There was a tension in the air he could not shake, a bizarre pressure Silver couldn't recall ever feeling prior. He couldn't remember this jittery, longing, feeling in this lifetime or the last; a strange sense of want though he was lost on what exactly he wanted. Sat upon a couch in the house of one Amy Rose, a TV mumbling away in the corner, it had been a very long day. The pink hedgehog was seeing to Sonic in another room, making certain he got proper rest after a hard fought victory. It wasn't that anyone was particularly injured so much as tired; everyone had given their all in a final battle and that included the girl sat next to him.

Prior to today's events he hadn't remembered Blaze, they'd met and got along but were no more than acquaintances in his mind, but when he'd stumbled and she'd gone to help him physical contact had rekindled memories long lost to time. He'd fought alongside her before, he'd lived alongside her before and he'd cared for her in a way he'd never cared in this life; someone he was willing to give the world for. But of course, they'd remembered on the battlefield; there'd been no time to embrace and release that emotional build up. And now, sprawled on opposing ends of a dark red couch, Amy had left and given them the perfect opportunity to share their feelings.

But neither had the energy left to think about how they felt, let alone talk; Silver was sure that was why they weren't. Was that what this longing was? A need to talk to her, to be with her and… and what? What did he want to do? Apologise for failing her? Ask if she was okay? Weep and be wept upon? Fulfil some kindness he was too tired to think up? He cast his yellow eyes to her, to try to read her and understand whether the feeling was mutual, only to find her amber orbs were already upon him. She looked as tired as he felt, just as he met those eyes they closed for a moment before straining to reopen, but looking beyond that tiredness Silver could see something else.

He felt something atop his hand, looking to it he found hers, and then he heard her speak. "Can I come closer? I-I want to lie like we used to..." Her voice was barely audible over the television but he immediately knew what she meant. Realisation dawned upon him, outside his aid this prior day when had he last been held… when had he last held someone? Had he ever in this lifetime? Had she ever?

Recognising this he nodded, "I-I think I'd like that… a-a lot." Bodies immediately began to shift. First Blaze pressed down atop his hand, gently crawling her way across the couch toward him, while he pulled up his legs to lie beneath her. In a matter of moments, the two were eye to eye once again, her frame barely held above his. He felt her hand shift from his right side, lingering just above his chest fur before, after catching his eyes for a signal of consent, descending. A low rumble filled the air, blurring the voices emanating from the television, a purr he hadn't heard in so long; with it, her body lowered. Though her head was still raised her gaze had split from his, now focused on his chest fur she traced loops and figure eights in his fluff. Gentle but thorough, he could feel himself tremble a little under every movement; he would gasp and flinch as she passed over injured areas but soon she was expertly navigating them… caressing wounds more healed and patches never wounded. He wasn't used to this… at least, this body wasn't. He had to readjust to her comfort.

Silver delicately traced his hand up her shoulders, around the back of her head and to rest near the edge of her right ear. At this, he felt Blaze's movements pause for a beat, as if expecting him to continue, but, still shaking, he was unsure what to do. Eventually, the feline's head shifted, pushing his hand past her ears and to the base of her ponytail. Hand now squarely atop her head she shifted once more and he felt her hair tie begin to give way to the edge of his forefinger. Now understanding he gently loosed her ponytail, her hair cascaded down; hanging just beyond her shoulders. The hairband quickly forgotten, tossed aside, he ran his fingers through her locks, smoothing them and gently untangling the knots that had formed. Slowly, gently, everything began to synchronise; as he brushed through her hair she'd weave through his fur and with every completed act would begin an echoing purr. He could feel himself beginning to slip into sleep but, while he was sure it'd be the best sleep of this lifetime, he refused. He wanted to watch her drift off and, above that, he wanted to feel her for just a little longer.

He looked to her eyes, still locked upon his chest fur, he'd missed the warmth those amber orbs exuded even if he hadn't remembered them. Despite how he last recalled those eyes, looking down to him as she drifted into the sky, they still shone to him like nothing else. Silver gently raised his free hand, gently running it along her spine to rest between her shoulder blades; gently pulling her in even closer. In response to this, the hedgehog felt his partner shift, her body got a little closer to his but it was her own free arm that moved the most; he felt it graze along his shoulder and behind him before settling around the back of his neck. It was only then that Blaze's head lowered, the right side of it now resting on a pillow comprised of her arm and his fur. She continued to make shapes and patterns in his fur; perhaps more confident in where to touch she was now utilising her full hand to press and sift through the patch. Silver had never quite understood why she started doing it but, whenever she did, it caused him to relax in a manner he'd been unable to otherwise. The girl he now knew to be a princess could pin him down with but a brush of a hand over that patch, send him spiralling into a void of unending comfort.

This was what he had been longing for. Physical contact. Her body's not quite how he remembered, he's sure his isn't either, but her differences are so obvious to him. He couldn't quite describe it at first, she was just… different in a way he thought wonderful, but gradually, as their frames moulded to fit one another, he began to understand. So much of her fur was smooth now, near devoid of the injuries that had once plagued them, and, while she was still light, access to food had undone the damage of a world with food so scarce. Well, it wasn't that the work had been undone; the world where they'd suffered together no longer existed. She'd no longer been emaciated; his partner had lived comfortably. This was the same Blaze in mind but in form… she was healthy. When she'd vanished from his life he'd thought her body would have been rendered ash as Iblis broke free, but instead, he'd found her in a far better state than he was. She was beautiful; as he felt her purr against him it was all he could think, she always had been but to see her like this it just...

The universe had been so unkind to them, beating and burning them before tearing them apart and rending the fragments to nought, and while things still weren't perfect, he still had scars, it was a miracle to see her alive let alone for her to be like this.

He felt his breathing start to hitch and as it did he had to stop brushing through her hair, he told himself that their positioning made it difficult to continue anyway. That hand lowered to her shoulder but as it did he felt her stop and watched her turn to him through eyes growing blurrier by the moment. Her purring quickly resumed, he felt her shift again; a hand on his collarbone to help pull her up, aided by the arm behind his neck. Was he been more tired than he'd thought? Blaze seemed to be managing far better than he was. She was now eye to eye with him but before he could try to speak or even listen he leaned in and felt her forehead gem push into him. Words snuck from her lips to his ear, "I missed you… so much." He could feel her shaking; between the purrs, her breathing had become unstable.

Silver understood completely. The truth was, up until today, neither of them had carried the burden of remembering enough to miss the other, while they might not have been happy neither of them had been left longing. Their ignorance had built up an emotional interest and, having been unable to unleash it when they remembered, its dam had overflown. His voice trembled in a way it never had prior, "I-I need to be with you… I-I don't… w-without y-you I… I don't kn-know…" His tongue and mind were failing him but his heart and soul knew what he wanted. He pushed further into her, feeling his movements reciprocated he spoke once more, "I can't let you go, n-not again."

He felt her shift, pulling above him and burying her face in his quills. Though she was healthier this was still Blaze in the wake of battle, he couldn't help but croak a small smiling cough as the familiar scent of smoke tripped him. But beyond that smell, there was another sensation. Silver felt wetness, one outside the burning on his cheeks that he'd been trying so hard to ignore. The feline shifted further, he could feel her breath against his ears; no fewer than three times the words jumbled in her mouth. "I-I wanted you safe and… but…you're still scarred… you've been..." So she had noticed just as he had, the bodily differences. He knew she wo-

Blaze's voice interrupted his strained train of thought. "I can't let go either." Her hands slipped to his cheeks, he felt gloved hands gently pass over his eyes. When they reopened he was absorbed by her golden stare, those her cheeks reddened by tears and blush. While he imagined his face was the same, with all these emotions spiralling in his head he felt raw yet numb simultaneously and couldn't quite tell. His vision was beginning to blur again, his body craved rest, but again heart and soul were guiding him. He inched a little closer. She did the same. His head tilted, muzzles were aligned. Her eyes closed, the divide was sealed. A tearstained kiss, in the home of a friend, shared beneath a forgotten TV muttering who knows what. If they'd remembered across this life, of all the ways to reconcile their lost time, it'd be the last to come to mind. Longing to shed their insecurities but lacking the strength to shift them, letting the other know how much they meant in the simplest way possible. It was a kiss that tasted of dried sweat more than anything else but more than got the point across.

By its conclusion Silver didn't have the capacity to speak or open his eyes let alone move, his arm would remain on her back as he felt her head lower to his shoulder. He managed to stay awake a moment longer though and was rewarded, in the wake of that kiss he heard the rumbling purr of his partner. Satisfied in thinking that she'd slept first he finally drifted off, engulfed in Blaze's warmth.