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"We'll get him, Whisper. We've done it before and we'll do it again," Tangle tried to appease as the trio stepped inside the new—and still in-progress—Restoration base.
Whisper had not even realized she had begun growling under her breath and made sure to stop the sound at once; which did nothing to stop the raging in her chest. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Tangle searching her eyes. The wolf's angry posture withered and she caved into her friend's hug.
Silver watched the exchange without really registering it. The frown on his face spoke of the gears spinning wildly inside his head.
They had lost Mimic's trail somewhere over Ice Cap and had not gotten any leads after that, choosing to rendezvous at the base for a while before trying again. He had been so close to unmasking that scoundrel back before the shuttle incident, so, so close it made him ache. Mimic would not get away a second time—Silver owed as much to himself, and especially to Whisper.
Wood pattering against tiles and a familiar voice jolted him back to reality, joined shortly after by the hum of a Motobug. "You're back!"
"Hey, Belle," he answered, a genuine, if tired smile ready on his face. "Back already too?"
She patted Motobud's head. "Just resting up a bit before pressing on. Also repairing the little guy." Her mouth twitched in a cringe. "People outside the Restoration were…unfriendlier than I expected when it came to him." Silver winced, and Belle just shrunk. "Anyway, what about you guys?"
His eyes strayed towards Tangle and Whisper, his smile promptly vanishing. "Same. Just resting up."
"Belle!" The marionette was tackled in a bear hug—or rather, a lemur hug, tail and all. "Weird tail buddies back together!"
Belle laughed. "H— Hey, Tangle. Jewel is here too if you want to see her; I'm sure she's missed you."
"Lead the way!" Despite her words, it was Tangle who lunged further into the base, dragging Belle along by the arm and bombarding the tinkerer with questions about every new thing she spotted along the way. Motobud's engine hummed happily as it went along with them.
Hedgehog and wolf, left behind, took their time falling into step at a far calmer and quieter pace. Silence lingered for a long while before Silver broke it.
"Tangle is right, you know," he said firmly. "Mimic is not getting away much longer. Not after all he's done. I promise you."
Whisper allowed him a small smile, and Silver could only hope she had taken him seriously. "Thank you."
It would take a few more minutes of silence before anyone spoke up again. Whisper was the one to break the quiet this time, though; by laughing, of all things.
"Remembered when we met. You wanted to be my team."
"And in the end I did, didn't I?" he grinned back. "And I found you're an even better friend than you are a hero; which is saying something."
Whisper's smile softened, less of an answer and more of a reaction, mind unburdened by thoughts of Mimic and revenge for the first time in days, even if for only a moment. Comfortable silence settled for the rest of their walk until they had crossed the base and arrived at what used to be his Victory Garden.
A very excited Tangle gestured wildly, seemingly recounting some grand tale to Jewel and Belle. She had the beetle in a tight side hug as the two sat on a wooden board on the floor, while Belle took the swing.
There was an empty chair nearby.
"Whisper, Silver, good to see you! Welcome back!" Jewel greeted them as the two joined them and sat on the grass.
(That one plastic chair remained empty.)
"How's Emeraldville's restoration going?" Silver asked.
The tiny sigh that escaped Jewel was not lost on him, nor were the dark circles under her eyes. "It's…going. A lot slower than Lano and I expected. Maybe we did bite more than we could chew, after all." Tangle squeezed her a little harder and she seemed to catch herself. "But it's going fine! We're just tired," she finished it off with a crooked smile that very much proved her point.
Silver eyed the empty chair. "Where is Lanolin?"
"Oh, she was just here. She must've gone inside the shed to get something for these." She poked one of the boards closest to her with her foot.
Silver and Tangle exchanged a quick glance—hers containing an uncharacteristic amount of vitriol. The hedgehog climbed to his feet. "I'm gonna go see if she needs any help." And he was gone before any of them could question him.
The shed had been the home to all of his tools and provisions for the garden. The tools were still there, rusted with disuse, and all the fertilizers piled up in one of its corners had probably gone bad months ago. The tiny wooden space was now filled to the brim with all sorts of materials for Emeraldville's reconstruction, and Silver's chest tightened a little at the sight—as if it was the final nail in his beloved garden's coffin.
He shook that thought off of his head and instead focused on the only other person in there.
"Lanolin?" he called. She startled and whipped around, not really calming down when she noticed it was him. "Do you need help carrying anything?"
It was obvious as she began moving around that the sheep was only pretending to be busy. "Oh no, it's fine. I just…" she grabbed a random tool from a board on the wall, "...I just needed this, I'll be right back."
She wanted Silver to leave, and, whether he did not pick up on it or deliberately chose to ignore it, the result was the same: he stayed. And Lanolin fidgeted.
He looked out of the window. "I have these...recurring dreams." Lanolin stopped fidgeting, caught off guard by the drastic subject change. "Someone appears and hands me the solution for saving the future for good. And all I have to do is kill this one person."
She stiffened. The former leader of the Diamond Cutters did not (want to) believe Silver would ever turn on any of them (she owed him as much). But his eyes were icy as he spoke, and he had a ruthless streak in him—she did not care to see it directed at herself.
"Except, when I'm so, so close to doing it," he went on, "I find out the person I'm trying to kill is innocent—I've been tricked. And I almost took a life for it." He tilted his head, something dark marring his gaze. "I am terrified of letting that happen; becoming so desperate in the name of hope that I end up committing some unforgivable sin. Something I can't fix or take back."
Lanolin felt heat rising from her neck to her ears, making it difficult to breathe, and the shed suddenly felt very small for just the two of them. Surely, it was not just her being paranoid—Silver had a point, and she could see it coming a mile away.
The hedgehog turned to stare her in the eye, and the heat she felt turned into a chill spreading across her whole body.
"What you did was not that." His voice reminded her to pay attention to her surroundings and not to the mess going on in her head. "It was not irreversible, nor was it unforgivable. You had everyone's best interest in mind and did what you judged was best. You were wrong, and we saw the consequences of that." Lanolin scrambled to look away. "But I suppose I'd rather fight alongside someone who makes mistakes because she cares too much than someone who doesn't care at all."
"I think you'd rather fight alongside someone who doesn't make those sorts of mistakes at all," she said weakly.
And he snorted, much to her surprise. "That'd be ideal, wouldn't it? But also very hypocritical of me to ask."
Lanolin stared at Silver in stunned silence for a moment, before reminding herself that she needed to breathe. As her mind slowly slowed down from its anxious state, she took the time to mull over what he had said, trying to find some semblance of comfort or absolution in it. Instead, it left her feeling hopeless.
"How do we do it, then?" she fished for words. "How can we trust anything?"
Silver smiled, melting that intense look away from his face. Lanolin was hit with how much younger it made him look. Actually, it just made him look his age.
"You find someone you can count on. In those moments when nothing makes sense and you feel you can't trust anything, they will be your anchor to reality." He looked out of the window again. The seasons were changing—it would be Fall soon. His eyes softened as he spoke. "In these dreams, I sometimes have someone like that. When I'm in the thick of trying to decide what to believe, she feels like solid ground beneath my feet I can stand on. She helps me realize what I need to do. The dream always ends on a happier note when she's there."
The way his gaze wanders as he says that last sentence makes Lanolin doubt its veracity, but she doesn't see the point in questioning Silver's interpretation of his own dreams, of all things—and she does not feel brave enough to question Silver, period.
He looks back at her, and she doesn't flinch this time. His smile is back at full force, and he reaches a hand out to her. "We can be that to each other. As a group. As a team. You can decide to trust me, and I will make sure to honor that."
Despite herself, Lanolin found it in her to smile back. Chaos, Silver was so weird to her. Terrifying, comforting, and inspiring. All at once. Then again, all of Sonic's friends seemed to be like that—maybe she was the weird one, to be so normal.
She took his hand in a meek, but confident handshake. "And you can decide to trust me. And I promise to do everything in my power to honor that."
"Now c'mon, let's catch up with everyone," he nodded back towards the door, leading the way.
He took a hammer and handed her a screwdriver and some nails before leaving the shed—no one had to know they had not simply been looking for tools that whole time. Silver called to the group as soon as they were within earshot. "Hey, is the kitchen already working? Amy taught me a recipe forever ago that I still haven't gotten to try."
Jewel's affirmative response was drowned out by Tangle's loud whooping. "Is it sweet?"
He cupped his mouth to shout back, "Apple pie!"
"Aw yeah!!" She flopped backward onto the grass, pulling a nonplussed Jewel along with her. "I love you guys!"
Silver stopped next to the swing, laughing together with Belle. He caught Lanolin stifling an amused sigh and grinned to himself—a slow start was still a start, after all.
"Lano and I talked about it and we'd like to offer to move the repair jobs to the opposite side of the shed, so you can have your garden back."
Silver stared back at Jewel, stunned, and felt his heart make a somersault. He had since fallen into a steady routine helping around the base—there was always something that needed lifting or moving that could use his telekinesis, after all. It was tedious and left his mind all too vulnerable for all sorts of thoughts to creep up, but it had to be done, and he would not just sit around and do nothing. He wanted his garden back more than anything but also recognized that it was not urgent work like what the rest of them were doing.
"I wouldn't want to put everyone through the trouble."
Lanolin rolled her eyes before she could stop herself. "We figured you'd say something like that, so we already moved everything." She crossed her arms and looked away, fidgeting with her gloves. "...We miss your garden. I think it gave everyone a sense of normality, something to look forward to."
Well, that he could work with. Silver took to the air, hovering above the crate he had been sitting on, beaming. "Then tell everyone the new garden is going to be bigger and better than the last!" And, just like that, he was gone, leaving Jewel to laugh in his wake and Lanolin to roll her eyes once again, but out of amusement rather than exasperation.
It had taken the better part of two days to get the backyard to a state where Silver could even begin to think about growing anything in it. By the time he had dragged in a coaster wagon filled with seedlings, the tools and materials for Emeraldville's restoration had already been moved away like Lanolin had told him, but there had still been rubble he needed to get rid of—branches, fallen trees, and remains of the shuttle.
That last one had made his stomach churn, but he jotted that feeling down.
He had also made sure to scoop up as much natural waste from the old garden as possible to use as compost for the new one. Once the land was clear, however, there was nothing to distract from the soil's current state: dry, broken and, in his experience, utterly unable to birth life. Part of him felt silly for having hoped for anything else—along with metal, the shuttle had spilled oil and chemicals that were not exactly plant-friendly upon impact.
Silver stood in the middle of the garden for a moment, weighing his options on how to proceed. "An analogy for all his time-traveling efforts," he had told Blaze that garden was, and the weariness he felt now was very similar to the ones right before leaving his future to the past in yet another attempt to make things right. But, no matter how hopeless it felt, he always did so, and this would not be any different.
But, Chaos, he wished Blaze was there with him. Not just because her presence was appreciated regardless, but also because her ability to cause a controlled fire would save him a lot of trouble. He might just have to take the slower route with watering and composting for a few months before being able to plant anything.
"How's the garden going?" He glanced over his shoulder to find Tangle and Whisper stepping out of the building and inside the garden. "Jewel said you'd be here."
Silver sighed. "Restoring the soil would be much easier if Blaze was here. She scorched it for me last time, and that made it much easier for everything to grow."
One of the wisps trailing Whisper piped up at his words. It seemed to squeak something towards the wolf and, with an approving smile from her, the little red alien dashed over the whole expanse of the destroyed garden, leaving a blazing tail in its wake. It then fluttered up to a wide-eyed Silver to rub its face against his.
That seemed to pull Silver back to reality. "Thanks, little guy," he grinned back at the wisp, sparing it a little head-pat. The giddy feeling of hope flared in his chest—the same one he would get upon finding a new lead on how to save his future. "Now we can begin!" Silver turned to Tangle and Whisper. "You guys wanna help?"
Whisper nodded and Tangle saluted. "Just say the word, Master Gardener!"
A trip to the shed later, the trio had shovels and hats. The wagon with seedlings had been moved to the side, and Silver used his telekinesis to bring it to the center of the garden where they stood and to move almost all of the sprouts out of it.
"Tangle, you can begin with the plums over there, along that grove." He pointed northward. "They'll like the shade the taller trees provide and can borrow nutrients from them as well."
Tangle promptly grabbed the wagon with the plum saplings in it and made her way toward the grove. "Aye, aye, captain!"
"Whisper, you can stay here with the cherry trees. They grow to be pretty big, so they'll have plenty of space here, away from the building."
"Okay." Whisper kneeled by the cherry saplings and produced a pocket knife from her belt to cut their roots free from the ropes keeping them in place.
Silver grabbed the remaining seedlings with his telekinesis and made his way to the spot he had picked for them. A grin grew on his face. "And I'll handle the apple trees."