Life had a way of coming in waves. Eggman would attack, huge things would happen, and when it was all over, it's like the whole universe was silent, resting from all its activity until the next time. This was one of those times. No Eggman attacks for nearly a year, nothing really happening in the world. It was not-so-slowly driving Sonic insane. To add to all of that, all of his friends seemed like they were moving on to try and find something else for their lives to be about in the absence of the chaos they always seemed to thrive in. Knuckles was off *somewhere* with Rouge, who knows where. He'll be back before too long, his heart broken and Rouge nowhere in sight. It wouldn't be the first time. Amy and Tails opened a flower shop together, and it was doing well. It was the happiest he'd seen either of them ever be, and he was happy that they found that to occupy themselves with but… None of that worked for Sonic.

He felt trapped, stuck, like time stood still all around him and only he could see it. And beyond that, with all of his friends moving on to other things, Sonic felt a loneliness he hadn't really experienced before. He woke up in the mornings, he stepped outside, he went for a quick 200 mile run, and filled the rest of his day with TV or video games or just wandering aimlessly. It had taken its toll on him. He was waking up later and later, going to bed earlier and earlier, and even he knew that he needed something to break him out of the monotony.

As if on cue, there was a pounding on his door. Sonic lay in bed, contemplating whether he should get up as the pounding continued. Finally, he got up and walked to the front door and opened it to reveal Blaze; her tailcoat torn, her shoulder bruised, her lilac fur covered in dust and dirt. "Blaze?" Sonic asked, shocked as she pushed past him into his house. He closed the door behind her. "Blaze what's going on?" Sonic asked, concerned. She didn't say a word, only turning around to meet his eyes for a moment before she couldn't look him in the face.

"Hey—-" she began. "Um- long story. Can I stay here?"

"Yeah, of course, but what's—-"

"I—- I'll tell you later." Sonic grabbed her shoulder.

"Blaze-"

"I *said* I'll tell you later." She snapped, her hands forming into flaming fists for a moment before her face turned to horror and she pulled away. "I—- I didn't mean—" Sonic pulled her into a hug before she could finish.

"It's good to see you, Blaze." He finally said.

"You too."

—

Blaze walked out of Sonic's room, having showered and changed into a set of Sonic's clothes; Blue jeans and a souvenir shirt which read "I Escaped from Central City". She sheepishly walked into the kitchen, where sonic was just setting down two plates of fish. "Hungry?" He asked, smiling. She wordlessly sat down at the table across from him, and the two of them ate in silence for a few minutes before Blaze finally spoke.

"Hey, uh—- Thank you." She said, again unable to look him in the eyes.

"Of course. It's not much, but I remembered how much you like fi-"

"For letting me stay here, I mean." She chuckled. "And the fish."

smiled slightly.

"You can stay as long as you want." He replied. Eventually, after Blaze had finished her fish (and some of Sonics, as well), Sonic thought he'd try again. "Blaze... are you running from something? What's going on?" Blaze sighed.

"I—-" a tear welled up in her eye. "I... did something. Something I shouldn't have. I got angry, I-" she flinched as someone knocked at the door, jumping out of her chair. Sonic motioned for her to wait as he walked to the front door and stepped outside. A mob of people waited, a few of them with pitchforks, a few of them with torches.

"Wow guys, pitchforks? Do you really have to have all the stereotypes?" Sonic joked. Nobody laughed.

"Have you seen a purple cat go through here?" One of them asked, seemingly the leader of the group.

"Nope, haven't seen anyone like that." Clearly he didn't believe him.

"Mind if we take a look?"

"Yeah, actually, I do." No one spoke for a few moments.

"I don't believe you." He finally said plainly.

"Suit yourself." Sonic turned around and went back inside. He went into the kitchen where Blaze was sitting on the floor against the wall, crying. He rushed over next to her and sat down, placing his hand on hers. She pulled it away, looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"You should have given me over to them." She said through her tears. "I deserve it. And they deserve their justice."

"Blaze, I don't know what you did but obviously I'm not gonna just—"

"I killed someone, Sonic." She finally admitted, her chest getting tight from her seemingly eternal anxious waiting to hear what he would say.

"What happened?" Sonic finally asked, a bit shocked.

"A rebellion— the leader- came up to me in town-" she tried to speak through her crying. Sonic placed his hand on hers, and this time she didn't pull away. "He came up to me and- he started to tell me everything wrong that I had done- yelling to everyone all the- the reasons to rebel. People gathered- and he wouldn't stop. I burned his arm and- it only made it worse, and I— I lost control. I burned him alive, I—-"

"It's over now." Sonic told her, trying to comfort her, but she only pulled away and looked at him in horror.

"What do you mean it's over? I *killed* him. He's *dead*. His family will never see him again because I can't control my temper and it's *over*?" Someone began pounding on the front door.

"Open up!" The same leader from earlier yelled through the door.

"They never left." Sonic sighed. "Stay here."

"No. I'm going with you."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna give myself up."

"No, you're not. Stay here, if you come out there I will fight each and every one of them to the death if I have to to keep you safe. Understand?" Blaze had never seen sonic look as angry as he did now. "Your life is worth more than that." Hesitantly, Blaze nodded and sat back down on the floor as Sonic stepped out onto the porch.

"Heyyy guys, long time no s—"

"You lied. Bring her out here" Sonic could tell that denying it wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"No, I don't think I will." He said, a bit of cockiness in his voice. "In fact I think it's time you guys left. It's getting dark, your little lynch mob can't stand around with those heavy pitchforks all night." The leader of the group began to walk towards sonic, pulling a hatched from his side. Sonic quickly kept forward, bouncing into him and taking his hatchet from his hand, and landing on top of them, hatched raised above his head. He looked down at him and smirked. As he threw the hatchet onto the porch behind him. "Change your mind yet?" He got up off of him and dusted himself off.

"We'll be back." He finally said, defeat in his voice.

"No rush." Sonic joked. He stepped back inside as Blaze stood up. "They're gone." Sonic said smiling. She buried her head in his shoulder as she continued to cry. "Everything will seem a little better in the morning." He assured her. She pulled away enough to look him in the eyes.

"Thank you—"

—