Sonic woke up, surrounded by darkness, his head feeling like it was about to explode, legs completely numb. The hedgehog tried to move but he found both his hand tied. He was laying on something stiff and cold, bare of his gloves and shoes. He fought with his restrains for a bit but soon gave up. The Mobian felt exhausted and abused. There were scratches and bruises of unknown origin all over his body, some of them still open, filling the metallic surface he was laying on with small red pools of blood.

Turning his head around, Sonic tried to make out anything in the room but failed as the darkness was too thick. Flexing his bare fingers, the hedgehog let out a small groan and closed his eyes, fighting back the reoccurring headache.

Suddenly the room was a lit with a bright light, blinding the Mobian for a few seconds. Turning his head away from the bright light, he noticed an obscure figure standing above him. After blinking and letting out another pained moan, the figure headed towards a small sterilized table next to him. To Sonic's horror, it picked up a sharp object he identified as a scalpel. With his breath becoming shallow, the hedgehog fought against the restraints with the little strength he had left, but to no avail. The figure now towered Sonic's battered frame once more.

"You forced this upon yourself rodent." It said and Sonic instantly recognized the voice's owner.

"Eggman?" he meekly asked. As a catalyst, right after the Mobian muttered those words the figure took shape and size resembling the mad scientist. He had a blank look on his face as if only his body was present, his mind lost in an endless abyss. He was clutching the scalpel, which was shining, reflecting the lights rays which fell on it.

The man didn't utter a word, being entirely focused on the task at hand. His left hand touched Sonic's chest, holding the hedgehog's body in place. Just like holding down a fruit in order to cut it open. The Mobian didn't struggle much, due to his exhaustion, looking mesmerized as the doctor brought the sharp object a few millimetres above his chest. The man held his body tentatively, as if he didn't want to cause any more damage, holding the scalpel with such precision only an experienced surgeon could. The hedgehog felt the cold and sharp surface of the object whenever his chest rose as he now was breathing heavily.

"Eggman?" Sonic asked again, fear creeping in his voice. He didn't dare move, choosing to stare at the doctor. His ears were folded back, his fingers fiddling. He bit his lip in nervousness, now looking at the scalpel on his body.

"Don't be scared hedgehog. This would happen after all," the human responded cryptically, his face still void of emotion. With that, he applied pressure on the scalpel, drawing out a few drops of blood as Sonic tried to squirm away, yet he was held in place by Eggman's firm grip.

"Let me go!" the now afraid Mobian pleaded, struggling with his confines. His subconscious was screaming at him to get away, that something was wrong. The scalpel drew more blood as it was pushed deeper in his chest, leaving behind a trail of red and cut flesh. Sonic let out a moan as the sharp object continued its trip on his body. His struggling had intensified but the doctor was stronger than he looked.

"Eggman! Please stop! It hurts..." the hedgehog begged as the pain grew stronger. Blood was flowing freely from where the human cut him, the thin trail of the red liquid meeting with the other small pools of blood on the table he was on.

After an eternity, the scalpel stopped its bloody trail, with the doctor holding it up in the air, glistening in a bright red colour, the same colour Eggman's hands had become. As for the victim, Sonic stood still as the tiniest of movements send more jabs of pain in his brain. Not that he had the energy to move; the Mobian was unable to move, his whole body in great pain. He could feel the metallic taste of blood in his mouth and he coughed to get it out. A thin trail of red liquid formed in his muzzle, joining the countless others that were in his chest, another small river in the vast red sea.

"...please stop..." Though this word was the faintest of whispers, the human had surprisingly heard it, averting his gaze to the hedgehogs head. His eyes, close to tears, were closed, ears falling behind as the hedgehog gritted his teeth in agony.

"Stop?" The human asked as the Mobian weakly opened his eyes a bit, giving his tormentor a pleading look. "I 'm afraid I can't do that hedgehog. I gave you a chance to cooperate even join side with me, yet you refused. You chose this, rodent."

"What are you going to do to me?" Sonic's voice grew weaker, being on the verge of unconsciousness due to the loss of blood which had now stained the entire table. The hedgehog couldn't move anymore, barely keeping his eyes open. He could feel his heartbeat growing weaker his soul slowly seeping out of his body...

"Please... I'm dying," Sonic whispered hoping to get at least a small reaction from the man. Yet the only thing he did was to slowly press his finger against the teen's lip, shushing him as he brought the scalpel on the hedgehog's chest once more. A single tear run down Sonic's muzzle.

"Relax rodent. It's going to be okay..."

And with that, everything went black.

The hedgehog woke up drenched in sweat. The boy shot up from where he was, attempting to run, but he brought himself to a halt as he observed his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that his heart was still beating and that he was in a brightly lit room, the first one he was in after Eggman captured him. The Mobian fell to his bed instantly, letting out a sigh of pure relief, bringing one of his hands over his eyes, as his breathing became more stable, his muscles relaxed and his fists were unclenched.

"Just a nightmare Sonic," the hedgehog reassured himself, "just a nightmare, don't act like a child." He let himself lay there for a few seconds, to further calm down himself. Once the boy felt his heart beating at a normal pace, he placed the hand which was over his eyes next to him, and let out a deep breath.

Wait, why was he relaxed? He still was Eggman's captive. He figured that much when he saw the room with the sterilized white walls...

The room. He was in the hospital ward. Which meant he was hurt. Which meant someone hurt him. Which meant that what he experienced before...

'Was a product of my wild imagination,' the hedgehog thought, trying to bring himself back to his senses. Just because he happened to be in the hospital, it didn't mean he was physically hurt. He could have simply passed out during one of his stays at the Egg-chaos-something machine. Heck, he might have even been there for a check up!

'Of course you are,' said another part of him, its imaginary voice dripping with sarcasm. 'That's why you find yourself unconscious with no previous memory of being wounded at all.'

'Oh, so every time I find myself hurt I must automatically think that I was cut open by my arch-enemy. You are making perfect sense there, other me.'

'Stop being an idiot and look at the signs-'

'You stop being an idiot, idiot.'

'Why you-'

'BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!' Sonic mentally screamed. He scowled at himself. 'And now I'm going insane. I blame you, Eggman.'

'Me too.'

…What the...?

The hedgehog snapped out of his thoughts, deciding to never bring up the above conversation, opened his eyes and assumed a sitting position. The best tactic for now would be to figure out what was going on.

Looking around, Sonic noticed that he had an abundant amount of cables attached on him, along with a breathing mask on his face. The boy coughed as he pulled down the mask, letting it hang limply around his neck. He then proceeded to entirely remove the strapped cables of him, careful not to take his fur off along with them. He took some off his head, freezing solid as he saw the rest of his body.

The wounds he had during his nightmare were on his body. The same scratches and bruises were visible, as the other bleeding trauma he had were covered with bandages which had taken on a blood red hue. Everything was where he remembered.

A trembling hand went towards his heart, the place where the Eggman of his dream had...cut him, searching for the thick wound that would be there, had his dream reflected on reality...

To Sonic's horror, his search was successful.

He hadn't touched the cut directly, but the thick bandages at that area weren't decorative.

The hedgehog was hyperventilating, a numbing sensation going throughout his body as his trembling increased. The world around him twisted into something much more sinister than the human's experiments, as if seeing the world through the eyes of a madman, as if the Gods decided to play mind games with you.

'So, do you still think you simply 'happened' to be here?'

'Shut up-'

"You're finally awake I see."

The voice snapped Sonic out of his mad trance as the hedgehog whipped his head around to see the person.

His eyes inadvertently widened as Eggman, adorned in a white medical coat and rubber clothes, was observing him- wait was that blood on his coat?! 'Told you so, told you so, told you so, TOLD YOU SO-' With the situation becoming more bizarre and frightening, the hedgehog couldn't help letting small hints of fear creep onto his face.

Eggman seemed to notice that, and a big grin appeared on his face. "Do I detect fear, hedgehog?" he teased the terrified Mobian, "Maybe you've finally understood how hopeless your position is?" he continued as he stood up and slowly approached the hedgehog. "Or perhaps-"

"Get away from me!" Sonic snapped, edging on the opposite direction Eggman was, while watching the doctor with a look filled with horror. One of his hands instinctively covered his chest as if expecting an attack and his whole body had taken a very defensive stance. 'Like that will protect us.'

The human stopped in his tracks, initially shocked by the Mobian's outburst, but his eyebrows were forming a deep crease as he carefully examined the situation.

"Hm... that sure did a number on you, didn't it?" It was more of a rhetorical question, yet it caught Sonic's attention.

"What?" the boy found the courage to ask, but his voice revealed he was in the same state as before. 'Stop acting like a wimp, you're making our position worse for crying' out loud!'

"You mean you don't remember?" Eggman asked surprised. Sonic stared at him completely clueless as he shook his head to refuse. Now that didn't make much sense either. 'Because your life makes so much sense in general.'

"Shut up." Though it was more of a whisper, Eggman seemed to have heard the small almost unintelligible sound.

"What was that hedgehog?"

"Uh..." 'Ha ha,' his self mocked him. "I said that...I... stupid nightmare," he said the last part out loud, as if having regained part of his confidence. The doctor looked at Sonic for a few seconds, a bit surprised.

"Stupid... nightmare?"

"Yep," the hedgehog swiftly answered and nodded his head as he sat back in his trademark nonchalant way, hands supporting his head and legs crossed. "I just had a stupid nightmare, that's all."

"Well," Eggman commented, running one of his hands through his huge moustache, "it certainly got you scared."

"That's why it's called a nightmare Eggy." Crap. Obvious disrespect. That meant another oh-so-wonderful electroshock up his spine. Yay. He looked away as body tensed expecting the pain that was about to come. 'Way to go genius.' Ignoring the commentary, the hedgehog to decided to look briefly at the human's direction, to decide how screwed he was.

He was a bit taken back by the fact that the man didn't seem the least bit annoyed at the use of a taunt. Instead the obese man muttered an "Hm..." and stroked his moustache again as he slowly walked across the room. "Tell me about your dream rodent," he finally said.

Sonic gulped and he crossed his hands as if saying no.

"That was an order, rodent." The hedgehog let out an annoyed growl. Of course he would be forced to tell. As long as he had this microchip inside of him, he had to do he might as well had changed his name to 'yes-man'- I mean 'yes-hedgehog'.

"I don't want to." Sonic made one last attempt-

"You don't have a choice." Which was quickly taken down.

"Alright." Sonic grumbled. He glanced up at Eggman and then returned to staring at his white sheets which had a few small red stains and could guess the cause of them. "So I was in this dark, creepy room. Tied... I think. Then all of a sudden the lights come up and some freaky doctor appears and wants to cut me open. He was about to do so and I was very freaked out but then I woke up. Happy?" It wasn't the truth, he knew, but he'd rather keep this dream to himself.

"Uh huh." Sonic looked up. Eggman seemed unconvinced. So much for lying.

"I'm not buying it hedgehog."

"I noticed."

Eggman let out a frustrated growl. "Listen here, rodent. I'm trying to restrain myself from shocking you because I don't want to cause you more unnecessary pain, especially in this weakened state, but if keep this smart Alec attitude then I will treat you like a prisoner!"

"Because you've been so kind to me before! You've bruised me, scarred me, shocked me and hurt me in so many ways I've lost count, not to mention torturing me, using me as a living battery and cut me open even though I was dying!" Sonic looked away 'Congratulations idiot. You just gave yourself away.'

"What was that last part Sonic?" The hedgehog was a bit surprised at Eggman using his name. Then again, the hedgehog mused, he seems to be a bit shocked.

Sonic let out a humourless laugh. "My nightmare. I was in a dark room. No light, nothing. I hurt everywhere, I was bleeding and I was tied. Suddenly the lights are turned on and there's this guy standing over me. Couldn't tell who he was and he was but then he took hold of a scalpel and said 'you brought this on yourself rodent' or something like that. The voice was yours and the figure turns out to be you. With that, you bring the scalpel over me," the hedgehog saw Eggman standing there unsure how to react, "and then you literally cut me open. I tell you to stop, you don't listen. After what seemed like an eternity, you stop but I was dying. You said something along the lines it was the only way since I wouldn't cooperate with you. Just when I thought I was done for, I wake up here, with my wounds being exactly like the wounds I had in my dream. There. Satisfied?"

In another situation, Sonic would have found Eggman's disturbed expression hilarious. The doctor after standing still for a few seconds turned around and went to leave the room.

"Oi!" Sonic shouted and Eggman stood still. "I have a question. How the heck did I get those wounds anyway?" A few seconds of silence passed and Sonic frowned. This wasn't Eggman's normal behaviour.

"The EggChaosConverter exploded while you were in it. I had to perform surgery on you as a few shards were embedded into your body."

And with that he left. He hadn't noticed Sonic's expression shift from angry to surprised to almost thankful. He had noticed the hedgehog looking at his chest were the large stitched wound was and placing his over it, in sudden realization.

What Eggman had noticed that Sonic hadn't was the fur of his arms turning a sinister black when the rodent was screaming at him.

The hedgehog stood alone in the infirmary, clutching his chest. The machine exploded while he was in it. And Eggman might have saved his life. And he couldn't remember anything. At all.

Without any warning, he felt a sharp pain in his chest as his memory jump started.

It'd been three months. Three long, painful, unforgiving months.

Sonic was in his cell, sitting in one of the dark corners of the room. If one was to turn on the lights, he'd notice his defensive stance, his arms hugging his knees as determined eyes stared into the distance. It would seem as if our hero was contemplating something, but that couldn't be further away from the truth.

He wanted to forget. He wanted to stop thinking. He forced himself to stay awake these past days so that he wouldn't have the energy to think, yet the lack of sleep was taking its toll on him. Bags were forming under his eyes, making the hedgehog appear more fragile and worn out, his body filled with bruises, more prominent on his knees as he sometimes collapsed while walking down the corridors of the base. When he did, the robots would tower above him, a small current would run through his heart and he'd be thrown in whatever the doctor had planned for him.

Speaking of which, his captive life had a daily routine. Cell, the horrible, draining, pin-inflicting machine that greedily sucked him dry, making him feel helpless and weak, and then he'd be tossed back to his cell where he had lunch, consisting of bread, water, fruits and his occasional egg or diary product. After that, he'd go... into that room... the room with the cameras...and the questions...CHAOS-HOW-HE-HATED-IT-

The hedgehog took a short breath and hugged himself closer, trying to force his mind to change the subject... wouldn't happen.

"I'm a masochist," he bitterly whispered to himself, his brain focused on that room, recalling everything that happened. Every time he went there, the teacher would change to another person, another familiar face...

But he wasn't protected like the first time. In most cases he blacked out and even then, somewhere, a part of him that was barely aware of his surroundings, still screamed as the electrocuting went on since he couldn't give an answer, having more questions to ask, violently awakening him to continue the sick game. At one time, he swore he felt his heart stop. And just when he thought it was all over, as everything around him faded away, as their voice became muffled; another current went through his body, forcing his heart to beat once more.

The hedgehog had now become a tighter ball with his hands clenching the other so hard that he might have drawn a bit of blood, eyes tightly shut and teeth gritted together as his ears were folded backwards in an agonizing fashion.

'Pull yourself together idiot!' Again, another bitter thought went through his mind and the hedgehog ever-so-slightly loosened his grip, eyes once again staring at the wall, this time brimming with uncertainty and tainted innocence.

'At least some stopped electrocuting me,' he said to himself, making a desperate try to think of something positive.

'Ah yes. How many times did that happen? One out of ten? And, didn't he stop after he'd almost knocked you out?'

The voice. How he hated the voice. It was him, yet not him at the same time. It was snarky, cold, cruel and pessimistic, always pointing out the flaws of his now rejected escape plans, ruining any cheerful thought he might had. The worst part was that it WAS him. He must have been the one who created it, it sounded like him, had he been more twisted; from where had all this darkness come?

'Don't think like that.' Sonic mentally said to himself. 'You won't go anywhere with such an attitude. I'm me' he continued ranting inside his mind with a blank expression on his face, eyes staring at the floor beneath him, eyelids half closed and slightly tilted, making his whole body let out an aura of exhaustion.

At that moment, the door of his prison opened, letting many rays of artificial light illustrate the room. The hedgehog covered his eyes for a moment, being used in the darkness he previously was in. He half acknowledged the two robots come inside, in order to start another endless day of pain. Sonic made no movement to stand up as the mechanical beings approached him, sans a glance at their direction before letting his gaze wonder off again.

"Stand up hedgehog." Sonic hissed through his teeth when he heard the voice of his captor give him another order he was forced to follow. He scanned the room for any signs of the doctor but gave up as soon as he located a transmitter on both robots.

The hedgehog begrudgingly obeyed, slowly making himself stand up, wobbly from his tiredness and his left knee still throbbing after a rather violent crash on the floor. For a moment, he almost fell down, but, through sheer determination, he managed to not give Eggman this satisfaction.

Immediately the two robots secured both his hands, providing the hedgehog a steady grip to lean on, though he wouldn't admit it, remaining silent as the two mechanical beings escorted him out of his cell.

As the left his prison, the door behind him slammed shut, making the ground tremble a little as Sonic cynically remarked how impossible it was for him to break out of his cell in the first place. Even if he did manage that he'd probably have to fight almost hundreds of robots, something that wasn't a problem, should he be healthy. Yet in his current situation, weak and tired, he doubted he'd even had the strength to run past them, let alone destroy the robots. And let's not even mention the microchip.

So far he had concluded that the best way to escape was to literally cut himself open and take out the microchip. After that it was a simple matter of running around, searching for an exit while dodging enemy fire.

'Yeah right. I'd probably die from the loss of blood before I actually get the microchip out.' Sonic bitterly thought as the two robot continued going down the hallway and the hedgehog shivered since they were headed for the first round of torture, the extraction room. He tried to slow the robots down by creating resistance with his legs, but was awarded with a violent jerk forward, ending any rebellious acts for the moment.

…...

The harsh bright lights of the laboratory he'd come to hate greeted him once again, on time with his daily schedule. The robots stopped dead in their tracks, as they were now expecting new orders form their master, which was Eggman, of course. The extraction machine -or the Egg-chaos-converter as Eggman called it- was in plain view, the energies of the two Chaos Emerald pulsing as they sensed the hedgehog coming towards them once more. Sonic's breath hitched as he felt their energies calling out to him wanting to be used. He leaned forward so that he'd be a little closer to them, hoping that Eggman, if he was watching, would disregard this movement as weakness. Then, as subtly as he could, he closed his eyes and focused on the chaos emeralds, asking that they'd heal his sore body.

The hedgehog had to mentally restraint himself so that his use of the emeralds was not noticeable. If he hadn't, someone would surely notice the bright healing light of chaos energy enveloping his whole being, but with his control, the light was barely there. Thankfully his rather thick fur covered more of the bruises and scratches so he didn't have to worry about anyone noticing his lack of wounds. All he had to do was act hurt and everything would be fine.

'What's the point of this?' The voice again. 'You will be forced inside this cursed machine and you'll be much more hurt than you are now, healthy or not.'

'So what? Why do you care?'

'Because if you get hurt, I get hurt you idiot!' Sonic winced at the loudness of the voice.

'Do you have any better ideas then?' he asked.

He received no answer.

'Thought so.'

Without any warning, the robots came back to life and pushed him forward as the hedgehog stumbled along. With abrupt movements they tied him up to the extractor and Sonic couldn't suppress his shivers, not because of the freezing cold metal on which he was placed upon, but on what was about to follow. The machine came to life.

"Crap." It wasn't directed to anyone in particular; it was mostly that he needed to vent his nervousness and fear somewhere.

He was brought back to reality when a painful wave of energy ran though his body. His back arched as much as it could within the restraints as the hedgehog tried to hold back a cry of pain. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Even though he'd been too many times in this machine, too many for his liking, the pain was always the same as if it was his first time. Another wave. He jerked his hands forward but they were too stopped by the straps. Another wave. Did he mention it hurt a lot? It was as if all of the pain tolerance he had built all these years was gone and hot irons were presses all over his body. The pause. His chest hurt most. Which was strange as Sonic remembered that usually the pain didn't focus on one part of his body but acted as a wave, going from up to down.

Another wave of chaos energy came, bringing more pain along, and the hedgehog swore his chest world explode any minute now. This wasn't normal. What was going on?

'Don't worry. It'll be over soon.' The voice was barely audible from Sonic's mental screams.

'What will be over soon?' No reply. 'What will be over soon!?' Again, no reply. Two more waves of energy came and Sonic realised to his horror, that his chest was full of unstable chaos energy and that this, now unbearable, pain in that area was caused by the machine's tried to extract it. 'Just wait for the pause,' the voice said soothingly. 'Wait for the pause and I'll make sure this machine will never hurt us again.'

Sonic was about to scream no when another wave of pain come. He hurt a lot. He didn't want to get hurt anymore. His mind was in a daze. If he could take out he machine... Three waves of pain, one pause. That was the process. And now the third wave was almost over...

'Just let all of your anger out. Let them fell your pain.'

One second and one haunting scream later, the world became white.