CHAPTER 3

Kami laid down across both seats, her long legs stretched across the aisle, and her feet resting on that seat across the aisle. The bus driver was kind enough to not remind of her of the sign explicitly forbidding placing her feet on the seats, seeing as hardly anyone took the bus from Mexico City to San Juan Teotihuacán on Christmas Eve night. Kami was lucky to get the last bus; hell, she was amazed there was a direct route across such a long distance at any time of the year. Sure, her DWMA badge may have convinced the bus driver-and the large amount of money she paid upfront, too-but still, the convenience was appreciated.

"Late night, then?" The driver tested to see whether she could pursue a conversation with the reclining meister. It had been a half hour of driving already, so the destination was only about 15 minutes away.

"Looks to be." Kami sat up, stretching her arms. "I need to take time to scout the location, time to find the targets, time to neutralize the targets, and time to retrieve the souls."

Yes, Kami was revealing many mission details to some random bus driver who had not been vetted for such intel, but Kami also had a pretty good sense of reading people-most people, anyway-and soul perception was helpful in that regard, too. Since the Kishin Revival, she had found that most people tended to cut her some slack as a DWMA agent if she was honest enough with what was going on. As with drills she ran in public in Mexico City, the public presence of a few agents put people at ease-and distracted from agents who were undercover. Up until her cover had been blown upon her return to Death City, she had been one of those secret agents; now, it was left to people like Hurwitz to stay undercover. She smirked, wishing she could see him stuck in that Santa suit at the local mall.

"Hard work, huh?" the driver replied.

"Everyone's work is hard. How about you? This your last ride for the day?"

"Even if it wasn't, if I'm taking you to some ghost hunting expectation, hell yeah, I'm not sticking around!"

"Fair enough. And it isn't ghosts: they still have bodies to go with their souls."

"Whatever, pal. I just want to wrap up this trip, head home, make sure my husband finished dinner, and get to wrapping the remaining gifts."

"Sounds like a busy night."

"It is when you got to keep the young ones from peeking at what you're wrapping." She chuckled. "My husband is the worst of them."

Kami had walked up the aisle, leaning against the bar between the first row of seats and the stairs below. "How many kids?"

"Three boys, not including my husband."

"Just one for me."

"Son?"

"Daughter."

"She an agent like you?"

Kami blinked. "Am I that transparent?"

"Crystal."

Kami glanced out the window at the sunset. "She's still an Academy student, but already she's part of its most elite force. Actually, she just made her partner into a Death Scythe."

"Yeah, still don't know what that is."

"A Death Scythe? You never met the one for this continent?"

"Should I have?"

Kami's smile became sadistic. "If you're a woman on this continent, I'm amazed you haven't met him. Total man-whore."

The driver held up her right hand, keeping her other one on the wheel. "See that ring? Anyone tries to hit on me and doesn't take the hint, that ring hints them-between the eyes."

Kami kept watching the sunset, as she rubbed her naked fingers together. "Took me a while to get that hint."

The silence hung for a few moments, until the driver spoke again: "Your exit will be on the left. I'll let you out on the shoulder, you can cross the highway at the bridge further ahead."

"Cool." Kami held onto the ceiling bars to steady herself over the bumpy road, as she returned to her seat. "Let me grab my bag."

"Hope you packed some good weapons."

"The only ones I can trust," Kami said just soft enough for the driver to hear.

The bus pulled over near the overhead pedestrian bridge on the highway, the metal glinting orange and yellow in the setting sun. The doors swung open, the wind sweeping dirt against the bus steps. After handing the remaining generous payment to the bus driver and heading down those steps, Kami was thankful she wore thick pants and high boots or else she would have had pebbles smacking against her skin. She put on her aviator shades, and looked over her shoulder at the driver. "Thanks again. If you don't mind, would you call that number on the card I handed you, so the Academy knows you got home safely?"

"They aren't going to track me, are they?"

Kami shrugged. "Likely will."

"I'll consider it," the driver said, her voice hesitant as she slipped the business card into her shirt pocket. "You watch your ass out there, pal. And Merry Christmas."

Kami smiled. "Same to you." She did not wait for the bus to close its doors and leave before she started walking towards the pedestrian bridge steps. As she did, she sauntered past a highway sign with an arrow pointing to her destination: "The Avenue of the Dead."

o-o-o

"Okay!" Liz shouted, dropping the stack of boxes onto the floor. "Pick one, unpack, and start decorating, you two. I'll get the drinks: some peppermint hot chocolate for Tsubaki, and some eggnog for Patty."

"Thank you, Liz!"

"Woot! Make mine the alcoholic one, Sis!"

Tsubaki and Patty unstacked the six containers-amazing that Liz could balance that many-and checked the sides to find the decorations that they needed first: indoor lights to adhere around the walls, outdoor lights to string down the banister and across the bushes (Kid explicitly forbade attaching lights to the roof, after Patty broke her wrist two winters ago-and after he attempted to break Liz's to match-and after she almost split his skull in response), and knickknacks to adorn tables, desks, and walls. The remaining boxes contained items for the tree, which could be put up once Soul and Maka finally managed to drag it into the room.

"I'm surprised Kid has so many decorations."

"Been that way since we first moved in," Patty answered Tsubaki. "Before me and Big Sis brightened his life, most that would happen were a few lights strung along the fireplace, just 'cause his daddy wanted them. Then when we took up residence here, Kid got outvoted!" She held a hand over her mouth, as if sharing a secret with Tsubaki: "But I know he loves it. He spends more time and money getting more and more decorations each year than Sis and I combined! You wouldn't know it given his Grinchy-ness, but he really goes all out every year!"

"Hence why he's late every year," Liz complained as she walked to the kitchen: "the gift shopping, the decorations, the tree." Speak of the devil, she thought, as she pressed against the wall when a mess of needles and artificial snow came around the hallway corner. She cringed at the ghastly corpse of a monster that was now going to decorate Kid's living room-just as much to have to deal with another demon that they killed. The tree was being carried in the front by Soul, who managed to slam the back end of the tree around the corner.

"Watch that tree, dummies!" Patty cried, her hands already entangled in Christmas lights. "We paid good money for that glorious specimen!"

"Blame my backend," Soul muttered.

That remark earned him a poke from the tree monster's tip, as Maka, holding the trunk, thrust it at him. "Then move it along, slowpoke!" As she appeared around the corner, she resumed her usual friendliness that, especially today, had been reserved for almost everyone but her own weapon. "Patty, where should we place the tree?"

"Oh!" Patty sat up quickly, the Christmas lights in those few seconds somehow wrapped around not only her hands but now up to her arms and neck. "I've given this a lot of thought, I think the tree should go in that corner over there!" She pointed to the corner of the living room furthest from the fireplace. "Don't want another fire hazard this year! Especially not when you two need to wipe all that artificial snow off the corpse!"

Soul cringed. "Seriously? We got a tree monster soul to deposit with Lord Death"-he pointed to the glob that was seated in the bowl of wax fruit in the living room, a sight sure to please Kid whenever he and Black Star got back with food and drinks. "Plus Maka still has shopping to finish, and you expect us to clean up your mess?"

Soul struggled to ignore Maka's glare. "I know what you're getting, Soul-I just have not had time to make the trip when you keep taking the motorcycle out every single day!"

"Then walk! And why would you ride my bike? You don't have the license!"

"And you didn't for the first year you had it!" Maka then became more demurred. "Besides, I need you to drop me off."

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that-would you mind not mumbling and tell me what you need?"

She resumed her attitude. "I need you to wear a motorcycle helmet, to curtail your evident brain damage."

"Curtail nothing! And you don't wear a helmet, either, my 'I live life dangerously' meister!"

Patty approached Soul, pushing him away from his meister. "Quit whining and clean up the tree, damn you. I cleaned up enough of your messes, Soul, and I'm tired of cleaning up whatever mess you got going on with Pigtails over there."

While Patty continued railing at him-and now Maka, who did not take kindly to the nickname-Soul sauntered over to the end of lights that Patty dragged behind her, walked past Tsubaki who was still untangling more lights on the floor, approached the wall outlet, and plugged in the lights. Patty stopped chastising Soul mid-sentence, glanced down at the illuminated bulbs around her, and smiled widely. "Liz! Get in here! I'm like a lite-brite mummy!"

Soul congratulated himself on shutting up her complaints, until Liz crept around the corner, glaring at her sister. "Ssh!" Liz seethed, as she set down a tray of drinks next to the still seated Tsubaki. "Never mention the 'M' word in this house!"

"What, mucilage?"

Soul and Maka glanced at each other in confusion. "I think Liz means 'mummy,' Patty," Maka tried to offer-until the now-standing Liz shouted, "Mummy?! Where?!" and hopped into Soul's lap, sending the young man colliding with the floor. Soul stopped congratulating himself for his poorly thought strategy.

"I take it you still have nightmares about that mission in Egypt?" Tsubaki asked, helping her fellow weapons to their feet.

"Ug, second time landing on my ass today-I hope this isn't a trend," Soul said, rubbing his backside.

"Ah, but you make it look so cool," his meister offered, patting him on the back. "Now come on, we have a tree to clean. Liz, you have water buckets under the kitchen sink, right?"

"And cloths next to them," Liz answered. "Thanks for cleaning the tree, by the way."

"Sure, not like we have anything else to do," Soul grumbled, as his meister pushed him along.

Liz glanced at Tsubaki. "They seem more, well, bitter than usual?"

Tsubaki sighed. "I think Maka got bad news in the mail. I overheard Soul talking about-"

"A postcard," Liz concluded, her eyes narrowing. "Her mother again?"

"Yes. Lord Death assigned her to a last-minute mission."

"What, like days ago, right? Then why is Maka only now learning about this?!"

"Overnight delivery. A bat flew into their apartment late last night. Evidently she is training some recent DWMA graduates for their new station in Mexico. To hear Soul tell the story, it does not sound like either he or she got much sleep over her mother's words." Tsubaki finished her sentence as a whisper, as Soul and Maka re-entered the living room, and as Patty, who had followed them from the living room to the kitchen and back, was still chastising over how many needles Soul was losing with each swipe of each branch, while Maka hesitatingly backed out of the room to procure a ladder to start placing decorations.

Liz crossed her arms and grunted. "Bitch."

When it came to Maka's mother, there were a few of their friends who were particularly sore discussing her. While Maka and even Soul had a few reasons to be annoyed-not for anything that was within Kami Albarn's control, just the largely unchangeable facts that a difficult divorce and a re-assignment to undercover missions had up until now kept her away from Death City and hence her daughter-Liz had more personal reasons to be upset. Shortly after Kid's retrieval from the Book of Eibon, one of his first solo missions back on the job as assigned by his father was to investigate some murders around Chicago. Little did Kid and his weapons know, however, that his father had inadvertently assigned Kami to trace those specific murderers as they were located in northern Africa, but who had recently departed for the Midwestern United States. Kami was particularly adept at the job because, since departing Death City, she had not only developed her physical prowess but her spiritual resonance, effectively finding a way to hide her soul from being detected. When Kid encountered the anonymous masked agent—actually, Kami Albarn—around Chicago, and unable to detect a soul in her, he assumed she was a witch using Soul Protect and took after her. Kami barely escaped from Kid, but not before disabling Liz and Patty during the confrontation. When Kami's ongoing investigation then brought her from Chicago back to Death City, the misunderstanding was corrected-yet while Liz could feel happy for Maka to be reunited with her mother, she lacked similar sympathy for Kami when her assault put Patty in the infirmary for two weeks.

Tsubaki placed a hand on Liz's shoulder. "Everyone likes to have their family around for Christmas, right?" She smiled. "You have your sister, Kid has his father-"

"You and Black Star have each other."

Tsubaki backed up a bit. "I...had not considered that," she finally said. "In any case, the frustration on Maka's part is understandable"-and upon seeing Liz's expression, hastily added, "as is yours, Liz! Please try to go easy on Maka and Soul, okay? And if you could re-direct Patty just a bit so she does not cause the two any undue distress?"

At that moment, Maka had returned with a ladder from the garage, that she placed before the tree corpse and began pointing at it with strict directions to her increasingly impatient weapon. Seeing Maka at least focusing her energies on the task at hand, and assuming an attitude that was typical when contending with Soul, Liz smiled. "Yeah, yeah, fine. I'll make sure my sister doesn't goad the two into going at each other's throats." Then she glanced at the couple. "Of course, if Kid would just allow some mistletoe here, those two could just go at each other and work out some of that pent up aggression."

Tsubaki pushed Liz's shoulder, her smile returning. "That is wicked."

Before Liz could chuckle in response, the sounds of another happy couple echoed through the hallway: a door slamming, curses exchanged, and stamping feet.

"Disgusting. Horrifying. Embarrassing."

"You are such a child, Kid!"

"Says the man who insisted on sitting on the lap of every Santa Claus!"

"That's what they're there for!"

"Even the ones collecting for charity?"

"It's not my fault that the charities don't give them seats before I jump into their arms!"

"You probably gave four of those men hernias! Never have I been so embarrassed to be in your company as I was today, of all days, on Christmas Eve! You arrogant, showboating buffoon!"

Black Star finally emerged in the living room, his hands buried in his jacket pockets, plastic bags of food, drinks, and even some stocking stuffers around his arms. He glanced to see their friends looking at him, and despite how confident he made himself appear, he could not help but feel a bit ashamed to have everyone looking at him.

"Hey guys!" he shouted, forcing a smile and a volume that all but Tsubaki and perhaps Maka could read past. "The big star is here to adorn your Christmas tree! Get me some eggnog and mistletoe, 'cause I am raring for some holiday festivities!"

"Please, Black Star," Kid said, pushing past him as he deposited his brown bag of decorations onto the floor and removed his winter jacket. Despite the warm desert climate, somehow today was rather chilly for the Nevada climate.

Seeing their friends, Kid assumed a polite smile. "Greetings, everyone. It is a pleasure to have you present, and thank you for your assistance during my absence. I would have returned sooner to facilitate decorating my home"-he glanced at his blue-haired peer, who was rolling his eyes at Kid's perfect and precise speech-"but I was delayed by circumstances that, I'm sorry to say, I should have anticipated." Upon seeing Black Star stick his pinky into his ear on the pretense to clean out wax, Kid concluded, "Difficulties of the loudmouth ninja sort."

That comment re-ignited Black Star's aggression, as he and Kid were literally forehead-to-forehead in another shouting match.

Tsubaki clenched her teeth, and looked to both of her sides at Liz and a still illuminated mummified Patty. She finally bowed her head, a volley of "I'm so sorry!" and "Please!" escaping her mouth. Patty bounced over to her friend, struggled to untangle a hand from the lights, and patted her on the head. "Aw, relax, Tsu. That's just our Kiddo and Black Star, yakking like an old married couple.

"We are not like a married couple!" the two young men shouted, before glancing at each other. After clearing his throat, Kid added, "Besides, if anyone is like an old married couple, I would look to Soul and Maka."

Soul's ear twitched, as he glanced over his shoulder. "What was that?"

"Soul! Hold the ladder securely!"

"I am, you nerd!"

"Jerk!"

"Dead-Head!"

"Death Child, Soul!" she again corrected his frequently purposeful mis-used terminology for Death City residents.

"You're the one putting a Skull onto the tree." Sure enough, Maka had taken from the box of decorations not the traditional star for the Christmas tree, but a topper shaped like Lord Death's mask. "Who does that?!"

"It's already a dead tree, Soul! A tree monster, at that!"

"Is that why it has that disgusting asymmetry?" Kid muttered. For that, he earned two whaps to the head from Patty. Kid was not sure what impressed him more: the symmetry, the literal impressions now on his head, or that Patty had done so while wrapped from neck to foot in Christmas lights that seemed to be ever increasing in length from the wall outlet to the living room's entrance and more and more around her body.

"Soul and Tsubaki did a great job trimming that tree, and any asymmetry was where this monster's sharp-toothed-evil-mouth-of-evilness is located, if you want to know!" She crossed her arms-as well as she could, tangled as she was-before turning her back on her meister.

Then everyone in the room heard something fall onto the floor, and roll out from behind the tree. At first they thought it was an ornament, yet it was too waxy. It stopped in front of Kid's feet, and blinked—actually blinked. Kid eyed the eye, which had dislodged itself from the socket of the still dead tree monster. Kid struggled not to squirm, while Liz cowered behind Tsubaki.

Kid turned away from the eye, looked again at Patty, then back at the tree. "Oh. Abies insanus —more commonly known as the mad fir tree. We have not had those infecting the North American continent since the 1957 New York white spruce incident."

"Oh yeah!" Patty said, eyes bright as she faced her meister again. "That one was neat! A true Manhattan tradition!"

Kid raised an eyebrow. "Patty, it took almost a year to clean the needles out of the Statue of Liberty."

"Like I said, a tradition! Why do you think I fill up your pillowcase every Christmas with pine cones?"

His eye twitched. "I still have nightmares. Please, abstain from entering my bedroom."

"Nope!" Patty shouted. "Not when we needed to get your credit card to pay for all that damage we did to the neighborhood tree lot."

Kid barely reacted. He simply turned to Liz, now more composed, who shrugged. "Comes with the job description: tree monster plus Academy students equals collateral damage. Your dad should be able to foot the bill."

"Please tell me arson was not involved."

"This time it was artificial snow," Liz answered, offering him a cup of hot chocolate.

"Indeed," he said, sipping. "Hmm, excellent flavor."

"I try," Liz said with affected sweetness. Then she glared at him. "You're late."

He returned the cup to her hand, now cross with her. "And will be late again at this rate. I am stopping only to deposit additional decorations. Please add them to the mansion as you see fit."

As Kid began to exit the room, he felt an arm grip his. "Hold up, Kid," Maka said, tugging him back. "I have a soul for you to deposit with your dad. Will you be heading back to the Academy any time soon?"

"Actually, that is my next stop. Where is it?"

Maka then cringed. "In the bowl of wax fruit."

Kid looked around her, spying the sappy green orb that had left a putrid splatter on the previously well arranged set piece. Everyone else in the room tensed a bit, anticipating how Kid would react to the mess.

"Hmm," he muttered. "Well, I had best get a plastic baggie for it. Patty, see to it that the fruit is cleaned, and again, please handle decorations as you see fit." He continued out of the room and into the kitchen.

The six stunned students looked at each other.

" 'Handle decorations as you see fit'?" Tsubaki asked. "Patty, did he just give you permission to decorate, with the potential of there being no symmetry?"

"I think so," Patty said, the Christmas lights now no longer wrapped around her entire body but, inexplicably, held in her hands in a perfectly wrapped string. "Huh," she said studying the previously tangled lights now expertly ordered in her hands, as she looked where Kid had just stood. "That's...unusual."

"It's not that surprising," Liz muttered, still bitter over Maka's mother problems and Kid's late arrival. "Every Christmas Eve, Kid is out the entire night to do last minute gift shopping, and since he forbids decorating our house until the day before Christmas, we get stuck with all the work."

Patty raised her eyebrows. "But Sis, Kid always has this kind of busy schedule every year, right?"

Liz glared. "Maybe if his dad wasn't having him do mission after mission every single day leading up to the 25th, then Kid wouldn't be rushing to finish shopping, and maybe he would put in time decorating his own house rather than, out of whatever symmetrical problem he has at any given moment, simply tossing the job to us because he is just that desperate." She paused. "After what happened to him in the Book, I would think his dad would have a bit more sympathy." She then added, "I wish some parents had that kind of sympathy."

If Maka heard the last part, she did not make it apparent, as she and her partner were more focused on how angry Liz sounded about her meister. In reaction to her own sister, Patty rolled her eyes but kept silent, really not wanting to start another Book of Eibon argument again. Soul and Maka glanced at Tsubaki, gesturing for her to try to change the subject before Kid got back.

"Patty! I see that there are only a few ornaments for the tree," Tsubaki began, "but from hearing you talk, I thought there would be so many more boxes."

Patty's eyes brighten. "Oh, there are! We just have to cycle through them all every year!"

"How many ornaments are there?" Maka asked.

"Twenty boxes."

"Seriously?" Soul was incredulous. "What, like one box for each tree you could put up here?"

"I tried, believe me!" Patty replied. "I even suggested eight trees to put around the house, but Kid is insistent on there being only one tree in the entire house! He says it keeps us all together in one room. I think he does that for family togetherness, or to keep an eye on all of us-really, though, that's pretty much the same thing. Oh, and it's the same reason about the stuffed animals."

"Stuffed animals?"

"Oh, thanks for the reminder, Soul! I'll be right back."

The Death Scythe looked confused as Patty dashed out of the living room and up the stairs to her room. He looked to Liz for an explanation.

"We don't put many ornaments on the tree, but we make up for it beneath the tree." She removed from one box a puce fabric. "The tree floor cozy, absorbent for any spilled water, yet ugly as all get out." She rolled it into a ball, tossed it under the tree, where it miraculously unfolded itself exactly around the tree's stand. "Kid couldn't be convinced to use any other fabric, so one year Patty got the brainwave to hide it-"

"With stuffed animals!" Patty shouted, whapping her sister with a garbage bag and sending Liz falling to the floor. "Oh. Sorry, Sis!"

Kid chose that moment to re-enter the room, stepping over Liz who was sprawled across the entryway. "Please stop lying down on the job, Liz."

"So every year, I drag all my stuffed animals out of my room—" Patty said.

"And my room," Liz interrupted, as she lifted herself up.

"And the attic," Kid added. Upon getting a look from Liz, he coughed, then added, blushing, "Um, and my room."

"Kid has dolls in his room?!" Black Star shouted, gleefully.

"And I stuff them all under the tree!" Patty deposited onto the floor the stuffed animals out of her clean garbage bag, searching to find just the right on. "Ah ha!" She reached among the many creatures, tossing a few under the tree and finally removing a zebra with perfectly symmetrical white and black stripes wrapping around its circumference. "This one's Kid's!"

The young reaper's face reddened more, as he glanced to his peers. "It only sits on my shelf, I swear! A baby's toy, really!"

"He calls it Bob," Liz said with a smirk. Kid's growl of a response was accompanied by boisterous laughter from Black Star and Soul, each doubled over in glee. Maka tried her best to stifle her own giggles.

"Bob is adorable, Kid," Tsubaki said, taking the zebra from Patty to place it under the tree. "It suits you."

Kid's blush only worsened, as he struggled to thank her. Recognizing his discomfort, Tsubaki again changed the subject: "I do not suppose you have more outdoor lights than just these to put outside, Kid? Or perhaps one of those inflatable snowmen or robot Santas for the front lawn?"

"Have you seen the gaudy decorations that adorn some parts of this world?" Kid sneered. "Disgusting-the spectacles that people will make out of their houses are obscene, but much worse are the lights: just one missing light bulb, and an entire string is destroyed! No, better to have a simple plan, just one string of lights outside along the banisters and bushes, then to go forward with an ambitious but flawed plan."

"You don't want to try, though?" Soul asked, offering a friendly smile. "Even perfection can't be that hard for a god to attain, right?"

"I would know!" Black Star exclaimed, wrapping an arm around either young man. "That's why our apartment is awesome every year! Tsubaki and I dig out the box and go to town on our place!"

Kid removed Black Star's hand from his shoulder. "You do not even have a proper Christmas tree in your apartment."

Black Star glowered. "Well, my apartment's too small to store a ton of decorations every year! Not everyone gets to live up the high life in a mansion! And I don't need a thousand strings of lights or 20 boxes of ornaments. Hell, who needs a star on the tree when you got me?!"

"You don't even have a tree in your apartment, Star," Soul replied.

"Because my apartment is too small! Can't you listen, Soul?!"

"Boys!"

The trio looked to see Tsubaki, holding out stockings. "Why don't you help with the finishing touches? These stockings need to be hung precisely, right, Kid?"

He smiled. "Indeed. Come along, Soul and Black Star-even you two can position stockings in a straight row across the fireplace."

Kid held onto his father's, while Soul, sneering, took those of Liz and Patty. Black Star studied the one he was holding-it was Kid's-and a sadistic smirk formed across his mouth. "Should I unravel just one little thread to make imperfect what was once a perfect and precise stocking, or should I wreck it all at once by just tossing it into the fireplace?"

He received a punch to the back of the head. "If you do any such thing, then I will let Maka hang you from the top of the tree." Upon concluding her threat, Tsubaki crossed her arms.

"Jeez, Tsubaki!" Black Star must have touched a nerve to earn that kind of a punishment from his own weapon. "Sorry. I promise, I won't harm Kid's stocking in any way."

Tsubaki sighed, and tried to smile. "Just...just try to give Kid a decent Christmas this year." She looked behind her meister to see Kid shouting something at Soul regarding his failure to properly align the stockings, especially when it came to keeping them in order both alphabetically and by length. "After his imprisonment in the Book, and all the tension when he returned, it is nice to see you and Kid getting along, and Liz and Maka getting along. So please, be kind."

He rubbed her head. "Sure thing." He then marched to the fireplace. "Hey, Kid, where should I place your stocking?"

At that moment, the clock struck seven, its chimes echoing throughout the living room. Crap, he was late, Kid thought. Sweating, he snatched the stocking from Black Star, quickly attaching it to the fireplace-not bothering to align it with the ones he and Soul already attached-and stormed past the loud ninja. As he walked, he grabbed the tree monster soul-without the plastic baggy, the sap seeping onto his hands and onto the floor-as he approached the living room exit. "I am behind schedule," he began, hurriedly. "Liz, Patty, continue the decorations, and please be accommodating to our guests. I should be back by morning. Maka, I'll deposit the soul with Father. Tsubaki, please do not let Black Star near my stocking or Bob." With that, he entered the hallway, removed his jacket from its hook, opened only the right door, and departed.

The six remaining students stared in disbelief.

"Um, where do I start with how wrong that all just was?" Soul asked.

"The mess Kid left on the floor right now seems like a good one," Liz replied with a sneer, as she crossed her arms. "How joyful. We get stuck with holiday decorating and cooking-and now cleaning-while Kid does another Christmas Eve shopping run."

"But Kiddo also gets us exactly what we want every Christmas!" Patty interjected. She evidently was much calmer about Kid's absence now that the mansion was much more decorated than it had been earlier that day.

Liz let out a curt laugh. "As if it's hard to decide what you want every year: some stuffed animal and make-up."

"Make-up?" Maka asked. "But Patty, you rarely wear any."

"That's because I am just that naturally good-looking!" she shouted. "And because I go through it so quickly before New Year's!" She held up some dolls with rouge and sparkles all over them. "I want my animals to look adorable!"

"And let me guess," Soul added, "Kid makes sure to get some laundry detergent during after-Christmas sales to clean the make-up off those animals?"

"Gasp! You're psychic!"

"Don't say 'gasp,' Patty—you just do it."

"Sorry, Sis!"

While their friends spoke, Tsubaki studied her partner, who had been oddly quiet regarding Kid's abrupt exit. "You think something is wrong with him?" she whispered.

"Definitely. No way Kid would just rush out that fast, even if he wanted to get some sweet Christmas Eve sales."

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "Those sales usually happen after Christmas Day."

"I know-Kid's just that much of an overachiever." He looked at her. "Mind if I keep an eye on him? You know, in case I can get him to finish his errands more quickly?"

Tsubaki smirked. "You sure you will not actually delay him?"

"Look at who you're talking too, Tsubaki! I'm Santa's number one elf right here! Trust me, I'll bring Kid home before Christmas Eve is done!"

She patted his shoulder. "Good. Please return him soon-I'm sure Liz and Patty would appreciate it."

Black Star gave her a thumb up, and took off running. "Guys, heading out! If you need anything while I'm out, just call me!"

"Where the heck is he going?" Soul asked.

Tsubaki looked over her shoulder. "Looks like Kid wasn't the only one with last minute shopping to do." She looked at Maka. "Speaking of which…"

Maka sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." She sneered at her partner. "And it looks like I'm walking."

Soul answered with a sigh. "Fine. I'll drop you off at the mall. You can meet me at the record shop."

"But that's where I wanted to look!" Maka protested.

"Fine, I'll go where you'll never get a gift for me-the bookstore."

"I wanted to go there, too!"

"Jeez, Maka, you're not giving me many places to hang out!"

"Then sit at your precious motorcycle!"

"How about you just get a taxi then?!"

Soul and Maka each felt so angry at the other that they could feel their necks tightening under their collars. Actually, their necks weren't tightening-they realized that when they then felt nothing beneath their feet. Their eyes widening, they glanced to their side to see that Liz had lifted both of them by their collars, marched them down the hallway, and literally tossed them down the steps, Maka managing to stay on her feet as she stumbled down each step while Soul landed on his backside on one, two, then three steps.

"Just get your shopping done already and come back with some more eggnog, 'kay?!" she shouted. "Patty's about to go through it all at this rate!"

As she slammed the door shut, Maka held out a hand to her partner, as he was rubbing his sore butt. "Pattern, today?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and trying to give an apologetic smile.

"Definitely," he said with pained eyes but a pleasant smile, accepting her hand to silently say that no apology was needed.

Both started walking to where his motorcycle was parked by the side of the road leading up to Gallows Mansion.

"Still, you should get a helmet."

"Fine. You mind making that my gift?"

"But that ruins the surprise!"

"Jeez, Maka," Soul said, his chuckle betraying the annoyance in his voice.

o-o-o

WRITER'S NOTES

Ideally, I would have finished at least four other stories I have in mind, just focused on Kami—the day she left Death City, what she did when she left, how she first encountered Kid and the Thompsons, and what in my headcanon brought her back to Death City—but Christmas came before I finished outlining these stories. At least writing this story motivates me to write those other ones.

While I'm happy with how I portrayed Kid—I like showing that he can overlook imperfection when he has larger concerns on his mind—I am not a fan of how I write Maka and Soul: there are so many authors who already do great work portraying the two, and I tend to make Maka come off as unlikeable in my stories. I am finalizing the next chapters, trying to clarify why she is so antagonistic to Soul right now—and it is not just about her mother—but I'm not sure it will come off as clear, relatable motivation.

Next chapter: let's see what the DWMA is like at Christmas.