddenly, she found herself wrapped in metal limbs, blind eyes wide and terrified. The cold metal actually stung her, seemed to steal what little warmth she actually had. She tried to push away but the robot didn't budge an inch-she was being pressed against him, the sharp edges of his body poking at her soft flesh and making it difficult to breath. A number of frightful, bloody scenarios flitted through her mind, and she squeezed her eyes shut. "P-Please," she said, knowing that Metal Sonic was the physically stronger one, and could probably snap her like a twig if he wanted to. "Please..."

But even as Amy waited for the pain, it never came. In fact, all she noticed was a low humming noise, from deep inside Metal Sonic's chest. It caused her to jump but she couldn't move away, due to the constricting embrace of his metal limbs. Tense and feeling undeniably helpless, Amy sat as still as a statue, wondering what the robot was doing. Suddenly, she started to feel a little warmer, and the cold metal that was pressed up against her started to feel not as icy anymore. She opened her eyes curiously and, even though it was still dark, placed a hesitant hand on the surface of Metal Sonic's body. It was warm.

She looked up and found red eyes staring down at her. The sight still scared her, but she didn't feel quite so terrified anymore. "A-Are you... just trying to get me warm?"

Predictably, Metal Sonic didn't respond. But there was no denying that his body was steadily getting warmer, and the chilliness from Amy's bones was receding in the presence of her own personal heater. What was this? Was Metal Sonic activating some sort of internal heating mechanism... for her? Amy shifted, a little uncomfortable due to the fact that she was being embraced by pointy, metal limbs, but the fact that he was radiating heat made her relax slightly. He wasn't even holding her that tightly; if she didn't know any better, she would've thought that he was being gentle with her, being cautious with his pointy claws. Amy stared into artificial red eyes, tried to decipher them, read them, and couldn't. He was an enigma. Not because he was a robot, but because Amy... wondered what made him start to care.

Because surely, surely-none of the objectives that Eggman gave him involved him... comforting her.

Metal Sonic made a whirring sound and Amy wondered what that meant-whether it meant he wanted to tell her something, or was just a side effect from his heating system.

With her heart thudding steadily in her chest and her adrenaline slowing down, Amy stared at the robot curiously, wondering what kind of thoughts exactly passed through that impassive facade of his. Then she accepted the fact that she'd never know and instead smiled at him, sincerely and shakily and gratefully. "Thank you."

Metal Sonic's eyes didn't react, but he did process her words and the image of her smile. He stored them into his memory, downloaded the experience into his data banks, so that he would never forget this and all the little spikes of emotions it elicited out of him. Because by processing her, her smile, and the sincerity of her eyes, it did elicit something out of him. He saw and learned and wondered what exactly it was that he was processing, wondered whether it was a virus. He scanned himself, deemed himself clean, and then simply just accepted it.

That was how they spent the night-in complete darkness, excluding Metal Sonic's ever-present red eyes. Amy slipped in and out of consciousness in a restless sleep, pressed up against Metal Sonic's side and simultaneously drawn to his warmth and repelled by how uncomfortable he was to lean on. It was a miracle that she was even able to fall asleep, because that implied that, on some level, she felt safe enough to let her guard down around this killer robot.

Morning couldn't come any sooner-daybreak brought with it a surprise. Just after the crack of dawn and when Amy was still suffering from a restless sleep and a sore neck and ankle (and basically everything), there was a yell and a whir of activity she wasn't prepared for. There were shouts from voices that she recognised, and she felt herself being torn away from metal limbs and into softer arms-albeit, just as warm as the embrace she had just been in. With a start, she realised that her friends were here-her friends were finally here, they found her!-and the one who held her now was her hero in blue, her dearest love-her Sonic.

"Ames, are you okay?" he asked her, lime green eyes concerned and wide. Amy didn't have time to respond-indeed, she didn't have time to snap out of her confused daze before she was suddenly passed along to Tails. As she finally became aware of what was happening around her, she realised that Sonic was battling with Metal Sonic, and the robot was losing. With clarity, she realised that it was probably because Metal Sonic had been running all night to keep her warm; he had even used his fuel to give her a fire. He was low on energy, couldn't move fast enough and was entirely on the defencive-losing, definitely losing-and Sonic looked ready to utterly destroy him.

And that thought, for some reason, was unacceptable to her.

She forcibly pushed herself away from Tails, momentarily ignoring the sharp pain of her inflamed ankle and the fox's confused exclamation, and screamed out, "Sonic, stop!"

Her formidable command caused Sonic to jerk back from his attack, glancing at her with surprise. Then Amy collapsed to the ground, unable to take her own weight on her ankle anymore, causing enough distraction for Metal Sonic to start his engines and blast away.

As he did, he looked back at Amy-and Amy watched him leave. His eyes were as unreadable as always and she, herself, didn't know what she should be feeling right now, and she didn't have the time to even wave him goodbye because in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

The enemy no longer visible, Sonic and Tails surrounded the pink hedgehog, hands flurrying about in worry to make sure she was safe and okay. "Amy, what's wrong-What happened to your ankle?" asked the yellow fox.

"I fell," Amy mumbled, suddenly feeling very, very weary. "Can we just-can we just go home?"

The two boys glanced at each other and then nodded. Carefully, Tails helped Amy onto Sonic's back, and she gratefully wrapped her arms around him. She appreciated how warm he was; she appreciated the scent of wilderness and grass, because it meant that she was safe. As Tails took off flying towards the Tornado, Sonic made sure that she was secure on his back before he started his first steps forward. But before he took off in his usual supersonic run, he turned his head slightly and said, "Amy?"

"Mmm?" She was feeling sleepy and Sonic's breathing was soothing to her, threatened to lull her back to sleep.

"Why did you tell me to stop?"

There was a beat, and Amy shook her head. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

Sonic didn't say anything more about the topic, but she wondered if he was disappointed with her. He took off in a run and she instinctively held on tighter, burying her face into his quills. She had lied. She knew why she told him to stop.

It was because she didn't want to see Metal Sonic hurt, especially because what made him so weak in the first place was because he was keeping her warm.

She wondered if she'd regret the decision to side with him later on, when Metal Sonic was once again fully operational and at the brink of destroying everything she ever cared about. It was likely. But until then, Amy didn't regret her decision at all-

because her decision had been based off saving a friend.