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Meanwhile, Rhys edged over in the direction of the small band.

"You! Why did you stop?" he asked the conductor.

"...Wouldn't you if someone smashed the other music device to pieces?" the conductor responded.

"Fair enough. If you don't mind, however, I'd really like you guys to start something up again."

"We've been at it for several hours now! Can't we take a break?"

"Fellahs, fellahs," Rhys said, exasperated, "At the end of this party, you'll all be wearing gold diapers. But I NEED MORE MUSIC! I don't care if you start banging on a cowbell, just give me more music!"

"...Cowbell, eh? Cowbell..." the conductor paused, lost in thought. Not many songs these days have cowbell... if we can pull it off, his prediction about us wearing gold diapers could come true. ...Not that we WOULD wear gold diapers, but who's complaining?

"...Hello? Mr. Conductor?"

"Leave it to us," the conductor bravely shouted as flames blazed around him to symbolize his newfound passion. "My bandmates! I've got a fever! ...And the only prescription is MORE COWBELL!"

The conductor then quickly picked out three of his bandmates and moved them over to another corner, discussing something in hushed tones.

"Yeah, I'm pretty exhausted too..."

When he heard the cowbell, he simply said "Hey, it's better than Rei's stuff..."

The girl snickered slightly. "I guess... I've never heard a cowbell used in music before."

Ed looked at Valter for an odd moment. Her eyes appeared to focus on a detail before she lightly took up a lock of his hair. "Hmm. Just a random question, but does your hair ever get in the way while you're fighting?"

"Ahh! I envy you. I cut my hair long ago because I realized it kept getting in the way. Perhaps it's because I'm a ground unit, but still..."

She ruffled her head up somewhat.

"Well, I've gotten used to it."

Outside Fefga manor, it was very peaceful. Snow was falling peacefully, and all was calm once more. The monsters had either been killed, or they had retreated back to the shadows, where they came from. But inside, there was a party going on. A jolly festival had commenced, to celebrate, Christmas, New Years, and who knows what else.

Rathy Claus had been detained for a while, because of the intense weather, but he had finally made it to the house. With a snap of his fingers, he was inside, next to the tree. He could hear the music upstairs, and it sounded like people were having a lot of fun. He let out his well known laugh, as he heard them.

With his bag in hand, he turned to the tree. He snapped his fingers once more, and the presents inside his sack were underneath the lighted beauty. There were many presents! At least one for every person in the kingdom, that was at the party, plus some others from other people.

Having done his job, Rathy Claus turned and prepared to leave. Just then, something caught his eye. 'Could it be?" he said aloud to himself. And yes, it was! "...Milk and COOKIES!!"

Rathy Claus had let his guard down, as he consumed the milk and cookies, and was thereby started, when he heard the voice of a little girl. He swallowed the last bite of his cookie and turned around to see the girl.

"Ho ho ho! Why, I'm Rathy Claus, little one!"

This time, it was Rathy Claus who was confused. "Hm? What do you mean, little one? There can only be one Rathy Claus! Ho ho ho! Well anyway, I have a present for you, too. A very mysterious man gave this to me and requested that it be delivered directly to you." Rathy Claus snapped his fingers and a letter appeared in his other hand. "Ah, here it is!" Rathy snapped again and the letter poofed over to Fefga. "Well, I suppose I should get going now. I've still got presents to deliver to the rest of the kingdom, after all. Ho ho ho!" With another snap, Rathy Claus vanished from the room, as if he weren't ever there.