Chapter 7

This was the day of the party and Christmas. Amy eagerly woke Shadow up and struggled to carry the gifts. Shadow saw her and helped her out a bit. When they got to the party, he opened the door for her. She walked in with Shadow and everyone wondered what was going on. Eventually, everyone stopped staring and enjoyed the party. Amy went around giving out gifts with Shadow close behind helping out with her gift-giving and receiving. She asked Shadow if he could give Sonic his present because she had to talk to Cream. He agreed and then, 5 minutes later, she heard an explosion of noise.

Sonic: “YOU BETTER WATCH WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO!”

Shadow: “I KNOW WHO I’M TALKING TO JERK!”

Sonic: “YOU WANNA GO BUDDY?!?”

Shadow: “BRING IT!”

Sonic: “FINE! LET’S TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!!”

Shadow with a smirk: “What’s the matter? Afraid you can’t beat me inside? That’s just what I would expect from a faker!

Sonic: “THAT’S IT! YOU ASKED FOR IT!”

Shadow: feigning despair, “Oh no! What will I ever do?", now he was serious, "Come on! Is that an invitation or a threat!?! Even in a battle to the death, you wouldn't be able to beat me!”

Sonic:"Well, let's just see about that!"

Amy heard another giant crash. "OH NO!" She thought."I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. What was I thinking?!?! Putting them together was a horrible idea!" She jumped in between them.

“STOP YOU TWO!”

Shadow: “Huh?”

Sonic took advantage of the moment and punched him in the stomach. Shadow flew against the wall. “Get outta the way Amy or you’re gonna get hurt too!” Sonic yelled. He jumped ontop of Shadow. Now he had Shadow in a headlock and Shadow could barely breathe. Shadow grabbed Sonic by the shoulders and threw him against the ceiling. When Sonic fell down, Shadow kicked him against the wall. Sonic groaned and Shadow thought he won. All of a sudden, Sonic came out of nowhere and kicked Shadow to the ground. Shadow and Sonic were both weak now, but Sonic put Shadow in another headlock only this time, he sat on him too. Shadow was trying really hard to get out and Amy saw that his eyes were closing.

“Let him go!” Amy swung at Sonic with her hammer.

“Huh?” Sonic said. She hit him so hard that he flew through the wall.

She ran over to Shadow who was gasping for breath.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah*cough*…I’ll live*cough*…after I TEAR HIM APART PIECE BY PIECE!” His hands started glowing with energy but Amy grabbed his arm and the energy stopped.

“Don’t hurt him anymore Shadow. Let’s just go.”

They left with her clinging to Shadow again and Shadow had his arm on her shoulder, leaning on her for support. When they got back to Amy's house, and Shadow regained his strength, they both realized that they had forgotten to give each other their gifts. Amy went into the kitchen to cook and this time, Shadow stayed with her.

She pulled out a bunch of ingredients.

"What's that?" he asked.

“Part of your Christmas gift! You and I are going to make a pizza!”

“What? But I can’t cook!”

“You don’t have to know how to cook; you just have to put the ingredients together. And besides, I’m helping you so there’s no way for you to mess up.” He was still refusing. “Fine. You couldn’t handle it anyway! You’re probably just afraid of the stove!”

“I am NOT! I just don’t want to!”

“SURE.” She taunted.

“Fine, we'll make pizza. Are you happy now?"

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Okay then.”

They ended up having a mini food fight in the kitchen while they made the pizza and when they were done cooking; they were covered in flour and pizza sauce. They sat at the table and kept talking and laughing until the pizza was ready. After they had eaten, they went to watch TV. It was quiet until Shadow broke the silence.

“Amy, I have a gift for you.”

“You should open my gift for you first!” she smiled and ran into her room. She came back with a small, but uniquely wrapped box. “I hope you like it. I tried to think of a gift for you that would be both meaningful and thoughtful. I made it myself.” She said with a smile. He opened it up and found a miniature doll that looked exactly like Maria. He actually felt a tear in his eye. “Are you crying Shadow!?!”

“No." he said defensively, "I love it. Thank you.” he kind of squeaked. “Now I have a gift for you.”

“Close your eyes.” He came in, “Now…..Open!”

She gasped. Her heart was overflowing with joy. Shadow was in front of her holding a giant bouquet of the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen.

“They’re so beautiful.” She said. “Too bad they have to die.”

“Are you sure about that?” he handed her a big box wrapped in gold paper.

At that, she got all teary again. She ripped the paper off and she found a hand-crafted, beautifully carved box and a bag of seeds for each flower in the bouquet was pinned to it.

“It’s wonderful.” She looked on the bottom and it had a poem.

Roses are Red, Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet, but not as sweet as you.

-To Amy
From Shadow

“I saw that poem on your wall and I had it inscribed on the box. Open it.”

She opened it. It was a music box! Inside was a gold, diamond studded necklace around two spinning swans. And it played one of her favorite old songs, “The wind beneath my wings.”

"Put it on me! Pleeeeaase!" she begged him.

He put it around her neck and it was a perfect fit! She ran and jumped on Shadow. Without thinking, she kissed him. When she realized what she was doing, she jumped back.

“—Come” Shadow tried to catch his breath. He hadn't expected that.

“I’m so sorry!” she was so embarrassed. She was about to start crying again. He grabbed her arm, turned her around. “Don’t be.” He said as he pulled her close…