Christmas.

This was the time a three year old kid would be cheering about Christmas, but one kid wasn't. His name was Lloyd Aurion. He had no mother, and his father had sent them both to Derris-Kharlan for duration of time. Mainly during Christmas time. Now this angel-basing planet had nothing to do with Christmas. Kratos didn't mention it, but Lloyd already knew, since there weren't any Christmas decorations up. That was what was making Lloyd sad. He was in Kratos's arms, trying to look happy.

"Lloyd?" Lloyd turned to listen to the voice.

"Yes?" He said, in that incredibly squeaky voice. If you were listening to Lloyd's original voice, at the age of seventeen, it would be an octave higher.

"What's wrong?" Now, Kratos was extremely worried for his son. He almost felt…..hurt when he saw his son sad.

"Nufin." Always. He'd always say nothing. Kratos just sighed and kept walking towards Yuan's office. He guessed that Yuan would be there. Kratos just kept walking. He wasn't wearing his judgment uniform. He wore the purple mercenary clothing that he always preferred. Lloyd was dressed in a red long sleeved shirt and black pants, which was covered in a bigger blue jacket. A lot bigger. It wasn't Lloyd's but he preferred it there. It wasn't Kratos's either. It was Anna's. One of the only things that Kratos had of Anna. But it was covered in blood. By the time they got to Yuan's office, Lloyd was fast asleep. Kratos sighed, yet again, and knocked on the door.

"Busy!" Was his initial reply. He ignored it and kept knocking.

"What the heck? What part of 'busy' don't you get id- oh. It's you." Yuan said, while he opened the door.

"Can you do me a favour?" Kratos asked, venomously.

"….uhhh….sure…." He mentally thought to get a secretary. Anything to get out of work, that's Yuan's method of life. He inwardly smiled, since he knew this had something to do with Lloyd and jigging work. Killing two birds with one stone, as they said.

"You see…..Lloyd here…ummm can I trust him with you?" Kratos said, nervously. The last time he left Lloyd with Yuan, well……Lloyd ended up burning half the Renegade base down. And got himself singed, along with everyone else, apart for Yuan. He was really lucky. Really, really lucky.

"Sure" he said, being his assertive self. The only problem was that Kratos never told Lloyd how his mother died. Yuan already knew that fact, and was going to change it. No matter what. Kratos couldn't stop him.

"If you try to give info about Anna's death to him, Yuan, I'll make sure you never lived another breath." Kratos said, giving him the infamous 'Aurion' glare.

….Ahem. Scratch that. There was only one way that would stop Yuan. And that was Kratos's real threats. He had witnessed his former companion really angry. Not pissed off, but really, really angry. So angry that his crimson eyes are actually on fire, not a special effect. No explanation needed on how. Just one word. Judgment.

Once Kratos had left Lloyd with Yuan, he set off to Mithos's. He knew the kid's weakness. As he strolled to Mithos's Castle, he thought to himself. About Yuan's previous words. About the time he had with Anna. About Anna. Just Anna. He started to tear up, letting a bit of emotion, but then wiped them, hoping none of the messenger angels saw him, since they were the only ones who would gossip like madmen. When he reached the warp pad, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around and gasped. She was there. Her thick long black hair, which passed her shoulders and her crooked smile. It was still there.

"Hello, Cecilia." He said, hugging the woman. She was in her mid twenties and was currently living in Derris-Kharlan as a messenger, an important messenger.

"Hey, Kratos, old bud." she said, giving her the smile.

"What brings you here?" she asked her best friend, smiling radiantly, yet again.

"Well….I ....I…." he stammered, and his throat closed itself. She noticed this immediately and directed him to her office, since she was the Head of the Messengers, or something. She handed him a snack from Tethe'alla. He raised his eyebrow questionably.

"What happened?" she asked. It was her usual human concern. Kratos just started to cry. She was lucky that the room they were in was soundproof and she had replaced the cameras with moving pictures. So in reality, no one would've known what was happening.

"Kvar…..I…..killed….her…" he stammered inbetween sobs.

"Oh dear…Anna. She was a good friend to me….." Cecilia said shaking her head and patting Kratos's back.

"Where's Lloyd?" Kratos stopped crying. He looked up at her, and then he panicked.

"OH DEAR!" They both shouted. They both ran out of Cecilia's office and towards Yuan's. By the time they got to his office, they both was smoke coming from the bottom of the door. Kratos didn't bother knocking and punched the door, miraculously, it opened, without breaking. The office looked disastrous. The whole office was on fire. Kratos, using his parental instincts, fought the blaze and found his son, passed out near the corner of his office. He made a mental note to smack the hell out of his 'babysitter' later on. He then passed him to Cecilia, who worked on trying to awaken him. Kratos sighed. Then he walked over to where Yuan was, collapsed. Miraculously, neither Yuan's body nor his cape was burnt. He did what he did last time and started to poke him. He instantly jumped up. He saw the blazes and his half-elf instincts activated.

"AQUA EDGE!" he shouted, water spraying the whole entire place.

Kratos, who sighed of relief went outside, where his son was waiting for him. He nodded towards Cecilia, who took him to her office, since he could at least trust her for the mean time. He felt his anger build up and then he stomped towards where Yuan was recovering. The moment the said Seraph turned around, he instantly paled.

"Remember the last words I gave you?" Kratos said, through gritted teeth. Yuan sighed. He thought (keyword) he was safe. He was soo wrong.

"Ummm….sorry?" Kratos made sure his place was soundproof, before releasing his anger.

"YUAN! YOU BASTARD! YOU PUT MY SON IN DANGER, AGAIN?!? YOU'RE GETTING IT THIS TIME!" Kratos shouted, right into the Seraph's ear, who had already more than perfect hearing.

"Kratos, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The sad thing was he didn't hear, since he was too busy apologising, what the other Seraph in the room had in store for him. Kratos stood legs about shoulder width apart, sword horizontal.

"Sacred powers, cast your purifying light…." A magic circle appeared under him. All of the mana welling up inside of him was going up.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I won't let it happen again" He just kept apologising. He didn't take notice of anything, even if someone had punched him, he couldn't and wouldn't retaliate.

"….upon these corrupt souls. Rest in peace, sinners." That was when Yuan noticed. He paled even more and ran for the door. Then he raised his sword, vertically.

"JUDGMENT!" And all hell broke loose. He hadn't learnt anything about Kratos after 4000 years of watching him torture others.

Cecilia, who was playing with Lloyd, checking his breathing every few minutes, heard her door open. She was about to do an ancient concealment spell on Lloyd when she saw it was Kratos, panting. He was all sweaty and stuff, but took no note of it.

"Thanks for looking after him." He said, smiling. He picked up the bubbly boy and threw him in the air and caught him. Then it hit him. He hadn't told Mithos about him yet, so he placed the boy down and walked towards Cecilia.

"Could you look after him a little longer? I have to ask Mithos about…..Lloyd and his……whim." She looked at him for a while, and then laughed, knowing exactly what Lloyd wanted. She nodded and he left, walking towards the warp pad. He stepped on it, and found Mithos sitting on his throne. Now, you maybe thinking, Mithos would've been thinking about Martel by now. But he wasn't. He'd given up hope for about a year. It was Kratos who calmed his kindred spirit and told him to live like his sister would've. It was Kratos who had cast Judgment many times on Mithos (directly, like one huge beam) to stop acting like a maniac. Only then did he agree to stop, for a year. Kratos knew he would, however, start hoping again, after the year was over.

"Hello, Kratos." He said, in his twelve year old happy voice.

"Hello Mithos."

"So what would you like?"

"Well, I've come back and brought my son here. I would like to ask if we could have Christmas here, since it will be in about…one day, which is basically tomorrow."

"Christmas huh? Well, it would be nice to see….him in a Christmas outfit again." That's when both angels cracked grins.

"Makes good punishment." Kratos muttered to himself, once Mithos nodded and gave his approval.

"Look, I'll help." Mithos said, sighing. Inwardly, he was grinning like mad, really, really happy at the fact that he would dress up as Santa, again, after 4000 years, ever since Martel had that wicked plan.

"Thanks." They both left his castle, heading for Cecilia's office. Once they got there, she yet again almost attempted to cast a concealment spell on Lloyd when he ran to his father.

"Daddy!" he shouted. Mithos looked at the kid as if he was an angel (no, literally).

"Who he?" Lloyd asked his father when he pointed to the angel next to him.

"That's Mithos, Lloyd. Uncle Mithos." The Seraph smirked at the name.

"Unkie….Mifos?"

"Yes, Lloyd. Good boy!" Kratos cooed. Yes, he cooed at Lloyd. He flushed, but only did it to replace his mother, who would usually do that.

"Hello, Unkie Mifos!" Lloyd shouted, jumping out of Kratos's arms and hugging Mithos's legs. The half-elf smiled and then picked him up.

"Be a good boy and play with Aunty Cecilia now!" Mithos said. He put him down and he toddled over to Cecilia.

"Aunty….Ceswela?" Everyone laughed.

"Lloyd, its Cecilia…." Kratos said, clearly embarrassed. Both angels shook their head and laughed.

"Aunty….Ceciwia said you angwy with Unkie Yuan." Mithos smacked his forehead. How come Lloyd could pronounce Yuan's name correctly, but not his, or Cecilia's? That, Cecilia, Kratos, Mithos and even Yuan was a question they couldn't really answer.

"Yes, Lloyd. I was very angry at….Unkie Yuan." Mithos snorted, holding his laughter while Cecilia ran out of the room and started to laugh, really loudly. It sounded really funny when he tried to impersonate Lloyd, squeaky voice, cute words and best of all, the face. The scrunched up face he used.

Kratos left, walking towards Cecilia. "Hey, I've got Christmas plans for Lloyd, so look after him a bit longer, will you?" he whispered.

She looked up, after releasing her laughing fit. "Fine, fine. As long as I'm invited."

"Of course" He smiled, then walked to Mithos and nodded. At first Mithos didn't see him, but then he dragged the said angel by the ear out of the office, shutting the door ever so gently.

Mithos and Kratos were walking happily towards Yuan's ruined office. Then it hit Kratos. He hadn't really told Mithos what happened.

"Hey, Mithos, may I say something that may concern you?"

"Yes?"

"Don't hurt him."

"Why?"

"You'll see. You'll see." And that conversation ended.

When Kratos opened the new door that the angels installed over the past two hours, Mithos gasped. The room was under construction. The two angels walked past the angels and into Yuan's private quarters. He was lying in bed, covered in bandages and bruises. That was when Mithos understood what Kratos was talking about.

"Hey, Yuan." He said, smiling.

"Hey."

"You better be recovering sooner. We have a job for you."

"What?" he had the look of 'what the heck, I've suffered and I have to suffer more?'

"You're this years Santa. We've chosen already. Lloyd says Gwet Well Swoon!" Kratos said. Mithos held back another laugh, since Kratos did the same thing as before, using Lloyd's voice, but his face.

"I'M NOT DOING IT!"

"Why?"

"Remember 4000 years ago, your idea?" The two cringed. But Mithos smiled.

"We did it because….it was Martel's idea." He grumbled, squeaking the last five words. Yuan looked at them in shock.

"Anyways. You're gonna be disappointing your favourite nephew if you don't." Kratos said sighing. Yuan paled and nodded, and the two angels left.

"Why was he in a horrible condition?" Mithos asked, once they were out of Yuan's office.

"Let's just say, he did something ridiculous and I unleased my fury on him." Mithos started to giggle, totally understanding what Kratos was implying.

"Well, let's go to Sylvarant."

"Why?" Mithos asked. Kratos looked at him as if he was dumb.

"For a Christmas tree, of course."

"Why not Tethe'alla?" Mithos suggested.

"I have to go to Sylvarant to collect a few things, and to…..say something." Kratos said, looking down.

"Kvar didn't listen to me, didn't he?"

"No. He continued." And the topic was dropped there.

They had descended from Derris-Kharlan to the outskirts of Iselia Forest. That was when Mithos noticed something. He had left his sword back in Derris-Kharlan, but he didn't really want to be a problem to Kratos, so he let it slide. He disguised it well, but apparently, not well enough.

"Mithos, is there something wrong?" Kratos asked the twelve year old appearing boy. He just shook his head and they kept walking, wit the exception of Kratos glaring through his head.

"You forgot your sword, didn't you?" Kratos said, sighing. Mithos stopped walking and nodded.

"Don't worry. Just take my emergency sword." Kratos said, while sighing and taking out a replica of Mithos's sword and handing it to him.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

They kept walking in silence for a while. They spent about three hours looking for a suitable tree. Halfway through the search, Kratos left Mithos searching on his own. He headed east, towards Dirk's house. Once he was there, he saw Noishe just outside, sleeping, near a grave. He walked up to the grave and knelt down.

"Anna….I hope you're watching me. I'll do my best too look after Lloyd….and prevent Yuan from an attempted murder for the third time in a row…." He muttered before getting up.

The moment he got up, he was automatically pushed back down. He looked up and saw Noishe licking him. He smiled, genuinely and stood up, telling him that he needed to see Dirk, telepathically, of course. The protozoan let him pass and he was met, face to face with Dirk the dwarf, who held a case.

"Are these………?"

"Yes, I've packed them for you, Kratos." (I can't really be bothered adding the dwarven accent) Dirk said, handing over the case.

"Thank you. I'll be taking Noishe with me." Kratos said, nodding.

"No problem. See you soon!" he shouted as the two went back to the forest, where Mithos was waiting.

"Hey, Kratos! I've found a suitable tree…..is that you, Noishe?" Noishe ran up to Mithos and licked him. Since he couldn't tell Kratos, he pointed to the direction instead.

"That is you!" Mithos shouted inbetween his 'being licked' session Kratos left the two alone and went to the direction Mithos was pointing to.

"That'll do." he said, looking at the big tree and taking out his Flamberge, before cutting it.

Once they (in reality, it was just Kratos, Mithos was too busy being victim to Noishe's attack) had cut the tree, they had to make snow. Now, by the time the two came back, Yuan was already walking. He knew that they would've needed snow, so he prepared it, while they were gone. Once he was all set, he went to the hall room (big room, basically) and waited for the two to come back.

Once they came back, they set the tree on its pedestal. They never took notice of Yuan until they heard something. Something that made their perfect enough ears go in pain.

"YOU TWO!" Yuan snarled. Both of the angels stood there, petrified, due to the volume.

"What? Did you help?" Kratos asked.

"Yeah. With the snow."

"Then show us, now." The two asked.

"Fine. START!" Yuan shouted. There were about one hundred angels in mid air and they all had cast Blizzard downwards. It was snowing lightly, until it started to get heavier and heavier until it felt like hail. Kratos, whose instincts came into play, sadly, Mithos got to it first.

"Eruption!" And that's when Yuan's cape got caught on fire. Finally, of course.

"MY CAPE! MY BEAUTIFUL CAPE!" he shouted as he put out the fire. For him, thank Martel for stop, drop, roll for his own sake and most likely, sanity.

"Third time unlucky." Kratos said.

There was only one more thing on the list. Food. Now, if Raine was older and here, she would be fired in the catering business, immediately. Yuan was also in charge of food and had another idea. Kratos demanded he give him a small sample. So he went to go do it. On the other hand, Kratos and Mithos were in charge of decorations. Kratos managed to get his hands on Anna's Christmas decoration set, so all they had to do was assemble it. Sadly, they were two idiots and had no idea what the heck to do with the items.

"ummm….what are these?" he asked while holding a box of Christmas baubles.

"No idea…." Kratos said, scratching his head. Then he had an idea.

"Mithos, go to Cecilia and replace her, tell her to come here, she might have an idea on what's what."

"…….Play with Lloyd? Sure!" and promptly left. About a few minutes later, Cecilia came in.

"Kratos, Mithos said you needed my help?"

"Yeah. Do you know what this is?" He asked, holding up a bauble.

"Yeah, I would've though you would know, since you have a long history and all. It's a bauble. You put it on a tree."

"Oh." Kratos mentally wrote a note to study more about Christmas as he placed the decorations up.

After they were done, they both saw Yuan walk with a plate of food.

"Oh, here Master I've got the sample." Yuan said, emphasising 'master'. The food looked normal and smelt normal. However, when Kratos tasted it, he looked at Yuan with disgust. The said Seraph just grinned.

"Gotcha. Do you honestly think I would give this to Lloyd?"

"Looking at your record, yeah."

"How dare you!" Yuan snarled.

"Anyways, where did you get it from?"

"Get what from?"

"The food." Kratos said, as if it was really obvious.

"A good friend of mine. Her name's Arche."

".......oh." And that conversation ended. Kratos made another note to self, make sure Yuan can't go into a different dimension, or time travel.

The decorations were up. The snow was ready. The food was prepared. It was all ready. It was night time by the time Kratos went to Cecilia's office to pick up Lloyd. By the time he got there, it was dark and he saw a bunch of blonde hair.

"Mithos?" he whispered. The angel turned around.

"Shh...I just got him to sleep. This is payment for what I have in stall for Yuan."

"...huh? Whatever." He took Lloyd in his arms and walked back to his room, watching Lloyd sleep, instead of sleeping himself.

Though, while Lloyd was sleeping, Kratos heard something.

Snip, snip, snip. He was clueless at the noise, but eventually fell asleep at the pattern of noise the scissors made.

Now, usually, Kratos would wake up by himself, but he didn't. Instead he woke up to a different noise.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It sounded like a girl. Though, Kratos doubted it immediately.

"Daddy?" He heard. He instantly turned around and saw Lloyd rub his eyes.

"Yes?"

"What was twat?" Kratos tried his best not to hit himself.

"Lloyd, it's that. I really don't know. You stay here with when Cecilia comes."

"O-K!" And that's when Kratos called Cecilia via her personal communicator. He found out that she was just waking up herself.

"Cecilia, I need to investigate that sound. Could you come and look after Lloyd?"

"Huh?...Uhh…sure." She said, before Kratos killed the communication. A few minutes later, a tired lady walked in and that the Kratos's cue to leave. Detecting where the sound came from he shut his eyes and walked, until the sound reverberation was laugh enough to hear with human ears. He opened his eyes and was shocked to find himself in front of Yuan's office. He opened the door, not really bothered to knock and gasped.

There, in front of him was Yuan. Right, that's not why he gasped. He was shocked to see his hair cut. So that was the 'snip, snip, snip' noise he heard, but there was another part of the story. HIS HAIR WAS WHITE! Someone, call the ambulance! Oh….wait, that doesn't exist here. Sorry, paramedics. Wait…paramedics? What the heck are th- Whoops, my imagination. Anyways, Yuan had white hair. Kratos snorted, taking his hand to his mouth to hold himself from laughing out loud. Then, Mithos just so happened to waltz right in.

"Hello Kratos, Yuan. My, my, what happened to you?" he asked, as if he was innocent.

"YOU!" He shouted, pointing at Mithos.

"What did I do?" Mithos asked, genuinely.

"YOU CUT MY HAIR AND DYED IT WHITE!"

"I did?" Mithos asked scratching his head.

"…….Fine." And he left, probably to plan ideas to kill Mithos.

"……….Did you really do it?" Kratos asked, not able to control his curiosity.

"Yeah. I got a picture of it too." He said, as he smirked and showed Kratos the photo of him cutting Yuan's hair in his sleep, with some of Cecilia's white dye from her disguise set sitting next to the small chair he had brought with him.

Soon, it was time. Kratos had told Cecilia to go prepare, though kept himself discreet about the situation. She merely nodded and left. Then he told Lloyd that he had a surprise for him, and changed him into something…. a little more suitable for festivals. Basically, it was a mini reindeer outfit that Anna had bought, specifically for the occasion. Once they (as in everyone was dressed up, with some arguments from a certain white haired Seraph, of course) were done, he blindfolded his son and carried him to the 'big festival' room. When Kratos opened it, the lights were out. That was when he placed Lloyd down and opened the lights, signalling the angels to cast Blizzard and taking off Lloyd's blindfold. When Lloyd saw what was happening, he gasped.

"Merry Christmas, Lloyd." Kratos said, smiling.

"Mewwy Chwistmas daddy, Unkie Mifos, Aunty Ceciwia." He said, smiling. Mithos, who attempted not to laugh, just smiled. He stood next to Kratos.

"Get ready for the main event." He whispered. Kratos cracked a grin and smiled. At that moment, a person, no actually, a half-elf walked in. Kratos, Mithos and Cecilia couldn't hold their laughter anymore. They just burst in laughter. And they laughed even harder at what Lloyd said.

"Daddy? Unkie Yuan isn't here." And they lost it. Inbetween his laughs, Kratos explained to Lloyd.

"Lloyd….that's….Uncle….Yuan." Then that's when Lloyd started to laugh. Yuan's face paled, though you really wouldn't be able to see it. As before, his hair was white, and short. Mithos, according to Cecilia, had insisted that he curl it a bit, so it would match with his ridiculously curly beard. He wore a Santa hat, with his outfit. Since he was skinny, Cecilia, who was also in charge of dressing him, shoved a few pillows down the suit.

"uhhh….Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas?" Yuan said, in an unsure but Santa-like tone. That made everyone laugh a bit (jokes, a LOT) harder.

Yuan made a note to himself. If he was reminded of this again, he would ask Kratos to use Judgment on him as many times as it takes to forget it.

"AAHHHHHHHHHH!" That was a girly squeal, though Cecilia wouldn't squeal like that. Guess what? Mithos was prepared. He had given Lloyd a toy bear, which contained a normal sized video camera. When Mithos told Lloyd, Lloyd accidentally shouted out the fact and it had a video camera. Kratos, who was clutching his stomach for almost dear life, just laughed.

He was Lloyd talk to Cecilia about something, though he couldn't really decipher the words since Yuan's shouting, screaming and squealing was taking over his ear drum. Though, he did see them leave. He took no mind of it and turned around, watching Mithos throw some snow at Yuan's face, but instead getting caught in his hair, since Kratos had….ummm sliced of the Santa hat.

"HEY!"

"Well, the good thing for you, Yuan is that you can't see the snow, unlike last time." And that's when Mithos started to laugh again, like Kratos, clutching his stomach for dear life.

"Dis is the best Chwistmas ever!" Lloyd shouted, stopping Mithos from laughing and making Kratos turn to his son.

"Hey there. Where did you go off to?" Kratos asked, while ruffling the boy's hair.

"Here!" Lloyd shouted, giving the box to his father. Now that was the last thing he was expecting. It was perfectly wrapped and even had a card on the top of the box.

"Aww…" Was all Mithos said, since he too got a box, and Yuan. They all opened it. Out of hilarity, Yuan got something, though he didn't dare look at it. It was soft. He took it out and almost dropped it. It was a wig. The hair was blue. The length was the exact same as his hair before.

"Is this my hair?" he asked. Lloyd nodded.

"That was my idea." Cecilia said, while giggling. It seemed that Fate was having a dinner party with Destiny by then, since they probably killed Time and celebrating.

Kratos opened his and was shocked. He found himself face to face with something he thought was long gone. It was Anna's wedding dress. Though it was old and battered, he didn't care.

"Lloyd, where did you get this from?" He asked, curiosity spreading through his blood.

"Aunty Ceciwia gave it to me." He said, smiling. Cecilia looked at him, clearly happy.

"Look, she gave it to me, and told me to recite these words if she was to die. 'Tell him that I'll love him and Lloyd to the brink of death, if I die.(does that make sense?) Give him my wedding dress.' That's when she handed me her dress." Cecilia said with some weird face on her face.

"Oh." And that's when Cecilia handed Lloyd a medium sized box, which she was hiding behind her back. Lloyd squealed and ripped the paper on it, taking out a medium sized teddy bear.

"That's…that's…" Kratos stuttered, pointing to the teddy bear that he gave Anna for Valentines Day.

"She gave me that too. She made me swear that I was to give it to him, on my messaging vow (let's just say they made one…)" Cecilia explained to Kratos again. He merely nodded before staring at the half-elf who hadn't said anything for the past few minutes. He was holding something that HE thought he would never see. It was his sword, given to him by Martel on his birthday.

"How…how did you get this, Lloyd?"

"I gave it to him." Cecilia said.

"How?"

"This sword ran in my family with one message. 'Give it to Mithos Yggdrasill and you will be free'." She sighed.

"Thank…you very much." She just nodded and turned to Lloyd.

"Thanks for the Disguising Set, Lloyd." She whispered. He nodded, laughing at Yuan, who was staring at the wig as if it was his nemesis.

Fourteen Years Later

The party were in Flanoir. Majority of them were, at this time of day, actually night, were asleep. The only one awake was Lloyd, who decided not to stay at the inn and went outside to watch the stars. The only things he took with him were his swords and a teddy bear. The exact same teddy bear that Kratos gave to Anna for Valentines Day.

Lloyd….

That was what he heard. He looked around the place but saw no one. He looked at the teddy bear and thought it was talking to him, though he was wrong, since inanimate things can't talk to people.

Lloyd….

He turned around again, and again seeing no one, but not nothing. In the snow, he could see something shining. Bluish. That's when he knew exactly who it was. He walked to the direction of the light.

"Kratos." He said. The said Seraph turned around.

"Lloyd."

"What are you doing here?"

"……….." He said nothing. Just nothing.

"Lloyd, do you remember your first Christmas?"

"….First Christmas? That was with mum and you."

"No, I'll reword it. Do you remember your first Christmas without Anna?" Kratos asked, shaking his head.

"….No."

"You have been to Derris-Kharlan before."

"WHAT?"

"You have met Lily's mother before."

"WHAT?" he shouted yet again.

"It was during Christmas, we spent it in Derris-Kharlan."

"………..I don't remember."

"I don't expect you to. You were too traumatized about your mother's death." Kratos said, shaking his head again.

"Here, I got a photo." He said, passing a photo. The photo had Lloyd in a reindeer costume, in his father's arms, laughing, while his father was smiling. There was a young woman with long black hair and a crooked smile.

"That's Lily's mother?" he asked, pointing to the picture.

"Yeah. You might want to show her this."

"…Fine."

He kept observing the photo. There was someone in a Santa suit, white, short, curly hair, with a Santa hat on, long white, ridiculously curly beard and a plump looking Santa suit. Next to him, there was a twelve year old looking boy with long blonde hair, smiling.

"Is that….?"

"Yes. If your looking for more answers, it's on the back of the photo." And then he left, into the almost starless sky. Lloyd took the chance and saw the writing.

Lloyd,

The man in the Santa suit…..you know who it is, don't you? Well, if you don't you won't recognise him, but that's Yuan. Lily's mother, Cecilia, did a good job curling his hair and dressing him up, didn't he? Well, the hair was done by none other than Mithos. There should be another photo in this. Look at it.

Your father.

Lloyd smiled and plucked out the secret photo, hidden behind the first one. He dropped it, laughing. On that photo, it was almost pitch black. You could see Mithos's hair and the pair of scissors in one hand, and Yuan's blue hair in the other. On the seat nest to him, there was a bottle of white. In black letters it said 'WHITE DYE'. Yuan, who slept, facing the wall, like a rock and didn't seem to wake when Mithos was 'painting' his hair. You could see the back of his head all white. Mithos smiled mischievously, while looking at the camera.

Lloyd looked up at the sky. Though he sounded delusional himself, but he took no mind of it.

"Merry Christmas….dad." he said to the sky.

Somewhere, not to far, Kratos's parental instincts were tingling, and sent him the message.

Merry Christmas….dad.

He smiled, and sat there, staring at the sky, which was full of stars.

Merry Christmas Lloyd, my son…..

Somewhere, in Sylvarant, Yuan got a telepathic message. Mentally, now he was begging for a certain Seraph to arrive, who had a whole lot of mana to spare, in casting Judgment on him.

Lily: Hey guys! Keeping this short. ToS isn't mine. Cecilia and Lily are, however. This is a different story, with same characters as 'The Aurion Spirit'.

Everyone in ToS: Merry Christmas!

Lily: Well, I gotta go. Review if you wish.

Kratos, Lloyd, Anna: She's in a hurry.

Kratos, Lloyd: ANNA, MUM?! (respectively)

Anna: ....oh dear, I gotta go. *goes bye bye*

EDIT

Lily: Merry Christmas, for tomorrow (or for you Americans, in two days!)

Anna: Why are you back?

Lily: After an 8 hours sleep, I only remembered that I forgot to proofread it (beta still on holidays) so here's the edited version.

Anna: ....oh....Are you going to put me in a story?

Lily: Why do you ask?

Anna: ....I'M GETTING BORED!

Lily: .....I see the resemblance.

Anna: What?

Lily: Don't worry, just read!