After Silver and Honey shared a hug to make up, Silver went back to the table in the cafeteria where their friends were arguing.
"I don't get you," Shadow said, "I think some stress relief might be good for you," He said, "Just have some fun in life, take risks. Honey is totally into you, maybe just play a little, experiment, you know?"
Silver carefully sat down at the table. Their cheeks blushed slightly when they heard Shadow's words.
"Who said I ever wanted that?" Espio snapped frustratedly, "The things you want in life aren't the same for everyone."
"Well, I just wanted to help. Look at you," Shadow said and pointed at him, "You almost never sleep, you're always working, always stressed, you only take care of others and don't think about yourself. I just thought a bit of stress relief could help."
"Mind your own business," Espio said and frustratedly rubbed his temples. Silver gulped as they looked from Espio to Shadow and back. Tails and Sonic also looked a bit awkward because of this situation and the things they knew were actually going on.
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to help."
"I never asked for help, I'm doing fine," Espio looked to his left and froze for a moment as he hadn't heard Silver returning. He cleared his throat and tried to calm down, "How is she doing?"
Silver shrugged their shoulders, "She will be fine eventually," They said, a little unsure, "She's just embarrassed and upset."
Espio sighed, disappointed in himself.
"She will be fine, really," Silver said with an endearing smile to comfort Espio, "She just needs time to get over it."
Espio nodded, "I really didn't mean hurt her."
"She knows," Silver assured him. It stayed quiet for a little bit while the others finished their lunch. "Can I ask who just called?" Silver whispered to Espio.
"My father," Espio answered quietly, "After the next lesson, he needs me to come to the base," He explained.
Silver frowned but nodded, "Do you need me to come with you?"
"No, no, you just stay here, okay? You still have your other classes," Espio said, "I won't be long."
Silver nodded quietly.
After the lunch break it was time for history with their mentor class. Shadow and Espio acted cordially towards each other as they didn't want to fight about the matter, but it was hard to ignore what had happened during lunch. They all just quietly worked.
After that lesson, Espio promised to be back in the library later that evening. Shadow went to the library on his own to work on his studies, while Tails and Silver went to physics. It was quite noisy as they were working on the last experiments of this period before the test week.
Silver looked interestedly at Tails as he was working. They felt quite curious about him and now that they were alone they just had to ask. Silver carefully cleared their throat.
"So," Silver said interestedly. Tails looked towards them. "I couldn't help but notice, you and Marine are getting pretty close, aren't you?"
"Yeah, kinda," Tails answered casually, but Silver noticed a slight blush on Tails' cheeks.
Silver suppressed a smile, "So... Did you two..." They asked awkwardly, "...You know."
Tails' blush turned brighter. He cleared his throat and slightly nodded.
"Hah, I knew it," Silver said triumphantly. "When? Where? How was it?" They asked curiously.
Tails cleared their throat and suppressed a smile, "Yesterday, we went out together after school." He explained.
Silver looked interested while suppressing a smile. "And?"
"After the movies, it was raining pretty badly, and well, her place was kind of close.... And one thing led to another," He said and turned back to his experiment.
"Did you stay the night?"
"Yes."
"What did your parents say?"
"Well..." Tails said awkwardly, "My mom said it was okay if I wanted to stay the night," He cleared his throat, "When I told them I was kind of seeing a girl they were kind of open about it. They kinda gave me some advise."
"That's really sweet of them," Silver said with a sweet smile, "You have such amazing parents."
"Yeah, they really are supportive," Tails said, "But it might be a little awkward, as Marine will come over for dinner tonight to met them."
"I'm sure it will be fine. Your parents were also very nice to Shadow when he joined for dinner the first time."
"Yeah, I'm sure it will be okay."
Silver chuckled, "Well, I'm happy for the both of you. How was it?"
Tails scratched the back of his head, "Maybe a bit awkward, but it was kind of nice," He said when his blush darkened.
"Yeah, well... I think the first time is always a bit awkward," Silver said as they thought about their first time with Shadow and Espio. "But it's nice to connect with someone in that way."
"Yeah, it sure is," Tails said with a mischievous smile.
They both smiled at each other. They turned back to their work but Tails started to frown.
"I noticed you were pretty absent yesterday. Is everything okay with you?"
Silver's smile faded quickly, "Yes, I'm fine," They said, and turned back to their experiment.
"Are you sure?" Tails asked concernedly. Silver nodded quietly. Tails looked them up and down, "If something is wrong, you would tell me, right?"
"Yes," Silver answered shortly without looking up at him, not ready to tell him anything about their troubles, not wanting to share their past and make Tails feel concerned about them. Tails nodded quietly, even though he wasn't sure if Silver was telling the truth.
____
"What are you doing here?" A muffled voice spoke.
Espio came to a halt in the hallway after hearing those words when he passed the copy room. Lanolin looked surprised. She had a sandwich in her mouth because her hands were full of paperwork. He quickly came over to take some of her paperwork so she could properly eat her late lunch.
"Commander Harold called me in," He said.
"You can just say your dad called," Lanolin said with a chuckle.
Espio looked sour, "I'd rather not." He looked down at Lanolin's paperwork, "What are you working on?"
"At the moment, Silver's identity," She answered and looked down at the paper which laid on top of the paperwork, which had a big red 'Declined' stamp on it.
"Oh," Espio sighed disappointedly. "So still no closer?"
"No, I'm sorry. Because we wanted to speed up the process, it only got harder, because Silver is anonymous to them and they don't know anything about them, they won't accept them without meeting them or with the approval of a higher authority," She explained disappointedly, "But I'm afraid to give them more information, as I don't want to get Silver into any trouble."
Espio flicked through the paperwork with a frown. "Higher authority, you say?" He said as he thought about it.
"You're not seriously thinking to ask your dad."
"No, of course not," Espio said quickly.
"So what are you thinking of?" She asked interestedly.
"Well, maybe we could get back into contact with the vice president," Espio suggested, "Apparently he knows me now, he appreciated what I did, and maybe he is willing to help us on this matter."
"Are you crazy?"
"Well, maybe it's time to take advantage of our contacts," He said, "If we could write him and explain the situation, maybe he would be willing to help. After all, he was grateful to have someone like me in the army to protect the citizens," He said as he thought back to his words.
"Yeah, okay, but won't it be too risky?"
Espio sighed, "Well, of course it's risky, I know. But we have to do something. We can't ask Silver to expose theirself about this matter, but maybe this is a chance to speed up the process with them staying anonymous until the request gets accepted." Lanolin stayed quiet as she thought about it. "We can always send the letter and see what happens."
"Yeah, okay," She said with a nod. "I will write a draft letter and send it to you for approval."
"Thank you. By the way, did you get anymore information about the operation?"
Lanolin looked unsure, "That jackal still ain't talking," She said frustratedly, "I thought you said he was willing to help."
"Well, he did agree to it."
"I went over there this morning and he wouldn't say a thing, to no-one. Not even his lawyer."
Espio frowned, "But why? He told me he would help the police, he told me-"
"Yeah he told you," Lanolin interrupted him while emphasising the word 'you', "I think he might only talk to you."
Espio frowned, "But why?"
"Maybe he only trusts you," She looked meaningfully to Espio who let out a sigh but nodded.
"I will try and talk to him after my appointment with Harold," He said as he looked at his watch. He felt annoyed by how this whole situation was eating away his time, as he would've wanted to use his time to take care of Silver. But he needed to find out more about this whole situation and fast, as Harold gave him the deadline for upcoming Saturday.
"I will come with you," Lanolin said as she was curious herself.
A few minutes later, Espio knocked on the door of commander Harold. He opened the door after he heard his father inviting him in.
Harold sat behind his desk and watched sternly as Espio came closer, "You're late again. Don't let this become a habit."
"No, sir," Espio answered through gritted teeth, making it feel like a waste of time to even be here. Harold nodded towards the chair in front of him, for Espio to sit down.
Harold intertwined his fingers and looked interestedly towards Espio. "How is that boy's training going?"
Espio let out a sigh as he should have known this meeting would be about Silver's powers, "We didn't have much time to train lately, sir," Espio said calmly.
"Because of your damn research, which wasn't even assigned to you?" Harold asked sternly.
Espio bit his tongue for a moment, "'Because', Silver is still a student and next week is test week. He needs to study and mentally he isn't ready to continue his training." He spoke sternly.
"When he is in, he won't need those studies. It's a waste of time."
"Silver is only sixteen years old. He isn't ready for this."
"You were only ten," Harold said sternly.
"I was raised to be here, Silver wasn't. He isn't fit for this job, mentally he isn't doing well and the army is the last thing he needs. He needs a normal life, he isn't a fighter," The calm tone in Espio's voice snapped as he so desperately wanted to get Silver off of Harold's wishlist.
Harold grinned, "What I saw, when that boy was here, is that he definitely is a fighter. The way he stopped those bullets was amazing. Can you believe what he can do for us? How many of our men he can save? Don't you want that?" Harold stood up from his deckchair to rise above him, "He is the only good thing you've brought in in years." He spoke louder, "And now you just want to take that away from us just like you took Shadow away from the forces!"
Espio gulped but tried to stay calm, "Shadow became unstable. He became a danger to all of us. Do you want it to be the same with Silver? Silver's powers are even greater than Shadow's. Can you imagine what he could do if he snapped the way Shadow did?"
"And that's why D'Coolette designed those anaesthetic chips. If that boy would go rogue, we can take him down in a split second."
"It shouldn't be necessary at all. Why tear down those who are already broken?"
Harold walked around his desk and leaned against it with folded arms, "Because we can use them."
"I won't let you use Silver," Espio growled angrily.
Thank you Zeltaris for spelling checking ^^