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Christmas This Year
Summary: Feeling unappreciated and suffering the Christmas Blues, Santa decides to take a year off, leaving Roxas, Xion, Jack Skellington, and Heat Miser to try and get Santa's Christmas spirit back before the big day. Loosely based off "The Year Without a Santa Claus."
Genre: Parody/Adventure
Rating: K plus
Disclaimer: Ha ha ha no.
[A/N:] I had the random thought the other day of Axel singing the Heat Miser song from the Year Without a Santa Claus show. (No, I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. Why do you ask?) This was the result. I know I wrote at least one other Christmas story set in the KH universe. TBH, it feels pretty good to be doing another. It is named after a song by Tobymac. Enjoy.
1.
Jack Skellington was among the first to hear about it.
At home in his tower in Halloween Town, he was trying his best to decorate a Christmas tree in honor of the upcoming holiday, when Hizzonor the Mayor came by, blaring the news. "Christmas has been cancelled! Christmas has been cancelled!"
That was enough to take the King of Halloween away from his tree, an odd evergreen covered with cobweb tinsel and bat and pumpkin ornaments.
Jack tried. Sally permitted these antics, as long as Jack didn't get so carried away that he tried to replace Santa. Once for that had been enough.
"What's this?" Jack asked, at attention immediately when Hizonnor came driving by. He hurried to the window. "Wait! Wait a minute!"
The Mayor of Halloweentown heard him and parked his vehicle on front of the gate to Jack's house. Jack was out the front door a moment later. "What's this? Christmas is cancelled?"
Hizonnor nodded. "It's true," He said glumly. "I just heard the news."
"But who will deliver the presents? Who will personify the Christmas cheer?" Jack asked.
Hizonnor just shook his head.
When Jack walked back into his house a few minutes later, Sally was waiting for him. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Christmas has been cancelled! It's horrible!" Jack told her. "We should do something!" He put a hand to his chin contemplatively. "I wonder if I could fill in. Santa didn't ask me about it."
"If Santa didn't ask you, then I wouldn't do it," Sally warned him. "Remember how things worked out the last time you tried to fill in for Santa?"
"True." Jack thought it over. "I know! I'll find Santa and convince him to come back! Hizonnor said that Santa's gone in the direction of someplace called Radiant Garden! I'll go there and look for him!"
Sally considered it carefully. "Alright, but promise you'll only look for Santa. No filling in for him."
"I promise!" Jack said firmly. "I'll find Santa and convince him to take his job back!" Jack set off determinedly towards the door. Then he stopped. "I'll need to fly to get there, though. I know! I'll go to Christmas Town and ask if I can borrow the sleigh and the reindeer."
Sally sighed. "If Mrs. Claus lets you. But no dressing up as Santa. And no delivering presents. Only use the sleigh to find Santa."
"I promise," Jack repeated with a smile, taking her hand. "I'll find Santa and we'll get Christmas back."
(-)
"Christmas is cancelled?" Xion exclaimed, looking at the notice on the board in the town square of Radiant Garden. Even though it was winter, which tended to mean rain in Radiant Garden, today it was sunny without a cloud in the sky.
"I don't believe it!" Pence, Olette, Hayner, and Roxas crowded around behind her, looking at the same notice.
"Who put this up?" Roxas asked. The others looked at him. "I mean, how did they know? Who told them?"
"Good question," Olette said.
"What are you losers looking at?" Someone behind them shouted, and the five kids turned around.
"Great, it's Siefer," Pence muttered.
"Go away, we're busy," Hayner told him.
Seifer laughed. "Are you babies crying because Christmas got cancelled?"
"We're not crying over anything," Roxas told him. "Why don't you get lost?"
Xion pushed in front of Roxas. "Were you the one who put this notice up? Because if you did, it wasn't very funny."
"I got nothing to do with it." Seifer told her. "But it's common knowledge. Santa announced that Christmas was cancelled and next thing you know, everyone knows about it and they're announcing it everywhere." Seifer started to laugh. "Have a great holiday, losers!" He said as he walked away.
The five kids watched him go. Then Olette said, "Roxas, you've got to beat him good next time you two play Struggle."
"Don't worry. After this I will," Roxas promised.
They all turned their attention back to the notice on the board.
"This seems really sad," Xion said.
"It doesn't say why Santa gave up," Hayner noted.
"Does it make a difference?" Pence asked.
"What if it did?" Xion wanted to know. "Maybe if we knew, we could convince Santa to…to..get his Christmas spirit back!"
"There's no way we can do that," Olette told her. "We're just kids, what can we do? It doesn't even feel like Christmas around here most years. It just rains."
"Because we're in a sub-tropical land!" Pence said importantly. "That's why we don't get snow here."
"All the Christmas carols and stories talk about snow. It would make it feel more like Christmas if we got snow," Olette said. "And like I said, we're kids. There's nothing we can do about this anyway."
Xion didn't look convinced by that statement, and later, when she and Roxas were walking home in the twilight, she mentioned it again. "If only we could find a way to get Santa his Christmas spirit back. Think of all the good things that happen during Christmas time, when everyone is happy and joyful. Will they still be able to be that way if Santa himself has given up on Christmas?"
"I think you're right," Roxas told her. "But what can we do?"
"Whoa! Whoa!"
Roxas and Xion stopped walking and looked around. "What is that?" Roxas asked.
"Whoa!" The shout came again. Now the pair were looking around in earnest. A moment later a sleight came into view, pulled by four reindeer. It hit the ground hard, bouncing up and jarring a tall skeleton in a pin-stripe suit out of his seat as he did. The skeleton landed in his seat and yanked the reins again. The sleigh came to a stop, and the skeleton hopped out. His glance lighted on Roxas and Xion, and he seemed happy to see them. "Why hello! I'm looking for Santa Claus. Has he been by here?"
Xion and Roxas were gaping at the skeleton. Roxas recovered first. "Uh, we haven't seen him. He's on strike this year."
"I know. That's why I'm here." A thought occurred to the skeleton. "How rude of me! My name is Jack Skellington. I'm the Pumpkin King, the King of Halloween!" He announced, his voice deepening as he stated his title. Then he laughed, and then a moment later, stopped laughing. "Anyway, I need to find Santa and convince him that we need him to bring back Christmas. He was last seen heading this way, which is why I came here."
"And you're the …personification of Halloween?" Roxas asked.
"Yes I am," Jack replied. He looked around. "You're sure you haven't seen Santa?"
"We're positive we haven't." Xion told him. "We'd like to, though."
Jack walked over to a low stone wall nearby and sat down on it. "I've got to find a way to convince him to come back."
The opportunity she had been looking for had landed in front her, and Xion was afraid to breathe. But Roxas was fearless. "Let us help you," He said. "We want to bring Christmas back, too!"
Jack considered it, and propped his head on one arm that rested on his knee as he talked. . "Santa …told me that people don't believe in him so much anymore, and it depresses him. It was a, oh, it must have been before Halloween that we talked. We've got to find a way to make people believe in him again."
Xion clasped her hands together in front of her. "Does that ever happen to you, Mr. Pumpkin King? Do people not believe in you sometimes too?"
"It's harder for them not to believe in me. I'm not just Halloween, I'm the representation of Fall, too." Jack told her. "And you can call me Jack. That's what everyone in Halloweentown calls me."
"I'm Roxas, and this is Xion." Roxas said to Jack, then looked at Xion. "Remember what Olette said when we were with her and Hayner and Pence earlier today? Maybe it would help people believe in Santa if it snowed."
"It would feel more like Christmas, I think," Xion agreed, but hesitantly, because she didn't have any familiarity with snow.
Jack leapt to his feet. "That's a brilliant idea!" He looked around. "This place is under the control of Heat Miser! I know just what to do! Come on!" He told the pair as he strode back to the sleigh.
Roxas and Xion looked at each other, just for a moment. There was agreement in their eyes, and they followed the Pumpkin King to the sleigh.
"We're going to visit the Heat Miser!" Jack announced, his voice deepening into what Xion thought must have been his official Pumpkin King voice. Then, in a more normal tone, he said, "I know Heat Miser. I think he'll agree to loosen his hold on the place, just for awhile."
2.
A man in striped red and white pants, a top hat, and a suit coat in red, walked down the main Street of Radiant Garden. He looked tired.
A blonde-haired girl dressed in white was using her sketch pencil to measure the distance between the fountain and the lamppost she was trying to sketch. She noticed the man as he came walking by and pulled her pencil back to wait until he had passed.
He noticed this. "Pardon me," He said.
"It's fine," She said with a smile.
"I don't want to throw you off," He replied.
She closed the sketchbook. "I should stop for the evening. It's getting too dark to see anyway."
"I wonder if you could tell me where I could find a place to spend the night," The man said.
"Of course. If you go right up this road-" A jagged flash of lighting made her shriek and jump. When it cleared, there was a third person there. This one had green skin, tall horns, and was dressed in black. A raven sat on her shoulder and she reached to pet it with one finger as she walked forward.
"Maleficent," The man in red said. "What brings you here? It's too early in the season for a witch like you to be out."
"Now Santa, I find that to be very unkind," Maleficent said.
"Santa?" The girl asked, peering over the edge of the sketchbook she had held up to defend herself.
"I knew you were feeling a little blue. The Christmas Doldrums are hard on everyone," Maleficent went on. "I wanted to let you know that you can count on your friends."
"I don't recall us ever being friends." Santa looked at her suspiciously. "In fact, I haven't been around anyone as unfriendly as you since Oogie Boogie."
"I'm here to help you." Maleficent said. "It's a terrible thing when people like us have to give up."
"Give up?" The girl, Naminé, whispered to itself. She had heard that Christmas had been cancelled. Was this why?
"I think I'll be fine without your help." Santa retorted.
"No one wants to believe anymore, and you're not tied to the season. That role is held by another. You're simply tied to the holiday." Maleficent went on. "I can make them believe in you. All of them."
Santa looked at her for a long moment, then turned away. "Your price is too high. Thank you, but no."
Maleficent watched him go, then her shadow began to stretch out behind her. "I don't think you understand me…" She trailed off, and Naminé gasped as she saw the shadow take the shape of a dragon.
(-)
The sleigh ride had taken the trio to another world. From above, it looked like a volcano. Jack had steered them towards the center of the volcano. It was getting warmer and warmer all the time, and Roxas and Xion were sure they were going to crash-land into lava when suddenly they saw a castle, accented with plenty of glass in a variety of colors and surrounded by streams of lava.
"Is this where the Heat Miser lives?" Xion asked. She and Roxas were sitting in the front seat of the sleigh with Jack.
"Yes it is! I can't wait for you to meet him! He hasn't been doing the job very long, but he's good at it!" The sleigh came in for a landing, considerably less bumpier than the first time Jack had tried to land it, and the trio disembarked. Great metal bowls of fire accented either side of the drawbridge that went over the lava stream. Over the doorway on the other side of the bridge was a chakram, the symbol of the Heat miser
"It's sure warm here," Roxas noted.
"Of course! This is Heat Miser's domain, after all." Jack noted as they entered the castle.
They were shown by some oddly shaped creatures that Jack referred to only as "Assassins" and taken to a room that could only be described as a throne room. A throne inlaid with gold and red glass pieces, with another chakram symbol at the very top, sat on a raised dais. Light poured into the room through tall windows on either side of them, and, where the ceiling met the walls, bands of glass, the top band being colored glass, and the lower band clear glass. Over in the corner, on the left-hand side of the throne, was a large crystal ball.
One of the Assassins blew a trumpet.
Then music, dramatic and a little ironic, began to play, and a man with spiky red hair and green eyes, dressed in a long black coat and wearing a straw hat with a green band around it, slid backwards on the soles of his boots into the room and began to sing.
"I'm Mister Green Christmas, I'm Mister Sun! I'm Mister Heat Blister, I'm Mister Hundred-and-one! They call me Heat Miser, whatever I touch," He paused and took the hat off, "Starts to burn in my clutch!" He set the hat on fire. "I'm too much!" Then he dropped what was left of the hat and stood up straight. The music sounded like it was starting into a second verse, but he put his hands on his hips and called, "Quit it!" and the trio heard the sound of a needle being pulled off a record somewhere in the back.
"Forget it, this is ridiculous," Heat Miser said as he dropped his hands to his sides and turned to toward his throne. "Hi Jack, what brings you by?"
Jack jumped forward. "Lea, aren't you going to finish the song?"
Heat Miser, who was apparently named Lea, turned around. "No, I'm not. What do you need?"
"You can't not finish the song!" Jack told him firmly. "Think how disappointing it would be to your guests!" He gestured to Roxas and Xion, who looked a little confused but who had both decided not to speak.
"I feel ridiculous when I sing that song. I'm not going to do it." Lea told him.
"But you're a part Disney property! Singing is obligatory!"
"I'm also a part Square Enix property, which gets me out of it." Lea replied.
"If you won't sing it, I will." Jack threatened.
"Be my guest," Lea said as he mounted the stairs to his throne and dropped down into it. "But I'm not going to."
The hat that Lea had set on fire earlier reappeared in Jack's hand. He put it on, and gave a slasher smile.
"Suddenly I'm a little worried about this," Roxas muttered to Xion. But she didn't get a chance to reply as the music had started again.
"He's Mister Green Christmas, he's Mister Sun," Jack sang, and he and the Assassins danced. Lea watched, his expression something between amusement and disbelief. Roxas and Xion just watched in disbelief.
"He's Mister Heat Blister, He's Mister hundred-and-one!" Jack now popped up next to the dais and gestured dramatically at Lea. "They call him Heat Miser. Whatever he'll touch, starts to burn in his clutch!" Jack's voice had started to deepen dramatically on that line. Then he appeared next to the throne and looked at Lea expectantly.
Lea sighed, propped his head on one hand and an elbow on the arm of the throne. "Too much."
"Too much!" Jack and the Assassins echoed, and Lea, Xion, and Roxas looked around curiously as none of them had expected that to happen. The music ended, as suitably dramatic as it had started.
"Now that that is out of the way," Lea leaned back in his throne, put his hands behind his head, and propped his feet on a footstool in front of the throne that no one had noticed until that moment. "What do you need?"
Xion stepped forward. "Mr. Heat Miser- " She didn't get any farther before he cut her off.
"Heat Miser? Please. The name's Lea. Got it memorized?" He asked, leaning forward and taking his hands from behind his head so he could point at the side of his head when he asked Xion if she had his name memorized.
"Uh, Lea, we'd like to know if it could snow in Radiant Garden," Xion said, then noticed the look on his face. "Just for one day! On Christmas! It would make people believe in Christmas magic, and maybe they'll believe in Santa again, and he won't be depressed, and-"
"Hold on, hold on," Lea held up both hands. "This is first I've heard of any of this. What's happened to Santa?"
Together, the three of them explained the situation to Lea, who listened thoughtfully. When they were finished, he leaned back in his throne. "I suppose, in light of the situation, I can agree to let it snow in Radiant Garden just this once."
"Really?" Xion asked, looking excited. "You mean it?"
"Of course I do. But I can't make it snow. I can just sit back and let the heat off so the snow doesn't melt. To get the snow itself, you'll have to talk to the Snow Miser."
"We'll go there right now!" Jack told him as he turned for the door.
"Let me know how it turns out," Lea called after him.
Xion and Roxas were about to follow Jack out when Roxas turned back to Lea. "Why don't you come with us?"
"Yes," Xion said, as Jack paused and turned around to add, "That's a great idea! You should come with us, Lea."
Lea rubbed the back of his head. "Well, alright, I'll do it. I want to see how this all turns out anyway." He dropped his feet off the footstool and stood up. "Let's go visit my mortal rival, the Snow Miser."
3.
Where Lea's domain as the Heat Miser called for a land of warmth, the snow Miser's domain called for the exact opposite, and it was a snowy land that the sleigh stopped at next.
"So this is snow!" Xion said, hopping out of the sleigh. Her feet sank into it, well over her shoes, and her short-sleeved, hooded black dress and the mid-calf black pants she was wearing under it didn't do much to stop the cold air. She wrapped her arms around herself and began to shiver. "It's colder than I thought it would be."
Roxas was wearing long pants, but his overshirt was short-sleeved, and he didn't look like he was fairing any better in the cold. Jack and Lea didn't seem to be bothered by it, but Lea was the first to notice that Roxas and Xion were.
"You didn't pack very well for this trip, did you?" Lea asked.
"We didn't pack at all," Roxas told him.
Lea turned to Jack. "And what exactly where you planning to do when it came time to come here?"
Jack thought about it for a moment. "I didn't think that far ahead."
Lea looked annoyed. "I have noticed that," He said, then snapped his fingers. In an instant, Roxas and Xion were wearing long black coats like the one Lea was wearing. Both of their coats had hoods lined with white fur, and Xion had a headband made of the same kind of white fur in her hair.
Both of them looked relieved at the sudden warmth. Lea turned back to Jack. "Didn't Sally mention the cold here to you? Or were you not planning on picking up a couple of non-magic kids before you came here?"
"Both!" Jack replied cheerfully, then turned toward the ice castle. "Let's not dally!" He called back to them. "We've got a lot of work to do before Christmas gets here!"
Lea leaned back in the seat of the sleigh and propped his feet on the dashboard his hands intertwined behind his head again.
"Aren't you coming in?" Roxas asked him.
"Nah. I'll wait out here." Lea told him. "Snow Miser and I don't get along very well. You can tell me all about it when you come back out."
This time, the trio was shown in by creatures that Jack referred to as Dusks. It was an easy trip through the castle, as it was nearly identical to Lea's. Instead of stained glass, though, all the glass that had been colored in Lea's castle was frosted over in the Snow Miser's, and a shield with points on it seemed to be the symbol that the Snow Miser favored. One of the Dusks blew a trumpet, and the same music they had heard at Lea's castle started to play.
"Oh boy," Roxas muttered. Then a man with long blond hair, wearing a long black coat like the ones that Lea, Roxas, and Xion were wearing, appeared by a throne inlaid with glass in different shades of blue, with an image of the same spiked shield at the top. The man held a straw hat with a purple band around the brim.
Snow Miser danced down the two steps of the dais that, like Lea's, his throne sat on. He took the hat off and began to sing. "I'm Mister White Christmas, I'm Mister Snow. I'm Mister Icicle, I'm Mister Ten below. Friends call me Snow Miser, whatever I touch, starts to freeze in my clutch! I'm too much!"
Snow Miser formed a chorus line together with some of the Dusks and began to dance with them as the Dusks sang, which was interesting to watch as they had very clear pronunciation for creatures with mouths that zipped shut. "He's Mister White Christmas, He's Mister Snow. He's Mister Icicle, He's Mister Ten below. They call him Snow Miser, whatever he'll touch, starts to freeze in his clutch."
Snow Miser cut in to finish the line. "I'm too much! I never want to know a day that's over 40 degrees, I'd rather have it 30, 20, 10, 5 and let it freeze...!"
He stepped forward, and said to the trio in a tone of an aside, "Oh, some like it cold, but I like it really cold!" Then he went back to the chorus line.
The Dusks picked up the chorus again. "He's Mister White Christmas, He's Mister Snow. He's Mister Icicle, He's Mister Ten below."
"They call me Snow Miser. Whatever I touch, starts to freeze in my clutch!" At this point, the hat Snow Miser had been holding through the song, froze and shattered into a thousand fragments. It had lasted considerably longer than Lea's hat had. "I'm too much!"
"Too much!" The Dusks echoed.
Snow Miser stopped and looked at the trio expectantly. Roxas and Xion looked dumbfounded, and Roxas was starting to think that he understood why Lea hadn't wanted to sing the whole song.
But Jack rose to the occasion and began to applaud. "Bravo, Even! Bravo! A wonderful rendition."
"Thank you," Even, the Snow Miser, said as he turned and walked back to his throne and the Dusks began to disperse. "What brings you by, Pumpkin King?"
"We need a favor. We need it to snow in Radiant Garden." Jack told him.
Even waved his words away. "Snow is easy. Wait, where?"
"Radiant Garden." Roxas repeated.
"I can't do that," Even replied. "Radiant Garden is under the domain of that good-for-nothing Heat Miser."
"He already told us it was okay if it snowed for Christmas." Xion spoke up. But Even either hadn't heard or wasn't listening.
"I try to send a little friendly snow Christmas, and what does that jackanape do? He turns it into rain, or fog! I'm being polite, and how does he repay me!? By declining my gifts, that's how! This job is thankless enough without the likes of him as my counterpart!"
"Snow Miser, I don't think you understand. We've already talked to Lea, and he said it was alright if snowed in Radiant Garden this once," Jack tried to explain, but by now it was pretty clear that Even was not listening at all.
"And now at this time of a crisis, when Santa has the Christmas Blues, you can't get that heat monster to listen to reason!" Even was gesturing wildly as he talked.
Roxas gave up listening, turned, and headed out the door. Xion noticed. "Where are you going?" She asked.
"I'm going to get Lea. Maybe he can explain it, because Snow Miser's not listening to us," Roxas told her.
It was easy for him to find his way back out of the castle. Lea was still sitting in the sleigh, exactly where he had been when Roxas left. There was a thin layer of snow on the sleigh. Lea himself was steaming slightly, and it took Roxas moment to figure out that the snow that was landing on Lea was melting and evaporating on impact. Roxas knocked on the dashboard of the sleigh and Lea snapped to attention. "How'd it go?" The redhead asked.
"The Snow Miser doesn't believe that you actually gave permission for it to snow in Radiant Garden." Roxas reported.
Lea sat up, dropping his feet back to the floor of the sleigh. "That's never stopped him from sending snow before."
"He said you just turned it to rain or fog."
"I do, but it doesn't stop him." Lea noted, then shook his head and got to his feet. "Kingdom Hearts," He swore. "Fine. Whatever. He's idiot. I'll come and explain. Has he stopped singing?"
"Yeah," Roxas said as he followed Lea towards the castle.
"Thank goodness for some small mercies," Lea muttered. "Did he make you listen to the whole thing?"
"Yes," Roxas confirmed with a sigh. "Thank you for not singing your version."
"You're welcome. But be sure and tell Jack you said that."
When Lea and Roxas arrived in the throne room of Even's castle, Even was still in the middle of a vicious tongue lashing he was giving to Xion and Jack regarding how terrible Lea was and how underappreciated Even was.
"Sending snow to Radiant Garden would be a waste!" Even exclaimed, ignorant of the fact that Roxas had returned with Lea in tow.
"It's funny that that matters to you now when it never did before," Lea said.
"The Heat Miser won't allow it. He's a fiend!"
"Says the ice monster. And I already said it was okay." Lea told him, but Even still hadn't noticed.
"Do you think it matters to him how Santa is feeling?"
"Yes it does, because otherwise I wouldn't have given my permission to let it snow for Christmas in Radiant Garden," Lea told him.
"It doesn't!"
"It does, and I've said it was fine for it to snow in Radiant Garden, and I'm standing right here!" Lea finished.
There was a long pause as Even finally noticed Lea and the two stared each other down for a moment. Then Even sat back in his throne, arms crossed over his chest. "Thinking of someone other than yourself for a change?"
"Yes, because I've modeled myself after you, the original bastion of self-indulgent self-righteousness." Lea replied. The two stared at each other again, then Lea added, "Don't make me set you on fire."
"I liked Reno better." Even said, sounding disgruntled.
"You liked Reno better because he almost never left the Heat Miser's Castle." Lea pointed out.
"Who's Reno?" Xion asked.
"He was the Heat Miser before me," Lea told her.
"Lea is new around here," Even told Xion. He said it meanly. Lea paid no attention to him.
"Then it's all settled!" Jack, who had ignored a large part of the conversation, said cheerfully. "Even will send snow to Radiant Garden, and everyone will be in a Christmas spirit, and Santa will get his Christmas spirit back. We'd better get back to Radiant Garden and let him know, right away!"
"Very well," Even said, glancing at a large glass ball in the corner of the throne room. "I'll send the snow and make sure that it gets there around the time that you all arrive."
"Thank you!" Jack said happily, and the four of them departed.
4.
Naminé wasn't entirely sure what had happened when Maleficent had transformed into a dragon, but Santa's sadness seemed to be getting worse. Santa was sitting by the fountain in the center of Radiant Garden, looking at the fountain blankly.
"Santa," Naminé said, kneeling next to the bench he was sitting on. "You can't give up. Lots of us believe in you. And the ones that don't don't matter."
Santa just sighed. "It doesn't matter anymore. None of it does. I just don't have any Christmas spirit anymore."
Maleficent was behind this sudden turn for the worse. Naminé was sure of it. She stood up. It was evening now, and the square was mostly deserted. Overhead the stars were coming out. It was shaping up to be a clear, pleasant night. She started to walk away, but not far away. There was another bench not too far away, closer to a street lamp.
"If only there was some way to get Santa to believe in himself again," Naminé said. But she didn't know what to do.
She opened her sketchbook, fastened a picture of what she wanted to draw in her mind, and started to sketch.
(-)
Radiant Garden was beautiful when viewed from above, Xion decided as Jack came in for a landing. It was dark now, and the lights were on all over the city.
Lea was studying the scene carefully. "There's no snow."
They could all see that. "Maybe it's coming?" Xion suggested.
Lea and Jack looked around. "I don't feel any magic in the air," Lea said, leaning back in his seat.
"I don't notice anything either." Jack said, and frowned as he did. He brought the sleigh in for a landing. "But Santa is here."
"I noticed that." Lea replied.
"You guys can tell?" Roxas asked, as he and Xion stood up and exited the sleigh.
"We can. It's a magic thing." Jack replied. He stood up and left the sleigh. "Let's go talk to Santa."
As the three of them were about to set off, Roxas turned back to Lea, who was still in the sleigh. "Are you coming?"
"I'll wait. Good luck," Lea said, leaning back in the seat and propping his feet on the dashboard again. Then he paused and sat back up. "Jack wait."
The Pumpkin King stopped and turned back around, giving Lea a curious look.
"Do you feel that?" Lea asked. "Someone else is here."
Jack paused and held very still. "I do. Someone else with Magic is here, and not just Santa."
The Pumpkin King and the Heat Miser looked at each other for a long moment. Then they said, "Maleficent."
There was something evil in the name that made Roxas and Xion pause and exchange glances. "I take it she's a bad person?" Xion asked.
"She's …the personification of something bad, anyway," Lea said, rubbing his head. He couldn't remember exactly who Maleficent was.
"She's the personification of darkness, despair, and things that go bump in the night!" Jack told them.
"There's a personification of that, too?" Roxas asked.
"Of course!" Jack said cheerfully.
"You could be less joyful about it." Lea warned him. "She's going to be a big problem for you, mark my words." He leaned back in the seat, linking his fingers behind his head and as he propped his feet up again. "Be careful."
Jack, Roxas, and Xion found Santa sitting in the square, looking at the fountain. He looked blue. Even the light that reflected around him was blue.
Xion was the first to spot him. "Santa! Santa!" She started to run towards him, but then there was a flash of lightning and she jumped back. There was a shape like that of a dragon and then they saw a woman with green skin and horns, walking towards them.
Jack and Roxas had been running after Xion, but they came to a stop when they saw Maleficent walking towards them. Jack gasped. "We're too late!"
"That's true, Pumpkin King," Maleficent said. "You are too late. There will be no Christmas this year. Imagine, all the despair that will radiate through all the worlds now that Santa himself has given up on Christmas!"
"Leave him alone!" Xion shouted.
"Little girl, you should be afraid," Maleficent said, and behind her her shadow began to grow.
"Her hold on Santa is too strong!" Jack said, alarm clear in his voice.
Before she could start transforming, a wall of fire sprang up in between the trio and Maleficent and Santa's sleigh, driven by Lea, landed behind them. "I was afraid something like this would happen. We tried it your way Jack, now we're doing it my way. Get in."
Jack jumped into the front passenger's seat as Xion and Roxas hurried to take their seats in the back. Lea slapped the reins. "Yah!" The reindeer started to gallop into the air as Maleficent walked through the sheet of flames.
"Fire won't stop me, Heat Miser," Maleficent said, but the sleigh was drawing away even as she spoke. She watched it go. "Run away, children. Run away."
Naminé had watched the whole thing. She didn't say anything, but turned back to her picture.
It was turning out well, she decided as she started to make careful lines of reindeer antlers on tops of the reindeer pulling the sleigh on the page.
As Radiant Garden got smaller and smaller behind them, Xion asked, "Where are we going?"
"We are going to speak to the High King," Lea said.
"That's a great idea!" Jack exclaimed.
Lea rolled his eyes. "You should have done that first! Just… be quiet and let me drive this thing."
5.
When Xion woke, it took her a moment to remember where she was and what had happened. Then it all came back to her. She was in Santa's sleigh with Roxas, Jack the Pumpkin King, and Lea the Heat Miser, and they were trying to save Christmas. She and Roxas were still wearing the coats that Lea had given them, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that the coat she was wearing was still warm and comfortable even in the middle of outer space that they were flying through.
Lea was still holding the reins. Jack and Roxas, for all appearances, seemed to be asleep. Xion watched as they passed the moon, so close she felt like she could reach down and touch it. Then she saw ahead, suspended in space, was a piece of land with the most beautiful fairy-tale castle she could imagine. "Wow," She breathed.
"It's pretty impressive," Lea, who had heard her, replied.
"It's beautiful," Xion said, leaning forward to rest her arms on the bench seat in front of her. Then another question occurred to her. "Lea, how did you become the Heat Miser?"
For a moment, there was just silence. Lea didn't turn to face her or give her any idea that he'd heard her. Then, just as Xion was starting to worry that she'd offended him, he said, "It's a long story. I was…kind of dying at the time. Reno was tired of immortality, he wanted out of the job. It was a pretty hasty power transfer. And I was semi-conscious for most, well, all of it, actually."
"That sounds sad," Xion said.
"I guess it could be worse. I've always had fire magic, so affiliating myself to summer and heat wasn't a big change. And like I said, it beats the alternative, I suppose."
"What happened to Reno?"
"Last I heard anything about him, or was looking for him in my crystal ball, he was living his life out just fine in someplace called Midgar," Lea said. There was movement up at the castle that distracted him. "Ah, here we go."
Something small that Xion couldn't see made an arc of shimmering dust over the castle. "That's what I needed," Lea said, new determination in his voice, and began to steer the sleigh towards what Xion could now see was a landing strip.
The tired reindeer came in for landing and seemed relieved to have ground under them. Lea dropped the reins. "Alright everyone, get up, we're here." He announced.
"Heat Miser!" Someone called, and Lea and Xion turned to see a duck in an elaborate purple dress coming towards them. "Why do you have Santa's sleigh?" then she noticed Jack, and then Xion and Roxas. "Jack? What is this all about?"
"Duchess Daisy!" Jack always had time for formalities. "It's good to see you again."
"I'm glad to see you, Jack," Daisy replied. "But tell me what brings you here."
Behind them, Horace Horsecollar was unhitching the reindeer and leading them away. The five of them turned and began to walk towards the castle. The star-speckled sky spread out overhead as Jack began by saying, "It's a long story."
"Tell the short version," Lea instructed. "We don't have all night."
"Alright then. I'll tell the short version!" Jack said as they entered the building. "It goes like this…"
(-)
As soon as she had heard what happened, Daisy set about making arrangements for them to meet with the High King and Queen.
"You did right to come here, Lea," She said when the story was finished. "You should have come here first."
Lea gave Jack a pointed glance, which the latter didn't see.
Two chipmunks popped up a moment later. "Lea, we're glad you're here!" The one said.
"We need your help." The other added.
Daisy gave them a suspicious look, her arms crossed over her chest and one foot tapping on the floor. "What do you need Lea's help for?"
The pair suddenly looked nervous. "Oh, nothing important," The first said.
"Chip," Daisy said, her tone one of warning.
"We're in the middle of something imporntat here," Lea pointed out.
"It won't take but a minute," Chip promised.
Lea and Daisy looked at each other. Xion and Roxas waited, wondering what would happen now.
Jack spoke up. "I can help Roxas and Xion get ready to meet with the king! You two can help Chip and Dale."
The look on Daisy's face clearly said she had no idea which option was worse, Lea going off to help Chip and Dale with their secret project, or Jack being left in charge of Roxas and Xion to help them get ready to meet the king. Finally she sighed. "Let's make this quick," She said, and Lea and Daisy left with the two chipmunks.
Roxas turned to Jack. "What do we need to do to get ready to meet with the King?"
Jack tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, you need new clothes. I know what to do!" He snapped his fingers, and Roxas found himself wearing a suit that was an exact copy of the one Jack wore. Xion wore a dress that was predominately colored blue, and was made of pieces sewn together.
"Um, is this something I would wear to meet a king?" Xion wanted to know.
Jack waved her words away. "You look perfect! Now, Roxas, you have to bow, and Xion, you have to curtsy. That's how you greet the High King."
Jack had to walk them through how to bow correctly, and how to curtsy, and he was just finishing up when Daisy walked back into the room. "And that's how you do it!" Jack finished. "You'll do great! I'm going to go check on the reindeer. I promised Mrs. Claus I would make sure that they were take good care of."
By this time, Daisy had had a chance to take a good look at what Roxas and Xion were wearing. "Jack. Jack!" She said urgently, but the Pumpkin King had already disappeared out the door. She looked back at Roxas and Xion, concern obvious in her voice.
"I take it … we're not going to wear this stuff to see the king?" Roxas asked.
Daisy didn't have lips to press together, but she was doing a good job of imitating the look with her beak. Before she could do anything, though, Lea walked back into the room. "What's up?" he asked, then he saw Roxas and Xion. He sighed when he saw them.
"Do you think we'll offend Jack if we change them?" Daisy asked Lea.
"I doubt the King of Attention Deficit Disorder will notice." Lea said. The Heat Miser himself had changed clothing while he was out. He was still wearing black pants and black boots, but the coat was gone and he was instead wearing a black waistcoat over a long-sleeved, button-down shirt that looked iridescent red, but the iridescence in it reflected as black when the light hit just right. At his throat was a brown plaid keyffiyeh, accented with a chakram pin. Lea snapped his fingers and a moment later, Roxas was wearing a dark grey suit with no Halloween embellishments, and Xion was wearing a deep blue dress, open in the front to show off a navy blue underskirt. Black lace trimmed the neckline and the sleeves.
"Much better," Daisy said with an approving nod. "What did he show you about how to bow and curtsy?"
Roxas and Xion ran through what they had learned, and Daisy nodded again. "Jack didn't get that part wrong. I was able to stop and speak to the captain of the guard on my way back. We'll be seeing the King shortly."
It was December 23rd. There wasn't a moment to lose.
(-)
Daisy went with them when they went to speak to the king. They followed her through what felt to Roxas and Xion like a labyrinth of corridors. Walking brooms scurried around with buckets and parcels.
"Do you think that the king will think it's rude of us to come to see him so suddenly?" Xion asked Roxas in an undertone.
Roxas shrugged. "I suppose it's okay. I mean, if Lea said it was okay, and now Duchess Daisy, they know more about it than we do."
Xion nodded.
Roxas turned to Lea. "What did those chipmunks need you for?"
Lea looked momentarily confused, then he was able to place the question. "Oh, Chip and Dale? They needed to try and see if the ancient recipe for eternal fire they found would actually work."
Eternal fire sounded interesting. "Did it work?" Xion wanted to know.
Lea snorted. "I couldn't even get a flame to take on that concoction they put together."
The group came to a stop outside a large, ornate door, with a Mickey mouse head emblazoned on it. The doors opened into a wide throne room. At the far end of the room, two thrones sat on a dais. Two mice sat on these thrones; he wore red and yellow. She wore pink and white, but unlike her husband, the female mouse wore a crown.
The five of them stopped in a line, halfway into the room. Jack was at one end of the line, then Lea, Roxas, Xion, and Daisy. They stopped and the men in the line bowed, while the women curtsied.
Xion straightened up from her curtsy and caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of Daisy's approving smile, and felt herself smile.
"King Mickey, Queen Minnie," Jack said.
"Pumpkin King, Heat Miser," King Mickey said with an acknowledging nod. "It's been too long since you've been here, and I wish we had met under better circumstances."
"Then you know what has happened?" Lea asked.
"I do," King Mickey said. "You came here because of Santa giving up, and then Maleficent's getting involved."
"I want her out of my territory, without having to resort to …" Lea trailed off and looked frustrated.
"It was good of you not to start any battles." Queen Minnie told him gently. Lea nodded, but he didn't look very happy about it.
"Who are your friends?" The King asked.
"This is Roxas and Xion," Jack introduced them. "They're helping us get Santa's Christmas spirit back!" He finished enthusiastically.
"What you'll need is a way to drive Maleficent out without causing any trouble," The King said contemplatively.
Queen Minnie's eyes widened suddenly. "I know! We can use the Cornerstone of Light!" She looked at the King. "If we can capture the essence of the Cornerstone, then Jack and Lea can use it to drive Maleficent away from Radiant Garden."
The King considered it, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "You're right. That just might do it." He looked at Daisy. "Will you tell Donald what we need, and see if he has a spell that can help us?"
Daisy nodded excitedly and departed the room, heading back the way they had come in.
Xion couldn't keep the smile off her face.
Finally, they were going to be able to help Santa.
6.
Dawn was lightening the sky in the East when they landed in Radiant Garden. Xion saw it a realized that it was now Christmas Eve. Both she and Roxas were back in the black coats that Lea had given them earlier.
Jack was driving the sleigh again. Lea had refused to let Jack hand the cut crystal bottle of light that sat between the Heat miser and Pumpkin King, where it had for the whole trip. Lea had kept one hand on it for the whole trip. "I don't need anything to happen to this," He had warned Jack when they departed Disney Castle.
King Mickey had warned them before they left that while the light from the Cornerstone would stop Maleficent, it wouldn't help Santa get his Christmas spirit back. "You'll have to find some other way to handle that part."
"Land in the square, there," Lea instructed as Jack brought them down over Radiant Garden . Santa was still sitting on the bench in the square. No sooner had the sleigh landed than a wall of sickly green flame sprang up between them and Santa.
"That's not going to work," Lea said grimly. He held his hand up and closed it into a fist, and the fire went out. "Not in my territory."
Jack was the first one out of the sleigh, followed by Roxas and Xion, and Lea who brought the light of the Cornerstone with him.
Maleficent appeared before them, her shadow in the dim light showing a dragon. "You will not pass," She warned, holding her arms wide as she began to transform.
"No, that's my line!" Lea retorted, and threw the bottle at her.
His weapons had been throwing weapons long before he had become the Heat Miser.
He didn't miss.
(-)
The light around him was still blue, and Santa didn't feel like moving.
"Santa," A voice next to him said, and he looked to his left and saw the blonde haired-girl from earlier. She was holding a folded sheet of paper, that she held out to him. "This is for you."
He took the single sheet of paper, folded in half, from her, and opened it.
It was a drawing of a street, and it showed two children (one who looked a lot like Naminé, and another who looked more like Roxas) looking out a window at Santa's sleigh as it passed in front of the moon. There was a word bubble that showed the children saying "Thank you!" with smiles on their faces as they watched the sleigh.
Santa looked at Naminé, who twisted her hands together for a moment, then smiled. "Thank you, Santa."
And he smiled at her.
The blue light began to fade.
(-)
The bottle shattered on impact, and Maleficent let out something between a scream and a roar. The blue light had faded from around Santa completely now, and he smiled at Naminé. "Thank you, Naminé."
She smiled wider.
She hadn't told him her name, but it didn't matter.
Santa knew the names of all the good children.
(-)
Maleficent faded away until there was nothing left of her but a scorch mark on the ground.
There was a tense moment as the Xion and Roxas waited to see if the light from the Cornerstone really had vanquished the monster.
Then Lea set the scorch mark on fire.
"Isn't that a little much?" Roxas asked.
"I'm not taking any chances," Lea said. "I don't want her coming back. She can go be someone else's menace."
"If she promises not to destroy anything I might be able to use her help at Halloween!" Jack said. "After all, we darkness and scary things at Halloween!"
The look on Lea's face clearly announced that he thought that Jack had lost his mind. "Hey, that part of your song that talks about it being your job to scare people but not being mean about it? She's mean about it. You don't need her help."
A merry sound of "ho-ho-ho" behind them made the quartet turn around, and they saw Santa, in his civilian clothing, coming towards them.
"Hello Jack," He said upon seeing the Pumpkin King. "I see you've brought my sleigh."
"Mr. Claus," Jack said, stepping forward and pressing his hands back together. "Won't you please reconsider about there being no Christmas this year? It would mean so much to people if there was a Christmas."
"Yes, Santa, please reconsider," Xion added. "I know there's not a lot of Christmas spirit right now, but there will be, especially when we get the snow!"
"Snow?" Santa asked, looking at her and then looking at the Heat Miser. "There must be quite a story there. But don't worry, Xion. I've got my Christmas spirit back, snow or no snow. I didn't know how much it mattered to people, and I thought it didn't matter, but I was wrong. It does, and I do."
Folded in the pocket of his coat was the picture Naminé had given him.
"I'm glad the sleigh is here. I have to get back to Christmas Town right away." Santa went on. "Come along Jack, I'll give you a lift back to Halloween Town. You too, Lea. I'll drop you off at your castle on my way back to Christmas Town."
"There will be a Christmas this year!" Xion breathed excitedly.
Roxas was grinning, too. "I can't wait to go pull that notice down!"
The pair stood there and waved as the sleigh took off, soaring into the light that was rising in the East.
They waved until it was out of sight. Then Roxas said, "You know, everything that happened was pretty cool. Except for the part where Santa lost his Christmas Spirit."
"But we helped him get it back," Xion pointed out excitedly. "So that was cool, too!"
They stood looking at the rising sun, until finally they drifted away to go home.
7.
It was Christmas Eve in Radiant Garden.
All day it had been growing more and more overcast, and the temperature had been falling.
People had been saying that nothing like this had happened in Radiant Garden in years.
Xion had caught herself running to the windows of her house off and on all day. She wanted to see the first flake of snow that fell.
It wasn't until evening, when the streetlamps were turned on, that she saw the first fluffy flake drift to the ground and stay there. It wasn't long before there was a second, and a third, and then dozens of fat snowflakes drifted down, rapidly building heaps of themselves together on the ground.
Xion went outside to watch it up close and discovered that she wasn't the only one who had the idea. Roxas was out, too.
"It's just as cold as it was at the Snow Miser's," Xion said when she saw him. She had her arms wrapped around herself.
"It's going to look like the Snow Miser's place before too long," Roxas replied.
"I know." Xion replied. "Isn't it pretty, though?"
It was pretty, and they stood there in the evening and cold, listening to soft popping of the snowflakes as they landed on each other.
"Are the two of you ever going to learn to dress for the weather?" A familiar voice behind them asked. "Or are you just going to settle for catching your death of cold?"
The pair turned to see Lea, dressed as he had been when they had gone before the High King, coming towards them. He snapped his fingers, and changed their clothes. Roxas wore a dark green suit with a white cravat at his throat. Xion wore a white dress trimmed with red. A headband of white was in her hair, and she wore a short white cape that matched her dress over her shoulders. Her gloves and muff were white, and picked out in sparkling red glass on her muff was a symbol that looked like it might have been a snowflake modeled after Lea's chakram.
"Snow in Radiant Garden only happened once when I was alive that I can remember," Lea said. He stepped over a low stone wall that separated the sidewalk from the road, and the snow that was on it evaporated and vanished as he did. He sat down on the wall, and after a moment, Roxas and Xion came forward and sat on either side of him.
It was like sitting next to a space heater.
"The snow is really pretty," Xion said.
"Enjoy it while it lasts. I'm melting it all on the 26th," Lea warned her.
For a while, they watched the snow in silence. Then Roxas asked, "Lea, you'll come back and visit us sometime, won't you?"
Lea started, then nodded, and a faraway look came into his green eyes. "Of course I will."
(-)
The sound of footsteps on the roof didn't startle Naminé at all. She sat at her desk, working on her next drawing in her brightly lit room.
She knew exactly who would be up there.
When she came downstairs a few minutes later, there was a roaring fire in a fireplace that was never used, gifts that hadn't been there before under the tree, and a note left next to an empty milk glass that stood on a small side table.
The note read, "Many thanks to my dear friend Naminé."
There was no name on it, but she knew who had left it.
And she smiled when she saw it.
(-)
It was late now, and Xion and Roxas had gone to wish Merry Christmas to Hayner, Pence, and Olllete, none of whom could believe that Radiant Garden had actually gotten snow. Lea had not gone with them, having gone back to his castle the way he had arrived.
That visit had been longer than they had planned, and on their way back to their houses, they passed Seifer and his entourage.
Xion smiled when she saw him but she raised her muff to hide it. The clothes the pair had gotten from Lea were perfectly suited to keep them warm, and Seifer was still in his regular clothes.
"Merry Christmas Seifer," Roxas said as they walked by.
He gawked at them, but they didn't say anything else. There was nothing else to say.
They had made it back to their houses when they heard overhead a hearty, "Ho-ho-ho!" and looked up just in time to see a sleigh cross the moon. The snow had stopped, leaving the town blanketed in white.
It was a beautiful night.
[A/N:] Well, this took way longer than I expected it would to write it all out. anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. Please review and let me know what you thought of it!