The Christmas Conspiracy
Weiss looked about furtively and then hurried to unlock the door to her apartment. Ever since she'd stumbled across what could easily be the biggest conspiracy in the history of the world, she'd felt as though she was being followed. It would have been tempting to simply walk away, but she hadn't become one of the finest investigative reporters in the world for nothing.
The door opened, and she stumbled inside before slamming it shut behind her. The sensation of being watched grew stronger, and she rushed to turn on the light.
She wasn't alone.
"Hello, Weiss." A tall figure in a blood-red cloak was sitting at her dining table. "Why don't you have a seat?"
Of all the gods she could have investigated, of all the gods she could have potentially angered, why had she thought it was a good idea to pick this one?
"I…" Weiss turned back toward the door only to stumble away. A corgi was standing between her and the door. It was an incredibly cute and cuddly corgi, yet it somehow managed to radiate so much menace that she could barely even think. Simply breathing was becoming hard, and she clutched at her throat.
"Zwei," the figure murmured. "Be nice. I asked Weiss to sit down. She can't sit down if she suffocates from terror."
The fear passed, vanishing like smoke on the breeze. For a split-second, the corgi was gone. In its stead was a colossal beast, a hell hound whose head seemed to vanish into the clouds. Black flame roiled over its body, and the spectral shadows of the Abyss shimmered around it. And then the corgi was a corgi again.
Weiss swallowed thickly and sat down at the dining table.
"It has come to my attention," the cloaked figure said. "That you have come into possession of certain… information."
Weiss licked her lips. They were incredibly dry. In fact, the air itself seemed parched. "I…" She forced herself to speak. "You don't scare me."
"Oh?" The cloaked figure shifted slightly, so Weiss could see her eyes. Silver starlight greeted her. "Would you like it better if I did scare you?"
Raw, unbridled terror struck Weiss like a physical force. Her eyes widened in shock, and every muscle in her body froze. Her mind shut down, and the last thing she felt was her heart bursting from the sort of primordial fear that only one of the Greater Gods could generate.
And then the figure leaned back. The fear vanished.
"Weiss, I've chosen to be… polite. Don't make me regret that decision."
Weiss nodded slowly.
"So…" The figure gestured and a pack of cookies appeared on the table with a glass of milk. Weiss realised that they'd come out of her pantry and fridge, and she felt a brief surge of indignation before squashing it. Absurd. She had bigger things to worry about than some cookies and milk. "Why don't you tell me what you think you know, Weiss?"
Weiss wrapped her arms around the charm to Pyrrha that she wore around her neck. She'd worn it since she was a child, and the warmth it radiated had always comforted her. It was ice cold now, yet another reminder that the being in front of her was no mere god. "There is no Santa," Weiss murmured. "It's all a sham. You're Santa."
"And who am I?"
"You… you're Death."
"Yes." Death chuckled softly. "So you thought to yourself that you would expose a secret that I was keeping. At what point did you think that would be a good idea? I am Death, Weiss. I see everything. I know what everyone is doing." She smiled thinly. "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. The words in that song aren't exaggeration, Weiss. From the moment you worked it out, I've known."
"Are you going to kill me?" Weiss trembled.
Death stared at her again with those starlight eyes. It was like staring into another universe, like seeing every single thing she'd ever done or failed to do laid bare. "I could. It would be easy. It would take less than a thought, and you'd be dead. It could look like an accident. No one would ever know."
Weiss felt a surge of pride that she hadn't burst into tears. She'd always wondered how she'd face her end. She was, apparently, meeting it with some small measure of dignity.
"But I'm not going to do that."
"What?"
"You put all the little clues together, Weiss. You worked out that Death is Santa, but you never stopped to ask the most important question. Why?" Death reached down and lifted her dog onto the table. Zwei glared for a moment before settling as Death scratched his back. "Why do you think I pretend to be Santa, Weiss?"
"I… I don't know."
"The gods are part of the world, Weiss. But we prefer to limit our intervention. We gave you free will. It would be hypocritical if we never let you use it." Death dipped one of her cookies into the glass of milk before taking a bite out of it. "But the thing is… the mortal world is full of both the best and the worst of what mortals can do. There is so much suffering here, so much sorrow, so much pain. It is… unpleasant. As Death, I see more of it than any of the others. But there is goodness in this world as well, just as there is goodness in mortals. Christmas is a time to celebrate that goodness."
Weiss nodded slowly.
"When you think about it, the idea of a jolly fat man flying around in a sled pulled by magical reindeer is a bit silly." Death chuckled. "But the idea of bringing joy and good cheer to all the children of the world, to everyone who has done their best to live a good and decent life, well, that's not silly."
"But why you?" Weiss asked.
"Because I can. Because I see into people. I know who has been good, and I know who has been bad. I can be anywhere I want to be. I can be everywhere." Death smiled. "And because it's nice, at least one night a year, to not be feared. I am Death, Weiss. What I do is not done out of cruelty or malice. Death simply is. It is part of what makes you mortal. It is part of the world itself. Yet with few exceptions, I am only ever greeted by fear and hate. It can get a little… tiring at times." Death sighed. "The only people who ever visit my temple, Weiss, are the ones who are doing everything in their power to avoid me, or the ones who want me to pay their enemies a visit."
"So what now?"
"I'm going to give you a choice, Weiss." Death stood up. "I want you to think about all the good that Christmas does. I want you to think about all the joy, friendship, and warmth it brings to people's lives. And I want you to think about how much of that would remain if people knew that I was Santa."
"And?"
"And now I'm going to leave. I'm going to let you choose whether you keep that knowledge to yourself, or whether you tell everyone."
"Are you serious?" Weiss blurted. "Do you know how big a story this would be? It… I'd win prizes. I'd be the most famous reporter on the planet, I'd…"
Death smiled. "Weiss, I can see into people. You're a better person than you think."
And then Death was gone, along with her dog, the cookies, and the milk.
Weiss sat there. It would be easy to pick up the phone. She could have the story on the front page of tomorrow's paper. It really would be the story of her career. Not merely a story about a god, but one of the most famous gods of all. But then her mind drifted to all of the Christmas displays she'd passed on the way home, all the children eagerly lining up to take photos with Santa at the mall, and all the people doing their best to stay friendly and cheerful because it was the holiday season.
"Damn it…" Weiss muttered. "Well played. Well played."
X X X
Weiss trudged into her apartment. It was Christmas eve, and she'd only just gotten back from work. She'd kept quiet after all. She hated to admit it, but Death was right. The world really was a better place with Santa in it. She had just shrugged off her coat when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey!"
"AAHHHHHHH!" Weiss stumbled back and would have tripped over her couch if Death hadn't reached out to grab her. Seeing Death's hand around her wrist, Weiss screamed again. "AHHHH!" She thrashed. instinctively, she began to say a prayer to Pyrrha. "Noble Pyrrha, protect me from harm -"
"Relax," Death said. "I'm not here to punish you."
"Oh."
"You didn't say anything," Death said.
"I…" Weiss sighed. "You were right."
"Still," Death sai. "You did give up a lot of fame and fortune to do the right thing. It kind of seems like a shame."
"Yeah, well, it turns out I'm a decent human being."
"Would you like a gift?" Death asked.
"Can it be a billion lien?" Weiss asked.
"Heh. No." Death grinned and scooped Weiss up into her arms. "Hold on."
And then they vanished.
They reappeared high over the city.
"AHHHHH!"
"Hmmm…" Death chuckled. "You're screaming a lot more than the last time."
Weiss found herself clutching onto Death for dear life. "Yes! Because mortals can't fly, and we're really high off the ground!"
"Yep. In fact, we're exactly thirty thousand feet above the ground. You'd probably be enjoying this even less if I wasn't using my powers to help you out." Death smiled. "Now… look down."
"Do I have to?"
"Trust me. Look down."
Weiss looked down. They were floating high above the city, and the clouds had somehow cleared to give them a perfect view of it. "It's… beautiful."
"It's going to get better." Death's lips twitched. "You mortals look at everything around yourselves, but you don't see. Weiss, it's time for you to see."
And Weiss saw.
She saw the lights of ten million souls for the first time. Every single person in the city below them was made of light, and she could see them all. They were countless different colours in countless different shapes. Some were small. Some were large. Some were a blazing, brilliant white. Others were a tranquil blue. And still others were a dazzling gold. The distance didn't matter. It was like they were right there beside her.
She saw the wind, and the spirits that rode on the breeze.
She saw the stars above them, each of them a hero from ages long past.
She saw the blades of grass, the drops of water, the stones, every single thing, she saw it all, and she saw it not with the eyes of a mortal, but with the eyes of a god who had been there when Creation was young.
She saw it all.
And it was so beautiful.
She'd always thought the world was chaotic. But now she saw. Everything, everything was connected. Everyone was connected. They were all pieces in the puzzle, all notes in the song, all brushstrokes in the masterpiece of the gods' design.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Death asked quietly.
Weiss was weeping too much to reply.
"But it gets better."
As the clock ticked over to Christmas Day, a wave of light and radiance swept through the city. It was, Weiss realised, a wave of emotion, the joy and warmth of Christmas made manifest, a sight only the gods could see.
And her.
"It's not an award, and it's not money," Death said. "But I hope it is enough."
Weiss scrubbed at her cheeks. "I…"
Slowly, the vision faded. Her sight was mortal once again. And they were back in her living room.
"Weiss," Death said. "The world can be an ugly place. It can be full of horror and suffering and woe. But it can be so beautiful too. It can be full of kindness and joy and love. The gods see both what is worst and what is best in you all." She tapped a spot over Weiss's heart. "You saw with the eyes of Death, Weiss. Do you understand now why I was so confident that you would make the right choice?"
Weiss nodded.
"Merry Christmas, Weiss." Death grinned and then vanished.
Staring around at her empty living room, Weiss found herself laughing. She'd never been more right and more wrong about anything in her whole life. "Merry Christmas, Death."
X X X
Author's Notes
As always, I do not own RWBY. I'm not making any money off of this either.
A little Christmas challenge. I wanted to write a snippet for Christmas, and I gave myself an hour to get it done. Mission complete! This took me just over 45 minutes in a single sitting, excluding the time I took to proofread it afterward.
More importantly, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Like Death said, the world can be such an awful place, but it can be a truly beautiful place too. I hope, for all of you, that the world is a beautiful place full of kindness, joy, and love. Merry Christmas.
If you enjoy my fan fiction, you might want to check out my original fiction on Amazon. You can find me there as L. G. Estrella.
As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.