My December
A One-Shot Song-Fic by Airo Smicktor.
I do not own Shadow, Rouge or any other Sonic characters.
The hedgehog was standing alone and silent. All around him, snow was falling. Not small flakes, but large ones. Not more than ten minutes had passed since the snowfall had began, and already a layer of soft, cold white was covering the rooftops and streets.
Looking down, he saw little children, wrapped up warm in woolly clothes, hats, scarves and gloves. They were smiling and happy. Skipping around, trying to catch the flakes in their hands, they played innocently together.
But the hedgehog was hardly happy. Far from it. He watched the children with an emotionally devoid expression on his face. One almost as cold as the show around him. He did not care about the layer of snow forming on his spines, or the sound of the door to the roof opening behind him. He only cared about why these people were so happy about this weather. This situation confused him to no end.
"Shadow!" A sharp voice shouted behind him. "What in all of Mobius are you doing out here like this?"
"If you must know..." Shadow looked over his shoulder. "...Not that it is any of your business, I was merely thinking."
"In snow like this?"
Shadow turned back to look at the children again. "You forget that the Ultimate Life Form was designed to be immune to illness and cold."
The hedgehog heard the person behind him sigh in dismay and disappointment. "Shadow... Why don't you like Christmas?"
Shadow winced, closing his eyes sharply as if a sudden pain had come over him. 'Don't tell her.' He thought. 'She wouldn't understand.'
"It is not for you to know Rouge." Shadow replied, opening his eyes and turned to walk towards the door.
Shadow could not though, as Rouge stepped in front of him.
"Don't play that game with me Mr. Unsmilely! I know you well enough to tell that something's wrong." Rouge stated.
Shadow just stared at the bat. "Did you just come out here to psychoanalyse me again?"
Rouge sighed again, and shook her head as she turned away from him. "Forget it, you wouldn't be interested..." She said, opening the door back inside.
Shadow stood alone again, only the light sound of snow falling and the laughs of children from the streets below ringing in his ears.
"...No, I didn't ask him. There was no point; he really hates Christmas for some reason. I mean, no matter how much I think I know about him, something always seems to come up. He really is a mystery of the world. ...Hey, I'll still be there Sonic! I wouldn't miss this! ...Okay, I'll try talking to him later, all right? Maybe he'll open up or something, but don't hold your breath..."
Shadow stopped on the stairway, shaking some flakes of snow out of his quills. He could hear Rouge talking, presumably on the 'phone.
"...It's such a shame..." Rouge's voice continued. "...I mean, it's his first Christmas and he's gonna be all alone..."
That statement struck Shadow hard. That was the truth, well, in part. Rouge forgot that this was not his first Christmas, but he would be alone.
He did not have Maria.
Shadow sat down on the stairs, sighing as he thought about his past Christmases.
He thought about the special decorations he and Maria put up. The sparkling tinsel, the pretty lights, and the big tree. He always had fun helping doing that. It seemed quite pointless, since after a couple of weeks it all had to be taken down and put away again. But Maria was always so happy; she always had such a big smile on her face, as many of the scientists and workers on the ARK did as well. Perhaps it was because it was so... Festive... As the Professor had put it.
Shadow smiled, the memories of Maria carefully opening doors in her 'Advent' Calendar in anticipation of Christmas, talking about someone called 'Santa Claus', how she'd love to one day see and feel real snow.
Shadow's smile frowned. He had just felt snow for the first time a moment ago, and had felt nothing apart from cold and a slight wetness. There was nothing appealing about it, yet the children he had been watching seemed to enjoy it. This was another part of life away from the ARK that Shadow had not been prepared for.
'Is there something special about this 'snow' that separates it from other weather conditions?' Shadow thought to himself. 'The rain gives life to the people, yet they go to lengths to avoid it. Wind can be used to fly kites for enjoyment. During sunshine, they smile and even risk harming their bodies by lying in direct sunlight. But what makes snow so unique? What makes people so happy about it?'
Shadow stood up, walking off the stairs and down the hallway.
"Is that you Shadow?" The voice of Rouge came from another room.
"I'm going out for a while." Shadow replied; answering two questions when only had been asked.
"What?"
"I'm just looking for some answers; hopefully I should not need to look far." Shadow said, without looking back, as he opened the door out of the apartment.
"...And for the record..." Shadow added. "...I don't hate Christmas." And with that, he closed the door behind him and left.
Rouge poked her head around the doorway, a 'phone pressed to her ear.
"Yeah, that was Shadow. He said something about answers..."
Shadow stepped out onto the street, snow instantly crunching underfoot as he looked around. The large flakes had been replaced with smaller ones, but the amount of snow around was quite large. The air was a chilling cold. Anyone would be foolish to venture out in the open without a good amount of warm clothing.
Shadow was not foolish, but unaffected by the temperature. But he still felt the sting of frozen flakes falling onto his forehead, and other parts of his body. The hedgehog noticed that his outward breaths were visible, perhaps an indication of the bitter conditions around him.
But something as 'trivial' as this would not stop Shadow. The dark hedgehog turned, and began walking down the street, unaware of the bat watching him from a high up window.
Shadow walked down the street, watching the fellow passers-by to gather some clues. Some were hurrying, rubbing their hands to get warmth into them. Others were walking calmly, unaffected by the weather. Shop owners were grumbling as they shovelled show away from the entrance of their business. The only happy people were the children, who seemed to be enjoying the snow more than they would a million dollars.
'Maria would be like them to, if she was here...' Shadow thought. 'But why?'
Something caught Shadow's attention. A large collection of children had gathered in a nearby park, decorated in a far-reaching white coat. Perhaps some answers could be found there.
"Wow! Look at all this snow! I haven't seen Station Square like this in a long time!" Amy Rose stated, looking around her in awe.
"It's amazing!" Tails said, looking around him.
"I still don't see why I had to come along..." Knuckles flatly stated, unimpressed by the weather.
"Oh hush." Amy replied, pointing a pink-gloved finger at the echidna. "Would you rather be alone guarding your emerald on the Island than here with friends?"
"Yes, actually."
"Tsk, check out Knuckles the Grinch!" Tails mocked Knuckles' seriousness.
Knuckles raised an eyebrow at the young fox. "...Right..."
"Isn't this just great Cheese?" Cream said, holding the hand of her Chao friend with one hand and the hand of her mother in the other.
"Chao-chao!" Cheese replied, happily.
"Hey Cream!" Tails said, seeing the approaching rabbits and Chao.
"Mister Tails! Miss Amy! Mister Knuckles!" Cream happily said, realising her mother's hand as she and Cheese rushed over as fast as they could to the others.
"Hey Cream and Cheese!" Amy greeted them. "Hello Vanilla."
"Hello Amy." Cream's mother warmly returned the greeting. "Hello Tails and Knuckles."
"Hello Miss Rabbit." Tails replied.
Knuckles replied oddly with an unexpected sneeze, which caused the others to laugh, and Knuckles to have a strange colouring on his cheeks.
"This is fantastic snow, huh?" Tails asked Cream.
"I've never seen it like this before!" Cream replied, and Cheese nodded in agreement.
From a distance, Shadow watched the conversation with interest. All, apart from Knuckles, seemed to be enjoying themselves. Shadow could not imagine any logical reason for finding any sort of pleasure from these conditions. In fact, the dark hedgehog was beginning to dislike the snow more and more; it was annoying him by landing on his nose and on some occasions attempting to blind him.
Glancing around, Shadow saw kids everywhere. There were kids with sledges, sliding down hills. Groups of children throwing sphere-like shapes of snow towards each other. Kids collecting snow together in piles to resemble animal shapes. And they were all so happy.
'Why... Why can't I feel as happy as they are?' Shadow thought to himself, frowning.
Shadow sighed again, beginning to think that this was a wasted mission, and began to turn around to leave the park.
His senses picked up an incoming missile, directed towards his skull. In a swift motion, Shadow spun around and caught it in his hand.
Some of the kids nearby gasped at what they had seen, while the hedgehog smirked.
'It takes more than that to defeat the Ultimate Life Form!' He thought to himself, looking into his hand. It seemed to be a ball of snow, which had been thrown at him. This caused him to frown again, titling his head slightly at the ball.
"Nice catch Shads!" A painfully familiar voice called to him.
Looking up, he saw the trademark smirk of the blue hedgehog known as Sonic. Shadow's eyes narrowed, and his hand clenched together, squashing the snow in his hand.
"Hello faker, and I thought I told you never to call me that." Shadow coldly replied.
Sonic shook his head, still smiling. "And a merry Christmas to you too!" He joked.
"...Whatever." Shadow replied, shaking the snow out of his hand. "I was just about to leave."
"Going so soon? All the gang's here!"
"...All?" Shadow questioned.
"Hey Shadow." Rouge's voice came from behind him.
Glancing over, he saw that it was Rouge the Bat, wrapped up well for the cold. Shadow just nodded to her, before turning back to Sonic. "I guess I will stay, seeing as how I have no other choice..."
Sonic's smile seemed to grow, for a reason Shadow could not imagine. "Great! Now come on, Cream and Tails are building a snow-Sonic! I'm sure you'd love to help with that!" Sonic stated, before racing off towards the group.
Shadow shook his head.
"Found any answers yet?" Rouge asked, moving beside him.
Shadow glanced at the bat. "...Not quite."
"Well, what's the question?"
Shadow smirked at her. "Always looking for answers?" He replied.
"Something's bothering you Shadow, you've been like this all December."
His smirk faded, as he looked away to the park of children.
He did not reply, still assuming that Rouge would not understand his situation. He did not just feel alone, he did not believe he was alone. He knew he was alone. For him, there was no saviour, no Father Christmas, no presents under the tree. Nothing but the bitter winds and frozen ground around him.
"Shadow?" Rouge asked again, seeing that in Shadow's crimson eyes was hidden pain. Whatever he was hiding from her, he wasn't doing it well.
"Nothing, I'm heading back..."
Shadow was interrupted by Rouge grabbing his arm.
"Shadow, I'm not going to let you leave here until you tell me what is bothering you."
The dark hedgehog attempted to walk away, but was surprised by Rouge's firm grip still holding onto her arm.
Shadow looked at her directly in the eyes, with the intent of intimidating her into letting go. But he found something else. In her eyes, there was a look of pleading. Silently, she wanted to know what the Ultimate Life Form was thinking. For some reason, at least in that moment and for reasons that alluded him, Shadow could not refuse.
"...This is my first Christmas without Maria..." Shadow almost whispered, looking down at the ground. "...Maria always wanted to feel real snow..."
A silence followed, one that seemed to last a million Decembers. The both stood there, Rouge's hand still holding his arm, but tenderly now rather than forcefully. Shadow continued to look down, in a mixed state of shame and sadness.
What followed took the Ultimate Life Form so much by surprise that none of this senses could have prepared him for it.
Rouge suddenly embraced the hedgehog in a tight, warm hug. Shadow, strangely out of a long unused instinct, hugged back, resting his head on her shoulder.
"I'm... I'm sorry Shadow..." Rouge began to say. "...I know how close you were to Maria, and I didn't think..."
"No..." Shadow interrupted. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have kept this from you...".
The hug continued the two lost in the snowfall around them, and the playing kids nearby. They had their own little world for that moment. Their own December.
Eventually, they broke off the hug, and looked at each other smiling.
"Thank you Rouge."
"No problem!" Rouge winked, giving him the thumbs up. "Anytime."
"Actually, there is one more thing..." Shadow began.
"What's that?"
"Snow... Why is everyone so happy about it?"
Rouge giggled a little at the question. "Just look around you Shadow!"
Shadow did that, looking about him.
"There's something magical about snow that's unexplainable." Rouge explained. "It's something you can't describe or feel until you've felt or seen it for yourself. It means something different for each person, but it joins us together. See how everyone's smiling?"
Shadow nodded. Everywhere there were smiling faces, from the parents watching their kids, to those covered in snow from the aftermath of a snowball fight.
"That's what they call the 'Christmas Spirit'. It effects us all, and there's no escaping it. For one short time each year, we can all join together and forget our problems and so on, and just be thankful for what we've got."
Shadow was silent, blinking.
"So... You're saying that... This is... Unexplainable?" Shadow asked, looking at Rouge.
"Yep." She replied, smiling.
Shadow returned the smile with a rare one of his own. "I think Maria would be satisfied with that answer."
The two looked at each other, before hugging again, even more warmly than before.
"Thanks Rouge. That's answered my questions."
"Anytime Shadow, anytime."
"...By the way, what were you going to ask me earlier?" Shadow asked as the second hug broke off.
"Oh, Sonic's holding a Christmas party tonight, and..."
"I'm there." Shadow smirked again, guessing the answer.
"Great!" Rouge smiled as well, grabbing Shadow by the arm again. "Come on, I know a certain Echidna who could do with some 'Christmas Spirit'.
Author notes: I'd like to personally wish everyone a Merry Chirstmas, and a Happy Fan-Fic-Filled New Year for whatever year this is being read in!