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It was a snowy December night in Boston. On the edge of a neighborhood, there was a house. It was in this house that two Christmas-loving young girls by the names of Lucy and Gabriela had met the one and only Santa Claus. It was believed to be abandoned. But there are those that know better. Those that know that someone–-or rather, something–-dwells within that house.
A magenta light glowed through the windows. The house’s occupant hungers. And tonight, it would be satisfied.
Lucy and Gabriela were having a wonderful Jolly Month. First things first, they had gone out with their father to pick out a tree. The three of them wandered the tree lot searching for the perfect tree before, finally, they found it. Not too big, not too small, the perfect amount of branches, and the perfect shade of green. They took it home and set it up in the living room to be decorated.
Another Jolly Month tradition the girls enjoyed was baking a fruitcake with their mother. From shopping for the ingredients to the actual process of baking, the three females had a lot of fun with the entire process, turning what would otherwise be a chore into a bonding experience (despite knowing that the fruits of their labor would most likely go uneaten).
The jolly twins also made sure to take the time to visit Robyn at the chocolate shop. The pink-haired girl was always so kind to the younger girls, happily chatting with them as they shopped around and made their purchases. Lucy and Gabriela saw Robyn as the big sister they never had, just as Robyn thought of them as the little sisters she never had.
With only a little more than a week to go before Christmas, the family decorated the tree. They wrapped it with lights and strings of popcorn and hung various ornaments on it, store bought and homemade alike. And for the finishing touch, the star was placed on the top by Gabriela, as placing the star on the tree was an honor traditionally reserved for the youngest member of the family (though, given that she and Lucy are twins, they alternated every year to ensure fairness).
All in all, this year was a successful Jolly Month, and as Lucy and Gabriela settled into their beds on the night of Christmas Eve, they dreamed of the joys that would come the following day on Christmas. But it was not meant to be. In the dead of the night, several blue-clad people surrounded the house. While a few of them kept watch, a few more climbed through the girls’ window. One of them quickly grabbed their Nutcracker guardian and locked it in a sturdy metal box, while two more carefully lifted the girls out of their beds, taking the utmost care not to wake them. With their task completed, the hooded strangers spirited the girls away into the night.
Luzcretia gasped as she jolted awake. Something was very wrong. She could feel it. Looking over at Silas, she could see that he felt the same. The two of them jumped out of bed and rushed to their daughters’ room.
Their hearts sank as they saw that the room was empty, and even more so that the window was open. This was every parent’s worst nightmare: their daughters have been taken. They were jolted out of their thoughts, however, when they heard a rattling coming from nearby. They turned their heads in the direction of the sound and saw a rattling metallic box.
When Lucy and Gabriela awoke, they discovered that they were not tucked into their beds in their own home, but tied to chairs in a vaguely familiar house and surrounded by strange, blue-robed people.
“Who are you?” Gabriela asked.
“What’s going on?” Lucy asked.
“Ah, good, you’re awake,” one of the blue-robed people said. “We need your help with a little…project.” Lucy and Gabriela glanced at each other in confusion.
“Project?”
“Yes,” the person continued. “You see, we are the Order of the Ears, and our goal is to cleanse this world of heretics and non-believers in order to usher forth a new era of prosperity! But to do that, our god needs to be strengthened enough in order to do so. And that’s where you come in, my dears.”
“Us?” Lucy and Gabriela squeaked.
“Yes, you,” the cultist spoke. “Only a melody angel can give our god the power it needs to reach its full potential.” Lucy and Gabriela gasped. They knew?! “Now, enough talk!” the cultist continued. “It is time for our god to feed and reach its full power! It is time for a new world order! Our order!” The cultists began chanting something that sounded vaguely Latin as Lucy and Gabriela struggled to free themselves from their bonds.
As the cultists were chanting, the sound of bells could distantly be heard. The sound got louder, and louder, and louder, until–-CRASH! A big, red sleigh crashed through the roof. And not just any sleigh.
“Ho ho ho!”
“Santa!” the girls exclaimed in relief.
“That’s right!” the jolly old elf proclaimed. “And I have some help!” At this, Luzcretia, Silas, and the Nutcracker leapt from Santa’s sleigh, swords drawn. Santa touched down his sleigh, crushing a couple of cultists, and leapt out to join the battle himself.
But the cultists weren’t going to go down without a fight. They grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon and either charged toward their attackers or positioned themselves in front of their prisoners. Silas swung his sword, but a cultist blocked it. Thinking quickly, he twisted his sword in such a way that the cultist’s sword would be wrenched out of their hand, and then he beheaded them before they had a chance to recover.
Luzcretia stabbed a cultist through the chest, only to be slashed in the back by another. She yelled in pain before she whirled around and slashed the cultist’s throat. A pair of cultists were gored on one of the reindeer’s antlers. Santa himself was using a rather impressive arsenal against the cultists himself, from whacking them with baseball bats and golf clubs to shooting them with BB guns, and even engaging in some good old-fashioned fisticuffs. But it seemed like for every cultist defeated, two more arrived to take their place.
The Nutcracker, due to his small size, was able to slip by the cultists guarding Lucy and Gabriela and started cutting the ropes binding them to their chairs. Unfortunately, one of the cultists managed to spot him and knocked him away, breaking him in some places. The girls screamed in horror. In the midst of the battle, a strange sound was heard: a beautiful, haunting melody underscored by an ominous drone.
“You’re too late!” the cult leader sneered. “Our god has awoken. And now it will feast and grow more powerful than you or I could possibly imagine.” As if on cue, a cavern opened up in the floor, releasing an otherworldly magenta light. A tentacle reached out of the hole and grabbed the captive children, pulling them inside.
“LUCY! GABRIELA!” Luzcretia and even Silas (breaking his vow of silence) cried out in anguish.
Lucy and Gabriela found themselves in what appeared to be a dark void. The droning melody was louder here. The girls felt themselves being lulled into a trance. The sound started getting louder, as if its source were getting closer. Then, an incomprehensibly huge being emerged from the shadows. It appeared to be covered in ears, save for its giant, toothy maw.
“Good,” the creature spoke in a deep, reverberating voice. “You two will do nicely.”
“Who…?” Lucy droned out, still in a magenta-eyed trance along with her sister.
“I am the Ears of the Universe,” the creature introduced itself. “And you two…such raw power. Young melody angels…and is that demon blood I sense flowing through your veins?” The girls didn’t–-couldn’t-–answer. “Sing for me, young angels. Lend me your power.” Lucy and Gabriela began to sing at the creature’s behest, unable to refuse or resist.
“Yes,” the Ears of the Universe said as he absorbed their power. “Give yourselves over to the universe; your fear, your rage, your despair, your joy.”
“Like Jolly Month?” Gabriela asked, still in her trance.
“...Jolly Month?”
Above ground, the battle raged on. Luzctretia and Silas fought like they had nothing to lose, taking down several more cultists. They were hellbent on avenging their daughters, and if they went down doing so, they’d take as many of these bastards with them as possible.
The earth suddenly shook, grinding the battle to a halt. A tentacle burst from the ground, then another, before a giant, tentacled creature covered in ears emerged. And sitting atop it was…
“Girls!” Luzcretia and Silas cried happily. The creature quickly ran off to parts unknown.
“Wait! My Lord! Where are you going?” the cult leader cried. He was swiftly knocked out by a suckerpunch from jolly old St. Nick.
Sitting on a bench in the park, wearing their stylish (and color coordinated) jackets, sat the Gemstones, scrolling social media on their phones. They weren’t worried about getting in trouble for being out so late. They were used to having everything they wanted simply handed to them. Ah, the benefits of being rich and spoiled.
“Hey, do you girls hear that?” Ruby asked, referring to a strange, doleful melody she could hear in the distance.
“Yeah,” Sapphire answered. “Is that…music?”
“I think it’s getting closer,” Emerald observed. And indeed, it seemed that the sound was getting closer, growing in volume until the bullies almost felt that their skulls could burst from the pressure. Looking toward the source of the sound, they saw…something they couldn’t quite identify.
“What is that?” Sapphire asked.
“I don’t know,” Ruby answered. “But are those the Christmas freaks?” Indeed, it seemed that the two little blue-haired girls were riding atop…whatever that thing was.
“Hey, yeah, I think it is,” Emerald said. Whatever the younger girls were riding on got closer and closer until it was in full view: a giant blob of flesh covered in ears. The Gemstones probably would have had a field day making rude comments about its appearance…if they weren’t in a trance, their eyes big and magenta.
“Happy Jolly Month!” Lucy and Gabriela chorused.
Tim sighed as he stared up at the ceiling of his jail cell. This mattress still wasn’t very comfortable, despite him sleeping on it for a year. Oh, well. It couldn’t be helped. Tim closed his eyes in yet another fruitless attempt to sleep, when he was once again awoken by a low, droning noise. He tried to ignore it, thinking it must just be the jail’s duct system, but it just kept getting louder.
Tim’s eyes snapped open in annoyance. What was that sound, and where was it coming from? It wasn’t the vents. It sounded like it was coming from…outside? Tim got up and looked out the window of his cell. What he saw was indescribable: a giant, fleshy mass of ears, from which the droning sounds were coming, accompanied by a haunting melody. Were those also two tiny, blue specks atop it? Tim didn’t know, as he fell into a trance as soon as he caught a glimpse of the thing, which then resulted in him passing out.
Silver lining: Tim finally got a good night’s sleep for once.
The girls and Ears continued to partake in more Jolly Month fun throughout the night, from caroling to drinking hot cocoa to admiring the big tree in the town square–-all while people were falling into trances due to Ears’ incomprehensible nature. After a couple of hours of Jolly Month fun, the trio decided to call it a night.
“Goodbye, Ears!” Lucy and Gabriela chorused as Ears made its way back to the hole it had emerged from.
“Always listen to the universe,” it stated cryptically by way of farewell. Lucy and Gabriela made their way toward the house as well when they saw their parents coming out of it. Luzcretia and Silas were injured and exhausted, but the cultists had been defeated, either dead or incapacitated.
“Mom! Dad!” The jolly twins hugged their parents, who hugged them back in relief.
“Where’s Santa?” Gabriela asked.
“He went to deliver the presents to all the good little boys and girls in the world,” Luzcretia explained. Though some of those kids may end up disappointed by the state of their presents after they were used as weapons.
“Oh, okay,” Lucy nodded. “What about our nutcracker?” Silas gingerly held the broken toy out to his daughters.
“We’ll try our best to fix him,” he assured the girls.
“Okay,” they said quietly.
“C’mon, let’s go home,” Luzcretia said. “We don’t want to sleep through Christmas Day, do we?” With the answer being a resounding “no!” from her daughters, the family headed home as the police arrived to arrest the surviving cultists.
The next day, the family celebrated Christmas together. While Lucy and Gabriela opened presents, Silas and Luzcretia cuddled by the fire while also looking for new neighborhoods to move into, deeming their current one too unsafe to live in. This small town in Arizona looked nice…