Gaia walked briskly down a street close to her apartment. She tried to keep her mind off of the fact that it was Christmas Eve and she was alone once more. Her father had taken off yet again, promising to be back by Christmas. Broken promise #493 in Gaia's life. Jake had gone away with his father for the holidays. If Ed didn't hate her before, he would know that all the communication they were exchanging lately were 3-second awkward glances. Sam...Sam. She couldn't even think about Sam, she was SO stupid. If Gaia wanted one thing for Christmas it would be a time machine to fix all the stupid accusations and heart ache in her life.

Doughnuts would be fine, too, though.

Gaia heard a rustling in a bush across the street. Her ears perked up as she waited anxiously. A good ass-kicking is all she needed right now. The bastard might as well wrap himself up because a fight brings out the perfect amount of holiday cheer in Gaia. Then again, the right amount of cheer for Gaia is about -100 on the cheer-o-meter of regular people. Gaia breathed in a wisp of air and watched the little cloud of smoke evaporate into the sky as she exhaled. More rustlings, she saw shadows caress the picket fence of a house in very bad shape. Gaia swiftly walked over, crouching, keeping herself in the shadows. Her eyes darted left and right as her ears went on high alert. She could feel her blood exploding inside of her, excitement creeping up her spine.

Gaia peeked over the bush only to see a man mugging a woman, barely 25, with feathery blond hair and deep violet eyes filled which fear. The man was enveloped by the shadows, which prevented Gaia from seeing his face. She grabbed his shoulders firmly as possible and threw him off the woman. Gaia placed her foot tightly against his throat, preventing him from breathing.

"Get lost!" she spat at the choking baboon.

He choked for air and grabbed her leg, twisting her over so she fell on top of him. He started reaching in her pockets and around her blouse. Either he was feeling her up or this was a two-for-one special mug. Gaia shifted over so her hand had enough room and bolted up her arm backwards, giving a nice blow to the creep's nose. He lost grip as he flung his hands up to his bloody nose.

"Bitch!" he cried.

Gaia sprung backup, but the mugger wasn't long to follow, almost immediately as he stood, Gaia delivered a kick to his head, sending him back down. This was too easy. She didn't need to finish this guy off; he was already out cold. Gaia looked at the woman, still frightened, whose eyes were now a soft shade of lavender.

"Run." Gaia spoke loudly.

The women nodded and gulped. "Thank you, so much." She ran off as Gaia instructed.

Gaia felt drowsy but wasn't going to black out so close to home. She ran as the wind blew through her hair for several minutes before she reached home and entered the darkened hallway of her apartment room where she passed out on the couch.

When Gaia awakened a mere 10 minutes after, she opened her eyes just for a few seconds, the lights of the tree with nothing underneath it stinging her eyes. She dosed off to sleep shortly.

She awoke to the depressing shine of light illuminating the room. Rubbing her eyes, she noticed a small gift under the tree. It was silver with a beautiful blue ribbon - her mother's favorite colors. Gaia scrambled off the couch to the gift and unwrapped it, curiosity spilling into her veins.

It seemed to be a walkie-talkie. She was utterly confused and pressed down on the red button.

"Hello?" Gaia asked, uncertain.

"Hello, dear. It's been so long since we've spoken," an airy, elegant voice sang.

"Who the hell is this?" Gaia asked, irritated and almost certain of it being a stupid prank.

The voice laughed softly. "You've changed quite a bit, Gaia. It's Katia," the voice said, as if to be smiling with the words.