A few days had past since Noelle and Berdly first experienced the Dark World. Ever since that fateful day, they would both fall asleep in the computer room of the library, in an attempt to enter the Dark World again.

Susie noticed what they were doing, and proposed an idea to Kris. Every time they went to the library, Kris and Susie would wait until they fell asleep. Once they did, the two would then spring into action; picking them both up and bringing them over to the Dark World located in the School Closet.

Surprisingly enough, it worked. And they both still believed it was a dream, too! Kris cringed once they realised it was soon going to be a part of their daily routine.

Today was no different. Susie wondered how neither of them woke up during the walk from the library to the school. But hey. She wasn't going to complain it. Nor was she going to complain about carrying Noelle each day too. At least it wasn't Berdly.

When they first planned out their actions, Susie was adamant on Kris carrying Berdly. She couldn't entertain the scenario playing out in her head; the one of the blue bird waking up, finding out that he was resting on the back of Susie and having a horridly loud reaction.

Though… perhaps it was Susie's way of telling Kris that she wanted to carry Noelle instead. Maybe.

Regardless, Kris had no reservations about carrying either one of them. They instead had their complaints how they would manage to pull of this stunt each day. Without being caught by anyone. And without them waking up… all in a timely fashion too.

Then there's the process of getting them out of the Dark World without raising suspicions too. Kris could feel their back ache at the thought of how long this could go on for.

Once the two reached the closet, they leapt forward into Dark World. Upon landing, the two sleeping students would usually wake up. This time was no different. They both got up, greeted Susie and Kris, and proceeded towards the nearby buildings.

They all stepped forward into the Castle Town, with the Dark Fountain looming over everything from behind the castle. Now the next part of their routine began.

Noelle and Berdly would make it their mission to interact with each denizen in the area and seeing what new developments there were. Typically none. But they were still giddy to see everyone.

Not missing a beat, Ralsei quickly came over to the centre of the town to welcome everyone. Noelle and Berdly had a quick conversation with him, and then entered a nearby building. The Prince then looked over at Kris and Susie with a bigger smile than before.

"Hey Kris! Hey Susie! How are you two doing?" He was still as ecstatic as ever to see them. Susie simply shrugged her shoulders in response - not quite as energetic but still happy nonetheless.

"Doing pretty good. Not much happened since we visited yesterday, dude." Susie repeated the same line from the day before. Her "been there, done that" attitude quickly changed when she noticed that Ralsei looked a bit more nostalgic than normal.

"Thought you were done with that hat?"

Ralsei looked up to see where she was looking, and his hat met his gaze. "Oh! You mean this?" He took it off while talking and presented it so they could get a better look. It was the same hat he wore during the adventure in the Card Kingdom, but coloured red rather than green. It also a white outline surrounding the bottom and was covered in green sprinkles.

"It's a Christmas Hat! I tried making one after you told me all about Christmas traditions and decorations!"

(Hathy realised that there's a time gap of one day between the first and second Chapters of the game, and are now wondering how this time gaps works within the context of this story.)

During their conversation, Hathy slid over and was making a fair and reasonable observation. Everyone simply glared at Hathy until she decided to leave.

"Anyways, what's with the hat now? It's not Christmas yet." Going back to their conversation, Susie questioned Ralsei as he put the hat back on his head. In response, he gave her a warm smile.

"Yes, not yet…" He then turned to look at the castle in the distance. "But I want to try setting things up soon! It sounds like it would be fun, and I want to show all the newcomers what Christmas is all about!"

Before Susie could reply, the Queen marched over toward the group. "Hey I Know What Christmas Is Okay" Her robotic voice surprising everyone in the process.

"Y-you do…?"

She put her hand up to her mouth and started laughing. "Yeah I Literally Had Your Top Search Results In Your Prison Rooms"

"Oh yeah." Susie rubbed the back of her neck while looking around sheepishly. "Forgot about that." After her remark, she felt something tug at her arm from behind.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Kris. They looked at Susie, like she had something important to do. Immediately after seeing their expression, Susie's eyes widened in realisation. Then as if it were on cue, Lancer came speeding from the castle.

"Perfect timing!"

With such high velocity, anything in his path would get obliterated! But the purple Monster remained unswayed. She stood in his path, staring as he got closer and closer, until… SLAM! Everything went white for a brief moment.

When the brightness subsided, everyone saw that Lancer's speed was stopped simply from leaping into the air and high-fiving Susie. He fell over onto the ground, laughing. Then he spun around until he was magically standing up again.

"Ho ho ho! It's not my name but it's still true!" Lancer sang his greetings with his tongue sticking out.

"Hey Lancer!" Susie was always happy to see the little spade-shaped boy roaming around. "Remember when I made fun of your laugh?"

"Of course! I remember it as if it were yesterday!"

"(It Literally Was)" Queen had tried to slip in ever-so-subtly by correcting him. Unfortunately for her, the volume of her voice could not be adjusted and thus, her comment was loud enough for everyone involved to hear.

"I mentioned that you sounded like Baby Santa Claus, and you were talking like you knew who that was." Choosing to ignore Queen's remark, Susie continued on her quest for answers.

"Yeah!"

Susie's eyes narrowed in anticipation of Lancer's next response. "So… did you know what Christmas was? Before we even met you?"

"Nope!"

Her eyes shifted, as her understanding of the situation decreased with each new comment. "…but you knew who Santa Claus was?"

"Yep!" Lancer spun around for a second. "Actually, I met him myself! I remember he never told us what his job was, and he looked a lot like my dad!"

Everyone was stunned into silence after hearing about that.

"He was the one that gave me my bike! He told me to be home for dinner on time if I wanted to keep it!"

"That's… great, Lancer." Sometime during their chat, Noelle had exited the building and started listening in; now giving her input on the matter. Berdly had also joined in.

"Thou worms really thinketh they couldst celebrate without thine own puzzle master?!" A voice echoed throughout the town. Then, in front of the entrance, a large beam of light struck down and a familiar figure emerged from within.

He spread his arms out and stood in his usual pose as he looked dejectedly at everyone around. "Pathetic! Thoust think I would at least hadeth thine invitation!"

"Rouxls, we aren't celebrating Christmas yet."

"…"

"…OH."

Rouxls left as quickly as he appeared, opting to run away rather than teleporting for whatever reason.

"Well, whatever." Susie dismissed the strange occurrences and distractions. She turned back over to Ralsei. "You need help setting stuff up? 'Cuz Kris here can definitely help out with that!"

"Don't worry, that won't be necessary." Ralsei shook his head. "But I will certainly need Kris' help for this next part!"

The quiet human stepped forward and leaned their head toward Ralsei as he whispered something to them. Afterwards, Kris ran over to the entrance, presumably to grab something.

Susie decided to lean against a nearby wall as Ralsei told her to wait for Kris to return. She overheard several conversations from the people around her, like Noelle, Berdly and Queen talking about Dragon Blazers. From the corner of her eye, Susie noticed that Ralsei was standing in front of the Dark World entrance, as if he were guarding it.

After a minute or two, Kris came flying down from the sky - nailing the landing like they usually do. Ralsei left his spot upon seeing them and began pointing upwards.

"Everyone, look!" Ralsei shouted to get everyone's attention. Several citizens looked over to see a large amount of glitter raining down towards the town, and then everything went white for a moment.

When their vision returned, Kris looked around and saw that all the buildings had a complete Christmas makeover. Red walls, white roofs, and green stockings scattered all over every wall that had the names of each resident living here on them.

People started cheering and celebrating at the change, bringing about an entirely new atmosphere in the process. One filled with happiness, love, and excitement. The only exception was a poor Tasque who got caught in some of the decorations once they appeared and were unable to free themselves.

"Now THAT is what I'm talking about!" Berdly hollered at the sight before him. "This is the PERFECT scenery for some festive activities!"

Queen's eyes were replaced with the letters 'OMG' as she marvelled at all the smiling faces. "And With Every Christmas Dinner Comes The Responsibility Of Maintaining Potassium Efficiency"

"You mean, like Bananas?" Berdly was confused at her interjection. "Are they even considered a Christmas… food… thing?"

"IDK But It Could Be If You Wanted" She took a glass out from her chair (which she was now sitting on) and took a sip from it. "Just Put A Candy Cane On It Or Something Lmao"

Noelle started laughing at Queen's statements. "Even though this is a dream, it still feels like a wonderful Christmas!" She was loving every second of this.

Because of all the discussion and chatter amongst everyone, the absence of three certain individuals went unnoticed. One particular Monster was still leaning against a wall, with an even bigger smile on her face than before.

Susie just whistled. She didn't want to ruin everyone's mood by telling them it wasn't actually Christmas yet. Everyone was talking, playing, and having fun… why would she want to disrupt this pure and joyful moment?

When she looked over at Kris and Ralsei - one smirking and the other grinning widely as they watched the same sight in front of them - she got the feeling they didn't want to, either.