Do you know what time it is? Thaaaat's right! It's Christmas sing-along time!

OOOOOOOH….Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Check out my cool disclaimer I hope that it's not cliché... Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Well I better stop singing now so enjoy the story! HEY!

He was there. He was right there. And…alive. It had to be a trick. It just had to be. I wanted to question Pyre, because I knew it wasn't real, it couldn't be, but…I couldn't speak. He was alive. I reached my hand out, to see if I could touch him. His face was a mask of shock almost identical to mine. He reached his hand out too, and then….our hands met. And I knew for sure; he was real.

"E….Elizabeth V…Victoria…..wh…is that….is that really you?" he stuttered out. My lip trembled as I slowly nodded my head in confirmation. His face filled with relief, and he enveloped me in a warm hug, the kind only a living being can bestow. I buried my face in his shoulder. "I thought I had lost you forever. I mean, I came by one day, and you weren't there…and I….I…" He trembled a little before finishing his sentence, "It was horrifying. I thought you were dead. Where are you? Where did you go? Your aunt's worried about you. I'm worried about you." I didn't answer, just hugged him tighter. "E.V., please, tell me." I pulled back and looked at him earnestly. "I can't tell you, Jayden."

He looked really, really hurt. I sighed, and turned my head toward the corner where Derek, Chloe, Tori, and Simon were all standing, trapped by a paralyzing spell. He looked over, and turned back toward me with a look of protective anger on his face. "How could you be that STUPID? Do you know how DANGEROUS that is?" I gave him a pleading look. "Jayden, I had to. You know I did."

And then I couldn't feel him in my arms anymore. He was there, he was alive…and then, he wasn't. I turned my blind anger toward Pyre. "Where the hell is he? What the hell did you do to him?" He chuckled. "THAT is what you want. And I can give it to you. Just give up your quest, and you can have him. Alive, that is." I tried to attack him, but was blocked by some sort of force field. "You can't. It's impossible. He's dead. D. E. A. D. dead." The skin right above where his eyes should be raised as he asked me the most cryptic question I've ever heard. "Or is he? Think about my offer." And then he disappeared.

I stood there for a moment, trying to process what just happened. And then, from behind me; "What the HELL just happened? Who the FUCK are you?" I closed my eyes as I turned to face the questions that were thrown at me. "Uh, that was…um…I can't tell you." I couldn't see him, but I could feel the floor shake as Derek approached me. "Don't give me that shit. You've been telling us one huge fucking lie. Tell me the truth. NOW." I took a deep breath, and I shook as I exhaled. "You want to know? Fine. But I warned you." And then I opened my eyes.

There was a look of shock on his face, on all their faces, and I could almost see them running through ever second they'd ever spent with me, trying to deny what they saw in front of them. But there was no doubt. I was a complete mix of Derek and Chloe. A smart-aleck voice broke the silence. "Well THAT was a stupid decision." Tori was lounging on the couch, with her eyebrows raised at me.

"Wh-what….y-y-you're….? A-are y-you…?" Chloe left her question hanging, begging me with her eyes for it not to be true. I sighed, and looked around the room. Tori was still laying on the couch, Chloe looked very scared, Derek seemed as if he was still under the paralyzing spell, and Simon…well, Simon looked like he was about to cry. "Look…it's a long story. You might want to sit down." Chloe nodded and sat on the very edge of the couch next to Tori. Derek became un-frozen and sat on the opposite end. Simon and his teary eyes sat in the last available spot. I would have been almost comical, if I had been in the mood to laugh.

"I'm the most powerful being in the world. I'm part necromancer, part werewolf, part shaman, part witch, and part sorcerer. Nobody knows why or how. I just…am. And one day, I was practicing fireballs, and…I burnt his face off. He swore revenge on me…he murdered my parents. So I used my powers to disguise myself so that I could come back here to warn them." I looked up at Chloe and Derek, "To warn you. I came too early though. Back before you were together. And…I screwed things up. Messed up the balance. And I shouldn't be telling you all this, but it seems the only way to keep this from happening." I lifted up my sleeves and tore off my gloves, revealing the blank space where my arm used to be.

Their eyes widened even more than they were, if that was even possible. "I'm fading. When Chloe didn't kiss Simon, well….she was supposed to. She would have ended up realizing that she loved Derek. But I guess I screwed that up too. And now, the future is changing. Unfortunately, it's to one where I don't exist." I sighed.

I scanned their faces. Simon wasn't crying, but I wasn't sure he was completely alright. Derek and Chloe were looking pointedly away from each other, both blushing like mad. And Tori was….well, being Tori. "So now you know. Now you know everything. So I guess….I guess this means that you've been warned. And I've fulfilled my purpose here. I need to return to my own time before everything gets out of hand."

I stood in the yard, feeling the summer breeze run through my hair. I gave a warning glance to the people standing next to me. "You might want to back up a little." They all took a step back, and I readied myself. I reached up to my necklace, the one that I had ripped off earlier. I took the crystalline heart out of the middle, and shoved it in my pocket. I gave them a little smile, concentrated all my powers, and began the little dance. My arms twirled gracefully in the air, swirling around like a ballerina in her debut. It was the dance of time, and I was the star of the show. My whole body conveyed the passage of time. And for the final move, I swept my arm in a circle and let it carry my body into a twirl, transporting me through time. I thought I felt the tips of my fingers brush something, but it must have been the wind.

I opened my eyes, and took in the sights before me. Everything was old and decaying. The forest was overgrowing, and there was a little swingset in the yard. It seemed like my home. But there was only one way to find out.

I walked slowly into the house. There was light pouring in through the windows, and I could see little dust mites in the beams. I took a big, deep breath before calling out into the empty building. "Mom? Dad? Are you here?" My voice quivered on the last word, but I held my tears. I waited, but there was no response. "H-hello?" My voice cracked, and the tears began dripping, slowly and silently, from my eyes. They weren't there. It didn't work. They were dead. Everyone I loved was dead. Mom, Dad, Uncle Simon, Jayden…

My breath caught. Jayden! He was here! If anyone could comfort me, it would be him. I ran outside, my tired feet taking me as fast as I could go to the little lake that we would always meet up at. As I reached our little slice of heaven, I called out to him. "Jayden! Jayden! I'm here! I'm back! Jayden!" I waited, but there was no Jayden. I tried tugging on the little string in my mind that connected me to him, but it wasn't there. Where was he? Did he move on while I was in the past? Did I do something in the past that stopped him from us ever meeting? "Oh, no. Please, no." I gasped. I had lost everything. Everything I had ever cared about. Everyone I had ever loved. I was all alone.

I started to sob. All I could see was the pond in front of me, the pond that reminded me of all that I'd lost. I curled up in a ball and cried myself to sleep.

E.V.'s Dream

My feet dangled in the water, creating little ripples in the pond. I could hear splashing coming from the other end, and I looked up to see Jayden walking across the pond toward me. I gave him a warm smile. He returned it with a cold glare. Suddenly, he was lifted out of the water by Pyre. I screamed, and yelled at Jayden for him to help me. But he was just a puppet. Pyre advanced, and with one fireball, wiped out the whole forest.

I ran and ran, until I was in my living room. Young Derek and Chloe were there, along with my parents. Pyre walked in, and I hid behind young Chloe. But she just laughed and walked over to Pyre. Young Derek followed her, and I watched as Pyre ate them both. I started to cry and ran to hide behind my parents, but they just smiled and waved. Pyre grabbed me by the ankles and started to drag me away to his dark lair, and I watched as my parents faded away into the mist. My mom mouthed, 'The forest!' and I cried out to her, but every sound was soon drowned out by the sound of someone screaming. Who was screaming? It sounded like…

END DREAM!

I woke up screaming.There were little imprints on my face shaped like leaves, and I had a pounding headache. Why was I out by the pond? What the heck happened? And then it all came flooding back to me. Pyre, my secret being busted …my parents and Jayden. And what in the world did 'the forest' mean, anyway? I was too confused and depressed to figure it all out. My life was in ruins, and only I was to blame. I sighed, and laid back against the cold, hard ground. How did things end up so horribly? Oh, I know. Because I suck.

I decided that I was wasting my life just laying there on the grass, and, although I really didn't have a life anymore, I decided that I was going to take a romp through the woods. So I hauled my sorry little butt off the ground and into the trees. Then suddenly, I heard a noise coming from my distant left. It sounded like…no, it couldn't be. But I my heart couldn't help but hope as I ran toward the source of the mysterious noise, my bare feet pounding against the autumn leaves. "Mom! Dad!" I called out into the forest, needing more than anything for them to be there. I heard the noise again, a little closer this time. "Lizzie!" I ran even harder upon hearing that voice, and as I burst into the backyard, I wasn't disappointed. I ran straight into my parents' arms.

"Oh my baby, I thought we had lost you." I pulled back to look at my mom's face. She gave me a great big smile, and I smiled back. She turned her head to her left, and smiled at my dad. He smiled at her, and then looked over at me. "Lizzie." His smile turned into a frown, "What were you thinking? Time travel? Do you know how dangerous that is? You could have gotten hurt!" I gave him a pleading look. "Daddy, I had to save you!" His face contorted with anger. "That is no excuse! What if you had faded away? You almost did! That is the stupidest-" He was cut off by my mom. "Derek. This isn't the time for this. Besides," She said, turning to me, "I think she has someone she wants to see." She gave me a knowing look before gesturing behind her. My face lit up, and I ran past my parents to the person waiting for my by the swings.

"Jayden!" I cried as we collided. He wrapped his warm arms around me, enveloping me in his peppermint-y scent. Hmm…Peppermint. I sighed, and inhaled again. Peppermint…the smell of the dead. He pulled back and looked at me with a worried look. "What's the matter?" I looked up at his face, and then down at the ground. "Peppermint." I heard him exhale, and then felt his hand on my chin. He lifted my head up so that I was looking at him. "E.V., whatever he did…it was a trick. I'm not alive, and never will be. But I still love you, Liz, and there's nothing that can stop that." I gave him a little smile. "I love you too, Jay-" I was interrupted by a voice coming from behind me.

"Holy shit." I turned to see what I never expected to see again in my life. They were here…they were all here. So my hand had brushed something after all… well, technically, four somethings. Four teenage somethings. Holy shit was right.

A Christmas Cliffie! This is my gift to you! I won't be seeing you for a while, seeing as after Christmas I'll be pretty busy. And so I bid you, my loyal fans, a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed;

God bless us. Every One.