A Gift from Me to You
Disclaimer: Dark-Illusion-Detective does not own any of the Sonic Characters nor does she own Sega.
In the white field of innocence, of recently fallen snow there were footprints that tainted it with loose dirt, with anything that might've stuck onto the shoes of the wanderer. As the flakes fell and the footprints kept up their chain of insignificant impressions, a green scarf could be seen dragging alongside the prints, and in the midst of low visibility could be seen a pair of ruby red eyes. The ebony hedgehog walked with a stride that seemed thoughtful, almost unaware of the fact that a snowstorm was occurring and as a result he kept walking, oblivious to the weather condition that would isolate him from the annoying calls of his friends.
Shadow never liked to talk to anyone around Christmas, only because he wasn't sure what his reaction to the usual cheerful holiday should've been. He had always been part of the background, almost like a shadow ironically during this time, so to get a note from Amy Rose had been quite a change in scenery. Maybe the idea of being able to talk with someone other than Sonic and Knucklehead gave him the idea of walking away from his home in Westopolis to Amy's home…
Maybe it was another reason to not be alone and left to think about Maria. He wasn't quite sure because to be honest, he never really remembered anything when he thought about his old friend on the ARK. It was the time when he was the most happiest, but when that happiness was cracking under the loudness of the gun being fired, and shattering when the pod was released, Shadow couldn't find it in himself to look back on his time there for long. Oddly enough, after last year's time staying out, watching the snow fall, Shadow hadn't thought about Maria… he'd actually been at peace for once.
Now though, as he could feel the stone steps through the snow that he climbed with little effort, Shadow felt himself starting to think back to Maria. As he knocked on the door, he felt himself drift to when he had knocked on the door to Maria's bedroom.
When the door opened, Shadow's flashback ended as standing in front of him was Amy Rose. She was wearing red pajamas decorated with a few designs of pink hearts and her jade eyes blinked; chasing away the day dreams that swept in her half awake state.
"Shadow? I thought you weren't coming," she said groggily, revealing that she had been sleeping.
Shadow frowned, "To be honest I wasn't… but… I was in the neighborhood…"
Amy sighed and stepped back, "Well there isn't much of a sense for you standing out in the cold, come in."
Shadow walked inside, taking off his scarf and slipping his shoes off, knowing that Amy had a strict rule about that after she put in new hardwood floors in her entry way. He followed the pink hedgehog into the kitchen where the scent of cooked ham and hot chocolate lingered in the air, the curtains were open, showing the clouds of the snowstorm that were being illuminated by the full moon that was trying to shine through with no success.
"Want some hot chocolate Shadow?"
He blinked, "What?"
His glance from the window averted to the sound of cups being moved, and he saw that Amy got out two cups to fix hot chocolate. Shadow mentally slapped himself; don't space out and get Amy worried huh?
"Hot chocolate sounds good…"
Amy walked over to a cabinet and stood on her toes to reach the box of chocolate and put the powdery substance into the cups and started to get a kettle of hot water boiling. Shadow watched, remembering how Maria used to do it.
The ebony hedgehog must've been lost in that memory for a while because Amy's voice rang out of his thoughts and back into reality, "Are you okay?"
Shadow shook his head, "Yea… I'm okay… just… tired I guess."
"… Something's troubling you and you know it's not good to keep things bottled up."
The hedgehog sometimes hated how Amy could tell what he was feeling; then again after the incident when he was found alive and such, he had actually started to hang around Amy a lot more often, so it wasn't uncommon for Amy to detect such a thing. Shadow sighed though and turned his stare back to the illuminated clouds.
"… 'Kay so you're right…"
"You're not going to talk about it?"
Shadow frowned; he didn't like being questioned like that. He replied, "You already know what it is."
She sighed and questioned, "Maria again?"
"Yes…"
"Listen, last year was interesting to listen to but please tell me you didn't go outside this year again to get sick because you spent too long outside thinking about Maria."
"No… this year is different."
Amy tilted her head, her bangs covering part of her left eye, "Oh? How so?"
Shadow was about to say how it was different… but it didn't come to him as easily as it might have if he was talking to himself or to a wall. He looked down at the scarf he had on his lap and muttered instead, "… I don't know… this year just is."
The conversation seemed to die at that when the kettle started to whistle, the water done boiling and ready to fix the hot chocolate. Amy got up and started fixing the drinks and Shadow seemed thoughtful. It was then he remembered the note.
"Amy… you said you needed to see me?" he asked carefully, just in case this was a trick made by Rouge or Charmy.
"Huh? Oh you got the note?!"
Shadow blinked at the cheerful tone in her voice. He groaned, "Please tell me you didn't get me a gift…"
He had clearly told everyone not to get him anything, that he didn't want anything… but of course there always had to be someone who rejected his request and substituted it with their own logic.
"I'm sorry, but when you said it I couldn't resist getting you something," Amy said sheepishly as she put his cup of hot chocolate in front of him and placed her own cup on the table. "I'll be right back with it!"
Amy ran up the stairs that led to her bedroom, and Shadow let out a sigh; of course it had to be Amy to reject his request. How typical. His mind wandered to the snow and he frowned, "I wish you could see this Maria… you'd love it," he whispered to himself, as though he was whispering it into a friend's ear.
"Hey Shadow! I got it! Open it quickly!" Amy's voice could be heard in front of him, but when he looked up, he saw Maria looking at him. Her blue eyes were gentle and careful as they waited in anxious glee for his reaction to the gift. Shadow knew that it was Amy that was staring at him with the bliss, but he wasn't going to tell himself that to lose the image of Maria on that Christmas day.
His gloved hands moved over the small wrapped present, the sound of paper seemed familiar and he closed his red eyes, picturing what it could be. When he was finished with ripping the paper, Shadow opened his eyes to see Maria and himself staring at him. Shadow blinked as the black frame shinned slightly in the kitchen's light and he saw the happiness in both his face and on Maria's.
"Do you like it Shadow?" Amy wondered out loud as she watched his reaction. What she saw were tears gathering in his eyes, a smile crossing his face. The pink hedgehog blinked, it was rare to see him smile, it was even rarer to see Shadow cry; she hugged him, "Glad you do," she said, knowing that he was happy about the picture.
"How?"
"I found a picture of Maria and you a while back and thought it would be a nice gift."
Shadow rubbed his eyes and he slowly hugged Amy back. He then felt the last words of that Christmas day over fifty years ago on the ARK repeat in his head.
"Do you like it Shadow? I hope so… consider it a gift from me to you," was what the voice in his mind was saying happily. He had whispered the response so quietly that Amy didn't even pick up on them. It was met for Maria.
"I love it… and you… that is my gift from me to you Maria… thank you."
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Okay guys, here's my Christmas Fanfic. So it's short… and pretty strange in my opinion. I was spacing out and falling asleep while writing this so I wouldn't feel bad that I didn't put up anything for Christmas. It's a sequel to Memories of Me and You, an earlier Christmas Fanfic I did a year ago. So as usual I hope you like it and please tell me what you think. Your opinions help me a lot and I hope you all had a good Christmas.