Silver remained curled up and shaking for a while. He had lost track of time completely. He stayed there, sniffling and shivering for a length of time he'd never know. Beginning to come out of his shock and panic, he gasped and buried his face in his hands.

Trying to make sense of it all, he babbled to himself breathlessly, "Now what? Now what?"

He forced himself to sit up. "I need to…I can't…I can't just…"

He pressed his trembling hand to the closet door and worked it open. Slowly, he crawled out. His foot bumped something. Looking back, Silver saw a green gem laying on its side, forgotten in his panic.

Shadow's chaos emerald.

He picked it up numbly.

Approaching the window, he stared out. His blank expression masked the rapid-fire thoughts running through his head.

It looked as if nothing had happened at all. As if Silver could sink his exhausted body into his bed and wake up to Shadow waiting for him downstairs.

The young hedgehog pressed his hand to the window.

What should he do? What could he do?

Silver dropped his gaze to the floor. Welling tears blurred his vision.

"You're resourceful. You're stubborn. You've got a good heart. Get yourself on a good path, and you'll go far."

He repeated his father's words over and over again. A sense of responsibility began to sink in.

He knew what he needed to do.

Silver looked at the Chaos Emerald gripped in his hand. Clutching it with determination, he looked out to the horizon.

"No time to lose."

He rushed down the stairs and out the door.

Sprinting, he ran right to the best source of help he could think of.

He beat his fists on the door in a frenzy.

Sonic opened the door. He immediately recognized Silver's distress.

Silver found himself sitting in a chair, Sonic and Amy listening to his recounting.

Amy pushed a glass of water into Silver's hand and he downed it. She softly asked, "How's your mother?"

Silver gulped, then answered, "She doesn't know. She went to see the Royal Family."

Sonic nodded, "The Sol Empire. I wonder if there's a connection?"

Silver tilted his head, "What would GUN want with the Sol Empire?"

"It was GUN?"

"I-I don't know. That's the only thing I can think of."

Amy smoothed Silver's ruffled quills, "Do you remember any identifying details? Logos? Symbols? Any notable gear?"

Silver closed his eyes, thinking hard. A vague image formed in his clouded mind. "A patch. There was a patch on the soldier's sleeve. An emerald. In a box, with bars."

"Like a jail cell?" Sonic questioned.

"Yes."

The blue hedgehog shared a glance with Amy. "The Chaos Contingency?"

"Possible." She noticed Silver's concerned expression. "It's an Anti-Chaos Energy group."

Sonic explained, "They believe that Chaos Energy is something to be controlled and restrained. And not in the sense of respecting the power of Chaos Energy. They want to seal it away completely."

"The group that tried to capture Chaos." Amy clarified.

Silver's eyes widened "They did?"

"Tried to." Sonic repeated. "After about six hours, he had flooded the entire building. After that, they gave up on trying to keep him imprisoned. Reports say that a pink light appeared and led him back to Angel Island. Apparently, they've given up on trying again out of fear of the 'Wrath of Tikal.'"

"But Tikal isn't like that." Silver said.

"True, but if it's keeping them from bothering Chaos anymore, I say let them keep thinking that."

"So, they're trying to imprison my dad because of his Chaos Control abilities?"

"Sounds like it."

Silver jumped up in a panic, "Then we've got to do something! My dad! What's going to happen to him?"

Sonic put a hand up, "Hey, hey. Take a breath. I'll handle this. Don't worry. I'll get the team together and we'll figure something out."

"When are we going to rescue him?"

"Us. Not you, kiddo. And it'll depend on how soon we can prep for a rescue mission."

Silver stared at Sonic, distress shining in his golden eyes, "The longer we wait, the longer they have to do something to him!"

"Running in without a plan is dangerous."

Silver stood, fixing Sonic with an intense look, "What about when you were a kid? You told me about how you fought Eggman! You said you were my age!"

Sonic sighed, "Listen. I'll be honest. I wasn't the best person to imitate. I made plenty of mistakes. I don't want the same for you."

Silver sank into the chair, still upset.

Amy hugged him comfortingly. "We'll fix this. Don't worry. Just try to relax. I promise it'll work out."

Silver nodded.

"Why don't you stay here for now? We'll let your mother know, alright?"

"Can I get some stuff from my house?"

"Sure. Do you want someone to walk you there?"

"I'll be okay." Silver got up.

As he went to the door, he noticed two kids peeking into the living room. The younger asked, "Are you staying over?"

"For a little while."

Holly pulled her little brother back, "Easy on him, Blur. He's had a long day."

Silver shook his head, "He's fine. I'll be back in a bit."

Heading back to his house and up to his room, Silver grabbed his backpack. He dumped out the contents and started packing from scratch. As he did so, an idea came to mind. It probably wasn't the wisest thing he had ever planned, but he felt he had to at least try. In went a notebook and a pencil. He wrapped the green chaos emerald in a jacket and tucked it into his backpack. Shouldering the bag, he summoned his courage and set out on his journey.

He went downstairs and out the door, then stopped. Was he forgetting something? He went back in, grabbed a box of caramel, stuffed it into his backpack, and left.

Notes: Last part of the story based on the dream that inspired this. I'm winging it from now on. T^T