Roxas and Hayner wake up as their bodies finally respond to the light coming from the window in Hayner's room. Snowflakes fall from the gray sky above, slowly making their way to the earth below. Hayner lets out a groan as he stretches his limbs as he usually does in the morning, before hopping out of bed.

"Geeze, we only have a few days until Christmas, don't we?" asks Hayner

"Huh, yeah I guess so," says Roxas.

"I have to start wrapping presents, Mom likes to take pictures of the tree on Christmas eve with all the presents under them," Hayner explains. Suddenly a thought occurs to him. "Hey Roxas. . . have you gone Christmas shopping yet?" Hayner asks.

Roxas stares at Hayner blankly, still a bit drowsy. Still, he manages to realize the conundrum he's in ". . . Fuck."

Roughly a few hours later, Roxas, Hayner, and Pence are roaming a mall, exiting a store from which Roxas bought a gift.

"Maybe waiting at the last minute wasn't such a great idea," says Pence as they continue onto another shop

"Hey, this is my first Christmas, cut me some slack," says Roxas

"Yeah, besides. There's still one person I haven't gotten a gift for," says Hayner

"Let me guess, Olette?" asks Pence. Hayner nods.

"I just. . . don't know what to get her. I want it to mean something but I don't know what I could give her." says Hayner scratching his head

Roxas smirks a little. "You don't need to say more Hayner. I think I get the idea." Roxas thinks to himself. "Well, if you want to give someone something meaningful, try looking back on a good time you had with them, then use that as the basis for your gift."

"Wow Roxas sounds like you have this whole relationship thing figured out huh?" asks Pence.

"Wait! hold on we're not-" says Hayner, but Roxas interrupts him

"I don't really have things figured out. Xion and I have only been together for roughly two months now," says Roxas.

"Well, you sure have everything more figured out than I do," says Hayner scratching his head.

"Well, hey, you have a start now at least," Roxas reassures.

"Yeah. . ." says Hayner. Hayner, for seemingly the first time in his life, thinks deeply about what he'll do next. "I think I might have an idea though," says Hayner. He looks around and points in the direction of a shop across the mall. "I think that place might have what I'm looking for."

"Alright! Let's go," says Pence, he and Hayner begin to make their way to the shop, but they notice Roxas staying behind. "Hey, are you coming?" asks Pence.

"No, you two go ahead. I have to get stuff for you two as well you know?" says Roxas.

"And Riku," Pence adds on.

Roxas sighs. ". . . yeah. . . and Riku. . ." the two parties part ways as Roxas enters a nearby store.

In the same mall, a few young ladies are browsing through one of the shops, looking at all of the products around them.

"Why did all three of us have to do our Christmas shopping at the last minute?" asks Olette as she crouches down to look at the items on a lower shelf.

"I don't know. You think we would have had the brains to not do that," says Namine.

"Yeah. . . do you think Roxas already did his shopping?" asks Xion.

"Who knows?" says Namine.

"Speaking of which, what would I even buy Roxas?" asks Olette. "Like, I know he likes to play video games with Hayner and Pence but I don't have the Munny to buy a new game," says Olette.

"Well he likes fighting, and he's definitely been interested in those Struggle matches Hayner mentioned. Maybe he'd like something related to that." Xion suggests.

"Thanks, though wouldn't you want to use that idea? You're his girlfriend after all," says Olette.

"Oh, no. I already got him a gift." Xion explains.

"What? How did I not notice. . ." Says Olette, before continuing to search through the shelves, grabbing a struggle bat built for total offense from one of the shelves. Eventually, she finds a gift for Pence and puts it in their group bag, where all their gifts, aside from the gifts they got each other, are stored.

"Hey uh- Xion, what did you get Roxas anyway?" asks Olette.

"Huh? Why do you ask?"

"Well. . . I wanted to get him something special this year." Olette explains. "I wanted to just. . . give him a sign, something that might make him understand how I feel." says Olette.

"Hmm. . . Well, I got Roxas something that mattered to both of us back when we were part of the Organization. I don't know for sure when I first fell in love with him, but there was a moment where I knew without a doubt that I did. So I got him something to remind him of that time." Xion explains.

"So, your saying it should be something important that the two of us went through together?" asks Olette.

"Well, it doesn't have to be that exactly, but you've got the general idea," says Xion

"Hmm. . . Alright. I think I might know where to go." says Olette, turning around to make her way out of the store. "I'll be back later. If you're done before I'm back then you can pay without me. I'll pay you later."

"Alright. Cya!" says Xion. Olette nods and makes her way out of the store. Just as she reaches the exit. She runs into a familiar blonde.

"Roxas? What are you doing here?" asks Olette.

"Oh, hey Olette. Uh, just doing some . . . last-minute Christmas shopping." Says Roxas, quickly hiding his bags behind him.

"Oh, would you look at that? I'm doing the same thing," says Olette, giggling to herself. "What are you looking for?" asks Olette.

"Just some stuff for Hayner and Pence." says Roxas. ". . . oh, and Riku too."

"Oh, well, Namine's doing some shopping in here too. She could probably help you out with that." Olette says.

"Alright, thanks," Roxas says as he enters the store, Olette walks on and makes her way towards a store at the other end of the mall. Roxas wanders around the shop, before running into Namine and Xion.

"Roxas? You're here too?" asks Xion.

"Yeah. Just here to get the last few gifts," says Roxas. Holding his bags behind his back. Xion tucks their bags away as well, not wanting to accidentally spoil his gift. "Speaking of which, Namine, could I borrow you for a sec? I need help with getting a gift for Riku." Roxas explains.

"Oh! Sure!" says Namine. She hands Xion her stuff, before guiding Roxas to another set of shelves. Meanwhile, Olette has finally reached the store she was thinking of. It was a small store that sold jewelry and other accessories. She's about to enter the store when she comes to a halt, quickly turning around a corner.

"Why are they in there?" Olette thinks to herself. She tries her best to hide behind a corner as she hears their voices grow closer.

"Good choice Hayner! I think she'll like it!" says Pence. Hayner however, sighs

"I don't know man. She rarely ever wears this sort of stuff anyway," says Hayner as the two unwittingly pass by her. Olette waits for their voices to grow quieter, before taking a sigh of relief and dashing into the nearby shop. As time passes, Roxas finally gets the last of his gifts. Namine, Xion, and Olette meet up and head back to Olette's place, while Roxas, Hayner, and Pence meet up as well. The three hang out, before dropping off Pence at his place and heading back to Hayner's house, where they spend their time wrapping gifts while listening to Christmas music.

Snow falls from the sky, no matter the time of day. The sun sets and the moon rises, only for it to fall as the sun rises in its place. The days go by, but winter is all the same. Eventually, however, a different arrives. Roxas and Hayner wake up, and a cheery feeling is in the air. Roxas hangs out downstairs with Hayner and his parents as they celebrate Christmas. Watching the joy on their faces as they open their gifts to each other. To Roxas's surprise, Hayner's parents also got him a gift. They don't know him that well, so they chose to give him some Munny, and an ugly Christmas sweater. As a keyblade wielder, Roxas is never short on Munny, but he really liked the sweater, putting it on almost immediately after receiving it. The four eat breakfast and drink hot cocoa before Roxas and Hayner go back upstairs to change into more fitting clothes, ugly Christmas sweaters and all.

The two quickly head to the usual spot, arriving at the same time as Pence, Olette, Namine, and Xion. Everyone is holding a paper bag, each of which contains multiple gifts pleasantly wrapped, some of which even dawning a bow on the top. The group gathers together and in a flash, they disappear. The six get themselves comfortable in the cockpit of the gummi ship, before blasting off, making their way to the familiar tropical world of Destiny Islands. Upon arriving they're met with three familiar faces, Kairi, Riku, and Aqua. The six are guided to Aqua's little house where they've set up a nice play to hang out together, there's food, drinks, and even dessert. Gifts are sorted into the pile and the nine of them celebrate Christmas together.

This gathering is more like a party than a normal Christmas hangout. Gifts are exchanged whenever and people tend to just talk with each other while eating food and having laughs. Some time passes, and Roxas decides to exchange gifts with Xion.

"It took me a while to think of what to get some of the others gifts, but I almost immediately knew what I wanted to get you," says Roxas. He hands her a small present. "Merry Christmas Xion," says Roxas. Xion smiles and opens the gift. She smiles and giggles from joy as she looks at the necklace inside the box. It's a standard necklace, with a small white chain keeping the thing together, the main ornament of the necklace is a beautiful blue and yellow seashell. "This life, where we can finally get to live our lives together, It only happened because I came to look after you while you were unconscious. I would leave a seashell for you, every day. It's because of that I noticed your journal, which lead to where we are now." says Roxas. Xion's smile widens and she begins to laugh a little. "Er- yeah I know it's a little dumb and cheesy, but I thought you'd like it," says Roxas as he rubs the back of his neck.

"I don't think it's dumb," says Xion as she continues to laugh. She grabs a small gift from her pocket and hands it over to Roxas. He looks a little confused, but he opens it, and now he's the one with a child-like grin on his face. In the tiny box was a single ring, with a seashell-shaped ornament on the top.

"Looks like we had the same idea huh?" says Roxas. Xion smiles and nods. Roxas takes the necklaces and puts them around Xion's neck, before allowing her to take his hand and put the ring on his finger. The two look at their new accessories, before looking back at each other. "I love you Xion."

"I love you too Roxas," says Xion, looking into his eyes. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Says Roxas. Somewhere else in Aqua's little house. Olette took Hayner aside to exchange their gifts with a bit of privacy.

"I had a hard time finding something just right, so I hope you like it." Says Olette, handing him his gift. Hayner returns the gesture, handing Olette her gift as well.

The two open their gifts and there's a moment of shock between the two. In Hayner's box was a simple bracelet, made of black string, and a dark orange maple-leaf ornament. Olette's box contained a similar gift, a necklace with black string and a dark-orange maple leaf pendant.

"You actually remembered that?" asks Hayner.

"Of course! We wouldn't have been friends if that never happened right?" asks Olette. Hayner smiles and nods. The two put on their matching accessories, before smiling at one another and joining the others downstairs.

The party goes on as more gifts are exchanged. Aqua puts on some Christmas movies, some from her childhood, some recommended by the other party-goers. While watching one of the movies about a boy taking a train to the north pole, Aqua makes her way over to Roxas and Xion.

"Hey Aqua. What's up?" asks Roxas.

"Nothing really. I just wanted to let you know that there's something upstairs for you two," says Aqua

"Really? You didn't need to give us more than one gift. . ." says Xion, rubbing the back of her neck.

"It's fine. You can go and get it any time," says Aqua, before turning away and walking towards the table to get some more snacks.

Roxas and Xion climb up the stairs, upon reaching the top, they find nothing. At first, the two are confused, but as they turn around to ask Aqua for help finding it, Xion notices something above them.

"Oh, I think I found it," says Xion. Roxas looks up to see a small little bundle of Holly and Mistletoe.

"Wow, we really did let ourselves get bamboozled," says Roxas. Xion laughs for a moment.

"Bamboozled? Really? That's the word you're gonna use?" asks Xion, still laughing.

"I mean, it made you laugh. So I think I chose the right words," says Roxas. The two giggle together before moving closer. Xion wraps her arms around Roxas's neck, while Roxas wraps his around Xion's waist. They pull together closer, before sharing a kiss beneath a real mistletoe.

From the bottom of the stairs, Riku notices the two lovebirds sharing a moment, he turns away and sighs.

"Is something wrong Riku?" asks Namine.

"Well. . ." Riku grimaces as he looks towards the ground. "Namine, are you. . . happy being with me?"

"What? Of course I am, Riku." says Namine. She scooches closer to him "Why would you think that I wouldn't be?" she asks.

"Well. Whenever I see Roxas and Xion. They're always showing each other affection. They're always holding hands or resting their heads against each other. They never go a moment without showing each other love." Riku laments. "I just. . . I feel like I'm not showing you how much I care about you."

"Riku. . ." Namine is a bit shocked, but she pushes that away to comfort her partner. "Riku, just because you don't openly show it every time we're together doesn't mean I don't know," says Namine.

"Really?" Riku asks

Namine nods before speaking. "Every time we battle aside one another, every time you protect me from an attack that would have hit me otherwise, every time we attack together as one, I am reminded of how much I love you, how much you love me." Namine says. "So, don't beat yourself up just because we're not like Roxas and Xion. They're their own people, just like how we're our own people. Alright?"

"Alright," says Riku, as he manages to crack a smile. "Thanks, Namine."

"Don't mention it," says Namine. She scooches a little closer to her boyfriend and rests her head on his shoulder. "I love you." she reminds him.

"I love you too, Namine."

Meanwhile, in another corner of the house, Kair is sitting beside Olette as they watch a different Christmas movie. Kairi notices her new necklace.

"That's a beautiful necklace. Who gave it to you?" asks Kairi

"Hayner gave me it. I got him a matching bracelet too," says Olette.

"That's nice. If I may ask, why a maple leaf?" asks Kairi, pointing at the pendant hanging from the necklace.

"Well, it's a funny story actually," says Olette. "It happened a long time ago, back when we were still in elementary school," she explains. "Hayner was a part of Seifer's gang back then. It was another day of them just doing their whole "disciplinary committee" bit, which was just an excuse for them to bully anyone they didn't like." says Olette. "Well, that day it seems Seifer had a bone to pick with me, something about how I "shouldn't be playing sports for boys" or whatever, I don't quite remember. But that doesn't matter" Olette explains. "What mattered was that Hayner disagreed with him, and told him to lay off and to leave me alone. And Seifer seemed to listen."

"Do you know why Hayner did that?" asks Kairi.

"Honestly, I still don't know why. But I don't think that really matters either." Olette goes on. "Later that day, I noticed two people on a hill under one of the maple trees. It was Seifer and Hayner. Seifer had beat him up for getting in his way and yelled at him, before storming off," says Olette. "But instead of fighting back or running after him. Hayner just fell back against the tree and curled himself into a ball. I had never seen anyone in Seifer's gang cry before." Olette explains "And for some reason, I felt compelled to cheer him up. So I went up to the tree to talk to him." Olette goes on. "I tried to introduce myself but he didn't seem to notice, he just kept crying. However, this was all happening during fall, and it just so happened that at that moment, a maple leaf fell off of one of the branches and landed on Hayner's head." Olette explains.

"That managed to snap him out of it for a moment. He looked up at me, and that's when I asked him something" says Olette. "I asked him if he wore maple leaf hats often, That's when he grabbed the leaf off his head. I think that finally got him to cheer up, as we started to laugh." Olette explains. "I helped him up off the ground and I introduced myself. That's basically how we became friends."

"Wow, strange how one little thing can change someone's entire life huh?" asks Kairi.

"Yeah. . ." Says Olette, with a large grin on her face.

Time passes as the celebrations continue. Christmas movies start and end, mugs of cocoa are emptied, and candy can wrappers fill up garbage cans. Eventually, however, the night sky turns from blue to black, as they get ever closer to midnight. Roxas, Xion, Namine, and the Twilight Town trio help clean up Aqua's house before saying their farewells. They go outside, and in a flash, they're back in the gummi ship. They get themselves seated and make sure nobody forgot any gifts, before blasting off back to Twilight Town.

Upon their arrival, Roxas, Xion, and Namine use their keyblades to take everyone back to the world they reside in. They appear outside the gate that leads to the usual spot, and they almost immediately notice that the gate is wide open, with a singular set of footprints leading to their hangout spot.

The six cautiously enter the usual spot, only to find the room about the same as they left it, with the exception of a few new decorations. Hanging on the walls were a set of red and green Christmas lights. In the center of the room sat a stool, with a plate of freshly made cookies, and some milk. And hanging from the wall was a single wrapped gift. They take the gift from off the wall and notice something. On the back of the gift, a note is taped onto it, it's addressed to Roxas and Xion.

Dear Roxas and Xion

It truly has been a while since we last met.

This year Christmas would have been in quite the trouble if it weren't for you

For that, I am thankful.

Please, accept this gift as a sign of gratitude.

It was quite tricky to get, and I had to ask a few favors from my old friend Father Time.

However, I think it was well worth it.

Merry Christmas

-Santa Clause

"From Santa?" Pence asks curiously, not aware of Roxas and Xion's adventures in Halloween Town and Christmas Town. Roxas and Xion hand Namine the note and unwrap the gift. Upon seeing the gift, the room falls silent.

"Oh my gosh. . ." says Namine. Roxas and Xion manage to smile as they put the framed picture on the wall. The Picture shows Roxas and Xion on the Twilight Town clocktower, sitting beside a familiar redhead.

"Axel. . ." Says Xion, with a mixture of sadness and joy in her voice. The two look up at the photograph, unable to say a word. Hayner and the gang, however, get the idea of what they want to do. Pence helps Hayner take Roxas's stuff back to his house, while Namine takes Xion's gifts and follows Olette out of the usual spot, leaving just Roxas and Xion in the room, giving them the privacy they wanted.

"Hey, Axel. . . It's been a while huh?" says Roxas.

"We finally got things settled down in your homeworld," says Xion. "Now it can finally be restored to its former glory, the way you used to remember it."

"It's hard to adjust to life without you. But I think we're finally starting to get the hang of everything." Roxas says, trying his best to keep his watery eyes at bay.

"I'm sorry we couldn't prepare a gift for you in time. Hopefully, we'll manage to get you something great next year," says Xion. Xion sniffles as she tries to collect herself. "We miss you Axel. . . a lot." Xion and Roxas take a deep breath

"We love you, Axel. . . I wish you could be here to know that," says Roxas.

"Merry Christmas."