CHAPTER XXIII – BAD AT LOVE
A simple look can carry so much weight. It might be to a former lover you haven't seen in years that can ignite a flame long extinguished. It can be between two best friends watching a championship game in a tavern where you know your favorite team is seconds away from capturing gold and doing what was unthinkable at the season's beginning. Or it could be filled with so much anger and rage that one's eyes could easily be mistaken for volcanoes on the verge of erupting.
Sonic's eyes were those volcanoes. Rouge must have had a damngood reason for bringing that harlot here. Fiona either had a death wish or Rouge was going to sic Sonic on her. But as lovely as that latter image was, if Sonic knew Rouge, there was some other third reason.
"And what makes you think she has the answer to our 'Scourge problem?'" Sonic asked with noticeable animosity.
"Chill the eff out," Rouge shot back not wanting any of the speedster's attitude, "or I'll put you in that other hospital bed myself."
The aggravated hedgehog was understandably pissed off at the vixen as if his deathly gaze wasn't obvious enough. However, Sonic was so hopped-up on adrenaline from the mere sight of Fiona that he was never going to take Rouge's threats or reasoning seriously. The woman that loved him knew that, so for the safety of everyone, namely Sonic's and her former friend's, she had to be the one to step in between the two. Her strong eyes met Sonic's instantly with her face pleading with him desperately to keep the peace. The moment the hedgehogs locked eyes, Sonic's heart rate noticeably dropped by ten beats per minute (bpm).
"Down, tiger," Amy pleaded with a calm voice as she touched his face. The slightest touch of her soft hand sent his rate down another few beats, though he was still in an agitated state. Well, at least he wasn't as hysterical as before.
The vixen let out a sigh. Go figure, it was Amy Rose was to the rescue. "Thank you, Amy," Fiona said with relief.
The pink hedgehog simply turned her head around and gave Fiona a hardhearted glare. It showed some flickers of malice and anger, and its severity was enough for the vixen to remain not-entirely comfortable. "Fiona, for your safety and our sanity, shut the hell up unless spoken to." That was more than enough for the vixen who backed away like a child getting scolded, and Fiona figured she had that and more coming. Much more.
The pink hedgehog then looked back at Sonic and told him softly, "Play nice." With a nod, he backed away but kept an evil eye on their newest and most unwelcome guest. With that bomb defused for the moment, Amy then turned to Rouge who was also keeping a close eye on the vixen. "Rouge," Amy called getting the bat's attention, "why did you bring her here? And what's this 'deadline?'"
Rouge took a quick second to breathe out because this was going to be heavy and sudden like a 400-pound man falling from a three-story building. "You saw me raging on my phone earlier, yes?" Amy nodded with understanding and for her to continue. "Well, that was Knuckles on the other line giving me some bad news."
"Knuckles?" Sonic asked. "Does this have to do with that meeting you two had?"
"Yeah," Rouge said in a displeased tone. "I'll give you the TL;DR version. Knuckles told me that the G.U.N. higher-ups have been keeping tabs on this shitshow with Scourge. He told me that because Scourge got away again, G.U.N. agents, including Knuckles, are coming in to intervene and take hold of the investigation."
"Why would they do that?" Sally asked.
"In his words, 'One superpowered speedster is a problem, but two can be downright deadly.'"
"Me a 'problem?'" Sonic scoffed. "I resent that."
"But you have to look at it from their perspective. They see someone like you with your powers as a threat because of what you can do. It's all about the potential trouble you could cause. They've been keeping their distance and letting you do your thing for this long because of the Robotnik incident."
"I'm flattered," Sonic retorted flatly.
"But now there's an evil speedster that is as fast and more vicious as you running amok, and he's still not in custody. Someone that threatening with that kind of dangerous potential can only spell bad news for others. Someone that powerful using those powers for terrorism is someone that needs to be stopped right now."
"And because I had to save Max from a heart attack and from being road pizza, Knuckles decides now is the best time to come in?"
"We've had a few chances before to nab him but didn't. Now look what's happened." Ooh. Sonic didn't like that one. He reeled back a bit from the poison in her words. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Rouge said trying to calm him down. "Low blow."
"Very low," he spat back before gripping the back of his skull and sighing harshly which turned into a controlled scream of frustration. "So what am I supposed to do with G.U.N.? You want me to play nice with your little boyfriend, Rouge?"
"Knuckles isn't—."
"Not what I meant; please answer the question."
Rouge shook her head and sighed. "They would be expecting your full cooperation in everything including tell you how to potentially capture Scourge."
"Oh, whatever," Sonic barbed indignantly. "Some government officials that I've never met probably with political agendas, that only Chaos himself knows, telling me how to do my job? Yeah, that's gonna go over well."
"At the expense of being the devil's advocate, nailing down your brother hasn't been accomplished despite us having three chances at him." Sonic scoffed and rolled with eyes with a sneer. "But despite all the friends and colleagues I have at G.U.N., I agree that having the world's biggest government telling us how to do our fucking jobs is not a fun idea, Knuckles's inclusion notwithstanding. When we work together, the mayor lets us do our own thing for the most part because he knows we can get the job done quickly. Despite the shit that's gone down and with our 'batting average' going down the last few days, he still has faith in us even if the media doesn't."
Rouge then paused to reorganize her thoughts because she found herself getting off-track. "The good news is that they aren't here now," the bat continued as her voice changed to a slightly more-positive one. "Bottom line, because Central City is over a two-hour drive and since G.U.N. needs to scramble to get all the right people here, that's why we've got until midnight." Then the commissioner jerked Fiona's arm upward to make next point clear (which earned her an eye from the vixen). "Luckily, we have Scourge's partner right here."
Those in the room that could glared at Fiona with suspicion abound. No surprise here, but Sonic was the first one to pipe up. "And just why is Fiona here?" Rouge turned to the vixen and gestured to answer him. Turning her eyes to the angry hero, she hesitated for a minute. She hesitated even more when she saw Amy's jade green irises. "Well?!"
The shock of Sonic's louder tone made her jumped, but she cleared her throat to explain herself. "For the record, I knew that you might be here, Sonic," Fiona began, "but I'm here for Amy." That last part sounded like she was ashamed than anything.
A small piece of Sonic respected the sentiment, but they had bigger fish to fry. "Where is he?"
Fiona's eyes darted his way. "I want to say something first, okay?"
Sonic opened his mouth, ready to refuse and demand she cut to the chase, but Amy grabbed his arm and lightly tilted her head. No words were needed, but he was against what the Rascal was insinuating. But… if it meant—.
Y'know what? Fine. Whatever. It's not like they had a now-schizophrenic speedster to track down.
"Make it fast," Sonic said.
Fiona nodded and took a second to collect her thoughts.
In… and out.
"I never wanted any of this," Fiona said with regret. "Last night, Scourge called me out for not having the backbone needed to do what I do. To be fair, I never wanted to take over the family business either. I was the only real family he had left, so dad always wanted me to live a normal life since he didn't get the chance."
Fiona then chuckled once. "'A normal life.' Like the only kid of a crime lord was ever going to have one, especially after their mom died shortly after having me. You know someone who's practically royalty is usually given song and praise for whatever they do or are brownnosed to the point of obscenity? Maybe even both? That was me in as a young kid. I had everything I ever wanted. I would always get it one way or another because daddy gave it to me." Then her face soured. "But then you get too used to it all. Teachers always gave me more praise than other students. The same thing went for my classmates, always telling me how pretty I looked or if my bow perfectly matched my outfit. But you know why they did it, right? I mean, would you want to be the one to piss off my daddy who could dump your body in the Allegheny Passage at any time? They only kissed my ass out of fear. They only pretended to be my friends. They always buttered me up for the smallest and stupidest shit… except for one person."
Fiona then looked at Amy and put on a half-smile. Amy herself flickered a grin that disappeared just as quickly.
"Amy and I weren't friends overnight. We went to school starting in kindergarten. We actually yelled at each other quite a lot in first grade, and Amy was often seen as the black sheep of the class for it because they knew what might happen to her. The teachers and administrators would try to make her get along with me because of my family name, but little Amy here?" Fiona's smile grew even bigger. "Six years old. She didn't know any better, but she didn't care. She cut through all the crap and was the most honest person I knew; definitely more than everyone else including my dad because, y'know, he killed people and sold drugs regularly and didn't want to let me in on his work even if I knew about it.
"But… I'm getting off-topic. To cut a long story short, Amy was the only person to never bullshit me. Her being her, it was a change of pace… and a welcome one at that. You get tired of all the praise after a while and just want people to treat like a person." Fiona then looked at Sonic. "Something I'm sure you know plenty about."
"Not as much these days if you watch the news," Sonic replied with an irritated face. "Are you done yet?"
"No," Fiona said with a cheeky smile that purposefully rubbed Sonic the wrong way. "Because of how Amy acted, it made me admire her, but I didn't know how to say it at the time." The vixen's face then dimmed back to that of a frown. "All the adoration and praise made me… a bit of an awkward kid because I couldn't talk to anyone normally. And looking around the classroom… I was only kid without a real friend. Even Amy got along with everyone else normally. Let me tell you, I came home crying a few times because I didn't have anyone. Daddy was great and helped me cope, but he couldn't change the fact that at school… I was alone."
Fiona's lone tear was enough to get Amy a bit choked up too. The pink lady knew what was coming next.
"Then came second grade. It was the first year we had joint recesses with other classes. Grades 2-5 were on the same blacktop at the same time. War isn't as chaotic as trying to keep four grades-worth of wild kids in line. I thought it might be exciting to play with the kids a few years older than me. But did that happen? No.
"There were plenty of kids in the fifth grade who didn't care who my daddy was. They saw someone like me, alone and with a bow too comically big for her head, as an easy target. If I thought crying because I had no friends was hard, going home crying about getting bullied made it worse. Daddy wanted to help, but I knew what that meant to the kids or their families, so I pleaded with him to not get involved. I figured it would sort itself out, and they'd move on to someone else."
"Yeah… they did move on to some else," Amy said in a low voice as she instinctively rubbed her cheek.
"I remember seeing Amy and some other girls playing soccer one day. They seemed to be having fun and all… until one bad pass landed out-of-bounds and wound up on the kickball diamond. It made the Terry Mantha, the biggest fifth grader who was also the best kickball player in recess, miss a routine flyball and let the winning run score. He looked down at the soccer 'field' and knew exactly who made him mess up."
"Yeah, my face was a dead giveaway," Amy replied in a somewhat frightened voice. "We were just kids playing a game. It was an accident for crying out loud. And he just walks up to me with that soccer ball. I remember not being able to move because he scared me that much. And then… he put the ball down, and just as I went to grab it, he kicked the ball directly into my face."
Hearing that made Sonic's eyebrow and blood pressure go straight up.
That went double for Fiona.
"I saw you crying and the teachers coming over when they heard you scream bloody murder," the vixen said. "He was screaming at you when you were on the ground crying, and then… my legs just started moving. I felt so angry because of what they did to you that I tackled him outta nowhere and got one good punch in before the teachers broke it up. Daddy wasn't happy that he had to get me out of the principal's office, but… he did get me an ice cream for nailing someone who deserved it."
"And I was thankful that you came to help me… that, and I remember the punch," Amy said sheepishly with a small smile. "Seeing Terry getting his nose bloodied by a second grader was so satisfying."
"And…," Sonic began, "that's how you became friends? Over a schoolyard skirmish?"
"Not right away," Fiona replied. "I spent a few days out of school for tackling a kid hard to the blacktop and punching him, but Terry was suspended for two weeks before transferring to another school altogether."
"Your dad didn't have anything to do with that, did he?" Amy asked.
"I'm not sure, but since I was his little girl, getting on my bad side would've meant Terry got on my dad's bad side. Pretty sure his family picked everything up and booked it when they found out the Fox Family was involved."
Fiona then chuckled as her smile returned. Amy's did too even if it wasn't as big as the vixen's. Each of their faces lit up like a pair of schoolgirls. It was… nice. It was a (literal) callback to simpler days. Not great days because of the shocking, adolescent violence, but because it was still their first good memory together.
"After that, Amy thanked me for her help." Fiona said. "Her parents were wondering if I could come over for dinner so they could thank me. I still remember saying 'yes' even though I didn't have my dad's permission, but he signed off on it the moment he heard about it." Another tear slipped down the vixen's face, but this was a happier one. "And after that night… we became best friends. And after we became friends, I remember my dad coming down and telling Monica and Bucky that if there was anything they needed, he'd make the arrangements… all because you were my first real friend. They refused, of course, but my dad was still insistent on letting them know his offer would always be good."
The two girls locked eyes and chuckled once reminiscing about the good old days… but it wasn't meant to last. They smiled at each other for a few more seconds until the grim reality came rushing back to them. They were in a hospital room as visitors. Tails was mostly stable but badly beaten thanks in part to Fiona. Eventually, the girls' chipper faces soon faded and were replaced by that of hurt and betrayal. It was great to feel that powerful nostalgia, but that was then, and this dark reality was now.
"But then… then I was fucking stupid and threw it all away," Fiona said. Her tone didn't just suggest regret but also guilt and shame. "I thought if I offered you a chance at payback that it would've helped you cope. Your mom and dad… Monica and Bucky… they made me feel like part of the family. Your mom especially because I don't remember mine." Fiona's voice then got progressively louder. "And what did I do? I messed up and thought about what my dad could do. He was the big, bad crime lord who had money and connections from here to the Dragon Kingdom. He could help me feel better by helping get revenge, right? Right?!" The room fell silent as Fiona's eyes went bloodshot as they welled up. "No. No, I was being selfish, and I made a big mistake. I suggested that I could use my family resources to kill the monster that took Monica and Bucky away from the both us, and we had that huge fight. Amy, you were absolutely right to refuse my offer and stop being my friend because when I made that offer, I did stop being your friend. I fucked up. You here that, Amy? I fucked up! I had way too much pride to admit it then, and I let my personal feelings suggest something stupid that I knew was going to make you sick, but I didn't care! And when you stopped being my friend, I was so pissed at you for not accepting that olive branch, but then I realized that wasn't the reason. Are you kidding?! I was more disgusted with myself that I even suggested it, but again, Miss Proud-and-Innocent Fiona Fox couldn't admit to herself back then that she fucked up beyond all reason! At that moment, I became my dad! I know he loved me, but he was still a murderer and a bastard who still ruined countless lives and families!"
The sudden outpouring of raw emotions made Fiona drop to the floor from sheer self-disgust and remorse. She couldn't take it anymore. Fiona's loud yelling was the clincher that she had finally broken down after so many years of keeping those repressed, and now that she admitted them to Amy, the shock and sudden release of what had been weighing on her heart all these years was just too much for her.
Seeing Fiona like this…. Amy shouldn't have been feeling bad. Fiona had this coming for a long time. But… Amy couldn't help herself. She rushed to Fiona's side and held her former friend tight. Fiona was taken aback from Amy's sudden and unbelievable compassion, but now that she was here… Fiona let loose. She cried her eyes out and tightly hugged her only friend back as Amy's shoulder caught the vixen's bitter tears.
"I'M SORRY!" Fiona cried out. "I'M SORRY, AMY! I'M SO SORRY!" Amy couldn't hold back her tears anymore as the two reunited properly for first time in years. This was not the first time they embraced like this. Amy was just as hysterical the night she found out that Amadeus and Rosemary Prower died in that car accident on Tails's birthday. Fiona had to be there for her friend that night, and now the tables had turned.
"Fiona?" Amy asked as the vixen's tears had stopped, but not her wailing. "Fiona. Fiona!" Amy yelled as she grabbed the vixen's head and brought it close to hers. Thank goodness Fiona wasn't wearing any sort of makeup because the salty river springing from her blue eyes would've made her look more pathetic than she was already. But seeing Amy's jade green eyes this dangerously close again… she started to calm down. Her sniffling and panting slowed. Her output of tears for sure started to wane. It shouldn't have surprised her anymore, but go figure that Amy Rose was the one person who could put her at ease after all this time and after what they had been through. She truly was a special woman.
But in Fiona's eyes, it was a shame her heart belonged to Sonic.
Amy then had to lightly slap the vixen's face to get her attention. The hedgehog wasn't sure why Fiona had zoned out, but she needed the vixen to stop this incessant bawling.
"Fiona, get a hold of yourself!" Amy pleaded. As if on cue, Fiona's breathing went back to normal with the occasional pant mixed in, but otherwise, the vixen had stopped with her hysterics for the time being. Amy then helped her former friend up and took a step back to give them both some needed air. Chaos knew that Fiona would need a second to mentally get back in the game.
With one last loud sigh, Fiona had finally calmed down. Thank Chaos…
"I'm sorry," Fiona said. Okay, maybe she wasn't 100% over that outburst, but it was close enough. "Amy, I can't say 'I'm sorry' enough," she continued with guilt laced into her words. "I don't deserve any forgiveness from you… or from anyone in this room. I know that. I went too far. I made a desperate deal, and that deal ended with you getting attacked tonight. I only wanted to… I only wanted to keep my family name afloat and keep my ass out of prison. I didn't want Sonic to get me next, because I know damn well he was going to be on his way. But I made a bad call. It was reckless and selfish of me! I never meant for you to get hurt! I just wanted—!"
"Hold it," Amy interrupted with a twinge of anger in her voice. "You never wanted me to get hurt?" The Rascal's eyes widened just enough to get her enraged point across. "If you didn't want to hurt me, then why the in the flying fuck did you send your boys after Tails?! Do you know that was this close to dying?! You sent them after him! He's been as much of a friend to you as I was! And for what?! Why?!" The vixen couldn't say a word. She had no answer to that obvious question, and that silence made Amy take two big steps and give Fiona something she'd been overdue for a long time.
SLAP!
The vixen recoiled from the strike and held her cheek defensively. She took that blow like a champ as she breathed out loudly once before meeting Amy's eyes again. There would be no retaliation from Fiona, not just because Fiona knew that slap was for a good reason, but from the look in Amy's eyes, the Rascal would've countered any kind of attack and hit her again only harder.
"WHY?! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, ANSWER ME!" Amy screamed. Fiona couldn't bear to look at her directly, but Amy grabbed the vixen's face and brought it back to her level. "All this shit is on you because you wanted to keep your dad's empire going? You never cared for it before, so why now?! And why did Tails have to get caught in the crossfire, huh?! Goddamn it, Fiona, ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!"
The fox couldn't take it anymore, so had to shove Amy away to let it all out.
"BECAUSE IT WAS ALL I HAD LEFT!"
Wait… what?
Amy's angered, confused expression matched those of everyone else in the room.
"After we split up… my dad told me he'd do anything to make me happy. He knew I was heartbroken over it, so he tried to do everything to make me forget all about it," Fiona said in a defeated tone. "Even one of his Destructix enforcers offered to kill you, but my dad shot that idea and him down right then and there. Even after we had that big fight… I made a promise that I'd never hurt you directly."
"So you're telling me that Tails was collateral just so you and Scourge could punish Sonic?!" Amy screamed back.
"What? No! I mean, yes! Wait—!" Fiona's stammering was only making the Rascal more upset.
"If you say you didn't want to hurt me, then why did you give the order to kill Tails?!"
"I WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT, OKAY?! I was too wrapped up in keeping my ass out of jail out of the slammer that I made a stupid call, okay?!" Amy's open mouth and infuriated expression were still on full blast, but her silence told Fiona to keep going. "I lost everything you when we had that fight, but I still wanted to make you happy so that maybe we could be friends again someday. But then… but then my dad was killed right after your parents' killer was. I even had a plan to kill Eclipse the Darkling for you, but someone beat me to the punch. Then I found out my dad was taken out by the same bastard that killed Eclipse. I… I lost everything… and I lost it so damn quick. I didn't know what to do with my life. End it right there? No… I wasn't strong enough to do that. And my daddy's execs wanted me to lead them. I was a Fox after all, and none of them wanted to take charge. They said they'd never allow anyone but a Fox to lead them. So… I took control and lost myself in the game. I found that I was… actually good at it for a while even if I never wanted to do it before. But I also made a promise that even after all we've been through, if I or any of my boys ever hurt you…. Look, I don't deserve any forgiveness. I know my reasoning for everything I've done is all kind of bullshit, but if you're asking me for a good reason, then I don't have one for you! I was desperate to keep myself alive, and I threw away everything I held dear. I lost myself in the game. I made mistakes and took lives. And… I made a deal with the devil at the worst possible time." After all that, Fiona looked up to Amy as the tears came roaring back. "Amy… I can't tell you enough how terrible I feel. I betrayed you, and I let you get hurt all because I wanted to keep myself alive and because I knew Sonic was after me. I cannot tell you this enough, but I'm sorry I did this to you."
At that moment, Fiona reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small container. All those in the room who saw and heard everything all thought that for some ungodly reason that there might actually be a piece of jewelry in that box (considering she had poured her heart out), but a diamond ring wasn't in that box. It was something far more valuable.
Sonic then zipped up to the girls and plucked it from the vixen's hands to examine it. Amy took a quick peek too and… the hedgehogs' eyes lit up when they saw five small cards nestled in the case.
"I know there's nothing I can do to make things right," Fiona began, "but goddamn it, I'm still going to try."
"Wh-What is this?" Amy asked.
"All my accounts, names, assets, safehouses, aliases; the whole nine yards. Everything that my family's business has done in the last decade is on those cards. It's worth millions."
Sonic and Amy looked at each other as if they'd found a gold mine. They weren't too far off with that thought. But then Sonic remembered what Fiona said with one word in particular getting his attention. Before he could act on that thought, he shut the case and flipped the evidence to Rouge who caught it easily.
"You said 'safehouses,'" Sonic said. "Does that mean you—?"
"Know where Scourge is?" Fiona finished. "It's… one of the reasons I'm here. That bastard… augh, I'm not gonna repeat it anymore. The fucker's dead to me now anyway. I'll tell you where he is, but I need something from you."
Sonic almost laughed. "What in the hell do want from me? Any leverage you had is in Rouge's pocket right now."
"I'm not asking you the world, you blue pain-in-the-ass. I just need protection and safety from anyone that'll come after me. When that evidence goes public, I'll be on many people's lists. One of my former associates has already set everything up for me. I'm giving Scourge and my entire operation to you on a silver platter. Hell, I'll tell you everything he's told me including what happened on that oil rig."
Ooh… that got everyone's attention, especially Sonic's.
"That said…," Fiona continued, "the biggest reason I'm doing this is because I made a promise that if Amy got hurt because of something me or my 'business dealings,' I'd pull the plug on the whole thing."
Rouge scoffed and grabbed Fiona's arm. "If you think you can just come here and order us into a deal, th—."
"Done."
The entire room darted their eyes to Sonic. "What did you just say, blue butt?!" the commissioner asked in disbelief. "You don't have the authority to make that call!"
"Rouge, you said it yourself. We don't have much time. We let Fiona have her sermon, and she's giving us the chance to—."
"I'm the only one here with a police badge, Sonic! You have no right to make that call! We haven't even discussed this yet!"
"She has a point, Sonic," Amy said which earned a slight look from the speedster.
"Amy, listen to—!"
"Sonic, I agree with you."
Okay, now Big Blue was just plain confused Whose side was she on?!
"Then why are siding with Rouge?!" Sonic demanded. "You aren't making any sense!"
"Because I need something else from Fiona too before we agree on anything." Amy then got back into the vixen's face with conviction written all over her eyes. "I don't think I can ever forgive for what you did to Tails," the Rascal spat. "Hell, I shouldn't even think about forgiving you. The only thing you deserve is a lonely prison cell."
Fiona's ears drooped as her eyes looked away in shame. "I know."
But then… Amy sighed loudly and did something unexpected. She physically wrestled the idea and forced it down her own throat. In the end, Amy somehow found the strength to swallow her pride and do the unthinkable.
"But… if we agree to this, then you need to make right by Tails too if you want make right by me." Wait, there was a chance…? "If you have any hope of salvaging whatever we have left, then you need to pay for everything."
Fiona's entire body lit up with hope. "I'll do anything!" the vixen said with determination.
"You said if we agree, you'd have access to an account, right? With all kinds of funds at your disposal? Probably millions?" Fiona nodded. Amy knew her too well. "Then you should have the heart to pay for Tails's medical bills, right?" The vixen nodded again with a hopeful smile. "And all the rehabbing he'll need? Both physical and mental?" Another nod! "And everything with Max?"
Wait, Max?
Fiona's face fell for a second, but then she thought about it. If Tails getting killed was collateral damage to Fiona, then Max was the same to Amy and everyone else. After all, it was only fair.
"Of course," Fiona relented with relief in her voice.
It took a moment for Amy to smile, but when she did, Fiona immediately responded by hugging Amy. The Rascal was caught off-guard and didn't reciprocate the hug. There were a variety of reasons (most of them having been mentioned already), but Amy let Fiona have her moment if it meant that Tails was going to be okay.
"Thank you," Fiona said as her voice cracked.
"It's… okay, Fiona," Amy said nervously as Fiona's hug tightened.
Sure, the hug was warm, but Amy couldn't help but notice that something was "off" with this whole scenario. It wasn't the idea that this might be a trap; even as far back as their school days, Fiona was never one to lie to Amy, and the last few minutes were no exception. No, this was different. There was an x-factor to all this; a variable, if you will, but Amy couldn't seem to place it.
But Sonic sure did.
The way Fiona spoke? The way her body language was just screaming it? It might not be obvious to a normal person's naked eye, but it didn't stop the speedster from picking up on it. He just had to confirm the theory.
Rouge, on the other hand, was getting impatient. "Alright, alright, you have a deal. Now tell us where he is."
Fiona then let go of her friend and nodded one last time to Amy. She waved to the Rascal one last time before she, Rouge, and Sonic headed for the door.
However, if Scourge was going to handed over, they would need something else. Not just another body to throw at the guy (because a final fight was very liekly), but they needed an edge, something to turn the tide and maybe turn the second speedster good again.
Sonic whistled to get the attention of those still in the room. "CREAM," Sonic called as the robo-rabbit's head perked up. "I'm going to need your help for this one."
"My help?" she asked in a surprised voice.
"It's our last chance to get Green back."
His firm words hung on her metal heart for a moment before nodding and getting up. Before she left, she turned back to Tails and gave him one last reminder of her: a kiss on the head.
"Stay safe," CREAM said before making her way to the door. She said to the Acorns and Amy, "Please make sure he's alright, and let me know if things change."
"Of course," Alicia said as CREAM joined Sonic.
The pair left the room and hurried down the hall to Rouge and Fiona who were conversing. Judging from Rouge's face (which looked a grade higher than "annoyed), she wasn't liking what Fiona was saying.
"You mean there's a chance he won't be there?!" Rouge asked loudly.
"I'll willing to bet he is," Fiona reasoned. "There's first aid supplies there, so my best guess he's recuperating there."
"What's that?" Sonic asked having caught up to them.
"Ugh, she can explain on the way," Rouge said.
"That's fine," Sonic replied as he put a stern hand on Fiona's shoulder. He then got dangerously close to the vixen's ear, the kind of 'dangerously' that made her the wrong kind of uncomfortable. "But there are other things I need to know too," he whispered into the vixen's ear before looking to the commissioner. "Do you mind if I walk with Fiona, Rouge? I'll make sure she doesn't try anything."
The bat rolled her eyes but gave Sonic the go-ahead on his request. He let CREAM pass him by to walk beside Rouge as they made their way to the elevators. Sonic gave her a quick head tilt to tell the robo-rabbit that Fiona and he needed privacy. CREAM understood and passed them, but she was highly curious for his reasoning. Oh, well. She'd ask him later.
Now that they were about ten paces behind the others, Fiona finally had the courage to speak up.
"What i-is it? You wanted to talk? Y-You mean like talk about Scourge?"
"There will be time for that later… but I'd like you to answer another question I have about Amy."
Oh, fuck. That sent shockwaves up her spine.
"L-Like what?" Fiona asked nervously. He didn't respond with words. Just a foreboding chuckle. "What's on y-your mind?"
He then got even closer to her ear so that Fiona would be the only person to hear his question. "You didn't just uproot your entire organization just because Amy was your friend."
Her pace changed a little, but the fact that body froze mid-step was damning. "I don't know what you mean."
"Doing something like that on a whim? People don't normally do something so rash so quickly. You said that you've had this planned for a while now, right?" She nodded. "You wouldn't end your business that abruptly for just anyone… unless…."
"U-Unless what?"
He almost burst out laughing from how shrunken her eyes had become. Her glance alone confirmed the theory, but he had come this far with it, so he may as well properly hear it from her.
"Unless… you loved her."
Love.
Did he suggest that Fiona…?
Oh, damn it all.
God-fucking-dammit, he was good.
"People don't do anything that insanely impulsive without good reason. And given how you poured out your heart to her, how tightly you hugged her, and how badly I can tell you missed her—."
"Enough," Fiona shot back as her head hung low. "Just please… don't tell her. Sh-Sh-She can't know."
"And why not?"
She sighed. "Because I know she'd never love me back… especially after all I've done. She still means everything to me. But something tells me you mean more to her than I ever could."
He had to smile. She was right. "But even after all these years?" Her silence was enough of an answer. "You have my word. I won't tell her. I just had to know."
"Just… please keep her safe. But if you break her heart—!"
"I know. And I won't. You have my word."
She let out one last breath before they reached the elevator. CREAM and Rouge had been impatiently waiting.
"Thank you, Fiona. That answers one question," he said as they entered so the other ladies could hear him too. "Now you said Scourge told you how he survived?"
She hesitated but confirmed it. "Yes."
"Alright," he said taking note of CREAM's and Rouge's distinguishable, most prominent, animalistic features: their big eats. "Like bats and long-eared rabbits are want to do, I'm listening."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
If adulting could kindly buzz off, that'd just be great. I do apologize for this not being out over the weekend, but this shit just keeps coming up at the worst of times. It involves my grandma in the hospital, but I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, what you read was the first major twist of the story courtesy of Fiona. I know some of you aren't going to 100% agree with this decision, and frankly, I don't care if you do or not. It's my story, and I'll do whatever I see fit to make it compelling. That said, the reveal has been in the works for some time and has been foreshadowed plenty of times, so do not say that this comes out of nowhere. When I was initially planning this story out, Fiona and Scourge were meant to be a Bonnie-and-Clyde style villain team-up, but there still wouldn't have been a sniff of Scourge x Fiona shipping involved. The subplot with Amy's and Fiona's past, however, was in the works the whole time, it just would've been a matter of time until Scourge turned on Fiona. You might recall that I tabbed the singer Halsey as Fiona's dream VA and alluded to why after Fiona debuted. I said there would be a song title involved. Now look at this chapter's title. It's a direct reference to the Halsey song of the same name, especially its second verse. Now why did I add in the tidbit of Fiona being a lesbian? I have no really good answer other than I felt it added another layer to Amy's and Fiona's relationship. All I can say is I thought it to be the next step with Fiona and Amy being childhood best friends. You could also completely strip away the love angle so it's just a pair of former friends finally reconnecting with one still having strong feelings for the other without any of the lesbianism and still have the same effect in my eyes (even if one doesn't even know that the other had those feelings at the entire time). Just like the fact that the mayor at the end of SP1 was gay (which was a throwaway line/detail that I added on a whim), it doesn't take away that Fiona still felt she was close to Amy despite their bad split. If you like it, great! If you don't care for it, oh well. You can insert a shrug emoji here if you like.
Anyway, that's enough about Fiona. Let's talk about our resident Rascal. If you think that Amy was just going to forgive Fiona for having the Destrctix try to kill Tails only for her to suddenly forgive the vixen despite Fiona's reasoning and apologies, then no. That'd be a huge stretch and straight-up bad writing. It wouldn't make any sense if you sat down and thought about it. It's already a stretch implying Amy could partially forgive her at all. That said, forgiveness is always possible, it's just sometimes extremely difficult to do. Amy and Fiona would have a long road ahead of them to rebuild that bridge, but hey, at least there's hope if you're into that kind of thing.
Next up, we'll be getting back to Scourge. There's still one twist waiting out there. Some of you can guess what it might be, but when will it get resolved? Next chapter? The last chapter? Never? Okay, maybe not that last one since I outright admitted it. But that can wait another day.
I'll hopefully have the next update out around two weeks which isn't going to easy since I have homecoming responsibilities with my alma mater coming up, but it's very doable. Before I leave you today, I want to thank jurassicdinodrew for leaving a review since the last update. Thanks again!
As always, the characters used in this story are the property of SEGA, Sonic Team, and Archie Comics. Everything in the story is being used strictly for entertainment purposes. And as always, I will talk to y'all later.