Dib07: OMG next chappie! OMG! Oh, little warning here about the Silver angst. Yes I love him, but we all have to make sacrifices! I had to do it I swear!

Sonic: Ha! Ha ha!

Silver: You're all so mean/cries/

Dib: Sorry about any mistakes you may find in this chappie. I proof read and still manage to miss bits out.

Disclaimer: We do not own blue, speedy hedgehogs

To my reviewers:

Pride1289: Thanks for the review! I hope you like this next installation, but it was painful to write!

Crimson-obsidian-rose: Well, Silver is the youngest and I suppose the other characters patronize him etc. He still has the attributes of a child, as hedgehogs take longer to mature. Well, that's my theory at least, as echidnas are an ancient superior race, thus maturing faster. I read too many comics. Anyway, please don't hate me for this chapter, lol! I love Silver, honest!

Insolent: Keep reading!

Warning: Don't read if you don't like the mention of death or blood etc. Please press the back button. Thank you.

Shadow: Ooh… violence.

Chapter 8: You lose what you gain

'He said, 'Dance for me' and he said,

'You are too beautiful for the wind

To pick at, or the sun to burn.' He said,

'I'm a poor tattered thing, but not unkind

To the sad dancer and the dancing dead.' – Sidney Keyes – Four Postures of Death

The blazing fire and the raging war all around was all blotted out of Sonic's mind. All he was focused on was Silver. He concentrated fiercely on the sounds of the young hedgehog's respiration, and he registered the blood with grim scrutiny as it expelled thickly from the shot wound.

Silver had his eyes closed, and was doing his best to stay in the realms of consciousness. But, after a few seconds his coughs returned and the blood surged out of his wound faster. Sonic had to stop and placed a hand tightly over the wound. This attempt hardly stopped the bleeding.

Silver was shivering extensively. "Son… can't breathe…"

Sonic's eyes were glistening with tears. When he blinked, the tears tumbled down his cheeks. Shadow was by his side again, and he looked on with indifference. "Keep moving." He told Sonic, "or he's going to die."

"I can't, Shadow!" The blue hedgehog looked up at him, and his visage was taut like wire, "the tent's too far, I need something to stop the bleeding!"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "You have gloves! Use them!" When Sonic only wordlessly gaped at him, the dark hedgehog did it himself. He took off his gloves, shoved Sonic's hands away and pressed the gloves over the hole in his chest. Then he took Sonic's blood stained hand, guided it over to the gloves and pressed his hands over it. "There." He said gruffly. "Now move on!"

Sonic swallowed and continued as Shadow had prompted. He ran over the small little eddies and lakes, and almost slipped on the neat blankets of snow that hadn't melted in the hue of the battle.

As they drew away from the battle and the frontline, it grew quieter, but the hurls of screams and the clash and roar of gunfire still echoed resolutely like a storm.

The tent was picketed round a bend in the fork of a hill so that it couldn't be seen from Robotnik's perceptive nor could it be seen from his spies. The outside skin was camouflaged to suit the background just in case an enemy were to draw near and it had several crocodile guards hidden in the snowy dunes who were ready to take action if a threat approached.

Shadow skated fast in front, and opened the tent's flap to allow Sonic to slip inside.

Sally dropped everything. A glass vial hit the carpet, and smashed as a result. A scented candle dropped beside it, but its flame went out and it rolled harmlessly across the floor. The squirrel's eyes shimmered with what appeared to be pain. She flashed a glance at Shadow before cracking shakily, "what's happened to him?"

Sonic bit the inside of his lip. Then he swallowed and said, his voice full of agony, "he got shot, Sal. Help him."

Looking highly disconcerted, Sally came over with an uneasiness in her step and took Silver's form from his arms.

Silver did not know her. Sally knew little of him.

The white hedgehog met her eyes but he was not altogether there. He seemed to look straight past her and his golden orbs were hidden behind a cloud of pain. When she broke eye contact and looked down, she saw the gloves. Saw the blood. A raw choke of terror escaped her lips when she felt the warm sticky fluid passing down her arms.

Sonic's face was so pale, his cheeks were ashen.

Shadow couldn't cope to watch any longer and took action. He grabbed her arm and moved her over to the bed. "Put him down." He uttered soberly, "and give me all the gauge and dressings you can find." His words implied her to hurry. She did.

Sally laid Silver down atop the blankets on the small bed and removed the gloves. Blood. That was all she could see.

"He's been shot in the chest." Sonic sounded weak and raspy, like he was about to faint, "I don't know if it's fatal…"

"Of course it's fatal!" She shouted. Her rebuke seemed to snap him out of his panic. She on the other hand, was shaking. Silver looked so young. Like a child.

Shadow flew open drawers and ripped open packages with his teeth to get at the appropriate tools he needed. He returned with a cloth dipped in alcohol. Almost without thought or care, he pressed it onto Silver's wound. It must have been the reaction from Silver that got Sally most worried. When the cloth was administrated, the young hedgehog did nothing. He didn't scream, he didn't cry. All that he did was wheeze terribly, and only the left side of his chest lifted when he breathed.

Sally's mouth opened. He's got a collapsed lung…

But why was he so out of it? Why wasn't he responding?

With mortification, Sally realized that it was the shock that was killing Silver. She grabbed a warm basin of water that she had filled only a few minutes ago to wash herself, blankets and a syringe. She wrapped Silver's shaking body in the blankets, being mindful of his chest, and propped up his shivering legs to increase the circulation.

Silver looked on, his consciousness rapidly folding into a dark stupor. The panic reflecting in his eyes was blossoming forth like flower. Bright red blood sluggishly flowed from his mouth, and Silver didn't seem to notice.

Sally wetted the hedgehog's ice cold lips with the warm water. "Silver, easy. Everything's going to be fine." She hoped her reassurances would ameliorate him. "We're going to look after you, honey."

Sonic grabbed the old ventilator and rested it over the white hedgehog's clammy muzzle. The new oxygen it provided for him should have helped his breathing. Either that, or it was placed too late. Silver uttered a small yelp before bowing down into unconsciousness. Sally gasped. "No! Silver! Stay with me!" She held his head in her hands. His whole entire frame fell limp. Too late. Silent tears ran down her cheeks. Oh God.

She had to try and put her fear past her. Silver was still breathing.

Sonic couldn't help staring at the blood.

Blood. Blood.

"Sonic!" Sally hysterical voice ripped through to him, "grab a towel! Hurry!"

He didn't know if he could carry out this simple command. His knees trembled violently. "Okay."

His eyes were glazed but he couldn't faint. He wouldn't allow himself to faint.

He grabbed a small, soft beige towel from one of Sally's drawers and walked back with it in his arms. He chanced to look at the gore again. Sally had a strip of bandage and closed it over the hole in Silver's small chest. Then she wrapped it in layers of dressing, which also covered the exit wound at the back, just above his kidney. As soon as she had covered the wound, Silver's breathing wasn't as loud and desperate, but his chest still struggled to lift with each breath of air that he inhaled.

Tenderly, Sally took off his boots and elevated his legs on a few extra pillows. Then she covered his body up to his stomach with blankets. Only then, when she had made sure she had done all she could, did she weep. Sonic edged forward to hold her, then stopped himself. She probably didn't want any contact right now.

"Sal…" I'm sorry…

She held her face in her hands and sobbed quietly. It only lasted for about a minute when she seemed to straighten herself up again and continue with the bandages. Red blood had seeped through the first and second layers, leaving a large blotch of blood on the white dressing.

Sonic, unable to bear the sight, grabbed a stool and sat beside Silver. He took his limp hand and stroked the sweaty quills on his head. The ventilation mask looked so horrific on his features. It was out of place. It didn't even fit the child's countenance.

After Sally was done with the bandages, she injected a vial of medicine into Silver's bloodstream in his wrist. Then she sought for a pulse. She couldn't feel one. Sonic watched her try to detect a pulsation despairingly in his wrist, and when that failed, she listened to his chest through a stethoscope that she had kept in the first aid box.

"Sal…" Sonic choked. He felt like his throat was full of icy water, "can't you operate on him? Can't you stitch up the wound?"

"I wish I could, Sonic." Her voice was weak with tears, "but it's the internal damage. I can't just stitch it up!"

"Then how about an operation to find out what's wrong?"

"I… I can't!" Cried Sally, "the damage… I don't know what to do!"

Sonic put a hand to his mouth.

No.

More tears flowed and dripped down his pale muzzle. He couldn't do anything anymore. All he could do was stare bleakly.

He's much too young. This wasn't even his war. It's all my fault…

Sally tried to control her own sobs and had to bite down on her lip to do so. For the first time, Sonic saw exactly where Silver had been shot. He hadn't dared look before, for all he could see was blood. Now that he was wrapped in bandages, and with the blood still leaking through, he saw that the time-traveler had been shot on the right side of his chest, just a slim fraction from the center.

No wonder there was so much blood…

Sonic couldn't take it anymore. He got up and exited the tent before Sally could see his tears flowing freely down his face.

"It's all my fault."

The cool night air was a small retreat. He hadn't realized it had got so warm inside the tent.

He looked down at his bare hands. There were a few red stains, but it wasn't much. His gloves had soaked most of it up.

The battle was still hot. He couldn't really see what was going on, but he needed to help his friends.

But I'll only be faced with more death and disaster…

He briefly shut his emerald eyes.

"Then how about an operation to find out what's wrong?"

Silver wouldn't make it through the night.

What's going on? My chest hurts!

Sonic shook his head at the memories. He wanted to forget them.

"Sonic?"

He turned and saw Sally stepping out from the tent. Her clothes were saturated in blood. Silver's blood.

Her eyes glittered with tears. "Are you okay?" She asked him.

Sonic wanted to ask her the same thing. She didn't look okay.

He frowned and looked away, feeling so miserable and sick. Sally's blue eyes didn't leave his profile. "Sonic, I have to go back inside. I can't leave him in there on his own."

"I need… I need to get back to the battle."

"I know." Her voice was light and wispy, like a ghost of its former self.

Sonic's jaw knotted and he kept a deliberate mask of blankness on his face. "I'm going now."

He didn't look back. He was afraid that if he did, he could cry.

Sonic stepped into the field of battle and saw everything in a different light. He saw his friends getting slaughtered. He saw good creatures die, their lives going to waste, because of his decision. He saw pools of visceral blood mar the ground like great splashes of wet paint. But not only that, he saw bodies.

Thousands of them.

More than he could ever have hoped to imagine.

They lay strewn in no particular order. Limbs were grotesquely angled. Heads were severed from their bodies. Bones jutted out to meet the air and ripped ligaments and sinew carpeted the folding of guts and intestine.

Sadness caved in to anger. Sonic's fists shook. His face darkened. Every second that passed, another died to Eggman. It was inconceivable but it was happening.

Sonic glanced out to the west where the worst of the attack was. The robots were pushing them back. Shadow was in the fray somewhere... somewhere. He wasn't going to die, least not yet. Silver had taken that blow. Had seemingly taken the hit for him. Was that how the future was now? Was that how it went? Did Silver know?

Sonic's rage heightened terribly. His eyes burned red. Killing warriors was one thing, but shooting down a child was even worse. He would not have it.

A cry tore through his throat and an ethereal blue aura engulfed him. His fur flashed a bright blue, and then it slowly peeled to back. A twin pair of silver stripes appeared down the fur on his head and the orbs of his eyes vanished completely in his sockets, leaving the plain whites of his eyes.

The blue aura shivered and turned into a facile grey, but it did not fade. It seemed to stay around Sonic like a bubble, shielding him from danger.

He slowly stood to his full height, surveyed the area once, and then kicked, or rather leapt into action. He could not remember what happened next.

Tails had crashed. He had stalled his plane, and he had tried every method in the textbook to keep it in the air. Alas now he was grounded. But, in more ways than one, he was fortunate. He was alive and hadn't received any injury.

"Blasted plane…" He lightly cursed, wiping a gloved paw across his forehead. The engine was still gurgling like an over-worked horse and the blades rotated fiercely despite the fact that the Meteor wasn't going anywhere.

Tails nervously surveyed his new, unfamiliar world through his cockpit window. The area looked clear enough, as the valley stretched out, with lots of snow covering the grass like a blanket. The environment almost looked beautiful.

Tails unbuckled his harness, pressed the green cockpit button and the windshield slowly lifted. That was the wrong move.

Now that he was exposed and vulnerable, a metal hand reached in and effortlessly tore him out. Tails screamed. He was turned in the air and was dropped. Being thrown hurled nausea into his senses and he didn't know which way was up.

He hit the snowy floor on his back, and with quick reflexes, sprung back onto his feet. Two years ago, he had been given some rather extensive training with Sonic and right now, it was benefiting him more than he had ever dreamed.

The robot that had so carelessly thrown him like a toy, was a tall, lean cybernetic lizard. His head was narrow and sharp, and long saber-like teeth jutted out the bottom of his upper lip like snake fangs. "What an acquaintance to meet a two tailed fox." It said like sweet poison, where Tails watched on with uncertainty and fear, "you are quite the mutant." Its heavy tail lurched up behind it like the cybernetic was getting ready to swing it at him.

Tails lifted up his hands to his feet in mercy. Training forgotten, he was left to helplessly plead.

A flash of gold light tore into the Lizard's side and black blood spilled from its gash.

Shadow morphed in front of it and threw another chaos spear, this time at the lizard's neck. It was severed completely, job done. The head rolled away on the ground and the robot's body stood for a few seconds before it too collapsed and was no more.

Tails' hands dropped away from his face and a look of relief swept across his face. Shadow, however, was panting and his eyes were wild like a rabid animal. With his fists gripped tight, he started to leave.

Tails followed him. "Wait! You can't just leave me!"

Shadow turned to him sharply, his face frozen in anger. Then he stopped and the wild feverish look faded in his eyes. For the first time since Tails had known him, he saw fear in Shadow's cerise orbs. "Just watch where you step." He told the fox, "that thing that attacked you was Bimbol."

"Bimbol?"

"I can't believe he got robotised, but in a way, that freak deserved it."

The fox felt woozy and weak. "Where's Sonic? Is he okay?"

Shadow flinched at the name. "He's fine. Now go and hide some place until this is over." Shadow started to skate away. Tails glanced bleakly at his Meteor. It was nothing now. And without it, he was nothing too.

"We… we need the chaos emeralds…"

Dib07: No flames, please! And yes I had to do that to Silver and it ain't over.

Silver: I hate this story! I'm going back to the future!

Dib07: No you're not! I need you here! Hold him down!

Sonic and Shadow wrestle him to the ground.

Reviews welcome. Seriously. Without the support of my readers I can't write. See ya!