"What did you do?" Reason asked, eyes wide.
"I'm not totally sure." Miles shrugged, starting his answer moments before she asked. "Saving you."
Ugh. Still not perfect. But he was getting there. He was at least getting better at guessing the order of words being spoken.
"I was supposed to die!"
"Well, I guess you can still die if you want?" He rubbed the back of his head with a frown, the blazing orange fire shield still danced around him. "Not like I can stop you if you're really determined."
"Why bother saving me in the first place then?" Reason scowled at him.
"If it was saving you, you needed saving." He smiled.
"That's circular logic."
It was a circular way of saving her too.
"I don't care. I didn't want you to die as well."
He'd have saved them all if he could.
"I'm already dead!" She pressed bare hands against her head, eyes wide. "You watched me die!"
"I watched Doodle die."
"I am Doodle!"
"You already told me what you are." Miles crouched down beside her, bringing her inside the burning aura. "You are what remains of Doodle's reason." He brushed away tears from her cheeks that hadn't fallen yet. "It's okay to remain, Reason."
"But…" Reason stared at him, confused, uncertain. "I'm all alone."
"You're unique." Miles smiled. "Same as everyone else."
Reason fell silent, staring down at the blackened floor, her tears brushed away as they started to fall.
"Think about it as long as you like. I have to go save the world."
"You can't. You fail."
"But you never told Doodle that, did you?" Miles stood. Because he'd seen himself stand. Grinned, because he saw himself grinning. "So I'd better keep trying."
"And when you fail?"
"Then I'll try something else. Forever. Want to come with me?"
Reason smiled despite herself, still staring at the floor.
"I love you so much."
"I know. I'm adorable. You're lucky, it's genetic. So?"
"I want to… to stay here for a bit. Is that okay?"
"I have to leave." He'd seen himself leave three times already. "But I promise I won't be long this time... I hope you're still here when I get back."
Reason didn't reply. He knew she wouldn't. Didn't.
But he was leaving. More insistent every passing moment. More and more it dominated his future.
Ruffling the fur on her head, Miles turned away, following himself to the door of the elevator.
"Just press the glowing button." Reason called after him. "Everything is ready for you."
"I know."
Miles closed his eyes against things said and unsaid as the elevator doors shut behind him. He blindly pressed the button he knew he'd press, turned in the direction he knew he'd turn, and threw up in the corner.
It was too much.
And it was getting worse.
Miles pulled his fur back out of the way as he vomited, patting himself on the back as he supposed himself from falling. He was spread thin across so many places. So much time.
At least he'd never need a mirror again. Miles stepped across from himself, wiping bile from his reflection's chin as the door chimed open.
"Off we go." He followed himself down a brightly lit hallway, passing by black smudges while trying not to think too hard about them.
Wait.
Miles turned around, glancing at the marks all the way out the corridor.
"Seriously?" Miles shook his head in disbelief.
Doodle had left him one final message. Painted on the walls in binary with the ashes of the clones.
She really was one of a kind.
Also? Completely insane.
Miles read the message as he walked, simultaneously impressed, revolted, and touched. Probably for the best he'd already thrown up, or the smell of scorched flesh would have made him do it now.
Miles reached the end of the corridor, the end of a message written by the dead, just for him.
"I will. I promise." He nodded.
She was always such a clever girl.
The door slid open, and Miles stepped through to a room much like the one he had woken from before. The occupant on the bed dozed lightly on her stomach, a small mark on the back of her neck where the neural link had recently been surgically removed from her neck. She was slightly taller than he remembered as well. Slightly taller than him now. Almost a year had passed for her, after all, however long it had felt in the timeless dream of Happy Days.
There was no sign of the other villagers, but that was fine. Everything had been made ready already.
The pink hedgehog stirred. Miles sighed in relief, a worry eased that only revealed its full intensity now it was resolved.
"Wh-... So...?" Amy blinked sleepily up at him. "Prower? What's with the... fire?"
"Hey, A-... Pricklepear." Miles grinned down at her. "Take it easy. You've been asleep for a long time."
"I…" Amy rubbed an eye with furless fingers. "I was… at home? I remembered a fox took us away, but... then I was home? Wasn't you. But she..." Amy blinked again. "She had two… Prower!" She leapt at him, arms outstretched to tackle him in a hug. "Your tail! It's back!"
"Sure is." Miles grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry it took so long to get here."
"I'm so glad."
"Me too. But, uh, can you put on some clothes?"
"What?!" Amy's eyes widened. "Ah!"
"Yeah, you were right. It is weird. You made it weird."
Amy punched him hard enough to break his fire shield as she turned away, blushing furiously.
Miles grinned, rubbing his cheek as she grabbed a pile of clothes neatly piled in the corner.
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
"It was funnier this way."
"You are such a jerk."
"Still saved you though."
"Ugh. Fine, you're still my hero. My stupid jerk hero. Happy? What even is this place?" Amy whirled back around, zipping the collar of her shirt at the back as she stepped into her shoes. "What happened to me? To us? Where's everyone else?"
"Your family is fine. They're waiting for you." Miles rubbed his chin. "This place… Is…"
A tomb.
Hell.
Heaven.
A cradle.
...Home.
Miles said all of these words. Didn't say any of them. "Nothing special. Generic supervillain lair. Let's get you home, okay? It's time for you to meet Sonic."
"Really?" Amy's eyes went wide.
"Sure is. You'll be just in time." Miles smiled.
"That's… Great." Amy smiled. "So you found all the time stones before you found me?"
"I had to. Why do you think I took so long? Saving you was a massive quest."
"Really?"
"Of course!" Miles grinned. "I had to fight four robot copies of me, collect all the time stones, and even save Stardust Speedway from getting blown up."
A door slid open. Miles would/had opened it. Another corridor stretched out before them.
"Really?" Amy blinked at him. "That's amazing! I feel just like a princess now!"
"... Do princesses get kidnapped often?" Miles raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I assume no. But when they do, it's really hard work, right? So were the bad guys super strong? Were they sent by your evil twin? Was Doctor Robotnik secretly behind everything the whole time?"
Miles laughed for the first time in a long, long while. "I'll tell you all about it on the way out of here."
So he did.
And he lied shamelessly the whole time.
Because children deserved stories that were black and white.
Where virtuous heroes triumphed over wicked villains.
And nobody ever died.