"Are you really still not going to say anything, seriously? How long have we been trapped like this and he's still not saying anything? If they really were me, they would have said something by now," The hedgehog to her left had been ranting on and off for over an hour now, "Blaze, you must have realised the truth by now, right? I'm the real Silver, he's some sort of imposter. He's not answering any of my questions or..." The psychic's words continued to fill the air as Blaze rubbed her temples.
The guardian of the Sol Emeralds was sat within the dungeon of her palace, on an archaic bench that surely hadn't seen use for a century. She frankly couldn't remember the last time she'd been down here, it had surely been when she was a child or a young teen at the latest. The basement was far from well maintained, disused for centuries at this point as criminals now typically went to proper prisons rather than directly beneath the seat of power. This collection of cells was perhaps the only place in the palace that Gardon didn't dare tidy.
Before her stood two matching versions of Silver the hedgehog, held in side-by-side cells with their hands cuffed between the bars. Both of them looked to be approximately the same age, even if recent experiences marked them both differently. The first to arrive had been covered in soot and so had been quick to clean himself up, while the second still wore countless dark stains upon his white fur. There was also the matter of bandaging, tending the hedgehog's wounds was typically the first thing they did together upon his return from whatever timeline he'd found himself in- only the first psychic to arrive had been afforded that effort.
That latter truth led to the reality Blaze had been ruminating on ever since she'd taken this seat. It would be a lie to say that she hadn't noticed any abnormality in the first Silver upon his arrival... but, though she surely couldn't stand to admit it, she had been rather swept up in those differences. Perhaps even captivated by them?
He'd met her at the beachfront, that had become their most frequent rendezvous point. The dimension hopper had stumbled out from a whirling blue portal, as he did more commonly than not when able to return by his own hand. The soot covered hedgehog had tumbled right into her lap, landing chest to chest with her. Rather than quickly rise, the hedgehog had hugged her tighter than ever and murmured endlessly about how much he'd missed her.
She'd tried to drag him back to the palace, but he hadn't been so quick to seek treatment. While he told her of the world he'd survived, the hedgehog had repeatedly rerouted them to wander. The two had ended up strolling the beachside, then waltzing over waves he'd hardened with psychic power. They'd practically danced around the entire island's perimeter, wandering over rock pools and beneath leaping dolphins. He'd told her of his time away, of the terrible state he'd found the world in and his plan to make it better, but he'd worn a smile rather than his usual sullen seriousness. His talk would always return to how happy he was to be here again. To be with her again.
When they'd finally arrived at the castle grounds he'd literally swept her off of her feet, one of his arms around her shoulders and the other beneath her knees. Before the cat could blink they were floating, less than a moment later soaring; flying over the royal gardens and around to her bedroom window. With no more than the wave of a single finger the balcony windows had opened and he'd carried the cat over the threshold, letting them in without so much as Gardon noticing. He'd grinned at her, much too proud of himself, and forgotten to put her down for far too long.
In the private sanctum that was the royal bedchamber, she'd managed to finally force him to sit still and take treatment. They'd spoke for hours about the world he'd arrived in, all the while she'd tended his wounds. He'd told her of the impossible future he'd arrived in, of a world where the earth beneath his feet would writhe and flex as if it was a living creature. He'd seen eyes in the dirt, jaws made of stone, and clay arms grasping up- all of which came in countless shapes and sizes. Apparently he'd been pushed across an entire continent by a giant wave of earthen refuse, struggling to keep himself on the surface of that impossible tidal wave. If he hadn't cast the portal in front of himself, it sounded like he'd have been thrown off of the continent and into whatever had become of the sea.
The whole time they'd sat together, a certain tension had hung in the air; he'd worn a certain bashfulness that she hadn't often seen from him. The hedgehog was always clingy upon his return, but this time he had been more extreme. His touch had lingered upon her forearms, her cheeks, and further so very casually, so comfortably. No fewer than thrice he'd leaned in so very close with an over serious expression on his muzzle, but when she'd pry as to what was on his mind he'd turn away and mutter a half-hearted excuse. He'd grown more and more regretful in the aftermath of each ask; the cat had thought she was doing something wrong, that perhaps his wounds were more serious than she'd anticipated.
Well, she'd tried to convince herself of that likely reality, rather than consider certain other imagined truths.
Her administering of aid had been interrupted by a knock at the balcony window. Blaze had turned after securing another bandage, expecting some poorly timed prank from Marine, only to find herself face to face with another Silver. She'd thrown a look back at the psychic she'd tended only to find a look not of surprise on his face, but realisation; Blaze knew for certain that the first hedgehog hadn't been shocked to see another of himself. From then on, that version's actions had only gotten stranger.
That first Silver wasn't even looking at her- he'd turned away and kept his face to the far cell wall, not even looking in the direction of the more talkative Silver. Unlike the other one, this hedgehog had simply done as she'd commanded without a word of complaint. She hadn't ever led Silver down here before but the hedgehog had seemed to know exactly where he was going, even walking into a cell by himself. Without hesitation, and before she could request it, he'd shut the door and stuck his arms through the bars to be cuffed.
Peculiar as his actions were, they weren't those of an invader. For one, if anything, he was making himself look more suspicious with his current charade than he had been while roaming free. He'd let himself be walked to the dungeons and locked up, even though he was obscuring his face it wasn't as if he was truly hiding anying. Regardless, going from talkative and kindly to mute wasn't doing anyone any favours, no matter what his origins were. If he was meant to be some sort of threat, he was doing an extremely unthreatening job.
The Silver on her left had stopped talking, the feline looked up. He was staring out at her, fingers caressing the chains connecting his handcuffs. The sight of him in this position was odd enough, let alone there being a second version stood only separated from him by a thick stone wall.
"You've gone quiet now too..." Contemplation had claimed his expression, "Could it be that I'm in the wrong dimension?"
"I'm sorry, I was just thinking. I don't think you're in the wrong dimension," Blaze answered, "I don't think either of you are."
"What, you think this guy is my future self or something?" Clearly he'd had the same thoughts as her already, "But if that's the case, why isn't he saying anything! Why did he fight me?"
"You attacked him first," Blaze bluntly pointed out.
"Right, but if he'd just said something I would have stopped," The talkative Silver kicked the cell wall that separated them, "Why aren't you talking?!"
The second psychic didn't so much as flinch as a stone tumbled free and into his side. He was still facing that wall, head practically tucked into the front left corner of his cell. Despite his attempts to obscure his face, the potential time traveller's body language was easy to read. That Silver was buried deep in though, keeping his musings contained behind his lips- unlike the one on the left.
Moments after his arrival at her window, once the floating hedgehog had locked eyes with his sat counterpart, he had smashed through the glass and surged toward his doppelganger self. A psychokinetic brawl erupted in the heart of the royal bedchamber; palm-strikes and psychic shockwaves had shook the space and tossed clutter all across her room. The pair bounced off of each other, their abilities perfectly neutralising one another- that was until the stained hedgehog had crouched with his feet planted against the far wall.
That Silver had pounced enveloped in a sparkling aura, sending cracks through her bedroom wall as he flew with palms raised. His bounding attempt was caught by his mirror image; grasps locked and psychic energy sparked like lightning. Harnessing the leaping hedgehog's momentum, his standing counterpart spun him around before launching him back into that already cracked wall. The second hedgehog smashed through brick but was quick to rise, his body still fully aglow.
It was only in the wake of one gaining the upper hand that Blaze dared to intervene; throwing a fireball between the pair and having it expand to form a blockade. From then on the bandaged Silver hadn't so much as grunted, no matter how the other chastised and barked. It was only when she had raised the solution of separating them for interrogation that he had so much as moved, on the walk to the basement he had simply stewed in quiet contemplation and thrown the occasional scathing look at his double. Even though he was still refusing to talk, a choice which had greatly impacted the interrogation, the guardian was certain he was assessing his counterpart with the same scrutiny as he was being analysed with.
"It's obvious he's the fake, isn't it? If he was like me he could break out of these cuffs without even trying," The Silver on her left insisted, "Watch."
The hedgehog braced against the bars with his boot and stared to lean back. Cyan light flared bright, the hum of psychic might filled their quiet surroundings to echo deeper into the dungeon. His teeth grit as the feline jumped to her feet.
"I know you can break free," Blaze stepped closer, "Coming down here was a test of willingness and to separate you both so you'd stop fighting, you don't need to-
The bar broke before the cuffs could; the hedgehog was sent tumbling back over himself. He crashed backwards, slamming the back of his head through a hanging bench made of long rotten wood.
"Are you okay?" She asked, already mostly knowing the truth.
"I'm fine," His already stained fur was now a shade greener.
There was something strange in his tone, more than just embarrassment. Silver often got angry at himself; when it came to saving the world, he'd beat himself up whether he was successful or not. This was different though, an emotion he hadn't really experienced from him. The cat couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"I'll get you cleaned up when this is all over," She promised, battling back her own overthinking, "We just need to sort whatever is happening here first and make sure we're safe. My world might be in danger from one of you two, I can't put my people at risk."
His expression softened, "You're right. I shouldn't-
"Okay," The Silver to her right finally spoke, Blaze's head spun, "I think, with him having broken the bench, I can start talking now."
"What do you mean start talking now?" The one to her left grumbled, dusting off his quills from his still prone position.
"The me in this cell didn't start talking until I'd fallen over last time," The right Silver exposited.
"Last time?" The left Silver groaned.
"I am indeed a future version of the hedgehog in the cell to my right," He explained, eyes still locked on the wall furthest from the other hedgehog.
"You're only admitting that now, after we explained that was a possibility," Blaze tutted, glowering at him, "You understand how that looks, don't you?"
"I do, unfortunately," The hedgehog sighed, "But, like I said, the version of me in this cage didn't start talking until I'd put my head through the bench."
"But it's not as though anything was actually stopping you from talking, was it?" Blaze pushed back, "Taking his falling as a good point to start talking, that seems much too simple."
"I know he just put his head through the bench," He pointed out, "Isn't that proof?"
"That's easy enough to guess," Blaze rationalised, though she was slightly convinced, "You heard him at the bars and you heard him fall back. It makes sense that he'd go through head first."
A quiet pause filled the stagnant air, leaving a void which Blaze easily filled with thoughts. There was a reason she had come up with this as a hypothesis, it was what made the most sense and was the most obvious. Neither of the hedgehogs stood before her had truly caused any trouble or harm to her kingdom, only to each other and her bedroom. One had been given the perfect opportunity to attack or hold her captive, the other had been free to travel the islands and steal the Sol emeralds, but neither had taken advantage of those most ideal situations. Both hedgehogs, albeit one more begrudgingly than the other, had let themselves be brought down here and incarcerated. There was no true malice in either of them, no sign of a darker motive. Perhaps he was telling the truth, but she couldn't act on a hypothesis alone...
"Look, I just don't want..." The other Silver still wasn't looking her way, "To risk altering the timeline. Other me, you should be committing all that I say to memory. I would have told one of you to grab a notebook but the older version of me didn't do that last time, didn't mention it until now, so I can't chance it."
"You're even scared to make the wrong face, that you'll change something by doing that," Blaze realised aloud.
"That's stupid," The lying Silver fumed.
"It can take less than the flap of a butterfly wing to change the future," Despite the angle of his muzzle, Blaze could tell by his figure that the hedgehog was still more than a little frustrated by his counterpart, "Well, I'm hoping that much won't change things drastically enough to undo all of our work. I don't remember everything this version of me said and did perfectly..."
"What do you mean undo our work?" The once fallen Silver had finally hopped back to his feet.
"Come on, we both know this better than anyone," The other Silver hissed, "Changing the past changes the future. If I change your experience, I change my own."
"Even if what you're saying is true," The now risen Silver scoffed, "We've not been affected by time paradoxes ever since that first one with Solaris. Why would changing things matter now?"
"Right, we haven't been affected, but the worlds we travel to have been replaced time and time again," He half shouted over, still facing the wrong way, "We probably weren't even born anymore, but the futures we would have been born into have been shaped by how we've change in the past. If I say the wrong thing and slip up, it might mean you'll act differently and that could result in a different future when you return to see how the world next ends."
"What, you're thinking that a few minor changes will be enough to make a time paradox that will rewrite all of the time paradoxes you've supposedly caused?" Silver questioned, "Considering all the effort it takes for me to change history, what damage could a few minor shifts actually do?"
"I don't think it's worth chancing," The other countered, "And you won't either when you're in my position, not if you value the lives we're saving."
"Well now it sounds like you're trying to make me the villain in this situation," The second arrival followed up, "I think you're trying to make Blaze take your side while explaining as little as possible."
"He's only saying what he is now because you will go on to say it, having heard it from him in your then past which is now..." Blaze considered aloud.
"You can't tell him about the future I've come from," The right Silver very quickly informed her, "You didn't when I was stood in that cell and you never did afterwards."
"Well, if you won't talk about our future, how are we mean to prove that I'm going to become you?" The left Silver countered.
"You still don't get it, I can talk about our future," The apparent older hedgehog grumbled, "Just only the parts I already heard myself say."
"Then when are you from in my future, how much further on? That's the first question that came to my mind, so surely you asked it too," The apparent youngster pried.
"I did ask that, but I'm not giving you the answer. You could use it to change my past and your future," The right psychic responded.
"Ignoring the future, you can surely talk about your shared past, correct?" Blaze cut in.
"I can now that you've asked me," He answered, "What do you want to know?"
"Oh so you'll answer her questions, just not mine," The other Silver grumbled out, "He's trying to get on your side again Blaze, trying to turn you against me."
"What state was the future he just left in?" Blaze asked, ignoring the more talkative Silver's words but pointing to him, "I haven't heard about that yet, he can confirm it."
"The future he came from is just as destroyed as every one we've found prior. The streets are stalked by creatures from another world coming in all shapes and sizes. Giant worms, three legged lunging spiders, living disks that float through the air, and so much more. All of them implanted with strange circuitry," At the sounds of a grumble from his parallel cage, the older hedgehog continued to elaborate, "His investigation has shown that Eggman was responsible. He sent a message out into space, trying to attract all manner of interstellar travellers only to steal their crafts and combine their technology with his own. He used the guise of alien arrivals to secure meetings with governments across the world, then harnessed some sort of mind control technology to gradually take control. With the aliens to blame, the doctor got our friends on his side," Regret had entered his tone, "He was able to convince them because of a prior invasion by a group called The Black Arms. One by one Sonic, Amy, and everyone else was put under mind control. It was all Eggman's doing."
"Of course Eggman was involved, he's always involved," The second Silver to arrive battered back.
"He's right about everything though, isn't he?" Already able to tell by the crouching hedgehog's frown.
His face scrunched up, that was answer enough, "Yes."
"How could he have known that if he isn't you?" The cat questioned.
"He could have been there in the future, watching me investigate, plotting to take my place. He could even have watched the very past that he's explained happen and then travelled here to match me," The likely younger Silver's hands were tugging at his chest fur, "If that's the case, he must understand the Chaos Emeralds or be able to harness a power like them; he could have timed his arrival to get here before me. We both know he arrived early, I was on time."
"Were you?" The slightly older hedgehog prodded, "You had to come find her, we can't know that for sure."
"I only had to look for her because you took her away!" The left Silver barked, "It doesn't change the fact you were early."
"I don't think I was particularly early," They really weren't getting along, "Though, as my position here does suggest, my most recent journey has gone awry..." The hedgehog made silence only to quickly fill it, "I don't want to explain why that mistake happened, because you might try to avoid it and cause a paradox."
"I won't!" The second Silver harrumphed.
"You might, even subconsciously," The response rang, "Besides, when I was in that cage I didn't get a proper explanation either. I'm not risking a time paradox when I already know this will all work itself out."
"That's very convenient," The left psychic fumed, "Both that you can't explain and that your apparent mistake made you arrive before I did."
"Judging by our current situation, I would argue that the opposite is true," The right sighed, "To be honest, when I arrived I noticed things were slightly different between me and Blaze, but I was exhausted and didn't want to assume anything. I thought it'd just been a long day..."
What did that mean? Blaze felt her heart skip a beat as her mind started to race. Their brief time alone together had brought with it an upwelling of thoughts the cat had been suppressing for a very long time. Was there a reason for that? Did his assumption explain why she felt a spark in the air? Was that Silver's relationship with his present Blaze more-
"If you really are a future me, what am I going to say next?" The potentially younger Silver asked, cutting off her train of thought, "If you are repeating the timeline correctly, then I must be about to say the same as what you did. I'll commit that to memory and be able to recall it when I'm you."
"No, you won't. Because, as I was told and am about to tell you, that won't work because if I do say what you were about to say then you'll surely say something different, resulting in me never having learned what you meant to sau," The hedgehog claimed.
Blaze wasn't sure that was correct, wouldn't the Silver sat in the left cage have to just remember what he thought he was going to say rather than what he literally intended to say? Then again, if the Silver to her right was repeating all he'd heard said, then issues in their shared logic had to be repeated to. After all, it wasn't as though this situation had ever happened to them prior. Well, it had happened to one of them prior? This was all more than a little confusing.
"Fine, I'll be specific, what am I thinking right now?" The second Silver to arrive interrogated.
"That if I was somehow able to guess what you were thinking, you'd be certain I was actually some sort of villainous telepath and that is how I'm deriving all my knowledge," The other Silver bluntly responded, "You came up with that theory just before proposing asking me what you were about to say."
The expression of the Silver who'd asked said it all "Well, you're right but that hasn't improved our situation at all."
"That only would have worked if I was wrong, as it would have proven that I'm a threat pretending to be you," By the flick of his ears, Blaze knew that the Silver on the right had rolled his eyes as he gestured to his supposed prior self, "That's what he's thinking now, to be clear."
Blaze looked to the more frustrated Silver and instantly knew the other was correct. This was exhausting. Despite purportedly being the same person, the two plainly did not get along.
A thought entered Blaze's mind- a stupid idea, the kind that forced her gaze from the pair and to the ground. Were they fighting over her? Was that why the two were so annoyed with each other? The second Silver to arrive would have seen at least the last moments of her time with the first; how he had been sat on the foot of her bed, the space that had only ever been used by him. Well, it still had been, they were the same person! Well, they probably were... either way though, it seemed like-
"Blaze," The left Silver's call stole the cat from her thoughts, "Have you realised something?"
"No," She snapped much too quickly, fidgeting with the keys to their cages, "Be quiet, I'm thinking."
"Why are you taking his side again?" He grumbled back.
"I'm not taking sides," The cat pushed back against him and her own juvenile thoughts, "I'm trying to figure this out."
If the Silver on the right was correct then there was no problem here. The two of them could co-exist, if only they would get along. Presuming that the older hedgehog knew what to do to avoid causing paradoxes, the two could probably even live together in the palace- if not, then spread across her kingdom. Perhaps all would be fine if she could keep the two apart, limiting their risk of damaging the space time continuum. She could split her time between them...
The thought of having two Silvers, still surely competing over her sprang back into the cat's mind. Immediately her brain was flooded with all manner of foolish ideas; of the endless spiral that was their potential battle over her. How often would they fight over her? Would they compete in other ways? Would they try to-
Blaze's fists clenched as she forced away those foolish thoughts, she could send away the older psychic- forward to his own time. The only wrinkle was the evil he could do if he truly was a liar, despite all the sense he was making. If he had been planning something, and her Silver had arrived in time to catch him off guard and stop it, then the apparent older hedgehog was possibly just biding his time. By going along with all this and being affable, she was affording him the benefit of the doubt. What if she sent him away and he was some sort of dimension-jumping shapeshifter, what if he had gained some important information about her kingdom? He'd gone the extra mile, he'd danced her around town rather than letting her treat his wounds immediately...
"Are you okay?" She had been looking down, the feline stared blankly at the pair of them.
"Which one of you said that?" The cat had to ask.
"He did," And "It was me," Rang out in the exact same voice, indicating the Silver on the left, now sat back on the ground.
"Well, he said he thought you'd had a long day," That Silver explained, "Between that and this confusion, I realised you'd been questioning us without us checking in on you."
"He's right," The other piped up, "How are you, has everything been okay today?"
"I'm fine," The cat insisted, "I'm not the focus, we still have-
"Given when I think we are, you should be debating with yourself over how best to spread the Sol Emeralds across the various islands. You want their local inventors to have the opportunity to use them, to upgrade island infrastructure, but you also need to keep the kingdom safe," The future hedgehog accurately predicted, "It's been keeping you up for nights on end... or, at least, it will?"
"Can't you just tell her how to sort that out?" The sitting Silver enquired, "You know, give her the best layout possible? The one she settles on."
"I wish," The standing hedgehog grumbled, "By the time you next leave and come back she'll have sorted it, without any help from us..."
"Again?!" His counterpart sounded so frustrated, "We're not good at the royal stuff..."
"Eventually we'll get better at keeping up," Was that another hint? "I mean hopefully, in the future at some point. I've not caught up yet, she keeps surprising me," Probably not, "She's always a step ahead of us..."
"She is, she always is," The second to arrive psychic was grinning.
Now they were on the same side?! A two pronged assault on her from concerned Silvers was the last thing she needed. Whether the one on the right could read minds or was from the future, he still hadn't got it through his head that she didn't take compliments well. At least the one on the left wasn't being argumentative anymore, but this was arguably worse. They were both so naive!
"I can't really blame you for taking my spot," The more talkative hedgehog continued, "That is, if you really are my future self," There were still shades of doubts at least, they weren't a perfectly united front against her, "You've been away for two weeks too, right?"
"A little less this time, due to an emergency escape. Things went wrong in ways I can't explain to you," Just when she thought they would return to bickering, that Silver continued, "All that is to say though, I know what you're feeling, more than just because I've literally been you..."
The second time traveller caught her eyeline, there was panic in his stare, "We probably shouldn't be talking about that right in front of her though, right?"
"Oh, right, yes" Her stare turned to the other psychic, only to find him still facing the corner, "You're not... sorry, I forgot. It's not been that long since I was you but it feels like longer. A lot has happened."
"I'm not what?" A response rang, What's going to happen?"
"That I really shouldn't say, you wouldn't want me to spoil that,," Another answer tutted, "You're going to have to get-
"Will you two please go back to fighting?" The cat couldn't stand to look at them, "This is-
A wave of heat rolled through the dungeon, turning Blaze's head to its source on the far right. Bright orange light flared through the dingy dark of the dungeon as fire swirled to form of a shimmering disk on the cat's far right. Once the disk had fully manifested, flashing and swirling, a much too familiar form stepped through it. A purple feline dressed in a long coat and tights, a grey Sol Emerald in one hand and a ring of rusted keys in the other. If what Blaze thought was happening was truly happening, then she had been right in her assessment of the first Silver to arrive. The second Blaze to enter the dungeon tonight wasn't noticeably older than the first. They looked exactly the same...
"What's that noise?" The Silver on the left called out, too far away to see.
The keys in the other feline's hands were immediately familiar, they were the exact same as the set between her legs. Without so much as blinking the second cat strode up to the far right cell and undid the cuffs of the enclosed hedgehog. For the first time in what felt like it'd been hours Blaze saw that Silver's expression- it was one of complete and utter shock. Meanwhile his prior self in the other cell was moving around his cell, plainly trying to figure out what was happening but lacking the necessary angle to see the second Blaze.
As if it was the most normal thing in the world, that cat went on to unlock the cage she'd presumedly historically locked her partner in. The Silver she'd freed had gone to speak, but the newly manifested guardian had grabbed him by the shoulder; pulling him out of the cell with one swift tug. Before Blaze or he could could pipe up, so very smoothly, so casually, the newly arrived pyrokinetic had captured the lips of her psychic counterpart in her own. The surprise in his eyes was immediate but that Silver quickly melted against the other Blaze's embrace. The cat felt her temperature skyrocket as he melted against that other her; she felt herself bite her tongue and curl her toes. Despite how massively flustering as this was, the guardian couldn't look away.
Words quietly trickled out of the grinning hedgehog's mouth, "So that's how this ended..."
The other feline rolled her eyes, turning to Blaze in the process. She gave no more than a nod, not speaking so much as a word, before disappearing back through the fiery portal with an arm around her Silver's waist. Well, that would be easy to remember.
"Blaze," The remaining hedgehog's voice stole the cat from her thoughts, "What's happening? I can't see."
"You're gone, Silver," She answered, her gaze falling.
'Huh, what?" The hedgehog pressed his head against the bars, still trying to catch a glance of what had already concluded, "What happened?"
Her fingers brushed her lips, was that why he'd been so forward, because she was the same? Was this their future, was it fated? He hadn't looked any older than her Silver; how soon were they destined to become like this? Was he about to make the first move? Would she? Or had she only kissed him then because she'd witnessed it now?! Was that moment set to be the start of their relationship?!
"You'll find out soon enough," Was the only reply she could muster.