A/N: I LIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! Unholy shit, I've really left you guys hanging, haven't I?
I'm incredibly sorry for the long wait! My creativity's been quashed by a ton of writer's block, my Wi-Fi crapping itself, my beloved PS3 kicking the bucket (*salutes it* You were a brave soldier and loyal freind. Much more loyal than my fickle runt dog, anyway...), a series of dramas involving my bestie's overseas boyfriend ("=_="; Yeah... seriously.), trying and failing to study for my Learner's liscence, as well as a small pile of assignments that I REEEEEEEALLY ought to have started by... days ago!:'T
As a result of this pileup, there's a couple of PM's I haven't replied to (properly and/or at all) but I'm working on that! I'll try to reply to you couple of people tomorrow. Promise! (If I don't, I give you permission to blackmail me and make me feel intense guilt.)
Honestly, I'm humbled I got such a big response for the prologue... Thank you so much, everyone!^O^ Free Internet jamdrops and lamingtons for all of you!
Now, have a bonza time reading, blokes and shielas!;D
The Darkness Pursues
Something Amiss…
Somebody was shaking her shoulder and calling her name…
"Blaze… Hey, Blaze, wake up! I've got a surprise for you!"
A small smile formed on her muzzle at the voice's childishly excited tone.
'I bet his tail is wagging…'
Smirking at the thought, Blaze the cat sat up, rubbing delicately at an eye. "What is it, Silver? Did you find a new safe haven?" she asked around a yawn.
The thin albino hedgehog crouching expectantly in front of her, with hands behind his back, shook his head, causing the five long quills adorning the top of his head to bounce about. He grinned widely at her, "Nope! Guess again."
The lavender cat rolled her eyes. She had just woken up and he already expected her to play guessing games?
Despite the faint prick of annoyance she felt, Blaze decided to play along. "Please don't tell me that it's another piece of broken technology from before Iblis' reign…"
Another negatory shake of the head. "Even better!"
"Working technology?" Boy… that would be a doozy.
"Nope-ity, nope, nope!" Silver's childish grin broadened, "Give up?"
Blaze rolled her eyes. "Yes, I give up… Now tell me what this wonderful surprise is."
The albino's buttery gold eyes shone brightlyas he pulled his hands from behind hisback, proudly showing her his findings.
The cat girl's amber eyes widened to disbelieving saucers. "Berries? But… I thought they were extinct! Burned to dust by Iblis!"
"Try telling the berries that." the hedgehog smirked, popping one into his mouth and chewing contentedly. "Mmm… Sweet~!"
Blaze's eyes narrowed, suspiciously. "And pray tell; where did you find these berries?"
At once, the albino's smirk dropped and he looked guilty. "Uh…. Trade secret!"
The cat girl's amber eyes burned holes into Silver's forehead, making him squirm uncomfortably.
He cracked after only a few seconds of Blaze's glaring.
"Okay, okay! I travelled way out to the outskirts of the city!"
"You went to the outskirts without me?" she asked, both incredulous and hurt that she had been left behind. Silver's ears flattened against his head and his quills seemed to droop along with them. "I-I'm sorry… I just… I didn't want to wake you up is all. You looked so peaceful."
Kneading her temples and exhaling deeply, Blaze grumbled, "Fine. But give me a heads up next time; because something may happen to you, and I wouldn't have a clue."
The albino's features instantly melted into relief, since he was expecting to be yelled at… and possibly booted out of the building for the rest of the day. He nodded enthusiastically, "Okay. Promise!"
Removing her hands from her forehead, Blaze nodded. "Good. Now," she said, extending a hand towards him, "give me some of those berries. I'm starving!"
He obliged, tipping the majority of the tiny round fruits into her cupped palm and leaving only a scarce few for himself. The cat girl immediately tried to tip some back into his hand. "Silver, this isn't a fair portion!"
The hedgehog quickly pulled his hand away, shaking his head. "I left you behind, so this is my apology!"
Blaze hesitantly pulled her berry filled hand back to her chest, "Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah. Of course!" Silver nodded, a sheepish smile forming on his muzzle. "I kinda ate a bunch before anyway."
The cat girl scowled, making him cringe.
"Um… but I left some behind. Y'know… so more of them could grow…" Silver fidgeted, smiling nervously.
The cat girl popped a couple of berries into her mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and sighed deeply. "Well, let's just hope that the berries will be able to reproduce… It would be a shame if something so delectable vanished off the face of the planet for good."
"Yeah, it would." the hedgehog agreed, bobbing his head; immensely thankful to have been spared his friend's wrath once again.
For the next minute, there was naught but silence between the pair, apart from their chewing and the distant crackling of fires outside that made up the general ambience of Crisis City. When this minute transpired, both the cat and the hedgehog sucked stray berry juice from their gloved fingers; still hungry, but otherwise content.
"…. Hey, Blaze?"
"Mmm?"
"Do you think we…." Silver trailed off, shaking his head. "Erm… nevermind."
Naturally, Blaze's interest was piqued. "No. Go on," she urged, "Do I think we what?"
A myriad of emotions crossed the psychokinetic's face, most gone before the cat girl could place them. The only two she saw for certain were anxiety and hope.
There was also a strange red tint to his cheeks, but she dismissed this as little more than the light of the surrounding fires casting around odd light and shadows.
Silver's face finally settled on a soft, neutral expression. "… Do you think we'll really be able to change this?" he asked, gesturing all about them and at the destruction of the outside world.
Without any hint of hesitation, Blaze answered, "Of course we will. We'll stop Iblis and change this place for the better." as an afterthought, she added, "Don't tell me you're having doubts Mr I-will-destroy-Iblis-and-save-everyone."
"Of course not!" the hedgehog interjected, "I just wanted to make sure that you were still willing to help me out by being Miss I'll-help-you-destroy-Iblis-and-save-everyone."
Brilliant amber eyes widened. "I'm fully committed to destroying that monster! How could you think otherwise?"
Thin grey shoulders lifted into a half-hearted shrug as Silver smiled faintly. "Sorry. You know me… insecurity issues."
"There's no need for that!" exclaimed Blaze, grasping his hand with one of her own, "You're my friend, and I won't ever leave you!"
An incredibly hopeful look, tinged with a hint of what appeared to be shyness, crossed the albino's features. "… Never ever?"
She squeezed his hand, sending him her comforting heat through the fabric of their gloves. "Never ever." she repeated, giving him a tender smile.
High, childish laughter bubbled from her friend's throat; a familiar, endearing sound. "Good! We'll be friends forever, whether we destroy Iblis or not!"
'Friends…..'
There was a faint pang in Blaze's chest which she quickly shoved away; hoping that nothing on her face gave it away. Fortunately, Silver still seemed happily content and ignorant of her discomfort. Giving his hand another, lighter, squeeze, Blaze whispered, "Yes, of course we will, Silver…."
Relief washed over the hedgehog's face and he squeezed back. "I'm glad…"
Amiable silence descended between the pair as they sat contentedly in each other's presence and enjoyed the gentle warmth of their entwined hands. Blaze released a soft sigh, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She wished that this moment would go on forever.
Sadly, this was not to be the case...
An unexpected shudder rippled through Silver and he released a pained grunt, curling in on himself.
'Something's not right…'
"Silver?" Blaze asked, concerned. The stab of fear she felt causing her voice to rise and take on a slight shrill tone.
Another spasmodic ripple passed through the hedgehog and his grip on her hand tightened to near crushing. He took a choking breath and gave Blaze a pleading, tear-filled look; pain swimming in his golden irises.
'This is wrong… The memory…'
Screwing his eyes tightly shut, the albino released another pained cry. His body jerked like he was waging some battle within himself and each hit was being taken out on it.
"Silver! Silver! What's wrong?! What's going on?!" Blaze cried, squeezing his hand back and firmly gripping his other arm with her free hand. Silver's response was yet another yelped exclamation of pain and more muscle spasming. As the now terrified Blaze watched her friend wage his inner battle, she was further frightened by his fur darkening a few shades and his teeth taking on a more pointed look.
'The memory doesn't go like this!'
With an enormous effort, the albino peeled open a watery eye. The gold of his irises appeared to have a slight green tint and some sort of darkness hovered at the edges of his sclera. Blaze's stomach churned at the sight.
A thin stream of moisture overflowed from Silver's eye and slowly trailed down his cheek. In a voice hoarse with tears he whispered, "I'm sorry Blaze… I failed. Please… forgive me. I lo-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a massive fiery hand smashed through the building.
It plucked Blaze up and away, screaming and crying, from her ailing friend.
"Silver! SIIIIIIIILVEEEEEEEEEEER!"
He didn't return her anguished scream. Instead he curled into a shuddering ball while everything around him became swallowed up in an aura of deep, suffocating blackness.
Deep, throaty laughter from above sounded and Blaze cried from the pain it and its burning owner brought her. The fire of the hand completely engulfed her; stripping the flesh and muscle from her bones in painful, crispy strips while the voice's laughter made her brain explode like it had been smashed with a sledgehammer. Blaze screamed, hissed and spat at her titanic captor; stabbing at the flame-cloaked hand that bound her repeatedly with her claws in the hope that she could cause enough damage for it to release her. The only reward she received for her efforts was more pain and her claws being melted up to her fingers, which were already no more than bone with scraps of charred muscle still clinging to them.
More of that nasty laughter sounded and Blaze felt the stifling Crisis City air quickly blow past as her captor's hand moved upwards until she was level with a massive acidic green eye.
"The time is nigh, mortal," the horrid voice rumbled, the green eye flashing with triumph and gloating, "Soon I can be rid of you. And this new world will go up in flames!"
With that, the strength of the fire intensified, drawing out one final screech of pain from Blaze as what remained of her body went up in a roaring mass of flesh and fur scented flame.
Blaze's eyes snapped wide open; the pupils frightened pinpricks. She inhaled sharply and sat up, ramrod straight, heart pounding frantically. Her velvety lilac fur was mussed with sleep and the nightmare induced sweat clinging to her was damp and chilly, making her shiver. Shakily, the cat girl pushed one thick tendril of purple hair/fur out of her face and behind her head to join the other three.
'It happened again…'
Her fists curled into the thick, downy sheet covering her as fragments of the nightmare replayed themselves inside her head, each scene bringing echoes of the emotions attached to them. She sat this way for some time, trying to regulate her breathing and not let her emotions spiral out of control. The last few times they had, things had become… dangerous.
The masks of pure terror worn by the guards and servants as her flames roared out of control were still freshly imprinted into her brain, as was the massive, ugly burn one of the braver (or perhaps stupider) guards had received, which didn't appear even close to healing, despite the week that had transpired since the accident occurred.
Physically shaking the thought away, Blaze tossed off the bed sheet and climbed out of her bed.
Massive, four poster and complete with cushiony mattress and plump pillows. A far cry from the blistering nights spent curled up on Crisis City rubble.
Blaze padded softly to the far side of her bed chambers towards the balcony, which gave her a spectacular view of the main island (and a few of the smaller ones) of the kingdom of Sol.
The cat girl shook her head as she stared at the still sleeping town almost directly below. 'I still can't get over the fact that I am the Princess of this entire dimension... It's a little overwhelming.'
And yet, this fact didn't surprise her as much as she thought it would.
When Blaze had first arrived (crash landed) in front of the castle, a small mob of soldiers from the castle rushing towards her and crying her formal title, memories had returned to her in a rush.
As well as being Princess of this dimension, Blaze was keeper of the powerful Sol Emeralds; parallels of the Chaos Emeralds. She was friends with Marine; a boisterous young racoon who had the most ridiculous accent she had ever heard and was captain of a ship, despite her youth. And Blaze's enemy was not Iblis, but the rotund madman Eggman Nega, who was a more aged and 'gentlemanly' version of the good Doctor, but far more cold blooded and ruthless.
A flaming lance of pain flared in her abdomen and Blaze doubled over, drawing a jagged gasp of pain as her eyes watered at the intensity. Painfully familiar deep chuckling filled with amusement and malice echoed inside her skull, making her grit her teeth and double over further.
Scratch that. Nega and Iblis were her enemies.
Iblis more so than before, since the fiery deity was now bound to her soul… Which was why she needed to be especially careful with her temper. One tiny slip up could equate to an explosion of fire that could devastate half the castle far quicker than her ability to blink. However, it was much harder to keep her emotions in check because of the fiery creature's constant taunts and inflictions of pain, like the one earlier.
"Stupid hellspawn…" Blaze hissed, mustering all of the bitterness she felt towards the brawny half of Solaris into the two words.
Iblis had ruined her, no, Silver's time and now she was ripped away from the plucky albino whom had been her only friend in the ever dreary and flame ridden Crisis City because of the giant monstrosity. A monstrosity that was now intertwined with her soul and constantly causing her grief.
'How dare it,' she thought, not for the first time. 'What right does this stupid fire beast have to destroy all that I hold dear?!'
Small, but painful, pricks made themselves known in her shoulders and a surprised Blaze found that in her growing state of anger her claws had unsheathed, which accounted for the sudden pains in her shoulders.
'What is the matter, cat girl? Are you lonely without your freak runt friend?' Iblis sniggered, further spiking her anger.
"Shut up." she hissed, the pressure, and by extension the pain, of her claws increasing further. "You leave Silver out of this!"
More of that damnably annoying sniggering followed by the fire demigod's throaty voice: 'Oh, soon he will make it so that I will not be able to.'
"You keep saying that!" Blaze growled, grinding her teeth with frustration at this old game of one-sided Marco Polo that left her ramming into unseen walls, "But what does it even mean?!"
The way Iblis kept saying 'he' made it seem as though he were not speaking of Silver, but of another being altogether. Blaze couldn't help but feel that she should know this other being, but whenever she tried digging through her memories to find them, she was hit with mental blockades and intense migraines. Just another thing to 'thank' Iblis for.
It actually surprised her that a creature she had assumed was all brawn and no brains could keep a keen thinker such as herself from obtaining information from her own mind.
'Not all is as it seems on the surface…' the fiery deity said; the smug tone not lost on Blaze.
And she could have been overthinking, but she was certain that she had heard some kind of mysterious, cryptic undertone in that short sentence…
The cat girl closed her eyes and literally saw Iblis' great, ugly maw stretched up into the kind of smirk that said 'I know something that you don't.'
Her brow furrowed in concentration as she imagined an impossibly high tidal wave rearing up and crashing over the demigod, making him shriek while the water doused his flames and turned him into a giant ugly tower of useless wet rock.
That made the smirk drop from his ugly mug.
With a grim but satisfied smile, Blaze reopened her eyes, once again seeing the ash free night sky and civilization totally devoid of flames.
'As long as I live, you will not destroy this place like you did Crisis City!' the pyrokinetic vowed, removing her arms from her shoulders and allowing them to drop at her sides. She clenched her fists and warm moistness kissed against her palms where her slowly retracting claws touched them and tickled her arms as it lazily slid down in tiny creeks, eventually pitter pattering gently against the stone of the balcony.
"So, tell me more about this Silver bloke."
Blaze sighed, picking up a small round stone near her left foot and absently turning it over in her palms. "Haven't I told you enough about him?"
The rambunctious racoon girl that the fire cat directed the question at glanced up from coiling ropes to grin broadly at her. "Nope. You haven't said anything 'sides his name. Now spill the beans, mate! I wanna hear more about what adventures you had on your little trip to this land of fire and brimstone or whatever!"
When Blaze raised a brow, the younger girl hurriedly added, "And your bloke, of course."
The cat girl shrugged, directing her gaze to the stone in her hand. Despite having memories of being friends with Marine, she wasn't entirely sure she should be divulging information on someone who had kept her safe and vice versa for the course of her stay in the dystopian future. It just didn't seem right… like she would be revealing his weaknesses to an enemy…
'I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell her a bit more...' she told herself, gently worrying her lower lip with her teeth, 'I'm never going to see him again anyway. Besides, the only harm Marine can inflict is on brain cells...' she grinned slightly at the thought.
It broadened when she caught sight of a green and orange shoe tapping impatiently in her peripheral. "Oh all right." she conceded, ending the raccoon's misery.
Marine cheered and dropped her neatly coiled rope, uncaring that it unravelled in a messy clump, to sit in front of Blaze. She beamed up expectantly, ringed tail twitching every so often with excitement. The pyrokinetic lightly cleared her throat, tossing the stone between her hands and said: "So, where should I begin?"
Marine shrugged. "With the bloke, I 'spose. Otherwise I'll think of you adventuring with a blob."
A small chuckle escaped Blaze. "Alright then. Silver is…. a hedgehog." she began lamely.
"Like Sonic?" her audience of one piped up.
Blaze's being acquainted with the supposed 'Iblis Trigger' and his twin tailed mechanic friend still made her wonder why she hadn't totally recognised them or they her… The only explanation she could come up with was that her strange time and dimension hop had messed with all their memories.
"Yes. In the sense that he's the same species… As opposed to Tails, who is a fox."
If Marine noticed her dry tone, she didn't show it. She simply gave an impatient hand gesture to get on with it.
Tossing the stone into the air, Blaze resumed her description of Silver, getting a round of laughter when explaining the similarities between the five quills sticking from his head and the leaf of a certain illicit drug…
However, Marine's laughter turned to silent awe when Blaze told her of Silver's powers of psychokinesis and all the feats he could accomplish because of it.
"Wait just a flamin' minute, mate! You're telling me he uses this crazy-wazzamajigger-nesis to fly?!"
"Psychokinesis." Blaze corrected. "And yes. He can use it to levitate and propel himself through the air."
"Ripper…" the younger girl breathed. Then, in a more regular pitch (in other words, fairly loud), she exclaimed: "So he can fly and throw around lots of heavy stuff without touching it?" at Blaze's nod, her already wide blue eyes widened further. "Crikey! Is there anything your bloke can't do?!"
"Run fast." was Blaze's immediate answer. "And physical combat. He relies solely on his psychokinesis, so he's nowhere near as fit as you probably imagined him to be."
Marine shrugged. "Eh… but doesn't his psycho-whatsis make it so that he never has to go toe to toe with anyone?"
"Ordinarily, yes." Blaze answered carefully.
Like an excited child talking about a superhero, a grinning Marine declared: "Then he's invincible!"
'There's no such thing…' Blaze thought, 'And if there was, Silver certainly wouldn't fit the bill.'
Too often there had been times where the naïve hedgehog had overused his powers. This, at the very least, made him disorientated and his nose gush blood. At the worst, it drove him into a coma like state for the duration of a day or two. The latter was, naturally, when he was at his most vulnerable. And when he had worried her to no end...
'Silver…'
"Blaziiiiiiiiie!" Marine whined, "I don't have all summer, mate!"
Jolted by the eerie familiarity of her nickname paired with the childish whine caused her to startle, dropping the stone with a clatter. "Ah… S-sorry. I… my mind left me."
A look of concern passed over the raccoon's features. "Again? Blaze, mate, if the stress is so bad why don't you take a break or something?"
"I can't," the weary Princess sighed, shaking her head, "Nega really did a number around here in my absence and there are so many things that need to be done. Paperwork…" she trailed off into a groan, thinking of the small mountain waiting for her back in the castle. Whoever came up with the idea that Princesses did nothing but sit, looking pretty and airheaded, while waiting for their Prince Charming was a complete moron.
"You're taking a break now." Marine pointed out, in a rare display of coherent, sane logic (As opposed to all her near indecipherable babble involving bonza's and strewth's… Whatever those were…). Blaze opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again, then snapped it back shut and shrugged. She truly had needed a break, and there was no point arguing against that fact, so she mumbled a defeated 'whatever' and rolled her eyes.
Smirking at her rare victory, Marine planted her hands on the ground behind her, leaning back to recline against them. Figuring she could boss the Princess around a bit, she ordered in a mock impatient voice: "Now that that's established; hurry up and tell me about your adventures!"
"…. Shouldn't you be getting ready to set sail, Captain?" Blaze asked, mirroring the racoon's smirk, which had now dropped. Using her hands, Marine gave a hard shove against the ground to propel herself forward and onto her knees. She gave the pyrokinetic puppy eyes.
"Aw, c'mon, Blazie! Just one story! Pleeeeeeease?" she pleaded, managing to summon a bit more moisture to her eyes to give them that sparkly, 'about to cry' appearance to maximise the puppy eyes effect.
The pyrokinetic pulled a face but reluctantly agreed. "Fine. But only one."
After Marine's exultant cheering, Blaze told her a story of a pyrokinetic cat and a psychokinetic hedgehog fighting together to take down a monstrous fiery creature that never seemed to die and their desire to save their burning world.
"Bye Blazie! See ya later!"
The feline Princess smiled and waved at the rapidly departing ship. "Farewell, Marine!" she called back in a significantly less eardrum shattering tone. "Travel safe!"
The racoon girl's grin widened. "Will do, mate!" she hollered back, giving her friend a sloppy salute. "Have fun with that paperwork!"
Shaking her head, Blaze continued waving until Marine's voice and the shape of her ship became undiscernible. She then turned neatly on her heel and took the longer, more scenic, route back to the castle, her small escort following after three paces. Since she would be cooped up behind a desk with only her advisor, Gardon, and the paperwork mountain for company, she figured that she should enjoy the fresh, salt-rife sea air while she could. The cat girl's nostrils twitched, sampling the clean, fresh scent of sea water, and relishing the cool feeling of the breeze blowing through her fur.
Blaze stopped near one of the many jutting cliffs overseeing the endless lapping blue, her escort keeping a respectful distance, and stared at the horizon with soft, reminiscent eyes.
'I wish Silver could see this…'
Her chest ached with the pang of someone who has moved halfway across the globe, leaving behind a dear friend. Tears threatened to spill.
A feeling akin to searing coals trying to burn their way out from within her skin instantly set Blaze on edge. She stiffened, the moisture no longer threatening to spill, and her lip curled in a slight snarl.
The destructive demigod within her instantly quietened, uttering only a grumbled huff of disappointment at his lost chance at freedom.
"… Your Highness?" one of her entourage spoke up.
Blaze turned towards the speaker; a young sparrow boy who couldn't have been more than two or three years younger than her, and smiled gently. "I'm fine. It was just an unpleasant thought."
Iblis gave an offended sniff (which, in her honest opinion, sounded more like a whale exhaling through its blowhole).
The sparrow boy smiled nervously back. "Oh. Er… okay then. So long as you are okay, Princess."
Quelling the urge to tell the boy to not call her by her formal title, Blaze doggedly started trekking back to the castle. She stopped to cast one last, longing look at the picturesque seaside view and exhaled softly. As she began turning away, a small, yet no less brilliant, flare of light appeared in her peripheral vision, smack bang in the middle of the picturesque view and instantly capturing her undivided attention.
She whirled in place to face the light and was in time to see it swallow itself into nothingness.
But not after depositing a small dark blob.
An intense lance of pain that made the others before it seem painless, sheared through Blaze's abdomen. It ripped a jagged scream from her throat and made her eyes water intensely. Flames sprang out from all over her body, ravenously licking the air. From behind her, Blaze could hear her entourage screaming in fright like terrified animals and frantically attempting to scramble away. Yet they seemed so far away… And Iblis was too loud. His laughter in her head reverberated in her skull and mercilessly slashed at her brain.
In the end, it was far too much for her to bear.
She crumpled to the ground like a puppet with slashed strings, her darkening vision swallowing the tiny dark dot falling into the sea.
A/N: Ah... I feel awesome now that I finally have some Silvaze fluff up~!^.^
*cracks knuckles* Now then... on to trying to complete all my assigments and a long overdue one-shot!8,,,,,D
Oh yeah! Feel free to offer me songs that you think suit this fic (I love dark emo/metal stuff so gimme lots and lots of it~~~!)! They help speed up the writing progress, dramatically! ... But I swear upon every diety that ever existed, if you offer me Justin's Beaver and/or One Erection that I will troll you all with chapters of gibberish and shoddily written crap!
*Ahem!* This is your friendly Aussie weirdo BiteWorseThanBark signing out with a very Grey:
"Laters babies~!";P *brick'd*
(Yeah... I read that BDSM wierdness... But I'm a pervert, so sue me!XP)