Author's Note: This is me projecting my desperate desire for sleep that I can't get due to circumstances onto my OTP. This theme takes place after Sonic Rush Adventure's final boss but before it's ending where Sonic and Tails go home.

Theme 6: Siesta

It was over at last. The Jeweled Scepter, an important family heirloom that'd been protected by guardians and royalty for generations, was at last safe again. The Eggmen were defeated and the pirates vanquished, there was no longer any danger.

She'd been on a wild goose chase for what felt like forever, one that turned crazier and crazier with each winding path she took. To finally reach its end meant relaxation for others but for Blaze there was always more to be weary for.

As Imperial Princess, she knew there was much more work to be done and soon she would need to return back to her homeland to discuss the political minefield this would become.

And speaking of homelands…

The sound of tools being tinkered with roused Blaze from her thinking. The fox cub, Tails, was busy fiddling around with a vessel that would take himself and Sonic back to their dimension.

She pushed aside the sad pang the thought brought her, refusing to think on the sad squeeze inside her chest that tried making her heart strings a guitar of grief.

Sonic and Tails needed to go home. It was as simple as that and it was too bad those feelings didn't want to listen to logic. Between the journey and emotional toll of this entire bizarre adventure, she felt very worn out. There was still more to do though and Blaze pushed through the exhaustion with typical regality. Her position trained her to put on a brave face that masked it all.

Blaze came to the docks to oversee what Tails was working on, knowing whatever the mechanic crafted would be a grand marvel of engineering and technological prowess. Tails made up blueprints and now that Blaze and Sonic collected both sets of emeralds as well as other materials, he was putting those plans into action.

Marine was leaning eagerly over his shoulder, moony eyed and curious as always. "And what does that doohickey do, Tails?" She pointed aggressively at some random mechanical part after pushing the cub's head in its direction.

"It'll pull energy from the Chaos and Sol Emeralds and transfer it into a usable resource to jump dimensions," Tails told her patiently, not seeming phased by Marine's manhandling of his person.

"Oooh!" Marine got into his space again and wiggled a finger excitedly at another part of the disemboweled machine. "And that? It looks so fancy!"

"That's a cup holder, Marine."

"Incredible!" She exclaimed the word in a reverence filled breathlessness. Her eyes were twinkling.

Blaze cleared her throat, lifting a fist to her petite muzzle. Both fox and raccoon twitched their ears as Blaze caught their distracted attention. "Pardon my intrusion but I wanted to see how progress was coming along."

"Oi! Hey there, girly!" Marine called out before she eagerly began to ramble. "Didja hear what cool stuff Tails is adding to this beaut? A cup holder!"

She nodded her head in acknowledgement of Marine's words. "I did," Blaze stated, smiling softly at her excitement. There was a time Marine and her eagerness would have made her grit her teeth but no more.

Marine beamed at the cub beside her. "Tails sure is revolutionary!"

"Oh, Blaze." Tails looked embarrassed as he lifted his face up from his work and wiped his greased ridden gloves on a rag. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Blaze settled her gaze upon Tails. "It's quite alright," she told him, clasping her hands behind her back. "I wasn't here very long."

Tails maneuvered himself to walk over the skeletal parts of the contraption, evading tripping over tools and other mechanical doodads. "If you're looking for a progress report, things are going pretty great! I think should my calculations be correct, we will have a prototype up and running within a few days!"

As if on cue to say otherwise, there was the sound of a spring going off and a loud clunk! as multiple metallic somethings hit the ground. Tails and Blaze quickly turned to see Marine who was sheepishly holding a piece of Tails' machinery. On the ground at her feet were a pile of parts Blaze couldn't possibly pretend to imagine she knew did.

"Um… oops?"

"Make that next week…" Tails sighed as he shook his head

Blaze cast Tails a sympathetic glance at the setback. "I suppose that answers one of my questions," she said simply.

Setting his disappointed eyes on Marine, Tails put his hands on his hips. "Marine! What did I tell you?"

"Look but don't touch…" Marine toed the ground in a guilty and embarrassed fashion, ears pinned against her head. "It just looked too cool not to check out though."

Tails wagged a finger at her as he huffed, "You can check it out with your eyes!" He turned to look at Blaze apologetically. "Guess I can't give you that shining report I was hoping to."

"A hiccup or two are expected, Tails." Blaze assured him, resting a hand gently on his shoulder. She looked at Marine pointedly, meeting the girl's bright blue eyes. "Especially when dealing with… unforeseeable disasters of the furball variety. You will make brisk progress again, I am sure."

Tails was chuckling when Marine pouted at Blaze's teasing, her cheeks puffed out like a balloon fish. "Haha! Ain't you a riot, Blaze!"

"I try my best, Marine." She smirked at the raccoon kit as she pressed a hand against her chest in a proud and refined manner before arching a brow at Tails. "Speaking of brisk… have you seen Sonic anywhere?"

"Not since this morning. None of the vehicles are gone so he must still be on the island at least," Tails told her with a thoughtful look. "Sorry about that Blaze, Sonic can be really elusive when he wants to be."

"I see," Blaze murmured, feeling disappointed that Tails had no leads on where her hedgehog counterpart was. "I was hoping to have a word with him."

Marine's poorly disguised cackle drew Blaze and Tail's attention as they turned back to her.

"A word with him, eh?" Marine gave her a mischievous look that pooled a new kind of dread in Blaze's belly that she couldn't explain.

Blaze furrowed her brows in confusion, lips set into a thin line as she gazed at the kit.

"Marine…!" Tails began warningly, flicking an ear in annoyance.

However, Marine was not phased by her friends. Instead she just fluttered her eyelashes in an exaggerated manner before she propped her upper weight against a part of the incomplete ship. "Is that what you mainlanders call it these days?"

Whether it was the fire bonded to her soul or not, Blaze felt her face burn at the blatant implications dripping from Marine's cheshire cat grin. "What on earth are you getting at?"

Marine was about to say something else but suddenly what seemed to be the start of a wing began to collapse under her. Tails gave an aghast yell at the scene as Marine fell into a pile of scrap heap alongside the ruined ship.

Karma was a bitch it seemed as it tamed Marine's smart alec mouth. Too bad it took Tails' hard work alongside it.

"I'm okay!" Marine feebly said from beneath the mess.

Tails ran his hand down his face, looking skyward as if the solution would be bestowed there. He uttered a string of words in a language Blaze didn't understand but had a hunch of their meaning. "I better get back to work," he sighed after finding his composure. "This might be awhile…"

He began to make his way back to the ruined remains of his hard work. Tails pulled some heavy scrap off Marine who still lay sprawled out like a starfish.

"I should leave you under all that, y'know!" Tails scolded Marine, ears flattening against his skull. "But I can't replace all the parts if I do!"

Marine only shyly grinned up at him, eyelashes fluttering in a sheepish attempt to win back his favor. For once in her young life, the blabbermouth girl was silent.

"Is there anything I can help you with here, Tails?" Blaze didn't know what to do when she didn't have busy hands, it was weird doing nothing.

"Nah, you and Sonic did your part already by collecting everything," Tails informed her, offering Blaze an appreciative smile. The cub turned away from her to pull Marine up by her arms, the youngsters scrambling their feet on the dock. "Maybe you should try getting a break in. It's been quite a long adventure, Blaze."

Blaze crossed her arms, clutching her elbows with a sigh. "A break… I see."

Her stinging eyelids and tired body reminded her of how little she'd slept since Captain Whisker had filched the Jeweled Scepter, merely consumed with the all powerful need to return it back to her empire. And now since the big battle with the Eggmen, she still stayed on high alert despite having it back in her person.

There was also the stress of her friends going home, as much as she wanted to deny it. It made her feel selfish, her desire to wish for Sonic and Tails to stay here longer.

"I think…" Blaze said slowly, testing the words on her fatigued tongue. "I will take a walk then if I am not needed here."

And so, that was how she found herself meandering about Southern Island. She wasn't sure of a direction, merely following random trails the villagers had crudely cut throughout the jungle.

Blaze knew the scenery was beautiful with all its exotic views but she wasn't really seeing it despite the sweeping vistas all around her. She felt restless and her mind couldn't relax, filled to the brim with tortuous thought after thought.

You've won this battle but there is always another on the horizon to prepare for, the inner voice told her. As Imperial Princess, you know duty is never ending! You must remain ever vigilant!

She stopped and pressed the heels of her palms against her clenched eyelids in a poor attempt to relieve the oncoming migraine. There was also the all consuming urge to shout into the jungle to release tension. However, that was hardly dignified for a woman of her stature so she refrained from it but the feeling was very tempting…

This taking a break thing was the hardest challenge she had yet. Sonic always made it look so easy whenever there was downtime in their adventures. He would just stretch his kinked muscles, smack his lips after a loud yawn and then without a care in the world kick his feet up anywhere he could fit them. If getting comfortable was a national sport, Sonic was the champion.

Sonic…!

Just where in the Sol Empire was that rambunctious hedgehog? Southern Island was hardly a massive and bustling metropolis, he couldn't have vanished into thin air!

Blaze stewed a long minute, feeling terribly alone with her relentless mind.

Zzz…!

As if by divine intervention, Blaze's ear twitched at a loud snore. With each tired inhale and exhale, her ears flicked without thought at the sounds touching the sensitive cartilage.

Blaze lowered her hands away from her face and her eyes followed the noise from its familiarity. Blaze heard it plenty of times in the tiny hut she shared with the originator these past few weeks.

Eyes pausing their ascent, her gaze found high above the branches of a massive tree was Sonic the Hedgehog. He had his arms thrown behind his head and a leg crossed over his bent knee. His muzzle dipping against his chest muffled some of his snoring.

All in all, he looked extremely comfortable and content but Blaze stared up in wide eyed concern, it would be a nasty fall if he decided to roll over in his slumber.

Or maybe that was just her projecting her fear of heights on him.

"Sonic!" Blaze called out his name as she approached the base of the tree, ears flat against her head. "You cannot sleep up there!"

She heard Sonic grunt and groan sleepily at her voice, the slumbering hedgehog furrowing his eyebrows. He peeked a green eye open, blearily looking for the source of his disturbance.

"Hmm?" He smacked his lips noisily as he yawned and stretched leisurely. Like jelly, he let his body collapse again against the branch he lay on. "Why not? I got a great spot up here."

As if to bring out the point further, he lounged once again under the spot mottled in warm sunlight that shone past the tree fronds.

"You might fall down and hurt yourself!" Blaze gestured at the long distance between tree and forest floor.

Sonic picked at his ear and flicked a finger of whatever he dug out after finishing his scratch. "You worry too much, Blaze." He spoke the words in another grandiose yawn but they hardly sounded mocking of her.

Blaze crossed her arms and her long tail lashed out behind her. "Perhaps you aren't worrying enough," she shot back. "So please, come down!"

Sonic snorted out a tiny laugh. "Alright, princess," he began with a grin as he met her gaze. "Don't ruffle your fur, I'll get down."

Knowing Sonic, his next course of action was very deliberate to get a rise out of her. He jerked his body to the side in a lazy way, rolling off the tree branch to begin plummeting down like dead weight.

Blaze felt the fur on the back of her neck rise as she watched him. Sonic easily caught himself though, grabbing a branch like he was doing gymnastics before hitting the ground feet first. He even struck a pose in all his usual extra extravagant self.

"And he sticks the landing!" Sonic exclaimed jubilantly, arms in the air before he bent at the waist in a sweeping bow. He winked up at her playfully at the scrunched up face Blaze was making at him. "Please hold your applause, Blaze!"

Blaze sighed, her hands on her hips. "Is this where you've been all day?"

Sonic straightened himself up nice and tall to loosen the knots in his muscles. "Yeah," he replied, the stretch in his voice as his bones gave a satisfying pop! "After all that work we put in, I really needed a nap. I was beat."

"You couldn't have picked a safer spot to do this?" Blaze glanced up at the tree Sonic had been sleeping in just moments before with apprehension. "Marine's home has a bed in there you could have used."

Sonic gave her a mischievous look. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Fun?" Blaze arched a brow. "I do not tend to view the need for sleep as recreational…"

"Yeah!" Sonic grinned at her. "You've never just wanted to just nap for the sake of it?"

Blaze shook her head. "I cannot say I have and why would I sleep in strange places when I have a nice bed at home?"

"'Cause nothing beats a nice siesta under some shady tree or laying in a bed of soft flowers. You can't really get that kinda thing in a house," the hedgehog told her.

At the talk of sleep, it reminded Blaze again of how tired she felt. She idly pinched her nose, the stinging force of a headache pushing at her skull. Her eyes shut tightly in irritation, the sunshine Southern Island was famous for was burning against her brain.

"Hey," Sonic's worried voice roused her attention. "You okay?"

"Mhm," Blaze hummed, dropping her hand with a nod. "Merely a small migraine, I am fine."

Sonic scrutinized her for a long moment. "You don't look fine."

"I assure you, all is—" Her body was traitorous and as if in defiance, she fought off a yawn that split her delicate muzzle. "—well!"

Sonic made a tsk sound as he clicked his tongue. "When was the last time you slept properly, Blaze?" He lifted his brows in his questioning.

Blaze shuffled her weight, uncomfortable under his concerned green gaze. She looked away. "I've had power naps," she told him.

"Blaze…" Sonic said flatly and when Blaze was brave enough to look him in the eye again she saw he had his hands on his hips. "The truth?"

"As well as coffee," she added quickly.

"Blaze!"

Blaze sighed, realizing Sonic wasn't going to give up on this. It was a flight of fancy kind of hope he wouldn't press her so hard, Sonic was well known for his stubbornness.

And between his tenacity and hers, it would just continue to be a stalemate when honestly she had no energy for such a thing anyway.

"...possibly before I first set off in pursuit of the Jeweled Scepter," she at last admitted.

Sonic sounded incredulous. "'Possibly?'"

"Yes?"

"You can't even keep track of that?" Baffled by her answer, he stared at her in disbelief.

"I've had more important matters to deal with," Blaze huffed, she held onto her elbows as she crossed her arms. "As Imperial Princess, my job is never done. Our victory here means I must prepare for the next enemy that you will not be here to help me face."

Sonic gave her a stern look. "Your health is an important matter and if I'm not here next time, I'll remind you of that now." His frowning face deepened as he continued to lecture her. "Sides, how can you do your princess mumbo jumbo when you are running on empty, Blaze?"

Blaze slouched her shoulders in a rare moment of weakness. "I just do it, Sonic." Her ears were pinned against her head and she watched Sonic do the same in frustration of Blaze's words. "The Sol Empire stops for nothing or nobody, and that includes me."

He shook his head in disappointment. "I don't like that answer. You're going to inevitably burn out."

She flared her nostrils in a heavy sigh. "I still have too much to do, Sonic." Lifting her hand up, she began counting her fingers as she listed what needed to be done. "I have to guarantee you and Tails get home safely, then there's the matter of the political nightmare this whole mess has been to my council. And that isn't taking account of…"

As she prattle on and on, she realized she began to run out of fingers to place her burdens upon. Blaze stopped her words and stared dumbly at her hands before suddenly Sonic's own intercepted her vision by grasping hers gently. She blinked quickly and jerked her head up to look at him.

He flashed her a charming smile. "C'mon," Sonic said in a soft way, tugging her forward as he stepped backwards. "You are taking a break right now, princess."

"I—!" She wanted to protest but for some reason the sensation of his hands on hers stopped her. He squeezed her palms. "—alright…"

Sonic led the two of them back to the tree he'd been sleeping in. Instead of climbing up again, much to Blaze's relief, he plopped down on the grass. He still was holding onto her hands as he gazed up at her.

Tugging at her hands, Blaze followed Sonic down to sit next to him. She was seated stiffly, not really sure what she was supposed to do next.

"Hey, relax. You aren't gonna get any rest being this wound up." Picking up on her tension, Sonic's thumbs began brushing against her knuckles soothingly and strangely Blaze let herself get lost in the pleasant sensation.

Back and forth endlessly, the gentle motions massaged themselves into the knotted muscles beneath her gloves.

It was nice.

Very nice, actually.

Too nice probably but Blaze didn't have it in her anymore to cause a fuss about it.

Her eyelids began to droop a little and she quickly blinked to chase off the shackles of exhaustion that suddenly weighed them down.

Sonic chuckled as he tugged at her hands again to pull her closer, "Come here, we can't have you doing that."

"Doing what?" Blaze attempted to muffle a tired yawn but instead it just made her look comical as her cheeks puffed out.

"Not sleeping!"

"Oh," she remarked. Blaze shut her eyes for a brief moment as they felt very raw and dry suddenly.

"I know it's not one of your super fancy princessy pillows but…" Sluggishly, her brain didn't know what Sonic was going on about.

Eyelids fluttering, Blaze only realized her position once she could see his face looking down at her, shadowed under the dappled light from the tree tops.

Blaze was laying on her back, Sonic had cushioned her head comfortably on his lap. His back was braced against the tree.

When did that happen?

"Cozy?" He asked her with one of his trademark toothy grins, interrupting her lazy train of thought.

The sunshine that formed a golden ring around Sonic made his gaze look even greener with its rich emerald hue. His fur was blue as the sky was endless, representing freedom and adventure and all things him.

And she stared in moony eyed wonder.

I must be tired, Blaze thought as she caught herself gawking at Sonic at last. And yet, she didn't do anything to stop it either.

Sonic didn't seem to mind though, just softened his grin at her blatant admiration. "Alright now, stop staring at me and close your eyes, Blaze."

"I feel like I can't," she murmured without thinking.

"Why's that?" He cocked his head to the side, ears giving a cute little flop at the gesture.

Because I worry if I close my eyes you will disappear again, her exhausted mind grieved. Knowing in a few short days Sonic would be gone, back to his home world where she couldn't follow. Their first farewell left a wound she thought had at last cauterized but his return proved the scar still oozed. When will I see you again?

"No reason, forgive me for speaking silly nonsense. I'm just very tired," Blaze said instead, a whisper of breath from her lips.

Sonic ran his fingers through her fur softly, combing along the high points of her ponytail and over her head. Blaze closed her eyes at the gentle touch, a feeling of safety covering over her like a warm blanket.

When was it the last time someone had touched her like this? Made her feel this way?

She dug deep into her memory but no matter how far back she went nothing came to mind. At most there was a figment, the impression of something far too long gone to be coherent anymore.

She felt herself drifting off as she gave up the search, just melting into the feeling in blissful surrender.

"Get some sleep, I'm not going anywhere." He yawned suddenly, showing off the pearly white pointed tips of his fangs. "I'll probably catch some winks myself too."

When Blaze peeked a bleary eye open to look up at Sonic one last time, there was a grin on his face that warmed his gaze.

His fur burned golden under all the sunlight and the wind from the coastline pushed his long quills upwards.

And soon she dreamed of flying besIde him.