Chapter One[]
Twenty-year-old Sari's ear twitched. She flipped over in bed, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter. She kicked the blankets up, bunching them around her body. Her ear twitched again. Those pesky birds just would not shut up! Sari flipped over again, kicking the blankets off her body and sliding out of bed. After sliding on her favorite pair of fuzzy slippers, the hedgecat shuffled towards the bedroom door. Her fur and light green pajamas glowed gently in the moonlight cutting through her bedroom window. Grumbling, she fumbled with the cold brass handle for a couple seconds, and finally managed to twist it, silently opening the door. The floor creaked with each step taken, though there was no one else here in the hut to hear it.
There hadn't been for a long time.
Sari slowly trudged down the stairs, yawning and scratching her head, getting her fingers tangled in her messy hair. She stopped at the foot of the stairs, staring out into the living room ahead. Despite her being much taller now, and in turn, leaving less space in the living room, it felt so much bigger. So empty.
"I miss you, Dad," Sari whispered to herself sadly, looking down at the floor.
Her voice was light, delicate. Even more so than glass. Like it could shatter if one simply breathed on it.
Sari pushed on, walking past the old furniture, past the memories, and towards the front door, only stopping briefly to slip her bow and quiver full of arrows over her body. She never left home without them. Not anymore. Not even just to go visit a friend in another part of the village. It was too dangerous. The past several years have taught her that well.
As she stepped outside and shut the door behind her, she was greeted with the cool night air. She sighed, letting go of the handle and slowly walking down the narrow, beaten path ahead. The birds were still being so noisy, chirping and screeching and Chaos knows what those other noises were! She suddenly stopped, ear twitching.
That sound.
That wasn't a bird. She reached for her bow, pulling it off her shoulders.
Suddenly, in the dim light, out onto the trail stepped a lone figure. "Hey, you know where-?"
Sari let out a surprised shriek and whacked the stranger in the face with her bow.
The stranger stumbled back with a yelp, clutching his muzzle and releasing a low whine of pain. From underneath his hands came a muffled "Ow, ow, ow!" as he continued to whimper. He finally dropped his hands, still wincing as he lifted his gaze back to Sari. He held his hands out in front of him, backing away a bit more. "Was that really necessary?!"
"Sorry, you just startled me," Sari replied apologetically. She slid her bow back over her body and held her hand out cautiously.
"Aha, I can see that. My bad," the silver hedgehog remarked, his nervousness melting into mild amusement as he chuckled. He took her hand, shaking it while rubbing his likely-soon-to-be-bruised cheek with his other hand. "The name's Silver. And you are?"
"I'm Sari," the hedgecat answered. "What are you doing here, Silver?"
"I kinda need to see Sonic," Silver told her, looking over her shoulder - probably in the hopes of seeing the speedy blue hedgehog in question. "It's really important. You know where he is?"
"He's asleep in his house, as far as I know." Sari pointed in the direction of the house in question.
Silver nodded, and started following after Sari, his boots and her slippers squelching a bit in the wet mud. The tree leaves rustled with the wind, and those lousy birds had finally quieted down, only letting out the occasional chirp and screech. "Thanks for the help," Silver murmured as they quickly reached the front door of the house. He reached out, knocking on the door. Neither of them had to wait long, as the door was quickly opened with a loud creak. There in front of them stood Sonic, in the middle of chewing, door handle in one hand and a half-eaten chili dog in the other.
Sari facepalmed, obviously annoyed. "Sonic, were you really just eating a chili dog in the middle of the night?"
Sonic stared silently for a moment, then promptly wolfed down the rest of the chili dog in an indistinguishable blur. "You can't prove it if there's no evidence," he replied with a mischievous smirk. He then stepped aside, waving for them to come in. "What's up?"
Walking inside, Sari shook her head in a mixture of annoyance and amusement. She gestured to the silver hedgehog next to her, saying, "Silver wanted to see you about something."
Silver nodded, stepping forward. For the first time that night, he looked like he'd seen a ghost. He twiddled his fingers, sighing. "So... let's just say I kind of have another apocalypse on my hands."
"What kind of apocalypse?" Sonic asked, his own amusement quickly melting into visible worry.
"The giant death bird kind," Silver answered.
Sonic looked over at Sari, who looked back at him.