Author's Note: This story is based on the end of the Sonic 2006 game, ignoring the Last Story and continuing on from Silver's timeline after Blaze dissapears under the assumption that his future was not changed. Eventual slash of the ShadowxSilver variety, with a dash of Mephiles thrown in for good measure. All comments and criticisms welcome!

Part 1

Rebirth City had been built on the remains of Crisis City, the favoured hunting ground of Iblis. Silver didn't think that was the wisest decision that could have been made. He knew better than most that the ground wasn't at all stable; Iblis had burrowed beneath it like a giant worm, and through the tunnels he'd made magma had followed, but even that did not thwart the determination of the humans to take back what had been theirs.

Silver could admire that. Determination was what had seen them through this far, lasting through the centuries that Iblis had ruled, and so he had stayed even though the city was full of bad memories and mournful ghosts. Maybe one day they would fade, and the city would be as beautiful as it had been in the past.

In this present, though, it still had a long way to go. Survivors had flooded into the city after Iblis was gone, but most of them were still living in tents and in the decimated remains of the old city ruins. Rebuilding was taking a long time, with materials scarce and most of the manpower needed to protect the encampment as one would protect the seed of new life. The city was still infested with all kinds of monsters, though they seemed to understand that the balance of power was changing, and the attacks were far less frequent.

Silver did whatever he could to help – from guarding the walls to helping move the heavy bricks used to build the new houses – and his efforts were regarded with awe by the townsfolk. Even though he claimed that Blaze was the one really responsible for finally sealing Iblis away, the credit of the act was given to him. To everyone, he was the champion who had saved the world. He'd been frustrated by this title until General Gordon had explained that the people just wanted a hero that they could see and touch. Someone to help protect the fragile hope that from now on things could be better. He had reluctantly agreed not to argue the distinction anymore, although he vehemently declined being named the leader of Rebirth City though many people had called for it.

That dubiously honourable position had been given to the man who was suited far better, in Silver's opinion. General Gordon was one of the last surviving members of what had been the human's military effort to destroy Iblis. They, among many others, had also failed to rid the world of the immortal being, and eventually over the decades their numbers had dwindled and their troops had disbanded in face of the futility of their task. Gordon had remained in the city, however, with a mere handful of loyal soldiers, trying to keep people alive, finding safe zones, scavenging for food and water. His people had laid the foundation of Rebirth City, and he knew far better than Silver how to keep everyone in line and encourage them to work together.

Silver often watched him walking among the people. Always, Gordon would be interrupted by someone demanding his attention, be it a soldier wanting orders or one of the civilians complaining about food shortages. Silver didn't think he could have managed all that attention, especially by himself. Without Blaze…

"You've got that look on your face again, youngster," Gordon said from behind him, and Silver jumped. The one thing he often forgot himself was that Gordon was still a soldier despite the flecks of white starting to run through his hair and the deep lines around eyes that had seen far too much. The man was tall and broad, made of unyielding muscle, and his particular specialty had been silent ambushes. "It doesn't help anything."

"I know." Silver spared him a weak smile. Gordon was not at all fooled.

"We've all lost something." The General leaned on the wall, staring out at the decimated city. "It heals in time. You just have to keep moving."

Silver had once thought the world would stop if Blaze ever left him…now he knew better. Life kept on going no matter how much he hadn't wanted it too, but he'd shortly realised that it was meant to be that way. Two hundred years of terror and destruction. A lifetime of fighting the flames. Blaze wouldn't have wanted him to give up just when they finally had a chance to rebuild.

Silver shook his head as though it could dislodge the feeling of melancholy, and forced himself to look up at Gordon's stern visage. "Is something going on? I saw you talking to one of the scouts earlier. He seemed upset about something."

Gordon smiled grimly. "Ah. It's not bad news for us, if that's what you're worried about. Not yet, at least. Actually, I was meaning to talk to you about that. I'm going to be leading an expedition through the city tomorrow and I was hoping you would come with us."

Silver's ears pricked. "What kind of expedition?"

"We've discovered a signal on one of the old military frequencies coming from the volcano. I was hoping to track it to its source."

Silver looked briefly towards the rickety communications tower in the centre of the town. It had only been raised a week ago – technology was especially scarce after the rise of Iblis – but since then messages had been pouring in from other stranded pockets of survivors.

"You think we'll find more people?" That was always uplifting for both the townsfolk and the newcomers, who were welcomed home like old friends.

"In the Volcano? Unlikely." Gordon mouth was curled into a thoughtful frown. "No, I suspect it might be…something else."

Come to think of it, the scout who's looked upset had been one of the soldiers originally under Gordon's command, and the signal had a military origin. Did that mean something? Gordon looked worried, which gave Silver good reason to be as well. "What do you mean?"

Gordon smiled tolerantly down at Silver, and gave the young hedgehog a reassuring pat. "Never you mind, youngster. We'll have enough to worry about tomorrow without me telling you ghost stories. Just make sure you're up early tomorrow. We leave at daybreak."

Silver nodded firmly. "You can count on me."

Seeing the sun rising over the horizon was still a novelty, and many members of the town as well as Silver himself often woke before dawn to watch it even though the mornings were often cold and grey. Once upon a time, the smoke from Iblis's flames had choked out the sky. Silver had never even known that it was supposed to be clear and blue until he had visited the past.

Dawn was always a flurry of activity. The changing of the guard, as most often they were attacked by creatures who preferred to work in darkness, and the exhausted night shift would head wearily off to their beds. It was also the time when most of the scavengers would head out into the city, hoping to salvage and gather what supplies they could before rushing back into the safety of the town before dark. On this particular morning, there were a number of people milling about to see the expedition off. Silver found himself the target of many curious eyes, and tried to hide quietly in the cab of the truck.

Gordon found him there, and smiled wryly as he climbed into the drivers seat. "They don't mean any harm."

Silver squirmed. "I wish they wouldn't though. I wasn't the only one who fought against Iblis."

"You're the only one still around," Gordon remarked, starting the truck. It spluttered hesitantly to life, shuddering a little beneath them before beginning to move at Gordon's careful direction. Working vehicles were also rare, but they weren't in high demand. The terrain of the city was too rough for them.

"There's you," Silver pointed out.

"That was more than a quarter of a century ago," Gordon said. "I bet most people have forgotten."

"I haven't."

Gordon smiled a little at that. Glancing out the window and trying to mentally judge how long it would take to reach the Volcano, Silver decided it would be a close call to get there and back before dark, and that was only if it didn't take too long to find the source of the signal. Still, he could make the task a bit easier. "I'll go up top and keep an eye out."

"Watch your back," Gordon told him. "I'll be using the old highway, so save your energy. We might be needing a bridge."

Silver nodded and clambered out the window to sit cross-legged on top of the cab. It wasn't the most comfortable way to travel, but it let him keep his eyes out for anything that might be lurking in the long, early morning shadows and it gave him a clear view of the road ahead to know if Gordon would need his powers to keep the truck on its path. A few times one of the tires would hit a sink hole and Silver would give the vehicle a psychic push to free it, saving the need to stop and do so manually which would have wasted precious time.

Halfway along the old highway, Gordon's prediction came true. A huge section of the road had crumbled away, leaving an empty gap between one support strut and the next. Gordon pulled the truck to a halt, and Silver stood to better gauge the distance. One of the other soldiers walked to the edge and whistled, kicking a stone and listening for the echo of its landing. It was a long wait.

"Wouldn't want to fall down there," the soldier muttered to his fellows.

Gordon looked at Silver intently. "Can you get us across?"

It wouldn't be easy, especially because this far up there wasn't a lot of material Silver could work with to make a decent bridge, but levitating the car itself would be harder. Still, his powers had still grown in the past few months even without Iblis to hone them against, and he nodded tentatively. "Yeah. Just keep your speed steady."

"You're real sure, right?" The nervous soldier asked. "Because that's a long way down."

Gordon glared mildly and one of the others hissed quietly in the soldier's direction, but Silver understood the fear. His powers made people uneasy, so he tried not to use them too spectacularly around the town. They didn't know the limits of what he could or couldn't do.

"Don't worry," Silver reassured him. "I can do this."

Backtracking would take far too long anyway, and though it would take a lot of concentrated effort Silver knew he could hold out. The distance was only about thirty feet. Waiting until the soldiers were back in the truck, Silver looked back down the highway and concentrated.

There were two huge signs, offering directions to places long since destroyed, and a rusted billboard that advertised some kind of drink from a nearby building that was nearly level with the arch of the road. Old metal shrieked in protest as Silver tore them from their perches and directed them to fill the gap. Beneath him, inside the truck, one of the soldiers swore at the noise, but Silver ignored it as he scowled. Even with all three objects lined up to make a steady bridge, they only reached halfway, and looking around Silver couldn't see anything else to make use of without ripping away a part of the highway itself, risking the only solid ground they had.

He leaned over the side of the cab, looking into Gordon's window and speaking quietly. The soldiers were nervous enough. "You'll have to stop in the middle while I rearrange the bridge. I can't make it any longer."

"It would be safer for you in the cab," Gordon replied, his mouth set in a grim line. He knew a little more about Silver's powers than most, and knew that Silver couldn't be aware of his body during the effort it would take to hold the bridge. "If you fall-"

"I need to be able to see what I'm doing.," Silver told him, but tried to smile. "Don't worry. I won't fall."

He could use his powers to float even if he did, but then he wouldn't be able to save the truck from the same fate if it came to that. He tried not to think about it as he settled himself firmly in the centre of the cab, working to convince his body to hold its balance.

It was harder to float a large, heavy object than to hold a smaller object stationary with something heavy on top of it. Silver wasn't sure exactly why that was, but it was an intrinsic truth of his abilities that he didn't question. Holding wasn't the problem; it was doing so while the metal quivered and groaned, while the soldiers muttered under their breaths, and while his body swayed with the slow motions of the truck that was difficult. When he had to focus, however, it was Blaze's voice he heard in his ears. She was the one who had taught him control when his powers had been ungovernable and dangerous and she'd been the only one brave enough to get close.

Breathe, she advised him, and he did, counting the seconds and keeping one fraction of his awareness on the progress of the truck. When it halted nervously at the edge of the billboard Silver knew it was time, and still keeping in time with Blaze's silent rhythm he moved the bridge.

The billboard shuddered violently, and deep in his mind Silver quailed at the idea that his body might be thrown over the edge, but he couldn't afford to stop. Doing two things at once was always far more difficult, and his concentration wavered from the effort of holding one sign in place while moving two others. The tasks tried to interfere with each other. The sign he held wanted to move, and the two he moved wanted to freeze, and dragging them to where he needed them was like trying to write his name forwards and backwards at the same time with each hand.

Just trying to wrap his mind around it was making his head ache with effort, and he could feel his powers drain with the unexpected exertion, but finally he got the signs were they needed to be. Gordon wasted no time once the path ahead was clear, and when Silver finally felt the weight of the truck leave his bridge he dropped it in relief.

A moment later he thought to wonder how he would get them back across on the return trip, but decided he'd worry about that when it happened. The pain in his chest, panting like he'd just run a mile, was a more immediate problem. When his vision cleared he also found that he'd been knocked out of his previous position, and was sprawled across the top of the cab on his side. One of his arms had even fallen over the edge, but just in case he'd slipped any further Gordon had protectively grabbed his wrist even though it would have made the task of driving harder. He squeezed Silver's arm inquiringly. "All right?"

"Yeah," Silver said, only a little shakily. His powers would recover soon enough.

"Good," Gordon said, and that was all that was needed. They drove on through the slowly warming city as the sun kept on rising.