BRUISE

By MistressAli

A/N:

Hey all. Well, this story was inspired by the song below, 'Bruise' by Vast. I had an idea to write a fic where Snively's cousin Devon (my char) goes to naughty lengths to make Snively notice her. She decides to get together with Geoffrey St John to make him jealous. However her plan backfires when simple sex excels into brutality as Geoffrey reveals his true hatred of Overlanders to her.

So, anyhoo, I wrote a bit on it, but lost my inspiration. Also, I decided the tone of the story was too intimate and personal when originally it was supposed to be more stark, and distant. I might rewrite it someday, probably from a 3^rd-person POV. But till then, it goes into the incomplete files! ^^

My love for you is like the sun that shines

My love for you is like the sun that shines

Don't repent to a bruise

He says that he still loves you...tell me

Why does he hate you?

Don't repent to a bruise

He says that he still loves you...tell me

Why does he hit you?

I'd never be so cold to you.

I'd never be so cold to you.

'Bruise' ' VAST

Everyone knew that I was crazy about Snively. Crazy. Literally. Figuratively. Obsessively. Aching-in-my-loins, panting from desire crazy. Taking up a knife of his constant rejection and savoring the taste of blood in my mouth as it entered my heart over and over. Yeah. Crazy.

Literally. I felt sometimes as if I were a puzzle put-together, creating a beautiful picture, and yet I

lacked the glue to stabilize my pieces, to hold them together. When he pushed away I felt the pieces

quivering as my puzzle was lifted into the air. One by one, the pieces would drop away, leaving me without a smile, without a face, without a heart.

"Devon, when are you going to get over it?" My sister DaSilva was a colorful girl but when she spoke of HIM her voice went monotone.

"I never heard of cousins getting together," Sonic had said jokingly.

"You know it can't be." Snively had said, and as he spoke, I traced the lines of his face with my mind.

Whenever he spoke all I could think of was smothering his voice with my mouth. Maybe I would become cannibal

and eat him alive, eat him piece by piece and then keep him alive inside me. His veins wired into mine.

My skull would expand to contain the power of his mind. My heart would probably stay the same size.

Because he didn't indulge in the heart. He thought LOVE was a fairytale.

But Snively's a liar, a big fat fucking liar. He lied about everything else in his life, he denies truths when they're kicking him in the ass.

"I don't love you, Devon. I never did. And I never will."

I can see his narrow shoulder, clothed in gray, shrugging. I ignore his words and picture his shoulder naked instead. My teeth are on his skin. I shiver and he snorts in disgust, as if sensing my thoughts. His eyes stir as icy water does when the sun is melting its frozen surface.

He is disgusted by his own lust, his own sensitivities. This is a very big problem.

"Why would you want to get with that Overlander scum, anyway?" Geoffrey St John, Knothole's resident asshole, scoffs at me. I am standing alone after having attempted a kiss with my soul's other half.

Snively is just disappearing out of sight.

"Because I love him."

Because I know he loves me. Snively's stubborn. Stubborn...and...weak. Coward. Denying me is the most cowardly act in his life, worse than, I believe, even roboticizing the Mobians and kissing our Uncle's ass. I don't know. That was all brought about by fear. And this is fear too...but...fear without reason. Robotnik's fists were a weak....but VALID reason.

There isn't any reason to this.

The skunk IS handsome. His eyes are the blue of a sky when the clouds have covered the moon, and yet, there is still light to be seen around the edges. Dark...murky... savagely beautiful. His pelt is bold, black against white, slightly course to the touch, but plush underneath the rough guard hairs.

"Sometimes you can't get what you want, mate. That's when you quit. Gracefully."

As he says the last word, his eyes travel the sweep of my neck, and down. I am wearing a low cut tanktop. Something sparkles in Geoffrey's eyes. His mouth thins into a cruel smile. It is not soft and plump like the lips of my cousin.

Kissing Snively...is...kissing the dew off fresh rose petals. Kissing Geoffrey? Like kissing granite, I

imagine.

Oh god. Images flood my mind and I think...I might have found...a solution. The cure that will finally

end this crippling disease of love. It will get me what I need. If only...for a moment. A day. An hour...A LIFETIME! Please!

Sick to bow to such trickery, though. Pathetic, even. DaSilva would say it right to my face, I bet.

Fuck her. I love her...so much. But...

He is LIFE. Doesn't everyone love their own life above all else? Supposedly.

I find life with only half a soul quite hellish.

"What would you do....If I were in a life-threatening situation, and only you could save me?" I asked this to Snively one time. We were laying on the sun-warmed boulder by the Ring Pool. He had been a Freedom Fighter little more than a week, and the stress of THEIR stares and words were getting to him. Below the depths of ice-blue eyes were swathes of dark. He clung to me more then. It was heaven...for a little while.

No...not heaven. I was a traveler in the desert, dying, happening upon the oasis. And it was GOOD for a while...I was sustained, but I knew it wasn't enough. I knew the water would dry up and the inevitable would come.

I still slurped the water greedily down my throat. Torture and ecstasy all melting into one.

"At what cost?" He asked, a smile playing gently around his mouth. Our hands were nearly touching.

I tilted my head. "I don't know. Any cost. No cost. Great cost." Who gave a fuck about cost.

"I would..." he frowned. "Save you, of course."

Of course.

Of course you would.

So....

I stared at Geoffrey for a time that seemed like hours in my mind. But it was only seconds...split seconds to memorize his face...to smell the hatred on him. God, he really HATED Snively so much. But what about me? I knew this would hurt. Me and HIM both.' What cost, though? Great cost...or none. We'd see, I guess.

Because I was sticking my hand out and going through with it. It landed with a dull thud on the center of Geoffrey's chest, right where the fur stuck out in thick plumes of white. He looked down at it with mild surprise.

"Maybe you can help me, Geoffrey. Because I can't quit just like that."

I have to be stabbed, maimed, and burned alive before I'll stop. Or at least, before I'll even SLOW down. My love is the horror movie villain that will NEVER die. I keep making sequel after sequel.

"Help you...how...mate?" He doesn't seem surprised now. He's curious. His eyes are probing at my chest again, and he doesn't even bother to hide it. Why should he, anyway? Everyone knows Geoffrey is a pervert, as well as being an asshole.

When someone has a deadly disease, sometimes the medicines they use for a cure actually kill the person too. They just hope that the disease is going to die before the person does.' If it does, then they nurse them back from the cusp of

death.' Somehow...I had a feeling THIS was going to be like

that.

"I need..." I bit my lip and stared at the skunk again. But it was too late. I'd already injected the killing medicine into my veins. Now I had to suffer...and PRAY that I could endure it.

If the disease that was Snively's rejection DIED...and I lived to embrace him...then it was worth it. It was worth the selling of my soul. Worth ANYTHING.

Oh sweet perverted degrading Geoffrey, I never knew you'd be my cure.

"I need someone to...create a threatening situation. To me."

"A threatening situation to you?" He finally looked at my face, searching. "I can think of plenty o' ways to do that, mate."

"It has to..." I stepped close to him, so that I could pitch my voice lower. Somehow, speaking lower made me

feel more dramatic.' Serious. No fucking-going-back serious.

"It has to RIP him apart inside. It has to..."

Make him scrap together all his reserves, for the cost would be almost too much to bear.

Or maybe it would cost nothing.

Who gave a fuck about cost, anyway?

**

At dinner, I sat beside Snively at our usual table, in the far corner of the room. He ate with one elbow propped on the table, eyeing the room for any Mobians who might come to cause trouble.

'How was your day?' I asked.

He grunted.

I reached my hand out and let my fingers touch his arm. Maybe there wouldn't be any need for my drastic measures. 'How about you come over to my place tonight? You don't need to be alone all the time.'

Another grunt. 'Please, Devon. I'm hardly alone all the time with you on my ass half the day.'

My features went into their set expression; a frown to cover up the hurt. But then, I thought, NO! Why should I cover up the pain he causes? He should KNOW! I let the frown slide so that my eyes were not shadowed. My tightly drawn lips slackened and began to tremble. 'Why do you say shit like that?' I hissed.

We had swam in the pool together. We had laid on the sun-warmed rocks. He had laughed. He ENJOYED my company. I knew the fucking liar loved to have me near. But now, he had to pull the cold-hearted trick again. Letting me in, then pushing me out.

His eyes had widened and he had faltered in bringing his fork to his mouth. I had surprised him. 'You know I don't mean it.' He shrugged.

It surprises you that I'm hurt, eh? Or surprises you that I finally show it, instead of letting you trample me?

I've got even BIGGER surprise in store for you, Snivvy-dear.

**

'So, you really want to do this little trick, eh?' Geoffrey had his feet propped up on the beat up coffee table that resided in front of his over-stuffed couch. I was sitting in a nearby armchair with a cup of tea that had gone cold.

'Yes. Definitely.'

He eyed me up and down, letting his eyes linger on my chest and folded legs.

Knock it off, prick. I might've said that, ordinarily.

I let it pass.

'What should I do then?' He grinned, reaching for some cookies on the table.'

I smirked. 'First off, we'll....'

**

The next few days, I did not spend with Snively. I was with Geoffrey. I saw Snively, a few times, walk by and eye the two of us, but he did not approach. He hated Geoffrey.

At dinner I ate with the skunk. I even accompanied him into his hut. And Snively saw it.

'What's going on, Devon?' He managed to catch me alone on the fourth day.

'What do you mean?' I asked sweetly.

He folded his arms, looking cross. 'Don't play dumb. Geoffrey. Why are you hanging around him?'

'Oh, I don't know,' I sniffed. 'Maybe because he appreciates my company.'

'I'm glad someone does...' Those soft lips curled into a sneer and then he turned away and left.

**

'He's noticed something's up. So now...this is where you come in.'

Geoffrey was draining a cup of coffee, standing on the edge of the light from the nightly bonfire.

'Alright, luv,' he said, smirking. 'Tomorrow...I'll let the little fuck have it.'

**

I wasn't around, but Geoffrey told me later.

Snively was at the ring pool, his spot of contemplation, and the place we loved to visit together. Geoffrey had come up to him, putting his chest to Sniv's thin bony one (I shudder to think of the feel of his ribs under my stroking hand...I love the feel of that...frailty and strength all at the same time...) and smirking down at him.

'What the hell, stinkbomb? Get out of my face.'

'That's a real hot girl you have, Snively.'

Snively wrinkled his nose, stepping away from Geoffrey. I could picture his eyes right now, the stunning blue narrowed and glinting. 'What girl, asshole? Devon, I assume?'

'Bloody hell, yes. She's a hot one. Too bad you're letting that hot little cunt go to waste, mate.'

Snively's mouth opened, and his cheeks flushed. He made a squeaking noise. 'Don't...you...'

'Don't what?' Geoffrey sneered.

Snively bared his teeth, his eyes narrowing even more. He always looked somewhat demonic when he did that. 'She put you up to this shit.'

Geoffrey laughed. 'Now why would I listen to some Overlander bitch?' He rubbed his knuckles on his thick white chestfur. 'Nah, I just thought I'd tell you the score.'

'Score?'

'Yeah. Snively 0, I'm betting. Geoffrey...well...let's just say Geoffrey's gotten a nice share of Overlander snatch this past week.'

Snively sniffed, shrugging like unconcerned. 'Sure you did, Geoffrey. What did she do, wear a gas mask to get that close to you?' he laughed harshly. 'I think I know her a bit better than that...'

'Apparently not, mate. She spread them creamy legs for me...real wide.'

My love's teeth were covered again by his sneering lips. He didn't look flustered or angry anymore. 'Give me a break, St. John. Go back to Devon and tell her to lay off the stupid tricks, already. I don't know what she's trying to accomplish here.'

Geoffrey smirked. 'Have it your way, mate. But believe me, it *ain't* no trick.' He walked off snickering.

'How did he look?' I asked.

'Pissed at first, like I said. Then he just blew it off.' Geoffrey shrugged. 'Looks like your little plan didn't cut it, hon.'

But I knew him much better than Geoffrey. His reaction to most distressing news was a carefully tempered nonchalant gaze. He'd long since learned to hide his emotions. Only when something really irked him, really startled him, did he falter. His stammering, his flash of anger at the thought of Geoffrey'having me? *That* was the truth. His care-less attitude was the *fake*. I knew it.

'Actually,' I said, smiling, 'I think it's going very well. We should keep it up.'

I was sitting in Geoffrey's armchair and he was sprawled out on his couch. He was smoking. I hated when people smoked indoors. The smell got everywhere.

He ground the cigarette out and looked at me, licking his lips. 'You wanna keep going?'

'Yes. Definitely.'

He shrugged. 'That's all well and good, luv, but what's in it for me?'

I blinked. 'The pleasure of helping me, of course.'

He laughed. 'Oh, what a great pleasure.'

'The pleasure of tormenting Snively then.' Yeah, he'd admit to that.

Another laugh. 'I can do that anytime, mate. And in much worse ways then this''

I frowned. 'Well then, what do you want? Money or something?'

Geoffrey leaned forward, looking intent. I didn't like his stare. It was'probing. 'Tell me, Devon'how far would you go to get him? Do you really want him *that* bad?'

More than you know, bastard. More than you could even *imagine*. I'm not sure anyone around here has ever had half of their soul misplaced, but I can tell you, it aches, it burns, and it torments like *hell.*

He leaned back, sprawling out his legs again. He looked comfortable. I felt rigid, like every muscle was locked.' 'Heh, you look pretty serious.'

'I'd go'across the oceans far. To hell. And all that,' I said finally, not really able to express it. Some things you just can't put into words.

'What price?'

There's that cost shirt again. Any. I can afford any price when the currency is my suffering.

I sighed. 'Any cost. I'd die for him.'

'Wow,' he whistled. 'Wish Sally felt that way about me.' He shook his head in disapproval. 'What a prick yer boy is. He don't know what he got.'

I smiled halfheartedly. 'Nope, he sure doesn't.'

'Alright,' said Geoff. 'Now that we have that cleared up.' He smiled nastily.

I thought about asking him just what he was thinking. But no. I wasn't going back. I would pay up, whatever price Stripey wanted.

'I'll keep on his ass for a while more''

**

Geoffrey sat across from Snively in the caf'.

Snively gave Geoff a glare, spooning oatmeal into his mouth.

'You know what I did to her next?' Geoffrey spoke in a slow gritty voice. 'Put my head between them legs and gave her a good lickin'. Should've seen her squirm.'

Snively swallowed the spoonful and dipped in for another.

Geoffrey leaned forward, licking his lips. 'She tastes damn good, mate. You ever had a lick of her?'

Snively tried to ignore him, but Geoffrey snatched the spoon away and slurped down the oatmeal. 'Yeah. Way sweeter than that,' he laughed, tossing the spoon back.

Snively scowled. 'Thanks for ruining my meal, shitface.'

Geoffrey leaned back. 'She was pretty hot after that. Drippin' like a faucet. I knew what she wanted.'

'A towel?' Snively sneered.

Geoffrey laughed. 'Maybe afterwards. Nah, mate, she wanted a good hard rootin'.'

'And did you give it to her?' Snively rolled his eyes.

'Frig yeah. She actually begged me to slow down ' I was going at her so hard.'

'Let me guess,' Snively drawled. 'Ya rooted her even harder. There was probably screaming involved.'

'You betcha, mate.'

Snively let out a snort and went back to his oatmeal.

'So cool,' Geoff taunted. 'A bit stiff under the table though, eh?'

Snively laughed. 'You only wish, Shitface.'

Underneath the table, Geoffrey raised his foot and ran it up Snively's leg, as if intending to plunk it into his lap and find out. Snively shifted back in his chair, kicking the offending foot away. "Bastard." He narrowed his eyes. "Seems you'd rather have me instead, Geoffrey."

Geoffrey laughed. "I'm not *that* sick."

**

Geoffrey was recapping the conversation for me. That last part. He said he'd laughed as he spoke to Snively. But when he told it to me, he looked anything but amused. He looked like he could murder.

Heh, maybe Snively is right. For once.

I chuckled aloud.

Geoffrey stopped speaking. He glared at me.

"Oh come on, Geoff," I said. "It's funny."

"Funny, huh." He snorted. "When a hairless little shrimp with a girly face accuses me of being a queer. In fact, Dev, we misewell just stop this whole shit now. The only reason your Snively is resisting you is because you have a pair of tits and a pussy."

His harsh language was jarring. I felt my face flush. Of course, that brought the smirk back to Geoffrey's face.

"Reminds me of something..." He fixed me with such an invasive look that I considered fleeing the room. "The payment. I mean...if you want me to keep this up...?"

Snively would break. He would. He would come to me in rage eventually and then...well you know... Maybe he'd be so furious that he'd have to express his rage. His *possessive* rage. Because Sniv considers me his property as much as I consider him mine. He'd have to prove his claims over me...he'd have to mark his territory. I shuddered to think of him marking me with his teeth and his fingers and his spit and his...

"Well?"

"I do."

"Heh good..." He was staring at my chest.

I sighed. "So what's this 'payment' you have in mind?"

He gave me an odd smile. "You aren't...'saving' yourself for Snively, are you?"

I blinked. Then I shrugged. "I don't really believe in that. If it's with your true love, it's going to be special, no matter what."

He leaned forward, looking very sly. "So you've fucked other people, eh?"

Like that's any of your business, you fuck. I felt my lips pull back from my teeth; I was snarling at him. He seemed to find it funny, because he smiled widely. But I answered. Because he was my hope...for the future of Snively and I.

"Yeah. I have."

"Heh...that's hot..." He said, his eyes roaming my body.

"What's your point?" I asked bluntly. DaSilva says I'm dumb as a post sometimes, but I mostly just play it. Sometimes if you act really stupid, people will just give up on you, and leave you alone.

Not so with Geoffrey. "That's my price," he said.

Oh boy. But I should have known. That's the whole reason I sought out Geoffrey in the first place; he was a freak, a pervert. He was atrocious. He was staring at me with hunger in his eyes.

I opened my mouth. I was going to recant. I'm bowing out on you, Snively. I saw his face...his frozen-lake eyes. And when Geoffrey goaded him, the ice had broken for a minute.

They stirred. Melting ice.

I couldn't back out, Fuck no, not when I had a chance to thaw those eyes.

So, I said yes.

**

I went up to Snively the next day. He was at our spot on the rock by the Power Ring pool.

"Oh..." he said, regarding me with a raised eyebrow. "So, you're finally talking to me, eh? Had enough of the 'Geoffrey's Whore' act?"

I felt my stomach curl. My Gods, you know, I never considered that maybe my actions would sicken Snively further. Maybe he would think I was utterly untouchable. Not just as his cousin, but as a whore now, as well.

No, let's not even think that. Snively's jealousy would lead him to try to take away 'Geoffrey's whore'. Especially since the whore is me. Snively loves me. If I'm to be anyone's whore, he'll want me to be his.

"Nah," I said, giving him a coy look. "I kind of like being Geoffrey's whore."

He grunted and tossed a pinecone into the Ring pool. "Well, don't come near me then. I don't want to smell his stink."

"I fucked him last night," I said, all casual, while I smoothed back my bangs with one hand.

"Ugh." He threw another pinecone and glared at me. "Honestly, Devon, how can you say that with a straight face?"

"It's true..." I shuddered despite myself. Snively was staring at my face...and I saw Geoffrey's face. His lips were rough and demanding. When Snively reached a hand to scratch at his knee, I felt Geoffrey's fingers moving up my thigh.

"Sick. How can you even imagine doing that?" Snively shook his head.

"I didn't imagine it." I came closer. "He and I...did it. Don't tell him, Sniv, but you're such a better kisser. His lips are kind of chapped and rough. Yours...." I was staring at them right now..so full and pouty they were. I swear, Sniv had lips some girls would die for. "Are so soft..."

I wanted to kiss him, quite badly, but Snively pulled his head away when I tried.

"So Dev, what position did you get into?" He sneered. "I always imagined you would pretty take-charge. On top and all that."

I felt my knees weaken. Sniv was wrong about the position, though I had imagined him and I making love many times. I didn't even care about the position when it came to Sniv and me. He could have me whatever way he wanted. The image of me on top of him nearly sent me swooning to the ground.

"I..." I had to clear my throat. "Don't think that's any of your business, Snivvy-dear."

"It was -your- topic of conversation, not mine." He retorted, heaving another pinecone into the still waters. "The idea of Geoffrey fucking -anyone- is an image I'd rather -not- imagine, thank you."

"Awww," I cooed. "You're just *jealous*."

He laughed and shook his head. "Of you? No, Dev, you can have Geoffrey all to yourself."

'Nice try, Sniv...' I leaned closer to him. Oh, to have a camera, a fine camera with macro, to photograph those eyes of liquid sky, and every fine curling eyelash. For my wall, poster-size. 'I meant, you're jealous of HIM.'

'You think so?' His soft lips sneered.

'Yup.' I touched my hands to his cheek. He didn't move. He stared down, into me, as if mesmerized. I knew he was fucking with me. I'd move to kiss him, and he'd turn his face away, just to piss me off. He'd play captive till the very last moment. I think he gets a kick out of it.

'His hands all over my skin, Sniv... Just think. He ran his hands through my hair ' too rough. He treats it too much like fur. I just know...you'd be so much better. At all of it.'

'Do you want me to prove it?' He asked, his voice soft. Our faces were so close that I was breathing his exhaled breath.

'Can you?'

He slid one hand up my cheek, into the fire locks of my hair. He leaned closer ' my breath caught in my lungs.

'I could...' he whispered right against my lips, the slightest teasing touch. I didn't dare lock the kiss. I knew he'd pull back. Damn you, don't do this. Pull away, or...before I have to take a breath. Taking a breath is going to break it all, I know, but I'm getting dizzy here.

His hand in my hair pulls, he breaches the distance between our mouths(what a small distance to bridge, and yet...so far when it comes to things that can be captured, and kept!)... his lips are warm and wet and soft against mine. So much better than Geoffrey's, so 'tender', if such a word can apply to Snively.

This kind of thing...this... 5 seconds at the most?...is the thing I would die for.

My eyes are half-closed in pleasure, my face flushed; I must look star-struck to him. His mouth curves into an unreadable smile, but I'm sure he's laughing at me inside. As much as Snively complains about me, part of me knows he gets some enjoyment out of the way I, so enraptured, so bound to him...how I am the only person he has ultimate power over.

'And what does that prove, Devon?'

I'm running my tongue over my lips, wishing the taste of him will stay forever, though if it did, I'd be in a state of perpetual drunkenness.'

'You tell me.'

'Proves that your stories about Geoffrey are bunk.' He sniffed.

'Why? Because I enjoyed your kiss?'

'Because you couldn't stand to lose them.'

Now, I scoffed, if only to show him (falsely) that he didn't command that ultimate power as he thought. 'Oh, really? And how can losing something I hardly ever get be so unbearable? His kisses might not be as good, admittedly, but at least there's plenty of them.'

'It's quantity over quality you want then, eh?'

Now I know he's just fucking with me. It's all some ludicrous game to him. But no...I know it's NOT. The tenderness...the feel of his hands...THEY speak the TRUTH. The kiss enchanted him. He loved it. But...he can't let me know that. He has to pass it off as a game.

'No. But it's something I'd rather have more of, then less. And if he wants to give it...' I turned my nose up. 'Then that's YOUR loss.'

'Well...as you said, losing something you don't get much of isn't much of a loss, is it?' He sneered in my face, treating me to one more dazzling view of his eyes, and then he left.

I stood, pondering. I had made him jealous, all right. But would it be enough? He had crumbled enough to kiss me, on his own. Should I not push it any further? Making him too jealous will make him resentful, and oh, does my dear Snivvy hold a long and mean grudge. But how far can I make him crumble if I continue with Geoffrey?

I don't...really want to...

I don't want to let Geoffrey touch me again. It's not rape...but...it's not wanted. It's only unpleasant necessity.

But is it necessary anymore?