Emptiness pressed at him from all sides—he couldn't even move his head. Were his eyes open? He couldn't blink— or breathe, the air stayed trapped in his throat. Hhh— hhhh—
The air grew heavier and coiled around him, squeezing the last of the air out of his rib cage. His skin crawled and his heart slammed against his chest to escape. He tried to squirm— why can't I move, move!
A guttural vibration pervaded his frame— his skeleton turned to dust and every muscle ripped to pieces—
Looks like he's got more fight left in him. Keep the range here until his vitals stabilize—
The pressure lessened but left bruises. A twitch of the finger… maybe an inhale...
At this point it's not worth the risk… If that's all I can remove…
Gauze and sterile metal wrapped around his nose. A distant drop of liquid fell into a container as electronics somewhere far away chirped.
"Why can't I see? What happened to my eye?" a child yelped.
He opened his own eyes— no evident impairments to either, although his right eye twitched as the scar across it smoldered. The smallest shift of the head sent it spinning, and he shut his eyes to regain his sense of balance… inhale… exhale…
A rushing of air snapped his eyes open and his entire body tensed— not that his body would be able to react. Heavy footfalls, one, two, three, four…
"Who… who's there?" he croaked. Did he dare risk turning his head?
Faint whirring, and then a… voice? "Take deep breaths," it beeped. "You're not in any danger."
He relented, sucking in a gulp of air and holding it.
"Try not to make any sudden moves," the electronic voice advised. "Are you in any pain right now?"
Exhale… "No… I don't think so…" He coughed, "Can… can you prop me up?"
Metal clanking, then the surface began to incline. Once he stopped moving, he glanced towards the voice.
A silent figure stared at him with burning red eyes, light glinting off of its sharp claws as they hung at his sides. Its cobalt shell shook loose glimpses of a figure lurking behind machinery and within dark corners.
It can talk.
"Do you need some water?" the robot asked.
He stopped himself from shaking his head, "No… not right now… Where are we?"
Chirping from behind its eyes, "The Asyowtu Region of Ikezuré." The beeping stopped, "What do you remember, before waking up just now?"
The memory of the crushing pressure rippled through his body and he pushed past it…
"I… I was falling apart," he managed, brow pinching together the sensations— burning, crumbling… unable to move even as the world shuddered around him.
But I can't die here.
A blue flash slamming into him, knocking energy and matter out of him. If he could just focus on stopping the barrage—
I can't die here.
"I'm in a class of my own! Time to put up or shut up, Infinite!"
The name sliced through the jackal's head— his arms twitched, trying and failing to hold his throbbing head. His sternum burned as if just now remembering what had been attached to it, and he grit his teeth and hissed at the pain.
Metal Sonic's cool, rigid hand parked itself between the inflamed area and the squirming jackal's throat. "Focus on your breathing."
Don't forget to breathe— once you stop doing that, it's over.
Infinite winced as he took in a large breath… push past the pain… it's not new for you. Exhale… again…
"Are you still in pain?" Metal Sonic queried, its hand moving away.
Infinite shook his head and reached for his chest— aching, but rising and falling, still beating, even if a little rattled… "I think… I think it all just came back a little too fast."
A clicking, chuffing noise from inside the blue head, "I understand— I should have known it would have been painful to recall, but I needed to assess your memory."
I understand? Infinite wondered, starting at the red lights— the robot was close enough to where he could see the black screen's divisions, the illusion of eyes— so not only could it talk… it could think?
"The doctor couldn't be bothered to keep an eye on me himself, I see," he snuffed.
Metal Sonic swiveled its head away, "He wouldn't have gone to the trouble of saving you." A low, grinding growl from within, "He never does."
It thinks and acts for itself. "Why did you, then?"
"You wanted to keep going, even though your body was failing you."
I can't die here. Not like this… I can still…
"I found you near the reactor, disintegrating," it continued. "A complication from your assimilation with the Ruby prototype. I put you in stasis before transporting you here and starting to reverse the decay— and here we are, six months later."
The jackal squinted at the robot— months of resources all for him. What would it gain from saving a dying gun-for-hire? From going behind its creator's back?
"A lot of trouble for a stranger," he probed.
"Perhaps," Metal Sonic beeped. "I'm just paying it forward." It backed away and turned towards the door, "I'll give you the whole story when you're rested."
A few years ago, repairing her armor took only an hour at most, but outside of the Cage, away from the raw materials and expertise of the phycae who designed it, the task was now taking entire days to restore it to full functionality: scavenging wreckage for suitable metal, retreating back to her burrow and mending each worn down and damaged area, testing connections with each repair. Two days of surgical tinkering and she wished for her father's patience, or his genius… or his presence.
The echidna frowned and lowered her head— had he thought she had died, or searched the remains of Nocturne for any sign of her? Did the sudden disappearance drive him mad?
She forced the speculations out of her head and focused on the rest of her armor: significant chipping along the abdominal plating, a worn patch on the right hip… how long would whittling the scrap metal into such small pieces take, and could she afford to stay here for that time?
In the days after Eggman's reactor had exploded, she'd managed to dig out a shelter underneath the rigid, unwieldy debris, waiting for the scouts to finish recovering whatever information they needed to construct defenses for a next attack— information she'd copied during the chaos of the final battle, along with all of the notes and analysis of the Phantom Ruby. The mad doctor's self-aggrandizing made his writings easier to decipher for Shade, even if the results froze her blood and sucked the air from her chest.
Now after six months, heavy machinery to break down and clear the remains of the facility were beginning to arrive, and she'd need to scuttle this refuge before they uncovered its entrance.
A pink glow illuminated the burrow and seized her attention; her helmet reacting— to something approaching? Or a message? The echidna donned it, body tensing for a quick escape.
An energy signal, weak and far from the United Federation, but the same as six months ago… and four thousand years ago. Her fingers tensed as she steadied her breathing, exhaling the memory of the screams, darkness and cold.
She pulled on her armor and boots and scooped up the remaining pieces of scrap. The armored figure scanned her burrow for any remaining traces before she set an explosive charge near the center of the den, just underneath the mound of collapsed wall and ceiling— just enough force to bring it down and cover her presence after she warped away.