(Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters, all credit goes to Sega. Please support the official release).

Chapter 2: A New Home

Eggman woke up early the next morning, feeling a strange source of warmth in bed next to him. He slowly sat up and spotted Gwendolyn laying in bed next to him, she was in a deep sleep with a small puddle of drool accumulating at the corner of her mouth.

That was when Eggman remembered that he had found an orphaned hedgehog girl and taken her in, and now she was living with him in his base. It was then that Eggman realized that he didn't really have anything in his base to accommodate this child.

Slowly and quietly, he stood up from the bed and walked out of the room. He walked down the hallway until he came upon a room that resembled a home office, he reached into the desk and pulled out a piece of paper. Eggman then summoned Metal Sonic to him as he wrote something down on the paper.

"Metal, I want you to take this list and fly into the nearest town. Get me these items and then meet me in one of the empty rooms here", he said. Metal Sonic nodded as he took the paper and flew out of the base.

Eggman then walked back to his room and peered inside to see that Gwen was still deeply asleep, "The poor thing probably hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in quite some time...", he muttered.

[Time Skip]

A few hours later, Gwen finally woke up. She yawned and stretched her limbs, then she looked around the room. She noticed that Eggman was no longer in the room, and then she felt her stomach rumbling.

"Oof! I'm really hungry, I'll go see if I can find Mister Eggman and ask if his robots can make me breakfast", she said.

Gwen climbed out of the bed and walked over to the door, she had to jump a bit to reach the doorknob to open the door. It occurred to her that she didn't know the layout of the base, and she was probably going to get lost.

Regardless, she decided to walk around the corridors, taking everything in. There was plenty of security to feel safe and lots of space inside the fortress, it was very easy to get lost. She walked through a large corridor with a massive window running down the entire length of it, it exhibited the large snowy mountains of the outside world.

"Wow! That's looks so pretty!", she said as she looked outside the window.

After a few minutes of exploring, Gwen was starting to get hungrier than before. She had already forgotten which way Eggman's room was and was as good as lost now. All she wanted to do was find the kitchen and get something to eat.

That was when she soon stumbled into a lounge room, it had a large TV mounted on the wall above a fireplace and a large green sofa facing it. Gwen noticed that the TV was on and someone was laughing at the comical jokes.

The light blue hedgehog's ears suddenly pricked upright in slight alertness, she recognized that laugh: it was Eggman.

Gwen walked up to the opposite side of the couch and sat down for a while. "Ah! Good morning, Gwen. Come to join me?", the doctor asked as he noticed the child.

"Actually, I'm really hungry and wanted breakfast. I got a little lost trying to find you though, I don't think I'll be able to go back to your room now", Gwen replied.

That won't be a problem for you anytime soon, Eggman thought.

"Of course, I'm sorry. You were still sleeping and I didn't want to bother you, I'll guide you over to the kitchen so you can ask Metal to make you breakfast", said Eggman.

He stood up from the couch and guided the small child over to the kitchen, Gwen walked inside and told Metal Sonic what she wanted for breakfast before going to sit at the table. A few minutes later, Metal Sonic came out with a plate of blueberry pancakes and a glass of oat milk.

Gwen happily munched away on her pancakes, savoring each bite. "Happy to see you enjoying your breakfast. When you're done eating, I'd like you to come with me as I have something to show you", said Eggman. Gwen didn't know what he was talking about but she was curious to see what it was.

She soon finished off her pancakes, washing it down with the glass of oat milk. Gwen then stood up from the table and followed Eggman down the hall until they came upon a room she hadn't seen before; he then opened the door and allowed the young hedgehog to enter first.

The first thing she saw was the pink coloured walls surrounding her and then the massive space that the room had to offer. The room had a large shelf of children's books, there was a large flat-screen TV mounted on the wall at the end of the bed, with a DVD player underneath it.

There was a music player with wireless headphones to use, and there were also a comfy chair to relax in and read on.

Gwen then looked out the massive window that took up one entire wall. The sun was high in the sky by now, she could practically see the entire mountain from where she was. In another corner of the room was a basket overflowing with stuffed animals: lions, tigers, bears, and a small assortment of others. In another corner, there was a large dresser filled with children's clothing.

Next to that was a toy chest, and in the center of the room was a large fluffy pink colored rug dotted with a simple white flower pattern.

The young hedgehog stood there entirely befuddled as she took in the layout of the room, she turned around to look up at Eggman. "Mister Eggman, what's going on? What is all this?", Gwen asked.

"Well, I didn't think you'd want to keep sharing a bed with me, so I had Metal Sonic go and get me some things. Then, I had my other robots come and redecorate one of the other rooms for you.

"This is going to be your room from now on, you can sleep here and play here. Of course, you can still come to me with anything you may need, but this place will be your personal sanctuary. What do you think?", said Eggman.

For a few minutes, Gwen was completely silent but then a smile grew on her face. She sprang over and wrapped her little arms around one of his legs in a small hug, "I love it! I've never had my own room before, this is all so nice! Thank you!", she said excitedly.

She then let go of his legs and raced over to play with the toys, Eggman smiled at her before quietly leaving the room.

[Time Skip]

Gwen spent the whole day playing in her brand new bedroom, a few toys were scattered on the floor as she played with some dolls.

"I need the car"

"Take the bus"

"Okay, dear"

Gwen was lost in her own little world as she played with the dolls. Just then, Metal Sonic walked into the room followed by Eggman. She looked up in confusion since she hadn't seen him practically all day.

"Is something wrong, Mister Eggman?", she asked.

"No, not at all. I just need to leave for a short while and I wanted to inform you that Metal Sonic will be watching over you until I return. If you need anything, just ask him. I won't be gone long, so behave yourself", said Eggman.

The doctor had then left his base to attend to whatever he needed to do, leaving Metal Sonic alone to watch over the young hedgehog. Gwen had managed to get the robotic hedgehog to join her in playing with her toys, but then she looked outside the window.

"Hey, Metal. Can we go outside and play in the snow for a bit? Mister Eggman got me a coat, hats, gloves and snow boots, can I play in the snow? Please?", she said.

Metal Sonic contemplated the request, he was going to deny it but then he remembered that he was in charge of watching her and so he could make sure nothing would happen to her. So, he nodded and went to get her winter gear.

He helped her put on the coat, hat, gloves, long pants and snow boots. Then, Metal took Gwen by the hand and led her outside of the base; he decided they wouldn't stray too far away from the base, staying close to the entrance.

Gwen bent down to pick up some snow in her hands, forming it into a ball before throwing it at the robotic hedgehog. "Snowball fight! Come on, Metal! Let's play, let's build snow forts and have a snowball fight!", she said.

Metal Sonic complied as he began building up a large mound of snow to shield himself, Gwen built her own snow fort and when she was finished, she threw another snowball at Metal Sonic. It hit him square in the face, clouding his vision though he could hear her childish giggling.

He tried to retaliate, but he kept missing every shot while Gwen continuously hit him in the face with snowballs. After half an hour into their game, Gwen called a timeout to take a break since her arms were getting tired. As she sat behind her snow fort taking a break, she heard something rustling in the bushes.

A small white rabbit hopped out of the bushes, sniffing around. "Aww, hi there little bunny! You're so cute!", she said. The rabbit hopped away back into the the tree line; without thinking, Gwen stood up and dashed off to catch the rabbit.

Metal Sonic had noticed that it had gotten too quiet, he stood up and walked out from behind his snow fort. He went over to Gwen's fort to check on her, only to see that she was no longer there.

Metal quickly flew into the air and started scanning the forest for where she had disappeared to.

Meanwhile, Gwen was still chasing the rabbit until she eventually lost sight of it. She had spent the last twenty minutes running around the forest trying to catch the rabbit, but now she was tired. She then looked around and noticed that she was lost.

"Oh great, I chased a white bunny and now I'm lost! Is this how Alice felt?", she asked out loud.

Gwen looked around as she tried to find her way back to the base, but she didn't know where she was. "Metal! Metal! Where are you?!", she called out for Metal Sonic but got no answer.

Just then, a strong cold wind began to pick up as it started snowing. Even with her coat, hat and gloves, Gwen began to feel cold; she looked around for some place to take shelter in before the oncoming storm hit.

She then found a hollow hole at the base of a large tree, there weren't any animals inside, so Gwen crawled inside to hide from the cold winds.

The light blue hedgehog sat there as the icy wind blew, feeling scared, lost, and growing worried that she would freeze to death in the storm. She pulled her hood over her hand and shoved her hands into the sleeves of her coat.

Gwen started to become very scared, this was just like before Eggman had rescued her almost a week ago: she was lost in the snow and wondering if she would survive. She winced as a shiver ran through her body, and Gwen pressed herself closer to her meager shelter, shaking against the cold tree bark.

For at least a minute, the young hedgehog noticed she didn't feel as cold while distracted, so Gwen decided to distract herself so her terrifying situation wasn't at the forefront of her mind.

And she decided to do so in the only way she think of: she started singing to herself.

"A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain

Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay

It fills the sails of boats that are waiting

Waiting to sail your worries away

"It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain

And your boat waits down by the quay

The winds of night so softly are sighing

Soon they will fly your troubles to sea"

The song Gwen was singing to herself was a nursery rhyme that her mother used to sing to her since she was a baby. When she got a bit older, her mother told her to sing it whenever she felt sad or scared.

Those warm loving memories brought a sense of security and comfort to her, it was the exact opposite of how she felt at the moment.

Gwen was scared, vulnerable, and lost. She felt helpless as a baby too, but the song was slowly easing her fears.

"So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain

Wave goodbye to cares of the day

And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain

Sail far away from Lullaby Bay"

Her nose twitched. Gwen sniffed, she rubbed her nose. It twitched again, and she shakily sniffed again as water filled her eyes and her bottom lip began trembling.

Even with her mother's nursery rhyme, she still felt overwhelming fear consuming her body.

"So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain

Wave goodbye to cares of the day

And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain

Sail far away from Lullaby Bay"

Shoulders shaking, Gwen suddenly broke down into hysterical sobbing. The song didn't really help much and now, she was even more sad and scared because the song just reminded her that both of her parents were dead.

"I'm so scared...I want my Mama and Papa! Mama, Papa, help me!", she shouted as she cried.

After crying for a half-hour, Gwen calmed down. Though her nose was now dripping like a leaky faucet, she had come to her senses enough to notice that it was now snowing harder.

She curled into herself further, eyelids fluttering, emotionally and physically numb while watching the fat white flakes drift down into a slowly rising cold blanket. She rolled up her coat sleeve and gently bit her arm, leaving tiny teeth marks behind.

"G-gotta stay awake. I-I can't go to sleep, I gotta stay...awake until someone finds me", she muttered.

Meanwhile, Metal Sonic continued searching for Gwen. He was trying to detect her heat signature, which he presumed would've been easy to track since there weren't many animals roaming around outside while this storm was going on.

Just then, right when he detected a small heat signature, a series of alarms rang out in Metal's head.

"Danger temperature dropping!"

"Danger heartbeat rate decreasing!"

"Danger brainwave measurements are at erratic levels!"

"Danger! Danger! Danger!"

Gwen's head jerked up again, slamming against the tree trunk with a thud. The hit was hard enough to cause a concussion, but she barely felt the pain. She barely felt anything, her body was almost completely covered in snow and frozen underneath.

The snow reaching her midsection were she was sitting, half curled up on the ground as the white powder almost covered her completely.

Over the last hour, Gwen had gone from violently shivering to hardly moving at all, a dangerous sign of hyperthermia. The young hedgehog's nose was frozen solid from its constant dripping, and she was losing the battle to keep awake.

"Mama...Papa...", she whispered deliriously.

She almost felt warm and cozy sitting out here in the white blanket, and she was so tired. Gwen was so tempted just to close her eyes and sleep.

Can't sleep...gotta stay...awake... someone...please...help me...

The wind howled with flurries of flakes, hitting her like a thousand sharp needles; the sky was so dark and cloudy that it almost looked like the night sky, just without the moon or any stars. The temptation grew to let a dreamless sleep take her.

So...tired...maybe...I can...just close...my eyes...for one...minute...

One minute she was staring into the white blizzard, the next nothing but darkness. The loud howling of wind turned into white noise as her brain and body began to shut down, and her breathing slowed.

Due to that, she didn't notice the pair of robotic legs suddenly touching down in front of her hiding spot. Metal Sonic bent down and reached into the tree hollow, pulling the unconscious girl into his arms. He then immediately took off into the air back to Eggman's base.

[Time Skip]

When Gwen regained consciousness, she found herself swaddled in a deep warmth that brought feeling back to her stiff and cold limbs. She struggled to open her eyes, the lids felt like a hundred pound weights, and she wished she could have lifted her arms to rub the sleep away.

"Gwen...can you hear me...are you awake...?"

That voice...it sounds...like...Mister Eggman...?

After some difficulty, Gwen was finally able to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry and distorted, all she could make out was a big red blob above her. Said blob was actually Dr. Eggman, after he got back to his base, he was alerted by Metal Sonic that Gwen had gotten lost and suffered hypothermia.

He pushed aside his anger towards Metal for not watching her properly, and immediately focused on treating Gwen; he had removed her wet clothes and dressed her in something warm and dry. Then, he wrapped her in an electric heated blanket, gradually turning up the heat to warm her up.

She was unconscious for forty five minutes, which worried Eggman as he feared he might've been too late, but he was relieved when she finally opened her eyes. She groaned as her vision cleared up, and she saw that she was in Eggman's arms.

"Oh, thank Chaos! You're awake! Gwen, what happened? What are you doing out there when a storm was about to hit?!", Eggman said.

Tears and a gasp escaped from Gwen as a flood of emotions swirled in her brain: joy, sadness, heartache, fear. All her thoughts from before collided together in a jumbled mess, urging her to explain to the doctor what had happened, how happy she was to see him, how scared she was of dying out in the storm...

Gwen's tiny hands clung to Eggman's red coat as she buried her face into his chest and sobbed openly. "Mister Eggman! I'm sorry! I...I was playing in the snow with Metal Sonic, then I saw a bunny and wanted to catch it...but then I got lost and the storm happened...I was so scared!", she wept.

Eggman felt sorry for the young girl as she cried hysterically, her desperate and rambling confession came out as nothing but pain filled blubbering in between nasty sounding coughs and wheezing. Eggman just nodded as he started to hush the little hedgehog gently, rocking her like an infant as he tried to get her as warm as safely as he could.

As he brought her over to the lounge room, Eggman called upon two other robots of his: Orbot and Cubot. After briefly explaining the situation to them, since they had been out of the loop, he began to give them instructions.

"I need a thick fleece blanket and a hot water bottle, pronto! And while you're both at it, get Metal to come here and light the fireplace", Eggman commanded. The robots quickly went about to complete their tasks.

Metal Sonic quickly came and lit up the fireplace, using large and thick logs that would burn for hours. Orbot hurried back with a thick fleece blanket and Cubot brought the hot water bottle. Eggman took it with shaking hands, removing the electric blanket from around Gwen's body.

Holding the young hedgehog close, he guided her frozen limbs to wrap around a hot water bottle. The small child, still sobbing, instinctively curled around it to bask in the heat. This gave Eggman the chance to wrap her up tightly in the blanket so no heat would escape, allowing the young hedgehog to soak it in.

Eggman held Gwen like a burrito close to his body as an added measure to help gage when the hot water bottle needed replacing and to comfort the distressed hoglet.

"Is there anything else we can do, Boss?", Orbot nervously asked, gazing worriedly upon the shivering blue bundle in his creator's arms. Cubot hovered by looking sad and sympathetic.

"Go prepare the infirmary and have an I.V. line ready along with a steady supply of hot water bottles and blankets. Hopefully, that should do it but be on stand by in case she takes a turn for the worst", Eggman commanded.

"Yes, sir. We'll be ready when you call", said Orbot as he, Cubot and Metal Sonic left to complete their tasks. Eggman released a sigh dropping back into the couch, giving his heart the chance to slow down; his nerves fried at this point.

He looked down to see that Gwen had quieted down, but she was still softly crying, her face half buried into Eggman's chest.

"Mama...Papa...", she whimpered softly in between sniffles.

The poor girl must've been thinking about her parents as she thought she was about to die, Eggman thought.

As he watched the young hedgehog shivering and whimpering in his arms, Eggman couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness and, strangely enough...remorse?

As he gazed at Gwen, he began thinking back to when he had unleashed the Metal Virus.

How many children as young as her had to watch in horror as their families...their parents were turned into Zombots?

How many children as young as her had been turned into Zombots themselves?

How many children as young as her had to seek shelter in places, had to seek help from Sonic and his friends, just to escape such a horrific fate?

Eggman thought about all the children who were hiding out in the Resistance shelters, all of them crying for their parents and wanting the monsters to go away.

He had done that, he was the one who potentially traumatized hundreds if not thousands of children by exposing them to something so unrelentingly terrifying.

No child should ever have to witness their loved ones turning into soulless, metal monsters or become one themselves!

But then...he thought about Gwen, how her parents were brutally murdered by Black Market slave traders and how they kidnapped her with plans to sell her into slavery. Knowing how those disgusting organizations operated, and knowing that Gwen was a young girl, Eggman could only assume she was in for the life of a sex slave.

But...it was the Zombots, the monsters he created which had saved her from that horrible fate. If they hadn't attacked the slave traders, she never would've had the opportunity to escape. She would've still been in their clutches or bought by some scumbag who would've used her for their own gratification.

At that moment, as he held the young crying hedgehog in his arms, Eggman felt all sorts of conflicting emotions swirling around inside him: sadness, regret, shame, anger, and...love.

"Mama...Papa...", Gwen whimpered again under her breath.

Just at that moment, Eggman felt tears escape his own eyes as he held the child close to his body.

"It's okay, my little hoglet. You don't have to be afraid anymore...Papa's here!", he whispered soothingly in her ear.

[To be continued...]