A/N: Hello all, it's been a while. College has left me a lil busy, so forgive the inactivity. For any readers of "The Living Time Machine", I do apologize, but that project is currently on hold. I don't really have any inspiration to continue it at the moment, so bear with me for a lil while.

In the meantime, for you other readers, enjoy this Sonic fic (in fact, my first Sonic fic on this site) I'm currently drumming up! I do hope you will enjoy it, as I do too, writing about my favorite pairing, Sonaze! I promise to have longer chapters and some great moments between the two here and there, but as for now, you're gonna have to wait a while for the mushy stuff. 83

Happy reading, and as always, review please! Thanks.

~MW

Chapter 1: Stars

"Oi, oi! Lookie! There's big dippah!", a short brown raccoon frantically pointed to a set of stars, tracing the outline of it with her finger. Her movements were so excited, they were practically kicking up the sand surrounding her.

A sigh erupted out of the girl next to her. "Marine, that's the third time you saw it. Is that the only constellation you know of?"

"Nuh uh!", she stuck her tongue out, blowing some raspberries at her in true child fashion.

A smug look came across her face, which normally for the lavender cat was a rarity. Her smirk extending out and her brow raised, she replied. "Oh really? Then name three other than the dippers right now."

It was like she just played right into her hands, Marine's competitive spirit got her eyes zipping across the dark sky of the night. "Uhhhh...ummmm….", now her irises were practically playing a game of ping pong. "Oh! There! Tha's Orion right there!" The cat princess nodded and made a hum in confirmation. That was one. "Er...and uh...that's uh...that's one uh...big...bear...man?"

A snort and snicker arose from the princess. "Really? Big bear man?"

Marine let out a huff in frustration. "Shaddap, Blaze! You got me on the ropes here, a'ight?!"

She then let out a soft chuckle. "Okay, I'll take that as a loss. If you meant Ursula, you're dead wrong. It's not even here right now!"

She whipped around and stuck her tongue out again in response. "Meanie!"

Blaze shook her head in response. Silly girl, Marine was, but she had a charm to her that eventually grew on Blaze. She had to have some friends beyond Sonic and his group at some point, right? And in a way, her childish nature almost reminded her of Cream...well, if Cream was a rambunctious, energetic tomboy. It was kind of strange how before, she thought of her as nothing more than annoying child who couldn't grasp the reality at hand. Course, she's not as naive as she used to be. It's one of the facets of growing up, but she still was a kid nonetheless.

She honestly found it relaxing to sit with her as a friend, vent out her frustrations, talk about random nonsense, and even just stargazing, listening to the sound of waves crash against the shore in the mere presence of a friend. It was comforting! Blaze sometimes wondered why she was so reclusive back then when she was missing out on such an abstract treasure like this. She was just glad she had somebody to teach her, otherwise she would've never gone out of her palace, never would've made such everlasting friendships, or somehow move herself in amidst a rickety, old village on an island she never even heard of before. She was glad, even thankful, for the change that was brought to her. She fully realized her own potential in a way she never expected. It was amazing!

Yet her self reflection was interrupted by a rather rough, repeated slapping on her arm. "Ow, what?!", she scoffed, looking at Marine with slight but not blackhearted disdain.

"Shooting star, shooting star!", she whispered, as if anyone would've heard the two on this lonely beach in the middle of the night. Her hand pointed out to a rather slow streak running through the sky. "You know what that means, right?! Make a wish!", she then suddenly set herself away from the cat, placing herself in a prayer position with eyes closed.

With her peace of mind regained, Blaze watched the shooting star closely, thinking a little too much on what to wish for. She didn't notice Marine keeping one eye open as she watched her best friend closely.

Well, before she was interrupted, she was thinking about her friends and her progress. Her mind wandered around, searching for something to wish for, until she remembered. That person who taught her how to open up. She knew the name, but dare not uttered it for fear of being teased by Marine about it. She didn't wanna ruin this moment to get a wish like this, a moment that only appeared in movies and books. So she closed her eyes and clasped her hands.

"I wish to see him again…"

She opened her eyes, Marine doing so at the same time. She turned to the flame girl and made a goofy, toothy grin. "So, whaddya wish for, mate?"

She squinted. "Nothing you need to know."

"Aw come on! Please~!", she elongated the please in the exact way she knows it irks her.

"No.", she crossed her arms and pouted.

"C'mon 'ere, not even a hint?"

"Nope."

"Aw, you're no fun!", she let out an annoyed breath as she turned back to sky while Blaze set her sights on the ocean, smirking after the small teasing session. Marines brow raised, being rather confused.

"Uh...Blaze?"

"I already-"

Marine quickly intervened as she started to grow frantic. "Blaze, is it just me or is that star heading right for us?!"

Again, eyes rolled. "Don't be ridiculous, Marine, stars can't-"

She stopped herself, freezing immediately out of fear. She wasn't kidding, it really was heading towards them! It was a rare sight for meteorites, affectionately named "shooting stars" to land, much less on a land mass where it could be observed. The prospect may have been exciting...if there wasn't the possibility that the two of them, and even the village could be in severe danger.

"Move!", she yelled, instantly standing up and dashing towards Marine. She scooped her up and carried her over her shoulder in a smooth motion as she dashed as far as she could from the possible place of impact. She skidded to a halt after some distance and placed Marine down, rotating to see what the trajectory was of the foreign space object.

It's downward arc was getting steeper, a relief washing through Blaze. The village wouldn't get damaged. Nobody would be injured or even killed. But she still had a nagging feeling.

"Thanks for that-", another interruption as the object then swiftly landed into the sand with a loud, booming thud. Sand was flung high and everywhere, even causing the sea to seemingly pull back in its own nonexistent fear in reaction. As soon as the dust settled, Blaze took notice of the lights turning on in the village. Thankfully, no alarm sounded off, though she knew from the fact that the guardhouse was lit up like a candle that many soldiers would soon be arriving here.

She put her hand on Marine's shoulder while not facing her. "Stay here! I'm going to check it out!"

"Wha?! But I wanna come too!"

"No! We don't know what it is or if it could have something bad!"

"But I can fight too!", the young raccoon whined.

"Yeah, barely! Just do what I say for once, okay?! Stay!", she then jogged off towards the impact site while Marine groaned back in the spot she stood. The pitter patter of her shoes hitting the sand and paced breathe took over her somehow not-deaf-yet ears as she continued to rush on through.

She then slowed to a walk, taking in the sight before her. The sand mounded up into a crater, some of it trickling down into the pit as some of it tried to reform itself. Getting up near the edge, but not too far so she won't fall down. The one thing she was noting was the strange glow coming from it. She thought it strange. Was it really a meteorite like she suspected? Slowly creeping further towards the edge, she focused in on the figure lying down as sand was slowly building up around it, threatening to surely bury it...soon.

And she immediately knew one thing. It wasn't a meteorite. Not one bit.

Her breathing stopped. It became hitched and slowly became faster. Her pupils shrunk. She knew that face anywhere.

It was him. He was here. She didn't know why, nor cared how. He was somehow here.