You are a (A/T)

Have you ever heard of the saying 'trying to find a needle in a haystack'?

It was an ordinary day for (Y/N) As far as she was concerned. That was until during her walk home from work through the town two men approached her.

"Hey, were you going sweet cheeks?" a red cat asked.

"I'm afraid that's none of your business." (Y/N) answered politely.

"You know you look kinda thirsty, want to join us for a drink?" a black wolf asked.

"I'm fine thank you, now let me past." she said in a more pressing tone.

But they still didn't move, however (Y/N) jolted as she felt a firm hand clasp her left wrist.

"There you are, I've been looking for you."

Looking up to the owner of the deep voice and clasped hand (Y/N) tried her best to ignore the rush of heat escalating to her cheeks, as she looked at a ebony hedgehog with red stripes.

"Hey buddy we're talking here." the cat interjected annoyed.

"And now your conversation is over, come on we have a mission to complete." the hedgehog said, the last line directed at (Y/N).

The cat and wolf were about to protest but when the pair turned to leave they could see clear as day the logo stitched onto the back of the hedgehogs jacket, G.U.N. And they knew more then better to not mess around with a G.U.N agent, unless you wanted a couple of broken bones.

More than glad for the escape hatch though (Y/N) didn't complain when the hedgehog gently tugged her wrist to make her walk along side him. But about three steps later he'd already released her wrist.

"Thank you." (Y/N) said in a strong voice. 

"It was nothing personal."

That was all he said before heading off somewhere else and leaving (Y/N) a little confused, he obviously wasn't the 'friendly type'. Still she was grateful for his help.

Tucking a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ear, she gave a small sigh before heading home.

~A few days later~

Starting a new job is never easy, but for once (Y/N) felt prepared. Her hair tied in a standard bun wearing a (R/C) shirt and (R/C) trousers with her doctors coat she was set to start her job as a G.U.N medic.

In fact the day she was stopped by the cat and wolf she was actually walking home from a trial day, G.U.N recognised her skills and hired her almost instantly. At the moment she'd just be working in her practise, fixing up training injuries and the more serious injuries that come back from missions.

Depending on what she wanted she might or might not become a field medic.

But she couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever run into that ebony hedgehog who had helped her, but she knew by the jacket he was wearing that night that he was a high skilled field agent. So probably not.

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"Come in!" She called, eager to start her job.

(Y/N) quickly got a reputation as being one of the best medics, but that cat and wolf from weeks ago weren't the only ones who liked to flirt with her. So there had been plenty of incidents when the 'hot medic' had sedated anyone who hadn't stopped in their persistent flirting, and left them sleeping on the bench outside.

Yet until the moment they flirted every patient deserved the same treatment of respect as far as she was concerned. So when that certain ebony hedgehog came into her practise, burned arm in hand, she didn't break that rule.

"What happened?" she asked, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"A warehouse with several rusted cans of acid." he said simply, not being able to give many details about his mission away.

(Y/N) had come to learn that the hedgehog's name was Shadow, by far one of the best agents G.U.N had to offer. Hence why this was the first time he'd needed medical attention, plus that and his increased capability to heal.

It didn't take long to dress the wound and give him instructions on how to help it heal, even though the burn would be fine in about three days for him. Then he left after a brief 'thank you'.

But that wasn't the last she saw of him, he came back many times with many injuries. And over time the two started to have brief conversations, which surprised (Y/N) seeming though he was the one who started their first conversation. Even if it was about what the best way was to quickly dress wounds in the field.

However more interesting conversations followed such as what song was playing on her beaten up radio, the whether and agents who pissed both of them off. (Y/N) despite appearances with her professionalism in her job, was quite socially insecure but could talk easily to Shadow, and on rare occasions she could even get the briefest of a breathy chuckle out of him.

Though one must bare in mind that all their communications took place over several months, after all it takes a while for the black hedgie to open up and the (F/C) (A/T) to get over her social anxiety.

In fact it was (Y/N)'s lack of social skills that landed her in a slightly awkward situation. In her break she went to the office toilets and when she heard two people walk in and chat at the mirrors she froze refusing to leave her cubicle not wanting to have to give a stuttered 'hello' and wave, or possibly be dragged into their conversation. But she couldn't help but listen, even if she did cover her ears.

"Shadow seems so much better now though, I mean a while ago he was giving death glares to everyone but not anymore." a random voice said.

"I noticed it too, still if it means that Mr Grumphog is easier to work with on missions then I'm happy." a second voice, that (Y/N) recognised as Rouge, said.

Her and Shadow had sometimes come into together with similar wounds.

The two gossips left a few seconds later leaving (Y/N) wondering if there was something wrong with Shadow, or had been. She wouldn't pry and ask him specifically, there wasn't anything wrong with him physically but mental wounds are very hard to heal.

Even if she wanted to ask him she couldn't because as soon as she got back to her practise she was called up to one of the labs. Professor Howard had made a small explosion.

"How exactly did you create this explosion again Mr Howard?" (Y/N) asked.

The room was filled with smoke and she'd taken off her doctors coat and used it to fan the smoke out of the open windows.

"Ah ha! I was mixing the alkali metal of rib indium with water!" the 'mad scientist' explained.

(A very explosive element, don't mess with it)

"Professor that is one of the most explosive elements on the periodic table!" (Y/N) scolded him.

"Yes and didn't it create a marvellous explosion!?" he cried in a child's voice.
She just gave him a sigh, placed her doctors coat on a random chair and proceeded to check that he hadn't injured himself.

"Just a small amount of smoke inhalation, you'll be fine given time." (Y/N) said.

"Then I shall immediately get back to inventing!" he declared.

She considered sedating him so he'd rest but all of a sudden something on one of the work tops caught her attention.

"What's this?" she asked.

She questioned about a box looking invention with a small control panel at the top, along with some small vials filled with something red inserted at the top.

"Ah! This is my time machine! The red vials are filled with extracted chaos energy from a chaos emerald. Here I'll show you how it works!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"No wait!"

Too late, he'd already pushed a button.

(Y/N) was temporarily blinded by a flash of white light but it was over quickly. The next thing she knew she was standing in the same lab but it was dark. A digital clock on the wall told her the date was about 6 moths ago, about a month before she started working at G.U.N.

"Professor Howard...." she grumbled.

She knew he'd bring her back soon enough but still didn't like the situation.

"Well I suppose I should find somewhere to lay low, don't want any time paradox's to be made." she mumbled to herself.

With that she cautiously walked around the G.U.N area but whenever she came across anyone they walked right through her! She was invisible to everyone. But what she found out next surprised her even more.

Her hair had fallen out of it's bun but now the tips of her hair were dyed a bright red thanks to the chaos energy. With out her doctors coat and new hair style she looked a little different.

"Well at least it's a new style." she thought out loud trying to be positive.

However as she silently walked around the G.U.N headquarters invisible to the world she heard some agents speaking, Rouge being one of them again.

"That mission was pretty bad."

"You gotta feel sorry for the guy, using Gerald's granddaughter as a cheap shot to get to him."

"If you feel sorry for him then you'd stop gossiping." Rouge interjected.

They shut up instantly.

But what had this mission been? (Y/N) was aware of Shadow's past on the ARK and how he was close to Maria Robotnick. By the sounds of it the enemy of this mission had brought up the memory of her, intended as a mental strike.

Worried for the person she technically hadn't even met yet she tried to find him. Knowing where he'd most likely be it wasn't odd to find him in the weapons room sitting slumped over on a bench, twirling a knife in hand.

On his own he didn't say anything, just kept twirling the blade. Unaware of a future friend observing him in his pain. Carefully she stepped closer knowing he wouldn't be able to see her, but her heart skipped a beat when he stopped the knife and looked at the sharp edge.

It didn't take a genius to know what he was thinking, but he couldn't do it even if he wanted to. He was after all immortal. In his despair he mumbled one world directed to himself.

"Worthless..."

She couldn't take it anymore. Taking the last two steps towards him she made the pair of them jump when she was able to slap the knife out of his hand. Looking up shocked Shadow wondered how she was able to sneak up on him, whilst she wondered why she was suddenly physical.

"Your not worthless! You hear me!" she shrieked.

But before another word could be uttered (Y/N) saw her hand start to fade, she was slowly going back to her own timeline.

"Your not worthless, I promise! I'll prove it to you when you find me in the future!" she cried before completely disappearing.

She blinked once and suddenly it was light again and she was in the lab, looking at the same clock the date was correct this time.

"Oh your back! How was the past!?" the professor asked excited to hear about her brief journey.

"Uhh.... interesting..." she replied quietly.

But right now she needed to find someone.

"I'll tell you about it later, and remember to spend plenty of time in well ventilated rooms!" she instructed running out the room.

Her now down and red tipped (H/L) hair blew in her face slightly as she ran to her practise. Out of breath and bursting through the door her wide eyes stared at Shadow standing in the middle of her office. He didn't seem surprised at her sudden entrance but his eyes also widened when he took in her new appearance, quickly connecting the dots.

"Sorry to keep you waiting...." she apologized.

"Your not worthless, I promise! I'll prove it to you when you find me in the future!"

"There you are, I've been looking for you."

Hey guys we hit 1K reads! And to say a MASSIVE thank you to you all, after this set of one shots I'll be doing a special themed set as a sort of.... celebration? I don't know, just something for you to look forward to. And this one shot was inspired by Studio Ghiblies movie 'Howle's moving castle'. ✨