My first Christmas fic! I guess you can consider this a bit of a sequel to Father's Day, but technically it isn't. I just love bringing in sappy moments. "Stille Nacht" is German for "Silent Night".
You should know the drill by now: Please R&R!
Stille Nacht
"Your mother used to love putting up a Christmas tree."
"Really? Well, I don't. I can hardly reach the top to decorate it."
Bartz's father laughed. Boko and the other chocobo they had with them warked at the same time, like they were laughing too. Bartz failed miserably at trying to hide his smile. "Well, we don't need a tree. They're too tall, anyway."
"Not Christmas trees," his father chuckled. "They're only six or so feet tall. You're thinking of the taller evergreens one would find in a forest."
The wanderer only shrugged, reaching out to scratch Boko's head. The chocobo shuddered in delight, reaching over to lick Bartz's face. "Like I said, we really don't need one. Hey, did Mom like pie too?"
His father laughed. "She loved it! She made more pie than the three of us could even eat, and we'd have to throw away the scraps."
Bartz rubbed his stomach. "Pie is that good, you know."
"Oh, I never said it wasn't."
They both laughed.
"Hey, Dad…."
"Hmm?"
"Did we ever have a Christmas tradition?"
He thought it over a minute. "Your mother always liked to put a chocobo feather on top of the tree instead of a star, but that can't really be counted as a tradition, can it? Oh, do you remember when we used to tell you that story about Santa?"
"How he went from Chris Kringle to Santa Claus? Yeah, I remember."
"We told you that story every Christmas day before we opened presents. That was a tradition."
((((()))))
"Shh shhhh! You'll wake him up!"
"Luneth- that means you."
"Tidus, if you don't stop your little giggle spell back there, I will…-"
"Bartz, Tidus, Luneth- I will send you right back to the others. Now are we going to shake those presents to see what's in them or not?"
The Onion Knight dropped on knees. "Yes, Zidane! I have to see what Terra got me!"
The tailed thief pulled him up and put a finger to his lips. His three accomplices immediately went silent and tiptoed after him as he sneaked towards the mountain of presents. There was one for every warrior from every warrior.
Right when Zidane touched the first one- a gift for Cecil from Terra- a monotonous voice rang out through the silent night: "What are you doing?"
Zidane had a perfect excuse on the tip of his tongue, but Luneth reacted first.
Squall's blank, sleepy face didn't change when Luneth burst, "THEY DRAGGED ME INTO IT! I TOLD THEM STEALING THE PRESENTS-"
"We weren't stealing them!" Bartz interrupted, eyes wide in fear at being subject to a lecture from the SeeD or, even more terrifying, the Warrior of Light.
Tidus and Zidane, while the two sputtered any kind of excuses they could possibly think of, palmed themselves.
To the four's surprise, Squall shrugged. "I used to shake presents when I was a kid too. Doesn't excuse you three," he told Zidane, Tidus, and Bartz, "but Present Shaking is a Christmas tradition. Just don't shake any of my presents to you lot. If you break them, I'll kill you."
Then, trying to stifle a yawn, Squall walked away.
"A Christmas tradition…?" Luneth murmured, his eyes growing distant.
Zidane scratched the back of his head. "Christmas without the troupe…. There goes catching Blank and Ruby under the mistletoe."
Bartz laughed. Everyone took note of the sadness masked behind it. "I'm surprised you didn't say anything about you and twenty other girls."
"I told you already, I have Dagger!"
"Riiiight. So, why do you always flirt with Terra?"
He was silent. Tidus chuckled. "And we know that you got her chocolate. No idea where you got it, but we saw the goods."
"I hate you guys."
Tidus only laughed. "Well," he started with a yawn, "I've decided to be patient and wait until tomorrow. Besides, we don't know if anyone else's gifts will shatter like Squall's would. Good night, guys."
The Onion Knight followed him, echoing almost the same response.
Bartz turned forlornly back to the stack of presents, wrapped in a motley of assorted fabrics and paper. Not a one had actual wrapping paper, of course. If one was one lucky, they could find something from their world, and Cosmos had been gracious of late with gifts- things she picked up upon journeying between worlds to ensure Chaos's reach was not spreading from Dissidia.
"We'll wait until tomorrow morning, then, Zidane," Bartz decided, morosely turning towards his makeshift bed, made of his yellow cape- a blanket Cosmos had procured for them, and his crystal for safekeeping.
Zidane frowned after his friend. "Yeah. Tomorrow morning."
I bet… he's never had a good Christmas, Zidane thought, looking up at the bright stars. Him and his dad were always travelling, so I guess they never stopped to celebrate Christmas. At least, not one like the rest us.
And thus he started to scheme.
((((()))))
"Merry Christmas!"
Luneth bolted upright instantly, almost slamming his forehead into Terra's beaming face.
The half-esper giggled at his excited face and repeated herself, "Merry Christmas, Luneth!"
"Presents?" was the first word out of his smiling mouth. Luneth jumped up and ran off to wake up Cloud. The ex-SOLDIER was face-down on an old wool blanket, his hair somehow still perfectly spiked. Luneth jumped on his back, shouting, "Christmas! Christmas! Wake up, Cloud! It's Christmas!"
He groaned, rolling over to push the ecstatic little boy off. "Five more minutes," he moaned.
Luneth reluctantly let him have his five minutes, instead bounding over Zidane, who was just waking up with a simultaneous yawn and stretch. "Hey, Onion Peel," the tailed thief greeted him with his least favorite nickname. "Christmas morning, huh?"
"Did someone say Christmas morning?"
Terra and Cecil, whom she had just woken up, laughed as Bartz jumped up, looking around anxiously for the presents. His eyes lit up as he found the neat little stack next to where the Warrior of Light and Squall were trying to sort through the gifts into piles for each warrior. "Breakfast first," Light said as Bartz skipped over. He turned around and gave him a serious look. "And we mustn't get lost in the festivities. Chaos's minions could attack and easily catch us off guard, so-"
"Aw, Light, they aren't going to attack today," Tidus started, sliding over inconspicuously to his pile. Squall growled at him and Tidus scooted a little farther away. "It's Christmas! It's a day to take a break from war and be with friends." He had almost said family, but easily caught himself.
All the warriors had learned to be careful when the subject of family came up ever since the incident from a few months back. More than one warrior had been reduced to tears over their fathers, and since then, no one had mentioned anything about any members of their family, save what Zidane said about Kuja, or Cecil about Golbez, and, on occasion, a wry comment about Jecht from Tidus.
The Warrior of Light only rolled his eyes. "I suppose. But still…."
"They aren't," Tidus said firmly, crossing his arms.
Firion suddenly sighed. "It isn't enough to have presents a Christmas dinner- er, breakfast. We need a tree to decorate."
Bartz rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "Exdeath would make a horrible Christmas tree. He'd be ranting about 'The Void!' all day."
"Eh, do we really need a tree?" Zidane asked, with a slight shiver, a few choice memories coming back to bombard him. "How about we just find some mistletoe?"
"NO," came an echo from every warrior.
Zidane sighed and addressed Terra, who was blushing madly. "Well, I tried." He crossed his arms behind his head. "But I wonder if we could make the area a little more festive than this," he mused, nodding towards the empty expanse of the Lunar Subterrane. "But before anything, I want to know what we're calling our big Christmas meal."
Firion started digging through the food bag, a sack filled with provisions of all sorts. Anything edible from chocolate to an artichoke was likely to be found there. "Let's see… there are a few boxes of rice-"
"Not Christmas-y enough," Zidane noted.
The rebel scowled up at him, but continued anyway. "A few apples-"
"They can be made in apple pies," the thief judged. "That's good. Next item?"
"Bread." When Zidane didn't add a comment to that, only nodding to say that was acceptable as well, Firion continued. "Some stuffing, a couple potatoes- yes, we can make mashed potatoes- and some stuff for making salad."
"That is the wimpiest Christmas meal I have ever heard of."
Zidane pointed to Luneth. "Where are the cherries you picked yesterday with me, Bartz, and Cloud?"
The Onion Knight handed them over. Zidane put them in a nice pile next to the apples. "Apple and cherry pie will be desert," he explained. Zidane looked over to Tidus. "Do you still have any pumpkin bread left over from last week?"
"Yeah, a whole loaf of it," he said, going to retrieve it from his stash.
"Light?"
"The cans of beans Cosmos gave me? Right away."
Zidane nodded, grinning at the meal starting to form. "I've still got some chocolate, so if we melt it over the leftover cherries, we'll have cherry cordials to eat. Does anyone have any chicken still good?"
Terra looked from the growing pile. "Oh, I think I do. Don't you have some smoked jerky, Squall?"
"And I think I have some leftover bacon. We can fix it with some green beans?" he asked Zidane, who eagerly nodded.
"I have cookies!" Cecil piped in and added the chocolate-chipped pieces of heaven with the other deserts.
Zidane smugly smirked at the food. "Now that's better. I'll start on the pies."
Terra gathered up the pumpkin bread and cookies and started to warm them up with a minor fire spell. Firion started mixing up the salad, adding bits of bacon to it.
Luneth dragged Cloud and Bartz over to a spread out table cloth. "It needs a centerpiece," Cloud suggested. "Neither of you happen to have some materials, do you?"
As it turned out, Luneth had a stash of pinecones. Bartz and Cloud decided it best not to ask why he carried them around. "…They smell nice," Luneth explained anyway, handing them over to Cloud.
The ex-SOLDIER took out some thread and started wrapping them together in an intricate way. "In Nibelheim," he told them while he worked, "my mother, Tifa, and I got together and made these."
When he was done, the pinecones were shaped sort of like a tree. Bartz took out Boko's feather. "It needs something else," he said, sticking it on top, like a star on a real tree.
The three nodded in satisfaction and split up to find some other decorations while the others warriors went to and fro cooking various things.
"Hey, Cecil," Zidane called when the pies were ready for Terra to bake. "Do you want to come with me to get Kuja, Golbez, and Jecht?"
The paladin wasn't very surprised. He smiled. "You didn't tell Tidus?" Cecil guessed.
"Nope." His lips popped on the P.
Cecil shook his head over a mental image of Tidus and the others freaking out and the two sneaked away.
((((()))))
Bartz looked around for Zidane and Cecil, but they weren't with everyone else. Well, they would just miss out. The food was prepared, Cloud's pinecone-tree was laughed at (but he only smiled), and everyone crowded together around the table cloth. Luneth had lined the cloth with pinecones as decorations, and Cloud had used the Buster Sword to dig out the words "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" in the dirt beside them.
The warriors were gracious enough not to start their meal until Zidane and Cecil came back from wherever they had went, so each warrior took turns telling a Christmas story.
Cloud had been shockingly enthusiastic in his. "Every Christmas Eve, Tifa and I would line the streets with snowmen to ward off Nibel Wolfs. They never came down from the mountain, but you'd be surprised about the fear my mother and her father distilled into us over them. We'd raid our closets for old clothes and dressed them up, taking different kinds of vegetables (so we wouldn't have to eat them later) for their noses."
"It would have been awesome to have an army of snowmen," Luneth thought, imagining acres of them standing proud in the plains next to Ur. "But all me and Arc did was dig up pine cones out of the snow to put on our Christmas trees."
"So that's where you got the weird habit," Tidus laughed.
Firion thought about his story. "Well," he started, "Guy, Leon, Maria, and I used to go out and look for reindeer."
"Did you ever find one?" The Warrior of Light chuckled.
"Eh… no."
They all had a laugh over that.
Terra's eyes lit up when it was her turn. "I used to spend Christmas in Mobliz with the kids. I used to make everyone gingerbread men. I wish we had some now…."
"Then you're in luck."
The eight warriors turned to see Zidane, Cecil, and three guests with them.
"Old man!" Tidus burst. "What're you doing here!"
Jecht shrugged. "That runt kidnapped us. Anyway, I have some gingerbread cookies. Kuja made them," he quickly added when Tidus poised for an insult.
"I did no such thing!" Zidane's brother burst.
"He did," Golbez agreed. He quickly grew timid. "I hope we're not… intruding?"
The Warrior of Light smiled. "Of course not. We were just about to start our Christmas breakfast."
Jecht cocked an eyebrow. "Christmas breakfast?"
Luneth pouted at Light and Squall. "They're only making a big deal out of it because they want to take their sweet time in getting around to opening presents."
"Only because you probably got all of us a pretty pinecone," Tidus muttered. Before the Onion Knight could blow up at him, Tidus quickly announced, "Let's just eat, shall we?"
Terra savored every bite of the gingerbread men cookies, the flavor reminding her of the sweet children back in Mobliz. She hoped they were celebrated a Christmas as good as hers was. It didn't matter that no one was surrounded by their families. After all, Terra didn't have a family, unless one counted the children and the rest of her friends. She wondered if Edgar and Sabin had invited everyone over to Figaro Castle to celebrate Christmas. She didn't know if Locke would have gone there or stayed in Kohlinger, but Celes, Terra knew for a fact, would go wherever Locke would.
She smiled and put down her cookie. Quietly, she asked, "Aren't we going to go around and say what we're thankful for?"
"I thought you only did that at Thanksgiving," Cecil said.
"Oh, well, yes," Terra blushed. "But, since we weren't together for Thanksgiving, I just thought now would be a good time for it."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Thanksgiving hadn't been a break from the war like Christmas thankfully was, and the warriors were divided for the next few weeks afterwards until they met back up in time for Christmas.
Terra looked around at everyone. "I guess I'll go first, then?" she asked.
Light nodded.
"Um… I'm thankful that I'm here, having Christmas with you guys. I mean, of course I miss everyone from my world, and I want to go home and see them soon, but I… don't exactly have a real family in my world. So, being here with you sort of makes up for that. We've barely known each other for a year, but we practically know each other inside and out. I can't say that about anyone else I know. And I'm thankful for the cookies. Thanks, Kuja."
Zidane elbowed him. "Your turn!"
"Wh-what? No, I'm not-"
"You decided to come, so you're going to join in. Now, hurry, it's your turn."
Kuja stared at the apple pie as he spoke. "I… suppose I'm thankful for being here too, because in our world, I would most likely be dead by now. I am extremely grateful that accursed tree isn't in Dissidia, nor is the Garland Zidane and I once knew. However, I do want to kick him off a cliff again."
A snigger came from Bartz. When the warriors turned to stare at him, he chuckled, "Kuja kicked some guy off a cliff. Doesn't anyone else find that funny? No? Well, whatever. I'll take my turn!"
Bartz cleared his throat. "I'm thankful for the pie- it's the best thing I've eaten all year- and for this weird pinecone-tree that Cloud made. It looks really cool, Cloud. Seriously. Uh, I'm thankful for you guys. Especially Squall, since he hasn't killed me yet for calling him Squally so much."
"Shut up, Butz," the SeeD growled.
He only laughed. "Exactly what I mean! I'm also thankful for all my friends back home, and I really miss Lenna and Boko. Um… I choose Luneth to go next."
"Since when are we choosing who goes next?" the Onion Knight whined. "I don't even know what to say!"
Terra shrugged. "Just say whatever comes to mind first."
He nervously began, "Uh… I'm thankful for… the food? Yeah, the food. Everyone did a great job cooking. And, uh, I'm thankful for all the new friends I've met in Dissidia, and how you don't think I'm too annoying. I apologize for being annoying. Hmm… I guess I'm thankful that we have three Chaos warriors here and that they aren't trying to rip our throats out. That's a nice change of pace. I choose Golbez, speaking of good Chaos warriors."
"What I'm thankful for? I suppose, like everyone else, that I am here in Dissidia with these two, my friends. I'm thankful that you are letting the three of us spend Christmas with you as well. I'm also thankful that I have someone to spend my Christmases with. Before, I always celebrated alone. Finally, I am grateful to no longer be under Zemus's control. I choose Jecht."
The blitzball star downed his cup of stale water. "Eh, I guess I'm thankful my crybaby hasn't burst into tears yet. Ha ha, I'm kidding. I'm thankful for the food. It's nice to have something warm and decent for a change that I haven't had to scavenge for. Like the kid said, I'm thankful I'm sitting here with all these Cosmos warriors and we aren't in the middle of some epic fight. That's it. Go, Tidus."
"I'm thankful that we didn't end up shaking the presents last night. If we broke anyone's, we'd be dead right now."
"You did what last night!" the Warrior of Light burst.
Tidus, Bartz, and Luneth pointed to Zidane. "It was his idea!" they chimed.
"Zidane Tribal-"
The thief jumped up, backing away from their angry leader. "I-I swear, we didn't touch any of them! And besides, Luneth was the one who wanted to know what Terra got him!"
"Luneth!" Terra burst in disbelief. The Onion Knight hung his head in shame, muttering out an apology.
Squall sighed, saying, "It's true, they didn't touch any of them. Can we get back to what we're thankful for? I'll even go next. I'm thankful for you morons reminding me of my Christmases as a kid last night. Being a SeeD, I've lost most of my memories of being a kid, so it's good to remember anything. I'm also thankful we aren't fighting a stupid today. Hopefully we'll do this more often, as well as have meals together. Your turn, monkey-boy."
Zidane plopped back on the ground. "Hmm… what am I thankful for? Oh! I'm thankful for my beautiful Dagger back home, but I'm really bummed about missing Christmas with Tantalus. Man, I even miss Boss sneezing every three seconds over the eggnog. But I am thankful I've at least got you guys to celebrate with. It's better than being alone, like Golbez says. Oh, and I'm thankful I've still got a secret stash of chocolate hidden somewhere."
"Wait, that was yours in Crystal World?" Kuja asked, mouth turning upward in a triumphant smirk.
His brother gaped. "YOU TOOK MY CHOCOLATE?"
Kuja shrugged. "You shouldn't have left it out in the open."
"…I take back what I just said. Cloud, your turn."
The ex-SOLDIER sighed and looked up at the starry sky. "I'm thankful I'm not alone. Being here with you all has reminded me that I need to forget about the things I've screwed up in the past and to keep looking forward. Thanks. I'm also thankful that I got to make these stupid pinecone things. They really are stupid, but whatever. They're one good memory I still have. And this really is good food. Firion."
"I'm thankful that I'm here instead of back home, actually. I miss my family and friends, but… most of them are dead, thanks to the Emperor. And my home is ruins. Also thanks to the Emperor. But here, you all are sort of making up for everyone. Sure, this isn't the best Christmas I've ever had, but it's better than what I'd have back home. Uh, Cecil."
The paladin smiled. "I'm thankful I'm here with my brother, and that we aren't fighting like before." Golbez nodded in solemn agreement. "I'm thankful that we can all be thankful of something, because even when we've led not-so-great lives, we can still find joy in something. I am also extremely thankful that this food turned out so well. I must admit I had my doubts we could cook a feasible dinner. Er, breakfast. And I choose… Light."
The Warrior of Light gave all of them a smile. "I am thankful to be here with everyone for Christmas. I'm thankful for how each of you teach me something new every day, whether or not I wanted to learn it," he said pointedly to Zidane. Everyone else turned to scowl at the thief, smiling innocently back at them. Light continued. "I'm thankful we each had a part in making this Christmas one that none of us will ever forget. I think I was the last person? And everyone appears to be finished eating. That means-"
"Presents?" Luneth piped in hopefully.
Light chuckled, shaking his head. "Yes, it is time for presents."
"YES!" the Onion Knight shouted, jumping up and running over the neat stack. "Okay, these ten are mine, right? Oh, yes! I love opening presents!"
"And pinecones," Tidus laughingly reminded him. But Luneth paid him no attention, ripping the cloth/paper off of his presents.
Jecht followed Tidus over to his stack. "I remember when you were a kid," Jecht mused, a sad smile on his face, "and your mother and I had to go through this every year."
Tidus had an equally sad smile on his face. "Yeah. I really miss her, Dad."
"…Me too, son."
"Oh, Zidane! Chocolate! Thank you!" Terra burst, hugging the box close.
Kuja sighed. "You are such a kiss up, brother."
Zidane only smiled at Terra. Turning back to his presents, he pointed out in a sing-song voice, "At least people can easily tell what gender I am."
Kuja growled and smacked the back of his head. "Oh, shut up."
After a moment, Zidane smiled. "You can help me open these, you know," he said, passing one off to Kuja. "You have no idea how fun ripping paper apart can be."
He held the box in his hands, the old paper rigid and scratchy. "…Thank you, Zidane." And Zidane only grinned.
"YES!" Bartz burst, holding up a carved, glass chocobo charm. "Thank you, uh…," he looked back on the paper. "Squall! Thank you, Squall!"
The SeeD tossed him a smirk, opening the last of his. It was a yellow chocobo feather. From Bartz, of course. "Thanks to you too, Bartz," he said, putting it into his pocket.
Once all the presents were opened, all the cloth and paper stuffed into bags for a later use (recycling was a big thing in Dissidia), and all the warriors elated, they sat back down for more pie and cookies. It didn't matter that no one could hardly eat anymore, pie and cookies were just the perfect way to end a perfect morning.
((((()))))
That afternoon, next to a fire Terra had conjured with her magic, Bartz remembered there was one thing he forgot to say he was thankful for.
He looked back at the warriors- his friends. Zidane and Kuja were actually laughing about something. Bartz realized it was the first he had ever seen a Chaos warrior laugh about something good, for once. Terra and Cloud were sitting with Luneth, going through his presents for a fifth time. That kid was happier than anyone in Dissidia had ever seen.
He turned back to the fire and murmured, "I'm thankful you guys gave me a traditional Christmas."
Bartz hopped up to his feet and called out, "I think it's story time."
Luneth blinked, then scooted over closer. "What kind of story?" he asked, trying to hide his enthusiasm.
"About Santa," Bartz replied, watching as everyone else gathered around. "Well, the real Santa. Everyone knows Santa isn't around nowadays, but way back when ago, he was real, and his name was Chris Kringle…."
There was a certain light in his eyes and no one had seen before. A happy spark, a special spark, as he told the story. There was something sad hidden behind it, but that was only a memory.
((((()))))
As everyone readied for bed, Kuja, Golbez, and Jecht took their leave
Bartz looked around at all his companions and thought, I've got someone here, someone who's went through everything I have. They know what it's like to lose someone, to be alone. But they also know to count their blessings. They know and realize, like me, that being alone is the worst thing out there.
"Good night, everyone! Merry Christmas!" Terra called, laying down on the hard ground. Bartz frowned at how he used to always have to sleep on terrain like this, the only comfort coming from Boko, who graciously let Bartz use him as a pillow.
And I'm going to miss you guys when I go back to silent nights.