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“Hello, Elfitude…”
Lucia smirked. “We need a little Christmas now…”
************
“Lucas, please tell me your kidding,” Quin sighed.
“Sorry, Quin,” Lucas said over her cell phone. “You told me you had another test right after your Humanities Final. I thought I’d have time to do a grocery run before I needed to be back for my Bio Lab.”
So much for her stroke of luck. When Lucas said he could drive her to class that morning, neither of them expected the Akuma Alarm to strike—canceling all classes and exams and stranding Quin at the school while Lucas was across the city dropping off groceries for his grandmother.
“I can leave right away, but I’m not sure what the traffic will be like...” Lucas trailed off with an obvious wince.
“No, it’s fine.” Quin refused. “You shouldn’t be driving across the city during an akuma attack.”
“I don’t know,” Lucas chuckled, “from what I’ve seen, this akuma seems pretty tame. Though I may show up with a sleigh pulled by reindeer instead of my clunker.”
“Heaven forbid.” Quin rolled her eyes. “Look, it’s fine. Thanks for offering, but I’ll just catch a bus or something.”
“Preeetty sure public transport will be closed down, if it isn’t already.” Lucas drawled.
“Then I’ll hitchhike.” Quin insisted. “I just need to head out, the weather’s not that...”
Quin trailed off as she watched a pack of hand-sized elves scurry down the sidewalk.
“Bad.” Quin finished dully.
Lucas sighed. “Still, text me later so I know you didn’t get run over by a reindeer or something.”
“Yeah...” Quin was distracted by side stepping a stream of light that looked like the Northern Lights.
“Well, Joyeux Noël!" Lucas said and hung up.
Quin immediately deflated and grumbled a belated and insincere Joyeux Noël in return.
This really wasn’t her day. Her test was indefinitely postponed—the test she was prepared for, of course, not the one that she forgot about until last night. She happened to re-read her essay—after it was turned in online—and discovered several grammatical errors she knew she would be marked down for. Now this-this...Christmas-fanatic’s-paradise akuma seemed to show up just to spite her!
Not to mention, she was still feeling a little guilty about how things went with her sister that morning...
Speaking of Lucia, Quin realized she should probably check on her little sister and make sure she had a safe way to get home. Their mom was supposed to be out of the city until late, so if Lucia needed a ride—which she really shouldn’t walk home, alone , in an akuma attack—she’d probably call...
“Queenie! Quin Queenie! Queenie Quin!”
Quin froze when she heard that particular childhood nickname, leftover from her sister’s days of baby talk. Normally, Quin wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear that nickname, but today?! Why was she even hearing it?! There was no reason for her sister to be at her school, except—
“Lucia!” Quin cried as she whirled around and saw her sister.
Or, what was sort of her sister. Right now, her sister was obviously akumatized and bouncing in place from excitement, making the bells in her shoes and hat and... pretty much everything jingle wildly.
“Luci?” Quin gaped. “What happened to you?!”
“What do you think?” Lucia asked, twirling as though asking for her opinion on her new makeover. “I’m Elfitude, now! I came to find you so we can jingle bell rock!”
Quinn’s heart both sunk and yet sped up in anxiety. “Luci—“
“Elfitude.” Lu...Elfitude corrected. “It just fits, doesn’t it? I mean look at me!”
Oh, Quin was. Her sister, formerly known as Lucia, was decked out from head to toe in red and green. Glitter seemed to waft off of her and Quin was pretty sure she smelled some sort of gingerbread perfume. While she didn’t look completely unlike herself, Elfitude’s hair was now stripes of cheery red and green and her skin had a slight sparkle. Her…for lack of better term…’outfit’ was a candy cane stripe bodysuit with a green elf work dress and a wide, wide red crinoline. There were actual elf boots. And the hat! It looked like Elfitude stole it from the North Pole and then added another dozen jingle bells. The jingle bells ! Quin didn’t want to even count the tiny jingle bells–they were everywhere ! Quin was getting a headache just looking at them. Elfitude had long, pointed elf ears and still wore Lucia’s favorite jingle bell earrings. No, there was no problem looking at Lucia, the real accomplishment would have been if she could look away!
“Have you ever seen me look more elfy in your entire life?!” Elfitude said proudly.
No, in fact, Quin hadn’t.
“But the best part is, now that school is canceled, we can spend the whole day together!” Elfitude bounced on her toes and giggled, setting off another round of jingles. “We can go ice skating, drink hot chocolate, and make snow angels...”
And call the police, Quin thought. She discreetly slipped her phone back out of her pocket and made to report the emergency.
“Na, na, nah!”
A dash of light encompassed her phone and Quin yelped. Her phone clattered to the ground…plastic. It looked like a toddler’s toy phone.
“No phones during family time, Queenie! You know that!” Elfitude chastised.
This day was The Worst.
************
Her sister turned into a magical terrorist’s puppet just so she could kidnap her and take her to the movies. Was this normal? Didn’t most akumas involve more property damage?
Instead, they were at the Dorsey Theatre. The theater was running a Jimmy Stewart holiday promotion. Quin definitely counted herself a hostage, but it wasn’t as dire a situation as the term suggested. She wasn’t tied up or anything…just forced to watch It’s a Wonderful Life .
Stupid Christmas cookies. If Quin knew it would lead to all this, she would have just stayed in bed this morning until all her holiday obsessed family members were out of the house and outside a five block radius.
Quin bit back a sigh and stared at the screen. The theatre wasn’t packed, but the others present seemed to have little to no regard that an akuma was sitting amongst the audience. They couldn’t think Lucia normally dressed like this to go to the movies, could they?!
On second thought…it really wasn’t implausible, if you knew Lucia.
Of course, Lucia wasn’t exactly...Lucia at the moment. Quin could confidently say she knew her sister well enough...but Elfitude? She had no idea what to expect.
Trying to ignore the twinge of guilt for how their morning went—she honestly didn’t think it was that big a deal!—Quin wondered if Lucia— Elfitude —was the kind of Akuma that was dangerous when angered or if she was the kind of threat of that giant baby: potentially horribly destructive but without necessarily meaning to be.
At least she wasn’t getting sprayed with mind control perfume or prancing around as a zombie elf or...
“You’re not going to hit me with a ray and make me into an elf clone, are you?” Quin asked warily.
Lu-Elfitude giggled. “Of course not! I know you don’t like dressing zany like that, Queenie!”
Quin almost sighed in relief, but was still on edge enough to scowl. “I don’t like ANY of this! And stop calling me Queenie! If this is about the cookies, I said I was sorry! It was an accident! Why can’t we give up your akuma and call it quits!”
If she expected Elfitude to be bubbly and spout some sugary speech about how Hawkmoth made her wishes come true, Quin was disappointed.
“I miss us.” Elfitude said softly.
“What?!” Quin whirled on her sister.
“We used to spend more time together, remember?” Elfitude asked. “Now it feels like you spend less and less time with the family. And even when you do, you’re irritated.”
“I...I’m busy!” Quin sputtered. “I go to school and I have friends! Do you expect me to put my life on hold? Never develop friendships? Trash everything important in my life so I can, what? Bake Christmas cookies every night?!”
“Of course not.” Elfitude said. “I just want to know I’m someone important to you and your life, Quin, because you are important in mine.”
A pit—no, a chasm opened up in Quinn’s stomach and she stared at her sister.
“I know you don’t go as crazy as I do for celebrating Christmas.” Elfitude smiled. “You don’t like the bright colors like I do, or wearing jingle bells. You aren’t sad when the radio stops playing Christmas music at midnight on the twenty-fifth. You don’t have to like what I like.”
Elfitude smiled sadly. “Though, I’ll admit, I’ll always like what I like but it gets a little lonely not having someone as exuberant as me.”
“You have Mom,” Quin said. “You two are both Christmas crazy.”
“Mom’s great, but you know she’s not as big an elf-fanatic as I am. I wish I had someone to share this with who I could be completely zany with, maybe someone my age.” Elfitude explained. “Especially when you get angry at me for playing carols in my room or tell me I’m too juvenile . Then I really wish I had an elf-pal my age to prove you wrong.
“I love sharing this with Mom, but I want to share something with you, too.” Elfitude emphasized. “Not everything—I wouldn’t make you like everything I like—and probably not this, but something we can do together, just us or the whole family, that’s a special way to spend time together. And maybe so we can go back to the days when you saw me acting a little zany and laughed with me...instead of getting impatient or disgusted.”
“You don’t disgust me, Luci...” Quin sighed.
“I know.” Elfitude shrugged. “Or, I’m pretty sure. But ‘pretty sure’ isn’t good enough for me. Not anymore. I want to be close to my sister—at Christmas and all the other times of the year—not ‘pretty sure’ of where I stand with you.”
Quin tensed and looked away. “Luci...”
“Ladybug and Cat Noir will find us eventually.” Elfitude said, suddenly breaking the somber mood and speaking breezily. “Until then, let’s have fun!”
“Doesn’t Hawkmoth want you to go after them?” Quin frowned. That’s how the Ladyblog implied it always worked.
Elfitude chuckled and it was both sweet and unnerving. “No, no... Hawkmoth is definitely on The Naughty List. I’m not exactly sure what he’s occupied with, but I know he’s received his Coal.”
Elfitude giggled a little sinisterly. “We shouldn’t be hearing from him for a while.”
Quin gulped. It was always the tinsel brains you have to look out for.
“Look! It’s starting!” Elfitude gasped and jiggled Quin’s arm in her excitement.
Quin sighed. If she’d been dealing with Lucia instead of Elfitude, she would have pulled her arm away, but Quin decided not to test the limits of her akumatized sister. For now.
“Luci, this isn’t It’s a Wonderful Life ,” Quin hissed.
The man on the screen was Jimmy Stewart, but it definitely wasn’t the It’s a Wonderful Life Quin remembered. It was in color, for one thing. For another, Jimmy Stewart was a much older man than he’d been in the 1940s.
Elfitude shook her head with a grin. “This is a clip from Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. It’s one of my favorites! Jimmy Stewart’s character gets transported to the Nativity, see?”
“Oh,” Quin nodded.
It was obvious, now. Jimmy, or Mr. Krueger, was walking through a cave. There were people packed inside but no one acknowledged him. Mr. Kruger made his way through the crowd until he suddenly stopped upon seeing a babe in a manger, the light of heaven shining upon him.
“Hello there... I-I-I-I... Oh dear…” Mr. Krueger stuttered in amazement. He seemed beside himself. He fussed with his sweater, as though he’d suddenly realized he’d come dressed in rags to appear before royalty. “Oh... Oh, you're-you're... I'm Willy Krueger and I'm custodian over at the Beck Apartments, but, but you know that, don't you. You know that. I guess nobody here can see me or hear me except you.”
Quin settled back to watch the clip. At least her sister wasn’t making her dress like an extra from The Santa Clause or battle her way through a Christmas themed maze.
“I didn't bring a gift, I, but I, I guess that's not important.” Mr. Krueger was silent for a moment before stepping towards the babe, obviously overwhelmed and reverent. “ Thank you for everything you've done for me. As long as I can remember you've been right by my side. I'll never forget when you walked with me right in those first few hours after I lost Martha.”
Quin tensed and glanced quickly at her sister. Elfitude didn’t seem affected by the line, at least not in the same way Quin felt. Unwilling to dwell on it, Quin shoved thoughts of when they lost their father out of her mind.
“I-I've always been able to count on you, when I felt dark inside and when I…” Mr. Krueger fluttered his hands over his heart. “You were right there, right, every time, right there. Even when I didn't feel good about myself, I knew that you cared for me enough, and that, that made me feel better.”
Against her will, Quin’s mind started to wander. Her life didn’t feel dark. No, she liked her life. It wasn’t perfect, but she probably liked it as well as any average person you passed on the street. She loved God, and she did feel like God cared for her even when she had her down moments. It’d been a long time since she felt angry for her dad’s death and Quin knew God’s gift was that her dad’s death lost its sting. They’d be reunited someday. Still…it had been a while since she took the time to really put much effort into acknowledging His presence in her life. When did she last feel so close to God that she could say she felt her Savior walking by her side?
“Like that time I got mad with Mabel Huntington because she broke her pipes on purpose just so she could have somebody to see while I came up and fixed them for her.” Mr. Krueger continued. “Boy, I hollered at her, boy I hollered real loud. But then, then I got to thinking - you loved Mabel just as much as you loved me and I should treat her the way you want me to.”
Guilt clutched Quin’s heart before she could push it away.
“I believe I talked to you about that at the time.” Mr. Krueger acknowledged. “Well, I started visiting her and we became friends. I saw her almost every day until the day she died.”
Quin sighed. Alright, are you trying to tell me something, Lord? My sister needs me to treat her the way you want me to treat her? I get it, I’ve pushed away! But how do you want me to treat my sister right now when she is literally POSSESSED!
Mr. Krueger stepped forward and gently knelt at the baby’s side. “ I love you. You're my closest, my finest friend. And that means that I can hold my head high, wherever I go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Quin was startled from her reverie when Elfitude sniffled beside her. She looked over to see her sister wiping a stray tear from her eye. Unsure what else to do, Quin settled back in her seat and waited for the movie to start.
************
Her sister wasn’t akumatized. No, she had been turned into an actual sugarplum fairy, it was the only explanation. Yes, it had to be the only explanation because otherwise why would the snow–which was barely even cold–be dancing around Elfitude like it was something choreographed out of Fantasia .
“Lu…” Quin sighed, frustrated. “ Elfitude , what are you doing?”
Elfitude stopped spinning around but the snow kept dancing around her until it slowly, gracefully pirouetted away. Her little sister cocked her head and asked, “Can’t you hear it?”
“Hear what?” Quin asked, against her better judgment.
For the last half hour, ever since the movie ended, Elfitude had been humming or singing songs. She’d start singing “Frosty the Snowman” only to switch to “Last Christmas” halfway through. She nearly convulsed with laughter when she started humming “I’m Getting Nuttin’ For Christmas” and again when she randomly started to sing “Cat’s In The Cradle.” That last one wasn’t even a Christmas song! Yet, when Quin asked about it, Elfitude said she didn’t know why she sang the song, only that it was fitting. Then she got a wicked grin on her face that made Quin question Elfitude’s threat level.
Elfitude looked at her sister in astonishment. “You don’t hear it?”
“Hear wh–”
“Christmas!” Elfitude shouted, starting to spin again. “It’s all around us!”
“Now you just sound like a corny Christmas special.” Quin said flatly.
Elfitude rolled her eyes at her. “Don’t call it corny!”
“Well, if the fruitcake is nutty…” Quin trailed off, but was ignored.
“I’m serious.” Elfitude stopped acting like a top and looked at her intently.
Quin regretted saying anything.
“It’s everywhere, Quin.” Elfitude said. “Everywhere across the city–across the world! The music of Christmas is pouring out of people’s souls! It’s joyous! It’s…it’s reverent! It reaches into people’s hearts and cradles all the melancholy, the stress, the heartache and carries it to..to a safe haven where there’s peace and hope! For one glorious minute, the truth is right before them and it’s something to rejoice!”
Quin wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Was Quin…experiencing something from her akuma powers? They did pass a woman that got hit by one of Lucia’s light shows and the woman instantly started to sing Josh Groban’s “Believe.” She did look pretty uplifted by singing the song…but then a teenage boy came racing down the street on the back of a red-nosed reindeer with a pulsing, electric “Run Run Rudolph” keeping time with them. That didn’t exactly seem like a musical therapy session…and what possible meaning could “I’m Getting Nuttin’ For Christmas” have?
Elfitude didn’t wait for Quin to respond. Instead, she turned on her heal and danced right into the street, singing “We Need a Little Christmas” at the top of her lungs.
“You can’t be serious…” Quin complained under her breath.
Her life had turned into a musical. Everyone was singing and dancing at the drop of a magical tophat. She felt like one of those Disney characters that questioned why everyone else was singing. If she dared to lift her foot, would she magically discover that she instinctively knew some kind of choreography?
Quin finally snapped when Elfitude sang, “We need a little Christmas now!”
“Save a little Christmas, for Christmas!” Quin began to sing, a little shakily. “Save a little spirit, put some love away!”
Elfitude immediately stopped and whirled around to stare at her.
“Think about the shepherds in fields as they lay and save a little Christmas for Christmas day!” Quin frantically tried to remember more of they lyrics and grasped onto the next phrase she could recall, “Don’t rush the season, or you will spoil the rhyme. Christmas was just a day–not all the time! So save a little Christmas for Christmas. Save a little spirit, put some love away. Think about the manger, the babe in the hay, and save a little Christmas, save a little Christmas! Save a little Christmas for Christmas Day!”
Now that she stopped sining, Quin realized Elfitude was staring at her with her jaw dropped. Suddenly, she felt awkward and uncomfortable, like everyone was watching her.
“What?” Quin asked defensively.
“You sang!” Elfitude exclaimed.
“Yeah? So?” Quin shoved her hands into her pockets. “So were you.”
“But you willingly sang a Christmas song!” Elfitude jumped up and down. “You didn’t even get hit by one of my auroras!”
“In case you didn’t notice,” Quin said as her cheeks flushed, “I was singing a song completely about not going Christmas Crazy and waiting until Christmas to actually celebrate Christmas!”
Elfitude giggled and all the bells from her head to her toes made a cacophonous clatter as she shook her head. “It still counts! You’re singing Christmas songs with me!”
Quin was halfway through rolling her eyes before Elfitude’s next words stopped her cold.
“See? Maybe we can still bond.” Elfitude said softly.
Quin winced and sighed. “Luci, of course we can still bond. I want to…okay? I just don’t think… this …” she gestured to the Elfitude Wonderland “...is the way to do it.”
Elfitude cocked her head again, reminding Quin more of a puppy than an akuma. “Then what do you think is the way to do it?”
Sure, hit her with the hard questions.
“I don’t know…” Quin admitted.
Did they have to have this conversation in public? How was Quin supposed to think about interpersonal relationship skills when gingerbread cookies were line dancing across the pedestrian sidewalk?! Or was an elf going to pop out of a chimney and come down to give them family therapy. Because if that happened, Quin would demand to see the elf’s qualifications before she poured her heart out!
“It’s okay, Quin.” Elfitude said.
What? Lucia wanted to see the therapy elf’s qualifications, too?
“I don’t really know what to do for us to become closer.” Elfitude backed away and raised her hand in the air.
“Luci, what are you doing?” Quin asked warily.
Elfitude grinned at her and said, “I don’t know what we need, Queenie, but I know how we can start!”
“Elfitude…” Quin said in warning.
Elifitude called one of the auroras to her and grasped it in her hand.
Music started to play.
“Oh nooo…” Quin slumped. “My life really has turned into a Disney movie.”
“More like a Rankin/Bass movie…” Elfitude grinned devilishly.
Elfitude ran up to her and linked their arms together by their elbows.
“Put one foot in front of the other,” Elfitude sang, “And soon you’ll be walking ‘cross the floor. You put one foot in front of the other and soon you’ll be walking out the door!”
Quin hung her head, “I already sang once, wasn’t that good enou–”
“You never will get where you’re going if you never get up on your feet,” Elfitude plowed on, “Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing! A fast walking man is hard to beat!”
“Don’t make me go feminist on you,” Quin said, “I will if you make me sing–see if I don’t! A fast walking woman is hard to beat–”
“If you want to change your direction, if your time of life is at hand,” Elfitude sang, unaffected by her sister’s bargaining. “Well don’t be the rule, be the exception! A good way to start is to stand.”
Quin admitted defeat. She knew when she’d been had and she could accept it gracefully. Besides, maybe she needed to prove something to her sister…and to herself.
“If I want to change the reflection I see in the mirror each morn,” Quin sang, “You mean that it’s just my election? To vote for a chance to be reborn?!”
Her little sister’s smile was worth humiliating herself by singing in the street. At least the street was vacant and they weren’t about to be run over. And no one was recording. Although…a tiny part of her wished someone was recording. They sounded awesome!
Taking a deep breath, both sisters sang together, “You put one foot in front of the other and soon you’ll be walking ‘cross the floor! You put one foot in front of the other and soon you’ll be walking out the door!”
Elfitude and Quin began to walk down the street, arms linked and their feet criss-crossing over each other, as they skipped and sang together.
It was starting to concern Quin that Ladybug and Cat Noir hadn’t caught up to them yet. While their mother wasn’t supposed to be in the city, surely she’d heard about the Wonderland that descended upon Paris by now and would be worried if she couldn’t reach either of her daughters. Besides, even though Quin was starting to maybe, sort of, kinda…have some fun with her sister, it wasn’t like this was really her sister. It was her sister amped up on Christmas steroids–and yes that was different from any other day. Sort of. It’s not like Luci would remember any of this when…
Quin almost stopped short when the thought occurred to her. Lucia wouldn’t remember any of this. She wouldn’t remember talking about wanting them to be closer or singing in the street…she wouldn’t remember anything.
Elfitude took a deep breath and seemed to glow with excitement at the scents around them. “Peppermint and Snickerdoodle! I think Andre Glacier is nearby with his ice cream cart!” Elfitude started bouncing in place and jingling an excited melody. “Let’s go get some ice cream! And–oooh! I think I smell Christmas Fudge!”
But Quin would remember. She promised herself she wouldn’t forget any of this and she’d give it back to her sister any way she could, once she was Lucia again.
Wait, did Elfitude just say Christmas Fudge?! Maybe this day really wasn’t so bad, after all!
The girls ran down the sidewalk, racing each other to Andre’s cart, their laughter mingling the sound of the snow crunching beneath their boots. Quin decided to enjoy this…whatever this was while it lasted. She only hoped Hawkmoth didn’t ruin it before Ladybug and Cat Noir could catch up to them.
Little did Quin know that similar thoughts were flying through Elfitude’s head. Only, unlike her sister, Elfitude knew why Hawkmoth hadn’t interrupted their fun so their hearts could be light and their troubles out of sight. She hadn’t heard any comments or threats from Hawkmoth in hours and it was all thanks to her auroras!
While she did send the auroras through the city in a seemingly random pattern, she did try to nudge them where she felt they were needed the most. Elfitude could control them and call an aurora to herself…or to someone she specifically wanted to receive one. Once an aurora met with its recipient, it would give the recipient what the person or people needed, either a “present” or a “coal” as a gift.
Elfitude sent Hawkmoth his “gift” almost immediately after receiving her powers. He may have given her a lovely present by turning her into Elfitude, but she knew it wasn’t from any altruism. He wanted to manipulate her and she wouldn’t have it! No, Hawkmoth had surely received his coal by now, even if she didn’t know for sure what it was or where he was…Serves him right for being such a humbug!
Hawkmoth could deal with his coal and be glad she didn’t send him three or four Christmas ghosts to go with it. She had far more important things to focus her attention on, starting with her sister!
************
“So why don’t you like all this tinsel-tastic stuff?” Elfitude asked as they ate their ice cream and fudge.
Quin thought for a moment as she savored a bite of dark chocolate fudge. “I don’t know…I guess it just feels too busy to me? It’s definitely too commercial. I know kids might like that stuff, but I just get annoyed by the elf overload.”
Elfitude didn’t argue with her, instead just nodding her head. “I suppose I can see why you would say that.”
“Then why do you get like all…this?” Quin gestured to all of Elfitude, trying to soften her criticism by referencing How to Train Your Dragon , since she knew her sister loved it.
Elfitude shrugged, unbothered by her sister’s question. “I like doing special things to celebrate life and all the different things that make each holiday and event special and unique. How boring would it be if I just wore grey for Bastille Day, Christmas, and New Years? Or never smelled the flowers during spring or savored apple cider in the fall?”
Quin pouted. “I like grey…”
Elfitude rolled her eyes. “I celebrate Christmas by doing all these wacky, eccentric things and singing all my favorite songs because it’s all a part of how I remember this warm, special time of year when I celebrate the birth of God’s son. Everything I do is an expression of the joy I have in celebrating Jesus’ birthday. You know I go all out for birthdays, don’t you?”
Oh boy, did Quin ever know how Lucia went all out for birthdays. She’d never figure out how Luci got all that frosting on one cake.
“To some people, doing all this eccentric elfiness might get in the way of celebrating what Christmas is really about.” Elfitude admitted. “It’s bright and flashy and can be distracting. But it's like the bow on a mysterious Christmas gift to me. It fills me with wonder and excitement, so I just try to enjoy it and share it with anyone who wants to take part.”
“Okay, I can get that…” Quin trailed off as she caught sight of a spectacle on the other side of the park. “Is that Mr. Kringle?!”
Sure enough, the girls watched as their neighbor Mr. Kringle. While Mr. Kringle was friendly, they didn’t know him excessively well. A retired toy maker, Mr. Kringle regularly volunteered as a Santa's helper and was often out of town. The girls tended to water the Kringle’s plants when they stayed for extended periods in their home up north. Normally jovial if shy, Mr. Kringle was serenading his wife, Jessica, as they performed a lively two-step through the park.
As they got closer, the girls could hear he was singing “Christmas Cookies” by George Strait. The couple was clearly enjoying themselves and Jessica was laughing at her husband’s antics.
“That’s so cute!” Elfitude cooed.
Quin shook her head but smiled. “Yeah, but now I’m craving Christmas cookies…”
A slow smirk pulled at Elfitude’s lips. “Now that I can help with!”
************
Two sisters were laughing and sliding around an icy field in the park, playing broomball--a game similar to hockey but without skates. They wore boots instead of skates and they used brooms to bat a rubber ball around the rink. The older one hip checked the younger one and knocked the ball away from her and towards the goal posts.
“No fair, Quin!” Elfitude laughed.
“It was fair the last five times you’ve done it!” Quin laughed back.
“Totally different!”
The girls tussled a little and ended up slipping and falling to the ice. They slid until they landed in a snowbank and then started throwing snowballs at each other. Quin was about to try to dump snow into her sister’s shirt when a string of lights wrapped around Elfitude. They both yelped as Gotham’s Red Hood and Red Robin pulled the lasso of lights tighter around her and yanked Elfitude back. Nightwing swooped in and carried Quin away.
“Wait! No! Don’t hurt her!” Quin started to struggle, especially as Elfitude started panicking and thrashing about.
“Everything will be alright, mademoiselle.” Nightwing reassured.
“No! She’s my sister, you have to leave me with her!”
“She’s your sister?” Ladybug asked as she landed next to her. “Do you know what this is about then?”
Ladybug held out the hat and Quin sighed. “Yeah. Just let me talk to her, please?”
A scoff made her turn around to the youngest, surly Robin. “Now you want to help? Why didn’t you call the police instead of playing with your possessed sister?”
Quin glared right back at the kid and held out a cell phone that’d been turned into a toy. “No phones during family time.”
Nightwing nodded, seemingly onboard. “Cool.”
Quin ran back to her sister and put on the hat. Elfitude had a glowing purple mask around her face as Hawkmoth spoke to her.
“Luci?” Quin asked softly as Red Robin, Red Hood, and Cat Noir tried to hold the girl in place.
Elfitude swung anxious eyes to her sister.
“Hey, Luce.” Quin smiled. “It’s okay. You can give the butterfly to Ladybug and Cat Noir now.”
Elfitude’s eyes filled with tears even as the mask still lit up her face. “But…”
“It’s okay, Luci.” Quin reached out to hold her hand. “We had a lot of fun together today. And I promise, when you're yourself we’ll do everything all over again. I’ll even wear the elf hat.”
Hawkmoth started to shock Elfitude but she ignored him.
“Really?” she asked in a small voice.
Quin nodded.
“The jingle bells too?”
Quin winced. “Don’t push it.”
Elfitude smiled and relaxed, allowing her sister to reach forward and remove one of her jingle bell earrings. Quin gave it to Cat Noir who broke it and Ladybug quickly purified the butterfly.
Lucia was returned to herself and looked around in horror. “What happened?”
The Gotham heroes relaxed and Ladybug and Cat Noir smiled at her.
“You gave Paris one increadible holiday today, that’s what happened.” Cat Noir said with a bright smile.
“I did?” Lucia questioned.
Ladybug nodded. “It’s true. Look around at this wonderland you’ve created! I’m sure some people didn’t appreciate the interruption, but most people are thankful that today you gave them a rare gift of a day of fun and joy with their loved ones.”
Lucia didn’t seem to know how to respond, but her sister saved her from needing to.
“Lucia?” Quin said hesitantly. “I’m sorry. I was a jerk to you this morning. Do you want to go see a movie? Just you and me? The Dorsey Theater is playing a revival of It’s A Wonderful Life .”
Lucia smiled broadly at her sister and jumped up in excitement. “I’d love to! Thanks, Quin.”
They hugged and Quin gave the hat back to Ladybug.
With a quick thank you to the Bird Brothers, Ladybug tossed the hat into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”
************
“Lucia? Quin? Can you start getting the suitcases out of the back while I get the leftovers, please?” Marguerite asked her daughter’s as she parked their car.
“We wouldn’t have so many leftovers if Auntie Madeline didn’t think we were a starving army instead of three well-fed women.” Quin said dryly.
“Perhaps,” Marguerite admitted, “but now we don’t have to cook for the next week.”
Quin grimaced as they wearily climbed out of the car and started to unload. “Mom, there is no way all this food can last a whole week before it expires!”
“Maybe we could invite some of your friends over to help us out?” Marguerite considered.
“Yes, that is exactly the invitation I want to offer my friends.” Quin nodded. “Please come to my home and gorge yourselves on our second hand food.”
Lucia rolled her eyes. “I thought university students were always starving, Queenie?”
Quin glared mildly at her sister. “Some of us have taste , Lucia .”
Belatedly, Lucia winced and apologized. “Sorry, I know you don’t like that nickname.”
Quin paused, honestly not even noticing that the nickname had slipped out. “It’s…not the worst nickname I suppose…”
“Really?” Lucia perked up.
“I mean, I am rather queenly.” Quin said.
Her mother and sister laughed at her overdone pompous accent.
“I guess it’s okay if you call me that, you know, occasionally.” Quin said grudgingly. “But don’t get any ideas about going overboard.”
“Me?! Overboard?!” Lucia gasped. “I would never.”
Lucia shook her head and a jangling sound proved to Quin that Lucia very much would . Quin felt headache brewing and was nearly ready to bash her head against the sidewalk.
“ Why did I give you that stupid hat?” Quin groaned. “This has to be the biggest mistake of my life!”
Lucia shook her head even more rapidly back and forth– on purpose! –to make the jingle bells ring louder. “Look at it this way, if buying me a new elf hat for Christmas is your biggest mistake, then you’re doing pretty well.”
There was an unsettling truth to that and Quin didn’t want to dissect it any further to disprove it. It was New Year’s Day and she still had time left before classes restarted to relax and let her poor brain have a break from tests and akumas and jingle bells…once she hid her sister’s Christmas present.
“Hey, look!” Lucia jumped and pointed up to the roofline down the block.
Margarite came next to her daughters and they all strained to see the two figures in red and black playfully dancing across the Paris rooftops. Ladybug and Cat Noir’s laughter echoed in the night and they seemed pleasantly carefree.
“Huh.” Quin grinned slightly. “Looks like they’re having a good New Year.”
Lucia grinned and shared a glance with their mother before nudging her sister and singing, “For auld lang syne, my dear. For auld lang syne! We’ll take a cup o’kindness yet for auld lang syne!”
“I’m never going to get you to shut up, am I?”
“Nope!”
“Figures, Elfie.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heart it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2:16-20
New International Version
Clips
Johnny Mathis "We Need A Little Christmas"
Mr. Krueger's Christmas (Clip)
Julie Andrews "Auld Lang Syne"
”Jimmy Durante "Frosty The Snowman"
"I'm Getting Nuttin' For Christmas"
“Save a Little Christmas for Christmas Day” (Clip unavailable, see Rankin Bass The First Christmas- The Story of the First Christmas Snow)
"Put One Foot In Front Of The Other" ( Rankin Bass Santa Clause Is Coming To Town)