Afternoon beckoned to the streets of Spagonia, the cool air blowing through the parasols that defended the cafe patrons from the glaring heat of the sun. The city, blessed with yet another beautiful day, bustled with the citizens that inhabited it. Not to mention the tourists of course, for Spagonia had many that made the journey to see the seemingly never ending festivals that it produced.
One of these tourists was quietly stirring her latte, an expensive but much needed purchase from a nearby coffeehouse, where she sat alone waiting for her friend.
Who was late.
Again.
There was nothing like being fashionably late, Amy supposed, sitting back in her chair as the day passed her by. She had expected this tardiness to begin with, and as such had arrived half an hour later than they had both agreed. Despite this, she had still been waiting fifteen minutes. She reluctantly had to hand it to Rouge, the girl was consistent if nothing else.
There was still plenty of time to make it to the clothing market in any case, it wouldn't close-up until sun-down, and if Rouge didn't actually turn-up, then Amy was for sure willing to throw-down. Or, she thought, quietly sipping her drink, at least tut loudly, passively complain under her breath. Friends didn't fight, after all. Sure, Sonic and Knuckles did. And Sonic and Shadow did. And Sonic and Mighty did.
It had to be a boy thing. Or, she reckoned glumly, a Sonic thing. Probably the Sonic thing in all honesty.
Suddenly, the sun that had previously been beaming down at the back of her neck disappeared, replaced with what she could only assume was a shadow of a stuffed peacock. Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned around, the silhouette blocked by the light behind this apparition.
"Amy, dear, you could have at least dressed up."
Rouge walked around to the chair opposite Amy, showing off what she assumed the woman would call a hat, and what Amy would more realistically call a 'bloody joke' riding atop the bat's head, an insane amount of feathers sprouting off from all angles, each a different colour with no sense of rhyme or reason, overlaced with jewels. It put the extra in extravagant.
"I did dress up." replied Amy defensively, tipping her beret in her friend's direction. She was proud of this little number, it wasn't very often she got to wear it. "Besides, Rouge, you're late."
"We're on vacation Ames. Why rush?"
"Because we agreed on a set-time, the whole point of agreeing to something is-"
Never mind. She had argued it before, she would argue it again some other time. Rouge was right, this was a vacation, there was no need to get so stressed about things.
"Where did you get that thing anyway?" Amy asked Rouge, who was basking in the curious stares of her admirers. Or bird enthusiasts, Amy thought meanly.
"There's a Honey down the road from here, I just dropped in on the way." she answered, giving Amy a big smile as she continued. "If you would like we could get you out of those clothes."
"These are my best clothes!"
"That's the saddest part."
Rolling her eyes, Amy flicked the stirrer at her friend, who caught it between her fingers at an impressive speed. A long time in service to G.U.N. had naturally improved her skills, If only, Amy thought to herself, they could improve her personality. A constant tease, was that bat.
"Not clothes shopping." Amy answered finally, leaving some bills on the table as she stood up. "Something that I personally want to do."
"Something you wanna do?" Rouge yawned, standing up as well. "Gonna be difficult, I don't think Sonic's here."
"Cheeky b-"
Faltering, she let the insult tail off instead, trying to see what had caught her eye just then. Someone in the crowd that had just walked past, someone familiar. She was sure of it, but who?
"Follow me." she told Rouge, pulling the beret over her quills before walking into the throbbing ebbing crowd. "And put that hat away for a second, you stand out like a god damn beacon."
"What's up?" Rouge whispered, taking off her hat with a flourish that Amy swore she practised.
"I think I saw someone we know. Someone that shouldn't be here."
"Who?"
"Not sure."
"So you're stalking them?" asked Rouge, trying to keep up with the hedgehog.
"N-no, I wasn't-"
"I wasn't complaining Amy, I was just curious."
"Better had have been."
Looking through the crowd they had got immersed in, they realised the difficulty instantly. The average person walking around was anywhere between 5 foot and 6. In comparison, they were approaching a metre tall at best. The best view they had gave them a face full of different belt buckles. It was admittedly less than ideal.
"There's someone walking faster than everyone else," hissed Rouge, trying to keep her voice low. "Almost like they're in a hurried rush, trying to stay out of sight."
"How can you tell?"
Rouge pointed to her ears, waggling them slightly. Her ears, of course, accurate enough to tell a marked card in a deck by sound alone. Poker games were banned on principle when she was around, she took all the fun out of it.
"Can you pinpoint them?" asked Amy. The bat nodded back. "Go get them."
In a flash, Rouge flew upwards through the throng of torsos, a couple of exclamations from the stunned crowd. Pushing her way back to the cafe table which was luckily still vacant, Amy sat down, ordered another latte, and waited happily.
Two minutes later, a figure dropped from quite a height in front of her. The figure had tried to disguise their appearance, a hooded cowl covered their head and an otherwise mundane robe enveloped the figure, but the face, it was hardly one that fit in, no wonder Amy had half-recognised it.
"Blaze!?"
"...Amy."
Landing next to the scowling cat, Rouge straightened herself out and glared at the princess, who looked rather smug considering her current predicament. Would probably have something to do with the singed melted mess that adorned the top of Rouge's head. The fool had obviously put it back on mid-flight. Trying not to laugh, Amy finished her drink, placing the cup down slowly before facing the two once more.
"What's a princess like you doing in a place like this?" she asked.
"And dressed like 'that'." added Rouge, who was moodily picking out burnt bits of hat out of her own fur. "I assume you didn't want to be found?"
Sighing, Blaze held the cowl down further to obscure her face, blushing.
"See, after all the events that have happened on both mine and Silver's world, the royal doctor requested I take it easy for a short while, relax, plenty of bed-rest. So, Silver took this to heart, made all the necessary arrangements for me in my castle."
"He's a nice boy." admitted Rouge.
Amy declined to comment. Sonic hardly came around to visit, let alone ensured she took it easy. A palace too? Some girls had all the luck.
"Well, he told Gardon to let him know if anything made me stressed and he'd come back and resolve it. But the old fool took it over the top, I can't even so much as take a walk in the garden without him calling Silver on me, and that just worries him something fierce."
"So… why are you here?" asked Amy.
"I just needed to get out." laughed Blaze, shrugging her shoulders in accepted defeat, but somehow in a way that seemed composed and dignified, an interesting movement but she handled it nonetheless. "Silver means the world to me, as does Gardon, I don't want them to worry about me. But... if I can't get out in my own world without him calling the royal guard up, I need to be in another. Currently, they both think I'm in my room."
"Th-they haven't checked to see?"
Blaze raised an eyebrow in confusion. "One doesn't enter a princess's room without permission, Amy." She looked genuinely nonplussed that the question was even put forward. "It'd be reason for exile. I wouldn't do it to either of them, but they don't know that."
"And what about the disguise?"
"If anyone recognises me in the present in either world, Silver can find out in the future, and he's got this way with time, he'd know I was out in the past and..." she sighed. "It's confusing, to say the least, but the long and short of it would be him appearing before me, all flustered and worried and..." the sentence ran away from the cat, her eyes closed in embarrassment as she continued. "If I stayed undercover, no-one would have to know."
Raising her hand, Rouge clipped the cat in the back of the head, causing a loud hiss to startle the other patrons.
"You shouldn't make that boy worry." Rouge stated simply, as if she hadn't just belted her friend one. "And that's an awful disguise."
"Oh, so you'd know better?"
"She would, as it goes." laughed Amy. "So, you're on a break then, a little vacation away from home, huh?"
"When you put it like that, Amy Rose, I guess I am."
A large grin adorned Amy's features, sitting back in her chair.
"Well, us girls have to stick together, we won't tell the lads on you."
"I know you won't." said Blaze, who smiled kindly at the two. "If you would have done, Silver would have found me already. He means only well, but..." she tailed off, trying not to blush. "I thank you both anyway."
"I only promise not to tell if you pay for another hat that looks like this one." interrupted Rouge.
"Well, evidently, I'm going to."
"Time travel's a funny old thing, huh."
"How about this then." suggested Amy, who held her hand out to Blaze. "Join us on our little summer break. Just you, me, Rouge, no-one else has to know. It'll be fun, I swear."
Shifting nervously in her seat, Blaze didn't answer. It occurred to Amy this was the first time she had ever really asked Blaze. She wasn't in their world very often, and when she was, usually to resolve a universe spanning conflict, which, once finished, would be her cue to return home to where she was needed. Rouge, Cream, even Wave on an odd chance encounter would be game for relaxing with the girls, but Blaze… she was always away, always doing important work.
She held important titles, held important roles and responsibilities. Amy would be lying if she said she hadn't seen Blaze happy, the fleeting moment of celebration before being called back to her palace, but never just... relaxed. Even now, on her so called break, she was running around in the shadows, afraid of being seen. Everyone deserved some time off.
"When was the last time you did something you truly wanted to do?" Amy asked, eventually.
Blaze lifted her hand to answer.
"Without involving Silver." Rouge interrupted.
Blaze's hand went down.
"Beholden to our boys, aren't we." laughed the bat, who playfully nudged the princess. Smiling, Blaze removed the cowl from her head, eyes adjusting to the full glare of the midday sun.
"I guess… one should gladly accept an invitation from this universe's host."
"Thatta girl!" shouted Amy, grabbing Blaze's hand properly in her own two, ignoring Rouge's smirk. "We can show you around the city, it'll be fun!"
"Would be nice to see this place not on fire." admitted Blaze.
"What was that now?"
"S-silver's working on it in his time, I swear."
"Talking of which," said Rouge, diving into her bag that she had suddenly procured seemingly out of nowhere. Lifting a pair of sunglasses and a sun hat out of her bag, she handed them over to Blaze. "You'll need these."
"Oh, to disguise myself. Thank you, Rouge."
"I mean… yeah, I guess, but also because I'm not walking you around dressed in rags." she replied, nodding her head over to the clothing market down the way. "I do have a reputation in this universe, princess."
"O-oh."
Noting Blazes' crestfallen face and Amy's frown of disapproval, Rouge's expression softened. Contrary to popular belief, the girl did have a heart. Sure, it was as hard as the gems she stole, but a heart was there nonetheless.
"And I've never had the opportunity to dress up a princess." she continued, patting Blaze on the shoulder. "C'mon, it'll be fun."
Amy stood up from her chair once more, coming over to hug the both of them. Neither were committed, but they accepted the tight embrace Amy was adamant on giving them, it would have broken the hedgehog's heart to do otherwise. Of course, the fact they both genuinely loved Amy's company was not a fact either was willing to share at this present moment, at least not to the other unwilling participant of this hug.
Letting the two go, Amy smiled to herself. These summer days were fleeting enough as is, and who'd know when the time would come again. Hell, it was only a chance encounter that had got them their third member of this trip. Maybe it was Sonic, she reflected, that had taught her that life truly was about living in the moment, for the future was never certain. The only important time was now. Sure, she wasn't being waited on in a palace, but maybe that's not what Sonic needed to be for her. The fact she was able to enjoy the time with the people she wanted to spend time with and enjoy these days for what they were, a fleeting moment in the carousel of life, that was what it was all about, really.
"So, the clothing market it is!" she exclaimed, pointing to their destination. Ignoring Rouge's laughter and Blaze blushing red behind her sunglasses, she walked onwards as the two behind her followed in her wake, basking in the warmth, not of the sun, but the beaming positivity, the constant blooming ray of light they'd call their friend.