Blaze's POV

I quietly made my way down the halls, ducking in and out of passages. It was late at night and the moon was the only thing lighting my path. I carefully opened the door to the training room. I spotted a suit of armour and I quickly put it on. I grabbed a sword and slid it into the sheath hanging from my belt. I made my way out, a bit more confident now.

"Soldier, where are you going?" a voice asked. I pulled my visor down more.

"Night duty," I answered gruffly, hoping my voice sounded low enough. I heard a grunt and I continued. I was escaping from the palace. I looked to check it was clear before I ran out the main gate. By the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, I had crossed the border. I sighed in relief as I collapsed against a tree. I closed my eyes; enjoying freedom for once. Finally I was free from endless marriage proposals, free from princess duties and most importantly; free to do what I wanted. I opened my eyes in a shot when I heard footsteps.

"What are you doing?" someone asked me.

"Resting," I responded, putting on my accent again. I looked up. A knight was standing in front of me. Through his helmet, I could see silvery spikes sticking out.

"What brings you here? I haven't seen you around these parts before," he said.

"I'm here to be a knight," I replied. That was my dream, but being a princess, I was never allowed to fully try it. He nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll take you to see the commander, he's the one you have to ask about this sort of stuff," he told me. He held his hand out to me. I took it and he helped me up again. He was nice and I followed him until we came to a camp set just in a cove between the trees. It was really nice looking; the trees creating sort of a protecting boundary.

"Hey Silver, who you got there?" asked someone.

"A new recruit," he answered. We came to the largest tent and he opened the flap and went in, motioning for me to stay. After a while he came back out and gently pushed me in. I gulped as the tent was zipped closed after me. Up ahead I could see a black hedgehog with red stripes. Well, here goes nothing, I thought as I approached him.

Later on I was sitting by a camp fire, laughing and joking with some other knights. I had managed to be a convincing enough 'male' and the leader, whose name was Shadow, let me join. I had a lot of training to do, but I had met some of the skilled knights. Shadow kept to himself a lot and he used a thick battle sword, which was very heavy. He had the ability to use the power of the chaos energy, but I hadn't seen it in action yet. There was Knuckles, a red echidna, who had a very short temper. His main weapon was a set of axes. They looked really deadly as he was practising and I wouldn't want to be on his bad side during a fight. There was Sonic, he was a blue hedgehog. He came across as arrogant, but he was just a bit over confident. He used a normal sword in battle, but was lightning fast and could strike down several opponents in a couple of minutes. There was Amy Rose. She wasn't really a knight. She was Sonic's girlfriend, but apparently if you got on her bad side, you could feel the bruises from her hammer for months. She seemed nice; with a bright and bubbly personality. Then there was Silver; the knight I met first. He was really nice and considerate towards others. He was a silver hedgehog with a crazy amount of hair. He was very gullible and fell for just about anything, but I kinda thought it was cute. I hadn't taken my armour off. That would reveal my female identity. I was sure even if I lifted my visor, they would be able to guess. I had delicate eyes, soft lips and smooth skin over my cheeks. That would surely give it away. I looked to the features of my companions. Silver's eyes were soft and kind, but they weren't delicate in any way. Sonic's skin was rough with calluses from wearing a helmet. Knuckle's lips were dry and flaky. There was no way I could fit in. I had decided. I couldn't let my guard down…at all.

"Hey what's your name?" Sonic asked suddenly. Oh. I hadn't even thought of that.

"It's…uh…Percival," I replied, saying the first guy name in my head. Silver said something and everyone laughed. Another joke was made about his gullibility and he blushed. I already liked this group of people.

Months later I was still training. I was slowly getting better skills. I was starting to learn each knight's individual strategy. Knuckles just kept on hacking until he found a weakness. Sonic used his speed to his advantage. Shadow was generally skilled, but relied on his chaos power. Silver, in my opinion was the best knight there. He changed his pattern every time he fought me. He was an observant fighter and could always find a different was to get to my weakness; my back. I had already bested Knuckles. That was easy. Just block until he pulled back a bit and then strike. I had fooled Sonic as well. His speed was no use when against me. My sharp cat senses always told me where he was. I couldn't beat Shadow yet. I wasn't strong enough to hold him down. I panted and looked over at Silver. He was eying me carefully, waiting for my next move. I lunged at him and he side stepped. He smacked his sword against my back. I growled and Silver chuckled.

"Don't get all worked up Percival," he teased. Sonic came over and whispered something in his ear. Silver nodded, chuckling. I felt like they were talking about me and I lunged at him again. Silver just stood there. He raised a hand and suddenly I froze, my sword inches from his armoured chest.

"What the-" I exclaimed. Silver burst out laughing.

"Telekinesis," he said simply, tapping his head.

"Let me go," I growled lowly. He shrugged. I fell over. Sonic laughed. I smirked. I brought my sword up and smacked Silver's hand. He dropped his sword and I quickly reached to grab it. Silver spun around surprised. I sat up, cross-legged and smiled. Silver's eyes widened. Sonic suddenly burst out laughing at Silver. Silver composed himself.

"Whatever," he shrugged, walking away.

"Hey Silver, Percival," called Shadow.

"Yes," we responded at the same time, turning back to face him.

"I need you guys to go on a mission for me. There has been rumour that the dark knight Jet has been attacking the village. I want you to sort him out," he told us.

"No problem," shrugged Silver, grabbing his sword again and putting it in his sheath.

"Alright," I agreed. It was my first mission. Shadow nodded and walked away. Silver walked in the opposite direction. I ran to catch up to him.

We scanned our surroundings. There was the sound of a warning bell and smoke rose into the sky. The people of the town were frantically hurling buckets of water onto the fire. I clenched my fists, feeling angry.

"There!" Silver exclaimed, pointing to an escaping figure running across to the forest. We ran after him. We ran through the trees. Silver looked around confused, but I could still hear the slight noises the knight was making.

"Silver, do you trust me?" I asked quickly. He nodded. I grabbed his hand and ran to where I could hear the sounds. I came to a clearing where I saw him. He was standing there, looking over his spoils. I let go of Silver.

"So you followed me here. I must say I'm impressed," the knight spoke.

"Give that stuff back. It doesn't belong to you," demanded Silver. The knight laughed and turned to face us. His visor was up and I could see his cold, pale blue eyes. From what I could tell he was a green…parrot?

"You're a parrot?" I questioned, shocked.

"No, I'm a hawk. Get it right," he snapped, stamping his foot loudly. I laughed.

"Whatever," I responded. He growled at me.

"Are you just going to sit there or run away like you should," he snarled.

"Neither," piped up Silver, "we came to take those back."

"Yeah right, like you pathetic knights could ever take me on." He replied, arrogantly, "Just go home and save us the time."

"No way," I exclaimed.

"You wanna fight," Jet started, getting out a sword, "You're gonna one you'll regret." He lunged at Silver. Silver quickly brought his sword up and blocked the attack. I stood back, watching them fight. I realised that Jet was totally distracted, so I made my way to the bag of belongings.

"Percival, watch out!" Silver yelled to me. I spun in time to feel the tip of Jet's sword pierce my side. I screamed out in pain. Jet laughed and grabbed the bag. He kicked me and pushed me to the ground. I saw Silver charge at Jet, but he was backhanded away. I kicked Jet off of me and stood up. He scowled and pulled something out of his pocket…a bomb. I gasped as set it and dashed away. I looked to Silver. We quickly started to run, but I knew we weren't going to get away.

"Silver, forgive me," I whispered. He looked to me, confused before his eyes widened realising what I was going to do. Before he could say anything, I pushed him as hard as I could. He was knocked away just in time for the bomb to detonate.

Silver's POV

"Percival!" I yelled as the ashes cleared. I spotted him lying on the ground. Blood was everywhere. I rushed over and knelt beside him.

"Oh gosh Percival say something, "I begged. I got no response. He showed no sign of movement. I looked him over. His armour was still intact, but there was still way too much blood.

"Don't be dead," I pleaded, "Just speak to me!" I was tempted to shake his shoulder, but that might worsen his injuries if he was still alive. I bit my lip, not really knowing what to do. He groaned.

"Oh thank goodness you're alive," I sighed in relief.

"What is going on?" he moaned, his voice sounding much higher pitched than usual. He moved to sit up, but cried out in pain. I would have to take his armour off if I was going to help him. I reached to remove his helmet.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding slightly panicked.

"I have to take your armour off," I told him. He raised his hand to his head and held onto the helmet. He growled in pain.

"Hey, don't move," I demanded.

"You don't need to take it-"

"Yes I do," I replied, cutting him off. His hand weakly fell limp beside him. I lifted the helmet off his head to see him closing his eyes.

"Hey you can look at me," I said. There was something strange about him. His skin wasn't hardened. His lips were too soft. His cheeks were a light shade of pink. He opened his eyes and I reeled back in shock. His eyes were a bright amber colour that sparkled delicately. He was a girl! She winced in pain and I moved to help her remove her armour. She was wearing a red velvet dress underneath, confirming my suspicions. I looked her over; assessing all the damage she had taken. It actually wasn't too bad. I was more concerned for the sword wound she had gained from our previous battle. I was silent, debating what I should do.

"Oh please don't tell," she pleaded.

"What?" I questioned. I was still shocked.

"All I ever wanted was to be a knight, but I was never allowed to," she explained, grimacing as she sat up. If I told on her, she might be executed. I looked into her scared eyes. I couldn't do that to her.

"I won't," I whispered, lowly, "but you have to do exactly as I say." She nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to take you to the doctors," I explained. She bowed her head and attempted to stand.

"Don't move," I commanded, "I'm going to carry you." I gently lifted her body off the ground and held her securely in my arms. She gasped softly. I headed towards the village.

A few days later, the lilac cat was mostly healed. She hadn't been that badly injured, the sword wound was the worst one, but really there was just a lot of blood. Her dress was bloodied and slightly tattered, so I bought her a new one. I walked into her room. She had changed into it. She looked good in the soft, simple dark pink gown.

"You look nice," I complimented her.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Doctor told me you were ready to go so I thought that I would come and collect you," I explained.

"Oh," she looked down. I knew why.

"Don't worry," I said, handing her a suit of armour, "I covered for you. I wasn't about to let them disband you. You're actually a good fighter."

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully as she put on the suit, pulling the visor over her face. I now had to pretend she was a boy again. We walked out towards the camp.

"Percival!" exclaimed Sonic, upon seeing us. Everyone surrounded us.

"We all missed you," I whispered in her ear.

"Oh hi guys," she answered, her voice low. I flattened my ears. I liked her real voice and real identity much better.

"Silver, what are you looking like that for?" asked Knuckles. I quickly put my ears back up.

"Oh nothing…" I trailed off.

A month passed and we were still doing the exact same thing. Fighting, training…yeah that sort of knightly stuff. One thing had changed. Percival, who I found was really named Blaze, and I would meet sometimes at dark. She would talk to me as normal. I was finding I was falling in love with her. Tonight I was waiting for her at the annual ball for Princess Sally. Sonic had been friends with her for ages so we always were invited to her parties. I had invited Blaze to come with me. I had made an excuse for Percival not being there, saying he had to go to the village and visit his mother for the night. I spotted Blaze and my jaw dropped. She was wearing a full length, dark purple satin dress. It was short sleeved and it tightened around her middle with a deeper purple, silk bow. She saw me and came towards me and I could see more details. Her dress had soft, curving, pink designs patterned all over it. Her hair had been pulled up into a high ponytail on top of her head with a deep red, thick hair tie. She wore a silvery glitter around her eyes, making her eyes sparkle more than usual. I finally closed my gapping mouth as she stood in front of me.

"Wow you look beautiful," I breathed.

"Thanks," she said. I held my hand out to her.

"Care to dance?" I offered, seeing her glancing at Sonic and Amy on the dance floor.

"I would love to," she replied, taking my hand. I led her to the dance floor and started to dance. I was trying to focus on where I was putting my feet. I couldn't dance very well and I kept on making mistakes. She sighed.

"Relax Silver," she whispered, placing her hand on my face. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.

"I can't," I replied.

"Maybe you would feel more comfortable if we went outside," she suggested.

"No it's ok," I started to say, but she had already pulled away. I sighed and followed her outside on the balcony.

Blaze's POV

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you want to become a knight?" he asked, sounding curious.

"I was a princess," I sighed, "people would have thought I was happy, but I was always told what to do. I really wanted to be free and do what I'd dreamed to do."

"Do you ever miss being a princess?" he asked.

"No not really," I answered, "I hated all the marriage proposals. They only ever were after my crown. I wanted to fall in love naturally, so I ran away…"

"We should probably head back now…" he said, sounding reluctant.

"Yeah," I agreed, "thanks for everything." He took me back and gently kissed my hand.

"I'll see you soon," he said and ran away quickly. I rubbed the back of my hand. I had to admit, he had caused butterflies to start fluttering in my stomach. I quickly changed and put my armour on. I headed into camp.

"Hey Silver," I heard Sonic say as I sat down around the fire, "who were you dancing with?"

"That was Princess Blaze," he replied.

"What's this?" I asked, pretending not to know.

"Percival hey," greeted Knuckles, "Silver was dancing with a gorgeous purple cat."

"So Silver," started Sonic, raising his eyebrows.

"What?" questioned Silver.

"Did you think she was pretty?" asked Sonic.

"Sure did," he replied, "I mean who wouldn't?" He sighed gently and rested his head on his hand.

"What?" he inquired upon seeing both Knuckles and Sonic staring at him.

"You wouldn't happen to like this princess, would you?" teased Sonic.

"Ah…N-no," he stammered, looking at me. I felt a blush rise to my face as I saw his red cheeks.

"Sure," slurred Knuckles. Silver blushed more and looked down.

"Ok, maybe a bit…" he admitted. My heart fluttered in my chest. I joined in teasing him, just because I was meant to be Percival, but really my face was aflame. I was glad for the visor covering my face.

Over the next couple of months, I had improved greatly. I had gained a bit of favour now, by helping to defeat several enemies. We still hadn't finished Jet off. It was so frustrating. Every time we got close, he would pull a trick and run off. Over the past couple of months, I had started to notice that in battle Silver had started being more protective over me. I had first noticed it when he found out about my female identity, but now it was even more. He would always stay close to me and slay just about anything within a 10 meter range of me. We were looking for Jet again. All of us. It had always been just two of us, but now we were all going together. Silver hung at the back of the group with me. My ears twitched as I heard movement.

"Watch out Silver," I cried, pulling him away. Jet burst through the trees, barely missing us. Now that Jet had revealed himself, the battle began. Only I wore armour, to protect my real identity. Everyone else hadn't bothered. Shadow had told us to go light. We all blocked and attacked, but by now, Jet had learnt how we fight. I stopped to catch my breath. Jet lunged at me. It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

"Percival!" yelled Silver, jumping in the way of his sword, holding his own up. By this time, Jet had changed where he was aiming. I felt sick as I saw the tip of it poke through Silver's back. Time went back to normal. Silver crumpled to the ground as Jet pulled his sword out, grinning.

"Silver!" I exclaimed, kneeling down. Silver coughed. He was still alive. I looked to his stomach. The wound looked terrible. All the others crowded around him.

"Who's next?" said Jet, smirking at us. I growled and stood up. I took my gloves off, feeling the warmth there.

"Stand back," I told the guys. The obeyed, dragging Silver with them. Jet slowly backed off, seeing the fire on my palm. I threw fire at him, hitting him in the chest, arms and legs. He screamed at the scorching heat and collapsed to the ground. I drew back my sword and crushed it straight through his chest. He cried out, but I still wasn't finished; he still wasn't dead yet.

"Never ever hurt Silver," I yelled, twisting the sword into the ground. I released my flames and sent them flying into his chest. All he could do, was scream; as my fire burnt him from the inside out. Then the screams stopped and his eyes rolled back into his head. He was dead. I calmed down and ran to Silver again.

"We have to get him to hospital," I commanded.

I was pacing the waiting room.

"What was that?" asked Sonic, still looking pale.

"That was my power. I can't control it when I'm angry," I answered. The nurse came in and told us we were allowed to see Silver. I raced in and gasped. His breathing was shallow and he had bandages all around his middle. The rest of them followed after me.

"Hey guys," smiled Silver weakly, as he opened his eyes and saw us.

"Silver you idiot!" yelled Shadow. Silver looked shocked.

"Why on earth did you do that?" he continued.

"Shadow's right, why did you interfere with that? Percival was capable of handling himself," agreed Knuckles. Silver looked at me and blushed.

"Well, because I…I…" he trailed off. He locked eyes with me and I knew what he was trying to say. It was because of me.

"Guys, I have something to tell you," I piped up. They all turned to me. I put both hands on the side of my helmet.

"Percival don't do it!" Silver exclaimed, realising what I was going to do.

"If you're going to be like this," I said to him, "then I have to." Sonic looked from me to Silver, looking confused.

"I'm a girl," I confessed, taking my helmet off completely. They all gasped.

Silver's POV

"It…it's you!" cried Sonic, pointing at her. She nodded.

"Yes…I am Princess Blaze. I have been the whole time," she admitted, looking down, "I'm sorry for deceiving you. You can kill me now." Shadow unsheathed his sword and strode over to her. She bowed her head. I couldn't do anything about it.

"Please don't," I begged Shadow, "don't kill her." Shadow didn't look at me. Sonic and Knuckles gasped as Shadow raised his sword above his head.

"Shadow!" they cried.

"No!" I yelled as he brought it down. I closed my eyes. I heard the sound of metal hitting the floor. I slowly opened my eyes, scared to know what I would see. I gasped. Shadow had stuck his sword into the ground and kneeled before Blaze.

"I am honoured to have a princess as part of my army," he said. Sonic and Knuckles did the same. Blaze motioned for them to rise.

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully, "can I please talk to Silver alone?" They all looked up and smirked at me. They walked out and closed the door behind them. She took off her armour and sighed heavily. She was wearing a different dress I had bought for her; a shorter dark purple one with pink trimmings. She eyed me and I nervously twiddled my thumbs.

"I know what you're thinking," I started, breaking the silence, "but I just can't help myself. I just want to protect you."

"I know, but Silver I can look after myself," she sighed, "you don't have to kill yourself for me. I don't want that." I looked down ashamed. I heard soft footsteps come towards me. I felt her sit down on the end of my bed. I looked up at her.

"Um…look Silver…I know why you did it, you don't have to tell me," she told me. I blushed.

"I'm so sorry Blaze…It's just…well…I love you," I said quickly before I put a hand over my mouth.

"I said I know," she giggled, pulling my hand away, "and I was going to say, before you interrupted me…that I love you too, but I'm not being an idiot to prove it." She leaned closer and gently nuzzled my cheek, before she pressed her lips on mine.

"Hey Silver can you-" Knuckles started. I heard the door slam shut. I pulled away from her.

"What is it Knuckles?" I heard Sonic ask.

"They're locking lips in there!" Knuckles exclaimed. Blaze giggled and I chuckled with her. I kissed her again just as the other guys burst in.

"So I guess this means you guys are a couple," said Shadow, as I broke the kiss. Blaze giggled girlishly again and I grinned sheepishly. We both nodded at the same time.