[Ch.06] Back To The Sky

'Twas the morning of Christmas...like early in the morning. Just past halfway through the night. Santa and his handy elves, along with a new friend Ceres, and Thomas and Aurora. Together, everyone would work together to fix Santa's broken sleigh and save Christmas.

Santa sleigh came into sight as everyone exited the forest. Thomas and Aurora were especially excited to be helping Santa save Christmas. Never before have they thought of ever being able to see Santa in person, but their wildest dreams came true. What lucky youngsters they were.

"Here we are," Santa said as everyone suddenly stopped walking.

Lars, Moon and Sunshine climbed down Santa's leg and onto the ground. The red sleight was severely damaged. Presents still laid scattered all around the sight. The reindeer were huffing and puffing. Not because they were scared or upset, but because they were happy to see Santa again. Reindeers have personalities too.

"How did this happen Santa?" Ceres asked as he got off of his horse, examining the badly damaged sleigh. Santa stood in complete silence, heartbroken by the fact that Christmas might be doomed. He began to get emotional. Thomas and Aurora looked up at Santa.

"The Dark Elves stole my sleighs magic," Santa said, "I thought I explained that part already?"

"Don't look so upset Santa," Thomas said as he grabbed Santa's right hand and held it. He looked down at Thomas and smiled faintly.

"I admire your confidence Thomas," Santa said, "you're a brave young blockhead."

"Always have been and always will be," Thomas said, "but you can't give up now Santa. We can still fix this. There's still time."

Santa let go of Thomas' hand and pulled his black leather glove off of his hand. He glanced down at the time band he was wearing on his wrist. After he did that, he sighed heavily. The night was quickly coming to a close. The sun would be rising soon. He put his black glove back on and then sat down on the snow covered ground. Lars, Moon and Sunshine couldn't help but try and comfort Santa. They walked up to him and crawled into his lap, sitting up against Santa's warm, soft tummy.

"Without the magic, my sleight can't fly," Santa said, "I'm sorry everyone...but I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel Christmas this year."

Ceres finished examining the wrecked sleigh. He was tapping his chin with his hand. By the looks of it, the sleigh just needed to be fixed in certain areas. The sleights feet were bent, and the sides were cracked. Nothing a little magic could fix right?

Ceres pulled his wooden wand out of his inventory. Thomas and Aurora looked up at Ceres. Lars, Moon and Sunshine all looked over at him. They began jumping up and down in joy and excitement. Because they were jumping up and down, Santa raised his head and looked over at Ceres.

"What are you doing?" Santa asked.

Ceres glanced over at Santa and smiled brightly at him. "I'm going to fix your sleigh."

"How? It still won't be able to fly," Santa mentioned.

"Leave that to me," Ceres said as he rose the wand high above his head. The tip of it began glowing a bright blue. Once it began glowing, Ceres aimed the wand at Santa's broken sleigh.

Presents that were laying in the snow began to shake. One by one, the presents began floating up into the air, circling around the sleigh. The sleigh began lifting up into the air, with snow sliding off of it as it continued to ascend. The reindeer began floating too. Ceres waved his wand around two times. When he did that, the sleigh began to fix itself.

Presents began floating back over to the red sack, broken pieces of wood began going back into place. The reindeer harness that was connected to the sleigh reattached itself to the sleigh.

Thomas and Aurora watched in silence. They were starstruck by what was happening. Not long after, Ceres finished fixing the sleigh. The seven reindeer and the sleigh gently landed back onto the ground. It had now seemed as if Santa's sleigh was never broken. It looked as good as new. Amazing. The wand stopped glowing. Ceres then put it back into his inventory for safe keeping.

Santa hopped back up onto his feet. He was so happy to have his sleigh fixed. He ran over to it and began examining every block of it. Everything seemed to be in good working condition. But there was one minor change that he noticed. Where is the magic meter? Santa turned around and looked over at Ceres.

"I made a simple change to your sleigh," Ceres mentioned with a smile.

"I can see that," Santa responded.

"From here on out, and for all eternity, your sleigh will no longer require magic to fly. For it to fly, all you have to say is ho, ho, ho," Ceres said.

Santa frowned. "You're kidding right?"

Ceres laughed. He tricked Santa into thinking that saying ho, ho, ho would make his sleigh fly. But in retrospect, all Santa needed was the magic of true believers. Blockheads that believe in him. Simple as that.

"Indeed. It was just a joke," Ceres said, "from now on, if enough young blockheads believe in you, your sleigh will fly. No more limits and magic requirements."

"I believe, I believe," Thomas said in a loud voice. His arm was sticking straight up into the air. Aurora did the same thing. Lars, Moon, and Sunshine walked back over to the sleigh and climbed back into it. They waved back at Thomas and Aurora.

Santa turned around to look at Thomas and Aurora. He knew that he wouldn't be able to deliver all of these presents in time before sunrise alone. Even with Lars, Moon and Sunshine there to help. The more helpers he had, the quicker everything would go. Was this truly the end of the journey? Already? How did it go by so fast?

As much as Santa didn't want this night to end now that everything was almost back to normal, he needed to be on his way. Many children are still without presents. The last thing he needed was for them to wake up and be disappointed when they don't see any gifts under their trees.

Ceres walked over to Santa as he hoped back into his sleigh and sat down. Ceres held his hand out. Santa, in return, held his hand out too. They both shook hands.

"Thank you so much Ceres," Santa said, "you sure are a good blockhead. In fact, everyone here is good."

"I couldn't just let Christmas get canceled this year," Ceres mentioned, "my King and Kingdom would've been sad if Christmas wasn't saved. It's the least I could do for you Santa."

Santa smiled as he looked down at Ceres. Thomas and Aurora ran over to the sleigh. Santa glanced down at them.

"Before we can celebrate, we need to finish where I left off," Santa said, "which reminds me….how would you like to help me finish delivering presents, hm?"

Thomas and Aurora both nodded their heads rapidly. Santa giggled. He then held his hand out. One by one he hoisted them up into his sleigh. Ceres took a few steps back.

"Merry Christmas Santa," Ceres said as he began waving his arm back and forth, bidding Santa, Thomas, and Aurora a goodnight.

Santa grabbed the ropes. "Don't sit too close to the edge now kiddos," Santa said, "I don't want you two falling out."

Santa pulled on the ropes, making the reindeer begin running. As they began running, the sleigh began moving. Ceres continued to wave them all goodbye. And before anyone realized it, Santa's sleigh was flying through the air once more. But just as everything seemed okay, Santa's wrist band began glowing. He looked down at it and tapped it. A familiar voice began talking. Santa recognized whose voice it was.

"Santa," Phineas whispered quietly, "come quick. I need your help. I was captured by the Dark Elves and their leader who calls himself EnderBrine. I don't know what they're going to do with me. Please Santa….you're my only hope."

The message then ended. Thomas and Aurora were frightened. By the sounds of it, Phineas has been elfnapped by the Dark Elves and EnderBrine. Being the kind man he is, Santa couldn't leave Phineas behind. Phineas and Santa were very close friends.

"What are we going to do Santa?" Aurora asked.

"We're going to go save our friend," Santa responded.