The snow drifted gently to the ground in the early afternoon hours as hordes of screaming children were released early from classes due to the impending storm front. Three people in trench coats buttoned to their chins tracked their way through the streets of Newport, NH, dodging this way and that as boys and girls ran home to drop off bags and books before returning to the great outdoors.
     “I wish I could share some of that excitement and energy,” Alexander West said, pulling his cowboy style hat a little further forward to catch the flakes of snow before they landed in his burgundy colored bangs.
     “Why do you wish that?” Irvine Kinneas asked as he adjusted his own hat.
     “When a kid stops and spins around in a snow storm it’s normal. When an adult does the same thing they’re considered weird.”
     A small group of children whizzed by them, one in back flinging snowballs at her friends while screaming, “Get back here!”
     “So it’s the holiday season?” Seifer Almasy said, shrugging deeper into his coat.
     “Yup,” Alex sighed, staring down the street. “I gotta work tomorrow and the next couple of days, then I get a day off, work the 24th, and have the holiday off.”
     “Sounds like you’re going to be a busy person,” Irvine said, getting another sigh from Alex for a reply. “Something on your mind?”
     “I just wish everything was simple. When you’re a kid you’re not expected to come up with a big expensive gift. You usually make something in art class that made your parents happy.”
     “Did we ever do something like that for Cid or Matron?” Seifer asked. Irvine shrugged in response. Seifer put his hand on Alex’s shoulder before changing the subject. “Your parents are cool with us staying for the holidays?”
     Alex nodded. “Yeah, they’re cool. Lina and the gang are back home for the holidays. Celia went to visit Spike out in Sunnydale. Buffy has her friends, and Squall and the others are back on Terra with Cid and Edea.
     “That’s cool,” Irvine said, “and at least we’re getting a white Christmas.”
     “They say that if you make a wish on the snow before Christmas, and if you wish hard enough, that on Christmas day your wish will come true,” Alex said as he stared off into the snowstorm.
     “You think that really works?” Seifer asked, following Alex’s gaze.
     “Couldn’t hurt to try,” Irvine said.
     ‘I wish that I could experience the joy of the holidays like when I was younger,’ Alex wished.
     ‘I wish I could see Christmas through the eyes of a child,’ Seifer wished.
     ‘I wish for excitement and happiness, like when we were younger,’ was Irvine’s wish.
     Something in the clouds glimmered for a brief moment, then was gone like a flake of snow on a warm surface. Seifer opened his eyes, noticed the other two were still spacing, and decided to have some fun. He quickly scooped up some snow, made a snowball, and pegged it at Alex, catching him in the back of the head and knocking his hat off.
     “Seifer, you’re gonna get it,” Alex growled as he scooped up his hat in one hand and snow in the other. He then pegged it at Seifer, getting the Hyperion Knight in the shoulder.
     “Brat,” Seifer growled as he rolled and made another snowball. This one hit Irvine.
     “Seifer, you keep this up and there won’t be any holiday fun later,” Irvine grinned as he threw a snowball at Seifer.
     “You’re both brats,” Alex said, lobbing one at Irvine, hitting the cowboy in the shoulder.
     “Hey, I’m on your team,” Irvine said, brushing snow from his coat.
     “In snowball fights there are no teams,” Seifer said as he creamed Alex and Irvine.
     “The battle line has been drawn and crossed,” Alex announced in his best commanding voice. He summoned ice magic into his hands, forming a small barrage of snowballs, which he launched at Seifer.
     “On guard elf,” Irvine chuckled as he smacked Alex upside the head with a snowball.
     “Eat snowball cowboy!” Alex retorted, sending a spray of snowballs at Irvine.
     “Come back here!” Seifer cried as Alex and Irvine dashed off down the street, snowballs still flying. “You guys. C’mon. Get back here!”

     Later on that day a dimension to dimension call was placed from Alex’s bedroom via his laptop. The receiver of the call was none other than the masked magician Guile. The caller was none other than Alex, and the discussion was about the Christmas gifts that they had exchanged before Guile had returned home.
     “So, how does the ear cuff work?”
     “It works pretty well, for a new amplification object. I mean, it’s smaller than my bracers and rings and such, but it packs awesome power. How’s yours working?”
     Guile sighed and rubbed his temples. Traveling through time and space takes a lot out of any spell caster, even one of his caliber. “It works pretty well,” he replied, touching the small metal ring clipped to the top of his left ear lobe. “Gave me a bit of an extra boost to get home when I felt so run down.”
     “This is a new thing for me as well,” Alex said, glancing over and up towards his left ear, where a similar ring was clipped. “I don’t even know I have it on... until I pick up the phone at work and crush it into my ear. Then I remember just how uncomfortable and painful it can be when treated wrong.”
     Guile chuckled and smiled his best smile. “I’m going to miss you over the holidays, but there are some friends I need to visit and family to attend to and all that fun jazz.”
     “I’ll miss you too,” Alex replied, blowing a kiss at the screen. “But we’ll see each other after the break, and then we can catch up and all. Provided I have any real free time, that is.”
     Guile winked and brushed a couple of strands of his silver hair away from his face. “Love ya, you crazy mage you,” he said, making a kissey face at the screen.
     “Equally, handsome,” Alex replied, winking and blowing another kiss at the screen before logging out.
     As soon as the call ended Guile leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. He was home, but his heart as somewhere else with someone else.

     Christmas Eve came all too soon for Alex. Working almost every day was enough to make him cranky, tired, and crazy, but coming home every night to his parents and two of his closest friends was more than anybody could ask for. As he had predicted he was working the closing shift at the store, which meant he wouldn’t get out until shortly after 6 PM, which was when the store closed down for the holiday. Seifer and Irvine met him at the store, coming in the exit doors in order to visit him.
     “Wow, you guys look fabulous,” Alex said when he saw them. Seifer wore the same pants, boots, and trench coat, but added a white dress shirt, black tie, black sport coat, and flannel scarf to the mix. Irvine looked... like Irvine, except with a flannel shirt and bolo tie. The mage eyed Seifer especially, causing the Hyperion Knight to blush.
     “Alex, stop undressing me with your eyes,” Seifer protested, stifling a chuckle while wrapping up in his coat.
     “As soon as we finish with the church services and get home I’ll undress you for real,” Alex said seductively. Seifer blushed even redder, and Irvine blushed a little as the mage smirked evilly.
     “Hey Alex, are you going to introduce us to your friends?” a female voice said from the courtesy center.
     “Yeah,” Alex said, motioning for Seifer and Irvine to join him in front of the express lane. “Norma, Jenn,” he said, waving a hand at two girls, one with a small frame and wavy brown hair that cascaded down the center of her back, the other more of a full figured girl with shoulder length chestnut colored hair, “These are my friends Seifer and Irvine. Seifer, Irvine, these are my friends and coworkers Jenn and Norma.”
     “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Irvine said, taking his hat off as he went into a sweeping bow.
     “The pleasure is ours,” Norma replied, curtsying a little bit.
     A gentleman stepped through the exit doors at that moment, snagged a stray basket, and proceeded into the store. His path was blocked a second later by Alex, who said, “I’m sorry sir, but we’re closed.”
     “But I need to get a couple of things,” the man growled, his rage building. He towered over Alex and raised his fist to strike, only to find his target flanked by two people who reached into their coats for something.
     “Our friend said that the store is closed for the holidays,” Seifer said icily, his hand still in his coat.
     “Which means you go shopping elsewhere,” Irvine added. “Now, you leave before we get nasty.”
     “I’ll... I’ll report you to management,” the man huffed, turning around to find Naga standing outside of Scott’s office.
     “Do you have any problems with one of my employees?” she asked, studying the man for a moment with glacier blue eyes.
     “No... no problem whatsoever,” Alex said, winking at Naga.
     “Good. Then you won’t mind leaving. We are closed for the holidays after all, and some of us are going to a holiday service and you don’t want us to be late.”
     “I’m sorry,” the man muttered as he turned to leave, “Happy holidays.”
     “How rude,” Naga chuckled, crossing her arms and turning up her nose, “he didn’t stay to sample any of my cooking, and I worked so hard on these brownies.”
     She held up a large pan of brownies, which gave off a thick fragrance of chocolate and cherries. Alex looked at the pan and began to drool instantly, his eyes turning to hearts when he saw the chocolaty delights. He took a knife from his sleeve and began to advance upon the tray, an evil glint in his eye.
     Before he could cut into the desserts, however, the store began to shake, snapping him out of his chocolate induced trance. Naga looked around before asking, “Ok, who ordered the apocalypse?”
     “You guys didn’t trigger anything when you went for your weapons, did you?” Alex asked as he turned to Seifer and Irvine.
     “What weapons?” Seifer asked, taking his hand out of his pocket to reveal a couple of FIRE capsules and a pack of gum. “That was what I was reaching for. I figured you needed a stick of gum after dealing with that butthead.”
     Irvine had since gone to poke his head into the breeze way, and he withdrew his head back inside before saying, “We have a couple of mighty upset demons standing outside trying to bust the doors down.”
     “Thank heavens for simple protection spells” Naga sighed as she waltzed into the office to offer Norma and Jenn some of her brownies. As she turned the corner she added, “You three go and teach those nasty creatures a lesson and we’ll save some brownies for you.”
     “Yes Ma’am,” the three men said, saluting before running out the door. “Victory will be ours!”
     Once in the parking lot Alex drew a crystal from the inside pocket of his sport coat and held it aloft. The crystal glowed before floating above his hand, where it stretched and grew, forming a large staff. He grasped this and spun it around, a large curved double blade forming at one end, a smaller blade forming at the opposite end. He brought it to rest with the larger blade trained upon the demons.
     “Foul beasts from hell, prepare for the holiday butt whooping of a lifetime,” Seifer said as Alex passed him a sword hilt, from which formed the coveted star sword. “For tonight only you get three slayers, no line, no waiting.”
     “Stay out of this you fashion reject,” one of the demons snarled at Seifer, “our business is with the Slayer, not some wannabe in a trench coat.”
     The sword in Seifer’s hand began to glow a bright red as he muttered under his breath. The sword burst into flames a second later, sending a stream of fire across the pavement to encircle their attackers.
     “Hey sharpshooter,” Alex said as he tossed Irvine his autocrossbow, “see if you can take ‘em out with some wooden stakes.”
     “Here’s hoping for miracles,” Irvine said as he took aim, steadying the weapon on his left wrist. He pulled the trigger and nearly fell on his butt from the recoil, a spray of arrows filling the air.
     The arrows whistled through the air, striking one of the demons in the chest and turning him to dust instantly. The other two simply batted the projectiles away or laughed as the bolts shattered on impact.
     “One vampire and two demons,” Alex sighed as he crouched for a high jump, “Why can’t this ever be easy?”
     He sprang into the air, his glaive spinning above his head. He swung the weapon, creating an air blade of some sort that struck one of the demons, phasing it for a moment before dissipating.
     “You are weaklings,” one of the demons laughed as both demons took on their true forms. Seifer and Irvine face faulted, since one became what resembled a garden gnome, while the other grew scales and nasty looking horns. Alex simply sighed as he landed and rested against his weapon.
     “Great. A rock gnome and a horned demon from the twelfth gate. Gimme something more challenging why don’t ya?!”
     The gnome charged through the flames and struck at Seifer, catching him off guard for a moment to land a punch to the stomach. Seifer sagged forward and clutched his ribs before he began to duck and dodge punches and kicks, eventually flipping over the gnome into a roll that took him into a lamp post. He looked up at his feet, then back at the gnome, and face faulted. “Bloody hell.”
     “Thunder!” Irvine cried, waving his right hand in arcane motions. A bolt of lightning crackled through the air and struck the gnome, who was unphased by the attack and turned angry eyes upon the cowboy.
     “Blizzard!” Alex cried, a globe of blue light forming in his hand. The globe vanished as a massive blizzard tore through the area, blanketing the parking lot and cars in several inches of snow in a matter of seconds.
     The horned demon was suddenly towering beside Alex, and before the mage could react he found himself hurtling through the air and crashing through the large window and glass exit doors before cracking his back against the end of the express lane, his vision going dark from the impact, his breath escaping in one long wheeze.
     Naga stepped from the office to check on him while Norma and Jenn looked on in horror. “Should we call 911?” Norma asked, growing pale with worry and concern.
     “I doubt they’d believe us,” Jenn said when she peeked out to see Irvine and Seifer still locked in combat, “I don’t think they get many emergency calls about demons fighting people in the parking lot of a grocery store.”
     “This stinks on ice,” Alex gasped as he struggled to stand. Several loud cracks and pops came from his back, and he winced visibly when he realized that much of his strength was gone.
     “Hold still,” Naga said as she placed glowing hands to his back. She sighed in relief and said, “On the plus side, nothing is broken. On the down side you’re bruised like a tomato.”
     “They’re going to get slaughtered,” Alex groaned as he began to step forward, “I’m... I’m the spell caster. They need me out there.”
     “You go out like this and you’ll get slaughtered,” Naga hissed, using her height to her advantage by pushing down on his shoulders. “Just hold still and let me heal this up for you. Then you can go and slay the demons.”
     Alex reached into his jacket and drew forth his transformation wand. The newly added angel wings glistened silver, and the planetary symbol set into the star pulsed with ethereal energy. “If I’m going to go out, then I’m going out in full battle gear.”
     Naga stepped aside as he held the wand aloft with both hands, the angel wings spreading out and up to embrace the star. “Saturn Cosmic Power.... TransFORM!”

     Across the country it was still the middle of the afternoon, but thanks to a special gem possessed by Celia, Spike was able to be out with her without worrying about immolation. The vampyress was curled up with him on a rooftop overlooking the rest of Sunnydale, her head resting against his leg. Spike was looking out across the city, and was lost in deep thought.
     “Penny for your thoughts,” Celia said, squeezing his knee.
     “What?” Spike asked as he was snapped out of his thoughts.
     Celia looked up into his face, and he glanced down, his steel gray meeting her emerald green. “You troubled about something?” she asked, reaching up to scratch under his chin.
     “No, nothing really. Just thinking about how long it’s been since I could enjoy a sunset without worrying about immolation.”
     “Is that all?”
     There was a moment of silence before he shook his head. “There’s more on my mind than just that. Stuff that doesn’t concern you... other stuff to do with you and Alex.”
     Celia sat up, pulling her shirt down so that she didn’t wind up flashing anyone. “Ok. Now you’re in my ballpark. What’s on your mind?”
     Spike paused for a moment to study her face before saying, “Well, teleportation is something new to me. So is the idea of magical attacks.”
     “I told you I’d teach you all that I could,” she replied, brushing her hair back from her face as a breeze caught it.
     “Your teleport is doing ok. I know you’ve been practicing short jumps from place to place on this plane. But are you ready for dimension hopping?”
     Spike blanched. Just getting from Sunnydale to Newport in fewer than five jumps was a lot of work for him. How was he going to cross the dimensional barriers? He felt Celia’s arms around his shoulders, and felt the pressure of her chin resting on top of his head.
     “Just relax and let yourself slip through time and space” she purred, her chest pressing into his back. He felt his temperature rising, but struggled to maintain composure.
     ‘Slip through time and space,’ he told himself as he monitored his breathing, ‘slip between the cracks of...’
     He felt a sudden burst of bone chilling cold, and a split second later they were sitting on a hillside overlooking a lake. Butterflies of every color flitted about on the breeze, which smelled clean and fragrant. He blinked a few times before saying, “Did I do that?”
     “Yup,” Celia said, hugging him tightly, “Your first time crossing the dimensional fabric. How do you feel?”
     “Tired. Nauseous. Exhausted.”
     Celia brushed her fingers through his hair before kissing the top of his head. “We’ll rest here for a bit. Then you can take us home.”
     He groaned, closed his eyes, leaned back a little, and fell asleep almost instantly.

     “Tell us another story Uncy Laguna.”
     “Selphie, you’re almost twenty. Aren’t you a little old for this?”
     Selphie Tilmitt shook her head, her curly hair waving about her face. She was sprawled out on her bed, laying on her stomach and looking at Laguna Loire, who sat at the end of the bed straddling a chair. She wore shorts and a half shirt with a tiger on it, since she was ready for bed. Laying on the floor next to her was Zell Dincht, who was also ready for bed.
     “C’mon. One more story. Please.”
     “Yeah Laguna. It’s Christmas Eve and we want to hear some bedtime stories.”
     Laguna sighed and leaned forward a little, his dark hair falling around his face. How he wished Raine could be there to tell her bedtime stories. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes for a moment before replacing them. “Ok. What story do you want to hear?”
     Zell and Selphie were quiet for a moment, pondering which story they wanted to hear next. Selphie already knew most of Laguna’s stories, since she had a website dedicated to his travel stories. Zell only knew the ones he’d heard or read on Selphie’s site. The two looked at each other, then at Laguna before cheering, "‘Randolph, the Irfit who saved Christmas’!”
     A sweat drop formed on Laguna’s head. “Haven’t you heard that one enough? I’ve been telling you that story every night for the past week.”
     “We want Randolph!” the two cried, nearly knocking Laguna out of his chair with the volume.
     Laguna sighed, rubbed his eyes, and cleared his throat, all in rapid succession. “Once upon a time,” he began, receiving the immediate attention of the two on the bed, “a long time before you and I, there was an Ifrit. He wasn’t like any other Ifrit, since he had a name, given by the townspeople of a small town. It was Randolph, and he was a very special Ifrit...”

     Rinoa Heartilly gently closed the door to Selphie’s bedroom before turning back to Squall. They had been so busy lately that they rarely had time for each other any more. She sighed, since Squall was sprawled out on the couch near the Christmas tree, fast asleep.
     ‘He deserves some rest,’ she thought as she quietly resumed decorating the tree. ‘We’ve had finals to grade, field tests to conduct and supervise, an upgrade to the defense system to oversee. Day and night we’ve had to help everyone. Now Karna and Anessa are heading to their families, and tenal is going to Galbaldia with Kirinis for part of the vacation.’
     A short time later their tree was decorated, and it glittered with colored lights, silver icicles and snowflakes, shiny glass balls, and golden garland. All that remained to be done was the star on the top, and for that she required assistance.
     “Squall, can you give me a boost?” she asked. A long snore was the reply she got. She sighed, a magical wind lifting her a few feet from the ground. She placed the star atop the tree and descended, nearly stepping on Angelo, who was wandering through the room. She glanced out the window to see that it was snowing, and sighed. “Wow.... looks like it’ll be a white Christmas after all.”
     She recalled something that Irvine had told her about wishing on a Christmas snow. Closing her eyes, she clasped her hands and made a wish. The wings on the back of her sweater glowed, the ghostly image of spreading angel wings visible for a split second. Something in the clouds shimmered back, and this was visible only to Angelo, who was looking out the window, his tail wagging at the thought of romping in the fluffy white flakes.
     When she finished wishing she strolled over to the couch, sat down, and curled up with Squall. She lay her head upon his chest and closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat and his breathing. In a matter of moments she was fast asleep, Squall holding her close as flakes of snow drifted lazily to the ground outside.

     With Christmas Eve services finished the Wests and their two guests returned home. By now it had begun to snow, and with so much time dedicated to work the three young men were quite exhausted.
     “Are you sure you don’t want to unwrap any gifts tonight?” Mrs. West asked as Seifer, Irvine, and Alex took turns yawning.
     “Too tired,” Alex yawned, “Need sleep major.”
     “Eyes burning,” Seifer added, propping one eye open with his fingers.
     “Can’t stay awake,” Irvine said through a yawn that lasted for a whole minute.
     Mr. And Mrs. West blinked before yawning as well. Alex chuckled, said ‘Goodnight’ to his folks, and headed for his room with Seifer and Irvine following close behind.
     “That was one seriously moving service,” Seifer said as he took his coat off and draped it over the desk chair.
     “Well, I personally had trouble keeping focused upon what was being said,” Alex said as he took hold of Seifer’s tie and tugged on it, pulling the Hyperion Knight into a hunched position. “I told you at the store that I was going to undress you for real when we got home.”
     Seifer blushed as Alex kissed him gently on the lips. He felt like he was going to melt as Alex’s tongue slipped between his lips to wrestle with his own tongue. He felt Irvine come up behind him, warm arms encircling his chest. His shirt was being unbuttoned from behind, and a pair of warm and gentle hands slipped into his shirt to caress his chest.
     “Guys, you’re animals,” Seifer said as Alex began to kiss his neck and chest.
     “This is a combination Birthday and Christmas present,” Irvine said as he helped Seifer out of his sport coat and shirt.
     “Which was my idea,” Alex purred as he licked Seifer’s stomach.
     “Well, this is the best that I could ask for,” Seifer moaned as Irvine squeezed his ass.
     “And it will only get better,” Irvine said, “Deka, hit the lights please.”
     The lights went out, and a few seconds later moans of intense pleasure filled the air as Seifer got his gifts.

     The universe has a weird way of doing things at times, especially around important holidays. This was one of those times, and with the force of some of the wishes it had no other option except to grant those wishes. With the four that it received from Rinoa, Alex, Seifer, and Irvine, it knew that they must be granted, since all four were more or less reworded versions of the same wish.
     On Terra a select group of people experienced retroactive aging, losing ten to twelve years of physical time while retaining their memories of adulthood. Between Earth and Terra the powers that be created some sort of barrier that would induce the same sort of change in any realm dancers that passed through it. With the wishes granted or to be granted the powers that be decided to take the rest of the holiday off, sit back, and watch whatever would happen.