A/N: So this is the Christmas special! It's a bit angsty but kinda fluffy! Hope ya'll like it!
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters, they belong to Disney/Pixar.
Fact: Blade Ranger doesn't like Christmas.
Maru knew why: He was never with anyone during the holidays. His parents weren't ever with him, and when they were it was when they were at a party. It was always an adult party, with no other foals to play with or people or horses he recognized. He'd be pushed around and shoved, yelled at for getting in the way. Scared, he would run and find a hiding spot. He'd stay there until it was time for him to leave.
Those years when he was alone, he'd walk around and watch other families together. They seemed happy, and he had wanted that. He had wanted that so much. Until it was his first year at 'firefighter training' school. After that, he didn't have much interest in the holidays. He'd often spend them in his room, studying or something of the sorts, because that's all he knew how to do.
When he'd gone to Piston Peak, they'd learned quickly to leave him along during the holidays. The previous chief had tried to involve him, but he'd always get pushed away by the younger stallion and shut out. After the third year, he had given up trying and left the colt away.
The year he was given the title of chief, nothing changed. Except the fact Maru was now trying to get him to enjoy Christmas instead of the previous chief. Still he refused, locking himself in his hangar for the entirety of the day.
Cabbie and Maru had shared worried looks, but spoke nothing of it. The smokejumpers had tried once to involve him with their activities and had been told off. After that they had not tried. They left him alone.
Blade, unbeknownst to anyone else, would watch them through his hangar window. Ears forward, eyes alert and focused, he'd watch until they left for their own hangars.
He'd only come out the next day, and would lock himself up again through the 31 and the first. Maru would leave hay, grain and water outside his hangar so he didn't get hungry. Blade knew he did it, just didn't acknowledge it.
The year Dusty came to base changed a lot of things.
After finding the two were related, Blade and Dusty had grown a particularly strong bond. They were able to read each other like a book. Blade learned Dusty's routine as fast as Dusty had learned Blade's. However Dusty had not known about Blade's holiday habits until it was actually Christmas.
"Where's Blade?"
Everyone was out and about, Christmas morning breakfast and all that. And as soon as Dusty had spoken everyone had stopped. Maru had stopped pouring the regular vitamins into the special Christmas breakfast Cabbie had prepared, Dynamite and Blackout had stopped setting up the campfire wood for later, Windlifter and Dipper stopped pushing presents under the tree and Dusty was fairly sure the other jumpers and Patch had stopped breathing for a second.
"What?"
After a moment Maru spoke, "Blade... doesn't do Christmas. Or New Years."
Everyone slowly resumed their work, not minding the conversation between the colt and stallion. "What do you mean?"
Maru looked up to see Dusty doing his famous head tilt. "Blade just doesn't enjoy Christmas. He spends the entire day up in his hangar."
"Why?"
"He didn't have good Christmas's as a kid."
"Oh," Dusty's head turned back to look at Blade's hangar, ears flicking once, "He won't come down?"
"Nope. Tried every year since he's been here. Won't come out."
"Oh." And if the kid didn't sound so heartbroken, he probably wouldn't have looked up. Dusty looked a bit sad, with his ears to the side and head low. However he peeked back up after a moment, putting on a smile. Maru saw through it though, and frowned.
"I'm sorry, Dusty."
"It's fine. Skipper didn't do Christmas's either."
"I thought you said he did things with you guys?"
"Only because we wanted to do it. Dottie, Chug and I talked him into doing it," a soft shrug and a shake.
Maru hummed and shared a look with Windlifter from across the room. He knew what he wanted to do.
After he finished with the vitamins he whispered to Cabbie, "Be right back. Don't start without me."
A hum, and he was off. Maru trotted up the ramp leading to his Chief and friends hangar, and softly pawed at the door. "Blade."
"Go away, Maru."
"No."
With no response after a moment he continued, "Blade, your kid wants to know why you aren't with us."
"Tell him then."
"Blade, he won't understand completely."
"Make him understand."
"It doesn't work like that and you know it," Maru's ears pinned for a moment, before pricking again. "Blade, he wants you. He's never had a father during Christmas. A father figure maybe, but never his actual father."
Silence. Maru stood waiting for a few minutes before sighing, "If you want to be with your son, you know where we are."
Maru went back to the group, smiling and joining in the excited chatter of the bases residents. From the safety of his own hangar, Blade watched Maru go back to his team. He had a decision to make, it shouldn't have been a hard one.
He didn't want to be like his own father. He really didn't. Then what had he been doing hiding this entire time? He had been doing exactly what his father had been doing - leaving his family to themselves on a holiday meant for spending time with your family. And it was Dusty's first Christmas at the base.
He knew his answer.
All residents were more than a little confused when they heard Blade's hangar door sliding open and saw the red stallion making his way down to the group. With unusually cautious steps, Blade joined the group inside the main hangar and took a spot between Maru and Dusty. The conversations stopped for a moment before Blade moved to rest his head heavily on Dusty's back. Maru could see the wide smile spread across Dusty's face, and he happily continued where the conversation left off. Going over the facts of his latest win.
Throughout the rest of the day, Blade was with the team. They decorated the tree, played a huge game of tag, and opened their gifts. Blade looked like he was enjoying himself the entire time, even if he was just watching everyone. This was where he liked to be, and he kind of wished he hadn't hid in his hangar for all those years.
At the end of the day, when they were all gathered around the campfire, they told stories. Cabbie of Christmas's during the war, Dusty with his past five Christmas's with Skipper and his other friends, and Drip of his hectic holidays with his rather large family. The entire time, Blade just kept his head over Dusty's back, surrounded by his team turned family. With a smile, he watched the fire dancing, casting shadows.
After a while of comfortable silence, with the smokejumpers falling asleep curled against Cabbie, Dipper fell asleep close on Dusty's other side. Windlifter, Blade was fairly sure wasn't asleep and by the way Dusty's weight shifted into him, Dusty was asleep. Maru's soft voice suddenly floated to him, letting him know he wasn't yet asleep.
"So," a muffled yawn, "Better than staying in your hangar all day?"
Blade softly chuckled, looking around once more at his team before resting his head on Dusty's shoulder, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I guess it was."
Fact: Blade Ranger didn't like Christmas, but he's learning to like it.
A/N: So this is a bit longer than I actually thought it was gonna be, and I was almost not gonna finish this in time. Glad I did! Hope ya'll enjoyed 3
