Disclaimer: Song is The Christmas Song by Owl City

Chapter 20: Snowy Lights

It's Christmas and we are in love
With the way that the soft snowflakes kiss us
From far above
The blustery breeze

Trudging onward
Braving a harsh winter storm
You and I met passing by
And now our spirits feel warm

I don't have anyone at home to talk to
And you don't have anything to do
So I'll spend my Christmas with you

oOoOo

Snowflakes softly fell from the cloudy morning sky and stuck onto the frosted glass window, joining its fellow friends. Behind it, lay a small redhead snuggled in bundles of warm maroon bedsheets, soundly asleep. Though he slept, he dreamed of wonderful things; his best friend Roxas, his father Reno, and of course, countless presents.

But he would be soon roused when an excited Roxas, whom was still in his blue pajamas decorated with stars, burst into the room and leaped onto him, shaking him awake. "Axey! Axey wake up!"

"Mmf..." groaned the young redhead, opening his tired green eyes and peeked at the blond, mumbling lowly. "What...Roxas? What is it?"

A big smile spread on Roxas' face, his blue eyes wide with happiness. "Its christmas! Don't you wanna open your presents?"

At that Axel jolted up, eyes wide awake. "Oh right! Its christmas..." he grinned at the thought of all the gifts under the tree...until it slightly faded when he remembered that he might not get anything. Aerith wasn't his mother after all, and there was no chance of getting anything from his parents. But then he reminded himself that spending it with Roxas was good enough for him, and had a surprise present for him later, besides the one he bought with the money he won from the fair.

The blond giggled, and hopped off the bed. "Cmon! Mommy's making pancakes too! Wanna come and open our presents together?"

"Well duh, course I do." chuckled the redhead, and hopped down, also wearing pajamas, except they were colored dark red with green dragons, which he picked out himself, and both boys ran downstairs.

The house was decorated with christmas décor and lights, but not too much. The living room held a tall pine tree, decorated with many colored lights and different festive ornaments. Underneath were their presents, with Cookie sitting next to them. Axel and Roxas both sat down together, the blond enveloping his moogle doll back on his lap, when in came Aerith holding two plates stacked with blueberry pancakes. She smiled at the redhead as she placed them on the dining table. "Good morning dear, and Merry Christmas!"

Axel smiled, a real smile he had given her for the first time. "Good Morning Mrs. Strife, and Merry Christmas to you too." Ever since he moved in, he seemed to become happier with each passing day, and it made Aerith feel so content for him. Today though, he seemed extra happy, which was no surprise, all children loved christmas.

The three immediately dug into their breakfast, the boys wasting no time in finishing so they can open their presents. As Axel stuffed a big slice into his mouth with his fork, he glanced sideways to his friend, speaking with a mouthful of food. "Rox you can shart wishout me if you fant."

Roxas giggled, shaking his head. "Nu-uh, I want us to open our presents at the same time!" He continued cutting a piece of his pancake with a fork and ate it quickly. Axel grinned slightly as he remembered his table manners since Aerith was there, and used a napkin to wipe his mouth. He guessed the blond didn't know he wasn't getting any presents, but he tried not to let it bother him.

Aerith meanwhile ate peacefully at the table, watching them contently. "Do you like your pancakes my dears? Next year I'll make chocolate chip."

Roxas swallowed his last piece, and nodded vigorously. "It was really good mommy! Blueberry pancakes are my favorite!"

Axel did a nod as well. "I liked it too."

Aerith giggled softly. "That's good. Well since you're both finished, why not open your presents?"

"Yeah! C'mon Axey!" exclaimed the blond as he pulled Axel along by his sleeve, who laughed and went along with him. Behind him, Aerith watched him with a twinkle in her eye.

The first present Roxas grabbed was of course the biggest one, rectangle shaped with blue wrap paper and little golden bells prints. On the tag was the blond's name. Ripping off the paper, the blond gasped. "Oh wow its the train I always wanted!" Indeed it was, a very realistic silver train still inside the plastic box. "Its so cool! You like it Axey?"

Axel smirked, trying to appear excited. "Yeah, its cool."

The blond smiled widely. "Lets put it together after we opened all our presents!" He tilted his head curiously, taking notice of something. "Hey Axey why aren't you opening any? Cmon open one!"

Axel glanced away, feeling a bit embarrassed since he knew he didn't have any gifts. "Uh well...I don't kn-"

"C'mon open one Axey! I can't open yours too silly!"

The redhead scratched the back of his head. "Um...okay." He stared at the pile for a second, spotting another big present wrapped in silver and red gift wrap. "I guess I'll pick this one first..." He pulled it forward, realizing it was slightly heavy. He lifted the tag attached to the red ribbon and his eyes widened in surprise. On it read 'Axel'. "Its...for me."

"Yay Axey got a big present too! Open it open it!" The boy eagerly bounced as he was sitting down in anticipation.

Axel looked up to Aerith, and she smiled. " Looks like Santa didn't forget you either." The redhead stared at her. He didn't believe in such things, so he knew she had bought it. He wasn't her son, and yet she did it anyway. Slowly the pyro returned the smile, his disappointment replaced with joy. She really is the best mom ever. Roxas is so lucky.

"Axeeeyyy!" Whined the young blond, lightly nudging him. "Opeeen iiit!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Okay okay." Tearing off the paper, his jaw dropped. It was a black stereo with red circles where the sound came from. It was the radio he wanted that day they went shopping at the store, which he kept staring at. If there was anything in the world he enjoyed most, besides being with Roxas, was he loved to dance and listen to music. He never had his own radio, except for the one in Tifa's room, which he never dared use. Now he had his very own.

Roxas neared his head and made an 'O' shape with his mouth. "Wooow! That's so coool!"

The redhead laughed. "Yeah it is. I can't wait to try it!" He definitely was excited, and looked forward to finally dance with music more often, especially with a such a cool looking radio. He smirked, winking at his best friend. "Just wait till you see my awesome dance moves."

Roxas bounced wildly. "Oh I dance too! You'll see my super cool moves!" Both Aerith and Axel laughed.

"C'mon Roxy, lets open the rest. Oh and um Mrs. Strife..." The redhead glanced up at Aerith sitting on the couch, rubbing the back of his head. "There's a present for you too..." Roxas wasn't the only one he bought a gift for. After all she had done for him, he thought he should repay her somehow. He reached under the tree, and pulled out a small, rectangle shaped box wrapped in pink paper, and handed it to her.

Aerith's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh..." she carefully took the box, and pried apart the wrapping, to reveal a black shaped box with a lid. It looked to be something to hold jewelry inside. She opened it and her eyes widened slightly, staring at it. Axel swallowed. I hope she likes it...I'm not really good at giving girls presents...

She gently raised it up to reveal a necklace, made of silver miniature chains with a lace black rose, and small white pearls hanging from it. The silver and the pearls were fake as he couldn't afford the real thing, but it was pretty nonetheless. Aerith smiled. "My my, what a lovely necklace." The redhead sighed in relief. Thank goodness...She lifted it up to her neck, and latched in place, fingering the lace rose softly.

"That's pretty!" replied Roxas, eyeing the necklace.

"It definitely is." She replied, raising her head to the crimson haired boy and smiled. She really did like the necklace, and it was so surprisingly thoughtful for Axel to do such a thing, as he didn't like her at first, but she was glad he had changed his mind. "Thank you Axel dear. Its beautiful, and so sweet of you."

Axel laughed half heartedly, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks went pink. "Y-yeah its no pro-Wha!?" he gasped with eyes wide, flailing his arms when Mrs. Strife took hold of his head and kissed his forehead. Immediately his whole face flushed deep red, frozen in place. Once Aerith pulled away she couldn't help but giggle at his reaction, and Roxas also burst into giggles, replying "Axey's face is really red!"

Axel frowned a pout and lightly shoved the blond. "Shut up!" Roxas just continued to laugh, which made the redhead glare at him, only to be ignored.

A mischievous smirk grew on his lips. "I'll give you something to giggle about, Roxy." The blond yelped when he tackled him, saddling his lap and began tickling his sides.

Roxas began to laugh harder, squirming to get away. "O-oka-hahahaha! Okay I'll- hahaha I'll stop! Sto-ahahaha-op!" The redhead chuckled and ceased his tickle torture, removing himself off the boy. The blond released a final tired giggle, grinning. "Tomato head."

Axel crossed his arms. "Chocobo head."

"Heeey!" But all three in the room laughed, and continued to dig under the tree taking their presents. Roxas received some new clothes, new painting supplies, and small random toys, alongside 2 books, as he also enjoyed to read. Aerith got a present from Roxas as well, which was a child-like painting of herself with him and Axel holding hands, and a handmade necklace of colorful beads with glitter. She liked it of course, and gave the blond a kiss on the cheek, to his dismay.

The pyro laughed when he saw the boy go red, teasing with "Now who's a tomato head, huh Roxy?" and Roxas just blew his tongue at him.

Axel got a video game titled 'Final Fantasy 3' the latest installment of the series, some new clothes, and 3 rock and techno cds for his radio, then finally came to a thin, medium sized badly wrapped present, the paper in dark red with printed reindeer. He smirked, and judged from the messy wrapping that it was from Roxas. He unpeeled quickly, eager to see what it was.

It was a childlike painting of him and Roxas holding hands in what appeared to be a playground, and on Axel's other hand was a small flame, painted the same way he had shown the blond way back then. "Its when we first met!" explained the blond, and he did a nod. There was another item in the box, and he picked it to see it was a friendship bracelet, in blue and red beads alongside lettered ones spelling 'Axey & Roxy 4 ever'. Axel blinked, then grinned. Usually only girls did friendship bracelets, but he didn't care. It was from his best friend to show their friendship meant a lot, and it was one of the kindest things anyone had ever done. He couldn't ask for anything else, and besides, it did look kinda cool.

"D-do you like it...?" He glanced up, and saw Roxas with his head down staring at his feet, twirling his thumbs, cheeks tinted pink. "I-I didn't know what to give you, so a girl..I-I think her name was Olette, told me I should make a friendship bracelet...s-so I made it...sorry if its stu-" He jumped when suddenly Axel hugged him firmly.

"I love it Roxas..." whispered the redhead. "Thank you."

Roxas blinked, taken aback, but it was quickly changed to a smile, and returned the gesture with a just as eager embrace. "You're welcome Axey."

Aerith watched them quietly, and couldn't help but smile at them. It was so adorable, and she was so happy for them.

Once they pulled away, Axel glanced to the last present wrapped in white with sparkly blue snowflakes. It was very light, and the tag had Roxas' name on it. "This is for you Roxy...I got it for you..." he replied, handing the boy the gift.

He watched nervously as the blond blinked at it curiously, and began unwrapping it. Roxas gasped with a thrilled smile, lifting up a blue ticket with white letters on it. "Its a year of free sea salt ice cream! Yay this is the best!" He leaped over to the redhead and hugged him tight, toppling Cookie off his lap. "Thank you Axey! I love it!"

Axel laughed, relieved he liked his present, and returned the embrace. "You're welcome Roxy." It was a bit expensive, and he was lucky to come by the ice cream shop on their one year event where they would sell the tickets, but it was worth it make Roxas happy. Of course he bought some ice cream for himself as well.

Roxas pulled away, tucking the ticket in his pocket. Aerith giggled. "Try not to each too much ice cream dear."

"Okay mommy! Oh..." he glanced down to notice there was more to Axel's gift, and picked up a miniature dark blue coat.

The pyro grinned. "For Cookie, so he can stay warm in the winter. I can't forget about him after all."

The boy smiled widely, and dressed the coat onto the moogle doll, which fitted it well. He rose it up to Axel. "How does he look?"

He smirked. "He looks great."

Roxas giggled. "Cookie says he likes it!"

"Okay, you're welcome Cookie."

Aerith laughed softly. "Well I think that's all the presents...would you boys like some hot chocolate?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Roxas throwing his hands up, and Axel just grinned and nodded. Aerith stood up and left for the kitchen, leaving them alone for awhile. "Ooh look its snowing!" pointed out the blond, and he followed the direction of where his finger was motioning at to the window above the couch. Both youngsters ran to the couch to take a closer look beyond the fogged glass, to see that indeed it was, but it was hard to see much of anything with the window partly covered in ice. Still they could see countless snowflakes gently drifted downward, covering the window sill.

As they quietly watched the snow together, Axel spoke, his voice gentle. "Hey Roxy...?"

"Yeah?" questioned the blond, still watching the snowflakes in wonder.

"After we finish our hot chocolate...I want to go somewhere to show you something. Something special."

Roxas glanced to him, eyes widening. "Ooh somewhere special? Okay!" Axel smirked.

"They're done!" Both glanced behind them to see Aerith walk in holding a tray of three mugs full of hot cocoa, light steam rising to the top. "Careful its hot." She carefully placed it on the middle table, and all three in the room sat down each taking a cup.

Blowing on his cocoa to cool it, Roxas looked up at his mother. "Mommy, after we finish, can me and Axey go out? He's gonna take me somewhere secret!"

Aerith raised an eyebrow. "Somewhere...secret?"

"Yeah!"

She glanced to the redhead, who looked away rubbing his neck. Slowly she smiled. "Well, alright. I just want both of you to be careful, and stay together, okay?" After all the town was a peaceful, mostly quiet place, and she trusted Axel to take care of the blond.

Axel smirked. "We will." Roxas nodded.

Soon they had drank every last drop, they went upstairs and got dressed in outerwear and in their coats. "Alright boys, have fun, and be careful." spoke Aerith, kissing each on their cheeks, and they left out the door. As for herself, she was going to invite some of her friends over, Yuffie being her best friend. They were going to come over anyway.

Axel and Roxas stepped outside, taking sight of the town. Everything was covered in a sheet of white snow, and the snowflakes continued to drift downward, blanketing everything from the ground, to the cars, to the buildings themselves. Some flakes even landed on the boy's head. There was also christmas decorations and lights here and there. It was beautiful. The redhead drew his head back looking up at the white greyish sky, snowflakes floating down towards him, feeling a few of them kiss his skin with its cold wetness.

He shivered slightly from a light chilly breeze, buttoning up his thick black coat more, and took a look at the tall clocktower in the distance. He glanced to his shorter friend, whom stared at the decorations contently, holding Cookie in one hand. "Are you ready Roxy?"

Roxas nodded. "Yeah!" Axel took hold of his gloved hand, and they set out for a stroll to the place he planned to reveal to his close friend. The clocktower.

A half hour later, they arrived just a few feet in front of the ominous building. "Wooow..." whispered the blond, and Axel grinned to himself, leading him through a back door. They soon stepped inside, and it immediately went dark when the door shut behind them, with the smooth sound of echoing wheels turning and ticking. "Axey...?" whimpered the boy, his grip tightening on the redhead's hand, but he gently squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"Its okay Roxy." whispered the pyro. "Its safe, just follow me, and watch your step, there's stairs."

"O-okay..." By the boy's tone, he seemed more relaxed at least, and slowly they climbed the staircase. As they rose up, it became brighter thanks to the light reaching them from the huge glass clockface at the top of the stairs. "ooh...cool..." commented the blond, eyeing the large turning gears around them.

Axel laughed. "Just wait till you reach the top..." They soon did, and Roxas gasped in amazement when they stepped onto the slightly turning floor, which was actually a flat gigantic gear, right below the colorful glass clockface with long clicking hands on the other side. So much white, yet soft light came through it, brightening up the room. There weren't any walls, just hundreds of bronze and grey metal turning gears.

Roxas released Axel's hand and giggled vigerously, spinning round, his eyes taking in everything to see. "This so amazing Axey! I love it!"

The pyro laughed. "Me too. I'm glad you like it."

The blond stopped and stared at his friend. "Is this your secret place you wanted to show me?"

He nodded, giving him a smile. "Its...my last present to you." He glanced down, his expression turning solemn. "...I would come here every weekend, to practice dancing, and to...think to myself." He jumped when the blond embraced him.

Roxas rose his head, and their eyes met. "Thank you for showing me Axey." The redhead slowly smirked. After pulling away, the younger boy asked, "Axey you should show me those dance moves!"

The eldest chuckled. "Only if you join me Roxy."

"Okay!"

So they danced, with Axel teaching him some new tricks and motions, including the ones featuring summoning fire, even though Roxas couldn't command any, but he didn't mind. The friends just enjoyed laughing and just having a good time. Eventually they tired out, and plopped to the floor exhuasted.

"That was fun." panted Axel, and Roxas nodded.

"We should do that again next time!" he replied.

"Good idea Roxy...by the way...I have one more thing to show you. Come on." He pulled the boy up, and steered him to a door on the far right below the huge circular glass, which apparently lead outside.

Once they went through, Roxas' released a breath of amazement. There was a small walkway next to the ledge where they could sit.

Axel let go of his friend's hand, and sat down, his legs hanging over the ledge, and the blond joined him. The view over Twilight town was breathtaking, with the snow gently falling over it. The wind was still, so it wasn't too cold. "Its beautiful, right Roxas?"

He nodded, smiling, his eyes surveying the view. "Yeah! Its so nice. I can be up here all day!"

Axel laughed. "Not all day, we'd freeze!" The blond giggled. There was a brief moment of silence, and after deciding whether or not to tell Roxas about Reno. He bit his lip. "Roxas..."

"Yes Axey?"

"There's another reason why I come here. My dad...Reno...he told me to, before he...disappeared." His sad eyes casted to the horizon in thought.

The blond tilted his head. "But...you said your daddy died..."

Axel's hands clenched tighter to the window sill. "...I don't think he's dead. I don't know...I just have this...feeling. But anyway...he told me to come here, and call him when I needed to, and call his name, and..." His emerald eyes began to tear up. "...and said he'd come. But...he's never come. He n-never does..." Ugh...why am I telling him this. He covered his face with his hands as he began to quietly cry into them.

"Axey...please don't cry..." whispered the blond, and immediately he felt Roxas' small arms wrap around his waist, along with his head pressed against his shoulder.

The redhead lowered his hands, and returned the embrace, tucking his nose in the boy's soft blond locks. He spoke in a quiet whisper. "Roxas...you're so nice to me...thank you."

"You're nice too Axey...a-and I think one day, your daddy might come. You'll see..."

He closed his eyes, feeling the tears slid down his cheeks. "I hope you're right Roxy..." I really do. They held each other for a few minutes longer, until they pulled away, and Axel wiped away his tears. His eyes snapped wider, remembering something. "Oh yeah! I have something we can eat here! Be right back!"

Roxas watched him as he ran back inside the tower, then came back with two sea salt ice creams, giving one to the younger, whom smiled. "Yum ice cream!" Axel grinned, and returned to his seat. Together they ate their popsickles, watching the horizon, whilst their other hands were joined.

After a while, Axel stretched his arms up, and glanced to his friend. "Wanna go back now? Might be lunch time soon, and I don't wanna worry your mom..."

Roxas grinned and made a nod. "Okay! Yeah, I'm hungry." he rubbed his tummy, and Axel laughed.

As they stood up and headed back down, he spoke again. "So you want to come here again with me Roxy?"

"Yeah! It was fun!" answered the blond nodding with a broad smile.

The redhead grinned. "Okay cool."

An hour later, they arrived home, to their surprise finding Xigbar and Demyx walking out of the apartment. "Oh looks its Xiggy and Demy!" pointed Roxas, running forward with Axel in tow.

"Sup' mate!" waved Xigbar, grin on his face. "We were just lookin for ya!"

Demyx nodded, smiling. "Hi. We wanted to know if you guys wanted to play, but your mom said you weren't home."

"Well we're home now! I wanna play!" replied the younger blond. He glanced up to the redhead. "Wanna join us Axey?"

Axel shrugged with a grin. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay! I'll go tell mommy we're home, and ask if she can make us lunch!" He sped into the apartment building, dragging along his moogle. Moments later, Aerith and Roxas returned with sandwiches and more chocolate for all of them, each holding a tray.

The blond helped his mother hand them out, and she took both trays, smiling at the boys. "Have fun dears, and when you're done you can put the plastic cups in the trash over there." They all nodded, and she returned inside.

"So..." began Xigbar. "Snowball fight? I'm a pro mate, none of ya can beat me!"

Axel laughed. "We'll see about that!"

"You're on!"

"Yay this'll be fun!" hopped Roxas. Demyx just smiled at his eagerness.

"Roxy wanna be on my side?" asked the redhead.

"Yeah of course Axey!"

"Awesome, we'll be unstoppable."

"Pfft no one can beat us, right Demy?" retortedthe blackhaired boy, wrapping an arm around Demyx.

The mullet boy smiled and nodded. "Y-yeah!"

Axel huffed, and picked up a fistful of snow, shaping into a ball. "We'll see who's the winner in this war, Xig."

"Bring it on!" challenged the other male, also making a snowball making a wicked smile on his lips.

So it began, balls of snow flying everywhere as they ran and screamed and jumped, both sides equally matched. Suddenly a snowball flew past Axel, and straight at a boy a couple of feet behind him. An unfamiliar yelp was heard, and they all stopped, catching their glances at a skinny boy sitting on the ground with snow on his face and lap. He had long blond hair, green eyes, slightly pale skin, and glasses, wearing a long white coat over a light blue sweater.

It was Vexen, the boy from the halloween night. "A-are you okay!?" stuttered Demyx running up to him. Roxas joined him, following Xigbar and Axel.

"Y-yeah we're really sorry!" exclaimed Roxas with worry written on his face. "We didn't mean to hit you!"

The long haired boy snarled, dusting himself off. "I'm fine! Maybe next time you should watch where you're throwing snow at people!"

Axel glared, crossing his arms. "We said we were sorry. Don't be mean." He neared his face dangerously closer to Vexen's, whom gulped. They were of the same height, but the redhead was still intimidating.

"Hello cousin, what's going on mate?" spoke a child-like, male british voice, and they all looked to see it was a boy with platinum blond, caesar cut hair, and electric blue eyes. He wore a black sweater and jeans, along with an ear piercing.

Ignoring Axel closeby, he pointed to him and his friends, a grimace on his lips. "These mongrels threw a snowball at me!"

"I-it was an accident!" exclaimed Demyx, motioning with hands that he didn't want any trouble.

Vexen snorted. "Incorrect! Yo-"

But he was interrupted when the unknown boy laughed, and he slung an arm around his cousin's neck. "Chill little cuz, I'm sure they didn't mean it." He looked to them, and smirked. "I'm Luxord Highwind, and as you already know, this is my cousin Vexen Collen. Sorry about him, he can snotty sometimes."

Vexen glared, and huffed shoving his older cousin off. "and you're an imbecile."

Luxord chuckled. "You're just jealous I can beat you at cards. Every time."

The blond opened his mouth retort when Axel interjected. "Wait...Highwind? Are you related to the bus driver Cid Highwind?"

Luxord smirked. "Ah yes, I am. He's my father. He's amazing he is...and my mum is Yuffie, the school teacher."

The redhead blinked surprised, but then grinned. Who knew the bus driver and elementary teacher were married, but being a kid he didn't really pay attention to such things. "Okay cool. So, wanna join us in our snowball war? We're on two teams though, so you'll have to pick a side."

"A game?" Luxord's eyes brightened, excited, and Axel took a step back, a bit weirded out. "Bloody awesome! Course I'll join! What about you Vexen?"

"No thanks." He turned about to walk away, when another voice spoke.

"Can we join too?" They all looked to see it was a very tall boy with short wavy brown hair and slightly dark skin, and the one who spoke being a short boy with dark blue hair covering half of his face. Lexeaus and Zexion, the two boys from school.

"Hell yeah, the more the merrier mate!" invited Xigbar. The two boys smiled, and Vexen stared at Zexion, whom stared back. Both blushed then quickly looked away quickly.

"I...suppose I could...join..." muttered Vexen, still pink in the cheeks.

"That's the spirit cousin!" replied Luxord, wrapping an arm round him.

"Don't touch me."

He rolled his eyes and pulled away. "Tsk. Touchy." But he knew his cousin loved him, he just would never admit it. Vexen was cold outside because he got it from his father, whom never showed affection, but unlike him, somewhere in that cold shell was kindness, thanks to his mother Lucrecia, whom he visited often. She had divorced Hojo because of his unloving personality and remarried a man named Vincent.

But despite his problems at home, the blond had proved he had a heart whenever Luxord got sick. He would come over his house and help his parents take care of his older cousin best as he could, and he always got better. Not mention there were other small kind gestures he did, though they weren't all the time.

"You guys ready?" yelled out Axel.

"Yeah!" cried out Demyx, and the game began. Vexen and Zexion were Xigbar's side, Luxord and Lexeaus were on Axel's side. The battle was more wild than ever, with more laughs and screams of joy. Eventually they tired out, and since no one counted on points or anything, they decided to leave it a tie. Not to mention the sun was setting, and it was getting late.

"That was fun mate." breathed Luxord, sprawled out in the snow with the others. "Not a bad game."

"Yeeep." stretched Xigbar. "Next time I'll win for sure."

"In your dreams." smirked Axel, arms behind his head.

"Boys! Time to go inside!" called Aerith, walking up to them, and smiled. "I see we have more friends. Would you all like to have some hot cocoa before you head home?"

"Bloody yes! I love me some good cocoa!" stood up Luxord.

Vexen rolled his eyes at his relative, standing up and dusting off snow from his clothes. "I'll have some I guess."

"Me too." spoke Zexion in a shy voice, and Lexeaus just...nodded. Apparently he didn't speak much.

Aerith giggled. "Cmon in then dears! Its freezing out here anyway."

"Cmon Axey!" called Roxas, picking up his moogle doll and pulling his redheaded friend along. Axel just grinned and eagerly went along.

Zexion and Vexen both bumped shoulders when they tried to enter the doorway at the same time, and the blue haired boy blushed, stuttering lowly. "S-sorry..."

Vexen also went slightly red on the cheeks, glancing away and pushing up his glasses. "Its fine...you can go first..." The shorter boy did so, and he followed inside.

Aerith's girl friends except Yuffie left, and they joined the boys in drinking hot cocoa and eating homemade lasagna. Then they watched christmas movies on tv together until it was finally time for everyone to go home. The children's parents picked them up and Luxord left with his mother Yuffie, saying their goodbyes until finally it was just Aerith, Roxas, and Axel.

"Mommy can we stay up a little more? I want Axey to help me put the train together. We can sleep next to the tree! Pleeeaaase?" begged the short blond.

Aerith smiled. "Oh alright, but don't stay up too late okay?"

The blond nodded and smiled. "Okay."

"Come and help me get the bean bags then."

"I'll help too..." offered Axel, and minutes later all three finished setting up the bed bags. Roxas began taking out his train, and the redhead stretched out on his bed.

"Goodnight Roxas, goodnight Axel." yawned the brunette woman, turning off all the lights except for the ones on the tree, which looked more lovely being the only light source, its colorful lights glowing in the room.

"Goodnight." replied both youngsters.

The redhead laid there quietly, his emerald eyes staring at his silly reflection on a red, shiny round glass ornament, the small lights giving it other soft shades against its surface.

Finished pulling out the train cars and the plastic tracks, Roxas pouted. "Axey help me? Pretty please?"

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Okay okay." That damn pout gets me every time.

Half hour later, the silver metal train was choo chooing around the christmas tree, its tiny wheels turning as it went round and round. "We did it!" exclaimed Roxas, watching the miniature locomotive, then glanced at his buddy. "Isn't it cool Axey?"

The redhead grinned. "Yeah." Their eyes met, the multicolored tiny lights reflected on their eyes. Sapphire and Emerald. Roxas smiled back, and went forward giving a soft peck on his lips. Axel's face changed to the same color of his hair, and the blond burst into giggles.

Axel slowly smirked, and returned another small kiss, until both burst into laughter. They continued watching the train, talking about silly childish things, until they gradually grew tired, and tucked themselves into their bean bags, saying goodnight to one another. They laid right next to each other, the redhead's warm hand on Roxas', whom held Cookie against him.

The young pyro watched the snow cascading outside the frosted window, like a gentle trance, his mind filled with thoughts the day's wonderful events, of his new friends, of Reno, and of course most importantly, Roxas. He smiled to himself, his eyes growing heavy, until finally, he entered sleep.

Christmas wasn't so bad after all.

A/n: I like MarVex, but VexZex I love more. Dw about Lexy, I love him too, and he'll get his love eventually as well. :)