"Blaze! Blaze! Blaze!" A hedgehog's bleat echoed across the burning city; spiking the ears of the very child it called.
It took her less than a second to sight his aura wrapped form, brightly contrasting with the dark grey sky. "Silver!"
A purple kitten, only eight years old, sat on a park bench that had long lost its park. Crisis city had no place for playthings, let alone the children who would play with them, and yet here she and her newfound partner persisted. She watched his approach, as he descended he looked more like a giant cyan blotch than the hedgehog that lay beneath. As he touched down, that aura quickly dissipating, she saw a light in his bright yellow eyes she'd come to know as excitement; amplified by a grin much too large for his tan muzzle. He threw himself down beside her, slinging a giant drawstring rucksack from his back and beginning to dig through it.
"Just a second, maybe a moment, well maybe a little more than…" Silver, as she had come to know him, continued to prattle nothings as he dove into the bag.
He pushed past the important supplies she'd sent him out for (tinned food, sewing kits and simple creature comforts) clearly searching for a single specific item. She hadn't known him for long, though she'd known of him far longer than she'd known him, she knew what those sparkling eyes meant. Something quaint, harmless and more than a little childish was about to be revealed; it might be some toy he thought she'd like or scrap of the past world, perhaps a painting of some flowers or a picture of the city in its prime. Silver was an oddball; he fought Iblis monsters where others ran and saw pieces of the past as what could be rather than what was. While most (including herself until recently) were focused on day-to-day survival, his one-track mind led him to live a harder was; fighting to fix the world so survival would be easier. He was naïve, as she'd come to so often say, but in endearing in a way that gave her some semblance of hope. Most important of his eccentricities was the way he saw her powers; looking upon her flames with the excited eyes he'd just worn while others were quick to scowl at them.
Finally, his mumbles broke into a yell. "Got it, finally, here it is!" The hedgehog was half in his bag, grunting and groaning as he struggled to free himself. Rolling her eyes Blaze reached in, taking him by the shoulder and helping to free him; whatever he'd found it was heavy and, competent as he was with his powers, his physical strength was somewhat lacking. Finally free, quills spiking as they returned to the open air, he held a large, thick, book in his hands; its cover so faded she could only read the title, Night Sky Atlas.
Blaze's tail flicked, ears spiking slightly higher; usually she had some inkling of what these exciting items were or why they were important to him but in this case, she knew neither. He hadn't even opened it he was just smiling, hugging the tome to his chest and very nearly crushing himself. The kitten felt curiosity stir within her; a feeling she would have quashed a few months prior in an attempt to focus on survival. She looked to the book's blurb but found it'd completely faded, not a single hint.
"I've been looking for something like this ever since I met you, I finally found it!" He plopped the book onto his lap, smile threatening to tear his face as he turned back to her, "This book is going to help you so much, I just know it!"
"It's going to help me?" This was very different from his prior surprises, while it wasn't unheard of for him to bring her gifts but for them to specifically help her was a very new concept. Sure there had been useful things, clothes he thought she'd like and blankets, but never something with that caveat. "How?"
"Well, you know how much I like the blue sky?" Oh did she, of all the past things Silver spoke of undoing their perpetual overcast was the most common; how he longed to see the bright sky. Before she could roll her eyes and answer he continued, bursting with excitement. "These show a different one, one I think you'll really like! Do you know about stars?"
Confusion still dominated Blaze but her interest had certainly been piqued, "I don't remember reading about them, are they important?"
"Well, they…" He stumbled, seeming to search for words, "No, I should probably start with what night's supposed to be like. The night's darker than the day, but it's a nice kind of darkness? The sky was black or a really dark blue and it… um…" Silver shifted slightly, opening the book but holding it so she couldn't see, and started flipping through the pages.
Anticipation quickly metamorphosed into impatience, her legs crossed as she cast him a more serious look; a 'we need to get moving soon or Iblis monsters will come' look. It took him a half second to catch it; he picked up the pace of his search, quills bobbing rather ludicrously.
He flinched out an apology, "S-Sorry, I've wanted to do this for so long; I want to do it right, I think I'm almost…" but as he did his eyes relit; evidently he'd found what he'd been looking for. Turned back to her he smiled again, resuming his explanation. "People didn't really talk about the blue sky, not till it was gone at least, but they loved the night sky way before that; it's because of the stars that they loved the sky." His giddiness grew with each word; he could get so excited over these long lost things. "Stars are bright lights in the sky, there are millions and millions of them, and when they come together they look so amazing. People would talk about them all the time, write stories and sing songs about them; that's how important they were. When the sun went down the sky would be lit by beautiful little diamonds, I know it's hard to believe but here."
Silver turned the book to her, shifting it from his lap onto hers. It took a moment to understand what she was looking at; a double page spread covered in strange speckles, littered across a background of blue going black but shifting purple where many dots clustered. This was meant to hang above them? A blue sky was one thing, but this? The longer she stared at the pages, taking the book in her own hands, the deeper the picture seemed to be. Blaze was beginning to understand why the people of the past (and Silver) were so enamoured with the night sky; it looks so alive, especially compared to the sky above.
As surreal as it was Blaze could imagine it; she could envision stars sparkling above. Compared with where they lived a star-filled sky was no stranger than a lush forest or tundra. If the surface could be so bizarre and fascinating then why couldn't the sky?
"This is the best picture I've ever seen of them but they'll be even prettier when we see them for real! They'll glitter and shine, it'll be beautiful!" He often spoke like that, shouting in absolutes about the world they'd fix. He leaned over the book, flipping through the pages. Different sights of different skies shot past, ranging from black backgrounds with white splotches to clusters of stars twisting and forming all kinds of wonderful colours. Finally, he settled on a page; far simpler than the prior sight the sky looked darker, the stars white spots but between some lines had been drawn. "Sometimes they'd make symbols with the stars, connecting the dots to make shapes like these. They thought so much about them, trying to understand if they had deeper meanings."
He reached over the book, pointing out one cluster in particular. "Apparently that one's meant to be a crab called cancer… whatever a crab is. I don't really get it but there are hundreds and hundreds of different shapes with different meanings!"
As she listened to his talk, though enamoured with his discovery, a small confusion began to gnaw at her. "It's a wonderful book Silver but… I don't see how it'll help me?"
"What do you think stars are made of?" His voice cracked with excitement.
She hadn't even thought about that, she'd been too distracted looking at them. "Aren't they made of diamonds, like you said?"
His next words were simple, childish and thoroughly surprising; "Stars are made of fire. You're like a star!"
It was as though time stopped; immediately the pieces clicked. Blaze felt her body warm, ears heightening and eyes widening. She quickly flipped back to the coloured page, immersing herself in the glossy picture. They were made from fire? Fire people weren't afraid of, fire they thought was beautiful? Such fire had existed? Not only did it exist but it'd been hiding above the clouds, hanging over them all this time?
"The first time I read about stars it was in a big book, full or words I couldn't understand, but there was a tiny really pretty picture of the sky in there. I didn't think much of it but then I met you and how people were so mean to you, I knew I had to find out more." He broke from her gaze, his smile had faded a bit, "I know you're not comfortable with your powers right now but… I thought this would help? I know we're surrounded by Iblis' fire and people are scared, but your flames aren't like that! Your fire is way more like the stars!"
Feeling herself flare even further she pushed the book into his lap, jumping from the bench lest she set either of them aflame. Embers started flaking from her fingers, taking to the air, but he was still smiling. Blaze turned away, closing her fists to contain them, "I-I… thank you, Silver, but I'm not…" Words failed her, the last time she'd stuttered like this was upon first meeting him. "I'm not ready to… use them."
She felt a hand on her shoulder and, turning, she found his eyes still sparkled but his brow cast them more serious, "You don't have to do anything, I just don't like you being uncomfortable. You're my partner; I'm supposed to look after you just like you will me! Comparing your flames to stars is one of the easiest ways to do that; because it's so true!" Just as she was going to reply she felt him take her other shoulder. "And if anyone says any different I'll beat them up."
"You don't have to go that far…"
Less than a month later fire would fly freely from her hands.
A black-blue sky hung above them, speckled by a thousand spheres of harmless fire. She'd died and been reborn in a world where skies like this flitted in and out of existence, appearing once every week or so. They were common enough that, though she'd never stopped to think on it, they'd become banal; hardly worth a glance as she went about her daily duties. Duties, she'd gone from so few to so many in what now seemed the blink of an eye; the transition from protecting one person to protecting an entire kingdom had somehow passed unnoticed. Remembering the life she'd led had been difficult, their emotions had spilt over in a manner she doubted they would again, but in its wake much had become clear. They lay on a hillside together, green grass below and their eyes locked to the sky above.
She was glad to be reminded of the night sky's beauty but, far more importantly, Blaze was happy they could watch the stars together.
Since they'd lain conversation had been scant but, finally, he'd broken the silence. "I thought the sky was like this everywhere, every night, but it's far rarer than that." She felt his fingers brush against hers, his palm moving to top hers. "But seeing it now, here with you… it's way better than I thought it'd be."
Blaze tore her eyes from the stars to look at her partner. He'd grown so much since that day, both in stature and soul, but the light in his bright yellow eyes remained. Silver's heart still stuck to his sleeve, no matter how he tried to hide them his emotions always lingered on the surface. Eyes still fixed to the sky, his smile spoke volumes to Blaze. On the surface, one would think this smile weaker than his over-exaggerated grin but to her trained eye it showed something different, wonderment poured from his eyes but that softer grin showed a loss of desperation. He wasn't clinging to tiny happy fragments anymore, a sparkling sky hung above.
"Blue sky or night, the clouds part eventually." She stated it in a rather matter of fact manner, blunt and honest, but as she did Blaze shifted their grasp, allowing his fingers to slip between hers. "We should make up for lost time, I don't want to lose any more."
The truth was, while he'd compared her to a star he had far more in common with them. A single star that lay before the clouds, bringing light to those trapped beneath the grey sky; the only star you could hold without burning up. But then, he'd thought of her in that way back when they were kids. She supposed they were two markedly different stars, guiding one another in very different ways. One to encourage, prompt them to act, while the other helped bear the first's burdens. A mutual reliance that should never be broken, she wouldn't leave him again.
"Make up for it?" Those sharp yellow eyes were upon her again, "How're we going to do that?"
Blaze rolled her eyes, shifting just a little closer as she turned back to the sky. "You're so naïve."