A/N: This is inspired by something. I won't say much for a personal reason.

Disclaimer: Silver the Hedgehog belongs to Sonic Team and SEGA. I don't own any of these characters mentioned in this story. And yes, I heard about Venice the Hedgehog before. It's no surprise that they decided to name a Sonic character after a city in Italy. xD

WARNING: Lots of blood in this story.

This is my own version of both Silver and Venice together. There might be a twist somewhere as you read along til the end. Enjoy!

I See You

(Silver's POV)

I don't know what was going on. The screams, the cries, all of the chaos and destruction that's been happening lately.

This is very common in my own dystopian era of the future. But this? This is completely different.

Where is all of this coming from?

Am I hearing voices? Am I seeing things? Am I… am I going mad?

The sad truth is… I hardly remember the dystopian events that has happening in this horrifying world. Every second, I keep blacking out for no reason.

Albeit it all, I remember this.

There was so much blood on the ground. So much hot crimson flooding the place and its metallic scent fills up in the air. And connected to the blood… are cadavers. Cadavers that have been grotesquely mutilated.

Some had their throats slit. Some had their innards pulled out. Some have been brutally slaughtered with their flesh exposing and their bones breaking out of their skins. All of their dead eyes were glaring at me as I perceived them. Their eyes were the windows of their souls agonizingly screaming in pain as they get grotesquely tortured by their victimizers. Alas—it was too late to save them from death.

Just looking at these cadavers was a horror to me. My heart was beating with severe anxiety, knowing that there was a killer among us. I'm not even sure if I have the strength to find him and then face retaliation.

Then, this came along.

While I was still staring at the cadavers swimming in a pool of blood in horror, I slowly step back away from them in complete fear. As I step back, I hit my back against the damaged brick wall.

I jumped at the feeling, though the mini-heart attack alleviated and became evanescent when I noticed the hard flat surface against my back. As I lean against the brick wall with apprehension, I came to a realization of an unfamiliar sensation on the wall where I was standing.

The smell of the same metallic scent from the carmine flowed in the air and it came from the wall itself. Aside with that, I felt something sticky and dried on the brick with my fingertips and claws. The dried-up stains feels aligned. Without even looking at it yet, due to my persistent terror of death, I subtly traced the stains with my fingertips. The stains felt marked and drawn in a formation of letters—large letters, or maybe symbols or something.

Panting, as I was letting out all of the horror escape from me, I languidly turn around to face the brick wall of the collapsing burnt building. I couldn't believe my amber eyes. Right on the wall—is a message made of blood.

The message was meant for me. In thick running blood, it said:

Silver the Hedgehog. You Are Next.

Prepare for your worst.

Yours truly,

Venice.

Venice? Who's Venice? I have never seen or heard of him before in my life. Who is he? Is he associated with Mephiles the Dark? And how did he know my name?

The message was sending me chills on the spine of my back. Someone out there may be responsible for causing this entire massacre of innocent lives. Worst of all, he knows who I am yet I don't know him back.

Suddenly, I sensed something at the bottom of my eyes; another message mysteriously appeared on the concrete ground. I looked down on where I was standing and the message just appeared out of nowhere, which brought more horror to me. The message was in running blood, just like the one on the wall. I step back to read it.

This one on the ground said:

I have been watching you, Silver the Hedeghog.

You are nothing but a worthless, weakest link.

You don't deserve to be the savior of this time.

You truly don't have what it takes to be the hero for all innocent lives.

-Venice

Another one from this Venice guy? He's watching me?

Then, another mysterious bloody message appeared on the ground, like a phantom. It was right behind me; right in between me and the cadavers. I turned around to read it. It said:

This is really a test to see if you're truly hero-worthy.

Unless if you can find me and then fight me, I won't stop.

The catch is I will be in hiding where you can't see me.

You are going to have to figure it out yourself.

In the meantime, I will keep watching you.

Fight or Die. Make your choice.

-Venice.

My body was trembling in horror after reading these messages. He said he's testing me, but I still don't understand what for. My heart kept pounding heavily at what I just perceived. This Venice guy is not only responsible for the massacre… he's stalking me.

I'm being stalked by a complete stranger. He's stalking me just because he believed I'm a total vulnerable weakling. And he wanted to test my strength?

Abruptly, I heard the sound of a feminine scream. I gasped. My ears perked at the loud echoing shrill sound of a female screaming and crying for help. Maybe this was the test he was talking about.

Despite the panic within me, I took a deep breath. The aquamarine aura surrounded me as I prepared myself to use my telekinetic powers. I drifted myself from the ground and up in the air, I flowed away, disregarding the corpses, blood and the haunting messages.

As I drift, I looked down on the dystopian ground to see where the screams were located. I followed the sounds of the screams with my keen hearing, even though it's too horrifying for me to handle.

Soon afterwards, I found the culprit of the screams. I saw the silhouetted figure attacking a female victim, whose species I couldn't recall. I knew I had to act fast. Using all the speed I have, I flowed back down to the ground where the victim and the attacker were standing.

"Hey!" I yelled at the attacker, "Get away from her!" With action, I used my telekinesis to push him away.

I heard him groan when he gets blown away from the victim. He hit towards the ground just several feet apart from her. I stood back on the ground; I aided the helpless female victim from where she was agonizingly laying down. She was in a tight fetal position and her arm was heavily wrapped around her abdomen. Very meticulously, I helped her stand up from the ground, her arm was still holding her abdomen. I grasped her to make sure she doesn't fall back down.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

She looked at me with painful teary eyes. Her windows of her soul were barely opened, though they were still glancing at me. "I… I…" She said something I couldn't decipher.

"What? What is it?"

"I…" She tried again. I still couldn't understand her. Then, in a very raspy voice, she said, "You…"

I was shocked when she answered that. "What? What did I do?"

She said again in the same dark, raspy tone, "You…"

Out of nowhere… her head was thrown back and her back arched backwards. She let out a deafening shrill scream. I immediately let go of her in horror. I looked down at her abdomen. I noticed the stab wound that she was covering before; she was trying to tell me that she got stabbed. But right next to her stab wound… a large bloody blade was seen popping out of her abdomen.

The female was spewing blood from her mouth as her head throbs back front. The blade sank back down into her torso and the entire blade escaped from her body. She collapsed face down into her own pool of carmine on the ground. In a matter of seconds, she was dead.

I was deeply horrified at the sight. I was too late to save her in time. I looked to see the figure who just murdered her. The dark shadowed figure was holding a large blade coated in fresh blood. Despite that I cannot see his entire face, I could perceive the sneer of malevolence on him.

Could he be Venice?

In complete rage and abhorrence, I scream out at him, "Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!"

He did not answer—because he was gone.

This was too shocking for me. I saw him and in the next second, he just disappeared into thin air. How is that even possible?

Before he vanished, I heard a loud clank on the ground. I looked down and there was that blade he used to massacre his victims. He left it there when he left. I picked it up from the concrete and kept it in my hands for examination.

With the murder weapon grasped in my hand, I looked around to continue to search for him. But to no avail.

For the next several days, which turned into weeks, I've been stalked by Venice, a stranger whom I still don't know of. He kept leaving me these horrifying unwanted messages in blood, saying that he's still testing me. I kept having this strange sense that he's watching me behind my back. At the same time, I can't even find him.

This doesn't even make any sense.

Every time I tried to look for him as he said, he just keeps disappearing into thin air. Why would he do that?

Is he pulling some kind of game on me? Is he making me look insane?

I was losing my mind. I kept seeing his shadow before he disappeared in seconds. I kept hearing his voice somewhere in my head. I kept thinking that he was behind me, just staring at me.

I couldn't handle this anymore.

I couldn't take the games he's putting me into. I couldn't take the massive massacres he's committing. I couldn't handle anything at all. It's all too much to take.

To make matters worse… every second or so, I kept having these weird blackouts. And my memories are turning blank.

After all these countless weeks of suffering through anxiety, pain, madness and to the point of mutilating myself…

Here I am now… in some kind of locked prison.

I'm now trapped in this place where it is highly secured. They caught me losing my sanity and attempting to commit suicide. They had to take me in. Not only because of it… I'm also guilty. Guilty of committing these massacres.

I begged them that it wasn't me at all. It was the suspect who was stalking me. He was framing me as he was testing my strength. They didn't believe me. I wasn't sure how long I've been here, but it feels like hours, maybe days. I've been keeping myself secured in the same corner of the barred cell. I'm sitting on the cold stone ground, leaning my back against the cold wall, grasping my knees against my chest and then allowing myself to set my face on top of my bent knees.

My ivory fur and quills are unkempt. My self-mutilated wounds are infecting my skin and staining my fur. My amber eyes are all dried and red from the persistent sobbing.

I've been keeping this same position for countless minutes. Suddenly…

I perk my head up from my knees and my ears perks up from an unfamiliar low growling sound.

I look around the cell to see what it was. It's nothing. The cell is entirely empty and I'm the only one here. The growling keeps going on; I look around some more. I stand myself up from the ground and kept looking around, already feeling frantic.

"Hello?" My voice is all hoarse as I tried to call out. "Who's there?"

No answer. I repeat the whole procedure again. Out of the blue…

As I turn around towards the wall where my back was originally leaning against…

I see a figure. The almost-same figure that I saw the other day when I was too late to save one of the victims. I jump in terror at the sight. I begin to breathe heavily in horror as I resume examining the figure.

With the closer inspection… the figure is about the same as mines. It's like I'm looking at a shadowy mirror.

"Who are you? Please, just show yourself and tell me," My voice feels broken, "And please, tell them that it wasn't me who started this whole mess."

He still didn't answer albeit I can hear more of his growls. Then, I begin to think of something else about this mysterious creature that looks like me.

"Mephiles?" I ask him weakly, "Mephiles the Dark? Is that… is that you?"

I hear him chuckle. I can see his sneer in the dark shadow. Finally, he answers, "I'm sorry, Silver the Hedgehog. I believe you are wrong."

I step back. He steps closer towards me, finally revealing himself underneath the light. I can't believe my own eyes. I'm now looking at the mirror-counterpart of myself.

We may look horrifyingly alike, though his traits are different from mines. His eyes are aquamarine blue. His chest fur is orange. And his boots are differently designed from mines. The only same traits we have are our white fur, same styled quills, and even our cuffs. I stare at him with horror; he's returning the glare with malevolence.

"It's so finally nice to see you," he said.

I gulp with trepidation. "Are you…?"

"Yes, it is I, Venice. Venice the Hedgehog." I've never been this shocked before in my life.

So this is the Venice who has been committing all of these murders and then framing me. He's the one who has been stalking me to no end. He's been the one who kept sending me these mysterious messages written in blood.

I ask him, suddenly feeling somewhere in between fear and rage, "Why? Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?"

Venice answers, "It's because ever since we were first created together, you have been taking over and showing your face everywhere while I was nothing but the faceless unborn. I've been watching you from the start and I have to admit, you were the weakest link I've ever seen. I don't see why others admired you so much. I mean, look at you! You can't even run fast; you become lethargic very easily. Sure you have unique abilities that no one can have, such as psychokinesis, time-traveling and even flight. But—all of your abilities still don't make you the stronger type!

"That's should've been me out there! I should be the one, not you! I believe that I am truly more worthy and stronger than you. I am, indeed, faster and more energized than you." As he resumes, Venice steps closer towards me. Simultaneously, I step backwards away from him, "I don't always need psychokinesis or time-traveling to be noticeable. I became deeply adamant and furious that our creators wouldn't allow me to be seen and heard from! And now, because I can no longer handle my disappointment and rage," I unnoticeably hit my back against the cell bars and he traps me there, standing over a few inches apart from me, making it impossible for me to avert from. He lets out a sneer, "I decided to seek revenge. Revenge—on you."

"Revenge?"

Venice scoffs with annoyance, "You are so fucking naïve and stupid. This is another reason why I should be superior to you. My revenge on you is all about this so-called test I started for you. You see, I knew all of my actions towards you—from persistent stalking to leaving you unwanted messages, in addition to making myself seem to disappear before your eyes after my bloody homicides—would make you think that you're losing your sanity, which is the main idea of this plan. Once after the murders have taken place, they believe it was you, and even seeing you lose your mind over me, they had to lock you up in this cell, all alone with nobody else here for you.

"You staying in isolation for a long time would be the perfect time for the both of us to fight face to face—without any witnesses around. I wanted to see you in person before in the first place, but out there in the public was obviously not the right time for us, especially when there were authorities everywhere. And now—this is the right time, for the real test."

After finishing his statement, which I have a hard time understanding, he did the unthinkable. Venice grabs me by the neck, nearly choking me with his own hands. I grasps onto his tight gripping hands as he lifts me up from the ground. He glares at my suffocating face.

Venice snarls, "The real test is to see how strong you really are. If you fail this, then you will die," He lets out a huge malevolent grin, "And I will be the noticeable one around here! I'll be the one who is taking over and to become a new hero."

Then, Venice uses his own telekinesis on me; very forcefully, he throws me through the cell bars. The bars have broken apart when I went through and I have fallen onto the ground right on my back, with so much pain and agony all over my body. As I'm groaning in pain, Venice steps out of the broken cell and glares down at me.

The battle begins.

There was a lot of hand to hand combat, there were a lot of beatings, and there was a lot of crashing. Venice is winning. I'm losing. It's because all of the injuries I already suffered from were interfering with me and it's severely weakening me. He has thrown me into walls and into a lot of glass. My infected wounds are bleeding. I feel as if I'm coughing up some blood.

I'm already losing this battle. He's right, I cannot win. He's—he's just too strong. I am too beaten up to resume the combat. Instead, I decided to escape from him.

In dark the corridor, I'm on the ground as Venice prepares to get rid of me by death. He sneers as he takes out a blade that he used previously during his massacres. All I could do is glare at him and breathe in exhaustion. He brings the blade up in the air, aiming its point at me.

Venice snarls at me, "Say goodbye, Silver the Hedgehog."

Before he plunges the weapon inside of me, very impetuously, I quickly bring up hand to use my telekinesis against him, despite my sudden fatigue and low energy. The aquamarine aura surrounds the heavy object—that we destroyed during our combat—right behind him. Without letting him know, I bring it towards him.

The object slams behind Venice somewhere in the back of his head. I heard Venice let out a loud grunt when it strikes him. He drops the blade, I heard it clatter against the floor, and instantly, he gets knocked down. Venice collapses on the corridor floor face down.

No time to check if he's alive or dead. I have to make a run for it. Using all the strength and energy I have within me, I get up from the floor and I make my way through the corridors. I checked from room to room. I need a place to hide or find a way out or something, but I can't even tell where the hell I am. I don't even know what place this is. I don't even know what this building is called.

I pass by this room. Before I enter, I check inside to make sure if it's safe to go inside. There weren't that much, just a desk filled with a bunch of scattered papers and folders and the desk lamp is off.

Feeling inquisitive, I meticulously enter. I slowly stroll towards the desk to see the papers sitting there, all cluttered and disorganized. I turn on the lamp and the first thing I see on top of the paper pile—is a tan folder. That folder has my name on it: Silver the Hedgehog.

Without messing up the pile, I take the folder into my own hands. Taking a deep breath, I open it to read what's inside. Within the folder, there are papers about me and a photo of me is attached to them with a paper clip. Feeling the trepidation amid my inquisitiveness, I read them:

Name: Silver the Hedgehog

Age: 14

Sex: Male

Species: Hedgehog

After reading the rest of my physical descriptions, I move on to the next section.

Criminal Record: Third-degree murders. Suspect of multiple massacres.

That one should've been a lie. I didn't even do anything wrong at all. I can't believe Venice got away with it all. If only I had the chance to prove to the authorities that Venice was the real suspect and not me, they would've let me go and he would be the one to be taken away.

I noticed that that's not the end of my records. There's more about me. Below the criminal record section, there's this:

Psychiatric Evaluation: Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Dissociative identity disorder? What? What is that? I never even heard of that. What is it? What does that mean about me?

Abruptly, my distraction on reading my folder and my lost thoughts of wondering what my psychiatric evaluation means came to an end… when someone grasps me from behind me. I drop my folder to the floor when my arms are grabbed and my wrists are locked behind my back with someone else's arm. Then, another arm is wrapped around my neck with the blade angling horizontally against my throat, almost preparing itself to slit it.

"You thought you can get away with this?" Venice's snarl whispers to my ear. I breathe with more trepidation and horror. He resumes, "I don't think so. Our battle is not even over yet, you fucking bastard."

I tried to break free from his hold, but to no luck. I still have no energy to fight. I can sense Venice sneering. I can sense that he's taking pleasure into getting rid of me; apparently, he's enjoying the sounds of my struggles and pain. His blade is still idly angling against my throat.

Venice chuckles, "I have an idea." He pauses, "I bet you would like it more if you see yourself die as well. Would you like that? Would you like to see yourself die?" I didn't answer. I was too busy struggling to break free from his hold. He continues, "Come on, I have a perfect place for you to witness your own death."

With the blade still at my throat and still locked in his grasp, Venice drags me somewhere in this room. I notice that he's taking me to the corner where the mirror wall is located. Venice takes me to the mirror; he forcibly makes me look at our reflection. I glance at it with reluctance.

Something is completely wrong now. When I gaze at my reflection, my struggling stops… and I loudly gasp with a combination of horror and shock. My eyes widens at the sight.

At the mirror, Venice is not in the reflection at all, it's just me and only me. And he's not holding the blade at my neck… that is me also.

It turns out… that I'M the one who is holding the blade at my own throat.

But… why? Why is this happening to me?

Then, my mind begins to flashback. I'm starting to remember things now. I'm remembering everything now.

I was the one who committed all of those murders under my own blackouts. I slit throats and pulled out innards of the innocent. That stabbed girl I was trying to save? That was really me killing her, which explains why she was referring to me in a raspy voice. I wasn't trying to save her life, I was getting rid of her life. I was the one who sent myself all of those unwanted messages in my victim's blood. And the stalking? I guess it was just a figment of my hallucinations. I was hallucinating everything, including Venice.

Could Venice the Hedgehog… really be me all this time? Is this was dissociative identity disorder really is? It's like… I have a second personality—a split personality.

My flashbacks ended. I continue to stare at myself in the mirror with horror. I then drop the blade down, its clattering sound echoes throughout the empty room.

Very languidly, I let myself kneel down. One of my palms is resting against the mirror, the other resting on the floor. I let my head down, conscious enough that everything Venice has done was really me.

I have no words to describe all of this. I feel some mixed emotions: contriteness, grief, traumatized, pain, you know it. It's not just the mental kind of pain, also physical. I'm also feeling a whole lot of guilt for what I've done to myself, from self-mutilation to attempting to end my own life. But—there is this emotion now inside of me that is becoming severe.

"So you finally found out, huh?" Venice says to me behind my back. "It's so sad to see you like this." I know that he's being sarcastic and nonchalant.

The rage within me is rising. My palm on the floor clenches into a fist. My other hand on the mirror nearly claws against the reflecting glass. I can hear my own snarl.

Venice picks up the blade from the floor. He stands closer behind me. "I can no longer wait anymore. And for all of the sins you have committed to your own world, it is time for you to meet your karma, Silver the Hedgehog."

I can feel Venice bringing the blade up in the air again. Right before he brings it down to me…

I instantly get up from the floor. With acute antagonism, I turn around to face towards him…

And I grab hold onto his wrist where his weapon is grasped into, being able to stop it myself. Venice snarls with annoyance and abhorrence.

Surprisingly, I am strong enough to avert him from bringing the dagger towards me. I get up from the floor, standing perfectly up. Venice is struggling to plunge his weapon inside me.

"What do you think you're doing?" Venice snarls. "You're supposed to die! You're supposed to be the weakest one here!"

I retaliate, "No! You are! You don't even exist! But I do!"

With all the leftover strength I have left… I tightly hold onto his hand to point the blade towards to his throat. Slowly, very slowly… the blade enters the skin of his throat.

Venice screams in agony when blood gushes out of his wound and his mouth. I watch my alter ego suffer through torture as I resume to stab the blade deeper into him. He gurgles more blood out of his mouth. For the very first time in my own reality and self—I am enjoying this brutal and grotesque murder.

The blade's handle touches his skin... I release my grasp of his hand and the weapon. He ceases his screams. He became silent. The next second, he collapses face down, drowning in his own blood.

Venice the Hedgehog is dead.

Breathing heavily, I step back to take one final look of his cadaver. I close my eyes for one second to let it all out. When I open them after half a minute, I look down on the floor—and Venice and his blood has disappeared into thin air.

I guess I can say for now… that my alter ego is finally gone.

Months later…

After checking into a new building, I have put myself into hiding into my own room. I fear of the next thing that will happen if I ever become incorrigible. What would happen if I perform the same thing to any other innocent lives of the inhabitants of this building?

Despite that Venice the Hedgehog is gone—at least to me—I still feel the foreign feeling within me. I think it's best if I stay here for as long as I can… at least until I am really better.

My self-mutilated wounds may be healed… but the wounds inside me is not.

I lay down in my bed, just staring at the dark ceiling. I allow myself to relax for as long as I want to. I try not to think of what might happen next in regards with me. I don't want anything of this atrocity interfering with me during my stay.

I yawn and fatigue interferes with me. I close my eyes and I flip over to my side to sleep. I hope that this night's sleep would be dreamless. All of my previous dreams were about that same atrocity. I just hope that this one would at least have one serene vivid thought. Just one.

I sleep… and sleep… and sleep…

And I could've sworn that I heard someone's familiar malevolent laughter is echoing somewhere within the darkness.