JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, xEmberChanx, enustikehtelkcaJ, Kurdave, Alyssacookie, wind writer25, Mana the Cat Magician, Constanza Rose, Novus Umbra, Avitala, AutoKnight01, Writer's Freedom, 01sonamy01, OddSakura, MyLoveForYou, CherrletheChicken, SkulY2K, Mike Prower the Fox, ZehHyperactiveAuthor, IHeartSonAmy, SherryBlossom:
Okay, this chapter's going to be heavy on the description, mostly because I have a lot of stuff to explain, as some time has passed since last chapter and so I wanted to tell you what's been going on. Hope you don't get bogged down by it...
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Chapter 9: An Old Flame
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Giddy laughter erupted from the movie theater as the door suddenly burst open, courtesy of two rambunctious hedgehogs, who were both cracking up, causing passerby to all stare at them. Yes, the movie had been hilarious in its own right, but it had nothing to do with the sudden bout of laughter causing Sonic and Amy to clutch each other and shake with laughter. Unfortunately, it would be hard to articulate the exact cause of their giddiness, as it was one of those "you have to have been there" stunts, but know it had something to do with Sonic tripping in his haste and ending up in a mound of popcorn.
Once Sonic finally caught his breath, he raised up his gloved hand to wipe away his giddy tears. "Oh man..." he said, and turned to Amy, though his heart jumped as he realized how close she was to him, her own emerald eyes glistening. When they'd been laughing, the hedgehogs had somehow ended up in each other's arms, only inches apart, breathing the same sweet air.
Their eyes met, both widening slightly in wonder at how they'd managed to get in this situation. Sonic felt his heart rate spike, thumping so loudly he was sure Amy heard him. Her hand moving on it's own, Amy suddenly reached up to softly caress Sonic's face before the flustered hedgehog pulled back. Her heart sank a little, though she was used to Sonic's hesitancy by now.
Another leftover (though now more nervous) chuckle escaped him, causing Amy to lighten up and giggle once again, as she loved Sonic's cute little laugh. Then again, she just loved everything about Sonic. The girl let her eyes drift over his cute face, the lovely golden sunset in the background casting his body in a ethereal glow.
The past two weeks had been an absolute dream for Amy. Sonic had managed to carve out at least one hour to spend with her every day, whether it was just to chill or to take her somewhere. And while he insisted that they were just friends and kept his heart locked as usual, he was still incredibly sweet and charming. But still... while she was very happy that Sonic was giving her the time of day now... Amy found herself wanting more. Sonic had been mum on any feelings he might have for her, but Amy was a little afraid to ask him.
So, after all this, Amy still found herself waiting on Sonic and wondering where the key to his heart was... though she at least had something to keep her going now. It was better than him running from her.
Once he was sure his blush had faded to a fairly normal level, Sonic allowed himself to turn from the sunset back to Amy, though the way that she'd been admiring him caused heat to rise back to his cheeks. Why did she have to love him so much... it made him feel so weird...
"Well, Ames, that was fun... you ready to go home now?" he asked, grinning and trying to break the awkwardness.
"Sure," she agreed and smiled as Sonic pulled her into his arms and headed off to her house.
Now, some girls might object to being chauffeured and carried around like they were weak and couldn't do anything by themselves, but Amy could find nothing to complain about as she snuggled into Sonic. This really was the only time he would allow her to get so close to him, and so she always enjoyed it fully. Besides, it was awful romantic.
"Thanks so much, Sonic, for another date," she said softly, unable to contain her grin as the hedgehog dropped her back off at her house.
While part of Sonic cringed at calling these 'hang out times' as 'dates' and had told Amy as much, he didn't really bother to correct her anymore. Which was probably a bad thing, but... "Hey, like I say, it's no prob. I like spending time with ya, Ames," Sonic said honestly.
She blushed at her nickname and wrapped her arms around Sonic, letting her fingertips softly touch his curved back-quills. "I like spending time with you, too."
A dumb grin found it's way curving up Sonic's features, but his shyness caused him to start pulling away from the cute pink hedgehog. No need to give her any ideas. "Well, I'll catch ya later." He cocked his head and winked in such a perfect gesture that Amy's heart melted.
"Bye Sonic..." she whispered, and found herself happy and clutching her chest, even as her hero and love sped away from her, off to do those mysterious Sonic things.
It was times like these, as his heart was racing and giving his own feet a run for their money, that Sonic wished he could spend more time with the girl, but... he really didn't want to get her hopes up.
Nevertheless, Sonic was glad that they were on good terms now. He liked being able to have a decent conversation with her, and just hang out. Oddly enough, becoming good friends with Amy didn't take his freedom; on the contrary, he felt even more free now, since he didn't have to hightail as soon as he saw Amy. He wasn't scared that she was going to squeeze the air out of his lungs anymore. Also, Sonic found that he could just be himself around her, and she loved him for it. She loved everything about him. Honestly, Sonic felt lucky to have such a good friend as Amy.
But, yes, they were just friends. It wasn't like they'd kissed or anything. Sonic knew that Amy wanted to be more, but he... didn't. Maybe it was because his last relationship was still fresh and still painful. Maybe it was because he wasn't ready to commit to anything more. Mostly it was because he was quite sure he didn't really like her that way (honestly, he really didn't...)
But also... it was because he didn't want to get her hopes up. Once he started officially dating Amy, there really was no turning back. And part of Sonic knew that he'd eventually have to break it off between them if they started dating (because while Amy wanted to get married, Sonic could never, ever see himself tying the knot. Ever.) ... leaving Amy upset and heartbroken.
He knew how painful it was to be dumped, and as much as Sonic had come to care for the girl, he didn't want Amy to go through that inevitable situation if they ever became a couple. And so he was content to just stay where they were and not go further. It was a bit of a compromise... though Sonic wouldn't deny that he was in control of their relationship.
He was happy, she was happy, and so Sonic felt like he was doing the right thing by this.
So that's why, when he approached Tails' house, and found the fox hosing down the Tornado in the front yard, he was grinning from ear to ear.
"Hey little bro, watch where you spray that thing," he joked as he went around the long way to go inside, carefully avoiding the deadly spray of the hose.
Tails' blue eyes turned to face the hedgehog. "Oh hey, Sonic. You don't want to help me wash the Tornado?" he joked right back.
"Uh, I'll pass. I'm mostly here for a snack, if you don't mind," he chuckled and scratched at his ear. "If it wasn't for dinner with Amy earlier, I might've forgotten to eat."
Tails raised an eyebrow at this. He'd been watching Sonic's curious behavior over the past week, ever since they'd come back home, with observant eyes. For the most part he was typical Sonic again... though he was happier, if that were possible. He was also more forgetful, more spacey... though that was typical Sonic, too. Tails knew that it had a lot to do with Sonic and Amy's new thing (whether or not Sonic would admit they were "together" or not, Tails saw them as a couple), and was really happy for his big brother. But he also knew that it was only a matter of time until Sonic gave in and they became official. Either way, he was glad that two of his best friends were now on good terms.
Suddenly a sly smile appeared on the foxes face as he looked down at the liquid stream gushing out of the hose he was holding. He decided there was one good way to test his theory.
In one motion and as quickly as he could, Tails suddenly jerked the hose in Sonic's direction.
"Hey!" the hedgehog immediately protested, jumping out of the way of the cursed water. "What was that for?"
Tails chuckled and turned the spray back to rinse the soapy foam off the bright red plane, though he noticed that he'd managed to get Sonic partially soaked, meaning he'd been distracted and hadn't reacted as quickly as he normally should. Interesting...
"Oh, sorry, Sonic... my hand must've slipped."
Sonic's eyes narrowed and he shook his head quickly, trying to shake off the water that was weighing down his quills. "Yeah, yeah... sure."
Tails laughed again. "So... you came here for a snack, huh? Well, you know where the food is, you're welcome to it," he offered, knowing that Sonic practically lived with him as it was.
"Thanks, but I wanted to chat with you for a minute." A smile came back over his face as he was sure there was no more water on his body. "Man... life's so sweet right now, Tails... you wouldn't even believe it."
The fox smiled knowingly. "You and Amy, huh?"
"Are friends, Tails. Why does no one believe me on this?" Sonic rolled his eyes.
"I never said you were any more than that, but why else would life be good for you now?"
Crap. "Well, it's just that... I feel free again, alive, giddy... and I have no idea why." He paused and had to bring a hand up to his heart, as if it would contain the happiness that was practically bursting from the muscle.
Tails sighed and shook his head, though he was smiling. "It's happening again."
Sonic removed his eyes from the sky and back to to Tails. "What is?"
"Can you really not see it? You're falling for Amy."
His mouth dropped and a blush swept over his muzzle. "Wha- No I'm not! Why would you think that?"
Tails crossed his arms, his more logical, reasonable side emerging. "Look, Sonic, you say you're feeling more happy than usual, right? What else has changed in the past week besides you and Amy? Logic says that it's because of her that you're feeling different.."
Sonic's eyes made a complete circle of his surroundings, his mind spinning in cadence. "But wait, man, that doesn't mean I like her... I mean, she's just helping me get over Blaze, is all..." his heart sank at the thought of the cat. Don't.
"Then why are you dating her?"
"We're not dating, we're becoming better friends."
"Do you kiss all of your friends, Sonic?"
A deep red blush swept over his face. "Wha-she kissed me and it was on the cheek!" he said swiftly, his brow knitting defensively as Tails stifled a chuckle. "Wait, how did you find out about that?" he demanded, crossing his arms.
Now Tails' cover was blown. "Oh, uh, Cream told me..."
Sonic cocked his head, "Cream, huh? I thought I told you to stay away from girls..."
"So says the guy who swore off of them and is now dating Amy..."
"TAILS, we are not dating, okay?"
"So you don't like her?"
"Nope," Sonic said almost too quickly, even for him.
"But she still likes you, huh?"
Sonic sighed. "Yeah... this is sorta what I was worried about... I really didn't want to break her heart anymore... I mean, Tails, she wants to get married, and I could never see myself doing that... but it's odd because I do feel something around her, but it's not like what I felt for Blaze... but look, I don't want to think about her right now. I really do think I'm over Blaze... but I just try not to think about her..." It hurts too much... his smile became crooked. "I knew running from my problems would come in handy some time..."
Just then, before Tails could respond, one of his machines inside started buzzing. The fox frowned a little and turned off the hose, letting the green coil fall to the ground as he flew over to see what was up.
Looks like it's coming from the inter-dimensional communicator, he mused and pressed a few buttons on his control panel to get a visual on the monitor. His eyes scanned the first few lines...
"What is it? Egghead?" Sonic asked, coming up behind him.
The fox didn't respond, for all the blood had drained from his face upon reading the message.
"Well?" Sonic was breathing down his neck the next instant, and Tails quickly closed the window, beads of nervous sweat starting to form on his head. That can't be... oh this is not going to turn out well...
"N-nothing important..."
"Tails," Sonic warned in a deep voice, for he had seen a name on that message that he'd been spending a better part of a week trying to forget.
The fox let out a sigh, and bit his lip.
"Ya gotta tell me, man," Sonic persisted.
"Okay, I will but... uh, round the others up, okay?"
"Why can't you just tell me now?"
Tails once again looked at the ground. "I-I just don't want to say it twice."
"Is it bad?"
"Sonic, please, just... go get... Amy, Cream, and... Vanilla, okay?" Tails said quietly, though he still couldn't look at Sonic. Oh man, this is not going to go down well...
For a moment Sonic merely stared at his sibling, though a wave of nervousness hit him hard. Man... why couldn't this whole thing just fade away? Why did Blaze have to persist in his thoughts? Tails still refused to look at him, and Sonic's jade eyes drifted down to his arm, the burn scar Blaze had given him glaring back in an almost taunting matter. I'm never going to heal...
"Alright Tails," he said and sped off to go and get the others.
...xxx... In Blaze's dimension, a while back ...xxx...
He was nervous.
Okay, scratch that.
Nervous didn't even come close to a proper adjective to describe the anxiety that was stirring in Silver's heart, causing the hedgehog to be unusually jittery and watchful. This was both good and bad behavior for a castle guard... but this time, at least, it had nothing to do with his job.
It had everything to do with a girl.
But not just any girl. Blaze. The cat who had set his heart aflame with all sorts of crazy feelings, who listened to him and didn't belittle him, who fought right next to him numerous times, and most importantly whom he'd come to love over the few months that they'd come to know each other. And today... yes, today was the day. After many failed attempts, Silver decided that tonight... he was going to formally ask to go to the next step with her.
Oh man, can you say nervewracking? It wasn't like Blaze was a Princess, or a Guardian, or drop dead gorgeous or anything.
But oh, how Silver wanted this. He wanted it like he'd craved nothing else in his entire sixteen years of existence. Part of him had dreamed of this day and moment ever since he'd first laid eyes on the cat. He'd just known that he was going to end up being with Blaze, together, married, him and her. Of course, he'd never told anyone about that - for they'd claim he was just being naive in hoping that a princess would ever notice him.
But she had noticed him. Silver and Blaze had gotten close lately, before Sonic had tried to claim her and even more so after he'd left both of their lives. For the past week or so, Blaze had really seemed to warm up to him, even though Silver had assured her that he didn't want to rush into anything too fast with her. He'd give her time to think, just like she'd wanted. And in return Blaze... well, she'd been opening up to him, baring more and more of her soul to him, showing Silver just how special of a girl she really was. And even hinting that she did have some feelings for hm after all.
And Silver had decided, that while they were both the magical age of sixteen, he was going to ask Blaze to spend the rest of her life with him. But getting married to a princess in this dimension involved a rather complex betrothal system. The first step in this process was to go to the girls' father and ask for his permission. In Blaze's case... this was the King himself. Yeah... it was that big of a deal.
Thanking his lucky stars for his guard privileges, Silver had sought out an informal audience with the royal leader. He was shaking in his boots the whole time, but the king had graciously given his blessing, probably because he'd just been glad his obstinate daughter would get a man after all... even though Silver hadn't an ounce of royal blood.
Either way, Silver had a green light... and he was going for it. Tonight.
He let out a nervous sigh as his golden eyes traced the corners of the velvet box cradled in his hands before stuffing it inside the valley of his back-quills and taking off. This was the third time this week that he'd told himself that he was going to do this. The other two times... he'd gotten so close. He'd even reached for the ring, the words forming in his mouth... but then just chickened out. It was hard to do this... and part of him was terrified.
Yep, Silv, you're actually going to ask Blaze the Cat to marry you. Tonight. In just a few hours.
Oh man... what if... she says no? What if I'm ruining our friendship? What if I'm going too fast? What if...
He raised his head to steel his thoughts and strengthen his resolve. No... I can't think like that. I've already decided this a long time ago. I'm going to go through with this. Even though it'll be the hardest thing that I've ever had to do in my life... it'll be so worth it, to finally be with her... hold her in my arms, and stare deeply into her eyes...
His thoughts ran faster through his head, and Silver used his psychokinesis to propel himself more quickly to the place that he'd told Blaze he wanted to meet her tonight. The last rays of the setting sun reflected off the surface of the lake below him, creating a rippling pattern of red and orange. Scattered across the top of the water were multi-colored leaves fallen from the surrounding deciduous trees, adding to the effect. Finally, his eyes spied Blaze, making his heart leap in his chest. She was clad in a pale yellow shirt and light blue pants, looking lovely as usual even though she'd never been one for pretty dresses. Her eyes were trained to the other bank, deep in thought as usual.
For a minute Silver stood still, hovering about a hundred or so feet above Blaze, trying to work up the nerve to go down there and not just zoom away, leave just like he'd already done at least twice. Aw man... she's gonna say no... she's going to reject me... and I'm gonna be embarrassed... and we won't be friends anymore...
Bad idea, man... just let her go, she's not going to say yes. Why would she? She's Blaze! She's perfect, and beautiful, and important... you're just... a nobody...
He bit into his lip.
Silver... she can't reject you, man. You love her, and she... loves you too, in her own way. You two were meant for each other...Now c'mon... just go down there.
He swallowed and then glided downwards, landing next to the girl of his dreams. His boots crunched the fallen leaves underneath him, causing Blaze to turn her head towards him.
"Hello Silver."
"Hi Blaze," he managed to say, though he found himself blushing deeply. Aw man, there's no way I can ask this girl to marry me...
Blaze studied him with no small amount of curiosity. He'd been acting so odd lately. So flustered. He'd asked her to do something together a lot recently, and kept trying to tell her something that
"Blaze... I wanted to ask you something. It's... s-something I've been meaning to ask you for awhile now... but... I just..." he stopped. Gosh, he sounded like an idiot... but it was now or never. It might be a whole week before he'd work up this much nerve again. "Sorry, I just..."
She was watching him with those lovely golden eyes, eyes that were so pure, so shiny. Eyes that he'd fallen head over heels for. Eyes that he wanted to spend the rest of him life searching.
"Blaze, I just wanted to tell you... how much you mean to me. You've been my best friend ever since we've met... but much more than that, to me. You gave me confidence. You made me feel that I was doing something right. You... mean a lot to me, Blaze. And lately, I've come to feel even more for you."
He paused, but her expression was unreadable, though she clearly looked pleasantly surprised.
Man, Silv... there's no backing out now... just do it, man! Go for it!
His knees were feeling weak already, but Silver allowed himself to drop onto one of them anyway, causing Blaze's eyes to widen even further in recognition.
"Blaze, I've come to cherish you as more than a friend. I've come to love you, more than I thought possible," With shaking fingers, he reached into his back-quills to produce a velvet covered box, opening it to reveal a silver ring, studded with a diamond in the shape of a heart surrounded by flames. "So, Blaze the Cat, would you... marry me, Silver the Hedgehog?" he said the words in the ceremonial order.
It felt so surreal... and for a minute, both of them just stared at each other, one with hope, the other with nothing but shock and awe.
Blaze looked down at the young man kneeling in front of her, offering her everything of himself. His gold eyes were wide and pleading, his shiny quills were ruffled in some stray breeze, his muzzle was twinged with a blush, his lips were shaking but smiling...
She had only one thought.
This is the man I love... that I could spend the rest of my life with.
But he wanted to ask me... Me? The fire-freak? The quiet, withdrawn one? The guardian? Never had Blaze thought that she'd ever end up finding someone to love. She never imagined that she'd ever come to crave someone else, the way she wanted and loved Silver. He'd awakened her deepest desires that she'd always kept in, the part of her that longed to be loved and needed someone to complete her. Blaze thought that she could handle everything herself... but Silver had proven time and time again to be her other half. She thought her destiny was solitude and distance from others, but Silver had given her hope, a friend, and now... a future.
With him.
"Silver..." she breathed, feeling an unusual tug at her eyes and warmth on her cheeks.
The hedgehog felt like he was about to collapse when Blaze reached forward to touch the side of his face. "Yes."
Complete ecstasy washed over Silver, freeing his heart to jump and leap for joy. She said yes! She accepted me! We're getting married! Oh, Blaze...
The cat's hand moved down to encase Silver's free one, lifting him back to eye level. Wasting no time, Silver slipped the silver ring onto Blaze's finger and then took her hand while looking into her eyes.
"I love you, Silver..." the cat whispered right before Silver pulled her into his strong arms and captured her lips in a strong, sweet kiss.
Bliss emanated from both of them as they kissed deeply, feeling like they were right exactly where they belonged: with each other.
"I love you, too, Blaze..." he added tenderly, his hands running up and down her back in a soothing pattern. "There is no one else that I'd rather be with than you..."
The cat moved her hands up from his fluffy chest to his ears and quills, her eyes tearing up. "I've never been so... happy... before... I never thought, that I could feel love... Thank you so much Silver..."
Blaze trailed off her sentence, and then leaned into her new fiancee, enjoying his warmth, strength, and love...
...xxx... Back in Sonic's dimension, present time ...xxx...
"So Tails, ya gonna spill it?" Sonic cut right to the chase, crossing his arms impatiently.
He was gathered in the crowded corner of his little bro's workshop, along with Amy, Cream, and Vanilla, as Tails had said to round them up. So obviously, it wasn't Egghead, then... and after all, he'd seen Blaze's name on the message.
This whole time his mind had been trying to come up with all the possibilities that news from the other dimension would hold concerning Blaze... but now he just wanted to know. Oh dang it, why can't this whole thing just go away?
When Tails merely looked at the ground in worry, Sonic was about to implore him again, but when Amy lightly touched his arm he bit his tongue, even though her hand was resting right on top of his still unhealed burn scar.
"Well, earlier today I got a message from Blaze's dimension," Tails started, and turned from Sonic's intense, impatient gaze. "Apparently... we've all been invited to... a betrothal ceremony."
No... Sonic's stomach dropped down to his feet, but Tails' next words were the real kicker.
"For Blaze and Silver."
Shock. But she can't ... Sonic's eyes closed almost involuntarily in pain. No... Blaze and Silver were... getting... together... permanently? Oh... why did this bother him so much? Why did this very news make his stomach turn in jealous nausea? Blaze and Silver... Oh man...... I was so over her... I had just began to forget about her and...
Meanwhile, the others were oblivious to Sonic's pain.
"What's a bet-rose-sal?" Cream asked in confusion, tilting her head.
"Betrothal, dear," Vanilla corrected her daughter kindly. "It's a more formal way of saying engaged to be married. Although Blaze seems awful young for that."
"Well, it's more of a ... a pre-marriage, I guess," Tails explained, trying not to look at Sonic, "The message says that sixteen is the age of betrothal in Blaze's kingdom. Apparently, the way they do things over there is the betrothal lasts two or so years, while the couple gets to know each other better before they get married. It's like courting. But apparently as soon as a couple gets "betrothed", there's a mini-party of sorts to encourage the couple to stay together and for friends and family to give support, and since Blaze is a princess it's a really big event."
Amy's eyes were glimmering, loving how romantic the whole thing sounded. "So... this whole ceremony thing is like a wedding? We've been invited to a wedding?" She let out a squeal. "That means... we have to go shopping to get dresses and-"
Sonic suddenly wanted out. He couldn't stand to hear anymore. "Sounds dumb, count me out," he said and turned away, if only to hide the way his face was scrunching up in pain. "You guys go ahead."
And with that, Sonic took off, trying to outrun the sudden bout of jealousy and anger and pain that was threatening to overflow out of his heart for his old flame.
Poor Sonic, Tails mused after watching his older brother rush off.
Meanwhile, most of Amy's excitement had completely evaporated at seeing Sonic's aversion, and the girl now felt suddenly torn and hurt, just like she did when she'd found out Sonic loved Blaze the first time. I thought... he was over her. I thought... he cared about me now... Oh, Sonic...
"Amy, dear, you shouldn't be worried about that boy... he'll come along, I'm sure of it... now we have some preparations to do..." Vanilla's voice was drowned out.
It was Amy's dream come true to go to a wedding... but yet... Sonic...
...xxx... A/N ...xxx...
Okay... I'm gonna get boiled in oil, I just know it...
First of all, yay, Silver and Blaze are getting married!... or atleast they're taking steps to get there! (I originally wanted them to be married for real, but knew that with the timing and flow of this story, it would be WAY too fast... so I made up some betrothal tradtion nonsense. C'mon, I know at least some of you are happy about that! I know it seems a little sudden, but I tried to explain it so it made sense.
I didn't plan on writing the Silvaze proposal scene out, as I wanted all of you readers to be just as shocked at the message as Sonic was, but I figured if I didn't give at least a little background on what happened you all would complain that I just sorta dropped this on you without an explanation. Plus I got to write a proposal scene, which was fun (though this is my first one...) ^_^
There are ALOT of reasons I decided to go with Silver and Blaze getting married... but we'll get into those details next chapter...
OH, and I also wanted to show you how Sonic and Amy's relationship is at this point, a couple weeks later. They're still friends, though they're starting to get closer, but Sonic's being reluctant to go further.
Though he STILL hasn't properly dealt with his feelings for Blaze, and is just pushing them away... and now that he finds out she's moved on, he's hurting more than he thought he was... but more on that in chapter 10...
By the way, the title for this chapter (An Old Flame) means nothing and is certainly NOT a horrible, groan-worthy pun... (c'mon, it was begging to be used!)
I'm absolutely jazzed about writing chapter 10, meaning it might be a quick update, but no promises, as I want it to be perfect. :3