Kingdom Hearts {Reader Insert}

44. Merry Christmas!

There was a distress signal waiting for you when you boarded the gummi ship. It was from Halloween Town and Jack was having more trouble with the Heartless. Your team immediately took off in that direction.

Cid landed in the graveyard. The town was just as you remembered it- dark and spooky. As you were exiting the ship a pale shape flew towards the open gummi door.

"Oh!" Yuffie exclaimed as Zero flew up and around her. She smiled and petted him. "Hello, Zero!"

Tifa laughed at Yuffie's surprise and joined her in petting Zero. "It's good to see you, too."

The ghost dog's nose bounced as he barked at all of you before flying quickly ahead of you into town.

"Seems like he's on a mission," you thought aloud.

"So are we," Leon said. "Keep an eye out for Heartless, that's why we're here."

Tifa rolled her eyes and walked down the ramp. "We know, Leon. You don't need to remind us."

"He can't help it," Yuffie said next to her with a giggle. "Leon doesn't know when to relax."

Leon sighed, but otherwise didn't comment. Cloud and Cid walked past toward the ladies.

You smiled as you walked by Leon and called your keyblade. "Does this make you feel better, fearless leader?" You lifted your weapon.

You thought you saw his ears turn slightly pink, but he responded with, "Only if you remember how to use it." He pointed to a cut you received from a pirate fight in Port Royal that was still working on healing.

You made a little haughty gasp as your eyebrows rose. "Rude. We'll see if I give you any helpful callouts this time."

Leon smirked and his eyes sparked with amusement. "I don't need them."

You laughed, unable to continue your faux arrogance. "Yeah, okay. Let's go." You pointed up to the rest of the group that had quite a lead on the two of you. "Yuffie's going to get all the Zero pets."

"I don't understand what's so enjoyable about petting a ghost dog," Leon said as the two of you started walking. "Your hand practically goes right through him."

You shrugged. "You can kind of feel him. And I know Zero appreciates it."

__________

When you walked into town you noticed there were orange string lights hung all over town square and down the adjacent alleys. Most of them glowed consistently but some of them faded, went dark, then grew in light again and others flickered randomly. Yuffie was standing by Zero, petting his face. You walked up and petted him with her. He ghost-nuzzled you happily.

"Wow," Tifa looked around.

"Wonder what they're celebrating," Yuffie said.

"Look, it's Jack," Cloud pointed into the sky.

Everyone looked up and you watched as skeletal reindeer pulled a ramshackle sleigh through the air. The base of the sleigh was a very obvious green coffin and attached to the back was a gigantic metal trash can. The three undead reindeer flew around to land on a haphazard wooden ramp that had been built to the side of the square. As they approached you could hear bells jingling. The sleigh stopped and Jack hopped out with excitement. He waved and greeted all of you, "Hello! Welcome back and merry Christmas!"

"Huh?" Yuffie's head tilted to the side.

"Merry Christmas?" Cloud wondered aloud, too confused to stay quiet.

"Are you doing Christmas now?" Leon asked, looking around Jack at the cart.

"Halloween greetings from Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King," he responded, giving a devilish grin and leaning forward. He rocked back on his heels then said, "Forgive me, I'm in a Christmas mood. You see, I'm running the show again this year, but I need Sandy Claw's blessing so I'm off to Christmas Town."