Author's Note: I totally meant to have this chapter up yesterday, and the next chapter today. So, I'm doing a double update!! Yay!! From now on, this will be updated every day until Christmas.
Anyway, this here is my Christmas gift to all my fans. Because they make life worth living. Anyway, this is actually very, very loosely based on the Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." How I did it, I do not know. But I did.
Happy Holidays everyone!!
Reindeer Games
Prologue: December 19th
As Sora came home from school some Tuesday afternoon, he did what he always does before heading into the small apartment he shared with Tidus. He checked the mailbox.
It was a mundane activity that usually meant nothing and brought no rewards or consequences – unless you counted electric bills as a consequence.
However, when Christmas is on the horizon, even the smallest action could be a miracle waiting to happen.
But that was not the case on this Tuesday, it seemed.
The mailbox was empty, and so Sora headed towards the elevator and made his way to his apartment.
What he found waiting there was not his missing miracle, but, some would say, quite the opposite. It was Tidus, sprawled out on the couch watching Spanish soap operas and stuffing cheetos down his throat.
"Hey Spikes," he muttered from his orange tinted mouth as Sora entered the room.
"Did you get the mail?" was the brunette's reply. Sora liked routine, and the empty mailbox was out of the ordinary. More importantly though, Sora liked Christmas cards and the cash relatives often included with them.
"Yeah," Tidus groaned, as if any action other than staring and eating was simply unnatural. "Selphie called and made me check. Apparently she's having some Christmas party and she wanted to make sure we got the invitation. I don't know why she bothered even sending one. I mean, obviously I'll be there."
"And you'd also obviously forget to tell me about it," Sora muttered. "Where is it?"
"On the kitchen table, I think."
Now this is where the small miracles begin, as Sora was somehow able to find the invitation among the many papers strewn across the table.
It was an envelope slightly smaller than usually, and it contained a cheerful, sparkling, snowflaked card. When Sora opened this card, he was greeted by the following:
'You are cordially invited to Ms. Selphie Tilmitt's Christmas Gala, on the evening of December the 25th.
6:00pm
Black tie attire.
Please arrive with escort.'
"Please arrive with escort?" Sora read aloud, shooting a glance towards the living room.
"Yeah. I guess Selphie wants it to be a couples only party or something," Tidus answered dazedly, obviously distracted by Juanita's adultery and the return of Carlos's evil twin brother - who may or may not now be Juanita (something Tidus would never discover as he did not understand Spanish).
"Couples only?" Sora scoffed as he joined the blonde. "Is anyone actually going to this thing?"
"Pretty much everyone is. I mean, think about it. Obviously Selphie and I will be there. Then there's Cloud and Leon, Axel and Roxas, and God knows who else she invited. But, in our little group, that leaves only one question."
"And what's that?"
"Well, we're left with you, Riku, and Kairi, right?"
"Yes…" the brunette drawled, eyeing his roommate suspiciously.
"So the question is, which of you guys is gonna get to Kairi first?"
And this, my friends, is the part where Sora completely gave up on his missing miracle.