Author's note:

Written for the Kelviniana forum Cursed Mistletoe challenge. Black Knight universe.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. SEGA does.

.w.

Wind was ruffling his head quills slightly, and Sonic fought a shiver that attempted to run down his spine. His usual way of fighting coldness was simple: run until he was warm. If he didn't feel like running, he grabbed a chili-dog or a cup of hot chocolate to warm himself from inside.

Pity that the latter was unlikely to be an option in King Arthur's kingdom. Neither chocolate nor coffee had made it to this land yet in this timeline. A piece of meat in a bun seemed to be within the villagers' comprehension as he explained the concept of a chili-dog to them, but when it came to the chili part, they would always get stuck.

The enchanted lake in Deep Woods resembled a large puddle of molten lead. Ripples appeared on the surface occasionally, caused by the wind, falling leaves, or something an unaided eye couldn't see. Townspeople usually found it intimidating; Sonic, whose sensitivity to the paranormal matched that of a wooden spoon, found it merely amusing.

His initial plan was to come to the sacred place, leave the box he brought with him on some stone and wander away. The Lady of the Lake was known for having her own ways of living and doing things, and a rare visitor could actually see her. And yet he hesitated now, knowing very well that missing the chance to see a familiar face was going to cloud the rest of the day for him.

"I'm glad to see you again, sir Sonic."

The hedgehog jumped a little and looked back to find Nimue standing behind him, her palm resting on a fir's bole. Not like he had all the reasons to act surprised; she was a magician with enough power to approach him without him knowing it, and had enough respect for him to greet him personally before he decided to leave. Her smile was warm with a tint of mischief; so different from her counterpart's sneaky grin.

"Yeah, me too." He looked at the box in his hands, trying to remember what exactly he planned to do with it. "Um…"

Sweet Chaos. What kind of deity had got his tongue?

"Just wanted to give a present to you." He said it. Finally.

"A present?" she seemed surprised.

"Yes! The Christmas present. You should know."

Seconds later puzzled expression turned into that of understanding. "I see. You mean the holiday that came from the foreign lands."

Sonic shrugged. He still wasn't used to locals still being slightly alien to this sort of celebration. "Sure. It's a great idea, so why not make it more popular?"

Nimue took the present when he approached, but didn't open it straight away. It unnerved the hero slightly; having spent many days preparing the present and anticipating the moment, now he wished it to be over sooner.

Sure, he could confess he liked this Amy more than the one he had left in his home world. He could come to her and have a nice talk without caring about social statuses or expecting a hammer to meet his head. But his legs kept twitching and itching beyond his will, and he suspected it'd take generations to get his genes clean of this sort of reaction to pink-furred hedgehogs.

And every time when he got back to the castle, he realized he already missed her, missed yet another person who reminded him of his dimension. He was still learning not to think about it too much.

"You never cease to surprise me, knight from another world. All of us," she said quietly.

He shrugged again and rolled his head up, thinking of a suitable response. What he saw up above made his eyes go wide from sudden shock.

A clump of mistletoe on a fir they were standing under.

His eyes darted back down onto the pink hedgehog in front of him. The girl's face was innocent enough, but he knew it wouldn't remain this way for too long. And he thought he could feel safe around her! Stupid hedgehog. This enemy just had different tactics.

"Something happened, sir Sonic?" Nimue asked.

"Er…" he swallowed. "Y'know, I never really liked that custom. Honestly."

Nimue looked up, too, and found the horrid plant indeed. To Sonic's surprise, she remained very calm about it. "Do your people have dark ceremonies involving mistletoe?"

The hero's thinking process was slow because of the horror, but he managed to figure it out after moments of silent staring. Of course. Christmas was new to the people inhabiting this kingdom, and it hadn't yet gathered all the traditions he knew in his home world, in his home time. He wished he knew more about history so he could be more confident about it.

He didn't know much about botany as well, so he wasn't sure the mistletoe above them was a plain coincidence. Did the stuff actually grow on trees? Even if it didn't, strange things happened in the lake's vicinity sometimes.

"Well, yeah. Sort of." Sonic took a deep breath. "So, your traditions tell nothing about people meeting under the mistletoe?"

"Like what?"

"The silly stuff. As if they have to kiss and all that."

"No…"

His grin appeared in a flash. "That's good. Then just forget what I said, okay? Okay."

She blinked at him.

And Sonic saw this as an excuse to leave. "Was nice to meet you, but people await me back in the castle. See ya!"

The Lady of the Lake followed the blue streak with her eyes until it disappeared in the distance. Whoever that green-eyed stranger really was, he sure was good at throwing a seasoned magician for a loop.

She finally opened the box with her present. An aquamarine hairband was what she took out; several snow-white feathers decorated one of its sides, connected by a semi-transparent button. The sorceress could feel a very weak magical field around it, and wondered how much time and effort it took the Knight of the Wind to obtain it.

Twiddling the hairband absent-mindedly, she toyed with what Sonic had told her only minutes ago. It didn't take long for a sly smile to curve her lips.

.w.

Winter brought chilling air, heavy clouds and silky mists in the mornings. Sonic found it annoying; the dampness turned roads into yuck and made running into a tree in the fog a piece of Christmas cake. Shadow – Lancelot, Sonic corrected himself – suggested staying indoors and dealing with the duties the new king mostly ignored, which the said king chuckled at. Being trapped in a tiny world of the book was a bad present on its own, and narrowing his living space down to a single castle most definitely wasn't what he wanted.

Turning Christmas into a time of snowflakes and fancy lights and ample happiness promised to be a hard work. Well, at least he thought so.

Returning to the castle from one of his long-lasting runs the next day, he found it being much greener than before.

Mistletoe.

Clumps, bunches, twigs of it were hanging down from door frames, girandoles, all the crooks he didn't even know existed. He had insisted some firs were installed in the courtyards days ago; now the trees seemed severely outnumbered.

Several sprigs of mistletoe tied together by a red ribbon drifted past him, supported by thin air and almost invisible layer of turquoise aura. Galahad sure was having fun while the king wasn't present.

He found the youngest knight in one of the halls. The silver hedgehog seemed slightly abashed after seeing his king, and told Sonic his story without hesitation.

"My father visited the Lady of the Lake today, your majesty, and took me with him–"

"I've told you to call me Sonic, haven't I?" the hero said automatically. Genuine surprise wasn't what he felt upon hearing that. Lancelot was one of few people who dared to venture into that part of Deep Woods; he had his reasons to feel safe there.

"R-right… sir Sonic. She told me how fond of this new celebration you were, and about your idea involving mistletoe." He blushed slightly. "I decided to decorate the castle myself instead of charging the servants with this work."

Galahad was already a knight, so he didn't add a single word. But he was still a kid, and he couldn't keep the plea out of his eyes.

"…It's alright. Er, nice work. Keep going," the hero said weakly.

The youngling jumped in delight. Given his telekinetic abilities, it looked more like a graceful flight, but a childish edge was still somewhere in it.

.w.

Very soon – and too soon for his liking – Sonic found out that the whole town was inevitably turning red and green. Galahad must have still had acquaintances among the street boys who found the new king's idea breath-taking.

Of course he wasn't going to give up so easily. Using his speed, he snatched the mistletoe off the doorframes, off the curtains, off whatever things people pinned it to. Townsmen were surprised to find the vegetation gone and went to get some more. The commotion attracted more attention, and more and more people found themselves talking about the mistletoe. Sure enough, the ones who just learned about the king's new antic wanted to get some twigs for themselves, too…

Without wanting it, Sonic catalyzed the reaction.

Eventually he stood under an arch somewhere in the castle yard, clutching both several twigs of cursed plant and his sides, trying to catch his breath. With forests surrounding the town tightly, the people had a nearly endless supply of spare mistletoe.

Sonic regarded another bunch of green in another arch in the farther end of the yard as if it was his personal enemy. Shifting his gaze to the side a bit, he saw a familiar white bat whose name most certainly wasn't Rouge in this world. She was busy pulling an annoyed black and red hedgehog towards the arch. Sonic couldn't hear a word from their conversation, but he could guess a certain amount of sweet talk was there.

His gaze shifted to the tiny leaves in his hands. They had gone crumpled in his grip… but he could swear he felt his people replacing them with new ones at the moment.

The hero sighed and stood up. He still hated everything related to this part of the Christmas holidays, but he already knew the tradition was going to stay.

Being the king, he could order his people to stop it altogether, no problem. But he knew he wasn't going to take such measures. Prohibiting something that people found fun was against his own principles; it would mean taking one tiny step towards what the previous fake king had been. He recalled how Eggman once tried to ban loud laughter and singing outside his new-built 'Empire'; imagining himself in Eggman's shoes made him twitch, and it had nothing to do with size mismatches.

This form of responsibility still annoyed him, but he remembered how he personally agreed to it when he took the role of the king. Not like he had had any choice back then… but then again, he forbad himself to complain.

He briefly wondered if he'd still see the mistletoe on the firs if he decided to return to the lake. Maybe it'd be a good idea to try and find out.

A sly laughter came from where Lancelot and the bat were. Knowing that staying on his spot would be much more tactless than he could afford, he turned to leave quickly. Maybe he could spend the rest of the day running in the fields and preserve his freedom.

I really hate myself sometimes.

.w.

Author's note:

The kissing-under-the-mistletoe tradition actually appeared long after legendary King Arthur died, but we all know how the Sonic universe treats real-life history.

Sigh. Oh Sonic, you walking time paradox.

Merry Christmas to everyone!