"You made cookies," Riku remarked, staring at the plate in Kairi's hands.

Kairi smiled, making the slight smudge of flour on her cheek crinkle. "We did."

"They look great."

Especially hers. Perfectly iced Christmas trees and reindeer and bells and snowmen were carefully arranged on the plate, true works of art that would be right at home at that bakery on Main Street. Riku almost hated to eat them, they looked so good.

Sora's were looking pretty good, too, and what he lacked in skill he more than made up for in enthusiasm. Brightly colored icing was covering the cookies to the point Riku had trouble seeing the cookie underneath, but even then there was a clear design for each cookie.

Riku glanced back up and noticed the flour sprinkling Sora's hair. How had that happened, exactly?

"Who are the cookies for?" he asked Kairi as she handed the plate off to Sora and disappeared down the hall. Maybe if he was lucky she would give him permission to eat at least one of them.

"Santa," Sora answered, matter-of-factly.

Riku raised his eyebrows. "Uh-huh, sure they are."

Sora set the plate down on the counter and fixed Riku with a steely blue glare. "Santa's real, Riku. He's real and I'm gonna prove it to you."

Sora still believed in that kind of thing? Riku had stopped believing in that kid stuff a long time ago, and he thought Sora had, too.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, whatever."

Sora made a big show of pulling a pair of gloves out of his pocket and putting a beanie Kairi had knit for him on.

"We're gonna go meet him now," he announced when his spikes were poking out of the beanie.

"Wait, what?"

Riku glanced at Kairi, who had returned with her pink coat, a hat to match, a woolen scarf, and nice gloves. She draped an extra scarf around Sora's neck before doing the same for Riku.

"I hope you have something warm to wear," she said sweetly.

"Uh—"

And that was how they had ended up on the Gummi Ship on Christmas Day on their way to some place called Christmas Town.

Well, Riku supposed, if Santa is really real, it would make sense he lives somewhere like that.

Sora had an oddly smug look on his face as he steered the Gummi Ship around asteroids and other obstacles that probably had nothing to do with the fact that Kairi had just complimented his driving. Probably.

"I've been wanting to take you guys to meet him for a while," he remarked. "I figured Christmas Day was the perfect time."

Riku considered this. "Don't get me wrong, but… if Santa is real…"

Sora's grip on the controls tightened and another pout was well on its way.

"Oh, fine. Say he is real. Wouldn't he be busy on Christmas? Delivering presents and stuff?"

"No, Riku. Santa is busy the night before Christmas. Christmas Day he has off, and he deserves cookies after all his hard work."

"Ooo-kay." Riku exchanged glances with Kairi. Since when had Santa become such a touchy subject? She just stifled a giggle with her gloved hand as Sora drove on.

After some time, they landed on the intended world, and Sora parked the Gummi Ship on a snowy white hill overlooking a cheery-looking town. Colorful Christmas lights hung off of all the pointy-roofed houses and adorned the town's Christmas trees, and a candy train tooted its away around the edge of the town.

Riku's eyes landed on a nearby factory looking building with a great chimney that towered over the rest of the buildings and houses.

"Is that—"

"Yes," Sora said. "That's where we're going."

Sora led the way with Kairi and Riku close behind. They trudged through the perfectly white snow as snowflakes danced in the air around them. Every time Riku let out a breath he could see it against the cold winter air. Definitely not something you'd see on Destiny Islands. It never got cold enough for that.

Sora marched up to the front door of Santa's… home? warehouse? workshop? and paused.

"Now Riku, remember to be nice to Santa, even though you didn't believe in him before."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever."

Kairi just raised her eyebrow and took the cookies from Sora so he could knock on the door. A few moments later, and it flew open. A jolly-faced man with a long white beard greeted them.

"Why, hello Sora."

Huh. He certainly looked the part. He was decked out in a red hat and suit… dress… thing… Hard to say, but maybe he really was—

"Santa!" Sora cried, his face lighting up like it was… well, like it was Christmas. For a moment Riku remembered all those other times Sora had gotten excited about the prospect of meeting Santa.

The year that had ended was the year Riku had told him Santa wasn't real. He wouldn't ever forget Sora's disappointed look, like he had just told him magic wasn't real. The world had seemed a little dimmer and duller that day, that was for sure.

"You must be Kairi and Riku," Santa said, a knowing smile spreading across his face. He opened the door wider, revealing a cozy-looking interior. "Come in, come in."

"Mr. Santa, sir, these are for you," Kairi said as she offered the plate of cookies after they'd all settled in on the couches and chairs next to the toasty fireplace. "Sora and I made them for you as a thank you for all your hard work."

"Why thank you, my dear," he said, taking a Christmas tree off the plate. "What a thoughtful thing of you to do."

Kairi smiled and rested the plate on the candy cane coffee table.

"We would've brought some milk, too, but we were worried it might go bad," Sora said.

"It's the thought that counts." Santa's eyes twinkled and he reached for another cookie, this one a snowman with a black hat and a red scarf. "Riku, would you like one?" he asked, offering the cookie to Riku.

"Um, sure." Riku took it from him and bit off its head. It was pretty good. They all munched away on cookies for a while as Riku tried to wrap his head around the fact that Santa was really real and they were eating cookies with him in his living room.

Presently Santa got some milk and poured them all glasses, then settled back in on his chair.

"Now, Riku," Santa said after taking a long swig and wiping his beard, "there is something I wish to talk to you about."

Riku froze. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sora smirk. Why did he get the feeling he knew exactly where this was going?

"Sora told me that when you were still children, you told him I wasn't real," Santa said, his face very serious. "Is that correct?"

"Y-yes."

Kairi and Sora both snickered, and Riku shot them a glare. This was awkward enough as it was without their reactions.

"Why did you tell him that?"

"…Because I thought that you weren't real."

Santa gestured to himself. "But you can see very well that I am, can you not?"

"Well, yeah, but how was I supposed to know that at the time? I never saw you."

Santa set his glass down and leaned forward. "Riku, surely you know by now that the eyes can and often do deceive. It is the heart that truly sees."

Riku glanced at Sora and Kairi again, and they were both giving him gentle smiles.

Okay, point taken.

"Your own loss of faith is regrettable, but you caused Sora to lose faith, too. Sora, whose heart is unlike any other in its childlike ability to love and accept any heart it comes into contact with."

The room felt uncomfortably warm as Santa's eyes bored into him, and he shifted his weight on the couch. There wasn't anything to say, really, so he remained silent.

"Riku, why did you wish for Sora to stop believing?"

Riku clutched his glass of milk tighter. "I didn't want him to believe something I thought was false. No matter how cruel the truth is… he deserves to know it."

Believing in lies didn't help anyone. There was good in the worlds, but there was also evil, and pretending only good existed allowed people like Xehanort to—

"I understand, but there is a time and a place for loss of innocence, and he was not ready for what you told him. Even now his heart is not ready for the pain of those inside it, to say nothing of the hurt of those connected to him. Their fates are cruel, and he will need your strength, Riku, and yours too, Kairi, to even have a chance at bearing their suffering."

The room was dead silent. Kairi put her hand on Sora's arm, her eyebrows knitted together, and he had a stricken look on his face.

"What do you mean, I can't handle it?" he asked. "They're all counting on me, I have to—"

Santa looked at him sadly. "Sora, surely you've realized by now… the bigger a heart is, the more deeply it can break."

Sora fell silent, his head drooping, and Riku's heart sank. Was it really Sora's fate to—

But then Santa gave him a soft smile, and Riku held his tongue.

"But a bigger heart can love more, too, and be loved more in return," Santa said. "With the love of your friends you are strong. Keep drawing strength from them, and you will accomplish what you have set out to do."

He handed Sora a cookie, this one a blue and white star. Sora took it from him, and a determined fire had lit in his eyes.

"And when you do," Santa said, perfectly seriously as he pulled out a list from his robes, "I'll have no choice but to take you off the naughty list."

Riku couldn't help it as he put two and two together. He burst out laughing.

"Is that why you dragged me all the way out here?" he asked Sora.

"Maybe," Sora said with a pout. "Okay, fine, yes. You and I are both on the naughty list, and I wanted to get us off of it."

"But I'm not, right?" Kairi asked Santa after examining the list for herself and handing it back to him.

He just beamed at her as he tucked it back into his robes. "Of course not. Princesses of Heart can never be on the naughty list."

Riku about lost it all over again as Sora pouted and whined about this. "How is that even fair? She'll never be on the naughty list just because of who she is?"

"She also never stopped believing in me." Santa gave her an affectionate smile. "Kairi, your faith makes you powerful. Believe in Sora, believe in Riku, and most of all, believe in yourself. Don't let anyone ever make you lose heart, and you will accomplish things beyond your wildest dreams."

Kairi nodded, and the same fire in Sora's eyes now shone in hers, too.

"And Riku," Santa said, turning to him again, "you are their rock. Be their strength when they are weak. Pick them up when they can't go any further on their own. Help them face the cruelties out there with the same unflinching courage with which you yourself face them. Keep seeking the truth, even when it hurts, even when it costs you. And when you have found it, guide your friends along the right path. They need you now more than ever."

Riku nodded. Who would've thought Santa could give such good advice?

He gave them all presents for their journey after that, then showed them around his workshop and Christmas Town as a thank you for Sora's help. He even took them for a spin in his sleigh and let them all take turns driving. Kairi took a shining to Rudolph, his reindeer with a red nose. She pet him and gave him treats as Sora and Riku made the Carousel in the Town Square spin as fast as humanly possible while they did everything they could to hang on.

But at last it was time to go home, and as they said their goodbyes, Santa had one last thing to say to them.

"Merry Christmas, you three. Never forget, the greatest gift you can give each other is simply… yourselves."

As Riku smiled at his two closest friends in the worlds and they smiled back, he figured that sounded about right. Whatever might lie before them, at least they still had each other.

And really, he couldn't ask for a better Christmas gift than that.

A/N: This was written for Day 1 of the KH3 Countdown Challenge, and the theme was, you guessed it, Christmas. Merry Christmas!