It was Christmas Eve. Sonic had just opened his Emerald-green eyes, which darted to the window right above his head. He immediately threw his baby-blue covers off of him and jumped down, grunting a little as his feet touched the floor. "Christmas Eve, finally!" he whispered. He reached up and opened his blinds, smiling upon seeing a thin layer of white fluff on the ground.

"I've gotta get everything together!" He dashed over to his closet and took off the socks he was wearing, then put on a fresh pair and dusted out his shoes, putting them on as well. He quickly fastened the golden buckle on, then stood up to admire his work. "There, my Christmas shoes." The white strap which usually was just a strip of silk, was different on these shoes. Instead of silk, it was faux fur, made to look just like Santa's clothes. "Great! Time to get this place ready for tonight!" He quickly ran out of the room, but not before slipping on his usual gloves which sat on his nightstand.

Once he was in the kitchen, Sonic began preparing the food. "Hm... What to make..." After a bit of tough choice-making, he decided on a big ham, with asparagus on the side, and a fresh basket of bread rolls. "I'll need lots of water. I'll want juice, so will Tails..." He began setting out all the cups, with small sticky-notes of what they would hold by tonight, as well as who was sitting where. "Soon, I'll be ready to make the ham!"

A proud hedgehog stood by the round table in his dining room. "There! It's just about done." On the table was a spread. Thin-cut ham later neatly along a fancy oval plate, four medium-sized bowls of asparagus set around that.

Lots of drinks were set around the table, most being water except juice for himself, Tails, and Amy, and for Shadow, a fancy red wine he'd seen at the store. "Perfect. Now, I just wait..."

The blue hero sighed. "It's been ages. Is nobody coming...?" he wondered quietly. It was already 5:00 p.m., and nobody had shown up yet. Sonic tapped his foot and checked his watch. "Aw man..."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Sonic dashed over to open the door. "Tails, buddy! You made it!"

The fox nodded and exchanged a hug with his brother-figure. "Yeah! I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Suddenly, three more figures appeared behind Tails. Sonic snuck a look at them, for safety's sake, and was glad to see that they were Amy, Knuckles, and Cream.

"Hey, guys!" Sonic greeted them all as they came in, and soon they were settled around the table. Sonic patiently waited at the door, wanting to make sure everybody was here before they started eating.

Over time, more friends arrived, including: Big, Charmy, Espio, Vector, Rouge, Manic, Sonia, Blaze, and Silver. Now all that was left was Shadow and Eggman, and Sonic wasn't convinced the latter would even come.

Still, he waited, and such paid off. The doorbell rang, and in walked the large egg-shaped man.

Just Shadow. Huh. Well, I'll wait. We all will. Meanwhile... Sonic went to the table, where everybody sat and waited.

Knuckles looked up at Sonic. "Why is Shadow still not here? It's been half an hour since everything should have started. The only late one was Eggman, and I'm sure he has a better reason than for being as late as Shadow."

"Oh, come on, Knux. Show some Christmas spirit." Sonic replied, chuckling nervously.

And that's when the doorbell rang for one final time that night. "See, there he is now!" Sonic quickly went to the door and opened it. "Hey, Shadow!"

Shadow offered a weak grin. "Hello, Faker."

Sonic looked at him, and being the social hedgehog he was, he knew right away that something was wrong. So he gave the black and red hedgehog a quick hug, then guided him to the table. "Okay, let's get started!" he exclaimed.

Shadow...I'll talk to you later. They all sat down at random seats, which ended up changing a lot throughout the meal due to food exchanges and self-serving. At one point, Sonic was next to Shadow, and he made a point of dropping his fork in a way that Shadow was the only one who could get it.

The black and red hedgehog froze for a second, then realized it was just under his chair, by his feet, and bent down to grab it. He came back up and put it by Sonic'a plate. "Here." he muttered. But Sonic grabbed his wrist. "Shadow, what's wrong?"

The ebony hedgehog froze once more. "N-nothing. The others are here anyway." he whispered.

"They can't hear. Listen." Sonic raised his voice to a normal conversation volume, saying, "Hey Amy." When he didn't get a response, he looked back at Shadow. "See? Even she isn't responding to me."

Shadow shook his head. "Then later I will."

Sonic sighed and nodded. "Okay. But I'm holding you to this."

Shadow groaned inwardly, but nodded as well. "Fine."

The rest of the dinner went pretty well. Everybody had long conversations, and not one minute could pass by without someone laughing. It was a joy-filled evening, just as it should have been. Even Shadow let out a few laughs, though quietly.

After dinner, Sonic cleaned up, doing so quickly using his speed. By now, everyone had spread out in the living room, some on the couch, others on chairs, and some even sitting on the floor.

Just as Shadow was heading over to sit by the fireplace, Sonic grabbed him by the arm. "Hey, Shad! Can you help me out for a bit? There are some decorations in my room, but they're kinda heavy."

Shadow sighed, knowing what Sonic was doing, but appreciated his attempt at hiding it. "Sure." He nodded and walked upstairs with him.

Sonic opened the door to his own room, and Shadow walked inside. Closing the door, Sonic let out a deep breath. "Okay, Shadow. It's Christmas. You're late to a party. You're never late. You finally show up, and you're the most depressed person at the house. What's going on?"

Shadow walked to the window and stared out, at the snow that was beginning to fall. "It's nothing, really. Just the usual, seasonal mood for me..."

"That doesn't cut it for me." Sonic walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Shadow, you know me better than most people at this party. You know I can't stand to see my friends upset."

"So I have an actual friend now?" Shadow asked, somewhat coldly.

Sonic yanked his hand back and stepped back a little. "Shadow...What do you mean? We're all your friends here. And this is Christmas! We're all here together, to celebrate. That's what friends do, right? You're part of this...So what's the problem?"

Shadow sighed. "Look, I didn't mean it like that. It's just...well, nevermind. The others are probably waiting. Let's get some decorations like you said."

Sonic then grabbed Shadow's arm and pulled him back. "Shadow. That's not what I was asking of you. I'm asking you this: why are you so sad tonight?"

Shadow looked down, his red eyes seeming to become slightly more reflective. Sonic then realized he was about to cry, and shook his arm slightly. "Shadow!"

Shadow looked up at him and blinked, his eyes quickly drying. "It's Maria."

Sonic shook his head. "What'd she do?"

Shadow bit his lip. "It's 2015."

"Yeah, it is. What's that gotta do with Maria?" Sonic pressed, still confused.

"Maria...She told me that in 2015, well, that was the year she was going to be able to go down to Earth. NIDS or not, she'd be able to come down, because even if she was sick, she'd be finally old enough to go places with me, and we'd travel together..." Shadow closed his eyes. "But I went this whole year thinking about that. Now that it's over, and everybody's happy and together, I don't have the one person I've been planning on being with for years. All because of that damn G.U.N. agent who shot her..." He sighed and crossed his arms, looking out the window again.

Sonic's eyes widened. "Shadow... I'm sorry... But it's okay, I'm sure she's watching over you now. She's with you in spirit." he soothed, looking up at the sky. "She's probably right behind you, watching you, wishing you'd be enjoying yourself instead of grieving over her."

Shadow shrugged a little, uncrossing his arms. "Maybe."

Sonic nodded. "Definitely."

Shadow chuckled, then gasped silently as he felt his small body being embraced. His right ear twitched as he heard a faint whisper; "Merry Christmas, Shadow..."

Shadow stared at the wall, his ears angled back now, tears quickly forming and overflowing in his eyes. He then slowly nodded, looking over toward Sonic. "O...okay."

Sonic reached his arms out and hugged Shadow gently, but soon he was squeezing him. Shadow slowly hugged him back and buried his face in his shoulder.

Sonic smiled at Shadow as he pulled back. "Come on. Let's go see the others."

Shadow nodded, and together they walked out and back downstairs.

The rest of the night was spent talking, laughing, and even playing some word games. Shadow seemed to cheer up, but mostly sat by (meaning hid behind) Sonic.

"Sonic, look!" Blaze called at one point.

Sonic turned his head from his conversation with Silver. "Yeah?"

"Mistletoe!" Big cheered.

Sonic's ears went straight back, and his eyes darted around the room. It was just as he suspected... Amy was the only person he didn't see.

"Sonic, look out!" Tails warned.

"Behind you!" Knuckles yelled.

Sonic turned around, and his whole world seemed to go into slow-motion as Amy leaned in...