Author's note: This fanfiction will be updated every Sunday, with the exception of this chapter.
On this colorful and vibrant world known as Mobius, the life of Rachel the Fox began, flourished… then crumbled.
She was born and raised in a secluded forest, where not much other life bustled about. She was a light –tan colored fox with brown, waist-length hair, black eyeglasses, blue-green eyes, and, usually, a black t-shirt with black capris and black and white sneakers, shaped almost exactly like those of Sonic the Hedgehog. Under the shade of the trees, she was content with living in that lone log cabin with only her mother. Her father's life had been stolen by a brutal cancer of the kidneys when she was only 5. That borderline age between fond memories and not being able to remember a single detail. The trauma that stuck around after she left the hospital for the last time only lasted for about 2 years, yet the effect it had on her personality would turn out to make itself at home permanently. As a little kid, she would be extremely outgoing, butting into everyone's business in an attempt to make friends. About 40% of the time, it worked.
But as the years went by, society became more exclusive, and after losing her father, she became just slightly more shy and secluded. Her old pals moved on to new cliques, and Rachel decided that it wasn't worth ruining future chances by trying to get those pals back. While she could occasionally work up the courage to say hello to someone and was excitable and hyper around anyone who had truly gotten to know her (like Sonic), her true courage had died along with her father. She didn't have the power to take a drastic stand for anything she believed in or wanted. That would prove her helpless in the future.
But let's begin the gist of the story on that one, particular rainy evening. To the average patron, the atmosphere was absolutely miserable. The rain had not lightened up since it started, the clouds were mucked with a sick gray color, and everything was sad.
Rachel, however, found this as perfect. Rain had always been an absolutely beautiful feature of nature to her. It was a perfect break from the beating sun rays that came down during the day, blinding her eyes and only getting in the way. She absolutely loved it, especially when lightning lit up the sky so vibrantly that it was almost like daytime in a night sky.
But on this evening, the rain would prove to be a little annoying. Rachel was just walking home from a nice walk around the neighborhood (neighborhood of trees, I guess).
Then, her right foot got caught on a log that she hadn't even seen there. The next thing she knew, she fell over the log and onto her back… her ankle snapping in the process.
She tried putting weight on it to stand up, but the jolt of pain that resulted was sharper than anything she had ever felt in her entire life. Tears welled up in her eyes as she fell back down. When, ever before, had looking out for her surroundings ever been more important?
Realizing that she would only catch pneumonia from sitting on the cold, wet ground for ages, she tried getting up again, completely dependent on her left foot. This, of course, was a little less painful than actually standing on the bad foot, but it was still excruciatingly agonizing, and the stray sticks on the ground had her falling on her back anyway. All she could do was sit there, holding her ankle and weeping in agony as the rain made her shiver, eventually to the very bone. As the air grew chillier, she cried harder and harder, desperately praying that somebody would just walk by.
Just when she was assured she was done for, she thought she heard a voice from above her say something like "Hey." A deep, dark one.
She looked up to see a hedgehog standing there. He almost looked like Sonic for a second, but he definitely wasn't. This hedgehog was black, with red streaks and crimson eyes. He was holding a hand out to her. He almost didn't look like the type of guy to do this kind of thing, but at the time, free help was Heaven-sent. She gratefully, yet awkwardly took his hand, and with this hedgehog's help, was back on her good foot again.
The hedgehog ended up putting an arm around her shoulders and helping her hop toward home.
"Thank you," she said gratefully.
"Yeah, yeah," the hedgehog grunted. "You're just lucky that I was around."
"I guess I was," Rachel muttered.
As they approached the log cabin, the hedgehog opened the front door before letting go of Rachel, giving her a worried look before he seemingly shook it off and stepped back.
"…Name's Shadow, by the way," he nodded.
At that, to Rachel's utter amazement, he just took off, almost seeming to skate away, into the distance, hopefully to be seen again, but possibly not.
Author's note: I am REALLY nervous about putting this fanfic out there! While a review would make me even more nervous, I'd still appreciate some! Thank you! Oh, and if this fanfic had a theme song, it would be "Forgotten Way" by Sean Beeson, especially around Chapter 3 or 4, I think. It is absolutely beautiful, I swear.