New Beginnings

Chapter 34 - Wake

The first thing he became aware of was a thrumming sensation, vaguely pushing into his cheek. What kind of sensation it was he could not make out. His entire vision was black, and he couldn't move.

Breathe. Focus.

Carefully he attempted to grasp a tendril of his power in the darkness of his mind. A teal-coloured spark flared up in front of him, and he reached out for it desperately, bundling it up in his hands and making it a part of himself. Pulling it around in his body, he took note of what he could feel. His ears were there, and so were his quills. He sensed the power rush past his eyes and nose and muzzle, travelling down along his neck to his shoulders. Down his left arm first, gently dipping into each finger before travelling up again. Across the shoulder, down his right arm, checking every finger in a similar way before coming back once more. Along his spine, to his tail. Both legs got the same treatment, after which the power travelled across the top of his chest back to his mind. His whole body hurt, sending sparks of agonising fire through him every time he tried to shift around or twitch his fingers, and his focus waned with stars flickering in his mind and white noise ringing in his ears, but he was whole.

He was laying on his stomach, was the second thing he felt, and the third was something gently trailing over the quills adorning his head as the spark of power rushed over to investigate. Becoming a bit more aware of his surroundings he frowned, the sensation painful on his face; it was almost as if he was rising and falling alongside with the thrumming, but how...? The black around him became pressing and he started to fuss around as much as his drowsy, unresponding body allowed him to. A small murmur sounded in front of him as the movements over his quills stopped, and he willed to know what it was...

With a great deal of effort Silver blinked open his eyes.

There was... something in front of him, something a bit closer and more clear than the vague blurs at the edge of his vision. That something was looking at him, he struggled to presume, before the familiarity of the peach and purple splotches dancing in front of his vision made his voice catch in his throat and dry, chapped lip twitch open as he breathed out the name burning on his tongue.

"Espio...?"

The purple hues in front of him shifted, coming closer as the movements picked up anew and a warm breath trailed over his quills. "I'm here, Silver."

"Did I... m-make it?"

"...Make it where?"

"You," Silver mumbled, his quills beginning to bristle and shoulders hunching up as a sense of wrongness stirred inside him that he could not place. Something had happened, and he'd nearly- They'd almost- "Home. Safe."

"Hey, hey, Silver," vaguely resounded in front of him, his ears ringing even more than they had when his vision had been dark still. "Please- focus on me. I'm right here. You are safe." A hand began to trail over his cheek as the hedgehog flinched and tried to rear back his head, the sensation much too close to his neck and his eyes, before he realised it was Espio stroking him. "Deep breaths, okay? Try to copy mine."

With a great deal of effort Silver tried to slow his haphazard heaves, the gentle beat of Espio's heart a reminded that he was alive. He was alive, he had to be alive, surely if he had died his body would not be hurting so much and he would not be held so snugly in a warm embrace... "What... happened?" he managed to mumble out once his breaths had calmed down a little, his head getting guided into the crook of Espio's neck with soft movements as it became too heavy to hold up. "Where... How did I..."

"I found you on the beach about five days ago, in... rather worrying state, to put it mildly," the chameleon murmured, whispers soft in his aching ears and soothing away the painful clamour. "We do not know what the cause is of that, but you've woken up a few times before, small one. Do you remember?"