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Locked Topic
The Show Must Go On
Topic Started: May 28 2012, 06:48 PM (65 Views)
Fran
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Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop May 31 2011, 05:07 PM
((OOC: This thread takes place in the No-zone, 7 months after the events of http://z10.invisionfree.com/the_Return_to_Mobius/index.php?showtopic=712))


The water rippled in the paper-cup, aquamarine eyes following the little wave and the tiny drops until it settled down in a perfect crystalline surface. There was a click, and the machine released the cup, a blue gloved hand catching it quickly, the plastic crackling softly in the slightly too firm grip, while the other hand fished in one of the shelters of the yellow belt, swift fingers picking up a small capsule in a gesture repeated a million of times.

Well…what felt like a million of times anyway.

Behind him, the Control Room was pure chaos, the voices of his colleagues mixing with the ones coming from several active screens, monitors blazing of colors or turning black in seconds. Sky blue furred ears fanned back and forth a couple of times at some words, before stubbornly gluing themselves flat against the skull, the sounds dulling, turning in a muffled background noise longing in the back of his brain like fog on the sea.

He couldn’t come back in: he’d stayed almost four hours after the end of his turn already…if the Lieutenant found out, he was personally going to kick his ass out of the Belt.

But he couldn’t leave yet. Not without Zector. The crocodile’s turn ended later at night, but wait had never been a problem for Zonic: go away sooner but alone meant having to walk all the way from the landing docks to the district, and he was already too tired for that. As always, his room-mate was going to bitch about ‘not being a taxi driver’, and ‘how Zonic should get a driving license already’, but in the end he’d managed to get the lift, and the quick silent trip laying on the back-seat of the hover-car , already half-asleep for the sedative, was totally worth the bother of the scold and the risk of the Lieutenant nabbing him still around.

Slowly opening his hand, Zonic looked down at the pill on his palm, plastic-looking and intact, hesitating. Like almost all medicines, on the long run had caused his stomach to become sensible. Taking it now meant turning his guts into a little burning hell, and skip the already late dinner. It wouldn’t have been that big of a problem if he hadn’t skipped lunch already.

But not taking it meant not sleeping: without the heavy chains of the drug keeping it down, and with nothing to do, his mind would have started running free…towards disaster. Years of cobwebs were ready to trap it into doubts and questions and unresolved matters…and even when for some reason it managed to dodge them, and pointed straight for the bright land of daydreams and wishes outside the window, there was still that last barrier, invisible until it was too late…

The glass.

He’d slammed against it so many times it probably had started crackling. But the point was…it was unbreakable. So why even bother dreaming any more? All he got from that was getting hurt by the splinters.

The pill slipped in the water, and he quickly gulped down both, and kept gulping down for a little while, waiting for the annoying feeling in his throat to vanish, while already feeling a warm sensation spreading from the start of the stomach. Screw dinner. Sleeping was more important! He needed to sleep to function properly, to be able to keep going and do his work without collapsing on the desk, that would have been terribly stupid and irresponsible of him. Work was more important! His stupid little problems were nothing compared to what happened around in the Multiverse every day.

Until he could work, everything would have been okay.

The paper-cup was crushed in a little ball of plastic, before being tossed over his shoulder towards the bin with a playful no-look shot…
But the dull ‘thud’ coming from behind his back was not exactly the sound he’d expected…and just since when the bin …growled?

_ Agent. Zonic…_ the boxer dog’s low voice rose breaking the veil of fog in his brain and making his ears snap back up straight as his back, the hedgehog spinning on himself quickly and looking up at the towering figure in dark uniform. The lieutenant little brown eye looked down at the cup on the floor for a second before fixing on him between the wrinkles of a frown, the black glassy eye-enhancer covering the other shining in a sinister way.

-Yes, sir?- the young zonecop answered briskly in his more diligent, angelic, clueless tone.

Sadly, it was a tone that Zebedee knew too well, and to his flopped ears sounded nothing but annoyingly smarmy… -…don’t ‘yes-sir’ me, kid. It’s almost evening shift. What are you doing still here?- he growled deeply, showing a canine in a grimace.
The effect was immediate, the little hedgehog dropping the mask and the ears in a submissive way, his voice hushing shyly.

-Just w-waiting for Agent Zector to go back to the living quarters, sir-
The dog pondered: he knew that habit of them, but still raised an eyebrow, not really convinced. –And why are you waiting him here?-

The surprise and confusion on the kid’s muzzle this time seemed genuine, making the frown on the older dog’s falter a bit: with a grunt, he tapped an hand on the tiny hedgehog shoulder, the other pointing at the large window: several hundred meters below, the surface of the planet shone of thousands artificial lights like a reversed sky, the contrast with the dark night shaping buildings and streets, the bright trails of the hovering vehicles and of the ships flaring the highways like shooting stars. But the thing the Lieutenant was pointing at was like a black hole in the regular pattern of lights, a towering, obscure presence that sent a little shiver of uneasiness in Zonic’s guts.

-He’s on duty down at Prison Four today… - the dog explained, looking down at the hedgehog to study his reaction: aqua green eyes went wide before narrowing, the ears starting twitching nervously…again the lieutenant rose an eyebrow, this time in slight surprise, the frown disappearing.

-He did not tell you?-

**********************
Stupid. Crocodile.

A really angry sky blue hedgehog in black uniform tapped his foot on the floor of the little cabin, impatiently waiting for the elevator to bring him down, level after level, down down into that damned prison, level 100, authorization ‘fake 05’, also known as ‘shut the fuck up and bring me down, stupid A.I’. Know a little of hacking was not a crime in the No-zone, it was…basic survival, really.

There was no reason to go get the crocodile there actually, he could have waited outside the building and avoided eventual troubles, but he just…had to.
Why not telling? What did he think, that he was scared of the Well for real, now? It was humiliating enough already that he hadn’t been assigned duty there anymore after the…accident. Not that he blamed his higher-ups for that. They got all the rights to not trust him any more.

But…Zec? Seriously? Did he think of him so lowly? Did he really think he was that weak?

Fine. He’d showed him!

He got no problems with the Well, no problems at all! It was just a place. With a stupid name, too.

And then why he was so on edge?

The door of the elevator opened with a ding, the hedgehog boosting out at max speed, the dark corridors passing in a messy blur, too fast for him to be able to remember himself that were exactly seven months that he did not put his foot under there...but he wasn’t on edge. He was just angry. And overreacting like a drama queen, probably, because of tiredness and hunger. He just hoped the sedative started making effect soon, because being so twitchy just wasn’t good for the health, his already burning stomach now getting the nice company of a bile attack too…a last turn and he pushed the breaks down, slipping past the door of that level’s inner surveillance room of a couple of feet in the process, the hedgehog stopping and turning on his heels in a single movement, angrily walking back to the large door spitting a

-Zec, you better have just forgot about telling me you were here because otherwise, I’m gonna spindash your ugly butt all the way back to the surface!-

Yes. Definetly not good for the health. If the crocodile was in a bad mood he was going to repent every single letter…

But instead of the ‘yeah you wish’ or ‘try that tiny-copper’ he was expecting, from inside came just…silence. The room was empty, the monitors off.

Anger popped like a soap bubble inside his chest, vanishing, his now confused eyes wandering on the line of empty watching stations, understanding finally clicking in as he spotted the hour on a console.

Oh, right. It was dinner time for the prisoners too…Zec was probably helping the others with the delivering down at the Confinement Rooms. Typical turn-shift logic: the more went down the faster the delivering was, the sooner everybody could leave. Letting a little sigh, Zonic leaned against the frame of the door, crossing his arms. So…unprofessional. But whatever. At this point, he’d just waited here…
Just that…time stretched in that empty space, the numbers on the clock seeming frozen, the sedative still not effecting him yet, but already making his perception…strange. His mind was starting feeling the weight of the hundred of levels over him, slowly slipping on dangerous slopes, following the trail of memories lower and lower along the levels, going straight for the biggest, stickiest, nastier cobweb of all…

Darting a nervous look over his shoulder at the console, Zonic felt the dark monitor attracting his thoughts like a black hole.

Seven months. Did he really want to know?
Aqua green eyes hardened, freezing.
Yes.
Having the guts to turn that screen on and look would have been just the perfect proof right? The proof he was strong enough, that he was okay and had moved on. He had come till there already after all, it was just another little step…and he’d ripped that cobweb once and for all.

Determination in his eyes but so tensed to be almost unable to catch his breath, the young zonecop approached the nearest console, slipped on the oversized seat and clicked the monitors on again with quick expert moves, tapping the numbers in: level 120, Confinement Block 3, prisoner…S-649. He batted away any hesitation, punching in the last key without giving himself the time to come back. Whatever was going to appear on that screen, it couldn’t be worse of…it couldn’t be worse of what he had imagined already, right?. He could make it.

The screen flickered, but the image was so dark that for a second seemed like it had not activated at all. But even before his eyes could adapt to the low light, his sensitive ears had already picked up the slow, moaning soft tune coming from the shadow.

Zonic felt little shivers in his guts as at each creepy note more and more details slowly stood out the dark: the littered and dirty floor, the battered bed, missing several pieces, overturned and wedged against the door…and finally, in the furthest, darkest corner, the source of the sound.

649. Sitting with his knees draw up to his chest, rocking a bit from time to time, eyes fixed in the void and hands desperately clinging to a metallic bar stolen from the bed, singing softly to himself…

Zonic’s ears went flat down against his skull, and the young zonecop shrinked from the screen, curling in the chair, hiding his muzzle behind his knees.

He’d been wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Stay alone in the dark, waiting for the end… for seven months…?
No, he could not even start to imagine how it had to feel…but hey look, he did not need to imagine anymore! It was just in front of his eyes: that was how it felt. That was how the wait reduced you...

And it had been just all his f…

Clenching his teeth and hugging his knees Zonic tried to stop that thought, to shield himself from the guilt, to hold on tight to all the determination he had felt before and to not give up to the panic of realizing how terribly empty and fake it had been… but his heart was fluttering like a crazy flutterby already, insensible to all the pathetic lies he’d made himself believe in.

The cobweb hadn't broken, it was stronger than ever. And no matter how much he struggled against it...now he could not stop watching.

Posted by: Scourge Jun 2 2011, 05:48 PM
Time slipped by like water from a dripping tap, spilling endlessly into a void of nothing. Drip drip drip. Seconds, minutes, hours, days. It was becoming increasingly hard to tell one from the other. They blurred and warped, days passing in flashes, minutes stretching like years.

The only constant was the arrival of the daily meal. The only point of contact the brief conversation with the guard who brought it. Scourge couldn’t ever make himself eat much, no matter how often he told himself he needed to keep up his strength. But he scratched a tally mark on the wall for each meal. The small crooked lines bunched together to form a nondescript shape. On bad days it looked like a face. On very bad days he thought it was laughing at him.

Sometimes he spent hours yelling profanities just so someone would come down and tell him to shut up. Other times he slept the hours away, but the escape his dreams could have provided was tainted by the threat of sleeping forever. He’d snap awake, panicked that he’d missed a day (for he felt that something awful would occur if he did), and then he count his tally marks again, and again and one more time.

Some nights his dreams turned traitor and the time he spent in their grip made the dull endless darkness of the waking hours feel like a blessing. He’d wake in a cold sweat, choking on screams while the images that followed him from his nightmares crawled in the shadows. Always just out of sight except from the very corner of his eye. The longer he spent in the Well, the more his good dreams bled away, pretty soon the nightmares would be all he had left.

Then there was that soft, seductive little voice that crept up every now and then. Telling him he deserved to rot down here. Telling him there was no hope, no chance. Telling him that he might as well just give in. At first, when he’d still had his rage to use as strength, it had been easy to ignore that voice. But as the months slipped by fury slowly began to fade into apathy, and it got harder. After all, the voice was right, there was no hope. He could feel madness stalking him and holding on to his sanity seemed like a huge battle that brought no reward for the victory. Just misery, and more misery.

Fact was though, he was simply too stubborn to let go. He wasn’t stupid, he knew he was slowly cracking. Paranoia had a pretty strong grip on him, and delusion was only two steps behind. Or maybe it was already here. Sometimes he saw thing that weren’t there, things that refused to vanish when he closed his eyes and counted to ten. But he wasn’t a drooling basket case. Not yet.

Not yet.

So he hung on grimly, reminding himself over and over that there was a world beyond these four walls. A world he’d get back to someday, somehow.

On bad days it was hard to believe it.

Today was a bad day.

His tally marks told him that it was day two hundred and thirteen and somehow that number felt like a terrible omen. He’d woken with panic clawing at his insides, his heart pounding a million miles an hour and his stomach crushed up with nerves. Something was going to happen today, somehow he was sure of it. A little more thought on the subject and he became obsessed with the idea that today was the day.

And so he’d overturned his bed and wedged the frame against the door, arming himself with one of the metal slats he’d managed to yank free. Now he sat in the furthest darkest corner, his knees drawn up to his chest, his makeshift weapon clutched so tightly that his fingers were numb. In his other hand he held a tarnished yellow ribbon, twisting the material around his fingers as he rocked unconsciously back and forth.

Go down fighting. That was his plan. He wouldn’t just sit by and let them do it.

“We will fight, or we will fall” he sang softly into the dark not noticing that the melody of the song had long since twisted away from him. His were eyes fixed on blockaded door. “Til the angels save us all...”

A sound from the hallway outside. Footsteps, but no accompanying squeak of the trolley wheels that meant it was dinner time. Scourge froze, the lyrics he’d been struggling to remember dying on his lips. Fear seemed to crush his heart with its icy hand. Then his eyes narrowed and he stood, his back pressed against the wall, the piece of metal brandished in one hand.

The footsteps grew louder.

And louder.

And faded.

Whoever it was had passed on by, in a few moments he could hear nothing at all, save the pound of his heart and the rasp of his breath. Scourge slid back down the wall, the coiling mass of snakes that were his guts threatening to force their way up his throat. He retched, then put his head in his hands, the faint scent of jasmine that clung to the ribbon giving a tiny shred of comfort. “It’s okay,” he whispered as he once more began to rock. Back and forth, back and forth. “It’s all gonna be okay.”

Posted by: The NPC Account Jun 7 2011, 07:40 PM
ZONECOP ZECTOR

-See ya up, Ziggy…-
-Later Zec…-
The elevator’s door opened with a ping.

Finally! Almost done. Just one cell left, and then, rest, well deserved rest.

Nha, not for this crocodile; Zector cared little for lack of sleep: after a full-day, all he wanted was to claw back the hours wasted watching nothing happening in that place, so boring that it did not even manage to be creepy anymore.

It wasn’t easy have a life when you were a Zonecop, but Zector was not your average Agent.

He had planned everything: Zee’s turn had ended in the afternoon, so probably the little one was already back at the living quarters, and sleeping. So, once out of there, it was a straight flight to the center of the planet for him, right to the Night Zone of Anthro City, and thanks to the new codes ‘Spi had provided him, the A.I. could put her precious curfew into that place. Plus, since his room-mate had started taking those sedatives, Zector did not even have to be careful not to make too much noise when coming back after a clandestine night of clubbing: not even a plasma bolt was going to wake that hedgie up.

Oh yeah. All was just…perfect.

But first, that last cell. 649. Zector grunted a bit. Why always him? It wasn’t enough already having to deal with one hedgehog! But the others did not like to go down there. It was a bit unsettling indeed, the guy was clearly loosing it: defiant or apathetic, yelling swearing words or staring at the wall as if you weren’t even there…whatever his reaction, it was more than enough to make the brief delivering a really unpleasant experience for pretty much everyone.

Besides, someone had to go, they couldn’t let the prisoner starve! With his strength, Zector feared nothing, and even if he felt pity for the boy, the rule was that you reap what you sow . And the guy had been an hell of a seeder. Or better: he had sewed hell. And as his old man used to say: the Devil’s best joke is letting the sinners waitl. The crocodile wished they froze him soon, anyway: jokes weren’t funny anymore if they lasted too long, and he was sick and tired of that routine.

Picking up the last ration box from the trolley Zector stepped out of the elevator, heading for the cell. While inserting the code, he felt like a little tingle of warning: he wondered in which mood 649 was today…as the door started opening with a click, the answer was clear, in the form of a…bed just about to fall on him??!

-What the…- the crocodile growled, sending the metallic frame back into the cell and against the wall with one single punch. There was a muffled yelp from inside, like of someone that had just dodged death, and when Zector stepped inside, his sight adapting to the pitch black room, he found himself staring into a pair of huge frightened blue eyes. With his ribbon in one hand and the metallic bar clutched in the other, his quills a mess and his general appearance pretty miserable, the ex-king seemed now more some scared young knight facing a big bad dragon. But it lasted nothing more than a split second, red shades immediately covering those eyes as the hedgehog squared his shoulders and all of a sudden sprinted towards the door…

With a bored huff, Zector gave a quick swing of the tail, the tip whipping the air just in front of the nose of the wanna-be-fleeing prisoner, Scourge stopped with a snarl.

-You still haven’t learnt huh?- the crocodile inquired stepping towards him as the door slide shut behind him, his whole body posture suggesting he was more than ready to repeat the lesson, and make it more clear with a couple of punches, if needed.

Oh, yeah. He knew how to deal with misbehaving hedgehogs…he knew very well.

At that, Scourge waved the bar in front of him like a weapon, his fangs bared and his expression unreadable behind the glasses, but backed away nonetheless, more and more towards the corner, and his voice was shaking when he replied -I have a short memory...-

The crocodile shrugged with a grunt, darting a look at the marked wall, before returning the bed in his correct position with a single hand, the battered frame cranking and giving for a second the impression of being about to collapse and crumple in pieces on the floor. Wedging the bed against the door: that had been a new one! The Balance knew what had passed in the green guy’s mind…

-Here…- he tossed the ration box on the mattress before turning to leave, giving a last look to the hedgehog in the corner, that had completely ignored the food and was trembling of tension, seeming ready to spring and attack every second. Totally paranoid. -…and relax. Is not today…- he added, the reason of the other’s behaviour suddenly clear.

Scourge’s reply was a loud growl, all his aggro released in a - Fuck you. I don’t need your fucking pity! I’ll get outta here and burn this place to the ground! Just you wait… you’re all gonna regret doing this to me…-

Zector rose an eyebrow at the threat: it had been a while since the hedgehog had reacted that way -…of course…of course…- he replied, slowly showing his many many pointy teeth in a sort of patronizing smile, but his tail whipped the air again, in warning.

At the snap, Scourge made a defiant step forward waving his bar, his voice a lot more determinate and his growl almost turned in a sort of grin as he challenged -…you want a piece of me?-

The crocodile rolled his eyes at the show-off, crossing his arms -…hey, that’s my line. But I’m usually surrounded by girls when I say that…sorry, pal…- he ended with a grin.

The teasing did nothing but triggering rage, the hedgehog’s grip on the bar becoming so hard that the arms trembled, the quills ruffling up. The last detail told Zector's expert eye that he was going to attack, the crocodile letting a low hiss of warn:
-Chill out ‘hog…is unhealthy…-

The last word had not even escaped his mouth yet that the bar was fleeing towards his head, tossed at dangerous speed. The crocodile’s amber eyes narrowed, his tail giving a quick wide swing, easily intercepting the piece of metal and sending it back.
Scourge tried to catch it in his hand again, but reflexes failed him, the bar flying through and hitting him right in the face, knocking his shades off on the floor with a loud clack, the boy wincing, but not letting a single sound escape his mouth, not even when a line of blood showed in the point where the metal had opened a cut on his temple.

Zector gave a sigh. –See? Unhealthy…- there was really need for another proof that he was stronger now? Stubborn kid…he never ever gave up huh? Well, his bad. Zector had had enough of playing with him.

-See you tomorrow…- he turned his back at him again, heading for the door. The night was calling, and he had already wasted enough time in that dead place.

-Wait!- the other called, his pitch definitely less cocky now.

-If it starts bleeding too much, push the medical call but- Zector had already started to reply, when he heard sound of steps behind his back, that made him turn with an annoyed grunt, his fist ready… but the gesture was stopped midway, and yellow eyes widened in confusion: Scourge had crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, but instead of attacking was just looking at him with a vaguely empty, insane look, nothing of his previous tough attitude left in his posture or expression, an earnest edge in his voice.

- It's been months, they gotta have a date by now…- he grabbed his arm, not a threat but a plea. -…you gotta tell me, please man, I'm going crazy here…- he asked, something like a sparkle of hope making his eyes more alive.

The crocodile frowned. Well…this was definitely new. And…downright weird too. The sudden change of tune, the pleading, and that cut…in the same exact place…for a second the resemblance between the two twins triggered his sense of protection, and a bit of rage: oh yeah, the boy was going crazy all right! Just what in the Multiverse were those lazy asses of the Council waiting for ?

-They don’t…go rest…- he suggested, his answer dry but the tone low, not harsh.

The sparkle of hope in the other’s eyes faltered, but before it was totally gone he clinged to the crocodile’s arm more, his voice shaking -y-you’re lying, please just tell me…-

Zector narrowed his eyes, freeing the arm easily. Just what the…this was getting ridiculous! -I got no time to waste with lies, kid! When I’ll know I’ll tell you!...- he spat, turning away and shouting a last – Go rest!- before shutting the door behind him.

The metal clicked, and he gave a long sigh.

Jeez…why always him? Zector passed a gloved hand on his long muzzle, trying to wash away the weird feeling and the sudden tiredness. He needed something for his mood now more than ever. Work sucked sometimes, it was life. But when the turn was off, was off. Couldn’t let it spoil his night…hopefully some crowded place full of loud music, pretty girls, friends and alcohol was going to cheer him up after this shit.

And with that he headed straight for the elevators, all his thoughts projected outside, the crocodile impatient to finally leave that darn prison.

Posted by: Scourge Jun 11 2011, 09:57 AM
For a brief moment, Scourge had almost felt like his old self again. Not some pathetic nobody, not a prisoner with a number instead of a name, he was a king. And the King of Moebius didn’t crumple, not under torture, not because of some silence and dark. Someone that could take down an entire planet could handle anything. Solitary was nothing to him, just some alone time. Zector was the one who was nothing, a nobody thug, his height and bulk making up for the fact that his brain was smaller than a pea. Scourge had torn through hundreds of his kind in the past, teaching the crocodile some respect would be child’s play.

Big words. But when it came down to it, he didn’t have the strength left to back them up. The confident bubble in his chest swelled to dizzying proportions and popped, and in its place the numbing emptiness was worse than before. He saw himself as he really was, small, trapped, alone, powerless. Each realisation hit him like a sucker punch to the gut, far more painful than the cut on his head.

He was losing it. It was the waiting, it was sucking away all his vibrancy, dulling him down into something so pathetic, so insignificant that all he was worth was sympathy. Not love, not fear, not respect. Just pity from some idiot who was probably too dumb to even tie his own shoelaces. He couldn’t take any more of this blind waiting. If he had a date, a count down, he could have found the strength to hold it together, he knew it.

But Vector obviously didn’t feel sorry enough for him to cut him some slack, or maybe the crocodile really didn’t know. Either way the conversation was over.

“No! please-” The door slid shut, and it was just him and the shadows. “Please don't leave me alone...” The words crept from him like a traitor, slipping up from deep inside him before he had the presence of mind to shut his mouth. Vector hadn’t heard the plea, but that didn’t matter. Kings didn’t beg.

The shadows around him seemed to thicken, everything was so much starker without the ruby tinted haze his shades provided. Scourge swallowed hard, his ears going back flat against his skull as he glanced around the cell. Reality was trying to sneak away again, the face on the wall was laughing, its leering mouth shaping words. Pitiful. Broken. Weak. Worthless.

“Shut up,” Scourge whispered, but his voice was choked, his throat suddenly painful, eyes burning. He covered his ears, pressing them flat, but the words were in his mind. His vision blurred with unshed tears, and everything around him warped. He was standing on the edge of a precipice, a dark abyss spread beneath his feet as the floor dissolved. “This isn’t real.”

He wasn’t beaten yet. He wouldn’t let go. He couldn’t.

“Damn it!”

Scourge whirled around, his fist slamming into the wall with all the strength be possessed. There was a nasty bone crunching crack, and agony leapt up the length of his arm, turning his vision white for a split second. The pain was real, and it brought a clarity that his battered will alone couldn’t manage. Reality snapped back in full force, the shadowy delusion dissolving, and he was back in his cell, same four walls, same very solid floor.

“Fuck...” he sank to the ground, cradling his obviously broken hand to his chest. There were tears on his cheeks now, but at least he could pretend his eyes were just watering because of the pain. Seemed a pretty high price to pay for a little sanity. Scourge laughed softly as he once more began to rock. Time was running out. “Help me.” He hadn’t meant to say the words aloud, but there they were. Saying them even felt pretty good, as though selling out his own pride was some kind of dirty pleasure. He laughed again, a hollow broken sound, and said it again, a little louder this time. “Somebody please, help me.”

((OOC - weird post is weird! XD))

Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop Jun 16 2011, 12:13 AM
The images kept flashing in front of him, and that feeling to grow.

It rose slowly at first, confused in the general sense of burning and pain in his guts, but as the words were spoken and the blood spilled, it become like a sickening tide, even more unsettling because so familiar. It was that precise feeling that he’d been taught to ignore even before he could understand what it was about: it had been there, since the first day, since the first hour of duty, and had only got worse with time, expanding like ink, staining something inside and making him shy, his cheeks flushing so easily and his eyes unable to hold anybody’s gaze. Impossible to wash it away: because it was impossible not to feel dirty, watching others’ lives.

But he did that for a reason, right? A good reason! And the reason was the only thing making it bearable. Just that right now…he couldn’t find any reason.
Why he had turned that screen on?
It had been an impulse. A challenge. Innocent anger, naïve determination had masked the sickness of the curiosity.

But he could feel it now, getting more and more clear: Zector on screen seemed like another person, an unknown, his bare acts looking just brutal and his witty remarks annoying. And Scourge… Scourge wasn’t himself too. Not the one he wanted to be. It was not just the empty gaze, the body so thin and hollowed of strength, the skin so white for lack of light…it was deeper. It was his core that was dying, along with his body. His spark.

_Please, don’t leave me alone…_
The door had already been closed when those words escaped his twin. He had thought to be alone…Zonic felt the blush on his cheeks, his eyes running from the screen and on the floor.

It wasn’t the first time it happened wasn’t it? To watch actions that were meant for nobody to see. To listen words that were meant for nobody to hear. All the other way! The problem was that had happened too many times already. Especially with 649. Because other Sonics had little to hide, a part form some fear, a part for some weakness. 649 was different. He literally broke the glass. The exact moment he had started feeling involved, part of the life of someone that at first had ignored even his existence, was lost in his childhood. It was bad. Feeling that way. It was just an illusion, not real! All in his head. But he hadn’t noticed in time, and since then, each stolen word had let feelings pour from the cracks leaving a sticky trail, thin threads building that cobweb that was trapping him now.

But, those other times? It had been a mistake, one he hadn’t willingly intended to do, and at least he could partly blame it on the work. And more important of all…whatever was happening, it wasn’t his fault.
Now?… He had done it all by himself. He had accepted to follow orders no matter what, he had let feelings make him act in a reckless way. And he had decided to turn on the screen. The shame of watching stuff he wasn’t meant to layered over the guilty feeling that he’d been the one to cause all the misery he was now spying, making the blush deepen.

_Damn it!_

The swear come from the screen with a weird timing, followed immediately by the sound of smashed bones blowing away his thoughts, and leaving just his heartbeats. More blood started dripping, Scourge’s body broken like his mind, trapped in the nightmare of living the last hours of his life every day.
Zonic could almost feel the wave of the hit coming from the walls, like an echo not of sound, but of pain, that made him shiver and curl up more, tightening his grip around his legs until his chest protested for the compression, squeezing out words that threatened to shred his heart in pieces if he did not let them out… no matter if the other wasn’t going to hear them.

- Green… I did not want…I…-

‘But you did...’ something inside him replied sharply, his sense of justice, still there even if just to twist the knife in the wound, rebelling against that shy attempt to make things less painful.

-I ‘m s…- the few air still in his lungs escaped, leaving him breathless before he could say it, that word his heart needed to say so badly, choked by the sour, cold anger in his mind.

Sorry?
There was a difference between justice and torture, and it was the second one he’d allowed to happen, not the first. He had known it. He had accepted it in the second he had closed the door of the cell. Not saying a word, pretending it didn’t bother him for seven bloody months till the last second before entering the last key! And he was sorry now?

Sounded too hypocritical even to his own ears.

He had failed at being strong, ha had failed to change and break that link forever and now was just trying to sweep all under the carpet again.

Scourge was crying, now, holding his hand, letting the tears wash away the pain. Zonic felt the sting in his eyes too but stubbornly held them back. He couldn't cry!
Not after seven months of pretending everything was just fine. Not after seven months of knowing what the other was suffering and… ignoring it. Worse: accepting it. Willingly.
Hypocrisy, again! Cry now would have been nothing but hypocrisy. And an hypocrite deserves no pity, not even from himself.

Hold on to the façade was the only thing that made sense. Turn the screen off and come back to the surface, pretend that nothing had happened, run away again. Maybe, after wearing a mask for enough time, one could forget his true face. Maybe, behind the cold visor of his helmet, one day he’d become just what Prime had already accused him to be: a nameless, faceless zonecop.

The memory of the words, of their angry cold tone stung deep like the first time, letting one of those impossibly compressed tears to finally roll down his cheek still of the color of shame.

-A-am…I…?- he asked again to the ghost of that other self in his mind, but there was no strength in the reply this time, just a terrible doubt and the fear of the answer, the tiny hedgehog trying to vanish in the seat, to make himself even smaller that he was, all the quills flattening down as if those jade eyes had still been looking at him.

No. He wasn’t. Not yet. But it would have been better. Nameless, faceless… heartless. No more feeling a shit like that anymore.

-But I…don’t want…- his eyes widened, pupils narrowing until vanishing in a sea of blurry aqua green, his heart racing with the suicidal rhythm of a thousand lemmings running for the sea over the edge of the cliff.

He did not want. It was too scary. There had to be another way! A way to trust his heart without letting everybody down! A way to be a zonecop still being himself too, to follow his path the way he was. But he just couldn’t see it: because he did not know who he was, he was…nobody. And deep inside he suspected that ‘the way he was’ wasn’t something really that much decent either…slowly but irresistibly, Zonic felt himself slowly slip off the chair, the sedative forcing his muscles that would have been tensed like violin’s chords to relax. He recognized the grip of the medicine: relax…all he had to do was close his eyes and he’d fallen asleep in less than a minute.

_Help me…_
Large sky blue furred ears twitched, perking up.
It had been a trick of his imagination, right? He…hadn’t say that…
_Somebody please, help me…_

It was louder this time. It came from the screen. His hands gripped the arms of the chair tightly, the tiny hedgehog struggling against the chemicals running in his blood, and straightening himself up again, the sudden burst of adrenaline helping to keep his eyes open. Okay, it hadn’t been in his head. But…it did not change things, right? Those words…he shouldn’t have been hearing them. That cry for help was born without hope, and was destined to stay that way: unanswered.

Like hell knew how many others before…

Second passed long as ages. Thoughts and feelings swirling furiously until settling down. There was a strange calm relief in realizing your mental sanity had probably just flown off the window.

Zonic jumped off the seat, waving a bit before looking around carefully, looking for the general panel of the electricity.

‘You aren’t thinking of going down, right?’

-It’s okay…nobody will know…- he reassured the voice in his head, with a low soft whisper, plugging out the main cable. The whole room turned pitch black, the screens dead, even the emergency lights gone.

‘I give you that. But…seriously, after realizing the colossal error that has been even to just turn on the screen…you’re going down?’

There was no reply for a while this time, only the sound of steps in the corridor.
-It does not epically break the rules…-
‘That is not the point’
No, it wasn’t.

The point was that he just…did not know what to do. In that very second, if someone had asked him ‘hey please, can we switch turn? I got duty to the latrines…’ he’d accepted. Gratefully. Pretty much anything would have been better than talking with himself like he was doing now, right? He stepped in the elevator and typed the code in, authorization ‘fake 09’ also known as ‘Dear A.I, if somebody asks I wasn’t here’. The cabin started moving, and his fur stood on edge, making an uncomfortable friction against the cloth of the suit.

‘Come on…we both know you haven’t the guts to do this’
Probably no…but he hadn’t the guts to come back up either. Back to the surface, back to pretending everything was fine until it become true. Not …yet.
And so if he couldn’t go up, what was wrong in going down? It was better than feeling so helpless. So lost and…scared.

The trip was fast. Too fast. And when the doors opened again Zonic wasn’t ready, the corridor welcoming him identical to all the other and at the same time…different. The lights had been turned on…the night patrol would have been around soon…he had to be quick.

‘What are you going to do? What are you going to say? After seven months? Please. If he won’t punch you down with his only good hand, he’ll just tell you to fuck off’

-I...I don’t know…-
Something to do…something to say…Zonic bolted out the lift, but his steps soon become clumsy and hesitant and he kept looking around at every corner, as if expecting find the answer in one of those halls…or one of his higher rankers to pop form the shadows. Until something finally caught his eye, just before the last turn for the cell. A faint orange glow…the sign of a medical unit. He got closer, touching the surface of a plastic white box hanging on the wall just below it.

Emergency medical kit.
Something to do…
The second later the box had vanished from the wall, and he was running to the cell.

***************

The door.

Till now, he had managed to run faster than the memories. But in front of the door he had to stop. Insert the code…he still remembered it by instinct, the sounds of the numbers carved in by the stress of that day. Hearing it again as the fingers flee on the keys was like play a spell, the present image melting in the past one for a second. The door that was now opening closing instead in his imagination…shutting a last plea.
‘You can’t just leave me here…’

Just a second...but enough to make what little of determination he had managed to collect along the way to crumple in an instant like a dry leaf under a magnifier hit by the sun.

But the door was open now. It was too late to come back! Immobile on the doorway, he was clinging to the box in his arms, almost hugging it, fighting for his ears to not go down, looking desperately for that last shred of courage to step in…

Something to say…

A pair of icy eyes pointed on him, a bit narrowed for the sudden intense light, blinking from orbits that hadn’t been that evident last time, deep shadows signing them, the tears still fresh making them shine and burn giving his twin an almost feverish look, the blood slowly dripping the only color on his muzzle.

And in that instant, it was all clear. Before the surprise could vanish from Scourge’s face, turning in something else, Zonic was inside and the door closed behind him, obscuring everything again: he could hear his breath going a lot more faster than he’d wanted in the darkness, the heavy air already filled by the irony smell of blood not helping.

All clear, really. All perfectly clear: it was pointless to look for words.
Because there was nothing to say.

There was just nothing in the Multiverse he could possibly say.
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Posted by: Scourge Jul 6 2011, 01:50 PM
The light was sudden and blinding, spiking into his unprepared eyes like daggers and triggering an instant headache. Scourge winced, holding up his uninjured hand to shield them. Was he hallucinating again? His gaze snapped to the tray on his bed, Zector had just brought that, hadn’t he? It couldn’t be meal time again… unless he’d lost a full twenty four hours in as many minutes. But the figure silhouetted in the doorway was way too small to be the crocodile. Scourge frowned, then his eyes went wide with surprise as he recognised his twin. What the hell…

Before he could say anything the other hedgehog had slipped into the room, the door slipping shut behind him. Darkness returned like the tide covering the shore, and Scourge could see nothing but white after images fluttering against the black. He would have thought that he’d imagined seeing Zee at all, if he couldn’t still hear the other boy’s breathing, light and fast, as though he was scared. Well of course he was scared. He should be scared.

That thought made Scourge smile, and all at once he felt a little better. “What the fuck are you doing here, Zee?” his tone was lazy, unconcerned. The kind of tone that gave the impression that the zonecop was bothering him, perhaps interrupting something very very important.

There was no reply to his query, but he sensed the other hedgehog flinch. Maybe the kid had finally snapped. He’d always seemed on the point of it, nobody could be that serious and twitchy and paranoid all the time. Unless of course Zee was a drug addict… which had never occurred to Scourge before, though it seemed to make a lot of sense. It was kind of hypocritical for him to be judging anyone else’s sanity right at that second of course, but if just felt so good to turn his degrading thoughts in a different direction from inward.

Zee made a good punch bag, of the emotional kind since any physical punching was out of the question in Scourge’s current state. Maybe because he’d always seemed to Scourge to expect to be a victim. Which was an enlightening little glimpse into what Zonecop training must have been like. Not that Scourge exactly felt like throwing any insults, but it was nice to know he had the power to verbally cut the other hedgehog to ribbons if he wanted to. Any kind of power was good.

His thoughts were turning into confused rambling again. Had to focus. It was so damn hard to hold on to his marbles when they all kept trying to roll in different directions. Scourge took a steadying breath and reached out to pick up his shades from the floor, slipping them back on as his eyes finally started to readjust to the gloom. Zee was still standing by the door, something clutched in his arms that he was hugging like a security blanket. A medical kit, it couldn’t be anything else, the red cross was clearly visible on it, and in Scourge’s experience that symbol was pretty much universal.

You gotta be kidding. Smirking, Scourge stretched out like a cat, as though he was perfectly at ease on the freezing floor, and looked at his twin over the top of his shades. “I said, what are you doing here, Zee? Thought the higher ups gave you strict orders? You better be real careful, I'm contagious.” He smiled, the gleam of his teeth like a flash of a razor in the gloom. “You might catch a nasty strain of rebellion and end up just like me.”

Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop Jul 20 2011, 08:51 PM
_What the fuck are you doing here Zee?_

The voice did made him flinch. Almost squeak, to be honest, but he’d managed to gulp down the sound before it could make things worse. When the jar was so full even the tiniest drop could make everything wobble dangerously: twitchy, nervous and with something inside suggesting to just ‘go hide under his blanket for the next two centuries please’ (could be the 12 mg of Diazepam in his body or his shyness he wasn’t sure), Zonic knew that he was in the worst mood ever to be there, facing his twin, but that was what he got, and what he got to work with it.

Scourge’s lazy tone at least got the power to make him steady himself a bit: it stung something around the place where there should have been his pride the way the other managed to make it seem he was perfectly fine when his jar was just as full.

_ I said, what are you doing here, Zee? Thought the higher ups gave you strict orders? You better be real careful, I'm contagious…_ he shot him one of his sharp grins _ You might catch a nasty strain of rebellion and end up just like me_

Aqua green eyes narrowed slightly this time and he gave a little huff, shooting his twin a look that could mean only one thing:
‘I got a medic-kit, moron, what do you think I’m here for, a tennis match?’

- Rebellion, it’s all that? Caught it after the measles. But warn me if I start turning green…- he hissed back, putting a good dose of sarcasm in the tone and completing the phrase with a clear not-impressed look on top.

Rebelling. Pff. He wasn’t rebelling. Rebelling meant to act refusing the actions being judged according to the directives of the acknowledged system of authority. Which it wasn’t his case. He was under strict orders and he knew he was totally doing the wrong thing here, just as he knew he’d accepted the punishment without a word if he got nabbed. Rebellion in him was something that had been taken good care of already. Just as the measles, indeed.

Scourge didn’t seem to expect that kind of reaction just at first, but then something seemed to click and a laugh escaped him, sudden like the crack of a whip…cranky at first, and seeming like it had to stop and die every second…just that it didn’t stop: it kept rising instead, both in pitch and volume, filling the whole room of creepy echoes.

Zonic pinned down his ears, instinctively hiding his muzzle behind the medic-kit with a wince, as if to shield himself from that insane sound bouncing between the walls. It wasn’t the kind of laugh that lightened up the mood: it was out of place, exaggerated, forced…it was making things even more awkward if possible, and Zonic felt to grow inside the urge to shout to the idiot to quit it! What the fuck was so funny? Without even noticing he had started growling at his twin from behind the box already, when, sudden as it had started, the laugh stopped, choking in a muffled gasp of pain.

Scourge’s shades had almost slipped off as he’d shifted position against the wall to take a better breath, and without thinking the green hedgehog had rose his smothered hand to readjust them.

The sudden silence made Zonic’s ears to perk back up, the boy straightening and slowly lowering the box…now that Scourge’s attention wasn’t on him anymore he felt his body finally free to move, the tension uncoiling just that little bit for his mind to suggest him to go take a look at that hand now, if he still wanted the other to buy his excuse for being there.

With a steadying huff and not wasting a second more, Zonic closed the distance, kneeling on the floor next to Scourge with a quick, stiff move, trying to look anywhere but at him, and stubbornly ignoring the tingle of alarm in his nerves.

Whoa. He hadn’t realized he was holding the box so hard until he set it down, his arms now free aching in the points were the edges of the thing had compressed the muscles. Relax, relax, relax! It wasn’t going to make him any good to show he was scared that way. As if Scourge needed more reasons to think he got the upper hand there…speaking of which. He spared just a second more to massage his arm before clicking the box open and lift the lid, his eyes checking the contents while he held his hand out with the palm up to his twin.

That, hopefully, was going to get the hint before the next day.

Posted by: Scourge Jul 28 2011, 09:22 AM
His hand hurt, a lot. There was more pain than he could have thought possible from such a stupid wound. Scourge bit his lip until he tasted blood, waiting for the stabby broken feeling to reduce back to a throb. When he opened his eyes Zee was kneeling next to him, his medical box opened between them, and his hand out stretched palm up. He was looking down into the box's content, not at Scourge, but his intentions seemed obvious. He really had come all the way down here just to help...

Scourge stared at his twin for a long moment, suspicion etched into every line of his face. Why? And a better question was how had he even known?

Actually scratch that, this was obvious proof that Zee hadn't given up on being his number one stalker, even after what had happened the last time they'd met face to face. Scourge wasn't sure how he felt about that. The idea that Zee could have been watching this whole time while he was trapped like a rat, jumping at shadows... It was embarrassing.

That was almost enough to make him tell Zee exactly where he could stick his sympathy, but hell, his hand really did hurt bad, and who knew how long he'd have to wait for someone else to treat it. Twenty-Four hours at least, seeing as he sure as heck wasn't calling for that nutty bunny nurse again. Not after last time when she'd turned up dressed in full body armour with a syringe as long as his arm.

Slowly Scourge held out his broken hand, hating the way his arm trembled no matter how badly he tried to hold it steady. It looked pretty gross already, swelling around his fingerless gloves as though someone had pumped it up with a balloon. Zee frowned, and took off the glove as gently as he could, wincing as Scourge gasped. Then he just stared, seeming to be at a loss what to actually do to make it better. Which made sense, he wasn't a doctor after all. The smaller hedgehog looked down at his own hand, opening and closing it once or twice, then rustled in the medical box.

Maybe letting him poke around would do more harm than good. Scourge leaned back against the wall, tilting his head up to look at the shadowy ceiling. “So... seriously... aren't you going to get into mega trouble?”

Zee stopped searching in the box and swallowed hard his ears flattening nervously, then he glanced up, meeting Scourge’s gaze for a fraction of a second before skirting on past. “Why do you give a shit?” he asked, in a tone that was probably supposed to be offhand, but was ruined slightly by the way the words shook.

“Who says I do?” Scourge shot back, raising an eyebrow to highlight how ridiculous the question had been. He didn’t care if Zee was punished. This sudden good Samaritan act was just creeping him out, that was all. The zonecop chose to ignore this, and the silence stretched between them until Scourge couldn’t stand it anymore. “Why’d you come down here?” he prompted, hoping that perhaps repeating his question would have some effect. “Don’t tell me it was just to play nursemaid…” There was a taunt in his tone, but Zee didn’t take the bait. More silence. Scourge sighed in frustration, glaring at his counterpart. “Fine whatever, don’t talk to me, not like I care.”

Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop Jul 28 2011, 07:51 PM
Zonic had decided it was better keep his mouth shut and try to hide behind the lid of the box…
…but at the nursemaid comment the temptation to retort with something along the lines of ‘because you looked sooo pathetic, Green’ was strong. He bit his tongue, though, keeping collecting the stuff he’d needed to fix the mess the idiot had done of his hand instead. The young zonecop himself found spying other people embarrassing, and wasn’t exactly in the disposition to make some humor about such a sensitive topic. Not counting that’d made the mood heavy and hostile. Scourge had been strangely nice till now, keep things that way was better: because honest, Zonic did not want to know his twin’s true opinion about him. He could imagine already.

_Fine whatever, don’t talk to me, not like I care…_

Zonic gave a short huff, both of relief that he’d finally stopped asking and of annoyance: it wasn’t like he had fun ignoring him (well…maybe a little), it was just that he couldn’t answer. He wasn’t really expecting the other to understand that, because of course lack of attention was like… deadly offence number one for the average Sonic’s ego, but…
But seriously, what could he ever say? All that nonsense ‘nursemaid’ act was just a low, selfish little trick to feel less guilty. Pointless, hypocrite and … it wasn’t even working. Besides, he could confess he was sorry to a monitor, but no way he was going to spill it now, when Scourge could actually hear him…

No. Way. Ever.

So yeah, let him think he just wanted to play nursemaid. It didn't sound much more stupid than the truth, anyway.

He was done collecting what he needed: dry ice spray, disinfectant and several rolls of aseptic plastic bandages, the kind of sticky ones that would stay well in place. Scourge’s hand had looked awful, Zonic was almost sure that if such a thing would have happened to his hand, he could have said goodbye to it. He was no doctor, true, but Zonecops received a little of first-aid lessons…which he’d skipped, okay. Still, most of the stuff others had studied on holograms, he’d experienced on his own skin, bones and fur, so if the countless days he'd spent in the infirmary recovering from some stunt gone wrong had taught him something, he’d been able to do some good: Scourge’s natural fast healing would have finished the work.

First went the disinfectant, the pink smelly liquid poured a bit carelessly directly where the skin had broken, then was the turn of the dry ice, the little hedgehog tinkering for a while with the security cap before shaking the can a couple of times and spraying the cold mist over the swelling. And then, the thing that required the max attention: bandaging without make the splintered bones inside hurt, or worse, go out of place. Out of place would have been a disaster! He needed to focus.

And focus he did, his movements slow, careful, controlled, never showing the minimum sign of impatience or will to rush things. It was what he’d looked for so badly, something to do, something that wouldn’t hurt anyone, something he could just concentrate on while shutting the thinking down. But it lasted way too little: a couple of minutes and he was done, his mind coming out of that state of blessing blankness, and anxiety coming back to coil his brain.

Okay, done…time to come back up. He sure wasn’t planning to stay there until the night patrol came to take a look . Ah! No. The sedative could start kicking in anytime too, he’d better go before falling asleep… somewhere. But to say the truth he did not feel sleepy. All the other way.

…because to go away he’d had to close the door.

The thought almost made his quills irk up, but he controlled himself, starting to put the tools back in the box slowly, really slowly: it was fine, he’d done it once, he’ll do it again … it …it was just a stupid door , shit, he couldn’t let a stupid door do that to him! He…he was stronger than that. And…and it wasn’t like Scourge was going to say anything or look at him… that way this time.

The lid was lowered, the lock clicking close and…Zonic froze, holding his breath, aqua green eyes snapping up, giving blue ones a strange sort of unwillingly begging look for a couple of seconds.

…He wasn’t, right?

-Hum…done. Bye…- he barely managed to spit out, in a clumsy way, grabbing the box back against his chest and springing up on his feet, ready to zap away.

Posted by: Scourge Aug 4 2011, 02:09 PM
And just like that, he was going to be all alone again. The idea was unbearable, and filled Scourge with a sudden, overwhelming panic. If Zee left him now, the shadows would start to move, the face on the wall would jeer at him, and he didn’t think he could take it. He felt as though he were standing on that ledge all over again, except that madness lay at the end of the drop, not death. And this time Zee didn’t care enough to pull him back. Well, screw him then. Scourge hadn’t asked for his help, this time or the time before. He’d reached out automatically towards the other hedgehog, as though about to stop him, but he let it fall back to his side, bowing his head.

No way, he wasn’t going to humiliate himself like that. Not with Zee. If it had been someone else, some faceless cop behind a tinted visor, he might have. But they idea of looking that weak and pitiful in front of his twin was even more intolerable than being alone. Or so he told himself anyways, but he couldn’t help the way his whole body sagged and the defeat in his eyes as he starred down at the floor, waiting to hear the swoosh of the door opening and Zonic’s footsteps as he walked away, fainter and fainter until the silence returned like a shroud.

A trickle of blood ran into his eye and Scourge winced at the salty sting. The he looked up quickly, his expression brightening as he pointed to his wounded head. “I’m still bleeding, y’know,” he said, his tone bored and demanding. It was the perfect excuse, and he wasn’t asking Zee to stay and take care of him, he was ordering him too, which felt a lot more comfortable. Besides, the zonecop had started this whole nurse maid thing, least he could do was see it through to the end.

Zonic blinked and stared at him for a second, his ears perked. “Do I look like a Nurse to you?” he asked eventually, in a way that was probably meant to be defiantly sarcastic, but didn’t quite pull it off.

Scourge shrugged, his lips suddenly quirking into a smile as the random and rather unwelcome image of Zee in nurse Zanille’s uniform flitted across his mind. “Maybe.”

The oddness of this thoughts must have been reflected in his expression, because Zee looked even more alarmed and confused than before. “…that bar must have hit your head pretty hard,” he said at length.

Scourge shrugged again. “Probably killed a couple of brain cells yeah…” he said conversationally, trying hard to banish the image of his twin in drag. That was just a level of weird that he didn’t want to get into. He touched his fingertips to the bleeding wound, wincing a little at the sting, then frowned at the red smear on his fingers. “Maybe it knocked some sense into me…” Then a sudden smile lit his face like lightning, and he beamed, blue eyes sparking with amusement. “Wow, that's it! I'm cured! It knocked the bad right outta me! You can let me out now. I won't try to take over any planets ever again, hedgehog's honour.”

It wasn’t really that funny, but they both laughed anyways. Which was probably more a reaction to the crazy amount of tension in the room, rather than his joke. It was the first time Scourge had ever seen Zonic laugh, maybe the first time he’d ever seen him smile. It made the zonecop look a lot younger, and seem a lot more Mobian, and for the first time Scourge saw something of himself in his twin. A mischievous glimmer that lit those usually so serious aqua marine eyes.

The laughter died away much too quickly, and Scourge leaned back against the wall, suddenly exhausted as though even acting like himself for a couple of seconds was too much for him now. The sobering effect was rather nasty, and somehow he felt worse than before. “But I'm never getting outta here... right Zee? 'Less you count the walk to death row…” He laughed again but this time there was no humour in it at all. “I bet you have a nice clinical name for it, huh?”

The last of Zee’s smile faded at the question, and his skin seemed to lose the tiny shred of colour it had. For a second Scourge thought he would start trying to argue about how it ‘wasn’t death’ again, but he didn’t. Instead he just looked at his boots. “...Do I have to answer that?...” he asked softly.

Scourge considered telling him that he damn well did have to answer. That he owed him a damn answer. Hot anger bubbled up inside him, and he opened his mouth to rage at his twin, to tell him that he was sorry that his impending death made Zee uncomfortable and how he’d try to stick to polite conversation from now on. But his heart wasn’t in it, and the words died on his tongue. He was just so very tired. “No,” he said with a sigh, leaning his head back and shutting his eyes. “I guess you don't. Why would you? I'm just a number.”

Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop Aug 30 2011, 10:04 PM
After his reply Zonic was expecting the scold, really. He’d seen it coming in the way the quills had prickled for a second, in the way the other had almost held his breath to shout better. His reticence got on people’s nerves easily, it got on his own nerves too sometimes!

No, Scourge wasn’t getting out of here, never again.

Why he couldn’t say that aloud? It wasn’t like not telling would make things not happen! No. But to speak meant having to think about things, line up the thoughts in an opinion, and follow it to the logical consequences. And he didn’t want. He’d tried at first, the first couple of weeks after the accident, had tried to make up his mind about all that had happened: but all he got were pieces of thoughts that contradicted each other, splinters of things that hurt each time he tried to get a grip back on them…it was just impossible and frustrating like trying to make a puzzle without knowing the picture on the box.

He had gave up the task, and had gave up his voice too, choosing a numb indifference and silence instead, for seven months. So it had been just an instinctive reaction trying to defend himself, trying not to let the wall of silence fall: silence hid the confusion, masked the weakness, silence could mean everything and in the end, it meant nothing, an empty space left to the other’s interpretation.
Scourge’s cynicism gave it one of the worst ones.

_No…I guess you don't. Why would you, I'm just a number…_

He said with a sigh, tension abandoning him, a sense of defeat in his words and pose that not even his anger had been able to overwhelm this time. It sure wasn’t the kind of reaction the young zonecop had been expecting, not from someone that kept telling everyone he was a King, so that his eyes snapped up from the polished plates of metal on his boots, his mouth opening…and closing immediately, not letting the protest come out. And what was he going to say, by the way? He couldn’t contradict his twin nor deny that: a number was exactly all that Scourge should have been for how much he was concerned.

-…we all are- he said instead, bitterly, the little hint of defensive anger audible in his tone while he tried to pretend that that total flattening of someone else’s personality was the most normal thing in the Multiverse for him.

Scourge smiled a strange smile at that, opening his eyes and fixing them on the wall on the other side, his gaze loosing focus. The blood kept trickling down his brow, and he seemed totally oblivious of Zonic’s presence now, zoned out, silence stretching for an infinite time. Feeling that reassuring, cold distance, aqua green eyes lingered interrogatively on the other in a way they wouldn’t have dared before, the smaller hedgehog coming back on his steps and getting close again without even noticing, almost as deep in thought as his twin, looking for the answer of a question that had so suddenly crossed his mind: what was he thinking? What do you think sitting on a cold metallic floor, waiting for the end? Was he remembering of when he wasn’t a number but a King…? Of when he wasn’t green but blue? Was he playing his life backwards, trying to see the things he’d missed running at supersonic speed? Was he regretting any of the actions that had brought him there in that Well, to rot to a shell before being finally picked up only to be tossed in the deeper, bottomless pit of the Eternal Sleep, filed away and forgotten like a boring book on a shelf?

But why he wanted to know that? Why he didn’t just flee from there? He darted a look back at the door, trying to feel the tension of before, but it seemed vanished, his legs getting suddenly heavy and numb like everything else, a voice inside whispering that to flee was useless. That he was trapped here now too, that he’d been since the very second he’d choose to break the indifference and peek once again. The sedative. Must have been the sedative…his back found the metallic wall in an automatic gesture, and he slipped down in a sitting position, leg crossing under the weight of his body that seemed to have become just too heavy for them to bear. No, there was no way he’d managed to get up and reach the door...

There was a sudden movement at the corner of his eye, to which Zonic found himself not reacting in the same twitchy way he would have just a minute before. He turned slowly, realizing only in that moment to be actually sitting right next to his twin, that still seemed unaware of the thing too, his pose not much changed : it had been just a little move of the head, that had bowed more deeply, the blue eyes no more fixing on the wall but on…a yellow ribbon. Prime Fiona's ribbon ...? The uncomfortable feeling spreading from the realization of knowing such a detail started making that sort of sleepy haze to vanish. And then came the words, finally breaking that illusion of distance in which the young zonecop so easily slipped in after years and years spent to watch lives from screens.

_I just want it to be over. The waiting is killing me…_

It had been a whisper, almost inaudible, but hit like a slap: Zonic felt himself blush and looked away immediately, some of the tension coming back to contrast the grip of the sleeping pill once again, a little shot of energy making his muscle tense at the idea of being so close to someone that had almost made his head to blow up with a laser, his fingers fidgeting with the lock of the medi-kit nervously as he tried not to look at the wall with his markings, not to think to the first image that had flashed on that monitor, not to think to the plea, not to think to ...

Zonic felt he was looking at him now, he could always feel when eyes where pointed on himself. And he was probably wondering why in the hell he was still there. And for some reason the young zonecop knew that if in that very second he’d asked this time he’d just spilled it out …and probably just to prevent that, he quickly opened the medi-kit instead, taking out new bandages and unrolling them with a smooth move, before shifting in a kneeling position again to give a closer look to the cut, letting the white cloth to turn red, adsorbing blood before unrolling more and starting to bandage the head, pretending it had been just his intention. But unlike before, his mind wasn’t in it, and the only reason he didn’t got hurt by the quills was that first, he was an hedgehog so used to deal with them, second…he got exactly the same ones, just shorter.

No, his mind wasn’t in it at all, his mind was busy storming and insulting himself because he’d ended up acting like a nurse for real, because he couldn’t let go...because…‘I want it to be over too…’ He hissed mentally. He was tired. He couldn’t go on like that. He needed to be strong, like Zool had said, he had to finally face what he hadn’t for seven months, he needed to convince himself once and for all that he’d done nothing wrong, that the sentence was just, and that there had been a good reason for not letting anyone know the date, even if he didn’t understand it. If he didn’t, then he’d never been able to face that door, and he…he’d been trapped here, just as the voice kept repeating in the back of his mind.

The panic he felt at that thought was even worse as he couldn’t bat away the strange feeling that deep inside, that had been his plan all the time, not to have to come back up anymore, to find a dark spot where to hide forever…

He unrolled yet another streak of white bandage around Scourge’s head .

To hide from what? Right now, feeling the darkness around almost close on him for a second, he couldn’t understand anymore what had scared him so much. What could be worse than the Well? Worse than feeling that way? So low? So guilty? Destroy all doubts was the only way out at this point, no matter how hard it was, no matter if it meant to destroy a part of himself either! He just wanted it all to stop ! He wasn’t the murderer, he wasn’t the one that had tried to kill Prime, conquered Moebius, attacked Mobius and threatened to spin dash both planets in two, Scourge was!

-Why you did it?-

The question that in his mind had been a desperate, angry growl, came out flat from his mouth instead, so dry that the words almost broke, like dead leaves whose sap had been all sucked away.

Posted by: Scourge Oct 23 2011, 07:42 PM
Scourge’s eyes were still shut, his posture relaxed as though he had fallen asleep during the brief silence that had fallen between them. One ear twitched at Zee’s question, but another moment slipped by before those ice blue eyes finally cracked open, and he found the strength to offer a sarcastic smile. “Do what?” he asked, replying to the question with another question. “I’ve done a lotta things Zee, you gotta be more specific.”

He could have been asking anything, why had he hurt himself, why had be tried to escape the last time they met, why he’d started the riot and gotten himself thrown down here in the first place. Good questions all. Scourge supposed his motivation was murkier than most people’s, but that was a good thing. It made him unpredictable.

But it turned out Zee didn’t want to know any of that stuff. Instead he said; “…why you assaulted Mobius Prime. You...you were King already. You stabilized your dimension somewhat, and we...tend to leave things as they are. One more tyrannical ruler in the Multiverse wasn't gonna hurt, you probably wouldn't be here now. So...why you had to do that?”

Generally Scourge responded aggressively to questions like that, but it had been asked so softly, so unobtrusively that it bypassed those natural defences. And, as happened once in the blue moon, he found himself being honest. “...cause I've never known when to stop.” That probably would have been a adequate enough explanation, but for some reason he found himself adding; “And ‘cause.. I dunno, I guess I felt like I had to.”

He stopped talking then, and the silence returned, hanging heavy this time. Zee’s expression displayed nothing, stoic as a statue as he continued to bandage. Then, just when Scourge was starting to feel like a total idiot, he said; “felt like you had to.....do what?”

That was easy. “Prove I was more than just some… some evil twin. Some copy of Sonic that went wrong.” It sounded stupid now, here in this cell, in the dark with the weight of his sentence hanging over him. But even so, Scourge felt the tiniest spark light up inside him as he spoke. He could still remember how important it had felt. Zee was speaking, but Scourge spoke over him, suddenly needing to say it all out loud before it crawled back inside him and got locked up tight.

“I needed to prove to myself that I was just as good as he was, better even. Had to prove it to him too, knowing it wasn't good enough for me. Which was my downfall I guess. But I think Pride's a flaw we all share...” He shrugged and looked at Zonic over and smiling ironically. “S'hard to be a dark star to someone else's super nova, I guess you probably understand that better than most people.”

Zee continued his bandaging, but Scourge felt him tense, his movements slowing. It seemed that he would not answer at all, but then the other hedgehog stopped and finally looked at him. “I do,” he said, his voice dry as a desert. “And I stopped caring a long time ago.”

But no, that didn’t quite ring true. Scourge caught Zee’s gaze and held it, looking right into the zonecop’s eyes. “Somehow I don't believe that...”

((OOC - finally ))

Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop Nov 3 2011, 05:14 PM
Zonic had managed to keep on a flat expression till then, but inside his guts, a sneaky anger was growing. The answers hadn’t helped at all: had it been something more aggressive, more along the lines of the other’s usual half-crazy ramblings about royalty, he’d maybe managed to finally push away and accept him just rotting under there.

But no. What he had said had to make sense to him, of course. Screw it. Probably he was crazy, too.

Because yes, he understood. He remembered how it had felt seeing those other hims in the screens for the first time and then look back at the mirror. But…but it didn’t make sense right? It was all stuff he’d buried and choked the very day he’d been shown how things really were, who he truly was. Some things couldn’t be changed, all he could do was trying his best and so on…

And so when those blue eyes locked in his, challenging him to defend his words, he didn’t avert his gaze. He hadn't lied! But still something digged his way up from his chest and clenched his throat, and for a second he was again that pathetic trembling little kid that tried to muffle the sobs with a pillow on his head.

No…he wasn’t. He wasn’t. He wasn’t!. That was the past. He knew better. He knew better, damnit.

Aqua green eyes suddenly narrowed in an icy glare, the hands holding the roll trembling in tension before he gave a sudden pull, the sound of the bandages being ripped away from the support almost covering his angry, hissed answer.

-It’s pointless…-

- Maybe... but emotion doesn't always make a whole lotta sense…- was the soft reply.

No, it didn’t. It didn’t, it was a fucking nonsense that kept backstabbing him even after ten years! Why?

He’d learned. He’d grown up! Yes, it had been shocking, but he’d got over it. He had accepted his place, and kept doing what was right, not rebelled and done a mess of his life. Scourge had clung to an image of himself that was completely wrong, and done terrible things to prove to himself who he was …

Just that that last part sounded awfully familiar, didn’t it?…

No. He wasn’t like him! It wasn’t the need to not feel a bleached copy of something so much brighter to make him want to be a zonecop at all costs, but his own will, sense of duty and responsibility: because it was the right thing. It was all he’d been told, always! It was the right thing, it was what he was born for, there were no doubts!

Scourge hadn’t had anyone to help him…and he had made mistakes , and now it was too late so…so… the young zonecop kept twisting the bandage nervously, trying to win over the sympathy and end that thought in the less painful way:
…so screw him. Screw him, screw him, SCREW HIM.

-…you're running outta things to bandage, man…-

The sudden remark made him blink, making the dark haze of rage vanish from his sight, the little hedgehog tilting his head in a surprised way as he finally realized that he’d ended up turning his twin in a sort of mummy, tons of bandages rolled pretty chaotically all over his forehead, ears, quills, and even a bit of the muzzle.

Well, he’d told him that the wasn’t a nurse!

-…R-right…-

Out of things to bandage and out of things to do here.
Folding the spare bandage back on the roll just as quickly and angrily, he put it away, closing the box with a neat clack and getting on his feet, not even sparing a salute. Just that his legs felt like jelly and his head spinned for long seconds, forcing him to half-lean on the wall to walk.

The sedative. It was a matter of minutes now…he needed to get out of there quickly…

((OOC: darn you hedgie....you are SO messed up...@.@))

Posted by: Scourge Nov 5 2011, 12:16 PM
Seemed like bonding time was over, but that was okay. Scourge felt calmer than he had in days, as though Zee’s visit had replenished his strength somehow. He could fight another while. He wasn’t going to give in to despair, not today. It was pretty sad that hanging out with that chump made him feel better, but seeing as he was lower than a beggar right now, even kings couldn’t be choosers. He leaned back against the wall again, stretching out luxuriously as though he were on a throne instead of the cold, hard floor. “Hey Zee?”

The zonecop didn’t turn, but he paused, one ear twitching to show that he was listening. “Hum?”

‘Thank you’ probably would have been the right thing to say just then, and for a moment Scourge even considered it. But the words tasted wrong on his tongue, so instead he smiled, his old confident smile, the one that made people believe he could move mountains. The one that could make people follow him into Hell if he asked them to.

“I'm gonna get out of here.” It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.

Zonic sighed, a deep heartsick sigh, and punched in the activation code. The door slid open with a soft hiss, and for a moment Scourge thought the other hedgehog would simply leave, but instead he paused and looked back over his shoulder.

“Oh really?” Zee sounded tired, tired right down to the bone, as though he was going to collapse any second. Now that Scourge could actually see him properly in the light filtering in from the hallway, he didn’t look so hot either. Way too pale, even for him. “And where are you gonna go? You don’t have a place in the Multiverse anymore…”

That just made Scourge’s smile grow all the wider. The statement probably would have scared most people, heck twenty minutes ago it would have scared the crap out of him. He could never go home, but why the hell would he want to? There was nothing there for him anymore, nothing he wanted. Zee’s words should have made him feel lost and alone, but instead he felt the thrill of possibility. Something new was always more exciting than something old, and he did so love to reinvent himself.

“I’m sure I can carve out a new one.”

He was about to say more, but choked on it as the air suddenly felt hot and thick, as though he had inhaled a lung full of smoke. He was on his feet in an instant, the sickening wrongness cause every quill to stand on end, loose bandages fluttering from him as he jumped backwards. A millisecond later a bright light erupted where he’d been, expanding into a crackling golden pit in the floor, sparking energy flailing from it in all directions in extremely deadly looking tendrils.

“Holy f-fucking shit,” Scourge gasped, pressing himself back into the corner as best he could as the whirling energy slowly expanded towards him...

Posted by: Zonic the Zonecop Nov 6 2011, 07:49 PM
Zonic’s ears flickered, his eyes blinking as his twin’s grin grew wider, all his attitude telling the smaller hedgehog that he could go on being sarcastic how much he wanted, could go on try to bat that all away like the show-off of a nut, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that there it was, despite everything, his smile, his confidence, his sparkle, making his words sound not empty, no matter how much logic screamed at their impossibility.

Zonic’s eyes narrowed again, the young zonecop already trying to think of a reply even more mean, too stubborn or too prideful to give up a verbal fight he’d already lost and simply acknowledge the little feeling of admiration in his chest.

But then in half a second, it didn’t matter anymore: the small hedgehog winced feeling a slight un-phase in his consciousness, like a déjà-vu, a shrill of alarm running down in his dulled nerves and making him turn as if someone had bit his tail, even before Scourge springed on his feet and the metallic floor bulged and then collapsed on itself like a balloon pierced from inside, bleeding out golden energy that swirled and solidified in crackling tendrils.

-This…is…im-possible…- he yelped, his voice breaking as he staggered, managing to take just another step back before his numb legs gave in, and he crumpled on the floor.

_This is a portal…_ Scourge’s voice carried away from the opposite corner of the room, the green hedgehog pretty much plastered against the wall, the eerie light illuminating his face as he looked down, the crackling energy reaching for him wrinkling and dissolving the loose edges of the fluttering bandages hanging from him .

Zonic shook his head, slowly, pupils drowning in an ocean of aqua green as every single detail of the crackling pit in front of him started opening files in his memory, one more alarming than the other…

A portal? No, it wasn’t! A portal didn’t bulge out that way when opening, didn’t expand and contract that much around the edges, didn’t warm the air to the point of make it irrespirable…and more importantly of all, a portal didn’t have that crown of burning tendrils of shredded energy-matter swirling around it: a true portal was like a neat, clean needle-pierce…that seemed more the work of an huge and very sharp inter-dimensional drill!

And if it was there it meant it had somewhat pierced the shield! And if the shield was broken…

The image of a soap bubble exploding and vanishing flashed in his mind and the little hedgehog caught his breath, ears flattening and quills shivering, the atavic terror of generations of inhabitants of that Zone overriding his training and making him shrink and stutter in front of something he’d been taught to handle no matter what.

-It..it shouldn't be here! Why it's here? ...It's ...it's...-

_It’s an answer to my prayers…_ Scourge ended for him in a mocking way, bursting out in a dry laugh as his expression grew more intent, his shoulders squaring again…

The loud sound made him snap. Oh fuck now…he wasn’t thinking of…? Yes, he was. Of course he was! It must have looked like a miracle to him, indeed…the young zonecop took a deep breath, trying to regain control over himself and over a situation already gone way too offhand… not an easy task with the drug making him feel more groggy every second that passed.

-You…you aren’t jumping in it…!- he half-stated half warned, trying in vain to drag himself up from the floor…- that…that is not a portal! That’s…- he struggled a bit, trying to find a simple but effective way to put it -…that’s more some sort of giant…trans-dimensional…meat-grinder…- he somewhat managed to pull off.

Okay somewhere his instructor must have been shaking his head and lifting his D stamp, but Scourge frowned at the words, his ears swiveling back as he looked at the centre of the seemingly bottomless pit, where dark matter seemed to bubble and swirl before exploding out in droplets of yellow energy, his good hand rising to shield him from the light…

_ You would say that even if it wasn't!..._ he replied, stubbornly, even if his expression wasn’t as convinced as his tone.

Zonic’s quills ruffled up at the accuse –I wou-!- he started to deny just as stubbornly, but a skeptical glare from the other side of the room made him cut the word -…okay, probably I would…- he admitted, panting for the effort of speaking and shaking his head once again to clear his already blackening vision…

Stupid sedative…

Okay, of course that Scourge didn’t believe him. Because he didn’t want him to escape, right? No. Well, if he had to be honest with himself he didn’t even want him rot in that hell, but that didn’t matter and Scourge didn’t know anyway. Just that that wasn’t an escape at all! That portal was just as deadly as a jump from the top of the Well.

-Screw it, I’m not lying!...- he huffed in frustration, nervousness making his stomach squeeze and pouring more words out his mouth -…this thing is working against AEGIS! Can't you see how instable it is? It'll collapse with you inside! Or it'll scatter your pieces all over the Multiverse! Or....or It'll cut you in two closing while you jump!...- well maybe that last one was an exaggeration, but it seemed to have some effect at last, as his twin’s expression become transfixed, his eyes widening but never leaving the ex-floor…

_So if I jump chances are I’ll die?_ he spoke slowly, as if he wanted to be absolutely sure of the answer by being absolutely sure of his question.
Zonic’s eye twitched. –Which part of ‘cut you in two’ you didn’t get…- he barely managed to hiss what without the sedative in his blood would have been an exasperate shout.

_And if I stay here…I’ll die for sure…_ blue eyes finally lifted, his twin’s expression terribly serious and his tone low and dark despite the twitch of sarcasm pulling up the edge of his mouth.

Zonic felt his mouth go dry, a wave of sickness hitting him as he understood that the other was going to jump, no matter what. It was the same shit, all over again, the same exact thing of the other tim-…
But no, there was a difference, actually: time.
The images of the dark screen flashed in his mind, pinning him down to the truth: seven months…like that.
The young zonecop gulped down, determination flowing away and quills flattening in defeat, aqua green eyes hiding down on what was left of the metallic floor, his teeth clenching as he tried to keep at bay the guilt, to find something to say…

But there was nothing to say. Again. Not a single word in the Multiverse that he could possible say…
He had chosen to ignore, right? He hadn’t dared to do anything. His voice meant nothing now. Scourge was going to die, and it had been all his fault!

_Damned if I do and damned if I don’t_ was the bitter comment at his silence, the green hedgehog shrugging and pulling his shades down _...wish me luck, dude…_ he ended, the red glass making his expression impossible to read, the same smile of the start fully splitting his features, making him sparkle and seem totally at ease even in front of almost certain death.

A flicker of pride made aqua green eyes narrow once again, a little fang baring weakly.

No, seriously. What a damn of a helpless show-off. And he was even feeling bad for that ass…Zonic felt the cold surface of the floor against his cheek even before realizing his head had dropped down, his peripheral vision already gone, everything feeling like wrapped into a cloud of black cotton-wool...time was ticking, and he'd resisted the drug's power even too much.

-Fuck you- he spat, his voice reduced to nothing more than a raspy whisper, triggering a long, heartfelt and slightly insane laugh from his twin, that bumped trough the walls as he leaped down, the portal around as the portal closed on him and swirled faster, faster, contracting on itself and flashing of an horrible red before collapsing again in the floor, leaving only the metallic surface.

The last of Scourge’s laugh echo in his ears and something yellow slowly fluttering and landing on the floor were the last things his consciousness registered.
Then, his brain shut down, and there was only darkness.
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