Chapter Text
Silver and Gold slowly opened their eyes, adjusting from the light they were just exposed to. They were back in Silver's bedroom, and everything looked exactly as they remembered leaving it; however, it had been over two days, so there was a chance those days had transpired here as well.
After the silence of the shock between them had passed and they could gather their breath, Gold rushed out to the living room to search for their parents. Amber and Lapis -Silver remembered- slowly following Gold, maintaining his distance from her with a lump in his throat. The sensation was definitely different from the first arrival.
And why wouldn't it be? When he first arrived, these were, by all accounts, strangers. Kind strangers, but that was it, and it's not like something had changed; they were still people he didn't know, no, nothing had changed in them. The one who did the switch was Silver. Because even though they were strangers, he didn't view them as such.
They were his parents, his mothers, and not knowing them only made him want to know more; he wanted that side hug he received now more than ever.
“Mom, what day is it?” Silver heard Gold asking with concern.
“Uh, Saturday?” said Lapis.
“Okay, but what date?”
“It's the seventh of July, dear,” Amber clarified with some confusion.
“And the same year, right? 2225?”
“Yes,” Amber continued, “Why? Does something happen today?”
Gold let out a sigh of relief, judging by their casualness about the whole thing, it was easy to assume they probably only disappeared for a few seconds, enough to not even notice they were gone.
So they got the timestamp cleared out, and nothing looked out of the ordinary, so it was time to address the real discussion topic.
“Mom… Mother,” Gold looked at Silver with a nod to confirm what they were going to say, to which he did. “Silver has something he needs to tell you.”
He certainly did. He remained frozen where he was while the two mothers approached him, an action that made them feel much taller than they actually were.
“Yes?” asked Lapis.
Against the difficulty, Silver managed to get the words out starting from how he had spent most of his life in a ruined future; the many times he had returned to fix it up; how this was the first time he was actually meeting them; and what Gold and he were doing just now that caused such reaction about the dates. It wasn't easy to accept, they thought it had to be some sort of game he and Gold were trying to pull on them, but neither of them had a look that it was a joke.
No, it wasn't a joke. Silver's head was down, with a sense of shame at the situation, causing the mothers to crouch down to his level.
“So you've never known any of us?” asked Amber, summarizing, and Silver nodded, looking at their eyes.
“I wanted to start from the beginning–but it's okay if you don't want to! I mean, I'm fourteen, there's a lot I should know, but if you really–.”
Lapis and Amber shushed him by embracing him in a slow and soft hug that surprised the ivory hedgehog. No one said anything, Amber just softly caressed his quills and Silver stared at Gold as if looking for any semblance of guidance on what to do but there was no guide. The tenrec just smiled with a nod that was the final push Silver needed to embrace the situation, returning the hug and closing his eyes, letting everything else wash away.
This was his family, this is what saving the future was about and he finally understood what this meant, something that pretty buildings could never accomplish. And he didn’t have the exact words for it that could describe it but maybe there was no need for it, being there was enough.
They remained there for a couple of seconds until the moms finally broke off, placing each of their hands on his shoulder.
“Silver, we don’t know anything about time travel or paradoxes or anything like that,” began Lapis, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do or say that can make up for this situation… but if you’re willing to try this the best thing we can do is be here for you.” Her voice cracked near the end, and now she was starting to tear up and hold it back.
“If you need us for… anything, really, you can always let us know,” Amber was holding up a bit better, but she was also holding back.
“Did I let you down?” Silver asked.
“No, no!” Lapis reacted almost instantly, “Son, you could never let us down. We just want you to be happy in… whatever timeline that is.” She let out a chuckle.
Silver stared at them, he stared at Gold, and that's where it hit. They were trying to understand, just as Gold tried to understand back then, and just like Silver was still understanding everything. His sister was right; if this was going to work, then they were all going to have to wait for the other, but everyone was willing to do so.
“I'm happy,” he said, which caused a soft laugh from Lapis.
The two of them stood up, ready for a closing hug, but this time, Amber extended her hand for Gold to join them also; she politely declined, probably out of respect for Silver's moment and not wanting to interrupt that, but it didn't matter… With a little flick of his finger, Silver pulled her into the area where they were, making her join the family hug. A tad mischievous for sure, but Silver was confident she would understand.
After all, she was his sister.
The Venice family had one week before the academic life began.
One week to get everything sorted out, if you could call it that. Both Amber and Lapis managed to get a couple of days off from their usual work because right now they both wanted to spend as much time with Silver as possible, and introduce him to the world he had little knowledge of, as well as answer any other questions he might have.
The first detail Silver picked up was the family name. It was simple, Silver and Lapis the Hedgehog and Gold and Amber the Tenrec, but here in the future, there was a name that came after the species, and this name was Venice. So his full name was now Silver the Hedgehog Venice.
He liked it.
Another detail he had to take notes on was that ‘Mom’ referred to Lapis and ‘Mother’ referred to Amber, Silver mixed it up sometimes but he was getting it.
Now, Silver's situation didn't erase Gold's original problem, she was still not the greatest at history, and she still had a test to take, and the one who was supposed to teach her the subject also didn't know it either. This led to an interesting effect because if there was one thing Silver was eager to learn right now was history. Documentaries, books, fun facts, trivia, basically everything that happened from the 21st up to the 23rd century.
Gold could only chuckle at this behavior, the version of Silver she knew was also a history junkie so watching this unfold was like watching him rediscover his passion, it was sweet in a sense.
However, this history marathon led them to discover a funny thing and that was the fact that most of Gold’s books regarding the topic were missing, not in her backpack or a familiar place and asking her mother didn’t give any answer; in fact, the response was even more confusing.
“Just use the big one like always,” they said but Gold didn’t recall having a ‘big one’, at least none that Gold knew about that was so commonly known, but when they did find it, it raised some eyebrows.
It was much thicker than any history books Gold was familiar with, and the author of it was also unknown.
Kitsune Prower.
The book was much more in-depth, it had a lot of chapters and sections, and it was also Vol. 1, which Lapis said they were eventually going to buy Vol. 2. Naturally, neither of the siblings knew how many volumes of this series there were, but regardless, the name was eerily similar to the only Prower Silver was familiar with.
“It can easily just be one of his many descendants, you know?” said Gold one day, sitting in Silver’s bed as the hedgehog went through his closet for inspection on his clothing, “This… is very detailed too, it only covers a couple of years and it’s already bigger than the ones I’ve ever had.”
There was a pause from the two of them as Gold kept reading.
“Actually, I think I caused this,” said Gold and Silver shifted his attention to her, “Yeah, I actually talked with him about this, and he did mention our history was lacking, I wouldn’t be surprised if he took it into his own hands… think about it, this is the first time I’m knowing about this book or a Kitsune Prower of any kind.”
A bit more silence. Silver didn’t have much to add to those claims other than to emote to it.
“We could look it up, you know, remove those theories.”
Silver chuckled, rubbing his quills.
“Maybe later? I’m still trying to get used to this world first,” he smiled, the fact that it was so closely related to the Prower was the reason why he wanted to postpone this topic.
“Suit yourself. That won’t stop me from finding out,” a cheeky threat more than anything.
They decided to move from the topic, returning to the silence and after some more seconds of scouting through the closet, Silver came across a small bracelet, almost as big as the ones on his gloves.
“What’s this for?” he asked Gold.
“Oh, it’s for your quills.”
“My quills?”
“Yeah, you tie them up, here.” She stepped up to show him how, and he gladly let her do it, and it was a quick method with the final result being a lovely ponytail-like quill design. It didn't look that bad, now all that was left was to pick the clothing.
After all, the family had agreed to go out today and just check some of the city's best spots, maybe eat some lunch together at a restaurant since Silver kept being curious about the gastronomy of the future now that he didn’t have to hoard canned food or the like. It was a good way to spend the day and have a fun time of family bonding in the best way possible.
“Silv, you've been looking at it for ten minutes, have you still not decided?”
Silver chuckled nervously, no, he hadn't decided. It had to do with the fact that Gold told him there were many combinations, only a shirt, only a short, only pants, only a jacket, only a jacket and a shirt, only a jacket and short, and more which was overwhelming for someone who was used to only gloves and boots. A noticeable detail was that when it came to the clothing, the coloring of it was similar, a pattern of dark gray, white and light blue was in nearly all of them, whether it was one color, two, or three,e but the palette was present. Gold explained that it was because some stores usually offered a custom clothing option besides the standard one.
“Uh… is this a skirt?” Silver asked after finding such a piece with the aforementioned color palette.
“A skirt? It's not really that, it's more like a dress… kinda like a robe…”
Silver inspected it, it did look like Gold's preferred outfit, although this was slightly shorter, kinda covered the neck area, it was like a cloak mixed with a dress.
“Is this mine? Can I even wear it?”
“Um, yeah? Why wouldn’t you?”
“Well, because you did say it's a dress, and… well…”
“Okay, never mind–you really are from the past. Yes, Silver, you can wear it.”
Awesome, then! He went with that one and they were finally ready to go and explore the city at its fullest, in their own car of course, there was no reason to be surprised at it, but the design was so captivating and smooth that Silver couldn't help but stare at it as if it was a new gift, and going outside their apartment's parking was even more majestic. He was like a kid looking outside the car window at everything around him.
The meals? Even better, not only was the food delicious and the restaurant beautiful but this was a perfect moment to catch up on Silver's adventures, and just like Gold had done, their parents didn't believe he had been friends with Sonic the Hedgehog.
“We went to his wedding, really!” Gold tried to vouch for it and act as a witness, and even then, the mothers were still doubtful about it, but Silver shared his adventures regardless, and his excitement showed that there was truth to it.
Gold decided to take this opportunity to explain to their parents that maybe, just maybe, Silver didn't need protection from his older sister at all times; he could handle things on his own pretty well, too. Their mothers were supportive, sure, but not necessarily perfect either; it wasn't fair to put all the heavy load on Gold, especially now that they were going on different academic paths.
Amber and Lapis could try for sure; it was going to take a while to get used to that approach, but they could certainly attempt it.
“So, if you say you were friends with Sonic the Hedgehog, does that mean you also knew Kitsune Prower?” asked Lapis.
There was that name again, and there was no doubt, they had to be talking about Tails.
“Haha.. sure, I did,” Silver said nervously, but he still wasn’t sure if it was exactly Tails or someone related to him.
“That reminds me, Amber, we can go to the C.E.M.”
“What’s that?” asked Silver.
“The Center of Exceptional Minds,” Gold completed. “Big school for us kids with mental abilities, they have checked it out before, but I doubt you remember it.”
She was right, he didn’t, which made it the perfect excuse to visit the place one more time, now bringing the two kids along since Gold only knew the place from websites and general knowledge. The family hopped into the car and drove to the location in complete silence, not because there was nothing to be said or they were awkward, but it was simply because everyone was thinking about something… Maybe it was a family thing.
“Hey, Gold, do you know who Spark is?” Silver whispered to his sister on the back of the car; he still hadn’t forgotten about that awkward interaction with his neighbor when he first arrived.
“The neighbor?” Silver nodded. “He’s a dog, friendly, a bit weird and likes having you around.”
“Huh… should I let him know about this whole time travel thing?”
“Well…” Gold thought about it with a smile, “You’ve barely talked to him, I don’t think he’ll even notice the difference.”
Well, that was good to know, making friends in the future was going to be challenging and new to him, but he was glad there was a start.
Eventually, they arrived at the location, it was a small white building in height but large in its width, and the zone was very clean as well, with very few tall skyscrapers surrounding it. Its wide streets also created a very cozy feeling overall compared to what Silver had seen so far.
The family entered the building which was just as calming as the outside, the decorations, the soothing music, the white walls, the decorative plants, and so much more, causing Silver to let out a soft ‘woah’. Naturally, the family was instantly greeted by the front office, a lioness, taking care of the reception.
“How may I help you?”
They requested a salesperson, someone who would show them the place around and answer any questions they had, and how the whole system worked. They had done this before, but it wouldn’t hurt to do it another time, especially because now they had a new context. The assigned member who did this tour was contacted by the lioness, and after some seconds of polite waiting, this ‘salesperson’ arrived in the form of an orange-yellow fox with brown patches of fur, a lab coat and most importantly, four tails sprouting from behind.
“Oh, Lapis, Amber!” the fox greeted them both with a friendly hug as soon as he entered the waiting area. “Glad to see you here once again, and you’ve brought your children today, I see.”
“Mr. Prower, yes, we believed it was time for them to know your place.”
Prower looked at the youngsters, cracking a light smile before continuing his role.
“Well, it’s not my place,” he clarified, “And what exactly are you looking for today?”
“Oh, this is their first time here, so we wanted to see if it would be possible for you to show them around,” said Lapis. “If you’re not too busy, of course, we understand that–.”
“Haha, it’s okay, I always have time to do my job!” he said playfully. “Please, follow me.”
And so, the tour began. Prower started by talking about the history of the place and what they do and how they did it, the time, possible schedules, all the esteemed teachers they had, such as Professor Von Schlemmer, and everything that had to do regarding it, and while he was sharing lots of good information, both Silver and Gold were more captivated by the fox himself, they obviously had the question to ask him but Silver was a bit nervous -or too polite- to say it so they decided to stay silent and learn about the school.
It was a great school, no doubt. Gold was very interested in it, of course, she was the one who needed it the most but it wouldn’t hurt Silver either.
And they were on good time too, as Prower was explaining their most qualified teachers, one class was already leaving, which gave the perfect window to discuss with the teacher directly once the students were gone.
“And of course, you already know Shadow the Hedgehog,” the fox opened the door, introducing them to the teacher located at the desk, fidgeting with some tablets, but quickly standing up to receive them, shaking the hands of the two adults, and examining the children.
“These are your kids?” he asked politely.
“Yes, pleased to introduce them. Gold and Silver, you said you wanted to meet them someday, correct?”
Shadow crouched to meet them face-to-face and Silver was too surprised to break eye contact, there was no mistake or no doubt now, this was Shadow the Hedgehog, with his trademark black and red fur and golden bracelets, and if this was Shadow, then the Kitsune Prower was Tails. He kept looking at these two back and forth as if to confirm that he was seeing this correctly.
“It is my pleasure to finally meet you,” said Shadow with a soft smile. “Your parents have talked to me about you, trust me, you have so much potential in your abilities that you would imagine, it would be great to have you here if you desire to.”
It was Shadow, it was actually him, he had never seen him before in this time place, let alone in a position like this. Had they actually saved the future? Not like he didn’t trust them, of course! It was just surprising and the fact that Shadow, of all people, was going to be around in this life was exciting to say the least.
“Yeah…” said Silver, finally snapping out of it. “It would be great.”
“Likewise for you, Gold, telepathy, correct?” he stood up, but still maintaining the composure. “It’s trickier to master, all just as powerful, but with its own strengths and weaknesses, do not dismiss it just for being different than your brother’s.”
Gold nodded, the voice of the hedgehog was soothing in every word, despite how deep it was.
“Shadow is one of the best when it comes to these mind activities, he has a very special link to chaos control,” Prower put for emphasis while standing next to the dark hedgehog. “And, we have the safest field tests thanks to him and our E-123 Omega Unit!”
“Miles…” said Shadow, indicating that he was pushing in too much, he wasn’t comfortable with the sell, even though it was as friendly as it could be.
“Heh, gotcha! I'll leave you to the paperwork, let me know if you need anything!”
And that was the cue to head to the next and final stage of the tour, the financial side of it located in his office, back near the lobby of the school, however, Prower had already discussed this on Amber and Lapis’ previous visits, they weren’t going to agree to anything they hadn't discussed already, no, today there was something else.
“Ms. Lapis, Ms. Amber, may I have a moment with your children for a second? I wanna make sure they’re on board with this, after all, they were very quiet throughout the tour,” he said with a cheeky smile.
The mothers looked at each other; they probably already had an idea of what he wanted to discuss.
“Yes, of course, take your time!” said Amber.
Prower led the siblings to his office while the parents waited outside, he sat in front of his desk, looking through some files on his technological devices like tablets and computers, while the two remained sitting in the chairs in front of it in complete silence.
“I think you guys wanna say something,” the fox said after typing more stuff, expecting them to initiate it.
“Tails?” asked Silver almost out of instinct. It was clear he was holding this in.
Tails chuckled at it; this was exactly what he was expecting that reaction to be ever since he encountered them at the lobby.
“Actually, I rarely go by Tails nowadays,” he dropped the technology and began to address them directly. “It’s usually just Miles Prower or Kitsune Prower, depending on how personal you want to get, but yeah, it’s me, the Tails you know.”
Gold was just as shocked as Silver was right now, but she decided to let him ask the questions.
“B-But how?”
“One of the perks that comes with being a lives-over-nine-hundred-years-kitsune, I guess. And Mr. Ultimate Lifeform isn’t allowed to get old, so it was nice having him by my side throughout these years.”
“And you’re in a school?” Now, Gold was curious to know about them. “I would assume it would be more… sciency–no offense!”
“Oh, I was a scientist, actually! For over a hundred and fifty years or so, but I still have plenty of years left to do that so Shadow and I decided to support this project due to the rise in abilities like yours in these past decades, after all, it’s not that uncommon nowadays and we figured that you two wouldn’t be the only ones who would have needed help. It does make for a good income when I’m not sponsored by G.U.N.S. or something… I mean, even Shadow grew tired of working for them.”
The siblings looked at each other, all of this was incredibly fascinating to hear. Silver would never have thought that Tails, of all people, would be able to live up to hundreds of years and be reunited in the most casual way possible.
“And you created a history book?” asked Gold.
“Ha! Yes, I did… Do you remember what you told me that day during Sonic’s wedding?” he made it look so long ago when from their point of view, that was just last week, “I figured it would be best to record history while it was still fresh, I wasn’t expecting it to become that popular… I didn’t change anything in your life, did I?”
“Oh, no, no, no!” Gold quickly interjected, “Everything’s fine, really, I’m glad I was of inspiration!”
Tails chuckled at it, suddenly getting an epiphany.
“I almost forgot! I actually have something to give you– Sonic wanted you to have it,” he began looking through his drawers until he found a rugged envelope. “It has seen better days, but on my defense, I have been keeping it for two hundred years.”
He gave Silver the envelope and he was about to open it but the fox insisted on doing so back home, his cheeky tone when doing so implied that it had to be something good.
“Sonic wanted this?”
Tails nodded softly.
“I do miss him sometimes– His statue doesn't do him justice.” The upbeat tone dropped somewhat.
Silver looked at Gold to confirm that which she did with a nod, a statue of Sonic was something he had to see for himself.
“Anyways, Silver the Hedgehog, Gold the Tenrec, what are your thoughts on the C.E.M.? I think we all know you would benefit from it the most, Gold.” Tails brushed off the topic and returned to his role, referencing the great display Gold had made at the wedding.
“Heh, guess it wouldn’t do harm, but I do have some other studies I should tend to.”
“Right! Back to school season, college, I understand, I wasn’t expecting you to sign up today, in fact, judging by Silver's expression I feel like you've just come back from the wedding… It’s just kinda what I do around here.” he stepped up from the desk and opened the door; it was time to leave. He still had a lot of work to get done, and unfortunately, he couldn’t stay around too long for some catching up; maybe some other day would be best, and hopefully, they could apply to the school once they were more sorted out.
“Hey Silver,” Tails called out once last time before they left his office. “Shadow and I took care of everything… Unless Sage or Metal Sonic found another way to reupload their data, or we get an alien invasion like the one from last year, the only threats you should be worried about will come in the now. Go with your family, it was a pleasure to meet them.”
Silver smiled at him, and it was a genuine smile, a thankful smile.
And for now, it was time to part ways and return to their daily lives.
“Hey!” said Lapis once the siblings reunited with their parents, who had been patiently waiting outside. “Everything good? Were you reconnecting with an old friend?”
Tails had obviously told the mothers some details, and adding Silver’s story completed the full picture, even if that picture was something hard to believe, the details all lined up for a pretty improbable but true story.
“Yeah, I think it was,” said Silver, looking back at the office door. “We should head home.”
The family returned to their apartment after a long day of tourism, the parents prepared a light dinner to finish off the day, and afterward, everyone was off to their bedrooms, except for Gold and Silver; they had one more detail they wanted to check for the day, and that was the envelope Tails had given them earlier, they were dying to know what it was.
They gathered in Gold’s bedroom, sitting on her bed, unwrapping the contents in anticipation. What was so important that Sonic wanted them to have that Tails had kept it secure for centuries now?
The wedding picture.
The one where everyone was present, including the two of them now, but it wasn’t the only thing that came with the package; there was also a note attached to it that they both read together.
‘I don’t know when you’re finally reading, but I’m confident that when you are, it means that everything worked out in the end. Silver, don’t worry, your future is safe. I trust Tails and Shadow that is in good hands, and I think you did too. Gold, I wish we could have shared more adventures together, but you have your brother for that now.
Tails said he edited you two out of this picture for ‘preservation purposes’, so don’t worry about history being altered or anything; this image is for your history; you and your parents are now part of ours, which makes you all part of our family!
‘I’m so glad Tails was able to give you this in person, if he's going to be a kitsune, then might as well, right?
‘Take care, and enjoy your present!
–Sonic the Hedgehog.’
It would be lying to say that Silver didn’t shed a tear, even Gold became a little emotional, but it was good, it was true that everyone in this picture was long gone in the past –save for some of them–, but the important thing was that they were now part of their past.
They agreed that this would remain in Silver’s possession; he had the closest relation with them, but of course, they could share. Silver then returned to his room, getting ready to sleep and to keep the 200-year-old picture safe for hopefully even more years to come.
He leaned on his window, staring at the city skyline in front of him, reminiscing on everything that happened. He would never have imagined himself gazing out from his own room, living with his family, and even though he still had the time stone, even though it could maybe work for one or two roundtrips, and that maybe they could try and find the other stones, Silver didn’t want any of that.
No, right now he was ready, ready to stop living in the past and start enjoying his future. In fact, there was a better and nicer way to put it.
For the first time, Silver the Hedgehog Venice was ready to live in his present and carve out his own future alongside Gold, Lapis, Amber, and everyone else he might encounter.
This life was here to stay, and for once, he was excited for what the tomorrow could bring.