This is my Secret Santa gift to devinatArt user sonicfan8671!

Let's begin!

"Brave New World"

Summary: Unable to return to his own time, Silver must now make a life for himself in the time line he helped save.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog or other relating characters.

"Silver, you can't use your powers! That's cheating!"

The tennis ball floated in mid-air, directly in the path of the pale hedgehog's racket. "Why not? You're running around at super speed."

"Yes, but that's because my running is not affecting the way the ball goes!" Sonic called back from the other side of the tennis court.

"Well, it's already floating here!"

"Fine, serve it up and we'll continue, but you can't use your psychokinesis to stop the ball!"

Silver brought the ball up to his racket and swung as hard as he could, sending the ball to Sonic's side of the court. Instantaneously, the ball was coming back to him at full force.

Silver ducked. The ball zipped over himself, imbedding itself into the fence behind him.

"Sorry about that, Silver. I didn't mean to hit it that hard!" Sonic rubbed the back of his head, as if embarrassed.

"That's why I need my powers…"Silver seethed from the ground, a little irritated. A half-hour of this game and they still couldn't keep the ball going for more than three turns.

"Why don't we grab a bite to eat?" Sonic suggested, noticing how fed up Silver was with the game. "There's this great hotdog stand on the other side of the park."

Sonic watched as Silver picked at his chilidog, not really eating it.

Poor Silver.

After defeating Mephiles and Iblis, the pale hedgehog discovered he could not return home.

Princess Elise blowing out the candle had changed more than they had originally anticipated.

At first it had been confusing. He, Shadow, and Silver would use the chaos emeralds to open a portal back to Silver's time, but it would not work.

The portal worked fine, but Silver could not go through. It was as if some kind of barrier was pushing him away, preventing him from going home.

This set Silver on another journey, one to find the answer as to why he could not return home.

Sonic directed him to Knuckles, telling him the echidna might be able to find the answer through the master emerald.

Silver ventured to Angel Island that night, but the echidna was not there. He sat at the base of the emerald, awaiting its guardian's return.

Sometime during that wait, he fell asleep.

In his sleep, he saw the answer.

Chaos approached the frightened hedgehog in his dreams.

"You need not be afraid." The water creature spoke. "Your friends are fine."

Silver was relieved, but still had questions. "Why can't I go home? I stopped Iblis and Mephiles. Why can't I return? What purpose do I have here?"

"Purpose? That is something you must decide on your own. However, you cannot return to your time as the timeline has changed. You will never be born."

"You mean…I'll…never exist?" Silver asked, aghast. Had his saving the world stopped his parents from ever meeting?

"I am afraid so." Chaos solemnly answered. "Your life has been spared as reward for your service to the future. You may live in this time line peacefully, but you may not leave."

"Then…what am I supposed to do?"

"That is entirely your choice. One door has closed, but another has opened. This is your brave new world, Silver the Hedgehog. Go out and discover it."

"But my friends! Blaze! My parents! Will I ever see them again?" Silver felt the tears running down his cheeks. He had never been alone. Ever. In his world, it was dangerous, suicidal even, to be alone. By yourself with no one to help when Iblis' creatures were roaming free. He was always with Blaze. She was his friend, his first and only love.

"Take comfort in the fact that they will live in peace." Chaos placed his watery hand on Silver's shoulder. "You parents lifespans have more than doubled thanks to your efforts. Fear not, you are not alone in this world. You've made many friends and will make many more."

"I want to go back! I don't want to stay here!" Silver knew he sounded pathetic and childish, but he had been dying to see the future without Iblis, a future where he could live peacefully with Blaze, maybe even have a kid or two.

"I am sorry, but there is nothing more I can do for you. Goodbye, Silver the Hedgehog."

Silver snapped out of his dream with a shout, startling the echidna who had been trying to wake him. Without saying a word to Knuckles, he used his power to fly off the island, over the forest, and to Tails' workshop in the ruins.

Sonic and Tails were startled out of bed when the door slammed open rather violently.

Silver flew in, bawling, trying to talk, but unable to say anything between his choked sobs. After a glass of water and some soothing words from Sonic, he calmed down enough to tell them the bad news.

The two did not know what to do. How could they possibly comfort Silver at this point?

"It's going to be okay, Silver." Sonic said as he rubbed the white fur on his friend's back. "You have us."

"Yeah." Tails agreed. "We'll always be here for you."

Silver was set up on the couch for the night, allowing Sonic and Tails to return to sleep. However, the silver hedgehog did not get any sleep that first night. He stayed up, pondering his new situation.

Brave new world.

What a way to phrase it.

Perhaps Chaos was right. He wanted to create a better world for himself and his friends; and he had. Sure he wouldn't be experiencing it with them, but this was the new world for him. He would never have to live in fear of Iblis again.

The future never looked brighter.

The next morning Silver apologized for his breakdown to Sonic and Tails before venturing to Angel Island to apologize to Knuckles. With that out of the way, Silver was ready to explore.

The young hedgehog spent the day exploring Station Square, every last inch of it. He walked along every street, went into every shop, said hello to anyone who made eye contact with him. He went to the train station and memorized the schedule and routes of the trains. He went to the library and checked out a few books.

When Sonic and Tails arrived at the workshop that night, they found Silver curled up asleep on the couch, exhausted from his day out.

Over the next few weeks, Silver became well acquainted with the city, even going as far as to travel in the sewer underneath Twinkle Park just because he wanted to see where it goes.

He would spend time with all the other Mobians on earth. He would cook and bake with Amy, dropping by sometimes for a fun chat or a trip around the city. He would stop by Cream and Vanilla's house for tea and would occasionally baby sit the young rabbit, his way of repaying the older rabbit for her hospitality. On a few occasions, he accompanied Shadow and Rouge on missions as a guest agent, with his powers being very useful, he was always welcome. After these missions, he would head on over to Club Rouge for a drink and a dance with Rouge. When he wasn't out, he was working with Tails in the workshop or sparring with Sonic.

His favorite activity was to explore the Mystic Ruins with Knuckles, finding artifacts and murals depicting the ancient life of echidnas. He was surprised with the vast amount of knowledge Knuckles knew regarding archaeology. The echidna confessed that had he not been a guardian, he would have wanted to be an archaeologist. It was part of his dream to be a treasure hunter.

Today's tennis match originated from Silver, having watched the sport on T.V and wanting to try it for himself.

Sonic agreed, of course, having no plans (as Sonic never made plans, choosing to go with the moment instead) and took Silver to the tennis courts in Station Square Parks. The game was interesting as each hedgehog kept using their powers, but it was still fun, even if he left the game a little upset that it hadn't turned out like the matches on T.V.

As much as he tried, Silver couldn't keep himself occupied all the time. There were times where he was alone and his thoughts would drift back to Blaze and the other friends he left behind.

He tried not to think about it.

"Silver, how was your last mission with G.U.N.?" Sonic asked, noticing his friend's dropping mood. Silver would really get into conversations, making it the easiest way to cheer him up.

"Oh?" Silver snapped out of his thought. His face lit up like a Christmas tree. "It was great! You should have seen how fast Shadow was going! You know, I think he might faster than y-"

"Hey, I could beat the faker any day!" Sonic cut him off, watching as Silver burst into a fit of laughter.

"Shadow told me you would say that!"

Sonic smiled as Silver excitedly told him about the rest of the mission, how he worked with his friends to take down a foreign dictator.

Sonic would do anything to make Silver smile, the other hedgehog was practically a little brother to him.

It had worried Sonic at first, Silver seemed like a child even though he was fully grown. It was some speculation on everybody's part, but it seemed like Silver's upbringing had been the main reason for his immaturity.

No one knew for sure, but maybe it was because Silver never really had a childhood. He had to man up at a young age in order to survive, but now he was free.

So they let it go, knowing he would grow up when he was ready.

"Hey, Sonic, why don't you work with G.U.N?" Silver asked midway through his explanation.

"Sorry, but I do things my way. Faker and Rouge may like protocol, but I'm a free hedgehog. The only person I listen to is the wind." Sonic gave Silver his trademark smile.

"I guess; it is much tougher to fly against the wind. Figures it would be the same for running." Silver bit into his chilidog as he thought. "How did you get so fast?"

"I dunno." Sonic shrugged. "I've always loved running, even as a kid. I just kept running and running until one day, I broke the sound barrier."

"And that's why they call you Sonic." Silver finished. Like a sonic boom. It was actually kind of cool when he thought about it.

"When did you get your powers?" Sonic asked. He was curious; psychokinesis wasn't something you see every day.

"I don't know. I guess I've always had them." Silver tried to recall, but he couldn't remember a point in time when he didn't have his powers. "Even when I was little, I was able to move small objects and bend spoons. The more I used them, the stronger they became. I guess it's like your running."

"I guess so." Sonic agreed.

"Thanks for today, Sonic." Silver said with a mouthful of chilidog. "I really did have fun, even if you almost killed me."

"No problem." Sonic ignored the last part of the comment. "Are you going somewhere else?" Silver's thanks was usually his queue for leaving.

"Yeah, I promised Amy I would go shopping with her."

"Oh, Silver, why? Why would you do that?" Sonic asked in horror. He had gone shopping with Amy once, ONCE, and never again. That was a nightmare he never wanted to go through again.

"What's wrong with that? Amy's nice."

"Yes, she's nice, but you'll never want to look at another pair of shoes again after this. Trust me." Sonic patted him on the back sympathetically.

The two hedgehogs got up from the park bench, walking down the path leading to the exit.

"Hey, Silver." Sonic turned to his friend.

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to tell Shadow about this, are you?"

A mischievous grin made its way across Silver's face. "It depends. I'll have to challenge Shadow to a tennis match and see how good he is."

"No you won't!"

A pale blue-green glow surrounded Silver as he took to the sky, laughing.

"Get back here!" Sonic shouted, trying to reach the floating hedgehog.

"Being the fastest thing alive is not going to help you now, Sonic!" Silver rose higher and higher, flying in the direction of Amy's house. "I'll see you later!" He shouted behind him.

Sonic stopped, knowing it was pointless to try and pursue the other male. With a laugh, he waved good-bye. "See ya, Silver."

Done!

I hope you all liked it, but I hope sonicfan8671 liked it most of all. You said you liked Sonic and Silver, so I came up with this.

Review Please!