#sth 200 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shadofiredragon · 1 year

Text

Legends Never Die

{ AAAAND Chapter 7! Right after chapter 6 like I promised. Special thank you again to one of my best friends in the world @000marie198. If you like this fanfic and anything else Sonic, TMNT and/or dragon related, then you’ll love her blog! Please go check her out! }

( First | Previous | Next )

Part 1 ~ Immortal Escape

Chapter 7 - Heart of a Hero

Silver inhaled deeply. The air felt cool, refreshing. A deep sense of peace filled his heart as he walked ever deeper into the expansive, white landscape.

It didn't occur to him to wonder where he was, or what he was doing there. He was simply content to exist. So exist he did.

A strange sound rippled into the silence and his ear twitched towards it automatically. His head followed the motion, curiosity pulling him towards the source of the noise.

He proceeded forward. Was he even walking? Or was he just floating in this vast expanse of nothingness?

Curious to know the answer he looked down at his feet and was shocked to see a pair of boots covering the traditionally bare appendages. They were beautiful too, black, and teal, and polished. He'd never seen them before in his life and yet their presence felt natural, as if he'd worn them since birth.

A sparkle of gold and his eyes flew to his hands. He let out a short gasp at the soft, clean gloves pulled over his hands, their centers displaying his cyan marks with blatant pride. Even more startling than the brazenly displayed marks were the shining golden cuffs that seemed to keep his spotless gloves locked in place. He turned his wrists, eyeing the cuffs with fascination. A cyan line, etched into the middle of the cuff, glowed warmly at him, matching the marks emblazoned into the gloves.

Another noise, this time terrible and mind bending, screeched through the void. Silver covered his sensitive ears, grimacing in pain and praying that the glass-shattering sound would stop.

When it did he opened his eyes to find that his white surroundings had changed to pitch black, the darkness threatening to swallow him whole.

He lifted his eyes to look upon the only light that was dimly cast upon him and felt his body seize, freezing in place.

A colossal creature, with bone-like wings extending from its back, loomed in front of him. Its hulking frame took up most of the black space surrounding it and Silver felt as though the creature was literally swallowing up reality itself.

The massive creature reared, extending its wings and casting eerie shadows around Silver's tiny form. Its head opened and its maw released another mind-tearing shriek as a separate, sun-shaped part of its back extended outwards, adding the monster's horrifying mass.

Silver could do nothing but stare, terrified and trembling at the massive figure threatening to swallow up his very life essence.

"Okay!"

The voice snapped Silver from his terror and he jerked around to see a blinding gold light that he somehow knew was a person. The figure was indistinguishable, the golden glow from his body (the voice sounded male) so bright that Silver had to shade his eyes with his hand.

"It's all you, S———!"

Wait... Was the voice talking to him?

"Understood."

A second voice?

Silver whirled around and found, on his other side, a second figure, once again indiscernible through the golden glow surrounding him. The only difference was that this person's light was paler than the other's, a lighter shade of the intense gold that the other figure bore.

"Silver, it's your turn!"

The second voice... how did the second voice know his name?

Silver glanced down at himself, shocked to find that his body was also radiating a brilliant light, with his being an even lighter shade of gold than even the second figure's.

What was happening? What was all this?

He felt himself begin to panic, but then a calming presence from the very center of his being flooded into his mind. It was warm and inviting, whispering to him in encouragement and giving him strength. What was this thing? It wasn't his curse. He could still feel that part of himself flowing through his body, growing stronger from the alien warmth.

'What are you?' He wondered to it.

It didn't answer. Instead, the unknown energy that burned under his skin grew and expanded inside of him until he felt every part of himself being filled with its wonderful warmth.

He'd never felt so awake, so alert, so... Alive.

The constant buzz in his mind had become a powerful hum, harmonious with the life-giving energy burning within him. The warmth's presence brushed against his consciousness and he naturally reached for it, joy and courage spilling into his heart.

Silver pressed his mind into the warmth, trying to draw closer to the whispers inside of that ever burning energy.

'Please tell me what you are.'

A pause. Then, as quickly as the warmth had invaded his body, a cold chill spread inside his chest, poisoning the air in his lungs and making him feel both suddenly weakened and nauseous. The warmth swallowed itself, becoming dark and chilling. Silver nearly choked at the sudden sucking feeling that opened a cavern inside his chest. The sensation crashed into him like a tidal wave, desperation clawing like icy claws inside of his heart.

Within all of this, a whisper, like the most primal of urges, echoed inside his mind.

'Help.'

~•~•~•~

Silver shot up with a choked gasp, grasping at his heaving chest while the cold ache continued to stab into him. His heart was still painfully dark. Painfully empty.

His head hurt, but he barely recognized it over the overwhelming emptiness eating away at his lungs. Eyes wide open, the only thing he could see was darkness.

Cold. Cold. Why was everything so cold..?

He slammed his eyes shut, grinding his teeth and clutching the soft fur of his chest, using the sensation to ground himself into reality. The world felt off kilter, fuzzy and disorienting.

Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream...

His mental mantra calmed his beating heart and his mind slowly shifted into awareness, receiving signals from his body and concluding that he was sitting back in his bed. The air was warm, stiff with the scent of fire and sweat. His tongue was thick and he could feel how his quills had prickled.

He was awake. This was the real world.

Silver let out a heavy exhale, relieved. The coldness in his chest had begun to subside, the overwhelming emptiness receding into an unsettling feeling that something was missing.

But that was normal for him, and he had learned to ignore it over the years.

A throb pressed against the inside of his skull and Silver leaned forward with a groan, one hand pressing against his aching head. A quick glance over his surroundings betrayed no sign of an episode.

Maybe it was simply the dream that had given him the headache. It did happen sometimes. At least the headache was already going away.

Taking a few more breaths he slowly stretched out, relaxing his muscles and forcing himself to let go of the already fading dream. Dreams like that came and went for him. Nothing too strange about it.

At least, he never thought so.

Abelle had often tried to probe into the inner workings of his subconscious through his dreams. He didn't often remember much about them, but if he did, she'd always try to figure out why he had so many vivid recollections. After all, for the first few minutes after waking up, Silver couldn't always tell whether he was still dreaming or if the dreams were actually his reality.

Silver rubbed his eyes, trying not to think about the other times he'd woken up crying, screaming or with that horrible emptiness wrenching his chest. Those were worse experiences. But if he was asked later why he woke up like that, he wouldn't remember. Sometimes all he could remember was the terrible feeling of dread, fear, loneliness, or desperation that would linger even as the images of the dream faded.

Already the dream he'd just had was beginning to disappear into the blackness of his mind, dissipating like a veil of mist on a sunny day.

He sighed, pushing down the empty longing in his heart that had been reawakened through his overactive subconscious.

He looked up at his light source wearily, noting that the fire had not gone out as he'd previously feared from within his mind's pitch blackness but had only begun to wane, growing dimmer with every wavering flicker.

He stumbled to his feet, one hand still rubbing a sleepy eye while he trudged to the little pot. Dropping to a crouch, he rummaged for some small strips of wood and newspaper, tenderly feeding it to the tiny flame.

Tending to the fire and hearing its happy crackles helped him wake up more. Slowly, the weariness left him and he began to search his surroundings.

He wondered what time it was and how long he'd actually been asleep. Part of him hoped it was still dark out so he could go back to sleep.

Usually the other half that longed for social interaction would protest against his natural want for more rest and solitude. But today, logic leaned in favor of hoping it was still dark out. If Abelle wasn't going to be able to play or meet up at all, then going outside wouldn't be enjoyable anyway. It would be no use.

Scooting backwards on his tail he reached out and pulled away the tarp. Faded daylight streamed inside of the shelter and Silver craned his neck to look outside, as if trying to confirm that the dim sunlight was actually real.

After a couple seconds he pulled the tarp back in place, sighing heavily as he turned back to the tiny fire in its pot.

He poked at the flame with a thin stick.

"What do you think? Should I go out today? Or stay inside?"

The flame flickered but otherwise remained impassive.

He looked to his left, eyes landing on a canteen hanging from a pipe in the ceiling. He knew he should drink more water than he actually did, especially in the heat, but he just never felt thirsty. It worked perfectly, since he hated having to go fill up at the water hole anyway. Too many of the kids went there, some of them just because they had nothing better to do.

And those were the worst kind to come across.

Reaching out, he leaned as far as he could until the canteen rested in his hand. Unhooking its strap from its hanging place he pulled it to himself, opening the top and shaking the bottle warily.

A light sloshing sound at the very bottom of the canteen. Almost empty.

Did he really need water?

Yes. Yes he did. The dream had left his mouth feeling dry, and his tongue swollen.

Sighing, he brought the bottle to his lips, tipping it back until all that was left of the lukewarm liquid was poured into his mouth.

His parched mouth was instantly appeased, the thickness of his tongue relieved by the smooth liquid.

If only the hole in his chest would be appeased so easily.

Letting the last droplets of water empty from the canteen, he wiped his mouth on his arm, trying to ignore the slow feeling of dread and regret of having drunk the last of his water.

He'd needed it. And he could use a walk anyway.

Heaving himself back to his feet, he recapped the canteen and took the few steps to the shard of mirror where he'd left his attire. He wrapped his feet first, pulling the wrapping tight so it supported and protected the delicate appendages from any potential damage. Then his hands. Again, tight and secure. The last thing he needed was for the wraps to fall off while he was out in public.

Satisfied with his work, he pulled the hood over his head, rolling his shoulders under its comforting weight.

Tossing a couple last splinters of wood into the fire, he grabbed the canteen and headed out.

The air felt noticeably cooler, and Silver glanced up to see dark clouds shrouding the sun's normally harsh light and casting the world in ashen grey. He tipped his nose up. A slight breeze tickled it and he made a face.

Great. Rain was literally the last thing he needed.

Holding the canteen close to his chest, he squeezed through the narrow alley and out into the Mire streets. Working his way through the maze of alleys came naturally to him. Every side rode, shortcut and dark alley was familiar. If you could navigate the maze-like walkways of the back alleys, then you could handle the main roads. At least, that's what he told himself.

He'd usually avoid any wider roads or streets, since they tended to accumulate businesses and, in turn, busyness. Mobians would loiter about, some with nothing better to do and bored enough to heckle with any poor stranger dumb enough to make eye contact. But Silver was small and weird enough that a teenager or young adult might actually find it entertaining to bother him in any circumstance.

His tiny legs hurried their pace, his mind urging them to go faster, what with the ominous clouds looming overhead.

After cutting through multiple trash-filled alleys and winding streets, he finally reached his area's water hole. The streets opened into a littered square, making the place feel dirty and unkempt. In the center of the square was an old pipe with a long handle attached to the back. Moss spotted the cobblestones underneath the pipe's spigot, growing in the cracks between bricks, and speckles of blue mold grew in the nooks and crannies of the pipe's metal. To anyone else outside the Mire, just the thought of getting water from such a dirty place would be enough to make them gag. But to Silver, this was the golden fountain of life.

Silver glanced around the square, staying within the protection of a shadowed alley, and noted the lack of traffic.

On normal days, humans and Mobians alike would be ambling through the square. Some looking for simple conversation, and others waiting in line for water. He'd always found the socialization in this place to be more peaceful and soothing than in other places of the Mire. And even though he never talked to anyone himself, it was pleasant to listen to others chatting amongst themselves as if the world they lived in wasn't as horribly bleak as it actually was.

But today? There were hardly any people at all. One person bundled in rags was tucked inside a nearby building's doorway, and by his posture Silver assumed he was asleep. A second person hurried to the water hole, cranked the screechy handle, collected the water in his bowl, and hurried back away.

Silver glanced up at the clouds. It was probably the rain that kept people at home.

Oh well. Better for him.

He eased out into the square, uncapping his canteen as he approached the water hole. Darting up to the metal contraption, he rested his hand on the handle, ready to pull its stiff arm up, when his ear twitched.

"Please! I just wanted water!"

His sharp hearing strained from under the hood. It sounded like a kid. The pitch of his voice indicated that he might've been Silver's age, yet his voice sounded stuffy, like he had a cold.

"Yeah? And so did Mike."

Silver's stomach dropped, and his grip tightened on the handle.

"I said I was sorry!" The kid's voice sobbed.

Silver's eyes pressed shut, the logical part of his mind, run by fear and experience, trying hard to block out the voices.

It's not your problem.

"'Sorry' won't cut it, pipsqueak."

The voices were coming from somewhere behind him. Maybe a side road? If they hadn't noticed him, he could catch them off-guard..

No- leave things be. You don't know what'll happen.

A thud followed by a cry of pain.

"Please! I-I can get him more water!"

Maybe if he just intervened. At least to give the other kid time to run away and hide.

It's safer to stay out of it.

There was a snarl followed by a cruel laugh, not belonging to the first voice, and a small whimper.

"It was an accident!"

Silver couldn't take it any more. His instincts screamed against it, but he couldn't ignore the pulling on his heart. The innate urge to help was too strong, a feeling that billowed through his chest and into his limbs. A desperate ache that spun his body around and moved his feet, almost against his will, towards the sound.

It wasn't long before the culprits of the noise came into view. Three older Mobian children were standing in front of one smaller weasel sprawled on the ground. His tail was tucked close to his body and his lean figure curled into a tight ball. But without anything to protect him, he was still vulnerable to wound and injury. Specifically a tin can that had been aggressively kicked by an orange feline.

Silver's heart lurched, anger kindled inside of him and his face hardened, his feet quickly closing the distance between the bullies and the weasel on the ground.

"Hey!" Silver shouted, instantly drawing the three larger kids' attention, "Leave him alone!"

The largest of the three, a jackal with ashen fur and toxic green eyes, snorted.

"Or what? What're you gonna do, tiny?"

Silver froze in place, suddenly feeling much smaller than he had just moments before. The courage was fleeing his chest as quickly as it had come and he wilted beneath those hateful green eyes.

"I- I-" His eyes darted between the older, rougher, and no doubt stronger kids, but then landed on the weasel. The boy's scared amber eyes connected with Silver's, full of fear and the tiniest glimmer of hope.

Silver felt a bit of his courage come back, enough to straighten his posture and return the jackal's stare.

"I-I'll do something- you won't like."

Of course he was bluffing. Though the electric buzzing in the back of his mind stirred slightly to his elevated heart rate, it still remained within the confines of his mind. Not that he'd want another episode like yesterday's.

A dingo, the smallest of the three bullies with a nasty snaggle tooth, chortled at him.

"Aw I'm so scarwed," he mocked in a baby voice.

"This isn't your problem, pipsqueak," the jackal growled, ignoring his comrade's tease and taking an intimidating step forward, his hands flexing to show off his dark claws. "Just run away like a good little boy and don't stick your nose where it don't..."

The Jackal paused, his brow furrowing as he looked more closely at the hooded child in front of him.

"Wait a second..." His face lit up and he let out a laugh, "This is that little white freak!"

The other two looked at him in surprise, before smiling in recognition, their sharp fangs glistening even in the dimmed light of a cloudy day.

"The same kid that left during the storytelling yesterday?" The dingo questioned. Rhetorically, Silver assumed.

"Sure is," the orange cat grinned making Silver want to run away and hide in a small, dark burrow.

The Jackal's eyes grabbed at Silver's attention, and he found he couldn't look away.

"He left because his curse started acting up. Weak genetics can't keep his freaky, glowy hands from going off. Isn't that right?"

Silver winced. He couldn't help it.

"You can't even keep your stupid curse from embarrassing yourself! What could you possibly do to stop us? Huh?"

He didn't know why he cared. He shouldn't. These three were just a bunch of bullies. He shouldn't listen to what they have to say. It didn't matter.

Instead, he should be thinking about other things. Like how their attention was focused on him, not the weasel boy.

The other two bullies guffawed, amused by their leader's mocking words. But the weasel stayed where he was, a single glance from Silver betraying no sign of disgust. Shock and surprise were probably better words for the emotion in the weasel's eyes.

Silver forced the raw ache in his heart out of his mind. The bullies were still distracted and Silver took the opportunity to subtly gesture to the open road past them.

The weasel blinked, glanced over his shoulder down the empty street, and then back at Silver, fearful.

Gently, Silver mouthed, 'run'.

The weasel nodded and with trembling, terrified effort, gradually got back to his feet. Silver's gaze had locked back onto the bullies, who had slowly worked their way closer to him. Their eyes sparkled with smug delight.

Silver's quills bristled.

This wasn't good.

"Ya know what I think the problem is? I think freak here forgot where his place is." The Jackal sneered, pounding a fist into his palm expectantly. "Maybe he needs a little reminder."

Silver's heart jumped into his throat. The Jackal was still out of arm's reach in front of him but his two friends had stalked forward, flanking him on each side. If he didn't act soon, he'd be completely surrounded.

One quick glance and he saw the weasel, watching him, only a few steps away from the Jackal. His whole body was tight, ready to spring like a taut coil.

This was it.

Silver's lungs filled with air.

"RUN!" The moment the scream left his throat, he turned tail and bolted away, hoping the weasel had done the same.

He could hear the bullies shouting in surprise, then in frustration. Having two different targets was making them hesitate, giving both Silver and the weasel more time to escape.

The jackal growled out some sort of command but Silver had already ducked into a branching alley, their voices muffled behind brick walls.

Adrenaline raced through his veins. Who would they go after? The other kid? Or him?

He didn't dare stop and wait around to find out.

Already his lungs burned, and his legs ached. His skinny and malnourished body cried out against the sudden physical exertion. Maybe, if they weren't following him, he could at least slow down and catch his breath.

This small hope of relief was quickly chased away by the sound of shouting coming from behind him.

His heart jumped into his throat and he nearly tripped on his own feet. He shouldn't have been surprised, they always came after him. Of course they would. He was slow, small, and weak. But this acceptance did little to calm the dread rising inside of him.

The voices grew closer, angry and cursing.

"Little rat-!"

His ears twitched wildly, catching the sounds of heavy footsteps following behind him.

He took a right, hoping to lose them in the maze of alleys. It was a foolish hope. Two canines and a feline against a little hoglet? Yeah right. Silver didn't stand a chance.

"I see him!"

The declaration sent a jolt of terror through his body and he cried out, tears wetting his wide eyes.

"Get him!”

The three bullies gave chase, energy renewed by the closeness of their victim.

Silver felt his despair and fear literally debilitating him. The adrenaline pumping into his body should have given him an extra speed boost, but instead fought against him, turning his muscles into concrete. His movements ground to an agonizing crawl. Every step was taken in slow motion. No matter how desperately he willed himself to go faster, how terrified he was of getting caught, he still wasn't fast enough.

"Come on! He's not even that fast!"

The horrible realization that he was going to get caught hit him like a bucket of ice and his heart nearly stopped from the wave of panic that tackled into his body.

Only, it wasn't just the panic.

"Gotcha!"

A rough squeal broke from his throat as he was knocked to the ground by someone much bigger than him. Hands grabbed his arms, pinning them to the ground, and Silver felt a heavy weight on his back pressing his stomach and face into the dirty alley concrete.

Silver wiggled and twisted, managing to find enough space under his attacker to possibly escape, but it was quickly corrected, and Silver found himself thoroughly trapped.

"You're not getting away that easy, freak," the voice hissed into his ear. Silver recognized it as the dingo's.

"Nice catch!"

Silver's head craned around to see the Jackal and the cat jogging up to them, heaving heavy breaths.

"P-please!" Silver gasped. His lungs hadn't had much time to recover, leaving him as breathless as a landed fish.

The jackal grinned wickedly.

"Oh? What's this? The little runt's begging now?"

Silver pinched his eyes shut, wishing he had the freedom to curl up into a ball and scream until help came. Except, he couldn't. And no one would want to help him even if he could.

"Pick him up," the jackal demanded and the dingo obliged, grabbing Silver by his skinny arms and hauling him to his feet.

He squeaked in terror as the Jackal's face burst into his vision, so close Silver could feel his ragged breaths on his muzzle. His nose twitched, developing an itch.

"Ya know- I'd almost feel bad for you," the Jackal said, his bitter breath making Silver's muzzle wrinkle, "If you weren't so pathetic."

In one swift motion the jackal delivered a punch to Silver's gut. The blow had him doubling over, coughing and gasping for air.

The static inside Silver's head intensified.

"Hey look at this!" The dingo laughed, tugging on Silver's arms and forcing him to stand upright, "Freak's glowing again!"

The cat sneered, approaching Silver with flexed claws.

Silver shied from him on instinct, but was unable to pull away from the studious gazes directed to his throbbing hands.

The dingo barked out a laugh, "Cool! Free light show!"

The cat scoffed, "A useless trait. Messed up little creep. Maybe he's part glow-worm, and that's why he does that."

"N-no- I-" Silver's protest was interrupted by a sharp pain slicing across his cheek.

He yelped, cowering from the cat who was standing over him with hackles raised.

"Shut up, you freak. You're the only one to blame for this mess. We'll teach you to keep your nose out of our business."

Dread and fear was crushing Silver's lungs as the three older kids shared gleeful looks before directing their hungry gazes on him.

They took one step towards him, hands ready to hurt.

Silver could feel his curse pulsing inside his own body, fizzling just below the surface. He tried to focus it, a last ditch effort to protect himself from the abuse that was surely going to come. But despite his efforts, the glow never grew, and the usually uncontrollable energy remained impassive.

Without any way to defend himself, there was nothing else but to give up and accept his fate.

All Silver could do now was close his eyes, and hope that it would all be over soon.

( First | Previous | Next )

#legends never die #200 years in the future #sonic fanfiction #silver the hedgehog #tails the fox #tails the kitsune #e 123 omega #shadow the hedgehog #sth #sonic #miles tails prower

17 notes · View notes