(Not all of the information in this chapter is accurate.)
The week had actually started pretty well, apart from the stupid math test he hadn't studied for and which would probably screw up his final grade on Monday morning and the fact that another test was due on Wednesday.
The week couldn't be that bad, Sonic had thought when he came home from school on Tuesday afternoon and saw his Aunt Catherine's car parked in the driveway.
After all, it was not uncommon for the light blue hedgehog to come to visit and so the teenager thought that this time it was just a normal visit that meant nothing except for the fact that Catherine wanted to visit her favorite nephews.
How could he have guessed the real reason for Catherine's visit?
At the time of his arrival at home he was still completely oblivious and so, after he had noticed that he was kinda in the way, he had disappeared into his room and left mother and aunt in the living room, so that they could discuss something that he wasn't interested in at this point.
So he spread out on his bed and waited for his brother to return, for the fox had had a longer school day than he had today.
The blue hedgehog had to admit that the visit had made him suspicious because Catherine usually only came on the weekend and not, as in this case, in the middle of the week. But he'd just shaken it off because he didn't sense anything strange.
The weird feeling didn't arrive until Tails came home from school with Silver and Lauren in tow.
At first, Sonic thought that Lauren had met the two eighth graders by accident and offered to drive them home. But this thought didn't hold on for long, because Silver came to the front door, too, followed by his mother.
Maybe Silver was just coming to visit and Lauren had decided to stay and have a nice chat with the two sisters?
Aroused by his curiosity, he opened the door of his room and peeked out into the lower hallway, where he saw the three Mobians pulling their shoes and jackets off their bodies.
First he wanted to storm downstairs and receive Silver and Tails in a warm hug because he was so happy to have them with him. But this plan was blown up from the moment the gray hedgehog did not come upstairs, but followed the three women into the living room.
Tails seemed just as confused as Sonic himself when the brothers' eyes met, only a shrug was exchanged in response and the fox joined the blue hedgehog, who got a bad feeling about what was happening in the living room.
"...Do you know what's going on?", Sonic whispered as he sat down on the stairs and pricked up his ears, because he didn't want to miss any word of what was going on in the living room.
"No, of course not. I'm just as clueless as you.", Tails replied and also sat down on the stairs, which creaked loudly with the additional weight and the fox could only hope that no one had heard him now.
"Shhhh," muttered Sonic, his face pressed against the banister and his ears pointed carefully. "Otherwise they'll hear us."
"Sorry ..." came the half-hearted, mumbled reply of the fox, who laid his head on his brother's shoulder and also listened to the conversation.
At first they could only hear a low murmur and it was almost impossible to make out what the four Mobians were talking about.
Only the sentence "I'll get us something to drink first" could be understood and so the brothers jumped up from the stairs and hid in Sonic's room until the front was clear again and Aleena had disappeared back into the living room.
Although she had heard the patter of their feet clearly, Aleena didn't want to start an argument with her sons now. After all, she had expected the two brothers to overhear their conversation, because that was inevitable, and besides, they would have to find out about it at some point anyway. So in the end it didn't matter, she thought as she disappeared into the kitchen to prepare four cups of tea.
"Do you think she's left again?" Tails asked curiously while he and Sonic waited for their mother to finish her tea and for them to be able to eavesdrop on the adults again.
"Maybe," came the quiet answer when the blue hedgehog opened the door a crack and peered outside with his ears pricked up.
No kitchen noises reached his ears from below and so Sonic concluded that the two boys could sit down on the stairs again.
"Follow me, but be quiet." Mumbled the older one and pushed the door open before stepping out and creeping to the stairs, which Tails did the same.
"So you actually got accepted?"
Silver smiled as he nodded at the sisters.
"I know that this meeting is very short-term-" Lauren began, but stopped in mid-sentence when she saw Catherine's friendly look with which the younger one glared at her.
"It's okay! After all, this is a big step for Silver! And the sooner we plan, the better," she interjected enthusiastically and Silver couldn't help but smile while he sipped his tea.
About a month ago the gray hedgehog had enrolled in an art school and yesterday afternoon he finally got the acceptance.
The school was based in Saphire City, the city Catherine lived in, so Aleena had the idea to include her sister in this conversation.
It would certainly be good for Silver if he had a known contact person whom he could turn to in an emergency. After all, the gray hedgehog was not very old at the age of 14 and therefore rather inexperienced ... especially in an unknown city.
Nothing had been discussed yet, which was why Aleena immediately called this meeting last night. It had been pretty short-term, and yet Catherine had agreed to take the two-hour drive upon herself because it was much more pleasant to have such a conversation in person.
Silver's head shot up as the said hedgehog lady raised her voice.
"How's the school education going? Do you have normal classes there too?", She asked, whereupon the gray hedgehog nodded immediately. With one swift movement he fished an envelope from his backpack and held it out to the two sisters.
"It's all written in here.", He added when Aleena took the letter and opened it to read it.
The letter was professionally worded and typed, and gave Silver all the information he needed for the time being.
After all, it was only at the end of April and until the lessons at the art school began, the remaining school weeks and the summer vacation lay in between, so that there was still enough time to send Silver a second and final letter.
"That's really exciting, isn't it Silver?" Said Aleena, who handed the note to her sister so she could read it too.
Silver, warming his hands on the teacup, nodded. It was a big step, he knew that very well. And it took a lot of persuasiveness and his father's help to convince Lauren of his plan.
But now he was sitting there with a letter from the art school that had actually considered taking him in. He had made a conscious decision to take this step, because as long as he could remember he had always liked to draw and in the last few months the thought of this school never let him go.
The school was specially geared towards the arts and not only had normal classes like Silver now, but daily art classes as well. It also depended on what kind of art you chose. So the gray hedgehog had chosen the normal illustration, because that's what interested him most and made him happy.
The only thing he worried about was telling his friends about what he was going to do. After all, he had to move to Saphire City and leave them behind and even if he was excited to be able to tackle this opportunity, there was also a glimmer of fear and worry that his friends would not pick it up very well.
How would Shadow feel when the day came when he left? After all, the two hedgehogs were very close and Silver would feel terrible if he made the black hedgehog infinitely sad with his decision. Even if he came back to Emerald Town for the school holidays, it definitely wasn't the same.
And when he thought about living all alone in a strange city, his spines raised the tiniest bit. As happy as he was about the opportunity, the fear was still there and it didn't help that he was naturally a cautious person who was scared of the unknown.
But his friends always encouraged him to take the initiative and try something new. And that was the reason which had given him the courage to take the step. He couldn't stay afraid forever, but had to take matters into his own hands.
"I could take him in!"
This sentence ripped Silver out of his thoughts and his cup almost fell out of his hand, he was so shocked by the sudden exclamation.
Catherine beamed happily at the gray hedgehog, while Aleena could only stare at her sister in horror.
"What? The school is very close to my home! And it would be good for Silver to have someone to live with!", Came the immediate protest of the younger sister, who didn't let her smile be taken from her.
"You can't just-"
"Of course I can! Why not? And besides, Silver's still not sure if he really wants to do that. Maybe he'll stop after a year because he doesn't like it there? Then it's better if I'll take him in! "
Catherine didn't take her sisters and Lauren's attempts to talk her out of it seriously and instead looked at Silver, who could only stare at his former caretaker with his mouth open.
He could move in with Catherine? Was she really okay with that?
It wasn't as if he didn't want that, because he knew the light blue hedgehog very well from the time he had lived in the orphanage and she had always looked after him. At least until she was transferred to another orphanage and he'd never seen her again until one year ago.
His horrified face gradually softened and he gave Catherine a grateful smile as he put his cup down and threw himself into the arms of the older hedgehog who hugged him tightly.
To his left he could hear Aleena sigh because she knew that she couldn't stop her sister anymore. Especially not since Silver had already made up his mind.
Living with Catherine sounded exciting! Maybe it would be almost like it had been then, with the difference that Silver no longer lived in the orphanage and was significantly older. But that was irrelevant and now the gray hedgehog was even more excited to take this step.
With a happy smile on his face, Silver turned to his mother who eyed her son uncertainly. Should he live with Catherine? Of course she knew that he had spent time with the hedgehog lady back then and that the two of them got along really well, but just "dump" her son there? She really didn't want to be a burden to Catherine.
"Please mom!" Silver begged, putting on his cutest puppy eyes so Lauren couldn't help but say "Yes". He knew this tactic always worked, no matter what.
Lauren let out a sigh as she finally nodded in agreement. "Fine. Although I don't feel very comfortable with it. I don't want to-"
"...To be a burden?", Catherine finished the sentence, who still held the gray hedgehog in her arms and smiled warmly when she felt him cuddle against her.
"You're not a burden to me! I would really like to take Silver in! After all, I have enough space and it would be just the two of us anyway!"
That's true, Silver thought as he opened his golden eyes. Catherine lived alone in an apartment on the outskirts of Saphire City. Unlike her sister, she still lived alone and had no kids. So his visit was definitely a welcome change and she could take care of him without any problems.
"So it's settled! You stay with me!", Catherine said without letting anyone else speak. Although nobody dared to veto any more, because Silver looked so happy that it made all worries disappear and so Aleena and Lauren finally agreed to the plan.
"...Then at least one problem is solved. However..." Lauren stroked her son's head, who gave a happy laugh.
"...Silver, when do you plan to tell the boys about it?"
The laughter stopped immediately when Silver was reminded of the problem again. Of course, he still had to explain it to his friends and hope that they weren't too sad about it.
"...Oh...", the gray hedgehog muttered, his head tilted down and nervously tugging at the sleeve of his sweater.
He had actually decided to explain everything to the others this Friday when they were having their sleepover. He wanted to have them all together when he told them, because that way he only had to take the courage once. And he could really use that.
Silver let out a deep breath at the thought, because he hated having to deliver bad news.
At the same time, it also reminded him of when he was adopted and had to make it clear to his friend Espio that he was moving, because at that time he was still living in Emerald City and had to move to Emerald Town because of his adoption. And somehow the two events were almost the same, because again he had to move and leave his friends behind.
"I'll...tell them on Friday. It's the easiest." Silver whispered, his ears drooping in discouragement. "I hope they understand..."
"Silver... If they love you, then they will support you, as difficult as this situation is. This goodbye is not forever.", Lauren tried to cheer her son up and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
Silver gave her a grateful smile as he nodded gently. "Thanks mom ..." he whispered softly and immediately felt a little better.
It was true that he didn't leave his friends forever. He would visit them on vacation and if he didn't like the school he would come back to Emerald Town. That was what he had planned. And what his plans were, should he want to stay at the school, he didn't want to think about that yet as he snuggled up to Catherine and just enjoyed the moment.
"Silver...wants to move...?" Tails whispered as he clung to the banister so as not to tumble down the stairs in shock. "..To Aunt Cathy?"
Neither of the brothers had said anything when they overheard the conversation and Sonic's voice had still not returned when the blue hedgehog plopped down on the steps and rested his head on his knees while he tried to get his thoughts in order.
Silver wanted to go to some kind of school that was in Saphire City. And because of this, Catherine had offered him to take him in for the time being, because it was impossible to travel four hours between two cities everyday.
Sonic gave a sad whimper when he thought that his best friend, whom he'd a crush on for some time now, just moved away and left him alone. Of course, he knew he could just run to Saphire City, but that wasn't the same as having Silver here every day.
And he didn't want to tell them until Friday? Even though he and Tails were here and Silver could tell them now?
"Sonic...are you okay?" Tails whispered worriedly as he sat down next to his brother and gently stroked his back. "Hey...it'll be fine..."
"Really? What do you know!?", The blue hedgehog growled angrily and jumped up from the stairs. Within a second he'd dashed into his room and gave the door a violent push, which fell shut with a loud bang, causing Tails' fur to stand on edge.
Without losing a second, the fox got up clumsily from the stairs and also disappeared into his room. Although that hadn't helped, because Aleena had seen a scrap of him before he disappeared.
Sonic couldn't care less about all of this, the new information just pained him so much. He just couldn't believe Silver was going to move away from him. And although he was happy for him, there was also the sadness in his heart that threatened to tear him apart.
Soon he would no longer see Silver every day and the middle, the heart, of the friend group would've disappeared and all that remained was the shell that he and the others formed. Without the gray hedgehog, nothing would be the same and so Sonic feared the day Silver actually left.
With a sob, he buried himself under his blanket, wishing that at least he didn't feel anything for the gray hedgehog anymore.
Because his romantic feelings for Silver tore his heart apart.
=A nice day, to all of you. :)Oh whaaaaaaaat, I'm actually writing a fanfiction about an underrated ship? Yes, I do, because Sonilver desperately needs more content and that's why I'm here! :Brief information that the art school was just thought out nicely and does not correspond to reality (I think). So not that someone is yelling at me about "Uaahhh, but it has to be like that". Yes, thank you, I know that too and that's why this information is here. ;3I really hope that the fanfiction caught your attention and that you already like it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I will answer them as long as they are not discussed in a future chapter.Thank you for reading! Have a nice day/night, wherever you are right now! 3XxSilver_LeaxX