Throughout Space and Time

by FlashDriver

A Oneshot-Dump for Silver and Blaze related things, most commonly tending Silvaze. This is primarily for quick and compact stories though there is the potential for sequels. AUs sprinkled throughout, though most entries could slot somewhere into the games/comics. Other ships such as Sonamy appear, often briefly, and continuity between Oneshots will be rare. Please review!

91. Sandopolis Square

Chapter 1

The taste of grit filled Blaze that cat's mouth, disgusting her tongue and scoring across her teeth. Immediately she went to baulk, squirming to push away from the ground, but the pyrokinetic found herself both upside down and trapped in darkness. Her head was still spinning, shock from impact prompted panic as she pushed and pushed, only to find that the ground slipped through her fingers; she couldn't get a grasp! She was lodged up to her waist, buried, almost sinking, and unable to escape!

Something sounded behind the feline, but her ears were totally blocked! She began to kick, feeling her temperature rise as flames began to ignite within her palms. The cat was ready to explode herself from the ground, to take whatever mass she'd become lodged in with her, when she felt a familiar contact spread across her legs and down to her waist. The contact was continuous; gentle and yet thorough. Her kicking ceased.

She was in good hands, he was still here with her.

As soon as that hold was good and tight, Blaze felt herself tugged smoothly upward and free, like a sewing needle plucked from a pincushion. Though she'd only been in darkness for moments, the sudden brightness of her surroundings was blinding. She felt loose earth, now recognisable as sand, tumble from her frame as she spluttered. Despite having extinguished her flames, she felt warm and now heard the familiar rumble of psychokinesis just above her.

"S-Sorry," A familiar hedgehog called out, though still appeared as a blur as she blinked both the dark and rocky grains from her eyes, "Are you okay? Usually my landings are a lot smoother..."

"You're so naive," She groaned, only to halt herself before she could chew him out, "Can you at least flip me so I'm not upside down?"

"Oh, yes, right," The hedgehog quickly responded.

The cat felt herself rotate, her head being turned to the sky, as she was brought sit atop the sands she'd once been buried within. With a snap of her fingers she ignited herself in an attempt to burn away the sand only to feel it still clinging to her. After half blindly slipping the glove from her right hand she brought it to her eyes and began to pick away the glassy particulate rather than rub.

Soon much of the pain had vanished and she could more clearly see. Yellow surrounded them, they'd found themselves in a pit of sorts, flanked on all sides by sand dunes. The sky was a perfect blue, not a cloud in sight, with the sun shining down from a high noon position.Though she tried to keep her attention focused on taking in their surroundings, Blaze's gaze inevitably landed upon her companion as he rummaged through a rucksack not unlike the one on her back.

Blaze had only remembered Silver a little over a month ago, following a chance encounter. The two of them had been on individual missions in this dimension's past, both their worlds were set to be ruined by Doctor Eggman. The evil man had stolen the Jewelled Sceptre and apparently harnessed it to destroy continents, simultaneously ignoring the turmoil that loss caused the Sol dimension. They'd bumped into one another during the heat of battle, recalled each other while nursing their wounds and slipped back to her world together when the dust had settled.

Silver had been antsy though, longing to see if his work had saved his world and created the good future they'd sought in that life. With some effort, and a lot of posturing that it would be good for the Sol Dimension's defence, Blaze had managed to secure permission to come with him. She didn't want him to face this alone, not as he apparently had so many times since they'd separated. Unfortunately, his past efforts weren't reflected on this world.

"Here," A green metal flask was pushed into her vision, disrupting her train of thought, "I-I'm really sorry, Blaze. I'm not used to transporting two people..."

She looked to his eyes, scanning for aggravation at the present state of the world, only to find worry and regret over their rough landing.

"It's fine Silver," She hesitated before taking the canteen, if things were as dire as they seemed then resources were limited, "I'm just glad we made it here in one piece," Ultimately, feeling the grains still lodged in her gums, she settled that using a little would be wise, "Even if I'm not entirely sure where here is."

She brought the flask to her lips, swishing a small mouthful of water before realising she'd need more and internally cringing. A second swig was taken, followed by a lot more swishing. Another glance to their surroundings revealed the desert to be totally barren, not a hint of plant life in any direction, let alone a person. Admittedly their view was very obscured, limited by the encompassing dunes, but it certainly wasn't a good sign.

"This should be Station Square, we should be two hundred years forward from when we just were," He commented, as she turned away to spit, "But, based on our rough landing, maybe we're a little off..."

A ways behind him, the cat could now see a second hole only a stone's throw away, likely where he had ended up buried. Great clumps of sand still hung in his white fur, he hadn't bothered to tend to himself. After putting the flask to her lips one last time, forcing herself to swallow a mouthful of water, she screwed it closed and handed it back to him.

"We should search for land marks, see if we can recognise anything," He extended a hand and she took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet, "Though admittedly, I've only really been in the desert once, and that was-

Immediately Blaze stumbled, the princess felt herself slip back, embarrassment and confusion had made her forget. He stepped in almost instinctively, his hand found her waist before she could crash back to the ground. Immediately, her vision was blockaded by a white cloud that she soon recognised as his chest fur.

Daring to glance up, concerned yellow eyes bore into her, "Are you okay? Was your fall worse than mine?"

"No, it's not the fall, I'm fine," She quickly insisted, it almost sounded like she was snapping at him, "It's these... put me down, get me another pair of shoes from the bag."

He quickly put two and two together, letting go of her hand and shrugging the rucksack from his shoulders. Inside was a veritable mess of equipment, ranging from pocket sized cookers to changes of clothes and pop-up tents. Unfortunately, the cat couldn't think of much in there that would help if the whole world had truly been turned to desert. There were a few handkerchiefs they could cover their mouths with and goggles- intended for underwater but usable in a sandstorm- though little else seemed relevant. They'd been far more worried about difficult terrain and combat than sand and heat.

Things were off to such an embarrassing start, despite all their planning. She couldn't stand to look at him. Her formal high heels had pierced the sand, their small surface area sinking down the moment she'd put any weight on them. When moving at fast speeds it wasn't an issue but, she should have seen it coming.

No, not should have, she would have if she wasn't being so foolish.

After a moment of hearing his rummaging, her gaze firmly locked to a sand dune to their right, a set of shoes entered her peripheral vision; simple running sneakers. Perhaps they weren't perfect for their environment but they'd surely be a marked improvement of her heels. They were new and would need some breaking in, but at least they weren't riddled with holes.

"Thank you," She murmured, kicking her heels off and handing them to him.

"We can go back and restock, if you think it'd be safer," Silver offered as he rummaged to burry the useless shoes in the bag, "I had to leave the Chaos Emerald behind, but we've still got your Sol Emerald, right?"

Blaze felt her long coat pocket, the large grey gem had survived their voyage through time. His concern was plain, and undeniably directed at her. She felt a flutter in her stomach, even if though could remember their past and his countless showings of softness before, the current version of herself still wasn't used to this sort of attention. Ultimately, she shook her head as she quickly tied the white and purple sneakers.

"We should use what we have for now, but know we can turn back if we have to," She insisted, before beginning to lecture in an attempt to restore normalcy, "I'd need a clear space like this to conjure the burning portal though, ideally a place in the open air. It's best to keep that in mind as we proceed."

"Alright, if you're comfortable then I'm comfortable," He reached out to her again, ready to help the cat to her feet with a serious glint in his eyes, "Let's go figure out where we are!"

She took his hand, pulling and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. This time she didn't sink as she found her footing, instead managing to maintain her more typical elegance. There was a single beat where they stood there, his eyes passing over her; making sure her fall was just due to the heels, that she was okay. The heat of the desert was already starting to get to her.

The cat rolled her eyes, letting out her usual claim of, "You're so naive," Just before he began to pull her along.

She let hedgehog lead the way, hovering just slightly off the ground rather than walking. It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the top of the nearest dune, her poking her head over the top just after him. Just as in the pit, there was no immediate sign of life; no plants and certainly no people, though there was plenty of space for things to hide.

Great sandy mounds spanned all directions, completely obscuring her view to the horizon. They were as common as wave marks on the beaches back home, almost more frequent frankly. There were no people, no flickies and no plant life whatsoever- just sand as far as the eye could see. Not too far away, one dune in particular stood out to her as excessively large. It towered over all the others, standing out despite being a single sand dune among countless others.

"We might be able to get a better lay of the land from up there." He pointed toward the area she'd just sighted.

Blaze had half expected him to suggest flying straight up, guaranteeing a good view, but instead he'd recommended something smarter. If they weren't alone out here, then that sudden movement would draw eyes from points hidden among the dunes and offer opportunity for potential foes to hide. On the scant chance there were nearby allies, they may even flee upon sighting him.

She gave an acknowledging nod, again following his lead. They crept over the tip of the dune before beginning to slip down the other side, slowing themselves but refusing to fully stop.Among the bright yellow sands, the two of them surely stood out as obvious targets. She'd heard of the creatures and machines he'd encountered in other futures, how often the danger matched that in the life they'd lived together. They couldn't afford to be surprised.

When they reached the next slope they found it was steep, Blaze was fairly certain she could climb it but the squeeze of her hand in his signalled an alternate suggestion. Tightening her grip, grabbing his wrist and feeling his fingers upon hers, psychic light washed over the pair of them and gave enough lift to ease the assent but not fly them separate from the dune. He landed them just a few metres from the top, shutting off the psychic glow once he was certain their footing was good. Unfortunately, they had to let go to continue climbing.

As they neared the peak, Blaze felt something beneath her fingers as her hand sank into the sands, something sharp and metal. Looking to her companion, she found that he had pushed his shoulder into the dune and noticed something similar. Metalwork, brown, thin and brittle, had been exposed. Blaze dusted her hand along where the metal was, finding it a straight, albeit battered, ridge that stretched on in both directions. Suddenly, the sheer size of the dune made sense; the sand had gathered around and atop something. Were the other dunes the same?

The gentle whirring of psychokinesis caught the cat's ear, she saw the symbol on his right arm light cyan as he gestured toward the sand hill. Their eyes met, he was looking for approval. She glanced behind them, taking in the endless dunes but still seeing no signs of life, and then gave a nod.

With a wave of his hand, just to their right, the sand was shovelled away and made to gently drift down the hillside. A pang of annoyance marred the hedgehog's face and immediately Blaze's thoughts were confirmed. Though he only revealed an area roughly the size of a ten metre square, a great metal frame with large rectangular gaps was made visible. The metal separating each hole was wider than her arm, though only an inch thick, and continuous outside of a few bent and torn sections.

The old metal frame was connected to a concrete mass with areas of broken concrete, worn away by time, with degraded rebar visible at various points. Blaze looked close to the frame's edge and quickly identified a pair of indents along the metal's centre, in which there were brittle shards of glass among the sand that had come to fill the thin spaces. The inside of the structure, beyond what he'd revealed, was entirely filled with sand. Evidently the holes in the metallic skeleton, surely created by the breaking of large glass panes, had allowed the desert to break through and fill the structure's inside.

"It's a skyscraper, knocked on its side," Blaze murmured.

"I think we're in Station Square," The hedgehog replied, resignation in his tone, "It's just less obvious than usual."

"Is it worth excavating this whole building?" Blaze mused aloud.

"I'm not sure, it's just so big," He responded, tugging at his chest fur, "And we don't know if the separation between floors is still intact, I might not be able to do just one floor."

"Maybe something smaller then? We've got plenty of options," Blaze gestured behind them.

"That's certainly true, it might be worth figuring out some landmarks and looking for an entrance to the subway. Usually there's an untouched pocket or two down there, maybe the sand won't have fully filled it," He shifted, finally scaling to peek over the top of the skyscraper housing dune. His ears shot up straight and much of the disgruntlement fled his body, "Actually, we might not need to uncover anything. I think we got lucky."

Blaze followed him up, looking over the edge. Just like behind them, dune stretched all around, but from up here they could see for miles. They didn't have to look that far to find something of note though.

What could only be a few hundred metres away, a large building looked to only be half covered by the sand. Two large walls stretched out in the shape of a V, a flat roof on either side was partially exposed. At the centre though, there was a large metallic sign that had surely once been elaborate- unreadable from this angle, assuming it was still readable at all. It wasn't a building the cat remembered, but it was obviously an important landmark.

The pyrokinetic threw a glance to her partner, taking in his overtly serious and plainly plotting expression. They really hadn't been reunited for long, but already she could see how time alone had changed him. Yes, he'd asked before unearthing the structure, but there was a certain strategic foresight and tact he was treating this whole situation with. Even this reveal that his world wasn't fixed, as he'd so completely hoped in the lead up to their journey, wasn't affecting him as harshly as she recalled setbacks upsetting him before.

He was less headstrong, the word mature came to mind; both of terms of his actions and how he was handling the state of his world. When he caught her staring however, Blaze's pride in him immediately melted into embarrassment.

She returned her gaze to the dunes ahead, "It seems like a good place to start, but I still don't see any signs of life," Blaze was sure that was a bad sign but, given their experience, it was probably for the better.

"In the times since we've been together, I haven't found any futures with other people, only machines or monsters," He responded, "But the lack of plants is worrying, I'm glad we have an easy way back," The seriousness in his tone had drawn her eyes back to him, only to find he was looking at her, "I'm glad you're here with me," Her tail stiffened straight, "Maybe outside of the city there'll be more of a chance? Concrete might be in the way, stopping the roots from reaching the good soil."

Blaze blinked, it was an astute observation, "Y-Yes, I presume so. There's certainly a chance. I suppose we don't know that the whole world is like this also, even if this is quite different from the Station Square we know..."

She'd rambled a bit, but he had done the same. He cautiously crept fully over the top of the dune and she followed, keeping her eyes pealed for any signs of movement. There was still a risk of Eggman's automatons surviving, they'd be more likely to survive an environment like this than the average citizens of Station Square. That and, assuming this was the doctor's fault, he'd likely have designed them to thrive in this biome.

The two of them slid down the far side of the sand hill, after finding it wasn't as steep as the portion they'd scaled. Once the ground drew close to flat again the feline was on her feet, eyes flitting back and forth across their surroundings in search of anything out of place. She still wasn't comfortable accepting that they were alone, but more and more things were looking that way. She even threw a glance up to the sky, scouting for flying machines.

He gave her a nod as he reached her side, a gesture she returned to confirm that things were still safe. Ears spiked high, she again followed as he led them toward the decrepit building. She scarcely even trusted the sand beneath her feet, perpetually listening out for the potential click of a trap buried underfoot.

Now closer, Blaze could tell that the building hadn't aged particularly gracefully. The entryway was sealed, a bent rod of metal and been wedged between the door handles and held for an unknown length of time. Wooden boards completely blocked what had assumedly once been windows, battered but seemingly enact. The stonework looked worse, perforated and speckled. A series of letters loomed over the doorway, spelling out a single word through browned metal that had surely been sandblasted over the past centuries. It was very fortunate that it had maintained enough of its shape to be readable.

"Casino," He seemed to dwell on the large word for a moment, before half shouting, "Oh, this must be Casinopolis..."

It was only now, back on somewhat flat ground and standing still, that Blaze noticed something. Her heels now switched with flats, the hedgehog was substantially taller than she recalled. Three inches, maybe even four? There was something else too though. Was it his jawline? His shoulders? They just looked... different to what she recalled. Perhaps her hyperfocus was just due to his immediate response to the state of his world; how things had clearly changed since she'd last been in this type of situation with him.

Tearing her gaze away, Blaze looked to the building again, "The boarded windows suggests there might be people inside, or at least there once were. Maybe this was a gradual change, things didn't become a desert over night."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Seriousness had reclaimed his tone, "Although, that skyscraper being knocked over maybe means there were multiple problems. Maybe there was an attack before the sand rolled in," He astutely pointed out, "I know desertification happens, I've seen it change places, but I've never seen station square like this, even when its been overrun by robots. On those occasions the weather has usually been unchanged. This can't be natural..."

"I would assume it's anything but," Blaze hummed in agreement.

Despite the space being thankfully uncovered by sand, there was no signs of life around it- theirs were the only footprints in the sand. The doorway itself also revealed a lot, the age of the metal bar wedged in the entryway suggested this place hadn't been open in a long time; the sandblast damage across the doors furthered that hypothesis, though keeping it shut may have been wise given the circumstances.

If people were inside, that suggested they'd been trapped for an extended period. Had someone locked them in? Had there been a breakage in the door's locking mechanism, leading a lone individual to brave the sand as they sealed their friends in... only for them to never emerge. Blaze did wince at the though they might be walking into a crypt, but another thought came to mind.

"They might have locked something inside here," The cat offered as a warning, "It would explain the barricade on the door."

"It's possible," There was heavy contemplation in his voice, Blaze could tell he was mulling over other options, just as she was.

He raised a hand, cyan energy flared both in his palm and upon the doorway. He threw a look her direction, she simply nodded in the affirmative as she ignited her palms and took up a defensive stance. With the simple gesture of his fingers into a fist, the metal bar folded outward at its centre and fully slipped the door handles. A beat of silence was allowed after the metal fell to the ground, there were no signs of movement inside. After that moment past, he threw out another gesture and the doors swung open.

The interior was dark beyond the doorway, but no immediate signs of sand within. She moved in lockstep with the hedgehog as he took steps forward, reaching out with his right hand and sending a sparkling motes of psychic light into the casino. As they approached and the lighting improved, the cat got a better view of the inside.

Huge was the only way she could think to describe the space, an overlarge room that plainly stretched deep into the sand dune. There were a few other doors visible, a restroom most obviously, but Blaze had to assume that much of the space was this large single room. Inside were old cassino fixtures, lights and structures, dotted throughout the building and creating various hiding spaces. There was little signs of sand, suggesting a lack of cracks in the structure, though it was present just beyond the doorway, perhaps having been kicked or blown in.

Blaze walked with him beyond the threshold, beginning to take stock of the endless sea of tables and chairs set ahead of them. To call the place cluttered would be an understatement, even ignoring the litter on the ground there was a sea of tables and chairs blocking the path ahead. Fresh shadows were endlessly moving, being constantly cast by Silver's efforts. They constantly revealed objects in shades of teal, but never a person or signs of a machine. Again the cat looked up, following one of his psychic orbs, but again there were no abnormal signs.

"With all this stuff around, I think, maybe, they locked the door so that the sand wouldn't get in after they left," The hedgehog posited, "Sand dunes can move massively with the wind, it'd make sense if they wanted keep their home safe."

"But why would they leave it in the first place?" Blaze hummed, still bouncing her vision across the room's darker spots.

"Maybe they could only hold out here so long, we've not been far but there's no signs of plant life or water,"Despite what he was saying, the hedgehog was still plainly on guard, "There's only one way to find out."

Raising his hand again, more psychic lights fluxed from his form to scatter and swirl around the room. Eventually, they managed to reach the room's centre, still without a single sign of a machine or creature, living or dead. Despite that, there were certainly signs of prior life; tables littered with accoutrements and bags. All the items though did seem somewhat superfluous to surviving in the desert; clothes, wallets, plates, cutlery, old toys and lots of chips from cassino games.

Eventually, having almost entirely filled the room with light, he brought his psychic efforts to an illuminated standstill. He kept walking despite that, scanning and began to use his psychic powers to poke and prod at junk scattered within the space. Her eyes flickered to him, catching the stark seriousness of his eyes. It really was as if a switch had been flipped soon after their arrival here, changing things she'd noticed over the days before...

"Are you comfortable?" He half whispered to her, eyes still to their surroundings.

"Almost," She responded, opening her palms to spread the light of her flames further, "There are plenty of spaces that could be used for hiding, if anything is still in here then I doubt it's a person. No sign of machines either though."

"Anything more you think I should do?" Silver asked, looking to confirm.

"No," She replied, after a moment of thought, "I just want to keep an eye out for a little longer, make sure that nothing tries to sneak up on us."

The hedgehog threw her a small thumbs up, gazing around the room once more, "I'll start searching while you stand guard," He confirmed after that moment had past, tugging the nearest table toward himself.

She responded with a nod, maintaining the fire in her palms. The space wasn't perfectly quiet, what with his searching and the ambient buzz of psychic energy, but no sounds were standing out to the cat. No skitter of the rubbish left scattered on the ground came, nor did any somehow silent movement. The potential for things to hide behind the lights above still worried the cat, but there truly were no signs of movement. She crouched low, glancing under the tables, but still there was nothing.

Having scanned the space for a while, she couldn't help but glance back at Silver as he made his initial assessment of the room, spreading objects piled on the tables throughout the room in an attempt to neaten everything out. With each step in his survey of the tables the ways he'd changed were becoming more apparent, from the disparity between their heights to the quietness of his steps. He looked almost professional, frankly tactical, in his work.

There truly was a significant difference in how he was acting now compared to under the freedom he'd experienced while staying in her dimension. The hedgehog had been so bouncy and joyous, just as she'd anticipated; beaming and rushing around, asking all sorts of naive questions and being so foolishly open with his emotions. It made sense that he'd changed upon arriving here and seeing his world in this state, but that switch was not quite what she'd expected.

The reveal of the future not being fixed was plainly weighing on him, but its impact wasn't showing that in the usual way. Rather than shout and pound his fists, as he would whenever Iblis reappeared, the hedgehog was quiet. There was though an undeniable tenseness in his frame and hardness to his brow. Despite part of her seeing the change as growth, the cat couldn't help worrying. He was still plainly emotional but he seemed just that bit better at controlling those-

"Blaze?" His voice pulled her from her thoughts as their eyes met, "Are you okay?"

"You're so naive, keep your voice down, I'm fine..." She bit her tongue for a moment, but spoke up before he could turn away, "I'm sorry things aren't like you hoped."

The hedgehog paused in his searching, though psychic light remained spread throughout the room and across the various objects. He half turned down to the table, his brow had further hardened and discomfort was plain on his face. The expression was hardly subdued, but compared to what she'd seen from him historically it was undeniably calm. No sobbing or shouting about how things were, though the sadness and anger behind those emotions was still present. Silver went to speak twice but seemed to catch himself, plainly struggling to arrange his words.

"There are two hundred years between my time and that of our friends; I sort of expect things to keep going wrong in their time for a little while longer, based on how often they have so far. That means I expect to keep finding my time in states like this. When the world is finally fully saved, I think I'll be surprised," He confessed, not quite meeting her eye, "But, things will be good in the end. This world will be fixed, the future will be wonderful, I won't stop until it is. I just know how difficult this task is now and, well, it's a lot harder than I'd assumed back when we were kids."

It was maturity, that's all she could think to call it. He was clearly frustrated with the situation, much more clearly now that we was talking about it, but the hedgehog must have seen his home like this so many times. The impact was still there, he was just used to it.

"Although, now that we're together again, maybe things will get better sooner than I thought. After all, together we can manage anything, I just know it!" The hedgehog decreed, shooting her the same sort of foolish grin he had in days prior.

"Y-You're still so naive," For whatever reason, his expression was having more of an effect now. For what felt like the hundredth time in this outing, the feline pulled her stare from him, "Let's get down to work, I think we're safe."

She hadn't intended it, but she'd jogged something in her own mind. With him now more concomitant, more understanding, she was now following his lead. The hedgehog had so consistently looked to her for help, just what was her role now? She stood by him still, but where? Was she following him, rather than things being the other way around?

Blaze felt the burning need to do something with herself; turning to one of the nearest tables and beginning to rifle through the piled valuables, the cat buried herself in work. She wouldn't let herself be left in the dust, she'd help him just as she'd promised in the lifetime before. Besides, no matter how he'd grown, he surely couldn't match her deductive prowess. She'd figure out what had happened here before he could.

Right?

---

Chapter 2

A pile of rubbish from a long lost world had formed at the centre of the room, it was so large that all the tables and chairs had been pushed away as part of the searching fervour, and yet so little had been found. Blaze the cat's mind was racing as she tossed another briefcase onto the pile, its contents quickly found to consist of now useless money, before delving into an abandoned rucksack. The last abandoned rucksack within her reach.

The pyrokinetic threw a glance over to her companion and what he'd been collecting. On one of the few still standing tables, the hedgehog had piled old cell phones found amongst the rubble. While their batteries were dead, he had informed her that, if the pair of them were lucky, replacing or re-powering the phones when they returned to the past might reveal information. If the worst came to the worst, taking the devices to Tails would surely glean some results.

They'd found books too, but most of them had been historical or fantastical, it was rare that those sorts of tome would be useful. The hedgehog had however managed to uncover a city map, confirming this was Station Square and giving them a rough understanding of their position. Meanwhile, she'd found nothing of real use, besides a few phones to add to his piles and wallets with cards and pictures, identifying the departed.

It was as if she'd been searching in all the wrong places, selecting bad spots to look by virtue of bad luck alone. Well, no, that wasn't true- bad luck wasn't to blame for the disparity in their success. The hedgehog had simply gotten better at sorting through the rubble. His psychic grasp had spread throughout much of the room, raising and sifting piles of debris to quickly determine of anything was worth a closer look. With a single wave of his hand he could pull open bags and float free their contents, spreading them into the air.

They'd found evidence of upper floors, though the entrances to them had been blocked off by more wooden boards. In the rooms outside of this central one, there was more evidence of past activity but no living people nor machines or evidence they could harness. If only there was-

Blaze felt something familiar hit her grasp, presently shoulder deep in digging through that overlarge rucksack. A papery texture, wedged at the bottom of this bag, dry and flakey but undeniably intact. Multiple pages, there was a chance!

The clothing on top was quickly removed, though now she worked with delicacy rather than speed. Beneath the creased shirts and ancient trousers, under trinkets from a lost life, Blaze found the perfect clue to solve their present mystery. Gingerly, she pulled it from the depths, giving it a quick glance to ensure it was modern.

"Silver!" She winced at her own loudness, throwing a glance around the room, but it truly seemed they were alone in here, "Newspaper."

Immediately, the hedgehog flew over, abandoning his own search and coming to land beside her. She unfolded the paper gently, feeling its age in her hands. The intensity in his eyes was undeniable as he looked over her shoulders, so the feline's gaze soon fled back to the pages.

A colour image of a skyscraper knocked over with a sand dune burying its upper portion was plastered on the front page; it looked to have been taken from a helicopter. There was evidence of car crashes upon the nearby road, clearly the event had been destructive, perhaps even unexpected. Judging by the police gathered about the fallen building, the photo had been taken not long after the structure had fallen. Judging by other indications on the front page, the event had occurred without warning. She couldn't help but grimace at the thought of those who'd been inside.

"Localised sandstorm knocks over office block, first in series of impossible weather events spread globally," Read the newspaper's title, a date plastered in its top right corner, "Worldwide panic ensues as countless lives are lost. Planes fall from the sky and bridges crumble," The following lines confirmed.

It was perfect- despite its morbidity, it was exactly what they needed! Her eyes flickered up to the hedgehog and caught that intense look again. A mixture of pain and excitement had claimed him, he was plainly happy that she'd found the resource but the loss of life clearly irked him. Even still, like before, the emotions weren't crushing him externally, no matter how they burned internally. They'd save those people, just as they'd save everyone else. He was steadfast in that belief, so she would cling to it too. They'd fix this; they would save this world.

"This is great Blaze, we know what days to avoid returning to. We can read through and get more surrounding details, see if there's any evidence of the others," He stepped closer still, "Although," He stretched around the feline, brushing her arm, "This is dated three weeks from when we left the present, things certainly weren't good for long..."

"It is an unfortunately short window. Perhaps the others weren't expecting another attack so soon," As silence hung in the air, she dared to reach up and ruffle through his quills, "We'll manage to save them, we have a heading now."

Perhaps their positions truly had swapped, now she was the one speaking openly of what was obvious. In their lasts life, he had been the one to state the obvious to enforce it. He'd felt the need to highlight everything aloud, would she end up the same? What would she highlight? Her finding the newspaper had been more born of desperate luck than a calculated approach. She felt so foolish but she couldn't pull away.

"We will. Now that we're together, I feel unstoppable," She heard him insist and felt his body tense, "We'll find even more evidence, chart this whole apocalypse so we can undo it."

Well, the more things changed the more they'd stay the same.

"We're almost done here," She tried to retake the lead, "Let's clear through the last of the rubble and settle on where to search-

Movement in the corner of her eye tore the feline's attention away from the hedgehog and in the direction of the cassino's entryway. The blocking of one of his psychic motes had revealed a presence, something floating above the ground and to the left. It was relatively small but plainly metallic; a pill shaped device with three claws protruding from near its centre, spinning like a top with a pulsing read beacon near the far end of its length.

The moment she'd clocked it, it had started to flee. She saw the hedgehog's psychic motes moved to crash into the drone, two bounced off of its metal exterior but it wasn't enough to stop the spindly craft! Before he could stop it the device was outside and, almost instinctively, they were in pursuit.

"Keep it safe!" Blaze demanded, shoving the paper into the hedgehog's chest as she hurried.

"Don't destroy it if you can, it might lead us to others," Jumping over a table, Blaze heard him call from her right, "An Eggman base might be around here!"

She took on his words as she leapt over more clutter, feeling her temperature rise as she burst forward. The building just wasn't made for running through, even ignoring mess; there were pillars and displays all around, slowing her process. In the dark it was easy enough to track the machine, its glowing beacon stood out against both the shade and Silver's light, but panic struck as it escaped the cassino.

Frustrated at the barriers, the cat jumped to the air and used a burst of flame to launch herself forward. Her thoughts were only just able to move faster than her body, plotting steps ahead. The drone could fly, but the day was cloudless. Either way, if it flew high enough, it would disappear from view. Silver would stand a chance catching up, but they'd be separated and more vulnerable.

Now outside, she threw her gaze to the sky, finding it a cloudless sunset orange rather than the blue of earlier. Almost immediately she caught sight of it vanishing over a dune, racing roughly eastward! It was higher than before, but it hadn't disappeared into the sky yet!

Flames ignited at the feline's heels, scorching the sands a crystalline black as she raced off; even if Silver lingered to gather what they'd found, he'd know what way to race! The cat shot off again, rushing with all her might but finding the terrain was to her disadvantage. While she then had to race down the other side of the sand pile, the small robot was able to simply fly straight over the gap. As a result, shealmost immediately lost sight of the drone again as it slipped behind another dune, a wall of sand the cat herself had to clamber up.

A look was thrown backward, she found her black trail was lingering in the sand, but the undulation of the dunes kept both the cassino and her companion out of view. When her gaze snapped to the front, she found that the path ahead of her was set to steeply drop. She slid, crouching low, igniting more to compensate for the angle and feeling flames flare from her back.

Looking back for the hedgehog was no longer an option, not until he caught up. If this machine was aiming to separate the pair of them, or lure her into some sort of trap, it was certainly succeeding. The cat began to bounce her attention between the path she was walking and the robot, making sure it was still ahead of her but the sands weren't disturbed.

Time became almost entirely lost on Blaze, as she continued to shoot after the device. It never turned or changed in any way from its straight path, always keeping a consistent height above the ground- now beyond the reach of the cat's jet boosted jump. Only her partner could achieve a matching height, soaring up to grab at-

"Blaze! I'm here!" A familiar voice called out from behind her.

She threw a look back and saw Silver was catching up, flying at speed but plainly weighed down by the heavy rucksack on his back and the fact he was now carrying her one- she'd shed it during their search! He was keeping pace but stood no chance of overtaking, let alone getting in range of the strange machine. If he shed the bags he could surely have caught up though, if not simply got in range and tore the robot from the sky. He was flying a fair distance above her, but not nearly matching the machine's height.

"We need to just keep chasing it, it might be rigged to explode if it's stopped, I've had that happen before. Not seen a drone quite like this though!" The psychic called forward, "This is our best lead, bases don't pop up overnight! We find it, cross reference with the news paper, then we tell the others."

"We might have to run for miles more," The cat reminded him, "We have no idea where if it will even come to a stop, let alone when."

"It's flying, so it should take the most direct route," She looked away as he disappeared behind the dune she'd just clambered over, again just managing to catch sight of the drone, "If we know there's not another option, then we can bring it down!"

If the worst came to the worst, then either one of them could easily push themselves and bring it down. A single well placed fireball, a telekinetic tug or some combination of the two would be more than enough to stop this machine in its tracks... though all of those options may prevent them salvaging much knowledge from it. He knew what he was doing, this was to him as royal life was to her; whether he enjoyed his current position was irrelevant, but he was more than completely adapted to fulfil his role. She would trust his choice, just as he had so often trusted hers.

Blaze lessened her flames, wanting to make sure they still had a track to lead them back to the city but no longer worrying about him having to follow. A feeling of relief washed over her with that change, a certain comfort that came with knowing they hadn't been separated on this dead world. That feeling was interrupted as another caught her off guard, she slid down the dune at breakneck speed only to notice the environment had totally shifted after that sudden feline.

The terrain had flattened, were they outside of the city? The great dunes have become so much less common, only a few dotted their surroundings; her view of the hovering drone was completely clear! Even the sunset was plain to see, finally lowering onto a visible horizon.

In the distance she could see green shapes looming on the horizon, in the direction of her approach.

Those green shapes were soon identified to be cacti; if Silver's earlier guess about the city's concrete was correct, then they had most certainly escaped Station Square. The dunes were so much less common here, so much less steep to, because they weren't built with skyscrapers and other buildings to act as their core. They were just sand built on sand!

They sped by those cacti, scarcely getting a look at them as the cat found herself able to run more comfortably. Without the endless slopes and harshly uneven terrain of before, though her pace didn't slow the effort required to keep up with the drone had greatly decreased. Moving like this, the pyrokinetic was entirely comfortable looking back and speaking with ehr companion.

"We've left Station Square, I'm almost certain," The cat relayed to him.

"I agree, I can see more plants spread far away. Thought we might have hit an oasis by now, but there's still no clouds. Maybe all the water is gone?" He hypothesised.

"That does sound like something Eggman would be foolish enough to do, that or isolate it all in one area," Blaze considered aloud, "I'm not sure how well it fits with what we've read in the newspapers though."

"Even if he'd made some sort of machine that could control sand, or made some sort of weapon from it, you'd still expect rain. It's not like it doesn't rain at the beach or where sand is used in construction, the whole environment has changed," He pointed out, she could imagine that his brow had furrowed hard in contemplation, "Maybe he did it in stages?" He seemed to mentally crumple his theory and throw it out, "I suppose it's still to early to tell."

"Sooner we figure out where this thing is going, the sooner we'll be able to hypothesise," Blaze responded.

"After that, we can bring down as many of them as we have to," She heard him rearrange the bags carried about his person, trying to better distribute the weight, "Provided we aren't run all the way to the horizon."

"If this machine is smart, I don't think that's impossible," Blaze cooly responded, "It's uncommon, but some of these robots have the intelligence required," She threw a glance upward only to almost stumble and quickly return her gaze to the empty path ahead, "Rarely one as small as that though, typically their personality shines through their construction..."

"The Metal Sonics I've seen aren't much like the original, but I get what you mean," The hedgehog confirmed, "Eggman seems to plaster a face or some sort of quirk on the machines that have more advanced intelligence, it'd be weird if this one did."

Blaze's mind trickled back to what few Eggman adjacent adventures she'd had, and the parallel she'd drawn was proving all the more true. Even if some were his descendant's inventions, the most important robots at his beckon call either had a port for him to manually operate them or a face and some sort of personality. Whiskers and Johnny were the two that came to mind, how starkly over the top they were. She'd only briefly encountered a so called Metal Sonic recently, and it had been almost entirely taciturn.

Come to think of it, if this was Eggman's doing, neither this drone nor the state of the world had the makings of his work on it. Even if most of his robotics had been buried, there should have been a few lingering pieces. If casinos and skyscrapers had survived the sand, then surely the machines designed to weather attacks from all sides would last this long? The basic peon machines the fool sent out weren't the toughest ever, but they'd travelled so far and this was Station Square of all places. Surely they should have passed an arm or a leg, if not an entire machine.

Instead, they'd only encountered a single drone. It hadn't drawn others, there was no flock, just a single seemingly useless machine that was now fleeing them. It didn't have a face or an Eggman insignia painted on, let alone the space for a personality. No arms for flailing, no voice-box from blurting out inane nonsense and a distinct lack of the usual popping colours that weird man seemed to use. If this robot was something smarter, it'd almost certainly confirm that the Doctor wasn't behind this apocalypse and-

"Blaze, stop!" The cat came to a screeching halt, she threw her gaze back to the air only to find the drone had vanished. Again, thoughts had taken over; Blaze had lost track of time. She looked back to him, thinking he might have finally decided to grab it, only to find him stopped a few feet back.

Between the two of them, more than four hundred feet off the ground, the drone was hanging still.

"I've never seen anything like this, why would it stop?" He shouted across the gap, before looking to the ground, "Is the base buried?"

"Maybe?" Was all Blaze could manage in response, refusing to look away from the machine.

She heard the sounds of psychic whirring, cyan light entered the edge of her vision, only for it to quickly cease, "If it is here, then it must be buried really-

The light at the top of the drone turned from red to green in the blink of an eye, the claws that stuck out of it collapsed inward. All of a sudden the drone was falling, tumbling top over bottom toward the ground a tremendous speed. She caught sight of the hedgehog jumping backwards and did the same, quickly concluding that the device might explode... but it didn't. It crashed to the sand with perhaps the most mundane thunking sound ever, scattering a small amount of sand into the air.

Silence hung the between the pair of them for a beat, tense glances were quickly exchanged.

"The drone is almost certainly old," She said, having been unable to get a good close look, "But it'd be foolish to think it has run out of charge."

The hedgehog nodded, "It was fleeing in a direction certainly, heading toward something, even if it was just this open space," He glanced around their surroundings, this flat land with a few scattered cacti and a thoroughly dehydrated tree, "Maybe it didn't want to explode in a space with objects to use as barricades, or dunes to jump behind?"

"It's possible..." She hummed, tapping her foot, "In all your travels, have you found a way to check for explosives?"

"Contact usually causes the detonation, but this one was programmed to run from us. Maybe it was programmed better than past ones, Eggman has planned for me before," The hedgehog grimaced, "I have an idea, but maybe back up a little further, just to be safe."

"Will you be safe?" Blaze interrupted his scheming.

"I should be? It just depends how big the explosion would be," He answered but, even at this distance he could clearly read her frown, "I'll be as safe as I possibly can be, I promise. I'll keep a good distance away until I'm confident."

Though she was unconvinced, the cat backed up. She watched as he shed his luggage before crouching down and pressing his palms to the ground. Cyan energy rippled out, coating and raising a mass of sand before it began to reshape. It took a moment for him to get the form right, starting with the torso before before forming a set of arms and legs. Finally, a head with a set of five overlarge forehead quills and two elongated backward ones were formed. The hedgehog had effectively made a doppelganger from their surroundings

As the Silver made of psychokinesis and sand started to walk toward the fallen drone, the real thing took off into the air and circled around to hang high above it. Tension swelled as the hedgehog double reached down and managed to touch the metallic object. The entity managed to fully stand up straight, still holding the device in its hands. A moment past, there was no response. The clone shook the robot, there was no explosion. It was thrown back to the ground to zero response only to be picked back up, dropped again and lightly kicked once for good measure.

"I think it's safe," The real Silver called out, "At the very least, as long as I'm cloaked in psychokinesis, I should be able to get close and pick it up."

Blaze's worry was still flaring, "Maybe just get close enough to see and check it over using your double," She suggested, "Just to be fully safe."

Silver nodded, descending as the psychic clone picked back of the device and raised it for viewing. The psychic hovered around it, conducting the clone to turn it for viewing different sides. He brought a hand to his chest fur, clearly tugging it as he thought. From Blaze's position it was difficult to make out the intricacies of the design, whether there was any imprinted writing on its mass or damage from the years it'd spent in the sand. In the cat's opinion, if this truly was one of Eggman's machines, it looked to be a uniquely sleek robot with none of his usual trimmings. With its claws now locked away, it simply looked to be an overlarge dark green pill with a light on one of its ends.

Something wasn't right. Was this some sort of decoy? Bait meant to lure them in? But why would it lure them out into the middle of the desert, on a cloudless day, where any attackers could be seen approaching from miles away? if the attack was set to come from underfoot, the only hidden direction, then why would it be designed to drop to the ground? In the hopes of pulling them to a single spot? Why this particular place though? Why not a mile or so back, they'd still have been outside the city.

"There's no latch to open and poke around in its insides. No sign of any significant breakage either, doesn't look like the fall really damaged it... I can see a charging port though, like the dock on a phone," He relayed, sounding more at peace than he had before, "That green light is still shining, I wonder what changed..."

Blaze turned her stare to their surrounding, looking for any answer she could give him. This spot was just so mundane, more of a regular desert than where they'd been before. The dunes were out of sight now, the closest thing to a barrier they could use were the nearby cacti and withered tree. They'd been drawn into the open, but what was the cause for that? If the device was primed to explode that would make sense.

Was it trying to draw them away from something important? A relic or a chaos emerald? Whatever had happened, the weather had been so starkly changed, enough to cause global crises. They still had such a narrow scope of the world and its state, they hadn't even managed to fully read that newspaper. Maybe there'd be something in there?

"It's getting late," Blaze pointed out, looking to the rapidly darkening horizon, "The desert is cold at night. We need a plan."

"Yeah, we do," He had his counterpart set the drone down before being dismissed, turning it to tumbling sand, "We could try to head back to the city, but I'm going to need a moment," He confessed, "I'm sort of exhausted, I've never really done anything like that so I haven't done it efficiently before," He flew to land next to her, an awkward look on his face, "Maybe it was stupid to focus so much energy mimicking how my quills are quaffed... I wanted to make the best replica possible. You know, just in case there was a camera on it or something."

"It was probably a waste," She couldn't help but snort, "If it weren't for our bags, I'd feel confident running us back to the cassino. If this device is set to lure other machines to us, that's a problem no matter where we bring it. The same issue arrises if it is set to explode, carrying it psychically permanently probably isn't viable."

"I'm sure it'll need to charge eventually, it probably wouldn't have that port otherwise," Silver pointed out before wincing, "But now that it's landed, who knows how long it will take till it needs to plug in. It could be days, weeks even," His hand moved to his chest fur as he pondered aloud, "I've seen roosts and open sockets for Eggman devices before, the smaller sort that don't contain flickies; this kind of looks like one of them. Certainly didn't detect a Chaos emerald or similar energy source inside it."

He turned to wander over to the nearby cacti, looking them up and down. Quizzically, the cat followed his footsteps but caught herself before fully following. It was odd to see him juxtaposed against a background like this; she'd seen him at the beach but the cacti and sinking sun provided something new. The two of them had gained a sort of mutual appreciation for nature having remembered a world so starkly without it; although this world was anything but natural, the sight of new biota was plainly drawing them in. Well, she wanted to think it was drawing them both in, it was plainly holding his attention as his hand found his chest fur and thoughts plainly bubbled.

Blaze knew she shouldn't stare, she should have been splitting her gaze between the downed drone and their surroundings, she trusted him to act wisely or call for help if needed. But he just looked so good in his element; no necessarily comfortable, for how could anyone be in a world so devastatingly changed, but as if he knew by instinct what he was doing. It was a strange thought to have, given how disparate the destroyed worlds he encountered apparently were.

Again her attention was drawn to his frame, the roll of his shoulder blades partially hidden by fluff. As he reached down to cast psychic light deep into the sand his whole posture changed; his right foot planted ahead of the left, his knees bent as his fingers coiled skyward. She wanted to call his movement graceful, but she knew it was born of practice rather than inherent smoothness. She had seen him stumble and throw out stiff arms, the hedgehog had grown beyond that now.

As he buried deeper with his psychic power, thoughts from the casino remounted within Blaze's mind. Silver had grown; she had found the newspaper and picked up a small share of the phones, but she couldn't think her search was anything but slopy when compared to the rolling of his psychokinesis. There was a certain degree of intuitive strategy, plainly second nature to him now, that she no longer exceeded. She was aware of the scars beneath his deep fluff, born of the experiences he'd had walking the futures, but not how they'd shaped him.

Blaze supposed it was easier to see his changes then understand her own. She was certain that she'd changed, grown in a few directions, but they were indiscernible to her as she stood next to him. Perhaps he'd just had more growing to do? Maybe she'd grown up quickly in both lives? He'd kept more of his innocence about him?

No, this change wasn't purely mental; there was an undeniable physical aspect, she'd noticed as much. He was wiser and more skilled than she recalled, but the difference in his physicality was undeniable. She'd always seen him as short, soft, headstrong, explosive and exceptionally naive. The foolish boy she'd felt the need to shield was now in the position of shielding her, it just felt so bizarre. She'd find her footing and stand ahead of him again soon, surely?

"I don't think there is a base under here, the cactus roots go way too far down," The hedgehog's words returned her to reality, even though they were broken by a yawn, "I've found water in the deep sands, if you want to drink, I can refill our canteens while we're here."

"Alright," She answered, only half listening. Again, the need to act was welling within her chest, "I think I've decided, we should head back to the dunes to make camp. Ideally you'll be able to reveal a building, empty enough that we can rest inside," Even though she was sure he understood what she was suggesting, Blaze felt the need to lecture further, "I think being exposed is a bad idea, but going all the way back to the Casino seems too difficult."

"I closed the doors there before I left, just in case," He shot her a thumbs up as he psychically reached out, drawing a canteen from one of their bags, "It should be safe whenever we make and back. If it's not, well, we'll know we're being watched and this desert is more active than we thought, I guess?

Despite him clearly being exhausted, sweat on his brow and weariness in his eyes, he held the green metal container toward her. She tutted something about him being naive as she pushed it back toward him, making her insistence clear. He did hesitate but, after catching her stare, the hedgehog unscrewed the cap and took a long swig.

"Where there's one machine, there'll surely be others. It would be a strange coincidence if the only remaining one found us so quickly," Blaze put forward, "But if they're all like this, then we shouldn't have much trouble. Are drones like this usually the ones to survive?"

As he swallowed, holding the canteen back out to her, he shook his head, "Usually it's the more stationary sort, or those on patrol in isolated areas; typically underground. Flying around up here, just the rain from the years should have worn it down," She took the flask from him, eyes lingering on the mouthpiece, "It looks pretty untouched though, by weather or anything else. Maybe the world really has changed... but there has to have been some rain the past 200 years, cacti couldn't grow without that."

"It would require some rainfall certainly, not a lot but..." Ignoring more foolish thoughts rushing through her head, she took a swig from the container.

Before she knew it, the flask was empty. She caught him looking up at the sky, "We left in winter, you'd expect this to be a wet season if there was one... unless things really have got messed up," He sighed and shrugged, "Weirder things have happened and will happen."

She held the vessel back toward him, "It's a different sort of strangeness than I'm used to, but I don't think it's stranger than what we lived through before."

"I guess that future is probably still is strictly the oddest," The hedgehog conceded, "We'll figure it out."

He turned back to the cacti and the pit he'd dug, waving a glowing hand over it. She heard the sands beneath him begin to churn, only just audible above the whir of his psychic power. Moments later, it was as if he'd conjured a small geyser; perfectly pure looking water, shining with cyan light, rose from the pit in a single line, perfectly directed to the canteen's opening. He'd never been in a world like this, but clearly his technique was practiced. He'd known where to find the water, how to separate it from the sand and then purify out the dirt. She would have happily stood and watched in awe, if it wasn't for a noise pulling her attention away.

Something perked Blaze's left ear, in the direction of the drone and their baggage. Her brow furrowed as she turned, only to find the machine was perfectly still. Its light though had changed from pulsing a dull green to a bright blue.

"Silver?" As she called his name, Blaze caught his gaze switching to the device.

It took a moment longer for Blaze to recognise the sound, long enough for it to grow close and alternate from a light whistle to a cracking rumble. It wasn't a common sound to her, but she had heard it on the high seas of her world. The sudden arrival of a storm, breaking the peace.

Sunset had finally stretched into night, but the once clear sky now had clouds to blot and blank the stars. Clouds that were whipping and whirling in lines and circles like she'd seen no wind move them before. It was only as the sands began to shift at her feet, not induced by the device but the surrounding winds, that the princess put two and two together. Freak weather events, a sandstorm manifesting at the heart of a city. Eggman had taken control and then lost control of the weather!

Silver's back pressed against hers, psychokinesis whirled and rattled, just in time to break a wave of sand that had been encroaching to their right.

"I guess it was a trap," She couldn't help but muse aloud, stepping closer still to him in an attempt to properly brace.

"Sorry," She heard regret pang in his tone, just in time for a massive hemisphere of psychokinetic energy to stretched out and act to seal their surroundings, "But we'll get through this, we've been through worse!"

---

Chapter 3

In mere seconds, things had gone from bad to worse. What started as mere splashes of sand had now built into colossal waves that were consistent to the point of being unobservable through the thick blue tint of his psychic barrier. The lashing were so consistent, so heavy, that Blaze couldn't begin to guess the scale of the storm that was swallowing them.

Silver was already looking haggard, his feet planted firm and flat on a thin psychic floor he had affixed to the sand itself for fear it might slip out from under them. He hadn't moved from his pose, his fingers spread and arms thrust wide as telekinetic force worked to maintain a truly impenetrable bubble. Blaze could feel his sweat on her back; as she stood frozen, heat was flagging from him. Her back was still pressed to his as she scanned for options, trying to find a way to help or solve this trap.

The space he'd secured wasn't small, but it wasn't big enough. The drone was outside of their influence, for better or for worse, but only one of their bags had ended up within the space. It was his, the one he'd hopefully used to store their equipment, but Blaze knew she couldn't dwell on that. Her eyes flickered in the opposite direction, catching sight of the canteen he'd dropped in rushing to her side.

Feeling the pressure to act, the princess finally pushed herself away from the time traveler. She swiped up the canteen, finding that he had managed to part fill it; a wet mark on the sand from where it had clearly dropped caused the cat to grimace. She rushed over to his backpack, incidently confirming the artefacts they'd plundered as she rummaged for the medical kit. Finding it, she drew out a washcloth before rushing back to his side; now no longer standing back to back with him, but leaning over his shoulder.

The cat gently wetted the compress, careful not to use all their water, before dabbing it to his forehead. She could feel him shaking; his power always took a tole on his body, but this was more serious than his usual response. While on the outside the effort looked to be simple, Blaze knew the reality. Not a single grain of sand had breached the space, his manifested floor was preserving their footing without fail.

Despite those thoughts, Blaze knew what to do. She brought the cloth down to wipe his muzzle, trying to both cool the psychic as she kept him comfortable. Using his power in short bursts was easy, she'd learned that truth years ago, but prolonged use, regardless of how intensive that use was, always took a tole on him. He was already running a temperature, already sweating. She recalled a time once when their home had caved in, how she had treated and fed him while he held up the ceiling for hours- slowly heaving to reposition things and allow their escape. There was food in his bag, but this strain seemed to sudden and intense.

She had to ask, "Ever dealt with something like this before?"

"No," He was panting, but vigour returned to his voice as he elaborated, "Closest I can remember was back when we were first together, surrounded by fire. Flames aren't heavy like this..."

"How much time do we have?" Blaze asked, keeping herself blunt.

"I could hold back the storm for an hour or so yet, but what I could do isn't the issue," He insisted, still wincing, "I'm having to keep this space as tightly sealed as I can. Air isn't getting in here," With that harsh truth spoken, he tried to be positive, "I might be able to briefly undo release and reactivate the shield, but it's so dense out there," But that positivity didn't last long, "I-It's getting heavier, I can feel it."

Blaze bit her lip, again trying to stare through the psychokinetic veil her companion was maintaining. She truly couldn't see anything at this point, moments ago she was certain she'd been able to make out shifting lines and alternate points of contact. Now though, his shield simply a darker shade of cyan than it had once been. It was as if-

Realisation struck the cat, no wonder she couldn't see through the storm, "It's piling up on us..."

"Burying us like it did the buildings, it feels that way," He agreed, "It wasn't this thick on the tower block we found. I can't tell the exact weight of the sandstorm but it's way more than it'd take to smother us if I couldn't keep this barrier up," Silver was beginning to pant, "It feels like its still gathering out there, still shifting. Every so often it gets lighter before suddenly getting heavier... like a weight being pressed down, then removed, then returned with extra."

"You can feel that though, can't you? The shift in the sand?" Blaze asked to confirm, making sure his understanding was more than visual.

"Yeah, over and over again," Silver half nodded, "But I'm holding on so tight, keeping things so sealed. If I let go then I'm not sure I'll manage to get hold again, not before it's back atop us at least."

"Could you walk us?" She offered as suggestion, "Push us in a direction and maintain the shield?"

"I could try to, but only for a moment. When the sand comes back down I think we'd be stuck in the new spot, at least until it shifts again" He relayed, half hypothesising, "Even if I did push us somewhere, the storm might follow and I'd need to maintain the seal... that, a-and I wouldn't be able to hold out for as long if I did move this. We might have less time than there is air to breathe here."

His eyes were now closed, his head bowed in focus. She didn't risk worrying him by mentioning the reality she'd discerned, that the other bag was either buried in the sands or lost to the gale outside. Regardless of how out of reach their things were however, the reality was that they needed to act. Considering their positioning, where they'd been stood on the ground, Blaze tried to plot a path. None of the directions pointed toward salvation however, they were just too exposed.

"C-Could you use the Sol Emerald? Just warp us out of here?" He stammered.

"No, the space is too cramped," The feline immediately responded, "The air would burn up before we could leave. All the sand weighing down on us would smother the flames if you undid the barrier."

She'd lied to him, though Blaze knew it was for the best. It would require him to maintain the shield and act as a sacrifice. The pyrokinetic could survive among the flames as they lit, generating the gateway, but it would mean leaving this world on her own once again. Blaze had others relying on her, a whole other world to defend, but she wouldn't dare think of them again until every other solution had been sought. She would not leave him behind again.

The thoughts that took the place of her kingdom were those of action. Immediately the cat rewetted the towel and wiped his brow once more, before spreading the cool compress across his neck and shoulder blades. She quickly stepped back from him, throwing her eyes around their tiny glowing space. Inevitably, they fell back upon their bag. Her toes curled and fists clenched.

She marched over to the rucksack and slung it over her shoulders, making sure it was stable, "We have to try moving, there's no other option."

The moment Blaze had returned to his side, her arms found their way around his body. Gently, but swiftly, the cat slipped one arm around his shoulders and another beneath his knee. The hedgehog's head was brought to the crook of his neck, his feet lifted from the ground, as Blaze began to carry him. Their eyes locked for a moment as the towel flopped from his back to draping across her arm; the once electric yellow orbs were fully lit by cyan energy. He was so lost in it, she couldn't see the hedgehog behind that might.

"Let's push forward, see what we can find," She instructed to him, just loud enough to be heard over the battering of winds and the thrumming of psychic power.

Silver nodded, Blaze felt the floor beneath them vibrate before sinking to mingle with the sands. As she stepped forward, still hearing the crackle of that power beneath her feet, the dome like walls surrounding them drew no closer. They made it three steps before she felt him shudder and tense in her grasp, burying his head into her shoulder. She could scarcely hear any change in their surroundings; his psychic buzzing was just too loud and there was no visual to match the change. She had to rely on him, just as he was relying on her.

Once he'd stopped shuddering and given a nod, the princess took another three steps forward. The ground beneath them wasn't flat, moving uphill wasn't helping either of them. The incline wasn't steep, but then that was probably because so much sand was being swept up with every passing wind. She felt him shudder and froze again, biding her time as the shakes rocked through him.

Blaze forced herself to think again, this wasn't working. They were moving at a fraction of a pace, even if the sandstorm wasn't moving it could take them hours to exit. If the sandstorm could move, their efforts would account for nothing. They'd still be stuck at the heart, the strain on him wouldn't have been-

"It's okay," His quiet words cut through his vibrations, "You can run, I can handle it."

The moment he calmed Blaze started to run. She didn't dare move as fast as she could, fretting over whether he could match her pace, but the feline did move faster than any wind she'd ever encountered. This effort though, despite how minor it was, now made Blaze's head feel light; it was undeniable, the air was growing thin!

Around a minute into running Blaze considered slowing, realising his vibrations hadn't returned. She was about to recommend that he tear down the barrier, only to come to a screeching halt as the wind roared over his psychic buzz. She braced herself around him, as if to protect him from some blast of flame, but the effort did no good. The sandstorm had chased them; not only that, it had caught up!

His was burning up, soaked from head to toe. Though his muscles weren't directly involved in the act of manipulating psychokinesis, it took such a mental tole that it was reflected physically. His muscles were seizing as if performing all manner of impossible actions, bearing the weight of the world or manually dragging continents. She could feel every ache wracking his bones and flesh alike, it was undeniable.

Her brow steeled as she glanced about the psychic dome, again finding herself entirely unable to see through the veil he was maintaining. Even when the sand was absent she could scarcely identify the difference, and now her head was starting to spin. If pushing forward meant he'd suffer more, that she'd pant and their oxygen supply would dwindle, then it was entirely pointless. There had to be a way out of this, one that didn't mean she'd leave him behind!

Her eyes flickered to the ground, the cyan mixed with sand. Could they burrow? If they were underground, would the sandstorm cease to follow them? Even if they could push themselves beneath the sands, what then? Silver clearly didn't have the strength to burrow them a tunnel- give them space to run unseen. Even if he did, the deep earth would offer no air. Searching for a cave or some building, especially now that they were outwith the city limits, was foolish.

If movement by land wasn't an option, and they could not escape into the earth itself, then only one other option remained. Blaze looked to the ceiling of their protective bubble, the point in the barrier which was preserving them best. He'd worked so hard to keep it up, maintaining it without faltering, but the plan Blaze had just formed would see him rend it down. It may also end with them tumbling to the ground or torn to pieces, if even a single misstep was made.

Simply igniting the sandstorm around them had never been an option, it would have encased them in glass had the flames not died out before that. If she could get above the cloud of rock though, high enough that the gale would have to chase them, an explosion could render the dust too heavy to fly or even freeze it in place as glass. Getting up there would require both a barrier and flight, the likes of which she knew he could safely conjure if he was at the peak of his power.

But he was not at the peak of his power and she was set to face an unknown foe; just how much sand could these horrifying winds command? The whole desert? She didn't even know the source of the conjuring, she could only guess that it was the drone.

It'd only take the sands around them to prove too much, to reach up and tear them down. They'd run for hours in chase of the drone, now they'd toiled in here for some unknown length of time and lack of oxygen was whiting away at their strength. Even if she had the strength to conjure enough flames, how long could he hope to hold them above the ground? How high would he have to-

Something burned at her side. Blaze touched her long coat pocket only to feel the Sol Emerald she'd brought, resonating with a fiery heat. At first she thought it was warning her to flee, to abandon him again, but she quickly identified the truth. It was agreeing with her, pushing her forward, willing to lend its own strength to make up for that which thin air was depriving her of.

"Silver," She looked down at him, finding the aura still thick and unreachable around his face, "How high could you fly us?"

The hedgehog raised a hand toward her face, "I'm not sure, it would be difficult, but..." Breathlessness seemed to take him, "As long as we're together, we can manage anything," He swallowed, eyes finally visible again but only for a moment, "I'll give you all I have left, I promise. Will that be enough?"

"I think it'll have to be," Blaze professed, allowing herself to lapse and smile as she gave her orders, "I want you to take us straight up, as directly out of this cloud as possible. You'll have to shield us until you feel that we're free from the sands, then drop the shield and fly as quickly upward as you can. I'm going to try and put an end to this," Another realisation struck, heavy seriousness returned to her face, "You'll have to use the last of your strength to hold onto me, I need my hands free. Don't expend so much power that you'll fall."

"I'll do whatever it takes to get us out of there," He simply responded, half ignoring her insistence while still trying to spread hope. His arms came to wrap around her neck, fingers latching onto the bag at her back, "You're with me again, so I can't fail."

"You're still so naive," Blaze snorted, bettering her footing and feeling her head spin.

"Not this time," He disagreed, speaking louder than before, "I know what I'm saying. It cones from experience. As long as we're together, we won't lose."

"Then I think your memories are getting cloudy, we've eaten up to much of the oxygen in here," Blaze tutted, again feeling a wiry smile crease her lips, "Whenever you're ready, go ahead and prove me wrong."

Things grew quieter in the dome again, though the sounds of psychic static mixed with scraping wind still raged on. Blaze swore that, beneath the vernier of cyan, a smile had formed on his lips. She felt him move within her hold, his whole body tensing as if threatening to collapse in on itself. The moment that effort began, Blaze began to hear a great tumbling above the hum of his energy.

The space containing them shrank, the walls crumpled in until there was scarcely enough room for them to stand. Only then did a fresh psychic glow mount to shine around them, drifting from his cuffs to hang as phantasmal armour around their combined frames. Blaze immediately understood, he had formed two layers; an outer to protect them and maintain their oxygen, the inner to safely fly them upwards.

"We'll make it out," He insisted, an almost entirely exhausted smile upon his scarcely visible lips, "I can always tell when you've got a good plan; you look just a little bit unsure of yourself, like you're still searching for flaws or a better solution."

"That doesn't sound like a good sign," Blaze would have rolled her eyes, but she was indeed much too focused on evaluating their options.

"Yeah, well," His voice was cheery despite the strain being clear, "I know you."

With that, the coarseness of ground left Blaze's feet only to be replaced by smooth and psychokinesis. Though she was stood stationary and couldn't feel the brush of wind nor tear of sand, the cat knew that she was rocketing upward by Silver's shaking. She held on tight to him, knowing she could only grasp his body for a few moments longer, and began to steel her mind.

The small floor beneath them was growing lighter, more like the psychokinetic barriers she was used to seeing! She glanced to the ceiling only to find that the glow was entirely clear! The hedgehog in her grasp was still shaking, twitching and panting, but she feel tell that his discomfort was shrinking. Then again, it was possible that was more of a sign that the psychic was running out of energy.

Blaze bit her lip, beginning to allow her temperature to spike. She held on tighter to him with her left arm, lowering her right toward the floor of their psychic bubble. The interior of their cramped space was made to swelter, the sweat that had dug so deep into the hedgehog's fur began to drift as steam through the air, making her already limited vision even harder to harness. This was a necessity though; without preparation, her flames would either rage out of control or be cast much too light!

"We're out," He managed to gasp, his quaking calmed, "Any second now I'll have to drop the shield!"

The princess shut her eyes tight, taking a deep breath. Heat continued to swell, curling around her forearm before starting to roil at the centre of her palm. She couldn't ignite, not until the time was right- robbing him of oxygen would doom them both in an instant.

"I'm ready," She calmly insisted, before issuing another order, "Hold onto me."

He shifted in her hold, now both hands were tightly grasping across her shoulder blades. The psychic energy from his body hadn't faded, he was still holding them both aloft through his mental prowess, but that could slip at any moment. Her eyes reopened, she stared down at the featureless psychic barrier. They had one shot at this, he wouldn't be able to push them away or produce a new shield if this endeavour proved to be folly.

"I'll count you down," He gasped into her ear, "Three... two... one-

The blockade fell, the world beneath her was dark, night had fully fallen. Cold wind cut through her fur, immediately rending away the sweltering pressure and almost forcing her to blink. Feline eyes darted across a night lit by speckles of starlight and the small radius of his psychic glow- never finding their quarry. She didn't have time to simply light the night, she had to take a chance. She grasped her right wrist with her free hand, scarcely registering that Silver was holding on tight!

A burst of fire exploded from the centre of Blaze's right palm, so wide and bright that it immediately blinded her. The updraft was battling her, attempting to redirect her flames back toward them with its blustering force, but the guardian of the Sol Emeralds kept her might rushing toward the ground as a wide and explosive twister. Faith was burning red and golden, her belief that their coalition would succeed would keep them off the ground and their destroyer at bay! She just knew it would!

Her eyes finally adjusted to the dark and light, able now to see the brunt of her output and their own exact positioning. She'd fired straight down, between her legs as they hovered aloft at a distance she stood no chance of gauging. Similarly, she still couldn't see the soaring sands. With her flames taking up so much view, and the world around them dark, Blaze couldn't tell if she was on target or the dust had repositioned in order to swat them-

Something burst through the flames, fast enough that Blaze couldn't react. It caught the edge of her right ear, narrowly missing a direct strike with her head. Before she could process it another flew through, the parting of flames granted the cat just enough time to lean back and fully dodge the object. She watched it crest in the air, reflecting and refracting the starlight before it sunk back down to the flames below.

Glass, it was glass!

A smile broke onto the cat's face as she moved her left hand from the right's forearm to the back of her blasting hand. The flames became wilder as she pushed harder, certain of her target's position. Splinters continued to shoot through her blast, cutting like knives through the air or shadows through light! She couldn't dodge them all, they were essentially hanging stationary in the air, but those which did make contact either shattered or crumbled against their frames rather than slashing or piercing. As long as her temperature was maintained, they'd brittle before they could reach them.

The source of these winds was still unknown, be it tied to this location or the robot that'd brought them here, but it would surely burn beneath her. Spreading her fire so wide was draining, sending it to the earth like some great reaching spear, but it offered some certainty. Scorching all, even the earth, meant that nothing beneath them would go-

Blaze felt herself wobble in the air, her thoughts scattered, "S-Silver?"

No response sounded but she caught his eye, the once strong light was now flickering around his body. She could still feel his arms around her shoulders, he was still holding on tight, but his capacity to act as a harness holding her above the sands was fading. If she relied on that lift for any longer, his grasp would surely start to fail.

"It's okay," Blaze looked away from him, back to the fires beneath, "Just hold on tight," The cat brought her heels together allowing her eyes to shut again as she focused on the heat building across her body, "I can handle things from here."

Two more flares, both smaller than that she'd already conjured, now burned from the balls of her heels. She was the one shaking now, vibrated by the thrust she was outputting both to burn the sandstorm below and keep them aloft. Sweat was spiralling from her hands as ghastly ribbons that were vanishing into the sky above.

Flight wasn't her forte though. Her footing was solid, she could keep this up, but she couldn't maintain their elevation. By the shift of the stars alone, Blaze could tell that they were already slowly descending towards the ground and the potentially still active storm! Winching, Blaze quickly made another decision.

Rather than try harder to maintain their elevation, potentially weakening her greater flaming output, Blaze shifted her left hand from atop the right and set it shoot down flames of its own. This was the only way- to ensure the destruction of the danger beneath rather than prolong this blind battle against errant nature. If they were going to succeed then it had to be fast; it had to be now!

Faith reignited with righteous fury, generating fresh waves of heat that spiralled not simply down but fanned around them. If there were clouds about then they would have further evaporated, if there was anyone on the ground watching they'd see another sun shining in the depths of night- loosing a terrifying beam of light to scorch the earth. It was fortunate that, ignoring those poor cacti, there had been no signs of life among the sands.

Lower and lower she was drifting, muscles aching as the endless blast was expelled. Her focus held strong for minutes, the bombardment unending, but a sudden crunching noise did cause Blaze to flinch. Solid ground, she'd somehow found solid ground more than a hundred metres higher than it should surely be located. The cat tapped her foot, still spewing flames- though now the fire was bouncing and shifting, as if flitting around and over some unseen object. Realisation again struck, the shards had stopped flying toward her minutes ago.

Raising her hands from held at her waist, the cat set the fires to swirl around and roil over the shape rather than freely blast from her hands. Her senses refocused, the uncanny stillness of the air contrasted the gale she had experienced before. The fires she cast were now streaking their way down an object of frankly indescribable shape, so twisted and reaching and yet smooth in some many places. Eventually she began to sight the object's edges- flames tumbling both down far sides and slipping through what she could only guess were cracks in the shape.

Her ears were still pricked high, eyes scanning and body sensing for any brush of wind or drifting sand, but her attention did flicker to the glowing hedgehog clasping her shoulders. She dimmed her left hand, grasping to aid him. His eyes were shut, but not as tight as before. He almost looked to be asleep.

Gingerly, using the lingering embers to act as a path-setter and indicate the best route across this structure. Every step brought with it a crunch or cracking noise, not loud enough to be worrying but indicative of the rough structure beneath her feet. If that sound grew too great then her jets were ready, but that need never did arise.

She managed to find a slope and awkwardly slip her way down, kept from tripping by the rough grip offered by the structure. Eventually her feet met with a flatter mass; with starlight and her spread flames to aid, she couldn't see any other obscuring structures around... save for a series of long black stalks that she could only presume were once cacti. The feeling under-feet was still crunchy and hard, but certainly flatter than the structure she'd been standing on.

With a wave of her free hand, the flames gliding along the structure she'd landed upon all flowed toward the cracks and breaches that their ilk had found. Gradually a small bonfire manifested within the space, illuminating it and, in doing so, revealing the shape of this glass form. It almost looked like a flower made of glass with folded leaves surrounding them, some of its petals reaching far skyward while others were cracked and had tumbled. Shaped by the streaking winds of the sandstorm, a great work of glass had been solidified by her flames.

Near the top of the formation was a darker shape than that of the glass, sticking out at an odd shape. It took a moment and quite some staring, but soon she recognised its pill-shaped form as that of the drone; burned and caught in the glass. Assumedly, it had been the source of the storm all along. Well, what was most obvious was usually correct.

Blaze glanced down at her companion, just in time for the light to fully fade from his body. He slumped down like a tumbling branch high on a tree, fingers still scarcely attached to the rucksack straps around her shoulders. She only just managed to keep his knees from meeting with the brittle ground.

"Tired?" She asked, lethargy sweeping over her, just as it had him a while earlier.

A grunt sounded, no further response came but he tried to pull himself onto his feet.

"Well," She hummed as he ended up stumbling, glancing back to the glassy structure, "I think I've found us shelter for the night."

"Desert is cold at night," Blaze heard him mumble, as she tugged him back up and into her arms, "You're warm..."

"And you're naive," The cat tutted, beginning to carry him around the structure.

Eventually, the fire somewhat dying down within, she did manage to find an opening in the crystalline structure. Gently pushing inside, she found the ground to be thoroughly uncomfortable to walk on, made cramped by some of the glassy masses, but certainly safer than sleeping in an exposed position. Eventually he was pulled to the emptier heart of the space.

"You'll probably want to stand for a moment, I don't know how safe the ground is for lying," Blaze informed him, trying to position the hedgehog to stand.

With flickering cyan energy around his palms he managed to stand on shaky legs, "You okay?" He managed to mumble.

"Yes," The cat answered, shrugging the bag from her shoulders only to feel an ache at her shoulder, "Just need to get some rest."

As she swung down the bag between them the hedgehog went to open it, but her hand topped his before he could. They locked eyes for a moment, his sleepy gaze meeting her hopefully less tired look. He seemed to read her intent perfectly, her want made tension between them. Quickly he acquiesced, stumbling back to prop himself against the nearest of the interior's glass walls.

She quickly opened the bag, rummaging through the bag's contents; only just remembering the other that had surely been immolated. At least it wasn't the one containing the evidence. The phones and the newspaper had both thankfully survived the ordeal.

A thick bedroll was pulled from the front of the rucksack, a bundled sleeping bag was tugged from its depths. She unrolled the former before setting the latter upon it, then searching deeper. There was a large blanket within but nothing more, the ground was indeed as rough as she'd anticipated. They'd be sharing cramped quarters tonight. She gestured to the fire, still flickering near the heart of the space, and it rolled just a little closer.

The guardian took a seat near the foot of the mat, waving the hedgehog closer, "Come on."

Wobbling more than a little, he managed to cross the small gap between them. Rather than lie down, as she'd half suggested, the hedgehog sat right next to her and allowed his head to rest on her shoulder. As his arm came to wrap around her, Blaze felt her tail curl around his backside.

"It's been a weird day," Silver commented.

"It has," Blaze quietly agreed.

"We've made it through worse before though," He groaned, arcing his back in a stretch, "I wasn't worried."

"No?" A tired smirk twinged at her lips.

"It's exactly like I said," He lectured, "As long as we're together, we can't lose."

"Are your memories still that clouded? I think you need to lie down," Blaze tutted.

"You admitted you need rest, I don't think I have yet," The psychic quickly countered, stretching again.

"You haven't verbally, no, but physically?" She leaned into him and, like a domino, he tumbled onto his side,"The truth is rather obvious."

Blaze tossed the blanket over him, he struggled to pull it from atop his head, "Perhaps, but if I'd done that to you, you'd have ended up on the glassy ground," He grumbled, repositioning himself before throwing another look his way, "Are you going to join me?"

"In a moment, you just make yourself comfortable," She insisted, turning from him and back to the fire.

Thoughts were slipping through her mind, undoubtedly constructed from the adrenaline of what had past and her tiredness catching up to her. Though she didn't dare glance back down to him, not wanting to stoke any further embarrassment, the hedgehog lingered in her mind's eye. There was still a place for her by his side, she had been blind not to see it. No matter how much wiser he grew, no matter how much stronger, she would always be there to look after him. Come sandstorm or eruption or endless hail, she'd be there to help guide his path.

Things weren't as they had been, the state of this world was proof enough of that, but that didn't mean it they were bad. He wasn't the same floundering fluff-ball she'd once knew, but that drive at his heart was standing out more than ever. She wouldn't always be the one to lead, not anymore, but that didn't mean she never would. They were just rebalanced, matching each other in different ways.

Whenever she fell he'd pick him up and the same could be said of her for him. His skills had flourished in her absence, he'd learned so much that had once been her domain and exceeded her in a handful of those. That same was true for her though; the instinct that had once been key to his survival now burned hot within Blaze. She'd been the one to first notice and leap after the drone, she'd got them out of that last trap. Of course, atop that, both of them had picked up brand new skills along the way.

A yawn broke beyond her lips and Blaze took it as a sign, shifting to his side and slipping beneath the cover. With only the sleeping bag and mat to act as their mattress, only a small slither of place was protecting them from the coarseness of the sands and glass. She tugged his arm around her back; moving her own hands to rest on his should blades. Seemingly in his sleep, the hedgehog tugged her close.

Now close, she felt some rough protuberances in the depths of his fur. After plying through for a handful of seconds she managed to untangle a series of dark shards from his fluff, none of them having pierced him but one likely causing a bruise. Blaze heaved a sigh as she tossed those masses away, dispelling the bonfire by their side with a secondary wave of her throwing hand. With their frames so closely locked, there was no way he'd freeze.

More than anything, this was her place; beside his side, holding him as he held her. Despite the ways he'd grown, physically and mentally, he still needed someone to watch over him. There was still far too much weight on those shoulders of his; though, it was probably ironic that she of all people had come to that conclusion.

The feline swore to herself that she'd sleep soon, tomorrow they'd have even more to do, but she wanted to lie with him for just a little longer. She kept finding another thing to consider, another thing worth mending. Her thoughts turned and attention to his quills, so wildly tossed, before gently working down to detangle his chest fur. Undoubtedly, assuming he woke up first, he'd do the same to her; the cat couldn't begin to imagine the soot and glass spread throughout her fur. Yawns would break through every so often, interrupting her quiet musings, but they could never break the one truth she held so close to her heart.

He needed her, just as she needed him. All along, she'd had nothing to worry about. Neither of them could ever leave the other behind.