Work Text:
Scars
A cyan doorway opened in Blaze’s bedroom lighting up the dim room. It was the middle of the night, full moon illuminating in the dark lands below. From the doorway emerged two figures. One cat and one hedgehog. To say they were exhausted would be an extreme understatement. Their legs were quaking, about to give out. Both of the heroes were clad in armour, traditional Solian armour, with personalised customised details for each. Blaze sported a purple cape bellowing from her right pauldron. Silver’s suit had hints of cyan paint all across it mimicking the patterns on his body. They were peppered with arrows lodged into their armour. Their armours were dirty and burnt and fractured, some pieces were missing. Their capes torn and tattered. Silver was missing half a quill as a rogue blade had sliced it off during battle. Another one of his quills was still on fire at the tip. Blaze snuffed the dancing flame out between her thumb and pointing finger. She then proceeded to flop onto her bed face first.
The doorway closed behind them. Silver just stood there, wavering from side to side, about to fall down. He was about to sit down on the floor leaning against Blaze’s bed, but Blaze patted a spot on her bed next to her. Silver immediately understood and took his place by her side. Still face first in the bedsheets Blaze’s hand slithered up his leg up to his chest. She scratched it at his chest plate. He once again understood. Silver’s markings lit up bright neon and slowly his armour dismantled and floated off his body. Unveiling his soft fluffy chest fur. Blaze’s hand buried itself within it and combed through it. Her hand eventually made its way up to Silver's cheek. He leaned into it. Closed his eyes, smiling, his markings were burning bright like a blush, they expanded across his whole body, including his face. Her hand explored his soft face, but it stopped. He felt it shake slightly. Silver opened his eyes to see Blaze’s worried face staring up at him. She rose swiftly, closing the distance between them, bringing her face next to his. “B- Blaze? What-“ Her golden eyes fell on his lips, and he suddenly felt like a fire was burning through his body. “Wha- What are you about to-“
“Silver.”
“Y- Yes? Blaze.”
“You have a scar. It runs across your lips, on the left.”
“Oh...” His neon blush faded slightly. His bashfulness faded, but he grew more embarrassed. “Oh, yeah, I think I got it a few days ago. Don't worry it's not infected, I had a healer treat it.” He replied with a smile trying to diffuse her worry. Blaze hadn't seen it as Silver had constantly worn a faceplate over the bottom half of his face along with a helmet to protect his large quills. Blaze had a matching faceplate. Which she took off in that moment.
She ran her thumb over the scar therefore his lips. “It's deep. Does it hurt?
“No, no, I'm okay, I promise.” He gently took hold of her hand.
“Why wouldn't you tell me? Silvy?”
“I don't know, there were more important things happening at the time. We were at war, on the frontlines for eight days! Plus, it's not a big deal, I get worse scars all the time.” As he finished the sentence, he realised he had made a mistake. He could tell from Blaze’s bewildered, almost angry expression.
“What?!”
“Umm.”
“When?! Where!?... Well!? Silver!?” He pulled back, stiffening up. He tapped his pointing fingers together; she began to sweat a little.
“I- I don't know, all the time, all over the place.”
“What do you mean? Silver, expound, explain! Immediately.”
Silver stammered, attempting to avoid eye contact, “Well, I timetravel to apocalyptic future timelines all the time; there are monsters, robots, dangerous landscapes. I get scraps and scrapes here and there, now and then. And then there's whenever we fight together to protect the Queendom against Eggman or whatever eldritch being he awakens that week. You're by my side most of the time, you never... I don't know, acknowledged it.”
Blaze sat up and scotched over to the grey hedgehog. “Show me.”
“W- What?” His markings began to burn bright once more.
“Show me the scars.”
“Well, alright, well, I mean they're all over the place,” he glanced over his chest, arms, and back, “They’re usually hidden under my fur. I guess the most visible ones are on my hands.” He removed his gloves and gauntlets and showed his hands to Blaze. The circular markings on Silver’s palms pulsated with light. His palm and fingers were covered in cuts and burns.
Blaze took hold of Silver’s hands. “Where are these from?”
“My powers are controlled through my hands, so they're usually under the most strain. I attack with them, block with them, channel my energy through them. Also, I'm sure some of these are paper cuts too.”
Blaze still seemed distressed, “Do they hurt?”
“No, these were a while ago.”
“So, none of them needed dressed?”
“No, the lip scar was the newest.”
“Anywhere else?”
“Yeah, all over.” He looked down over his chest. Blaze retracted her hands and move them over to Silver's chest, she began to comb through the belly fur. As she moved through the fur she found cut after cut. She was too focused on searching for and cataloguing every wound she found to notice that Silver was barely keeping it together. He was shaking. Holding his breath. As if that was going to stop his blushing. His hands gripped the bed sheets at his sides, crumpling them up. Trying his hardest to keep his telekinetic powers under control - as in times of elevated heart rate he'd have an involuntary response of levitating objects around his surroundings. Once when he was a kid, he got so excited about Blaze holding his hand that he accidentally tore the royal greenhouse they were playing in twenty miles into the air, a chunk of earth with it. Now, in his older age he had a greater grasp on his powers, but he did still slip up from time to time. Like right then and there, when Blaze’s hands made their way to his sides just above his hips. He practically forgot to breathe. His irises glitched. His cyan markings lit up in a bright red.
Blaze seemed to have noticed, “Hmm, I've never seen that before.” Her eyes met his as she looked up at him, “Are you alright?” His voice failed him, all he could do was nod and hum. He could swear she smirked, just slightly, and then just as quickly as it appeared it vanished on her face. “Silver.”
“B- Blaze?”
“You're doing it.” It was only then that Silver managed to tear his eyes away from Blaze and noticed that the wardrobes, vanity desk, nightstand, and various other objects were hovering above the floor encased in a cyan outline.
“Oh, s- sorry.” He breathed in and out, attempting to calm down. All the objects settled down on the carpeted floor.
“Excited?” He could almost hear a smile in her voice.
“W- What? About what? Heh, no, no.”
“Hmm.” Without warning, somehow, she managed to get even closer, she sat on his lap and practically hugged the timetraveller, and her arms wrapped around his back which her hands glided across. “There's more on your back.” She remarked looking over his shoulder.
“Uh, uh huh.”
She ran a finger through a gathering of notches on his shoulder blade, “I recognise these ones. Hailstorm of enchanted arrows at the battle of Arachnos. A few arrows got through your barrier. If not for you I would have lost an eye.” She felt his hands land on her back.
“I'd never let that happen.”
“Heh, I know.” She noticed another scar, a long trench, probably a slice from a blade of some sort. “But I don't recognise this one.”
“Ah, Future: DNF-138-15:34pm. A Metal Sonic reactivated while I was scouring an abandoned Eggman base. Moved faster than I could register.”
Blaze pulled back, placing her hands back on his chest, she looked up at him discombobulated, “Silver...” She narrowed her eyes at him, “Do you keep track of every scar? Do you catalogue every scar?”
“Well... yeah, I guess so.”
“This one?” She pointed to a mark on his belly.
“Future: CFA-276-17:28pm. Concealed dagger, Fang The Wolf.”
“The dark patch near the spine.”
“Future: SCM-889-09:54am. Sneak attack, Surge The Tenrec.”
“The burns on your sides and up your back, are those from Surge too?”
He paused at that one. “... No... Y- You don't remember?” Blaze didn't understand. “Ninth birthday. Birthday party. Ryan Dylanger. Royal castle garden. You were nine, I was eight.” Blaze narrowed her eyes, she didn't recollect facing a villain at such an early age. Ninth birthday… ! ... The synapses in her brain fired up. She realised something horrifying.
“Oh, lord,” She remembered, “It’s- It's me, isn't it?”
“Yeah. It was your birthday party, Ryan Dylanger tried to kiss you, and you knocked his front tooth out.” Blaze sighed and buried her face in his patch of chest fur. Shame and guilt gript her as those deeply repressed memories returned to her.
When the Princess was younger she had... let us say; Troubles controlling her powers. Her pyrokinesis had always been a difficult challenge to overcome. It often felt like instead of controlling it, it controlled her. That fire within her was alive, unpredictable, hungry, and gluttonous, with the power to spread and consume all it touched turning it all to dust and ash. She was always afraid of her powers, of hurting others. When her powers had manifested, she had isolated herself from everyone, any kids her age, out of fear. Even occasionally ignoring Silver in the corridors. It was lonely, but it was for the best. She often snuck out to The Castles Vault at night and pleaded to The Sol Emeralds for them to take the power away from her. But they never did.
Her mother, the stern and cold Queen Ember had often told young Blaze that it was The Sol Emeralds themselves who had gifted Blaze with her fire, at birth, and that she had a responsibility to master it and utilises it as a tool to protect their Queendom, and to smite those who opposed them. It was of course her mother who had hammered the lesson of discipline into her over and over again. Taught her how to suppress her emotions and through that leashing her abilities and allowing her to channel them effectively. It's so the Blaze we all know now was born.
But her father, King Sear, was a far kinder and warmer soul. He proposed that suppressing Blaze’s emotions was not the right path forward, that it was unhealthy for her. Claimed that the fire could only be correctly utilised with open emotion, not as a tool, but as a friend. The Sol Emeralds asked for respect from their wielder and guardian. It was him who pushed for Blaze to meet with more kids her age, to open up to others. All he wanted was for his daughter to have a normal life.
Unfortunately, the King passed away when Blaze was still young, never had the chance to guide his daughter into any brighter path. And she missed him, she missed him dearly. All that emotion boiling just under her skin, until it was unleashed at the birthday party. It was all too much to handle, the little cat burst into tears, and her skin burst into flame. She covered her face and crawled up into a foetal position, a cyclone of flame swirled around her, burning the garden around her. All the guests had scattered. Some of the castle guard attempted to get closer, but the heat was too much, they were getting burns from metres away. Gardon was the one who got the closest. He pleaded to young Blaze, hoping his voice would soothe her anguish, but the flames had consumed her whole, she couldn't hear the voice of the only father she had left through the roaring of the fire. The guards had to drag the elder koala away before he could suffer from heatstroke. The panic and sorrow in Blaze’s heart faned the flames. But as the guards retreated, they noticed a figure that wasn't retreating. A small boy, his fur a greyish white.
With a pout of determination on his face. A cyan aura surrounding him, Silver charged into the flames. His psychokinetic shield he created over himself managed to protect him from harm, but even through it he could feel the immense heat. Silver wasn't stronger than Blaze, he never believed that he was. Her flames burned through his energy fast, the force was pushing him backwards. But he would not give up, he pushed forward and up to the hovering Blaze. He screamed her name. He cried her name. The boy eventually made it to the fiery cyclone Blaze was encased in. He placed his palms against the constantly shifting form of the tornado. Even through his barrier he felt the stinging. But it didn't matter to him. He pushed forward. He slowly began to breakthrough into Blaze’s fiery cocoon.
She needed him. He had to help. Not because he thought he needed to stop her from hurting people. But because his friend needed him. His friend was scared and alone. And in that moment, she needed a friend more than ever. And so, the stinging didn't stop him. “Blaze!” He cried. She heard it. She turned to the hedgehog, her hands uncovering her face, unveiling her pure white eyes, with no pupils, with an orangey red outline. As well as that, her whole body was littered with markings much like his, stripes glowing in a neon orange light. She panicked; the tornado grew.
“No, no, no, no, Silver, you're not supposed to be here! You need to leave before I hurt you. Before-“
“You won't, it's okay.” He smiled his silly smile. He embraced her in a warm hug. Shock permeated through her whole body. “You can't hurt me.” His hug only tightened as he spoke softly to her. She quickly hugged back, wrapping her arms around his back. She buried her face in his shoulder. The fire soon faded away and the two slowly descended to the earth still in an embrace. They touched down on the charred grass. Silver promised to clean up, to quell the Queen's rage about the damage on the castle grounds. That spotted eventually became his own personal garden where he spent most of his days, with Blaze often helping to tend to the flowers and vegetables at his side.
Back in the present, on the bed Blazes eyes suddenly began to notice more and more burns across Silver's body. There were more burns. There were more. “By the Emeralds. I did this. All of this. I did this to you.” She began to shake.
Silver took hold of her hands to steady them. “No, no, no stop that. You couldn't hurt me.”
“But I did. All these burns, they're all from throughout our childhood.”
“I don't blame you for anything. I love you all the same.”
“But how could you?! I've hurt you so much. Why would you ever want to be around me?”
“Because you're my friend. You're friendly, kind, compassionate, strong, pretty, you have always been there for me all my life, protecting me, you played with me, fixed me up, if not for you your mother would have tossed me out onto the street. You stood up to bullies to protect me. You make me feel safe, like I have a safe home to come back to after experiencing all the horrors the future holds. Blaze, you're my anchor. You have done so much for me, and I always feel like I never do enough for you. All your life you struggled with this power, this great burden. This burden that you've been dealing all on your own, I know you feel like you’re alone. I know how that feels. But I'm here to show you that you're not. You struggle so much; I just want to help you carry the weight of the world. You could have left me, considered me not worth your time, but you didn't. And I'm never going to leave you to deal with this alone. You never scared me or hurt me because you could never truly hurt me.”
“Oh, Silver.” She bowed her head avoiding eye contact, “You're so naive.” She smiled slightly. “I have constantly told you that you do not owe me anything.”
“I know, but I just want to help. You deserve the world and more.”
“Oh, please I'm hardly as perfect as you describe.”
“You're the best. I would move mountains for you.”
“Oh, stop it. My fire is my responsibility not yours.”
“Yeah, but you always helped me when it came to my power. I want you to know that... I don't know, if you need someone to talk to, to help, I'll always be there for you. I don't know if I want to call our abilities... ‘conditions’, but, you know, we-“
“We're the same.”
“Feel any better?” Silver asked tilting his head down looking for her eyes as he rubbed circles across her back, massaging her.
She was still looking down, not at him, “A little. But-”
“I look up to you, every day. You’re my hero, Blaze.”
Her eyes shifted back to meet his. Both their eyes were slightly watery at that confession. She once again leapt into a hug and buried her face into his chest. He returned the hug, of course. And they stayed like that for a moment; her listening to his heartbeat, while he placed his chin on top of her head and listened to her purr softly.
“Ugh, this is too much emotion for this late at night.” She murmured; her words muffled through his thick fur.
“I'm sorry.”
“Stop apologising... You help a lot.”
That remark made him smile. “You want me to go?”
“No, stay overnight.”
“Want me to do the same?”
“MmHmm.” She simply murmured, getting comfortable on him, ready for sleep. She had a busy day, and an early morning tomorrow. He encased the two of them in a cyan aura, lifting them into the air slightly. He laid down allowing Blaze to lay down on top of him. Using his powers he pulled back the bed sheets and he floated underneath them. And then covered both of them up. With Blaze generating a steady wave of warmth under the sheets the two fell into slumber quickly, but not before Blaze spoke up one last time, “Whenever you get hurt, whenever you get back to me, tell me these things. I don't like you getting hurt so far away where I can’t protect you. Okay? Promise- Just promise me you’ll be safe. Or allow me to come with you, allow me to protect you wherever you go. Okay?”
“Okay.” He pulled off her hair band, freeing her hair, and nuzzling into it.