Disclaimer – Sadly, I did not receive the rights to Tales of Vesperia for Christmas. I did, however, get a kit for making bouncy balls. My dog wants to gnaw on the finished products, which I'm convinced would be a bad idea no matter how much Estelle thinks it'd be wonderful fun. Also, "What a Year for a New Year" belongs to Dan Wilson.

Outfit/Item – Santa hat

Sunrise

What a year for a new year
We need it like we needed life I guess
Last one left us lying in a mess
What a year for a new year

Yuri had a wonderful singing voice. He didn't sing often, which Flynn thought was a shame. The emotion Yuri put into the lyrics was indescribably beautiful.

So if there was a tear running down Flynn's cheek, he certainly wasn't about to be ashamed that Yuri's singing had brought it about.

What a night for a sunrise
And we thought the dark would never end
Reaching out to try to find a friend
What a night for a sunrise
Sunrise

For whatever reason, Yuri had left their table a few minutes earlier, red and white Santa hat perched on his head, and he'd seated himself at the tavern's piano. He tapped a few keys experimentally, ran through a couple of chord progressions and octaves, just testing out whether it was in tune or if he'd have to compensate for certain notes being too sharp or flat.

Then Yuri started to play.

Flynn had known that the singing was coming, as had everyone else who lived in the lower quarter and knew Yuri well enough. But the others – Lady Estellise, Rita, and Yuri's guild friends – had watched in shock and awe as Yuri's fingers gently knocked out a melody and his voice reached out to touch in them their desire for a better year and better lives and a better world.

What a day for new day
And our star shines like a miracle
And our world is almost beautiful again
What a day for a new day
New day

It had certainly been a trying year.

The narrowly prevented war between the Empire and the Guilds, the murders Yuri had committed, Alexei's treachery, the Adephagos... and Yuri had put up with far more than all of that. There had nearly been a war between the guilds that Yuri had apparently helped prevent and then there was the thief he'd chased across two contents...

The loss of the blastia was the hardest part of the whole year. Rita's inventions were helping mitigate the loss, especially the portable heaters now that it was winter, but there were those who didn't want to admit that giving up the blastia was a fair trade for not dying. Of course, they hadn't wanted to die, they just didn't want to admit that giving up the blastia had been necessary.

Idiots.

What a year for a new year

But things were changing for the better regardless.

Older members of the Imperial Council were being supplanted by their younger heirs. Some of them were amiable towards the Guilds. The current council members not up for retirement were willing to admit they'd screwed up with Ragou and that peace with the Guilds was desirable. None had objected to Yuri's second full-pardon... at least, they hadn't objected where Master Ioder or Flynn could hear. He had no doubt they'd grumbled elsewhere. But Yuri had saved the world, which meant he'd saved those grumbling councilmen and women too.

As long as Yuri didn't think he had kill anyone else for the sake of protecting people when the law failed, grumbling about him was all those people would ever do.

What a night for a sunrise
And we thought the dark would never end
Reaching out to try to find a friend
What a night for a sunrise
Sunrise

Of course, that meant Flynn had to stick to his side of things and push for reforms that would make the law into what it should be. The idea of failing terrified Flynn, but Yuri said he had faith in Flynn's ability to give Master Ioder the right advice and cajole the council into making the right decisions.

Yuri's faith gave Flynn the strength to put the past behind them and build towards a future where children wouldn't feel the need to make promises like they had, or at least not on such a scale. They'd been such ambitious children, vowing to make the world better together.

It was still hard to grasp the fact that they actually had that opportunity now.

Soon we'll be lying in our beds
And new dreams will fill our heads
And the old ones will be ended
Hope we'll forget about this place
Let it go without a trace
Wipe the teardrops from our faces
Oh! What a year for a new year!

Standing, Yuri moved away from the piano bench and Flynn stood as well, hurrying to wrap his arms around Yuri's shoulders as they stood together for a moment in the doorway. With mistletoe hanging over their heads, they really had no choice but to kiss.

"Want to watch the sunrise with me?" Yuri asked once they were outside.

Sunrise was hours away. Flynn wondered what they'd to pass the time.

Yuri still had on that Santa hat.

Flynn wondered where Yuri had found it. The hat didn't look new, not with the little worn patches on the red velvet or the matted bits in the white trim. Maybe Hanks gave it to him...

A snowball hit Flynn's face, packed just lightly enough that it immediately crumbled on impact. Shaking off his distracted thoughts along with the snow, Flynn reached down to grab some snow of his own, cheerfully chasing after Yuri with the intent to shove some snow down the back of Yuri's coat.

Letting out a shriek of delight, Yuri took off running down the street as Flynn followed, snowball held up menacingly in the air.

It had been years since they'd last made a snow fort together, but they certainly hadn't lost the knack for it. Flynn had, idly, mentioned wanting one and then Yuri started plotting it out, using sticks to mark out the fort's corners and then packing up snow into blocks that were just perfect to build walls with.

Now they were curled up together, kissing in the snow, surrounded by their hard work.

It was cold outside and Flynn's fingers were a little numb even with his gloves on, but heat coiled inside him.

Then the first rays of light broke over the horizon, shining into their fort through Yuri's carefully crafted window. The two of them pulled apart and just watched as the sun began to creep up into the sky, Flynn's gloved hand reaching out to tangle his fingers with Yuri's.

This was what they always waited for together: not midnight, but dawn. This was the first day of a new year.

The possibilities were endless.

A/N – "What a Year for a New Year" and "So This is Christmas (War is Over)" are my two favorite Christmas/New Years songs. Both songs fit well with this fandom, but "What a Year for a New Year" fit with the story best.

Also, I love the mental image of Flynn being so moved by the emotion in Yuri's singing and all the history between them that he cries a little.