(Legend)
Bold Text is Powerful Voice!
Italicized Text is thinking.
Text in < > are time and/or location texts, may also double as system text
Text in { } are translations
Numbers in [ ] are references, see end of chapter for references
*****
( Summary )
Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Get the fuck off, you politic shit. The World Jumpers don't give a fuck. Fuck off and let the kids sleep. For this is a wholesome chapter.
*****
(Cue World Jumpers x GATE Opening: Sore wa Akatsuki no You ni)
The scene starts in the lounge with Keith waking up early and taking a warm shower. Ever since December began in the GATE world, the air conditioners had been blasting colder air than usual. Keith could've sworn the ACs were at five degrees (5℃ / 41℉) due to how cold it was. He was hoping the others were doing okay.
He exits the shower and gets dressed almost immediately in a cotton turtleneck sweater and pants combo to fight the cold, along with Christmas socks.
He heads down to make breakfast and sees Ashley, Rishia, Kizuna, and Glass, drinking hot cocoa. "What's got you girls up so early?"
"I-It's so c-cold." Rishia shivered, having worn a sweater, jacket, wooly pants, socks and mittens.
"I sometimes forget how cold Winter can be." Kizuna chuckled, shivering a little. She wore a cotton sweater, puffy jacket, her haori — which she never lets go off, cotton pants, and socks.
Ashley was wearing casual clothes, having been used to the cold. "You think winter is cold, try living in Canada during the winter time."
Keith shivered, "I still remember that time the temperature dropped to negative forty sixty degrees (-46℃ / -50.8℉)."
"Coldest winter I've ever felt," Ashley recalled, "And we were caroling during that time."
"It was a mistake doing that," Keith chuckled, "But hey, snowballs and snowmen."
"How did you two survive such a winter?" Glass asked, wearing her normal attire. Apparently, she barely felt the cold.
"A lot of warm clothes..." Keith said.
"And a fireplace." Ashley finished.
Keith began cooking breakfast before checking the calendar. It was only a week before Christmas, December nineteen to be exact.
He looked around and was surprised that GM had provided Christmas decorations for them. Even Christmas treats like eggnogs, gingerbread houses, Christmas cookies, and even warmer clothing.
Keith didn't really like celebrating Christmas as much, mainly due to moving around a lot and barely celebrating the holiday with anyone. Well, at least his sister enjoyed the holiday.
The white-haired Aussie made cookies and BLT sandwiches for everyone to enjoy. He wanted to log back into their avatars with his sister to prepare the people of Alnus Hill for Christmas.
Not to mention, trades have begun between Fort Alnus and Italica, thus merchants have been visiting frequently. This then creates a cycle. Merchants come by, sell goods, spread the word about Alnus, people come by, houses are built, and it repeats until a town begins to slowly sprout beside the fort.
However, due to the multitude of people that were beginning to come by, the SDF could barely keep up with the lodgings and buildings due to lacking resources at times. Didn't help that some of the SDF were taking days off to spend the holidays in Japan, thus they had very little staff.
Thankfully, Ashley was there to help on the building and had set up a tree farm for the building resources. This farm was a perfect use of Ashley's overflowing stack of bone meal, which she refused to use at first due to it being made from human bones but coped with it by imagining that it was all from a skeleton farm.
It was pretty difficult to do when Owen keeps reminding them that those bone meals were made from human bones but Keith hands her bone meal made from wyvern bones and mixes it up with the human bone made bone meal, that way she can't differentiate between the two.
While his sister manned the constructions and tree planting, Keith was chopping and delivering tree logs to be turned into planks. However, this wasn't as frequent due to Keith now working on something else and that would be a cafe that he and Argus were managing.
Keith had already employed several of the former POWs (Prisoners of War), which were mainly females, as waitresses due to them being released after being cooperative and eventually needing a job.
The group had barely any use for the imperial coins as the majority of what they needed were present in Japan rather than the Empire but they still bought some items. And thanks to their almost abundant supply of wyvern scales, they had a small chest full of gold and silver and more to spare.
Therefore, most of the money they earn from the cafe, 50% of it were given to their staff, 30% goes to the maintenance, 15% goes to the needed ingredients like milk, sugar, and such as Keith was using bioplants to make the fruits like mango, strawberries, and all.
Keith hated using the bioplants since it was a product of Motoyasu Kitamura's failure to help villagers. But he uses it anyway as no way in hell is he letting any of it run rampant and be blamed for it like the blonde spearman was. And the said spearman can't even use it properly anyways.
While they do that, Carlson was more focused on understanding the different races of the Special Region, documenting everything with his phone — which Keith promised to buy him a camcorder or a GoPro camera. The Englishman also dealt with most of the paperwork and attended assemblies as translator and even helped at the learning center to translate and help the Order of the Rose and the Japanese in learning pass the language barrier.
Zane was more on the engineerical side of things. He was helping the SDF on fixing up trucks and was mainly the one fixing up their group's cars. Apparently, Owen took one of the cars without permission and did a drag race against his cousin. The result, a popped tire due to a sharp stone and a ripped off bumper.
Zane didn't really mind as he actually wanted to be a mechanic and wanted to attend a course all about it. He even dreamed of being part of a NASCAR pit crew one day. Too bad, his dream of becoming one was all but as it is, a dream. Due to his record, he wasn't going to achieve that dream anytime soon, or at all. But hey, at least he could still work on cars for the team now.
He really wanted to take a look inside Fenrir and gaze upon the engine as it roars to life... or howl to life. He noted that for whatever reason, Fenrir doesn't have the normal roaring sound that most bikes close to its caliber does, instead it has a certain sound that was close to a wolf's howl. And given that the bike's name is Fenrir, it was understandable that it made howls rather than roars.
Owen, Kai, and Toyokami were the least productive amongst the group. The Yuuki cousins were mainly either terrorizing people, mainly merchants, and robbing them of everything once they left the premise of Alnus Hill.
The older cousin, Owen, was abusing the power of his shapeshifting helmet by making random character templates to shift from when robbing merchants or distracting them while Kai would be in stealth mode via cardboard box or giant oil drums/barrels and stealing all the shit he can from the unsuspecting merchants.
Keith only approved of it whenever a merchant would cheat the trades and have the two steal the stuff back discreetly and Keith would sell it to another merchant. He didn't approve of it when the two were stealing from business partners and warned them to stop before the merchants do something drastic.
And the merchants did so. The two nearly got caught once and were eventually forced to stop when the merchants began hiring escorts and even seeking help from SDF escorts to Italica. The two were kinda excited at the fact they now had a bounty, or their thieving alternate egos had bounties, but were also slightly concerned that merchants would pay almost 2000 Suwani/gold pieces to bring them justice.
When they found out why the price is what it is, they grew anxious but also excited. Apparently, the two robbed a royal merchant with connections amongst the nobles in the Imperial Capital and also stole valuables like accessories and fine clothes that were ordered by some of the nobles, and a bracelet meant for the Empire's second born prince, Piña's older brother, Prince Diabo El Caesar.
It was only when Carlson told them about the stock exchange rate did the two boys took it seriously. Apparently, 1 suwani/gold coin is between one hundred eighty thousand to two hundred forty thousand yen (¥180,000 - ¥240,000).
Owen estimated that their bounty was around three hundred sixty million to four hundred eighty million yen (¥360,000,000 - ¥480,000,000). Yeah, that got those two to stop and lets just say the merchant received an anonymous package that included the bracelet.
Of course, this being the two cousins, may or may not have planted some kind of explosive in there. Next thing they know, the bounty was apparently taken down due to being unpayable anymore. However, they did stop their robbing spree just to get the heat off them.
Toyokami, meanwhile, had gone shopping with Tuka in Japan after sneaking out a couple of times and successfully getting into Japan. How those two never got caught was because of one reason. Toyokami had requested for Ashley to mine a hole into the Gate room and another one in Japan. This was how those two were able to sneak in and out from the Special Region and into Japan.
And let's just say, it wasn't just them who've been using that. Did you really think Ashley would mine into the Gate room because Toyokami convinced her? Well, think again. Keith was the one who approved of this after Ashley told him about Toyokami's absurd plan.
Keith had also been sneaking out into Japan to buy much needed equipment and sometimes brings along Owen to break into ATMs just so they have money. Owen would've suggested they break into the bank but Keith wasn't sure if Owen will be seen on camera or not so they didn't risk it.
Toyokami and Tuka would usually act like cosplayers sometimes, with Toyokami buying the elf girl a wig to hide her appearance from the general public while doing this. This wasn't the only thing they did during their escapades, however. Shopping, sleeping in hotels, going on food trips in expensive locations, having intimate sessions in love hotels, you name it.
However, Rory eventually took notice of Tuka's usual absence in the refugee center and soon, Lelei did as well. They would inform Itami about this and when the World Jumpers were asked about it, Carlson would report about Toyokami's absence as well.
Everyone would just one day find the two in Tuka's lodging, cuddling together under a warm blanket. Their excuse? They've been traveling together by foot from the base and usually going camping outdoors for long periods of time.
Thankfully, Ashley and Keith backed them up on this and the latter subtly winked at the two while the other gave them a thumbs up once everyone had left.
Once Keith closed the door, he briefly saw the two immediately get intimate with each other before he closed the door fully.
Eventually, the day of Christmas Eve arrived and the eight swore to celebrate it at the lounge rather than in the VR rooms.
< 12 Hours before Christmas >
Keith and Argus were busy in the kitchen, preparing Christmas treats. Argus was preparing the Christmas ham while waiting for the Turkey to cook in the oven. Keith, on the other hand, was making gingerbread houses and gingerbread men after making dozens of mango graham floats — a dessert that Ashley loved a lot.
"I never knew there was something such as a mango float." Argus said.
"It's actually also known as mango graham cake. But it's formally known as mango float. Easily made with only four ingredients. Mangos, graham, condensed milk, and whipped cream or all purpose cream. Learned it from my dad in the Philippines along with her fiesta float." Keith said.
"Fiesta float? Never heard of something like that either." Argus said, surprised.
"Heh, it's basically the same as mango float — except instead of mango, it's made with fruit cocktail." Keith said, in a factly manner.
"I'm gonna guess there's a strawberry float in there somewhere too, huh?" Argus jokingly remarked.
Keith simply gave him a knowing look.
"You can't be serious..." Argus gaped, "That's a thing too?!"
"Oh yeah. Along with banana float, pineapple float, and orange float. I think there's also coconut and avocado floats too. Although, mango and fiesta floats are the most famous ones." Keith recalled.
"Remind me to try these recipes out one day." Argus said, taking mental notes
"Haha, no. I'm taking those recipes to the grave." Keith smirked.
"Why must you torment me so, mi amigo {my friend}?" Argus sighed jokingly.
Keith snickered before glancing at Argus's direction, "You're gonna burn that ham if you don't pay attention to it."
"Oh crap." Argus yelped before quickly getting back to it.
"I swear if you burn the sugar with that blow torch, I will use that blow torch on you." Keith seriously threatened the Latino like he was Gordon Ramsey.
"Well, you take Christmas cooking seriously." Argus said tho he did gulp a bit. "No pressure."
"Tell that to my chef of a father." Keith whispered to himself.
"What?" Argus barely heard that
"I said; tell that to the people cooking in Hell's Kitchen during Christmas events." Keith excused.
"There were times at work I think I got a small glimpse of that." Argus snorted fondly but secretly caught that look on Keith's face but didn't question it, believing it to be personal.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Ashley was sitting by the fireplace with Kizuna — whom she was conversing with. Kai and Owen were playing a DIY paper soccer out of paper and cardboard with L'Arc and Rishia watching.
Mirellia and Carlson were playing chess, with Zane cheering for his wife and Glass watching with interest. Just so you know, Carlson didn't know how to play chess. Mirellia had to teach him the basics and he eventually learned.
Therese was cleaning her bracelets with care while Toyokami was laying upside down on the couch — bored as heck — beside the aqua haired jewel girl.
Filo, Fitoria, and Melty were playing with rubber bands and wooden D&D, or 40K Warhammer, sized figurines that Keith made for strategy building but Filo mistook them for toys. Keith didn't mind her playing with them, as long as she took good care of them — if she failed to do so, she won't get any treats for a day.
He could easily replace them anyway but he wanted Filo to learn how to be careful with valuable items. Especially if he bought ones made of glass or crystal, or even ice sculptures.
Raphtalia and Keel were keeping an eye on the three stooges, Elena and Rino were at the dining table — sipping cups of ale or water. Yenova, meanwhile, was in her room with Bitch (Malty S Melromarc) and Bitch II (Lesty).
Blue — Motoyasu's former dragon, now Zane's — was unfortunately not allowed in the living room, mainly due to her size and for Motoyasu's safety. Let's just say that she nearly bit Motoyasu's head off one time and also nearly clawed his nuts out. The latter was mainly due to Zane ordering her to sic him.
Motoyasu was not only given a restraining order towards the dragon, but also towards Filo. He may or may not have tried to sneak into Filo's room and slept with her. Filo woke up screaming bloody murder the next morning upon finding Motoyasu holding and snuggling her like she was a pillow, muttering about her being his angel forever.
The beatdown that Fitoria, Raphtalia, and Keith gave him was a clear indication that he had to control himself or else he'd one day find himself in hell. The murderous trio had to be held back by not only some of the stronger World Jumpers, but also by L'Arc, Kizuna, Glass, and Therese.
While the beatdown was happening, Melty was consoling a crying — and probably traumatized — Filo.
Motoyasu managed to limp out of the room and immediately ran back into his room like a child running to their room. The reason why he immediately ran back was because Keith grabbed Raphtalia's sword and ran after the blonde, promising to either castrate him by slicing or stabbing his balls off, or stab the sword through his asshole and through the mouth — or the other way around.
< 4 days ago >
"KKKKKKKYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! HHHHEEEELLLPPPP!!!" Filo screamed at the top of her lungs at seven o'clock in the morning, waking up almost everyone right away by her scream.
Some people, i.e: the World Jumpers, were still groggy as this was still something they were not used to. Besides who in the real world immediately sits up, fully awake, after hearing someone screaming. And then there's the anime characters who immediately wake up once someone screams and rushes to said room perfectly without tumbling.
"SPEAR GUY IS HOLDING ME!!!" Filo screamed out.
Zane and Keith, despite being in separate rooms, somehow synced and knew the appropriate response. Zane grabbed a hanger from his changing room and Keith grabbed a metal bat from his shield. The two, despite sleepy, rushed towards the room Filo's in and Zane bangs on the door upon finding out that its locked.
"FBI, OPEN UP, MOTHERFUCKER!" Zane shouts at the top of his lungs as kicks it open with full force.
Raphtalia was already swinging her sword at the blonde while Melty was comforting a trembling Filo as Rishia stood between them and Motoyasu.
"What's going o–?" a tired Argus asked, arriving at the scene.
Keith suddenly shouted in frustration as he charged forward, ready to swing his bat at Motoyasu, successfully smacking the blonde in the face with it.
"Well... kàn qǐlái xiàng yīgè liàn tóng pǐ zhě gānggāng tiáoxìle yīgè tiānshǐ nǚhái {looks like the pedophile just molested the angel girl}." Owen observed.
He felt a strong gust of wind brush past him and kicked Motoyasu in the stomach, sending the blonde into the wall. The blonde spat out some spit from that hit before sliding down in pain on the floor.
Fitoria began kicking Motoyasu, making sure to deliver most of those kicks towards his groin, while Keith continued swinging his bat at the blonde. Motoyasu was already surrendering but the three didn't care. Who was he to creep into the room and lay himself beside Filo, hugging her like a pillow as he did?
Just as Raphtalia was about to swing her sword, Keel held her back. Fitoria was about to deliver a punch that would no doubt cave his face in but she was held back by Kizuna and Glass. Keith was about to deliver another strike to the head but L'Arc and Therese held him back.
"Oi! Was zum Teufel ist los {What the fuck is going on}?!" Toyokami asked as she, Kai, Carlson and Ashley finally arrived
"Der Kardinale Pädophile {The Cardinal Pedophile}, lived up to his name." Argus informed
Toyokami scoffed in amusement, "Man, I really wish I had my phone."
Keith pushed L'Arc and Therese off him and was about to swing his bat at Motoyasu but Carlson held him back along with Argus. Toyokami just watched on while Ashley went to comfort Filo. Kai and Owen just watched on — well, the former watched on while the latter went back to bed.
Carlson continued to hold back the white haired boy as he tried to convince him, "Levi, stop! Murdering him won't solve anything!"
"Yeah?! How about him leaving Filo alone, huh?! There's a solution for ya! Kill him now and Filo won't have to face him anymore!" Keith suggested angrily as he struggled to get Argus, Carlson, L'Arc, and Therese off.
Argus was silent. Inwardly, he wanted to pull Carlson, Therese and L'Arc off him and watch Keith kill him but his better nature took the wheel. "I can't even try to talk. I'd be such a hypocrite." he mouthed to himself.
"He's crossed the line now!" Raphtalia agreed with her master, "First giving Filo perverted glances, then daydreaming about her openly, next sneaking into our room, taking Filo's shedded feathers right after, and now this! This is the final straw!"
"I concur! This is no way a hero acts! I should've gone through with ending their lives!" Fitoria roared in anger as she was now held back by Glass and Ashley as Kizuna was restraining the queen with her weapon in its fishing rod form and pulling as hard as she could but Fitoria was so strong, "You dare lay a hand on my successor! I'll make you pay!"
"Yo, Kitamura-san, anata wa hashiritai kamo shiremasen {you might want to run}." Kai warned. Motoyasu heeded his warning and limped out of the room to escape. "Tada shitte iru, anata o tasuketaikarade wa naku, nige sasemasu. Watashi wa tada anata ni yūrina sutāto o kiritai dakedesu. {Just know, I'm letting you run away, not because I want to help you. I simply want to give you a head start.}" Kai smirks at the end.
Motoyasu gulped and immediately limped away to his room. Just in time as Keith forced himself to be pulled backwards by the others, sending them tumbling back, and rolled back onto his feet while the others got back up.
He grabs Raphtalia's sword from her hands and runs after Motoyasu, who locked his room just in time as Keith bashed his shoulder against the door.
Keith, chuckled and licked the inside of his lower lips, before slamming Raphtalia's sword against the door like his name was Jack Torrance.
He hacked a good cut or two deep into the wooden door, and then punched his hand through, making his knuckles bleed slightly but it was in there at least. He retracts his hand and pokes his head slightly into view. "Here's Johnny!" he cackled.
He then sees Itsuki taking aim and firing through the hole on the door, just in the nick of time he raises Raphtalia's sword to block it, causing it to get stuck on the hole on the door.
Frostine taps her master's side, getting his attention, before she breathed ice on the door. Keith nodded in approval before kicking down the door and the two ran to the sides of the doorway to avoid any arrows Itsuki might fire.
"Prhesh, josh reev mi aghwon (Please, just leave me alone)." Motoyasu begged.
"What was that? I couldn't understand you with that broken jaw of yours." Keith snarked
"He says just leave him alone." Ren said.
"I will, once I've made sure you're not touching Filo ever again." Keith shouted back, still pretty pissed off.
"Wy pomesh (I promise)..." Motoyasu promised but Keith heard it as: "Why promise"
"What was that, you cheeky bastard?!" Keith repeated even more angrily than before but couldn't help a small snort of amusement.
Zane cracked up a little as he thought of Caroline from Persona 5 saying that, unknowingly the same thing was on Keith's mind.
"Ir promish (I promise)!" Motoyasu yelled, trying to make it as clear as possible
"You better keep that promise, or else I'm gonna castrate you next time with just my shield!" Keith threatened. "We clear on that, Kitamura?!"
"Wesh (Yes)!" the beaten up blonde acknowledged.
Keith, now fully awake, decided to go ahead and cook breakfast for everyone as he was now too angry to even go back to bed.
< Back to Present | 3 Hours till Christmas >
While mostly everyone was in the living room, getting ready to play some games, talk about things, Filo seemed eager to dig into the Christmas food. They were all, especially the four Cardinal heroes, bummed out that they didn't have a Christmas tree in their living room nor a present to give or receive.
But it was okay as the good company, or bad if you take the annoying idiots — i.e. Motoyasu and Itsuki, was a good enough present. Besides, of all the 4 months they've all spent living under the same roof, this felt special.
The World Jumpers were in their rooms though. Despite it being a holiday meant for the season of jolly, the eight were not jolly at all. They were all thinking about their previous Christmases. More specifically; the best ones they've had.
< Keith >
Keith's Christmases weren't special. Some Christmases were spent at an orphanage or foster home, very few were spent with happy families, and most were spent in either isolation or in pain.
However, he only had two very enjoyable Christmases. He spent one with Ashley and her parents, which was enjoyable. But there was one before that, the other was with his fellow orphans.
T'was a cold, winter night. The snow was falling from the sky and everyone was spending the holidays with family or doing their work to provide for themselves and others.
One such place where people provide for others is an orphanage. Everyone was wearing Christmas sweaters, both kids and caretakers alike. The only people allowed in the kitchen were the cooks and one orphan who knew how to handle the kitchen. So much so that once he entered the kitchen, he had acquired his own spot.
"Since when did you know how to make cake?" one of the caretakers asked as she watched an 11-year-old Keith baking the cake layers.
"The internet," was his sole answer, "I even found one where they used those cake bar snacks to make ice cream cakes."
"And is it good?" asked one of the other chefs. "Depends on what cake bar you're using. I prefer those foreign cake bars called Fugees or something like that." Keith answered.
"Lemme guess, it's another snack from the Philippines?" the female caretaker asked.
"You know how me and the others love their snacks. And don't give me that coy smile, missy. I know for one you kept one of those biscuit boxes for yourself." he scolded.
"Guilty as charged." she raised her hands in mock surrender.
While the cake was baking, Keith moved over to make some gingerbreads after making a gingerbread house in only under 10 minutes and letting it cool for 3 hours. "By the way, how's the ravioli coming along?" he asked the chef.
"It's actually almost ready. Almost in time for Christmas dinner." the chef admitted. "That's good to hear." Keith smiled as he paused on the gingerbread making for a brief moment to turn off the stove, where the macaroni soup was being cooked.
"You know, if you grow up, you could actually become a doctor." the female caretaker said. She only received a "pfft" from Keith. "As if they would let me do something like this. At best, I would run my own orphanage. Or maybe become a cook at a homeless shelter."
"Nonsense!" the female argued, "You are too good for that. Heck, you're so good you might even end up in Hell's Kitchen or something."
"That sounds nice but then what? I'll cook for only the most famous of celebrities and a bunch of millionaires and other rich people, sure. But who's gonna take care of the people who can't afford the food I make." Keith shrugged slightly while already nearly finishing the gingerbreads.
"You know, you and these kids will get a good future. You know that. And I bet they'll miss your cooking." the female caretaker said, "Hell, even I would miss it."
Keith smiled and looked back to his work before his smile turned slightly somber. "I wish they will..." he whispered to himself. "And I hope that when they feel down, they will think back today and miss this... Well, I would anyway."
He could hear the other orphans screaming happily as they ran down the stairs and into the mix of dining hall and living room, shouting "Merry Christmas" as they went by the kitchen. He sighed and shook his head fondly.
He then helped prepare the table and delivered the food for everyone to enjoy. "Big bro!" He was tackled into a hug by someone he cared about deeply. "Hey Ash." he groggily greeted the tackler.
"You know, you should count yourself lucky that I'm not holding anything when you tackled me." Keith scolded but was completely ignored. "Bro! Bro! Bro! It's Christmas! It's snowing again! Wanna build a snowman? Can we? Can we? Can we?!" she excitedly shouts like a hyperactive child.
"Jesus, Ash. Are you on sugar rush or somethin'?" Keith asked in disbelief at how hyper she was being. "Seriously, calm down. We can do that in the morning."
Ashley pouted and slumped. "Chu swaid that wast twime–" she didn't get to finish when Keith poked her side, making her yelp and avoid the next ones while screaming as he chased her. "You can't fool me with cutesies!" Keith declared as they chased each other around before some of the kids thought they were playing tag and joined in.
By the end of it, everyone was excited for the Christmas dinner and enjoyed it like one big family. As they ate, Keith could see the faces of his fellow orphans light up and compliment the chef. He didn't want recognition, despite the chef saying that it was his cooking, but who was he to deny thanks from his fellow kids for such a wonderful meal.
Back in the lounge, Keith knew that that wasn't Ashley's favorite Christmas. And he knew that even that wasn't his most favorite but it was one of the best.
< Zane >
Zane barely had any enjoyable Christmas days. Especially given that his father was a drunkard and smoker, he barely got to enjoy the smell of his own home so he usually spent days out of there. Didn't help that his dad barely cared about him.
One time, he got into a fight and got a broken nose. When his father was called to the principal's office, he didn't even show. Same thing happened during a school interview. One of his friend's parent's were the ones to attend for him under the excuse that his dad was working during the time of the interview, not wanting to say that his dad was either out gambling or drinking at a bar again.
The only Christmas he enjoyed were the ones spent with his uncle and aunt from his mother's side. And thank God he spent most Christmas days at them because his dad barely even acknowledged that he left. But one Christmas he did enjoy was with his classmates and, as much as he hated to admit it, with his ex-girlfriend.
While he still remembered the time she cheated on him for some douche who had too much pride in himself. Don't worry, Zane beat the shit out of him. Literally. Zane beat him up in the cafeteria after seeing him groping one of the cheerleaders despite her protests and it resulted in a fight between him and Zane, with the redhead being the clear winner after uppercutting the guy and delivering a punch to the stomach that forced him to shit out his lunch. Out of both holes mind you.
While that put Zane in both detention, considerable expulsion, and a possible case for court, because not only were the douche's parents against him but so was his ex-girlfriend. He didn't fall for her cheap trick of guilt tripping and even called her a slut for cheating on him in the first place. While doing that certainly didn't help his case, the cheerleaders came to his rescue.
In the end, he won the issue and both the douche and his ex never bothered him again. How is this connected to the Christmas memory? Well, during his class's Christmas party, Zane was the most popular guy for standing up in defending some of his seniors. You see, Zane was only a middle-school freshman and the cheerleaders were high-schoolers.
Zane got invited to join both the football team and basketball team. Hell, even the baseball team wants him. While Zane wasn't much of a big fan of sports, he certainly knew how to play and score, especially in video games. He was a friend to pretty much both jocks and nerds at that point.
During that Christmas party, the basketball team gifted him a signed basketball, the baseball team gifted him his own baseball bat, and the football team gifted him a football. As if that Christmas couldn't have been any better, the cheerleaders were there interacting with him, the entire team — which was very rare.
Oh how he regretted beating those bullies to near death. But sometimes, even the most patient of people have a breaking point. And when they snap, they snap violently.
In the lounge, he looked up on the ceiling, reminiscence the names of each of the cheerleaders that he liked. He even secretly claimed that they were his secret harem. Maybe he could ask them if they like him. As far as he remembered, they haven't got boyfriends yet despite graduating while he was gone. He even talks to them sometimes on social media and was thankful they still kept in touch.
"Fuck, I think Samantha's gonna bawl her eyes out when she finds out I'm married." Zane cursed. "Well, I better lay it down slowly for them and ask if they still have an interest in me. Maybe they'll agree to share? Or that's a little too hopeful?" he wondered. Having the entire cheer squad would be a score.
< Carlson >
The young Englishman sat alone in his room, cleaning his gun and reassembling it in quick succession. He doesn't know what Christmas is nor its purpose, but since his teammates were claiming its a holiday all about fun and togetherness. He never experienced Christmas. He spent most of his cold winter nights training in his room, being forced to run the entire block in the snow wearing only his shorts, doing laps in the freezing waters of a lake or pool, or even going to retrieve an item at the bottom of a frozen lake in the dead of night with only a flashlight.
Due to that, he grew resilient against the cold of winter. In the summer, he had different exercises and tasks. Same with spring and fall. The only time he enjoyed winter was eating his first ice cream and building a snowman, which he used for practice with his training/airsoft pistol.
This was his first proper Christmas. He doesn't know if he'll enjoy it or not, but if his team wants to celebrate then he wasn't going to stop them.
< Kai >
Kai was meditating in his room. He could remember her. His mother. The two of them are playing video games together. Kai hasn't played video games since her passing but he still remembers it very well. It was the last Christmas he spent with her. But it was where he got his interest in ninjas. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.
"Anata wa kanari umaku yatte imasu. Sunēku to onajiyōni kossori to arukimawaru to omoimasu. {You're doing pretty good. I would expect you to sneak around like you do with Snake.}" Kai's mother, Ayano, said.
"Watashi wa ninja ni naritai to omoimasu! {I think I wanna be a ninja!}" Kai exclaimed as he was in the level were he was fighting Armstrong, "Chūgaeri ya baku ten shi tari, satsujin shi tari shitai! {I wanna do somersaults, backflips, and swordfights!}"
Ayano sighed. "Sono yōna koto o shitai baai wa, bideogēmu o yamenakereba narimasen. {If you want to do something like that, you have to stop playing video games.}" she sits beside him and watches him play. "Kendō o hajimete taisō o surubekidesu. {You should start kendo and do gymnastics.}"
"Watashi wa suru yo! {I will!}" Kai promised as he continued to play his game while his mother shook her head fondly.
A year later, a few months after his mother's passing, he was in a dojo. He was training with his sensei in kendo equipment, kendo sticks clashing against each other. Kai dodges and weaves around his sensei's strikes and retaliates with his own once he finds an opening.
His sensei dodges back and strikes down towards him. Remembering some of Raiden's moves in Metal Gear Rising, he blocks his sensei's attack and pushes his sword back before delivering a front kick to push his sensei back for space. Before his sensei could recover from the kick, he didn't do anything fancy like a jump attack or a spin attack, a simple lunge was all he delivered.
However, his sensei expected that and parried his kendo sword away before delivering an upward strike, hitting Kai in the lower part of his helmet. The dark-skinned boy stumbles a bit before falling on his ass, shaking his head as despite wearing protective gear, it was still quite painful.
"Yoi. Anata wa kaizen shite imasu. Soredemo nao, anata wa dokuji no tatakai-kata o tsukai tsudzukete imasu. {Good. You are improving. Yet you continue to use your own fighting style.}" Kai's sensei said.
"Chigaimasu ka? {Is it wrong?}" Kai snarked, "Anata no oshie ni shitagawanakatta watashi o shikaru tsumoridesu ka? {Are you going to scold me for not following your teachings?}"
"Nani ga anata o sō omowa seta nodesu ka? {What made you think so?}" his sensei asks, "Watashi wa genkaku kamo shiremasen, demo watashi wa mujō janai. {I may be strict, but I'm not heartless.}"
Kai sighed and nodded. His sensei can be strict sometimes but never once has he been harsh towards him. "Watashi wa tada... watashi wa tada kanojo ga koishīdesu. Watashi no okāsan, to iu ka. {I just... I just miss her. My mom, I mean.}"
His sensei let softness appear on his features. "Watashi mo kanojo ga koishīdesu. Kanojo ga watashi no dōjō ni kite, anata o kunren suru tame ni watashi no tasuke o motomete kita no o ima demo oboete imasu. {I miss her too. I still remember her coming to my dojo and asking for my help in training you.}"
"Watashi wa kanojo o shitsubō sa setakunai dakedesu, anata wa shitte imasu. {I just don't want to disappoint her, you know.}" Kai said, looking down.
His sensei smiled and picked up his kendo sword. "Kanojo to issho ni kyūjitsu o sugoshimashou. {Spend the holidays with her.}"
"Sensei–" Kai was about to argue but his sensei raised his hand to stop him. That alone made Kai understand and bowed in thanks.
Kai immediately went to the cemetery that day and talked to his mother about how he finally got to do what she wanted him to do the year prior, thanking her for the opportunity to do so. Adding that playing games wasn't the same without her.
Those two were the sole Christmas he cherishes the most. The last Christmas with his mother, and the Christmas after he changed into the person he is now.
"Okāsan, mimamottete ne. {Mother, watch over me.}" Kai softly said.
< Toyokami >
Toyokami was in her room, a glass of toblerone chocolate mousse in hand. She sat on the floor and leaned back against her bed and hummed softly. "Bruder... {Brother...}" she mutters softly as she recalls the last Christmas she spent with him. She was 11-years-old back then.
They were in Germany, visiting her father's side of the family. Toyokami was with her brother and his friends, who were all in their late teens to early twenties. All of them had bottles of heineken with Toyokami eyeing a bottle.
"No." her brother sternly said. "Yes!" Toyokami screamed as she yoinked the bottle and a bottle opener before running off with them. "Kami!" her brother called out as he chased the now giggling Toyokami — who managed to open the bottle and began chugging.
The next thing everyone knew was Toyokami screaming bloody murder on the top of her lungs.
Toyokami chuckled at the memory. She didn't see her brother again ever since. He still sends her letters sometimes since he was doing his job where there wasn't much internet. The last time she saw him was a few months after her 12th birthday.
Toyokami slumps against her bed again. "Verdammt, bruder. {Damn it, brother.}" she cursed before taking a large gulp of her chocolate mousse.
< Ashley >
Ashley was busy trying out a few Christmas sweaters in her room. One of them in particular gains her interest. It was a yellow snowman themed sweater. She remembered having something similar to it way back then.
She remembered being adopted by a rich family and taking care of her for five years — three of them had Keith with her after she pleaded to adopt him too. It was her and Keith's first Christmas with a real family.
"Keith, Keith, Keith! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" Ashley chipperly cheered as she jumped around his bed, making the brunette groan groggily.
"Okay, okay, I'll be up..." Keith mumbled sleepily. "Big brother...!" Ashley whined.
"Now, now, Joan. Let your brother sleep. He looks like he's really tired." their mother, Lilian, softly said. She almost resembled Ashley if she was an adult with honey blonde hair and hazel eyes.
"But mommy...!" Ashley whined, wanting to spend Christmas with her brother already.
"Joan, it's Christmas Eve. You still have Christmas in the morning." their father, Aldéric, told her. He was a stern-looking adult male with cream blonde hair and beard with green eyes.
"Big bro!" Ashley shook him, making Keith groan on his pillow. "Wake up!"
"Lemme sleep, sis! Dang it!" Keith whined.
"Charles." their father warned.
"Sis, screw off!" Keith warned as his sister was now on top of him, shaking him awake.
"Charlemagne Duke Lis-de'Fleur!" their father warned.
Keith, who was once named Charlemagne, flinched at their father's raised voice. She remembers her brother saying something but the pillow muffled it. She remembers her father calling her name and giving her a look of warning, which she immediately took as a sign that she should get off her brother.
"I'm up, I'm up." Keith/Charles tiredly groaned. "Just so you stop getting us in trouble, sis."
Ashley didn't even register the last part as she cheered happily and latched onto Keith like a koala. "Christmas!"
"Yes, yes, sis... Christmas." Keith/Charles sighed softly.
Keith/Charles stood up and joined the family at the dining table where he brought out the homemade Christmas treats and pastries he made. Ashley immediately nicked a chocolate cupcake with vanilla filling and whipped cream topping.
After dinner, the family walks over to their large living room where the 10 feet tall Christmas tree stood. Keith walked over to his present to Ashley. "Merry Christmas." Keith/Charles didn't even finish fully as Ashley immediately yoinked the gift and began removing the wrap.
"Minecraft!" Ashley cheered as she got a Minecraft themed blanket and a green jacket with a creepy face on the left chest.
Ashley beamed with joy at the gift before it returned present day in the lounge. "I knew I forgot something. Man, I wish I brought that jacket along..." she huffed in disappointment.
< Owen >
Owen was in his room, bored out of his mind. He knew for a fact that Christmas will be lacking in the lounge since there's not much to do. Not to mention that he's sharing it with three idiots, a bunch of furries, children, and a hot queen that's already married to the American.
"Zhìshǎo hái yǒu shíwù. {At least there is food.}" Owen sighed. He rolls onto his back on the bed and looks up to the ceiling. "Wǒ xiǎng zhīdào nǐguò dé zěnme yàng, jiějiě? {I wonder how you're doing, sis?}"
He couldn't help but think of his sister, Jai. She was the reason he was stealing money. His parents were already having money issues, especially since his dad got fired after the company he was working for got bankrupt.
When his sister got diagnosed, he almost gave up on everything. Stopped going to school, beating the crap out of people just for talking shit about her, even nearly being sent to a mental health hospital just to get some health.
The only thing that kept him from snapping was his sister. He just wanted to see her get better soon, to go back to the normal days when he would just sit down at home playing games, teasing her about school, dreaming about the future... But now, he instead steals money just to help pay the hospital bills and lie about where he gets the money.
But if there was one thing he never lies about, it's the fact that he would always celebrate Christmas with her. The last Christmas he spent with her was just two months before he became a World Jumper.
He and Jai were binge watching Rush Hour 1-3 since their parents were out buying food. They were currently watching the Massage Parlor scene in Rush Hour 2, laughing their asses off at the comedic action on screen.
"Tā zěnme hái méiyǒu huòdé àosīkǎ jiǎng? {How come he hasn't won an Oscar yet?}" Jai, Owen's sister, asked while laughing her heart out — even more loudly when Chris Tucker towel snapped that one guy in the nuts after yoinking his towel.
"Chénglóng quèshí xūyào àosīkǎ jiǎng. {Jackie Chan really needs an Oscar.}" Owen agreed, wiping the tears from his eyes before mimicking Tucker punching Jackie. "Caathur! (Carter!)"
"Man, y'all look alike!" Jai retorted back, trying to sound like Chris Tucker before coughing. "Fack, that hurt me thraut(throat)..."
"Bakayaro! {You idiot!}" Owen jeered before his sister slapped him in the face with a pillow.
Jai suddenly began coughing, and it wasn't a light cough that someone who had a common cold or was recovering from so much laughter.
It was the cough that belonged to someone that has 'Black Lung'. If you don't know Red Dead Redemption then that's tuberculosis for ya, partner. Fucking Micah.
Owen moved away slightly but didn't get up from his seat. He and his sister were wearing face masks, with his sister even wearing a face shield just in case. He hands her a water bottle and pain medications.
"Nǐ yīnggāi wèi zìjǐ hǎozhuǎn ér gǎndào gāoxìng. {You should feel good about yourself for getting better.}" Owen softly said as Jai took the bottle and medicine.
She sets down the bottle on her bedside table before relaxing down on her bed, breathing softly. "Y-Yeah..."
Owen then stands up to get his bag, which was set by the corner of the room. He opens it and grabs something inside. It was a wrapped present.
"Shèngdàn jié kuàilè! {Merry Christmas!}" Owen said as he handed it to her. She shakily accepted it and began unwrapping it. He didn't need to see her smile as the way her eyes lit up with joy was the only sign he needed to know if she was smiling behind her mask.
"A-A pa–" she mumbled, her voice shaking. "A painting set?"
"Nǐ yīzhí xiǎng huà yóuqī. Suǒyǐ wǒ gěi nǐ mǎile zhěngtào. {You always wanted to paint. So I bought you the whole set.}" Owen said.
"Nǐ běn kěyǐ gěi wǒ mǎi yīgè shùmǎ bǎn. {You could've bought me a digital pad.}" Jai snarked.
"Well, fack yu too den." Owen snarked right back before the two chuckled.
Jai opened the painting set and threw one of the paint tubes at Owen, who yelped and covered himself. "OI! MAH MONHEH!" Owen yelled, offended that his sister was just tossing the paint tubes towards him like they were Nerf darts.
Jai just giggled before using her pillow to protect herself when Owen retaliated by throwing the tubes right back at her.
Owen sighed as he sat up and rubbed his eyes with his right thumb and index finger. "Ungrateful prick." he mumbled before smiling fondly.
< Argus >
Argus was laying down on his bed, hugging one of the pillows. While Christmas was a time of happiness, it was lonely for him without his mom. He never knew his dad so it was just him and his mom.
He still remembered when bullies would often say he doesn't have a dad because he was just a mistake, an accident of a one night stand. Those idiots now had 30 out of 32 teeth left.
If they were lucky, that is.
Those that weren't were now eating through drinking straws for a few days and spent a lot of money visiting the dentist.
He always wondered if that was true but his mom assured him that he wasn't. She always told him that his father loved him, yet never tells him why he left or where he is.
It hurt when one day when he was still fifteen, cops show up at his door and tell him his mother was gone. No one found her. He thought of a lot of reasons. She left him, she went to go find his dad and got lost, or worse got kidnapped or was a victim of assault. He didn't know what to think.
Thankfully, he was nearly of age when he could take care of himself. Plus his homeroom teacher took pity on him, especially since he was one of her best students, so she offered to be his legal guardian until that day came around.
He didn't know what Christmas was like back then. His mom was almost always away from home and he was alone in the house spending his time watching cartoons and anime.
The only time he got a good Christmas was when he and his teacher went out to eat out for Christmas at any restaurant he choses. Obviously, since he was latino, you'd think he'd choose Taco Bell, right?
Who the fuck goes to Taco Bell at Christmas? If you do then, I hope I didn't offend. But seriously, why? Of all the places to spend Christmas, it had to be Taco Bell? You're either addicted to their menu, have no other place to go and want to try their menu, or you just have a problem.
Well, because he was a growing boy and was rather curious, he wanted to know what Hooters was... Yup... Of all the places to spend Christmas, it was Hooters...
Lets just say Argus grew wise and found respect towards the human body... and also found himself to be straight. And probably an interest towards hot waitresses... also a passion for cooking and being a waiter himself... not that he wants to work at Hooters, of course.
Was it concerning that he randomly blurted out that he wanted to see his teacher — who was only eight years older than him, she was twenty-three at the time — in a Hooters outfit?
Well, he always wondered what Christmas with his mom was like. Probably not as interesting that's for sure. Still, he wished to have at least spent a Christmas with her before she disappeared. At least his teacher was caring enough.
A bit of heat then crept up to his cheeks while thinking about his teacher wearing the Hooters outfit again. "Gah!" he yelped and hid his face behind a pillow, groaning in embarrassment for even thinking that.
"Cwan't wie... She does wook hwot..." Argus mumbled meekly behind the pillow. Feeling like he was blushing even more when he remembered that one time, just a week before Christmas break, one of the senior students was miserably flirting with his teacher/foster mom.
Lets just say he got into a fight with said senior and forced him to apologize through a chokehold after slamming his head into the locker a few times.
"Yo era tan estúpido... {I was so stupid...}" he mumbled before thinking back. "I wonder how she's doing... Oh Dios {God}, I hope she's okay..."
A knock came from outside his bedroom door. "Arg, we're gonna head down now. Come join us." Ashley said.
"I'll be right down." Argus said, shaking his head and heading out to join the others.
< Timeskip >
"Five... Four... Three... Two..." Toyokami counted down before blowing the party horn. "Merry Christmas!" she cheered as Zane and Owen popped the confetti cannons.
"🎵 It's the most, wonderful time of the year! 🎵" Keith sang as everyone, especially the other Cardinal Heroes who came from alternate Earths, whooped and cheered.
Filo and Fitoria were already digging into their own gingerbread houses while Frostine was already soloing an entire tub of mint ice cream.
"Merry Christmas, Jumpers." Keith cheered, raising his glass of wine towards the others, who did the same. "Merry Christmas."
"Finally, we can finally ditch that world after New Years. No more politics!" Zane cheered as he slumped on his seat.
"Yup, we got everything we need to start us off on our next adventure." Toyokami agreed.
Keith was silent about that. He didn't want to tell them that he was growing suspicious of GM and wanted to find a way to locate Luminosity's teammate, Forge. With the equipment he now has, he can do just that. He just hoped nothing unexpected turns up.
< Meanwhile >
"And if you look here, this is where the eight Dragonslayers from the stars slew the great Flame Dragon." a tour guide explains as a few civilians and two rose knights with them were looking at the valley in awe.
The nerd pole that Ashley built was still there, embedded diagonally against the ground. The scorch marks from the dragon was also there. But something was missing.
"Um... Where's the dragon's body?" one of the civilians asked.
"Eh? It should be there." the tour guide said in confusion as he looked around and found none.
"Ha, I knew it was too good to be true." one of the rose knights scoffed before getting elbowed by his companion.
*GROWL*
"Was that your stomach?" the knight's companion asked. "You really need to eat something."
"That wasn't me." the rose knight argued.
The growling grew louder and painful to the ears as it was a combination of a reptilian growl, a snake hiss, loud roar, and static noises.
The noise came from behind them and what they saw was something out of a nightmare. It was a headless, scaleless and fleshless Flame Dragon that was spinning and snapping in multiple directions.
It screeched at them with multiple horrendous voices before lunging at them before the scene fades to black.
Chapter End