Star in the Sky

ShadowOfAGhost · #1 12-25-2004, 05:46 PM

Allright, this is what I wrote for the X-mas story contest. Let me know what you think!

Star in the Sky

ShadowOfAGhost

“And then all of a sudden,

through my window I could see,

Santa Clause was flying by and smiling at me.

Santa Clause, Santa Clause,

Must’ve been ol’ Santa Clause.

Santa Clause, Santa Clause,

Happy Ho Ho Ho to you!”

-Harry Connick Jr., (It Must’ve Been Ol’) Santa Clause

Everywhere you looked you saw white. Jump city was enveloped in it. Looking out her window, Starfire watched as the snow fell gracefully from the sky. It was very calming to watch, but she had no idea what it was. There was nothing like this on her home planet of Tamaran.

As she floated out of her room and down the hallway, she decided she would have to investigate whatever this white substance was. She opened the door on the roof and stepped outside. By now there was already an inch of snow on the ground, but at the rate it was falling, there would likely be a foot by the end of the day. She knelt over and scooped some into her hands and held it close to her face. She could feel it starting to numb her hands and gently placed it back on the ground. She wanted to stay outside to play with it some more, but as she glanced over at the thermometer on the wall, she could see that the temperature was almost 0°.

She went back into the tower and headed for the common area. As she approached she could hear everyone there, Cyborg’s voice stuck out the most as she stepped into the room.

“A little more to the left, Raven. No, too far. There! Now back a little bit. And let it down carefully…it’s in.”

Starfire looked around the room and saw that most of it was draped in either red or green or a mixture of both. She looked over to see Raven standing next to a large green tree. Cyborg was underneath it, and appeared to be adjusting something around the base.

Robin and Beast Boy had wandered over from whatever it was that they had been doing and simply stared at the tree.

“You picked a good one Cyborg!” Robin said to him.

Starfire couldn’t understand why her friends would want to plant a tree in the common area. She felt overwhelmed with curiosity, but was afraid to make a fool of herself in front of her friends.

Curiosity won out though, as she spoke, “Um, Friends? Why are we planting a tree inside our home? And what is the white powder falling from the sky?”

They all turned their heads to look at her in stunned silence, all of their mouths hung agape.

Realization broke through to Robin; this was Starfire’s first winter here on earth. “Star, The white stuff is called snow. When it gets very cold like it is now, instead of rain we get snow.”

Cyborg broke in, “The tree is because tomorrow is Christmas.”

She could see now that the tree was not planted, but was sitting in a small red stand.

“I am not familiar with this Christmas, is it a celebration of some kind?” Once again, mouths hung agape.

“Christmas is a day when everyone gives their friends and family gifts.” Raven said in her flat voice. “Its sort of like the Tamaranian day of friendship, whatever it was called.”

“Unless you believe in Santa!” Beast Boy added with a bit of enthusiasm.

Starfire was beginning to understand, though she still had more questions than she did answers. “Who is Santa?” she asked.

Cyborg answered this one, “Santa is a big fat jolly dude who dresses all in red. On Christmas Eve he goes to the houses of all the good little boys and girls and climbs down the chimney. He then leaves presents for them under the tree. He flies from house to house in a big red sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer.”

“How would a fat person fit down a chimney? We don’t have a chimney! Will he use the door? But what about our alarm? How would he get in? Where does he get so many gifts to give to everyone?” the questions in her mind were multiplying like rabbits.

“He’s magic, Star.” Was all Robin replied, “He can do anything.”

“As for the gifts,” Raven added, “He has a workshop up at the North Pole filled with hundreds of elves who help him make toys.”

“What are Elves?”

“Elves are short little people with long pointy ears and high squeaky voices.” Cyborg grinned, “Kinda like Beast Boy.”

“Yeah, like me!” Beast Boy blurted out. The smile melted off his face as Cyborg laughed at his stupidity.

“Can we meet him?” Starfire asked, smiling.

“Hate to break it to you, Star, but Santa is only part of a made up children’s story.” Robin said grimly, “He isn’t real.”

Starfire was visibly saddened by this, as she was the most like a child of them all.

Beast boy spoke up “I have an idea to cheer her up, why don’t we teach Starfire how to have a snowball fight?”

* * *

Starfire didn’t have much extra warm clothing, but somehow she was able to put together a hodgepodge of borrowed items, ranging from an old green rain hat to one of Raven’s Extra cloaks. It was truly a sight to see.

Starfire, Robin, and Beast Boy were on one team and Raven and Cyborg were on the other. The teams took to opposite sides of the roof. Robin and Star knelt over in the snow and demonstrated the best ways to pack the snow tight, shape the snowballs, and hide chunks of ice in the center. Starfire was surprisingly good at both making and throwing snowballs.

The game started honestly enough, but it quickly turned to cries of foul.

Cyborg quickly sidestepped a snowball whizzing toward him and loaded one into his sonic cannon. Taking careful aim, he beamed robin in the face, sending him inches from falling off the edge. Beast Boy retaliated with an ice ball, which raven blocked with a black energy shield.

After a few more minutes of this, the game turned from a team battle into a general free for all. Snow flew in all directions and none were safe from the barrage. Only once most of the snow was gone and the titans were chilled to the bone, did they retreat inside. Starfire had thoroughly enjoyed herself, though she felt as if the others had gone easy on her.

* * *

The group sat close together on the couch for warmth while arguing over the extra blankets in between the dialogue of the movie they were watching. On the big screen in front of them was one of the movies they had rented earlier for Starfire. This one portrayed an animated version of Santa visiting with children in the hospital, but despite being one of Jump Cities’ hottest sellers, the only person paying any attention to the movie was Starfire.

She sat quietly, reflecting on the day’s events. She had had so much fun that day, learning about the spirit of Christmas and how to play “the fight of snowballs” as she called it. Her only regret was that she couldn’t meet Santa for real.

Starfire got up to go to her room. “When does this Christmas occur?” she asked them.

“Tomorrow,” Robin said, “Tomorrow is Christmas.”

She went to bed regretting that she had not known about Christmas before. She would then have had time to make gifts for her friends as well.

That night she tossed and turned as she slept.

* * *

It occurred late that night; she looked over at her clock and saw that it was 1:15 in the morning. She wasn’t sure whether she was dreaming or not, as everything seemed hazy when she opened her eyes. She was about to roll over and return to whatever her previous dream had been when she heard it again. There was a thump on the roof as Starfire sat bolt upright from where she had been laying moments before. She considering sounding the general alarm, but decided against it. As quietly as she could, she opened her window and flew up to the roof to investigate whatever it was that had made that noise.

As she landed quietly on the roof, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark. Starfire slowly approached the stranger. He was clad all in red with white trim and a black belt. He seemed to be very much overweight.

“Do not move!” she said to the stranger, “Identify yourself!”

“Don’t worry, Starfire,” he said in a deep chuckling voice, “I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“Who are you and how do you know my name?!”

The large man slowly turned around, leaving Starfire in disbelief.

“Santa?” she asked, “But my friends said you are not real! They said that you are part of a children’s story!”

“Oh, I am very real,” Santa chuckled, “But only to those who believe in me.” He added with a pause.

Starfire let her guard down and smiled wide. “Then you are real!” she exclaimed.

“Quite now, we don’t want to wake your friends.” He chuckled, “Would you like to come for a ride with me in my sleigh?”

“I would love to!” she shouted, “Oops, I mean, I would love to Santa.”

Santa chuckled again, “Then climb aboard.”

Starfire climbed up and sat down. In front of her she could see eight reindeer lined up in two rows. Santa climbed into the sleigh and sat down beside her. “Hold on tight now,” he said, “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer on Vixen! On comet on Cupid on Doner on Blitzen!” and with that they flew high into the night sky.

Starfire was amazed at all she could see from up here. The city was so peaceful and quiet. Soon they left the city limits and continued to travel the skies of the world. Santa pointed out to her all sorts of amazing sights, ranging from the Redwood forests of California to the Grand Canyon.

As they approached Jump City on their way back home Starfire’s look of complete excitement and delight started to fade.

“Starfire, don’t be so glum!” Santa said to her, “After all, its Christmas!”

Starfire sighed, “I know,” she turned to look at Santa next to her, “But I did not know to get gifts for my friends!”

Santa gave a deep belly laugh and smiled at her, “Now Starfire, I wouldn’t be much of a Santa Clause if I couldn’t help you with that! Just wait and see!”

* * *

The sleigh landed back on the roof of the tower with a gentle bump and Starfire climbed out.

“Thank you, Santa for letting me ride in the sleigh with you! It was most memorable!” she said with a smile.

“Now you hurry along to bed now.” He chuckled, “You don’t want to be all tired out when your friends wake up.”

Starfire turned to fly back to her window, but Santa stopped her one last time.

“Starfire,” he said, “Merry Christmas.” He reached up and took off his big red hat and put it on her head.

“Merry Christmas Santa!” With a smile on her face she flew back to her room, closed the window, and returned to bed.

* * *

That morning when she woke up she remembered her dream from the night before. At first, she thought it had actually happened, but she then remembered that Santa could not be real. She also remembered that she had no gifts for her friends. Sighing, Starfire walked out into the hallway and towards the common area.

She had barley opened the door to the common area when she heard Beast Boy’s voice.

“Hey Star! Thanks a lot! Exactly what I wanted!” Starfire looked up and saw Beast Boy waving a copy of Super Monkey Attack XII in the air. “How did you ever get it? The stores have been sold out for months!”

“Umm…” was all the time she had to say before Cyborg, Raven and Robin all thanked her as well. They had all gotten exactly what they had wanted, only she had no idea how those gifts had gotten there.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. ‘But that is absurd!’ she thought ‘That was only a dream!’

Hearing Robin’s voice, she broke out of her daze and looked up “What was that?” she said.

“Where did you got that Santa hat of yours?”

Merry Christmas everyone!