Disclaimer: Christmas belongs to… I dunno. And Ranger's Apprentice belongs to John Flanagan.

Here's my Christmas story… that was written two years ago. It's not normal. That's all I have to say. It's written from Baron Arald's POV, but you can't really tell. It's kind of OOC, there may be grammar/spelling mistakes, but ah what the hey. I'm planning on writing a sequel to this for this year's Christmas. It just wouldn't have made sense if I'd written it without publishing this.

You know how Christmas is supposed to be the time for peace, love, and family? I'm starting to doubt that. You would too if you saw Halt's cabin last Christmas. If you want the definition of chaos, find a time machine and watch from outside the kitchen window. But not go inside. You'll be scarred for life and probably won't survive three minutes. You see, Christmas was almost peaceful, almost filled with love, and almost a time where family ruled everything. But Will had to screw it up two weeks before Christmas.

The boy asked the demon of all questions- the question forbidden to any senior Ranger's ears. "Are there any girl Rangers?" Normally, this question isn't so bad. In fact, normally it's a question that Rangers would've answered without any regret a few decades ago. But of course, Crowley had a completely and utterly stupid idea a good fifteen years ago. You see, Crowley decided that he wanted to try and train a Ranger in three years. Of course, the candidate for this training just so happened to be the devil's secret daughter- Bear Northwind.

The six most senior Ranger currently serving in the Corps helped train this she-demon. They each had to deal with Bear for six months. You know how most senior Rangers are all grim and tend to despise apprentices? They used to be fine with the idea of an apprentice and were actually happy (minus Halt… he's always been grumpy) until Crowley came to them, requesting that they help train Bear. Six months with Bear turned them into what they are now. She even affected Halt. It took the girl a month to start the greying of Halt's beard. She didn't finish, of course, but still, she'd done her toll on the grim Ranger.

And poor Halt had to carefully explain to his apprentice (the boy was only in his second year) that the question he'd asked was a question you should never ask a Ranger who's been in the Corps for at least fifteen years. "They will kill you. Asking that question is like begging for your death sentence." But, being a curious boy, Will required an explanation from his mentor. Halt had declined, saying that "You'll end up asking the other Rangers, and they'll kill you for asking." Will promised not to ask, and listened intently as Halt explained the demon that he'd been forced into calling an apprentice for six months.

And that brings us to Christmas Eve. The so called she-demon decided to visit her so called 'favorite mentor' for Christmas that year. Actually, she knew very well that Halt had his two apprentices staying with him for Christmas, and knew very well that Halt would be anything but pleased to see Bear on his doorstep. And so, with a devious glint in her eyes, Bear knocked on one of her six former mentor's door. From inside, she heard the thumping of something (presumably a chair) hitting the ground, followed by Halt saying a string of curses that would've made any Skandian proud. Then, she heard a young voice yell something along the lines of "Gilan set the coffee on the fire!" and the smell of smoke.

The door swung open, and Bear was greeted with the words: "Who the hell are you and what do yo- AH!" Then, the door was slammed in her face. Bear grinned, seeing that Halt still remembered who she was. Bear knocked again, and heard the muffled sound of Halt's voice saying: "GO AWAY, SHE-BEAST!" Bear may not have had the best eyesight, but the girl had the hearing of a rabbit.

"Who's that?"

"No one you need to know."

"Who's at the door, Halt?"

"NO ONE."

"Obviously someone is…"

"It doesn't matter, pretend that no one is there."

"Wow… someone actually bothers Halt."

"I gotta meet this person."

"NO! NO! NO!"

The door opened, and Bear was greeted by a tall and lanky Ranger. "Hello," he said casually, "May I ask who you are?"

"Since when do your apprentices have manners, Halt?" Bear called to the Ranger, who'd gone to the kitchen claiming he needed coffee.

"They don't." She heard his muffled reply.

"Any who, I take it you're Gilan. I heard about you, and from the looks of it, you've never heard about me." Will, who was standing behind Gilan, was pale in the face. "Oh, wait, he's heard about me." Bear smiled smugly. "Figured Crowley would've told someone about me." Bear grinned, and watched as Gilan looked at Bear with an utterly confused look.

"You-you're Bear." Will said, stuttering with fear. "Halt told me about you. He said you're the devil's secret daughter and to stay away from you if you know what's good for you."

"Aw, I still scare the crap out of people." Bear grinned, whilst Gilan just stood there, watching the exchange quietly.

"Wait," He said, finally entering the conversation. "You're the girl Ranger Crowley told me about? Crowley said that there was one girl Ranger, but he didn't say anything else. Although, he muttered something about the devil trying to kill him…" Bear's grin widened.

"Yep, that's me. I'm Bear, the she-beast, the devil's daughter, and the worst mistake Crowley ever made. Now, can I come in and bug the hell out of one of my former mentors?" Gilan grinned, stepped aside, and allowed the tall female in. She strode past Gilan with confidence in each step and entered the kitchen. "Hello, Halt." And with that, hell set in.

. . .

As I said before, Christmas is supposed to be the time for peace, love, joy, and family. If peace is defined as three people fighting over the stupidest things, then there's a chance that that's a part of Christmas. If love means Gilan and Will deciding whether to reside with their mentor, who had power over them, or Bear, the she-demon who could make their lives hell, in a snow ball fight that ends with someone getting seriously injured, there's a chance. Since a mentor and an apprentice are supposed to gain a special relationship, there should've been a chance for family being a part of Christmas. Bear showed up and screwed that up. Same with joy…

I, being Baron Arald, know about how demonic Bear is. I had to deal with that demon for six months. Everything said about Bear is true. Everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. I remember going to visit Halt on Christmas day (he's an old time friend) and hearing something along the lines of "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! I AM GOING TO LITTERALLY RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR ESOPHAGOUS." This was followed by a young woman running out the cabin door for the forest and Halt running in pursuit, a murderous look on his face. The young woman was Bear- I recognized her- and had the largest grin I'd ever seen plastered to a face. Gilan and Will's faces appeared at the door and they watched in half horror and half humor as Halt tried to chase the woman down.

"Hey, Arald!" Bear said. "Gotta go; see you next Christmas, Halt!" Then, thank the Lord, she whistled for her horse, mounted, and left.

Merry Christmas (for now…)

The sequel for this will be out Christmas Eve.

So will an update for Scarred.

-Sharkbait