AUTHOR'S NOTE: MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, SEASONS GREETINGS, HAPPY KWANZA, HAPPY HANUKKAH, and everything else in between! I hope you all have/had a great holiday, so here's my little present to you. Believe it or not, Worlds Collide was published back in 2011, and I hope you've enjoyed Cloud, Lightning, and Monty's adventures so far! I hope you like this little Christmas Special! This chapter doesn't necessarily follow the story and is just sort of a fluff extra! I'd like to thank the following people for their great reviews that truly have kept me continuing this story:

Fabulanova780, CloudxLightningFan97, MaroonAngel of Darkness, KH-Hardcorefan4483, thepowerofmako, Lola Estheim, Irish-Brigid, AnonymousNameless, The Forsaken Martyr, haha42, Guest, denebtenoh, Driven By Apathy, cloudfarron, 261, The Darkness Factor, and JayneParker. Your reviews are awesome! Thank you!

This chapter may sound similar to a story that will soon be published, but the reason for that is because it was written by my friend and I, but I wanted to make my own Xmas chapter, so it's been shortened and slightly changed. Just a heads-up so no one attacks that story when it does come out! Her pen name is OtakuLockhart21.

Write on,

WriteFF13


.:WORLDS COLLIDE:.

Chapter 9 – Christmas Special!

[Any Charlie Brown Christmas song will do, honestly. Choose to your heart's content!]

Once again, Lightning found herself at the mercy of one certain Tifa Lockhart and Marlene Wallace, both of which were practically on their knees with the largest eyes she had ever seen. In the little girl's hand was a bright, red Santa hat topped with a ridiculous puff of white and its fur was painted red and green. What was more ridiculous was that she was expected to wear that...that...hideous thing!

Lightning crossed her arms, adamant. She had been coaxed into going to the party a few months ago, but this was crossing the line. "Absolutely not."

Tifa stuck out her bottom lip and Marlene tugged on her red cape, her face the epitome of a disappointed child. The hardened soldier had been dreading this the day Cloud tauntingly muttered something about a "family photo" during one of their trips to Rufus's in Kalm. She had asked for details but the blonde refused, a small, devilish smile gracing his lips.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling heavily.

I swear if that man is not undergoing the same torture as I am, heads are going to roll. By my blade.

Tifa and Marlene held their breath, apprehensive. After all, Barrett had collapsed only after a few minutes of his daughter giving him the puppy-dog look and Denzel was straight-up forced to wear his elf hat while Marlene and Tifa were already decked out in matching suits. Tifa's suit revealed her midriff and the bottom was a skirt lined with faux white fur. Marlene's was a size too big and rather hung off her, but the effect was comical nonetheless. Mont Blanc had a bit of a soft spot for Marlene, who had insisted on adorning him in elf ears that had to be strapped around his head due to his lack of, well…ears. He scowled the whole time but took it like a moogle as his short shirt was exchanged for a candy-cane sweater. He shrieked when his shirt was suddenly ripped off, squealing about being "naked" to the world.

She turned back to the girls, glaring fiercely at both.

In one swift motion Lightning ripped the hat from her grasp and stalked towards a booth by the door to wait, her face red and her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

The barkeeper and child immediately jumped to their feet and exchanged high-fives.

Four down…

One to go.

"Who are we waiting for, anyway?" Lightning barked from her seat.

Marlene giggled, along with Tifa, who couldn't help but let a snicker escape. The pink-haired woman raised her eyebrows, her situation momentarily forgotten. They couldn't have? If it was true, then she wanted a picture of this moment, now.

"You didn't..." Lightning mused, unbelieving.

Tifa nodded gravely. "We did."

Lightning clucked her tongue. Someone was a softy for one cute little girl and an attractive woman apparently.

The entire room quieted – minus the snowstorm swirling outside – as footsteps became apparent on the creaky stairs leading to the second floor of 7th Heaven. Every step seemed to bow down and the footsteps were agonizingly slow, as if the newcomer was being dragged down to an eternity of hyper-active elves and winter wonderland of absolute hell. Tifa had her camera poised and the room seemed to hold its breath.

And then he emerged.

Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER and one of the strongest men in the world.

Cloud Strife, guardian of two. Make that three.

Cloud Strife, the one who defeated Sephiroth not once, but three times.

Cloud Strife, who even when plagued by Geostigma had the strength to fight on.

Cloud Strife, Lightning's companion in battle and guardian of Valhalla.

Cloud Strife, who was now donned in the largest red and white Santa suit Lightning had ever seen.


Days later Lightning would have readily admitted she was the one to crack first.

She couldn't hold back the bout of laughter that erupted in her throat, loud and obnoxious. The laugh time she laughed like that was when Snow was ran over by a herd of chocobos back on Pulse. Pretty soon the entire room followed her lead and burst into laughter; there was no holding back as Cloud stood there pathetically with a Santa hat squishing his spiked hair into his face as it kept slouching over his eye. His ears first turned red and then his entire face, but his intense glare only caused more laughter as he quickly stalked out to Barrett's truck. Lightning wiped away tears as the last laughs died.

She'd remember that for years.

Marlene had fallen to the floor, holding her aching stomach. A camera was stationed in her grasp, and Lightning knew the girl had gotten a picture, thankfully.

"You're going to want to hide that before Cloud uses it as target practice," she told Marlene, who snorted rather un-ladylike and nodded.

Tifa began rounding up the kids, finishing up everyone's outfit before ushering the crew outside and stuffing everyone into Barrett's truck as snow whipped through the barren alleyway outside. Tifa entrusted Lightning to lock up the bar and she did so hurriedly, shivering in her miniskirt and sleeveless uniform. Barrett pulled up front and honked loudly, earning irritated glares from the passerby bundled up in winter clothing.

The entire circus departed from 7th Heaven as they roared down Main, racing for the newly-built mall, funded by Rufus Shinra. This outing to take 7th Heaven's family photo was not only embarrassing for Cloud, but also a little salt in the wound because of his squabble with Rufus months ago after Sephiroth and the Remnants' defeat. Cloud and Lightning both hoped none of Rufus's agents or the man himself would be present at the photo booth given his still-fragile condition. The last time she had seen Reno the idiot had hit on her and Rude had nearly put a bullet in her head. Not to mention Rufus gave her the cold shoulder, to which she returned.

Things weren't exactly vanilla and roses between the two.

At the present moment, Lightning was seated in the shotgun seat of the truck with Marlene squished in between her and her dad. Cloud was hunched over in the seat behind Barrett, doing his best to slouch down so no one could see him in his festive getup. Denzel was leaning over the back of Marlene's seat and messing with her hair while the latter belted out Christmas carols.

Tifa soon joined in. Lightning's ears began to bleed.

Eternally.

As soon as the song started, however, it quickly became clear this wasn't your ordinary holiday carol. Marlene couldn't help but add in her own touch.

"Deck the halls with boughs of mako!

Kweh, kweh, kweh, kweh, kweh…kweh, kweh, kweh, kweh!"

She either became bored of that song or was creating the ultimate mix of Christmas carols combined with the elements in her own world.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the waaaaay! Oh how fun it is to ride on a golden chocobo, hey!"

The next one Lightning couldn't help but snicker at.

"Cloud Strife got ran over by a reindeer!

But as for me and Tifaaaa, we believe!"

Denzel suddenly reached over and pulled on one of Marlene's ears until she yelped, her song coming to an abrupt halt. Marlene turned ferocious eyes on him and snarled, her purple-brown eyes boring lasers into his head.

"You missed like three lines, stupid!" Denzel said.

Marlene rolled her eyes – a mirror image of Tifa – and turned around to begin another long chorus. Though Lightning didn't really mind, considering…

Her ears had long since fallen off.


["Comical World" – BLEACH OST]

Somehow, the whole crew managed to arrive in one piece. Sure, Cloud's ego had been deflated and his reputation destroyed and Lightning had lost hearing due to the world's worst juvenile singer, but other than that, 7th Heaven's caravan was alive and well.

Emotional scars nonexempt.

Barrett screeched to a halt right in front of the mall…literally.

Lightning peered over the egde of her window and was met with the sidewalk pavement. Just a yard to her left was the glass doors inside of the mall cafeteria. They were parked right in front of the mall.

"Uh...Barrett...?" she trailed, jabbing a thumb towards her window. "Are we blocking off everyone?"

The large man laughed and climbed out on his side, lifting Marlene out by the arms. "Eh, people can climb over! Besides, wouldn't want Cloudy to have to walk through the entire parking lot!" He burst into laughter once again, waving away the said man in a Santa suit's laser beam-eyes.

"...Right."

Tifa kicked open her door and stepped out, pulling her skirt down as she exited the cramped quarters and helping Denzel out. She leaned her elbows on her seat with her legs crossed and stared at Cloud expectedly. The blonde was trying so hard to shrink under his new hat that all Lightning could see was a chocobo head and something that resembled a neck. His bright eyes looked anywhere but Tifa's intimidating crimson orbs.

The pink-haired soldier snickered and stepped outside, shivering in the sudden chill that touched her skin like frosty fingers. Indeed, civilians grumbled as they squeezed in past the truck, shooting the odd crew irritated glares. One man especially paused to simply glare at Lightning, which was promptly returned by an icy glare and a flick of her gunblade handle. The shopper quickly got the idea and hurried on.

When she turned around, she wasn't surprised to find Tifa literally dragging Cloud out of the truck by his fake beard and arm. She braced her leg against the edge of the truck and heaved until the man himself plopped onto the ground face-first. He became a pile of red and white, crumpled like a rag doll. Lightning was surprised he was letting himself be humiliated.

Tifa grinned and tried to pull him up, but he wasn't having it. Cloud Strife, a man who held himself to the highest expectations, had already given up and retreated inside of himself.

Barrett and Marlene had already burst through the doors, racing towards the actually Santa booth (Cloud was not the Santa, unfortunately).

Lightning shivered again and rubbed her hands together, blowing hot breath in between them. She crossed her arms tightly around her and tapped her foot impatiently.

Tifa delivered a swift quick to Cloud's side, earning a groan of pain. Another kick only served to cause him to retreat further into his ball of velvet and faux fur. The barwoman threw her hands up in defeat, shaking her head at Lightning.

"Light?" she said.

"On it," the woman replied, slowly walking towards the crumpled heap of Strife. As her boots clicked against the pavement, slightly muffled by snow that had gathered in the cracks, the said chocobo head moaned and began scooting away, heading for under the truck. He kept his hat firmly pushed over his eyes.

The woman tightened her gloves and pulled her top down further, straightening any creases. Her gunblade slid out and she flicked the handle up, gripping it and sliding it from its holster as it transformed into a very long and very sharp sword. With the Blazefire Saber in its full form she stopped behind Cloud's pathetic form and smirked, absolutely smug.

In one swift motion she stabbed a dragging part of his pants leg where the material gathered because the entire suit was much too big for Cloud's 5'7 form. Immediately the blade ceased any further progress. It was rooted firmly in the ground, Lightning had made sure of that. Cloud stopped, but didn't exactly turn around either.

"Lose the pants and the pathetic attitude...or both," she warned before reaching down to clutch the back of the suit by the neck, hauling the man to his feet. "Either way, you're coming with us whether you like it or not. I am not about to freeze my ass off out here because you can't sacrifice your man ego for a bit of fun."

Cloud hunched his shoulders as she removed the blade, also taking away any chance of losing his pants. Now that would have been bad. He knew any funny business and he'd take a shockingly hot Firaga to the ass. He didn't want to relive that again.

So he quickly dodged into the mall, ears reddening as other children began pointing at him and screaming, "Santa! Santa! Why don't you have white hair, Santa?"

Lightning and Tifa followed suit; the latter held her hand out for a high-five. Lightning returned it with grace.

"It's a good thing we have you!" Tifa chuckled, leaning her hands against the velvet ropes bordering the line in wait for Santa pictures. The Santa was out of view, but Marlene and her huge dad could be seen in the back.

"No problem."


["Tears of the Past, Dreams of the Future" – Sahmlockhart on ]

Marlene and her dad finally made it to the front of the line as the former squealed in glee upon leaping onto Santa's lap, flashing the biggest grin Lightning had seen since she had met the bright girl a few months ago. She retrieved a list of Christmas wishes and began to read them off; the Santa man's eyebrows rose higher and higher until they disappeared completely under his Santa hat and fake grey hair. On it was a list of wishes that Marlene wanted to benefit not only herself, but her family...7th Heaven. Tifa smiled when she heard the girl read off, "Number seven: I want Tifa to have an entire week of vacation in Costa del Sol."

Although Cloud was hiding in the corner near the pastry counter, he could clearly hear Marlene as she read off number six:

"Number six: I want Cloud to get new parts for his bike and be able to stay home more often."

Denzel:

"Number five: I want Denzel to stop being so annoying!"

The boy frowned at that and glared at her, receiving a coy smile. Tifa shook her head, sighing and enjoying the time she had off. Lightning leaned against a wall that supported the small second floor of tables and chairs. A Santa hat was still clenched in her grasp, but no matter what that thing wasn't going over her pink hair. Tifa was just happy she had agreed to bring it.

"So, Light..." Tifa began. She hoped it wasn't a touchy subject; sometimes it was hard to tell with the solemn soldier that she was. "Did you have Christmas on Cocoon with your sister?"

Lightning instantly smiled, though it was also touched with sadness. She remembered every gift she had given and received to and from Serah. After their parents' deaths and their wills had been sorted out, they had plenty of money to live off of...until it eventually ran out and Lightning was forced to quit college and enter into the Guardian Corps. Presents became smaller, but she had tried to put more thought into them. The one she remembered most was the black armband that she wore herself. She had one replicated and gave it to Serah, who always wore it faithfully. Even now, she wondered if she was still wearing it. Their Christmas holidays were small but sweet. They did the best they could, and that was enough. Serah has once told her that, "You being my sister and taking care of me after Mom and Dad died is the best present I've ever gotten."

"Yeah, we did...it was a bit less...entertaining than this, to say the least," Lightning answered, referring to the chaos of the morning as 7th Heaven prepared for the family photo.

Tifa laughed knowingly. "That's usually how things are around here."

"So I've noticed."

"So where'd Monty head off to, anyways?"

"Who knows? He could be in Valhalla for all I care."

"..."

Suddenly a voice called out.

"Tifaaaaa! Time for the family photo! Santa says we and take a few while we're already at the front of the line!" Marlene chirped from his lap. Barrett positioned himself behind Santa – he had already promised his daughter a photo, casting a reluctant grin towards the camera man. A flash and then the sound of the elf working the camera's printer copying two glossy photos.

Lightning scowled. It seems it couldn't be avoided.

"Light – "

The young woman threw her hands up in defeat and shoved the ridiculous Santa hat, trudging towards Marlene and the Santa man. A Christmas tree had been placed behind his red and gold chair, and its spiky pine needles poked her back uncomfortably. Might as well get it over with, she figured. Besides, Tifa was going to have her hands full with someone else…

Cloud had since retreated to the farthest corner of the cafeteria, sulking in his oversized Santa suit. He blanched when he saw Tifa marching over to him and tried to slink away, but she wasn't having it. She gathered the extra fabric on the front of his shirt and dragged him to the booth, ignoring the waves of laughter as people began to recognize the spiky-haired blonde. She centered him right behind Marlene with Denzel to his right in between Barrett. Lightning stood to Cloud's left while Tifa leaned down near Marlene. As the camera elf readied himself, the gang made themselves comfortable.

Lightning elbowed Cloud and quirked the edge of her lip in order to whisper just loud enough so that he could hear. "Nice suit, Santa."

Even in her peripheral vision she could see his eye twitch underneath the rim of the hat in between his blonde spikes.

"Shut up."

"Tch."

"Smile, everyone!" the elf said tiredly, hefting the camera.

Click.

The first photo showed up on the screen behind him as he slightly edited it to fit Tifa's required dimensions for a planned picture frame she had made with Marlene earlier. They would be distributed to Cid, Yuffie, and even Vincent.

Marlene's grin covered Santa's head completely as she strained to get in the middle of the picture; Denzel was shoving her head down and turning away from the shot completely while Tifa was still trying to wrangle the two. Cloud had sunk so far down in his suit that nothing was visible but extremely bright, glowing mako eyes. Lightning was conveniently...turned around completely, her back facing the camera and arms crossed.

"Let's try that again," the cameraman said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Tifa finally separated Marlene and Denzel, but she turned to find Lightning turned around. A tap on the shoulder and the young woman reluctantly turned to face the camera. She was just happy Cloud was included.

"Everyone...1...2...3...cheese!"

And so 7th Heaven's fourth annual family photo was taken, with a recent new addition to the household. Although Cloud was nearly nonexistent in his oversized outfit and Lightning was still staring off into space, the majority of those present had their picture snapped and Tifa later put into a frame, sending a late Christmas gift to her former AVALANCHE members.

A day later as Lightning was walking down the stairs she happened to see a red and green frame hanging on the wall.

It read:

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FAMILY

AT 7TH HEAVEN!

She smiled.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you enjoyed my Christmas/New Year's Special! Sorry it took so long to update as usual, though this time I was actually on vacation and had little access to any internet connection besides that on my phone. Nonetheless, hope you enjoyed! 2013 here we come!

-WriteFF13