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Emu at the moment was laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He loved seeing the glow in the dark stars.
But for some reason, he felt sad today. He knew it was Christmas, and he knew Hiiro bought a Christmas tree, having him and Parado help decorate it. He also knew why everyone asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Yet Emu couldn't quite understand why he was scared and sad. Then again, he thought it'd be like every other Christmas before his reset. He only ever really had good Christmases after Chronicle ended. He had his Mighty pajamas on right now and continued staring at the ceiling. Briefly he could hear Parado trying to sneak into the room. "Is he asleep?" Hiiro had asked, clearly behind him.
"Don't think so." Parado narrowed his eyes. The child knew his bugster could feel when he's awake versus asleep.
Emu sat himself up and stared at them. He tilted his head. Hiiro had on a sweater, a Christmas one to be exact. He'd never seen Hiiro in a sweater, never ever, but it made him laugh, giggling. "What's so funny?" Hiiro asked him.
"Papa has a sweater!" He was grinning, clearly finding it amusing. Hiiro just sighed, his expression quickly became a soft smile.
"At any rate, leave your bunk bed and come downstairs." He turned to leave the room. Emu just stared. That was an odd interaction, he thought.
The child climbed down the ladder and then went over to run and hug Parado, who quickly caught and hugged him back. Parado and Hiiro would always hold him close. They'd pat his head, ruffle his hair, rub his head, pat his back, everything. They wanted to make sure he knew he was loved in this life. "Shall we come downstairs?"
"Yeah! Though—" he tilted his head, "why's papa acting weird?"
"What do you mean?" He crouched down to be more eye level with Emu.
"Normally he says good morning" Emu pouted.
Parado just smiled and laughed for a second. "There's a very complex reason for that today. You do know what today is, right?"
"Ummm... Christmas?"
"Yep. Come on."
The minute they came downstairs, Emu realized he could smell different types of breakfast foods, hot cocoa, even other sweets. As he turned the corner from the steps, he realized Hiiro's fireplace was decorated. There were three stockings hanging over. One for Emu, one for Parado, one for Hiiro himself. His had Mighty Action X on it; Parado's had his pants colors (Emu made it for him with Poppy's help last week); Hiiro's was just a soft blue color with his initials on it. Emu's stocking very obviously had candy in it and likely a few other things. He stared in awe at all of the decorations. It looked so pretty! Hiiro even lit the fireplace. Then Parado lead him quickly to the kitchen, clearly keeping him from looking at the tree since there were likely many presents under there. In the kitchen was everyone from CR; Haima and Kyotaro were even there. Hiiro's mom, unfortunately, was away right now, so she couldn't join. He glanced around with curious and wide but happy eyes. There was so much food on the table. The very moment everyone saw him, they yelled out: "Merry Christmas!"
Kiriya even came over and put a Christmas hat on Emu that was just a bit too big for him right now, so it slid down over his eyes briefly. It made him happy. He smiled as he quickly pushed it back up so he could actually see.
When he glanced to Kiriya, he remembered why Christmas made him sad. Kiriya had been killed during this holiday and aside from that, he never had any gifts or get togethers until CR. But Kiriya was alive, everyone was here. He had a family, now. There was no reason to be sad. "Merry Christmas!" he said in response. Then his gaze went to Poppy. "Ah! Poppy!" He ran up to her. She crouched down to hug him. "Are you gonna sing Pingle Pells again?!"
"I can if you want me to! I'm surprised you remembered that." She smiled, happy.
"I can't forget it! I loved hearing you sing!"
"Even People Game?"
"Mhmm!" Even if he didn't directly remember seeing her sing, he just remembers hearing her singing.
Then Poppy laughed, happily, and smiled. She put a hand on his head. "I'll sing for you, Emu! But for right now," she straightened herself up, "let's have a good Christmas!"
He couldn't help his smile as he nodded. "Okay!"
. . . . .
A few hours later, everyone was sitting on a couch except for Parado and Hiiro, who were sitting on the floor with Emu. Everyone got him a present. He was crying about it, crying about how grateful he was, about this being the best Christmas ever. From Poppy he got a handmade Mighty plushie she had made for him. Kiriya got him a $50 gift card to the local game store and a bunch of candy. Taiga and Nico both got him one of the new games that just came out; it was one he wanted and kept talking about but Hiiro nor Parado never took him to get it—because Taiga and Nico were going to; they never told Emu that. Haima and Kyotaro were not quite sure what to get him, so they ended up getting him the custom-made doctor's coat for his current size—plus new shoes; these were cool light up shoes! Kyotaro also gave him a 'pretend' name badge with his new name on it. Hiiro bought Emu a new pajama set—it had been one he asked for once, because it looked like a dragon and had little wings on it. Parado bought him a new controller, a custom made one he had planned to get before his game over but completely forgot about. There was even a gift Hiiro's mom made for him; it was a custom-made backpack, one in his favorite colors and one he could customize pins on—she even wrote a card for him, saying sorry she couldn't be there this year; to be honest, he was grateful either way.
He loved his Papa, his grandparents, his aunts and uncles at CR, he loved Parado like a brother.
So now he had the new pajama set on and the new shoes. He was crying but had hugged everyone. Sure, he bought everyone something small with the allowance Hiiro gave him, but he didn't expect anything at all.
They spent all day talking, hanging out. He was happy. This was the best Christmas ever!
By the end of the day, he fell asleep on the couch. His head was in Parado's lap, who was rubbing his head gently. Kyotaro, Haima, Taiga, and Nico all had to leave for now. Kiriya's family was away, so he stayed. Everyone asked why he didn't go with his family and all he said was: "I rather spend this day with Emu's first New Game Plus Christmas". Poppy stayed, too.
She was sitting next to Parado, leaning over to look at Emu. "He definitely looks happy."
"He is happy." Parado leaned into the couch, smiling as he closed his eyes, his hand still on Emu's head.
"You said he was sad earlier?" Kiriya asked.
"Yeah. I think he subconsciously remembered what happened to you on Christmas."
"He still remembers that, huh..?" Then Kiriya smiled softly. "Even if I died on Christmas once before, I'm happy Emu can at least have a good Christmas as a child. Getting rid of those bad memories are good for his soul."
"Yeah, I think so too." Hiiro was staring at the sleeping Emu. "I'm just happy that he can finally relax."
"I agree." Poppy was also staring at the sleeping Emu, a hand over her chest. "I'm happy for him!" Then her gaze went to Hiiro. "You've given him what he's always wanted, Hiiro. You've given him a family and a good life; a life where he's free to finally be a kid instead of being forced to grow up."
The surgeon turned father stared at Poppy before his gaze drifted back to Emu. "I... I just want him to be happy."
"Yeah." Kiriya was leaning forward against the back of the chair that he was sitting backwards in. A smile. "I'm just grateful he can finally experience what it's like to be loved and cared for, instead of fending for himself while the whole world is against him."
Parado continued rubbing Emu's head and running fingers through his hair. "I'm just... still trying to process how our genes mixed to bring him back like this. But I am really grateful you all are helping him, too." He bowed his head briefly.
"Parado, you know we'd all have done it regardless. Emu is... special. He didn't deserve any of the suffering he endured." Hiiro continued staring at his son, watching Parado brushing Emu's hair with his fingers. "Even if the previous Emu never comes back, I will continue being his father until I die. If somehow Saki gets revived, I know she will accept him, too."
. . . . .
As Parado put the young resurrected human into his bed, he smiled. "Merry Christmas, Emu."
His human host briefly turned, cuddling one of his plushies of Mighty. "M'ry Chr'sm's." He spoke with a sleepy and slurred voice, causing Parado briefly grin at it. It was always adorable when he did that in his sleep, responding to people. He did it as an adult, too, before his reset. Parado always found it rather wholesome whenever Emu did that. This was a good Christmas.