By the Lakeside

By Ape32

Copyrights: I own nothing. Everything here is a copyright of SEGA, Dic, and Archie. If I owned this, I’d be living a much different life, wouldn’t I?

Take note that this fic takes place during what would have been the third season of SatAM, just so that there is no confusion as to what’s going on.

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It was evening in Knothole, and Bunnie Rabbot could not suppress her sigh.

Normally the cybernetic lagomorphic lass enjoyed the evening, walking around the outer perimeter of Knothole and just taking in the sounds of the forest at night. Normally it reminded her of happier times; of a childhood spent in the countryside, getting into all sorts of mischief in the woods that were only a walk away from her family’s home. Normally it was enough to make her smile… but not tonight.

In fact, she had been doing little in the way of smiling these days. There was little TO smile about…

A frown marred her beautiful face as she thought about it. It wasn’t fair… it just wasn’t fair! She angrily kicked a stone as she walked on, sending it speeding like a bullet through the air and imbedding it into the side of a tree; a series of indignant squawks were heard, followed by the rustling of the branches and leaves as a trio of birds vacated their verdant resting spot in a hurry. Bunnie gave an embarrassed grimace and rubbed the back of her head… THAT was certainly unexpected. After an awkward pause, she resumed her walk; and with it, resumed her thoughts of the past few weeks… the frown that had once been in place was now a scowl.

It really hadn’t been fair...

It all seemed so good at first. Robotnik was gone; at long last the tyrant, the monster that had torn apart everything near and dear to her and so many others was defeated! Gone forever it seemed; sure his wretch of a nephew had taken over in his stead, trying his hand at the world ruler game. But Snively was no Robotnik; smart as he was, he simply lacked the demonic cunning and horrible planning ability that had enabled his uncle to conquer an entire planet in one fell swoop, and then proceed to turn most of that planet into an industrial hell seen only in the realms of nightmare. Snively hadn’t seemed like much of a problem, and final victory was all but assured.

How wrong they were. How horribly, horribly wrong they were. While the destruction of the Doomsday Project and the defeat of Robotnik had been cause for a much deserved celebration, the use of the deep power stones had had an unforeseen consequence. The excess power wrought by their activation had unleashed an incredible amount of energy across mobius; energy which had a side effect of weakening the barriers between certain dimensions. It was because of this that, on the eve of what was to be Snively’s defeat, the freedom fighters’ victory was snatched away by the claw of a foe long forgotten.

Ixis Naugus had returned from the Void, having developed a way to counteract the crystallization effect that occurred with overexposure to the Void. With that weakness gone, there was nothing to prevent Ixis from using his magic to establish HIS own rule. And with him came a string of failures… a string of crushed hopes in crescendo with a counterpoint of mounting despair. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the arcane tyrant had seen fit to bring back an ugly face from the past; Robotnik. While it was admittedly a great pleasure to see the ‘big round guy’ serving as a groveling lackey, it was a cold comfort at best. Naugus remained in power, and despite everyone’s best efforts he showed little signs of going anywhere anytime soon.

One small victory had been gleaned; the return and rescue of King Acorn after his long exile in the void. Naugus had intended to use him as bait to trap Sally, but thanks to Sonic that plan went south in a hurry. That had been cause enough for celebration, and thinking of Sal being so happy reunited with her father brought a mental smile to the rabbot… but privately, despite the celebrations, despite the cheers, despite the joy of her friends she was not entirely convinced. She was getting tired of it; so tired of the battle NEVER ending, of freedom continuing to evade her grasp, tired of being… well, a rabbot.

It was at this moment that she realized she had veered off course and was now as far away from Knothole as she hadn’t wanted to get. She groaned in exasperation and shook her head. “Ya’ll are makin’ a right fine example of a dumb bunny, girl,” she grumbled to herself as she halted and took in her surroundings. She recognized the area as just outside the lake, from the ring generator; sighing again at her absentmindedness she turned around and started to leave… when she heard a splash from behind her. THAT halted her in her tracks, and she turned her head curiously.

Again, another splash could be heard.

Now who else would be out here at this hour? She asked herself, scratching her head. Her right ear perked at yet another splash, and she shrugged and headed towards the lake. It was not as if she really had anything better to do this evening, and who knew, maybe whoever it was throwing rocks into the lake might make for good conversation. With that in mind, she headed out to the lake, approaching from the bushes as stealthily as she could manage… and stared in slack jawed shock upon viewing the figure by the lakeside, sullenly hunched over and throwing rocks into the liquid mass.

It was Snively.

When Naugus had come into power, Snively had been reduced to a nobody, a nothing in the great scheme of things. In his desperation, he joined up with the Freedom Fighters after aimlessly wandering the great forest and coming upon Knothole quite by accident. Despite the reservations and protests of the village, Sally had allowed the malignant little man to join with them, under strict supervision of course. That he was out here alone was shocking; that he was by the power ring pool was downright distressing. “Hey!” she shouted out as she moved past the bushes, making her presence known. “What’re ya’ll doin here?!” she demanded hotly.

Snively responded by squeaking in terror and cringing, before realizing who it was that was yelling at him. The fear vanished from his hairless visage, instantly transforming back into his typical blank expression. “Throwing rocks into the lake. What else does it look like I’m doing, Ms. Rabbot?” he sneered sardonically. Bunnie was not amused, and her frown deepened.

“Don’t get funny with me, wise guy! Ya’ll know yer not supposed to be out alone! Who was lookin’ over ya tonight?” she marched right up to Snively and set her hands to her hips, looking down at the bald human suspiciously. Snively on the other hand rolled his eyes and snorted in disdain.

“That cowardly coyote saw fit to fall asleep on the job. I just took the opportunity to better acquaint myself with the area,” he shrugged before returning his attentions to the lake again and picking up another stone, this time skidding it over the lake surface.

Bunnie groaned at Snively’s explanation; it WOULD be like Ant to take a little snooze. The fact that Snively had somehow managed to escape his hut without alarming Antoine was faintly disturbing to the southern belle bunny. Still, she would not cease her interrogation. “First of all, sugah-‘Twan ain’t a coyote. Secondly, yer not allowed to be outside of Knothole on yer own!”

“Oh yes, such sinister machinations I have been plotting. Tossing stones into lakes is the new leading form of sending coded messages over long distances! I’ve just single handedly doomed you all to the wrath of Naugus, all because I wandered away from my shoddy little hut and tossed some rocks in a lake!” Snively’s sarcastic rant was accompanied by his waving his hands around dramatically, accentuating the sarcasm and near indignation of the rant all the further.

Bunnie’s narrowed her eyes down at him, “Don’t get smart-mouthed with me, Sniv. Ya’ll know yer gonna be in trouble fer this.”

“Like I give a damn,” Snively rolled his eyes and resumed his rock throwing, “Though if you’re so hopped up on dragging me back to that hut, do get on with it.”

Bunnie was half tempted to do just that, after conking the twerp on the head with her bionic arm. She resisted the violent urge and instead raised her hand and opened her mouth… but no words came out. As she saw the situation, quite frankly it seemed a little silly; getting so worked up over Snively being out here. There wasn’t much he could do; he was alone, without the robots, the weapons and the torture devices that had backed him during his time as Robotnik’s second in command. All he had from those days was the uniform he’d worn, now scraggly and rather ratty looking (when it was suggested he go without it he’d thrown such a terrifying fit that no one ever brought it up again). With that in mind she just sighed, and looked down at him. “What exactly are ya’ll doing out here anyway?”

“Didn’t we already cover this?” Snively rolled his eyes and tossed yet another rock into the lake. Bunnie smacked her forehead.

“Answer the question already, sug, this conversation’s goin’ in circles fast,” Bunnie stated in a relatively no-nonsense tone. Her face then lost all traces of hostility and suspicion, as did her voice. “Now really, Snively; what’re ya’ll doin’ out here?” Snively gave her an appraising look, his eyes searching hers for signs of deceit or some ulterior motive. Finding none he turned his attentions back to the lake, and tossed in another stone.

“Just enjoying some alone time,” he stated simply as he stared out into the lake. “I was getting sick of being confined to that hut and having one of your furballs following me around everywhere I go. I got quite enough of that during my service to Robotnik, thank you very much.”

Being compared to Robotnik in ANY way rankled the rabbot some, but she decided it was not worth the effort to take issue with shrimp-boats insult. Idly she walked up to the spot next to him and sat down as simple as that, staring out into the beautiful lake just as the human did. After a moment she again spoke, “Weird, ain’t it? Us being sorta civilized with eachother.”

“Indeed,” Snively drawled then looked at her with a raised brow, “I’ll admit that I’m a tad curious as to why you HAVEN’T dragged me back to the village to be reprimanded and imprisoned.”

“Well,” Bunnie shrugged, “Ah can’t rightfully say Ah know a good answer fer that. Ah guess Ah just don’t have the energy tonight… and anyways, Ah’ve never really spoken with ya before.”

“Why would you even want to hold a conversation with me?” Sniv’s brow remained raised, and his tone grew incredulous. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the big bad second in command of Robotnik; the devil’s right hand himself.” A creepy smirk graced the gaunt face, the kind of smile that lacked any warmth or soul behind it. The kind of expression Bunnie loathed above all others. However, she would not let that get her down; she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d perturbed her.

“Yeah well, let’s say Ah’m curious. Ah mean, you’ve been there beside Robotnik for all those years…and I never could figure why.” Bunnie admitted, “Why would ya help someone who treated ya like garbage?” At this she eyed him curiously, waiting for his response. It was something that had crossed her mind from time to time; from what she witnessed, interactions between the tyrant and his lackey were hardly gentle or respectful. “Ah know he was yer uncle and all, but still…”

“You couldn’t possibly understand,” Snively snorted, eyes narrowing and his gaze returning to the lake.

“So help me to understand. Ah think Ah deserve to know why ya helped him torture us and our world and destroy so many lives.” She’d meant to sound defiant, or angry, but… reminding herself about lives destroyed had inadvertently reminded her of her own ‘disfigurement’ at the hands of Robotnik. As such her voice came out sadder then she’d have wanted, and she rubbed her metallic limb self consciously with her organic one. In all honesty she did not expect a real response or answer; Snively was infamous for backtalk, smarminess, sarcasm, and general attitudes that made most want to strangle him.

Snively however did not give her the usual response; no insults or rudeness or anything like that. He turned his head to face her, a curious expression on his face. “You REALLY want to know?”

“Well, yeah…” Bunnie cocked her ear slightly. “Wouldn’t hurt if Ah did, would it?”

“You’d be surprised,” Snively murmured cryptically but didn’t elaborate. Instead he just sighed, figuring ‘what the hell’. So far this was the most decent conversation he’d had in over a decade, even if it was with one of his former enemies. “I guess its not just one thing, it was a lot of things…” he admitted. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

“Hey, Ah got time,” Bunnie finally smiled for the first time in the night, “Not like anything else is goin’ on now is it? Besides, Ah like long stories.”

“Riiiight,” Snively drawled, but the moment of sarcasm was gone. He set his hands together and sighed. “First of all I must ask you, Ms. Rabbot; do you even know what species I am?”

THAT threw Bunnie for a loop. She blinked once in confusion; true she had thought about it and wondered what indeed he and his uncle were, but in light of more pressing matters had never thought deeply on the subject. Snively took her stunned silence as an answer, and nodded his head.

“Exactly. Aside from Julian and myself, there are no others of our race on this world. Early on that was one of the factors keeping me with him, even as he changed before my eyes into a lunatic… the simple fact that I he was another of my kind,” Snively explained, a bitter chuckle escaping his throat. “Of course, after a while, I began to realize how little that meant in his eyes…”

“What exactly is yer species?” Bunnie asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Human.” Snively said without missing a beat. “My race, my species is human. You won’t know much about us, Julian and I were the only ones here on Mobius. My people were from another world, Earth.”

The revelation of his extraterrestrial origins was not too much of a shock to Bunnie; even as a small child she’d heard about two strangers from beyond the stars who’d changed the world…first for the better, then for the worse.

Snively continued.

“Julian was a scientist then… but he was different. He was family, real family. I was living with him since I was a child, my parents had died in a vehicular accident,” Snively continued on. Bunnie set a hand to her mouth at the revelation about his family.

“Oh, sug, Ah’m so sorry…” Snively however raised a hand before she could continue.

“Don’t,” he said severely. “Don’t say you’re sorry, don’t give me your sympathies or anything like that. I… made peace with their deaths long ago, and I don’t need to have anymore apologies said for something that happened so long ago.” He sounded confident, he sounded annoyed; but there was a hint, a real hint of sadness. It was only that that prevented Bunnie from getting annoyed at him for giving her attitude when she tried to show him some sympathy. Instead she just nodded.

“Alright. A’m sorry for interrupting… please continue.”

“Thank you. What else can be said? Julian was my only family after my parents death; he was my mentor, my provider, my only friend… I loved and trusted him implicitly. So when he asked for my help in overthrowing king Acorn after the Great War, what else could I say but yes?” Snively explained, and let out a sigh at the end of the portion of his tale. He had been so foolish not to see it back then, so eager and willing… it had sounded like fun. Take over the world from the furballs, rule it alongside Uncle Julian. He had been so naïve…

“What do ya mean yer only friend?” Bunnie’s inquisitive voice interrupted his reminiscing. She was now drawn in by her enemy’s tale. She had never honestly expected there to be more to him then what he had shown them, and now she was very curious.

“Isn’t that veering away from the ‘why did you help fatso’ question?” Snively raised a brow and eyed her suspiciously.

“If ya didn’t want to explain it, why bring it up sugah?” Rabbot said smartly, shrugging at the human and smiling slyly.

“Touché,” murmured Snively, who now privately cursed himself for letting that detail slip. He straightened up and straightened out his uniform. “Very well then… as a child I had little in the ways of friends. I was mentally astute, but physically I was underdeveloped and strange looking, qualities that did not lend members of my own age group to wish to associate with me,” Snively said tersely, but then his eyes narrowed and suddenly his tone went from terse to bitter, “Unless it was about tormenting me. Especially that wretched dumb-ass jock Percival! Always stuffing me in lockers or down the toilet, pulling my nose or tossing my lunch onto my head…!” by now he was no longer talking to his mobian companion and was now ranting to himself, causing Bunnie to raise her brow so high it may as well have left her face. Before he could go any deeper into the tale her hand shot to in front of his face and snapped her fingers, in turn snapping him back to his senses. Seeing the look he was getting from Bunnie, he scrambled to regain his composure, and soon looked as if nothing had happened. “But, I digress…”

Bunnie just chuckled and shook her head, “Snively, ya’ll are a right piece of work.”

Snively rolled his eyes, “Oh dear god, you sound like my mo-” his eyes widened as he caught his words in his throat, clamping his mouth shut and snapping his head to face the lake again before he could let anymore out. Bunnie winced, and for a while said nothing, leaving the two in awkward silence.

“For what it’s worth, Ah really am sorry Snively,” Bunnie sighed, breaking the silence. Snively didn’t respond, and instead sullenly curled up on himself and just started to glare out at the lake. Bunnie however was not about to have any of it. “I know that don’t mean much to you, coming from my mouth, but I do mean it. No one deserves to lose their mother so young…”

“Like you give a damn,” he snarled viciously, his eyes on fire. “Like ANY of you give a damn about me or my life. You’re only giving me your sympathy because now you actually know something about me! You wouldn’t have cared otherwise.”

Bunnie however did not flinch at the accusation, or the tone in his voice, and instead frowned at him. “Ya’ll can accept mah sympathy or not, but what Ah’m tellin’ ya is the gospel truth; Ah really am sorry to know ya had yer mom taken from ya like that. Ya’ll can accept it or fling it back in my face, but that’s what I feel and nothin’ you say or do is gonna change it.”

“Then do us both a favor and don’t insult me with your pretentious assumption that I want your sympathy,” Snively said icily.

“Fine then, Ah won’t commit the awful crime of treatin’ ya like yer a feelin’ being deservin’ of anything save hatred and contempt,” Bunnie rolled her eyes and leaned her head on her organic hand. “Speakin’ of hatred, since we’re tryin’ to get me to understand ya and all, care to answer me why you hate us so much?”

“I beg your pardon?” Snively sneered incredulously.

“Ya’ll heard me, Sniv,” Bunnie shot back. “Ah wanna know what it is we did that was so gotdanged awful to ya that you had to love causin’ us so much harm over the years!”

Snively’s hateful glare turned so dark that it could have blotted out the sun and envelope the world in a night far deeper then the current one. “You want to know why I hated you, hated your kind so much?” he hissed his eyes narrowed to slits. He didn’t give Bunnie time to respond before he continued. “Because every time you little freedom fools won, every time you succeeded in a mission, I ended up paying the price for it. Julian could never handle defeat gracefully, and guess who ended up playing the role of ‘stress relief’?” he had the smile from earlier; that horrible, joyless smile, devoid of anything substantial. It was not the smile that struck Bunnie though, it was his words, his account of things. She knew that Robotnik abused his nephew, but she really hadn’t known that it had happened with such frequency, and her widened eyes displayed the sudden horrible understanding she now bore, but she did not speak… she could not speak, and in her hesitation Snively continued on. “Oooh yes, Ms. Rabbot,” he smiled nastily as he looked down at her, “While you and you’re friends were celebrating every victory, I was learning lessons in pain, a new lesson for every time you won! So much of the hell I endured under that fat bastard, is directly YOUR fault! All of yours!” The rant was taking its toll on him, his chest heaving as he panted and glared down at her hatefully. “Robotnik may have been an evil, sadistic son of a bitch, but you… you were the ones who set him off! It was not enough for him to torture me when his sporadic moods hit him, but he also had to use me to blow off some steam! That hedgehog…” Snively growled and clenched his hands into fists, “That hedgehog was responsible for so much of my pain… but there! Now you know why I hated you all! HAPPY?!”

Snively, strangely, felt rather good after the rant. It was cathartic… being able to speak his mind without fear of reprimand was good for the soul he found, to his delight. He adored being able to just verbally tear into someone, to just let it go. And yet as he stared before him, down at the rabbit, he did not feel the glow of victory like he expected. In fact he felt somewhat hollow. She was not reduced to tears, she was not begging forgiveness or anything like that… she just looked up at him with a sadness so palpable that even his shrunken sense of empathy could feel it. His grin, having risen to a demented leer, began to shrink as he caught his breath and realized her scrutiny. By the time she started to arise, the smile was gone… why wasn’t it like he pictured?

She set a hand, the organic one, to his shoulder. He flinched, but only slightly, and then realized she was looking him in the eye. “Snively…” she began with a sad sigh, “Honey, what yer uncle put you through was an atrocity. No one who knows what I know now can deny that but… ya gotta understand, we weren’t trying to hurt you. We just wanted our lives back… fer things to go back the way they were, before yer uncle sent everythin’ to hell an’ back. Ya’ll coulda left him, and I know you were afraid, but ya’ll had that option; ya coulda gotten away from him.”

Snively squirmed at her touch; he wanted to withdraw and viciously deny what she had told him, to sink back into that little bubble of spite and hate that he so often used as his shield. He found that he could not do that. Spiritually the rant had taken its toll on him, and even within the depths of his egomania he had to admit that her words rang true. “It…wouldn’t have been that easy,” he said hoarsely.

“Ya’ll don’t know that,” she countered gently.

“No… no it really wasn’t,” Snively insisted as he slowly resumed sitting by the lakeside and staring out into its depths. “I knew Robotnik would find me and capture me, and make what little would remain of my life a living hell. And I didn’t know what your people would do. I just… didn’t want to die.”

Bunnie just sighed; the past was the past, and there was no point in trying to convince him of what he could’ve done. Part of her felt a fiery indignation; a desire to yell at him and make him acknowledge his mistake. To maybe force him to acknowledge the full extent of the harm he’d done to her kind… but no. That wouldn’t solve anything at this point, so for now she let it go. She sat down next to him again and joined the human in staring out into the depths of the lake.

Another period of awkward silence.

Snively began to scratch at the shoulder of his uniform, his brow furrowing in annoyance. “Blasted thing, stupid materials….” He groused as he continued to scratch at it. That break in the gloominess wrought from the prior conversation caused Bunnie to giggle some.

“Why do ya’ll wear that ratty thing if’n if it’s so dang itchy?”

Snively gave the grinning rabbit an incredulous look. “It’s the only decent set of clothing I have. I am NOT running around in the nude!” he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking for all intents and purposes like a sullen child. This only caused Bunnie to giggle all the more.

“Aaw, why ya gotta be all uptight Sniv? Ya don’t see Sally or Sonic gettin’ all indignant like!” she playfully shoved the little man, who flailed his arms around wildly before setting her with a glare.

“Okay then, wise girl, why do YOU wear a top?” he challenged, his gaze appraising. Bunnie’s mirth suddenly faltered, and she stared at him in shock.

“Ah beg yer pardon?!” from under her fur, she flushed crimson.

Now it was Snively’s turn to smirk. “You heard me, fuzzy; why do YOU insist on wearing clothing?”

Bunnie crossed her arms over her chest, almost self-consciously. “That’s none of yer business.”

Snively grinned widely. “Whaaat? You have a whole body of fur covering you up. So why the extra?” he shrugged, keeping his eyes on her. The rabbot blushed further and looked away from him, speaking tersely.

“None. Of. Yer. BEESWAX!” She huffed and turned away from him. Snively just grinned and chuckled nasally to himself. Mobian and human concepts of nudity and coverage were actually quite similar; the simple difference was that most mobian “bits” were covered by a healthy layer of fur. Snively had easily deduced her reasoning for wearing the clothing; he just wanted to get a rise out of her. With smashing results!

“Oh do calm down, Ms. Rabbot. At least now you know why I’m so dead set against removing my uniform, ratty as it is.” Snivley chuckled. “Honestly, I don’t see why you’d be acting so self conscious.”

Bunnie suddenly let out a sad, sad sigh, and Snively winced at the blunder. In that moment her roboticized limbs seemed to shine brighter, the hateful legacy of Robotnik becoming clearer to the former lackey’s view. He recalled how often in private Robotnik would sometimes rant about her, his ‘unfinished business’. It was never quite the same as when he’d talk about the hedgehog; that one he reserved such malice that chilled Snively to the bones. But still, it was something that occupied a certain space in the madman’s mind. Snively wanted to apologize, or at least a part of him did… but as was typical in these situations a more bitter part of him spoke first as his gaze hardened. “Oh don’t act up,” he stated snippily, “It’s not like that’s really permanent, and besides which you at least have acceptance here.”

“Snively,” she asked in a tired voice as she turned to face him, “Have ya’ll ever seen me outside of the usual gang?”

Snively opened his mouth… then closed it. When he thought about it, it occurred to him that he really never did see her outside of the usual group. Bunnie took his silence as answer enough and continued. “Sure, Sally-girl and sugah-hog accept me along with ‘Twan, Rote, Tails-honey and Dulcy. But outside of them? Ah I get stares, whispered comments, even a couple’ a rumors now an’ then…” she sighed, and Snively stared at her in shock. “Sometimes Ah just get so sick of it too. I mean I’m out there riskin’ mah rear for ‘em, and a lot of ‘em can only focus on what makes me different.” She started to rub her arm again.

“I… I didn’t know…” Snively murmured. “I’d always assumed your kind accepted you irregardless of your condition. I always assumed that even if you failed you could at least turn to your people for comfort…” for the first time in a long while, the small human felt ashamed of himself. He had honestly thought that the mobians were a bunch of new age hippies who’d tolerate any kind of abnormality amongst their own. It was quite apparent he was very, very wrong. His mind suddenly wandered to the two-tailed fox, Miles. Had that young kit undergone similar treatment with Knothole’s resident children? Snively knew better then most about how cruel children could be, and at that sudden moment he felt an uncharacteristic sympathy for the young fox swell in his chest. Bunnie’s face and tone suddenly went from the melancholy and faint bitterness of a few moments ago to a more sunny and cheerful disposition, distracting Snively from his thoughts.

“Aw, don’t dwell on it sugah. Ah’m more then used to it by now, and as long as I got mah friends, who cares what they think?” she beamed, but Snively could easily detect the feint traces of hurt underneath. At the moment he decided not to challenge her assertion. Not to mention in a way she was right… he sighed and leaned his head on his hands. A friend or two would have been nice back in Robotropolis. Especially when Julian was on the rampage… he had no clue that he was staring at the lake again, his expression glum. Normally he could keep a good grip on his emotions, but tonight he just couldn’t… or was it something to do with his companion for the night?

Bunnie however may as well have been a mind reader. She knew that look, that posture, that tone; a mind reader she wasn’t, but empathetic she was. And she knew that Snively was considering the fact that he honestly had no one. It didn’t settle right with the rabbot… and then she got an idea. She couldn’t stand to see people like this, even a miserable twerp like Snively (though to be fair her normal assessment of the former foe was rapidly changing). Her face became determined, and she scotched over next to the morose human who was so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed she was so close to him. She leaned her head near his… and promptly gave him a peck on the cheek.

THAT certainly got the human’s attention.

His eyes shot open, wide as saucers and his face flushed deep crimson. He jerked away from her so quickly it would have impressed even Sonic, sputtering terribly as he tried to find his voice. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” he shrieked in indignation, his expression such a pure example of embarrassed shock that it should have had its own placed in a dictionary. His outraged grey-blue orbs stared right into her own leafy green eyes, and she chuckled warmly.

“Well, ya’ll looked like ya could use some cheerin’ up so I figured ‘why not’?” she shrugged and smiled. Snively just shook his head at her words.

“Ugh, you’ve no idea where I’ve BEEN! What if I have some kind of contagious disease?” he demanded, the blush still remained on his face. Bunnie just giggled and smiled sweetly.

“Well, where HAVE ya’ll been?” she smirked, to which Snively could only sputter indignantly and curl up on himself, hands over his knees and knees pressed to his chest, while dark mumbling could be heard as he just glared out into the lake. Bunnie giggled yet again before letting out a small yawn. “Oh mah stars, but Ah do believe it’s gettin’ late. Time for me ta hit the hay!” She stood up and smiled down at the still sullen, pouting human. “G’night Snively. Sweet dreams.” And with that, she started to leave, still smiling and lightly chuckling to herself.

“Colin.”

“What?” Bunnie stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the back of Snively. What had he just said?

“My name is Colin,” Snively sighed out and looked over his shoulder at her. “Snively is just a nickname that refused to shrivel up and die… my full name is Colin Kintobor Jr.” He turned his head to face the lake again. “I just figured that I should at least tell someone what my name really is…”

Bunnie cocked her head curiously, then smiled gently. “Well, thanks fer lettin’ me now, sugah-Sniv. G’night, Colin.”

“Good night, Ms. Rabbo… good night, Bunnie,” Snively replied in turn before raising a brow and looking over his shoulder one more time. “You’re just going to leave me out here? Unguarded?”

“Any reason ah shouldn’t?” Countered the rabbot, hands on her hips. “Ah mean after sharing a conversation with ya, Ah’d like to think Ah could trust ya’ll to go back to yer hut without me having ta drag ya there. But if ya’ll insist on me doing that…”

“Nononono!” Snively turned around fully and waved his hands frantically. “No need for that, Ms. Rabbot! I was just wondering, that’s all. I’ll go back to my hut when I’m good and ready, thank you. No need to drag me off and alert the entire village.” When his high pitched protests finished, a calmer look came upon him as he raised a brow and spoke in a voice that sounded almost mystified. “Do you really trust me? At least, trust me enough to leave me here?” his eyes were questing, looking for hints of deceit or trickery. Julian had enjoyed playing mind games with him, and quite frankly Snively felt well within his rights to be wary. Besides which, the idea of anyone trusting him was a foreign concept to one who’s life’s credo had been ‘trust no one’ for the last ten years or so… and it brought about alien, long forgotten emotions within him.

Much like that kiss had done…

Bunnie looked down at him, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes before she finally let out a sigh. “Yes, Snively, Ah really do trust ya to not make mischief if Ah leave ya here on yer lonesome. Yer a member of the Freedom Fighters now, whether we like it or not, and eventually we gotta start treatin’ ya like a member… though ya’ll could lose the attitude,” she smirked, to which Snively scoffed.

“We’ll see, Ms. Rabbot. We’ll see…. Good night,” he nodded to her before returning his attentions to the lake.

“Good night, sugah-Sniv.” And with that she was off, leaving the area with considerably more spring in her step then when she’d had her conversation with the irritable little man. In a few moments she was gone, leaving Snively alone once more with his thoughts. At the moment he was a jumble of confused emotions and conflicting thoughts, finding himself at war with himself. Most of which focused upon the kiss the rabbit had given him. It had been his first kiss, sort of. He’d never been treated so kindly by anyone in a long number of years, and he found that his icy little heart was thawing out… it scared him, and not the way Julian’s anger had. This was the kind of fear that only a personal change would bring about, the kind of fear that came with epiphany. Was it possible he had been wrong? Was it possible he could find acceptance here? Maybe… a home?

A scowl graced his face. No, no that would not be. The mobians would always remember him as Robotnik’s second in command, and that was that. He couldn’t really say he’d blame them for that; after all, he wouldn’t give himself mercy if he was they now would he? No… he was just here because it was either this or Naugus, and just thinking about what that twisted monstrosity of a mage would do to him caused his blood to run icy cold. Yes, it was just in his best interest that he remain here… and then his thoughts returned to Bunnie, and he squirmed in discomfort. She had treated him with kindness and even put up with his spiteful words, to say nothing of his past actions. He couldn’t understand it; she should have hated him with every inch of her being. And yet she didn’t… maybe she did mean it? Maybe she honestly, truly trusted him? Maybe at least she… could accept him?

Out of nowhere it occurred to him that he had not thanked her for the kiss (the memory of which brought a flush to his cheeks), nor did he apologize for the roboticization of her limbs. He sighed heavily, feeling the foreign sensation of guilt creep upon him… he would be sure to do so at his next convenience, he told himself. He suddenly felt his eyes grow heavy and a felt a yawn escape his mouth. Mental anguish or not, it was getting late, and he needed to get back to his hut. Standing up he gave one last look upon the lake before turning around and heading back through the woods. He was almost half-tempted to head over to Bunnie’s hut if only to make amends and give the rabbot her due, but he was well aware that by now she was most likely asleep. And so he plodded off to his hut, his mind still playing over the conversation in his mind, even touching the cheek where she had kissed him. But it was a friendly kiss, he assured himself; a sympathetic kiss from a friend.

Friend… he liked that, he realized. He smiled even as he came across and entered his hut, Antoine snoozing contently outside of the door. He made his way to his relatively soft bed (ANYTHING was soft compared to the mattress he’d had back in Robotropolis) and nestled himself inside. It had been a long time since he’d had a friend, and quite frankly it felt good.

Perhaps living here won’t be so bad, he mused as his eyes started to close and his breathing grew rhythmic. So long as he had Bunnie as a friend, he would at least try to fit in for her sake. She was such a sweet, beautiful thing after all…

His eyes suddenly shot open and his flesh paled.

Had he just considered her beautiful?!