Author Note: Well, I knocked out this chapter and put it up in the same day. Cool.
A reviewer noted that there wasn't really any MetAmy in this self labeled MetAmy story. I'm sorry if it makes people like this less, but there are other stories out there if you want pure fluff, and this story is meant to give a (relatively) more mature and thought out development of the relationship between two people who by general logic should never have stopped being enemies. When Metal and Amy get together, I want it to be the result of a long and visible process of events, not a cheesy "and then they suddenly realized they loved each other" moment. Besides, which, what I see as romantic bonding doesn't necessarily fall under the "fluff" heading.
With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this nice chapter, and leave a thought out review if you have any issues.
Pasts
+So this is your current residence?+ Metal Sonic asked, scanning the modestly decorated apartment. Given what he knew about Amy's personality he had expected more… more of anything truthfully.
"Yeah." Amy said as she sat down on the couch. "Fortunately I've managed to find insurance that covers robot damage." While Metal Sonic generally made a point of avoiding unnecessary collateral damage, he could still tell that the comment was directed at him.
+Those actions were preformed under duress.+ Metal Sonic responded sharply, remembering his Creator's words.
"Really?" Amy asked with sudden seriousness. Metal Sonic paused as he thought about the reply. In truth he quite often enjoyed the mayhem and terror he caused, but he still only ever did so under his Creator's commands, and legally he had no choice…
+Yes.+ Metal Sonic finally said, before continuing to elaborate. +I have to carry out creator's orders because I'm a machine, and later I was implanted with explosives to keep my obedience despite my more advanced AI. I have to what he says, no matter my own thoughts. Even creator admits this.+
"Why do you think he let you go then?" Amy asked out of curiosity. No matter how petulant or childish, Eggman always did things for a reason, and that reason was always somehow to his benefit.
+I have not decided his most probable motive for putting me on leave. No option seems likely.+ Metal Sonic replied.
OOOOOOOOOO
*Hey Tails.* Sonic said as he walked into the two-tailed fox's house.
^Hi Sonic.^ Tails replied, looking up from his lunch.
*How's things going?* Sonic asked casually, dropping the bag from the jewelry store on an empty chair.
^Fine.^ Tails replied, before returning his attention to his soup. Sonic walked over to the house's living room and rifled through papers before poking his head back into the kitchen.
*Hey, where's the newspaper?* He asked.
^Oh, I must have recycled it.^ Tails said, trying to sound surprised.
*Dang, I wanted to read something in it.* Sonic said.
^Really?^ Tails asked nervously.
*Ah, it's nothing.* Sonic said, before walking out to Tails's garage. After a few minutes he poked his head back into the kitchen, to make sure Tails knew about his departure.
*I feel like running again.* He said.
^Okay.^ Tails said, waving cheerfully. Tails waited until he was sure Sonic was gone before slumping into his chair and letting out a sigh. ^That was close. I gotta be more careful next time.^ he muttered to himself.
OOOOOOOOOO
+May I read one of these books?+ Metal Sonic asked, pointing at the row of book spines on the one shelf in Amy's apartment.
"Sure." Amy replied, trying to be a courteous host to the war-machine visiting her apartment.
Metal Sonic selected a larger, unmarked tome and opened it up, finding it not to hold words but photographs taped onto blank pages and labeled with numbers, arranged to suggest chronological procession. The pictures differed wildly, going from mountains to buildings to a wide variety of people. Three people were the most common recurring theme in the picture. One was a younger Amy, recorded from the time she was a infant to her current age. The other two hedgehogs looked to be of a similar age, and habitually kept close to each other and the young Amy.
+Who are the people in this photograph?+ Metal Sonic asked, showing Amy a picture of the two hedgehogs.
"Oh. Those are my parents." She said giving a smile that only increased Metal's curiosity. The genetic parents of a sentient being generally stayed with and helped provide food, shelter and education for them until they were fully mature.
+Would it not be normal for them to reside with…+ Metal began to ask, only to see Amy quickly look away and frown. The room was filled with silence until Metal hastily tried to correct his mistake. +I said the wrong thing.+ He said simply.
"…Yes." Amy said quietly, her voice filled with silence. The room fell into silence again as Metal mustered the courage to ask what needed to be asked.
+Was I responsible?+ Metal Sonic asked.
"What?" Amy said as she turned to face him, shocked that he would be so blunt.
+I lack my memory from before my first body's destruction by the laser on Little Planet.+ Metal Sonic explained. +Afterwards Creator implemented a system to prevent this, but there was no backup at the time. I want to know if I was responsible. I cannot respect you if I cannot account for my own actions.+
Metal Sonic bowed his head and turned off his eyes, showing shame and humility in a way Amy could understand. Seconds were processed and reviewed to find any hint of change in Amy's emotions, making them seem to stretch into hours.
"…It wasn't you." Amy finally said, turning away to look out a window. "It was back in the first war: just a few robots, but my parents couldn't fight and…" She couldn't finish the sentence; she never would be able to. She felt Metal Sonic's immobile features studying her and turned to face the machine with a bittersweet smile.
"I never saw them die. I just don't know where they are. I'm sure I'll find them someday." She said.
+I understand.+ Metal Sonic said as he raised his head to look her in the eyes again, respectfully not processing the probabilities that her parents had survived. There was a serene silence between them before Amy chose to continue.
"No one else asks you know. They just assume there's a reason and leave me be." She said.
+But that's not what you want.+ Metal Sonic guessed, incorporating this new knowledge into his whole understanding of the hedgehog named Amy Rose.
"Huh?" she said, not expecting such a reply.
+You seek out a strong emotional bond with Him, even though he turns you away every time. You are desperate to have a personal connection with someone to the level that you can speak to them.+ Metal Sonic said.
"…Yeah. I guess I'm just lonely." Amy admitted.
+Lonely… That would be the way to describe it.+ Metal Sonic said absent mindedly, processing his own existence.
"What?" Amy asked.
+My life.+ Metal Sonic replied.
OOOOOOOOOO
*Well, I'm back.* Sonic said as he came back through Tails's door.
^Hey. So, why did you buy earrings.^ Tails asked.
*Huh?* Sonic said, quickly looking away.
^The earrings in the bag. I don't remember you having your ears pierced.^ Tails said suspiciously
*Oh, Those. I just saw them in the window and thought they'd look good. Try something new, you know?* Sonic replied, symbolically brushing the issue away with his hand.
^Oh.^ Tails said, comparing Sonic's love for improvisation against the more girly nature of the earrings in question. ^So they're not for anybody?^ He asked, looking for clarification.
*What? Of course not. Me, buying something for a girl?* Sonic said, wanting the oddity of such a thing explain itself.
^Yeah, that would be weird.^ Tails said, giving a small chuckle.
*Don't get me started. Metal and Shadow both bought jewelry for Amy.* Sonic said, rolling his eyes.
^What!^ Tails said in bug-eyed shock.
*No, really…* Sonic said as he launched into an explanation of the day's events, happy to have changed the subject.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Dah!" Amy exclaimed, jumping off the couch and away from Metal Sonic's approaching hand.
+Apologies+ Metal Sonic said as he quickly pulled back his hand.
"What…" Amy began to ask angrily, ready to unleash her hammer.
+I was attempting to "snuggle" you. You looked like you needed it.+ Metal Sonic said.
"Um… Thanks, but… that's a little hard for a robot to do." Amy said, awkwardly looking away and forgetting about the hammer.
+Why?+ Metal Sonic asked, having little knowledge about 'snuggling' beyond it requiring close proximity.
"Well your cold, and stiff… no offense, it's just the way you are." Amy said.
+I see.+ Metal Sonic said, wondering why then it was okay for her to 'snuggle' him.
"It's the thought that counts." Amy said.
+Why?+ Metal Sonic asked, and was met with an odd look in return. +Am I supposed to know that?+
"It means that the good intent of what someone does is what should reflect on them." Amy explained.
+Creator wants to make a perfect world, yet everyone reviles him.+ Metal Sonic replied remembering the awe-filling vision that had been shown to him when he was first awakened after Little Planet.
"No. Eggman wants a world where everything depends on him. He wouldn't except one made by someone else." Am replied grumpily, flopping down into a rocking chair across from Metal.
+That…is true.+ Metal Sonic admitted, remembering how the vision had seemed to decay with every increasingly mad scheme his creator pursued. There was a minute lull before Amy asked a question that Metal Sonic had never expected.
"Why did you try to take over the world?" When she asked it, Meta Sonic had to wait a few seconds before he had a proper response composed.
+When I became fully sentient, I began to experience mental problems like any living thing. I came to believe that I, a machine, was the only being in the world unprejudiced enough to run it. As my plan developed… I also thought the power would attract you.+ He said.
Indeed, the 'I'll make you queen of the world' plan had seemed quite good at the time. Actually, upon reflection Metal Sonic realized that it was around that time that Metal Sonic had realized his desire to have Amy be attracted to him.
"But you fought me?" Amy asked incredulously.
+I was insane, a megalomaniac; I couldn't live with the idea of someone opposing me. Also, the chaos data was crucial to my transformation, and had to be protected the most.+ Metal Sonic explained. He never doubted that he had been out of his right mind during his coup. In fairness to himself though, he had tried to go easy on her.
There was a silence as Amy looked down at her lap and mulled over what she had learned. Finally she looked back up at Metal Sonic and told him her conclusion.
"You could be a good person, you know, if you tried. People would think better of you."
+I can't. If I do the explosives inside of me will go off, and I will be gone. Creator would simply make a new Metal Sonic, and remove the chance of independent thought.+ Metal Sonic said, leaving out that he wasn't sure if he wanted to leave behind his existence as an engine of destruction.
"We could remove it." Amy said, thinking about her technologically gifted friend.
+No. If I tried to remove it, creator would set it off.+ Metal Sonic said bluntly.
"Oh, you don't have to cooperate." Amy said with a terrifying grin, summoning her hammer behind her back.
+What?+ Metal Sonic asked in confusion.
OOOOOOOOOO
^Hi Amy. Sonic's not here right now, so… woah, you beat Metal Sonic?^ Tails said, looking out his door and down at the beaten up blue robot that Amy had dragged behind her, Amy still wearing an expression that was far too cheerful.
"Oh, I just needed to knock him out do it would be against his will." She said.
^…What?^ Tails asked, still caught up on the part where Amy took down Metal Sonic, especially considering what Sonic had told him.
"I need you to remove the bomb inside of him." Amy said. Tails gave her a disbelieving look.
"Apparently he's got something called an AI, so Eggman can't just tell him to do anything, so instead Eggman put a bomb inside of him to keep him under control." Amy said.
^And you want to remove that?^ Tails asked, remembering Metal Sonic's insurrection quite clearly.
"Yeah." Amy said nodding.
*What!* Sonic yelled as he ran up behind Tails from upstairs.
"Oh, there you are. I thought you weren't here?" Amy asked in honest confusion.
*Never mind that. Are you serious?* Sonic asked in reply, looking down at his robotic copy.
"Yes." Amy said, straightening her face to make it clear.
*Why?* Sonic demanded.
"Because he deserves a chance, like Shadow did." Amy said.
*He was reprogrammed by Eggman. He isn't a real-* Sonic said.
"No. He already told you his AI was too complex." Amy said.
*Oh, please, that was such an obvious lie.* Sonic said, shaking his head sadly.
^Actually… That would make sense. He had to have free will when he betrayed Eggman, and that would be amazingly hard to edit out, if you could even find it in his code. Starting from scratch would remove most of the useful tactical upgrades the AI had created.^ Tails said, pondering the technological implications of such an advanced artificial intelligence.
*…If we do this he could just try to take over the world again.* Sonic said as a last resort.
"Then we'll stop him. But at least he wouldn't be a slave." Amy said, dead set that it was the right thing.
^…Should I?^ Tails asked looking at his mentor and guardian for help, not wanting to make the wrong decision but not wanting to go against either of his friends.
*…Go ahead.* Sonic said with a sigh, realizing he couldn't win the argument.
^Okay.^ Tails said with a nod.