angry kids and extreme powers can make an interesting mix
Yawning, Silver woke with a stretch. Sleeping on a bed of dead leaves and moss was one of the comfiest rests he had ever had. The soft materials left an imprint of his body in the ground and felt like it molded to his very needs. If, of course, he was actually on the ground.
All Silver had to do was look down in order to realize he was in another predicament. Familiar cyan surrounded his body as he floated in midair.
"Shadow?" Silver called out anxiously. Seeing he wasn't floating at high speeds or altitudes brought slight ease to the hoglet's mind. But not enough to stop him from turning pale in the cheeks.
A path of footprints printed in the soft ground caught his attention. The trail led away from the site and deep into the woods. Brilliant. Shadow was out hunting.
Silver waved his arms around again, trying to do his moves halfway horizontal. That was…difficult. Even though he did his best, breathing calmly and moving slowly, it was not enough to break the hold his abilities had on his body. Frustration began to boil.
Throwing training to the wind, the hoglet began flailing his limbs around, swinging his arms around and even kicking his legs. Nothing. False swimming? Nothing. Folding his body this way and that? Twisting around like a worm underground? Wiggling his fingers like ants legs? Nothing.
An infuriated growl left his throat. In a fit of rage, Silver thrust both his hands forwards, opening his mouth to scream as he forced all his anger out his hands. Of course the scream never left him.
Before he could even make a peep, his body lurched to the side, slamming his small body into the nearest tree with a surprised squeak. Winded, he looked around, trying to spot the adult in the trees to no avail. Shadow was still out there. Breath regained he let out the loudest, rage induced yell he could muster. Where was Shadow when he needed him?
Anger boiled through the hoglet as Silver began waving his arms around again, pushing and pulling, slamming and swinging, finding himself waved all over the clearing like a loose rope on a windy day. Enraged screeching filled the air as the angry child shook himself violently, quills loosening and becoming messed as he flailed about. Why wouldn't this work?!
"Woah woah woah woah!" Shadow shouted, running into the clearing and towards the tantruming child. He waved his hands, trying to get Silver's attention, only to get caught in a blast and tossed into the woods. The force of the push knocked the adult into a boulder, a crack forming straight down the middle from the blow. Shadow stood back up.
"Silver!" The ranger gasped, running back into the clearing, stopping at a greater distance this time. "Remember your emotions!"
Silver couldn't hear Shadow over the loudness of his tantrum. He kicked and screamed, angrily flailing about while rocks and leaves were whipped around at the mercy of his untapped power. Frustration flowed out of his body like a flood, carrying away debris and chucking it various directions entirely at random.
Shadow made a gamble. Picking up a small acorn, he threw it, aiming to gently hit the hissing and spitting hoglet on his leg. Instead, it was lifted halfway through its aerial journey and launched like a bullet straight into the atmosphere. Probably never to return. Ok, new plan.
Silver screeched and howled, kicking his legs about. Yet before he could start waving his arms again, he saw the ranger appear mid air. Rope in hand, Shadow quickly threw it around the raging child and landed on the ground below - pulling the cord to reveal a slipknot tightening around Silver's young body. With the arms secured, Shadow dashed around, throwing the rope and hooking the tiny legs in its coils. With a final pull, the ropes tightened, restricting Silver's body to a standstill. Too shocked to even scream, golden eyes just stared at the ranger.
"Now that I have your attention," Shadow started, breathing heavily from adrenaline. "Please calm yourself. Being upset is only making everything worse."
"Why can't I get it to stop?" Silver whined, tears forming at the base of his eyes."
"I speculate it's because you're too young to understand the complexities of emotion." Shadow answered. "Let alone think about abstract concepts."
"Abstract com seps?" Silver sniffed.
"You'll understand when you're older." Shadow answered. "In the meantime, just breathe. Follow my lead."
Hooking the loose end over a hanging tree branch, Shadow began guiding the youngling. Four seconds in, four seconds hold, four seconds out. In and out. Slowly, steadily, and wholly. Silver closed his eyes and focused. Shadow was trying to help him. Tears began to drip as his frustrations turned from anger to despair. Why couldn't he control it?
"Remember Silver, you are young." Shadow spoke, calmly interrupting the child's thoughts. "Learning takes time, and you will make mistakes. That is a fact of life."
Silver opened his eyes. Ruby met gold as the child opened his mouth.
"You never make mistakes." Silver grumbled.
"I made the worst mistakes someone could make." Shadow answered grimly. "Just because I have moved on from them doesn't mean they didn't happen."
Silver couldn't possibly understand what Shadow meant. Did he somehow lose control of his power before? Maybe eat the wrong kinds of foods?
"Just because you make mistakes, doesn't mean you're a failure, Silver." Shadow continued. "You just need time to grow."
Slowly, the cyan faded, dropping the hoglet. Silver yelped, but ultimately was caught as the rope around him jerked him to a halt. With a sigh, the adult scaled the tree again, undoing the loops and slowly lowering the swinging hoglet to the ground. Silver wriggled out of the coils that saved him from a 15 pace drop and curled onto the ground. Shadow dropped down and picked him up.
"You've had plenty of excitement for today." He sighed. "I'll prepare your meal and get you filled up for the hike."
Ah yes. Silver had almost forgotten. They were moving on. Shadow had made some off comment on not staying in one place for more than a day. Something about gangs or whatever. Crime ring was it? At any rate, Shadow didn't seem too keen on keeping a small child in the area for longer than necessary. It was probably a good thing. Silver had heard voices in the distance before.
Shadow's shoulder guard was filled yet again with various foods and handed to the youngster. Today was cooked rabbit and wild blueleaf. Silver didn't know how the ranger did it exactly, but every time the hedgehog had brought back animal or meat, it was thoroughly cooked. Boiled more like it. Silver wondered even more why he kept bringing back blueleaf. That bitter vegetable was the least favorite out of all the foods the ranger had brought back ever; and despite his nonverbal complaints, just kept giving it to him. Shadow made a point on trying to feed Silver a varied diet, whatever that was. Something about growth.
Silver ate the blueleaf first, just trying to get it over with. Although he made faces, Silver made a point never to complain much about food. Mistress had always drilled into his head he was lucky to be getting food at all. That miserable slop was all they could afford and if it was taken away; he would starve to death. Of course she never ate the slop. Somewhere in her office she ate alone and at night. The smells of whatever she had always drifted through the floorboards making the children all the more hungry. He was lucky to have food. He was lucky to be alive. If Fliss hadn't brought him flickys and bugs - he would have died well before his second birthday.
Handing the armor back to Shadow, Silver curled on the ground. He missed Fliss. If only she was there to rub his back and soothe him. Gosh did his body hurt. Being flung about wasn't kind to his underdeveloped body at all. Fliss would let him rest. Fliss would know what to do.
"Why don't you ride on my back today." Shadow spoke, looking sympathetically down at the depressed hoglet. "You've been through a lot lately, it will do you good to rest once more."
"I'll walk…" Silver mumbled, pulling himself off the ground and shuffling out of the campsite. His boots drug on the soft ground as he trodded past the adult and into the woods. If they had to keep moving, then they best get moving.
Shadow didn't speak a word. He simply caught up to the young hedgehog and started his path again, flipping his hood up as he always did.. Automatically, Silver fell behind the ranger and let his head fall.
It felt like a good few hours they walked on. Silver stared at the ground, only looking up when Shadow altered his direction. One would think the hoglet had a lot on his mind, but that was not the case. The only thought that plagued his head was loss. He had lost everyone in his life. Heck, he didn't even know where his parents were or if they were even alive. His earliest memories were of Fliss, and now she was gone too. She was gone too... How long would it be before Shadow would be gone as well? Was everyone going to leave him? Was he always going to be alone? The forest shadows grew longer and longer as the day wore on. Shifting the light through the woods and bringing what little color it could to the decayed trees.
"You don't have to look down the whole time." Shadow commented.
"You don't have to hide your face the whole time." Silver mumbled under his breath.
"I do." Shadow answered. "You may have grown used to my eyes but others mistake me for a demon."
"Demon?" Silver asked, looking up at the hooded figure.
"A monster." Shadow sighed. "A bad creature."
"Are you?" The hoglet asked, slowly and subconsciously hiding his face.
Shadow was speechless. Silver couldn't see the ranger's face, but he could see the mouth opening and closing with nothing to speak of. Shadow turned away. The straight shoulders slumped slightly and the iron footing slipped. Was Shadow… unsure?
Silence filled the air for a few more hours, the light dropping from overhead to the horizon as the night approached again. When the light started to fade, Silver looked around.
"Are we stopping here?" The child questioned, looking around.
"No." Shadow answered. "We move through the night."
"W-why?" Silver asked, stunned by the idea of no break.
"Because here is a very bad place to stop." Shadow answered. "Here is where kids go missing."
"Missing?" Silver squeaked, quite alarmed. "Where do they go?"
"I've been trying to find out for decades." Shadow growled. "They are careful about what they do."
The sunset faded, and the moon rose. Once the shadows grew visible once again, the ranger reached down and scooped the child up. Silver was surprised, but did not complain. His little feet were starting to get sore and his legs were tired from the day of travel. Being hitched on the back of the adult was a luxury it felt like.
"Get some rest." Shadow commanded. "I know it will be hard but you need as much sleep as you can get."
"What about you?" Silver asked, resting his head against the back quills he was nudged between.
"I can go years without a drop of sleep." Shadow answered. "But you cannot. Rest."
With a sigh, Silver closed his eyes. The emptiness of before crept back inside. All he could think about as the world swirled around him was how little he was in the big wide world. How little he was compared to everything around him. How helpless and uncontrollable he was compared to everyone around him. Why did he have to survive? Out of all the abandoned kids, why did he live? Why him? Why him….
