The End

Artik sat in a party hall on Trenzalore. He strung the mistletoe and tinsle and all that shit. This will be one of the best days of his life. No one knew quite why Artik was so cheery this Christmastime, but it was nice.


While it lasted.

Cyril and Ryuzaki arrived with a jingle of bells. "Ho ho ho!" Cyril shouted as he jumped out of his ship with Ryuzaki in tow. His ship was spitting sparks. "Ho! Whoa! Stop it now!" The glowing cloud of a ship shook and jingled. "Initiate self-repair!" The ship disappeared. Cyril straightened his jacket and smiled at Artik, "Happy Holidays, Artik!"

Riza arrived in his ship with his father. "Merry Christmas, so what are we doing?"

Ryuzaki, that is, young Ryuzaki, had no idea wjere he was. He looked at the desolate plains with red grass, "Oh, heeelll no. I don't want to be in France."

Ginger Ryuzaki laughed, trying not to destroy the universe or something.

Artik smiled and enveloped them all in a hug. "Ouch," he exclaimed. Something shocked him when the Ryuzakis touched. "Merry Christmas," he said to the young men. He smiled fondly at the thoroughly agnostic Cyril, "Happy Saturnalia."

Artik grinned at Makoto. "Hullo, Riza," he said flatly. Artik looked grim, "We... are...."


"Having dinner!"

"Er. Thanks." Cyril had no idea what Saturnalia was, but well-wishes were well-wishes so he appreciated it. He sat down and took the Ginger Ryuzaki on his side, the one away from where Artik should sit. "This is eh... Matt. He wanted to come along and I provided him with a ride."

Ryuga arrived thanks to transportation artik provided.

Artik smiled, "Hello, everyone! Sit, sit!"

A feast materialized.

Riza sighed and sat down. Makoto felt like leaning against a wall.

Cyril loaded his plate with rolls. Just rolls.

Artik materialized hot cocoa. Unfortunately, Makoto began leaning at that moment, so...

"Ouch," Artik said. "Looks painful. Sorry."

Ryuga loaded up on beer and eggnog.

Matt shifted uneasily.

Ryuzaki poked his Hypergalactic pork uneasily. "W-what is this?"

Riza fell asleep.

"Pork. Eat and be merry." Cyril stuffed a roll in his mouth. "You know," he began, "it's nice to not have to kill or be killed on Christmas. Just a nice, peaceful dinner."

Artik shrieked in pain. "Nothing! Just stretching." He cried in agony again. "Leg fell asleep." Artik burst into flames. "Solar Saiyan thing!" Artik popped next to Ryuzaki and began giving him instructions and letters.

Artik threw the young'in into his satchel and dissolved into a Christmas puddle.

Cyril sighed deeply. He had forgotten why he was here. "Sooo...." Cyril set his roll down and spread his hands questioningly. "Anyone know what the hell just happened?"

Matt, well, Ryuzaki turned normal
"I think he's died."

Riza woke up. "I swear that if that was a clone Or some kind of boy double i will murder him 20 times over!"

A blue, but not quite the right blue, box appeared and an old man tumbled out, "Save him!" The old man looked at the puddle, "Son of a bitch!" The old man sat down and materialized a cup of tea, "This moment was a tricky bit of history. It's in flux, but... it's a fixed point. In the future, a thousand lives never happened because Artik died, even though it already happened. He looked at the warriors, "I stopped being ginger? Huh, never noticed at the time." He shook his head and smiled, "I was so young and green. It's too bad I lose that innocence. Right around the time those robots showed up and spoilers!"

Riza looked at the old man. "So? It's a thousand people. People we don't even know. Why should we care?" Makoto grunted. "He has a point. If he died and no one killed him shouldn't we leave it as is?"

Old Ryuzaki sighed, "His death is bizarre. The dimension is weakening. Things like that are happening! Will happen! Have! Didn't you ever wonder what happened to all your missing friends and enemies? Half of them were reduced to molecular puddles!"

Riza shrugged. "Not really."

In a scoff, oldyuzaki vanished.

Ryuzaki sighed, looking at Cyril, does this mean we have to go research the universe, so I can eventually come to those conclusiins?"

"It means you do anyway. How was I supposed to notice people dissolving, I haven't even gotten up from the table yet!" Cyril frowned and stood. "But, first things first. We have potential wars to stop and people to inform." Cyril opened up his link to Laetus and informed him of Artik's unavoidable and random death.

Laetus sighed, speaking into his wristdevice, "Look, just... put him in some tupperware and take him..." Laetus thought for a moment, "Antarcteria's research facilities. They should be abandoned, but it was where Seraph and Roman pioneers studied this universe. Neutral soil."