After a few weeks later Sonic was starting to move again. He also couldn't stop looking at his new robotic leg and couldn't wait to start trying it out.
His mobility was low, but spirits were high as he didn't feel this great for almost a year now.
As the first snow fell was just staring out of the window. Ever since his whole ordeal started he noticed he was starting to appreciate the small things.

Suddenly he was distracted from his thoughts as Tails walked in. "Hey, Tails." He said enthusiastic. "Morning, Sonic."
The fox walked over to his brother while he took off his green jacket. He moved the sheets to take a look at the new limb. It was somewhat of a silly sight, but the patting would come later. "Any discomforts?" Sonic smiled. "It's perfect, I don't even feel it."

"Well, I was asked to take you with me. You're going to take your first steps today." Tails said while unfolding a wheelchair. "Just a little more time and I won't need to use that thing again!" The blue hedgehog said excited and glad.

A few moments later they arrived at the revalidation-center where they were greeted by a friendly trainer, A sporty looking white rabbit with very friendly looking eyes. "So, let's get you out of the chair." She said. Sonic's heart pounded in his throat. Was it real?

They both picked up Sonic and put him on his feet. While still needing support, he was standing.
Then when he stood stable enough he finally was allowed to take three steps. It was heavy, painful and exhausting but he was moving again. It felt weird and a bit gross how the metallic leg knew exactly what Sonic wanted it to do. but at the final step he collapsed to the ground as his normal leg couldn't take the weight anymore.

"Sonic... are you ok?" Tails asked but he just limply hung there while he was supported by his arms. Then Sonic just started laughing. Tails didn't know what was going on, the trainer on the other hand had seen this happening countless times before so she just smiled and acted like there was nothing wrong.
"I actually did it..." Sonic said happily when he could manage to catch his breath. It didn't matter to him that he couldn't go past two steps because at least he could do two.
Tails and the trainer pulled him from the floor and back into the chair. "Ready to try again?"
The whole morning Sonic was working hard on walking. But even though he kept on falling to the floor he wasn't close to giving up, on the contrary every time he fell down he got even more motivated to do it better next time.

For days and days he kept falling, couldn't make it past a few steps. He was exhausted and his muscles aced like they never did before. And even though Tails kept telling him he shouldn't push himself so hard, he just kept on going.
Sonic was just sitting in that wheelchair, panting. His heart felt like it was about to burst and was obviously in pain.

Just when the trainer was writing down today's progress with Tails, he carefully stepped off, squatted down, and slowly rose to his feet.
Suddenly Tails and the trainer noticed what he was doing, but didn't say a thing, they just watched. Carefully, he placed one foot in front of the other and with great focus he took one step after the other. All by himself he walked all the way to the other side of the gym which was about ten feet away before he nearly collapsed once again, but he supported himself against the wall. A few stray tears ran from Sonic's eyes. He did it...

And that moment marked the point of Sonic's recovery. Just walking those few feet was one of the greatest personal accomplishments he ever experienced. Every day he went out of his way to get the chance to walk. And nothing was stopping him.
Everybody took turns to help Sonic out with his exercise. Although he preferred Knuckles and surprisingly Amy was also a great workout partner to him.

Amy was working with him on a certain day, and they were just taking a break. They were just sitting on the wooden gym floor. "You're making great progress..." She said a bit shy. "It won't be long before I can run again."
"Sonic, I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to me over the past few months... I was so afraid you'd send me away but when I saw you again after all that time; I don't know. I just didn't want to you think I abandoned you."

Amy looked down but to her surprise Sonic placed his hand on her cheek and turned her head around to face him. "You deserve to be treated nicely... And actually, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but from everybody I missed during that period, I missed you the most."

Amy didn't know what to say so she just locked her arms around the blue hero who returned the embrace instantly. "I love you." "I know you do..."

Later on Sonic was just sitting in his hospital room with Tails. "So, how is Amy holding up as a training partner?" Sonic didn't answer he was just staring in the distance. "Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog sighed. "She's great to work with… Great motivation too." The way he talked about Amy made Tails smile a little. "She told me she loved me…" Tails wasn't too surprised by this. "She does that all the time." "True, but still… There was something about the way she said it…" Sonic felt a faint blush appearing on his cheeks and shook his head to shake the thoughts literally from his mind. "It's ok if you like her, Sonic…" The blue hedgehog was lost for words. "It's probably just the medication that makes me soft or something." He said with the fakes grin in the universe. "You're not fooling anyone, Sonic. At least, not anymore."

Sonic always felt ashamed when people reminded him of his past lies, did they forget he was mentally ill at that time? "

"I just never was that interested in dating anyone because I'm afraid it'll damage my freedom, but now that I've lost it, for the most part, I don't know, she appears… different to me." He confessed. Tails noticed Sonic was fiddling his hands, he was obviously nervous about telling him this.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out."

That night Sonic was sitting on his bed while the snow fell. He watched as the white crystals fell towards the earth, bathed in the golden light of the streetlights. As he was sitting there in the shadows he enjoyed the silence in his head, the stinging pain in his back and legs gave him a comforting feeling, and his muscles were developing again so he wasn't just gaining weight he was getting his former frame back too. Everything turned out fine, for now, and who knows what the future holds. But he did know that he wasn't looking at the world with the same eyes.

Even though he wouldn´t have believed it, he was turning back to who he was before, and hoped to continue living his life to the fullest. Would he ever settle down somewhere? Who knows, he would always have a home with his younger brother, that was promised. And maybe Amy wasn't as much of an annoyance as he believed she was. Perhaps one day…

Knuckles had confessed to him how much he had been praying for his wellbeing and promised Sonic he would keep him in his prayers wherever he wandered off to.
Shadow and him have become something special to one another too. They both didn't know what to call each other, but it was clear that Shadow never hated him as much as he always let on.

Slowly, day by day the moment Sonic had been waiting for was finally there. The sun was setting over the emerald fields and the spring flowers started to close.

Tails had proposed to put the finished patting on the leg, but Sonic chose not to, it was a reminder of what he´d been through and covering up what set him free somehow seemed wrong to him.

He stared at the open space as he inhaled the crisp evening air. He turned around to see his friends standing there.
Sonic walked over to them and smiled warmly. First he went to Knuckles and locked hands. "I've been keeping you from your duty long enough now." The echidna just nodded and wore a gentile grin on his face. "You saved my life, Knuckles, I'll never forget that."

Then he walked over to Amy, he caught her completely off guard as he locked his arms around her waist.
"You'll be my horizon…" He whispered in her ear. Amy didn't know what to say, her eyes turned misty as she returned the embrace. A subtle kiss landed on her cheek as they pulled away.

After that he reached out his hand to Shadow. "Can we just be friends instead of rivals?" Shadow smiled at the proposal. "Friends." Shadow had to think for a moment but tightly took Sonic's hand not a second later. "Fine, but that doesn't mean I'll back away from a fight." "I wouldn't expect any less of you."

Then he finally came to stand in front of Tails who was already in tears. "Tails… I´m sorry for everything I´ve done to you the past year, and I hope you can forgive me. And I´ve never been more proud to call you my brother." Sonic reached out for him and Tails immediately rushed into a tight hug. "Don't be away for too long…"
"Don't worry, my home will always be here."

Then Sonic took a few steps back before turning around. One last time he turned his head and gave his friends his trademark thumbs-up and then speeded away like he used to.

At last, he was free again…

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Author´s notes±

62 pages, 26 chapters, 4 months and 12 days. And it´s all over now.

I could´ve lingered on about how Sonic´s complete recovery went but I chose not to, not because I'm lazy, but because it would've become boring and it would feel that I just wanted to stretch it out just for the sake of making it longer.

I hope you enjoyed it, and let me know what you thought of it.

Thanks for everyone who faved me and/or this story and keep your eyes peeled because I already have some new ideas for a next story.

Good night everybody!