Roll wasn't supposed to be outside of Maverick Hunter Headquarters grounds, especially not by herself. X had made that very clear to Bass before he left. Bass didn't even need to be told, and though he had escorted her out to a sewing shop once (she needed more thread), he too would be furious to know that Roll was outside in the warm, early July sun, completely alone. Roll didn't care. She just swung her red purse over her shoulder and kept going, filling her senses with the calm walk to a specialized robotics parts store located a little outside of Arcadia. It was curious to her that such a store would exist outside of town and not in it, but she didn't question it much. Besides, after the taxi drive to the city's outskirts, a nice walk in the sun sounded like a good way to round off the trip.

Roll couldn't remember the last time she'd had a walk in the country. It had been long enough since she had last stepped outside of a Maverick Hunters building, other than to work in the garden (it was coming along nicely). For now, enjoying the wilder parts of nature was the order of the day. Roll lovingly glanced at the woods on the sides of the two lane road, hoping to see some forest animals. She had caught sight of a deer earlier.

The reason she came out that day was to find a special part for her secret project, Treble. Alia, after going over the details from Roll's memory and secret scans of Forte's, had assured her that rebuilding the wolf almost exactly as he had been was completely possible. Crystal had made Bass learn to do repairs on Treble, and even from the simple work Bass did, Alia was able to tell a lot about Treble's inner structure. The only thing was, they would have to order custom parts to complete the dog. This shop on the edge of town had promised them the best of parts, and all they had to do was pick them up, though Alia had been expecting to send someone else. Roll didn't feel like bringing more people in on the secret. After all, the more people knew, the more could possibly find out. A tinge of guilt sprung up with this, but Roll pushed it away. She was doing this as a surprise for Bass, and she refused to risk him finding out.

It was wonderful to be in the fresh air. Roll let herself relax as she walked on, and she thought about all the things she would have to do to get Treble ready. It wasn't much, not compared to what Alia had to do. Learning about keeping Dr. Light's capsule maintained had taught Roll a thing or two about machines, but Alia was still the expert. Roll was just content with getting parts for the wolf. The scientist in pink had given a clear estimate of how long each aspect of the construction would take, and Roll did the math in her head, adding a couple of weeks just in case there was an unexpected delay.

It's going to take several months, so...huh, it'll be done right around Christmas time!

It was difficult to think of Christmas at that time of the year, with everything so warm and sunny. The girl-bot smiled to herself, thinking more about it. After all, there were other people who she needed to shop for. She giggled with glee; gift shopping was her absolute favorite kind, and since most reploids didn't celebrate birthdays, she was going to have to take the opportunity where she could.

Let's see...you know, I bet Axl would just love a guitar! I wonder if he likes music. Roll found herself merrily skipping. There was no one watching, so she could be childish for once. He and Zero are always listening to electro rock. Ah, now Zero's the easy one. I'll get him a nice Japanese paint set. He's always talking about Japanese culture. I'd get him a nice kimono if I knew he would wear it, but when does he have the chance?

Roll twisted her hair, getting a little tense. As much as she loved her brother, she couldn't for the life of her figure out what he would want as a gift. She had seen him do little besides deal with work and fighting and papers and government regulations. It all bored her to death, and she didn't believe that X enjoyed it any more than she did.

What does he do for fun? Oh yes, I know! That one night he wanted to go to a karaoke bar with everyone, but we didn't get to go...I could get him a karaoke machine! I know he loves to sing!

Just for a moment, Roll stopped. It all hit her at once what she was doing: she was coping. The face of the world had changed so much, and yet she was here, surviving it and doing okay. There was a lot that had changed for the worse: the world was rocked with war, Roll's family was smaller, she could barely leave Maverick Hunter Headquarters (especially if she didn't try to sneak out), and there was a lot of pain that her friends had to deal with, Bass and Zero in particular. Even Roll found herself ignoring her past more than she liked. She couldn't look at it, not without knowing how exactly to deal with it. Having spent ten years as the last, lone robot guardian of a crippled earth had scarred her more than she liked to say.

Those times were dark and depressing as humanity struggled to survive the robot apocalypse. Food fell short from the lack of farmer mechaniloids, most governments were crippled, the United Nations was pretty much nonexistent, and everyone had to work hard for what they had. Only mechaniloids had survived it, and not too many of those. It hurt when Roll had to destroy even these at times with humans with bent morality tried to use the remaining robots to their advantage. Roll guessed that it was worse than full out war in at least one sense: there wasn't so much fight as general struggle against despair.

I guess things are better now. Sort of. Well, they will be once the Maverick virus is cured.

Roll looked around, noticing a change of surroundings as she walked on. The trees pulled back, and instead of woods there were fresh farms of wheat and corn growing on the different sides of the road. It was beautiful, but too late. The damage had been done: Roll was thinking about Mavericks. Bass, for the sake of completion, had warned her about open areas in case of a Maverick attack. Open areas were to be avoided at all costs if she were to hide and escape from them. The housekeeper-bot began to regret not telling Alia or Bass where she had gone, and she was left to hope that her training was good enough to protect herself from a random attack until help could come.

What am I thinking? Roll made herself laugh, though it wasn't very convincing. None of the Mavericks know that I'm here. There's nothing worth attacking in these parts either. I shouldn't be so afraid.

"Yes, it's quite safe." a voice said behind her. "I'm keeping the Mavericks away."

Roll instantly turned around, startled at once and clutching her purse tightly. Instead of seeing some sort of terrifying reploid, there was only a young human girl. Roll guessed that she must have been about twenty, and she had long, shaggy, dark blonde hair. A pair of glasses, tinted in the bright light of the sun, were set atop a rather large and befreckled nose which the girl casually scratched. Everything about her was ordinary. Even her clothes, a bright pink shirt with jeans, was outright unremarkable. Somehow, despite the ordinariness of the young woman, she was still frightening. There was something Roll couldn't place about her that just didn't seem right.

"Who are you?" Roll said, taking a couple of steps back. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"My name is GrimMoody." the girl replied. "And I wasn't reading your thoughts. I was writing them."

"GrimMoody?" Roll nervously repeated. "That's not a real name."

"No, it's not, but for reasons I can't explain to you here I can't tell you my real name."

The girl stepped closer to Roll, who had to a put a lot of effort into not running away. As much as she was curious, Roll was still afraid. However, her curiosity was piqued just enough to get her to ask at least one question.

"What do you mean, writing my thoughts?" Roll was glad to see that GrimMoody stopped with a sufficient gap of empty road between them.

"Yes. I've been writing everything for a long time now." the human said. "I have shaped the past and made it fit into the future, and I have been writing this latest episode of the Maverick War."

Roll was lost for speech, only barely able to mutter out the words, "Are you...God? Er...Goddess?"

GrimMoody let out a very goofy laugh. "Oh crap no. Not in the least. I'm a perfectly ordinary human, in every single way. Well, except I'm a little extra nerdy, that's all. Thing is, the only reason I have any powers here at all is because the gap between myself and what you would know as an ordinary human is similarly wide as the one between myself and the real God, though I suspect that gap is even larger than I know. The humans you know are not human, they are sub-human. Quite a bit sub-human actually. Without people such as myself, they would simply not exist."

That didn't make any sense, and Roll found herself confused. The humans she knew seemed normal, though this girl certainly wasn't. Roll tried another guess.

"So you're...a demi-god?"

"Will you get off the whole god thing?" GrimMoody was calm despite Roll's confusion, and she only smiled with amusement at the young robot - Roll found herself thinking that she was young again. "Look at it like a horizontal line, and that line's name is human. Imagine I'm a dot on that line, and there's a bunch of dots way far below it. Those are all the other humans you've ever met."

"Even Dr. Light?"

"Yes, even him. Now, far above that line is God. You see? I'm quite normal. I am the reality of what you think a normal human is. I just look really different to someone below that line."

"Okay." Roll thought she understood, but she wasn't willing to confirm that idea. "Well...why are you here?"

"Because I am the author of everything that has been happening to you recently. I've been writing your story for the longest time, or so it seems to you. It's only been about a year and a half for me."

"I don't believe you..." Roll shook her head, starting to really get creeped out by Grimm. "That's not possible."

"Really? And it's not possible for me to know that you were thinking about being attacked by Mavericks before I approached?"

Roll didn't answer. She didn't want to answer. She just nervously shifted her weight on her feet, clutching more tightly to her purse.

"So...what do you want with me?"

GrimMoody stood taller, an aura of cold around her. "Roll, do you want to know the future?"

Roll jumped back as if GrimMoody had tried to hit her. As amused as GrimMoody had been for the beginning of their conversation, here her voice lost all its cheer. She was no longer joking. The seriousness in her gaze tempered Roll's interest in the future, but all the same, this was something she had never seen before. Why not find out what exactly was going on? Despite feeling like she should know better, Roll answered.

"...Yes..."

"You don't sound very sure."

Roll wasn't sure how to answer that. She just nervously bit her lip, bracing herself as she firmly nodded. "I guess...I guess if you're lying to me about the future I just won't believe you."

"Okay then, I'll tell you. Anything specific you want to know?"

Roll nodded. "I want to know if X and Zero make it back home safely."

"Sure they do. The mission isn't as bad as it might seem at first. They succeed in holding robot manufacturers to greater standards, holding them accountable for making illegal copy chips. Most of these chips don't contain Sigma's data anyway, so having one doesn't automatically guarantee that they are corrupted. In a few years the science will be perfected, and limited copy chip production will begin in trusted companies. Things will begin to get easier for the Maverick Hunters after that."

"That's good." Roll felt relief welling up inside of her, and she exhaled to release the tension she didn't notice was there. She inwardly admonished herself for believing the stranger so quickly, but all the same, she wanted to hear more. She could at least pretend that the things GrimMoody said were real, for the sake of entertainment. "So the war will end?"

"Not for a few years yet, but yes it will." GrimMoody affirmed. "Hey, why don't I show you something a little more specific? This upcoming Christmas, perhaps."

"Oh yes!" Roll exclaimed. "I want to see if Treble turns out right for Bass."

"I'll start right at the beginning. Here, give me a second."

Grimm closed her eyes, reaching out her hands with her palms upwards, fingers splayed out. At first, Roll thought she saw two little spinning orbs in the author's hands, each spinning and twirling so fast that she couldn't quite make out what they were supposed to be. But as her eyes finally settled, she let herself believe what her subconscious was trying to tell her all along. Those orbs weren't made of anything, they were the surroundings themselves. Almost as quickly as she realized this, the entire world began to swirl away. It spun around her, and Roll gasped, trying to reach out for something to hold on to. But there was nothing, nothing but the green of distant trees, the luscious brown of the nearby wheat, and the black and yellow of the road below spinning out of control. Road became sky and sky became tree until the scene - like a whirlpool - spun so fast that she could hardly tell what was what anymore.

In what seemed like an eternity, the colors switched. The bright freshness of the outdoor day became the dark but not unwelcome environ of a place Roll realized was indeed inside Maverick Hunter HQ. It was one of their lower rooms, a lounge not often used for anything other than storage. Roll could recall that the building the Maverick Hunters used had been a repurposed building from something human, possibly a hotel. That explained why the room was large and spacious. Or it was spacious now. The room had been filled from bottom to top with boxes and crates the last time Roll had seen it, but now it was mostly empty now, only a few plastic bins in the way of the victory against clutter. The dirty brown blinds were still up, and the carpet was in desperate need of a vaccuum, but it was starting to look right nice.

"What does this have to do with Christmas? Oh!"

Roll was entirely caught off guard, gasping as someone clad in red passed her by.

"Oh, excuse me-" Roll began to call out.

She cut herself short. The stranger lifted one of the remaining bins, turning around in time to give Roll the shock of her life. This was someone very familiar to her. The most familiar person in the world.

It was Roll.

It had to be her. She was dressed in a cute Santa dress, complete with hat and a sprig of holly, but otherwise was perfectly identical. This new housekeeper-bot didn't notice that the original had spoken at all. She just merrily hauled the box past as if the first Roll wasn't there, giving it to a carrier mechaniloid. With a clap of her hands, cheery Santa Roll brought several more mechaniloids close.

"Hurry, you guys! X will be here any minute!" She winked at them. "Let's get to cleaning! Hide X's present on the far wall, then set up the curtain!"

Several of the mechaniloids, little flat ones that were little more than mechanized skateboards with long arms, hauled machinery and speakers to the far wall as they were told, letting the vaccuum-bots have a quick run ahead of them first. Little spider mechaniloids clambered up the walls, neatly and delicately spreading a red paint on the walls. More of them painted white trim, and others started cleaning the windows as fast as they could. Another three carrier-loids came in, each bearing big boxes that were overstuffed with various Christmas whatnots; wrapping paper, lights and ribbons hung out of them inordinately. These robots headed straight for Roll, and her ever widening smile grew only bigger at the sight of them.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed. "Go ahead and leave those here. Start bringing in the presents and leave them on the other side of the windows so that X will have room to set up the tree."

They obeyed, leaving their previous cargo in the middle of the room for Roll to sort out on her own. She dug in delightfully, being sure to first bring out the tree stand and leave it near the center of the grand window as a lovely display to the courtyard outside. She checked the walls, and sure enough, the spider-loids were done painting and had gone on to fanning the paint dry.

"Good, you can hang the wall decorations in ten minutes."

Santa Roll went to work organizing out the lights and streamers, pulling out a delicate, beautiful angel and carefully setting it where none of the mechaniloids would bump into it. It was a good thing that the mechaniloids in the back had finished hanging up the curtain, because in strode X, engulfed in evergreen.

"You have the tree!" Roll squealed. "I put the stand near the window for you!"

"Oof." X hauled the huge thing over, trying his best to peek out through the prickly branches and get the stump in correctly. With a little awkward positioning, he soon had the tree into place.

"There, that's done!" X attempted to brush the nettles and sap off his hands as he spoke. "So why exactly did you wait until the wee hours of the morning to do this?"

"It's the right thing for Santa to do!" Roll winked. "Come in, give presents, and sneak away!"

"I don't think we've ever really done that much for Christmas." X mentioned, staring down at all the decorations Roll had prepared. "It's not like crime goes away just because it's December 25. We're always busy doing different things. Zero and I exchange presents, and our navigators too, but that's about it."

"Well, all that's going to change, now that I'm here!" Roll announced, tugging on X's arm and pulling him over to the decorations. "Come on. You and me are going to get the tree. We'll let the mechaniloids finish up the walls."

Roll watched as Santa Roll, evidently her future self, put ornaments and lights on the tree with X. They looked so happy. Past Roll could only think about all the times she and Rock had decorated the tree, and this left her torn between the sadness of loss and the joy of the scene before her. It was so cute! As the final touch for the tree, X picked Roll up and let her stand on his shoulder to set the angel perfectly on the top.

"Hm, what's this?"

Zero entered the room, dodging several mechaniloids as they hauled the presents, decoratively placing them under the tree. He had to make sure and step aside from the double doors as the largest present of all, one decked out in purple and silver wrapping paper, made its way to the tree. X gently put his sister back on the ground.

"Do you like it?" asked X. "Roll here got everything ready."

The pony-tailed Hunter nodded, liking it very much. Past Roll could tell that he liked it more than he showed. There was a certain liveliness to his eyes that only rarely was exposed to anyone outside his head. He took a quick look under the tree, seeing what presents had appeared there.

"Ah, good, you got mine." Zero noted. "I was late wrapping them."

Mechaniloids came in with furniture as he spoke, large plush couches to spread around the tree. Behind them came Layer, holding a very lovely box wrapped with all manner of ecclectic ribbon. It was obviously done with care. Also with care Layer had spruced up her look. Instead of being down, Layer's hair was in a nice braid, and she even wore a little Santa hat.

"Merry Christmas, everyone." Layer smiled, putting her gift with the others. "Alia and Pallette are on duty today, but I'll be here for the navigators. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." X said, going to sit down in a red chair one of the mechaniloids had left. "I wish Pallette was here, though. She would love something like this."

"Well, we can leave the room up like this for a while. Signas was letting me organize it, and he basically gave this room to me for Christmas." Roll giggled, touching the side of her head for a moment. "I better contact Bass and make sure he gets down here. I don't want him to miss it!"

"Eh, I'm here already." a voice mumbled from the door.

Bass dragged down the jolly mood of the others. Instead of being bright, he was somewhat solemn. His eyes hung with the weight of depression, and the lights and colors only seemed to make it worse. He sighed quietly and turned his gaze down to the carpet, as if the sight of it exhausted him.

"So I see Roll has invaded." He tried to at least appreciate it for her sake, though that was proving to be an effort, and he found himself just not wanting to look at it. "Eh...it's nice. I'm not really in the mood for something like this. I've got to get back to work."

The Roll watching the vision was confused. She glanced around the room. "Hey, GrimMoody? Are you still here?"

"Yep." Roll almost jumped out of her metaloid skin as the author reappeared next to her. "'Sup?"

"Why is Bass so sad?"

"Him?" GrimMoody looked in his direction. "Christmas stuff just reminds him too much of the past. He got that from Wily - never really being able to enjoy it."

"If you're leaving," Zero said, interrupting the unseen presences. "Does that mean I get your present?"

Zero pointed to the large gift in purple and silver, and Bass gasped. It was huge, in fact almost as big as he was (and indeed almost as big as his eyes when he saw it). Without a word, he sat down in the red chair closest to the door, settling down comfortably, not taking his eyes off the gift.

"Oh, is Signas coming?" Roll asked X. "I have a present for him too!"

"I doubt it." X said. "He's almost always working. He'll be here later today, so I don't think you have to worry about when to give him your present."

"Sorry I'm late! I just got off duty!" Axl came in, stunned by all he saw. "Wow, this looks great!"

"Thank you!" Roll curtsied.

"I think we'd better get started." Zero went over to the sofa and sat down. "If Bass' eyes get any bigger, he's going to break something."

Everyone laughed as Bass glared at his brother. The glare didn't last long, and his eyes popped right back over to the present. Layer went over to the sofa and sat down, happily realizing that since Roll was going to be the one giving out presents, there was nothing in the way of her getting to sit beside Zero. She let Axl have the other side of the sofa.

"Alright Bass, go ahead." Roll tried to bite back her grin.

Trying (and failing) to disguise his excitement, Bass went over to the huge package and started to rip at the paper.

"Now!" Roll shouted.

Instantly the cardboard practically exploded, sending wrapping paper and ribbon flying in all directions. Bass found himself knocked flat on the floor, trapped under claws and deafened by barking. Barking?

"Treble!"

The giant wolf swung his tail back and forth. No sooner than he had let his master up, and Bass had flung his arms around the happy dog's neck.

"That's from me and Alia." Santa Roll said, clapping her hands in delight. "We made him from my memories and secret scans of your personality AI. We were going to give him your memories, but we decided that that was too personal for us to do. You can add your memories to him if you want. This guy should be exactly the same as before, except we programmed him not to chew on Zero's hair."

"Er, thanks for that." Zero had to wonder if she did it for his sake or for his hair's. "Bass? You're not crying, are you?"

It was hard to tell. The dark robot's head was hidden by Treble's as he hugged the dog, though he seemed to be shaking at the same time.

"No..." he said, trying (and failing) to sound like he wasn't.

"Awww..." Christmas Roll fought back how touched she was, but the one observing just had to let it out.

"Alright, next present!" Santa Roll announced, picking up the gift Layer brought in to distract everyone. She knew how easily embarrassed Bass could be. "Okay, this one's to Zero, from Layer."

Zero glanced in her direction, and Layer tried not to blush. Accepting the present from Roll, Zero carefully took off the wrapping paper and opened the box. He pulled out a little boat on a stand, looking ancient and very Asian.

"That's a Japanese warship." Layer explained. "It's made from the actual wreckage of one of the last warships the Japanese used. You wouldn't believe how much trouble I had to go through to get it. This guy on the Interface auction kept trying to outbid me, but I just had to get it for you!"

"Actually, I would believe something like that." Zero chortled as he examined the ship. "The other bidder was me. So you're VioletCommander3000 online? Oh well, nice to see I didn't lose it. Thank you, Layer."

The navigator did blush then, from embarrassment. Fortunately for her, Roll distracted everyone with her next pull of presents, one for Axl, and the other for X. X patiently unwrapped his, but Axl tore into his much like Treble out of his box. Layer had to pluck several discarded wrapper bits from her hair.

"Alright, guns!" Axl exclaimed, pulling two large handguns out of the poor, innocent wreck that was once a cardboard box. "These are so cool! Who got me these?"

Axl looked down at the paper around him, dismayed to find out that he had already torn up the tag. Fortunately Bass, still sitting on the floor with Treble, answered him.

"That's from me. I wanted to make you some armor, but yours is weird from having to do all that copy crap. I can't make anything like that. Sorry."

Axl's delight in testing the balance of his new weapons completely wiped out any notice of the apology. "Awesome! Oh hey, Roll, grab Bass' present from me. It's the long blue one."

In the meantime, X was done with his, and he hadn't ripped up the tag. "Okay, so this one's from Zero - Wow! It's Super Mario Plumber's Paradise 7! Yes! I know what I'm doing the rest of today!"

Zero grinned. Video games were the one thing that made the normally balanced X turn into a crazed eight year old on a major sugar buzz. It was funny to watch.

"What the hell?"

Bass' present was a large rifle, skinny, but ridiculously heavy for its size. It was a laser cannon, and Bass lifted it uncertainly to test its balance. His tiny grin grew a little, and Treble wagged his tail in approval.

"You're always talking about how you want to upgrade your busters and how tricky it is." said Axl. "I figure you're going to want to be able to shoot people in the meantime. You'll at least be able to get your rank up. Oh, and that's a really stable weapon, so if you've got a guy in your face, you can use it to smack him."

"That sounds pretty awesome. Thanks." Bass brought it up to his shoulder, making sure to aim away from the others. "This is going to take some getting used to..."

"Can we not get each other weapons?" Roll pouted. "There's more to life than fighting."

Axl jokingly scoffed. "You're kidding, right?"

"Girl-bots are nuts." Bass added, and Treble barked in agreement.

"Boys!" Roll humphed. "Alright, let's get a present for Layer. This one's from me. Oh, and X, this one's for you."

Layer took the package and unwrapped it curiously, pulling back tissue paper to reveal the gift. It was a fancy gown, a slender one that was from straps to hem glittery and shimmery. It automatically brought to mind movie stars and award shows.

"I...don't really wear dresses." Layer said with uncertainty, examining the thing.

"Exactly!" Roll was quick to explain. "All girls need to have something fancy just in case! You need to have fun once in a while too! Oh, X, aren't you going to open yours?"

X's present was a fairly large box that Roll had sent a mechaniloid to bring him, but it was just sitting at his feet unopened. X was staring at it, particularly at the tag. He winced as Roll mentioned this, but he couldn't bring himself to do more than let the thing sit there.

"It's from Bass..." he explained as he glared down the room.

"And Alia too. She did most of the work." Bass said, pretending to be casual as he got to his feet. "Oh, that reminds me, I'll be right back. I left Roll's present upstairs, and I have to go get it. Back in a sec."

"What, you're going right as I'm about to open the present from you?" X pushed the package away from himself with his feet. "What exactly is in there?"

"Open it and find out." Forte smirked. "You can thank me when I come back. Come on, Treble, let's go."

"Don't you go anywhere!" X said. "If this is some sort of prank then you're going to have to face it too."

Bass rolled his eyes. "Relax, will you? It's not a bomb."

"I don't believe you, so you can wait a minute."

Bass didn't seem willing to push the matter, but he made sure to grin his widest and let X's imagination run wild. Against his better judgement, X started to pull off the ribbon and peel back the wrapping paper. Once the box was open, X blinked in surprise.

"What's this?" he poked around the box. "Armor?"

"It was Alia's idea." Bass shrugged. "She wanted to build you a defensive armor, so she pestered me until I coughed up some SC12. It's also got built-in spike protection."

"That's...awesome!" X picked up the armor and started looking at the design, wondering how it would look on him. "Thanks."

"Eh, thank Alia." Bass muttered. "I just did it so I wouldn't have to think about what to get you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get Roll's present now."

Treble followed Bass out of the room, and X watched them go with disdain.

"What a jerk." Layer huffed. "I can't believe he acts like that on Christmas!"

"Don't be too hard on him." Zero mentioned. "It could have been a bomb. I wouldn't put it past him...well, if Roll weren't around."

"Don't open your present then." X said.

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Aw, come on, Bass was being nice for once." Axl complained. "Now come on, whose gift is next?"

"Yours!" Roll winked. "Let's see, this one is from X and Zero."

Little Miss Santa handed a small box to Axl, who smiled at X before digging in. Layer shielded herself from the flying wrapping paper with the top half of the box her dress had come in as Axl shredded the innocent wrappings. Inside was a book, thicker than the width of Axl's hand.

"What? The Geo-Political History of 13th Century Europe?" Axl stared at the thing as if it were alien. "Um...thanks...guys..."

"What, you don't like history?" Zero smiled. "It's really educational."

"Yeah, you need to learn about the past to understand the future." X's mouth was also upturned, and he wanted to laugh. "Why don't you look through it? You might find it more interesting than you expect."

Axl glanced back and forth from one friend to the other with doubt and a pouting lip, but he flipped through the book nonetheless. The book opened to one specific page, revealing a picture that stuck out from the pages. Axl pulled it out to take a look, and his doubt disappeared.

"Holy crap, this is really mine?" Axl exclaimed. "Wow, it's my own motorcycle! That's so cool!"

"You did mention you wanted one." X tossed the keys to the young Hunter, who caught them with extra enthusiam than normal. "We figured that it was about time."

Treble entered the room again, going over to Roll. He merrily barked at Roll, wagging his tail violently. Bass followed his dog in, not far behind. His arms were full with a large present. Instead of wrapping paper, it was simply red cardboard with small holes in it and a green bow on top. Roll got the feeling that she knew what it was as Bass sat it down at the side of the tree.

"Hey Bass, look at what X and Zero got me!" Axl held out the photo to Bass. "Isn't it awesome?"

"Yeah, not bad. Don't hurt yourself wrecking that thing."

"Hey! I'll be careful! I'm not a little kid!"

Bass grinned. Messing with Axl was too easy. "Alright, Roll, open it. It's past your turn anyway."

Roll was already poking at the cardboard, giggling incessantly. The box only covered the top of whatever it was, so Roll just pulled the cardboard shell away to reveal her gift. She squealed with glee.

"Aw, it's guinea pigs!"

And so it was. Two little mammals were sniffing about in a bed of wood shavings, looking up with curious black eyes at their new and now much lighter surroundings. One of them was a jet black pig with a white stripe running across one eye, and an unruly tuft of his fur stuck up rebelliously between his velvety ears. The other was white, light brown, and deep orange, speckled all over with color. One of the orange patches on his side was in the shape of a heart.

"Let me see!" Layer went up closer to look. "Aww! So cute!"

"Eh, I know you like taking care of organics for some reason." Bass said to Roll with a shrug. "I don't know...do you like them?"

"Yes! Thank you so much!" Roll squealed, clapping her hands. "And I know just what to name them! The black one will be Mungo, and the other will be Jerry!"

"NO." Bass was quick to protest. "Absolutely not. Name them something different!"

Roll stuck out her tongue at him. "They're mine and I'll name them what I want. I think Crystal Bot's names for them were perfect, so I'm going to name them Mungo and Jerry."

"Ugh, fine! Whatever!"

"Hey Roll, what's that behind the curtain?" Axl asked, trying to see around the side edge of the draping cloth. "I think I see a speaker or something."

"Well...I was going to wait until later..." Roll said. "But...oh, well why not show it off now? Alright, X, this present is for you, but I'm sort of hoping that you'll be willing to share it. Go ahead and pull back the curtain!"

"What, everything back there is for me?"

"It sure is! Go look!"

X got up from his chair, putting his video game down in his seat. He eagerly approached the curtain, looking back at Roll. She sweetly smiled, pointing to a rope to the side of the curtain. Without waiting any longer, X started to pull it down, and the curtain pulled over to the side, opening up to reveal a large stage, complete with two microphones with stands, several speakers, and a large, flatscreen monitor that hung on the back wall. Colored lights flashed down on the stage. X knew what it was in an instant.

"Ah! You got me a karaoke stage!"

Roll laughed delightedly as X wandered about the stage, exploring the back and finding the computer that held the songlists. She turned around to see the reactions of the others, and her laughter ended at once. The reploids were staring at the stage in horror (other than Bass, who didn't seem to care). Zero in particular grimaced, and he waved Roll over.

"Roll..." he said. "X...he thinks he can sing, but...he really can't..."

"It's true," Layer nodded, her pity for X evident. "X is terrible at karaoke."

The innocent girl-bot blushed. "Um, well, look at how happy he is! I mean, he can't be that bad, can't he?"

The misery and dark glances the three reploids shared was enough of an answer for Roll. She began to regret her choice of gift. The others felt bad for her, but they felt worse for their own ears.

"Alright!" X exclaimed. "You have the Geddan song on here! I love that song!"

Axl squirmed. "Uh, maybe he'll get better with practice..."

"Hey, there's Sekai wa NeoHappy on here! Come on, Zero, we have to sing this one!"

Bass got up, waving at Treble to follow. "That sounds like my cue to leave."

"Actually, it's mine." Zero held his hand against his ear and let out a tense sigh. "Layer, they're calling us up to work. We better get going."

"Aw..." Roll complained. "We haven't finished giving out presents!"

"This is a police organization, Roll." Zero said as he got up. "Crime doesn't stop on Christmas. Thank you for this, though. It really means a lot."

"Yes, thanks!" Layer joined in. "Don't worry, Alia and Pallette are getting off now since I'm going back on. You have to save some Christmas cheer for them too."

Santa Roll twirled with a cute wink. "I've got plenty of cheer! I guess I won't complain, then!"

Normal Roll watched as Zero and Layer left for their work, and she would have continued to watch what unfolded with the karaoke situation, except GrimMoody's voice brought her out of it.

"There's a couple more things you need to see here." GrimMoody said, in a not altogether happy sort of way. "There's a lot to show you, and we can't stay here too long. I wanted you to see this because it's very heartwarming, and you'll need that. From this point onward, you'll be seeing only that which is specifically important."

"Specifically important?" she asked. "Important to what?"

"To a purpose." GrimMoody seemed only capable of being cryptic. "Now let's go."

With a swish of her hand, Grimm wiped away the lower room, and under the happy, glittery scene was a new scene, one in the normal navigation rooms for regular patrols. It only held the navigation stations for Layer, Alia, Pallette, and one other navigator. Pallette was there, but she left once Layer had her station up and running she left. GrimMoody pointed to Alia, who was bringing Zero to the side. She had in her hand a present, something fairly thin and about the size of a notebook.

It was indeed a notebook, as Zero found when he pulled off the paper. Inside he found several sketches of different designs for a masculine robot, each sporting long, flowing hair and a saber. As Zero turned through more of the pages, the designs seemed to stop varying as much, and the thematic details all seemed to work together for one final design. It was a simpler design, slightly feminine but with an overall efficient edge.

"I know it's a little weird and...presumptuous." Alia said, starting to get nervous. "But these are redesigns for you. I've been working on it for months...ever since I found out."

Alia glanced back at Layer, but her headset was on, and she was busily entering data from her computer and pulling up reports of the missions. As long as they were quiet, she wouldn't hear anything. The pink navigator turned back to Zero, a little more cautiously as she continued to speak about this sensitive matter.

"Bass has been working really hard to make sure you're free of everything, but it's a lot harder than he knows." Alia began. "Even with everything more open now and being able to work specifically on the problem, it's still a far more complicated virus than any of us understand. You seem safe for now, but...I know you don't want to live with this longer than you have to. That's why I want to build for you a replacement body. I know you like your design now, but I don't want to take any risks if we can't get rid of this for you. I've already convinced Bass to make the armor from SC12. He says that's his Christmas present for you."

Alia looked up at Zero with uncertain eyes. She could tell nothing from his stiff expression, but she had known him for so long that she knew when his face was that serious that he was holding back some potent emotion far below the surface.

"I know it's weird, but I wanted you to see this." she said. "I mean, this is supposed to be you. I didn't want to make it look exactly like you as you are now because it might help somehow if people don't know its you. If word of this got out...well, you have to have an escape. You're a good person, Zero, no matter what your creator wanted you to be."

Zero smiled. This year had been one of the worst in his life so far, but just the knowledge that he was accepted warmed him. That was his favorite Christmas present so far. When Alia returned the smile, it was like the sun shone again. He wasn't free from the virus yet, but he knew, one day, he was going to be. No matter what else happened, or how the science behind the research went. He let out a breath.

"Thank you."

"Alright," GrimMoody said. "This part is over."

The images faded away, swirling back into a tie-dye design of grass, wheat, and street as the scene returned to the quiet two lane road outside of Arcadia. This time, Roll hardly noticed the dizzyness as she settled back into the world she knew was normal. GrimMoody still stood before her, carelessly standing in the middle of the road. The girl-bot had to guess that she was keeping any traffic away to keep them from being run over.

\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

- I know that this is a weird place to cut the chapter, but after I was done writing this I found out that the chapter I had intended to put up was a whopping 23,000 words long. So, let's just say I have a buffer now. :D

- For those of you unfamiliar, here is the "Geddan" song [ .com /watch?v=AQIeTjUbqFI] and here's the explanation behind the meme [ .com /watch?v=lFVN8CW5IWE]. Sekai wa NeoHappy [ .com /watch?v=iBnD2oTWfS0].

Mavericks!

Merumeka

=====Brewer Basilisk

"Tall, grande or venti?"

Before he was a Maverick, Brewer Basilisk was a barista who worked for "Coffee Dragon" brand coffee, mostly because he is indeed a dragon that makes coffee. As a Maverick, he's still a little annoyed about having such a pathetic job (for a reploid). His attacks include a boiling burst of hot water that comes from his mouth, and he also likes to charge through and grind the player with his sharp scales. The player that beats him gets Boiling Brew, an attack that allows the player to not only shoot but flood lower areas of the game.

"Meka" is a character from an old Sega game, and "meru" made me think of "merrow", which means mermaid. I added the coffee aspect to make it different.

Dark Angel of Wind

=====Bleak Spirit Zephyr

"You are not entitled to the light."

Zephyr was constructed by Mavericks, so she has never known life as a normal reploid. She is a tall, thin Maverick with fairy wings, and she wears nothing but black. She has large black eyes, no nose, and two antennae that hang over her face. Her staff shoots pellets that turn into spikes when they land. She can also spin her staff to create wind and then blow you into said spikes. The player that beats her gets the Zephyr Staff, which enables the player to shoot spikes (which they can use for climbing or boosting jumps) and also blow away smaller enemies.