12 Days of Writing

"Santa Claus" Is Coming to Town

Summary: A chain attacks the town just before Christmas, calling itself "Santa Claus". Alice has questions. Takes place before the end of the manga Pandora Hearts (and before the huge reveal). A chain is a giant monster from "The Abyss". If you want more info, read the manga.

"Alice!" Oz called out, a blast of wind sending him toppling to the ground. The chain swung its arm around again, sending another blast of air over the three friends, Alice and Gil having a better time staying on their feet than Oz.

The chain before them was big. Like, unnaturally so. And not just in the sense that it was tall (thought that too), but it's middle was just lumps of fat and blotches of red and white. It was a little disgusting to look at, especially since it smiled hugely as it tried to kill them.

The chain was called "Santa Claus", ironic to the time of year, since it only showed up around Christmastime. It came, it killed civilians, and left before morning.

"Oz!" Gil and Alice shouted, throwing Oz out of his thoughts into reality. "Santa Claus" had it's attention directly on him, probably because of his shout from earlier. He had about three seconds to get out of the way before he was crushed by a fist so large and meaty it was almost like a truck about to hit him. Gil and Alice were too far away. He needed to move . . .

Oz finally snapped out of it and rolled like mad to get out of the way. BOOM the ground shook and Oz was tossed into the air again. "WAHH!" he shouted before hitting the ground roughly.

"Oz!" Gil was suddenly there. "Oz, are you okay?"

Oz sat up and looked to his friends' worried faces. "I'm okay . . . I think . . ."

Alice puffed out her cheeks and hefted her scythe onto her shoulders. "You should focus on the situation, Oz. I can't have my servant die on me."

"Speak for yourself, stupid rabbit!" Gil shouted, covering Oz protectively as another swipe flew over their heads.

Alice swore and sliced at the chain, a cry of pain reverberating deep in their bones. A few sausage-like fingers fell to the ground. Giant, bench sized sausages.

Alice smirked. "Don't get scared now."

*/\*

Oz sat down on the couch. It had felt like ages since he last got to rest, what with all the illegal contractors and chains showing up; it was hard to catch a break.

The fight with "Santa Claus" had ended not more than an hour ago, with fewer casualties than Oz had suspected. He shuddered at his own thoughts. There shouldn't have been any casualties, nor should he think about those people like numbers. They were people, like anyone else, like himself and Gil and Alice. Well, maybe not Alice. Alice was a chain. His chain.

But she still acted somewhat human. It was weird. She loved meat and pulling pranks and teasing him, just like a normal human girl. But she wasn't human. She was B-Rabbit, the most feared and intellectual chain to ever exist. And yet she somehow came to him.

It was all really confusing.

Just then, Alice seated herself next to him on the couch, face scrunched up in thought. She was so obvious sometimes, but then other times she had Oz spinning around and around, wondering what was going on in her head. Uncle Oscar had called it "a woman thing".

"What's wrong?" Oz asked. "If it's about what happened earlier . . ."

He paused, noticing her blush seep into her cheeks. So cute . . . but why was she blushing?

"I'm sorry," he said, thinking she wa mad at him, or maybe even a little upset about his mess up. He had almost gotten himself killed with his hesitation. "I should have . . ."

Alice shook her head. "No, I was just, uh--" she was rambling. Oz laughed in spite of himself, only succeeding in darkening Alice's blush.

"Go on, it's okay," Oz wiped at a tear in his green eye. Was the stress really that intense to set him off like that? Evidently, yes.

"I was just wondering . . . um . . ." she curled her fingers in her white nightgown. Sharon had let her borrow it, claiming that a lady must always sleep in appropriate bed clothes. "I was just wondering what "Santa Claus" was . . ." she finally whispered.

Oz's eyebrow rose a bit. "It was a chain," he answered.

"No, no, I mean . . . " she bit her lip. "When you heard the name, your face should surprise and doubt and wonder all at once. I was just wondering if you knew someone or something with the same name. I kinda doubted that it was because you had met the chain before, but I could be wrong--"

Oz cut her off again, her rambling making him giggle a bit. "It's the name of the jolly old man who rides a sleigh in the sky and delivers presents for children on Christmas."

Now it was Alice's turn to look confused. "What? What the heck are you saying?"

Oz laughed again, lightheartedly. He explained in detail who Santa was and why he was so important around this time of year. Of course, she had questions about what "Crissmas" was and why they celebrated it. "I don't know," Oz admitted. "It's just something fun humans do."

Alice seemed to really like the idea of gift giving and getting gifts, namely the latter. It sounded like a blast to her.

Oz just hoped she wouldn't try anything that might put them all at risk.

*/\*

The next morning, Christmas day, Oz woke up to Alice jumping up and down on the bed. "Oz! Oz, wake up! Santa came, Santa came! And I don't mean that chain from yesterday, I mean the real deal. Get up, get up, get up!"

Oz groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Why does it matter?" Alice humphed. "There are presents under the tree that Gil set up and some have my name on them. We gotta find out what's inside."

Oz followed Alice out. Sure enough, there were presents under the tree, all wrapped up and with pretty bows.

"Santa Claus" really had come to town.