Intense content warning, just in case anyone's squeamish.
Fiolet evidently realized the jig was up at this point, because he flapped his wings madly and took off in a great thundering of wingbeats. Probably somebody could have pursued him, but everyone was a little too preoccupied with what was happening to Silver.
Something like black smoke was starting to dribble in tendrils from Silver's fur. He shivered slightly as the transformation began in earnest, sending ever-thicker streamers of smoky mist whirling around him. His fur darkened rapidly from off-white to gray, then to a sleek charcoal; the five quills on his forehead sharpened to angular tips and folded back smoothly, plastering against his head; his eyes swirled with black, like ink poured suddenly into water. He blinked, shaking his head violently; when he opened his eyes again, there was nothing left but two shining black voids, icy cold.
Sonic winced, suddenly getting an inkling of where this was going.
It would appear he and Shadow weren't the only ones with Dark forms.
Meanwhile Silver twisted silently, examining his transformation. Satisfied, he raised one hand, glancing at the sky questioniongly. Far above his head, somewhere in the plate of blueness, a small, dark hole seemed to open. Gently he twirled his hand, and the hole suddenly bloomed into a gaping black void, like a pan of greasy water when a droplet of soap falls in. Silver's hand made broader and broader sweeps, while black clouds scudded in from every direction, gathering above him to roil and tumble in an angry mass. Soon the sky as far as the eye could see was an otherwordly storm, all of it revolving around the point where Silver stood.
Glancing around again, he swept his hand downwards, and a thin black curtain seemed to fall from the sky. Sickly gray-yellow light fell over everything, casting an unearthly tint over Blaze's dead body. Over her stood Silver's pitch-black form, still oozing a strange black mist as he looked quietly down at her, tilting his head. Then he looked up again, squinted in the direction Fio had disappeared, and flung out his arms.
A screeching howl seemed to fill the air, yet no sound had been made. A thicker and thicker cloud of darkness built around Silver's body, shrouding him from view. The air seemed to ripple as waves of energy washed outwards, sending most of the others tumbling back as if struck. Sonic started to sit up, then grunted and fell back again, clutching his side.
Shadow seemed to be faring a bit worse. Somewhere between the swooshes of passing shockwaves came the scrape of gritting teeth—and for a moment the oddest sensation of familiarity, as a pair of shining black eyes turned ever so briefly his way.
Then Silver turned back to the task at hand. He drew one hand back and forth before himself, evidently probing for the dragon's distant form. The dark cloud built around him, the energy continued to wash outwards, and suddenly there was a screech and a purple form came hurtling through the air, crashing to the ground at Silver's feet. Hissing in pain and anger as he struggled to stand, Fiolet heaved his head up to glare at Silver.
The hedgehog's teeth showed slightly. He flicked one hand, driving Fio down, pinning his head to the ground, and forcing his face around to look into his eyes. The black mist dissipated rapidly now that he had drawn his target close. He spoke quietly.
"You killed Blaze. I'll kill you."
His voice was entirely his own, but with a faint echo and a twist of hellfire. His hand rose, his fingers twitching around his palm, and the dragon's snarl merged seamlessly into a piercing scream of pain.
"In your case, though," said Silver softly, "it will be much, much slower."
A slight movement as if he were turning a knob, and Fiolet gave another scream. His long body thrashed and writhed while his neck stayed immobile, fastened to the ground.
"Piece by piece," whispered Silver. "I can pick off your scales, one by one. I can stretch you and bend you till your bones snap like twigs. I can reach right down your throat, pull out your insides. I can do a lot." He lowered one hand, pressing Fiolet into the ground with a deceptively light touch.
"Where would you like to begin?"
It was fortunate Tails was still at home preparing the X-Tornado, and that the other children weren't around. There are some things young minds don't recover from.
Silver was calmly methodical. He kept changing his approach, slowly, deliberately, pausing occasionally to let Fiolet remember what it felt like not to be in agony. The seconds ticked by; the screams grew more and more tortured, the words degenerating into frantic babble as the pain drove Fio mad. The others did their best to look away, some of them sobbing and covering their ears.
"They actually feel sorry for you," murmured Silver, snorting.
It dragged on. Finally, somewhere in the avalanche of gibberish came the words, distinct:
"Stop, stop, I can bring her back—"
Silver drew back, his empty black eyes flashing.
"What did you say?"
Granted a brief respite, Fiolet lay still, his sides heaving, his head lolling, one dragonish eye rolling to watch Silver in pure terror.
"Can you bring her back?" asked Silver sharply, dragging the creature's head off the ground. "Can you?"
"I—I—" Fiolet frantically tried to scrabble backwards, but couldn't get away from Silver's invisible grip. "It—"
"You said you could bring her back, so do it!"
"It—it is not within my powers," rasped Fiolet, panicking. Silver snarled and slammed the dragon's head down again.
"Bring her back."
"I cannot—I cannot give back—what I take away—" Fio rolled over screaming again, his legs spasming wildly, clawing at earth and air. Silver's teeth flashed again.
"Bring her back."
And Fio shuddered limply, his voice coming hoarse and thick with tears, barely able to whisper;
"I will try. Please. Stop. Make it stop."
"Bring her back, and I'll make it stop," said Silver evenly.
Still unable to lift his body off the ground, Fio dragged himself closer to Blaze, each breath coming as a sharp gasp. Closing his eyes, he threw his whole being into the attempt, tossing his head desperately back and forth across the ground, trying to draw life in place of death. Eventually he inched closer and nuzzled at the wound on Blaze's shoulder, running his tongue over it and breathing deeply as he drew the venom back.
At last, retching, he went limp.
"It is done," he whispered.
Silver's glimmering black form crouched slowly at Blaze's side. He reached out one spidery black hand, tenderly feeling for a pulse, a breath, the warmth of an inner flame. All were in order. Bowing his head, he lifted one of Blaze's hands to press his lips against it gratefully. Then he stood and turned back to Fio, nodding once in bleak approval.
"I beg of you," whispered the dragon, his closed eyelids shivering. "Stop this pain."
"Sorry I had to hurt you," said Silver gently. "Here, I'll stop it."
He flicked one wrist. An abrupt wet snapping, tearing sound, and a splatter of purple blood splashed across Silver's face.
All was silent for a long time afterwards. Silver, still glowing with a dark sinister light, sat down next to Blaze and studied her sleeping face. Gently he reached out one long, sharp finger to stroke her cheek, his glassy eyes wistful. At length though, he pulled out his own flask of antidote and drained it nonchalantly, as if swigging an energy drink. Sighing, he slumped forward onto one hand, his quills loosened and tumbled over his eyes—and the sky gradually cleared even as his fur gradually morphed back to its usual metallic gray sheen.
Still nothing was said. Silver awoke, lifted his head again, blinked around. The others waited silently, wondering how he would react to the knowledge of what he'd just done.
Nothing in particular. He glanced over his shoulder at the purple slime already dissolving into the grass, and brushed at his face curiously as the blood also turned to mist and whirled away. Uninterested, he crossed his legs underneath himself and pulled Blaze's antidote flask off its cord. Tapping her forehead gently, he waited for her to wake up.
"Quick, drink," he murmured. "Just in case."
Blaze seemed bewildered and groggy, but she drank deftly enough. Rubbing one eye, she sat up slowly and looked around. Silver watched her face, tense; what if her memory had been wiped? What if she had come back as a different person?
Then Blaze's hand moved to clasp his, and he knew everything was all right.
"What happened?" she asked softly. Silver shook his head.
"Later, Blaze. Later."
Silver and Blaze were both still scratched up from the battle with Fiolet, so the other Mobians eventually managed to pull them apart to get some medical treatment. Tails, who had just arrived, started running a scientific enquiry about the incident while Silver was getting bandaged up.
"Yeah, that sounds like a Dark transformation, all right," he murmured, scribbling on a notepad. He glanced up at Silver curiously. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," said Silver, shrugging. "Why?"
Tails shook his head vaguely and looked puzzled. He remembered Sonic had undergone a Dark transformation once, and it had shaken him up pretty badly afterwards. Silver, on the other hand, was disturbingly calm.
"You've never gone Dark before, right Silver?"
"Nah. I didn't even know I could."
"Yeah . . . " Tails chewed his lip thoughtfully. "It might work inversely."
"How's that?" asked Sonic.
"Well, Shadow has a Dark form, but basically it just lasts a few seconds and lets him create a relatively small explosion. You've got a Dark form, Sonic, and it makes you super-powerful and violent. Now Silver's got a Dark form, and from what you guys have been saying—"
"It pretty much makes him an over-powered psycho," finished Rouge drily. "So you're saying the nicer the hedgehog, the worse they get when they're Dark?"
"Uh-huh. Luckily though, it's also harder to set them off," said Tails. "I mean, in Sonic's case it took the energy from the fake Chaos Emeralds, and in Silver's case a whole dose of personality-changing venom. So don't worry Silver—you probably won't have to worry about it ever happening again."
"I'm not worried," said Silver cheerfully. "I mean, I'm . . . glad Blaze didn't see me like that . . . but the power boost was kind of cool. Wish I could control the weather when I'm not Dark." He glanced aside innocently. "And there's fringe benefits."
"What?" Tails raised an eyebrow.
"Eh, never mind."
Tails never did figure out why the others' description of Dark Silver sounded so weirdly familiar.