For those out there who read Past and Future... remember when I said I would go on hiatus in December in chapter ten? Well, you found the reason why. I'm doing a Christmas fic with the characters from Past and Future! Hooray! I'm really going to have fun with this!

Just note that this story has no specific place in the timeline of my other story.

For those who haven't read my other fic... you don't have to. I'll try to explain what's going on, but you should be able to read this without too much confusion. But if there's something you don't get, please tell me so I can fix it. The only thing is that there are some (minor) spoilers for my other story, and in later chapters some spoilers for the game.

I think a lot of people here are pretty relaxed about religion and stuff, but I just want to say that I hope I'm not offending anyone by focusing on Christmas. Besides, I'm focusing on the secular aspects of the holiday, not the religious stuff. Seriously, it doesn't make sense for characters who live in a world in which Christianity doesn't exist to celebrate 'Christ's Mass', right?

I really wish this site had a 'holiday' genre...

Young Kratos: Sucks for you then.

Holy Spork: Ditto. You're going to be my muse for this story!

Young Kratos: What? NOOOOO!

Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia and its characters, locations, and plot line belong to Bandai-Namco. M'kay?

Past and Future: Chaos for the Holidays

Chapter I: Snowball Fight And Frostbite

It was snowing in Meltokio on that day in December. Five teens stared up at the cloudy sky, as snowflakes fell slowly to the ground as if they had a grudge against gravity. After a long moment of silence, one of the children spoke up:

"So… what's this 'Christmas' thing all about anyway?"

Another chuckled, "I can't believe that you don't know what Christmas is Kratos!"

"Shut your face Lloyd."

Lloyd pouted.

"Anyone else know what's so important about this 'Christmas'?"

"It's a holiday," piped up the shortest member of the group, Genis, "That's celebrated during the winter, and it's all about giving to others!"

Silence.

"Okay," said Kratos, "How about we assume for a minute that I'm from the distant past, and that I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lloyd stared at Kratos, or rather, a seventeen-year-old version of Kratos. He had dropped into their lives – and into this time – purely by accident. Lloyd and the others had, as of yet, been unable to find a way to send him back to his own time, so he had been hanging out with Lloyd and the other Reunification Heroes since then. Young Kratos couldn't have been with them long, but it already felt like he had been here for years. It had taken Lloyd, and pretty much everyone else who knew Kratos, a lot of time to get used to Young Kratos. His personality was completely different from that of his older self.

And he didn't know what Christmas was.

Lloyd and the other Reunifications heroes had all gathered in Meltokio to celebrate the holiday, and Young Kratos had been brought along for the ride. After many explanations, he had been introduced to all of Lloyd's former companions. Young Kratos still did not really understand why Christmas was such a big deal, as he was from a time in which the holiday did not exist. Which was why Lloyd, Genis, Colette, and Sheena had all taken it upon themselves to explain it to him.

"Christmas is a holiday that is about giving to others," said Colette, almost surrounded by a holy aura as she continued to explain, "Once a year all the towns in the world are decorated for a single holiday, covered in lights, and tinsel, and evergreen trees! And everyone goes out to buy or make presents for their friends and family!"

Colette has obtained the title Believer: Oh I'm a believer! Not a trace of doubt in my mind!

"…It's all about the presents," said Lloyd with a grin, "Christmas is the only time of the year when you can get tons of free stuff!"

"That isn't what Christmas is about!" protested Sheena, who right up until that point had been content to just watch the fun, "It's about giving to others!"

"No, it's about the presents." Said a smiling Genis. Genis and Lloyd high fived, both grinning widely, anticipating the future flood.

Sheena turned to Young Kratos, "You agree with me, don't you?" she said, almost pleadingly, "You understand that Christmas is about the spirit of giving, right?"

Kratos pretended to think about it, and then said, with a smile, "I dunno, the presents do sound good."

Sheena rolled her eyes, "Men…"

"Do you have any holidays like Christmas back in Libra, Kratos?" asked Colette, wanting to change the subject.

Kratos thought about it for a moment. Were there any holidays like Christmas back in his home city of Libra? He shrugged, "Not really," he admitted, "There's nothing like… this Christmas thing."

"Now you'll finally get to experience it yourself!" said Colette cheerfully.

"Is there anything special you do in Libra during the winter?" asked Genis, "Any kinds of traditions?"

Kratos bent down and picked up some snow. As he stood up again he quickly, and with some skill, packed down the snow until it formed a small hard sphere.

"We do this."

Kratos threw the snowball, hitting Lloyd in the face.

Young Kratos has obtained the title Snowball Fighter: A hardened warrior who will, without mercy, snowball anyone he sees.

"Hey!" said Lloyd, rubbing the snow out of his face. Then he bent down and picked up some snow as well. "Two can play at that game!" He threw the snowball at Kratos, but missed, hitting Sheena instead.

"I'm gonna get you for that!" she started throwing snowballs too.

The situation rapidly dissolved into an all-out snowball war. The only one not really participating was Colette, but that was only because she said "I'm sorry!" every time she hit someone. They stopped at the sound of an all too familiar voice.

"What are you doing?"

Everyone turned to see Presea, who was looking at the group curiously. "It's a snowball fight," explained Kratos, "You pick up a bunch of snow, like this, and pack it down really hard, like this, and then throw it at other people, like this!"

"I see…" said Presea, as Lloyd tried to brush the snow out of his face again, "And this is… fun?"

"Yeah!" said Genis, "Why don't you come and play with us?"

"I shall… try it," said Presea, picking up some snow. She threw it vaguely in Kratos' direction.

"That's the idea!" said Young Kratos encouragingly, "Now, where were we?" He threw a snowball at Genis, who instantly retaliated. The situation again dissolved into a full-fledged conflict, except Genis had a hard time, because he was trying so hard not to hit Presea. This was when yet another familiar face walked onto the scene.

"Sheena, my voluptuous hunny, I have found you at last!"

Sheena looked up to see Zelos approaching them, a smile gracing his face that he only used around his 'hunnies'.

Zelos has obtained the title Tactless: It's clear to anyone he meets that the art of subtlety eludes him.

The ninja didn't say anything, but rather threw a snowball at him.

"I AM NOT ONE OF YOUR GROUPIES!" she shrieked, as she started to throw a snowy barrage at Zelos.

"NO! NOT THE FACE!" whined Zelos, backing away from the torrent.

The other snowball fighters had stopped to watch the fun. Young Kratos snickered. Zelos noticed.

"I'll get you for mocking the Great Zelos Wilder!"

Soon Zelos too was dragged into the wintertime war. The snowball fight could have lasted minutes or hours, no one was able to tell. After what felt like three-quarters of an eternity, Young Kratos looked up from the snowball fight, and spotted three adults walking toward the snowy melee. He could see Regal, who apparently was immune to the cold, despite all the exposed skin, and Professor Raine, who seemed to be either very amused or extremely annoyed at the antics of her students and their companions.

The third… was the Bane of Young Kratos' Very Existence.

This was when a well-aimed snowball from Zelos collided with the back of Kratos' head. He fell over in the snow with a muffled curse. He picked himself off the ground, taking a handful of soon to be snowball with him. He packed it up and quickly took aim at the red-headed ex-Chosen –

When something grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and yanked upwards. "Lemmie go you son of a bi – " Young Kratos' insult died in this throat when he looked over to see who had grabbed him. The color drained from his face, and he dropped the snowball. "I mean…" started the boy weakly, as the Bane of his Existence frowned at him, "…Merry Christmas?"

Kratos' captor made a displeased 'hmph' noise, before turning to the other children, who had also stopped their fight. They were literally covered in snow, head to foot. Regal was totally silent, and Raine started lecturing, "If you're going to have a snowball fight, then at least wear something warm! You could catch a cold playing in the snow like this."

"But sis!" started Genis.

"No buts," said Raine icily, "We're heading back, understood?"

There was a collective groan from the snowball fighters, but they started to trudge back up the street to where they were all staying for the holidays. Raine turned to Young Kratos and his captor. "Kratos, you can let… yourself go."

Young Kratos was released and dropped into the snow. He glared up at his captor… who was himself… but around four thousand years old. Old Kratos looked down at his younger self with mild disdain before walking off after Lloyd and the others.

The Young and Old versions of Kratos had not gotten along since they 'met'. The older was convinced that the younger was an immature delinquent, while his younger self thought that the older was a boring old fart. Neither was particularly inclined to admit that they were technically the same person, just from different times. Which meant that, on a fairly regular basis, everyone else got to watch Kratos argue with himself. Every time at least one person wondered if it was possible to grab a bag of popcorn before the show was over.

Five minutes after the snowball fight had been broken up, all the participants were sitting in front of a fire, hoping the feeling would return to their faces and fingers. The group was staying in Zelos' mansion for the holiday, which had a very large fireplace.

"Now you've learned not to play in the snow unless you're dressed warmly." Said Raine in Lecture Mode.

"I still think it was totally worth it." Said Young Kratos, quiet enough so that Raine wouldn't be able to hear him.

Genis sneezed. His nose was red, and he did look like he might have a cold.

Genis has obtained the title Frostbitten: You shouldn't have gone in the snow in shorts and short sleeves.

Raine turned to glare at Lloyd, "Was this snowball fight your idea?"

"No!" Lloyd pointed an accusatory finger at Young Kratos, "He started it!"

"You're a real friend Lloyd," said Young Kratos snidely, "You little snitch."

Smack! Smack!

"Kratos, you should have known better, and Lloyd, don't encourage him!"

The two boys clutched their wounded heads. Zelos laughed at them.

Raine has obtained the title Abusive: Her calm exterior does not betray her tendency to injure people who annoy her.

Raine walked away, feeling that she had gotten her point across. Slaps tended to work very well that way.

"Well, tomorrow we have to go out and get a tree!" proclaimed Zelos, "And decorate the mansion!"

"Oh! Can we get poinsettias?" asked Colette, bouncing up and down with excitement, "And holly? And wreathes? And mistletoe? Please?"

"Sure my lovely little angel! ♥" said Zelos gleefully.

Holy Spork: As you can see, I'm not done with this yet. As of right now, this thing will be four chapters long, which I'll update every Saturday. So I'll update on the 1st (duh), the 8th, 15th, and the last chapter on the 22nd, because I don't want to update on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, because, well, that's when I'll be celebrating the holiday myself.

Young Kratos: When you said Past and Future was on hiatus... I was hoping for, you know, an actual hiatus-type thing.

Spork: I love you too much. Besides, I've never done a holiday special before! I think this'll be fun! And this isn't going to be all angsty, so you should enjoy it while you can.

Kratos: Just as long as nothing bad happens...

Spork: You'll be fine! I promise. Please review!

Edited on 12/8/07 - Cleaned up and added to the author's notes.