happilyeverbeginning | POTENTIAL PLAY POST WITH CRIM

Truth be told, she'd felt plum terrible about leaving the city with Antoine as he was. But knowin' that there were those out there who helped her husband get in his condition while she was practically powerless to stop it had been more than she could bear.

But Bunnie returned now, having dealt with her Uncle and obtained something that would let her be able to help defend her home just as she used to do.

All that was left was to see him and apologize.

Before she even said hello to anyone in the city or made her return known to any of her Freedom Fighter friends, she slipped into the hospital to the very same room she remembered having left. 'Part of me is hopin' that he ain't no longer here.' She thought to herself as she cracked the door open to peek in and see if Antoine still resided in his room.

Antoine still laid there, but many of his bandages had been removed. During Bunnie's mysterious vanishing act, the doctors and nurses at the hospital had made great strides in regards to his recovery. His body was still wracked with scars, but at least his face was mostly visibly now.

His breathing was slow, but no longer in a pained or strained way. Now this was the breath of exhausted rest, the machines by his side quietly doing their job with the occasional beep echoing across the empty room.

The door opening was announced with a slow creaking sound.

Some part of her hoped that she'd open the door and be met with the sight of an empty bed. She could then go look for Antoine at home, where he undoubtedly be waiting for her. But instead, her husband lay in the same hospital bed that she'd left him in.

Bunnie stood at the entrance. She could feel the pain and frustration that she had tried to quiet slowly rise from her chest up to her throat. 'He still.. ain't woke up..?' She tried to swallow the sadness in her throat but all she managed to do was choke back a sob.

Bunnie quietly walked to his bedside and put her hand on his. "Don't you ...worry, Darlin'." She managed through her cracking voice. "I'm not--" Bunnie paused and took a deep breath, "I'm not gonna leave you again."

Someone like Doctor Quack would have said what happened next was a result of inevitability, thanks to modern medicine and Antoine's own strong will. Someone like Amy Rose would have said it was thanks to true love.

Either way, as Bunnie's hand rested on his, a slight sound begin to stir from Antoine's throat. It was a mix of a groan and a struggle, as facial twitches started appearing here and there. But slowly, ever so slowly, whatever he was fighting against lost, and his eyelids started to move. He was opening his eyes, the world initially blurry to him, but then they slid over to the most important person in the world.

Bunnie had busied herself by clearing away tears with the heel of her palm. Though as she glanced down she was more than surprised to see the person in the hospital bed looking back at her.

Looking at her. He was looking at her!

"Antoine?!" She shouted in sheer surprise. The tears continued--this time for a much happier reason. She threw her hands around he neck and pressed the side of her face against his. "Antoine! Darlin'! Ah 'm so--" sniff, "--happy to see you again."

A small grunt escaped him as he was nearly tackled down, but he wasn't going to complain. His memories were jumbled, and some of the medicine was starting to wear off, but these things seemed inconsequential in the presence of his beloved. It took effort, but he managed to nuzzle his cheek against hers, taking in her scent. It'd felt like ages since he'd known her embrace.

"Such a... beautiful angel." His voice was a whisper at first, needing to regain strength. "... I am in heaven, no...?"

Yes, even after waking up from a coma, Antoine could not resist serving up the suave. Mostly because it served as an excellent distraction from asking what had happened.

Bunnie gave a broken laugh into his pillow, "Always such a sweet talker." After such a long time it was just nice to hear the sound of his voice again. It didn't have to be flattery to make her happy.

She lightened her hug and craned her head to meet his gaze. "How are you feelin'? Should ah get you a nurse?"

"I am fine, fine, fine..." He cleared his throat in an effort to stop sounding so hoarse, but even that still needed some work. His arms were heavy as lead, but even so, he tried to move them, straining to touch Bunnie's soft hair.

"How about you, mah chérie?" He murmured, also trying to look her over as best he can. "... I am... having trouble recalling... all of ze events... Were you harmed?"

"Ah'm fine, Antoine." Though her voice still sounded teary and broken, she was smiling all the same. She was just happy to be able to talk to him and to have him talk back; It had certainly been a long time since she was able to hold a conversation with the person she loved most.

"Now, " Bunnie gave her husband a quick peck on the cheek, she kept it light since he still seemed tender around that area. "You don't need to be fussin' over li'l ol' me me when you're lyin' in bed as ya are. You just worry 'bout gettin' back on your feet again. I'll be here helpin' ya every step of the way."

Antoine gave an indignant little snort at that. "I shall be leaving here in no time. Eet will not be long before I am out and about and fighting and..." He was trying to prove this by getting up, but when someone's been in a coma for a while, the muscles take a long, long time to wake up. So the most he accomplished were his arms pathetically stretching for a few good seconds, before he gave up and resumed grooming his wife.

"Maybe a bit longer zan zat." He admitted. As of the moment, he was so concentrated on her face, he had yet to notice anything else different about her. He never would have guessed what she had done while he had laid in silence.

Though she wouldn't force him to lie back down for fear of not wanting to injure him further, worry was all over Bunnie's expression as Antoine tried to sit up. She sat up herself and watched with baited breath breath. He didn't nearly look well enough to take such a big step all of a sudden.

She sighed in relief as he decided to lie back down.

"Take all the time you need." Bunnie put a hand on his. "After all this, ah'm in no hurry to see you fightin' again. Besides," She looked down. "Ah made sure that I won't be left defenseless again. You don't need to worry 'bout it."

Antoine was a little annoyed that he was helpless, but what else could be done? he squeezed her hand, listening to her.

"You? Defenseless?" He scoffed - which caused him to cough a little - at such a silly idea. "I am never hearing such ridiculousness..." But there was something in her tone that threw him off. He looked at her once again to confirm what he was hearing. "... What do you mean... you 'made sure'...?"

Keeping secrets was never her goal, but as she looked over him in sprawled on on a hospital cot covered in cuts and bandages, it didn't seem the right time.

Bunnie squeezed his hand. "Ah'll tell you everythin' once you're feelin' better. You need to rest."

Something wasn't right. It was only hitting Antoine now that maybe he hadn't just been 'out' for a few days. He blinked slowly, searching her face over for any answers. His hand moved to her face, cupping her wet cheek.

"... What has happened,mon amour?" His thumb wiped away any remaining tears. "Please... I can't possibly rest while you are so upset."

She had managed to stave off being upset until Antoine mentioned her being upset. Even if she hid it so well--or so she thought--he was still able to tell so easily.

The corners of Bunnie's mouth tugged downward and her eyes began to sting. She buried her face into his chest so that he wouldn't see her collected expression fall apart. "You've been in here for such a long time... ah had to do something."

His heart began to sink. 'Such a long time'? Just how long had he been out? Just how close to death had he come? Fear began to crawl up his spine, but he swallowed those horrific questions. Bunnie came first. Bunnie always came first.

"Darling... Darling..." He repeated it, trying to adjust both arms and hold her. "Tell me what you did. You know... nothing will change between us. Why are you... so afraid?"

Even though she knew her fears were unfounded, a small corner of her mind reluctantly thought that he might leave if she was honest with what she had done. If not leave, then perhaps he would be eternally bitter or resent her? Would the trust between them be broken? Even the possibility of that happening caused the very heart in her chest to ache.

"Ah.. left your side.." She gripped his sheets in her hand.

"..I went to--" She swallowed. "--live with my Uncle Beauregard for a spell. Ah worked with him to try an' get weapons just like ah used to have. Ah know he ain't on the right side of things but he's the only kin ah got."

Her voice raised "And ah couldn't just sit and see you like this all day! All I could think 'bout was how I shoulda done somethin'! And ah just couldn't! I..!"

Antoine was quiet for a long time. At first, he couldn't remember who she was talking about, given his brain and memories had been jumbled from the explosion.

But then it clicked - her and Sonic returning from that one mission, how she had met her long lost uncle, only to find out he was working for their enemy... She had been in complete agony, and he had understood it entirely...

Weapons like she used to have - because she was whole flesh now - Ixis Naugus - it all slammed into his brain like a painful punch, and he needed to close his eyes to catch up.

"... You... You wanted so long..." He managed to find his voice. "... To have your old limbs, your old flesh and blood, and you tried to... to lose them?" There was no anger or bitterness in his voice - just tired disbelief. "... Bunnie, zere's no guarantee zat you'd ever be cured like zat again... To think, I had made you suffer so much... I am so sorry..."

"Here you are lyin' in bed and apologizin' to me." She said through a tone that very nearly almost sounded angry.

"You ain't the one that need to be apologizin' fer anythin' that happened or what I done." Bunnie looked off. "It's all that Eggman's fault."

He wanted to say she shouldn't have made such a sacrifice - but if the roles were reversed, wouldn't he have felt the same?

That went around and around in his head, and when he looked at her again, his fingers cradled her cheek. "Promise me." His voice was soft, close to pained. "... Promise me... you won't do zis again." His body was still so weakened that he couldn't even push her to make her look at him.

"Ah.." Bunnie put her hand on his. Even if she felt what she did was right, she still felt ashamed by what she'd done. Bringing it up now.. was that even the right thing to do? "Ah promise, I ain't gonna leave you again."

He wanted to make her promise never to do anything so risky, never sacrifice her happiness for his sake - but he couldn't bring himself to reword it. Not now, at least.

"T'ank you." He murmured, entwining their fingers in the open spaces, a thumb rubbing side to side. "My sweet chéri... I will not allow anyone, especially myself, to make you suffer again."

She nodded quickly in spite of a whimper escaping her throat. He always knew just the right thing to say to make her feel better in these kinds of situations..

After a moment taken to collect herself, Bunnie was able to give a small smile. "Now. You need to get some rest." He would only be able to get out of his bed if he took the proper amount of rest. "Go to sleep now, Darlin'. Ah'll be right here waitin' for you for when you wake up. Ah promise."

He had one more romantic gesture left him in before exhaustion wore out. He lifted her hand, kissed each of the knuckles, and then laid it on his chest, as if to make sure she wasn't leaving. He didn't want to doubt her - loathed himself at the very idea - but she had left once. All it took was the once.

He closed his eyes, and started to take deep, steady breaths. "... T'ank you, Bunnie. For... everything."

He's spent all morning putting out fires. Though when the world was covered in flames it hardly seemed like an effective use of time.

"Phew." Silver muttered as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "At least we'll be able to use this building as a shelter until Iblis comes back again." Silver glanced up at the charred husk of a skyscraper. Even if it was scorched, it sure beat sleeping out where potential enemies could see them.

They'd have to move when Iblis got close enough to their position, but for now the building would do just fine for a makeshift shelter.

"I wonder if Blaze is having any luck with what she was looking for." The hedgehog lifted his hands, and with a tinge of green he rose into the air to get a better view of the area.

Blaze had suggested they split up for many reasons, and hadn't expected Silver to be finished with his job so soon. As a result, she hadn't really bothered to hide herself as she did one of her 'reasons'. He might have easily spotted her in that demolished alleyway, rubble all around her feet, sitting down and hugging her knees.

He might not have expected to see her crying.

After all, it was something she had never wanted him to see. One of them have to be stoic and brave, hold back on emotions, so they could get their jobs done. But sometimes she just needed these moments to let out her despair at their world, at the hopelessness around them, and then she'd wipe her face, find Silver, and pretend it never happened.

Right now, her head was ducked low, quiet tears rolling down her cheeks, unaware of anyone else around her.

It took some time scanning the ground from the air before he managed to spot the cat in the mangled scenery below. "There she is." Silver swiftly descended and trotted to meet Blaze, but he came to a stop when he noticed something amiss.

Were those.. tears?

Silver backed up quietly and ducked behind a nearby corner. Try as he might to be quiet and not let on to being nearby, he kicked a indistinguishable piece of charred metal with the edge of his boot. Silver froze in place.

'Darnit.'

Hopefully she didn't hear that.

Unfortunately, luck was on neither of their sides. Her fur instantly went on edge and her ears pricked upwards as she heard the sound. She immediately went on the defensive, jumping to her feet and allowing her hands to ignite with her cursed flames.

"Show yourself!" She snapped, though if she had thought about it logically, no enemy would have made such a simple noise - and only one person actually sought her out.

Silver quickly glanced to both sides of him as he looked for a way to get away from his friends line of sight. He darted up to one of the tangled metal overhangs overhead and further into the maze of burned buildings.

He didn't mean to run from her.. but it just felt like he'd seen something he shouldn't have.

Blaze could hear the footsteps, and darted after the...

... Wait. If this was an attacker, why would they run away, especially after they had caught her alone and emotionally vulnerable?

The horrific realization hit her as she was running, and while her legs kept moving, it was if they were independent from the rest of her body.

Oh no. No. No no no no no - why, of all people, was he the one who had seen her like that? She would have rather died first! Was the image of her in his eyes forever changed now?

As if life sought to make her more pathetic, she found herself tripping over broken matter on the floor, and she gave a strangled cry of surprise as she landed on the ground.

Silver stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the noise. Blaze wasn't one to use such tactics to her own advantage, something must have happened.

The hedgehog bit his lip in brief deliberation, and he conceded to carefully heading to the edge of the metal scrapheap. He crouched at the ledge and peeked over.

After a long pause he asked, "Are you all right?"

The short answer was no.

Her body trembled with frustration, and it was taking every ounce of strength not to simply scream in anger. But this was neither the time nor the place for such a childish tantrum. Instead, she took an extremely deep breath, and began to stand up, gathering control of her emotions for the time being. She wiped her wet face with her hands, and slowly tilted her head at Silver.

"... How much did you see."

Having revealed himself, Silver floated down slowly from the overhead rafters and landed on the scrap-covered floor. He idly shifted the dirt with the edge of his toe and looked at the floor. Looking at Blaze seemed like it would be rubbing it in.

"I don't know. Probably all of it?" He immediately held both hands up, "I didn't do it on purpose. I promise! I just came back to find where you were at because I finished my job in clearing out the district."

Of course it wasn't on purpose, but such accusations proved his naivety and innocence - and it was things like that which endeared him to her.

"... We're both better off forgetting what you saw." Blaze replied after his quick apologies. "It was a moment of weakness, and it won't happen again." Which was a lie, but he didn't need to know that. She crossed her arms, refusing to look him in the eyes - if she saw pity there, she didn't know if she could stand it.

"..Yeah." Silver nodded in agreement. If that's what she wanted to do he wasn't about to press it otherwise. They were hardly in the right environment to have an argument with one another and jeopardize both of their survival.

Though he couldn't help but at least ask. A little. Then he'd forget it without a word. "Before I forget about it," His tone sounded careful. "Are you ..all right?"

Silver. That wasn't forgetting. That was so the opposite of forgetting. She gave him a curt look at that question, but she was never one to deny his curiosity. Blaze exhaled deeply, turning her body away, arms still tucked.

"... It's nothing you really need to concern yourself with. My weaknesses won't deter us from our missions." Because someone like Blaze saw crying as a weakness- or at least the fact that she was crying was weak.

"Okay." After a pause he hesitantly added, "But you know where to find me if you ever need anything."

Silver quickly, bashfully, moved on as to not make light of something that she was obviously not wanting to talk about. "A-anyway, I got that area that Iblis went through the other day cleared out. We should be able to use it as a shelter until it comes around to this part of the city again. It looks like he caused a lot of damage in that district. I'm not sure ow much longer the support structures to the buildings are going to hold out."

She pretended the last couple of minutes hadn't happened, nodding along to his report. "... We can't save everything. We'll make use of what we have here, and when it's gone... we just have to move on. As we always do." Which was part of the reason why she had these constant breakdowns - the constant repetition and helplessness of these 'missions'. Yes, Iblis would destroy this place, they'd clean up, Iblis attacks again, and so on and so on for who knows how long.

Blaze hadn't realized she'd stopped talking and just started staring in the distance as she had that train of thought.

He nodded. But when Silver expected her to continue and she didn't, he gave her a skeptical look before starting his own sentence. Given the sizable pause beforehand it only came out more awkward.

"Iblis spawn are going to come back here soon. Shouldn't we get moving before that happens? Blaze?" The hedgehog motioned to the area around them.

Blaze had come there for a specific reason.

Her ears twitched - maybe being 'caught' crying had really disrupted her. She shook her had, trying to focus again. Yet when she looked at him, and intended to say something along the lines of 'Yes, you're right, let's get going immediately'.

Instead, what came out was "How do you keep that up?"

'That' being his naivety, his positive attitude, his ability to smile - how could he be so damned cheerful?

Silver might have been tall as far as the normal Mobian went, but the comment, sadly, went straight over his head.

In turn Blaze only got a few blinks in return and a slow tilt of the head to his side. "We keep it up because Iblis only comes back, remember?"

Silver looked around and reached out to put a hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Maybe you should take the night off and I'll do the rest of the world that we were doing." He gave a sheepish smile. "I could really use the practice. Please." At least if he phrased it like that maybe she wouldn't feel bad about it.

She felt bad about it anyway - to think that in the course of one day, she could made so helpless! So... ridiculous! Gods, if it was anyone else but Silver, she'd be seen as a laughingstock. Even he surely must be seeing her as weak right now.

"... You're so naive." She mumbled, rubbing her arms bitterly. "... Very well. But if it gets to be too much, don't hesitate to get me. Despite how I'm acting... I can handle it."

Silver gave a sharp nod and turned to head off, but he paused. Silver lingered for a moment as if he were considering something.

Then, he turned on his heel, walked over to Blaze, and gave her a quick hug before hurriedly dashing off.

No matter what was bothering her, she had to know she had friends.

POTENTIAL PLAY POST WITH CRIM

Hey, have an AU! Sorta.

OH. MY GOD. (good thing fyi)

;-;

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'06-verse because yolo or something.

I LOVE YOU SO HARD

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