I am nothing but a tool. A robot meant to be used, then thrown away like the others. Even now, I mean nothing to them...

. . .

I miss Sonic.

I miss him a lot.

Broken memories. Forgotten thoughts. Strange emotions. This isn't me. This isn't me. The mantra repeats in my head constantly. A pounding rhythm that somehow, some way, keeps me from going insane. I look at the hands that aren't mine, stained with blood. This isn't me.

This isn't me.

I see Sonic's body, the hedgehog still struggling, living, trying to get up, trying to fight death, trying to survive. His wounds are fatal. Slowly I stand up, each decisive footstep clanging hollowly against the rusted floor, each decisive footstep taking me towards my friend.. my idol.. my brother. He looks up at me, and I see a glimmer of his old self in his eyes. The very same Sonic that rescued me, that raised me, that became my closest friend.. laying broken on the floor.
I did this. I hurt him.
"Tails..." His voice is weak. I look down at him. Even in the throes of death, even with his life slipping away, he smiles at me. "Tails, buddy... can you lend me a hand?"
"I'm not Tails anymore," I tell him.
Just a single shot. A single shot killed him. A single shot ended my old life.

This isn't me.

"It's activating."
"What is it?"
"A Metallix drone. Modeled after Miles Prower, oddly enough.."
"Miles? Isn't that the hedgehog's twotailed friend?"
"Yeah. He disappeared .. fifty, sixty years ago. Maybe even longer. Probably dead by now. If the thing that killed Sonic didn't kill him, old age probably did. Mobians don't live long."
"The new type do, though, don't they?"
"Only with our help. But those goddamn Metallix..."
I hate them. They're talking about me like I don't exist. They don't care. They don't know what I've been through.

They didn't see their friends die by their hands.

"Is this piece of junk even operational?"
"Who knows. Let's take it back to HQ. Maybe R-2 can figure it out."
R-2? Who? Where are they taking me? I feel panic seize me as I'm grabbed roughly, but I can't respond. Useless. They rip me out of my sole sanctuary without a care, my body limp in their hands as they haul me off. Away from my stasis pod. Away from my home.

Away from Sonic.

I don't know how much time passed. I was nothing more than a mindless drone, carrying out the orders my captors gave me. They called themselves the Guardian Unit of Nations: G.U.N. But things were different than they were before I locked myself away. Their technology was far more advanced than anything Dr. Robotnik could build. Their weaponry could decimate an entire continent in a few seconds. They'd even managed to clone heroes from the past- heroes that had long since passed away.
After all, Mobians don't live long.
Hours blended into days into weeks. My only company were my thoughts; the thoughts I weren't supposed to have. They didn't know who I was. To them, I was nothing more than another tool, a robot that just so happened to look like the famous Miles "Tails" Prower, the fox that had saved the world with Sonic hundreds of times before. When Sonic died, "Tails" disappeared. Why would it occur to G.U.N. that the android they harbored was a fallen hero?

Time passed again. A constant cycle I couldn't break. Training drills, reprogrammings that didn't do anything, a repetitive routine I had no love for. Then before I knew it, the cycle broke. I was lead down an unfamilar hallway to a locked room. I heard numbers punched into a keypad and memorized the sounds instantly. The door slid open before us, and I was escorted through.
The room had a high ceiling. A large console took up most of the far glass wall overlooking an even larger room, giant holographic screens covering every inch of the wall the console itself didn't. A high-backed chair, perfect for disguising its occupant, faced away from me. The soldiers saluted. "Commander!" So the old coot was still alive. Yet my assumption was immediately shattered as a familiar female voice answered.
"At ease." The chair swung around, and the new Commander of G.U.N. looked me over. "So this is the mechaniloid?" I couldn't believe my eyes. The memories I hid away from myself rushed through my mind, triggered by the familiar face I couldn't possibly forget. Even with my constant silence, even with the charade I had kept up since I had been forced into this, I couldn't hold back the name.

"Rouge?"

"So it knows its history," the bat laughed, standing up and walking over. As I got a closer look, I realized that I had still not been entirely correct. Her eyes were a different color, her build slightly different, a tattoo only just hidden by her khaki standard-issue G.U.N. uniform jacket reading in large block letters "R-2". So this was who they had meant. My expression must have changed, for she laughed again. "Got a good look, hon'? I'm Rouge II, and- yes- a clone of the original Rouge." She winked. "Just call me R-2, hon'. It's a little less confusing." I wanted to tell her that it was confusing already even without that, but I had already spoken out of turn.
"Take it to the others," she said unspecifically, waving us away. "I'll talk to it personally later." Before I could object- what did she mean?- I was already being hauled off again.

I soon found out who "the others" were. Again, familiar faces that weren't quite familiar. I spotted many Mobians who reminded me of my old friends, but was swept away before I could approach them. This entire sector seemed to be populated not by human soldiers, but by Mobians who had joined the cause. Cause against what? G.U.N. had only worked with Mobians when they had skills they needed or if they absolutely had to. This was nothing like that.
Before my observations were complete, I found myself in a spacious barrack. I heard one of my escorters explain something to one of the occupants, then the humans hastily fled. I stared at the ground, my nervous personality resurfacing. Who were these people? Why was I here? What did they want with me?

"Look at me."

I obeyed, and gasped, the sound mechanical and distorted. A purple-furred cat, also wearing the uniform custom-tailored for the Mobian soldiers, looked me over. I knew her. I searched my memories wildly, trying to find out what ghost had decided to haunt me this time.

"I know you know my name. Say it."
"..Blaze."
She smiles as she hears it. She pushes one sleeve up, revealing a tattoo similar to the one the Rouge clone had. B-2. "I'm Blaze II. A clone of Blaze the Cat, a pyrokinetic from another world. And from today onwards, I am your supervisor. Devas!" She suddenly called out. A dark brown hedgehog bearing far more than just a passing resemblance to Amy stands up and walks out of the shadows. Why is the room so dimly lit, anyways?
"Yes, Blaze II?" She sounds like Amy, too. It hits me just how much I miss her. Blaze II nods at her.
"Introduce our new friend.. to an old friend of his."

How does she know? Her looks pierce right through me, seeing what the others miss or ignore. She knows my mindlessness is an act, she knows that I'm not who everyone else thinks I am. The cryptic line pounded through my head as Devas escorted me. Was I never to walk these halls on my own? I felt the stares of hundreds as Mobian after Mobian turned to look at me, to catch a glimpse of the two-tailed android. I spotted a sign- Weapons Testing. Without another word, Devas ushured me in.
It was.. cluttered. That much I can say. Broken guns, dismantled robots, explosives.. everything under the sun that could be used as a weapon was strewn across tables, chairs, floor. In the center of the chaos is a green-furred Mobian, his back to me as he tinkers with something. Long, messy spines, the quilltips brushing against mid-back, indicate that he's a hedgehog. Yet... there's also something different. His ears are too big, one out to the side while another swivels around as I enter. But one thing caught my attention far more.

He had two fox tails.

"Eh?" His fur prickles as he feels my stare. He half-turns around, long, messy bangs strewn across his face and obscuring his sapphire eyes. His lightly-tanned muzzle is a bit longer than a normal hedgehog's, the point hit home by his fox-like nose. His tufted chest and tan arms, a different color than his torso, are only just hidden by, again, a G.U.N. jacket. "Can ya stop starin'? I'm tryin' ta work here-" He stops mid-sentence. "..Tails?"
"Taisic?" Of course.. it has to be him. The reckless hedgefox created from Sonic and I's DNA by the nefarious Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, whom had turned against his creator and blasted the base sky-high. I see a grin spread across his face as I say his name, and before I can react he has me in a tight embrace.
"Tails, buddy! It's you! And you remember me! This is awesome!" ..He hasn't changed a bit. Yet.. this feels uncomfortable. It's been six decades since Taisic's creation. He shouldn't even be alive. Even if Robotnik had created him using data on Shadow, he likely wasn't immortal. I watch his expression change as he feels the cold steel under my synthetic fur, his searching blue eyes starting to take in every detail as it dawns on him. He pushes me away, taking a couple of steps back; his eyes are wide in fear, his body trembling. "...You're not Tails."

"Taisic, I'm sorry." The words sound hollow. "Things have changed..."
"You're not Tails," he repeats. "You're just a fake... like how they made a fake of Blaze and Rouge and Amy." He looks close to tears. "I don't give two shits about their damn project or about the Metallix, I want my friends back!"
". . ." I'm not the only one affected by this. This is the real Taisic.. I don't know how he survived this long, but it's him. And.. just like me, he misses everyone. How long has he been here? Had Blaze II or R-2 or Devas tried to comfort him? Had he pushed them away? "Taisic, it's me.. I.. I am Tails..."
"No you're not!" Taisic is hysterical. "You're just a robot that looks like him- like Eggman used to make!"
..There's no reasoning with him. I turn to leave when I hear Rouge's voice. "He's not lieing, Taisic. I had a team do a closer examination of where we found him. I'm not sure what happened or how he ended up like this, but..

"...We finally found Miles "Tails" Prower."