Disclaimer: All the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series belong to Square-Enix. The characters Lann, Reynn, Tama, and Aya Brea belong to Square Enix also, and the original character, Johnny Thunder, belongs to me and appears in Kingdom Hearts III Online HD.

-SquareEnix City-
Adventures on Christmas Day

-Part 3 of 3-

xXx

- And so it was that on Christmas Day, everyone from around the world took a gathering.

In peace and harmony, do they celebrate a wonderful year with a splendid feast.

xXx

Edenhall Dining Room,

Sitting in the middle of the dining room was a table… no, a very large table fit for at least 50 people. It was set and filled with all sorts of delicious Christmas food waited to be devoured by its hungry guests:

Stuffed roasted turkey surrounded in vegetables, pickles, peppers, and delicious French bread cut in croutons. Next to the roast turkey, on both its sides, were a honeysuckle glazed ham and a large lemon lobster. Other varieties at that table surrounding the turkey, ham and lobster, featured mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, hot spicy fried rice, noodles, macaroni salads, stuffed ducks and chickens, and clams. Also included were mini cherry cheesecakes, Yule logs, apple pies, cherry pies and carrot cakes. For drinks there were sizzling apple ciders, sparkling FFXIII elixirs, and everyone's favorite holiday drink: eggnog.

Right beside the big table there was a small table, where there were Christmas tea bags, some rich chocolate powder and marshmallows and cinnamon waiting to be prepared, and a small glass bowl of holiday-shaped sugar cookies and shortbreads.

Serah was turning on the candles in the middle of the big table besides the turkey and ham, before the double doors swung open. In came Lightning.

"Oh, Lightning! Merry Christmas!" Serah greeted her sister, "You're just in time for our annual Christmas feast."

Lightning stared out the window where the morning cloudy sky was, then back at the table, then back at Serah.

"Yeah, I know what you were gonna say? Isn't it too early to eat this big food now 'cuz it's 9 in the morn?"

"No I was wondering where Iris was." Lightning replied, "She's always here to serve her family Christmas cocoa recipe."

"All the ingredients are on that table." Serah showed Lightning the small table. "So, how was your trip?"

Before Lightning could respond, Serah gasped, "OH! Wait a minute, it's Christmas Day, remember? It's time for you to open your millions of gifts!"

"…yeah… about that…"

The double doors busted open, and in came Snow and Terra.

"Oh my." Serah gasped at what she saw. Lightning appeared not amused. Snow was covered in a muddy, liquidy stench, and Terra's lips appeared fat and bloody red, and his face was covered in red pimples.

"Lightning!" the boys yelled.

"You saw everything right?" Terra exclaimed.

"Yes." Lightning replied, "I see you got exposed by some urgently dangerous allergy," she then faced Snow, "and you got covered in filth from the toilet."

"So who won?" Snow yelled.

"I won of course." Terra argued.

"No, I won!" Snow argued.

"So where are our presents?" the boys yelled again.

"…I gave them all away." Lightning disclosed.

"WHAT?" all three characters exclaimed.

"…to the children down at the city's orphanage."

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Snow yelped as Terra shook his head with disappointment.

Lightning raised a questionable eyebrow, forcing Snow to back down.

"…says the little stupid mind in my head." He gulped.

"Y'know, Christmas isn't about getting whatever you want," Lightning explained herself, "It's about giving from the heart. While you two were fighting over your rights to get gifts for YOURSELF, and not just any gifts, my gifts, I decided to do the descent thing."

"And that was to give them away?" Serah asked.

"75% of them." She confirmed.

"Aw, how nice of you!"

"So," Terra curiously asked. "What happened to the remaining 25%?"

A squeal of joy echoed throughout the hall, catching all attention. The doors busted open and in came Kairi, Sora, Riku, Lea, Lann, Reynn, and Tama all holding on to Lightning's gifts, still unopened. Lea ran toward Lightning to give her a big hug, "Oh Lightning! How can I ever thank you, my love? All these presents for us?"

"You gave them away to those kids?" Snow exclaimed.

"Hey!" Lea shouted, "I'm not a kid y'know? Get it memorized!"

"Then why do you hang out with them?" Snow said.

Lea was about the counter but then his jaws remain ajar.

"Ooh, hurtfuuul." Lann gasped.

"It's for their effort at the Winter Fantasy, Snow." Lightning pointed out.

"Thank you Lightning." Kairi said to her, "That is so sweet of you to do such thing like that."

"Wow," Serah says with awe, "You were right, Lightning; when you said I'd be surprised!"

"Yeah." Sora said, grinning, "And if you hadn't received those gifts in the first place, and I made us lose…"

"…you would've been a goner." Riku finished for him.

"Look! Stop putting blames on my head alright?" Sora snapped.

"Look, we made some effort too y'know?" Snow whined, "Pranking? Don't we deserve a lil' something too?"

"Let it go dude." Terra said to Snow, but Lightning sighed, changing her mind, "All right, only because I'm in the giving mood, you both deserve a gift." She said, "But can you at least go change? Your appearance is making the food look bad!"

The KH gang shuddered at Snow and Terra's appearances. Both guys rushed out the dining room to go change when Ven who just entered the room saw them.

"Oh my—!" he gasped, "Terra, Snow! What happened to you two?"

"Shut up!" both men yelped before storming out. Everyone greeted Ven, "Merry Christmas!" who gloomily greeted back. "…hey."

"Wow, Ven!" Lann said, "Some Christmas spirit you have this morning. Didn't you get a gift from under the tree?"

Ven noticed Lann with his gift, "Ha-ha… very funny." He said not amused at his joke, "I lost a bet, okay?"

"Ah yes, I heard! The Santa Claus bet." Reynn said, reminiscing, "Both Lann and Tama made that bet last year."

"Yes!" Tama laughed at the memory, "And I had to make him the-give up his little black dress."

Reynn laughed.

"It's a TRENCHCOAT!" Lann argued, still ashamed of losing that bet, "And I KNOW Santa Claus still exists no matter what people thinks!"

"Santa Claus?" Sora said, "Of course he exists! He lives in Christmas Town. Donald, Goofy and I saw him. Heck, we even took a selfie!" Sora summoned his Keyblade and pointed above to display an holographic selfie of the trio with Santa and Jack Skellington.

"WHAT?" Ven screamed, "I can't believe this!" he then sighed, "Well, at least you didn't give up your Wayfarer's Charm."

Right on cue, the Mysidian twins came into the dining room, gloating and waving Ven's Wayfarer's Charm around, "Whooehhee!"

"Gather round everyone!" Serah called on everyone currently in the dining room: there was herself, Lightning, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Reynn, Lann, Tama, Ventus, Lea, Palom and Porom. Sazh just came in and so did Terra and Snow in their new clothes.

"Well, if it isn't the Christmas pranksters!" Sazh greeted Terra and Snow, "So who won?"

"We both did." Terra said before smiling at Snow.

"What?" Sazh cocked his head on one side. "We did?" Snow looked back at Terra.

"Yeah. We should do this again sometimes. You're a worthy opponent in this business."

"Hey, same here, pal." Snow playfully punched Terra on the shoulder, "Now I wonder how good you are on the battlefield."

"Same time tomorrow? Training hall?"

"You're on pal!"

Johnny Thunder and Aqua entered the dining room next.

"Oh sweet! Food!" Thunder ran to get to his seat also.

"Thunder, no!" Serah called out to him, "You can't eat just yet! Not until everyone is here."

"Well, who's missing?" Thunder asked.

"The hostess, Iris." Lightning replied, "She texted me saying that she was bringing her 'boyfriend' Noctis and a couple of her friends from the city."

"How about you guys help yourselves with some sugar cookies and shortbreads while we wait?" Serah offered everyone the snacks and they all dig in.

"Oh well," Thunder said, "I learned how to be patient when it comes to waiting for food. Especially since the incident." He shuddered at a replay of the flaming peppers scare he had. Ven, Lann, and Tama laughed.

"What incident?" Aqua curiously asked as everyone began taking their seats around the table.

"Well…" Ven was about to tell the story when Thunder yelped for him to shut up "Don't tell it! It's not funny!"

"Come on! I wanna tell the story!" Ven laughed.

"How about I tell the story?" Lann exclaimed, "So there the bottle was, sitting at the table…"

"NO!" Thunder yelled again as everyone laughed and teased at his panic.

Aqua turned to Ven, "Hey, Ven. Sorry to hear that you lost the bet. But I got something that'll cheer you up."

Aqua gave Ven a small silver gift box, "Merry Christmas."

"Aw, thanks Aqua," Ven gladly took the box and started opening it, "but I dunno if this is gonna make me feel…" he stopped to stare at what's inside the box. His eyes went wide, "…better! My Wayfarer's Charm!" he gasped.

He picked up the Charm, stunned to see it back onto his hand, "B-but how…?"

Aqua pointed him the twins. Ven turned to face them.

"You may have lost the bet, Sir Ventus…" Porom said, "…but we figured that this Charm is way more precious to you than any other things you possess."

"And I agree." Aqua replied.

"I never agreed to this." Palom mumbled to himself. Porom elbowed him to keep it down. She then added, "So we didn't feel like taking it away from you."

Ven smiled and hugged the twins, "Thanks guys." He said, "But I didn't lose the bet."

The twins cocked their heads on one side, "Huh?"

Aqua grabbed Ven and put her hand over his mouth, "How about we just keep the kids happy? Just for today huh?"

Ven pulled away and turned to Aqua. He smiled promptly, "All right. Just for today. But on December 26th, I'm bringing Sora in and CRUNCH goes their dreams."

Aqua giggled.

"Anyway," He then hugged Aqua, "Thank you Aqua for the awesome surprise. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Aqua said to Ven before facing Terra, "Oh, and Terra. Sorry about the whole… mistletoe incident from last night."

"Mistletoe incident?" Ven beamed curiously.

"None of your business Ven." Terra quickly snapped and looked away, blushing. Ven and Aqua laughed.

The door opened again, catching everyone's attention. Finally came in Iris and her friends: Tifa, Tidus, Cloud, Squall, Terra Branford, Vaan, and Penelo. Also entering were Mog and the Moogles, and Chocobo.

"It's about time you show up!" Snow called out.

"Sorry everyone!" Iris said, "We were stuck in traffic! But guess what? I brought guests!"

As soon as she said it, Noctis and Lunafreya made their appearance. Everyone immediately went to them and they introduced themselves.

"You're King Noctis and Queen Lunafreya!" Sora said. "So great to see you!"

"Pleasure's all mine." Luna said with a smile.

"Likewise." Noctis added.

Everyone gathered around the table.

"So what can we call you?" Reynn asked, "Your Majesty? King Noctis? Queen Luna? Your Highness? Sir? Ma'am—"

The couple laughed, "Just by our names is fine." Luna said. "We're all friends here."

"And family combined." Noctis added.

"Hey, I know you!" Cloud glared menacingly at Snow, "You're the one who gave that pepper to Terra!"

"Terra huh?" Terra said, smiling at Terra Branford. She smiled back, "Yeah, that's my name."

"That's my name too!" Terra replied.

"No way!"

"Hey sorry about what happened to you." He said, before explaining the situation to the new guests, "Snow and I here were having a little pranking competition and things got out of control in his favor."

"HEY!" Snow snapped.

"Ohh…" The guests all nodded, understandably.

"But still it's no excuse to prank the wrong person." Squall scolded.

"But who knew that Terra was like a common name for both boys and girls? Nobody!" Vaan said chuckling and everyone laughed along. He then faced Terra B., "Girl you should really change your name to like…Tina."

Everyone agreed.

"Everyone gather! Everyone gather!" Serah called on everyone to the table, "It's time to eat!"

"Oh! But first!" Iris then added, before heading to the small table with the chocolate and tea and such, "Anyone wants some Christmas cocoa?"

Everyone replied gleefully. "FINALLY!" Thunder cheered, "I'll get the teacups!" Sazh proposed. "I'll get the sugar!" Kairi volunteered.

As everyone got themselves their hot refreshments and began going for the foods, they failed to notice Kendall, James, Carlos and Logan of Big Time Rush entering the dining room, along with Shiva and Ifrit.

"Wow! Looks like we got ourselves a full house!" Ifrit said with his phony host accent.

"Stop it." Shiva said to her friends, "We're not doing that anymore."

Everyone saw the guest stars and greeted them to the table, "HEY! Merry Christmas!"

"Wait! Who let the door open again?" Iris asked.

"Who else?" Terra said before everyone faced Thunder, who coyly slump his shoulders, "Thunder!" they said.

"What? I forgot!"

"You guys don't mind if we join?" the Big Time Rush guys asked together.

"Hello? It's Christmas!" Serah said with a smile, "Everyone's invited!"

And so the guest characters took their seats and joined in the gala.

The Moogle mailman from earlier peeked in to the dining room and shouted, "Special delivery for Sora, Riku and Kairi!" catching everyone's attention again.

"Now who could that be?" Riku wondered.

"Bring them in!" the Moogle shouted and a bunch of Moogles came barging in with Chocobos, carrying heavy frozen boxes of assorted ice cream products with the Mickey logo labeled on them. Sora, Riku and Kairi stood up, shocked to see what was being delivered to them.

"Assorted Ice cream from Huey's Duck's Ice Cream Shop?" they exclaimed.

"But how?" Sora yelped.

Balthier and Fran entered the dining room right on cue. "How about we give you a straight answer?" Balthier replied, "It's Christmas."

"And we wanted to do something nice." Fran added, "So you get the ice cream supplies instead."

"But we still are keeping the gifts." Balthier said.

"Fair enough!" Riku said.

"Thank you guys." Kairi said to the two sky pirates.

"But we'll do that on one condition…" Balthier said, but before he could finish he saw Vaan and Penelo, "Well, hey! If it isn't my two little tykes!"

"Balthier and Fran!" Vaan greeted back, "Long time no see!"

"Come seat! Come seat!" Penelo offered them a seat and the two skypirates quickly joined the table, leaving Sora, Riku, and Kairi hanging.

"Well, I guess we'll never get to hear that condition." Sora said.

"Who cares?" Lea exclaimed, licking his lips at the ice creams being delivered, "We got ice cream galore here! Let's give them away!" he proposed and everyone cheered in agreement.

"Oooh! That reminds me! How about I make more of my Peppers Puffs Ice Cream?" he then asked.

"NOOO!" everyone yelled. Lea sank back to his seat.

"Thanks for the gesture but we can the-survive without it." Tama said to her friend, reassuring him.

Everyone served themselves some sparkling ciders. Time for toast. Iris stood up and tapped on her glass, catching attention.

"Everyone! Everyone! I would like to propose a toast…" she said before facing Noctis, "…that Noctis will propose a toast on this lovely Christmas Day!"

Noctis stared back at Iris who encouraged him on him feet, "come on." Before he knew it, everyone began chanting for Noctis to stand up to make to toast. He turned to Lunafreya who nodded with an encouraging smile. The nervous young king finally stood up and raised his glass.

"…I was not prepared for this." He mumbled, "Okay, so when I first came in to Square Enix City, I was expecting a really festive town full of cheers and brimming with joy. Well, I got that." He then paused, "Except only, I was not in the spirit."

The table was silent.

"See just this past two years, I lost someone dear to me, and so did my lovely wife. But I am thankful that I found friends who made me realize that life goes on and I still must grab it by its horns. That means celebrating this moment that was given to us, and make the most of it."

Everyone at the table smiled.

"And so I want everyone to remember this day, Christmas Day, as not just a special day for gathering with families and friends and exchange gifts and such, but as a day to remember on what's more important: life. Give thanks to the life that we've been given, to the dreams that we're fulfilling, to the challenges that we face every day at the fullest… in health, prosperity, joy, and peace; and in spanning fantasy, reality, and new beginnings. So let's give thanks to our Lord and His gift to all of us: the Gift of Life."

Lunafreya then stood up and let out a joyful noise, "Oh come, all ye faithful…"

"Joyful and triumphant!" Everyone at the table joined in as they stood up one by one, "Oh come ye, oh come ye, to Bethlehem!"

"Come and behold him!"

"Born the King of Angels!"

"Oh come let us Adore Him…" Kairi soloed.

"Oh come let us Adore Him…" Riku soloed.

"Oh come let us Adore Him!" Everyone joined in again. "CHRIIIIIST THE LORD!"

Everyone cheered and applauded.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Snow raised his glass, "And a Happy New Year! Hear! Hear!"

And everyone toasted. "Hear-Hear!"

xxx

The joy and happiness we share with families and friends can only be a recipe for the best holiday ever. So give your gifts many, and keep your hearts full of light and a merry Christmas to all…

…and to all a Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts night!

xXx THE END xXx