8: Silver

Silver

As Sonic sped back towards Tails' place to plan out his next move, he suddenly stopped as a familiar sight caught his eye.

"Tails' workshop…" Sonic said. He slowed down to a walk as he approached the building.

While it looked fairly similar to the way he remembered it, he did notice that there was a new garage as well. Though he didn't know what was in it.

He then took the spare key out from where he hid it, and went inside.

"Either Tails never found this thing, or he left it in case I ever came back…" Sonic said as he took a look around.

While in Tails' house in Central City had mostly pictures from the wedding onwards, his workshop had a lot of pictures of when he was younger. This included plenty of pictures of Tangle as well. One in particular caught his attention.

"Good to see he fixed the Cyclone up… but why are there two of them?" He asked himself.

Sure enough, in the photo in his hand, Tangle was sitting inside a second Cyclone while Tails was inside his.

It didn't take long for Sonic to connect the dots.

"Tails probably built her one. I wonder if he already had a crush on her at this point…" Sonic deduced, noting that Tails still looked very young in the picture. It was probably taken within a year of his disappearance.

Putting the photo down, he began to look around again, and eventually, made his way over to the garage.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Sonic said as he saw the original Tornado parked in the garage. "Good to see that Tails has been taking good care of you while I was gone."

He carefully ran his hand along his name that was still painted on the rear half of the plane.

"You know, he didn't fly this all that much after you disappeared." Said a new voice from behind Sonic.

Startled, Sonic jumped back and put his hands up for a fight. That is, until he recognized his visitor.

"Silver?"

"In the flesh!" Silver said as he approached his fellow hedgehog. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"For you maybe. Not so much for me." Sonic said. "You probably know the feeling."

"Yeah, I do. Time travel, am I right?" Silver said with a laugh. "Shadow told me."

"Figured as much. So, what brings you around here?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I was on my way to Central City to see if I could catch you at Tails' place, but then I saw you walking towards the workshop, so I-" Silver started.

"No, I mean, in this time." Sonic said.

"Oh, well, after you disappeared, I went back to the future…" Silver started. "And well… everything was perfectly peaceful."

"Really?" Sonic said, though he lacked his regular enthusiasm Silver noticed.

"Yeah. Of course, when I saw that, I came back and told everyone the good news. And well… then I went back and tried to live there." Silver explained.

"Tried?"

"Yeah… turns out, when everyone you know and care about was only alive two hundred years in the past, it feels kinda depressing to be in the future." Silver explained. "So, while the future will always have a place in my heart, as of a couple of years ago, I have a home here."

"Well, I am glad things are going well for you…" Sonic said.

"…Ok, something's up." Silver said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." Sonic said as he scanned a nearby workbench. He then picked up another photo.

In the photo, he saw Skye in the pilot seat of the Tornado, looking as though he was pretending to fly the plane.

"… Hey Silver. You kept on coming back to our time to change the future, right?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah? Why do you ask?"

"Well… if I go back in time, would that change the future here too?" Sonic asked.

"I… don't know if I understand the question."

"What I am asking is… if I go back in time, would it be possible that Tails and Tangle wouldn't get together?" Sonic asked.

"Oh… uh… I'm not really sure to be honest." Silver said.

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"Well, you are traveling through time using the Chaos Emeralds right? That's what Shadow told me at least." Silver asked, getting a nod in response. "Well, I travel through time with something different. You know about the Time Stones, right?"

"Yeah, they were on Little Planet." Sonic said, recalling the adventure where he met Amy, as well as his first encounter with Metal Sonic.

"Well, my gloves have energy from one of the stones imbued into them." Silver explained. "The Time Stones allow complete control over time, so it allowed me to go back into the same timeline so I can change the future. However, since you used Chaos Control to travel…"

"It might send me to a completely different timeline." Sonic finished.

"Right. Now, I am not 100% sure about this, but it is a possibility." Silver said. "Are… you really worried about this though?"

"… Yeah, I am." Sonic said. "Not just with Tails and Tangle though… Knuckles, Whisper, Amy… even you… everyone is so much happier now… but if I go back, what if that all changes? What if their lives somehow end up worse because of it?"

"… Here's what I think. I think you should talk to Tails about it." Silver said. "And if you want my opinion about it. I wouldn't mind."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, if you go back, and we have to deal with Eggman again, then the future very well might change." Silver said. "But, then one of the closest friends I ever had would still be in my life. And that would make it all worth it."

"… That is really sappy, and you know it." Sonic said with a laugh.

"It's the truth though…" Silver said, slightly embarrassed.

"And I appreciate it." Sonic said. "I think you're right though. Maybe I should talk to Tails about this. After Cream's birthday though."

"Why after her birthday?" Silver asked.

"I don't want them to be worrying about this during her birthday." Sonic explained. "It's supposed to be a happy time after all."

"… Alright. Whatever you want to do. Just make sure you get it done." Silver said.

"You got it. So, I am curious, you said you have been staying here for a couple of years now, right?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah…?"

"Where exactly have you been living?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, I've been staying with Whisper is a-" Silver said before he quickly stopped himself.

"Oh? You and Whisper huh?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

"I-IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Silver said as he covered his red face.

"You sure? I seem to remember someone being a 'Big Fan' of hers when we first met. Also you were pretty excited when I teamed you up wither her to get that Chaos Emerald." Sonic said smugly.

"Uh… Well Sonic it was great seeing you again! I will be seeing you at Cream's birthday I guess so BYYYYYYYYEEEEE!" Silver said as he began flying off at high speeds.

"Oh yeah, he's got it bad." Sonic said before laughing.

Eventually, he decided it was high time to head back to Tails' place. So, he returned to Central City to spend some more time with Tails and his family.

End of Chapter 8

Real quick, I want to address a guest review I received. Yes, in canon, Cream would be 21 years old after 15 years, as she is 6 in canon… wait holy sh*t she is 6 in canon… SHE IS GOING THROUGH ALL THIS CRUD IN THE COMICS RIGHT NOW, AND SHE IS ONLY SIX?! THIS POOR, POOR CHILD!… (this was written before the arc ended btw)

Anyways, as I was saying, In this story, as I stated before, everyone was aged up about two years. That is why Tails is 25 after 15 years, so Cream is going to be 23. If you don't like that I aged up the characters, just pretend that the fight with Eggman that kickstarts everything takes place two years AFTER the metal virus saga in the comics. Nothing from that arc really is important, other than Starline being missing at the time, but that really isn't a major plot point.

Anyways, now that that is out of the way, Silver! He is a good boy, and deserves to be happy! So, I made him happy! Horray! Also he and Whisper may or may not have some kind of thing going on there. I will leave their relationship up to your imagination. Also, yeah, that is how I am describing Silver's time travel in this story. It is never really explained, except in Sonic 06 but uh… yeah. Him never having Chaos Emeralds when he travels also points to that not being how he does it, so I went with this theory.

Also, I felt like Sonic confiding in Silver would be the most likely thing that he would do once meeting with the time traveler. After all, he is the only one who really has experience in the field, so Sonic could get the best possible answers that he could ask for. For those of you wondering, yes, Silver is an important character mainly because of his time traveling expertise. There will be more with him during the climax of the story. Speaking of that, we are getting close. I have plans for two more chapters, and the final sub-chapter before the climax of the story, being Cream's birthday.

For those of you wondering, the final Sub-Chapter, which is about Tails and Tangle getting together, will be right before Cream's birthday. I feel like that is the best part to post that. Also gives me enough time to make it as good as possible. So look forward to it!

For now though, I think I will let the next chapter be a surprise. So, see you then!