Chapter 95: Christmas Town
The door to Yuletide Hill flew open within Christmas town, allowing a being of a human shaped reindeer with a robotic device on their head to crash across the landing, skidding his feet deep into the snow to prevent him from rolling down the huge hill. The reindeer controlled being sighed in relief before taking in the wonders that this world offered, not noticing a being of a tall elf and a being in a black Santa suit falling into the snow before the door sealed shut. The reindeer continued to look at his surroundings as his curled up antlers picked up the movement on the white surface, "I see this world like placing mind control devices on you." He heard his friend chuckled.
He placed his hands onto the device and tried to get it off of him, "As much as I would like to see Santa, I just want Donald to get this 'Beep!' thing off!" He said as he struggled to get the device off.
"Hold on!" He chuckled slightly as he approached Max's side, "I'll give you a hand." Max knelled down slightly as the Keyblade Master tried to pulled the metal part of the costume.
The Princess of Heart pushed herself out of the white substance with her hands, feeling the cold texture of snowflakes rest against her skin. She gasped in wonder as she noticed that her skin was no longer pale blue and dead looking, her flowed with colour and looked alive once more. She wasn't surprised that her appearance had changed since it had changed when she visited Independence Town and St Patrick Town, what surprised her was that her skin seem to shine brightly within this snowy town. She set the snow in her hands back to its endless field before seeing some of her hair flicker in front of her face, unconsciously placing her hair behind her ear- My ears are pointed, She thought echoed as she felt the shape of her ears. She was quite surprised that she didn't here an obvious quote come from her Nobody but quickly pushed it away as she looked over the rest of her garment change. The shape of her dress and returned to the style of her pink dress before she began this adventure, expect that it was green instead of pink. She wore long red stockings with a white fluffing end to go with her elf-like worker shoes.
She pushed herself off the snow to look up at the two boys, trying to ripe Max's device off his head, making her giggle slightly at the sight. She looked up at Max to see his appearance change, apart from the robotic device that still covered half his face, unacknowledged by Sora, he lost his entire zombie look. His skin and hair had returned to him, his clothing had changes into a reddish-brown suit with white fur lining around the sleeves. He wore a loose, red belt with a gold buckle around his waist and red mittens with green ribbons tied on them. His feet become light tan and have brown hooves, and a green wreath hangs from his neck as well as having two black, elegantly curled antlers sprout from the top of his head.
She shook her head before looking over to Sora's change; he retained the dark, ashen physical appearance, boots, pants, and legs wrappings from his Halloween Town appearance, the rest of his clothing, however, changes radically. His mask was replaced by a large, black hat with a white fur rim and a puff ball on the tip that was pulled over the right half of his face. He wore a black shirt with white fur lining, silver crown buttons lining the front, and a faded, brown belt with a silver buckle around his waist and over the shirt. His arms didn't change much as the golden arm guard remained but still allowed Kairi to see his shadowed claw when tilting it while the other arm had a black glove with a white fur rim to it.
"WHY WON'T IT COME OFF!" Sora pulled as much as he can on Max's head to try to get the device off.
"Ahhh! My skull!" Max cried in agony.
She giggled as she approached the two, "Guys! I don't think that's gonna work." She shook her head.
Sora halted his actions before letting go of Max's head, chuckling slightly before looking at Max again, "Maybe Donald can fix it when they arrive." Sora told him.
Max crossed his arms before muttering to himself, "He 'Beep!' better do."
The elf held back her giggle before walking slightly past them to view of the world, "This world is so amazin-" Not used to the snow covered flooring, she had managed to gather enough snow in front of her foot to trip her. "AH!" She shrieked, grabbing the closest thing possible.
"WOAH!" Sora felt himself get pulled by the jacket, falling over into the snow with the Princess of Heart.
Since they had fallen on the edge of the hill the two began to roll down it as soon as they had fallen over, combining together to create a huge snowball, their yells shielded from the thickness that the snow had given as it rolled rapidly down the hill into the town itself. The snowball shot through the town, elves seeing it from the distance had the chance to dive out of the way of the runaway snowball, as the huge snowball hit the ride that centred the town. The ride spun at a fast rate from the power that came from the snowball before halting suddenly from the rusty jolts within the ride, throwing the two in the air. A couple of seconds in the air and the two crashed landed in a huge snow bank, while Kairi simply landed in it, Sora managed to land in the bank in such a way that his body shape was left within it.
Their heads soon popped out of the snow before the two looked at each other and soon only laughter escaped their lips. "You have a nice trip?" Sora chuckled slightly as he faced her again.
"I did. It was fun." She giggled, "I was glad you could join me on such a trip." She flicked some snow forwards the Keyblade Master.
"Hey!" He flicked some at her back as the two managed to find themselves throwing small amounts of snow at each other. After a while, the two dug themselves out of the snow bank, letting the cold air brush again their revealed skin. As the Keyblade Master aided the Princess of Heart out of the bank, he took in the welcoming vibe that the world offered to him, the sweet scented air filled his lungs with a certain joy that he hadn't felt for a while and he welcomed it with open arms. "What if we stayed?"
The red haired female giggled slightly as the smaller elves that had before catching Sora's questions to her pointed ears, making her looked at her friend with question. "Sora?"
He took another deep breathe of the sweeten air before looking back at his friend, "What if we just stayed here just for the holidays?" He proposed, "I know that he had rested up in Little Devon but there was so much that was going on, we didn't have the chance to enjoy the time." A part of him was still blaming himself for the actions that had occurred at Little Devon but soon looked back at his friend with a hopeful look. "What do you say?"
She smiled slightly as she thought about the idea, "We need to create some more memories for the camera." She said, earning a happy grin from her friend, "But do you think the others will agree?"
"Agree on 'Beep!' What?"
The two turned to their side to find the friend that they had managed to lose due to creating a huge snowball, he looked worn out from chasing the snowball down the hill. "We were thinking that we should stay here until the holidays are over and was wondering if the others would be okay with it." Kairi explained to him.
The robotic reindeer only smiled at the idea, "That sounds like a great idea! I'm sure that dad and Donald will like it. I'm sure that Hikari would come down to join as well."
"And if Hikari comes, Riku will surely come." Sora smirked.
Kairi giggled at the comment, knowing that it was true, before a concerning thought came across her mind, "What about Brian?" she asked.
Max sighed sadly before looking up to the sky, "I not sure about him. He has been in those reports for the last couple of days. I'm starting to worry about him….maybe I shouldn't have snapped at him for what he is." Since leaving Little Devon, Max had gone into the habit of avoiding Brian, it was at the point of a fight when the group had come together to organise Riku's birthday party but he had slowly began to accept the fact after their return from Land of the Dragons that it wasn't Brian's fault for what he was, now he just worried about his friend's mental state from his obsession to discover the past.
"I'm worried too." Kairi held her hand close to her chest, her heart, as she looked up at the dark sky as well, "I'm sure we can get him away from it for just some days though."
"Yeah." Sora nodded, "He properly wouldn't miss the chance for some eggnog." He chuckled slightly before turning towards Santa's Workshop, his excitement returning to him. "Hey guys! Wanna meet Santa?" He asked them with a grin.
"Santa? Really?" Max grinned happily, tearing his vision away from the sky as he joined Sora's side.
"Santa?" Kairi gasped slightly, she had an believe in holiday tales since heading to the holiday towns, including Halloween Town, to see Santa Claus herself will properly be one of the best highlights of her journey.
"Yep!" He grinned back at her as he began to head towards the door, "C'mon, let-"
The door suddenly burst open, knocking the Keyblade Master back towards the floor as a couple of Neoshadows escaped from inside the workshop, scaring some of the elves outside, before disappearing in the darkness once more. "Sora! Are you alright?" Kairi rushed up to him and aided him to sit up, seeing him hold his head with his golden garment.
"Hey Kairi? When did you manage to make three of you?" He asked dizzily.
She shook her head at this before waving her hand over his head, "Esuna." Soon, the confusion that was set in his head faded away as he came back to his senses. "You okay?" She asked again.
"Yeah. Thanks to you." He grinned warmly at her before pushing himself up, making her blush as she joined up.
"Why would Heartless be in Santa's Workshop?" Max must have not noticed the little scene that just happened between to two friends. A sudden gasped escaped his lips as realisation hit him hard, "The Heartless are stealing Christmas!"
"I'm sure that the Heartless are not planning to steal Christmas." Sora chuckled slightly before turning to the house once more, "Let's check it out." He said as the three entered Santa's Workshop.
The sight of the house was a wonder as all of the furniture was turned upside down, the Christmas Tree was scattered across the floor, claw marks covered the walls as well as some of the ripped up furniture and presents. The fire was out but the lights were still on and the elves had begun to emerge for their hiding places to fix up to damages made. "See!" Max gasped at the sight, "They 'Beep!' stealing Christmas!"
"They are not stealing Christmas!" Kairi told the robotic reindeer as Sora stepped forward to wear the armchairs had fallen and move them out of the way, only to find the big jolly man himself.
"Santa, are you alright?" Sora asked him with concern as he held the man up, ignoring Kairi and Max's gasps and shocking glaze for the time being.
"I'm quiet alright, thank you Sora." He replied, dusting himself off before noticing the shocked expressions across the room, "Kairi, Max, you should really close your mouths." He chuckled slightly at them as he watched their expression turn more in shock.
"You know who we are?" Kairi gasped.
"I know all of the children on my list." He chuckled once more.
"What happened here?" Sora questioned with a serious tone.
Santa huffed at the memory as he placed the side table up, "Those Heartless tried to turn me into one of them again." He said with annoyance, "Before they came, some being known as Pete came and told me to hand over this world to his leader. When I refused, the Heartless appeared and destroyed my workshop."
"So Pete is stealing Christmas!" Max said with anger.
"He's not stealing Christmas!" Kairi told him again with a slight annoyance.
"Well why else would he try to claim the world?" He questioned.
"Maleficent." Sora simply said, "Did he do anything else while he was here?" A part of him began to think that he was an idiot to forget that Maleficent was still out there, that some worlds were actually in her control.
"For some reason, some of the Heartless were going after the mistletoe patch, "Santa explained, "They managed to take all of the mistletoe that we had in the town. What could they possibly want with it?" He asked out loud.
"Don't worry, Santa. We'll recover the mistletoe and stop Pete in his tracks. Right guys?" He looked back at his two friends to see them nod with such determination.
BOWBOWBOW
A light shined slightly as the Keyhole balanced within itself before a lock could he heard within the Keyhole itself. The werewolf watched as the Keyhole faded away before looking back at the surroundings, "This seems too easy." He muttered as his narrowed eyes looked around with cautious, his ears flicker in search for un-natural sounds, his senses on the edge for just anything to happen.
"Don't complain about it." He turned his head towards the wrapped up duck, watching him walk away from where they stood. "We need to catch up with Sora, Kairi and Max."
Goofy hummed in thought from the comment, "I wonder if Maxie is enjoying Christmas Town." He smiled at the thought of his son's overjoyed face. "He's always wanted to meet Santa when he was younger."
Riku groaned at the mention of Santa, "Not you too." Who else believed that Santa was real?
"I still can't shake the feeling that something is off, something dangerous." The Pumpkin King spoke in thought as he began to pace.
The werewolf raised an eyebrow at this, seeing Goofy following Donald from the corner of his eye. "Isn't Halloween supposed to be dangerous?" He asked the skeleton.
Jack halted his pacing before turning to face the werewolf with a look in disappointment, "Where did you hear that?" he asked.
"Years of Trick or Treat." He simply answered, he remembered one Halloween when some kids had got carried away on hunting sweets and started to throw Seagull eggs at Kairi's house because the mayor decided not to give them the candy. If him or Sora hadn't arrived to stop them, the Seagull Eggs would had slowly turned into Coconuts. It still amazed him how one day of the year can bring the darkness out of people.
"Well I can assure you that Halloween aims to bring fear, not pain." Jack told him.
"Fear brings pain." Riku replied.
"Not in a dangerous way." Jack added.
"You truly don't understand fear, Pumpkin King."
A number of Blinks surrounding around the two of them, halting Donald and Goofy in the distance and striking thunder at the two to make them head back to where Jack and Riku was. Before Riku could speak the words of suspension that formed from the voice as well as the thunder voltage that surrounded the Blinks, a portal appears to reveal the Order Member to bear yellow markings on his muscle-like armour.
"It's Arboc!" Goofy gasped as he held his Disney Castle marked shield closed to him, being cautious around the Order member.
"What do you want?" Donald demanded from him but one close thunder strike near the duck made the duck cower slightly but with his staff ready for combat.
"How did you get here unnoticed?" The werewolf questioned him, his claws ready for a sneak attack, being cautious but not forwarded enough to summon Way to the Dawn.
"This part of the world covers me." He simply said to them, ignoring the deathly glares that he was receiving. "Fear is what makes Halloween. Just like Joy make Christmas and Love makes Valentine's Day. Wouldn't you say, Pumpkin King?"
"Fear may make Halloween Town but the way you use that fear only hurts the one's you put fear into. Halloween isn't there to physically hurt anyone!" Jack told him with anger in his voice, he didn't sound pleased about this person going from world to world, inflicting fear in the wrong way.
Abroc chuckled at this, smirking underneath his helmet, "Many emotions are not aimed to hurt but…" He chuckled again before shaking his head and glazing over to the werewolf. "I came to warn you, Captain." He spoke in a serious tone.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" The Werewolf growled, he could see just how Brian felt when they were doing this to him about part of his memories. His anger only grew when the sergeant only shook at him in humour, ignoring the question.
"You came to warn us?" Goofy repeated in confusion, seeing the Endless nod.
Donald only huffed at this as he pointed his staff towards the Order Member, "He's just gonna trick us!" he accused, another thunderbolt struck near him, putting the mummy duck in his place.
"Thunder only strikes once, Captain." His helmet continued to glare towards the werewolf, who was glaring back at the same force. "Take this warning now or lose your chance."
Riku growled as a response, "Fine! What's your warning?" He demanded.
"Love is a poison. Its existence will only destroy your friends."
Riku gasped slightly at this in shock and confusion, exactly what did he mean about love being a poison and how could love destroy his friends, what exactly could love do? Before he could question the Endless, he watched the Sergeant walk back into the portal and clicked his fingers.
The Unbirth struck as fast as thunder flashed before them.
BOWBOWBOW
"Two pairs." Hikari spoke in an excited expression before looking over to Brian, her glare to return. "Brian! You said you would have a break!" She narrowed her eyes at him, even though she is all up to helping Brian discover his past, she also wanted him to take a break everynow and again.
"My break was when you were looking for my damn cards without my permission!" He argued back, placing an old mission report down with his endless pile of old reports before picking up the cards that was dealt out to him. He quickly looked at the cards before throwing them back on the half covered table, showing a Jack of spaces and an Ace of Hearts. "Oh look! You win." He said full of sarcasm.
"Cut the sarcasm!" She glared as she grabbed the cards and dealt the two hands again, "We should check on the others soon anyway."
"BRIAN! HIKARI! I NEED A MINI-GUMMI TO COVER DONALD AND GOOFY NOW!"
"I see your lover is not pleased." Brian spoke as he continued to read the reports.
"HE IS NOT MY LOVER!" Hikari shouted at him, her cheeks turning red as she walked towards the communicator.
"Well your cheeks and reactions tell a whole different story." He chuckled before setting the reports down and grabbing the communicator off his friend. "You better get ready. I'll send the location to the gummi when I receive it." He said to her before speaking into the communicator, "A gummi is on the way. What's the status?"
"You're the better pilot, you should go." Hikari pointed out.
"Well I'm busy." Brian quickly answered as he listened to Riku's fighting in the communicator.
"Take a break while I'm gone, okay?" Hikari looked at him worrying, only to see him nod. She could only sigh with annoyance as she raced down to the small dock.
"Hikari's on her way." He simply said in the communicator before shutting the communicator off and looked at the hallway with a sigh, "I can't take a break from this mystery." He said sadly, "Not with the questions that are left unanswered."
BOWBOWBOW
After looking around Christmas Town looking for clues for where Pete and the Heartless could have fled off to, knowing that they would have ran into him if he escaped to Halloween Town, the crew managed to find a trail of small green leaves with some white blubs on them. A trail of mistletoe looked to lead to the outskirts of Christmas Town, leading into the pinecone forest that wasn't that far ahead.
Soon enough, the three managed to find Pete along with some NeoShadows and a huge pile of Mistletoe, only to hear Pete's evil chuckling, "Once we keep an hold on this, that kid would have to side with Maleficent, then we can get control of those worlds that we lost." He said out loud, not noticing the trio standing behind them.
"Hey guys…check this out." Max whispered before smirking as he looked back at the distracted Pete. "What kid, Pete?" He asked with a smirk, Sora and Kairi watched with curiosity.
"That Vanitas Kid!" He replied, not bothering to turn around.
"Why would Vanitas be interested in mistletoe?" Kairi asked, trying not to chuckle, as well as figuring out how the Leader of the Order could just be a kid or in Pete's case, near the same age as them.
"Just one thing to prevent the Cure! As well as having that other kid with the Keyblade captured." The others gasped at the mention of another Keyblader in the hands of Maleficent. "That kid would have to beg for Maleficent for forgiveness if he wants his hands on Ven."
"Ven!" The three gasped once again, making Pete turn around.
The second he turned around, he jumped from shock. "Not you guys!" His eyes looked at the three before landing on Max, "Well, Max! Seems you've done some growing since I left Disney Castle." He smiled proudly.
"Last I heard, you were 'Beep!' banished!" Max countered, wiping the smirk off Pete's face.
"Where are you holding Ven?" Sora questioned him.
"Now what makes you think that I would tell you that?" Pete told him before turning back to the mistletoe patch, "Now! Time to get rid of you." Pete clicked his fingers to signal the Neoshadows to jump into the mistletoe, gathering the mistletoe together as dark yellow eyes began to form. "And with that, I begin to depart." He quickly created a dark portal, "Smell ya later!"
"Wait!" Sora quickly ran towards the black portal, this could be his one chance to find Ventus.
"Sora! Stop!" Kairi warned him.
The Keyblade Master was just mere inches away from the dark portal when a number of mistletoe-formed Heartless blocked the way as slammed Sora back into the snow. Kairi summoned Oathkeeper while running towards Sora and threw her Keyblade at the pinecone tree below the Mistle-Hearts. Max quickly ran towards the enemy, his deflect in movement prevented him from getting covered in snow that had landed on the Heartless from the tree. He aimed his bow as he waited for the Neoshadows to form from the snow, the second they appeared, Max released his arrows, striking the Heartless as they faded away.
Oathkeeper flashed within Kairi's hand once more before fading away completely as she looked down at Sora, "Why did you rush towards the portal? You have no idea where it leads." She looked at him with disappointment as she helped him up.
"I'm still wondering how snow could make the Neoshadows leave their new bodies." Max said out loud as he dug within the bank in search for the mistletoe.
"I-I just-" Sora shook his head from getting struck in the chest, his old scar throbbed with pain from the impact. "I guess if it was a chance to free Ven. Sorry." His eyes lowered as he looked at his shoes in shame, he has upset Kairi yet again from his actions.
"It doesn't matter." Kairi simply said, "Just don't' do it again." He looked back up to face her to see her face filled with worry.
"Yeah! Kairi might kick you in shape if you don't." Max chuckled as he grabbed some mistletoe within the snow, seeing most of it destroyed from the Heartless jumping within it.
Sora chuckled at this slightly but wondered why Pete didn't stick around, could there ever be a chance that he could meet this Ventus?
A/N: Right people! Another Halloween Chapter done. I hope this world is done before Christmas. Also, a quick one-shot have been placed known as 'Dark Tips of Love' which was requested by my friend. I would like to know what you guys think of it since it has been a while since I have done a one-shot.
Messages!
Ultima-Owner: Hmmm, I assume that he is this year =P
Future Keybearer: Hehehehe I was tempted to leave him suffering so that Sora and Kairi could have a moment but I decided against it.
Transitions End: A clue has already been given in a previous chapter. I would remind you but that might give the surprise away.
Artism: Birth by Sleep is AWESOMESSSSSS! I've just finished on Proud Mode, trying to kill the secret boss and collect everything to get some secret clips. Even though I already got Blank Points ^^. I was pure shocked when I saw him use magic, this game has just gotten more annoying and cooler just because of that.
Lizard Valis: I hope this chapter is cool for you hhehehehe
Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: O.o Guess I'll have to fix that at some point. Anyways, hope that your laptop gets sorted out and I know your pain, reviewing on the wii is like hell and back.
Soragirl4ever: Hmmmm, judging how your message fills the entire web browser, it looks like you left a huge message lol. Nah, you're not an idiot thought I'm hurt that you forgot all about me *sob sob* Okay I'm better =P Hey Brian, you have a fangirl.
Brian: But She's evil. She said it herself. Look, she's plotting to kidnap you from uni to finish the story.
Mad: Riiiiiiiggggghhhhtt. Awwww I'm touched that you wanna be like me ^^
Brian: DON'T DO IT! You get pushed away from your fr-
Mad: She made cookies.
Brian: Never mind. *takes cookies* I'll be going back to the reports.
Anyway, I'm hoping to update every two weeks, hopefully but I might not update during Christmas holiday's since I will be at home and I work on a computer, which I can't take home.
See ya Next Time
Kingdommad