The two sat back-to-back in the space of their mind. There were no words, nothing left to say. Their future was safe now. But at what cost? They had no one other than each other now.

"I can't believe she's gone..." Venice muttered, holding his knees.

"...I… This feels like a bad dream."
"It isn't a dream."
"I know that."

They fell silent. Both of them felt stuck, unsure of where to go or how to move on after experiencing a loss like this. Someone who meant so much to them ripped away in a matter of moments. It reminded them both of them of what happened so many years ago.

"Mephiles is still out there." Venice took a deep breath before he stood up.

Silver shot him a furious glare, fists clenched. "That's all you can think of?! Still going after Mephiles?!"

The mink turned to face his copy as he spoke, "I know it's hard to move on after such a loss. But we've done it before." He crossed his arms. "Blaze wouldn't want us to be sulking like this. After all, our future isn't saved yet. Not while Mephiles is still existing."

He looked down, pain in his chest the more he thought about Blaze's words. "...I just… Can't go through this… Not again!" Silver hid his face in his hands.

"I know… I.. I know." Venice spoke calmly, kneeling, and wrapping his arms around his other half. "It's hard. It's going to be. But you won't go through it alone." He couldn't lie to his copy, he was hurting just as much as he was. But he knew that their mission wasn't over yet, it can't be.

Silver leaned into his other self, holding him close as he cried. His voice echoing in the space as he let his pain out.

"Silver."

The boy snapped back to reality, his gold eyes opened. He pushed himself up from his lying position on the ground, looking around for the source of the voice. He tightly held the chaos emeralds as he stood up.

/That voice.../

Whipping his head around, he saw a thick black mist enveloping his world. Everything was disappearing into nothingness, and soon, the tendrils of negativity swirled around his legs and wrists.

[W-What?! What is this?!]
/its Mephiles.../

Silver fought, using his psychic powers to push back the energy until it eventually engulfed him. Even the brightness of the chaos emeralds was shrouded. His world went black, and for a moment, he thought that was it. This was how his story ended. There was no peace and evil truly did win in the end.

… Until he seemed to be teleported in a strange void-like area. The sky above was a bright violet, swirling with stars as the core in the center brightened.

Landing on his feet, Silver took a moment to grab his bearings. He didn't recognize this place, it felt like an entirely different reality. Where time and space didn't exist. But the air… It was rich with unstable energy.

He looked around for his chaos emeralds before looking at his own hands in confusion. "The chaos emeralds disappeared…?"

"Silver?" A familiar voice called for him.

"Amy?" He felt both relieved and extremely confused. "What are we doing here?"

"I don't know, but it… It's scary." The pink hedgehog murmured, putting her hands together as she looked down.

Silver took another look around, seeing a whole cast of people he never met. Strangers all surrounding something and seeming to be in mourning. "This is all so confusing…"

A mature bat girl answered his unspoken question, "It's all because of Solaris."

/Solaris?/
[No way…]

A round and particularly villainous man adjusted his glasses before speaking up, "It seems we were all caught by the spatial distortion. Iblis' seal has been broken. Due to Mephiles manipulation."

He watched as the bat, the human, and Amy went to see what the commotion was about.

"Sonic?" Amy's voice was heavy with grief. He heard her fall and break into sobs.

"No... You don't think…" A yellow fox looked to a red echidna in disbelief.

"Sonic!" Said echidna punched the air as he turned away from whatever it was that was causing this reaction.

[Sonic?]

Silver followed suit, approaching the group but keeping a respectful distance. His eyes widened at the sight: Sonic laying in the princess's arms, a large bloody hole pierced through his chest.

[He's dead.]

His gold eyes looked around at the strangers mourning him before turning his gaze away.

/This can't be…/
[Everyone we know is dying…]

"Mephiles played us all for fools!" The human, who he assumed to be Eggman, shook his head before looking up at the sky, "His plan all along was to cause the Princess to be consumed with despair that she'd cry."

[So that's why he wanted me to kill Sonic before…]
/So that he and Iblis could become one being./

"Solaris…" he looked to the sky, hearing the loud echoing sounds the deity gave off.

Eggman looked back at Sonic, lowering his head in seriousness, his expression unreadable as he continued, "This creature will consume all existing timelines. And time itself will collapse and disappear into nothingness."

Shadow looked towards the ivory hedgehog before looking up at the sky.

"The instability of time caused this time-space rift, that's what you're saying."

Eggman nodded, "It won't remain for much longer."

The red echidna took angry steps towards the villain as he spoke, his voice laced with rage, "Then we've no time to waste. We've got to defeat it now!"

Eggman shook his head, "No, it is a transcendent life form that exists in the past, present and future. Defeating it here, now, would do nothing."

Silver clenched his fists as he took a step towards the group.

"No, I won't give up. There has to be a way. If you say it exists in the past, present, and future, I'll destroy them all at once!"

Shadow thought for a second before looking back at Sonic.

"Certainly, it might have been possible, if he was still alive."

"Sonic! Sonic!" Amy cried, holding onto his arm as she begged for him to answer her.

The group went silent once more, unsure of how to act or what to say. It seemed that without Sonic, his group didn't know what to do. Silver felt beyond out of place, but Sonic was just as much an ally as he was to these people.

/I… I don't know what to do./
[Can't you change the flow of time?]
/I can only freeze it for a few seconds, I can't rewind it. You know that./
[I know but…]

Silver looked away from the sight, his eyes shut as he tried to find some sort of solution or way to save this conundrum.

The princess lifted her head with a gasp. She had felt something strange.

"Sonic…?"

Silver glanced at her, raising a brow.

"What's the matter?"

Princess Elise looked at the gray hedgehog as she spoke, "I feel... Sonic's presence in the wind. I don't think he's dead yet! I'm sure of it. It's not too late!"

/Wait… She's the Princess! Do you remember what we saw back then?/
[Iblis was sealed within her.]
/Exactly! So if she was able to be the vessel for Iblis and survive it.../
[Then she may be able to heal Sonic and bring him back!]

"Of course! Let's call him back with the power of the Chaos Emeralds!" The group turned to look at him as he spoke, their eyes full of bewilderment at the conclusion. He looked up at the sky, continuing, "Focus your thoughts on using its power to perform this miracle…" His eyes fell to Elise as he walked up to her, kneeling by her side so that they were eye level, "You were the vessel that was used to seal Iblis. You should be able to use the gems' power to rescue Sonic's soul!" He clenched his fist in determination, smiling at this new ray of hope in front of him, "You can do it, Princess!"

Elise's eyes widened at the amount of knowledge this strange hedgehog had about her. And as scared as she was about this whole idea, she swallowed her fear and nodded, returning the smile.

"I'll...Do it!"

Eggman adjusted his glasses, seeing the path of the chaos emeralds as he spoke, "Solaris flung the Chaos Emeralds to the distant corners of this distorted world."

The young fox added in, "To collect them all in time, we'll have to split up!"

Amy dried her eyes before standing and giving a courageous look to Elise, "I'll go, too! Because it's for Sonic! So Elise... Watch over him!"

"Meet back here! We will perform the miracle when all of the emeralds are collected." The princess ordered, and everyone nodded in understanding.

It was then that everyone split up to find the lost Chaos Emeralds.

Now standing in the void that was the End of the World, the seven Chaos Emeralds levitated in perfect harmony around Sonic. Princess Elise took a step forward, folding her hands together as she focused on wish. Everyone else stood in anticipation behind her.

"Oh Chaos Emeralds, gems of miracles. Please heed my call." The Emeralds began to glow brighter. "I wish to save this world. I wish to cleanse my father's sin. And, I wish to talk to Sonic... once again!" The gems began to spin, lifting Sonic with them. "You have given me so many things. Now it is my time to return the favor. I care not what happens to me. But please heed my voice. Sonic, come back! To me... To us!" She leaned down to him as a bright white light filled the darkness.

When the light faded, Sonic levitated in front of everyone. His eyes were bright red and his fur was golden, glowing with pure Chaos Energy. His wounds were healed and he was alive once more. He smiled at his friends as they all happily cheered.

As he lowered to stand in front of her, the princess collapsed into his arms from exhaustion. "Thank you, Elise." Sonic helped her back to her feet as she smiled. He took a step back, looking at Shadow and Silver.

/This pull of energy.../
[I can't deny it… it's calling me.]
/Let it burn./

Silver walked with Shadow up to Sonic. The hedgehogs exchanged looks as the transformed one smiled. He held out his hands, as did the other two.

He could feel the purity of the Chaos Energy flow into his body with no resistance. It refreshed his power sources, replenishing his once drained energy with vast amounts of psychokinesis. His energy symbols were now bright like the sun, his chest fur color matching his other half's- golden and shiny, and finally, his eyes shared Sonic and Shadow's: bright glowing red.

The trio of super transformed hedgehogs exchanged looks before flying upwards to face the final enemy: Solaris.

Sonic floated up, levitating face to face with Solaris. Shadow and Silver caught up, levitating by his sides respectively. The past, present, and future aligned against the god of time himself.

/Let's do this./
[Right.]

The twins held each other's hands as they shared consciousness, giving all of their power for what was to come.

"Solaris… It's time to end this!" Sonic shouted, clenching his fists.

The deity released a low unholy sound, circular crystals by its back and sharp orange eyes glowing in the universal space. The being was a strange mix of crystal and mystical fire, able to summon large meteors and fire them at the trio.

Sonic dashed circles around the being, occasionally attacking the center core of the beast. Shadow tired and unlimited amount of Chaos Spears in the direction of the foe's weakness. Silver collected any meteors that tagged him or his teammates and shot them back at their enemy.

As they battled, Silver heard a sharp ringing in his head.

"I no longer need a child of the ancient bloodline!" Mephiles's telepathy rang loud in Silver's head, "All I needed was to unlock the seal, break it! Just like I will break you for interfering!"

Silver/Venice, filled with rage, screamed, "You stole my life from me, Mephiles! You took everything away from me!" A large glowing shield formed around himself, his psychokinetic hands reaching far beyond their limit and grabbing the meteorites that hurtled towards him. "You will NOT win this, demon!"

Shadow and Sonic fired at the same time that Silver did, their attacks hitting the core of the monster all at once. With a fiery explosion from the core and an unearthly roar, the deity began to fall into space.

"Is it… Is it over?" Silver asked, watching as the beast fell.

A white ray of light burst around the form of Solaris, enveloping his physical appearance.

"No, it's not over yet." Shadow answered, raising his arms and preparing to shoot multiple spears.

The god reformed, floating back up and spread its dislocated wings as it howled. This was the true form of Solaris. The periwinkle hue was glowing as if it were pure and angelic, but it also sent chills down the heroes' spines.

"...I guess it's not gonna be that easy." Sonic added in, his stare growing more serious.

The god began to charge up a laser from its crystalline mouth, prompting the trio to split up in different directions to attack. Sonic flew upwards, looking for a weak spot. Shadow dove down, searching for the same and occasionally throwing spears at the meteors. Silver dodged the laser beam and ricocheted another large space rock at the being.

They didn't seem to be able to weaken the god at all, there wasn't a weak point. As the god roared again, it shot the crystals that encircled it towards the trio, striking them each in the backs.

"Shit… This isn't good." Shadow cursed, panting as he looked back at his teammates to make sure they were still alive. "Silver, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Silver responded, recovering from the hit as he formed a shield around the trio, protecting them from any rocks.

"Cmon, we can't give up so easily!" Sonic bounced back from the attack, smirking. "He can't keep up that big attitude for very long!"

With that, Shadow shouted as he flew out of the shield's range and began firing the chaos spears in random directions at the god.
Sonic was next, dashing towards Solaris and spin dashing into the crystal skin in an attempt to shatter it.
Silver flew towards the god, capturing the projectiles and sending them back with force.

Solaris zeroed in on Silver, forming a large crystal spike and propelling it at mach speed towards the super-powered hedgehog.

With Silver too focused on the other projectiles, he was struck again, sending flying back into space.

"Silver!" Sonic and Shadow hollered, their focus cut off of Solaris, which allowed them to be hit again.

Struggling to keep his energy, Silver/Venice stayed back from the line of fire, panting heavily. Then that sharp ringing in his head began again. He put a hand to his temple, his eyes screwing shut.

When he opened them again, he saw him.

"Silver. Come Silver, join me." Mephiles stood in front of Silver, holding a crystalline limb out to him. "I can change the future. I can bring her back."

Silver/Venice stared at Mephiles with an unreadable expression. Their heart was racing as he began to breathe heavily from the feeling of grief and loss over the ones who passed. His parents, Blaze, the people he was manipulated into killing…

"If you want to make amends for having done what you did," she looked out to the skyline before standing. "Defeat Iblis with me. Both of you, prove to me that you want the same as I." She held her hand out to him as she asked, "Will you team up with me and defeat Iblis... and Mephiles?"

His expression growing cold, no more feeling left in his body, Venice answered for both of them.

"No."

Silver then stepped into control just as a large meteorite was propelled his way. He grabbed the massive object with ease as his burning crimson eyes focused on the crystal being.

"Die!"

With that shout, Silver shot the meteorite into Mephiles, sending it crashing into Solaris' middle rocky plate, shattering it. Underneath was an organic ball of concentrated energy.

"Silver! Are you ok?" Sonic dashed to his side.

"You took a big hit, will you be fine to continue?" Shadow asked as he flew in as well.

"The core! We need to aim there!" Was the only response Silver/Venice gave, pointing it out to his allies. "We may not be able to defeat the physical form, but if we take out the consciousness, it will render him useless!"

Sonic and Shadow looked to space then at each other. They then looked at Silver and nodded. They reformed their original position- Shadow on the left, Sonic in the center, and Silver on the right- and held their hands out towards Solaris, aiming straight for the orb of consciousness.

"I will release you from the chains of your past!"

"The present day, the here and now that you've stolen, it's time to take it back!"

"I will destroy you, Solaris! For the sake of the future, I will protect it!"

The three boys began to glow with an intense golden hue as the space between their hands started to charge up harsh energy.

In unison, all three shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

and the world turned white.

The ivory hedgehog stood on the outskirts of his destroyed city. He's lived on Onyx Island for his whole life, and every day has been the same. Endless cycles of unpredictability and fear at the hands of Eggman Nega. His ability to make machines that can alter reality was causing more havoc than he thought was possible. First, a camera that can turn people into cards and power up his machines, then abusing the chaos energy held within Chao to create a doomsday machine.

The hedgehog gave a heavy sigh, falling back onto the dead grass as he looked up at the sky. Given all he's been through in his life, he couldn't help but feel like he had always been filled with a reason to keep going. As if he was chasing echoes of time lost long ago. He watched the wispy clouds pass by, using his telekinesis to trace outlines in the air of images he saw.

One image was of a female cat. The way he drew her felt oddly familiar. The next image was one of a mink, nearly identical to himself. Seeing it made him 'hum' in confusion. He shook his head as he dispelled his drawings in the sky.

Even though this time was hard and rough, he still was thankful to know that he could travel through time freely. At any moment he could go back and visit Sonic, Shadow, Espio, and even Knuckles. His allies were some of the best he's had, and he honestly wouldn't know what to do without them. Heck, without their help, his world would be destroyed.

A smile crept across his face as he stared at the skyline.

"This is the future." He spoke softly, holding his hand out to trace the clouds once more with the image of that strange cat. "and I am alive."