Before the Warren

Just a normal day, as normal as it could be now for the lion at least. He got his cybernetics checked up on by good ol' doctor Robotnik. Being rather disgruntled as usual by the frustrating pain he had to get used to. His mind trailing off to rather long distant memories he wouldn't ever get back again.

That light he once had. Was she alright in heaven? perhaps?.. It still hurts even thinking of it. So little that he knew that would be crushing him soon enough.

…

Syntax still flexed his hand like he could feel them, that old phantom pain of his lost limbs lingering. As he walked along, he heard distant voices from across the large hall he had begun crossing. Glancing in the direction he heard the voices from, he beheld the strangest sight. At first glance it looked like a tall, slender, rabbit, with quite the figure... but then he noticed the horns and antlers. He had to stare and think about it for a moment... his mind casting back to someone mentioning something about a Jackalope that joined the empire. Until it crashed down on him.. that hair, the ears. Those piercing green eyes that looked over to where he was.

It couldn't be.. It was like his entire world collapsed on him all at once, was he seeing things? He couldn't be going crazy could he?

It was her!

He stopped dead in his tracks, staring as his eyes locked with hers. The antlers, the horns, he had no idea what she'd done to herself or why she was here of all places, but he was certain it was her, his lost angel.

He came closer to her, standing in front of her with a bewildered look on his face. "M-maryell?" He quietly questioned, still in shock.

She tilted her head a bit to the side, staring at him in silence, her eyes opening wider by the minute. For Maryell, she was confused who he was, how did he know her name? Trying to figure out how he knew her, if she's seen him before. A twisted view went through her mind but nothing that could be distinguished for her at that moment.

He stared at her face as she scrutinised him in confusion. "It is you, right? Maryell?" He asked again, now sounding a little confused and uncertain himself.

He began looking her over as he took a few steps towards her, noticing the changes but still seeing the women he thought dead. 

"....." The silence from her was killing him, but it stopped him completely inside with what she finally said. "How do you know my name? I don't recall your face.. not familiar at all..." She let out, looking at him up and down while her head tilted to the side even more, her eyes wide open as she stared at him... with that deranged look in her eyes not going away at all.

He stood there, starting to shake with emotions that he couldn’t describe at all. It was her, definitely her, but she didn't know him? Recognise him? What was wrong? What was going on? He moved closer and held her arms almost pleadingly. "Mary? It's me? Don't you know me? Don't you recognise me? What happened to you?"

She looked up to his face with such a.. cold stare. But she looked like she was trying to figure something out, yet. "Why do you call me that?" She didn't remember him? Not one bit? was... no.... it was her, it couldn't be anyone else, no one else but her, but her memory, all of her memories of him, of THEM! Were gone.

He could feel those eyes going right through him. No recognition of him at all. "You really don't remember me... do you...?" He began to step back a few paces, obviously shaken, he was falling apart inside all over again. Hope presented to him and snatched away so quickly again. "I... I'm sorry to have bothered you..." His gaze dropped to the ground and he hastily began heading for his quarters.

She watched him while he tried getting to his quarters, seeing him bump into things, her head tilting a bit before looking over and seeing someone else. Walking over with no care in the world to what happened. Syn felt sick, she didn't remember him.. nothing at all could prepare him for that. His angel... gone, completely, to something that looked so twisted and dead. Syntax practically collapses in his quarters, grabbing a bottle from a nearby cabinet and pouring himself a few large drinks of Irish Whiskey. It was most definitely her... but what he knew of her was truly gone. But now she was here, in his presence, tormenting him. How could things get possibly worse.

…

After a couple of weeks, he had to get checked up on, already being tormented with seeing her now and then, he went to the doctor, only to see someone familiar next to the chair he had to sit in to be checked up on. Her back facing him. She glanced slightly over to where he stood, her piercing green eyes staring into his soul as usual.

He stopped dead in the doorway as his eyes met hers, and his blood went cold. "Where's that doofus of a doctor? Why are you here?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"I'm your doctor~ Eggman has bigger things to attend to today...... sit down~" she let out as she fully faced him, her eyes not moving away from his at all. She couldn't possibly... there was no way..

This was a nightmare, this couldn't be happening. The torture of just seeing her like this every day was bad enough, but this? This was close. Intimate. Normally he wouldn't have complained about something like that with her, but this was not the woman he once knew anymore. He swallowed hard and steeled himself as he took his seat.

She got up close to him rather fast! "now.... it won't hurt... much~ So just relax while I check on you~" She let out with quite the spine chilling tone. This truly wasn't the woman he knew anymore. She was gone, completely mentally unstable, right in front of his eyes. Maryell wasn't the angel he cared so deeply for. She was a ghost of her former self.

He did what he was told but he was anything but relaxed as she got in close and examined him. He wanted to run and hide under a rock, as far away as he felt himself dying more inside. Still his eyes kept checking her from time to time, her face, her slim figure, causing him to blush as his mind would cast back to memories of them together. Of her being so sweet and gentle toward him, that doctor he once had feelings for. But now? This was truly hell for him. But the moment he looked back at her again.. seeing the look on her face when checking his cybernetics, that deranged look of someone enjoying what she was doing, treating it as some fun game for her. Her eyes were haunting, and they were going to haunt him for who knows how long.

He broke his stare towards her, it was too much to bare for him and he cleared his throat. "Is... um... will this take much longer?" He asked with a low voice.

"hmmm... perhaps. Is the pain excruciating for you dear?~ I can make it worse for you~" she told him while coming up close to his face again. Was she talking about what was going on in his head or the procedure with his body?... This was his hell..

"I don't know what context that was in, but the answer is no either way." He quickly got up as he backed away from her, he was starting to look nervous. "Was there anything else you needed?" His nervousness could be felt by her so easily.

Maryell seemed to think before a big smile creeped up her face. "I want to know how you tick dear~" She said with clearly no personal space being given into consideration. She was invading him even more. She was insane, no doubt about it, but the way she was looking at him, crazed and hungry. Hungry for knowledge!

He was starting to get scared, confused, but mostly angry as she kept closing in on him. "And just what in the name of hell do you mean by THAT, women?" He kept backing away, tripping over equipment and stumbling his way around, but she kept crowding him closer to a corner, he was just getting angrier and he snatched her arm as she tried to reach out for him.

She looked surprised for a moment, looking at his arm then up at him, And then looked unbothered about it. "...show me your anger dear~ you look quite angered already... Do I make you feel that way? Or something else?~" What was she trying to do here?.... get him pissed off? What was wrong with her?!

He glared at her, a fire in his eyes. He was already enduring so much pain but this... THIS was pushing it! "What the hell is wrong with you? Is this some sort of game to you!?" He pushed her away for a moment before turning over a few tool trays, kicking over a chair, and slicing through some heavy and expensive looking equipment. His eyes full of pain and fury, he turned on her once more, grabbed her by both arms and pinned her against the wall, his face right up in hers. "You want anger, huh? Well he's angry for you! How's that? Is this what you wanted?" He let out in an angry growl.

She watched him, analysing him completely it seemed. "clearly not angry enough~" She whispered, before looking into his eyes, why did he look so sad when looking at her still?...

She came up closer to him... what was this... what was wrong with her head…

...but this feeling..

She was having her forehead up against his. She wasn't kicking or trying to make him let go. Having her forehead up against his. What was this? Their heads pressed together, so close to her, he could feel her breath on his lips as they stared at each other. He could feel wants and needs for something run through him being so close to her again, like this. But he tried to ignore it all, only finding himself angrier.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue? This is what you were after right? Or is it not enough?" He questioned her before grabbing harder into her.

He whirled her around, smashing things and kicking them over as he dragged her across the room, throwing her onto one of the operating chairs he would have been sat in and pinning her arms above her, his grip on her wrists tightening as he sat atop her. His eyes were lit with a fire inside, his hair and fur bristled.

"What's the matter? Angry enough for you yet?" He snarled.

She said nothing, only smirking up at him as she saw how angry he got.  Moving herself a bit more forward. "I guess that's as much as I can get from you Syntax~ " She looked quite accomplished with what she just did.

She truly lost her mind.. not caring for the situation she was in, toying with him. His mind spiralling to a worse state than ever before.

But it was clear to her that he couldn't dare harm her. Hitting everything else but her after all. He stared at her in disbelief, pain returning to his eyes, so much pain, but the anger was still bubbling up. He couldn't take this, he needed to end this. If his angel wasn't to be allowed to rest in peace, then he needed to show mercy to the shadow of her former self and end the torment. He snarled angrily at her, raising an arm and letting the blade slide from its housing. He stared down at her, ready to end it, but she just laid there, observing him, and he knew that whether what he saw was a monster, a shadow of his angel, it was still her, and he couldn't bring himself to do it, only confirming her observations.

He put his blade away and slumped a little onto her, the energy and rage sapped from him, defeated. He wanted her back, he wanted this nightmare to end, but most of all... he wanted to cry... and couldn't.

Mary was silent, just staring at him, but this felt familiar to her, his smell, voice.. Something was coming back. When his hands lost their grip on her arms, she let them slide down. She didn't say a word, moving her head a bit closer to his neck, feeling his warmth, that familiar closeness she didn't understand why she felt. It confused her. She moved one hand over to him, moving it along his back before resting it behind his head. He froze, as she closed in around him, holding him, the familiar touch of her hand as it slid over him, her shared warmth close to him, every sense and feeling that he missed about her, everything that had till this moment all been nothing more than a memory. Like her, he remained silent, subconsciously nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck as he felt his lips quivering. He felt utterly broken.

"How did you know my name?..." She suddenly asked him, her voice much softer, so familiar..... yet so far away. Her hand softly caressed the back of his neck.

Why.... why did it have to hurt so much? Why... WHY DIDN'T SHE REMEMBER HIM.

He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, holding tight. He hadn't expected that question and now was unsure how to answer her. She didn't remember him, would it matter anymore? What would come from telling her? "I... We... I mean... We used to know each other... and then there was an accident... I thought you were dea-"

He was barely able to finish his last word in before something crashed into the room!! Metal... he was completely torn and battered like usual. Dragging along another robot with him, another fight seemingly lost against that blue vermin.

Maryell sat up, pushing Syntax up with her, seeing the blue robot broken and barely functioning. Her eyes that seemed so calm for a moment, flashed back to that insanity. Syntax sat there, shaking. He could see that he'd lost her again, she'd just as quickly gone back to that insane monster he encountered when he walked into this room. There was nothing left for him here.

He quietly picked himself up and slunk out of the room, leaving the Jackalope to her work. He felt ruined, broken. The memory of her touch fresh on his mind again, lingering, he wanted to hold on to that sensation as long as possible. He dragged himself back to his quarters, throwing himself on the bed and laying there in the silent dark...

He knew if he didn't do something he would be forced to face her, again and again, and again... He knew... He had to disappear. It was gonna be impossible.. he couldn't take this.. not one bit. Seeing her more each and every day that passed... Even watching her conduct her disturbing experiments on other things, robots mainly... this was not the Mary he remembered. This was not her at all.

He couldn't take it anymore.

Packing his things that night, he made quick work of removing himself from the Eggnet, his entire history, his identity, gone. He made to get away. As he left his quarters, making a way for a vehicle garage, he stopped. He glanced down one hall towards Maryell's quarters. Part of him debated if he should look in on her, at least one more time before he walked away from her for good.

His lip was quivering again but eventually decided.. no. He couldn't face her again. He wanted to remember her the way she used to be, and those few moments she held him earlier, not the mad monster she was now.

Stealing a small vehicle he was out, and on his way... to Metropolis.