➦                               ❛ - you promise. - ❜

              the phrase hovers in the air, dense & chilling as eye bore into his own. ( YES, he had once wronged her but again -—- she couldn’t blame him. he wasn’t HIM ; from what she could tell, dash here is just another variarion of the true blue who had left her to wilt. again, she was villifying the wrong guy, & in her wake had reopened some deeply set wounds. ) her grit jaw finally relaxes as a breath spills out in forelorn distaste for her actions, grip revering & hastening to fold back hair from her face. one hand remains intact with his while the previously forearm man-handler just shifts about by her cheek.

                               ❛ - … i REALLY gotta learn t’ stop weighin’ my problems onto folks undeservin’ ‘a hate. sorry, sonic. - ❜ that handhold gives a tiny squish of her reaffirming tenderness, just a simple affectionate tick she’s held onto all these years. ❛ - you’ve got hauntin’ written on your face ; y’er seein’ ghosts as bad as i am over here. huh. tell ya what, - ❜ fiona STARTS, stepping to his side & giving him a somewhat compassionate & empathetic hip bump. ❛ - i’ll carry my own, you carry yours. i don’t need a hero t’ beat my demons, but i could use some moral support if you’ll at least cheer me on. same goin’ ‘round for you, blue. you EVER need a crutch t’ face your darkest days, y’er old flame’s here t’ catch ya, ‘kay? - ❜

              oh RIGHT. he still hasn’t figured that out yet, has he? the dark-clad figure hesitates & sheepishly tries to rescind from holding his hand, painted claws hovering on stand-by inches from holding his palm again. ❛ - dunno whether this… applied t’ you too but -—- where I’M from, we… used t’ date. - ❜ as long as dash hasn’t tried to close the gap between their hold again, fiona’s lingering comes to a pass as her hand moves to brace her opposing upper arm, cheek turned to press against her shoulder to face her shame away from the humbling hero.

                               ❛ - in the end, i felt mistreated & backstabbed the sonic i knew… after that i just. WENT MY OWN WAY ; in the end, i wound up in the NO ZONE & it only tumbled downhill from there. nothing but scum stemmed from me betraying you. - ❜ no, that wasn’t right. she winces,  ❛ - well— the version i knew, at least. - ❜ seems like there was no happy ending for either party, & while maybe that was a circulating familiarity they could bond over, it was still a slap in the face.

              ( word of advice? TRY NOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE HER ODE TO CRYING. )

          In a way, this was a bit of an eye-opener for him. A reminder of who he is. Sure, it wasn’t the best way to go about it. It also wasn’t the most healthy, either. And it sure as hell wasn’t the most direct or clear method. For as shattered as his memories are, scattered in bits and pieces he’s still trying to find and fully piece together to this day, he finds some solace in finding someone who remembers him -- or at least, another version of him, even if that person may have backstabbed that other version of him.

“ Y’know, I’m pretty used to being that crutch for people. Can’t say I’m used to having the favor returned, though. “ Was he thankful that the offer she had made goes both ways? Sure. More than thankful, even - he’s pleased and wouldn’t want it any other way. Kind of like the  brotherhood he forged with Tails and the friendly rivalry/friendship he keeps with Knuckles, all he really wants is some reassurance that his efforts don’t only benefit the other party, but him too. Was it selfish to want to feel owed to? Maybe. But, in the end, he’s a free spirit and doesn’t expect repayment either way. He does what he wants because he wants to.

          Heh. He could use a slap in the face, after that brief episode.

          To think that, in another timeline, that other version of him dated her. It almost makes him feel guilty that he can’t place a face to that memory, or a memory to that face. The only girl he’s ever known to fawn over him endlessly was Amy, but even that was something he could remember. Surely he could remember another person, right?

“ Alright, then, ya’ got me. Better to be a friendly face than one you wanna hate, yeah? “ Hopefully, he thought, it’d stay that way, and wouldn’t boil down to backstabbing all over again... or worse.

          The last thing he wants from her is to fall victim to Neo, just like he did.

➦              his hands are warm, like tender kisses that embrace her cold outer shell. lava courses through her veins as fiona tries to steady her head, her grasp moving to hold onto him -—- before realizing she’s practically in his arms. another surge, less likely than the other cripples her knees as though someone kicked her achilles in harshly. claws dig for traction as she fumbles a step forward & plays into his frame for weight support. with her world spinning, he was her rock ; ( her world? ) no… not again. hands flinch to try & recede from him yet never move from their spot. breath crumbles from her defensive cave-in, the vixen straightening up enough so ears brush by dash’s own, a sensitive spine chill running deep as fiona tries to face him. face SONIC.

❛ - n— nn’h, i can’t… but. but i don’t know!-—- - ❜  the fox bites back the sting of tears in eyes, especially since toxicity has always tainted her perspective. as she bears her fangs, her gnarled row of pure canines reveal how she’s changed since she once was as a hero, though in her brittle movement to jerk her head back ultimately flashes that key memorabilia tying her to sonic’s past. THAT RIBBON. soft as a sunflower, exquisitely taut like a butterfly’s kiss ; fiona fox, his fiery ferocity who once stole his heart. eyes turn from threatened to threatening, brows furrowing like she’s been boiling on a back-burner.

              jaws bark open in a panic.  ❛ - HOW DO I KNOW YOU AREN’T GONNA LEAVE ME AGAIN, HUH?? - ❜  it’s too much at once, her overstimulant mind canvased in clouds & rippling thunder. the vixen falls into a bodily paralysis that weighs her into sonic’s hold again, even if she leans back in a futile attempt to fight her own instincts. her feelings. phantom pains come crawling from the depths, wrung tight like metal hooks into her wrists. horrors from her memory tugging her limbs closer to the hedgehog as though he were the man behind fi’s problems. her ptsd was twisting reality, another episode she had to wage on her own.

                               ❛ - y— YOU’LL LEAVE ME AGAIN, IN JAIL ; LIKE THEY DID. - ❜  ( her family, she means. )

          Ouch, ouch, that pinching feeling of her claws digging into his arms wasn’t comfy in the slightest, but despite his visible wincing he doesn’t bring it up. Somehow, he’s become mostly numb to the pain. So used to being held onto, so used to being clutched like he was another’s lifeline. How many times has he gone down this road so far? He lost count after the hundredth time.

          The more he thinks about it, the worst his headache gets. The more the world spins. The more he tries desperately to cling onto something, anything to keep him grounded. Calm, Dash, calm. You know who you are. You know where you are. You don’t need to lose yourself here of all places, in front of someone you should obviously know, yet..! The memory refuses to surface for him. All he knows is that she’s clutching him and he’s clutching her and she doesn’t want to let go and he doesn’t want her to fall. 

          It wasn’t until that clutching for dear life turned into the urge to strangle him did it occur to him that, in some way or another, despite having no memory of her, he had wronged her, and abandoned her. Gone against his own moral code in some way. Is he really the hero he wants to be? Or is he just DASH, a fool who RUNS AWAY FROM EVERYTHING to escape his doomed fate? 

“ I--... “

          Will he abandon her? Will he abandon everyone? Words echo in his mind like the chorus of a choir. Will he let everyone down, a second time?

          Will be be the eventual downfall of everyone, just because he’s too weak to hold that mantle all by himself? The weight of the world is a heavy one indeed- as much as he tries to pretend he can carry it, it only weighs him down further, further, further, until his legs feel as though they trudge through mud and not grass.

“ I guess I’ve always been bad with promises, huh? “ He speaks, but it’s not directed at her-- it’s directed more at himself. Obvious frustration boiling in his core. “ I wanna say I won’t... but... “

          How do I know I won’t fail everyone again?

➦              it all happens so fast.

❛ - hold on, quiver - quills.  - ❜  just as dash takes his pivotal step, fiona grabs on with a FIRM HAND, something needed in a time like this. she knew what he was falling into, that habit she’s seen scourge through many times akin before. her previously stone-cold expression mediates to a softer one, mirrored consistencies from sonic to opposite already helping make things a little easier on the scarlet fox to handle this. her hand hesitates before moving to slide down his arm & take his hand in hers. ( perhaps a little too intimate, but it gives him a chance to know her hostility’s been neutralized. )  ❛ - … - ❜  her breath lingers, throat tight as the words try to escape.  ❛ - LOOK ; it’s never easy t’ be the hero, i get that. my guess is y’ don’t know much from how rich my hist’ry is with you, but i -—- i can’t pin what i went through onto YOU if you didn’t even play that part. - ❜

              no, that’d be petty… which she IS, but we won’t play into that right now.  ❛ - there’s one thing i can recognize, right here & now, dulling those emerald eyes :  you wanna run. MORE THAN USUAL, you wanna run away. - ❜  emotions repress themselves as the vixen feels venom surge in her bones, fingers griping down with claws itching in a twitch against the blur’s glove in its hold.  ❛ - i get this is awkward & you don’t want this attention right now. i dunno what t’ do either, so… don’ just ABANDON ME when i’m -—-! - ❜

❛ - … counting… on you. - ❜  WHY. why did she have to go SOFT. now, of all times! nerves get shot instantly, like she’s seen a phantom of trauma. knees give out without pause — & whether he’s there to catch her or not — fiona’s going down. depending on how hard she hits, she’s dazed with immense pain digging deep into the space behind her eyes, building pressure she’s fought against for years. ( it hurts. )

                               ❛ - -—- sonic… - ❜

          Oh, c’mon! He had it mapped out and everything! Distract her with a maybe, and make a dash for it! It never failed him before, so why here? Why now? And why is it that she was able to see through him enough to realize he was about to run? And why is it she was... holding onto him like that?

          Why did this touch seem so... familiar to him, somehow? He can’t place it, but it’s like he’s felt this before. A phantom of a past he had ended up forgetting. Another faded memory that only vaguely replayed itself in his dreams, lost in a chasm of his own mind. For once, his usual hardened and normally cocky demeanor begins to fizzle, especially when he notices that she has dipped from her cockiness and... retreated into herself, it looks like. The way she spoke, the way she regarded him really was not unlike someone who wanted to beg for help.

          The way she held his arm, the way she pleaded with him not to run or abandon her, when...

          She’s... counting on him.

          ... He’s heard that plenty of times before, too. ‘We’re counting on you, Sonic. We’re depending on you, Sonic. The world is in your hands, Sonic. Sonic, Sonic, Sonic.... It was a neverending web of responsibilities for him, wasn’t it? He feels like his heart had grown cold, and the blood had stopped rushing through his body. He manages to hide it, but he also becomes dizzy. The world spins around him, and for a moment, that person in front of him, Fi, Fiona, or whatever she wants to be called -- she looks like someone else, for just a second. He shocks him, puts him in a brief, almost hypnotic stupor.. Which he only breaks away from when he notices that she’s beginning to fall, and instinctually, he moves forward to catch her, and hold her up.

“ W--woah, easy now. “ Gods, what’s gotten into him? This isn’t characteristic of him, yet... it almost feels natural, to want to run away from everything.

➦                                ❛ - OH ho ho, this’ll be fun. - ❜               bitter resentment since the day sonic accidentally left her imprisoned was something fiona was still hung up on. the fact he held onto her past as a possible virtue of her changing was granted but a low blow. small things he did as a means to try & break down the walls she used as a defense made her skin crawl as though it had never been her own. they held a similar hate for robotnik, especially since she once was his slave, but FIONA FOX could never forgive sonic for giving her hope. ( hope was only meant to be crushed by a bigger dog anyways. )

              her snout juts out just a touch as the female turns her nose up, if only vaguely towards sonic. it’s only due to a desperate lack of height on him & her own need to stare down at him. regardless, there’s a tension in her eyes -—- & it’s less aggressive than it once was. maybe it was her years with scourge or the lone fact she had so much time in prison to think over her actions, but there remained a possibility that deep down remained a shred of compassion for that speedster somewhere in her body. claws drum against her upper arm as the vulpine narrows her gaze, daring to speak out of line once again.

                               ❛ - ain’t no phones in PRISON, doll. ‘fraid you’ll have t’uh rely on your ol’ girl FI for any hints here. - ❜

& why was she so smitten with reminding him of what once was. after all, fiona never hung onto the past. so why him?

          And -- much like her -- Sonic -- Dash as he’s happened to call himself, thanks to the multiverse introducing so many more versions of himself -- isn’t one to hang onto the past. For him, the only way forward, is forward. The only way to improve is to stop looking back and only look ahead. There were plenty of philosophies that ran through the hedgehog’s mind on a daily basis, some of them conjured up on a whim to make him seem smarter, and some, more innate traits that defines him as an individual. All in all, he’s a free spirit. Being bound to anything just isn’t in his dictionary.

          So of course, he’s forced to play this game -- a game of cat and mouse with someone who obviously knows him, yet, there are only shreds of vague memories that he could only hope to remember -- fragments of a past that have yet to be fully deciphered. What is he, to her? An enemy? A friend? A frienemy? Or worse? .... Or better?

          Questions upon questions. Vague answers layered upon obscurity. From what he could tell, being direct wouldn’t work here-- so he’ll just stick to his gut and do what he always does. Think in the moment.

“ No worries. Just wait right there for a moment. I’ll be riiiight back. “

          That. Was a lie.

Jae kind of just. Awkwardly makes eye contact. Awkwardly points at herself. Hi.

Slooooooowly slides her a taser.

You know.

      peace or war?   sun or stars?   flowers or trees?   crescent moon or full moon?   streets or skyscrapers?   rooftops or balconies?   ink or glitter?   life or death?   order or chaos?   candle or bonfire?   ocean or sky?   leather or silk?   sweet or sour?   overstimulation or understimulation?   book or letter?   soft or coarse?   fight or flight?   spoken or written?   silver or gold?   playing cards or tarot cards?   circles or angles?   cramped or vast?   checkers or chess?

tagged by: @theislandkeeper​

➦              ‘any better’ he says. ( the gall of his oaf! ) fiona snorts as sonic seems to haphazardly blow her off, those arms of the vixen’s folding under bust. it was a disgrace on her behalf to dump him the way she did, but in her eyes it was HE who strung her along with these false proclamations of LOVE. not one day at his side did she feel his connection, or rather she did but lost sight of his own soon after. there’s a courtesy laugh airs to the lone fact he’s quipped.

❛ - sharp & RADIANT as ever, blue. almost makes a girl miss the good ol’ days ; s’a shame y’ can’t hear it from over here, i’m pining already. - ❜  does she miss their days of rough-housing & kicking butt as a duo? ABSOLUTELY. would she go back on herself & try to make up for the past? TOUGH LUCK.  ❛ - do me a solid ; name one kid you haven’t put in peril from being that idol. - ❜

          Oh come on. She’s really going to pull out the ‘how many kids has he endangered’ card? How about a subtle, mental counterpoint; how many times has he risked his life just to make sure that dumb egghead wouldn’t turn everything into a metallic paradise? If his previous experiences have told him anything, it’s that he more often than not puts himself through these situations and it’s the others that decide to join him.

          The thing is, he knows she’s not wrong. He knows he’s endangered Tails plenty of times, but he’s turned out alright. Heck, he’d argue he’s better off with him than on his own. But....

“ I’d like ta’ phone a friend. “

“…”

“Oooooh, now I get it! Vector’s weird senses are strong, it’s scary.  I must have mixed that up with something else. My bad. ‘Cause I totally couldn’t have done that.” 

“….Really? Ya don’t remember the boom accident?”