Throughout Space and Time

by FlashDriver

A Oneshot-Dump for Silver and Blaze related things, most commonly tending Silvaze. This is primarily for quick and compact stories though there is the potential for sequels. AUs sprinkled throughout, though most entries could slot somewhere into the games/comics. Other ships such as Sonamy appear, often briefly, and continuity between Oneshots will be rare. Please review!

67. Hell Sent

The pestering beep of a preset alarm blared to fill a small room that had just been so very peaceful. A blind hand fumbled form beneath a set of covers, first palming a bedside cabinet before sliding to catch hold of a somewhat battered mobile phone and press a button to restore the quiet. After a beat of silence, just short enough to avoid finding comfort again, a groggy individual cast away the covers using a mild wave of psychic force.

Silver the hedgehog was awake, regardless of whether he wanted to be. Running a hand through his quills, shifting from lying to sitting, the hedgehog waved open the curtains of his apartment's only window. Immediately, the space went from being dark to lit by a warm pink sky, its a colour the result of the sun on the horizon. If only it was rising rather than setting.

Heaving a stretch and loosing a yawn, the hedgehog forced himself to step into a pair of slippers and take a better look at the world outside. For all the failings of his tiny Station Square apartment, he'd never complain about the view... even if he wished it had a couple more windows to view it. He had a line of sight through the skyscrapers running down the street, forming an almost perfect line to the oncoming sunset.

Beneath him countless people were walking, so many of them rushing home to rest after a long day's work. He couldn't help but fixate on a specific group, a cluster of teens distracting each other at the traffic lights- so free and comfortable that it was only with one of them elbowing another that they remembered to cross when the signal arrived. Passing them came what looked to be a family group, a father pushing a pram as a little boy clung to his mother's hand. Maybe they were going out for dinner? If only he could keep to such a schedule.

Taking another stretch, he gestured across the room and had his psychokinesis roll out his duvet before fully making his bed. With a point to his wardrobe the doors swung open; a black shirt and tie came with a hanger, a set of matching trousers soon followed after to lie upon the bed. With a tug at the air he brought his phone to his hand and checked his emails. Despite being near the city's heart, and the rent being cheap even if the place was cramped, the advert for flatmates he'd posted last week still had no responses.

All this was enough to make his stomach grumble; that was as good a sign as any to start making breakfast.

He pushed out of one cramped room and into another; a combined kitchen, living room and dining room. He palmed the light switch before waving to the breadbox, opening it and drawing two slices. By the time they'd arrived in his squat grey toaster he'd reached the counter, flipping on the wall socket and pushing down the appliance's lever in two deft movements. He didn't linger long, pulling open the fridge and levitating out the jam and spread, as he walked beyond the edge of the counter and toward the third of his flat's rooms.

The fridge door swung shut as he crossed the bathroom threshold, just before he could get a look at his tired self in the mirror. He'd showered when he got in from the last shift, but his quills had been thoroughly bed-headed. With a stroke of his hand and a pulse of psychic energy, the white extremities went from hanging around his face to pushed into their usual five point style. That done, he reached for his toothbrush and grabbed his toothpaste only to hesitate.

Silver's nose wrinkled. There was a strange smell in the air, almost like rotten eggs. Was something burning?

Peering back into the kitchen, nothing looked out of place? His eyes had of course been drawn to the toaster, the appliance was old, but there was no flame or smoke to be seen. The couch, coffee table and television of his small living space was the same; not a spark in sight, let alone a flame. There were no signs of smoke around the ceiling light either? Was something burning on another floor, maybe below? Surely the smoke alarms would have gone off before he could-

An explosion suddenly erupted at the heart of the hedgehog's homestead, centralised almost directly above his couch. Silver almost smacked his head against the sink as he fell backwards, stumbling away from the flash of light, the wave of heat and the roar of flame that had manifested right in front of him. Very quickly though he jumped back to his feet, mouth in his elbow as he pushed back into the larger room. He only glanced for a second, finding himself face to face with a gigantic flaming orb that had spontaneously burst into being. The blaze hadn't risen from below, nor had it fallen from above- it was just here, an impossibly floating mass of flame at the heart of his apartment.

Realising that his own smoke alarm wasn't blaring, Silver knew that he had to act fast. Rather than try to rush past the orb toward the exit, or even for his bedroom window, he reached across and grasped with his psychokinesis. From beyond the far end of the kitchen counter a red metal mass came flying from a holster on the wall, a fire extinguisher that he'd recently noticed was worryingly close to its use by date.

The hedgehog pulled the pin and forced up the nozzle, about to debate whether he was within firing range, when he blinked... and after that blink, the tremendous fireball was gone.

For a moment he thought it'd been a daydream, or even that he might still be sleeping, but the scent of smoke was still strong about the room. He glanced down to the couch and found it thoroughly scorched, an almost hemisphere shaped burn marking both of the large couch cushions and even exposing the metal frame that fabric once covered. He looked up to the ceiling, a massive black stain with a few undeniable cracks through it was plastered on above him as if it was some nautical omen of his immanent demise. Oddly though, no embers remained in either location... he couldn't even feel the heat anymore.

Silver bit his lip, he felt it. He stomped on his toe, still felt it. The fire extinguisher felt weighty in his hands too, there was-

A sudden pop almost sent him tumbling to the floor again. Instead, he scrunched his body in flinching and winced as he turned to find his toast had popped. It looked a little burnt too, but he felt like that was the fault of the setting he'd used rather than the bizarre inferno he had just experienced. With a deep breath and a sigh of relief, the hedgehog set the extinguisher on the ground before tentatively stepping into the middle of the room.

He'd never seen anything like it, never heard of anything like it either. Sure, an unnoticed gas leak could be sparked by the coils in the toaster, but the inferno wouldn't just stop without a reason. It wouldn't appear in the middle of the room either, surely it'd start closer to the source of the spark? And why would the flames on the couch and ceiling snuff themselves when the source did? That wasn't how fire worked...

The hedgehog looked to the ceiling, starting to worry. What about the students upstairs? The ceiling was thick sure but it looked to have burned quite significantly, heat did rise after all. Surely they'd have heard the flames roar if nothing else, it hadn't exactly been subtle. What if they reported it? How was he going to explain this to his landlord? Let alone any new renters responding to his ad. He didn't really have anywhere to go if he was thrown out of-

An air current, with no open window or door to originate from, blew through Silver's quills and turned his attention back to the centre of his living space. For a moment the sound of wooshing winds seemed to surround him, blowing hard enough to scatter the ash that had been freshly laid. His body tensed. He glanced at the extinguisher just in time to avoid being blinded.

He fell to the floor again, this time the fireball had manifested mere inches from his face. As he scuttled backwards across the ground, going so far as to smack his head against a kitchen cupboard, the orb seemed to slowly give pursuit. It was only once he'd come to that clattering stop, having fully pushed himself against the wooden door, that the hedgehog noticed something.

It'd exploded so close to his face that he hadn't recognised quite how much smaller this orb was. The last one had been larger than the hedgehog himself, but this blazing sphere couldn't have been bigger than a basketball. It wasn't reaching the ceiling, it wasn't brushing the floor either. In fact, it'd come to a stop just as he had; hovering at the same height as it had been, at what had been just beneath his eye level.

Silver hesitated, transfixed by the flare. He knew he could reach out with his psychokinesis and pull the extinguisher toward him, but a strange sensation was stopping him. The hedgehog felt so glued in place, so thoroughly stuck on the ground, because it felt as if the orb was looking at him. Whatever it was, however it had come to manifest, it felt as if it was baring down upon him with a heavy scrutiny.

For the first time since he'd stopped, the flare began to shift. It didn't drift any closer to him, nor did it back away, but instead seemed to waver in its consistency. The entire shape went from perfectly spherical to flickering in places before finally restabilising in a much more complex form. Silver couldn't quite identify the shape, not from his position on the floor, but it was smaller than before; a series of fiery crescents jutting outwards from a central form.

He almost whacked his head again as a length of fire shot down from the reformed flare to reach around halfway to the ground. With that panic to fuel him he lurched to the side, pulling the extinguisher to his hands and aiming the nozzle only to find the flames had reformed again. What hovered before him was simply bizarre; thin and glowing, like the body, arms and legs of a stick figure attached to a more detailed head. The glowing nub like ends of the arms stretched out into a palm and then fingers, but the feet instead jutted to form shoe-like shapes that made contact with and began to burn the carpet of his abode. His fingers were light on the extinguisher's trigger, he was at a total loss.

With a swelling of heat, fresh flames roiled down from the head to detail what had come before. The entire frame thickened and textured; bristling balls of light manifested at the cuffs and ankles of the fiery form before two smooth flames came to frame the outside of the form's legs. Even from his low position, unable to make out the exact shape of the head, Silver could tell the blaze had taken the form of a specific person.

But he had no idea who.

For the first time, the entire form moved as if it were a tangible body. It brought up its hands and a pair of large flames lit at the centre of each palms. Silver watched as the figure crossed its arms and bowed its head, he no longer got the feeling it was staring at him. Heat roiled throughout the air, a series of flaming tendrils broke from the shape's back and began to writhe around its central mass. Twisting figure eights burned scorching hot, accelerating faster and faster before finally crashing together at once.

The arms dropped, around the entire body a new flaming sphere, as big as the first one, manifested. This time was different though; it wasn't a dense ball of fire but a thin coating of crackling purple heat. Despite that difference the heat was just as overwhelming as before, those abnormal flames spread to the carpet and began to spiral out in all directions.

But then, just as crisis was about to become undeniable, the burning ceased. Silver's gaze jumped from the floor to where the source had manifested, his eyes adjusting to the newly darkened room. The figure was still standing there, no longer alight.

Wrapped in black from head to toe, entirely coated in ash and soot, a person stood before him.

Silver pushed his back against the cupboard, trying to quietly rise to his feet only to inevitably hear the wood creak. Though he cringed in that moment, now standing, near silence followed. He could hear panting, deep breaths being taken. The form was moving, so very clearly and undeniably alive.

Silver swallowed hard, "H-Hello?"

The head swivelled from staring where he'd been lying on the floor to facing him directly. They took a step forward and a wave of dark dust roiled from their frame, exposing patches of purple fur and white fabric material. Their brow furrowed as a set of eyes were revealed and then blinked, blindly scanning and struggling to hitch on him. They were warm amber orbs.

"It's you," The voice came as a croak, rough and hoarse, but her next word fell perfectly upon his ears, "Silver."

Suddenly she stumbled, her knee hit the ground and her hands followed. Without so much as hesitating, Silver rushed forwards to close the distance and took her by the shoulders. She flinched in response to the contact, her gaze shot up to him and finally managed to make proper eye contact. Her own hands grasped at his elbows, their mutual contact reinforced to the hedgehog that she was real. Frankly, this reality was so undeniable because of how strong this apparent feline was. She was clinging to him as if she was about to pull him down there

"Are you okay?" It felt foolish to ask but Silver was panicking, "Are you hurt? What was-

"No, I'm fine," The cat cut him off, her teeth perfectly white, untouched by the cinders otherwise enveloping her, "No, not fine, I feel wonderful. I missed you so much, I haven't held you in so long, I haven't felt anything but the flames in so long. How many years has it been?" She was speaking fast, Silver could scarcely keep up as she clambered up his frame but threw her gaze around the room, "You look so much softer, this place looks perfectly secure. What has become of our world?" Even asking that, the cat continued to ramble.

Silver's toes curled, words tumbled toward his lips but he couldn't force any from his mouth. Eventually, he dared to cut her off, "I-I don't want to worry you, you've clearly already been through a lot and I've got no idea how you arrived here, but, um," His tongue felt heavy, he was sweating more than he had been when the room was on fire, "You seem to know me in a way I don't know you."

She froze, Silver felt the feline's whole body tense. She pulled back again, looking him in the eyes. Her surprise was palpable as she bluntly scanned him from head to toe.

"Silver?" Confusion carried in her tone, "You are Silver, aren't you?"

"That's my name," He grimaced, this was such a strange morning and now it was getting awkward of all feelings, "But I think you expect me to know yours," Everything he said felt so wrong to say.

"Do you not recognise me? Do I look different? Has something changed?" Her questions came in a flurry.

Panic was starting to set in, Silver's eyes could only follow as the feline's stare fell down upon her ash covered form. He'd met cats before, it wasn't like she was the first he'd seen, but never one that could explode into rooms through fiery shapes. Powers like his weren't uncommon these days, but he'd never seen anyone appear as she had. What little of her fur he could see was a mixture of purple and white. He didn't know a cat of those colours, though he was certain he'd seen those tones at least once. There wasn't anything inherently abnormal about her exterior, even if the way she'd manifested was undeniably alien.

"I-I don't know if you've changed, because I'm not sure what you're supposed to look like in the first place," He eventually confessed, before quickly blurting out, "B-but what's your name? Maybe I'll recognise that?"

"I'm Blaze," She immediately responded, shaking him as she insisted, "Silver, it's me, Blaze."

Her hands found the sides of his face, he felt her claws slip deep into his quills. Desperation was plain in her face, her eyes were wide and searching for any sign he might even think of her as familiar. He wanted to lie to her so badly, to tell her that he did recognise her and how much he'd missed her, but he felt nothing, and so there was no sign. Blaze seemed to recognise that truth even before he did.

"I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken. This is all a mistake," Her voice was quiet, she fully pushed away from him, "Forgive my rudeness, I don't know what came over me."

She'd clammed up in an instant, emotion had vanished. Where once her body language had been open, her arms ready to embrace him and eyes bright with excitement, now Silver could only find closed walls. Her shoulders were stiff, her back had straightened and Blaze had entirely shrunken back. Her eyes were lingering on the darkened carpet beneath them. He wanted to reach out, to take her hand at least, but couldn't tell how she would respond... let alone if it was right.

After a moment of silence, he finally plucked up the courage to act. The hedgehog half-surreptitiously waved his hand behind himself. The slices of toast lifted themselves out of the toaster just in time for a floating plate to catch it. A knife drawn from a half open drawer quickly lathered spread across the cooked bread before slathering it in strawberry jam. He turned his gaze back to her just before the plate reached his hands, only to catch her staring at the feline staring at the psychic display he'd conjured. So much for being subtle.

"A-Are you hungry?" He offered up the plate, trying to throw her a reassuring smile, "Just, you've clearly been through a lot, even if I don't know what all has happened?" He flinched, hurrying to explain more, "Even if I'm not who you were looking for, I can tell you need help."

A bitter scowl crossed her face, but he caught sight of her nose twitching. She snatched the plate from his grasp, looking down at the meagre meal he had provided. For a moment he thought she might cast it aside, maybe even throw it in his face, but the end result was far more surprising.

Without consideration for her soot stained gloves, the cat tore the slices of toast apart and ravenously consumed them. Silver was terrified that this otherworldly pyrokinetic feline was about to choke herself to death on strawberry jam covered toast. The morsels were gone in the blink of an eye, this frankly feral display had made unbelievably short work of what had been set to be his breakfast. Bright red stains now mixed with the black, but her following expression was still so serious. It was as if eating in that way was so very normal to her.

It took the plate being tossed back into his lap for the hedgehog to snap out of his stupor as he fumbled to keep it from dropping. When he went to hover the plate toward the sink, the cat fully slipped to her feet. Immediately concerned he did the same, wobbling slightly as the two of them locked eyes again.

"I'm sorry to have intruded upon you, I must make my leave," She quickly insisted, turning to search the room for an exit.

Again Silver hesitated, but this time resolution came to him much quicker, "If you want," Her eyes rushed to him, her brow heavy, "It's okay. You don't need to go immediately, you're not intruding, you seem a bit lost," He felt crushed under her gaze, "If you want to clean yourself off before you go, my shower is pretty alright?" What was he even suggesting? What was he doing? This girl had exploded into his living room moments ago! "I feel like I've done something wrong, I don't want to send you off if you're not ready," This weird guilt was wrangling even stranger things from him.

A sigh slipped past her lips, she hesitated for a good half minute before speaking, "If it will fully end things between us then fine, if it's what you recommend."

Quickly, Silver moved left to open the door. With a wave of his hand the fan activated and a torrent of water began to pour, it'd take a moment to warm. By the time he'd turned she'd already crept up behind him, eyes nervously darting about the bathroom. She did know what a shower was, didn't she? Come to think of it, this girl had said some truly crazy things... he'd just been so fixated on why she thought she knew him.

Before he could go to give any sort of explanation or ask another question, the cat pushed past him and into the room. With less than a nod the door was shut in his face and he heard the door latch clunk into the engaged position. He stood there for a moment, brain failing to fire as he considered what had happened... what on earth had he done? Who even was she? Why had he offered up his shower of all things?!

What was he going to do? Should he call the police? What would they even do, arrest this clearly lost and confused woman? She seemed to know him, that didn't make her his responsibility... but he felt like she was his responsibility! She'd burned up his apartment, a normal person would have kicked her out and called the police immediately, but he could only feel bad for her. With the way she'd eaten his toast she was clearly starved and struggling, wherever she'd come from. Has he sent her to his shower in the hopes he'd come up with some sort of plan to help her? Because if so then he was absolutely failing!

It took the pinging of his phone, all the way over in his bedroom, to snap Silver back to reality. He rushed through, finding that the sunset had already dimmed closer to darkness, he'd been too distracted by the chaos to even consider the night's work ahead of him. So much had already happened since he'd woke up a little over half an hour ago.

"Hey squirt, are you on your way?" A text message read, sent from a contact titled Boss.

He usually arrived a good half hour or so early, just to get a breakdown of how the day had gone and if there was anything extra that needed done. At the very least, that much wouldn't be possible today. He'd have to fly by the seat of his pants, hopefully nothing especially taxing would need done. His boss was an eccentric sort, he wasn't sure how well she'd respond to him showing up late, let alone potentially accompanied.

Was he going to take her to his work?! Could he just leave her here? His mind was flooded.

"There's been a bit of a situation at the apartment complex, I'll be there by the time my hours start," His first message read, before he bit his lip and sent a follow up, "Might be just a few minutes late."

Throwing his phone to the bed, he quickly got changed into his work uniform. To be honest, he'd sort of come up with the ensemble himself for want to make the whole thing just a little more serious. A black shirt, tie and trousers was hardly a professional looking outfit, he didn't even have a jacket bearing his title, but it was better than the heavy flashlight and broom he'd been handed upon starting.

The pinging of his phone signalled him to pick it back up again, "Alright, I'll wait out the front. Hope everything's ok," He pocketed the device, failing to plan his next course of action.

Having then made his way back through to the central space, Silver quickly poured himself a mug of water and took another moment to breathe. Her past words weighed on his mind again, specifically her asking what had become of their world. Did that imply that she wasn't from here? Was she claiming to be a literal alien? There was some history of aliens in the world but none like her, he would have remembered reading about entities who manifested from balls of fire. Where could she have come from though?

She'd claimed to know him, it wasn't like he came from another world. He'd been born here in station square, raised in the orphanage. Sure his parents were a distant memory, but they were a memory. He'd seen pictures of them. None of this made any sense, maybe she really did have the wrong person.

Then again, his powers weren't that common... and his silhouette was undeniably unique. Surely she'd recognise if either of those were wrong? Just who could he be mistaken for? His name was Silver, just as she'd said. No, there was no way she had mistaken him for someone else. Was he the one in the wrong? Did he know her?

The clicking of the latch was followed by the door flying open, a wave of steam blew into the room as if to replace the smoke that had come fire. Striding through that cloud stepped Blaze, now entirely clean. Now that he could see it, her outfit was a little weird. A golden necklace, a red jewel on her forehead, a purple long coat, high heels and white tights... it wasn't exactly an otherworldly look, but the garb did suit her. Had she even taken off her clothes to shower, or had she conjured flames to dry herself herself off afterwards? Just how much control over fire did she have?

Regardless, even now fully clean, Silver still didn't recognise her. If he was supposed to know her, then he'd clearly failed her in that regard. But then how did she know him?

"H-Hey," He managed to greet her, catching himself staring.

"Hello," She curtly responded.

Despite the writhing steam still emerging from the doorway, a chill had iced the air between them. Silver buried his face in the mug, finishing his drink, trying to make up for lost planning time. Eventually though, all his streams of thought led him to a singular chain of locations. All he knew for certain was that he wanted to help this strange, lost, fiery woman.

"So," He broke the tension in the air, "Do you have any idea where you are? Do you have anywhere you can go?"

"I thought I'd have more of an idea," She bristled as she confessed, keeping her gaze away from him, "But I suppose I'll just have to bluntly force my way until I find where I'm supposed to be, wander until I find what I'm looking for."

Everything she said sounded so theatric, so alien, and yet she'd been delivering it in the most neutral, bordering on sarcastic, tone possible. He hesitated, what he had in mind was thoroughly stupid considering he didn't even know this woman, but he couldn't help feeling bad for her. Clearly she'd expected something of him, something that he lacked. It wasn't his fault he didn't have these memories, but seeing how she'd changed since he'd admitted such was filling the hedgehog with guilt. She'd been so happy at first, so much more open.

"Well, maybe you don't have to wander blindly," He winced at his parroting of her dramatic suggestion, "I need to go to work, but I don't think my boss would mind you coming with me? Hopefully I won't have too much to do this evening and we can just hang about the museum, try to figure out..." The psychic struggled to pick the right words, "Wherever the Silver you're actually looking for is, or even what you could do next? I-I don't know if you've had any thoughts or know anything about places you could stay for the-

"A museum?" She cut him off, that was becoming a trend.

"Yeah, I'm the night-watchman," He answered, indicating to the flashlight on his belt before realising it wasn't much of a signifier.

"Oh," Blaze quietly mused.

Again, before quiet could fill the space, the hedgehog responded, "Is that surprising?"

"I suppose not," She was just so quiet, so standoffish, Silver could feel himself sweating even more.

He kept the quiet from solidifying again, "Well, like I said, if you want to come with me we can-

"I'll come," She suddenly cut him off again, still not looking to him, "If nothing else, it will help me get a lay of the land," For a moment she just stood there, it took her finally meeting his gaze to snap the hedgehog to his senses, "Now. Let's go. How do we get out of here?"

"Oh, right, yes. The front door is just over here, I guess you don't know how many floors up we are?" As he crossed the room, edging around the carpet stain, he waved his keys to his hand from the coffee table, "We're pretty high up."

"As long as you can safely get us to the ground, I don't much care," The cat pushed past him as briskly, making her way out into the hallway.

Silver stepped to follow, but ended up poking his head back around the doorframe. With a few well placed psychic points, he turned off the bathroom light, sent objects back to the fridge and powered down plug he'd used for the toaster. After that though, he couldn't help but keep staring into the room. This was all real, it had all just happened. From the massive scorch-mark stretching near his unfortunately carpeted kitchenette to the blackening on the ceiling and the massive hole burned into the couch. He'd have to pick up batteries for the smoke alarm on the way back... come to think of it, he'd never actually changed the device. Wouldn't it make more sense to be plugged into the mains, seeing as they were connected across the complex?

His deposit had most certainly been atomised regardless, there was no way he could cover all this up. Just getting a replacement couch up here would be a whole day's work, not to mention the carpet. What was he going to do about the ceiling? Hopefully he wouldn't return to an eviction notice. He hadn't heard anything from upstairs-

"Is something wrong?" She called from the hallway, tearing him from his wondering.

"N-No, no, just," He shut and locked the door, forcing thoughts of property damage to the back of his mind, "Trying to think things through."

Turning to the feline, he found her staring at a woman Silver had bumped into once or twice on his way to work; currently hurriedly pushing into her apartment with shopping bags under her arms. The psychic shot the woman an awkward nod, receiving one in return, before she vanished. In the wake of that, with hardly a glance in his direction, the feline began to make her way down the long corridor to where she'd presumably seen the woman emerge; the lift at its end.

Silver followed, catching up just in time to push the button and thankfully find the lift hadn't already left their floor. He stepped inside, finding the cat did follow to stand to his left, and quickly pressed the button that would send them towards the ground floor. Awkwardness was set to fill the small cabin, he seriously hoped no one would try to enter on the way down. He wasn't sure he could handle the social stress of a cramped lift ride atop all he'd already been through.

"These work now then," The cat commented aloud, using one of the lift's mirrored walls to glance at herself.

"What, elevators?" She didn't look to him, nor did she answer, "Yeah, I mean, this one has broke down a couple of times but usually it runs fine," The doors clunked shut, "Are there not elevators where you come from?"

It'd been part of a rushed line of conversation, but he recalled her mentioning there only feeling fire where she was most recently but asked specifically about this world as if she'd come from it originally. The idea that she might be from another planet was seeming more plausible by the moment. Then again, that implied there was another version of him on that planet. Regardless, last time anyone had gone to another world with living creatures was almost two hundred years ago... and it'd been about that long since aliens last invaded here.

"There were, they just didn't work," She simply responded, before again going quiet.

She flinched as the metal box began to shift, bracing herself directly against him and holding what looked to be a fighting pose with her fists alight, despite the relative smoothness of the ride. The moment he overcame his surprise, having quickly put a hand on her and readied words of reassurance, she threw a piercing glare over her shoulder at him and the fire faded. Before he could tell her this was normal, she'd pulled away and was back to standing in the corner with her arms folded, facing the nearest mirror.

Embarrassing as that was, he now at least knew for certain that her manifestation in his living room wasn't the only use of her flames. She'd been so quick to ready for a fight, at such a little jolt. Something about that thought heightened the hedgehog's concern even more. He was certain that things had been rough for the feline, wherever she'd been before here.

Stepping back to his side of the space, Silver drew out his phone and awkwardly typed out another message to his boss, "In the lift now, bringing someone along," He noticed the time and winced, "Going to be just a little bit late."

"What is that?" She asked from her corner, it took him a moment to realise what she was talking about.

"Oh, it's a phone. It's based on one of the older models, the flipping style was popular a few years back but most people still just use holographic headsets. Managed to pick it up cheap," He realised the explanation was maybe lost on her, but he felt the need to ramble, "I sort of like the historical aesthetic of it, how it feels in my hand compared to just clamping something to my ear."

Quiet brewed for just a moment before she broke it again, "What do you do with a phone?"

Just how out of her world was this girl? Where had she come from? They had lifts but they didn't work and she didn't know about mobile phones? Was she going to walk out into the street and be blown away by the sight of vehicles? Would she try to fight them?

Silver held the device in her direction, showing off the brightly lit screen, "You can use them to communicate with people over a long distance, set reminders, access maps and research things," It was only now he realised, he'd never had to explain what a device like this was good for. His hand found his quills as he struggled to explain more, "There are also games and stuff on them? I don't know if that would appeal to you?"

"I see," She looked down her nose at the handheld object, "Perhaps I will acquire one."

"Oh, yeah, that's right, as part of what you'll do next," He put together aloud, "I think that would be smart, having access to the internet is really useful, and you could call someone if you get lost or into trouble," It was only after he said it that Silver realised; if she didn't know what a phone was then she wasn't going to know anyone she could call, "I-If you do get a phone, I'll give you my number. You could always call me, I'll do my best to come and help you, I promise," He babbled, gesticulating far too much.

A snort entered the air, a wiry smile snuck onto her lips, "You're so naive," There was something different about she'd said that, the tone was gentle but still somehow different from the tone she'd used upon first arriving.

The moment that Silver recognised the change, she'd returned to her closed off position in the corner. He caught sight of her expression, reflected in the mirror. Her brow was more furrowed than ever but her eyes were shut, a scornful frown had taken root on her lips. She was more closed off than ever, even her tail had come to entangle around her waist and up her chest.

He wanted to say something else, but his phone buzzed before he could, "Alright, just hurry up. Hope whoever you're bringing has a good explanation for why you're not here yet."

By the time he'd read that, the elevator had ground to a halt. A glance to the tracker showed that they'd reached the ground floor. The moment the doors started to open, the feline was already stepping towards freedom.

"I'm sorry about your domicile," Blaze's words came like a whisper, he was only half certain she'd said, as the cat passed by him.

Before he could even react to what Blaze had said, she'd made it out of the open elevator and started to walk across the foyer. He hurried to catch up, only just managing to by the time she'd stepped beyond the small station in which the building's security guard sat and reached the glass double doors of the apartment block. There though, the cat seemed to freeze rather than push further.

Silver glanced from her to the street outside, finding the pavement outside of his apartment was as bustling as ever. People were hurrying across their way in both directions, most surely rushing to reach their various homes before the night truly began. Not one of them seemed to notice the pair staring out at the world, they were all simply focused on getting where they need to be.

"Is everything okay?" Silver asked, allowing his gaze to drift back to her.

"There's so many of them..." Her tone bordered on being indescribable, a strange mixture of excitement and concern.

"You're in a city," He said, realising he hadn't told her that before having another epiphany, "Do you know what a city is?"

"Of course I know what a city is," She half snapped at him, eyes still scanning the outside world, "I just haven't spent a lot of time in one that's..."

Blaze didn't finish that sentence, no matter how he waited. The cat was difficult to read, but it was clear to him that this situation was new to her. The bustle of the city could frighten any newcomer and Station Square was just about the biggest city in the world. From the endless honking of cars to the flood of people, its streets were almost permanently clogged. If this was all new to her then any worry she was feeling made perfect sense, he probably should have sat her down and tried to figure out where she'd come from and what she knew. So many questions were hanging in the air, her being in such a hurry to leave had pushed him in this direction.

If only he didn't have work today or she'd exploded into his life earlier, then he could have talked her down to staying and talking. He needed this job to keep living here. The hedgehog didn't really have time to wait, the psychic let his impulse guide him once again.

Silver took Blaze's hand, "It's alright, I know what we're doing. Just stick with me and it'll be okay!"

He felt her tense up, her gaze shot from him and then back to the outside world, "Fine, let's go," Her fingers gently clawed around his palm.

With a step back and a psychic tug, Silver pulled the door open. Immediately the blare of horns and humming of engines sounded, its brief silence filled by the endless sounds of stepping feet. The air wasn't too bad today, a little gross maybe but he'd already endured the scent of burning couch today. With another glance to her, finding more serious gaze had mostly returned, he stepped them out and into the street.

As they started to walk, he decided explaining their path might settle her more, "We'll walk to the crossing, get over to the other side, and then follow the street on the left. The museum is only a few blocks along there, it shouldn't take us too long."

Blaze kept quiet, but Silver felt her move closer. Rather than simply holding his hand now, her free hand had reached up to grab around his bicep. Despite that display indicating worry however, he looked to the cat and found her eyes wide with as she took in the city around them. He couldn't tell if she was amazed or terrified by what she was seeing.

Now that the city was dark, its generated light was at its most eye-catching. Her attention seemed to have been first been turned by a massive holograph projector sat atop an office building, manifesting three-dimensional advertisements for everything from cars to perfumes to fast food in ways designed to be truly eye-catching. Next her gaze was pulled to a bus that had pulled into a space beside them, its tyres slipping into slots in the ground as its dozen occupier emerged and the vehicle began to be refuelled with electric charge. Maybe she hadn't seen a solar panel street before? The road's own light giving instructions to the automatic vehicles passing over.

Silver realised he was getting lost in the view too, only just managing to tug the two of them out the way of an individual talking loudly with a holographic visor fully in front of their face. Though he paid more attention to sail them through this sea of people, he did catch that Blaze's attention had switched to the people around them. He wasn't sure how it was where she came from, the cat's clothes were certainly unique, but individualist fashion had reached its peak around the time Silver was born.

The people walking past varied in garb so completely, from wearing perfectly tailored suits and ties to full sets of historically styled armour. They walked past a human specifically who caught the cat's attention, her entire outfit changing as she spoke a word into her gloved hand. Her outfit went from relatively casual looking to taking on the appearance of a full business suit, the reality that Silver knew being that both were holographic options folded over a catsuit powered by modern technology.

When they came to a stop at the traffic lights, Silver having to steady the cat to keep her from waling out into the road, he looked to her again only to catch a glint of flame in her eyes. She was looking past him, to a robot stood on his right. Her concern did make him think back to the history of their world and quickly put two and two together. Perhaps machines had been used for evil in her world?

While this world had a long history of robot attacks, through the work of one Miles Prower, most of those dangerous machines had been reprogrammed almost 200 years ago. Those that remained now were guardians within cities who served to aid the elderly and the disabled. The rotund orange form of what had once been called an Egg Pawn now stood as a crossing assistant, ready to help people and fix vehicles as needed.

"Advance freely!" It called aloud, moments after the road before them had indicated that the cars should stop and spawned arrows to direct citizens across.

With a gentle tug, the hedgehog managed to direct the cat to move with the flow of people. They crossed the street with little issue, though the cat's attention was still clearly drifting to the various vehicles lined up on their right. He was just glad that where they were going next would be a little calmer, though he could already foresee what the main distraction would be.

Amber Street was a street of commerce, rather than one where anyone really lived, with shorter buildings and glowing holographic or retro neon signs. As the hedgehog had expected, it was the presence of various foods that now claimed the cat's concentration. Take-aways in particular lined this street, serving up everything from kababs to chilli-dogs through small porthole style windows that had taken the place of the past's fast food drive throughs once public transport became the norm. At this point though, Silver wasn't allowing himself to be distracted in the same way as the purple feline was. Instead, he was scanning the road in front and preparing himself for potential roughness on the horizon.

Minutes later, ahead of him, Silver could see a familiar figure stood outside their final destination. An elderly badger, her two tone brown and grey hair twisted into a pair of long ponytails which were bound at their ends. From a distance it was difficult to make out her expression, but Silver felt his back stiffen as a chill ran through his spines. Sticks the badger was loud and rambunctious, known for her very strong yet strange opinions, but Silver had only seen her get truly angry on one or two occasions. Perhaps this would be the third? Given her predication for superstition, he certainly wasn't going to explain how Blaze had shown up in his-

Silver felt Blaze's grasp tighten around his palm, drawing his fixation away from the road ahead just in time for her to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing," Silver responded, only to feel her eyes still on him a few steps latter, "Just," He could feel himself sweating already, "I-I'll do the talking, I need to figure out what I'm going to tell my boss."

A quiet pause briefly filled the air, "It does seem like it would be difficult to explain, is there anything I should do?"

"Just keep behind me," He suggested, loosening his tie a little, "If this goes badly, we can just head back to the apartment."

With a final swallow, and after a good two dozen more steps, the hedgehog and cat pair found themselves stood in front of a red stone building that was hundreds of years older than the metal and glass ones flanking it. An old, inconsistent, holograph was projected just above the doorway- announcing the building as The Museum of Past Heroes. Though from the outside looked a little rough, the interior was much nicer.

"Hey Sticks," Silver greeted the badger, coming to a stop.

"Squirt," The badger, who as not insignificantly shorter than him, greeted as she squinted at him, "What have you been up to, you're..." She looked down to an old-style watch on her wrist, "Nine minutes, fifty-seven seconds and fourteen milliseconds late."

He felt her thunk against his back, with a force almost great enough to push him over. If the raccoon hadn't looked suspicious of him before, she did now. Blaze, for whatever reason, had opted to take his words very literally and had surely drawn even more attention to herself. It probably didn't help that the cat was still holding his hand, rather obviously.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Its been a sort of intense evening," Silver professed, now scrambling for the lie he'd failed to think up on his way here and only arriving at the truth, "A fire started in my apartment block."

"A fire?" The racoon stepped uncomfortably close, leaving the hedgehog sort of sandwiched, and took a deep sniff, "Well, that explains the smell. What happened?"

"U-Uhm," His mouth felt so dry, he really was awful at this, "Well, I heard the panic and rushed to help. The fire's all stopped now but an old friend of mine has been left without anywhere to stay," The hedgehog gestured to the hand he was holding, "She's sort of shaken up by the whole situation, doesn't want to be left alone," Yes, that sounded right! "I figured she could just hang around the museum with me?"

A suspicious frown remained on the badger's face as she grabbed him by the shoulder and peered over at the cat, "Is she shy or somethin'? What's with the hidin'?"

The hedgehog started to explain, "W-Well-

Before he really could though, the cat rounded from behind him and let go of his hand, her back straight and a serious look on her face, "Thank you, Silver, but I can speak for myself."

Worry flagged through the hedgehog as the badger's gravely voice sounded in response, "Oh, so you do talk," The older woman pulled back from the hedgehog, "Sorry about your apartment."

"Yes, I have lost... all of my belongings," The cat responded in the most emotionless, stilted, tone the hedgehog had ever heard, "I am just trying to figure out what I should do next, Silver is helping me."

"Hmm," Sticks eyed the cat up and down, three times, "What's your name?"

Silver couldn't help but look away as the cat bluntly answered, "Blaze."

"Blaze?" The realisation in his boss' voice made Silver cringe, "Bit of a strange coincidence don't ya think?"

"Prophetic perhaps," The cat dryly responded, frustration building in her tone.

The museum owner hummed again,"I mean, a lot of the stuff inside is stone and metal, it doesn't burn so well, but there are paintings in there," She thought aloud, "Are you going to burn down my museum?"

"No, and if I was going to," The cat bumped shoulders with him, "Isn't that what he's supposed to stop?"

"You know, that's fair," Sticks hummed, "Silver!" His gaze jumped away from the streets and over to his boss, "Your job tonight is to keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't burn down the place. You know, keep your enemies close and whatever," She picked up a rucksack from her side, tossing him the keys, "Well, I've got to go see a man about getting into catacombs beneath the city. Hope the mutants didn't get him already."

"Have fun," Silver croaked, as the elder hurriedly left without another word.

"Are underground mutants something I should be concerned about?" The cat asked.

"I've never heard of them outside of what she's shouted," Silver confessed, wandering over to unlock the door, "I think it's some sort of conspiracy theory."

Once the door was unlocked, and he'd moved to hold it open, he caught the feline staring down at the pavement, "Is there anything I should be worried about now that I'm here? Is it safe?"

"I mean," Silver paused trying to think how to word the truth without worrying the cat, "It's not like it's perfect on this world, or even just in this city? But I'd say it's we're pretty safe," He felt a little crazy just saying that, "Crime still happens, people do need help, but there haven't been any proper wars or anything in over a hundred years. Once we dealt with the planet's energy issues, other things started to fall into place," That seemed like a good answer, but it was a little intense, "I mostly worry about keeping my job and whether I'm wasting my days off. Big world ending conflict is sort of a thing of the past, folks just worry about their day to day," All this talking led him to a new thought though, "I take it your world isn't as safe as this one?"

"The one I was born into was incredibly dangerous," Blaze answered quickly, stepping to enter but pausing in the doorway, "The one I visited later was safer, but in danger," She glanced to him before looking to the dark ahead, "Where I've spent the past years though, nothing but myself and the flames could hope to survive."

Blaze pushed past him and into the museum, leaving Silver with that bombshell. What in the world could she have meant by all that?! This was the third world she'd visited? She was an alien? This cat was a frequent teleporter? What kind of place could only her and fire survive- the sun?! It was lucky Sticks had left before she could hear all that, she'd be losing herself even more than he was.

It took him catching the cat's amber eyes, staring back at him through the dark of the museum interior, to break from his thoughts and rush deep inside. With a wave of his hand toward the series of light switches he'd long acquainted himself with. One by one display flashed alight in order, trailing away from them, before the smaller lights above and under exhibits flickered on too. Typically he'd have simply lit the ceiling lights but, partly due to feeling rushed but also because he had a guest, the hedgehog figured more was better.

The museum interior was a small space with exposed stone walls, though there was sign of the bolts and rivets where fixtures had been previously hung- owing to the building's prior repurposed use as a club. Benches filled the middle of the rooms, providing a spot for sitting and gazing at the works or otherwise simply relaxing. Unlike most curators, Sticks didn't see any issue with allowing visitors to eat within the establishment. Thankfully, it seemed the litter was minimal today- no one had dropped any thing especially colourful on the hardwood floor, as was far too common for the hedgehog's liking.

Blaze cut across his gaze, drawing his attention back to her. The cat's stare had followed him into the room but now it too had scanned the interior of the museum, being drawn to one spot in particular. Silver followed her to the museum's first display, one that had arrived in this building only a few months before the psychic himself.

Though over a century ago it had been painted blue, the stonework was now plainly grey with visible cracks running along its mass. Slumped against the wall in front of them was the chipped upper torso of a statue body, more than five times the psychic's size and well over five times wider. Only one of its hands remained connected to the body, the right, which was reaching up with the forefinger extended in a wagging motion. A cocky smirk was chiselled across the statue's muzzle- it was the grin of one Sonic the hedgehog.

Silver looked from the looming statue to Blaze, having felt her tail batter against his back. Though her expression hadn't changed, she still looked as intense as she had since confronting Sticks, Silver got the feeling that she was deep in thought. The feline wasn't looking at the placard that described the statue's history, only up an at the stone hedgehog's smirk. To be honest, the hedgehog had always thought the light from below made the giant upper torso look creepy and-

A connection sparked in the hedgehog's mind, his focus shot between the replica of the historic hero and the borderline mythical entity stood staring at it.

"D-Do you recognise him?" Silver quickly asked, "I figure, if you were going to recognise anyone from this world, it would be him, as in. You-

"I do, but I only met him briefly," The cat so casually cut him off, "My partner and I were sent back in time to kill him."

"Y-You were what?" Silver bounced from one stunned revelation to another, "Wait your partner, you mean-

"He believed in that goal more than I did, but we were both desperate," So that other Silver and her had gone back to kill the world's greatest hero?! "Despite that, if I had encountered Sonic first we probably would have succeeded in our task and permanently doomed our world, as well as his," So the other Silver had stopped rather than kill him? But she would have?! "My companion's softheartedness was key to our victory, though he didn't believe that. Failing in that initial task made him spiral with worry," Silver's brain was frying, "What happened to Sonic? I take it he's long gone."

"He is, yeah," Silver mumbled, brain misfiring in search of an answer, "After he saved the world from the nefarious Doctor Eggman for the last time, he just sort of disappeared around two hundred years ago. Most of the heroes from that time period did, only showing up when they were needed," When silence lingered for a moment, he felt the need to fill it, "He used to have lots of statues, this used to be part of the big one here in Station Square. It fell over in an earthquake and, rather than repair the stonework, it was replaced with an even bigger hologram at the heart of the city. It dances, waves..." The cat's eyes had closed, he let out his last ramble, "They program him outfits for festival days..."

"I'm glad he managed to do some good, even after we were gone," Blaze quietly muttered.

This was too much to process. Would she try to kill again; why had she wanted to kill Sonic in the first place?! How was he supposed to help this girl? She'd spent time in the past, did that mean she'd helped save the world at some point? If so then there would surely be a record of her appearance; so much of the heroes had no been so thoroughly chronicled. There were records of all the battles.

But then, wouldn't there be a record of some other person called Silver who looked exactly like him? In all his research of the past heroes, not once had he read or heard anything about another Silver. There was no way the cat was mistaken though, she'd been looking at the statue so intently. She recognised Sonic, she'd talked about trying to kill him of all things, why on earth would she lie about that?

What about the world she'd mentioned being born into though? She'd claimed it was destroyed, but just now she'd mentioned traveling back in time? Was she from the far flung future? Was the Silver she'd met some sort of descendant of his? But then the records would still show their efforts in the past, wouldn't they? He'd have learned of his descendant at some point.

The cat's tail had gone from battering across his back to wrapped around her forearm. He barely knew this woman, he couldn't have known her for more than an hour, but he could tell she was struggling. No matter how confusing this all was to him, she was the one who needed help. He had to help her, he couldn't just leave her with all this bubbling over in her head. Even if he was the wrong Silver, she'd been looking for a Silver after all.

"Maybe the other things in here will help you figure out where you are?" He broke the quiet, fully turning to her, "O-Or even how to reach where you want to be?"

"I already have some idea," She confessed, eyes finally reopening yet remaining locked to her feet, "But it can't hurt to look."

He stepped across, in front of her, stopping at the next display, "This next one is my favourite," He'd never really worked as a tour guide, even though it was the job he had applied for.

The moment Blaze seemed to clock what he was gesturing toward, confusion crumpled her brow. The display was a sprawling painting, measuring over around five metres wide and four tall. It was set on an equally large easel, lights from the floor making it possible to see even the thickness of paint in the more detailed areas.

After tilting her head she closed the distance, standing right at the rope barrier intended to dissuade touching the display, "Explain."

"Well I just think it's sort of nice to look at, the colours are really pretty? The night sky, the fireworks, the water, lantern lights in all the buildings..." The cat was staring at him pretty intensely, he pushed himself to say more, "The boat is real pretty obviously, and while the people aren't especially detailed I like that it gets across their key features?" He pointed across the barrier, careful not to touch the old artwork, "You can see her red hair, the outfits, the robes of the other members of the royal court, the dancers on the boat... sure the scale is maybe a little off, but-

"I'm asking about its historical importance. What is this?" The cat suddenly insisted.

"O-Oh," He fumbled over himself, "This is a painting of the far off city of Soleana, done around 200 years ago. Though the artist isn't known, it depicts a nighttime festival in the city and the then princess Elise upon her procession boat. She was the last of the royal line of Soleanna, lived happily for many years but never settled down. Toward the end of her life though, she wrote a very strange memoir that is generally regarded as fiction about getting to know the hero Sonic?" Catching the cat frown, he felt the need to offer more, "The painting's mostly here because of that, most of what Sticks has collected connects back to the blue blur in some way."

"Have you read that memoir?" She asked.

"I..." Silver gave it a thought and surprised himself with his answer, "Have not. There's a lot of historical fiction about the heroes from back then, it sort of feels a bit weird to read? They were real people, not like King Arthur or anything. I prefer to stick with the more accurate retellings," That was true but... for all his time spent working here, it seemed odd that he hadn't? "It is weird that she wrote it having lived alongside him though, maybe they did meet? Probably just briefly though, not like the book apparently describes."

"Maybe," She mused aloud, as if she knew better, "Perhaps you should try it?"

Silver paused, synapses failing to click, "Oh, the book?" As she looked away from the painting another thought launched itself forward, "Have you read it? Is it good?"

"No," The cat promptly and unhelpfully responded, stepping away and toward the third exhibit.

Befuddled, Silver followed her. Next was a more genuine historic artefact, derived from the ancient echidna civilisation. Before them was a piece of wall art, made from various individual painted bricks. A thin layer of old green plant matter coated it, but after a bit of squinting the colours could be gleaned. There were a few holes in the piece, gaps were stones had clearly been lost, but the image it made was still mostly concrete. A central large green emerald on a black backdrop, orbited by seven more distinctly coloured emeralds in a spiralling pattern.

"Those are supposed to be the Chaos Emeralds, aren't they?" The cat confirmed with him.

"Oh, you know about those? Yeah, that's them, and the Master Emerald," Silver grinned as he responded, glad she'd recognised something else, "They used to be used in all manner of heroic endeavours, though usually only after Doctor Eggman had used them for evil. Now they're kept in their respective temples across the world, though some countries have routed cables through the architecture to use them as a power source?" A thought dawned upon him, "Oh, and the Master Emerald remains on Angel Island, of course."

"Angel Island?" A mix of questioning and processing hung in the cat's tone, "I was going to ask about that larger second green emerald, but I presume that's..."

"Ah, yeah, that's the Master Emerald. Angel Island is where it needs to stay," He responded, pointing to the large green emerald at the centre of the mural, "Angel island is weird? It's this big floating island, floating in the sky rather than water. The Master Emerald keeps it flying," Silver explained, "It was removed from the island a few times, usually by Eggman, resulting in the island plummeting into the ocean. On one such occasion this mural apparently fell off; a group salvaged it from the ocean, but it required some reconstruction. It was in a bigger museum for quite some time, but I think they found a more intact one? Or maybe just one that's less grimy..."

"I take it neither this floating island nor the temples are accessible?" The cat mused.

"Well, they do tours of some of the temples? I went on one as a little kid, it's pretty great," He said that, but had a feeling he knew what this world crossing pyrokinetic was actually asking,"They only let you get so close to the emerald though, no one is allowed to handle them, and Angel Island is a protected natural site now. Only ecologists and archeologists with specific jobs are really allowed up there."

"I see, what's next?" The cat pushed on without blinking.

"Well, if you'll follow me around to the other side..." The hedgehog led her through a doorless gap to her left, around the wall and into the museum's second and final public room with its six further displays.

"Here we have a golden emblem actually taken from Soleana? This was actually part of the palace but, with modernisation it and similar objects was removed. A few have been called back in recent years, but I don't think we've been contacted," The hedgehog scratched at his quills, a thought occurring, "Actually, in hindsight, I'm not sure why we have so much stuff from Soleana here? This artefact really isn't as connected to Sonic or the heroes as everything else. I should maybe ask Sticks, it might be part of of one of her conspiracies..."

He looked to the cat only to find her tense, not looking to the display he'd been discussing but the one directly behind him. At first he thought she was just more interested in it, understandable given just what the artefact was, but he quickly picked up on a change in her demeanour. Her tail was straight, her fists were balled and her eyes were harshly locked on a different exhibit. Though at first he read her as angry, reality soon became clear to him. She was just processing, overcoming shock, it was almost as if she'd seen a ghost.

Silver reached over, his fingers found her shoulder, curling over the surprisingly soft fabric. She was hot to the touch and tensed immediately at his contact, her eyes flickered over her shoulder for just a moment before locking back on the display that had held her attention. There was a moment where regret washed over him and that contact felt wrong, where he thought he'd made a faux pas, but he couldn't bring himself to release that contact. If she was hurting, he wanted to comfort her. If she'd accept his comfort, then he'd freely give it.

"That's one of Eggman's older robots, he only briefly used that design. It was destroyed beyond fixing," Silver deftly explained, "The mother of one of that age's heroes, Cream the Rabbit's mother Vanilla, made this art piece out of its damaged body. I replace the flowers every couple of months, like others have in the past."

Suspended on silver wires in front of them, hanging at around eye level for them, was the broken torso of a sleek looking Eggman robot. Its metal was white and grey rather than the bright colours of the doctor's machines, its face expressionless. Though the machine lacked legs, its arms were hoisted at either side. One of its hands was a large blasting weapon while the other was a more compact machine gun. It had a narrow head with a single slit for an eye.

A great crevice was present in its plating, thought to be where one of the heroes has struck it, but within that hole, and the various openings behind the machine's metal chest-plate, flowers were growing freely. As it had been years ago, Silver had filled the gaps with lavender seed and now the flower was nearing the end of its bloom. The green of moss also marked and furred the metal across a handful of patches. Thankfully, no one had pushed it today- as evidenced by the lack of soil and plant matter on the ground.

"Apparently she found the wreck buried in her garden, a day after Eggman was defeated for the last time," He explained, but he didn't think she was listening, "The model of robot doesn't match the sort he used at the very end though. Maybe it was buried deep..." The hedgehog quietened down but the cat didn't shift, "Are you okay?"

"I've seen these, I fought some in the more peaceful world I briefly visited before the end," She half answered, "Seeing them again... what I did back then couldn't have happened, not with things how they are. It wouldn't make sense."

"I know you said you met Sonic, but I didn't realise you'd fought alongside him," Silver blurted, in awe.

"I didn't, I was racing to reunite with someone else. Someone I did fight alongside," She shrugged his hand from her shoulder, forcing him to turn as she almost physically pushed past him, "What's next?"

That Silver she'd recognised him as being, the psychic was immediately certain that was who the cat was referring to. Immediately, he realised the mistake he'd made in touching her shoulder; it was the exact way he'd touched her upon just arriving, how they'd held each other as he told her the truth. This would be so much easier if he wasn't someone else... but this was all making the hedgehog dwell on that strangeness again. Her talk of things done in the past that couldn't have happened now, what did that even mean? Were the worlds she'd talked about different times rather than planets or realities?

Silver hurried to close the small distance between the two of them, finding the cat's eyes locked upon a more focused painting than the last. This was one of two more special paintings in museum, important as they was created by the pink hedgehog hero herself, Amy Rose. A cluster of brightly coloured creatures were hovering around and cuddling up to two of the historic heroes, Sonic and Tails.

It wasn't exactly high art, it was primarily here due to its painter, but it was thought to be one of the first artistic renditions of the alien species known as wisps. The background was that of a simple green hill, sunset hues shining in the sky. Apparently this was where Sonic and Tails had landed following an adventure on a satellite amusement park, on which those wisps had been effectively enslaved. The pink hedgehog had caught up with the pair, shortly after the station was fully taken offline.

"Anything familiar?"Silver asked.

Blaze didn't even shake her head, stepping across to another object suspended on silver strings and hanging from the ceiling. This exhibit would require more of an explanation. The hedgehog swallowed, mustering his will as he gestured to the hanging chunk of machinery.

"This was an engine, specifically the engine from the Tornado piloted by Miles Prower, better known as Tails," Silver managed to explain, "It's not the original engine, but a replacement that itself wore out due to overuse. The slot for the use of a chaos emerald is still present in this design though, unlike the original, it's no longer a requirement for this version to run," He grimaced as her expression didn't improve, "I know that's probably not very useful information, but it's all I've really got. The engine was donated to another museum before coming here, after it'd been kicking around his workshop for a while, but eventually ended up in Stick's possession."

For a moment he thought she was going to say something, but instead her gaze lowered to the device's shadow. The more time dragged on, the more he was certain this wasn't helping- she'd got the bulk of her realisations at the start of this tour, now familiarity seemed beyond reach. Blaze clearly recognised some of the staple figures of this world's history, but not intimately enough to glean information from these things. If she had visited this world's past, it hadn't been for long.

He didn't have high hopes as he took initiative and led her toward the penultimate exhibit, the third painting. The art was done in a similar style to the last, though was more like the first painting in that it depicted a wide landscape. A lush green grassland, its greenery intruded upon by an ancient structure formed from intricately carved stone, and flanked by a mountain. On top of that stone plinth was a massive green emerald, and atop that shining rock was a relatively small individual coloured red.

"Amy Rose painted this one, just like that other one with the little aliens?" Blaze quietly half noted and half asked.

"Yes," Silver quickly responded, just glad to hear her speak again, "She went through something of a phase where she painted a lot, she took painting up again in her elderly years too," When silence swelled to fill the room, Silver rambled more, "This is the Master Emerald shrine, you can't visit it but we have this and other photos and paintings from the past... well, not here, but they exist," He floundered before reaching over the barrier, "That little figure there was the guardian of the Master Emerald at the time of Sonic and those other heroes, Knuckles was his name... did you meet him?"

"No, and I never met Amy Rose," Blaze quietly responded, "But he did. She had something of a profound impact on him."

"Well, from what I've read about her, she was a very influential person," The psychic replied, though now thoughts buzzed about that other Silver also going to the past more than they had before, "Amy Rose was incredibly powerful but fundamentally kindhearted. She saw good in a lot of people once thought foes and turned them to friends, she was almost the emotional heart of the group," Silver rattled off, leaning down to peer at the exhibit's card for more inspiration, "Yeah, the placard talks about her a bit. Along with being one of the key heroes, she was known for her heart- becoming one of the guardian Knuckles' closest friends. She worked alongside Tails to integrate Eggman's remaining robot forces into society, helping people to accept them after all the wrong they'd done. Apparently she'd had a positive interaction with one near the start of her adventuring days, being saved from Eggman by it? There were others after that she bonded with like Gemerel, who is still around if you met him? Apparently he lost his memories at some point, but-

He turned to find the cat was no longer stood beside him; she had stepped back to sit on the edge of the nearest bench. Silver felt his heart sink at the sight of her, sat with her back arched forward and hands clawed on her knees. She looked the epitome frustration, like she was a powder-keg set to detonate at the slightest spark. Speaking of sparks though, the heat radiating from her was undeniable; it flared out in waves, every cool wake being supplanted by a new high. He could practically see the emotions roiling and writhing beneath her fur, matching the twisting of the room's temperature.

Silver couldn't help himself, just like when he'd held her shoulder, he had to do whatever he could. Rather than stand back and let this near stranger struggle, he moved probably a little too close. He sat down next to her, well within reach but beyond being thigh to thigh. Despite that effort he did freeze up, sat atop the cool metal bench. He brought his legs up to cross, allowing himself to glance her way in the hopes of catching a shift for better or worse.

Her expression hadn't changed, her eyes were shut tight; for a while it felt like he could only sit beside her and hope she found some sort of resolution or resolve. Those wondrous conclusions didn't arrive. Her grasp on her knees went slack, previously clawed hands loosened and fingers spread wide as the cat's eyes opened. It was obvious from the wrinkle on her brow to the dull in her eyes, she was grieving but denying herself tears. He didn't think that was what she felt, Silver was certain of it; he just didn't know what he could do to help her, even as the room cooled.

He didn't want to ask obvious questions, of course she was struggling and of course she wasn't okay, but he had to do something. The hedgehog had chosen to sit close and words were failing him. Only one direction was open to him.

Silver began to surreptitiously reach for the feline's hand, only for a sigh to break the quiet between them, "I've wasted a lot of your time, I should go."

"W-Wait," She'd stood up, but his hand had still found hers, "You've not wasted any of my time, I'm the one who brought you here, if anything I've wasted your time," His gaze fell to the floor, just in time to feel her pull free from his, "I'm sorry, I was trying to help you but I think I've made things worse."

"You've not," She responded, her tone harsh, "You've just... put things into perspective."

A moment past, she didn't move to leave. Silver could feel his heart thumping in his chest, maybe it was just due to the strangeness of today but something about the idea of Blaze lost and wandering the streets really was terrifying to him. It was only as he processed that feeling, recognising just how worried he was for her, that the feline shifted.

She'd sat back next to him, albeit at a slightly increased distance, "I suppose I can sit here and consider my options for a while longer, if it will wipe that look from your face."

"I'm just really glad I haven't made things worse," His gaze rose back to her, his hands found his quills.

"No, you could never make things worse," Seriousness again intensified in her tone, she looked at him with a heavy frown, "Even if I do leave and you never see me again, never think that."

"O-Okay," Silver nodded, taken aback by her intensity over him feeling he'd made a mistake of all things.

She leaned across, crushing what little distance she had just claimed for "Promise me you won't have regrets if I leave."

"I promise," He quickly swore, only to undercut that promise as her gaze softened, "That'd be easier though if I could help you properly, I do feel like I've messed up..."

She retracted, folding her arms, "I've told you that you haven't."

"I get that but," He felt himself sweating, "It really seems like you only got more upset the further into the museum we got."

"Fine," Her gaze shifted to the painting in front of them, "If you really want to do something, then sit there, listen and ask what's on your mind," Blaze's voice wavered with that last demand, "Neither of us get to hide anything, I'll help you understand my position."

The hedgehog turned his full attention to her, yet she looked away.

"Prior to coming here, I existed in a world where flames spanned all of reality. There was no sky above, nor ground below, only fire in every direction. I longed to leave it more than anything, to reunite with my companion, but I could not find a way out," The cat slowly explained, "I've no idea how long I spent there, I had no way to measure the passage of time. Even my body gave no answers- I'd become a spirit, drifting through the red void as if I was one of those flames. I did not hunger, I did not thirst and I did not tire," Somehow, so far, all she'd said made sense to him, "I did grow though, not that I noticed at the time," Her gaze snapped back to him, her gaze now less steely, "How old do I look?"

Silver blinked, "H-How old?" After hearing such dower conversation, then being confronted with such simple question in a serious tone knocked him off guard. Still slightly wary, he answered truthfully but wasn't willing to give a number, "About as old as me, I'd say?"

"I suppose time might not have past there as it does here. I'm not sure whether I aged at a normal rate or..." Her eyes seemed to drift down to her own body, she stared at her hands, "Years must have past, surely. I didn't have a physical form then and this one is somewhat different from what came before... certainly older."

"How did you escape? Why couldn't you come back sooner?" He asked, but quickly regretted as her fists balled.

"I first left my companion using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, I harnessed their ability to grant wishes. I took them in my hands and removed a great threat from my home world, sealing it into my own soul before sending myself away," The pyrokientic slowly answered, "With that entity within me, my spirit travelled to universe outside of my own. There, the entity broke free of my ghost and spread to fill that whole dimension, unleashing its fire endlessly in all directions," Silver was certain he should have been struggling to process this, more than he was at least, "Once I was certain it had fully left me, I started to gather what residual Chaos energy remained from my journey there. The process was slow and arduous, I drifted blindly through a void in search of the tiniest fragments of energy. Every time I found a new mote of that power, I'd make my request to return to my partner's side, praying it would happen."

"So you arrived here, with me, rather than your Silver? The one you mistook for me," Silver asked, thinking he'd put it all together.

"No," Her response was quick but quiet, "You are my Silver. That's why I arrived before you," It was so strange to hear, but her tone was unwavering, "I believe you are that same Silver, just as this is my world, it's just... not as I knew it. You're not as I knew you anymore. You don't share my memories of our time together," Harshness had fully reclaimed her face, "Something in the past must have changed, meaning you didn't grow up alongside me on a destroyed world," She blinked and that hardness fully faded, her defences were completely lowered, "But it's foolish for me to be ungrateful for such a reality, this world is far better than we'd dreamed of-

"But it's not what you wanted, right?" Silver cut her off, before realising just what he'd done, "I-I don't know the details, but it sounds like you went through a lot with him. You didn't try to come back here, you tried to go back to him," The idea that he was this whole other person still seemed so impossible, he wanted her Silver to be out there!

"You are him, my wish was granted as best as was possible. Based on what I've seen and heard, all of our wishes were granted and then some, I should be overjoyed," She said, not sounding at all joyous, "What I'm left with is a greedy want for something impossible."

He couldn't muster words to respond, his mind was ablaze and his tongue felt heavy. Of course he'd read books on time travel, he'd seen movies and watched shows about it here and there, but the idea that something so unbelievable could happen to him was impossible to comprehend. If all she'd said was true, which he wholeheartedly believed, then he was missing something. There was a piece of himself that had been lost to time, a hole in him which only she could see. What was he supposed to do with that?

As the cat's gaze flickered back to their museum surrounding them, as if searching for something to latch onto in the quiet, Silver's stare fell on his lap. What was strangest was that he didn't really mind having this emptiness in him, he only cared that Blaze could see it and she was suffering. That made him want more than anything to remember, to know what he was missing so that he could truly be her partner. But he had no way of finding that lost time. Thoughts of a chaos emerald came to mind but there was no way he'd get access to one, let alone know what to do with it.

That was fine though, he didn't need to remember, so long as he could help her. He didn't care what he was like or had been like. She was hurting, she'd stumbled into his arms expecting a friend only to be met with a husk, refilled with something entirely different. He couldn't lie to her and he shouldn't have, but this woman had no history in this world. She had no job, she had no friends and she had no home. How could he help-

A buzz forced Silver from his thoughts, he drew his phone from his pocket. It wasn't a text, he'd received an email, a reply to his posting for a flatmate. The person seemed nice enough, they had references and a stable enough job. Maybe they'd even be willing to ignore the massive burn marks in the middle of the living space.

"Its been staring at us this whole time, what is that last exhibit?" Blaze's words cut through his thoughts, he found her turned to look over her shoulder and staring at a rusted robot with hints of red and black paint.

"Oh, him? That's Omega. He was one of Eggman's first machines to go rogue, betraying him to team up with Sonic and the others... most often a bat called Rouge and a hedgehog called Shadow," Silver quickly typed on his phone as he responded, "He's still thought to be alive actually, the hedgehog as in. Sightings are reported but no one has really seen him in over a hundred years."

"I don't remember anyone by any of those names," A message was sent, one he was half certain he'd regret not waiting to send, "And based on all I've seen, I doubt they'd remember me."

He couldn't let things get quiet again, he'd lose his nerve. Toes curled as he grit his teeth, he knew what he wanted to do. He knew it was the right thing to do.

"I know I'm not quite what you asked for," Silver shuffled across, closing the gap she'd put between them, "But no one should be alone in this world, everyone deserves a friend," She cocked a brow at him, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's a spare room in my apartment, and if you want to stay with me then you can," As she turned away again, he felt a crushing pressure, "Y-You don't have to of course, if you're really set on leaving then it's not like I would stop you, but I-

"Fine," Blaze responded, cutting off his babbling.

"W-What?" He stammered before he could process their agreement.

"I'll stay, on one condition," Now she'd closed the gap further, putting her finger to his chin, "I want you to stay you, don't try to force anything or change. Don't try to make yourself different in the hopes of pleasing me, I know you'll want to. Even without your memories, I know you better than you think I do," She pulled her hand away, but maintained a teacherly glare, "You earned this world, I don't want to rob you of the happiness it has brought."

"I'll keep to that condition... on one condition," He countered, mind still racing, "Even if I'm not who you expected, I still want to be your friend, not just the person who lives with you. I know it will be difficult, even just looking at me is probably weird for you, but I don't want you to be alone. If you need help you should be able to go to a friend, and I want to make sure you have a friend," He'd made such a childish insistence, his cheeks were burning, "That's okay, right?"

"You're still so naive," She said for the second time today. What came next was thankfully more positive than last time, "But I wouldn't want you to be any different."

"Is that a yes?" He eventually asked, just to make sure.

"It's a response, make of it what you will," Blaze unhelpfully responded, giving nothing away.

"Well," He felt his blush begin to fade, but his embarrassment was still palpable, "Th-Then I'll assume it is and that we're friends."

"Not a bad assumption," She coyly responded, before quickly and plainly intentionally changing the subject, "So, you just wait here for hours? Is there nothing else we can do?"

Sensing embarrassment, feeling enough of that himself, Silver allowed the conversation to change, "There's a broom in the closet, I might sweep up a little, but there's really not much in need to cleaning. I usually just sit back and-

The hedgehog was interrupted by the grumbling of his own stomach, he'd been so hopped up on adrenaline he hadn't payed much attention to himself. He hadn't had a bite to eat since falling asleep this morning, only a mug of water. He was glad his body was only catching up now rather than at the low of the tour's end.

"Are you hungry?" He sheepishly asked.

"I hadn't felt hunger for so very long," She dramatically responded, as if the universe had dealt her some sort of slight, "To be honest, I arrived in this world completely starving. What you provided wasn't nearly enough."

"Why didn't you say, I could have made more toast while you were in the shower," That already sounded so domestic, he'd have to get used to that, "Do you want to split a pizza?"

He realised his assumption before she cleared it, "I presume that's food, but I've never had it."

"Oh there's so much I can show you Blaze, so much to taste," All of a sudden he was on his feet and beaming, he took her hand without so much as a thought, "Come on, we'll just pop out, we won't be gone more than ten minutes."

Today things had started normal enough, quickly taken a turn for the impossible and now come crashing down into the incredibly mundane occurrence of purchasing fast food. Peaks and valleys were inevitable in life, and Silver had a feeling things had just gotten a whole lot bumpier.