Chapter Text
Even after their conversation a few nights ago, it was obvious Silver was trying to avoid her. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was angry with her. Nothing she said seemed to help. He stayed as far away from her as he could, and though she knew he was only trying to protect her, it still hurt to see.
“Can’t you at least talk to me?” she finally blurted.
He turned to look at her in surprise. “What?”
“I mean, I understand why you’re staying so far away,” she said as she gestured to the distance between them, “but you can’t keep ignoring me forever.”
For a moment, it seemed like he was going to protest, but he just pressed his lips together and faced forward again. “It’s for your own good.”
That response sent a flicker of anger into her heart, and she had to pause for a moment to push the fire in her chest away. “How is this situation any different from before? Genuinely. It’s not like you magically gained psychic powers, so why are you doing this now?” She stopped in her tracks, and after a few steps, he stopped too.
Instead of answering her question, Silver clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. “Why do you suddenly care?”
You showed me what freedom feels like. You showed me what it’s like to have a friend, to speak my mind, to live as if no one was watching. I don’t want to lose that. I can’t do this alone.
She tried so hard to say what she was thinking, but the words didn’t come. Why did it hurt so much? What was this feeling that burned like fire whenever she looked at him? Why did it feel like her world shattered every time he avoided her? Why did she feel like she couldn’t live without him?
“I don’t know.” She was lying, and she knew it. One glance over his shoulder told her that Silver knew it, too. She hated lying to him, but things were already so awkward between them. Besides, their tangled lives were a mess. Once they got to Onyx, she would never see him again, and it would be for the best.
“What’d’ya mean, you don’t know?”
“I don’t know!” she repeated, raising her voice. Sparks ignited at her fingertips. “I don’t know why I need you. I don’t know why I look at you and feel like everything is okay. I don’t know why I’m not afraid of you. You’re irritating, you’re dangerous, you’re supposed to kill me—but I don’t care about that and I don’t know why!”
Because I’m falling in love with you.
Silver didn’t respond. She took a step forward. He took a step back.
“Are you afraid of me?” she asked.
“No,” he said, and took another step backward.
“Then why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep pushing me away?” Why was she so frustrated? Why couldn’t she handle her emotions like an adult, like she usually did? She needed to calm down. Then they could have a civilized conversation—
“Because I’m afraid of myself!” Silver suddenly shouted. His voice cracked and he was shaking. “I’m afraid of killing someone again!”
Her thoughts halted. “Again?” she whispered. “You’ve already killed someone?”
“It was an accident.” He lowered his voice, but it cracked again. “I was eleven. Someone attacked me ‘n Edmund, and…I dunno what happened, I just…fought back, and suddenly the guy was halfway ‘cross the street with a broken neck.”
Her voice refused to come. What did she say to that, anyway?
“Second time I was thirteen.” There were tears in his eyes yet again, and her heart broke. No one deserved a life of crying. “Someone jumped me alone. He was drugged up ‘n desperate, and I was young ‘n stupid…” He suddenly went very tense and pressed his knees together. It didn’t take her long to realize what he was talking about. The realization made her sick. “I didn’t know what to do,” he whispered. “I panicked. And before I could stop myself—he exploded. Maybe he deserved it; I dunno, but…chaos, it was the worst feeling. Knowing that I did that…” He finally met her eyes, and though she had never been a touchy person, she wanted to run to him and hold him close to make him feel safe. He took a shaky breath and wiped his eyes, and then turned away from her again. “So that’s why. ‘Cause the longer you’re around me, the more danger you’re in.”
“Oh,” was all that came out. “I’m sorry.”
To her surprise, he sighed and apologized, too. “No, I’m sorry. You didn’t…needa know that.”
“If you want me to stay away from you, I can do that,” Blaze said softly. “If that would make you more comfortable, I'll do it. But please don’t ignore me.”
He didn’t respond as they began to walk again, her on one side of the street and him on the other. Then he sighed again, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets. “Okay. I’ll try.”
They followed the highway until the city abruptly ended and nothing but flat wasteland spread out in front of them. The highway stretched across it, leading to what Blaze assumed to be another city.
“Follow the highway. You can’t miss it.”
Silver stood in the middle of the road with his hands on his hips as he squinted down the highway. Blaze waited in the shadow of a crumbling wall, already feeling the increase of heat and lack of shade from the road in front of them.
“We’ll have to travel at night,” Silver finally called. “The sun is merciless without shade. Without cover, you’ll fry, but with it, you’ll melt.”
Blaze looked up at the sky. It was nearly dusk. “Could we wait until tomorrow night? Or take a quick rest now?”
“Yeah, but we’ll have to keep it short. We’re almost outta supplies and I don’t wanna be stranded out there.”
He turned away from the road and searched for a better resting place, and though she tried to help him, it was difficult to stay away from him like he wanted her to. Thankfully, he didn’t look for too long, and decided the wall she’d rested against was as good a place as any, and they sat together in the lengthening shadows.
His backpack sounded lighter as he set it on the ground. That wasn’t a good sign. “What sounds good to you?” he asked as he set three cans out in a line. “Can one, can two, or can three?”
None of the cans had labels, but at this point, she didn’t care what she ate. “How about can three?”
“Alright. Can number three it is.” He stabbed his knife into the top and pried it off, licking the piece of metal clean. “Oh, this one’s pretty good. Kinda salty.”
It looked like some kind of condensed soup, with vegetables and bits of meat in a thick creamy sauce. They took turns slurping the soup from the can until they couldn’t get anymore, and then they swept the sides with their fingers. They both had to take one of their gloves off, of course, which meant Silver had to reveal one of his psychic marks. It was a perfect circle on his palm and the back of his hand with a line connecting to a band around his wrist, and it was nearly pitch black, like a tattoo. He caught her staring, but didn’t say anything. When they were finished, he packed the other two cans away and stood up, shouldering his bag.
“Gonna see if there’s somewhere to fill up water. We’re down to a half bottle, and we’re not gonna make it across with that little.”
“Oh. Okay.” Her heart jumped in her chest at the thought of being alone. But it was necessary, she reminded herself, and she could defend herself just fine. She had no reason to be nervous.
“You just rest,” he said, either ignoring or missing her nervousness. “I’ll be back soon to get some rest, and then we’ll head out.”
“Alright. Good luck.”
And then he was gone, leaving her alone by the highway. Even though she couldn’t help but worry, she knew she needed to at least rest her eyes. The sun didn’t seem too ruthless as it slid down the sky, so she took her cloak off and bunched it up to use as a pillow. She still wasn’t used to sleeping on the ground. Despite this, her eyes could hardly stay open as she laid there, and before she knew it, she had drifted to sleep.
Her dreams were full of fire and hardened black rock. Some sort of creature darted across her vision, too blurry or too fast to make out. A deep, thunderous voice spoke in her ear, and though it was close and rather loud, she couldn’t understand what it said. Her fingertips burned despite never having done so before, and she cried out as the feeling spread up her arms. The sound was muffled.
Then there was a flash of blue she’d only seen once before. Psychokinesis; wrapping around her body and lifting her into the air. She tried to scream, but her mouth couldn’t open, and no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t move.
Everything became distorted like a smudged mirror, and she couldn’t feel her body anymore. Her consciousness rolled and tumbled through blue magic and yellow fire, spinning endlessly into a dark void. Around and around and around until—
Silver gently shook her awake. "Time to go, princess."
For a moment, all she could do was lay there, dazed and confused as the burning from her dream faded. Sitting up was a struggle. She felt more exhausted than she'd been before she'd fallen asleep. "Right," she said slowly. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth.
Silver gave her a strange look. "You okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
He didn't seem convinced, but he didn't push it. He just climbed to his feet and shouldered his bag, just like he had earlier. "If you say so. We gotta hurry. It's gonna be a long walk, and I don't wanna be exposed out there any longer than we have to."
The full moon was a deep orange, as if lit by the glow of a fire. While she was slowly getting used to it, the air was still filthy, filled with smoke and dust from all these years of drought. They said rain cleared the air. The last day it had rained had been twenty years ago, on the day of her birth. The day her parents had caused the apocalypse. The day they had sealed the fate of anyone who wasn't a royal.
Maybe, she thought tentatively, it would be better if Silver killed her. Then the world wouldn't have to suffer for her parents' poor decisions.
The prophecy had been spoken on her birthday seven years later. After seven years of drought, after starvation and plague, the king and queen had brought a psychic into the castle; a seer to tell them when this disaster would end.
"A psychic of unseen power will end eternal suffering, and the royal bloodline will be no more."
The rat had stared right at her, his eyes glowing as his voice echoed, and that had been all the evidence her parents needed to give the order.
Unseen power…
Silver didn't look like he held unseen power. He was childish and non-threatening. Then again—she glanced at him as her gut twisted nervously—she had only seen a glimpse of his power. From her point of view, he had caught her near effortlessly and brought her to safety without even breaking a sweat. And though she had never met another psychic before, that just had to be impressive. The mental energy required for something like that had to be enormous.
He must have caught her staring at him, because he rubbed the bindings around his wrists and cleared his throat awkwardly. "So what's Onyx like, anyway?"
"It's…" She struggled for the right words. "Crowded, from what I can see. It seems as though life is still somewhat of a struggle, though it's practically nothing compared to out here."
"From what you can see? Don't you live there?"
She cringed slightly. "Yes, the castle is located in the center of the city, but I was never allowed outside. My parents are…paranoid, to put it lightly."
Silver snorted, but it wasn't in good nature like it usually was. Of course it wasn’t. That paranoia had killed his entire village.
“I apologize,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“Eh, my fault for askin’.” He glanced at her and flashed her some sort of half-smile. “Thanks, though.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but her voice stuck in her throat as something flickered in the distance. A creature of flame and hardened black rocks, just like from her dream. Her heart clenched and she froze in place as it came closer, taking enormous strides towards them. A face became visible as it approached, and it stared directly at her with two white hot eyes.
“Princess? You good?”
She heard Silver’s voice as if from underground. She pointed a shaking figure at the creature behind him, and he turned with a frown. It was almost upon them. She wanted to run, but her legs were like cement.
“What're you pointing at?” Silver said. “I don’t see anything.”
How can you not see it? she wanted to scream. It stopped mere paces away, radiating enough heat to smother her. The glow of the fire beneath its rocky armor nearly blinded her against the darkness. Then it tipped its head back and roared, and the sound shook her to her very core.
“What are you?” she cried. “What do you want from me?”
The monster roared again, and a voice spoke in her mind.
“I am Iblis.”
“What d’ya mean? What’s going on?” Silver demanded. She barely heard him.
“Surely you recognize me. I am the god who resides within you.”
The behemoth—Iblis—raised its claws as if to strike. Liquid fire dripped to the ground, sizzling on impact, and finally, she staggered back.
“What do you want from me?” she repeated, her voice trembling.
“I have allowed this carelessness for too long. I cannot allow myself to be put out.”
“What do you mean?” she all but whispered.
Iblis leaned forward, planting its fists and crouching like a wild animal. It lowered itself until its face was only an arm’s length away. The heat was suffocating.
“This recklessness will only lead to the death of us both. You must end this.”
“You can’t mean…” She turned to look at Silver in disbelief, terror coursing through her viens. He looked just as scared as she was.
“Yes.”
It raised a massive hand over the hedgehog’s head and flexed its claws. The fire dripped in a circle around him, and bits of its armor flaked off to create an ashy halo. And Silver just stood there, looking utterly confused.
She had to get him out of here. “Run, Silver,” she said. “Run as fast as you can.”
“What in Aurora’s name are you talking about?”
Iblis snarled.
“Aurora will not save him now.”
Why wouldn’t he listen? What could she do? Iblis’s claws tightened, just seconds away from crushing her companion—her friend—so she took off running.
His shout of surprise was all she needed to know he was running after her. “Princess—Blaze, where’re you going?”
They had to get away. They had to. She made the mistake of glancing over her shoulder, and nearly lost her footing as she saw the monster following. It wasn’t running, but it was so massive that it didn’t need to. It could easily keep pace.
Her chest burned, and she wasn’t entirely sure it was only from running. Flames ignited at the tips of her fingers and tail, and despite having near-total control over her powers before, this time, they sparked without her command. Like in her dream, they eagerly raced up her arms, burning hotter than ever before—hotter with every step Iblis took toward her. Tears burned in her eyes and her legs were jelly and she couldn’t breathe. She held it back as best she could, but against her will, a sob exploded from her throat, and the world caught fire.
She had no idea how long the inferno lasted. All she knew was that it hurt. Everything was doused in fire. She couldn’t tell if her clothes were burning, but it felt as though they were. Her fur seemed to burn until there was nothing but scarred flesh left behind. The flames of every emotion she’d held back rushed out of her and into the sky like a bonfire, burning and burning until the fuel was exhausted, and she collapsed to the ground.
Silver was at her side in a second. He reached his hand out, but didn’t touch her. “Blaze! Blaze, are you okay?”
It took her a full minute to see clearly, and another two to catch her breath. The ground was scorched and blackened in a wide circle, with a few glowing red embers left behind. She’d left the highway in her mad dash to get away from Iblis. As soon as she realized it, she bolted upright, her heart racing as she desperately searched for it. The god was nowhere to be found.
“Blaze, what happened?” Silver asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Her forehead still burned, and she lifted a trembling hand to touch it. The royal jewel burnt her fingers, and she yelped.
“Hey, don’t touch that. You’re—you’re burnt.” Silver’s voice cracked, just slightly. “I’ll see if I can take it off—”
“No!” she cried. “It’s—it’s a seal.”
He blinked in confusion, but didn’t protest. “What happened?”
Her voice shook, and it took her two times to say it.
“I saw Iblis.”