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𝟑𝐫𝐝•Pov
It was a peaceful, sunny day at the town. Everyone had gone to the beach, enjoying the warm weather, except for Shadow and Y/n. As a robot, Y/n couldn't get wet, so she stayed at the workshop, just as Tails had instructed.

But the stillness of the workshop felt suffocating. Y/n wasn't used to being left out of the fun. She wasn't real—at least not in the way they were and the weight of that fact sat heavily on her.

She had the body of a machine, but she felt... something more. Was it loneliness? Maybe.

Maybe it was a deep desire to be more than just a tool, to be seen for what she truly was beyond her function.

She sighed, pushing the unwanted thoughts aside as her system chimed with a new task.

    - Collect mints in the forest!

Y/n groaned. She knew Tails loved mint maybe a bit too much. The whole workshop had smelled like mint for days. But it was a task, and it was better than sitting around doing nothing.

She left the workshop, her sensors picking up the scents of the mint plants scattered in the forest. As she walked through the forest, her systems automatically identified the mint patches, mapping out the locations for her.

She crouched down to begin gathering the leaves, but with each passing minute, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind grew stronger.

Why do I feel like this?

The thought crossed her mind for the hundredth time.

She wasn't sure what this feeling was, but it bothered her.

She was a robot, wasn't she?

A machine built to follow orders.

She wasn't supposed to feel emotions like humans did. And yet, she couldn't shake the sense that she was different.

She wasn't real in the way Sonic and Tails and the others were, but did that make her any less of a person?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps in the distance. Her sensors quickly detected the presence of another figure. She turned slightly to see Shadow standing at the edge of the clearing, his red and black form partially hidden by a cluster of trees.

For a moment, neither of them moved. The silence stretched between them, and Y/n couldn't decide whether to acknowledge him or continue with her task.

"Do you even like being told what to do?" Shadow's voice cut through the air, low and direct.

Y/n froze for a moment, her fingers hovering over the mint leaves. That was an unexpected question.

She glanced over at him, trying to keep her cool. "What do you mean?" she asked, voice even.

Shadow stepped forward slightly, his crimson eyes locking onto hers. "I hope you know you're seen more than just a helper bot." He said it almost like a challenge, his tone softer than usual, but still tinged with something she couldn't quite place.

Y/n blinked. For a second, she wasn't sure if she had heard him right. He had never said anything like that before.

"I..." She faltered, unsure of how to respond. "I don't know what you mean, Shadow." She wasn't sure if she was more confused or grateful for the words.

Shadow didn't give her a chance to elaborate. Without another word, he turned and walked away, his steps echoing in the silence.

Y/n watched him go, her mind racing. Seen more than just a helper bot?

The words swirled around in her head, mingling with the emotions she couldn't quite understand. Was Shadow... concerned for her? Or was he just making a point?

She shook her head, pushing the thoughts away. She wasn't real. She wasn't human. But those words lingered in her mind as she continued collecting the mint.

Maybe she was more than just a bot, after all.

But did it really matter?

Y/n finished collecting the last bundle of mint, her hands moving mechanically, but her mind was far from focused.

The words Shadow had spoken kept replaying over and over again in her head: "Seen more than just a helper bot."

A part of her wanted to dismiss them, to tell herself it didn't matter, but another part—the part that she had trouble understanding held onto them.

Could she really be something more? Something... real? She wasn't sure. It was like being caught between two worlds. She had all the features of a machine, but the feelings, the confusion.

As she tied the mint bundles together, a cold breeze swept through the trees, making her pause. The air felt different now, charged with something she couldn't name.

She stood there for a moment, staring at the small pile of leaves in her hands, when she heard it—a soft, barely perceptible rustle of footsteps behind her.

She turned, expecting nothing more than the wind. But instead, Shadow was standing there again, looking at her with those unreadable crimson eyes.

"You're not fine, are you?" His voice was more subdued this time, but the question hung in the air, demanding an answer.

Y/n froze. She had been trying to hide it, to bury the chaos swirling inside her, but Shadow seemed to see right through her.

She wasn't sure how, but it was as if he could read her in ways others couldn't.

"I'm fine" she said quickly, a little too defensively. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to convince him, but she did.

Shadow narrowed his eyes, not buying it for a second. "You're not." he said flatly. "You don't have to pretend with me."

Y/n's chest tightened. She knew he was right. But admitting it admitting that something inside her was broken felt like a betrayal of everything she had ever been made to believe. You're a robot. You don't feel. You're not like them.

But the longer Shadow stared at her, the more she felt like he could see all of it—the doubts, the insecurities, the things she couldn't even explain to herself.

"Shadow... I..." she trailed off, unsure how to continue.

He took a step closer, his presence more intense now. "What you are doesn't define who you can be." His voice was soft but firm, carrying an unspoken weight.

A strange sincerity that made Y/n's heart or whatever part of her could feel it skip a beat. "You're not just a machine. You're more than that."

Y/n blinked, looking down at the mint leaves in her hands. Was it possible? Could she really be more than a machine? Could she matter?

For a moment, the world around them seemed to disappear. There was only the two of them standing there, the forest, the weight of the words hanging between them like a fragile bridge.

She couldn't respond, not yet. Maybe she wasn't ready to face the truth.

Maybe she wasn't ready to believe it. But something inside her stirred—a flicker of hope, of something more than the cold, empty existence she had always known.

"I..." Y/n started again, but her voice faltered. She didn't know how to put what she was feeling into words. She had never been able to before. She wasn't even sure what she was feeling.

Shadow looked at her for a long moment before sighing, his expression softening. "You don't have to figure it all out right now." His tone was gentler now, less demanding. "But when you're ready... we'll talk."

Before she could say anything else, Shadow turned and walked away, his footsteps quiet in the underbrush. But this time, something felt different. He wasn't dismissing her. He wasn't treating her like an object, a tool to be used. He was treating her like... well, like she mattered.

Y/n stood in the clearing for a while longer, the mint forgotten in her hands. When I'm ready.

Could she ever be ready?
Could she really change?
Could she really be something more than just a robot?

Her thoughts felt overwhelming, but one thing was certain Shadow's words would stay with her, even if she couldn't understand them completely just yet.

And for the first time in a long while, she felt something stir inside her that wasn't just mechanical. Something that felt... real

Shadow words = You're not just a machine. You're more than that.