A story written on a whim.
Rated M for suggestive themes of self-harm and suicide.
Shadow the Hedgehog sat at the edge of a cliff. It was a part of his habits, to isolate himself from the world in a quiet, natural place, and reminisce, but he hasn't done it recently. It was a month after he went loose on Silver; caught in the flames of his own fiery brooding and self-loathing, he said every foul, hurtful thing imaginable. They haven't spoken a single word since then – he hasn't even seen Silver since then, and Sonic confirmed similar things: Silver basically cut himself off from the family, leaving his room only when absolutely necessary, eating when no one else did, being awake when no one else was, turning his life completely upside-down. Sonic and Shadow knew this because there would be hints of Silver's movement around the house, such as the dishwasher being turned on, but they never managed to catch him in the public spaces like the kitchen or living room; Silver somehow knew when his brothers were awake and listening, watching. His door would always be locked, and he wouldn't respond when Sonic and Shadow tried knocking; they listened for even the slightest of movements – nothing. The absolute non-response and silence that followed was beyond eerie, although they were fairly sure he was still alive. The Chaos Energy connecting the three in the ultimate flow of time and space was there, but now only a hollow symbol of the brotherhood that once was.
Shadow could scarcely imagine how broken his brother must be, although he himself was quite shattered, too. He has been feeling as heavy as a rock, caught in an inescapable whirlpool of regret and hope that he would eventually catch a glimpse of Silver, and seize the chance to say hello, apologise, pour his heart out, and make things right. Silver was quick to forgive, he reassured himself, and he would be receptive and warm to his sincerity. That opportunity never came.
So, he decided to do it in his head first, to make himself feel the rush of dopamine and adrenaline through his veins, even if fleeting, just so he could remember how it felt to be happy. It felt so long ago. And he would do it properly, starting from the very roots of their histories that kickstarted this mess of a situation. It was a year ago, when Silver had suddenly sunk to the floor, complaining and crying over a splitting headache.
In the short timespan of a minute, Silver had gone from wailing to whimpering, murmuring, losing consciousness, nearly comatose. Shadow recalled how it felt to be heaving his brother up from the floor and carrying him to his room. He remembered the fear and the cold beads of sweat, but he also remembered the pride that he was there for his brother.
The very same pride that he grew to hate over the next year.
With Silver properly in bed, he remembered Sonic crouched beside him. He remembered looking at his face; the blue hedgehog was not smiling at all – in fact, there was something an indescribable foreboding written all over his green eyes. Shadow was too stubborn to change his beliefs or let go of his futile hopes, but, in hindsight, he realised that Sonic knew exactly what was going to happen.
Sonic knew that Silver was going to die. Shadow also knew, but blocked it out of his mind and refused to believe it. Instead, he insisted using the Chaos Emeralds to try different things that would normally have worked if it weren't for a condition this bad, all the while Sonic went along with his useless plans, like spindashing in complete darkness.
The darkness soon came when Silver got worse. Not only was he completely unresponsive to external stimuli, such as sounds – the desperate voices of his brothers calling his name – his body also twitched erratically, and his hoary-coloured fur and peach-coloured began to pale, his life draining away like the colours of a watercolour painting. It was probably a matter of days before Silver came to an end.
Or so they thought. One night, Sonic and Shadow were paid a surprise visit by Black Doom, the head of an alien species known as the Black Arms. The two fell through a portal into a world that reeked of evil, but even such a dreadful realm provided solace and comfort for those backed into a corner with no other option.
"Look who we have here. Two itty bitty hedgehog boys with a pout on their faces. Well, not to worry, for I have come to offer you a solution to cease your pains." His voice rang with a distinct sharpness, which was strangely comforting, perhaps because it could cut through the uncertainty that Sonic and Shadow were facing. "Both you and I are losing our kins; you, your brother, and I, my race, the Black Arms. You desire to save him, while I desire a vessel who can hold my genes so that my lineage can sustain for long. The two – three – of you are, in fact, legendary creatures, capable of unbelievable power and skill; you would make the perfect host. If we are in agreement, I will cure your brother instantly, but I will decide which one of you shall have my royal blood course in your veins."
The decision was a no-brainer for the hedgehogs, who eagerly, excitedly, and desparately agreed to the offer. They couldn't care less about some weird alien world domination later on. All that mattered was that their brother would be healthy and alive. As agreed, Black Doom would select the one to inherit his genes and blood. He chose Shadow.
It all happened as real, as brief, as a dream. The process was quick and painless, and Shadow barely felt anything change within his organic ecosystem. When Silver woke up completely normal the next morning, Sonic and Shadow saw that it was a dream-come-true.
"It was…like a horrible nightmare," said Silver, a grimace on his face, as if about to wretch from eating something disagreeable.
"It was, but not anymore," said Shadow, his eyes tearful and his mouth a grin.
That was the day when Shadow felt the proudest he has ever been in his life. He recalled feeling the warmth of Silver's body, after it being so cold and stone-hard; he recalled feeling grateful and relieved, knowing that his brother was truly alive again. But Silver's next words planted the seed of destruction that would bloom into a destructive plant.
"New look for you, Shadow? It fits you quite well," he remarked naively.
"What new look?"
"Oh, yeah, Silver's right. What happened to your forehead? Your arms, too," Sonic chirped in.
"And…your eyes, Shadow," gasped Silver. "Your eyes. They're…different."
Shadow remembered getting up and going to the nearest mirror to check himself out. When his reflection stared at him, he yelped and jumped back. Sure, his fur, which was black through and through, was not anymore; he was still mostly black, but a red stripe ran downwards through the middle of his forehead; two more lined the sides of his arms straight to his middle fingers. That, he figured he could live with.
Not the eyes, his eyes, which now glowed red as the demon, instead of a gentler amber. He now looked like he was always angry, which, by the Chaos Emeralds, wasn't true – at least not back then. But even that was fine – people would know not to mess with him or his family; what made the ebony hedgehog feel so uncertain about himself, was that he suddenly felt a crack tear open between him and Silver's bond.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. To think that he once had the same eye colour as his charming, endearing brother, whom he cherished, whom he saved, made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Looking into the mirror, he knew that this was no longer possible; his red eyes would forever be a jarring disconnection from those innocent, golden orbs.
"I used to look just like you, Silver," he mumbled, every word aching and pained. "And you used to look just like me."
They're…different, Silver had said. Shadow was pretty sure he had meant to finish his sentence in another way.
That day, Shadow locked himself in his room, refusing to come out or respond to any of Sonic and Silver's relentless knocking.
"Let's go, Silver. Let him be," said Sonic, gently tugging at the white hedgehog to leave and go sleep, for it was night time.
"But Shadow – he's in pain, I know he is. I can't just leave him be."
"He'll be fine tomorrow. Since when has Big Brother Shadow not overcome any challenges? Let's go, now."
Footsteps gradually getting fainter and fainter, familiar voices fading into the world outside Shadow's room. The despondent hedgehog sighed, and repeated to himself, "I'll be fine tomorrow."
And he was; one whole day of being all sulky and depressed was more than enough, and, most importantly, he felt compelled to keep Silver in good spirits. There is possibly next to nothing that would make Silver more upset than seeing his big brother sad. Things more or less continued as normal, and the three brothers were a happy bunch again, but Shadow noticed that Silver was quieter. He knew it wasn't the illness, because he had been fully cured of that with no after-effects – the devil himself had assured him of that, and the Chaos Emeralds would have indicated if this part of the promise was broken – so it must have been Shadow's newfound self-consciousness playing tricks on his imagination. That, or Silver actually became quieter. More reserved. More reluctant to initiate conversations.
And more reticent to meet Shadow's eyes. He always seemed to look slightly lower, at the top of Shadow's muzzle but below where his irises were, when speaking to him.
Shadow initially brushed it off; Silver was a shy kid and was probably still getting used to his new look, and he even found his tendency to not meet other people's gazes very sweet. People outside his family, that is; Silver never had any issues meeting eye-to-eye with Sonic and Shadow.
Shadow confirmed that it wasn't his imagination when he noticed, as clear as the azure waters beneath the cliff, that Silver was comfortable looking into those untainted, emerald-coloured irises of his other brother, Sonic. They were at the dinner table, about to chow down on a meal of chilli dogs; Shadow instantly lost his appetite. Knowing that he wasn't going to eat much of his dinner, he made a last-straw attempt to build some connection with Silver by offering his portion.
"Silver, you hungry? Do you want my chili dog as well?"
"…no, I'm alright, Shadow," was the reply he got. With the added salt on the wound that Silver looked sideways to avoid looking at him. "Thanks though."
"Yeah, no worries." Shadow stood up, and retreated to his room, feeling defeated, disturbed, and, for the first time, truly envious of Sonic. The Blue Blur was annoying as heck sometimes, and he had skills and strengths that Shadow didn't, but he never cared much about those differences; now, it was a different story.
Sonic has Silver's trust and brotherly love. Did Shadow? He wasn't so sure.
Since then, Shadow became increasingly agitated and aggressive; he didn't know if it was the side effects of being part-alien, or feeling uncertain about Silver. Perhaps a bit of both, or maybe more so the latter. The moments where he felt Silver refused to meet eye contact weighed heavily on his conscience, and he would occasionally grunt and growl in frustration. At the dinner table, he would catch Sonic's disapproving gaze and Silver's frightened eyes, prompting him to grumble, a low, rumbling drone emerging from his throat.
What was clear was that he hadn't just become an alien. He had become an alien to Silver. The thought of Silver thinking of him as a non-hedgehog something else was revolting; Shadow's pride for his brother turned to dust and crumbled.
"Shadow, you're just imagining things, really. I don't hate you. Silver doesn't hate you," said Sonic. "You're still our Shadow."
"Guess we'll see about that…" Shadow couldn't bring himself to believe those words, so he figured that the best way to find out would be to ask. That's what he did the next time they ate together – in fact, not just that, but a lot more.
A lot more of making others feel shit about themselves, ruining their lives, and ruining his own.
The three hedgehogs had finished eating. Utensils clanked discordantly in empty bowls. Shadow remembered pretty much every detail. Sonic was stretching after a meal that nearly stuffed his gluttonous stomach, and Silver was quietly rising from his seat, his expression neutral and completely enigmatic. Perhaps it was by chance or some miraculous accident, Shadow's eyes locked with Silver's momentarily.
"Silver," began the black hedgehog.
"Hm?" was the soft and meek reply.
"Silver, do you hate me?"
Those fateful words have been said. What followed didn't take long at all, but to Shadow it felt like an eternity, as if so much time had passed between. Shadow felt his entire world spin under the emotional weight of those words, each single one crushing him as it escaped his mouth.
"N-no… Why would I?"
A hesitation, was it? A stutter? Silver didn't normally stutter, so why did he this time? Shadow felt so confident that this could only mean one thing, and it defeated him.
"Don't lie to me. You hate me, don't you? You hate me, for the monstrous creature I've become."
Sonic's ears perked up. "Shadow! What in the world are you saying?"
Shadow ignored the blue hedgehog, and stared right through the speechless white hedgehog, who had no idea how to respond. "I really don't!" was all he could muster. It sounded more like a pathetic whine, coming from a child who has done wrong but refuses to admit it.
Shadow slammed his fists on the table. "I said, DON'T LIE TO ME!" He flashed his fangs and hissed. He recalled seeing Silver's face turn completely rigid, his irises visibly shrunk in the middle of his sclera half-covered by terrified eyelids. "If you don't hate me, then why don't you look me in the eye when I speak, huh?"
"I…I don't know what you're saying, Shadow—"
"Oh, you damn well do, Silver. Ever since I turned into a monster to save your pathetic butt, you've not looked into my eyes. Not once."
"I wished it hadn't happened," muttered Silver inaudibly.
"Neither do I, and you know what? It's your fault that I turned into this black and red mixed-blooded creature—"
"Oi, Shadow!" shouted Sonic, indignantly standing from his seat. "Now that's just stupid. What's gotten into you?"
"And YOU, blue son of a Faker, have no right to speak. Think you have the moral high ground, eh? Nothing has changed in your life! You're still blue as hell. You're still a hedgehog. Silver still looks at you, adoringly and admiringly! Wanna walk in my shoes instead? I bet you wouldn't last a day!"
"Shadow, I will seriously slap you if you continue rambling like a mad animal," snarled Sonic, baring his fangs. "Do you even realise what you've just said?"
"Then come at me—" started Shadow, but in his peripheral vision, a shaking, diminutive white hedgehog was slowly trudging towards the door. "Silver the Hedgehog! Where do you think you're going?!"
"J-just for a walk," he whimpered, yet again, not looking into those terrifying, devilish red eyes that scanned his every movement, every feature.
"LOOK INTO MY EYES WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU! Chaos Control!"
Time swirled and grinded to a halt. The fuming hedgehog slowly rose from his seat, and forebodingly, menacingly, walked towards the petrified hedgehog, whose hand was this close to the door handle.
"Why don't you take a damn good look into my eyes?" He lifted his index finger to Silver's chin, and gave it a slight push upwards, so that their eyes were now level. "I used to have your eyes, you know?" Shadow chuckled dryly.
"Well, anyway, let's not be so quick to leave." Shadow unfroze time just for the two of them. "Silver, tell me, what did I do to make you hate me?"
"Just look at yourself! Look at what you've become!" cried Silver. "The Shadow I knew was nothing like this!"
"Don't you forget that I've only become like this because of you! I paid the price to look like this so that you could live, you ungrateful rat!" screeched Shadow, spit flying everywhere.
"No, that's not true. You became like this because you've got it completely wrong!" Silver looked like he was on the verge of tears, which angered Shadow even more.
"Don't you go playing the victim card and looking all sad and pathetic now. Tell me – what did I get wrong? What's stopping me from seeing the truth – our truth?"
"It's you. Now leave me alone." The hoary-coloured hedgehog walked upstairs and disappeared into his room. The door slammed shut loudly.
Shadow stood there, confused and stupefied and boiling with silent rage. He marched up, and stopped in front of his brother's room. He chose not to open the door. He's had enough of weak, pitiful sulking from the very person he had been hellbent on earning the trust of. He decided that it was time to give it all up.
"You know what, Silver? I wish I didn't have a pathetic, unworthy lifeform like you as a brother. I wish that I hadn't saved your life. I really do wish you were dead."
And he left. He didn't remember much of what happened in the rest of the evening, not even the second argument that followed with a rightfully-exploding Sonic on his spines, only that there wasn't any combat and no one was hurt, physically – although he felt he missed something crucial and it nagged him at the back of his mind. He thought back to that moment when he and Silver were separated by a door. Only now did the subtlest of details surface to haunt him: he remembered hearing excruciating screams emanate from Silver's room, although he didn't hear them back then – or perhaps, he chose not to. Feeling the chills of those screams, he assumed that Silver was just having a really big and uninhibited cry. Several times a day. Several days a week.
Oh, all the things he would do, to even just see his brother again. To see his fur, a pristine light grey, and his curious, golden eyes. Shadow sighed longingly, got up, then headed home.
Sonic was waiting for him. "You took your time today."
"Yeah. I was thinking about Silver," replied Shadow; those reflections still felt raw in his head, and he couldn't bring himself to meet Sonic's gaze. "About everything that's happened."
"Did you figure anything out?" asked Sonic, his tone a little dry.
"Yeah, I did. It was shame."
"What?"
"Shame. Silver didn't look at me not because he hated me. It was because he was ashamed. Indebted. Feeling guilty and burdened. He blamed himself for my…transformation, but he never talked about it. I was such a fool. Selfish beyond belief. This," he pointed to his red streaks. "This is the least I deserve."
"That's exactly what I told you the same evening you went all nuts on him. Didn't think you'd forget, but again, you never really had the heart to care or remember, did you?"
"I will now. Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Well, you better, because I've got news. We're breaking down Silver's door. Now," declared Sonic.
"What? No, let's give him some more time—"
"We will not, and let me show you why. Take a closer look at the dishwasher, and tell me what you see."
Shadow trudged over, resisting the temptation to go slower to delay himself from finding out some inevitable, horrible thing that has happened. At first he noticed nothing different.
And then, he noticed the buttons looking a little different. They didn't have the usual gloss. Shadow wondered what it could be. His eyes then drifted to the drawer with the kitchen knives. The handle, normally shiny and metallic, had faint specks of what looked like dried, dark paint.
Of course it wasn't paint. Shadow didn't need to wonder anymore. Down his spine was a chill so strong it was as if a large icicle had impaled him.
"H-how…?" Shadow felt his throat tighten with disgust and horror. He yanked open the drawer of kitchen knives and counted them. One, two, three, four… Shadow finished counting. His heart nearly stopped.
"Guess there's one way to find out whether we've miscounted, or we really did lose a knife. We don't have time to waste," urged Sonic.
Frantic footsteps up the stairs and a double spindash did the job. The door was no more. Only heavy breathing and a horrible surprise remained.
Uncurling themselves from the spindash, their eyes hit the missing kitchen knife lying on a carpet tainted with dark, dried blotches, becoming less and less dry as the trail extended further and further into the corners and recesses of the room. Sitting in a pool of oozing liquid was something that resembled a feral, identityless monster. Its fur – if you could still call it that, for it looked more like a mixture of loose threads, fresh trails of red, and dried clots of dark red – was dishevelled beyond belief, but not enough to conceal the famished ribcage that lay beneath; its posture was awkwardly angled and broken, sprawled across the carpet; its face and features sunken, zombie-like and nearly unrecognisable; its eyes, pieces of gold shattered into a hundred pieces by the bloodshot veins.
"You wished I were dead, Shadow," it croaked, voiceless from all the screaming and howling that tore apart their vocal cords, trembling from severe sleep and nutritional deprivation. "You think you're a monster? Take a good look at me. I don't even know what I am, just a pathetic creature doomed to live out their miserable existence because they can't even end their own life."
The two hedgehogs thought they would vomit and pass out.
"I used to look like you," it rasped feebly.
Shadow took a step forwards. The knife, at lightning speed, zipped telekinetically into skeletal fingers. "One more step, and –" a throat-slitting gesture.
"No," pleaded Sonic. "Drop the knife. Let's talk."
"Do I look like I can do much talking?" It gestured at its throat.
"We can communicate in other ways, connect with each other." The blue hedgehog pressed on. He took another step.
The trigger was almost instant. The metallic blade went bullseye into the middle of the neck. The creature showed no signs of pain, only a twisted, triumphant smile. Finally, it mouthed, before collapsing, eyes rolling to the back of its head.
Shadow saw his world descend and spin into darkness. The hollow shell that was his brother was gone. Or, perhaps, it was gone on that day. Either way, it was all his doing.
Shadow jerked up, coughing and rasping for breath, as if he was drowning. He rubbed his eyes and took in the familiar view around the cliffside, and felt nothing but relief. Pure relief.
Okay, so none of the excruciating screams actually happened. None of this actually happened…
And then the dread kicked in again. It could happen.
"Shadow!" The voice of the Blue Blur was calling. "Shadow! I swear I just saw Silver leave the house. I swear to the Chaos Emeralds—"
"How does he look?!" Shadow turned around so rapidly he felt several joints in his body crack.
"Quite skinny, poor boy clearly hasn't been eating or sleeping well – we need to follow him before we lose him. Hurry up!"
Okay. Silver isn't all mangled and bloody and a dishevelled mess. This piece of extraordinarily good news propelled Shadow off to a dash, with Sonic close by. Silver was surprisingly fast; while spindashing wasn't his thing, Sonic and Shadow had to remind themselves that his psychokinesis basically achieves the same effect. It wasn't easy keeping up with him at all. And, being in the air, Silver took shortcuts that Sonic and Shadow couldn't. They had to slow down and expend some of their Chaos Energy to track their brother's whereabouts whenever they lost him.
Before they knew it, they made it to the entrance of a small, mysterious temple; it was unenclosed with a rectangular space in the middle, which had strange carvings on the stony ground. Unmistaken, their brother was just ahead, standing in the centre of the carvings.
Shadow lurched forwards, much to the shock of Sonic, who had planned for them to keep their distance and not startle their brother. Shadow had other plans; what if their brother was going to do something reckless and dangerous?
"Silver!"
The hoary hedgehog turned around; he didn't look remotely surprised, but gazed sternly at the approaching ebony hedgehog. Shadow was taken aback; the gaze sent a coldness through his body that he never expected to come from Silver, but then Shadow realised that the gaze wasn't stern. It was determined. It was so determined that Shadow instinctively knew to stop, and to trust his brother in whatever they would be doing. He figured that he would have the chance to hear his voice afterwards; after all, he already had his first wish granted – to see him, all intact and functioning.
Silver waved his right arm elegantly, a clear Chaos Emerald appearing in his hand; as the ground carvings began to glow a brilliant, hot white, he himself began to transform, shining a pale shade of golden yellow. Now a supernova, Super Silver chanted: O Temple of Chaos, grant thy humble servant access to your holy treasures, so he may make himself known to his Brothers.
Sonic and Shadow stood, speechless and motionless, as two Chaos Emeralds, green and red, materialised. The Chaos Energy subsided and the light faded, leaving an exhausted hedgehog sprawled on the hard, rocky temple floor; next to him lay the two godly jewels. The hedgehogs couldn't care less about the latter; they sprinted over to their brother, whose body still retained a gentle, comforting warmth from the transformation and ritual.
"Silver. Silver! Say something!" howled Sonic. "Look at you – you've lost so much weight! Pushing yourself to the limit? What the hell were you thinking? You know what? Never mind even that – what makes you think you can isolate yourself from the world? You had the two of us literally sick with worry."
Silver groaned, and then rolled over to face his brothers. Their concerned faces – something he hadn't seen in a while – so genuine and familiar, put him at ease. "Thought I'd try…to do something useful."
"Well, wasn't it useful to isolate yourself from us…" spat the blue hedgehog.
"No, look." Silver raised his Chaos Emerald. "I spent all of last month searching and researching how I could summon these."
"Okay, cool, but what's that got to do with disappearing from sight?"
"I thought you wanted it that way. I thought you didn't want to see me."
The blue hedgehog jabbed a finger at his brother. His blood boiled like a kettle suddenly turned on, and his fangs instinctively bared. "Listen, Silver. Don't you be throwing these stupid accusations around. You think I didn't want to see you? I dream of you every single day, every night; I am thinking of you every waking moment! Yet, you're saying that I wished for you to cut yourself from the world? From me?"
"Maybe not you, but…" His eyes shifted to the side, resting on the black hedgehog, who has been silent. "Maybe that's what Shadow wanted."
Shadow wanted to open his mouth to retort, but the sky began to darken.
"What a cute reunion," echoed a malicious voice. The three hedgehogs were immediately alert, looking at their surroundings as the clear sky darkened into a maroon-red. Bolts of lightning flashed from the thunderclouds that gathered atop the temple, and soon enough, black figures were visibly descending from above. Not that many, but still quite a lot.
The Black Arms.
"Black Doom…" snarled Sonic. "What are you doing here?!"
"Paying you a nice visit, of course. Good to see that our trade has resulted in fruitful outcomes – ah, Shadow. How nice to see you. That's a good look on you. As my progeny, why don't you come over and be by my side, so that we can run the world together… Once we have our hands on all seven Chaos Emeralds, the world will be ours to take."
Shadow stood there, silent. Silently raging. Fists clenched. He was going to have his moment with Silver, the moment he had been looking forward to since forever. He was going to confess, apologise, reconnect, and everything would go back to normal. Black Doom stopped that from happening; for that, he will pay.
"In your dreams," he retorted.
"Oh, that wasn't just an invitation, Shadow. It was an order." Black Doom vanished, then appeared behind Silver, holding him by the neck. "Aren't you grateful that I saved this pathetic life that meant so much to you? I won't have any problems reneging on my decision, if you don't join me."
"That was never part of the deal, you demon," growled Shadow.
"It is now. So, what would your decision be? See your brother spared as we make this world ours, or watch him die with your bare eyes as I lay waste to your homes?"
"Spare Silver. I'll join you," said Shadow, walking towards them. "Let him go."
"Very well." Black Doom loosened his grip, and the white hedgehog dropped to the floor, his neck tense and hurting.
"Shadow, do you even know what you're doing?!" screamed Sonic. "Are you going to abandon your brothers, just like that?"
"…as if I would." The black hedgehog, with incredible speed and agility, picked up the red and green Chaos Emeralds. He tossed the green one to Sonic, and he understood the assignment. In a flash, Super Sonic and Super Shadow became two beacons of light and hope in a backdrop of red. A barrier was erected to protect Silver from any further harm by Black Doom or the Black Arms, and the two magnificent beings tore through the devil with ease. As his form disintegrated, the aliens who was just beginning to reach the ground to wreak havoc, followed in his way, and also vanished.
In the aftermath of the fight, the three hedgehogs sat by the temple. Sonic leaned forwards. "So, tell us, Silver. What's with these Chaos Emeralds?"
"It's your birthdays today, no?"
Sonic and Shadow looked at each other uneasily. Silver wasn't wrong. Things have been so different lately that they forgot.
"Well, happy birthday. These are for you."
"B-but why?" asked Shadow disbelievingly as he looked at the precious gem in his palm.
"Because these are special things for special people – the most important people in my life. I've let them down. I've caused them so much trouble and I've disappointed them, but I could never give up. I figured that if I tried really hard, I would be able to win over their hearts again. I isolated myself so that I could have all the time and space I need to research, achieve my goal, and make you proud."
"You know, Silver," started Shadow, the first time properly speaking to his brother since the incident.
"I don't need this," he hissed.
"You did just now, when fighting Black Doom, no?"
"I don't need it anymore."
Silver looked crestfallen. His eyelids felt heavy. After all he's done to please his brothers, he had still failed. "What do you need, Shadow? I'll do it for you. Anything."
The black hedgehog closed his eyes, as if contemplating. But a smirk quickly painted his muzzle, and he chuckled softly. "Silver, you silly little thing. All I need is you." He opened his eyes, holding his brother at arm's length, firmly, their gazes locking into each other under a sky regaining its colour.
"Your eyes, Shadow."
"…What about them?"
"After what happened, I couldn't bring myself to look at them. They were a haunting reminder of everything you had to go through to save my life. I felt scared, ashamed, guilty," he sighed, his voice light and wistful.
"But I missed your eyes. And I think they're still beautiful, just like they used to be." Silver smiled.