A/N: The next chapter. Updated as soon as i could for you guys 

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the hedgehog or any other character in that franchise.

Chapter 10: The Healer

'You should thank me for letting you live.' - Shadow

The tent was still guarded by the elite crocodiles. The light from the stars made them look like shadows poised like deadly demons. Sonic ignored them and slipped inside the tent where he found Sally monitoring Silver's pulse in his wrist. She looked up briefly but couldn't fathom a smile. "Sonic… how are we holding up?"

"I'm not sure." It was bad, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that. "We're all doing our best." And I took out hundreds of those damn machines, Sal, and I don't even remember.

Sally nodded and sighed. The air in the tent was still humid and painful.

He changed the subject. "How… how is he?"

"He woke up, Sonic. I gave him some medicine…" She paused, then found it within herself to continue, "but he couldn't keep it in. Then he just fell unconscious."

To distract himself, Sonic opened the flap at the tent entrance a little to perhaps chance a glimpse at the progressing battle. He couldn't see much of anything at first. All he could hear was the distant rumble of guns, shouts and the angry grunt of machinery. A part of him wanted to go out there and see what was going on, but he needed to stay for a bit. He just hoped Knuckles and the others would be okay without him for that much longer. He hadn't seen either of them for a while now.

"Do you know where the chaos emerald is?" He asked her.

"Yes." She temporally left Silver's side to open a small pouch on a tiny wooden table made of oak. Out spilled the green chaos emerald. Sonic reached out and took it.

"I still don't know how exactly to wield one," he muttered self-consciously, "I've just learnt from watching everyone else! But this holds the key to victory! Shads will know how to use it."

Sally gave him a shrug. "Are there any others?"

"No."

Sally returned to Silver and gently laid a hand over his forehead. The young hedgehog was burning to her touch. "Sonic, I need you to get me a power ring. It may be the only thing that will keep Silver alive until I can get him proper help."

Sonic hesitated. There were no power rings here. "What about this emerald? Can't that do anything?"

"Maybe, but how can you make it heal instead of casting out damage and destruction?" Her question stopped him. But Shadow might know.

Sally turned away from the bed, fumbled with the buttons on her jacket and bit her lip. "I think I left some more medical equipment in my bag somewhere at the back. Silver's stable for now, but only through his own will to survive." She shuddered with tears and headed out the tent.

Sonic took in a deep, harrowing breath. "What am I going to do?"

He paced with irresolute steps. His world was crumbling. Eggman's gonna pay… Oh Gods he's gonna pay…

He closed his eyes and saw a flash of the battle he had just left behind. Another flash and he saw Knuckles and Amy getting ripped apart by their foes.

The images were fragmented like glass however when he heard a weak voice rasp out into the gloom of his mind.

"Son…ic…"

He spun round and quickly rushed up to Silver's side. He didn't expect him to wake so quickly from the anodyne.

Silver's eyes were open, and he took deeper gulps from the oxygen mask. Sonic took hold of the hedgehog's hand and felt him shuddering. "Hey, buddy!" He couldn't help from sounding sad, even though he tried to mask it, "how do you feel?"

Silver obviously attempted to look at him, but he couldn't focus. Instead it looked as though he was looking through him. "Where's… Shadow?" His voice cracked and his chest heaved higher as he struggled to get in more air to talk.

Sonic, with his other hand, stroked his long white quills in a placating rhythm. "Shhh. Don't think about him. He's fine."

"I'm… I'm so scared…" He had to whisper. He hadn't the strength to force his words out any louder.

"I know you are, but try not to be. You're going to be fine. Sal's gonna fix you. She can fix anything! Trust me! I'm not going to let you die."

Silver's golden orbs wavered and it looked like he was about to lose conscious again. But he said sadly, "if I do die… Sonic… what will become of the future? What w-will become o-of me?"

That was a good question. One Sonic dared think about. Silver was from the future, and had come into the past before he was going to be born. So, if he did die, would that change everything? Or would Silver still be born, only to go back into the past and the cycle would start all over again?

No…

"Silver… why did you come to the past?"

"I thought I told y-you…" His hooded eyes dimly tried to focus on his. Tears started to swarm his vision. "Shadow… died… and I… I feared I would cease to exist."

"How do you know it was Shadow?"

"I don't… please t-take care of Shadow… somehow… he's connected to the future… please…"

"No, I'm not losing you!" Sonic gripped Silver's hand tighter. Why did you go into that battle? He silently pleaded, why did you risk everything for him? Why?

Sally came with a hypodermic needle and jabbed the end into Silver's wrist. The white hedgehog didn't seem to notice as he wheezed thinly from the oxygen in the ventilation mask. Sonic didn't know what to do to help.

"Why can't he breathe properly?" Sonic asked Sally with requital.

"Had you suddenly gone blind when he was shot? The bullet punctured his lung, Sonic!"

Sonic was muted while the white hedgehog mumbled incoherent words. Sally tipped Silver's head to the side and said softly, "Silver, look at me honey. How many fingers am I holding up?" She clearly displayed three in front of his face, but he wasn't even looking at them. He merely wept timidly. Sally gave up and hugged him close until Silver fell back into a drug-induced sleep.

Sonic grabbed a stool and placed it on the other side of Silver's small bed. For the moment, he could not face the battle waging outside. But a thought did enter his mind, what if an enemy were to come here, and take out the guards? They would all be in danger unless he could take the enemy out.

Sonic still held the emerald in his hands. Its shine did not appeal to him anymore.

"He'll sleep now, through most of the night." Sally's words sounded dull and dead on her tongue. "Sonic, will you be able to watch over him for an hour or so? I need my sleep too."

He nodded. I haven't slept either, but I can mange for a few more hours.

She looked reluctant to leave Silver's side. When she did, she rolled out a mattress, grabbed a few blankets and made a makeshift bed on the floor, where she rested. Her exhaustion carried her out and she was asleep far sooner than Sonic would have anticipated.

***

Night sprinkled the sky with stars. But there was no moon that night. Shadow walked into the tent much later and saw Sonic sitting on the stool beside Silver's bed. He was shivering erratically and the light from the oil lamp made his face look torn with pain. Shadow huffed and walked over to the bed so that he stood opposite Sonic. They didn't share a word between them.

The dark hedgehog surveyed the scene with grim interest. Then, after what must have seemed like an hour, he said tightly, "you're not fighting, Sonic? Have you forgotten that there is a war outside? Your war may I add?" His soft voice suddenly seemed so out of place. Sonic sighed and had to shut his eyes briefly to stop the tears from pouring out.

"I can't."

"Why can't you? You're their leader, Sonic. You started this. And you will end this."

Another silence. Shadow looked down at Silver and didn't express any concern. It was like he was glancing down at a vaguely interesting ornament and not a hedgehog at all.

"I would, Shadow. You know I would. But I'm not leaving Silver. I'm not letting him die alone."

Shadow's presence made the air in the tent oppressive. Slowly, however, his ascetic voice softened into a type of somnolence. "He's dying?"

"Yes!" He crocked. "And I made a promise to him! I said to him I wouldn't let him die! But I can't keep it! I don't know what to do!" Now the tears fell. He didn't like Shadow to see him cry, but he couldn't hold them back.

At the mention of a promise, Shadow seemed to unchain his emotions and a look of sorrow swept over his countenance. He had made a promise to Maria too. And he had kept it. He couldn't bear to think what might have happened if he had broken it.

With a sudden tenderness to his actions, he crouched beside the bed and placed a hand on Silver's damaged chest. He saw Sonic tense, but he then forced himself to relax when Shadow sent him a questioning stare.

"Trust me." He told him firmly, but not unkindly.

Sonic nodded and slumped back into his despondent position. His attitude was pathetic. Shadow felt like shouting; Silver is but one casualty! And you cry over just him? You're a leader now! Act like it! What will you do when there are more wounded? This is what happens! This is war! You can't stop and cry every time someone throws in the bucket!

Instead of crying out all this, he asked simply, "give me your chaos emerald."

Sonic looked at him, stunned for a moment. How did Shadow know about the emerald? Then again, he had probably seen it earlier.

A little reluctantly, he handed over Silver's green emerald. It glittered passionately from the light of the oil lamp. Shadow took it and held it in one hand while the other rested over Silver's sternum. As Shadow concentrated, Sonic withdrew back into his bereft position. He knew, or rather expected there to be casualties or war. How could you not? But the way Silver had looked at him… He was a child. He was young, and caught in a conflict he didn't understand.

After some time, Shadow spoke facially, "he is too weak. I can't help him."

Sonic left his stool and folded his arms, keeping his back turned to Shadow. Getting up and moving about was the only thing that was stopping him from releasing more tears. He had to be strong.

"Even with the emerald?"

"Even with the emerald, Sonic."

The hedgehog nodded, his ears drooping with disappointment. "He did all this for you, Shadow. He did this to protect you somehow. I know it sounds like madness, and it probably is, but it still doesn't change anything."

Shadow nodded. "I've known him in such a short space of time." He said. "I shouldn't have yelled at him." He wished he could help Silver. Maybe there was still something he could do. "Who's the healer of your people?" He asked suddenly.

"Sally?" Sonic replied miserably. "She's doing her best, honest."

"No… not her."

"Not her?"

Then who?

Maybe it's a trick question?

Sonic thought. It was hard to think straight, even for a few seconds. Silver can't die. I promised him. I promised him.

Then it hit him like ice cold water. Knuckles! He knew about the herbs! He led an independent lifestyle and knew the healing priorities of nature! It was him!

"It's Knuckles! Where is he? Is he okay?"

Shadow rasped rhetorically, "he's still out there battling for his life if that's what you mean."

Sonic nodded and like the wind, he raced out of the tent to get him. Shadow was left on his own. He grimly looked down at the emerald in his hand and he arched his eyeridges. Here he now had what he wanted. It was so simple, and he didn't even need to exert any effort. With this, he might be able to win the war even on his own.

"No…" He murmured to himself, not on his own, but near enough.

He placed the jade object down on the table and tended to his wounds. Sally still lay sleeping and he walked about in the tent quietly. He cleaned the worst of his cuts and applied alcohol and dressing. The alcohol stung terribly and brought watery tears of pain to his eyes. He did his best to ignore it and swallowed a painkiller from Sally's bottle of anodyne. After that, he quenched his thirst from a bottle of water and felt much better.

Silver lay inert under the blankets, and his expression was lax with sleep. The only sound came from his ragged inhales of breath and the soft gurgle of his chest.

Feeling strangely curious about the child, he stepped over to him and rested a hand on his chest. He thought suddenly of Maria and her young innocence before she died. Her death was like…

"No!" He forced himself to forget the visions. He would not remember her that way. He wanted to remember the happy times. The times when it was just him and her together.

It was sad to see another leaning in towards the same fate. Maria hadn't been part of a great plot. She hadn't done anything wrong, yet she took the hit for it, and died. The same went for Silver.

"History repeats itself… all because of mankind's evil." As he stood there, the painkiller he had taken earlier kicked into full effect and the tight hurt of his wounds seemed to evaporate into nothing but memory. Now he felt like he could take on a thousand more robots.

Again he looked anxiously at the emerald on the table.

Is it possible?

He left Silver and took the gem into his hand. "This will be interesting." Taking it with him, he again placed a hand on the time-traveler's chest and uttered, "emerald, you are bound by law and cannot do things that can't be undone. But now I ask of you to save a life, instead of taking one. Is that possible?"

The emerald glowed thick and bright and Shadow had to narrow his eyes to protect them from the grand illumination. The process, or whatever it did, was quick. After only moments, the emerald's glow died back down to normal and Silver's heart rhythm was restored to a much stronger pace.

Shadow was pleased with himself. He had done it. He had actively saved a life. Again.

"Silver, you came into the past to help us. I did not see it before. And now I've returned the favor. Recover well."

Shadow left the tent at about the same time Knuckles and Sonic entered it.

TBC