A/N: Here's my fic for Christmas. Not exactly the fluffy kind that people would be expecting on such a well-loved holiday.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Change

-00-

Life has its ways in showing the world just how unavoidable change can be. It takes a while, but humans always find themselves in the midst of it, realizing just a moment too late that they have, in fact, changed. On some occasions, it is a welcomed by each individual with open arms, encouraged even.

However, it isn't always welcome, most especially to a certain world saving brunette…

It was Christmas Eve in Bakugan city. Decorations were up, carolers were singing, snow fell lightly from above and Daniel Kuso was supposedly celebrating. A week prior, spurred on by nostalgia and a whim that he deemed completely justifiable, he'd spent days together with his irate flame Runo to track all of their past acquaintances down just to invite them over for one small gathering that was just for them and their families and friends, a makeshift reunion on his special night.

"It'll be great! Food, drinks, and games! Come on Runo! It'll be like old times! We'll even invite your parents!" He'd said to Runo with a huge and happy smile on his face that almost stopped the teal-haired girl from protesting. He received a stinging slap to the face when she realized that Dan originally had no plans of informing her family about the planned gathering though.

Tonight was supposed to be a night of festivities, heavy drinking and merrymaking. Everything would be the same as it had all those years ago.

Or so he thought.

How wrong he was.

He watched them, back leaning against the rails of his home's roofless balcony, eyes filled with disappointment and melancholy at what he was seeing.

Still the same faces, the same names… A few new additions in the form of children… But they were all different people.

Everything looked so stiff from where he could see them. They were just standing there talking and talking and droning on and on about things that he couldn't even begin to understand why and how it became a subject they broached up all of a sudden on such a great night. Jobs, marriage, politics?

...

GLOBAL WARMING?

What.

The.

Hell?

…

Where was the fun? The gossip?

The awfully loud yelling and screaming?

The booze that Runo promised him she wouldn't stash away?

This wasn't a Christmas party; it looked more like a business conference, but without the large table and the posh seats.

He frowned, the corners of his mouth dropped low enough that he could even best Shun if they were ever pitted against each in a frowning contest at that very moment. They were just talking about things that he didn't want to deal with.

"Everything's changed…" He muttered somberly as he took another sip of his cocktail, reminiscing back to a time when they threw caution and care to the wind while dunking their heads in punch bowls and destroying and burning down furniture like drunken idiots on the fourth of July. But that was far from the scene he was seeing. They were all in suits and dresses, like presents wrapped and boxed too tightly to tell what was really inside. Too engrossed in his scrutinizing of the changes that he did not find amiable, Dan failed to notice the little red ball that rolled, jumped and set itself comfortably beside his right arm on the rails. It popped open to reveal a familiar shape of a friend.

"It has hasn't it, Daniel?" Surprised but not at all frightened, Dan turned to see his long time comrade Drago perched there on the rails, tossing up small amounts of snow as he trudged closer to Dan's arms, eventually coming close enough to jump onto his shoulder, his small head bobbing as he spoke. "You can't really expect anything else from growing up."

At this, Dan was silent, urging Drago to move on with his words.

He turned his small body towards the same doors glass doors that Dan was looking through, giving out a light and mirthful chuckle at the sight of everyone all aged and mature. "To think that you were all just children when we first met you… Now look at this…" He paused and extended a small wing towards the direction of several small children playing, running around and grabbing onto someone, anyone's leg as they try to outrun one who was pretending to be some kind of fearsome creature of destruction. "You're all grown up, all with children of your own."

Dan couldn't see it in his current form, but he could tell that Drago was smiling. He was too, but it was not as joyful as one would think.

"Yeah…" And of course Drago would notice.

"Daniel," He spoke as he turned towards his battling partner, taking in that rather somber look that was glistening in his eyes. "-is there anything wrong?"

"Hmn? No, not really. No… Why?" Replied the brunette as his shoulders shrugged.

The sudden action caused the dragon to lose his balance for a moment. Twisting his small wings he shifted his weight to his left and dug his small claws into Dan's jacket, latching on in an effort to right himself stay close to his partner. There was something in his voice, his every move that just screamed for Drago to stay. Something didn't feel right about Dan tonight. The dragon knew better than to leave him in a time of deep depression such as this and that, no matter how badly Dan didn't want him to pry into anything, it was always better to do so. "Daniel, even in the face of great monstrosities and terrifying endeavors you do not bare that expression… Why now on an occasion so joyous to your kind?"

When his question was met with silence, the pleading in Drago's voice became evident enough that the brunette would give in. "Daniel-."

"It's just that… I don't like that everything's changed, alright?" He burst out. His shoulders shook and his lips quivered as his confession continued. "I don't know why, I can't even tell you since when… But I just don't like that everyone seems different now okay? "

Dan nearly screamed, shocking the great dragon into a hush. He did not need to see the dragon's true face to know the extent of the creature's befuddlement. Knowing the great dragon for far longer than anyone else, Dan knew the look he was giving him was not that of understanding, it was of pity and disappointment, probably thinking that his immaturity was taking a heavy toll on his psych. So he looks away, ashamed enough to know that he was acting like a child in front of his comrade. "I know that I'm old enough and that I'm supposed to understand, but it's not my fault if I want the old days back, right? It's not it's a bad thing for me to prefer the old days than this!"

There was nothing that could be said at that moment to douse the flames that burned painfully in his chest. There were tears threatening to spill from his eyes and the cocktail glass in his hands begins to shake along with his entire body. He forgets for a moment that he was supposed to be happy, that tonight they were supposed to be celebrating a holiday that was meant for joy and merrymaking. He forgets, for a moment that his friends, his wife and his son are inside the house, warm and having fun with everyone else while he was outside in the cold balcony with nothing but a cold drink and a Bakugan on his shoulder that couldn't even give out any body heat and he just cries, letting the tears fall amidst his faint, choking sobs. And, somehow between the crying and the confessions, Drago feels that all of this is partly his own fault.

Because he couldn't prevent the fateful turn of event that chained his life to the young boy from way back then.

Because he kept coming back to his side, despite knowing that his presence served as the only reminder of a glorious and adventure filled youth for Dan.

"Daniel, I."

"I hate growing up…"

"Daniel."

"I mean, yeah sure I can drink drive and buy stuff that my mom would usually kill me for… But even that… Even that's not how I imagined it to be."

"Dan, what are you saying-?"

"I'm saying that I want to be a kid again… That I hate being an adult and that I hate that everyone else seems to like being one except for me…"

"… Dan." The atmosphere became thick with tension as Dan looks away, too afraid of Drago's reaction to actually look at him. He shuddered and shook his shoulders in an attempt to shake away the feeling of self-loathing that was enveloping his entire being. His actions were so quick and abrupt that it was enough to throw Drago off of him, causing the small beast to form himself into his ball form as he bounced and roll not too far from Dan's feet.

When he stopped rolling, he stayed still enough for a few seconds to hear the nearly inaudible curses that Dan threw his way. The brunette cursed and hissed as he questioned the urge to retrieve his fallen battle partner, wondering what in the world urged him to do such a thing. Drago couldn't be any more remorseful.

Dan couldn't let go of the glory that had passed them by…

All because he as Dan's battling partner couldn't leave him be to live a normal life.

He popped open only to catch Dan looking at him with saddened eyes, tears threatening to spill, before the brunette looked away once more. There was no doubt that he'd just shattered the pride he'd long helped to build for him since his boyhood.

For a grown man to cry… For him to cry in front of his battling partner, the great warrior who fought and defeated Naga, the Dragon whom kept a whole other world balanced, was shameful as it was laughable.

And Drago understood his feelings completely. "Daniel…" He started as he jumped and hovered just in front of Dan's face, his voice kept low enough to soothe the distraught man into a relaxed state.

This was his fault; all his fault and he wanted nothing more than to help his partner. To pull him through from the darkness that was pulling him in deeper. "Calm down, Daniel. It's alright."

"No it's not. I-."

"It is Dan… It is." He comes closer and, with a small plastic wing, wipes away the tears perched precariously on the corners of his eyes.

That action in itself causes Dan to look at him. He sniffs and bites the inside of his cheek as he watches the red dragon hover in front of him and he winces when he hears the guilty tone that laced the warrior's voice. "I'm the one to blame."

Daniel is dumbfounded, his eyes wide as he stares in disbelief thinking that that was far from the actual truth. As far as he was concerned, Drago did nothing wrong. "What are you-."

"It's because I never left you that you feel this way Dan." The dragon's head was held low in regret.

"But that's a good thing!" Dan screams in retaliation, not completely understanding what the old warrior meant by that.

"I never said that it was a bad thing Dan, but…" He gestures a small wing towards the glass door where the party continued without a hitch, their guests oblivious to the drama that was unfolding in the balcony. Brown eyes see nothing but old friends chatting, children were playing, and bakugan partners, both old and new, hovering beside their respective human cohort. He did not see why Drago would direct his attention there when that scene was exactly why he felt so depressed.

"Do you know what the difference is between us and them, Dan is?"

The question catches him off guard and he frowns, shaking his head to indicate that no, he did not know.

"The difference between the two of us and them, Dan, is that they welcomed change… We didn't"

Confusion struck a nerve inside Dan, causing his response to sound a little too high pitched than necessary. "What?"

"Think about it Dan… Out of all of your friends, only you and I never completely separated as battle partners…"

"Wha-"

"You were too afraid of letting me go."

"That's not-!"

"And I was too afraid of letting my power fall into the wrong hands…"

There was a pause, a sharp intake of breath, and a realization that dawned all too quickly.

Dan staggers to the side.

Drago continues to speak. "But look at your friends, Dan… Shun, Marucho, Julie, Alice, everyone… Even Runo…"

"Stop it." He begs.

"Julie, Alice, Fabia, Ren, Jake, Page, Raife, Runo and everyone else… All of them quit playing. Quit fighting long before you did…"

"Drago I-."

"Shun and Marucho? They never stuck long with just one partner. Always a different one. Always adapting to new challenges, new skills."

"Drago!"

The dragon responds back, a voice so strong that it forces the man to shut his mouth in fear. Forces him to do what he is told. "Look again Dan. Do you see what I see?"

And he does, unhappily so. With brows furrowed and eyes screaming denial and he answers. "Friends who've changed?"

The way that the small form of his shook from side to side made Dan feel stupid in a way that he didn't like. So what did he see that he couldn't?

"Dan, I see people who've adapted to the changes that life brought them. They haven't changed, Dan. Just adapted to life."

"So what's the difference?" The brunette asks, kicking up chunks of snow in frustration.

"Look harder, Dan." He sets the cocktail glass down on the rails and slips his hands into his pockets as annoyance overcomes him.

His eyes dart between the snow-covered tiles of the balcony, towards the door, the ground then back to the glass doors once again, trying to figure out the significance of the comparison.

He sees Fabia with a sad smile on her face as she glances every now and then at the children playing.

"I see Fabia," He hears Drago say. "Strong and stubborn Fabia, queen of the Neathians, living through life without her Gundalian king by her side, without Ren. Yet she continues to lead her people and his in peace and harmony despite his absence."

Dan's expression falls to that of sadness, remembering Ren so weak but still defiant in his death bed. A disease had spread across Neathia not too long ago and, though it was not fatal for Neathians, it was absolutely deadly for a Gundalian. The few Gundalians that lived in Neathia barely survived the outbreak before a cure was found. Ren was one of the last to die from the disease.

He could still remember the panic in Fabia's eyes as Ren slowly closed his. He managed to whisper to her parting words of love before all life escaped him. The cries of Fabia then had broken everyone's heart and Neathians and Gundalians alike mourned the loss of a great king, of their beloved queen's better half. Even the former queen Serena could not contain her younger sister's sorrow.

The most painful was that, no sooner that the disease had been vanquished; Fabia had accidentally had a miscarriage for working too hard. The life of a child she never knew was growing inside of her had gone all too suddenly. She was devastated.

He shakes away the painful memory of a lost friend and finds Drago looking at Mira, Ace and Keith. The three of them standing to the side, talking and laughing.

"I see Keith without his mask and I see Ace and Mira who're still trying to make things work." Memories of long and volatile arguments flashed before Dan's eyes, reminding him of the complicated relationship between the three and just how much Ace was going through.

Then Drago point out Billy, with Julie trailing close behind, recounting to him an accident that almost took their lives during a road trip through the Australian outback. "They learned to be careful and to live life to the fullest, knowing that they have a daughter to come home to." The Dragon said.

Then there was Baron, their groups' biggest fanboy chasing after two little boys that had the same hair color as his. "Now mature with a family of four to feed."

Tiny wings point to Marucho who was conversing with Joe, who was holding an ebony haired little boy in his hands. He could find no sign of Chan close by. "Both are successful, still smart, but now have complete independence. Without completely forgetting that there are other people that they can rely on."

"I think I-." Drago silences him with a grunt and points towards two people sitting on the carpeted floor, the both of them playing with two red-haired children, two twin boys. He vaguely makes out Alice's form through the glass that was slowly being covered in mist, but he could clearly see Shun tickling one of them while his wife Alice giggles and holds the other in a tight embrace.

All of a sudden, he remembers blood and tears. Remembers the scene in a prison, in a court room with Shun holding Alice so tightly while she wailed and clawed at his back, begging him to let her go so that she may release her anger out on the man that took away the warmth of a child from their arms. He remembers a bloody crib and the mangled remains of their first born daughter through the window of a small coffin as it was being lowered down into a hole in the ground. Everyone cried, but not nearly as much as Shun and Alice who stayed and mourned in front of a grave stone despite the heavy outpour of rain that day.

Dan could still hear the late night calls that Shun made to him, asking him, finding a strange kind of comfort from the nostalgia of an old friend, an escape from the pain of losing his daughter to the insanity of the world and almost losing Alice from a botched attempt of suicide.

His throat dries, but he takes his turn to speak. "I see two people, who lost someone very valuable to them…" He eyes the smiles on their faces and the ones on the children they are playing with. "I see Alice who tried to atone for being Masquerade, who lost her grandfather to a lab accident. I see Shun who lost his mother, but still managed to grow up and be my best friend."

"I see two people who lost so much but still managed to stand back up on their feet. Who moved on and continued to move forward without looking back."

"You see two people who've adapted to the harsh realities of life, and lived through them. Together." Drago finished.

Somehow, he found himself unable to argue, so he nods quietly. From the corner of his eyes he finds Drago looking straight at him.

"You know what I see now, Dan?" The tone in his voice was playful now, almost joking.

So he mocks that with playfulness of his own. "A kid in the body of an adult who can't just grow up?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"I see a boy who I've watched grow up into a man. Who fought perilous battles in his time as a child. I see a brave young lad who lived and loved, who hung onto his friends for support. A man who's yet to completely let go of his boyhood,"

Silence enveloped them before a loud tapping breaks it and both brawler and bakugan turn to the glass door once more to find a brown haired, green eyed boy looking right at them with the biggest grin on his face.

"Dad! Mom said to come inside before you catch a cold!"

"- and pass it on to the next generation."

Dan is both speechless and shocked and his gaze turns towards Drago who chuckles and shakes his body in amusement.

"It is true that we are both at fault for choosing to stay as we are. Me specifically. I was not wise enough to prepare you for the changes that would occur after we've fought the battles that would decide the fate of more than just one race. And you did not completely forget the euphoria of glory that you experienced as a young child."

"But it's not too late to change, right Drago. It's not too late for me to accept that growing out of that old me is actually a good thing?"

"Yes, it is not. For change is permanent and it is what governs both you and me. But we don't have to completely let this go Dan…"

"We just have to adapt, am I right? Buddy?"

They both laugh before the doors burst open to reveal Runo who starts to scold them both. She drags Dan away while his son of no more than five years old latch onto his legs and his friends come rushing towards him, wondering where he'd gone to. The party continues and they begin singing Christmas carols.

Drago is left alone in the balcony to think, a thankful smile that was not visible in his ball form tugged at his lips as he looked up to watch the snow fall and he realizes that Dan had given him a wonderful present.

A present of assurance that change would not bring about sadness in their life.

"Thank you, Dan."

Through all the background noise of happy celebrations, he hears Dan's voice.

"Merry Christmas, pal!"

-00-

-0

End

Written-Sin: I always did think that Dan would be the only one who didn't find growing up to be amiable. He was the only one in the entire series who never changed much whereas everyone else did seemed to grow more mature and different with each season. He never replaces Drago and he stays as an immature kid all throughout. I believe that is worth mentioning...

Also...

Just to be clear on this:

Ren died a few years prior to the events of this fic due to a made up disease. He and Fabia never had kids because Fabia was careless, didn't know she was pregnant, and had a miscarriage...

Read my oneshot "3way" if you want to know what was meant by "complicated relationship".

And if you haven't read my oneshots entitled "Beautiful" and "Lullaby" then you might not have understood what happened to Shun and Alice.

Read and Review people