Game of Survival - Nine x Reader

Chapter 17 - A Place That Once Was

Your face became wind-burned at the force of the breeze as it pricked your face. Fur flying around you, you smiled, adrenalin coursing through your veins. Nine gazed up at you, his eyes sparkling with life. A life you had revealed. Keeping his grip on your hand tight, his tails began to spin rapidly, slowing your fall to a complete stop as you both hovered above the streets below. With a giggle, you gazed up at the fox, his eyes meeting yours, a smile of his own etched on his muzzle.

Slowly hovering to the side of a building, his metal tails latched onto the side of the building, sticking into the cement. hauling you up to his level in one smooth motion, he tucked one arm under your legs, the other securing your back while your arms wrapped around his neck for extra security.

Not that you didn't trust him to not drop you, you just didn't feel like dropping thousands of feet.

"So, ya ready to see where were gonna go?" Nine tilted his head down towards you, his two fluffy tails wagging in excitement. Nodding you giggled as his own excitement.

"Of course I am," you grinned with closed eyes, "now onward!" You cheered, raising one arm up while keeping the other wrapped around Nine's neck for support. Rolling his eyes, he chuckled, and you could feel his chest vibrate as he laughed at your answer. Tails shifting along the cement wall, you held yourself closer to Nine in anticipation... and fear.

As his tails launched you both from one building to another, your heart thundered in your chest. The ground taunted you from below, threatening for you to even try loosen your grip on Nine. And you didn't dare. Your fur danced in all directions, it tickled your eye lids while also finding its way into your mouth. Gravity was non existent as Nine floated through the city with ease. Slowly his speed began to slow, allowing everything you left behind to catch up. And with a thud, all motion stopped.

"You can open your eyes now," Nine laughed, his tails clicking back in place. Peeking an eye open, you were met with a beaming face of Nine, his ears perked as his entire attention fell upon you. Giving him a sheepish smile, you swung your legs from his grip, setting your feet on the safe, solid ground. You knees were shaky, but strong enough to hold your weight. Looking over to see where Nine had taken you, your breath instantly hitched.

Before you stood a fenced in area, consisting of old buildings from a town that once stood here before the Chaos Council. You couldn't see to great detail what the town looked like, but from what you could see it looked magical. Something out of this world.

Nine bumped your shoulder lightly with his arm, tilting his head to the side to motion towards the fence. Squinting your eyes in confusion, you shook your head as you stared at him. With a roll of his eyes he walked towards the secured fence. You heart jumped as you eyes flashed from the cameras that lines the fence and red warning signs challenging all those who dare to not entre.

"Nine? What are you doing?" you hissed, taking a few steps back, an ear twisting back, awaiting for an alarm to scream. Nine glanced back at you, his hand inches from hooking through the wires of the fence.

"We're going in," he shrugged as if it was simple.

"What? If we go in there we are going to get caught. We can just look at it from here!"

"Relax," Nine stated, his hand shaking the chain-link fence as his fingers hooked around the wire. Closing your eyes you awaited for the painful screech of the sirens.

Nothing.

Blinking your eyes open, you caught Nine swiftly climbing up the fence, his metal tails moving the barbed wire that sat atop the fence to the side, creating a little gap for the two of you. Swinging himself over the fence, he landed on the ground on the other side. Your eyes were wide, searching his face for answers. A smug smirk grew on the fox's face, "You forget (Y/N), I am a genius and a hacker." Your ears caught his words, letting them find its way to your brain as it connected the dots.

Mouth forming the shape of an 'oh', you silently followed after him. As you reached the top of the fence, you used your metal arm as your anchor to lower you down. But the moment any weight was pressured on the arm, it jolted with an electric pulse. Yelping, your hand let go of the fence. Nine held his arms out, barely catching you in time before you squished him.

"You okay? What happened?" He asked with worry, his brows furrowing as he placed you on the floor.

"Um, y-yeah, just cut myself on the fence," you fibbed. Nine opened his mouth to ask where you cut yourself but you quickly changed the subject. Tearing your eyes away from his concerned gaze, a smile grew on your lips as you stared at the small town that sat in the middle of the city. "Wow," you whispered, walking towards the dusty, crumbling, buildings. Placing a hand on the beige concrete, you could almost see the Mobians wondering the streets of this small town. Everyone smiling and happy as they bought fruit from the markets, under the blue sky where the sun shone. "It's beautiful... but why is this here? Wouldn't the council want to destroy everything of the past?"

Nine smiled as he watched you walk through the small town roads, brushing your hand along the old buildings, "Honestly, I don't know why they didn't destroy it. Probably for the same reason they kept that old railroad, too busy building all the new that they just decided to block off what they didn't have time to destroy." You nodded, barely listening to Nine as he answered your question, you mind to busy wondering all the possibilities of life in the small town.

"What do you think?" you placed a gloved hand on a wall, closing your eyes as your dreams of the impossible future ran through your mind. The one where everything was green. Lush. The world were there was only joy.

And you and Nine, together.

"What do I think about what?" Nine asked, his eyes soft as he tilted his head at your question. He was too mesmerised by you to even possibly think about what you were asking. Opening your eyes, you gazed over at Nine, his face turning hot red as you caught him starring.

Chuckling as he stared at the floor, you restated, "About life here before we were born. What do you think life was like?"

"Oh, um," Nine placed a hand on his chin, his eyes analysing the old place that once was bursting with life, "I... don't know." He shrugged. Your ears fell at his boring answer.

This wouldn't do.

"Just give it a wild guess. What would you want the old world to look like?" You completely changed your attention towards him, closing in on him to hear his answer. His face burned hotter as you stood directly below him, your nose inches from his own when he looked down to you. Lifting his head and starring forward, he coughed to clear his throat.

"Well, I-I guess I would want the old world to look like... uh," he glanced back down at you, shifting on his feet as your eyes glimmered in expectation. Gulping he felt sweat form on his forehead as his nose almost touched yours. "I-I guess it l-looked like." His eyes bored into yours, his heart racing, matching your speed as your picked up its own pace. Your (E/C) eyes began to calm him down, his cheeks remaining flush, but as he stared into your eyes, he knew what he wanted the old world to look like.

The future.

"Magical. I think the new world will look magical."