The Darker The Weather, The Better The Man by MISSIO.
~~~

"We're looking for Sonic the Hedgehog."

The albino hedgehog spoke with as much strength as they could seemingly muster. They appeared unnerved- almost unsure that they arrived in the right place. The golden ring of a portal stood dully behind them all the same. Their four rings, eerily similar to his own Inhibitors, glowed around the cyan lines- matching that on the pattern of their fingerless gloves. Overall their equipment and attire seemed from an entirely different time.

Similarly, the purple cat formally standing at their side adorned very silky and rather expensive clothing. Shoes like his rivals, despite the vertical white strip, they appeared a bit disgruntled but largely held themselves with an unspoken need for respect and diligence. Either way, they seemed from an entirely different world.

And if they hadn't just walked out that apparent portal, Shadow the Hedgehog would've found them to be nothing but lying tricksters.

"Who isn't these days." Rouge the Bat poked at his side.

"Why?" Shadow asked, eyes narrowed (this didn't mean he couldn't treat them with suspicion, though).

"Perhaps it would be helpful if we were to introduce ourselves." The cat suggested, tucking their hands behind themselves.

"Very well."

"I am Blaze. Protector and...protector of the Land Of Sol."

The hedgehog beside her cleared their throat when she jerked her head at the cautious three. "I'm Silver. Silver the Hedgehog. And we come with a warning."

"Is that right?" Rouge rather slowly moved to gather her friends file scattered across the floor.

Silver sweat-dropped and flew to her side, waving his hands and gathering the papers in balls of cyan. "Sorry about that."

"What...." Omega blurted.

Only then did Silver notice how pale the three appeared. Tired, expectantly, but rather spooked. "Oh. Yeah sometimes I forget not everyone's used to seeing telekinetic powers."

"What?" The Ultimate Lifeform repeated.

"I'm surprised you're shocked, Shadow."

"Wh-?"

"Okay." Blaze exhaled and rather gracefully stepped from the portals stage. "We know who you are."

Rouge stood. "How?"

The two shared a glance and Silver straightened.

"I'm from two hundred years into the future."

———

At eighteen, Rouge has had a few jobs in the time of meeting Sonic and his many colourful friends. Starting out as...well, starting from rock bottom, she eventually landed a job in a bar. When she made the suggestion to split it into a nightclub too, she was swiftly promoted. Her previous work, it seemed, had garnered unwanted attention meanwhile and she was later approached by a G.U.N staff member. She'd been offered job opportunities before for her...unique skillset, but turned it down (she had enough of that criminal lifestyle) and really didn't expect to end up as a G.U.N agent.

Two years later and she found herself promoted to Commander. Still, her nightclub was a dear place to her, so she found herself often there after hours. Like today. With the surrounding block under a power outage, it was quickly closed for the night. When the final staff left, with her promise of closing up, she seated herself in a corner booth.

Shadow settled at her side and Omega went to stand beside the entrance, keeping an eye on black streets beyond. What she focused on, though, were Silver and Blaze perched opposite.

"Now that we've got some privacy. You're from the future?"

"If my watch is right, and it usually is, I'm from this exact worlds future." Silver waved his golden and cyan, complex, pocket watch (displayed with the time, month and year).

Shadow massaged between his ridges. "Apologies. Future? Exact world? You're not implying what I think you're implying, are you?"

"That there are multiple universes- yes." Blaze confirmed and Team Dark questioned if they hit their heads too hard back on Christmas Island.

"How do we know you aren't lying?" Rouge inquired.

"It's not us you should be concerned about lies with." Silver mumbled.

Shadow snarled but Blaze was already setting a soothing palm on the snowy hedgehog's hand.

"Because Sol is another world- meaning I am not from here. Not in the past nor the future."

"My head hurts." Rouge whined.

Shadow's arms crossed. "If what you say is true, what happens to us in, say, five years time?"

"I don't know."

"How can you not?"

"It-." Silver took a deep breath.

"There's rules-."

A ruby and glass eye rolled. "Here we go."

Chaos, did Silver want to lunge.

"Look. Can...can I have a piece of paper?"

"Sure, hun." Rouge slipped out a piece of her broody friends file, flipping it onto it's blank side.

Silver raised a hand and curled his index finger, bringing a pencil from a cup atop the bar. When holding it, he drew a horizontal line across the centre and began flicking little branches from it.

"Mobius' timeline is really sensitive. There's certain things that you can do to break it. Obviously, not everything is set in stone- that's ridiculous. But a few things aren't meant to happen- if they do, it can cause catastrophe."

"So you can't answer Shadow's question because...?"

Silver sighed. "As a Time Traveler, you have the responsibility to keep things in check. Telling people from the past what happens to them inevitably leads to them trying to change it. It's not telling them that's the problem- it's what they'll do with it."

"Right...."

"Then you being here, isn't that breaking a rule?" Shadow pushed. "If this timeline needs to stay balanced- you returning surely would make a branch, no?"

"I...." White ears dipped. "If I can fix what's about to happen, it shouldn't matter."

"What's about to-?"

"So the ends justify the means type thing?" Shadow straightened.

"Exactly!" Silver brightened. "If I can steer us onto the right track, everything should fall into place!"

"Sounds convenient."

"It's really not."

"Then you're over complicating it."

Silver's golden, rectangular eye twitched. "Just because you don't understand Grandpa, doesn't mean my-."

"What. Did you just call me?"

"Easy fellas." Rouge soothed. "Let's stay on topic, yeah? For example, how do you know this whole branch thing is even real?"

"Because I made one." Silver sunk.

"Make fun of me all you want, but it's not easy to keep everything you know to yourself. And I've really tried! But on one of my attempts I...I had to prevent it."

"Prevent what?"

"The catalyst for Mobius' downfall. One of the biggest rules in time travel is to make sure you never stop a birth. No matter how bad the person could become- you can't end the beginning. But I...I couldn't fail again." He watched his hands.

"In one of the branches, I stopped the day Eggman was born."

Shadow squirmed and cleared his throat. "I...firstly, I apologise."

"It's okay. I...get it's hard to understand."

"Does not mean I should have dismissed you so quickly."

Silver cracked a smile. "I appreciate that. It's not everyday you hear Shadow the Hedgehog apologise to you!"

"That makes me sound horrendous."

"No I mean, I've heard so much about-."

"Silver." Blaze almost groaned. "Focus."

"Oh. Right. Yeah. So the whole 'stopping Eggman's birth' thing. You're not meant to do that based on two reasons. One, there's a chance the child could turn out good. Two, it's leads to disaster."

"In this branch, what happened?"

Silver and Blaze shared a nervous glance. Golden eyes locked with ruby and glass.

"When Maria first fell ill, she was a baby. A-according to-."

"Gerald's diaries." Shadow yellowed.

"Right. Well, without Eggman to tell Gerald about it- she...didn't make it. The Ark was never built and...and you were never created. Gerald went insane long before this timeline's version and he succeeded in destroying the world."

"This is...." Shadow pinched his nose and took a shaky breath.

"So the branch ended, right?" Rouge asked, simultaneously squeezing her friends hand.

"Yeah. It broke off the timeline and crumbled away. Not before it tried to fix itself though."

"Oh good. There's more."

"Unfortunately. It's the only reason why I can even share what happened- because it's dead."

"Hun, can you tell us what it did to try and fix itself?"

"Sorta? When a timeline is destroyed, it'll try and latch onto something that it never had. This never works, of course, but it can cause havoc elsewhere. It creates a branch in that other timeline- like a disease spreading."

"I don't like where this is going." Shadow shifted.

"This is where a Time Traveler steps in- to prevent that breach. But I didn't...I didn't learn about this one until it was too late."

Rouge paled. "You don't mean...."

"I'm sorry. It...your timeline has branched. It did years ago."

"What caused it?"

"Like I said, a destroyed branch tries to weave itself into another timeline that has what it never did. So...."

Cubed eyes met ruby and glass.

"Without that Mobius' Shadow...it sought after you. There's a few things that happen in each of our lives. They can be approached differently and what else- as long as they come out with the same result. Shadow, when you and Sonic worked together to stop the Ark, you...."

Blaze hooked an arm around Silver's. "You weren't meant to come out of it alive."