Christmas Carol
Chapter 3: Christmas Past
Shadow was asleep in his bed with the Christmas Carol book in his hands, his light snoring could be heard in the room and also by another figure. A silhouette could be seen in the shadows, the body figure of a female and the wings of a raven on her back. Her blue eyes examined the dark hedgehog. She walks cautiously over to him and to look at him sleeping peacefully. Her hand hovers over his face and when her hand clenches, his eyes went wide open. He looks up to see the silhouette smiling down at him. "Good evening Shadow the Hedgehog!" He screams shuffling back against the wall. She smiles clicking her fingers and the lights came on. His eyes went even wider once he saw that she was the same girl from the bookstore. She was a brown wolf with angel wings, and she still had that friendly smile on her face. No wonder he had a strange feeling about the girl in the bookstore. He shook his head, making sure he's not hallucinating again. "Relax Shadow you're not seeing things. I'm the real thing." He narrows his eyes at her.
"This is a stupid prank, I know it." She shakes her head before looking at him confused.
"Seriously? Didn't Maria tell you that I was coming?" He frowned knowing his situation with her before.
"Right...She said that three spirits were coming..." He yelps once she grabs his hand and drags him off his bed. He stands up while she giggles.
"Yep! And I'm one of them!" He looks at her confused while snatching his hand back from her. He also eyes her suspiciously.
"Who are you exactly? What are you exactly?" Her eyes went wide a bit after his question. She then giggles to herself.
"I'm sorry, where are my manners today?" She then does a lady bow to him before rising back up. "I am Alicia the Wolf, Ghost of Christmas Past." He frowns slightly.
"Christmas Past? Is that why you are here, to show me how Christmas started?" After that statement, she laughs to herself.
"No silly, we are gonna visit your Christmas past." His eyes went wide.
"M-M-MY CHRISTMAS PAST!?" She nods and lends her hand out.
"I am here to show you your Christmas past, come with me and I will help you." He shook his head.
"I don't want to do anything with my past." She gives him a reassuring look.
"I know it's weird seeing someone you hardly know suddenly appear in your room, but you have to trust me. I'm here to help you." Her eyes gestured to the hand she's lending out. He just stood there, looking at her hand with a mix of emotions. He didn't know what to do, usually he would scoff in her face and tell her to go away. But, here he is in this position. And earlier today, he knows he had been harsh towards Amy Rose and Maria, time to silently make up for it. Besides, he has to do something other than sleep all night. Maybe it would be a good experience. He takes her hand into his, but it didn't feel right to him. Knowing that he's holding another girls hand, instead of his girlfriends.
He shakes it out of his head. He turns to Alicia to see her smiling at him. "Alright, let's go!" She clicks her fingers making a portal open in front of them. She jumps in dragging Shadow with her. Once inside, they were both surrounded by the colour blue circling in a tunnel like motion. She spreads her wings and they flapped hard making them travel through the portal even faster. She laughs with joy while he still kept an emotionless face. However, what got his attention was what was at the end of the blue tunnel. A bright light flash blinded him from seeing where he ended up at. When he opened his eyes, they went wide.
They were in a dining room covered in Christmas decorations, but on the table was a young black with red streaks hedgehog leaning on the table looking down his food. That hedgehog looked to be Shadow the Hedgehog himself. Shadow narrows his eyes at Alicia. "What is the meaning of this?! I don't ever recall myself being a child!" She shrugs.
"That's because you don't remember the times you had before you became the Ultimate Life Form." His gaze on her softened into a a confused gaze.
"W-What?" She smiles at him before looking at the young Shadow in front of them.
"You poor thing, you never knew you had a life before you became the Ultimate Life Form. Before Maria and Gerald, you had siblings and a mother and father, your real ones. You were all a very close family and loved each other, look..." He turns his gaze to the younger self on the dinner table. He cautiously walks over to him and waves his hand in front of his face. The young Mobian had no reaction. Shadow pulls back surprised. She giggles walking over to him. "Don't bother Shadow, no one can see us or hear us or even feel us. It's just a precaution, to make sure that no one can attempt to change the present." He looks back at her.
"Why is it just me right now? Where's my-"
"SHADOW!" He turns his head and sees a red hedgehog with black streaks running towards the younger Shadow. Her hairstyle is like Amy's one, but it reaches her tail and her fringe is similar to that of Maria's fringe. Shadow's eyes went wide upon the sight of her. He turns to Alicia.
"Is she?" Alicia nods.
"She is your sister." Shadow turns back to the two young ones. "Your older brother has already grown up and is expecting a child, so it was only you and your sister, Ruby." Ruby jumps onto her brother knocking him to the ground. Young Shadow shook his head and looks down to see Ruby still trying to wrestle him down.
"Ruby! Stop, I'll get into trouble!" She shakes her head before he groans. "Seriously, I haven't finished my food!" She giggles snuggling into his chest-fur.
"No, I gonna stay here." He sighs as the surroundings became blurry for the actual Shadow to see anything. Mist surrounds the both of them making it hard to see anything as everything went black. He frowns to himself, having just witnessed his younger self, yet for it to just disappear.
"What's happening?" Alicia frowns a bit to herself.
"Well, years went past with you and your sister. And when she turned 10, this happened." She waves her hand making mist around him clear to show a dark brick wall with a front cover of a newspaper sticking on a it. He walks over to it to read it clearly, his eyes went wide.
MURDER: THE VICTIM A 10 YEAR OLD HEDGEHOG GIRL!
He looks back at Alicia. "Sh-She died?" She nods waving her hand again showing Shadow himself around the age of 12 sleeping underneath the Christmas tree located in his living room. In his arms was a piece of paper, which he is holding near his chest. Another piece of paper was next to him, so is another, and another. Then they found out that there were multiple of papers around him. Shadow sees one that is clear enough to read, he kneels down and reads out loud.
Dear Santa,
I know you're busy and tending to every child's needs...but, right now I need something that is very precious to me. Don't give me any presents because right now they don't matter to me. Not even an action figure can fix what has been crushed in my family. Because recently, my younger sister has been murdered by a sick man. I tried to save her, but it was too late. I called the police, contacted my parents, I tried to get every doctor to make sure she's alive, but she's gone, forever. And what's worse, she died on my watch. If it weren't for that ice-cream truck that drove by, I would've stuck to her side. So, I do request, and I am desperate for this, and I am aware that this is impossible but...
I would like my sister back...
"'Thank you'" He finishes reading and he glances over to his younger self. He was so cuddled up into a ball, wishing with false hope that his sister would come back. Shadow sighs to himself, knowing that such an action he himself requested was impossible. Footsteps snaps him out of his thoughts, he whips his head around to see a black hedgehog which looks like him, but doesn't have any streaks walk over to the younger Shadow. Shadow himself stood up at the sight of him while Alicia walks to his side.
"That's your father..." He looks at her.
"My father?" She nods and gestures her head towards the sight in front of her. His father looks around the living with a sigh.
"I'm sorry my son, but your sister is never coming back." He picks up young Shadow in his arms, he turns around only to be encountered by a red hedgehog.
"The poor boy has suffered to much, with the death of both his brother and sister. I hope we keep him for as long I live..." Shadow's father nods.
"We will...I promise you Rosetta that I would make sure that nothing happens to him." She hugs her husband and caressing Shadow's head in her palms.
"I know you will Dark, I know you will." The scene turns blurry again, making more mist appear and everything went black. Alicia looks at Shadow sadly.
"Okay, so maybe a few memories weren't so happy. Both your siblings dies so it was only you and your parents. But, there is a happy memory that we didn't look at yet." He looks at her confused.
"What?" She giggles waving her hands making another scene appear. It was Shadow sitting in a park by himself. The actual Shadow looks at Alicia. "He doesn't look any younger than me, he just looks like me." Alicia nods.
"Yeah, this is the age you are physically in right now, only he doesn't have the same type of shoes and inhibitor rings you have. You were just a regular hedgehog, of course like others, you had powers. The power of speed. He's 15 years old." Shadow looks back to himself, who was just sitting on the wooden bench looking emotionless. Shadow walks over to himself and examine his face, nothing to track. He looks at Alicia.
"I can't read any emotion from him." She giggles to herself.
"Yeah, ever since Ruby died and you grew up, you start to mature and any cheerfulness left inside you were gone over the years, until this happened." His attention turns back to himself. Shadow sighs to himself as a breeze fell in and that made him shiver a bit. He wraps his scarf around him more tight until his scarf started to vibrate. He takes off his scarf and what fell into the snow beneath him was a mobile phone. He groans to himself, bending down, picking it up, wiping flakes off the screen and touches the screen. He puts the phone near his ear.
"Hello?" Alicia snaps her fingers making the background to split into two sections. On the other section was Dark on the house phone in the kitchen while his wife prepares dinner.
"Hey son, I just wanted to let you know that dinner is almost ready, and that we would really appreciate it if you showed up on time." Shadow chuckles a bit on the other section.
"Yeah, well now everyone's gotta be eager for dinner every afternoon at 4:00 p.m." Dark smiles a little at his remark.
"I see, well I'm just calling to remind you, be home soon." Dark hangs up making his section disappear and focus on only Shadow sitting on the bench, putting his phone back into his scarf. He lifts himself form the bench, standing up and wiping any snow off his body. However, the actual Shadow was frowning when he sees nothing interesting happen so far.
"Nothing's interesting happened so far..." Alicia shushes him and points to his past self.
"Wait and see..." Past Shadow was about to walk until a red scarf hits him in the face, and he could feel a strong wind knock him off balance and land into the snow. He shakes his head, taking off the scarf and let out a sneeze.
"Bless you..." He froze when he sees a beautiful pink hedgehog in front of him. She blushes embarrassed when she sees her scarf in his hands. "I-I'm sorry, but you have my scarf, the wind was strong." He snaps into reality and stands up.
"Oh, it's not like I couldn't handle it." She giggles a bit.
"You fell into the snow." He gives her a small smile, handing out her scarf. "For you..." She takes it and wraps around her neck. He watches her entranced while she looks at him curiously. He shakes his head while lending out his hand to her. "I'm sorry, my name is Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog." She smiles at him before shaking it.
"Amelia Rose." He sighs in a trance by her beauty.
"Amelia..." She blushes at his trance and glances away from him shyly. He blinks snapping out of it...again. He give her a reassuring look. "I'm sorry for my behaviour, do want me to make it up to you? Coffee maybe? It's on me." She smiles at him.
"I would love to." The scene becomes blurry again when the background fades to black and mist appears again. Shadow was in shock after what he had saw. He looks at Alicia.
"THAT GIRL LOOKED LIKE AMY!" She nods while smiling at him.
"Yeah! Isn't that great!?" He shakes his head.
"No! It's not okay! Why does she look like Amy!?"
"Oh yeah, she's Amy's grandmother. She's dead now but you ended up with her even more beautiful granddaughter." Shadow gulps to himself.
"Uh, please don't tell me that me and her, uh, had sex." Alicia blushes a bit at what he was implying.
"No, no you didn't. In fact, you're still a virgin right now." Shadow face-palms.
"Thanks for telling me..." She grins widely.
"Your welcome!" Her grin fades when she realises what the next thing she had to show him. "Um, here's when you learn the truth about your creation. Here it is, you and your new girlfriend were ice-skating for Christmas, but something happens..." She waves her hands making the mist clear and it shows his past self and Amelia standing extremely still. Below both of them were cracks of the ice. Amelia whimpers knowing she had more ice cracks than Shadow.
"Shadow...they're spreading." He gives her a hand gesture to calm down.
"It's alright, I'm thinking of something." She looks at him a bit hopeful.
"Can't you use your speed to get us out?" He shakes his head.
"No, because if I do that, you'll break through before I could retrieve you." She bites her lip as she hears more cracks from beneath her.
"Shadow, better think of something fast." He looks around for something to save them both, until his eyes landed on something shiny in the snow. He looks closer, and it was a green emerald of some sort. And that gave him an idea. He looks at Amelia.
"Sweetheart, you're fast on ice, right?" She nods slowly. He smirks at her before gesturing his head over to the emerald. "I bet you can't get to that emerald before I can." She frowns at him.
"Shadow, we're in a life threatening situation, and you want to race me?" More cracks were heard below her and that made her whimper. She looks at him worriedly. "Okay, you're on." She took off leaving a path of ice separating and the sight made Shadow take off. The real Shadow looks at the scene in deep interest of his past, the past he never knew of. They were both head to head while skating away from the cracking open ice. Amelia grunts while pushing herself past the limit and lands softly into the snow on land, with Shadow following afterwards. They both pop their heads out of the snow while looking back. They both made it out of the ice on time. Amelia sighs relieved while Shadow was holding up the green emerald, in the shape of a diamond for some reason. She raises her eyebrow at the sight of it. "What is that?" Shadow shrugs.
"I don't know..." They both heard a gun click behind them.
"And you'll never find out..." Hearts beating faster than before, they both turn back to see a man with grey hair pointing a gun at them. He lends a hand out to them. "Give me the Chaos Emerald and no one gets hurt." Shadow's eyes went wide.
"A-A, Chaos Emerald?!" He turns his gaze at the gem in his hand. The real Shadow frowns.
"What is he doing?" Alicia shrugs.
"I don't know, you tell me." He looks back at his past self and he seemed concentrated into the powerful gem. And that's when he realises, when a huge flash blinded them everyone. He looks back and his past self is gone. Another flash blinds them again and Shadow was behind the man. The man turns and started shooting at Shadow, making him fall to the ground with the green emerald in his hands. Amelia screams while the scene becomes blurry and the background fades to black and mist appears. Alicia looks at Shadow to see his reaction. Shadow was stunned. "Shadow?" He looks away from her.
"Is that the reason why they saw me as a weapon?" She shakes her head slowly.
"Not really, because it was only one human who saw that. After your death, the human brought you back to Space Colony Ark because you have the Chao Emerald stuck in your hands. After the failed prototype Gerald created for Project: Shadow, he decides to use your deceased body to become an even more advanced creation than Biolizard. Black Doom obviously existed, using his DNA to give you life and to have more generic features of Black Arms." Shadow looks at her confused.
"What do you mean? I always remained the same through out my history." Alicia giggles.
"I know, which was why I was trying to mess with you. Anyways, your colours became more darker and contrasted on your fur and skin, and you gain ultimate powers from your creation and something even more powerful. You received immortality. That green emerald became your signature emerald. There's nothing else to show you anyways, since you never really celebrated Christmas on Space Colony Ark. However, I'm gonna show you a recent Christmas which occurred last year." She waves her hand making mist disappear and it shows Shadow sitting in a chair in front of the fire place while Sonic was behind him.
"Shadow, come on, it's Christmas! Everyone would really like it if you showed up. Besides, every Christmas all you do is sit in your old home and read old books while hating Christmas for whatever reason unknown." Shadow stands up while walking away form Sonic. He groans to himself. "Unbelievable Shadow! Why do you hate Christmas anyways?" Shadow looks back at him in a death glare making Sonic remain in his spot looking quite intimidated at his gaze. Shadow points towards the door.
"Get the fuck out of my house. RIGHT NOW!" Sonic shakes his head.
"No, not until you tell me the reason why you hate it." Shadow shakes his head growling frustrated.
"Christmas is a waste of time! I don't get why everyone could live in happiness in only just one day." Sonic looks at Shadow shocked.
"Shadow, do you even know why the humans celebrate Christmas?" Shadow shakes his head.
"I don't know, nor do I care." He points to the door. "Now for the last time, get the fuck out." Sonic shakes his head.
"Nope, I'm gonna tell you anyway. Humans celebrate Christmas because it's supposedly a religious thing because..."
"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" Shadow makes a Chaos Spear appear in his hand. "Get the fuck out!" Sonic gulps before dashing out the door and down the street. Shadow shakes his head looking down.
"Why do I hate Christmas...?" The scene fades to another scene showing scene showing a woman and a man in a barn with her screaming as she made lots of grunting noises. Shadow looks at Alicia.
"What is this?" Alicia looks at him.
"The reason why Christmas exists, and what Christmas is supposed to be about." Her final scream made a baby cry. A baby appears in the man's arms covered in blood while the woman looked very tired. The man cleans him looking down at him.
"Jesus..." The scene fades making Shadow stunned.
"A baby, a baby was born." Alicia shakes her head.
"No, not just any baby. A human religion called Christianity created Christmas to celebrate the birth of their saviour, Jesus Christ."
"Then how did Santa get around?" She shrugs.
"I don't know, but Jesus Christ was the true meaning of Christmas. All this time Shadow, you've been hating on a birthday of a baby boy." Shadow shakes his head.
"No, I refuse to make this change my mind on Christmas. My past may be the true reason why I hate Christmas but the way they changed it till now has made it more into a joke." Alicia looks at him worried.
"Shadow, that wasn't why I was trying to point out-"
"But you know it's true, just by seeing this makes me hate it even more." Alicia glares at him.
"Then when you hate it it means that you wish Jesus Christ never existed. You'll take happiness away from so many people." Shadow returns the glare.
"Then I'll gladly accept that." Alicia gasps in shock.
"Shadow, you can't do that!" Shadow chuckles darkly while a Chaos Spear appears in his hand.
"I refuse to let this stupid joke and dream get to me." He throws it towards her only for her to disappear and the whole scene to change to his bedroom and make him hit his head on the ground. He blinks seeing that he was back in his room and to see that he has fallen off his bed. He scoffs to himself while crawling back into his bed. "I knew it was just a dream."
Okay, this is my take on Shadow's past. I just did it like this because I wanted to show the childhood of Shadow, but since he was created already grown up...I made it look like that his Christmas past was very shitty, which was the reason why he hates Christmas...
Anyways, I was very busy during Christmas that I couldn't complete it on time. And the fact that my brother's birthday came afterwards didn't help. Not to mention that I walked into a pole while we were out. I had a huge bump on my head. According to my brother that was the best gift he got. :/ But I'm fine now.
And about the OCs, I don't need anymore, thank you. All spots are filled out, thank you.
Thank you aliciathewolf45 for letting me use your character. I hope you liked the chapter :D.
Alicia the Wolf belongs to aliciathewolf45.
KatDingo over and out.