Tails & Saffron
Requested by Missplayer30
.
As soon as the alarm sounded, everyone deserted the canteen. Tails tried to do that too, but stumbled on a bag with annoying straps – and looking up, he realised with a cold dread that the doors were locking themselves. Oh blast it. Disgruntled, he heaved himself up from the floor, and flopped down on a chair. What to do now?
"Hello?" a voice which obviously wasn't Tails' called out hesitantly. And it wasn't Nicole's voice either, so the fox turned to take a look.
His eyes widened just a bit in surprise; it was Saffron. Without Charmy. After Charmy had gotten him to promise – to pinky-swear – that he would try and look after Saffron if something happened to Charmy or if they were separated or- he supposed this covered those terms? Never mind that Saffron was older than Tails… well, he would've looked after her anyway… I suppose? Wasn't Saffron kind of similar to Cream?
"Hello?" Tails replied. "Saffron? It's Tails and – oh, sorry, I'll come out." He stood up, and moved around the pillar blocking both of their views.
"Oh," said Saffron. She was curled up in another chair. "Hi, Tails." He started to make his way over to her, while she asked, "Do you know what's happening? Why did the alarms go off?"
The alarms had, thank Chaos, stopped blaring. Now it was only the eerie red lights left, blinking from all over the ceiling… And Tails wasn't sure why they had 'gone off' – wait. Look it up, Tails, you have your communicator with you.
"I'm trying to find out. But I imagine that it's either-" The results popped up on the tiny screen, and his sentence was cut short. He stared at the scrolling text, wide-eyed, pressed on an image, and quickly switched over to the chat-room. Over there? No messages, except a few ones like 'B, go to , Sal n I there, crisis-' He went back to the image, enlarged it, and showed it to Saffron. She gasped, reached out as if to touch the image, but halted the motion.
"A fire."
Tails nods, expression grim. "Yes – it started in the middle of the city – and spread quickly."
They sat quiet for a moment. Should he try and get the doors open? …but what use would they be in the city right now? Saffron fiddled with her clothes, staring into space with a sad expression – a shadow of grief, mostly anxiety. Tails looked away, a lump in his throat – like yeah, a fire wasn't that big of a deal… except it was, because this fire was big. Though the freedom fighters could fend for themselves, but…
"Do you like flowers?"
Tails blinked, processed the question, and blinked again- "I guess?" Is she trying to distract me?
"What about chao? I have a chao."
"That's… nice. I have a chao too."
She nodded. "So what do you do in your spare time?" …Is she trying to distract herself?
"Lots of different things. I repair things and…" They talked. They flitted from one topic to another, half of the time they couldn't really relate to the other's story, and neither of them gave very long replies, unnerved at the situation. Slowly, Saffron started describing more vividly, and Tails realised… Saffron really wasn't anything like Cream. She – she had had a completely different life than Cream, and her opinions - maybe she and Tails could become friends?
…Another silence came and passed. Tails had just decided that ugh, alright, I'm just going to explain how a plane works- when screech, the doors started to slide open again.
Tails and Saffron were on their feet in an instant. And seconds later, Charmy and the Chaotix rushed inside, Saffron running to meet them, dragging Tails with her. Inquiries about their health came from everyone, Saffron replied, there were hugs and questions about someone's burnt arm- and at a pause, Tails managed to catch Charmy glancing at him. He raised an eyebrow, slowly, and Charmy looked him straight in the eyes, and nodded.
Alright.
