DISCLAIMER: Gen-X still belongs to Marvel unless Santa brings me a really good Christmas present this year. Of course that won't stop me from using Marvel's characters. Please don't sue me -- I'm a student so I have no money.

ARCHIVIST'S NOTE: This story was part of the 2000 Holiday Fanfic Project.

'Twas the night before Christmas and the headmaster of the Massachusetts Academy found himself in the middle of what appeared top be a war zone.

Sean surveyed the scene around him and took stock of the damage. The ornaments that had not cracked or smashed lay scattered across the carpet. Water trickled from the fireplace and formed puddles on the floor. Brightly gift-wrapped boxes, now somewhat mangled, had been stacked beneath the front window to form a makeshift staircase. The heavy-duty flashlight teetering on the windowsill cast just enough light for Sean to see the milk and cookies mashed into the sofa.

And two little boys, one pink and one green, stood in the middle of the chaos, looking as though they had done absolutely nothing wrong.

The tall Irishman crouched down to speak to his two youngest students. "So, lads, do ye care to explain what happened here?"

The green boy smiled brightly. "Leech and Artie wait for Santa. Want to see Santa's sleigh." His little pink companion togged on his sleeve and projected an image above their heads. "Oh, and reindeer," Leech added, giving a thank-you nod to Artie.

Sean wiped a hand over his face in a combination of frustration and fatigue. "Lads, ye know that Santa won't come until we're all asleep. Don't you want him to bring us presents?"

"But Leech and Artie want to see Santa!"

The headmaster realized that the discussion was going nowhere fast. He decided to change tactics. "Why don't you tell me how all of this happened," he suggested as he gestured across the room.

The two boys exchanged puzzled glances. "All of what?" Leech asked.

Sean groaned and sat down hard on the floor. "Well, for starters, how did you both get wet?"

"Oh." Leech looked down at his dripping Power Ranger pajamas. "Artie got dirty," he explained helpfully.

"Uh-huh. So how come ye got wet, too?"

"Artie dropped the hose."

For the first time Sean noticed the green garden hose snaked across the floor and around the corner. To say this was not a good sign was an understatement. "And ye needed the hose because ..."

Artie projected an image of a fireman.

"What?! Sean bolted up, almost choking on his words. "What fire? Where?"

"In the fireplace," Leech informed him, confused. He looked at Artie questioningly. Where else would there be a fire?

Meanwhile Sean had tracked the hose around the corner. "I assume ye boys hooked this up to the kitchen faucet?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

Artie nodded proudly as a picture of the two boys shivering in the snow appeared over his head.

"Right. It's too cold to go outside," the Irishman muttered to more to himself than to his young students. "Can ye tell me why ye tried to put out the fire? It was only embers when I went to bed."

"So Artie could go up the chimney."

Sean turned around and looked at the two boys as if they had been possessed by gremlins, or possibly acted on a dare from Jubilee. "Artie, lad, why would ye want to climb the chimney?"

"Because Leech and Artie want to see Santa."

"What, on the roof?" He looked at Leech. "What about ye, lad?"

"Leech think Artie should do the climbing."

Artie tapped Sean's arm and projected another holographic image, this time showing himself covered in soot.

Leech nodded in agreement. "Artie thinks chimney is very dirty. Artie got very dirty."

"So that's when you got the hose?"

"No. Leech and Artie use hose to put out fireplace!" He exchanged glances with Artie yet again. Grown-ups never understood anything.

Sean could feel his head starting to spin as he sat down on the couch. He shifted uncomfortably as something crunched beneath him, and he realized that he had just sat in a pile of broken cookies. And milk, he guessed, judging by the squishing sound.

He counted to ten, reminding himself that it was Christmas and they were just children. "What about the cookies, lads? How did this happen?"

For the first time that night the two little boys began to look guilty. "Leech and Artie got hungry. Had to get more cookies for Santa."

"That's all right, lads, but how did they get on the couch?"

Artie scrunched his face in concentration and a picture of a plate piled high with cookies appeared over his head. Sean looked at the hologram and saw Artie peeking out from behind the cookie mountain. He suppressed a smile.

"Why so many cookies, lads?"

The response came in the form of another hologram -- a picture of reindeer hooked up to a sleigh.

"Ah, for the reindeer," Sean nodded. "And you put the cookies on the couch?"

Leech shook his head. "They fell when Leech and Artie climbed boxes," he said as he pointed to the window.

Sean was getting confused again. "Why did you stand on the boxes?"

"Because," the little green boy said. "Leech and Artie are short. Can't see out window. And Leech and Artie not s'posed to climb on couch."

"So let me see if I've got this straight." Sean leaned back on the couch and heard more cookies crunch beneath him. "Ye lads wanted to see Santa Claus--"

Artie tugged on his arm.

"--and the reindeer --"

Artie smiled and nodded in approval.

"So ye stacked boxes to stand on because ye're not supposed to stand on the couch. But ye got hungry and ate the milk and cookies, so you went to get some more. But ye got too many and dropped some."

He paused and looked at the boys. "Do I have this right so far?" Leech nodded and Artie projected a thumbs-up. "Can I ask what the flashlight was for?"

"Artie is scared of the dark."

"Why didn't ye just put on the lights?"

"Leech and Artie s'posed to be sleeping."

Sean frowned. "Aye, lad, that ye are.

"Anyway," he continued, "you couldn't see Santa from here so ye decided that Artie should climb the chimney to get to the roof. The Artie got dirty so ye got the hose--"

"No. Leech and Artie use hose to put out fire first. Then get Artie clean."

"Right. And that's how ye both got wet. So what happened to the ornaments?"

The two boys looked over at the tree. "Leech trip on the hose," the green boy admitted. He looked up at Sean's disapproving gaze and his lower lip trembled. "Leech is sorry, Banshee."

Sean sighed. Never in his wildest dreams, or worst nightmares, had he imagined that he'd use his Interpol training to figure out something as bizarre as this. "'Tis all right, Leech. Can ye tell me one thing though, lads?"

"What?"

He looked both of them in the eye. "What did you plan to do when Santa saw the two of ye? Young lads such as yerselves should be sleeping this time of night, especially on Christmas Eve. What if Santa had caught ye? He might have put ye on his naughty list and not left any presents. He might not have left presents for any of us."

He waited for an answer as the young mutants looked around the room at the mess they had made. Sean couldn't help but be amused despite the mess -- he could tell from the looks on their faces that they had not considered this fact.

Artie projected a picture of Sean wearing a graduation robe and glasses.

Leech beamed up at Sean. "Artie is right. Banshee smart. Leech and Artie go back to bed before Santa comes."

"Wait lads!" Sean called after the little pink and green blurs that flew past him. He looked around the living room and groaned at the mess. There was no way he could leave it until the morning.

Upstairs, Artie yawned as he climbed into his bed and snuggled beneath his blankets. He tucked his stuffed Agumon under one arm and projected one last hologram to Leech before his friend turned off the light.

"Leech is tired too," the other boy told his friend. "But Leech and Artie have to keep pretending for Banshee."

He rested his head on his pillow and closed his eyes. "Banshee still believe. Can't tell Banshee there's no such thing as Santa."