You are a (A/T)

It's never too late to learn something new.

The Tropical Zone, best known for being one of the biggest tourist attraction zones and it's hot gorgeous whether. It was the perfect place for a holiday goer to come and enjoy the sights. However in one of the tropical jungles not to far from town, a white hedgehog was far from enjoying the tourism attractions and the hot whether.

"I swear when I next see Sonic..." He mumbled to himself.

Glancing down at the map he couldn't even read he sluggishly navigated his way around as best as he could.

" 'Could you do me a favour?' He asked, ' yeah sure' I replied. 'Oh could you go to the Tropical Zone and find the Chaos Emerald there.' " he continued to mumble angrily.

Earlier that day Sonic had come to Silver calling for a 'favour' as he called it. Only this favour was Sonic asking Silver to travel to a zone he'd never gone to before and find a Chaos Emerald there with only a map to help. And considering Silver grew up in an apocalyptic future there weren't many maps about with the landscape always changing, so funnily enough he'd never learnt how to read one.

"Go to the Tropical Zone, he said. It's easy to navigate your way around, he said." Silver continued to curse.

At this moment in time he was considering abandoning the map and just flying around looking from the sky for the Emerald, but quickly realising that wouldn't be practical he kept stumbling around not knowing where he was going.

However as he kept looking around the jungle he couldn't help but feel he was being watched, with Iblis constantly about he'd developed this sixth sense. But he thought he was being paranoid and brushed it off.

But he was suddenly startled as something pulled him by the arm, dragging him backwards!

"What the!?"

Looking behind him confused he saw that a (F/C) (A/T) was the culprit, and she held a worried expression.

"Uh, hi Miss? What did you do that for?" He asks unsure on how to approach her.

She didn't say anything, she only timidly pointed towards the direction Silver had previously been headed. Following her finger he saw that he had completely missed a warning sign that read:

WARNING! QUICK SAND!

"Oh... Guess I missed that." He chuckled sheepishly.

The (A/T) just gave a small smile with a nod, before gesturing asking if she could look at his map.

"Yeah sure, you can look at it." He said handing it over.

She then turned it over the right way round and pointed at the mark on the map where the Chaos Emerald was supposed to be, and then pointed in the opposite direction back to town.

"Is that the direction I need to go?" He asked.

She nodded again handing him back his map, but Silver had to wonder why she hadn't said anything at all. 

"My names Silver by the way." He said extending a hand to her in attempt to get her to say at least something.

She took his hand timidly shaking it before making some intricate movements with her hands, which Silver was at a loss at to understand.

"Um I'm sorry but I don't know what that means." He apologised.

She gave a small sigh, as if in disappointment. But she then quickly kicked away a clear bit of dirt and wrote with her finger:

(Y/N)

She then pointed to herself with another smile.

"Your name is (Y/N)?" He wanted to confirm.

She nodded again. Then she wrote another word:

Help

She then pointed to the map Silver was holding.

"You want to help me where I need to go?" He asked surprised at the offer.

Her answer was a nod.

"Why?" He wondered.

She pointed to the warning sign and made a slicing motion on her neck then pointing at Silver.

"You've got a point there." He sighed, knowing she was saying that without her he would currently be dead.

Besides he was more than glad to accept the help of a local, as he could tell by her clothes and how well she knew the jungle that she was no tourist. It was mainly silent though as she led him out the jungle, through town, and towards an area covered in ruins.

When she stopped in her tracks that was the only hint he got that they were where he needed to go on the map, as she hadn't said a word the entire walk here. The only form of communication she had given was waving to locals who called her name and giving him small smiles.

He couldn't help but feel that (Y/N) was really shy though, every smile she gave him he thought was only a whisper of a real smile. And another thing he couldn't help but notice was none of the locals spoke to her with the same intricate hand gestures she had used earlier.

"Is this the place?" he asked looking around the ruins. 

A nod confirmed it, (Y/N) then gave him a thumbs up as if to ask if he was okay now.

"Yeah, I think I can find what I need to now. Thank for your help, really. Without your help I'd be in quick sand right now." he joked.

She gave one last nod before turning around and headed back towards town.

"Hey wait!" he said desperately, surprising the both them.

Turning back around she waited for him to say something.

"I-if you don't mind, could I ask.... why you haven't said anything?" he asked hesitantly, but he immediately wanted to take the question back as soon as he said it.

He felt even worse when her ears dropped just at the mention of her lack of speech. Her answer though was to once again write something in the ground, once she'd finished she gave him a small wave accompanied by a smile before heading back to town.

Silver read what she had written, but was only left feeling more confused:

Selective mutism 

*****************************

"Seriously, I find him a Chaos Emerald and all I get is a quick 'thanks'."

Silver was once again angrily grumbling to himself as he came back from Tails' workshop where Sonic was, who he had just given the Chaos Emerald to. But his angst was quickly went away as he spotted another hedgehog he was trying to find, who conveniently was walking down the street.

"Shadow!"

The named hedgehog had to restrain himself from punching Silver as he crashed into his back.

"What the heck do you want Silver!?" Shadow asked angrily at the sudden contact.

"I need your help!"

*************************

"Selective mutism?"

"Yes, I met someone who had it but I don't know what it is." Silver explained.

When Silver had said he needed help this was not what Shadow had been expecting. Still he answered Silver's question.

"Selective mutism is a severe anxiety disorder where a person can't speak during social situations. The expectation of people who suffer from it to talk triggers a freeze reflex and they panic and are physically unable to talk." Shadow explained.

"So even if a person suffering from selective mutism wanted to talk they literally couldn't?" silver asked.

"Yes." was Shadow's short answer.

Well that certainly explains a lot, Silver thought.

"Please tell me that isn't the only thing you wanted to ask me." Shadow huffed.

"No, there's something else. This person who I met they tried to communicate with me using weird hand gestures." Silver explained.

"It's called sign language, most commonly used by people who are deaf, but other people know it as well. I suppose being from a future like yours that form of communication wouldn't be known." Shadow explained. 

"And do you know sign language?" he asked hopefully.

"I'm the Ultimate life form, I know all languages, so of course I-

"Can you teach me!?" he asked suddenly.

Silver continued to surprise Shadow today.

"You seem to be going to great lengths for the person you met just t he other day." Shadow commented.

"Well she just seemed so lonely, not only that but none of the locals there knew who to communicate with her either." he said sadly.

"So they're 'she'?" Shadow teased.

"Shadow please! Can you teach me or not?" Silver desperately asked.

As if teasing him again Shadow took a minute to give his reply.

"Fine."

***************************

"Here you go (Y/N), the usual groceries."

Taking the paper bag from the owner of the local fruit and veg stool she gave a nod in thanks.

"Still not talking eh? One day I'll get a word or two out of you." the lady chuckled.

(Y/N) gave her a small smile before leaving the stool, secretly very scared inside. Even coming into town like this was a stretch for her, and she still couldn't believe that three weeks ago she had helped that total stranger.

Walking through town she kept her gaze to the ground ,but this soon resulted in her tripping! Colliding with the ground she quickly got up picking up her dropped items, but was stopped when a turquoise aura surrounded the last couple of things she needed to pick up. And then they moved by themselves back into her bag.

At an utter loss she looked around to try and find who the kind helper was, but her heart sprung out of her chest in panic when she saw Silver. 

"Hi (Y/N)." he greeted in a friendly way.

Stumbling up to her feet she was a little flustered, wondering why he might be back in this zone, without thinking she fumbled with her hands asking him:

"What are you doing back in this zone?"

"Well I was looking for you." he replied straight away.

This made (Y/N) freeze, he could understand her.

"How do you know what I'm signing?" she asked.

"I have a friend  who taught me, you see where I'm from I'd never heard of sign language." he explained happily.

"No one else around here knows sign language here either, apart from my mother." (Y/N) signed.

But inside she was nearly in tears. This complete stranger had met her, left, and come back a few weeks later having learned her only form of communication. And she was touched by that.  

"Why did you learn sign language?" she asked, her hands trembling.

"Because I wanted to understand what you were trying to say because you seemed like such a nice person." Silver replied with a smile.

She was too shaky to do anything, other than sign the one gesture that mattered at the moment:

"Thank you."

After that the two were able to hold many conversations with each other, (Y/N) learned how Silver was from the future and how he had come back to the past to save it. Along with listening to his many adventures.

And in turn Silver learnt of how (Y/N) had never been able to speak to anyone other than her mother all her life, and even then it was only a handful of words. Not only that it had been nearly impossible for her to communicate with people as they didn't know sign language, and she'd given up on taking a pad and pen around with her long ago.

Silver would visit the zone often and (Y/N) looked forward to conversing with someone who could understand her. But one day, something a little... different happened.

"So we got another Chaos Emerald and sent Eggman back to his base." Silver concluded his latest tale.

But (Y/N)'s reply was to sign a rapid sentence.

"I'm going to try something and you have to promise not to laugh." she signed out of no where.

"O-okay, I promise not to laugh." Silver promised not knowing what she was going to do.

She hesitated, fumbling with her hands, her lips opening and closing a little as if she was trying to say something. Burrying her head in her hands he wondered if she'd given up on whatever it was she was trying to do.

Then in a sudden movement she cupped her hand to Silver's ear before very faintly whispering:

"Thank you."