Holy Spork: Deadlines make funny whooshing noises when they fly by!

Young Kratos: She missed her December 15th deadline. She kept yelling about 'too much school work' and 'writer's block' and 'next year I'll write the whole thing out before I post it'. I think she's suffering from adrenaline backwash now.

Spork: FROGGIES!

Kratos: …Or possibly insanity. o.0

Holy Spork doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or its characters, plot line, or locations. She might not even own me. Just as soon as my case goes through court I may win my freedom…

Chapter III: Present Shopping And Party Time

"WAKE UP EVERYONE! IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!"

SMACK!

"BE QUIET ZELOS!"

After some additional prodding, shouting, and in once case a bucket of water, the crew woke up.

"What now?" asked Young Kratos grumpily, trying to dry himself off with a towel that was roughly the size of Texas.

Lloyd tried to think of something. Then he turned up something from a dusty corner of his mind. "Oh no…"

Everyone else turned to look at him. "What's wrong Lloyd?" asked Genis.

"I…" started Lloyd guiltily. He started to fidget, "Uh… I… forgot to…"

"…Buy presents?" supplied Sheena. Lloyd deflated and stared at the floor miserably.

"Why am I not surprised?" said Genis.

Lloyd smacked him.

"Shut up Genis!"

"Ow…"

Genis has obtained the title Piñata: Everyone enjoys hitting him!

"It's something to do," said Young Kratos, hoping his damp hair wouldn't freeze outside.

Lloyd, Genis, Colette, and Young Kratos wandered the streets of Meltokio, looking into the windows of the stores they passed.

"What do you guys think I should get Presea?" asked Genis.

The others thought about this. "Hey Colette," started Lloyd, "What do girls want for Christmas?"

Colette thought about this, and then said, "Puppies!"

"I don't think Presea is much of a dog person though…" said Lloyd.

"Presea is a lumberjack, right?" said Young Kratos, "So Genis, why don't you get her something lumberjack-y?"

Genis was about to say something along the lines of, "That's stupid," but decided against it. He hadn't been able to come up with something on his own, and maybe something 'lumberjack-y' would be nice. Now to think of something 'lumberjack-y' that would make a nice present…

"Do you guys have any idea what I should get Dad for Christmas?" asked Lloyd out of the blue.

"Which one?" asked Colette.

"Kratos," clarified Lloyd, "I'm already working on something for Dirk. But I don't know what to get for Kratos."

"I imagine geezers like that are hard to shop for," said Young Kratos, for the sake of irony.

Lloyd glared at Young Kratos. He thought he got along well with Young Kratos, but he was offended a little by the boy's near constant insulting of his older self. Old Kratos was Lloyd's father after all.

"…Any idea what he would like for Christmas?" ventured Colette.

Lloyd shrugged, "That's the problem," he said, "I have no idea."

The others thought about this problem. What would someone like Kratos want for Christmas? What would be the perfect gift for an ancient angel?

They couldn't think of squat.

"Well…" started Lloyd uncertainly, then hoping he would get an idea later, changed the subject, "Hey Genis, what are you getting Raine this year?"

"A book," said Genis, "Ancient History of Tethe'alla. She'll love it!"

They all imagined a ruin-mania Raine making out with a book on ancient history. They all suffered from mental trauma of varying severity.

"Isn't that Zelos over there?" said Colette, pointing, and pulling everyone out of the waking nightmare that was Ruin-Mode.

It was, in fact, the ex-Chosen who had just existed an unmarked building down the street. He had a box wrapped in brown paper under his arm. He turned toward the still open door and called inside, "Thanks for all the help my hunny!" The crew heard a faint giggle as Zelos closed the door. He turned to walk down the street when he noticed Lloyd and the others staring at him. Zelos froze.

"Uh…" started Lloyd, "Zelos?"

The Chosen stared at his friends. He seemed surprised to see them there. He looked like a small child that had been caught doing something bad.

"Zelos, what were you doing?" asked Lloyd suspiciously.

"YOU SAW NOTHING!" Zelos insisted, before turning and fleeing down the street.

"That was weird," said Genis, "I wonder what he was up to."

Back at the Wilder Manor, after everyone had bought and then hid the soon-to-be Christmas presents, everyone was regrouping. This was when Zelos decided to break some interesting and very good news. He ignored the slightly suspicious looks he got from Lloyd and Genis as he spoke.

"Guess what everyone!" he shouted so that he caught everyone's attention, "Princess Hilda has invited us to another fancy dress party!" he declared, "It's a Christmas Eve ball the royal family's hosting, and she's invited all of us, 'cause we saved the world and stuff!"

"PARTY!" cheered Lloyd, Colette, Sheena, and Genis.

"A fancy dress party…" said Young Kratos, unsure of how he felt about this.

Old Kratos' only response was an 'hmph'.

The rest of the party seemed okay with the concept of a party.

"Are we getting the fancy clothes again?" asked Lloyd.

"But of course Bud!" said Zelos with a grin, thinking about all the hunnies he was going to attract at the party.

This was why, about an hour before the party, the crew arrived at the palace. As before when Hilda invited them to a similar party (after Zelos saved her) the royal family provided fancy outfits for all of them. And once more, the local maids shoved the group into their various outfits (a practice Lloyd didn't particularly like). After regrouping to head to the party hall where the party proper would take place, they took a moment to stare at Young Kratos. No one had ever thought they would see him in anything more formal than jeans. He didn't seem particularly thrilled about it either.

"I feel like a twit," said Young Kratos sourly.

He was wearing a red outfit with gold trim. Someone (probably a maid) had fought a losing battle with his messy hair. Parts of it were flat, but still some spikes of it still stuck out at odd angles. He looked a little too scruffy to be wearing something so expensive.

Young Kratos has obtained the title Reluctant Nobleman: Why do I have to wear this stupid thing again?

"We need to hurry or we'll be late to the party!" said Colette cheerfully.

Several minutes later, they arrived at the party hall. Lloyd noticed Zelos already there, standing on the steps, flirting with a young lady. Lloyd watched as the others headed inside. Zelos promised the hunny he would see her inside, and oh and wasn't she just the most beautiful lady he had ever seen? The hunny giggled and went inside. Zelos turned and saw Lloyd observing him.

"Hey Bud!" he called.

"Don't call me Bud!" said Lloyd hotly.

Zelos looked around, ignoring Lloyd, "I thought your old man said he was going to be here."

"Dad's coming?" asked Lloyd, bemused. He hadn't realized that his father was planning on coming at all.

"Yeah," said Zelos, fiddling with his braid, "I think he wants to keep an eye on the little Kratos. He'll probably want to make sure the kid doesn't do anything to make a total fool of himself." Zelos grinned, "I wouldn't mind it if he did though. I'd just have to make sure I'd have a camera on me."

"You will do no such thing."

Zelos turned, and then looked up.

"Ah… if it isn't the old man himself!"

Old Kratos was frowning down at Zelos, using a disdainful glare he reserved just for the ex-Chosen. Old Kratos had somehow acquired a black suit and a red silk tie. A couple of noblewomen passing by saw him and nearly drooled.

Zelos grinned, and said with his normal tactlessness, "You're really dressing up to go lady killing aren't you?"

Old Kratos has obtained the title Lady Killer: 'Cuz every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man!

Kratos glared Death at Zelos, as realization dawned on the philanderer. "Oh…" Zelos said, as horror grew inside him like a tumor, "That's right… you did, uh… kill a lady… didn't you… IS THAT MY HUNNIES CALLING?! SORRYGOTTARUNBYE!"

Zelos fled.

Lloyd stared.

Kratos grunted a displeased 'hmph'. He turned and went inside the building, leaving Lloyd to gape.

It was a good party. The food was good, the hall was covered in wreathes, garlands, tinsel, a strategically placed branch of mistletoe (under which Zelos was often found lurking), and other Christmas time decorations.

Things were good.

Lloyd spotted Young Kratos, standing in a corner of the room, holding a cup of punch, looking uncomfortable. Lloyd decided to intervene.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked, approaching the younger version of his father.

Young Kratos shrugged, "Just… stuff," he said lamely. He paused, and then added, "I'm just not… much of a party animal. Is all."

"I thought you would have been the center of the party," commented Lloyd, thinking about his friend's normally outgoing personality.

"Well, you thought wrong," said Kratos, "I'm usually the black sheep anyway, at parties like this. It doesn't really bother me anymore." He took a sip of his punch to occupy himself.

"You're just normally so talkative," said Lloyd, "What's so different now?"

"You guys are just so… I dunno," admitted Kratos with a shrug, "So open, I guess. I don't like formal stuff like this anyway. It's always so… stiff. And I don't like being stuck in a room with a brunch of stuffy old people. It just… bothers me."

Lloyd looked around and noticed that, in fact, there were very few people in the room under the age of thirty. Lloyd didn't think this was a reasonable excuse for Kratos to spend the entire party in a corner by himself. He frowned at Kratos' sudden shyness, "I'm going to socialize you!"

"Huh?"

Lloyd got behind Kratos and shoved the unfortunate boy into a nearby crowd of guests. They all turned to look at Kratos. The poor boy forced a smile, suddenly feeling very insecure. "Uh… hi," he squeaked.

The members of the group looked away and started chatting amongst themselves again. Young Kratos retreated. He glared at Lloyd, who had his arms folded across his chest.

Lloyd shrugged, "Come over with us! I kinda know what you mean about this kind of thing being stuffy. So come over with Genis, Colette, and me."

Young Kratos shrugged. "Sure."

The children spent the night chatting away, anticipating the next day, and what they might receive, or how the ones they were giving to would react.

"Hey Lloyd," started Sheena, "I heard you were trying to think of something to get your Dad for Christmas. Did you find anything?"

"Uh..." Lloyd started uncertainly, "Hey Genis," he said quickly, "What did you get Presea?"

"You'll see," said the little half-elf mysteriously.

Around ten at night the party ended. The Reunification Heroes and a reluctant time-traveler walked out of the party hall, generally feeling content. Sheena was yelling at Zelos again for his questionable behavior, but that was standard. Even Old Kratos looked as if he had a reasonably good time.

"And tomorrow's Christmas, right?" said Young Kratos.

"Yeah!" cheered Lloyd and Genis.

"I can't wait!" chirped Colette.

Holy Spork: AH! This chapter is so short! And bad! GAH!

Young Kratos: That's 'cuz you rushed it.

Spork: Yeah well… it was thanks to this holiday song CD here that I got all my inspiration and actually got it up at all. (Deadlines suck…)

Kratos: Wait… you listened to that? That's by a group of guys who decided to call themselves The Barenaked Ladies, right? Doesn't something about that strike you as slightly unhealthy?

Spork: But the music is good!

Kratos: Accordions have no place in Christmas music!

Sprok: You're starting to sound like a grumpy old man. Like Old Kratos.

Kratos: O.O What?! AHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!

Spork: Hehehe… review please. Sorry about the lateness and rushed-ness of this chapter. The next chapter will be up on the 22nd, and it will NOT suck.