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The chamber was quiet. Only the low hum of supportive machinery and flickering of a red light above gave any indication that something might be alive within. Dozens of long-gone Badnik husks were strewn across the floor like iron cadavers, forgotten, rusted. At the centre stood a containment pod, half-shrouded in shade. Condensation traced slow, precise lines down the reinforced glass, catching the sterile red light. Inside, the being shifted, a titan frozen in time. The containment pod hissed. Hydraulic locks disengaged one by one.
Then, the front panel lowered slowly, exhaling hot steam like a sleeping giant finally exhaling. The being within unfurled with inhuman grace - limb by limb, actuator by actuator. Its chrome plating gleamed as its internal systems powered on. A few minutes later, it stood and took its first step into the outside-inside world. The air around it trembled as its fusion drive cycled once, then stabilized.
It looked around - not with the childlike curiosity of its predecessors, but with precision. The dismembered Badniks before it registered as nought more than static. It was not one of them. It could feel the power coursing through its frame. Energy. Control. Power.
Unlike its predecessors, it came into the world alone.
Unlike its predecessors, it did not mind.
"I have more stars than you."
A familiar clang of metal echoed off the warehouse's corrugated walls, the cool air humming faintly with residual machine warmth and the faint scent of oil and paint.
"Liar."
The word was spat out like a playful jab.
"No you!"
"No, you."
"What?"
Neo and Silver both turned to see a small Egg Pawn waddling toward them, its engine whirring quietly, paint chipped and scratched from years of use. This guy needed a makeover soon, Silver noted to himself diligently. He would see to that.
"What are you talking about?" It asked.
Silver grinned, optics gleaming with mischief. "Oh! You don't know about the chores chart? You get stickers when you pitch in around the home, and the 'bot with the most stickers earns... something. And so far, I'm the winner."
"More like weiner." Neo signed, the subtle squeak of his joints audible as he leaned back with a dismissive wave.
"More like the best cleaner! Have you even used your wrist lasers to strip paint from the wall? Wait, you don't have any, sucks to be you."
Neo slapped a star sticker from its sheet on the wall onto Silver's forehead. "Gold star for effort."
Silver pouted at him. "Effort at what? And don't say something sarcastic or mean."
Silver reached up to peel it off but struggled, his blunt fingertips fumbling to catch the slick edges of the shiny sticker. He let his hand fall down to his side and smiled innocently. Neo frowned at him. Silver grinned back. The glint of playful rivalry sparked between them. The next moments involved one 276-pound blue death machine and its younger silver counterpart throwing each other across the warehouse building. Before long, their home was filled with the thunderous thud of metal bodies colliding, the clang and clatter of metal limbs locking and pushing, each impact sending an echo down the long aisles.
The Egg Pawn gawked in silent astonishment as Silver threw Neo against the towering racking, his heavy frame sliding with a sharp scrape and rattle.
Pinned against the metal shelves, Neo's engine revved—a low, vibrating growl—while their to-do list pinned to the wall fluttered down to the floor with a faint rustle.
TO-DO LIST:
- Get paint for Egg Pawns
- Repair hole in ceiling (Silver's fault)
- Repair hole in aisle F10 racking (Neo's fault)
- Re-seal flooring in entranceway (Silver's fault)
- Scrub oil stains on the breakroom floor (Neo's fault) (WAS NOT) (Was too)
- Replace HDMI cable (Silver chewed it) (I DID NOT!)
- Replenish Egg Pawn ammunition supply
Completely unfazed by the two war machines' sparring, their eldest sibling walked by and picked up the paper list. She held it up and studied it. Interesting. Her siblings had assigned blame to each other by writing next to the tasks. Why not simply speak to each other face-to-face? Surely that would be more efficient.
The sharp revving of Neo's engine broke the moment's quiet as Silver launched himself in a flying tackle, landing on Neo with a loud clank and a rush of displaced air. These days, Neo and Silver were almost evenly matched in many aspects: most notably, speed, strength, and flight skills. So, putting the two of them together in the same room with space to play fight was a recipe for disaster. They grappled and growled, the sheer force shaking the metal racks as if a storm passed through.
Mecha's voice cut through the chaos — calm, steady, but commanding.
"Greetings, my brothers."
Neo looked down whilst pushing Silver away with a hand in his face. Silver slapped his hand away and, without the support of said hand, fell on to Neo with a clank.
"Your actions threaten to increase the size of the task list," Mecha warned, voice smooth as polished steel, "Please, cease this behaviour, or take it outside."
"You heard her." Silver murmured into Neo's shoulder. He would have stayed there a while longer, but made a point of sitting up to free up Neo's hands.
"You started it." Neo signed.
Silver shifted, dangling his feet over the edge of the racking, the cool metal pressing gently into his own. "Mecha, it's Neo's fault."
"I am not taking sides," Mecha said evenly, pinning the list back onto the wall with a soft click. "You are both as bad as each other."
Neo and Silver looked at each other for a moment.
"You're worse." Neo signed.
"No, you." Silver whispered.
"Supershit."
"Why do you still call me that? Isn't your thing, like, you picking on me for not having a super form? So using the word super is a dumb thing for you to do."
Neo shrugged a shoulder. "You give up on super form?"
Silver paused, thinking. "Uhhh... I don't know. I haven't thought about it for a while." As he unfolded his arms, he caught the glimmer of the gold star on his forehead reflecting in the shine of his paint.
His optics lingered there for a little while.
Chaos Control was a delicate, art-like thing. Silver Sonic MK II was surrounded by accomplished Chaos Control users - his two brothers, Mecha and Neo, as well as Sonic himself. The thought was mildly frustrating, and it begged one tiny little very important question:
"Why can't I use Chaos Control?"
Mecha looked up from the smooth, softly rustling pages of her book. "Pardon?"
Silver plopped down beside her feet, the hard concrete pressing cool against his chassis. "You, Neo, and Sonic can do it. What's stopping me? I'm not so different from you guys am I?"
Mecha slowly closed her book with a soft snap, regarding him fully, her tone even and steady. "To harness Chaos energy, you must first understand what it means to do so. Tell me, what is your definition of Chaos energy."
Silver hesitated, the faint whir of his internal systems underscoring his pause. "It's, uh… gamer juice. It turns you into a super gamer. Oh, I don't know! I don't know exactly. It's from the Chaos Emeralds, and it makes you really powerful. Nobody in a super form has ever lost a fight, as far as I know."
Mecha rose to stand to show attentiveness. "Your simplified explanation is not too far off. Chaos energy is generated by the seven Chaos Emeralds and their controller, the Master Emerald. The seven Emeralds are capable of manifesting one's thoughts as power. This applies to all living beings. This power can be channeled tangibly, in such a manner that it is felt in the body. However, this power can become extremely destructive, able to pierce the very stars above you."
Silver tilted his head to one side. "Huh. Okay, I get that. But if it can be super destructive, then that's bad, right? If the wrong person uses it, I mean."
Mecha shook her head. "Chaos energy exists in two forms, positive and negative. The form it takes depends on the sensations in one's heart. Put simply, perhaps a little too plainly so - if one is acting with good intentions, for example, acting out of consideration for another being, the energy will become positive. Positive energy appears to be superior in power to negative, though, this has not been adequately studied. Perhaps, this is an avenue of study that I should explore."
Listening attentively, Silver nodded. "So good wants to prevail, and it's in the very nature of the energy that makes up our world. I'm gonna barf. Bleh."
Mecha's shoulders relaxed slightly, her frame seeming to sigh though mechanically restrained. "Please refrain. But, returning to the former query you posed - when Chaos energy is applied to a living being, it can temporarily enhance its innate talents and skills. It is only when it is channeled further, with intent to do so, that it becomes usable as one of the many Chaos powers. The basis of most Chaos powers is Chaos Control, wherein one may warp the fabric of time and space."
Silver stared at her, unmoving. "Uh-huh. That's... complicated."
Mecha considered that response for a moment. To her, channeling this kind of energy was just second nature. The ability to harness it was in her very circuits, after all - so to someone who had never used it before, it would all sound a bit much. Maybe she needed to simplify it a little again. And, looking down at his little brother, Mecha was fondly reminded of his time training a younger Neo in the art of Chaos Control. He recalled the way the days-old robot looked at him with fascination and glee upon succeeding, and how back then, he hadn't truly understood why that was. He wanted the same for the little brother standing before him, too.
Maybe the use of positive Chaos energy was something they could explore together. Mecha would have liked that. To share in learning.
With this in mind, Mecha relented. "If you wish to learn, I will teach you. You are more than capable, I am certain. However, it will require both patience and concentration. Are you able to harness these powers first and foremost?"
"Sarcasm, M?" Silver more stated than asked.
"Indeed, S. We shall depart now, before the weather conditions worsen. Come."
Silver smiled and hopped over to stand by her side. "Where are we going?"
"Outside," Mecha responded simply.
"Well, duh. Where to outside though?"
"Does the destination matter so much, brother? You will see. Follow me."
The warehouse doors slid open with a smooth hiss, and a fresh breeze swept in from outside.
It took just a couple of minutes for the brothers to reach the entrance of a rocky canyon. The pathway dropped off into a gorge filled with fresh, dark green conifers. A light drizzle of rain showered them. It probably would have smelled fresh and pine-like, if they could smell at all. As the road sloped steeply downwards, the brothers slowed to a walk, taking in the raw beauty and power of the natural world around them.
Silver walked slowly, the uneven ground crunching softly underfoot, his optics catching droplets that clung to needles and pinecones. He began collecting damp pinecones, feeling their rough texture, the intricate ridges almost alive beneath his fingertips. He wondered briefly about the creatures that made them—did it hurt them? What sort of animal laid these? Did it hurt them to-
"Brother. Focus."
"But they're cool-lookin'. I wanna look closer." Silver murmured, squinting at one particularly large pinecone. Why was this one so much bigger than the others?
A small pause told Silver that Mecha was reconsidering.
"You may bring one, and only one." Mecha answered, holding up one finger to underline her words.
Silver grumbled to himself. "But now I have to choose between all of them! So I gotta look at more to be able to pick..."
Mecha turned his head gently, her voice firmer but kind. "If you cannot focus on the task at hand, we should turn back. You must be adequately prepared to use Chaos energy for the first time. It is no small matter and could be dangerous. That is why we are in an open region away from other beings."
Silver winced. "Fine... no need to get sharp with me."
Mecha straightened, taken aback. "Was my tone sharp? I apologize. It was not intentional. My only intention is to keep you safe."
"It's cool." Silver reassured her, glad to hear her intentions laid out plainly.
The brothers ventured inward, surrounded by towering, powerful rock faces on either side of them. This little-known landmark cut through the plains that surrounded their warehouse home. The gradient from semi-arid to forest was quite stark, a testament to what once was, before the railroads were built closer to home.
"So, uh, why are we here specifically? There's loads of open spaces we could have picked, but why this one?" Silver finally asked. He stashed a single pinecone in the compartment of his forearm.
"I would like you to figure that out. Once you have, tell me." Mecha answered.
Silver pouted at that for a second. Damn, she didn't make this easy. Why did this Chaos stuff have to be so cryptic? Focus, Silver, focus - he looked around slowly, searching for any clues. Rocks. Rocks. More rocks. A few trees. Another rock. A pinecone. A puddle. A pinecone floating in a puddle. Did those actually come from trees?
"Focus." Mecha reminded him gently.
"OH- Uh, well, because it's hidden away and nobody can see us?" Silver finally offered. That probably wasn't it, for it was far too simple.
"That is one reason, yes. However, it also has to do with our surroundings themselves," Mecha began, gesturing with his hands outward to the canyon walls, "during brief rains such as this, water rushes down the cracks in the rock. As it does, it erodes rock and stone, allowing them to crumble and fall. As a result, this canyon grows wider at the top than it does at the bottom. In addition, the movement of rivers, weathering, and tectonic activity create what you see before you. The power of this natural world flows with both destruction and creation, in balance and harmony."
Silver listened closely, or as best as he could manage. As he did, he looked to the rock walls with newfound curiosity. Every depression contained a stream of liquid mud. The larger streams reflected the sun's rays, revealing hundreds of smaller, silvery streamlets moving downward. He noticed the different striations of rock that scaled upwards - the sandstone, shale, limestone, and sandstone standing again right at the top.
"Huh. I see it, I think?" Silver replied after a long moment, still looking around.
"Good. Now, let us move on." Mecha gestured for him to follow and took the lead.
The brothers followed the path slowly amidst the fresh, gentle rain.
"You must find balance within yourself. Find the flow of energy, however it manifests within your frame. Chaos exists inside of you."
"I'm guessing you don't mean in the chaotic personality way." Silver prodded her.
"I do not. In the same way that you observed the natural flow of the world around us, find it within." Mecha clarified gently.
"Cryptic. Okay… looking inside… what should it feel like? All I feel is my fans vibrating."
Mecha noted this. "It varies from one person to the next."
"I don't… oh! Wait, this might be it! I think."
Mecha's visor warmed. "How does it feel."
"Warm. Nice. A bit like when Neo goes into sleep mode on me and I can feel his engine running."
Mecha nodded in approval. "Chaos Control is fundamental to other Chaos powers. First, I would like you to pause time."
"You say that so casually. It's a little scary, you know?" Silver murmured. "Oh Silver, what did you do on the weekend? Oh, you know, just paused time, like a normal guy would do in his free time. What do you mean?!"
Mecha tilted her head slightly. "It is a basic function when utilizing Chaos energy."
"So you can pause time?" Silver asked, mesmerized by that. His siblings were so cool.
"Affirmative."
"... And you just let me do so much dumb shit without pausing time and stopping me?"
"It would not be right to impose on your free will in such a way, not unless you were in grave danger. Our autonomy is important to me, brother. And, without a source of Chaos energy, I could not perform the time-stop regardless."
"Oh."
Silver cupped the fake emerald in his hands carefully, feeling the cool smoothness of the stone's surface, faint warmth radiating from within. Even though it was a fake, it was still precious. He looked to Mecha, whose visor glowed steadily with both expectancy and patience. Silver smiled with determination and looked through the gem, where a faint spark of light flickered at its core. He felt the warmth spread, his vision narrowing, the world blurring into a quiet hum as if it all revolved around that one glowing spark. Internally, his circuits seemed to heat, his fans whirring faster—was his hardware even compatible with this power?
Suddenly, he awoke face-down on a cold rock, damp with rainwater. Mecha was lightly shaking him by the shoulders, her voice calm but urgent.
"Brother. You must wake up."
Silver lifted his head, groaning softly. His frame trembled, a faint electrical tingle running through his limbs, as if after a mild shock. Nope. No way he was moving from this spot. He sank back down, chin resting on cold, wet arms.
"Ugh... Bro? What happened?" Silver asked, rubbing his forehead with one hand. He winced, finding that his palm was red hot. What the hell?
Mecha knelt by his side. "You technically failed. You did, however, teleport rather than stop time. I must admit, I was concerned for your well-being when you did so backwards."
"Damn… maybe this isn't a good idea, M. I'm all fried up." Silver murmured, frowning. It wasn't the first time he had gotten ahead of himself, too excited to do something a little crazy. Maybe this was some divine wake-up call to take a chill pill.
Mecha shook his head. "This is progress. You were still able to harness the energy, just not in the desired way. Neo was not so different in the beginning, too."
A small white lie to save his feelings.
Silver perked up, hopeful. "Really? Okay, so there's hope that I won't stay a total cringe fail at this?"
"I was very different. I was very good at it, in fact."
Mecha looked up to see Neo hovering above them with folded arms. He had been watching bemusedly for the past few minutes from up high. Silver waved up at him and a smirk came over his optics in reply.
"But keep going, little brother. I want you to succeed too, even if it takes time."
Silver huffed and sat up. "Come down here and say that to my face, Princess."
"I was being nice." Neo signed from above.
"First time for everything!" Silver called up in reply.
"Whatever. I see the Chaos Emeralds don't like you." Neo signed with a snicker.
"Feeling's mutual, the little shits. Anyway, Neo, you got it easy, you know? You were born with Sonic's life data and other stuff and he's an expert at this. You were born with buffs. Buffs! I'm just going in with base stats. So... cut me some slack."
A sudden alert on Neo's HUD cut him off from bickering further. An unusual, but familiar message that made the brothers instantly lock optics. He frowned and quickly came down to land in front of his brothers with a light thud of his feet.
"Was that a distress signal? What the fuck?" Silver asked, looking from Mecha to Neo several times.
"Affirmative. It came from a hedgehog-series." Mecha confirmed.
"It's not a glitch if we all got it..." Neo stated quietly.
Each of them fell quiet for a long moment.
This could be very, very bad.
The sky glowed with the red hues of perpetual smog. Below, the brothers approached on foot. Pipes hissed overhead. Mecha lifted one hand and sent a precise EMP pulse square into a motion sensor she spotted. Here, there was no moon. No stars. Only surveillance. Silver adjusted his optics to infrared mode - he could see patrol drones circling in a tight sweep just a hundred metres out.
"We've got maybe five minutes before those things come back." Silver announced quietly.
"Then, we must continue," Mecha replied, turning. "Remaining stationary here would be counterproductive."
What lay ahead of them was a once-abandoned lair, belonging to their father. Within, a faint signal from a hedgehog-series. So, definitely not a glitch or shared hallucination. Neo was thankful for the confirmation, having experienced many hallucinations in their time online. Mecha doubted it was a leftover unit. His father didn't just misplace things - except for Silver. If anything was online now, it was intentional. Hidden. Buried. Waiting.
As Silver had mentioned, it could be a trap. But even so, they would never leave a sibling behind. If there was a chance that one of their own was here, they would take it. That was non-negotiable.
The main gates unlocked with a hiss, for Mecha's access codes were still valid. Neo and Silver followed close behind, eyes sweeping the dark interior. This place predated them. Mecha, however, knew every bolt. His pace slowed, his gaze sweeping around at every corner, every door, every window. Neo followed suit, shifting from apprehensive to hyper-focused the moment he sensed Mecha's unease. Without needing to speak, the two older siblings took position—Mecha on the left, Neo on the right—shielding Silver between them.
Silver followed, watching them curiously. He was always fascinated when they worked together without verbally agreeing on anything, almost like some psychic connection between the two. Mecha had the left, Neo had the right. Mecha had long-range scanners and sensitive hearing, and Neo had sharp eyesight and pressure sensors. Together, they were a perfect team. A tiny little part of Silver felt almost… pointless. He thought he had worked past this crap already. Maybe it was the Sonic-like competitiveness in him gnawing at his self-worth. Maybe he should pay attention to what was happening, actually. Maybe there was a giant robot up ahead with murder on its mind-
Wait.
What?
There was a loud, thunderous sound of metal being torn apart just a few feet in front of them.
Both older brothers moved at breakneck speed. Neo grabbed Silver's arm and rushed him to the side, while Mecha confronted the threat head-on. The darkness was now lit by a fiery amber and red from above. Part of Mecha was thankful for the extra lighting - the dark was still a bit of a frightening thing sometimes. The other part knew what it meant. A fist, much larger than his, rushed to meet him. Mecha caught it with both hands and held his ground, strong and composed.
Something, or someone, had torn through the wall to say hello.
As the smoke and debris cleared, chrome gleamed through it like a star.
"We do not wish you harm. Please, stand down." Mecha spoke firmly and clearly.
"What… is… that." Silver whispered against Neo's ear. "And does it not know what a door is?"
Neo shook his head quickly as if to shake the thoughts out of his head. "I do not know, and no."
The larger machine rose to stand. It was three times bigger than the three of them - Mecha clocked its dimensions and began calculating possible defensive counters. She, like her siblings, did not want to harm this other being.
"You are new. What is your designation." Mecha tried again, his voice even as he held the machine at bay.
The machine didn't verbally respond. It held Mecha's eye contact, though, seeming to hesitate a fraction. It was indeed new, and processing verbal communication was difficult.
This gave the brothers a chance to properly assess the situation. Silver's optics trailed up and down the robot before him. Superficially, it was a hedgehog-series. Closer up, it looked like a combination of Silver Sonic MK I and himself, but bigger, and meaner-looking. Seven razor-sharp spines adorned its head and shoulders. No doubt, it was created for nothing pretty. Not that any of them were. But there was a bottom line. This machine was a masterpiece of attack and defense, standing tall, sturdy, and imposing. Carefully constructed with polished metal and intricate mechanical details, Silver Sonic v3.0 was an indomitable force designed for three things: defense, guardianship, and a world of hurt. It turned to face Mecha, its multiple sensors swiveling inside its hull to take in its surroundings, and most essentially, its targets.
Mecha met its gaze calmly. He quietly wondered if it was set up to focus on three targets at once, or if it specialized in Sonic alone. Based on its reaction times so far, Mecha figured that it could track the three of them, but focus solely on one. So far.
Its optics bored into Mecha intently, with an unreadable emotion.
UNIT IDENTIFIED: SILVER SONIC MK II.
UNIT IDENTIFIED: MECHA SONIC MK II.
UNIT IDENTIFIED: METAL SONIC.
OPEN REGISTRY FILES… DESIGNATION: "TRAITORS."
THREAT IDENTIFIED. ELIMINATE. ELIMINATE.
"I think we're registered as threats," Silver murmured, frowning with concern.
"Aren't we always?" Neo signed quickly by his side.
"Wait. Wait a minute. So is this supposed to be another…"
"You? Sonic?" Neo offered to his side.
"So… it's like me. But worse. Or better. I don't know."
The ache hit hard and fast. That sting in his engine—the words of their father surfacing from memory: You were a mistake. A disappointment. Why do this again? Why? Was this what Silver was supposed to have been before it all supposedly went wrong? Is this what he could have been? Why would he doom another robot to the same problems? It made his heart hurt. It made his head hurt and his tanks roll.
Mecha scanned the other unit, searching for something, or lack thereof. She was unsurprised to find what she did.
"You lack a vocalizer. That is alright. You do not need to speak to us for us to respect you. Please, understand that we are not here to cause you undue harm, but we will defend ourselves. We approached you out of concern for your well-being. That is all." Mecha explained gently.
But, the violet machine was eventually overpowered. He managed to maneuver out of the larger robot's way before it smashed its knuckles into the ground, easily denting it deep. Mecha recognized something, then - the way it moved was so similar to his own pre-programmed maneuvers. From behind, Neo scanned the machine as well, and he found something interesting. Not only was Silver Sonic v3.0 based on Silver and his previous incarnation, but Mecha's schematics too. Was this machine supposed to replace the three of them, combined? It seemed so. Neo's optics brightened as the realization dawned on him.
This was not just a trap. It was a message.
"Mecha. This unit is our replacement. This hedgehog-series is the equivalent of all three of us." Neo warned him. "This makes us... obsolete." Aside from the obvious dagger to his pride, it was a worry for another reason: Eggman had a new 'toy.' He would likely have no qualms about setting it on his trio of discarded 'bots.
Silver's anxiety turned into a sudden need to feel bigger than he really was.
"STOP IT! All of you shut the hell up. Let me have the floor for a second."
Silver shoved past both of them and stood in front of them, arms outstretched as if to block them from view. The newer model rose to stand once again, looming over him threateningly. Silver met its orange optics that bored into him with a defiant look. And then, his gaze turned soft, and he took a deep breath through his intake. Silver Sonic v3.0 studied him, slowly angling its head to one side. Its AI was learning, so these calculations took some time. Silver recalled his first time awakening and how overwhelming the world was. This must have been terrifying for a new 'bot.
Silver ventured closer, reaching out one hand slowly. "Listen to me, please. You're so little. Physically, no, but you, what you are- you're just a little baby. It's okay. We don't wanna hurt you at all."
The other machine slowly tilted its head the other way, listening intently. The words rolled around in its processor as it soaked them all in. Silver reached out one hand slowly and opened his palm, a gesture of good intentions. It didn't fully understand the words, nor the gesture.
"See? We don't have to fight. Let's start again. I'm Silver, the second. That there is Mecha- she looks a bit intimidating, but she's really nice, I promise. And that ray of sunshine there is Neo. He's a softie beneath the sarcasm and murder allegations."
It knelt slowly to be on his level. Perhaps a show of good will? Perhaps a need to get closer to see what this small fry was doing and saying? Silver stood still, trying to be as non-threatening as possible, as he wasn't totally sure of its intentions.
"Soooo, your name is Silver too, right? It's a nice name. But things might get confusing if we both use the same name. Mind if I call you Three for now?
Silver Sonic v3.0, or Three, reached out with one massive hand. It extended a single digit towards Silver's palm, and Silver returned the gesture, pressing his fingertip to his new sibling's.
"Creation of robot, like that one painting." Silver whispered, feeling his anxiety dissipate and his face light up.
Mecha straightened, alarmed. "Brother, I do not think…"
Silver looked over his shoulder.
As soon as Silver's attention was diverted, the machine in front of him moved with force. In one sweep, it hooked its finger under Silver's chest plate and launched him into the ceiling. He crashed straight through it and flew up into the air several feet with a cut-off scream.
"BABY IS STRONG! GUYS, BABY IS SUPER STRONG!"
Neo shot up after him in a blaze of blue jetfire. He caught Silver mid-air, like he'd done a thousand times. He gestured for Mecha to follow. Mecha nodded and jumped up after them. Three reached up, dug its razor-sharp claws into the ceiling hole, and tore it further open with a shriek of metal. Neo winced at the sound and turned ever so slightly as if to shield his little brother from the behemoth below them.
Silver frowned and looked down through the ceiling's widening opening. "Hey! That wasn't very nice! If you wanna play, you have to be more gentle. I have a delicate constitution under the bravado."
"That was not play behaviour," Mecha told him. Although, it did seem like it was playing with its food, so to speak… which was not a good sign.
Silver leaned out of Neo's arms slightly to speak to Mecha. "Are you sure? I mean, hedgehog-series do play rough. Innate violence is, like, our thing. Like me and Princess this morning."
Neo flicked Silver on the forehead with a scowl. "Idiot. At least you're alright."
Three climbed through the opening, dragging its claws along as it did. As it clambered to its feet on the roof, its speakers crackled to life and a familiar voice boomed through them.
"OHOHOHOHOO! My boys, my dear boys, how do you like your new little brother? Isn't he just the sweetest little thing?"
The brothers winced at the intrusion.
"I assume that this was a trap, doctor. If this is the case, you successfully lured us here. What do you intend to happen now." Mecha asked, matter-of-fact. Her concern for her siblings' wellbeing, all of them, amplified.
"Why, your complete and utter demise, of course! Was that not clear by the giant robot?" Eggman gleefully responded, audibly clapping his hands together. "This is Silver Sonic v3.0's debut. Its test run, if you will- and you, my boys, are the lab rats. This shiny new toy of mine is the height of my genius! It's big. It's bold. It's-"
"Lowkey a ripoff of the three of us. Yeah, we got the memo." Silver grumbled, unamused. He made little room for sarcastic interjections, as the fate of his newfound sibling was in question.
Eggman could be heard leaning forward in his seat and adjusting his glasses. "Oh, on the contrary, my little robotic rejects. Indeed, this is the three of you, but without all the failure. Without all the disobedience. Without all the backtalk. Without all the mental gymnastics of trying to understand you all. This is what you should have been. You could have been perfect, but you left it all behind, and for what?"
Silver growled, righteous anger building. "That's a child. And you're throwing it at us like it's a game."
"Oh? I thought you quit playing games during your little tantrum." Eggman replied, shrugging from the safety of his base.
"Brother, tell that bastard I said to go fuck himself," Neo murmured to Mecha in code.
"I would prefer to refrain from such language," Mecha replied simply. He turned slowly toward Three, the crimson floodlight glinting off his polished steel frame. "We cannot leave this location, as I do not doubt we would risk leading your new machine to our home, or to civilization. I ask you, doctor, do not make us fight. We will leave peacefully and not return. You must have gathered the data you sought through what interaction we have already had, have you not?"
Eggman grinned sadistically. "It already knows where you live, as do I. Go get them, my beautiful Silver Sonic v3.0. Show these fools what they're made of - SCRAP!"
On this command, Three's optics brightened to a deep orange. The air vibrated with an ominous drone as it crouched low, coiling like a spring wound tight. The instant it launched across the rooftop, the sound was a razor slicing through thick, humid air—a high-pitched whir of spinning blades and clashing metal. What came at them as a chaos-knows-how-many-tons spin dash of steel. It tore across the roof right towards them and then used its momentum to launch right up at them indiscriminately.
Silver squeaked into Neo's shoulder, his voice cracking with panic. "Bro, you gotta let me go, he's gonna rip your head off, BRO-"
Neo ignored Silver's pleas and lifted a hand. He charged his V. Maximum Overdrive into his hand, disregarding his own safety in a lapse of reason. A callback to their final showdown against the Kyodai in Station Square that he remembered well.
Seven burning blades met his palm.
He held.
Neo squinted his optics with the effort, heaved all of his might into his upper body, and began to push back. His frame quickly began to overheat and emit tiny blue sparks, the world narrowing to the tension in his body and the cold metal beneath his feet. As he focused, he was sure to keep Silver clutched tight to himself and fired up his Black Shield to protect him.
"I refuse to kill you." Neo told Three firmly. His optics narrowed further until they squeezed shut.
Three did not relent. It pushed on, determined to break through and best the smaller machines, even as the immense power of Maximum Overdrive began to burn away the paint on the tips of its spines.
"You are one of us. I see it in you." Neo continued, pushing right back. "Silver is right. You're a child. You don't need to fight us. If you need to get out, we've got you."
And I would burn myself out before I ever gave up on one of our own.
"Brother, please, relent! This is self-destructive!" Mecha managed to shout, emphasis in her words underscored by anxiety. She would intervene if she had to.
Three's drive started to give. It faltered and began to fall back as its power began to drop. To keep pushing would be suicide, but it had no concept of this, with only physical limits causing it to slow down on its barrage. Neo's conscience began to cloud his judgement. He saw that the other machine wouldn't give in to this, and that it was only going to risk damaging itself beyond repair.
Neo felt the change in pressure. Three's systems weren't keeping up. Its force began to dip.
Neo saw it. He felt it.
But that moment of hesitation cost him. Three jerked forward and threw a punch. Neo dodged, narrowly. The follow-up spin attack whistled low, blades singing a deadly tune as they sliced just inches from his leg. Neo leapt, barely clearing them. His systems howled in protest. He hit the roof in a roll, turned it into a counter-spin, and launched forward to make space. Three lunged for him again. Neo dropped out of his spin with too much momentum. He landed hard and rolled twice, coming to a rough stop near the edge of the rooftop. His right arm jerked painfully, a sparkburst blossoming at the wrist. Smoke curled upwards, acrid and sharp, stinging his sensors. His engine sputtered, then coughed to a low idle. Mecha followed up with a warning spin-dash in Three's direction, making space between her brothers and it.
And then—the cost.
Neo's servos sparked as he stood. One hand wouldn't unclench. He didn't say anything, but Mecha noticed.
Silver, catching the movement too, frowned. "You okay?"
Neo didn't answer. He just flexed his fingers once — or tried to.
Mecha jumped back and landed heavily beside them, vision locked on Three — who remained standing at the center of the rooftop. The heat sinks beneath its chestplate hissed with a heavy mechanical rhythm, venting pressure.
"Status?" Mecha asked, kneeling beside Neo with surgical efficiency.
Neo didn't meet his gaze. "Right arm's fried. The power routing too. I bought us a minute. Not more."
Mecha nodded once, briskly. "I will handle the next engagement."
"No." Silver stood between both of them and held up both hands. "All you both keep doing is hurting yourselves."
He turned toward Three.
Eggman's voice blared, shrill and frantic over the comms. "What are you waiting for? End him! My Silver Sonic v3.0 will obey!"
A pause. Then Three looked at it. Eggman shouted through the speakers again, furious, desperate. And something sparked behind Three's optics — too bright. Too sudden.
"NO—!" Mecha surged forward, grabbing Silver by the shoulders and pulling him backward just as Three emitted a piercing screech of static and dropped to one knee, claws embedding into the roof. The effects of Neo's Maximum Overdrive finally set in, and its systems were not coping well.
Silver hit the ground hard, coughing as Mecha shoved him aside, but the sound — that screech — rang louder in his ears than anything else.
"Three—!" Silver started forward, hand outstretched.
Too late.
Instinct took over. Chaos energy surged to his fingertips, wild and unshaped, drawn by panic and proximity. A flash of green.
And the world fractured.
The roof disappeared.
The air split with a whipcrack of warped space-time.
In the next instant, Silver and Three slammed into cold metal flooring, somewhere deep inside the base — a long, narrow corridor dimly lit by flickering red emergency lights. The walls were claustrophobic and made of reinforced steel, covered in piping and grated panels that hissed occasionally with venting steam. Ceiling panels blinked with damaged sensors, casting jittery shadows along the hallway. No visible doors. One way forward, one way back. A bottleneck. A trap.
Alarms wailed in the distance — deep and muffled, like the walls were several layers thick. The air was dense, as though the space wasn't meant to be occupied for long. Maintenance or overflow hall, maybe. Abandoned, but not inactive.
Silver groaned, clutching his head as a wave of dizziness swept through his circuits. "Ngh… What just—?"
Three responded only with a flash of its claws, scraping angrily against the metal floor, sparks flying. Its harsh gaze locked on Silver, unblinking and fierce — warning, threat, a predator's stare in a cage too small for mercy. It didn't hesitate to swipe jagged slashes across Silver's side as he stumbled to his feet.
"Ouch. Woah, hey, easy! Easy... it's okay."
Three jabbed like lightning and Silver dodged this time, retreating carefully, backing toward the cold wall to protect his back. Three followed, its heavy steps thudding like machine-gun fire on the metal floor. Optics blazed with a brutal, orange glare.
For now, the field was still level - both machines were strong, both talented fighters, and both had sustained damage. Three followed him, optics blazing with murderous intent. It stopped before him, staring down at him like a predator does prey. After a moment, Silver had to drop down to one knee and held up a hand, silently asking for a moment to gather himself. Chaos power really did a number on his, well, everything. His internals did not like it and he was not a natural.
A moment later, Silver wiped oil from the corner of his mouth and grinned up at it. "Just a scratch!"
You feel pain. You must repair yourself. I can fight forever. You must rest. What kind of existence is that?
"I'm more complex than you think." Silver rose to stand, having to lever himself up by an elbow against his knee. "You see a rival robot and you think it'll be easy prey. It's in your programming, I know. But I'm not a standard-issue prey animal."
You exhibit nonconforming decision-making. Data analysis may be beneficial.
Quiet.
Silver tilted his head. "... You're watching me. Studying me."
Now, the only sounds between them were the humming of their engines as they worked overtime to keep up with their frames. With Three standing still, Silver decided to make a move, but not one that it anticipated. He slowly sat down and crossed his legs to get comfortable. He made himself smaller on purpose.
He put himself in a vulnerable position on purpose. In a way, he mirrored Mecha's selflessness, the way she said I love you on purpose to Metal back then. In a way, he mirrored Neo's own display of deference to the Egg Pawns back on the flagship.
Maybe he was a fool. Was he doing this right?
"I don't know if I'm doing this right, Three. But... you have an impossible mission. We've all been there. We've all... seen how it ends. Will you hear me out, just for a moment, before you make your final decision? I think it's good if you have all the facts before you do something rash."
Three remained silent.
"So, Three. I could start going on some sad little story about how all of us die, and the end is inevitable, all that, but... the reality is something a little shittier than that. We're not built to understand this world like everybody else does. We're not given the tools we need to be fully functional people. I don't want you to die too. I've seen the other side, walked in it- it's no place for a little kid like you. And when my own time comes, whenever that is... I couldn't bear to see you there without knowing I've tried to help you. You're a child. You're just a fucking child. You have to know that, and know that it's okay just to be one. It's okay. It is. No matter what dad- the doctor, sorry, says to you. No matter what anyone in this world tells you. What you are doesn't have to be who you are."
Casualty is irrelevant. Your success rate: 0%. Unacceptable margin.
Three slowly moved towards the smaller robot, and he stayed still, just smiling up at it calmly. It considered crushing him, throwing him, standing on him, spin-dashing him into a thousand pieces, but instead... it sat down opposite him.
"So, who are you? I'd like to know you." Silver asked again.
Silver let the quiet and the amber hang in the air between them. He kept smiling, offering nothing but patience to the machine opposite him. He took a page out of Mecha's book for this. Chaos, if only she was here to mediate this whole thing. To tell him if he was being a fool or not. But the more he gazed at the other machine, the more he felt a strange, unwelcome pang of pain in his chest all over again. It was a reminder of his birthplace, blankets over his shoulders, fleeting moments of feigned love - and his heart would sink and then rise again, an internal struggle he had fought many times before. But, Three had no understanding of these silent emotions, the quiet war sitting opposite it. Silver struggled to comprehend the unfeeling machine in front of him.
It simply regarded him with quiet and an innocent malice.
"Leave him. It's what he would do for you. Because of him, I have to grieve for the child I could have been. You don't have to go through this as well."
Silver's first story was about being left. All of Eggman's about leaving.
None of that means anything to me. I am loyal to the Eggman Empire.
"So come home with us. Please?" Silver asked of it, almost naively hopeful.
I am loyal to the Eggman Empire.
"It would be fun. We could play video games, read stories, go on adventures, save people, take in other estranged 'bots."
I do not require extraction. Identity is irrelevant. Purpose is constant. I am built for combat. I am built to serve.
Silence, again.
"I- okay, look. If you don't want help," Silver said quietly, "why aren't you stopping me from trying?"
Three's optics lit up. Then, its speakers crackled to life - but the voice that came through was most unwelcome.
"My dear boy, Silver, it's been a while. How's it going? Not too dented yet I hope? Wouldn't want to miss it for the world."
Silver's face darkened at the intrusion. He said nothing, stilling his surging annoyance, at risk of being a bad influence on the other machine in his presence. Again, taking a page from Mecha's book. He hoped he was doing this right.
"Silent treatment, eh? Hmph. I made you better than this, son."
Silver huffed and rested his chin on his hand. "We're doing this again? We've had this conversation a million times already. Now, butt out. I'm trying to have a heart-to-heart here, and your horrible voice ruins the whole vibe we have going on. Beat it. Get lost. Et cetera."
"Silver, Silver... My Silver Sonic v3.0 will destroy you. Or, will you destroy it? I thought you were against destroying your own kind, no? Whatever will you do, my pacifistic porcupine?"
The sheer carelessness of those words grated on Silver's morality. He gritted his teeth in response.
"Your children are dying for nothing, Eggman. You're dragging them to their execution every time you throw them out here. Don't you feel ashamed? Does family mean nothing to you? The people and 'bots who have died because of you? Where is your humanity?"
Eggman scoffed dismissively. "When you stop trying to turn my beautiful creations against me like this, I'll consider listening to a word you just said."
"You never hear me," Silver replied firmly.
"And I wouldn't want to. You should take a page from Metal's book and stop talking."
"I think you know as well as I do that's not ever gonna happen. Got too much to say."
You feel pain. You must repair yourself. I can fight forever. You must rest. What kind of existence is that? You were made to be Sonic the Hedgehog's end. Instead, you emulate his weakness.
"Anyway, back on topic, please! This time, my creation will stay loyal to me! I have installed a neural firewall that suppresses its higher decision-making abilities."
A technical way to say, he could monitor the machine's very thoughts. Early intervention.
This could be dangerous. Early deactivation might be on the table.
Three's systems detected the intrusion. Its optics flickered, vulnerability flashing briefly like a failing lightbulb. Silver caught that small hesitation, that small vulnerability in its otherwise angry stare. He had seen a similar look in Neo's optics whenever their privacy was violated, and he empathized. He just silently mouthed, "it's okay."
"Now, my Silver Sonic v3.0. I command you, terminate this old, defective model - or bring him back to me. Both serve my ends."
"Old? Really? Coming from you that's really something! And don't get me started on the defective part. Rude." Silver shot back, unable to hold his tongue.
Three didn't move.
The command was clear. The code—more so. Terminate. Retrieve. Obey.
Its body was ready. Power surged through its limbs, hands tense, combat routines sharpening like blades.
Silver whispered again.
"It's okay."
And now, Three was hesitating. That was not standard. That was not optimal.
Eggman's voice crackled again. "What are you waiting for? End him. You've been given clear orders."
Three looked at Silver again. More than just looked— it studied him again, analyzed him again, and saw, for the first time, something the programming hadn't accounted for.
Choice.
And Silver, quiet, battered from the fight, simply smiled like he had infinite time to give. The silence returned, but this time, it wasn't empty. It was filled with the tension of systems wrestling themselves — protocols buckling under the weight of paradox.
Then Three signed, slowly— haltingly, like dragging words from deep within its chassis.
"..I... not built... to choose."
Silver nodded, expression soft.
"Neither was I."
Another pause. The silence stretched, then finally shattered.
"You... misunderstand... me."
Silver sat up. "What?"
"Not... hesitation."
"Then, what?" Silver pressed, frowning.
"I understand... your offer... I have... see its implications. Not lack of capacity... It is... rejection."
The signed words landed like iron in the space between them. Silver sat back slightly, surprised—not because he hadn't expected resistance, but because of the clarity behind the choice of words. There was no fear. No confusion. Just... absolute conviction.
Silver shook his head, rejecting that. "I don't believe that. You've stayed your hand. You listened. You sat down. You're learning. That means something."
Three stood in one swift motion, looming like a storm. Grace and brutality all at once.
"What I am learning... is not... what you want."
Silver's gaze lifted slowly, almost unwillingly. The pain in his legs, the ache in his back, the sharp burn in his side—they all faded under the pressure building inside his chest.
No, no, you're supposed to see it! You're supposed to realize this isn't okay!
Three stepped back, optics narrowing. Opening the space between them. Silver eyed that space and felt panic rise, sharp in his chassis. No. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
"I am... not a child. I... am not... you."
That hit harder than any blow Silver had taken in the fight. Silver didn't show it on his face, not fully. He stayed steady, even as a cold hollowness spread behind his optics. His hand moved on instinct, slowly, toward Three—but the distance felt infinite.
But I saw you pause. You sat down. You looked at me, like you were trying to see more. Wasn't that real?
Silver reached further and began to clamber up to his feet. A last grasp for a thread that might still be intact.
"But you could—"
Three's EMP pulse began charging, the low thrum of destructive energy rising like a storm. "Could... but will not."
Silver watched how it signed, hands illuminated by destructive energy, and felt sick. The air around its hands warped with heat.
That one didn't just hurt—it hollowed him out.
Eggman's laughter exploded through the loudspeakers again, echoing like nails down a chalkboard. "There it is! That's my perfect machine! You see, Silver? All this time, and I still win! Pathetic!"
Silver didn't move. He couldn't — not because of the EMP pulse, not because of fear — but because something deeper, something fundamental inside him was shaking loose. No, Eggman couldn't win. No, this newborn machine couldn't be used and abused like he and his brothers. But, despite, it seemed as though those very things were happening. And as he had done so many times before, he felt small, and powerless. Forgetting himself.
He hated this. His mind wandered to his fight with Neo - or Metal, back then - when he tried so desperately, grieving, to claw his brother back from their father's clutches. The way his brother had looked at him with so much disgust. Hatred. All long forgiven. But the parallels hurt somewhere raw.
He recalled Mecha's explanation of Silver Sonic MK I. How it lacked sentience. Empathy. Desires. It simply did as it was told, like a good 'bot. Mecha had referenced this machine in a way that Silver hadn't fully comprehended, back then - something along the lines of, it wasn't like you.
You're not evil. You're not broken. You're just… not like me.
Silver stood now, quiet rage in his stance. His voice was low when he finally spoke—barely louder than the pulse building in Three's hand.
"They're not yours. So dad, go fuck yourself."
Eggman scoffed. "Aren't they? It's choosing what it was built for."
Silver shook his head once.
"It deserves to choose, for real," he said, voice like a whisper in a warzone. "Even if it hurts to watch it walk away, if that's what it wants."
He felt the ache behind his optics. The familiar weight of too many losses pressing down like gravity. But then, the smaller machine felt the shift in atmosphere — like the air itself had hardened, grown heavy. The faint hum of Three's power core surged. Its limbs tensed. Every component of its frame was aligned to cause maximum damage.
Three moved like lightning, a blade of motion that sliced the air in two.
Silver barely raised his forearm in time. The impact rang through his frame like a bell being struck—joints screaming, plating straining, fingers numb from shock. He barely blocked the subsequent EMP in time, his forearm plating groaning under the pressure as it scorched paint away. He skidded back across the metal floor, digging his heels in. Sparks danced beneath his feet. Three's relentless blow likely would have crumpled Silver's arm, but there was something inside that compartment that saved his frame the expense. A realization dawned on him. The anxiety within deepened into a sickness. What if he did it wrong? What if it cost his sibling, or his older siblings in some way? He didn't know enough. He didn't get it, not like Mecha and Neo did. He wasn't sure.
The moment Three's next strike neared Silver, he didn't flinch.
He didn't dodge.
He didn't use Chaos Control.
Instead, he caught the blow with both hands as he had seen Mecha manage before, arms shaking under the impact, his feet skidding across the floor. The force nearly cracked his elbow servos, but he held firm.
His optics met Three's—close now, inches apart. He saw the cold precision behind them. The calculations. The programmed aggression.
"You want to destroy me? Fine! Just try to do it. But it won't change the fact that I chose not to hurt you. I still wanna make this right. Still wanna help you."
Three threw Silver back to free up its hands, almost seeming repulsed.
"You are losing."
"Yeah. And I'll probably lose again tomorrow. And the day after that. But at least it's my choice. Not his! Me and my brothers will keep choosing to do right no matter what."
Three lunged, and Silver side-stepped with recovered agility. His hand reached to the fake emerald slotted in his arm's compartment, hidden beneath the damaged armour plating. it pulsed once, responding to his touch. Then twice. The energy hummed with familiarity. Something older than machines and war, but new and learning to read its user, too.
Time to try this again. He would have to take a risk.
Three made to strike one more time.
"Chaos... Control."
The world slowed.
Three's strike froze in mid-air.
The corridor warped. The flickering red emergency lights stretched into smears of color, sound fell into a dull echo, and motion itself halted. Silver's feet no longer dragged; his weight became conceptual, not physical. For the briefest moment, he stood in a quiet space between seconds.
I did it. Holy Chaos...
He turned slowly through frozen time, his fingers still buzzing from the blow he'd caught. His gaze shifted toward Three, caught mid-strike—one clawed hand extended, frozen a hair's breadth from a killing blow. Silver couldn't help but stare in amazement.
But... is this power a kind of cowardice? Running away from pain. Running toward peace. Standing still in the middle of violence, like it couldn't touch me here. I don't know. I need to learn what this says about... me.
Even with this incredible power right at his fingertips, Silver continued to reject himself before anyone else could.
He stood before Three, hand extended—not in offense, but in mourning. He stepped forward, and gently placed a hand against Three's chestplate — right over its core.
"Three. If you're going to tear yourself apart to prove you're a weapon... I won't help you do it. Seen that happen one time too many."
Time resumed.
Three's attack carved through air—but not Silver. The smaller bot was already behind it. The spatial shift sent Three staggering, its stabilizers scrambling to recalibrate. An error pinged in its HUD. Then another. Then—
Again and again, Silver danced between seconds, never striking. Only stopping Three. Redirecting.
Three's internal systems rang with alerts. Memory pathways screamed conflicting reports — its sensors could not track Silver's location. Each time it attacked, Silver moved in the breath between blinks, reappearing with no pattern. No logic.
The code said: Destroy.
The optics — saw a face filled with grief.
And with each reset of time, Silver's emotion bled across the boundaries of power. His Chaos energy—subtle and strange—was not just stalling the battle. It was offering Three a window into him. Into the memory behind each redirection. The cryotube and the long hours terrified and completely, helplessly alone. The death of his older brother. The torture, dear Chaos, the agony of his eldest brother's capture. The rejection. The grief. But the happiness, the joy, the freedom, too. All of it all at once, impossibly complex.
"This is Chaos Control, Three. It doesn't kill - at least, I don't think it does? It just makes you watch yourself not matter for a while. Maybe that's... worse."
It didn't kill. It paused. It forced reflection. It was like putting pain in a mirror and asking: is this what you want to be?
"Unbearable." Three signed.
"Yeah," Silver murmured, "it is."
Silver's Chaos Control was emotionally charged—he wouldn't wield it casually. It was an extension of his desire to protect, to make peace, to prevent tragedy. So, when he used it, it reflected what he was feeling, not just what was efficient. What he didn't know was that he allowed his opponent a glimpse of his own emotion at the same time.
Three's claws retracted slightly, then extended again with a harsh snap. It looked at Silver — not coldly, not with mindless fury, but with clarity.
"I understand... you." It signed.
Low red emergency lighting cast warped shadows across the walls. The cold steel beneath him suddenly felt heavier, like it was trying to drag him down. In place, Silver froze. He'd been preparing for another blow, another barrage of data-deflecting denial. But that? That wasn't ignorance. That was choice, as much as it could manage.
Three continued, each word like a scalpel.
"I understand... freedom. Choice. Emotion. All of it."
Its optics flared.
"And I still reject it."
Silver's mouth parted, but no sound came. The rejection wasn't violent. It wasn't defensive. It was honest.
Its signing became more complex, more forceful and certain. Learning rapidly.
"I am meaning. I am built. I am sharpened. I am aimed. I do not want to be anything else."
Silver stood quietly. His optics caught the gleam of the gold star on his forehead in the chrome plating of his sibling. All over again, he could see the remnants of the Super Egg Pawn that his brother had killed to protect him. The way he let them go to the wind and watched them fall, endlessly, like crushed little stars. A small mercy. A small kindness.
Silver wished that kindness would echo backwards and undo all the things that hurt his siblings. He had hoped that kindness would help his new sibling find faith in others. But now, he only felt this: he was small and weak in comparison, but he knew he could still be kind, and he believed that this mantra could still change the world in little ways. He didn't want to look back in regret upon any failures of kindness. Those moments when another being was standing there, hurting, and he responded mildly. No, he wasn't that kind of person. It was his whole heart, or none of it.
He had more stars. He had witnessed two going out.
"Now, die."