Holy Spork: I'm baaaack!

Young Kratos: (-rolls eyes-) Joy to the world...

Spork: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or its characters, plot line, or locations, Bandai-Namco does... and I don't own any of the stuff I make references to either.

Chapter II: Tree And Decorations

"WAKE UP EVERYONE! TWO DAYS TO CHRISTMAS!" shouted Zelos, running through his mansion with the intent of waking everyone else in the building. Their reactions were to either pull the sheets over their heads and try to go back to sleep, grudgingly wake up and start getting ready for the day ahead, or in one case, get out of bed and prepare to kill the ex-Chosen for his loud disturbance of her rest.

"SOME PEOPLE NEED SLEEP!" screeched Sheena, who had not slept well the previous night. Her hair was disheveled, there were dark bags under her eyes, and she had the disposition of a homicidal rhinoceros.

"Oww… that wasn't nice," moaned Zelos, rubbing his face where she had slapped him.

Sheena has obtained the title Violent: You don't anger her unless you have a death wish.

After some additional prodding for some of the lazier members of the party, the crew assembled downstairs to get organized. Zelos decided that everyone needed to go out and help find a good Christmas tree.

"Where are we going to go for a tree?" asked Colette.

"Into the woods just outside the city!" declared Zelos, "It's full of evergreens. There's definitely going to be a good tree somewhere in there!"

This declaration was not met with a lot of enthusiasm.

"Most monsters will be hibernating at this time of year," commented Regal, "As long as we do not take too much time, or make too much noise, it should not be a problem."

"Okay then!" shouted Lloyd, "Let's go get a tree!"

About half an hour later, the group was wandering the forest outside the walls of Meltokio, searching for the perfect Christmas tree. Everyone under the age of twenty-five seemed to be having fun scouring the forest. Some of the older members of the party were less excited.

"I don't understand the necessity of cutting down a perfectly healthy tree." Commented Old Kratos, as he followed the younger people through the forest.

"You're no fun," said Young Kratos, as he looked at a potential Christmas tree, "I mean, it's just once a year right? It's not as if we're chopping down the whole forest."

"It simply seems… wasteful," said Old Kratos as he watched the children fuss over a particular evergreen.

"C'mon Dad!" said Lloyd cheerfully, "It's a holiday! You're supposed to have fun!"

Old Kratos said nothing, but watched as his companions continued to comb the forest for a perfect tree. Then, after hours of searching, they found it.

It was perfectly round, without any brown needles or bald patches. It was teardrop shaped, tall enough to dwarf all of them. Its needles weren't too sharp and the branches were strong enough to support even large, heavy ornaments. The children stared up in awe.

"This is it!" declared Zelos, "Now all we have to do is cut it down!"

"I will do it." Said Presea in a monotone. She hefted her axe, which she had brought for this purpose, and swung it with ease. There was a crack as the metal blade slid through the trunk, then the great plant swayed and fell, landing with a great thud in the snow. After making sure that no one had been crushed by the falling behemoth, the children cheered.

Presea has obtained the title Lumberjack: She's a lumberjack and she's okay!

"Time to take this baby home!" declared Zelos.

The something stuck its head out of the tree. It looked annoyed.

"Why did you have to choose my tree?" it said irritably, "There are plenty of other trees in the forest!"

The one who had inhabited the tree glared at the people who cut it down.

"Uh…" Lloyd started, "What were you doing in the tree anyway Yuan?"

Yuan said nothing.

"Were you following us again?" asked Sheena.

Yuan spread his purple wings and flew away as fast as he could.

"What do you mean 'again'?" asked Young Kratos, "He's followed you around before?"

"Yes," said Colette, "He tends to pop out of nowhere at the strangest times."

Yuan has obtained the title Stalker: He lurks in bushes and makes fake MySpace pages for reasons no one can really comprehend.

"Now it's time to take this baby home!" declared Zelos again, but a little more hesitantly this time. But when no more pony-tailed men popped out of the tree, they formed a ring around the tree, lifted the plant up, and head off out of the forest. After a lot of confusion regarding who to follow and where to turn, they made it to the city walls, then onto the streets of Meltokio. Needless to say they attracted quite a lot of stares. Then they finally made it to Zelos' mansion.

After several hectic minutes spent trying to shove the tree through the front door without destroying the tree or the door, they party of heroes managed to bring the evergreen into the giant main lobby/living room/dining room.

"Where are we going to put it?" asked Colette

The others looked around, and then Zelos pointed to a conveniently empty corner of the room and said, "Right there!"

They lugged the tree over to the corner, and then were faced with the problem of getting the tree to stand. But this was when having angels in the room was convenient: Lloyd and Colette together got the tree to stand on its own by grabbing the top of the tree and flying up. When they landed, Zelos called to his butler.

"Sebastian! Get the Christmas ornaments out of the basement and bring them up here!"

The butler said a quiet, "Yes, Master Zelos," before disappearing. After several trips, about two-dozen boxes had migrated upstairs, each filled to capacity with string lights, tree ornaments, fake poinsettias, garlands, wreaths, and quite a lot of mistletoe. Everyone took some stuff and went around inside and outside the house decorating. Operation Deck The Halls had begun.

Colette had said that she wanted to put up all the mistletoe, which the others had allowed. They decided that it would be best to let Colette, who at least had good intentions, hang the plant than Zelos, whose intentions were questionable at best. So Colette would fly up to the ceiling and with some string and tape, fix the branch to the ceiling. She was in the middle of this activity, when something terrible happened.

She started to sing.

"Oh, deck the halls with boughs of holly!" sang Colette, occasionally missing a key note, "Fa la LA, la LA la LA LAA!"

Young Kratos had dropped the garland he had been holding to cover his ears, Zelos' smile became just a little too fixed, Lloyd and Genis tried to pretend it was good, Sheena gripped the string light she had been hanging a little tighter, and everyone else just ignored the girl.

Colette has obtained the title Caroler: She has the voice of an angel… or so some say.

Colette hung up the mistletoe and floated back down to the floor, where she stood looking up at it, wondering how much happiness it would bring, and to who. Nearby, Lloyd looked over at her, thinking that she looked pretty with the nearby Christmas lights' glow. Young Kratos looked from Colette to Lloyd and back. He knew they had a thing for each other, yet they totally failed to admit to, or act on, any feelings they had for each other. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Young Kratos gave Lloyd a hard shove.

Lloyd, who had not been expecting this, pulled a Colette and toppled over, managing to land on Colette. After an awkward moment spent getting back on their knees, they looked at each other. They looked up at the mistletoe Colette had just hung. They looked at each other. They blushed.

Lloyd was going to say something, possibly something actually romantic, when the moment was spoiled.

"So you're finally gonna kiss her, huh?" said Zelos, coming over to watch the fun, "C'mon, you're under the mistletoe! You've got to kiss now!"

The couple's blush deepened. Colette muttered something about going to go help Sheena with a garland, while Lloyd murmured something about going to help Genis hang some ornaments on the tree. They parted.

Young Kratos glared at Zelos, "You just had to ruin the moment, didn't you?"

"Hey, I was only trying to help, Mr. Match Maker," said Zelos defensively. Young Kratos rolled his eyes and walked away to go do something else. When the boy was gone, Zelos pulled out his own orange wings, flew up to the mistletoe on the ceiling, and grabbed it. When he landed again he quickly scurried away, grinning to himself.

Meanwhile, Young Kratos discovered his older self having a disagreement with Lloyd. It was of the common 'yes-no' variety.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"C'mon Dad!" said Lloyd, breaking from the mold, "You know you want to help decorate the tree and stuff!"

"Perhaps this is an activity you are better suited to than I am," said Old Kratos.

"Don't be such a Scrooge!" butt in Young Kratos, "Just hang up some lights or something. Just for once, do something fun!"

Old Kratos has obtained the title Scrooge: Bah, humbug!

Old Kratos glared at Young Kratos, "Why do you take such pleasure," he started, "In insulting your future self?"

"'Cuz you're a boring old fart and I'm not!" said the younger with a grin.

The older sighed. "Only an immature child like you would make such a comment."

"It's better than being a crusty old man. Seriously, you look like you're in your late twenties but you act like a geezer! I wouldn't want to be you."

"You are me."

"Not yet!"

Lloyd decided it was time to run: he knew now how these arguments went. It was best to leave the Kratoses alone until one or both of them ran out of insults or motivation.

That usually took a while though.

Upstairs, locked in a room, Zelos was plotting.

He had spent the past several minutes quietly and surreptitiously gathering materials, and had hidden himself in this room to prepare them. He had a plan, and it was totally idiot-proof. This Christmas was going to be the best Christmas ever.

"Hehehehe…" Zelos inspected his invention, grinning gleefully. "I'll get Sheena to kiss me with this! My plan is foolproof!"

"Hey Sheena,"

The ninja looked up to see Zelos walking over, a mischievous grin on his face and his hands behind his back. "How are you doing?" asked Zelos with fake innocence.

"Zelos, what are you planning?" asked Sheena suspiciously.

"Nothing!" said Zelos very unconvincingly, "I just wanted to say how lovely you look today!"

Sheena raised her eyebrows in surprise, "…That's it?"

Zelos nodded, still grinning that Cheshire Cat grin, "Look Sheena!" he exclaimed suddenly, "We're standing under the mistletoe!"

Sheena looked up to find that, indeed, there was a mistletoe branch hanging over her head, white berries and all. When she looked more closely she noticed that it was on a string, which was tied to a long stick, the end of which the former Chosen of Tethe'alla seemed to be holding behind his back. This didn't amuse Sheena.

Smack!

"Oww…" whined Zelos piteously as Sheena stomped away, fuming.

Zelos has obtained the title Mistletoe Lover: C'mon baby, all I want is a kiss!

After many chaotic hours, the mansion and the new Christmas tree were completely decorated. Lights clung to the outer walls of the mansion like glowing ivy, and the tree glittered with numerous ornaments of all kinds, shapes, and colors. Garlands, poinsettias, and even the occasional wreath or mistletoe branch littered the interior of the building. The only thing left was to put an item Zelos referred only to as 'the angel' on top of the tree. When he pulled it out of the box and presented it to the others, he claimed that he had always put it on top of his Christmas tree every year.

The others had some cause to doubt it, but Lloyd, wanting to show off his wings some more, gladly took the angel to the top of the tree and fixed it there. Though he would admit to Genis later, that he did agree, that 'the angel' look rather suspiciously like Colette.

But after saying this Lloyd immediately went back to trying to devour a whole fruitcake loaf, so it didn't seem to bother him much.

Holy Spork: ...Not one of the better chapters, I'll admit. The next one will be better. The crew will go present shopping, and the Kratoses will get formal outfits! YAY!

Young Kratos: (-buries face in hands-)

Spork: The next chapter will be up on the 15th! Please review!