Notes – Set after Scourge's defeat, probably during the same time of the Iron Dominion Arc, but loosely so. And I accept that since we haven't seen Fiona since the Moebius Arc it's quite possible that when she does turn up again this story will be completely irrelevant.

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She left before the end.

No one was exactly sure when Fiona had disappeared from it all, and even she didn't really know for certain when she looked back on it, but soon after the Suppression Squad started to lose ground she was heading off. By the time the whole fight had moved to Moebius she was long gone.

Whatever had happened next was beyond her. She might have blindly attached herself to Scourge's arm for a while but even she could see that the Suppression Squad was tedious of him for a long time before the betrayal, and when they openly turned on him it was clear that they wouldn't accept her on their side either.

Not that she'd ever choose them over Scourge anyway. But when it came to all of them and the Freedom Fighters against Scourge alone she wasn't stupid. He would have lost in no time.

So she left him and she left being the queen of a planet she wasn't even from behind and she ran, then she hid. Hiding wasn't a problem for someone like her; she'd had plenty of practise at that over the years. Then she listened.

Tales of the matter reached her ears in bits, as Knothole was known to keep its affairs to itself when it could, but it sounded as if they had defeated Scourge. He'd put up one heck of a fight but ultimately he had lost. And not even a few days after his defeat another enemy had sprung up for Sonic's group to fight. It was just another day in their lives.

Fiona had no concern for whatever new foe they were facing now, but it was thankful that this kept them distracted enough so that they didn't seek her out. She was a wanted criminal but she wouldn't rank very high on the long list of other people they were trying to defeat.

She'd not been around to hear Scourge say that running away had made Fiona smarter than the Suppression Squad but she knew that he wouldn't feel betrayed by her. Scourge had lived a life surrounded by people to whom betrayal came second nature; they were messed up by instinct. He'd told her before that part of the reason he found her so attractive was because she played the bad girl by her own choice, while all the girls he knew just did it because they were born with it inside of them.

So had Scourge actually loved her?

Probably not.

They'd stuck together for quite a while but he was still the sort of guy who'd ditch one girl for another when he lost interest, and she was the sort of girl who'd do the same. Both of them recognising each other for this just made the whole situation easier.

But had she loved him?

Love, in Fiona's opinion, was a stupid word. You can only rely on yourself in the world and anyone who felt the need to cling to another's side was a chump. Not even what Sonic had said would make her reconsider. The only reason she was fighting so hard for Scourge was because when it all went wrong she had no other allies to turn to. She kept telling herself that. As soon as she could she'd got out, and that was what mattered.

Having said that, up until the battle began, there'd been nothing wrong with her relationship with Scourge. He was a difficult man to get bored of and she liked the power being with him gave her access to. Even if she was just a figurehead as far as Moebius was concerned.

She didn't even know if she'd see him again now. There was no doubt in her mind that he would have survived the fight, but wherever Scourge was now it was somewhere where he couldn't bother Mobius or Moebius and was well out of Fiona's grasp as well.

Not that she'd even consider rescuing him if she could, that was just laughable. If he couldn't get himself out of trouble then he wasn't the sort of person she'd waste anymore time with. It's not as if she, as a person who relied on herself alone, was under any delusions that Scourge would have helped her if she was in the same situation.

Or would he?

No, no, she couldn't start thinking like that. The next thing she knew she'd be falling for those mixed up notions of love.

Scourge was gone and she didn't care. Really she didn't. And she kept telling herself that because it kept her sane.

But the truth of the matter was that it wasn't that Fiona didn't love him, she just loved her freedom more.