Belong

Chapter 17 - Reunited

Holding Venice firmly against his chest, Sonic raced through the air with Espio at his side. When Silver hadn't responded to their calls they both instantly had grabbed an Extreme Gear from the shuttle and rushed back to the battlefield to find the psychics. Much closer to Eggman's ship than he would have liked Silver had been floating into the air, bleakly staring in front of him and entirely unresponsive as Venice tried to get his attention, panicking. Bringing in the airboard as close as possible Sonic had easily taken him from Silver's weak grip, and Espio had taken the darker grey hedgehog in his arms as they turned around and went back to their shuttle.

Sonic dared risk a glance behind him. On the ground where the bomb had gone off there was a huge crater, the ground cracked and broken beyond repair. The volcanoes were all erupting, filling the sky with their toxic black smoke and flicks of lava. The smaller fleet that had made up most of the armada had been torn apart completely by the sheer force, their demise leaving behind an empty sky that was quickly getting filled by fumes and soot. Eggman's main ship had been heavily damaged, judging by the fires and deep black plumes of smoke rising from it. The fact that it was still flying at all attested to the genius of the man who created it.

Turning his attention back to where he was flying himself, Sonic shook his head. There was no doubt in his mind that Eggman had survived this setback and was already plotting his next moves, for sure irate that also this plan had been foiled. He looked at the unexpected hero of the day, who was sobbing in his arms as he clutched his coat. Sonic tried to mumble gentle words to comfort him, but Venice truly was inconsolable, whimpering Silver's name as he weakly tried to get himself out of Sonic's grip. The psychic had passed out the moment Espio had lifted him up, but the chameleon assured them that he was breathing steadily. They really had been just in time.

"This area is getting more unstable as we speak! Hurry, we need to get out of here!" Tails spoke worriedly over the intercom. "Almost there," Sonic retorted tersely. Flying as fast as they could, the speedster easily foiling Venice's desperate yet fruitless attempts to break free, he and Espio rushed towards the hatch and carefully entered the shuttle. The moment they were safely inside Tails set off, leaving behind the utterly annihilated area and Eggman's ship as they retreated.

"Oh, no," Amy fretted as she rushed over to Silver, who was still in Espio's grasp. Now that they were no longer flying and he had a moment to focus, he could see the unnerving grey on both Silver's and Venice's hands where there should have been a glowing teal colour instead. Clearly both of them had utterly exhausted their powers, though it didn't come as a surprise to him in the slightest.

Sonic tried to place Venice down on his feet as well, but the terrified psychic immediately buckled through them, limp as a ragdoll. Despite the fact that his legs seemed unable to cooperate he still weakly struggled to get to Silver. Sonic clumsily lifted him away to sit against the wall, sliding down next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"There's little point in placing him in the medbay on the shuttle," he heard Espio and Amy discuss. "As far as I can see, he's stable with few physical injuries. I propose we just keep him steady until we're back at HQ and give him more adequate treatment there." With Amy's greenlight, Espio came over as well, peacefully setting himself down on the ground with Silver curled up in his lap with his head against the ninja's shoulder. At the full sight of his friend Venice's sobs only increased more. He futilely reached out towards Silver and shook him a little, but the hedgehog didn't respond at all.

"He's going to be fine," Espio spoke calmly, tranquillity coming off of him in waves. Sonic doubted Venice truly believed him, but after taking Espio in for a good few moments the ivory psychic settled down a bit less stressfully against the wall. They sat in silence, the chameleon with his eyes closed and hand around Silver's wrist and Sonic keeping half an eye on Venice and the other on the knocked-out hedgehog. He tried to scratch the other behind his ear like he knew Silver often did, but Venice flinched away from his touch the moment his fingers travelled up there. He still hadn't taken his intense stare off of Silver, so Sonic decided to let him be for now.