Christmas. No one knew how this holiday first came to be nor where it originated from. With Grand Gaia's history of otherworldly visitors appearing in the most unexpected of times, it would be no surprise at least one of them had something to share that did not revolve around warfare. Someone could have brought over customs unfamiliar to the populace during the migration to what would become Elgaia. This holiday and the joy and feelings of camaraderie it would bring soon began to spread and celebrated for many generations. Eventually, many citizens, especially the children, all wait in anticipation for it's annual arrival, though for some they chose not to celebrate it for personal reasons. Here is a collection of stories of how some summoners deal with the holiday's forthcoming.

The sun pierced through the curtains, the beams of sunlight shone on Valerie's face, who was sleeping soundly. She slowly opened her eyes, squinting as it was a little too bright. Knowing it was morning already, she let out a loud yawn as she got out of bed. She rubbed her eyes as she allowed her vision to adjust itself. She looked out the window, pulling the curtains aside to see a wondrous sight. Snow was gently falling from the sky, covering the area in a light blanket. She stared outside with childlike wonder. Even though this was a scene she has seen countless times before, it did not make it any less beautiful.

She then turned on her phone to check the calendar. Her eyes widened as she looked at the date. December 12. Christmas, her favorite holiday, was coming in less than 2 weeks. This came to her as a surprise, She did not pay attention to the days that went by, nor did she thought that time would pass by so fast. It was most likely from all the missions she went on that made her unaware of these changes. Of course, the arrival of winter was indeed an early sign, but for the most part, she was so used to traveling from Grand Gaia and back that she was used to seeing rapid changes in climate wherever she went. She tried to keep herself from squealing lest she accidentally wakes up her partner, James.

She quickly changed her clothes, from her fuzzy pink pajamas to her usual attire, albeit with longer stockings, adding gloves and a nice scarf to accommodate with the cold weather. She went to his room first to see how he was doing, unsurprisingly, the room was empty. His room was neat and tidy as always. Documents containing reports from his missions were neatly organized in a cabinet that stood next to his desk, and his bed was well made. With the organization and lack of dust or other trash to be found, one could think that he was never even in there in the first place. And with that, she closed the door.

Maintaining her cheerful mood, she went downstairs and into the living room. Her two units, Lara and Rouche, were lounging there, and she greeted them with a smile. "Good morning you two."

The winged girl looked towards her summoner and returned a smile. "You look cheerful this morning." She remarked.

Valerie nodded. "Yes. Christmas is coming!"

Lara tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Christmas? What's that?" She wondered, not knowing the concept.

The former commander of the first Imperial Guard lowered his book upon the mention of the holiday. "Ah yes, Christmas. It's a wonderful time of year of goodwill and merriment. Where people go out and do charitable things, and spend time with those you care about, whether it's a family or a friend. He laid back on his chair, a warm smile comes over his face as he reminisces some past memories.

Valerie questioned him "Do you still miss your sister?"

"Yes, I do." Rouche sighed. "It's been so long. She would've liked to spend the holidays. It makes me think back to all those moments we've shared as a family" "He let out a small chuckle. "Well, more like drag me into the occasion now that I think about it." Valerie could not help but to chuckle along with him.

"'Spending time with those you care about'..." Lara muttered quietly, still grasping the concept of the holiday. She thought of her patron Goddess. Lady Felice would approve of this holiday. If only she was here, she could see it for herself.

Valerie then changed the subject as she asked her units, "Have any of you seen James? I haven't seen him in his room."

Rouche scratched his head before replying "I believe he went out for another raid quest."

Valerie let out a disappointed sigh. "Of course..." This was to be expected. Whenever the holidays were approaching, he would claim to be more busy than usual. Though she knew better, it was only a ploy to distance himself from the festivities. She knew how much Christmas makes him bitter and remorseful, but to overwork himself, and worse yet his units, during this time was ridiculous. It was hard, trying to look forward to the holidays while having a friend ditch her, only to come back with numerous cuts and bruises to tend to each day.

She was lost in her train of thought when a knock on the door snapped Valerie out of her trance. She walked up the door to answer it. "Yes? Who's the-WAH?!" On the other side of the door was was Sirius, with his armor broken in several places and showing visible signs of bleeding, carrying an exhausted Tora. Valerie quickly picked up the petit disciple and gently placed her on the couch for her to rest. "What happened?"

"T-Too many missions…" She coughed. "I don't know where he gets this energy from…"

"That's what I want to know too," Valerie replied as she began to heal Tora using her magic. In little time at all, her injuries disappeared and she was in a perfect state to walk again. Sirius was the next to be healed. Much like Tora, his injuries faded away and his armor was in pristine condition. "Thank you kindly, Miss Valerie." He thanked her in a polite manner one would expect of someone in a higher social class.

Valerie smiled from the gratitude. "By the way..." she began to ask. "Where is James? Don't tell me he's still at the Summoner's Hall?"

"Unfortunately he is, I am afraid he is requesting for yet another assignment as we speak."

"Why am I not surprised?" She groaned.

"Do you want us to search for him?" Lara asked.

Valerie shook her head. "No, I think it will be a waste of time to track him down. Besides, he'll only run away again."

"What do you propose we should do?" asked Rouche.

Valerie pondered for a moment. "I know! We should host a Christmas party here!" She shouted triumphantly. "It's the perfect way to get into the season and keep everyone's spirits up!"

"Christmas…? What is that?" Tora inquired, becoming the second person who did not know about the holiday.

"Christmas… I know that holiday very well." The Sacred Emperor mused. "A time when the commoners would come together as a family and spread the feeling of charity and gratitude." His explanation was identical to what Rouche described.

"That sounds like a lovely holiday," Tora said enthusiastically.

"Have you celebrated it before?" Valerie inquired to Sirius.

"I am afraid I have not." he shook his head. "With all the duties and responsibilities I and my half-siblings had as being the children of the emperor, we did not have much time to celebrate occasions like these."

"Well, then this may just be the first time you can celebrate it."

"Yes. I have heard many wonderful things about it, I am very excited to see this first hand."

Valerie giggled. "I'm glad the two of you are excited as I am."

"But wait." Rouche intervened. "If you're planning a party, how do you plan to find some guests? And won't we need time to prepare?"

Valerie maintained her smile as she brought him into her room and turned on her computer. She began searching for some candidates within Randall that she might invite. It then showed a list of summoners, all of whom were either youths or young adults that were just about near her age. She then moved towards a stack of colorful stationery cards, decorated with the obligatory wreaths, bells, candy canes or any other symbols that were connected with the holiday. All of them had the pre-typed "You are invited to…" spiel and the address of her home.

"You were planning this for quite a while, didn't you? Rouche inquired.

"Yeah," Valerie replied. "Most Christmases have been anything but merry, and usually involve me chasing James down, but this time, I'll make sure he gets involved!"

"And the decorations…?""

"You, Lara and I will go out to buy them. We can set it up as I planned the party in a few weeks. So we have plenty of time." The tone of her voice showed that she was very confident that her plan would go well. "As for these invitations, I'll have James hand them out. Tora and Sirius will bring them to him."

"And in case he leaves?"

Valerie held up her phone in response. Her phone was opened to a map application that detailed the top-down perspective of Randall. A single red dot was glowing on the map. Unsurprisingly, it was pointing to the Summoner's hall, the exact location where James was.

"You are really on top of things, aren't you?" Rouche chuckled.

Valerie giggled. "Let's just say… I don't have the time for nonsense this Christmas." Placing the invitations into a brown handbag, she quickly stopped by James' room to drop them off before running downstairs. She then asked Tora. "If you do see him, can you bring him back here and make sure he gets some rest?"

"Okay." She nodded. "But won't he just run off again, like you said?"

Valerie lightly patted Tora's head as she maintains her smile. "Then I need you to tell him this." She then whispers something into her ear. "Did you get all that?

"Yes."

"Good to hear." Valerie then faced to her own units. "Lara! Rouche! We have some shopping to do!"

Lara jumped out of her seat as she made her way towards her summoner. "I'm coming!"

The group made their way out of the house, Valerie locked the door behind her and the group split off into different directions.

…

Raid Tavern, Akras Summoners Hall, Elgaia.

"What do you mean there are no contracts available?" A silver-haired man asked the pink-haired receptionist.

"It is as I said, James." She replied. "I'm glad you have a lot of enthusiasm when it comes to these missions, but at this point, I don't think there will be activity any time soon."

James let out a disappointed sigh.

"Cheer up!" the informant chirped. "Since there aren't any demon activities, everyone else can get a break over the holidays!"

"I guess…"

"Besides, any more of this, you might end up becoming on a bunch of summoners' blacklist."

James sighed again. The last thing he wanted was to gain more notoriety, life was already annoying as it is with the many responsibilities he has to deal with, and he certainly doesn't want to fall back down to that road again.

"Get some rest." She said with a concerned tone. "You worked yourself to the bone these last couple of days and I'm sure Valerie must be worried about you."

He did not want to argue. Days of non-stop questing and raiding have taken its toll on him, and it showed. He was not in good shape, his body felt sore in separate places, and lack of sleep has contributed to his current problems. At this point, there was no other option but to do as she said and rest. "I'll… be sure to do that. Thank you, Elise. And please, don't tell Noah that it was me."

"I'll try not to. And Take care!" She waved goodbye.

He waved goodbye as he exited the tavern and out the summoners hall. He found himself walking around the streets of the Imperial Capital, the many passersby were staring at him as he went. With an overall grim appearance and the tears and rips on his clothing from the many contracts he went on, who would not notice it? He paid them no attention as he made his way back to his house.

The streets were filled with decorations for the holidays, passersby were looking very happy, well, some that didn't stare at him were. He could tell they were all excited for the holidays, and it certainly showed. To James, Christmas was one thing he didn't want to celebrate It brought back too many painful memories and was a contributor to some periods of improper sleep at this time. He kept his gaze down, not wanting to see anything, but just high enough so that he could at least see where he was going.

On the way, he encountered his units on the path ahead of him. "What are you two doing here?" he asked. " I thought you two were resting back at the house."

"Valerie told us to pick you up," Tora replied. "She knows you're feeling tired."

"You are in no condition to keep going," Sirius spoke. "Any more of this and-"

James cut him off. " I know, you don't have to remind me. And unfortunately for me, I have no choice in the matter this time."

"And that would be because…?"

"There are no missions at the moment. And I'm being encouraged to rest by other people as well."

"Then let's head back now. You're in bad shape." Tora said as he took him by the arm and supported him. Likewise, Sirius went to the other side and did the same, and the two units helped their summoner make the trip back home.

After a while, James found himself lying down face up on his bed. It was still morning, though, in his current state, he felt a little tired. Still, lying down and doing nothing was beginning to agitate him. What could he possibly do to get his mind off the holidays? He then noticed a handbag resting near his desk and began to examine it. Inside was a large stack of invitations to a Christmas party, with the address of the party being his house. "What's the meaning of this?" James called out to his units.

"Valerie planned a party here to get everyone in the mood," Sirius replied, being the closest unit to his room.

He brought his right palm up to his face to express his disbelief. " And where is she right now?"

"She already went out shopping for supplies, she left just as we left to find you."

James tensed up. The last thing he wanted to deal with is a party of all things. The thought of the amount of mess to clean up and how noisy the party would be made him shudder a little. He didn't want to deal with this As if the holidays was not bad enough, but it could not be helped. He looked at the bag once again and picked it up. "And I assume I have to play as the delivery man?"

Tora walked into the room while replying, "Yes, but she says you can do it tomorrow after you have rested off your injuries."

James set the bag down before flopping onto his bed. "Fine… Just let me rest then." The two units then left the room and closed the door behind him. James stared at the ceiling. I guess no matter what I do, I'll get pulled into this holiday one way or another. I appreciate what she's trying to do, but doesn't she know some restraint? He closed his eyes as he leaned back on his bed. I may as well do what she says, I can't let her down again, not after the trouble I caused. Once I'm fully recovered, I'll try to find a way to make it up to her and to my units, maybe find a gift or two along the way. And with that, he suddenly found himself drifting off into sleep, mentally preparing for the challenge that awaited him tomorrow.

First chapter of a series of shorts. One chapter will be uploaded every day until Christmas, so hopefully you all sit tight and enjoy the ride.