Jaune never saw himself visiting Atlas, let alone the Atlas Academy. But surprise surprise, Gwen's cousin just happened to be there, and hey, that wasn't too far from Argus, where Pyrrha's mom and Jaune's sister just so happened to live.

Small world.

Gwen's decision to visit her cousin wasn't that out of nowhere, it was more the fact she wasn't staying home for Christmas. She'd spent a few days back home, yeah, but it was short lived. Jaune didn't question it.

But it didn't stop Pyrrha from worrying. Even as the group "ooh'd" and "ahh'd" at the floating city, Pyrrha kept an eye on the quiet Gwen, who was reading a book (The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin). She'd been reading it most of the time on the flight, only occasionally chiming in to a random conversation or to correct one of Nora's many wrong assumptions about Ben.

...and she had a lot.

"So, your cousin," Nora started, lightly bouncing up and down in her seat. "Can he, like. Punch the sun out of orbit with an alien?"

"...Nora, why would you ask that?" Jaune asked, existential fear flooding through him.

"Well, it'd be cool if he could do it! I'm not saying he SHOULD, but if he could! That'd be sick!" she cheered.

"I...don't think Ben has that sort of power, Nora. Sorry," Gwen said, giving an awkward smile. "I do know he has an alien which hit a guy with the force of a sun, kind of?"

Nora hummed. "Hm, let's see… The mass of the sun is 1.99 times 10 to the 30th in kilograms, while the Earth weighs in at 6.0 times 10 to the 24th in kilograms... The gravitational constant is 6.67 x 10 to the 11th meters cubed... So the Earth and sun pull on each other with a force equal to 3.52 x 10^22 newtons..." Nora whistled. "Damn, that's one strong punch!"

Jaune stared. "How did she-?"

"Don't question Nora's knowledge. We'd be here a while," Ren stated, not looking up from his phone.

While Pyrrha was trying to come to terms with Nora's sudden and incredible burst of knowledge, it still didn't stop her from worrying about Gwen.

"Your parents are fine with you being away, right?" she asked.

"I've spent 17 Christmases with them. They've all been great. One without me isn't gonna hurt," Gwen reassured her. "Ben's not going home either, so, if I'm at least spending a holiday with some family, I can excuse myself for that."

"I guess," Pyrrha sighed. That calmed some of her fears, but there was still something nagging at the back of her mind. She tried to put it to rest. Besides, they were landing soon, and she wanted to make a good impression with Ben...

"Dweeb!" Ben said, finger pointed at his cousin as she walked out from the ship.

"Doofus!" Gwen smiled back, pointing at him. She quickly walked over and gave him a hug.

"How was the flight?" Ben asked cheerfully. He was happy to see Gwen after God knows how many chapters.

"It was fine." Gwen looked behind her and smiled. "Oh! These are my friends from college."

"The Hunter friends, right?" Ben asked, walking over. Jaune waved at him awkwardly. ]

"Jaune, right?" Ben asked, shaking his hand.

"Uh...yeah. Hi," he said, smiling slightly. "Nice to meet yo-"

Nora suddenly pushed Jaune out of the way. "TURN INTO AN ALIEN!"

"...Nora, I take it?" Ben sighed. She nodded eagerly. "Well, alright. Best get this out of the way now." He slapped down the Omnitrix and immediately morphed into Feedback. Nora, appropriately, "ooh'd" and "aah'd" at the form. "Yeah, pretty cool, right?"

"Really? Feedback?" Gwen scoffed.

"Hey, he's a powerhouse AND a classic," Ben countered as Nora tugged on one of his antennae. "It counts for something."

"...please. Please tell me this one isn't electrical," Ren quietly pleaded.

"Tell me it issssss..." Nora smiled dangerously.

"I'm just gonna say I have tendrils and leave it at that," Ben wisely stated, transforming back to human.

"Well, I'm satisfied with that brief alien appearance," she declared, rubbing her hands and walking off.

"...huh." Ben blinked. "Thought she'd be more hyper."

"The party hasn't started yet. Give her until then," Ren said, putting a hand on Ben's shoulder. He shrugged just as Pyrrha walked over.

"Oh, you must be Pyrrha!" Ben said, shaking her hand. "Tell me- how is Gwen as a roommate? I shared an RV with her, and she snores so goddamn loud."

Pyrrha's eyes widened comically. "Oh, my God, YES."

Gwen threw up her hands. "I'm standing right over here, you know!"

"And I'm calling you out, you Richter Scale shattering monster!" Ben snapped. "It's so LOUD!"

"I could get back on that ship, just fucking watch me."

Pyrrha chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. It is true though, you have to admit..."

"If we're talking about roommate problems, I could mention how long your showers take," Gwen shot back. Pyrrha merely smiled and held up her hands in mock surrender.

Ben smirked. "Oooh, she got you."

"And might I tell Pyrrha about how you never really put the seat down?" Gwen asked oh so casually.

"…that's too far."

Gwen threw him a smirk. "You really thought I wouldn't have some ammo here?"

"Yeah, okay, fair." Ben smiled, enjoying the banter. At least Ruby wasn't here yet, she'd just give Gwen more to use. Actually, where was Ruby? She should've been here by now...unless she got taken aside by Weiss or one of the Ace-Ops.

"Heyyyy, sorry!" Ruby said, finally running over. "Had to call my dad real quick and wish him a happy holiday…" Gwen smiled as she saw her; it was the first time they'd interacted since Beacon.

"Aaaaand this is my girlfriend, Ruby!" Ben announced, putting his arm around her shoulder. "She's also a Huntress."

"Oh, yeah! You're from Beacon, right?" Pyrrha smiled openly. "I remember seeing you fight during the festival. You were pretty good!"

Ruby gasped. "Ohhhh, my gosh, Pyrrha Nikos just called me 'pretty good'~"

"...are you, like, famous?" Ben asked, confused.

"Sort of…" Pyrrha said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Oh, don't worry. People around here don't recognize me until I turn into an alien," Ben said, shrugging.

"Oh, that's good to know."

"You know, Jaune went to Beacon briefly!" Nora chimed in. "Dunno why he transferred, though."

"U-uh, well...I..." He tugged at his shirt collar.

"Now that you mention it..." Ruby furrowed her brow. "I think I recognize you."

"N-nope! We've never met!" Jaune said nervously.

"Yeah, aren't you the guy that vomited on the plane to Beacon and then transferred to Mistral when everyone only ever called you Vomit Boy?" Ruby asked, eyes wide with realization.

Dead silence.

"Vomit Boy?" Pyrrha asked, trying hard not to laugh.

"Yeah, like, we avoided the trash can he threw up in for MONTHS. Even after they collected it.," Ruby added.

"Why have I never-"

"BECAUSEMAYBETHINGSSHOULDSTAYUNSPOKEN!" Jaune snapped.

The group shared a nice laugh about it, much to Jaune's chagrin, right as the group convened closer to the base's main area.

"So, Jaune, you're part of Haven Academy right? What's it like over there?" Ruby asked with a smile, hoping that at least the academy experience was as good over there as it had been in Vale.

"Well, no one's busy calling me nicknames," Jaune started before Pyrrha stepped in.

"Haven Academy has been very welcoming, especially during the recent… crisis'. Professor Lionheart puts a lot on the line to ensure that all of us are fighting at our best," she proclaimed with a soft grin.

"We've just been more focused on our studies at the moment. We take some casual missions from time to time, but honestly? I just wanna graduate on time," Jaune admitted.

"Thank God Gwen's here to help us with that! She's super smart AND can do magic! That's a huge bonus!" Nora beamed.

"Oh, come on guys, I'm not that smart." Gwen added with a roll of her eyes. Except Ren put a hand on her shoulder and glanced over to Ben.

"She single handedly managed to solve equations that would have taken third year students days to crack in just a few hours," Ren declared bluntly.

Ben nodded. "Yeah, she does that."

"She's been like that since we were kids," Ruby added. "But, yeah. Wanna take a quick tour of the place?"

"Oh, absolutely!" Jaune exclaimed. "I never thought I'd ever get to see Atlas, so I'm taking full advantage of this!"

"It's...definitely something…'" Ben added, trying not to wince. Whether it was from the sudden chill that descended upon them or from Atlas itself, not even he knew.

Ari Caro was stressed. Burnout can result in a variety of physical health issues; in Ari's case, it came with difficulty sleeping with risks to her mental health. Being a doctor was a tough job, and she spent the majority of their time on direct patient care.

When they finally gave her a break during the holiday season… Ari didn't know what to do with herself. It was weird not to be cooped up in the infirmary, caring for someone. And beyond Ceres, she hadn't kept in touch with the others as much as she would like…

As Ari finished up her paperwork, she heard the clacking of heels making their way closer.

"Hey," Kylie said, knocking on the open door. Kylie and Weiss were all dressed up for the season- Kylie was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater and Weiss was wearing a pretty holiday dress that had all the markings of her "Schnee" lineage.

"Oh, hey," Ari said, taking off her lab coat. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to ask- did you remember the white elephant thing? You haven't been responding in the group text recently," Kylie said.

"O-oh, no...I guess I forgot," Ari said, shaking her head. "Sorry, I've been swamped."

"Oh, no worries!" Weiss smiled. "We were just wondering."

"Yeah, so, do you wanna come and help with that? Gives you a bit of a break too!" Kylie grinned.

"...that sounds nice, actually," Ari admitted. "Just let me grab my winter coat."

"Right! We'll be out here!" Kylie said cheerfully. She was a bit relieved that Ari had agreed to go last minute Christmas shopping- her responses to the group chat had been sporadic lately. While they still saw her at lunch and maybe in the halls...it was clear that Ari was unintentionally pulling away from her friends.

As for Ari, she was just happy to have company. Christmas was still a new concept to her- being from space and not really having a holiday akin to Christmas would do that to you. But, she hadn't spent a holiday with a proper family in a hot minute…

It was nice to have people that cared about her. Her own family was shit, and this found family of hers? Way better.

As the three of them walked into the city, Ari could feel the winter air brush her skin. If she was fully exposed to it, she would've shut down into hibernation, but with her new Ceres-approved coat, it just felt pleasant.

Ari loved seeing Christmas trees- they were big and green and always smelled delightful. The people around them were talking about holiday plans and speaking in hushed tones about certain gifts. It was nice to see that Atlas wasn't so focused on the 'capitalist' side of Christmas. Well, at least not from what she could see.

As they made their way out towards the shopping district, they immediately started window shopping.

"What was the money limit for the white elephant?" Ari asked.

"About 40 bucks," Weiss told her. "It shouldn't be that hard to find something that could please anyone who got it, right?"

"Yeah, it should be easy!" Kylie grinned as she started to glance at the various shop windows before looking at Ari.

"Uh, yeah," Ari stuttered- while this wasn't her first white elephant (the Empire had its own version), she always had trouble selecting presents. Some of the gifts exchanged at the event ranged from something like a dumb t-shirt to a decent speaker or a inflatible chair.

"Then, let's do it!" Kylie exclaimed as the three headed into the first store they saw. Ari walked up and down the aisles, trying to look for something that would be adequate for the exchange. It'd been a while since she'd stepped foot out of the medical lab, and this place wasn't exactly familiar to her. Though as she walked around, she noticed there were all kinds of items that could actually fit with the white elephant idea...

Ari paused at one of the gift ideas she had- one of those pillows, with the mermaid scales on them. While admittedly not comfortable, the scales were reversible, and revealed the image of some actor on it. A good 'gag' gift, Ari surmised. "I'm sure someone could get a laugh out of this," she said quietly, walking back to the register area.

Ari had managed to pack away everything before Weiss and Kylie accidentally spoiled themselves with her gifts. She had no idea where they were, which was probably a good thing.

That is, until Kylie walked over a few minutes later, carrying a giant stuffed teddy bear on her back. "...yeah, no, it wouldn't fit in a bag."

"Obviously," a closely following Weiss scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, you two managed to find something?" Ari smiled as she carried the bags of items, admiring the size of the bear in question.

"Sort of. And don't look at it! It'll spoil the surprise," Kylie pouted.

"I was able to find something smaller. And cheap, surprisingly," Weiss said, holding up a bag with something heavy inside. Ari's smile faded a little. Compared to her first choice, the other two obviously spent more time choosing a gift. Someone would obviously be overjoyed with that oversized teddy bear, even if it was a hassle to wrap and bag. And whatever Weiss had bought, it brought mystery and intrigue, something a good gift should do.

But…Ari had a pillow. With Nic Cage on it. And that really wasn't a good gift.

Ari couldn't help but feel more out of it as the three of them left the store.

Ironwood, before he had packed up his office, had actually given Zeta and RWBY the keys to the main hall of Atlas Academy. Most of the students had been granted leave for the holidays, only some staying behind and even then they wouldn't be bothered by what the teams had planned.

When Gwen and team JNPR walked in, it was maybe the second most festive thing they'd seen in Atlas (the first was the massive Christmas tree in Elysium Park that rivaled the one in Rockefeller Center). Decorations and lights of all kinds had been set up, giving it that perfect holiday feel. Wreaths hung on the pillars holding up the great hall, each one lit up with bright lights. Tables had been set up with all kinds of festive, seasonal food, some of which was on the expensive side (thanks to Weiss).

Ren did a quick scan of said tables for any eggnog to ensure Nora never found it. She was doing the same, just for the opposite reason. If there was one thing worse than a Semblance-charged Nora, it was a version of her who had too much eggnog. The team had learned that lesson the hard way last year.

Of course, what Christmas party would be complete without a tree? The centerpiece of the whole event was the massive pine tree, decorated with ornaments of all kinds, some of them the more common types you'd find in stores while others had a more personal touch to them. The emblems of Team RWBY hung from the branches, along with some other personal symbols turned to ornaments. Ruby's rose symbol hung just a few inches away from a green Plumber symbol, or more accurately an Omnitrix symbol. Yang's flaming heart and the shadowy flower that represented Blake hung close together as well, as did many other symbols for the couples' present. Even a green power symbol hung from the tree's branches.

Jaune held his head, eyes wide. "So, lemme get this straight. Your birthday is dangerously close to Christmas, and you two just so happened to be born on the same day?!"

"Yep," Ben drawled, a mug of spiked hot chocolate in hand. "She was supposed to come a week later."

"I wanted to be early to the party, so I decided to surprise everyone." Gwen shrugged. "Sadly, thanks to that, everyone is convinced we're twins."

"And we barely look anything alike. Like, seriously. Gwen's a genetic freak with her orange hair and green eyes- oh don't give me that look, there's no way red hair and green eyes are THAT common!" Ben exclaimed, pointing dramatically at her.

Cue a look from Pyrrha, Nora, and Gwen.

"What?"

"It amazes me you can say that with such confidence," Pyrrha said in disbelief.

"Hey, life is short and I have no time for shame," Ben said, punctuating his sentence with a sip of his drink.

"At least you guys get confused for siblings," Yang pointed out. "No one thinks Ruby and I are sisters."

"Well, yeah, it's kinda obvious why," Weiss commented.

Yang threw up her hands. "But we're so obviously related!"

"I do not get the confusion. Many people can tell who my siblings are," Rook interjected.

"That's because you're a giant cat guy," Ben deadpanned.

"Well, yes, but still. On a planet of giant cat people, we are quite distinguished."

Ben… had no comeback for that.

"I get how you feel, Yang. The same goes for me and my sibs," Min added, as she casually drank a cup of suspiciously red liquid.

"...you have siblings?" Kylie asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah. Have I never mentioned them?"

"No!" Kevin stated. "You definitely never mentioned them!"

"Oh. Whoops." Min took another sip of her suspicious drink.

Ben shivered. "I'm terrified of your family gatherings."

"Back on subject, at least you only have ONE sibling. I'm the sole boy amongst seven girls," Jaune stated.

"Wow, that sounds like the plot of a bad cartoon," Kevin joked.

"So much torment…"

"That being said, we'll be spending our break with one of them," Gwen said with a smirk.

"That's 'cause she was the nicest of the lot!" Jaune strongly objected.

Ceres was about to make reference to her own family when she noticed Ari wasn't around. Funny, she could've sworn she was here a second ago.

"Hey, Lev. You see Ari around here?" Ceres asked quietly.

"Yeah. She's just been standing by the punchbowl," Lev told her. "She's been kind of off this whole time."

Ceres took a deep breath and walked over. "Hey."

"Sup." Ari nodded as she refilled her cup.

"Why aren't you with the others right now?"

"I'm not feeling too great, that's all," Ari lied.

Ceres raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "Really."

"Yeah. I'll probably just take some meds and lie down-"

"Ari. Seriously. What's up?"

Ari took a deep, steadying breath. "I don't think I'm really part of this anymore." She gestured to the others. "Look at them. They're all just having fun and I don't know why, but I feel like the only reason I'm even in this circle is by chance or by imposing myself. I…I just feel this massive gap between us. All because I've been overworking myself."

"Sweetheart, you know that's not true-" Ceres said softly.

"I feel like it is. I swear, people only know me as either your girlfriend or the alien doctor. I…I just don't know!" Ari said, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. "I've…just been demoted. I barely see you, or Lev, because I've been so goddamn busy! I miss everything about spending time with you, because we're both so busy and complicated now- I…I'm just…fucked up, okay? And I don't know if people want to hang out with some overstressed nurse."

Ceres and Ari were left in silence, with only the ambiance of the party surrounding them. Ceres took a deep breath and put her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Do you honestly think our friends wouldn't invite you to hang out if I wasn't there? Even with a supposed divide between you?" she asked. "I know those guys don't know the whole story, they don't know what we went through, but they're here for us. Every single one of them. I get that your family situation is as convoluted as mine and Lev's, but...this is our family now. Yes, it's small. Is it a little weird and disorganized? Absolutely. But if you told any of them your worries, I'm sure they would have objected to anything you just said. Because they care about you. Not JUST as my girlfriend."

Ari looked away, still unsure.

"Ari Levandova."

Shit, she used her real last name.

"You matter. You matter to me as much as you matter to them. You're more than just a profession and a love interest. You're you, and that's a wonderful thing to be."

"...goddamn it, Aelita," Ari whispered, tears in her eyes. "How do you always manage to…"

"I guess I've grown around these people. They bring out the best in me…and I know they can bring out the best in you," Ceres said, smiling gently.

Ari took a deep breath, wiping at her eyes. "Okay, okay… I'll try my best to keep in better touch. I'll deal with the other stuff later…probably look into therapy…"

"Deal," Ceres said as she offered her hand. Ari took it without a second thought. And together, they slowly walked back to the others.

As nice as the party was, Gwen was still troubled.

She made up an excuse to get out of the craziness for a moment, just to clear her head and…think. Gwen stared out into the great Solitas tundra, eyes glazed over, not even focusing on the light snow squall outside. Yes, she had a wonderful time with her friends, Ben, and the others. But...

God.

It didn't help that he was still gone.

Gwen had fond memories of Christmas. No matter how bad they were, because each and every time, Grandpa Max would be there. And he'd be the best part about Christmas. Every year he'd dress up as Santa and hand out presents to everyone, and it felt magical. Sure, she had actual magic at her fingertips, but you can't take away from simple human magic.

Gwen had long since realized it was Max underneath the fake beard, but she didn't let that ruin any of it. She looked forward to it every year.

...and...

This would be the first Christmas without it. Without any sort of Santa coming to visit. The Tennyson's had agreed to retire the tradition when Max died, because it was his thing for the grandkids. No one else could fill the role.

...and nothing could fix Gwen's heartbreak.

Gwen never forgot the first major present she got from Max- a music box. It was big enough to fit in her hand, but she had to carry it with two to be careful. It was made from real wood, not some cheap vinyl or plastic. And when you wound it up, it played Johann Strauss' Blue Danube. It was expensive, but Max wanted her to cherish it forever. She absolutely did- it was currently at her college dorm, on her dresser.

It seemed like so much for a kid to own, but Gwen loved it. SHe watched it go round and round, and she had that same song in her head for years.

Even with that gift close to her heart, Gwen couldn't deny it: Christmas wasn't the same without Grandpa Max. Old memories were held up as standard as to WHAT Christmas should be. And she'd never get to relive those Christmases. Sure, forging new ones was fun, but can you imagine Christmas without a loved one? Sure, maybe for a year, but this was forever.

Gwen felt a tear roll down her cheek, and she just couldn't stop herself. She'd tried smiling on the outside for the entire night, but inside-

"Gwen?"

She quickly wiped the tears away and spun around. Ben, Ruby, and Kevin were in the same corridor as her.

"Oh! Hey, just…admiring the snowfall," Gwen lied.

"Yeah. Pretty, isn't it? You picked a good day to be here, it's usually much worse than this," Kevin said, looking out the window.

"Kinda reminds me of back home," Ruby said, closing her eyes. "Makes me feel all nice and cozy inside."

"It's funny. I looked out this same window after we decided to stay in Atlas and fight Salem," Ben said, sighing deeply. "I just…couldn't believe it was happening."

"Yeah," Gwen murmured.

It was silent for a moment.

"You're thinking about him too, huh?"

Gwen looked over at Ben, who had that solemn look on his face. "Me too."

"You know, Max cared about me. He was the first guy that probably gave a shit about a punk like me in a long time," Kevin said quietly. "He would ask if I was fed, or slept well, just the little stuff. He gave me a second chance, the ability to start over with a new family…and I'll never forget him for that."

"He treated me like his own grandkid too, when I went on that road trip. He'd sometimes train with me early in the mornings," Ruby said. "I was afraid of…I dunno, that something would happen and he'd get hurt." Ruby chuckled. "But I honestly had a hard time keeping up with him. He was the best."

"...there was this one time I considered taking off the watch," Ben said, staring out the window.

The other three stared at him in disbelief.

"It was during our first missions as Zeta Squad, when we were still figuring out team dynamics and just messing up a lot. I was starting to realize that I hadn't been questioning who I was fighting, just jumping into the fray and going crazy. And then I began internalizing the mistakes I've made against villains like Vilgax and Animo and a whole lot more," Ben went on. "I was...distracted. Conflicted. I was fourteen years old, and it felt like everything was on my shoulders. I was still figuring out high school and who I was, and having that on my back was...awful. So, I thought if I cut out the Omnitrix, I could maybe figure it out and live normally. Yeah, I'd come back, but...I dunno."

"I never knew," Gwen whispered.

"Grandpa Max found out and sat me down in the diner. He told me all that doubt, that fear, the confusion...he told me that's what it's like to be a hero," Ben said. "He was a rookie once too, and made mistakes like mine. But he never once let it control him. Focusing on that one mistake just leads to a domino effect of a million others, and that's not what a hero does. They move forward, no matter how painful. He said that...you're only as good as the hero you think you are."

Ben took a breath.

"I've been repeating that conversation in my head. Ever since he died."

Silence again.

And they all just watched the snow fall for a while. While Gwen's heart still hurt for Grandpa Max…it was nice to know there were people who missed him just as much.

To all those who hurt from a loss still new, and who are still stumbling to comprehend the world without them- you are not alone. For the holidays, please- please remember, you are loved. You are here. And most importantly:

Never forget what that person gave to you, and never forget to show that same compassion to others.

Happy Holidays.