A/N: I am so sorry this is late! I couldn't log in, for some reason. Anyway, here is the Shadow Christmas Special! I hope you like it! ~PierceTheBre


Endless Shadow Oneshots, Chapter 6 - Shadow Christmas Special

Shadow felt a slight smile creep onto his face as he watched the first snow fall from his living room window. He had a fluffy blanket wrapped around himself, and a cup of hot chocolate sitting on the small desk next to him. The skin was forming on the top of the drink, for Shadow hadn't touched it. Instead, he had subconsciously made it while thinking about Maria. I know she loved the snow. She talked about it all the time, and once, on the A.R.K., she made a cup of hot chocolate for both of us. I disliked it, but she loved it. He had made the drink in her honor.

He took a long look around his living room. He had a small Christmas tree up, with no presents underneath and nothing but a star ornament on the top. Shadow hadn't gotten a present in 50 years, when Maria and Professor Gerald had given him a picture frame and a camera, so Shadow could always have them in his memory, Maria had said. Later that night, they all took a picture together by the Christmas tree up on the A.R.K.. When Maria had blasted Shadow off into space, he'd secretly taken the photograph and the picture frame with him. It sat up in his room now, the one material possession he had from Maria, his one way to remember her.

Shadow was jerked out of his memory when he heard his doorbell ring. "Visitors? Just when it starts snowing?" he mumbled to himself as he got up. Despite being irritated that he had been interrupted from his thoughts, he had to admit that between the mixture of the snow on the ground outside, the starless night sky, the cup of hot chocolate that was now growing cold, and the sound of nothing except for the crackling fireplace, he was growing lonely.

When Shadow opened the door, he was met with an explosive chorus of voices.

"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year! Good tidings to you, wherever you are - "

"What is this?!" Shadow snapped. The Sonic Team was lined up horizontally, with Sonic in the middle. Tails (who had been singing noticably off-key) and Knuckles were on either side of him. The others were Rouge and Amy. They were all shivering, huddled up in their winter coats.

"We're singing Christmas carols, Shadow!" Amy squealed as her eyes grew wide.

"I can see that," Shadow scoffed. "Why do you have to come to my house? Isn't there any other people you can harass with your pitiful noise?"

Knuckles laughed. "I thought his reaction would have been worse."

"Guess he's in a good mood today," Sonic teased. And honestly, other than feeling lonesome, Shadow was in a fairly good mood.

"What you're doing is so cheesy, I can't even believe you all could be this pathetic." He then smirked. "Actually, maybe I can."

Rouge let out a flirtatious little laugh. "You think this is cheesy? Just wait until you see what we have planned."

Shadow looked through the group of anthropomorphic animals as he felt his suspiscion rising. "What exactly would that be?"

Sonic grinned. "Actually, old pal, we've got a lot of things planned for you." With that, he pulled out a small gift.

"What is that?" Shadow asked.

"A present, obviously," Sonic replied.

"For who?"

"You."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes...!"

"Why?"

"Why not?" Sonic said. "You're an okay guy, when you want to be. And decent people deserve decent gifts on Christmas."

Shadow sighed. He wasn't used to Sonic making kind gestures like this.

"I didn't get anyone else anything."

"It's fine. We all already exchanged gifts. We just didn't want you to be left alone on a holiday like today."

"I'm perfectly capable here by myself. Why don't you all just leave?" Shadow said.

"No, Shadow!" Tails shouted. "Please. We all have a present for you. Let us spread some cheer."

"Go spread it elsewhere."

"No!" Amy snapped. "We're going to make your holiday special, and you're going to like it!"

Shadow glared at the pink hedgehog, who barely cowered back. "You think talking like that to me is going to get me to agree to this?"

Amy shrugged. "It's worth a shot!"

"...Okay, fine. Let me see the presents. Although, I can't promise that I'll like them."

"That's fine, buddy, as long as you aren't lonely this Christmas," Sonic said.

Shadow didn't reply. Instead, he watched as Tails walked over and pulled a medium-sized box out of his coat. "Here, Shadow," Tails said as he handed the gift to Shadow. "I hope you really like it."

Shadow continued to remain silent as he opened the lid to the box. Inside was a pair of brand-new hovercraft shoes, designed specifically to fit his style and shoe size.

"I made them myself," Tails muttered. "I worked on them before I knew everyone else was going to get together and do this."

Shadow purposefully avoided Tails's eyes as he said "Thank you, Tails." He set the box down and looked around, waiting to see who else would offer him a gift.

"I want to give you this next present," Knuckles said. He walked onto Shadow's porch and handed him a extremely small package. "Careful, it's fragile."

Shadow unwrapped it, and then suddenly felt a strange, yet familiar, sensation hit him. "This can't be...?"

"It is. It's just a little shard. The Master Emerald is powerful enough that it doesn't need it to keep my island afloat."

In Shadow's hands was a tiny piece of the Master Emerald. It was barely two inches long, but he knew it must've been hard for Knuckles to part with it. "Thank you."

Knuckles backed away, and then Rouge walked up. "My present is similar to Knuckles. You had better like it. If you don't, I will drop kick you."

Shadow glanced at Rouge, and then brushed her comment off as sheer stupidity. He opened it, and in his hands he held a Chaos Emerald.
"Wow, thanks, Rouge. This is a great present."

"Better be," she huffed as she sauntered back over to her original position.

"Ooh, ooh, here's my present, Shadow!" Amy cried as she tossed over her present, which Shadow nearly missed catching. This present wasn't wrapped, or in a box. Instead, it was merely a black-and-grey checkered scarf with a Christmas bow taped on.

"Hmph."

Shadow was just about to walk back into his house, when Sonic said, "Hey. I thought you were saving the best for last!"

"Heh. Right. Can't forget about Faker's present," Shadow muttered. He turned around and met Sonic's eyes. For once, the green in them didn't imply laughter or ignorance. Instead, they seemed to suggest sympathy.

Suddenly, Shadow walked over and grabbed Sonic's present out of his hand, slowly but forcefully. He carefully unwrapped it. He felt small tears form in the corners of his eyes, and tried to lower his head so no one would see them fall. He could tell what the gift was before he had even completely unwrapped it.

It was a picture frame.

Shadow felt Sonic put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "I got it in case you had any photos of you and Maria. You know, if you ever wanted to frame any that you had. If you don't have any, well, I don't know..."

Shadow discreetly tried to wipe his tears away, and looked up. "This is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received, Sonic. Thank you so much."

Shadow saw a grin creep onto Sonic's lips. "You didn't call me Faker...!"

Shadow shrugged. "I suppose I didn't." He glanced at all the people who had made the effort to include him in their Christmas, and smiled tightly.. "Thank you, each of you. I wish I could get you all something in return, but...I don't believe there's time now."

"That's okay, Shadow!" Tails said as he buttoned up his coat. "The only gift I wanted was to see you smile!"

God, could he have been any cheesier?

The others chuckled in agreement to Tails's statement. After they had all shouted out, "Merry Christmas, Shadow!", they began their separate journeys home...all except for Sonic, who lingered behind.

"Hey, Shad, the only Christmas present I wanted was for you to call me by my real name!"

"And it will never happen again, trust me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Sonic, "That's no way to talk to the Fastest Thing Alive!"

Shadow bared his teeth at Sonic, and growled, "Get off of my property, Faker."

"Whatever you say, man." Sonic turned around and had just started to sprint off, when he shouted back, "Merry Christmas, Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"Thanks a lot, Faker!" Shadow replied. He scooped up his presents from his porch, and went into his house. He went upstairs and placed all of the gifts onto his bed, and lit a scentless candle. They had truly surprised him tonight. It was a nice surprise, but a surprise indeed.

He went back downstairs, to the desk where the hot chocolate was still sitting. He grabbed it, and returned to his bedroom. There, on a shelf above his bookcase, was the bronze-bordered picture frame Maria had given him so long ago. He pulled the photograph out carefully, and placed it into the golden-bordered one Sonic had just given him. Of course, he would keep the picture frame Maria had given him. He always would. He placed it in a drawer on his nightstand.

He took a step back from his nightstand, and looked closely at it. It had a lot of dust on it, and although Shadow liked to clean, he hadn't in a while, since his thoughts had been on Maria. He then took his finger and wrote Merry Christmas to All into the dirt. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. He'd probably wipe away the evidence of it in the morning.

With that, Shadow took one last look at the hot chocolate, blew out the candle, and crawled into bed.