No Greater Joy

Fog emerged from his mouth as he walked the snow covered street. His gloved hands were in his leather jacket pockets. One of his hands was jiggling a set of keys that occupied his left pocket, he had a habit of playing with whatever was in his pockets. In the other pocket his hand held onto something. This something was the whole reason he was here, in this peaceful neighborhood.

He felt uncomfortable in a place full of such love and happiness. These feelings were what he lacked. He was scum. He shouldn't be here. But he needed to be here for someone. He needed to be here in hopes of doing one good thing so he could forgive himself for all his malicious acts. Despite what everyone thought, he wasn't happy with what he had become. But he was too deep in a hole he could not get out of and he was forced to keep digging. If he was lucky enough he might run into some gold in that hole. Maybe this one act will be that gold. Maybe.

He was none other than Scourge the Hedgehog. Yes, that green rebel who fought with Sonic. He didn't exactly know why. Sure, it would be nice to rule Big Blue's world but there was another reason. Maybe he was jealous. After all, Sonic's father did actually care for him and his father… His father was a sore spot to even think about. Why was Sonic more likeable then himself? He was a Sonic yet he had no friends and Sonic… he had hundreds. Not to mention Sonic still had his family and he was a hero.

His family. Where should he start? His family was broken. It was hard to pick up the pieces. He couldn't just glue them back together. No. He had to figure out some way to replenish what was once a wonderful family relationship. What was in his pocket was his attempt at starting over.

He had learned that his brother and sister had bought their own house and were living together. He learned that they were innocents. He wondered how they had stayed that way. Innocent. He was anything but innocent.

Scourge snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of a car and turned his head. A car was heading straight for him, the driver was trying desperately to slam on the breaks. He ran out of the street. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed he was crossing a street. The car stopped and the window rolled down. A worried looking women looked at the depressed green hedgehog. "Are you okay? I could have killed you! You should know better than to stand in the middle of a street! Be careful! Life is a wonderful thing and I wouldn't want to see a young fellow like you lose it." She smiled at him. He just looked at her, baffled by her kindness. He forgot there were people like that. He wasn't too pleased with the way he answered her, though.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, lady?" He snapped and he instantly regretted it. The woman frowned at his rudeness. His guilt grew worse when he noticed what the women had in her back seat.

In the back seat of the Subaru BRZ was a little kitten holding a wrapped gift. He noticed a card on the top with the name of the person of whom it was addressed to. "Grandma" was written in bright pink crayon. The girl curiously looked at him and smiled. He smiled back. Then the girl looked down at his belly and pointed to it. Scourge noticed this and wondered what the little girl wanted.

It took him a while to figure out that the girl was looking at the two, large scars that cut through his chest. He looked at the little girl and smiled, proudly. "It's nothing. Just a scratch. I'm fine." The little girl seemed convinced but the woman or, to be more specific, the mother wasn't. Scourge was just about to walk away when the mother cried out to him. "Wait!" Scourge turned around, confused by the women's smiling face and walked back to the car. "My daughter wants to give you something. Go ahead, Kelly." The little girl's window rolled down and Kelly stuck her tiny hand out into the cold air. She was holding something.

"Merry Christmas." Kelly merrily cried as Scourge took a closer look at what she was holding. It was an average chocolate chip cookie. Just a small sugary treat. Yet, something about this cookie was different than other chocolate chip cookies. It made his heart beat. It made him feel funny. This was a feeling he had never experienced. He cautiously took a few steps towards the young female holding the delectable cookie. He reached out his hand to grab it but soon retracted his arm, thinking the toddler was going to snatch it back. The little kitten giggled and said, "Here, here."

The kitten's laughter caused Scourge's heart to speed up. He didn't know why. The girl snorted in between fits of giggles and to the average moibian that would seem rather annoying but Scourge liked it. He liked how joyful it made her sound, how innocent it was and how cute it seemed coming from an already adorable little girl. It took Scourge a second to realize he already had the crumbling sweet in his hand.

"Merry Christmas to you! Merry Christmas to you! Merry Christmas dear Greenie! Merry Christmas to you." Kelly sung. Her mother sent her a stern look. It was at that point Scourge laughed. Not a greed ridden laugh. A joyful laugh. He found it cute that the little child sang the jingle in the Birthday song tune. He found it to be quite funny that the child's rosy cheeks were covered in cookie crumbs as she sang it.

"Kelly! What have I told you? We don't call people names!" The feline mother said those words in a serious tone but her lips couldn't hold back the smile that covered her furry muzzle. She looked at Scourge, as he stopped laughing, and beamed. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas." He whispered as the two happily drove away.

Once they were out of sight he stared at the cookie. No one had ever given him something without expecting something in return. No one had smiled at him. All he got were growls and frowns. No body he knew treated him with such kindness but those two strangers did. Even after he was so careless and didn't pay attention to where he was going.

Scourge shook his head and stuffed the cookie in his pocket. He was getting sidetracked. Right now he needed to focus on his mission. He continued to walk on the snow covered sidewalk, nearly slipping a couple of times. He pulled a paper out of his pocket and read the numbers on it out loud. "827." He looked at each house, reading each number. "825, 826…" He looked at the next house and rejoiced as the numbers were a perfect match. The house was one story and was a yellow color with hints of white in places. This house was where his siblings lived. He breathed deeply then approached the house.

He carefully rapped on the door and tapped his foot rather impatiently until he heard footsteps. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" A feminine voice called. He watched the doorknob twist to the right and then the door opened. A young, teenage girl stood in the doorway. She wore a red dress with a black belt and golden buckle. On the end of her hood and the end of her skirt was the same fluffy white trim. She wore black boots with golden buckles. On top of her puffy, pink bangs was a red Santa hat tilted slightly to the left, the white pompom dangling in front of her left eye. She pushed the pompom to the side only to have it fall back into its original place. She sighed and looked at the stranger in her doorway with her big, sparkling, Tiffany blue eyes. "Hello. Can I help you?" She asked.

Scourge could hardly believe this was his sister. She was so much prettier than the last time he saw her. Grant it, they were about 5 years old when they last saw each other. She had changed definitely. The older green hedgehog began to question how many boyfriends she had that he wasn't around to "protect" her from. "Hiya. Name's Scourge. We knew each other a long time ago." He grinned, revealing his slightly sharp fangs. His sister looked at him with a confused look.

After a period of a few minutes she answered, "I'm sorry, but the name Scourge doesn't ring any bells. I think you may have got the wrong house." She was about to close the door when Scourge pushed it open again. She gave him an annoyed look. "Look, sir. I don't know who you are so if you could please leave I would really appreciate it." Scourge looked at her with slightly hurt sky blue eyes. He couldn't believe his own sister didn't recognize him. Then he remembered he didn't exactly look like he did when he was younger. He changed a lot over the years.

"Oh, but we do know each other, Sonia." Scourge grinned at his sister's shocked look. "But you originally knew me as Sonic." Sonia's pretty eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of her head. She looked him up and down over and over again. She seemed to be having a hard time believing this person was who he said he was.

"S-sonic? Is that what you said?" She asked, giving him an expressionless face. Scourge nodded his head, a little annoyed that she didn't believe him the first time. Suddenly, he was pulled into a hug by a very teary eyed female. Scourge was surprised at first but he found this gesture rather comforting and decided to try it for himself. He didn't think it was possible but his sister was crying and giggling at the same time. "What happened to you? You're… you're…." She cried out.

"Green? Yeah… Long story. Hey, sis? Do you mind if we talk indoors? It's freezing out here!" Sonia, or as moibians would call her, Anti-Sonia blushed a bright red color and Scourge couldn't tell if it was because of the freezing temperatures or if she was just embarrassed. She stepped to the side.

"Yes, yes. Of course. I'm sorry." Anti-Sonia proclaimed. Scourge strolled into the warm house, happy to be out of the cold. It was at this moment he took the liberty to look at his surroundings. He was in a hall way, heading for the living room. On the teal blue walls were tons of different pictures of moibains, framed. Most of the faces he didn't even recognize. Then he saw one picture which took him back in time to when he was a child.

He could remember one Christmas day when he was only 3 and his family took this picture. It was before the Great Peace, before his dad stopped caring. In the picture was his little brother, Manic (or Anti-Manic), Anti-Sonia, and himself huddling close to each other. He smiled when he saw the bunny ears he made behind his sister's head. His brother and sister were sitting on either side of him while he was standing. Towering behind them was two smiling adults. One was his dad and the other was his mom. He stared at his mom more. She was so beautiful. He missed her. He hadn't seen her since the divorce. Behind all of them was a tree covered in ornaments and a top it was an angel. That angel's name was Gabriel, his mom had told him, after the angel in the Bible who told the virgin, Mary, she would bear a child. "You kept this picture?"

"What picture?" Anti-Sonia asked, closing the door. Scourge pointed to the wonderful memory hanging on the wall and she just smiled. "You remember that night, huh?" She giggled. "Those were some better times. Hey, remember when Manic got tangled up in that sparkly, red tinsel that mom insisted we decorated the tree with?"

Scourge laughed, "Yeah, it took mom an hour to untie him and we kept finding strands of it stuck in his fur. Oh! Remember the time where you drank that bad eggnog?" He gave her an evil grin and Anti-Sonia stabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

"I wish I could forget! I remember the time when you fell off the roof and got tangled up in all the Christmas lights and you were just hanging there. When mom found you she made the loudest scream. What were you doing up there, anyway?"

"Yeah, I still remember her killing my eardrums. You know, I don't remember what I was doing."

Well the two hedgehogs took a trip down memory lane they were oblivious to the dripping wet hedgehog that had just come through the door. "Found a new boyfriend already, sis?" Scourge stopped laughing. He knew that voice.

"Ew! That's gross, Manic!" Anti-Sonia cried.

The lighter green hedgehog look confused. "What? What did I say?" It was at this point Scourge decided to face his brother. He hadn't changed a bit. Besides the difference in tone of voice and height his brother hadn't changed at all. He still had that cheery smile and those mischievous, chocolate brown eyes. When his bro was younger he'd always find a way out of doing things he didn't want to, around mom and dad anyway. As his siblings, Anti-Sonia and Scourge knew all his little tricks and never tolerated it. Scourge got a better look at Anti-Manic when he took off his snow covered coat. He had a black vest. It was different than the one he wore when he was younger but Scourge sort of liked it. It had plenty of pockets which he knew his brother always loved. Scourge looked at the top of his brother's head. Still the same messy, green pile of quills.

"Hey, bro. Missed ya!" Scourge said.

Anti-Manic took a good look at Scourge and said, in a rather confused tone, "Do I know you?" He took a step toward Scourge.

"Manic, this is Sonic. Our brother." Anti-Sonia smiled. Anti-Manic froze at that name and seemed to be trying to remember what his brother originally looked like.

After a few seconds of analyzing Scourge, Anti-Manic approached him and held out his hand, smiling. Scourge slapped his hand against Anti-Manic's and smiled back. "Hey, bro! Haven't seen you in a long time. You changed. I've got to say, I'm diggin' the new colors!" Anti-Sonia rolled her eyes as the brothers pulled away from each other.

Scourge headed for the living room as soon as his younger sister started demanding Anti-Manic to dry off, determined to keep her carpet nice. Scourge didn't explore this room as much as he did the hallway but he did notice the large green Christmas tree. Blue, red, green, white, purple, and pink ornaments adorned it. At the very top of the tree was none other than Gabriel and he smiled. He should have known his siblings would keep that thing. Tinsel and Christmas lights were wrapped around the tree.

He looked to his left. On top of a nearby coffee table was a miniature figurine of Santa in his slay being pulled by eight reindeer. He never could remember all their names. He remembered when he was younger and how much it annoyed him that other people kept telling him there were eight reindeer and could repeat all their names. He couldn't remember all their names, that was for sure, but he knew there was nine reindeer. He was always told how important Rudolph was and he always hated finding Christmas decorations with just eight reindeer. When he was little he took the liberty of drawing his own decorations and he made sure all nine reindeer were present. Grant it, his artistic skills weren't grand but he proved his point.

Scourge looked at the Christmas tree again and noticed the neatly wrapped gifts that rested beneath its branches. This caused Scourge to frown. He felt so left out. After all these years he was feeling sorry for himself and didn't even think of his siblings until this month. He felt so guilty that he never took apart in their lives, he just ignored them as if they were yesterday's news. He felt horrible. For the first time in forever Scourge actually felt like crying. He just didn't get how calm his siblings were. He didn't know why they weren't yapping at him. He didn't understand why they weren't angry. He just didn't get it.

"Sonic? Are you alright?" Anti-Sonia asked as she stepped into the room. She could hear him sniffling. Scourge immediately stiffened up and tried to hide whatever signs of sadness he was showing before. He couldn't believe how soft he was getting. How pathetic!

Scourge let out a halfhearted laugh. "Actually, it's Scourge." He told her. Anti-Sonia walked over to him and saw that he looked sad. She asked him what was wrong and he answered her with, "Why aren't you angry?"

Anti-Sonia raised an eyebrow and Scourge cried, "Why aren't you angry with me. I ignored you for years. I could have visited you anytime but I didn't. Didn't that make you angry?"

Anti-Sonia smiled at him. "Soni… Scourge. Why do I need to be angry? Yes, I was sad you never came to visit but I wasn't angry. Same thing with Manic. We both knew you had trouble with dad when we were little. We assumed you had your reasons not to come and visit us. That was in the past. Today is the present so stop worrying, all is forgiven." Scourge didn't get his sister's explanation. It would only make sense if both his brother and she were angry with him. He never believed in forgiveness. He always thought it was just a made up word. To see his sister use it changed his feelings towards it. "Stop frowning and start smiling, mister! Or do I have to tickle it out of you?"

Scourge backed away from Anti-Sonia, his sky blue eyes showing signs of fake panic. "Don't you dare!" He screamed. He remembered this game. His sister would often tickle whatever she wanted out of him when she was younger. It was quite childish of her to do it now, in her teenage years, but that didn't stop her. She pounced onto the green villain and smiled in victory as she tickled all his weak points. Scourge couldn't stop laughing. He had never been more thankful to see a pair of white gloved hands wrap around his sister's waist and lift her into the air.

"Manic!" She howled. "Let me go!"

"Sorry sis, but us guys need to stick together." Anti-Sonia was not pleased, then an evil smile made its way onto her muzzle. She pinched Anti-Manic's arm. "Ow!" He wailed, dropping his older sister. "That hurt!"

Scourge seized this opportunity to tackle his sister and tickle her. "Vengeance!" He hollered.

The three siblings played this game until their faces were completely red and their heartrate was above average. They were all breathing heavy and smirking. That's when they heard a ding! Anti-Sonia struggled to stand on her feet. "They're done! Who wants gingerbread?" She asked. As if they were no longer tired, the twin green brothers raced for the kitchen. Anti-Sonia followed them.

Once the gingerbread men were served the three siblings decided now would be the perfect time to catch up on things while munching on their snacks. They discussed their lives and joked with each other. They spoke of their friends and, in Scourge's case, their enemies. Scourge told them about Sonic and Mobius. His siblings seemed fascinated with the alternate universe topic, especially when their alternate versions were spoken of. Then Scourge told them about the little girl and her mother that nearly ran over him earlier today.

"You must have met Hailey. She's a sweet woman. Always kind. She and her daughter are hoping the man of the family, Mike, will return for Christmas. He's on a business trip on the other side of the world." Anti-Sonia said.

"Yeah. I met her daughter quite a number of times. She's always calling me spider plant because of my quills." Anti-Manic chuckled. Scourge studied his brother's quills and noticed that they did indeed resemble a spider plant.

That's when something popped into Scourge's mind and he cried, "Oh, man! I totally forgot! I was going to give you guys something." He dug his hand in his right pocket and pulled out a small white box tied in a red ribbon. "I found these and I wanted to give them to you guys." He held the gift out to the two curious hedgehogs and Anti-Manic acquired it. He untied the messy red bow and took the lid off the small box. Anti-Sonia was peaking over his shoulder, leaning on the younger one's chair.

"Wow! I didn't know these things still existed!" Anti-Manic said, pulling two silver medallions out of the gift box. Anti-Sonia happily retrieved the keyboard shaped medallion leaving Anti-Manic with the drum set. She frowned when she noticed the precise treasure was chipped. She stared at her older brother.

"Don't worry, sis! They still work. Trust me. I tested mine." Scourge said. That's when his siblings finally realized he was wearing his guitar medallion. They pulled theirs on and smirked at the results. "Maybe later we can jam like we use to do when we were younger." His siblings nodded in agreement.

"How can this Christmas get any better? Scourge is home. We got our medallions. We even did a tickle war!" Anti-Sonia said with great joy. Then she looked at her brothers and had an idea.

Both brothers were confused when their happy sister left the room. She appeared in the dining room once more only this time holding identical, red Santa hats. She pulled them on her brothers' heads and looked pleased. "There. Even better."

Both green hedgehogs fiddled with their new hat, trying to get it to stay on. Anti-Manic was having a much harder time than Scourge. He had to figure out some way for it to fit over his messy quills. After several minutes he finally got the thing to hang on the side of his head. Anti-Sonia just laughed, finding the whole thing quite humorous. Scourge laughed at how silly his brother looked and Anti-Manic just pouted.

Anti-Sonia made her way towards her sullen brother. She played with Anti-Manic's hat, trying to find some way to get it to stay on without looking ludicrous. Anti-Manic cried out in pain as she began to tug on his quills. "Manic?"

"Yeah? Ow!"

"Promise me you'll get your quills cut sometime after New Year's." Anti-Manic frowned at this assertion and crossed his arms. Scourge laughed. After twelve years his siblings' bickering was still comical. Scourge walked away from the fiasco and headed back into the living room. He looked back at the tree. He never thought he'd see his sibs again. He thought he'd be alone this Christmas. He should probably thank Sonic for this. If it weren't for Sonic spending so much time with his siblings, Scourge would have never tracked his siblings down. He probably would be alone.

Scourge laughed at the very thought of thanking his blue rival. Sonic should just be thankful Scourge didn't decide to crash his Christmas.

Scourge looked up at Gabriel, resting on the top of the tree. The angel was kept in fairly good condition over the years, besides the stain on its white and golden robe. Gabriel's wings were spread out behind his back and his hands were in a praying formation. His brown sandals were hiding in the branches but Scourge managed to see a sliver of brown through all the green needles. Gabriel's hair was blonde and his eyes were a Brandeis blue.

Scourge could remember the first day his mother showed him the little angel for the first time. She had choose Scourge to place Gabriel on the top of their over decorated tree. He remembered when he dropped the poor, flightless angel and his dad had caught it just in time. He recalled the story his mother had told him. She said that the tree topper had been passed down through her family from generation to generation. They had all said that the angel was truly a miracle. When he was younger he had believed this story. Now, however, he knew Gabriel was just glass and cloth.

He was reminded of his childish beliefs when he thought back on his life. Every Christmas night when he was an adolescent he would sneak downstairs and look at the Christmas tree, all lite up in the dark with the presents peaking under the branches. He would always look up at Gabriel on top of the tree. He would always ask Gabriel to perform a miracle. He would always ask Gabriel to help his family and then ask for various selfish needs. He always asked Gabriel to keep his family together no matter what. Over the years though, he found Gabriel to be a fake.

Scourge stared into the angel's eyes. He had finally been able to patch up a part of his family tree. Scourge studied Gabriel's eyes. For one spilt second he could have sworn he saw the glass figurine wink at him. Scourge blinked a few times and stared at the object. "Forget it, sis! It's not going to happen!" The annoyed voice of his brother interrupted Scourge's thoughts.

Anti-Sonia was following Anti-Manic into the living room waving a red Santa hat in the air. "Come on, Manic! You would look so charming in it." Anti-Sonia said in a whiny tone.

"I'm going outside!" Anti-Manic called, pulling on his red coat and opening the front door.

"Oh, yeah? And what do you plan on doing out there?"

"I don't know. Build a snowman?"

Scourge was suddenly full of excitement and he raced up to the front door. He faced his little brother and grinned. "Want to have a snowball fight?" His brother gave him a look that said 'bring it on'. Scourge's grin grew into a smile. The brother's bolted out the door, jumping over the steps and nearly scaring their sister half to death. She nabbed her pink coat and called out to her two thrilled brothers. "Wait for me!"

The siblings' laughter could be heard throughout the neighborhood as they chased one another caring snow spheres. Their hearts were overcome with joy.

Scourge wasn't use to this feeling. This feeling of pure joy. He loved it. He wished the feeling would never go away. Scourge looked at his siblings, admiring their smiling faces. He missed their smiles. He missed their laughter. He missed them. Now he no longer had to miss them. Scourge felt a part of his broken heart return and he felt almost whole again. After all the years of pain, anger, and sadness he had gone through this one day made up for all of it.

Scourge was happy to get to see his family again.

None of the siblings noticed the medallions around their neck were glowing. Pink, green, and blue glows wafted of the medallions. The siblings were oblivious to the joyful song the medallions were playing but, somehow, their hearts followed the beat.

There is no greater joy!

…o0o…

The last line is a verse from the song Joy by 1 Girl Nation. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed that. I know I enjoyed writing it. I'm not sure about the ending but you guys can tell me what you think in the reviews. I was wondering, if Sonic has siblings, wouldn't Scourge have some? Then I asked myself, "What if Scourge's siblings had somehow managed to stay innocent? What if Scourge hadn't seen them in years?" Then I decided to write a Christmas story about it. I'm sorry if Scourge is a little OOCish but I really tried. The whole purpose of this story was to prove that Scourge isn't as evil as almost everyone thinks. The reason for him being evil probably wasn't even his doing. I wanted to prove that even villains get a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas Eve and Christmas to you all! Hope you have a wonderful holiday and may your hearts be full of joy! This is gift for everyone that I wanted to share. Please review and Happy Holidays!

Christian Ape99: If you are reading this I am sorry I haven't answered you sooner. Thank you for allowing me to use your characters but I sadly must inform you that I cannot use them. I'm not very good at writing about other people's OCs. The last time I did that I really didn't enjoy writing that story. I'm sorry if that upsets you but thank you for the offer. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and please don't stop. Merry Christmas to you and may you have a wonderful Christmas.

Twin-books :D