None of the characters in this merry tale belong to me except myself, Zivon
I'd like to thank Scarecrow'sMainFan and DeadAliveManiac for supplying me with characters and ideas for this.
Ladies, Gentlemen, enjoy.
oxoxoxo
Zivon fastened the final button on his black suit jacket. He had invited Scarecrow, DAM and their characters to a holiday celebration tonight at his studio, along with the cast of "Crime of Shadows" and the experts of "Deadliest Warrior of Fiction." While some of them couldn't make it, about half of them could, and that was fine with him.
It had taken a while to set up everything; the décor of the main hall alone had taken about half the time just to think up what it would look like. One side of the room was dominated by a giant ornate menorah while the other held a massive tree holding every ornament imaginable, and a lot of lights. Hanging from the ceiling were snowflakes, more lights, and a disco ball for later. The next room over, the dining room had a massive table in the centre and was piled high with holiday food ranging from turkey to brisket, to chestnuts, to potato latkes. The table was covered in a blue table cloth with snowflake designs all over it. Surrounding it were several smaller tables with similar covering, from which the guests would get food from the large table, buffet style.
Zivon had also decided he could use a bit of decoration. Tonight he wore a black suit jacket and slacks, black shoes, a white collared shirt and a black fedora. He looked somewhere between good and 'the 1920s threw up on you.'
Zivon had just finished his final checking of the décor when the doorbell rang. Opening it he found three figures in hooded robes, two of whom were shivering from the Canadian cold. "Mazeka, Tanma, On Ji, come in."
The two matoran and the firebender entered the studio and removed their hoods, revealing their faces. Tanma sighed in pleasure at the sudden warmth. "How on earth do you live here?" he asked.
Zivon smirked at the matoran's obvious discomfort. "Years of practice my friend, years of practice. There's hot chocolate in the dining room if you want some." He said pointing towards said room of salvation.
Tanma and On Ji made a b-line for the hot chocolate, Mazeka staying behind and shaking his head at them. "Not everyone can be cold resistant like a ko-matoran…" muttered Tanma. Mazeka shook his head and followed.
Zivon smirked. He was about to follow when the doorbell rang again. Opening it he found two Grey Wardens and a Geth in deep conversation about the holidays… and what in the name of the Maker a Geth was.
"So let me get this straight Legion." Said Alistair, dressed in full silver Chevalier armor "There's thousands of minds incased in that head of yours that are all you? That's give arguing with yourself a whole new meaning…"
"Alistair, you've been trying to understand what has been coming out of this machine since we met it on the way here and it's lost all entertainment value." Said an annoyed Nathaniel Howe, dressed in a fine noble's clothing of red and black. "Just leave it alone and enjoy the party."
Legion was looking like he usually did, except that someone had stuck a magnetic bowtie on where his neck should have been. "We acknowledge your request to enter and approve. The cold is rather uncomfortable to you organics."
"Come in gents, warm indoors and plenty of space to relax after your journey." Zivon replied. The three of them entered and went towards the living room, where there were couches and a warm fire.
Zivon was about to join them when the doorbell rang for a third time. He rolled his eyes and opened it to see two women, one scowling and the other smiling. Maka Albarn and Velanna. "Ladies, welcome to my humble abode."
Maka simply walked in and said "Thanks for inviting me." She wore a purple dress and had her hair down.
Velanna was a different story, dressed in her halla pattern green dress. "I'm only doing this because the Wardens made me…" she muttered.
"Whatever you say o sharp tongued lady of the forest." Said Zivon "Nathaniel's in the living room."
Velanna's face turned red at the name of the dark haired rogue. "They never said he was here…" she muttered scathingly.
"Is there a problem with that, my lady?" said Nathaniel, popping up behind her.
Velanna jumped at the voice, but upon recognizing it as his, she simply muttered something about shemlen under her breath and marched off.
Zivon patted Nathaniel on the back before the former noble shrugged and followed the Dalish elf.
Zivon didn't even move from the door this time, sensing the ring coming.
He was right, as the door rang he opened it to find something he really should have seen coming. Carter A259 and Emile A239 had arrived as they said they would, but had arrived in armor, Emile in full helmet. "What happened to holiday attire?" Zivon asked.
Carter shrugged. "This isn't close enough?" he said "The King of Ferelden over there is in full plate." The SPARTAN III pointed at Alistair, who was trying to sneak some cheese from the dining room.
"Alistair, don't touch that gouda!" Zivon snapped at the Warden King before turning back to the SPARTANs. "Alright come on in." the SPARTANs entered the studion, putting their gifts under the tree with the rest. Everyone invited was given a name for a "Secret Santa" gift exchange and was instructed to bring one.
Zivon looked around at all his guests either relaxing or making small talk with each other. He wondered when his other guests would be arriving though, both of his co-authors for "Deadliest Warrior of Fiction" had said they'd be here and it was unlike them to miss something like this.
Right in the middle of his thoughts, the doorbell rang again and when he went to answer it, speak of the devil and he shall appear, one of his co-authors was there. At the door stood a young man in almost a mirror outfit to him, the only difference being that he wore his jacket and slacks in tan, and he wore a burlap sack over his head. "What's with the sack Scarecrow?"
Scarecrow'sMainFan shrugged. "It's a holiday tradition." He replied "Nice studio by the way. Oh, before I forget," he took a box out from behind his back. "I made some pies; they were a big hit last year at my party."
"Thank you." Said Zivon, taking the box and resisting the urge to eat its contents. "Any idea when your characters are going to arrive, mine are here and I assume DAM is on his way with his."
"Actually, a few of us are already here." Said a new voice. Zivon looked behind Scarecrow to see who had spoken, seeing that the speaker was Naruto dressed in silver armor from "Naruto in Hell" (D Naruto) with… snowflake patterns? Zivon gave Scarecrow a 'really man?' look.
The author shrugged. "He couldn't find anything holiday-ish… again."
Looking behind Naruto he saw Ichigo dressed again in a navy blue suit with a snowflake tie, and Naruto from "Naruto: Card Captor" (C Naruto) who wore a simple khaki pants and a white button up shirt.
"Good to see you all made it, but what's taking the others so long?" Zivon asked. "Wait, don't tell me, Ragnarok?" Scarecrow and his characters all nodded. "Damnit, why can't he just… never mind, come on in, mingle a bit, horderves and drinks are out if you like."
Scarecrow high-fived Zivon before making for the food. His other characters walked out to mingle. Zivon was about to close the door again when he heard "WAIT!" he looked out and saw three people running at the door. It was Crona, Moka and Kurumu. Zivon kept the door open and when the three of them got there the entered and started panting.
As he asked, Zivon closed the door and slid locked it tightly. Crona, Moka and Kurumu all breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Crona wore his usual formal attire of a white suit, while Moka and Kurumu wore dresses in green and red respectively. Moka also had her rosary on. "What the heck was that all about?" Zivon demanded.
"Well we got a drive here from the Bus Driver," Crona began.
Kurumu, looking more than a bit mad, said "But Ragnarok, trying to get here faster and get his presents, bugged the driver so much that he threw us out."
The little blood demon emerged from Crona's back and glared at the succubus. "Hey, shut up!" Ragnarok said, waving his fist at her. He then turned to Zivon. "What this bitch didn't tell you is that she spent the entire bus ride, which was more than just us I might add, shoving her tits at Crona!"
"Ragnarok, calm down." Crona said quietly "You'll get us tossed out. Again…"
Ragnarok grumbled something under his breath about how his presents had better make up for this as he, Crona, and Crona's entourage made for the main hall.
As they walked off, Zivon tentatively walked away from the door, thinking someone else would arrive, again, but this time no one did. "I guess DAM's still on his way."
Knock knock
"Why did I open my mouth?" Zivon muttered, walking to the door. Behind it, dressed in a flannel shirt and fine jeans was DeadAliveManiac. "I was wondering when you'd get here." Zivon said, fist bumping the historian. "So you brought some guys with you?"
"Yup, they're right here, come on in guys." DAM replied.
Zivon watched as into his studio stepped some of the greatest warriors in history. Hannibal, Genghis Kahn, Vlad the Impaler, William the Conqueror, and Joan of Arc. His awe then turned to shock as the list continued. Miyamoto Musashi, Attila the Hun, Leonidas of Sparta, a Zande Warrior, a Rajput Warrior, another Spartan, a Viking, a Shaolin Monk, and a Persian Immortal. Zivon looked at DAM. "You my friend brought a lot of guests." (And for simplicity's sake, they speak English. I'm not looking up all these languages for every freaking thing these guys say.)
"Well you did tell me to invite my characters, so I brought the winners from my first season." DAM replied.
"I'm not worried so much about space, my studio's a big building with plenty of room, but let's just hope there's enough food to go around."
oxoxoxo
Crona, Moka and Kurumu all entered the living room of Zivon's studio looking for a place to sit down. According to Ragnarok, he could impress people by sitting down with Moka and Kurumu on either side of him and putting his arms around both. He said he'd look like a "pimp" whatever that meant… What happened next though, made his holidays.
"Crona! You're here!"
Said Demon Swordsman and the two monster girls with him looked to where the voice came from. Moka and Kurumu were confused but Crona was overjoyed. His first and best friend Maka Albarn was here. The Scythe Meister ran up to him and gave him a big hug, confusing the girls even more. "It's been so long since lord death sent you off, and I've missed you." Maka said, still hugging him.
"I-I've missed you too M-maka…" Crona stuttered.
"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" said Ragnarok, coming out of Crona's back.
"Oh, hi Ragnarok." Maka said dismissively, letting go of Crona. "So Crona, who are these two?"
"Oh these are two of my friends from the new school I've been going to." Crona said gesturing to the two beautiful girls next to him. "This is Moka and Kurumu. Girls, this is Maka Albarn, my human friend."
Kurumu gave Maka a glance over. "She's your human friend?" Kurumu looked at her from top to bottom. "She's even flatter than Yukari." The succubus muttered.
Unfortunately for her, the Scythe Meister heard and her expression instantly soured, her eyes now hidden under her bangs. Crona, knowing what was about to happen, took a step away from the sexy succubus.
"Maka…"
Kurumu looked at the human in confusion.
"CHOP!" said Maka, slamming a massive dictionary on the other girl's head. Kurumu hit the floor with a book shaped indent in her head.
Moka looked at Kurumu's unconscious form. Crona had done something similar before, but THAT was savage. Fearing something similar, she instead smiled and offered a hand. "Nice to meet you Maka, I'm Moka Akashiya."
Maka took it. "Maka Albarn."
Moka looked down at the still unconscious Kurumu. "She doesn't mean that kind of thing you know. She just does that some times."
Crona finally spoke up. "Why don't we find a place to sit down and catch up on what we've been up to since I last saw you Maka."
oxoxoxo
William the Conqueror sat in around a small coffee table with Vlad the Impaler, Alistair Therin, and Leonidas. Each one was telling about what they believed to be their greatest battles. "So would you believe the arrow comes down and hits Harold in his eye?" William stated. "Of everything that happened to me in that battle, that was the luckiest."
Leonidas was next "Well what my Spartans and I did was we planned our battle BEFORE we got there. We set up the Persians to attack us at Thermopylae pass, where we blocked them off with our shields. They crashed into our line, and we killed them by the thousands."
"Good try Spartan, good try." Said Vlad "But unfortunately you died in that battle. My strategy made the Ottoman Empire wet itself. We snuck into their camp at night and launched an attack on their leader. While he got away, he and his forces went right where I wanted them to: a town full of impaled victims. They then fled home and left my idiot brother in charge. They were too afraid to come back until I died after that."
"I still think my greatest battle is the greatest." Said Alistair "I mean we took a force of about thirty thousand and attacked the hundred thousand strong force of the darkspawn at Denerim. They also had a monstrous leader called the Archdemon, a massive corrupted dragon that my friends and I slew."
William scoffed "This may be true, but you yourself, despite being the king, didn't lead that attack."
"Yes well you yourself, despite being the leader of your forces, did not kill Harold yourself." Alistair Countered.
All four glared at each other until William grinned and broke the silence. "You three are the best conversation I've had in my life. Let's get some more drinks and keep going."
"Hey guys, I noticed you were talking about your great battles, mind if we join?" The kings looked up to see D Naruto and Ichigo.
oxoxoxo
"So those stories we heard about your people, the Zandes, they're not all true are they?" asked Nathaniel "Are you actually cannibals?"
"Not actually, we just make our enemies think that." Said the Zande warrior. He sat in a group of a few people including Nathaniel Howe, Velanna, the Viking, the Shaolin monk (who didn't talk as much as the others), Miyamoto Musashi, and Attila the Hun.
"Maybe the Dalish should try that kind of thing." Nathaniel suggested.
"Oh definitely, that's a great idea." Said Velanna, sarcastically "Because the Chantry doesn't think badly enough about us as is without using shemlen barbarian tactics."
"She is a harsh one, Warden," said the Shaolin "How you put up with your woman is anyone's guess."
"I'm NOT his woman!" Even the Viking and Zande rolled their eyes at this. "What about you, Miyamoto, I've heard some pretty ridiculous things about you, do you actually moon your opponents?" Velanna asked.
The samurai grinned. "I've done that in the past, why? Did you want to see?"
"Oh Creators, no!" Velanna hurriedly said, waving her arms in front of her face. "I just wanted to know, since it seemed like an unusual tactic."
"Hey, why has no one asked me about my tactics?" demanded the Viking. Everyone turned to look at him. "I'd say my favorite tactic of my people would be… charge in screaming at the top of our lungs."
Incidentally, no one looked surprised at this.
oxoxoxo
Hannibal stood around a trey of horderves with some of the strangest people he'd ever seen. "So, the two of you are right now in the middle of fighting a giant, half metal, scorpion?" the general asked.
Tanma nodded. "Mazeka and I are about to fight the thing when we were invited here instead. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather celebrate the holidays than fight a giant monster."
The others, C Naruto, Mazeka, Joan of Arc, Genghis Kahn, and the Rajput warrior all listened intently as the stories were told.
C Naruto was the next to speak up. "So some of you guys have won the title of Deadliest Warrior, how's that been going for you?"
"I've done well." Said Joan
"I am undefeated." Genghis responded.
"So am I." said the Rajput. "The only one here who has lost in battle is him." he said pointing at Hannibal.
"Well I still beat one of the greatest psychopaths in history in my last battle and made Rome fear me." Hannibal countered.
"Who did you lose to?" asked Mazeka, a small smirk on his face.
Hannibal miserably pointed at Genghis while muttering "They always ask that…"
The others laughed, Hannibal joining in, unable to resist.
oxoxoxo
Emile and Carter had a small problem.
They were currently holding back two of the worst rivals in earth's history from leveling Zivon's studio in a fight.
Carter and Emile were holding back the Spartan and Persian Immortal respectively, each of whom had somehow managed to sneak their weapons and armor into the party, the Spartan with his Aspis and Xiphos, and the Persian with his Sagaris.
"Come on guys," said Carter "It's the holidays."
"I don't think they'll hear you man." Said Emile "Heads are full of bloodlust."
"Today will be your last Persian!"
"Meet your death Spartan!"
Suddenly, Carter, Emile and the studio were almost literally saved by the bell when the Authors called all the guests to the dinner table. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Zivon shouted "Dinner is ready in the dining room, and places have been set for you all at the table."
"Oh thank God…" muttered Carter.
"This isn't over Spartan."
"Not even close Persian."
The guests all moved to the table.
Maka sat down next to Crona, smacking Ragnarok as he tried to balance a plate on Crona's head. Crona smiled at his oldest friend. "Thanks for that."
"No problem Crona." Said Maka.
"I could have done that too…" said the now awake Kurumu, still rubbing the top of her head. "She just got there first."
Crona Maka Moka and Kurumu all sat at the same table with Tanma, On Ji, and Mazeka.
"So you represented me in two Deadliest Warrior fights?" Crona asked Maka.
"Yup, and you won both of them!" Maka said smiling, either ignoring the scathing looks from a certain succubus or choosing to ignore them.
"Wow… The other guys are still alive though, right?" Crona asked, rubbing the back of his head.
Ragnarok hit him upside the head. "Who cares about that? The important thing is that we won you idiot!"
Kurumu and Moka hit the demon upside the head. "Can't you see you're upsetting him?" said Moka.
"Do you know me lady?" Ragnarok replied his arms crossed. Moka continued to glare at him. "Alright, alright, for the holidays at least…"
oxoxoxo
"What is that…?" muttered Alistair looking at the turkey. "Who- … Vlad…" The turkey was now impaled on a large stake. "He then shook his head and went back to getting some cheese to go with his meal.
Looking to his right he saw Nathaniel was talking to Velanna, but as usual, the elf would give him one or two word answers. Deciding he didn't want to be around when Velanna went off, he returned to Vlad, William and Leonidas.
oxoxoxo
"What is your problem with me this time, my lady?" Nathaniel asked.
"What makes you think I have a problem with you?" Velanna replied icily.
"The icy tone says something, and so does that reply."
The elf grumbled something under her breath and stormed off after getting a plate of vegetables. The former noble followed with his own food.
oxoxoxo
"Vlad, why did you do that?" asked Alistair, pointing at the impaled bird.
Vlad shrugged and went back to his food. "I felt like impaling something. You're not dead, why do you care?"
"You have a point there." Said Ferelden's king under his breath.
The Impaler smirked and took another bite of his food. "That looks good, can I try a bit?" asked William.
"Sure, try it. You can have some too Spartan king, and I suppose you too Alistair." Vlad replied, looking unusually happy.
With varying degrees of hesitation, William, Leonidas and Alistair all took a small taste of the meat on Vlad's plate. "That's really good." Said Leonidas.
"What is it?" asked Alistair.
Vlad smiled. "Children, cooked to perfection."
William coughed, Leonidas spat out what was in his mouth and Alistair ran off, presumably to vomit. "That's disgusting!" said William.
Vlad was too busy laughing to notice the two angry kings next to him or the one who had just run off looking green. "I can't believe you fell for that one! Did you actually think those stories about me eating children were true?" Vlad kept laughing. "It's brisket, you can get some from the other side of the buffet table."
oxoxoxo
The three authors sat at their table enjoying plates of food. "This is good stuff." Said Scarecrow, swallowing a piece of brisket. "Really good."
"Thanks man," said Zivon "These are old family recipies, I though people would like them."
"Well I can say he's right on that." DAM ratified. "So what do you two have planned story wise?"
"Dude," said Scarecrow "One look at my profile page will tell you just what I have planned. What about you?"
"The usual, "Deadliest Warrior"." Said DAM "Season two is over, and I have a whole holiday before I have to worry about season three. We'll open with Napoleon Bonaparte vs Oliver Cromwell, and a back for blood match." DAM said, before enjoying a piece of turkey.
"Nice idea," said Zivon "Matchup and timing wise. Nothing like some good old fashioned fights to the death."
"What do you have planned?" Scarecrow asked.
"Well I'm still working on "Crime of Shadows" and "Deadliest Warrior of Fiction." I'd also like to try my hand at writing a songfic again." Zivon replied, eating a latke.
"What happened the last time you wrote one?" asked Scarecrow.
Zivon choked and sputtered on the aforementioned latke. "Don't ask…"
"Okay then…" said DAM "So any ideas about what this one will be about?"
Zivon scratched his chin before replying. "Well I think it will involve Soul Eater, Moldavian pop music and Crona with a saxophone."
Scarecrow looked up. "You're going to make Crona the-"
"Yes." Said Zivon "I think I will."
"Uh guys, we seem to have a slight problem. It seems your good food and my choice of people to bring to this party has turned against us." Said DAM, pointing at the buffet table.
At the table, a fully armored and armed Spartan and Persian Immortal, each armed with weapon and shield, were about to launch into a battle over… "They're not seriously going to fight over the last of the latkes are they?" Zivon asked.
In a few seconds his question was answered as the Spartan stabbed at the Immortal and the Persian dodged and struck back only managing to hit the Spartan's aspis shield. "We may want to do something about that…" muttered Scarecrow.
"Agreed." Said Zivon, drawing his saber. "Gents, let's go." Scarecrow and DAM nodded, Scarecrow taking out his scythe from who knows or cares where and DAM unsheathing his falcata.
DAM and Zivon went straight for the Spartan, while Scarecrow headed for the Immortal, hooking his spear away with the scythe and pushing him back with the blunt end.
DAM and Zivon went for a different approach with the Spartan, the shield being a big factor in their strategy. One would distract the armored warrior while the other would try to hit him while he was distracted.
When the Spartan knocked DAM over with his shield and made Zivon trip in an attempt to dodge his spear, he charged at the Immortal who had managed to disarm and force Scarecrow back with his sagaris. The two bitter rivals charged at each other, weapons drawn and the authors following. Once the combatants got to the location of what they were fighting over they noticed something.
"Where the heck did the latkes go?" asked Scarecrow. Indeed, the delicious foodstuffs that had just caused thousands of years of anger to turn into another battle were no longer where they just were.
"You snooze you loose suckers!" said Ragnarok off of Crona's back as he, Crona, Maka, Kurumu and Moka were enjoying the last latkes (He only let them have them because it was the holidays… and maybe he was afraid of being Maka Chopped…)
"Well, are you two ready to make nice?" Zivon growled, looking at the two warriors who had started a fight in his studio.
The two warriors looked at each other before muttering an apology.
"Well I guess dinner is done." Zivon said looking at the empty buffet. "There is one thing I'd like to do before I serve dessert."
"You don't mean…" Ragnarok began.
"Oh yes, I do." The host said, smiling "Before coming here you all got a name for a Secret Santa gift exchange, and now it's time to exchange gifts."
oxoxoxo
Each person looked around for the person they were supposed to give to. Hannibal approached Joan of Arc and handed her a parcel. Joan opened the parcel and found a shining falcata sword inside. "Merci beaucoup." Joan said, thanking the Carthaginian general.
oxoxoxo
Genghis Kahn gave Mazeka a finely crafted Mongol Recurve bow and a quiver full of arrows. The matoran of ice smiled and put on the quiver before testing the taughtness of the string on the bow.
oxoxoxo
Alistair looked over the gift Vlad had given him. "It's a nice thought, but I just can't see myself ever needing to use this."
"Come on Alistair," Vlad replied "Put one of your enemies on this stake and no one will ever threaten your kingdom again." Even with such a guarantee, Alistair still felt queasy at the thought of using it.
oxoxoxo
The Shaolin Monk hefted the large Norman Broadsword that William the Conqueror gave him; the French Duke turned English King shaking his head as he watched.
oxoxoxo
"I'm sorry Joan, but I'm not sure if I'll ever really use this." Said Moka, holding out the French Arming Sword the warrior maiden had given her.
"Keep it anyway mon ami." Joan replied "Even if it doesn't get blood on it, it can still be decorative." Joan was happy with the smile that put on the peppy vampire's face.
oxoxoxo
"What is this thing?" asked William the Conqueror looking at the bokken that Miyamoto Musashi had given him.
"This is Japanese bokken, powerful bludgeoning weapon." The samurai replied.
The English King shrugged and put the bokken next to his own Norman Broadsword.
oxoxoxo
Attila the Hun looked at Crona with something akin to amusement as the Demon Swordsman looked in awe over the Hunnic Bow he had just given him. "I'm not very good at archery. How am I supposed to deal with this bow?" he asked the raider.
Attila was about to respond when Ragnarok burst from Crona's back and took the bow. "It's simple you idiot, we point it at things, load an arrow, release it and things die. Not too hard."
The Demon would have gone further had Attila not smacked him with the flat of his Scythian Axe. "I'll teach you. I can't have someone own a Hunnic Bow without the knowledge to use it.
oxoxoxo
Emile smiled under his helmet as he looked at the makraka he had just been given. "How did you know I liked close combat?"
The Zande shrugged "Doesn't everybody?"
oxoxoxo
"Now THIS is a nice sword." Said Hannibal, looking over his new khanda. "I'll bet even the Romans couldn't stand up to this sword."
The Rajput who had just given him the sword laughed. "Funny story about that." He said.
oxoxoxo
"You guys really use this thing?" said Naruto, looking at his new xiphos. "It's puny."
"It's not the size of the weapon that counts." Said the Spartan who had given him the weapon. "It's how you use it. Also, we show with this weapon that we don't need to compensate for anything."
This made the ninja laugh. "It's still tiny though."
"Well I've beaten a better Ninja than you with that blade."
oxoxoxo
The Viking shook his head as Miyamoto Musashi tried to swing the heavy Dane Axe he had given him. How had a samurai beaten one of his people again?
oxoxoxo
The Shaolin Monk shook his head as the Viking nearly decapitated himself with the Twin Hooks he had just given him. Wow.
oxoxoxo
The Persian Immortal growled as he begrudgingly handed over a Sagaris to the Spartan. The bronze clad warrior grunted a "Thank you" before walking off, resisting the urge to burry his new axe in the Persian's head.
oxoxoxo
Vlad was in awe of the gift he had just gotten. Seriously, this was just the greatest thing he had ever gotten.
Tanma smiled as the Romanian Prince looked over his new jetpack. "I thought you might like it, now it's a little difficult to use, so be careful before you-" Tanma never got to finish his sentence, because at that moment Vlad rocketed into the air at high speed, screaming and laughing loudly. The matoran sighed "I wonder how long before he hits a wall or maybe the ceiling."
It was at this moment that the laughing Prince of Darkness hit the Christmas tree.
oxoxoxo
Velanna opened one of the attachments to the protosteel multitool Mazeka had just given her. It included two knives, a saw, a file, scissors, an ice pick, and a lot of other items. He had even painted it green for her.
oxoxoxo
The Zande Warrior held up the set of leather armor that Alistair had just given him. Not only did it look good to him, but it looked like it could block arrows and maybe even blades. Screw the Zulus and their Ishlangu. Block musket bullets his African-
"You my friend will look great in that." Said Alistair "And it's functional too."
oxoxoxo
"So, Crona isn't giving me a Secret Santa gift?"
Nathaniel Howe looked at the young succubus before him. He had tried to give her a hand crafted bow, but all she could do was say that he wasn't Crona. "No, I got your name for the gift exchange, so I made you this bow, now please take it." The noble turned Warden said, grabbing Kurumu's hand, putting the bow in it and walking away exasperated.
oxoxoxo
On Ji approached Tanma and beckoned him to her. "I couldn't think of anything good to get you, so I got a few… lesser gifts."
"What do you mean?" asked the confused av matoran.
"Well first, I got you this." The young firebender said, holding out a box of chocolates. "Second, I was able to steal some info from Zivon on where our fic is going." She moved in and whispered something in Tanma's ear.
When she was done, the matoran was speechless. He managed to stutter "So I get to be-"
"Yes, but don't say anything about it. And your final gift is," On Ji leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Happy holidays." She whispered. As she walked off, Tanma struggled to remember what he was doing here, as well as other trivial details such as his name.
oxoxoxo
Ragnarok was mad. This elf lady was supposed to give him a GIFT, a PRESENT, but instead, all he got was… this thing! "Lady, what the hell is this!?"
Velanna, having been warned about the demon's attitude by Maka on the way here, held back her desire to drain his life and instead explained the gift. "That is a hand crafted halla that I made myself. They are the noble beasts of my people who pull our aravels and carry our warriors into battle. I even made it out of ironbark for you."
"I don't care if you crafted it from the last tree in existence, it still sucks ass and-"
Crona intervened, shoving Ragnarok down and saying "Please don't hate me for this. I wouldn't know how to deal with that. And Ragnarok doesn't really mean all that he's just a bit…"
"Selfish, rude, arrogant?" Velanna supplied.
"Exactly!" Ragnarok replied, throwing the carved halla at a wall with all his might. The halla, however didn't break as Ragnarok expected, it instead bounced off the wall and hit him right in the head.
"Did I mention that Ironbark is very strong?" Velanna inquired, a smile on her face.
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Maka looked in wonder at the geth designed laptop that Legion had just given her. He had filled it with highly advanced software, games, extranet access, and most importantly "You got all of my favorite books on this thing!" the meister exclaimed. "How did you know?"
"It is a simple matter Albarn-Meister." Said the geth "We analyzed your personality and determined from it what books you would like most."
Maka looked at the machine quizzically. "That's a bit creepy…"
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Leonidas was a happy king. He now had the greatest technology of his time. Carter A259 had given him a new set of armor with energy shields. "I'd like to see the Persians try and stop me now!"
Carter looked at the king and namesake to his brothers in arms with approval. "Next year I'll introduce you to gunpowder."
Leonidas cocked his head to one side "Whatpowder?"
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"Happy holidays." Said Emile, casually to the Persian Immortal. He handed the warrior a kukri. "Don't cut yourself." He said before walking away from the confused Persian.
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The Rajput was thoroughly confused.
"Happy h-holidays." Stuttered Crona, having given the Rajput a cactus. He was still new to gift giving, and didn't know how to deal with it yet… at least Ragnarok didn't eat his gift this time… "Oh, I also wrote you this." Said Crona, handing the Rajput a fancy scroll.
The Indian martial artist read the scroll silently.
"H-how do you like my poetry?"
The Rajput didn't respond, instead walking to go sit in the corner and cry softly to himself.
"I guess he liked it."
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"That will be 20 dollars."
On Ji looked at the smiling blood demon in front of her, then at the autographed photo in her hands, then back at Ragnarok.
Ragnarok held out his hand and waited for his money.
On Ji took one last look at the photo before shoving it in Ragnarok's mouth, slapping him across the face and marching off.
Ragnarok spat out the now crumpled photo. "What was THAT for bitch?"
Crona sighed… "Why me?"
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Kurumu had a tiny problem. She only just now realized that she wasn't in fact giving a gift to Crona. Standing before her was Attila the Hun, the person who actually gave a gift to Crona, and who she was supposed to have a gift for.
She quickly formulated a foolproof plan of getting the gift to Crona. "Here you go!" she said cheerfully, putting on her best smile. The rational side of her brain was saying that this was a bad idea, but she wasn't in the mood to listen to it right now. "Enjoy these cookies, they're not only tasty, but perfect for sharing like say with… him!" she said pointing Attila at Crona and hurrying off.
The Succubus didn't notice in her haste to get away, that Attila ate one of the cookies, not knowing about the love potion Kurumu had spiked them with.
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"I haven't had much chance to buy a good gift while literally going through hell," said D Naruto to Nathaniel "But I was able to get this." He said pulling out a bottle of Demon Sake. "Careful, it's really strong stuff."
Nathaniel heard this and smirked. "Is that a challenge? Because if so, challenge accepted."
D Naruto put on a matching smirk. "I'll bet I can drink you under the table."
"Let's find out."
"Actually, let's not." interjected Scarecrow "There are minors here, wait until later and then get smashed."
"Fine…" grumbled both warriors.
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"One free bowl of ramen?" said Ichigo looking at the coupon C Naruto had given him. "Gee thanks."
"Hey, it's a great gift," said the ninja "Believe it!"
Ichigo shuddered after hearing that and walked away.
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Ichigo's walk didn't get too far before he found the person he was looking for. "You're Carter right?"
The SPARTAN III nodded.
"Ichigo gave him a twenty. "Buy your own damn gift." He grunted.
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DAM definitely approved of his gift. "This is a nice scythe Maka, thanks."
Maka smiled "Carbon steel blade, finest wooden handle with your name branded into it." She said "I thought you might like it.
"And I do like it." Said the author, taking practice swings with the scythe, and twirling it around his body. "Just one question."
"What would that be?" Maka asked.
"How on earth did you afford this thing?" DAM asked, seriously wondering how a girl with no paid employment managed to buy a specially crafted war scythe.
The smile on Maka's face grew from ear to ear. "Let's just say my dad would do literally ANYTHING to make me love him again."
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"Well it seems you're the person I'm supposed to give this to." Said Leonidas.
Scarecrow stood in front of the Spartan king. "If you're looking for Scarecrow then yes, that's me."
"Then this is for you." Said the king, holding out a brand new Aspis shield.
Scarecrow approached Leonidas and took the shield from him. however, once the Spartan let go, Scarecrow realized something. "This thing is really" he dropped it "Heavy. But thank you."
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"Nice painting Moka." Said Zivon, admiring the portrait the vampiric girl had made of him. "This would look great in my hall."
"You're welcome." said Moka, giving the author a big hug.
Scarecrow and DAM watched this from afar, both wincing. "Ouch." Said DAM.
"Yeah, I think I heard something 'crunch.'" replied Scarecrow.
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C Naruto unwrapped his gift in a frenzy. The giver, Scarecrow stood by with a smile on his face.
When the Ninja Card Captor finally got the gift opened, he couldn't believe his eyes. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked.
"Yes, my friend, it is." Said Scarecrow "The Book of Clow with all of the Clow Cards in it."
Naruto looked over the gift again before turning back to his author, suspicion in his eyes. "It's not a fake is it?"
"Why would I do something like that?" Scarecrow replied. "It's real, Scout's Honor."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You were never a scout…"
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After recovering from Moka hugging him, Zivon had given Legion his gift.
The synthetic looked over the disc in his hand with what could be called confusion. "Zivon-Host, what is on this disc you gave us?"
"Well it's the first part of your gift; all you have to do is install it."
Legion inserted the disc and began running the installation. Once he was finished, he stated a simple thanks as. "We are very happy to have received this upgrade, but what is it?"
Zivon patted the geth on the back. "Notice how you can now feel happy?" he said "That upgrade was a full set of emotions. And now for the second part of your gift, this is an old human game called "Tetris.""
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"Enjoy your gift oh Great Mongol Lord." Said DAM giving a small envelope to Genghis Kahn.
The Mongolian conqueror opened the envelope to find a picture inside. There was a pure black stallion, armored with a brand new saddle and places for his weapons on it.
"This brand new thoroughbred horse is waiting for you out back after the party is over." Said DAM "Just try not to fall off."
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"Well that took a while." Said Zivon "Dessert will now be served, and there will be music playing in the great hall if any of you want to dance."
The dessert buffet had cakes, doughnuts, pies from Scarecrow, and more delicious confections. "I don't want to see any battles this time. You know who you are…" The Spartan and Immortal looked down in shame.
Some of the guests made for the dessert tables while the rest made for the great hall, where an upbeat jazzy tune was playing, for a bit of fun.
At the dessert buffet, the kings were talking again. "So you're telling me Vlad lied about the whole 'children' thing?" Alistair asked, sitting with the kings again. William nodded, Leonidas put his head in his hands and Vlad started laughing like there was no tomorrow. Alistair then applied head to table.
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In the great hall, Crona, Maka and Moka were all wondering the same thing. "Where's Kurumu?" asked Moka.
Maka looked around the great hall. "Isn't that her over there? What's she doing under a coffee table?"
This was true; in the corner of the hall under a table was the succubus in question. When they got there however, they got an unexpected response. "Go away!" Kurumu hissed "You'll give away my hiding place."
Crona looked at her quizzically. "Are you feeling okay Kurumu?"
"Quiet!" she hissed again "If you're going to talk, don't use my name."
Moka put her head in her hands. "What did you do this time?"
"What makes you think she did anything?" asked Maka.
"I know her by now."
Kurumu sighed. "Turn around and you'll see one of the greatest warriors in history looking for my hand in marriage."
The group looked behind them. Maka held back a laugh. Moka didn't bother. Crona looked confused.
"What's so funny?" Kurumu demanded.
"It seems your problem has spread." Said Maka, pointing across the room.
Kurumu followed her pointing to where Attila the Hun, Miyamoto Musashi, a Viking and Hannibal were all searching for her, love struck looks in their eyes.
"What?" she demanded, clamping a hand over her mouth as soon as she realized what she just did. Instantly, all her admirers looked in her direction and ran at her. Not wasting any time, Kurumu jumped up and ran, her wings emerging as she decided it would be a better idea to fly.
D Naruto and Ichigo watched the scene from across the hall. "Someone should track down those cookies." Said Naruto.
"You do that, and I'll go see Scarecrow about an antidote." Ichigo replied.
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As the night went on, more and more people made their way down to the great hall until all the guests were there, enjoying music, dancing, and the last remnants of desserts. The authors even managed to get the majority of the guests into a lively hora dance. "I think this party has been a success gentlemen." Zivon said to his fellow authors, each one nursing an egg nog.
"Agreed, nothing like good people, food, characters, and warriors to make a holiday amazing." DAM replied. "I have to ask, Scarecrow, what happened to that antidote to the love potion you were asked to give Kurumu's new 'followers?'"
Scarecrow smirked. "I decided I'd give it to her followers at the end of the night." He answered "That should teach her to try and bring spiked cookies to a party again."
"Good thought." DAM and Zivon replied. The three authors looked on at the party goers. All of them were enjoying themselves. Well most of them, Kurumu was still running from hiding place to hiding place and the ones who were now madly in love with her were not leaving a stone unturned to find her.
Other than that though people were enjoying a good time. The kings were toasting something or other, an alliance maybe, Crona and his remaining entourage were dancing with the characters from Crime of Shadows and Joan of Arc (well, Crona and Joan were trying to dance to the upbeat music playing), D Naruto and Ichigo were betting on where Kurumu's next hiding spot would be and whether or not Attila and company would finally catch her. Carter, Emile, the Rajput, The Zande, The Spartan, the Persian Immortal (who was ensured to be on the opposite end of the group to the Spartan), and Genghis Kahn were discussing what was the greatest bladed weapon, each speaking for his favorite.
"Things are getting a bit quiet though." Said Scarecrow.
"I think the party might be just about over guys." Said Zivon "There is one last thing I'd like to do though." He went up to the music player and put in the next song. When the current number finished, a version of Maoz Tzur, a slow and beautiful Hebrew song came on and people started to look for a dance partner.
Moka took one more sip of her egg nog and yawned before falling over on a couch she had moved to. Kurumu silently pumped her fist in joy. Her sleeping potion had worked, even if it was only for a little while, she would have this dance with Crona now. "Kurumu, my love!" the monster in question looked where the voice had come from to see that her new stalkers had finally tracked her down.
In this situation she did what any sensible woman would do: run. Fast.
It wouldn't have made a difference at all, since Crona was already enjoying a dance with Maka and trying desperately to neither panic or step on her feet. so far so good.
Velanna had swallowed her pride and agreed to dance with Nathaniel. She kept telling herself that she couldn't stand the shem, but she couldn't stop the blush from creeping up her face.
The kings were still talking about their alliance.
Kurumu had resigned herself to a dance with Hannibal. What could she say, he had the guts to challenge Rome and almost win.
Moka was still out. Snoring softly into the couch.
The Shaolin Monk was meditating peacefully.
Someone had made the Spartan and Immortal dance together no one was sure who, but by the look of anger in both their eyes, they were not happy with that person.
The other warriors they had been speaking to earlier were still discussing bladed weapons, Ichigo and D Naruto joining in.
Tanma had asked On Ji to dance with him. When she agreed, he noticed a bit of red in her cheeks which only intensified when they started dancing.
But perhaps the most shocking of all, was Joan of Arc. She had found a dance partner somewhere completely unexpected. Holding her and dancing was Mazeka of the Order of Mata Nui.
"You just wanted an excuse to put something like this in didn't you?" DAM asked flatly.
Zivon closed his eyes and put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Guilty as charged."
Scarecrow chuckled. "Lighten up on the guy, it's Christmas." He looked over at the dancers. "Hey, look at those two." The other authors turned to where he pointed to see Crona had just blushed at something Maka said and was now looking at his feet with a smile on his face.
"They're not the only ones, look there." Said Zivon, pointing at Tanma and On Ji.
Crona looked Maka in the eye and she stared back into his, both were full of happiness. The same was happening to Tanma and On Ji. In both cases, they got closer and closer, only an inch remaining until contact was made. Their eyes shut as their faces drew even closer until
BOOM!
A massive explosion blew the roof off the studio. In everything that was going on, no one noticed that C Naruto was still in the other room. Well, he was now next to the authors, but he had just gotten there with a little help from the explosion.
"What did you do?" asked Scarecrow.
"I found out your gift was real…"
"You released all the Clow Cards? In someone else's studio?"
Naruto seemed to shrink down before his creator. "Yes…"
Zivon glared at the idiot ninja before turning back to Scarecrow. "Next year, you're hosting." He muttered "I think it's about time I brought this party to a close. Good night ye merry gentlemen, and happy holidays."
The other authors and characters left, leaving Zivon with a damaged studio, in Canadian winter.
Zivon sighed. He turned around and re-opened the door to his studio to start the cleanup. "What the?" he asked, looking at the inside of his studio. The building was repaired, the dishes were all washed and piled on the counter, and whoever did it all was nice enough to throw in a polishing of the entire inside of the building. "Someone did all this while I was outside waving goodbye? I was out there for thirty seconds!" he said, incredulous.
He looked out the window and watched all the snow falling. "I guess I can call it another Hanukkah miracle, or a Christmas miracle."
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So there you have it. A little something for the holidays. I hope you all enjoyed it because now I have to get back to writing my other stories again.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!