Sorry about the wait, everyone. But finals and school are finally over so now I'll have some more time to get down to the grindstone. This is the second chapter of the "Chapter Zeros", and the prequel is still underway. I want to thank everyone for their continued support and patience. Enjoy

"What kind of gift…?" Silver felt himself ask automatically.

Delia looked him straight in the eye. "Your chance at life again."

Silver wasn't sure he had heard her right. His ears turned up sharply like radars trying to intercept the message again. Another chance at life? Could that even be done? But before he could even discern anything, he felt his heart already starting to leap in his chest. A second chance was his ticket to see Snow. No more cold, lonely death trying to grab him from all sides; he could instead be in the warm arms of his beloved.

"Of course, you must realize that this won't come free or easy, Silver." Chrona cast his gaze to Silver, serious and almost piercing. "It won't be so much restoring your life as it will be pulling your soul back into your body. Sadly…" He closed his eyes, "No one can really bring back the dead. Only someone who is caught in the purgatory in between like you can have this kind of chance."

"How do we do it?" Silver felt the words slip out of his mouth quickly with a edge of impatience. The old wolf didn't seem particularly bothered by it and obliged by lightly clapping his paws together. The sound resonated for a second, but was quickly swallowed up in the emptiness surrounding them. There was a loud "chink" that almost made Silver jump back; and then, a deafening thud shook the room as one of the large chain links dropped from the door to the ground. The room rattled yet again as another followed suit, and then another, and yet another until the links rained from the door like metallic drops of black water. Silver felt absolutely on edge, as though the whole room would come crashing down on him. But the old couple didn't so much as flinch, despite how close the chains were falling at their backs. Showoffs. One by one, the links fell, and once the last plummeted below, the rumbling turned into a numb humming sound. The two old wolves didn't speak. Instead, they merely stepped to the opposing sides, so that Silver had a clear path to the door up the middle. Silver found himself automatically making his way towards the towering structures. The doors were much more intimidating up close, looming like giants that made him dizzy the more he gazed up to the top. And they looked heavy. Silver glanced back at them, attained a reassuring nod, and nonetheless, pressed his paws against the double doors. His pads felt smooth against the carefully crafted alabaster that shimmered like micro diamonds from the blinding doorknobs. But they weren't as heavy as they looked and slid open quite easily. A light cascaded from the other side, like something that was trying to cast away the darkness beyond, and Silver squinted. Cool, fresh air tickled his fur, and he could smell water. When his eyes had adjusted from the light, Silver let out a soft gasp.

It was the grandest fountain he had ever seen in his life. Cut from the same alabaster as the door and settled in the pit of a vast cavernous room, the structure rose out of a crater in the ground to a point that even surpassed that of the doors. Silvery water splashed down bowl-shaped levels of the fountain endlessly towards the largest bowl at the base, and several platforms dawned bridges that allowed access to the many different levels of the structure. Wild flowers—much like the ones in the Valley of Kings—spiraled the face unchecked, even if it meant several petals became washed up into the falls. The cold stone of the outer room transformed into smooth, green marble that cast the light from an unknown source back out beyond the doors.

"What is this…?" Silver asked, awestruck.

"Eluethera, or a Fountain of Life, or water of wisdom—it too has many names. Let's just say the 'Life-Giver's Well'." Delia answered. She and the old man walked past Silver, who stepped beyond the threshold. They didn't say much; just lead him silently across the way, along a bridge, towards one of the bowl-shaped levels. Silver hadn't noticed that each bridge had a minute stairwell running underneath for accessing the other levels. But truth be told, they didn't look all that safe to begin with, even as Chrona glided effortlessly down them, disappearing at the bottom.

"Silver…" Delia pursed her lips. She stayed silent for a moment, even after Silver acknowledged her. "When you get back, I want you to forget the things that have transpired up until this point. I know it isn't my place to say, but still…after everything," She looked at him, "You deserve the normal life you've been seeking for so long." Silver only nodded in response. It had been his intention from the beginning to forget the piss-poor events up until he met Snow. It hadn't taken long for Chrona to come walking back up the stairwell. Clutched in his tail was a golden chalice, grand-handled and jewel-encrusted, shimmering in the light cast from nowhere. Rippling inside of it was some of the silvery water that flowed through the fountain. Chrona gently placed the chalice down in front of Silver.

"This is it. This is the key to your return."

Silver cocked his head to the side slightly. "That's it? All I have to do is drink this and that's all?"

"If only that was 'all'." Chrona sat down and stared into the cup. His reflection was cast back so clear, the water could have been mistaken for a liquid mirror. "Silver, you would do anything to return to Snow? Anything at any cost?"

"Of course!" Silver felt himself jump up involuntary. The old man didn't seem to notice, or move his gaze away from the water.

"Even at a grave cost? Even at the expense of more pain than you've ever felt in your life?"

"What are you talking about?"

Chrona gently placed his claw into the cup and stirred the water. It rippled in perfect echoing circles from the epicenter, yet it somehow magically seemed to keep from distorting his reflection along the surface. "The water that flows in this fountain has life-giving properties. That's why mundanes refer to it as the Fountain of Life, or Fountain of Youth. One drop could extend a man's life for days. One sip could give him weeks. A mouthful could push him beyond the years of a natural death."

"But it doesn't work the same way for spirits like us." Delia spoke a little solemnly, averting her gaze from Silver. "This water—it is a poison to our kind. One drop could make us sick, but even a small dose could send us to our deaths."

"Then how the hell is this supposed to help me? I thought the object was to bring me back, not kill me deader than I already am!" Silver exclaimed. They had better not have gotten his hopes up for nothing.

"You're a special case, since you're stuck where you are. There is a chance for you to come back." Chrona slid the chalice up to Silver's paws, "It may bring you back to life, at one definite cost—and one very real possibility. It will definitely take your powers away, but I suspect that you don't really have a problem with that. However…" He raised his gaze up to him sharply, "It will be painful—very, very painful. As the poison courses through your body, you could die anyway."

Silver felt himself bite down on his lower lip. Of course this wouldn't be easy; of course there was always a catch. Even after all this—after all the hype they made about giving him a gift, it was only a half-assed one at best.

But half-assed was better than nothing.

"I'll do whatever it takes." Silver grasped the chalice with both paws. The water—pure poison for his kind—rippled with his perfect reflection within. Death was still an option and waited with it's cold hands open wide to receive him again. But he wouldn't let it. Snow was more important and he'd be damned if he let death have him again. The old couple sat as silent as the dead, only the sound of rushing water and crashing falls filling the distance. The time was now. Silver closed his eyes, pressed his maw to the chalice, and lifted the bottom.

Only to wretch and spit a jet-stream of liquid into Chrona's face.

"Uh…" The old wolf frowned, face dripping wet while his mate suppressed an involuntary chuckle.

"The hell is this? Oh god, my taste buds feel like they're burning off!" Silver frantically rubbed his tongue down with his paws, as if he could literally rub the taste off of it, "This stuff is terrible!"

"Well I'm sorry, what the hell is it supposed to taste like?" Chrona grumbled, wiping his face off.

Silver turned his back to them. The foul liquid had stung his tongue dead for a few moments, but now he could feel his sense of taste slowly recovering. He wasn't too keen on drinking in the rest, but knew that he had no choice. Snow was worth a little bad-tasting medicine. As he reattempted to drink from the chalice, the taste was certainly foul indeed. Salty, almost metallic that left a horrible aftertaste that attacked his taste buds like liquid daggers. He wanted to gag. He wanted to spit the liquid poison out and chuck the chalice as far as he possibly could. But he sat there in what seemed like hours, drink trailing slightly down his cheeks, until he drew the disdainful cup from his maw. There, he had done it; downed as much of it as he possibly could.

And now, Silver waited. He sat somewhat tense. Would it be a quick rush of sudden pain, or would it be something slow and agonizing? He continued to sit and wait for some kind of sensation to overtake his senses. First for a few seconds; then a few minutes. But still, he felt nothing, other than the numbness that left his tongue limp. So the drink did manage to kill something at least.

"I…dun' 'eel any'ing." He looked to the old couple, tongue hanging out of his mouth. "'Ot a thin'."

"Maybe you have to drink a little more—"

"Oh 'ell no! I'm not gonna—"

BA-DUMP! It was enough to make him freeze; a single heartbeat so hard that it shook his whole body; so loud that the sound made his ears ring. Again, his heart gave a ridiculously loud thud, more deafening than the first. His paw tried reach up to his chest, but his fingers were trembling as though electric surges were racking his nerves. The powerful heartbeats slammed his chest in greater repetition, his breathing becoming sharp and intense. Every intake of air was like breathing through a straw, lungs desperate for oxygen with every single beat. He tried to talk, but only a gaggle of sounds spilled from his lips.

BA-DUMP!

"Ack!" Silver winced, clutching his chest here his heart was. The beats were now becoming painful, like his heart was trying to smash its way out of his chest. Silver's body shuddered. Clenching his fangs was about all he could do to not fall over. He could take this. The pain was nothing but an obstacle. It was nothing compared to the thought of not being able to see Snow again. Silver turned his gaze to the old couple, not realizing just how hard he was panting until the sight of them shook like bad tape tracking. Chrona's wasn't as easy to read as Delia's, but the two of them gazed at Silver with a look of concern. A helpless kind of concern, knowing that at this point, there was really nothing they could do but just sit and watch whatever happened unfold. Still, Silver reflected an air of unwavering confidence, even if he was gasping for air.

"S-See..? I can handle this…" He sputtered. But it didn't exactly inspire confidence. Delia pressed her paw to her mouth, turning away from him. Maybe it had seemed like a good idea at first, but now she was wishing she could take it back. Maybe the realization of the pain Silver would be in didn't really hit her until she was forced to sit there, watching him shudder in pain.

"Silver…" Chrona closed his eyes slowly, "It hasn't even started yet…"

BA-DUMP!

Silver's body suddenly seized to a perfect stand-still. The pain came on so quickly. It felt like his heart was exploding; each beat became a burst of dynamite in his chest, sending fragments of hot pain that took what little breath he had away. Every nerve in his body was on fire—as though each one was being skewered with white-hot swords. Breathing had now ceased in being the dominating issue, and Silver felt himself letting out a blood-curdling scream. The midnight wolf's body shuddered in the most unspeakable pain he had ever felt in his life. He could barely feel his claws digging into his skin as he clutched his chest; barely noticed that he had gone crashing to the ground and the world around him now lay on its side. The sound of his beating heart flooded his ears, muting everything else around him. And he quickly found himself wanting it to end. Ten seconds into the effects and Silver already found his mind betraying him. Only to be doomed by the somber thought that the point of no return had long since passed.

"Wrauughhh!" Silver slammed his head against the ground, hoping to distract pain with pain. But all he received was a trickle of salty blood running down his forehead to his muzzle, and a deep ringing to accompany his pounding head. How long would this last? How long would it feel like burning daggers ripping his skin and bombs going off in his chest? Silver sputtered, only barely realizing the flecks of crimson being coughed onto the marble floor. This was worse than dying. This was pure torture.

"Damn it…" Delia dug her claws into her arms. She had turned her head to the side, not able to look directly at Silver. She knew it would have been bad. She knew it was going to be painful. It wasn't enough to prepare her for this though. To see Silver writhing helplessly on the floor as poison violently racked his body. Silver let out another scream of pain and she found herself automatically reaching for him, but Chrona put his paw atop hers and lowered it, squeezing softly.

"No…" He said simply. He didn't look particularly frightened, but worry did wear on his face.

"But Chrona, we have to—"

"Have to what?" He looked at her. Delia opened her mouth to say something, found nothing, and slowly closed it back with a frown. Of course there was no way to ease Silver's pain—she knew that when she had offered this alternative to him.

"Remember Silver's circumstance…" Chrona spoke, "Because Silver and Garnet had to be split, he is only half of what he was when he was a whole being. At only half of himself, there's no way he can reincarnate himself as we can. This is the only chance at life he gets—even if he has to go through the painful risk of losing his soul. All we can do is wait—"

"HUAAGHHH!" There was another thud and they hadn't realized till the last moment that Silver's fit of pain had sent the young wolf soaring off the edge of the platform. He painfully splashed down into one of the shallow bowls of the fountain, only to burry his claws into the body of the basin. His pupils were horribly dilated and every spasm of pain forced a pronounced clench in his fangs.

"Chrona…" Delia hid her face into Chrona's fur. He sighed and placed his paw on her head, patting her ears down. Sure, he could watch Silver writhing in pain. Because he knew every pang of guilt he received from watching could never atone for the things that he had done to this young wolf.

"All we can do is wait…" He said under his breath, "All we can do is wait.."

-()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()—

It was like a nightmare with no off switch. It was like swimming through a sea of fire with no end in sight. The pain Silver felt was enough to rob him of his consciousness every now and then, only for him to see himself still bobbing on the surface of life and death a few moments later. How long had it been? A few months? Weeks? Or maybe years? He couldn't tell anymore; it all had become irrelevant the moment the pain was too much to take. Silver just wanted it to stop and even found himself trying to give into the pain several times. But every time he slipped, Snow's face appeared in his thoughts. She was just as her name: something cool and pure in a valley of fire.

Sleep…

Silver's mind echoed over and over. His head felt heavy and he laid it back down on the floor. Yes, sleep would be good. But it stood no chance against yet another flare of pain that caused him to scream out loud.

And then, Silver suddenly noticed that his lungs were filling with air. It still stung when he breathed, but the air was cool as opposed to feeling like he was inhaling hot coals. His breaths were long and hard, like someone who had just come up for air from the middle of the ocean. Silver could feel the numbing in his body go away; feel his brain actually becoming aware that his muscles and nerves did in fact exist to feel other sensations aside from pain. The floor was cold and soothing to the touch, and he found himself pressing his face against it in frantic respite.

"Silver!"

Silver's ears shot up immediately. It was the first voice he had heard in a long while and his ears were frantic to hear more. They picked up everything; the excited panting of breath; paw pads tapping the ground and coming closer to him; even the wafting of a canine tail before him.

"Silver, are you alright?"

"H-hell no…" Silver mumbled, and it hurt to talk.

"Quick—Chrona, get him some water!" There was the sounds of paws again, not running, but definitely hurried and fading away into the distance. "Silver…this is the first time you've stop screaming since…" He felt a paw on his forehead and quickly wanted her to pull it away. It was warm and he much rather preferred the ice cold stone floor. Chrona had soon returned and Silver felt something round like a bowl being pressed to his maw. Cool water had only barely touched his lips before he began to guzzle it down to the point of choking.

"Careful..." Delia rubbed the sputtering Silver's back. But he barely took it to heart and was draining the bowl empty again. "Do you feel pain anywhere still?"

Oh, he felt pain. But not so much the intense physical sensations he had been feeling as opposed to the dark memory in every nerve in his body of what he had gone through. Silver opened his eyes slowly, paws in frantic search for more water. His headfur had grown ridiculously long, locks cascading over his face to the point of covering his eyes. Just how long had he been there, on the floor, shuddering in excruciating pain? Chrona had taken off to retrieve more water, waiting for Silver to down yet another bowlful.

"The feeling will go away, but…" He looked straight into Silver's eyes, "You truly are something different. There were times where I half-expected you to give up, but it was like your body wouldn't allow you to. You've been on that floor writhing in pain for an entire year…"

"Wha-what?" Silver damn near spat out the last of his water. "A-a year? A year? Is that even physically possible?"

"Apparently. I did say it wasn't going to be easy." The old wolf lowered the empty bowl down. And then, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up. "But I guess only a fool would have expected any less from someone with such a strong conviction."

Silver slowly raised his paws to his headfur; let his fingers run along the length that was tickling his muzzle. A whole year had gone by? An entire year of pain and torture that would have probably killed anyone else. And then, a sudden though caused his ears to shoot up. "Snow!" Silver raised hastily on his feet—only to find his legs to be as strong as jell-o and topple back towards the cold stone floor.

"Is fine…more or less." Delia helped Silver to an upright position. "Take it easy…"

But Silver refused. How could he be expected to take it easy? He had just gone through the greatest ordeal in his life. And now, he stood in the light at the end of the tunnel. He could go home. He could see Snow, be with her, and have a future with her. Everything in his body was excited, too much for him to just stay down. He tried to force his body to be steadfast and raise to his feet again. A year off his paws had taken its toll, his legs struggling to support his body weight. But he'd be damned if he was about to let this one little thing stop him after coming so far. Delia looked at Chrona, who only grinned ever so slightly as he watched Silver work the muscles in his legs. It was a moment of unspoken communication, but also one of unspoken confidence. Everything had been done, and now all that was left for Silver to do was to finally reap the rewards and make his way home.

-()()()()()()()()()())()()()()()(()()()-

Silver cursed the fact that it had taken weeks just for him to feel the strength in his legs finally return to him. Everything now felt so much harder than usual. His body had always healed quickly, returning back to its supernatural state like a rubber band being snapped back to its original orientation. But being mundane was different. And frustrating. Everything happened so slowly and power felt more privileged than like a right. But he really couldn't complain—this is what he had wanted from the very start. And when he was finally able to walk properly on his own two feet, excitement of returning home shocked him like lightning.

The trip from purgatory had happened in less than a second; a flash of whirling lights and wiping winds that made the midnight wolf's ears ring. And once he was back on his own familiar terra firma, Silver was reminded of Plato's cave allegory that he had once heard humans talk about. The light of the sun was blinding to his eyes, stinging the pupils to the size of a grain of rice. Cold air—winter air—caressed his headfur and whipped it all about his face till the strands clung to the side of his muzzle. His paws froze, sunk deep down into a thicket of soft, silvery snow. When his eyes had finally readjusted, the snow mountainous terrain played familiar on his memories. Somewhat. He could see massive amounts of debris from Garnet's sacred bastion littered about in the snow in unsightly chunks. It was as if the whole structure had gone careening out of the sky and shattered into a million large fragments along the face of the mountain.

"Here." Delia wrapped a black scarf around Silver's neck, and he quickly appreciated the velvety fabric pressed warm to his fur. "And get a haircut, it's a wonder you can even see."

"Heh, I think I'll keep it this way for a while." Silver smiled softly.

"You'll need this." Chrona slapped a hip pack over Silver's flanks. It felt a little heavy, overpacked with what smelled like food and drink. "You have a long journey ahead of you. You are mundane now, afterall; a journey that would have taken moments will now cost you days."

"What?" Silver whipped around, "You mean you two are just gonna dump me here?" He complained.

"We're just gonna dump you here."

"Old man—"

"Because we have to, Silver." Delia spoke up as she took to her mate's side. "There is a mess that Garnet has created, and we have neglected that mess for an entire year. But now that you're finally able to do well on your own, we have to start fixing what Garnet has undone."

"With every spirit but the three of us—err—the two of us gone, and I guess now with your being mundane, we have to make sure that each spirit is reincarnated properly and into their proper roles."

Silver made a face, but he understood well. Guilty of even a small part in throwing the balance of the world's spirits, he more than understood the two old geezers had their work cut out for them. So this was it; the point at which he parted from them and his old world to start fresh a new one. No longer immortal; no longer supernatural; now free to just be. It was like being born again. Silver turned and gazed out at the wide-open snowy terrain before him. It was going to be a long walk indeed.

"Silver…" Delia spoke up, waiting for the midnight wolf to turn back her way. "I just wanted to say…well, we're sorry for everything. Sorry for all that we've involved you in."

"Just…" Chrona looked to the side. "Just enjoy your life and don't waste your time."

Silver looked amused. Their words almost sounded parental. And he'd be almost inclined to believe that. Still, he smiled to them and nodded. This would be the last time he would have to see them and the last remnants of what he used to be. With a deep breath, Silver headed off through the silvery snow, hopes of his new life burning and happier than he had ever been in a long time…