Well, here it is everybody. The last chapter! I hope you're all feeling the Christmas spirit as much as I am, and if you're not not, then you will be by the end of this :D I really love this chapter, haha.

My Christmas gift to all of you! Enjoy!

Liz woke on her own the next day, the memories of the previous night still frighteningly fresh in her mind. She was afraid to look at the clock and see what time it was. If it was after 8:10, then that would mean it wasn't Christmas anymore, since Patty hadn't run through the halls shouting 'It's Christmas, it's Christmas!' So instead she got out of bed and crept out into the hall. A few of the lights were on downstairs, mixing with the bright morning sunlight streaming in through the windows. Liz stopped in front of her sister's bedroom door and was about to knock when it flew open from the inside.

"Oh, sis!" Patty greeted her, surprised. "Morning!"

"Morning," Liz choked out, her voice still hoarse with sleep. "Um… What day is it?" She was afraid of the answer, but she needed to know if she'd been given another chance, or if things had really ended the way she'd caused them to.

Patty fixed her with a puzzled look, before grinning broadly. "It's Christmas, of course!" She laughed excitedly, clapping her hands, while Liz's breath caught in her throat.

"It's… Christmas…" she whispered. It was Christmas again. It wasn't over. Yesterday hadn't happened. She had another chance. She giggled in disbelief as Patty rushed downstairs. It took a moment for these facts to sink in, during which Liz continued to stand in a daze in front of her sister's bedroom, grinning stupidly. "It's Christmas!" she shouted, for the first time being truly happy to hear these words.

She rushed downstairs without changing out of her pajamas. Patty was once again sitting under the tree, surrounded by colorful gifts and laughing happily. Liz looked around the room, her eyes falling on the kitchen door. Excitedly, she ran across the room and pushed the door open. Kid was standing at the counter, just like he'd been all those other Christmases. Unable to express how happy she was to see him alive again, Liz rushed forward without thinking and threw her arms around him, making him jump violently and spill the coffee he'd been stirring all over the counter.

"What—Liz!" he grunted angrily. "Look at this mess!"

She loosened her grip and spun him around to face her, her hands on his shoulders. When his golden eyes met hers, she couldn't help but think of the last time she'd seen them, and how she'd never before appreciated how full of life they were. "You're back," she said quietly without thinking.

"Back?" Kid repeated, clearly confused. "I haven't gone any—" He cut off abruptly as she grabbed him and pulled him into another tight hug. "Liz…? Are you… feeling alright?"

Only slightly embarrassed, she finally released him, chancing a glance at the utterly lost look on his face. "Yeah, sorry," she admitted. "Just… Merry Christmas."

He raised his eyebrows, a look of mild surprised spreading across his face. "Yeah… You… too…"

Liz grinned. "Come on!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him back out into the living room, causing Patty to look up from her pile of gifts.

As they opened all their presents, Liz seeing each of them for the eighth time now, she acted as genuinely surprised as she could. Even when Kid gave them their last gifts, she kept it up. She examined the snow globe more closely than she had before, and noticed for the first time some of the smaller details. Like the way each snowflake was exactly the same. That's my Kid… she couldn't help but think with a smile. There were also, to her surprise, tiny versions of her and each of the members of their team placed throughout the city, as if someone had taken a three-dimensional photograph of Death City and placed it inside this very snow globe. It was really beautiful.

Liz looked up at Kid, setting down the gift. She then promptly stood and stepped up to him, wrapping him in another tight embrace. "Thanks, Kid," she told him. "I love it."

"What's with you today?" he asked as she let go of his shoulders and backed up. "Usually, for some reason, you hate Christmas."

Of course he wouldn't remember, Liz thought to herself. Yesterday never happened. I never told him about that day. Maybe someday she'd tell him again, but for now it didn't matter. Like he'd said, it was in the past.

"I guess I just realized…" Liz began finally, "I've got such a great family, there's no reason not to be happy." She smiled fondly at the two of them. It was cheesy, but it was the truth.

"Yeah!" Patty yelled in agreement. Kid raised his eyebrows, but couldn't keep from grinning all the same.

"Why don't you guys go put all this away upstairs," he suggested after a moment, "while I clean up this mess?" The sisters gathered their things and headed for the stairs, while Kid set to straightening the room. After Liz stowed her gifts in the usual corner, she suddenly remembered the conversation she'd overheard between Kid and his father all those Christmases ago. With a sudden idea, she quickly dressed and dashed back downstairs.

"…I'm trusting you to take care of it," Lord Death's voice was just audible through the door as Liz approached it. "As a Grim Reaper. Before it kills again."

"…I will."

Liz took the opportunity just then to open the door wide, purposely whacking the bell hanging from the mistletoe on the door frame and drawing as much attention as she could. She marched right into the center of the room and stood next to her meister, who was looking at her with an incredulous expression. "Don't worry, Lord Death," she said confidently, facing the mirror in which he was reflected. "Kid's got us, right?" She put her arm around his shoulders for emphasis. "If we run into this kishin egg, we'll roast him like Christmas dinner." She grinned in an attempt to drive this point home.

Lord Death was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again his funny voice had lost its serious tone from before. "Well, then I guess I have nothing to worry about! I don't know what I'd do without you three!" He waved a cheerful peace sign before disappearing, the mirror going dark.

Kid glanced suspiciously at Liz. "How did you—?"

"We're going to visit Soul and Maka, right?" she interrupted, backing toward the door. She still wasn't too keen on letting him know too much about her eavesdropping. "We should get ready." With an innocent laugh, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Not long after, Liz found herself once again standing on the front step, her path blocked by Kid's outstretched arm as he gushed about the beauty of the snowy lawn. As hard as she was trying to be the picture of happiness today, she still didn't relish the idea of flying through the cold air. But rather than complain bitterly, she thought of another, more fun way to distract Kid, and maybe loosen him up a little.

"…hiding any impurities in the grass," he was saying, though Liz wasn't listening anymore. "There's no way we're going to walk on it and create a mess of—YEEAAARRRGGH!" He barely finished his sentence before landing face-first in the snow, thanks to the light shove given from the older sister behind him, while the younger collapsed into a fit of laughter. Of course, Patty wasted no time in following suit and jumping off the step, landing on the grass and kicking snow everywhere while Liz watched with a grin, stepping down into the snowy lawn.

"What," Kid began icily, pulling himself to his feet, "were you thinking? Now the lawn's a complete disaster AND my jacket's soaked!" He tried to brush the snow off his clothes and hair, Patty now making snow angels behind him.

"You know, Kid," Liz began, discreetly leaning over and pretending to tie her shoe while gathering a rather large pile of snow. "Sometimes you just need to cool it." With that, she stood and flung the snowball at her meister, hitting him straight in the face. Patty burst into another fit of excited laughter, which this time Liz couldn't help but join in on as she brushed the snow from her hands.

"Fine," Kid said after a moment in what sounded like a tone of forced calm. Liz stopped laughing abruptly, thinking maybe she'd gone too far. "If that's the way you want to play it…" The older sister stood still, ready to apologize, but when he brushed the snow off his face, it revealed beneath it an evil grin, a look she'd seen him give his opponents on numerous occasions. Then, as fast as lightning, he swept up a handful of snow and threw it at her. She shrieked in surprise and turned sideways so as to hide her face. The snowball collided with her shoulder, a chunk of it sliding inside her jacket and dampening her shirt with cold. Kid smirked at her as Patty laughed even harder. Quickly catching her sister's eye, Liz got a sudden idea.

"Kid!" she scolded, unzipping her jacket. "What's up with your aim? You got my chest all wet!" Trying hard not to laugh, she started lifting her shirt, as if to dry herself off. And just as she'd hoped, Kid flinched violently and looked determinedly in the other direction.

"S-Sorry," he stuttered, shaking his head. "I didn't—"

"NOW, PATTY!" Liz cut him off, re-zipping her jacket as her sister rose to her feet. Catching on, Kid spun around to face the imminent threat, but not fast enough. Patty advanced on him in a flash, a wicked grin on her face. She stretched out her hands and, with one last mischievous glance at her older sister, shoved him with all her might. He fell backward and collided with an unsuspecting Liz, sending them both tumbling over each other and rolling down the hill, snow catching on their clothes and covering them in an instant.

As the incline leveled out, Liz came to a slightly painful halt just before the edge of the sidewalk. She shook her head, lifted herself up with her hands, and opened her eyes—only to find herself lying directly on top of her meister, the tip of her nose less than an inch from his.

The blank expression on his face she was sure mirrored her own perfectly. For a second, she couldn't remember how she'd gotten there. She couldn't remember anything—what day it was, where they were, even her name. All she could see were his eyes, those bright golden eyes, so close to hers. Again the feeling of what she'd done to him just hours ago flashed across her mind and for a brief instant she felt her breath catch in her throat. She was vaguely aware of someone laughing hysterically in the background, of some cold, dampness pressing down on her. But for just one brief second, for some strange reason, none of it was there.

Then the moment was over, and everything came slowly back to her like she was coming out of a tunnel. The sound of Patty's laughter pierced the air, the icy cold of Liz's wet jacket bit at her back and arms. Patty had shoved Kid, he'd crashed backward into Liz, and they'd both fallen the whole way down the hill almost to the street. She remembered now.

Then for some inexplicable reason she started to laugh. And she wasn't the only one—Kid cracked a grin and chuckled with her. It was just small giggles and first, but before long Liz was gasping for breath between shouts of laughter. She stood carefully and helped her meister to his feet, wiping frozen tears from the corners of her eyes. He leaned forward, hands on his knees, as his laughter died down as well. Patty hopped over to them, grinning one of the broadest grins Liz had ever seen.

"I thought we were on the same team there," Liz muttered to her sister so Kid wouldn't hear. "What gives?"

Patty shrugged. "Just thought I'd help you out," she answered with an innocent smile.

"What—Help?" Liz repeated, suspicious as to what her younger sister was getting at. But Patty simply blinked her eyes and smiled again, clearly not saying anything else. Instead Liz turned to survey the now completely messy, snowy front lawn before them. After a second, she noticed the others doing the same. "So, Kid," she began again after a moment. "How do you feel about that?" She stretched out her arms, indicating the mess of snow and tracks in front of their eyes.

He was silent for a second, his expression unreadable. Finally, he said, "You know… I guess it's perfectly beautiful in its own way." He glanced sideways at Liz, flashing a smile. Slightly stunned, she gave a small smile back.

"Well, let's go!" Patty proposed, clapping her gloved hands together and leading the way down the street.

This time, as they walked, Liz wished a Merry Christmas to as many people as she could. Patty was still in front, skipping along and waving and smiling at passersby. Kid was walking along beside Liz, watching her with a slightly bemused expression.

"Okay, what's going on?" he confronted her finally. "There's definitely something different about you today. Why so extra cheerful?"

Liz shrugged innocently. "Oh, I dunno," she answered dismissively. "Maybe the season's just gotten to me." He opened his mouth to say something else, but she cut him off. "Come on!" She grabbed his hand and rushed him forward, breaking into a run down the sidewalk. They dashed past Patty, who gave a surprised yelp before happily racing after them.

Maka and Soul had been almost as surprised as Patty and Kid by Liz's uncharacteristic cheerfulness, though they didn't seem as keen to question it and instead chose to be grateful for her new attitude. When they got back to the mansion, Liz decided to help out with the cooking again today. After all, it had been a few Christmases since she'd done so. Maybe they wouldn't be stuck with a dinner made entirely of candies and sweets that day.

As Kid set about measuring the turkey, Liz set her celery sticks in a neat line, ready to slice them, and Patty began peeling her potatoes. As she prepared, Liz couldn't help but look back on the past few dinners they'd had (well, she'd had, since none of the others remembered the past seven Christmases) and found herself wondering what might happen at dinner if they had a real, traditional holiday feast, instead of just a ragtag collection of appetizers and side dishes. It was bound to go better, wasn't it? Maybe they could even avoid the usual food fight. She could dream, couldn't she?

With this in mind, Liz set down her utensils and walked over to where Kid was fiddling with the turkey by the oven, where she wordlessly took the rulers from his hands and placed them in a drawer to her left. She then proceeded to pick up the turkey and place it in the oven herself.

"Liz, I wasn't finished with that," Kid protested matter-of-factly, attempting to get around her to take the bird back out of the oven and resume his calculations.

"Ah, ah, ah," Liz said, wagging a finger. "We're not going to worry about symmetry for once."

Kid looked horrified. "How could you even suggest such a thing?"

"Because it'll be good for you," she persisted. "Come on, I'll show you." She led him over to the counter where she'd just begun chopping the celery.

"Liz, these aren't cut straight at all. Just let me—"

"No," she answered firmly. She then took a kitchen towel from a nearby drawer and proceeded to tie it around Kid's eyes, blindfolding him.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, sounding slightly apprehensive. Liz didn't answer as Patty abandoned her potatoes to come watch this out-of-the-ordinary event that was happening in their kitchen.

"Just go with me here, 'kay?" Liz said, trying to keep her voice level as she stepped behind him and placed the knife in his hand. She took a deep breath, then leaned sideways so she could see around his head and began moving his hands like a puppet, making him slice the celery. And she was sure to make every piece a different size.

He couldn't see what was happening, but it was obvious he could tell it wasn't right. "What are you doing?" he asked again, trying to wrestle his hands from her grip to lift the blindfold.

"I'm just trying to help you loosen up a bit," she answered, though admittedly she herself was a little stiff at the moment, given the odd contact. But this was for his sake, after all. Patty giggled quietly from beside Liz, who glared at her and told her to go back to her potatoes, feeling slightly embarrassed.

After another minute (during which Liz heard continued sniggering coming from somewhere in the potato vicinity), Liz carefully let go of Kid's right hand, allowing it to continue cutting the celery just as she had been. She took off the blindfold, but was surprised to see his eyes squeezed shut beneath it. With a small chuckle, she said, "Look. You're doing it." Very slowly, as if it cost him a great effort, he opened first one eye, then the other, looking down at the chopped celery in front of them.

"This isn't right, I can't—" he began, before Liz sighed and put her left hand over his mouth and her right back over his, guiding it once again.

After another minute or two, she felt the little resistance left in his movements disappear, his muscles relaxing. She carefully removed her hands and took a step back.

"I… I'm doing it…" Kid said incredulously, as if he himself couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I'm cutting them… and they're not perfect… and it's okay!"

Inwardly jumping for joy, Liz beamed as he turned to face her, a wide grin on his face. "Congratulations," she said as he took a step forward and they hugged tightly. "I knew you could do it."

"Ahem," Patty cleared her throat loudly from across the room after a minute of silence. Liz snapped back to the present and let go of Kid, who was still grinning. "I'm finished with the potatoes!" Patty announced, spreading her arms wide. Liz looked at her sister and shook her head. Kid, on the other hand, first glanced at the potatoes, then at Patty, then at Liz, then back at Patty, and back at the potatoes, before rushing over with a disgruntled growl.

"This is all wrong! Can't you see how some of these skins are twice as thick as others? This will have to be completely redone. We can't use these!"

Liz smiled and heaved a heavy sigh. Well, it's a start.

A few hours later, the doorbell once again sounded the arrival of Black Star and Tsubaki.

"So what's for dinner?" Black Star asked. "I'm starving!"

"Black Star, you ate two hours ago," his weapon partner protested. Liz had heard this conversation many times now, but with how well the day had gone so far, she found she didn't feel the urge to punch Black Star in the face anymore.

"Ha! Come on, Tsubaki. You know a man needs six meals a day to survive, especially a man as big as me."

"Well, come on in, make yourselves at home," Liz said cheerfully, leading the way into the den. "You can wait in here until we're finished getting ready."

"Whatever it is, it smells great," Black Star noted, sniffing the air like a hungry wolf as Liz smiled and headed back to the kitchen.

It wasn't long until Soul and Maka arrived, and the time for dinner had come at last. When they entered the dining room, what awaited them was the picture of a traditional Christmas feast. The long table was laden with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, baked potatoes, dinner rolls, and various pies and tarts.

"Wow!" Maka marveled, her eyes lighting up as they all sat down. "This looks great, guys!"

"So how'd you get the turkey cooked?" Soul asked with a light smirk, jerking a thumb toward Kid, who looked mildly affronted at the accusation.

"We've been teaching Kid to loosen up about symmetry a little and just kind of go with the flow," Liz answered politely.

"Actually," Patty corrected, "Sis tied Kid to a chair and we handled most of the cooking." Everyone laughed at this admittance, even Kid, who shook his head and gave a kind of sideways smile.

Dinner was, for the first time this Christmas, relatively uneventful. But not in a negative way. It was just a group of friends eating dinner together, no food fights or anything outrageous like that. And Liz found that she wouldn't want it any other way.

After dinner, they were all sitting in the den by the tree when they felt the familiar tremor. Knowing it meant trouble, each one of them jumped to their feet and ran outside, already in battle mode, just in time to see the mechanical dragon burst out of the ground, eccentric kishin egg on top.

"Tsubaki!" Black Star shouted, falling into stance.

"Right!" she answered reflexively, changing forms and rushing to battle with him.

Maka grinned. "It wouldn't be cool to let them have all the fun, now, would it?" she asked rhetorically.

"My thoughts exactly," Soul answered with a smirk, taking her hand and shifting to his weapon form as they too joined the fight.

"Well, guys?" Kid said, turning to the sisters. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Patty exclaimed happily, jumping up and down.

"Let's do it," Liz answered with conviction, as both girls changed forms and leapt into the air, where Kid caught them expertly and rushed in behind the others.

Right from the get-go, Liz could tell the battle was going much better than all the previous ones combined. Having just come from a night of friendly conversation rather than a heated food fight, everyone's spirits were much lighter than they'd been the past seven times she fought this battle. Their resonance rates were exponentially higher, and their attacks were therefore doing a lot more damage. Liz found she was unable to predict the monster's movements this time around, since her allies were fighting so differently, but surprisingly she didn't really need to. Before long, Maka was able to take out the dragon's legs with a well-placed Demon Hunter, which left Kid with a perfect shot to fire his Death Cannon directly at the kishin egg. Both man and machine disappeared, leaving only a single, floating, red soul where the terrifying beast had been seconds before.

"So who gets it?" Black Star asked as all the weapons returned to human form. Everyone was silent for a second, before Patty finally spoke up.

"I think it should go to Sis, since she'd been the queen of Christmas cheer today!" Just about everyone agreed with this statement immediately.

"But then she'd have one more soul than Patty…" Kid started, trailing off when everyone glared at him.

"It's okay," Liz insisted. "Loosen up, remember?" After a short while, and with what looked like a great effort, he agreed. As Liz took the soul and feasted on it, Kid flinched momentarily, but gave a pained smile, to which everyone laughed heartily.

"Guess ya really are making progress," Black Star noticed, smacking Kid on the back.

"We're happy for you," Tsubaki said with a kind smile.

"Yay!" Patty cheered, leading the way back inside. When everyone had turned for the door, Liz took Kid's hand and gave it a light squeeze, offering him an encouraging smile. She started to head inside, but stopped when she felt a tug at her arm, turning to see Kid standing rooted to the spot. She fixed him with an inquisitive look.

He looked at her for a second, before saying, "Thanks."

She smiled, feeling her face flush a bit. Without a word, she tugged harder at his hand, leading him back inside into the warm house.

"You guys took your time," Soul noted as they reached the doorway of the den, where everyone had once again gathered. Kid let go of Liz's hand and took a step forward into the room, but was quickly stopped by Black Star holding up a hand.

"Ah, ah, ah," he scolded, before pointing a finger and jerking it upward. Liz looked above her head and her heart gave a jolt. Hanging from the door frame directly above her and Kid was that same decorated sprig of mistletoe she'd deliberately hit earlier that day.

"Mistletoe!" Maka said with a grin. "You know the rules, guys!" Liz's eyes momentarily met her sister's, as Patty gave her a quick thumbs up.

"That's—" Kid began evasively, but he stopped when Liz grabbed his shoulder and lightly pulled him back against the door frame. Before he could say anything else, or before her rational mind could take back over, she leaned forward and kissed him.

Kid went rigid at first, but before long she could feel him loosen up and return the motion. It didn't last long, seeing as Liz could still feel the eyes of everyone in the room on her, but it was by no means meaningless. When she stepped back, she was able to hear Patty cheering and Black Star laughing, which brought a rush of embarrassment and made her momentarily skeptical. But when she looked at Kid, he gave her a soft, almost accepting smile, and she felt instantly better. She thought once more about the previous Christmas, how she'd almost lost him, and how grateful she was that she'd been given this last chance. And she wouldn't have traded the way it turned out for anything in the world.

It wasn't long before everyone left for their homes, all yawning and wishing each other Merry Christmas. Patty went straight to bed after that, leaving Liz and Kid alone in the den. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, just admiring the lights on the brilliant Christmas tree in the corner.

"You know," Kid began finally. "You never did tell me what had you in such a good mood today."

"Like I said," Liz insisted, trying to sound convincing. "It was probably just the season."

"Yeah, right," he disagreed with a wry smile. "I know you, and it takes more than that to completely change your opinion of what used to be your least favorite day of the year."

She was quiet for a second, thinking of what happened and what it really was that had caused this drastic change in her character. "I guess, in a way… you helped me."

He frowned. "I did?"

She smiled and shifted her weight, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You helped me see how much I love you guys, and how much I was taking for granted."

"Right…" he said in an unsure tone, clearly not understanding.

Suddenly a thought hit her, and she sat up so fast Kid jumped and looked around in surprise. "What time is it?" she demanded seriously.

He glanced at a clock on the wall behind them. "It's almost twelve-thirty. Why? What's wrong?"

12:30. It was almost 12:30. Christmas was finally over.

She couldn't help but grin at the thought. Of course she hadn't exactly enjoyed reliving the same Christmas over and over again at the time, but when she looked back on it, she couldn't help but be glad it had happened. Seven days ago, on that first Christmas, she'd been a miserable old Scrooge who wanted nothing more than to sleep through the holiday and not bother experiencing it at all. Now, here she was, sitting in the den with one of her best friends, enjoying the beautiful decorations and the comfortable silence. This experience had brought her so many things. It brought her happiness, it brought her peace, it brought her a reason to love the holidays, and most importantly, it brought her closer to him. It was ironic, she couldn't help but notice, that this day was in fact her eighth Christmas in a row, and the only word to describe it was 'perfect.' A perfect eight. She chuckled at the thought, before remembering that Kid was still watching her, waiting to know the purpose behind her outburst.

"It's nothing," she answered finally, unable to hide her small smile.

"Well, whatever the reason for your sudden good spirits," he said as she settled back down, lying against him again, "this turned out to be a pretty good Christmas."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I don't think I've ever had a better one." Sleepily, she thought of Avea and what the old witch had told her, how she had a family worth protecting. She would have to find the woman and thank her for making her see that.

Kid closed his eyes and leaned back against the sofa. "Almost makes you wish it was Christmas every day, huh?" he asked rhetorically.

Liz smiled to herself. "Almost."

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THE END

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Yay! Happy endings! It's been a good run, but now we're finally at the end. I just wanted to say a final thank you to all my readers and reviewers :D It always makes me really happy to know my writing is actually being read and appreciated. I couldn't do it without you! :D Thanks again!

Have a very Merry Christmas, everybody! See ya next time!

-oMM