Pieces of Solaris

That Escalated Quickly...

Sonic came into his home to find Tails and Elise laughing it up on the couch.

"And then I told him, that's not Mega Man, it's Rock!" Tails said to Elise as he finished his joke. Elise couldn't help put let out a welcoming laughter that made the skin on Sonic's back stand up. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it certainly wasn't very familiar.

"Thank you, thank you." Tails laughed. "Do you know any stories Elise?"

Elise slowly stopped laughing as she thought about it.

"I think I do." she said, sounding amazed with herself. "Do you want to hear it?"

"Yes!" Tails agreed eagerly.

"Hang on," Sonic told them as he came over to the couch, "I want to hear this too."

"Of course." Elise agreed with a smile. After Sonic was comfortable, Elise cleared her throat and started to recite as well as she could;

"The princess of Soleanna was a delightful little girl; she sang and danced, and her hair held a little curl. But when her father passed away; the young princess came in his stay- now we all live happily in town, as long as our young princess never, ever frowns."

For a moment, Sonic and Tails said nothing. Elise smiled from her recite, and their odd looks did not damper her spirit.

"Everyone in Soleanna knows it." Elise claimed. "In fact, it's recited every year on my birthday."

"Why is it recited on your birthday?" Tails asked curiously. For a moment, Elise looked as if she had the answer, but realized she did not.

"I... can't remember." Elise admitted in confusion.

"You must have been pretty important if they recited a poem for you on your birthday." Sonic suggested. Elise shook her head.

"No..." she said, "There's another reason. I thought I knew why for a moment..."

"Forget about it." Sonic told her with a hand wave. "It's not that big of a deal, really."

The corner of Elise's mouth twitched in thought, but she nodded her head to show she understood. Her eyes started to focus toward the window as she thought of what she really couldn't remember at this point. It was like there was a wall in her memory that prevented her from knowing, truly, what she did remember. The feeling made her upset and angry- but a part of her accepted it as fact, and it was kept at that.

"Can I go to the beach?" Elise asked, coming out of her thoughts.

"Yeah." Tails and Sonic said at the same time using the exact same tone.

"You're free to do whatever you want around here," Sonic told her as if it were common knowledge, "No one can tell you where to go if you don't want to."

"So you'll come with me then?" Elise asked with a sincere honesty. Sonic stared at her, unsure of what to say or of why she would want him to come along. Elise only smiled back as she waited for an answer.

. . .

Silver was watching the citizens in town as he waited for Eggman to give the signal. Enough to stir up some trouble and make Sonic and his friends come to save everyone- that was what he and Eggman had agreed to. Somehow, Silver didn't think everything was going to go as planned and Eggman was just saying whatever he could to get Silver on his side. It worked, unfortunately, and Silver wasn't feeling good about this plan at all. But the hedgehog had made a promise ten years ago that he'd do whatever it took to protect Elise, and although scaring a bunch of villagers on a lone island didn't seem like the best way to go about it, Silver knew he'd find her again. By force, if he needed.

He just hoped things wouldn't escalate to that kind of decision...

. . .

"The water looks so calm and inviting." Elise remarked.

"To you, maybe," Sonic replied in dead pan snark, "To me, it's a prison."

"Is it because you can't run on it?" Elise asked in a taunting tone, with a smirk on her lips. Sonic gave her with a nasty glare, but it did not break her assumption. Instead, she started to laugh at him, sending a chill up Sonic's spine at the sound.

"Then go drown!" Sonic declared, "See if I care when you think it becomes a prison too!"

Elise looked at him in a mischievous sort of way as if she was accepting the challenge. Then the human did something that Sonic was left speechless; Elise started to undress from her outfit in front of him. Immediately, the hedgehog closed his eyes and used his hands to shield him from what he could only assume was Elise's bravery and stupidity.

"What are you doing?" she laughed as she tried to get him to uncover his hands, but he was strong despite being half her size.

"I'm not looking while you go skinny dipping." Sonic claimed. Elise laughed at him again.

"Who said anything about skinny dipping?" she inquired in a rather confused tone. Confused, Sonic uncovered his eyes and looked at Elise. Apparently, under her outfit she had on a rather modest bathing suit. The sight of it made Sonic both relieved and even more confused.

"Of course," Elise started to say in a mischievous tone, "I could take you up on the offer later tonight if it's on your mind."
"What?!" Sonic instantly reacted, his face growing red. "I'm not... I wasn't, well, I was... BUT NOT LIKE THAT.... and..."

For the third time that day, Elise laughed at him again. Sonic let out a nervous laughter as well as his face became beet red. In the distance, the sounds of the citizens in town interrupted Sonic and Elise's moment. Both of them looked out in confusion and interest.

"What's going on?" Elise asked.

"Sounds like they need help." Sonic said.

"Then let's go help." Elise suggested. Sonic turned to look at her to find that she was already redressed. "Besides, we have a date later any way."

At her comment, unconsciously Sonic's face grew to be a deep red again.

"Right..." he sheepishly agreed. "Date... Heh, we're gonna have to talk about the usage of that word later..."