Christmas Carol

Chapter 2: MARIA!?

"Well, I wouldn't say that's the furthest we've attempted to get Shadow to like Christmas." Sonic walks into Amy's living room with two cups of hot chocolate in both hands. He hands one to her and she takes it immediately, sipping the hot liquid quickly. He sat down next to her on her sofa. "I would say that's the best attempt we've ever made. I mean, in all my years working with him, you were the first to make contact. We would all leave him alone because he always gets grouchy every-time we mention Christmas, and he never attends every party we each host, no matter how much invitations we sent him." He sips his hot chocolate. He pulls the cup away from his lips with a chuckle. "Now I know what he has been doing to them. Using them as fuel for his fireplace." He hears a cup slam down onto the coffee table. He sees that Amy has already finished her hot chocolate. He looks at her. "Man, I knew Shadow was harsh, but I didn't think that he would be that harsh, especially to you." She sighs sadly to herself.

"I don't know what I did wrong..." She looks at him. "All I wanted to do was spend Christmas with him. I didn't think that he would...shut me out like that. I don't know what's gotten into him." Sonic shrugs, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world. If he doesn't like Christmas, he doesn't like Christmas. Simple as that." She shook her head and shrugs off his hand off her shoulder.

"It's not that he dislikes Christmas, he hates Christmas. There's a difference Sonic." She stands up from the sofa and her eyes averted to the picture hanging above the T.V in front of the sofa. The picture of Amy and Shadow sitting under a tree in the park. Shadow had a slight scowl on his face while she had her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his chest. You could see that Shadow had a small blush on his cheeks. And that picture was taken a few months ago, at Cream's birthday party. She sighs to herself, looking away form the photo. "I don't know what to do..."

The house phones rings so suddenly, they both glance at the phone. Amy looks at Sonic, gesturing him to pick up the phone for her. He shuffles over and picks it up the phone. "Hello?" A pause was heard, nothing bunch noises coming form the other side. She watches and by the look on Sonic's face, something was wrong. "W-Wait, what happened to him?" Another bunch of noises were heard, and Sonic nods. "We'll be on our way." He hangs up. She looks at him, worry clear in her eyes.

"What happened?" He stands up from her sofa and holding her hand.

"We have a larger issue than Shadow right now. One of our colleagues are in need of our support." He picks her up bridal style. "We have to go." He speeds our of her home, with the door slamming closed and locking itself.

"And have a happy new year!" Shadow slams the door closed after exiting the book store. Okay, so he decided to come out of the house, just to get some more books, to pass the time. He just couldn't believe he came around in choosing a book the employee suggested for him.

Flashback

Currently in a particular section, Shadow was looking up at the book shelf, looking at a book hat seemed to have caught his attention.

Fifty Shades of Grey

He reaches up and grabs it, seemingly satisfied with the title and cover. He walks over tot he counter to where a Mobian girl was waiting. Also there was two more gentle men behind her. One of them stacking bookshelves and the other stamping the books. He put the book on the counter while he reaches behind to get his wallet out. He pulled it out, but some papers fell out of his wallet. He mutters 'shit' under his breath before crouching down to pick them up. Once he picked up the last one, he froze. It was the picture of him and Amy from the park. He stood back up, still staring at the photo. He completely forgot about what happened to Amy. He shrugs, putting the photo back in his wallet. He planned on apologising to her after Christmas. "That would be $2 sir..." Shadow chuckles.

"Only?" She nods. He reaches into his wallet and gave her the money. She looks at him confused.

"What? No Christmas tip?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I'm not really fond of Christmas." She nods seemingly to understand, but she smiles slyly at him.

"Who was the girl in your photo? Your girlfriend?" He frowns slightly.

"Why do you want to know?" She shrugs.

"I bet she's the cheerful one, huh? Very into the holiday season?" He reluctantly nods.

"She is, so into Christmas, I don't fit well. Which is why I hate Christmas."

"Nothing will stop you from changing your mind, but by the look on your face it seems that it the holiday season to you is to make other people miserable. Like you did with her, didn't you?" He looks at her with eyes wide. How the hell could she read his mind like that, by the look on his face?! He gives her a glare before taking the book off the counter. He was about to leave until she called out to him. "Hold on, I wasn't finished." Shadow growls quietly to himself, turning around and walking back to her. She smiles at him. "You seem like a special person, and for that, I would like to give you a book for free." He frowns.

"What book?" She crouches down below the counter. She stood back up and she places a book on it. The title is what got his attention.

The Christmas Carol

He looks at her suspiciously while she shrugs innocently. "I think it's a great book for you to read. And guilty, it does have something to do with Christmas, but at least you have something good to read, right? I think this would be good for you." He sighs, taking the book and turning away. She smiles. "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

The door slams closed.

Flashback Ended

That girl was pretty weird, don't you think? But he would read the book soon enough, maybe tonight. Shadow walks down the streets, with the same dark, gloomy aura around him. He looks around and so many cheesy christmas decorations were out. Maybe he should've went to the bookstore earlier in the past few months. But no, he had to cancel that and go to Cream's party with Amy Rose. Ouch, Shadow could feel that burning in his heart once he thought about that. He didn't know what that was, and he didn't like it. He needed to get home soon anyways. Shadow reaches behind him and took out a Chaos Emerald. He holds it high up into the air and opens his mouth. "CHAOS CONTROL!" A green light evolves around him and in a flash, literally, he's gone.

A few hours later...

Shadow was resting on his bed late night, reading the Christmas Carol book to himself. His eyes concentrating on the words and reading every single detail. The story was very interesting indeed, and it got him hooked and for some reason, he could relate to the main character. He continues reading to himself, until he hears his door creaking. He looks up, the door was open. He growls to himself, standing up from his bed and walking over to the open door. He closes it, but he hears footsteps behind him. He turns around swiftly, there was no one there. His eyes narrowed, a chaos starting to form in his hand. "Who's there?" No one answers. He looks around the room while walking slowly to the middle of the room. So far nothing seemed wrong, except he sees a unusual shadow by his bed. He blinks and the shadow was gone. 'What the fuck?' He was thinking to himself is this was some sort of prank. He growls to himself. "I swear when I see Amy Rose again, I'm gonna-" He turns around only to have the fright of his life. He yelps jumping backwards onto the floor. His eyes were wide focusing on what was standing up giggling.

I-It was a girl, a human girl, she looks so happy and healthy. But something was unusual about her. She had this aura around her, matching her blonde hair and fair skin perfectly. And she looks a little transparent. But this girl wasn't just any girl. Shadow stood up still in shock of her appearance. "M-Maria!?" She smiles at him.

"It is I Shadow, I see you're surprised to see me." Shadow shook his head and rubbing his eyes, making sure he's not hallucinating. She giggles. "Shadow, I'm not a hallucination. I'm the real thing." Her smile smile died down a bit. "Well, what's left of me that is." When she said that it made Shadow's heart burn up as well. There was that feeling again.

"Maria..." He looks up at her sadly. "I-I'm sorry for doing this to you. I'm sorry I took your life away from you." She giggles at him.

"Shadow, it was my choice at the time. It was worth dying for you. And besides, it's not me you should apologise to." He groans to himself while crossing his arms.

"I already made it clear that I would apologise after Christmas."

"Ah huh! That's why I'm here." She walks around him forcing SHadow to turn around. "I'm here to talk to you about your attitude about Christmas." He scoffs turning back around and crossing his arms.

"You're wasting your time, Amy already tried to convince me, it didn't go so well." She appears in front of him.

"That's another reason why I'm here." He let his arms go loose by his sides as looks at her confused.

"What the fuck? What are you? My guardian angel?!" It was meant to be sarcasm but he was caught off guard when she nods. He looks at her surprised. "Y-You've been watching me?" She nods.

"I've been watching you ever since I died. Even your time inside the capsule. It was boring at first because, it's not fun watching the same person for 50 years straight on sleep. But then my cousin woke you up, and that's where I begin to watch and then, here we are. I've even seen the way you spend your time on Christmas, just being by yourself stuck in this old house, and by seeing other people filled with joy, your hatred to Christmas grew and grew each year. I was sick of it, I was. But, this morning what you did to her, was the last straw for me. Which is why I am here now, I'm here to tell you to pick up your act." Shadow chuckles to himself and he turns to her with a cold stare.

"Do those losers think just by sending you to convince me to like Christmas is gonna work?" She looks at him confused for a second and shook her head.

"Sonic and the others have nothing to do with me being here, and I maybe be the one to help you like Christmas. BUt that would be a miracle seeing as to how you treated the love of your life. I'm not gonna convince, I'm here to tell you what's going to happen tonight." Shadow frowns slightly.

"What?" She sighs to herself looking at him.

"I can't believe I'm doing this to you Shadow, but this is for your own good." She holds up three fingers in her hand. "Tonight Shadow, I am going to send you three spirits of Christmas. They are wise and very convincing. I want you to listen to them and if you're lucky, they will help you." He scoffs.

"And what happens if I don't?" Maria's aura turns into a grim blue once she sees what was outside of his window.

"You'll become like them..." Shadow follows her gaze and turns to the window of his bedroom. He warily walks over to the window and when he looks there were thousands of Humans and Mobians covered in chains of some sort. They weren't like Maria, they didn't have auras like her. They were transparent, but nothing like Maria, they were dull and dead. All of them each surrounded and caught in chains. He steps back form the window looking grim.

"W-What happened to them?" She sighs.

"They went through the same situation you went through, but at different times. So, their punishment was for their souls to remain covered in the 'Chains of Selfishness'." Shadow looks back out the window and he could see the one person he recognises with chains.

Gerald Robotnik...

Shadow gasps before turning away and he looks up at her. She looks at him sadly. "I unfortunately couldn't make it to my grandfather. He suffered the price." Shadow shakes his head out of those thoughts. He glares up at her.

"I don't know what your game is, but this has gotta be the most stupid prank I have ever been involved in. Why don't you go back to Amy Rose and tell her, that it's over between us." The last thing Shadow saw of Maria was her face of sadness before he turns around and crosses his arms. Hearing no movement he growls to himself. "Didn't you hear what I just-" He gasps surprised to see Maria has disappeared. He frowns slightly rubbing his neck. "I guess it worked."

Hey guys, just gonna let you guys know that this chapter was supposed to be uploaded yesterday, but do to some internet problems, I couldn't upload it. Just to let you guys know that I'm gonna be busy for today because I will be helping my mum with some cooking for Christmas. But when I'm done, I'm gonna get the next chapter done.

And I am still in need of two more OCs, both male. I have already described them in the first chapter, so please check it out. I already got a OC for a female one so no need to worry. Who it is, I won't tell because It will be a surprise (not really much of a surprise one you think about it, but oh well)

KatDingo over and out