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Bronze couldn’t sleep.
It was rare that she ever had trouble falling asleep. She prided herself in being able to sleep whenever and wherever, so her sudden antsiness was bizarre.
A sense of unease had made itself at home in her stomach, keeping her eyes awake and her senses at attention.
Probably drank a soda with caffeine… She thought to herself, shifting on the pillow she had curled up on.
And so, she laid there, staring up at the ceiling of her and her brother’s blanket fort as he slept soundly beside her.
She wasn’t sure what time it was.
The hedgehog sighed, pushing herself up off of the pillow. Taking a walk wouldn’t hurt, right?
Silently, she crept out of the blanket fort and slipped her shoes back on, sneaking out of the door and taking care to shut it silently behind her.
With a disgruntled huff, she started to wander. Down the hall, to the elevator, and down to the lobby floor she went, all the while nervously fiddling with her vest.
She arrived at the ground floor a few moments later, chewing on her lip as she stepped into the lobby.
And paused.
Stepping through the front doors was none other than Dr. Foam and his obnoxious Robo-Chao, his arms full of a computer tablet and various files. Both of them froze upon seeing each other, but the shark quickly relaxed.
“Oh, it’s just you.” Dr. Foam sneered, adjusting his items and continuing to step inside. He approached her, and she glared up defiantly at him. “You’re up awfully early.”
She huffed and wordlessly crossed her arms.
He seemed a little uncomfortable with her lack of response, pausing for a moment before stepping around her and pressing the elevator call button. It opened near instantly, since she had just come out of it, but she turned around and followed him back in.
He gave her a curious look, and she returned it with a scrunched look of distaste.
Dr. Foam rolled his eyes, pressing the third floor button. In order to stave off suspicion, she pressed the fourth floor’s button and went back to standing stock still as the elevator jumped to life.
Neither of them spoke. It was a tense, tense couple of seconds as they approached the third floor.
The bell dinged, and the doors opened, letting Dr. Foam onto the floor. It looked to be mostly offices.
He stepped out, the doors closed, and once the elevator was on its way to the fourth floor, she pressed the third button and waited for it to go back down.
Once she had arrived at her actual destination, she followed quietly in the doctor’s footsteps.
He was long gone, but with the way her quills prickled and the fur on the back of her neck stood up, she couldn’t help but need to investigate. Her intuition rarely ever lead her wrong, after all.
Wasn’t it a little weird that he had arrived so early in the morning? Only weirdos and people who went to the gym were up before the sun rose.
…Which, technically made her a weirdo, but tell her something she didn’t already know.
Her next course of action was simple. If she found Dr. Foam and found him doing nothing of alarm, she would leave him be and go back upstairs. But, on the off chance that he was being shady, she was the only one who could stop him, right?
She passed by a table with an empty vase on it.
Just to be safe, she picked it up and tossed it up and down in her hand. It was dense enough that she could probably use it for self defense, if that was what it came to.
And so, with anxiety gnawing on her heart, she crept forward, checking each of the cubicles for signs of the shark.
With each one she checked, her adrenaline grew higher. The lights were all off, and it felt like she was almost in a horror game of some kind. Or a nightmare.
She tightened her grip on the vase’s neck, holding it like a baseball bat. Her ears were strained forward as far as she could make them go, listening.
And, she did hear something.
Typing, a few meters ahead of her.
She tried to breathe as quietly as she could physically get away with, footsteps near silent against the carpet.
She saw the light of a screen coming from one of the rooms ahead, and she did what she did best. She snuck forward silently, and stopped at the open door to the sizable conference room.
She pressed her back up against the wall, the Robo-Chao’s buzzing giving away that it was definitely Dr. Foam inside of the room, typing away on his keyboard.
She slipped inside undetected, creeping up behind Dr. Foam to see what he was working on.
He was situated at the round table in the center of the room, typing away at his keyboard and seeming completely involved in his projected work. The Robo-Chao simply hovered behind him, also infatuated with whatever he was doing.
As she got closer, she could kind of tell that he seemed to be writing an email. Whether it be by luck or skill, she managed to get close enough to read.
“To: [email protected]
Subject: Final Plans
Good Morning,
I write to you in hopes that you have made the final arrangements for today’s plan. I have confirmed that the three most risk-prone individuals are still in the Embassy. I bumped into the Messiah’s sister on my way here, actually.
Today, I hope to see the world change, as after the hedgehog roundup we will begin our testing immediately. The lab and living quarters have already been prepared, as my assistants are just lovely like that-”
Bronze gasped. She didn’t mean to, but she did and that was a problem.
She was twelve, not stupid. It didn’t take a genius to understand what the email was implying.
Dr. Foam, in turn, also gasped, whipping around to find a shocked young hedgehog wielding a vase behind him, his chao beginning to beep warningly at her.
She had to admit, she didn’t quite think about what she did next before she was already doing it and it was too late to stop.
She raised her vase, and she swung it at the side of the doctor’s head.
A violent, sickening crack filled the air, followed by the breaking of the glass vase and Dr. Foam falling to the floor like a ragdoll.
She stood there for a long moment, staring down at the limp body by her feet in shock. The robot companion went silent for a moment, before mechanically screaming at her.
Oh, gods.
Tentatively, she lowered herself to the ground, and placed a hand on his chest as blood began to pool by his head, head bent in a weird, unnatural way.
He wasn’t breathing.
She almost stopped breathing too.
She stood back up, ever so slowly, and stared down at the corpse with her mouth agape, the vase slipping from her grip and falling onto Dr. Foam as she slowly came to grips with what she had just done.
She had just killed Dr. Foam.
She had somewhat joked about killing him earlier, when they first met him. Calling it an assassination or whatever. But there was a pretty big difference between joking about killing someone dead and actually killing someone dead.
She glanced back at the computer, staring at the email.
Bronze wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to be feeling. Elation? Disgust? Horrified that with her own two hands, she had destroyed someone’s life?
The Robo-Chao continued to yowl, and to her absolute horror, she heard the elevator ding and footsteps run down the hall.
She was rooted to the ground, she couldn’t do anything but stare at the blood on her boots as someone ran in and shouted “Freeze!”
Bronze could see in her periphery that it was Mr. Shadow, armed with a gun and looking disheveled, pausing as he took in the scene in front of him.
It must have been amusing, really. A young hedgehog, standing in front of a corpse in shock, with blood splattered on her vest and shoes as a robot cried out above their heads. All of this taking place in a lightless conference room. At a ridiculously early hour of the morning.
Shadow lowered his gun, exhaling heavily.
She couldn’t look at him. She felt like she couldn’t look at Dr. Foam either, but she couldn't look away either. She had no way to defend her innocence; it was obvious that she had done it.
He approached her cautiously, lowering himself to the ground by Dr. Foam and taking a wrist, checking for a pulse. He muttered something under his breath, and she finally managed to whisper. “I killed him.”
“Yes, you very much did,” Shadow agreed, getting to his feet but seeming generally unbothered.
The two stood there for a long moment, before Shadow turned to his invisible partner, presumably. “Go alert Mephiles. We have evidence to destroy.”
“I’m so sorry,” Bronze whispered, unable to tear her gaze away from the dead body in front of her. “I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to,”
Shadow finally seemed to notice the open computer, and approached it.
A few moments passed, and the older hedgehog sighed, shaking his head. “I do not fault you. You may have just saved our lives.”
Shadow wrapped an arm under her arms and lifted her like she weighed nothing, out of the puddle of blood and glass and into a cleaner side of the room. A few moments later, the elevator dinged again and someone else joined them silently.
Mephiles paused in the doorway, just as Shadow had done before them, and studied the scene with calculated interest. They put a hand on their hip, seeming impressed.
“The child did it?” Mephiles asked, and Shadow nodded.
They turned their attention to Bronze, smiling slyly. “Well, I am certainly glad one of us had the balls to do it.”
Bronze felt a smile pull at her own muzzle, and she returned it sheepishly.
“Alright, we have quite a lot of work to do,” Shadow announced, gesturing generally to Dr. Foam’s dead body on the ground. Suddenly, the obnoxious Robo-Chao hovered in the air, being manhandled by an invisible force and manually shut down. “Thank you, Sonic.”
The commander placed a hand on Bronze’s head. “I will be taking care of her. I expect you two to do what you do best.”
Mephiles rolled their eyes. “I thought that I was in charge of you, not the other way around.”
“Hush. This is serious. We must move quickly, we need the evidence gone by,...” He squinted at the computer. “The time the sun rises. You have two hours and thirty minutes.”
“You are lucky I enjoy this part of my job,” Mephiles rolled their eyes, but stepped into the room fully to inspect the situation and began barking orders at the invisible Sonic.
Shadow scooped Bronze up, carrying her like a small child as he exited the room and left the other two to do the hard part.
Bronze curled up closer to Shadow. “I’m scared.”
“Do not be. Those two are quite good at making things disappear.” Shadow mused.
She rested her head on his shoulder, and they approached the elevator, the doors closing behind them as the bloody scene disappeared.
____
Things went wrong the moment Silver awoke the next morning.
“You are such a crybaby,” Bronze rolled her eyes, watching Silver rock back and forth with tears pricking his eyes on the stairs as he clutched his ankle. “I fall down the stairs all the time and I don’t react like that!”
“I don’t normally use stairs!” Silver bit back, pain radiating up his ankle as he desperately tried to nurse it back into a working condition.
She was right. He had fallen down the stairs. Just a few of them, on their way to breakfast that morning, but it was enough to twist his ankle. And that shit hurts .
Bronze crossed her arms and looked unimpressed.
The elevators were out of order, which was odd. The whole morning felt a little odd, like a held breath, but Silver had abstained from complaining about it.
After a few more minutes of rocking back and forth and waiting for the pain to dissipate, Silver managed to limp his way down the final flight of stairs and into the cafeteria, where he used his pain to leverage his little sister getting food for him.
Yeah. He quite liked this older brother business.
Soon enough, Shadow also joined them, Sonic in tow and floating around happily, using Shadow’s head as a pillow.
“Hey Shadow!” Silver greeted, waving as Bronze finally wandered back, balancing in her hands two plates of identical food. She dropped one in front of him as Shadow settled next to him, Bronze taking her usual place on the other side.
“I figure that you have a right to know,” Shadow began slowly, looking strangely cautious. “Dr. Foam has been reported missing. Supposedly, he returned to this building last night, and after entering the elevator, there exists no footage of him leaving . Please do not be alarmed if you see more security agents here today.”
Silver hummed, nodding with a frown. “That’s alarming. Should we keep an eye out for him?”
“I wouldn’t bother. It is not your job,” Shadow shook his head, leaning against the table. The silvery hedgehog glanced at Sonic, who gave him a flashy smile and a wink.
Oh. Silver thought, choking back a snicker. They totally had something to do with it.
Bronze had gone rather quiet, and he glanced at her as well. She was stiffly shoveling eggs into her mouth, staring straight ahead and looking guilty.
Silver’s eyebrows raised, but he said nothing.
___
That day was relatively quiet, even with the active missing person investigation going on around them. Shadow borrowed Bronze at some point, leaving Silver on his own for a while.
So, instead of risking the stairs again, he went outside and zoomed all the way to the top floor, stopping at Mephiles’ office window and tapping on it.
Mephiles was already standing by the window with their hands behind their back, looking as ominous as ever, but seemed ever so slightly spooked by his sudden appearance.
“Hey!” Silver shouted. “Are you busy?!”
And that was how the time traveller and the god found themselves in a little tea shop down the road, sitting in a pool of sunshine on the patio.
Silver had seen the store while out and about earlier, and figured that since he had time, he should visit, since it was just so pleasant looking. But he also didn’t want to go alone, for fear of kidnapping, and had explained as such on the way.
Mephiles had agreed to come, if just because they were also looking for an excuse to get out of the building. Apparently, they were a regular, as the girl at the counter greeted them by name and asked if they would like their usual.
They were nice enough to give Silver a minute to look over the menu, before picking a boba milk tea and settling at the table outside to people watch.
“It’s hard to believe this is happening,” Silver sighed, watching the world go by with a content expression. “Things aren’t perfect but… y’know,”
He gestured vaguely to the populated street.
“It’s nothing like the original future.” He finished.
Mephiles hummed and nodded, watching as well.
A few moments later, the girl from the front came by with their drinks, dropping off Silver’s with a (reusable metal!) boba straw, and placing Mephiles’ dainty little teacup and a pot in front of them.
They turned to her, suddenly looking very interested. “Tell me, do you have any extra hot tea today?”
Before Silver could question what they meant, she glanced around nervously, then slammed a hand on the table with wide eyes and spoke quickly. “My shift manager is cheating on his wife with Jerry.”
“No!” Mephiles gasped.
Ohhh. They meant tea like gossip.
“How could he! With Jerry ?!” Mephiles continued, horrified.
“I know right! His wife is literally the nicest woman ever! If they divorce, I might try to bag her myself, she deserves so much better.” She agreed, looking mortified.
This whole interaction fascinated Silver. He had never seen Mephiles interact so, well, normally with another Mobian in his life. It was extremely funny.
He sipped his milk tea, happy to watch his friend (?) and the worker go back and forth, filling each other in on workplace drama and who was doing what and when.
___
That evening, Silver received what could have possibly been the best news of his life, sitting in front of the President again as she slid him some paperwork.
She looked worried sick, which made sense. One of her friends was missing, and they still had not found him, nor any trace of where he could have gone.
But, she put on a tired smile and handed him a packet of emancipation paperwork. “All we need you to do is go through and sign a few things, everything else is taken care of.”
Bronze cheered, jumping up and down next to him as she babbled on about how they were going to go home. Silver’s heart swelled.
We’re finally going to go home.
Bronze zoomed off to go tell Shadow (since when were they friends…?) as he started to flip through it. His hands shook the whole time, singing his name here and giving his consent there. And before he knew it, it was done.
“Congratulations, Silver the Hedgehog, you are now a free man,” The President smiled, taking the paperwork. “I don’t normally do social work these days, but I was more than happy to oversee your case. If the Ascendancy ever bothers you again, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the authorities.”
Silver thanked her about a million times over, and left her alone in the room, shutting the door before jumping up and down like an excitable hoglet, tail wagging up a storm behind him.
He was so happy he could just about burst. He was free. He could fix the world from the inside from then on. He was no longer the Messiah, and he could rebuild his life from the ground up with his new family.
That was certainly a step in the right direction.
That night at dinner, Shadow handed the siblings two train tickets, informing them that he had gotten them seats on the final train of the night to Park City, and that it departed in an hour and a half.
Then, came the bittersweet part of the evening.
He wouldn’t miss being stuck in Metropolis, but he would miss the people. And the guaranteed three meals a day.
Silver and Mephiles’ goodbye was brief. Just a simple handshake and a “thank you for your help”. It was nice to leave on such good terms, considering the last time that they had gone their separate ways.
And besides, it wasn’t like this would be the last time that he ever saw them, he was sure of it.
Shadow and Sonic accompanied them to the train station. And as they stood on the platform, even Bronze was a little misty eyed. As the train rolled up, Silver gave Shadow as big of a hug as he could manage.
“If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.” Shadow murmured, squeezing his shoulders.
Silver returned it. “Likewise.”
He then turned his attention to Sonic. “I’ll see you around too. Don’t drive them too crazy,”
Sonic shot him some finger guns, and Bronze took his hand. They exchanged an excited look, and Bronze took the lead, dragging him along with a giggle as she stepped onto the train, and just as he was about to do the same-
___
Something hit Silver square in the forehead, startling him awake as his brain caught up to him. Light filtered in through the opening of the tree house, birds singing just beyond. As his brain attempted to catch up, a second pebble came soaring through the entrance.
Silver caught it effortlessly with his psychokinesis and returned it to its sender.
“OW!”
He rolled over off of his bean bag, onto his knees before popping up to his feet and storming over to the entrance, finding the suspect rubbing a spot on his own forehead unhappily.
He audibly groaned, then shouted to the perpetrator below. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
Sonic stood down below, dressed like a stereotypical tourist with a yellow Hawaiian shirt, a set of sunglasses, and a beach chair slung over his shoulder to boot. He wasn’t alone though, as Amy stood next to him, bearing an umbrella and a beach cover up.
“Yeesh, someone woke up on the pissy side of the bed,” Sonic rolled his eyes, adjusting his sunglasses. “We’re going to the beach! You’re coming with us, remember?”
Silver’s brain lagged, still caught up in the fleeting image of his time-traced ghost. “Excuse me?”
“C’mon, don’t you wanna see me face my fear of the ocean?” Sonic taunted, looking as smug as ever. “I lost that bet, it’s time I pay up.”
Ah, right. After a particularly rowdy post-adventure party, Shadow and Sonic had made a stupid bet about (non alcoholic) jello shots. And Sonic had lost. Badly. And so, Sonic had to survive the beach. Oh goodie.
Silver was not in the mood for their stupid tomfoolery.
“Go away.” Silver growled, turning on his heel and heading back into his shelter.
It was just as he had left it when he had fallen asleep; reasonably cluttered, the rugs littering the floor in need of vacuuming, and his shoes by the door. The little minifridge hummed in the corner, the desk remained a mess of papers and timelines, and the early morning sunlight filtered in through the curtains over the window.
He had forgotten to draw the curtains over the door, which was how Sonic was able to hit him. Even if his beanbag was against the opposite wall.
Say what you will, Sonic had quite the good throwing arm.
“Wha- c’mon Silv!” Sonic whined. It sounded like he dropped his stuff and was beginning to climb the rope to the tree house, poking his head over the floorboards and looking sad. “You could use some sunshine! All you do is sit in there and work,”
“I’m not in the mood right now,” Silver grumbled, flopping onto his beanbag and doing his very best to look visibly irritated.
“Aw, what, nightmare?” Sonic taunted, and his eye twitched.
No. He thought. The most wonderful dream I could ever ask for, interrupted by your bullshit.
“Sonic, let me talk to him,” Amy suggested, and Sonic slid down the rope. Amy climbed up after him, taking her chance with the huffy hedgehog. She looked him up and down, then said “I’ll let you push him in first.”
Silver’s ear flicked, and Sonic’s indignant cry of protest sealed the deal. He rolled his eyes, sighed, and stuck out his tongue. “Fine.”
Amy grinned, and slid back down to the ground below.
With an unhappy sigh, he made quick work of slipping on his arm and leg covers, followed by his gloves, boots, and cuffs. He didn’t bother trying to straighten out his quills or anything, since he was probably going to get sopping wet by the end of the day anyway.
Before he knew it, he leapt from the treehouse to join the two on the ground, not bothering to bring anything else with him. Amy and Sonic yammered and blabbed to each other and dragged him along.
And yet, his mind remained on his dream.
It was the kind of dream that tormented him after his sister died.
He clenched his fists.
He wasn’t fourteen anymore. It had been six years, he needed to get over it. She was gone. That timeline was gone.
Amy and Sonic raced ahead, bickering good heartedly in the way that old friends usually did.
He wasn’t that gangly, awkward teenager anymore. But sometimes, in the fleeting moments of solitude, he still felt like he was.