Marco slumped downstairs. Not even the sweet aroma from the kitchen could perk him up. "Hi Marco!" Angie was pulling a beautifully glazed ham out of the oven. "How's everything going?"
"Horrible," he sighed, stepping into the kitchen, "Nothing we do has worked so far."
Angie put the dish down and put her arm around him. "Well… maybe we can't change things. Maybe Posey is just going to be afaid of Santa for now."
"But this is her first Christmas! How can you celebrate Christmas without Santa?"
"Star's getting to you, isn't she?" Angie chuckled. "Marco, do you remember when you stopped believing?"
The boy nodded, "Yeah, back when I was 10 and I wanted the Mackie Hand action figure that could talk and do flips. I was good all year and then on Christmas Day, it wasn't there."
Angie put her hands to her heart. "You were miserable."
"I blamed myself."
"We hated seeing you so sad so… we told you the truth."
"That Santa wasn't real and the toy store had been sold out?" Marco remembered. "Yeah, I took it pretty well."
Cut to a flashback of 10-year-old Marco bawling his eyes out.
"When we finally got you to come out of your room, you asked why we'd lied to you all this time. We told you that the story of Santa exist for a reason; to teach kids how to be good. To help them learn the true meaning of Christmas, being good to one another and spending time with your family. We loved seeing you light up every
year, but as hard as it is to admit, there comes a time when every kid has to stop believing and, well, I'm afraid it was yours. You said you never wanted to celebrate Christmas again. But come next December… we did. We baked cookies and watched movies and gave each other gifts. That was Christmas, Marco. That's all we needed then and it's all we need now."
Marco took all this in. "Wow. But… what about Star?"
"I think you know what you need to do, Marco. I know it will be hard, but it's for the best. Star will appreciate it."
Marco took a deep breath in and out. "Okay, thanks Mom." Giving her a quick hug, Marco made his way back upstairs. "Here we go." Bracing himself, the boy opened the door to his room… and found all four girls staring back at him with sad (or at least in Mariposa's case) confused faces.
"Guys, there's something I need to say."
"Save it, Diaz." Pony said. "We all heard the whole thing."
"What?"
Janna pulled out her walkie-talkie. Marco's eyes went wide.
"You-?!"
"Relax, we all thought that was really sweet," Janna said, getting up. "In fact, I think I'm gonna head home now and spend Christmas with my folks."
"Same here," Pony said, "Thanks, Earth Turd."
"Happy Holidays."
The two departed, leaving Star with Mariposa in her arms. Her face was neutral. The baby looked up at her brother, reaching for him.
"Hey Posey," he picked her up and cuddled her before turning to his girlfriend. "Star… I'm sorry, but it's true." Star sighed. "It's okay, Marco." She looked him in the eyes. "I actually already knew." Marco's eyes went wide. "What? How?"
"Well, when I first heard about the holiday, I sort of freaked out to your folks that I had probably killed Santa in the Cleaving and they set me straight, told me the whole truth."
"So, why lie?"
"Well, pretty much the same reason for the rather annoyingly-cheerful personality switch." Marco raised his eyebrows. "Marco, I destroyed all of magic a few months ago. I'm not the same girl I was when we first met anymore. However, after working SO MANY HOURS," she ran her hands down her face, "in that office and dealing with all the boring politics that go into forming a new country-and I thought being queen was a piece of
work-..I kind of wanted to be. I missed that naive, bubbly outlook I had on everything. Just for the holidays, I wanted to be that girl again. I thought it would make my first Christmas all the more fun, that it would put everyone in max holiday spirit." She sighed as she stared at her boyfriend's face. "Let me guess; you already figured all that out?"
"Pretty much. And yeah, I did think it was cute, but-"
"It probably would have been better if I'd been honest from the getgo," Star sighed. "Yeah, but hey, look who you're talking to; the latest descendent in a line of fake royals and two-faces."
"Aw, don't feel bad," Marco stroked her cheek. "You know, since Posey was born, I kind of started reverting back to my old self too. It's hard avoiding the safe man routine when you've got a little one to keep track of," he smiled down at his little sister.
"So I guess we're both a little two-faced," Star chuckled.
"Yep, just a pair of two-faced, mess-up twins," Marco said, remembering their Pixtopia journey. "Yeah… that doesn't work now that we're dating," Star said.
"Two-faced, mess-up partners?"
"Much better." They leaned forward and shared a kiss. Posey noticed and pushed them apart.
Things actually went rather swimmingly from there. Globgor really seemed to have his Santa act down, Eclipsa returned with the news that the mall Santa's family wouldn't be pressing charges, and they all settled in for a delicious dinner.
"Mmmm," Eclipsa wiped her mouth after they finally finished Angie's desert of Les Treize Desserts de Noël . "I think I may have to buy a new corset." She giggled. "Angie, you are amazing. I swear, all of the royal chefs in Mewni would be jealous."
Marco's mom blushed. Globgor checked the kitchen clock; 6:30. "Angie, that was delcious, but I've got to get to the Ponyheads to get my sleigh."
"Don't forget your little helper," Star, dressed in her best elf attire, added.
"We'll see you at the ceremony," Eclipsa said, kissing her husband. "Please, don't let me get banned." "We'll see you there, honey." With a wave, the two left.
Now down to six, the group had time for one last cup of coffee (or milk, in the babies' case) before Eclipsa had to make her departure as well.
"Well, guys, it's off to the ceremony for Meteora and I," Eclipsa said. "We'll be back with Star by nine." "We'll be here, watching a non-Santa movie," Marco said.
Wishing them a Merry Christmas, the Butterflies departed. As they drove away from the house, a mysterious figure watched them from a nearby roof.
At the mall, hundreds of citizens gathered around the giant Christmas tree.
"Oh Meteora, I really hope this works," Eclipsa said nervously to her baby.
"Well, nice of you to show up, Mrs. Butterfly," Eclipsa turned to see Whosits and Kyle. "So… will Santa be showing up or will we be adding you to the mall's unwelcome list?"
Eclipsa stood her ground. "Oh, he's coming all right."
On stage, the mayor went up and did a small speech. The button was pressed and the massive tree lit up, making everyone cheer. Whosits checked her watch.
"LOOK!" One of the kids pointed up. The crowd followed and gasped.
From up in the sky came a red sleigh, pulled by 8 floating reindeer heads, with Pony Head at the lead. In the driver's seat sat Globgor, dressed as Santa, with Star the elf at his side.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Snapping the reigns, the monster king brought the sleigh down, landing just next to the stage. "I saw the lights and I think I have some presents to drop off!"
As he got out, a huge flood of kids can running to him.
"Santa! Santa!"
"Hi Santa!"
"I've been good!"
One little girl in particular walked right up to Globgor and looked at him with big, glossy blue eyes. "A-are you the real Santa?" she asked innocently.
"Ha, you bunch of losers!" The crowd turned to see Jeremy pointing a finger at Globgor. "That's not Santa! That's just some ugly dude in a costume!"
The kids began to whimper and Globgor tightened his fists. Looking out, he saw his wife and daughter and relaxed. Turning to his opponent, Globgor smiled and said, "Little boy, if I wasn't the real Santa, could I not do… this?"
At that moment, he shrunk to the size of an action figure. He jumped onto the shoulders of one of the kids and then another and another, all while they all watched in amazement. He flipped, spun, and summersaunted before landing on the ground.
"Star!" he called.
Star tossed a number of wrapped gifts from the sleigh, which the tiny man caught and juggled with absolute ease. In a flash, he grew back to normal size, still juggling, and then tossed them all to the kids. He even tossed one to Jeremy.
The little girl gasped and a huge smile spread across her face. "YOU ARE SANTA!" She and the others are screamed and cried out in shere joy before running forward and embracing him. Leaning down, he returned their hug, all while the adults all "awed" and snapped photos.
Rolling his eyes, Jeremy opened his gift. "A LUMP OF COAL?!" Fuming, the rich brat began to stomp towards the crowd… before catching sight of Eclipsa and Meteora, the latter of whom spun her head back on her neck and growled at him again. Just like before, he shrieked and took off.
The cops grinned.
"Mrs. Butterfly," Whosits said, "Consider yourself pardoned."
"Merry Christmas," Kyle added.
"Eeeeeek!" Eclipsa squealed. "You hear that, sweetie? Mummy can shop anytime she wants!" She hugged her daughter.
Back at the Diaz household, the family was seated around the TV, watching It's a Wonderful Life. They'd had just gotten to the part where George promised Mary he'd give her the moon when the power suddenly went out.
Mariposa began to whimper. "Shh, shh, it's okay, Posey." Marco whispered to her.
"Probably just a blown fuse," Rafael said. "I'll go fix it." He handed his wife a flashlight and leaned down to kiss his daughter. "Don't worry, sweetie. Daddy's got everything under control."
After rumaging around for a moment, he found the fuses and went out the back door to the fuse box. "Okay, here we go."
As he began to work, he didn't notice a strand of chain snake down from the ceiling and slither towards his leg.
Inside, the family was waiting when they heard a yell.
"Dad?!" Marco called, but he got no reply. Posey began to cry again. Angie was starting to look worried.
"Marco," she said, trying her best to stay calm, "I want you to listen to me very carefully." Her tone was fearful, but stern. "Take your sister upstairs and hide in your closet. Don't make a sound. I'll call for help."
"But Mom-"
Angie gave him a death glare. Marco nodded and took Mariposa upstairs, doing his best to calm his frightened sister. Angie crept to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She turned to head upstairs to make the call… only to come face-to-face with a hooded figure.
Upstairs, Marco had just collected El Choppo and was getting into the closet when he heard another cry.
"Mom," he whispered. He quickly slipped the baby carrier on his back, placed his sister in it, and backed into the closet, his trusty sword at the ready.
His poor sister buried her tiny head in his hoodie.
"Don't worry, Posey," Marco whispered. "I'll protect you."
Facing the closet door, he readied himself. No way in hell was he going to let anyone hurt his little sister.
He heard the creak of footsteps on the stairway, then coming closer down the hall. There was the spine-chilling creak of his bedroom door as it was opened… and the footsteps grew closer and closer, before finally finding themselves right on the other side of the closert door. Marco fought to keep his nerves under control.
Silence… and then the door burst open, revealing the hooded figure. They raised a sword, but it lodged itself in the top of the doorway. Before the figure could react, Marco knocked them back with a swift karate kick. The figure fell back, but quickly got up, blade at the ready.
They both swung and their blades clashed against each other in the darkness. Thankfully, Marco had grown used to fighting in the dark and kept his guard up. They swung again and again, clashing and clashing. Marco began
to push his attacker back, out his doorway and down the hall. With another kick, he knocked them into the banister.
He lowered his sword to their head, but they responded by kicking it out of his hand. Marco backed up as the figure lunged forward. He ducked and dodged their blade before catching their sword arm with his hand. With their free hand, the figure threw a punch, but he blocked it and responded with a punch of his own. He spun and followed it up with an elbow, before grabbing their sword arm with both hands, wrenching the weapon out of their grasp, and then flipping them over his shoulder… and over the bannister.
The figure landed in front of the fireplace with a crack. Getting his own blade, Marco rushed down the stairs and pointed it at his downed opponent, who slowly began to stir.
"Who are you?!" He ordered.
To his surprise, the figure began to laugh. A high-pitched, snarky laugh.
"Well well well, you got some moves on you, Mud Boy," the figure reached up to their hood. "Not bad for a monster hugger." They lowered their hood, revealing themselves to be-
"Mina Loveberry?" Marco asked.
"Ah, so you do remember me," the crazed former Solarian Warrior chucked. She slowly got to her feet. "What are you doing here?" Marco demanded. "Where are my parents?"
Suddenly, there can a creaking and cracking sound from behind, accomplanied by the sound of falling bricks and splintering wood. Something hit the ground with a huge THUNK and was followed by a deep, low growl. Posey shrieked and began wailing.
Mina's face twisted into a sick grin. "Why don't you ask him?" She pointed behind the boy.
Gulping, Marco turned. He had just enough time to see a hulking figure before it slammed a sack down over his head and everything went dark.
Marco stirred to find darkness. He felt cold and couldn't move. Posey was crying behind him. Suddenly, the sack was ripped off his head and he found himself starring directly into Mina's face.
"Wakie-wakie, Mud Boy!" She sneered. They were standing in Marco's lawn. The boy was tied to a tree, with poor Posey squished in between. He struggled, but the tight chains wouldn't budge.
"Mina, what is going on?" He yelled. "Who was that? What IS all this?"
"What do you think, dummy?!" Mina taunted. "This is me, getting revenge on the losers who ruined my life, duh! Yeesh, you got any brains in there?" She rapped her knuckles on his forehead.
He shook her hand off. "Let me go!"
"Yeah, I don't think so. I've got a bargain to keep."
"With who?"
Mina stepped out of the way, revealing the huge figure. It stepped forward into the moonlight and Marco's face went from angry to horrified.
The being was at least nine feet tall and had a huge set of horns poking out from the top of the ratted hood of his red cloak. Under it, Marco could vaguely make out a human-looking face, but with twisted, worn, and stretched out skin, a mouth full of rotted teeth, and two yellow eyes sitting inside moldy, rotting eye sockets. The being's arms and legs were covered in dirty, dark grey fur and his grey, skeletical hands ended in knife-like, rotten nails.
"Meet my new friend," Mina said proudly, "Krampus."
Krampus let out a low, gutteral moan that spent an even colder shiver down the boy's spine. "Bu-bu," the boy stammered, "How-?"
"I found a book about him in the trash and learned you can summon him with a human sacrifice," she explained. "Manfred wasn't any real use to me anyway. Anyway, the two of us made a deal; I help him hunt down all the nasty, monster-hugging kids his black heart desires and in return, he helps me eliminate my mortal enemies."
"But… the Cleave-"
"What? You didn't think you got rid of ALL magic now, did you?" Mina spat in the boy's face. "Oh, and as for your folks, don't worry." She pointed. "They're right over there!"
Nearby was a sinister, black sleigh covered in what looked like flesh and bones, with six huge, demonic goat creatures bucking and bellowing in front of it. In the back of the sleigh lay a mountain of sacks, the topmost of which was wiggling and flailing and letting out a faint, but horrific series of screams and cries.
"A little snack for the road," Mina explained. "Now, I'd love to stay and chat, but we're on a bit of a tight schedule. Our next stop is the mall, I've got a couple Butterflies and a monster-skin rug waiting for me." She gave a wicked laugh.
"Pshhh, yeah right," Marco tried to sound brave, "You couldn't even beat Meteora when you had your powers and Globgor took on the entire Magic Commission."
"Ah, but that's why I have old Krampus here," Mina patted her arm. "He doesn't have to worry about that little beast's soul-snatching powers."
Krampus pulled open his cloak and Marco screamed. Poking through the demon's skin were the shrieking, terrified faces of children.
"Cause he's got plenty to spare. Lot o' brats on this stinky dirt rock you call home."
Krampus closed up his cloak and the screaming was muffled.
"So, he deals with that little abomination and her monster-loving mommy while I pop this," she pulled out a huge harppon gun, "through the belly of her hidious husband. As for ol' Mud Sister… well, I think I'll take my time with her."
Marco gulped. "Y-you're insane."
"As cuckoo-cuckoo-cuckoo as they come," she replied proudly. "Like I said, I'm like an old fart, I never really go away."
Her smirk vanished as something foul hit their noses. Gagging, she grabbed hers. "Pewwwww! Ah, what's that stench?!"
Mariposa whimpered, out of tears to cry. "Hey, she can't help it," Marco said.
"Whatever," Keeping her nose pinched, Mina walked away. "Krampy, you can have Mud Boy and his little poop factory. I'll be in the sleigh."
Marco watched in horror as the demon approached them. He reached forward, barring his long massive nails in Marco's face. He leaned forward and Marco realized in horror that the demon's warped face was actually a mask.
"Please," the boy begged. "Please don't eat my sister. Eat me, but not her." Tears began to flow down his face. "P-please, she's only a baby."
Krampus responded by grabbing the boy's head and roaring. His breath was horrible! "Posey, close your eyes!" Marco yelled. "Don't look!"
"Co-Co!" The baby cried helplessly as the demon opened his mouth and began pulling the boy's head into it. Marco closed his eyes and screamed his soon-to-be last words.
"Don't look, Posey!"
Suddenly, Krampus gagged and Marco felt him release him. Opening his eyes, Marco saw the demon being pulled backwards, clutching at his throat. Wrapped around it was the hook of a giant candy cane, with a chain leading up into the sky.
"Hey, what's going on?" Mina cried.
There was a flash of red and green light as something jumped out of the sky, riding down the chain hooked to Krampus. Before Marco could make out what it was, the end weight of the chain fell and struck him in the head, knocking him out cold. As his head slumped to the side, Mariposa peeked out to watch the carnage, her tiny brown eyes growing wide at the sight.
Marco stirred to the feeling of something jump up and down on his stomach. He opened his eyes to find Posey on top of him, poking and slapping him the face in an attempt to wake him.
"P-posey?"
"Co-Co!" A big smile was plaster over her face as he slowly begin to sit up, gently placing her in his lap. "Anta! Anta!"
"Wha-where?"
He rubbed the top of head head, trying to focus. He felt tired and dizzy and his memory was hazy. All he could remember was the lights going out and…
He gasped, his eyes jumping open.
"Mina!"
He looked around. They were back in the living room, sitting on his couch. The power was back on and the TV had just reached the ending of It's A Wonderful Life. A small fire crackled in the fireplace. His parents were lying in the armchairs on either side of the couch, seemingly asleep.
'Was it all a dream?' Marco thought. It made sense to him. He'd had a huge meal and quite a lot of sweets not too long ago. Maybe they'd all just dozed off and he'd dreamt up a crazy dream.
He'd fully be able to buy this… if it hadn't been for Posey. He looked down at her, watching her as she bounced up and down in glee, saying "Santa" over and over. Curious, he got the remote and switch to another Christmas
movie. Santa appeared on screen and Posey squealed. She motioned for Marco to put her down, then rapidly crawled to the screen and began hugging it.
"Anta," she cooed.
"You're… not afraid of him anymore?" His sister starred back at him with huge, joyful eyes. The cogs were turning in the boy's head.
"But… if that was… then who?" He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "Globgor, of course." "Anta, Co-Co," Posey cried. "Anta."
"No sweetie," he said, picking her up. "It was Globgor that saved us and defeated Mina and brought us back here." Curious, he gave her rear a sniff. "And changed your diaper… and got the power back on and…" Even as he was saying it, the boy felt his argument lose momentum.
"Huh?" He then noticed something on the table. It was a piece of parchment marked with a candy cane and a holly clove. He picked it up and read it.
Dear Marco,
That was very brave of you, defending your sister from Krampus.
Don't worry about him or Mina. I'll make sure neither of them ever hurt anyone ever again. But more importantly, I want you to understand something:
Your mother was right; there does a come a time where children need to stop believing in me. Once children reach a certain age, I stop delivering them gifts. It was nothing personal, Marco. You were very good that year. It was just time for you to learn the true meaning of Christmas.
And from the looks of it, I say you have, Star too. I'll let you decide whether to tell her about what happened tonight. As for Mariposa, well, I think it's safe to say she won't be afraid of me anymore. Take care of her, Marco. Be her Santa.
Warmest regards,
Santa Claus.
Marco starred forward, stunned. He was brought back to reality by the tugging of his pant leg.
"Co-Co," Posey reached for him and Marco picked her up. Looking back down at the note, Marco matched his sister's smile with his own.
"Anta?" He asked.
"Anta," she declared.
"Ugh."
They turned to see their parents starting to wake up. Marco quickly stuffed the note in his pocket. "What-?" Angie yawned, before looking over at the TV. "Oh, we must have dozed off." "Aw man, we missed the movie," Raf sighed.
Before Marco could say anything. From outside, there came a sound of sleigh bells and laughter. The door opened and Star and crew came in.
"Merry Christmas, cutie-pies," Star went over and hugged both Diazs. "You guys have fun?" Marco and his sister glanced at each other. "Oh, you could say that. I take it the show worked out?" "You bet! I'm off the hook!" Eclipsa cheered.
"Shhh!" Globgor motioned to Meteora, asleep on his shoulder.
Strolling over to Rafael, Eclipsa planted a kiss on his cheek. "And I owe it to you. Thank you Rafael." He blushed and Eclipsa giggled before suddenly gasping and turning back to her husband. "Globby, your costume. Quickly, get outside before-"
Too late, Mariposa's face lit up and she reached for him. The others watched in shock as Marco carried her over to Globgor and she hugged him.
"But I thought…" Angie said.
"When did…" Rafael added.
Marco shrugged. "I guess you could call it a Christmas miracle."
"Anta!" Mariposa cooed.
"Aw!" Everyone trilled.
"Well, I'd love to stay for cocoa, but the temperature's dropping and I gotta get my little elf," Globgor smiled down at his sleeping daughter, "home." Walking over, he placed an arm around Eclipsa. "Then, I've got a very special gift for a very special someone!"
Eclipsa blushed like crazy. "Merry Christmas," she giggled.
"Merry Christmas," everyone else said (quietly to not wake Meteora).
With a creak of the door and a rustle of sleigh bells, they were gone.
"Well, I'd say we all head off to bed too," Angie said, scooping up Mariposa. "Gotta be asleep for Santa to come."
"Anta!" The baby cried, following it up with a small yawn.
"We'll be up in a moment," Marco said, putting an arm around his girlfriend.
His mother smirked. "Don't take too long." She and Raf headed upstairs.
Now alone, the two teens faced each other.
"So…" Marco said, "Do you wanna know what REALLY happened while you were gone?" "Tell me."
Marco reached for the note in his pocket.
Outside, the calm winter night was broken by a shrill cry of joy.
"I KNEW IT!"