So it's been a while, and for all the focus I've been putting into other genres, this story popped out of nowhere and demanded to be started and completed straight away. It's a little basic, and sometimes rambles on; but I'm satisfied. Scourge and Sally is a pairing I think is entirely feasible - after all, Sonic and Fiona happened, and that's essentially the same! Moving on... I hope you enjoy! Feedback is appreciated - not necessary - but really really appreciated :)

Scourge loved looking into those soft blue eyes.

Mostly for the fact that when those eyes looked back at him and saw him for who he was and who he wasn't, they would fight back the tears of disappointment and grief.

It didn't matter that Sally Acorn knew who he was; there was always that desperate willingness to believe that he had the potential to be someone different, someone better, someone she loved. But instead she always would come face to face with a reflection of that someone, a mere shadow and anything but a hero.

Scourge loved knowing that behind those turquoise orbs, a battle was raging; he revelled in the knowledge that his face brought about so much conflict in her heart and in her mind.

Once upon a time, Sonic the Hedgehog hadn't been there to save her.

But Scourge the Hedgehog had been.

Scourge was the next best thing, and he knew it killed her to think that.

Scourge had the face of her hero; it brought back all those joyous memories of when they had been young and in love and nothing could have stopped them. And it also brought back all the nightmares: the arguments, the conflicts, the stresses, the sacrifices...

When Sally looked at Scourge, she saw the face of a hedgehog she had let down and let go, a hedgehog who had moved on and left her behind.

Not that she could blame him or anything.

Perhaps that's what hurt her the most. It wasn't that Scourge looked like Sonic or acted like Sonic or even was Sonic at times; it was because, when Sally looked into Scourge's eyes, she saw her failures. Her failure to rise to a challenge, her failure to keep everyone safe, her failure to stand by the side of the only Mobian she had ever and would ever love.

When Sally lost Sonic, she lost part of herself. Her life lost its meaning; there was no adventure, no passion, no excitement. Sonic had made her who she was, without him she was only a half Mobian.

Scourge was not Sonic – Sally was well aware of that.

But for all the things Scourge was not, he helped to make Sally the girl she was.

He brought back the passion and the excitement and the adventure, he made her feel alive!

In so many ways, their relationship was wrong – toxic even. But in so many other ways it was just so right.

Scourge helped Sally to keep perspective on who she was, he was a constant reminder for her to fight for the things she loved, to never let anyone down again, to stand up for herself and to be the Mobian she was meant to be.

For all the pain Scourge caused her, he healed her too. Scourge may have added to Sally's scars, but many had faded because of him.

Scourge loved looking into those soft blue eyes.

Mostly for the pain he caused… well, partly for the pain he caused. He couldn't help that, it was in his nature to destroy and ruin and damage.

But then he would catch sight of something behind that sadness, it was himself – his reflection – and it reminded him of all the things he wasn't. The face he saw, was the face of a hero, a hero who was admired and loved; the face he saw belonged to a better someone.

Ironically, what pained Scourge was knowing that Sally should be looking for the hero he wasn't. But instead, it was as though he reminded her of Sonic for only a brief moment, one single second… and then she moved past it, pushed her memories aside and focused on reality. It was as though she stopped seeing him for who he wasn't and started seeing him for who he was.

Scourge saw in Sally all the things he could be, he saw her hope and her trust and felt changed because of it. He could see the change in her, she didn't shy away from his touch or from his gaze anymore; she embraced him, she accepted him, she loved him.

He'd never felt welcome before, not by people like Sally; he had grown up with rejection – his father, Alicia, the Suppression Squad… No one in any of the zones had ever really wanted him. Fiona had merely indulged herself on his darkness, she'd revelled in the knowledge that there someone as warped as he was – she didn't care about him, just how strong he was.

But Sally… Sally had seen him at his weakest and most vulnerable moment: the night when he'd pleaded for her help, when he'd asked her to stay with him. And she'd stayed. Everything that had once repulsed her, she had grown to love. Scourge had lived a half life all of his life, there's been no one there for him to share himself with; his life had never had meaning.

And then he'd met Sally, and when he'd looked in her eyes he'd seen his failures; the failure to realise the damage he'd caused to himself, to others, to his world. All this time he'd blamed others for the bitterness in his heart, all this time he'd accused his father, his allies, his enemies; he'd never considered himself.

That's what hurt him the most: knowing that he'd never felt complete until the moment he met Sally Acorn. Sally had known love and completeness and meaning – and she had lost it; and then she'd given Scourge the chance to experience it for the first time.

Sally used to look for the Sonic in him. Scourge used to look for the pain in Sally's eyes when she realised he wasn't there.

But time passed, and when that moment of realisation came, there had been no disappointment on her side, no victory on his; instead they'd found something else…

…each other.

Scourge made Sally who she is, he made her strong and determined to carry on, to see the beauty in the ugly; he showed her that even the deepest, wounds could heal, the whitest scars could fade.

Sally made Scourge who he is, she broke down that the wall he'd built around himself, she revealed his true self, she gave him meaning.

Two separate halves, existing in different worlds. The thing that brought them together: the need to feel complete. All those years wasted looking for things they thought they'd wanted…

Scourge the Hedgehog had been looking for pain and control: he'd found Sally Acorn. He thought he could make her hate his face, the face of her hero. Sally Acorn had been looking for the only person she'd ever loved: she'd found Scourge the Hedgehog. She thought she'd seen him for who he was, a villain with a familiar smile.

But Sally saw the truth: there is no familiar smile, there is no pain. Perhaps at times, Scourge reminds her of someone else, but it is someone long forgotten.

Scourge loved looking into those soft blue eyes.

Mostly for the fact that those eyes would see him for who he was and who he wasn't; and when Scourge caught sight of his reflection in those aqua orbs, he saw Sally's hero.

Himself.