The birds chirped outside, the window was strong, the sun was bright. It was far past morning. Blaze rose up to find that Sonic had gone, but a quick glance to the kitchen revealed that he had left her a note. "Be back soon, didn't want to wake you. A couple errands to run." she read aloud. She sat the note back onto the counter and looked around, closing the blinds and pouring herself a glass of water, but as she sat back down, holding her head, a knock came through the door. Blaze hesitated for a moment before getting up and opening it, revealing a confused Tails on the other side. "H-hello, Tails." She said sheepishly.
"Uhh hey, Blaze! It's good to see you again..!" He replied. "Uh, is Sonic not here?"
"No, he's… doing "errands", per his note." She gestured towards the folded note standing on the counter. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you came inside" She smiled, chuckling quietly. Tails stepped inside.
"What brings you here? When did you get here?" Tails asked curiously. "I didn't even know you were here!"
"I've been here… about 2 weeks?" She responded. "As for why… another time." she sighed. "But I'm here… for the foreseable future, I suppose."
"Well that's great! But why didn't Sonic tell anyone?" The yellow fox huffed. "Amy would love to catch up, I'm sure. Knuckles too, if we could find him." he chuckled.
"I'd like that." Blaze smiled. "Is there a reason that you all seem… distant? Sonic has hardley even mentioned you or anyone else since I've been back."
"I think he's just bored." Tails said, chuckling softly. "It's been a long time since anything big happened, and you know how he is. He doesn't know how to act when he's not saving the world."
"Hmm…" Blaze agreed. "I guess I feel the same."
"I've been trying to find something, anything to get him working on, but, well, there's just… not much going on. I think Eggman is retiring, he's not pulled anything in over a year." Tails continued, and as Blaze was contemplating what he was saying, Sonic came through the door.
"Blaze? I'm- Hey Tails!" Sonic greeted cheerfully, rushing to hug his old friend. "It's been a long time, buddy. What's up?"
"You didn't tell anyone Blaze was in town?" Tails harrumphed. "Amy and I would've thrown a party or… something!"
"Uhhhhh" Sonic awkwardly floundered for something to say.
"In fact we will anyway." Tails smiled. "I'm gonna tell everyone, see who comes. Amy and I's shop, tonight at… 8. Alright?"
"Oh, you don't have to-" Blaze spoke up.
"Nope, you deserve as much." Tails quipped. "8 o'clock, alright?"
"Alright alright, we'll be there buddy." Sonic affirmed. Tails flew out the door, mumbling as he left. "Well… hope you're up to it." he chuckled. Blaze chuckled with him before giving a slight smile. "Oh, I almost forgot. I stopped by a garage sale in town. Saw something I thought you might like." He swung his backpack off and reached in, pulling out a white leather jacket. "It's no royal robes, but it seemed… you." Blaze put on the jacket, which was just slightly small on her, but not enough to matter. She quickly walked into Sonic's room, where he had a mirror, and looked herself over, zipping it up, and unzipping it to leave her black T-shirt visible underneath.
"I love it" she said, smiling sweetly at him. "Thank you… For everything…" Sonic wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, resting his chin on her head, and Blaze responded by burrying her head into his neck. She'd never felt so vulnerable emotionally as she did at that moment, recalling everything that had happened, that led her to where she was now, but as always with Sonic, it seemed she didn't care. She burried her head futher into his neck with a contented sigh.
"You ok, Blaze?" Sonic asked her after a few moments. She pulled away, smiling.
"Yes." she replied simply. "Yes, I am."
Blaze and Sonic walked to Tails and Amy's shop, walking around the back where they had made an outdoor party area, lit by warm white christmas lights strewn above the patio, and filled with Tails, Amy, and the rest of their friends. "Blaze!" Amy yelled, seeing her first. She ran to meet them, hugging Blaze. "It's been so long! How are you?" Before she could answer, a crowd of her friends formed around her, all greeting her at once. Blaze grew somewhat anxious at the sign of the crowd, but Sonic shouted to give her some space.
"Hey, one at a time, guys! Maybe two!" he chuckled. The crowd around her started to calm down, and she got to individually say hello to the friends that had come to welcome her, hugging Amy and Cream, awkwardly attempting to figure out Knuckles' handshake, and just as awkwardly waving at Rouge, exchanging grunts of acknowledgement with Shadow. She was never very good with large crowds, but she felt comfortable here, surrounded by friends.
"What are you doing here?" Amy asked, finally.
"I um... Another time." she hesitated, deciding not to tell her story right now.
"Oh. Ok, well, how long are you here?"
"For the foreseable future, I suppose. I have no plans to go back as of yet."
"Oh! Don't you have responsibilities back in your dimension? It'll be great having you here, but how can you stay so long?"
"I uh... Don't really have those responsibilities... right now... Look... It's a little bit complicated, and if it's alright with you, I'd like to not talk about it right now."
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean-" Amy started, but she was cut off by the realization that a crowd had formed in the street near the shop. Blaze turned to face the crowd and walked forward. She recognized many in the crowd, especially the one at front.
"Hey, that's that guy from before." Sonic said to Blaze, walking towards the crowd. "Hey, guys. Back for another ass-kicking?" Sonic smirked.
"We've got nothing to do with you. We just want her." the one in front spoke, pointing towards Blaze.
"Hmmm... No. Anything else?" Sonic retorted. The leader of the crowd groaned.
"We'll take her by force, then." he said, annoyed.
"I don't think so." Amy said, drawing her hammer. Shadow came alongside her, pistol drawn, and Knuckles joined them, punching his hands together.
"Get lost, creeps." Sonic finally said. "Go back where you came from. If I see you here again, you're gonna wish you never came here. Got it?" the leader stayed silent for a few moments before answering.
"Hope you're glad for harboring a murderer. Whatever she ends up doing to you will be your justice." He said in surrender, motioning to the crowd to move away before looking back on Sonic, spitting towards him, and leaving.
"Blaze, are you- Blaze?" Sonic turned to talk to Blaze, but she was gone. Amy looked around for her, but she had vanished. "I'm gonna go find her" He told them before running off. He tried to call Blaze on her phone, but she didn't pick up. Finally, he called Tails, asking him to see if he could locate Blaze's phone.
"Sure can. I'm sending it to you now" he replied quickly, and Sonic looked at his phone to see a dot on his map. He followed it to a small liquor on the edge of the city.
"Blaze... what are you doing?" he muttered to himself, walking into the store. Blaze was nowhere to be seen, so he asked the fox at the counter if he had seen her.
"Purple cat? White leather jacket? She was in here just a few minutes ago. Bought a bottle of Jack and left." the fox helpfully told him. He exited the store and looked around, finally seeing her, setting on the curb of an empty streetcorner, and he walked up and sat by her. The two of them sat in silence for a few moments.
"They know now." She said, taking a drink.
"So?" Sonic asked. "They're your friends. I'm sure they wanna help you through."
"Don't you get it?" she snapped. "Friends help friends get through bad relationships, friends help friends get past the loss of a loved one." she sighed. "But I'm a murderer. I killed someone. That's not something that can be changed."
"You've saved so much more life than that." Sonic countered. "Under your rule and protection, Sol was safe from so many things that would have destroyed every last one of those people. That has to count for something, even when we make mistakes."
"Does it?" She asked, taking a drink. "If I didn't save them, someone else would have. But if I wasn't there, at least one of them would still be alive."
"Maybe. And what you did was absolutely wrong, of course. But you're too important to just abandon when you do something wrong-"
"Too important? How am I too important? I'm not the princess of Sol anymore, I'm not a good person, I'm not a hero, I'm a fucking murderer! I'm a murderer, Sonic! How the hell am I 'too important'?"
"You're too important to me." Sonic said calmly. Blaze's face contorted as tears started to drop from her eyes, and she leaned forward as Sonic leaned in to hug her, taking the bottle from her hesitant hands and tossing it behind him. "C'mon" he finally said, softly. "Let's go back."
"No..." She said nervously. "I don't-"
"You need to know what they think of you. Come on." He said, standing up and offering her a hand. She reluctantly took it and stumbled to her feet. The two of them started to make their way back to the shop, where everyone was still waiting. Amy greeted her again, asking where she had gone. When Blaze offered no reply, she took Blaze's hand and looked her in the eye.
"You know we're here for you, right?" she said. Blaze still remained silent, tears welling up in her eyes once more. Shadow stepped forward and put a hand on Blaze's shoulder.
"If you ever need someone to talk to, I think I know exactly what you're going through." He said, as softly as anyone there had ever heard him speak. Blaze nodded.
"So does that mean you're here permanently?" Knuckles asked, just as loud as he ever was. Blaze found the strength to smile.
"Yes, I'm here permanently."
