Mable: So, I got the poll results back, along with some great suggestions, and I intend to see what I can do with this feedback. ^-^ Thank you to everyone who participated! However, we have more pressing issues at hand… Like going ahead with this week's chapter. XD I hope everyone Enjoys!

Can't Go Home Again

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Marionette and Mike's contrasting personalities could be easily summed by their approach towards Christmas. Marionette was overeagerly anticipating it, taking full advantage of his freedom to choose decorations, and took care in handmaking gifts for everyone he knew closely. Mike, in stark contrast, was much less proactive in his views of the holiday. It was only when Marionette started to make calls that Mike did start to contribute. Marionette sent him to get a tree, so Mike got a tree. Marionette asked him to put up lights, so he put up lights.

Though Mike wasn't actively showing much creativity unless he was directed. At first, Marionette was concerned that Mike didn't like Christmas, but in a passing comment the human confirmed that he did like the holiday. So the Puppet settled on a much simpler answer; Mike just didn't go out of his way to prepare for Christmas. It didn't exactly make sense to the striped male, but it was somewhat understandable considering Mike's demeanor. Regardless, Mike did do multiple chores for Marionette without complaint.

By Christmas Eve, Mike had finally gone out to find the rest of the gifts he needed and to get a replacement string of Christmas lights for the tree. Marionette was left at the home alone, only kept company by an oven full of half-baked cookies and a tree that was partially unlit. The Puppet had retreated to the television where he watched a marathon of old Christmas shows. Most of them involved puppets, which surprisingly didn't make him feel uncomfortable, and all around set the mood for the evening. Christmas would be tomorrow, after all.

If there was anything dwelling on his mind, it would be the fact that Mike and he were not intending to exchange gifts. Mike had casually mentioned a few days back that they shouldn't have to buy gifts for each other. Marionette did love giving gifts, but agreed with Mike's suggestion. Though now it was starting to creep on him again and concern him. It didn't seem right to not exchange some form of gift. As it was, the underside of the tree only had presents from the others to them, wrapped and stacked.

Or he assumed to them. Most were probably for Mike, but at least one had to be for himself. Marionette wasn't concerned about receiving gifts and didn't feel like it was a big issue. However, not getting something for Mike, or making something for Mike, seemed like a mistake. The only thing he currently could give him was something that Mike technically owned already; a nice gesture, but not a proper gift.

All the thoughts on gift giving did stir some memories. Marionette could remember the days before Christmas when he was a child. He would sneak into his father's bedroom and peek into the closet, spotting presents hidden on the top shelf, and longingly count down the days until he could open them. He had never gotten many gifts, but those toys had been his lifeline. The plush animals had been his friends. It had all been some form of an escape.

Before Marionette knew it, he had risen from the couch and was heading down the hallway towards the master bedroom. He didn't know why he did, except to possibly cling tighter to those few good memories. The master bedroom wasn't exactly how his father had left it anymore. Mike's things were everywhere, but it somehow made Marionette feel less uncomfortable. It made the room look lived in unlike the other bedrooms in the home. He headed over to the closet with a playful smile and opened it, looking to the top shelf tucked under the attic entrance.

Marionette immediately flinched in surprise. He was expecting nothing on the shelf, as it had been for many months, but this was not what he saw. Instead there was a gift sitting in plain view. A gift wrapped in green wrapping paper. He knew, immediately, that it had to be for him. This had to be a hidden gift that Mike got for him.

A swell of warmth overtook him, but then was drowned in the icy realization of what Mike did. Mike had been bluffing and Marionette had bought it, so now he was here, Christmas Eve, with no gift. Panic overtook him as both disappointment in not getting a gift and the programmed need to give gifts warred. He had to do something and he didn't have much time.

"Don't struggle…" With this desperate murmur, Jeremy slid off the tutu from around the Minireena's waist. She was compliant, but in a state of constant moving and fidgeting. "You'll like this, I promise," he smiled as he grabbed for her 'gift'. In a way, it was just as much a gift for himself, as he enjoyed tending to the doll. He slid it over her, her passively taking a raised arm ballet stance so that he could, and secured it around her. It fit well enough; there was some awkward looseness around the very top, but the Velcro held it closed and on.

"There you go!" Jeremy beamed in triumph at his success. It wasn't much, but she was now wearing a Christmas themed dress, and didn't look to be irritated by it in any way. "Aww Daisy, you're beautiful!" he complimented as she began to spin in place idly. He then looked over to announce his success to the other animatronic in the room. However, Foxy had suddenly decided to pull in behind his curtains, and Jeremy had a feeling that he knew why. "Captain, I'm not putting you in a dress." There was curtain ruffling, but no response.

This maybe wasn't the typical day before Christmas traditions, but this was more than good for Jeremy. He would rather stay at the Pizzeria with a couple of animatronics than sit at home. Or, heaven forbid, drive hours upon hours to see his family. Family life for the Fitzgeralds' was close, with everyone being fully engulfed in each other. They all lived near each other, they spent as much time as they could together, and they never fell out of touch.

Jeremy moving away hadn't been a big deal, but last Christmas, and Thanksgiving, had been a nightmare. While unintentional, the boisterous and happy family had completely cut him out, and the holiday was spent with him meekly sitting to the side, listening to everyone else talk. While disappointed, he wasn't necessarily regretting his decision to move. Jeremy had to form some sort of life for himself without the involvement of all his family members. Thus, he was iced out in a seemingly warm way.

Now Daisy didn't judge. She was affectionately attendant to him and even somewhat reliant on him, but didn't judge him. Foxy may have judged him, but at least Foxy wasn't one to be passive aggressive. If he had an issue Jeremy expected to hear it; not to feel like he was being shut out. Even though the train of thought couldn't continue any further, he suddenly thought of the third animatronic left at the warehouse.

The magician, as the called it, had shown little sentience around them. It looked around at its surroundings, but it didn't speak, and it barely moved. As such, it hadn't been moved out of the warehouse and hadn't been a priority for the time. Fritz had instead been engaged in trying to get the information out of the HandUnit they had found, so the magician was left be. Except for the times that Marionette 'visited' it, it seemed to keep mostly still. Now Jeremy was dwelling on it.

"Hey… Foxy, can you… Could you watch Daisy while I go get the magician?" Jeremy asked curiously. The curtain was slowly drawn open and the fox peered out. "It won't be long. I just… I don't think anyone should be alone on Christmas… Or, uh, the day before."

Foxy briefly looked at the Minireena before making a sighing noise. "I'll keep an eye on the Lass… But don't keep us waiting." Indeed, Foxy didn't exactly trust the doll enough to be alone with it too long. Even now he noticed her slowing down in her spinning, stopping to stare directly at him. Foxy wouldn't make eye contact with her; he wasn't willing to make that challenge.

"I'll be quick," Jeremy insisted as he stood and hurried towards the door. He was suddenly driven to find this elusive third animatronic, to maybe get him to speak or something. He eagerly headed out the door and into the snow that waited outside, heading for his car and hoping it would work instead of the van.

Meanwhile, inside, Foxy turned his attention on the Minireena. She was now staring him down and giggled a little. Foxy moved a few steps forward, but soon realized that this was a terrible mistake. Suddenly the doll sprung into the air and landed on his chest, climbing onto his face and beginning a war like no other.

Foxy always had a feeling that Jeremy was going to cause him to walk the plank. This only confirmed it.

Mike shivered as he stepped out of the car and fixed his jacket. Even though it was snowing, he didn't expect it to be this cold. He was quick to grab the bags out of the back seat and headed to the front door. It took a few minutes to fumble with the keys and get inside the house, but the warmth from inside was immediate comfort. "I'm home!" he called in as he set the bags on the table.

Shopping the day before Christmas had been chaos. Mike didn't really enjoy searching for gifts on the best of days, but there had been nearly fifty people cramped inside of a single store, struggling to find last minute gifts. Though he was strictly to blame; forgetting his grandparents had been a foolish, but somewhat understandable mistake. At least he could box the gifts and send them on Monday; then he would be able to tell them that he had sent their gifts. He would just… Say he forgot to send them. Or that the post office was closed. Either would work.

Decorated gingerbread cookies were sitting out on the dining room table. Already cooled, already iced, and already Mike was lifting the glass covering to take one. He couldn't remember the last time he had freshly baked gingerbread cookies. Maybe with his grandmother; he could barely remember his mother cooking, let alone baking. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth that he washed out with the cookie. It did its jobs.

"I didn't expect you back so soon." Marionette, in typical fashion, appeared behind him without any warning. By now, Mike knew to expect it, and could usually tell when the animatronic appeared. Marionette's tone was light, which was expected. Christmas had brought an especially bubbly side of the puppet out. In a way, Mike appreciated it. He couldn't recall the last time he had a real Christmas. Last year's Christmas tree alone had been a small, plastic one that he stuck on top of his television. This was a much bigger event.

"You're lucky I'm back at all. It was a madhouse in there," Mike remarked and turned back. "These-," he started and stopped. He was prepared to compliment the cookies, which he knew would probably trigger the puppet to bake two or three more batches, but was cut off by what the puppet was carrying in its hands. It looked as though Marionette had found one of Fredrick's sweaters. It was a dark green with a lavender colored argyle pattern along the middle of it and looked relatively soft to the touch. "…If you think I'm putting that on, you're mistaken."

"Do you think I could put this on?" Marionette inquired with a tilt of the head. "It was my father's. It seems like a shame to not be brought out."

Mike considered this only briefly. "If you want to know if I think you can, I don't think that's going to work. That thing wouldn't fit me," the security guard pointed out with a bite of cookie. Fredrick had always been a bigger man. The sweater didn't look his style, but then again, Mike had only ever seen Fredrick in work clothes. The size was the only thing that securely matched the image.

"If you want to know if I think you should, then I should probably point out that green and purple don't go together. It's not even a Christmas color combination," Mike pointed out. He didn't expect the animatronic to take it to heart, and he was right.

The Puppet then attempted to get into the sweater. Compared to his incredibly slim frame, the sweater was like a tent, and he struggled to control it. Mike couldn't look away. It was like watching an accident in slow motion; he knew it would probably end in a disastrous scene. Somehow Marionette managed to keep it on, but it was basically hanging on his form. Though this wasn't saying much. The whole thing just looked odd.

…Mike wasn't blind to what Marionette was and wasn't oblivious to how dangerous he could be. Regardless of this, Marionette had his moments of being adorable, and Mike couldn't deny that this was one of them. Especially with the confidence in the puppet's voice when he asked, "How does it look?"

"…That's just great," Mike answered, though wasn't giving a full answer. Marionette didn't look happy in this answer, his eyes slightly narrowing, but he made no attempt to remove the sweater. Instead, he approached the tree with a new interest.

"You got the lights?" Marionette inquired as he pointedly glared at the unlit portion of the tree.

"I did, and it was one of the last boxes that wasn't opened and strewn all over the place," Mike remarked as he opened the fridge to grab the milk. He stopped at the sight of three more plates of cookies wrapped in plastic. Only one of the plates was another one of gingerbread cookies; the other two were iced sugar cookies. "…Something happen while I was gone?" He hadn't thought he had been gone that long period, so the massive amount of cookies was suspect.

"I'm sorry?" the striped animatronic quipped back in confusion.

"You don't usually blow through the cookie dough unless something's wrong. Did someone come by?" Now that Mike was noticing this, he took a closer look at the animatronic in particular. It didn't take long for him to notice that something was slightly off. While Marionette sounded normal, his body language was clearly slightly askew. He kept folding his arms and rubbing them in an uncomfortable way. It couldn't have been from Mike's reaction to the sweater. He began to fidget with the sleeves.

"It's just anticipation for tomorrow," Marionette excused. However, Mike didn't exactly believe him. He grabbed the lights and headed over to fix the tree, working quickly to get them back on. "I think this is a sweater." Mike glanced down towards Marionette who was kneeling at the foot of the tree, tugging out a wrapped gift. "You can unwrap it now and we'll match," he suggested, nudging Mike's leg with the gift.

This was absolutely the last thing the security guard intended on doing. "If I'm going to cheat and open a gift, it's not going to be a sweater… If any of those aren't sweaters?" He raised a brow and the animatronic shifted through the boxes. Since he was legitimately searching, Mike had a suspicion that more than one of the boxes contained sweaters, or something clothing related.

Soon the new lights were alit and the tree returned to its former glory. Mike detangled himself from the tree decorations and backed away to look at his work. "Good as new. Maybe these'll last for more than a couple of hours," he remarked. It they didn't, he would right back at the store, and that was a trip that he would avoid if he could. By now Marionette was entirely under the tree. "What are you doing?"

"Why would Natalie give me a gift?" Marionette asked in response. Apparently he had found Natalie's gift, which Mike had brought in a few days before. For the last week, Natalie and Marionette had worked in rather close company. However, it was clear that he was still not entirely comfortable with her. For instance, he had entirely reverted to chimes and gestures with her, even though he had spoken in front of her.

"Why does anyone get anyone gifts?" Mike responded back, going to get another cookie. "Guilt for their lack of a relationship. Case in point; look at how many gifts we have considering the fact that we know, what, five people?" It might have been a little cynical, but Mike wanted to keep the tone light. Marionette was more comfortable with Natalie now, but with Marionette little things set him off in odd ways. He needed his space and when anything encroached on that space, except Mike, the puppet would react accordingly.

Something as simple as an unexpected gift seemed to be one of those things. Though he seemed more confused than upset. He slid out with the wrapped box in his hands and slowly tapped over it. He had a suspicion that it was something fabric, as he wasn't getting much feedback from the taps.

"You're going to spoil it," Mike quipped in as he moved to the couch to sit down. "Come watch… Whatever this is." Marionette slowly set down the present and joined his companion. The gifts could wait until later.

Foxy only let his guard down when he heard the back door open. His ears raised and he stared back towards the hall, waiting to see the owner of the footsteps and the odd wheeling noise. The second Jeremy appeared he relaxed quite a bit. "Ya finally returned to port."

"Y-Yeah," Jeremy responded with a shiver as he wheeled the unmoving magician animatronic close to the stage. "I had a little trouble moving him. If it wasn't for the dolly out back, you would've had to help me move him." He relaxed the animatronic on the floor and, leaving it on the contraption for a moment, looked to the fox in concern. "Where's Daisy?"

The animatronic stiffly pointed towards the crane game and Jeremy followed the movement. He then gawked in alarm at the sight of something clearly moving around inside of the glass box. There she was, the Minireena, moving around amongst the various stuffed animals.

"You were supposed to watch her!" Jeremy blurted out as he hurried over to the game machine and looked in on the doll.

Foxy walked over to stand beside him, "I did." Silence hung on the air for a minute.

"And not let her do this," Jeremy added in with exasperation. He tapped on the glass until he got the Minireena's attention. Before he could do anything else, Jeremy suddenly sneezed. Foxy reacted with a dramatic flinch and looked over as though the human had suddenly sprouted a hook. "Ugh. I hope this isn't the start of something," Jeremy murmured as he peered into the glass again. "Come on, Daisy. Just go down the chute and I'll catch you."

The Minireena seemed confused from the way it stared, but did as instructed and climbed down the chute. Jeremy eagerly snatched her into his arms, coddling her close. This was followed by another pat on the back by Foxy, "Ya need to calm down a little, Lad. Yer so high-strung." Jeremy didn't even know that he knew that term, but it didn't exactly make him feel any more confident in the animatronic.

Looking over, he could see the magician watching, but it had still said nothing. At least it was paying attention, Jeremy guessed, but he wished he had more to show than a frenzy about a doll in a toy machine. He sighed in response, coughed into his fist, and held the Minireena closer. She eagerly held onto his jacket and gave a small giggle of contentment.

It still was better than the last Christmas that he spent with his family… But that wasn't saying much, if Foxy's obvious smugness was any sign.

"…Fredbear and Friends had a Christmas special."

Marionette must have noticed that Mike was looking bored. Half an hour into 'A Miracle on 34th Street' and the security guard was already looking ready to fall asleep at the post. Though it wasn't like Marionette was paying much attention either; other things were on his mind, and he considered these other things much more important. Blue eyes glanced over questioningly. "Do you have it?"

"I do," Marionette replied. "It's on my other tape."

"You have another tape?" Mike had always seen the same labelled tape, so he assumed there weren't others. Not that it mattered too much. As he watched the puppet leave, find the tape, return with the tape, and start putting it in, his mind went back to the remarkably odd behavior that he had been portraying tonight. Even now, Mike noticed that Marionette had become remarkably quiet. He leaned forward a little and studied the animatronic a little closer. "…We have time while you're rewinding that if you want to talk."

"Oh? About what?" Marionette apparently didn't catch the jest of what Mike was saying.

"Come on, Mari, what's going on? You were so excited about this before I left," Mike pointed out. "Something's going on."

"Mike, I'm fine." Marionette was a little firmer and hesitated in his actions, as though showing defiance. Mike raised his hands in defense even though he was not content with the answer. He would just let the subject drop until later. Or that was the original intention, before Marionette's defense abruptly dropped. "I was just thinking of some things earlier… I was thinking about my father again- But I'm fine!" The cheery tone in his voice was as flimsy as could come. "I don't want to dwell on that when we're having a good time."

Though he left it at that, it answered all of Mike's questions. Suddenly it made sense why Marionette was wearing the sweater. It wasn't a random act of holiday tradition; it was a remnant of Fredrick. With that realization, Mike immediately wished that he would've let the questions drop. He hadn't wanted to initiate the realization that Marionette was still upset about Fredrick's passing. It was a given, naturally, but Mike had hoped that work and the holiday would distract him. If that wasn't going to work…

"…I'll be right back," Mike announced as he stood from the couch. Marionette glanced over for a moment as the male headed down the hall, but was unconcerned. Instead he was more focused on whether he could find the Christmas episode without much fidgeting with the tape. Though before he could do so, Mike returned to the living room with a familiar gift in his hands. If Marionette still had a heart it would be racing in excitement. Giddiness overtook him as he stared at the package, which was now confirmed to be his.

"I know we said that we wouldn't be doing gifts-," Mike cut off when Marionette abruptly took the gift and began to tear through the wrapping paper. He couldn't resist cracking a smile of amusement at the innocent eagerness. "-But I thought we could bend the rules a little. I do my best work at the last minute." He chuckled slightly as he watched the puppet eagerly work at getting the gift open.

The box inside was closer with a tab, not tape, so Marionette could slide it open and reveal the bed of red tissue paper. Fishing inside, his fingers eagerly latched onto a wooden box that he lifted out. He knew even before he opened it that it was a music box. Curiosity overtook him as he wound nimbly wound it. He then opened the music box; while the outside was plain wood, the inside was much more intricate. Contained inside of the small box was an even smaller, miniature Christmas village. The detail in each little building was as eye catching as could be.

The Carol of the Bells began to softly trill from the precious box. It immediately started to sink into him and he could feel the music's effect. The song's impact was much less powerful than some of the others, but the wave of calmness and warmth creeping in was evident. Unless it was simply caused by the act itself. Either way, he thought it was wonderful. Marionette felt his own chiming flicker in from his own joy.

"I didn't know which of the songs would do what, so I sort of went for a shot in the dark approach," Mike covered. Knowing Marionette's reaction to music made the task slightly more difficult, but he was glad to see that there weren't any abrupt emotional swings. As luck would have it, he made a good choice. "But, I mean, we've gone through a lot this year, so it's not-." He cut off as Marionette sprung at him.

His arms tightened around Mike in a thankful hug, nearly dragging him over the back of the couch. It was balance that kept Mike from any sort of serious strain. Once he recovered enough, he gave a slight chuckle and patted the animatronic on the back. He guessed that it had been a while since anyone had gifted him, leaving out the gift basket.

"It's perfect," Marionette's voice was suppressed by delight chimes, but he managed to get the words out. Though he then suddenly vanished. Mike briefly teetered at the vanishing weight, but was then left to just stand there for the few seconds until Marionette suddenly returned. Mike sent a slightly surprised look at the gift that Marionette was carrying. He wasn't too shocked in the reveal, but he was a little surprised that the animatronic had decided to hand it over early as well.

Marionette gestured towards the couch and Mike moved to sit down, the puppet kneeling beside him and handing over the gift. Right afterwards he moved to coddle his new music box in his lap, watching expectantly.

"You sure? It's still just Christmas Eve," Mike reminded as he fiddled with the red ribbon. It was wrapped in pale blue wrapping paper that was dotted with snowflakes, but was tied with the usual red ribbon. He looked a little closer at the shape of the box with suspicion, "Wait… Please tell me 'this' isn't a sweater too." It definitely felt to be the proper weight of clothes, so that was a hint of some kind.

"You gave me mine. It's only fitting that we exchange ours at the same time," Marionette quipped in delight. He then looked down to the music box, admiring it further. "Thought it's not as perfect as what you got me." He opened the box again and let the soothing music warm him once more. Without hesitation, Mike started to unwrap the box. He didn't tear through it at the speed that his companion had and tried to keep the amount of shredded paper to a minimum if he could.

Soon the box was opened and he was immediately presented with purple. "…What?" He slowly lifted the jacket out of the box and stared at it. This time there was actual shock; this was his uniform jacket. The jacket that had become torn, stained, and practically unsalvageable during their incident in Afton's. "How did- This is a new one, right? You couldn't have-." He cut off as he felt something else in the box. He slipped his hand under the jacket and felt something metal hiding underneath.

"It's the same one," Marionette confirmed. It had taken a lot of time and effort, but he had managed to salvage the jacket.

"How in the hell were you able to do that?" Mike asked in return. Though there was clear happiness in his voice. He had kept the old Freddy's uniform for a reason and, while he hadn't been too upset when it was mangled, he was clearly relieved to get it back. He was happy, which made Marionette happy, and it was only then that he pulled out the watch.

Marionette waited a few moments before he spoke. He wanted Mike to be able to study the gift before he covered himself, which he knew he would have to do. After all, fixing clothes were an easy enough thing to do. Spawning golden wristwatches out of thin air just didn't happen. Mike murmured under his breath as he checked the back, "My God, it's real…" There was enough gold in the watch that the maker decided to proudly present the numbers on the back of the watch. Its value was all laid out in the open.

"Before you ask, no, I won't tell you where I got this," Marionette spoke and he leaned closer. For a brief second he knew that Mike's look was suspicious, and he didn't blame him. In all honesty, Marionette probably wouldn't see too much issue with taking a watch from a store to give to him. He knew it was wrong, but he wouldn't deny that he would probably do it. "But I didn't steal it," he added in as he started to put it on Mike's wrist. "I didn't get it through any shady means. I just don't want to tell you where I got it or it will ruin the magic."

"Just as long as some guy doesn't appear at the door tomorrow saying that he was mugged by a mime," Mike joked back. He instantly lapsed back into thankfulness. "It's… It's amazing. It's real gold; I don't think I've owned anything that's been real gold." For once in his life, Mike was out of words. He couldn't tell if Marionette comprehended how valuable the watch was.

"And it looks perfect on you," Marionette added in affectionately. He secured the watch on his wrist before adding in. "I want you to have this and I wanted us to celebrate Christmas together, because I don't- I don't want to dwell on the past any longer. I rather us have new memories," he explained in a softer tone. "I didn't get to have a Christmas last year."

"I didn't either. Not a real one," Mike admitted. "I haven't had a real Christmas in… Seventeen years? But what do you expect when you live alone and don't like people?" The cracked joke had an odd tone on it. Even though Mike was smiling, something sounded bitter in it, but it passed quickly. "But that's okay. We have tonight and tomorrow to make up for that," he might have winked, but Marionette had glanced down at the music box again.

It was then that Mike suddenly put an arm around him. Marionette straightened abruptly at the touch. "Relax, I'm just returning the favor," Mike encouraged with a warmer smile. There was no joking now; it was simply a sign of thankfulness. The striped male relaxed into the warm, one armed hug. This was what he had wanted.

Marionette pushed open the door to the master bedroom and stared inside. Just as he feared; it was still empty. He had hoped that his father had slipped in while he was asleep. That he had just gotten home late for whatever reason. However, the room was untouched. The bed was still unmade from when his father had woken the morning before. Usually he made his bed soon after waking, but Marionette wasn't surprised by the change. His father had looked unwell. That added in with him being missing left his son more worried than ever.

He moved closer to the bed and casually tugged the blanket upwards in a half-hearted attempt to make the bed. It barely worked and he instead trailed his fingers along the blanket. It was cold and untouched; lacking the remnants of his father that he hoped to find. He didn't even know who to call or what he was supposed to do in this situation. Father took care of everything and now he was missing.

It was now when Marionette's eyes landed on something left on the night stand. He moved in closer and reached out towards the cold metal.

"He forgot his watch…" Marionette lifted the object and stared at its face. It read nothing but the time, gave no hints to where his father was, and there was no indication to why he would leave it behind. Maybe he had simply been too ill to remember it. He had looked so pale, so clammy, and he never remembered him ever looking that ill. For now, he could only wait for him to return.

Clutching the wristwatch to his chest, Marionette left the room as quickly as he entered. He didn't want to be there a moment longer.

Mable: I hope that you have a Merry Christmas and or Happy Holidays! ^-^ Go shower someone you love in gifts that physically hurt you to give.
The next chapter will be posted next Saturday, as scheduled. I hope you enjoyed!