happilyeverbeginning | POTENTIAL PLAY POST WITH CRIM

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

I LOVE YOU SO HARD

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