Foresight

It was always a joy to see his friends- the ones of the past-, to see that they were still alive and well. Because, well, that was always a temporary thing. He knew all too well about their ultimate fate.

"Hey."

Without looking up, Sonic greeted him back, though less enthusiastically.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just a bit...chaotic right now."

"Oh, I see." He levitated down to the other's eye level. "Need some help?" He looked around in worry, not seeing any obvious danger. Which, really, only made it feel more ominous.

"Nah. I think I've got this. I mean, chao can't hide forever, right?" He acknowledged Silver's presence that time, giving a brief grin in his direction.

"Geez, you scared me. I thought this was some sort of emergency," Silver sighed.

"I told you it was only a bit chaotic, didn't I?" He was peeking into the nearby bushes, parting their leaves in hopes of revealing the small creature.

"Yeah, but coming from you, that could mean anything."

"Eh, I guess that's true."

Silver looked up into the clouded sky- that same sky, whether past or future- and tried to clear his mind. "How many chao are you looking for?" And back onto the present matter.

"Three." He laughed, briefly. "They had to go scattering around, right as I was trying to get them in before the storm comes. But that's a chao for ya."

"I'll help you out." He began looking behind the mountain rocks nearby. If he'd found a chao then, he probably wouldn't even have seen it; his mind still preoccupied. Images, pages filling his attention so that vision was a secondhand sense.

Do you really want to know?

Of course he wanted to know. He could prevent whatever awful thing had happened to cause it.

But that was the thing.

He could prevent the disasters that he heard would befall the past, ruin the future. But, ultimately, disasters taken care of, there would be an end to them all as individuals. In a way, that was a fact Silver already knew. He knew that Sonic wasn't in the future. He knew that there was a memorial to the hero in the central park. He knew that death was an inevitable thing to all living things, even in the future. But it was a completely different thing to understand how, when, why. The individual deaths that he would not be able to prevent. No matter how he tried.

Do I really want to know?

Of course he wanted to know. He was too curious now to back down. He might regret it...he knew he was going to regret it. But, he was going to know. And he wasn't going to tell them afterwards. After all, he didn't want them to get paranoid about their lives. That was something that, he believed, was not to be known. What good would it do the person, anyway?

He would know for them. He would carry that burden for them.

Of course I want to know.

"Got one." Sonic held up the small blue chao, and it chaoed at him defensively.

Silver walked over to take the chao from him, patting it on the head despite its will to get away.

"Sneaky, aren't you?"

"Go ahead and put him in the cave, ok?"

"Oh, is that where you're putting them for shelter?"

"For now, anyway."

Silver climbed up the rocks, crawling into the cave that was at the top, avoiding the slicker rocks caused by the waterfall coming down across them.

He sat the chao down beside him, and looked between the small creature and the open garden outside.

Eventually, the chao seemed to realize that being found was probably in its' best interest, seeing that the clouded sky was becoming darker.

It climbed into Silver's lap, contentedly settling there.

"You aren't too worried about the weather, huh?" Silver asked gently.

"Chao chao chao…" was its' only reply.

"Yeah, I thought so. Wish I could say the same." He put his head down, gazing through the chao in his lap. "I wish this storm was my main concern. But...this is something I've brought upon myself."

Why did I look? Why couldn't I have just left it alone?

"Chao chao!" The chao, previously looking up at him contentedly, suddenly smiled at him widely, flailing its' small arms about happily.

"It's...it'll be alright. I guess...I guess you're trying to cheer me up, huh?"

"Choo chao…" It pushed its little head up against his chest.

"Well, thanks. I appreciate your trying." He put his hand against the chao's forehead, petting it rhythmically. He did his best to smile for it, trying not to be sad in its presence.

The creature- it had no perception, not even a trace, of the concept of death. To it, there was only rebirth. There were only periods of sleep, followed by the transformation of its body. There was no true death. Not to a chao. And even if there was, the creatures would only know it as rest. What a blissful way to live.

Sonic- thirty more years from the present's time. His cause of death- a freak accident involving water on an otherwise ordinary day. He thought he'd be fine, hanging out by the shore. He thought he'd be fine wearing his vest. He didn't expect the waves to be as rough as they were. He didn't expect his life vest to have complications. He didn't expect that no one would get to him in time.

It seemed kind of silly. All of these impossible times that the hero had survived, and there he was. Drowning in the ocean that he always disliked anyway. Survived so, so many insane things. And yet, he died like the rest of them.

Of course, Silver always knew this. He knew that Sonic would die. But now that he knew how. Now that he knew the exact time limit put upon Sonic's life...

Amy- forty-five more years from the present's time. She would go on several more years, despite the loss of Sonic. She'd mourn him the entire time, but she'd survive. Her cause of death- it seemed to be natural deterioration. Or else no one really knew. Fifty-seven just seemed like such a young age. Much too early for her bright, cheerful presence to leave the world.

Tails- sixty-seven more years from the present's time. He, too, would suffer terribly from Sonic's loss. But he would keep going on his own. He would build machines, better the world in his late friend's name. He would carry all of the lessons he learned from Sonic with him the entire time. He ended up marrying, too, unfortunately after Sonic would have been able to have met the bride. From the way the texts were worded, she was a wonderful person.

Silver only wished he'd be able to tell Tails about the fact that, despite all the sorrow he'd face, he'd have joy again.

Knuckles- eighty-nine more years from the present's time. He lived the longest of any of them. He would witness the deaths of many of his friends (if 'friends' was a term he would be happy with). It caused him to stay out on his island unless absolutely needed, but other than that outsiders would have barely known his name. Silver supposed that he decided to stick to his original plan- living alone, unattached to anyone else. The text didn't say, but Silver wondered how that worked for him.

Shadow, of course, was immortal, and Silver knew this from the fact that he occasionally spotted the hedgehog in the future. But that was it. He had no clue what would happen to him in the in-between years. Silver thought about befriending Shadow more in the present's time, but that was just it. From the look of the future, they would never really be close. And he didn't particularly like Shadow.

But he knew Shadow would miss his mortal team terribly, and that's what made him feel bad about it. But perhaps Shadow would be so used to death by then that none would be able to phase him again.

Silver envied that part. Wished he could say the same.

"Here's those two other sneakers." Sonic placed the two small chao onto the cave floor, and smiled slightly at the sight before him.

The other chao was already asleep in Silver's arms.

"Where were they?" Silver whispered.

"Flower beds." Sonic rolled his eyes and took a seat beside Silver. "Again. I should have known."

"Heh." Silver looked down at the chao to hide his eyes from Sonic. Now was not the time to get all emotional over a fate Sonic didn't even understand.

Sonic patted his lap and the other two chao came crawling to him. "Yeah. I'll learn one day." He stroked the small animals' heads. "Maybe they'll learn one day."

"Hopefully."

The first roll of thunder sounded in the distance.

"Hopefully this won't be too bad of a storm."

"The chao don't seem to mind storms much."

"As long as they aren't in it. You should've seen them the other time, oof. They wouldn't calm down for-"

Sonic's voice became a background noise to Silver's ears. The idea of the water, rushing all around, swallowing up the living mercilessly. Regardless of who it was. Whether it be a legendary hero or not. Not a very motherly mother nature. That was all that he could think about.

"Hey."

Silver snapped out of his thoughts. "Yeah?"

"Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself today," the hedgehog was looking at him with concerned eyes, forgetting about whatever story he had been telling before.

"Oh, me? I'm fine." It's just you. You're not going to be fine.

"Are you sure? You look like something's worrying you."

Silver shook his head despairingly. "Why are you so nosey, Sonic?" He smiled over at him as reassuringly as he could.

Sonic laughed. "Ok, ok, I'm just checking." He put his hand onto the other's shoulder, suddenly more serious. "But...if there was anything, you'd tell me?"

"Oh, of course," Silver replied. But there's nothing I can tell you about this.

They exchanged smiles and dropped the subject.

The rain began, and continued, for at least an hour. The two hedgehogs talked and exchanged stories while the chao in their laps snoozed away, between the claps of thunder. The lightning outside wasn't heavy, but it occasionally lit up the inside of the cave with neon blue. They did their best to pretend to ignore it.

When the weather eventually stopped, it brought with it the smell of fresh rain and wet grass.

"Welllllllp." Sonic stretched, standing outside the cave at long last. "Thanks for waiting it out with me, Silv."

The chao, at first chance, had already begun exploring around the newly watered garden. They seemed just as happy as Sonic to stretch their limbs.

"No problem. Though, I thought I told you not to call me that." Silver elbowed him jokingly. "Ten times today." In actuality, he was happy to hear Sonic call him anything at this point.

"Pfft, whatever you say, Silv." Sonic elbowed him back, a bit harder than he intended. "I guess you gotta go though?"

"Well- yeah- unfort-"

"You don't gotta. We could go see some chao racing, if ya want. Or there's volleyball here. Or, ya know-"

"No, no. I- I really do need to return. Back to the future, eh?" Silver tried his best to sound lighthearted, he was good enough that he almost tricked himself.

"Well, alright. I'll see ya later, Silv!" In his own silly fashion, Sonic picked up the closest chao to him and waved its arm at Silver.

"Pfft. See ya." Silver stepped away, preparing to warp. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss ya, too."

Sonic didn't know the degree that Silver meant it, but nevertheless.

Silver appreciated the day with Sonic, as ordinary as it was. Because when it was all over, he would miss that day. He would miss the ordinary. So he determined to hold onto every present moment, as he slipped away back to his own timeline.

It was always a joy, from then on, to see his friends- the ones of the past- because he knew their fates. And, knowing he would miss them dearly, he enjoyed all of the moments spent with them. To bury the memories of their deaths with the memories they spent together.

A/N: Excuse me, while I get back into the swing of this after my four-month hiatus.