A/N: This one also takes place after "I Bet My Life." I hope you guys are having a great Christmas/Hanukkah/whatever holiday you're currently celebrating! Thanks for reading these :) I've enjoyed writing them. Merry Christmas, Amelia!

He had almost fired up the power plant. And by "almost" he meant he'd walked by it a few times.

But firing up the power plant meant firing up a radio station. Which meant finding the exact music he wanted. Which meant a massive hunt through the whole city for a CD or a file or a whatever that had the songs on it.

None of that bothered him, though. There was nothing to do here and a hunt like that would've given him a goal to work towards.

No.

What bothered him was that Stellar would hear the music, too.

And Negaduck didn't care what Gosalyn said, not everyone deserved to celebrate Christmas. Most definitely not the guy who was responsible for ripping his girl away from him and stranding him here in this godforsaken universe.

Yeah, yeah, Negaduck had pushed the Oblivion button, sending them both here. But that was semantics, really. Besides, the whole reason Negaduck had pushed the button in the first place was because Stellar had threatened Gosalyn.

So, there.

It was all Stellar's fault.

…

Still.

Negaduck had walked by the power plant at least three times. And that didn't include the days leading up to that when he'd cased the place. So Stellar or not, Negaduck had come very close to firing up a few Christmas carols.

Because he missed them. He missed pretty much everything, but with the snow covering the ground and him knowing that Christmas was just around the corner, he wanted to celebrate somehow.

Even if he was alone again. Yes, Christmas was about family and friends and being together and he had none of that this year. But Negaduck had experienced six great Christmases. That was more than he'd expected to ever have.

Six whole Christmases that he got to look back on and remember.

Which was really helpful here because Oblivion was about the loneliest place to exist.

He hadn't thought that the first time. Driven by his spite, Negaduck had built the portal that heralded his return back to St. Canard. His hatred for Darkwing Duck had been so potent it hung in the air, enough company to stave off loneliness.

But now. He realized just how empty this universe was. Which, sure, he'd known that, but now he felt it.

Oblivion was a parallel universe to Darkwing's. Every universe ran parallel to Darkwing's, that's why it was known as the Prime universe; it was the center of them all.

Everything here, in Oblivion, was the exact same as it was there from how the streets were laid out, to the skyscrapers, to the parks, to the foliage, to the homes, to the schools, to the stores, etc.. Everything that was there was here.

But this place was desolate. No one lived here. The restaurants sat empty. Cars lined the streets or sat in driveways, eternally parked. Houses and the baseball field and the universities all empty.

An eery empty.

Oblivion felt like what Negaduck had imagined an apocalyptic world would.

A city filled with signs of life, of thousands of lives, but no one there.

Every sound echoed.

There were no manmade scents in the air.

Machinery was always cold, nothing running but still fully capable.

And there was this lingering hope that things could go back to normal. That life would find a way to continue as it once had.

Which was why Negaduck hated Oblivion: you always felt like humanity was on the brink of returning when it as just you in this desolate city for the rest of time.

Except this time Negaduck had company. Good ol' Stellar was always around to keep things interesting. And, yeah, it was a huge city – especially for just two of them – but it gets awfully small awfully quickly when you never know if he's waiting for you around the next corner.

An eternal and intense game of cat and mouse.

Negaduck avoided going inside any buildings as much as he could and instead stayed on top of them. Like trees in a rainforest, the skyscrapers of St. Canard offered shelter, protection, and a great vantage point for predators.

He hadn't had many run-ins with Stellar since coming here, but the few times he had reiterated why he had to remain on guard at all times. There wasn't much sleeping, but that's a small thing when your safety is in jeopardy.

And sometimes even safety can be compromised to get what you want.

Because some things were more important.

Like Christmas.

And it was so worth it. Gosalyn had been right. She always was.

Negaduck secured a corner of the black sheet around the doorway. Satisfied that it wasn't going anywhere, he went to his bag and dug out red and green candles along with a box of matches. Yeah, candles weren't really his thing, but they were Christmas themed. And he had no other decorations here, so these would have to do.

Lighting a match, Negaduck set the flame to the wicks until his little circle of candles were lit, casting shadows on the walls and the dark sheet taped around the doorway so no light would escape.

It wasn't much, holed up in an office custodial closet with some candles – hell, it was barely Christmasy at all – but it was something.

Settling on the cold floor, Negaduck closed his eyes and relaxed against the wall, casting his mind back and recalling each detail of every Christmas spent with Gosalyn.

That first year when he realized – through a song about a hippopotamus of all things – that not every Christmas is the same. Everyone celebrates differently and not one of them is wrong. His Christmases past didn't need to be his Christmases present.

The second Christmas he had his first gift exchange. And he had liked the rifle scope Gosalyn had gotten him. He'd ended up using it often, especially at night. And it was the year he fixed the furnace.

Bushroot, more than Gosalyn, was responsible for the third Christmas milestone. A damn tree that had feelings and was decorated to Negaduck specifically. He couldn't have asked for a better tree. … If he'd ever actually asked for one at all.

His whole damn house got the decorating treatment the year after with wreaths and skulls and a long ribbon that matched his cape in color. But, mostly he remembered how Gosalyn had been reassuring him that he wasn't alone. And he wouldn't ever be.

The next Christmas he had to reassure her of the whole "you are not alone" thing. Okay, she might have done it first after she'd returned to the Negaverse to spend the night with him, telling him she would stay. That she'd always stay. And Negaduck had believed her. For the first time in his life, he wasn't alone anymore. And that meant he couldn't leave her alone. He had to think about her, not just about himself.

Their last Christmas together hadn't even been anything special. Just decorating, gifts, and burning the old Christmas trees. Neither of them had known – how could they? – that they wouldn't have any more Christmases after that. They'd been settling into normalcy. Which was why Negaduck had loved it so much. Yeah, he said loved. Because he did. His first normal Christmas. As normal as he and Gosalyn could get, anyway.

And all of that – all of his Christmas experiences and traditions – was thanks to one girl who'd just wanted to spend her favorite holiday with him. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve Gosalyn, but he was grateful.

So very grateful.

Because she had decided he was worth her time. Worth her love.

And that's what it was, wasn't it? Love. They loved each other.

Negaduck resurfaced from his memories, back in the tiny closet with his sad little candles. But no matter what his Christmases looked like, he knew Gos would be proud of him for celebrating anyway.

"Merry Christmas, baby girl," he said softly before blowing out the candles.

He left everything behind, flinging open the door and bolting down the hallway. He flew up the stairs, bursting up onto the roof then walked the edge, eyes scanning for any sign of Stellar. Negaduck never stayed anywhere more than fifteen minutes. And he never went back to the same place twice. He had to stay ahead of Stellar somehow. And not being predictable was the first step.

But finding a small space to remember all those warm Christmases memories every year, imagining his girl with her flame-red hair and green eyes….

Yeah.

That was a Christmas tradition he could get behind.