And so it was that the entire Organization quickly found out about the new holiday they were to be celebrating.
Needless to say, everyone had mixed reactions to the news but they were all forced to buy and/or make a present for each member of the Organization and help decorate the Castle with festive decorations.
So without major incident (except for Demyx nearly being strangled by Larxene for waving mistletoe at her and Vexen being tied to a chandelier with a bunch of tinsel), Christmas Eve quickly came.
"Oh, Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree!" Demyx sings along to his sitar playing as Xemnas, who was standing on Lexaeus' shoulders, very carefully places the huge star on the very top of the tree and Larxene sends a careful bolt of electricity through the plug, lighting every single light bulb on the tree.
"Oooh!" The entire Organization spends a moment admiring the tree and then they head straight to bed, happily awaiting the next day.
All except Xion and Roxas who run to the kitchen.
"You think he'll get mad cause it's not gingerbread cookies?" Xion asks as she stares at the plate of homemade treats.
Roxas shrugs and looks down at the cup he was carrying.
"Well, we'll just have to find out, won't we?" Roxas says as he puts the cup of milk down on a small table; Xion quickly follows suit and puts her plate of food down with it.
They shush each other and quickly run out of the room, excited expressions on their faces.
Christmas Morning (2:59 A.M.)
Axel quickly smacks his alarm clock to the ground, setting it aflame with a single twitch of his fingers as the screaming alarm is swiftly silenced.
"Wha… Oh." Axel mutters sleepily as he looks up at the darkness of his room in confusion before he remembered that he himself had set the alarm for 3 A.M.
The clock itself was a bit fast.
The pyro sits up reluctantly in bed, wincing as he stretches lazily out and flips the red covers off as he forces himself awake by use of the cool air of his room.
"I hate wakin' up early…" Axel slurs to himself as he stumbles out of bed and into his bedroom slippers.
He quickly manages to walk to the bathroom and splash ice water on his face.
In an instant, he's shocked awake by the water and his brain finally focuses.
"What the hell was I gonna do, anyway? OH!" All of a sudden, Axel remembers his promise to Xemnas.
After Axel had spread the word to the rest of the Organization about the holiday, Xemnas had pulled him aside and made him swear to wake up in the middle of the night and put out the presents for the kids.
Axel had protested but Xemnas had given him a logical reason why to complete the bizarre request:
Xion and Roxas still believed in Santa Claus.
And so, it was with the hopes and dreams of the younger Organization members resting on his shoulders, Axel got to work and started creeping through the darkened corridors of the Castle That Never Was.
As Axel crept through the Castle, not a creature was stirring.
Not even a Dusk.
Which was totally weird considering that the annoying little bastards were usually playing pranks after midnight.
And so Axel manages to sneak into the Gray Room without bumping into anyone, anything and without losing a single present in the giant bag he was carrying.
In the quiet living room, he sees that the fireplace's (which was recently installed) fire had been extinguished and the entire room was dark except for a single lit lamp.
In that dim yellow light, he could see two small figures collapsed in a corner of the room, each in bright pajamas.
There were only two people in the entire Castle who wore Keyblade and Paopu pajamas: Roxas and Xion were asleep at the base of the Christmas tree.
"What are they, six years old?" Axel whispers to himself in amazement when he notices them.
This was going to be a problem.
In a series of quick and nearly silent steps, Axel crept up to the tree and to the stockings to leave his gifts.
As he does so, a sudden and familiar odor scents the air.
"…What the?" Axel says as he picks up Xion's and Roxas's note for Santa.
Dear Santa,
We know you're awfully busy and that you probably get real hungry flying that big ol' sled around on Christmas Eve.
So we made you dinner.
We hope you like steak!
Sincerely,
Xion and Roxas
"… That is just plain adorable." Axel chuckles as he looks over the dinner and dessert that the two kids had made.
The steak was a little burned but the gesture itself was sweet.
Axel starts to get the food but a sudden flash of sleepiness overcomes him.
"Whoa… Gotta… wake up." Axel mutters sleepily as he grabs an arm of the couch to steady himself but it was too much.
The well-meaning pyromaniac quickly succumbs to the sweet embrace of sleep where he stood and collapses on the couch.
Several hours later, Axel moans sleepily as he wonders where the hell his blanket was.
And what that ripping noise was.
He opens his eyes and notices that the ceiling had changed.
And that he was cold.
And that he was in the Gray Room in his pajamas.
"Oh shit." Axel says in shock when he realizes that it was Christmas morning and he hadn't put the presents in their places.
"AXEL! AXEL, SANTA CAME!" A pair of excited voices sing out in excitement.
Axel turns over and sees Roxas and Xion with a mound of boxed presents in front of them, most of which had already been torn open.
"…. I…" Axel says in confusion, not sure how they had gotten them when the bag was right underneath him.
"Axel, wake up! Santa left you something, too!" Xion says as she measures the fit of a new dress against her green Paopu pajamas.
Roxas throws him an envelope and goes back to ripping presents open with a childlike grin on his face.
Axel opens the neat parchment envelope and nearly faints when he reads the letter.
Dear Axel and the other Organization members,
Thank you all for keeping the spirit of Christmas alive within the ranks of the Nobodies.
It's wonderful to see children, even if they are without Hearts, with such an innocent love of the holiday season.
But next time, why don't you leave the presents to me?
It is my job after all.
-S.C.
"Holy crap on a stick." Axel whispers in amazement as Demyx walks sleepily.
"Hi… OH MY ARPEGGIO, PRESENTS!" The normally happy go lucky Nobody shrieks in joy as he runs to his blue stocking and pulls out a large rectangular box which had bold letters reading: "Sitar Care Kit" written in it.
Within minutes, the rest of the Organization came in and began to open presents with a shocked Axel just sitting on the couch, staring at the letter in disbelief.
"Good job, Axel." Xemnas whispers in a rare show of emotion as the younger members call out the gifts that they had received to the older ones who only chuckle in amusement at the kids' hyperness.
In the spirit of the holiday, no one got grounded… not even when Roxas knocked over the Christmas tree with his new Struggle bat and nearly crushed Vexen in the process.
Axel looks over the relaxed scene of his two best friends and touches the pocket of his Organization jacket which crinkled slightly with the sound of rustling paper.
He decides to just go to bed now and leave those two to sleep.
He fixes the blanket that was falling over their shoulders and then drops a candy cane onto the cookies that the kids had fixed that year.
He sighs in content as he walked to his own room to await the next day.
Several other Organization members were walking off to their rooms at this exact moment, each one saying the exact same words of the exact same very famous poem:
"Merry Christmas to all, and all a good night."