Bloom
-Chapter 5-
A chilly gust crept through the doorway andl rattling chains shook the room out of silence. Shadows, birthed by a new foreign light source, flickered against the cold steel wall. In the centre of the isolated darkness, a pair of audacious pupils burned brightly.
"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in", a female bounded figure sitting in the middle of the room snickered softly.
Silver grasped the door's edge firmly, the slightest creak from the brass hinges could alert security. With a slight push, he proceeded forward, still keeping a tight clutch on the door behind him. When closing it, he kept the knob pulled until the area behind him was fully shut off.
"What have you been up to, handsome boy?" she continued.
Silver proceeded to feel the room's walls for weak spots. A shallow section of the foundation could allow for a peeping housemaid or any other passerby to overhear their conversation.
"Did you see what I was wearing?", the figure asked, her burning pupils followed him around the gloom room.
Next were the chains holding his target bondage. Silver gripped their steel bodies firmly, dug his feet into the coarse wooden floor and pulled. He started with a slight tug, followed by a slight heave and finally the quietest haul he could conjure. It was a useless feat. The entrapment won't budge. He could use his ability to tear the wall apart but it'd be bait for the guards.
"Pretty cute huh?" the figure said, "Father let me pick it out, I said I found it comfortable, but really I just wanted to see what you thought."
Silver crept over to the burning eyes, knelt down to face them and let his eyes rest upon their illuminating beauty. He swiped the glove off his right hand and felt the owner's face. His naked fingers dug into her pink fur, caressing the soft skin underneath.
A soft purr began to fill the room.
The intensity of the eyes brightened, allowing Silver to observe more of the figures beauty. He knew Blaze too well already to be fooled by any dusk, but he had to see what had become of her while he was away. As the scars and dried blotches of blood became apparent, so did a new budding wrath. He gritted his fangs and tightened his grip on her face.
"Did you miss me, Silver?" Blaze asked.
"More than I can bear." Silver said, he didn't bother concealing the growing pain in his voice. "I've been away for far too long."
Blaze lifted her right hand, bounded by thick steel cuffs, and placed it on Silver's warming hand. With whatever dim strength she could muster, she pushed his fingers further into her face. Her delight shot up as his snug palm rubbed against her bitter skin.
"How's the real me doing?" she asked
"I don't know, we've reached the bottom of some hole, in the middle of nowhere." he responded.
A loud screech, coming from the exterior of the hold caused the white hedgehog to perk up and tremble. He interrupted the embrace with a quick dash to the nearest barred window and scanned the night scenery outside with vigilant gaze.
Scratching his way across the gravel pathway was a masked bulky man, wielding a double edged blade and a thick steel shield.
"Guards?" Silver asked.
"Must be Tom again, don't worry he's old, blind and deaf in one ear." Blaze leaned back against the wall. "Dad only keeps him around to scare visitors."
"He's heading this way," Silver uttered. He darted from his gaze and quickly made his way back to Blaze's position. "Listen, this time I'm going to save you and I mean it."
"Oh, Silver, you poor foolish thing, you're so naive," Blaze pulled his soft fingers through hers and gripped them as tightly as she could, "That's why you'll never be with me."
A quick look of worry shot across the white hedgehog's face, but he shook it off before the doubts had any chance to bossom..
"You're wrong!" he yelled, "I am going to do it this time."
"There's always a shortcut to this" Blaze said, with a whimper in her voice. "You just need to say those three words, and I'll be free from this cell".
Silver's let his gaze drop to the floor.
"I'm just, not ready, not yet", he sputtered. He didn't want to see Blaze's disappointment, which would just put him to unbearable shame.
"Do you hate me, do you take sick delight in seeing me like this?", Blaze asked.
Silver shook his head. He struggled to find the right words to say.
Blaze closed her lips, there was nothing left to say. She pulled her other hand closer and held on to Silver's, embracing this sweet moment for as long as she could.
"You still breathing, sunshine?"
Silver's eye-lids swung open. He jolted up from his slumber and entered a state of waking shock.
He was in the base of abyss, about seven-hundred feet below the opening where he and the others had entered. As his pupils adjusted to the darkness, the details which were present before his collapse became visible again. Broken water pipes, spoiled vegetation, scrap, limestone etc.
Some of the water from the flowing brook beneath the netted grate had splashed against the backside of his trousers, soaking his calves in murky oily drench. The back of his winter boots had been affected as well. His body had been rested against a dense growth of moss, which was a sore blessing. Much better than the edgy walls in the other areas of the floor. None of the other crew members seemed to be present in his vicinity.
He wasn't alone though, before him stood an unknown mobian, waving what appeared to be a small blue translucent bottle of pills at Silver's face. He looked to be about 4 feet tall, had a fit physique and wore an enigmatic, yet somewhat encouraging smile. He also sported what looked like a black motorcycle jacket with red stripes and a large zipper. Judging by his fluffy tail and thick rompy ears, he appeared to be of the canine kind. A dog-gish Mobian.
"Hope I didn't interrupt a pleasant dream", the mobian said.
Silver tried to pull himself upwards in an attempt to level with this new threat, but none of the muscles in his body were operational at the moment.
The Mobian knelt down in an attempt to put their eyes on equal levels.
"See this?", he tapped a claw from his right paw on the body of the plastic container. "This is what the lads back at base called ADF-12".
Silver, believing a millisecond of distraction would put him in danger, kept focus on the mobian and didn't budge his eyes away.
"You ever heard of it?"
Silver remained expressionless.
"You're not even going to nod? Or shake your head?".
Silver had nothing to say. He gripped the bars of the netted grate beneath his soggy thighs as his mind tried to process the situation. Flowing murky water eroded the front of his gloves.
"Okay, it's a cute bottle of energy pills, now guess what you need at the moment?".
The Mobian put his right paw on Silver's left shoulder and gave it a little jolt. The move startled the white hedgehog but he didn't take action.
"Energy, man, you are dying over here," he said with a small chuckle.
The Mobian got up, pulled the container close to his chest and popped its lid open.
"Make your pick quick laddy, temperatures gonna take a nose-dive to the negatives once this brook picks up."
"Who are you?" Silver finally asked.
The mobian's smile gleamed, the dog was quite excited to be getting some feedback.
"Special Rescue Operations member, Victor", he said. "SRO for short".
Victor? Silver thought. Strange name for a Mobian.
"G-U-N?" Silver asked.
"The one and only, unfortunately," Victor answered.
Silver looked around again, hoping to see any pair of familiar eyes around the foundation. He sought something to give him stability in this discouraging confusion.
"Your friends abandoned you here." Victor followed the direction of Silver's gaze . "That's kind of depressing".
It is, Silver thought.
"Well, they did leave someone else behind actually, the pink hedgehog, I think she was a hedgehog", Victor said. "I lived up-side, with humans, as a kid so I'm not very familiar with hedgehogs."
That explains the name, Silver thought.
"Amy?" Silver asked.
"Yeah, that was her name, she was quite a mess that one", Victor said, remembering Amy's tattered appearance. "I told her I was from evac and that her friend, you, were in safe hands."
"You're not?", Silver asked. He tensed up again.
"If that stupid organization hasn't changed their stupid protocol," Victor said. "Its no evac until fifty hours from time of arrival"
He brought up a black analog watch on his right wrist. "It's only been fourteen for you guys".
"So what's your deal them?", Silver asked. "You killing time till we get in trouble, or are you putting up some fake persona?"
"Rude," Victor said. "I am evac, I'm just not YOUR evac, understand?"
Silver opened his mouth to speak but Victor cut him off.
"And no, I'm not going to tell you who I'm evacuating," Victor said. "That's classified, on my personal unofficial basis"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Silver asked with gritted teeth. He felt like the possibility of a rescue was being dangled in front of his face by this.
"It means I'll tell you when I bloody feel like," Victor said. "But if you want any chance of finding that out, I advise you take these pills."
Silver made another attempt at squaring up to the mobian. He'd find his own way out even if he had to go through this monster. This time, he managed a bit better, finding his way all up to Victor's chest before collapsing into another heavy slump.
"Oy!" Victor shouted. "I've told you, you're not moving without these pills."
"What's in them?", Silver asked. "Sorry but I just don't swallow pills offered by strangers."
Victor rubbed his temples and let out a short impatient groan.
"I just told you, energy pills," Victor replied. "G-U-N tosh or something, I don't know"
"Tosh?"
"Mate, just shut up and take the pills," Victor continued.
The white hedgehog was still a bit reluctant to obey. Victor let out another sigh, wore a compact smirk and squatted again to Silver's eye-level.
"Listen, Silver? Right?" Victor said, checking to see if he'd gotten his new friend's name right.
Silver responded with a rigid nod.
"Right now my pale friend, you are in a predicament neither you or your friends have any control over," Victor started. "I advise you listen closely to someone who has a better grasp of the situation and comply, before things get ugly".
Victor brought up the container of pills to Silver's eye level. "If you fail to keep up with what's expected of you down here, you will die."
He extracted one of the pills from the bottle. They were small, blue and capsule shaped. Small black inscriptions on the side read "ADF-12", all caps and italics. Victor balanced the pill on the stubby tip of his right index finger and pressed it against Silver's chest. The pressure of the touch could be felt through his scruff.
"Now, take one of these and follow me."
Victor let his smirk blossom to a large baring smile. This was to counter whatever anxiety Silver possessed during their exchange. Inner turmoil was ravaging the poor hedgehog's delicate heart. His friends were gone, Sonic was dead and the only friendly face around here belonged to this mysterious soldier with hidden motives. Silver had to play along as best as he could, for the time being at least. He reached for Victor's paw with a staggering hand and plucked the pill from the space between his claw and Silver's chest.
"Trust me, Silver the Hedgehog, you're in safe hands."
August - 30th Updated this chapter, changed dream Blaze's persona. Added more content.