"BOMBS AWAY!" Tidus stuck one arm out of the snow-fort to throw a poorly made snowball at the others.

"Ow! Tidus! My eye!" screamed Yuna's voice.

"Yuna?" cried Tidus, jumping up from his safe position behind the barricade. "Are you okay?" he asked, frightened. "Yuna?"

"GOTCHA!" screamed Yuna, popping up and pelting him with snowballs. Wakka, Yuna's partner, joined in.

"That's for refusing both of us!" they laughed, not relenting in their rapid fire.

"No fair-MPH!" Tidus cried before getting silenced by a snowball in the mouth. He stumbled backwards. The snowballs stopped. Tidus said, "Finally!" He opened his eyes... to see a gigantic cantaloupe-sized snowball heading for his face.

WHAM! It knocked Tidus over, burying his entire body in the knee-deep snow.

"Nice shot, Kimahri!" Yuna piped.

"Kimahri?" asked Rikku. "Weren't you Tidus' partner?"

Kimahri shrugged. "Kimahri couldn't resist."

Tidus, meanwhile, was unmoving and silent.

"Shouldn't he be getting up?" Rikku asked. She looked to Auron. "Auron?"
Auron was reclined against the barricade, still drinking. He hiccupped. "Now is the time to shape yer destiny..." He hiccupped again. "And stuff..."

Rikku looked back to Tidus. "Help him up, Kimahri!"

Kimahri reached down one hand and yanked Tidus out of the snow, inspecting him. "Kimahri thinks blonde one is dead," he shrugged.

"WHAT?" everyone else screamed, except Auron, who was pretty out of it.

Yuna ran up to Tidus' limp body. "He's still alive! Does anyone know CPR?"

"Why don't you just cast Cura?" asked Rikku.

"My staff's all the way in the attic, and I'd have to go inside, take off my shoes, climb all those stairs, search for it in all the boxes, come back down, and then-"

"You can't cast white magic without your staff?" asked Rikku. "What kind of a white mage ARE you?"

'That's not the point!" Yuna shouted crossly. "Do you know CPR or not?"

"I do! I do!" Wakka shouted heroically. He plodded over to Tidus like a superhero. Wakka knelt down next to Tidus and thrust his mouth to his. Tidus convulsed slightly to Wakka's force. His legs kicked. Wakka hesitantly pulled away.

Tidus moaned, his eyelids fluttering. "Mommy always said I liked the ice cream sandwiches..." His vision cleared, showing Wakka about an inch away from his face. Tidus screamed, scrambling to his feet.

"Tidus!" cried Yuna, hugging him.

"I didn't know you knew CPR," Rikku said to Wakka.

Wakka grinned widely. "I don't."

Rikku eyed him curiously.

"Let's get him inside," suggested Yuna, trying to hold up the still- groggy Tidus.

The group walked back into the house and entered the living room. Lulu and Seymour were on the couch making out, their arms wrapped around each other. Lulu giggled and ran a hand through the maester's hair.

"Lulu!!!" screeched Yuna.

The couple quickly detached. "Uhm..." Lulu began, fixing her hair. "He was just... urm... giving me mouth-to-mouth."

Yuna fumed, putting her hands on her hips. "Uh-huh..." She spun towards the others. "Do you guys know what this means?"

Rikku snapped her fingers. "We could have just gotten SEYMOUR to revive Tidus!"

"EXACTLY!" Yuna hollered.

"Ya, but if he wasn't there, Lu might have been dead by now," Wakka nodded in all seriousness.

Lulu wrinkled her brow and exchanged a very confused glance with Seymour.

Yuna sighed. "Well, it's a little too late for should-haves. Let's all open presents!" She let out a high-pitched squeal and clasped her hands together. The group gathered around the tree. Yuna reached and picked up a square box with bright red wrapping paper. She squinted and read the tag. "Auron." She passed it to Tidus, who passed it to Rikku, who passed it to Wakka, who passed it to Lulu, who passed it to Seymour, who passed it to Kimahri, who passed it back to Yuna. "Hey, what's the big idea?" asked Yuna. "Why didn't you give it to Sir Auron?"

"Auron's not here..." Tidus observed.

"Well then, where is he?" Yuna said. "He needs to come open his presents!"

"Auron?" Tidus called.

"Sir Auron?" Yuna called.

"Wait a sec..." Rikku said, wrinkling her brow in thought. "Did he ever even come inside?"

The entire clan looked at each other, then scrambled to their feet and bolted out the door. "Sir Auron!" screamed Yuna.

Auron was still propped up against the snow fort, his legs spread. One arm was still inside his coat. The other was holding his sake jug to his mouth, his slightly-parted blue lips nearly touching the tip. His head was rolled to the side, his one working eye half-closed. His skin was purple and covered with a thin layer of ice. Mini-icicles hung from his chin.

"Oh my god! He's dead!" Rikku screamed frantically, falling to her knees and sobbing.

"He can't die," Seymour said dully, standing in the doorway. "He's already dead."

"Oh yeah," Rikku remembered, getting up and dusting the snow off of her clothes. She scurried over to the ronin. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently. Auron's head bobbled back and forth limply like a dolls'.

"Maybe he need to be thawed," Kimahri suggested.

"Good idea, Kimahri!" Rikku cheerfully replied. "Lulu?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lulu said simply, arms crossed.

"Please?" asked Rikku, hugging Auron, lip trembling.

Lulu looked to Yuna. "It might work," Yuna said. Rikku took a step back from Auron. Sighing, Lulu stepped up. With a quick flick of her arm, flames shot out of nowhere, encasing Auron. The group heard a gruff cry of pain, as the flames subsided. Auron fell forwards on to his face.

"Auron!" Rikku cried, rushing to him.

"Root beer..." Auron mumbled desperately.

"What?" Rikku asked.

"Root beer!" Auron repeated, his fingers reaching weakly for his sake jug. Rikku picked it up and put it to Auron's lips. Auron drunk thankfully. After he was done, he wiped his mouth. "Ah, that hit the spot," he said, smiling wearily.

"Sir Auron... so all along what we thought was sake was actually root beer?" Wakka asked, perplexed.

"And what a root beer!" Auron grinned.

"How can you possibly get drunk off of root beer?" Seymour asked.

Lulu shrugged. "It's Auron. He can get drunk off of anything."