Chapter Text
Silver was used to having bad dreams by now. He'd had them as long as he could remember really. No matter how they started the ending was always the same, his family dead, the world as they knew it destroyed. There were distinct differences to each nightmare, sometimes the world was destroyed by a giant fiery monster, or a giant god like being with the powers of the sun, and in the worst dreams a yellow hedgehog with eyes of crimson red and a smile too wide, too happy for the harm done. The hedgehog would hand out agonizing deaths for heroes around the globe each one more gruesome than the last. Freedom fighters bodies pilled up around this hedgehog as they waited for a challenger worthy of their prowess. Silvers father, siblings, uncles and so many more all lay dead in front of him the blood sill fresh on their yellow hands. It made Silver shake with so many swirling feelings, anger, pain, and fear mostly. How could he beat a monster so villainous when everyone else had failed. What could someone as weak and pitiful as him do against that? Obviously nothing. He'd fight, struggle, and pathetically die every time at the hands of a monster. Waking up after a nightmare should've been reliving even if just a little bit, but Silver always woke up with a pit of ever growing dread he fought to ignore. 'They were just nightmares' he reminded himself but there was always a hesitant 'Right?' that followed behind.
Besides the horrible dreams Silver lived an average Mobian life unlike his brothers, and dad who all took up heroing, Silver opted for schooling. It wasn't that he didn't want to help others but more like he couldn't because his mother had made it clear she didn't approve of any more heroes from their household. It wasn't really like Silver had powers that were really useful in a fight anyway. So instead he spent his time behind a desk learning, and studying. He wasn’t sure as to what though. Was there even a point in learning? What if his nightmares suddenly became real and the entire world fell apart? What would studying have given him then? Sometimes that fear of being useless kept him up at night. He would aimlessly practice his telekinetic abilities trying to lift up heavy objects or multiple small ones. Sometimes he would try to focus in and read someone's mind but it felt too invasive. He'd gotten his mind reading from his mother but as far as he knew she couldn't lift things with her mind too. It didn’t really matter, the only thing he could lift reliably was a stack of textbooks, anything heavier had the very real possibility of being dropped. He didn’t use his telekinesis in front of others often, it freaked his roommate/cousin Manic out anyway. Manic was lucky, he didn’t have powers to worry about hiding or honing.
That didn’t stop Manic from bullying Silver though. Manic hated Silver but not more than the rest of Silver’s immediate family. Manic complained to Silver a lot about his family.
Silver’s dad was too airheaded. Sonic was quite literally the worst person alive to him. Tails was some kind of smug genius to Manic. Silver’s mom was super overbearing at times. Sonia was arguably the least dislikable but Silver often wondered if that was only because she wasn’t around often enough. Manic didn’t stop there though even Silver wasn’t safe from hearing complaints about himself. Of which there were many, he was too timid, too annoying, too shy, too pathetic, too much of a yes man, too ignorant, too innocent, too much of a coward… The list went on. It didn’t bother Silver in the normal sense; it was that Manic saw him as such a wimpy, pathetic, sniveling hedgehog.
He knew he wasn’t those things, at least most of them. Sometimes he worried others perceived him that way, they probably did. There wasn’t much Silver felt he could do to prove Manic wrong, not when he couldn’t even stand up to his own mother and tell her what he really wanted. She’d just tell him there were better ways to help Mobians than being some hero. He thought there was something special he could do as a hero, something only he could do, but no one would believe him. Maybe he was reaching or just wanting to feel special. It didn’t help that his adoptive younger brother went out everyday with Sonic, risking his life to help people. But Tails really was special, he was The boy genius after all. Which is why Silver wished he wasn’t born with powers at all, why even have powers if he wasn't going to use them? It was something he didn’t really get about his mom. He understood she didn’t like being flashy or in the spotlight but there were intelligence jobs out there. Job’s that could use a mind reader. But she would hear none of it. The one time he dared to bring it up she’d shot it down so thoroughly Silver had the socks knocked off him. Which is why he ignored it all, his dreams, nightmares, and powers. Instead he'd study. Study until his eyes went cross. Study until his brain felt too cramped with knowledge. Study until his mind realized it was what he was always meant to do.