Disclaimer: Sonic and co. don't belong to me. They belong to the dudes and dudettes at SEGA.
Author: Same as before. Hope you guys enjoyed the previous chapter. Enough of my rabble, read on! Oh and one more thing. I'd like to thank Sam Brody or Moon Princess and Sacred Insanity for reviewing my fic so fast! I saw the date and time you two posted and wow so fast! Thanks you guys. I just hope others would review the future chapters as well.
Brief Note:
"_" indicates a character's speech
*_* indicates that the character is speaking through thought
(_) indicates an action between a speech or thought
Separate Ways
by Sol
Chapter 1: Memories - Act 2
"The dearest friends are separated by impassable gulfs."
She walked heavily across the hallway, her footsteps making sounds even through the carpeted floor. She was making a point that she was stomping the whole time. She wiped her face roughly, the tears from earlier were still slightly wet on her cheeks. As she walked off, she thought only of getting away from that room and that ghastly fiend. She marched herself to her room. Though she often slept in Scourge's, she didn't want her stuff littered around his house. She had her private reasons. Like right now.
She reached the door to her room and turned the knob angrily. As she entered, she slammed the door violently, further pointing out that she was very angry. She moved around the room and made her way to her side table drawer. She grabbed the top shelf's handle and slowly opened it and rummaged for something inside.
It took a while to find what she was looking for. She even threw out some of her other stuff out of the drawer to find it. She didn't care about those things now, what mattered was that one particular object. After a minute of scrounging around, her eyes widened as she found the item in question. She took it out of the drawer slowly and gripped it so lightly as if it was fragile and precious. Which it was to her.
It was a photograph... a framed photograph of HIM...
Before, she didn't understand why she kept the picture. There was a time that she almost threw it away... but she didn't... something stopped her... she didn't understand why until recently... when she figured it all out...
"How I miss YOU so... and yet I would often speak so ill of YOU... I'm so sorry... for everything..." She spoke to the photo sadly, and then, she forced a very weak smile...
"Listen to me... talking to this picture as if it was YOU..." She said, still sounding sad. And without really noticing, she started crying again...
She had to admit... she's been such a fool... she used to have such a beautiful friendship with HIM... but she gave that all up because of one mistake that HE made... or at least she thought that HE did...
When the incident occurred, she couldn't think straight, and blamed it all on HIM. Even though it wasn't HIS fault... it took a while for her to think on it clearly. But the term 'While' in her case was used very loosely... and when it did finally clear up, it was too late...
"How I wish I could take it all back... then maybe... maybe..." She said, her voice starting to crack. Her sobbing grew stronger, her cheeks once again soaked in sadness as she thought more of HIM and the mistakes that she has done...
She blamed her best friend for something HE didn't even commit... and what was worse, when HE apologized, she didn't accept it... wholly anyway. And what was even worse, is when she crushed HIS heart...
Back then, she smiled and laughed at that. How HIS face was contorted in shock and awe, eyes fighting back tears as HIS mouth hung agape at her... and she smiled... an evil smile, as she broke it to HIM hard... and she smiled... an evil smile, as she enjoyed and savored every moment watching HIS world crumble away... bit by bit... and the cherry on top to bring that moment's pain was when Scourge appeared... and that was truly the highest point of pain for HIM... the look in his eyes when it happened... it looked as if he has given up on life...
The image of that moment was burned into her mind. And back then, she would often revisit that image in her thoughts for what she thought was personal enjoyment. But now... no... maybe even back then... she hated to see it... it tore her apart to even fathom what HE must've felt... How could she... doing such a horrible thing to someone who didn't deserve it...
She felt disgusted and dirty over herself... and no mere bath, no matter how soothing or plentiful, could ever make her feel clean... she clawed at her chest with her free hand, clutching the fabric of her night gown, sobbing eyes still locked on the photo. She felt like her heart was ripping her apart from the inside... like it was being wrapped in thorny vines... the pain was unbelievable... and each second that passed that she stared at the photo, she felt even more guilty... and slowly, weak...
"How could (sob) I have (sniff) been so (sob) STUPID!" She cried out loudly, practically screaming the last part as she collapsed to the floor with a bone cringing thud. But she ignored the pain... no pain was greater then what she was already feeling... she could be tortured with almost every known method and she would not have felt a thing. Because this pain was something no physical pain could ever match...
Her body laid on the floor in a sort of bent over position as she looked at the photo she was holding, and afterward hugged it tightly as if it was her life-line... which, to some degree, it was...
How she wanted it to be real... that it was really HIM hugging her right now... she wanted to see HIM so badly...
"Oh please... (sob, sob) please... (sob) take me away from here... (sob, sob) please... (sob) save me... (sob, sob) please forgive me!" She cried out even louder as her voice became shrill...
Her heart was shattering as she cried out on the floor... she wanted to be with HIM again... if it was possible... but she knew she couldn't have HIM... because after everything that she's done, it would be a miracle if HE even talked to her... or even think of her... and she had no one to blame anymore... not even Scourge... because truly, it was ALL her fault...
But suddenly... HIS image came into her thoughts again...
Though she was still crying, she slowed down enough to make her concentrate on the image... The image showed HIM standing proudly, hands beside HIS waist with HIS chest puffed out forward. And behind HIM was light. Beautiful bright light radiating across the blackness of her thoughts.
But it wasn't HIS stance that got her, nor did the light. It was the smile... HIS smile... radiating it's own form of light...
She knew that smile so well... only HE could have that smile... filled with so much warmth and happiness, love and compassion... but most of all hope... whenever she saw that smile it always brought her hope... and for so long her mind hid that smile from her... even when it was in plain sight, her mind fogged it with hatred... but now... she could see it again... she wanted to see it again... not just in her thoughts, no, she wanted to truly see it... to see HIM...
She reached out to HIM... one hand towards HIM, the other still grasping the photo to her chest. Her eyes were wide and needy as she reached for HIM... she couldn't see anything outside her thoughts... nor did she care... all that mattered was HIM... she slowly got up, still reaching and staring at HIM. HE returned the favor and reached out to her as well.
She shakily rose from the floor, her eyes still fixated at HIM and watery, arms still locked in place as a joyous smile embraced her features. She walked slowly, her legs shaking as she put weight on each step she took. But she didn't care if she collapsed again, she would still move forward... towards HIM... she forced herself towards HIS image in her thoughts as if he was really there. She continued to reach out and she called out HIS name with all her might...
"SONIC!"
Scourge walked across the hallway, a hand behind his head and the other on his waist. A troubled and frustrated expression on his face. Thinking perhaps its best to settle the argument now and be done with it, he opted to talk to her. And as he closed in on her room, standing in front of the door, he heard her scream...
"SONIC!" She screamed behind the door, and he felt that aggressive nature of his rise again as he grasped the knob tightly as if to crush it. Was HE here? Or was she just screaming out in spite? He wasn't really sure, but one thing was sure... he was angry.
He swung the door open forcefully, heavily breathing in a growl-like manner as the name of his enemy echoed in his head. *Damn HIM!* He thought, wishing HIM dead as he stomped inside. And when he entered the room his eyes widened...
He looked... no... stared at her, eyes locked at her in asking what it was she was doing... She was standing weakly, one arm extended forward, shaking a bit like she had trouble lifting it. Her expression was alarming... she looked horrible, like she just cried her heart out... which she did. Her eyes were puffy, and the fur on her face sagging down with heavy moisture. But what brought that alarming and worriful feeling to Scourge was despite her messy saddened appearance, she was... smiling...
He did not understand... why was she sad? Why was she smiling? It was all just confusing... but then he remembered what she screamed out earlier... He soon lost care why she was like that. Because he knew somehow that it involved HIM, and it made his anger rose back and without any second thought, he walked over to her.
"What the hell are you doing!" He yelled in question at her. But his question fell on deaf ears as she did not seem to notice his presence. He then took hold of her arm, the one which was grasping on the frame, and then yanked it like a chain and swung her to face him, and in doing so prompted her to drop it...
As her arm was yanked, her thoughts cleared up. Sonic's image disappeared, and was replaced by Scourge's angry glare...
"NO!" She screamed at his face in horror as she saw him and struggled out of his grasp frantically like she has just seen death before her... Scourge looked down on what fell from her grasp and let her arm go, causing her to fall to the ground with a painful thud...
Scourge picked the frame up and looked at it... his face twisted harder and his angry expression transformed into something demonic as he stared at the frame with so much anger, malice and disgust that even Enerjack himself would have trembled with fear... he then turned to her, all that evil in his eyes focused at her...
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" He yelled, his voice cracking in the air, laced with heavy rage, his grip on the photo tightening as he said it. His words though did not reach her, she was more preoccupied with what he was doing to her photograph of Sonic... her beloved... How dare he take hold of that frame! Seeing his filthy hands sullying her only remnant of her beloved, her faced contorted as deeply as Scourge's and she stood up forcefully.
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF MY BELOVED!" She yelled with so much anger in her tone that Scourge could've sworn the floorboards shook... he was paralyzed before her outburst as she stared at him with eyes so deadly that she could have killed him with her gaze. His shock was so great that he didn't even realize that she swiped the photo out of his hands.
Her anger dissipated a little as she got the photo back, cradling it in her arms and shielding it like a mother beast to her cub... but her momentary calm-ness was short-lived as her anger rose back.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE! THIS IS A PRIVATE MATTER! GET OUT!"
"Wha-" Was all Scourge could reply as he tried to piece together words and recover from his paralysis. His face having this slight confused look, feeling a little broken up.
"Are you deaf? I said, GET OUT!"
"Get out? Private matter! That photo... WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Scourge blurted out and yelled out the last part pointing at the frame, as he finally got his train of thought back and pieced his thoughts together. She fumed at his words and spun around to show him her back.
"HEY! Don't turn your back on me! I demand an explanation!" Scourge said angrily in reply to her turning against him without a word.
"EXPLANATION! I don't need to explain anything! Just-leave-me-ALONE!" She explained to him saying the last words slowly in emphasis to get her point out. She wished to end it at that and hoped he would leave... but he didn't... he stood there, feet planted firmly on the ground expecting a better explanation.
"How long have you had that photo! And why do you even have it! Tell me!" Scourge demanded angrily, flailing his arms forward in aghast.
"It's not any of your damn business!" She replied, just as angrily, her back still against him and still grasping the frame.
"None of my business! I'm your boyfriend!"
And when she heard him saw those words, she felt insulted in the highest possible manner... she gritted her teeth so tightly that it felt like they were cracking, she spun around to face him, her pupils shrank and her eyes bloodshot with so much anger.
"HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF MY BOYFRIEND!" She barked out with great and furious anger. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SUCH A CLAIM!"
"HEY, DON'T YOU YELL AT ME LIKE THAT! NEED I REMIND YOU THAT YOU WERE THE ONE WHO ASKED FOR ALL THIS!"
"I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU, YOUR WORDS OR WHATEVER!" She then brought the frame to Scourge's face. "HE'S THE ONLY ONE I CARE ABOUT!"
"OH YEAH!" Scourge pushed the frame aside. "WELL GET THIS, HE DOESN'T FEEL THE SAME WAY!"
And hearing this, her anger rose even further that her eyes looked as if they where shooting lightning. Scourge's anger was of equal zeal, his eyes shooting the same and clashed with hers as they locked glares. Their yells so loud that both could literally feel the floorboards rattle with their outbursts.
"THAT'S BULLSHIT! HE'S SONIC, MY BELOVED! OF COURSE HE CARES!"
"AS IF! NOT AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO HIM! HE'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"
"SHUT UP! OF COURSE HE WILL! HE'S MY BEST FRIEND!"
Hearing her say the word 'Best friend' though hit something in Scourge's thoughts... and slowly, he visibly calmed down...
"Best friend?" Scourge said with an amused tone as he gave a short chuckle. "That just makes the reason for not forgiving you all the more true." He ended with a cryptic smile.
Seemingly calming down herself, she took his words and gathered them in her mind and paused, eyebrow raised, as she pondered what he meant. "What do you mean?"
Scourge chuckled, louder this time, acting like whatever he was implying was plainly obvious. "If you have forgotten I'm Sonic's other self, as such, I know how he thinks."
"So?" She asked, not exactly sure what it was Scourge was trying to say.
"So? I have been betrayed by MY best friends, on more than one occasion I might add. And I never forgave any of them. So, being Sonic's other self, he would be feeling the same way."
Taking in a little of what he said, she lowered her head, staring at the floor, a little bit of depression sinking in along with a little bit of anger... how dare he spit lies of her beloved! "...Liar..." She told him, her voice low and hateful as she told herself not to believe Scourge's claim... Scourge could only grin maniacally.
"Am I? What makes you so sure? What exactly makes you believe that after everything that you did he'll forgive you?"
Hearing this, she took pause and reconsidered what Scourge said... she lifted the photo towards her, staring at it. *Could he be right? What if Sonic never will forgive me... then... then...* she thought sadly, her hope drifting away... her form slumped a little, her eyes no longer having that powerful gleam it had earlier...
She felt sickened... her legs felt weak and her arms were drained of their strength and she lowered them to her side. She felt like she would collapse at any moment, her grip on the frame she held loosening by each passing moment as Scourge's words struck her hope down like a hunter killing a bird in the sky... plummeting down with great speed and force, with which it crushes itself on impact...
The pain that was set aside earlier returning with great force... and it was excruciating... but now it was joined with something just as painful... Scourge's words...
His words twirled within her thoughts... and her mind swirled violently like a whirlpool as all of her hope at being with her best friend, her beloved, were stripped away from her and torn to pieces by the hands of Scourge, Sonic's other self... the mirrored fiend of her beloved... his anti-Mobius counterpart... counterpart... counter... part... her eyes sparked, her mind clearing in an instant as a new realization became clear to her.
She laughed slowly, building up from a small chuckle to a hardy outburst, shocking Scourge completely as he backed away slowly...
"What's so funny?" He asked, staring at her like she was insane.
She continued her laugh, to which caused uneasiness to settle within Scourge's mind... he backed off a few paces further away from her. Still quite unsure why she was acting in such a manner...
"Well, if you must know, it has something to do with what you just said..." She told him, her laughing fit ending with a triumphant smirk. A smirk which riddled Scourge profoundly.
"What exactly did I say?" His confused state apparent in the tone of his voice as he spoke.
"It's when you said that you never forgave your friends when they betrayed you. And when you reminded me that your Sonic's other self!" She exclaimed excitedly, her eyes gleaming and her face shining brightly with happiness.
"That's why your laughing? Are you insane or something?"
"Yes... I must be... for listening to you!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger at Scourge, her azure eyes burning with a new found hope. "Like you said, your his other self, his anti-Mobius self! As such, you will always do the opposite of what the original does! Therefore, without a doubt, Sonic WILL forgive me!"
Listening to her words and looking into her eyes and seeing that re-kindled hope burning within. His expression sagged... but beneath it, anguish... because in some way, he was just officially dumped... and it hurt... not his heart. No form of heart-break could ever harm him, for he has done it countless times with so many women. No... what really hurt was his pride... something he considered sacred. For as long as he lived he had never let a woman dump him, for it was always him who dumped them.
But she just did... she dumped him... and what made it truly hurt his pride was her reason... she dumped him for Sonic, his greatest enemy... and he didn't like it...
He wasn't going to let him be happy again, no... he won't...
"Well then..." He said, approaching her with a sinister smile, his cerulean eyes having this evil intention gleaming in them. "...I guess I'm going to have to stop you from getting to him..." He said deviously while reaching towards her slowly, fingers coiled like a vice. Seeing his hand reach for her, and realizing what he meant, she quickly brought her right foot up and kicked Scourge square in the chest!
"Oof!" Scourge got the wind kicked out of him as he was pushed back a few feet away. His eyes widened a little, shocked that she had such strength. "ARGH!" Scourge quickly recovered and lunged at her, she couldn't react fast enough though, and as she tried to roll away, Scourge caught her by her arm. And for the second time that night, Scourge's sudden grasp of her arm made her drop the frame again...
"Why you!" Angered over once again dropping the frame, she used that anger to fuel her strength and took hold of his forearm then flipped Scourge off the ground with ease, promptly causing great shock to the hedgehog as he was slammed hard on the floor, his quills ripping the wood on impact. She panted heavily, calming herself as she let go of Scourge's arm and looked at her hands, seemingly shocked herself, before averting her gaze back towards him.
"Knocked out..." She whispered, clenching her fists as she looked at Scourge's body on the ground.
Not knowing how long he was going to be knocked out, she quickly picked the frame up and ran to her dresser. She did not have time to be picky, so she grabbed whatever was in there and ran to her shower room.
Surprisingly, after looking over the article of clothing she picked, she realized that the clothing she picked out was her old orange jumpsuit...
A small smile came to her lips with her eyes lidded down a little as she looked it over, remembering the old days... but as she did, her mind quickly reminded her that Scourge could wake up at anytime. She then hurriedly and somewhat frantically got ready and placed the photograph on the sink.
After putting on the jumpsuit, she looked underneath her sink cabinet and pulled out her old orange boots that she used to partner the jumpsuit with. And wrapped around the boot's shin, was her old yellow bow.
She pulled the bow off the boot and brushed her hair down like it used to and then tied the bow on her head. After putting the boots on, and looked herself over in the mirror, she once again resembled what she used to look like... and from now on, she will forever keep this look, in testament to her new found hope and resolve to once again see her beloved.
"No matter what..." She said, finishing the look by wearing her old white gloves, which she found inside the jumpsuit. She then picked the frame up and gave it one last stare, her eyes gleaming with determination. She gave the photo a quick kiss before finally placing it into her jumpsuit. She moved towards the window, preparing herself to jump. But before she did, the shower room door swung open...
*Damn... should have locked it...* She thought, a little bit of fear following those thoughts, as she looked towards the figure at the door... it was obviously Scourge, finally awake and even more furious then ever as he stared at her intently, his stare lined with daggers...
Looking at his form however, she noticed that he wasn't in any condition to chase her, as he looked like he had a hard time breathing. And she smiled at this...
She gestured her hands in a 'See ya!' manner and jumped off without a second thought. Scourge ran to stop her, but stumbled to the floor as he clutched his chest... *Damn... that bitch!* He cursed in his thoughts, wincing a little as he stood up and limped towards the window. He looked out, scanning the area for her whereabouts, hoping perhaps that she hurt herself jumping off... but he forgot that his new home was only a one story house in the suburbs... he looked and looked, swaying his head sideways in quick glances, his anger building with each sway...
"DAMN!" He growled loudly, slamming his fist on the window's frame. He looked on angrily, thinking nothing but death wishes to the woman that betrayed him, and the man who was responsible for it... but mostly at her...
"You won't get him back... mark my words Fiona... you and Sonic will never be together..." He growled lowly, slamming his fist on the wooden frame again and leaving splintered wood underneath his fist. "...never... I swear it...!"
To be Continued...