"Silver reporting to the headquarters." Light-grey furred hedgehog sent a voice message through his communication device trying to reach for a certain pink hedgehog to pick up a status report about the mission he was currently on, which was to patrol sector 8, Luminious Forest in the Mystic Jungle. "I finished checking the 8th section. Eggman's army is bigger than we thought, but it doesn't seem to be getting any extra defense forces in a couple of days." 
Psychokinetic took a lower patch, flying through thick leaves, above and under the massive branches of the giant trees. 
Just before he intended to go back to the base, Silver saw a red trace of light, slowly fading from his sight. It seemed to be landing near his position. Concerned, and more importantly worried about the unknown person hero decided to check who or what it was. As quietly as possible time traveler closed in to the most plausible place of landing for the thing he didn't have a chance to see. He found a spot on the tree branch that he carefully occupied by landing on it. Silver looked down, noticing the dark figure with white back to be walking in the direction of the closest road. It didn't take long for the hedgehog to understand who it was.
	Silver frowned as he saw flashbacks of all the battles the Resistance had gone through with this person, and all the blood that decorated the ground because of him. Hedgehog clenched his fists as he saw the image of Sonic, who has been gone for 6 months from the hands of this monster.
        His fury raised up, but taking a few deeper breaths managed to calm him down at least a little. Silver knew that no people lived in this part of the world and that must've meant the villain didn't intend to spread terror across the powerless citizens. Keeping that in mind Silver decided to let others know his location. That could be highly important for the Resistance.
Just as he was about to contact the headquarters, the old branch under his feet snapped and fell down, making a loud cracking noise upon hitting another trees. Thankfully Silver was fast enough to use his psychokinetic powers to keep himself in the air, but with all the noise the falling wood had made, his near fall was the smallest problem, and Silver became fully aware of this when he heard a low and raspy voice a just behind him.




	“Well well well…” 
	"Look what we've got here.”





	Silver quickly turned around and flew back from the assailant, trying to keep his distance. 
“ You-” Silver started, but before he could finish the line he received a powerful attack in the abdominal area, which was enough to knock him down. “Ghr!” Hedgehog growled in pain when his back hitted the dusty ground.


	The darker figure hovered above the younger one. He was just on the left side of his head about to say something  when he saw a large rock flying in his direction. Seemed like someone was trying to put up a fight. 
And Infinite was enjoying this very much.


	“Don’t think I’m just gonna sit there and do nothing to stop you! " Silver yelled, grabbing another rock and getting up as quickly as he could despite the pain in his stomach. “I won’t let you hurt anyone else!” Silver attacked jackal once more, but this too was futile. His opponent seemed to just vanish before Silver’s attacks could do him any harm. 
Wanting to let the others know what was happening Silver tried to reach for his communicator to turn the transmission Silver couldn't find it. It should have been on his ear, but it wasn't.


	“Looking for this?" The voice asked and what Silver saw in his hand was the transmitter he had.


	Boy quickly turned around, and there he was. Holding the device in his hand was Infinite. 


	"But how..." Silver was in shock.


	"You pathetic little hedgehog. You have no idea what I am capable of."  Jackal clenched his fist and the transmission device was smashed to pieces which then fell to the ground.


	Silver watched in horror as his only way of communication was taken from him. 
Now - he was all alone with Infinite.


  





	Young hedgehog spit out blood that landed on the grass as well as his chest fur. He tried to get up, but quickly got brutally pushed against the ground.


	"Ughh…!"  


	Silver’s bruised face made contact with the cold grass. He looked up and what he saw was Infinite’s foot, pushing him against the ground.


	“And what was that hero act for?” 


	Silver’s only answer was a low, stifled growl. Jacal on the other hand was having lots of fun. 


	“Can you even get any more pathetic than that?”  Asked Infinite with the intention of angering and humiliating the other one as much as he could. And to his likings it was working perfectly. 

        Silver was so easy to read. 


	He clenched his hands into fists, grabbing blades of grass in the process and frowning, whilst still looking at Infinite.


	Hedgehog’s reaction was very much enjoyable, and it made the Ultimate Mercenary smile underneath his mask as he took his foot off Silver’s aching back.


	Silver panted heavily, exhausted from the fight he didn’t even win. And not only he didn’t win, but he had no chance of fighting back. His head was hurting, which wouldn’t be that bad compared to the other injuries he had if it wasn’t for the fact that any sort of headache, be it even weak migraine was interfering with his psychokinesis, making him basically powerless. Just as he was thinking how could he possibly escape from Infinite, Silver felt strong, long fingers gripping on his throat. Before he could react to that he felt as his feet lost support of the ground and, in an instant, the hedgehog felt he was starting to choke. 


	Gagging sounds instantly started to echo in the empty forest, as Silver realized he was being strangled. Hedgehog desperately tried to inhale for air, but it didn’t work. Instead what he felt was extraordinary pain as his windpipe was being crushed by a firm grip.


	Infinite was truly savouring the moment. He felt a rush of ecstasy as he watched Silver struggle for air, but still trying to put up a fight, as his hand gripped jacal’s wrist, as if he was trying to get some leverage, his legs kicking and moving uncontrollably in the air, his heart rate rapidly increasing.


	“H-ghk-!”

        Infinite listened to the gross sounds that came out of the young boy’s mount in amusement. For him - it was like music.


	“S-sto-AuGH--!”


	Funny.


	With no remorse, Infinite’s grip tightened. Leaving Silver with no hopes of escaping.
Infinite wanted to make sure this so-called “hero's” heart was utterly crushed. 



A watery tracks started to make it’s way on Silver’s cheeks.
The pain he felt was overwhelming.
He couldn’t breathe. 
His vision became blurry as he tried to find any strength to focus and try to break free.
He was simply too weak to do so.
Was...
Was this really how his story was going to end?
As the terrifying thoughts rushed over to his head, Silver felt his grip on Infinite’s hand loosen up involuntarily.
He could feel his consciousness drifting away, as he felt his whole body and mind became weightless.



	Infinite with much delight watched as the last bits of strength left Silver’s body. 


	It was that moment, that an idea struck him.


	And it was an idea Jacal immediately took to his likings.






	Just like that, he dropped Silver onto the ground. 


	Nothing. 


	For a brief moment Infinite thought that maybe he did kill the boy, but he dismissed the thought, when after what might have been maybe three or five seconds Silver began to rapidly try to reach for air. 


	Infinite simply stood and watched the hedgehog quickly couch, saliva dripping from his mouth onto the ground in between panic breaths.


	It took a great amount of time for Silvers senses to come back to him. Tears fell in even greater succession than before, making it impossible to see anything. But even without his sight he understood one thing.


	He was alive.
	Silver tried as quickly as he could to regulate his breath, but it took some time and more importantly physical strength to even stop coughing. For a moment Silver almost forgot, that he wasn’t there alone. 


	But only for a moment.


	He was violently reminded of it, when he was kicked right in the ribcage and turned so he was facing the sky.


	“Gy-HAa--!”


	Silver yelped in pain. This hurt one hundred times more than it should, and it made him skip a breath. For a moment he felt like he forgot how to breathe at all. The awful state ended only a few seconds later, but for Silver it felt like at least minutes had passed when he remembered how to use his lungs. He took a deep inhale, only to cough blood immediately after, staining his already red-covered white fur and onto his gloves. His shaky breath quickened even more, teeth clenched together he tried to move away, but his body wasn’t making it easy for him.




	“I could have killed you right this moment...”  Infinite started, watching Silver breathe heavily. Hedgehog panted heavily while laying still on the ground. 


	“But seeing what kind of impression left on you makes my day a little bit better, so I’ll let you live.”


	Silver blinked a few times, confused.


	“Mind telling me how old are you again?”


	Silver stared at Infinite, still unsure why was he asking that all of a sudden. Then he realized his legs were feeling cold and sticky. And when he looked down the boy immediately felt a wave of humiliation hit him.


	“Isn’t that lovely? A brave-hearted hero came from the future to selflessly save the world, and then just pissed himself like a little kid.”  Infinite took a good moment chuckling at the sight, while Silver was so degraded he didn’t even look up. 


	Seconds later with no warning Silver felt an unbelievably sharp and strong pain in his hand. It was strong enough to make him cream. When he turned his head the first thing he saw was red.
An enlarging pool of crimson red blood, right next to his head. 
For a second Silver just stared in shock, letting out pained whimpers and it took him a moment to notice something else.
And when he realized what happened the pain only grew bigger.
        Stabbed in his hand was a long, shining, metal pole that pierced his hand right where the circular symbols on his glove were. Perfectly in the middle of his paw was a splatter of blood that kept growing bigger, covering his entire glove.
Silver tried to move his hand, but he regretted it instantly, when the pain got only stronger. All he could manage to muster were little twitches of his fingers.
He had some really close calls in his adventures, but he was never this badly injured.
	It was scary.
	He was scared.





		For a moment Silver thought maybe he shouldn’t try to fight back.


		There was no way he could fight in his current state.


		There was no way he could’ve won against this monster.


		After all,
	

		How could he win, if Sonic couldn’t?




		Sonic…





		Silver felt powerless at the sole thought of his long gone friend. 


		He had swore to himself that he would protect this time and this world for Sonic.


	He swore in his heart he would do anything for him.
	But now,
	When he was laying there,
	There was nothing he could do, right?
	Because how long can you just keep on hoping for things to get better?


		Silver felt tired.


	Maybe it was the right moment to admit defeat.
	Maybe it was the right time to give up.
	No-one would hold this against him, right?


	Maybe he could just…










	No.
	He couldn't give up.
	Because giving up would mean he would no longer be able to remember his friends.


	He couldn’t possibly give up after he swore to himself he would protect everyone and carry on for his friends.


	Despite everything that happened to him, Silver still held onto hope.
	He had hope that he refused to let go of.


           I….
             …...I can’t give up…
                   I can’t give up yet….






	Silver repeated this line in his mind over and over as if he was trying to make sure he didn’t forget to hope. 


	Finding bits of strength, Silver slowly and unsteadily turned so he was laying on his side.


	His other hand felt unnaturally heavy for some reason, but he managed to slowly lift his shaking hand and eventually grabbed the steel object that reste in his hand. Silver let go a pained moan and bit his lower lip. It hurt even more when he touched it, but he made up his mind that he wasn't going to just lay there and wait for death. 
	Until the last moment he was going to fight.
	No matter how futile it seemed.


	Infinite stood right beside him, not saying a word. He simply watched the boy tighten his grip on the metal pole that pierced his hand. 
        Watching him fight for his life anyhow he could bring Infinite most fun he had in months.
And he was intending to make that fun last.


	After a few quick breaths and a moment of mental preparation Silver started to pull out the object from his hand.
It hurt even without touching, but what he felt now was beyond his dictionary. 
Hedgehog felt the metallic taste of the blood from his lip as the burning pain rushed throughout his hand and to his whole nervous system. It took all his will power not to let go of that thing, but it paid off. Silver’s eyes started to water up, but after the most painful minute of his life the steel pole was gone from his hand. Silver’s whole body was tense and he could feel his vision became blurry in that moment. His lungs hurt from how quick he was breathing, but he did. What he had to do next was to-




	“Quite the show you put on right there I must admit.”


	Silver turned his head to the left, to where the voice was coming from.
There, just centimeters from him, was Infinite. Crouching right next to him.


	“To be honest I have no idea what some people see in you hedgehogs.” Jacal started to eye Silver from tip to toe. “Your fur is short, not to mention those sorry excuses for the hair on your head.” 


“I find all of you disgusting.”


	With those words Silver felt how the other’s hand traveled on his chest and the fingers brushed through white chest fur. Small, triangular ears immediately pinned down to his head and his irises narrowed down when he saw Infinite’s hand reaching out to him. Gloved hand made a contact with young hedgehog’s cheek.
In a terrifyingly gentle way. The boy shivered when Infinite's finger caressed his cheek. If it was someone else doing it it could’ve even been called a caring touch.
But it wasn’t in this scenario.
Infinite moved his hand slowly, examining the hedgehog's body build.


	“You are so disgustingly thin I can almost count all of your ribs right now.”


	Silver yelped in pain when Infinite laid his hand on his ribs. 


	The mercenary smiled when he realized he found some broken ribs. Not only the pained sounds indicated that, also a large purple-red spot on the skin, clearly visible from under the white fur. No wonder the other didn’t move for a while.
Infinite moved his hand further down on the other’s waist as Silver was starting to feel more and more uneasy. 


	From closer inspection Jacal realized that Silver’s build was surprisingly femmine. While his waist was slim due to his anorectic build, his hips wider than they should be for a boy. He looked almost like a girl if you squint your eyes hard enough.


	Infinite smiled underneath his mask.


	“As I said, I’ll let you live...”


	Silver didn’t have any time to process the line, before he felt a tight grip on his wrist.

	
	“...But I’ll have my fun first”