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Blaze sighed as she turned beneath the blanket for the hundredth time. Her ears flickered, hearing the near-silent movement of the staff through the hidden tunnels behind and beneath the metal walls and floors. The moon had risen high into the sky now, casting its light across her room, illuminating the mechanical hands working to repair her armor.
The gleaming violet armor and gold trimming shone softly in the moonlight, tarnished only by a set of three scars running down the breastplate and the right pauldron bent beyond recognition.
Her body shuddered as she remembered the hammer smashing into her, its weight sending her flying as the warrior jumped on her, slashing her claws, hoping to slit her throat, but only getting her chest as Blaze dragged herself up, seeing only a blur of pink and hateful green eyes.
What was I thinking? Blaze thought as she covered her face in both hands and curling into a ball.
She wasn’t sure why she had offered the warrior to meet tonight. Sure, she was a great warrior, and it was a strategic way of lessening the Sol Empire's enemies, but she knew she didn’t do it for those reasons.
Those green eyes… she couldn’t stop thinking about it for a week now, her glare filling up her dreams at night, even her days while she was in the council meetings.
Her phone vibrated on her nightstand.
Grabbing it faster than Sonic at a Chili dog restaurant, she saw a simple message.
Hey. I’m at the well like you said. Don’t keep me waiting.
Raising a brow at the semi-friendly text, she quickly got out of bed, putting on her best- and favorite- white pants and violet tail coat with golden shoulder pads.
Next, there was her weapon just in case. She paused at the armory’s holographic projection of her dual enchanted falchions.
It would probably scare her away if I brought these. Blaze thought as she swiped the image, settling on her rapier, which was more ceremonial than practical.
She also chose to abandon her shoes, preferring her silent paws over the clacking of the high heels.
Looking at the mirror, she sighed. Yet another person my mother hurt. How can I ever fix all of the problems she caused?
Shaking her head, she stepped away from the mirror. Maybe I can’t, but I will try, one problem at a time, just like Yuki said.
Taking a deep breath, she crept out of her room.
And immediately ran into Tangle.
“Oh, Blaze, we, uh, didn’t think you were awake.” The lemur laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, her tail swirling behind her.
What was odd to Blaze, however, was the Chronosian’s lack of armor.
“Why aren’t you- wait, did you just say we?” she started, raising an eyebrow as she closed the door to her room.
Heavy foot steps drew her attention, as a large, very bright cyan creature stepped forward, her form shriveling into that of a normal wolf as her blue Hyper-go-on turned to biscotti colored fur with cyan tips, wearing a trench coat and boots, and a gas mask covering her snout, leaving her pure white eyes to stare into her soul.
“Sorry, empress,” the wisp muttered slowly. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
Blaze chuckled. “It’s fine, Whisper, I wasn’t sleeping, just thought I'd clear my head a bit. Also,” she added softly. “You don’t have to hide yourself in the palace, you know?”
The hybrid looked away, hiding herself behind Tangle.
“Oh come on, Whisper, you know we support you in any way we can.” The lemur smiled, putting a hand on the wisps' shoulder, giving her a warm smile.
“Anyway, I guess we should leave you to your business, your majesty, but before that, about Sula,” Tangle said, giving her a pointed look.
Groaning internally, Blaze motioned her to continue.
“It’s been a week already, and we’ve only lost worlds without gaining any sort of advantage. Why aren’t you deploying us?” Tangle asked, putting her hands on her hips.
“Tangle, as I’m sure you know, the Lunar mass was a faction that my mother, let’s just say, decimated.” She winced at that, rubbing her arm. “I want to solve this diplomatically if possible.”
Tangle rolled her eyes. “Look, I appreciate you doing all that, but our people are hurting! We can’t just do nothing.”
Sighing again, Blaze rubbed her face. “I know Tangle, I, I just need a bit more time.”
Tangle was about to argue, but a nudge from whisper silenced her.
“Let her handle things.” The wolf muttered. “We trust her and she didn’t let us down.”
“Fine.” The lemur bowed her head in defeat.
Blaze chuckled. “Don’t worry, we'll talk about it soon. Now, if you excuse me,” she stepped away from her door, walking past the duo.
“Oh, right, sorry, have a fun night!” Tangle said from behind her as Blaze walked down the large halls of the palace.
The long corridor was made of violet metal, with intricate gold patterns and a tall roof, a beautiful sight for anyone who would enter it. If it wasn’t for the dragon statues lining the space between the walls and ceiling on both sides.
A shiver passed through her as she could almost feel the glassy eyes of the dragons following her.
Yet another sign of her mother’s sins.
Going through the secret tunnels, she managed to reach the hidden well in less than five minutes.
The cavern was simple. A cave with a glowing blue lake in the middle, with carved stone platforms for sitting.
And on one of those platforms, a pink hedgehog in full armor was seated, her fingers drumming on the handle of her ridiculously big hammer, her emerald eyes darting around the cavern.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for long,” Blaze said as she stepped into the cavern, her ears twitching as the sound of running water entered her ears.
The warrior jumped, quickly grabbing her hammer’s handle with both hands and positioning it between them.
Her eyes are gorgeous. Blaze thought as a blush covered her face. “I’m not here for a fight,” she quickly said, raising her hands into the air.
“Then why did you tell me to come here?” the hedgehog growled, narrowing her eyes.
Blaze took a step forward. “Mind if I sit here?” she motioned to the stone platform with her tail. “I promise, I just want to talk.”
The hedgehog looked her up and down before lowering her hammer slightly.
“Thank you,” Blaze said, gracefully sitting down on the extremely uncomfortable bench. “So, any questions before I say my part?”
“What is this place?” the hedgehog asked, before straightening her back. “Oh, sorry, my name is Amy.”
A smile crept on Blaze’s face. “Well met, Amy, as I’m sure you know, I am Blaze.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “The empress of the Sol empire, the daughter of the crimson queen, yeah, I know.”
She winced at that. “A-anyway, this,” she motioned to the cavern. “Is the lake of peace. A place only a handful know about.”
The hedgehog glanced at the blue lake. “What does it do?”
She giggled. “That’s the neat part. It does nothing.”
A flat look was all she got.
Shrugging, Blaze leaned back. “I mean, it’s pretty, don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, but it’s not something magical.”
“Hmm.” Amy hummed, glancing at the lake, before tentatively sitting down. “Why did you want to meet up off the books?”
“Well,” Blaze hesitated, her tail swishing side by side. “ I just wanted to talk to you. You’re the alpha, right?”
“I am,” Amy growled. “On paper.”
“What do you mean?” Blaze asked, brow raised.
“Crap,” Amy hissed. “I-I mean, yeah, I’m the alpha! Who else do you think it is?”
Blaze didn’t say anything, merely looking at the warrior as she fidgeted in place.
“Do you know what my goal is?” Blaze asked slowly, letting her eyes stare into the emerald pools.
“To finish what your mother started,” Amy growled, her fist curling into balls.
She said it with such certainty. Blaze thought sadly. Just as I feared.
“It’s true that my mother hurt a lot of people.” She averted her gaze, choosing to look into the ever-shifting surface of the lake. “I would never deny that, nor the pillars, or rather, oceans of blood this empire was built on.”
Amy snorted. “That would be an understatement.”
“But,” Blaze ignored the remark. “I won’t let that be my legacy. I am not my mother. I can’t atone for what she has done, but I can try to fix her mistakes. To make this galaxy a better place. Without bloodshed.”
Silence overtook the cave once more as the two of them stared at the glowing pool.
“That is a sweet dream,” Amy said slowly, her tone carrying a certain melancholy. “But you do realize that it's impossible, right?”
Blaze chuckled. “I know, but I can at the very least try. To make life just a bit easier, and maybe after a while-“
“Those little things add up?” Amy finished for her, leaning forward and finally letting go of her hammer.
She nodded, her ears flickering in amusement. “It seems I’m not the only one who stays up all night thinking about it.”
This time, the warrior laughed.
The sound sent a shiver up her spine, making her go very still. It was a gentle sound, so full of hope and kindness, and maybe, understanding.
“Maybe if we weren’t on different sides, we could’ve been friends.” The pink hedgehog said, with a sad smile on her lips.
Blaze’s heart skipped a bit as a thought cut through her mind, or maybe we could’ve been more.
“W-we don’t have to be on different sides.” Blaze stammered, trying to get a hold of herself.
Amy glanced at her with a frown. “We would rather die than join your empire, and I doubt that you want to join us.” She deadpanned.
Blaze shook her head. “No, I care too much about my people to abandon them.” Unlike mother. She thought bitterly. “But I also didn’t mean to imply we assimilate you into the Sol Empire.”
Leaning back, the warrior folded her arms. “Then what do you propose?”
“A truce.” She answered honestly. “I don’t want underlings, or vassals, or more territory, it’s already a nightmare to manage one this big,” Blaze continued, sighing as she remembered all the paperwork she needed to do tomorrow. “What I want is allies. Allies that respect me, and I respect them, regardless of our ideals. I want someone equal.”
“And you want us as allies?” Amy asked, brow raised, shifting in her place as though she didn’t expect that speech from her. “You know you are losing to us, right?”
Blaze looked at her, dumbfounded.
“I mean,” Amy said, with somewhat of a smug look. “We are kinda crushing your army.”
“…” Blaze’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally managed to form a sentence. “You should fire your reconnaissance officer.”
“He’s doing a fine job, thank you very much.” Amy snarled, folding her arms and looking away from the cat.
“Then you should know that I actually withdrew the main army. You are just facing the planetary militia.” Blaze said, a smile tugging at her lips.
Amy whipped around to look at her, eyes as wide and pretty. A part of her mind sang- as the sun. “You’re joking.”
Blaze giggled. “I’m not, also, you should probably know that we have around one hundred Chronosians as well, plus the possibly last wisp alive.”
Honestly, Amy was too cute with how her mouth moved silently as she tried to form a sentence.
“But,” Blaze continued. “I’m not telling you this to intimidate you. I withdrew them because I want to form an alliance with you.” She moved forward, placing a hand on the warrior’s gauntlet. “So please. At least consider it, alright?”
The two stared into each other's eyes for a long time before the silence was broken by Amy.
“Smart and pretty.” She mumbled and immediately straightened herself, drawing her hand away and standing up, rubbing the back of her neck. ”I-I mean, yes, I, I’ll think about it.”
Blaze also slowly drew her hand back, pressing it over her heart as her face burned, ears bending downward. “I-I appreciate it. And,” she hesitated before adding, “and your sentiment.”
“I-I, you, uh…” Amy fumbled before suddenly turning towards the other entrance and walking out. “I-I guess I'll see you later, bye!”
And just like that, she was gone.
Taking a deep breath, Blaze leaned back, pressing her back to the cold wall of the cave, face still flushed.
I have it that bad, huh? She chuckled to herself before glancing at the way Amy had walked out. And maybe it’s not a one-way thing either.
After taking a few deep breaths, she stood and walked back to the labyrinthine halls of her palace, the adrenaline of the night's events finally hitting her like a brick. All she wanted to do now was return to her bed and sleep until noon. I can postpone the archduke meeting to the evening. He wouldn’t mind. And letting that little shit tundra wait until after it would be the cherry on top.
As she was thinking how she could reorganize tomorrow's schedule, she noticed Sonic, wearing his full silver armor and seemingly arguing with… something.
Blaze rubbed her eyes and took another look at the stranger.
The overall silhouette was similar to an Echidna, but that was where the similarity ended.
The entire body was made of moving metal, gears that shifted and large plates, with a blue and yellow robe draped across it, smoke rising from somewhere beneath it, and red optics as eyes, and tubes as hair, with a golden mask with horns covering its eyes and mouth.
“Um, Sonic,” Blaze announced herself, stepping next to her friend, hand resting on her rapier. “Who is our… guest?”
Sonic sighed, but before he could answer, the machine stepped forward, bowing its head as a smooth, unmachine-like voice came out of it.
“Blessing of iron upon thee, Blaze, empress of the Sol empire, I am Enerjak, high priest of the god of the machine.”
Blaze pursed her mouth as she glanced at Sonic, who was shaking his head.
…fuck tomorrow’s schedule and my sleep tonight, I guess.