Little Problems (Kingdom Hearts)

Santa Marks the Spot

Tansy let her face fall into a pout as she shuffled through the dark, eerie forest of Halloween Town. After unwittingly spreading mischief throughout the world, she found herself in a dark forest, bored out of her little mind.

"There's nothing to do here..." she said, her pout growing larger. Tansy suddenly stopped and looked around the forest. "I wanna go home..." she muttered, looking down at the bottle of potion in her hands. When her stomach growled, she flopped down on the ground and began to cry. "A-And now I'm h-hungry!" she wailed. "I want chocolate!"

As she continued to cry, a delicious sent wafted into her nose. Her cries immediately stopped and she hopped to her feet. "I smell the smelly smell of... gingerbread cookies!" she squealed, completely forgetting about wanting to go home. She rushed through the forest, following the scent, until she reached a clearing surrounded by weird looking trees. Her eyes lit up when she saw a tree with a Christmas tree shaped door.

"Christmas!"

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Xemnas sighed in relief when he stepped out into the much cooler world of Halloween Town. "Ugh, remind me to add Agrabah to the list of worlds I need to annihilate," he said to no one in particular and took a step forward, not noticing the the purple shadow blob right in his path. He tripped on the purple blob and fell flat on his face with a groan.

"WHY?" he yelled, lifting her head up to see what had tripped him. He quickly summoned his Etheral Blades and stabbed the shadow blob, watching it disappear with a dark expression on his face. "Why am I always finishing other people's missions?!"

As Xemnas picked himself up off the ground, muttering curses at Tansy and his rotten luck, Saïx stepped through his Corridor of Darkness and lifted an eyebrow at Xemnas's disheveled appearance.

I suppose that's good karma for ditching me earlier, he thought, watching Xemnas get to his feet. The silver haired man jumped in surprise and let out a yelp when he saw his second-in-command standing there glaring at him.

"O-Oh, hey Saïx... uh, beautiful day, isn't it?" Xemnas said, nervously running his fingers through his hair.

Saïx gave him a flat look and said, "Superior, this is Halloween Town. There's a guillotine in the town square and a haunted graveyard further up north. This is not a beautiful day."

"Well some people might find that beautiful..." Xemnas muttered then let out a sigh. "Let's just go look for that little monster."

Saïx simply nodded and followed Xemnas down the cobblestone path.

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"Marly, I'm SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" Demyx cried, running away from Marluxia in circles.

"I'M GONNA HACK YOU TO PIECES LIKE THE BOTHERSOME WEED YOU ARE!" Marluxia yelled, swinging his scythe.

"AHHHHHHH!" Demyx cried, breaking free from the circle they were running in and rushing to the forest. Marluxia was hot on his trail. Demyx braved a glance over his shoulder and shrieked in terror when the pink scythe nearly cut his face. The two quickly approached a clearing surrounded by strange looking trees. Demyx spotted the one with the Christmas tree shaped door and didn't think twice before opening it and hopping inside.

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Xemnas's ears perked up when the sound of a girl's shrieking reached his ears. With a gasp, he turned to Saïx whose face remained in his perpetual dark scowl despite hearing the shriek as well. At this point, that was the only face he knew how to make.

"Do you think that could be Tansy?" Xemnas said, hope creeping into his voice.

Saïx shrugged. "It could be. If that's the case, however, it sounds like she's already been savagely torn apart by a heartless."

Xemnas stared at Saïx in shocked silence at his morbid words. Saïx's tired, disinterested eyes slowly slid over to meet Xemnas's before suddenly narrowing, causing Xemnas to jump.

"A-Alright, let's just hurry over there then," Xemnas said, quickly moving away from his pissed off subordinate. 

The sounds of a little girl shrieking led the two to the forest and eventually to a clearing surrounded by weird looking trees. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..." Xemnas muttered, looking at each tree. "She could've gone through any of these!"

Saïx raised an eyebrow as his lifeless eyes wandered over to the Christmas tree shaped door. There was a potion lying in front of it on the ground so while Xemnas was tearing his hair out in the background, Saïx stepped over to it and picked it up.
He pocketed it then turned to his superior who was having a meltdown. With a sigh, he opened the door, grabbed Xemnas, then shoved him inside before going in himself.

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"The fuck is this?" Xemnas said, watching a snowflake melt on his nose.

"Snow, Superior. Snow," Saïx said, getting to his feet and dusting off his coat.

Xemnas got up as well when the smell of gingerbread reached his nose and he gagged. "Ugh, it smells like Christmas cheer here," he said, fanning the air.

Saïx held his breath so he wouldn't smell the happiness in the air and said, "Follow that scent. I'm positive it'll lead us to Tansy."

"...Alright," Xemnas said with a grimace and led the way through the snow and cheerful little elves wandering around. One elf gave Saïx a cheerful wave. Saïx's eyes narrowed into slits and he bared his teeth at the poor elf, scaring her away in the opposite direction. Soon Xemnas led them right in front of a door. Giggles could be heard drifting through the air in the house before them and with a frown, Xemnas pounded his fist on the door and yelled, "Tansy?! Is that you?! Get your sorry as—"

The door immediately flung open to reveal Tansy covered in sprinkles and cookie crumbs, a gingerbread man in her right hand and a bright smile on her face. "Daddy, you made it! See, Santa? I told you he'd come!"

"Santa...?" Xemnas said, his gaze drifting from Tansy to jolly old St. Nick sitting in a rocking chair further in the house. "Oh no."

Santa shot Xemnas a withering glare and folded arms. "Well if it isn't the king of the naughty list."

Xemnas groaned and rolled his eyes. "Old man, I'm not in the mood right now. I'm taking my nuisance and leaving."

Suddenly Demyx's head popped around the corner from the kitchen. "Xemnas!" he said with a gasp. "Xemnas, this place is so much fun! Xemnas, why don't we celebrate Christmas? Xemnas, try a cookie! Xemnas, you look a little mad! Xemnas, why are you getting closer? Xemnas, do you wanna hug? Xemnas, why did you summon your Etheral Blades? Xemnas—GAK!"

"THANK you," Saïx said, massaging the space between his eyebrows.

Demyx fell to the floor, his health bar almost at zero. Santa sighed. "If you're also looking for you flower subordinate, he already left."

"Well, we weren't," Xemnas said curtly as Saïx bent down to heave Demyx over his shoulder.

Xemnas lifted Tansy in his arms and frowned at the sprinkles covering her cheeks. "Let's go, Saïx," he finally said, turning to his blue-haired ally. He jaw dropped when he found Saïx passed out on the floor with an unconscious Demyx flopped over him.

I held my breath... as long as... possible... Saïx thought. 

"Curse you, Christmas..." Xemnas muttered.

"Ho ho ho ho! ...Get out of my house," Santa said.