Knuckles stared up at the building of glass and metal that sat heavy at the corner of the street of Capital City. An almost annoyed expression on his face.

What once was a quiet city now contained the hustle and bustle of a giant metropolis. Quant houses now were replaced by towering buildings. Gentle and caring people were now replaced by people wearing suites with unfeeling expressions. What used to be his favorite spot to relax whilst away from Angel Island was no more as if someone had taken a chunk of city from Grand Metropolis and dropped it right on top of this part of the city. Though it was much more civilian friendly and commercial/business than industrial.

Worst yet, his favorite sandwich shop was gone.

For a moment, he had thought he had gotten his directions confused. Perhaps the wrong street where he misread North as South. But inquiring with a local they pointed at the street signed and confirmed the direction. Leaving more questions than answers. It had always been right there. In this corner. It was shabby little shop. 'Hole in the wall', as Sonic explained to him once (he never really got the meaning). The owner never really bothered to charge him, instead taking his stories as payment. He always tried to make it a pit stop whenever he was in town. Since he had awakened so close to the area of the shop, he thought it was the best place to recoup from the blaring headache that was pulsing through his skull.

Now, it was replaced by a looming building of steel and blue glass, glistening in the sun.

And it was an eyesore.

"Excuse me…" he waved his hand in front of a businessman. "Isn't there supposed to be a sandwich shop here?" A motioned towards the towering skyscraper.

The man looked confused at Knuckles. "Sandwich shop?" he repeated the words. "There's one down the road, but I don't ever remember a shop here."

Knuckles stared at him even more confused, but he eventually gave a resigned shake of his head. No use in arguing what was plain for him to see. "Can you point me where it is?"

The human gestured down the road. "Two blocks down on your left."

"Thanks."

Knuckles turned on his heel as the man walked off, too much in a hurry to even bother with a goodbye. This place had become foreign to him now. Though there were the traditional brick houses that he was accustomed to that dotted the hills of Capital City, they were squished between newer construction. To Knuckles, the new towering buildings looked bland and boring in comparison to the cute brick houses he had been used to. All of them looking the same from one another in that same white or black steel with those same blue tinted windows. It made the two-block walk seem much farther than he thought. The towering buildings dizzying him as he crossed the street, the pulsating headache returning as he pressed a hand to his forehead with a grunt as he tried to keep his bearings.

It was hard to even remember what had happened. It felt as though an hour ago he was standing in front of Eggman with his companions. He remembered the tussle. Eggman grappling onto Silver. He recalled approaching the machine and attacking it. Then, everything after that was a blur. Next thing he knew he woke up in a park within the city.

Not to mention there was that large headache growing even more at the forefront of his skull.

Whatever the case may be, he hoped that his friends were someplace safe. Disaster seemed to have been avoided, as far as he was aware. Capital City was just how it always was and under no dire alert. Perhaps now he could make his way back to Angel Island to continue his guardianship over the Master Emerald.

But first…

He pulled open the door to the sandwich shop.

Sandwiches.

Knuckles approached the counter. An equally looking bland shop to match with the equally looking boring building. There were a few people already munching on their sandwiches sat at the table. An almost unpleasant chill of the AC held to him as he walked further into the shop. Eyes glazed up at the menu, narrowing at prices that did not quite make sense.

A sandwich couldn't really cost that much.

Being a recluse, economics and business didn't really make much sense. Tails had tried to teach him once, but what did it matter to someone who hardly needed, nor wanted, to deal in such trade? Though, he had to be thankful that his friend had always provided Knuckles with some amount of money to at least afford travel. And sandwiches.

Behind the counter a rather bored Tibetan fox greeted him. "Welcome to our shop," she sighed. Obviously wanting to be anywhere else but here. "How can I help you?"

Knuckles approached, still staring at the array of sandwiches on the menu. "A Soleanna steak sandwich?" The answer seemed more like a question. He never really got to decide at the other shop since the owner always made him his sandwich for him. But this one didn't seem too bad.

"Would you like it dipped?" the fox pressed something on her computer screen.

"Dipped?"

"Dipped in grease."

"Uh…" Knuckles paused for a second. This was all foreign to him. "Yes?"

"Alright. Your total will be 5700 credits." She looked up at Knuckles, turning the screen pad towards him. He begun to take out several dollar bills hidden within his gloves before the woman gave a bit of a chuckle. "Sorry, we don't do cash here."

"What?" Knuckles stared at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"We just take card." She gave him an even stare, becoming more annoyed by his presence now. "Plastic? Tap? We don't carry physical cash anymore."

"Wh—Are you—Then—" he fumbled over his words trying to make sense of this. "Then how can I pay?"

She gave a shrug in reply.

Today was seemingly becoming worst by the second.

He stared for several more seconds, gaping at her in frustration. What kind of establishment doesn't take physical cash!? Money was money. That was what Tails had explained to him. Though, judging by her glare, he supposed it wasn't. Even if he didn't want to leave this place empty handed, he was about to throw his hands up in defeat as the growing ache in his head was signaling his defeat.

Just as he was about to grit his teeth and turn on his heel to leave, a voice broke through the silence. "I'll pay for him."

The two of them turned towards the voice. A boy began to stand from his seat, making his way towards Knuckles. He couldn't have been older than Sonic, most likely younger than him by a year or two. He wore thick G.U.N. fatigues, red fiery hair that stuck up in a type of mohawk, and a black muzzle. Knuckles couldn't place the Mobian's linage, but his tail was long and ended in swirls like fire with darker red band-like patterns. Strangely, he dressed for winter. A scarf encased his neck and it almost looked as if his breath was visible.

Knuckles regarded the boy with uneasiness and narrowed eyes. G.U.N. wasn't always the top of his list of allies, but the grumble in his stomach and ache in his head could make no further complaint.

"Um… thanks…?" he stepped to the side as the boy shuffled through his pocket to pay with his card. The fox turned on her heel to prepare Knuckle's coveted sandwich.

"Don't mention it," he gave a smile from beneath the scarf. "You're Knuckles, right? The echidna?"

He noticed some people look up at the word 'echidna'. Slowly they turned to regard Knuckles with confused stares, some more blatant than others.

"Looking for me?" Knuckles already steeled himself to the boy. If it wasn't Master Emerald related or Dr. Eggman related; usually it was 'I'm Sonic the Hedgehog's biggest fan and I totally need his signature' related. He could only press a hand to his forehead as the headache could only grow as he prepared himself to listen to this kid's story of how much he loved Sonic the Hedgehog or wanted to become the new guardian of the Master Emerald. "Listen, if it's about getting Sonic's autograph, I've got way bigger issues I'm dealing with right now."

The boy gave a laugh, "No. Actually, I've been looking for you because I want to help you."

"Help me?" Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest. "Help me with what?"

"With your Master Emerald—"

Master Emerald related then.

Great. "Listen, I'm not taking apprentices." He shook his head. There had been more than enough people visiting the Master Emerald begging for them to be taken on as a student. All of them failed terribly at becoming guardian. So, he really was not interested in whatever this kid was trying to sell him. "I appreciate your help, but protecting the Master Emerald is my burden to bear."

Yet the boy seemed unfazed. "I'm not looking to become guardian or become your student. Actually, I come with information that will help you out."

"What kind of information?" Knuckles leaned in, looking up and down the boy. "Hopefully not trying to make me indebted to G.U.N."

"No, nothing like that. You've been gone for a rather long time. And I'm just here to help fill in the blanks."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Knuckles tensed his body. Although he did not fully grasp the connotations that the other spoke of, there was an obvious information imbalance at play. And the aura that this child was giving off was starting to give Knuckles the creeps.

The boy glanced towards the fox whom begun to wrap up Knuckle's sandwich. "We should discuss it after you've eaten and in a more private setting."

Knuckles could only grunt as the rumbling in his stomach grew. Even if he wanted to learn all there was to know now, the growing pain in his head wouldn't subside and it was only making him more annoyed with the pain in his stomach. "Fine," he relented as he took the sandwich from the fox's hand, a bit rougher than he would have liked. "Can I at least get your name?"

"The name's Luna." The boy stuck his hand out, a smile growing wide enough to see above the scarf. "Luna the Vontsira."

Sonic and Silver sat at an empty table within a sparsely decorated room.

They had reached Babylon Garden after a week of travel. Though their arrival was predicted, it wasn't as warm a welcoming that Sonic had hoped and a more calloused greeting that Silver had expected. Their police had rounded them up, pleasantly without cuffs, and brought them to the floating city into an embassy of sorts. The trip was short, and the cops that had brought them into the city were nice enough. But they refused to answer any of their burning questions, opting instead of reply with a hollow 'you'll find out later'.

Tension was quick to build in Silver's body as he sat at the large wooden table staring up at the grandiose walls of the sandstone building they sat in. The room was kept mostly plain with large windows staring down at an even more grandiose courtyard of the city. Native plants neatly trimmed and kept with a beautiful limestone fountain at the center. It offered some amount of entertainment as the two hedgehogs stood and stared down at the beautiful courtyard, but the interest was quick to wane at the unchanging appearance that they eventually sat down in boredom.

Sonic had paced for some minutes, before he had finally tucked himself into the finely carved wooden chair beside Silver with crossed arms and closed eyes. As much as his patience was thinning by the second, he couldn't say no to a comfortable chair in a more controlled temperature.

It seemed like hours before the door had opened. Tension and boredom broke from both their bodies as a loud gasp resounded from the open door. Joy was quick to mark both the hedgehog's faces as they stood to greet a companion once thought lost.

"Sonic! Silver!" Tails bounded into the room, throwing his entire body onto the two hedgehogs and drawing them into a hug.

"Tails!" Sonic replied in shared glee as he wrapped his arms around the fox. Silver felt awkward in the hug, but shared in the joy. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" Sonic broke from the hug, a huge grin swept across his face. "We were wondering where you'd gone. I see you've made some friends in high places."

The joke was not lost on Tails as he laughed at Sonic's pun. "Heh, you can say that!"

"You gotta tell us all about it!"

Tails nodded, but before he opened his mouth to reply there came a pause as his ears perked up to look towards the door. Embarrassment drew over his face as his eyes met the figure who stood patiently at the door staring at the three of them. The two hedgehogs noticed, tilting their head in interest at the woman. "O-Oh, I almost forgot." He scratched the spot behind his head, a blush forming over his muzzle. Slowly he motioned with his other hand, stepping backwards to give the other a formal introduction. "This is Anuahnheim. She's been helping me since I got here."

From the door, the woman stepped forward into the room. A dark blue-green hawk draped in a woven cloth dress with intricate embroidery. Feathers draped over her face, covering one half with her long feathers and the other half bare. She was a middle-aged woman and her face was stern, but caring all the same. Her strides were sweeping, and Silver could not help but feel the need to take a knee to her grandeur.

"Please, you may call me Anu." She entered the room with an aura of reverence and power. It was obvious to even Sonic that, had they lived in these times, she was a woman where her reputation would precede her. "I am the Queen of Babylon Garden and all of Babylonia. I have learned of Tails plight and have chosen to side with you during these dark times." She lowered her head to them, as it was their reputation that preceded them. "I beg of you to provide us aid."

Silver and Sonic stood in confusion. The two of them glanced at one another, then to Tails with a shared expression. Silver was the first to respond as he stepped forward, his face filled with worry. "What do you mean by dark times? What has happened?"

Anu raised her head. She kept a steady expression and it made it impossible to read her. She made a motion towards the table for them to sit as she gracefully took her place at the head of the table. There was a motion with her hand as her handservant rushed to exit the room with the grand doors closing behind them to offer privacy.

"I have regaled to your companion, Tails, our grand history of 200 years since your departure. You may describe it as a 'normal' trend of events of nations rising and falling, civil wars, grand discoveries, and technological advances. No importance of note." Her face finally revealed a frown as she furrowed her brow, a troubled expression. "But in recent times, two years ago, G.U.N. had cast their hand and bid their empire against everyone for world domination."

"That's what Alder must have been talking about," Silver murmured as the pieces begun to fall in their place. Anu tipped her head to the side as Silver continued. "Alder, he's someone we met in Halyceon. He had mentioned something about G.U.N. being terrible people but didn't really explain what had happened. I tried to research it in some books but there weren't any written accounts."

Anu nodded her head. "Unfortunately, we are not too quick in regaling the stories of young history. Their assault across the land had been slow since their announcement, but with your public appearance their regime is spreading much faster than anticipated."

Sonic furrowed his brow, reclining back in the seat. "G.U.N. always is trying to further their own agenda. Weird that it took them this long though." There was a pause as he thought for a moment. "You know what brought it about?"

Anu was silent for a moment, glancing towards Tails, then back towards the two hedgehogs. "We believe it may be due to the Chaos Emeralds reappearance."

"I knew it!" Sonic exclaimed with a snap of his fingers.

"They're associating our return with the Chaos Emeralds?" Silver chimed in.

Tails shook his head, "Not quite." He motioned towards Anu. "Apparently a single Chaos Emerald reappeared two years ago."

"But Alder said that there hasn't been a Chaos Emerald sighting in 200 years," Silver pointed out.

Anu shook her head, "That is correct in the context of the public eye. In secret, world leaders met at the location of the first sighting of a Chaos Emerald in two centuries. We discussed how to contain this power for the safety of the people. Eventually, we all had come to a mutual agreement to contain its power alongside the Master Emerald. Or so we thought." A look of disgust managed its way across her face. "G.U.N. had tricked us all and stole the Chaos Emerald from beneath our noses. It was then we realized that they were on a conquest to obtaining them all."

Although the chain of events was clear, Sonic couldn't help but be puzzled at the timeline itself. "But that doesn't really make any sense. We had just arrived about a week ago; how could a Chaos Emerald appear two years ago?" He turned his head towards Silver with a raised brow.

"Perhaps it has to do with the mechanisms of time travel," Tails pressed a hand to his face in thought. "I've actually been here for a few weeks longer than you have. Maybe there's some sort of time dilation that happens whilst time traveling?" Tails turned to Silver, "Have you ever experienced anything like this before?"

"No, not really." Silver shook his head in reply. "I travel by myself, so I don't really keep track of time working that linear." He turned towards Anu, "Have all the Chaos Emeralds been found?"

Anu shook her head, "Several have. But there may be still some hidden. We have tried to create a mechanism in detecting when they spawn but they are not as sophisticated as the Master Emerald. Whomever controls the Master Emerald may as well have possession of all the Chaos Emeralds."

"Well, how many are left?" Sonic leaned forward; ears perked.

"We are not sure of the exact amount that have spawned, but we estimate five have appeared thus far. We are in possession of two."

"Two out of five, then." Sonic grinned. "Seems like an easy enough gig. Just need to find Knuckles, collect the rest of the Chaos Emeralds, save the day, and head home. And sounds like the Master Emerald is the next clue."

Tails gave a frown, "Its actually not that easy, unfortunately."

"Why's that?"

"The new guardian there hasn't been welcoming anyone setting foot on Angel Island."

Anu nodded her head, "We have made serval attempts at contact. But whomever has taken guardianship over the Master Emerald has made little attempt at a cordial relationship with us. Or any one of the nations."

"You sure that's not Knuckles?" Sonic gave a shrug. "He's a good friend but not really someone to let anyone waltz in on his property."

Anu could only give a shrug in reply. "We do not have qualitative sightings on the guardian. But there is rumor that Angel Island has been under his guardianship for decades, if not centuries."

Though this guardian troubled Silver, there was nothing to be done at the moment. So he sighed, with a shake of his head. "Either way…" he trailed. "This seems like the best lead we have now—"

There was a knock on the door before it opened. The group turned at the surprise guest whom entered without much fanfare. However, upon setting eyes upon the new guest, Sonic couldn't help but gape his mouth in shock at Mobian whom entered.

"Jet!?" he exclaimed in shock.

A boy, no older than six, entered the room. He may have well been a splitting image of Sonic's longtime rival Jet the Hawk. Green feathers, red eyeliner, and an attitude to match it all. All that was missing was the typical flame tattoos on his arms.

The boy took notice of Sonic, giving him a rather rude glare as he turned towards his mother who sat at the table. Anu turned, surprise upon her face as she stood from the table.

"Jeckt!" Anu announced in surprise. "My son, what are you doing here?" she approached her child who stood at the door. The boy stared at her expectantly.

"Papa had sent me to look for you," Jeckt replied. He crossed his arms over his chest in a bratty manner. Sonic couldn't help but crack a grin at the similar personality traits. "They are going to start the tourney soon!"

Anu stared at her son for a moment, before sighing with a shake of her head. "I am sorry, my son. I am in an important meeting now and cannot—"

"Augh!" he replied before Anu could finish. "But you promised!"

"I know, my son. But—"

Before she could finish, Sonic stood and shook his head with a small smirk, recovering from the shock of the boy's appearance. "It's alright. Go on ahead, we'll take some R ."

Anu looked towards the trio in shock. "Are you sure? This takes much more precedence than a tournament." Jeckt, unhappy hearing that reply, gave a huff in anger as he turned away from his mother. Tears welling at the corner of his eyes.

Sonic shook his head, horribly hiding the grin. "It'll be alright. I guess we can continue the conversation later."

Anu paused, looking from her son, then to the trio before a sigh. "Yes, I suppose some rest shall do you all good. You must have been traveling for some time." She turned her attention towards Tails, "I trust you can bring them to your accommodations?"

Tails nodded his head. "Of course!"

Anu smiled before giving a curt bow as her son grasped her hand, tugging her away from the meeting drawn short. "I apologize for the sudden end to our conversation. We shall meet tomorrow evening to continue. I shall be sure dinner is made at your workshop."

As Anu was ushered out of the room, Silver could not help but stare at the spot that she had once occupied with her son. It had never come to his mind before, but an uncontrolled feeling soon made its way through his body. The feeling of envy sunk its teeth deep into his heart as he forced a smile to his lips to hide the sigh that edged from his mouth. Then, he turned to stare at the other family that stood beside him of their joyous reunion from weeks apart. Their smile much the same of Anu and Jeckt shared with one another. Yet, his own never matching that same smile. And as he approached, he never felt apart of them.

Some things couldn't be helped.

A feast for kings had been spread across the table for the trio. Traditional dishes of all types piled upon the table as Sonic and Silver looked in awe of the food that had been prepared for them. Although food was not hard to come by in their travels across the world to reach Babylon Garden, their food had ranged from hardly satisfying to few and far in between. Not to mention, it had been days since they had the comfort of sitting within a house to enjoy each other's company that was not the great outdoors, hidden in a barn, or on the floor of a kind stranger's house.

Sonic and Tails were more familiar with the food spread out before them, whilst Silver stared at each large plate with uncertainty of each food. The spices were aromatic as steam raised from each plate, and though his stomach grumbled with anticipation, he was unsure of the food that laid before him.

"Oh, come on, Silver." Sonic approached his friend as Silver stood unsure at the table, his plate still bare. "No need to be so humble now."

Silver glanced at Sonic, a blush crossing his face. "It's not that… I've never had any of this food before. And never this much!" He was used to having barely filling meals or food that was bland. Spices were a luxury in a destroyed future, as was food itself. "I don't really know where to start."

Sonic gave a laugh, "How about this?" he pointed to a dish of eggplant skin stuffed with rice, lamb, and spices. "I think they call this sheikh el mahshi. This is my favorite dish from Shamar!" As if to prove a point, Sonic took one of the stuffed eggplants and began to eat it where he stood.

Tails gave an exaggerated groan as he sat at the table. "Come on, Sonic! There's a table right here!"

Sonic turned towards his companion, giving a shrug. "I'm just giving Silver some pointers!"

"Are you sure its not a demonstration?" Silver gave a laugh as he finally begun to pick several foods to place on his plate with his powers. Some foods were sampled in small portions, others were taken with a leap of faith. As his plate was filled with foods of all sorts, tea was poured with cyan wrapped around it. The actions were almost methodical, and Tails could not help but stare at the way Silver used them in amazement. A small envy encircling Tails at the seemingly unlimited number of hands that the other hedgehog had and how easy it would be to build so many new inventions from those powers.

Eventually, they all sat at the table. Sonic stared expectantly at Silver whom ate his food silently. Reveling in the tastes and textures of each bite. Some were much too intense for him, and, thankfully, Sonic was much too happy to eat from Silver's plate the food that he could not stand.

"You know, I still don't get it." Sonic begun as he picked another piece off Silver's plate, ignoring his own. "How did you manage to get here a few weeks before us? I figure everyone would end up all here at the same time."

Tails chewed his food carefully, but his mind was deep in thought. "I'm not really sure. Time travel is more theory than practical application because our understanding of time itself is theoretical." Tails turned towards Silver, whom sat rather unfazed at the conversation at hand. "I've been meaning to ask, but how do you time travel?"

Silver could not help but make scrunched up face at the question. Sonic could only laugh. "Oh, Tails. Good luck getting any answers from him!" Sonic turned back to his own plate, giving a playful smile at the annoyed expression on Silver's face as he whipped his head towards him.

"It's not that!" Silver replied with a frown. "I honestly don't know…" he looked down his face with embarrassment. "I mean, how do you explain to someone how to breath? You just do it." Sonic nor Tails could not really fault Silver for that answer.

"Try your best!" Tails could only encourage him. His hunger for knowledge more overpowering than the food on his plate.

"Hmm…" Silver scrunched his face again, trying to make sense of the action of his time travel. "My psychokinetic powers can enhance the way that I view the world. I have to channel them to tear a hole into this sort of… woven fabric?" Silver made a gesture with his hands, trying to picture it in a physical form. "I have to find the right thread of time to go to where I want to. Then I punch a hole into reality and slip through." In the end, Silver gave a shrug, not sure if anything he said made sense. "I guess that's my best description of it. Its hard to really verbalize it when I can't show you."

"Would it be like folding a piece of paper in half to get from one point to the other more quickly?" Tails inquired.

"Yes!" Silver nodded his head with a smile. "I guess each thread is which point on the paper I want to get to." Slowly, Silver closed his eyes, envisioning the woven thread of reality that was intertwined around them. He reached his hand out, cyan bursting at his fingertips as he caressed the time of long past in his hand. "Right now, I'm holding onto an era of three thousand years ago." But he'd let that era go, and wait as his powers would dim and the cyan would fade away, yet the overwhelming sense of power in the room did not fade and shot through Tails and Sonic like electricity.

Tails nodded his head, his face sparkling at Silver. "That's incredible! I'm amazed that your powers allow you to do that."

Sonic stared at the two of them. The knowledge did not soak into his brain as well as it did for Tails, but he was able to scrape by enough. Power that now sat in the room made his heart thump hard, the same feeling he'd get when running freely through the land. "So, your powers are like a stronger version of Chaos Control?" Surprise was then quick to appear over his face as the pieces fell into place. "Without the use of the Chaos Emeralds?"

Silver shrugged, "I guess. It would make sense since the Chaos Emeralds reacted so strongly to it." He could not help but notice that Tails staring at him a little more intense than before. He shied away slightly, trying to mind his food a little more than Tail's prying eyes.

"Do you know how you got those powers?" Tail's own food had been long forgotten. His body leaned heavily onto the table as he stared down Silver.

Silver shook his head. "I'm not sure. I think I was born with them." It was that same half-truth half-lie. Yet, he could not help but sit nervously in his seat now.

He was thankful that the fox eventually relented, to focus on his food once more.

"I guess that makes getting home a lot easier since you can essentially Chaos Control us at will." Sonic gave Silver a smile before he stood to fill his plate with more food.

"Yeah," Silver whispered as his eyes caught Tails' once more. "I guess it does."

Hot steam wafted through the air within the closed room that Silver stood in. He watched the reflection of himself, moving to clear the condensation from the glass with his still gloved hands every so often as water continued to pour into the much too large tub. Though he prepared himself for a bath, he still stood in the room fully clothed.

Mosaics of intricate design decorated the room. Glittering in stories of futures already erased and pasts most likely rewritten from their original truths. The ancient people of Babylonia and their treasures begotten to be lost once more from plunder, figures dancing in lines of histories unremembered, and ancient artifacts that brought feeling of nostalgia for times lost.

Silver had once touched these same mosaics in futures left broken. Their walls crumbled and decayed, now stood beautiful and well kept.

Now idle thoughts left to idle agony. In that same reflection he stared down at gilded bracelets and the soft glow of cyan that pulsated through his body. He clenched and unclenched in his hands, several times, his thoughts brought to Anu and Jeckt. A thought not typical to haunt him because of his precarious living situations, yet now he could not stop thinking of them. The hold of a mother.

He touched the bracelet, thinking of his own mother. The memory foggy. Her face a blur. But his father, he knew well. One whom never died, and yet his own presence was no longer himself.

Eyes broke from his own reflection to stare down at his own hands once more. His fingers still touching the bracelet on his other hand. Although hidden, he could see that stain on his hand so well. The stain he abhorred. The stain that haunted him.

But before he could slip the bracelets and gloves off, his thoughts were broken as water begun to leak onto the floor. In surprise, he rushed to the tub, quickly turning the hot water off.

There was a sigh as he shook his head. The weight of his body leaning against the tub as he stared down into the hot water. The reflection shimmering once more.

He wondered what his mother looked like.

But when he blinked his eyes, the vision of his father permeated his mind. Staring back at him in the water.

It was funny how little he remembered from a past long forgotten. Yet words would always ring in his mind of what people would often say to him when they met Silver. That he looked so much like his father.

He supposed this was the heavy price paid for time travel.

Green glittered in the night as the Master Emerald shimmered brightly even in darkness. It emanated power beyond mortal comprehension, providing near unlimited power for those who mastered it and the map to the Chaos Emeralds which reappeared slowly through time.

Stilled it sat, but even stiller did its guardian sit in front of it. The silhouette stark in front of the glittering jewel of Angel Island. The presence ominous and his own power as overwhelming as the jewel that say behind him.

His ears twitched as a branch crunched beneath someone's foot. But he did not move to greet this intruder, as it was a friend often visited.

"Any news?" the guardian called to the visitor.

She laughed as she made her way up the steps. "Not even going to ask me how my day is?" she joked. The guardian could not help but crack a sliver of a smile as she sat next to him. "To answer that: It's been going well."

The guardian nodded his head slightly, finally opening his eyes to look at the woman who sat beside him. He held his hand out as she handed over to him a bag of food and a newspaper. Slowly, he begun to unwrap the neatly packed meal and unfurl the newspaper as he read through the headliners.

"Has the Master Emerald spoken anything since a week ago?"

He shook his head as he flipped through the pages. "There was a faint calling. But nothing substantial to be investigated."

"Shame, but at least that means more time to relax." She leaned back, pressing herself against the Master Emerald. The chill of power ran up her spine as she felt the perfect gem against her back. A shiver. "I'm surprised you didn't leap off the island to go off investigating that Sonic the Hedgehog fellow."

The guardian shook his head. "I doubt that its him. He should be…" his voice trailed off.

"Yeah, yeah." The woman shook her head, standing now. "I know. But it wouldn't hurt to check it out."

The guardian shrugged. "Something tells me that if it was him, he'll be coming this way anyway." Slowly, he looked towards her, a smile making its way to his face once more as he handed back the newspaper to her. "Thanks for the meal."

"No problem. If I weren't around, you'd starve yourself looking over this damn thing!" she knocked her knuckles against the jewel with a laugh. "Well, I gotta go. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be able to find that missing part for your friend." With a wave of her hand, she begun to run down the steps of the temple. He watched after her until she disappeared into the thick forest. The silence returning.

And once more, the guardian closed his eyes. His thoughts dreamt of a past never forgotten.

Sonic… I wonder if that is you.