A/N: I decided to re-write this one-shot, but rather than replace the original content of that one-shot, I figure I'd make this it's own little story. Nothing more. Nothing less. Best wishes during the holiday season everyone! God bless you all.

Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to its respective owners. This is merely a Fanfiction.

Warnings: This story is all kinds of ridiculous.

How Anya Avoided Christmas

Exactly one year has passed since the death of the Demon Emperor, Lelouch Vi Britannia. Since then, many things have changed. Nunnally Vi Britannia, the younger sister of the previously mentioned Demon Emperor, claimed the throne and became the 100th Empress of all Britannia with the new Zero (a.k.a. Suzaku Kururugi) by her side. From that point forward, peace negotiations commenced between the Black Knights and the Holy Britannian Empire. Through Nunnally's decisive action, most of the nations under the empire's rule were liberated, allowing those countries to slowly rebuild. In many places, issues such as poverty and hunger vastly improved.

Amidst these positive changes came wedding bells and the announcement of Ohgi and Viletta's wedding. Within a few weeks they were married.

Rivalz Cardemon, the last of the old student council gang, graduated with honors from Ashford Academy surprising everyone.

Sayoko returned to the Shinozaki school to train new students, Mill continued with her career in journalism, Nina busily worked on her experiments, Kallen became a knight of the round per Nunnally's persistent requests, and Gino...well Gino stuck around in the background doing who knows what.

Everyone else of note were essentially living happily ever after or starting new journeys in their lives.

This was true for all except one crimson-eyed, pink-haired teen.

Anya Alstreim, the former Knight of Six, ended up living with Jeremiah Gotwald on an orange farm. With the help of his Geass Canceler, she had regained her lost memories. She made the decision to live with him on the orange farm out of gratitude shortly after resigning from her military position but soon found out that farm life was about as interesting as paint drying...accept more physically taxing.

At sixteen, she wanted the excitement of buying her first car and all the normal teenager crud she'd heard some of the younger members of royalty rant about in times past. If nothing else, she wanted to gather more memories within her electronic diary, and dragging her feet day after day on the farm just wasn't cutting it.

Of course, while this young lady wanted some excitement and cheer, she was vehemently against celebrating the upcoming holiday season.

Everyone in Japan, Britannia, and any other country you want to include, loved Christmas a lot, but little Anya Alstreim did not.

No one knows why she hates this wondrous holiday so much. Some say it's because she wore her knee-length boots too tight, or maybe it was because her head wasn't screwed on just right.

But I think the reason why Anya hates Christmas so much is because it reminds her of an awful, embarrassing memory she'd regained thanks to Jeremiah.

"Oh the irony," the pink-haired girl mused, a sigh escaping her lips as she stretches her legs out over the window seat. "Not having my memories tormented me, and now that I have them, I wish I could erase them all...especially THAT one about Gino! Ugh..."

The young girl glared at the snow falling outside her bedroom, hating it for reminding her of the madness to come.

For you see, it is Christmas Eve, the day before the horrid holiday that made Anya want to curl up and die.

"They're all coming here for Christmas." She shuddered in horror, ready to smack her head repeatedly on the window if needed. "I'll have to look into the eyes of that...barbarian...!"

For a few fleeting seconds the young girl wondered if she should just stab the man she was thinking of, but quickly dismissed the idea. She then began to contemplate the possibility of preventing Christmas altogether, but quickly realized the Grinch had failed that task long ago...that useless, green fur-ball! He had one job!

Wait...who wrote that in the script!?

Nothing but silence answers the question of the authoress...who is also the narrator...so technically there wasn't silence since I'm still talking...

...

The point being, Anya is in quite the pickle. What is she to do in such a situation?

"There has to be a way to avoid Christmas," she mumbled, rising up from the window seat to pace the floor. "Think, Anya. THINK!"

As she walked back and forth, her little orange kitten, (which Jeremiah had bought for her birthday a few months prior) let out a small meow that served as a yawn. After a few seconds, the cat opened its emerald-green eyes and watched Anya mutter all kinds of insane plans to herself. Some included mass murder while others included suicide. Both seemed...more than a touch dramatic...dang girl how embarrassing is this Christmas memory of yours?

I'm sorry. I'll stop interrupting the narrative with my musings. I'm only supposed to narrate this mess not join in on it.

Noticing the orange cat watching her, Anya quickly walked over to it, cradling the animal in her arms. The cat purred as she rubbed her fingers over the top of its head.

"If I could just get away..." she paused and the cat tilted its head in confusion.

"THAT'S IT!"

Overjoyed at the spark of genius that shook through her head, Anya accidentally threw her cat up towards the ceiling, making it screech noisily as gravity pulled the poor creature back to the carpeted floor. The cat let out a small hiss once it recovered, waving its tail like a whip.

"Sorry, Suzaku," she whispered, quickly giving the cat a treat to appease it. "I got a little too excited."

The cat gave her a look that screamed, "I'll say! You almost killed me!"

"Now don't look at me like that, Suzaku." She hesitantly crouched down to the floor before the feline. With her index finger, she tapped the small cat's nose before rubbing her hand behind his ears. "Otherwise I won't take you with me when I escape this place."

"Meow?"

"That's right!" she exclaimed, jumping back to her feet. "We're running away. Tonight!"

The cat let out a sound resembling a sigh.

"It's just until Christmas is over," Anya reasoned, her gaze shifting to her closet door. "Yeah, I'll pack an overnight bag and get the Mordred out of storage. Yes, yes, this can work."

After about twenty minutes, the former Knight of Six successfully maneuvered herself out of the small house she and Jeremiah lived in with Suzaku the cat in tow. Jeremiah was so busy cooking that he wouldn't have noticed her leaving even if he'd been looking straight at her.

It took a few minutes to get out of the house, but Jeremiah was so busy with his cooking he wouldn't have noticed the young girl leaving if he'd been looking right at her. Yes, he was just that into his cooking.

Once outside, Anya quickly put on her coat as snow continued to pile onto the walkway before her. With careful steps, she made her way to the outskirts of one of the orange fields they'd cleared off to build a barn.

Inside said barn was a collection of farming equipment, as one would expect, but the space also served as an advanced Knightmare storage room. Her Mordred was parked at the very back of the facility, just begging to be used after such a long period of time.

"Meow..."

"Hush," Anya chided, gently tapping one of kitty Suzaku's paws. "Jeremiah will be too distracted with everyone else's insanity to notice I'm gone. We're not going that far."

"Meow."

"Bali? Why would you suggest going there?"

"Meow!"

"Good fish, huh? I don't know. Isn't that..."

"MEOW!"

"Alright, alright! Bali it is. Now keep it down. We're trying to sneak away here."

Suzaku the cat wondered how the heck this human was going to manage that given how loud this giant machine was, but was distracted by the thought of eating delicious, exotic fish. Within seconds he was purring to the point that he sounded like a mini-motorboat.

So absorbed in making the perfect turkey dinner, Jeremiah bionic ears didn't catch the loud drone of the Mordred taking off. What little he heard, he wrote off as a plane.

Anya might actually get away with this.

Later that evening

7:00 p.m.

"ORANGE BOY!"

Gino Weinburg, the infamous Knight of Three, stormed into the small house with the widest of grins and an aura so astonishingly bright that poor Jeremiah had to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes.

"Good evening, Sir Weinburg," he greeted, offering his hand for a handshake. "Nice to see you again."

Gino shook the offered hand vigorously. "Good to see you too, Jerry boy!"

The cyborg froze, his smile immediately disappearing into a scowl.

"Please don't call me that."

Gino stormed into the small house with a big grin on his face and a shiny, bright, and astonishingly blinding aura. He was just glowing with excitement. Poor Jeremiah had to wear glasses to protect his eyes.

"Alrighty, no problem at all, Jer-Jer!"

Jeremiah's scowl deepened. "Try not to call me that either."

"Okay, Jerry-kun!"

Rolling his good eye, Jeremiah shuffled into the kitchen with a sigh on his lips.

"Try calling me, Jeremiah!"

"Kay, Orange boy!"

"Gino!"

At the sound of his name, Gino turned around to see Kallen Kozuki gracefully entering the house. She wore a red seater, dark-wash jeans, black boots, and a trendy black coat.

"Good evening, Kallen," the knight called out, eagerly taking the young woman's hands in his own. "My, do you look absolutely stunning this evening."

The former Black Knight glared down at their hands. "Gino...we talked about this."

"Oh, right!" Laughing the blonde man withdrew his hands. "Sorry."

"Next time I'm breaking your wrists."

"KALLEN!"

Kallen paled upon recognizing the voice. It was the voice of a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed woman who loved causing mischief…especially on Christmas.

"It's so good to see you, Kallen!" Milly Ashford shouted, hugging the red-haired woman. Rivalz slowly waddled in behind her, his arms full with several different bags in a multitude of colors.

"Milly! !e're only staying for one night!" Rivalz stated, sweating from the effort of walking with all the baggage. "You didn't need to pack your entire house!"

"Don't be silly Rivalz," Milly replied as she released Kallen from her death grip. "I only packed the necessities."

"Twenty-seven bags filled with make-up are necessities!?

Milly glared daggers into the young man. "YES! THEY ARE! NOW TAKE THEM UPSTAIRS!"

"NOOOOOOO! NOT THE STAIRS! PLEASE! HAVE MERCY!"

"I don't hear those feet shuffling," Milly teased, gently smacking Rivalz's shoulder as he inched his way toward the staircase. Kallen merely shook her head.

Instead of offering to help Rivalz out with the bags, Gino, with his aura still as blinding as ever, turned to Milly.

"Hello milady," he began, taking her proffered hand before kissing it. "How are you on this fine evening?"

"Oh, Gino," Milly gushed. "You haven't changed one bit!"

"Do they normally flirt like this?" Kallen called out to Rivalz, who had unceremoniously dropped all the bags by the stairs.

"Yeah, pretty much." Rivalz groaned, wondering to himself which bag he needed to take up first. "My fiancé has always been a notorious flirt and Gino...well he's Gino."

There was a pause and then...

"FIANCE!"

Everyone turned toward the sound of new voices near the doorway. Lloyd Asplund, Cecile Croomy, Cornelia Li Britannia, and G.P. Guilford, all stared in disbelief at what Rivalz just said.

"Yeah, fiancé," Rivalz stated firmly. "What? Is something wrong with that?"

"Way to blow everything Rivalz!" Milly moaned. "I wanted to surprise everyone."

"I'm pretty surprised," Lloyd stated, a smirk on his face as he appraised Rivalz with his eyes. "You picked this little boy over me? What a shame."

"Hey! You didn't even love Milly, so back off you nutty professor!"

"How dare you call me a nutty professor!"

"I wouldn't need to call you a nutty professor if you weren't a nut!" Rivalz snarled, approaching the man with a fist raised. "You married one of your own knightmare creations for heaven's sake! If that isn't coco nuts I don't know what is!"

Lloyd gasped. "You dare to speak about my wife in such a tone!"

Cecile slapped her hand against her forehead. "Oh no, not again."

"Those are fighting words my good man!" Lloyd raised his fists. "Put em' up puny man!"

"PUNY!"

Kallen quickly gripped Rivalz from behind, making sure he couldn't get any closer to Lloyd. Cecile merely gripped at the back of Lloyd's coat and that was all it took to keep him in place, even as he swung his arms over and over.

"Unhand me you harpy!" Lloyd screeched.

"Just so everyone knows," Cecile began, ignoring the increasingly manic screams of her former employer. "He never got the official marriage license for the Lancelot. I wouldn't let him."

"YOU JUST HAVE TO REMIND ME OF THAT DIDN'T YOU! YOU'RE A CRUEL, HEARTLESS WOMAN!"

Cecile just sighed while Cornelia and Guilford exchanged glances of clear confusion as Lloyd and Rivalz continued making vain attempts to fight their way out of the grips of the much stronger women holding them.

Thankfully, a kind voice interrupts the madness.

"Hello everyone!" Nunnally cheered, eyes bright as Zero pushed her wheelchair into the crowded room. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, Nunnally!" Cornelia answered, returning the greeting while approaching to give the younger girl a hug. "How have you..."

"The food is ready!"

Within seconds the entire room rushed away from Nunnally and into the dinning room where Jeremiah had laid out an immaculate spread. Even Cornelia, who now had to eat for two, completely ditched the pair at the mere mention of food and practically knocked Rivalz and Lloyd unconscious along the way.

Crickets chirp from somewhere outside. Nunnally and Zero were all that remained in the main hall.

"They must really be hungry," the empress stated aloud.

Before Zero could give a reply, Jeremiah entered the room. He greeted them briefly then pivoted on his heel toward the staircase. He glared down at the mass amount of bags piled near it, but paid it no real attention as he called up.

Everyone rushed away from Nunnally and into the dinning room where the food had been laid out. The only ones that remained in the previous room were Nunnally and Zero.

"ANYA!"

Gino stormed in behind the cyborg. "How could I forget about Anya!? She's my bestest friend of all time!"

"Hey! What about me?"

Gino turned toward Zero. "What are you talking about dude? Wait a second…"

There was an uncomfortably long pause.

"Suzaku?"

From behind the Zero mask, Suzaku cursed himself.

"Dang jealousy! It gets me every time!"

"Oh, wait," Gino mumbled, shaking his head. "You can't be Suzaku. Suzaku died. Poor guy. Anyway…ANYA!"

Suzaku let out a long sigh of relief. He barely noticed the blonde knucklehead tacking Jeremiah.

"That was close."

Just as he finished thinking that, Nunnally slapped the top of his hand. "That's the fifth time this month you've nearly blown your cover. I don't know why my idiot of a brother would leave you to assist me in ruling Britannia. He must have been absolutely insane to think his wild plan would actually work long-term."

"Nunnally!"

"What? Am I not allowed to mean every now and then?"

"Well…"

"Shut up and give me your money!"

Suzaku dug around in his pockets then handed her a twenty dollar bill. "Fine."

Nunnally took the money gratefully. "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Jeremiah and Gino travel up the stairs toward Anya's room with the intention of dragging her down to dinner, but the instant they entered her room they knew something was amiss.

"Anya's not here!"

Jeremiah groaned. "That's probably the biggest understatement of the year, Gino."

"Who cares about understatements?" Gino asked. "I want to see Anya!" He then proceeded to throw a tantrum unbecoming of a knight of the round.

"Gino…"

"I WANT TO SEE ANYA!"

"Do you mind…"

"I WANT TO SEE ANYA!"

"Will you cut that out!"

"ANYA, ANYA, ANYA!"

"I SWEAR I'M GONNA KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Gino sniffled. "Anya…"

"DANG IT ALL!"

In a unusual fit of rage, Jeremiah took Gino by the collar and threw the young lad out of the room, down the stairs, and into the huge Christmas tree.

"CLANG!"

"KA-BOOM!"

"DA-DA-BUM-BUM!"

"CRASH!"

Jeremiah listened for any sort of peep out of Gino. Hearing nothing, he smiled in great satisfaction then returned his attention to the task at hand.

"Where could she be?"

After five minutes of searching through her room, Jeremiah went back down to the living room and found everyone staring at Gino, whose body was lying limp on top of the destroyed Christmas tree. The dude looked as if he'd been mercilessly murdered by a cyborg, which wasn't too far from the truth in all honesty.

"Get up lazy bones," Kallen murmured, yanking the delirious blonde out of the mess before smacking his cheeks a few times in the hopes that his eyeballs would stop spinning around in circles. "Pull yourself together!"

As Kallen continued this, Cornelia and Guilford left, seeing as how this whole thing was a complete waste of time. Cecile and Lloyd left soon afterward, but they were replaced by a certain comedy relief character that really shouldn't have come.

"Hey everybody!" Tamaki shouted drunkenly. With bottle of liquor in his hand, he waltzed into the house.

Your authoress and humble narrator did not like this one bit.

"Tamaki, put that drink down!" Jeremiah screeched. "You know what'll happen if you don't."

"You…ain't the boss of me, Ma," Tamaki slurred.

This is not going to end well for him.

Milly glared over at the drunken man. "If he throws up on me or my designer shoes, I swear..."

Rivalz, fearful of Milly's wrath should anything happen to her designer shoes, raced over the Jeremiah, screaming, "Get me a baseball bat! Quick!"

Jeremiah grabbed a foam bat from the next room and handed it over to the blue-haired man. With a devious smile, Rivalz turned his attention to Tamaki.

"It's either you or me, man. I'm sorry."

Tamaki only had enough time to tilt his head to the left in confusion before Rivalz was on him, slinging the bat against his shoulder.

"Ouch! Stop that!"

"OUT!" Rivalz screamed, hitting him hard over the head. "BEGONE FROM HERE!"

"What kind of Christmas party is this!?"

Rivalz continued to hit Tamaki with the foam bat over and over. The older man eventually bolted from the house, screaming that everyone inside was a complete lunatic.

"DON'T EVER COME BACK AGAIN!"

Nunnally nodded her head in approval. "Nice work."

"Uh…thanks Nunnally," Rivalz replied.

"WE NEED TO SAVE ANYA!" Gino screamed, having suddenly recovered from Kallen's slapping fit.

Hey, where is Kallen anyway?

"Okay Gino, what did you do to Kallen!" Milly growled.

Gino pointed over to the Christmas tree. Kallen now lay in the mess, completely passed out

"You foul creature!" Milly snarled, snatching the foam bat away from Rivalz's shaking hands. "You beat up Kallen."

"Actually, she just fainted.

"ABUSER!"

"WAIT A MINUTE!"

So while that craziness went on, more fights broke out in the group until Jeremiah finally decided that everyone should go their separate ways to find Anya. Since she was the only sensible one, she was the only one who would be able to make Christmas a normal holiday for them again.

In Bali

1:00 a.m.

"Now this is the life!"

Anya laid in the grass under the stars of the warmer night, eating strawberries and singing songs to herself. Suzaku the cat lay asleep next to her, purring happily at having had his delicious, exotic fish.

Of course, while Anya was enjoying her little vacation, pinpricks of guilt for leaving were beginning to set in. After all, she'd left Jeremiah completely alone with a whole chortle of crazy people. And not all of them were complete lunatics anyway. Annoying at times, but they were people she considered friends.

She had certainly wanted to avoid Christmas, but only because of a certain blonde...

"ANYA!"

"Oh, dear lord!" Anya screamed internally. "Not him! Why? How did he even find me!?"

Gino rushed up to the pink-haired girl just as she got to her feet, hugging her so tightly that she almost couldn't breathe.

"ANYA! MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD!"

"Oh...the horror," Anya stated nonchalantly.

"Why did you run away?" the blonde asked, releasing her from his painful grip. "Jeremiah was worried! And so was I! Not sure if anyone else cared though."

Anya blinked once, deciding it was best to just stay quiet.

"This right here is why I hate Christmas," she thought hopelessly.

"Let's get you back to Jeremiah's house," Gino stated dragging Anya away toward his knightmare. Suzaku the cat was pretty much abandoned, but the small feline would adjust just as the human version of him had.

Sometimes it's better to be left on your own than left with psychopaths.

Once everyone returned to Japan, Christmas went on as scheduled. The present opening, the eating of the holiday food, and etc. Anya however did not enjoy any of this because her mind kept reminding her of the embarrassing memory of last Christmas.

That and Suzaku the cat had been left behind, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sneak away to go find him now that Gino was watching her like a hawk.

"OKAY JERRY-CHAN, BRING OUT THE NONALCOHOLIC EGGNOG!"

"How many times do I have to tell you," Jeremiah sighed wearily. "My name is Jeremiah!"

"Right, right," Gino replied. "No problem Orange-kun."

Jeremiah just scowled. "I swear I'm going to destroy him as soon as I get the chance. Of course I'm going to need an evilly crafted plan. Hmmm, now where did I put Lelouch's old book of strategies? I know it's in this house somewhere. Oh well, I'll have to resort to stealing Nunnally's book on horrifically evil schemes instead."

While Jeremiah plotted his revenge, Kallen, (who had long awoken from her slumber), began to argue with Milly over which Twilight guy was hotter because this was originally written in 2010 when the authoress was into the series.

Her tastes have since evolved and...why am I talking about myself in the third person?

"Taylor Lautner!" Kallen screamed.

"Robert Pattison!" Milly schouted back.

"Jacob Black!"

"Edward Cullen!"

"What are you, rabid fan girls?" Rivalz asked, rolling his eyes as he placed a plate of freshly baked cookies before them. "If you're going to fight over which guys are hotter, you should fight over me and the dearly departed Lelouch…"

"There'd be no fun in that," Kallen interrupted.

"Yeah, we both agree that Lelouch was hotter." Milly added.

Rivalz stared in disbelief. "What about Suzaku?"

"He was definitely hotter than you too," the girls stated immediately.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Milly sighed. "He shouldn't be so shocked. He's always known the truth."

"I agree," Kallen replied, taking a sip of hot cider. "If Rivalz had been hot, he would have had a more prominent role in the series. By the way, why are you marrying him again?"

"I needed a devoted pack mule."

"That's just cruel!" Rivalz murmured, crying in a deserted corner of the room. Milly just shrugged.

On the other side of the room, Nunnally was giving strict orders to Zero/Suzaku. The young crippled girl was expressly telling him how he was going to make sure she took over the world. During that time, Jeremiah swiped Nunnally's book of evil schemes when she wasn't looking. He turned a few pages and found the exact plan he wanted to enact.

"Lady Nunnally is just as malicious as her brother!"

As for Anya, she watched all the psychopaths converse, dreading each second of Gino's ridiculous dance around the room as he guzzled down his eggnog.

"I guess you just can't avoid Christmas," Anya thought, hanging her head. "Oh, the sad irony."

"ANYA!"

The pink-haired girl locked eyes with the knight of three. He held mistletoe in one hand and eggnog in the other. Just like last year.

"Oh no," she muttered. "Gino…"

He held the offensive mistletoe over her head now. Again, just like last year.

"Come on, Anya! It's a Christmas tradition!"

"So embarrassing," Anya moaned internally, her gaze traveling to all the pairs of eyes that had suddenly locked on the two of them...just like last year.

"Come on, pucker up!"

Anya tried to protest, but there was no protesting with Gino. He was just too persistent.

"Please, please, please?" he begged. "I want to kiss the girl I love most in the world."

Anya blushed. He loved her?

"Hey, I thought you loved me!" Kallen blurted out. Gino didn't respond to the red-haired woman as he lightly kissed Anya on the lips.

"See, that wasn't so bad."

Anya blinked in confusion. She expected to be angry after he kissed her, but for some reason she felt better than she had the entire night. Maybe Christmas with Gino and the others wasn't such a bad thing after all. Maybe Christmas was more than she thought.

Of course, Jeremiah would have to disagree.

"DIE!" came the cyborg's enraged cry as he charged into the room with a giant chainsaw. Gino and the others immediately ran out of the house. Jeremiah chased them with the thing, cackling like he'd completely lost his mind...which wasn't too far from the truth honestly.

With a smile, Anya slipped out of the house after them, making a mental plan to go find Suzaku the cat while everyone was distracted.

After she closed the door behind her, two figures emerged from the kitchen closet.

"I can't believe you talked me into this, witch!"

"My plan worked, did it not?" A pale, delicate hand reached for a slice of home-baked pizza on the counter. "Ah, finally!"

"And that's how Anya tried to avoid Christmas."

"Hmm? What did you say that for, Lelouch?"

"Part of my contract for this story unfortunately."

The green-haired witch's expression soured, even as she took a bite of pizza. "I thought I was the only one you made contracts with."

"No," the infamous warlock replied, smirking. "You're just the only one I keep contracts with."

After taking a few more bites of pizza, the immortal woman places the pizza back down on the steel pan.

"Pack up my pizza for me," she murmurs, yawning. "I'm going to take a nap."

"C.C.! This is no time for napping. We have to leave before those idiots get back."

The immortal woman pivoted on her heel to smile at him. "I thought you wanted to see Nunnally."

"I do, but..."

"I left Cheese-kun at home," the witch interrupted, turning away. "Hurry up and pack my pizza so we can cuddle."

The man once known as the Demon Emperor merely shakes his head and mutters words every husband must say to appease a cranky wife.

"Yes, dear."

A/N: Thus ends the re-written version of How Anya Avoided Christmas. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Feel free to compare and contrast the two versions of the one-shot. The base story is the same, but I'm sure you'll notice that there are significant changes...as well as just a growth in my writing overall. That's the hope anyway. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. God bless you all!