Pieces of Solaris

Flashback: The Princess of Soleanna

10 Years Ago

Kingdom Valley; Castle of Reigning Monarch, Duke Venetian of Soleanna

. . .

The Duke was kind, but warily stern toward Silver. He had all right to do so, really, considering the hedgehog had appeared out of the blue, and Princess Elise was the first one to meet his acquaintance... not that the meeting had gone over very well either. Never mind that she was only six years old, the Princess of Soleanna was tough!

Regardless, Silver stood awkwardly in front of the Duke's throne as he awaited whatever punishment the Duke had in mind for him. What was a little life sentence compared to losing your only friend in a deal with the devil? Would it be worth it to have given up that friendship for the ability to manipulate time and space with a single thought in your head (and a little help from a Chaos Emerald)? Silver was soon finding that he would rather have Blaze beside him in a horrendous wasteland, then having an angry little princess glaring at him by her father's throne.

"I believe you claimed your name was Silver," the Duke said in a loud, booming, and powerful tone, "Is that correct?"

"Yes sir." Silver agreed in a soft tone, feeling rather like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

My name is Silver of Crisis City, your grace, the meek and the mild... your grace. I meant no harm in what I did when I, like, destroyed several of your fancy, shiny buildings in the city by mistake and in fear... It was all an accident, your grace, please have mercy.

"Silver, what you did earlier today is inexcusable and cost us a lot of resources that cannot be easily replaced."

"I understand your grace."

"Under normal circumstances, such destruction could vary from a lifetime in jail to more severe courses of action; the death sentence, as it may be in this particular case."

Silver went pale, but the Duke chose to ignore this and continued on,

"However, you were given a special pardon that prevents any of these normally agreed on justices to come about to you."

"I... do...?" Silver asked with a confused tone and an even more confused face. For a brief moment of hope, Silver thought that maybe Blaze wasn't cast to a different dimension like he was told. Maybe she was just sent to another time, sort of like he was, and she did have memory of him and knew all about this trail. Maybe Blaze was...

"Yes." the Duke of Soleanna told him, sending Silver out of his wistful daydream, "The princess has given you special pardons under one condition."

"The princess...?!" Silver inquired in absolute surprise as he gave the little girl a dumbfounded look. In return, the Princess gave the hedgehog a rather smart smirk that illustrated that she knew what she had done.

"You hurt me." the Princess told Silver, not sounding very upset about it. "But you can hurt others just as well. I want you as my body guard- it will be your community service after destroying the community."

Silver flinched at the tone of her voice- this kid was not only physically harsh, but verbally too...

"Thank you for the opportunity, your highness," Silver told the Princess as his hands shook from justified anxiety. "I would be honored to take up the job of being your body guard."

For the first time, the young princess gave Silver a genuine smile. Slowly, and a bit awkwardly, Silver smiled back. Maybe they just got off on the wrong foot earlier, and this was how they were going to repair that first meeting. At least, that's what he planned on doing.

Much later, as Princess Elise walked down a familiar road with Silver not far behind, she suddenly turned around and almost made him run into her. Her young face looked quite smug, yet concerned about something that she was thinking of.

"You know I saved your life." she told him, not with attitude or sounding as boastful as she wanted it to be. She seemed almost genuinely upset that such a fate almost came to him- and the idea had burned into her mind so badly that she had to make sure he knew that.

"I am aware." Silver admitted, his voice unintentionally cracking from stress. Elise looked at him and gave him a curt little nod before starting to walk again. Silver followed close behind but said nothing else as they continued to walk along. At first, the two walked a good distance apart from each other, but as time went on they started to walk closer together, and soon after they walked next to each other at the same pace.

"I don't know you very well," Elise said in such a soft tone that Silver could barely hear her, "But I know I can trust you. Is... is that weird?"

Silver turned to look at the Princess with a curious look, and for a moment, he didn't see a prim and proper princess who had a good abundance of defiance in her- he saw a sheltered and confused little girl who secretly wanted a friend. And for a moment, Silver could have seen himself in her, and it almost terrified him.

"It's not weird," Silver then told her, "It's called trust. It takes a lot of faith to have trust in someone you don't know and could have possibly hurt you. Thank you, by the way. My friend had a lot of trust in me before I came here, and I fear I've let her down. But..."

"But, what?" Elise asked, turning her head to look at him curiously.

"But... I think this is what she would have wanted for me."

"To be a body guard for a princess?"

"No," Silver said as he shook his head, "To make a new friend."

At this, Elise stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Silver with wide eyes. The hedgehog stared back at her with a small but kind smile.

. . .

Present Day

Silver held on to the Scepter of Darkness as tightly as he could as he ran to Sonic's hut in search of Elise. To his horror, neither of them were there. Sticks came in behind him not long after and assessed the scene quickly.

"No..." Silver said as his heart fell. Sticks took one look at Silver's distressed face and started to sniff around the room like a dog without warning. Silver looked at her in a mix of confusion and hopelessness.

"He doesn't have them," Sticks reported as continued to sniff for clues, "She had a vision and... and Sonic decided to take her some where..."

"Where?" Silver asked after letting out a sigh of relief knowing Mephiles didn't take them. Sticks stopped sniffing the air for a moment to look at Silver.

"You believe me?" she asked. Silver nodded eagerly. A split second later, Sticks was latched onto Silver in a rather heartfelt hug.

"No one's ever believed me before!" Sticks said happily as she pulled out of the hug.

"I trust you." Silver told her honestly. "If you know where they are, I'll follow you wherever you go."

Sticks looked at Silver with utmost gratitude- then she slapped him across the face.

"What was that for?" Silver asked in pain as he rubbed his now very red cheek.

"I'm making sure this isn't a dream!"

"Aren't you supposed to slap yourself?"

"I... knew that." Sticks said indifferently. Silver, however, wasn't too convinced but kept it to himself. He had to find Elise before Mephiles could- not that he knew he was already too late...