Belong

Chapter 6 - The Library

They had been walking through Frozen City for a while now, Silver occasionally flying up a little and peeking through windows or torn-apart walls, though making sure to never leave Venice's gaze, before shaking his head or sighing and flying down again. Venice wished he could make himself more useful, but he had barely been able to wrap his head around Silver's explanation as to why he was doing this, and as such he had no idea what to look for. All he knew was that Silver's increasingly sombre mood made him upset as well, though in his case his thoughts were worsened by his anxieties.

While Venice knew he would never tell Silver, in order to not give the darker grey hedgehog any ideas, he feared for the day that Silver would leave him behind. He had quickly deemed it inevitable; there was no way he wasn't too needy, too broken, or too dangerous for anyone to be willing to spend so much time with him. He just had to wait this out, make sure to not get in the way, and hope that Silver wouldn't harm him when he left.

But still... the hedgehog had only ever shown him goodwill, telling him stories and answering all his questions, never getting annoyed or angry no matter how often he needed to repeat it. And he shared his food with him, and the warm cloth that he called a coat, and let him sleep in his den, and he kept asking if he wanted to join him on his searches throughout the city... Still, Venice squashed down any spark of hope that dared make him believe that Silver would let him stay. No, he would be left behind soon for sure, especially with how driven Silver was to find other people and those clues he kept mentioning. Convincing himself that Silver couldn't be blamed, he tried to supress the grief that welled up his in heart at the thought.

Venice fiddled anxiously with the white cloths around his hands that Silver had given him just before they had left. "It's going to be very cold outside," he'd said, "and if we're going to be breaking into buildings you'll need to protect your hands anyway." He'd pulled the items from the "backpack", as he'd called it, and had described them as "gloves", before gently putting them both around Venice's hands. Although, he couldn't help but notice the inconspicuous glance Silver had given his palms as he was doing so. Venice feared that he had somehow noticed the teal-coloured marks that had begun to softly simmer once more, no matter how much he tried to suppress it, though Silver had kept quiet about as he finished slipping on the gloves. Venice dared hope that it was all in his head and Silver hadn't actually noticed anything unusual about his hands, and thus his powers. Venice snuggled a little bit deeper in the coat, feeling the slightest bit protected by how warm it was.

Despite that feeling of safety, every time his mind inevitably slipped to the teal-coloured marks he possessed it sent a jolt of fear through his body. No matter how much he tried to forget about what had happened in the facility, the memories kept breaking through the mental barriers he had built up, ready to drag him under and drown him in the pain they caused still. Being with Silver certainly helped, the hedgehog's chatty behaviour and comfort he offered pushed away all the thoughts that made him tremble in fright, but he deemed Silver too busy with throwing away some rocks with his power and whatever else he was doing right now to ask him for any help... not that he would ever tell Silver what he had done, or where he came from, or what he could do.

Venice had dared hope that his powers had disappeared completely, and the grey colour of the marks instead of their normal teal had only intensified that belief, along with the emptiness inside his mind where he used to feel them. But now they were returning, simmering under the surface of his skin and at the tips of his fingers, clearly wishing to be let out once more and wreak havoc like they used to. He couldn't, though, he had sworn to himself even before he had met Silver to never make use of his wretched curse again. He had learned long ago that the power was too dangerous, too hard to control, and too desirable for those who wanted it for their own evil ways to leave him alone. Silver absolutely couldn't know about it either, the other hedgehog would only try to encourage him to train and use them, and Venice knew he would be unable to say no to his enthousiasm. Silver knew how to control the power, Venice never had and never would. If the other psychic were to find out about his deficiencies he would definitely be too repulsed to stay with him any longer, and Venice was trying to postpone their inevitable departure as much as he could, knowing how heartbroken he would be when left behind by the only person he felt he could trust. Speaking of Silver, he peeked at the other once more, witnessing him kick at one of the structures and having to make a quick dodge in the air while yelling something when it toppled over and nearly crashed down on him, though Venice was too far away to make out what he said.