Author's Note: Consider this part of the Drive Saga, meaning a continuation/companion fic from the theme Drive, where we had Sonic and Blaze a married couple. The Drive Saga will pop up fairly often as we go on, since I just love writing these two as one. Hee hee, besides, martial fluff and angst is the best sort.
Also, I'd like to thank my friend Katiejelly for inspiring me~ I was so lost on what to type until she unintentional gave me an idea~
Disclaimer: My aching hands~
The Peanut Gallery~
Ghostkid33: I felt it was time for some fluff and I hope I delivered it well~ Drama is surprisingly hard to draw, especially ones concerning some action, hee hee. And you totes should and then show me your work~
Sonicxblazey: Thanks dear!
Dstortion: I've only seen one Sonaze marriage fic ever on this website, which makes me very sad so I want to have as many in here as possible. Hopefully you'll like this theme, since it is a martial one too~ And yea, she probably could have but the ice was thin, she got scared, her leg disappeared in the water, she wasn't in the right mindset at the time to do much~ especially when she saw Sonic was determined to get to her~
And yus, Knuckles is the true savior of this tale. All hail Knuckles and his rope holding skills~ Thanks for your crumbs~
WintersEdge7: Sonic is a selfless guy, he's a hero for a reason! Hee hee~ and yus~ :D
Naxxramas shade: It is a whole bunch of separate little stories clustered into one~ Of course unless I say a theme as a specific sequel to it and in that case I will make sure you know before the start of the theme~! Thank you for your crumbs~
Also oops, I keep forgetting to thank my silent readers as always! Now I need to rest my hands before they start falling off, they are aching so bad, hee hee…~
Drive Saga Companion Fic!
Theme 11. Memory
They had been married for a good year when Sonic found something from his wife's past. The storage room in the basement of their vacation home on Southern Island needed to be cleaned. Blaze, always one for order, had deemed it a growing hazard that couldn't be ignored any longer. Sonic didn't see much of an issue with it but he knew he wasn't exactly the most tidy hedgehog, since he liked to throw his clothes on the floor instead of the hamper for one.
To say his cleanly habits didn't drive Blaze up the wall would be an understatement of the century. Sometimes he wondered if Blaze would ever take him to side for a crash course in being at least presentably neat. Thankfully for Sonic, the feline never carried many intentions to change her husband, often saying she married him for all his quirks, even if he was a pig.
"Just don't come home from rolling in the mud all day, then we'll really have a problem!" Sonic recalled her saying one evening, pecking him on the nose after her long tangent. Her temper was a random thing in their relationship, Sonic learned how to handle it though like all the hurtles in their marriage and even before it. It was just another big adventure, one foot in front of the other.
When the couple weren't at the royal palace doing work, at least his wife handled the more difficult jobs since she was the one more adequate for them, they would spend their days off either traveling or just at their vacation home on Southern Island. Marine had been nice enough to buy them a place there as a wedding present, even going as far to help instruct how it had been built. As a result, it contained a heavy amount of the 'down under' feel Marine was known for, not that Blaze or Sonic really minded. She made it work as she blended in décor both retro and colonial. It was surprising Marine contained such a decorative eye by the time the house was shown off to them.
Of course, Sonic and Blaze put in their own unique touches like the candles and flowers on his wife's part and the beanbag chairs in the study for lounging. The house was very nice, having a kitchen that was attached to the dining room, a large window put in the ceiling. The living room was modest and made with glossy wood furniture as well as the bedroom. There was a bathroom that had a bathtub that could turn into a shower. Finally there was the basement and oddly, two spare rooms. During lunch after Marine's tour, Sonic could already remember how red his ears and face turned.
"Marine, there's so much space here!" Sonic had said, leaning back in his chair as he munched on a sandwich.
"Indeed, Marine, if you wanted to board with us during holiday I am sure there would have been enough room," Blaze mused to Marine, daintily organizing a vase on the kitchen table.
Marine's face had twisted deviously from where she sat beside Sonic, grin so wide Blaze looked worried her head would split in half. The suggestive glint in those blue eyes sent Sonic on edge as he eyed her wearily.
"I don't like that look," Sonic instantly claimed while Marine jabbed him in the elbow playfully.
"Those spare rooms ain't for me mates! They're gonna be for all those ankle biters you'll bring to visit ol' aunt Marine in a few years!"
The red ketchup stain on the carpet floor was enough proof of how embarrassed he had been, dropping his food with a string of loud gibberish when those words left Marine's big mouth. Marine left them with a cackle not along after and the couple hadn't been able to look at the spare rooms the same way again. Usually they didn't do much with them but Marine had sprouted a topic the two danced around a lot. The idea of children wasn't something he and Blaze talked of much, if ever. They were still young, being only twenty-three and twenty-four so it wasn't a priority now. However with Blaze being a queen the prospect of kids was bound to be brought up in time and the notion made him both curious and uncomfortable all at once.
He supposed it would be another obstacle they would run into as time went on, so he often didn't think about it so intently. If it happened, it happened and he would just have to deal with it in his usual cool and fancy free manner.
Once the married duo descended the wood steps into the basement, Blaze carefully avoiding a squeaky step that usually annoyed her. Sonic knew about it and at times just to be silly would press his feet into it deliberately, grinning innocently the entire time with a loud 'oops.' Blaze felt along the wood wall, mumbling about why she married such a baboon of a man. Once he saw Blaze had found what she was looking for, her elegant fingers tapped against the switch. The light bulb dangling about them fizzled to life, making the dreary basement not so unbearably dark. Boxes were a common occurrence down here, stacking to the ceiling and some even tipped over and torn. Items of many kinds lay scattered on the ground and all over the shelves. Standing beside Blaze, he glanced up to see a spider web dangling above them.
Uneasily, he grabbed his bride by the shoulders and shuffled them away with a shudder. "Ugh, spiders."
"This is what happens when you don't keep something tidied religiously, Sonic," Blaze informed him, lightly shooing his hands away. "You'll get spiders."
"Yea well, you've always been the neat freak between you and me, honey," Sonic replied as he stepped back from Blaze, absently pulling at a box nearby. Dust exploded when he dropped it, the hedgehog coughing into his hands. "Who knew we had so much stuff."
"Correction, who knew you had so much stuff," the cat said back, shooting him a pointed look as she began her own journey into the disorganized beyond that made up the basement. "I believe only a few of these things are mine."
Sonic, once he caught his breath, gave an appalled grunt. "Wait, you're really pinning all this on me? I'm pretty sure that dress rack over there would like to disagree! Same with this crate of books!" He dug through the box he had to show his proof, pulling out a thick-looking paperback novel to show his wife.
With her back to Sonic, she idly began putting whatever fallen knickknacks that were on the ground into boxes. "Dear, there's no need to be so defensive," she replied airily, waving her hand as she pulled out a pair of old sneakers. "I for one believe these are one of yours."
Sonic felt his irritation dissolve like water at the sight of them. "Hey! I can't believe those bad boys are still here!" Quickly in a blur, he shot over to Blaze to take the shoes from her. Laying them in his palms, he admired them with a nostalgic smile. "I went on so many adventures with these, I met you in them too, got married in them…"
"Thankfully they weren't so worn out by then," his wife mused, sarcasm in her voice.
Sonic just grabbed her by the shoulders with one of his arms, pulling her close for a hug. Nuzzling his nose against hers in a brief Eskimo kiss, he pushed her away playfully. "Love you too, Blaze."
She looked a little flushed, sighing loudly as she turned away from him again. He was always the more touchy feely one in the relationship and it left him giddy to no end when his antics left her adorably flustered. It was something he would never get tired doing. He glanced at the wedding band on his finger wistfully as he put his old running shoes down, moving them gently on a nearby crate. Sonic decided he would take them back to the castle when they went back home, feeling his mind wandering toward the spare rooms being built for the so-called ankle biters…
He could see a use for the old shoes in the future now that he let his mind drift. Sonic padded along the somewhat clear path the scattered belongings made, tip toeing to avoid tripping and landing in a heap of painful embarrassment. Near the back of the cluttered room, he found a particular-looking box. It was small and beige, a lining of old purple ribbon wrapping itself tight over the cover and tying itself at the bottom. With all the iconic cardboard boxes and wood crates all over, this little thing stood out like a sore thumb. Why was it buried so far back in here?
He crouched to pick it up in his hands, Sonic finding it to be super light. It was only the size of a shoe casing. Finding the knot, he was surprised to see it bound so tightly, as if to keep curious fingers out. Tugging at the bow string, managed to get it undone after some fiddling. Throwing the lid away into the abyss of other random stuff laden all over, he peered into the box.
Sonic found a white shawl folded nearly in it with pink lingering along the edges of it. It was a cute little thing and Sonic pinched it between his two fingers, lifting it out before taking it with his other hand to hold it out. Spreading it, he found it to be far too small for anyone in the house to wear. It was child sized. Turning it around, he craned his neck around to look behind him for Blaze.
"Hey honey! I found something!"
The sound of Blaze shuffling papers met his ears.
"Uh, Blaze?"
"Give me a second, dear!" She called back. Sonic waited impatiently, tapping his foot to a random beat. Eventually, she seemed to stop fiddling with whatever magazines she had discovered. "What sort of something?"
"Some sort of little shawl… cape… thing. I think its yours, has pink on it, so it's a hunch." He smiled a little but could feel it falter when Blaze gave a little gasp from across the room. "You stump your toe?" He asked worriedly.
She emerged from somewhere behind him, hobbling through the maze of debris to get a better look at what her husband found. Blaze's eyes flashed with some unrecognizable emotion as she looked at the little cape Sonic was holding. The way she looked at it made Sonic cock his head in concern, knowing by how his wife's face looked so taken aback, as if he'd thrown a curveball at her.
After several moments of silence, Blaze hesitantly asked for him to give it to her. He complied, placing it in her sad hands. Dolefully, her eyes fell to it as her thumbs smoothed the fabric. She took a seat on a nearby crate, laying it on her lap. Sonic followed after her.
"Yea, its mine," Blaze finally said. "I had hoped it was gone forever… personally."
Here I thought Blaze would have been as happy as I had been when she found my old shoes… Sonic thought, pursing his lips. "Why? Its really adorable looking, if you ask me," he said, chuckling as he rubbed the back of his neck. Adorable wasn't a word he said often and it felt degrading to his manhood.
"Adorable?" Blaze looked insulted. "Its… its… never mind," she huffed, frustrated. "Let's just put it back, forget you ever found it."
"Blaze," he began sternly, putting his hand on her shoulder to stop her from getting up. "Please tell me why this has you all worked up."
"I am not worked up!" She hissed, hackles raising.
"Honey, I know you too well. Now, what's wrong?" He crossed his arms, brows arching.
"Absolutely nothing," Blaze shot back, looking away from him.
Sonic was silent for awhile, knowing when Blaze had something set in stone she would rarely bend. However, since they married, Blaze was progressively loosening up on that old habit. With being married to someone who was able to freely express himself as much as he liked, his own habits began changing his wife's distant ways, making her personal bubble have room for two.
"Blaze, do you remember what we promised on our wedding vows?" Sonic inquired. It was out of the blue really and Blaze's tight expression twitched to show it. She looked surprised at that but didn't question him, just let her husband continue on what he wanted to say.
She was looking for an escape that didn't exist. "…no more secrets," she murmured, sounding reluctant as she tightened the fabric into a ball with her edgy fingers.
"Exactly, remember I even had the priest make us pinky swear on it?" Sonic continued, looking at her eyes as they tried to avoid his. In the end, it was a lost battle since he grabbed her by the chin gently to keep eye contact. "I told you stuff about whatever was bothering me, the same goes for you. You're my partner, its my job to make sure you're okay."
"It just… brings back bad memories is all," Blaze confessed once she found the courage to speak again. Sonic let her go once she willingly would look at him. "I used to have to wear this all the time as a kitten…"
"Why's that?"
"Because… because of my flames. I had a lot of accidents, much too uncontrollable for an eight year old," Blaze explained as she rubbed her thumb along the corner of the white shawl. "I would walk around blasting flames, you could say I wasn't popular among the other kids my age. Even after I was given this to wear by my grandmother, it made things much worse."
Sonic reached to take her hand in his to encourage her to keep speaking.
Blaze squeezed his fingers in response. "A lot of the other kids would try pulling it off to humiliate me, since they already knew what was under there. They used to shrink away like I was a ticking time bomb. Since it was fire proof, it helped to keep my pyrokinesis in check but was always a glaring reminder of my flaw and how dangerous I was to society. I grew up though… and once I could handle my fire decently, I was determined to bury this thing as far back as possible."
He looked at it carefully before regarding his wife. Pulling at her hand, Sonic tugged her so he could wrap his arms around Blaze. The shawl was pressed between them and Sonic laid his head on her shoulder. "What's done is done and now that you've told me, I think you need to find a way to let the pain go with some new memories, honey."
She found her arms caught between them so she couldn't really hug him back. So the cat settled with brushing her nose against his chin. "How so? I can't bear to think it could do any good for us now. Its not like I can even wear it."
He kissed her hairline. "We'll box it along with my shoes to give to our kids one day."
She caught her breath in her throat. "…what?"
"Just hear me out," Sonic continued, pulling Blaze back so he could smile at her. Blaze looked skeptical of him, however was willing to listen, even if she clearly thought his idea ridiculous. "It gave you problems, I know but you got it from your grandmother and it helped you learn to control your flames. I think that's a bonus and you're carrying the pain inside still, I knew that the moment I met you. You aren't alone anymore and you need some kind of condolence for this, hiding it isn't going to help. It will just be found again and give you more problems."
He met her eyes, seeing as she thought his words over. "You'll only move on if you can let yourself move on from this," Sonic said, lifting the shawl once he had it in his fingers. "We'll make fresh, happier memories with the next generation, and one day, you'll be able to smile back on this knowing how it helped our kid!"
She took it back from him and stared at it, seeming torn on her husband's advice. Turning her eyes to him, she folded it neatly on her lap. "I'll need some time to think this over Sonic."
"Of course," he murmured, nodding his head.
"But if… if I do feel I am ready to part with what this shawl caused me… I suppose we could make a fresh start with it… one day."
Four years after that, their toddling baby girl would curl in the crib with that very same shawl cast over her shoulders, bundled safely and tangled in the warmth of it as she fell into the nighttime spell. For once, Blaze could smile at it.
Author's Note: I wanted to implement a cape Blaze used to have in some concept art to help conceal/control her flames apparently. I liked the idea so I threw it in as a memory for Blaze to overcome. The ending is eh, my knuckles are so cramped right now and its late so I don't care at the moment, hee hee ow... also I apologize if anyone seemed OOC Dx Leave me some crumbs so I know better~
