I'm returning to my Sonic fanfic roots with this one. I still can't believe it's been around seven years since my first attempt at writing, jeez. But moving past that, I've decided to give it another try with my current favorite crack ship in the fandom. More information at the bottom.

Word Count: 3,058

~START~

The first time Silver met Mephiles, he distinctly remembered the world was on fire. Which, he would admit, had been a bit off-putting— his future had never really done that before after all. Like, sure, there was the occasional dystopian development or hostile Eggman army remnants, but never all this fire and brimstone business. He was almost at a loss as to what to do now.

Almost.

It was always 'almost' when it came to him.

Honestly, Silver had dealt with this whole end of the world thing more times than he'd like to count. Somehow, someway, his timeline always found a way to screw itself up when he wasn't looking. Which would explain why it happened so often, now that he thought about it…but regardless, he did know how to fix this.

Soaring through the air, wind whistling in his ears, Silver streaked through the soot-filled skies much like a turquoise arrow. His psychokinesis enveloped him in its soft glow, carrying him safely over top of the collapsing buildings and other such decay and carnage on the streets below. Panicked screams punctured the harsh groans of metal scraping against metal, and it took all of Silver's willpower just to tune it all out.

As it was now, there wasn't much he could do to help.

Not in the present time at least.

All he needed to do was go back; back to Sonic's time. He had a hunch that's where he'd find his solution. That's where it usually was, anyway.

The ruined city faded away into a blur as Silver continued his journey towards the jump point, his thoughts muddling together as he wondered what could possibly be wrong this time. Had someone somehow set off a supervolcano? Was it another one of Eggman's failed schemes to take over the world? Knowing their current track record, he wouldn't put it past that last thing to be the case.

Soon enough the jump point was looming in the distance. Silver slowed his approach slightly as he scanned the nearby surroundings. Everything looked to be in order, the local flora was still growing as obnoxiously as ever, completely undisturbed by the hellscape currently unfolding in the aptly named Crisis City. Even that giant tree was still there, along with the...

Oh jeez, was someone dead already?

Silver began his descent a bit more shakily than he'd intended, not taking his eyes off of the dark form lying motionless under the big oak tree. The grass beneath his shoes made a light rustling noise as he landed, and he hesitated to get any closer to what he assumed was probably a corpse. He'd really been hoping the lack of burning in the wide grassy field meant the chaos hadn't quite reached here yet, but perhaps that had just been wishful thinking on his part.

Silver took a small step forward up the slope and towards the body, his palms sparking with a bright turquoise glow— just in case. You could never be too careful when it came to situations like these. He'd learned that the hard way.

Besides, what were the odds of something like this even happening? The world was slowly burning to the ground around them and Silver just so happened to find a dead person in the one place the fires didn't seem to have reached yet? Yeah, okay. The smoke was definitely starting to blot out the sky and Silver was 90% sure he'd inhaled more soot than oxygen on the way, but sure, this makes sense.

Steeling himself, Silver walked closer to the downed figure. As he approached, he could make out a few features on the person, and pretty curious ones at that. They were definitely a Mobian; or whatever the heck his race was called. Hedgehog in appearance...black fur, dark muzzle...no, make that a light muzzle. Silver squinted his eyes as he stopped short of the large tree's shadow.

Whoever this person was, they definitely weren't breathing. But what a weird position to die in… They almost looked as if they were sleeping, eyes closed and arms resting by their sides. Actually… Silver inched closer, crouching down beside the stranger. Now that he got a better look at them, they almost looked like...wait, no, Shadow was definitely long since dead.

Immortal or not, Silver had never seen Shadow around in his future. Two hundred years was a pretty long time to spend not getting murdered by someone. Especially when you have the personality of a nuke; poor guy.

Looking closer, Silver could see this unnamed hedgehog actually had pale blue stripes on their quills— as well as no mouth, but who was he to judge. It was pretty uncanny how similar this guy looked to Shadow, minus the mouth...literally.

Oh, but their eyes were definitely cooler—green's a nice color.

… Ah.

Silver let out a half-muted scream as he lost his balance and fell backward, nearly rolling down the small crest of the hill. He managed to catch himself before worse came to worst and stared wide-eyed at the evidently not dead hedgehog, who was currently blinking up at the canopy of leaves.

A long beat of silence passed between them, during which the faint smell of smoke wafted in over the breeze, reminding Silver that he really didn't have time to be stumbling over himself. He stood up, almost falling on his ass again, before glancing down at the stranger. It was like Silver wasn't even there, what with how little a reaction his movement caused. Then again, maybe it was just a muscle spasm and this dude really was just dead.

Silver shook off that thought.

"Hello."

Another scream crawled halfway up Silver's throat before he managed to swallow it back down. His attention immediately snapped back to the stranger still laying on the ground, now looking a bit more aware of their surroundings. Slowly, as if just remembering how, the hedgehog shifted their lime-colored irises in the vague direction of Silver, blinking a few more times.

"Hello," the stranger repeated.

Silver felt a shiver go down his spine.

Was it illegal to have a voice that deep? He felt like it should probably be illegal. Nevertheless, he'd gotten an actual sign of life—the least he could do was give one back.

"H-Hey," Silver replied, and it took more effort than he cared to admit not to force a lower octave. Not that he was intimidated or anything. No, of course not. Baritone voices aren't that impressive… "Ah, sorry to bother you. I'm just passing through."

The stranger didn't respond. Instead, they merely pushed themself up into a sitting position and continued staring off into the middle distance. It would be a few seconds more before they lifted their head and actually seemed to look at Silver, but it was still progress.

"Who are you?" the stranger asked, tilting their head to one side. There...really wasn't a question in their tone. Actually, Silver couldn't tell what emotion this person was expressing— the lack of a mouth was really throwing him off.

How were they even talking…? Er, questions for another day.

"I'm Silver. It's nice to meet you." Silver did his best to smile, though the ash and soot polluting the air was starting to get to him. "I-I'm sorry— I really would love to stay and chat more, but I should probably get going now." He coughed.

The stranger nodded, as if actually understanding whatever urgent matter was pulling Silver away. Although, in hindsight, it might have been kinda obvious.

"Safe travels."

Silver waved a short goodbye quickly and trudged past the odd hedgehog, who had shifted around to face the direction Silver flew in from— towards the city and what, honestly, could have probably been the rapture had Silver not known any better.

Tugging on the strands of his power, Silver focused on the unstable time flow crackling through the air around him. The jump point, as he liked to call it, turned out to be a lot less quantum physics and a lot more 'unzip the metaphorical time vortex and hope for the best.

Using his psychokinesis, he could practically visualize the rift in front of him. It was almost child's play to pull apart the strings holding the portal shut by this point— he could probably do it in his sleep given just how often he's needed to escape literal doomsday.

Abruptly, the portal sprang to life in front of him, swirling in all its ominous purple glory. Silver cast a single look back over his shoulder— at the stranger still sitting nearby; at the distant city currently being razed to the ground. With a determined nod, he turned back to the portal and stepped through.

Once he returned, everything would be back to normal again. All the casualties would be undone, the collateral damage reversed. Almost as if it had never even happened.

Though, he had to wonder.

Would he ever see that strange hedgehog again..? The odds were pretty low as it were. Silver almost never ran into the same people twice. Messing with the flow of time could get funky on occasions, and sometimes people just...stopped existing. Incredibly unfortunate. But, it's for the greater good.

Or something like that.

Silver tried not to think about it.

He was kinda bummed he didn't catch the other's name though… He would have liked to know more about the mouth situation.

"Welcome back."

Silver nearly stumbled the second he exited the portal.

Catching himself with his powers, he glanced up in a mixture of shock and intrigue to see the strange hedgehog from before sitting among the large tree's roots. Their gaze was fixed on the far-off city lights, somewhat akin to how they'd been when Silver left… But that couldn't be right.

Whoever this was—they shouldn't still be here. Whatever had first brought them to this place shouldn't have happened. There were just too many factors at play for this person to have ended up back here despite all that's changed.

And...was that a greeting they'd given him?

Silver was at a loss for what to say. Which was fine, for the most part, seeing as the other didn't react beyond that initial acknowledgment either.

An uneasy silence soon fell over the meadow, and Silver found himself shuffling awkwardly in place. Was he supposed to say something back? What could he even say? Probably not 'you too', that wouldn't even make any sense… Or did it…?

"Looks like you've fixed things," the hedgehog said, cutting through Silver's thoughts rather abruptly. An unusual chill gnawed at Silver's bones as reptilian-like eyes zeroed in on him. A deep chuckle mingled with the breeze, "for now, I suppose."

That, at the very least, seemed to jumpstart Silver's brain again.

"How'd you know?" he asked, drawing up his guard as he slowly inched closer to the dark hedgehog. "I mean, you aren't wrong—but how could you tell?"

The hedgehog quirked their head, an almost amused look crossing their few features. "In regards to your shoddy patchwork job, or the simple acknowledgment that it's all in vain?"

"Both, really." Silver shrugged before taking a seat next to the stranger, crossing his legs as he took in the view of Crisis City not in Crisis.

There was a faint hum of recognition from the other before they too returned to staring at the city.

"So, what's your name?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

"That's a mouthful," Silver deadpanned, unfazed by the irked glance it earned him.

"Ah, yes, and I don't suppose the one who said he was silver has any room to talk." The monotone delivery alone was enough to send Silver into a fit of giggles.

It only took a minute for the laughter to subside, and yet it still felt as cathartic as ever to the time traveler. If only for a little while, his future was safe— doomsday was averted, and Silver couldn't be more relieved. He didn't even try to hide the mindless grin that crossed his face, staring out across the thriving fields at the metropolis.

Silver shook his head lightly, before turning to address his newfound companion. "You know, for someone with a voice that deep, I didn't expect you to have a sense of humor."

"Neither did I."

Silver laughed again, the mirthful sound seeming to echo in the serene environment. A pensive gleam seemed to linger in the other's eyes as they watched the psychic closely, noting his casual posture and naive willingness to sit beside someone he hardly knew. It sparked an odd sense of annoyance in the mouthless being.

"You relax far too easily," they said.

"Why?" Silver smiled, a peculiar glint shining in his brilliant yellow irises. "Are you planning on attacking me or something?"

The dark hedgehog appeared to think about that for a moment.

An eerily long moment.

"Wow," was all Silver said, making an exaggerated show of scooting a short distance away from the other. This got him a short chuckle from the dark hedgehog, which was good enough for Silver. In all honesty, he wasn't actually that concerned about the potential danger he was in— he could crush a person's windpipe with only a thought alone if he wanted to, after all.

Not that he did.

"So, what brings you here anyway?" Silver eagerly changed the subject before his mind could wander any further into less than heroic thinking.

The other being eyed him inquisitively. "I'm actually quite curious myself."

Ah, so no direct answer to that question either then. He was starting to sense a pattern.

"Well, how long have you been out here for?"

"Eight days, seventeen hours, and thirty-two seconds," was the immediate response.

"Oh." That was...strangely specific. As well as the same exact amount of time Silver had been gone for… "You wouldn't happen to remember the city being on fire would you?"

"I believe we'd established that earlier." They almost sounded sarcastic. "Although, it was quite the spectacle, wouldn't you agree?"

Silver probably could have pouted had he not been momentarily stunned. Sitting up a bit straighter, he suddenly felt a little more cautious. The slight tenseness didn't go unnoticed by the other, who merely tittered upon finally getting the right reaction. Silver really should have been more skeptical from the start.

"You weren't affected," Silver mumbled, half question, half statement. "But...how?"

"That's your eighth question so far," the dark hedgehog pointed out, lifting their left hand as if gesturing to something. A decidedly smug aura was exuding from them as they looked to Silver. "What do you plan to gain from any of it, pray tell?"

Silver didn't respond right away. His gaze scoured over the other's form, obviously looking for something, but not paying attention to any one place for too long. After a solid minute or two, he visibly relaxed. A smile nonchalantly returned to his face.

It was annoyance- the dark hedgehog could definitely conclude that it was annoyance they felt.

"You don't have the answer, do you?" Silver asked. The other's hand dropped back to their side as they shifted their attention away from the psychic, not caring to verbally confirm anything. But that was alright, the message still got through.

The two sat in silence for a while after that. A comforting breeze was beginning to blow again, skimming through the oak tree's branches and rustling Silver's quills. He tipped his head up towards the darkening sky, quietly marveling at the orangish hues dancing behind the clouds as they passed overhead. Uncrossing his legs, Silver laid back against the grass, his muscles relaxing from all the action he'd left behind not too long ago.

From beside him, he noticed the dark hedgehog also gazing up, more interested in the tree's leaves and the speckled patterns of light they let slip through. Silver allowed his head to tilt to one side, closing his eyes as weary exhaustion began to creep up on him. Perhaps saving the world was more tiring than he gave it credit for…

"Hey," he asked softly, drawing the other's attention. "What can you remember?"

"Solaris…" the dark hedgehog muttered, albeit reluctantly.

Silver peeked an eye open. "The sun god?"

A simple shrug was his only response— not that he expected much. He probably should have guessed they wouldn't know the specifics.

"Huh...well, that's a weird thing to remember," Silver mused. "You can recall that but not your own name?"

"Not unless you can identify me as either Mephiles or Iblis," came the snarky retort.

Silver paused, opening both his eyes as he processed that information.

"...You were a religious nut weren't you."

His reward for that observation was an actual glare.

"Sorry, sorry—okay, um...let's just call you Mephiles for now. ...Feels like that's probably the least blasphemous of the bunch… " Silver looked away as he mumbled the last part, shivering under the cold stare, before his ears perked suddenly. "Oh, wait!" He sat up. "One more question— what's your gender?"

The newly dubbed Mephiles looked at him blankly, as if judging his intelligence all over again. "I quite obviously appear to be male."

"Nice." Silver nodded, levitating himself onto his feet. "Just wanted to make sure. I mean, you might have been missing more than just a mouth for all I knew."

Mephiles chose to ignore that in favor of leaning against the tree's trunk, narrowing his eyes as the psychic didn't make any obvious indications he was leaving—despite the fact he'd stood up and started stretching. The reason for that soon became apparent as Silver spun to face him, smiling that annoying smile of his.

"Since you don't seem to have a place to stay, you can bunk at my place," Silver decided, settling his hands on his hips. Just from the pose alone, Mephiles could tell it was already decided whether he actually wanted to or not. Great…

"You're awfully clingy," Mephiles remarked.

"Yeah, and?"

"You don't converse with others very often, do you." A sigh escaped the dark being, much to Silver's curiosity. Still, Mephiles stood and dusted himself off, glancing over to see Silver almost bouncing in place with renewed energy. That obnoxious grin only widened as he gave his response.

"I'm very lonely, yes."

Great…

~END CHAPTER~

Heya, made it to the end I see. I'll just skip the chatter for now and get on with the explaining bit.

So like, the main pairing is Mephilver, although other ships might show up eventually, I haven't actually decided yet. It's kinda slow burn with story elements that jump around a bit- sometimes large stretches of time will pass between chapters and the characters won't really acknowledge it. This is mostly because the original concept I had was better suited for a comic. It would just be short blurbs of Silver and Mephiles interacting either with each other or other characters.

This is set after Sonic Generations and references 06 on occasion as if it was a fever dream (seeing as it technically never happened). Silver's future also operates on the basis that as soon as something starts happening in the past, the future is abruptly affected. Doesn't really make much sense but it's what Forces implied so I'm rolling with it.

Everyone might be a bit OOC but I'm doing my best to mesh my own hc's with the canon lore. I'm going off of the IDW Silver's personality mixed with a bit of psychopathy under the surface- since he's literally living the definition of insanity (doing something over and over again and expecting things to change). The most you'll see of that is the occasional twisted statement; ie. making note of how easily he could kill a person, not that he wants to. He's still his usual cinnamon bun self at heart.

Mephiles is pretty much just Mephiles but he has hobbies outside wanting to wipe out all of humanity, although he still hates people. And because the majority of his memories are gone, he's not quite as guarded as he would be in canon, but he's mostly just tolerating Silver at the moment.

For now that's all I think I need to mention- I hope the first chapter was enjoyable and I'll see to getting the next part out soon. Feel free to toss ideas my way if you'd like to see a particular interaction unfold. I didn't really plan too far ahead so building up to the things I was most excited for might take a while.

See ya later.