New Beginnings

Chapter 31 - Heartache

In the end it was Sonic who found him, legs pulled up to his chest and head buried in his knees from where he sat hunched in on himself on the coarse sand.

"Espio! There you are, thank goodness we found you, we were so worried when you didn't come back-" the speedster blabbered behind him, skidding to a halt with the wind tugging at the kernels, but the chameleon did not even notice. Nor did he notice the silence as Sonic cut himself off, or how the other dropped next to him on the beach also, or the pained frown his friend was carrying; a hand was placed on his shoulder, but still no word passed his lips. "He's gone, isn't he?" the blue hedgehog whispered, Espio tensing only more in grief at the question. "Oh, Espio. I'm so sorry..."

"...You were right," the chameleon bitterly murmured, his voice a croak filled with anger and anguish. "I was too late."

"Espio-"

"I was too late, and now I lost him."

"You can't-" The speedster shifted, though Espio refused to look up and meet his gaze he knew would be overflowing with sorrow and pity and that horrid belief that everything would turn out aright in the end. Nothing would be alright ever again. "Espio, maybe he'll come visit-"

Jerking his shoulder so Sonic's hand would fall off the chameleon snarled from where he was hiding his face against his knees still. "If he believes his mere presence here will jeopardise the entire timeline, he will not come visit," he snapped back, voice trembling and feeble despite his harsh words. And Silver wouldn't; Espio knew he loved the world too much to risk bringing it harm, to risk undoing anything he had worked so hard for with the chameleon at his side. But he loved Espio the same, he had dared hope, and yet... And yet...

He had been too late, and he was hurting so much.

"...We'll talk to Tails," the other whispered next to him, not reaching out to touch him again. "He'll... He'll think of something. A way to contact the future, so we can reach out to Silv somehow, or a means to get there- We don't know how many years away he lives, do we? Tails will know how to figure that out though, I'm sure, nothing is too much for him. If he doesn't want to come here we'll just go to him, that should be fine with the timeline and stuff, right? Or we can ask Shadow with Chaos Control, I don't know how that will help us, but surely we can do something..."

Ignoring the stream of words beside him entirely Espio clutched his legs only more tightly. Too late... Too late. It was the only thing that echoed in his mind as Sonic kept talking and talking before finally falling silent, as the speedster murmured quiet words of encouragement while hoisting him to his feet, as they slowly made their way back over the beach and up the wooden stairs and into the streets while the hedgehog kept him up more than he did himself. Too late, too late, too late.

"Espio!" Charmy squeaked as he and Sonic entered the Agency's living room, the chameleon startling as he looked at his surroundings with a blink. It did not feel like he had walked her at all, everything around him had been shrouded in a nightmare-like haze... He grunted as he the bee flung himself against him, tiny arms holding him tightly with none of the gentleness Silver's embraces had contained and the touches making his skin crawl. But Charmy had been crying, he could tell from one look at the other's red eyes and tear-streaked muzzle, and so he wrapped his arms back around the child and buried his head away in his shoulder and held him as closely as he wished he had with Silver.

"Silver's gone," he could hear Sonic murmur, the words hitting him like a kick in the stomach once more as he staggered to retain his balance as if they had struck him physically. Gone, he was gone, and he had been too late...

Not looking up as he could feel Vector step closer Espio fought to keep his eyes dry, the lump in his throat and heaving of his chest making him tremble. "We're so sorry, Espio," the crocodile of course had to say as a large hand began to stroke over the ninja's crest, before he wrapped his arms around him and Charmy also and hoisted them up as if neither weighted anything. "We're here, it's gonna be okay."