Standard disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. So back off lawyers!!!
AN: Just a short Christmas fic. Takes place a few months after Episode II in regards to timeline. Enjoy :)
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All I Want…
Elsa,
December 23, 7:30 p.m.
It was a rather odd idea of sorts. More like it was basically last minute. He thought it might be fun, considering what everyone had been through the last few months, not counting what they were going to have to go through that next year. But… that was another story.
One which he didn't wish to dwell on at that time.
Instead, he paced around his cabin aboard the Elsa. Getting the Captain to dock at Second Milita Space Port had been one thing in its self. He scratched the back of his head and grinned in amusement.
Okay, so he let it slip about a rumor of the Seraphim Sisters playing a live concert on the planet in question. Never mind that said rumor was just that… a rumor. He really couldn't help it if a "sudden" snowfall had suddenly made it impossible to navigate correctly enough to leave orbit. (Never mind the fact that snow didn't usually fall on Second Milita this time of year, but that's another story… heh…)
He hummed to himself in amusement. He had been keeping tabs on everyone ever since they parted about three months ago. Even if they weren't really aware of it.
He figured that the Captain would be too busy getting hammered to really care about his "mission." Tony would be too busy… eh, never mind. And he figured Hammer would be too busy installing the new Logical Drive to really care about his idea.
So, if his plan was to work, he'd need some help. He grinned like an idiot as he booted up his connection gear and logged onto the U.M.N and tapped in a few numbers.
The connection finally picked up at the image of an older man with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail appeared on the screen.
"Well, I have to say that I am surprised that you would contact me," the man mused.
"Yeah, heh, you see," the other man kept grinning like an idiot.
"Yes?"
"I have an idea for something, but I kind of need some help, and you were the only one who I thought might have some idea as to what I am talking about."
"Mhm," the man hummed. "And what would that be?"
"Well, back before the disappearance of Lost Jerusalem, there was a certain holiday that was celebrated around this time of year," the man began eagerly.
"Ah," the older man grinned slightly. "I know what you are talking about. Though, what does this have to do with me?"
"You see?" the other man's grin grew wider. "I need help… acquiring certain… things in order for this to work… and I need them by tomorrow morning. And… heh, here's the funny part… I need a place to… host this holiday celebration."
The older man slightly raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You mean my house?"
"Um… yeah?"
"Hm, just how many people to do plan on inviting to your… celebration?"
"Oh… I dunno…"
"chaos?" the older man gave the other a slightly annoyed look.
"Hey, look at it this way… it's a sure fire way to get Shion to come home… or a least stay for a few hours." chaos grinned.
"Uh, huh," he said. "What makes you think that she'll stay here?"
"Oh…" chaos had to hide a poorly hidden smirk. "I have my ways…"
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Second Milita spaceport,
December 24, 2:20 p.m.
"What do you mean, all flights have been canceled?!" a young woman with light brown hair yelled.
The woman behind the counter sighed and looked at the irate woman. "It's exactly just what I have told you, all flights have been canceled due to unusual weather conditions. Leaving the planet would be difficult with all this snow. I'm sorry, but you will have to reschedule."
"Right…" the woman said venomously. "Whatever you say…"
The young woman growled in annoyance and pulled her jacket closer to her body. Of all the crazy things to happen.
She was just suppose to come to Vector HQ on Second Milita for a few days to go over some new designs to KOS-MOS, and then head back to the Dämmerung in a few hours for now. But what happened the second she got to the spaceport? She finds out her flight was cancelled. Lovely.
What made things possibly worse, were that her hotel reservations ran out at noon that day. And she had to make those at least a month in advance. So… all hotels and the like were full up. No vacancy.
She was stuck in the middle of a snowstorm without a room to stay at…
Well… maybe…
"Ugh…" Shion muttered to herself. "It really could be worse…"
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Uzuki residence,
December 24, 3:30 p.m.
Shion was absolutely freezing when she finally trudged up the stairs of her brother's house. She didn't really want to do this, but really? What else could she do?"Well, he is always telling me to visit more…" Shion muttered to herself.
Coming to Jin's house was up there with going to Old Milita, but she swallowed her pride and knocked on the door. She tapped her foot, as she waited for her no good brother to answer the door. When no answer was forthcoming, she banged on the door.
Shion finally got irritated and just turned the doorknob. The door opened and she walked right on in. A rush of hot air hit her on the way in, and inwardly, she was glad that she decided to come over and…
"Ah, Shion. What a pleasant surprise," the voice of Shion's older brother came from somewhere from inside the house
"Jin?" Shion sighed. "Where are you?"
"In the living room," Jin replied. "Say, could you hand me those decoration on the table as you come in?"
"Decorations?" Shion questioned. She looked down as saw a big box of what appeared to be silver and red balls and what she thought looked like silver lace. "Um… Jin? Just what are you doing?" Shion had to suppress the urge to yell.
"Decorating," was Jin's short reply.
"Decorating what?" Shion muttered darkly as she walked into the living room, holding the box with both arms. "What the hell…?!" Shion nearly dropped the box she was holding.
"Ah, good," Jin replied. "Place that box on the chair and give me a hand."
Shion just stared at her brother. Perhaps he had gone insane? All she knew was he was standing on top of a step ladder and placing some of those odd looking glass balls on a fig tree… a real fig tree…
Jin momentarily turned around and looked at Shion. "Well?"
"Well what?" Shion asked as she sat the box down on the chair and walked over to Jin. "What are you doing?"
"I told you," Jin have her a curt reply, and then turned back to placing those balls on limbs of the tree. "Decorating."
"WHY IS THERE A TREE IN YOUR HOUSE?!" Shion yelled. "Have you lost whatever sanity you had left???"
"Well," Jin grinned as he stepped down from the ladder. "It was really chaos' idea. He contacted me yesterday and asked me to help him with some sort of ancient celebration," Jin shrugged. "It's suppose to be a holiday that you celebrate with friends and family, so I thought it might be nice to help him."
"Bwah?" Shion pointed towards the tree. "But… what's with the tree, and the decorations, and…"
Jin held up his hand to silence her. "It's apparently a part of the celebration. chaos asked me to retrieve a tree for him, and he supplied the decorations." Jin explained.
"Uh, huh…" Shion mumbled weakly. "So, of course you felt the need to join in."
"Well," Jin placed his hand on his chin.
"Right…" Shion sighed. "I suppose I'm going to be dragged into this, too?"
"Since you're here… wait. Why are you here?"
"My flight was canceled," Shion quickly explained, ignoring all looks from Jin and quickly grabbed up two balls from the box. "So," she turned around to face him. "Where do these go???"
"Ah," Jin looked over at a flustered Shion in amusement. "On the tree, of course."
"Here?" Shion placed a red ball next to one that was already hanging on the tree.
"No," Jin came over to her and removed the ball and placed it higher up. "Here. You don't want to weigh the tree down…"
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Uzuki residence,
December 24, 6:05 p.m.
Shion actually had to admit that the tree looked nice. She had spent at least two of the hours questioning Jin about what was the purpose of the tree, why they were placing candles on the window ceils, why there was that odd little plant hanging over the archway that led to the kitchen…
Shion shook her head as she watched Jin place a gold and silver star at the top of the tree.
"What's the star for?" Shion asked.
Jin sighed. "I could go into detail, but you probably don't want to hear it."
"Hm," Shion mused as someone knocked on the door.
"Ah," Jin grinned as he walked passed Shion and opened the door to reveal chaos and Jr., the former holding what appeared to be many wrapped boxes and the latter holding what appeared to be grocery bags.
"Come in," Jin grinned.
chaos grinned slightly as he and Jr. walked into the living room. chaos started to place the boxes under the tree as Jr. placed the grocery bags on the couch. Shion gave them both an odd look, then turned to Jin.
"Is this also a part of the holiday?" she asked.
Jin glanced at chaos, who was quiet happy under the tree. "Yeah," chaos grinned as he got back up and turned to face the others. "Oh, Jin?"
Jin gave chaos an odd look. "Yes?"
"I hope you don't mind if I invited Dr. Mizrahi and MOMO to come over, too. With the snow as bad as it is, they couldn't get a flight back to Fifth Jerusalem and with all of the hotels full up, they had no where to stay…"
"Hm, sure. Why not?" Jin grinned slightly. "The more, the merrier."
"Juli is here on Second Milita?" Shion asked.
Jr. nodded. "Yeah, she had some sort of business here and we flew her here, via the Durandal. But with all the bad weather, we couldn't get permission to leave dock."
"Ah," Shion grinned slightly. "When are they arriving?"
"About…" chaos began. There was a knock at the door. "Now, actually. We ran into them on the way here."
Jin sighed as he opened the door. On the other side of the door were a very excited MOMO and a very cold Juli. Both smiled as Jin gestured for them to come in. It was then he noticed a snow covered Ziggy standing in the doorway. Jin hid a grin as he gestured for the cyborg to enter as well.
"Sorry for the trouble," Juli began, but was cut off by MOMO.
"Shion!" MOMO ran straight for Shion and gave her a big hug. Shion hugged her back and grinned.
"Hi MOMO," Shion began.
Ziggy turned and noticed the tree. He then turned his head over to Jin and gave the other man a questioning look. Jin just shrugged and gestured to chaos, who was happily looking at the tree.
chaos turned to Ziggy and grinned. "Hey, Ziggy? Could you help me move that foldout table into the living room, so we can set up the snacks and refreshments?"
"Say, where is the table, anyway?" Ziggy asked, turning his attention back to Jin.
"In the kitchen," Jin made a gesture towards the kitchen with his left hand.
Ziggy sighed and followed a hyper chaos into the kitchen.
MOMO turned to Jr. and grinned. "I wonder what this is all about?"
Jr. grinned. "Well, you see…"
Another knock interrupted Jr. in mid-sentence. Jin actually looked up at the ceiling and muttered something to himself. He then walked over to the door and opened it. Even he couldn't hide the surprise as he saw Allen and KOS-MOS on the other side of the door.
"Um… hi?" Allen said nervously.
Jin smirked. "Let me guess, chaos invited you?"
"Yeah, he also said to bring KOS-MOS, so I…"
"Allen?" Shion came to the door. "And KOS-MOS! Good evening!"
"G-good evening Chief," Allen stuttered. It was hard to tell if he was stuttering because of being so nervous around Shion, or if it was because he was cold.
The two quickly went inside just as Ziggy and chaos brought out the table and began to set it up. Allen looked over at the tree and gave Shion a confused looked.
"Um…" Allen began as he pointed over to the tree.
"Don't ask…" Shion sighed as she placed her head in her hand.
After chaos and Ziggy finished setting up the table, Jr. and MOMO raided the grocery bags that Jr. had carried in and began to set the food and drinks on the table. After they finished this, chaos turned to everyone present.
"Okay," chaos' smile somehow seemed to grow by the second. "You are all probably wondering why I asked everyone here."
"Well," Shion mused. "I'm actually here because of the snowstorm."
"No room at any of the hotels?" Juli asked.
"None," Shion sighed.
"You would think a large city like this would have more room…" Juli trailed off as chaos continued talking.
chaos clasped his hands behind his back and grinned like a maniac. "It's been a few months since we all last saw each other, so I thought it might be fun to get together and catch up and…"
"What does this have to do with a tree in the house?" Shion asked suddenly.
"Oh, it's a part of the holiday and…"
"And the star?"
"Part of the holiday…"
"And that little weird plant thing…"
"Part of the…"
"Shion! Will you please quit interrupting chaos, so he can finish talking?" Jin sighed. "I'm sure he'll be more than happy to explain the answers to your many questions."
"…fine," Shion sighed.
chaos just kept grinning as he looked over at Shion, then back to the rest of the group. "Right, well, anyway this is just a little holiday that I like to do that celebrates the joy of giving to others and…"
"I didn't know it was a holiday! How come I've never heard of it?" MOMO asked.
"Oh!" chaos smacked his hand against his forehead. "No one else celebrates it anymore. That's probably why you've never heard of it."
Shion could swear that she saw a smirk on Jin's face. Jr. seemed almost equally amused. If it was an ancient holiday, Jin probably knew about it from one of those books of his…
"So, what do we do first?" MOMO asked excitedly.
"Yeah, what's with the presents under the tree?" Jr. asked.
"Oh, we'll get to those later!" chaos giggled.
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Uzuki residence,
December 24, 11:58 p.m.
So far, everyone seemed to be having a good time. Even if Shion was grilling chaos and Jin about all the strange things that they put up.
chaos grinned and started to explain what the significance of the tree was.
"It's to celebrate life!" chaos had said.
"Okay," Shion looked just as confused.
Shion then turned her attention to the gifts under the tree.
"It's part of the celebration. It's the gift of giving to others that makes this holiday all the more enjoyable," chaos said.
Shion still thought he was hiding something behind that wide smile.
Jr. and MOMO found out the hard way what the little plant thing that was that was hanging from the ceiling.
"That's mistletoe," Jin quickly explained. He hummed and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his kimono.
Jr. and MOMO looked up at the thing called mistletoe, which they were standing right under, and turned their heads back to Jin, who looked slightly amused, if not embarrassed.
"Well, okay?" Allen mused. "What does it have to do with the holiday?"
chaos grinned. "Well, if two people are standing under mistletoe, they are suppose to kiss!"
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Really?" that squawk came from Allen, who just stared at the plant, then slightly glanced over at Shion.
MOMO and Jr. looked at each other and blushed.
"Well, um…" Jr. blushed as he rubbed the nape of his neck. "Far be it for me to break tradition…"
"Um…" MOMO giggle nervously.
Juli and Ziggy raised an eyebrow as MOMO and Jr. gave Juli a quick glance.
"You don't want to break tradition, do you?" Juli said as she covered her mouth, trying really hard to hide a giggle.
Ziggy just gave Jr. a cold look. Jr. gulped and turned back to face MOMO. Just as he did, her lips briefly brushed against his. She quickly blushed and placed her pointer and middle finger against her lips. Jr. blushed like mad as he stammered.
chaos grinned as he watched the clock on the wall strike midnight. He looked over at the assembled party and started to walk over towards the tree.
"What are you doing now?" Shion asked.
"This is also a part of the holiday. At the stroke of midnight on December 25th, you open presents!"
And with that, chaos started to hand off the colorfully wrapped boxes to KOS-MOS, who just stood there, and looked at the first box he handed her. chaos nodded and grinned at KOS-MOS.
"You are suppose to hand them to the people who's names are on them," chaos grinned.
KOS-MOS merely handed the first box to MOMO, then to Jr., Juli, Shion, Allen, Ziggy, and then finally to KOS-MOS herself.
Everyone looked over at chaos, waiting for an explanation. chaos laughed. "You are suppose to open them now!"
MOMO tore open her present and squealed in delight. She pulled out a plushie Bunnie and held it up, showing everyone. Jr. was busy playing with the new guns that chaos had given him.
Juli smiled as she looked at the diamond tennis bracelet that she soon wrapped around her wrist. Ziggy looked over at Juli and smiled. Meanwhile, Shion was giggling at the new Bunnie cell phone she had received and Allen was still staring at the mistletoe and then back at the earplugs he had received. KOS-MOS opened her present and looked at the small gold cross pendant that was attached to a thin gold chain.
Shion looked over at Jin, who was watching everyone else with a small smile on his face. She walked over to him and gave him a questioning look.
"Hey, how come you don't have a present?" Shion asked. "Could chaos had forgotten?"
Jin merely grinned and shook his head. "No, he didn't forget. He already gave me my present earlier."
"Huh?" Shion questioned. Jin just chuckled at her response.
"Nothing Shion. I'll tell you later…"
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chaos smiled to himself as he stepped outside onto the back porch. He watched at the snow gently fell to the ground. The snow died down to a few flurries and then finally stopped.
chaos crossed his arms and grinned.
"Was it wise to use your powers for this?" a soft, feminine voice said beside him.
chaos turned his attention to the ethereal Nephilim. He merely glanced out at the snow and smiled.
"What do you mean?" chaos asked. Nephilim just gave him a questioning look.
chaos smiled slightly, and then continued. "I thought it would be fun to celebrate my holiday. Nothing more, nothing less."
"And… the snow?"
"Oh, that was just to make sure that Shion didn't leave Second Milita. It's a good thing that I took the time to find out that Juli, MOMO and Ziggy were going to be here as well."
"I also take it you knew something about the fill up at every single hotel in the city?" Nephilim questioned.
chaos laughed. "How did it go? No more room at any of the inns…?"
Nephilim shook her head. chaos sighed and looked down at his hands. "I just wanted them to rest, even if it is only for a moment…"
The End