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Black clouds. Ash and smoke covered the air, making it hard to breathe. The skies rumbled with thunder constantly, never a moment of silence or peace. The charred world below it burned endlessly, the debris fading into crisp fumes to fill the air further. Silver pondered how many days it had been since he last rested his eyes. He had no gauge of time, the sky always remains the same all consuming black color. He tried not to show it, but he was constantly afraid. Constantly living in uncertainty, constantly having to keep one eye open in case monsters came from amidst the flames to kill him. Constantly sleepy… Every so often his eyes would grow heavy, and he’d begin to drift off into rest, but every time, the clap of thunder would startle him awake with a gasp. The lightning struck near where he rested, sparking more and more flames. The flames were consuming him, he couldn’t draw air in between the coughs. He looked to the sky, ready to take flight to escape, only to see black clouds had fallen all around him. The lightning grew restless as bright red became the only color to pierce the darkness. He cried, screaming for anyone to help. But he forgot, he was alone here. He was always alone here.
“Silver?” A voice rang through the darkness, pulling the white hedgehog back into reality. His focus had drifted off staring into the fire resting in a small hole in the side of the house. Apparently these were referred to by the rather uncreative title of fireplaces, Sonic had once told Silver. He explained that they were for warming up the inside of the house during cold days, or to provide a relaxing ambience. Silver could never fathom how Sonic or anyone on earth for that matter, found them peaceful. Even as he tried to break his gaze away to meet his friend’s green eyes, he couldn’t ease the air of discomfort etched on his face.
“Fireplace still botherin’ you? I can turn it off if you want.” Sonic asked the younger male, his voice sounding so casual that it soothed Silver’s unease slightly.
“I-...It’s fine, you don’t have to.” Silver tried to convince his friend, but the way he folded his arms and avoided eye contact betrayed his words.
“C’mon man, it’s no problem.” the blue hedgehog assured as he walked over to the fireplace and flipped a switch, extinguishing the flames. “I want you to be as comfortable as possible on your first day here, y’know? First impressions are everything.”
Silver sighed and relented to the considerate gesture, a smile barely etching its way across the corner of his mouth. He kept forgetting that he had decided to move in back in the past, it didn’t feel quite real to him. He was hesitant to leave his timeline in the future at first. Despite how dangerous it was, he still clinged to the idea that he could make it better… until Tails had discovered through intensive research that their timeline and Silver’s had branched apart from each other, and no effort in the past could change or impact where Silver came from. It had hurt, at first, to hear that all of his efforts in the future were wasted time. But, Sonic had managed to convince him to find a new purpose, to stay with them to ensure that no dark futures would ever come to pass.
“Hey, remember when you first came to my place? You thought the house was burning down and wouldn’t stop shouting.” Sonic chuckled.
“Hey! I-I…” Silver stammered as he shifted uncomfortably. He tried to scratch his cheek and look to the side to hide that he was visibly embarrassed.
“I’m just messin’ around, man. It’s alright.” Sonic smiled as he put his arm around Silver, resting it over the white hedgehog’s shoulder. Silver grew more flustered as he strained his neck to turn away from Sonic’s face.
Realization dawned on the older hedgehog’s face. “Oh yeah, I haven’t shown you your room yet have I?”
“Room? I thought I was just gonna sleep on the, uh…” Silver eyed the green furniture in the middle of the room. He struggled for a second to remember the name of the object, since it was foreign to his future. “Couch?”
“You kiddin’ me? Come on, lemme show you!”
The two walked down the hall of the modestly sized log cabin, Sonic not taking his arm off Silver as he guided him forward. Silver didn’t notice this for very long however, as he began to get distracted by the pictures adorning the wall’s sides. They seemed to be photos of Sonic and his friends enjoying each other’s company. He noticed one such picture of a party he attended celebrating Sonic’s birthday. Silver couldn’t recall his own birthday, having never had anyone to celebrate it with. He turned his attention back to Sonic, who was smiling brightly as they continued their stroll down the hall. He found Sonic’s joy infectious, and began to smile with him. Thinking on it, he found it infectious back then, too. He never stopped to consider that he didn’t know his own birthday, nor worried about the events that preceded the party, he was merely content basking in the contagious joy of everyone around him.
Sonic finally let go of Silver as they arrived in the bedroom. It was decently spacious, with a plush looking and round white mattress pressed against the back wall. The right side of the room had a large glass sliding door built into the wood. The left side of the room had a setup for a small TV underneath a wide window, and a small lamp to the left of that.
Silver absentmindedly walked over to the bed and sat on it, running his hand across the soft sheets on top. “It feels nice.”
“I’m glad! I had to scrounge up a few extra rings to get it, figured you wouldn’t be comfortable on my old race car bed.” Sonic chuckled as he scratched his nose.
“What’s a race car bed?” Silver turned his attention back to the other hedgehog.
“Uh, don’t worry about it.” Sonic answered hastily as he scratched behind his head. He started scratching his nose more and thought for a second. Curious, he pulledd back the beige curtain partly obscuring the door and looked outside. “Bah, yep. Clouds are gathering, storm must be comin’ in.”
Silver floated up to the door to peer out with him. The clouds were taking on a gray hue, but that’s not what caught silver’s eye. Instead, his gaze scanned around them to look at the blue sky above. The sky always made Silver feel at peace. He never had a chance to see it in its natural state before coming to Sonic’s time, and seeing it like this let him know everything was okay.
“Anyways, shower’s back down the hall and to the left.” Sonic said as he patted Silver on the shoulder, startling him out of his concentration. “Might wanna go ahead and get washed off, not gonna be a good idea to once the storm gets here.”
“A-alright.” Silver said. Sonic walked out of the room as Silver briefly turned his attention back outside, watching the clouds. They were slowly gathering in larger numbers, covering the sky bit by bit. Their color was a light gray, with the ones farthest from the house being darker. He tried to pay it no mind, but something made it hard for him to pull his eyes away. With a sigh, he managed to force himself to turn around, and headed down the hall to take a shower as instructed.
Silver rejoined Sonic in the living room shortly after he had bathed off, and the two relaxed on the couch together. The two had spent the next few hours making conversation. Or rather, it was more accurately Sonic talking the boy from the future’s ear off about the world of the present day and all the many adventures he had been on before they met. Silver didn’t mind at all however, his eyes intently focused on Sonic as if he was observing the words fall from his mouth. He was overjoyed at the many wonders this time period had to offer, all of the exciting places and events he had missed out on all these years.
“The world split apart!? No way! How would you even put it back together?” Silver questioned. The story of Sonic falling into a book was already stretching credulity, but a tinge of doubt was beginning to grow more and more aching on the young hedgehog’s mind the longer the blue hero had rambled on. Surely there’s no way so many incredible things could’ve happened to just one person, he thought.
“It’s true!” Sonic laughed as he shot up in his seat, staunchly defending his absurd ramblings with a smile that betrayed his firm defense. “Me and Ch-”
Sonic’s train of thought was interrupted as a loud boom bellowed from outside, shaking the house and killing the lights. Silver gasped and shot to his feet in alert, fur being coated in a cyan light as he activated his psychic powers. “What was that, Eggman!?”
Sonic chuckled under his breath, and before he could speak the power had returned. “It was just some thunder, Silver. Musta shorted out the power for a sec, that’s all.”
Silver approached the window, moving the green curtain aside to see rain pouring from the sky, trees bending and shaking from the wind, and black, storming clouds. Silver once again struggled to pry his eyes from the scene. The light within the clouds danced mockingly through the air, occasionally letting loose to the earth below in a strike of violent electricity. Every bolt made Silver’s heart come to a pause, expecting to witness the fires beginning. Expecting to smell the stench of decay as they melted and burnt everything surrounding them. Expecting to feel them burn his skin, and suffocate the air he breathed into nothingness. Expecting to watch them meet the black clouds, and snuff out the life below. Expecting to be alone, barely able to escape their wrath.
“Hey, Silver?” The white hedgehog hadn’t even noticed Sonic’s hand had slipped onto his shoulder. “You alright, there? You kinda spaced out…”
SIlver shook his head, gently placing his hand over Sonic’s to guide it off of him. “I think I’m just tired, sorry.”
“You sure that’s all?” Sonic asked, his voice softer as he leaned over and turned his head to meet Silver’s gaze.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Silver lied, trying hard to force himself to keep eye contact with the older man. “I think I’ll just go to bed.”
Sonic nodded and straightened up, patting silver on the back once or twice before transitioning into running his fingers over the shoulder across from him. “Rest easy, then. Goodnight.”
Silver turned to the hallway and walked away, before turning his head back in a halfhearted effort to acknowledge Sonic. “Y-you too, goodnight…”
Each step towards his room felt heavier and more labored then the last as the booms of the storm raged on outside. His stride grew unbalanced and his vision weakened, his breaths shorter and more strained. He eventually made it to his room and shut the door with his telekinesis, before collapsing against it and sliding down to a sitting position on the floor. He huddled his knees to his chest and tried to take measured breaths to calm himself down, before noticing a flash of light out of the corner of his eye.
The curtain in front of the sliding door had been left pulled back. Outside of the glass the storm was fully visible, in all of its rage. Silver’s breaths grew faster and more strained once more as he attempted to force the curtain shut with his telekinesis, but he found himself unable to concentrate enough to move it. A burst of lightning forced his focus to shift back to the outside. Back to the storm and the black clouds. Silver wasn’t sure why this was affecting him so severely, he had grown used to these sights. This is what he had seen and experienced his whole life. Maybe it was due to him hoping things would be different here, maybe some irrational fear that this was the beginning of his future unfolding before his eyes unnerved him, he wasn’t sure. He just wanted it to stop .
He clambered to his feet and walked over to the curtain, forcefully pulling it back over the door. Light flashed through the cloth, as if to taunt him with its continued presence, as he fumbled over to the bed and landed forcefully overtop the sheets. Silver groaned, having regained enough clarity to push back his thoughts, but not enough to stop the churning in his gut. He pulled a pillow over his ears in an attempt to escape the roars of the storm, unaware he had merely muffled the sound of someone opening the door to his room.
“Silver? You okay?” Sonic questioned, slowly moving over to the bed.
“Wh-” Silver placed the pillow back onto the end of the bed as he sat up to meet the other man’s emerald stare. “I thought you couldn’t come in if I closed the door…”
“That’s, uh, only if you lock it.” Sonic explained as he sat at the foot of the bed. “You’re obviously not doing well, yeah? What’s goin’ on?”
“It’s no-” Silver began on impulse, before taking a hefty sigh. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”
Sonic scooted closer to Silver, wrapping his arm around the white hedgehog as a playful smile crept across his face, which Silver tried to look away from. “Try me.”
Silver’s eyes shot focus back to the curtain in time to notice another flash of light before he spoke. “I-it’s the storm…”
“Ah, afraid of the thunder? I get ya, that’s not stupid. Tails is too-” Sonic tried to assure the other hedgehog, but was quickly cut off.
“N-no, not the thunder… the sky.” Silver corrected, turning even further from Sonic as he grew more flustered.
“Come again?” Sonic asked. Silver felt the side of Sonic’s chest press up against his arm as the older male tried to bend around to see his face.
The peach cheeks of Silver’s muzzle began to redden as he tried to find the words to explain himself. He closed his eyes as if that’d somehow make his embarrassment go away, before attempting to clarify. “It’s just… Back in my time, we didn’t have a pretty blue sky like you do here. All that existed was a constant smog from the flames, and storm clouds that never went away. I learned to tune them out over time but, I… I didn’t think I’d see them again here. Not so soon…”
Sonic’s other hand found its way onto one of Silver’s, grasping it tightly. “It’s alright, Silver. You’re not in your future anymore. The storms pass here.”
Silver sighed and partially opened his eyes, staring off at the ground as it flashed to light every so often. “Hey… can you at least look at me?” Sonic asked. Silver detected a tinge of concern in his voice, racking his conscience with guilt for making his friend worry so much over something so pointless. Hesitantly, he turned to meet Sonic’s eyes, but found himself getting distracted by something else. As the storm illuminated the inside of the room, he noticed the beautiful color of Sonic’s fur. Within the brief spurts of light, Silver could’ve sworn he saw the colors of the sky envelop the otherwise cool blues of his fur. The blush on Silver’s muzzle deepened as he admired his friend, fully taking in his features in a way he had never consciously done before. Sonic smiled. “See? It’s alright. You’re safe here.”
The worries faded from Silver’s mind as he continued to stare. The sounds of the storms softened and ebbed away, it felt as though the room itself was vanishing. It was just him and Sonic. He was safe here.
Without thinking, Silver drifted closer to Sonic, lightly pecking their lips together. After pulling back, a silence fell across the air between them. The younger man turned away, biting his lip as if to contain it from acting out again. The storm continued to rage outside, but that was the last thought on his mind. He had always admired the other hedgehog, but he never considered that any deeper feelings existed. But… Why did this feel okay? Why did this make sense? Why did he still feel so safe? His thoughts drifted once again to the other hedgehog’s colors, and the feelings they brought him. How it reminded him of the sky in all of its beautiful hues, how it reminded him of the safety he felt in this present time. How he’s about to lose that because of his impulsiveness. Anxiety spiked once more, overthrowing his thoughts. Surely, Sonic would kick him out for this, send him off to Tails’ or somewhere else. Surely, this was the end of his peace. His thoughts had become so crowded, he only barely registered the feelings of lips softly pressing against his cheek, only becoming alert to the sensation when he felt Sonic’s arm tighten around his side.
“Whuh..?” Silver turned his attention back to the other man. A slight smile had formed in the corner of Sonic’s face, a comforting sight for the time traveler.
“It’s alright…” Sonic reiterated, a tenderness finding its way into his tone. Silver didn’t hesitate, grabbing the blue hedgehog in a tight hug. He had scarcely felt so relieved before, it felt as if time had frozen as the two sat there, embracing each other. The light danced across Sonic’s back, returning to Silver every shade of blue that had been stolen from him by the storm. Minutes went by as the both of them silently relaxed into each other’s warmth, before Sonic finally broke the silence.
“Hey, Silver..?” Sonic asked quietly. Silver made a soft mumble in response, giving Sonic the go ahead to finish his thought. “Do you want me to stay in here with you tonight?”
Silver found himself unable to immediately process what Sonic was saying, in part due to the grogginess that had developed as he laid his head in his friend’s soft fur, in part because the question didn’t feel real to him. He mumbled a half coherent “What?” in response, as his best effort to reply.
“Weather’s not gonna go away anytime soon... Figured you might want company, y’know?” the older hedgehog explained.
“Th-that’d be nice…” Silver affirmed. With a smile, Sonic shuffled Silver off of him briefly as the two laid down, slipping the covers of the bed over themselves and snuggling tightly against each other. “Thank you…” He mumbled as he buried his head close to the other’s peach chest.
“Hey, don’t mention it.” Sonic smiled, holding the white hedgehog closer. “G’night…” Silver mumbled an almost incoherent ‘good night’ in reply, as the two of them began drifting off to sleep.
The sky in the present day had always filled Silver with a sense of comfort. A complete change in the world’s atmosphere to remind him that the dark days of the future couldn’t hurt him here. But while the storms and the darkness of late hours could take the serenity of the sky away, he thought on how none of that mattered. Be it cloudy days or starless nights, the people he’s met here would always stand beside him, so he can rest his eyes in peace. He was never alone here.