Chapter 29: Real

Amy's hand fell from her mouth and she made a small whimpering sound.

"I look terrible," Metal said sadly. "But I know this was the most Miles could do for me. I'm less "real". And I'm very asymmetrical."

Amy started towards Metal, blinking away tears to focus her eyes. The lower half of his right leg had been replaced with one of his original, robotic legs, and his entire left arm had been replaced with one of his original robotic arms. His right hand was still robotic, but the remainder of his body was still biological. Where he had suffered the horrific wound to his face he had been left with some scarring: there was a triangular chunk missing from his left ear, and two permanently bald lines ran down from it, one thin, that ended just below his eye, the other thick, running over his eye and all the way down over his nose, ending as a grey line over his otherwise black nose. Amy stopped in front of him, one hand starting towards him and pausing by the left side of his face.

"Miles took me to a doctor about my eye," Metal said softly. "The lens was broken in half, he said the only way to save my eye was to remove the lens. I can still see out of the eye this way, but it's not as good as my other eye, which still has the lens."

Amy's hand lowered down and she nodded, her own eyes moving back and forth between Metal's uninjured eye, still containing the lens that gave it its vibrant – if flat – red colour, and his scarred eye, which, without the lens, was the same lime green colour as Sonic's.

"You said you loved me," he said. "I heard you."

Amy nodded her head.

"Do you still love me?" he asked. "Even like this?"

Amy nodded her head again.

"Are you sure?"

Amy threw her arms around him and fell against him, holding him as tightly as she could bear. He put his right, biological arm, around her, but she noticed that he hesitated to do the same with his left, robotic arm.

"I do love you," she said, her voice muffled as her face was buried in his quills. "I do. And I thought... I thought you were dead!"

"So did I," he replied, with an almost unsettling ease.

"Don't say that!" Amy yelled, stepping back from him and grabbing his shoulders. "Don't ever say that!"

She tried to shake him, but he was as immovable as always.

"I'm as surprised as you are that I'm standing here right now," he said, his face expressionless.

Amy frowned and took a few short breaths before finding her voice again.

"You can talk!" she said, as the realisation hit her.

"Yes," he said. "The old man did it when I went to save Cream."

"You've been able to talk since...?" Amy asked, tilting her head.

"Yes," he replied.

"But why didn't you...?"

He shook his head.

"I thought the first thing I said to you should be something important," he said. "Something profound. Instead, it was just your name – although that is something important to me, at least."

Amy smiled and made a small whimper.

"You said my name when you approached me just now," she said.

"It was before that," he softly replied. "It was back there. When the old man tried to attack you."

Amy hesitated, her mind going blank for several seconds. But, as she searched Metal's opposite coloured eyes, she found one, clear memory surfacing, of a fraught moment when she thought Sonic was drowning, when she had heard Sonic's voice call out to her, warning her of Eggman's attack, saving her from certain doom.

"You sound exactly like Sonic," she concluded aloud.

"Unfortunately yes," Metal agreed.

"It's okay," Amy said. "You're still you. And I love you."

Metal's face softened, that look of childlike curiosity dawning on his features.

"I love you too," he said.

Amy smiled and gripped her hands into his shoulders as fresh tears brimmed in her eyes.

"Does this mean I can kiss you now?" he asked.

Amy nodded, her smile dissolving into a small noise of surprise when, upon seeing her nod yes, Metal immediately closed in on her. She made a small, muffled yelp of surprise as his lips crashed into hers, though when she felt their warmth, she quickly melted into his hold. He was a little clumsy and rough, but she returned his gesture softly. When he made to pull away, she pulled a little on his lower lip. Once they had broken contact, she opened her eyes, her smile fading when she saw the hard look Metal was already giving her.

"What was that?" he asked, pointing a finger at his bottom lip.

"I was just kissing you," she said, blushing a little.

"I didn't know we were allowed to do that."

Amy's face fell.

"Whuh?" she grunted.

"Can I do that too?"

Amy opened her mouth, but words failed her. Metal frowned harder and she managed a faint nod, which he quickly acted on, pulling her in closer to him, his lips finding hers immediately. He again was a little rough, and after a moment, she pulled away, putting a hand over his mouth to stop him closing in on her again immediately.

"Just... Let me take the lead, okay?" she said.

He didn't respond.

"Just follow me, okay?" she tried.

He made a grunting sound that sounded like he was displeased, but Amy took his face in her hands and brought him back to her, pressing her lips to his. He did appear to have taken her instructions on board, as he was a little gentler this time. He growled and grunted a few times, the vibration of the sound reaching Amy through her lips in a pleasing way that stoked a feral desire within her. They stood that way for some time, and when they did finally part, Amy found herself a little breathless and flushed in the face. She collapsed against Metal, and he put both his arms around her – without hesitation this time, she noticed – holding her close.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "But… You said you didn't know how to talk to me before, but you've had no difficulty talking to me today. What changed?"

"Miles shouted at me."

Amy giggled, but, when Metal didn't respond, she took a step back from him, holding him at arms' length so that she could look him in the eye.

"He was greasy and shaking and he told me he would shoot me with a laser if I didn't come here and talk to you," Metal said.

"That doesn't sound like Tails…" Amy muttered.

"I don't think he's slept since the night before the last day we worked on the fairy garden," Metal replied. "He stayed up all night after the old man attacked, and then he stayed awake after that to help me. When we were at the eye doctor, he started to fall asleep and he fell off the chair and the doctor wanted to put him into the hospital but he refused."

"That does sound like Tails," Amy said with a nod of her head.

Amy was worried about Tails then, and wanted to ask more about his welfare, but when she looked into Metal's eyes, she found her mind going blank, and felt a stupid smile appearing on her face.

"Will you come home now?" he asked her.

She nodded her head and slipped her arm through his. He looked down at her arm for a moment, and she knew why: she had, without really realising, linked her arm with his robotic one. She kept her eyes on his and, without needing to try, she kept her smile in place, and, when he met her eyes again, he shortly smiled himself, before walking with her back through city hall and out the front door of the building.

"Will you carry me home?" she asked him, once they had descended the steps to the street outside

"Obviously I will," he flatly replied. "You're really slow otherwise."

Amy wanted to snap at him for the insult, but she was still just too happy to have him back, to be holding onto him. She made to put her arms around him, but he leaned away.

"Wait," he said, before turning his head from her.

Amy leaned past him, her eyebrows rising as she noticed Sonic and Knuckles walking down the street towards them, each carrying a brown paper bag just like the one Knuckles had left for her the day before. Knuckles noticed them first, waving to them.

"Well, it's about time," Sonic said with a smirk.

"Oh, I get it," Knuckles said as they stopped beside Metal. "Since Amy wouldn't come home, Metal had to go get her."

Amy's face fell.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that, Amy!" Knuckles quickly said to her.

"You're right though," she admitted. "I should have been there for Metal, for everything he's just been through. I just didn't know..."

"Here, have this!" Knuckles said, pushing his bag of food towards her.

Amy tilted her head as she viewed his offer, but Metal didn't hesitate to take the bag. He then turned his attention to Sonic, who looked back at him for a moment before shrugging.

"What?" he asked.

"Give me your food, I'm hungry," Metal flatly answered him.

"I'm pretty sure you're gonna eat that food Knuckles just tried to give to Amy," Sonic said.

"Yes I am," Metal plainly replied. "But I want yours too."

Sonic's face twisted.

"Dude, it's chilli dogs," he said.

"Give me it," Metal said, holding out an upturned hand expectantly.

"No!" Sonic replied.

Metal gave a short sigh before hooking his middle finger under his thumb and positioning it under Sonic's nose.

"Gees, just take it already!" Sonic said suddenly, slapping his bag of food against Metal's chest.

Metal accepted it silently.

"Don't bother thinking this is gonna be our dynamic from now on!" Sonic warned him.

Metal grinned at him briefly before holding out both bags of food to Amy. She accepted them, feeling a little confused, but the moment passed when he hooked his arms around her waist and legs and picked her up. As he started to run away, she heard Knuckles calling out a goodbye to them, his voice fading as they moved away at speed; apparently though Metal was still adjusting to walking on a partially robotic leg, as, although he did run faster than she could, she noticed he wasn't as fast as he had been the last time he had carried her anywhere. When they got home, he carried her into the house as he usually did, putting her down in the living room before tearing open the bags of food and making short work of the contents. Amy went to her fridge to get a drink for him, but noticed that she had very little lemonade left, and it wasn't looking too fresh since she had made it before the gala.

When she closed the fridge door, she found Metal drinking from the kitchen tap. He paused, looking over at her with a hint of worry in his features. She waved a dismissive hand and smiled, and so he continued a little longer. When he finished, she started to ask him if they should go and speak to Tails, but her voice dissolved into a yelp when he picked her up again. She looked about herself in confusion, only really registering what he was doing when he put her down on her bed.

"Uhh..." she said, smiling at him nervously. "It's a bit presumptuous of you to think that I want to just..."

Her voice trailed off when he stepped back from her.

"I want to just lie here with you like we did before," he said.

"Oh..." she softened, sitting up and reaching out her hands towards him. "That would be nice!"

She took his hands and he crawled onto the bed at her side. She hesitated, but he released her hands and lay down on his back, his arms bent up at his sides. Amy snuggled into his side as she had done the last time he had slept in her bed, resting her head on his armpit and placing a hand on his chest. She was lying on his robotic arm, but it was surprisingly still very comfy. When he sighed, she tilted her head up and looked at his face, finding his eyes closed. He probably wanted to sleep, but she couldn't help but lean closer and kiss his cheek. He smiled, but otherwise didn't respond. She bit her lip, watching him carefully. When he still didn't respond, she pulled herself closer to him and began placing kisses all over the side of his face. His ear nearest her twitched and he made a small groaning sound, but she continued, only stopping when he suddenly moved, grabbing her wrists and rolling her over. She froze, her eyes wide, as she found herself pinned to the bed beneath Metal, who was suddenly very awake and looking at her very intensely, his breathing deep, his nose almost touching hers.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, smiling nervously.

"I like that," he growled.

"Good...?" she answered.

"Do you like it too?"

Amy nodded, assuming he was talking about her kissing him: and so when he began kissing around her ears and shoulders, she gasped in surprise, before whimpering and squirming beneath him every time he kissed her in an unexpected place. After a while, he released her wrists and she moved her hands to the back of his head, stroking over his quills – which still remained a little untidy, now matter what he did – sinking into her pillow and sighing softly.

When Amy awoke again, she was tangled up in Metal, and, for once, he was sleeping on his side, facing her, his mouth closed. She smiled at him and kissed his forehead, and, to her surprise, he spoke.

"Can we eat something first?" he muttered in a deep, sleepy voice. "I'm hungry."

Amy frowned at his face and he opened his eye nearest her – his red eye – and looked up at her expectantly. She looked over at the clock on her wall and shrugged.

"We're too late for the "early bird special", but we could probably still get dinner at Charlie's, if you like," she offered.

His eye narrowed slightly.

"No?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, sitting up and stretching his arms.

He winced a little as his left arm stretched up, moving it down again and touching a hand to his left shoulder.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked.

"It pulls sometimes," he said, frowning down at his shoulder.

"It's probably still healing," she said. "But you'll be fine."

She shuffled closer to him and kissed his shoulder at the join between his biological and robotic body parts.

"Do more of that after we eat," he said, before pushing aside the bedsheets and rising to his feet.

Amy was silently glad his back was turned to her then as he words had made her blush. She quickly turned away and got out of bed, following after him as he moved through the house. As he started drinking from the kitchen tap, Amy noticed her communicator on the breakfast bar, noticed she had a few missed calls: one from Sonic and two from Tails. With a small shrug, she decided to call Tails back, if only to see if he had finally had some rest after all his hard work.

"Amy!" he answered, looking as hyper as he had the last time she had spoken to him, only cleaner and brighter, suggesting he had finally had some sleep. "We're all on our way to Charlie's, come join us!"

Amy looked back over her shoulder at Metal as turned off the kitchen tap.

"Will Sonic be there?" he asked with a slight scowl.

"Yeah, but it's okay, because the rest of us are all here too!" Tails called over to him. "I'm here, Knuckles is here, Cream is here – we all wanna see you both, come join us!"

Metal's face softened and he tilted his head slightly.

"Buddy, we talked about this," Tails said with a sigh. "I know you don't like Sonic–"

"I hate Sonic," Metal corrected him.

"But he's part of our group, and so are you, so just... Do it for Amy and me, okay?" Tails finished.

Metal looked thoughtful before saying something that made Amy blush to hard she started to sweat.

"If I go there and I tolerate Sonic, will you do those things you did to me in your bed again later?"

Tails made an awkward, high-pitched noise that drew Amy's attention back to his face.

"Well, um, I'll let you guys just... Do whatever..." he said in a squeaky voice.

"We're coming to see you," Amy assured him. "To have dinner, and nothing else."

"Until after, when we get home," Metal bluntly added.

Amy whimpered and Tails let out a noise that was probably meant to be awkward laughter.

"We'll see you there," Amy said in a wavering voice.

"Okay, bye," Tails answered, in an equally uneven tone.

Amy closed her communicator and turned to Metal. She started to tell him not to say things like he just had, but he didn't appear to be listening, and shortly picked her up and started for the door. She struggled to close and lock it before he started running. He still wasn't as fast as he had been, but she noticed he was faster than he had been when he had taken her home from city hall, which she assumed was down to the fact that he was still healing, and getting stronger all the time. He took her right to the door of the restaurant, placing her down there. She walked in ahead of him, and quickly located her friends, sitting around a table, where everyone except Cream looked happy: she was wearing a party hat and looked like she wished she wasn't there. When she spotted Amy, her face brightened, and she leapt from her seat, running towards her.

"Hi, Cream!" Amy said, holding out her arms.

"Metal!" Cream cried, running right past Amy and throwing herself at Metal, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him tightly.

Metal was frozen on the spot, his arms lifted above her, his fingers twitching in the air awkwardly. He noticed Amy looking at him and she nodded her head to reassure him. Slowly, he lowered one hand down onto the top of Cream's head.

"You smell nice," he told her.

"You can talk!" she cried, releasing him and stepping back, clasping her hands together by her face as she beamed up at him.

"Yes," he confirmed.

He then signed something to her and she giggled, signing back at him. Amy pouted, deciding she would still go ahead and learn sign language, just so that she was never left out of anything in future.

"Cream, why are you wearing that hat?" Amy asked her.

"Mister Sonic told the staff here that it's my birthday," Cream said, turning to her, her smile fading. "But it's not my birthday. He told me to pretend so that everyone gets free refills and we get free cake."

Amy sighed, but reached a hand back, taking hold of one of Metal's hands. She and Cream then moved over to the table beside the others.

"It's Cream's birthday, so you gotta wear a hat," Sonic said, standing up as Amy and Metal sat down.

Amy looked around the others with a small frown.

"But no-one else is wearing a..." she began, her voice trailing off as Sonic reached across the table and planted a plastic cowboy hat covered in red sequins onto Metal's head.

As Sonic sat back down with a giant grin, Metal's red eye started to glow.

"Honey, you look darling in that hat."

Amy and Metal turned to see Rouge joining them at the table.

"And I'm sure Amy agrees with me," she added, looking across the table at Amy with that sort of face she usually wore when she was flirting with someone to get a discount on something.

Metal turned to Amy, the glow fading from his red eye. She smiled at him.

"You do look cute," she said.

He then turned to Sonic with a grin that was really too toothy and wide to be anything other than worrisome.

"I got a hat too," Sonic said, placing a yellow plastic bowler hat on his hat.

"You look dumb in yours though, Sonic," Knuckles flatly told him.

Sonic turned to him, but Knuckles had turned his attention to Rouge.

"Did you come here because you got our marriage cancelled?" he asked her.

"No, I came to tell you we need to let it run its course a little longer," she replied.

Knuckles's face fell.

"We're going to get divorced, but not until I've secured a contract with a lawyer I'm negotiating a business deal with," Rouge casually continued. "I'm going to let him think that he's saved me from a terrible marriage. Then I might marry him."

Knuckles narrowed his eyes.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged. "Well you can't do that if I don't agree to divorce you!"

Rouge smiled and Amy wanted to warn Knuckles that he was treading into dangerous territory: but before she could, the conversation took an odd turn.

"What's the matter, big guy?" Rouge asked him with a pout. "Don't you like having me as your wife?"

"Wife?" Metal repeated, looking suddenly alarmed.

"Yeah, we got married, remember?" Knuckles answered him.

"That's what married is?" Metal echoed, looking more alarmed than Amy had ever seen him do. "Married is getting a wife?"

"Yeah, obviously," Sonic said, screwing up his face. "What else would it be?"

Metal gulped audibly and Tails signed something to him across the table.

"What did you just say to him?" Amy demanded.

"He told me not to talk about Eggman's wives because it might make everyone uncomfortable," Metal immediately replied.

"Eggman's what now?" Knuckles asked in a low voice.

"Did you say Eggman's "wives"?" Sonic asked, leaning across the table.

"Yes, he had at least seven that I can remember," Metal plainly replied.

"Please stop," Tails said in wavering voice.

"He made a metal skeleton and coated it in a flexible polymer to replicate human flesh," Metal continued regardless. "Usually rubber. He broke them all because he was too rough with them,"

Sonic and Rouge both started laughing, but Knuckles leaned over the table, leaning closer to Metal.

"So, are you saying he made robot wives for himself?" he asked.

"All the time, yes," Metal plainly replied. "Is that not normal?"

"No!" Tails and Amy both answered in unison.

"And he broke them all," Knuckles continued. "Because he–"

"Knuckles!" Tails cut him off.

Knuckles turned to him, his index finger on one hand still poised over the O-shape he had formed with his other hand.

"Not in front of Cream!" Amy snapped at him.

"Oh, sorry," Knuckles said, nodding at Cream, who was watching them all with wide, curious eyes.

"I was gonna say not in front of me..." Tails muttered.

"I've told you about this before, Miles," Metal said.

"I know you have, buddy," Tails said with a sigh.

"So, wait, these "wives"," Sonic began, leaning across the table again. "Did he dress them up?"

"Sometimes," Metal replied. "Mostly what he used them for required them to be without clothes though."

"Hey Metal?" Tails said. "Let's not talk about this, okay?"

"Why not?" Metal asked.

"Do you remember the conversation we had about not talking about inappropriate things?" Tails asked.

"Which one? You tell me that all the time."

"Well, can you try listening to me when I tell you that?"

Metal blinked at him a few times. Rouge put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to her.

"Honey, he's trying to tell you that it's not appropriate to talk about Eggman's love dolls in front of him, or Cream or Amy," she told him.

"I didn't know that," Metal replied.

"Well, now you do," Rouge said, patting his shoulder. "Just wait until Tails, Cream and Amy are gone, and then you can tell me, Sonic and Knuckles all about it, okay?"

"Maybe don't talk about it at all," Amy suggested.

Metal turned to her.

"Because it's really gross, and also Eggman is a part of your past now," she told him. "You don't have to even think about him ever again if you don't want to."

Metal nodded once.

"I lack the ability to erase my memories in this body," he said. "But I will try."

"Okay, good," Amy said. "Now have a chilli dog and relax."

As a plate piled high with chilli dogs was placed onto the table, Metal gladly took one in each hand and began eating them.

"You like chilli dogs too, huh?" Sonic asked him.

"I like the way they feel in my upper stomach," Metal replied. "I don't like the way they feel in my lower stomach."

"Why are you eating them then?" Amy cried.

Metal turned to her, his cheeks bulging with food. He was looking at her as though she had just asked something ridiculous.

"Because I like the way they feel in my upper stomach," he repeated.

Amy opened her mouth to argue, before sighing and relenting.

"Just when you thought you'd got away from Sonic's chilli dog farts, Amy," Knuckles said, shaking his head.

"I don't think she'll kick this one out the bed for farting," Rouge said with a smirk.

"Why are you saying that?" Amy snapped, trying to hide her blush behind her hands.

"Hey, I have an idea," Tails said in a weird voice. "Let's just eat."

"Sounds good," Amy agreed.

After a group of people all dressed the same brought over a cake and sang a repetitive song to Cream – who smiled but sweated throughout the whole ordeal – Sonic told Amy to share out the cake, and she did it without question, cutting up slices and serving them up for everyone at the table. Metal accepted a plate from her, but he wasn't sure that he wanted it, he would have rather had more chilli dogs. He poked a finger at the top of the cake, the pink stuff there sticking to the tip of his finger. As he tried to wipe it off on the table, Rouge leaned in closer to him.

"You know, I still have this," she said, producing a sparkling stone from nowhere. "I might be willing to part with it, if you could do a little favour for me."

"What is that?" Metal asked, pointing at the object in her hand.

"It's a ring, sweetie," she replied.

"Funny looking ring," he flatly replied. "It's small and it's not even yellow."

"It's not that sort of ring. And it's platinum. I should return it, but maybe you would like to have it."

"I don't want it."

"You don't, but Amy might. It's an engagement ring. You give it to her so that she marries you."

"Marries me?"

"And then she becomes your wife."

Metal paused, the idea of Amy taking the role of all those squishy-coated robots the old man had made for himself making him feel funny in his chest.

"But I'd need something in return from you," Rouge continued.

Metal held up a finger to her. He wasn't really sure why she was trying to bribe him, but he was sensible enough to know that she was, and so he set about ending her advance. He picked up a fork and snapped off one of the prongs, bending it around and forming it into a ring shape. He then looked around the table before choosing the high-top drinking glass Rouge was using. He took it from her and smashed it against the edge of the table, ignoring the noises everyone else around him made. His sharp fingers made short work of the glass base, shaving away the excess glass until he had a lump about the same size as the gem in the ring Rouge was holding. He then quickly worked to reshape it, until it was indistinguishable from the one Rouge had. He then snapped another prong off the fork and snipped it into small pieces, working them around the glass and the ring. Within minutes, he was holding a ring identical to the one Rouge had.

"Why is this valuable?" he asked her. "It's so basic."

She was looking at the object in his hand with wide eyes, her mouth open. She slowly reached out a hand and took it from him, holding it against the one she had, looking back and forth between them, before smiling and meeting his eyes.

"You know I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Metal."

She gave him her ring, and he took it, but mostly because he realised it was the first time she had called him directly by his name. She seemed like a simple person to convince of anything though – if a piece of broken glass and some broken metal could make her relinquish something valuable she was clearly an idiot, after all. She got out of her seat and moved around the table, evicting Miles from his seat, sitting into it and pulling Amy's chair closer to her, putting her arm around her and telling her something quietly. Miles pouted at the back of her head before moving around the table and sitting into Rouge's seat.

"You should have punched her in the throat," Metal advised him.

"It's fine," he said, in that way he did too often. "I wanted to show you something, anyway. This is something I was working on before, but after... Well, after you lost your arm, I got a look at the augmentations on your shoulder, I was able to find the composition of the polymer Eggman used to make it, and I used the same mix to make this."

Miles produced something that looked like a plastic finger.

"It doesn't look like much, I know," he said. "But I think I can make you hands like this. You won't be able to feel anything with them, but I can hook them up to be as responsive as the hands you have right now, only you'll have fingers more like, well, a real hedgehog, I guess. What do you think?"

Metal took the plastic finger from Miles, turning it over in his hands as he studied it.

"I've got a lot of learning to do, but I think, in time, I could probably do a lot more for you, like this," Miles continued. "Maybe I could even build you a better arm, and a better leg. I mean – if you want it."

Metal smiled and passed the finger back to Miles.

"You've helped me a lot, Miles," he said. "You're a good buddy."

Miles grinned and rubbed a hand at the back of his head.

"You're a good buddy too, buddy!" he answered. "Hey, there's gonna be fireworks at the harbour, you should come with us to see them!"

"Fireworks?"

The word sounded like some sort of weapon, and when Miles proceeded to tell him they were rockets that exploded in the sky, Metal was even more certain it sounded like some sort of battle. However, when Amy heard they were going to see fireworks, she smiled in that way that made her deep green eyes sparkle, and he didn't really care any more what a firework was: if it made Amy that happy, he would go anywhere and do anything so she could see them.

The group all moved out of the restaurant, and it was dark on the street outside. Knuckles looked angry – though to Metal, he looked that way most of the time anyway – and turned to Rouge.

"I'm not going to pretend to be your husband for anything," he told her.

"But you're not pretending, you are actually my husband," she told him. "We're married, remember?"

He growled and scowled at her.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" she asked, leaning against his side. "Don't you like being married to me?"

She dragged a finger down one side of his face and he looked like he was about to turn on her: but suddenly his face changed and he grinned at her. She looked confused, and she yelped when he put an arm around her and leaned her back. When he moved in and kissed her, Metal was clearly not the only one shocked, as Sonic, Amy, Tails and Cream all gasped. Knuckles stood Rouge back up and let her go, smiling at her slyly. She straightened her clothing and hardened her look, glaring back at him.

"I'll have the papers ready tomorrow morning for you to sign," she said. "Enjoy your fireworks."

She turned her back on him and started to move away. Sonic started to shout something after her, but Amy tugged at his arm and shook her head.

"This is a nice evening, Sonic, don't ruin it," she told him.

He groaned, but moved with the others as they started down the street. Amy moved to walk alongside Metal, taking hold of his hand and smiling at him. He smiled back at her, and they walked together behind the others. Sonic and Knuckles were first, both talking about Knuckles's wedding, then Miles and Cream were walking together, talking about planes. As they walked further down the street, Amy reached her other hand over and took hold of Metal's arm moving closer to him. It was a good feeling just having her close: and so he was a little disappointed when she followed Miles and Cream into a messy shop.

"Come on Metal, let's go find a good spot, they'll catch us up," Sonic said to him.

Metal turned to Amy, who was still in the doorway of the shop.

"Go with Sonic, it's fine, I'll see you soon, okay?" she said.

He was disappointed in her answer and didn't make any effort to hide it in his face, but she continued inside the building, and he was left out on the street with Sonic and Knuckles.

"Hey, Metal, check this out," Knuckles said.

Metal turned to him expectantly, watching as he started to sign something. When he signed out "Sonic wants you and me to walk with him because he's too scared to go alone and we're tougher than him", he grinned.

"What did you just say?" Sonic asked Knuckles.

Metal watched Sonic for a long moment, watching as he started to gradually look angry.

"That's not fair, you know," Sonic grumbled. "And here's something else that's not fair: in a race to the harbour, I'll always beat you guys!"

He turned to start running but Knuckles tripped him up. Not waiting for either of them to recover, Metal took off running. In the end, the three of them arrived at their destination at about the same time: but that didn't stop Sonic and Knuckles arguing about which of them got there first. Leaving them to their argument, Metal walked out along a wooden walkway, sitting onto it at a quiet spot, his legs dangling down towards the water. It wasn't too long before Amy joined him, a little breathless, and looking very happy.

"I got you a present," she said as she sat down next to him. "That little shop had a second hand set of tarot cards, just like the ones I had on Little Planet!"

She pulled out a slightly tattered old pile of cards.

"It's not a complete deck, but it has what I need," she said, slipping one of the cards from the pile.

She held it up, showing him it was the King of Cups. She then recovered a red pen from her pocket.

"I thought it could replace the card you've been carrying around with you, since you are the king now," she told him.

He smiled, taking the card and the pen from her and tossing them out into the water. Her face dropped.

"What did you do that for?" she asked.

"I don't need it," he told her. "I have you."

She smiled, before turning and throwing the remainder of the deck out into the water. She then leaned into him. He made to put his arm around her, but she caught his hand.

"Are you still carrying that old card in here?" she asked, tapping the back of his hand with one finger.

"Yes and I always will," he replied.

She tilted her head.

"But why?" she asked.

"Because it's important," he answered. "It changed everything. If you hadn't given me that card, if you hadn't said the things you did, I don't know if I would be here now."

"I guess that's true," she said, before leaning into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

He put his arm around her and pulled her closer, enjoying her warmth at his side. When the first rocket exploded in the sky he tensed; but, as it sprayed out a rainfall of colours and Amy rubbed a hand at his back, he relaxed again.

"This is nice," she said.

"It would be nicer if you would kiss me," he told her.

She lifted her head from his shoulder, smiling at him.

"I mean it," he added.

"You're kinda rude, you know," she said. "But lucky for you, I love you anyway."

"I love you too," he said. "I always have."

She smiled and finally gave him what he wanted, kissing his lips as another firework exploded in the sky. He turned towards her a little more, putting his other arm around her and holding her closer. It had been a long time since Amy had given him that card back on Little Planet, a long time since her words had affected him so, but finally, finally, he was exactly where he wanted to be, and finally he had everything he had wanted since then.

The End