Author's Note: I don't own Disgaea.
Santa Gordon

After a long time of waiting, Akina finally got to hang her little angel on a tree, and left after staring at it hanging happily. She collapsed onto her bed, feeling drained. After all that waiting and unintentional eavesdropping, she had every right to be. It's just one of those times when people talk (supposedly) top secret information so loudly that your ears just pick it up, and you don't realize you've heard more information than you needed to until it's all over.

This commonly occurs in the life of this female demon and she grew exasperated when the realization hit her. She buried her face in the
pillow, deciding that it'd be best to retire for the night.

That slight twinge of annoyance left her with an unpleasant parting gift. The blue haired demon no longer felt exhausted. Instead, her eyes were wide open, starring into deep inky darkness, only penetrated by a small glimmer of light under the door. She resorts to counting until she falls asleep.

'One impaled Elma. Two impaled Elma. Three impaled Elma-four!'

She did it to no avail. Then it hit her. Maybe she was supposed to count coconuts! This must be her solution! So she tried it at once, and it worked--at least for a while. As she got to the eighty-sixth coconut, an eerie upbeat tune began to play in her head, she sat up automatically and she began to see color…a lot of it.

There were warm hues of reds yellows, oranges, painting a landscape of dusk, and cool browns and greens creating a mirage of a coconut tree. The song seemed louder and much closer all of a sudden. To Akina's horror, in came the singing.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. There they are all standing in a row."

The princess' world spun out of control, adding in to the delirious world of hazy yet vibrant backdrops of coconut trees, a warm sandy beach and a man playing an acoustic guitar. Singing to her. Singing for her.

"Big ones, small ones, some as big as your-"

Smack! She left that crazy world the only way she knew she could—to feel pain. Grumbling, she massaged her throbbing cheek and attempted to fall into slumber once more.

As the tired girl reached the peak of unconsciousness, voices struck through the darkness, the hollow castle walls and reached acute ears. For a slight second her ears fidgeted.

'Voices. Voices I've never heard before that belongs to people who apparently know my parents.'

Being muffled by the pillow, Akina couldn't quite catch what they were talking about. But she definitely felt bothered.

'What conspiracy is being plotted? And whom the hell does that annoying voice belong to?'

He arrived in the dining room; surprised to see his family, a few vassals and some people he didn't know wearing strange attire sitting down and upon his entrance starring at him. He looked back at them absently and took a seat next to the unknown woman. The woman smiled at him, and played with his chaotic mass of chestnut hair, making it even untidier. She stopped and glanced at Laharl.

"Wow, Harlie! He's a looker, just like the little one."

As she made the comment her blue eyes turned on the said person and winked at him. The boy gave her an awkward, embarrassed sort of scowl and looked to the floor when he felt a burning sensation on his cheeks.

"Now, now, miss Jennifer!" the queen interrupted, in a voice as if singing.

Akina glared from where she sat. Who was that trollop to start hitting on her brothers and her father during breakfast? She bared her teeth and clenched her fists, examining their clothes more closely than when she first saw them, and more than she needed to. Earth clothes, she decided. Definitely. They reminded her of some game called "Xenosaga" she played sometime in her childhood. Not that she cared much for it.

"Ahem. So, Gordon you are going to accept?"

The king seemed really interested in getting into the heart of the matter. Perhaps he was just trying to get to Flonne's good side, for his own selfish reasons. Perhaps he thinks it'll make this whole event run through faster. Perhaps it was one of those rare days when he genuinely wants to be…nice?

The name Gordon stopped Oskari from munching happily into his breakfast. He looked like he had been punched in the gut or hit from the back of his head as he tried to take a bite, his food falling down with a slop kind of sound from his silverware back into his plate. Akina's eyes widened, twitching uncontrollably, glancing at her little brother whose eyes twinkled in admiration, so astonished he was only able to mouth 'Captain Gordon'in childish awe.

"Why, yes! In the name of all that's just!"

As soon as he spoke Akina looked ready to lose what she just ate. The magic of the legendary captain turned to dust as soon as he spoke. She immediately recognized the voice as the annoying voice she had heard the previous night.

She looked at her younger sibling, grinning madly looking like a nutcase that needed to be in a straight jacket, looking ready to pounce the 'hero.' Oskari who was holding in his laugh had a chuckle escape him. His twin glanced from the many faces, quickly excused her self and ran.

As she ran down the hallways which seemed endless and taking her nowhere, she bumped into a male rogue. Well, at least he was dressed like one; there was something different and odd about him. He got up and offered her his hand. She ignored him, and stared at the ground.

"You! Whoever you are, go away!" she shrieked in between gasps of air.

"My name's Galen."

'I don't care' thought Akina bitterly, and flushed as she slightly looked up, catching a glimpse of a boyish and somewhat attractive face. With a rustling sound, the queen arrived at the scene, and dropped down onto her knees, cradling her daughter and rocking her back and forth. The rogue observed with wonder that quickly changed into one of utter disbelief as the princess let out a sickening strangled sort of noise followed by unsanitary fluids collecting into large clumps of mess on the queen's cloak and plummeting messily onto the floor.

"Oh, my cloak!"

As if on cue, Sachi arrived and gasped at the sight.

'Oh. My. Zombies…!'

Galen managed to convince Akina to ride on his back. He wasn't worried about being vomited on at all. He was too busy pitying the queen, who is covered in the mess, the maid who has to clean it, and especially the female he carried who regurgitated the mess. He glanced at either side to see her face and smiled admirably at her. She mumbled a few incoherent words and the rogue felt horrible that the only way he could console her was to say that they were near her room. He laid her carefully on her bed and whistled lowly as he looked around. It was the first royal chamber her had ever visited. Heck, it was the first female's room he ever visited, and that was saying something considering he hasn't even seen inside his own sister's room. Akina who seemed okay despite the still pale and nauseous complexion stared blankly at her bedside table as she continuously chewed some mint gum.

"I uh… guess I should be going." "Don't. I wa-I'd like some company. Stay."

He was slightly unnerved by her monotonous voice. That wasn't the only reason he had stayed. Part of him wished to stay and was glad she was the one who asked him to.

Ferez and Oskari watched as Gordon's Santa suit was stuffed with pillows and other cushioning. The mini-Laharl jumped 'round the room excitedly, screaming Santa, like someone had stuffed red fire ants in his shorts, despite knowing that the brown-haired man isn't Santa. His older brother just watched seemingly more interested in what was the next item that was to be plunged into the suit, to perfect the 'jolly belly' despite how much the hero perspired within the suit.

Meanwhile, there was some sort of battle of will going on in Akina's room. She and Galen were locked in each other's eyes as if daring the other to blink and or look away. The all too happy raven-haired maid entered, soup in hand and watched the scene in silence.

"Sachi!"

It seemed like many a minute before she snapped out of the trance, in time to catch the soup that almost fell to the floor, scrambling over to her excellence. She spilled a bit on her arm, and maintained a smile joined with a wince, but focused on whom she served.

"Here's your Chicken in hell's inferno soup!"

'Chicken in hell's inferno…?'

The rogue rubbed his chin in thought. He looked from one of the ladies to the other with a bewildered yet amused look on his face. He was interrupted by a cold yet curious voice.

"There's something different about you…"

The maid slipped out unnoticed, preserving the privacy.

The young man thought for a moment. Looked up at the ceiling, unable to grasp any words to answer that statement. "Where did you come from?"

He continued to look up. His nonchalant expression exchanged with a fierce sort of look, the look of internal struggle. He couldn't decide what to tell her. Heaving a sigh, he decided. He should tell the truth.

"I'm human."

They let time lapse between them that it felt like it's been eons.

"You should go."

He nodded, mumbled a goodbye, head bowed low. He knew she was being nicer than he deserved.

'How the hell did he get here?'

'Santa Claus' sat down on the throne, much to the overlord's annoyance.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Gordon practiced. Queen Flonne coached. Ferez giggled immensely, interrupting his mother's coaching every five minutes to ask about his costume. Oskari stood by his father playing the role of the outlet for him to vent his anger.

A/n: Finally the longingly awaited chapter. I had to redo the whole beginning. The page went missing… Well at least it's here. Again my email is Akaruimori on yahoo. There is still a bit of editing for the next chapter. Actually I'll be going over all my chapters and fixing things. Oh and I have a scanner now! I'm still working on the design for the children, adding and taking things away from my first picture of them. Well… R/R!