Author's Notes: Hello there again, and I'm back with my second story, "A New Beginning". This story begins about 6 months after the defeat of Iblis, but I have changed the timeline so that there was no "end of the world" scenario. There are going to be some slight character changes and at some points the ideas may seem a little far-fetched, but just go with it. As always, constructive criticism is both welcomed and encouraged. Lastly, I do not own any of the unoriginal characters, as they are property of Sega. P.S.-Things in single quotes are in the character's mind.
(Silver's POV)
'This can't be; it wasn't supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to defeat Iblis together. And then I was going to seal him away, but now she's gone, my best friend. Why wouldn't it accept me as the vessel?' It didn't mater though, Blaze was gone and I was helpless. Even though Iblis was gone, it sure didn't seem like he was. His monsters remained and the flames that he conjured were here as well, to serve as a constant reminder and danger. Life remained a struggle, but everyone tried to attack each day with a positive outlook. The world was still a disaster, the only difference was that Iblis was gone, and while it was supposed to be victory, it sure didn't seem like it. The colony began to look to me for guidance. I became the leader of the colony, but I didn't want to be. It was a responsibility thrust on me after I defeated Iblis. I was the most skilled in combat, I was also the best at micro-managing, and I was also the fairest. So I tried to do my job to the best of my ability, rather than mope about Blaze. Now that she was gone, I felt more alone than ever. I had always felt alone, isolated among this small band of survivors. When Blaze came along, I was ten and she was a little hard at first, she was prideful, she didn't want anybody's help. When my colony shunned her though, her pride broke. They never trusted her, she was a pyrokinetic, she could manipulate the one thing we feared most, fire. She must have felt more alone than I did, the adults never said anymore than they had to and they never let us kids near her. But I was different, I saw that she needed a friend, and I did too. So I regularly defied my everyone's wishes and spent time with her. And our loneliness was what connected us. She knew that I had her back no matter what, and she had mine all the same. We were the best of friends in this ruined world, but there were some noticeable differences between us. And in many cases, she became a big sister to me, she protected me from a lot, knowing full well that I could handle myself. And she always seemed more mature than me, even though we were the same age, she always called me naïve, but never meant it as an insult, it was her way of telling me if something I was saying, thinking, or doing was childish. She knew that I desperately wanted to be a more mature person and she was giving me pointers. I just missed her so much, she was my best friend and now she was gone.
My daily routine was very, uninteresting. I did very similar things every day, I woke up early every day, and if I was lucky the sun would shine on any given day, but the cloud of ash and dust usually covered the skies. Then I would go and do a quick check of the perimeter of the colony, since Iblis' minions were most active at dusk and dawn. Once that patrol was over, I would open the colony. The entrance was sealed with a large stone that only a super strong man, or a psychokinetic, could move. Then I would go and make sure that everyone wakes up and eats breakfast, and then I would eat, if I ate. Then we would go about our normal routine, some people would try to grow food, some watch the children, and the rest, including me, would go and scavenge for supplies. After the daylight began to fade, we would all head back to the colony where we would eat dinner. Then I would take one last patrol of the perimeter and seal the entrance again. Then we would do work to keep the place clean and put the newly scavenged supplies to use, and by this point it would be pretty late, so everyone would begin to get ready for bed, and I would tell the kids a story. After that, I would go up to where I slept and try to sleep, but I would often be unable to sleep. I would toss and turn while the thoughts raced through my head, I always had so much to do, but the one thought that constantly burned through my mind was, Blaze. I didn't realize it at first, but soon I came to understand, I loved her. I would dream about her; her touch, her smile, her voice, all left to my imagination. I would dream of me and her living happily together. I longed to hold her, to feel her fur, and run my hands through her hair. To feel the warmth of her on the coldest of nights, if only there was a way to change the past, but still vanquish Iblis. But it didn't matter, she would never like me like that, she was my friend and like a sister to me, I mean, I didn't have any family. My father was killed and my mother got very sick right before Blaze arrived and she died soon after. I didn't have any siblings; I was an orphan, a child of the survivors. But I was special; I had psychokinesis, like my father before me. I was proud to follow in his footsteps and protect my people. But no amount of pride could get Blaze off my mind, but all I could do now, was dream.
(Late one night, Silver is sitting on a ledge near where he and Blaze first met)
'How did I end up here?' I thought to myself, I was sitting, precariously perched over a ledge, right next to where I first met Blaze, but to find out how I got here, I decided to retrace my steps. I woke up, very sore, I wound up rolling out of bed, if you could call it that, and landed on my head. I looked outside, no sunlight today. So I was already in a bad mood, so I put on my boots and gloves and went to do my perimeter check, everything was clear, so I opened up the colony. When I got back inside, most everyone was up and eating, so I grabbed a bowl of something that I'm not sure what it was. But whatever it was, I was undercooked, my bad mood got even worse. Then we went scavenging, I was hopping that since the day started so bad, that the rest would be better, I was wrong. One of the scavenging groups accidentally awakened a large group of monsters, so I had to rush and save them. I wound up getting a couple bad cuts, so I went to go look for some bandages, but after wandering around for a while, I stumbled on the spot of mine and Blaze's final battle with Iblis, I stopped as soon as I knew where I was. I felt a stinging pain in my heart, and tears form in my eyes, but I was able to keep my focus and continue with what I was doing I found some bandages and the rest of the day went without incident. I came late to dinner and I didn't eat anything, so I just sat there. But then one of my biggest critics decided to make a deal out of what had happened earlier. I wasn't the only one hurt, and then I was criticized on my ability to keep everyone safe. I wasn't in the mood to argue, so I decided to put him down with an ultimatum, "If you don't like the way I protect everyone, then you are more than welcome to fight the monsters yourself, but I will warn you, it's hard to fight them without some kind of power, and since I'm the only one here that does have any kind of power, ask yourselves. Do you really want my job, or will you shut up and accept that I'm doing my best!" And with that, I stood up and walked out; everyone stared at me in silence. I went outside and did my last perimeter check, then I sealed the entrance. Then I sat outside for a while, I just needed to be away from everyone. While I was sitting, a strong gust of wind blew a lot of ash on me; it stung my eyes very bad and made me cough. But instead of brushing it off, I sighed and went back inside; I still had to tell a story to the kids. When I got into the kids' room, they all sat up with attention, they were excited to hear my story, but I couldn't think of one. So instead, I told them of my last adventure with Mephelis and Eggman. But I left out the part where I tried to kill Sonic I wasn't more than halfway through the story when the kids really started to ask questions; about Sonic, Shadow, and Princess Elise. But most of the questions were about Blaze, most people didn't know much about her. But this story made her seem not so bad to them, and she wasn't. Blaze was great, they just never gave her a chance. Then one of the kids finally asked me, "Were you and Blaze going to get married?" I froze, there was an even more powerful sting in my heart and my throat went dry. But I told them, "It wasn't like that. But I think it's time for bed." This was met with an uproar from the kids, and I told them, "I'll finish the story tomorrow." And they agreed. Then they hopped into bed and I walked out. I went to my room, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep, so instead I went up to the roof, through a secret passage in my room. The wind died down and there was no light, except for the flames below and the marks on my hand. And it was quiet, dead quiet. The only sounds were of charring fire and my breath, but it was a peaceful silence. It was nights like this that Blaze and I would sit up there and dream, dream of a world free from Iblis. Little did we know, a world without Iblis was almost as bad as a world with Iblis. The more I thought about Blaze, the worse I felt. It eventually came to a point where I couldn't stand another minute of it, I had to go somewhere. I didn't know where, but I had to be someplace else. So I went for a walk, if you could call it that since I flew a lot. I didn't have any direction or destination, but I would know when to stop. I wandered for what felt like hours, lost in thought, and then I looked at my watch. The watch was an heirloom; it had survived since before the day of disaster. The watch read 3:00 am, I had been wandering for close to four hours, and I had no idea where I was. Then I came to an opening, near a ledge, and I recognized the area instantly. It was the place where Blaze and I first met. My heart sank; I was right back where we started. That was the final straw, I couldn't take it anymore, I sat on that ledge and started to cry, I missed her so much, and I didn't care who or what heard me, maybe if they killed me, the pain would go away. I wasn't wishing for death, but I also wasn't running from it. And that was how I got where I am, it had been a rough day, and now I was crying, crying my eyes out, I didn't know what to do or think, all I wanted was Blaze back, to tell her that I loved her, but I knew that it would never happen. But fate however, is not without a sense of irony, because as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I heard a voice say, "Silver?"
A/N: I also apologize if a lot of this is in the passive voice.