The sun beat down on Twinkle Park the next day, but a curious duo were not bothered as they walked among the colorful decorations and loud music. Both sapients seemed mildly uncomfortable for different reasons, but neither was willing to break the silence and cause an issue. Rouge the Bat had invited Sonic on a day-trip to the park for a bit of R&R.
Her nerves were eating her alive. Rouge walked next to the blue hedgehog, aware of him and his attempts to keep her comfortable by giving her a bit of space. However, true to her desire of proving she was past Scourge, Rouge stayed close to the hedgehog as they wandered through Twinkle Park. Sonic was trying his hardest to avoid habits or behaviors that could remind his companion of Scourge, but that left him looking -from Rouge's perspective- like he was stiff and fake. Like he was trying to be someone else. After about an hour of playing booth games like darts or ring-toss, Rouge finally put her foot down.
``Stop that.''
``Er, what?'' he looked at her, green eyes reserved but friendly, ``Stop what?''
The bat took a deep breath, ``Stop focusing on me. You're trying so hard not to upset me that you're almost as boring as Shadow.''
``H-hey!'' Sonic placed a hand on his chest, pretending to be deeply hurt by the comparison, ``I am nothing like Stripes.'' It took everything for Rouge not to flinch at the nickname, and she didn't miss the flash of guilt in the hero's eyes when he saw right through her. ``Sorry. Habit, I guess.''
``No. Don't be sorry. I need to get over it. You are not Scourge and you don't deserve me avoiding you, or acting like you've hurt me. You haven't. I'm fine.'' The bat held up both hands as if to pacify the situation before looking around. They were in the extensive section of Twinkle Park reserved for food and drinks. ``Want to get lunch?'' the question was followed by a short but awkward silence as Sonic seemed to be caught between talking with her or getting lunch. After a few moments, he sighed and gave in.
``Sure, pick something, I'll pay.'' Sonic offered, digging his wallet out of his quills and counting the bills inside. Rouge, despite the confrontation a moment ago, felt like laughing. Even though he was saving the world on a monthly basis, the teen was practically broke. Rouge was able to count forty-two dollars in his wallet. In Twinkle Park, that was enough to buy two burgers, but not drinks or sides to go with them. Sonic cringed slightly when he reached the same count, and smiled at Rouge guiltily, ``Small lunch?''
``Nah, I'll pay.'' she grinned back, patting his shoulder before retrieving her own wallet. Between working for GUN and jewel heists, she was decently wealthy.
Decent as in she could afford a private jet, but details weren't important.
``Besides,'' Rouge hip-checked the hero, ``Guys only have to pay when it's a date, and we're just here as friends.''
``M'kay, your choice.'' Sonic smiled good-naturedly as he put his wallet back in his quills for safe-keeping. After browsing the available stalls, they settled on some chili fries for Sonic and a salad for Rouge. They sat at a table near a roller coaster, watching it go up and down with it's excited captives.
Rouge tried to keep herself relaxed, and was pleased with how the day was going. So far, she'd confronted her fear and had made amends with Sonic. They were almost completely comfortable with each other again.
And that's when she saw it. A flicker of toxic green fur in her peripheral vision. Rouge couldn't help but snap her head that direction, scanning the colorful crowd for the hedgehog she was so afraid of still. Vaguely the thief heard Sonic say something, but it was unheard by her focused ears. The growing sense of panic began to overwhelm her, drowning her as she searched the mass of vacationers again and again, terrified that the vile man was getting closer and closer and she still couldn't see him-!
A hand landed on her own, and a smooth voice sounded nearby. The bat turned her head to face it, freezing as she saw the face of Scourge. Rouge jumped out of her chair hard enough that it fell to the ground with a clatter, chest heaving as she began to lose sense of what was going on.
Where did Scourge go? The only one near her was a very concerned Sonic, who was still speaking, but she couldn't hear a thing.
``I-I'm going ho-ome.'' she managed, too scared to think about staying in an area that Scourge could be in. When Sonic reached out towards her, she jerked away again, ``D-Don't touch me-!''
``W-wait! Rouge please! I'm sorry I scared you!'' His calls were lost in the air as she flew away, abandoning him in a wide-eyed crowd that stared at him, ``Oh come on.'' the last bit was to himself as the hero began to mutter a long list of curses aimed towards himself, Scourge, and females in general.
-x-x-
Beeep! Beeep! Beeep! The sound of his phone vibrating finally irritated Shadow enough to get his attention, pulling him away from his book. It had been buzzing nonstop since he'd gotten home, and had really wanted to spend the rest of the day catching up on some reading. He lifted his phone with a frown, wondering who'd interrupted him right as the book reached the climax.
It was Rouge, funnily enough. Last time they'd met she had practically told him to go away and stop hanging around like a bad memory. Now she seemed upset, judging by the fact that she'd called him three times in a row. The GUN soldier finally answered the call, holding it to his ear.
``Hello?''
``Shadow? Oh thank goodness.'' There was a soft sniffle from the other side of the phone, ``I've been trying to reach you for the past half hour, why didn't you pick up?''
Knowing that if he told her that he'd ignored the calls in favor of reading a fictional trilogy book about monsters she'd skin him alive, he chose to lie: ``I was caught up in another call. What do you need?''
``Can...'' she began, voice breaking into quiet sobs, ``Can you c-come over? I made a m-mistake. I think I h-hurt S-Sonic too.'' Shadow's ears perked at the confession, now he was both intrigued and concerned.
Not wanting to play the twenty-questions game over the phone, he simply stated: ``I'm on my way.''
