"Ahh, finally, some peace and quiet. Mario stop eating the serving dish."

"Aww..."

SMG4 looked across his table, and he smiled. It was in Peach's castle, in the clock tower room. A room where Peach had noted that an...altercation had occurred early that morning. But she was able to get everything in order before Christmas dinner. People had already opened their presents, exchanged their gifts and now took their seats at the table. It was lined with an extravagant dinner on serving platters; turkey, potatoes, mixed vegetables, gravy, a side of beef, crackling and a selection of nibbles and side dishes, all surrounded by glasses of fine wine (or juice for those too young for such tipple).

SMG4 took seat at the head of the table while Mario and Luigi sat closet to him, followed by Tari, Saiko, Bob, Fishy Boopkins and Axol. On the other side sat the so-called Snitchy Squad; a sort of cabal of evil counterparts constructed by his old rival, SMG3. Now they were friends, and sitting at the table; Jub-Jub sat opposite his brother, Belle and Whimpu were closest to Tari and Saiko, Rob was eyeing the corn platter with wild eyes, and Shroomy sat with the Squad; no-one had quite forgiven him for his role in SMG3's near victory, though he took it in stride.

SMG4 raised his glass and cleared his throat, "Well, as the head of the table, I'd love to thank everyone for a...stressful, but wonderful year. Full of laughs, full of adventures, full of memes. Full of...uh, textureless zombies and evil masks. And ruining Human-Inkling relations. And almost getting wiped from reality due to the machinations of my bitter evil counterpart. And...Mario."

"I said-a sorry!" Mario barked ashamedly.

Saiko slammed on the table, almost spilling her double helping of Vintage Caramelldansen (2001, a good year), [Sorry doesn't remove the fact we almost got snapped, plumber boy!"

"Saiko," SMG4 said calmly, "Settle down. But yes, there have been a lot of hardships. Some things some of us have yet to fully recover from. Apologies, Axol..." Axol, still scarred and dirty, gave a supportive thumbs up anyway. SMG4 then turned, confused, to the sleeping Melony splayed across her spot at the table, face resting on her plate, "And...still not sure how THAT happened. Huh...this year's been kinda crazy, hasn't it?"

"Come on guys!" Tari sighed, looking out amongst the large crowd, a smile on her face, "There's lots of great stuff that happened to us this year! We made all these brand new friends, like Belle..."

"Hey, I'm not your friend!" Belle scoffed, looking away and blushing, "Well, a little bit. Tiny bit...a bit."

Tari just giggled, "We also saw Mario and Bowser get back to their cooking show. I got a lot of brand new games, and that show deal I signed on is going along great! Steve's back in the crew! Bob is...better?"

"DaMn StRaIgHt. ThIs SeXy BiTcH iS dOiNg FiNe."

"And how could we forget the year Meggy's had? She won Splatfest! She avenged Desti! She got a brand new voice!"

Belle balked at Tari's words, arching closer after a bite of turkey, "She also got kicked around like a beachball in low tide, was subject to prejudice from an entire city, got kidnapped by her own clone, turned into a copy of Mario, was almost erased from history, had her house destroyed by Shroomy WHO HASN'T APOLOGISED..." she rudely shouted to Shroomy, who looked down sadly into his soup, "And had both her legs sawn off. Some year."

Tari started to argue, but then she...stopped. Granted, she wasn't even there for some of them, she just heard them off-hand...but she got the impression that was the case. It was Luigi, of all people, who spoke up; "She's...got a point, Tari."

"Well, that's why we're here," SMG4 continued, "As she continues to receive physical therapy, she sadly cannot join us this year. So, this dinner is dedicated to her. A toast, to Meggy Spletzer!"

"Aww, guys. Starting without me? Rude..."

SMG4 stopped. Everyone did. They all turned and looked at the doorway that had just opened. Within the doorframe, it was Meggy! Standing, all on her own. She was wearing a stunning red dress that reached her knees, her hair done up into a long ponytail that reached down her back. But the most unusual feature was a pair of robotic, prosthetic legs attached to her thighs that kept her upright, finished with some red heels at the fake feet.

SMG4's expression dropped, "...MEGGY?!"

Saiko chuckled, [Heh, priceless reaction.]

"Where the heck did you get those?!"

" made 'em!" Meggy boasted. She quickly slipped her heels off and took a speedy, bounding romp around the room, joyfully showing off her new mobility by jumping high and gracefully, "Look at me go! Woo hoo!"

"Psh, Mario can-a beat that!" Mario boasted, getting out of his chair, "Let's-a go!" he jumped once, then a second time, and then with a yell bounded incredibly high! Right into the roof. He slammed against it and tumbled back down to crash upon the ground. A few seconds passed in shocked silence before, "...Ooow..."

"He'll be fine," SMG4 dismissed the incident, and turned to Meggy as she put her heels back on, "Meggy, this is amazing!"

"I know, right?" Meggy beamed with joy, another tear in her eye, "I can walk again...but, I couldn't if it wasn't for Tari, Saiko...and him."

On cue, the him in question stepped into the room. It was Traveller, but his clothing was very...different. Gone was the shabby blue jacket and red scarf, now replaced with a black tuxedo with red bowtie and dress shoes and white gloves. His quills were slicked back, his face was cleaned up, his scarred mouth tastefully hidden with concealer. He looked out amongst the crowd, feeling quite silly.

Belle piped up again, "...Who IS he?"

"This is Traveller," Meggy introduced him with a flair, "Remember? Guy who helped save my life?" a string of relaxed murmurs came from one side of the table as the memories came back to them. Meggy smiled, "I thought it'd be only right if he joined us for dinner!"

"...Hence the tuxedo?"

"Well I had to get my old clothes stitched back together after your highness was done with me..." Traveller shrugged, pawing at his suit jacket, "Not exactly a good look for a fancy dinner party and all."

SMG4 shrugged, "Eh, whatever. Good company's always welcome at this table!"

"Many thanks," Traveller said humbly. The two took their seats, Meggy next to Mario and Traveller sitting at the other head of the table. He took a spare wine glass and helped himself to some wine. He visibly smiled, "So, how about we do that toast now?"

"Oh, right!" SMG4 raised his glass, "To Meggy!"

As did everyone else, "TO MEGGY!"

Meggy blushed happily, "Heh. Merry Christmas to you all too..."

/

Traveller didn't remember that much of the night. How long it went on for. It certainly was jolly, however. Festive. Full of food and music and dancing and...drunken fights. Par for the course for Traveller, though he had to admit it was still better than the last few Christmas parties he'd been to. But it was all over now. It was nearing midnight. Soon enough the time would tick over and it'd be Boxing Day. The festivities...gone. Everyone had collected their leftovers and said their thanks and headed on home to sleep peacefully through the morning. Traveller excused himself and walked outside the castle. The moon shone brilliantly that night, casting its rays down on the weary wanderer, and casting the courtyard in a beautiful shade of blue. He sighed, watching as his breath condensed in the cold air, listening to the peaceful nothings around him.

He sighed, bringing out the Blade from his hidden holster, "Well that was nice, wasn't it Blade?"

The Blade responded with a hearty chuckle, "I enjoyed the entertainment, that's for sure. Those guys fight a hell of a lot for friends...heh, good fighters. You see that bit where that psycho chick smashed that pumpkin thing through the table? MAN, that was satisfying."

"Hmm. Glad to see you're having fun..."

Blade sounded confused, "Why? Something eatin' you, kid? Or that just heartburn?"

Traveller stared into the sky, "What's the phrase? Every time I get out, they pull me back in? Even when I enter this world for a little bit, just for some peace and quiet, I almost bisect an Inkling with a chainsaw. Then put two rounds in his face."

"So? He deserved it."

"That's not the point. Will we ever escape violence, you think?"

"...You are quite literally carrying around a weapon made for war, with the soul of a culture's war god in it," Blade would almost certainly be giving Traveller the stink-eye, if his blade form had eyes of some description, "Or, did you forget?"

"I know, I know..." Traveller sighed, continuing to stare out among the abyss lit up by the moon, "It's just, he's out there. That corrupted me. The REAL me. Not who I am now..." he stared down at his hand. He knew what was really going on. Who he really was. There was a yelp as someone touched his shoulder, and he spun around, "Oh! Oh, hey Meggy."

Meggy was indeed standing before him, her makeup smudged and her dress dishevelled. But she remained cheerful, "Hi Traveller. How's things?"

"Just heading out," Traveller scratched the back of his head, discarding the quill he scratched loose over his shoulder, "Party's over, and all. Time for me to move on. I don't belong here. Hell, I don't belong ANYWHERE."

"I...I understand," Meggy sighed, almost disappointedly, "If you're leaving, I just wanna say, thank you..." she flashed a shy smile, "For saving me. For getting me a way to walk again. You're...a hero."

"I wish," Traveller sighed, digging his hands into his pockets, "My past is littered with the awful things I've done. The things I created. What Shades became. Warmongers..."

"Oh my," Meggy gasped at this. Considering it was Shades who caused all this, and he was one of those...things, "Sounds horrible. Would there be a sorta...War me?"

Traveller looked at Meggy, his expression haunted, "I hope not."

"Well, I can't say much for who you WERE," Meggy sighed too, but she took his hands; they were freezing. She looked up at his gaze, "But...if there's one thing I've realised this year, even when we're at our lowest, we can pull it back. We can redeem ourselves for everything we did. In the name of those we lost and love. Don't you have anyone you fight for?"

"...I...suppose I did. Her name was Amber."

"Nice. Mine was Desti," Meggy beamed, memories of their encounter a few nights before flashing in her head, "And I'm sure they're both pretty happy now, out there. Somewhere."

"...Yeah. Yeah..." Traveller sighed yet again, his throat drying in the cold air. He looked around for a while, "Thanks Megs. Say if you're not ready to say goodbye, you could always travel a few worlds with me. Get some better batteries for those legs. I've been meaning to check in with a few old friends. And you get to see the worlds. And how...big it all is."

"Hmm..." Meggy thought about the suggestion for a while, before a wide and devious smile crossed her lips, "Hey, the night's still young. Why not? As long as I'm returned home before tomorrow."

"Oh, of course. Let's see how our old friends at SH-123 are doing, Blade."

Traveller extended the Blade, separating it into segments that were connected by a string of wire running across the back and into the handle. The blade bent this way and that, the sounds of an old radio blaring static being blasted back out. The Blade continued to twitch, "Tuning into No-Zone frequency #3442..." before it stopped and straightened out, "Aah, got something."

The static gave way to a voice. Deep, gruff, the voice of a natural born leader. It sounded vaguely panicked as it spoke, "All units, be advised! New Hirozumu square is currently under attack by a revived Time Eater/Chaos hybrid! Seek cover and fight at a distance!"

Then roars, screams, crashes. And then the voice of a teenager, interwoven with speedy wind, "HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO US?!"

Blade retracted into its complete form and the signal slowly vanished. Traveller stared into the empty space for a while, "...Every. Year."

"Sounds like they need our help," Blade chuckled, "How's that sound, hero?"

"I...heh, alright," Traveller grinned, digging his scarf out of nowhere and wrapping it around himself. He raised the Blade, and stabbed the air. The Blade hit...something, and a rip in space and time appeared. Meggy looked on with wonder and then excitement as Traveller dragged the Blade down, leaving a large gash in the air, before opening it manually to form a purple portal. He turned to the cyborg, "Ready, Megs?"

"Oh I am SO ready!" Meggy yelled in excitement, "Let's kick some alien ass!" Traveller took her hand, and the two cheered as they leapt headfirst into a brand new world, "WOOHOO!"

And as the portal vanished, leaving the courtyard silent, two female spirits watched from the castle roof. One, an Octoling in a blue jacket. The other, a blond Mobian Hedgehog in a brown leather longcoat.

And they smiled.

==THE END==