Chapter Text
Silver wandered around the future, knowing that it was simply devastated once more. Eggman had figured out how to harness a crystal called the Paradox Prism, letting him bend reality to his will and create the Eggman Empire... As well as live eternally.
He sighed, keeping himself hidden in the shadows. And for a brief moment, this was as normal as things could be.
And then a crack appeared in reality itself. Silver froze, backing up from it as he began to see the sky fall apart and buildings collapse.
The ground was giving out to a void beneath him, making him leap up into the sky to keep himself out of harms way. He saw the world tremble and shatter, seeing how close it was to collapsing as it began to glitch out.
With one last look, he warped himself back to the past, hoping to figure out what was going on and how to stop it.
Silver fell directly into Green Hill, seeing a pretty much normal sight. He looked around, only to see a massive wave of prismatic energy strike everything and bathe it into a monochromatic palette. He noticed one figure in front of him, flying up to him.
"No problem, Sonic." ghost Big repeated.
Silver paused, waving his hand in front of him.
"No problem, Sonic."
There wasn't a response. He couldn't even see him. Just what was happening here...?
"No problem, Sonic."
"Okay, that's getting annoying." Silver left the ghost Big behind, wandering around and trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
He noticed more ghost versions, this time of Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge.
... What happened? That's all Silver wanted to know.
He sighed, trying to find any more semblances of life in this place. However, it was just a ghost town to him.
... Ghost Hill. It wasn't green, lush, and full of life like Green Hill. It was desolate, cold, and full of ghosts inhabiting it.
Silver just stopped trying to figure out a way to fix this, wandering around the world until he saw a figure fall from a portal and to the ground in the distance.
He flew up to them, seeing none other than...
"Shadow?!" Silver exclaimed, flying up to him.
"Silver! What are you doing here?" Shadow asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing! But thank goodness you're here! This world is crazy, it's full of ghosts and stuff and it's so blank and lonely! Please tell me where you've been I wanna know!"
"Slow down. What happened to you?"
"The future collapsed! I came here to fix the past, only to see this weird blast of energy from that temple mountain. Then everything just became grey with ghosts in it!"
"Ghosts...? Can you show me one?"
"Sure... Follow me." Silver said, gently pulling Shadow along the open and empty Ghost Hill.
They headed over to the beach, where Silver stopped at seeing ghost Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge.
Shadow froze the moment he saw Rouge, walking up to her.
"Rouge...?" he asked softly, trying to get her attention.
"They won't react to anything... I've tried." Silver sighed.
"You might not like the way I do things, but I get things done." she repeated.
"... Right, they're ghosts." Shadow paused, stepping back from her.
"So what happened?" Silver asked curiously.
"Sonic. He shattered the Paradox Prism... He broke our reality. That's why home is gone!"
"Oh! I... He did that?!"
"Yes! I tried to stop him, but he just wouldn't listen to me!"
"Then maybe... We can find him and stop him. Do you know where he is?"
"In another world. Do you know how to leave this world?"
"No... Do you?"
"I don't think so... But from what I've gathered, Sonic, by going fast enough, can thin the veil to the void and potentially warp out. Perhaps we can do the same."
"Yeah... Yeah, that could work! We just need to catch him before he can do anything else."
"Exactly. So let's go. And if you need my help picking up speed, just hold onto me."
"Nah." Silver floated up with his psychokinesis.
"I already got it covered."
Shadow gave a quick nod, turning back and speeding off. Silver flew after him, the two keeping up with one another before they finally warped out of Ghost Hill.
Silver slammed into a dull shard, losing his balance and hold on his powers.
"Ow..." He groaned, getting back up.
"Get used to it." Shadow drifted up beside him.
Silver blinked, looking around. He stared at the yellow gateway they just came from for a moment.
"That portals to Ghost Hill?!"
"Yes. And right now, we need to-" Shadow saw a beacon shoot out of the red gateway and fly into the green one.
"... That was Sonic, wasn't it?" Silver asked after a moment.
"Yep."
"And what's he doing now?"
"... Messing around and not focusing on fixing his world like he's supposed to!"
"Does he know that he needs to fix reality?"
"... No."
"Then how do you expect him to do so when he doesn't even know that he has to?"
Shadow paused, seeing that Silver had a point to what he said.
"So... What now?"
"Don't fall to that void below. Pretty sure it's a black hole." Shadow pointed to the black void below that contrasted the violet hues of the void.
"... Got it."
"Keep track of Sonic. I need to study the world you came from, alright?"
"Okay."
"And if a figment of him comes up, talk to him. Try to bring him here."
"Got it." Silver flew over to the green gateway, waiting for an opportunity to get his attention.
Shadow drifted back into Ghost Hill, while Silver waited in the void and began to look around and explore what was going on. He then spotted a hovercraft fly through the red gateway, then smash into some dull shards and spiral out of control.
Silver leapt into action, catching the shuttle as he positioned it upright.
"Hello? You okay?" he asked the young fox inside.
"Who are you?!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Silver. Who are you?"
"... My name is Nine."
"Cool! Where are you heading?"
"I need to repair my Shatterstorm. Do you know of a good place nearby?"
"There isn't much ground here but..." Silver paused, seeing the nearby purple gateway.
"That way!" he helped float the aircraft towards it.
"Does it have solid land inside there?" Nine asked.
"Not sure... But it wouldn't hurt to check." Silver shrugged.
"Right... Can you let go of the Shatterstorm, though?"
"Right! Sorry, heh." Silver let go of it, letting Nine fly it through the gateway.
He returned to the green portal, finally seeing a figment of Sonic begin to appear while he was running.
"Sonic! We're lost in the void! You have to keep going!" he urged.
"Silver?! But I thought-" the figment cut out before Sonic shot out like a comet and into the red gateway.
Silver fell back, shocked that Sonic could move so quickly. He didn't even have an opportunity to grab him.
He flew up to the red gateway just as Shadow returned.
"Had any luck?" he asked.
"No... But you never told me that Tails had a twin brother!" Silver said.
"That's not Tails. That's an alternate version of him named Nine." Shadow corrected.
"Ooh! That makes more sense... So Nine isn't Tails... Just a fragment of them because reality shattered?"
"Yep."
"Gotcha! So... I just met him. He's through that purple gateway right now."
"I'll keep watch of the red gateway. If you'd like to explore, you can."
"Oh, uh... No. I think I'll just stay with you."
"Got it."
The two had remained in position, now at the blue gateway. Shadow saw the final figment, silently directing Silver to hold onto a dull shard to slam into Sonic.
The moment he flew through, he threw it into him, stopping his drifting as Sonic resteadied himself.
"Shadow...? Silver? Look, I don't have time to deal with... Whoever you two are. I just wanna go home..." Sonic said.
"Home? Home doesn't exist anymore, because of YOU!" Shadow leapt off the dull crystal, charging in to punch Sonic in the face.