The hunt for Evy was afoot yet again. But unlike the first the they had no idea where she had run off to this time. Elise was on one end of the castle and Claire on the other looking for her. And Dante, doing what his mother told him, was running to Aqua's room to get her help. Huffing and puffing he stormed down the hallway while at the same time Aqua was just arriving back to her room after her talk with Terra.

"Aqua!" she heard someone call out her name, making her do a quick side sweep to see who it was, though she could already tell who it was by how pitchy the voice was. Dante quickly stopped in front of her and took in some breaths

"Dante? Where'd you come from?" she asked as Dante stopped his breathing and spoke just long enough to say

"Mommy's room…*cough*" he said then took in another set of breaths while his sister looked at him amazed

"You ran all the way here?" she asked as Danted franctically nodded and kept breathing heavily.

"Mommy needed *breathe* me to *breathe* to…" he tried to say with a sense of ergency in his voice but couldn't through catching his breath.

"Mom what?" she asked as Dante put out his hand and made a fist with his index finger pointing out to tell to wait one moment for him to catch his breath.

Now her master wouldn't codone this, but Aqua couldn't stand seeing her brother like this. So she brought out her keyblade and pointed it at Dante

"Heal!" a greenish aura built up at the hilt of her blade then escaped into Dante, rejuvenating his body then expelling itself above his head, taking the form of a flower as it did.

"Whoa… I feel awesome!" Dante said as he jumped and did a few quick movements. Turns out that casting heal on someone so young gives them a big energy boast. "I feel like I could jump to moon right now!"

"Dante calm down!" Aqua told him, wanting to hear what he had to say. Dante immediately stepped into line, Aqua sounded a lot like their mother and Dante feared the sound of her voice when it sounded serious. Taking a deep breath and restraining himself as best he could Dante let out the message

"Evy woke up and ran off again and we can't find her!" Dante explained as Aqua let out a short gasp

"Oh no"

"I know. Mom and Terra's mom are looking for her now but they wanted me to get you to help too"

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!" Aqua said as she ran down the hallway with Dante tailing close behind her. While Aqua had lived here for years she might need a little more help from someone who knew the castle equally as well. So instead of just jumping into finding Evy she was instead heading to his room.

Meanwhile

Terra had woken up from his power nap and was doing some quick stretches in front of a mirror. When he was all loosened up he summoned his keyblade

"Ok I may not be as good at this as Aqua but this should be simple" he said to himself as he got into a calm mood to concentrate. As he did this a goldish aura built up at the end of his blade. He then pointed his blade toward him and and moved it from his feet up to the top of his chest. As he did the goldish aura surrounded him and transformed his clothes into the proper attire for a santa look a like. His red pants sagged a little bit and his coat had a lot of open space between his stomach and the coat. Noticing this he grabbed a pillow or two from his bed and stuffed them under his jacket. He looked at himself in the mirror to make he looked just right "Oh, almost forgot" he told himself as he whipped out his keyblade again and brought the end of it to his face. The aura spread over his face and took shape into a bread and red santa hat. He put his blade away and took one more look in the mirror. "Perfect" he said to himself as he got out of his room and started down the hallway. He felt a really good sense of satisfaction from doing this. On one hand he was making a great memory for Dante and on the other he was making Aqua happy, a win win. That thought of making Aqua happy was helping him make a apporiate smile for the santa act he was about to pull. As he entered the front room he looked at the tree, all decorated and colorful with some presents at the bottom of it

'guess one of our moms set up the gifts' Terra thought as he kept looking at the tree. Then his ears pricked up as the sound of two sets of footsteps echoed down the hallway

"Showtime" he said to himself as he got behind the tree to surprise them. As the steps got louder Terra could tell the time was at hand for him to jump out. He grabbed a random gift and prepared himself to step out into the brightly lights coming off the tree when.

"And I beat you!" he heard Des yell out making him jump back behind the tree

'what's she doing here!?' Terra yelled out in his head. The last thing he wanted was for Des to see him like this. He'd never be able to live down the embarrassment

"YOU CHEATED!" Terra heard Ven yell out as he entered the room

"How did I cheat?"

"I… I don't you know you just did" Ven said stumbling on his words as Des let out a chuckle

"Maybe your just not as fast as you think you are" Des said cockly as Ven took a breath in his defeat

"You just got lucky is all. Now wait here I'll be right back" He said as Des noded and watched him run off.

'what are they doing up it's almost 11?' Terra thought then rolled his eyes when he realized how stupid that question was 'it's Christmas eve who actually falls straight asleep on this night?' he thought as he stood still and heard Des go down the stairs to the front doors. 'Still what are they doing?' he wondered as a loud creak echoed through the room from the opening of the closet down by the door. 'well I shouldn't look to far into it. I mean it's Ven and he hasn't really done anything really bad ever, so I can trust him to be alone with my sister' Terra leaned against the wall and shut his eyes to pass the time for Aqua to come with Dante and to think about other things then how hot the inside of his suit was

Meanwhile by the front doors…

Des was getting her jacket and putting it on with her wool hat, getting nice and warm for the cold weather outside. When she was properly dressed she courtesly pulled out Ven's jacket, or what she assumed was Ven's jacket.

'I wonder what he's getting? Probably some hot chocolate or something' she laughed in her head at the cliché but grinned at it 'though it's still nice' she thought as she heard foot steps coming from the stairs behind her. She smiled thinking she knew who it was

"Ok ready to go out DUHNUH!..." Des yelled out as she felt her neck pinch. Then a familiar feeling kicked in, something she had almost forgotten, that caused her to collapse on the ground and pass out.

"That's what you get" Evy said as she crouched down and took off Des's jacket and put it on her along with the wool hat and scarf. She stuffed her blue up in the hat so that Ven wouldn't notice it was her. Now Ven wouldn't know who she really was because most of her face was concealed. When she finished dressing for the weather she quickly pushed Des into the closet and threw a jacket in there on her so she was covered up. Now no one could see her and would think she was just a pile of jackets at the bottom of the closet. "Everything's going good, now he should be back any moment" She whispered to herself. After she got away from Dante she went back to Ven's room and overheard their little get together. When she heard that she quickly concocted a plan to use her new skill to neutrializa Des and get Ven to herself.

When they left his room she followed behind them at a safe distance and waited for the right moment to get Des out of the picture and so far she thought this plan was going good. Then, just as she closed the closet, she heard some loud foot steps echoing down the stairway "Right on cue" she said as she cleared he throat so she could do a impersonation of Des's voice.

"I'm perfect and I can get Ven because I'm a dumb fluesy" she said in a almost spot on match to Des's voice tone. She smilled under her scarf, then a few seconds later Ven was down the steps with a thermas

"Ok I'm back!" he said happly as he shook the thermas "and I got eggnog"

"Cool" Evy said as Ven proceeded to open up the closet. Evy broke a sweat as Ven reached in and grabbed a jacket on one of the hangers instead of the ones on that were covering Des. She let out a breath of relief making Ven look at her

"Something wrong?"

"What? Uh no it's just… a little stuffy in here is all" Evy said thinking on the sly. Ven couldn't put his finger on it but something wasn't right here. Was it him or did Des look a little shorter than he remembered and did her voice sound just the tiniest bit odd. He shook the thought off rather quickly, thinking he was looking to far into something that wasn't there.

"Well then let's get outside it's probably easier to breathe out there" he said quickly putting on his jacket and opening one of the doors for her like a chivalric gentleman. Evy smiled as she thanked them and stepped out of the castle with him.

Just as they left, Terra emerged from behind the tree upstairs

"Finally and now time for this show to roll…" he began to say as he heard another set of twin footsteps coming from down the hall. "… in 5 seconds" he told himself as he let out a breath and kneeled down to grab a present to seem like he was setting one down. He heard the foot steps get louder and louder until… they stopped. His cue had been reached, he grabbed onto the present and stood up and tried to act shocked like a santa clause would if he was caught in the act. Though when he fully turned around he no longer had to act shocked because the 2 people who were there weren't the people he expected.

"Ha he he Terra?" His mother asked as Aqua's mother let out a few chuckles along side her. The only way to describe the embarrassment that Terra felt would be to compare it to a bomb filled with embarrassment next to several other smaller bombs atop a huge bomb labled 'embarrassment' in bold white all going off at the same time.

"W-what are you both doing here?" he asked as they both tried to console themselves.

"We're looking for Evy" Claire told him, trying to get seious but still letting out a small giggle or two at the way Terra looked

"Again? But she should still be out from when I hit her pressure point" Terra said surprised that this happened

"You must have hit it slightly away from the direct pressure point. If you don't hit it dead on then their not going to receive the full effect" Elise explained as Terra looked surprised

"I didn't know that, had I known I would've tried to be more precise"

"It's ok Terra you were only trying to help me and I do thank you for that" Claire said as Terra grinned

"Thanks and your welcome. If you need some help then give me a minute or two and I'll be with you"

"Why you going up the chimey now?" Elise joked at her son making Claire let out a giggle. Terra let out a sigh and rolled his eyes

"Ha ha mom…" he said sarcastically "… actually I'm waiting for Aqua and Dante"

"Huh why?" Claire asked wanting to know what her children were up to

"Aqua asked me if I could dress up like santa for Dante to be nice and I'm guessing make this Christmas a little more memorable for him." Terra explained as both mothers grinned

"Aw that's so sweet Terra!" his mother applauded

"That's really nice of you Terra. Thanks" Claire said as Terra returned her kind thanks with a nod. Then from the opposite hallway they heard another set of footsteps, and this time there was no doubt who it was.

"Oh here they come!" Claire said excitedly as Terra got back into his postion

"If you don't mind could you both please play along?"

"Of course Terra" his mom said as Aqua and Dante entered the room

"Where are we going?" Dante asked as he and Aqua slowed down. No use wasting all their energy in one burst unless they actually knew where Evy was

"We're heading to Terra's room, we're goignt to need the extra help" Aqua explained as she and her brother were about to cross the tree. Terra seeing their shadows knew they were very close. So to alert them that he or 'santa claus' was there he did the classic thing every imitator did to sell the act

"Ho Ho Ho!" Both Dante and Aqua looked surprised when they heard that

"What the…?"

"Aqua did you hear that?' Dante asked as Aqua nodded.

'is it that late already? Bad timing very bad timing' Aqua thought to herself as Terra began to hum a Christmassy tune to lure Dante in, which of course it did. Dante rushed over the tree to see his mother and Terra's mother smiling at their vistor

"Dante look who came" Claire said as she pointed to Terra who turned around and smiled.

"Why hello Dante" he said as he turned around knelt down. Dante took a few seconds to process that this was happening. Then he rushed to Terra/Santa and hugged him and he hugged back

"Santa!"

"Have you been a good boy this year Dante?" Terra asked as Dante franctically shook his head up and down

"Yes I have santa does that mean I get toys this year?"

"Well of course it does my boy, I wouldn't be here right now otherwise" Terra said in a hearty tone as rubbed Dante's hair then set him down. Dante was gleaming happy, this was almost unreal to him

"Aqua Aqua come here!" Dante ordered her as he reached up for her hand and dragged her into view. Terra chuckled and waved at Aqua and she waved back giving Terra goofy smile due to the way he looked.

"Hey Santa"

"Why hello Aqua I know you've been good this year" Terra said as Aqua giggled

"Thanks Santa" she said then looked over to her mother "Did you find her yet?"

"No… and I'm starting to worry" Claire said as she looked down at the ground sadly and disappointedly.

"Hey we'll find her" Elise said laying her hand on Claires shoulder to show support while the other on looked the scene. Dante didn't like what he was seeing, his mother sad wasn't the most pleasant of sights to him and wanted to do something to make her happy again. Just then Dante got a idea

"Santa!" Dante exclaimed as Terra looked down at him

"What?"

"You see people when their sleeping and you know when their awake, that means where Evy is right?" Dante said eagerly to Terra who looked a little paniced

"Um-uh…" and thus Terra was backed up into a cornor. If he lied then would eagerly look in that direction and drag his mother and sister with him and they wouldn't be able to say a thing against Terra's word because Dante would go 'he's santa why would he lie'. And if he told him he couldn't then Dante would ask why and he'd have to think of some kind of half baked answer, and let's face it Dante was as dull as other kids his age were. Knowing this dilemma Aqua chose to jump in

"But uh Dante he needs to go give gifts to the other kids" Aqua told him as Dante looked at her and Terra did a quick thumbs up to thank her for the save

"But we could be up all night looking for her. Santa kind find in seconds right?" he asked then looked back to Terra who found himself put into the same cornor he was in a couple seconds ago.

"Dante let the man go, he needs make other kids happy" Claire told him gingerly

"But mom!" Dante whined as Claire was going to say something else before they heard a loud noise coming from the entrance

"AHHHUHHHHHH…"

"What was that?" Elise asked as everyone else looked down to the front doors

"I think came from down stairs" Claire added

"It sounded like someone moaning" Aqua added

"Whatever the case we need to check it out" Terra said as everyone then ran for the front door. Except for Terra, who used this opportunity to sneak away before Dante would catch wise to him. He quickly ran off to one of the hallways and summoned his keyblade, then with a quick swish over from head to toe the cotume disappeared, beard and all. Then he started back to the front room.

Aqua, Dante and the mothers had gotten down to the front doors and found the source of the noise. It was coming from the closet. Aqua took it upon herself to see what was in there. As she turned the doorknob she felt the door push itself open and a bundle of jackets fell out with someone wrapped in them. Aqua jumped back a foot as did the others

"Whoa!" Aqua said agasped as the thing in the jackets weakly began to stir

"Errr… ow what…."

"Des?" Elise asked in shock as she knelt down to help her daughter up

"OW OW OW Mom stop!" she said as Elise gently let loose of her grip and left as was for the moment.

"Sorry dear but what happened to you?" she asked as she let out a couple deep breaths. While echoing through the halls was another set of footsteps that got everyone's attention

"Evy?" Dante asked as someone rushed down the stairs

"Not quite…" Terra said then let out a gasp when he saw his sister. He rushed to her, and knelt just like his mother. "Des what's wrong?" He asked as Des used what strength she had to push herself up with her arms so they could see her face.

"Evy did this to me" She said with a sneer.

"Evy?" Claire asked as Des nodded

"How?" Aqua as Des rubbed the side of neck. Elise on instinct took her daughter's hand off her kneck to get a look at what was bothering her. She let a gasp when she saw what was ailing her

"What mom?" Terra asked as Elise quickly rubbed her hands together

"Terra hold her for me" she explained as Terra did as told without question. When she finished warming her hands she quickly jabbed at a few points on her neck, shoulder, and upper arm. With one last jab to her neck Des shot up and was able to support herself by her arms.

"Ow what the heck mom"

"Thank god that we found you when we did" Elise said relieved as Terra looked at her

"Why's that"

"I'm guessing Evy figured out where you hit her and thought she could do it herself and tried it on Des. But she hit her wrong and almost caused a paralysis that would've made her lose the use of her lower body"

"What?" They all asked in shock as Elise helped her daughter up, who was still a little weak

"How could use something dangerous like that on your daughter?" Claire asked with a little anger in her voice. It could very well have been Evy that could have been paralyzed if Terra had messed up

"It wasn't like she was the first person I ever did it on and it's not like I did it regularly" She retorted

"By why take the risk?" Aqua asked as Elise remained silent.

"You guys… Evy's outside with Ven" Des said to change the subject, not knowing that that's what they actually needed to know.

"Why's she out there!?" Clair asked in a angry tone as Elise shot her a glare

"Don't you dare yell at my baby" she said coldly

"Please both of you control yourselves…" Aqua said as she got between the mothers then looked at Des

"Why is she out there?"

"She likes Ven and we were heading out there to look at the stars, she took my place so she could be alone with him" She explained as Aqua a nodded a thank you to her.

"Ok come on!" She told her mother and Dante

"I'm coming to" Terra said as Aqua shook her head

"Uh that's ok Terra…" she said as she leaned in close to him and whispered "… I don't think it would be a good idea with my mom being a little mad at your mom right now" she explained as Terra hesitantly nodded

"Ok then" he answered then went over to his mother and picked up Des and cradled her in his arms then went up the steps with his mother and sister. While Aqua, her mother, and Dante got their snow gear on and ran out into the cold to go after Evy.