Belong

Chapter 5 - In The City

In an immense token of creativity, Silver had given the ruined city he found himself and Venice in the name Frozen City. He had quickly come to the conclusion that while he despised the intense cold and constant barrage of snow, he did like the difference it had from the burning ruins he had grown up in. With Tails' fire gadget he could easily stave off the cold, and all the snow meant no lack of water. One of the first things he had done after the night where he had named Venice was give his new friend a bath with melted snow, which the other hedgehog had accepted with no fuss other than a clear look on betrayal on his face. It made Silver chuckle as he remembered how he had tried to clean and dry the other as quickly as possible. With all the dirt and blood removed, the other hedgehog's pelt became a more ivory shade compared to his own darker grey fleece. Silver decided Venice's colour looked good with his orange chest fur.

As for Venice himself, he still was tight-lipped about himself or where he came from, with shyness and insecurities to match. Silver wondered just how much knowledge on this world his friend had, and in the back of his mind he questioned if he was even a natural part of it. He had attempted to bring up the other's past once or twice, but whenever he did Venice would either start panicking or mutter something about the facility he had mentioned before, when he told Silver his name was PK-HMH, before shrinking in on himself and refusing to say anything else for hours on end. The silver hedgehog had quickly decided that it was best to let the topic rest for now.

While the lack of sun made it difficult for Silver to know how much time had passed, the Miles Electric Tails had modified and given him had a clock, which he lawfully abided by. The whole piece of technology was filled to the brim with information, tips, and pictures he and his friends had collected for him, both during the war to keep themselves sane when the world they knew kept crumbling around them and afterwards, when the relief made everyone excited about how things would go back to normal soon. While Silver was always eager to learn something new, he now had another reason to study all the provided knowledge: he wanted to teach Venice as much about the past world as possible. While not having discussed that particular titbit with his friend yet, he already knew that he didn't have the heart to leave the other behind when he going to travel back to the past in order to undo this future.

Venice for his part spent his days following him around like a lost puppy, clutching Amy's coat like his life depended on it and panicking the instant Silver left his view. If the psychic had been a fish out of water when he first travelled back in time, Venice right now was more like a beached whale: utterly stranded in an environment that it was simply not made for, immensely difficult to aid, and entirely dependent on those showing it kindness to help it recover. Well, Silver knew a thing or two about being alone in the world with no-one to guide you or be nice to you; he had sworn almost instantly, even before naming Venice, that he would take the other under his wing as best as he could. And as such, he stuck with his friend, making sure he ate enough, telling him story after story of his adventures and all the things he had seen in his own life. All the while he encouraged and comforted him as he saw fit, which was often. Although, Venice had many oddities, other than his past and general behaviour, that made Silver worry about him.

What his clock told him was two days after meeting Venice, Silver had noticed the most peculiar thing on the other. He had woken up earlier than his friend, and decided to already get up and start working on breakfast, but as he glanced over the still-sleeping survivor he could have sworn he saw the same teal marks he had on his own hands on the glove-less ones of Venice as well. Barely suppressing a yell of surprise – people with psychic powers were rare, even in the past! – Silver had wasted no time questioning his lookalike about it over breakfast. Unfortunately, he had realised that he had come off much too strongly when Venice started backing away, panic clear in his gaze. Silver couldn't help but wonder what had happened at that facility Venice rarely mentioned, though he could easily come up with some ideas that made him feel sick to his stomach. He had quickly changed the topic, and the rest of the day went by with no further incidents, though the hedgehog had sworn to himself to keep a close eye on the developments of the other's supposed psychic powers.