A/N: (Squeaks in a semi-hysterical voice) Hey! And how are you all doing on this dreary, grey, cloudy day? That's good! I'm just extremly tired, 'cause I keep on waking up in the middle of the night! (twitches) I can't sleep at all, but I still managed to type out this chapter without blowing up the computer!

Ok, joking aside, I don't really have much to say. I'm just really, really tired. I want to sleep, but it's only 5:07 p.m right now, so I can't sleep...

Enjoy the chapter despite me anyway!

Disclaimer: Well, at least I don't own Sonic. What, with the papparzzi following me all the time, I bet I wouldn't know what the word "sleep" meant.

A velvet curtain of red was slowly spreading across the sky, like it was being drawn over an inky-black window. Shots of yellow threaded through the bright red - a pattern of stitches that would take your breath away. Clouds floated hazily across the sun, their puffy white bodies absorbing the colours of the sunrise, as if it was determined to spread it's beauty across the Earth. An unreal purplish was mixing in with the dark, midnight blue of the sky, resulting in a border of pink where they met. The stars were starting to fade, but they twinkled softly, knowing that they would be back.

The city of Station Square was just a huge shadow in the middle of this show of nature, so insignificant against the sky. It was quiet as well… very quiet. No birds chirped, even though the rays of light were already reaching towards the trees, the silent wind causing it to flicker as the leaves of the trees swayed back and forth. But the silence seemed loud in it's own way. Like words that were waiting to be whispered against one's ear, words that were waiting to be tasted on the tongue…

Yes… the world was quiet this morning… a quiet morning full of unspoken words…

The grass rustled softly as the wind played with the short blades. Some of the strands were thrown high in the air, riding up and down helplessly in it's currents. A single blade of grass, a deep emerald green, was swept up especially high, and equally green eyes followed the wild dance that it was creating, as if they had no care to watch anything else.

How easy was it to stay here… just staring… and staring? Sonic felt his legs aching for exercise, his whole body wanting to move. But his mind… and his heart… his stupid, fragile heart… wouldn't let him. And slowly, the seconds had turned to minutes… minutes to hours… hours… to… had it been days since he had stood here, in the untouched wilderness surrounding Station Square? Time seemed to blur together for Sonic, exactly the way it had in the past, but it was no longer with the joy that he once felt, thinking that even time couldn't outrun him, couldn't confine him.

'Back…' He thought that that was what his heart seemed to be saying as it slowly beat in his chest. 'I want to go back… back… back…'

'Back…' Sonic grounded his knuckles on his forehead, as if it could knead the thought away. 'Hedgehog, you've never regretted going away from Station Square before. Traveling the world… that's what you do best, right?'

'But it's not Station Square I'll miss,' whispered a little voice. 'Whenever I traveled the world, I knew that there were people I could always go back to… always be welcomed into their home … even if I'll only leave an hour later to some other adventure…'

Damn, why was his heart agreeing with that voice? 'Home?' He wanted to laugh at the word, to wipe it away from his mind. 'Home? The world is my home. Everywhere the wind takes me is my home.'

How the voice seemed to laugh at him! At his stupidity, his ego, and his heart. 'Yes… but there was always one place that the wind seemed to like to take you the most, wasn't there?'

'So? It's not like Station Square is going to disappear! It's not it's going to disappear off the face of the Earth! It's not like I'll never… visit… or…'

The voice sighed, weary. 'You know yourself, Sonic. You'll never come back again this time. You'll turn around… and you'll never be able to look back again.'

'Back…' His heart thudded the chant out again. 'I want to go back…'

The blade of grass landed on his shoulder, and he impatiently brushed it off. If floated away, and landed on one of the many giant scorch marks on the ground – reminders to Sonic of how many times he had revved up, ready to leave… only to stop again. How his mind had forced him to stop, how his heart started flooding him with yearning. The black marks had started to burn in his eyes after a while, imprinting them permanently there, as if trying to tell him something… but what?

Sonic stood up, the joint in his legs giving a faint 'pop' as if to remind him of their lack of movement. Even the beautiful view that he could see on top of this hill did nothing to help him. It seemed to make his heart ache more than ever.

'I want to go back…'

Sonic almost stomped his foot in the ground in frustration, as if it was the hill's fault that his heart was whispering these accursed words to him, as if it was the hill's fault that his heart wanted something that it couldn't get. '"Want" is different from "Need,"' he almost shouted out loud, trying to silence his heart's beating.

'You're right, Sonic,' he heard it reply. 'I don't just want to go back… I need to. I really need to.'

Sonic felt his body tense up, as if it was protesting his heart. Was it his body's way of saying no? Of trying to defy what he already knew? An unknown emotion rose up inside him, and he felt the bile rise in his throat. He suddenly whipped around, and punched the one lonely tree beside him on the gentle hill. The wood splintered beneath his knuckles, and the tree swayed and rustled loudly, cracking the silence, as if in protest. "Damn…" he whispered out loud, his voice barely audible above the silence.

Crack…

Sonic froze. Was his mind playing tricks on him again? Was reality starting to blur before him? He turned around slowly, but his eyes met nothing. He could see everything from the top of this hill… it was impossible for someone to get so near him without him seeing.

Crack…

"So… this is where the great Sonic the Hedgehog ran off to."

Sonic whipped around, his heart in his mouth. His quills stood on end, stiff and hard, reflecting the blood-red rays of the sun. 'It's him!' Was his first thought, his mind frenzy with fear. 'It's me! That… that monster!' Had he come to take his mind so soon? Had he come to destroy what remained of him? But then, what his eyes saw caught up with his mind, and his fear was washed away by surprise. Sonic stared, both he and the person's shadow stretched long against the grass… even though this person's shadow was wider than it was long.

Dr. Robotnik frowned at him. His eyebrows furrowed together, and his large, pointed nose wrinkled up. "Is it that surprising to see me?"

Sonic took an involuntary step back, but then mentally berated himself. 'It's just that Eggman again… that's all…' But wasn't it Eggman who landed him into this mess in the first place? Wasn't it him who captured him, captured Amy… try to completely destroy him? As he kept thinking these thoughts, he got angrier and angrier. Yes… it was his fault! Everything was his fault! Sonic growled, and took a step back forward. "You…" It was surprising that he could grind those words out, angry as he was.

The diabolical scientist deepened his frown. "Well, what do you know? All these years, I thought that you didn't even know how to get angry."

"You…" Sonic almost choked on his words, but anger still dripped in every syllable of his voice. "How could you?"

Robotnik looked down at him. His frown suddenly turned into a look of contempt, and he scoffed. "Sonic, we've known each other for… well, I don't remember how many years. Don't tell me you didn't see this coming?"

Sonic dug his heels into the ground, trying to control the urge to wrap his hands around the doctor's neck. "See it coming? See it coming?!" He asked, mocking Robotnik. "After all that, that's all you have to say?"

Robotnik still held that same look of contempt as he, apparently subconsciously, rubbed his knees. 'Did he walk all the way here?' wondered Sonic for a moment, but then quickly, he brushed the thought away. Why did he care? The doctor deserved all the pain in the world! It was all his fault that he couldn't go back… all his fault that he couldn't see his friends again.

Sonic bit back an angry sob. 'His fault…'

He would never hear the sounds of whirring gears as Tails worked away at his machines. He would never have another race with Shadow. He would never watch the Chaotix blunder through another mystery. He would never laugh as Rouge and Knuckles argued with each other again.

And Amy… god, he would never hold her again, run his fingers through her fur, smell her scent, never kiss her again… He would never whisper those three words to her; he would never get the chance to apologize for all that he'd done…

'His fault…'

"Look, Sonic." Sonic snapped out of his thoughts, but he threw the doctor the coldest look he could possibly manage.

It was ignored. "Don't tell me that you really are planning to leave." Robotnik gave the hedgehog a slightly inquiring look.

Sonic snapped. He pounced on the doctor, and the pair fell over on the grass. Even though the man was clearly bigger than the hedgehog, he was struggling under Sonic's iron grip. Sonic threw the doctor a filthy look, and Robotnik stared up at him… and something like fear seemed to flash beneath his indigo glasses. "Why do you care?" Sonic hissed, his breath brushing over Robotnik's face. "You cause everyone so much pain, you monster! How many people have you killed in your lifetime? How many more are going to die?"

"Well," Robotnik's voice gave the slightest tremor. "You didn't seem to care much back then. Remember Perfect Chaos? Remember Soleanna? And yet, you didn't seem to care much for those people at all." Robotnik's mouth curved into a sneer, hiding his fear. "Speed, and the taste for adventure… that's all you cared about then, wasn't it?"

"No!" Sonic saw his hands inching towards his throat. "Of course I cared!" '… Didn't I?'

"Don't lie to yourself!" Spit flew out of Robotnik's mouth. He seemed to have forgotten his fear. "Everyone was like that once. Everyone was selfish once in their life… Did you think that your speed made you immortal to emotions? Did you think that you were a god?"

"No…" Sonic felt his voice getting weaker. "No… I didn't…"

'What he says is true, you know.' Sonic drew in a sharp breath. 'You were always so busy running… you never thought much about feeling or emotions at all, did you?'

'But what about all those people I've saved?' Sonic argued back. 'What about the friends that I protected?'

'… And what about those people that you failed to protect?'

Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, blocking the man in front of him from view. 'Are you telling me that I have to be perfect?'

'Aren't all gods perfect?'

Sonic snapped his eyes opened. His mind felt so clouded, and he seemed to be peering through a hazy cloud. 'No… it's all his fault!' His friends' smiling faces flashed through his mind's eye as he stared down at Robotnik. 'His fault… everything…' Words, fragments were coming to his brain in small bits. 'His fault!' Sonic closed his hands around Robotnik's throat.

Robotnik's eyes widened as he felt his windpipe close. He gasped, his eyes rolling up as he started thrashing. His hands reached up, trying to claw away Sonic's gloved fingers. The grass rustled beneath him wildly, and the tree behind them shook harder than ever, as if pleading with Sonic to stop.

Suddenly, Robotnik stopped struggling. For a second, Sonic thought that he had killed him, but he heard a hoarse whisper, trembling in fear. "Fine, Sonic." Sonic stared back, but he didn't let his hands go. "Kill me. You'll be no better than that thing that was killing your friends."

Sonic suddenly let go of the doctor, as if his spoken words had scalded his hands. His ears were laid back, as if they had been boxed. 'Some god you are,' a voice said in his mind. 'You can't even kill someone who has been causing so much pain.'

Robotnik was slowly getting up, his hands grasping his throat as if Sonic's fingers were still there. He was gulping in air.

"I'm not…"

Robotnik stopped his frantic breathing. He stared at the hedgehog.

"I'm not perfect…" He heard Sonic say. Sonic wasn't looking at him. Instead, he had his head turned, his eyes trained towards the horizon.

"I have a heart… I feel emotions…" His eyes were still trained steadily on the horizon, as if he expected something to start running towards him. "I'm not a god… nor do I want to be one. I couldn't be one, even if I wanted to anyway." A sudden, chilling wind swept up, but neither human nor hedgehog felt it. "I guess it's emotions that make me imperfect." Sonic's eyes snapped to Robotnik's, and the doctor was surprised to see all the emotions that swirled within them. Ones that he thought the cocky hedgehog he knew could never feel.

"All this time… my heart's been telling me to go back… but I can't." Sonic sighed. "I can't risk them. I just can't. I know I'm hurting myself, but…"

"Oh, stop trying to be a hero!" Robotnik snapped at him. The hedgehog turned to him, surprised. "And don't give me that look. Do you really think that you can really stop your other self from finding your friends if it wants to?"

Sonic glared at his long-time nemesis. "At least I didn't run away like you… like a coward!"

The doctor snorted. "A coward? How did that saying go…? 'Better live a coward than die a hero.'" The doctor gave Sonic a glare too, and their stares matched.

This time, Sonic's answer came quickly. "What's the point of living if you're going to be a coward?"

The doctor gave an exasperated sigh. "A coward can always change his ways if he's still alive. What good would a dead hero do to anybody? Don't tell me that you'd rather die!" The doctor marched up to the Sonic, who stood his ground. "Listen to me, Sonic! … No, listen to what you've been trying to tell yourself all this time!" The doctor loomed over the smaller figure. "I may be a coward, but you running away from all your troubles right now seems pretty cowardly to me!"

Sonic opened his mouth, than shut it. He had nothing to say.

The doctor calmed himself, before straightening back up. "You still haven't answered me, you know," he said. Sonic gave him a questioning glance. "Are you still going to leave?" asked the doctor again.

Sonic gulped. 'I want to stay,' he thought privately to himself. 'I want to laugh with my friends; I want to cry with them, argue with them. I want it to be like the old days… when we were happy, with not a care in the world. Where I can run with them; run as far as we wanted.' Sonic took a deep breath. 'I want Amy back. I want to tell her that everything is going to be okay. I want to save her from her troubles… I want to protect her, to be her hero. I want… I want… I want… But he didn't say this out loud. Instead, he asked him, "Why do you want me to stay anyway? Didn't you go through all that trouble just to get rid of me in the first place?"

The doctor gave a small sigh, before slowly settling his weight on the grass. For the first time, Sonic saw all the small lines and wrinkles on the old doctor's face. He had never thought of how old the doctor was. Every wrinkle seemed to represent another hardship that he had faced in life. Some that was still unconquered.

"You heard Metal Sonic, didn't you?" he asked gruffly. Sonic flinched at the robot's name. The name seemed to him like a long-forgotten song. "It's dangerous extracting negative Chaos energy, and turning it into a fluid. It… seemed to have affected me somehow." The doctor frowned again, and fine lines sagged heavily around his mouth. "Everything around me seemed so much darker… even myself. I would often wonder if I were even myself anymore." The doctor shook his head. A melancholy silence draped itself over his shoulders.

Sonic turned from him. His body was bathed in the golden sunrise. His quills ruffled slightly in the wind. The world still seemed silent, but the silence seemed somehow… less. Like some of the words that it was waiting to be spoken had been used somehow.

Sonic touched his white glove to his forehead. "I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know if I'm leaving anymore. It's… confusing…"

Robotnik stood up, turning his back on him. "Well," he said, his voice sounding rough. "You… should at least say goodbye."

The hedgehog looked at Robotnik's back. Strange how he had thought he knew the doctor well. Now he was more of a stranger than ever. 'Yes… I should at least say goodbye.' But how will he be able to leave after that? Maybe a small part of him knew the answer. But it wasn't telling him.

Robotnik felt wind rush past him, and he turned around.

Sonic was gone.

Robotnik shook his head, then stared up at the sky. "You're a fool, Robotnik," he whispered to himself. He put his hand into his pocket and felt for something. He pulled it out.

A syringe full of clear liquid glinted in his hands. Energy radiated off of it… a strange energy that gave one chills that flooded into your veins. It even felt icy through his gloves. The sun bounced off of it innocently, and it split the rays into a shower of rainbows. It seemed to tempt you into it's depths, coaxing out your dreams and promising wishes that you never thought possible. And he was one of them who had sunk into it's tempting powers… except he had managed to surface again just in time.

Robotnik stared at it, and whispered to himself again. "You're a soft-hearted fool."

Robotnik dropped the syringe, and it smashed easily on the ground. There was a quiet hiss, and a small, budding white rose, covered in morning dew, shot out of the ground, curling delicately above the grass, as if it was unsure of why it was there.

The tiniest smile graced Robotnik's lips, and he turned, walking slowly down the hill.

A/N: Ehh... I didn't like this chapter all that much. It was hard to write a scene between Robotnik and Sonic that didn't include the Chaos Emeralds, Robotnik laughing maniacally, Sonic making a smart-ass comment, or a robot destroying (insert name of city here.) And the flower thingy might've been too corny... I dunno, I thought it was a nice touch. It could just be me though --;;

Oh, and for the "where I live thing..." Well, since most of you didn't a) participate or b) follow the instructions, I'll just have to pick myself when the time comes. Or when I'm not tired.

Ugh... see you guys soon. I need a nap...

Anonymous Reviews

(Note that some reviews might be missed, due to the fact that was screwed up lately, and I didn't get any contact from this site whatsoever. Thank you :))

Sofia: Don't worry. Sonic will soon realise that he is being stupid. Soon...

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