Author's Note: I really hated how the last theme came out but that was because I was so stuck on what to write so I'm sorry if it was a disappointing premiere for Never Alone's grand return rofl Maybe I'll go back and tweak it, I had more ideas originally for it but I was unable to properly convey them. Would you like to see it refined? This one though I think will be better ~ Its also longer ~ I hope this chapter will make up for the awfulness of the last one ~

By the way, look at our new beautiful cover for Never Alone! It was by dA user Flora-Tea ~ I loved it so much I just had to use it and she let me! Please go check her out!

Disclaimer: I believe this will be the last disclaimer I will put here in the collection because now that I really think of it, its pretty stupid rofl we all know I don't own the Sonic franchise ~

The Peanut Gallery:

Shapeshifter 14: I'm happy to be returning too ~ Hopefully I won't disappear for years again rofl tho like I promised, I would see this story through to the end. Even if there's some hiccups along the way. You can safely read all the themes without fears of cliffhangers, as, 95 percent of this story collection do not connect in any sort of way unless I specify in the beginning. Its a one shot collection ~ Also that was the whole idea ~ To be a sort of epilogue since I think with Sonic [King Arthur] leaving the book, the events that were meant to happen with Merlina's prediction never come to be. So he had to leave in order for Camelot to be at peace ~ Tragic eh?

To all my readers from the past, I thank you for following me if you happen to return and see this again. Your support helped me a lot, even now I return with these chapters because I know you enjoyed them. To future readers, I am Elkpelt! Or, you can call me Wolf-Chalk, as that is who I am on deviantArt. I will reply to every review if you leave one, anything from a hello to a this sucks balls deep, I will reply in the warmest ways possible ~ I enjoy crumbs ~ so throw me a crumb [review]! if you enjoyed the chapters ~ Also I am open to suggestions for future ideas, look towards 100 theme list at the beginning to see what is to come and tell me if there's a specific thing you'd like ~ It will help fight writer's block when it comes! Anyway, enjoy!

Theme 19. Gray

The ocean waves glittered like a freshly polished diamond under the intense summer sun. It was a beautiful day, fluffy white clouds rolling over head. The wind was warm and breezy, perfect for a romp in the sand and sea...

...least all but for one who stood on the side lines, feeling like a grouchy mother watching her offspring misbehave in a market.

"Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" He broke away from where he stood at her side in a single bound, a towel and radio carried snug in one arm. His feet barely touched the ground. Sonic pulled the sunglasses hanging at his ears over his eyes, whooping the entire way

"Okay! We'll see who the rotten one here is, bloke!" The raccoon kit yelled back, stumbling after him with all the grace of a walrus with two left feet. A big beach ball hid most of her face.

"Sonic, don't encourage her!" Her words fell up on deaf ears as both hedgehog and raccoon ran eagerly along the sandy path towards the beach. Her ears gave an aggravated flick from where she stood, watching Sonic and Marine go.

There was work to be done yet these two were off frolicking about rather than doing what was necessary. They were supposed to be hunting down Chaos emeralds to help return Sonic to his home dimension, however the thrill of a beautiful day proved to be too strong a pull for Sonic. Perhaps she should have remained with the fox cub Tails, at least he was keeping busy hands as he work on gadgets to help ease their strife.

Then again, it was his suggestion that lead Sonic and Marine here fooling around. Saying they couldn't do much until he finished fixing the tracking device for Chaos Energy, that there was no point having them crowd the hut up when there was no real way they could help. Sonic was more than eager to ditch the idea of lazing around doing nothing, Marine quickly vouched the plan. With two wide eyed pleadful faces more akin to puppies staring her down, Blaze reluctantly agreed. She tagged along to make sure nothing happened, Blaze wasn't one to ever put her guard down.

Sonic quickly flicked on the tunes from the radio and threw his towel on the sand, flopping down comfortably to enjoy the sunny scenery. However it was short lived when Marine threw herself onto his stomach, landing so hard the air was knocked out of him. Marine proceeded to chase after her ball into the ocean, paying no mind to the poor hedgehog curled up in the feedle position.

Blaze's shadow fell over him as she made sure the youngster hadn't just put him into a early grave.

"I'm okay!" He squeaked in breathless agony.

"Perhaps it would be wiser to remove yourself from Marine's war path, Sonic," she mused, watching as the said child kicked her ball around the shore line.

"That was a fluke, she won't get me again. I got eyes and ears like a - "

"Twenty points and the crowd goes wild!" Blaze easily had stepped away from the beach ball, Sonic though found the entire side of his blue face stuck in the sand. Marine scampered right by, yelling excitedly as she play. "Who's the rotten one now?!" She could see an annoyed green eye follow Marine before it settled on the smirking feline above him.

"Not a word," he huffed slowly, as if Blaze were a small child with little understanding, sitting up to dislodge sand out of his ears.

"Of course," she humored him, still quirking her lips.

Sonic was on his feet, stretching leisurely once the humiliation wore off. His pride wasn't damaged for long. "Man, what a beautiful day."

Blaze gave the beautiful overcast barely a glance. "You've seen one sunny day, you've seen them all Sonic," she said, hardly sharing the sentiments.

He pouted his lips. "Okay wow, remind me to help fix that pessimism of yours before I go home."

She scoffed at him, arms crossed along her chest. "I am not as such," Blaze defended herself, glancing away to keep an eye on Marine in the distance.

She could hear him snort to repress a laugh, turning to regard him with a glower. He was grinning, teeth subtly exposed. "What?"

"You are ridiculous," the feline remarked at him, dropping her arms and walking away from him. Sonic though wasn't going to let the topic go as he followed after her.

"Blazeeeee! C'mon, you don't need to be so serious all the time."

She ignored him, much to his displeasure.

"I know you can be tons of fun."

"Is that all you ever think about, Sonic?" She asked, exasperated.

Sonic boldly stretched his arm out to loop it over her shoulders, tugging the royal against his side in a friendly fashion. "Breathe in that wonderful fresh air! Feel the sun in your fur! The seagulls squawking!" He continued to lead her along, gesturing about to add to his examples. "Isn't it great?"

Blaze though only stared at him like he were speaking gibberish. "I... suppose? Sonic, as wonderful a day as you claim it is to be, shouldn't you be more focused on how to get home?"

"Don't put a overcast in my skies, Blaze," Sonic told her, giving her a light look of scolding. "We got plenty of time. The Jeweled Sceptre is safe, you got your Sol emeralds back in their shrine and that clown Whisker has gone sayonara. One beach day isn't going to mess things up."

She wiggled free of her friend's arm, straightening up. "Its not like I want to see you go, I just have a bad feeling."

"World gonna end bad or I just ate a huge plate of spicy chili dogs bad?"

Blaze was struck silent a moment at his choice of words, causing her to shake her head. "I just know it's bad, we should be making haste finding your emerald set."

Before Sonic could get a response in, a certain object of impending doom was shot their way. Blaze was pulled sharply to the side by Sonic who shot a peeved glare towards it's source. Marine came running passed, skidding to a halt at the very parental stares the cat and hedgehog were giving her.

"What? I got something on my face?"

"Watch it with that thing!" Blaze scolded the kit, staring her down with stern molten eyes.

"Sheila, it's called a ball! Oi, speakin' of which... where it go?" Marine rapidly swung her head to and fro looking for her large ball, it was nowhere in sight. "Look what ya made me do! It's gone!"

"Me?!" Blaze gaped at the audacity of the tone, she was ready to put Marine in her place when Sonic stopped her. He touched her shoulder with his hand, silencing her.

"Marine, you look over there, Blaze and me will look over there. Your ball couldn't have gone far," Sonic reassured her, tugging Blaze along to search the spot he specified for them. Marine hurried to her corner of the shore.

Blaze was bristling though, glaring at her blue dimensional counterpart. "I say she should look for that thing herself."

"She's just a kid, Blaze. Little kids got more fire than even you got sometimes.'

"I never spoke with that kind of tone to anyone of my elders before," the cat hissed.

Sonic couldn't help but playfully elbow her in the side. "Yeah, okay, if you say so golden child. Anyway, we got a ball to find."

The hedgehog broke away from Blaze's side, leaving the royal to search out her own corner of the shore. Tropical fronds spotted about in clusters, leading to what was a small forest if she decided to go any farther. She however saw no ball hiding among the ferns and rocks but something else of a rotund nature.

It was a dove gray and relatively big in how long it was, an oval rather than a circle like Marine's wayward ball. What was left of her irritation that after noon ebbed away into puzzlement as she gave it a gentle nudge. She realized it wasn't a stone but an egg. What kind of egg, she hadn't the slightest clue. Blaze turned and promptly called for Sonic, knowing when it came to the strange the blue blur always knew what to do.

"Sonic! You need to come see this!" Sonic popped out from the bushes behind her not long after, leaves and twigs caught to his quills.

"What is it?"

Blaze stepped aside and gestured for the hedgehog to come closer. He did so curiously, peering through the large palm leaves once Blaze parted them for him.

"Just what is that?"

"Looks like an egg," Sonic mused, reaching to pick it up in his arms. He began to look it over in all directions, rotating it. Blaze looked on with saucer like eyes.

"Well, yes, I knew that part but should we really be touching it?"

Sonic glanced at her. "If anything owns this egg I think they've been gone a long time. Feel it." He brandished the large egg for her, letting Blaze splay her palm on it. She scrunched her brows in concentration.

"It's cold," Blaze summarized softly, letting her hand drop.

"Yeah so we better get this back to the hut. Here, I want you to hold it."

Blaze took a nervous step back from his outstretched hands. "Me? Surely not, I could break it or accidently cook it alive or... or..." She had little more to argue as Sonic only deposited the precious cargo into her arms. "Sonic..."

"You're a walking fire pit, Blaze. You are the best bet this egg has." He smiled at her to lend her confidence but Blaze hardly felt it as she follow after Sonic.

Marine didn't care much for her lost ball anymore when her two friends came out with the egg, instead eagerly she bounced along at their sides, peeking at the oval gray object.

"Maybe we should sit on it," Marine suggested

"Sit on it? I don't think any of our prosteriers would fit upon it!" Blaze retorted.

Sonic sniggered at the the imagery as they returned to the hut. Tails was surprised to see the three return so soon, turning around in his chair to greet his friends.

"Oh, hey guys. You're back early, guess the beach wasn't as fun as you thought?" The golden cub mused.

Sonic nudged Blaze forward, letting Tails see what she was hiding in her arms. He looked at it with wide eyes, quickly leaving his work space to check out the egg.

"What do you think this egg is, Tails?" Blaze asked, letting Tails take the egg a moment. He gave it a look over very similarly to Sonic's inspection, making curious humming noises as he did so.

"Wow! Who would have guessed!" Tails exclaimed, smiling up at the confused feline. Sonic already had a hunch what his little buddy was going to say, so he made a gesture for Tails to carry on. "Its a chao. I didn't think you guys would have them here too. Poor little fella is really cold though..."

Blaze pinned her ears in concern. Marine quickly shoved her way between the hedgehog and cat to look at the egg in aghast. "You mean it's gonna die? We can't let the bloke die, Tails!" The raccoon kit cried out.

"I'll draw some plans for an incubator! Blaze, Sonic, keep it warm!" Tails promptly deposited the egg back into Blaze's care, leaving it back in her unsure care.

"Um, alright Tails but please be quick," Blaze stuttered, holding the large egg to herself. The fox cub rocketed out the door, needing supplies from the market in the village. Marine hurried after him, declaring she wanted to help Tails save the baby inside the egg.

"Blaze, it's an egg, not a bomb, hold it like this," instructed Sonic, adjusting Blaze's arms to better hold the egg. "There! Way better!"

He let go of her but Blaze hardly felt reassured when he did. She let herself sit upon the nearby sofa in the hut. Well, to call it a sofa would be an overstatement when all it were was old empty crates with sheets thrown over them. Blaze continued to cradle the egg in her arms, calling upon her flames to lightly lick warmth to the unborn being inside. Her palms traveled along the surface of the egg, trying her best to leave not one part untouched.

Sonic took a seat beside her, watching Blaze tend to the egg like a diligent mother. It was going to be a long night, she could already tell.

Blaze, concerned her flames may be too harsh on the egg, turned to face Sonic. Parts of the shell felt too hot now. "If I use my flames too much I could possibly bake the chao inside, but if we huddle together..."

She was embarrassed that she could feel her ears burning at the tips and she knew it wasn't her pyrokinesis triggering. Sonic took it all in stride, not seeming too bothered by the request if it meant the egg would possibly be saved.

"Alright, hand the kid over," Sonic replied, turning to face the feline. Blaze passed the gray egg into his awaiting arms before shuffling herself against him so the large egg was sandwiched between them. The only way to sit comfortably against one another was to lay their arms around each other. Blaze was surprised she had the sudden urge to ran a palm through his quills but with her careful control upon her whims, she didn't.

There was awkward silence as they looked at one another. Her dimensional counterpart gave her a grin. Sonic felt the egg for any tremors before looping his arm back around Blaze. "So when it hatches who gets custody?"

Blaze blinked slowly, unsure.

oo~~~~oo

Eventually, Tails returned with the supplies he needed to put together an incubator for the egg. Marine having caught the two huddled together had opened her mouth to make a big deal of it, as if a 'told you so' was in order. Her eyes alone silenced the usually so rowdy raccoon, instead she smirked in a ever so annoying way. The power supply was handled by a crank, so the four friends had to take shifts making sure it wouldn't shut off. Blaze guessed the Chaos emerald search would be on hold for now until the egg hatched.

The youngsters of the group were the most interested in the egg, Blaze could see Tails and Marine crowding in to watch for any signs of life stirring. Marine needed a firm nudging from herself to finally get to bed once night came around. Tails was just as stubborn before Sonic promised they would wake them if anything happened with the egg. As smart as they were, children still needed a good night's sleep to grow up healthy and strong!

"Well... if you promise... I guess I can go to sleep," the kitsune said, muffling a yawn as he went to go join Marine on the sleeping mats in the other room of the hut. "Nighty night Sonic."

Sonic chuckled, turning to go join Blaze on egg sitting duty. "You'd think it's Christmas with how determined they are to stay awake."

"I suppose new life is exciting even for the young," Blaze remarked

"Yeah, its pretty cool isn't it?" He hummed, sitting down next to Blaze. The room was very dark, only the orange light from the incubator provided any sort of clear vision. Even then, it was a small one. Just enough to warm the contours of Sonic's face in all the right ways. She knew she was staring but she didn't care. She would soon be losing him again, for now, she would enjoy his company. Sonic, feeling her eyes upon him, turned to look at her.

The feline angled her face away, pretending that she hadn't been caught. She swallowed thickly, her heart had fluttered like a bird. When his eyes lingered, she dared to look back towards him. He grinned at her, golden light dancing in his eyes. It really brought her back to the time of their very first farewell, when he blazed more golden than the sun itself.

"This is from me..."

"..."

"I'll see you, again!"

"Yes, again..."

She didn't know when she started to look at her friend differently but gradually it seemed to happen. Perhaps that was the source of her annoyance at him and Marine that morning, disguising her fear of loss with a need to hurry his haste back home. The longer he stayed, the more attached she became and she wondered if she would even be able to handle letting him go when the time came. The thought was killing her, the first goodbye had been hard enough, even then, she never thought they were ever to cross paths again.

Sonic nudged her with his elbow, drawing her from her thoughts.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

Sonic playfully copied the face she presumably made, scrunching his brows tight and setting his mouth into a frown, eyes lowered down. Of course, his rendition was way more dramatic.

Blaze looked at him, causing the hedgehog to point at her in a dramatic fashion. "That! That right there!"

She pinned her ears back, scoffing, "Its my usual face."

"Nah, you smile more." He leaned against her shoulder, Blaze eventually letting her own weight press against him. He poked her nose with his finger, causing the cat to try and smother a smirk at his boyish nature. "There, way better."

"You are much too silly, hedgehog," Blaze said, trying to sound stern but failing.

Sonic chuckled, rubbing his nose. "Yeah but so are you, 'cause I guess in a way you are me, eh?"

"Do not bring that into this, my brain is boggled enough!"

He let the topic die, the two friends grinning at one another. They turned their eyes back to the egg. The silence was once again broken as Sonic spoke up. "But seriously, who's taking custody of this kid?"

"I suppose I shall... though, protecting a young creature and Sol emeralds probably aren't the same thing."

oo~~~~oo

Sometime in the night Blaze realized she must have dozed off, finding her eyes weakly fluttering open to see the incubator was still powered. The sky outside the window was still dark but the chirping of song birds made her think it had to be closing in onto dawn. Sonic was fast asleep next to her, though he was sitting up. Blaze found herself slouched into the curve of his arm and stomach, meaning she'd used him as a pillow. She stood up to stretch, careful not to bother her slumbering friend as she dislodged his other arm that had been around her.

In the lowlight she took a glance at the egg, suddenly startled to see what seemed like a crack running along its surface. Blaze delicately opened the lid of the incubator, reaching inside to pull the egg out from it. She pressed her ear against its warm shell, feeling feather light movement dwelling from inside. She sat back down next to Sonic, feeling her nerves bundle tightly together as she cradle the egg. Blaze nudged the hedgehog awake with her foot against his, whispering harshly into his ear.

"Sonic! Sonic, wake up! The egg is hatching!" Blaze watched Sonic jump to his feet, surprise etched into his face and body language.

"Already?"

Blaze nodded, presenting Sonic with the first signs of newborn life struggling to break free. Sonic went to go grab a towel from a nearby shelf, Blaze took to gently rocking the egg in her arms. When the hedgehog returned, part of the shell was already beginning to shed. Blaze inquired if he should go wake Marine and Tails who wanted to know when the chao would arrive. Sonic shook his head.

"It might stress the kid out having so many of us crowding it," Sonic said. "Best we let the dynamic duo sleep. Sides, chao hatchings can take several hours."

"You know about this stuff?"

"Oh, I've raised my fair share of chao here and there," he told her, nodding. "I know what to do."

They waited with baited breath, Sonic instructing Blaze how to help the newborn creature out. She was surprised at how complicated a process it was, as she turn the egg occasionally and gently rub her palms against the shell. Eventually, the miracle began to happen. First there was a little fist that broke its way passed the hard shell layer. Sonic tentatively peeled parts of the shell, soon revealing a pair of feet that popped right out. Blaze stared with wide eyes. Soon there was the head. Its eyes blearily took in the two animals above it. Sonic lifted the little creature from the remaining shell casing, using the towel to clean the chao of the remnant of yolk.

"There, now that's a cute little face," he cooed, pulling the dirty towel away. Sonic glanced up towards Blaze, feeling her look on in awe. "You wanna hold him?"

"I... I don't know... he's so small," Blaze murmured unsurely. "Surely I could break him..."

Blaze hesitantly reached her arms out regardless, seeming to run on some sort of auto pilot. He put the little gray chao in her arms, showing her the proper way of holding it. "Support his head... there we go," Sonic praised, drawing away slowly once Blaze seemed able enough to hold it without shaking.

She smiled down at the cooing little creature, absently touching its face with her finger. "Hi there..." She looked up towards Sonic and in that moment, she knew her feelings were going to be forever, especially if he kept smiling at her like that...