41: Exploring the Magic World part 1.

"Ah, I feel like I was run over by my father's ship," muttered Samus, who had just woken up. 

She felt that at least it was already sunset, alchemists are good at timing and have a good biological clock. But the blonde was very tired right now. 

How could she not be!!!? Even if she was in a strange trance, she could feel the passage of time in this peculiar space surrounded by Jorgen, so it was obvious that she thought all those days she had only fought in the flesh. 

Not that she wanted to complain, she felt that in all her years of training, she wouldn't have progressed as fast as she had in this month, so she was glad. 

When she arrived in the kitchen, she was wearing a black T-shirt and jean shorts. Ignoring those eating at the table, she sat down next to Ciri and devoured everything in front of her without any remorse. 

"Looks like someone's hungry," Ciri said sarcastically, causing Samus to stop eating for a moment and pay attention to her surroundings. 

She would be screaming and celebrating if she wasn't tucked in tightly, wrapped like a cocoon in the sheets, where she felt quite comfortable. But the body was not meant to rely on nourishment or healing potions alone, so she soon felt a deep hunger. 

"I don't want to move," said Samus, who had only her face covered while her entire body was covered in sheets. 

As if the universe didn't want her to remain a slob, the smell of delicious food entered the room, shocking her good sense of smell and whetting her appetite even more. 

As her stomach growled menacingly, as if it would digest her body if she didn't feed it, Samus resigned herself and stood up. 

Even though she was technically clean, she couldn't stand the fact that she had been sweating and struggling for so many days, so she quickly took a shower. After washing her hair and letting the cold water wash away her grogginess from sleeping, she stepped out. 

Then the blonde noticed that the table had been extended to accommodate more people, including Jorgen and Zahn, the Tooth Fairy. Cosmo and Wanda were also there, along with her godson, Timmy Turner. 

In addition, there were other important figures from the magical world, such as a strange pink-haired fairy who kept looking at Ciri and Samus as if observing something special that only he could notice.

There was also a tall man with a white beard and a red suit, who else but Santa Claus? Who, upon noticing Samus' gaze, gave the blonde a friendly smile. 

Next to them was another creature that seemed to be a grumpy rabbit with pink fur, who pulled an egg with extensive decorations from somewhere and threw it at the blonde, who caught it. 

"You need protein, girl," the grumpy rabbit said in its unusually thick voice. 

Samus just looked at the egg in her hand, it was exaggeratedly large, but she didn't care. When she opened it, she found that it was indeed a chocolate egg, and it smelled delicious.

"I don't know what you think protein is, but thank you," Samus replied, taking a piece of chocolate and putting it in her mouth.

One thing he noticed right away was that this candy had a special energy about it; when he touched it with his tongue, it immediately melted, allowing him to fully enjoy its sweet taste. 

Soon, she felt her emotions, which had been somewhat dampened by her previous month-long stay in a time-slows space, subside. Not only that, but the ravenous hunger she felt, which even the food she had recently eaten had failed to quell, also began to subside. 

The alchemist's blue eyes sparkled with interest, and just as she was about to perform an alchemical test, she felt Ciri's hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention. Ciri looked at her with some reproach in her eyes, but her words were kind. 

"You can do alchemy later, finish your dinner first," Ciri admonished Samus as if she were a mother advising her restless daughter.

After saying those words, Ciri couldn't help but remember all the times her grandmother had spoken to her like that, when she had done something wrong, or when she wouldn't be quiet in certain situations. 

"Oh, by Venus! What a beautiful bond you two have," the pink-haired being pointed at the girls with an arrow, the tip of which was a heart.

Those few features alone told Samus that the one who had spoken was Cupid, the magical being in charge of all things love, not just romantic love, but all forms of love that were beneficial. 

That he sometimes got distracted and caused a relationship to break down was one of his biggest problems, but he could always separate them with another arrow. Cupid was able to see the brotherly bonds in people, so he was pleased to see Ciri and Samus. 

"I guess thank you. But I don't understand, are we celebrating something? And, hi, Timmy," Samus greeted the little toothy boy, who looked curiously at everything going on in front of him. 

The boy didn't know why his godparents had brought him here for dinner, but he didn't want to miss the chance to see new things already lit. Though he was a little embarrassed when he saw Santa for the chaos his Christmas wish had caused last time, the old man understood the children and let it go. 

"Oh, nothing, we're organizing a tour for you two girls. Since you're in the magical world, why not explore all it has to offer? It's not just for us fairies, you know," Jorgen replied this time.

It wasn't his idea, but that of Luz and Ciri, who wanted Samus to take a break. The blonde needed to cut down on her chocolate and take a few days off from so much work. 

So they came up with this situation, a clever way to use Samus' desire for knowledge and learning to lure her into a vacation she wouldn't even know she had.

Maybe then the girl could start to take the time to look at things more carefully, instead of just rushing forward without stopping to process or reflect. 

"And that's why they invited us, little girl," said Santa, Grandpa was in a good mood, though perhaps the rudest of all present, second only to Jorgen. 

"We were invited too!" exclaimed Cosmo, pointing at himself, his wife, and Timmy. 

"Honey, calm down," Wanda said, taking Cosmo's fidgeting hands, which were about to dig into her eyes if she hadn't reacted quickly. 

"Yes, if I remember correctly, Wanda has an actress sister, Blonda, doesn't she?" the simple question from Timmy made Wanda clench her teeth hard, causing Zahn to give her a subtle glare. 

"And her father is Big Daddy, a prominent member of our society, no doubt," Nana Boom Boom said, ignoring the strange look Wanda gave her.

"We'll help you see the wonders of this side of the universe~," said Cupid, releasing confetti from his hands that disappeared before touching the food. 

"Interesting things and stuff. No idea how the Pixies or the Anti-Godparents agreed, but oh well," said the now obvious Easter Bunny. 

"Pixies? Aren't those the guys who use magic for money? Weren't they evil?" asked Timmy, his curiosity high, almost as high as the blonde who stared at the talking rabbit, waiting for answers. 

"Kids today aren't cute," the Easter Bunny muttered before answering Timmy's question. 

"There's no good or bad in the world, boy. There are differences, but we're all under the same master, so even if we fight with each other, we never go to extremes," replied the rabbit, who flicked his ears several times, as if remembering something unpleasant. 

"Even though the Anti-Godfathers are the living antithesis of us fairies, they are not technically 'evil', they just have ways of doing things that clash with ours. 

We have rules, they may have theirs, but they are different and work differently than ours," said Zahn, who had even shared a few moments with his version of the Anti-Godfathers. 

"But we're not talking about Anti-Jorgen," the rabbit said suddenly, with a slightly mischievous grin on his face. 

Jorgen, seeing how they laughed at his less strong and less masculine version, felt he had to do something, and for the first time in a long time, he was able to side with the beings known to be the opposite of his kind. 

"The only problem with him is that he's weak, no matter how he acts or expresses himself, the only thing I find wrong with him is that he's easily manipulated, anti-Godfather or not, he's a strangle," although the laughter died down due to Jorgen's words, the atmosphere wasn't as tense as it seemed. 

"Girl, I saw that you didn't seem to get any presents from the Santa of your universe, tell me about it?" asked Santa, noticing this metaphysical and strange aspect in Samus, who was not expecting such a question. 

"Um, well, do the gunshots count?" asked Samus dubiously, causing everyone to look at her. 

Ciri, who knew the back story, felt a slight chill. She never thought modern weapons were dangerous until she experienced her first Christmas in Samus' universe and understood what the festive atmosphere of the 29th century was like. 

"What do you mean?" asked Santa with an awkward tone in his voice, not liking the way the two young women reacted to his simple question.

"You see, my country is in the 29th century, after alien invasions, machine rebellions, destruction, and rebuilding, many things have been lost, changed, or just severely distorted.

The major holidays are now run by sentient robots, Heaven by a robot I don't get along with very well, and Hell by the robot devil I'm trying to get in touch with. 

So, Santa Claus is a homicidal robot who won't hesitate to empty the entire clip of his machine gun into you to make you feel the Christmas spirit firsthand. He is not based at the North Pole, which melted centuries ago. 

It is in Neptune, where he has enslaved the local population to make the weapons he will use in his self-imposed war. Because he decides who's good and who's bad, and we're all bad," after Samus' explanation, the whole atmosphere fell into a truly uncomfortable silence. 

"This is fucked up," said the Easter Bunny, who received a cupid's blow to the head. 

"There are young people here!" shouted the magical creature, but the actions of both brought the noise back to the table. 

"What a... weird world," Jorgen said, holding back the curse words with a hint of disbelief. 

"I thought my previous wishes were chaotic," muttered Timmy, who understood a little bit what it was really like to screw up big time. 

Who was the enlightened psychotic who programmed a robot so that no matter how many times it was destroyed, it would come back the next year to give away leading to anyone who misbehaved?

But this story of Samus' served, in part, to show why the blonde was the way she was. Ciri noticed that in her companion's universe, people tended to become easily obsessed with certain things. 

Amy with not eating too much, Conrad with bureaucracy, Zoidberg with finding what delicacies to eat, and with no one to replace him as a doctor. The Professor was kind of special because even though he was brilliant, he spent some of his time creating world-ending weapons. 

Ciri remembers the strange day when Samus's father celebrated having created a small sphere capable of shattering the Earth more than 10 times. Samus was celebrating with him that afternoon. 

She was only 12 at the time. 

"Little girl, let me prepare a nice present for you," said Santa Claus, who couldn't accept that the Christmas spirit was so rare and that Samus couldn't enjoy it properly. 

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AN: I was going to post yesterday, but I'm dying of a terrible flu, I didn't even get to finish the multiversal chat fanfic chapter, but I will tonight. 

But I'm still knackered, someone please become a scientist and create a cure for the flu, I'd appreciate it.