Two days until Christmas. Now that everyone is back together, it's time that Ellie joins the cause.

"How is Jeff?" Ao asked Ms. P over breakfast.

The magic teacher shook her head. "Not well. His entire room is covered in band posters and his arms are completely decked out with those rubber bracelets you get from Hot Topic. It's bad."

"Well, at least he didn't go through the 'I'm going to play my music really loud with no regard for everyone else's peace' part of the emo phase."

Right on cue, loud metal music rumbled from upstairs and Ao sighed. "Why do I talk?"

"It could be worse. He could be going through the 'I'm going to invite my edgy friends so we can start a band and prove all the haters wrong with our music' part of the phase," Ms. P remarked and sipped her tea.

Suddenly, a guy dressed in all black with unnecessary chains everywhere walked into the kitchen. "Hey, do you know where DemonMaster is?"

Ao furrowed her brow. "Who?"

"Jeff."

"Um...he's...upstairs. Follow the music," she replied, trying not to judge the poorly done eyeliner on his eyes too harshly.

"Hmmph. Thanks, prep," the stranger said and swiped his long bangs in front of his eyes before leaving.

Ao turned to Ms. P. "Prep? Do I look like I prep?"

The magic teacher reluctantly nodded.

"I thought I was the cute nerd, at best," the young Proxy murmured sadly. She shook her head and groaned, "Ugh, we have to get Ellie back! I can't stand Emo Jeff any longer."

"Jack and Reese should be ready to go by now," Ms. P said.

Ao finished up her breakfast quickly and then rushed to the main room where she found Reese and Jack waiting for her. Smiling, she asked, "All set?"

"Ready to go," Reese chimed.

"We'd better hurry. Jeff's emo music is getting louder," Jack muttered irritably.

"Pssh, lame," Reese remarked. "He should at least know that Linkin Park is too mainstream for his edgy cause. Hypocrite."

"Reeeeeeeese!" Ben's voice called from behind. All three of them turned but only Reese received a bear hug from the elfin wraith.

"Be careful, baby," Ben cooed and rubbed his face against Reese's chest.

"I'll be fine," the blonde boy chuckled, blushing.

"Okay, just remember that if something bad happens to you that I will literally kill Ao and Jack since they failed to protect you and I would have no regard for anyone else's life because my scarred logic would demand me to kill everyone else as well since a world without you is not a world worth living in," Ben stated with a cute smile.

Ao and Jack stood silent, appalled. Reese gaped in shock at the elfin wraith, and then smiled and said, "Aw, you're so sweet, haha."

Ao groaned. "I'm not even gonna bother anymore."

"Oh, and if you all get hungry, take these," Ben said and shoved a bag of candy canes into Reese's hands.

"Um, thanks?" Reese said, and put them in his hoodie pocket.

"Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure I can't eat it, as human food makes me sick, so your attempt at caring for us failed on my behalf, but thanks for the worthless gesture," Jack said blatantly.

"Anytime! You know I'm good at being fuckin' useless!"

"Jesus Christ, this special is messed up," Ao murmured to herself.

"Be safe," Ben hollered at them as they left through the front door. From there, Reese led Jack and Ao out of the forest to the desired destination—the destination of Elizabeth.

While they walked, Ao mentioned, "I haven't seen Ladon in a while. Where could he be? What could he be doing?"

"Hopefully nothing bad, like destroying a city," Jack commented.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Ladon was rampaging the streets, screeching and howling, and the frightened Japanese citizens wondered just why the fuck do they always get the weird monsters?

"Yeah, hopefully not that," Ao replied.

"I wonder where Smile and Grinny are at now," Jack mentioned.

"Hopefully not doing anything dangerous and life-threatening," the young Proxy said.

Up above Tokyo, where Ladon was wreaking havoc, Smile and Grinny fought in the skies with World War II fighter planes. Grinny's right wing was smoking; he would go down soon, but not without taking out Smile's engine too! Just when he was about to take dive and shoot out Smile's engine, the canine called in reinforcements. A fleet of other fighter planes piloted by other dogs came to the rescue, but Grinny had a fleet of his own. A fleet of fighter pilot-cats came to his aid, and suddenly the sky was lit up by brilliant fire as they waged their great war. Again, the Japanese asked themselves, "What the actual fuck?"

"Yeah...," Jack sighed, "hopefully nothing like that."

Eventually, they got to Wriamont, Reese's hometown in Indiana. They walked to the auto shop where he worked, as well as where Elizabeth was employed. There, they entered the building and were greeted to the sight of a figure working under a car, laying on a roller.

"Ruski," Reese called and tapped the man's shoes with his own.

The man pushed himself out from under the car, completely covered in oil, and grumbled, "What do you want, soplyak? Aren't you off today?"

"Where's Angel?" the blonde asked.

The mechanic stood up and answered, "She had to leave early. Said an emergency came up."

"Hmm. What's her home address?"

The mechanic crossed his arms. "Why do you want to know?"

"Artem, please," Reese pleaded.

Artem frowned at him and said, "There is a look of mystery on your face. Very suspicious. Not to mention that you have a random prep girl I have never seen before behind you—."

"I'm the cute nerd, at least," Ao whined.

"—and a random man in a mask who appears to have abnormal gray skin."

"Hey," Jack growled, stepping forward. But then he slumped his shoulders and added, "....I'm very sensitive about my appearance."

"He really is," Ao defended.

Artem backed off. "Oh, my bad. I didn't mean to—."

"No," Jack said with a quavering voice. "You meant plenty...!"

He sniffled and then turned away. Ao held him, glared at Artem, then shook her head. The Russian man felt a sense of guilt and embarrassment overcome him and he said, "A-Alright, look, I don't exactly know where Angel lives. I don't believe she even gave me an address."

"Then where can we find her?" Reese asked.

Right on cue, Slender appeared before Ao with a note in hand. The young Proxy took the paper and saw there was an address written on it. She frowned and told the faceless entity, "You couldn't have given this to me before??"

He shrugged. "Plot convenience."

Artem stepped away. "What the hell is that thing?"

Ao gazed at the Russian man, surprised. "You...You can see him?"

"He can see me?" Slender questioned. "Impossible. Only Ao can see me. That, or dead people."

Artem suddenly tensed up and Ao stared at him with wide eyes. The Russian man looked at all of them, then quickly stammered, "Gotta go," before diving onto the roller, then pushing himself fully underneath the car.

"Wait!" Ao exclaimed and dropped to her knees to check under the car...but the mechanic had disappeared. "The hell??"

"Oh shit, he's never done that before," Reese commented casually.

Ao shook her head and said, "Well, in any case, we've got Elizabeth's location. Let's go."

The three of them left the auto shop for the new address that was given to Ao at the last minute. After several minutes, they found themselves wandering the forest again. It took a while for it to converge and bend against space and time itself, because that's how shit works around here, but they finally made it and were met with a cabin in the woods. It looked old, unseen for a while, but not dilapidated in any way. Actually, it seemed as if it was being well kept...

"Let me go inside first," Reese suggested. "It'll be too much for her to see all of us at once."

"Be careful," Ao told him before he walked to the front of the cabin.

Reese knocked on the front door but was surprised to find that it opened slightly upon his touch. It's been unlocked. Cautiously, the blonde boy entered the cabin and called out, "Hello? Anyone home?"

The living room was empty, and so was the kitchen. It was absolutely quiet, and not even the sounds of the forest could infiltrate the tension. Reese quietly made his way to the hallway, feeling as if he shouldn't be doing this, that he needed to leave. But he couldn't bring himself to do so. Christmas is at stake. He must do this. Shit, he didn't admit he was a twink for nothing.

Walking into the hallway felt more eerie, especially with the soft creak of the floorboards underneath him no matter how careful he was trying to be. He was about to call for someone again, but suddenly a hand clamped over his mouth and pulled him into the bathroom.

Outside, Ao and Jack still waited. The brunette paced across the snow and said, "He's taking too long."

"It's fine. He's probably doing a thorough search of the place. Wouldn't you?" Jack comforted her.

"Hmmmph," she grumbled and continued to pace.

"By the way, uh...I'm sorry about yesterday, with the whole tribal sacrifice and everything," the eyeless man said.

"It's okay, Jack," Ao replied. "It was the Joylessness. You had no control."

"Joylessness?"

"Yeah. The thing that's taking over everyone now that Santa's dead and Christmas spirit is decreasing."

Jack cocked his head. "I didn't have that."

Ao stopped pacing. "...Huh?"

"I wasn't Joyless. I don't even celebrate Christmas or believe in Santa. I can't be Joyless if I had no Christmas Joy in the first place," he explained.

Ao glared at him. "So then you accidentally stabbing me was you literally accidentally stabbing me?"

"Yeah."

"So help me, if you weren't such a hunk..."

Inside, Reese was trying desperately to get out of his captor's grip, but the stranger remained insistent on holding him. Then, he heard the stranger shush him and say, "Reese, it's me."

The blonde boy still opened his eyes despite the darkness in the bathroom. His body eased up, allowing for his captor to let go of him. He turned and whispered, "Ellie?"

"H...How do you know my real name?"

"I can explain later. Right now, we have to get out of here," he stated urgently.

Just as he tugged her, she tugged him back and hissed, "No! We can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because...he's out there," she said ominously.

"Who?"

Her grip on him tightened. "My...sidekick of sorts. He... S-Something's wrong with him. I don't know what happened."

"The Joylessness," Reese murmured to himself.

"I've been hiding ever since he started acting...weird. He's dangerous, Reese! We can't leave! He won't let us!"

"We're getting out of here no matter what," the blonde boy demanded.

Ao continued her pacing outside, trying her best to be patient and calm. They're finally dealing with Ellie, but this is taking longer than it should. She knew she shouldn't have sent in Reese alone.

"I think I'm going to head inside," she said aloud. "I can't take this anymore. I need to make sure he's okay, Jack. J...Jack..?"

The young Proxy turned around only to see that her boyfriend was nowhere to be found. Panicked, she called out, "Jack? Where'd you go? Look, I'm sorry about getting mad earlier. I'd still love you if you didn't have a hunking, sexy body, but it is a definite plus...!

Suddenly, Ao was pulled back by some sort of rope being wrapped around her neck. Her attacker only had to tug once more and then Ao was out cold. She was draped over her attacker's shoulder and carried away to an unknown place.

Finally, Reese and Ellie had come out of the cabin, with Ellie still insisting that they stay inside. The blonde boy looked around, noting how no one was outside anymore. He frowned and said, "Where'd Ao and Jack go?"

Ellie tugged on his arm. "He took them. It had to have been him...!"

"Where are they?" Reese asked, heavily concerned.

The dark-haired girl shook her head. "I-I don't know. But we have to go before we're next..!"

Just as they were about to leave, something hit Reese over the head and knocked him unconscious. The last thing he saw was Ellie screaming for something to stop before she, too, was hit unconscious and fell beside him.

...

Reese woke up with a throbbing head and hazy senses. He found himself tied to a chair in what looked to be...tinsel? But very strong tinsel. What is this?

Beside him, to his left, he saw Jack tied to a chair with the same Christmassy tinsel. To his right, he saw Ellie tied up as well. Both of them were unconscious at the moment. With grit teeth, Reese tried his hardest to get out of his binds, even going so far as to bite at them, but nothing worked. He was stuck in whatever cold, dark place this was. He could smell the dankness of the room and...gingerbread?

Suddenly, a door rattled open, allowing a bright ray of light to cut through the dark. A figure stepped into the beam and walked inside. They turned on a switch that lit up the room itself, and Reese was temporarily blinded. When his vision cleared, he saw a man with white hair and red eyes looking at him. He was surprisingly still menacing despite the fact that he was wearing a Santa hat and red slacks and suspenders.

"What the hell," Reese said. "Who the hell are you? Why do you look like the sexy Santa male stripper that gets ordered for a bachelorette party? Why is it working on me???"

"First of all," Ellie's voice started next to him, "you're fuckin' gay, that's why. Second, he can't talk, so questions are fruitless."

"Oh."

Ellie lifted her head and growled to the stranger, "Caedis, stop this! I'm your master and if you dare to disobey my orders, I will—!"

The man named Caedis skillfully threw a cookie straight into Ellie's mouth and shut her up. Ellie grumbled for a moment, stopped, and murmured, "Oooo, generic Christmas cookie, my favorite...!"

"Let us go!" Reese shouted.

Next, Jack woke up from his unconscious state and muttered, "Wh...Where's Ao...?"

At this, Caedis walked to another door in the room and opened it. He rolled out a gurney with an unconscious Ao on top of it, tied down with leather straps. Reese yanked on his tinsel binds and growled, "What have you done to her?!"

Caedis didn't respond, just as Ellie said, and simply ignored the blonde teenager. He grabbed a toolbox from the side and set it on a metal table beside Ao's gurney. Reese and Ellie watched in apprehension as Caedis opened the toolbox and rummaged around. At first, he pulled out Christmas ornaments of various colors, then more Christmas cookies, then a 10-foot cord of Christmas lights, then an entire gingerbread house, then a Christmas wreath, all of which he tossed aside.

"Crap!" Ellie exclaimed. "That's...really neat, man."

"Oh yeah," Reese agreed.

"What? What's neat? I wanna know," Jack said.

Suddenly, Caedis pulled out a fully powered, hand-held, high-speed buzzsaw and everything was immediately not neat at all. Reese and Ellie screamed while Jack simply asked, "Seriously, what's going on?"

"Your girlfriend's gonna get chopped in half!" Reese screamed.

Jack jerked in his seat. "What?! I'm the only one that can do that!!"

"How the hell are you two still a thing?" Ellie asked.

"How do you and Jeff still have a chance in the canon series?" Jack insulted back.

"Wow. Way to make a low blow."

"I mean, he's got you there," Reese commented.

Even Caedis nodded and shrugged.

Ellie scowled. "You all are fuckin' assholes."

"Okay, but are we all still concerned about the fuckin' buzzsaw??" Reese blurted. "Especially since that thing should not fit in that toolbox, at all!"

Just as they were prepared to witness Ao getting brutally sliced up by Caedis' buzzsaw, their expectations were averted. Instead, Caedis used the buzzsaw on some tinsel behind him, which released a tarp-covered cage from above. It dropped to the center of the room in front of Jack, Reese and Ellie. Skittering and soft clicking came from inside the cage, signaling that something living was inside.

"What's in that thing?" Reese said with a shaking voice.

Caedis answered his question by pulling off the sheet and revealing what resided inside. Immediately, dozens of what looked like...gingerbread men charged against the cage, wanting to get out. They snarled and scratched at their prison, their gumdrop eyes glowing a bright, vicious red.

"What the fuck!" Ellie shouted.

Jack turned to her. "Ellie, use your powers!"

"I-I can't!" she said. "S-Something happened to me this past week and now I can't!"

"The Joylessness! It got to her!" Reese stated.

"And if we don't get out of here, those gingerbread are gonna get to us...!" Jack growled and struggled against his binds.

Caedis walked up to the cage and used the buzzsaw one more time to cut open the cage. His strong, bulging biceps were enough to send Reese into immense, almost otherworldly, awe and he was kind of glad he was held upright by his binds. "Fuck, he looks too good doing that."

"My god. HOOOOOW in the hell have you not even gotten DICK yet??" Ellie exclaimed over the loud cutting of the buzzsaw.

"Don't talk shit. You haven't gotten dick either," Reese fired back.

"Shiiiit, he got you there," Jack piped in.

"Again, you all are assholes," Ellie hissed.

Eventually, Caedis cut through the cage, allowing for the gingerbread to scramble out of this prison, free to finally take revenge on the humans for their yearly massacre of their people; to repay for the torture they've endured of trying to run away, of being persecuted, of being brutally killed for sport, often displayed like trophies, since the beginning of time. Now was the time. Now was their time. Rise, gingerbread men (and women, ahem), riSE!!!! THE GINGERBREAD REICH HAS BEGUN!!!! ZERSTÖREN SIE DIE MENSCHEN!!! TÖTE SIE ALLE—vor allem die juden—ATTACKE!!! SIEG HEIL!!! SIEG HIEL!!! SIEG HIEL!!!

"Crap!" Reese yelled, desperately trying to break free of his binds. But when glancing at Jack's bared teeth, he got a idea. Jack's teeth!

"Jack, bite off my binds!" he ordered hastily.

"On it!" Jack said and scooted his chair closer towards Reese. Within a few moments he was right next to Reese but he was facing the tinsel on Reese's torso instead of the ones on his hands. There was no way he could reach his hands in time.

Reese understood immediately and said, "No time to turn! Undo the tinsel!"

"Uhhh, okay," the eyeless man stammered and leaned over. He struggled to get as far down as he could, wiggling and bobbing his head every which way he could, mostly up and down, so that he could bite into the tinsel. Sometimes saliva accumulated too much in his mouth, especially under his stress, so Jack had to slurp very loudly—even gagged a few times—and continue on. Meanwhile, Ellie, Caedis, and the gingerbread men tried their best not to feel uncomfortable with the very misleading sight.

"Got it!" Jack said with tinsel in his mouth.

Now Reese could easily lift himself up and slip his arms up from the back of the chair. He had Jack bite into the tinsel around his hands, then he forced the tinsel on his ankles to come loose. The gingerbread men grew angered by this act of resistance and began prowling closer. Reese felt pressured, especially without the comfort of a weapon. Suddenly, he got another idea. Ben's candy canes...!

Reese reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a candy cane from the bag. Quickly, he wrapped his mouth around the longer part of the candy, then sucked and sucked until he had a sharp point in a matter of seconds.

Ellie gaped at him and Reese responded, "I'm practicing."

"Ben's one lucky bitch," the dark-haired girl murmured under her breath.

The gingerbread were closer now, growling, a terrifying rumbling uproar of pastry hatred. Reese cut Jack loose then gave him a candy cane, which he had sharpened with his sucking skills as well. Just when the blonde boy was about to leap for Ellie, the gingerbread men finally executed their attack, and the dark-haired girl was their first target. She was quickly overrun with vindictive gingerbread men crawling over her and her screams gradually became muffled.

"Ellie! Nooooo!" Reese screamed.

In a fit of rage and adrenaline, Reese charged forward and began stabbing at the gingerbread men with his candy cane-dagger. One by one, he impaled them through their well-baked torsos, ripped off their frosted heads, and stomped on anything that dared to move toward him. Some of them cried out in anguish at losing a loved one, holding their fallen close while the dying crumbled apart and bled sugary frosting all over the floor. It was horrifying. It was war.

Jack was fighting his own gingerbread men as well, but was somehow bested when a few bit his Achilles' tendon. He fell in an instant and gingerbread men swarmed him. Some were trying to force his mouth open so that they could invade and destroy him from the inside out. One managed to be successful but Jack chewed him up and then spit him back out. "Ugh, god. I can't eat...human food...! I-I'm gonna be sick!"

"No, Jack!" Reese hollered for his comrade, but it was too late. Jack hurled on the floor and passed out from the shock. The gingerbread men all cackled in victory as they climbed his body, scrambling over him like flies on a corpse.

Having been distracted by the loss of Jack, Reese was overcome by gingerbread men too. He fell over onto the floor and lost his candy cane-dagger on the way down. He couldn't get to the rest of his supply in time. The gingerbread men were upon him and all Reese could do was look past their brown bodies at his fallen friends. Jack, Ellie, Ao. No. This couldn't be it. This can't be how it ends. There's so much he had left to do. Christmas still needs to be saved. He needed to see his family, and Ben.

Feebly, he wheezed, "Need...to tell...Ben...I...I lo..."

As Reese was about to suffocate underneath the gingerbread bodies, loud laughter erupted through the room. The gingerbread men scrambled off of Reese, allowing him to see Ellie standing up, gazing down at him with an evil light in her eyes.

"How stupid," Ellie hissed. "They fell right into my trap! Hahaha! Good work, Santa Caedis."

The white-haired man gave a thumbs up and revved the buzzsaw.

Reese managed to sputter, "You...You traitor...!"

Ellie smiled at him. "I was never on your side to begin with. Ever since my father told me he killed Santa Claus, I've been plotting to get rid of Ao and her little gang of 'heroes'. You all were foolish to think I could be an ally. And what's even more foolish, you've brought the Proxy right to me! With the gingerbread swarming you, I get my chance to kill Ao myself and destroy Christmas once and for all...!"

"No..! The-The Joylessness is making you say that!" Reese said.

"Maybe. Or maybe I just want to make humanity miserable just like Zalgo. Regardless, it's too late for you all now. Bye-bye! And Merry Christmas~! AHAHAHAHAHA—"

Suddenly, Ellie was given a super-ultra bitch slap by a now conscious Ao. The young Proxy had broken free of her binds while Ellie was doing a villain explanation and had launched herself off the gurney to pounce on her. Now they were rolling across the floor, scratching and slapping at each other, pulling at hair and clothes. The gingerbread men had actually stopped to watch the cat fight ensue, and one of them even took out a smartphone to record it and said, "Worldstar."

"You bitch!" Ao screamed as she finally pinned Ellie. Her hair was a disheveled mess and her eyes flared with a dangerous fire the likes of which no living thing should ever see. She hissed through bared teeth, "I have been busting my ass to find you and save Christmas and I am NOT about to let a your peach-assed self ruin that! I'm going to have my Christmas tree, and my figgy pudding, and my Christmas carols, and my fresh-baked cookies, and my Christmas stories, and my stockings, and my presents, and especially my Christmas Joy! You best believe I'm about to beat your ass to hell and back if you even think about ruining Christmas! If you didn't have a weave before, well then I'll make you get one once I've ripped every single hair out of your scalp, forcing you to buy a weave! Then, once you have it, I'll yank that shit off and beat the white girl out of you all over again! You think you're so edgy and evil and 'too cool for humanity, heh, heh, heh'—well fUCK OUTTA HERE! MISS ME WITH THAT BULL SHIT, BITCH!"

While she went on her tirade, she was simultaneously beating the ever loving crap out of Ellie, to the point where the Joylessness that had invaded her—which appeared as a shadowy mass—could be visibly seen crawling out of her, trembling in terror. At this, Reese stepped forward to stop the fight and said, "Ao, she's had enough! The Joylessness left—."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Ao screamed then suddenly pulled out a backpack from behind her, in which she pulled out a gun.

"WHOA, WHOA!!" Reese hollered and raised his hands.

"Enough is enough!" Ao shouted in a shrill voice. She pointed it at Ellie and said, "I swear to god I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna do it!"

"Ao, just calm down and let's talk this out," the blonde boy tried to reason. He got on his knees with his hands still up.

"I'm tired of this shit, Reese! I've had enough!"

"I know. I understand. And I'm here to help."

"Ch-Christmas needs to be saved. H-Happiness. Joy...!"

"And we can have all that," Reese assured her. "We'll save Christmas and have all the carols, and trees, and presents, and figgy pudding we want. But you've gotta not blow Ellie's brains out and put the gun down."

She frantically shook her head. "N-No, she's gonna ruin everything! Everything we've worked so hard for! O-Our happiness! H-Happy...! Happyhappyhappyhappy—."

Reese could tell that Ao had completely lost it now. Her eyes showed that the girl in front of him was a completely different person, consumed with the desire for Christmas joy. But this wasn't joy. It was the opposite. It was Joylessness. After all this time, Ao finally cracked.

"Ao, if you keep going like this, you'll be the one ruining Christmas," Reese stated firmly. This caught her attention and she stopped muttering psychotically to herself. Gradually, the blonde boy inched forward and continued, "This shouldn't be your joy. The Joylessness has taken ahold of you. But you're stronger than that, Ao. Up until now, you've been the strongest of us all. Who's the one who found me and brought Ben and me out of our gloom?"

Ao licked her lips and stuttered, "M-Me..."

"Who's the one who valiantly fought off a crazy old lady?"

"M-Me..."

"Who helped save Sally and Ms. P from certain doom?"

"M-Me.."

"Who's the one who got stabbed by her boyfriend—."

"Accident," Jack piped in from unconsciousness.

"—and still pulled through?"

"Me...

"And who has been positive this entire time and leading us forward despite the odds?"

"Me."

Reese smiled and held out his hand. "Then continue to be our savior, our reason, our leader. We need you. Humanity needs you. Don't let the Joylessness win. Don't let Zalgo win. Fight, Ao! Fight this with me and let's save Christmas together!"

The young Proxy's trembling stopped and the wild fire in her eyes that had made her unrecognizable had faded away. Her body went limp as if her stress had lifted off her shoulders. She looked down at the gun with an expression of confusion, then handed it to Reese. He switched the safety on and put it in his pocket, before reaching for Ao and wrapping her in a hug. Her adrenaline slowly dissipated in the form of tears of relief. She had overcome her Joylessness. She won.

"So," Ellie began feebly, her lips busted and her face covered in blood, "I take it that I'm on your side now...?"

"Yes," Reese answered.

Ao turned around and said, "I'm sorry for nearly beating you to death."

"I-It's cool," Ellie croaked and raised a thumbs-up, before sitting up and going into a coughing fit. She spat up a crap ton of blood to the point of actual vomiting and once she was done, she dropped smack into the blood puddle and went silent.

Reese and Ao stared with wide eyes. An awkward tension was in the air now.

"Is...Is she dead?" Reese questioned.

Caedis answered his question by nudging Ellie's body with his foot. She didn't react.

"Aw fu—."

...

"Well," Ao began, "we're glad you're not actually dead, Ellie."

"I mean, you broke seven ribs, broke my nose, fractured my ocular bone, and also ruptured my appendix—which I have to remove now, by the way—but 'whatever', you know," the dark-haired girl replied.

"That's the spirit," Jack complimented and clapped Ellie on her shoulder, which emitted an audible crack.

"Ah," she groaned, "there goes my scapula."

"Put Vicks on it," Reese suggested. "Works every time."

"We're here!" Ao announces excitedly and ran towards the mansion. Reese, Jack, Ellie, and Caedis followed after her and were greeted by the sound of horribly, out of tune rock music playing upstairs on full blast. Sally was sitting on the couch, covering her ears, and Charlie did the same. Ms. P came out of the kitchen covering her ears as well, but her face lit up at seeing Ellie. She quickly ran upstairs to get Jeff. A few seconds passed until the horrible music was abruptly cut off and there was a loud crash. Afterward, Ms. P came down the stairs, dragging a flailing Jeff behind her. He was completely decked out in all black and his makeup was god awful.

"Ugh, what's your problem?" he harrumphed dramatically. "You can't stop creative genius! It's people like you who are destroying the youth you claim to be good-for-nothings!"

"Shut up and look who's here," Ms. P hissed and forced Jeff to stand up and face forward. At first he refused, but then he rolled his eyes and unenthusiastically looked at everyone. Jeff's reaction to Ellie's presence was immediate, and so was the process of the Joylessness leaving him.

"Ellie!" he chimed with awe and the two ran into each other's arms. They did a little spin and laughed with glee at finally being together again. But then there was another crack and Ellie whined, "Ah! My spine!"

"I'm so happy you're here!" Jeff beamed.

Ellie smiled at him and used her jacket sleeve to wipe off the makeup from his face. "I don't recall being in love with an edgy middle schooler," she joked.

"That's over now. I'm a new man; a better man," he said.

The random emo dude from the morning entered the room and said, "DemonMaster, we've gotta finish our song about the true loves we experienced and how much breaking up made us want to die even though the relationships only lasted, like, two days."

Jeff quickly dragged the emo dude out of the mansion and tossed him out, saying, "Fuck outta here! Get out! No one's gonna buy your shitty music!" Then he slammed the door.

"Glad to have you back, Jeff," Ao said.

"Glad to be back," he chimed, genuinely happy

"REESE!" Ben's voice shouted and caught everyone's attention.

Ben stomped up to the blonde teen and grabbed his shirt collar. Reese looked down at him, shocked and nervous. The elfin wraith scowled at him, said, "I heard you were checking out this ho, ho, ho over here", then nodded at Caedis, who still wore his surprisingly attractive Santa get-up.

"N-No, I-I wasn't—."

"How dare you get a fear boner by someone other than me?!" Ben hissed.

"Baby, listen—."

"Don't you 'baaaaaby' ME! C'mere!" With a sassy turn, Ben yanked Reese off his feet and started dragging him up the stairs.

"B-Ben?! What are going to do??" Reese stammered anxiously.

"You, bitch."

"aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️🅰️."

Reese tried desperately to grab onto something to anchor himself, but nothing worked. They were up onto the second floor before he knew it.

"You finna learn how to catch a real dick now," everyone heard Ben say, right before Reese screamed and there was the slam of a door. Then silence.

Ao cleared her throat and said, "Well, uh...guess we'll save Christmas tomorrow?"

"Y-Yeah, that sounds good," Ellie agreed, and everyone else nodded.

Suddenly: "BEN! OH MY GOD! AA—AAH—AHHH!~"

"What are they doing?" Sally asked oh so innocently.

"Fuck, we gotta blast," Jeff stated.

"Code red! CODE RED!" Ms. P screamed and everyone quickly rushed Sally, and themselves especially, out of the mansion.

Yeah, saving Christmas can wait until tomorrow.