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EPILOGUE

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DECEMBER 25TH

NEW YORK HAD indeed gotten a white Christmas that year. There were remnants of past snow showers throughout the city even though it hadn't snowed in a few days, but more snow had swirled through the air overnight and covered the entire city to grant those who wished for a white Christmas just what they wanted that year. It was incredibly chilly that afternoon, but that wasn't about to stop many families and friends from celebrating the holiday or simply going to visit loved ones during the joyous season while they had time off from school and work. There were those who still remained at home but didn't celebrate Christmas, though, they were still going to have a nice day and make the most of it as they always had each December. And apparently, Blaise and Noel had been exhausted from making dozens and dozens of cookies the day before as they were still sleeping and it was nearing noon.

Sunny had lost patience after waiting a couple of hours while sipping her coffee and decided to take matters into her own hands as Jack continued to sleep in his cozy bed. Lucy happily trailed after Sunny and into the bright hallway, waiting by the woman's feet as Sunny used her key to unlock the brothers' door. She quickly and silently opened it and Lucy rushed inside as soon as it was wide enough, automatically darting into the hall where the bedrooms were as if she knew just what to do.

Sunny quietly giggled to herself and entered the suite after the golden retriever puppy, using her hand to muffle her amused laughter as Noel shrieked in fear when he felt something wet licking the side of his face. A few seconds later, she heard a groggy voice that was followed by a panicked shout that could've only come from Blaise in a separate room.

The brothers slipped out of the hall almost after a few moments, hair disheveled and clothes wrinkled; it was obvious they'd been sleeping rather peacefully up until Lucy interrupted them ━━━ Sunny almost felt guilty for waking them before they were ready. Lucy didn't seem to mind as she happily moved around their slender legs, her tail excitedly wagging.

"I'm sorry, but it's Christmas!" Sunny innocently beamed, beckoning the brothers towards the door.

They heavily sighed while they wiped at their eyes to try and wake themselves up more, but small smiles were prominent on their lips. Blaise bent down and swiftly scooped Lucy into his buff arms, laughing as she licked the sides of his face. She'd gotten bigger since the brothers first met her, but her joy to see the brothers remained the same and warmed their hearts each time their eyes spotted her. Neither brother had taken a liking to the puppy when they first arrived, but Lucy had a way with people and the brothers weren't exempt from that. She was now one of their best friends and made it a habit to sneak out of the suite every night in order to say good night to brothers when they went to their own place for the night.

"You could've just called," Noel told the woman, rubbing his eyes.

Sunny laughed, casually leaning against the counter. "I could have, but I doubt either of you would've actually answered."

Blaise laughed along with her, scratching Lucy behind her ears which was one of her favorite spots for scratches. "Is Jack-Jack up yet?"

Sunny rolled her eyes, with a laugh shooting the brothers a look that said they should've known better; Jack was going to regret showing the brothers The Incredibles. "I thought maybe you two would like to assist me in waking him up━━━"

"Say no more!"

Sunny jumped out of the way when Blaise and Noel sprinted out of the room, Lucy back on the ground. Her questionable eyes glanced up to Sunny and she just puffed out her cheeks, slowly trailing after the Miser brothers. Lucy hurried around her and back into the suite to make sure she was right there to know what was going on, spotting both Lien and Eira in the kitchen as they'd arrived while Sunny was waiting for Lucy to wake Blaise and Noel. Shouting resonated down the hall, making the women shake their heads at the unmistakable voices of Blaise, Noel, and Jack.

"I wasn't expecting you until later," Sunny told Eira as she entered the kitchen while adjusting her messy bun.

Eira smiled, lightly shrugging her shoulders. "I know. . .but I've never celebrated Christmas before, so I might have gotten a little excited and popped over early. If you want, I can just come ba━━━"

"No, don't be silly, Eira," Sunny interjected with a sweet smile directed towards the white haired woman. "Now Lien and I won't be outnumbered."

The girls chuckled together, Lien letting out a breath of relief. "We need all the girl power we can muster to keep these dorks in check today."

"We heard that, Lien," Jack commented as he tiredly trudged into the room, his comforter thrown over his bare chest and tugged around his body to keep him warm when the cool air of the suite hit his skin. Noel and Blaise were right behind him, smugly grinning as they entered the kitchen. Jack lazily sank into the stool beside Lien, placing his head on her shoulder. "Can we open the presents now or what?"

"Yes, yes," Sunny enthusiastically answered, excitedly clapping her hands together, "All of the presents are under the tree."

"Let's get to it then."

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Sunny had never had much money growing up, and even now, she didn't make enough to fill an enormous space around the tree with presents, but with everyone's presents all under the tree, it was the most she'd ever had. Eira had brought some for each of them ━━━ shocking Blaise and Noel as she was the last person they were expecting a gift from. Lien had some as well, one meant for both Blaise and Noel while the biggest box there was all for Jack.

Nearly an hour had passed since they'd sat down to open presents and with constant pausing to chat or getting distracted by Christmas Vacation playing on the TV, they were down to the last two presents that had been strategically placed to the very back of the tree so they were the last ones. Jack, now decked in a snazzy leather Jacket gifted by Lien and a hoverboard from Sunny under his sock-clad feet, watched Lien pull out the last two to see who they were for.

"To Blaise from. . .Noel, and to Noel from. . .Blaise," the girl slowly read in bewilderment, looking from one brother to the other.

Blaise lightly scoffed at her expression, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, we are meant to get something for family members, are we not?"

"You two actually got each other something?" Jack asked, an unreadable look in his soft eyes.

"Yeah. What's the problem?" Noel demanded to know.

"Seriously?" Jack nearly snorted. "I thought you two hated each other."

"We-I━━━"

"How about they just open their presents, hm?" Sunny sweetly cut in, giving the brothers encouraging nods when they caught her eye. "The sooner they do that, the sooner we can get to eating the rest of the cookies and binge watch every Christmas movie known to man."

Lien handed the presents over to the brothers with a small grin, moving to sit by Jack after he moved to sit on the floor. She happily curled into his side and watched the brothers open their gifts from one another with suspicious glances being thrown at one another.

"Wait, I think I know what it is," Blaise said, carefully shaking the box. It rattled against the box, making his smirk widen. "It's a box of coal."

"Coal?" Noel grimaced in disgust. "Come on, you can do better than that, hot cakes. Think of something more original."

"What do you think I got you if you're so perfect, snowball?" Blaise taunted.

Noel twisted his lips and held the small box up to his ear, gently shaking it to see if he'd recognize the sound it made. It made a rustling sound, but he couldn't tell what it was. "Nothing?" he presumed, placing the box in his lap.

"I guess you'll just have to open it and see for yourself."

With that, the brothers hurriedly tore into the wrapping as the others watched with curiosity and slight worry; worry that maybe they hadn't actually worked things out and got each other something that would end with disastrous results. But all they could do was watch the brothers open their presents and try to gauge from their reactions what might've been in each box.

Blaise was the first one to react to what was inside, pink lips parted and green eyes widened. A look of shock was written on his features as he gingerly reached into the box, pulling out a. . .

"A snow globe?!" Jack screeched, nose scrunched up in disgust. "You got him a━━━"

"It's not just any snow globe," Blaise cut in with a small smile growing on his lips.

"And you're happy with that?"

"Jack, it's not all about the presents," Sunny said.

"I do like it, actually," Blaise said, holding it up and looking inside to see a melting snowman while instead of snow inside, it was all sand. He firmly gripped it in his hand, stealing a glance towards his brother. "A picture of a perfect winter, in fact."

"I know you so well," Noel said, chuckling as he finally took out what Blaise had gotten for him. A surprised laugh left his lips, eyes twinkling as he pulled out a snow globe as well. He carefully inspected it, his grin widening when see a snow palace inside with little snowmen out front while a man in blue stood in the front.

"Wait," Lien tilted her head, "you both got each other snow globes?"

"To memorialize their first fight on Earth," Eira snickered, playfully rolling her eyes. "How sweet."

"Sweet indeed."

Blaise and Noel jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, eyes tripling in size as their mother exited the hall with a grin on her lips. Her red hair was curled with a few pieces twisted and clipped to the back of her head with a little leaf clip holding it in place. She wore a forest green dress that went just above her knees, face naturally bright and free of any makeup. And, on her feet there was nothing ━━━ barefoot was usual for her; she enjoyed feeling the earth beneath her feet.

Jack looked like a deer stuck in a set of headlights, gawking at the sight of Gaia. "You're-uh, she's━━━" Jack nervously stammered, shaking his head in disbelief, "I promise I haven't littered since eighth grade and━━━"

Gaia lightly chuckled at his reaction, faintly shaking her head. "You don't need to apologize to me, Jack," she sweetly said. Blaise and Noel quickly stood up from their places, sharing a look to Eira and Sunny to see that they weren't as stunned as Jack and Lien were; they knew Gaia would be coming but didn't say anything. Gaia followed their gaze and nodded towards the women in greeting, missing Lien's starstruck expression as her attention shifted to her sons.

"Mother," Blaise breathed out in relief, quickly stepping up to her and wrapping his arms around her. She was unable to hide her surprise, a bright grin appearing on her lips as she put her arms around her son and held him close; he'd given her hugs many times before, but this one felt different ━━━ it felt genuine. But, what shocked her even more was that Noel then joined in, not caring that one of his arms was wrapped around his big brother.

"Aw, how sweet," Jack muttered. He winced seconds after Lien nudged her elbow into his ribs as warning; she didn't want him to offend Mother Nature herself.

"This is certainly a change," Gaia said once her sons let go of her to offer her joyful smiles. She looked over their expressions, grinning along with them as they weren't feuding and were actually standing side by side without any signs of a brewing storm between them on the horizon. "So, tell me: have you boys learned your lesson?"

"Oh, yes," Noel answered, fervently nodding.

"We've definitely learned our lesson," Blaise agreed.

Gaia continued to beam, turning towards Eira and Sunny. "It's up to you two. Do you believe that they have both learned their lesson?"

Eira and Sunny glanced towards each other, slowly beginning to smile. "Yes," they answered in unison.

"I don't really th━━━" Jack started to say but he was cut off when Lien clamped her hand over his mouth.

Gaia briefly glanced towards the boy and his girlfriend, receiving an overly enthusiastic grin from Lien. "He's just very chatty today," she said with a nervous laugh, pressing her palm against his mouth when he attempted to speak. "He's had a lot of eggnog as well."

"But I thought the eggnog was━━━"

"Jack's specially made eggnog is only for him," Lien said, shooting Noel a sad smile. "Only someone with no taste would dare to drink it."

Blaise rolled his eyes, facing his mother. "Are we. . .are we allowed to go home now?"

Gaia let out a long sigh, folding her hands in front of her waist. "After all the things you boys have done here, I think it's safe to say you can definitely come home."

Blaise and Noel victoriously cheered, even grabbing each other to hug to celebrate. Gaia lightly chuckled, letting out a squeak when Sunny came over and pulled Gaia into the hug so they were having a group hug. Jack made a sour face, but not a second later was Lien taking his hand into hers and yanking him over to the group as well. Eira was the last one to join in on the giant group hug, giggling when Blaise's hand gently clasped around her wrist and pulled her into his side.

They all dispersed a few moments later, glancing around at one another.

At the start of the month, the brothers wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with the New Yorkers and Eira, but now. . .now they considered them to be their family ━━━ Jack very much included in that.

"But how did their powers return already?" Sunny asked Gaia. Blaise and Noel looked to their mother as well, hoping she had the answer.

Gaia grinned, eyes shining bright as they usually did. "I wasn't always able to see my sons while they were here, and though Eira often did keep me updated, I would use a bit of magic to actually see them every few days. And then I saw them going out of their way to save someone they didn't even know and I saw for myself what progress they'd made so far. . .they deserved to have them back."

"Thank you, Mum," Blaise said.

"I know we didn't want to come here ━━━ at all ━━━ in the first place, but it actually isn't all that bad."

"See?" Gaia hummed. "I told you there were humans who were worth our love."

Blaise nodded in agreement. "They are indeed." His eyes shifted aside, catching Eira's gaze. "And, I guess, there are a few god-like beings who aren't so bad either."

"Aw, Blaise," Eira smirked, coming up to his side as a blush began to tint her frosty cheeks, "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Don't get used to it," Noel playfully cautioned the goddess, chuckling when Blaise scoffed in offense.

Jack shook his head beside Lien, warily facing Sunny. "And so it begins again."

Gaia let out a shaky breath, giving Sunny a lopsided smile. "Thank you for taking care of my boys. I'm sorry for all the trouble they caused you."

"It was nothing," Sunny sweetly smiled.

Jack made a face. "Nothing?! They━━━"

Jack flinched when a snowball hit him in the side of the head, slipping down into his jacket and running down his bare chest. He shrieked at the cold sensation, shuddering and frantically trying to wipe the snow from his body. Gaia furrowed her brows together as her head snapped around to shoot a glare towards Noel who was already avoiding her gaze.

"Okay, I think that's our cue," Gaia quickly said, plastering a smile on her lips. "Thank you for everything."

"Will we ever see any of you again?" Lien questioned, peering at the brothers and Eira.

"Of course, Lien," Eira assured.

"I suppose," Blaise softly said, questionably looking towards Noel. "Do you think you could handle a few weeks here during my season?"

"Is that a challenge?" Noel cocked a brow.

"No, not this time, dear brother," Blaise answered with a twist of his lips. "It's just a simple question."

"Sure," Noel said with a grin, "We'll be back for summer."

"You'll be welcome to stay here during that time," Sunny said.

Jack grunted in disapproval, but a small smile appeared on his lips. "As long as I don't have to give up my room. . .I think that might be okay."

"We'll miss you, too, Jack-Jack," Blaise laughed, patting the boy's shoulder.

Jack huffed. "That's gonna stick, isn't it?"

"Definitely, Jack-Jack," Lien whispered to him with a smirk.

More goodbyes went around until the time finally came and the brothers stood on both sides of their mother, Eira next to Blaise with her hand rather close to his. Sunny, Jack, and Lien stood in front of them, sad smiles on each of their faces as it was actually time for them to go.

They all had their presents with them, along with a few souvenirs they'd been given by Sunny to have.

"I promise, we'll be back before you know it," Blaise said.

"Feel free to take your time," Jack told them, the corner of his lips curled upwards. "We'll still be here."

Noel smirked. "We were hoping you'd say that."

Jack briefly smiled, feeling Sunny throwing her arms around his shoulders as Lien held onto his hand with her lips pulled into a sad grin.

"If you ever need anything, you'll know how to reach us," Gaia said.

Sunny's brows furrowed together. "Wait, but how━━━"

Gaia nodded towards the kitchen window where three hanging plants now dangled with their leaves faintly wiggling about. One plant with icy blue stems and pastel blue flowers was placed in a dark blue pot with snowflakes painted on the bottom. Another was in a bright red pot with flames on the bottom while red and orange petals were seen peeking out of the green leaves, and the last one was a rainbow colored flower with multiple petals and was safely tucked in a light green pot with different kinds of leaves painted all over it. Sunny's eyes brightened in amazement, lips pulled into a bright smile. "Thank you."

Gaia nodded, letting out a final sigh. "It's time."

With just a few more goodbyes, Gaia closed her eyes and a faint light began to glow around their feet. The three mortals watched in complete awe, seeing the light circle around faster and faster until it was steadily moving around them. Then soon enough, they disappeared into the light and were gone from sight.

None of them would've expected in a million years that the month they had would've went how it did, but one thing was for certain: if the brothers hadn't been forced to remain within 25 feet of each other, three individuals would've had a rather bland Christmas, and perhaps, they wouldn't have been brought even closer to their own loved ones while two brothers would've become mere strangers to one another.

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Alas, we've finally reached the end!!!

AND I CAN AT LEAST SAY I FINISHED ONE BOOK THIS YEAR LMAO. I know it was rather short, too, but that was the point! It wasn't meant to be super long or dragged out, and I think it worked a lot better as a short story! 🥺

Also, I would like to thank those who actually took the time to read this story! I know it wasn't the best and there were probably errors/plot holes I missed, but I truly hope that all of you who read this enjoyed it! I loved reading comments and getting feedback from those of you who left your thoughts! It seriously warmed my heart each time!! So, thank you so very much!!!

Anyways, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays y'all! I hope you enjoyed!