Sonic: Atonement

Chapter 2: Sweet Farewell

2 Years Prior...

"Hey, Silver," Blaze the cat called to her friend, Silver the hedgehog, once she found him sitting by himself on top of a hill, looking out over the checkered landscape of Green Hill Zone.

"What're you doing out here by yourself? Everyone's waiting on you." She informed him.

Silver didn't answer her right away. He took a moment to keep his eyes ahead, taking another look at the waterfall coming down from the tall cliff in the distance. He wanted to remember every little detail of this place.

"I just wanted to get one last look," He said before getting to his feet. "I'm going to miss this place – this time...how things are around here." He admitted.

"I know you will. But now that the world is safe again, things will probably still be just like this when we go back to the future." Blaze pointed out.

"I hope so...wait, did you say 'we'?" Silver realized. Blaze smiled gently at him.

"I did. I'm going back with you." She revealed. Silver's eyes widened in surprise.

"Blaze! But...you don't have to do that. I already told you-"

"I know, but we're still in this together. We came here together – we should go back together. Now come on, you need to give everyone a proper goodbye." She glanced back at him and gestured for him to follow her back to where everyone was waiting.

"Okay," Silver nodded, taking one last peek at the scenery before falling in step next to her. "Are you sure you want to come back with me?" He asked.

"Of course, Silver. I do miss being in the city. With the future secure, I'd like to see what kinds of people our old friends that died will turn out to be...that'll be really nice." Blaze said.

"Oh wow, I never even thought about that. I'd like to see that too." Silver agreed.

The two of them reached an open area where all of their friends were waiting for them: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and several others. They were all gathered around a picnic table with a cake and other treats ready.

"Surprise!" They all cheered as Silver and Blaze approached. Silver's eyes widened in surprise again.

"Guys! What is all this?"

"We couldn't just let you leave without at least having a little going-away party!" Amy said with a proud grin, "I took the liberty of putting this together and inviting everyone." She said.

"And my machine is all set whenever you're ready to leave. Of course, there's no rush at all." Tails added, pointing to the technology that he had constructed for the purpose of sending Silver and Blaze back to their time.

"This is...so nice! Thank you! Did you know about this, Blaze?" Silver asked, looking over at her.

"Not until earlier, but I did volunteer to come and get you so you could be surprised too." Blaze smiled at him.

"We're gonna miss ya, buddy. We hate to see you go, but we figured you could have one more good memory to take home with ya." Sonic said, walking over to Silver. He gave him a friendly pat on the back and handed him a can of soda.

"I can't thank you enough; not just for this, but for everything. I'm happy that I got to have you all as my friends." Silver said with a bittersweet smile.

"We're still gonna be friends, Silver. The time difference won't change that one bit!" Sonic said as he made his way to the picnic table.

Silver smiled to himself, "Thanks." He said quietly, feeling just a little more reassured.

So Silver and Blaze spent their last afternoon in this time period eating and chatting with their friends – the friends they were lucky enough to have spent years of their lives with.

The idea of never seeing Sonic and the others again weighed heavily in the back of their minds, but they were happy nonetheless that their final experience with them was such a positive one.

"This was so wonderful. Thank you, Amy, for putting this together. Thank you all for being with us today. We'll miss you dearly." Blaze said appreciatively as she and Silver approached Tails' machine.

"Bye, Ms. Blaze! Goodbye, Mr. Silver! We'll miss you!" Cream shouted to them while waving emphatically.

"Goodbye!" Silver waved back.

"Alright. The chaos emeralds are all in place. Now we're just waiting on-" Tails was interrupted by Shadow arriving late to the party. He slid to a stop right by the machine.

"Shadow! About time you showed up! Nice of you to be fashionably late!" Sonic joked and laughed. Shadow scoffed and ignored his comment.

"Looks like I came just in the nick of time," Shadow said. He made his way up to Tails and held out a green chaos emerald to him. "Try to take this, and you'll regret it." He threatened.

"R-Read you loud and clear, Shadow." Tails gulped, taking the emerald carefully.

"I didn't think you'd want to come to something like this, Shadow." Silver said.

"Why's that?" Shadow glanced at him before walking up to him.

"Well...um...I-I don't know." Silver scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Shadow took a moment to read his expression before speaking again.

"Out of respect for everything you've done, both of you, it's only appropriate that I be here to see you go." Shadow said, making sure to establish eye contact with both Silver and Blaze.

"Aw, that's his way of saying he'll miss you." Rouge, who was sitting off to the side, commented with a sideways smile.

Shadow didn't say anything else. He simply looked away from them, standing there quietly for a few moments before walking away from them. Seeing that Rouge was right, Silver smiled softly.

"Thanks, Shadow."

"With the 7 chaos emeralds and the proper configurations, you two are all set to return to your own time. Are you ready to go?" Tails asked them. Silver took in a deep breath.

"I think so. Blaze?" He looked at her. Blaze nodded and took Silver's hand.

"We're ready."

"Okay. Here goes nothing!" Tails said nervously before firing up the machine. It whirred to life. The Sol emeralds and Chaos emeralds started to spin around them.

"Take care, you two! We'll miss you!" Amy called out to them.

"Take care of yourself, Blaze. And sayonara, Silver the hedgehog." Sonic said with a smile, pointing a finger slyly at them.

In a brilliant flash of light, Silver and Blaze disappeared from one moment to the next, leaving their friends behind. The 7 Chaos Emeralds flew into the air and scattered in different directions.

In a strange way, the air felt a little heavier for Sonic and the others, now knowing that they would never see two of their friends again...

"I'm really gonna miss those two. Silver was such a sweetheart." Amy commented.

"And that cat had some class to her, unlike some people." Rouge added a snide remark.

"Why do I feel like you have someone particular in mind when you said that?" Knuckles asked irritably.

"Because I did." Rouge smiled and winked at him.

"Will they be alright?" Cream asked Tails.

"Of course they will!" Tails answered with a smile.

"Those two know how to handle themselves. Now we just gotta keep up the good fight 'til it's their turn." Sonic added, giving her a thumbs up.

It was hard to say goodbye, but they were all thankful to have one last good time together first. It was something they all needed, for none of them had any idea what ugly trials were coming their way in the near future...