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This chapter is another one we've seen in Sweet and Salty Days, but that's ok.

Hope you enjoy!

Kingdom Hearts (c) to Disney and Square Enix!

Chapter 23: Celebrate

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

The trio, along with most of their friends cheered as Roxas entered the room.

They all stood in the castle of Radiant Garden, here to celebrate Roxas before they all went to a Christmas party the next day(1).

Roxas blinked, staring around at everyone. His face widening into a smile before Ven ran over, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Roxas! Come on! We're here to celebrate you!"

They both laughed as the party went on.

Dragging Roxas to the large three-tiered cake, Ven cheered. "This is a gift from me, Terra, and Aqua! We made it together!"

Aqua placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "We made a chocolate cake with sea salt caramel frosting. I hope you like it."

"It looks amazing! Thank you!"

"It was our pleasure." Terra smiled warmly. "Even if Aqua did most of the work since Ven and I aren't the best at baking."

Roxas smiled happily.

And the party went on, everyone basking in the joy of the boy's very first birthday party ever.

Ven got a few comments from his birthday a few weeks ago, but he was happy to give the entire day to Roxas. He'd had a birthday before.

And as the party came to a close, everyone gathered their things and went to the gummi hanger.

"How the heck am I going to carry home both birthday and Christmas presents?"

Donald laughed. "Well, I hope that the bag Riku gave you can hold lots of stuff."

"It can." Riku helped Goofy and Terra load suitcases into the gummi ship. "I made sure it had room."

Goofy chuckled. "You are going to love Christmas at our home!"

Terra glanced back at his two best friends. "Aqua, Ven, and I attended the Dream Festival. If it's as fun and colorful as the Dream Festival, it'll be great!"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Mickey laughed.

Riku took Naminé's bag, which was smaller than everyone's bag except for Riku's. "It'll be lots of fun. Even though Nami and I will only be there until Christmas Eve."

As Roxas stepped onto the gummi ship, Ven wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "So, how did you feel about your first birthday party?"

"It was amazing!"

"And Christmas will be just as awesome!"

"I'm sure it will be!"

"This is a fancy setup." Axel glanced through the windows as the ship landed. "It's nothing like the one at Radiant Garden."

Goofy chuckled. "We did make the first gummi ships."

"We're really excited to see how the building of ships will change over time." Mickey pushed back from the controls. "But anyways, welcome to Disney Town." He hopped off the chair and headed to the door. Everyone followed him out into the dimmly lit room.

Gears clunked and chains rattled as the machines around the hanger worked, whether by purely mechanical means, magical, or both no one knew.

"Welcome back!"

"And Merry Christmas!"

Terra's face lit up as he saw two familiar chipmunks come sliding down the stair railing.

"Hi Chip! Hi Dale!"

"It's good to see all of you!" Chip bounced up to Goofy's shoulder as Dale hopped to Terra's, giving the young man a bright smile.

Dale piped up. "Oh, King Mickey! You probably would like to know that the new gummi ship designs passed the LP test."

"That's great!"

"The LP test?" Ven asked.

"The Lau-"

"Hey!" A new figure came hopping down the stairs toward them. A tall duck, donned in an aviator's jacket and hat bowed to the king before grabbing Donald. "It's been a while."

Donald tensed in the hug. "Yes it has, Launchpad." When the hug released, he huffed. "Is everything well?"

"Oh yeah." Launchpad waved to the others, still talking. "This new job testing the ships is really nice. Thank you, King Mickey for it. And by the way, Mr. McD and Mr. Von Drake showed up earlier."

"That's great news! Come on everyone! Let's get upstairs."

Chip and Dale hopped to Launchpad. "We'll see you later!"

"See you!"

Going up the stairs, Donald glanced back until they were out of earshot. "Launchpad crashes every ship he flies, so his new job is to test ships to see if they're crash-proof."

"Oh... the LP test."

"Exactly."

As they reached the top of the staircase, Mickey pushed the doors open. The soft light of mid-morning filtered in, causing everyone to blink for a moment before they beheld a beautiful topiary garden, covered in a blanket of snow.

Aqua gasped slightly.

This world was beautiful and colorful when there wasn't snow on the ground, but this added a new layer of magic to the air.

"Welcome to the castle." Mickey waved a hand and a small hatch on the side of the wall appeared. It opened as a few walking broomsticks came out. "Please get the luggage from the ships and take it to their rooms."

The brooms gave a nod and marched past.

Roxas watched them go by. "Did Master Yen Sid make those?"

"Actually, I enchanted them myself. Albeit, after a few failed attempts... one in particular went REALLY bad. I'll tell you later."

Going upstairs, they found themselves in front of a set of large double doors.

And by large... they were MASSIVE.

"How do you even open these things!?"

"Probably magic."

Goofy chuckled. "Not quite." Walking over to a small panel in the door, he knocked and it swung open as a tiny door.

…

Everyone burst into slight giggles.

"Amazing."

Mickey also chuckled as he went inside.

Following him in, a large room, that certainly fit the doors lay before them.

"Who the heck needs a throne room this big?" Isa muttered.

Goofy stepped up beside him, his dog ears hearing all. "We throw lots of parties in here. King Mickey mostly spends his time in the library. We mostly use this for special occasions."

"Makes sense."

And they could see the setup of one such occasion before them.

Brooms carried in tables and chairs, setting them up as a few people went around setting the tables. In the center of the room stood a Christmas tree that reached the ceiling. Garlands hung from the roof, and glittering lights magically hung in the air.

"Wow!"

Donald puffed out his chest. "Yep! Daisy did a great job!"

"Yeah, and you better get over and help her or she's gonna wring your neck."

Donald gasped as someone grabbed him in a hug from behind. A female duck in aviator clothing. Donald pushed her away. "Della!"

"Who did you think it was!?" She laughed, giving a real hug this time. "Good to see you, now go help Daisy, or she'll let you have it."

"Of course." He ran off toward the middle of the room, and specifically toward a duck in a purple dress.

The duck known as Della turned to them. "Hey there! You guys must be the people Donald has been sending me messages about. Name's Della Duck, but I'm sure Donald's told you all about me."

…

"Um..."

Della blinked. "Seriously, he didn't tell you guys about his TWIN SISTER!? Forget Daisy, I'm gonna wring his neck here and now! DONALD!" She charged toward him.

"They're siblings all right... they have a shared temper."

"Oh yeah."

"You ok?" Riku asked. They all turned and saw Mickey sighing.

"Yeah, I just thought some other people would be here by now."

"UNCLE MICKEY!"

The king turned around, just in time to get tackled by two tiny mice, one in red and one in blue.

Mickey laughed. "Boys! Good to see you!" He hugged them.

"We've missed you!"

"I've missed you too!"

"Tell us a story!"

"What adventures have you had!?"

"Please!"

"Hold on." The king sat up, those watching smiled. "Everyone, meet my nephews, Morty and Ferdie."

The two boys looked up at the guests.

Xion knelt down, giggling. "Hi there! I'm Xion."

"Hi."

The two mice looked up as the others introduced themselves, their eyes widening with each name.

"A-Are you the real people from the stories?" The one in red asked.

Riku looked over at the others and then back to Mickey, who nodded. "I guess so."

"Whoa!?" The one in blue hopped toward them, eyes sparkling. "I'm Ferdie!" He looked over at Terra. "Were you really a good guy, then bad guy, and now a good guy again?"

Ven and Aqua stared eyes-wide at the little mouse as Terra chuckled. Hold back laughed became harder as Mickey flashed him mortified expression.

Kids will be kids.

And kids have no filter.

The young man knelt down to the smaller mice, still smiling.

"Well yes. There was a lot more to the story, but that's the gist of it, I guess."

The other little mouse, Morty, looked up at Riku. "You're Riku! The real Riku! I-m gon-"

"Alright, boys. You can talk to them some more later." A tall mouse with brown fur, dressed in overalls and a purple jacket. "Why don't you go say hi to some other people."

"Ok, Dad." The two mice jogged off.

The tall mouse helped Mickey stand, glancing back at the others. "Hi, it's an honor to meet all of you. I'm Frank."

"Nice to meet you!"

A tall female mouse, dressed in a long pink robe, holding a staff with a moon on the end. She knelt down and hugged the king. "It's good to see you, Michael."

Michael?

Axel blinked. "Wait, have we been calling the king by a nickname the entire time?"

Oh yeah. The others hadn't heard about Mickey's real name yet. Oswald sometimes called him Mickey, but Ortensia only called Mickey by his real name. And those two were happy to share about their other family members as well.

"Then you must be Felicity." Terra held out a hand to the tall mouse. "Oswald told us about you."

She smiled warmly, shaking his hand.

"Then you're part of the coalition. Well, for the rest of you, I am Felicity Fieldmouse, Queen of the Land of Illusion, the Prism Sorceress. And I'm Michael's older sister."

"Now that's a title." Axel muttered.

"It's nice to meet you, you're highness."

The sorceress giggled, opening her mouth to answer as another figure tackled Mickey.

Ven and Terra snickered as Oswald looked up at them, grinning widely. "Don't tell me that you're having them be formal, Fifi."

I was about to say that they can call me by my name." She rolled her eyes. "And for those who don't know, this is our older brother, Oswald."

He looked up, leaning on Mickey's shoulder. "Pleasure. And thanks for keeping an eye on this knucklehead." With a playful shove, the rabbit nearly knocked his brother down.

Everyone watched with a laugh as the two began to bicker, with Felicity standing over her shorter brothers, trying to calm them down.

"Excuse me." A female voice approached from slightly behind them; they turned to see Queen Minnie, walking toward them.

Axel smiled. "Queen Minnie. Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too, Lea." Her smile widened as she turned to the three she'd met so long ago. "Terra, Aqua, Ventus, it's so good to see you three safe." Her voice somewhat faltered at those words.

She must have genuinely been worried for them.

"Thank you, Queen Minnie."

The mouse walked up to Roxas and Xion. "And there are a few new faces here. Now, don't tell me, let me guess." She looked between the unfamiliar faces before pointing. "Roxas?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you must be Xion, and you Naminé."

"That's right."

"And you must be Isa."

"I am."

She giggled. "And Riku, good to see you."

"Same to you."

"Now, if you would all like to follow me, I'll show you to your rooms."

Naminé cocked her head to the side. "But aren't you the queen?"

"I am, but that doesn't mean I don't do much to help. Honestly, I prefer to do things myself. I'm no different or above anyone else." She giggled and motioned for them to follow. "And it's the least I can do."

As they followed her into the hallway, Goofy staying behind to help with the setup, Ven caught up to the queen. "Do you have any family coming?"

"I do actually. My younger sister, Mandy, and her family. They were going to come with Felicity and her family, but they're running a little behind." She sighed. "I haven't seen my sister, brother-in-law, or nieces in quite some time."

Riku caught up to her, smiling warmly. "I'm sure they're just as excited to see you as you are to see them."

"I'm sure they are."

Going to the end of a hall, on either side stood a doorway to a spiral staircase, and on the end stood another door.

"Girls, the room at the end opens into your suite. And boys, both tower suites are yours to share with whom you wish."

"Thank you so much!"

"It's no trouble."

Isa smiled down at her. "We can set ourselves up. Why don't you go back and wait for your family."

"Alright. And please join us back at the throne room for lunch at noon."

"Ok!"

With a nod, the queen walked back down the hallway.

Aqua watched as Xion rushed into the large suite set aside for the girls. Naminé followed behind with Aqua.

"It's so pretty!" The raven-haired girl cheered. She seemed in much higher spirits than ever before.

Not surprising. This was her first Christmas.

Back out in the hallway, Ven grabbed Riku and Roxas's arms. "We should have a teenager suite and an adult one!"

"I don't know about that." Lea smirked at Terra and Isa. "Think of all the chaos they could get into, especially after Riku leaves tomorrow."

"Come on!"

Terra nodded. "Roxas and Ven sharing a room... what kind of chaos could they bring?"

"Oh, so much."

The three teenagers glowered at the adults who all snickered. "Go ahead." Isa smirked. "We trust you."

"Sweet!"

Roxas smiled. "And hey, Ven might be able to keep Riku and me from killing each other."

"Hopefully." Riku reached over, playfully shoving Roxas's head.

Ven hopped back. "Last one upstairs is a rotten egg!"

Ven leapt up the stairs, beating the other two. "Yeah!"

"How are you so fast?"

"Don't know. Just am."

They threw open the door to see a large living room leading to two bedrooms.

Riku nodded. "I can take the couch since I'm only staying one night."

"There are two beds in each room." Roxas poked his head into one of the rooms. "So we can share if needed."

Ven looked between them. "Riku can share with me if that comment about you two trying to kill each other was less of a joke than I thought."

"I think we can get along for one night." Roxas shoved Riku slightly.

"I hope."

Back downstairs the adults watched as the boys tore up the stairs to their own suite. "They'll be fine."

"Oh yeah."

Terra looked over at Isa and Axel. "How are things going with Roxas and Xion because from what I could see, they're happy."

"Things are going really well." Isa smiled as he opened the door to their suite.

"Yeah, they're doing amazing in school and in clubs. They've made friends and seem to be doing great."

"That's wonderful."

After a wonderful lunch, the group all went out to explore the town. Most of them hadn't seen this place before ever.

And they'd all been provided nice winter clothing for the occasion.

"This is going to be awesome!"

"Yeah!"

The gates swung open to reveal the brightly colored town, covered in snow. Christmas lights twinkled from every rooftop, and people bustled about.

Everything seemed alive and bright.

Happy and full of life.

Ven took off into the snow. "Let's go!"

Ven, Roxas, Xion, Naminé, and Riku took off, leaving the adults behind.

"It's nice to see them get to be kids." Aqua smiled. "It feels like we're always focusing on keeping the worlds safe."

"Or on trying to destroy them." Isa added with a slight smirk.

"Or that."

They followed behind, waving back at people around them stood outside setting up Christmas decorations.

As they finally caught up to the kids, they found them putting on skates to join a hockey game.

"Look how happy they are." Isa smiled warmly.

"I know."

Aqua sighed. "Even with everything that happened, and everything still going on they find joy in the little things. As life should be.

"Absolutely."

"How long do you think it will take for them to tire out?"

"Forever."

Terra laughed. "We might as well leave them be for a bit. I'm sure they'll have a great time with their new friends."

"Agreed. That means we can get secret shopping done for them and beat them back to the castle."

Axel nodded. "We can hide the presents in our suite."

"Let's get shopping then."

Leaving the kids behind, they slowly walked through the lovely streets. "You know, for all of us, this is the first Christmas we've all had in a while." Axel pointed between him and Isa. "We were Nobodies, and we didn't celebrate Christmas in the Organization."

"And I was in the dark realm."

"And I was possessed." Terra smiled at the others. "So, let's make this a great time for everyone." He stretched. "Actually, we didn't celebrate Christmas when I was little. It wasn't until I started training with Master Eraqus that I started celebrating, and I loved it. He used to take us out to cut down a tree from somewhere in the mountains, and he'd use magic to make it light up. And we didn't buy gifts, we made them. Aqua would bake, I'd find crystals and polish them, Ven would draw pictures, and Master Eraqus would make little books detailing how much we'd grown that year. It was nice."

"Really?" Isa asked. "Aqua, did your homeworld celebrate Christmas?"

Aqua nodded. "Oh yes. Every year, our village would have a parade where we all dressed up and got sweets. Though, I'd never seen a giant Christmas tree before I went to live with Master Eraqus; our trees were dried branches. My father would shave the limbs in a way so they would curl. Oh, and we did know about Santa, but we called him Grandpa Snow instead(2)."

"That's really cool."

"What about you two?"

Axel smiled. "Radiant Garden had some good traditions. We would always gather around and tells stories of our favorite memories from the year. And then we'd take bad memories and write them down before throwing them into the fireplace."

"And after exchanging gifts," Isa continued, "we'd write letters saying goodbye to the old year before folding them into little paper boats which we'd all set adrift in fountains and canals. As kids, we were amazed at how the hundreds of boats disappeared every year."

"Yeah, we thought the world took them away at night and they became those little falling lights our world has."

"That sounds like a fun tradition."

"It was, but now we're making new ones with Roxas and Xion."

"Yeah."

After a bit of shopping around, they found themselves near to the outskirts of town.

"Look at that." Isa pointed.

Off in the distance, they saw the teenagers with a group of kids from this world, sledding down large hills.

They could hear the joyful cries from where they stood.

"I'm glad they're having fun."

"I know."

They all smiled, watching the kids have the time of their lives.

Footnotes:

(1) The birthday party details can be found in Chapter 31 of "Sweet and Salty Days".

(2) Aqua's traditions are based on Georgian Christmas traditions.