Ao returned to the mansion an exasperated, breathless mess. She burst through the front doors, stumbled in and, just when she was about to speak, she fell over in a heap on top of Sally's toys. "Aw man," the young ghost girl sighed sadly.

It wouldn't be until a few hours later that Ao would wake up. During her unconsciousness, Ben helped Ms. P to move her into the infirmary where she could rest properly. Then, on Ben's third check-up on her, the brunette flailed to life and grabbed Ben's shirt.

"CHRISTMAS," Ao blurted.

"What the fuck!" he yelped as he leaned helplessly over the bed.

"We have to save it! Zalgo! He killed Santa!"

"You're choking me...!"

"And then he's gonna kill everyone in the world with a lack of Christmas cheer!"

"Hurgghg."

"We can't let this happen! We gotta save Christmas, Ben! I need your help! Ben? Ben!"

He couldn't respond due to the fact that Ao was unknowingly strangling him.

"What's that??"

"Hhhgghhpohhrrhhug."

"Uh-huh."

"Hhhgbbbfppftthgggg."

"Right, right."

"Pphhhhhbvttshsshhghuhghhhhhh."

"Really, she said that?"

"Hhhhhhssssssshhhhhgggg."

"Good idea. I should rest first while you make a plan."

Finally, she let him go and the elfin wraith sucked in a deep breath, coughing and spluttering afterward. "Jesus, Ao...! I wasn't even saying anything!"

"Your sounds of struggle and pain were enough."

"Well, I guess I have no choice but to go along with what you said," he muttered. "I'll find some info, make up something that could help us save Christmas."

"Thanks...! I knew I could count on you."

"In the meantime, don't strangle people anymore," he quipped. "At least not without consent. It's a very intimate process."

"What are you talking about?"

Ben paused. "You...You weren't doing it to—Ah, I see. Never mind."

"What—."

"NEVERMIND."

"Okay! Geez..."

After she was given a light dinner to gain her energy back, Ao rested in the infirmary all night. But her dreams were plagued with the death of everything Christmas. As Zalgo said, no more presents, no more joy, no more carols. No more happiness. All that would be left behind would be the bitter animus of humanity. Shit would definitely suck, man.

The next morning, Ao leaped out of her bed the moment she opened her eyes. She was eager to meet with Ben and see what he came up with. Knowing him, this plan would be full proof. Christmas would be saved.

Unfortunately, Ben's room was not in the best shape—well, his door. Ao stood in shock at the green flames slithering up from underneath. The door was not burning away, and the flames weren't going anywhere else. This is, uh...this is new.

Ms. P passed through the hall and remarked, "Oh, yeah, his door has been like that since I woke up."

"Is he...Is he alright?" Ao mumbled.

"He slipped me a note under the door and it said to leave him alone."

".....There's green flames coming out of his room! What the hell?!"

"You can try going in all you like, but I'm warning you now, it won't work out," Ms. P retorted dismissively. She walked away with a frown on her face.

Ao was perplexed by Ms. P's careless attitude. Yes, she can be calm and collected in difficult situations, but dismissive?

Steeling her nerves, Ao raised her hand to the door to knock. The first knock was enough to make her scream as the surface of the door was immensely hot. Nonetheless, the single knock was enough and Ben opened the door. Ao flinched at the sight of Ben's eyes as they had a sinister flare to them now. What made it worse was the green flames clinging onto him, moving across him like serpents.

"Yeah?" he muttered.

"Ah, g-good morning, Ben," the young Proxy began, "I just came to check in on you, see how the plan was going."

"Oh, is that it?" he grumbled. "Of course it would be it. Any time you ever talk to me, you always need something."

"Huh? That's not true at all. The other day, I went up to you to show you those memes you like...! You know, the wholesome bird ones. Sorry, 'birb'."

"And every other time?"

"W-Well—."

"'Bleh, I need this, I need that! I'm Ao, the Proxy, and you have to listen to whatever I say!' PFFBBT!!" He blew a raspberry at her.

Ao placed her hand on her chest, taken aback by Ben's rude attitude. But the young Proxy did not lose her composure and stated, "Ben, I really need your help in saving Christmas. I didn't get to explain last night, but Zalgo wants to become—."

"What's that? Huh? Oh, sorry, I thought I heard someone trying to ask me for shit once again," the elfin wraith replied bitterly.

"Please hear me out—."

"Blah, blah, blah," he spat, moving his hand in a talking mouth motion to mock her. "I've had enough of listening to you talk constantly. Why don't you get someone else to do your dirty work for you? I'm sure Christmas doesn't need me."

"Ben, please—," but Ao's plead for help was interrupted by Ben slamming the door closed right in front of her. She stepped away from the flames as they seemingly grew in size and increased their contemptuous heat.

As the brunette girl stood in the hall staring at her friend's door, she recalled something vital that Zalgo had said.

'Everyone's in a piss-poor mood, you say? It will only get worse!'

She gasped to herself. "It's already in effect...!" She quickly realized the fateful gloom that Zalgo foretold had taken hold of Ms. P too, as evidenced by her behavior earlier. How much longer until every resident of the mansion falls to despair and joylessness? Or perhaps it was already starting to pick them off one by one? The young Proxy shuttered at the thought. She had to act fast, and she had to act now...!

Ao's only hope was that not everyone had succumb to the Joylessness. In her search for help, she tried taking a shot at Ms. P. To her dismay, the magic teacher didn't even pay any mind to her. She merely occupied the study, absorbed in the books which she and Slender used to chat about all the time. Ao couldn't allow the gut-wrenching feeling of heartbreak to take hold of her. She had to move on.

When she ran into Jeff in the kitchen, she was only met with the same despondent attitude from yesterday.

"Please, Jeff, I need your help," she pleaded with him.

"What can I do? I'm useless," he muttered.

"No, you're not. I promise you you're never useless. You're my friend."

He harrumphed. "You're just saying that to get on my good side, but I know a thing or two about people trying to trick me..! Stupid fuckin' Jerry from accounting. Made me get that mail subscription to Peter Popoff... You know how many bags of miracle water I have now?? It sucks! Fuckin' asshole."

"Jeff, I assure you you're not going to get some bullshit mail subscription from me. Christmas is in grave danger and so is everyone's happiness...! You all don't deserve that, after everything we've been through. Please, you have to help me. This could mean the end of humanity as we know it!"

Jeff frowned. "What's so great about happiness? People should be allowed to feel bummed out every now and then. They should embrace it."

Ao shook her head. "Jeff, no. Those aren't your words. You're not yourself at all...!"

"And who are you to dictate what kind of person I am? Society's standards are a bunch of horse crap. Status quo is subjective and superficial! I don't have to conform! Fuck the system!"

In his pent up adrenaline, Jeff grabbed a chair from the breakfast table and threw it out the kitchen window above the sink. Ao stood back in surprise away from the broken bits of glass.

The dark haired man huffed and said, "Now, if you excuse me, I'm gonna go order shit from Hot Topic that makes a statement on American capitalism even though I'm only feeding into it by being an online consumer. And I'm also gonna listen and cry to My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. See you, normie."

Ao was left gaping, appalled, for what must have been the thousandth time this Christmas special (it's actually only been about eight times so far). So the Joylessness has gotten a hold of Jeff, and it seemed he may have been one of the first since yesterday. Now that leaves Sally, Masky, Hoodie, Jack (once he gets back from his hunt) and...herself.

"Now that I think about it...," she murmured.

After searching the mansion again, Ao found Sally in her bedroom. She was playing with her toys like normal, acting like her usual self. The only thing that was out of the norm was the gray dress she wore instead of her hallmark pink dress. The brunette couldn't help but sigh with relief.

"Hey, there, Sally," she started. "Have you seen Masky and Hoodie?"

"Nope," she answered.

"What about Charlie?"

Sally looked at her plush companion and asked him, "Have you seen those two, Charlie?"

There was silence while Charlie gave his response. Sally shook her head to Ao. "Sorry, Blue, no sign of them."

"That's odd."

"Last I heard, they had gone outside to get that Christmas tree. I...I don't think I saw them come back. I was in the living room most of the time yesterday. I would've seen them come in."

This immediately concerned Ao. "Don't tell me they've gone missing..."

Sally shrugged. "Sorry.."

Ao crossed her arms with worry. "Thanks for the help anyway. And nice dress. Change of wardrobe, I see."

Sally tilted her head to the side, confused. She looked down at herself and gave a look of surprise. "Oh. I could've sworn I was wearing pink." Suddenly, she began coughing violently and Ao prepared to run to Sally's side. Thankfully, nothing horrible happened and the coughing fit passed without consequence. At least not an immediate consequence.

"I'm fine," the ghost girl assured her. "Ticklish throat, haha."

"Alright...," Ao responded reluctantly. "I'll be outside if you need me."

Sally gave her a cute wave, and she sniffled as if her nose was runny. Strange. Wraiths don't get sick, do they....?

Ao left to get some fresh air, already suffocated by the depleting joy and friendliness in the mansion. Even the pets weren't their usual lovable selves. Grinny had hissed at Ao when she tried approaching him, and Smile had even tried biting her for no reason at all. And the two of them together weren't a good combination anymore. They've reverted back to the cliché cat vs. dog agenda and Ao had a feeling they wouldn't stop for a while. And Ladon had already been acting strange yesterday as well. Nothing is right at all.

She sat at the edge of the porch, muttering to herself, "Ms. P is ignoring me, Ben seems to hate me now, Jeff is going through an emo phase, Masky and Hoodie are missing, the pets are out of whack, and now I have to repair a broken window...!"

Sudddnly, Grinny came crashing out of one of the front windows and landed on the porch. Smile hopped out, growling viciously, having been the perpetrator of the projectile feline. But the grinning cat pulled out a pocket knife and brandished it at the last second. In retaliation, the smiling dog had pulled out a knife of his own and the two of them ran off to continue their cold-blooded fight in the forest.

Ao sighed sadly. "Make that two windows..."

With her head in her hands, she whispered, "Everything's going horribly wrong already. I miss Jack. I hope he hasn't been taken over by the Joylessness either. Ugh....where's Sam when I need him...? I...I don't know if I can do this..."

From the quiet of the forest landscape, a resonating, omniscient voice called to her like a gentle breeze, "Is my hearing correct? Do I hear my Proxy giving up?"

Startled, Ao looked up from her hands to see a figure she never thought she'd ever see again.

"Slender!" she chirped happily. There was no mistaking that tall stature and that crisp, black suit. And of course, the blank face. "It's you! It's really you! I-I thought you were dead!"

The supernatural entity shrugged his shoulders. "Well, like Zalgo, I've been brought back for the convenience of the plot. Actually...no, I'm still dead, but I've come as a ghostly phantom that only you can see as a guide into your mission to save Christmas."

Ao pouted. "Really? That's kind of unfair."

"I know, right?! Zalgo can come back in full power but I can't? The author's mentality is fucking bullshit. Fuck you, Alex."

"Dude, shut up," Ao hissed urgently. "Don't talk shit, she might delete you from the story!"

"Pssh, as if that koreaboo idiot would do tha—."

"OH MY GOD."

The both of them looked to see that half of Slender's body was beginning to pixelate away, revealing binary code underneath.

"SHIT, OKAY, I TAKE IT BACK, I TAKE IT BACK!" Slender shouted in panic.

Despite his desperation, the pixelation continued.

"It's not working!" Ao screamed. "Oh god, make it stop!"

"What do you want from me?! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!!!" Slender said, his voice on the verge of cracking. Ao was beginning to sob profusely. Both of them were absolutely terrified of the harsh reality of their computerized make up and the threat of their all-too-easy deletion from this vast Ethernet.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the pixelation stopped and Slender returned to normal. The two of them panted and slowly recovered from the horrifying incident.

"Is it over??" Ao whimpered.

"Let's just...Let's just get on with the plot line," Slender said with a quavering voice.

"Please."

The faceless entity sighed and began, "Anyway, tell me Ao, are you giving up?"

She shook her head. "No, sir! Well, not exactly. It's just, I don't have many options left."

"Of course you do. There's always something left. That is how life works," the faceless entity remarked. "You just have to know where to look."

"And that would be...?"

Slender tsked. "You're so preoccupied with seeking aid from the mansion's residents that you fail to expand your horizons to those outside of your immediate circle."

Ao held her chin, thinking.

To further help her, Slender added, "Think about who you need help from the most."

"Well, Ben was supposed to be my right-hand man in this, but he's lost all his usual cheer," Ao explained. "He refuses to help me."

"That is your first objective then: to get Ben on your side again."

"But how? I can't talk to him anymore."

"Benjamin is one of the strongest emotionally, but he was not in the best of moods even before the Joylessness caught him. It appears he and his beau got into an argument recently, which depressed Ben, which left him more susceptible to the Joylessness."

"His beau... Reese? The boy he always screeches and cries over?"

"Yes."

"It makes sense. Ben's got a soft spot for the kid," the young Proxy murmured. "But from what he tells me, they always got along so well. What happened between them?"

"That is for you to find out from the only half of the equation that will talk to you," Slender said as a tip. "And I suggest you get a move on, my dear. The sooner you bring Ben back to normal, the sooner your plan to save Christmas can unfold."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ao exclaimed with a refreshed excitement and motivation. She quickly ran inside to get started on her new objective.

A few seconds later, she came back out and admitted, "I don't know where he lives."

"I have his address," Slender said and handed her a piece of paper.

"Oh, cool," Ao chimed and pocketed the paper. She stood still for a few moments.

Slender cleared his throat and asked, "So, uh...are you going to go yet or...?"

"Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm off!" the brunette announced and ran back inside to prepare her surprise visit to the human boy Reese.

...

Ao had never been to Indiana before so it was a bit of a challenge to find the right building. In the end, she found herself at the apartment door, her hand hovering over the doorbell on the side. For some reason she was nervous. What if Reese wouldn't talk to her either? Surely the Joylessness has spread to normal humans by now. What kind of poor condition could the teenage boy be in?

The young Proxy finally pressed the doorbell and she heard it go off inside. At first, there was no response, not even a shifting of someone walking behind the door. Ao was beginning to think maybe no one was home, or no one would answer.

When the brunette was thinking of a new plan to substitute this one, the door suddenly opened and revealed a boy with dirty-blonde hair, tan skin, and stark gray eyes. He had distinctive triple scars across the left side of his face and a tiny scar on his upper lip. Ben's descriptions of him were enough to let Ao know she had found the right beau.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Ao pulled her best smile and said, "Hi, my name's Ao. I'm a friend of Ben's."

Reese's eyes lit up the split second she had uttered the wraith's name, but had just as quickly hid his excitement. "I see. What are you doing here?"

"This is going to sound weird, but may I ask about how you and him are doing?"

Reese furrowed his brow. "That's kind of a personal thing to ask right off the bat."

"It's extremely important," Ao urged.

"How important? What's going on? Did he send you here?"

"Not at all. I'm here on my own," she answered truthfully. "And if I explained the cause of my being here, well, it might take a while, hehe."

The blonde teen shrugged. "I've got nothing else to do." Next, he invited her inside his apartment.

Ao's explanation didn't take too long, but it was more than enough for him.

"What the fuck," Reese responded at the mention of Santa Claus getting brutally shanked by the cosmic Lord of Chaos.

"I know, it's terrible."

"Man, Hunter's gonna be so bummed out," he commented.

Ao shook her head. "No, no, you can't tell anyone about this. This stays between you and me."

"Right. So, what does this mean? Without Santa, everyone's just gonna start acting like assholes?"

"Pretty much."

"Heh, jokes on Zalgo, I'm already an asshole."

"Well, that could potentially get worse. Ben's current behavior leaves me at a loss of advantages. Without him, I can't stop Zalgo from his evil plan."

"Then what did you come to me for?"

Ao smiled. "Well, someone helpful said to convince you to convince Ben to return to normal."

Reese went wide-eyed. "Me? Convince him? While he's basically on a wraith's version of a supernatural PMS??"

"It's not as bad as it sounds."

"You mentioned green flames...! That's too edgy, even for him!"

"Look, will you help me? I know this is all out of the blue, but the fate of humanity and happiness itself relies on this. You have to help me. Please, Reese."

The blonde teen looked away and scowled. "It sounds like it won't work. He's known you for longer and he won't even listen to you. What makes you think he'll listen to me?"

"Are you kidding? He talks about you almost all the time when he isn't showing me his memes. The guy is obsessed."

Again, that same sweet, gentle and eager light in Reese's gray eyes returned. "Really?"

"Yes," Ao chuckled. "You mean a lot to him. I may have known him for longer, but we're not as close as we used to be. But what you two have is special, powerful. He'd have to be more stupid than he is to not listen to you."

"That would be pretty stupid," Reese murmured.

Ao smiled. This was her first time ever having a true conversation with Reese and she can already see exactly what has charmed Ben since day one. He's a good guy.

"I can give it a try," he said.

Ao practically jumped in her spot on the couch and sang, "Oh, thank you, thank you so much! You don't know how helpful this is! Ben will be so happy.~"

"I hope so."

As her elation died down, Ao asked, "By the way, what was it that put you two on bad terms?"

Reese's tan cheeks flushed with red as he smiled nervously. "Oh, that. Well, what happened was—."

"I'm home, mijo," a woman's voice piped in. Ao turned to see a woman with dark hair and tan skin walk into the apartment, her keys jingling in hand. Her chocolate brown eyes immediately landed on Ao and the woman's expression lit up. "Who's this?"

"Mom, this is Ao," Reese introduced. "One of Ben's friends."

"Hello," Ao greeted and stood up to be polite. As she bowed to the older woman, she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Your son has been a very good host."

"Has he given you any hot chocolate yet?" she asked.

Ao cocked her head to the side. "No...?"

"Then he hasn't been a host at all," she remarked and took a straight shot to the kitchen.

Just as Ao was about to follow her, Reese took hold of her arm and whispered, "Don't do it..!"

"Do what?"

"Take the hot chocolate."

This worried Ao. "Why? Is...it poisoned?"

"What? No, no. This Christmas special isn't that twisted. If you take the hot chocolate, you're gonna be here longer than you should."

"I don't understand—."

"Ao, mija, would you like pan dulce? I got them fresh from the bakery today," Reese's mother offered.

Ao nodded politely. "Of course."

"No...!" Reese hissed quietly. "Stop! Don't take the sweet bread!"

"But it's fresh. From the bakery."

He face-palmed. "Ao, please, you should just go! If you take what my mom gives you, you're never gonna leave. She's too good of a hostess. She'll have you wrapped around her finger! It's the Hispanic way!

"Oh, you're just overreacting," Ao said dismissively.

"Your pan is ready," Reese's mother said. "You know what, have you eaten dinner yet? You look like you haven't eaten yet."

Ao gasped in awe. "Oh my god, you're absolutely right...!"

"Perfect!" the older woman chimed.

"No!!!" Reese lamented and held his head, knowing full-well that dinner would be plentiful and filling as all Hispanic mothers (and grandmothers) have the universal obligation to stuff you til' you want to explode. And as much as you may want to, you absolutely cannot refuse anything. The death glare of a Hispanic woman could kill a thousand suns. Legends even say it is one of the very images that the Mayans carved into their stones and prophesied would herald in the end of the world.

One thing led to another and Ao found herself lying on the couch in the living room, having blindly agreed to spend the night as it was "getting far too late for her to go home by herself".

She laid in the comfort of squishy pillows and warm blankets, staring up at the ceiling, regretting everything she did that led to this point.

Reese walked from the hall into the kitchen to get some milk late at night. As he sauntered away to his bedroom with the carton in his hand, he muttered, "Told you," and continued on.

Ao kept staring up, wishing for morning to come already.

"Sssshhhhhhhhhit."