Belong

Chapter 19 - Brothers

The next few days went by peacefully. Under the watchful eye and encouragement of the Restoration both Silver and Venice recovered in no time, powers back as if they never had been exhausted in the first place. The psychic knew he and Silver would be leaving soon to an uncertain future, even though he did wish they could have stayed longer. It was for a good cause, he told himself. Besides, maybe the future really had been saved, and was now a wonderful paradise? They couldn't know that if they stayed in the past forever, though Silver seemed unhappy at every mention Venice made to the possibility. He couldn't tell what was on the other's mind, though he was determined to find out before they left.

Two people had come over a while back, who Silver had called Rouge and Omega. They had stayed for tea and chatted with Silver and Amy. Venice had also been there, leaning against Silver's side, though had been a bit too preoccupied with the ginormous murder robot that towered over him to pay attention to the conversation. The thing had behaved relatively well other than some disturbingly aggressive statements regarding Dr. Eggman and hadn't tried to go after him or Silver, to his great relief. With some convincing Amy had made the hedgehog hand over one of the shiny Emeralds to Rouge, whose eyes had shone just as much as she took it in her hands with a grin. "You really do look like Silver," she had told him cheerfully as Amy led them out, but he had had no idea know to respond and they had left him alone after that. He had made Silver cuddle with him extensively for the rest of the day to recover.

The other Emeralds had also found a place somewhere, one going to Tails' workshop and all the others being spread out over the world to whoever needed them until Silver had only one left on his person. Sonic and Tails had said something about how the Emeralds must have saved Silver's life when he and Venice got hit by the force of Eggman's hyper bomb, but Venice had only been listening with half an ear. The psychic couldn't really be bothered by the inner workings of Chaos energies and all the theories that Tails came up with; the Emeralds seemed much too powerful and dangerous to be near, especially if all seven were combined. It was fine with him this way, he decided on a lazy morning when groggily trying to fall back to sleep, though certain factors in his surroundings made that extensively difficult.

"Ve-enice," a playful voice whispered in his ear, as it had been doing without fail for the past few minutes already. "You really need to get up now, you already missed breakfast." The sings-song tone and the accompanying prodding in his sides made the hybrid frown annoyedly as his train of sleepy thought came to a grinding halt, though he tried to keep his face as straight as possible as to not show Silver he was awake. He wasn't particularly hungry and from what he could tell the world outside his heavy covers was cold and chilly; he'd get up later. Silver seemed to have different ideas, though, and Venice flew up with a yowl as his blanket was ripped away from his grip and his body got assaulted by a gust of cold. His lunge at Silver to give back his warm haven was unsuccessful, and his friend gracefully flew out of his path with a laugh as he telekinetically moved the covers away further.

"See! That wasn't so difficult!!" the hedgehog crooned victoriously as Venice clumsily landed himself on the ground with his powers. Puffing up his fur against the draft he grumbled as Silver smoothly placed the blankets back, snickering quietly to himself. Now that he was up and the bed most likely cold anyway, he might as well just face the day. Silver probably wouldn't let him go back to sleep if he wanted to, he decided as he watched the other psychic float over the bed with a grin on his face and his arms crossed. His few clothing articles were put on easily enough, and he stretched out extensively before making his way to the door. When noticing Silver made no attempts to follow him he paused. "Are you coming?"

The smile fell from Silver's as he grasped his arm with his hand, and Venice saw his good mood evaporate and be replaced by something more sombre and slightly tinted with guilt. "Actually... I would like to discuss something with you," he said awkwardly. Venice raised an eyebrow at his unexpected shift in tone, before walking back and settling himself on the bed once again. Silver slowly dropped down and joined him, hunched in on himself and not looking the hybrid in the eyes.