I, I feel so alive
For the very first time
And I think I can fly
-"Alive", P.O.D.
A Soul is Born
Christmas morning. A time of gift-giving, Lord-thanking, snow-ball-fighting, and if you're Shadow the Hedgehog:
"hbleheahehah…ppt. *flush*"
Puking. He knelt shaking above the toilet.
Great! Headache, nausea, and now my throat is burning! Maybe drinking myself loony last night wasn't such a good idea.
"Shadow." He turned to the voice, which belonged to a Shepherd he knew all to well.
"You!" He stood up quickly, only to feel sick and lose his balance. After he recovered his composure, he continued. "What the hell do You want!"
"Well, I was in the neighborhood wondering who was in need of a Christmas miracle when I spotted you."
"Yeah! Thanks, but I'm-" He caught himself as his body threatened to throw him on the floor once again. "I'm fine!"
"Oh, sure. You just let your feelings get the best of you."
"Sut up! I hate you!" Suddenly Shadow's face fell as he realized what he had just said.
"No, you don't hate Me, do you Shadow? The one you really hate is yourself."
"No thanks to you! How could you let this happen! How the hell do you allow someone to be created without a soul!"
"Simple. So that I can show you and the rest of the world that I am Lord." Shadow's eyes widened. "Yes, Shadow. I am here to give you a soul. But let me warn you, you may not enjoy it as much as you might think."
"Just do it" Shadow said hastily.
"Very well. Here you are." Suddenly, a bright light started swirling around them, accompanied by a mighty wind. When all had abated, Shadow was trembling in the fetal position on the floor. "Shadow, what do you see?" He got a whimper in reply. "Speak!"
"I-I see-I see…the time I tried to frame Sonic…get him arrested. The time I left everyone to die on Prison Island. The time I tried to kill Sonic. The time I tried to kill Cosmo!"
"Enough" the Shepherd said firmly. He knelt down to Shadow. He saw in his eyes fear, guilt, sorrow, and pain.
"Can- can you save me?" Shadow asked in a weak whisper.
"Yes, Shadow the Hedgehog. In fact, I already have."
"I thought I might find you in here."
Tails didn't need to crawl out from under the X-Tornado to know it was Shadow. "Do me a favor. Get out!"
"What?" Shadow was taken aback. He'd never heard so much venom coming from the young fox's voice. Actually, that wasn't true. He'd heard it once before. Anyway, he probably should have expected it.
"You give me the cold shoulder when I invite you to the Christmas party, only to come into my workshop, drunk out the wazoo and give it a nice Chaos Blast!"
"Wazoo?"
"OUT!"
"Wait, hear me out. I just came to apologize." That brought Tails out from under the plane.
"Apologize?"
"Umm, yeah."
"In that case, grab a wrench and get your butt down here." He could tell that Tails still wasn't too happy, but at least he was helping him fix the place up.
When they were almost done, Shadow spoke. "While I'm down here, I should probably also apologize for trying to kill Cosmo…and trying to kill you…and-"
"Hold it! Hold it! Stop!" Tails looked over at him.
"What?"
"Why do you keep apologizing? You're freaking me out!"
"Well, it is Christmas. I felt like I should start catching up."
"Sure. Shadow the Hedgehog, the man without a soul, just felt like going around and apologizing for stuff. Unless…" He eyed Shadow suspiciously. His face was blank. "…Did anything strange happen this morning?"
"If by strange you mean God coming to me and giving me a soul, then yes, you'd be dead on."
"Stop."
"What? I didn't do anything."
"You're smiling. It's creepy." Shadow rolled his eyes as they climbed out from beneath the machine. Tails stopped him as he made his way out of the door. "Hey, Shadow. How did it feel? Getting a soul?"
"Honestly, it felt like hell at first. Then it felt like heaven." He turned to leave, and Tails followed him out.
"Does that mean you're part of The Family?"
"Of course" Shadow said as he stepped into his…sleigh?
Tails couldn't believe his eyes. "What are you doing riding a reindeer-driven sleigh around?"
"Spreading Christmas cheer. Why else would someone have a reindeer-driven sleigh? I thought it would be funny. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a lot of stops to make." With that, the sleigh took off down the snow-covered road.
Funny? I don't think I'll ever get used to the new Shadow. At least we were able to get the Tornado ready for my trip to the new ARK.
AN: For those of you who put an alert on my last story, this is the continuation. Sorry for the mixup. Anyways, the last bit should make sense on Valentines Day.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.
Until next time:
God bless us, every one.