Author's Comments: This story takes place near the beginning of the game, when the party consists of only Kratos, Lloyd, Genis, Raine and Colette. Written rather rapidly to meet a deadline (and really out of style) so you have my apologies for that. Happy holidays!

Santa Kratos

By: SilverWind

'Twas the night before Christmas, and Prof. Sage, in a situation,
Approached Kratos the mercenary with the following conversation:

"Kratos, I need your help."

The 'mercenary' looked up from the corner of the inn where he was sitting and stared piercingly at the silver-haired woman.

"What is it?"

Raine hesitated, trying to figure out the best way to explain her dilemma.

"Well, as you know, it's Christmas Eve... and... to be perfectly honest, none of the children know the truth behind Santa Claus yet."

In disbelief, Kratos nearly broke his stern countenance by laughing. "That's absurd. They're all past ten years of age and should have learned the truth long ago."

Raine nodded her agreement. "That's true, but the people of Iselia wanted to keep the Chosen happy while she was alive. No one could bear telling her Santa Claus wasn't real. We then also had to keep the illusion for all the other children in the village, so..."

The mercenary tilted his head slightly. "I see. What do you want me to do?"

Somewhat relieved, Raine began to explain her plans out in detail.

"I need you to pose as Santa Claus and sneak into their room at night to deliver their presents. They'll all be sleeping in the same room for the occasion, so it shouldn't be too much trouble..." Raine left her last sentence hanging in the air, looking hopefully at the person in front of her. Kratos sighed.

"Humph... Fine then. Where are their presents?"

"Oh, that's the other thing..." The professor smiled embarrassedly. "I got a bit preoccupied with the ruins we stopped by this morning—you know, the ones with the large pillars and the ancient hieroglyphic carvings?!—so I'll need you to go pick up gifts for each of them too."

Kratos put his head in his hand and sighed.


Somewhat later, the children were all nestled snug in their beds,
While visions of sword upgrades, world peace and cooking utensils danced in their heads.

Meanwhile, Kratos, fresh from shopping, came back to the inn.
Dressed entirely in Santa's costume, he snuck a peek within.

Balancing a moderately large sack of presents on his shoulders, Kratos checked the last window belonging to the first floor rooms of the inn. It was empty, just like all the other ones had been.

"...They're sleeping on the second floor?" Kratos muttered, frowning. The mercenary briefly weighed his options. He wanted to make a quick entrance and exit, remove the unflattering Santa outfit he had purchased at the local store, then immediately rid himself of the aforementioned costume (incriminating evidence, it was) with a few well-aimed Fireballs.

Finally deciding upon his course of action, Kratos summoned out his angelic wings and silently flew upwards, toward the second floor windows. It wasn't long before he spotted the room with Lloyd, Colette and Genis sleeping inside, and with little difficulty, he opened the window and glided in. Almost noiselessly, the mercenary began to set presents by the foot of each of the sleeping children's beds.

His task would be over soon—or at least, so he hoped.

Unfortunately, two out of the three kids were used to nighttime peeping toms,
And it wasn't very long before Kratos' sneaking plan bombed.

"AAH!" screamed Lloyd.

"EEK!" exclaimed Colette.

"What's going on?! Oh Goddess Martel, it's Santa Claus!" yelled Genis.

All three of the children were instantly awake and instantly aware of the presence of 'Santa Claus,' who hovered in the air with iridescent blue wings, a present still under one arm.

With wide eyes, Lloyd gaped at the figure before him incredulously, almost accusingly. He then broke the silence with another loud exclamation.

"I knew it! Santa is... he's...!"

Despite all his years of experience, Kratos faced a moment of extreme panic.

"Santa is... an angel!"

'Santa Claus' put his head in his hand and sighed.

Surprisingly however, Colette and Genis thought Lloyd was right.
Exclaimed the latter loudly, "That must be how he gets into homes at night!"

The three children commenced chattering, their visitor ignored,
And dropping the last present, out the window 'Santa' soared.

Slightly disappointed at his leaving, but not entirely sad,
The kids opened their presents to see what they had.

Sitting up on her bed, Colette looked happily at her large, oddly shaped package.

"Oh wow, I wonder what my gift could be?" she beamed.

Underneath its wrappings, Colette's gift wagged its tail and barked.

"Gosh, I can't wait to find out what it is!" the Chosen gushed, and excitedly commenced unwrapping her present.

One bed away from Colette, Genis got up, opened gift in hand. He joyfully ran across the room to where Lloyd was, excited to show his best friend what he had received.

"Lloyd, I got an Angelic translation dictionary! What did you get?" The young magic-caster leaned in close to check, then immediately wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Ugh, you got a teddy bear? How babyish! And it looks used, too! What was Santa thinking?"

But oddly hushed and quiet the elder boy was;
Memories stirred in Lloyd's mind as he stroked the bear's fuzz.

"...Mr... Mr. Snuggles...?" Lloyd stammered. His eyes watered a little. Almost frantically, he hugged the teddy bear tightly to his chest.

"MR. SNUGGLES!"

"O...kay..." Genis said confusedly, not quite understanding the reunion that had just taken place.

And so Christmas eve passed, and similarly did the next day,
No more was spoken of this; Santa's suit was burnt away.

However, a few weeks later, at the Tower of Salvation...
A few events occurred that caused a great revelation:

"Kratos! Where have you been?" Genis exclaimed with surprise.

"Kratos... Who are you?!" Lloyd demanded.

Smiling nihilistically, Kratos brought his left hand up to his face. A familiar pair of iridescent blue wings shimmered into existence behind him.

"I am of Cru—"

Lloyd gasped loudly in surprise, interrupting the older man. He looked horrified.

"I...I can't believe it! I won't believe it! Kratos is... Kratos is..."

The Seraphim peered down, trying to prevent hidden emotions from showing in his eyes.

"...Kratos is SANTA CLAUS?!"

The party heard Kratos mutter, ere he placed head in hand (and thus out of sight),
"Merry Christmas to all, even those not very bright."

Fin.