Worlds Collide - a Shadow x Reader story

Nightmares

Y/N the Hedgehog woke at midnight from a nightmare of the deaths she had caused. Images of Mephiles and Dr. Eggman, the two she had killed nearly a year before, swirled around her head. Her black and red quills were sodden with sweat. Her legs and hands were shaking like crazy. The worst picture in her mind was the dying body of her boyfriend, Shadow. Thankfully, he had somehow been revived. She still wasn't sure how that had happened. Memories of her family - her dead grandmother, her dead parents and her two sisters, B/F/N and F/N, whom she wasn't sure what had happened to - were pretty much thrown in a blender with ice and gravel; forget mixed feelings. Slipping out of her bed, she crept out of her room and opened the door just next to hers. Moonlight sliced through the darkness, falling gently onto the face of the one she cared for the most. Shadow. He was moaning, tossing and turning in a dream that was clearly more exhausting than being awake. She moved over to him, shutting the door silently behind her. She could hear him muttering the name of his long-dead friend, Maria, whom he had told her she had replaced as the most important person in his life. Y/N gently slid her hand into his, shaking his shoulder with the other.

"Shadow, you're dreaming. Wake up."

He shot up, one of his quills colliding with her nose, "Huh?"

"You were having a nightmare. I'm guessing it was about Maria from what I heard."

Shadow looked miserable, "You're right. I saw her die over and over and over again."
"Hey, hey. I'm here now."

He pressed his head into her chest, "How come you're up at this hour?"
"I had a nightmare too. About all the deaths I caused. Egghead, Mephiles, and for some reason, you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I guess it was because of me that you died."
"Mephiles stabbed me."

"And I realised too late that I could heal the wound."
"True," Shadow gently wrapped his arms around her waist, "I'm just mad at myself because I couldn't save Maria all those years ago. Those soldiers... there were too many of them!"
"Shh, shh. It's OK."

Y/N could feeling him sobbing into her stomach. She started humming a song - "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift - swaying to the beat so he could calm down.

"Any better?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
She perched on the bed next to him, her black and red pyjamas blowing in the slight breeze coming in through a crack between the window and the windowpane. Reaching up with one hand, she closed it, leaving them warm with just each other. He sat up, lifting the covers up enough for her to crawl in beside him. Once again resting his head on her chest, he curled up next to her, enjoying her warmth and quickly falling asleep again. Y/N softly kissed his forehead, whispered a "Goodnight Shadow" and snuggled down with him, one hand on his back, one in his quills.