Blaze looked up into Shadow's eyes with a soft smile. It had been nearly 3 months since Shadow had first taken her on one of these outings to show her a fun time. He came by at least once a week, just appearing in the Emerald chamber to take her to his world for some fun. Always, she had gone with him. He was her friend, and slowly, he was coming to mean more to her than that. ...and that was what frightened her. Because friends was all they could ever be.
Today he had taken her ballroom dancing. As the musicians played, he led her in a slow waltz, he in an outfit just a few steps removed from a full tuxedo, her in a beautiful silver gown he had picked out for her. She could feel herself relaxing, wishing she dared let go, become one with the music, the dance...him...
Barely getting control of herself, she managed to speak. "Where did you learn to dance like this, Shadow?"
Shadow smiled back. "Right here. This is also a dancing school. The teachers tell me I'm a very good student."
That confirmed it in her mind. There was only one reason Shadow would be going to such great lengths for her like this. Even so, she couldn't just assume. "Shadow," she began slowly, "everything you've done...it begins to feel as if you were...courting me." She waited for his response.
After a time, it came. "Would it be so terrible if I was?" he asked softly.
Blaze mantained her self control just barely. "Shadow...you know what waits in my future, what will happen to the one I...lie with." She looked away. "Even were the option open to me, I would never do that to one for whom I truely cared. Nothing can come between us beyond friendship, which was more than I ever had before. Friends is all we can be...no matter how much we wish otherwise." The music ended. It was the last song of the night. "Take me home now, Shadow, please."
Shadow let his arms fall. "Alright," he said slowly, "but do me one favor before you make your final decision, alright?" She nodded. "One week from today...take the Sol Emeralds to Windmill Village on Southern Island. Marine will show you where to go."
Blaze looked up at him, confused. "Shadow?"
"Please," he whispered.
She sighed. "Alright, Shadow. I shall."
He smiled. "Thank you. I shall see you anon." He placed his hand on her shoulder.
In a flash of light, she was back in the Emerald Chamber of Solluna Palace, the unwinking light of the Sol Emeralds shining down on her. She sighed. Normally, he warped back with her, to bid her good night at least. But then, she did just put an end to it all. She held the fabric of the gown in her hand. After next week, it would all be over. The healers had told her: three days after that would be her day of peak fertility, when she would have to take one of the Eight to her bed to give her a child. Always before, she looked upon that event with a sense of duty and, at most, resignation.
Now, she faced it with dread.
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On the day Shadow specified, Blaze came into the Emerald Chamber and held up her hand. The Sol Emeralds came at her call, hovering around her. She turned to leave, the Emeralds following like a pack of loyal hounds. The High Minister entered.
"Your Highness," he said, "where are you taking the Sol Emeralds?"
She looked at him with a sad smile. "There is something I must tend to, Shine," she said, addresing him by name. "I will be on the Southern Island if you need me."
He nodded, but looked at her closely. "Blaze," he said quietly, so only she would hear, "you sound as though you go to a funeral."
Blaze gamely held back her tears. "In a way, I do. My own." With that, she headed out of the palace before he could stop her. She decided not to take a boat, as that would take too long. Heading straight for the coast, she called forth her fire to push her fast enough to race across the surface of the sea.
Before too long, she reached the Southern Island. Marine waved to her. "G'day Blaze!" she called out. "Yer Captain's got everythin' ready for ya. Tails said it'd be today!"
Blaze looked at Marine in confusion. What did Tails have to do with this? Before she could ask anything, though, Marine guided her to a door.
The door was unusual for any number of reasons. For one, It did not appear to be composed entirely of physical matter. For another, one could see through it. But the most unusual thing about the door...was that it was not set in a wall. It was set in a strange platform, with various machines hooked up to it. "Ya go through that door, Blaze! From this side only. If'n ya use the other side, no telling where you'll end up."
Blaze went up to the door. This must be what Shadow had wanted her to do. She opened the door and stepped through.
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She found herself in a strange place. All she could see of her surroundings was swirling masses of color. There was no shape, no definition, no terrain. She walked on something that seemed solid to her feet, but there was nothing visible to be walking on. After a time, she saw Shadow in the distance. She ran forward, feeling strangely energized in this place.
"Shadow!" she called out as she approached. As she got closer, however, she skidded to a halt.
Shadow had the Chaos Emeralds with him.
"Shadow...what are you doing?" she demanded in fear. The Chaos and Sol Emeralds did not always react well to each other.
"What I must," he whispered, as the Chaos Emeralds swirled around him. There was a sudden flash of light as the Emeralds suddenly seemed to fall into him. When the light faded...Shadow's black fur had turned golden, and an aura of golden light surrounded him. Pointing his hand forward, he launched a blast of Chaos energy...right at Blaze.
Blaze dove out of the way, the Sol Emeralds merging with her almost of their own accord. As their fire poured off her body - this was the only state she had discovered in which she didn't have to hold back, either the fire or her emotions - she shouted, "Shadow! Why?"
Shadow said nothing, but continued to attack.
Blaze dodged each of his atacks - all energy based - as best she could, constantly asking, eventually begging, that he stop, that he explain himself. He would not halt or hesitate, however. He was relentless. Then one of the blasts hit her.
She rocked backward. Although there was no physical damage, it had still hurt. She didn't know how long she'd be able to mantain this form, and if she were forced to release the emeralds while Shadow continued to attack...he would kill her. She did not know why, but it seemed Shadow was deliberatly trying to end her life. In desperation, fear, and emotional agony...she channeled all the fire she could into her hands and released it.
The inferno she had thus crafted raged forth from within her, heading right for Shadow. He did nothing to dodge. He simply spread his arms and let it hit him.
Seeing the inferno rage over him, and hearing him cry in pain, Blaze sank to her knees in tears. She did not know what was going on or why...but she knew she had just killed the only man she would ever get a chance to love, and who had tried to show her love.
But when the inferno had passed, she stared, as Shadow stood where he had been, the only sign of the inferno's impact tears that ran down his cheeks in twin rivers. He spoke softly, but Blaze heard him quite clearly. "...that I should cause you such pain, when all I meant was to give you joy..." He turned, obviously intending to leave.
Blaze got to her feet. "Shadow!" she called out after him, and he stopped. She tried to formulate her thoughts, figure out what to ask first. In the end... "What is this place?"
Shadow turned to face her. "Our worlds are linked. This place is an artificially created dimensional space along the link, composed entirely of Ring Energy. Here, the Chaos and Sol Emeralds can exist without reaction to each other...and we can mantain our super forms indefinately."
She stared at him in shock. If she could mantain her synchronis with the Sol Emeralds like this indefinately here, then she could freely express her emotions within this place. Synchronised completely as she was, the fires would not consume her unless she ran out of the Ring Energy used to mantain the synchronis...which would never happen here. "But why did you attack me?" she demanded, pain in her voice as tears ran down her cheeks.
Matching tears ran down his own cheeks as he tapped his chest. "Would you have believed," he whispered quietly, "if I told you your flames could not harm me in this form...if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes?"
Blaze stared at him in utter shock.
Shadow started to turn away again. "When your flames passed over me, I screamed...not because their fire hurt, but because I could feel the emotions that had gone into their making. I...can only hope that someday you will forgive me for what I have done." He began to walk towards a door in the distance, not the one Blaze had come here through.
Without warning, Blaze tackled him to the non-existant ground. As he looked up in shock, she had him pinned beneath her, facing her. "You are too cruel," she whispered, her voice heavy with a heat that had nothing to do with rage. "To do all this for me, when the time is so close...and just walk away? I thought you wanted to bring me joy."
Shadow stared at her in shock. "Blaze-" he started to say.
"Don't talk," she whispered, "and don't try to run." She smiled, the sharp points of her teeth more pronounced than normal. "Or I'll bite."
Shadow nodded, smiling.
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Hours later...
Blaze lay in Shadow's arms, utterly spent. Her muscles were incredibly sore from their exertions, but the fire of Sol that still poured from her was easing the aches. Her arms wrapped around him, she nuzzled into his chest fur, unwilling to move from the spot. Her clothes were around here...somewhere. She'd lost track of them part way through. She chuckled to herself. She'd lost track of a lot of things. As she felt her weariness catch up to her, she smiled up at Shadow - her friend and now lover - and closed her eyes. And for the first time in her life since the death of her mother, she slept.
The fire of Sol and the Light of Chaos flickered and danced around them, a spark of life against the Rainbow Sea.
