Thank you shadow_robotnik_298_ for the *three* peices of fanart! they are very cute
and, for those who are interested, you can find most of the fanart by searching "Nightfuchia" on tumblr! with the one exception of todays fanart callout which can be found on instagram
y, para aquellos que estén interesados, ¡pueden encontrar la mayor parte del fanart buscando "Nightfuchia" en tumblr! con la única excepción de la llamada fanart de hoy que se puede encontrar en instagram
Silver had expected an extremely long journey by foot. After all, it wasn't his first time trekking the landscape on a long path to reach the Gravity Fields. Such a trip would be a breeze. Shadow had already accustomed the child's body to long distances and unreliable terrain, so rather than feeling daunted by the vast distance between himself and his home - Silver felt a little giddy. What kinds of mishaps and misfortunes would they encounter this time? Would there be exciting chases or boring walks? What was the ranger going to show him next? The hoglet couldn't help but smile. Adventures always promised excitement and fun.
"Don't think I haven't forgotten about that stunt you pulled."
Gold eyes glanced up to Shadow's head. A sense of unease filled the hoglet's nerves as the faceless void under the leather hood stared back. Although the hoglet could tell by the ranger's voice that he was sternly upset, there was no expression to observe if the feeling was true or not. It was no wonder that the adult wore his hood all the time. If the child wasn't accustomed to the hedgehog's presence already, he would have assumed that the cloak was empty.
The second Silver his mouth to ask a question, Shadow beat him to the punch, beginning an extremely long and emotionally heated lecture about running headfirst into battle for the rest of the observable evening. Hours. Hours of hand waving, tongue snapping, and heavy stepping followed the young hoglet. There was no shortage of words that flowed out of the ebony hedgehog's mouth, and none were spent on anything other than a half monotonous - half exasperated essay of university standards. To make things worse, right whenever Silver would think the adult was finally slowing down, another frustration would cross into his mind and the lecture would begin all over again.
Despite tuning out about four hours into the ranger's rambling, Silver did remember one thing. Especially since Shadow had made the ivory child repeat it right back to him.
"Never recklessly charge into battle unless civilian lives are at stake."
Although Shadow had lost his audience well into the unending slurry of frustrated vocalizations, he had ultimately achieved his goal of driving his point deep into the hoglet's head. Like any good lesson, Silver would remember this lecture for most of his adult life - even though most details would be lost to boredom and time. Not because Shadow had scolded him for hours on end, but because there was genuine worry and frustration in the ebony hedgehog's voice.
"Reckless thinking takes lives." Shadow had growled, voice cracking under stress and anger. "I've seen it happen more times than you can imagine."
"If you think rationally, you have the advantage."
"Running in without a plan can kill everyone involved."
Silver found himself holding onto those words. There was more to the lecture than mindless anger. Unlike Branch, who would constantly cuss and yell at anyone who bothered to disturb him, Shadow poured actual weight into his speech. Even though he would not shut his mouth and cut straight to the point, the ranger still managed to sling his words with perfect aim. For Shadow did not draw his argument with anger alone, but with worry and pain that echoed beyond his flattened voice.
Eventually, after the sun had set and the clouded moon had risen halfway into the sky, Shadow decided to stop his rambling and let the child rest. It was far too obvious to the ranger that the hoglet had quit listening to him quite some time ago, and it was only logical to let the kid sleep. Rather than stopping for the night, Shadow decided to let his charge climb between his shoulders once again. Silver was not one to complain about the idea, as the ranger seemed far too restless to even stop walking.
And thus began a long journey back to the Gravity Fields. Weeks and weeks of walking and running strung one after the other in a blur of sunrise and sunset. Silver wished anything of note happened during continental trek, but that did not seem to be the case. Every day fell into a pattern. Wake. Eat. Walk. Eat. Sleep.
Sometimes, if he was bored, Silver would attempt to carry things along with them - snagging objects and plants in his aura in order to hone his grabbing accuracy. Shadow seemed indifferent to the amusements. But if Silver grabbed anything that breathed, or anything that could be deemed dangerous, the adult would step in and break his concentration.
"Be careful."
"Don't do that."
Shadow was truly a man of few words. Sometimes Silver would go an entire day without hearing a sound from the introverted adult. It was crazymaking at times. Nothing but the howling wind whistling through the sparse branches and occasional chitters from unknown creatures would fill the hoglet's ears - along with the rhythmic stepping and clicking of hard soles against cobble.
Fortunately, the trip wasn't entirely uneventful. Some nights the hoglet would awaken to the sound of stalkers, howling in the distance or growling in the underbrush. At those times he would clamber up the trees, eyes frowning and face contorted in disgust. From his treetop perch he would watch, eyes trained on Shadow as the ranger mindlessly dealt with the annoying monsters. Shadow made everything safe. Whenever he was around there was nothing to fear. On his own, Silver would have been absolutely mortified to meet a stalker. Such a beast would snap him up in one gulp if it wanted to. But with Shadow around? Nothing but a large rat. Something the ranger could deal with even if he was blindfolded and asleep, thus taking all adrenaline out of the encounter.
Sometimes the hoglet would fall asleep in the trees, not wanting to be bothered with the trip down. One particularly warm night he hadn't even fully woken. A hissing growl followed by an annoyed shake which led to a slow climb up the flakey bark and a comfortable seat against the trunk. Claws drawn and hoglet reflexes allowing, the child fell back asleep without so much as an irritated huff.
Such nights were commonplace. Sometimes Silver wouldn't even sleep on the ground. If stalkers were stalking frequently, Shadow would merely decide to attach the hoglet to his shoulders and keep walking- only moving fast enough to wake the hoglet when another monster would inevitably cross his path.
Although stalker nights were somewhat exciting, rainy nights were by far Silver's favorite. On those nights, Shadow would remove his cloak, propping it up with sticks and twine to create a cozy shelter. It wasn't large enough for the both of them. In actuality the ranger's cloak was only designed to protect one person from the elements. A portable blanket that shielded from both heat and snow - an ancient design utilized by ancestors before the rise and fall of society. Despite not being its intended purpose, the leather cloak could be used as a small tent in a pinch - only large enough to shield a tiny child under its protective span.
What made rainy nights most enjoyable was the comfort. As he curled underneath his child sized tent, Silver would watch Shadow construct a platform out of sticks and mud - lighting a fire underneath to heat the campsite with its warm glow. Then, as the gentle splatter of water against leather would drum in his ears, Silver would drift off to sleep. Worries and anxiety falling away in the gentle drops of rain. It was a beautiful noise. A soul soothing sound that splashed and swirled in his head, sowing his dreams with visions of dancing figures that gracefully swept through the showered air. Safe and dry under the warm cloak, Silver would smile in his sleep.
The hoglet didn't think much about how Shadow slept during the rain. Usually the adult didn't sleep - instead remaining awake until the early hours of the morning caring for his blades and stretching bits of foraged fiber into twine. However, if the night proved inhospitable and the rain torrential, Silver would find himself accompanied under the tented cloak; both bodies curled into tight balls to maximize space and protection. Silver didn't mind those nights. His little hedgehog ball could cut his size in half - compressing his body into a safe and secure sphere of spines and quills. Shadow's ball was also size-reductive. The ebony frame could fold into a orb most compact and form efficient with expert posture. Despite the knowledge that Shadow was a hedgehog, Silver hadn't seen the adult curl until a particularly stormy night. The hoglet had assumed that Shadow didn't even need to curl. After all, a spikey ball was the most protective state that a hedgehog could ever ask for. All a predator needed to do was bite down into the sharp spines to know that this mobian, was not food. Shadow was insanely powerful and by far the least preyable person Silver could ever know. Why would the adult even need to pull into a defensive roll?
As it turned out, Shadow had different reasons. On a particularly stormy night, Shadow had decided to join the young boy under the tent - confusing the hoglet at first with the demand to curl up. Silver had assumed there was no room for the adult until he watched the ebony hedgehog pull the band out of his quills - lighting the air ablaze with energy once more. Silver was befuddled until the hedgehog re-clamped the ring around his neck and curled into a tight ball; rolling under the leather cloak next to the tiny sphere that was Silver.
The hoglet had asked why Shadow needed to remove his band, and the ranger had replied that it held his quills back. In order for a hedgehog to even assume a curled state, they needed to have unobstructed spines in order to cover their body. The band, to put it simply, prevented his spikes from conforming to spherical parameters.
"Well why do you even wear it like that?" Silver had huffed, confused as to why a hedgehog would restrict their precious spines.
"Because collars are extremely triggering to my psyche."
Silver didn't really care. That night was scary and loud with the flashing lights and booming thunder. Being in his ball was the closest thing to safety he could imagine. Fortunately, stormy nights were rare on the road. In that trip, Silver could only recount two separate times that the adult even needed to curl under the makeshift tent.
Even though the road was long, landmarks were visible to the hoglet that helped him recall his location from the trip there. A sandy area, for one, helped place himself. On the journey from the gravity fields, Shadow had crossed two such locations. Both of which involved a cliff.
Not feeling the hoglet was old enough for free-climbing lessons, Shadow had simply clipped his cloak to his boots once more and glided down the steep drop with about as much excitement as a rock. The high atmospheric pressure rather annoyed the hoglet's lungs once they had begun their trek across the former sea floor. It became especially clear that the environment was too dangerous for an underdeveloped child when the midnight sandstorms would nearly blind the child in their might. It seemed that speed was the best option once more.
Silver wished he was awake to enjoy the high-speed travel that Shadow was capable of. However the adult had chosen to wait until the hoglet had slept upon his back to run at high speeds. High levels of annoyance and irritability had followed Silver on his awakening. Running fast was always fun, and the child found himself quite mad at the adult. This time it was Shadow's turn to listen to hours of complaining.
It only took about three weeks more to finally reach the familiar groves of petrified trees. When the dirt turned to gravel and then to stone, Silver found himself itching to fall back asleep into his own bed in his own room. The strides he took subconsciously stretched longer, and the pace he walked unwillingly grew faster. The journey was getting too long, and Silver's homesickness was starting to kick in. Between every stoney grove and every grid laid path the alluring pull of the Gravity Fields drew the hoglet in - peeling him away from the ranger's side to wander ahead into the leveled landscape. Fortunately, Shadow didn't seem to mind as long as the hoglet didn't stray out of sight. The hoglet was well aware of the dangers in the Gravity Outskirts, and that was enough perception for the adult to let him wander a bit.
When the towering stones of the Gravity Fields finally crossed into Silver's range of view, the hoglet couldn't help but shout in excitement - pointing to the geographical marvels with a large smile and bright eyes. Shadow met the enthusiasm with mild irritation, but nonetheless complied when the hoglet scrambled between his shoulders and demanded a speeding pace.
It seemed even the ranger couldn't resist the allure of home, for he hardly waited a second after clipping his cloak to his left boot once more. Uneven gravity brought excitement to the travel as Shadow hopped and skipped through the dangerous territory he called his own. High reaching leaps led to bouncing steps between suspended stone and metal alike. With the knowledge of denser areas, Silver found himself enjoying the parkour travel. Shadow was extremely skilled in his crossing of the area, and with his confidence of movement came ease of mind. The hoglet only needed to hold tight and watch as the ranger carried him, flying across splatterings of debris and through hollowed pieces of metal.
With the densest ring passed, the hedgehog duo landed in the eye of the field; weight feeling normal and air feeling clearer. Only five minutes of walking was needed now, for the ancient ruin they called a home was within full sight. Upon reaching the place, It took Silver no amount of time to scale the familiar ladder and slide into his bed - not caring he was still fully dressed. Exhausted from the journey, Silver only managed to grumble as Shadow peeled the sheets back. Firm hands undid the hoglet's laces and unlatched the child's belt, finishing the undressing with an aggressive flip of the blanket. It didn't matter that Shadow was cranky. The only thing that mattered was that they were home.
And Silver could sleep in his own, sweet, comfortable bed once more.