Mephiles: Sorry this one took so long but I have been very busy recently and could only try my best. There will be another chapter after this and in it I will finally explain what's going on with Blaze and the dimension jumping. as always I hope you enjoy my effort and will listen to any criticism you have.

Chapter Four: Home's Where your Heart Is

"Walk with me" The strange cat girl responded, casually rising to her feet and motioning towards him to follow her, apparently not concerned by the crumbling buildings, choking clouds, fiery pits and furious storms, or any other disaster to be found on this deathtrap of a world.

Silver followed at a steady pace, matching her speed but making sure to keep a few steps behind her so as not to expose himself to any unwanted surprises. 'Careful Silver, she's up to something' paranoia warned him, paranoidly.

"Iblis did this, all of it. Our world was beautiful until he came" She eventually said, her eyes wandering across the ash-strewn wasteland. Her voice carried in it regret and pain. But there was also a deep sorrow, a sorrow Silver felt he should know, and a sorrow he should somehow share, but for the love of him couldn't possibly remember. 'She's playing games with your mind Silver,' Caution, cautioned him.

"I know," Silver answered, clenching his hand reflexively, he was beginning to regret his mental assault into what passed for the fiery beast's mind. It's thoughts, so enormous and ancient, in comparison to his own seemed to have etched themselves into his mind. The more he tried to dislodge them the harder it became to ignore them, images of a dying world and innocents slaughtered, images containing not a single semblance rationality, merely a burning thirst to spread and keep on spreading till only flames were left.

'That's not what's scaring me though, not really' His conscious reminded him. What had really scared him, what had made his blood run cold even in the heat of this infernal blaze was the connection. Somehow, beyond his control he knew Iblis, he felt Iblis. In every brick, in every little fire he saw memories. Memories he swore he shouldn't have. 'Your obviously just confusing images you absorbed from Iblis's memory with your own memory, obviously' Logic calmly assured him. Logic was such a liar.

Memories of a life spent fighting the inevitable destruction of his home seeped through every fiber of his being, a life spent fighting to protect the innocent, a life spent with no home, no life, merely the dream of an absolution yet to come. Silver shook his head, 'Why is everything always so confusing, who the heck am I?' He thought to himself, his frustration drowning out all of the other voices busily clamoring to have their say.

"You still haven't answered my question, where or when am I? And who are you?" Silver asked, halting his march and staring at her. She halted a few paces ahead and turned to face him. She smiled, and Silver could have sworn she had suppressed a laugh. "Always to the point, never bothering to take in the world around you. In some ways you haven't changed at all" She said.

'Haven't changed? Why does she seem to know more about me then I know about myself?' His thoughts enquired rudely. Silver shunted them temporarily to the side and re-affirmed his question. "When am I?"

She heaved a sigh, slowly turned around and continued walking. Silver followed her hoping to get some form of answer eventually. "You are home Silver, in some way or another you have come home" She anwesred after a while, her voice strangely neutral. "Home? I was definitely not born here," Silver stated bluntly, beginning to doubt the validity of his companion's claims.

"No, you were born here once, just you in particular were not born here. But Silver The Hedgehog did originate from here, where do you think all those memories come from hnmmmm?" She inquired gently. "Memories, how does she… Who is she? And what in the world is she talking about?' His suspicion demanded of him.

"Who are you?" he asked, no longer able to rationalize his situation to himself, he had to know now who she was and how she seemed to know him or at least who he used to be. "I am Blaze the Cat and I have a lot to show you about yourself, you are more important than you realize Silver and have grave decisions to make in order to insure your timeline" She replied calmly before continuing. "What you see now is the original time line you hailed from and my original home, however due to yours and others brave actions this time line was averted and instead the one you exist in now came to pass" She finished in one breath, to Silver's shock.

"You can show me why I can remember the past more clearly then my own life?" He inquired, hopeful at this faint chance of realization and revelation, which now dangled so temptingly in front of him. A chance to understand why he felt so out of place in his own time and knew so much more about other times. He had to take it.

'If you are willing to see your home" She replied evenly. Silver nodded. "Show me the way."

The cat girl came to a sudden stop, lifting her head skywards to contemplate the starry sky above her; at least she would of if the sky wasn't completely obscured by a blanket of smog. Silver, however, found his gaze suddenly fixated by a strange ruin. The building had obviously been grand in it's past, with a towering canopy and arch complemented with bright colors and archaic engravings, but all of it's former splendor had long ago receded into the ash along with it's structural integrity.

"It was a wonderful place once, full of life and happiness," She said turning her own gaze to stare along with him. Silver continued to stare, hardly noticing her comment, to absorbed in his own futile efforts to sort through the all of the jumbled up thoughts roaming through his head.

"It was beautiful once," She said, her voice carrying a tone of empathy. Silver slowly began to get the uncomfortable feeling that she was expecting something from him. An awkward silence ensued, settling heavily between Hedgehog and Feline as they continued to mutually stare into the ash heap. Silver searched his mind desperately for something to say, feeling as if it was almost his duty to continue the conversation.

"I wonder how many beautiful things have been erased from Earth's history merely because they lacked the strength to endure?" He asked to no one in particular after a while. He glanced at his companion, hoping to gauge her reaction to his statement. To his enormous disappointment, he appeared to of upset the girl. Her face was now lowered and a grim shadow seemed to of settled over it, casting an ominous gloom over her entire form.

"Strength? Is that all you think about?" She asked, her voice quiet and sad. 'Nice work Silver, brilliant choice of words' His sarcasm drawled, biting his ego visciously. He turned to stare at her directly now. She rose her gaze to meet his own. Her eyes were large, and carried so much emotion that Silver felt scared that he might be washed away in their depths.

Heat rose slowly, burning at his cheeks and slowly consuming his face. The strange feeling was unlike anything he had ever felt before; it paralyzed every nerve of his body. His normally endless reserves of calm and control seemed to be slipping so fast; he was beginning to doubt he ever actually had them. His heart beat like mad, thundering against his chest with more force than he could imagine. His hands twitched of their own violation, as the agonizing feeling wracked his entire body.

'What's she doing?' He thought to himself, his eyes glued to her own beautiful orbs, his mouth opening and closing, thoughts racing through his mind. Yet his body refused to answer, overwhelmed by feeling it merely stood there, stupidly, floating away on the simultaneously horrid, yet wonderful feeling.

"What are you so afraid of?" She asked simply. Her sadness replaced by an earnest curiosity, an almost desperate desire to aid. She reached out one of her hands, tenderly placing it on his own.

Silver stared back, his fears and hopes shining through his eyes as he gazed back at her, clutching her warm hand softly in his, own cold one and…

"EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK" The screech tore through the place like a Lightining bolt. The new feeling vanished as soon as it had come; al warmth left his body as the all to familiar cold and calm of control found itself back into his heart. He turned away from the girl, directing his attention instead to the source of the wail.

The emotional turmoil, which had raged alongside his misplaced memories, was gone, replaced by an empty void of iron discipline he had perfected during a lifetime of solitude. Although he was grateful to be rid of the confusing emotions, a small treacherous part of him couldn't help but miss the fleeting moment.

The wailers were approaching fast, covering ground at an unnatural speed as they raced towards the two. Silver prepared himself, adopting a proper battle stance. Almost upon them now Silver's heart plummeted as he recognized the approaching duo as identical creatures to the one he had thought with in the ghost town.

Both were roughly humanoid in shape, with blobs for heads, their skin resembled little more than a pale leather fabric stretched thin across them. Long claws grew from two armatures extending from their upper torso.

Silver steeled himself for the coming engagement silently, closing his eyes as he focused his mind, drawing off the reserves of power, which lay concealed deep within the subconscious section of his psyche.

Somehow it wasn't so difficult to draw on the power here, it seemed to flow so easily from his soul that it did not so much seem to be a instrument of his will as it was a part of his spirit. He felt at home using his powers here. 'But this isn't your home' His logic argued.

Silver paused for a moment. It wasn't where he had been born, true. 'But home's not a place, it's a feeling, it's knowing where you are and knowing who's with you' Silver contemplated in silence. 'Yes, after all it's like they always say, Home's where your heart is' Silver had never felt more at home.

Mephiles: Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for the next chapter where I will begin to unravel what this fic is really about. Besides that I hope you enjoyed it and will continue to type till the Fiction is done. Thanks for everything and enjoy all the best wishe from Mephiles.