Eventually autumn made way for winter. Fall was wiped away by the greatest snowfall Avalon had seen in decades and it heralded a white Christmas like never before. Each and every house on the street was littered in decorations, ornaments, and brightly shining lights without number.

  While everyone else was listening to the sickening music of the season. Al was listening to the greatest hits of the eighties on his father's old cassette player. It saddened him that he had only discovered a point of shared interest with his father shortly after his passing, but at the same time it gave him some closure.

  They liked all the same music and discovering that fact after Pietro's death made the music invoke a strange nostalgia for a past that never was but could have been. Like a glimpse into another life where they could have been nothing more than an ordinary father and son. A world without conflict where magic was nothing more than a mere fantasy.

  Loud conversations echoed throughout the house, but for once he didn't try to avoid the sound by hiding in his room. Jennifer's friends were over as they always were on Christmas eve and that meant there wouldn't be a quiet moment in sight. Their families were always busy with work during the holidays so they usually ended up spending their Christmas with his family instead. It was a many years long tradition, but no longer was it an unwelcome one.

  "Do I look good, Al?" Jane said as she stepped into the living room.

  She was wearing a fluffy red dress with white details and a slightly too big Santa hat. If anything she was in the Christmas spirit even if that meant dressing a bit like a young and rebellious Mother Christmas.

  "If that's your idea of a Christmas present, then you've really outdone yourself," he chuckled as she gave him a quick kiss.

  "Hey can someone help out with the cooking?" his mother called out.

  Once Jane was satisfied with his affections he got up and made his way to the kitchen. The moment he had taken note of the ongoing cooking situation he stepped up to the cutting board and began hacking away at meat and vegetables for the Christmas eve feast.

  "There's beer in the fridge if cooking without a drink gets too boring," his mother said while juggling no less than five different tasks all at once around the kitchen.

  He reached over to the fridge and popped the cap with the back of the knife before he continued working. After a quick sip he could feel his spirits lifting despite the arduous work that lay ahead of him.

  "Isn't this the moment I should remind you that I'm underage?" he quipped as he threw a load of chopped vegetables into the pot on the stove.

  "If you're old enough to drink beer back in Germany, then you're old enough to drink it in my home, Albrecht."

  Her accent really came out whenever she spoke of her home country. It almost made him forget that she spoke in perfect English most of the time. The sadness inside her from losing her husband was always visible underneath her jovial exterior, but she was far better at managing her grief than most.

  "I've got it covered now sweetie so why don't you see if they need any help with the tree?" she said as she waved him out of the kitchen.

  The music on the cassette player switched the moment he went back to the living room. It made him wonder if it was somehow reading the mood around him or if it knew what he wanted to listen to better than even he did.

  "Al, I need to decorate the top of the tree, but I can't quite reach," Annie said as he moved over to her.

  He picked her up with ease and hoisted her into the air so she could reach the highest branches. And after only a minute or so she had finished decorating the tree so that he could finally put her down.

  "Why didn't you just ask Andy?" he said to her as she dusted herself off.

  "Well him, Teddy, and Lee are out decorating the yard," she said as she began putting away all the boxes of Christmas ornaments, "Plus, Jennifer is busy making Jane do her makeup."

  "That's fucking hilarious," he chuckled while Annie looked at him with a confused expression.

  Jane would have no way of knowing if she was doing a good job, so there was good chance Jennifer would end up looking somewhat absurd. But if she was lucky Jane would just reach for the cosmetics with the cutest spirits. Either way it was a coin flip if his sister would end up looking crazy or crazy cute by the time Lee got back.

  The door swung open as the rambunctious trio that was Andy, Lee, and Teddy made their way back inside covered head to toe in snow. While Andy had fared the best. Lee on the other hand was practically a walking snowman.

  "I'm going to assume it was pyrrhic victory?" he said as Lee struggled to pull down the zipper on the jacket.

  "I don't know if I should agree or try to claim that I somehow achieved a decisive victory despite the wounds, Al," Lee said as he threw himself on the couch.

  "You two ganged up on him, didn't you?"

  Teddy and Andy looked at each other for a short moment before Teddy spoke up, "He broke the peace by throwing the first snowball so what happened next was entirely justifiable."

  "Well it looks like you gave them casus belli, Lee, you should have just known better than to give them cause for war."

  "Sure, but why weren't you out there to aid me in my darkest hour, Al!"

  "Because I'm not stupid enough to march on Russia in winter," he said as he flashed Lee a big grin.

  Lee looked over at Annie with feigned hurt in his eyes, "And you just watched from the window as they subjected me to the snowball fight equivalent of war crimes!"

  "If there's anyone that you should've begged for help, then it's Jennifer because she would have killed them on the field of battle," she laughed.

  "Okay now that would've been a disaster because calling on Jennifer would've been like dropping the nuke," Andy said as he stuffed his face with gingerbread cookies.

  "You say that when Al is here?" Teddy said before moving over to sit next to Annie.

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  "Well Al would have been mutually assured destruction, but Jennifer would have beaten us without Lee even having to raise a finger," Andy said only for all of them to nod in agreement.

  "Why are you all talking about me all of a sudden?" Jennifer said as she and Jane came down the stairs.

  Jane had somehow managed to do her makeup without making her look completely insane. It baffled him how she had even managed, but at the same time he was impressed by how good of a job she had done. He moved over to the couch and leaned closer to Lee.

  "You better tell her how good she looks or you're going to find out firsthand if you're short enough to be flushed down a toilet," he whispered as menacingly as he could to Lee before moving over to sit next to Jane.

  "Hey, Jennifer, you look awesome!" Lee shouted awkwardly while giving her two big thumbs up.

  Lee didn't even have a chance to react as Andy drove his fist into his stomach and knocked the wind out of him without warning before turning his head to look at Jennifer.

  "You look stunning, Jen, amazing work with the makeup and everything," Andy said before opening another tin of cookies.

  "Nice try, Lee, but looks like I'll have to make good on my threats now," Al said as he burst into a fit of laughter while Jane moved in closer and sat down on his lap.

  "You're evil, you know that right?" Jane said as she gave him another quick kiss.

  "He had one job and he made such an ass of himself that Andy had to clean up his mess," he said while wrapping his arms around her.

  The living room turned into a mess of loud conversations as they talked on and on. It surprised him how much easier it was to deal with everything nowadays and having Jane by his side made it all actually feel somewhat nice. He still struggled to keep the emptiness at bay from time to time, but it was getting easier with every passing day.

  Eventually his mother stepped into the living room with a big smile on her face and spoke up, "Andy, if you were going to prepare the roast bird then you and Al should probably get on it now."

  The two of them got up immediately and headed into the kitchen. Andy had been getting into cooking lately and even Al had to admit the guy was getting scary good at it. In fact it was Andy himself that had volunteered to handle the meat preparation now that Pietro wasn't around to do it.

  "Got any good ideas cooking in that head of yours?" he said as he grabbed another beer from the fridge.

  "Well you got the fancy turkey from that farm up north that I asked for and it's been brining since yesterday," Andy mumbled to himself as he cleared some space on the counter.

  "It's your time to shine man, I'm really just along for the ride."

  "Thing is I've never really spatchcocked a turkey and I've only been cooking for a month or so," Andy said as Al pulled turkey out of the brine and slammed it down on the cutting board.

  "No problem, I'll handle that part."

  Chef's knife in hand he got to work cutting the spine out of the turkey. It wasn't a pretty affair, but preparing a whole bird never was. Once the spine was removed he pressed it down until the bones gave out with a loud crack and it could lay flat on the board.

  "Easy, now get to work magic man," he said as stepped over to the sink to wash his hands.

  "That was tough to watch, Al, were you holding a grudge against that turkey or something?"

  "All in all it was a pretty clean job, and it's not like that headless thing is gonna get up all of a sudden and start voicing a complaint."

  He had gotten completely desensitized at this point. While he had never been particularly squeamish it had only gotten easier with every life he had taken. Andy on the other hand was a pretty normal teen and was understandably squeamish when it came to things like butchering an animal even if he was planning to eat it.

  "Al, how are you actually handling all the things recently?" Andy asked him as he put the bird in the oven.

  "You can just say it man," he sighed, "Honestly I'm managing just fine, it's mom and Jennifer that are having a hard time adjusting to life now that he's gone."

  "It's just that you've been acting so uncharacteristically outgoing..."

  "It's fine, Andy, I've just gotten a new perspective on life is all."

  He had made the choice to finally step out into the light and actually live his life. Every step had been difficult so far, but it didn't matter because he had to see it through to the end. Because if he slipped back into the emptiness now it would have all been for naught.

  "It's crazy because I never thought I would see a day when you're not scowling all the time," Andy said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's just that you're kind of acting like you're trying to fill the void he left behind by using his mannerisms."

  Pietro had always been friendly and outgoing around Jennifer and her friends. It made him pause as Andy's words hit him. He had been mimicking his father's mannerisms to a tee, and that revelation disturbed him. Even now he acted out a world in which he and Pietro had been normal people. Did he actually miss his father so much that he had started copying his public persona?

  Even after everything the man had done some part of him still wanted Pietro to be around for their sake at the very least, but he was dead and would never come back. They would never know the true face of his father and maybe that was for the best. All they would remember was a kind and friendly man that always cracked a good joke at the perfect time. And maybe it was better that the illusion lived on while he carried the truth by himself.

  "I guess we were always more similar than either of us wanted to admit to ourselves..."

  The life he wanted to have with Jane was almost a perfect reflection of Pietro's ideal of an ordinary and mundane life. But he wouldn't repeat his father's mistakes in pursuit of that life. He would learn from the man and do things right.

  "Andy, everyone deals with their problems as best they can, but the truth is some of us can't afford to get stuck."

  "I don't think I'm quite getting what you're trying to say."

  "Sharks drown if they stop swimming and it took me a while to realize I'm just like them in that way."

  "Because the moment I stop it means I'm dead so I will always have to move forward," he said with as genuine a smile as he could muster.

  By the time he had left the kitchen he could feel a growing pain in his chest. He stepped out on the patio and reached for his lighter only to realize Teddy was standing there the moment he had finished lighting the cigarette.

  He walked over to stand next to Teddy and rested his elbows on the railing, "Guess you wanted some fresh air as well?"

  "I was just feeling a bit like crap," Teddy mumbled.

  "New meds already huh?"

  "I'm just worried about Annie is all..."

  Al sighed as he put a hand on Teddy's shoulder, "I swear man, it's like she's handling it all better than you are."

  "I couldn't even do anything for her and then some random boogeyman just killed the fucker that hurt her one night!"

  "I just feel so fucking useless," Teddy muttered to himself.

  The kid was in pain and felt helpless due to the fact he hadn't been able to protect someone he cared about. There wasn't a lot he could do for Teddy, but something was still better than nothing.

  "Teddy, you're just a kid," he said slowly, "There was nothing you could do, but luckily someone else was looking out for her on your behalf."

  Teddy looked up at him with wide eyes as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "What are you trying to say, Al?"

  "I'm saying you'll be ready the next time she needs saving, but what she needs right now is for you to buckle the fuck up and just show you care about her."

  "No way, you didn't?"

  "I never said I did anything, but what you need to do is go and spend time with your friends instead of freezing your ass off out here in the cold."

  The rest of the evening was a happy affair. Everyone had a great time at the dinner table and then opened the gifts they had gotten each other around the tree. The next day Jennifer's friends would all celebrate Christmas day with their families, but it was clear it wouldn't be nearly as special as the Christmas eve celebration at their place.

  He wondered if next year would end up being just as special as he looked at the framed picture of his father above the fireplace. This was what Pietro had always wanted, but he couldn't even be there to appreciate it. A world where his beloved wife, Al, Jennifer, and all of Jennifer's friends were happy and celebrating together. Pietro's dream had only fully been realized after his passing and for some reason it made his chest hurt.

  "I'll make sure every Christmas from now on ends up better than the last, dad."

  He collapsed on the bed the moment he reached his room. His mind was exhausted beyond belief, but he had never been happier than he was right there. In some sick way the universe had decided he could finally be happy, yet it came at a high cost. Now and forever would he grieve an alternate past that never could be.

  "Hey, Al, look up would you?" Jane whispered to him as she sat down next to him on the bed.

  "Did you hang a fucking mistletoe above my bed?"