poor silver
so much pain, and so much hurt...
Silver awoke to the feeling of pain. It wasn't normal, "accidentally brushed against something" pain, it was much different. With a miserable yelp, he opened his eyes, only to find the figure keeling over him, cleaning his wounds. Except, he wasn't just a figure anymore.
Despite the clouded daylight, and the thick branches that hung literally everywhere, Silver could see him. In full. The cloak was off, and the hedgehog actually had a face. Silver inhaled sharply, not prepared for what the Hero had actually looked like. Despite reason, he had fully expected a tall, strong mobian with flaming eyes and flowing blue fur. Heck, he expected to see him standing tall with armored shoes, pride and heroism shining in his emerald eyes.
Instead, he got a wild, dirty hedgehog with matted fur and utterly average quills who kneeled over him with a blood stained rag. There was nothing that stood out against this… person. Well, except for the stripes. The jet-black coat was decorated with scarlet stripes that were barely visible underneath all the twigs and leaves. Red eyes darted up to look the half-asleep hoglet in the face. Silver jumped at the abnormal eyes, feeling a twinge of fear overtake him.
"You're awake." The adult mumbled, quickly tightening a bandage. "Sorry to bother you."
"You… you…" Silver gasped, trying to formulate words.
"What?" The Hero asked, sitting back on his heels. "Is everything alright?"
"You… have a…" Silver continued. "You have red… red…"
"Red eyes." The ranger sighed, reaching up and rubbing his brow. "I am aware, yes."
"But… how…"
"I wear the hood for a reason, Silver." The adult continued. "It frightens people less."
Silver laid back, unsure of what to think. Absentmindedly, he pulled up his blanket, shivering slightly from the chilly morning air. Wait, blanket? Golden eyes swept down to reveal the stranger's cloak gently draped over him. It must have gotten cold during the night…
"Are you hungry?"
Golden eyes glanced up, looking the stranger over once again. Silver guessed he was hungry, he hadn't eaten in at least a day. A soft rumbling filled the air as Silver imagined some nice porridge…
"I'll take that as a yes." The adult answered, standing up. He walked over to a pile of objects and began fishing the item out; attaching belts and weapons to his body. After a short second, the ranger stood up, tying his wild quills back with a band.
"I'll be gone for a bit." He started. "It takes a while to find the proper items for a meal."
"Wait, where are you going?" Silver piped up, suddenly nervous about being left alone.
"I am going to get you food." Came the response.
"Oh." Silver responded, feeling stupid for asking. "But what if someone comes along - or if a monster comes?"
"I picked this spot so you could hear anything coming." The adult answered. "If you hear loud rustling, hide under my coat - it will block out your scent."
Softly nodding, Silver buried himself underneath the cloak and shivered. The crunching footsteps that left the campsite left the young hedgehog with an empty feeling. He was alone. Alone, vulnerable, and scared. With a whimper, he disappeared deeper into the dense fabric, trying to comfort himself with its weight.
With a sniffle, Silver remembered his home. A hedgehog at his age should always have a home, right? The house where he lived was hardly a good place. But it was home, and he had a family. Fliss, Branch, Lyre, Basil… Heck, even the Mistress was someone he missed.
A small, trembling whine escaped his lips. Gosh he missed his family. The bad jokes, the soft stories, the late night discussions… everything that made him happy. With a whimper, Silver felt tears roll down his face. He wouldn't ever see them again. They probably thought he was dead….
Silver resisted the urge to cry out. The woods were dangerous, and pure instinct told him to stay completely still until the adult came back. All he wanted to do was crawl into Fliss's feathered arms and tell her all his problems, let her rock him back and forth until her songs put him to sleep. A choking whine escaped him yet again. He would never see her again. She had been more of a mother to him than anyone before…. and she was gone from his life forever.
The instinctual need for protection overrode the need for safety as a howling whimper escaped his small, injured body. The short, high pitched yelps echoed through the trees, sending his own pleading voice bouncing back at him. He cried out again, hoping someone would hear his distress call. There was no response, and Silver crumpled back down into the cloak. With nothing else to do, he hugged himself tight; trying to blend in with the leaves as he curled to a small ball. His fur grew wet with tears as he sobbed on, shaking from heartache and loss. He didn't have a home, he didn't have friends, and he didn't have Fliss.
Silver didnt know how long he laid there, heart burning from pain, and mind reeling from loss. But as the minutes ticked by, he grew more and more quiet - trying to hide from whatever predators lurking nearby who would love to eat a young hoglet. The occasional rustling of small creatures startled him, raising his quills on instinct as whatever animal jumped its way through the leaves. However, it was the big rustling that got him.
Whatever it was, stepped through the leaves with heavy footsteps, dragging against the ground and circling the encampment. Occasionally it would stop, frozen and silent. SIlver didn't dare move. If it saw him, he would be lunch for sure. A tiny hedgehog child like him was easy pickings for a predator with large footsteps. It just circled on, occasionally stepping away from the camp, only to return. After a minute of just walking, it stopped. Silver shuddered, trying to decide if he should freeze longer or make a break for it.
"You can come out now, Silver." The familiar voice of the ranger called. The crunching resumed, this time thumping towards the campfire circle. Timidly, Silver pulled the cloak over his head, golden eyes darting around in search for predators.
"It's safe out." The stranger commented, scraping kindling off of a branch and into the pit. "I checked the perimeter."
"What's a perimeter?" Silver quietly asked, slowly lifting the leather off his body.
"A perimeter is the area around something. Like the lines on a square." Came the answer. The fire flickered to life, and the steady heat began to reach the young hedgehog's chilled wet fur. Before Silver even registered what happened, he had crawled out from under the cloak and sat in front of the fire. The soft crackling warmed his sore bones, bringing an air of relaxation around the campsite.
A rustling caught his attention as the adult began pulling things out of a pouch on his hip. Various nuts and berries were scattered onto a small rag as the ranger pulled more food out. A leafy vegetable, some strange white crystals, and a flask of water were among the items placed onto the fabric. After a bit of hunting, and a small hassle with the fire, the stranger found a smooth stone and began using his knife to cut at the food; slicing it into bits and putting it into his shoulder guard. With a final bit of mixing, the ranger approached Silver, holding out the armor like a bowl.
"I haven't made a proper meal in a decade, so forgive me if it tastes a bit strange." He sighed. Silver took the "bowl" and began to eat the items inside. At first, it was… ok. The nuts and seeds were a bit crunchy, irritating his first loose tooth, and the leafy vegetable was quite bland. It wasn't any better than the hot porridge, but it was food. SIlver's opinion changed rather quickly upon tasting one of the small, red berries. Golden eyes widened at the sweet tasting juices that flowed across his tongue.
"Woah!" He chirped, digging around in the salad for another berry. "What is that?"
"That is a raspberry." The adult replied, cleaning off his knife. "I remembered that they occasionally grow in these woods."
A chilly wind blew in, forcing Silver to scoot closer to the fire. Winter was coming in, and the weather was beginning to show it. The food that was found was a bit scarce, and only enough for one small person such as a young hoglet, but the adult didn't seem to care. He only tended to the fire and stitched a hole in his glove.
"I heard you calling, are you still in pain?" The Hero asked, not looking up from his work. Silver didn't know how to respond. He was hurting from the incident sure, but that was not why he was howling. How could he explain that he just wanted Fliss? How could he explain that he missed his group? How could he explain that he was hurting inside?
"I want to go home…" He sniffed, eyes threatening to shed tears once again. "I want Fliss…"
The sympathetic silence that followed was somehow comforting. The adult didn't try to change his mind, he didn't try to comfort him, he just let him cry. With a sniffle, Silver set down the shoulder guard, burying his face into his paws. Big, wet tears rolled off his face, plopping onto the ground as he shook, lungs struggling to breath as he sobbed. He missed his family so much. He missed Fliss so much…
A heavy material was draped over his shoulders, making him look up from his hands. The warm leather of the ranger's cloak wrapped around his body, taking away the chilly air and replacing it with a soothing heat. The hedgehog sat back down next to the fire, poking it with his hand and allowing the heat to grow.
"Thank you…" Silver sniffed, wrapping the fabric around him further.
"It's the least I can do." The adult sighed, looking down at the ground with a distant look in his eyes.
"You never told me your name." Silver stated, wiping his eyes with the coat. The ranger nearly punched himself in the face with the impressive face-palm he performed.
"How stupid of me." He hissed, visibly amused and upset at the same time. "I can't expect you to know my name if we've never met."
There was a bit of silence as the stranger inhaled sharply, trying to clear his mind as Silver giggled.
"My name is Shadow." He finally answered. Silver frowned. Had he heard that name before? It sounded awfully familiar… like something Fliss told him some time ago…
"Shadow?" He parroted, a little confused with himself. Golden eyes swept back down to the ground. He wasn't sure how he felt. Of course the Hero would have a common name like Shadow. Again, he didn't know what he expected. Something like "Venice" or "Terios" sounded much more heroic than simply Shadow…
A stick floated past his head, alerting Silver to a cyan aura around it. Uh oh. It was happening again.