To: @feytaline-loves
From: @silveredfoxxeh
For feytaline-loves ! Happy Holidays!!! I hope this came out ok <3
The door opened on a drab little cell in a well protected if out of the way room at a hidden location. “Well well” came a voice from within. “I didn’t realize it was still visiting hours.”
As the lights brightened there was a rustle as the mountain of a man made his way into the room holding a small pile of boxes.
“And to what do I owe this rare pleasure?"
Seven held out the pile and pointed out matter of factly "Even if you’re pretty despicable, no one deserves to miss out on Christmas. These were left for you."
Unwrapping a few of them as holiday music began to play from the radio Seven switched on before taking off again with a gruff "Merry Christmas” Ace realized that they were all books.
“Well at least I’ll have some things to read” he said with some sarcasm, but was inwardly pleased that anyone would bother to think of him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seven opened the door with a sigh. It was annoying working on Christmas eve but he at least had a warm home to come back to. He smiled as he heard the commotion start up in the kitchen and twin balls of energy came flying out to greet him. “Merry Christmas” He said and headed inside where Lotus was trying to make sure that the tree was perfection itself. There were even freshly baked cookies waiting on the table. A taste of domestic festiveness that he hadn’t really expected from her until he realized that she would do everything in her power to see that her daughters were happy at all times. They had shared many tears after coming home from the nonary game and having everything come out but she seemed to have mellowed out a bit. Still was a sassy and sarcastic spitfire most of the time but he wouldn’t want her any other way. Nona went over to sit by her mother and snag one of the waiting cookies and Lotus held the plate out inviting everyone to grab one as well. “Merry Christmas to you too” She smiled.
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At the CrashKeys Headquarters.
A very enthusiastic girl all but leapt on the still sleeping young man. “Jumpy! I finished your present!" Junpei rubbed some sleep out of his eyes and smiled still just happy to be a part of her continued existence. There were so many things that they still had to do in this world but this time, in this one timeline at least they were allowed to do them together.
Akane smiled gently as if she could tell exactly what he was thinking and pulled out a slightly lumpy but nicely wrapped package. "What Kanny - not waiting until everyone else is awake to pass out the gifts?” He raised an eyebrow but was more than curious what the lump could possbly be.
He took it gingerly and realized that it was slightly squishy.
He tried to resist the urge to squish it more under his hands to figure out what was in it since Akane was staring at him with an expectant look on her face.
“You don’t want to wait for your gift first?” He asked and was a bit confused when she shook her head and looked at him with determination waiting for him to get on with it.
“You get this one first before anything else” She said slightly mysteriously and then continued staring at him knowing that her will and his curiosity would be enough to get him tearing the wrapping paper off in a hurry. He took a moment to be amused at the design choice - black paper with small keys covering it in different sizes and shapes and then pulled back a corner with a rip to reveal “A sweater?” He held it up to look at the design a bit better.
It was… it was quite unique. Blotches of dark and green blended together in a confusing blur of shapes. There were hints of red in a few places and the texture helped explain the lumpiness of the package. As he looked harder he realized he could make out a slight echo of the shape of wings, and an almost trunk like appendage. “You - you made a festive Funyarinpa sweater for me?” He asked. He watched her eyes remain shuttered as she nodded and confirmed that she had indeed made it all herself.
Before she could ask what he thought of it he tackled her in a hug. “I absolutely love it!" Beaming she demanded he try it on right then so he could wear it all day and he complied without a delay. Smiling down at it he tried to convey how happy he was that Akane had actually made him something and it was something that he was probably the only one who might appreciate. He grabbed her hand and all but dragged her out to where the tree was set up so they could get their day started and he could give her one of his gifts for her.
He handed it over to her in a rush but made sure to tell her "You have to wait for the others. But one gift for a gift ok?” He smiled as she pulled off the wrapping and her eyes lit up.
“A book on unexplained phenomena! It’s perfect.” She smiled as he wondered where her brother was. She only gave him a mysterious smile in return and dragged him off to get some breakfast while they waited for Aoi to join them.
The missing brother in question was off pulling himself together after a sleepless night. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it but something had him restless. As he went to check on their morning things a small envelope fell out at him and his eyes went wide. It was a letter. Written in neat rather than childish scrawl, and apparently meant for him. It had his old code name on the front and more than that reminded him of all the letters he would get from a younger more innocent Akane.
As he held it in numb fingers it sent waves of memory coursing through him and it took him a moment to steady his nerves to open it. Pulling out the single folded over paper inside the message was short and broken up.
Dear Santa,
was all it read and then on the front and after opening the paper all the way he found only two words on the inside. Thank You.
As he looked at those two words, neatly written in his sister’s handwriting, he realized that she had to have seen him tell Junpei about what he would do for her when they were young, and what being her Santa Claus had meant to him. How he had only wanted to give her back that happiness and see her smile and live again. And he realized that they had really done it. The future was still vague and unknown but even months after the Decision game things still didn’t quite feel real to him. He kept waiting expecting it all to vanish but holding this card that in any other timeline he was sure he would never have had a chance to have been given, he finally felt a sense of peace. They were here, all of them together. And that was the best gift he could have ever been given. He heard laughter from the main room and figured it was more than time to get the day started. With a smirk he imagined him dressed as the actual Santa Claus helping to set in motion all of this being possible. Well the idiot helped. Thankfully Junpei didn’t mess up this timeline with his choices.
Christmas together. His smile was genuine for the first time in what felt like too long a time as he heard poorly sung out Christmas carols start to come from the living room.
