Wonderland

~Home For The Holidays: Part II~

"Presents are here!" Annabelle's voice boomed across the forest, announcing her arrival. Everyone's heads turned to look at their leader. Instead of their usually fearsome and serious leader, they found Annabelle with a Santa hat on her head, a bag slung over her shoulder, and a wide smile across her face.

Kids ran out of their parent's arms to her, cheering and smiling from ear to ear. It was at that exact moment Annabelle knew she had made the right decision to get gifts for the children this year, even thought it meant spending some of the little money they had and risking her life out in the regular world.

"Now, kids, I'd suggest you calm yourselves if you really want these gifts." Annabelle teased, making her way to the front of the crowd and sitting herself down on a big stump. The children followed her hurriedly and formed a circle around her on the ground. Just as she was about to pull the first gift from the bag, she heard her best friend's voice emerge from the crowd.

"Let me through, little creatures. My gift is far more important!"

The children started booing him, but the sorcerer ignored their jeering and plopped down in front of Annabelle.

"Did you bring my gift?" Alex asked childishly, giving Annabelle a wide, innocent smile. She rolled her eyes, reached into the bag, and pulled out a small bag of oranges.

"I'll never understand why you love oranges so much." Annabelle said, tossing him the bag.

"And you'll never know why." He replied, already starting to peel one. With another roll of her eyes, Annabelle left Alex to his oranges and went to hand out the other gifts to all the children. They were nothing costly or lavish, just a few simple toys she had managed to steal or buy from a few stores. However, there were far too many children and not enough gifts. After she had finished emptying the bag, she explained as best she could to the children that they would have to share before making her way out of the crowd of children.

Along with toys for the children, Annabelle had also managed to get some more blankets, food, and other helpful supplies. It was sad how what was considered easily obtainable necessities in the human world were hard to find, rare, luxuries to them. Annabelle had promised herself that this would be no more. They would no longer to be forced to sleep barebacked under the stars in the summertime or have to freeze in their thin tents in the winter. They would no longer feel constant discomfort or die of starvation. Annabelle promised herself that she would make the humans pay, make the King pay, for everything they had done to her people.

"Annabelle!" A male voice called, snapping her from her thoughts. She looked over her shoulder to see Ryland leaning shadily against a tree, cigarette between his lips. He watched the nymph with a teasing glint in his dark eyes. "How lovely of you to join us!" She didn't respond, and he took that as a sign to continue. "I never took you as the kind of person who enjoys the holidays. You haven't spent Christmas with us in years. Not since you've been going ion those long walks of yours."

It seemed that the Christmas spirit wasn't going to soften Ryland at all.

"I can't say that I've missed those unnecessary remarks of yours, Ryland." She retorted, making the vampire's smirk widen. "But, seeing as it's Christmas, I've brought you something."

Ryland's eyebrows shot up in surprise as Annabelle tossed him a blood bag.

He caught it and examined it before speaking. "O negative. My favorite." He smiled.

"Just stay out of trouble, Clarke." She told him, heading off to go give all the supplies to Micah, the half-fairy who was in charge of equally distributing and protecting the supplies.

"No promises, Maxwell." Ryland called after her, making a smile tug at the corners of Annabelle's lips, in spite of herself.

About an hour later, about she had settled everything with Micah, Annabelle returned to the fire and sat down next to Alex and a few others, who were telling stories to all he children. She sat down right in time to hear a question asked to one of the eldest vampires in her camp, Simian Castelle.

"Is Santa real?" One of the kids asked him gingerly, and he, nor any of the others knew how to respond. Therefore, Annabelle answered for them.

"Legend has it he sold his soul to a demon."

Actually, Annabelle knew that for sure. Her source, after all, was quite secure one. Christopher use to tell her stories about people he had met and made deals with, and one day, he told her about his run in with Santa.

"An old friend of mine assures me of it," she continued, having captured the children's attention. "My friend even met him. His real name was Nicholas and some stories say that his parents died, leaving him much of their fortune, making him rich overnight, but this isn't true. He was actually poor as a church mouse, but as kind-hearted as an angel. He had always wanted to offer children gifts on Christmas, without them having to pay anything in return. That's why he made a deal with a demon. He wanted to make gifts appear in the homes of children, free of cost to them."

"Why isn't he spreading gifts anymore?" A kid from the crowd asked.

"Well, you know what happens after someone sells their soul." Annabelle said sadly, not wanting to go into more detail. "After his death, he was proclaimed a saint. People told stories of his legacy. Those stories turned into myths, and those myths into the legend of Santa we all know today."

An overwhelming silence settled in, making some of the elder's nostalgia grow. Gone were the times where they could celebrate the holidays in a proper way. Back after the discovery of the Wicked, the hunters and the first King had refused to associate Christmas with Santa Claus since Santa was associated with magic, and whatever was magic had to be banished. Now on Christmas, parents didn't share the story of Santa. They simply bought a few gifts and shrugged. Most aren't even aware of the tale of Santa Claus. Now, Christmas truly was a cheerless celebration.

Soon enough, everyone shook the sadness of for the sake of the children, and continued to tell story after story, the children's eyes sparkling with curiosity and pure joy.

And Annabelle felt it again. She felt that sensation, and she didn't know what to make of it. She had never experience a feeling quite like this one. Looking around, at all the people laughing and smiling and embracing each other like their lives weren't about to be at sake in a few weeks, she stopped envying the humans. She now knew, without a doubt, that she belonged with these people. She was home. And she now understood this odd feeling.

It was hope.

A/N

Christmas in July ??! Just a filler for some good stuff ;)

Hope you enjoy, nevertheless.

:))