Archive of Our Own ^beta

Mephiles had thought that his existence would be snuffed out alongside Solaris. Oh how wrong he ended up being. Instead in the wake of his greatest triumph, and crushing defeat, he was met with the sight of an empty wasteland. One not dissimilar to the future ravaged by Iblis’ power. Yet here instead of fire and magma coating everything, there was nothing to indicate the origin of this apocalypse. It was simply cold and empty. Perhaps it was a punishment sentenced to him by the universe. His new prison for daring to go against the “natural” flow of things. Perhaps he wasn’t deemed deserving of the kindness of oblivion.

With nothing else to do he walked. He could feel with certainty that Iblis wasn’t here, wherever here was. It didn’t matter much did it? If Iblis wasn’t here it wasn’t as if he could plot any proper revenge. He was strong, but he could recognize his own limits. Perhaps he could manage to kill Sonic again, but it wouldn’t do him much good. It would feel satisfying, but even that would be short lived. No doubt the retaliation from the hedgehog’s allies would be swift.

No. As much as he craved revenge he had no immediate means to carry it out, so he just walked. Perhaps he could find something useful amongst the wreckage. Some hint as to what had happened here. Maybe whatever it was could prove useful.

He walked. For how long he had no idea. Time was not a thing he really kept track of, and there was nothing else around to help indicate it. Not with the sun hidden behind clouds. This time not of ash and smoke from Iblis’ power, but perhaps just normal clouds. Whether they were there naturally or not he didn’t know. As he walked he checked anything that might yield usable information, crumbling buildings mostly. Though each time he was greeted with nothing. Barely any sign that life had once been there at all.

The sheer feeling of isolation and the silence that blanketed the area was why he was so surprised by a voice. One that was infuriatingly familiar. “Hey!” None other than Silver the hedgehog had called out to him, waving. He looked more or less the same as Mephiles remembered him, but there was a brown, worn cloak wrapped around him. Behind him were two more familiar faces. Shadow the hedgehog, who looked distinctly more… alien than he’d been before, and E-123 Omega. Though the oddest thing of all was that none of them were looking at him with the expected amount of hostility. “Are you alright?” Mephiles was pulled from his thoughts as Silver called out again. Mephiles tilted his head. Well this was certainly interesting, and perhaps an opportunity he could use. Before he could say anything though Silver approached him and began to look him over. Behind him Shadow was watching the exchange with a sharp look. “You don’t seem injured which is good… How long have you been out here?” Silver looked up at him. 

It was so strange to look back at someone who he’d mercilessly used and manipulated before, and see no recognition in their eyes. No. Silver did not know him, of that Mephiles was certain. The biggest question was how. Perhaps something had gone awry when he was acting as Solaris. Timelines could become… finicky when disrupted. It was possible this was a Silver who’d never met him at all. “Maybe we should take them back with us.” Silver frowned before looking back at Shadow. “They seem kind of out of it.”

Shadow hummed. “Perhaps, but are you sure they’re trustworthy?”

“I HAVE NO RECORD OF THEM. THEY ARE AN UNKNOWN ELEMENT.” Omega spoke up.

“If we don’t trust everyone we’ve never met before we’d never help anyone.” Silver huffed. “But if it makes you feel better I’ll take responsibility for them. Just until I can convince you we can trust them.”

Shadow was clearly reluctant, and Mephiles could perfectly understand why. Though he wasn’t helping his own case by remaining silent. It didn’t matter much though, based on Silver’s apparent determination to help him. “Fine.” Shadow sighed. 

Silver turned back to Mephiles, smile now on his face. “Alright, now that we have that cleared up…” The white hedgehog grabbed Mephiles’ hand. “We’ll take you back with us. Get you a meal if you need it.” Honestly Mephiles was so stunned in that moment at the casual contact that he didn’t even try to fight it as Silver led him back towards the other two members of the group. “Thanks for letting me give him a chance dad.” Silver turned to Shadow. Shadow ruffled the quills on top of Silver’s head and just smiled. If Mephiles hadn’t already been reeling with shock before he certainly was now. Just what sort of alternate timeline had he found himself in?

It had been surprising to see… well Mephiles wouldn't describe it as thriving based on typical standards, but a thriving civilization carved out of the nothingness around it. It was impressive that it managed to take root at all, let alone survive as it did. The resilience of mortals would never cease to amaze him.

Yet another thing that had been surprising was being treated with kindness by nearly everyone. Shadow and Omega still regarded him with suspicion, but he honestly preferred that. It was something he was more used to. Though simultaneously the biggest and smallest anomaly of all was one Silver the hedgehog. From what Mephiles did gather about Silver's personality from his own timeline this one seemed to line up rather well. Perhaps less desperate due to the state of the world being… better. Though as far as Mephiles could gather he'd not been to the past yet. At least if the way he spoke of it was anything to go by. 

It wasn't hard to gather information when you had someone so willing to freely give it. Silver happily chatted with him about all sorts of things. Unfortunately it wasn't known what the exact cause of the downfall of the world was, though Silver did admit he thought his dad knew something and wasn't telling him. Another interesting development. The familial relation between Shadow and Silver. They weren't related by blood, but Shadow had taken in the younger hedgehog when he was little apparently.

That relation would make it harder to convince this Silver to do anything drastic though. What also didn’t help that was the state of this time. Not entirely destroyed and hopeless like the one he’d plucked the first Silver from. No he would have to work hard if he intended to use Silver in the same way he did last time.

Was it wrong to not despise being in the company of the small settlement in the meantime though? Perhaps but as he used Silver to gather information he was also given purpose. Even if it wasn’t a purpose of his own design. In a way it felt good to be doing something. Maybe this fledgling feeling is why he let slip his abilities to travel through time.

“You can time travel?!” Silver had an excited look in his eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

Mephiles simply shrugged. “I was… still adjusting.” Not untrue, but not the reason he hadn’t shared that particular ability before now. After all, he’d done this by accident.

SIlver sobered some and nodded. “Makes sense. It must have been kind of disorienting coming here huh?”

“I suppose… yes.” Mephiles nodded. His only solace right now was that the two had been alone, sent out to the nearby ruins to find anything useful. It had been interesting, dare he say amusing, to watch Silver argue with Shadow to allow just the two of them to be sent.

“This could change everything though…” Silver looked around at the ruins, a sad look in his eyes. “If we could figure out what caused this we could maybe fix it.” He stopped walking and turned a smile on Mephiles. “We could do so much good. Even if we can’t fix this… maybe we can still help everyone.” He held out a hand. “I know we can do something!”

Mephiles regarded the offered hand like it was a hostile creature. On one hand this could be exactly what he needed to set into motion… some sort of plan. Silver was clearly willing to work with him. On the other hand, Mephiles had no plan. He’d been so caught up in gaining trust that he’d neglected to even think of what he’d do with it. Perhaps though… perhaps he could figure it out in due time. He had all the time he could ever need after all. He took the offered hand and shook. “I believe this is the beginning of a wonderful partnership, Silver the hedgehog.”

Silver’s eyes widened as soon as he could see again. He really was here. The past. All of the fighting and convincing he had to do, particularly with his dad, had been so worth it. Shadow had barely agreed to even entertain this, and only after he’d pulled Mephiles aside and presumably talked to him about something. It was hard to keep track of just how many promises Silver had to make to Shadow, but it was fine. He would have made twice as many if that’s what it took.

Everything was so nice! Nothing was destroyed! He stood there in awe for a while until he was interrupted Mephiles clearing his throat. Right, they had a job to do. Research the past! Hopefully along the way they’d figure out what happened to Silver’s time. “Where should we start?” Silver turned to Mephiles. The dark hedgehog had been watching him. Clearly not nearly as enamored by the scenery as Silver was.

“You’re asking me?” Mephiles sounded surprised.

“Well you’d know better than me.” Silver rubbed the back of his head. There was just so much, he had no idea where to start. Some guidance would be nice.

Mephiles tilted his head slightly, an action Silver had learned meant he was thinking. “Perhaps a library would be the best place to start.” The dark hedgehog nodded. Silver stared at him blankly. Mephiles blinked, SIlver blinked back. “You don’t know what that is do you?” 

Silver shook his head, suddenly feeling sort of embarrassed. “I… don’t.”

“It’s a place with… a lot of books. Good for research.” Mephiles explained, his eyes scrunching up in a way that made him look slightly annoyed, but Silver wasn’t sure if he was just imagining that or not.

“Oh!” Silver tried to shake off his embarrassment. “Sounds like a good place to start then. Lead the way.”

Mephiles’ ear twitched as he straightened his back. “Ah yes… of course just… follow me.” The other hedgehog began to lead them into the city.

It got really hard to keep focused once they were in the city proper. There was just so much life here! It was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Mephiles had to keep pulling him along if he got distracted for too long. Thankfully he was at least gentle about it. While the other hedgehog probably couldn’t understand what Silver was going through on a personal level, he could get it in some way.

It sort of felt like aimless wandering to Silver after a while, not that he cared mind you, so maybe Mephiles was taking a longer route for his sake. Which was pretty thoughtful actually. It was nice to experience a little bit of how things were. It only made him more determined to help. At some point he’d stopped walking and Mephiles called to him. Well he couldn’t help anyone if he got lost huh? He rushed to catch up. He should make sure not to lose his guide.

Mephiles was… conflicted. He had been in the past with Silver for around a week now and he had to admit he didn’t feel quite the need for revenge that he thought he would. Especially after learning that both the Sonic and Shadow of this timeline were around. He’d kept that particular investigation away from Silver, but it was getting harder to hide it when the white hedgehog kept insisting on spending every moment with him.

Yet besides the annoyance at being interrupted he found he wasn’t all that upset. An odd feeling considering the Silver of his own timeline had helped end Solaris. Perhaps he could just separate these versions from their counterparts though, their slightly different appearances helped, and that’s what curbed his want for revenge. They were not the same ones who had destroyed Solaris and caused him to be sent to this timeline. Maybe… he could be content with remaining here, since he had no viable way to get back to his own timeline. For all he knew returning to his own timeline with Solaris destroyed would cause him to cease existing. Perhaps it was better to just keep existing here in that case.

Not to say his desire for revenge was completely quenched, he still felt rage any time he looked at a picture of that blue hedgehog, but he could live with it. Did he really want to stick around with Silver and… help though? It felt so foreign to genuinely give aid, and without the intention to trick or manipulate. Yet he’d be lying to himself if he said this time hadn’t felt fulfilling in some way. Perhaps this new purpose coming so soon after losing his previous had helped. He didn’t know.

He was pulled from his thoughts as Silver grasped his hand. Such casual touch… something that he might not ever get used to. “C’mon, the garden isn’t too far.” Silver smiled. It felt nice to have such positive emotions aimed at himself. 

The walk through the garden was nice, he supposed. Silver rambled on endlessly about the different plants since he’d been reading up about them. He was growing more confident he could grow some of them in his own time as long as he brought the seeds with him. Mephiles agreed with that, even if he knew very little about plants. He also idly noted that Silver kept hold of his hand the entire time and he felt no urge to pull away. Curious indeed.

Perhaps it would be worth entertaining the idea that being thrown into this timeline had altered him in some way. Not that he could prove it, but maybe it had some effect. Or perhaps he was just trying to find an excuse for why he felt the way he did now. Whatever the reason, things were different now. Whether that was by choice or not didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. For now he would bide his time and… help. Perhaps if he was lucky they’d figure out what caused Silver’s future in the first place.

“It’s really coming together huh?” Silver turned to Mephiles, a smile on his face.

“The plants are growing in rather nicely.” Mephiles hummed.

It was nice to finally see some of the results of their research in the past. As soon as Silver had felt confident enough in his newfound gardening skills he’d wanted to take some seeds back to his own time and try it out. He was so glad that most of the plants had taken well to their less than ideal soil. Despite everything the little garden was really starting to thrive.

Silver grabbed Mephiles' hand. The dark hedgehog just looked at him, an improvement from him stiffening every time Silver did that before. "Thank you for letting this happen." Silver squeezed his hand. "I'm really glad that you ended up here of all times."

"It was a… fortunate accident." Mephiles nodded. "I am pleased that if I had to end up anywhere it was here."

Mephiles was odd sure, but Silver didn't mind it. It was nice to have someone that was willing to indulge his more out there ideas besides his family. Plus for how aloof he seemed Silver could tell he enjoyed what they were doing. It would have been pretty easy for Mephiles to leave if he wasn't. There wasn't anything any of them could do to stop him if he did decide to leave.

Instead of leaving though, Mephiles stayed. Had even come back to the current time with Silver on multiple occasions even when it would have been more comfortable to stay in the past. Heck even his dad had finally started to like him, or well tolerate him at least. Not that Silver knew what caused the sudden switch but! That didn't matter. All that mattered was that the people closest to him were all getting along finally.

There was only one other member of Silver's family that Mephiles needed to meet, and he should be back soon. That's why they'd come back today, to make sure they'd catch him. Even if Mephiles assured him they could return to any point in the future Silver just wanted to be sure. 

Until then though the two had filled the time with tending to the garden Silver started. It was nice with just the two of them. Shadow and Omega had offered to come help as well but Silver knew they'd both rather be doing something else. Specifically waiting for a certain someone to return in Shadow's case. As much as he would enjoy having them help, Silver would rather his dad be able to do what he wanted today.

Mephiles was quiet company but was a great listener. He never told Silver to stop talking whenever he got passionate about something. Instead he just listened quietly, nodding and even asking questions sometimes. It was nice. It was hard to get Mephiles to talk though, especially about himself. He kept his past close to his chest and no matter how curious Silver was about it he never pushed. One of the first things he'd really taken to heart was the fact that someone's background didn't always define who they were. Especially in the kind of place he lived. It was a good place for second chances since there wasn't much point in not just making the best out of what was left.

For now Silver was content, and more hopeful than ever before. Even if they couldn't figure out what happened, at least they could make it better for the people that were left. Silver squeezed Mephiles' hand again. After a moment Mephiles squeezed back. Yeah, they'd make a better future one way or another.