Finally, after a while, I decided to post my fanfic in Fanfiction, which was already on DA not long ago. I'm still confused over which rating I should give to it, due to the nature of the fanfic as well as some graphic scenes. Of course, the fanfic isn't heavily focused on extremely graphic sexual themes. It's pretty tame that it warrants a T rating if it weren't for those scenes. I could cut those scenes and let the mature stuffs on DA, but I also wanted to show it in its full glory.
Anyway, this is intended to be a "non-conventional" Vecpio story (An edgy fic, but not in the way you think). It's an AU story where Espio meets Vector for the first time and they hate each other at first. However, I fear I may wrote the characters OOC in the process.
The picture cover belongs to daQUIET-1, which was one of my main inspirations for this fic (The picture of course).
"So, tell me: why are you here again?"
It was a nice and sunny day in the middle of nowhere. Nothing special happened here, except a yellow car rolling by a long barren road. Looking closer to it, the car was in fact a cab. Inside, a driver was taking the wheel while talking to his passenger, who was sitting in the backseat. He was a teenaged chameleon whose anxious expression was glued on his face while he looked down his purple and black shoes.
"Excuse me, are you going to answer to me?" the driver asked once again, getting a bit impatient.
"Huh, what?!"
The chameleon finally snapped out of his thought, his attention was now toward the driver.
"Why were you quitting your hometown in the first place?"
He sighed before he answered, albeit reluctantly.
"I... It's a long story. I'd rather not share this to anyone."
"I don't see why you make it sounds like a big deal. Just tell it to me, your secret is safe, I promise."
The passenger doubted about that statement. He didn't know what the driver looked like, nor did he know whether he was telling the truth or not. That mysterious driver gave him the impression that his identity was shrouded by the shadow despite the sunny day outside, only his gloved hands holding the steering wheel were actually shown in the light. It doesn't help that he spoke with a grave baritone voice.
"What's the matter? Scared?"
"NO, I'M NOT", he tried to defend himself, without pointing out the irony of the driver's voice combined with his sentence.
"So tell me the truth."
"Fine. But please don't tell this to anyone, I'm serious. Everything I'm going to tell you is confidential."
"My lips are sealed", he swore.
"Here goes. I was framed for a crime that I didn't commit."
Interested, the driver hoped he could get to hear more of his story.
"How were you framed?" he inquired, with more curiosity.
"I don't know, I was living a peaceful life back in my hometown, and then, a mysterious character called me to go to the mayor's house. When I did, I was in shock to see the mayor dead body in front of me. He was assassinated with my own kunai, even though I don't remember using it on him. The crowd noticed it, and they took the blame on me. I've tried to defend myself; however, they refute everything I've said, due to my lack of evidence. Even the local police wanted to arrest me and sentence me to death. Therefore, I am a fugitive ever since. I don't think I could stay invisible for life as people will eventually find me out. So the best thing I could do is running away from there."
"Ah. You may try to run, but you can't hide forever. Would you rather keep your reputation soiled? The only way to get out of this situation is to clear up your name. But since you are currently out of town, it'll be impossible for you to resolve that crime you didn't commit in the first place."
"Which is why I collected all the clues I could gather and put them all inside this suitcase."
The chameleon picked up the said suitcase that was lying underneath his seat.
"With these, I'll be able to connect the dots and learn more about the miscreant who framed me. And once I succeed, I'll return to my hometown and bust them to my people. However, I need to find a place where no one will ever find me."
"I think I know a place where you can hide. A city that no one would dare to live in."
"Really, wherever it is, get me there."
"Are you sure? That city is dangerous. Not only it's dirty, impoverished and partially inhabited, but it is said to be crime-driven as well. The one who controls, or rather terrorizes, the town is said to be a giant menacing gang leader, along with the rest of his thug minions. Rumors said that anyone who crossed his path was dragged into his lair so they could get eaten alive. Some people said that the ones who didn't get eaten alive died in a horrible manner from broken bones."
"I don't care, as long as I can keep myself from anyone's sight, everything should be fine. Besides, I won't stay there for too long."
"The decision is yours", the driver shrugged off a bit.
After a while, the car finally arrived to their destination, which was near a strange town.
"There we are. Central city."
"Central City. I have heard of that city's name once, but I hardly knew anything about it at all."
"Well, you better thank me for finding the place you've never heard before. Although, you need to be careful if you want to live here, even for a short amount of time."
"I'll do my best."
The purple chameleon picked up his black suitcase before he closed the door behind. While the cab drove away in the horizon, the mobian contemplated the city from far away. Considering that unnamed driver's statements could be true, he felt unsure about getting inside. However, he knew that he'll need a place to sleep, eat and hide, eventually. He breathed in before he walked toward the big city. Inside, he could see big old and cracked buildings everywhere, the streets were almost deserted save for a few passersby who appeared worried about our newcomer. He decided to ignore them anyway and tried to find a place to lodge in. After many search, he finally ended up to a building with dull red bricks and tall fences surrounding it. He went to the gate and pushed on one of the intercom's big red buttons.
"Hello?"
A voice can be heard from the speaker.
"Hi, I wish to rent an apartment", he requested, a bit nervous.
"Who are you?" it inquired.
"Just a new guy who hopes he could find a place to study alone", he lied.
"Are you sure? You need to pay the rent monthly if you want to stay here, or else you'll be evicted."
He felt slightly disappointed by this, however, he is determined to stay somewhere for a while and resolve his own case.
"I'll make sure to pay it."
"In that case, I let you in. Meet me in the secretary office."
The gate unlocked by itself. The chameleon went inside the building. He tried to find the said secretary office, and found it. Once he entered inside, he noticed a female lynx sitting in front of her office. She seemed busy browsing through her paper works. She stopped her browsing when she noticed someone in her room.
"Ha, you must be the one who wants to live here", she welcomed him warmly, "please you may come inside and pick yourself a key for your apartment."
She pointed the said keys on a wooden board near her desk. After he took notice on each of those keys, the purple reptile realized that deciding on a key was harder than it seemed. Basically, he had so many choices for a room to live in, yet he knew that if he picked the wrong one out of accident, he would be living in a messy and broken room as long as he could stay. When he was about to take his final key-
"Hey, Nicole."
He was interrupted by a masculine voice. He turned around to see a blue hedgehog standing near the entrance, holding a key.
"Sonic, what's going on?", the receptionist, known as Nicole, said a bit surprised.
"It's been months since the last time I have seen my neighbor. And she left her key behind by accident. I've been waiting for her to get them back, but she never did. I was starting to think that she really ran away, and that she has no plan to return. I was thinking whether I should keep this key or giving it back to you. And besides, I'm done paying the monthly rent TWICE."
The blue hedgehog, Sonic, saw the chameleon in the room and greeted him.
"Oh, hey, I didn't see you there."
"Nice to meet you", he greeted back, "I am new here and I wish to rent an apartment to study."
"With that suitcase?" he pointed out, curious.
"D-don't pay any attention to this", he held his suitcase tight in his arms, distressed. He didn't want anyone to learn about his recent framing.
"Sorry. But since you want a room to live in, how about I lend you my neighbor's key. I doubt she'll ever come back."
He hesitated.
"Don't worry; last time I checked, there are still food and water supply in the fridge. You won't have to restock it with your own money."
The hedgehog had a point; being low on money, at least he wouldn't have to buy with all that he had left. The chameleon took the key from his hand before exiting the office.
"Good choice", Nicole doesn't know whether she should complement him or not.
After they walked through the hallway of the fourth floor, they arrived to a white numbered door, which was next to another white numbered door.
"Here we are, your new home", Sonic presented. "Well, my former neighbor's home is like a new home to you anyway, get it?"
"Wait, where was the previous owner again?", Espio asked, still perplexed.
"I dunno, last time I saw her was when she ran away while no one was watching. I don't know why you're still worried; I promise she won't come back."
He opened the door, giving him a first look of the inside. The apartment wallpaper was pink with heart shapes and flowers on it, and the main room was decorated with girly furniture and decorations. Clearly, no one would take him seriously if he were to live here.
"So, what do you think", he tried to lighten his newcomer up.
"Clearly, this isn't my style", he responded with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, be happy you have a place to live, just get use to it."
Before he leaves to his apartment next to the chameleon's, he turned around and added:"Oh, by the way, my name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Hi, my name is Espio the Chameleon", he presented himself.
"Hey Espio, I have the feeling we will become best friends."
He smiled before he went inside his apartment. Espio did the same, as he went inside his own apartment as well. After he made sure to lock the door behind he put his mysterious suitcase on the floor and opened it. It was full of "peculiar" objects. He took out the pictures out of it and began to examine it. He then took a cord from the pink wooden table and attached each ends on a dresser and around a door handle from a small wooden closet and hung pictures in it, like wet clothes hanging in a line wire.
"Mmh", he tried to resume what happened." When I was phoned by a stranger, they told me to break into the mayor's house. When I did, I saw that the mayor was murdered with my kunai in his room, (he took out the said kunai, placed inside a plastic bag) however, there were no finger prints on it. The murderer left a bullet behind (He took out said bullet that is also placed inside a plastic bag); they must have used it to shoot the bodyguard while he wasn't looking. Then, when the alarm went off, people from outside were curious and come to see what happened. When they did, they were in shock. I wanted to defend myself; sadly no one listened to me. To make matters worse, policemen came and thought I was the murderer. They were going to arrest me, but luckily for me, I activated my camouflage in the last minute and run away. I ran and hid myself inside the house, hoping they would just give up my search and run away. Hours have passed, and people are still around. I decided to make the people leave the house. I went to an empty room and used a conveniently placed brick and broke the window. People believed I ran away, they all got out and apparently ran after me. In the same room, I discovered a strange note written on a paper that had a spread sheet on it, with a specific date and the name "Ringleader" printed on it (He takes it out). For some reasons, the notes appeared invisible and impossible to read. I may gonna find a way to make it readable again. I took pictures of everything I could see with the help of the deceased mayor's instant picture camera. I had to get outside to gather some clues as well. However, I was shocked when I learnt I was wanted. The entire town wanted to hunt me down. Because of this, I had no choice but to leave it behind as discreetly as possible. I had to take all the clues and put them inside a suitcase I just found, before I started to run away. I called a taxi and went inside as soon as possible. Luckily, the driver somehow didn't turn against me, and was kind enough to drive me far away from the city."
After he's done with his recapitulation, he resumed to resolve his mystery. Hours had passed, and Espio couldn't take it anymore. Despite not going anywhere with his case, he wanted to lie down and rest. Though, he knew he had to resolve it before next month, or else he'll be unable to pay his rent, and he'll get evicted as a result. He looked at the time, out of curiosity.
24:35
"That's it", he thought to himself, frustrated, "I can't take it anymore. The problem solving can wait, I need to sleep."
He went to the bathroom and took a hot shower. After that, he went to bed and closed his eyes. The chameleon fell asleep.
Meanwhile, a pair of purple eyes that lurked in the dark was observing our purple chameleon ever since he came into the town. Whoever they belonged to seemed interested in this newcomer.
"Interesting", he said to himself, "our boss will love to terrorize this new guy, that's for sure."
They left.