Although Sonic had not planned it that way, Elise had fallen back to sleep but on him. Her head was almost as large as his body was long, and yet the human was able to find a comfortable position to believe she was safe enough to allow her body to relax again. Sonic didn't relax as easily. It wasn't until he could hear Elise's soft and calming breaths that he found a way to be comfortable enough to relax and drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Mephiles had seen it all, and it tickled his fancy with supreme power. Iblis was making this a lot easier than what it should have been- just one shot, one little action that no one would be aware of until the next morning, then Mephiles and Iblis could be together again. Except for one minor detail...

"Ah, Silver, I've been waiting for you." Mephiles said coldly as he turned to see the hedgehog with the Scepter of Darkness clutched tightly in his hand. "You came alone too. Pity. I wanted to see you and your badger friend take me on... Still playing hero then? You know how well that works for you and your... unfortunate acquaintances."

"Shut up!" Silver demanded as he clenched his fists tighter. "If you dare touch her Mephiles, so help me, I'll...!"

Mephiles slowly put a gnawed finger to his lips. Or, at least, where his lips should have been if he had them.

"You'll wake them." Mephiles said softly as he motioned toward Sonic and Elise. Silver gave Mephiles a hard look before looking around him to notice Sonic and Elise together. Elise was facing upwards, almost like she had been staring at the stars while on Sonic's stomach. Sonic was also facing up toward the sky- while one hand was on Elise's head like he was stroking her hair to comfort her, the other was placed on one of Elise's hands with their fingers intertwined together. It looked rather awkward, but the two had some how had gone to sleep regardless. Silver looked back to Mephiles and gave the demon a hard, threatening stare.

"If you touch either of them Mephiles, I am going to make you wish you could die!" Silver threatened through a clenched jaw.

"With the abilities that I gave to you? I didn't take you to be that naïve." Mephiles replied with a disturbing chuckle that send a chill up Silver's spine. The demon looked up at the sky as it slowly started to shade red from the sunrise.

"If only the sun was as generous as you are." Mephiles said to Silver, sounding both upset and angered. "But, I suppose we can't stare at each other forever. Enjoy this sunrise Silver, by tomorrow it will be the last you ever see."

Before Silver could react, Mephile started to melt away into the ground and disappeared from view. Immobile for a few seconds in stupidity, Silver then rushed over to Elise and attempted to wake her up. The human did not respond at first- leading Silver to force her to sit up to make her wake up. Eventually, he was able to barely get her to come around.

"Who... who are you?" Elise groggily asked as she came in and out of consciousness.

"Elise, it's me, Silver." the hedgehog told her as he kept trying to get her out of sleep. Finally, Elise was fully conscious and she looked at Silver as if she were in pain.

"I knew that." she mumbled.

"Don't lie to me Elise, I know you didn't!" Silver told her, roughly taking hold of her shoulders. Elise gave Silver a scared and mildly confused look.

"What happened?" Elise asked, knowing that there was more to the conversation that what she knew. "You need to let go of me- you're hurting me."

"I'm not letting go!" Silver declared with panic. Elise gave him an even more confused look that made Silver shake his head in remorse. In respect, Silver took a few steps back from Elise who was now giving him a wary side glance. Sonic was still asleep, completely oblivious to what was going on and would likely never know.

"I need to talk to you about something serious Elise." Silver said after regaining his composure.

"I'm not leaving Sonic here alone." Elise told Silver simply. It was Silver's turn to give Elise a weird look. Then something clicked in his brain that made him groan at her. But this wasn't the time or place to address it and what Silver needed to tell her was more important.

"We won't go far." Silver promised. "But we need to talk about this immediately."

Elise nodded. Silver helped her get up and together they walked a fair distance away from Sonic before beginning their discussion further. Before they began, Silver pulled out the Scepter of Darkness.

"Do you know who this is for?" Silver asked her. Elise looked at the small staff and opened her mouth to say, but found that she could not.

"No..." she slowly said. Silver saw the wheels turning in her eyes and knew that she did, but something was stopping her.

"Remember how you said that it seemed like you were fighting to remember me?" Silver then asked. Elise looked at him and nodded. "Fight again. Fight to remember who the Scepter of Darkness is for!"

Elise gave Silver a wary look, but nodded to show she understood. Elise then closed her eyes and tried to concentrate as she racked her brain on any information about Mephiles. Her struggle was like trying to see through a big brick wall, it was akin to controlling a dream to prevent it from becoming a nightmare with all effort that never seemed to shine through. The mental strain Elise had to use made her dizzy and made her head threaten to pound out of her skull. She didn't know or realize it, but Elise had ended up on the ground with Silver as a support to make sure she didn't completely cripple over in pain.

"Mephiles is... Solaris." Elise squeaked as her memories forcefully stitched themselves together again. "The Scepter is to... is to trap Mephiles and... destroy him. Mephiles wants to... to see Iblis again. Iblis is... is in me, and is trapped until I... cry...? Mephiles tried to... tried to destroy... to destroy...!"

Elise slipped from Silver's grip as she suddenly fell over from the strain of breaking Iblis's wall over her memories. Silver reacted quickly and helped her sit back up again. Blood was dripping from the end of her nose in small, thick drops and she looked up at him with a pale and exhausted face.

"Are you alright?" Silver softly asked her.

"No..." Elise groaned. "Can I die now?"

Before Silver could answer, Sonic came over to them quickly and assessed the situation himself.

"Is... there a problem I need to be aware of?" the blue hedgehog asked with a hint of scorn.

"No." Elise and Silver said at the same time. Sonic glanced from one to the other, unsure of their honesty although there was nothing to hide. Silver looked at Sonic, then looked at Elise who glanced back at him.

"Go to Meh Burger with Sonic," Silver instructed Elise, "Get a milkshake or a super greasy double cheeseburger, anything. Just... relax. Smile. Have fun. We can talk more later if you want."

"You'll come later, right?" Elise asked him. Silver gave her a rather shocked look as if he wasn't expecting someone to ask, but he slowly started to nod his head.

"Maybe." he told her. "But don't hold me to it."

"Well, if we're going any where it'll be easier to carry you." Sonic then interjected to Elise. "If... if you don't mind of course."

"I don't mind." Elise agreed with a smile. "It was actually kind of fun earlier."

Sonic's face started to burn a deep red color before he scooped Elise up and left with Silver behind. Silver watched them as Sonic reached his top speed. Out of curiosity and in a sudden idea- Silver looked down to look at his shadow. A pit in his stomach made him snap his head back up and started to head back.

He now knew his shadow was not his own, and Mephiles was literally following his every step.

With Silver around, no one was safe. The struggle to keep Elise happy had just begun.