Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Someone banging on the door awakened Isaac on Christmas morning. Grumpily, he quickly dressed and headed downstairs. His mother had already opened the door to find Garet, Ivan, Alex, Jenna and Felix standing there, all out of breath as they had obviously arrived in a hurry.

"What's wrong?" asked Dora.

"Decorations…all…gone…" Felix gasped.

"He means the decorations at our house have disappeared." said Jenna, who had recovered the quickest. "We came to see if the same thing's happened to you."

"All our decorations are gone, too" said Garet. "And of the presents and food. It's happened all over the village.

Dora turned around and noticed for the first time that all of her carefully arranged Christmas decorations had completely vanished.

"But how?" she gasped. "I locked the door!"

Sheba and Mia, who had heard all the noise, now came downstairs as well. They both wore robes, Sheba's purple and Mia's blue, and looked very sleepy.

"What's going on?" asked Mia, with a yawn.

"All the presents are gone!" said Dora. "The tree, the nativity set, the food, everything! It's all gone!"

Everyone gasped. Sheba and Mia immediately looked awake.

"That's right!" said Jenna. "The presents are missing, too!"

"That means I won't be getting a Frodo Baggins action figure." said Isaac, looking downcast.

"Frodo Baggins action figure?" asked Mia. "Do they make such things?"

"The world gets stranger and stranger every day." muttered Sheba.

"And I won't get a new hair-care kit!" wailed Alex.

"And I won't get an Algebra book!" said Ivan.

"Ivan, that's not a bad thing." said Garet.

"Oh. You're right."

"How can we have Christmas without presents and decorations and food?" said Dora.

"I guess…I guess there's no Christmas this year." said Sheba. "We don't have any way to celebrate anymore."

Everyone but Isaac nodded sadly.

"Hold on, everyone." said Isaac. All the Adepts looked at him.

"Christmas isn't about gifts," he said. "It's not about decorations, either."

"Yeah," said Garet, "everyone knows it's about food." A death glare from Jenna made him fall silent.

"It's not about food, either, Garet." said Isaac, striding to the center of the room where the Christmas tree once stood. "Christmas is about being with those you love. It's about spending time together, and showing that you care. Giving gifts and decorating are just ways of doing that. Someone is trying to stop Christmas by taking away our ornaments and gifts and feast. I say we show them that Christmas is about more than material things. We must show them that Christmas cannot be stopped, or they will have won."

"Nice speech, Isaac." said Felix.

"He's right, though." said Dora. "We don't need presents to celebrate Christmas. We can continue with our traditions without them. Let's all go down to the square and sing carols like we do every year. That should show our thief that it's impossible to take Christmas away!"

A rousing cheer greeted this suggestion.

"Any minute now." said Saturos, rubbing his hands together and staring eagerly down at the village. "Any minute now, they'll wake up and see their Christmas is gone. Then, they'll be sorry!"

Down below, the doors of the cottages began to open, and the villagers walked down the steps into the town square. There they all joined hands in a circle around where the giant tree formerly rested. Saturos produced a spyglass from somewhere, and peered through it.

"What are they doing?" he muttered. Menardi took the opportunity, while he was occupied, to take back her makeup case.

Isaac stood in the square, with Mia holding his right hand and his mother holding his left, part of a great circle of villagers that had formed around the bare patch of snow where the tree once stood. Together, they stood still for a moment, then began to sing.

[A.N I have no idea of the actual words to the song. It's that annoying song they sing in the animated movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"]

"How could they be singing?" shrieked Saturos. "I stopped Christmas! They don't have anything to sing about! AAGH!"

He covered his ears with his hands and started jumping around.

"I'm not listening, la de dah de dah da!"

"This has gone on long enough!" said Menardi. It was time to take matters into her own hands.

Meanwhile, down in Vale, the villagers continued to sing:

"That's enough!" came a voice from high above. "This isn't Golden Sun- the Musical, you know!"

All the villagers stopped singing to see who had spoken. A red object was barreling down the mountain.

"It's a bird!" said one villager.

"It's a plane!" yelled another.

"It's a second Mt. Aleph boulder!" screamed a third.

"No, it's not." said Isaac. "It's…"

"MENARDI?" all eight adepts said as the sled with its huge mound of a red bag slowed to a halt in the square. She was perched on top of the sack, holding Saturos in a straightjacket. How the sled had managed to get all the way down the slope without tipping over, with no one pulling it, no one will ever know.

"Right first time." said Menardi, jumping down from the sled and dragging Saturos with her.

"Then you are a bird?" said the first villager who had spoken, looking at her skeptically.

"No, I'm Menardi." said the Mars Adept,

"But Menardi was the fourth guess." interjected another townsperson. "You said we were right the first time."

"Fine." Menardi sighed. "Right fourth time. Now are you happy?"

All the assembled villagers nodded.

Menardi shook her head. Some people could be so picky. Then, she opened the sack, and all of the things Saturos had stolen tumbled out.

"Here's your stuff back." said Menardi. "It was Saturos's idea to steal it. I think he's gone insane."

"Purple flying cows!" screamed Saturos, and Menardi quickly gagged him.

"Wow, Menardi." said Isaac, as the other villagers rushed forwards to sort the bag of loot. "You were actually NICE for a change."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to make a habit of it." she said. Turning, she began to head towards the village exit, pulling Saturos along behind.

"Won't you stay for the feast?" asked the mayor. "We've got cookies, and cake, and roast beast."

"Naw," said Menardi. "I've have to take Saturos to a psychiatrist." Over her shoulder, she added, "Maybe some other time." The she paused. "Wait, I'm the bad guy, aren't I? Forget I said that."

The two Mars Adepts departed Vale, with Saturos still screaming about purple flying cows through his gag. Isaac watched them go until they disappeared from sight.

"I'll never understand those two." Isaac said to Mia, who was standing beside him.

"Hopefully, you'll never have to." she replied, then pulled him towards the place where tables were being set up for the feast. 'Come on. We have to get some food before Garet demolishes it!"

Isaac smiled, allowing himself to be led back to the hubbub of hungry villagers. He sat down along the table, surrounded by his friends and family. Waiting for the mayor to cut the roast beast and start the celebration, he thought how despite the odds, this Christmas had turned out to be peaceful after all. Even without his Frodo Baggins action figure.

*~THE END~*

I hope you liked my story! Please leave a donation in the review box as you leave. Have a very merry Christmas!