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The pain of falling is not good.
Robotnik was barely aware that his heart was still beating. It hurts. It fucking hurts. There was not a part of him that was not tormenting him with an agonizing pain. He moved his fingers a little, trying to sense his environment. The first thought that crossed his mind was: Is this heaven or hell?
This, of course, was Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who could never go to hell - though he could count on one hand the few things he had done in his life that could be conventionalistically called good. But sacrificing yourself to save the planet sounds a little too dramatic and heroic. How ironic that he became someone else's savior before he even had a chance to save his own broken heart.
He thought of his grandfather, and he felt a vague emotion come over him. He laughs that his trust is taken advantage of by his relatives, and human beings are all the same, false and unreliable, with only their own interests in their eyes.
But one of them seems to be different.
A government agent with the twinkling eyes of a puppy dog who never fails to hand him coffee. Agent Stone, is he safe?
“Do–Doctor?”
The sound was low in pitch, but just as deafening as the previous explosion. The world froze at this moment, and he struggled to open his eyes, with a familiar face vaguely reflected in the center of his vision.
He recognized it. It was Stone, his agent.
"Doctor! At last..."
A loud call brings Robotnik back down to earth, and the look of concern on Stone's face is not deceiving. His normally well-groomed suit, which he was so proud of, was wrinkled and covered with dust and dirt, but his eyes - the eyes he would have recognized anyway - were gradually returning to their former brightness. The Doctor felt his hand tightly held, as if he were afraid that if he let go he would never grasp it again. There was silence, and he knew they were safe.
"Where are we? How did I get here?"
Robotnik struggled to sit up straight, but the pain from the wound made him clench his teeth. Stone put his hand on his back and tried to lift him slowly from the cold ground.
"I made contact with Shadow through the watch, and he brought you back to Earth. I found this cave as a temporary shelter, so I moved you here. As for Shadow – when everything was settled, he left with a few instructions."
Stone pulled some bandages from the first-aid kit next to him, and he met Robotnik's gaze almost imploringly.
"May I?"
Robotnik stared blankly at the ground for a moment, then nodded in hindsight. Stone did a good job of wrapping it up, just like he did for him when he came back from multiple missions. It seemed as if nothing had changed, but the Doctor knew very well that this was not the case.
"Stone."
"Doctor?"
"You should hate me."
His voice was deep and husky, as if he had exhausted all his strength just by talking. At this Stone looked up. He was silent for a moment. Then he asked:
"Why should I hate you, Sir?"
Robotnik took a deep breath.
"You warned me, but I didn't listen. I used to insult you, yell at you, take all my anger and resentment out on you. I treated you like shit, and I never gave you anything in return. Have you any reason not to hate me, Stone?"
Stone lowered the bandage and took the Doctor's hand again with earnest firmness.
"I don't know what makes you think that, Doctor, but I want to tell you that you're the most incredible person I've ever met."
Stone swallowed and forced himself to continue.
"I admire your mind, your brilliance, all your amazing ideas and inventions. I've met a lot of people who claim to have made a difference, but none of them can compare to your one-thousandth."
"I know what you want for your family and understand why you would prefer to believe in your grandfather. I didn't find out about his plot sooner, and I didn't protect you."
"You always told me you didn't need me, that you'd be fine without me. But I knew the real Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and he was just a kid who needed to be seen and noticed and praised."
Robotnik listened quietly, shocked for the first time by Stone's words.
"Doctor, forgive me for being so long-winded. I just want you to understand that I need you."
Robotnik knew that his agent was not lying, and that what he had previously thought of as sentimental tirades seemed in this moment to be the embodiment of emotion. He woke up to the realization that Stone had heard what he had said before the ship exploded, and that this was Stone's response, genuine, sincere, and for him alone. With his own hands, he broke down the protective wall that Robotnik had spent a lifetime building for himself, becoming a beacon, a star, to illuminate the dark corner of his long night.
Because he really cares.
"Kiss me. Stone."
The older man closed his eyes shakily, and for a few seconds the assistant was shocked in the corner of his eye. Then the agent gently cupped his face and pressed their lips together. The smell of rust quickly spread through the mouth, but Robotnik thought it was the sweetest smell in the world.
At the end, the two men touched their heads, and Stone smiled with eyes so tender that they could freeze time. He raised his hand and wiped the tears from Robotnik's eyes.
"I can't lose you again."
They both know that tears are not just for pain.