Merry Christmas folks! As always, the final one is a bit late because I spend most of my Christmas time with my family, but here it is! I hope Santa's been generous with you uwu

Sora pouted, looking by the window. Assignments weren't a great deal of fun usually, but having to write one during the Christmas Holidays felt unfair. He wanted to go out and play in the snow, not to stay in thinking about what to write. "What would your own heaven be like?" What kind of question was that anyway? And because it was something personal, he couldn't copy Kairi's or Riku's work either. He was sure they had both finished theirs the minute the assignment had been given. He wasn't a scholar like them. He was an adventurer.

"Sora, didn't you say you had a party tonight?" His mother was at his door, smiling gently. He checked the clock and jumped from his seat.

"Is it late already? It's no good! Kairi will be mad if I'm late!"

"I'm sure she can forgive you for a couple of minutes, it's not like she's living too far off anyway. Want me to drop you off?"

Sora nodded, rushing to pick the present he had bought, to put his heavy coat on and to wrap his scarf around his neck at the same time, resulting in him being an even bigger mess than usual. He had spent so long trying to find what to write on his essay that hours had flown away.

His mother laughed at him, helping him figure out how to dress properly, before they both got in the car.

"Greet Kairi's parents for me, will you? And be home by ten tomorrow, your aunt's coming. Be good, don't break anything, and…"

"Mom, I know! I'm not a kid!"

"You'll always be my kid, want it or not." She winked at him. "So as I was saying, have fun! See you tomorrow!"

He practically jumped out of the car, grinning at his mother before heading to the house in front of him.

"Sorry I'm laaate", he said as he stepped inside the living room where many people were there already.

Kairi had wanted them to have a Secret Santa event, all of them together. It was a great way to spend time together before they all disappeared to celebrate with their families. They were all wearing Ugly Christmas Sweaters, as was tradition now, and Sora was particularly proud of his own with a reindeer whose nose would lit up.

"Can't say we're surprised," Kairi said, rolling her eyes and handing him a cup of eggnog.

"What took you so long?" Terra grumbled, in the middle of an arm wrestling with Riku.

"Knowing him," Riku replied, the effort clear in his voice, "he was trying to write his essay and failed - ah, fine, I give up!" His hand slammed against the table, and Terra smirked at him, while Ven cheered and Aqua muttered something about brutes.

"A-absolutely not!" Sora shook his head, embarrassed. Xion noticed and started laughing, cutting the argument.

"Let's not talk about school tonight. Now that everyone's here, should we exchange the presents?"

Everyone sounded pleased with the suggestion, and soon they all were busy giving and receiving colourful boxes. Naminé thanked Sora profusely for the new set of crayons he had gotten her, while he was fascinated by the model of a pirate boat Aqua had found for him. They all received something they weren't expecting and many eyes were sparkling with joy. They switched to board games (and Sora wasn't getting any better at Command Board), then to dinner, before going back to more games. The evening disappeared in a blink, and in what felt like a minute, they were all asleep on their inflatable beds all across the room.

Sora woke up in the middle of the night, staring at the ceiling. Someone was snoring not far from him, and he suspected it was Axel. Roxas mumbled something in his sleep, and Xion grumbled back.

"My own heaven, huh?" he whispered very low, a smile on his face. "It's not really about where. Or about what's in it. As long as I'm with the right people… Any place is a good place."

Satisfied, he shut his eyes once again, and within a few seconds, was sleeping once more.

Surrounded by those who made every day heavenlike.

An advent calendar cannot finish without a sweet story about friendship, can it? I will now run back to my family to enjoy a lunch with way too much food, as is tradition.

Wishing you all a lovely, happy and wonderful Christmas! Thank you for following this calendar this year as well. There's no telling when (if) the next KH story will be posted, but I'm hoping 2022 will bring us nice things, please, Papa Nomura!

Love you guys!