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It had been a fairly mundane day for Rudy, all things considered. The kind that seemed like it would pass by as nothing but an afterthought. Certainly not one that he would suspect would kick off the most harrowing incident of his life.

From morning until late afternoon, things had been routine. Breakfast with some of the other sleigh service members. His regular workout with Gant, building his endurance and maintaining his strength. Lunch with Zephyr, and a quickie to follow that up. Self-defense training with a specialist, helping him learn some ways to protect himself the next time he was faced with a drugged-up titan of a reindeer who loathed his guts - which hopefully wouldn't happen ever again, but Rudy was dead certain he wanted to be ready for it. Now he was back at his pad, ready to rest for a bit, catch up on the happenings around Tannenbaum, figure out what the rest of his day was going to be like...and that was when his cell rang.

Calls weren't exactly the most unusual thing to happen to Rudy - he had a fair degree of fame and a position in a prominent organization, his number was well-known. Most of the time it was a number that was unknown, which he let go to voice mail before answering, if he did - enough of those calls were things he really wasn't interested in indulging, sales or marketing pitches or creepy fans wanting something he didn't want to provide. Today's call wasn't an unknown number, though - it was Dasher, which was definitely not an everyday occurrence. Curious, he clicked the phone on. "What's up, Dasher?"

"Rudy!" Instantly Rudy was on guard - it was one of those voices that was trying to sound happy and calm and genial but was laced with thinly-veiled nervousness. "How's it going? Been keeping busy?"

"We talked this morning at breakfast, Dasher. I know you didn't call me for a catch-up session. What's going on?"

Quiet on the other end for a moment, and when Dasher spoke again he'd pretty much dropped the façade. "Okay, listen, before I say anything...you didn't hear this from me. Not everyone agrees that you should know, and I don't wanna have a whole...thing over it. But...I dunno, man, I think you should, and it woulda killed me to try to keep it shut up."

"Keep what shut up? What's going on, Dasher?"

"It's...he's gone, Rudy. Blitzen's vanished."

That caught Rudy totally off-guard, and he wasn't entirely sure how to respond. He hadn't actually seen Blitzen since that night that he'd rushed in to stop the much bigger reindeer's date rape and nearly gotten throttled to death and raped himself...and suddenly produced eye lasers that had very fortunately intervened on his behalf, blinding Blitzen and quelling his threat long enough for him to be properly dealt with. Since that point, Blitzen had been under restricted movement, confined to a ward on the sleigh service complex, during his physical and mental rehabilitation. Others went to visit him from time to time, but Rudy never had - it hadn't seemed like a good idea, since allegedly a good portion of Blitzen's issues stemmed from envy of him. He couldn't get away from updates about the guy, though, since most of sleigh service had a lot of interest in the whole thing...he was under the impression that things had been going well recently, so this was not what he expected to hear. "When did that happen?"

"Not sure, but it had to have been within the last day. Donner had just visited him yesterday morning...dude is in a lather right now, he doesn't know what mighta happened. It's about the most frenzied I've ever seen him."

"Which means he definitely doesn't know anything...does anyone else?"

"Not as far as I know. But...well, we all know who he had the most problems with...and I know he's been going through this therapy business and all, and supposedly he's settled down a lot, especially since all the, uh, stuff got out of his system, but...well, I can't help but be worried..."

Suddenly, the real purpose of the call became clear to Rudy. "You...think he might be coming after me?"

"Like I said, man, I don't know. But if I don't know, but I do know that he's probably the only one of us who he'd really have enough of a beef with to..."

Rudy groaned, slumping back against a wall. "Shit. This is not something I needed hanging over me...I'm glad you told me, though, if I hadn't known..."

"I'll keep my eyes and ears open, if I hear anything more, well, it'll just 'slip through the cracks' to you," Dasher said. "Some of the guys and girls are out looking around, trying to see if anyone's seen anything. If I catch wind of it, I'll make sure you're not the last to know. I hope we're wrong about this, though..."

"Thanks, Dasher...I hope so, too." Rudy hung up, letting out a deep and heavy sigh. Hadn't he had enough danger already in his life? If he had the full wrath of a half-ton of muscled beef coming down on him...he doubted his self-defense training would be sufficient, it was meant to help him fight back for escape, but if Blitzen really was out for his blood, he'd just keep giving chase.

Maybe I should stay in for a while, avoid going out and being visible. Who knows where he is, might be easiest to just go dark. His mind paused on that, and he let out a wry laugh. Yeah, right. The most glowy reindeer in the frickin' city is gonna go dark. Never really was my specialty, right? Besides, if Blitzen knows where to find me and everyone thinks I'm hiding away safely...yeah, I don't think that's really going to be the best option.

Pushing himself upright, he headed towards his chair, picking up a pencil and pad from the end table nearby. He needed a plan of action...there wasn't much he could do in a straight fight against Blitzen, but certainly there were measures he could take to protect himself, and to determine if he was a target. Someone certainly knew more than everyone else...the question was whether he could get anything out of them.

---

Tensions were noticeably higher around the sleigh service compound the next day. While no one was outright talking about the reason, the amount o f looks his way said more than enough. For once, the reason for the attention wasn't the bright red nose, which was a little brighter thanks to his own nervousness.

He was just about to head towards his intended destination when he felt a big arm pull him close to a bigger body. "Rudy! Good to see you!" Of course, it was Zephyr, keeping him unusually close, like he was trying to shield him. "You know, I've been thinking, you should consider spending a few nights at my place. I know yours is a little bigger but I've been feeling a bit cool at night, and I'd love to have a little extra time with you, in all senses of the word, you know?" The big reindeer was sounding excited, but Rudy could hear the undertone that excitement was trying to cover.

"...So you heard about it too, huh?"

"Ha ha, heard about what? I don't know what you're talking about, I just wanna have some cuddle time with you!"

Rudy couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "I've never known you to need an excuse for it, true. But you can't fool me, Zeph, you sound outright scared."

"...Shit." Zephyr let out a groan. "Who told you?"

"That's not important. I'm going to see if I can find out anything more. Right now all I know is that he's not where he's supposed to be, that's not enough for me to know how worried I should be. If we get a little more information-"

"Now hold on just an icicle-lickin' moment here." Zephyr suddenly pulled Rudy around and looked down at him with a frown. "Do I really have to remind you about what happened last time you went and played investigator? Because it sure as hell is front and center in MY mind and I wasn't even there."

"It's not like I'm trying to hunt him down, Zeph. I'm gonna stay on the compound today, I promise, but I just need to have a talk with someone who's got a bit more insight. And while I'm glad you're worried about me, I think it might be a bit too intimidating if you're with me...I'm kind of the non-threatening one."

Zephyr didn't look totally convinced. "Rudy, I'm...if this is something that's gonna put you in danger, I really don't want that. You've been in enough danger from this guy already, and I don't want to see you hurt worse than you already were."

"I appreciate the thought, hun." Rudy gave Zephyr a quick peck on the nose. "Like I said, I'm not heading off the compound all day. And whether or not I think there's any reason to be worried after I'm done, I'll help put you at ease by coming home with you tonight, okay?"

Finally, Zephyr seemed to relent, letting go of the smaller reindeer. "All right, but if I hear of you going anywhere else, I'm gonna march right out there, snatch you back up, and carry you back here, you hear?"

"Loud and clear." Rudy gave him a pat as he headed off, still looking a bit anxious but perhaps set at ease for the moment. Luckily, Rudy had no real need to add to his concerns - if there were answers to be found, he expected to find them here, and there was no point in a risky excursion elsewhere. If for some reason he DID have to go elsewhere, he'd probably want to take Zephyr with anyway - a bit of muscle wouldn't hurt, Blitzen was still noticeably bigger than Zephyr was but he at least stood a chance of dishing out some punishment.

With that settled, Rudy made for his goal: the rehab ward. If there was any more information to be found, it was here, with the doctor helping him. Dr. Persimmon, a petite ermine who was even dwarfed by Rudy, looked visibly more nervous than anyone else, and as Rudy predicted, wasn't exactly keen to talk. "I'm sorry, Rudolph, but it's really not appropriate to talk about other patients. It's a lot harder to gain trust if I go telling other people about what we talk about."

"I get that. I'm not asking you about anything specific. I just want to try and learn a little more about whether I'm in any danger."

"I doubt I could tell you that anyway, but I don't think it would be right..."

"Listen, Doc. Everyone around here is giving me the side-eye like they expect to wake up to news of my murder. Either they know something I don't, or they think they know something and they're possibly wrong. They say knowledge is power, and I've had enough of feeling powerless when it comes to Blitzen. I'm not asking you for full-on transcripts or for you to divulge any of his deepest darkest secrets. I just want to know: in your professional opinion, based on what you've seen over these months, should I be worried about him?"

It took a bit, but eventually Dr. Persimmon let out a sigh and sat down in front of him. "Honestly? I don't know. This is...an unusual situation...I saw nothing to anticipate Blitzen's disappearance, so I don't know what motivated it. As far our therapy...without going into detail, I was...under the impression that we had significantly reduced Blitzen's antagonism towards you. But all I can assess is what I can see, and if he was hiding something..." she shook her head. "I can't tell you anything more."

Not exactly what Rudy was hoping to hear - even a 'yes' would have been better than a 'maybe.' "Without going into detail...how much exposure did he have to, uh, current events or anything like that? I'm wondering if there weren't any stories out about me that I wasn't aware of that might have triggered something."

"To the best of my knowledge, not much. He didn't seem to have any interest in that. Of course, his access was still limited by his condition...I suppose radio or other audio broadcast could have been used, but otherwise, his ability to take in that sort of contact was limited."

Oh, yeah, the blindness. It'd have to be something he could hear. "Blitzen never did strike me as keen to keep up with the world. Maybe Donner might've told him something."

The ermine shrugged. "If he did, that's not something I'm privy to. I don't listen in on private interactions...well, I try not to, anyway. Goodness, though, some of you reindeer have loud voices."

"Tell me something I don't know," remarked Rudy with a snicker. "You should try showering with half a dozen of them yakking at once."

"Two of them were more than enough for me. Donner especially...I don't know why he has that rumor about being so laid-back, he certainly sounded excited enough talking about catching up with everything in a few weeks, almost wish I could have put in earplugs."

Something about that line poked something in Rudy's brain. "Catching up? With Blitzen? I thought he visited regularly."

"Oh...well...I think he meant...something else." Dr. Persimmon suddenly went quiet. "Anyway, I think that's about all I can talk about. I'm sorry I couldn't answer more of your questions."

"...Ah. Yes. Well, thanks anyway." Rudy turned and walked away, suddenly feeling very purposeful again. Something had come out there that maybe hadn't been intended, but suddenly seemed very important. And he knew who he could talk to that wasn't in such a pivotal position and could share more...

---

"I can't believe this, man!" It was indeed the most worked up Rudy had ever seen Donner. The big bulky reindeer was pacing around a workout room in a state just below frantic, his eyes almost as wild as Blitzen's had been under his drug, though with significantly less hostility. "Why would he leave? Why would he go anywhere without telling anyone? That's not what he was about!"

Rudy decided it would be unwise to bring up that sneaking around was one of the things he'd been doing to get into his situation in the first place. "How had he been?"

"Not...well, not super happy or anything. Something was eating at him, I could tell, but I figured that'd all turn around soon enough. I was just trying to help cheer him up, man, was it my fault? Did I say something?"

All turn around soon enough. Close to what the doctor let slip. "Donner. Was Blitzen about to be released?"

"Yeah. End of the month, he was gonna be out, gonna get his eyes back. And I thought it'd be a cool idea to tell him about how we'd go have a few days out on the town, get him back into the swing of things, get some of his swagger back, you know? I mean, I was gonna be watching him, too, make sure he didn't, uh, go back into old habits or whatnot-"

"He didn't seem excited about that?"

"Well, you know, it's been rough on him...uh, well, I mean..."

"I overhear things being talked about," Rudy said dryly, granting Donner a bit of clemency for that remark by glossing over it. "It sounds like he started to come around more after a shaky start. But I didn't hear much about his mood."

"I guess he wasn't really...well, boisterous as usual. But, I mean, he was supposed to be talking about all these hard things, that'd be a tough thing for anyone, right?"

"Probably. You didn't happen to hear anything from him regarding me, did you?"

Donner shook his head. "No, man...last thing Blitzen wanted to focus on was you. Said he'd spent enough time on that."

"I see. Thanks...I'll, uh, let you know if I hear anything." Rudy left Donner to his worries, but now he was feeling a bit more of his own agitation. Blitzen was about to be released, about to get his sight back. There's no way he didn't know this, not if Donner was talking about it with him, making plans like that. It doesn't make sense that, so close to the end of his punishment, he'd bust out to try to get at me. Hell, it would make more sense for him to wait, get his eyes back in working order, and THEN hunt me down. And if he'd talk about a lingering grudge with anyone, it'd be Donner...and Donner doesn't really bother trying to hide things when people ask about them, even if it's not what they want to hear. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense that he'd bust out looking for me. But then, why leave at all? Something's not adding up.

For every answer he got, he got two more questions. Maybe it was time to stop asking questions for the moment...he had a promise to keep to Zephyr still, and he didn't want to take up all their time together with all this confusion.

---

He couldn't keep it at bay forever, though.

The day after found Rudy back at his own place, Zephyr suitably convinced that he wasn't in imminent danger. But the more he'd tried to put it out of mind, the more it niggled at him, the whole wrongness of the situation. Too much didn't make sense...and there was something that could tie it together that he was increasingly forced to contemplate.

Blitzen didn't leave on his own. Someone made him leave...or even took him.

It sounded a bit absurd on the face of it - someone abducting a reindeer the size of Blitzen? That would have been a mean feat. But what would convince him to risk his freedom and vision such that he'd go out willingly? It was hard for Rudy to come up with anything that made sense enough, especially when the goal was so imminently close. And the more he thought about it, the more he felt like it was an avenue that had to be explored.

But not by him. That would have been stepping over a few boundaries that he knew wouldn't be looked on kindly. But there was someone who could look into it, who would be right at home with that...

"Jack Laplace."

"Hey, Jack."

"Rudy! Great to hear your voice again. How're those contacts working out? You made any headway with your light?"

"A bit, I guess." Rudy had kept in touch with Jack pretty regularly since the whole Blitzen incident. The snowshoe hare investigator adored him, so it was pretty easy to maintain that contact. He'd asked Jack to look into people who might know more about his luminescence condition and how to control the light projection - after blinding Blitzen with eye lasers, the very real threat he could pose to people had been pushed much more to the forefront of his mind, and he wanted to get a better handle on what he could to and how he could keep it in control. Jack had found a few people who might have been able to help him, and he'd gone to them to learn what he could. Mostly, the word was that it took practice...something he was doing diligently on his own time, not much that could really be taught. He still hadn't found one that really knew the condition more than in passing, but he was hopeful that someone would pop up. "But that's not what I'm calling about. Have you heard anything out of sleigh service recently, regarding a certain reindeer we all know and love?"

"That, huh? I heard in passing that Blitzen had flown the coop, but that's about it. Guess they need to do a bit more work on getting the troublemaker outta him, eh?"

"Mm, well, that's why I'm calling. I'm starting to suspect that he's not the one making trouble, he may be the trouble that's been made."

"...You know something."

"Not enough. But I know a few things. Blitzen was supposed to get out of the end of the month."

"Really? Wait...he'd go through all that fuss and aggravation just to ditch at the very end? That sure as hell doesn't sound right."

"Right? And according to Donner, he wasn't really in the best of moods, but it was more of a...I don't know, somber or depressed mood or something like that, not angry or aggressive. Does that sound like someone eager to break out to you?"

"It certainly doesn't." Rudy always knew when he had Jack's attention, the hare took on a more businesslike tone that had an edge to it. "You're right, something doesn't pass the sniff test here. But who could force Blitzen to do anything? The only thing I can think of would be another reindeer...any chance Donner could have been involved?"

"Doubtful, the way he's flipping out. Donner can't even fake energy well. I don't know either, but maybe you can find something more. Do you think you could check out his room in the ward? See if there's any sign of something that's not supposed to be there? Maybe tell them it's on order from Nick if you have to."

"I'm familiar enough that they might assume it anyway. Yeah, I'll take a look, and let you know what I find. Thanks, Rudy, and, uh, you watch your back."

"You too, Jack." At this point, Rudy wasn't sure what he was watching out for. And it bothered him maybe even more that he couldn't just leave it to the predictable reindeer...

---

It was another two days before Rudy got the callback, late in the evening. He'd spent most of his time wondering on the issue, reining in the urge to try to find out more. Business was definitely not going on like usual at the sleigh service building at this point, everyone was too anxious and mostly trying to talk amongst each other and allay their concerns. Rudy told none of them about his pushing the investigation - he wasn't sure it would be any better-received to hear that someone might have ill intentions towards them. It was definitely having an effect on him, leaving him more anxious and nervous than ever.

And this call was going to do absolutely nothing to help allay that.

"Rudy...it's me, Jack." Once again, a foreboding voice from a phone call, but even worse this time - Jack was making no effort to hide anything. And it sent a chill down the red reindeer's spine to hear it - it wasn't just nervous, Jack sounded downright scared.

"Jack? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Something's definitely, very wrong. And I'm scared that I don't even know how wrong yet."

"What do you mean? Jack, what's going on?"

"I found something in Blitzen's room, Rudy. Something that wasn't supposed to be there, and something that...I had to do some digging, but it was a clear calling card. You were right, Rudy. Blitzen was taken. And it wasn't a reindeer...it was a lot worse."

Suddenly Rudy's throat felt very dry. "Worse?"

"So much worse. Rudy...have you ever heard of Black Yule?"

He didn't think he had, yet somehow the name sent a shiver down Rudy's spine that felt almost instinctive. "I...don't think so, but...it doesn't sound good."

"It's not. It's so far from it that I'd hoped I'd never have to actually cross them. Rudy...you know that not every Christmas tradition is a happy one, right? While there are a lot of celebrations of peace and good will, and Nick is an emblem of selflessness and magnanimity, there are plenty of dark forces invented out there. Names that rarely do more than invoke terror. Krampus. Frau Perchta. Belsnickel. Hans Trapp. Père Fouettard. Knecht Ruprecht. Gryla, and her Yule Lads and Yule Cat. They're counterparts to Nick, largely focused on pain, suffering, and punishment. All separate ideas, but...they got dissatisfied. The dark side of Chirstmas has been growing more and more overshadowed over time, as Nick's influence has gotten stronger. Emphasis on goodness is more in vogue, and the others have slowly grown into more curiosities and fanciful stories than figures with clout. And they decided they had a better chance coming together than they did on their own. They formed their own collective, Black Yule, with the goal of bringing the terrorizing of children into obedience back into the forefront."

Hearing all that, Rudy found himself fighting to keep from trembling. He may not have heard of Black Yule, but plenty of those names were familiar...some of the other reindeer had crossed path with some of those figures, and to hear them tell it, it was an experience they'd never want to repeat, even if it was just a chance meeting. Something about them being the way they were, the dark counterparts to Nick, was disturbing on a primal level to creatures whose strongest links were to Nick himself. Rudy definitely didn't want to run into any of them, but if they were involved... "You think that they took Blitzen? Why?"

"I don't know why. But I was searching Blitzen's room...there was a shoe left in there, not one that Blitzen would have worn, not one that even would have fit him. But in there...there was a potato. Something that traditionally the Yule Lads leave in the shoes of those who are 'naughty.' There would be absolutely no other reason for it to be in there, I highly doubt Blitzen would have one element of a 'naughty' designation and not others, especially one that's not as prominent - if anything, I would expect to see coal in there if something was serving as a reminder to him. I think one of the Yule Lads got in through that tradition and abducted him...and who knows where he might have been taken."

It sounded scary to Rudy that someone could take advantage of traditions like that...and yet he knew full well that they could, which made it even scarier. "But why wouldn't Blitzen have fought them off? He's huge, unless these Yule Lads are like titans..."

"I couldn't tell you, but I can't believe that it's coincidence." Shaky as it was, Jack's voice had a grimness to it that left little room for dispute. "Whatever happened to Blitzen, I can only believe that Black Yule is behind it. I can try to find out more...there's an informant that I can talk to about Black Yule activities, I can see if they've learned anything lately. But even trying to figure out what they're up to terrifies me...I don't know if we should keep this under wraps."

"...Maybe not...but I don't know that it's a good idea to sound alarms and have everyone going frantic without any idea where they went or what they might do. If they know someone's after them, they might find another place to hide, or do what they plan to do even sooner. And if we don't know what that is, we can't take precautions to stop it...Jack, I think we need to go talk to this informant before we take any other action. If we know more about what's going on, then maybe we'll know better what to do, and if they can't give us anything, then we're probably no worse off than where we started."

"I guess...wait, 'we?' Ah, Rudy, this isn't something you have to-"

"Jack. Not to be offensive or anything, but you sound like a quivering baby bunny just TALKING about these guys. And I doubt your informant wants you bringing a posse with you to them, but having one person invested in the issue might not be as intimidating. Besides, this involves sleigh service, having someone there representing it might be important."

Jack was quite for a few seconds. "...Well...okay. I don't think intimidation is too much of an issue, they aren't...let's just say they're more likely to be intimidaTING than intimidaTED. But, well, you're right...Black Yule aren't known for being sweet and gentle, and if word somehow got out...we need to be REALLY careful, though, Rudy. You're, uh, attention-getting."

"That might be an asset. If more eyes are on us, that might dissuade them from coming at us. But I'll try to keep as mum as possible about what we're doing."

"All right. Meet me tomorrow at noon at the west exit of the city. And hope that we can get this sorted quickly, because I don't want to imagine how messy this could get."

"Me either...thanks, Jack." Rudy hung up his phone and let out a groaning sigh. What am I doing? Why am I just...chasing more drama? For a guy that probably never even wants to look at my face again, at that. I mean, if they're gonna do...nasty things...even Blitzen doesn't deserve that...but...

Answers were not coming to him. And it was going to be a challenge to get sleep to come as well.

---

Rudy had been going for unintimidating. He was going to have a slightly more difficult time of it, owing to having several hundred pounds of protective boyfriend at his back. "I think you're being just the slightest bit paranoid, Zephyr. This is just a chat, not staring down the barrel of a bazooka."

"ANYTHING involving these guys is staring down the barrel of a bazooka," insisted the larger reindeer. "They're nothing but bad news, and there's no way in hell I'm letting you face even one of them on your own if I can help it."

"We're not..." Rudy cut himself off; he didn't really know WHO they were meeting, for all he knew it was one of them, though he didn't know who in Black Yule would be willing to turn on them like that. "I don't think we're meeting one of them, Jack just said it was an informant, and I doubt an informant would actually be on their side."

"Doesn't matter. There's a chance. And if there's a chance, I'm not taking it."

Something in Zephyr's voice got to Rudy. "...You've met them before."

"One of them. Called himself Knecht Ruprecht. Oh, let me tell you, he doesn't look like much...just an old man in a cloak, with a big beard, if he was a bit heavier he might pass for Nick on the outside. But you can FEEL the sinister aura coming off of him. He punishes those who are deemed bad, and he does it by more than just giving them stuff like coal...we're talking beating them with switches, or even kidnapping them in a goddamn sack. And when he speaks about it, it's all that stuff that he's wistful, even fucking PROUD of. Doesn't matter that he's supposed to give some sweets if you've been good, he doesn't even care about that, sounds almost bitter about it...maybe because of his origins, or maybe because Nick's the famed good guy and nothing about his good can overshadow Nick's. He lives to terrorize."

"That sounds disturbing...Nick allows that?"

"Nick can't stop it. People want to keep those traditions alive, he doesn't have control over it...all he can do is offer another way. But a lot more people go with him than with Knecht Ruprecht or any of the rest of them...most of those are remembered but not many of the people who remember them still use them the way they want to be."

"I guess that's good. I guess I'm a bit biased, but Nick wants people to be good out of their own hearts. These guys think they can create good out of fear...you can make people obey, sometimes, but you can't make them GOOD. Good comes from within, it's something that comes from caring about other people and wanting their lives to be happy just for the sake of them being happy. Behaving because you're terrified for your safety isn't something that makes you good...if anything, I'd think it does the opposite. Fear puts the focus all on yourself...if you're constantly thinking about yourself only, you ignore the needs of others."

Zephyr clapped Rudy on the shoulder. "Heh, you've been listening to Nick's talks a lot, haven't you?"

"Ah..." Rudy's nose glowed a bit brighter. "Yeah, I guess...I like the way he thinks and he's really good at expressing himself. He's always talking about how to help bring out the best in people...he's an advocate for being really sparing with punishment, to use it as a means of self-reflection rather than scaring into obedience. He says that 'scared straight' stops working once someone doesn't have the constant threat of authority over them anymore...and then you haven't instilled any real positive values in them, you've just made it so that they're so self-focused that they don't think about anyone but themselves in anything. He says that's part of why abused people turn into abusers, they lose the ability to feel concerned about others."

"Nick knows a lot about this kinda stuff. Being good isn't just a personal thing with him, he wants goodness to be the standard all over. It's one reason why he doesn't bring the hammer down on Black Yule, though...as much as he doesn't like what they do, he believes there's still good in them and wants to guide them to reform. Me, I'm not so sure, not when guys like Knecht Ruprecht reminisce fondly about kidnapping kids. And apparently reindeer as well, if what you've been telling me is right."

"Well, that's why we're here." The two of them were standing in the middle of a wintery village well outside of Tannenbaum. In the big city, it felt modern, up-to-date, bustling with people and fairly bright even when it was evening...outside of Tannenbaum, though, it felt like a different world. You had cities here and there all over Noel, but interspersed between them were a lot of long tracts of land with lots of forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains, and not a whole lot of settlements. More of them were small villages like the one Rudy and Zephyr were in now; mid-sized towns were fairly rare. And close to Tannenbaum, the land was perpetually snowy and frosty; it wasn't that way all over Noel, there were temperate and even tropical areas, but the winter wonderland was where the magic happened, so to speak.

Rudy couldn't say he was well-traveled in these areas; Tannenbaum was his home, it was where he felt most comfortable, and he didn't really have much need to go outside of it. Now he was sort of wishing he'd at least taken a few trips here and there, because he felt more out-of-place than he could ever remember out here...much as he didn't want to put him out, he was glad Zephyr was along, because it was less stressful being out of place when you were out of place with someone else. It wasn't helping, though, that he stuck out like a beacon here - with fewer people around, his red nose was even more obvious, especially in the darkness of the evening.

"Did Jack say where we were supposed to meet him?" asked Zephyr as they walked slowly around, looking for any sign of the snowshoe. "Feels like we could wander around here for hours...dang, this place is old-school. It's kinda neat."

Rudy had to agree - the village was made of a lot of simple huts, some of them even having thatched roofs. The roads were lit with globes hanging on high poles, clearly magic lights rather than electric. Said 'roads' were really nothing more than paths where the snow had been trod down. Nothing around had any sense of modern times to it, it was almost like traveling back in time several hundred years. There were a few people walking about, most of them bundled up nice and warm, paying only passing attention to the glowing reindeer strolling about.

"Looking at these guys, I feel underdressed," Zephyr remarked in a low voice. The two reindeer were in their official harnesses and nothing else - Rudy's suggestion, as that suggested they were on more official business. If anyone was eying them, perhaps it would misdirect them a little.

"They might not take the cold as well as we do. Wait, I think I see him." Rudy pointed towards a slightly larger building that looked like a cookhouse or tavern. Indeed, there was a rabbit waving towards them, and it seemed quite doubtful that he could be looking at anyone else. They headed up and took the stairs up, getting close enough for Rudy to confirm that it was indeed Jack.

"Jeez...you two make for a pair to drool over," the rabbit remarked as he eyed them up with a grin. "You here for information or to pick someone up?"

"What, don't you recognize an official uniform when you see it?" countered Zephyr with a grin.

"Oh, trust me, that doesn't change a thing. Everyone says that a guy in uniform is that much hotter. And uniforms like THAT...phew. Talk about showing off one's assets."

"Okay, Jack, try to hold it in until we're done here, I'm sure we can find time to blow off some steam after this," said Rudy, though it was clear he was grinning as well. "Anyway, the informant?"

"Ah, yes..." Jack seemed to get back into professional mode as the serious side of things took precedence again. "They're in here, and I've heard already that they're ready to talk. I do want to warn you ahead of time, though, they're...a bit eccentric, and not exactly the least creepy thing you've ever seen."

"Uh...are they dangerous?" asked Zephyr uncertainly. "I mean, if they're tied up with Black Yule..."

"I promise you that they aren't. Black Yule makes overtures to them because they do have a frightening appearance, but their legends actually paint them as a protective spirit. But, please, don't make any remarks about it...I'm not sure they like having it pointed out. And, uh, be ready to have to think a little bit, they speak strangely."

Zephyr didn't look totally convinced, but Rudy wasn't deterred by anything. "We'll bite our tongues. Let's go."

Nodding, Jack brought them into the cookhouse. There were several people in there, eating meals or drinking whatever libations suited their fancy, and it was active but not raucous, the kind of situation where it would be harder to be overheard but not too hard to hear. Jack led them towards a secluded back corner, giving the two reindeer time to prepare for what they were going to see. The warning had been made, so they wanted to be ready for anything.

They were not ready. "Ah!" Both let out the exclamation as they saw their informant, rearing back just a bit before catching themselves.

Jack tried to keep an even expression, though he winced a bit at the way the two responded. "Ah...Rudy, Zephyr...meet Mari Lwyd."

It was impossible to tell if Mari Lwyd was bothered by their reactions - those expressionless, solid green eyes set into a bleached-white horse skull didn't betray much of anything. They were a fairly imposing creature, covered in a thin, white cloak from which a bony white hand was protruding to hold it closed. It was quite obvious why Jack had given the warning - their appearance was rather ghastly and unnerving, even with the knowledge that they weren't going to be dangerous. Still, they slid into the seat next to Jack, across from the informant, keeping their mouths shut - they definitely didn't want to upset the one person that could give them what they needed.

Jack took the lead, speaking for the three of them. "Mari. We're here because we have reason to believe that Black Yule has abducted one of the sleigh service reindeer. One by the name of Blitzen. We don't really need to know anything about how they got to him, if that's what they did, we have a pretty good idea already...we're really more trying to figure out if Black Yule took him, what they want with him and what their plans are. I don't know if you've had contact with them recently, but if you've heard anything..."

There was silence from the other end, not a word out of the skeletal being. Rudy looked askance at Jack, but the hare shook his head and indicated to be silent. What he was waiting for, the reindeer weren't sure...until, without any real warning, Mari Lwyd suddenly started to speak in a wild and rattly voice, as well as jostle around energetically and rhythmically.

_The punishers' disgruntlement

O'er reputation's deep descent

Their legends all but trivial

In seasons so convivial

A dismal, darkened atmosphere

Is more conducive to their fear

To darken lives under the night

They instigate the reindeer's plight_

Both Rudy and Zephyr were staring agape at the display, which ended quickly when Mari Lwyd spoke their last word. Zephyr was the first to recover. "Okay, sincerely, no disrespect meant, but...what the HELL?!"

"Be nice, Zephyr," Jack chastised. "Mari Lwyd speaks in verse. Usually if you're trying to engage with them, they're trying to enter your house and you have to try to defy them in verse as well. We don't have to do that here because we're not trying to keep them out of our homes, but they're still bound by that in their own right."

"What happens when they enter your house?"

"Well...mostly they eat, drink, and make some mischief, but you get good fortune afterwards for the next year."

Rudy figured there was a certain irony that the figure that looked most like a Halloween monster was the one least likely to kill you. But he was more interested in figuring out the response. "Jack, what do you make of what they said?"

"Uhm...let's see..." Jack furrowed his brow in thought. "Mari's suggesting...hold on...okay, Black Yule...about what I said earlier, they're not happy about the way things are going for them. They're basically afterthoughts compared to Nick and his whole motif. And they don't really have a good place where happiness, hope, and goodness are the main focus, since they're really more focused on punishment. So it sounds like whatever they have in mind, it's focused on making for a more fearful mood in the season. And confirming what we thought, they did take him."

"Yeah, that's something I could totally do without," remarked Zephyr. "But how does nicking Blitzen do any of that? Unless they're trying to recruit him or something?"

"Recruit him? You think they would look to get Blitzen's help?" Jack asked incredulously. "Was he THAT level of bad?"

"I mean, it doesn't look like there was any struggle to get him out-"

"No," Rudy said emphatically. "Blitzen, pain in the ass and troublemaker that he was, wouldn't have gone along with that sort of thing. He may hate my guts, but he's absolutely devoted to Nick. He spends the most amount of time with him plotting the course and planning for the elements. He wouldn't ever do anything to undermine Nick, not a chance."

"Well, then what do they want with him? And where did they even take him? Not like there's many places that would let them do much against Nick."

Before either Jack or Zephyr could respond, Mari Lwyd suddenly went active again, startling them all with the suddenness of their response to Zephyr's questions.

_The branches black and sinister

The haunted grove Quimrivier

The naughty reindeer, taken hold

Brought to an altar dark and cold

The knives they flay and cut and slice

A fateful stove lit on the ice

The burn of flesh rise in the air

Among the howls of despair

The punishers to be his tomb

The roasted reindeer they consume_

"Consume? Wait, they're gonna EAT him?!" Zephyr looked like he'd gone stark white under the fur. "They DO that?!"

"Kidnapping and eating children appears in a lot of their legends," Jack said, sounding rather unnerved himself. "I guess if they're going with that, then a reindeer probably isn't off-limits...but can they even do that? Don't you guys get some kind of protection or something from being on sleigh service?"

"We do, but not to that level," stated Rudy direly. "We're timeless, so we don't have to deal with aging, and we have better endurance and regeneration, which might honestly be the only reason I didn't cark it the first time around. But that's the thing, it's not immortality, and Blitzen absolutely could be killed by them if put through enough. And in sounds like they want to torture him a good bit before that, so they probably don't want him to die too quickly, which is even more terrifying. But what about this, uh, Quimrivier?"

"That's a rather infamous place a couple hundred miles northwest of here," explained Jack. "I've seen some pictures, I get why people don't like it. There are a lot of very dark trees, with branches that look like they're going to reach out at you and grab you. Others who've been there say the sound of the wind in the trees is bone-chilling...and I'm pretty sure I've heard them mention some kind of altar or something there as well."

"Dang...but...I don't understand. If they're trying to punish Blitzen, that's one thing, but Mari said their goal was to spread fear. What they're doing might make US scared, but it's not gonna do anything for the holiday spirit." Rudy's words barely had time to linger before Mari Lwyd started jumping around and chanting again, rattling off another set of lines.

_To eat is not the grand design

But the saint's work they undermine

Milking it for all its worth

A grand display to all the Earth

Imagine all the children's fright

At such a bloody gruesome sight!

The darkened hearts will drink the fear

And cast away the Christmas cheer_

"I am NEVER getting used to that," Zephyr said with a shudder.

"I did say they were kind of mischievous," remarked Jack with a shrug. "I think they enjoy those kinds of startles."

"Forget the startles," Rudy said tensely. "Did you hear that?"

"If you caught that, you've a better ear than me," grunted Zephyr.

"They intend to show their torture and murder of Blitzen to all of Earth. To make everyone terrified of what they can do, and ruin the work of promoting goodness. Casting a pall of fear over all of the Christmas season, it would destroy everything that it stood for..."

"You think it would go that far?" asked Jack nervously.

"A beloved icon being brutally savaged and eaten by ghastly figures who threaten that they might be next? I can't imagine anyone being able to easily dismiss that. And if that becomes the dominant message...it's a hard enough sell for true goodness already, Nick might never be able to make inroads again."

"I guess that means we know what's going on." Jack stood, and the others with him. "Mari, thank you...you've been a huge help." There was no response from the horse creature, and Jack wasn't waiting for one, so the two reindeer followed him out, the weight of those words carried with them...

---

"We're going to have to try to get things moving fast." Jack spoke with a fair sense of urgency. "I don't know what's needed to go up against Black Yule, but we'll have to have a whole lot of agency coordination. See if there's a way to verify what they said, and then plan a course of attack. Nick'll have to be brought in as well, he might have something we can use."

"I can't imagine any of the reindeer would be keen to go after creeps who can eat them," Zephyr said. "Makes me ill just thinking about it."

"Maybe not, but he's probably got some means of either helping keep Blitzen alive or working against them. "Just getting things organized and moving is going to be the tough part, but once we get it together, Quimrivier isn't that big, there should be a way to get to him fast."

"Not fast enough." Zephyr and Jack looked over at Rudy; the smaller reindeer was glowing more than ever. "Once the word spreads, they'll know when to act. They'll do it before whatever force you organize even gets a chance. They'll show it all over Earth and all over Tannenbaum - just to shove it as hard in Nick's face as possible. To taunt him that he couldn't do anything."

"Rudy...we don't even know that they have a way of doing that-"

"Of course they do!" the red reindeer burst out. "If they didn't they wouldn't be planning something like that! And it's not like these aren't supernatural beings just like Nick, and we know Nick has a lot of potential he doesn't even use! Don't ever assume they can't, assume they can, because usually they can figure out a fucking way to do it!"

"Jeez, Rudy, easy!" Zephyr raised his hands up to try to settle Rudy down. "Maybe it ain't ideal, but what the hell else can we do?"

"The only thing that gives us a chance. I'm going to get him right now."

"WHAT?!" The two voices in unison couldn't have sounded more different, and were loud enough to attract attention from the villagers.

"Are you crazy?!" Jack exclaimed. "You want to take on Black Yule by yourself?! They're nasty as they come, they don't have any mercy, you think they wouldn't do anything they could to kill you if you tried to get in their way?!"

"Are you forgetting what Blitzen did to you?" added Zephyr. "He woulda raped you and choked you maybe to death if you hadn't had that lucky break with your light! This guy might just take the opportunity to finish you even if you do get him away! Be reasonable, Rude, this is way too much for us! You're gonna risk your hide against nasty creatures like this, for THAT guy?!"

"You better fucking believe I am," came the steely reply, as Rudy glared at the two of them hard enough to get them both to step back. "I get it. You're terrified. You have every reason to be. Guess what, so am I, and I don't give a shit. EVERYTHING is at stake here, everything we stand for is about to be smashed to smithereens, I don't have time to waste worrying about how terrified I am!"

"But Blitzen-"

"I don't care! The whole point of him getting that damn therapy in the first place was to make him better! To change him! To bring out the good that Nick sees in him! The whole point is that he's not some irredeemable asshole who should be left to rot because of some grudge that we can't let go of! This is what this whole thing is about, this is why we go out every Christmas Eve busting our asses to spread happiness and good cheer! Because people are good, and damned if Nick won't believe that to the very end of time! And if we can't even keep to this with our own, how can we look at anyone else and try to tell them the same?!"

An uncomfortable silence fell after that, both Jack and Zephyr not really sure what they could say to any of that that would go over well. Rudy didn't have much interest in a reply, as he turned back towards the exit of the village. "I'm not forcing either of you to go. Anyone who goes is putting their life on the line. But I'M going. And I'm not letting anything stop me."

He started off, and hadn't taken half a dozen steps before he heard the other two move. "All right, all right already, you made your point!" huffed Zephyr in exasperation as he caught up to the red reindeer. "Holy hell...I didn't think being your boyfriend would involve this much...excitement."

"Not like I was expecting it, either." Rudy took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "I wasn't trying to guilt you into coming...I just wanted you to understand that you weren't going to be stopping me."

"Yeah, well, considering I already said I wasn't gonna let you face Black Yule on your own if I could help it, I'd be a pretty shitty boyfriend to bail when it turns out I have to do exactly that."

"And I've got a duty to be responsible for the both of you." Jack sure didn't sound like he wanted that, as shaky as his voice was. "If I left you two to fend for yourselves, I'd never forgive myself if something happened. So...I guess, next stop, Quimrivier?"

"Yeah...thanks, Zephyr, Jack." Determined as he was to go it solo if he had to, Rudy couldn't deny he felt better having them along with. He just hoped that he wouldn't live to regret that...but, if he failed, then the consequences would be just as dire as if he hadn't tried at all, except he'd always have to live with the knowledge that he could have done something and chose not to. He wouldn't do that...couldn't do that. Not if he truly believed in what Nick stood for.

Evil thrives when good withdraws. I won't withdraw.

---

One nice thing about being a sleigh service reindeer: fast travel. By nature, they had the ability to cover wide stretches in little time. Such things were necessary to make trips around entire planets, even if time shenanigans were also involved. Time was just as of the essence here, so Rudy was even more thankful that they could cover the rather lengthy trip in about an hour. That wasn't even the fastest they could go, but he wanted to save energy as much as possible for what was coming.

Along the way came the plan. Their goal was not to destroy Black Yule - such a thing wasn't within their power. The goal was merely to rescue Blitzen from them and foil their plot. To that end, they had a weapon: Black Yule's figures weren't all darkness and punishment, their legends had some bleedover from more kindly traditions, and most of them shared some impulse to reward goodness. A powerful act of goodness would hinder most of them, giving them a chance to get in, get their target, and escape. What they were doing certainly qualified, but they had to be able to get in and act on it to trigger the effect.

The main dangers, according to Jack, were Gryla, Krampus, and Père Fouettard. These were the ones who had no tradition of the recognition of goodness, and they'd be the most likely ones to act against them no matter what. They were likely going to have to fight at least one of them off, if not more, and they likely weren't going to go down easy. Zephyr had offered to be the one to do that, but Rudy had other ideas - the bigger reindeer would be much faster carrying the bulk of Blitzen than any of them. He didn't fancy the idea of getting into a scrap with any of those ones, but the faster they could get away, the less they'd have to do so. Zephyr didn't particularly like that, but he couldn't argue the logic.

In what felt like too soon and yet not nearly soon enough, they set down outside the grove Quimrivier. Just looking into it sent shivers down all of their spines; the trees were black and spindly, it didn't seem like anything was growing on them, yet there was a dark canopy overhead that looked like it blocked out any of the light overhead. "Yeesh...talk about creepy-ass woods," remarked Zephyr. "Seems perfect for creepy-ass dudes. You think they're actually in there? We don't know whether they've gone through with their plan or not, right?"

"They're here," Rudy said insistently. "They wouldn't risk Blitzen breaking free of them, being here and having him where they want him is the way to go. But they probably haven't done the worst of what they can do yet. We're going to have to go in and not give them too much warning...the less prepared they are for us, the more they have to do to adapt, and that's our window."

"Yeah, one problem with that..." Jack's voice trailed off, but it wasn't exactly a point that needed elaboration.

"I'll do what I can. But we have to be able to see going through there, and something tells me there aren't going to be a lot of other light sources. I'll be as dim as I can afford to be."

Jack didn't seem too at ease with that response, but just nodded. "All right...guess there's nothing for it but to go on in, then."

The three made their way into the trees, nervous but determined. Rudy took the lead position, dutifully trying to rein in his light as best he could while still providing enough to see by. Though, in practice, it really just ended up being as suppressed as he could get it - even at his minimum, he wasn't exactly lights-out, and in fact he was pretty sure he stuck out a little more than he wanted to. But it was the best he could do, so he had to make do.

Honestly, though, he was wishing he could go brighter, because anything was better than darkness in this place. They hadn't come across anything obviously dangerous yet, but just the pall over the grove was enough to get him anxious. Those stark, bare trees had such a sinister countenance to them, it almost felt like they were reaching out to try to grab him or claw at him. The oppressive darkness overhead almost felt choking, like it was trying to descent on top of them and Rudy was the only thing keeping it from swallowing them up and making them disappear. Even the crunching of the snow underfoot, normally an innocuous sound they were all used to, seemed hollow and sinister here.

"I feel like I'm gonna have nightmares about this place even if nothing happens." Zephyr's voice was shaky in a way that rarely occurred with him. "Why is this even a place? It feels...evil. Like something that someone shoulda snuffed out years ago."

"If I remember right, the whole purpose of Quimrivier is to be sort of a dump site for that sort of thing," said Jack quietly. "Negative energy, evil, whatever you want to call it, it's a place that sucks it up so that it doesn't get spread all over the place. Makes everything else more pleasant and less dour...and makes it easier to see when someone's giving off bad vibes. There's not really much need for anyone to go here...which I suppose makes it a perfect place for sinister characters to gather, too."

"I believe that completely. How big is this place? Feels like we've been walking forever."

"It's not large. I think I read something like fifteen square miles or so, but it's not like a simple square or circle. We haven't even been walking an hour, I don't think..."

"Feels like way longer than that. Oy...hey, is that a light up ahead?"

"Yeah, it is," confirmed Rudy. "It looks like a fire of some sort...that might be where we need to go."

"Anyone else NOT want to go there?" asked Jack.

"All of us. You think that changes anything at this point?"

"No, just making sure we're all still marginally sane. All right, let's...do this crazy thing." The three made for the light, trying to keep themselves from getting to antsy as silence fell over them - they didn't want to end up alerting anyone to their presence too quickly, even if the odds were that they'd be discovered at some point. The less prepared Black Yule was, the better.

As they got closer, they could make out more of what was going on and Rudy could dim himself without inhibiting their vision as much. The fire was more than just a tame little bonfire, for sure...it was a roaring blaze underneath a sinister-looking structure of wood and metal, atop which their quarry was lashed with ropes and squirming in obvious pain. Blitzen definitely looked as if he'd seen better days - several open wounds were visible on his body, and bloodstains on his fur were even more widespread, suggesting some wounds which had closed up. Rudy shuddered to imagine what they were doing to him, taking advantage of the resiliency and regeneration to prolong and amplify the torture...it was twisted, but that was what they had to expect from Black Yule.

Around the altar, several figures which could only be members of Black Yule were circling around, beating Blitzen which switches or whips, eliciting cries of pain which drew cruel laughs from the onlookers. There was the goat-legged, horned aberration known as Krampus, prancing around with his switch and making a big spectacle of each hit. There was Belsnickel, the grizzled, dirty man with an unkempt beard, with a thick patched coat and a furred had with twigs and leaves on it, very deliberate and forceful with each lash of his whip. There was Père Fouettard, the cloaked and hooded man with the great black beard, who would smack Blitzen with either his switch or his stick. Not too far away from them was the wild-haired, sharp-nosed hag Frau Perchta, hungrily eying Blitzen while licking a bloody knife - which Rudy had a nasty feeling was the cause of a number of the wounds on the imperiled reindeer.

Other figures were around, though not actively abusing Blitzen. Not too far from the action was Hans Trapp, giving the fire a berth to avoid setting his straw-filled scarecrow body alight. Sitting on a perch off to the side a bit was Gryla, the hunched crone with oversized facial features and gnarled white hair, with an air of authority like she stood above the rest, which perhaps she did. To her right stood Knecht Ruprecht, whose appearance was not dissimilar from Père Fouettard, though he had a white beard and a frailer appearance. And dancing around the area were other bearded men of various shapes and sizes, the Yule Lads who were the sons of Gryla and were making merry over the ghastly scene.

"I was really hoping there wouldn't be so many of them here..." muttered Jack nervously as he surveyed the scene. "Getting to him is going to be hard...if we can get away, only a couple of them should actually pursue us, but there are so many around him..."

"There's no way to do a quick in and out," whispered Zephyr. "We've gotta get 'em away from that altar. But they're not just gonna let us do that...how do we buy ourselves time?"

Jack had no easy answer for that, and neither did Rudy. It didn't seem like they could count on Black Yule giving them a chance to foil them, they had to make a chance. But they had nothing on them that could really do the trick, it wasn't as if they'd brought anything that could really stand up to Black Yule...

Except...A risky idea came to Rudy, he didn't know if it would really work, but there seemed to be nothing else he could think of that was even viable. "I think...the best option-"

"Oh ho! Sneaky little worms trying to spy on us!" All three jumped as they were suddenly accosted by two of the Yule Lads - Gluggagægir and Gáttaþefur gleefully grinning at them, seeming to be quite pleased with themselves. Rudy cursed under his breath - the former had special goggles that aided his sight, and the latter had a large nose that could probably easily sniff them out, they were more than equipped to catch the three of them. "So eager to join the Testament? I'm sure we can find a place for you, perhaps in the fire..."

"Damnation..." Zephyr looked like he wanted to clock the two of them, but a look from Rudy stayed his hand. Attacking now would be a fatal mistake, Rudy knew his only chance was to pull off his plan without the others being privy to it. And even then, it wasn't a great chance, but it was something...

The three were marched into the clearing, where the attention was finally drawn away from Blitzen. Gryla's crooked smile sent a shiver through them as she cackled madly. "Ee hee hee hee...so, we have trespassers on our little party! Or should I call you the appetizers? Only one of you looks big enough for a feast!"

"You may not interfere with our work," added Knecht Ruprecht sternly. "The punishment of the wicked must be completed. Too many have escaped punishment for their actions, they must be shown what consequences can be dealt to them."

"Yeah, somehow I don't think you're gonna make anyone good by chopping them up and eating them," fired back Rudy icily. Fear was coursing through him, more than ever before, somehow they felt even fiercer than he'd expected...but he forced it into submission, not willing to let himself be beaten by it. He had enough foes to face as it was.

"Cook them enough and they'll be a tasty treat," cackled Hans Trapp.

"We aren't here to MAKE people good, red boy," snarled Krampus greasily, his long tongue darting out to threaten the reindeer as he leered at Rudy. The reindeer tensed at that - that was one of those insults that had been hurled at him countless times in his youth, back when he was a pariah for his peculiarity. It had been a long time since he'd heard that, and it stirred a heat of anger in his gut that he willed back into control. "We're just here to enjoy making the bad ones SUFFER. It's so satisfying to hear them scream, to beg for the mercy they never had...that's how you keep the little shits in line. If your master weren't so weak and pathetic, he'd know this..."

"Give me half a chance, I'll show you weak and pathetic, you fucking oily goon," rumbled Zephyr, fingers twitching towards balling into fists.

"Big words from a big beefy boy. Once you're roasting on the fire, I may take a moment to feel wounded by your tongue...right before it goes in my gullet."

"I don't think anyone's going to be eating anyone here," asserted Rudy as he pushed Krampus back, firmly but not violently. "We're going to be taking Blitzen back with us, whether you like it or not. We've got better ways of dealing with bad behavior than this kind of savagery."

"Ee hee hee...such a stout-hearted fool, you are," Gryla rasped. "You think we're going to be swayed by words? That some little fleabag will come and talk us all into begging forgiveness and promising we'll never harm another soul? Oho, let's hear your tired and worthless speech, little wannabe hero! It will make for good entertainment before we tear you apart!"

Rudy couldn't help but smirk a bit, as his hand went up to his chest, to grasp the amulet he always wore. "Believe me, I'm no fool...I don't think anything I could say to you could make you less of a wretched old hag, or get any of the rest of you around here to change your ways. The legends make you what you are, I'm not changing that. All I'm going to do...is make you see the light."

The strap on the amulet snapped away as Rudy yanked it down, and with a yell, light erupted from him in a blinding flash, flooding the entire clearing with red. Only two were remotely prepared for this - Zephyr and Jack, who managed to shut their eyes just in time, clued by Rudy's hold on the amulet into his plan. The entirety of Black Yule was caught off-guard, their eyes seared by the radiant outburst, falling back in agony as they clawed at their faces, trying to regain their vision. It gave them only seconds to act.

Act they did. Zephyr and Jack tore for the now-unguarded Blitzen. The snappy snowshoe was there first, flashing a jackknife to free Blitzen's limbs - a slightly haphazard job, but the cuts were hardly comparable to the other wounds he was sporting. Once he was free, he was hauled up onto Zephyr's shoulders, the only way Zephyr could readily handle the titanic size of the tortured reindeer. The rapid rush got them moving before Black Yule could recover, and they were off into the forest, Rudy scurrying behind them.

"After them! AFTER THEM!" howled Gryla angrily. Only Krampus and Père Fouettard hastened to act, scrambling into pursuit of the trio; the rest seemed unable to move. "All of you! What are you waiting for?! They took our prize!"

"...Such a powerful act of goodness..." muttered Frau Perchta. "It cannot be punished..."

"To bring such a noble deed into a place of such darkness, I wouldn't have believed it possible," agreed Belsnickel resignedly. "I can do nothing."

"Hrrr! If you want something done right..." Gryla bared her foul teeth and turned towards where the rescuers had departed. "Jólakötturinn! Go fetch your dinner!" From off out of nowhere, a hideous, low-pitched yowl echoed through the trees, sending shivers even through Black Yule...

---

Rudy heard it, too. "What...the hell was that?!"

"Not sure!" panted Jack. "But whatever it is, I want to outrun it!"

"Easier for you than me!" grunted Zephyr. "Goddamn, there's gotta be a better way to carry you, Blitz!" He got no response beyond pained whimpers. "Fuckin' hell, I think he's catatonic. So much for getting him on his feet."

"Give it your all, Zeph, I hear them coming!" urged Rudy. They were all trying to run as fast as they could, and light was no longer an issue - Rudy was as bright as he'd been in a long time, his long-restrained light now showing itself. No sense in trying to hide, he knew whoever was chasing them would have ample other means of tracking them down, and they needed to know the way forward more than they needed to hide now.

It wasn't easy going even with the extra light, though. The trees that had been creeping on them before now seemed to be actively clawing at them, trying to disrupt their progress. It was impossible, in their rush, to tell whether those swiping branches were willfully trying to interfere or were just dense enough that they couldn't be avoided, and Rudy wasn't keen on slowing down enough to find out. Even as it was, the sound of pursuit catching up to them was audible in his ears...thankfully, it didn't sound like too many of them were giving chase, but any number more than one was going to put him at a disadvantage.

"Gah!" The sudden cry from Zephyr sent a spike of fear through Rudy's heart. The bigger reindeer and his quarry suddenly crashed to the ground, a delay they could ill afford. "Fuck!"

"Zephyr!"

"I'm okay! Just...agh, fuckin' tripped, snow covered a root!"

Some comfort to Rudy, it wasn't an attack...but they weren't safe from that for long. "Interlopers!" The angry snarl from Krampus came as he stormed through the trees, flanked by Père Fouettard, both of them brandishing their weapons threateningly. "Return the Example to us! You will not ruin our glory!"

"Stay back, assholes!" Rudy hurried to put himself between the aggressors and his allies. Two on one, not the best odds, but far from the worst...and if there was one thing he could boast, it was that even being on the smaller side as far as reindeer went, he wasn't exactly wildly outclassed by either foe. Krampus was clearly the larger one, but he was only about the same size as Rudy, and Père Fouettard was significantly smaller. They were armed, but the switches weren't that long-range, he just needed to not let them stay at range.

"We're not leaving without the oaf!" Clearly, Père Fouettard was not intimidated by his lack of size. "If you want to suffer, we'll make that happen!"

"Sounds to me like you could use a dose of your own medicine...nasty guys like you should be punished."

"The punishment is all yours!" Krampus lunged for Rudy, swinging his switch to try to lash at his hide. Rudy managed to pull back just enough, and then deliver a solid hook to Krampus for his troubles, making the demon stagger; an attempt to get a second saw Krampus leap back out of Rudy's reach. Père Fouettard tried to use that as an opportunity to attack himself, but he too had to step back when Rudy tried to kick out at him. At that point Rudy had to back off, so he could make sure to keep them away from Zephyr as he struggled to get Blitzen into a more easily carried position...he didn't like to let them regroup but better than losing track of one of them and having them get to Zephyr or Jack. But another loud, echoing yowl made him pause. Whatever it was was a LOT closer...

"Oh, SHIT." Jack's voice trembled. "Jólakötturinn...Gryla's Yule Cat."

"Heh heh...you're in deep shit now, red boy," guffawed Krampus.

Rudy couldn't say he knew what they were talking about - Jólakötturinn wasn't a name he was familiar with. But he was about to get a whole lot more familiar than he ever would have wanted to, as he saw the Yule Cat crashing through the woods only seconds before it lunged at him. Calling it a cat was VASTLY understating it - the thing was the size of a rhinoceros! It looked horridly raggedy, unkempt white fur and wild eyes giving it a savage, feral appearance, and the long fangs and wicked claws flashed at him faster than he was ready for. There was no way Rudy was ready to get away, and the thing slammed into him as he brought his arms up to defend himself. Jólakötturinn's jaws latched onto Rudy's right arm, and claws sank into his hide as it tried to take him down...he was barely able to hold himself up, it was a fairly heavy beast and it was doing its best to put him on his back, and if it got there he didn't know if he'd be getting back up.

As if that wasn't bad enough, his back started to sting from sharp impacts as Krampus and Père Fouettard took advantage of his vulnerability, trying to lay it on more to make him give in. Rudy tried to swat them away with his free arm, but whichever one was over there was just out of reach, probably Krampus since the claws felt harder. At least if they were all on him they weren't going after Blitzen, but that wouldn't last long if Jólakötturinn got him...he needed to turn the tides fast if he wanted any of them to escape safely. He clenched his jaw as he pushed back against the cat, straining with all his might and putting the throbbing pain in his arm out of his mind. He wasn't going to beat down this beast with raw strength, it clearly had more than him...

Once more his left fist raised up, glowing bright enough to illuminate a wide range around them before he crashed it down right around Jólakötturinn's eye. A pained scream tore from the cat as it let go of Rudy's arm and jerked back...it definitely had not been seriously wounded, though, not enough to stop it, and he knew he had to act fast. Brighter Rudy glowed, especially his nose which began to flare bright enough that Rudy could barely see, and with a yell he unleashed a violent beam straight from his prime beacon, bursting out and lashing against Jólakötturinn, driving the animal back with horrid screeches of agony. Rudy refused to relent, expending intense amounts of light until he heard it crashing back through the trees, escaping in its wounded state. As the beam winked out, Rudy panted hard; the shine in him was a fair bit dimmer than it had been before, down to its restrained levels even without the amulet working on him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually needed a recharge...

Footsteps from his left - he'd almost forgotten about the others, and now Krampus was trying to swoop in and get the advantage on him. But before Rudy could react, a big hand reached out, grabbed Krampus by the throat, lifted him up, and savagely plowed him into the ground, getting a strangled cry out of the demon. Rudy stepped back as Zephyr lifted the limp form again, and then chucked him dead at Père Fouettard, who had no chance to get out of the way before Krampus crashed down on him. The two lay in a heap, growling and cursing and moaning, and clearly not getting back up in any rush.

"Ah...thanks, Zeph," Rudy said between deep breaths."

"Like hell I wasn't gonna protect you at least a little bit," replied Zephyr gruffly, as he reached down and hauled Blitzen up again, this time in more of a fireman carry. "Let's blow this creepy-ass place before someone else decides to jump out at us."

"Agreed!" Jack said hurriedly. "Holy hell, though, that beam! That was incredible!"

"You'll excuse me if I don't want to give an encore performance," huffed Rudy as they beat it back through the trees. It had worn him down, but he still had plenty of adrenaline left, every bit of which he would need as they finally made their escape.

---

"You know, Rudy, I distinctly remember, after the first time we met, that you said you were going to be a lot more careful about things."

Rudy couldn't help but crack a wry grin at Dr. Angeles as the white wolf bandaged his arm back up; it had been a couple days since the impromptu rescue mission, and the Yule Cat's bite appeared to be healing up well with no lingering effects. "What can I say, doc? Apparently I'm a beacon in more ways than one. Least it's just a few punctures this time, not running myself to the brink of death."

"Thank goodness for small favors. All the same, if you insist on continuing to take incredible risks like this, you're going to want to find another glowing reindeer to stand in for you for when you end up overdoing it before a foggy Christmas Eve."

"I'll hop right on that. How's Blitzen doing?"

"Better. He's back awake now, and we've addressed the worst of the damage. Black Yule did a number on him, but nothing so extreme that we couldn't fix it. And Nicholas authorized us to restore his sight in the process - despite not getting formally discharged, he said he was comfortable that Blitzen had met the requirements."

"So he's accepting visitors, then?"

Dr. Angeles gave the red-nosed reindeer a quizzical look. "I...suppose so. But I didn't anticipate you would be one of them."

Rudy shrugged. "I'm betting he won't, either. But we're gonna have to talk at some point, so I figure why not now? The sooner it happens, the sooner we can both move forward. That's another part of the whole Fresh Start thing...it's not just your sins you carry with you, but the effects they have on the people who get targeted by them. You're supposed to clear the air to free both of you from that burden."

"That is true. Well, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to see him. Bear in mind, though, that he's still recovering, so his energy levels may not hold out for a long visit."

That was probably for the best, just in case. Rudy gave the wolf a nod. "I won't keep it long, either way."

"All right. He's down the hall to your left, second door from the end. I think we're done here, but keep watching those punctures, and remember, no heavy lifting with that arm until you get my okay."

"You got it, doc. Thanks." Rudy waved as he exited, then headed down in the indicated direction. It would be a lie to say he wasn't a touch anxious...the last direct interaction he'd had with Blitzen still lingered on his thoughts. But he wasn't going to be able to get rid of them without actually facing down the source and expelling that impression he had of the bigger reindeer, and he really didn't want them to cling to him if Blitzen had indeed turned over a new leaf - he didn't WANT to be afraid of anyone on the team, cohesion was of maximum importance, they had a critical job and hard feelings were nothing but a distraction.

Thus, he pushed the door open and revealed himself to Blitzen for the first time in a long, long time. Immediately he felt pint-sized - the titanic reindeer required significantly larger infrastructure than Rudy did, a bigger bed and bigger equipment and so forth, and it was hard not to be a bit intimidated. But size was only one thing...Blitzen was on the bed, and looking fairly bleary-eyed and visibly fatigued, not in any shape to be doing much of anything. Rudy half suspected this might be the only chance in his life that he could actually beat the bigger reindeer in an arm-wrestling match...not that he was going to try to prove it. Instead, he pulled a stool over and hauled himself onto it. "Hey."

"Mmh...hey." He sounded pretty tired, too...it had been a few days, whatever had been done to him must have been pretty impactful.

"Dang. They told me you'd be low-energy, but I didn't expect this. Black Yule put you through some damn hell, huh?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, they did." Blitzen drew in a slow breath and then let it out in a deep and heavy sigh. "Ain't like I didn't earn it, though...can't believe you actually came to the rescue of a wretch like me...wouldn'ta blamed you for just turning around and walking away..."

Rudy shook his head. "No way. Can't abandon someone to monsters like them...never even crossed my mind."

"Ya think? They were...just doing what they do, doling out their justice..."

"Black Yule doesn't know a damn thing about justice. They take glee in hurting people, they don't actually care about improving them. Justice is more than punishing the wicked...you can't fix people just by beating them, you have to bring them around to what's right. Hurting them doesn't change who they are, doesn't fix the problems they have, doesn't give them an example of what to do. And maybe some people are bad enough that you can't afford to try to fix them, but that wasn't the case here, you were working on getting better, they were gonna muck that all up. And the kind of depravity they were going to do was purely self-serving...justice can't be self-serving."

"Yeah...guess you're right." Blitzen shifted and grunted a bit, then sighed again. "I wouldn'ta been surprised if you thought I deserved it, though."

Rudy shook his head. "That wasn't my call to make. Nick's the one who's in charge here, and it was his decision how to address the problem. Regardless of what I thought, he knows the best way to bring out the good in people. And I believed in that...walking away would have been a betrayal of Nick and everything he stood for."

"Yeh...not sure I woulda been so generous. But I guess that's why I'm here and you're there."

"Yeah, I think there were a few more, uh, obvious reasons."

"Ugh...yeah. And I still gotta long way to go to make amends for all that...jeez. Not sure if that's less scary than all those Black Yule fuckers. Still, Nick would want me to do that rather than be their victim, so...I guess I owe you for saving my neck out there."

Rudy didn't want to say it, but he felt it was a good thing that Blitzen was nervous about that. It meant that it meant something to him. "I don't need to take a debt, Blitzen. I never really wanted anything except peace, and to be fit enough to help out where I was needed. I would have been fine if you'd even just, you know, ignored me or something. It never had to be a thing."

"Not in my head."

"...Why?"

"Because you were basically everything that I wanted to be and felt like I couldn't be." Another deep sigh from Blitzen as he averted his gaze from Rudy. "Same as it's always been."

"Huh?"

"I guess they call it a, uh, what was it...'inferiority complex,' what Doc P called it, I think. Always felt like I was just, worse and overshadowed by others. Always been that way, even with Donny. He used to be the bigger one, ya know? I mean, he's the older one, so I guess it makes sense, but I used to feel like I could never get out from behind him. He took the attention, and I...well, I was angry because of it. And it was hard because he never was a prick to me or anything, hell he always adored me, and I just...couldn't do anything but resent him for the longest time. And it was the same for anyone who was better than I was, at just about anything...if I wasn't the best, I was angry."

"Hard to believe, you seem so buddy-buddy with Donner now."

"Yeah, once I got bigger than him I stopped being such a prick to him. Could never stand being anything other than the best...that's the only way I ever felt good about myself. Had to just be better than everyone, lording over them, proving that they were worse than me. Thought that meant that I was great and then I could strut my stuff over everyone. Until the next time I got beat, and then I was angry again...nothing was ever enough until no one could stand in my way. And even then...I was never really all that happy, because I'd had enough times that someone better came along that I was always paranoid that it was gonna happen again. So, yeah, never happy even when I was happy, I still had to be better and better and better..."

The picture starting to become a little more clear to Rudy. It lined up with his impression of Blitzen - always grandstanding and showing off, never friendly with new faces until he'd 'proven' himself better, arguing with trainers to go up in weight when he didn't need to and it wasn't really in his best interest, throwing his weight around to put others underneath him. Insecurity hadn't really crossed his mind at first, he'd figured it was just that he himself was the odd man out, and Blitzen was just the most vocal about it. "And you really didn't have anything if you weren't comparing yourself to others, did you?"

"Yeah. Everything was...well, if I couldn't point to something I could do better than someone, I couldn't tell you a single thing I liked about myself. And I think I knew that, in some way, but I'd just...well, who wants to accept something like that about themselves? I guess I figured doing sleigh service might give me something to be proud of that didn't have to be a competition, since there's not really a competition at all, we all work together. But I figured out ways to make it one anyway...I'd be the most reliable guy there, always the strongest puller, and I'd make sure nothing ever went wrong and I'd be the most valuable guy."

"Until the night you couldn't."

"I never actually hated weather until that night. I mean, what's the point of hating weather? It doesn't think, it just is, you can hate it all you want and it will never know. But that fog...we were completely blind out there and there wasn't a goddamned thing I could do about it. To hear Nick say we might have to cancel...I felt like such a failure, that I wasn't worth crap being out there. I was trying to push to keep going and that we'd get through it until one of the others got on my case for putting Nick in danger, and of course that made me feel even worse. And then Dancer had to go and make that suggestion..."

That was something Rudy had never known, that Nick hadn't come up with the idea all on his own. Then again, it wasn't especially surprising. "She did always say I was cute...though I always felt like it was in the way of a toy or little kid or something."

"Man, I just thought you were weird. This freaky little glowing dude that Nick took pity on because others didn't want you hanging around with them, so he invited you to look around a few times and got a few people jealous that the big guy had your favor. You weren't really worth caring about at that time, though...not until Nick brought you in to save the whole evening. I was grousing the whole time I saw you up front there, heaving and puffing like you hadn't run a day in your life...just feeling bitter that I couldn't be the hero and had failed Nick. And then you get such a boatload of notoriety, you're a hero everywhere, everyone knows who you are and thinks the world of you...and the most infuriating this is that you didn't try for any of it and didn't want all that spotlight in the first place."

"You remind me of Vixen," Rudy remarked. "She told me a while back that she was incredibly frustrated that I didn't want the spotlight because that made it a lot harder for her to shove me out of it and take it for herself."

Blitzen snorted. "Yeah, that sounds about right for her. We griped a lot about that together. But she was still different, she WANTED a rival, she relished the idea of a competitor, and it wasn't a problem to her to accept that you'd done something special. To me, though, there was no such thing as a competitor, only a threat. In my eyes, you stole my heroism, you didn't deserve it, and you should never have been there in the first place. It was hard enough in that moment, but then Nick recruited you as a full-timer, to be on-call for any bad weather night, meaning you'd be around to stay...and at that point, the only way I could get rid of that feeling of inferiority was either turn into a big glowing dude myself or turn you into nothing."

"How long did you spend on the first option?"

"About three thoughts. No way it was happening, and my attitude liked the second better."

"So that was where all the taunting, pushing, threats, intimidation, and getting the gang against me came from, huh?"

"Yeah. All to try to make you nothing, so that I could feel good about myself again. Except it all failed. All those years, you were the only one I couldn't beat, because you could do something I just couldn't do. I couldn't be better at you at breaking through the fog, because I don't shine like you do. And it was never gonna happen, so I didn't even have any way of competing. And it made me so angry because I couldn't ignore that feeling of inferiority anymore, that worthlessness and emptiness were harder to get rid of...and I started doing other stuff to try to get over that in other ways, not that any of that worked, either. And then you came in while I was doing that...well, you know what happened then."

Rudy nodded. "Hard to forget. Especially after you're told that you shot fucking eye lasers."

"I couldn't have been ready for that in a million years. Waking up, realizing I actually couldn't see, and then Nick telling me that I needed to get back on the right path before I could again...I think that's what they call rock bottom, I could have lived with a lot of consequences, but failing Nick like that? That was it for me...that was when it really hit home, I just was completely worthless. And even then, it took a while for Doc P to get me to stop blaming you for it and realize that I never really had self-worth at all, that just comparing myself to others was masking that I didn't really have any identity of my own. And I'm still trying to figure out who I am, without it being all about measuring up against others...I'm not even totally sure how to do that. But I was feeling like shit, like I didn't deserve all this time and effort they were spending on me...when that guy came, telling me they were gonna punish me for being the naughty boy I was, I couldn't really fight it, because I felt like I deserved it."

A thought struck Rudy. "They told you you were going to get your sight back...that was when you felt that way most, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. They said I was on track for completing the first phase of treatment. I still felt like shit, wondered why I was getting rewarded..."

"That's why they come in then, rather than earlier on. They waited until you felt most like you deserved more punishment, so that it would be harder for you to fight them. As huge as you are, it would have been a lot harder for them to do anything to you if you weren't vulnerable to their influence."

Blitzen let out another heavy sigh. "Never felt so helpless as during that whole thing. I couldn't do a damn thing while they tied me up and tortured me...every time I thought about it, it was like I was tossed back into that thought of 'naughty boys get punished' and I deserved what was happening, and it kept me from even making an effort. Some good all this muscle is if I'm that weak in the end, huh?"

"You were under the presence of a bunch of punishment figures who were very intent on making an example of you, using your guilt against you, in a place where negative energy is at its strongest in all of Noel. It was a hell of a thing to keep my resolve against them even when I didn't have the issues you did, I'm not going to call you weak for being exploited like that."

"Maybe...but...you came and...I swear, even through that blindness...I'm sure that I was able to see your red light. Maybe I was imagining things, I don't really know, but it really did feel like I could see it, bright through that blackness. And I kept seeing it while hearing ghastly sounds all around...they weren't letting me go without a fight, were they?"

"No, they definitely weren't. Though it was the big cat that really made things dicey." Rudy held up his bandaged arm. "I'm not sure I want to know what inspired THAT legend, but I'll be thinking twice before pissing off any felines for a while."

"Yeah...you did a lot for me, Rudy. I haven't done anything to deserve it...but, I guess that just means I'm gonna have to try to after the fact. And not just out of obligation or anything like that. I've gotta get over myself and be a better person, that's what Nick wants outta me, and part of that is making it up to the people I've done wrong. And there ain't many people I've done more wrong than you. So...I don't know what I'm gonna be doing yet, but...it's gotta be something. And I...well, I guess I'm gonna need help, too, figuring out how to just be my own person and not be so obsessed with competing with others, and I guess I could use an example of someone who doesn't feel the need to be the center of attention."

Rudy couldn't help but smile a bit. "I can try to help with that...though, I can't promise to be a paragon of good judgment."

"Heh, I'll settle for good person. Thanks, Rudy...for everything."

---

Settling things with Blitzen was definitely getting Rudy feeling good. Over time, despite the best efforts of his former antagonist, he'd been getting more and more comfortable with the others, being more accepted as one of the team despite his smaller size and peculiarities. And that was what he really wanted, in the end, he wanted to be part of the team and fit in and make friends with them...Blitzen had been the main impediment to that, and having him come around would make it all the more comfortable.

However, he wasn't done dealing with big beefy reindeer quite yet.

"We gonna be done with chaos for a while?" Zephyr was holding Rudy against his body, his meaty arm wrapped tight around the smaller reindeer. They were in Zephyr's bedroom, clad in nothing but their fur, and both of them were more than ready to get down and dirty.

"Unless the universe is trying to send me a message, I think so," replied Rudy. "You never know, though, trouble seems to come looking for me."

"Maybe it's drawn to red light. Any way of shifting you to blue?"

"Sure, I'll just tell my cells to shift the wavelength a couple hundred nanometers shorter. Should be a piece of cake, right?"

Zephyr poked Rudy in his red nose. "You're cute when you're snarky."

"You call me cute about everything."

"That's because you are. So, whaddaya wanna do tonight?"

"Well..." Rudy trailed a finger along Zephyr's chest. "I was thinking maybe you could lay back and I could give you a good pounding."

Zephyr gave him a slightly surprised look, though he didn't look averse to the idea. "Ooh, someone's feeling feisty today. Been a while since you got the urge to be on that end."

"Well, it's hard to pass up the feeling of you grabbing me and stuffing me nice and full, to be sure. But yeah, I'm feeling a bit fired up, and you know that's what gets me in a nice topping mood. Might have something to do with us having given a good thumping to Black Yule..."

"That kinda good vibe definitely lifts the spirit. You think they're gonna be causing trouble again?"

"If they do, it won't be with Blitzen. Being back in Nick's good graces, even a little bit, they can't sneak their way in to snatch him again. And turns out Nick's got dominion over most of them when he wants to push it, and after what happened he put his foot down...it'll be a while before they have the chance to pull another stunt."

"Good. And next time they do, I'll be right here telling you it's none of your business."

Rudy snorted amusedly. "And hopefully you'll be entirely right. Doc A was right, I don't have an understudy in the wings, I'd rather just focus on being ready for a foggy Christmas Eve. And enjoying myself with my boyfriend in the meantime."

"Sounds like the best idea I've heard since this whole thing started. So you gonna show me what a freshly-confident glory boy feels like when he's going at it?"

"Gladly." Zephyr relinquished his hold on Rudy, allowing the smaller reindeer to push himself upright and stand up on the bed over his larger counterpart. It certainly seemed like a mismatch in the wrong direction, Zephyr was a lot closer to Blitzen's size than Rudy's and was almost double in terms of weight. But all the muscle Rudy had wasn't just for show - he might not have been able to heft as much as Zephyr, but for his size, he could easily outdo most anyone. And when it came to hauling up those thick legs and spreading them to expose his boyfriend's eager rear, it barely required effort. Zephyr took hold of his bed's headboard in his hands, keeping himself nice and steady for Rudy's bucking; the smaller reindeer was still packing a healthy log between his legs, he knew from experience that it was hardly a trivial stretch inside him.

But there was another twist this time. As Rudy was lining up, he brought one of Zephyr's legs against his body to free up his hand. That hand undid the repaired clasp on his amulet, and his light amped up considerably as he tossed it onto the nearby nightstand. Zephyr had to squint a bit at the brightness. "Whoof! Haven't seen ya do THAT before...usually I have to fight to get ya to dismiss that thing. Or snap it off you without warning."

"Let's leave it at, I'm feeling more at ease with it all these days," replied Rudy with an intense, bright grin as he re-established his hold on Zephyr, bearing down on him between those spread legs. Without fanfare, he thrust into Zephyr, his cock easily sinking into that welcoming passage. It was quite satisfying to hear the bigger reindeer gasp out in shock, followed by moaning deep in clearly unexpected pleasure. He clearly thought he was ready for it and was NOT ready at all. "Heh, you like that, do you?"

"Holy fuck...that sure as hell felt a lot more intense than last time!"

"Did it, now? I might have picked up a new trick, by the way." Rudy drew his dick out slowly, then thrust in again, and Zephyr let out another gasp. Size he might not have had on his boyfriend, but he'd come up with a way of making up for that - namely, a nice quick pulse of bioluminescent energy from a convenient release point. Not nearly as intense as other uses he'd made of it, voluntarily or not, but plenty to stimulate some sensitive spots, or so he'd been hoping - and it seemed his hopes were being borne out as he started humping in earnest, timing his pulses for when he was deepest within that warm passageway.

"Gods...keep that up..." Zephyr certainly seemed into it, pushing into him and clenching down on him whenever one of those bursts came through. Even not nearly as strong as what Rudy could have been putting out, it was enough that the brightness could be seen through Zephyr's torso, a highlight for exactly how deep he was to match the slight bulge that Zephyr could put in him, even if not reaching quite as far in. A bit of satisfaction for him, it made everything feel that much more impactful. And he was really going to town on that taut ass as well, as removing that limiter was freeing him up just like before...his rutting was so vigorous it almost looked violent and crazed, despite Rudy being in total control of himself.

The smacks slowly got wetter as glowing precum started to leak into Zephyr, making his thrusts slicker and quicker. Zephyr's own cock was joining in as well, shooting off onto the bigger reindeer's fur and making a nice musky mess of himself. The scent of it caught Rudy's flaring nostrils with each breath, exciting him further and spurring him to work harder. He was using every bit of that muscle he'd built up, thick legs braced tensely on the bed and powering him forward, powerful arms both holding him upright and keeping Zephyr's legs locked in place. His own pleasured grunts and moans were escaping him, a higher contrast to the much deeper lows of his squirming partner. And the light shone more and more as the physical intensity grew, both in the pulses and the general brightness Rudy possessed, his nose shining fiercely as if he was trying to make it pierce the night air.

And still Rudy found he had another gear, letting go even more and pushing harder with his legs to give Zephyr all he could. It caused him to push forward more and more, curling the big beefy stud more and more until he was bent almost at a right ankle, his prodigious staff nearly coming into contact with his muzzle, certainly splattering his wetness all over it. It had to have been especially tense for Zephyr, what with the white-knuckled grip on his headboard, but he wasn't making one peep that would have told Rudy he needed to back off, his voice utterly saturated with bliss as he took what Rudy had to give. The smaller buck was slamming down with all he could muster now, the light show inside Zephyr's gut getting ever flashier.

It felt like all too soon that he felt that telltale throb in his loins, a warning that his time in action was short. Rudy gave it his all, not holding back in the slightest, not even sure he could as this point, the pleasure was electric and the light was almost driving him on now, it wanted to be released as much as his seed did. Finally, with a loud yell he drove in, flaring up with radiance as he came hard, shooting deep into Zephyr and barraging his innards with shine and spunk. It took only a few bursts for the bigger beast's twitching shaft to erupt, plastering his face with his own seed, quite a bit getting in his mouth as he cried out his own ecstasy. Rudy had to marvel at how it seemed to surge in size with each pulse, reminded of that thickness every time it pressed against him from the inside, and the huge gluts of semen that were cascading over Zephyr which would ordinarily pump straight into him...a treat to take every time, but all the more impressive to see up close. His own was doing the best impression it could, but it couldn't match in sheer size and volume...in iridescence, though, it was clearly second to none, as that glow has spread and brightened considerably within Zephyr's body.

It took a good bit for their climaxes to taper off, leaving them panting and sweaty and messy, Zephyr dramatically more so than Rudy. The big man's heaving chest was splattered with white, and his face was outright dripping with jizz. "Holy...wow...think that's the first time I've ever cum just from being nailed. Good thing, too, 'cuz I wasn't getting detached from my hold there, not while you were...fuck, that was WILD."

"Hoo...I'm really glad you enjoyed that, I was a bit worried it might not go as well as I hoped," Rudy said with a wide grin. He lightened his push on Zephyr, letting the big reindeer's lower half return to a flatter position as he pulled out, brightly-glowing seed dripping onto the bed. "Phew, you look like the sun might actually shine right out your asshole...if the doc gave you a colonoscopy right now she'd probably need those eclipse glasses."

"Never thought I'd see myself glow like that," chuckled Zephyr. "Always knew you were bright, but damn. And ta think you sprung it on me this time."

"Heh...you know, I might just be embracing the whole glowy reindeer thing for real. I mean, hell, it's gotten Nick outta scrapes, it's gotten me outta scrapes, it's something that's celebrated in ways and now I'm finding, ah, practical uses for it too...starting to feel like I don't have to be quite as shy about it, you know?"

"Love hearing that. It's awesome seeing you glow bright, and feel good about it. You know you can shine as bright as you want around me."

Rudy gave a bit of a snorting laugh. "You might wanna invest in a good pair of sunglasses if you say things like that."

"Maybe I'll ask for that for Christmas. Oof, I should probably get cleaned up, or else this bed is gonna look like a blizzard hit it before too long."

"Mind if I join you? I wouldn't mind getting a bit of a frosted filling myself, if you're still game..."

Zephyr laughed, giving a rub to his still-hard shaft. "Somehow I think I could manage that. Let's see if we can turn my shower into the Star of Wonder."

Rudy flashed - literally - an eager smile at Zephyr. It had been a wild ride, yet again, but this time, he'd come out of it feeling more confident than ever, and more comfortable with himself than he could remember. Maybe facing the darkness had helped him see the light, too, after years of hiding it away, covering it up, making himself as hard to see as possible...but sometimes, it was good to be seen, and to be the guiding light.