Chapter Text
Memento Mori: remember you must die
~ ⋆˚˖*˖ ⏱︎ ˖*˖˚⋆【┘】⋆˚˖*˖ ⏱︎ ˖*˖˚⋆ ~
It was in times like these that he wondered if this was what losing your mind felt like. After stopping the Iblis trigger, the future was calm… for a moment.
It would never last long. A month after peace, the oceans began rising uncontrollably. He fixed that and not too long after, something else would happen. It was never the same world ending catastrophe. Sometimes it was a dystopian future filled with robots, other times a comet crashing into the earth.
It was an endless cycle. Something goes wrong, he fixes it. Another thing goes wrong, he fixes it. Over and over with no end in sight, it was only a matter of time until something snapped. Until he snapped. There is only so long that a hedgehog can have the same, never-ending problem. Enough was enough, it was time to search for a different way, another solution.
There had to be something he was missing. A key element that was not in equilibrium with the rest of the future. The question was, how to find it? It could be anything in the past. As much as most things going wrong could be attributed to Sonic, that didn’t mean that he was the trigger.
Heh… trigger. It reminded him of the Iblis trigger all over again. It’s been just about a year since the whole ordeal and Silver was tired.
He had a lot of work ahead of him…
~ ⋆˚˖*˖ ⏱︎ ˖*˖˚⋆【┘】⋆˚˖*˖ ⏱︎ ˖*˖˚⋆ ~
Silver had it. Or at least he believed he did. Long days and nights spent pouring over all records in the library and online, hours of his life, yielded… something peculiar. Or more accurately the lack of something.
200 years in the future, all of Silver’s friends were dead, well almost. It was just the nature of things, the eventuality of things passing. He tried not to think about it often but now he was deliberately looking. Looking because it was the only lead he had.
Sonic, hero of Mobius, had golden statues, books, plaques, awards; a lot of things to remember him by. Tails had a published autobiography of his inventions along with several scholarship programs for students at the prestigious universities. Knuckles had scriptures of the Echidna tribe. Everyone Silver knew in the past had something that proved their existence. A book, plaque, memorial or at the very least a census report. All except one.
Shadow the Hedgehog.
For a hedgehog who was virtually immortal, there wasn’t a lot on him in the records. Actually… there was not a single piece of information out there about him. Even looking into the Space Colony ARK was fruitless. Not a single mention of Project: Shadow. Anyone who didn’t know the truth would be none the wiser, there were no mistakes. This was no mistake. Someone had purposely removed all mentions of Shadow.
A hunch told him it was the brooding hedgehog himself.
Figuring out an anomaly is one thing, fixing it is another. Why? Why did he disappear off the face of the earth? Why was he integral to the survival of the future Silver lived in? And most importantly what could Silver do to fix it?
That’s what Silver had been contemplating as he watched his friends at the beach. Team Sonic was there, as was Team Rose and two thirds of Team Dark. The missing member was the one on Silver’s mind. Once again Shadow was missing from the picture. It was rare for him to be around the whole group, preferring to stick to his team unless necessary.
Was that what the problem was? It seemed superficial that the cataclysms were caused by a dark hedgehog’s introvertedness. Was it the hedgehog's attitude to risk? Shadow fought to protect the earth like Sonic. Especially to protect those he cares for… protect… those he–
That was it!
Shadow fought to protect those he cared for, nothing more. He wouldn’t care if the world blew up if Rouge, Sonic or the others were gone. It wasn’t what he was doing that was causing the future to go awry but rather his lack of action.
All of Shadow’s friends are long dead 200 years into the future. It would make sense for him to simply cease existing once that last person was gone. To float away on the clouds of change and… and go back to stasis.
But that brought about another issue. How to fix something that was an issue of character? Something that was fundamental to Shadow’s morality. It was too late to fix anything in his future, and perhaps too late in the present, leaving the only choice of going back.
How far back? To the ARK. But where and when?
Shadow wasn’t one to change easily. The only person Silver had seen get close to breaking down the hedgehog’s walls was Rouge, and maybe Sonic. And the key phrase was ‘close’, because even they couldn’t help Shadow if he didn’t let them.
Ideas and names bounced around the confines of his brain. The objects in Silver’s immediate vicinity began to float as his thoughts flooded all of his senses. Thoughts with low merit, scrapped, only to be replaced with others. Plans formed to be tossed in the metaphorical trash bin. Think…think… The ARK… Shadow… M–
Maria.
Those few syllables brought everything to a halt, the objects that were previously floating, dropped. Maria Robotnik. Shadow’s first friend. In essence, his sister. The one who taught him his morality, who lifted him up into her arms and brought him comfort, the one who Shadow almost blew up the whole earth for as a result of his grief.
If… if Silver could save Maria from her current fate then…
Quills raised with uncertainty. It could cause too much variation. If she survived, would Shadow ever go into stasis? Would Sonic and his friends be born? Would Eggman attempt to take over the world every other week with his robotic creations?
Would Silver still exist?
It might be the only way. Shadow was the problem, Maria the solution. Any consequence would be worth it if the future remained peaceful, if it remained whole. The future needed a guardian and whether Shadow wished it or not, it was his purpose.
Silver stood up. With a, possibly, final glance at his friends he turned to leave, heading towards his vegetable garden. He had a government takeover to stop…
~ ⋆˚˖*˖ ⏱︎ ˖*˖˚⋆【┘】⋆˚˖*˖ ⏱︎ ˖*˖˚⋆ ~
Frigid, dry air made his quills rise, anticipation palpable in the quiet metal halls. The troops would begin their siege at any moment. Silver was hidden in the room where Maria was destined to die, the room with the escape pod, the one that sealed Shadow to a fate of 50 years in stasis.
Silver didn’t have a plan. That probably would have been smart to do BEFORE he time traveled back, now his brain is scrambling. What will he do when the soldiers follow the siblings here? Talk with them and ask them for mercy? Use his psychokinesis to disarm them?
Even if he managed that, they could still hurt Maria. Would saving Maria even be enough? From what Sonic had told him, Maria was sick before she died. But maybe passing on more gradually would give Shadow a level of acceptance, enough to fight for the planet Maria longed to see.
Panic sets in. His hands trembled at his sides. There was no plan, he couldn’t think of one. No, he couldn’t do this. He wasn’t prepared and anything he did now could permanently alter the future. He should go back.
He has all the time in the world to figure it out, maybe even bounce his ideas off of someone. He could bring the idea up to Shadow, surely he wouldn’t be opposed… but that could cause some sort of paradox and Silver wasn’t willing to tear the universe over this.
His frazzled thoughts were interrupted by approaching footsteps. There were two people, judging by the sound, the first set was heavier– like metal on the metal floors. The other, a light clink of heals. Silver's eyes widened, he ducked behind a shelf just in time as the two new arrivals ran in.
If Silver was panicked earlier, then he was damn right horrified now. What he does now could change everything, so no pressure. His breathing was shallow, chest tightening as Shadow and Maria moved about the room.
Silver’s heart beat so loud that he couldn’t hear what Maria was saying to Shadow. Only after the whooshing sound of the escape pod surrounding Shadow, did Silver register the approaching footsteps of several more people in their direction.
He should leave now. He can figure this out later, he told himself.
He didn’t dare move a muscle.
Maria was at the control panel when the door slid open, revealing armed soldiers.
“MARIA!” Shadow’s voice reverberated around the room.
The air was stagnant. It felt just like when Silver used chaos control, except he was also frozen.
Silver couldn’t just watch this. He was here NOW. He could do something NOW–
BANG!
Silence. A ringing sound enveloped the room. Shadow paused the banging of his fists against the glass. A body fell to the ground. A non-human body.
Maria stood at the control panel, guns now turned away from her. There was no bullet wound.
The guns turned downwards to where white fur tainted red.
Before the soldiers could do anything else, Maria slammed her hand down on the button, ejecting a still Shadow down to Earth. His eyes were glued to the hedgehog on the floor until he couldn’t see him anymore. Soldiers surrounded Maria and Silver, pointing their weapons at her but not shooting.
A ringing noise filled Silver’s ears. Did he do it? Maria wasn’t dead, so he supposed that he was successful. His eyes fluttered closed as his warmth was stolen by the lifeless floor of the space colony. His fists relax, feeling the grooves of the surface.
It was getting difficult to think, the edges fuzzy. Was… was this his purpose? To inspire Shadow to do more. To do better. He didn’t mind. He did regret not saying goodbye to his friends but… maybe they won’t remember him. Now that he changed the future. Now that he became what he was always destined to be, every time he went to the past to fix the future; a MacGuffin.
Silver was glad that he at least helped one person. Maria deserved to live, even if that came with the trade of his own essence. Hopefully, those two won’t blame themselves. If nothing else, they will remember him.
He always longed to die looking at the stars. So with the last of his strength, Silver peeled his eyes open, his vision tunneling on the innumerable dots in the inky black void. His own consciousness swallowed by the void, his lips twitched into a smile. His last action before his body went cold.