Author's Note: First of all, Happy Hanukkah! As promised, on the first day of this year's Hanukkah, I am now uploading the Hanukkah chapter of this fanfic. After this, we move onto the Christmas chapter, which I will upload on Christmas Eve.
The song featured here and its reprise are parodies of "Hearth's Warming Eve is Here Once Again" and its reprise from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It was hard for me to find a parody which I could fit into Hanukkah, but I hope I made it work. Also, I included Libby's "Look. Still Lit" poem, but like before, I'm not counting it as a song.
Hope everyone enjoys a good Festival of Lights. Have fun with this chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
Twas the eighth day of Hanukkah. In the city of Brighton, the Stein-Torres family set up their annual celebration in their bookstore. To start off this final evening of the yearly event, everyone in the store began to sing, even the McGee family who were celebrating the night with them.
Everyone:
The Festival of Lights is lit aglow
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Finding warmth within the snow
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Oh, what a show
Look at us go
The joy will flow
It's a Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Scratch:
Deep fried food for me to eat
Everyone:
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Darryl:
How fun it would be to slide in sleet
Everyone:
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Pete:
Ain't that a treat
Sharon:
It sure is, Pete
Sharon and Pete:
A beautiful feat
Everyone:
It's a Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Molly:
A fully lit menorah
Everyone:
There's light in the dark
Molly:
It really lights up the aura
Everyone:
There's light in the dark
So what if it's cold out there
There's neither worry nor care
With our friends and family everywhere
It's a Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Libby:
Glad my friends are here with me
Everyone:
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Libby:
I wish this lasts for eternity
Everyone:
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Libby:
I've got Molly
And there's Loki
And Scratch
Scratch:
Who? Me
Everyone:
IT'S A STEIN-TORRES HANUKKAH
HAPPY, HAPPY HANUKKAH
HAPPY, HAPPY HANUKKAH
IT'S A STEIN-TORRES HANUKKAH
Loki was just lounging deeply on a chair trying to pay attention a book he was reading and to ignore the singing. All of a sudden, he was caught off guard and dropped his book because of Molly's out-of-nowhere cheer.
"WHOO! It's the eighth night of Hanukkah!"
"Is it now?" Loki groaned. "After two nights ago when you said 'it's the sixth night of Hanukkah' and last night when you said 'it's the seventh night of Hanukkah', I think I lost count."
"Well, thanks for having us, Libby." Molly hugged her best friend.
"Yeah. Happy Hanukkah, Molly." Libby said. "I'm so glad you're all here. My mom and I have never had this many people, ghosts, or Asgardians over for Hanukkah before."
"Plenty of turtles though." Scratch said as his attention was turned to the family turtle cage. "Their beady reptilian eyes are looking straight into my soul."
"Technically speaking, Scratch, you are a soul." Loki said. He tried to get back into his book, but Molly pulled him away from it.
"Come on, Loki. At least try to get into the spirit of Hanukkah." Molly said.
"Molly, you've been trying to get me excited about this whole thing all week, and so far, I don't really see the appeal." Loki said.
"But this is Libby's big yearly celebration, and she is our friend." Molly said. "I wanted to be prepared, so I did a lot of research into Hanukkah." She took a quick glance at her phone. "Now, I know that it unfolds over eight subsequent nights, and is also called the Festival of…"
All of a sudden, all the light in the store immediately went pitch black.
"…Lights."
Loki looked outside and saw that one by one, all neighboring buildings were losing their lights just as much as they were. "Well, that was horrible timing."
"Looks like the whole city is out." Sharon said.
"Not to worry!" Libby's mom cried out pulling out a flashlight. "I'd never be caught without a generator during a Midwest winter."
Everyone followed Libby's mom to the generator out back. She held out the fuel can only to make an uneasy discovery.
"Of course, I forgot to stock up on fuel. Oh, well. Looks like we've only got enough juice to last an hour."
HOUR ONE
"AH! HOT OIL! HOT OIL!" Scratch yelled as he floated around wildly waving his hand at his burnt tongue. He stopped and showed off his tongue to Loki. "I think I burnt my tongue off! Does my tongue look okay?"
"I'm not dignifying your antics with an answer, Scratch." Loki said allowing Scratch to head to the nearest water fountain. He then tried to lounge back into his chair until Molly and Libby chuckled beside him.
"What happened to Scratch?" Molly asked.
"He got a little to excited over the oiled food my mom made." Libby said. "Guess even he can get a little overeager over Hanukkah traditions."
Molly then turned to Loki. "Hey, Loki, since we have time until the power goes out, how about we keep celebrating?"
Loki rolled his eyes. "I never started celebrating. Look, Molly, why do you even care?"
"Because Libby is our friend," Molly answered, "And as such, it's our right to celebrate with her."
"I appreciate that, Molly," Loki said, "But the fact is, nothing here is really that appealing to me. I guess I don't have this… Hanukkah spirit or whatever."
"Then let this be my mission." Molly said. "I, Molly McGee, will help you find your Hanukkah spirit. What do you say?"
Loki sighed. "Only because I know you'll try to anyway. But only until we lose power again. That's your time limit."
"Deal."
HOUR TWO
Libby, Molly, Loki, Scratch, and Darryl sat around a round table. Each of them had a pile of coins with them, and at the center of the table was a dreidel.
"Okay. The name of the game is dreidel." Libby said. "You spin and if it comes up gimel, you win all the gelt."
"Gambling. Okay, this is actually a decent start." Loki said. He took the dreidel first and spun it. Once it landed, Loki looked at the symbol curiously. "Is that gimel?"
"No." Libby said. "That symbol means nun, which means you don't get anything."
"Darn." Loki grumbled.
After adding in one coin, Scratch spun the dreidel next, but it got the same result. "Seriously? Nun?
"Sorry, Scratch." Molly said. "That's just how the dreidel spins.
Molly McGee went next. This time, with a different result. "Ooh! Shin. As in 'win'?"
"No. As in 'put in'." Libby said instructing Molly to add in an additional coin.
One after the other, the players took turns and gave away their coins. Each round became more and more stressful for everyone who was trying to get the gimel sign. Darryl almost got it once, but his over eagerness accidently flipped the dreidel onto the shin side.
"This can't be possible!" Loki said in frustration. "We've all went around half-a-dozen times! There's five of us and only four sides on that toy! Why hasn't that thing given anyone gimel yet?"
"Come on, little dreidel." Libby begged her top. "Don't forget who made you out of clay."
With that, she spun and dropped the dreidel onto the table. It was the longest spin of the entire game, and it landed on one side that everyone has been waiting for.
"GIMEL!" Libby shouted celebrating her victory. While everyone fell into a state of exhaustion, Libby picked up a coin and unwrapped it revealing its chocolate inside. "And now, to taste sweet victory…"
"WAIT!" Scratch cried out. "The gelt is candy?! We were playing for candy?!"
Molly turned to Loki who was groaning. "So… what do you think so far?"
Loki looked up at Molly with an uninterested look. "Molly, I lost. I think you should know by now that I hate losing. And now, I find out that I lost a game over chocolate. What do you think?"
"Right. I get it. Well, if at first, you don't succeed…"
HOUR THREE
"Welcome to the first annual Mega-McGee Hanukkah Spelling Bee!" Libby announced as he gathered the McGee Family over to the stage set up at the center of the store. Everyone in the audience was eagerly watching the contest before them. "Your first and only word is… Hanukkah."
"That's it?" Loki asked. "All right then. H-A-N-A…"
BUZZ!
"N-N… N..." Molly tried to guess.
BUZZ!
"G…" Darryl tried to guess.
BUZZ!
"Can you use it in a sentence?" Pete asked.
BUZZ!
"H… A… N… U… I wann say C?" Sharon tried to spell.
BUZZ!
"I'm afraid you all lose." Libby said. "There re 16 acceptable spellings, McGees. There's my personal favorite 'H-A-N-U-K-K-A-H', the classic 'C-H-A-N-U-K-A-H'…"
While Libby kept on spelling, Loki lowered his head in frustration. "Another loss. I don't believe it."
BUZZ!
HOUR FOUR
"Okay, everyone. Time for a Stein-Torres Hanukkah tradition." Libby said to the McGees as she held up a blue box with a slot at the top. "The Miracle Box. Now, everyone, take a piece of paper and write down a miracle that happened to you this year, and stick it in this box."
Everyone went on, even Loki. They took a piece of paper and wrote down what they wanted to say. Once they were done, they all put their papers in the box as instructed.
"Now, we read them aloud." Libby said.
That sentence caused Scratch to widen his eyes wide. He wrapped himself around Libby to try and stop her. "We don't really need to do that, do we?"
Libby shook Scratch off. "Well, it would be pretty weird if we didn't celebrate our miracles out loud and in public."
"Well, you see," Scratch said defensively, "My miracle is just so miraculous, I don't wanna show up everybody else."
"I seriously doubt you can show up my miracle, Scratch." Loki said.
"Not helping, Loki." Scratch gritted his teeth.
Libby slipped her hand to grab her first letter and read it out loud "'A ghost and an Asgardian became my BFFs'. That's Molly's."
"You got me." Molly said hugging both Scratch and Loki at once.
"Hey, Libby, did you tell them my miracle?" asked Libby's mom as she appeared through the bookshelf.
Libby chuckled nervously. "It's me. Every year, she says I'm her…"
"Libby's my miracle!" Libby's mom declared before disappearing.
"Any sweeter than that, and I'm gonna literally be sick." Loki commented.
"Well, we don't want Loki to get sick, do we?" Scratch asked. "More dreidel anyone?"
"No. This is fun." Sharon said as she pulled out a sheet of her own. "'It's a miracle I didn't get caught'." She looked at Darryl.
"For your own safety, it's best you don't know more about that." Darryl said.
Molly proceeded to pull out a paper. "'The van's still running'. Is that really a miracle, Mom?"
"Oh, trust me. It is." Sharon said.
"My turn." Darryl said before collecting the next sheet. "'I came back from death'. Obviously, that's Loki."
"I think we can all agree that resurrection is the greatest miracle of all." Loki said. "Well, go ahead, Pete. It's your turn."
In an act of desperation, Scratch shrunk down and phased right into the box. As he grabbed his paper, Pete stuck his hand in. Scratch tried desperately to keep his paper away. He tried to kick the other paper to Pete's hand, but as soon as he realized it was his own miracle, he reached in again. This time, he grabbed Scratch's paper and pulled it out along with the ghost himself.
"You know, Scratch," Loki said, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't want us to read yours."
"I don't! I thought we were doing funny ones!" Scratch lied desperately. "So you know, I went real mean with mine. Ooh, I was real. No one was save. I misread the room. So…"
Pete proceeded to read the words on Scratch's paper. "'I used to haunt a house. Now, I haunt a home'."
"Awwww!" nearly everyone declared as they gave Scratch a big hug. The only one who didn't join was Loki, who was trying to clutch onto his own stomach.
"Scratch, I knew you were a gooey marshmallow!" Molly said happily.
"This is why I don't say nice things." Scratch said.
"I warned you." Loki said trying to keep his lunch in. "Bathroom! Now!"
HOUR FIVE
Libby took the stage as Molly was playing bongo drums in the background. Everyone watched and listened as Libby gave her Hanukkah poem with only a candle lit in the dark room.
Libby:
Their temple was dark, destroyed by the fight
All they had were a few drops of oil to light
But the flame kept burning all through the night
"Look," they said, "Still lit"
The next day, the third day, the fourth day again
As they rebuilt the sacred spaces within
Their temples, menorahs, stood up to the wind
"Look," they said, "Still lit"
They marveled, happily wondering why
As the sixth and seventh days went by
"It must be a miracle sent from on high"
"Look," they said, "Still lit"
In the end, it was eight days and nights it would last
Till the temple was fixed by the light that it cast
"We weathered the worst. The storms have blown past"
"And look! Still lit"
When I think of that story, deep down, I know
That no matter the battles we fight as we go
Inside of us all, a Hanukiah glows
And look. Still lit
She was applauded by a surrounding sound of snapping fingers. When the snapping was done, Molly looked on over to Loki who evidently paid close attention to the poem. She smiled when she saw tears forming in his eyes, which he then sniffled and rubbed out with his fingers. But she decided not to press on it for now.
HOUR SIX
"All right, Loki." Molly said coming up to the Trickster. "I think for now, we should…"
She stopped just as Scratch passed by dragging his large body across the shop. She and Loki kept staring at the large pile of latkes that sat in his ecoplasmic stomach. As he crawled along his way, both Molly and Loki fell silent for a moment.
"Uh… Was that…" Molly asked.
"Disgusting to look at? Yeah." Loki said. "If you need me, I'll be spending the next hour recovering from that eyesore in the bathroom."
HOUR SEVEN
After burning the image from his brain, Loki returned to the bookshop. He was surprised to see more people coming into the shop. They were welcomed by Libby's mom who opened her door for all her neighbors.
Loki looked at the window and saw the fully-lit menorah displayed at the store window. He walked closer to examine it.
"Ah, Lukas, admiring the menorah, I see?" Libby's mom asked.
"Huh?" Loki asked. "Well, actually, I'm just a little bit… curious. Why is this candle so important?"
"Well, in a religious sense, it's tradition around the holidays." Libby's mom answered. "But for me, there's also a bit of a personal reason. It was one of the few things my family could take as they fled their home."
"Fled their home?" Loki asked surprised. "Why? What happened?"
Libby's mom sighed. "A lot of things. War. Riots. Chaos everywhere. My grandparents grabbed what they could and moved to America for a new start. Once they settled, they lit up the menorah every year celebrating with a passion with their son, my father. After he married my mom and had me, we all joined in with celebrating Hanukkah around this very menorah."
Libby overheard the story told to Loki and joined in. "This menorah has been with our family through plenty of tough times."
"But it reminds us that even in darkness, there is light." Libby's mom added. "No matter what happens, we celebrate that we're still here, resilient, strong, and proud."
Loki saw the mother and daughter hug and gave a small smile towards them.
HOUR EIGHT
"I don't believe it." Loki thought to himself surrounded by Brightonians mingling and snacking. "Mrs. Stein-Torres said the generator would only be on for an hour. But it's been staying on for eight. Is it some kind of Hanukkah thing?"
As if on cue, the lights slowly dimmed out. Darkness returned as the generator ran out of fuel outside.
"Never mind. There it is."
Loki looked around, and even in the darkness, he could see the sudden sad expressions on everyone's faces, including the McGee and Stein-Torres families. He looked outside and gave a soft sigh.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Loki whispered to himself before snapping his fingers. At that moment, a green wisp of smoke escaped his fingers and crept outside.
The smoke climbed up the nearest lamp post and slipped into its bulbs. Suddenly, the bulbs lit up brightly. The smoke then left the bulbs and made its way into the nearby stores and shops and other lampposts. Each of them got their light back as it passed by. The bookstore was the last place that got its power back on much to everyone's surprise.
"I don't believe it!" Libby said. "It's a Hanukkah miracle!"
"Does a Hanukkah miracle normally look like a green smoke made of Loki magic?" Darryl asked. "'Cause that's what I saw as the power came back on."
"What?" Molly asked. She then smiled directly at Loki. "You relit the Festival of Lights?"
"Just don't make a thing of it." Loki brushed off.
"Too late." Molly said giving him a hug. "Happy Hannukah, Loki."
Loki sighed before returning the hug. "Right back at you, Molly." He looked around and gave a small smile again before singing.
Loki:
I thought Hanukkah was not my thing
But it is something to my friends
So even though I may not get it all
I can still be there with them
And if you stick around long enough
You'll find something to relate
Then it might be your thing after all
And you'll find it a little greeeeeaaaaat
So I'm ready to give it a shot
Everyone:
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Loki:
Even a little can be a lot
Everyone:
A Stein-Torres Hanukkah
Loki:
Well, look at what
These nights have got
Who would have thought
Everyone:
IT'S A STEIN-TORRES HANUKKAH
HAPPY, HAPPY HANUKKAH
HAPPY, HAPPY HANUKKAH
IT'S A STEIN-TORRES HANUKKAH