Chapter 21: Is it The End, yet?

NEEYA! Birthday soon, and I'm getting 'Shadow the Hedgehog'! YEY! Yes, I'm pretty late for the game, but... I can't wait! XD

Anyway, enough with me bragging.

Enjoy the chapter, mates!

Oh, and thank you for being so supportive throughout. This is my most successful story so far, and by far my best!

Thanks, guys!

I'm going to be carrying on with the POVs. I hope that's okay.

Marine

How does the guy do it? Tails, I'm talking about. I mean, he set up this wedding, which must have exhausted him to the bone, but he's also organised, well... I'm not sure on what to name it. I mean, it's a sort of thing after the wedding, I suppose. You know, where all the guests dance with each other. I went bright red. Yeah. I hoped I wouldn't have to dance... or whatever. I couldn't dance to save my life. Urgh, I'm a waste. I can't do anything right, probably a common disease I have.

It seemed dearest Miles was watching my expression, which looked like I was on my way to my death.

"Marine," he murmured, "are you all right?"

I forced a smile.

"Sure, sure," I muttered, quickly, I looked away slightly, "just gotta a slight worry."

He waited for me to continue, as he would.

"I can't dance," I whispered, so only he could hear.

I was a little surprised by his reaction. He smiled at me, almost laughing, but in a friendly way. Mind you, this is Tails.

"Don't worry," he said, gently, "You won't be embarrassed. I mean, you don't have to dance. Just put your feet on top of mine-"

He was interrupted by Silver who was beaming at us.

"Come on, you love birds. It's certainly dark out there. Oh, and slightly chilly. Nearly everyone's at the hall now," Silver explained.

"Hall?" I asked.

"Yeah. Tails, here, had booked some sort of building. Lots of people go there after weddings. He's quite amazing, Tails, isn't he? Organising all this," he explained.

"You dan't say," I muttered.

"Oh, come on!" Silver said, impatiently, "look, you're the only ones left!"

He was right. Only me, Tails and Silver were left in the restaurant. I rolled my eyes, and stood up.

"Sorry," I apologised.

"Wow, Marine. You're almost as thin as Blaze!" Silver exclaimed, "now, that's something."

"Roight," I said, "I think that's a compliment."

Silver turned around and ran straight to the door, being in such a hurry, he didn't have time to open it, and splattered himself against it.

"Unnn..." he murmured in slight pain.

I saw Tails shake his head, then looked at me.

"Shall we go, then?" he asked, politely.

"Sure."

Blaze

The hall was dark, but had a few lights on. The red curtains were drawn, and there were two tables on each side of the room, either having drinks or some food on. There were tables at the back of the room, where the people who weren't going to dance, or going to have a talk, sat. I sat down myself, hoping nobody would come over to me. I saw Sonic in the far corner, Amy talking to him. Probably forcing him to dance with her.

I leaned back in the chair, and looked at the guests, who were either standing or sitting down.

I suddenly found Marine sitting opposite me at the table, she grabbed a book, which so happened to be on the table, too, and tried well to hide her face. But, she wasn't very successful.

"I'm not 'ere, mate," she whispered quickly.

I raised an eyebrow, and looked away from her. Her hiding position was rather pathetic, but... if I was her, I'd understand. Obviously, Tails wanted to dance with her. I made a small smile when I saw Tails skid to a halt as he came into the hall. He looked around him, until somebody who I hadn't seen before walked over to him.

He was a badger-like creature dressed in a suit smartly. He smiled when he came over to Tails and they spoke, after a few seconds the badger left him, and turned to something which was at the top of the hall.

The fox walked over to me, and smiled.

"Seen Marine?" he asked.

I was quite surprised that he hadn't found her. I mean, she was only behind me. I turned my head slightly, only to find Marine not there.

Marine

I hoped he wouldn't find me under the table. Surely, he wouldn't. I can't dance, and I don't wanna dance. But, the bride and groom have to! Don't they? Gah, I'm screwed!

I suddenly heard music being played, a kind of music I haven't heard before.

"Marine..." I heard Tails whisper in annoyance.

Heh heh.

"Hey!" some guy said through a microphone, "where's your girl?"

"I don't know!" Tails replied back to him, "Ah..."

"Oh, well! Hey, somebody at least come over and dance..."

I saw Benny go into the middle of the room, and start to dance. I jumped making my head bang against the table, the sudden hit I did, made the table shake.

SINCE WHEN DID THAT RACCOON LEARNED TA BLADDY DANCE!

"Marine!" Tails cheered, when he saw me under the table, his head popping through the blue table cloth, I jumped again, banging my head in exactly the same spot.

I rubbed my head where I had bumped it, then I crawled backwards when he started to crawl towards me.

"Come on," he said, smiling, "don't be scared."

"Scared? Ha! Me? Huh." I retorted, looking away.

"Just come for one dance. Come on... everyone else is... otherwise the Coconut Crew will force you to dance with them." He explained.

Point taken. I certainly don't want to dance with those koalas. In fact, I wasn't even sure if they were still sober. At any party at the very most one of them isn't drunk. And, that's usually dearest Kylok. Tails sighed, and offered me his hand. I watched it for a while, then looked at him.

"Let me get out from under the table," I muttered.

I crawled backwards then got up, when I was out from under the table. I already saw couples dancing, some geezers I haven't seen... no, they're not couples.

Friends.

Apologies.

My eyes widened when I saw Colonel and Muzy dancing together, head in each other's shoulders...

GAY!

"Come on!" Tails said, he grabbed my hand, and pulled me to where a few people were dancing.

I pulled back, but he was too strong. He looked at me, grinning.

"I have all night, you know," he teased.

I sighed. I knew he was telling the truth with that.

Crap.

Blaze

I watched Marine being dragged towards where others were dancing... sort of. I sighed, and rested my hand on my head. I drummed my fingers onto the table. I wondered if Shadow knew how to dance? Hmm.

"Blaze," I heard Silver's voice, and looked up at him, "want to dance? C'mon. Like old times."

He offered me his hand, and with the corner of my eyes I saw Sonic take a deep breath in. I suddenly felt the need to talk to him. I quickly looked at Silver, who still had his hand out for me.

"Come on, Blaze," he sighed.

I took his hand, and he brought me to where the others were.

"Can you dance?" he asked me, turning to me.

"Not really. Anyway, you know," I muttered, when he put his hand on my waist, he did it with such confidence, too, he kept hold of my other hand, though.

"I do. Heh. And, you don't dance like people would expect..." he laughed, "some princess you are."

"Shut up, Silver."

"Okay."

Marine

Just do your best to enjoy this. Just do your best to enjoy this. Just do your best to enjoy this bladdy, stupid, corny WALTZ! Tails seemed as happy as ever. Of course. But, after a few seconds he seemed to realise how bad I was at doing this. But, he smiled. Sure, I had done what your supposed to do, by putting my hand on his shoulder. But, really, I was just trying to do what he was doing.

Of course I sucked at it.

"Here," he said, gently, I almost gasped when he slightly lifted me off my feet, as if I was only a feather.

He put my feet on top of his, and started doing what he was doing before. You know, I was beginning to like this. This was different.

Blaze

Okay. Well, there's always a couple which is just such a pro when it comes to doing this sort of thing. Me and Silver were the two. In fact, we were being rather fast. I was actually enjoying it. Silver was laughing, and a few people envied our style. We did look like friends having a laugh. He spun me around again, twice as fast as before. The problem was, we weren't listening to the beat of the soothing music. No.

We were just... mad. Like old friends.

We finally came to a stop, both out of breath... well, almost. I made a small smile at Silver, and pecked him on the cheek. He grinned.

I turned around, and went back to my seat. Rouge came over to sit next to me, smiling.

"Hey, honey," she said, "you and Silver were great. Glad to see you've cheered up."

"He's good at doing that," I replied.

"I can tell."

Silver came over to us, and grinned at us both.

"Hey, Rouge. You want to go up?" he asked.

Rouge nodded and stood up.

"Come on, then, handsome," she said, and grabbed his tie to where I was, not so long ago.

Silver beamed.

I leaned my head against my hand, and looked around. I saw Sonic still in the corner, and he kept on doing small looks at me. I realised I was doing the same.

Please can someone dance with him?

Marine

I opened my eyes, quickly. Oh, god! I had... I had been resting my head against his shoulder, and my arms around his neck. OH NO! I quickly moved away, slightly embarrassed. Tails gave me a confused look, but came over to me.

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes narrowing, "you were doing great."

"Huh. Yeah, roight. The whole 'dancing' thing is kinda disturbing for me," I explained.

He raised an eyebrow, and shrugged.

"Well, I was starting to really enjoy it... but, you can go if you like," he said, slightly saddened.

Did he really enjoy it that much?

"What do you see in me?" I asked him.

"... What do you mean?" he replied.

"I mean... why... do you... like me?"

He sighed, and hesitated.

"Well," he answered, "I dunno. I like your attitude. You're pretty-" Yeah, I blushed, "-Your kind... when you want to be. You almost own an island, only God knows how. You've built your own little boat-"

"Oh! Ha. That thing is long gone, mate." I interrupted.

He smiled a little.

"Oh. That's a shame," he muttered.

I shrugged.

I thought about the things Tails had told me.

"You being serious?" I asked him, pointing.

"You're asking me this after we're married? Of course. All of those reasons are probably the reason why I love you." Those last three words made my head spin. Did he... just say... he loved me?

"You love me?" I whispered.

He gave me a look saying 'of course!'.

"You serious?" I said, same tone.

"Of course I do. I wouldn't lie to you," he replied, smiling.

My mouth was slightly agape. Had Tails told me he loved me before? If so, I certainly need to get used to him saying that.

"Sorry," I apologised, "you can... still be with me if you want. I dan't mind."

He smiled, and walked over to me.

"Thanks," he said, and once again, put my feet over his.

New music started playing. Oh, don't think I hadn't seen Blaze and Sonic making quick looks at each other. So much for me being pathetic.

Blaze

I looked around me, and saw Rouge come back towards me, smiling. She sat down.

"Silver is very charming," she commented.

I couldn't agree more. I watched Silver now asking Amy for a dance, she very much obliged.

"I think I'm going to ask Knuckles to dance. See you in a bit, hon," Rouge said, already gone.

I sighed slightly. Shadow seemed to be fading away, but something wanted me to hold onto him. So much for trying to forget him.

Two hours later... or, something like that.

I had almost fallen asleep, until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Sonic looking down on me. I blinked.

"Will you..." he hesitated, "dance with me?"

Marine

Right now, I was playing a card game with Rouge. It was snap! And, it was fun.

"SNAP!" we both exclaimed together, our hands slapping down on the matching cards.

"Will you two be quiet?" Tails hissed, "it's getting late. And-"

"Hey, all of you," Silver said, coming over, "I've danced with everyone today. Even the guys, and Tails, too. Heh heh. Marine, you're the last one," he offered me his hand, "come on."

"... I can't dance."

"Pfft! So? Everyone can dance. Even you. C'mon, I've danced with everybody else," he explained, beaming.

"Foine," I replied, and stood up.

I took his hand, and he lead me towards where others were dancing. The room was a lot darker now, and seemed more warmer and cosier.

"What toime is it?" I asked Silver.

"Hmm..." he said, he pulled back his cuff and looked at his nice Rolex watch, then looked at me, "almost twelve."

My eyes widened, and he beamed.

"C'mon, Marineee," he said, "Just go with the flow."

I was not going to do this right.

Blaze

I stood up slowly, and nodded to him. He did a small smile, and offered me his hand. I took it, and he brought me to where the others were, right at the back in the corner. I preferred being here actually, until I realised Sonic wanted to speak to me.

He gently put his hand on my waist, and I put my hand on his shoulder, our hands slightly touching. We did tiny moves.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

I nodded.

"You?" I replied.

"Yes. I'm good," Sonic replied, "..."

There was silence between us, and I realised we had stopped.

"I don't want Shadow to hurt you," Sonic started, "and, I know he already has done, in a way. I want to help you. I mean, if I told you how..." he stopped, and sighed, "okay, I'll admit it. I care for you too much. And... something wants me to be more than your friend. Please, don't walk away. I'm trying to explain an emotion."

My heart started to beat uncontrollably. No. I want to be with Shadow. But, I know I can't, because he's too dangerous... Thinking of Shadow just made me want to be with him. Something wanted me to stay with Shadow and... I couldn't care what his enemies did to me. I suddenly felt the need that I wanted to be with him, no matter what.

Why? Why do emotions do so much?

I could defend myself. I wouldn't let him down.

But, he's gone.

For all I know, I may never see him again.

I then remembered Sonic was still with me. No. I can't stand this.

Okay. Maybe, I'm being too 'fairy tale princess' here. But, it was true what I knew. I loved Shadow, but Sonic loved me! No! This wasn't how I thought my life would end up as.

"Blaze..." Sonic murmured, inches away from me, "I know you don't-"

"Wait, stop, Sonic. I know what you're trying to say. But, I'm sorry..." I apologised, walking away, "I can't do it."

I turned around and walked away from him.

"Wait, Blaze!" Sonic exclaimed.

I ignored him, leaving him feeling rejected.

A sudden pinch came over my emotions and I realised what it was.

Guilt.

Marine

Ha ha ha! Silver was really cool! I don't know what he does, but he made me dance. We were dancing in a way, which was really fast. I did a quick spin, and ended up hugging him. He laughed, and beamed. I moved away from him, and he gave me the thumbs up.

"See. You can dance," he said, beaming.

"Yeah. With your help, mate," I replied.

"Heh heh," Silver chuckled, "I'm gonna hang around with Blaze or Sonic. See you in a few."

"Bye," I replied.

We both departed and I sat in my seat opposite Rouge.

She yawned, and Knuckles put his feet on a table, and closed his eyes.

"Wow. Time's half twelve," Rouge stated.

Me and Silver had been dancing for almost half an hour.

Now, that's new.

I saw Tails waving at me, and I waved back, a confused look on my face. I then saw Pinky and Cream come towards us.

"Hello," Cream greeted them, cheerfully, "I danced with the whole Coconut Crew."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You survoived well," I said to her.

She laughed.

"They're lovely people," she said.

Yeah.

Sure.

Pinky seemed rather quiet, I then realised she was giving Blaze an evil look.

"Gotta a problem with Blaze?" I asked her.

She looked at me.

"... What if I have?" she said, smoothly.

I shrugged.

"Ah, what the hell. I can't be bothered," I replied.

"I still have my hammer."

"Eh?"

"Hammer."

"Good one, mate. You do that," I said, not really listening.

Pinky rolled her eyes, and tugged on Cream's arm.

"We'll be off now," she said.

"Actually, I want to stay, Amy," Cream interjected.

Amy gave Cream a threatening look.

"You gotta a problem with Cream?" I teased.

She glared at me.

"Good bye," she said, quickly, and left the hall.

That was it.

No proper good byes. Just a quick 'good bye'.

Good riddance. Urgh!

Rouge seemed to have fallen asleep, her chest was raising and falling in a calm motion. I looked over at Knuckles, who was looking at the inside of a glass, his eyes narrowed, he lifted the glass upside down only to make some wine go up his sleeve. He dropped the glass, and tried to look normal.

This party was going to go on for another four hours.

I knew.

Reviews? Lol. Hope this chapter was good.

End of Chapter 21