AN: Hey guys, Silverflames here. So, from now on, I will be publishing all the works and while Goldeneye will be co-writing these fics with me, I will be our voice to you guys. (If this all seems a little random, read the profile page, then come back) Here we are, back at it again. I hope you guys enjoy it, but I know it has been a while. I'm sorry for being away so long. But I've gotten it all straightened out and I'm fully focused. As always, constructive criticism is welcome as are personal messages, I read all reviews and messages and try to respond promptly, I'm always happy to make new friends. Lastly, a disclaimer, I do not take credit for the creation of any of Sega's fine characters in the Sonic Universe.

"Just another day, that's all this is going to be." Silver said to himself as he rummaged through his drawers, looking for a shirt to wear. The sun wasn't up yet, it wasn't going to be for at least another hour. But he had things to do and there just wasn't enough hours in the day. Feeling around in the dark, Silver's hand finally found a shirt and pulled it out. He made use of the soft glow emanating from his hands to make sure the shirt was right side out and then threw it on. He walked towards the hole in the wall of his room, taking a gaze out over the city. The sea of lava gave everything a reddish glow, even at night. Funny how even after Iblis was gone, so much of his devastation remained. Silver let out a sigh,

"It's just another day." Of course, all days started out something like this. Silver waking up before sunrise, before everyone else. There was work to do and people needed him. After Iblis' removal from this world, things began to get better. The skies were no longer covered by a thick cloud of smoke and ash, at least, not every day anymore. Sometimes the sun would even shine or if they were really lucky, it would rain. Of course, Crisis City didn't improve all that much. The lava flows that had been formed by the demon still remained, and they probably would for several hundred years. Iblis' minions remained as well, though their numbers had greatly decreased and were being hunted down each day. Most would retreat deep and would have to be flushed out by patrols of trained fighters.

The colony where Silver resided grew in size. What was once a settlement of only about 30 beings had grown to almost 200 in the last 10 years. Iblis' defeat made it possible to search for other and made space available to support new life. Food was scarce, most of it was synthetic. However, rainfalls had been increasing as the sulfur in the atmosphere began to disperse which made it possible to grow a few species of plants on the roof of the colony, provided they could be given enough sunlight, these plants produced some of the first natural fruit in nearly 200 years, a welcome treat for special occasions. Life was hard but manageable, Silver noticed people smiling more often, himself included, the worst was over, now it was time to rebuild.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Silver descend the stairs from his room, down to the main sleeping area of the colony. After his triumph over Iblis, Silver returned to his people who hailed him a hero. And while he was happy that the lava leviathan had been vanquished, it came at a terrible cost, his best friend: Blaze. Not a day went by that he didn't miss his friend, he blamed himself for being unworthy, unable to bear Iblis'. He did all he could to ensure that her sacrifice wouldn't be forgotten.

Of course, people saw past that. They look to Silver for guidance, to be their leader, a responsibility he didn't assume lightly. It took a fair amount of convincing that finally culminated in an election to put Silver in charge of the colony's safekeeping. As fate would have it, Silver made a great leader. While he was naive to a fault, this enable him to focus, not only on survival, but on improving the quality of life in the colony. He was fair and patient, a trait he learned in his hunt for the Iblis Trigger. He was hesitant to pass judgement and always sought to do what was best for the most people. Sure, there would be times that he lost sight of important things such as food and supplies, and he could be rather petty from time to time, almost childlike in a way and he never reacted that well to criticism, ironically enough, this was a fault he did recognize and had been working to improve. Of course, this only got better over ten years. Silver had grown a lot both as a person and as a leader.

Silver did his best to slip by without waking anyone, who were still asleep in their beds and would be for a little while longer. Another thing Silver learned, the value of a good night's rest, little things like that will go a long way.

Sneaking past those still asleep and into the mess, Silver noticed a few awake at this hour, usuals who were up this early either because they couldn't sleep or because they, like Silver, had much to do and not enough hours to do it in.

"Good morning Bishop." Silver said to the dark green wolf sitting alone at a table, eating his breakfast. The wolf only nodded in reply to Silver, acknowledging the greeting and continued eating. Silver went down to the other end of the main table and sat with two more, a purple hedgehog and a blue leopard.

"Good morning Drake, Samantha." Silver warmly greeted his friends.

"Is it morning already?" The hedgehog Drake asked. Drake was a young, headstrong, and reckless. He also didn't sleep much which made him the prime candidate for night watchman.

"Don't worry Drake, the sun's going to be up soon and then you can get some sleep." The leopard Samantha teased.

"Good morning to you too Silver." Samantha added. Samantha was Silver's second in command. Even before Silver was in charge, Samantha had been a de facto leader of Silver's people and was a natural candidate to be his top lieutenant. They worked well together to make sure everything got done. And while most of Silver's responsibilities were things that were rather involved, Samantha handled the day to day operations: making sure everyone got fed, the laundry gets done, disputes got settled, etc.

"So, what's the plan for today Sam?" Silver asked, reaching for a bowl and a box labeled "Breakfast: Oatmeal".

"Well, I've got menus to draw up for next week, the engineers are going to give their weekly report, and I need to make sure that inventory gets completed by the end of the day and submitted to the you so we can making a list of things for the scouts to look for." Samantha explained, taking a drink of her coffee to signify that she was finished. "What about you sir?"

"I told you Sam, don't call me sir. And as for me, I've got to attend that meeting with the engineers as well, there's a cell of worms and biters nearby that I'm going to attend to, I don't want anyone else messing with them when we have so little information aside from where they are." Silver said, pouring himself some powder from the box and adding water from a pitcher on the table to make a sort of goop.

"Then just send the scouts to get an idea on number and we can send a party to clear them out tomorrow." Samantha suggested. "I know you have other things you need to do today."

"No. That cell is too close to wait any longer, it needs to be dealt with now. And don't worry about the rest of my schedule, it's just another day." Silver said, his voice getting a little stern.

"Silver, you and I both know that's a lie." Samantha said.

"Just drop it Samantha. I'll have plenty of time." Silver said, hoping she'd let it go.

"Alright, but if you need some help, come find me, I know it can be hard." Samantha said, placing a hand on Silver's back before getting up to go about her day. Silver shook his head after she was out of sight, but when he looked up to start a conversation with Drake, the hedgehog was out cold, face first onto the table. Silver cracked a little smile before getting up to make sure Drake got to his bed.

The conference room was empty, save Silver, Sam, and the two engineers they were meeting with. All four sat at the table in the center looking over some sketches of the colony. Silver felt a little anxious, he was working with some gauze, trying to bandage the cut on his arm that one of those worms managed to inflict. The worm was quick and caught Silver off guard, just another reminder of how this world is still really dangerous, no matter how safe it may seem. Of course, Silver would never have been off guard if he hadn't been thinking about the day. "It's just another day." He thought to himself.

"So, with any luck, we should be able to reinforce the building at these points, which should force any attackers into this chokepoint." One of the engineers, a dog, said, pointing three spots on a rough sketch of the colony. It was almost dinner and people were beginning to get ready for the evening meal Silver looked over to Samantha, who studied the sketch closely, she always took her job so seriously.

"That looks good Robert." Silver said. "I'll have a team get started on it first thing in the morning."

"Thank you sir." The engineer called Robert replied.

"That'll be all." Samantha added. Robert nodded and collected his sketches before filing out with his companion.

"They really do work hard." Samantha said, turning to Silver.

"I agree, it's good to know there are people who work hard for this colony."

"So, what happened? Looks like those things got you in pretty good." Samantha asked, motioning to the gauze Silver had been fussing with.

"It's nothing, I just got careless, I'll be alright." Silver said dismissively, standing up.

"Are you going to dinner?" Samantha asked. Silver contemplated lying of r a moment, to get her off his case about it, but he knew it was pointless, she'd follow him if he did.

"No, I've still got some stuff to do Sam." Silver replied.

"You want me to help, I know how important it is to you." Samantha offered. Silver only shook his head.

"No thank you Sam, I'd rather be alone." Silver said before walking out of the room.

Many would find levitating over a river of Lava intimidating, but after all these years, Silver was just used to it, he didn't even notice anymore. Not that he would have noticed enough to care anyways, flying alone through the city with nothing but his thoughts now. "It's just another day." Silver thought to himself, the same lie he'd been telling himself all day. It wasn't just another day, he wouldn't have to affirm that if it was. It's been ten years and he still can't get over despite all claims to himself that he was. The sun was setting now and the breeze that had been blowing all day was finally dying. It caused a certain calmness to wash over the city. Strange, how even a destroyed, burning city could still install a sense of peace, and given where Silver was heading, he needed it.

Arriving at his destination, a small platform peninsula on the edge of the city sticking out over what used to be a lake of lava, of course, this lava all receded with Iblis' removal. On the end of the peninsula sat a small marker with a plaque. Silver descended to the platform and approached the plaque. On either side of the plaque was a glowing gem, beautifully cut , shinning in a fabulous spectrum any light that contacted them, the chaos emeralds. Silver approached the plaque, he had made it himself, but still read the words it bore:

On this spot, two brave heroes stood their ground against the most terrible threat this world had ever faced. The Flames of Disaster: Iblis. And while the hero's were victorious in vanquishing this foe, they were unable to permanently remove him. So, one brave hero, the bravest of them all, a cat named Blaze took the burden of containing the beast within her soul and then sealing herself to another dimension so that the beast might never harm another. This plaque is to commemorate the brave sacrifice of she who gave herself up, so that other might live.

The inscription nearly brought Silver to tears as he fell to his knees before the plaque. Ten years to the day and he still couldn't let it go.

"I'm sorry Blaze, I did all that I could, and it wasn't enough. If I had been stronger, maybe you'd still be here. Maybe none of this would have happened." Silver said, tears welling up in his eyes. "You were my best friend, what else can I do." He continued, placing his hand on the plaque.

"Silver?" A voice said from behind him. He recognized it immediately, but didn't make any movement.

"Dora? What are you doing here?" Silver asked, now standing up to face the newcomer, the black fox by the name of Dora.

"Sam said you'd be here, she was worried about you." Dora said.

"I'm fine, I just need a few minutes." Silver replied, wiping his eyes. Dora walked closer to Silver.

"You miss her, don't you?" Dora asked. Silver could only nod. With a warm smile, Dora wrapped her arms around Silver to give him a hug, one which he returned. "She was really brave." Dora said, tightening her arms around Silver.

"Yeah, she was." Silver replied, releasing Dora from his grasp. The fox leaned back and moved her eyes up to meet his, her sapphire piercing his amber. She gave him another smile before leaning in to for a kiss which Silver returned, a lock quickly broken.

"I love you." Silver said to his mate. Dora blushed for a moment before smiling.

"Let's go home." Dora said, taking his hand.

AN: Also, this is a promise and feel free to hold me to it, updates guarenteed to be at least once a week. Expect the next chapter to be out no later than midnight 2/24. If it isn't, come up with some sort of punishment and message me.