Sonic Forces (Revision)

Chapter 9: Remedy

The air in the room was thick and the lights were dim. If he had a choice, Silver wouldn't be doing this right now, but it was something that had to be done. Across from him sat Wendy, staring at the ground like something interesting was going on down there. Due to her reaction to the main threat back on the Death Egg, Knuckles had wanted her to at least get some help or maybe even give someone better understanding. Since he saw it first-hand on multiple occasions, Silver was the first to offer his help.

The ivory hedgehog sighed. He moved his finger down the list of possible questions. Some of them were: How does this problem make you feel? How often do you experience this issue? What causes the situation to worsen? What helps you cope with these issues? These were normal questions asked by a therapist, at least, that's what he was told. 

The quietude in the room was jarring. They were in a room far in the back of the base. It was almost too difficult to focus without anything going on. Well, he mind as well get started. 

Once Silver found a question he felt comfortable starting with, he asked, "Ever since you joined the Resistance, you seemed to be dealing with something traumatic. You were thinking of something at the Chemical Plant and even back at the Death Egg. Could you tell me what it was?"

Silence.

He should have expected that. When he offered to do this, he didn't expect it to be easy. He wished it didn't have to be done right now but Knuckles had made himself quite clear.

"See if you can find out what happened. Maybe if we uncover her past, we can figure out how to help her so what happened at the Death Egg doesn't repeat itself." Knuckles had said.

"I know that, but I don't think she's ready to talk right now."

"Silver, we are at war. If she can't pull it together then she could get seriously injured or worse! I'm not taking that chance. We've already had too many casualties recently. Espio is still being treated, Rouge is in the medical bay, Shadow hasn't woken up yet, and Sonic's been staring at a wall for the past half an hour! Please, try to at least get her to talk to you."

Silver looked back at the clipboard. He would never be able to understand what happened if he just went by what was stated on the paper. Maybe he should try a different approach? The ivory hedgehog placed the clipboard on the ground. "Do you remember what I told you back at the Chemical Plant?" Wendy, still looking at the ground, nodded. "I still stand by that. We're at war right now and if I don't know what's going on, something seriously bad could happen next time something triggers you."

Wendy picked her head up. Her tail went under the chair. She opened her mouth but noting came out. It seemed like she wanted to say something but didn't know how to form the words. With a quick glance, her broken wispon came into view. "I-" She sniffled before collapsing her head into her hands. Tears came out and covered her gloves. "I try so hard to help but I can never-"

Silver slid out of his chair and went over to her. He wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, it's okay. It wasn't your fault."

"But it was! All of it!" She exclaimed. "Why was I so reckless? If only I had done something instead of sit there and watch it happen!"

Silver pulled himself back. "You mean, back when that jackal attacked the other side of the Resistance?"

Wendy immediately got stiff. "Please, don't talk about him." She whispered.

So, that was what set her off. "Wendy, what happened over there?"

The brown wolf immediately looked down again. It didn't seem like she was going to talk any more. Silver was about to head back to the chair when she spoke. "There was fire everywhere. We hadn't realized it at the moment, but we were led into a trap." She started. "We were getting the last few mobians out of the city when he showed up. Some of them ran and were spared while others stayed and were shown no mercy from him. I was one of the ones who stayed but I should have just run or dropped right there but I didn't. So my...he just...I couldn't..." The words wouldn't form, she placed her head back into her hands.