ARAAT5: Resurrection

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A Rose And A Thorn 5: Resurrection

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: You know, it’s not actually illegal to drink when you’re pregnant. And one drink doesn’t kill a baby. Champagne is actually quite low proof.

Froggy: And Mirage was working really hard to emphasize all the curves she doesn’t have.

Harley: I’d just like to say I’m glad this fanfic is being enjoyed as well though. And cyborg Midnight Quilla seems to be getting a better reception than Midnight. Slightly surprising, but then again, he didn’t just barge in...

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Chapter Six: Stone Cold Drunk

Since she had been accepted as a regular dancer at Club Rouge, Mirage worked not only as a dancer, but as a waitress too. Her clothes weren't any more concealing for that either. She was picking up bottles and glasses, ignoring the lewd comments and offers that she'd been warned about, when she spotted a familiar trench coat and hat moping at a table.

How many drinks did he have? Quilla didn't know. That was a good sign; it meant his brilliant plan was working. He was trying to solve the problem associated with having an absolutely perfect memory. The problem, of course, was that one with such a memory cannot forget anything, no matter how trivial or important, no matter how wonderful or horrible. Unfortunately, the blue echidna had many painful memories, and they tended to overshadow those memories of better times. The only solution he could come up with was to kill off those memories by drowning them in alcohol. It didn’t seem to be working. He still remembered the pain, but smaller details like the number of drinks he’d had were becoming fuzzy. But he kept up the good work anyway, and took another swig from his current bottle.

Mirage looked down at her fishnet tights and revealing black leotard – well, it would be revealing if she’d had more to reveal. She felt an overwhelming sense of pity for the drunken echidna, which surprised her. Normally she didn't bother with feeling sorry for anybody. She was about to go over to him, when a chameleon grabbed her wrist, "Mirage! You're on in five minutes!” she told the hybrid, “You gotta get backstage!" The feline pushed her tray into the chameleon's hands and rushed backstage to get onstage again. As the music started to play, she grabbed a pole and started to move around it. Smile. Make it look easy. That was the important part.

Quilla didn't look up at the stage, completely absorbed in drinking. He could still see the accusing look in a young fox's face as he tended to the son who Quilla had knocked unconscious. And the beautiful, tear-streaked face of his lover looking down at him as his life bled away. Of an escape capsule drifting away. The blood of his enemies covering his body as he slaughtered his way down steel corridors. And of that feline again, this time her face clear and happy and flushed with passion as the two of them made love in an artificial garden... Quilla downed the rest of the bottle in one gulp and then rested his forehead on the table.

Mirage continued to dance, but her mind wasn’t really on it. Not that it needed to be. She could do this in her sleep. Her mind was on the dark echidna. The nagging feeling that she should know this male rose up inside her. As she swung upside down, she realised that Amy was right; somebody had to do something. The trouble was that those words were very rarely followed by ‘and that somebody is me’.

She swung herself off the pole and finished the dance. Now her shift was over. Walking offstage, she wiped sweat off her forehead, picked up a bottle of water, and left the dressing rooms. She could see, across the bar, Quilla’s form slumped over the table, an empty bottle in front of him, another half-empty bottle in his hand. Periodically, his body shuddered slightly. As if he were crying.

Walking over to him, she laid a hand gently on his back, “Hey there,” she said softly. The echidna just grunted in response, “They always say misery loves company,” she continued, “And you sure look like you could use it.”

Slowly, Quilla raised his head, wiping away tears from his own good eye, and faced the source of the familiar voice, "Mirage?" he said, his voice slurred, "No... can't be you... you're dead. I killed you..."

Mirage wondered just how drunk Quilla was. She took a seat, "Do you want some company?" she asked him.

“No,” the blue echidna slurred.

Mirage frowned, “Okay… do you want some advice?”

“No,” the echidna repeated.

Mirage took the bottle away from him, "Drink when you want to remember, Quilla," she told him, "Not when you want to forget."

"I wanna forget..." he moaned, trying to take the bottle back, managing another gulp, "I can't take it anymore. I done wanna know what I did. I'm th' reason you're dead... I killed you, I killed wha’ you wanted... now lookit me..."

Mirage rolled her eyes. Goddamn drunken idiot. She took his face in her hands, "I am," she told him quietly, "You did not kill me, you drunken bozo, I am right here."

Quilla blinked, his drunken mind slow to comprehend what she was saying, but he soon remembered the current situation according to the Doctor, "No, not you... the other 'un... the first Mirage..."

"What do you mean, the first Mirage?" the feline shrugged. It was easily explained. He was drunk, "Just forget this dead woman, Quilla."

The echidna slammed his metal fist onto the bar, putting a dent in it, and faced the hedgecat, his face close to hers, "I can't!" he told her, "I'm lookin’ at 'er all the time!"

"Stop that!" Mirage grabbed both of Quilla's wrists, "We have had this conversation before. And it is not going to be any easier to have if you are so wasted that you cannot even think straight - not that you were thinking straight in the first place, but you cannot live like this."

Quilla angrily yanked his wrists away from her, snatched back his bottle of beer, and downed the remaining contents of it, "Wha’ you know, anyway? You just... you just their tool. Damn clone..."

"Hey! I am not a tool!" Mirage told him, insulted, "And I am not a clone, either!" She wasn't going to get anywhere with him ranting like this, "No more than you are a monster."

"Well I am a monstur, so there,” he slurred, "You not the first. You're clone. Doctor said so. GUN agent."

"You are not a monster, and I am not a clone!" Mirage told him, "Why would it matter if I was, anyway? And I am not!" She took a deep breath, "And you are drunk. This is not a good place to talk. Come on, I shall take you somewhere quiet."

Quilla didn't protest and decided to let her lead him, seeming to resign himself to his fate. If she was the enemy, she was probably dragging him off to kill him. He couldn't complain; it would certainly work at making him forget it all. The echidna got off his stool and stumbled, trying to find the balance he had misplaced.

Mirage took his wrist, and walked out of the bar and backstage, pulling him into her dressing room - well, it was hers on Sundays, anyway. She pushed him onto her chair and stood in front of him, "So what is all this garbage about clones?" she asked him, standing over him, "If you are not sober enough to tell me the truth, so help me I will make you throw up until you are!"

Looking up at her, he searched his foggy mind for the answers she sought. "The 'riginal Mirage died on the ARK,” he slurred, "GUN cloned you. That's what R... Ro.. Ra... guh, the fat doctor told meh."

"I am the original Mirage!" Mirage fumed, "How do you know anything about the ARK? And are you really so stupid as to believe one word of what Doctor Eggman Robotnik says?"

"I'm from th' ARK!" the echidna said, gesturing wildly, "The Doc saved me an’ gave me all the metal."

Mirage looked at him, "The Doctor also told you I am a clone, you are a monster and that you should destroy GUN, right?"

Quilla shook his head. "My idea. I wanna make 'em pay. They took everythin', treated us like animals..."

"Well to GUN, we are animals," Mirage said, sitting down, "They are smug, arrogant bastards... but that does not mean you should hurt people just to get back at them. That makes you no better than they were."

"Done matter,” he slurred, sighing and looking down, "Got nuthin' left. They killed you... eh, her... you know what I mean..."

"If you think you have got nothing then you should go find something, and not just wallow in your own self-pity," Mirage pulled a silk scarf out of her quills, "Drinking alone is not a good thing to do." She tilted up Quilla's chin and used her scarf to wipe his face clean of tears.

Quilla sat there quietly as she wiped his face, sighing softly, "Thank you,” he mumbled, "I jus... sorry if I bothered you..."

"It is no bother," Mirage replied, "Mostly this job is something to fill up the day. What else am I supposed to do in-between missions? Save the world? I am no hero." She plaited the scarf back into her hair, "And it makes me sick to hear you call yourself a monster."

Quilla's bloodshot eye looked into hers, and the echidna said softly, "If you knew wha’ I done... you'd agree." He sat back again, feeling tired, “I mean… lookit me!”

"Tch. I have met real monsters," Mirage sighed, and took his left hand in both of hers, "If you were a monster, you would not feel guilty about it. So forget what you see. What do you feel?" She pressed his hand to his chest, over his rapid heartbeat, and then to her chest, over her calm, steady heartbeat.

Through his flesh hand, he could feel her heartbeat and the heat radiating from it. It was like having a knife jammed into his own, "I wanna believe it’s you,” he moaned, "I miss you so much... I'm sorry...." And suddenly, the echidna's hand jerked away as if he had burned it. He stumbled to his feet and walked for the door, "I gotta go..."

"No, do not go!" Mirage stood up and caught hold of his shoulder, "I keep feeling as if I should remember something, and I think that something is you - even though I do not know why."

Quilla was stopped by her touch, no force needed. Glancing back at the feline, he said carefully, "Mirage knew me better as Midnight."

"I AM Mirage, you dip!" Mirage snapped. She stuck a finger in her ear and wiggled it around, "Midnight..." Her face suddenly turned into a grimace. Her heart suddenly felt as if it was burning with pain, "I do not want to remember!" she cried out, pulling away from Quilla and staggering away from him. She tripped on her eight-inch stilettos and dropped to her knees, "I do not want to remember... that I forgot..."

An uncomfortable silence filled the air between the two. Blinking curiously, the echidna took a step closer to her, "Mirage? ...Is that really you?" he asked. He slipped down to his own knees, looking into her eyes.

"Forgot... I forgot... I do not want to remember... I want the world to damn well let me start my lousy freaking life over again!" Mirage gritted her teeth, and her voice was no longer clipped and precise, but shaky, uncertain, and above all the more natural drawl he had heard her speak as he died, "I don't want to remember!"

Quilla's face was a vision of shock, and then sorrow, and then... anger, "No,” he growled drunkenly, getting to his feet, "You... you're the liar. You're not Mirage! Mirage would have remembered me! It was the last thing I asked her! It was my dying wish, and she would have honoured it!" Looking away in disgust, he stumbled out of the room and made for the fire exit.

Mirage’s voice returned to normal, "That is right! Walk out, you bastard!" she screamed out of the door, not caring about who heard, “Get out of my sight! Do not come near me again!”

Quilla didn't turn or look back or say something in response. Partially because he didn't want to believe her, thinking she was just manipulating him. Partially because he had passed out on the sidewalk, straight after vomiting.

Mirage slammed her door closed and closed her eyes tightly. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could forget all over again... Forget... just forget... it was so easy last time... Tears trickled down her face, and she didn't bother to hold them back. In a few minutes, she hoped she'd have forgotten what she was even crying about.

~~~

Quilla became aware of somebody kicking him repeatedly in the stomach. The world swam into focus as he came to with a groan, looking at the pavement he had fallen on.

“Get up, man, you’re blocking the pavement!”

Quilla moaned. He felt dizzy and sick and his head was throbbing as if someone had hit him there with a blunt object. He could feel every beat of his heart inside his head, and it was not a pleasant feeling. Slowly, the echidna got to his feet. How did he end up there again? Easy enough to remember when you couldn’t forget… Mirage... He shook his head. He'd worry about it later. For now, he just wanted to get back to Eggman's base and learn how to do GUN more damage.

After a quick flight to the secret base, he was again stepping into Eggman's inner sanctum, wondering if the doctor had any advanced cures for hangovers.

Eggman was working late in his lab - he often did. He didn't even look up at Quilla, but he was grinning wickedly, "Excellent work, Quilla!" he told the echidna, "Do you know where GUN meets in an emergency now?"

Quilla held out a small piece of paper with the coordinates that Rouge had given them. "This is the location of GUN's headquarters,” the echidna said, "Unfortunately, it’s the most secure, secret, and well-defended base on the planet."

Eggman snatched the paper from him greedily, "The theft of the Master Emerald is considered an emergency, but I want to make sure. So blow up some more things while you're at it. There's a base in Westopolis," Eggman told him, eyeing the co-ordinates greedily.

"With pleasure,” Quilla said with a grin. That darker side of him from a distant past shown through, and it was a terrifying slaughter machine, far better at the job than any of the Doctor’s devices.

"Now go," the Doctor told him, "Don't give Sonic and his friends a chance to breathe! Kill anybody who gets in your way!" With that, he bent back over some charts and printouts, ignoring Quilla completely.

Quilla silently turned and left, walking towards the hanger bay and his borrowed aircraft, mentally planning out his attack of both GUN bases and nursing his hangover. With this much destruction, the leaders will have to call a meeting, and when that happened... he would have his revenge.

Eggman looked at his charts. With all the chaos and destruction going on from another quarter, he had been able to steal the information on Shadow's DNA from GUN easily. He could build fully functional Shadow Clones now, complete with Chaos powers! He'd also be able to take the Master Emerald from Rouge so much more easily than from Knuckles. And then he would have no need for Quilla. Better that the echidna was removed from the picture - if he ever found out that Mirage 2.0 was actually Mirage 119.14, he'd be very, very difficult to deal with.

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Harley: Next chapter equals more explosions. Now though, read and review!