They sat around the rec room, mainly sprawled in front of the view screen in an un-relievable boredom. It wasn't a prefect life, but it was all most of them had ever known and it was enough. The screen showed a father, happily out shopping with his lovely wife, obedient son and adorable daughter. Rather abruptly the view screen was violently silenced.
No one wanted to be reminded.
They all yearned for it. But for the most part the yearning had been taught to be disguised as contempt or just outright ignored.
No matter how finely they were constructed, how powerful their abilities, they could never have anyone to call their own. They could never have a family.
They said there'll be snow on Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
"No snow again this year."
"Not surprised. Can't remember when it snowed before the 1st."
"Same old, same old."
"Hmm."
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin's birth
He was making his appearance again. Just as always. Santa had faded into the background years ago. Just like the Christ. Just like Muhammad. They were remembered, but were shoved away for the new novelty icon of peace and kindness. How long would it be until he was then forgotten -- remembered? When would he be nothing more than a wandering shadow in people's minds?
It wasn't so much the fact that he feared his immortal death, but more for the fact of no longer being needed.
As physically strong as he was, he was so much more dependant. He needed someone to encourage him, to want him, to give him a reason to keep fighting and smiling and living.
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
And maybe, sometime, he can fool himself into pretending that they needed him to be that beacon of hope as desperately as he needed to be that same light.
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
'Till I believed in the Israelite
He trudged down the empty streets, not too sure what thoughts compelled him to step out of the house, what made him wander. He loved the doctor, his brother, sister, all the others in the lab. But their ties with him wasn't the one he wanted so desperately to hold on to in the timelessness of night. Just one person, a friend he could fool himself into believing their bond ran endlessly deeper, someone he could see and forget who he was.
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
"He left again?"
"Yeah."
"He's gonna be found out one day."
"Perhaps."
"What'll happen when he is? What'll happen to them both?"
"We'll protect them. If not just because he's our friend."
"Of course."
And I saw him through his disguise
He wondered where they all were. Though they were enemies, he wished them well.
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
He heard the heavy, deliberate foot fall as he stood bathed in the frigid light of a lamppost. His tall frame formed with the darkness, giving it his familiar substance. Warm eyes, one hid infuriatingly behind a short curtain of swept hair, a shy, ready smile on his face.
It wasn't so much a romance at times like these, but a need to just be. Just letting everything go and being happy with each other while they could still remember who they were beneath the armor.
He longed for a family.
He longed for being needed.
They came together as friends and became something with no label and no boundary. Whatever they needed from the other, he could give and soon it was something too beautiful to put into words.
So they just left it how it was, only concerned with each other.
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow on Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
"Are you sure it's all right for you to sneak out like this?"
"It's fine."
"If you say so, Uma-san. But then you hardly come with your equestrian half anymore. I suppose it's not right for me to call you that anymore, is it?"
"You can call me whatever you wish, Rokku."
"How long do you think this'll keep going on, Centaur?"
"I don't know."
"Will you always be with me? No matter what happens? No matter how long we have to fight?"
"Always."
Hallelujah Noel, be it Heaven of Hell
"And will you always love me?"
"Always."
The Christmas you get you deserve
"Merry Christmas, angel."