"Here is your coffee, sir!" a voice chippered.
Silver lifted his head slowly from the metal table it was resting on. A small cup of coffee was placed directly in front of his nose. He took a whiff. Hazelnut coffee with pumpkin creamer, his favorite.
"Thanks," he mumbled, and quietly took the cup and sipped it. It warmed his insides, but not his heart.
"No problem, sir!" the waitress replied, but then seemed to notice the look on Silver's face. She leaned down slightly. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," he said, just to get her away. She did, but kept sneaking glances back at him.
Sally's Morning Mocha was a small little café in the middle of nowhere. He was the only one of the three brothers who knew about it. The perfect spot to be alone, and away from the people who starred in his frequent nightmares. He felt bad about ditching them like he did, but at least they will never find him here.
He took another sip. He can't deal with these night terrors anymore. It was clear that they were depressing him, and he needed to fix that.
But…how?
Just as he thought that, a quiet voice said, "Is this seat taken?"
He shook his head, thinking that they were going to just take the chair across from him, but to his shock, they sat down. He looked up warily.
The intruder was a male black jackal. He had long white hair-like fur coming from his head, and the tip of his long black tail was tipped white as well. He had a white streak over one of his eyes, which were mismatched. One was a deep blue and the other was a bright yellow. Long white chest fur swept over his shoulders like a long scarf, and he wore black-and-gray gloves and shoes.
"You looked lonely, so I thought I would join you," he said softly, staring at Silver, who was staring back in shock. "I'm Infinite. What's your name?"
"Silver," the white hedgehog whispered, looking down again. "And while I appreciate your concern, I would rather be alone, if you don't mind."
"Usually, I would say that's fair enough, but you look like you need someone to talk to," Infinite replied, not unkindly. "Don't worry, I'm just your friendly neighborhood jackal! I won't sell your secrets or anything like that."
Against his will, Silver chuckled. He immediately felt better. Maybe Infinite was right. Maybe he really needed someone to talk to besides Shadow or Sonic.
"See? You're already looking happier!" Infinite exclaimed.
Silver looked up. "Thanks for that. I guess I did need that, like you said."
Infinite's chest puffed out jokingly. "Told you so!"
Silver laughed harder. Wow. Infinite may just be the friend he needed.
"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Infinite asked. "Based on my obvious expertise, you clearly need to talk to someone else about yourself."
Silver chuckled again, and then pondered. "I'm not sure what to say." He looked at Infinite. "What about you? You're not just a friend expert, are you?"
"You're the one who needs cheering up, not me," Infinite replied quickly. "Besides, I'm just a regular boring person, really."
"Alrighty then," Silver laughed. "Um…I'm twenty years old, I was separated from my family when I was a baby and lived in an orphanage for thirteen years before I ran away and found them again. I have two brothers, who are the best in the world. I have psychokinesis, and…I got nothing else."
Infinite looked very interested. "Wow! You went through a lot for someone your age! How old are your brothers?"
"Well, my oldest brother is twenty-four, and the other one is about to turn twenty-three."
"That's pretty cool. What are their names?"
"Shadow and Sonic," Silver replied, smiling slightly when he thought of them. But, just as quickly as it came, it vanished as he remembered his nightmares again.
"You said you were twenty? Huh, you look very young for your age."
"Yeah, I get that all the time. I became ageless when I was fourteen, but I'm not the only one who is in my family. Sonic became a vampire when he was twenty-two and it reversed his body's age to when he was sixteen, and Shadow's been ageless since he was eighteen. Basically since I met him for the first time."
Infinite's eyes widened. "Vampire?! Doesn't that mean he's dangerous?!"
"Oh no, no, no! He has his thirst under control. He's the tamest vampire you'll ever meet."
"Hmm, interesting…" Infinite mused. "And you said you have…what was the name again?"
"Psychokinesis," Silver replied. "I can enter people's minds, lift things, and create blasts. Not really much."
Infinite still looked impressed. "That's pretty cool!"
"Thanks," Silver said, slightly embarrassed.
Infinite sat forward. "I just have a couple more questions, I promise! I'm just so curious…first, what do you do for a living?"
"I run an orphanage."
"Huh," Infinite replied. "Even though you lived in one for most of your life?"
"Well…yeah. I suppose that there are kids out there who really need help, and I want to help as many as I can," Silver said.
"That's pretty selfless of you! Now, last question, I swear. How did you become ageless? Genetics, or…"
Silver winced.
"If it's a hard subject for you to talk about, I understand. I'm probably prying too much anyway."
"Well, you've been so kind to me, so I might as well tell you," Silver said softly. "I was kidnapped by my old headmistress, who turned out to be an ally of Dr. Eggman, this insane madman, and she stabbed me. If it weren't for Shadow and his healing blood, I would have died. But the cost was that it made me ageless."
Infinite leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. "You sound like you have quite the interesting life! So why do you look so sad?"
Silver put his hands in his head. "I…" he hesitated, and then continued. "I've been having horrible realistic nightmares about some really bad events in my past. A couple of examples are when Sonic transformed into a vampire and when I lost my fiancé, Blaze, and also when Shadow nearly died. I've tried to not think about those events since they happened, but they came back in my dreams. It was like I was there again…"
Silver couldn't continue. Tears threatened to overwhelm him, but he blinked them back and looked up at Infinite. "I'm sorry, I'm probably being such a baby."
Infinite was quiet. He looked around him for a second, and then stood up. Silver blinked in surprise.
"I may have a solution for that," Infinite said quietly. "Do you trust me?"
Silver stayed quiet for a second, and then said, "Yes."
"Then come with me." With that, Infinite turned around and started walking away.
Silver slapped down some coins and scrambled after him, desperate to do anything to get rid of his nightmares.
"Infinite! Where are we going?"
"Somewhere where no people are around," Infinite replied.
The white hedgehog followed the black jackal into an abandoned building. Once they were inside, Infinite turned around to face Silver, crossing his arms.
"I have a way to get rid of your nightmares for good, but I need you to agree with me on something."
"What?" Silver asked, tilting his head curiously.
"So, I may have lied earlier. I'm not a regular boring person. I'm a…spy for GUN."
"Huh!" Silver exclaimed. "Shadow never mentioned anything about dispatching a spy." Then he crossed his arms. "So you struck up a conversation with me just because you need me for something. You're not actually my friend."
"No, no, no! That's not true!" Infinite replied hastily. "You are a friend! I promise! But I need someone with your skillset to help me with my mission, but I swear I wasn't just using you!"
Silver sighed. "Okay, I believe you. What do you need?"
"I can't tell you right now, but we can make a pact. If I remove the nightmares for good, you need to help me. Do we have a deal?" He stuck out his hand.
Silver hesitated, and then nodded. "Deal." They shook hands.
"Alrighty!" Infinite said cheerfully. Then he reached down and pulled out something shiny from his shoe.
It looked like a huge stone. It was red with black stripes, and it was pulsing.
"What is that?" Silver asked curiously.
Infinite smiled adoringly down at the rock. "It's my own source of power." He nestled it deep into his chest fur.
For a second, the world seemed to pulse red around the jackal, who closed his eyes as he absorbed the raw power. After a bit, it stopped and Infinite opened his eyes. "It's called the Phantom Ruby. It's an incredible source of power, and it's capable of creating illusions. But it can be used to remove something harmful from someone's mind. Your nightmares, for example."
"Whoa!" Silver exclaimed. "That's pretty cool!"
Infinite walked closer to Silver. "Are you ready? I can take away all the memories of the nightmares and the feelings that came with them. I won't remove the original memories but this should make you feel better."
Silver nodded. "Do it."
"Close your eyes," Infinite whispered. Silver obliged. He felt a gloved hand close around his wrist.
In just a few seconds, he felt another presence in his mind. He eagerly waited for his heavy feeling to fade away.
But that didn't happen.
Instead, it got heavier. So heavy that Silver fell to his knees.
He whipped his eyes open to find Infinite staring down at him, grinning widely.
"What…are you doing to me?" Silver whispered weakly. Red cube-like things were appearing in his vision, spreading rapidly so only Infinite was visible.
Infinite bent down to his eye level and started chuckling. "The Doctor was right. You really are the most gullible of the three hedgehogs. This was too easy."
"The Doctor…?" Silver muttered, and then it came to him. "Doctor…Eggman?!"
"Right in one!" Infinite exclaimed, almost proudly.
Silver tried channeling his psychokinesis in his hand, but it didn't come. His body couldn't move.
"Nice try, hedgehog," Infinite sneered. "You don't realize what's happening? Your mind is succumbing to my power."
Silver struggled against the slow-spreading mind control, but he couldn't shake off Infinite's influence. He yelled in frustration and tried to reach for his communicator. He had to warn his brothers…he had to do something before–
His hand wouldn't move at all.
His vision narrowed so much that only Infinite's eyes were visible.
"You're mine."
He felt his body fall just before the world turned red.
Infinite straightened up, staring down at the white hedgehog, who was sprawled on the floor, his eyes closed.
He knew he succeeded, because he felt Silver's now quiet mind sharing a space with his mind. He turned around and went to a small box that was nestled in a corner. He dug through it and came out with a gray metallic mask.
He tugged it on his head, knowing that only his yellow eye was showing. The other eye was completely red, as far as the world was concerned. The outer eye wasn't white anymore, but a crimson red, matching his precious ruby.
Giving the youngest hedgehog those nightmares was the right move to do. He wasn't sure if he should give it to Silver or Shadow, but he chose Silver because Eggman's file said that the white hedgehog was the most sensitive. It turns out that that was the right move to do.
Now was the true test.
He turned back to the motionless white hedgehog and submitted a command in his thoughts that Silver's mind was supposed to follow.
It worked. Silver pushed himself up and stood perfectly still, his head hanging down.
After a second, the hedgehog's head rose and his eyes were revealed. They were a bright crimson, much lighter than his usual shade. They were slightly blank, but only because his body was waiting for another command.
Infinite cackled. "Perfect! You and I will do some serious damage together, Silver!"
Silver's mouth slowly spread into the perfect evil grin, and he joined in the insane laughter.
To be continued…
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