The Nightmare On Christmas

By The Chuckinator and VanFullMoonHelsing

Sonic was ecstatic. Today was Christmas, and he was having his friends over that night for a party. He had decorated the house part that he and Tails lived in, adding lights to the outside, a Christmas tree and monuments to the inside. Tails was wearing a red jumper with snowflakes on it, Sonic wore one similar that had a snowman on it and had the words 'Merry Christmas' written in green on it.

The fox was tasked with making the food while Sonic decorate the house with his speed, though it wasn't much of task for walked into his room and started wrapping his present for was sure the fox would love the present he got for him. He knew the fox very well, so it was obvious he'd get him something that fit the fox's personality.

Sonic smiled and wrapped his present, hoping that Tails would like what he had given him. With a sigh, he sat on his bed and looked at the clock. It was 3 PM; the party would start at has to WAIT three hours until the party started and he wasn't the most patient person on Earth. The blue hedgehog sighed and sat down, wondering what to do. He picked up the present and walked into the living room, placing it under the tree. Tails walked in a few minutes later.

He was holding a present also and smiled at the hedgehog. "Hey, is that mine?" The hedgehog looked at Tails and smirked at his question, deciding to have a little fun with his brother's question.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Sonic said, still smirking.

Tails chuckled. "Okay, then I'll believe that a maybe," he said, smiling at his adopted brother.

Sonic smiled back as Tails walked up, putting the present he had under the smiled the fox and stood as Tails did too and saw the fox's tails swirling around and that only happened when he was really happy.

"You excited for this party tonight?" Sonic asked him.

Tails nodded at the hedgehog's question. "Yes! Definitely! I can't wait for it!"

"Neither can I," he said as he looked out the window. It was starting to snow.

The fox ran over to the window and looked out the window at the falling snow. "Wow! Amazing!" Tails opened the window and out his hand out for a few snowdrops to fall into his palm. When they landed in his hand they started to melt and it intrigued the fox. "It still makes me wonder how snow, rain and hail fall from the sky. What makes them?"

Sonic shrugged. "Beats me. It is pretty, though."

Tails nodded and watched the snow fall with curiosity in his eyes like any other child would have. "Yeah, it is!"

The blue hedgehog smiled and put an arm on Tails' shoulder. "I heard there's going to be a blizzard tonight."

Tails turned to the hedgehog behind him with shock in his face. "What? Really?"

"Yeah. So we better stay inside."

Tails looked down as his ears bent back. "I was hoping to get my weather emitter finished by today in case we got any storms, but I guess not."

Sonic chuckled. "Go ahead and work on it."

Tails' frown turned into a large grin and he hugged Sonic before running into the lab to try and finish the machine before the storm hit. Sonic chuckled at Tails' reaction, knowing it'd keep him occupied before the party. Though, what could he do during the next three hours? He sighed and walked over to the couch, sitting down. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. A few minutes later he got bored and turned it off, then leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes.

Three hours later and Sonic heard clanging coming from the garage and went downstairs to see Tails trying to move his machine out the open garage door and into the front yard. He turned his head and saw Sonic and sighed. "Sonic, could give me a hand with this?"

"Sure," Sonic said, running over to help. "Is this your weather machine?"

"Yeah, it is. I finished during the last three hours. It helps me determine the difference between the weather and tell me the weather's patterns as well," Tails explained the machines functions to his friend as the both heaved it into the front yard.

It was a machine with satellite dishes on its top, a screen on its body that Tails could reach to look at and the bottom was round so that it stayed firm on all terrain. Tails turned it on, and the satellite started rotating.

Tails stepped back and watched it so its work and then looked to screen to see the readings on the screen. "It'll take a few hours until it's able to get a proper reading, but by then we'll have a blizzard." He brought out a button from under his glove cuff and pressed the button, making the bottom sink into the dirt ground as well some metal poles come out and attach to the ground.

Sonic smiled and ruffled Tails' hair. "Great job, bud."

Tails laughed at the hedgehog ruffling his fringe. "H...Hey! Sonic!"

The hedgehog grinned. "We should head in. The others will be here soon."

Before they could head in they heard a shout from the front door as someone came running over to the two and knocked Sonic over. "Oh! Sonic, it's so cold out here, please, warm me up!" Sonic looked to Tails with pleading yes as if asking for help, but the fox just tried holding his laughter.

Sonic smiled and looked at the person before standing up. It was Amy. She was wearing a red dress, styled with white snowflakes, black stockings and a hot pink scarf was wrapped around her neck. Amy stood up too and smiled at Sonic. "Thanks for inviting me, you two! I love Christmas!"

Tails looked at his watch and lowered his eyelids as a small smirk appeared in his face. "It's not even six yet. We got five minutes left."

"I came early so that I could be with my dear Sonic," she said, fluttering her eyelashes at her, making the male hedgehog nervous. Sonic groaned. He turned and walked inside the house as Tails and Amy followed. Amy hurried over to Sonic and grabbed his arm. "So, what will we be doing tonight, Sonic?"

"Opening presents...having dinner...stuff like that," Sonic told her.

"Any special Christmas activities!" Amy asked, sounding excited.

"Dunno. Maybe."

Amy pouted up at the hedgehog she held the arm of as Tails walked in and heard this, pouting as well. "Sonic, please!" They both exclaimed.

Sonic sighed. "Fine. What do you suggest?"

"Party games!" Amy and Tails both exclaimed.

"Party games it is, then."

Amy and Tails both hugged Sonic and the hedgehog sighed, not being used to being hugged by two people.

The doorbell rang and Sonic answered it. He smiled when he saw who if was.

It was Rouge and Shadow and Sonic noticed that Rouge was holding Shadow's arm, tightly as if not to run off. "I can't believe I have to go to Faker's party."

Rouge's grip tightened and Shadow gritted his teeth, glaring at the bat as Sonic lifted a hand at the two. Rouge wore a red bodysuit with white fluff around the collar, sleeves and ankles. Her boots looked about he same thing. The only thing Shadow wore was a red hat with white fluff at the edges.

"Shadow didn't want to come, so I made him," Rouge said.

Sonic snickered. "Come on in, you two."

Shadow grumbled as he was dragged inside by the bat and into the lounge room; where she forces him to sit on the couch.

Amy and Tails walk into the lounge room and see the two. The two quite surprised at seeing Shadow here. Tails smirking, deciding to have a little fun with this. "Didn't expect to see you here, Shadow."

Shadow turned his attention to the eight-year old and raised a brow at him. "And I didn't know Faker's personality would rub off on you. Then again, you two live so it's no wonder."

Tails smirked; he and Sonic both knew that Shadow didn't like parties. He sat down in the chair across from the couch and saw Sonic close the door and sit down beside him. Tails looked at his watch and blinked. It was already five minutes past six. The fox looked to Sonic with worry in his eyes. "Do you think Knuckles will be late? The blizzard may come around Angel Island first before it hits here."

"He's always late," Sonic told the fox. "Most likely he's guarding the Master Emerald."

Tails sighed, nodding his head. "I know, but...what about the storm?"

Sonic shrugged. "He'll get here when he gets here." He looked outside the window.

The wind was starting to blow a tree branch against the window as the snow was starting to fall, harder and swirl around. Amy looked out the window as well with a worried look in her eyes. "I hope he's okay."

"He'll be fine," Rouge said.

Sonic looked at Tails. "Did your storm tracker pick up anything?"

Tails brought out a little screen and pressed a button on it that allowed it to connect to the machine outside. His eyes widened when he saw the stats on it. "The weather is changing faster than normal. The blizzard will be here within the next ten to twenty minutes."

Amy looked at Tails with a confused look on her face. "How do you know?"

"I have a machine outside taking readings of the weather," he then, pointed out the window. "Also look outside!"

Amy did so, and saw that snow was falling hard. The wind was blowing too. "Oh gosh! It's getting pretty back out there!" Amy exclaimed.

"I know," Sonic said.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Sonic got up ans opened the door to see Knuckles covered in snow. He was shivering.

Shadow turned around to look at Knuckles and a slight smirk appeared on his face. "A little late, are you? You could've come on time to avoid the storm."

The echidna glared at the dark hedgehog; who's smirk disappeared and instead was replaced by his own glare. Knuckles wore a green jumper with a white snowman on it with the red words 'Merry Christmas' above it. A white scarf was wrapped around his neck to keep him extra warm due to him living further away than the others. The green sweater went with his red fur making it look like the Christmas colours.

"Gee, Knux, you sure are full of Christmas spirit!" Sonic told the echidna, laughing a bit.

Knuckles glared at him and sat down. "Shut up, Sonic."

Tails chuckled at the two, knowing Sonic loved teasing both Shadow and Knuckles. Tails clapped his hands and pointed at the tree in the middle of the lounge room; which replaced where the coffee table once was. "Okay, everyone if you've brought a present please place it under the tree and we can vote what we should do first."

Everyone stood up and put their presents under the tree. Sonic smiled and looked at everyone.

"What should we do first? Eat, open presents, or play games?"

"Open presents!" Amy and Tails exclaimed together as they jumped up and down in excitement.

Shadow shrugged his shoulders at the question. "I don't really care what we do as long as it isn't boring."

Sonic sighed, and looked at Knuckles and Rouge. "What do you two want to do first?"

"I don't care," Knuckles said.

Rouge shrugged. "Presents sound fine to me."

Sonic grinned at the two and Tails ran over and hugged Sonic along with Amy. "Yay! Presents first!"

"Alright. Who's should we open first?" Sonic asked.

Amy quickly ran over to the tree, grabbing her present and appearing back in front of Sonic. The hedgehog was surprised at this as the pink hedgehog held out the pink wrapped present towards him. "Here, Sonic! I got this especially for you!"

Sonic smiled and opened it. He took the pink wrapping off, ripping into it and inside was a charm bracelet with the the words 'together forever' engraved on a heart. Sonic looked at it with a nervous smile before looking at Amy; who was looking at him with a large smile.

"Uh...thanks," he said. Her smile widened, and Sonic sighed. "All right. Who's next?" Sonic looked around the room and noticed that Shadow and Knuckles seemed not that interested in it. Sonic frowned at the two's behaviour, sighing to himself. "Here," he said, handing presents to them. "I got something for you two."

Knuckles blinked. "For us?"

Sonic smiled as he handed the presents out to all his friends. After they had opened their presents, some relished in them and done weren't highly over-joyed; only two presents remained. Tails and Sonic grabbed their presents and stood in front each other before Tails handed his present to his older brother. "Here, Sonic!"

Sonic took the present and opened it, smiling when he saw what he got. Inside the box was an electric blue communicator with light blue stripes along the sides. He took the communicator out, placed the box down on the ground and put it onto his wrist. His old one had been destroyed in a battle with Eggman and he been asking Tails for new one for while and he finally got it. The light blue band wrapped tightly around his wrist. There was a touch screen with button surrounding the outer layer to control the machine. It was one of the many inventions that Tails made that Sonic used.

Sonic smiled. "Thanks, Tails. Here's your present."

He handed his to Tails, who opened it. The fox looked inside and frowned, pulling out some tools.

"Umm...Sonic, what are these?" Tails asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"It's a toolkit," Sonic said, and then saw the frown on Tails' face. "You don't like it?"

"Well, they look kinda old. As if they've been used before." The fox examined the tool and found small hints of rust on them. "There's also some rust on them; meaning that they've been outside or used a lot.

"I got them at a used store. The reason I got them for you was because I thought you might need them, being a nerdy mechanic and all."

Tails head shot up. His lip trembled and tears ran down his face. Suddenly he began to shout at Sonic.

"You got them at a used store! That's a cheap shop, Sonic! The thing you buy there break easily! I made you something that you've wanted for a long time, but you didn't get something that I wanted! Why, Sonic! I thought you cared about me!" Tails exclaimed as his tears continued to fall down his cheeks.

Sonic's ears bent back. He had not expected this reaction from his little brother at all. "Tails, I..."

The fox threw the tools at Sonic. They landed at his feet and broke. Tails trudged out of the lounge room and up the stairs towards his bedroom. Sonic was staring at the floor in shock, before he snapped out of his daze and started to follow Tails only be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

He looked behind him to see Amy, shaking her head at him. "Leave him for a bit, Sonic. He's just a little cranky. All kids get that at when they don't get what they want," she told him. This only made the hedgehog feel worse as he lowered his head and bent his ears back.

He could hear Tails yelling as he walked upstairs, things like, "This is the worst Christmas ever," "I hate Christmas," and "Why didn't I get anything cool?"

Sonic sighed and sat down. He heard the door to Tails' room slam shut and Sonic cringed when he heard how loud it was slammed. Shadow smirked slightly at the other hedgehog, arm over the couch and eyelids lowered. "Wow, you're in the deep end now, Faker."

Sonic sighed. "I guess I am, Shads. I just didn't expect Tails to react like that."

Amy looked at Sonic with concern in her eyes. "Well, he is only eight. It's still natural to him to overreact when he doesn't get what he wants." Sonic was about to speak again when the lights throughout the house flickered. Then the entire house lost power. Amy ran to hug Sonic in fright; letting out a shriek of fear. "W...What's going on!?"

Shadow stood up and glared around the room. "Something doesn't feel right. That power outage didn't seem like it was caused by the storm."

"Well then, what?" Sonic asked.

Shadow shrugged his shoulders at Sonic's questions as he turned to the hedgehog with a dull look on his face. "How should I know?"

Sonic sighed. "I'll go outside and see if there's anything wrong with the breaker."

He opened the front door and walked outside. Sonic walked onto the front porch and shivered at how cold it was outside. He walked out into the blizzard and around the front yard to the side of the house where the garage was and opened up the breaker box; when he realized something. He forgot a flashlight. He cursed himself for forgetting something so important. He was about to head back inside to grab one when he heard a noise behind him and slowly turned around when a hand grasped his shoulder; making him jump in surprise.

He turned around to see Amy behind him, holding a flashlight. She held it out for him. "You forgot this."

"Thanks," he said, and turned the flashlight on, looking in the box.

He saw that some wires had been pulled from their respective places as if someone had purposely caused the blackout. Amy looked over Sonic's shoulder to see what he was doing. "Any luck?"

"There's some wires pulled out of here."

He tried to put the wires back in but they didn't fit. He frowned.

"So someone caused the blackout?" Amy asked Sonic and he nodded her question. She frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Is someone pranking us?"

"I don't know...let's go back inside."

Sonic closed the circuit box and the two went back inside. As the two reached the porch they both heard a clap of thunder which frightened Amy, causing her to grab a hold of Sonic; earning slight groan from him. She looked up at the sky in confusion and fear. "I didn't think a blizzard had...lightning in it," she said, still shaking

"Neither did I," Sonic said as they walked inside.

Knuckles looked up at them. "What did you find out?"

Amy folded her arms across her chest and huffed. "Someone is punking us! They ripped the wires out!" She unfolded her arms and her red and yellow hammer appeared in her hand. "Thanks to them we wont enjoy a nice Christmas!"

"It was ruined anyway," Shadow said, dully, looking over to Sonic; whose ears bent back and he looked away from the group.

Amy glared at Shadow; her teeth seething in anger. "Don't pin this on Sonic! Christmas isn't about getting someone presents; it's about spending time with friends and family!"

Shadow scoffed and crossed his arms. Sonic sighed and sat down. "Some Christmas. First Tails gets mad at me, and then we have a blackout. What else could go wrong?"

Suddenly they hear a noise on the roof; like footsteps. Sonic stood up and perked his ears to the sound. It was defiantly footsteps and it was crunching on the snow that was on the roof. Who could be on the roof in a blizzard? Amy sighed and stood up, her hammer in her hands. She was going out there to investigate.

She walked outside as the door closed behind her with a slam due to the heavy wind. She squinted around at the heavy snowfall and continued out into the front yard, clenching her hammer tightly. She turned around to face the roof and saw...nothing. She blinked at this and looked around. "I know you're out there! Come out! Whoever you are; stop pranking us!" She held her hammer up high as if to intimidate them.

She walked into the road and heard a noise. It sounded like sleigh bells. Then she saw something on a roof: it was a tall, horned figure. She gasped and it growled at her. Amy dropped her hammer and ran, the figure chasing her from roof to roof.

'Wh...What is that thing!?' Amy exclaimed to herself through her thoughts. She ran off the path and into Mystic Ruins Forest to try and make the trees a cover for her. 'What am I doing? I'm getting further from the house!' She looped around a tree, deciding to go back to the house. She had to tell the other about this. Then she stopped, her eyes wide in fear. The creature was standing not far from her. Amy hid behind a tree and peered back, but didn't see it. She sighed. 'It's gone,' she thought to herself in relief. As she took a step forward a clawed hand wrapped around her mouth, making her eyes widen in fear. 'N...No! How!'

She felt herself being hit by a whip and fell to the ground. Amy saw the figure's teeth, and screamed.

Sonic looked to the door; having heard the scream he realized Amy was in trouble.

"Amy!" He exclaimed, standing up. He looked at his friends. "Did anyone hear that scream?"

Shadow looked to the blue hedgehog and frowned as he stood up too, nodding. "I did. It sounds like she's in trouble."

"We should go find her."

Knuckles and Rouge stood up.

"We'll come with you," Rouge said.

Shadow sighed and stood also. Sonic smiled and walked out of the house as the others followed. Shadow looked around, cautiously, before looking a the snowy ground and saw footprints in snow. Shadow bent down and frowned as he saw two sets of footprints. "These are fresh, but there are two sets." Shadow looked up at the blue hedgehog before him with a frown. "Someone was following her."

"Is it just me, or do those look like a goat's hooves?" Sonic asked.

Shadow looked back at the prints, and nodded. They were goat hooves...but what kind of goat walked on hind legs?

Shadow's frown deepened as he looked closer at the footprints. One was Amy's boot prints and the other was the goat hooves. "What goat walks on it's hind legs?" Shadow looked back up to Sonic. "Would it be like us?"

"An anthro? I don't know."

Shadow stood up and looked to where the footprints led. They led into the Mystic Ruins Forest and Shadow frowned at this. "She headed into the forest. If she knew she was being followed she could've come back to the house."

"Then why didn't she?" Knuckles asked as he followed the footprints.

Shadow rubbed his chin in thought as he scanned their surroundings. "Maybe she was just too frightened. Suddenly getting chased by someone could lead her to run away from it even if it's leading her away from safety."

Sonic nodded and followed Knuckles. The group came into the forest until they saw something. They walked closer until they were mere meters from it and saw what it was. It was the body of Amy Rose; covered in blood, stomach ripped open and intestines hanging around her body. Her eyes were glassy as if she had been crying during the whole ordeal. Rouge covered her mouth, trying not to throw up while Sonic stared in horror at the sight before him. For once he wasn't there to save one of his friends.

"What the hell happened?" He yelled. "Amy is...Amy is..."

Shadow was in just in much shock, but tried to not to show it. After all he had been closest with Amy as she had reminded him of Maria's promise; telling him to save humans not kill them. "Dead."

"Who or what could have done this to her?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic shook his head, not knowing the answer to that. None of them probably did. It was terrifying...seeing one of their friends who had been jumping around and grabbing onto Sonic with joy in her jade eyes a few hours ago...dead.

"Should we leave her here, or bury her?"

Sonic glared at the echidna.

"We bury her you idiot. That's disrespectful if we leave her," Shadow growled at the echidna.

Sonic picked the dead body of Amy up and looked around. The snow was making it hard to see, and it was pretty windy.

"Where should bury her?" Shadow asked his blue counterpart, squinting through the heavy snowfall.

Sonic looked around and saw a clearing in the snow. "There."

Sonic ran over to it and nudged it with his head; earning a groan from Knuckles, knowing he had to dig the grave as echidnas were known for digging burrows.

"Fine," Knuckles said. He walked over and started digging. Once he had dug a hole, Sonic set Amy in it.

The four people bowed their heads, taking moment of silence for their dead friend. Knuckles covered the hole, and they walked away, heading back to the house. On the way they heard the snow crunching behind them as if something heavy was stepping onto it.

"What's that?" Rouge asked, and turned around.

Once she did a hand grabbed a hold of her head and squeezed it. She cried out in shock and looked up at the creature holding her head.

The group turned around and widened their eyes at what they saw. Was this what killed Amy? "Rouge!" Shadow shouted as he got a Chaos Spear ready.

"H...help!" Rouge yelled.

The creature wrapped a hooked chain around her neck, strangling her. Shadow through his Chaos Spear at the creature, but it only dodged the attack, making Shadow growl in anger and start to through more at it. He would not let his teammate succumb to the same fate as Amy.

The creature looked at Knuckles, who gasped.

"It can't be..." The echidna said.

Shadow stopped attacking it and turned to glare at the echidna. "What? You know what this thing is?" Sonic also turned to Knuckles, wanting answers too so that they could save Rouge.

Before Knuckles could say anything, the creature stuffed Rouge into a sack.

"You've been naughty," he said, and vanished, leaving a piece of coal behind.

Shadow walked up to the piece of coal, picked it up and frowned. "What?" Shadow turned to Knuckles and Sonic, showing them the coal. "What does it mean by that? I would understand it being after me, but Amy. She's not a bad person."

"The person who is doing this is called Krampus," Knuckles said. "He's a spirit that's even older than Saint Nicolas. Krampus usually goes around on Christmas punishing people who have misbehaved."

Shadow kept his frown and growled lowly after hearing this. "Amy has never done anything remotely wrong. She chases Sonic, but does that mean she deserves to be killed. I've killed people and I get no punishment for it."

"I don't know why Krampus doing this...he usually goes after kids who've misbehaved."

Sonic looked down, thinking over what happened today. This creature punished people on Christmas, but why punish Amy if she hasn't done anything wrong? Rouge he understood had stolen a lot of things, but she didn't deserve what that monster had in store for her.

"What's Krampus going to do with Rouge?" He asked Knuckles.

"He'll either drown her, eat her, or send her to hell," the echidna said.

Shadow blinked and looked to where they buried Amy. "Is that what that thing did to Amy? It...ate parts of her insides?" Sonic shivered when Shadow said that, grossed out and a little scared that something like that actually existed.

"Most likely."

A realization then hit Sonic as he whirled around in the direction the house. Tails was still at the house. Alone! He ran off as the others followed. Sonic slammed the front door open.

"Tails? Tails!" He yelled.

He looked up at the fox's room and ran up the stairs; fear struck at his heart, hoping that Krampus hadn't gotten to his little brother. He swung Tails' door open and sighed in relief when he saw Tails sitting in his bed, reading. The fox put the book down and glared at Sonic.

"What do you want, Sonic?" Tails asked with an annoyed tone to his voice. The fox was using one of his battery powered inventions to light up his room so that he could see better.

The thing that worries Sonic was that Tails didn't know that one of their friends was dead and the other was kidnapped.

"I...have to tell you something," Sonic said. "Amy's...Amy's dead."

Tails blinked and sat up in his bed and stared at the hedgehog, but then lowered his eyelids. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you? Sonic, that's not funny."

"Does it look like I would joke about this? An ancient demon called Krampus killed her!"

Tails blinked. He had heard stories about Krampus.

"W..What? Krampus? That thing actually exists!" Tails exclaimed and Sonic could hear the fear in his brother's voice.

Sonic nodded, and Tails shuddered. He thought that Krampus was only a story to frighten children. If they weren't good, Krampus would come. Sonic saw how frightened Tails was and went over to the bed to hug the eight year-old. He could tell it was shocking and scary, but they needed to figure out how to survive this.

Suddenly, they heard a yell downstairs. Tails and Sonic ran downstairs to see monster toys attacking Knuckles. The echidna looked at Sonic.

"Shadow's in the kitchen getting attacked by evil gingerbread cookies!"

Sonic was surprised at this and heard loud angry yells from the kitchen as well as a 'Chaos Spear' every few minutes.

Tails looked up to Sonic with fear in his blue eyes. "How do we stop this?"

"I don't know, bud," Sonic told him.

"Don't just stand there!" Knuckles yelled. "Help me, damn it!"

Sonic ran towards Knuckles while Tails went into the kitchen.

Tails ran into the kitchen and saw all the little gingerbread men, crowding around Shadow. "How are you having so much trouble with these? they're tiny," he said as he stomped on some that came at him.

Shadow glared at the fox at he threw another Chaos Spear at another group of gingerbread men. "There's more here than I can keep count of to fight because they're so small."

Tails stomped on some more as Shadow threw some more spears. Once Tails and Shadow had crushes all the gingerbread men, they walked back into the lounge room to find Sonic and Knuckles surrounded by broken toy parts. Knuckles sighed and leaned against the fireplace.

"Good," he said, not noticing a chain with a hook descend from the chimney. "Now we can..."

The hook went straight through Knuckles' head as the chain wrapped around his neck, pulling him up in the chimney. Blood rained down onto the floor.

Sonic stared in shock at where Knuckles had once been, frozen. Tails was shaking in fear, holding onto Sonic and Shadow was actually showing shock. This Krampus creature was showing no mercy towards them.

"What does he want?" Sonic asked himself. "Why us?"

Tails had heard what Sonic had said with his sensitive fox ears and looked down, thinking. Did it have anything to do with what he said to Sonic about his present? He shrugged and sat down, thinking about what he had heard about Krampus.

"Umm...why do you think Krampus is doing this?" Tails asked. He wanted to be sure if it was his fault or not.

"I don't know," Sonic said. "Knuckles told us that he only goes after the naughty."

Tails gulped at what Sonic said and looked down at his shoes. A loud knocking was suddenly heard from the front door, making Tails jump off the couch and hide behind Sonic.

"Who is it?" Sonic yelled.

After Sonic asked that question the door was burst open, wind and snow came in through the open door. Tails and Sonic squinted to see who it was and who they saw made them take a step back out of fear while Shadow got ready to fight. Krampus stood there, grinning. He had long horns and was wearing a robe like Santa wore. His feet were hooves, and he was carrying a whip and chain.

"W...Why are you doing this? We've never done anything wrong. We're heroes! If anyone should be punished it's Eggman!" Tails exclaimed in a fearful tone.

"You've been naughty," Krampus said, pointing at Tails.

Tails blinked and pointed at himself. "M...Me? What'd I do wrong?"

Krampus said nothing. He tossed something to Tails, who caught it. It was the broken toolkit Sonic had given him. Tails was shocked when he received the toolkit back. He didn't know that acting the way did would make this happen. There were tears welling up in Tails' eyes as he looked at the ground, his arms falling slackly bu his side. "I'm a kid and kids overreact if they don't get what they want!"

Krampus looked at him and shook his head. Sonic looked at Tails. "You did this?"

Tails looked at Sonic as his tears kept falling down his cheeks. "I guess so. It's probably from what I said about your present." The fox looked away from the hedgehog. "I didn't know something like this would happen. I'm sorry, Sonic."

Sonic sighed, but Shadow glared at Tails. Tails hung his head and turned his back to them.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault," Tails said as his tears fell down his cheeks.

"You shouldn't have misbehaved," Krampus said. "Now, I will drag you down to hell. But first..." he turned towards Shadow. "It's your turn."

Shadow got out a Chaos Spear and growled at the horned creature. "I will not go without a fight, you damned beast!"

He threw the spear at Krampus, but the creature sidestepped and threw his chain towards Shadow. It wrapped around the black hedgehog's neck and dragged Shadow towards him.

Shadow wouldn't give up and got another Chaos Spear, jabbing it at the chain so he'd be able to escape. The chain didn't break, and Krampus grinned. He whipped Shadow and dug his teeth into Shadow's neck, ripping out his trachea. Sonic and Tails stared in shock at what the horned beast had done as Shadow's blood splattered across the doorframe and carpet. Shadow's body fell to the floor, blood soaking the ground. Krampus turned towards Sonic and grinned, then grabbed him.

Sonic gasped as Krampus' clawed hands wrapped around Sonic's neck, squeezing it. Tails watched in terror as his brother was strangled before him. "Sonic!" Tails looked to horned creature with tears in his eyes. "Please, don't kill him!"

"Why not?" Krampus asked him.

"B...Because it was my fault! All this happened because I didn't appreciate what Sonic gave me! I'm sorry! Kill me in Sonic's place ... just don't kill him..." Tails cried, his tears falling down his cheeks s he lowered his head in shame.

When Sonic heard this he was shocked and turned his head, slightly to look at the fox as best as he could from being strangled.

"Tails! Don't do this!" Sonic yelled.

Krampus grinned then snapped his fingers. The floor opened, revealing a massive hole with lava in it.

"You wish to go to the Underworld?" Krampus asked Tails.

The terrified fox stared at the hole and gulped before turning to Krampus and nodding. "A...As long you don't kill my brother."

Krampus dropped Sonic and picked up Tails, dangling him over the pit. He laughed and dropped the fox, who screamed. The fox fell down the pit into the lava and Sonic whirled around when he heard the sound of gurgles at the bottom as tears appeared in his eyes. His little brother had given up his life to save his own. That was meant to be the other way around!

"You bastard!" he said to Krampus.

The spirit grinned. Krampus turned around and began to leave through the blood-stained front door. Sonic was shocked. He was just leaving him. The spirit had killed all his friends and his little brother and leaves him alive. Sonic stood up, shakily and glared at the horned creature. It was an understatement to say that Sonic was angry.

"You're going to leave? I thought you were going to kill me!" Sonic asked, yelling.

Krampus turned around. Did Sonic want to be killed? Should he kill the blue hedgehog or leave him? It was the fox's fault for not appreciating the hedgehog's present, but it was also Sonic's for not getting the fox what he wanted.

"You also caused this," Krampus said, walking towards the hedgehog. "Therefore, you must be punished."

Sonic widened his eyes, stepping back from the horned creature as fear began to overtake him. How was it his fault!?

"How's it my fault?" He asked.

"You made Tails angry by not getting him what he wanted."

Sonic gulped and clutched his neck where he thought he be grabbed again as he took another step back out of fear. It was a foreign feeling to him, but he knew he felt scared right now. He was going to die.

Krampus walked towards him and lifted him up, dangling him over the lava pit. Sonic looked down at the lava pit with wide eyes, hoping the spirit would show mercy or SOMETHING to him!

"Please...have mercy!" He yelled. "I'm innocent!"

The spirit only grinned at Sonic as his grip loosened and Sonic's eyes widened as he gazed down at the bubbling lava in his lounge room floor. Before he knew it, Krampus had let him go. He fell into the pit, screaming. He didn't know where he'd end up, but all he knew was that he didn't want to do die. He wasn't ready. It scared him.

The blue hedgehog opened his eyes and gasped, looking around. Where was he? There were cracks in the hard ground, he stood up and looked over the ledge to see lava. The place he was in looked like a cave with fire dancing along the walls and the cracks in the ground opening up so hat lava could overflow it.
Sonic had an idea about where he was, but he didn't know he'd actually be able to see for himself.

"Tails?" He yelled. "Shadow? Rouge? Is anyone here?"

He hoped that he wasn't the only one here. He didn't want to wonder around in this place alone...forever. Though that would be his worst fear...worst than water...ending up alone.

Sonic walked around, looking for his friends. He didn't want to be alone here in hell.

As he walked he began to get worried and a little frightened. A crack in ground opened and he jumped back as a wall of fire spread in front of him. His eyes widened at this. He wasn't used to this type of place.

"Damn it...I don't deserve to be in hell, and neither do my friends," he told himself.

Just because he made one mistake on the wrong present to get Tails didn't mean they had to go to hell. Sonic had never killed anyone and neither did his friends, a part from Shadow. He jumped as another flame shot up in front of him. Sonic sighed, wondering where his friends were. He looked up to the top of the cave, hoping that there could be a way to get out here. Sonic groaned, wondering what to do. He doubted that he could just leave hell.

Though in the distance behind Sonic on a mountain stood an orange fox who was watching the teen hedgehog with tears in his eyes. "Why is he here?" He bit his lip and tightened his fists. "It's my fault this happened."

Tails sighed and hung his head, then turned and walked away. He knew that Sonic would want to know he was alright, but...he just couldn't face him right now. Not after everything that's happened. He couldn't face Sonic knowing he was the cause of them being brought to hell. The fox closed his eyes, thinking. If he hadn't been so damn selfish, this never would have happened. When he had got here, Krampus had told him that his friends were here too, but had all been separated from each other. It was his fault and he could bare to go back to Sonic, knowing he was at fault. The fox walked away from the direction Sonic was located in; hearing the hedgehog call out names, sounding desperate. Tails couldn't face Sonic nor could he see him suffer, so the fox decided it'd be best if they suffered...alone.