Chapter Two
Everyone was in a bit of a slump now. They knew that they ruined Christmas for Noire. When Big Daddy, Little Sister, and Abe came back to the scene it was a complete mess.
Kuu was finally off of Spike after Noire's absence, curling up on Pupul to hide. She herself got up after the drama as well. Sir Daniel finally cooled off his mouth, to see Radec wasn't chasing him anymore... But coated in strawberry lipstick.
Scorpion was no longer pinning down Sweet Tooth by the neck, as the clown was oddly enough being helped up by his rival. Kratos was no longer wanting to cut Neptune's limbs off. Evil Cole could see that his good counterpart, Kat, and Emmett were judging him. He was the one who caused Noire to leave, after all.
And he didn't like the stares. Evil Cole instantly took his leave in anger. "Not my fault everyone's a bunch of weak and unfun dweebs- Ow!" He stubbed his foot, cursing out a bit as he looked at the package on the steps. "Tch, what's this now?" And oddly enough, the present was addressed to him.
Now he was even more curious. If it wasn't for him, Evil Cole would've taken it for himself anyway. But it was, and it didn't say who wanted to give it to him. "Well, can't look at this here." Taking the box in arm, he ran off to a place to not be seen with it.
Abe took a moment to process what happened according to Clank. "Oh, well these things happen when you get a bunch of characters that don't go well together." He replied. "Do not worry about it too much! Besides, Santa Claus is on his way right now!" Little Sister gave a look of excitement, as opposed to the skeptical look by Scorpion.
"Santa Claus? Isn't he just a-"
"Ho-ho-ho!" A booming voice shouted, the door broken down by a bearded man in a red suit. Kratos gave a look of distaste, as he knew who this was. "How are all the mortal boys and girls of Lastation been doing? Have they been behaving? I brought presents for all the good ones!"
Kratos instantly wanted to object. A hand clamped around his mouth instead. "Don't bother, Zeus wanted to do this for whatever reason." Heihachi mumbled to him before releasing. "Well look who it is! Too bad that according to Noire, we were all pretty bad." Zeus allowed everyone else to follow him.
He just let out a Santa-like laugh. "Hoh! Well I'm sure none of you meant it. Besides, I know who's been naughty or nice." Sitting into a large chair and putting down the sack of presents, Zeus directed toward his son. "And I know for one, Kratos was naughty this year! I can tell by the way he's pouting!" Kratos didn't answer, just giving a glare at 'Santa'.
"Considering how he dumped olive oil on Neptune who was only acting out of defense for a friend... Yes, he was bad." Grimm mumbled, done with trying to clean Nepnep's hair. Zeus glared back at Kratos for what the reaper mentioned.
"You know who was also bad? Scorpion and Grimm. The ninja choked me over the table while soul-sucker killed some birds for his addiction." Sweet Tooth said.
Scorpion hissed back at the clown. "Us?! You're the one who killed your family and threw things at me! You deserve to be on the naughty list!"
Nathan Drake chuckled a bit. "Sly was trying to take stuff while we were eating."
"I think Nefarious is a pretty big offender. Something we can all agree on, right Ratchet? Dax?" Jak grinned, the lombax and ottsel concurring.
"You squishies broke the dome on my head!"
"Radec was making lewd comments about Pupul to the point where Abe had to remove Little Sister from the dining hall." Spike said.
"And Uni about myself and the clown." Kratos mentioned.
"So was Donte toward me." Nariko pointed out.
"Hey! It's Dante!"
Mael growled a bit. "That would not have started if not for Evil Cole for thinking I'm in a relationship with a teenager who proceeded to tackle me, and-"
"Evil Cole also ruined that perfectly good cake!" Fat Princess whined. "Oh, he also threw it at poor Noire, which made her leave... Granted, it was partially my own fault." Everyone flinched at this. "I was chasing after that good-looking cake, which caused problems. I'm willing to admit to that, so I guess I'm on the naughty list, huh?"
Guilt must have formed in everyone. They were so busy pinning blame on others about what happened, that they didn't confess to what they did wrong. "It wasn't entirely your fault! It was your instinct!" Kat said to comfort Plump. "It was my fault really! I confused Evil Cole for good Cole! That's why he tossed the sweets at Noire."
"Hey now, that's not true. If I spoke up sooner, I would've grabbed your attention! That's why you were confused!" Cole tried to add.
"It wouldn't have happened if I stepped in and did something." Raiden grumbled. "I want to protect people, but I couldn't even do that in such a chaotic dinner fight."
"And I could've easily talked everything out to end it, but I couldn't even apologize to Noire." Clank lowered his eyelids.
"Not true! You were being threatened a bit by Radec!" Neptune finally chimed in. "It all started because of me! I threw the first thing I could find at Kratos, who was already ticked off at Uni! I wanted to prevent harm from coming to her, but I didn't react properly..." She tilted her head to the god of war. "And for that, I'm really sorry Kratos, can you please forgive me?"
There was a moment of hesitance as she offered her hand. Slowly, Kratos shook it. "I forgive you, Purple Heart goddess." Something just hit him for a moment, realization. "That's right though! Where did the other Cole go?!" Zeus just shoved him, taking Neptune into his arms.
"Why does such matter now? Let the mortal go, right now, presents should be given to the sweetest girls of the All-Stars. And who better to start off with than the goddess of Planeptune?" Mr. Grimm felt his fist clench up a bit at the moves Zeus was pulling on her. "And I can tell you've been very nice this year, would you like you come back with Santa to the North Pole?" Now Kratos and Scorpion were annoyed by his antics as well.
She blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Huh? That would be weird, what would Mrs. Claus think?"
"Indeed, what would Hera think…" Kratos mumbled. Nepnep was oblivious to the fact it wasn't really Santa. "How long have to exactly been alive, 'Santa'? One doesn't stay looking so old and still be able to fly around with animals or however people describe it." Zeus felt a bit nervous, trying to ignore him.
After a moment, Mr. Grimm approached Zeus with a look of death in his eyes. "Come to think of it, Kratos is right in a way. Is this a soul that needs to be taken away? Have you been cheating death?" The 'Santa' shook his head.
"Oh don't worry Grimm! Santa is no different than myself in a way! He's a god too in ways!" Scorpion felt his palm apply to the face from this. "Besides, I know what I want for Christmas! I want Noire to feel better, she got upset and all, which was partially my fault… Could you give her my apology Santa?"
Zeus gave Nepnep a smile and nod, before removing her from his lap. "Now who's next? How about you, cute mortal?" He pointed to Kat, who saw past his disguise easily and groaned a bit.
Evil Cole looked at his present once more. He was far off by now, nothing but snow and forest around him. "Well, hopefully this ain't some sorta trick by someone, otherwise I'll be pissed." Carefully lifting the box's lid, there was a look of disappointment on him.
Only a clown mask and a note was inside. Not like the kind Sweet Tooth had though, which was scratched up and creepy looking. It was more proper, decorated with a smile, a red drip like a tear coming from one of the eyes, while the other had a black diamond painted over. "What kind of sick joke is this? Is it from that psycho?" Evil Cole snatched up the paper, opening it to read.
"Beast and demon of your city who does not belong,
I have been watching from a long-distance,
one such as yourself does not deserve to be with your petty counterpart."
This he could agree with, Evil Cole hated his 'good' side.
"You and them are mismatched entirely,
whether you wish to be with where you are now or not,
I would greatly appreciate if you came to see me.
I shall be able to find you around eleven P.M.,
if you follow the red carpet flowing through the land,
you shall encounter the sender of this...
~ The lone reflection of a magical girl"
He instantly crumpled up the note and shoved it into his pocket. Putting the mask back into the box. "Well, this chick sounds promising. But I gotta-" Evil Cole then gritted his teeth a bit. "Pssht! Yeah right, I don't need those idiots and they don't need me after what I did. I'll just wait out here, walking around 'til I see this 'carpet'." It certainly was no trick from Sweet Tooth, he could tell that now.
Pupul wasn't too sure about sitting with 'Santa'. Something was just too familiar about him, and it angered Kuu instantly. "Did I meet you before somewhere? I don't know if it's your build or your beard, or those weird eyes... But you look like a guy I met previously."
"I can tell you this: This isn't the first time you were feeling my thighs!" Kratos whapped him against the head instantly for that. "Ow! You're on the naughty list for next year too then!… Speaking of naughty! I was told by a few that you were very naughty this year Pupul… That's okay though, because Santa likes bad mortal girls!" Zeus chuckled.
She raised a brow out of being uncomfortable a bit. "I think you're a bit too old for me Santa, geez! There are two things I want for Christmas actually." His hand moved over to the bag, ready for anything. "One thing is an outfit. I've been here for a while, but haven't got an alternate costume like everyone else! So, what better one than of my idol, Arle Nadja? And the second o-" Zeus placed a finger on Pupul's mouth.
A box appeared from his hands and in front of Pupuru. "I know what you're going to say. I can't wrap up Radec and shove him under a tree for you." The colonel twitched a bit from that. "Slightly hypocritical, you say I'm too old but he isn't? I won't put it against you, mortal sorceress." Without thinking, she unwrapped it, letting out a gasp of joy.
"You really did know what I want! Thank you Santa!" Pupul hugged him instantly, making Kuu freak out a bit and start chewing on Zeus's ankle. "Kuu! Stop that! There's something you can wear too as an alternate if you like!" The creature stopped as his partner scooped him up, jumping off of 'Santa'.
Zeus just gave a grin to her. "When you're older and become a wonderful mage, you can come back for other sorts of 'presents' from Santa if that Radec former-mortal doesn't want you! Who's next? How about you?" He pointed at Nariko, but Fat Princess landed right onto him instead. A grunt of pain was released from the impact.
While Pupul went to try on the new outfit and Fat Princess was trying to get what she wanted for Christmas, Emmett returned from looking around outside. "No sign of Evil Cole. I don't have any idea where he could have gone. There's a backwoods, but it's way too large and impossible to navigate. I even called out for his name, but there was no answer."
"Did you try tracking him down? Or do you not have anything to find him with?" Ratchet asked. "There isn't any way to get his trail? His evil energy? DNA?" Emmett shook his head in response, it was near impossible to track someone who was the self-proclaimed 'beast'.
Even regular Cole knew this, as he just looked out the window. "The only way to follow someone like him is if you were either had the same type of evil power as him, or were some sort of magician." Ratchet only now realized something, Clank was gone. He certainly didn't go outside with Emmett because he would have told his partner.
"If you're looking for your robot friend, he went to talk with my sister with Isaac." Uni said as she made her way into the conversation. "He wanted to patch things up so the holidays weren't so ruined for Noire. I just hope he knows what he's doing…"
Returning with the new look, Pupul showed it off. White shirt with blue sleeves and a skirt, and bright sapphire-colored armor around the shoulders and breast with gold around the edges. Neptune instantly complimented the look, as she was familiar with the previous 'Madou Monogatari' heroine. All Mr. Grimm could do was watch from a distance, not seeing Dart come next to him.
Usually the red-dragoon was quiet to almost everyone. But this one time her spoke a bit. "You know, you're surprisingly protective of that girl despite the fact she can handle herself. Most thought you wanted to suck out her soul or want to prove her strength." He turned his attention to Dart. "Others think you're in love with her, and by the way you protected her from Kratos and threatened Zeus, I would agree." The reaper gave a look of shock, if Grimm was able to, he would be bright red right now.
But he had no skin or blood that showed off such. He just tried to laugh that claim off. "How ridiculous! I just simply can't let my opponents be in harm of others, Noire and Pupul would hate it too! Besides, a junkie of a reaper hyped on souls such as myself with a goddess would never work!..."
Dart simply just left without a word. Mr. Grimm lowered his eyes, upsetting himself by his own words, a sigh came out of him.
"Right… I'm not good enough for a goddess. I'm just… A figure of death with an addiction."
((Santa Zeus… No, I do not regret that. The guy had kids with both of his own sisters and normal mortal women, don't expect him to not act like this.))
