Searching For The Light

A Silvaze Fanfic

Epilogue

It was a clear summer day that Blaze walked through, almost two years later. The sun beamed down something awful, but the feline was not bothered by it, even though she had dressed in all black. Birds perched in the bold green trees of a park sang as she passed them, intent on lightening the mood. She carried a deep red rose in her hand, carefully twirling it by its stem, keeping her head low as she trudged on. A figure walked slightly behind and to the side of her, carrying a rose of its own.

She couldn't force herself to look at the massive crater in the middle of the road she had to cross next. She truthfully wanted nothing more than for them to fill that damn thing up, or make it less noticeable, at least. She hated it when she came close to it. She was positive others did, as well. And yet, there it sat, for all to see, broken pieces of asphalt glistening bright, almost blindingly, in the sun. While she all but sprinted past it, the figure stopped, and took a moment to stand at the edge of the caution tape around the gaping hole. It knelt, and lodged its flower in a crack of the rubble.

A few quiet roads later, Blaze arrived at her destination: a tombstone, marred with what she loathed to think about, with what haunted her, in the middle of the town square. It was the lone grave in the field, as it was really more like a monument - even more so given the fact that there was really never anything to put in the ground. As she approached it, she marveled at the marble statue of a hedgehog that stood, some ten feet tall, behind the headstone. Something writhed inside her every time she saw that face. The memorial stood tall and proud, looking in the direction of where the final battle took place. On its base, engraved in large, Algerian lettering, read the words "Our Hero".

Yes, the story had been released to the public by that point. What the world was unaware of before became a legend, just as anything besides what worlds are aware of becomes blasphemy. That title was what he was known as to that place for the rest of eternity.

Sniffing, Blaze took a few steps forward, and laid her rose parallel to the base of the headstone. What that rock said she had memorized by heart, so she didn't care about her tears drowning out the image of it. She took some steps back, where she was met by the left arm of the figure that had been following her. She pulled it close to her, and rested her head on its shoulder for comfort. "I'll never be able to comprehend just how he did it..." She said, in a way that made her voice sound like it was struggling to survive.

The figure kept his head forward, and took a while to say anything. It seemed to enjoy the scene, the day, the past. Blaze kept her eyes on the statue, trying to make it come back to life through her stare.

Finally, Silver The Hedgehog smiled, and wrapped his arm around his wife. Memories ran through his mind as if they were in a marathon when he met with the eyes of the monument. "He always did had a thing for helping people."

The two stood there, small silhouettes in the brightness of the day and in the presence of the grand story they stood before. Silver leaned over, and kissed Blaze on the top of her head before she turned away, with the purpose of leaving the sadness that struck her so.

Silver's feet moved not, and he stayed to allow his mind to unfold. He glanced down at the tombstone, and read it aloud:

"Sonic The Hedgehog. He who protected us. He who charmed us. He who fell for us."

Silver stuck his hands in his pockets, and matched the statue's smirk as he looked up to it again. "Yeah..." He finally said, after an abundance of pleasant silence. "You look like you were made for it."

He turned away, facing the sun and, in turn, the endless possibilities that awaited him in a full life, just like the one his friend had led.

Aw, snapziez! I done did it!XD And that, my friends, is the conclusion of my second chapter story, Searching For The Light. You may now behold in my ability to thank everyone a million times, and create an Author's Note that's ten times longer than the chapter you just read. XS

I'll get to what all I'm planning to do in the future for writing, but first, I'd just like to talk a little about the story.:3

Alright, so, when I started this fic, I had but one intention. To come up with a creative, original idea, and expand upon it to the best of my abilities. I never intended for this story to be perfect (and yes, it shows!), and I honestly had no clue where I was going with it until about mid-way through.X,D That's just one of the reasons for those horrid waits I put you guys through during this story.

Another, possibly more justifiable reason was that there were several times throughout my writing of SFTL that I became wildly frustrated with it. I just never really felt like I, personally, had a good grip on how everything... Err... Tied together, I suppose, until now, of course. This story turned from that child that could do no wrong to the red-headed step-son when OTOLOS was completed, because I had more time to focus solely on it. I tried it for almost a summer, and just couldn't take it. XP

More than anything, though, I wanna' thank you guys for sticking with me through it all. I know there are some of you out there who really enjoyed this fic, and lived and died by it throughout its duration. Without you all (and you know who you are), I would've dropped this thing before chapter ten. Thank you to all my supporters - take a bow! Because without you guys, I've said it a million times before, I'm nothing!

Honestly, I'm a little disappointed with how it all turned out ( nothing new, right?XD )... I don't know what I expected, but I'm not that happy it only turned out to be 20 chapters.:/ Idk, maybe it's just me, but I like a good, long story.X')

When I was figuring out how to end this ( you know, what I complained about 24/7?XD ), I honestly had that whole big battle scene set in stone. That wasn't my dilemma, I'm afraid to say it... It was the question that haunted me from chapter ten-or-so on... Does Silver die, or not?! That drove me crazy! This was the perfect tragic hero story, all he needed to do was die! But, there was a side to me that said that was wrong and I should feel wrong.:( I seriously, at one point, started to make a poll about it on my profile, but that would've ruined the surprise, now wouldn't it've?XD So, long story short, I chose to spare him as well as all of you. You're welcome.;) But, damn... Poor Sonic... XD

All that having been said, from a theme point of view, I'm very glad with how this ended up. I used Silver almost as a guide for what not to do, just as I had planned to.:p The power of love and friendship... The power of regret... And, in the end, Silver was never the terrible person he made himself out to be.:) That's why I consider this a romance. It might not have been all fluffy and happy like the typical T-rated romance fic on here, but when you look at it, love was always present in every little thing Silver did throughout the story. I guess if I had to give a final summary of what SFTL was about, it would be the things true love can drive one to do, and how it can be so strong that it can stretch the very fibers of possibility. I know, that's analyzing it too much, but I'm insane and think about shit like that. X,D (( And no, I did not mean to address a review in an A/N... I planned on saying that far before.X3 Oh, shit... I feel like I just called someone out.:'( I'm so sawwy! ))

Now, onto the fun stuff!:3 My main motivation for writing this story was the song One by Metallica. Yes, I made some references.X,D Other songs included those I've already mentioned, This Means War by Avenged Sevenfold, and Good Man by Devour The Day. Need I even mention Dreams Of An Absolution?XD

Hmm... Let's see... I think that's about all I wanted to say about this story. Now lemme tell ya' what's next on my agenda.;)

Obviously, I will look to continue All My Colors, and try - I say try! - to pick Our New Chapter back up as soon as I can. But never mind that... Ooooh! Look! A shiny new fanfic idea!X,,D *cue shameless advertising*

Without further ado, I invite all of you to join me in my next chapter story, Shadaze: The Unforgiven. ((Yes, it's Shadaze. Don't look at me like that. DX)) WAIT DON'T CLOSE THE PAGE YET. This is that story that I've been talking about! And, even if it's not your couple, (it's not mine, either!) you're gonna' want to read it.;) I'm making sure it's the best thing I've written thus far, possibly the best thing I'll ever write. So yeah... Kind of a big deal.X'D So it's not really an invitation... It's more like I'm throwing you, and the radiator I tied you to, in the back of my truck, and we're going on a magical adventure./:D Fun, huh~?X,D

But seriously, I encourage you all to join me with that. I look to have the first chapter posted sometime next month.:p

Can you tell I'm extremely loopy tonight?XD I have to wake up in about five hours.:/

Ummm... I believe that's it! It didn't really occur to me until now that this story is actually over and I'm about to have to hit the "complete" option when I go to post this chapter. =_= Oh, well... It was fun, wasn't it? You know what's next.X,) For one final time on Searching For The Light...

Thanks for reading! Love you all!