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It was a normal day, just like any other. Sonic was lounging in bed, lazily flitting through a graphic novel he'd read about half a dozen times already. It was edging midnight, and the crickets had crawled from the ground to sing. He was about to haul himself up and get ready to sleep, but wasn't quite ready to stand yet. So, he stayed laying on his stomach, waiting to finish skimming the book to truly go to bed.
Just a few pages left— that's when he heard it. The familiar click and sliiide of his window unlocking and slipping open. He chuckled; of course, right when he was about to sleep, Shadow and Silver wanted to cause mayhem. “Hey Shads, hey Silvs,” Sonic greeted without looking over.
When the cyan ESP dissipated, though, only one set of shoes touched the ground. Sonic propped himself up on the heels of his palms, confused. Standing before him wasn't the two hedgehogs he expected to see, no, one was missing. And the other…
Silver looked like shit. The second his powers deactivated (well, more like flickered ), he swayed where he stood, and leaned on Sonic's nightstand. “Jus’ me…” he mumbled. Covered in dirt and— no, half of that wasn't dirt, it was dried blood. With another look, he realized only half of the blood was dry, and the rest was dripping from gashes in his skin. Some singe marks smudged his shaking legs, legs that threatened to collapse under him at any moment. “‘M sorry, sorry… I di’nt know’ere else t’ go… Blaze’snt home…”
“Oh my Gaia, Silver, Sit down! ”
“Nmn…” Silver almost fell into Sonic's arms as he ushered him onto the bed. As soon as he sat, the haze in his eyes snapped away as panic overtook him. He grabbed Sonic by the shoulders. “W– Wait, no, no —! There's—” Silver stood up quickly, quivering the second he wasn't supported by anything but Sonic. “It's, the future, we've got to— we have to—! ”
“Silver.” Sonic slowly raised his hands to avoid surprising the other, gently yet firmly mirroring Silver's placement. “Deep breaths, alright? Nothing matters right now, except making sure you're okay. Sit back down—” he put the slightest of pressure on him, and Silver folded under it immediately. “I'm going to carry you to the bathroom and get me and Tails’ first aid kit, alright?”
In a swift movement, Sonic scooped Silver up bridal style. Gaia below, he was so light… he thrashed for a few moments while he walked, before his trembling arms seemed to give out on him.
He propped him up on the counter, hands lingering on his forearms for a few seconds before tracing down to his inhibitors, looking over his injuries and sighing heavily. “I'm gonna grab a washcloth from the closet, ok? It's just outside here, I'll be right back.”
Silver nodded, looking a little dizzy.
“I need you to stay awake, bud. Can you do that for me?” He threaded his fingers into messy quills, tilting the injured hedgehog’s head up the slightest bit.
“M’kay…”
Sonic untangled his hand, walking through the door, closing it behind him, and turning the corner. He opened the closet door, grabbed a random towel— it happened to have little embroidered dinosaurs on it— and shoved it into the back of his quills. Then, slowly, took out his phone, frantically scrolling through his contacts until—
…
“It's 12:06. The hell do you want, Faker.”
Sonic sighed in pure relief. “Hey, Shads, there's an issue,” he whispered into the mic.
“Uh. What kind of issue…?”
Sonic felt the prickles of anxiety poke at his fingers, but pushed it down. He couldn't get freaked out about asking for a favor, not this time. So, he swallowed his pride for a second. “Silver, he’s hurt. Like, blood-and-bruises hurt. A– And I know some first aid but not, not a lot and you—”
“One hundred and sixty two seconds. Count them.”
Beep.
Sonic stared at his phone, then let out a breath as he stashed it back in his quills, slipping into the bathroom once more. “Hey, hey, eyes open, Silvs!” Too much blood, WAY too much. “Sorry I took so long.”
Silver mumbled something, but it wasn't anything comprehendable. Sonic simply opened the bottom cabinet, grabbing the first aid kit and taking a few things out. “Alright, this might sting a little, but I'm just gonna clean you up real quick.”
He started off cleaning up the blood on the outside, mopping it up with the towel and occasionally having to scrub underneath the ash-stained fur to rid it of the grime. Then, he grabbed a bottle from the first aid kit and soaked a corner of the towel with sodium chloride. He expected Silver to flinch, at least a little, upon contact, but the only movement his patient made was small, heaving breaths. Occasionally, as he cleaned the wounds, his muscles would contract and twitch, ebbing from the sting. However, Silver never made a sound.
One fifty nine… one sixty… one sixty one—
Just as he was finishing wrapping bandages around the larger wounds that were still bleeding, albeit only a little, when a whisper of flames glided to the doorway, leaving the house around perfectly undisturbed. Shadow all but pushed past him, looking over Silver suddenly and silently, prodding over all of his bandages until he took a step back, seemingly satisfied with his own analysis. “You’re a second early,” Sonic muttered.
“Would you rather I be late?”
He cleared his throat, taking interest in the blank wall. “I would rather this not be happening at all, if I’m being entirely honest with ya.”
Silver blinked, realizing the conversation happening in front of him. He rubbed his eyes, looking a little dizzy, but coming to more and more as the night progressed. “Uh. Shadow…? When did… uh…”
“Sonic—” He elbowed Shadow lightly. He got the hint. “I was simply in the area, and remembered I had forgotten something here last time we both visited and came to retrieve it.” Without missing a beat, he started to pull some of the bandages off— specifically, the ones on the biggest wounds around Silver's stomach and shoulders. “These wounds need stitches,” he stated. “The others will be fine for the night.”
“Sorry…” Silver mumbled, seemingly a little more embarrassed now that he was more awake. He looked too casual sitting on the counter, even as his hands fidgeted with his inhibitor rings. Despite the deep rooted discomfort etched into Silver’s body at being examined and helped, he just looked so… normal? Sonic looked him over again. Almost like it was Silver’s default state, to look like, well, this .
“How long has it been since you got these wounds?” Shadow deflected.
“Um… ‘s been a bit. Maybe… an hour…? Maybe two. ‘M not great at time. Ironically.”
Shadow didn’t respond, though. Simply threading one of the few hooked needles that was in the first aid kit (that Shadow had definitely put in there himself, scolding Sonic about how a supposed ‘hero’ should be more prepared, while Tails just stared with an ‘I told ya so’ look the entire lecture), he talked Silver through exactly what he was doing. It was almost his default way of comforting, just describing the things that were happening in the immediate vicinity. “I’m going to stitch both the wound on your ribcage, as well as the one on your shoulder. Lift your left arm.”
Sonic swiftly held Silver’s arm up before he could protest, slinging it around his shoulder.
“These are PDS sutures, meaning they’ll dissolve after a while.”
“That’s gross,” Sonic commented.
“Taking out stitches is grosser.”
Silver’s grip on his shoulder tightened. “All stitches are gross. I’on wanna think about takin’ them out…”
“I’m doing interrupted sutures on this wound. If any of them tear, the rest of the stitches will still hold. Since it takes longer, I’ll use a faster stitch on your shoulder. The joint doesn’t pull the skin like it does on your ribs, they won’t tear as easily. Still, you’ll have to be careful with both.” Shadow finished tying the sutures in his abdomen, moving up to the smaller gash on his shoulder. Absently, Sonic noted that Silver could probably put his arm down, now. Neither moved.
After both wounds were secured firmly in place with sutures, Shadow wrapped the both of them in gauze and bandages. Only then did Silver blink in surprise and extract his arm from Sonic’s shoulder, where he was holding onto him. If Silver wasn’t comfortable with it, he didn’t say anything, choosing to stand up instead. “I’ve been here long enough,” he stated. “Thanks, um, thanks for the help. But I need to sort out—”
“Nuh-uh-uh!” Sonic scolded, easily scooping Silver up off his feet. “Injury means rest, not saving the world from becoming a dystopia, apocalypse, or whatever. Also, you’ll fuck up your stitches if you move around too much.”
“Wh—?! But, n- no I have to, I need to —!”
“Two hundred years,” Shadow reminded. “You have time. We all have time.”
“But I—”
Sonic cut him off by zooming downstairs, settling Silver into the crook of the couch, seated on the floor where the remnants of a pillow fort sat. He bundled the trembling hedgehog in a few blankets for good measure. Of course, Shadow was following in tow, and gingerly sat next to Silver. An obvious invitation, but he stayed a couple feet away to be safe. Sonic sat on his other side, snatching a discarded game controller from the floor and waking up the console.
“Splatoon? At this hour?” Shadow deadpanned.
“Shut it, blaster main.” At that, Silver giggled, which earned him a slight wince. Sonic sighed and put a hand on the injured’s shoulder, using barely any force to push him into more of a leaning position against the couch. He looked a little too tired to protest.
It was only a couple minutes until his breathing leveled out, and the tremor in his limbs subsided. Sonic didn’t even want to know what future could’ve hurt his teammate this badly… he wondered, briefly— Silver said it had been a few hours since he gained his injuries. Was he all alone during that…?
Sonic didn’t want to think about it.
As he clacked the buttons on the controller, the low rumble of a whisper started from beside him. “He has a responsibility bigger than anyone could possibly comprehend,” Shadow mused. “It’s understandable that he would be more focused on saving the future. Even still, I wish he would consider himself more.” He absently smoothed a few of the time traveler’s messy quills.
“I dunno how to get him to, like… comprehend that he doesn’t have to be so… so…” Sonic’s little character on the screen exploded, and he gestured with his now-free hands. “Self-sacrificing.”
Shadow huffed a small laugh. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
“Hey, like you’re one to talk!”
They sat in comfortable silence once more, the only noise being that of the TV that quietly played the game’s music. Sonic thought over what little Silver had spoke of throughout the night, recalling any specifics he had mentioned. “D’ya think he– he went to his own house before he came here? Like, the one he has with Blaze…?”
“I… was under the impression she wasn’t in this dimension currently…?”
“Yeah. She’s not.” He spared a glance at Silver. “He knows that.”
“Then why would he…”
…
“Oh.”
“Yeah. ‘Least, that’s my first thought.”
“Gaia,” Shadow mumbled. Then, louder, “ Good Gaia , that idiot. As if you haven’t saved hundreds all the same before— as if we haven’t saved each other like this—”
“Cool it.”
He relented a deep, calming breath. “It’s frustrating when he insists on going at things alone.”
“Sounds like someone else I know.”
A pause. A chuckle, and– “Like you’re one to talk.”
There were a few more moments of silence, moments that were a little too uncomfortable for Sonic to leave. “Well,” he stretched, “we don’t needa get caught up on all that junk now. We’re all safe right now, and that’s what matters!”
“I suppose.”
“And hey, it’s nice to see ya carin’ for us, ya big softie.” He reached over and gave a playful punch to Shadow’s arm, earning him a scowl.
“I’m not — y- you—” Shadow seemed to realize everything he said far too late, the slight tinge of green blooming at his cheeks. “I’m simply— I’m looking out for my teammates.”
“ Your teammates? Your teammates ?!” Sonic grinned, teasing tone increasing every time his friend tried to dig himself out of this hole.
He huffed, crossing his arms and averting his eyes. “Pushing your luck, faker.”
“Aww, just messin’, Shads!”
With a small chuckle, Sonic flicked off the TV, discarding the controller to one of the couch cushions behind him and tilting his head back til his quills were a star and he was resting against the pillows. The tiredness he felt about an hour before had breezed over him once more. He closed his eyes, taking in a breath and stretching his legs out in front of him while resting his arms behind his head. He was about to open his mouth to speak, when—
“H– Hhn…”
Silver, with his face twisted in some combination of pain and fear, curled in on himself, trembling like a leaf. The two were silent, staring at him in anticipation. For a moment, Sonic wondered if their banter had woken him up, and he had just remembered the pain he was in when he was awake. But… Silver didn’t open his eyes, nor did he try to do much of anything, really.
His voice was tiny, almost easy to miss. “H– help…”
“Uh, Silvs…?”
Whatever state Silver was in, it definitely wasn't conscious. It was evident in the way his psychokinesis flared directionlessly with a level of uncontrol that he hadn't ever seen from the psychic, before it quickly fizzled out. Silver curled tighter, as if whatever perceived danger was coming from all sides, messy quills bristling. The tremors in his body became bigger, bigger, until he looked like he was about to break apart.
Shadow tentatively reached out a hand, only retracting when the shivering ball he was trying to help flinched violently. “Silver, can— can you hear me?”
Ragged breaths scraped his throat raw. “Help help help PLEASE— ”
“Woah, hey, Silver!”
“ PLEASE, HELP, PLEASE please, Blaze… ” his pleas fizzled into whimpers, as tears welled up behind his scrunched eyelids. His breathing alone sounded more like screams, with the slight tinge of his voice cracking behind each inhale and exhale.
Unable to support himself anymore, the ball of shaking limbs tipped over into a confused and concerned Shadow's lap, who winced as he was poked with a bloom of quills; he gently shifted until Silver wasn't stabbing his legs, and smoothed out the quills in a repetitive motion. Silver clung to him like a lifeline.
“Hey, Silver…” Sonic started, scooting over to the two, voice soft in a way he had to really search to find. “Everything's going to be alright, dude. You're safe, we're safe, everything's okay…” He leaned over until his forehead gently touched Silver's shoulder blade. And if his face got poked, well, he didn't mind too much.
“‘M sorry,” a more awake Silver sobbed.
“It's okay.”
“There's no need to be,” Shadow agreed.
“I'm so sorry,” a little louder, “I don't—”
Sonic nuzzled into the softening quills. “Shhh…”
A strangled sound, like trying to figure out what to say, came from Silver, but he relented; his rapid breathing slowly leveling out to match Shadow's deliberate breaths. “You… both are very comforting,” he mumbled.
Shadow's slow, rhythmic strokes with his claws faltered for a moment, then continued. “Yes, well…” he cleared his throat. “I… got nightmares. Get them. I can better assist with issues I have first-hand experience with.”
Technical language, stumbling over words— Shadow was obviously trying very hard to not appear embarrassed.
At the realization, Sonic set aside his own ego for a second. This was more important. “I do too,” he confessed. “They never really went away, just kinda got more spaced out.”
They sat in the viscous pool of vulnerability together for some time.
And, after a long while of not moving, not speaking, Silver was asleep again— still shaken, but considerably less than when he had woken up. Eventually, even Shadow’s head dropped down into a position that would hurt in the morning, but Sonic didn't have the heart to wake him up.
He softly laughed to himself.
“I'm glad you guys are here,” he whispered into the air; a secret that he hoped would linger in the wind and somehow, later, find its way back to his friends.
He closed his eyes, not bothering to move.