Silver the hedgehog was stood on the patio of the royal gardens, pacing in a clear display of deep thought. He'd thrice now left the solid ground to brave the grass, having been distracted by the passing of butterflies and bees in the early morning, but always returned to walk on the stone. What thoughts were crossing his mind? Blaze could only guess that they were that of his home and where he'd go next. She knew for certain that he wasn't contemplating her.
He'd arrived with a cacophonous sonic boom above the sea just south of Southern Island's coast, but the hedgehog hadn't come by choice or on his own. Silver claimed he'd been in the grasp of a great metal machine, a central spherical capsule with two heavy metal arms, when it had suddenly teleported. All Blaze knew for certain is that she'd watched the hedgehog be pitched into the water like a stone just before her own confrontation with a mighty machine and one Eggman Nega within. With all seven Sol Emeralds being harnessed within her, the two Chaos Emeralds embedded in the palms of that device hadn't been enough to fend the feline off. She'd blown one arm clean of its shoulder mounting, just before the remainder of the mechanised form could teleport out of her world.
As soon as the coast was clear she'd plunged into the depths, in search of the then unknown person thrown into the ocean. She'd delved through a red miasma to reach him, some strange white hedgehog cast deep into the dark. It'd taken no more than catching him by the wrist for all her memories to come flooding back. That whole second life, from before their first encounter until finally sealing Iblis away, had flashed through her brain in the blink of the eye. Surprise had caused her to drop him, but then panic had then forced the feline to snatch him up and rocket toward the surface.
Harnessing her control over heat, she'd pushed the water from his lungs and his breathing had soon resumed, but he hadn't returned to consciousness. Battered and bruised from head to toe, with the stench of ozone about him, was it any wonder that she'd shot straight to the palace without first retrieving the chaos emerald? She'd got him a bed, saw to it that medical professionals found his bedside, only to realise her mistake.
She'd spent hours at sea, paranoid that the doctor would return to reclaim the emerald before she could grasp it, but her fear had been for nought. Still using her burning form to endure the pressure and ignore any need for air, she'd found the arm no more broken than she'd left it. With a forceful ray of heat, she'd softened the metal to rend free a frosty coloured emerald from the giant palm.
The moment it was in hand, she'd raced back to his side only to find him awake. His right arm was broken in two places, that was the most significant damage, but his entire body was littered with scrapes, burns and bruises. What struck her first and foremost was how thin he was, the matted nature of his fur and the old wounds across his body. No single battle could do that kind of damage, something was deeply and undeniably wrong. She'd denied it, but in that moment a part of her knew that her sacrifice hadn't gifted him the life they'd longed for.
Though lost in daydream, mulling over the two months he'd then spent under her care but often out of reach, Blaze's eyes didn't leave the hedgehog. She watched as he began to roll his arms and stretch properly for what was likely the first time since he'd crashed here. Bandages still crossed his chest and arms, his breakages were healed but some mostly healed wounds still lingered. Well, this was about what she'd expected- Silver had been adamant that he return to his duties the moment he could stand. She'd insisted on keeping the emerald from him until she was convinced he was of good health. The cat could lie for a little longer, but he had been well enough for a week now...
Their eyes locked, standing and staring had finally proven to be the foolish effort Blaze had always known it was. Of course stretching had prompted his head to turn. He threw a wave in her direction, a smile upon his lips. The princess returned the former but not the latter before slipping back through the curtains and into her room as if she hadn't been watching him for ages. Her fists clenched at her side as she threw her gaze across the room, arriving at the white emerald left upon her desk.
She'd been up and dressed for hours, the cat had even thrown her long mantle over her long coat and tights. It was practically instinct, she'd felt in her gut that today would be the day. Rather than wait in the room they'd set him up with, Blaze had known that he'd come looking for her eventually and insist on leaving. It just so happened she'd sighted him first. She couldn't keep him here, no matter what she wanted.
To be honest, Blaze wasn't truly sure what she wanted. That hedgehog was Silver, Blaze had come to accept that truth, but she was not herself to him in the way she had been before. She was someone new, a relative stranger keeping him imprisoned within their castle. This new psychic held his mannerisms, there was still a righteous air about him, but he lacked the soul of her partner. Someone she now knew she'd given herself up to save was now just out of reach. She didn't like to think it, but with how little he'd talk of his dreams, this Silver was as much a stranger to her as she was to him.
She could so plainly recall the moment he hadn't recognised her, it played every night in her mind's eye. Not her face, nor her voice or even her name had trigged so much as a squint of recognition from him. He'd been thankful, albeit over insistent that he had to return to his duties, but entirely ignorant about just who had saved him. Not just in terms of her royal status, that much Blaze could understand, but who she was to him. He'd remembered none of it. He still remembered none of it.
Though she'd considered methods that might return his memories in the same way hers had been restored, the truth was that the Chaos Emerald now rejected her will and the Sol Emeralds offered no guidance. Perhaps that was for the best, given the pain remembering would bestow upon the hedgehog. In truth, Blaze didn't know what she wanted because she didn't truly understand what had become of him. How had he lost their shared memories? He hadn't undergone the process that she had.
The princess moved to her desk, picking up the mass of crystal that was essentially inert in her hand. No matter what she wanted, she knew the right thing to do. He had to get home, regardless of the state of that home, and work to make it better. He'd spoken before of traveling to help Sonic and the others, perhaps that had become the norm for him. If so, then keeping him here endangered all of her friends.
That thought led to another, did this Silver actually have any friends? In his world at the very least, was there someone to watch his back as she had? Blaze had to know that before he left, regardless of whether he wanted to answer. She had to know if he was walking some other destroyed city, fighting for his life alone.
Her eyes flicked to the door. If she walked the halls of the palace she'd likely be stoped before she could meet with him. Meetings were set for today, she'd be obligated to hand off the emerald and depart as quickly as possible. There was only one way to subvert that inevitability.
Stashing the emerald in her pocket, making sure it would remain out of sight, Blaze turned to balcony and clenched her fists. She'd lived a life where she lacked a fear of heights, with him by her side she'd jumped across rooftops and fought freely in the air without having to lean on her burning form. If she could take nothing from his return, the least she could do was pay their times together forward and accept what she'd regained.
The feline ran, jumping moments after she entered the light to vault the balustrade before embracing free-fall. She was on the fourth floor, the height wasn't quite enough to rattle her but the thought of leaping the barrier had always seemed foolish to her... but then, she had been a princess without knowledge of the world's true harshness back then. Just before the feline hit the ground, a burst of flame loosed from her palms to slow the descent. She landed gracefully, sure-footedly, just as she had following so many drops in her prior life.
Unlike such falls in her life before, the hedgehog to her side looked thoroughly surprised by her actions, "I thought you'd gone back in to take the stairs?"
"That would have taken longer," She quickly replied, "As this world's guardian, I unfortunately don't have much time to spare and many wish to take up my time. I'd surely have been whisked away before I could reach you."
"O-Oh, wow, you're that busy? You've spent a lot of time these past weeks just coming to see me," He pointed out so very bluntly, "Thank you."
Embarrassment flared at his accurate observation, her gaze hurtled to verdant greenery stretching before them, "We have a mutual enemy, it's in our best interest to work together and get along."
"I guess you're right, that makes sense," He agreed, she could hear the seriousness in his tone, "I didn't really know he had any other opponents."
His choice of wording was vague, it wasn't enough for her to be certain this Silver didn't fight alongside anyone else in his world but it leaned more toward that being the truth. Blaze scanned the horizon ahead of them; the morning was still early, but given the season it looked much later. On the bushes before them the bees were out and active, bumbling from flower to flower.
"So, um," He broke the silence, hand on the back of his quills, "You know what I'm going to ask for, right?"
"I do," The guardian confessed, "Are you certain you're well enough to travel? You can stay until you're fully healed, you're more than welcome."
"I'd like to, I really would, this world seems wonderful and I've seen so little of it," He professed, his tone genuine, "But I have tasks of my own to return to. I've got a lot of important work to do."
There was an opportunity here, one she couldn't turn down.
Blaze swallowed and fully back to him, "Is there no one working in your absence? Be it for fighting Eggman Nega or..." She felt she was about to be too blunt, but pushed through, "A partner? Allies of some sort?"
"I'm afraid not, unless you count Sonic and Amy and everyone else. I'm a bit like you seem to be here," He professed as their eyes met again, "I'm sort of needed here, there and everywhere."
That confirmed it. There was no one watching his back. If he had a relationship like she had with him, he would have quickly responded with a want to return to their side and help. Blaze had confirmed the hypothesis she'd already been certain of. He was alone out there.
"I see. Very well," Blaze swallowed, blunting her swelling emotions, "Where is it you intend to go?"
"I've thought about that a bit," He answered, "I think I should probably go back to my world first and make sure nothing has changed, Eggman Nega could have got up to just about anything while I was away."
Blaze nodded, as if deep in thought. She'd gathered another piece of evidence for that lonely column. Another opportunity to pry had presented itself, if she didn't act now then there'd never be another opportunity. She couldn't let him leave without her fully understanding what had become of him and their efforts.
"Your... world," Blaze began to push, feigning ignorance, "It's the future of Sonic's world, is it not?"
"Oh, yes," He immediately clammed up, his emotions still read as plainly as a page, "It's, um, about two hundred years into the future of his world."
"I imagine things must be quite different then," She led, despite his discomfort.
"They are," His gaze broke from hers this time.
Silence brewed between the two of them again, leaving Blaze to fill in the gaps. She was certain Silver was alone in his time, not only that but their effort to save the world had been a failure. Either it was simply too far gone or some other calamity had taken the place of Iblis. The injuries he'd arrived here with, some old and abnormal, there was no way the mad doctor's armed robot had caused them. He was set to return to suffering and struggling on a destroyed planet. Alone.
"Although, for as different as things are," Her stare hadn't left him, but now he was looking to the sky, "I'm glad our times share views like this, a blue sky is always so beautiful," Their gazes met again and he was back to smiling, "It's nice to see it's just as beautiful in this world. The night I woke up and had this world explained to me, I wondered if the sky would be red or green."
Blaze instinctively turned away and murmured beneath her breath, "Naive," It was the exact same sort of sentiment he'd have expressed while they were working together.
"What?" He quickly and bluntly asked, "Did you say something?"
"No, just," The cat quickly came up for an excuse, keeping her eyes from him, "It's improper for a princess to cough openly."
She wasn't sure he bought that excuse, but if he was like the Silver she knew he'd accept her words as fact. Then again, that belief was based in how well he'd known her before. How much of him truly lingered within this husk stood beside her? Was he so far gone?
Her fists clenched, embarrassment and frustration was prompting her to push him away. Something in him still recalled the blue sky their home had lacked. If nothing else, their efforts seemed to have earned him that... even if he deserved so much better. It was because he deserved so much better that he had to go back; all of their friends deserved a peaceful life, but there was no point in him going back only to fall as he had those months prior. She couldn't leave here to go with him, not with all the responsibility she carried, but, at the very least, she could make sure he returned to the future in peak condition.
"Eggman Nega beat you once, if you go back and encounter him again the same might happen," Blaze posited, walking to put some distance between them, "I need you to prove to me that you're strong enough to face him, then I'll give you the emerald."
"Oh, why didn't you say so earlier, okay!" He stepped to follow but didn't move far, "How do I do that?"
Blaze turned to face him, fists clenched and brows furrowed, "You'll have to beat me."
"Wait, what?" He stammered as she whipped the mantle from her shoulders, letting it tumble to the patio, "We're going to fight?"
Blaze knew fine well that the Silver of her time didn't enjoy fighting, he fought out of necessity. He'd fought countless foes to survive and battled her in training, looking to bolster both of them in the hopes of one day defeating Iblis. With no one to watch over him, he'd surely had no one to train against. Did that mean this Silver was much weaker than the one she'd known? It was important she knew. She wouldn't send him to his death. It was better he remained here and grew than left for there, he'd be no use to that world or their friends if he fell.
"We don't have to do this, right?" Blaze let her hands ignite, trying to answer without a word, but he rattled on, "I mean, you looked after me, we're friends! You're my friend, right?"
Blaze couldn't stand to talk anymore, especially not after he'd asked that, "Show me that you can fight on your own!"
Unwilling to waste a second more; a thrust of her right hand launched a ball of flame in his direction, only to be parried away by a psychic impact. Now that she knew he could handle one, despite the panic spread across her face, the pyrokinetic was ready to get serious. Clawed hands threw arching bursts of fire one after the other, only to burst into embers against a shield of cyan light. He was weathering the blows well, but the princess was already plotting. She had a guarantied advantage in strategy. After all, she could recall fighting him before.
After launching six consecutive bolts of flame, Blaze rushed to round the hedgehog's right flank. With the sparks and smoke generated by those blasts, as well as those before them, the hedgehog was totally blind. Turtling up would do him no good, she slid low and kicked hard hard at his heel. The hedgehog was no longer standing as he had been, but he did not land to sprawl beside her.
"Just give me the emerald!" He shouted from above her, having caught himself to hover mid-fall before beginning to drift higher to put distance between them, "I don't want to-
Blaze pounced from her couched position, a flaming punch collided with his glowing frame but psychic shielding absorbed most of the impact. It seemed that this Silver still had the reflexes of the one she'd known, being prepared to reinforce himself in response to threats. Simultaneous to that realisation, Blaze noticed she wasn't falling; even despite the flaming propulsion of her leap being fully snuffed.
"I don't like to fight unless I have to. You've been so nice to me, this is pointless," The hedgehog growled as he used his telekinetic grasp to move her up to eye level, "Please, just give me the emerald."
Though the discomfort in his eyes cut Blaze to her core, the feline had to force this fight. More importantly, she couldn't let him hold back; at least not as much as he currently was. This was a trial. It was to prove to her that he would manage out there alone, that whatever he'd faced since her departure had made the hedgehog tough enough to survive.
Discordant emotion was allowed to flare outward, her temperature spiked and flames began to flit from her form. With little more than a thought she coaxed embers into an inferno that immediately tore away his psychic restraints from the inside. Not a moment after unleashing her will, the feline's heels met with the ground. Their eyes locked as the flames cleared, his discomfort had been replaced with surprise.
"If I have been so nice up until now, think of this as my last kindness to you; a chance to prove you are strong enough to fight alone," Blaze didn't know if she could stand what she was about to offer, but she knew it was right, "Or a promise of training that will make you so."
"If there's really no other choice," Though at first his words were weak, the time traveler shook his head and began to bark, "I won't stop, I need to go back. Everyone's counting on me, I need to be stronger!"
He was finally on the offensive, crashing down toward her with the kind of recklessness she had so often chastised. The feline was fleet enough to back-step, putting distance enough between them to evade his lunge yet not so much as to afford him time to avoid the bursts of fire sent spiralling from her palms. Both met their mark, the first catching his open palm before the second caught his left shoulder. Of course, the aura encasing him prevented the flames from igniting his body.
A second past as they locked eyes, tension solidified in the air as they anticipated and were anticipated. She wasn't willing to let him read her, no opponent in crisis city would afford him that courtesy. Her hands relit and he moved to match.
As if in synch, fire flew from her palms and he loosed a bulwark of psychic force to counter. Sparks flew as the two sides clashed, orange and cyan danced in a manner Blaze hadn't experienced in this lifetime. She refused to dwell upon that beauty, bringing her wrists together to produce a steady jet of heat that burst through what essence remained of his psychic wall and raced toward him.
As he swivelled right to avoid the flare; fire burst across her frame as she closed the distance. He caught her punch with his mind but she turned up the heat, burning through psychic energy and twisting her fist to make up for lost momentum. The blow was dealt cleanly to his shoulder, but, as the hedgehog spun again, his right hand unleashed a pushing wave at point blank range.
He managed to remain on his feet, and she landed on hers a good fifteen feet back, but the bandages wrapped around his chest were now blackened. Those signs of her aid wouldn't last any further into their battle, cyan light fully engulfed him and the frayed material was torn away. He was upon her in an instant, airborne with his hands clawed.
His thrown open palms were much too telegraphed, Blaze caught his hands in hers and grasped tight. With a thought, a push of will, the flames leapt from her to him and fizzled away at his hard shell. Though on contact she'd felt the pulsing spark of his psychic might, that energy faded as he was forced to channel attention to maintaining his shielding. For a moment they were locked there, his defence and her offence perfectly balancing one another, but Blaze quickly realised what she had to do.
She brought up her foot and kicked him, his weightless form was sent spiralling back, but the guardian would not let him retreat into the sky. Outpacing his launched form, Blaze grabbed him by the boot and pulled him closer. The princess slipped between his legs and her fist caught his chin. He tried to react, attempting to launch her back with another open palm, only for her to elbow that attempt away.
They were racing across the patio, him flying backwards while she raced forwards! The time traveller had regained control of himself midair, he did try to slip higher into the air, but every attempt to escape was met with another blow from the pyrokinetic. Be it flaming fist or tearing claws, each of her hits made their mark. Eventually he was reduced to attempting close quarters attacks of his own, but those haphazard punches and elbows either fell flat or were knocked away.
A part of Blaze cracked with every successful blow she dealt. She was still holding back, discord between her will and heart had forced that. She couldn't help overthinking how this all looked to him. It was as if she was trying to re-injure him so that he couldn't leave, the idea that he might think that sent a cold wave of dread down her spine.
Unwilling to let him simply slip out of this, but seeing the end wall ahead, Blaze swivelled into her stride and threw her first proper punch since the fight started. He was launched faster still as she came to a stop, sent careening through the air to crash into the stone wall of her own palace. Though she knew psychic cushioning would ease the collision, an icy wince claimed the cat as her companion tumbled to the ground.
"Y-Your majesty!" A call from the castle doors roused her from regret, a familiar voice, "What's going on?"
"Don't worry Gardon," Blaze answered without looking, "I'm just making sure Silver's in good enough condition to return home."
Silver wobbled to his feet, aura sparking around his form. The whirring of his psychokinesis had grown even louder, its thrumming now matched the tone he'd use in their past spars. He hadn't wanted to fight, he'd plainly been holding back too.
The hedgehog became a blur of light, all of a sudden he was a second sun in the sky. Psychic weight hit Blaze's shoulders hard enough to knock her down. She managed to fall backwards rather than onto her gut, almost instinctively inducing flames to burst across her frame only to find the energy didn't melt away! He'd figured out that thickening his psychic grasp, although it cost him more energy, meant her flames would take longer to burn through and he would have more time to react.
A force of pressure thrust into her gut, almost winding the feline and sending spittle from her lips! Blaze remembered this too, the way he'd pin his opponents down and use bursts of psychic might to deal unavoidable blows! One after another they came, striking disparate points across her frame as if to prevent her predicting and blocking. Given her position though, locked to the ground, it wasn't as if she could do either.
But Blaze new what she could do.
Instead of conjuring fire across her entire form, the feline directed the energy to her palms. At the corner of her eyes, breaking through the cyan tint, bright red light was shining. Silver had clearly noticed too, the cat felt pressure intensify on her palms, but it was too late. The heat tore away psychic energy and granted her wrists freedom to twist.
Two great pillars of fire coursed into the air, he dodged the one from her left but the right blasted his aura cloaked form further into the sky. With more distance between them, and him on the defence, the feline used her still burning claws to rake the energy from her form and tear herself free. He'd righted himself by the time Blaze was back on her feet, but her hands were still burning with that same intensity.
Red hot fireballs launched in rapid fire from her hands, racing toward Silver as he rushed down toward the ground. Two made their mark despite him spiralling to avoid, catching his shoulder and the left side of his head, but the blows did not slow him. Using both gravity and his psychic thrust, he crashed into her like a meteor.
Again Blaze landed on her back, but this time he was sat directly atop her. He was fully cloaked now, practically unrecognisable as the hedgehog beneath the psychokinetic coating. She could feel the buzzing at his fingertips, the pressure of his reinforced weight against her shoulders.
"So many lives will be lost unless I act, I need to get back to them!" He shouted over the thundering of his own psychic might.
He hadn't trapped her with psychokinesis, just his own form! Blaze's palms found the stone beneath them, she forced out a jet of propulsive flame and pushed him upward; using her own body as a ram. They grappled midair, Blaze kicked and punched as she burned, but Silver had always been superior in the air. The hedgehog caught a spinning kick from her with his right, a pulse of energy flared on contact and sent her whirling twice as fast in the other direction and toward the ground.
Landing on all fours, her head was spinning and her breathing haggard. While she knew how to counter his attacks, this body lacked the experience to match it. Her old frame was weathered and hardened, this new one wasn't used to these psychic blows. Blaze knew she'd been slow to rise even before he was upon her.
His head was beyond her shoulder, his open right palm made contact with her gut and dealt a crackling blow. The blunt force would have been enough to stun her, but Blaze heard what was coming before she felt it. A burst of raw psychic energy, intended to shock the senses into locking up!
It was strange that, in that moment of all moments, Blaze felt sweet bliss sweep through her frame in the wake of that tremendous impact. Tension left her, the thought of it rousing again was swept away as an impossibility, as all that had been pressing on her mind became as weightless as her own body. He could stand on his own.
Silver the hedgehog was still the strongest fighter she'd ever known.
The feline was launched backwards, her sense of balance swam as her feet slipped from the ground. A second force soon followed after, pain replaced numbness as her back crashed against stone but her relief did not fade. She could have again flexed and loosed a flare, torn the forced aura from her body and risen to fight again, but instead she allowed herself to lie still on the surely cracked patio. A moment later, the blue sky above was no longer tinted harsh cyan.
"A-Are you okay? I'm sorry, that was all on reflex," The sound of psychokinetic whirring vanished as his face entered her view, "I didn't mean to throw you down so hard, I just sort of lost control. I'll go get a doctor, hopefully..." His words fell upon deaf ears as a smile creased her lips.
He was also still the kindest soul she'd ever known.
Adrenaline would wear off soon, the feline began to rise only to feel his hands on her shoulder, "Y-You shouldn't move, you might have a concuss-
"Silver," The cat cut him off, "I've handled more than my share of hard knocks. I'm fine."
The hedgehog himself was worse for wear, black scorch marks ran across his shoulders and had claimed two of his quills. His cheek and chin would surely bruise. Though he wasn't clearly bleeding, some of his wounds must have reopened. While those damages did catch her attention, it was the concern in those bright yellow eyes that really had a grip on the feline.
Rolling her eyes, the cat opted to remain seated rather than fully rise, he matched her effort by dropping down, "You did well."
"Does that mean I can...?" Blaze's gaze snapped back to him, in the afterglow she'd almost forgotten that this wasn't their regular kind of spar.
The cat reached into her pocket, producing that white emerald, but thoughts kept her from immediately handing over, "I'm going to give it to you, but I want you to promise me one..." Another thought halted her, "Two things."
He was panting, the results of his efforts catching up with him, but he nodded.
"First, I want you to stay at least until the evening. Just to make sure your injuries aren't too bad and that you leave here prepared to face whatever comes next," That was her second thought rather than the first, "And I was you to promise that if you do ever find yourself struggling against the insurmountable, you will come back here so that I can help you in whatever way I can."
"Well, um, I think staying here at least until this evening probably makes sense. I'm almost completely drained," He raised his hand to indicate, showing that his symbols weren't glowing with half of their usual brightness, "You were just so incredible Blaze, no one has ever broken out of my grasp like that before!"
For as tired as he seemed to be, the light in his eyes was still dazzling. The cat couldn't help but look away turning her attention to the stone. She would have floundered more if it wasn't for an interruption.
"Your highness!" Gardon had rushed over, his arms piled high with bandages and first aid equipment, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Gardon, thank you, but it'd probably be wise to cancel today's meetings. I'm in need of some rest," Blaze turned to enquire of Silver, "And what about my second request?"
"If you're really offering to help me, then of course I'll accept! You've got to be the strongest person I've ever met," He gushed through panting, seriousness rapidly returned to this tone, "Hopefully, once I've left, I'll be able to send myself back here. I'm still sort of new to this whole traveling through time and space thing."
Blaze held out the emerald, letting him finally reclaim it.
"I'm sure you'll find your way back here eventually," If the emeralds had brought her to meet Sonic and his friends, they could surely do the same for Silver, "If not, I'm sure I'll find my way to you."
"I'd actually love to do this again sometime," He'd only just looked to the stone when his eyes bounced back up to her, "N-Not just the fighting, I mean, but, um... well, kind of the fighting?" Blaze cocked her brow, "Something about it, it made me think. I've never met anyone who can fight like you can. It felt so natural... maybe even right? Like it was normal for me," Her eyes widened, "That probably sounds really weird-
"No," She interrupted him, heart pounding in her chest, "I felt it too. It's like we've done this before somehow."
"Yes, yes exactly!" He agreed with her lie, "It was like I knew everything you were going to do before you did it... it was some strange kind of instinct," A hint, there was something of her Silver still within him, "I wonder what it was..."
"The emeralds work in mysterious ways," Gardon's voice came from the feline's flank, "Perhaps they sensed your want to return and offered you aid, granted you insight into what was to come."
It was an astute observation, an option Blaze herself hadn't considered. If the emeralds could make will manifest, perhaps Silver's proximity to the Chaos emerald had led it to aid him. It was an explanation she didn't like, one that felt so wrong to her... but she had no way to disprove it. She was back where she had started this morning, set not only to lose him but not knowing if he'd-
"Maybe," Silver's voice snapped Blaze from her thoughts, "But I'm not sure, it was as if I really knew what Blaze was going to do. Like I really had fought her before."
His eyes were upon her, had he picked up on her panicked realisation? Had he read her as easily as she'd been able to read him? Or was she thinking too hard about this?
"Perhaps, if you manage to visit again, we'll figure it out," Blaze rose to her feet, extending a hand to the hedgehog, "Come on, let's get cleaned up."
Regardless of the truth, or even what she was feeling, there was always right thing to do. Even if he wasn't quite the same, even if he never remembered, he was still the same Silver in spirit. Fighting to do good and make the world better than the crisis he'd been born into. Deserving of a better world that Blaze knew he rightly deserved.