"Mako, wake up."

"The strawberry milk is mine," I mumbled, cuddling Celestia in my arms as I relaxed.

"She's holding onto that unicorn for dear life. Maybe if we take it she'll wake up." Marcus' alto voice suggested. I mumbled in my pillow, tightening my grip.

"My unicorn. Mine, mine, mine. I'll bite you." I mumbled.

"Did she just say she'd bite me?" Marcus questioned.

"Be honest, you like when she bites you. If you know what I mean." Kai chuckled.

"Shut up!" Marcus retorted.

"Admit it, you dragon shifters love it rough. Don't think I didn't notice the bite marks all over her. I bet if you weren't having sex on the clock, she'd be covered in them." Kai proposed; his voice filled with amusement.

"Stop teasing me. I don't see you saying anything concerning the fresh love marks all over her. I swear, I lost count. Ryder and Stryker are so fucking competitive." Marcus complained.

"You guys are noisy!" I groaned, turning over and throwing Celestia at whoever stood at the door.

"Ow, Mako. You did not just throw a unicorn at me?" Marcus questioned.

"Celestia. I choose you." I mumbled; my hand petted the bed for a pillow to cuddle with.

"Pokemon? Marcus, stop letting her watch your shows." Kai scolded.

"That wasn't me."

"It was me and what's taking so long?" EliaseAnne’s voice came from the hall.

"Isn't Elias supposed to be taking over? Wait. You let her watch Pokemon?" Marcus questioned.

"Don’t worry about it, and he was, but you guys are taking a century to come back. I wanted to make sure you were behaving and not having fun." Eli hummed. Marcus coughed while Kai cleared his throat.

"Hey, Elyion. Want to try and wake Mako? She threw a unicorn at Marcus when we tried to wake her up."

"Unicorn?" she questioned.

"Celestia! Rainbow attack," I ordered, stretching my hand out before it fell onto a pillow. I smiled, tugging at the soft material before cuddling it to my chest.

"Is she half asleep? And who's Celestia?"

"The unicorn," Kai replied.

"She named her stuffed animal," Eli commented.

"Yup," Marcus confirmed.

I heard footsteps before something brushed against my cheek.

"Mako. Wake up." Eli's soft voice whispered.

"Is there strawberry milk?"

"If there is, will you wake up?"

"Maybe."

"There's a surprise. That and strawberry milk in the fridge." Eli proposed.

I opened my eyes to her bright emerald ones.

"I like surprises...and strawberry milk," I mumbled.

"And me?" She inquired. I smiled, Midnight taking over for a split second, our lips pressed against hers. I pulled back, giggling at her shocked expression.

"Especially you." Midnight replied before retreating.

"Hey, hey. No favoritism. I want a kiss too." Marcus huffed.

"You're just upset that Elyion woke her up easily compared to your multiple attempts. It's okay, Celestia loves you." Kai joked.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes before locking on to Kai who stood behind EliaseAnne. I turned to see Marcus at the doorway, picking up Celestia.

"How'd you get Celestia?"

"You threw her at me," Marcus replied.

"Really?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Yup, she was definitely half awake," Eli commented, rising up and heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" I questioned.

"To switch. Elias' nagging is giving me a headache. I'll see you in a bit. Once you see your surprise." She winked before patting Marcus lightly on the shoulder, exiting the room.

"Surprise! Can I go now?" I asked.

"You could, though I think you need some pajamas, Firefly. Your body is distracting." Marcus confessed; his cheeks flushed as his eyes roamed my body. I looked down to see I wore a black bra and matching panties.

I noticed Kai's smirk but spotted the hooded look creeping into his eyes.

"I'm gonna go shower." I quickly got up, heading to the dresser to get a t-shirt and some shorts."

"I don't mind coming." Kai chuckled.

"Nah uh. You go with her and we’ll be waiting all night. Nope." Marcus argued.

"Neither of you are coming." I pointed out, walking towards the door.

"No fun," Kai commented, trailing behind me before his hand smacked my ass. I froze, giving him a shocked expression.

"Can't go walking around with your ass like that. Couldn't help it," He shrugged as if it was nothing.

"She doesn't understand the effect her ass has." Marcus agreed, coming over to grab my other butt cheek.

"You two can go have butt conversations with Ryder. I'm going to shower." I groaned; my flustered self made my way down the hall, grumbling. Men and butts. I don't get it.

"Do I have to keep my eyes closed?"

"Just for a moment," Elias replied; his hand in mine as he guided me forward. I took five more steps till Elias tightened his grip.

"Stop. Now keep your eyes closed till I tell you to open them."

I obeyed; excited to see what was in store for me.

"You can open them, Mako." Daniel's voice whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes, ready to look over my shoulder when my eyes locked onto the sight before me.

It was as if Kai's final art piece had come to life – the living room decorated exactly like in the painting. The lights were off; the only flicker of light came from the lights on the Christmas tree and the fireplace that contained the flames burning within.

The large, pine tree stood tall as if the multiple colored ornaments, lights and other decorations did nothing to weigh it down. From red, gold, blue, green, and even pink, the ornaments glittered with the flickering of the fire – the silver and gold sparkling design twinkled with purpose. The lights around the tree were a beautiful cream, a few of them turning on and off in different patterns. The large, gold star perched at the top of the tree glistened in the moonlight that leaked through space from the black and white curtains.

My eyes trailed from the top down to the base of the tree; multiple gifts in gorgeous, glitter wrapping paper sat neatly. Nightmare sat on top of a large box – the gold ribbon tied neatly around the wrapping paper that shifted colors.

"Mew Mew." She wagged her three tails back and forth, standing up to stretch before jumping up and down on the box. I smiled, blinking back tears.

I turned to see my knights lined up down the hall – Daniel, Kai, Ryder, Elias, and Marcus.

"PSSST. Does she like it?" Marcus whispered. The others groaned, rolling their eyes.

"She can fucking hear you." Elias shook his head.

"Marcus, what kind of whispering is that?" Ryder began to snicker.

"Remind me, if we ever get into a situation where we have to hide, Marcus can't say shit." Kai encouraged.

"Loud like his snoring," Daniel commented.

"Hey, my snoring isn't that bad." We all turned to face him.

"It's a tad loud." I confessed, raising my hand to pinch the air – demonstrating how "little" I meant.

"Mustang." Kai commented.

"Rollercoaster." Ryder mumbled.

"Boat engine." Daniel replied.

"A growling puppy." Elias whispered.

"Hmm, a puppy isn't bad?" I exclaimed. The others nodded.

"I really hate all of you," Marcus grumbled.

"Aww, don't say that. Come dragon boy. You can cut in the line since the others are teasing you.”

"WHAT!" The others yelled. I giggled at Marcus’ toothy smile as he purposely bumped past each of the knights before reaching me.

"I get to kiss her first." He hummed.

"Who said we’re kissing?" I questioned.

"This said so," Marcus said taking a step forward between the entrance way; his arm around my waist, pulling me into him.

"What are you..." I trailed off, following his gaze to the leafy decor above us. Mistletoe?

"Yes, Mistletoe," Marcus confirmed, smirking down at me.

"Hey, you did that on purpose." I pointed out. He laughed.

"It was Kai's idea." Marcus accused. I turned to see Kai shrug.

"Can't lie. I really wanted to kiss you." He said casually. I giggled, the others looking at Kai.

"We seriously need to work on being smooth," Daniel admitted. Elias nodded while Ryder smiled.

"Let's get to kissing so our Princess can open her presents!" Marcus announced, tugging at my waist before dramatically lowering me halfway to the ground to give me a kiss. I giggled against his lips until I couldn't hold my laughter.

"Mako, you can't laugh. I want a retry." Marcus complained.

"Move along, dragon boy. We got a long line here." Kai shooed him away as I returned to my feet.

I gave each of my knights a deep kiss; Elias claimed two kisses for the sake of Eli's nagging. Once that was settled, I knelt before the large box, the same image from the gala coming to life. Nightmare impatiently waited for me to open the present, while Elias looked over my shoulder. Kai and Ryder were relaxed near the fireplace while Daniel attempted to maneuver his way around Marcus who was trying to ruffle up his perfect blonde locks.

I undid the ribbon, placing it aside before carefully unwrapping the gift. I opened the box to reveal a rectangular shaped book. I picked it up, looking at it intently as I curiously turned it over.

I crossed my legs, placing the book in my lap while I pushed the box out of the way; giving Nightmare the opportunity to tackle it.

I smirked at her playful nature before my eyes returned to the soft pink velvet book in my lap. The front had MAKOTO in gold cursive. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I opened the book to reveal the first page.

I laughed at the last sentence before turning the next page.

Pictures, multiple pictures in different sizes – some took up the entire page while others were as small as the palm of my hand. All of them centered around the last six rotations.

There were even pictures of the last seven days.

Marcus and I kissing underneath the lamp post; Elias and I laughing as we baked; EliaseAnne and Midnight holding hands at the rink; Daniel and I kissing against his car; Kai and I as we strolled through the crowd, champagne in hand; and finally Ryder and I sleeping in the low-lit room.

"How..." I choked on the word, my lip trembled as the tears escaped my eyes. I felt Elias' hand pressed against my back.

"We got Christian to help us out with the picture taking. A tad stalkerish but the images turned out better than we expected. We know you love pictures and thought that you'd always want to remember the times we shared, even as cycles go by. So, we decided a photo album would be a good start." Elias explained. The others gathered around with comforting expressions.

"Merry Christmas Makoto, our Princess, love, and savior. We love you and hope from this moment onward, we'll always be able to spend Christmas together." Ryder vowed; his left hand rose and landed on his chest.

The others followed suit, bowing their heads to me.

"Thank you, my star knights."

There was a moment of silence before Nightmare popped out of the gift box.

"MEW!" We all turned to watch her jump out of the box and head straight towards another cat that dashed from the doorway – tackling one another.

"Uh...is that Moonlight?" Marcus questioned.

I wiped away my tears as I tried to focus on the two bundles of fur – one white and one black rolling around.

"Yup. Looks like it. Which means..." I trailed off as Christian and Ethan emerged at the doorway.

"We knocked, I swear." Ethan raised his hands up like he'd been caught stealing.

"We figured you guys were having a moment or having some group fun, so we let ourselves in." Christian winked at me; my face flushed, as Marcus began to cough, and the others began looking around nervously.

"Wait, it's only you two?" I questioned.

"I guess for now. Scarlet's with the others but I think they got caught up in something." Ethan shrugged, sighing.

Kai began to snicker, looking away as we all turned to him. I noticed the markings on his hands slowly dimmed – indicating he saw a glimpse of the past or future.

"Nothing."

"Kai." We all said at once. He stood up.

"They're busy having bonding time in Scar's bathroom. Happy?" He confessed. We all gawked at his blank expression; my eyes slowly made their way to Christian who had a smug look on his face and Ethan's tomato red face.

"We should have gone with the group thing." I winked at my knights, giggling at their shocked expressions.

"Dammit Marcus, why did you invite them?" Elias whispered.

"We could have been like Jaxson and them." Daniel urged.

"I didn't fucking know they were gonna get caught up in the sheets." Marcus hissed. Ryder sighed.

"We can hear you." He reminded.

Christian, Kai and I laughed as they blushed in embarrassment.

"Let's enjoy the most of it then haha," Christian announced, lifting a bottle from the bag he held – a bottle of champagne.

"Party time."

We all stood, exchanging hugs before getting ready to drink some champagne as we hoped to the Starlight Gods Scarlet and the others would remember their plans and get here in time for the gift exchange.

I was once again being reminded of how thankful I was to be saved that fateful day; to be rescued by these wonderful men. Sure, they weren't perfect and all of them had a past that hindered them from reaching greatness, but so did I and they accepted me and loved me for who I was, both then and now.

I now knew what it meant to be surrounded by family and loved ones on Christmas day.

"Ah Mako," Christian called, running back up the stairs of the home.

"Yes Christian?"

"Here. One last gift." He presented me with an envelope. I took it from his outstretched hand, opening it to pull out six tickets.

"What's this? Another Gala?”

"Nope. Kai told me that you guys were planning to head back but you had no plans for New Years. So, I was able to snag some extra tickets. Well, actually, Junho was able to snag the tickets. He's just too shy to present them to you."

"He's shy?"

"You’re royalty, remember? His spirit takes royalty and ranks very seriously."

"Ah."

"When is it?"

"Tomorrow. Just tell Marcus and Kai. They can easily set everything up. If Marcus needs any help let him ring myself or Junho and we’ll take care of it." He winked, bowing his head and turned around; making his way back down to the car.

"Wait...THANKS!" I called out. He looked over his shoulder and winked.

"See ya on the cruise, Princess. Tell Midnight I said hi." He called out. I watched him enter the driver's seat, settling in before driving away – the rest of the crew inside the large black car.

Elias walked up to my side, glancing down at the tickets in my hand.

"Cruise?"

"Ya. Those boat adventures rich people go on." I commented, remembering the magazines where celebrities or higher-class people went on cruises.

"I guess we're spending New Year’s down here." I squealed, jumping in place before I continued.

"Let's go tell the others."

"Just promise me, no trouble." Elias requested.

"Me? I never cause trouble." He narrowed his eyes at my innocent look.

"You’re enough trouble. You and Scarlet on the same boat. I can already predict the chaos."

"Stop being overdramatic. What's the worst that can happen?" I slipped my hand in his, pulling him forward into the house.

"Mother Starlight, help us." Elias prayed, and my laughter danced off the walls before the door closed behind us.