Characters belong to SEGA except for my OCs.

011. Halloween

"This is," Shadow picked up a piece of candy from one of the baskets and then dropped it back in, "A lot," he said before looking over to his children, "Are you sure the two of you can eat it all?"

"Yeah!" Crystal answered with high spirit but her voice lowered, "Well, mama said we should only eat a little."

Next to the small hedgehog, a black red-streaked echidna nodded. "She doesn't want our teeth to get cagities!"

"Ark, it's cavities!" Crystal corrected her younger brother with a giggle.

Ark just laughed over to his father. "Cavities!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow before letting out a little laugh himself. He knelt down in front of them and adjusted their costumes. "All right."

"Papa, we still have Mister Sonic's house to go to!" the little black hedgehog stated as Shadow fixed her witch's hat, "Dash said they've got slushies!"

"It's a little too cold for that, isn't it?" Shadow queried as he went over to Ark and adjusted his bow tie for his vampire costume, "What if you get ill?"

"Come on Dad," the echidna pleaded him, "Just this once!"

Crystal nodded eagerly with Ark. "Please?"

Shadow didn't say anything and gave them their baskets.

The two siblings looked at each other before gazing back at their father. "Pleeeeeeeeeeease?"

The black hedgehog pulled away from them and stood, staring in thought. They were giving those puppy dog eyes at him and honestly, it wasn't helping that they were blue, instantly reminding him of his wife. Uncrossing his arms, Shadow let out a longing sigh. "...Just this once."

"Yay!"

"But," once he said that, Crystal and Ark deflated slightly but Shadow just chuckled, "Don't tell your mother about this."

"Lips are sealed, Dad!" Ark said as he motioned himself zipping his lips with Crystal doing the same.

Shadow cracked a smile. "Good."

...

Once they reached the house, Crystal and Ark let go of Shadow's hands and ran up to the door. Ark reached up and pressed on the door bell just as Shadow slowly walked behind them.

The kids excitedly bopped up and down once the door opened. "Trick or treat!"

However, no one was there.

The corridor was dark, the spooky halloween decorations were the only things that glared at them. Immediately, Shadow had his suspicions but let it pass.

"H-Hello?" Crystal stuttered as she peaked inside.

"M-Maybe they're not home?" Ark said as he hid behind his sister.

She backed away with him. "Th-Then who opened the-"

"BOO!"

Crystal and Ark both dropped their baskets and ran to Shadow, hiding behind his legs as they shook.

Laughing was heard after and two blue figures came out from the corner.

One of them was Dash. "Dad, we got em!"

Sonic proudly ruffled his son's hair. "Yeah we did!"

"That wasn't funny!" Crystal yelled and then pouted, pointing at the scattered candy, "You made us drop all our candy!"

"Aw, sorry guys!" Dash said with a few finished snorts and giggles, "Here," he sped around the area and handed them their now candy-filled baskets, "There ya go!"

Sonic focused his look over to Shadow, a sly smirk showing on his lips as he eyed down his simplistic costume. "Just a cape?"

"I could say the same to you," the black hedgehog squinted his eyes, "Scare my kids again and I'll make you regret it."

The other lifted his hands up in defence. "Dude, it's called having the halloween spirit!"

Shadow only scoffed. "Then perhaps if I dressed up as a water monster, that'll probably make you bolt out of this planet."

Sonic twitched his eye at the snarky remark. "Riiiight," he looked down at the kids with his signature grin, "You guys want the slushies then?"

The siblings nodded. "Yes Mister Sonic!"

"What about you?" the blue hedgehog asked his rival.

"I'm good," Shadow politely declined with a shake of his hand.

Amy came into the frame with a bag of candy. "Sonic! What did I tell you about not scaring the children?"

"Oh, come on Ames. They weren't that scared!" Sonic said as he handed the kids their slushies.

She huffed. "Look at them, they're shaking!"

"But mooom," Dash whined, "It's halloween!"

The pink hedgehog shook her head. "We've already gotten several complaints today. That's the last time! Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am," the blue hedgehogs obeyed sadly.

Amy exhaled before smiling at Crystal and Ark. "Sorry about that," she knelt down at their level and filled their baskets with some chocolates, "Be good kids tonight, okay?"

"Thanks Miss Amy!" Ark said with a beaming smile at the amount of candy he had in his basket.

"Aww, you're welcome!" she ruffled their heads softly before standing up, "Have a Happy Halloween!"

"We will!" Crystal cheered with a bright smile, "And you too!"

Sonic suddenly crouched down in front of them. "Remember, sleep with the lights on tonight 'cause you don't wanna attract the gho-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Amy grabbed her husband by his ear, shooting an apologetic look to Shadow before pulling the blue speedster into the house, "Dash, come inside when you're done!"

"Amy, OW!" Sonic whined, finding impossible to resist his wife's strength and let himself be dragged inside.

The kids tilted their head at the couple's odd behaviour, Shadow rolling his eyes.

"Well," Dash turned to face them and waved, "I'll see you guys in school! Bye Mister Shadow!"

Shadow nodded as his farewell while Crystal and Ark cheerfully said their goodbye's just as Dash closed the door. Shadow took a hold of their hands again as they went down the steps from the house and onto the pavement.

"Dad, can we not walk back home?" Ark tugged on his hand with a whine, "My feet have been hurting all day."

"Mine too," Crystal agreed with a whine of her own, "We've been trick or treating the whole night," she smiled up at him, "Can you use Chaos Control?"

In most cases Shadow would've said no. However, it was getting late and they've been walking non-stop to different houses. Using Chaos Control was only for emergencies but seeing how he didn't want their feet to ache later, he didn't see why not.

"All right, but finish those slushies first," Shadow said as he sat them onto a nearby bench, "And don't drink them too fast."

"Okay!" they simultaneously said and slowly began to finish off their icy crushed drink. Once they were done, Shadow took the empty plastics and threw them into a recycling trash can from around the corner.

"Stay close now," he huddled them together and pulled out his green emerald. Shadow shut his eyes tight as the kids braced themselves. He raised the emerald up into the air.

"Chaos Control!"

...

"Oh, you're back!" Tikal said as the kids ran inside with Shadow shutting the door and towing along, "Did you have fun?"

"Yup!" Ark said as he and his sister showed their candy to her.

"Oh my goodness, that's a lot!" she knelt down to see them before looking at her children, "Don't gobble them all now. I don't want any of you to get an upset tummy."

"Mama, we know!" Crystal stated and then grinned, "Can we just have a little now though? We promise not to eat a lot!"

"Promise!" Ark also said.

Tikal just laughed, planting a kiss on their foreheads. "Dinner will be ready soon so only a little."

"Thanks mama!" Crystal said as she and Ark hugged the orange echidna before speeding off into the living room. Tikal popped her head out to see them dumping the candy onto the floor. Shaking her head with a giggle, she made her way into the kitchen where her husband was sat on the table.

"Hey there," she greeted him with a peck on the cheek, "Were they good?"

"They were a handful today," Shadow answered with a worn out smile, "But otherwise, they enjoyed it."

"Mm I'm glad," Tikal said with a smile back and went to put her oven gloves on. "I made some treats today," she said as she got out a tray from the oven, "But seeing how much candy they've collected, it looks like I'll have to save it for tomorrow."

"Did you give out the candy?" he asked her, taking one of the pumpkin shaped cookies from the tray.

Tikal nodded. "The children were all so sweet!" she beamed before taking off her gloves. She saw him chew on the cookie, "Is it good?'

He grunted as his answer, indicating that it was.

She giggled before putting the cookies into a container. "I'm going to set up dinner in about ten minutes, so-"

"Crystal, that's not yours that's MINE!"

"No it's not! I remember Uncle Knuckles giving it to ME!"

"No he didn't!"

"Yes he did! So let go, Ark!"

"No, you let go!"

A loud crash was heard.

"MOM! DAD!" they both yelled.

Tikal quickly paused with the cookies and was about to go see what all the fuss was about, but Shadow's hand stopped her.

The black hedgehog shook his head. "I'll handle them," he said with a short exhale before standing up, "You get dinner prepared."

"Are you sure?" she asked, feeling a little worried.

Shadow nodded and he sauntered off into the living room. "Okay, you two..."

Tikal smiled after him, letting out a few laughs at how he managed to settle the kids down with no problem. Shaking her head once more, she put the rest of the halloween treats into the container before checking up on dinner.