Gift from an Angel
It was mid December and the members of the Smash Mansion were getting ready for Christmas. Mario, Link, and Fox carried down decorations from the attic into the living room. Ness, the Ice Climbers, Wario, some of the Pokémon and a few others were writing out their Christmas wish lists. Lucas was sitting on the couch, staring at his feet, looking a bit gloomy. Red went over to Lucas and sat down next to him. "What's the matter, Lucas?" he asked.
Lucas lifted his head and stared at Red. "Huh? Oh… Hi, Red. I was just thinking…"
"About what?"
"About my mom…and Claus. I know I should be happy but this time of year always makes me think about them…" Lucas started tearing up. "I miss them so much…"
"Don't cry. Hey, how about we go help Peach and Kirby in the kitchen with the cookies? I'm sure they would like a helping hand."
"Okay." Lucas wiped his eyes and followed Red into the kitchen. Peach was working on some dough while Kirby was getting some frosting, sprinkles, and little candies to decorate the cookies with. The smell of baking sugar cookies filled the air. "Do you need any help with the cookies?" asked Red.
"Of course," Peach responded. "I have some dough chilling in the fridge. You can take it out, unroll it and cut some out."
"All right! Come on, Lucas." Lucas quickly changed his outlook from depressing to cheerful and happily got a rolling pin and some cookie cutters while Red got the dough out of the fridge and took it over to the cutting board. He always loved to help in the kitchen, whether it was with his mother or the new friends he had made.
Meanwhile, King Dedede and Sonic were struggling to get the Christmas tree they had just gotten into the house. "I told you the one we got was too big," Sonic complained.
"Shut it! I chose a big one because a small tree would look stupid in this big place like this." King Dedede tried to shove the tree through the front door but the branches kept on getting in the way. "Stupid tree! Get into the mansion all ready!" Sonic rolled his eyes and kept on tugging at it. Eventually, with the help Donkey Kong, Falco, and Toon Link cutting off a few unneeded limbs, they got the Christmas tree into the house and set it up in a corner of the living room.
No sooner when the tree was set up, everyone began to decorate it. In only a few hours, the mansion was decorated inside and out with lights, garland, ornaments, and other things to deck the halls with.
"Now that the tree and the rest of the mansion is taken care of, we can start pulling names for our annual Secret Santa." Peach stated.
"What's a Secret Santa?" Lucas asked.
"A Secret Santa is when the people participating are given a random person to get a gift for. However, they are not allowed to tell anyone who they are getting a present for, especially the person they are getting the gift for. We have one every year and since there are so many Smashers, it is cheaper than each person getting something for everyone. Also, we can make sure that everyone gets a present."
"Why do I have to do this? I hate buying things," Wario groaned.
"Because if you don't contribute, you're not going to get a present," Zelda said to him.
Wario hated the thought of not getting any presents for Christmas, or not getting anything at all for free for that matter. "Fine…"
"Now since that's taken care of, I wrote each smasher's name on a piece of paper and put in one of Mario's extra hats. Now we each draw a piece and see who they will be getting a gift for. If you get yourself, you will trade it with a random person. You're first Mario."
"How come Mario gets to go first?" Toon Link complained.
"Because he's right next to me," Peach pointed out.
"All righty," Mario said as he pulled out and unfolded the piece of paper. The name "Sonic" was written on it. How funny… Mario thought as he smirked. Samus then took one and unfolded it. On it was written "Mr. Game and Watch".
Everyone else pulled a piece of paper out of the hat and checked to see whose name they had. Pit was the last one to get a name. He unfolded it and was a bit surprised by the name written on it.
"Lucas"
What should I get him? Pit thought to himself as he looked at the blonde, who was pondering about what to get for the name he pulled. It should be something practical, but also from the heart. Maybe I should do some research…
Pit wasn't the only one who wanted to do a field search. The next day, Snake, who had disguised his box as a Christmas present, snuck around the mansion, trying to figure out who got who in the Secret Santa name pull. Several of the fighters took no notice as they began to think of what gift to give. Samus spotted the box but made no mind of it. He took a few more steps until Samus turned around and saw it move a bit. Before he could learn anything, she grabbed the box and revealed the soldier.
"Damn…"
"Nice try, Snake," Samus grinned. "If you want to find out who got your name, you're not getting it from me." She tossed the box to the side as Snake got up.
"So I take it you didn't get my name."
"Like I said, I'm not telling you."
Snake groaned and put his head behind his head. "I guess I'll have to wait until Christmas like everyone else," He left the room, stretching a bit on the way out.
In the living room, Mario was checking the news since there was nothing else good on. "I heard a snowstorm will be coming in soon so if we want to get the Christmas shopping done, we better leave soon," He pointed out to Ike, who was sitting next to him.
"Good idea. We should let everyone else know," he responded.
"You go do that," Mario said.
"Why don't you? You were the one who pointed that out first."
"Okay, we both will."
Ike nodded and the two got up and began to tell everybody about the storm that was rolling in and that they should get shopping before it becomes impossible to travel anywhere. Some were quite happy about the snow they would be getting, especially the Ice Climbers and Pikachu, who loved it.
Within thirty minutes, everyone was bundling up, getting what they had money-wise and was preparing to go gift shopping, except for Pit, who was sting down on a nearby chair by the tree, and the Ice Climbers, who were always wearing their gear.
"Pit, aren't you coming?" Link asked, putting on some warm gloves.
"Nah, I have a few things to take care of here," he responded.
"All right, see you later." Link was the last to leave the house and closed the door tight. Pit got up from the chair and once he knew it was safe, the angel headed upstairs and went into Ness and Lucas's room. "Let's see here…" He checked through the closet but didn't find anything that gave him an idea of what to get him. Pit looked through the dresser drawers, even though he knew I wasn't a good idea to go through other people's property. Hidden in the back of the dresser drawer by Lucas's bed was a tattered picture of Lucas and his family, stained with tears. It was taken before it was torn apart by King P and one of the Pig Mask Army's creations, the Mecha Drago. Curious about the picture, Pit went into the room where the bios of the fighters, Poké Ball Pokémon and the Assist Trophies were kept. He found Lucas's bio and began to read it. After he finished it up, tears rolled down his cheeks but he was careful not to mess up the file. "Poor boy, he's been through so much… I know the perfect present to get for him." Pit put the bio away and cleared his face from the tears. He headed outside as the clouds began to break up from the snow earlier.
"Palutena-sama, I need to see you. I have a favor to ask of you and the great rulers of the sky."
A bright golden light shone through the clouds and Pit disappeared in a flash.
He was able to return to the mansion before everyone else returned from Christmas shopping with a feeling of joy. Palutena and the rulers had agreed to his request since it was from the heart and full of selfless love towards one of his friends.
"Lucas is going to be so happy when he receives his gift on Christmas morning," he smiled as he headed back inside.
Christmas morning arrived in a blink of an eye and everyone was on good spirits. It had started snowing earlier that morning and now the ground was covered with two inches of those soft cold flakes. The presents for the secret Santa were under the tree just waiting for their recipient to open them.
"All right guys. How about we have our Secret Santa now?" Luigi asked everyone.
Everyone agreed and got ready. Peach and Mario handed out the gifts and they were opened one by one. Everyone was quite happy about what they received. It seems as if everyone knew exactly what to get for the person they had gotten in the name pull. "Looks like that's everyone," Marth stated once he saw that all of the gifts under the tree were gone.
"What about Lucas? He didn't get anything." Ness said, holding his new baseball bat in his hands. His old one was starting to get cracked a bit from all of the battles in the past few months.
"Really?" Peach checked under the tree again to make sure if there were any more presents left down there. "That's funny. There's nothing here for Lucas."
"It's all right. I don't need anything…" Lucas said sadly as he stared out the window and watched the snow fall. A minute later, the doorbell to the mansion rang.
"Hey Lucas, why don't you get that?" Pit said to him.
"Okay…" Lucas went to front door and answered it. Outside, he was greeted by two familiar faces. Lucas covered his mouth in shock. It was his own brother and mother standing in the doorway, smiling.
"Hi, Lucas," Claus smiled. Lucas broke down in tears and embraced both of them.
"What...what are you doing here?" he asked.
"We came to see you, dear," Hinawa told him. Lucas sobbed happily into his mother's dress. Pit was standing in the hallway behind him smiling at his reaction.
"But… how? I thought you were gone forever…"
"Maybe I should explain, Lucas," Pit said as he went up to Lucas and got down to his eye level. "I know it's against the rules but I was the one who got your name." Pit told him. "I wanted to do something special for you since you've been through so much and you were feeling down, even though it's supposed to be a happy time of the year."
Lucas, still crying, ran over to Pit and hugged him tightly. "This is the best present I've ever gotten," he said in between sobs.
"I was able to pull some strings up above. They'll only be here for a day but just seeing you like this makes it all worthwhile."
"I don't care. Just being able to see them again all I really wanted for Christmas." Lucas sniffled. "That and my own Pokémon." Pit chuckled at that last comment and got back up on his feet.
"Well, aren't you going to introduce us to your friends?" Hinawa asked.
Lucas got up, wiped his eyes and nodded. "Okay, come on." He grabbed his mother and brother's hands and took them into the living room. Pit smiled and followed them as a small tear ran down his cheek.