And here's the final chapter everybody! I hope you all enjoyed this ride as much as I did, and that you'll enjoy the next "one-shot turned full story" type fics that'll eventually come out. But... well, that's all I wanted to say, so let's get on with the grand finale! (Unless you guys say otherwise XD)

Also, sorry that I didn't update this in time for New Year, but there's a lot of things going on, and the average "Christmas" feel brings the jolly and procrastinating side of anybody. At least, that's what I think. XD

But now that we're halfway through January I think, then It's about time for me to finish this story once and for all.

In the Royal Woods school, or Royal Woods schools in general, there was a certain tradition: The students who got the best grades were considered "Nice" and were allowed to do their stuff as usual. The students who got the worst grades, though, were considered "Naughty" and had to remain behind to do some community service, which mostly involved helping get rid of the snow covering the place.

Hey, at least it was better than standing outside the halls holding a pair of buckets.

As you could probably guess, Chandler was among these students, grabbing and throwing the snow elsewhere in a way that wouldn't cover the streets as well. And although there were several other "Naughty" students surrounding him, none of them seemed even remotely interested in helping him with the snow, and he himself didn't seem interested to ask for help either.

However, there were some people watching him nearby, the Loud sisters. The older ones to be exact: Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn, the latter three watching him with looks of pity and sorrow.

"Doesn't this scene seem familiar to you, girls?" Lori asked, putting a hand on Luna's shoulder. "Does it bring back memories?"

The sisters looked at the scene one more time, and this time, instead of seeing Chandler taking care of the snow on his own, the girls saw younger versions of themselves doing the job, with an equally displeased look on their faces as Chandler's.

"Yeah, but they're not good memories," Luan answered. "Why are we here in the first place, Lori?"

"Because I wanted to remind you of one thing you all share: How you could change for the better, but were denied the chance," the eldest sister stated. "We were all on the school's naughty list at times."

Lori turned to Lynn. "Or, in certain cases, all the time."

Lynn flinched as Lori continued. "And look at what we've become: Whether the things we did were forgivable or not, the fact that nobody allowed us to explain ourselves, and potentially convince them to forgive us, made us unwilling to feel empathy, or even try to forgive those we see as having done wrong to us."

Lori somberly looked at the snow underneath them, which reminded her of Lincoln, somehow. "Even if those very same people are of our own family, we still refuse to forgive them, simply because we've come to accept that if nobody will forgive or be kind, then neither we'll be to them. Think of it like giving them a piece of their own medicine, or some simple revenge."

"Yeah, there's nothing more satisfying than getting revenge on someone who did something bad to you," Lynn remarked, sporting a satisfied smile.

"But it doesn't really work if the person you're refusing to forgive did nothing to deserve it," Lori stated. "And, need I remind you, before this plan started, I was the only one who ever knew about Chandler. He did nothing to any of you."

"But according to what Lincoln told us, he tricked him into tricking you to give him free stuff!" Lynn snapped. "He threatened him in order to get what he wanted, and in the end, he simply left without facing the consequences!"

Lori just calmly asked in return, "Lynn, why are you talking about yourself?"

The jock rolled her eyes at the statement.

"Listen, what I'm literally trying to tell you all is that Chandler is going through the same thing we all did, and if we want to make sure that what happened to us, doesn't happen to anybody else, we need to set a good example," Lori wrapped her arms around Luan and Luna's shoulders. "So, please, go talk to him, see if he's willing to accept help, and if he doesn't, at least give him some positive reinforcement."

"Okay, but can I ask somethin'?" Luna inquired before pointing at Chandler. "Do we still have to do it, even when 'omebody's already heading to see him?"

Everybody turned to look at the boy, and they saw that Luna was right; somebody was coming to see him. However, it wasn't Lincoln, nor Clyde, or even somebody who went to the school anymore. It was Cristina.

"Hi, Chandler," the girl greeted, getting the boy's attention as she took out a shovel from her back. "So, do you mind if I help you deal with the snow?"

"I don't mind; with how much snow there's here, a little bit of help is greatly appreciated." Chandler couldn't help but ask as Cristina began digging, "Why are you here, though? I thought you changed schools a long time ago."

"I did, but I never did particularly well at school, so I would always land on the "Naughty" list," Cristina explained, giggling a little before adding, "And I know that doesn't apply to me anymore, but I decided to help with the snow today just for old time's sake."

Chandler just continued to deal with the snow, not paying attention to the redhead, at least until she somberly added, "And for your sake, too."

The boy stopped and turned to look at Cristina with a worried look.

"None of us have any idea if the plan we did even worked; Nobody's been talking about the presents they got, and they seem mostly concerned with the gifts they got on the 25th," Cristina pointed out, focusing solely on her snow as she added, "It's almost as if nobody paid attention to the gifts you sent them."

"Well, I don't remember if you put my name on the tags, but maybe that's a reason?" Chandler guessed, shrugging at the thought. "After all, if they knew who sent the gifts, it's quite likely that they sent them to the garbage without a second thought."

The sisters exchanged worried looks, and bolted back home to verify if Chandler's suspicions were right. This left the redheads alone to deal with the snow on their own, and in silence as well, since Cristina couldn't think of anything else to ask that wouldn't sour the boy's mood... except for one thing:

"You know, ever since you cheered up Lindsey, she's been thinking a lot about you: Wondering if you're okay, if you'll be able to hang out with her again, and if you've been doing good since the last time we met. She even named the giant plushie you won for her after you."

The freckled redhead stopped and turned to give Cristina a confused look. "Did I really leave that much of an impression on her?"

Cristina nodded with a warm smile, and the boy smiled as well... only for a snowball to hit him in the back of the head. And once she turned to see where it came from, she saw the Jordans, both the girl and the guy, holding a pair of snowballs and laughing.

"That's for the sewage birthday incident!" Cookie growled before throwing another snowball.

Cristina immediately got in between the way and grabbed the snowball, before squeezing it into bits... to the amazement of practically nobody.

"Meh, it's not nearly as cool as it could be," the girl Jordan remarked, doing the "50/50" gesture before adding, "I mean, that usually works when you're squeezing something so hard it shouldn't break in normal circumstances, but when you do the same to something that breaks easily, it loses a lot of the impact."

Suddenly, Girl Jordan was struck in the back of the head with a snowball, with the rest of the classmates soon figuring out it was Cristina who threw it, while she held another snowball with a smug smile on her face.

"You didn't expect me to just let you insult Chandler like that, did you?"

The other students prepared their snowballs and got ready to fight back, only for everybody to flinch and be stunned by a loud whistle noise. They then turned around to see none other than Mrs. Johnson standing outside the entrance, looking at all the students with a stern look, but specially Cristina and Chandler.

"You two, to the principal's office, right now," the woman growled, pointing at the redheads. "As for the rest of you, continue digging!"

The redheads immediately ran inside and the rest of the students returned to their snow-digging job. And once at the principal's office, Cristina and Chandler sat in it as Mrs. Johnson sat on the principal's chair, with the man himself being oddly absent from his office.

"Um, Mrs. Johnson, if you don't mind me asking, where's the principal?" Cristina inquired.

"Oh, he said he had to do something over at some business place or something, so she asked me to watch over his office for him," "Anyway, I saw how you trapped and protected

The woman walked closer to Cristina, and leaned closer before whispering to her ear:

"Thanks for standing up for my son."

Naturally, Cristina was surprised. "He's your son?!"

"Of course he is! Can't you see the similarities?"

Mrs. Johnson hugged her son, and Cristina glanced at the duo before answering, "Nope, not at all."

"Well, either way, I'm thankful that you defended him," Mrs. Johnson separated from Chandler and folded her arms and shook her head as she added, "My sweet little Chandler has been bullied by his classmates ever since the sewage birthday party incident, and since his good-for-nothing father won't try to cheer him up, It's been entirely up to me and Becky to cheer him up."

"Man, that must've been rough," Cristina put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "But hey, at least you got some help from the Loud family, right?"

"Yeah, I guess they did help me when nobody else would," Chandler sighed. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they wound up messing something up along the way."

"And we're sorry about that."

The redheaded trio turned around and saw the Loud sisters-and Lincoln-standing outside. So they left the principal's office and reunited with them.

"Sorry about what?" Chandler asked, tilting his head.

"Sorry about putting your name on the gift tags," Lisa apologized, sheepishly scratching the back of her head as she added, "We probably should've given this plan a bit more thought before executing it. B-But hey, it was worth a shot!"

"And besides, dude, who cares if none of your classmates want to accept your gifts?" Luna added with a shrug. "They're rejecting the very 'deal of Christmas, and of good human nature in general, just to keep up their own petty little grudges! They're the ones who're gonna have a bad time next year, not you."

"Believe us, we've had more than enough experience to know how that's like," Lola added with a confident tone as she folded her arms. "When Christmas comes again and they wind up getting coal, they'll come running to your house begging for forgiveness."

"Okay, maybe not something that extreme, but you get the idea," Lucy shrugged.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Chandler asked next, folding his arms. "I thought you already did everything you wanted with me: You cheered me up when my arm was broken, you offered me to help you with the turkey during Thanksgiving, and you helped me rip-off Santa Claus to deliver gifts. What else do you want?"

And then Clyde arrived, bringing a bag filled with shovels as he said, "Okay everybody, I finally found enough shovels to help Chandler with his-"

Then he noticed the scene. "Oh, did I miss something?"

"Are you planning to do," Cristina asked, smiling as she finished, "What I think you're planning to do?"

Lincoln smiled in return and nodded. "We're going to help you and Chandler deal with the snow. It's the least we can do."

"No, helping me become "Chandler Claus" for a night was the least you could do," Chandler vehemently clarified. "Helping me with something that doesn't involve you is simply overkill."

"Kid, you're literally not getting out of this one," Lori stated as she and her sisters-and Lincoln-each grabbed a shovel. "We already did a lot to help you, only to wind up messing up at the last moment. We need to try and make up for it."

"Besides, some of us may've accidentally skipped on their duty, so this helps us get a weight off our backs," Lynn casually said, only to get a soft hit from both Lucy and Lincoln, prompting her to add, "But we're doing this for you, specifically."

Chandler turned to his mother, who put a hand on his shoulder. "Chandler, I think what they're trying to say is that they legitimately want to help you, not only because it's the least they can do, but because, as the ones who helped you feel guilt and actively seek to turn a new leaf, they want to show that they're there to support you, even though your classmates would rather keep hurting and insulting you over something that happened months ago.

The boy flinched and turned back to the Louds, who nodded in agreement with genuine smiles. Then he turned to Cristina just for confirmation, and she nodded as well. Now realizing what this meant, and what it meant all along, Chandler turned back to the Louds and sniffed before forming a smile.

"I'm not crying, honestly," Chandler answered as he wiped off his eyes. "I just got something on eyes."

Luan chuckled, "Yeah, you got tears, buddy."

"Now come on, dude, let's get digging already!" Lynn exclaimed. "The faster we get this done, the quicker we can enjoy some hot chocolate!"

The rest of the sisters cheered up, and all of them but Lori-and Lincoln-ran outside to the front yard of the school. Chandler and Cristina exchanged looks, then smiled once they spotted Lori and Lincoln sharing some chuckles with Clyde.

"You're not planning to make any hot chocolate, are you?" Cristina asked.

"Our sisters are so gullible and easy to trick," Lori answered, shaking her head. "I'd feel a bit bad for them, if they didn't deserve it. Now come on, let's go."

Clyde and Lincoln nodded, and went to help with the front yard of the school. They were soon followed by Cristina, who gave Chandler a wink before she left, and eventually Mrs. Johnson left as well, but not before giving her son some words:

"You have some good friends, Chandler. You should show them you're thankful."

Now alone, the boy saw no other option left but to go outside and head out to continue his snow digging work. At the very least, he now had an extra hand, or several dozen hands, to help him with the task. He headed for Cristina, who was digging with Lincoln and Clyde, only to stop for a brief and turn back to look at Lori, who was digging with the other sisters.

"Chandler, are you coming!" Lincoln called.

"Yeah, I am!" the boy shouted back. "I just need to do something first!"

The trio gave Chandler some thumbs up, and the boy nodded and immediately ran towards Lori, before leaping and giving her a tight hug. And it was so sudden, the other sisters stood still in shock, mouths agape at the scene.

"Thank you," Chandler tightened the hug. "For everything."

Lori eyed her siblings, who were still dumbfounded at what happened, and then she turned back to Chandler and returned the hug while replying, with a warm smile, "Don't mention it."

Once they separated, Chandler exchanged pleased looks with Lori, Lincoln, and Clyde, who all nodded at him with satisfied smiles. Then, the quartet reunited with the rest, and they started digging the snow together, more than likely to the utter confusion to the surrounding students. But It's not like Chandler cared anymore or anything.

After all, he had friends despite the odds, and that's all that mattered.