Once again I'm ignoring the fact that I have multiple other series on the go and starting a new fic, but hey! It's December, and that means Advent calendar time.

I have decided a list of twenty five characters, and found a list of fifty words relating to both the sacred and secular side of Christmas. From now until 25th December, each character will get a starring role in a short story/drabble based around two of the words, or possibly two mini-stories, one for each word, depending. The words will be the chapter titles for each day. Today, for example, the words are "celebrate" and "festival", starring the one and only Aguma.

(Today is also late because I couldn't think up the main title. Never mind.)

Unlike my previous Advent calendar (An Inadvertent Advent), this one isn't intentionally funny. Hopefully you'll like it anyway.

All the best to you and your loved ones this holiday season.

Aguma

The air was dry and cold this far up in the mountains. Aguma rubbed his hands together, feeling the familiar prickling that suggested he had been stood out here a little too long. Not that he minded. It was good to be somewhere quiet for once, to be able to think clearly.

In the year since the Beylin Fist had announced its presence to the world, only to find themselves caught up in a world domination plot lead by what turned out to be a literal god of destruction, a lot of things had changed. For one thing, Beylin Fist was now almost a household name among beybladers, with several of their highest ranked bladers regularly being invited to international competitions to give the other competitors a proper challenge, especially in tag-team tournaments. For another, there was something approaching – well, not friendliness, but perhaps cordiality between Beylin Fist and Beylin Temple. Not that they'd managed to face each other in battle yet.

And, for the first time that he could remember, Aguma was looking forward to the annual Winter Festival. He'd even thought up a proper song-chant of the things he wanted to celebrate, to join everyone else's. That was definitely a new thing.

"Aguma?"

He didn't bother turning around. "Do you need me, Bao?"

"No. Just wondering what you were doing out here so long." Bao stepped up onto the ledge beside him, firmly wrapped in a thick cloak. "Hiding from the chaos, I guess."

Aguma took a deep breath and let it out slowly, watching it form white clouds in the air. "It is quiet out here." Bao made a faint noise of agreement and Aguma saw his shoulders relax somewhat under the cloak as he imitated Aguma's sigh. "Let me guess, they're all getting on your nerves again?"

He didn't need to be looking at his friend to know Bao was rolling his eyes. "Some of them. From the way they're acting, you'd think the junior teams want to set fire to half the decorations before they even manage to get them up. And the senior teams are no help, half of them have gone off to the waterfalls to catch fish even though I told them yesterday the river is frozen. Then the Elders insisted that we move the main tables to the entrance hall, so I had to argue them out of that because I get that we're doing new things this year but I draw the line at freezing my butt off by having the feast next to the main doors."

"By the main doors?" Aguma spluttered. "No! Even I know that's a stupid idea, what were they thinking?"

"Nice to know someone agrees with me straight away," Bao sighed. "Anyway, come back in soon. It's getting dark. They'll ring the bell for dinner in a bit and I'll need your help afterwards. I know you don't like the festival much, but…."

"No, it's fine, I'm actually looking forward to it. I'll come in in a minute."

Bao gave him an amused look. "Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" he asked, smiling. "You hate the Winter Festival. I don't think you've ever called your own blessings-chant, you just have your family's."

"No," Aguma corrected him. "I didn't hate the festival itself. I hated having to celebrate when there was nothing to celebrate. We were just hiding in the mountains of China, never doing anything, never succeeding at anything. Having a festival to celebrate us doing nothing seemed pointless to me." He looked up at the sky. "But there's plenty to celebrate this year."

"That's true," Bao agreed. "And if you come inside soon, I might even have to celebrate you not turning into an icicle. Not that I really fancy making up a blessings-chant verse for that. Are there any words that rhyme with icicle except bicycle?"

Aguma shook his head, trying and failing to hide a smile. "Not that I know of. Go on. I'll catch up. I just want a few more minutes of being able to hear myself think."

He didn't get an answer, but a second later he heard Bao's shoes against the rock as his friend climbed back down from the ledge.

"For sky above and rock beneath / for shelter, water, food to eat," he half-sang to himself, the first verse of the standard blessings-chant. "For beys that spin and spirits bright / for days to hold against the night; Before you now I shall relate / the things I wish to celebrate."

What could he add?

Obviously, celebrating the fall of Nemesis and the emergence of the Beylin Fist into the wider world was important. But that wasn't all he wanted to celebrate this year. There were lots of good things that had happened, more than he had ever expected.

He was stronger than he'd ever been, in tag with Bao or solo. Scythe Kronos had retained its monstrous power once the Star Fragment was no longer needed, and every battle he'd had since then had proven that he was still capable of wielding it to its maximum.

Along with that, he had opponents that were worth facing. Now that he was no longer only challenged by his own people and had rivals from every walk of life, it was easy enough to find battles that he genuinely enjoyed. Opponents like Gingka Hagane, or Tithi, who still unnerved Aguma slightly but was as genuinely friendly as anyone he had ever met. Kyouya Tategami had actually made a point of seeking Aguma out to battle him one more time, in order to claim a victory over every Legendary Blader, and Aguma was only slightly bitter than the owner of Fang Leone had managed to beat him a third time.

There were even people who weren't opponents that he could now call companions, even friends. Yuki Misusawa kept in monthly contact with all of the Legendary Bladers, and it wasn't as rare as he had expected to get a card from Madoka asking how everyone was.

Talking of Madoka, that was another thing to celebrate – his bey was in one piece. It had taken weeks to repair all the damage, but Madoka had done a better job than anyone else could have done, and returned Scythe Kronos to Aguma almost better than new.

He had a tribe of people to call his own. He had saved the world. He had fulfilled his mission to bring Beylin Fist into the wider world and have them and their style recognised around the globe. He had proved that he was capable of leading the tribe to victory, and had done so on several occasions.

And, perhaps more importantly than any of those, he had two stalwart companions who never had and never would abandon him. With Scythe Kronos in his hand and Bao at his side, who could stand against him?

Yes, Aguma thought to himself as he turned away from the darkening sky and back to the shining lights and warmth of his Winter Fortress home. That was the nice thing about winter. There was time to think about the things that made the rest of the year so good, as the days got darker and shorter and colder.

As the old year died, and he and his family celebrated the things that had made it worthwhile, there was one thing Aguma knew for certain.

Next year was going to be even better.