I have always been told that I had a heart made of gold. I never questioned it, assumed that they meant that I was just a sweet, innocent child… A boy with a disposition none could hate, a boy who would do everything he could to better his own world… A heart made of gold, soul shining like silver, these I have heard all my life, and never questioned them…
"And… Action!" A man called out from afar, past beams of light from on high, past cardboard cutouts and metallic props, past phony actors and child stars… A Director of his own little world, a world that I am a part of… Was he this place's God? Was he the highest authority there was?
I didn't know… how could I? After all, I am just another nameless slave, a servant sent scurrying off to his whims. I danced the dance I was told, and at the end of the day I was allowed to live. Was that such a bad life? Perhaps… but all things must come to an end.
I tried not to think of such things, tried to put them out of mind… but those sentiments were the only things that came to mind as a burst of light and heat tore through all that I knew, all that I had grown up with… With a sound akin to an Apocalypse, the metallic prop of the Tornado resigned itself to its fate, and was destroyed without even a final command from its master, the Director of this cruel charade.
No, this was not an order from on high, my God did not bring this destruction upon me… I could see the look of shock on his face as a nameless improvised shank of metal pierced my chest… I could see it in his eyes, in that mouth open with shock, see it in all of their faces as their beloved actor was torn from them.
Strange… to feel a propeller a blade lodged inside my chest… To feel blood seeping down my fur, to feel the cold metal sticking out my back like an oversized arrow wound… Almost comical, in fact. For a second I began to doubt that this was real… Perhaps this was all another trick, another staged scene for another clichéd videogame set for the fanbase… But no, he could see it in their eyes. The Director did not call 'Cut!'. The cruel narrative played to the end.
I fell to my knees, onto a pool of my own lifeblood that had formed only within a few seconds… Amazing, how much blood my own body carried… Amazing, how quick it spilled from within, onto the cruel unforgiving floor, that cared not a lick for its importance.
I looked around again, pleading… Someone, anyone… help… I thought I spoke, but my voice did not come. How could it have? Nobody seemed to move. Not Sonic, not my own brother. He simply stood there, mouth agape, watching my death as if it were some tragic event that couldn't possibly be truly real… Not Knuckles, my friend… He was screaming something, screaming… but for the life of me I couldn't hear it. Heh… ironic, that. For the life of me. Not much life to be had now… Was I allowed the last laugh in this cruel world?
The Director stood up. I thought perhaps my suffering might end, that this pain could stop… but he simply turned and walked out. Then, I knew… knew that there was no hope for me. One by one, they all filed out, left me here in this Hell… to die. Sonic, my own brother, was the last to leave… I wanted to run to him, to call out, to do something besides kneel here in silence as my very essence stained the ground… Sonic left in the same silence as I could give… there was nothing left for me.
Nothing was right in this world… The good should not die young… Hearts made of gold were not meant to be pierced like this… Even the set was fake, as I lay dying in my presumed home… I have had no home, not once in my entire life. Perhaps most ironic was the one man who was left to help me… A man I had never known in my entire life. No, that was not true… Rather, I have never seen this façade before, this side of a man I have known nothing but cruelty from.
As he knelt down before me, gingerly taking hold of the shank in one hand while he steadied me with the other, I could see something I had never seen… Kindness. Care… Was the world so mirrored now that the great Doctor Ivo Robotnik was the only man to show care for a child that lay dying? I didn't care… I don't care. Not any more… I don't have much longer to live anyway…
The fatal blade was removed with a cruel sound, the sound of metal rending soft tissue in half… Blood seeped from the wound faster than ever. Could I still taste? Was that the taste of blood, in my mouth? It must be… a red ichor began to drip ominously to join its fellows… And so the child died… And so I died, in my new father's arms. Uncle Ivo, I would have called him… had my vocal cords not frozen in pain and shock.
I have died… Yet why am I still here? These thoughts still haunt me as my new uncle carried me in his arms. I cannot move… but I can still feel, and I feel that my wounds have been plugged, my lifeblood has been stanched with paper… Was there any hope left in me? No, there was none… but still I thanked my Uncle for his new caring disposition. The way he smiled at me… it was like that of a father to his son. Not to a son that laid dying… but to a son ripe with promise. That too, it seemed, had been perverted in this world, this world where nothing was as it seemed.
I could feel the cool metal below me as he laid me ceremoniously onto the table, a table that had been swiftly cleared of tools, parts, machines… Things that had once been second nature to me now seemed like ghostly remnants of a long gone world, a world that had shown me nothing but cruelty. This new father, my Uncle… he cared. He seemed to be the only one that did.
I couldn't feel it as the Doctor removed the improvised bandages… Couldn't see as he revealed the ugly wound that had taken from me my life, and shown me all of these perversions of reality… In a way, I thanked it… I thanked it for showing me the truth, and I thanked it for giving me this wonderful new Father. I couldn't feel as the Doctor opened the wound even more… I didn't even really care. I trusted him… A man who cared as much as he would not do evil. I knew it in my heart of gold…
In the end, he grinned. Was it a grin of a man who had lost all traces of his humanity long ago? Was it the grin of a man who had gained the ultimate power and who knew exactly how to use it? Was it the grin of a man who had just gained a son? I couldn't tell if it was any or all three… All I knew was that I was glad to be alive, past any hopes I had abandoned.
It was strange, standing up for the first time in what felt like months… Uncle Ivo had told me to stand. He was so nice… I didn't want to upset him. Didn't want to fail him. My creaking bones and muscles ached, but I didn't want to disappoint my only Uncle… So I stood, and watched him look me up and down with pleasure. I didn't know why he was so happy… but I was happy too. I was happy because he was happy… there was no question to be asked.
It was strange… My body felt cold… My hands felt like ice, felt like they were covered in rigid ice… My entire body felt like it was a mere shell, freezing cold… But Uncle Ivo was so sure of himself, so happy… There couldn't be anything wrong. Uncle Ivo would tell me if there was something wrong… He had shown me the truth of the world. He, of all people, wouldn't lie to me.
Uncle Ivo began to speak… I listened, I listened as hard as I could. It was odd, how hard I listened… I had never listened so hard in my entire life… But it was all to please Uncle Ivo… And that was all that mattered.
"Yes, my Son… You are the best of them all…" Uncle Ivo's happiness… it felt good. My body may not have felt right… but it wasn't a problem. After all, I was the best of them all… I was Uncle Ivo's favorite son.
"Now, my Son… do you want to make your Uncle Ivo happy?" Such a chance to repay my Father… It was a miracle. I couldn't even wait to answer him… Somehow, I ignored my monotonous, almost mechanical voice. It was irrelevant… I had to make Uncle Ivo happy.
"Yes, Uncle Ivo." My Uncle smiled… Such a nice smile. I wanted to make him happy…
"Good, my Son. Now go out and repay your former masters for all they've done for you. Go out and repay your old brother Sonic for leaving you to die." Yes… Yes, Uncle Ivo. Anything to make you happy.
"Do this for me, and you will surpass all of my other Sons… You will be the greatest of them all, Metal Tails!" My Uncle laughed, and I would have smiled if my immobile mouth could. It all made sense… my cold, metallic body… My freezing shell. It didn't matter anymore… My life was heaven. All I had to do was do what my Uncle told me to… And I would be happy.
"Yes, Uncle Ivo…" I bowed, my metallic bones creaking as the new mechanical muscles sprung into life. Anything to please my new Master… My Father… Uncle Ivo Robotnik, my Creator.
They say I have a heart made of gold… a heart full of goodwill, a heart willing to do anything it takes to make people happy.
They are wrong. My heart is actually made of steel.