When Scourge was done for the day and thought about going to visit Fiona again, excited to have a day out with her on Anti-Mobius, he soon thought back to when he taunted Sonic about the fact that Fiona and Sonic weren't for real as a couple, and realized when he remembered Fiona's nervous expression the last time he saw her with him that she would be mad at him the next time she'd see him. There was a very real possibility that she would just throw him out the minute he'd try to go talk to her.

As a result, he hesitated at first about going to visit her, being nervous since he dreaded her angry reaction to seeing him. He knew she wasn't going to be in a good mood with him, so after some thought, he decided to go up to her house with a box of Pot of Gold chocolates, and tried to put on a confident smile while knocking on her door as if nothing was wrong. Scourge thought, " Besides, if I don't visit her, she'll just think I abandoned her. I know what she and Miles are like, and I don't wanna make things worse. Better I fix things now 'cause putting it off will make it even worse. "

When she opened the door, at first she looked annoyed and stressed out, only to be surprised at seeing what he was holding and say, " Hey, that's my favorite chocolates! You REMEMBERED! " She smiled taking the box from him and put it on a table, finding it sweet that he actually remembered something she had said in the passing in the hopes that he'd actually give it to her someday. Scourge said with a hopeful smile, " So do you forgive me? " being more nervous than he let on.

Fiona got annoyed again, and called him out, " You mean for almost getting Sonic to break up with me when you lied to him?! Well I haven't heard an apology, so what do you think? I know you wanna be the one dating me instead but I have feelings too! He glared at me with the most cold-hearted look I ever saw on him, and he still expected me to buy that he believed me! Do you have any idea how that felt?! He was the only one of the Freedom Fighters who stood up for me in front of Sally, and acted like he was cool with my past, and now I don't think he even trusts me anymore! If he wasn't just using me to have a girlfriend before, that's gotta be all he's doing now because why else didn't he break up with me after that?! Though I didn't help things by saying you lied to him when he didn't even tell me what you said to him. "

Scourge nervously backed away a little on instinct and told her, " A-All I said was that I loved how you played it like you two were for real. I never SAID ' Fiona's dating ME! ' I just taunted him like I usually do. I didn't even know how he'd react! If you two WERE for real, why aren't you spending every evening on a date with him? Why did he say he wasn't even serious about you and there's no rush? Why did he glare at you like that and hurt your feelings if he's such a great boyfriend? "

Fiona was offended at the end, but was even more frustrated that she could barely think of a way to defend Sonic after that day. Even the times he showed her affection were starting to feel tainted in her eyes because she was seeing his sly smirks at her from earlier as proof of his insincerity with her. Scourge admitted reluctantly, " Look, I'm SORRY he looked at you that way, alright? I've known Miles for years, and he taught me how hard it was on him when he thought he was in trouble with his friend, 'cause his friends are all he HAS and the last thing he wants is to be abandoned by them and be left all alone again. I'm sorry I ended up putting you through that… And don't tell anyone I said that. After all, I'm not known for apologizing to anybody. I could've put off coming here right away 'cause I knew you'd be mad at me, but I didn't wanna make you assume I abandoned you and was never gonna see ya again. " He was feeling really self-conscious and embarrassed at the end when he ended up apologizing to her for real.

Fiona ended up sympathizing with him looking sad as soon as she realized that his apology was sincere and he really did feel bad for her, and she appreciated that he was even capable of feeling bad for her and regretting his actions. After all, he was Evil Sonic, and with Sonic, she took it for granted that he had a heart. With Scourge, she was impressed and astonished every time he showed any decency at all.

She sighed sadly and said reluctantly, " It's okay, Scourge, you didn't do it to hurt my feelings. You were just taunting your rival as usual. You were just messing with his head. It's half MY fault for talking as if I already knew you were telling him that and blowing my cover for myself! That wasn't the smartest idea. Maybe I'm just not very good at deception. After all, I didn't even think of lying to Sally that I never worked with Bean until it was too late. In retrospect, maybe I wouldn't have gotten in trouble if I had just told him the truth, that you and I had become FRIENDS and you're the only one who really wants more. Sure, he'd think I was being a naïve idiot for befriending you at best, but that's better than him assuming I was cheating on him! "

Scourge replied, " Yeah, really I don't see how you put up with that. Did you? Did you even try to tell him off? " " I didn't wanna push my luck when he was already annoyed with me as it is. It might've felt satisfying and cathartic to tell him off for how he was making me feel, but I was already worried that he was gonna break up with me and I didn't wanna risk it by making him mad at me. Same goes for telling him the truth. I'd just get into a shouting match with him and what's the point of that? " Fiona said nervously.

Scourge told her seriously, " You don't NEED him. You could date someone else, and there's no reason someone looking like you would have a problem getting dates. And if there's seriously a risk of the Freedom Fighters kicking you out if Sonic breaks up with you, then that's a problem with them, not you. And that doesn't strike me as loyal! Even if he breaks up with you, if the Freedom Fighters are such a tightly-knit close group of friends, you should have nothing to fear! It's not like they'll chase you out with torches and pitchforks! They don't even have any PROOF. I'm not trying to get in trouble and get you mad at me, Fi. I'm just saying how I feel and should've been more careful, but it's too late now. "

Fiona, even more worried, admitted, " You're not in trouble. I almost told Sonic the truth earlier. As in, right before I came across Tails. It's just that I was feeling so, bad, after I told them everything I knew about Rouge from when I was a thief right in front of Sonic, and when he told me I did good, it didn't make me feel any better. So I wanted to feel better by not lying to him anymore. I wanted to get something off my chest and test him to see how accepting he really was. I asked him if he forgave all of the girls for mistaking you for him, just so I could start the conversation, but then we saw Tails and Sonic interrupted me. By the time it was all over I had lost the courage to tell him. "

Scourge told her, " You didn't really think he'd welcome the idea of us hanging out with open arms, did you? I mean there's always hope, you were probably desperate to have at least someone to tell about it, but let's face it, the minute he'd find out, he'd shut it all DOWN. There's no way he'd trust his evil twin to just have harmless movie nights with his girlfriend! He'd just tell you off and do anything he can to keep us from ever being alone together again. I don't want to ruin the mood here, but I'm just trying to be honest with ya, and there's really no nice way to break it to ya. Now I just wish there was a nice way to segue from this into you being in the mood to go have some fun with me, " and pulled some amusement park tickets out of his leather jacket. They immediately looked very tempting to Fiona. She had never even seen such things before.

She sat down on the couch, saying, " Let me think about it first, " still being mad at both Sonics and trying to figure out who she was mad at more. Fiona dwelled on the fact that Sonic would never be accepting and understanding enough of her to be cool with her being friends with Scourge, having the image of him coldly glaring at her very fresh in her mind, and she remembered that she had gone home and cried into her pillow the minute she had gotten away from him, all because of that.

She again wondered if things really would've been better for her if she had just told Sonic, " we're just friends! He was just messing with your head, " instead of saying Scourge was lying and leaving it at that. Sonic would've immediately been shocked and bewildered at her being friends with his evil twin and thought she was being impossibly naïve to trust him at best and at worst was going to turn to the evil side any minute just from being with him, and the thought that he didn't trust her anymore just made her angry clenching her fists in sheer frustration because he used to be the only person who stood up for her on the team. Now she thought that was going to change and it made her feel betrayed. She wondered what the point was of staying completely loyal to someone she didn't even trust not to betray HER.

Fortunately for Scourge who was incredibly nervous at the idea that she was angry with him instead, she said, " I'll go! " and stood up, saying in frustration, " That'll teach Sonic to turn on me! " A part of her felt childish for wanting petty revenge, going on a date with Scourge just to spite Sonic when she hadn't even had the courage to tell him her feelings were so hurt, so she tried to justify her action better self-consciously, explaining,

" But just to be clear, it's not because I'm in love with you, and you'll be lucky if I even kiss you at all. I'm only going because one, I'll never have another opportunity to go to an amusement park with Sonic when his only idea for dates is walking around holding hands, so clearly he's not nearly as dedicated to me! And TWO, I just wanna get back at him right now. How could he look at me like that?! How could he think I'd be okay with that? Did he really think I was that stupid, and gullible and oblivious, that I'd never think that he was suspicious of me? He's suspicious of me, after all the times he told me I was still welcome in the team! I told him to leave the room so he wouldn't hear about my past and he said it was fine, and that HE didn't have a stellar past himself! Yeah right! I thought I could rely on him to be on my side no matter what! But obviously I was wrong! Let's go, Scourge. I wanna see what a rollercoaster's like and Sonic's not taking me any time soon. "

She was still being irked with the constant nagging worry that she should at least try out asking him for that kind of day out, and should at least try telling him the truth and see how he'd react first. Instead the uncertainty about how accepting and trusting he really was made her worry that she was doing something rash, when normally she was the one telling SONIC to be careful. That only made her even more stressed out, as she thought that telling Sonic she was friends with Scourge would only make things worse for her and prove she was right about him, and she tried to convince herself that it was completely guaranteed that the outcome would be disastrous if she told him the truth and she didn't need to be self-destructive and tell him for real. She thought she'd be called a traitor for even considering spending time with him.

Wanting to test her and figuring it was at least worth a shot, Scourge put his hand out with a nervous smile with the Warp Ring in front of him, and since she was feeling lonely and craved affection at the moment, she found herself taking his hand just to see what it'd be like, and found it just as gentle and warm as Sonic's was, making her smile nervously and find him sweet. She looked into his eyes and saw his bashful but appreciative expression, which quickly gave way to a confident smile in a clumsy attempt to hide the old one that she found amusing.

She knew that going with Scourge through a Warp Ring to an amusement park was reckless and questionable of her, especially when she hadn't broken up with Sonic yet, but she thought, " Sure, I'm being pretty rash. Sally would freak! But if I broke up with Sonic first, I'd be doing something even MORE rash! For all I know Scourge is only with me for a LITTLE while! He could be arrested by a zone cop tomorrow for all I know! If I ended things with Sonic too fast, I'd be cutting off a lifeline to a stable future with the only group of people letting me be with them, all for the sake of one guy with a bad reputation. I'm better off playing it safe, and seeing how things go. That'd be the smart thing to do. I mean, why break it off with Sonic before even checking to see if I'd LIKE a date with Scourge? That'd be really stupid of me! You never know until you try. "

When they went to the amusement park, Fiona and Scourge had the time of their lives. For once they didn't spend their entire time together talking with Fiona complaining about her situation with the Freedom Fighters. Instead, they were too busy having fun on their dates to even think about having a long conversation.

The first thing they went to was the rollercoaster, and they found the rollercoaster ride thrilling and enjoyable, so much so that they went on it twice, after Scourge said, " Wanna go again? " and she exclaimed happily, " Sure! " being amazed that she was lucky enough for him to even suggest that at all. Scourge saw from her cheering and smiling the whole time that she was a thrill-seeker at heart, that despite her complaining and worrying on a regular basis, she was still someone who just wanted to have fun, so while he didn't find the ride as big a deal as her since he was used to going fast on his own, he enjoyed it just as much as she did, because she was having the time of her life. It was like her enjoying of the ride was contagious, as it made him have twice as much fun as he would've alone.

They went on a Ferris wheel and admired the view from so high up, impressing Scourge as she wasn't afraid of heights and just complimented the view of the forest. Fiona was in such a great mood that she was comfortable enough to let Scourge put his arm around her, with her focusing on how warm it was, and how gentle he was holding her to his side.

She threw a dart at a bull's eye and hit something with a hammer to ring a bell, which earned her some red balloons as a prize, and a teddy bear she turned down purely to impress Scourge, only for him to say, " You don't have to do that, you can have ANYTHING you want! And when you're tired of carrying it around, I can just warp it to your bedroom, " which made her smile in relief at him accepting her for who she was.

They went to a bar where she ended up doing great at throwing darts at a dartboard of the evil Freedom Fighters impressing all the men there. She always tried to aim for the picture of Alicia, and Scourge knew exactly why. When they sat at the bar stools and saw the alcoholic beverages on display, he asked, " Want something to drink? " She said nervously, " I dunno. I'm not even 18 yet! And I don't wanna damage my liver. " Sitting on the bar stool beside her, he briefly put his warm hand on her arm casually and encouraged her, " Come on, take a risk, live a little! At least try out the one with the least alcohol. It's not gonna kill ya, and if you don't like it, I don't care if you finish it. Money's no obstacle for me. "

Fiona smiled at the last sentence, being impressed as she was reminded that this was another thing Scourge had over Sonic as a boyfriend, as if being able to take her to a world full of recreational places with no tyranny at all for proper dates wasn't enough. Wanting to look brave, she nodded and said to the bartender, " I wanna order the safest alcoholic drink at the bar, the one with the LEAST alcohol in it. "

The drink was full of extra flavors to make it taste good in spite of the alcohol, being a type of strawberry milkshake with a cherry and little umbrella in it. She felt proud of herself afterwards for being brave enough to take a risk and try something new that she never thought she would, and immediately reminded herself that her even going to spend the day with Scourge qualified as that too, and thought, " Well HE'S not scary, it's not like he's a monster. It's not like he's killed anybody. He's the second nicest guy I've ever met! Maybe even THE nicest, as of today. "

She commented with a satisfied smile, " Sally would freak if she knew I was drinking this. And that's without knowing who I'm with! Serves her right! " and remembered Sally glaring at her, talking to her like a troublemaker for saving Sonic and getting Bark to surrender, and making her feel like an outcast who didn't belong. Every time that scene replayed in her head, every day that she couldn't help but remember it, she got increasingly more frustrated and upset with her for it. She hated dwelling on it and wanted desperately to forget it, but every day she was reminded of it, without even needing anything to provoke the memory. Sometimes it just came to her out of nowhere. And when she laid down for bed, it came back to her right away and filled her head when she was trying to clear it. And now Sonic had given her another bad memory for her to stress out over and get an angry rant in her head from that she was too scared to let out with him.

It had gotten worse and worse every day as she bottled up how she felt and never risked calling Sally and Sonic out on it, because if she did, she'd kick her out for all she knew, and she didn't want to get into a screaming match either. She was so annoyed and upset with the Freedom Fighters with even the idea of them planning to kick her out nagging her every day, that it never even occurred to her that Sally would just apologize to her for hurting her feelings and be ashamed of her behavior, or that Sonic would be the same way and try to humor her. Her tendency to worry too much like in an earlier mission with Sonic just made her assume the worst-case scenarios with them were the only ones that would ever happen.

Fiona couldn't just stop at spending one day on a day out with Scourge; the two of them were having so much fun that she disappeared for days, being completely unaware of the nanites situation and what went on with Tommy or Shadow later. He took her out to lunch and dinner at various restaurants getting her to experience the most well-known restaurant chains of the planet, which was their equivalents of McDonalds, Burger King and KFC. While that wasn't romantic, he knew he couldn't start out taking her to a fancy restaurant when she wasn't even sure about being more than friends yet, no matter how much he wanted to sweep her off her feet and wow her as a more capable and dedicated boyfriend than Sonic.

He wanted to take her out to every place he could think of that Sonic wouldn't, taking full advantage of the fact that Knothole didn't have tons of recreational places as luxuries for itself when it used to be a small hiding spot in a forest. But since he had to take it slow with her when he was still earning her trust, he started small and casual, taking her out to places that weren't guaranteed to be exclusive to couples. He did anything he could get away with labelling under the moniker of " just friends. "

They were on a bumper car team once and soundly won against their opponents. He got her some cotton candy, and they did some sight-seeing at a carnival, seeing a woman walk across a tightrope, and a monkey ride a unicycle and juggle torches in front of an audience, which was exciting for them just to watch. They had a brief tour of a zoo showing off rare unevolved animal species like elephants and normal tigers.

Scourge took her clothes shopping, using the excuse that, " Come on, you could buy some clothes in secret that Sally would never approve of and hide 'em in your closet so she'd never know, and wear 'em with me so you always remember that I like you for YOU! " Of course she shopped with the pressure to think and choose fast since she knew how impatient he was and boring him would only ruin the fun. That pressure combined with Fiona wanting to feel cool and smart by rebelling against Sally, even in private, led to her buying the black outfit she became known for wearing with Scourge, with the diagonal belts and all. She only planned on wearing it around Scourge, and she had gone through multiple potential outfit choices before deciding with an excited smile, " Oh, THIS is the one! Now this is badass! "

She even bought her new yellow bow there. Fiona pointed out to him when she saw it, " That's basically what I used to wear when I was living on the streets. I stopped wearing it to try to start a new life with the Freedom Fighters. I guess it was a symbolic thing but it feels pretty silly to me now. " Scourge commented, " Yeah, I think you'd look pretty good in a bow. Why don't ya try it on? "

After some hesitation, she did so, and he loved the look immediately, blurting out, " Wow, that's, beautiful! I mean, uh, I didn't think it would be that pretty on you, but, the way it contrasts the rest of your red fur and hair is great, it gives something to break up the red! And it matches your yellow muzzle and jumpsuit. Why'd you ever take it off? THIS is the real you! " Nothing proved to her that he liked her for her, more than that; looking directly at her wearing a bow and being impressed instead of uncomfortable.

Fiona smiled with sad-looking eyes, in that familiar expression Scourge recognized from Miles to mean that a person was stunned that things were working out so well for them. Being certain of the answer and just wanting confirmation from someone, she asked, " Do you think Sonic would be suspicious and mad at me if I started wearing this bow all the time? " " Nah! He'd just think you wisened up and went back to what worked, " Scourge said with a dismissive wave of his hand. " Alright, I'll wear it! " Fiona said excitedly, proud of herself for deciding to take the risk of wearing it all the time.

He took her to rock concerts of bands she had never heard of and found herself immediately wishing she had the albums for, as of course all of the songs were different on Anti-Mobius even if they had the exact same genres, and she was intrigued that, " There's a whole other world's worth of songs that I'd completely missed out on! " It came as no surprise to Scourge that she was a fan of harder rock than the rest of the Freedom Fighters, and her desire to rebel against Sally had only strengthened that as she ended up going to a computer and listening to music like metal and grunge.

She found herself going to the Anti-Mobius equivalent of Youtube and spending hours just listening to playlists of songs full of negative emotions she could relate to, like anger to vent out her frustration from recently, and despair and panic as she enjoyed the epic fast rhythms of an electric guitar and even instruments like the violin and piano accompanying it. Scourge didn't mind the silence from her. He just sat beside her with his arm around her enjoying the music, with them enjoying the warmth and love that they couldn't get from anyone else. She had no faith that she'd ever get that from Sonic again, and if she did, she wouldn't believe it was genuine. Sonic didn't need her. He could have any girl he wanted and she didn't think he'd be broken up over her if he lost her, no matter how he would.

While it was obvious to her that Scourge had a crush on her, Sonic was just using her to get over Sally and have a girlfriend, and whenever she remembered the sly smirks he would give her when he was with her, it proved it to her beyond a shadow of a doubt. Scourge always had a smile of contentment when he held her close to him and always relished in the affection, and she loved feeling so appreciated. Not even with the Freedom Fighters did she feel so loved.

So it only took a couple hours for her to relent and start humoring him by holding his hand a lot, which started as her just doing it out of pity for how lonely he was, and ended up being something she did because she was lonely herself. He was just as warm and gentle as Sonic was with her and that was vital for keeping her trust.

When she was walking in the park with him and admitted, " I miss playing baseball, I used to do that all the time as a kid. It's a shame we can't do THAT, " he went out of his way to make sure she'd be allowed to swing a baseball bat at a baseball field for some people casually playing the game. This was the first time he impressed her with him not being pure good, as him doing something that could be considered evil, was all for the sake of making her happy, and she knew immediately that this was something he had over Sonic because he would never break the rules just for her. Scourge intimidated the players into letting her play by walking right up to the batter and startling him by shouting, " Hey! My girlfriend here wants to play! You up for it or are we gonna have a problem? "

Before she knew it, she was batting for the team with an orange helmet, and she loved every second of it. She loved getting to make a lot of strikes and run all the way across the baseball field, and Scourge found it amusing to watch her like that. Even her tomboy side endeared itself to him, as he thought, " She's pretty badass! With that confident smirk of hers. I never knew she could be so, well, cool! "

As soon as the game was over, Fiona rushed over to Scourge and hugged him, saying, " Thank you so much! No one ever did anything like that for me! You've been so sweet! " and found herself kissing his cheek as a reward, being so comfortable with and fond of him that she forgot to think anything of it. It had only taken a few hours out with him for her to completely forget that she had a boyfriend at all, because she had experienced nothing like that with Sonic. Scourge was naturally smiling in contentment just at getting a kiss on the cheek, and she loved seeing how much he really appreciated her, as he said, " A-Any time, Fi! " clearly distracted by the kiss.

She usually just stuck to kisses on the forehead and cheek, trying to feel like she wasn't cheating on Sonic treating Scourge like just a really close friend. Scourge even offered when he brought her home, " So, uh, want a kiss goodnight? " pointing to his forehead, and what started as a question just to test her and see his boundaries worked out perfectly for him, as it caused her to actually agree to a goodnight kiss. It was only a matter of time before she would realize how much she loved him and ended up kissing him for real, right after he congratulated her for stealing some jewels, and by the time she had done that, it was just an hour before Sonic had decided to finally confront her.

All that time she had been looking for an excuse. She had been waiting for a sign that she was right about Sonic not trusting her, and that she had almost no one left in the group who did and that there was no sense in staying with people who didn't even like her. And when she finally got proven right, she felt like she had to make her decision, no matter what reservations she had to stress her out when Tails tempted her to stay.

She stuck with the one who liked and accepted her for who she was and encouraged her to be honest about herself, instead of trying to be someone she was not and spending every day worrying about when her friends were going to turn on her for good. She began to feel like she had to do it before they would, because with her abandonment issues, she didn't think she would be able to handle being abandoned herself without breaking down crying at worst, and she thought she had to make the first move before it'd be too late.

Scourge didn't convince her to stop trusting her friends, he was just in the right place at the right time and gave her someone to vent to about stuff she was already worried about, and she thought Sonic would never believe that if she told him. She could've explained everything to Tails, but it would've taken far too long and he would've been upset and confused anyways, and she didn't want to repay Scourge for being nice to him by embarrassing him by telling people how nice he was to her, and how much of a jerk his parents were to him.

So she decided it was none of their business what they talked about and what they did together, friends or not, though that was mainly just an excuse to not take forever telling them when she just wanted to leave as fast as possible before she could change her mind. Every second was stressful as she secretly agonized over whether it'd be the right idea, and it caused her to snap at someone she always saw as a sweet-natured kid because she wanted him to stop trying to talk her out of it and convince her to make an even bigger mistake.

The way she ended up treating Tails was something she'd live to regret for the rest of her life, but she didn't regret going with Scourge, because she knew she was loved and accepted with him, while in the Freedom Fighters, it had already gotten to a point where Sonic, Sally, and Amy hated her, and she couldn't even trust Tails to keep her secret for her because he turned Amy against her in the end. If she couldn't count on him, who could she count on? That combined with her awkwardness over the fact that a little kid had a crush on her just made her bottled-up frustrations with him from the beginning burst out of her.

She could've never gotten everything she wanted out of Sonic; someone who would break the rules just for her, take her to all sorts of fun and expensive places outside of Knothole, and congratulate her for her past, and make her feel good about herself whenever he could. Scourge was a kindred spirit who understood why she'd want to be rebellious, and had personal experience with someone with trust and abandonment issues already, while Sonic didn't have that in common with her. Sonic would've defended Sally to her, and she was certain that he'd rather tell her off for her past crimes than congratulate her, and while Scourge needed her to feel loved and appreciated, Sonic didn't need her at all, and she knew that the Freedom Fighters didn't, either.