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"Okay, Silver," Espio said, looking at the silver hedgehog next to him. "I heard from Rouge that this temple is booby trapped, but all our leads lead here. We need to be on guard."
"What kind of booby traps?" Silver asked hesitantly, looking anxious.
"I'm not sure, Rouge didn't tell me. All I know is it's booby trapped, so we need to stay together."
"If it's booby trapped, doesn't that increase the odds of us getting separated?"
"Don't think about it, just stay close to me."
Silver nodded and they entered the temple.
"Keep an eye out for pressure plates, holes in the walls, anything indicative of a trap," Espio said nervously. Silver desperately looked around, trying not to freak out.
"Espio, I don't know if -- ESPIO!"
Espio started panicking as Silver fell through a trapdoor, onto what appeared to be a slide.
"Silver!" Espio took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Okay. He'll be fine. I just need to work on finding him."
Silver fell on his belly and looked around. His ears flattened and his head quills flared.
I need to find Espio.
He started looking for a way out of the room he was in; he was barely paying attention to where he was going and stepped on a pressure plate. Some kind of gas started seeping into the room.
Nonononononono --
Silver started panicking as it got harder for him to breathe. He looked around, trying to find something he could break the wall with.
If I don't calm down, I'll waste any oxygen left in the room. I need to calm down.
Silver took a deep breath. His eyes landed on a stray brick from the temple. He focused all his psychokinesis abilities on picking it up and throwing it at the wall. He successfully broke it and ran out, coughing; his breathing didn't get any easier though.
I'm not in the gas anymore! Why can't I breathe?!
Silver started running around, trying to find Espio. He took a break to try to catch his breath, only minutely succeeding.
I need to find Espio, fast!
Silver continued to run through the temple, trying to find Espio. With every stride, his legs got weaker and weaker, eventually going numb. Seconds later he collapsed on the floor.
"Silver!"
Espio's voice rang in Silver's ears. He tried to make Espio aware of his presence, but he couldn't yell; he was too low on oxygen, and he couldn't get his vocal chords to make any noise anyway. He started crying, trying his hardest to not take panicky breaths so he wouldn't waste them.
"Silver! Are you okay?" Espio ran over to Silver, grabbing the hedgehog's shoulders.
"C-can't … b-breathe …," Silver managed to choke out, still crying.
"I-it's okay, I'll call Vector," Espio said quickly, grabbing out his phone to call the office. "V-Vector, we're in the temple but it's booby trapped and Silver and I got separated. I just found him and he can't breathe, we need help NOW!"
"O-okay, stay calm," Vector told him nervously. "If he needs CPR, make sure you give it to him. If you're in the temple, he probably got gassed, and it might send him into cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen. Keep him calm, try to see if you can get him breathing again."
"Must be a strong gas if it's working this fast and for this long after he got out of the room," Espio said, panicking. "O-okay, roger that. We're near the front of the temple, make sure whoever comes knows."
"Got it."
Espio hung up and turned his attention back to Silver. Through his fur, he saw that his lips were blue.
All I can do now is make sure he has air.
Espio got Silver laying on his back.
"Silver, I'm going to try to help you breathe, okay?"
Silver nodded, trying his hardest to stay conscious.
"O-okay." Espio tried to calm himself down and kissed Silver, making sure he got some air to Silver in the process. He took his face away from Silver's.
"I'm going to try to get you outside, it might help," Espio said, eliciting another nod from Silver. Espio picked Silver up, only to find he himself was starting to have trouble breathing. His eyes widened and he started crying.
I must've somehow had whatever gas Silver inhaled transferred to me!
Espio got himself and Silver as close to the temple's entrance as he could, collapsing before they could get out. Espio hugged Silver tightly and started sobbing.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you Silver …."
Espio's breathing started to get more and more rapid as he started panicking; Silver was passed out.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry …."
Espio's brain was going fuzzy. He was somehow doing worse than Silver had, despite not even having been gassed.
I have … to stay … conscious ….
Espio passed out soon after having the thought.
"We need to get them on oxygen!" Tails said desperately. "Vector, Knuckles, help me get them out of here!"
"On it," Vector and Knuckles said in unison, quickly grabbing Silver and Espio. They ran out of the temple.
"Do they even still have pulses?" Rouge asked anxiously. Tails checked both Espio and Silver for a pulse; it was barely there.
"Barely, if we don't get them oxygen soon, they'll die."
They quickly took Espio and Silver to Tails' plane; luckily, he'd installed medical equipment and a med bay in it after making it a bit bigger not long before, enabling Silver and Espio to get oxygen while they got them both medical attention. Tails sped to a nearby hospital, making sure he let the ER doctors and nurses know what had happened.
Tails went back to his plane and leaned on it. His eyes started watering. There was a blue streak and Sonic was next to him.
"I heard what happened," he said, leaning against the plane next to Tails. "Are you doing okay?"
"N-no," Tails whispered, hugging Sonic. "If we'd been even 30 seconds longer, they would've -- they would've d-died. It's lucky I made my plane bigger and added a med area."
"Well, you got them here in time at least," Sonic said comfortingly. "They should make it."
"They'll probably end up with some kind of brain damage," Tails whispered.
"It's okay, buddy, you did all you could," Sonic said quietly. "The hospital staff can take it from here."
Tails sat on the ground, still crying, and wrapped his tails around himself. Sonic sat down next to him, hugging him tightly.
"Everything's going to be okay. Let's go inside and wait in the lobby. Hopefully they'll keep us updated."
Tails followed Sonic inside and they sat down in the lobby. Tails wrapped his tails around himself again.
"I'll go let them know why we're here, okay?" Sonic said, looking at Tails with a concerned expression. Tails nodded. Sonic walked over to the receptionist table. "We're friends of Espio the Chameleon and Silver the Hedgehog, the two that were just admitted for asphyxia."
"Okay, we'll keep you updated on their conditions."
Sonic walked back to Tails and started rubbing his back.
"They'll be okay, buddy," he told him.
After a while, a nurse came out and walked over to them.
"They'll survive but they lost too much oxygen. A CT scan showed that they'll probably end up with permanent brain damage."
"They're okay, that's what matters," Tails mumbled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
It was a few days before Espio and Silver woke up. Both of them had had a few seizures in that time; a result of the brain damage, their neurologist said. It luckily and almost miraculously appeared as though seizures were the only thing to result from the brain damage.
"Wh -- what happened?" Silver asked after he was fully awake. Vector, Sonic, Tails, and Charmy were sitting around him and Espio.
"You -- you ended up with asphyxia after being gassed in a booby trapped temple," Tails said quietly. "You almost didn't make it. We barely got to you in time."
Silver's eyes widened as Espio started groaning.
"Espio!"
Silver got off his bed and hugged Espio tightly.
"Silver, you shouldn't be out of your bed," Vector told him with a worried glance. Silver ignored him. Espio smiled slightly and curled into Silver's touch.
"We -- we're alive," he said weakly, tears running down his face. His eyes widened and he turned bright pink. "And I kissed you."
"Espio, you were trying to save my life," Silver said with a laugh. "Of course you were going to kiss me, how else was I going to get air?"
Espio relaxed again. Silver got in his bed next to him, cuddling him.
"You two are going to get your IVs tangled," Sonic said, snorting.
"Doesn't matter, this is comforting," said Espio, glaring at him.
"Dude, are you seriously going to make the nurses do more work?"
Espio ignored him and buried his face in Silver's chest fur. A nurse came in, smiling when she saw Espio and Silver half asleep in each other's arms.
"Okay, lovebirds, I need to check your vitals," she said; Espio grabbed Silver tighter. The nurse sighed. "Okay, I can try to do it without you two moving."
It wasn't long before Espio and Silver fell asleep, not that anyone minded.
They were alive, and that's what mattered.