"Look, I know what you've been through, okay?"
Those words were spoken as a sparkling peace offering, no quieter than the loudest wind moving about the area. Never was it known what the breeze was building, only that it erected the senses and shook the stems of all flora, for the resulting symphonies were too intense to ignore. Nor should be ignored the will of the wild, as the leaves themselves swayed with a sense of infectious, soft melody. Their measures, mighty enough for a grand audience, were conveyed to only two, though they were aware of the orchestra's work. They, just as the branches and grasses, were only awaiting the rolling promise of the future. All felt the imminent arrival of some important event, known only to the force conducting the music.
The audience was in the midst of tension, as told by their expressions suppressing the true. Their eyes, fine without facing the wind, were the brightest items in the dim light left in the world. If only they would turn them upward, to revel in both the present and future moons peeking through the dim blue heavens, perhaps they wouldn't be so blind. Two relatively youthful hedgehogs, they were, but worn and withered by the cruelty of time.
Silver was the lighter of the couple, who possessed the only desire to speak at that point. His quills flowed over his head with the wind, tapering off as would notes over a rhythm. He was perched next to his partner on a bench by a lake, overlooking the open water, a space to provide just the right reverberation for his voice. Coupled with the chord progressions of nature itself, he molded himself into a performer for all to see. He noticed the nose of his partner twitch, and before another word could be said, Silver added:
"And I know I've never experienced anything like what happened to you. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, Shadow. But you need to realize that I've had my own stuff to go through, too."
The other half, who bore the depressed gaze of a frustrated life, frowned into his chest fur. He turned not to Silver, but to the trees, "I don't understand what you want from me."
The woods and hedges stood still, and only resumed their playing intermittently, in short sections, creating a belated bridge leading to whatever had been coming. And far forward flew the following statement, stretching into the night and back to nick Shadow's ears:
"I just want to stay with you. To help you get better, and be free, like I did after I lost Blaze."
Shadow's lip quivered, for he had never received such a request. Still, he found a sternness in his sternum, and released it through his throat, "And what makes you think you can do that?"
Silver's ears fell limp, for he hadn't considered much, and it was only the incessant continuation of the song that drove him on. Without a thought, he laid his hand on Shadow's, which would spin a story no words could conceive. And as they began to weave the fabric of their future, they looked to one another - finally, their sight was restored - and cut the ties of their past. No being mattered in that moment other than the one inches from their faces, at the nib of their noses, on the touch of their tongues. And as Shadow's tears streamed down, they cleansed his eyes of tragedy to form the foundation of his new life, his rebirth, his attachment. Silver was revived, no longer reliant on the melody to tell him what was coming, for it would come without warning anyway, with worry or not.
They both knew then, though, that what had been promised, approaching, rolling, building, was but a life better than the one they had been living: a life together for the short life being.
A/N: hello my dudes, this is something that I wrote a while back, but I just kinda felt like publishing something today. this is what I like to call my "poetic prose" style of writing, which I rarely ever get to do since I usually work on chapter stories. sorry it's so short, but I really like how this came out. kinda wanted to explore how shad and silv could find some common ground, since shadilver doesn't make sense to a lot of people. they're def one of my fav rarepairs. thanks for reading!