Storm found the mall very congested around Christmastime. There were many people, all trying to get something for either a loved one or themselves. It was annoying, headache inducing, but all for a reason. It was only a couple days until Christmas, and that tended to make people who had been too busy to shop beforehand frantic for something that someone would like.

School had kept Storm too busy to shop, but now he was finally getting to it. He had something for almost everyone on his list—his parents, his older siblings Vermont and Tress, Faye, and a few others. The only one he didn't have something for was Rayne, his brother.

He observed that as people got older they got harder to shop for. Even though he and Rayne had been stuck together since birth he had no clue what to get him. Once just a simple action figure would have been plenty, but now… now he had to guess. What would Rayne like?

As he looked around he saw someone he recognized. It was Sakura Hayashi from Haven—her dark green hair and pink combat vest were very distinctive. He didn't really want to talk to her right then, so he kept his head down and kept walking. This didn't seem to be enough though. "Storm Sapphire?" her high pitched voice called out. He sighed heavily. "It is you, Storm!"

He turned back to her. She held several bags from various stores in her hands and about her arms. She seemed rather tired. "Hello, Sakura," Storm replied. "Are you done with your shopping?"

"No," she replied wearily. "I have one more person on my list, and that would be one of my cousins. I get their names mixed up, and they hate it, so I won't tell you his name."

"Um, why?"

"I just said why; they hate it when I mix up their names."

"But they're not here."

"They'll know." Storm shook his head, amused by it. "But anyway, I was thinking of getting him a vest."

"A vest?" Storm repeated thoughtfully. "Maybe Rayne would like that."

"He would?" Sakura replied.

"Yeah, he used to wear a vest, but I kinda shredded it in a sparring match." They were bad memories, but not the worst. "I think he'd like it."

"Well they're sold out in most stores, but I hear there's one at the Jacky's downstairs."

"Only one?"

"Yeah, only one." They shared a look. "Race you there." Suddenly both of them began to run.

Storm slipped between people in the crowd, careful not to bump into anyone. Looking over to Sakura he realized that she was doing the same. While normally he wouldn't do this, it was only because he usually couldn't. His mechanical exoskeleton wasn't very flexible, so it usually hampered his movements. Fortunately he wasn't wearing the exoskeleton, so he could breeze right though.

He quickly realized that no matter how flexible he was, the place was too congested for him to get very far very fast. He soon noticed that the walls had the pattern of having a slight ledge above the store entrances. It was a little less than six feet from the ceiling and about one and a half feet wide, so he would have to duck, but he would at least be moving. He climbed up to the ledge and began to run along it.

However, as many people had learned, an original idea rarely stays original. Sakura had noticed Storm and began to do as he did, running on the ledge opposite from him. Now it was a contest of speed.

When they got to a pair of escalators, both he and Sakura jumped for them. She managed to get to them while Storm was lucky that he landed in a clear space. He tucked and rolled towards the escalators, and found Sakura running down one of the handrails. Storm decided that was too risky, and went down the normal way. The joke was on her, since she was going down the one going up, and the handrail—which moved with the escalator as most of them did—slowed her down slightly.

Storm got to the bottom a hair faster than Sakura, and began to go towards Jacky's. It was sparse enough down here to actually run, oddly enough, and he managed to get halfway there with no trouble. Then he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, and saw Sakura vaulting herself over him. She seemed to be faster than him, but he would still try—some might say that he had trouble giving up, but liked to think that as long as he gave his best and never gave up he could still respect himself even if he lost.

Sakura managed to get there first, despite his best efforts, so she got the vest. He stopped a moment to catch his breath and found Sakura coming out soon enough. He cocked an eyebrow and she said, "They sold it already."

He put his hand over his face, laughing slightly. They did all that for nothing! It was comical.

"Wow, you're a maniac," Sakura said. He started laughing even more. "Usually just the villains laugh when they fail miserably." Everything just made it funnier. "I'll just get him a dart board; he pierced clean through the last one."

Eventually Storm managed to get under control, and moved on. He began to wonder what to get Rayne, and he always thought better when he was walking, so he started walking. That's when he encountered a couple of people he didn't expect to run into—Gaia Katsaros and Netia Reuter.

Once again the difference in height between Gaia and Netia was staggering, but that wasn't the most surprising thing. It was the fact that, while they were shopping, they were together doing it. He would've expected them to be shopping for each other, not together. "Well hello there," Gaia said. She looked at his bags. "That seems like quite a load."

"Yeah well that's Christmas for you. And I'm not even done," Storm replied.

"Ah, Christmas is just a time for companies to get a ton of money from brainless folks who don't realize the whole thing is pointless," Netia declared.

"Then why are you shopping?" Storm asked.

"It's also a time for some great deals," Gaia said, "even if we're not celebrating it."

Storm was surprised. "You don't celebrate Christmas?"

"Nah, it's just a bunch of hogwash," Netia said. "And coming from me, that's pretty bad." He wasn't sure what Netia meant by that last part, but he wasn't very happy with them.

"You know," Storm said, "just because the celebration has become commercial doesn't mean the reason for celebrating it has changed."

"Which is?" Netia asked.

Storm smiled slyly. "Now if you don't know, how about you look it up?"

"Ah, you're the worst," Netia said.

"You know, maybe he's got a point," Gaia pointed out. "Every holiday has a reason for celebrating it, and while the celebration might change, the reason can't."

"Exactly," Storm said. "Not unless we let it. For me, I like to celebrate by giving my family and friends nice things. It's a nice reminder, all things considered."

"Yeah, it is," Gaia said. Netia cocked an eyebrow at her. "What? I've heard the story."

Netia sighed. "So I guess you want a gift now?"

Gaia shrugged. "I'll do it if you do."

"Deal," Netia replied. "But don't expect one every year."

"Of course not," Gaia said. As they were about to part ways, Gaia noted, "Remember; something tasteful."

"Is underwear tasteful?" Netia asked. Gaia gave her an unamused look. "Ah, just kidding. I'll get you something, but I don't know your definition of tasteful exactly."

"Nothing that would be embarrassing to show to family and friends," Gaia replied.

"Oh now we're getting technical."

Storm smiled. Maybe he did get through to them, but maybe not. He wasn't sure and probably never would be. For now, he would have to figure out what to get Rayne. But no matter what would happen, it would most likely be a very merry Christmas.

Maybe he could get him socks. No that would send the wrong message.

To everyone reading, have a merry Christmas, a happy new year, Hanukah, Kwanza, or anything else you celebrate however you celebrate it. But let us never forget why we celebrate, because not knowing why you do something is one of the worst things imaginable.
Also, I know that it wouldn't make sense for the folks in RWBY to celebrate Christmas, seeing as how it's an entirely different world, but bear with me. It doesn't really matter why (and I promise this is the only time I'm going to use this excuse) because it's a fan-fiction. I like try to do as well as I can with my fan-fictions, making sure everything's just right with the fictional world they're in, but it's Christmas; cut me some slack.