. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁Stolen Love. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

Chapter 3

You chuckled as you sat on your bed in the room the ILoT assigned you, Lavender and Cally. The two girls were raiding the closet, trying to figure out a cute outfit for you to wear for whatever Winter had planned for tonight. "Well you can never go wrong with a dress..." Lavender murmured, however Cally piped up. "You know Winter likes to do odd things sometimes. What if they take (Y/N) out to a place where a dress isn't the best thing?" Lavender let out an annoyed chirp. "You know Winter likes to take people out clubbing with them. They're probably taking (Y/N) out to a club. A dress is appropriate for a club." Cally's ears folded back as she pouted. "Fine." Lavender grinned as she continued to look through the closet. Cally took it upon herself to start putting makeup on you. You weren't the most frequent wearer of makeup because you'd usually rub it off or it would get messed up on a mission. You let out an annoyed sigh as she dusted and powdered your face and did Chaos knows what to your face. After she was done she held up a mirror. You were surprised to see the face that stared back at you. Cally had managed to accent the color of your quills and fur wonderfully with the shades and sparkle of eyeshadows she'd selected. She'd lined your eyes with eyeliner making a small wing at the corner. Your cheeks were dusted with a soft pink and your lips were tinted with a beautiful color and glossed with a glitter lipgloss. You blinked a few times, looking at yourself. You felt a bit silly, a bit embarrassed but also pretty. "Wow..." You murmured. "Thank you Cally. You did an amazing job." Cally beamed up at you. "I try my best!" Lavender handed you some clothing and shoved you into the closet to change. You stepped out wearing a slightly tight black dress and a pair of black boots. "Wow... uhm... I would have never picked out an outfit like this myself... but it looks nice. Thank you Lavender. So am I all ready?" Lavender and Cally looked at eachother, sharing mischievous grins. You were promptly accesorized. A light brown disc belt encircled your waist, a silver bracelet encircled your wrisst, and a matching light brown purse was shoved into your hands. "Wait Lavender, we need to give her a different necklace!" You quickly shook your head. "I'm not taking my mother's necklace off." Cally pouted. "Please?" She batted her eyes at you. You stood firm "No. I'm not taking it off." Lavender sighed. "Back off Cally. You know why she wears it. It looks fine with her outfit." Cally nodded. "Fine. Well I think you're all finished." You turned towards the door, heading out to meet up with Winter. You felt a bit nervous but hopefully tonight would be fun.

"We're here!" Winter chirped happily. You stepped out after them and sighed. Of course they'd taken you out to a nightclub. They practically lived in nightclubs when they weren't working with clients. Sometimes their clients were from nightclubs. You felt nervous and hesitant as you followed after Winter. Once you'd entered the building you were over-whelmed by loud music, bright lights and the crowd. Winter noticed some of their friends, or so you assumed and darted off, leaving you to fend for yourself. You sighed, resigning to a corner, ears folded back. You'd never liked loud noises or crowds. You wished Winter had taken you to a weird place instead. You scanned the crowds trying to find them but your efforts were futile. Sighing you leaned against a wall, after a bit of scrolling through your phone you turned to walk away and crashed into someone. A startled squawk came from the person you'd run into, a neon green parrot. You quickly apologize. "Oh god I am sorry! I didn't see you there! Serves me right for being on my phone." The parrot gave you a calming smile. "Hey it's alright. You just startled me is all. I'm alright, what about you?" You nodded. "I'm alright. Sorry again for crashing into you." Your ears folded back a bit more out of guilt. "It's fine. I'm Oran." He held his hand out for a handshake. "(Y/N)!" You took his hand, giving it a firm shake. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you new here?" The parrot asked as he withdrew his hand. "You nodded. My boss took me here to celebrate my... uhm... birthday... but I kind of lost them." You began to fidget with your belt. He nodded. "Well happy birthday!!" You politely smiled back, feeling a bit embarrassed. Just as you were about to tell him you should probably be heading out, the DJ of the nightclub began blasting more music. You covered your ears, closing your eyes out of discomfort. Oran took notice of your reaction and tapped your shoulder, getting you to follow him. He took you into the employee's only area and out towards the street. "You alright?" He softly asked as you two sat on the stoop of an exit door. "Yeah..." You mumbled. "I just don't take too kindly to loud noises, or bright lights, or crowds." Oran frowned. "Why would you go to a nightclub if you don't like the three things that make up nightclubs?" You sighed. "Like I said, my boss took me out somewhere as a surprise for my birthday. I didn't know where I was going. If I had then I would have asked to go somewhere else. I mean I knew my boss liked going to clubs but I was under the impression they'd take me somewhere else." Oran sighed. "Not the best surprise for your birthday? If you don't mind me asking, why do you not like loud noises, bright lights and crowds?" You felt a small wave of panic wash through you as you recalled what had happened to your mother, your neighbors and your town. You instinctively gripped your mother's necklace. You took a deep breath. "Childhood trauma. My village burned down." You said in a quiet and somber voice. Oran's expression quickly turned sad. "I'm so sorry..." You gave him a bittersweet smile. "It's fine, Oran. You didn't know and it's not your fault." You sighed, gazing out towards the alley. You spotted another hedgehog there, smoking. They seemed to be minding their business so you turned back to Oran. "Enough about me and my depressing past." You declared in a more hopeful tone. "Well, I'll take that as a queue to talke about myself." Oran chuckled. "Well I'm Oran, I work here as a bartender, and I'm a parrot." Your ears perked up at hearing him say he was a bartender. "Wiat am I keeping you from your job?" Oran chuckled. "While I thank you for the concern, you aren't. When you ran into me I had just started my break. I don't mind chatting with you on my break, you're an interesting hedgehog. Not to mention it's better than just hanging around in the dingy employee break room." You felt your cheeks slightly flush at being called interesting and hearing that Oran would rather spend his break chatting with you. "Wow... thank you Oran. That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." He chuckled. Just as he was about to speak again a female wolf opened the door. "That's where you were, Oran! Boss needs to see you for something. You can chat with your 'buddy' later." Oran sighed and stood up. "Sorry (Y/N). I've got to go." You nodded. "Don't let me keep you from your job." Oran nodded and followed after the wolf, back into the nightclub, leaving you alone in the alley. You sighed and took your phone out. Just as you were scrolling through your contacts, trying to find someone to pick you up, a clawed finger pushed your phone down. You looked up to see a green hedgehog looking down at you. He was wearing a ripped black leather jacket with flame patterns on the shoulders, a pair of red sunglasses, and black and green boots. He had a cigerette sticking out from between his sharp teeth. You immediately noticed the deep slashing scars along his chest. He took the cigerette from his mouth, blowing a puff of smoke at you, which you were quick to bat away with a slight cough. "Hey dollface~" He cooly said as he leaned a bit closer. You leaned back. "Hi? Do you need something?" You asked as you gave him an irritated look. "Mmm~ A feisty girl... I like that~ So who was bird-brain you were chatting with?" He asked as she sat down beside you, taking the spot Oran was sitting in before. You promptly stood up. "That was my friend Oran." He stood up as well, walking towards you. "So he's not your boyfriend?" Your ears folded back. THAT'S what this was about. "He's not my boyfriend." You replied in a low voice. The green hedgehog stepped in front of you. "So you're single?" You grit your teeth and reluctantly replied. "Yes. I am single." The green hedgehog chuckled. "Well, allow me to introduce myself, sugar!~ I'm Scourge the Hedgehog. You know I like my girls with a bit of trauma." You bit the inside of your cheek, teeth gritted as he said that so calmly. So he HADN'T been minding his own business while you and Oran had been chatting. You glared at him. "Really?" You crossed your arms. He leaned down, a grin on his face. "Come of dollface~. You know you like me." You rolled your eyes. "Not even in the slightest." Having gotten fed up with Scourge's pestering attempts at flirting, you began to walk away. Suddenly you felt a tight clawed hand on your shoulder. "I didn't say you could leave, sugar~" Despite the flirty words there was an underlying tone of malice in them. Suddenly you were pulled back and slammed against a wall. You heard a sickening noise as your head made contact with bricks.Pain flooded your head. You quickly discovered tighter dresses were not the best item of clothing to wear when fighting. A wave of panic hit you as you realized you were at a disadvantage. You still managed to knee him in the stomach causing him to stumble back. You quickly back away from him, rubbing the back of your head, finding blood to be dripping down. "Damn it..." You mumbled. You wiped the blood off onto your dress and looked up to see Scourge charging at you. You quickly dodged to the side, kicking at his legs, causing him to stumble to the ground. You began to search through the purse Lavender lent you, praying the dove had something in there you could protect yourself with. Nothing. Your only defense was fighting and that was being limited by your dress. Maybe if you ripped the sides of it you could-! Your brainstorm was cut short by Scourge tackling you to the ground. He pinned you down quickly, claws digging into your wrists. Your head swam from the second rough impact on your head. You were dizzy but you still fought against him, squirming and kicking. He didn't let go. "You're coming with me, sugar~ Whether you like it or not." You bit back panic. How could you have failed to protect yourself? You were a world class thief. You'd broken into the base of a hero and stolen something without getting caught. As your vision was fading into black you saw someone approach. All you could make out was black and red, before you fell unconcious.

Shadow had been skating through the city as speed practice when he'd heard commotion coming from an alley. He stepped into the alley to find Scourge bent over an unconscious hedgehog. "Stupid bitch. That's what you get for resisting me." The green hedgehog grumbled as he went to pick the girl up. "Leave her alone." Shadow growled as he walked over. "Well if it isn't the city's number one edge-lord! To what do I owe the dis-pleasure?" Scourge grumbled as he stood up to face Shadow. "What are you going to do with her?" Shadow's ears folded back as he stalked closer to the green hedgehog, teeth slightly bared. The slight glow of his deep red eyes gave him a menacing look. Scourge backed away, ears flicking back in slight fear, however he covered it up with a cocky smile. "Aww come on Shadow, since when were you such a goody two shoes like Sonic? Aren't you enemies?" Shadow frowned. "Sonic and I are rivals, not enemies. Also Sonic warned me that you're usually up to no good. So leave the girl alone, unless you'd like to fight ME, the Ultimate Lifeform." Scourge bared his teeth but backed away. "Whatever. It's not like I actually wanted to do anything with her." Shadow rolled his eyes and Scourge quickly made his escape. Shadow knelt down and assessed the injuries the hedgehog girl had sustained. He sighed, discovering the back of the girl's head was bleeding. "This needs to be taken care of..." He scooped her up, deciding to carry her off to medical treatment.

A shadowy creature's gaze followed the black and red hedgehog as he picked the girl up. The shadowy creature's eyes landed on the girl's necklace. "It's her... the one who escaped me before... and now... she's involved with that annoying blue hedgehog and his friends." The creature chuckled, following after Shadow as he skated off.