Chapter Text
Shadow needed to get out. He needed fresh air. It wasn’t a very often occurrence, but Shadow the Hedgehog was bored out of his mind.
He didn’t feel like sleeping, or watching tv, or even baking (a guilty pleasure of his). So,with that thought in mind, shadow pulled on his shoes, and decided that he would take a nice walk along the beach. He lived far enough away from Hedgehog village to know that there was no chance of him running into Sonic and his merry band of morons.
He trekked through the forest in which his small hut resided, listening to the sounds of the birds chirping. He had always felt oddly at piece while on his own in nature, so it was something he did often (another one of his guilty pleasures).
After probably half an hour of walking, Shadow finally made it to the cross section where the forest ended and the sand started. It annoyed the hedgehog slightly that it had taken him so long to there, though. What was usually a ten to fifteen minute walk, took him thirty minutes. He thought back to a couple days ago to when he had gotten into another fight with team Sonic, and while his attention was on his blue rival, he hadn’t seen Amy appear behind him. She had smacked him with her hammer, and Shadow could still feel the ache, even now as he looked out at the ocean. He grumbled under his breath about how irritating Sonic and his friends were, and he slid down the sloped bank that led onto the sand.
Shadow started his walk with the sound of the ocean waves crashing onto the sand beneath his feet. He walked, and walked, and walked. He breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth. He felt completely at peace for the first time in a while. As he continued his stroll, he closed his eyes. He listened to the sounds of the water to his left, the sound of the crunching ground beneath him, and the sound of his breath from his nose.
His quiet peace came to a halt, however, when his foot banged into something solid. Shadow opened his eye, assuming it had been a rock he walked into and intending to simply walk around it, when his breath got stuck in his chest. When he looked down, he saw a young, human girl, who couldn’t be any older that four or five, passed out and drenched to the bone.
He quickly bent down and pulled you out of the water, dragging you away. He rolled you on to your back, and pushed your sopping hair out of your face. As he stuck his fingers under your chin to make sure you had a pulse, and after finding a slow and weak one, Shadow began to get angry. How long had you been here? How had no one else found you before him? How did you even get here? Shadow knew there was no easy way to get to the island that he lived on, and he also knew that it was an incredibly long journey from here to the next nearest land mass. So that obviously ment that you had been on a boat, and had fallen overboard, and no one had noticed. So, Shadow realised, probably no one was going to be looking for you.
He put his ear to your mouth, trying to hear if your breathing was rattling or off in anyway. After he deemed that you were okay, and that you hadn’t inhaled any water, he sighed. What did he do with you? He couldn’t leave you here in the sand- you would probably die when night fell. Briefly, Shadow considered taking you to the village. Maybe he could take you to Sonic or Amy, and one of them could nurse you back to health. Or maybe someone else in the village. He also thought of the mother of the little rabbit girl that he babysat occasionally. Vanilla was an incredible mother to Cream, and if he took you there, he would have no doubt that she would take you in. However, as he looked at your distressed little face, scrunched up and showing the fear and panic that you must have felt before passing out.
He didn’t know what came over him, but he placed his arms around your small body, and hoisted you sopping wet frame up into his own chest. With that, he turned kn his heel, and began his trek back up to his hut. He made sure to walk slowly, and hold you close, as to not jostle you.
He looked down at your face periodically, ensuring that you were still alright in his grasp. What once would have been a nice, peaceful walk through the forest, had turned into a rushed and stressful walk. Shadow resisted the urge to skate his way home, in fear it would disturb you.
It took him nearly an hour, but finally, he was able to kick in his front door. He strode over to his couch and gently placed you on his couch. During the journey back to his shack, he had felt your body start to tremble, so the first thing in his mind was to dry you off and change you into something warm. He ran into his bedroom and rifled through his closet, pulling out a shirt he hadn’t worn in a while, the rushed back to the couch.
He checked you over as you laid there, silent and shivering. He sighed, throwing the shirt on the back of the sofa, and bent at the waist so he could pull off your shoes. Even after being out of the water for well over an hour, as he tugged off your shoes and socks, liquid still continued to drip and stream down your calfs.
Just as he was about to pull you into a sitting position so he could get your moist dress off, he saw something sticking out of one of your pockets.
“What’s this?” He muttered to himself as he grabbed it. It was a pink note, severely damaged due to getting wet, but as he pulled it out and carefully pried it open, reading over the heavily smudged cursive.
‘Hello my Angel, i hope you have a good time at the lake house. When you get back, you’ll have to tell us all about it! Love you, from grandma.’
“You were on vacation.” Shadow said quietly to your unconscious self. He grunted, obviously distressed at your situation. He gently placed the note on his small side table, then got to work on carefully getting the dress on and replacing it with the shirt from his closet. As he put you back down, he glanced back to the note, then to you again. Once again, he sighed. “I guess I’ll call you Angel, then.”
With that, Shadow stood. He grabbed a thick blanket, and placed it over you, tucking it under your arms and up to your chin. He gave you one more once over, and with that, he headed to bed.