New Beginnings

Chapter 1 - Uncertainty

"Be safe, Silver."

"You too, Espio."

The chameleon extended a hand towards his unlikely new friend, which was studied with some wonder before Silver tentatively pushed his own palm against it. Espio smiled and gripped the hand presented to him, carefully shaking it up and down. "It's handshake," he explained at Silver's surprised look. "It's how people say hello or goodbye."

Silver hummed in response as he studied the gesture, his eyes narrowing as he clearly thought hard about the procedure. It gave Espio some time to look him over up close. There were huge purple bags under his eyes, he could see, and the other's body was littered with burns and injuries. He himself probably didn't look any better, he realised. The battle against the Ifrit and Eggman Nega, plus Metal Sonic 3.0, had really done a number on both of them. Espio's frown intensified as he studied Silver further, his sharp eyes taking note of the absolute myriad of injuries he was covered with. Those didn't all come from this particular battle, he was sure of it.

At the back of his mind, a nagging voice kept telling him that the world would have been consumed by flames now if it hadn't been for the grey-furred time traveller. But no-one knew that except said time traveller and him, his only ally. Looking at how the meetings with the other teams had gone, Silver clearly held great disdain for all of Espio's friends, and they certainly didn't seem to like him either. Espio could understand why the hedgehog felt that way, though. Silver seemed to treat his role as a saviour with utmost seriousness and drive, and he knew from experience it could be quite tiring to have to deal with the goofiness and silly jokes of their more whimsical acquaintances. Looking at how their own first meeting had gone, it was a miracle the chameleon had been able to get close to him in the first place, let alone get him to work together so well.

What would happen to Silver now, he wondered as he took in the exhausted shape of the other. While Espio had a family waiting for him in a mostly safe, occasionally warmed home, the time traveller would have to go back to an uncertain new future. Would there be anyone waiting for him there, like how Vector and Charmy were waiting for the chameleon now? Had there ever been anyone waiting for him in the first place?

"Silver, you're hurt," he murmured instead of bringing his looming negative thoughts to life. The hedgehog released his hand and looked himself over, appearing slightly spooked at first but then relaxing when he laid eyes on the injuries.

"Oh, this is nothing," he assured the sceptical ninja, sounding much too cheerful about the situation for Espio's tastes. "It will heal by itself, it always has."

That was a concerning phrase if Espio ever heard one. "No, I do not think so," he retorted as he reached up and grasped Silver's shoulders, keeping him in place as his eyes trailed over the hedgehog's body. He had never stood so close to him before, and only now he could see how bad Silver's injuries were. He could only grimace as he imagined how much they had to hurt. "Some of these will surely get infected, and who knows what else you might be afflicted with. You need to get medical treatment."

The hedgehog flinched as Espio unexpectedly touched him and pushed his hands away, suddenly appearing very guarded. "No," he shot back instantly with his ears flat against this head and a snarl on his face, though both of them faltered when nothing followed. In the silence that resounded Silver didn't lower his defences in the slightest, his stance and behaviour setting off every single alarm bell inside Espio's mind. With each passing moment he became more convinced about keeping Silver in this era, at least for the time being. Everything that was amiss with him physically got topped by the mental problems he no doubt would have from living in a ruined future for his entire life, though Espio did not know the exact details. No, Silver had to stay here, if only to calm the chameleon's own fears about the other.