"Again, I'm So Happy You Liked My Stories! If You Have Any More Ideas You Want Me To Write Out, Feel

"Again, I'm so happy you liked my stories! If you have any more ideas you want me to write out, feel free to ask!"

Hello again! This is the guy who provided the prompt for "Best Friends Forever," (thank you SO MUCH again, not only for writing that out, but for posting it onto An Archive Of Our Own! I really do feel honored!) As luck would have it, I *do* have another idea I'd love to share with you. I'm afraid it's... fairly lengthy. (Sorry!) Yet I think it's a really solid story, all in all, and I think you would have fun fleshing it out. (Again: if this story is "too much," no worries, I understand. It'd be enough just to hear your thoughts about my idea!)

My idea boils down to this: Rusty Rose 'opens up' to Nine inside Nine's prison cell, and asks him questions about Amy and Sonic. It takes place after Episode 8 of Sonic Prime.

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The Chaos Council is currently keeping Nine held in a prison cell.  When our story starts, Nine is sitting on his prison bed, not doing anything in particular while thinking intently about a lot of things.  Suddenly, unexpectedly… he sees his prison door start to open.  Rusty Rose is about to enter his cell.  Before she can completely open the door, Nine makes a valiant attempt to push past her and escape.  Nine ALMOST succeeds too… he makes it as far as the middle of the cellblock corridor before Rusty stretches out one of her extendable cyborg arms, grabs Nine, and tosses him right back into his cell.  He rebounds against the cell’s back wall and lands on the floor.  Rusty steps in and shuts the cell door behind her.   

As he picks himself back up, Nine comments something along the lines of “What I wouldn’t give to have my gun back now.” 

Rusty responds that his gun would do him no good anyway; the Chaos Council has upgraded her and she is now ‘hackproof.’  

Nine then asks, in a sullen, moody way, how things went for her in that new universe the Doctors sent her too.

Rusty answers that “It could have gone better.”

Nine starts to ask if she succeeded in getting the Paradox Shard that the Doctors sent her to fetch… but midway through his question, Rusty interrupts him with one of her own:

“Who is Amy?”

At first, Nine’s genuinely confused.  He tells Rusty that he has no idea who she’s talking about.  He turns his gaze away from her, facing the wall.  

Only to be suddenly startled to hear SONIC’S voice:

*“And Amy is…!”*

Nine’s wide-eyed attention snaps back in Rusty’s direction. For one brief moment, he’s SURE that Sonic somehow teleported himself into this cell with him…

…Only to realize, the next second later, that what he’s actually hearing is an old recording of Sonic’s voice coming from Amy’s robotic chest.

*“Well, Amy’s the sweetest friend you could ask for.”*

Rusty then asks if Sonic ever told Nine who ‘Amy’ is, since the two of them are friends.

Nine sticks with the same claim he made to the Chaos Council (during Episode 8), telling Rusty that Sonic abandoned him when he needed him most, and they’re no longer friends.

Rusty counters that Nine has no reason NOT to tell her about Amy… if Sonic really ISN’T his friend. 

Then Nine asks Rusty why does this ‘Amy’ even matter to her?

At this point, it’s almost as if Rusty’s cold emotionless thaws by half a degree.  It’s almost as if Rusty has decided to somewhat “open up” to Nine, ever-so-slightly.

She tells Nine a bit about the alternate universe she visited; that it is a world of vast oceans, full of pirates.  She tells him that she encountered Sonic there, and that he had somehow become the captain of a crew of pirates.  

(Upon hearing Sonic’s name, especially, Nine listens with rapt attention, though he doesn’t allow his face to betray any emotion.)

Rusty also discusses ‘Black Rose,’ and actually broadcasts a VIDEO of Black Rose onto the wall of the cell , (like a movie projector,) from her robot eye, so Nine can see the pink pirate hedgehog for himself.  She confesses that seeing Black Rose had… effected her.

Nine asks ‘What kind of effect?’

Rusty has difficulty finding the proper words, but she says that initially, when the blue hedgehog kept calling her ‘Amy,’ she dismissed it as a simple case of mistaken identity.  But the more times she encountered him, the more it felt like Sonic was capable of seeing… a different side of Rusty.  More than meets the eye.  A part that Rusty herself wasn’t aware of… an ‘untapped potential,’ of sorts.

Especially after seeing Black Rose, Rusty’s starting to wonder whether ‘Amy’ may be the key to a greater understanding about herself.  She then asks if Sonic’s ever had this same effect on Nine? Has Sonic ever called Nine by a different name?

Rusty’s words are resonating a bit inside Nine’s mind, though he says nothing to the cyborg.

Trying to provoke more of a reaction out of Nine, Rusty also brings up the subject of Sails; another two-tailed fox who looks just like Nine that was part of Sonic’s pirate crew.  She shows Nine videos of Sails fighting Rusty and her fellow robots alongside the other pirates (who resemble Rebel Rouge and Renegade Knucks) and also flying down to save Sonic from drowning while saying, “Don’t worry, I got ye!”

Upon seeing Sails, something Sonic said to Nine when they first met echoes in the fox’s mind: Sonic insisting that the two of them were “best friends.”

In a would-be "offhanded" way, Nine asks Rusty whether Sonic appeared to have a closer, friendlier relationship with the two-tailed fox pirate than with the other pirates.  Rusty raises an eyebrow, but answers that, as far as she could discern, Sonic seemed to treat everyone in his pirate crew with an equal degree of friendliness… Sails included.  

Inwardly, this answer relieves Nine greatly.  Sonic is naturally friendly to almost everyone, after all… but more importantly, it doesn’t sound as though Sails has ‘replaced’ Nine as ‘Sonic’s best friend.’  Out loud, Nine simply says, “I see.”

Then Nine asks, “Let’s suppose, hypothetically, I *did* know about Amy.  What do you plan to do to her?”

“Meet her.” Rusty answers.

“And then what?”

“I will determine my next course of action after I’ve met her."

Nine considers his feelings and options.  For a moment, it almost seems as though he’ll say something that would help Rusty Rose.  But in the end, he chooses to coldly tell her that he has no obligation to help her at all.  

Electricity crackles visibly on Rusty’s metallic hands.  Nine tenses up, prepared to get electrocuted again, prepared to be tortured for information about Amy.  Instead, Rusty just abruptly storms out of Nine’s cell.

Alone again, Nine goes over and looks at himself in a reflective surface of his cell, (perhaps a well-polished wall, perhaps the water in his toilet bowl.)  He thinks more about Sonic, and for some reason, without even thinking about what he’s doing or why, finds himself repeating Sails’ words: “Don’t worry, I got ye!”

Then Nine flops onto his prison bed, rolling his eyes at himself.  

+++++++++

What do you think of this idea?

P.S. - If you do end up liking it enough to flesh it out into a proper story, I'd appreciate it so much if you could also post it on "An Archive Of Our Own!"

Man, you just keep on having good ideas! We need to have more interactions between Rusty and Nine.

==============================================

It was a while in captivity, week after week, having to sleep on a horrible excuse of a bed, which was really just a barely soft surface without any blanket or pillow, only to be waked up rudely by the metal dolts controlled by the amateurs keeping him in captivity.

His (weeks...months...?) time in captivity went in one long boring dull cycle. He was woken up, fed what he assumed was breakfast, then dragged to the Council to be mocked and threatened before being taken to some kind of workshop, and forced to work on transports that'll help the dolts conquer the Shatterverse, then given a poor dinner, no he didn't have lunch, and taken back to his cell to sleep. It was a long drawled out cycle that made him bored and annoyed.

He was rather dizzy and lightheaded due to how much they zapped him if he ever opened his mouth or even look at them in the wrong way. His fur and skin were badly burnt, making his neck and back constantly itch and feel as if they were on fire. He didn't really take that much care of his fur anyway. It was better than the food he was being served anyway, just disgusting tasteless slabs and slops of mush and other things he didn't want to know. What he did know was that it was disgusting, feeling like rocks or mucus going down his throat when he managed to get past chewing without gaging or spitting it out.

Due to how weak his body was, his metal tails were useless now. They were connected to his body. If they weren't so weak, he'd consider them a saving grace, because due to them being connected to his body and not just coming from his belt, removing them could've killed the kitsune, leaving them unable to use his machines to conquer. It was a painful and difficult process to attach them, but it was worth it.

Sitting on his prison bed, he began to do what he did most: think. He thought about a lot of things. Ways to get out of here, ways to leave without being detected, to grab the Shatterdrive, find Sonic and go home. Sure it wouldn't originally seem like home to Sonic, but maybe they could make it work.

Even if it didn't, he'd be fine. He was fine staying alone on the Grim if Sonic said no, it wasn't like he hadn't done it before.

Sonic. That's what, who, he mostly thought about during his time in the cell.

He always was deeply curious and envious of how dedicated Sonic is to getting home or helping others. He wasn't jealous that the hedgehog was capable, far from that, he was more jealous of how dedicated Sonic is to them.

The hedgehog was always so energetic and friendly, managing to get even him to open up. He wasn't like anyone Nine met before, he was lively and colorful while everyone in this city, including him, was always dull and grey. Instead of looking at his tails in disgust, Sonic looked at them with amazement and never minded them. Instead of beating him and giving him bruises, Sonic's touch was...different.

It was soft, the hedgehog never put pressure or ill intent in his hand, affectionate giving him high fives and carefully grabbing him by the scruff, it was very...gentle.

It was nice and he found he wanted more of it. He wanted to see the sparkle and brimming excitement in Sonic's caring gaze, he wanted more high fives, he wanted the warm feeling that pooled into his chest whenever the hedgehog cared for and supported him unconditionally.

He lapped for more, like a puppy dog.

And that disgusted him.

His ears suddenly perked up as he sat up on his "bed". There was a rhythmic clanging of metal coming closer and closer to his cell door. The rhythm was heavy but not slow like the other dolts that often came to his cell. He had just been sent back to his cell, so it didn't make sense for the council to fetch him when they'd rather be catching their "beauty"-sleep. Yeah sure.

This meant it was Rusty. The robot must've come back from her mission to conquer the Shatterverse for those dolts. But why was she coming to the cell door at this time? It didn't mean anything good, that's for sure. He got onto his feet, preparing himself for when she opened the door.

Clang-clang-clang...

She was almost here.

Clang-clang-clang...

She was just at the door.

Clang.

She stopped, right in front of the door. His heart pounded as he heard the soft clink of her metal fingers grasping the door to push it open. The door began to open, and the robot's cold glowing green eye peered in at the child, as empty as ever.

Before she could open it all the way, however, the fox made his move. He moved without his metal appendages, pushing Rusty and managing to catch her off guard as she fell, getting out and making a break for what he hoped was the way out.

He could hear the bot's calls for him to 'cease running', and his shoes pounded against the metal ground as he ran. He was about to turn a corner-

"Urk!"

-when the robot's arm grabbed him by the scruff, pulling him back to his cell, he could feel the fingers, the hard metal fingers dig into his skin, and he faintly wondered if he would bleed.

Before he could even blink he felt his back hit something hard as he landed on the floor. The robot merely stepped into the cell, closing the door behind her. The fox, on his knees, slowly pulled himself back up, his back machine from the impact, and his neck aching from the harsh whiplash.

Panting in pain, the kitsune spoke first.

"You know I expected the drones they wasted time on, not their lowly excuse of a tin can."

"Your escaping was futile. You are required to stay and assist the council in their rule."

"Unfortunately."

"Running will do you no good", the robot repeated itself, that was all it was capable of, "The Council will hear of your poor attempt."

"Oh, please, I'm so threatened. All they do is sit in their chairs and leave waste of metal like you to do all the work."

"Do not insult the Council."

"With how stupid they make themselves look, I don't need to."

"Then you must be a fool as well.", the robot's voice coldly snarked back. Nine scowled, raising himself on his nine tails, glaring nastily at the robot.

"My point still stands. I mean they left you and the other robots easy to hack. In fact, if I had my gun right now, you'd be serving me."

"Hacking is pointless. The Council has upgraded to a new system that renders me 'hack proof'", the bot continued unfazed by the threatening fox. The kitsune merely scoffed, and the two remained glaring coldly at each other.

"So based on how you're here, what did the Council keep you from actually being useful and send some other drones to do the job?"

"No, I was sent. But", she paused, "it could have gone better."

"Oh yeah? Did you run out of oil? Did your battery die on the way there?"

"Watch it fox", she snapped, in slight annoyance, "I run on a different power source, batteries and oil are not required to function."

"So? Did you get the shard or no-"

"Who is Amy?"

"Wha-?"

Confusion and surprise came across Nine's face. The robot, while her voice was still robotic, it had a questioning tone, her face having a slight show of curiosity. The fox's face then went back to neutral, a slight hint of disinterest in his tone.

"I don't know what glitch is going on in your circuit system, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nine turned to lie on his cot, facing away from the robot, staring at the dull rusty metal wall. Only, his ears flicked up to a familiar voice, one that he longed to hear again, and the fox's eyes widened.

"And Amy is-"

He turned.

Only to be met by the cold red and green stare of the badnik. Her face was still expressionless, her mouth pulled in a straight line. The voice of his only friend was merely a saved recording coming from the bot's chest. As the recording continued, Rusty's voice being flat explaining how she was nothing but a tool of destruction, Nine's ears lowered in slight sadness at the truth and anger at himself for believing that foolish thought with slight hope.

The recording continued.

"Well, Amy's the sweetest friend you could ask for!"

The recording stopped, and silence was present once more before the bot spoke once more.

"Answer me fox", the voice of the robot was cold, but had no bite, the green eye of the robot dimmed ever so slightly, "Has the blue hedgehog told you who this 'Amy' is?"

"Why're you asking me about this?"

"You two are believed to be friends."

"Well, that information is incorrect. I already told the council, Sonic abandoned me when I needed him, I don't think that's friend material."

"Then you should have no problems telling me since you hold no truce to the hedgehog."

Nine scowled in annoyance.

"Why does knowing who 'Amy' is important to you anyway?"

Silence filled the cell as the fox awaited the bot's answer. Her face was still cold and empty, but her eye lights seemed to flicker, the emotion within untelling. The fox scoffed, moving the turn back to the wall before the robot speaking once more made him pause.

"During my mission of collecting the shard, I made some key observations. The world I encountered was unlike this one, it was full of nothing but vast amounts of a liquid substance combining the elements of hydrogen and oxygen, or in other words: water. In that world, the inhabitants were of the pirate kind.", she paused, looking to see if the fox was listening, which he was, just barely, "It was there I encountered the hedgehog once more."

Like a switch being flicked, the kit began to listen with more interest at the mention of the blue blur. His face remained neutral, keeping his emotions hidden from the girl bot.

"But I also encountered something else.", she paused, "Or rather someone else."

She turned, pausing for a moment, before a beam of light shot from her eye, casting a projection on the wall. There, in Rusty's point of view, the big pirate ship was observed, the inhabitants as well, only when it came to another pink hedgehog, only all organic, wearing a pirate getup and looking back with a telescope, the camera that served as Rusty's head and eyes jerked back, the dopple looking equally as shocked.

The recording paused with the pink hedgehog looking back in shock, her mouth open, having been paused in speaking.

"When I saw this...other me affected me."

Nine, now listening with more attention looked at Black Rose's still recorded form, and back to the robotized victim, then returned to the recorded Rose, speaking once more.

"What kind of effects?"

Even more silence as the girl struggled with words to describe her odd 'glitch'.

"Initially, when the hedgehog had called me 'Amy' I had originally dismissed it as a sense of mistaken identity.", Rusty settled on saying, continuing, "However, after I encountered him more I...feel like he was seeing a different side of me. Something with more potential, an untapped potential I have not been aware of until now."

Rusty paused before going on, her gaze moving to the still video, to the other her.

"After encountering this 'alternate me', I have been beginning to wonder if this 'Amy' could be a key of sorts to a better understanding of myself."

She moved her gaze to the nine-tailed fox sitting on his cot, who stayed silent, his gaze on the ground.

"Tell me fox, has the blue hedgehog ever done the same to you? Hasn't he called you something else? Wasn't it 'Tails'?"

Silence.

After a small flicker of her lights, Rusty then continued, trying to get some information from the fox. She found another person to talk about in a matter of seconds. The video switched over to something else, another two-tailed fox, one with a mechanical claw holding a pirate sword, also in a pirate getup. A frozen smile was on his face.

Nine sat up straighter at this.

"This is another one of the hedgehog's pirate crew. Name identification: Sails. He looks quite similar to you, this is another 'variant' of you in this world from my observations."

The video fast-forwarded before playing in the middle of a battle between Sonic and his crew fighting against Rusty and the other drones. There were other variants as well, a bat and echidna that must've been another variant of Rebel and Knucks. Then Sonic was suddenly off the ship falling to the sea before Sails' metal claw grabbed him, reassuring him with a call.

"Don't worry, I've got ye!"

Nine stayed silent, replaying the events in his mind. Another variant of himself? And Rebel and Knucks? This was...interesting. Sonic seemed to be on good terms with the pirates to be saved by one of them. Not just one of them, but a variant of himself. It also appears that Sonic seems to be on good terms with his variant as well. But did that mean...?

Was he best friends with Sonic like he was?

His voice was cold, but still full of curiosity and barely concealed wariness.

"Rusty Rose, answer, did Sonic have a particularly more friendly relationship with this other variant of me than the other pirates?"

In a spur of confusion, the hedgehog raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on the question, only answering with:

"As far as I could discern, the blue hedgehog showed an equal amount of friendliness to all aboard the ship."

Nine felt a wave of relief flood him, keeping his relief to himself. Ah, good. This variant of him didn't replace him as Sonic's best friend. Sonic was just naturally friendly to almost everyone other than the Chaos Council. After a long beat of silence, the kit spoke once more.

"I see.", he continued, "And what if I do know who this 'Amy' is, what do you plan to do to her?"

"Meet her.", was Rusty's simple response.

"And then what"

"I will determine my next course of action when I succeed."

Nine went quiet. A tense silence flooded the cell and waited for one of the inhabitants to speak. Nine began to think, he has heard about Amy, but it was just passing information, not anything specific to report. Besides what would he get in exchange if he does tell Rusty, she's too loyal to the Council of Amateurs to let him go that easily, and he won't get anything in return, not to mention, if he did know and did tell her, she might cross paths with Sonic again.

And he saw from experience what she'd do if she saw the hedgehog. He considered his options and once he picked one he spoke, eyes cold and spiteful, his voice cold and uncaring.

"You wasted your time robot, you have nothing you can do or give in exchange, you work for the council that made the hell hole I lived in. I have no intentions of helping you at all.", as he spoke the last sentence his voice was snarling and mocking, yet retained any yelling or shouting.

It was a firm harsh oath the fox intended to keep.

Rusty paused at the fox's words, her eyes narrowed and began to flicker rapidly. Her teeth clenched in anger, and a wave of deep anger slipped through her lips in a deep growl. Her hands began to cackle with electricity, and as they did Nine stood, his metal tails still limp and useless, his body, exhausted, swayed from side to side.

Nine tensed ready to feel volts of painful volts of energy travel throughout his body, leaving him panting and kneeling on the floor. He felt a slight pang of fear take hold of his heart, he didn't have any means to fight back, and he couldn't run due to both the cell door being closed and the deep exhaustion his body now suffered from.

The kitsune's eyes were wide as he took a slight step back, frozen. Rusty took a step towards him and Nine closed his eyes, ready as he'll ever be.

Clang-clunk-clang...!

Until her footsteps, angry and defeated walked to the door and slammed it behind her, leaving the fox behind to vent out her frustrations.

Nine sighed outwardly in relief, now that he was alone. He was sure he'd get the information tortured by electrocution out of him like it always was, not that he'd tell her if she did.

She didn't deserve any help from him.

He walked over to a water bowl, hating his meals being served in pet dishes due to it being where he drinks and eats from, like an animal. That's how those goons saw him, saw all of his kind, they were nothing but cattle and livestock to them. It was horribly dehumanizing and he hated it.

But he should be grateful that they didn't put a collar on him and gave him to the egg brat, and even that wasn't much.

As he picked the dish up to take a sip he caught sight of his reflection, his cold blue eyes, his white muzzle and small nose, his pointed ears with dark tips, the bags of exhaustion under his eyes...

What did...Sonic sees him as really? Were they really best friends? I mean from what he's seen he's a dime a dozen. No, he's not, he has way more mechanical prowess than Sails.

Sails. The other variant of him.

Without thinking he repeated the only words he heard his variant utter.

"Don't worry, I got ye."

He paused before sighing, and moving over to his bed, flopping into it with a sigh, and staring at the cold ceiling, he rolled his eyes before he turned over and fell into slumber.

A Chance Meeting Chapter 3: Chili Dogs And Confliction

Yeah! Chapter three baby! You can read it here, or on AO3 too!

Chapter Summary: A tiny fox genius meets a big blue boi.

==============================================

Miles found himself wrapped and cocooned in darkness and warmth. 

Shiting in whatever he was in, he felt the weight of some kind of blanket over him. It was soft, he liked it. Unfortunately, he soon felt a dull pain in his head as he did so. Raising a hand to his forehead he groaned as he sat up and rubbed his temples. His nose caught a whiff of something strong but full of different kinds of spices. It gently stung, but it was otherwise somewhat pleasant, nothing like anything he smelled before anyway.

Ugh, what happened? What's that smell?

He finally opened his eyes, colors and blobs once blurred becoming clear. He blinked in tired confusion as wherever he was wasn't his burrow. It was some camp. There was a pot held over a campfire with something gently bubbling within. A strong aroma wafted from the small cauldron.

Must've been where the smell was coming from. Whatever it is, doesn't smell half bad.

He turned his head as something red caught his eye. It was the bright red plane he was fixing before the bean caught him, the machine illuminated by the campfire beside him that bathed him in comforting warmth. It was still as lovely as ever. It's a shame he got interrupted. He turned his head as he caught sight of the hedgehog tending to the pot, having not noticed he was awake yet.

He slowly laid back down, preparing to go back to slumber...

Wait...Oh, shi-!

He sat up with a sharp gasp, ignoring the uncomfortable pressure on his poor head. As soon as he did he felt an unwavering sense of dizziness and fatigue wash over him, but that was soon covered with fear as he remembered what had happened. He had been caught by the hedgehog.

He froze with fear as he silently stared at the bigger being in front of him. His breathing began to accelerate. What should he do? He knows he should run, but he knows what the bean is capable of, it'd capture him again in a blink. His heartbeat was all he could hear now. He can't run, but if he stayed who knows what the bean would do. What if it wanted to wait until he woke to kill him, or-or what if it wanted to torture him before it did, or what if it kept him, what if it put him in a cage to become a pet? He didn't want to become a pet, he wanted to go back home and curl up and pretend this never happened. But what could he do now?

Stupid-! he cursed himself. If he hadn't decided to help the bean, none of this would've happened, but no! He had to fix it, and look where it got him.

Stupid, stupid-!

"Hey, you're awake!"

He froze as the bean's voice wormed in his ears. He looked back at the hedgehog, who was now staring at him with a small, strangely warm smile. Blue eyes just stared into emerald ones, the owner not uttering a word as he panicked even more. A tense silence fell over them, save for the crackling of the fire, the smoke from the embers listing and fading into the darkening sky as the sun was nearly up, ready for the night to be over soon. How long had he been out?!

All Miles felt was undescribable terror, his heartbeat now pounding so hard and fast he felt as if he had a heart attack. It'd be better to have a heart attack than this . Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as he continued to stare at his spikey captor. The said urchin began to show discomfort and concern on his face. The hedgehog spoke with caution and worry.

"Are...are you ok?"

Miles didn't answer, too scared for his safety to form any words. The hedgehog slightly grimaced at that stupid question, however, the expression went unnoticed by the tiny fox before him, whose shoulders continued to shake in terror. Strangled and choked sounds slipped out of the kit's lips, and he felt his eyes water at how hopeless his situation was.

Tears now fell on the folded sleeping bag he realized he was on. This was it. This is where his life ended. He couldn't run even if he tried, the bean most likely going to recapture him. Miles saw a form of panic form on the urchin's face as they lifted their gloved hands in a placating gesture.

"Hey, it's ok little guy! You're okay!"

Miles watched in growing horror as the bean began to move toward him. They moved off the log they were sitting on, gently walking towards the mini genius. When they were a few feet away, and due to Miles whimpering if he got closer, the hedgehog carefully sat in front of him. They looked like they wanted to move closer, wanted to do something but seemed to refrain. In place of whatever that was, the being he had to look up at offered a warm smile.

"Uh-so..."

The hedgehog stammered, not knowing what to do or say. His eyes darted for a second before his gloved hand moved to point at his chest, a somewhat confident smile beginning to blossom. 

"My name's Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog, what's your name?"

Silence.

"You do have a name, right?"

More silence. This time, however, Miles puffed up his tails in anger as the offense was now present on his face instead of the recent fear. Miles felt demeaned by that stupid question. Of course, he had a name, he just wasn't going to tell a being who would easily crush him out of existence! He felt a new sense of rebellion form inside him, if he was going to die, might as well face it with dignity!

The urchin just raised his hands in another appeasing gesture, chuckling softly in both nervousness and slight amusement. Miles felt his heart drop at how pathetic he must look trying to be brave in front of such a powerful being.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to offend you!" the hedgehog, Sonic smiled and leaned forward slightly, making Miles flinch lightly and step back.

"So, what is your name?"

Miles stayed silent clutching one of his tails and moving his gaze to the ground, his ears flattening. After a deep breath, and ignoring how much he was shaking from realizing how close he was to the bean, he glanced up once more and gave them a harsh glare as best as he could. The mobians ears flattened as he leaned back, guilt present on his face.

"Alright, okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to! I mean, I wouldn't either if I was in your situation.", the urchin rubbed his neck out of both guilt and the uncomfortable awkwardness of this conversation.

Another pang went through the child's head, causing them to wince and rub at their temples.

"Oh, your head hurts, huh? I'm not surprised, you hit it pretty hard when you ran into the toolbox. You were out all night, must feel pretty nasty."

Miles tensed both at the mention of the horrible box that got him into this and the fact that he was knocked out that long. He looked around, but there was no sign of the stupid thing.

"Sorry about that by the way it must've fallen out or some flicky messed with it.", another nervous scratch behind the spiky mammal's neck. Miles felt slightly miffed at that comment, how the bean didn't think he was capable, but he could understand from his perspective. He couldn't think he could lift it out either until he had muscle sprains and wheezing lungs. 

But he said nothing. The less he said the better.

Silence fell over the pair once more, only to be interrupted by Miles's empty stomach. He quickly covered it and turned away from the hedgehog, who in response to the interruption let out an amused chuckle.

"Hungry?"

Miles felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as a reply. He was startled when Sonic suddenly stood, moving over to something by the fire. He watched as the bean moved to the pot, gently stirring the bubbling liquid. His stomach growled more as he caught the scent of the mysterious source. Then a thought entered his mind and his tail tufts puffed up once more out of fear.

Is-is this maniac going to eat me?!

He's never really heard of a bean eating a borrower, but there's a first time for everything. He began to shake more, tuning out his surroundings. He was snapped out of his thoughts when his ears caught Sonic approaching. He backed up slightly, as the hedgehog kneeled before him once more, two dogs in each hand.

"Ever had a Chili Dog before?", Nine paused in confusion, before shaking his head slowly. Sonic's eyes gleamed, a silly grin taking over his features.

"Oh, then you haven't been living yet! Here, your taste buds will thank me!"

Confusion turned into surprise as the hedgehog then tore off a chunk of the strange hot dog, leaned forward slightly, and placed it near the fox, either not paying mind or noticing how the fox flinched and moved back two steps. The blue blur then licked the chili off his gloved fingers, then began to finish off the rest of the broken-off dog. Miles watched in confusion at what just happened. 

Thoughts swarmed in his head again. What was this guy playing? Was he sharing food with him, a borrower? No, it had to be a trap. Maybe he wanted him to think he had a choice, maybe he wanted him to lower his guard. When he got comfortable, he wouldn't have a chance. He continued to stare at the being before him who was currently chowing down with clear satisfaction, however, it wasn't even a second before they noticed he wasn't moving to the offer. 

The hedgehog sighed.

"Jeez little guy, you're acting as if I poisoned it.", Miles looked up at him with a glare, "Look, if I wanted to try something don't you think I would've tried it by now?"

Miles paused. He was right, he didn't kill him right away, he didn't wait for him to wake up to kill him, and just seemed to be concerned over him, which couldn't be possible, and now he was sharing food with him. If he wanted to try anything he would've done it. He looked over at the chunk of chili dog. It was still warm, slightly dripping the strange spicy-smelling stuff all over the makeshift mattress he stood on. He slowly made his way to the dog, keeping a careful eye on the hedgehog, and when he got there, he reached out slowly and sniffed the food carefully, trying to detect any traces of rat poison but he found none. At last, he opened his mouth and carefully bit into the offered morsel, eyes widening and his tails sticking on end as the flavor exploded in his mouth.

Before he knew it, his tiny paws were ripping off chunk after chunk and stuffing it into his mouth, savoring the delectable treat, a gentle purr of enjoyment erupted from him. The chili got all over his fur, but he paid no mind as he used his tails to scoop the excess sauce, licking his paws and tails. After a couple of minutes, the chili dog was devoured by the child patting his stomach happily in satisfaction. He was snapped out of his trance when he heard Sonic let out a chuckle.

"I guess you were more hungry than I thought!", Miles felt his cheeks burn up at the comment, and he turned away from the urchin. He paused as he caught sight of the forest, the way home. He wanted to run, but now he felt conflicted. He didn't trust the bean of course, but he was just confused at their kindness. It didn't seem like a trap, but isn't that what he wanted him to think? But he would've tried something by now, it doesn't make sense to push it this far. Or what if they were just waiting even longer to try something? What if he was just putting him in a false sense of security? Perhaps.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice Sonic noticing his silence and turning to whatever the little buddy had his eye on, the forest. Miles was snapped out of his thoughts as the hedgehog abruptly stood and began to stretch turning towards another part of the rich tree-filled maze.

"Welp, I'm gonna go for a run!", Miles paused and made a confused noise at the random statement. What? That wasn't what he was expecting. Isn't he going to interrogate him on what he was or keep him for answers? Wait, was he was going to take him with him just to keep an eye on him?

Sonic meanwhile turned hearing the squeak of confusion seeing the little guy look as if he was having an existential crisis at the simple statement of leaving him alone and allowing him to leave.

"What? Ya think I'm going to keep you here?! You should probably go home kid, your folks are probably worried sick!", he paused when the kid's ears suddenly lowered at the mention of his parents, but continued, his words now slightly jumbled, "I mean it was really awesome to meet you, although it probably would've been better if you didn't run headfirst into something and end up knocked out, again I'm really sorry about that, but you seem like a cool guy! I hope I see ya around!"

Before Miles could reply to the somewhat awkward and unexpected statement, there was a burst of wind and a blur of blue, and the hedgehog was gone. His mind went blank at the current reality he found himself in.

Was...was the bean letting him go?

No, it had to be a trick! A-a-hope spot. Well, he wasn't going to fall for this, he was going to wait right here! So he sat there, waiting for about fifteen minutes for the blue blur to come back, only for him to still be gone. He began to stand, moving slowly to the place of safety before him, he held in his breath just in case the bean was watching, waiting to spring out and grab him. When he got about five feet, he made a break for it, running faster than he ever ran, not stopping once. He kept going, even when his lungs felt as if they were going to burst, even when his legs were starting to strain. He didn't stop until he began to sob with relief at the sight of his burrow of safety. He nearly collapsed after pushing the rocks over to squeeze in.

It was ok. He was home.

He was safe now.

As he stayed there, panting, laid down facing the ceiling of his sanctuary, his thoughts began to wander about the bean, to what just happened. The bean let him go, but why? The bean was kind, but why? The bean helped him...

BUT WHY?!

Writing Prompt: After a series of events, Nine feels like Sonic betrayed him., and loses whatever goodness he had left. Now bitter he becomes a villain.

He left him.

He didn't care about him, he lied to him like all the others.

Nine understood now.

Sonic was only pretending.

Sonic was only pretending, so he could use him.

He's just like everyone else. A manipulative, hurtful, mocking liar who only used him because he was brilliant.

He should've known nobody wouldn't love a creep like him. He doesn't deserve companionship or anything good. He doesn't need those things anyway.

He got by just fine on his own, he didn't need anyone then, why did he become an idiot and let his guard down to the blue urchin?

Why was he so stupid?

Whatever.

He-he didn't need anyone, he was perfectly-IS! Is perfectly fine on his own. He isn't going to let himself be vulnerable like that. Never again. He opened his heart after years of keeping it in a locked safe, and it only got broken in the end.

Now the lock was put back in place, keeping the remnants of the broken heart before it could break his mind completely. Before the last thread can finally snap.

The goons that once were the amateur council lay on the floor groaning and begging for mercy, having been brutally defeated by the rage-filled fox. Nine paid the pathetic group no mind, walking over to the controls.

The council had multiple controls, ones to control the robots, and ones to control the entire city, but there was only one he was interested in: the one with the shard vault.

He was only there for the shard, after all, he could care less for the city.

He didn't need Sonic in his new world, he was alone, he was always alone, even when the hedgehog manipulated him into thinking that he actually wanted to be friends.

He was such a fool. Nobody had friends here, it was only a rule he started at first, but now, it was a cemented truth that applied only to him.

He understood.

He was nobody.

He at first began to laugh, snorting with pain, until tears began to fall. A chilling and ear-shattering mix of the sobbing of a now broken and lost fox and the cackling of a new and dangerous threat echoed within the halls of the tower.

He didn't need anyone, he couldn't have anyone.

He didn't have hope or happiness, and he finally finds it and can't ever grasp it.

He doesn't need it anyway.

He's fine with that, just fine...

If he can't have any happiness of his own, then he doesn't have anything to lose anymore.

This world brought him nothing but pain, but hurt and misery, he didn't need it. He could care less about what happens to it, he just wants the shard.

Nothing else mattered.

However, if he took the shard then there'd be no point to go to the grim anymore. That place was made for him and Sonic. Where they can be happy, just the two of them, forever.

It was useless now.

What could he do? He had nothing now. He couldn't go back to isolation, because if he wanted to remain unbothered he'd have to get rid of everyone that would pull him back out.

Pull him back out to hurt him even more. There wasn't anything good in this world. Even if there was, Nine can't have it.

Why bother keeping this world intact?

Why bother living?

There wasn't anything worth protecting anymore. The world has been cruel to him, the world showed him no mercy, Sonic showed him no mercy with his sugar-coated words and honey-sweet "affection" only to hurt him more than anyone ever has, even his bullies.

This world is horrible. It's not worth preserving. Nine smiled, his eyes glazed over, the light dimmed and gone, no longer sane.

The world was cruel, didn't think he was special...

well...

He's going to show the world just how special he is.

Just throwing this out there: I really loved your "Deep In-Depth Analysis Of Nine 1/9!" You put a lot of detail in it! Can't wait to read Part 2!

Thank you so much!

And I'm sorry to those waiting for prompts to be written, they are being written, I've just been working a lot on part two of my analysis and more projects I've been working on and I've had some things going on (like school and other boring stuff! XD), so I haven't had much time to answer any questions or prompts immediately, but they will be answered as soon as possible, I promise!

Can we see your Tails Squad idea?

Yup!

Here you go!

===============================================

Nine didn't know what to say when he learned about the squad of all of his happier counterparts. He didn't even know it existed until now. Now he did, he found himself conflicted. He didn't know whether to hate it or what.

He didn't hate them, but he wasn't a big fan of the smaller, softer, fluffier versions of himself. They were happy, ignorant, in blissful peace, lucky them.

Some of them came up to him, asking him questions he could care less to answer. He gave clear hints that he didn't want to be interacted with. Didn't want to be approached by the joy and happiness he can't have. He knew they weren't trying to make him uncomfortable, that they'd never really go out of their way to hurt him.

Besides how can you tell someone that their existence causes you nothing but emotional agony. Seeing them get affection from their Sonics, seeing them be blissful and happy, seeing them not have a care in the world made Nine's heartache.

It hurt being reminded of what he can't have. They have Sonics, they have big brothers who take care of them, support them, and love them unconditionally. Things Nine never knew about until now. Even if some Tails' didn't have a Sonic of their own, they had someone, Nine never even had that.

They would come up to him, with wide, curious, innocent eyes and ask about his metal tails, calling him cool, looking at him with nothing but friendliness, and Nine would only feel more pain about the innocence and childhood he lost because of that horrid place of misery. He would only see the softer, weaker, innocent him looking back up at him.

He felt wrong, disgusted with himself for failing to hold onto that.

He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to leave. He didn't want to watch any more Tails or Sonics, or any more affection take place in front of him anymore. He was in pain. His fight-or-flight response was kicking in.

He needed to leave. Now. He needed to get away.

He left without saying goodbye, not wanting to stare into those eyes again.

You know I have an idea involving nine seeing his whole self. Perhaps in some sort of shard somewhere and perhaps Nine seeing shards of Tails and Sonic being bothers and possibly seeing the event that led him to being by sonics side.

It makes me think that if he had an angry outburst it would be him shouting how without him he isn’t whole (The whole being the life he could have) but with him being whole he would not exist (Nine is a variant in time with years of angst and his own memories, least how the theory goes of them all being shards of the original selves) Nine would never remember and be erased and while he’ll be glad of not having his past anguish happened, it wouldn’t be him anymore. Unless he does something about it.

I’m probably making it more complicated and sorry about that. What are your thoughts on this?

Nine would be horrified.

All of that trauma, all of his efforts, all of his friendship with Sonic.

Just to be a shard of someone he could never become? There his 'whole self' was, fluffy, healthy, happy, the last being something Nine desperately wanted.

He... still wants it.

But was this his choice or what he was made to choose?

He didn't know anymore.

He remembers yelling at Sonic, yelling at him for something even the speedster himself didn't know, ignoring the knawing guilt and self-hatred when those emerald eyes filled with pain and sadness at his cutting remarks.

He stormed away after that, leaving the hedgehog to wallow in his misery. He wasn't a person, but with Sonic he felt like he was. A person worthy of being loved, worthy of kindness, worthy of care. But was that all a lie? Did the hedgehog only care for him because of what he was?

Did Sonic only love him because he was a part of Tails?

Did he even love him for HIM?

Or was it merely because Nine could find a way to fix the world with the shards because Nine would find a way to erase the shattered space like it was nothing? Because they thought Nine would willingly off himself just to be nothing more than a trait?

No.

He wasn't just a trait. He was his own person. And he's not going to go back to being one. He isn't going to just wallow in self-pity, he's going to do something about it.

This world, the shatterverse, the GRIM, they'd all just be erased just like that.

But Nine isn't going to just let that happen.

No.

He's going to do something about it, whether the others, whether SONIC likes it or not.