Author's Notes: This is my first story, I'm writing in my free time when I feel inspired. Hopefully this won't take years to get finished. Please read & review, all feedback is appreciated.


It had been months since he had been here. Months since the Guardian Units of Nations had deemed it acceptable for him to come back for another visit. Miles "Tails" Prower let out a sigh as the armed guards led him down a long, white corridor. In his hand was a small bag containing nothing more than simple chess board and the pieces to go with it. He wasn't sure why he had made the habit of visiting the arch nemesis of him and his friends every few months, but it had been going on for years now and he didn't see a point in just ending it so abruptly. A whole decade had passed since Sonic had managed to finally stop Eggman for good. They all figured he would just break out of jail again, but he never did. Perhaps it was suspicion that led him to visit the old Doctor time and time again, at least in the beginning.

Years had gone by. He was 20 years of age, working full-time as an airplane mechanic. The Chaotix were still private detectives. Shadow and E-123 Omega had joined Rouge to work as agents of G.U.N. Knuckles was still guarding the Master Emerald, though all that really entailed these days was slacking off and working out so he didn't lose his peak condition. No one was after his emerald anymore. Cream had moved away long ago, probably for the best. Sonic was still helping fight petty crimes, part of him still waiting for Eggman to come back. Then there was Amy. Sweet, sweet Amy Rose. He didn't know when, and he wasn't sure how, but that pink hedgehog had stolen his heart. She wasn't much of a fan girl these days, but she still held out hope that Sonic would fall for her someday. That fact frustrated him, but he tried to not let it get to him. All he wanted was for her to be happy, and Sonic made her happy. As the guards led him into a silver elevator, he thought of all the times she came to him crying that Sonic had run away from her when they were younger. He was always there to comfort her. Seeing her smile had always made him smile in turn, though he never understood why until years later.

The elevator opened and the guards led him to a single door at the end of the small hall. A giant, steel door with two overly complex locks and keypads on each watched as each guard pressed their thumbs on a scanner, punched in their own unique, 8-digit code, pulled out their keycards and swiped a scanner, then finally took out two keys and turned the locks. After roughly five minutes, the door finally lifted up, slowly. A fat, aging man sat at a small white table in the middle of the room, reading the newspaper. The iconic mustache on his face had become considerably gray and his dark spectacles still covered his old eyes. He was dressed entirely in white, and his shoes noticeably lacked laces. The whole room itself was noticeable white, in fact.

As Tails walked into the room, one of the guards said to him, "Let us know if you need anything, Mr. Prower. We'll be out here." Tails simply nodded as they closed the door behind him. He took a seat at the table across from the elderly man, and only then did he realize he was no longer alone. "Ah, Miles!" the old man said with enthusiasm, looking up from his paper. "Good morning to you, my boy!"
Tails smiled back at the old man. "It's about a quarter past 2:00 PM, Ivo. Though, given how long you've been down here, it's only natural your sense of time would be a bit… wonky."
Eggman chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I have gotten a bit out of the loop. Speaking of which…" he pointed out an article in the paper to Tails, "…has he joined the police force or something?"

Tails examined the article. It was a picture of Sonic, giving his trademark smile and thumbs up as some policemen hauled off a weasel in the background. The headline read, "BLUE BLUR BRINGS WEAPON SMUGGLER TO JUSTICE." He smiled and shook his head.
"No, he just works with the local law enforcement on cases," Tails explained. "He's something between a private eye and a vigilante these days."
Eggman nodded. "I suppose that makes sense," he said.
Tails pulled out the chess board from his bag and set it on the table. "Are you up for a game?" he asked.
Eggman grinned, setting the newspaper down on the table. "I'm always down for a challenge from someone as smart as myself," he replied.

A half an hour later and they were still playing the same game. Both of them were smart enough to see what the other was going to do and easily dismantled the other's plan of attack the second the next turn came around. Both of them had the feeling the match was going to end in a stalemate, far from the first time such a thing had happened. Tails' mind began to wander back to that pink hedgehog he'd been trying to keep off his mind. Her warm smile, he pretty, emerald eyes, her warm embrace… the thoughts had distracted long enough for him to lose his concentration on the match. He somehow didn't hear Eggman say "check" before he moved his bishop to the other side of the board.
"Checkmate," Eggman said as his knight stole Tails' king.
"Hmm… nice job, Ivo," Tails said, snapping back to reality. "Guess I need to practice more."
Eggman frowned. "No, Miles you were distracted towards the end there," he said, stroking his chin as he thought about the events that had just transpired. "Normally you'd see that coming."
Tails sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'm a little out of it today, sorry."
"Did that rapscallion at the bag check call you a 'sidekick' again?" A look of frustration crossed the old doctor's face.
Tails chuckled, knowing full well he'd vented to the doctor about his inability to escape his reputation in the past. "Yeah, but that's not it. I've just got something on my mind is all."

Eggman sat there for a minute, staring at the kitsune before him. Finally, he smiled. "You've fallen for someone, haven't you my twin-tailed friend?" He asked.
Tails was taken aback. "What makes you think that?" he responded.
Eggman let out one of his old, hearty laughs, the same he once gave when laughing about how he was going to take over the world. "Even I had feelings for someone, my dear boy. Yes…" He gazed off into the distance, stroking his mustache as nostalgia consumed him. "Yes, even someone such as myself… once had fallen in love."

Tails sighed, remembering a conversation they had once had five years ago. "Yes, I remember you telling me about how you had exactly one girlfriend."
The old doctor scratched his head. "Hmm… yes. I think she dated me mostly out of pity. I was never good at the whole romance thing. No one understood my genius." He scoffed, a bitter look briefly crossing his face, as if part of him knew he was lying to himself. "But enough about me. Who's the lady that's stolen your heart, my boy?" The old man leaned in, eager to learn about the kitsune's crush. Even after all this time, Tails had trouble telling if he actually cared or was so starved for attention after almost a decade of next to no contact with the outside world aside from himself that the old man had begun to try and live vicariously through him. Either way, Tails had no interest in opening his heart to a man who had threatened him and his friends lives- not to mention, the whole world- several times, even if they did now technically have something akin to a friendship. Tails turned his head to the side slightly to avoid Eggman's intense gaze. "Look, no offense Ivo, but you're probably the last person I wanna talk about emotions and love and… feelings in general with," he said finally. Eggman was about to speak up, but Tails cut him off. "Yeah, I know I vented to you about the break-up I had with Cream, but that was five years ago and it had just happened. You just happened to be the person I was talking to when it all hit me. I would've rather had it all hit me when I was talking to Sonic, or Knuckles or…" He wanted to say "Amy" so bad, but he didn't wanna risk Eggman catching on. "…hell, even Shadow." Eggman's face soured. "Oh, come now, Miles! Even Shadow? What have I ever done to you?" Before Tails could say anything, Eggman pointed at him and quickly said, "Don't answer that." Tails shook his head, a slight grin on his face. Eggman held his head and groaned, before looking back up at Tails and continuing. "Look Miles, what I'm trying to say is that I respect you." Tails raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm serious, I do! In fact, over my time in here I've grown to respect the lot of you. Every time I thought of a new plan, you all were there to stop me. I used to think of you all as pests, but I haven't had much to do in here except think, and I've certainly been thinking."

Eggman stood up from his chair and walked over to his bed, where he pulled out some old new paper articles he had cut up and collected over the years. He walked back over to the table and continued speaking. "I've come to appreciate all of your individual traits that I had once seen as obstacles." He held up a clipping that showed Knuckles winning a Mixed Martial Arts tournament six years ago. "This guy's got his raw strength…" He set the clipping down on the table and held up another one, this one showing Amy smiling at a press event for a clothes line she had launched just under two years ago. "She's got…" The doctor paused, seemingly unable to think of something, before finally saying, "…extreme devotion." He quickly put the clipping on the table, catching Tails' disapproving look. Eggman pulled out a clipping of an article from just after he got locked up. The headline read " 'This is just the beginning, world hero says. 'Eggman was far from the world's only problem.' " The photo showed Sonic shaking hands with the president. On the left side of the picture, Tails was half visible. Tails cringed a bit upon being reminded of that picture. Sonic had publicly expressed disapproval towards the fact they had cut his friends out of the picture, causing a tabloid headache that wouldn't end for months. Months and months of scummy gossip outlets that would publish anything harassing all of them. Tails' bitter and painful walk down memory lane was cut short when Eggman spoke up again. "I really hate to admit this, but…" He paused, allowing himself to mentally prepare for he was about to say. "I admire his dedication. He's a true hero. Even with me gone, he's still going out of his way to save others. You don't meet people like that every day." The doctor frowned, then slumped down in his chair, setting the clipping on the table.

Tails wasn't sure what to say. For the first time, part of him felt like maybe, just maybe, Doctor Eggman had actually, truly changed. He'd clearly lost the desire to escape long ago. In fact, he hadn't tried to escape in seven years. The doctor spoke up again, staring down at the table. "…But all of that respect I gained for them and the others only rose to the surface during my stay here. I've respect one person out of your group for far, far longer." Eggman looked up at the kitsune that sat across from him and smiled genuinely. "I've never met anyone in my life who could hold a candle to my intellect. So imagine all those years ago when a mere child exhibited similar intellectual prowess to my own."
Tails was a bit taken aback hearing all this. True, in recent years they had began to get on better terms and yes, the two had an uneasy, unspoken level of respect for their mutual interest in technology. However, hearing his greatest foe actually say it all out loud just kind of felt… off. "You're an excellent mechanic and a brilliant inventor. I think… you're smarter than me. Perhaps if I went about life differently and we met under different circumstances… I would have had the chance to witness your genius first hand." The old doctor's face had turned to one of sadness.

Tails wasn't sure how to respond. To him, this was completely out of character for the doctor, even after all these years. He scratched the back of his head and blushed slightly, not sure how to feel about the compliments that had just been made. "Gee, uh… thanks, doc," he said finally. "Feels weird hearing that from you, but I appreciate it all the same. If it makes you feel any better, all your old schemes kept pushing me to experiment and create things more, so it's not like you didn't have any hand in helping me grow in the fields of machines and science."
The doctor gave a half-hearted smile. "Still, that's not the same. Thanks for trying to cheer up a man who doesn't deserve your sympathies, though. I truly do appreciate it."

The two sat in an awkward science for a few minutes. Neither of them really knew what to say to each other. It was Eggman who broke the silence as he leaned back in his chair and stared at the white lights that lined ceiling. "Do you ever feel like you've wasted your entire life?" He asked casually.
Tails blinked, taken aback. "What?" He said, surprised by how casual Eggman had been. "I, uh… no? Why, do you?"
Eggman nodded solemnly. "Every single day for the last seven years or so."
Tails almost immediately made a connection in his head. "That was around the time you stopped trying to escape, right? When I first started visiting you, you always told me you were going to get out and come after us one day. But then, I came in one day seven years ago and it was like you had changed overnight. I just assumed you were up to something, but…" Tails stroked his chin, deep in thought.
Eggman didn't look down, but he did give a simple smile and say, "What fair maiden has stolen your heart, Miles?"

Tails looked back at him and frowned. "So, it appears we've reached a stalemate."
The doctor nodded. "Much like one of our many games. Speaking of which…" Eggman motioned to the board. "I want to play again, preferably with your full attention this time."
Tails smiled. "You're on, Ivo."

Both of them knew what this continuation of their gaming session was: a distraction. Neither of them called attention to it, though. They just approached it like two people playing chess. Perhaps that's all it really was, on the outside looking in, but for each of them it was a way of avoiding talking about something. For Miles "Tails" Prower, he was avoiding opening up about his feelings. For Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, he was avoiding thinking about the ways he could've better gone about living his life- and avoiding telling the kitsune what he had learned seven years ago that made him suddenly start reflecting on his life choices.

After two hours, the door to the room opened up and the two guards from before stepped in. "Visitation hours are over, Mr. Prower," one of them said. Tails nodded and started to put the game board away. "Thanks for playing with me, Ivo," he said with a smile.
"Any time, Miles," Eggman said with a grin. "Thanks for always visiting me. I don't why you do, I don't deserve it by any means, but I'm thankful nonetheless."
"Eh, it's nothing. Try not to throw a wild party while I'm gone." Tails chuckled at his own joke.
Eggman rolled his eyes, but under those dark spectacles of his it was hard to notice. "Oh yes, because these two fine gentlemen here allow me to get jazzed with all the friends I have every now and again," he said sarcastically, gesturing to the two guards.
Tails shrugged as he zipped up his bag. "I don't know what you do here all day. You could secretly be living it up like you just blew up the rest of the moon for all I know."
Eggman facepalmed at that remark. "You always bring up the moon thing! Why?!"
"I could always bring up the planet thing."
"Hey, remember that time I blew up half the moon? Good times."

Tails grinned and shook his head as he walked on out the door. "See you around, Ivo!" He yelled as he waved over his shoulder.
"Goodbye, see you soon!" Eggman yelled as the door closed behind Tails. He sunk into his seat and stared up at the ceiling. "I hope…" he muttered.

The guards escorted Tails back into the elevator. As one of them pushed the button for the ground floor, Tails listened to the music playing on the radio.
"Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why, you had to go hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?"
A memory from when he was younger surfaced to the forefront of his mind. He was with Amy, carrying heavy bags as she dragged him through every store in the Station Square mall. The same song happened to be playing in a shop they went into. "Ooo, I love this song!" Amy had squealed upon hearing it. "It reminds me so much of Sonic… when they say 'running down the avenue, see how the sun shines brightly,' I can't help but picture him dashing down the streets after some bad guy…" she had let out a loving sigh after that.

Snapping back to the present, Tails let out a sigh and did his best to tune out the music echoing throughout the elevator. "Man, I hate this song," he muttered.