Worlds Apart - a Shadow the Hedgehog x Reader story

Meeting For The First Time

Shadow's POV

Shadow didn't want to wake up. He wanted to sleep more. But his body rebelled against his feelings and he shifted, slowly opening his eyes. The soft sound of a guitar floated out of nowhere. A quiet female voice seemed to purr over it. He steadily looked down at himself. A long white bandage was wrapped around his chest, another around each of his legs. No wonder they ached so much. They were both broken. Several tubes were attached to him, helping put blood back inside him.
"Hello."
Shadow turned. A girl sat not far from where he was lying holding a guitar. She had to have been playing and singing while he slept.

"Who are you? Where am I?"
Before she could answer, the door banged open, making him wince. Three boys sauntered in, each with dark hair and mean-looking, pig-like eyes.

"Hey, hedgehog's awake," the tallest of them sniggered. The girl stayed silent, still plucking her guitar, as if she was waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Hey, Spike. What happened to you? Get into a fight with your family?" the smallest poked Shadow's arm, making him wince again.

"My name is Shadow. And no, I didn't get into a fight with my family because I don't have one."
"Aw, how sad. What a loner," the third snickered. A sudden, sour chord from the guitar made them turn. The girl had stood up and pushed her way between them and Shadow.

"Why don't you go and find someone your own size to pick on?" She stared them in the eyes, "How about it Callum? Connor? Chris?"
The tallest, Callum, pushed the neck of her guitar down, twisting one of the tuning knobs, "Well, well, the mute ugly duckling finally speaks up. What if we don't?"
The girl flicked both the comment and his hand away from her, carefully retuning the strings, "I'll tell your parents about your bad attitude."
Chris and Connor yelped and ran from the room. Callum, however, tried to push past her to get at Shadow again.

"Back off," Shadow growled, "Or I'll be forced to let loose my power."
"Oh, you have power do you? Let's see — OW!"
The girl had slipped up behind him and twisted his arm behind his back, "Let's see you leave."

She shoved him out of the door and pushed it quietly shut. She flopped down in a chair next to Shadow.

"Are you OK? Did they hurt you at all?"
"No, I'm fine, except for the massive gash in my chest."
"Yeah, except that."
He laughed shortly, "I'm Shadow by the way."

"I'm Y/N."
"Do they always do that?"
"Callum, Connor and Chris? Yep. They're the biggest bullies in school. They're always picking on someone smaller than them and it's usually me if they can catch me."
"But why? What makes them so important that they can look down at others?"
"Dunno. They were looking down at others before I came here. I just it brush past me. And if that doesn't work, the attitude thing usually does."
"Fair enough."
"What happened to you anyways? Sorry that I'm changing the subject."

"It's OK. I did get into a fight, but with this guy called Dr. Eggman."
"What, like off the Sonic the Hedgehog video games?"
"I guess. I mean, how many crazy guys called Dr. Eggman could there be in the world?"
Y/N looked dumbstruck, "He's real. Wait, wait, wait. That means that you're..."
"Shadow the Hedgehog."
She slapped herself in the face, "I must be dreaming."

"Well if you are, then so am I."
"Do you want me to pinch you?"
"No! I know I'm awake."
"Then so am I."
Shadow laughed, but stopped halfway through. A long scrape ran down the inside of Y/N's left arm.

"Hey, what happened to you?"
"Oh, this thing? Callum did it a couple of days ago. He carries a knife you see. Him and his gang tried to bully me on my way home while both my sisters were working out. I managed to get away from them but Callum just cut me as I did. I kept it a secret from my Gran and used the medication at home to help it heal."