-Twenty-Five Days-

A Psychonauts Christmas Fanfic by Digitaldreamer

Day Nine: Snow

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Whoo, day nine. Almost to the double digits now, how crazy is that? Miss Trippy was also nice enough to just review every chapter (thanks a whole lot, Trippy!) which, on top of a recent viewing of the Polar Express, has renewed my vigor for this fic. This means I'll probably spend the entire weekend just typing up these drabbles, that way I'll have a backlog of drabbles and won't be as stressed as I was this week.

Or at least I hope that'll be the case, at any rate.

While I'd like to do all this and CP as well, it's likely that's not going to happen. So for those of you who read CP, I'm sorry to say I probably won't be able to update this weekend. You can hope I'll get it together for sometime during the week, but that's probably not going to happen either, so expect a big chapter next week, okay? I'm really sorry, but the holiday season has just made me so darn busy, I simply don't have time and have to hold something off for a bit. It was either that or...well, not sleep, and that wouldn't result in a good chapter. I'm sure you'd all rather wait than suffer a crappy chapter right? Right.

Well...with that slightly unhappy news off my chest, I hope this chapter of Twenty-Five Days cheers you up!

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All was oddly quiet in the Agency towards the end of the day. Though six o' clock was generally the time when most of the Psychonauts went home, today almost everyone had gone home early due to reports of bad weather. At the moment there were only a few agents bustling through the great building, making the normally chaotic place a bit eerie in it's silence.

'Tick' went the clock.

Raz stared at it with wide eyes.

'Tock' went the clock.

5:57, it read.

'Tick'

Raz twitched.

'Tock'

The minute hand moved.

5:58

"Yes! Two more minutes!" Raz hissed under his breath.

"Razputin, please, focus!" Milla admonished.

"Sorry." Raz muttered apologetically, flushing and returning to his work. He, Lili, Sasha and Milla were all gathered in front of the tree, rolls of wrapping paper, ribbons, scissors and tape spread around them all. There was also a pile of plain white boxes, which didn't seem to be getting any smaller.

Lili let out a hiss of frustration as she twirled a ribbon around her pair of scissors half-heartedly. "Why are we doing this again?" She grumbled.

"Miss Zanotto does have a point...all of these boxes are empty." Sasha muttered as he applied some tape.

"Oh, but they just load this place with 'Christmas Cheer™ ', don't they?" Raz declared, doing a perfect imitation of Tessie's high-pitched, squeaky voice and rolling his eyes.

"Come now darlings, cheer up. At least it's...festive?" Milla suggested, though her smile seemed rather fake.

"Whatever." Raz muttered. "At this point, I don't really care, all I care about is that it's nearly six and I'm almost out of here!" He declared as he wrapped a box a bit too forcefully.

"It is?" Sasha blinked, glancing at the clock. "Oh, so it is. My, how time flies when you're...wrapping empty boxes."

Lili, meanwhile, was counting under her breath. "Six...five...four...two..."

"You missed three, darling." Milla interjected helpfully.

"SIX O' CLOCK!" Lili cried out, jumping to her feet. "Finally! I don't see why I have to work by these stupid hours, why doesn't anyone get that I don't work here!?" She muttered, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Oh, but does it really matter if you're spreading Christmas Cheer™ ?" Tessie piped up.

"GAH!" Raz screamed. "How are you doing that!?"

"Doing what?"

"Just...just...appearing like that!"

Tessie stared blankly at him for a moment. "...Exactly!" She finally chirped, turning back to everyone. "What are you all doing?"

"Agent...ah, darling, it's six o' clock." Milla said with a tired smile as she got up and began to telekinetically put everything away. "I'm afraid it's time for us all to go home, we'll have to finish tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Tessie said, her face falling as if she were genuinely sad. "Good thing Christmas Cheer™ doesn't abide to those kind of silly rules!" She continued, beaming.

The four psychics all gaped at her. "...What?"

"Oh, you heard me! Since you aren't done, you can just stay here and work until you finish!" Tessie said. "No big deal, right? After all, you're spreading Christmas Cheer™ !"

Silence.

"But...but...I'm supposed to call my dad!" Raz sputtered.

"I have homework!" Lili cried out.

"I have to...ah...feed Maxwell!" Sasha struggled for an excuse.

"Oh, nonsense, Christmas Cheer™ is much more important!" Tessie said with a smile. "Don't worry, it shouldn't take you that long...only a few more hours!" With that, she made her way towards the door.

"But...aren't you going to help, darling?" Milla asked weakly.

Tessie turned them and blinked, apparently surprised. "Oh no, of course not! I have far too much Christmas Cheer™ to spread!" She chirped.

"But...you were doing that earlier!" Raz sputtered.

"Exactly! See you tomorrow, have fun!" With that, she was gone.

All was silent for a for moments. Then Lili let out a low growl and threw her roll of wrapping paper to the ground,the innocuous, shimmering roll crumpling on impact.

"Darling!" Milla exclaimed.

"I'm taking a break!" Lili snapped, stomping across the floor and over to the elevators. The moment she came up to them the doors opened and she stepped inside, turning only to glare dangerously at Raz, Sasha, and Milla. "Don't follow me." She warned through clenched teeth.

With that, the doors closed and she was gone.

"...Crap." Raz immediately threw down his roll of paper and jogged after her. Sasha and Milla didn't stop him.

Raz didn't catch up with his girlfriend until he finally made it outside the building. It was there that he found her, huddled up in the cold, arms wrapped around herself as she shivered, teeth chattering. She had elected to leave her coat inside headquarters, which may not have been the brightest of ideas.

The goggle-headed boy watched her for a moment, then came up behind her, arms shoved in his coat pockets. "Hey." He said softly, his breath coming out in a warm puff.

Lili glanced over her shoulder at him, amber eyes narrowed. "I thought I told you not to follow me." She muttered. Raz just shrugged and cracked a small grin, causing the brunette to roll her eyes and look away. "Dorkface." All was silent for a few moments, and then Lili was talking again. "I hate this stupid holiday."

"Why?" Raz asked.

"I just...I just do, alright?" She snapped. However, after a few seconds her face softened and she looked away again.

"Oh, come on now. You know you don't mean that." Raz said, still smiling and shaking his head. "You hate the bad stuff that you associate it with...but that doesn't mean you hate the holiday itself, do you?"

Lili snorted. "No, I do hate it. The whole thing."

"Come on, I'm sure you've got one or two good memories in there somewhere...don't you?" Raz asked gently.

Silence.

Lili shivered, hugging her arms closer to herself. "..I...no, I don't." She muttered, though Raz could tell she was lying.

Silence.

"Are you cold?"

The brunette scowled. "No, I am not cold!" She snapped. Her annoyance turned to surprise, however, as she quite suddenly found Raz's jacket draped over her shoulders. She blinked as Raz's smiling face came into view.

"You know, it's pretty hard to lie to a telepath." He said with a cheeky grin.

Lili stared at him for a moment, then blushed and looked away. "...Stupid." Raz let out a soft laugh and pulled her into a hug, saying nothing.

They stayed like that for a few moments, simply warm in each others embrace. However, after a few seconds Raz pulled away, blinking in confusion as something cold landed on his head. "What the..." He muttered, brow furrowing as he glanced up at the sky. Lili's gaze followed and she let out a small gasp.

"...Snow."

The soft white flakes were leisurely drifting down to earth, glittering in the city lights. It all floated along with the breeze, like flocks of tiny, minuscule little white doves, their pure white feathers gathering up the ground to hide away all the dirt and grime that made up the streets of New York city.

Raz's face was one of wonder as he gazed up at the snow, jade green eyes wide. "Wow...the first snow...isn't it great, Lili?" He murmured, glancing over at the brunette.

Lili stared up at the snow for a moment. Then a small, tiny smile came to her face as she hugged Raz's arm for warmth. "Maybe...yeah...okay...it's beautiful." She whispered quietly.

They stood in silence for a moment, just watching the snow fall.

"...This doesn't change anything, though. I still hate Christmas." Lili suddenly said.

Raz just laughed.

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To Be Continued...