(A/n) three days before Christmas before I start writing. Got my work cut out for me it seems. It's only a practice story again but I need to get in the habit of writing again. All chapters are going to be posted on Christmas Day one way or another. (turns out they weren't. Not because I wasn't finished but because of a broken computer. Either way its up now)

Anyway you know the gist. Not exactly cannon, not quite crossover. I don't know where to shove this. But just about everyone knows the general story so I won't waste your time.


Chapter 1

Hiroshi Sato was dead to begin with. Not a soul in the world could deny that. He was dead and had been buried on his own estate beside his previously departed wife. The estate had been crowded with mourners, both for the sake of appearance and for genuine concern. His daughter, bless his lovely daughter shed more tears than all the rest. Varrick too had stood at his graveside on that day that was tauntingly bright and sunny.

Varrick had not wanted to come to the funeral that day. He cursed the birds that sang in the trees. Hitoshi had been his partner for so many years he hardly could be bothered to count them. But now he would be gone. His body forever beneath the earth and never to be disturbed again.

Varrick would have liked to have not been disturbed now. He sat at his desk with a pen in one hand and his other holding a paper steady. The paper bore designs, images of crafts that had hardly been imagined yet. They would have been considered art if they were not already inventions in progress. His work was slowed by the ache in his cold, hardened fingers.

In a room just outside of his office he heard the boy working. He was hardly a boy much anymore but he had been when he first came into Varrick's employment. His name was Bolin and he was a sturdy young man who did his work quickly, if not carelessly, and asked no questions. In his hearth burned only the smallest of embers withering away into nothingness. He did not dare ask for another lump of coal to feed the fire. Varrick kept that locked away in his office. Searching for warmth and lacking options and imagination Bolin held his hands close to a candle and continued working.

"Happy Winter Solstice Uncle!" A voice called to him. Varrick knew the voice but would have rather not have. But the call had come so suddenly the arc he had been drawing came out crooked and far too long.

"I'm in the middle of work darn you. You could at least make some noise when you come in."

"I'm sorry Uncle. I only wanted to wish you a Happy Solstice."

"And what's so happy about it? Why do you get to just run around wherever happy? You're poor enough."

"And why do you get to be miserly and bitter? You're rich enough."

Not having an answer Varrick tried to wave him away saying "humbug."

"Don't be so grumpy." He said

"And why not? Why shouldn't I be when all I hear about is Solstice this and Solstice that. I can't hardly get any work done and I have deadlines to meet. And what about everyone else out there being all rowdy and noisy? What is the Solstice to them but shopping and buying and getting and selling? And buying with nothing but credit too. Being another year older but not a Yuon richer? If I had my way every idiot found running around yelling happy Winter Solstice would be shut away for the rest of the day. Maybe then I can get some peace and quiet around here."

"Uncle!" The nephew pleaded

"Nephew!" Varrick taunted "you keep the Solstice the way you like it, I'll keep it my own way."

"You don't keep it at all!"

"Let me leave it alone then." Said Varrick, "whatever good that will do for you."

"There are a lot of things that don't do me any good, and the Solstice may be one. But I've always thought of the Winter Solstice as a good time. One for giving and being kind. It's the only time I know of when people are more gentle and think about people below them like, well, like equals." Varrick stood as if in a rage but his nephew continued, "It doesn't matter if I never see a Yuon because of the Solstice but I believe it has done me good."

Bolin in the main room burst into an applause. Immediately he caught Varrick's icy stare and went to poking at the ashes in the fireplace. The last of the embers went out completely.

"Keep quiet over there or you can just get clapping right out that door and not come back."

"Yes sir, Varrick sir," Bolin stammered.

"You're a good talker," Varrick turned back to his nephew "I wouldn't be surprised if next time you knocked on my door you'd be wanting some funding for a presidential campaign!"

"Oh don't get all angry! Why don't you come to diner with us tomorrow? The whole family's in the city this week. There's no reason you can't come by and see us."

"I see you enough now. And I'll see you the same way tomorrow I'm sure. See look I see you!" He stared at his nephew with exaggeratedly wide eyes.

"But why?"

"Why did you get married?"

"Because I fell in love."

"Because you fell in love!" Varrick growled the words as though they were the only worse thing than the Solstice itself. "Good afternoon!"

"You've never come by before I was married," he tried to protest

"Good afternoon!"

"Why is that a reason not to visit now?"

"Good afternoon!"

"You know we've never fought before. We've never had any arguments or troubles or anything. You just ignore the rest of us without reason. Well I won't change about this. I'll be by again next year to wish you a Happy Winter Solstice."

"Good afternoon!"

"And a Happy New Year!"

"And a good afternoon!" Varrick said one final time shutting the door behind his nephew. He wasn't entirely sure he could have said it again without sliding a few curses in with the phrase.

He had only just sat back down at his desk to finish his design. A satomobile with a curved roof. A simple and innovative change that he was sure would impact the entire market. But before he had even started his sketching again he heard the words in his doorway loudly and clearly

"Happy Winter Solstice to you all!" Said two men that Bolin had allowed to enter and led to his office. Neither of these men Varrick knew and they acknowledged him with tipped hats.

"And a Happy Winter Solstice to Mr Sato and Sir Varrick!" The head of the two said when they had entered "Ah, pardon me, but which of you would I be addressing?"

"That would be Sir Varr-y Busy as far as you care. Mr. Sato has been dead seven years. Seven years to the day. I'm surprised no ones ever told you before. Don't you at least read the papers?" Varrick knew he had never bothered to do so much as remove Hiroshi's name from the firm. But his partners name had just as much of a hand in their business together as the partner himself. And his dear daughter had bothered him continuously to keep her father's name living and well.

"That's a shame. Well then we'd be more than happy to do business with his surviving partner."

"What sort of business interrupts me in the middle of a working day. And without an appointment? See Bolin this is what secretaries are for!"

"But you didn't want a secretary, sir,"

"Whatever you see my point. No one asked you anyway."

"Sir Varrick," the men started again "if you didn't know in this time of year it is customary to make even the slightest contribution to the poor and destitute. So many in this city alone go without basic necessities and many more without comforts."

"Are you boys telling me that the prisons are all closed up? What about the workhouses?"

"Well no but-"

"Then send them off there where they can be useful or out of my way."

"But a lot of them don't have access to them. And most would rather die than go there."

"Well maybe they should. It'd take care of the surplus population!" In the other room Bolin shifted away uncomfortably.

"How much can we put you down for sir," the second of the two men said as if he hadn't been listening to Varrick at all

"Nothing."

"So you want to be anonymous?"

"I want to be left alone! You boys are giving me a headache and wasting your time. And worse you're wasting mine! What do I care about street grubbing beggars? I've worked hard for every Yuon. They hardly work and moan and whine. I'm sick of it. There's the door." Varrick shooed the men away with a wave of his hand.

The men left the office in low spirits only to have them be lifted by Bolin as they passed him. They exchanged pleasant farewells and Happy Winter Solstices and other merry little greetings. Varrick was sure Bolin would have even given to the men's' cause if he had a Yuon to give.

The hours tolled on like years before Varrick had decided he had done enough for the day. His rough sketch was finished and he looked at it with what would have been pride. Long past were the days when each new invention was met with enthusiastic praise on its conception. Bolin's congratulations were of no comparison.

As the both of them set to leaving Varrick couldn't help but notice Bolin's nervous glances. Towards him. They came often when he thought Varrick wouldn't see them and he quickly looked away as he noticed. With a long exasperated sigh Varrick answered his suspicions.

"I guess you'll be wanting the day off tomorrow won't you?"

"Oh, well, you know," years of working under Varrick and he has never managed to shake that bit of nervousness from his voice when he asked for things, "If it's convenient."

"It's really not though."

"It's only for the Solstice."

"I know that and it's crazy. You'd think me a bad boss if I don't give you the day off wouldn't you?"

"Well no but-"

"And I'd think you would be a bad employee if I had to pay you for a day of no work wouldn't I?"

"I mean, you don't have to." The depression that fell over Bolin was instant and dramatic

"fine, just this once," Varrick agreed

"You mean it sir?"

"But you better be here all the earlier the next day do you understand?"

"I will. Yes! Yes! Thank you so much Mr. Varrick, sir!" He embraced him in an unnecessary hug that lifted him off the ground. After a few moments of Varrick's protest Bolin gained control of himself and put him down. "I won't let you down sir. Thank you so much. And Happy Winter Solstice!" With those last words Bolin shot off I to the street at a run.

"Humbug to the Solstice I say," Varrick muttered to no one as he locked up his office and headed home.

In the late afternoon the streets of Republic City were more alive than usual. The thin layer of snow made it unnaturally free of satomobiles and people crowded the sidewalks. Food venders shouted prices and the scent of their wares argued for dominance. Children were running and playing and throwing handfuls of snow. As he walked it seemed every one of them was trying to get in his way. And no adults seemed to find a need to settle them or even to herd them to a certain area. They were like animals.

Varrick wasted no time with them and went to his own estate. He would have driven himself if it hadn't been for the recent snowfall. His house was situated on a hill on the outskirts of the city and would have been impossible to drive back up. Finding a way to make ice terrain satomobiles was added to his pending list of future inventions.

He stopped to kick the snow from his shoes but when he looked up he jumped back in fear.

The knocked on his door was no different than any other. A ring of heavy bronze resting in the center of each door. But what had shocked him so much was the image he saw there. It was not a knocker but a face. A face he knew too painfully well. The face of Hiroshi Sato. When Varrick looked a second time it was gone.

Varrick blamed the image on the thick fog that surrounded the estate.

He wasted no time with loitering at his doorstep and went inside and up the steps. The house was dark and filled with shadows. Varrick made no attempt to turn on any lamps or light any candles. Darkness was cheap and he liked it that way. He made for himself a cold diner (for cold was cheap as well) and dressed himself for bed.

At the front of his door he heard a sound. Weather it was a boy or girl he was not sure but the unmistakable voice of a caroler was all Varrick needed to know. He opened his window and with a long string of curses chased the child away before shutting the window heavily and locking it.

The room was colder than his diner when he curled himself under his blankets. They were thick and heavy and lined with only the real furs he was accustomed to from home. There was only a small fire left in the fireplace, so tiny he could hardly hope to be warm by it. It was an old fireplace plaited with carved tiles that depicted spirits of all kinds and sizes. But through them all the image of Hiroshi appeared again and the spirits were gone.

"Humbug?" Varrick said once he had jumped out of bed. Then repeated more definitely "Humbug."

He wandered his rooms a few times, inspecting the fireplace for most of that time. Finally he decided to return to bed. Almost as if waiting for him to relax a new sound broke through the silence of his room the moment his head touched pillow. A single bell tinkling somewhere in the night. Within seconds a thousand bells were ringing and Varrick closed the pillow in an attempt to drown them out.

This lasted maybe half a minute more although it felt like hours. Every bell stopped so suddenly the silence seemed to hurt. The sound was replaced by one of a heavy chain being dragged across the wooden floor. He heard a massive boom as the front doors flew open. He wanted to tell someone to check them for him. The sound of the dragging chain drew closer.

The color in Varrick's face changed as the shape passed through the door to his bedroom. Varrick cried out and shied away as the form he knew came closer. It was Hiroshi Sato, no one could argue. Even in death he wore the same glasses and the same suit. His belly was plump although oddly transparent. Varrick saw both Sato and the buttons on the coat hanging on the wall behind him. Around his old partner's waist wound an old chain that hung behind him like a tail. Fitted to the chain were keys and cash boxes, padlocks and deeds, and heavy purses of steel.

Varrick could hardly believe what he saw. His insides churned at the sight of it but his mind refused to accept this as real. "Uh, hello there, uh, spirit? Can I call you spirit? Uh, what do you want?"

"Plenty," if nothing else the spirit had Sato's voice.

"Well who are you?"

"Ask me who I was."

"Ok, who were you then?"

"In life I was your partner, Hiroshi Sato."

"Knew it. Do you want to sit or something? Can you even do that?"

Sato noded.

"Well do it then!" Sato took to the chair on the other side of the fireplace. Varrick suppressed his disappointment. He could have used a laugh from watching him sink through the chair.

"You don't believe in me," Sato said after only a moment passed of silence.

"You got that right."

"You can hear me, you can see me. Can't you?"

"Hardly the point though."

"You doubt your senses then?"

"Just one little thing throws them all off. You likely come from some indigested soup or an old piece of cheese. I knew that duck I ate earlier wasn't all that good. You just can't trust bolin's cooking you hear me. You probably have more to do with gravy than a grave."

Sato shrieked so terribly that Varrick held tight to his chair. Was this spirit going to attack him?

"Do you believe in me now?"

"It's not like you have me a choice or anything. But why are you here? And what's with the chain?"

"I wear the chain I forged in life. I made this, link by link. You foraged your own as well. It was as long and heavy as mine seven years ago. Imagine how long it is now!"

"Don't you have anything good to tell me? You're like a constant downer now."

"There's nothing good I can say. I walk the world and walk it. I am not allowed to stay or rest or see my daughter again. I am so tired of wandering but I cannot stop. I must have wandered the whole world"

"You were probably just slow about it. Dead for seven years and walking all the time? I'd be tired of it too."

"You're still mortal. There isn't a way you could understand. I didn't understand then too. All that mattered was what I had and keeping from losing it. Every loss I regretted and clung to what was left. Now all of it is gone and what is left is this." He lifted his chain with some effort and dropped it again

"Let's not forget all the good you did. What about your inventions? Your business always did well."

"People are supposed to be my business. Providing for the poor, helping the injured, that was my business. All that I did with you was nothing compared to what I should have done. And this time of year is the worst. How often did I look away from the downtrodden? They needed me and I turned them away putting everything into the company, into Asami."

Varrick shifted uncomfortably in his seat when Sato spoke again "why do you think you can see me now but not before? I've come through here before so many times but you've never seen me then."

"You forgot how to be invisible?"

"I'm here to warn you Varrick. Maybe through me you can have a chance at a better life. Through me you can avoid this fate."

"You've always been a good friend to me."

"You will be haunted tonight by three spirits."

"Is that the only chance for me?"

"It is,"

"Then I think I'll pass."

"Without them you could never hope to avoid this. You can expect to see the first before the clock strikes one."

"Couldn't they just come all at once? I could make a tea, get some supper for them."

"The second will be at the next hour and the third at the third hour." Hiroshi stood and wrapped his chain around him. "Listen to these spirits and remember what they will teach."

Sato walked backwards towards a window as he spoke. It opened a bit with each step. When he reached it the window was fully open and the ghost disappeared through it.

Varrick had most of his mind to tell him to stay put. If there was another option it should be to go to bed. But instead like a fool he went to the open window. There he looked out into the city and held his breath in horror at what he saw.

The air was filled with phantoms. Ghosts like Sato that were weighted down with heavy chains. All were moaning as if with pain as they wandered almost aimlessly. Sato had disappeared into them but his voice remained. He called for his daughter into the darkness, begging to find her again though he knew he never would. Another specter Varrick noticed not far from the estate stood in front of a ratty young woman and infant child who refused to nurse. The man wept and wailed, wishing to help them but could not.

Varrick turned away from the window shaking his head. "Humbug." He said as though the word would wipe away all he's seen. He threw himself into the furs of his bed and instantly fell asleep.