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Blaze ran a clawed hand down her muzzle as she stared into the puddle in the dimly lit alleyway. She watched the way her golden irises swam in the darkness of her sclera. The light from the broken moon reflected off of her and the wall that she had sunk her head against. Dark Gaia’s energy had made her almost unrecognizable the entire time that she, Chip, and Amy have been traveling the shattered globe together. The hero had even asked the smartest person she knew if its effects were reversible. She had the smallest ember of hope that he could.
She knew she could trust Miles, and by proxy Professor Pickle, to find a way for her to become herself again. However, with each passing moment and inquiry that she had for the fox, it felt hopeless. Even after Chip regained his memories as Light Gaia, he wasn’t sure if he could do anything about it either. They only had the final temple to complete and they could fix their world, they could make it whole again. She had promised to focus on that to herself. The weight of her fears were slowly but surely dragging her down, breaking her steadfast mentality.
Blaze had dealt with the jeering and nasty comments from random onlookers she was given in her current form. She felt that couldn’t be upset about the way they saw her, she does look like one of Dark Gaia’s many minions. Her fur was now an inky black with magenta hue that appeared at the tips and around her eyes. No longer was it the lavender and white she had seen in the mirror only a few days prior. Her frame was sharp and jagged. Too menacing to convince people she was anything but a beast. The monster that she thought she was all those years ago. A part of her that was still caged in by others’ beliefs of her powers.
Her claws dug into the stone of the inn’s wall as she swallowed down her frustration and the subsequent tears that lurked. Blaze’s mind whirred with uncertainty, the possibilities of becoming alone again plagued her entire being. As she huffed to calm herself, she hadn’t noticed that Amy had followed her out.
“Blaze?” Her ears caught the hedgehog’s voice, forcing her to stiffen and readjust herself. Concern was laced in the other girl’s tone. She really didn’t want her to be worried, they were almost done. Blaze felt like she could have a one-on-one chat later, after everything was dealt with.
“Hey,” Blaze gave a bit of a smile that she knew wasn’t going to reach her eyes, “needed something, Amy?”
They’d been friends for too long, she knew that it was nearly impossible to convince the hedgehog that everything was fine. She watched her friend’s face soften a bit, “What’s wrong?”
The werecat’s ears twitched a bit at the question. She couldn’t exactly match the intense sincerity that Amy’s stare held, so she shied away from her face towards a post off in the distance.
“I’m fine,” she pressed her paw to cover the markings in the stone, “seriously, what brought you out here—”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Amy’s head tilted to catch the other’s attention.
Her fangs and tongue felt too big in her mouth all of a sudden, as if speaking was now a heavy burden. She had confided in Amy before when Miles had left for Spagonia University on his own. When he was taken when they first met Shadow. She had remained a voice of reason when she felt irrational. A twinge of frustration coursed through her along with her fears, she couldn’t avoid Amy, even if she really wanted to.
It felt like hours once she found her voice again.
“I’m worried,” she removed her paw from the wall, displaying the gouged out stone, “that I’ll be stuck like this, forever.”
Blaze glared at the stone, “Miles has been working hard this entire time to help, he hasn’t found anything. Chip doesn’t even know if it’s possible or what he could do to revert me back to my normal self, but to trust that it would be fine in the end.”
Her hands curled up into fists at her side, “That’s not very reassuring for all of,” she gestured to her form, “this.”
“I hate looking like this, being looked at as this,” she snarled at nothing and no one in particular, “another monster for people to scream at.”
The werecat shook quietly in her anger, but she felt Amy’s hands grab one of her’s. A momentary comfort as Blaze continued, “I worked so hard for so long to not feel this way again. For YEARS I’ve had to prove myself to everyone that I had myself under control. That my powers weren’t going to cause a disaster, that all I wanted to do is help as many people as I could.”
“We’ll still be here, you know.” Amy softly reminded her and rubbed a thumb against the back of her hand, “So will Miles, and Team Chaotix, and Knuckles, and Shadow, all of our friends. Everyone will still be here to support you no matter what, why would that stop now?”
A tiny part of her, so small and sharp, still found a way to lash out, “You didn’t even recognize me when I found you.” She grumbled bitterly at the girl, she felt selfish for letting Amy still hold on to her while she was being mean. A brief flash of hurt crossed Amy’s face. She wanted to pull herself out of the hedgehog’s grip and dash off at the sight. The girl didn’t deserve to bear the brunt of her frustration.
Amy sighed softly as she tightened her grasp on her friend’s hand, “I won’t lie,” she started, “it was a bit difficult to tell that it was you who was helping me. You helped me. You fought for me and I knew immediately that you were different from the rest of Dark Gaia’s minions.”
The hedgehog smiled warmly and prodded at the center of the werecat’s chest, “Because you’re still you at the very core of your being. I didn’t need any other explanation, Blaze.” Her smile fell into an apologetic frown, small, but there, “I’m sorry for making you feel this way, but I want to be here for you like you’ve always been here for me, no matter what comes our way.”
Blaze was silent for a long while. Her frustration finally dissipated into the worry and fear she felt before, the root to it all. Amy never removed her hands from hers as she waited patiently. She truthfully wasn’t sure if she deserved the kindness after how she reacted. The two had been honest in how they’ve felt so she allowed herself, though timidly, to ask, “Would you still love me, if I stayed like this? If no one could find a way to turn me back?” Her ears flattened against her head as the questions left her lips, feeling awkward for her particular interest in the topic.
A blush covered Amy’s muzzle for a moment in surprise. Blaze wanted a hole to suddenly form in the ground and swallow her whole to escape the oncoming embarrassment. She panicked a bit and stumbled over her own words, “Y-you don’t have to answer that—”
“I would! I still do!” Amy blurted out and looked up at her, “Even though it’s been years, I still feel the same from when we first met back on Little Planet.” The shock on Blaze’s face made her look elsewhere for now, “The only thing that’s changed is that I’ve been better about not flustering you about it, that’s all.”
Blaze’s muzzle felt hot but she felt…giddy. It wasn’t the ideal way she wanted to go about this, but there wasn’t really a better time than this very moment. When they were both talking plainly to each other. She quietly nodded as she thought some more.
It would be a little reward for the planet not blowing up, again. She pulled the other girl into a hug and hid her face against her shoulder, “Thank you, for everything.” Her head shifted a bit so that she was a little more audible, “I’m sorry for what I said, that was unnecessary."
Amy hugged her back, “Don’t beat yourself up over it, thank you for telling me.” The two of them stood there for a while before Amy led them back inside. Most of the patrons and staff seemed to no longer be in the immediate area, so they continued their way up the staircase. They made it into the room they were sharing to find Chip fast asleep in the pillow nest he made on the other bed. His fur was a bit tussled from sleep but was peaceful nonetheless.
The hedgehog giggled as she looked at his messily sleeping form. She figured he would’ve been neater with his memory regained, but found it funnier this way. “We’ll have to share again,” she looked at Blaze, “if that’s okay?”
The werecat blushed a bit and nodded, not trusting her words at the moment from her previous blunder. Blaze waited until Amy was ready before getting into the bed. Amy followed and the hedgehog rested her head on her chest, “Good night, Blaze.” She heard her say quietly and pushed herself a little closer. Blaze smiled to herself and moved an arm to hold her close. She felt the rumble of her own purr run through her own body as she relaxed more.
“Good night.”
Blaze felt exhausted but better, to say the least. Nothing broke or exploded, by her own two hands at least, and there was something exciting lingering between herself and her closest friend now. Once they put Dark Gaia back, she could explore this new pathway of her and Amy’s current relationship without the looming threat of imminent destruction. She could work with that a million times over.