An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The final prompt, and I'm sad about it tbh. I enjoyed seeing everyone get on board with this. The week felt like it went by too fast.
I posted a bonus chapter as well, just pure fluff and nothing but fluff. I guess it's time to get started on other projects now. Sigh.
BUT, if you haven't already, check this out. I would appreciate it!
pairing: sonaze | word count: 1.4k | rating: G | ao3 | for @sonaze-week-archive day 7: free day
Areas of overlap between parallel worlds are always complicated, the overlap between Sol and Mobius even more so. Not so recently diverged as to require the strict laws needed in areas of overlap where nearly every person has a counterpart, but still too recent to allow for the complete freedom enjoyed in areas of overlap that split hundreds of years ago, both governments have taken a similar approach: when encountering their parallel selves, citizens of both countries are strongly encouraged not to engage.
Blaze never expected this rule to be relevant to her. The point of divergence between the worlds was the fall of the monarchy. No monarchy means no royal family means no royal princess to be her mirror. However—
On a warm summer evening, she feels it. The resonance. It's at once nothing at all and exactly like it gets described by people who have experienced it. A deep thrumming in her bones, her heart; two people existing at the same frequency, separated by time and space, yet converging in this one area, this one moment in time. But Blaze isn't looking at her perfect mirror image. She's not even looking at an imperfect mirror image.
Before her stands not a cat, but a hedgehog. He looks different from her in practically every way imaginable. Only the scars on his chest, partially hidden by the way he's clutching at it now, mark him as equal and opposite to her. Even then, it's an inverse—and for a moment she feels fiercely envious of this stranger who is supposed to be her parallel. Born with the body she should have had, not forced to choose between being true to himself and the good of the kingdom. Is he at all aware of the pressures and difficulty faced by the only princess of a kingdom, as opposed to the only prince? Did he have to give up even half of what Blaze gave up?
The momentary envy—perhaps even resentment, though Blaze hesitates to acknowledge that even to herself—passes when the resonance does. It's not gone, not entirely—as long as they stay near each other, that low hum will remain—but it's bearable. Less overwhelming.
She can see her counterpart calm as well. He releases his chest and relaxes his shoulders. Straightens up. Neither one of them looks away from the other. They should, Blaze especially. Even if there is no law, there are still rules about this; as princess, she should set an example and follow those rules.
Her parallel grins at her, wide and bright and energetic—then he runs off. The vibrations stop. Blaze is singular once more, a lone waveform, as she should be, and yet—
And yet. Her feet carry her forward without thought, sending her after her alternate. She chases him with some difficulty—he's fast, faster than he has any right to be—finally catching up to him when he comes to a stop atop a hill and flops backwards onto the grass.
For a moment Blaze hesitates. She thinks about turning and leaving, forgetting she ever found her parallel counterpart and returning to the palace. About following the rules, like she has for most of her life.
Blaze walks closer, until she starts to feel the resonance again. The low hum as their waveforms sync, neatly overlap, and attempt to collapse back into one, hampered by the reality separating her from him. She wonders what will happen if she touches him. Would the thin pane separating their universes disappear? Would they become one, half her, half him?
She sits down next to him, close enough to touch but not daring to. "How have I never seen you before?"
Her parallel tilts his head back to soak up the sun, eyes nearly slipping closed as he laughs softly. "Is that your idea of an introduction? I thought royalty was supposed to have good manners. Where's the hello, I'm Sonic, nice to—"
Blaze blushes when she realizes how crude she'd been, but the revelation that her counterpart has a different name from her shocks her enough that she once again forgets herself. "My name is Blaze."
Sonic turns his head in her direction. His eyes are open, gaze unexpectedly sharp. "Given or chosen?"
"Given," Blaze says. She hadn't seen the need to change it. Her name is her name; that didn't change when she transitioned.
"Yeah, same." Sonic huffs another laugh. "Kind of funny, right?"
Blaze doesn't see the humor in it. She frowns, placing her palms flat on the ground in an effort not to twist her fingers into the grass. "I don't understand."
Sonic's lips quirk up with humor, though he sobers after another look at her face. "Don't understand what?"
"How we can be the same person," Blaze says. "We're not even the same species."
"Who knows?" Sonic shrugs. "It just happens, sometimes. I've been all over the world, met all kinds of people. We're not the only ones with an unexpected alter."
Blaze reels. The only travel she's ever done has been of the diplomatic variety. Even then, it's more common for the King and Queen to travel, while the Princess stays behind in the castle. "What?"
"It's not super common, or anything," Sonic clarifies, obviously misinterpreting her look of shock, "but it happens."
Blaze tries to imagine what it's like to have the freedom to come and go when and where she pleases. To be able to travel the world without a royal entourage dogging her every step. To meet people, see places, experience things without the pressures and expectations that come with being a princess.
Longing overtakes her, sharp and sudden. It pushes the air from her lungs and leaves her breathless. She wants that. She wants freedom, wants adventure, wants…
Before she realizes she's doing it, she's reaching out for Sonic. Her gloved hand hovers over his arm, close enough for his fur to rise in response to the static electricity. If she makes contact, if she touches him… will they become one?
Sonic grins up at her, relaxed and unconcerned. Blaze realizes, then, that she can't. She has a responsibility to her family, to her people. She has a responsibility to herself. More than that, she can't take that freedom away from Sonic. It wouldn't be fair.
She starts to withdraw her hand—but Sonic catches her by the wrist, keeping her close. Blaze's body positively sings where Sonic's fingers encircle her arm, a resonant frequency that buzzes through her bones and her organs. She feels—not complete, but certainly connected. To Sonic, to the world around her. To his world, so similar to and yet different from her own. The grass below them is her grass, his grass, both and neither at the same time. In Sol, the two of them are the only ones in it; in Mobius, a ladybug balances on a blade of grass near her knee. The sun is high and bright in the sky in both worlds, though it's slightly warmer in Sol. Hot, almost uncomfortably so.
Blaze allows this all to wash over her. She closes her eyes, basking in the feeling for a few seconds before she takes a deep breath and collects herself. When she opens her eyes, Sonic is staring up at her, his eyes almost impossibly green.
"We shouldn't be doing this," Blaze says. She doesn't pull her hand away.
"Shouldn't do what? Touch?" Sonic smiles. "It's fine. The world isn't going to end if we enjoy each other's company for a while. Neither of our worlds."
Somehow, that throws Blaze for a loop. She'd thought it was only her who wanted to spend time with Sonic, that this was just her selfish desire to live vicariously through him. It's difficult to imagine Sonic gains anything from being here with her.
She studies his face. The sun casts a warm glow over his fur, dappled like sunlight on water. He looks peaceful, happy. She wonders what it would take for her to look like that. She wonders if she ever has.
"Unless…" Sonic's smile dims as his brow furrows. "You have somewhere to be…?"
"No," Blaze says. There are a million things she could be doing, many of them important. Just this once, they can wait. "No, I can stay. At least until the sun sets."
Sonic's smile widens. The expression makes Blaze's breath hitch. The sun is already low in the sky, having started its descent—but some part of her wishes it won't ever reach the horizon.
Here is the chapter for the prompt today, and I want to say that out of all of them, this is one is the one I believe to be the best of them all.
This one isn't as much fluff as it is stuff, but there's a lot of both for a short story.
Also it was at this point that I decided to actively tease plot ideas for future fics based on this particular storyline, might make it a full AU. Dunno yet.
But hey, moar Sonaze. Please check it out if you haven't!
