His plan was set.
Tonight, he would sneak out and hide in the woods. At least until he had the courage, to tell his parents about his powers. Until then, he would hide in the forest and train, because his ability didn't leave him one quiet minute anymore.
Silver worried about this fact, but he didn't know why they were suddenly so strong. Was it his fear? Worry?
Did his negative feelings cause fluctuations?
Silver sighed as he put a warm hoodie in his backpack. There were also two blankets and his teddy bear. He would have gladly taken a pillow with him, but his rucksack wasn't big enough. Especially since he also had to take food with him, if he didn't want to starve.
But he didn't want to get them until his family was in bed.
His knees were trembling a bit. Running away in the middle of the night, without leaving a message? Silver was already feeling guilty, but his fear drove it away. He would sneak out, tonight...and hopefully not get caught.
The crescent moon was bright in the sky, when Silver got out of bed and crept to his closet. He took out a jacket and slipped it over his shoulders. Finally he took his backpack and carefully opened the door to the room.
Everything was quiet. So he assumed that his family was already asleep.
Quietly, he crept down the hall and padded silently to the lower floor. From there, it was only a few steps to the front door.
If he hadn't remembered, that he still had to take his food with him.
Silver quickly went into the kitchen and put the food in his backpack, that he had prepared a few hours before, when his family didn't watch.
Suddenly he heard someone coming downstairs. Frightened, the hedgehog hugged the lunch box and hid in the storage cupboard. He closed the door behind him and hoped, that he didn't get caught.
Through the small slit in the door he could see his mother who was getting something to drink. Lauren took a small bottle of water from the kitchen cupboard and was gone as quickly as she came.
Silver let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't seen him.
The hedgehog quietly opened the door and stepped out.
After taking something to drink with him, Silver crept to the front door, slipped on his shoes and opened the door silently.
Before he stepped outside, however, the hedgehog turned around one last time.
"I'm sorry..." he whispered, then spun around and disappeared outside. He closed the door behind him.
At first the hedgehog stayed in front of the front door for a while and argued whether it was really a good idea to run away.
Silver sighed as he imagined what kind of trouble he would get in, when he returned. His parents would rip his head off, he knew that.
Despite all these concerns, Silver nodded confidently and ran off into the dark of the night.
The streets were swept empty. But who was surprised? It was the middle of the night. Only a few cars drove on the asphalt. Their bright headlights blinded the boy so badly that he had to stop and close his eyes.
After a few minutes the streets were finally quiet. So Silver started running along the sidewalk, before it was no longer so peaceful.
The light from the street lamps shone down on him, making the hedgehog feel safer. He didn't feel very comfortable wandering the deserted streets of Emerald Town in the dark. The worry was deep inside him that someone could just kidnap him now and nobody would notice.
With this uncomfortable feeling in its stomach, the hedgehog continued his wandering and soon arrived at an abandoned building.
An old elementary school that had been vacant for years. The city had initially planned to renovate it, but then canceled the project. The school has stood there ever since, falling into disrepair.
Shaking his head, Silver opened the gate, which gave a loud squeak and made his sensitive ears twitch.
Making sure no one saw him, the hedgehog stepped through the gate and ran straight to an old forest path. Only rarely did anyone walk along here, which is why the five boys used it as their "secret meeting place".
Silver went through the open gate, that led into the forest and activated the flashlight on his cell phone to find his way. Finally he padded down the path. Being careful not to stumble and fall over.
"Damn it, it's really dark here," muttered the hedgehog under his breath as he waded through the grass to get to the secret shelter he and his friends had built.
The light of the flashlight soon reached a rather sad looking building, consisting of branches and moss, which was built on a large area.
It was big enough to accommodate Silver and his friends when they all sat on the floor. Since the hedgehog was alone, however, he could now really stretch out and hopefully get a bit of sleep.
Silver was incredibly tired and he knew why. His throat scratched terribly, and he swore his fever had risen.
After all, he was still sick.
"When I'm now thinking about it, it's not so smart that I lie down in the forest with a cold." he said to himself while he spread the blanket on the floor and put his backpack next to it. Finally he threw himself on the blanket and looked at the unstable framework.
/ I should repair it sometime. / he thought to himself and pulled another blanket out of his backpack. But first he layed down and tried to fall asleep.
A cool wind blew through the branches and rustled the leaves. Silver felt a little unsafe. He hugged his teddy bear fearfully and tried to fall asleep.
His thoughts went to his family. How will they react when they find out, that he was no longer in his bed?
Are they going to go find him?
Try to call him?
Even inform the police?
Suddenly, he sat up. He hadn't thought of that at all! Of course, his family would report him missing, what a question.
"What did I do ...?" He whispered and closed his eyes. "Maybe I should go back..."
In hindsight, it had been an incredibly stupid idea to ever run away. Silver felt even worse than before.
"I should go back tomorrow morning and hope that my punishment won't be too severe..."
With that he layed down again and tried to fall asleep.
As soon as she woke up, there was a strange feeling in her chest.
Charlene opened her eyes and immediately sat up. The bright sun shone through her window and left shadows on the floor.
A perfect morning, but that feeling, that was hidden deep inside her, just didn't go away.
Something was wrong with Silver. Sure of that, she got up and walked straight to her brother's room.
When she opened the door, the cat was terrified. The bed was empty, and Silver was nowhere in sight.
/Calm down, Charlene. He must have awoken a long time ago and is somewhere here in the house./ she thought and ran back to her room to get ready.
The thought, that Silver probably already got up, calmed the cat a little, but she still couldn't dismiss the feeling.
As soon as she finished her morning routine, Charlene ran down the stairs and straight into the kitchen. The hedgehog was often found there, because he was always looking for something to eat.
However, to her surprise, her brother was not there. That worried her now, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions. So she wandered into the living room, in which no one was to be seen.
Slowly the cat was feeling really uneasy and she ran into the garden where her parents were crouching in front of the flower beds and pulling the weeds.
/Where is he?/ Charlene mused as she continued to look around. She didn't even notice how she was drawing her parents' attention to herself.
"Charlie, are you looking for something? You seem so lost.", Came the voice of her mother and in the next moment, Lauren had already gotten up and went to her daughter.
"Um..."
At first, Charlene didn't want to tell her parents. If Silver was somewhere in the house, she'd alerted them both for nothing.
However, if Silver was really nowhere to be found, it would be better to tell her parents about it.
"It...it's...about Silver...", the sixteen year old mumbled and avoided eye contact with the older cat.
"What about him? Is he feeling worse?"
Charlene took a deep breath before she began to speak, "I can't...find Silver. I think he's not in the house..."
Lauren stared at her daughter in disbelief. No, that couldn't be right. Where else would Silver be, if not in the house?
"I know what you're thinking now. But his bed is empty and I can't find him anywhere else." Charlene interjected and at that moment, something struck her.
When she passed the wardrobe earlier, Silver's shoes were no longer there. His jacket was missing too. Or...was it just her imagination?
Without saying anything, Charlene whirled around and rushed to the patio door. Back in the house, she glanced at the wardrobe and sure enough: Silver's shoes were no longer there, and neither was his jacket.
"Charlene, what's going on?" Behind her, Lauren and Marcus came into the house.
"Silver's shoes are gone! He ran away!", The younger one shouted and pointed to where a pair of black sneakers were missing.
"What? That can't be possible! How and above all: why?!" Tears gathered in Lauren's eyes. "Where can he be...?"
"Calm down, honey, we'll find him. First of all, we should call the others. Maybe Silver is with his friends.", Marcus tried to calm his wife down, but he too was worried about his son.
"O-ok... Then I'll reach out to them... And you two, t-try to reach Silver...", Lauren suggested and immediately disappeared into the living room to call her friends.
Charlene gave her father a concerned look. Marcus returned this look and then stroked his daughter's hair. "Come on Charlie. We'll try to reach Silver now.", He said, whereupon the younger nodded ruefully.
"Hello Tommy, is...Silver with you? We just can't find him..."
"No... I've already called the others. Nobody knows anything. That's why you're my last hope..." Lauren sobbed into the microphone of her phone, while wiping away the tears with a tissue.
Until now, none of the other parents had been able to give her any information. Especially since the boys weren't very cooperative either.
Tommy wished he could help his best friend, but he hadn't seen Silver either. Now the only one who could help was his son. Hopefully, Shadow was cooperative.
"I'll just quickly ask Shadow. Wait a moment.", Said the wolf and put down his phone down for a second.
"Shadow, can you come downstairs, please?" He called up the stairs.
In less than a second, the black and red hedgehog was standing next to him.
"What's up, Dad?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.
"Silver is nowhere to be found. Do you perhaps know where he could be and also why he ran away?" Asked the older one and looked at his son expectantly.
As soon as Shadow heard this, he immediately looked away and mumbled, "He's been acting all weird lately..."
Tommy nodded and turned back to his phone. "Shadow says that Silver had been acting all weird lately.", He repeated his son's statement and heard a hysterical sigh at the same time.
"That's exactly the same thing, the others also said. Nobody could give me the other information, because the boys only blocked any further questions." He heard Lauren sob.
"I'm sorry, Lauren. I wish I could help you."
As soon as Tommy had said that, his son looked up. Shadow sighed and tapped his fathers arm. Without saying anything, he pointed to the phone and indicated that he should please give it to him.
Tommy nodded. "Lauren, Shadow wants to talk to you. I'll hand you over to him now.", He informed his friend and gave the phone into the younger one.
"Hey Lauren."
"Hey Shadow... What is it, that you want to tell me?"
Shadow looked at his father and then back to the floor. "So... Silver has distanced himself a lot from us and refuses to tell us what's going on. He's also yelling at us, even if we didn't do anything."
"That's... He does the same thing at home too. But he doesn't talk to me, let alone his father or Charlene.", Lauren answered and sobbed into the microphone again. "I just want him to come home..."
Shadow wasn't sure whether to tell Lauren about Silver's bullying. But the black hedgehog knew that he couldn't withhold it from her.
It was weird, that Silver was only acting this strange now, when Scourge had bullied him like that for years. But maybe, the bullying got worse and started to really hit his friend's psyche.
Whether it was behind Silver's weird behavior or not, the bullying had to stop!
"I...don't like to tell you that Lauren, but ... I have a feeling that I know, why Silver acting the way he is..." the black hedgehog muttered and heard the cat startle.
"You know it? Then...can you tell me?" Asked Lauren, to which the younger one only replied with a "yes" before thinking how best to explain it to her.
"Silver...has been bullied by a certain person for a long time. But we only know about it since Monday. Maybe it gets worse now and...he just can't handle it anymore.", Shadow said and clasped his father's phone firmly.
He didn't like to admit it, but the topic of Silver's bullying really got to him. He just couldn't believe someone was bullying his friend to the point of breaking.
"W-what ...? Silver is...being bullied? But...he never told me that..." Lauren whispered in shock and immediately bowed her head when Shadow began to speak again.
"He's just afraid that it will only get worse if he turns to someone. But...I have an idea, where he could be hiding..." the hedgehog added, but was interrupted when Lauren's doorbell rang.
"I'm sorry, Shadow, the doorbell rang. Maybe it's Silver.", The cat said excitedly and hung up immediately after the two had said goodbye.
Lauren got up from the sofa and sighed hopefully. "Please Silver, be at the door."
=Alrighty! Next chapter is the last and it will have over 4K words. Oh lord- O_OAbout today's chapter:So... Silver actually ran away but realized it was stupid. Really a stupid part. Why did I write that at all!? But eh, hope you enjoyed and don't mind this part. Lmao. xDAs you may have noticed, Shadow is not a ultimate lifeform here. It just wouldn't fit into this AU. So he's a simple hedgehog, but still has Chaos powers as a ability. For this, however, he does not need a Chaos Emerald, as that would be a bit disturbing for him.Also just to clearify: Yes, Shadow has two dads. :DAnd Tommy and Lauren are childhood friends! :3Thank you for reading!! Love you guys! 3XxSilver_Lea_EngxX