This is a Sonic secret Santa piece for a discord server I'm in.

Notes: I know this is mostly dialogue centered. It has been a while since I've done much writing, so sorry if the quality isn't the best here. I also am just going with a headcanon here that Shadow lived at least a few years on the ARK before Maria was killed. I also know the weird sudden first person shift in the middle might not work. And it was hard to know how exactly to characterize past Shadow, since we have seen very little of it in canon. Hell, everyone might seem ooc in general. Sorry if it seems that way. This is the first Sonic thing I've written in a long time. I hope you like it tho!

The black and red hedgehog stood on the outside balcony of his hotel room. He let out a sigh, and his breath floated out as a white mist before fading into the cold night air. A thin layer of snow, more like a sheet than a blanket, lay the ground below. It was quiet. Shadow liked that.

He didn't know how long he would be in this city. GUN was paying for his hotel room, so he didn't care too much. No money out of his pocket that way. He'd been on plenty of GUN missions, so he knew that this was just one of those filler ones. He had just been told to investigate "suspicious activity" in this town. In other words, he was on glorified guard duty.

It wasn't long before the snow started again, and Shadow stepped inside. He closed the door and watched the snow fall from inside. It was peaceful even from the room, and less cold that way to boot.

With an abrupt slam, the silence was broken when the hotel room door opened behind him.

"Sorry, my hands are full so I had to push it open with my foot," Rouge said, sounding defensive. She took on a more teasing tone of voice when she continued, "I know you startle real easy." She peeked out from behind all of the bags in her hands to smile straight at him.

"I- I do not," was all he said in response.

"Sure sure."

Shadow blinked, not really knowing what to say for a moment. He wondered why she had so many bags. She was just supposed to have gone to get food.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you gonna help me? Don't you know it's rude to just stand there and stare into space when a lady needs help carrying things?"

"You walked all the way here, didn't you? I trust you'll make it to your bed just fine."

"Wow," she narrowed her eyes at him in mock anger. "I see how it is." She walked in and laid down the bags onto the mattress. "Just so you know Shadow, if this fast food grease leaks through the bag and onto the blanket, this one is gonna be your bed."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Now," she began I know you're gonna be upset, but hear me out-"

"What?" he asked. "What happened?"

"Taco Chao is closed for tonight."

"What?" He couldn't believe it. Their spicy nacho tacos were one of his favorite foods. He gave Rouge a distressed frown.

"It's Christmas Eve! Even fast food joints like to give their employees a break for the holidays."

Christmas Eve, huh? That was right. He'd almost forgotten.

"Oh. Yeah. I guess that makes sense," Shadow replied.

"But I got you something else, hear me out! Something real good too."

"What is it?"

She put her hand into the bag, and after the noises of her ruffling through the inside of it stopped, she pulled out a box. She opened it, walked towards Shadow, and stuck it up to his face. It felt a little too close for comfort and he took a step back.

"It's a chili-dog!" Rouge exclaimed.

` "Isn't that the disgusting garbage that Sonic eats?"

"It's good, Shadow! Sonic eats it because it's good."

"I assume you got yourself some of these chili dogs as well?" he asked.

"Oh gosh no. Of course not. I got food from the Chao-Fil-A."

"Wow." That explained more than one bag at least. But why three?

"You gonna try it or what?"

"I'd really rather not."

"Just ooone bite?"

"Gosh. Fine."

He grabbed the box from her hand and grimaced at the dish before him. He picked it up, feeling how mushy it felt in his hand. He wanted to turn back, but he powered through, even though he had to close his eyes to be able to muster putting it in his mouth. It was a spicy flavor. Thoughtful of Rouge. She knew he liked spicy food. The texture in his mouth felt a little strange, but the flavor was strong, and intensified as he chewed more. He took a second bite.

"Oh! Oh! Do you like it?"

"No," he lied. He did. It was pretty good actually.

"But I suppose," he began again. "That it is tolerable."

"I'll take that as a win."

He finished the rest of it, and even went for the other one and the fries that Rouge had gotten for him as well. Rouge ate her food more slowly, and neither of them talked to much until they finished eating

"So, Christmas, huh?" Shadow said.

"What about it?"

"A human holiday."

"Yeah, I don't believe in any of that stuff but it's pretty fun to celebrate nonetheless. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it though. From space and all."

"I've heard of it. We celebrated it on the ARK."

"Oh," Rouge responded. She suddenly looked a bit nervous. "You haven't mentioned your past in a while."

"Maria loved Christmas," Shadow said, not responding much to her discomfort. He almost felt like he was in a trance.

"You still think about her then? Maria? I haven't heard you talk about her in so long now."

"I do."

It was quiet for a bit, before Rouge asked Shadow if he wanted to talk about it.

"No."

"Uh, are you sure?"

"No."

"I'm here to listen. You know that, right? It's okay to talk to me about this stuff."

Shadow looked at her with pain in his eyes, yet smiled and nodded at her to signal that things were okay.

"Yeah, I can talk about it."

Rouge nodded back.

"I remember how excited Maria always sounded when she talked about Christmas over the years. The professor always got both of us amazing gifts. They were amazing to us at the time anyway; we were kids after all. She was always so excited, but one year was different from the rest."

"Shadow! Don't you think it's wonderful that the man they call Santa Claus is able to travel the entire Earth in the span of one night? It almost seems like something like that would be impossible."

"Yes. He must be a great scientist to have such technology. Maybe he's like the professor. I can see the resemblance in the facial hair, can't you? He's kinda got a long beard the way the professor has the mustache."

"You know now that you mention it…"

"Maybe having facial hair is the key to great scientific discoveries. Or something?"

"It most certainly is not," Maria responded, shaking her head at me. "Ladies can be scientists too, Shadow. I'm going to be a great scientist someday and I won't be growing facial hair any time soon, thank you very much!"

"Really now?" I asked with a smirk. "I think I see some on your chin right now. And you're only 11 right now, aren't you? Imagine in a few years." I started to laugh.

"What?! When?! When did this happen?" she cried out in a panic before making no haste to get off of her bed and run to her mirror in our room. She glared at me when she discovered that I was joking. I just kept laughing.

"Shadow! Why would you make something like that up?!" she asked before grunting and stomping her feet. I continued to laugh, and soon she gave up and joined in as well. I was pretty funny back then, and Maria could never resist. Some of my happiest memories are of us laughing together.

"Okay okay, you got me. I admit, it's pretty funny. But hey, I'm not the loser here, right? You're the one covered in hair everywhere but your chin."

"And? Your point?"

"Well, that means that you-"

"Hello, you two," the professor interrupted, sounding loud without even trying to yell. His voice always carried even when he was the calmest. That's something I remember about him.

Our eyes both widened in a panic. He'd caught us. "It's past your bedtime."

"Grandfather, can't you please please please let us stay up a little longer? It's Christmas!"

"Tomorrow is Christmas, Maria. And you'll need your energy for then. It'll be an exciting day, so you two should hurry up and get to bed so the fun times can come sooner."

"But-"

"No buts," he interrupted her once again, and turned off the lights. "Don't make me come back in here," he warned, before closing the door.

She sighed and said, "fine."

She walked back over to her bed across the room from mine and laid down in it. After about five minutes or so, I heard the sound of her tossing and turning around and looked to see that she had turned towards me. I couldn't make out the features of her face all the way in the lighting, but I could see, or maybe I could just feel, that she was upset. The thing about being up there was that it was never really dark. Not dark the way it gets here on Earth anyway. There was always some kind of artificial lighting up there on the colony. I guess they wanted us to forget that we were really just floating out in the black void of space. Maybe the professor wanted Maria to forget that the most.

"Maria?" I asked her, trying to keep my voice low so the professor couldn't hear. At first there was no response. I continued, whispering, "I think if we whisper like this, the professor won't hear us from outside." The silence persisted for a bit longer.

"Shadow, do you think we'll ever really be able to go down to visit Earth?" she asked, finally breaking to that silence.

"What?" I asked in response. Back then, I didn't understand how she could doubt it. I couldn't. "Of course we will! The professor always tells us we will. Don't you believe him?"

"Well, I believe he wants me to get better and be able to go down there. I believe he's trying but, sometimes, I just…" She was quiet for a few more moments. "I don't know Shadow. I just want to go down there, but I'm starting to think maybe thinking I will is childish."

"What's got you thinking like this all of the sudden? It's Christmas. A time for good thoughts, right?"

"That's why I guess. I don't feel like we're really getting to experience it, you know? Santa can't make it up here into space."

"The professor always gets us good gifts though. We don't need Santa," I scoffed. "The professor is a better scientist anyway."

"Has grandfather ever told you about snow?"

"Snow?"

"It's like, little white and cold stuff that falls from the sky down there. It covers everything, and it's really pretty! I've seen it in pictures! I want… to see it in real life."

"That doesn't sound so great. White is a boring color and I don't like the cold at all."

"But you can like, get into this little carrier called a sled and go down these uneven slanted sections of earth called hills super fast in it! And children on Earth can make it into little balls and throw them at each other in this thing called a snowball fight!"

"Going really fast and fighting, huh? Maybe that does sound like a bit of fun."

"And they put lights on their houses all kinds of pretty colors. They take these green things called trees and decorate them super pretty. They make cookies shaped like people and animals. People share together and people sing songs together. It's supposed to be so cheery," she went on, full of excitement. Her voice sounded so different only a moment later when she said, "It's so gloomy here."

I wanted to tell her it wasn't so bad here, but I knew it wouldn't work. I just managed a, "yeah."

"I just want to experience a real Christmas, Shadow. With all of that stuff."

"Maria, you will someday," I reassured. "We both will. I'm not a super Christmas expert the way you seem to be, but I know it's gotta have something to do with hope, right? If we think positive, it's more in that spirit, isn't it? And either way, you and I will always be together. We're best friends, and that's gotta count for something."

"Maybe you're right."

"Yeah I'm totally right. And tomorrow is still gonna be fun! So we should get some sleep before the professor hears us and kicks both of our butts."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks, Shadow. You helped me feel better."

I didn't know this then, but I know looking back that she might not have been telling the truth.

"You're welcome. Goodnight Maria."

"Goodnight Shadow."

The silence persisted for the rest of the night, and soon we both fell asleep.

The next morning Maria woke me up the way she did every year on Christmas. She always was an earlier riser than I've ever been.

"Shadow! It's present time! Present time! Get outta' bed you lazy hog."

"Give me a minute, will you?"

"I'll just meet you down there. Hurry up slowpoke."

I got myself out of bed after she'd already run out of the room and into the professor's main lab area. Her and the professor were already talking by the time I walked over.

"Shadow! Guess what? Guess what?" Maria seemed very excited. "Santa came!"

"Santa?" I looked around. Were they playing some joke on me? "How?"

"Grandfather told me he invented a sleigh that can travel up here to space! He is a great scientist!"

"That's incredible. Is it true, professor?"

"Of course, Shadow," he answered.

We spent most of the morning opening up lots of different gifts. I'm sad to say I don't remember them all anymore. I remember that Maria and I got some clothes with our toys per usual. These ones weren't as boring as normal. I guess the professor worked extra hard to give us the magic that Santa had brought them. Maria had gotten an outfit that made her look like Santa. I was stuck with a green outfit. Apparently, I was supposed to be an elf, whatever that is.

"Why do I have to be this lame elf thing when she gets to be Mrs. Claus?" I remember asking. I also remember Maria's response.

"Mrs. Clause? Oh no no! I'm not going be remembered for being the wife of a great scientist. I am going to be the great scientist myself! Mark my words. I'll be the greatest, and whoever marries me will be the sidekick." She was always so ambitious and confident. That's something I admired about her.

It felt like we had twice as many gifts as normal that year. We may have. What I remember most about that day, were the last 'gifts' that Maria and I were given. Suddenly, the professor started to take on that 'this is serious' tone of voice that he usually used when we were in trouble.

"Now you two," he began, looking at us to make sure he had both of our attentions. "You both will be getting one last thing each this year. Both are from me and not Santa."

In hindsight I wonder why I didn't ask why 90% of the gifts were from Santa and not the professor that year. 'Magic of believing' and all that I guess.

"First, for you," he said, looking at me. He motioned for me to walk towards him. I did, and he handed me a green gem.

"This," he started again. "Is a chaos emerald. Or, a fake anyway. It has all of the wavelengths and properties of a real one, but is not as powerful."

"Chaos emerald," I repeated, sounding it out in my voice. I'd never heard of anything like that before.

"You'll feel energy wading through your body when you touch it." He handed it to me. My heart felt like it skipped a beat, and I looked up at him with wide eyes. It did feel like energy was pouring into me, and I didn't know if I liked it. What was happening?

"This is all going to sound crazy, me telling you this right now, but someday, you're going to need to find these all. The real things. And use their power. I think you're old enough now to start to practice. Do you think you're ready?"

Even back then, I was never one to back down from a challenge, so I nodded to respond.

"I'd just like you to start to practice channeling that energy and using it. Turning your thoughts into power. It's okay if you don't get it right away! We can practice better with the real ones once we're down on Earth and can get our hands on one."

"Once we're down on Earth? Professor, do you mean?"

"Yes, and now Maria," he said, turning to face her, leaving the emerald in my hand as I quickly grew used to how it felt to hold it. "Your last gift, I must admit, is actually news rather than something I can give you physically like Shadow's"

"News? Grandfather, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes Maria, I've felt more confident for a while now, but I didn't want to tell you until it was set in stone. I've made great progress in researching treatments for your illness, and I think I've found a cure."

"That's incredible!" I'd never seen Maria look so happy in my life. "So we'll get to go down there then? We can go to the Earth once they give it to me? When?! Like, next week?! Tomorrow?! Today?! Now?!"

"Yeah, professor! Can we go today?" I asked, chiming into the excitement.

"Hold on there for just a moment, you two! I will have to send people down to gather the components, and get them all up here too. It will take me some time to get it all together as well. I want to test it on animal subjects to make sure it works. It might take me some months. But what I can offer you today, as your gift, is a promise. All of us will be spending Christmas next year together down on Earth. Shame Santa invented that shuttle just to use once, isn't it?"

"That's so wonderful! Shadow, you were right!" She ran up and gave me a hug. I think that was the only time I've ever seen someone cry from being happy, but she did that day.

"I can't wait until next year," I said. "We can do all that stuff you were so excited to try. Sledding. Snow-ball fighting. We can even get a tree, whatever that is!"

"Yeah. We'll do it all. Together. It'll be great."

"Oh Shadow I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," Shadow reassured. He assumed her reaction was to the fact that he was starting to tear up a little. "I wanted to tell you about it. I chose to talk about it. Don't feel guilty or anything."

"So, is this time of year hard for you?"

"Not always. I don't always even keep track of the time of year, so sometimes I don't even know. I'm not always in places with snow but… Snow. Snow does it, I guess." He wiped the liquid out of his eyes with his glove and stifled the beginnings of a sob, before letting it turn into a chuckle. "There's goddamn chili on my glove. God. Isn't this pathetic?"

"Pathetic? Shadow, don't say that! It's okay. I'm not judging you here like. Dude. You can," she said before faltering a bit. She continued, "You can just. You can talk to me about this kind of stuff, you know? Like I'm kinda glad you did. I worry about you. You're so distant sometimes and I don't want you to have to feel alone and I also. I want you to trust me."

Shadow blinked in response, staring for a moment as he wondered how she was starting to get upset now. Was it his fault?

"Rouge, I trust you. You're my ally. One of my only friends. This isn't about that. I just hate when this pathetic sentimentality starts to get me feeling this way again. I was supposed to put my past behind me. I thought I did. I should be over this."

"Oh Shadow, shut up!" she snapped out at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Having feelings doesn't make you weak, you… you, ultimate loser! It's okay to feel things sometimes. And it's okay to talk about your feelings. Just cuz you don't let your past control you anymore doesn't mean you can't still think about it. And it doesn't mean you can't talk about it to me when you need to."

"I…"

"You can talk to your friends. We're here for you. Even if you put your past behind you the way you did, your memories are still a part of who you are. And you shouldn't have to burden them alone."

Shadow didn't know what to say. He felt embarrassed, sad, nostalgic, a little ashamed, happy, and comforted somehow all at the same time. He finally choked out a, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled at him, and said, "I got you present you know!"

"You did not."

"Yep, I totally did."

"But I didn't get you anything. Don't make me feel obligated like this."

"It's fine, you can just make it up to me by getting one twice as good next year," she answered him with a wink.

"Hmmph."

"Oh there it is, it's your catchphrase."

"Whatever. I'll accept your gift."

"Now like," she began. "I totally thought you were gonna think this is super stupid, and it was going to be a gag gift but now for some reason I'm thinking you might like it."

"Really now?"

"Yeah!" She handed him a box. The wrapping paper had green pattern with cartoonish smiling reindeer on it. He tore it off with haste and opened up the box to find a red Santa hat with a white puffball on the end of it. He proceeded to pull out a red jacket with a similar pattern with all the white trimmings. It seemed to be just his size. There were even holes in the back for his quills and tail. He felt compelled to try it on, swallowing the rest of the pride he had left for the night. It fit.

"I'm concerned you know my measurements so well," Shadow said. He walked up to the mirror and turned around to look at himself in it from different angles.

"Now you can be Santa! Right? No more elf Shadow," she laughed.

"God. This is the worst gift ever. Thank you so much." He started laughing along.

"You're welcome. And you know Shadow, can I say something? About stuff you said before. I don't want to make you upset again."

"It's fine. You can say it."

"I think Maria would want you to be happy like this on Christmas."

"I think you're right."

"So we should have some fun tomorrow too. Try to."

"What can we do? We're stuck in this town all day, aren't we? GUN's orders."

"Oh c'mon Shadow, you know this is a joke mission. They just want to get rid of us so they don't have to include us in the things they give away to all the soldiers for Christmas."

"Okay then, point taken. But still. Where could we even go?"

"I hear Sonic is throwing a Christmas party not too far from here."

"Absolutely not."

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun! Everyone will be there! Even Knuckles. You know how he gets all weird around me, right? It'll be funny."

"Sonic has all his friends there. I don't even think he'd want me to come."

"He told me to invite you actually. I was just waiting for the right moment to ask."

"What? Why would he do that?"

"Wow, are you new?" Rouge asked. "He considers you his friend! Shocker, isn't it? The guy tries to make friends with everyone. He's made friends with like, gods before. And books I think? Probably demons."

"I didn't think he liked me very much."

"Ah, alas, your feelings are not mutual. Tragic."

"What? I don't dislike Sonic. I respect him and all. He is just, a bit much."

"He's very much fun, and you need to try to have some of that fun for the holiday tomorrow! Even Omega is going."

"Omega? How in the hell?"

"Tails told him there would be a carnival-style stand of little wooden Eggman faces he could throw fake snowballs at. Like one of those little games. They're all gonna do it. It might not keep Omega occupied for very long but at least it got him to agree to come. So like. You should come too. We can go as a team. Team Dark represent."

"I'll think about it."

"Oh! Ah, see that means yes! I've got you now," Rouge teased with wink.

"We'll see."

"Will you wear the hat and the jacket?"

"No."