Okay, time for a little Silvaze! This is sort of a songfic, which I know isn't strictly permitted, but I've found a loophole. I'm not posting the lyrics . . . I'm posting a translation of the lyrics! The original song was in Romanian. It's called "Oriunde Ai Fi" ("Wherever You Are"), and it's by a group called O-Zone. It's also absolutely gorgeous, by the way.

Anyway, if you want extra context for the second half of this story, it's based on the YouTube game "Silver's Neverending Story," by SonicSong182. But it stands okay on its own, I think.

Goodness, author's note is getting too long! Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co., or the games, or any of SonicSong182's work. I also don't own "Oriunde Ai Fi," or any of O-Zone's other work. And I don't even own the translation! It's version 2, on the translating website whose URL this website forever edits out. Nor do I own "Dreams of an Absolution." Gosh, seems I'm practically destitute. XD

Without further ado, let the Silvaze ensue!

I looked her in the eyes the last time.
Tears were flowing, they were so bitter.
She asks me not to forget her, it felt like last summer
And I said to her something like "Love doesn't die".
We didn't know that it was the last night
When we could be so, so close.

"Where is it?" asked Silver grimly, his metallic fur striped with orange sheens of light. The future was a world of fire and destruction, nothing but the marks of Iblis everywhere. The very ground and murky sky glowed in imitation of the beast's light. Silver and Blaze had fought it countless times before, seen it rise again countless times before. Now they had come back from the past, determined to defeat Iblis once and for all.

"It is unusual for it to remain hidden for this long," admitted Blaze. "Perhaps it senses we are better-prepared to defeat it this time."

Silver clenched his fists angrily around the two Chaos Emeralds he was carrying. These were the means to defeat Iblis; these and the chant that constantly replayed in his head. It was the chant needed to seal Iblis within a living vessel. He had heard it after traveling many, many years into the past, and he was ready to be that vessel.

His glance flickered to Blaze, who was stalking purposefully at his side. Something inside him prodded him to speak, even though he didn't know why.

"Blaze," he began, hesitating. "Just so you know . . . this might be more difficult than it was when I saw the sealing performed in the past."

Blaze turned to look at him anxiously. Silver felt that familiar jolt, that strange electric fluttering that filled his body whenever he looked into Blaze's eyes.

"How so?" she asked.

"When I first saw the chant performed, Iblis was practically a hatchling, not a huge monster like it is now. I might . . . I might change, or something, when I become the vessel. But no matter what happens, I don't want you to worry. It'll be worth it."

Blaze said nothing. Silver dared to meet her eyes again, and froze; they were misted over slightly. As close to emotion as Blaze could ever get.

"Silver," she said. "Are you saying you'll become nothing but a shell to contain Iblis?"

"I don't know . . . "

"Are you saying you'll forget who you are? Forget our mission? Forget why we did all this, how we did all this?" And the unspoken last question: Forget me? Their shared past seemed to flash before Silver's eyes.

"I couldn't forget any of that!" he blurted. "No matter what happens. We've been through too much together. I . . . we . . . we'll always be together, you know that. No matter what happens to either of us."

Not an admission, per se. But he'd never in his life felt closer to saying he loved her.

Blaze nodded once, silently. Their gaze finally broke, and Blaze walked slightly ahead, approaching a ledge above a pool of lava.

Suddenly Iblis came howling up from the depths.

I remember just empty words
When I was looking at her on the last night . . .
The last look remained in my memory
The last disappointment I can't forget.

"Blaze!" cried Silver, stretching out his hand uselessly. Psychokinesis, physical force, nothing could stop what was happening. Blaze was becoming transparent, slowly dissolving. Sparkles of life-force drifted from the vanishing edges of her body. She was turning into a ghost right before his eyes, as another dimension slowly devoured her and drew her upwards into the sky.

Blaze smiled gently down at him, simultaneously triumphant and heartbreakingly sad. Her hand stretched back down to him, the first and last time she'd ever shown any sign . . . of needing comfort . . . from anyone . . .

Then she was gone.

Silver stood rooted numbly to the ground. All he could see was that final glimpse of Blaze's face. She was gone. What—what had he done?! Why hadn't he stopped her? Why couldn't he stop her? "You're my friend. I wouldn't know what to do without you."

What good had that done?! Why had he wasted his time saying that? He was an idiot! Why hadn't he wrenched the Emeralds right from her hands, saved her from an eternal life locked with Iblis, lost in some wild dimension? Why had he frozen up, why had he failed?!

The sun began to break through the clouds, for the first time in untold decades. The world was bathed in a glorious, soothing light, banishing the former demonic red glow. Silver didn't see it. He looked up at the sun, and all he could see was Blaze's face. He shut his eyes, and it was still all he could see. It was burned into his brain; it floated before his vision . . . Blaze . . .

Silver let his head sink to his chest and covered his eyes with his hand. He didn't cry. He'd never in all his life cried. The future was too harsh to permit the survival of those who cried.

But he'd never in his life felt closer to tears.

Chorus:
Wherever you might be I will find you
Wherever you might be I will love you
Wherever, in night or day, I will find you
Inside myself, when I will love you,
My sweet one, my bitter one . . . I will find you.

"Are you there?" Silver called, a howling wind snatching the words from his mouth. "Blaze, are you there?"

Snow whirled around him, settling in his quills, as the end of his scarf flapped over his shoulder. If you stopped to think about it, it was pretty idiotic—wandering all over the world, calling Blaze's name, checking into nooks and crannies. How many different dimensions would he have to search like this? There was little to no chance of finding her this way.

But then again, Silver never did stop to think about it. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. Blaze was gone. He was going to find her.

Reassuring himself that Blaze wasn't in that particular ravine, Silver turned and trudged onwards. Icy particles stung at his face, forcing him to shut his eyes. It didn't matter; he wouldn't have been able to see ten feet ahead of himself anyway, through this kind of blizzard.

Blaze was going to be found. He couldn't forget her, couldn't leave her. If he'd never realized it before, he realized it now: he loved her. Whenever his brain threatened to talk some sense into him, told him to let go and move on, his heart would suddenly rebel violently. He could feel her inside, calling out, waiting for him. It was heaven to feel her in his heart, at the exact same time that it was torture to remember her every moment of the day. Sweet and bitter.

He wasn't crazy, just a guy in love, a guy who'd do anything to regain the love he'd lost. Determined, not crazy.

But truth be told, he'd never in his life felt closer to being insane.

Every evening when I'm trying to fall asleep,
I cry and listen to her favorite song.
Because it makes me feel her so close,
It reminds me of us, and of the last night . . .

"Well, happy anniversary," murmured Silver drily, glancing at the moon. It was midnight. The new date marked one year that he'd been searching for Blaze. He wasn't discouraged that he hadn't found her yet. He was discouraged that he hadn't even found any leads yet. Not one clue. Not one hint of where she might be. He had long ago stopped telling other people who he was looking for, because everyone who heard the story told him that Blaze was likely gone forever. Even when he met his friends, he hedged; "someone important," that's who he was looking for.

Passing an inn with an eatery on the first floor, he stopped to get some food. He hadn't eaten since noon yesterday. At this late hour, the inside of the tavern was smoky, noisy with music and raucous conversation. Slipping cautiously between tables filled with rowdy customers, Silver sat down at the counter and asked politely for a sandwich. The burly owner gave Silver a critical look.

"Cash first," he ordered gruffly.

Silver silently laid down a few rings. Satisfied, the fellow slid a plate across the counter.

"Traveling on foot, eh?" he said. "Can I recommend a friend o' mine who runs a transport service? Mighty cheap."

"No thank you," said Silver, looking up from the sandwich. "I want to travel on foot. It's more thorough."

"Looking for something, eh?"

"Someone."

"Lor! You're not that daft one who's still searching for his girlfriend, are you?! I've heard about you. One of those lovesick maroons who don't know when to give up, eh?"

"I'm not—"

"You're not all there, sonny. That's what you're not. What kind of a guy cares that much about any one particular girl?"

Some of the roughs at a nearby table took notice and joined into the jeering. Silver got up and walked out, leaving the half-eaten sandwich behind.

The night was not too cold. Much better than some of the other nights he'd slept out in. Silver sank down under a tree and leaned back against the trunk, glaring resentfully back at the lighted windows and muffled noise from the inn. A lot those guys knew. He'd find her. Wouldn't he?

Silver's mind drifted back over the previous year, his heart growing heavier with each memory of failed attempts, false leads, dashed hopes. After a whole year . . . who knows what might have happened? Not like he was going to quit. Not any time soon. Heck, fighting Iblis had been just as hopeless a case, and he hadn't quit then.

But he'd never in his life felt closer to giving up.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a familiar tune. The radio at the tavern had been blaring music all this time, but now a pleasant song suddenly came on. The lilting melody drifted out into the night and reached Silver's ears. Blaze's favorite . . . Somehow that song had survived two centuries, slightly altered. In all those scarce happy times, Silver had always heard her humming it. Just hearing it made his heart ache and that last glimpse of Blaze flash before his eyes again. And they were just playing it at some rowdy saloon, as if it were nothing.

Silver turned his head away, his jaw set. No sense thinking about the past. That wouldn't help. Focus on the future, on finding Blaze and bringing her back.

Only why . . . why was his vision blurring like that . . . ?

The last kiss on cold lips,
I feel it trembling with a bitter mouth.
I kiss you in my dream entire nights,
Like a real ghost from last summer.
The last look remained in my memory,
Like a dream, like a story vanished in the clouds.

How many times had he dreamed of Blaze? Not even counting before he lost her. Only counting the nightmares, the ones after she was swallowed into another dimension. So many, many times. Rarely did the dreams ever change, yet they still hurt just as much, every time.

A murky meadow, fog rising from the clammy ground. A sky gray with either clouds or dawn or dusk. He was stumbling through it, calling Blaze's name. And suddenly, there she was. Something was wrong, he could feel she was frightened and hurt.

"Blaze? Blaze!" he called again, scrambling to her side as she dropped to one knee. She nearly fell over; he caught her in his arms, feeling her body trembling and—and clammy and cold, like the ground. Where was her fire, the warmth he always felt emanating from her? Was she injured?

"Blaze, are you all right?"

She turned her face upwards to gaze at him, and although he'd seen this a thousand times, it went through him like a shot. Her eyes were dull and dead, full of pain. She spoke, her voice pleading.

"Silver . . . why didn't you come? Where were you?"

"I was looking for you! I was searching and searching, I couldn't find you! Please tell me I'm not too late!"

"You are. I'm sorry."

"No! You'll live! I know you will! Blaze, please don't die now, I—I-I love you!"

That smile. That rare, beautiful, loving smile, corrupted now with some creeping poison. She leaned into him; desperately he held her close, kissed her the way he'd forever longed to, felt her lips shiver against his . . . felt her body turn to mist in his arms.

"Blaze, no!"

And somehow he was back on that cliff, watching Blaze being taken away.

"Blaze!"

Gasping, Silver threw himself upright. He was—he was alive! He was alive, and in a bed! A makeshift bundle-of-blankets excuse for a bed, but a bed. What had happened?!

His mind scrabbled for an answer. The last thing he remembered, he'd been fighting a megalithic spider in the Swamps of Sadness. He'd been overwhelmed by it, hit in the head, and . . . next thing he knew he was waking up here. Where was here?

Silver looked around himself uneasily. It seemed he was in some kind of cave. Starlight filtered in through the entrance, falling on shelves cluttered with jars and crockery, all filled with strange herbs and powders. And there was a strange smell in the air . . . partly the smell of a burning wood fire, but also something else; something absolutely horrific.

Then he caught sight of a familiar figure. He nearly cried out. Knuckles! The echidna did indeed have a wood fire going, and he was leaning over a little cauldron that was filled with some bubbling green ooze. That explained the smell, at least. That better not be medicine.

Unfortunately, it was. As he struggled to swallow it, Silver wondered resentfully if he hadn't been through enough already. But otherwise, things suddenly, magically, started to look up. Sonic and Tails were there too, having rescued Silver from the swamps. They also offered to help as he continued his dual quest: saving the dimension in which they now were, and finding Blaze. Knuckles—well, he was trying to help. Ugh. But best of all, Marine, whom Silver had seen sink below the clingy waters of the Swamps of Sadness, was still alive! Silver never thought he'd be that happy to hear the little raccoon's rapid-fire babbling or feel her arms affectionately squeezing the living daylights out of him. Even if his ribs were still sore from the battle with the spider.

Silver sank back onto the blankets for a moment and allowed himself a little bit of a smile. He still didn't know where Blaze was, or how he would fulfill his quest. He still didn't know how to save the dimension.

But somehow . . . he'd never in his life felt closer to succeeding.

In night or day I will find you,
I will love you, my bitter one . . . I will find you

Stars over his head. Stars all around him, below him. Empty space everywhere, only a little scrap of stony ground beneath his feet. So little was left . . . so much for saving the world. Let alone finding Blaze.

He didn't know what he was singing for. There was nobody out there to hear. But all the same, for some reason he sang.

And every night, I will save your life,

And every night, I will be with you . . .

Something strange started happening to a nearby star. A soft fountain of light suddenly blossomed from it, spreading into a pure white pool in the dark sky, sending out long streamers of brightly-colored light. From the milky aura came a familiar voice, then an oh-so-familiar face. It couldn't be. It couldn't. It—it was!

"Blaze!"

"Silver! Hurry, grab my hand!"

In the subsequent whirlwind of sights and sounds and other senses he never even knew he had, only one thought pounded in Silver's head.

He had found her. Or she had found him. But they were together, finally, come hell and high water. Somehow he knew this wasn't just another dream; it was real, he was sure of it.

But he'd never in his life felt closer to the dream world.

I will love you in the night under the sky full of stars,
Like in my dreams, when I find you.
I will hold you in my arms like the last night,
I will always be near,
When I . . . find you . . .

A lot of things had happened in the past half-hour. A lot of things that were maybe better not remembered, at least not for a while. Not until many years had taken the painful edge off the memory.

But now—now all was well. No, now all was perfect. The world was safe, peace returned, the enemy defeated. Blaze was there. Right by Silver's side. She'd never be lost again, not if Silver had anything to say about it. They were together.

Granted, he had failed in one respect, only a minor one. He hadn't been able to tell her in time, in that one heart-stopping moment, that he loved her. But that was a small matter; there would be plenty more chances for that later. In the . . . future.

All around them, the world sparkled in its newly-restored glory. Marine was babbling something as usual, something Silver and Blaze were only half-listening to. They fully noticed when she threw herself at them, though, wrapping her arms around them in overwhelming delight—and still babbling.

"—and let's never split up again, ever ever EVER—"

Silver yelped as the little raccoon's hug crushed against his battered ribs. Right next to his ear, Blaze was also protesting at the rather overblown enthusiasm of the embrace—but what could you do? Marine's joy was bubbling over and right into everyone else's hearts. Silver and Blaze caught each other's eye for just a second and started to laugh. For just one moment, Silver felt that absolutely everything was perfect. Everyone was safe; Blaze, eyes bright with laughter, shoulder pressed up against his from Marine's hug, was there with him again.

And he'd never in his life felt closer to anyone.