Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, locations, items, and so forth belong to Sega/SonicTeam/Dimps/etc. They do not belong to me. I own the storyline, theories, Polo and other original characters not licensed with the aforementioned companies.
A/N: Greetings readers! This is a sequel story to "Golden Beginnings," my oneshot focusing on Silver and Blaze's childhood. I would like to think that this fic can be read alone, but you may need to read "Golden Beginnings" in order to get the whole story. This ended up being longer than I anticipated, so I will be uploading it in segments, probably alternating with updates to my Star Wars fic.
As always, thoughts are italicized and flashbacks are in italics and bold together.
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Six stones floated above lava pits of Crisis City, glowing softly blue as they slowly flew around. Typically, one would always expect to see strange things like this around the ruins of an ancient city destroyed by Iblis. It was actually a common ability, to be able to levitate objects; most of the inhabitants of Crisis City could do this, though the number of survivors of the Flames of Disaster had always been relatively small.
Crisis City was aptly named. One could not go outside without putting one's life on the line. Disregarding Iblis itself, there were the crumbling buildings, lava pools, crags, and sadly enough the danger of disease from the food and water that was available. Meat was unheard of, and the fruit and vegetables that made up the inhabitants' diet was never fresh; rather, they were often rotten, wrinkled, and tasteless. The water was not much better, ranging from murky at best and analogous to tar at worst, but with the heat caused by the fires the people had no choice.
Silver the Hedgehog looked up intently at the rocks, practicing his telekinesis as he always did on days when he was not helping his guardian, Polo the Anteater, with distributing food or exploring with his bet friend, Blaze the Cat. He could often be found at this spot on the top of one of the tallest buildings that miraculously still stood. He claimed that it was a good place to keep an eye out for Iblis. Blaze never joined him up there.
Blaze had been acting slightly strange lately, in fact. She frequently went off on her own, and Silver would find her staring off into the distance, lost in thought. She did not seem upset about anything. If she was, she would have told either Silver or Polo about it. She seemed more confused than anything else. Silver was getting a little worried, but Blaze had reassured him that she was all right, if not a bit preoccupied.
"I feel like something is missing, like I should be doing something that I'm not," she would say, before changing the subject.
Their friendship was not harmed by this though. If anything, the bond between the two only grew stronger over the past year. Silver had "rescued" Blaze from one of Iblis' monsters (she often joked that it wasn't much of a rescue) when they were both five years old. Silver discovered his telekinetic abilities that day, and they had been inseparable ever since, watching out for Iblis and planning what they would do once they were strong enough to fight it directly.
Iblis brought up bittersweet memories for Silver. The day he met Blaze had just been a few days after Iblis had murdered his mother, Aria. She had been distracting the monster of fire and molten lava when it attacked her, leading it away from her son who had been hidden away at the time…
Aria struggled to keep her breath as she ran from Iblis, clutching her son Silver tightly to her chest. She stopped for just a split second to look behind at her pursuer. Iblis' odd greens eyes (the only other color on it other than rotten brown or red) spotted her in an instant. Aria's eyes widened and she took off again, as quickly as her feet could carry.
The female white hedgehog came to a building partially buried underground. She entered, and quickly looked around.
Think, Aria! I can distract Iblis better if I'm alone, she thought, gripping her son tighter and causing him to give out a small cry. She ignored it. I have to hide Silver. Better chance of him surviving.
She spotted a little hollow beneath a piled of metal beams, against the wall. It was a small pocket, but it was large enough to fit one person. Aria did not even hesitate. She rushed to it and pushed Silver in. There was another howl from Iblis.
He gaped at her. Was she leaving him?! "Mother?! What—"
"Silver, whatever happens, stay here and don't make a sound," she ordered, her frightened expression showing that there was no room for argument. He swallowed anxiously, but nodded nonetheless. Aria smiled at him one last time, giving him a kiss on his forehead. "Good boy. I love you, Silver."
And with that, she was gone.
Silver sat in that spot for a long time. Holding his knees to his chest, he tried to block out Iblis' snarls, the sound of buildings bending, and the crashing of stone. There was one final roar, a scream that came from a female somewhere, a crash of metal against rock, and then…nothing.
Aria did not survive that attack. Silver had been living with a good friend of his mother, Polo, along with Blaze, ever since.
But back to the stones. They were flying about, spinning slightly as if trying to move on their own. Silver grinned slightly at his success. This was the easy stuff; he had trained himself to lift objects far heavier and larger, but he had to practice with little items as well, to keep himself in shape. Suddenly, he shot the six stones towards the lava, where they met the molten rock and melted instantly, and creating small splashes in their wake. He smiled. After a year of practice, he was getting much better at controlling his telekinetic skills.
"Fooling around again, Silver?" a familiar female voice called out to him from far below him. Blaze gave him a smile as he glanced down at her. "It's getting late. We better head home now."
Silver jumped down from his spot to her. Together they climbed down the rest of the building and through the streets of the ruins. Silver turned his head to her.
"Figure out what's wrong yet?"
"I know it's something," the cat replied. "I'm just not sure what it is. I can't explain it."
"Any bad feelings, or what?" Silver asked.
"No, not bad," Blaze answered, tapping her chin in thought. "Not bad, just…off."
"Off?"
"Like I'm waiting for it," she continued. "But I don't even know what 'it' is."
"I'd say ask Polo, but you already have," the hedgehog explained. Polo had been as clueless about these "off feelings" Blaze was having at they were. "But, this feeling doesn't hurt your concentration, right?"
Blaze shook his head. She knew he was referring to her ability to control her pyrokinesis, her manipulation over fire. If she was distracted too much, she would lose control over that power. But these thoughts did not seem to influence her abilities at all.
The sound of a loud howl tore through the air. Blaze's ears perked up. It wasn't Iblis (it had its own distinct roar) but it was clear that it belonged to one of Iblis' spawn. They usually only made that kind of sound when they were fighting something…or someone. The sound did not come from far away either.
Blaze took one look at Silver, who nodded to her, before taking off in the direction of the roars.
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It did not take the pair long to find the source of the howls. It was a group of three Iblis spawn, surrounding a hole in a building next to a large lava pool. They were snapping at whatever was inside the crack. It reminded Silver of the hole he had taken cover in a year ago. One of them gave out another roar, one that Blaze had begun to recognize as a sound calling for help. Whatever was in that hollow, those monsters wanted it badly.
Silver, being the reckless young boy that he was, jumped down from the path they had been following and rushed towards them, grabbing a few large boulders with his telekinesis as he went. Blaze sighed mockingly but quickly following him.
The hedgehog sent one of the boulders at the spawn, sending one of them away from the opening and into the lava. The other two swiftly turned their attention to them. Blaze sent a fireball towards them; the smaller one caught it in its mouth, but that bought Silver enough time to pick it up and slam it into a wall. He smiled; his practice at lifting and throwing larger objects was paying off.
The last of the creatures decided that Silver was the greater threat. Lunging for the young hedgehog, it pinned him with a single talon. Silver lifted anything that was in his mental reach and threw them at the monster holding him down, but to no avail. It wouldn't budge. Blaze rushed to help, grabbing its tail and shooting waves of fire into it through her hands. It was badly burned, but still effortlessly tossed her aside.
Blaze caught the sight of a brown body moving out of the hole that the spawn had been attracted to, and onto the top of the building. The form stopped where a large mental beam sat at the top, and he pushed it off the structure. It rolled down the ruins and shoved the lava creature off Silver. It growled in annoyance, but was too distracted to notice Blaze sending another fireball in its direction. It hit the spawn hard enough to knock it back into the fire, where it belonged.
Blaze walked over to Silver and offered a hand, helping him up. He smiled at her, and then looked up to where the older person in a large brown cloak still stood atop the nearby ruins. Silver gave him a wave, and the person began to climb back down.
Once at the bottom the person, who was notably taller than either child, walked to them. Blaze could just barely see his face under his hood.
"What a courageous pair," he said, slightly jokingly. Silver and Blaze blushed at the compliment. "I've rarely seen anyone so young fighting Iblis' monsters before."
"No trouble, sir," Silver replied. "We're happy to help."
"Perhaps you can help me further," the man said, staring at Silver interestedly. It was now clear that this person was male. "Do either of you know if there is a nearby food distributor? I'm low on rations."
"Sure, we know one not far from here—" Silver started, but was disrupted by Blaze pulling him away, to where the man couldn't hear them. "What?"
"Silver, don't you think something's strange about this guy?" Blaze asked. "He makes me a little nervous."
"You know, I think so too," agreed Silver, yet he also shook his head. "But we can't just let a traveler go with food, right? Polo would get mad at that."
"I know," the cat conceded. "But I'm keeping an eye on him."
"So am I," Silver comforted her, before running back to the traveler. "Follow us sir. We'll take you to our friend Polo for food."
"Polo…" he said quietly. He grabbed the rim of his hood and pulled it down a little further. "Lead on, young man. We better get moving before Iblis finds us here."
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