-Three years ago

The room was dark and cold. The only light that shone was the moon's light through the barred window. The moonlight eliminated the steel bars of the prison cell and the fur of a blue hedgehog. Memories echoed through his head like a hammer trying to break his skull.

"Tails! What's happening!" Sonic cried as the space ship's engine exploded.

He was curled up with his back against the wall, hiding his face. His peach arms had cuffs against them and his ankles as well. His ear would twitch at the sound of the guards pacing about, their bright red eyes sometimes visible to the blue hedgehog in the cell.

"We've been hit by something! I think it was a rocket!" Tails shouted back.

He would look up every now and then, his face drenched from crying.

"But the president knows who we are! Who would-?" Sonic stopped, the obvious answer hung in the air like an awkward turtle.

He'd twitch every now and then, keeping his head down.

Rouge turned to them, yanking off her headphones.

He remembered being dragged away from the remains of the ship his younger brother had been so proud of and worked day-and-night for.

"It's taken too much damage! We're going down!" She yelled.

His head popped up from his legs when he heard the door leading to the prison cells opened. His ears drooped back down, when he saw a lone robot enter. He was hoping it'd be a robot with one of his friends. He prayed they were okay, but the image of that limp yellow body kept coming back to his mind, no matter how many times he pushed it back.

'Please... Let that of been my imagination... Please...;'

The robot that had entered opened the cell door and unchained Sonic.

"YOU ARE REGISTERED FOR IMMEDIATE ROBOTICIZATION. FOLLOW AND DO NOT TRY AND ESCAPE." The robot ordered, forcing Sonic out of the cell.

He hung his head low, his ears laid back. He didn't even bother to escape. What was the use? In this state he was in, he wouldn't stand a chance at all... Plus his friends might not even be alive. They soon entered the destination room and he was quickly put into a large cylindrical chamber. He knew this machine well. The Roboticizer. He looked up a fraction and saw the fat man himself standing behind the control panel, Dr. Eggman.

He couldn't contain himself. He let out a vicious growl and immediately began shouting at Eggman, tears of rage falling down his face.

"You bastard! How dare you lie to us?! We trusted you and you stabbed us all in the backs! Now they're all dead! You happy?! You've just killed everyone who I cared about! You poor excuse of a human!" Tears of sadness mixed with the tears of rage and he collapsed onto his knees, too tired to stand up.

Eggman made no reply, but merely looked at the broken down hedgehog. Sonic had nothing left to live for, nothing left to fight for... It all vanished in a puff of smoke. The chamber's door was opened up and the robot dragged him out. The robot who held him by the back of his neck forced him to stand in front of Eggman. Sonic knew it was him for no one else wore those kind of shoes. Eggman put his hand under Sonic's chin and forced him to look up at him. Sonic did his best to make an angered, or menacing face, but his sadness made it quickly fade.

"Sonic... Listen to me. I did not mean for them to die… It was an accident. I merely wanted you all to be shook up from the crash, so it'd be an easy capture…"

"How do I know you're not lying your ass off again?! You did it before you'll just do it again!" Sonic growled.

It was impossible to tell how Eggman was feeling, for his sunglasses always blocked his eyes.

'Probably so no one could tell if he was lying through his ass, or telling the truth…' Sonic thought.

"Sonic… Please believe me… I never had any intention of hurting any of you… Especially you."

"Bullshit!" Sonic snapped at him.

Eggman must have been slightly taken aback by Sonic's use of vulgar language, for he didn't respond immediately. Sonic rarely ever swore, but now he didn't care if he used fuck as every other word. The rage boiling up in Sonic made it impossible for him to think twice about what he was saying. His emotions, alone, were spilling out of his body and mind. Finally, after a few moments, Eggman spoke again.

"You don't understand…"

"You're right, I don't understand! I'd never understood you and I definitely won't now!" Sonic interrupted him.

Eggman put a finger on the hedgehog's lips to stop him from interrupting again, but had to take it off as Sonic tried to bite him.

"Sonic… Please listen to me…"

"I'm done listening to you! Nothing you can say will change what you've done! My friends are dead! You've won already! Just dispose of me and get it done quickly, so I don't have to see your ugly mug ever again!" Sonic wished he'd just stop crying already.

He was beginning to have trouble seeing through the tears and his voice was cracked.

"Maybe nothing I can say… But maybe something I can do will change something…" Eggman told him.

Eggman pulled the blue hedgehog into a hug. Sonic's eyes widened and his mind went completely blank. He didn't know what was going on, or what was happening. Eggman took advantage of Sonic's confused and shocked state and stabbed the needle into Sonic's arm. Sonic winced from the pain, but soon began to get dizzy. Everything in that room seemed to spin and he was soon losing all feeling in his body. It a matter of seconds, he passed out onto the floor, at Eggman's feet.

The doctor picked Sonic up himself and cradled the unconscious blue hedgehog in his arms. The needle was a last resort, but it happened. Eggman carried Sonic through the hallways of his tower until he came across his bedroom. He carefully laid Sonic onto the bed and sat in a chair next to it.

"I wasn't lying to you, Sonic… I really didn't mean to kill them. I never wanted to hurt you like this… I'm sorry." He knew Sonic wouldn't be able to hear his words, but he felt like he needed to say them. "I thought roboticizing you would take the pain away from you, but I couldn't go through with the idea without some closure…"

Eggman brushed away the tears that had remained on Sonic's face and continued. "When you wake up you won't remember anything from you past… Your mind will be fresh and clean… From there I will teach you to be you… I'm going to help you and raise you as my own" Eggman turned and walked out of the room.

"Monitor him and when he wakes up, alert me." He ordered the robot outside.

Then he walked back to his lab, not sure whether he should regret what he had done.