Chapter 12

Finally, after a very long year full of preparation and hard work Christmas had finally arrived! Everyone was excited and bristling with joy. Even Bunnymund despite the fact he still claimed that Easter was the better holiday. Alas, you could only get so much Christmas spirit out of him.

But Bunnymund made sure he had some Christmas spirit for Katherine's sake. She was probably more excited than North himself who always went all out during Christmas. Katherine was still rather young being almost thirteen, still too young to ride in North's slay with him while he went and delivered presents to all the little girls and boys. Or at least to North she was still too young. Katherine fought tooth and nail to go with North this year. But North made Katherine promise to stay, it was still too dangerous with how often Pitch had been meddling with the Guardians holidays. He didn't want Katherine getting caught in any cross-fire that could occur.

Katherine stayed rather sullen at the rejection, but Sandy and Jack tried there best to cheer her up. Sandy took her out on his dream sand cloud to go watch over the sleeping villages as Jack brought a snow day for Christmas morning. Watching as kids eagerly went to bed, or pretended to anyway, so that they could wake up early enough to see Santa Clause putting out the presents and the parents laughing as there kids nearly burst with excitement. Very few adults still believed in North, maybe only three in the town that they were watching over. Katherine found it rather sad that they had stopped believing, if only they knew just how real North is...

"You excited about tomorrow Katherine?" Jack asked as he flew up onto the cloud and laid down beside her. Katherine laid down as well, but Sandy kept watching the tiny town.

"I'm thrilled! But... I wish I could have went and helped North. I am old enough to defend myself if I need to. You saw me fight off the fearlings Jack, you know i'm capable! Besides... maybe Pitch Black is just mad because no one got him a present." Katherine grumbled as she looked at the constellation of Orion, remembering his story.

Jack and Sandy shared a pitiful glance, ... she had a point. Not once had Jack ever thought of such a thing. "Well... Katherine. Pitch isn't exactly the type to accept presents... in fact he hates Christmas altogether." Jack tried to explain. Katherine shrugged, who could hate Christmas? Or even receiving a gift? That would just be outright ludicrous! No, that's not possible... Katherine refused to believe it.

"Did we get a present for Tsar?"Katherine asked after a long silence. Jack laughed.

"Of course we did! You can't expect us to forget about him can you? North sent it through one of his portals, he says 'Hi' by the way. I forgot to tell you earlier." Jack explained.

Katherine smiled up at the nearly full moon. She absolutely loved the light it gave off tonight, it almost looked like it was even smiling over the world. See, even the moon has Christmas spirit! There is no way someone can hate Christmas so much to where they try and destroy it. But oh well, Katherine had idea's of her own hatching in her head.

She knew exactly what to do, even if it did go against everything the Guardians had taught her about Pitch. But it would have to wait once she got back to North's workshop.

The trio stayed out watching the stars and children for at least another hour until Katherine began to yawn and fall asleep, all snuggled into Jack. Jack decided it was time to get Katherine to bed and had Sandy bring them back to the workshop. Once they got there Jack and Katherine hugged Sandy goodbye, and Jack ushered Katherine to bed.

Katherine got ready for bed and had Jack tuck her in, even if she was to old for a tuck in. Jack kissed her on the cheek and wished her sweet dreams. When he left, and Katherine was absolutely sure of it, she hopped out of bed and pulled out her journal that she had gotten for her birthday and ripped out a page. She began to neatly write out a kind letter for Pitch that read, 'I know you don't exactly like Christmas and all, but all the same. Merry Christmas!' . She tied the short note to a package wrapped in black and ran off as silently as possible to North's office.

Katherine quietly un-locked the door to his office and found exactly what she was looking for. A tiny globe. Katherine snatched one and brought it back to her room quietly, making sure the elves and yetis didn't catch her. Once she got there she grabbed up the package and stood in the middle of the room. "To Pitch Black." Katherine ordered as she smashed the globe. The shinning portal opened and Katherine threw the gift into it, watching as the black package disappeared into the swirling mass of colors.

Once it disappeared Katherine hopped back into bed and went to sleep, silently hoping that Pitch would feel somewhat kinder towards Christmas. Even if he didn't, Katherine still felt a little bit better knowing that Pitch had at least gotten one present.

In fact, pitch was rather startled when a package came hurtling out of a portal and hit him smack dab in the face, knocking him off his feet. Nightmares and fearlings looked on in confusion as there king scrambled to his feet, rubbing his temple from where the package had hit him. When Pitch saw what had hit him, he was utterly bewildered. A black package... for... him?

Pitch picked up the package and saw that it was indeed for him, but it didn't say who it was from. He read the note that Katherine had written, recognizing her hand writing, and nearly threw the package away instantly. Pitch despised Christmas with all of his black heart, he had never liked it. Even when he was somewhat forced to spend it with Elaine.

But something kept him from tossing it away. Curiosity. What had Katherine gotten for him? Why would she ever even consider giving him a gift!? The Guardians would surly never allow it. But... it was wrapped in black and not that annoyingly gory Christmas paper, he had to give her that. Maybe... just maybe it would be worth opening.

So Pitch ripped off the paper and found a black leather bound journal inside. It had a swirling pattern on the side that resembled dream sand, but it was nothing Pitch had ever seen in Katherine's room when he dropped by to check on her. Confused, he opened it and found Katherine's curly handwriting filling the pages to the brim with drawings and entries. Some were about ideas for nightmares and good dreams, others were about wonders that surpassed the normal thought's of a young girl. There were even tiny short stories and past dreams she had had. A couple pages consisted of just drawings.

Pitch narrowed his eyes. Why would Katherine send him this? Of all things why would she send her used journal? Pitch was at a complete loss, he couldn't even guess as to why Katherine would send him this. Despite the fact that it contained great ideas for nightmares and all, there was not much use for it.

However, none the less Pitch put it aside for a while until he returned back home from messing with North and his big night. Once he did return he spent a couple hours reading the endless pages of ideas and thoughts. Pitch was rather entertained. One day he would have to ask her why she sent him her journal.

The entire workshop was roused by Katherine's cheerful screams of joy once she found her gifts under the tree. North came stumbling into the room, worried that Katherine was being killed or something. But instead he was greeted with a warm bear hug from Katherine. North laughed as he hugged Katherine back.

"Did you have a good night? You look awfully tired North." Katherine began as she released North from the hug. North sighed and sat down, ordering the elves to bring some eggnog and coffee.

"Yes, I am tired. Pitch Black did give some trouble. A couple of Nightmares decided to rile up the reindeer and fearling stole a present or two. All was solved easily, I am surprised he did not put up more of a fight. He must have been busy." North mused as he took a cup of coffee from one of the elves.

Katherine grinned to herself. Hopefully her present served the purpose, to keep Pitch occupied with different thoughts. Maybe even to entertain him if anything else. Katherine wasn't really sure why she had truly sent it, but hopefully Pitch had liked it enough not to throw it away.

"Merry Christmas!" Bunnymund and Jack chorused as they both appeared in the living room at the same time. Sandy and Toothina flew in right after them with huge smiles on their faces.

"Merry Christmas guys!" Katherine laughed as she hugged each one of them in turn.

"We got present's for ya!" Bunnymund chimed in as he threw an egg shaped sack under the tree. presents came spieling out of it, all neatly wrapped with ribbons and bows.

"And I for you!" Katherine replied as she ran off to her room. A minuet later she came back dragging a sack full of presents to the Guardians almost the same size as Bunnymunds. All the Guardians laughed and hugged her again.

"Where did you get all the time to get those?" Jack laughed as he grabbed Katherine up and sat her on North's lap.

Katherine shrugged as she stole a sip of North's coffee. "I might have lost a couple hours of sleep. But I managed the best I could." North laughed and hugged Katherine.

The elves brought out some tiny cakes and cookies, as well as refreshments for the others. Everyone, even Bunnymund was dressed in some sort of Christmastime colors. He wore a red robe, almost like Norths, as well as a Santa hat. Toothina mainly wore a scarf since she hated ruffling up her feathers. Jack had borrowed Katherine red and green Christmas hoodie, and Sandy had on a Santa hat as well. Katherine wore a beautiful red dress with black fur at the hems, mimicking North's cassock attire. It really lightened the mood in the room.

Toothina began to hand out presents to everyone and they all tore them open one by one. Katherine had gotten a couple new dresses as well as some new books to add to the bookshelves in North's library. She had even gotten a couple of her favorite chocolates from Bunnymund which she shared with Jack. North had gotten a couple new tools for his workshop and a new pair of boots. Jack had gotten a new hoodie since his old one had become rather torn, and some shoes as a gag gift which he found very funny. Sandy had gotten at least ten plush, silk pillows to add to his home which he thoroughly enjoyed and nearly fell asleep on right away. Bunnymund was a bit harder to make a gift for since he had almost everything. But they had tried there best, so they got Bunnymund a new holder for his boomerangs and weapons. Toothina was easy, Jack had stolen some tooth polish and some dental supplies from a city and used it as a gift. To say the least she squealed when she opened her gift.

Everyone was happy and content with their gifts, but even if they didn't have presents they would still have been happy. You don't always need a present for it to be Christmas. But the magic of it all, the spirit of happiness and excitement. Of being all together and caring for each other. All of the Guardians being together was a present enough for Katherine alone. She loved all of them being together and laughing over old times.

Eventually as the day wore on and began to turn into night, elves and yetis began to sing and play a different type of Christmas music. One that had North up and dancing Slavic, the original Cassock dance. North pulled Katherine up off the couch and had her dancing with him, her dress twirling as she spun and kicked out her legs. Eventually everyone joined in, even Bunnymund who was a rather good dancer. Even some of the elves joined in!

When the dance was done North let out a booming laugh and twirled Katherine in the air, kissing both of her cheeks. Katherine laughed as North put her back down, holding her shoulder to make sure she didn't stumble over. North's style of dancing was rather tiring, even for Jack who laid down with Sandy on his silk pillows.

"This was wonderful North! Thank you guys for all the wonderful gifts! But I do think it's time to let Katherine have a full night of sleep for once." Toothina announced after she joined Sandy and Jack on the pillows. Katherine yawned in agreement and laid down on the couch, pulling one of Sandy's pillows over her face.

"Haha, come on Katherine. Off to bed you go!" Bunnymund laughed as he Picked Katherine up off the couch and ushered her off to her room.

"Fiiine! Goodnight guys! Sweet dreams!" Katherine yawned as she walked off to her room.

"Goodnight!" The others chimed in together as Katherine disappeared into a separate hallway.

Katherine sleepily stumbled into her room and flicked on the lights to see her way around the room. But she was surprised when she saw a bright golden present on her bed. Katherine was slightly taken aback. She got one every year like this, but she never heard or saw anyone come in...

Katherine walked over to it and saw a note addressed to her. Scribbled on it was , 'Merry Christmas'. That was all it said, just like last year. Katherine slightly smiled and sat down on her bed beside it. She grabbed it up and carefully opened it. Inside she found a worn leather journal that looked centuries old. On it, it had a golden and read fire breathing dragon inscribed on it. There was a slightly torn bookmark in it that seemed to be made of scales and black leather. Katherine had to force her mouth closed she was so bewildered. Not even in North's library had she ever seen such an ancient journal of this sort.

When she opened it up the pages looked old and withered, barley staying bound by the golden threads that wove through the sides. On it there was a tiny scribbled note that read, 'It's been a little while since you've gotten a journal, and it seems you have filled your others. Take care of this one, Katherine.'

Katherine smiled even brighter... but how does the person know she filled her other ones? Katherine shook her head, she would think of it later. Right now she needed sleep, badly. So she set the old journal on her desk beside her bed and got ready to go to sleep. She changed into her night gown and turned off the lights to her room. As soon as the room went dark Katherine ran and jumped into her bed, rolling over in her covers and falling asleep instantly.

She had to admit as well as the others. It was a merry Christmas indeed!

Sorry guys, yet another fluff chapter! After this I will get back to the main story. But all the same, Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Also, sorry if I did not get the name for the Cassock dance right. I never really got a straight answer. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Have a wonderful holiday!