Chapter 4

"Lily, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking you home now, Miku," Lily answered, holding out her ring finger.

"But why? Where's Luka?" Miku asked, trying to make Lily release her grip on her wrist. Lily had appeared out of nowhere while she was feeding the reindeers. Miku saw no signs of Luka nor Santa when she was leaving the workshop.

"If you don't get home soon, your folks will notice you're missing," Lily explained. "We can't have that happen, now do we?"

"Okay but where's Luka?" Miku persisted. "Why isn't she taking me home?"

Lily held up the ring to the face and a blue light surrounded the two girls. Miku held tightly onto Lily arm with closed eyes. Seconds later, her feet landed on solid ground which happened to be the rooftop of her house. Miku jumped on top of Lily, reaching for the ring.

"Whoa, whoa whoa!" Lily screamed, as Miku clung onto her back. Lily had one arm stretched out in front of her and the other grabbed onto Miku's arm which was around her neck. She tried keeping the ring away from Miku while also keeping Miku on her back. Since she was just only a human, Lily had to make sure Miku didn't fall off of the roof.

"Gimme the ring! I have to go back!"

Lily finally managed to get Miku off of her and set her up against the chimney. "Yeah? And what are you going to do if you do go back?" Lily questioned rather harshly. "What's a human like you going to do against the Santa Claus?"

Miku stared at Lily before looking down in defeat. "I...don't...know," she quietly admitted. Miku didn't understand what was happening. Why were there so many secrets behind the supposedly innocent Santa? How could she get so attached to the pink elf so fast? How could she go about life normally just after those short hours?

Lily looked at Miku's conflicted face and sighed. She was going regret what was going to happen next but Luka was her closest friend. She didn't know exactly what was going to happen to Luka but she knew it was bad. No one knew actually what the punishment for bringing a human but it was assumed to be bad. Maybe this human girl could save Luka. Lily took out a bag of cookies from behind her, which attracted curious looks from Miku.

"So...you wanna know the truth?"

"Are you ready, Luka?"

"Yes, sir."

Luka stepped in a small cylindrical container. She was in dark room underground. It was actually a secret lab. It was where all of the elves are 'made'. Santa was the last of his kind and decided to create more elves. As the genius he was, he eventually succeeded in creating 'robotic' elves. Luka was his third success, hence the number on the back of her neck. The first two before her are no longer alive or rather they were no longer in 'working condition'.

Luka looked down to the right and saw two similar container with a frozen body in each of them. The first elf's name was Gakupo and the second was Kaito. Both were punished for the same exact reason as Luka.

Falling in love with a human.

"Good," Santa said. He stood on the other side of the room behind a control table. "Now put the wires in the correct places," he instructed.

Luka silently did what she was told. She took the wires hanging from above her and attached them along her arm. As soon as they were all in place, Luka was already feeling tired.

"I can't believe this happened three times in a row," Santa grumbled but he was still heard by the pinkette. "What am I doing wrong? Why would you bring a human here and erase her memories afterward? Then what was the point of bringing her here in the first place if she wasn't going to remember anything anyways? Now I have to erase all of the other elves memories of the human for the third time."

Santa's creations weren't as perfect as I would like it to be. He programmed the elves to have emotions and feelings but not enough for them to disobey the rules. But for some reason, the three elves before him grew feelings strong enough to break the golden rule, bringing a human to their home. He pushed a button and cold air entered Luka's container. Once the temperature was low enough, Luka would freeze like with the other two.

As the freezing air surrounded Luka, she thought over what the old man had said. The more she thought about why she had brought Miku up here, the harder it was to figure out why she had done so. At the moment, she just wanted to leave with her arms intact and the memory cookies sounded like a really good idea at the time.

She shivered violently and took one last breath. Her final thought was that she hoped Miku got home safely. Luka was completely covered in a layer of ice and with a last push of a button, she became another frozen body.

Santa rubbed his temples and shut everything down. He turned for the door. "Now for the rest of th-" He stopped in his tracks, shocked to see a human girl standing in the doorway.

Miku was just as shocked after seeing Luka's frozen appeared in the glass chamber. She was too late. Miku fell to her knees, tears threatening to fall.

"Wha-Miku?! What are you doing?" Santa demanded. "Why are you here? Where's-Lily!"

Lily appeared behind Miku. She slowly walked toward the three frozen bodies. A look of pain washed over her face. She fell to the ground, groaning and grabbing onto her head.

"Lily, what are you doing?!" Santa shouted, trying to get Lily's attention. "Get the human-Wait, what are you doing?!"

Miku sprinted past Santa and straight for the control table. She somehow pressed the right button to turn the system back on. Then she pressed everything she could on that control board, hoping to save Luka.

"Hey! Stop it!" Santa grabbed Miku from behind and squeezed the girl tightly until she stopped struggling. He dropped Miku's body to the floor and went to turn the system off again. But it was too late.

The doors of the three ice chambers were now opened. Mist slipped out of the containers. One by one three elves emerged from the mist. By now, Lily had calmed down and helped Gakupo and Kaito's weaken bodies get out of their prison. Finally, Luka staggered out of the chamber, holding onto the side for support. The three were dazed and confused and cold.

"Shit," Santa muttered. His hands flew across the controls, starting everything back up and preparing the freezing process again. "This isn't supposed to happened!"

In the corner of his eyes, he saw Lily helping the boys escape and Miku crawling to Luka. He cursed under his breath before running to Lily. He pushed her down and grabbed Gakupo and Kaito by their collars. He roughly threw them back into their cold chambers. Both guys groaned in pain as they hit the hard glass and soon lost consciousness.

Santa stomped towards Luka and Miku, who were helping support eachother. He separated the two girls, pushing Miku away. He grabbed Luka's neck and held her a few inches off the ground. The old man was actually really strong for his size.

"It's time to end of you," Santa declared menacingly. "You all know too much."

Before he could turn to throw Luka, Miku tackled him with all the strength she had left. The hit caught him so off guard that he dropped Luka and fell into the chamber himself. He was momentarily stunned.

"The...door," Luka choked, regaining her breath. Miku turned around and saw Lily already at the controls. Lily pushed the button to close the door of the chamber Santa was in. He quickly got up and tried to escape but it was too late. The doors locked with the old man banging against the glass.

"You can't do this!" he yelled, his fists red from hitting the glass so much. "I've done too much for the human race to end like this! Release me!"

Luka stood up and stared straight into the old man's eyes. "Shut up," she said bluntly. Santa's demeanor faltered at the fury in Luka's eyes. "You are no longer wanted in this world." Luka walked over to Lily, leaving the old man stunned and soon back to anger. As he resumed shouting at the top of his lungs and hitting the glass, Luka pressed the freeze button herself.

In seconds, the cold mist suffocated Santa's body. After the mist cleared, everyone saw the angry pose he was in before he froze. His face was distorted in anger and his fists in the air as an attempt to escape.

It was done. Santa was frozen and he was going to stay like that.

Luka woke up in the infirmary. She looked to her side and saw Miku's head next to her arm. She was sleeping soundly. She petted Miku's head softly. Miku made a quiet noise before resting soundly again.

"I see you're awake now."

Luka looked the other way and saw Lily. "Lily? What...happened?"

"You don't remember?" Lily asked, furrowing her brows.

Luka closed her eyes, trying to remember. "I remember the old man acting all weird and...he froze?"

"Yeah, you were the one who froze him," Lily confirmed. She saw the shocked look on Luka's face and quickly added, "But it was for the best."

Luka relaxed and sat up. She saw Gakupo and Kaito lying in the beds across the room. They were covered in bandages.

"Gakupo and Kaito are going to be fine," Lily said, following Luka's gaze. "We just had to cover up the damages they received from being frozen for so long."

"It's so weird," Luka blurted. "I...I remember who they are now."

"Same here," Lily agreed. "Seeing them down there with you, the memories just came flowing in." Silence filled the room. "So what's going to happen now?" Lily asked.

"I don't know," Luka admitted. "I don't know what's going to happen without a Santa."

"I think you'd do that job that pretty well."

"W-what?" Luka sputtered in surprise. "Why me?"

"Well, Gakupo nor Kaito are ready to lead all of the elves. So that just leaves you, the oldest one after them," Lily explained. "Plus they've been frozen for quite a long time. You basically have more experience than them."

Miku stirred, about to wake up.

"Think about," Lily said. "I'll you two alone." She left ,pulling the curtains over, giving them privacy.

Miku put her head up groggily. As soon as she saw Luka up and awake, Miku perked up and hugged her tightly. "Luka!" Miku said, her face buried in Luka's stomach. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Luka smiled and rubbed Miku's head. "I'm glad you're okay too. Wait...why did you come back?"

Miku let go of Luka and looked at her apologetically. "I'm so sorry, Luka. I-I didn't know. I didn't th-"

"Whoa, Miku," Luka grabbed Miku's shoulders, trying to calm her down. "What are you talking about?"

"Lily told me everything," Miku confessed. "She told me that you would be punished for bringing a human here. And that you might die, which you almost did," Miku babbled. Her breathing became heavy and tears threatened to fall down her face.

Luka pulled the whimpering tealette up onto the bed with her. "But I'm not," Luka said, setting Miku on top of her lap. "I'm alive because of you." Luka brushed Miku's bangs to the side and looked into her teal orbs.

Looking close up at Luka's forgiving eyes, Miku felt her face heat up and her heart race. She wiped her eyes, also trying to hide her face. "So..." Miku sniffed. She still couldn't get herself to look up so she looked down at the bed. "What happened now?"

"Things around here are definitely going to be different with the old man gone."

"I still can't believe he did that to you and the other two guys," Miku added quietly.

"Yeah," Luka shrugged. "I guess all the work finally got to his head and he went crazy."

"So who's going to take his place?" Miku asked. "Who's going to be Santa now?"

"Well, me. I'm next in line," Luka smiled shyly. "Gakupo and Kaito, the other two elves, have been frozen for too long."

Before Miku could speak, Luka wrapped one arm around Miku's waist and intertwined their fingers with her other hand. She brought her face close to Miku's blushing face. Miku didn't see the shyness from a moment ago but some newfound confidence.

"I may not be the Santa the world might want but..." Luka closed the distance between their lips, kissing the tealette passionately. Miku grabbed Luka's shirt, softly bringing the pinkette closer. Even though they have barely known eachother for a day, everything felt so right. They finally separated, blushing and smiling from ear to ear.

"Miku, will you believe in me?"

That was nice, wouldn't you agree? With how it ended, the story name was quite fitting. I kinda made Santa evil and crazy in this. Haha, I didn't mean to. It just kinda happened XD

I hope you all have a merry Christmas or happy holidays or happy new year or whatever you do XD Just have a good time :D Forgive me for any mistakes.