Ritchie sighed as he watched his guild. Everything was in shambles. Mario and David were fighting, Inmo joining in to taunt them both while Lucas tried fruitlessly to stop them from causing damage but Ritchie knew it was only a matter of time before he joined in on the chaos. Bjorn had come back to celebrate Christmas with them and was currently drinking them dry, whilst Kit and Tapio were both messing with his different staves and then struggling to put out the fires they started.
All in all a pretty normal day in Divinus Magia.
"It seems not even the Christmas spirit can settle them down." Brandon commented.
"Nope."
"You know," Brandon said loudly, "you'd think that with what time of year it is they would be a little more careful to be on the nice list."
Catching on to his twins plan Ritchie nodded seriously. "One would think. After all the consequences of being on the naughty list are very... not good."
"Not at all."
By this point the rest of the guild had keyed into their conversation. David laughed and rolled his eyes.
"The naughty list? Even if you believe that stuff, what? You get coal? Yeah so scary." The ice mage rolled his eyes but stopped when he saw the leaders confused looks.
"Coal..?" Ritchie and Brandon both spoke and moved in sync as they looked at each other and then back to the others. "What does coal have to do with anything?"
Mario looked at them incredulously. "What do you mean? If you're on the naughty list you get coal instead of presents. I thought that was common knowledge."
"What!? What kind of punishment is coal!?" Ritchie looked startled. "That's just dumb!"
"There's no punishment there..." Brandon shook his head. "Just with holding of a reward. And you even get something still."
"You didn't know that?" Kit asked confused. "Even Tapio knows that right?"
The cat nodded in agreement as Bjorn chugged his drink.
"Boss knew that too, right boss?" Inmo asked leaning across the table and getting in his face.
"Of course." He shrugged. "Although if you two didn't what did you mean by "consequences" then?"
Ritchie sat on their stand pulling Brandon with him. "Well, in Salode we have a quote unquote normal Christmas for the good kids-"
"-While the naughty kids get what is called black Christmas." Brandon finished.
"So, what is Black Christmas?" Lucas asked after a pause.
"Hmm... well the easiest way to describe it would be..." Ritchie trailed off. How did he describe it to people who'd never heard of it? He and Brandon grew up with it so explaining it to someone who'd never even heard of it was difficult.
"Why don't we explain to them the way that all children in Salode learn of it?" Brandon suggested. "The carol is the best way to explain it."
"Yeah, okay." Ritchie looked up at his curious guild members and grinned. "Sit tight now everyone! We're about to sing you a song!"
"Wha-?" Mario went to interrupt but found himself shushed by Kit.
"Shut up I wanna hear this!"
The room fell silent and Brandon began to tap out a beat on the stand. It started out a gentle merry beat but quickly picked up pace, Ritchie joining in with his own beat, adding an element of slight chaos to the melody. Then Ritchie began to sing.
"Yule logs we decorate with wreathes of spider feet."
"Ding-dong, ding-dong." Brandon backed him up with softer vocals.
"But I couldn't eat it!" The beat went on before Ritchie picked up again. "Stockings that were hung without a care, are nearly bare!"
"Ding-dong, ding-dong."
"The ringing of the bells." As Ritchie sung this line both looked up and smiled at the guild. A couple people shuddered at the dark looks in their eyes.
Brandon took over the main part, his voice full of mischief. "The nice kids are fine so..."
"I'll leave'em to the big guy."
"The naughty kids are mine though-"
"I'm coming for them this time!"
"Don't you see you can't leave?" Brandon's tone though keeping the mischief also seemed amused.
"You think can escape me?" Ritchie matched his tone easily, conveying the humorous disbelief equally as well.
"Wanna play?"
"Wanna play?"
Then together. "All my love for you is your Christmas gift!" They both smirked as they continued in unison, the beat slowing once more. "A Black Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. A Black Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. A Black Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. A Black Santa Claus is..."
The entire time they sang this their voice's were soft as the beat slowly sped up once again. And then when they cut themselves off Brandon tilted his head and with a smile said. "Oh, here are the naughty children." While staring directly at David and Mario.
"Celebrating love but it's a nightmare!" Ritchie's cheerful tone betrayed the songs lyrics. "What's the point of dreaming when the truth is right there?" He smiled at them. "Starting midnight, I'll awaken you from dancing sugar plums! From a cold street corner, celebrating Christmas!"
Brandon came back in with the next verse. "In a world of liars that can play you, not a prayer above could save us so we play too. Drowning out the cries, are jingle bells that ring into the sky! Wanna sleep in the heavenly peace?But it ain't a holy night!"
Their voices melded together once more as they sung together. "It's ringing ding-dong, ding-dong all through the night! So have a Happy Christmas Day!"
Then together they tapped out the beat, the others could only stare in awe of how smoothly each knew their part. Had they practiced this before or was this just do to their twin bond? So enough however the beat faded out to a softer sound.
"Under the veil of a Christmas sceneIt's party time now, ok?" Ritchie sang out voice taking an odder tone.
"Let's get a ticket to the herb chickenYou want it black leather? I'm gonna go sleigh!" Brandon's voice took the same childish tone.
"You silly people party in the daylight."
"Now wait a sec, is it Halloween?" Brandon wasn't quite singing these lines, instead it sounded more like a genuine question.
"But at the end of the nightYou're all just puppets on a string!"
"Huh?"
Brandon took over the main verse once more. "We should play a trick, right?"
"Let chaos reign for one night!"
"And looking like the big guy-"
"-we're fooling them at midnight!"
"Don't you see you can't leave?" Brandon started sounding slightly exasperated as though he'd had this conversation several times.
"You think you can escape me?" Ritchie, on the other hand, still seemed mainly amused.\
"Wanna play?"
"Wanna play?"
Together they sounded giddy as they sang. "There's no way you can get out of this one!"
The pace of both the beat and the singing abruptly increased but still neither faltered or made a mistake.
"Dance until sunrise and rave up tonight-" Ritchie started the verse.
"Memento mori, yeah it's always right!" Brandon finished.
"FLASH ON AND OFF, for the lovers who fight-"
"-Kiss all the shackles goodbye!"
"Drink!"
"Hey!"
"Sing!"
"Hey!"
"Dance!"
"Hey!"
"Shout!"
"Hey!"
Then together again. "2 AM and kicking it to hell and back again! Screaming and chanting, better not regret! Merry Christmas!" The cheery beat played for a bit longer once more before they came in once more. "A Black Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. A Black Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. A Black Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. A Black Santa Claus is..."
RItchie smirked at Inmo and Lucas as he asked. "Shall I snatch you away?"
Brandon smiled. "Everybody's happy so it's alright!"
Ritchie shook his head. "But equality is harder than a cake slice."
"And tonight we'll make a pinky swear while dancing in the hush!"
"A never ending nightmare known as Christmas!"
"Christmas!"
Ritchie rolled his eyes, voice going dark once more. "In a world of only pain and bawling-"
"-Santa black as night can be the change we all need!".
"Putting out the cries are jingle bells that ring into the sky!"
"Wanna sleep in the heavenly peace? But it ain't a holy night!"
Brandon started again. "All of the fear and love that's set to ignite!"
"Even your mortal body, I want them all tonight!"
"It's ringing ding-dong, ding-dong, All through the night!"
"So have a happy Christmas Day!" The two leaned against each other and smiled as they sang the last line together, hands stilling and letting silence rein through the guild hall.
"So, did that explain it?" Ritchie asked standing back up.
"Honestly?" Lucas said. "Not really. But I think it's still terrifying."
"That's the kind of stuff you grew up with?" David stared at them and shook his head. "No wonder you think Dodge the Lightning Bolt is perfectly normal punishment."
"So are you ready for a black Christmas?" Brandon asked tilting his head to the side as he watched them.
"Nope!" Inmo threw his arms up. "No thanks, I'm good! Right boss?"
"...Sure."
"I don't want a black Christmas!" Tapio agreed. "I couldn't tell what that even entails but I can tell it's not good!
The twins grinned at each other. "Good, good." Ritchie smiled. "Now you best behave if you want a good old regular Christmas. Now go on and get! Take a mission or go do something productive!"
Soon the guild hall was empty except for the twins and Bjorn. Bjorn looked at them and chuckled. "Did you have to scare them like that?"
"It should get us some peace and quiet at the very least." Brandon smiled and stood brushing himself off. He turned to his brother and smiled. "Drink?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
A/N: I know I'm a little late for Christmas but December was just full on no motivation for me lol. So I figured why not write it now? I'm also not even sure if I got the song meaning right but whatever, it's like four in the morning so I don't even care. I wanted to see if I could write a good singing fic without typing it like a script and boy, did it take a decent chunk of time.
Also I've started writing another book that is based on Origins of Olympus Michael so I'd appreciate it if you could check that out. Peace!