"So, wait! You're telling me that Santa Claus, the jolly, big-red guy himself, is real!?"

  Naofumi was dumbfounded. He spent the last half of his life or so believing that Santa was a made-up fabrication, a story told to kids by their parents to get them to be saintly throughout the year. Yet, here was a guy who said that he had met St. Nick himself.

  "You don't believe in Santa Claus? You big palooka!" Donald, who was eyeing Naofumi up and down, wondering who in all the worlds didn't believe in Father Christmas. Sora saw what Donald was doing and stared down at his feet, hoping that nobody would remember or see the guilt on his face for his past transgressions of not believing in the man, himself.

  Goofy, who was watching the whole scene unfold, walked up to Naofumi, Shield to Shield, and told him about how they got to this world and other worlds, about the Gummi Ship, and the battle of light vs. darkness.

  "I see, so you're telling me that Santa's real. And, Sora, you were put on the naughty list for not believing in Santa. I personally don't see how the whole idea is actually possible. There is no way that a man dressed in red, with a belly full of jelly, could get up in the sky, with eight, possibly nine reindeer and deliver presents to, not just one world, but all worlds."

  Naofumi looked him dead in the eyes, and without a second of deliberation, got up, looked around, scanning the area, and asked in a whisper.

  "If you three traveled here from another world, then you'd be able to take me out of this hellhole, and see the old guy, myself, right?"

  "Can we do that?" Sora asked while arching an eyebrow toward his pals.

  "Everybody, huddle up!"

  The three of them brought their heads together, deliberating on the notion that bringing others, who themselves could travel to other worlds, was not really breaking the rules, as the person in question knew about other worlds to begin with.

  "Aha,"

  "Mhmm,"

  "It's settled!"

  The three of them looked over to Naofumi and Raphtalia. Raphtalia had a sparkle in her eyes. Not only could she leave for other worlds, but she could also meet Santa Claus. If her eyes didn't convey enough of her excitement, her tail finished the conversation.

  Naofumi saw that she was determined to do this. He looked toward his friends from other worlds and got up, saying,

  "Well, if she really wants to do this, then let's go!"

  —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The party went to where the trio parked their gummi ship. They pressed a button, heard a beeping, and looked around to see if they could spot the ship. It was one of the most high-tech, but childish things that Naofumi had ever seen.

  "It looks like a mixture of a rocket ship and a toy…" The Shield Hero was really starting to rethink his life choices. Most of his thoughts were along the lines of it even being able to fly, for its geometry seemed off for aerodynamics to really take effect.

  "Can I come back?" Naofumi asked his friends. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other in disbelief.

  "What's the big idea, Naofumi!?" Donald questioned. There was no temper, just a courtesy of genuine worry from the Duck. Donald's fear was not unwarranted, as he genuinely did not understand why the guy who got trashed by the whole world would even bother saving it.

  "Don't get me wrong. I know that this world is out to get me. I don't like it in the slightest, but there are people in this world who believe in me, such as Raphtalia here, and the old guy back at the weapon shop."

  "Mister Naofumi…" Raphtalia muttered under her breath, her eyes watering, but before anyone could catch a glimpse of her face, she wiped the tears away. Gone were the tears, and here to stay was the Raphtalia, who was filled with courage and determination; the sword that would cut through the darkness along with Sora's light.

  As the party boarded the gummi ship, Naofumi took one last look at the area, promising to come back and finish what he started.

  Once fully aboard, Raphtalia was amazed by the sights and sounds she witnessed. Naofumi only had one thing on his mind.

  What if even Santa thinks I'm a bad person? What then? What will I do?

  "I wouldn't worry about it, Mister Naofumi," Raphtalia said with a smile on her face.

  "Are my expressions really that easy to read?" Naofumi asked aloud.

  "YES!" Everyone said it in unison, which annoyed the Shield Hero.

  "Next stop, Christmas Town!" Sora shouted; his heart would be the guiding key in this voyage.

  When they reached the outskirts of the world, Naofumi and Raphtalia looked through the window, mesmerized by their surroundings. Naofumi looked down and saw Melromarc from the angle that the Keyblader and his party saw it from, and he, too, was amazed. The castle stood out much more than he thought it would. He also saw so many locations that he hadn't been to yet. There was an archipelago, a desert, and even a colosseum.

  Just as the heroes were about to reach their location, Naofumi got up and asked Sora if he could try to pilot the ship. Sora, who was sure that Naofumi could do it, scooched over so that Naofumi could have a crack at it.

  "Let your heart think of the place you would like to go." Sora taught Naofumi how to pilot the ship until they got to their destination. A world that did not look like the Christmas Town that the gang was accustomed to. No, this world seemed older; archaic even, and if it could speak, it would probably tell you stories of being forgotten. It was a very gloomy-looking world. It was grey all over with lamplights poking up all around the buildings. The gang had no clue what this place was like, but Sora insisted that they stop there. They looked around to make sure it was safe, then landed the gummi ship.

  —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  After landing in the world, the party looked around. It was even more depressing being here than it was in Melromarc. Of course, in Naofumi's eyes, nothing could be worse than Melromarc; however, when he looked among his friends, he saw the look in Raphtalia's eyes that conveyed an unnerved feeling about her surroundings.

  "Are most worlds like this?" The tanuki questioned the world-hopping trio.

  "Nuh-uh." Donald retorted, clutching his staff to his chest.

  Goofy had his shield up to his eyes, hoping to protect them from witnessing the depression that was… whatever this world was. Even Sora, who was usually the bright-eyed member of the group, was feeling his energy being sapped by this place.

  They noticed, while looking around, that they didn't see anybody outside, and the few they did see were just as mopey-looking as they felt. It was then that they saw him, the man behind all of this mess.

  "Put your head down." A voice called out to them, hoping to spare the group from an unseemly fate. The group just looked at the woman awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

  "Don't you know who that is?" She asked,

  "That's…"

  "Burger Meister, Meister Burger, that is my name, and what are you five doing in my Sombertown? Why are you not as grey and devoid of happiness as the other peasants here?"

  Sora was angry; he couldn't quite explain it, but this guy's whole demeanor was irking him. Naofumi, who caught Sora's gaze, nodded for him to keep low. They knew nothing about this world and didn't want to risk trouble just yet.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Burger Meister looked them over and shrugged them off, not really giving a care what happened to the group, nor the people of Sombertown, so long as they were obedient under his iron fist.

  The woman walked up to the group, who were preparing to leave the town to explore the rest of the world, and lambasted them.

  "Have all of you no clue what you're doing?" She said, her face stern. Raphtalia was feeling perplexed about the whole situation. The lady in front of them seemed to be taking the side of that overlord, but she also seemed opposed to his tyrannical rule.

  The woman looked at the travelers who seemed strange to her reasoning, and said,

  "My name is Jessica. I am a teacher at the school here in Sombertown, and for heaven's sake, put those toys of yours away before the Burger Meister sees them!"

  Our heroes were baffled. They looked at each other, then down at their hands, and noticed something strange.

  "Huh!? All of our weapons are made of wood and plastic!" Donald stammered in his usual garbled dialect.

  "There's somethin' wrong here." Goofy, who was usually the most perceptive of the group, was having a tough time discerning what kind of magic this was.

  Naofumi looked around, not noticing any H.U.D. screen to look at.

  Raphtalia stared at the sword in her hand, now just a regular toy that reminded her of the times that her Rafina and Keel would pretend to be knights of Lurolona village. Those days were long behind her now. Reminiscing about the memory caused a tear to cascade down her cheek. She hoped they were at least safe, having attempted to escape at the same time she did.

  As our heroes were just about to exit the town, they saw an orangish-redheaded man step through the city gates.

  "Well, I'll be. Toys? Here in Sombertown?" The man, who was wearing a red suit, questioned the group.

  They saw it. They all did. Naofumi, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Raphtalia knew who this was, though they had never met him before. At least… Not this version of him.

  "Santa?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy said in unison.

  "Santa? Whom or what is a Santa?" The man in red said to the party.

  "The name, by the way, is Kringle. Kris Kringle, at your service!"

  "I think I get it," Naofumi pondered aloud.

  "What do you do? And how long have you been at it?" He questioned Kris.

  "Why, I deliver toys to the people of this village. But that mean ol' nasty Burger Meister keeps shooin' me away. I just started recently, and it's been going rather well so far. Jessica here can vouch for me on that." Kris replied, pointing towards Jessica, who seemed to blush as he did so.

  "It-it's nothing, really. I just help him stay out of the way of the Mayor, letting him know whenever I see him coming.

  "The Mayor isn't my only problem. There's a mean ol' warlock who lives up in the mountains near here. He goes by 'Winter. Winter Warlock.'"

  Pretty on the nose, thought Naofumi, his suspicions about this place seemed to be true.

  "Raphtalia, Sora, Donald, Goofy. I have something to tell you all."

  The five of them all huddled up.

  "That is Santa, but I don't think that he knows it, yet," Naofumi whispered.

  "Wait. You're telling me that we're back in the past?" Sora, who was befuddled by the whole revelation, was still insightful enough to catch on to what Naofumi was trying to explain.

  "Gawrsh, I didn't know that there was more than one Santy Claus." Goofy chuckled a bit.

  "Hush down, you big palooka." Donald Stammered.

  Raphtalia, confused by all the secrecy, remained vigilant, hoping to deflect the attention of any onlookers. However, it would be tricky when they were being obvious about their suspicions.

  Naofumi caught on to Raphtalia's thought process and broke the huddle up before it became too out of place.

  Kris was raising an eyebrow at the group.

  "Say, I have an idea. Why don't you five join me? My family and I could always use extra pairs of hands. We live just west of here, past the mountains of 'The Winter Warlock.'"

  Naofumi deliberated on it for a second, but before he could come to a conclusion…

  "You say that you're trying to bring joy to this lifeless town? Of course, we'll help you!" Sora, who was swinging his toy sword around, was prepared for anything, even without the Keyblade in hand.

  "That's the spirit!" Kris exclaimed, a twinkle in his eyes that contrasted sharply with the ramshackle nature of Sombertown.

  "Very well. Let me just call my friend here, and we'll be off." He said after they left the gate. He then shouted a name.

  "Topper!"

  With that shout, a penguin wearing a scarf came to see the crew as they were about to set off and leave.

  —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After walking for an hour, or two, the party saw what they were warned of earlier.

  "That's the Winter Warlock's castle, up there. Be careful: if he catches you, he'll send a blizzard, and you may never find your way back.

  But nothing happened. The crew went through without a single struggle.

  After walking for several minutes past the palace of the Winter Warlock, the party made it to the home of the Kringles, and with luck, one of them was at the door, waiting for Kris to return.

  "Greetings, and welcome home, Kris!" The small Kringle said, welcoming the others into the workshop as well.

  When the party walked inside, the whole family was waiting for them. Most of them were small, elf-like creatures, but there was one who almost rivalled Sora in height. She was the first to speak up.

  "Hello, my name is Tanta Kringle, then there's Tingle Kringle, Dingle Kringle, Zingle Kringle, Wingle Kringle, and finally, Bingle Kringle."

  The elves looked toward the heroes, and as soon as their name was said, as if right on cue, they would proudly say,

  "Hello!"

  Tanta Kringle would go on to explain the comings and goings of their family tree, how they were the first toy makers for the king, and how Sombertown wasn't always referred to by its current name.

  "Cool!" Sora and Raphtalia were going around, looking at all of the toys in the workshop. There were jack-in-the-boxes, toy ballerinas, and a multitude of other toys to steal his attention away from the troubles of the toymakers. However, Goofy was nodding intently 'yes' to what was being told to him about the history of this strange land. Donald was practically asleep, but not trying to be rude; he'd try to keep his eyes open, but they'd always flutter closed. Naofumi was envious of the joy and happiness that these people possessed.

  "And that's why things are the way they are now. That Burger Meister has taken over the town and has declared toys to be illegal."

  "What!?" Sora jumped up, hearing what he thought was, perhaps, the most preposterous thing he had ever heard.

  "Exactly," Kris proclaimed.

  "That is why we have to stop the Mayor from prohibiting toys. For what is a toy, but joy to the world?"

  A few hours later, after the toys were all neatly wrapped and put into a sack, the six of them set off to bring back the memories of what Somber used to be through the joy of a toy.

  Several minutes after leaving the toy shop, they came across Topper, who seemed distraught.

  "What is it, Topper?" Kris questioned the usually friendly penguin, whose face was covered by the bumblebee-patterned scarf. Topper, however, was too afraid to look out, for as they continued, a blizzard started brewing.

  "Hurry, everyone. We have to make it to Sombertown with all of these presents."

  However, just when they were about to get to the other side of the mountain, they were stopped by the Winter Warlock.

  "Who dares trespass onto my mountain!?" The warlock questioned the group.

  Sora and Raphtalia raised their swords, Goofy and Naofumi raised their shields, and Donald raised a stick.

  "Ah Phooey…"

  Kris pondered what he ought to do. He had to think quickly; otherwise, the toys would never make it to Sombertown. However, Kris did catch on quickly. He asked the warlock why he was so blue all the time. The warlock was at a loss for words. Nobody had ever asked him that before.

  "Well, if you don't mind… I'd like to present you with a toy made by my family, the Kringles."

  "You would give me, a great and terribly evil warlock, a toy?" The Winter Warlock said, his face and skin became more flushed pink than the blue that had permeated them earlier.

  "Why not?" Kris questioned rhetorically.

  "After all, there is goodness in every heart."

  The Winter Warlock then thanked the entire party for being so kind and apologized for everything. He said he would never again become the mean-spirited man he had been before. No, instead, he would allow everyone easy passage over his mountain.

  "But wait. Before you go, please let me do one last thing to help you all on your mission." And with that, the Warlock created one last big breeze to send the party to Sombertown the easy way.

  As the party was flying through the air, Naofumi was fixated on how easy Kris Kringle forgave The Winter Warlock for all his past transgressions. If he was like that in the past, err—now, then what was he like in the future? What would the Santa of his time think of the Shield Hero?

  Better not dwell on it. Naofumi decided to end his deliberations on the situation and left it at that.

  Sora, who had flown before, looked to be quite at home with the breeze. Donald and Goofy, too, were having what seemed to be a great time. Unfortunately, Raphtalia was not. She had never been in the air for longer than a jump before. Yet here she was, arms flailing like crazy. Naofumi could relate. In fact, he'd probably be the same way if he weren't so fixated on forgiveness. Sora, Donald, and Goofy helped Raphtalia find her hypothetical wings and watched her fly.

  Contrary to how long it took them to get to Kringle's house, the trip back felt like minutes rather than hours. It had been almost the same amount of time, but as the old saying goes. Time flies when you're having fun.

  Shortly after they got back to Sombertown, they were approached by a rotund man who looked them over and noticed the 'weapons' as well as Kris's sack of toys.

  "Toys!? Here in Sombertown?" He bemoaned it, his anger evident, his disapproval paramount.

  "Guards, arrest them!"

  The guards didn't leave a second to spare; they grabbed the party by their arms and tried to haul them off. Just then, Kris asked the Burger Meister something that set the man's world aflame.

  "Would you like a Yo-yo? I bet it's something you always wanted to try."

  "A Yo-yo? Nobody has ever offered me, the Burger Meister, a toy before. Are you sure that you would like to give me a toy?"

  "As sure as I possibly can be," Kris replied, his tone was smooth, but sincere.

  "Guards, let them be!" The Burger Meister exclaimed, tears in his eyes over the joy he had finally gotten to experience from holding a toy. He tried to use a Yo-yo much like you would expect, but he wasn't very good at it. But that didn't matter; it was his.

  After the Mayor left, Jessica ran up to the group, hugged Kris, and thanked him and his newfound allies.

  "Now we can give toys to everyone in Sombertown!"

  "Very well, but first…"

  Kris got on one knee and asked Jessica to marry him, to which she replied with a resounding 'yes.'

  After delivering all of the toys to the inhabitants of the town, Kris and Jessica were wed under a tree on the outskirts of town.

  The party, deciding that their work here was done without resorting to any violence, left to return to Melromarc. But not before Kris discerned one last thing.

  "Naofumi, you were good for goodness' sake."

  The Shield Hero was taken aback.

  How insightful was this man? Needless to say, they had to get back soon, so he smiled, nodded, and they headed off.

  The gang went back to the gummi ship and boarded, ready for take-off.

  "So, how was your first trip to another world, Raphtalia?" Donald quacked. Raphtalia just sat there, questioning why this world was so inspired by forgiveness when her home world was so keen on violence. She then looked up at the party, let out a sigh, and said,

  "I flew without wings. For a first interworld travel experience, it was pretty nice, though I don't really have much else to compare it to."

  Sora looked back, got a big, goofy grin on his face, and said,

  "Well, there are many more adventures to be had, but first, we have to save your world! Let's go!"

  As the party looked at the world, something magical happened. It began to transform before their very eyes. What started as a grayscale village turned into a snow-covered one, complete with ornaments and a tree at its centre.

  After observing the world's transition, the gang took off in their ship, bound for Melromarc. They were more determined than ever to save it after seeing the goodness of an 'old' friend, even if he wasn't that old… Or even knew that they were friends to begin with.