…I blinked and it was January. Yikes.

Also I got a puppy. Those of you who have had a puppy understand why that is a legit excuse. I'm so tired; he's like having a toddler. A very mischievous, waking me up all night toddler. But he's a little older now, so I can take my eyes off him for long enough to write again! Yayyy! I mean he's the apple of my eye, don't get me wrong, but he's really made it hard to get absolutely anything done since I got him…

So, sorry for making you guys wait this long, but thank you all for being so very patient with me! All of you are so sweet, seriously – I feel like I don't have one reader that's been pushy with me about this story. Thank you for the continued support! I love all of your reviews and messages so much, I read them when I start feeling frustrated or at a loss while writing these chapters. You guys are the best, seriously~

Okay so back into the swing of things: FANART! Here's a new one by Cathy121. Check it out here: sora-katcher (dotdeviantart) (dotcom) / art / Eclipse-of-the-heart-567732729

As always, replace the dot and dotcom with the actual dots and dotcoms and remove the parentheses and spaces to get to the link. Thank you so much, Cathy! I love this one; poor Aila!

If any of you have sent me fanart and I have yet to showcase it, please remind me and I will be sure to link to yours next time! I've gotten a little confused about what I've posted/not posted yet. Also, a few of you are writing stories inspired by this one that I have yet to read! Please remind me about those too and I will get on that – it's so cool that you guys are so inspired by my work, and I'm VERY excited to see what you've all come up with! So sorry for keeping you waiting on that for so long!

Okay, I think we're all caught up now, right? Back to business!

This world was going to be just one long chapter… but as I was trying to finish it last night, I realized I was on page forty-something and still had a handful of scenes left to go. So, I decided to split it. But fear not! This is still like thirty pages, so it's niiiice and long. And that means I've got a good portion of the next chapter already written, so no super long waits for the next one! Wahoo!

Okie doke, let's get this show back on the road! Hope you enjoy! (And sorry if my writing is rusty after that holiday break~ My head feels a little fuzzy from jumping back into all this like, writing words and stuff…)


"Although it is pleasant to think about poison at any season, there is something special about Christmas, and I found myself grinning."

― Alan Bradley, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows


Chapter 52: Secret Santa

"Boom bam, baby!" Aila cried as she took out another Heartless ship, the parts exploding outward into the depths of space in a beautifully dangerous blast.

"'Boom bam, baby'?" Sora repeated, choking back a laugh as he quirked a brow at her.

Aila smiled sheepishly. "Uh… it's a reference from my world… never mind…"

"Gwarsh Aila, I think ya beat me!" Goofy laughed, leaning back in his chair at the control panel after determining that they were no longer under attack.

Aila pumped her fist excitedly. "Yyyyes! Fear my aim, Heartless ships!"

"Okay okay, settle down," Donald sighed with a roll of his eyes, though the way his beak turned upwards at the corners betrayed his good mood.

In fact, the entire group had been in a great mood over the last couple days, something that was honestly quite a relief after all the drama that had been bombarding them in recent weeks. Even Celina was in a good mood, she and Aila having had a long talk about Cyrus and Danny and deciding that it was pointless to worry too much about it right now. Besides, the boys had come up with a plan – next time they came across Danny, they were gonna basically trap him (with help of Donald's magic) and bring him to Merlin for help. Aila wasn't entirely sure how well that would work or what the end result of that would be, but the boys were so gung ho about it that it gave her confidence, and she decided to trust them. Besides, it's not like she had any better ideas. Jiminy was confident that Danny wasn't acting entirely of his own volition, which, as scary as that was, made Aila feel a little better as well – her brother would never really want to kill her, after all. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

But anyway, it was no use worrying about that right now, and so they weren't. It was kind of freeing to have been so honest with the boys, to not be keeping secrets from them anymore.

…Well, except the one about them being video game characters. But whatever. That was kind of just a constant at this point. Honestly, Aila found herself forgetting all about the game now and then, she was so used to this new reality of hers.

"World ahoy!" Sora announced, steering them toward the orange, pumpkin-shaped world that was coming into view.

"Halloween, Halloween!" Aila cheered. "We should try and get candy this time!"

"Why would they give us candy?" Donald asked.

"Trick or Treating? Duh."

"I think that only works if it's on Halloween…"

"…But… this world is like… always Halloween… right?"

"Gwarsh, what month is it right now?" Goofy pondered, putting a hand to his chin.

"November," Jiminy replied, packing up his journals on the control panel in preparation for landing. He glanced up at the group. "So we've missed the holiday, unfortunately."

"Aww," Aila and Sora groaned.

"Well, at least we didn't miss Christmas," Donald shrugged.

"Yeah!" Sora replied, perking up at that. "That's the best holiday anyway." He paused, looking suddenly a little nervous. "Uh… don't tell Jack I said that…"

"Blackmail," Aila chuckled ominously, smirking devilishly in the boy's direction.

Sora narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't you dare."

"Or what?" Aila challenged.

"Or I'll get everyone on this world to use their best scares on you, as practice for next year."

Aila paled. "…Okay, no blackmail." Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all chuckled.

Sora landed the ship in a different location this time (at Aila's insistence that it was definitely not okay to land in a graveyard, Sora!), and Aila closed her eyes as she felt the tingling sensation of her appearance shifting as they broke the world's atmosphere. There was something strangely exciting about opening her eyes to see herself reflected back at her in the Gummi Ship's window all decked out in her creepy Red Riding Hood getup, and though this world filled her with an almost constant sense of foreboding, she found herself glad to be back nonetheless. Her heart rate picked up, and though she was afraid, it was a fun kind of fear that radiated in her bones here. She was starting to understand why the boys had been so happy to return to this world last time.

"How's this, better?" Sora asked as they stepped off the ship into the thick, Halloween Town forest.

"I guess," Aila shrugged, glancing at a couple of now splintered trees that Sora had nicked on their way down. "But uh… you kinda made a mess of things…"

Sora huffed. "You're so picky. Why don't you land us next time then."

"Oh yes, I'm so picky for not wanting to park on some dead bodies and also feeling bad about killing some perfectly innocent trees."

"Admitting it is the first step."

"I will punch you in the face."

"Ha! It's adorable that you think you could."

Aila lunged at Sora, who deftly sidestepped out of the way and left Aila stumbling face first into a tree. Sora erupted into laughter as Aila cradled her now reddening nose, glaring at him over her fingers. "You jerk! You did that on purpose!" she accused angrily.

"It was totally – ah ha ha – accidental, I swear!" Sora replied, not even trying to stifle his laughter. Aila could feel her whole face reddening along with her nose now.

An idea struck her then as she glanced up at the giant moon, and her glare morphed into a smirk, which she imagined was made all the more evil looking by her appearance on this world.

"Uh oh Sora, I think you made her angry," Donald commented with a smirk of his own as he watched Aila's expression shift.

Sora stopped laughing, finally, and took a nervous step back. "Uh… h-hang on…"

Aila held a hand out in front of her. "Lyall? A little help please."

Light pooled at her fingers and shot toward Sora, morphing into the familiar form of the white wolf in a heartbeat. And then Lyall was on him, leaping at the boy and toppling him to the ground before coming to a rest horizontally on his chest, wagging her tail triumphantly at the now slightly dazed boy successfully pinned beneath her.

"Ack! Lyall, get off!" Sora whined, trying to push her away. But Lyall just settled in even more, making a big show of yawning before allowing her entire weight to collapse upon the Keyblader. Donald, Goofy, and Aila burst out laughing, ignoring Sora's protests as he continued to struggle beneath the canine.

"Ah, I've missed you, Lyall," Aila giggled, walking up to the boy and wolf and kneeling down to scratch Lyall behind the ears. Lyall whined happily and wagged her tail, kicking up some dirt into Sora's face.

"Pah! Lyall! No!" Sora protested, covering his face with his hands.

Aila laughed again and poked Sora in the forehead. "That'll teach you to laugh at me when I run into something."

Sora pouted up at her. "I can't laugh at that ever? But it happens so often!" Aila glared down at him and poked him again in reply.

"Hey, are those… presents?" Goofy asked, getting the teens' attention. Aila and Lyall followed Goofy's gaze (and Sora craned his neck to do the same), and lo and behold, there were indeed a smattering of presents littering the ground a short distance away from them all.

"That's weird," Sora mumbled, finally being allowed to sit up as Lyall moved off of him, her head cocked to the side curiously in agreement with his statement.

"Ohhh," Aila breathed quietly, remembering what they were gonna have to do here. She smiled lightly. At last, a world without something super dangerous going on! Looked like the universe had finally decided to give her a break. And to think she'd taken Atlantica for granted before…

"Huh?" Donald muttered, and everyone blinked as they spotted Jack Skellington making his way around a few of the trees, decked out in his Santa costume and dutifully picking up the scattered gifts. Either he heard Donald or just sensed someone there, because not a moment later did he look their way, a grin spreading onto his skeleton face.

"Perfect timing, lady and gentlemen!" he called, hoisting a present above his head with one hand in a sort of greeting. "Lend me a hand, won't you?"

The boys exchanged a curious look, Aila lacing her hands behind her back and all too happily skipping toward the nearest present to begin helping out. This was gonna be easy. Collect the presents, bring them to Santa, save Christmas. No stupid Organization people, no big mean Heartless bosses. Lyall seemed to sense Aila's excitement, the wolf trotting by her side with a skip in her step as well, tail wagging back and forth through the crisp night air.

"What is all this?" Sora asked, brow quirked as he meandered up to Jack.

"These presents must belong to Sandy Claws," Jack explained, stacking a few presents under one arm. "So I thought I'd better return them."

Sora crossed his arms suspiciously. "You just happened to find them?"

"Of course, Sora," Jack scoffed, leaning down and poking a boney finger into Sora's cheek. "I'm finished with Christmas fantasies, you know that!" He straightened up again and walked past the boy, making a beeline for another present.

"But you thought you'd hold onto the suit?" Sora mused with a knowing look in his eye.

Jack shot him a look and a smile. "What, this? It's just a costume. And Sally worked so very hard making it!" He turned away, missing the extremely skeptical look shared between Donald and Goofy. "Come on, we've got work to do!"

Sora sighed and shook his head, obviously not believing Jack's story. Aila, on the other hand, already had a rather impressive tower of presents taking shape in her arms. "Ah! A little help, guys?" she called as the tower threatened to topple. Goofy rushed over and caught the top presents just in time, taking half the stack off her hands with a chuckle.

"You sure don't waste time, Aila," he mused with a smile.

"Well you heard him, Santa needs our help!" she replied with a grin. She shifted her gaze to Sora and smirked. "And maybe if we help him out, he'll put us back on the nice list."

Sora's eyes lit up at that. "Yeah! Good plan!" he gushed, immediately rushing to help pick up presents as well. Goofy chuckled and Donald rolled his eyes, but they both began to help out too.

Before long, all the presents had been gathered, even Lyall carrying a couple very gingerly by their ribbons between her massive jaws. Through the door to Christmas Town they went, tumbling into the snow on the other side and, as a result, finding their presents scattered all around them once again.

"Aw phooey," Donald sighed, shaking some snow off of his beak and glaring at the presents that had escaped his arms.

"Ah! Monsters!"

They glanced to their right to see two little elves who appeared to have been taking a walk up on the hill, their eyes wide with fright as they took in the group that had just burst out of the tree before them.

"No, we're not—!" Sora began, but the elves had run off in a panic before he could finish his thought.

"Well that was rude," Jack scoffed. "You'd think they'd remember us after last time! We did save Sandy Claws, after all."

"Maybe they didn't see all that go down," Aila shrugged. She glanced around at their Halloweenified group. "I mean, we do look kinda scary…"

"Gwarsh, maybe we should change our clothes?" Goofy asked, examining his own outfit.

"Well, I for one came prepared with proper Christmas garb," Jack said importantly, adjusting his hat with a proud smirk. He gave a pointed look to everyone else. "You all could at least try to look festive, don't you think?"

"I think we look less scary than a skeleton wearing a Santa outfit," Donald mumbled to the gang, all of whom nodded in agreement.

"What was that?" Jack asked innocently, leaning in and quirking a brow, genuinely interested in hearing whatever he'd just missed Donald say.

"Nothing," Sora chuckled. He turned to Donald. "I mean… do you think you could do something to make us look, uh… less scary or whatever, Donald?"

Donald sighed, summoning his staff. "I guess. I think it's a waste of magic though."

"Well uh, if it'll keep the residents here from gettin' all scared of us, then I don't think it's a waste," Goofy said with a shrug. He smiled and ran a finger under his nose. "Besides, I think it'd be fun to get all Christmasified!"

Aila blinked. This was an interesting turn of events. Was Donald really gonna change their outfits…?

"Okay, come on, huddle up," Donald instructed, urging the gang to move in closer together. They did as he said, Aila still feeling entirely confused by what was happening here. Donald held up his staff and cleared his throat. "All right, everybody hold still…"

He waved his staff, and Aila gasped as snow erupted around them all, swirling around and around with such ferocity that Aila had to shut her eyes to keep little bits of ice from stinging them. At last, she felt the snow calm, so she blinkingly opened her eyes to take in the gang's new looks.

And nearly fell over at the sight of them all.

Sora's change was the least shocking, his black Halloween Town outfit having really just been slightly altered. From the waist down he looked the same (though maybe the red ribbons twinning up his legs were a little brighter), and his jacket just seemed to have gotten a little thicker overall, now with white fur lining the top, bottom, and edges of his sleeves. His gloves were black now instead of white (though still clawed, Aila noted with a bit of confusion) and they too were lined with white fur along the edges. A thick brown belt now kept his jacket secured in place, and the little pumpkin mask that had adorned his head had been replaced with an oversized black Santa hat that fell over his right eye, white fur lining its edge and in a little puff at the tip of the hat. Overall, a subtle change, not even his color scheme having been touched.

Donald and Goofy, on the other hand, had completely changed.

Goofy was now a reindeer. Yes, a reindeer, albeit a bipedal one. Aila supposed she shouldn't be so weirded out, seeing how Goofy was normally a bipedal dog, but him being a bipedal reindeer was… really odd for some reason. His toes were now hooves, his body covered in thick brown fur in lieu of actual clothing, though there was inexplicably a thick brown belt around his middle to… hold up his fur? Maybe the fur was just some kinda onesie and not actually fur? Whatever, moving on. A short red cloak rested on his shoulders, lined with white fur on the bottom and what appeared to be an ornamented wreath on the top, and he had thick brown mittens on his hands, also lined with white fur. His nose was now red and glowing, and sprouting from his head were black, tall, curly antlers that completed the reindeer look.

Aaand Donald had made himself a snowman. Out of all the things he could have picked, Aila had to seriously question the duck's judgment here. Was it really smart to be made out of snow?! Would he melt if they went inside? What if he got hit, would he fall apart?! Of course, it seemed that would only be a problem if he got hit in his middle – his head was still his head, and seemed to be very much not made of snow. That was good at least. But his middle was definitely the middle of a snowman. Has it been mentioned that he chose to turn himself into a snowman? His arms were now comprised of wooden sticks, and he had two buttons on his chest right below a red and green scarf around his neck. Also his tail was now a tiny shovel. Because snowman. His feet had little fur lined red warmers on them, which were kinda cute, and there was a bucket on his head in place of a hat.

Yeah. A bucket hat. That was a normal choice.

Aila was almost scared to check out her own outfit after seeing the boys, but, taking a deep breath, she finally looked down to see what had become of her.

Thankfully, she was mostly in the same boat as Sora, with her outfit just having been "touched up" rather than entirely morphed into something new. Her cloak was a slightly brighter red now and no longer tattered, the edges and hood now lined with white fur (Donald really seemed to like giving them all a bit of that). Her brown gloves were also fur-lined now, which made them especially cozy. Similarly to her cloak, her white dress was no longer dingy or torn, the material now sparkling like the snow around her, and she had a bit of white fur lining the tops of her brown boots now as well. Her thick white tights were rip free and delightfully warm, and as she felt the left side of her head she realized that there seemed to be a sprig of holly with berries in her hair now, which otherwise still flowed loosely over her shoulders. She smiled, satisfied with this change and secretly noting that she definitely looked the cutest out of them all. (What? She could admit that she liked looking cute sometimes. At least she wasn't a snowman.)

Well, the cutest besides Lyall, who now also had a sprig of holly tied around her neck with a thick red ribbon that ended in a beautiful, festive bow. Lyall barked happily and ran around in a few circles, clearly excited at being included in their little dress up activity.

"Marvelous!" Jack applauded, practically jumping up and down in excitement. "You all look simply marvelous!"

"Why do I still have claws?" Sora asked, flexing his fingers with a rather perplexed look on his face.

"It was too hard to change," Donald replied with a wave of his hand.

Sora quirked a brow. "My fingers were too hard to change, but you could totally revamp yourself and Goofy?"

"Well we needed the biggest changes," Donald defended, crossing his arms with a huff. "You and Aila were basically fine the way you were."

"Ahyuck! My toes feel funny!" Goofy laughed, sitting in the snow and extending a foot out before him, wiggling the two parts of his hoof back and forth like toes.

Aila put a hand to her chin and poked Donald in the side, making the duck jump. "So, like… can we take your head off when you're like this? Since you're made of snow now?"

"No!" Donald squawked, glaring up at Aila and putting his hands on his hips. "It's just a costume, like how in Halloween Town you couldn't put your hand through my middle despite it looking like that part of me was missing."

"Oh," Aila replied, a little disappointed at that revelation. Donald apparently didn't like that reaction and promptly bopped her on the head with his staff. "Ow!"

"Why the bucket?" Sora asked, a twinkle in his eye as he looked Donald over, obviously in teasing mode now.

Donald shrugged. "I couldn't think of anything Christmas-y to wear that wasn't just another hat like yours."

"I mean, when I hear 'bucket' I definitely think 'Christmas'," Aila mused with a nod.

Sora nodded as well. "Totally. Christmas Buckets are all the rage on the Islands."

Donald blinked. "Really?"

"No," Aila and Sora deadpanned at the same time. They then ran for cover to avoid Donald smacking them both for their cheekiness.

"Okay everyone, let's get these presents back where they belong!" Jack announced, getting everyone's attention. And so they gathered up the presents once again and, in their new states of maybe-slightly-less-horrifying-than-before, they made their way down into the town. Surprisingly, it seemed that Donald's magic had worked, the little elves bustling here and there within the town's limits smiling and waving at the group now as they passed rather than screaming and running away. Well, Aila saw some of them still giving Jack some nervous glances… but overall this was much better.

Aila glanced over at Sora as they walked, trying not to giggle at the absolutely mystified look on his face as they trekked through the square. He really did love Christmas, and things seemed to be in full swing for the holiday around town right now – the elves were all singing festive music together while they worked, scurrying to and fro with sparkling presents, some leading majestic, proud-looking reindeer from one side of town to the other. Aila couldn't help but feel her heart fill with that familiar feeling of Christmas cheer as she took it all in, her steps feeling a little lighter as she nodded her head along with the music in the air. Jack on the other hand was absolutely beside himself, babbling excitedly about every little thing they passed. He would just not shut up. It was kind of cute, but if this was how their entire visit here was going to go, it was gonna get old fast. He was clearly still fascinated with Christmas despite his insistence otherwise, maybe even more fascinated than he had been on their previous visit. He 'ooh'd and 'ah'd at each snowflake and song, and Aila thought Donald would probably be whacking him with his staff right about now if his arms weren't so full of presents…

Before long they were entering Santa's house, Aila letting out a contented sigh as the welcoming scent of peppermint and gingerbread engulfed her. She'd forgotten how nice and cozy it felt in here.

"Oh!" Santa exclaimed, catching sight of the group as they rounded the corner into his living room. He put down the list he'd been examining and hurried to help them put the presents on the table, the old man looking absolutely baffled – albeit pleased – about the delivery. "Wherever did you find these?"

"In Halloween Town," Jack replied, handing Santa his last present. Santa snatched the present out of Jack's hand and quickly inspected the package, obviously still distrustful of the skeleton man. "You'll be needing them for Christmas, right, Sandy?"

"Of course," Santa mumbled, looking the gifts over with a critical eye. He frowned. "But these are just a few of the Christmas presents that were stolen."

"Stolen?!" Sora exclaimed, seeming almost personally insulted by such a thing. There was a pause, and then, as one, the boys and Santa all looked pointedly at Jack.

Jack scratched the side of his head with a spindly finger. "Oh, Sandy… You don't think it was ME?"

"Still wearing the outfit, I see," was Santa's reply, an eyebrow quirking at Jack in a silent accusation.

"I just thought I'd dress for the occasion," Jack defended, puffing out his chest. He gestured to the gang. "They did too, but they get a pass?"

"Well you'll notice that none of them are copying my look," Santa replied easily before smirking and winking at the gang. "You do all look quite festive this time around, though."

"Thank you, Santa," Donald said smugly. He smirked at Sora and Aila. "See?"

"He's too polite to mention the bucket," Sora muttered to Aila, who giggled. Donald glared at them, but, seeing how they were in Santa's house, didn't retaliate.

"But, if you don't believe me…" Jack was continuing with a dramatic sigh. He straightened up, a new confidence radiating from him. "Then we'll just have to find out who really did it!"

Santa tapped his chin as he thought the proposal over. At last, he nodded. "Very well, I'll leave it to you."

"All right!" Jack cheered, turning to the gang. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aila!" Lyall barked, annoyed at having been left out. "And Lyall, of course." He then pointed dramatically to the door with a "We're off!" before marching back out into the snow. The boys paused, shared a look, and then as one let out a heavy sigh, no doubt regretting the fact that they'd just let Jack pull them into yet another one of his crazy schemes.

Aila giggled. "Don't worry guys – I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"You haven't known Jack for long enough," Sora sighed, running a hand down his face.

Santa chuckled. "Yes, he has a knack for getting into trouble, doesn't he?"

"I think he likes it," Donald grumbled.

"Well uh, trouble does seem kinda Halloween-like," Goofy pointed out. "Maybe he just can't help it."

"Oh, he can, he just gets far too excited about things," Santa sighed. He smiled a little. "I suppose it's that child still alive in his heart that makes him a good holiday leader…"

"Is that how you do it, Santa?" Donald asked curiously.

Santa's eyes twinkled. "Well that's certainly a part of it. It's important to never forget your inner child, don't you think so?"

"Definitely," Goofy agreed with a laugh.

Sora smiled, resting his hands behind his head. "Yeah, that's true. Besides, being a grown up seems boring."

"Down with growing up!" Aila cheered, Lyall barking excitedly in agreement.

"Well you gotta grow up a little," Donald chastised with a roll of his eyes. "Just don't block out the kid inside you entirely."

"That's exactly right, Donald," Santa replied with a nod.

"Aw," Aila pouted.

"Let's just go live in Neverland," Sora suggested to her with a grin. "Then we'll never have to grow up at all!"

Aila laughed. "Hooray! I'm down!"

"Are you two even listening?!" Donald squawked, stomping a foot in frustration.

"Uh, guys?" Jack asked, poking his head around the hall corner, apparently having wandered back inside after realizing he wasn't being followed. "Are you coming along or…?"

A crash from the workshop interrupted Jack, making everyone jump.

"What's that racket?" Santa asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the door leading into the factory.

"Don't worry Santa, we'll check it out," Sora assured, already making his way toward the door.

"Yes! Onward, my friends! I have a feeling a clue to our present thief's identity will be just behind these doors!" Jack exclaimed dramatically, bounding toward the door as well and shoving Sora aside so he could enter first. Sora glared after the skeleton man before quickly following in his footsteps, Donald, Goofy, Aila, and Lyall hot on his heels.

"Aila, just a moment," Santa called, causing the last four of them to skid to a stop. "Would you mind helping me get these presents sorted away while the boys investigate? I could really use a helping hand."

"Oh, uh," Aila started, caught off guard by the question. "Sure, I guess." She glanced at Donald and Goofy. "I guess tell Sora and Jack I'll catch up in a minute?"

"Okie doke!" Goofy said with a nod and a smile, and then he and Donald continued into the workshop, leaving Aila and Lyall behind with Santa.

"Be good!" Donald called before the door closed, and Aila rolled her eyes. Like that even needed to be said when she was being left with Santa Claus.

"So, where should we put these, Mr. Claus?" Aila asked, Lyall trotting on her heels as she made her way over to the table full of presents.

Santa chuckled. "Please Aila, just call me Santa."

Aila smiled. "Right. Santa, sorry."

"No need to apologize," Santa replied with yet another chuckle. "Now then, let's put these over by the fire, shall we? I need this table cleared so I can get some work done."

"Sure," Aila replied, gathering a few presents in her arms and doing as Santa instructed. Not that she minded helping, but she had to wonder why Santa needed her help with this – there weren't that many presents, and even if he was moving them on his own, it wouldn't take him more than a minute or two, surely. She cast a quick glance at the old man, and immediately her confusion increased – he had a complicated look on his face, like he was thinking through something very serious. "Um… Santa? Is everything okay?"

"Hm?" Santa asked, gathering a few presents in his own arms. He caught Aila's eye and smiled a little. "Ah, you caught me, did you? I confess I actually wanted to talk to you alone – though I do need this table cleared as well…"

Aila quirked a brow. "Me? Why…? I mean… What about?"

Santa made his way over to the fireplace to deliver his load of presents, Aila following his lead and doing the same. She could feel herself starting to get nervous when he didn't answer her right away, so she decided to busy herself with another load of presents to distract herself. The silence stretched an almost uncomfortable number of seconds, until at last, Santa spoke again.

"You've been lying to them."

Aila stumbled, nearly dropping all the presents she'd gathered back onto the table once again. She turned to Santa, who was still standing by the fire. "S… sorry?"

Santa sighed. "I know the world you're from, Aila. And I know that you've known about these worlds, and the people you've met here, for much longer than only a few months."

Aila could feel herself paling, her mouth suddenly feeling very dry. "O… oh…" She looked away, focusing on steadying the presents in her arms. "I uh, forgot that you might know about that…" Part of Santa's job description was kind of to know everything that happened in the lives of children, after all…

"I know this must all seem very complicated," Santa offered, walking back over to the table and gathering a few more presents as well, Aila shuffling past him to deliver her load next to the fire. "The last time you were here, I didn't press the issue, because it was all still a relatively recent development, and I understand that it's a confusing topic to breach." Aila knelt down, stacking the presents as carefully as she could and doing her best not to look completely freaked out by this conversation, finding herself glancing toward the door every few moments and desperately hoping that none of the boys were listening on the other side. "But now, months later, you still haven't told the boys the truth about what you know." Aila felt Santa kneel down next to her, stacking his own presents next to hers. "So tell me: why is that?"

Aila glanced over to the old man, biting the inside of her cheek. "I mean… like you said, it's… complicated…"

Santa frowned. "And, like I said, I understand that. What I don't understand is keeping such a massive secret from the people you now consider your closest friends." He fussed with the bow of a present that had been a little roughed up, fixing it so it looked absolutely perfect once again. "Your hearts have grown very close to one another, I can tell. And that is why I feel I need to caution you against continuing in this lie; the closer the bond between people, the more easily a lie can damage a heart."

"But I haven't lied," Aila argued lightly. "I just… haven't told them everything. That's different, isn't it?"

"A lie of omission is still a lie," Santa replied firmly. Lyall dropped a present at his side, distracting him for a moment. "Ah, thank you very much, my dear," he chuckled, scratching Lyall gratefully behind her ears. He glanced back at Aila and sighed. "I don't mean to worry you unnecessarily, Aila, but I must implore you to reconsider keeping this secret. If the boys were to find out from someone other than yourself…"

"They won't find out," Aila argued. "Nobody else knows."

"No one?"

Aila frowned, Axel's face swimming into her mind's eye. "…Well… only people I trust not to tell them…"

"What about Danny?" He spoke the name delicately, in a way that told Aila he knew about the problems the two siblings had been having, at least to some extent. Aila winced unintentionally at the mention of her brother's name, biting her lip nervously. "You must admit that there's a chance that he…"

Aila looked back to the presents, stacking one perhaps a bit too forcefully. "They wouldn't believe him anyway."

"Are you sure?"

Aila hesitated, staring at the happy wrapping paper beneath her fingers. No, she wasn't sure. Danny was a total wild card right now, and if she really thought about it, she doubted that he would care whether or not he outed Aila to the guys before presumably killing her. And if that happened… would they begin to doubt her? She bit her lip again. "…But… it's been so long now…"

"Yes, you have kept this from them for some time," Santa agreed, understanding her thoughts without further explanation. "But believe me, if they hear it from you, they'll understand more so than they will if they hear it from someone else. If you're honest with them, truly honest about why you didn't tell them sooner and trust them fully with everything from here on out, they will understand. And they will accept you."

Aila caught Santa's eye, her expression strained. The idea of telling the guys about her world at this point – well, it scared her. A lot. She'd kind of fallen back on the idea that maybe the King would just explain everything to them after all this was over…

"Ah! That's right," Aila exclaimed, leaning back on her heels. "The King – Mickey – he told me not to tell anyone about it." She frowned at Santa. "Should I really go against what he said…?"

Santa sighed. "Mickey's heart is in the right place; it always is. But in this instance, I do not believe his advice is sound. He loves his friends, and trusts them with all his heart – but he cannot help but be… overly cautious about the information he shares with them. He worries that too much knowledge could be dangerous for them. And in truth, knowledge can be a very dangerous thing. It can tempt the heart, and cloud the mind to the thousands of possibilities life has to offer. Because the ultimate truth, the ultimate knowledge, is that nothing is set in stone, but we wish that it was. We wish there was some sort of road map, a guidebook to help us know which way to turn. But if we cling to that one map, we lose sight of all the other roads we could take, and of all the lessons we may learn upon those paths. And therefore, I understand Mickey's instructions, I do. But, just as you must take what you know with a grain of salt, you must also take Mickey's words in the same way. If these friends of yours are true, and you wish to maintain your relationship with them, then you need to trust them fully and completely. Now, I'm not saying that you should give them all the answers – there are some things that they should discover on their own. But they need to know the truth of your reality. You should give them at least that much."

Aila mulled over Santa's words, the light crackling of the fire the only sound in the room as she let everything he'd said sink in. Had she been making a mistake all this time, keeping the reality of her world from the guys? It had seemed like the easier thing to do… but that was just it. It was easier, sure, but was it right? And in the long run, would keeping this secret just make everything harder…?

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Santa smiling at her. "You don't need to do it right now. But my advise to you is to tell them. And soon. They deserve to know – and they deserve to hear it from you."

It took another moment of consideration, but then, very slowly, Aila nodded. "Okay. Yeah, you're… you're right. I'll tell them. After we leave this world, I'll… I'll tell them everything."

Santa smiled, his whole face seeming to light up with the expression, his eyes crinkling and nose twitching just ever so slightly. "Good girl." Anyone else saying such a thing to her would sound so condescending, but at hearing those words from Santa, Aila couldn't help but smile, brushing some hair away from her face rather shyly. "Now then," Santa said, standing up with little effort for someone of his age, "thank you very much for your help, my dear, but I'm afraid I must be getting back to work."

"Oh, of course!" Aila said, standing hurriedly as well. "I'll, um, go see what's taking the boys so long…"

Santa chuckled. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Be careful, my dear."

"Yes sir," Aila said with another smile and a nod. She turned to Lyall, who had stretched herself out before the fire and was looking quite blissful. "You coming, Ly?" Lyall glanced up at her, sighed heavily, and then rolled over and pushed herself back up onto her paws. Aila giggled. "You can spend more time in front of the fire later, but I might need your help right now. I can't use my powers with you out here, right? So we gotta work together." Lyall huffed in what sounded like a vaguely affirmative (though still slightly annoyed) way before shaking out her coat and trotting over to the door the boys had gone through, turning back to wait for Aila dutifully at the entrance. Aila smiled and patted Lyall appreciatively on the head as she passed, leading her companion into the toy factory.

The two swept briskly past the lower level of the large room filled with the now fixed conveyor belts that they'd fought on during their last visit, Aila making a beeline for the zigzagging ramp that lead up to the workshop. Elves were milling about here and there, most of them checking presents on the conveyor belts below, but they all seemed… a little distracted, each of them glancing up toward the workshop's entrance with confused or concerned looks on their tiny faces.

"Oh uh, miss, you might not want to go up there!" a male elf squeaked at Aila as she made her way up the first stretch of the ramp, the little guy rushing up to her and pulling nervously on her cloak a few times.

Aila glanced down at him and quirked a brow. "How come?"

"There's troublemakers in there!" a female elf squeaked from the bottom of the ramp, stomping her little foot in frustration.

"We're always running behind enough as it is. We don't need more setbacks!" another male elf bemoaned at her side, crossing his arms with a huff, though Aila noticed a sliver of fear enter his expression as his eyes flickered toward the top of the ramp.

Aila smiled at them all. "Don't worry, my friends are already up there trying to take care of things." A crash sounded from the workshop, making all the elves jump and eliciting worried whispers from the group. Aila blinked up at the room. "Or, uh… they should be…"

"Be careful, miss…" the elf holding on to Aila's cloak whispered, his little fingers finally letting the fabric go, though he seemed reluctant to do so.

"Don't worry!" Aila assured again, putting a hand on her hip and gesturing to Lyall. "I have a secret weapon! No one would mess with a wolf like this, right? She's totally scary!" Aila grinned and glanced over to Lyall, only to sweatdrop at the sight of the wolf falling over as she gnawed on her own hind leg. The elves all giggled around her, and Aila sighed. "Lyall…" Lyall paused and looked up at her, seeming entirely oblivious as to what Aila was chastising her about.

"You can do it, miss!" the female elf who'd spoken before said, pumping her fist in the air. "Teach those troublemakers a lesson!"

"Y-yes! Get them outta here!" her companion agreed, attempting to look as gung ho as the tiny girl beside him, but failing a little.

Aila grinned and flashed them a thumbs up. "You got it! Lyall, let's go!" Aila marched up the second stretch of the ramp with Lyall at her side, glancing down at the wolf and muttering, "A few seconds in front of the fire and all your ferociousness leaves you, eh?" Lyall just wagged her tail in response.

As Aila approached the door, she heard yet another crash, following by what sounded suspiciously like a yelp from an angry Donald. Hm. That probably didn't bode well…

Steeling herself to block anyone that might try to run past her, she opened the workshop door and was immediately greeted by chaos.

"Come back here, you ruffians!" Jack was shouting, leaping for Lock, the little devil boy from Halloween Town. Lock easily slipped through the skeleton man's boney fingers, cackling wildly as he ran away and leaving Jack to collide face first with the wall. Barrel, the little Halloween Town boy dressed like a skeleton, was currently running away from Sora, who seemed to be having equally bad luck pinning the kid down, while the little witch girl Shock was busy hurling toys at Donald and Goofy, who were holed up in a corner under Goofy's shield.

"You rotten kids!" Donald cried, peaking out from behind Goofy to shake his fist at Shock. He was then promptly clocked on the beak by what looked like a wooden duck toy.

Aila and Lyall glanced at one another, Aila closing the door behind her to try and make sure the kids didn't escape. "Uhhh… what did we just walk in on?" she asked, trying her best to keep a straight face as she watched Sora trip on a stray box and fall flat on his face.

"Aila!" Goofy called, turning to look her way as an entirely pissed off Donald just muttered and rubbed his sore beak at his side.

"Hurry Aila! Help us catch the culprits!" Jack called, already back on his feet and pursuing Lock once again.

Sora sat up, a miffed look on his face as he shook a few stars from his eye. "This is ridiculous," he muttered, glaring after Barrel, who'd turned around to stick his tongue out at the Keyblader in taunt.

"I'll say," Aila agreed, crossing her arms. "What's taking you guys so long? They're just a couple kids."

"Actually, two is a couple. We are a few kids," Shock corrected in a snotty voice before chucking a few rather sharp looking toys Aila's way. Aila summoned her staff and cast a quick Reflega (she'd graduated to the most powerful form of the spell this week!), the toys bouncing harmlessly off the shield that sprung up around her, much to Shock's annoyance. "Drat!"

"They're slippery!" Goofy said, giving Aila a sheepish look.

"Yeah, they're surprisingly tough to keep in one place," Sora agreed, leaping toward Barrel only to have his hands close around empty air. "Ugh!"

Lyall was suddenly bouncing up and down next to Aila, obviously trying to get her attention. "What's up? You have a plan or something?" Aila asked, cocking her head curiously to the side.

"I think she wants to work together," Celina deciphered.

"Er, okay?" Aila replied, not really sure what that meant. "Don't we always do that?"

"She wants to do something similar to your final blow against Xaldin. Do you remember? The way you shaped Lyall's power despite her still being out?"

"…Kinda?"

Celina sighed. "Okay, well what you need to do is…"

Aila nodded as Celina explained, instinctually casting another Reflega to avoid some stray toys coming her way. At last, she locked eyes with Lyall. "You ready to try this?" Lyall barked excitedly. "I'll take that as a yes." Taking a deep breath, Aila dismissed her weapon and crouched down, putting one hand on Lyall and one hand flat on the floor. "Okay, let's give this a shot…" She made note of where each of the kids were in the room, connecting the dots between the three of them in her mind, forming a path… She took another deep breath. "And… go."

Lyall leapt forward, but as she did so her form faded and morphed, white light suddenly all that was left of her as she seemingly dove into Aila's hand on the floor. In the next fraction of a second white light was shooting out from said hand and traveling across the floor as quick as lightning, making a beeline for Barrel, who was closest to Aila as he tried to evade Sora's grasp. The skeleton boy yelped as the light collided with him, but it didn't stop there, carrying the shocked child toward Shock up on the conveyor belt. The light leapt up out of the ground like a shark, vaguely in a shape reminiscent of Lyall as it arced up and over the belt, grabbing Shock before plunging back into the floor, dragging its now two captives along with sparkling tendrils toward their final friend. Lock's eyes widened as he saw the light approaching, all three children screaming before they collided with one another, tumbling head over heals into a heap against the wall. The light dissipated around the three, but as they woozily sat up again, they were met with the snarling face of Lyall, who'd taken shape before them once more. The children paled, Lock holding up his hands and pressing his back into the wall fearfully as he chuckled out, "N-nice doggy… Whoa…"

Aila stood and skipped over to Lyall, patting her excitedly on the head. "Good girl! That was awesome! So that's something I can only do with you out then, huh?" Lyall wagged her tail in response, but didn't move from her intimidating position before the children, letting them know that she'd be on them if any of them tried to get away.

"Wow, wonderful, Aila!" Jack gushed, rushing up to the girl and giving her a much too enthusiastic clap on the shoulder. "That was very, very good!"

Aila winced, pulling away from the Pumpkin King but smiling appreciatively at him nonetheless. She caught Sora's eye as he, Donald, and Goofy all joined her as well. "Well now, that took me almost a full minute! You were right, that was tough!"

"Shut up," Sora grumbled, glaring at her.

"That was mostly Lyall, it looked like," Donald huffed, seeming equally as annoyed by how quickly Aila had wrapped up the situation.

Aila narrowed her eyes at the duck. "It was a team move, it needed both of us!"

"Yeah sure, whatever," Donald replied with a roll of his eyes before making a show of patting Lyall on the head. "Good job, Lyall!" Aila's glare deepened. Dumb duck.

"Don't I at least get a thank you?" Aila whined, crossing her arms and pouting at the boys.

"Thank you, Aila! Ahyuck!" Goofy laughed, pulling Aila into a side hug and ruffling her hair a little.

Aila giggled and grinned up at him. "Aw Goofy, you're my only real friend!" she exclaimed dramatically as she flung herself into his chest.

"What about me, Aila? I think you did a good job too!" Jack offered, practically jumping up and down next to Aila and Goofy to try and get their attention.

Aila looked up at him and nodded. "Right, you and Goofy, the truest friends of all!" Lyall huffed indignantly. "Oh you too Lyall. Okay my friend list is growing really quickly now."

"Fine, fine, I'll just remember this come Christmastime. I only get my friends gifts," Sora shrugged, locking his hands behind his head and smirking cheekily in Aila's direction.

"Yeah, me too!" Donald piped up, holding up a finger and smirking at Aila as well.

Aila paused. "…Okay, we can all be friends again."

"Hello?!" Shock shouted, calling everyone's attention back to herself and her friends.

"Can somebody call this mangy thing off?!" Lock whined, indicating Lyall. Lyall growled, apparently not appreciating being called mangy.

"Easy girl," Aila soothed, scratching Lyall behind an ear. "You probably don't wanna eat them – I bet they're full of so much Halloween candy it'd make you sick."

"Sh-sh-she eats people?!" Barrel squeaked, his eyes wide with fear behind his skeleton mask.

Aila smirked deviously. "Only people who lie to us…"

"Okay okay! We'll talk, jeez!" Lock insisted, waving his hands in front of his face. "Just call her off already, will ya?!"

Aila made a show of thinking about it for a moment before crossing her arms and smiling sweetly down at the kids. "Lyall, sit," she chirped, and at last Lyall backed off, sitting by Aila's side. The three kids all audibly sighed in relief. Aila glanced at Lyall and winked, whispering, "So you are still pretty ferocious, then." Lyall flashed her a toothy wolf grin in reply.

"Where'd you put the presents?" Sora demanded, crossing his arms as well as he stared the kids down.

"We told you, we don't have 'em!" Shock insisted, waving her hands around indignantly as she glared up at the boy.

"Then why are you in here?!" Donald accused, hands on his hips, eyes narrowed at the troublemakers before him.

"We're looking for parts for the experiment," Lock explained, sounding pretty pouty as he glared at them all through his devil mask.

"Experiment?" Jack asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Doctor Finkelstein's making us a friend!" Barrel explained excitedly.

"One we get to boss around!" Shock added with a little cackle.

Jack put a hand to his head, seeming puzzled. "It's true the doctor's been hard at work making something lately…"

The three kids stood up, seeming a little more confident again now that Lyall wasn't baring her fangs at them anymore. "Besides, Christmas presents are boring!" Lock bemoaned, and Aila imagined he was making a disgusted face beneath that smiling mask of his. "Not scary or gross… So what good are they?"

"Yeah!" Barrel agreed with a nod.

Lock turned to his friends, hands on his hips. "There's nothing fun here. Let's go back to Halloween Town!" He then promptly turned and marched toward the door, his two friends right behind him.

"Uh, should we stop 'em?" Goofy asked unsurely.

"Nah, they're going back on their own anyway," Sora shrugged. "Besides, it doesn't sound like they're behind the stolen presents after all…"

"They could be lying," Donald pointed out, glaring after the kids' retreating forms.

"No, I think they really don't like Christmas presents," Aila replied. "They're too nice for them. So why would they take them?"

"To cause trouble!" Donald squawked.

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel have always been troublemakers, but I don't think even they would go through the trouble of taking a bunch of presents for no reason other than to make Sandy's day a little more frustrating," Jack reasoned with a frown. He put a finger to his chin. "It's gotta be someone else…"

"Smell ya later, losers!" Lock called from the door before he, Shock, and Barrel ran out of the workshop, cackling as they went.

Sora frowned. "I mean, we could just turn them in to Santa anyway and hope that he'll talk them into being less annoying…"

"No no, we need to find the real culprit!" Jack insisted, slamming a boney fist into his open palm.

"Yeah, yeah," Donald sighed. "So what's our next step?"

"We'll go talk to Sandy Claws again!" Jack said, pointing dramatically toward the door before marching off in that direction without waiting for anyone else to answer.

"Yeah, great, good idea Jack," Sora muttered, running a hand through his bangs.

"Aw come on, I think this is kinda fun," Aila giggled, she, Lyall, and the boys starting off toward the workshop's exit now as well.

"This isn't fun, it's annoying!" Donald protested. "A waste of time!"

"But it's nice to not be fighting Heartless or Nobodies for a change," Aila shrugged. "Just lookin' for some presents… That's kinda a nice change of pace, right?"

Sora smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right… It's like a mini vacation."

Donald sighed heavily. "If this is what our vacations are like from now on, I'm gonna get an ulcer…" Sora and Aila chuckled at that, Goofy good naturedly patting his feathered friend on the head in an attempt at being supportive. "Ah, get offa me, ya big palooka," Donald grumbled, pushing Goofy's hand away.

"Miss! Miss! The troublemakers got away!" the girl elf Aila'd spoken to earlier cried as she and the gang began back down the ramp.

"And a s-skeleton pretending to be Santa just ran by as well!" the nervous boy elf stuttered, hiding behind his friend.

Aila chuckled. "It's okay, those kids are going back home, and the skeleton's actually really friendly."

"Yeah, you shouldn't judge based on appearance," Donald chastised, wagging a finger at the little elves as the group reached them.

The elves looked taken aback at that, sharing flustered glances with one another. "Oh… well, um… I suppose you're right about that…" the girl mumbled, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink in her embarrassment.

"Don't worry, everything is under control," Sora assured with his usual grin.

"Though uh, we still don't know who took the presents…" Goofy pointed out.

Sora's smile fell, and he rubbed the back of his head with a slight chuckle. "Okay, well, everything will be under control. Soon. We promise!"

The elves' faces lit up at his words, instantly at ease thanks to Sora's promise. Aila smirked; that boy really did have a gift when it came to making people feel better. "Thank you very much!" the elves chorused, beaming and bowing to the group before hurrying back to work.

"They're cute," Aila giggled as she and the boys continued back toward Santa's room.

"You think everything's cute," Donald sighed with a roll of his eyes.

"Only the cute things," Aila replied with a cheeky grin – one she'd learned from Sora. Donald facepalmed.

"Don't touch those!" Santa was scolding as they re-entered his living room, the jolly old man snatching a present out of Jack's boney hands.

"But I need to examine the evidence up close!" Jack whined, pouting (somehow, despite not having lips) like a scolded child.

"Jack, listen to Santa," Sora scolded, crossing his arms.

Santa turned to the gang, looking relieved that he was no longer the only one that had to deal with the skeleton man. "So, were the pranksters responsible for taking the gifts?" he asked hopefully.

"It doesn't look like it," Jack replied, bounding back over to the gang.

Santa frowned, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Then that means…"

The front door opened and closed, catching everyone's attention as they all turned to see who'd just come in.

"Sally!" Jack gasped as the ragdoll woman hurried into the room, her eyes wide with worry.

"Oh thank goodness! You're all here," she breathed, clearly out of breath. It seemed like she'd run all the way there, and her demeanor immediately put everyone on edge.

"Is something wrong?" Sora asked, his muscles tensing a little in anticipation of danger.

"The Heartless are back in the Town Square!" Sally explained hurriedly. "I thought you should know…"

Sora nodded, glancing at the rest of the gang. "That's our cue!"

"Vacation's over," Aila sighed.

"Back to Halloween Town!" Donald cried, and with that they all began to run toward the door.

"But wait!" Jack called, stopping the group in their tracks. They turned back, brows furrowed in confusion as he continued, "What about finding the gift-napper?"

"That can wait, Jack," Sora replied with a frown. "Heartless are dangerous, we can't just leave them running around."

"The presents are important, but Halloween Town needs your help, too," Santa agreed. "Go take care of the trouble there first."

"Actually," Sally chimed in, putting a hand to her chin, "the Heartless were playing with some presents when I saw them…"

"Aha! We have our culprits!" Jack cried, stabbing a pointed finger into the air dramatically.

"The Heartless stole the presents?" Goofy asked, looking quite confused. "Uh, I thought they only went after hearts…"

"Yeah, something's fishy…" Donald agreed with a nod.

"Nonsense, we've caught them red handed!" Jack insisted. "Come, friends! Let's take back Christmas! For Sandy!" And once again he marched out without waiting for the rest of them to voice an opinion one way or another. The boys all groaned as Aila just shook her head in bemusement.

"Guess we should follow him," she said with a shrug. "There are Heartless on the loose…"

"Right," Sora sighed. "Uh, let's go."

"We'll get the presents back for ya, Santa, don't you worry!" Goofy called as they ran out the door, leaving Sally and Santa behind.

Back to Halloween Town they went, catching up to Jack right as he was making his way through the door in the tree, the magic of their Christmas outfits wearing off as the natural magic of Halloween Town took over. Looking sufficiently scary again, the six of them (including Lyall) booked it to the Town Square.

"You! You can't be here!" the Mayor was calling into his megaphone, glaring at the many skeletal Heartless littering the area. Wight Knights, by the look of them. Not too tough, but still not enemies to take lightly. "Leave Halloween Town, by order of the mayor!" The Heartless, who did indeed have a bunch of presents in their possession for some reason, were entirely uninterested in the little man, continuing to toss the colored packages back and forth amongst themselves. A few, seeming to get mildly annoyed by the Mayor's ramblings, swiped at the two-faced man's head, eliciting a scream from him as he cowered against the far wall. "Somebody! Anybody! I'm only an elected official – I can't handle this by myself!"

"Sally was right!" Jack said, glaring at the Heartless. "We've got to get the presents!"

"And uh, save the Mayor?" Sora reminded Jack as he summoned his Keyblade.

"Oh, of course, yes!" Jack replied quickly. "Mayor!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Take cover! We'll handle this!"

"Oh, thank you, Jack! Thank you!" the Mayor called back through the megaphone before booking it out of the area.

"Let's do this!" Donald cried, brandishing his staff above his head.

Battle, start!

Aila summoned her staff, she and Lyall crouching down ever so slightly in preparation to spring into action, but right as she went to rush forward a hand on her shoulder pulled her back.

"Hey, take it easy here, okay?" Sora warned, a slight frown on his lips as she turned to face him. "Remember what happened last time?"

Aila blinked. Oh yeah, this had been where she'd lost control that one time… She smiled reassuringly at the boy. "Don't worry, I didn't understand my powers last time, remember? Now that Celina and I are working together, everything should be fine."

Sora hesitated for a moment, thinking her words over before returning her smile with a nod. "Okay, right. Still, try not to go crazy." His smile morphed into a teasing grin as he removed his hand from her shoulder, punching her lightly in the arm instead. "Whoops, too late. Weirdo."

"Hey!" Aila shot back, but Sora was already rushing into battle, taking out two Wight Knights at once as his teasing laughter filled the air. She glared after him, crossing her arms in a huff. "He's the weirdo."

"Aila, look out!"

Aila instinctively ducked at Goofy's call, just barely avoiding the razor sharp claws of the Wight Knight leaping over her head.

"We are in the middle of a battle here, remember?" Celina chided tersely. Aila could imagine the Spirit rolling her eyes.

"I know!" Aila shot back defensively, spinning on one foot to face the offending Heartless, who was in the process of steadying himself after his missed attack. Aila glanced at Lyall, who was sitting behind her patiently, as if waiting for Aila to give the go ahead to join the fight. Aila quirked a brow. "Lyall, you don't have to wait for me," she said with a bemused shake of her head. "Take out whatever bad guys you want!" Lyall barked excitedly, rushing toward a group of Heartless Donald and Jack were in the middle of fighting off and immediately sinking her teeth into one. Aila laughed.

"Aila, focus!"

"Oh, right!" Aila replied, turning back toward her own enemy just in time to see the thing leap at her once more. She brought up her staff quickly, blocking its attack with a clang.

"With Lyall out, you'll have to rely on hand to hand combat," Celina reminded as Aila pushed the Wight Knight back, causing the thing to stumble.

"Or magic," Aila suggested, pointing the top of her staff at the unsteady Heartless. "Fire!" she cried, a sizeable fireball shooting out of her weapon and hitting the thing directly in the gut. It faded into nothingness in a matter of seconds.

"Very nice," Celina complimented, sounding impressed and a little bit surprised, much to Aila's annoyance. "We've been so focused on your powers that you haven't practiced offensive magic in a while…"

"Well, let's consider this a practice session then!" Aila replied, spying a small group of Wight Knights lurking in the shadows behind Sora, clearly trying to time things right in order to get the jump on him. She made a beeline for them, skidding between the Heartless and her friend and thrusting her staff into the air. "Thunder!" Lightning bolts rained down, hitting a few of the enemies dead on and causing the rest to leap back. It was a powerful hit, but none of the enemies faded from it, much to Aila's annoyance. "Seriously? I thought I was good at that spell now…"

"You're decent at it," Sora commented, and Aila realized the two of them were back to back. "But when you disperse the magic between multiple enemies, the power is dispersed as well. Didn't you know?"

Aila frowned. "Oh… I guess… maybe I remember something about that…"

Sora laughed before taunting, "I'm gonna tell Donald you weren't paying attention to his lessons!" He shot his own Thundara at a Heartless rushing toward him, causing the thing to vanish instantly.

"That's not nice!" Aila replied, casing a Reflega around the two of them as around six Wight Knights lunged at the pair from her side. The things bounced off, one of them fading into nothing as it took the reflected damage, but the remaining five recovered. She felt a hand on her shoulder again, and then Sora was launching himself past her, making her stumble a tiny bit as he sprung forward and swiped at three of the Heartless in quick succession, their three hearts floating up into the sky in their defeat. "Hey hey! I'm not a launch pad!"

Sora leapt back to her side, resting his Keyblade on his shoulder cockily. "Gotta use your surroundings in battle," he said with a shrug. Aila rolled her eyes at him. Sora eyed the last two Wight Knights in their area before glancing back at Aila. "You want one of these, or should I handle it?"

"I can take them both, thank you very much!" Aila retorted haughtily. She started to take a step toward the Heartless, when a thought struck her.

"You are very childish," Celina sighed, hearing Aila's plan as it formed in her mind. Aila just smirked devilishly in response, hoping that her costume made her look as threatening as possible to the boy at her side as her gaze shifted from the Heartless to him.

"Um… what's with that look again?" Sora asked, and Aila was pleased to hear a twinge of worry in his voice as he carefully eyed his younger friend. Aila didn't answer, instead backing up a few steps and crouching down facing the Keyblader, making it very obvious that he was her new target. Sora's face contorted into one of genuine concern now, and he took a tentative step back. "Aila…? You feeling okay…?"

Aila shot toward the boy without a reply, drawing her staff back as if intending to hit Sora in the side of his head. Sora's eyes widened and he ducked instinctively to avoid the attack; exactly what Aila'd been counting on. At the last second she pushed off the ground and, using Sora's shoulder as a stepping stone, launched herself as high into the air as possible and swung her staff out in a horizontal arc, feeling the chill of the Blizzard spell she called out travel down her weapon and shoot toward the two Heartless below her in a shower of icy shards, pelting the two of them relentlessly in their faces as they desperately held up their bony arms in an attempt to block. Landing in a crouch between the disoriented enemies, Aila stood and spun on the ball of her foot toward the Wight Knight on her right, slamming her staff into its chin and sending it flying into the air. She then thrust the bottom, pointed end of her staff backwards, skewering the Heartless behind her through its chest.

Both Heartless faded away before the first one hit the floor again.

Still smirking, she turned to Sora, stealing his victory pose as she rested her staff on her shoulder. "Gotta use your surroundings, right?"

Sora blinked before crossing his arms with a huff. "That was so not cool! I thought you'd lost control again or something!" His words were angry, but Aila could see his lips twitching upwards as he tried to suppress a smirk of his own.

"Dude, I told you, I'm good! Besides, Lyall's out, so my powers can't exactly go nuts anyway." Aila gestured toward the wolf in question, who was… shaking a Wight Knight by the neck so viciously that even Jack was nervously backing away from her. Aila sweatdropped, noting the light glow around the wolf as the Heartless in her jaws faded away. Maybe Aila wasn't feeling the same effects as last time because Lyall was feeling them now…

"Uh, I think you got 'im," Goofy commented, rubbing his head as he watched Lyall. Lyall turned toward him and growled viciously, the fur on the back of her neck standing up as adrenaline coursed through her. It looked like she was ready to attack him next.

"Whoa, whoa, Lyall!" Aila called, rushing up to the wolf and putting a hand on her back. Lyall turned toward her and snapped at her hand, Aila just barely pulling away in time to avoid the bite. Lyall's eyes were wild and unfocused, and Aila was immediately reminded of how she herself had felt last time she'd fought in this very Square.

"The moon here is larger than most – it's easier to lose control here," Celina whispered nervously, and Aila glanced up toward the sky, taking in the massive full moon shining down on them all. "I should have remembered…"

"What's wrong with her?" Donald asked, he and Sora having rushed up to them now as well. It appeared the enemies had all been taken care of, which was good, but Lyall was still glancing around with hungry eyes, looking for her next target.

"She's overwhelmed," Aila said with a frown.

"I think you should call her back – allow her to rest. But be very careful: with how worked up she is, when she rejoins you…"

"It's fine," Aila nodded curtly, not waiting to hear the rest of Celina's warning. She could guess at where Celina was going with it, but seeing Lyall like this was… disturbing, and it pained her enough that she felt she needed to fix what was wrong as fast as possible. Holding her hand out, she took a deep breath. "Lyall, take a rest." Lyall's form morphed immediately into a very bright ball of white light and shot into Aila's outstretched hand with such force that she was knocked backwards a few steps, her knees buckling as she collapsed painfully to the floor. A white glow engulfed her, and immediately she felt her heart rate spike to an alarming rate, her breathing quickening in tandem and her vision blurring at the edges. She grit her teeth, clutching the sides of her head as she attempted to steady her breathing, adjusting to the sudden return of such an intense amount of power and focusing all her strength on remaining awake and aware. 'Stay calm, stay calm,' she chanted internally, not wanting a repeat of something like what had happened in Agrabah…

"Aila! Hey, you okay?!" She heard Sora's worried voice fade in and realized he was lightly shaking her shoulder.

She hesitated for a few more moments, making sure she was actually okay before answering him. "Y-yeah, I'm good," she breathed out shakily, the light around her finally beginning to fade away as her heart began to calm.

"I'm confused, what's going on?" Jack asked, cocking his head to the side, his brow furrowed in concern.

Aila took a deep breath before looking up at her friends, blinking hard a couple times to bring them back into focus. "It's… easy to lose control on this world… apparently," she choked out, smiling reassuringly at them all.

Donald and Goofy exchanged confounded glances, but Sora's eyes widened in recognition, his gaze darting quickly up toward the gigantic moon above them. "Ohh," he breathed. "Celina takes her power from the moon…"

Aila smiled weakly and nodded. "Right. I'm just not used to this much power at once, I guess… Lyall either…"

"Hm. So that's what happened last time we were here too then…" Donald mused, crossing his arms. He suddenly pointed at Aila. "That's it, no more fighting on this world for you!" Aila partially wanted to protest, but with how disoriented she was feeling, she just didn't have the energy. Besides, he was obviously right, at least until she had a better handle on how much power she had here. So she just nodded obediently.

"Gwarsh, are you gonna be okay, Aila?" Goofy asked, crouching down next to Sora to better examine Aila's face.

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel better," she assured, giving her friend the brightest smile she could muster. She laughed lightly. "Maybe we should lure the bad guys back to Christmas Town next time before we start fighting them…"

"And put Sandy in danger?! Perish the thought!" Jack exclaimed, vehemently shaking his head. "No, Donald's right, you'll just have to sit out if any more danger pops up here." His eyes suddenly widened excitedly and he snapped his boney fingers. "You can cheer us on! Call out the enemy's location from above!"

"Yay, I'm a cheerleader now," Aila replied sarcastically, allowing Sora and Goofy to help her stand.

Sora smirked at her. "Go on, give us your best cheer. Preferably one that rhymes." Aila blew air sharply in his face as retaliation, an unexpected action that sufficiently flustered him. "What the–?! I didn't like that." Aila just chuckled evilly in response.

The gang then realized that the forever ADHD Jack had moved away from them, his attention now on something else. Of course. Specifically, his interest had been piqued by a present, a present that had been ripped open by the Heartless at some point and now lay dejectedly near the edge of the Square. The contents of the package, a plush doll, had spilled out of it, and it seemed that Jack was heading over to pick it up. But to the gang's surprise Jack walked right over the doll (literally stepping on the thing and pushing it further into the dusty ground), picking up the torn remains of the packaging instead.

"What a shame! It looks like it was such a nice present," Jack lamented, gazing sadly down at the box in his hands, still completely oblivious to the doll he was standing on.

Sora frowned, glancing down at the doll beneath Jack's foot in confusion. "Uh, Jack—"

He was interrupted by the sounds of a door clanging open, everyone looking up toward Dr. Finkelstein's lab to see the doctor wheeling out into the night air. "Oh help! Someone help me!" he wailed, stopping his electric wheelchair at the top of the stairs leading up to his front door. "My latest experiment is gone – it's been stolen!"

"Oh no!" Jack exclaimed, clutching the broken package in his hands and just further denting the thing. He glanced back toward the group. "Quickly friends! To the lab!" And, of course without waiting for any sort of reply, he took off at a bound toward Dr. Finkelstein, reaching the little man in a matter of moments and ushering him back inside.

"Aaaand he's gone again," Sora sighed with a shake of his head.

"How many times have we gotten side tracked since we landed here…?" Donald muttered with a shake of his head.

Sora picked up the doll Jack had stepped on, brushing as much of the dust off as he could before tucking it gently into his pocket. He turned to the others. "We should probably gather the rest of the presents – we'll take them back to Santa right after we deal with… whatever this is," he finished, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the lab.

Everyone agreed, and so they gathered up the presents as quickly as they could (Goofy only leaving Aila's side after she'd assured him she wasn't about to fall over or anything) before heading up the stairs and into the doctor's lab themselves. Aila found herself taking deep, calming breaths every minute or so, very aware of how quickly her heart was still beating. It was pretty uncomfortable, if she was being honest, and she silently hoped this meeting with the doctor would go quickly so they could head back to Christmas Town with its normal sized moon.

The doctor was already explaining the situation to Jack by the time the gang made their way inside, the little man obviously very disgruntled about the whole stolen experiment situation.

"I was just sitting here brainstorming, when all of a sudden I was attacked! I collapsed! And when I awoke, my experiment was gone!" Dr. Finkelstein slammed a fist onto the armrest of his chair, his eyes narrowed in unrestrained anger as he recalled the events that had taken place earlier that night.

"Don't worry, Doctor – we know who took it!" Jack announced, still holding his ruined package in one hand.

"We do?" Goofy asked, giving Aila a questioning look. She just shrugged at him, shifting the presents in her arms a little in order to hold them more comfortably.

"Who?!" the doctor demanded.

"The Heartless," Sora chimed in with a shrug of his shoulders, Donald nodding in agreement by his side. Aila shook her head silently, wondering what train of thought Sora had gone down to get to that nonsensical conclusion.

"What, those wretched things?" Dr. Finkelstein scoffed, rubbing the spot on his head where he'd presumably been attacked. "Preposterous! This was nothing like a Heartless."

"Not the Heartless, huh?" Sora mused, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Well uh, the Heartless aren't usually thieves, Sora," Goofy pointed out.

"What about the presents?" Donald pointed out.

"Maybe they didn't steal those either," Aila offered with a nonchalant shrug.

"Well who else could it be?" Donald asked, shifting the presents in his possession to one arm. Aila just shrugged again at that, busying herself with examining a ribbon on one of her own gifts so she didn't have to look any of her friends in the eye. Her conversation with Santa popped into her head, and she frowned. What would she do after the guys knew that she had prior knowledge of things like this? Would she just be able to give them the answers to everything so they could skip things like this, or was that bad…? It didn't seem right, even if they did know what being from her world really meant. She sighed lightly. Things were about to get much more complicated after they were done on this world…

"Say, I have an idea," Jack said, breaking the short silence that had enveloped them all as they tried to figure out another answer to the doctor's problem. He turned to the gang, looking very excited. "The thief must like Christmas presents. So, we place irresistible gifts about to draw him into a trap!"

"And this miscreant is the same one who stole my experiment?" the doctor asked skeptically.

"That's right!" Jack answered confidently.

"How will we know for sure?" Sora asked, sounding a little skeptical himself.

"Well, now that's easy!" Jack said with a bright smile. "We'll scare a confession right out of him!" His face contorted into a terrifying expression and he lunged toward the gang, presumably to emphasize his point, but the suddenness of such a thing just caused them all to drop their presents as they leapt back in surprise.

"Gwarsh…" Goofy gasped, wrapping his arms around his middle to try and calm himself after the scare.

"Oh brother," Donald grumbled, recovering quicker than his friend and glaring down at the presents that now littered the ground around them. Aila herself had hid behind Goofy when Jack had lunged, fear coursing through her veins as she was reminded just why Jack was the leader of this town.

Sora shook his head and turned back to the gang, smiling and seeming somewhat energized by the scare. "What do you say we go with Jack's plan… just for now?"

"Sure, yeah, whatever he wants to do," Aila meeped out from behind Goofy, he and Donald voicing their agreement as well (albeit a bit less fearfully than her).

"Great!" Jack exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. "Let's get to Sandy's house posthaste! We've got to make some Christmas presents, quickly!"

And so once again they gathered up the presents and hurried off, back through the town to the magical door in the forest. If Aila'd been less focused on getting away from the giant moon above them, she might have noticed the way the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, the feeling of being watched as she and her friends leapt headlong through the door. A cool wind blew through the trees as the door closed behind them, the crunch of leaves echoing around the area as someone dropped down from their perch on a nearby branch. His single eye narrowed, a smirk pulling at his grizzled lips as he straightened to full height, heavy black cloak billowing out around him. He chuckled to himself as if he'd just heard some sort of inside joke, eye trained on the Christmas Town door and the few lingering snowflakes fluttering to the ground around the base of the tree.

"Hurry back, kid… Things are just about to get interesting…"

KHKHKHKH

Aaand that's where we'll stop for now. I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but… there it is? I hope it came out okay. I could not think of a good title or quote for this one either… Welcome back, me?! Ugh I feel very rusty…

Anyway, yeah, nothing much happened in this chapter besides some setup. And fun times! I wanted to have a lighter chapter after all the sadness from the previous ones. But uh… ever heard of the calm before the storm? Just sayin'…

So what do you think? How do you think the boys will react to Aila's big reveal? Do you think she'll actually go through with telling them? And uh oh, Aila's being watched again?! That can't be good, right? Yikes! (I dunno if I made the identity of the guy at the end obvious or not; I couldn't decide if I should or not so I just kinda… did something in between saying his name and keeping him a mysterious shadow, heh. I think it's pretty obvious but maybe I'm wrong.) Pop off a little review to let me know your thoughts on it all – I looove reading theories from you guys~ And like I said, they really keep me going when I get stuck!

Thank you so much for reading! See you soon! I PROMISE!

~Fade