Chapter Text
“Hmmmmmmm….” Rouge held a scrutinizing face, weirding out the girls she was hanging out with. The one who’s most bothered is Blaze, the target of the stare.
“Rouge… is something the matter?”
“I just think it’s wild!” She dramatically gestures the air, twisting her wrist in circles while the other hand is perched underneath her chin.
Amy and Wave look between the two with confusion.
“You got three bachelors of your choosing, and they’re all hedgehogs. Sonic, Shadow, and your friend Silver. You must have an interest in one of them, or more.”
Now all eyes on her, in response Blaze’s burn a subtle pink. Immediately the lavender feline waves it off and looks elsewhere to blow it off.
“Why does that matter? Besides, there’s no one that caught my eye.”
“I’m calling BS on that.” The white bat points an accusing finger.
“You’ve been here for almost a full year, and neither of these guys you develop a crush on? Considering you, Sonic, and my brother are all on the track team and you've been running into both of them a lot of times. Plus, you and Silver have history…!”
Why is she interested in her love life? This is something Amy would already have been all over it. Wasn’t this already discussed? That was only when there was a rumor between her and Shadow, that was already debunked.
She looks over to the other hedgehog and the swallowtails, both bearing composure… but their eyes shine with curiosity. At least one is.
The other had an all-knowing expression.
“What happened a while back, I was very stressed and worried about Silver. We’re partners—“
“So you two—“
“Not romantically.”
Rogue deflated a bit and pouted her lips. She slumped in her seat and crossed her arms, slightly pushing up her chest.
“Weird for you taking one of Amy’s hobbies, isn’t it.” Wave chuckled as she nudged the pink hedgehog next to her. “You’re really pushing your brother this time.
“He needs to go out more…!” There lies the real intention. “I’ve seen how you talked to him and how he talks to you- which is such a diamond in the rough- and he’s actually friendly to another person. If you date, I could finally get him out of the house.”
“Does Shadow even like anyone?” Amy asked skeptically.
“Romantically? I was hoping it would be her,” she points at the track runner who looks at her dryly. “Generally? Hardly ever.”
“Ohhhhh, so you could finally have a certain echidna over?” Wave wiggles her brows. “To think you were simply taking care of your brother.”
“Kill two birds with one stone.”
Already the cat is a past topic as the two were going on about jewelry. Blaze sighed to herself, relieved to not talk about romance anymore.
“So Blaze.” She turned to the pink hedgehog speaking up. “How is Silver doing right now?”
Her concerns brought a sense of comfort, the feline smiled gratefully. A while ago she told the story to her girl group who all sent their regardless and good wishes for the gray hedgehog.
“His condition has been improving. He’s in a body cast from his right shoulder, that entire arm, and the majority of his torso— In short, he’s still alive.”
“That’s great! So… Do you mind if I ask what happened?”
“That… I’m hoping to get a story when I go see him.”
“You’re going back to Solaris?!”
“For the summer.” Blaze adds more context.
“Then we gotta do something fun before you leave!” Amy's eyes sparkle with excitement, leaning extremely close. It made the purple feline lean away.
“It’s not like I’m leaving forever. It’s just for this summer.”
“But it’s officially your first full year in Mobius! Why not celebrate the accomplishments?!”
Blaze was taken aback about her pink friend’s sudden burst of energy. One full year of living in a new area isn’t something to celebrate, unlike a holiday, birthday, or a life milestone.
Actually, her birthday already passed and it was celebrated to her liking. A simple announcement from her host family, a group call with her friends, and a small white cake with fruits on top, bought by Vanilla.
Are you flying out immediately once school is over?” Amy joins in with a curious look.
“I have a week to stay before flying out, why?”
“Do you have to ask why?” The pink hedgehog tilts her head with a glimmer in her eyes accompanying a huge smile. “We have to plan a girlfriend's day! Shopping, sleepover, beach day— they have some lovely beaches! Check out some fun museums. Oh gosh! Cream is totally invited, I haven’t seen her since she was a baby.”
“I’ll ask Vanilla—“
“She’s also welcome!”
“She flew back home?” Sonic’s response was the mother rabbit nodding her head. She then hauls off a medium ceramic pot with a large plant to go the further back of the store.
He quickly follows her and helps carefully bend its large leaves to not hit the shelves.
“Blaze flew out a few hours ago… so she should be landing in about forty-five minutes.”
“That’s cool.” He smiles albeit hiding his slight disappointment.
Once the large plant is set down, Vanilla wipes the dirt onto to her apron before turning back to the blue teen.
“Was there something you needed from her?”
“Ahh…” he awkwardly grinned and began ruffling the back of his quills. That was one of the only reasons to stop by the plant shop, other than saying hi to her and Cream different times. “I was hoping she could, umm, join me and my friends for a cool festival.”
He felt the sweet stare, stabbing him as he tried to coolly look somewhere else. Internally he was sweating.
“Who else will be joining?”
“Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Shadow…. Well, if he’s there, he’s there.” He then grumbled that last part.
“That sounds lovely. I bet my daughter would love to join you guys.”
“Absolutely she’s invited, and you too if you can.”
“I would love to, but I’m most likely looking after the shop. But she’ll give Tails company to join all those mini games, in case you all break apart to see different parts of the festival.”
“Yeah. Tails can look out for himself, but would appreciate the company to witness his winning streak every year.”
“That would leave you and Blaze and together.”
“Yeah, just me and Blaz—!”
Sonic immediately shut up and whipped his head back towards her. If she didn’t know beforehand (most likely not), she knows based on how red his face is.
“Welcome home, Blaze.” Fira welcomed her daughter as the girl was waiting at the baggage carriage.
“Hello mother.”
The two cats did their version of reuniting with just an arm around each other. The older woman helped gather the other suitcases, and was making small talks about what’s been happening in their homeland.
Fira explains that it is her assistant who volunteered to drive them, as the two waited outside of the large building.
A few minutes later a sleek dark gray car stops alongside the burn near them. The person walked around the car, greeting the two with a warm grin, showing up as a short male driver of the evening. He was a koala sporting in a valet outfit in the shade of blue with a typical white captain hat.
“Gordon, this is my daughter Blaze. I know you met her before, but it was so long ago.”
“It quite has, Ma’am.” He did a quick bow to her, upholding a reminiscent face. Then his focus changed to the teenager. “You may not remember me, but I used to take care of you when you were such a wee baby.”
Blaze tilts her slightly, trying to remember any face of past babysitters and caretakers in her childhood. Meanwhile the man began activating the car’s back door and already asking for her belongings to be carried in the car.
“My time with you was very brief, for I had to take a leave to take care of my father.”
That explains it. Sort of. She then looks at her mother for any inkling of her unsure memories.
Fira only gave a nod with the same reminiscing traits. But her eyes were shown with some grievance. Best to assume the rest for herself.
“Thank you for taking care of me.” It was all she could say as she opened one of the car doors to get settled in her seat.
Gordon takes the driver seat as Fira takes the passenger seat. He adjusted the small mirror to see the back window better, which a fraction of it shows the young feline.
“It’s always been a pleasure. Also, welcome back to Solaris.”
He starts the engine and easily exits the airport.
The entire car ride they were asking the questions of Blaze's first full year living in Mobius. She answered with fewer words until the topic of Vanilla came up, Fira happily talked about emailing becoming their new form of communication via smartphones.
The two mothers have been updating each other's lives with swapping family pictures, and had actually been planning to visit one another, now that Blaze’s is comfortable enough to look after Cream, and has made many friends she could go to get away from boredom and loneliness.
“Is there a place you would like to visit soon?”
“My first thought was to see Marine, knowing she’ll run to the house as soon as she hears anything about my arrival.” Blaze chuckles at the thought of the young racoon hollering her excitement and gonna tackle her on sight.
In actuality, she wanted to go see Silver…Is he out of the hospital at this point? The grim thought came to her mind, seeing the hedgehog either trying to lighten the mood of his surroundings, or him still lying in bed with exhaustion. How would she greet him? Should she stay strong and encourage him to do the same, while she wanted to let her emotions loose and be truly vulnerable, to the one friend she allowed herself to be. Could she attempt to lighten the mood in the tile room with whatever machinery he is possibly hooked up to breathe properly?
She stays seated in a proper posture with clenched fists on her lap. Staring out the window to see the nightlife of the city she grew up in, something to distract herself.
“We arrived home.” Gordon announced with joy, sounding a bit forced.
Fira and Blaze got out of the car with their belongings, standing on the curb near the passenger window to send their goodbye to the old koala.
“It’s been a long day for me, I shall go get some rest.” The teen tells her mother when they approach the front door of their house. She looks at her mother with confusion when the older cat smiles but shakes her head.
Why is her own mother–
“WELCOME BACK!” The living was decorated to the minimum with a few balloons, but the kitchen table was full of various foods with a huge bouquet of sunset-colored flowers.
The people in the house were Marine the raccoon, other Koala workers, and the most important person in the center of the welcoming party; Sliver the Hedgehog.
To say she was stunned is an understatement. Blaze broke into a small grin and predicted the small raccoon’s move, slowly walked up and spread her arms out to prepare for the emotional tackle.
“I miss yoooouuuu!” She is already getting teary as she presses her face into the cat’s shoulder.
“I missed you too, Marine.” Blaze then looked up to see the koala workers she was more familiar with greeting her mother. Her golden eyes then looked over to Sliver, watching him side-stepped from the kitchen counter and slowly walked up to them.
Away from the huge bouquet that previously blocked him, he is revealed to have a huge cast covering his entire left arm, from shoulder to fingertips, and majority of his chest. Her eyes widened as he got closer to them.
“Hi Blaze.”
Her eyes begin forming tears as she slowly gets up from the floor, taking Marine with her, or more so the little girl lets go and back away to create space for the two. Blaze’s smile falters a bit upon seeing what resulted in the silver boy.
She didn’t say anything. Instead simply rested her head on his good shoulder. He raised his free to gently press on her back.
The party was calm and brief, minus Marine excitedly telling everyone her future plans of traveling by boat. Then she mellowed out by sitting on the couch with the teen cat and hedgehog, listening to his story.
“That’s how it happened.”
“Ahh… yeah.” Silver awkwardly grinned as he finished his story.
At the construction site a couple of small children were trespassing the area, causing a commotion from bystanders who wouldn’t dare cross the fence. Silver wasn’t thinking and immediately ran through the fence, began climbing on the woods of the house’s foundation to get to them. When he got to them to scold them before planning a safe walkway for the three of them to get to ground level.
One of the construction workers there was able to bring up a long wood plank to touch the higher level of the house foundation. The plank was big enough for the two kids to walk easily, but it wasn’t the width for the hedgehog to do the same. He had to carefully side shuffle with precise balance.
Unfortunately the second kid ran down the plank too fast. When he touched the ground, he accidentally kicked the bottom of the plank to have it stand askew. It results in him losing balance and falling from a high point, and landing wrong when the half side of his body crashes onto a stack of wooden pallets. Specifically the corners.
“Ugghh… always been the heroic guy.” Blaze groans.
“In my defense, those kids could have been in my position if I didn’t start the rescue plan.”
“But one of them kicked the board!” She yells back. More so angry at the kid's recklessness than her friend’s. “And now look at you… you know you could have died from such a height.”
“Heheheh, I could have.” He shifted in his seat to have himself fully face her, his eyes shining with conviction. “But I could never leave my friends, not you, not ever.”
Blaze was left speechless when he said that, and her mind remembered another hedgehog said something similar. Flashes of a certain blue hedgehog face pops up.
First showing a cocky boy she meets under the rain who raced her to the train they both ride on. His out of character shyness when he entered through the door of Vanilla’s plant shop, and saying he was her first friend in Mobius. His theatrical appearance at the park to cheer up Cream, and how he played dirty when they raced a second time. At the dance she saw the many funny faces he makes at the spring dance on his own, and when the two surprising were compatible in dancing samba. Then he came to her rescue when she had a huge breakdown, holding and comforting her until she could calm down. Then when she talked about her stress to him, it helped her so much.
When Blaze looks at him… she realizes how similar they are.
“He’s right…”
“Who?”
“Sounds like a lad who caught her eyes, riighhht?” Marine finally chimes into the conversation. A glint of knowledge shines in her eyes seeing the pink tints on the cat’s cheek.
“No—No! Nothing like that.”
“I see love in those eyes!” The raccoon jumps up to stand on the couch cushion, pointing happily about the new development. “You have a crush!”
“Marine, absolutely not!” The blush gets more intense under the scrutiny of the smaller child.
Sliver was switching back and forth between them, very confused.
“Then why did you stare at Silver like that?!”
“Marine!”
Suddenly (Blaze is grateful) Fira walks from the corridor to approach the three kids, holding a phone near her chin.
“Marine, your father needs you home. It is getting late.”
“Awwwwww! Al’ight. I wanted to know who this mystery person is…”
The small raccoon hops off the couch, says her goodbyes to the three. She again expresses her gratitude for the lavender teen’s return, completely lowering her excitement with a genuine big smile. Blaze returned the gesture, and waved her goodbye as did Fira and Silver.
When the door closes and wait for a few more seconds. Blaze flops back on the cushion with a very relaxed sign. Her mother only chuckles.
“I’m happy to see her, I really am,” She comments as she turns her head to the older cat. “But at times her excitement is too much to handle.”
“Especially when you just got here.” He snickered. “So who is it? That’s right about… me?”
Blaze raises her brows before awkwardly turning away. She feels the stares from both her mother and her childhood friend.
“This guy… he’s another hedgehog.” He perks at the first description. “His name is Sonic, whom I met on my second week in Mobius, and one of the first friends I made. Although I wasn’t sure if we actually were until he said it himself, in a funny way. We’re in different classes but on the same track team, both doing the same event; the hundred meter dash.”
“What is he like? Also does he look like me?”
“Sonic is blue and has this curve of his quills. Also have green eyes.” She motioned the direction behind her head. The light gray hedgehog uses his free arm to brush out his own quills that are more splayed in different directions. “A while ago, he assumed that you wouldn’t… die and leave me behind. Guess, he assumed correctly about you.”
Matching gold eyes widened upon observation of the lavender cat.
“I want to meet him one day, when I’m fully healed.”
Blaze smiles tenderly at the idea. Him and Sonic have some similarities… Maybe that’s one of the reasons she gravitated towards the blue hedgehog.
“I think you would like him.”
“I will since you do!”
‘Like…?’
“He sounds like a good friend to have!” Silver, unaware he clarified his claim. “He must’ve been a huge help in your move to a new country.”
“He really has… he has been there for me so many times. If it weren’t for him… other than Vanilla and Cream, I probably wouldn’t enjoy the move now.”
“I’m really glad.”
A phone buzzed near Silver. He picks it up and lit his screen, finding the first notification is a text message from Marine. Blaze leans forward to also see it.
‘ASK HER WHO IS SHE SEEING!’
Blaze pressed a finger to her temple. The boy next to her half-heartedly shrugged.
“So?”
“So?”
“So, Is there anyone you’re interested in?” She groaned and subtly slid her body a bit down from the couch. Her golden eyes narrowed as he snickered.
“Out of everyone I returned to, I would have never thought you would care. I already have two girls I’m friends with that already do that. One is a pink hedgehog named Amy, and she’s more enthusiastic with romance in general, not just mine. And there’s a white bat named Rouge, who didn’t really care but thought I was into her adoptive brother, Shadow, who is a red and black hedgehog.”
“How many hedgehogs are in Mobius?” Silver's face is confused and shocked.
The rest of the time the cat tells the many stories of her time in Mobius.
Sliver listened with such attentiveness he made many faces to react to all the stories of Blaze’s story. Some of them he exaggerated to match her tones within certain events of her life (losing to two hedgehogs in her track specialty.) Input his thoughts about her new friends; Vanilla and Cream sound like a delight to meet! Her girl group seem to have many contrasts with one another but fit so well together, adding Blaze makes the group more lively. Her track teammates have different skills and many characteristics that keep her on her toes. Before that, he already knows about her incredible speed, where he wasn’t surprised she smoked everyone from her first try-out. He hopes one day to attend her track meeting while rooting for her only. Then he had a completely different reaction from hearing about Sonic, interested in knowing another hedgehog Blaze befriended, to being skeptical about Shadow… another hedgehog she is friends with.
If she deems that guy as a friend, then he shouldn’t have any problem with him. Maybe he needs to meet the guy in person to really judge his character.
His smile grew bigger and bigger as subtle gestures and more visual expressions Blaze made. It’s believable she’s the same girl he grew up with, but also amazing how much she’s changed since she moved out of Solaris. Back in their younger days, they only had each other to be with, support, and look out for one another. They only knew the essential needs of companionship and never needed anyone else. But this was before Marine came into the picture and they accepted the hyper-excited raccoon into their tiny circle. Even then, Blaze rarely showed her emotions, and when she does, she always goes to him for comfort and he would do the same— having each other’s back.
But now, she appears more lively, while still possessing a calm composure. From those observations, it sounds like she looks forward to coming back to Mobius and not the other way around.
All because of the one guy that keeps being mentioned in her story. A blue hedgehog that keeps appearing in her life like a reoccurring character— maybe another main character in her story.
“Silver? You alright?” His friend stopped her story to check in on him. She scooted closer to inspect him closer.
“It’s nothing to worry about… I’m just glad you’re spreading your wings.” He didn’t care; he was sporting a goofy smile and staring tenderly at her. “Remember when you called me about your first week?”
“Yeah… being a new student was so, tense.”
“And look at you now. You’re happy about your time there, you made so many friends, and have an amazing host family supporting you, while you still have your mom, me and Marine. From the day we all got together to send you off… you had a cold look, but I know you were scared inside. When we hugged for the last time, you were trying to hold off your leave, you wouldn’t let me go. And all those FaceTime calls, the progression of your mood has lightened up to where… we are, like, right now!”
Blaze was surprised about his keen observations, she couldn’t help but blushed.
“Have I really changed this much?”
By the time she looked at her friend again, they were sharing the same goofy smile.
“I may have come to like Mobius. But you know I’ve always missed you, Mom, and Marine a lot.”
“I know. I miss you a lot, too. I’m glad you’re back.”
She brought herself closer to the light gray boy, subtly curling herself beside him.
Eventually the jet lag finally took a toll on Blaze. She closed her eyes and half of her weight leaned into the couch, and the other resting her cheek on his shoulder.
“Sonic, you alright?” His little brother approached him while carrying a bunch of items in his arms.
The hedgehog looks up from his phone to see the small fox in front of him. He had his back hunch over as he sat on a bench provided by the event.
“I’m good.” He smiles big to disguise his current mood.
“Sonic, we’ve been living under the same roof growing up, and we still are. I know when you’re lying to me or not.”
He drops his shoulders and his smile falters.
“You got me. But it’s nothing too dire.”
Tails tilts his head before adjusting to its original. Then proceeds to walk over and help himself to a seat next to his big brother.
“Do you want to talk about it? You always told me to never keep it to yourself.”
Their eyes met with familiarity. Sonic puffs out his breath in a low chuckle.
“I wanted to invite someone here, being her first summer in Mobius. But I got word from Vanilla that she flew back to Solaris, wanting to visit her mom…” The small fox innocently looked at his brother, changing his stature to be more attentive. But to also ask for more details without speaking. “And a childhood friend of hers… who's a guy. Another hedgehog.”
“What’s his name?”
“Silver. He went through surgery because of a bad accident. She couldn’t tell me about it, or more so she didn’t know what the accident was at that time.”
He hunch a bit to have his elbows perched on his knees, that way he can position his interlaced fingers to rest his chin on. His half-lidded eyes stares blankly at the numerous people
“You really like Blaze, huh?” Sonic whipped his body too fast, he almost fell off his seat on the bench. Blood rushed to his cheeks as he rebalanced himself. “I only met her a couple of times, and she’s a really nice person.”
“Yeah, she really is.”
“So what are you gonna do?”
“Wha-what are you talking about?”
The young fox stares at his older brother with a slight frown. The other boy laughed it off nervously, then died down to a defeated sigh.
“I don’t know if she and Silver are just friends.”
“You don’t know that until you ask. You can’t accomplish anything if you do nothing.” Easy for an eight-year-old to say that. That time the two teens were waiting for Blaze’s host mother to pick her up, and then she received that phone call. It was obvious who she most likely had a crush on.
His phone buzzed with a text from Amy, saying the firework show is about to begin. He swiftly moves topic and walks alongside the small fox to meet everyone at a high hill.
“You really are a grouch.” Rouge comments towards her younger brother. Of course, he only hums monotonously.
The bat pouted, while seeking a particular person in the crowd.
“… So did you hear from Blaze, about her friend?”
She whips her head back towards the usual brooding hedgehog. He rarely asks about others’ well being, with exceptions rare as a blue moon.
“Her friend survived the surgery. I don't know how it happened, but he’s alive.”
“Good.” Shadow closed his and subtly let out a relieved sigh.
“Blaze talked to you?”
“No… that day she kept looking at her phone, during practice. I recognize that same face… stressing over someone you couldn’t be with… it was one of those moments to not intrude.”
“Was it?”
“Everyone should have someone to lean on.”
“But Sonic beat you to it.” Rouge tries to sound factual without any mirth but the smirk stretched regardless.
No emotion revealed as usual.
“Y’know what’s funny? To think the first friend you make, all on your own, would be her. I mean, I see the similarities… Maybe, that’s why you could be interested in her?”
Shadow proceeds to look down at his phone. The bat girl wasn’t surprised about that. But then an idea popped in her head. Suddenly she whips out her phone and pulls him in.
“Rouge—!”
“Let’s send her a pic! Oh, Amy also texted everyone is at the hill!”
Everyone took their spot on the hill that overlooks the festival from one perspective, and then down another part of the hill that leads to a big field with a canal nearby.
Sonic's main group sat near Shadow’s. Both hedgehogs seated far from each other with their friends in-between. Wave’s group were seated behind with their skateboarding gears for transportation to the event and afterwards. Vanilla joined eventually with her daughter and chao who favored sitting next to Shadow.
The firework show was always a marvel. Then a large group of drones made their debut displaying three-dimensional mythical animals, rockets, and followed by the Eggman Corporation logo before making their exits. The bystanders let out cheers and paper instruments to sound off the joys.
Sonic looks around to see his friends enjoying another summer festival. It brought a smile to him, but he felt the slight longing for Blaze to be here.
All he can do is turn his head back to the sky, leaning back with his hands supporting him. Occasionally imagine a certain cat’s hand placed on top of his, watching the same colorful sky.