Author Introduction: Hey readers. Merry Christmas. :) This is a little something I've been meaning to write for a good few years now, but never found the inclination or inspiration to do so every Christmas. Till now that is. XD With thanks to my wonderful boyfriend and writing partner, Rurrlock-God of Power, for helping me with the first draft. I couldn't have gotten it written on time if not for him. :) Also, this happens to be a 'Thank you' present for a friend of mine on deviantArt, Art-Gem, who very kindly fulfilled a request for me some months ago. I originally was going to write another story for her, but my muse wasn't playing ball with the plot at all, so I settled for this Christmas story, seeing as it's Christmas. I hope she enjoys this. I certainly had some fun writing it.
Above all else...A Happy Christmas to all my readers and followers. Hope you all like this. It's a tad fluffy, but so what? It's Christmas. ;) I tried to make it as serious and in character as possible. Enjoy!
Silent Night
It was a bitterly cold night that Christmas Eve. A thin layer of freshly fallen snow glistened the ground outside, mirroring the twinkly star-laden sky above, and a biting frosty breeze drifted through the opened window, which was lined with assorted and festively-themed decorations.
Dotted with tinsels and lights that flickered a multicoloured array before their owner's conversely doleful eyes, the room was illuminated a bright and joyful theme as Kirsty prepared to set up the finishing touches to her lonely suburban home.
In the corner of her room sat a small, paltry sized tree with twinkling diamond lights which hung from the branches , and an angel was perched pride of place upon the very top, facing Kirsty as she stood back to admire her handiwork.
She stared back at its harmonious and cherubic features, unsure of how she should feel or what she should feel. In so long she had never had the face of a pure angel stare back into her eyes. Having been so used to being haunted by the slick pools of darkness stare into the center of her soul, seeing such an innocent display upon her Christmas tree was nothing less of a refreshing change.
It was another lonely Christmas for her, not that she minded too much. It was nice to get some peace and quiet every once in a while, and she wouldn't have to worry about the hassle of preparing Christmas dinner for a gathering of family and friends. Though, there were brief moments where she imagined the company of others and her heart would grow heavy with loneliness.
Through a haze of eyes misted with tears, she fumbled through the storage box in her room she had brought down from her dusty and neglected attic, hoping to set up the last remaining pieces before heading off to bed and enjoying what was left of a peaceful Christmas Eve night.
In a moment of distraction, her sight drifted upwards and fixed itself on the window before her, and she watched with mounting sentimentality the gentle snowflakes fall from the beautiful diamond sky to the Earth below it. So taken with the beauty of the season, she failed to notice her fingers brushing against something familiar that lay beneath the rest of her festive decorations at the bottom of the box. Something which felt smooth and lacquered greeted her warm fingertips. Something carved and grooved with patterns her touch knew very well, and at once they responded with a a barrage of excitement at the feel of them.
The item now in her full grasp, having failed to stop herself, Kirsty found herself subconsciously lifting the cursed Lament Configuration puzzle box from the confines of the storage box. There it sat, the object of her fears and dreams...the very thing which called out to her darkened and lonely soul. Its lacquered, golden features assaulted her eyes, enticing her with its glinting impressions.
Her eyebrows furrowed, wondering how the box had found its way into such a hiding spot. But fuelled with loneliness, as her fingers danced over the dark and golden grooves she couldn't help herself when her mind suddenly filled with forbidden thoughts of a tall and dark Cenobite.
She couldn't help but wonder about him; what did he and his brethren do on a day where the human world celebrated the birth of a Christian figure? Did he even acknowledge such a custom? She dismissed that thought outright just when the tolling of bells began to chime in the distance.
For a fleeting moment she believed it to be a near-by Church heralding midnight and announcing the coming of Christmas, but she knew better; she'd heard this tolling thrice before.
The bells of the Labyrinth echoed more vehemently, and she knew what this meant...what was soon to come to her.
The Lament began to shift and assumed a different shape between her fingers, and the lights in her room brightened ten-forth before the bulbs flickered and exploded in their sockets, leaving the room blanketed in darkness.
Her breath hitched when a dim blue light poured through the room from the crevices in her walls. Kirsty's heart almost burst from her chest cavity when she saw, standing before her in the far corner of the room, near the Christmas tree, a dark silhouetted figure. When her breathing returned to its normal pace it was visible in the cold air, though her skin felt very warm it, was the Leader of Cenobites who stared back with his dark and obviously amused eyes. The one she only knew as Pinhead.
Smirking, and eyes filled with what she could only describe as greed, the leather-clad creature slowly advanced on her.
"Ahhh. It has been too long, Kirsty. Far too long." he drawled darkly.
Kirsty rose to her feet and stared fixedly toward the Cenobite. Panic suddenly began to engulf her, burying her curiosity. "I... I didn't call you. I grabbed it accidentally." she trembled, her voice shaking with fear.
Whether it was fear...or anticipation, she never really was given clarity on. It chilled her right through the bone to imagine anticipating seeing him once again.
A small sardonic smile twisted the corners of his mouth. "Ah, but you did. Your soul longs for me. It called, no - cried out for me. I felt it more clearly than I see you before my eyes now. I would not have been summoned without your call, otherwise, Kirsty."
"But I..." She hesitated briefly in finding an answer. "My feelings just got the best of me."
Curious at her admitting the truth so casually, when normally she would be made of much sterner stuff, the pin-studded Hell creature tilted his head slowly to the side. Her entire being reeked of sentimentality, and loneliness. He could smell it radiating from her. No wonder her soul so easily called out for him.
The Prince of Hell moved closer to her until they were standing within touching distance. "Any particular reason why?"
Kirsty gazed to the box within her grasp, then looked toward the cheerful and festive decorations which littered about the room. She sighed heavily. "Just...this day. It can affect people."
For the first time since stepping from the Labyrinth and into her home, Pinhead tore his eyes from Kirsty and scrutinized the room surrounding them, noting the many joyous decorations lining the walls, and the tree sitting behind him. Seeing the lights, tinsel and decorations caused him to freeze. A flow of forbidden thoughts and feelings swept his usually pain-obsessed soul when he gazed toward the twinkling lights, and he hesitated. Kirsty could see the flickers of humanity once again mapping out across his scarred features.
Once again, she had managed to floor him with a remembrance of his human self, and that was just a good a weapon as any.
"I remember this celebration..." he murmured softly, inspecting each bauble and sparkling light upon Kirsty's tiny tree with an air of caution, yet curiosity. "From a long time ago."
"When you were human?" Kirsty added.
"Yes...I celebrated it with people I once knew. Comrades, family...it was a peculiar time." He turned to Kirsty. "Do you celebrate this event alone?"
Kirsty nodded. "I know it's time to spend with others, but even if I did have someone to spend it with, I think I'd prefer to be alone. No hassle or worry about anything other than myself."
"I wouldn't know. In my last years when human, it was hard to find a time to celebrate because of the war. Then, in my loyalty to Leviathan, I had forgotten about the festivities. Even loathed it. It was meaningless...it still is meaningless to me."
Kirsty's eyes shone with pity the longer they stood within one another's company. A wave of sympathy and understanding engulfed her . "It must make you feel something...something familiar."
''No. It does not. A day of Christ means nothing to me."
"Yes, it does. Or, at least it did once. I can tell."
The pinheaded Cenobite looked toward Kirsty with an inquisitive glare.
She continued. "Maybe you can't feel it now because of that other part of yourself, but deep down, there's something that feels so connected to Christmas. Your humanity still clings to such celebrations that mean something to you."
A puckering of his hairless brow indicated to Kirsty that he was taking in what she was saying. "And what does it mean?"
"That connection you feel to others. Those you spent time with, like you said, comrades and family."
He remained silent, considering Kirsty's words very carefully. There were brief flashes and glimpses of memories of Christmases he had lived through before he walked the path of damnation. His blackened, icy heart thawed the longer his thoughts dwell on his human past.
He raised his head, eyes locking with Kirsty's. "Do you feel a connection to anyone this time of year?"
Kirsty's breath caught in her throat. "I...uh...I'm not sure."
A smirk spread his icy lips. "You share such a connection with me, don't you Kirsty? Why else would you have called me? A connection that binds us that may one day lead you to me." He raised his hand and settled the cold palm across her cheek, stroking his blood-tipped fingers along the flesh lightly. Flesh he yearned for in more ways than one. Cold met hot, making her knees grow weak the longer their flesh were touching.
She found it hard to speak, her brain too muddled to think of a way out of what was surely to come. That was, until her eyes drifted upwards and she noticed a flash of green and red dangling above their heads.
He followed her gaze and looked upwards, caught off guard by the sight of the green plant-like decoration hung from the ceiling above them.
"You know what that is, don't you?" Kirsty quizzed him.
Looking back down, his eyes locked with hers. "I do." he replied solemnly, eyes slowly moving from Kirsty to the mistletoe.
With his eyes now focused upon the mistletoe, Kirsty suddenly realized just how close the two were standing, and what it meant with where they were standing beneath. A frantic, pleading voice in the back of her mind told her to back away, but that voice dwindled just as another rose, a more encouraging voice telling her to take this chance...a chance deep down she wanted to take.
It was either this, or submit her soul to pain and agony for all eternity. It was a bargain to end all bargains.
"Kiss me." she whispered lightly to him, moving so slightly forward.
The Prince of Pain tore his gaze from the mistletoe and looked down into her pleading eyes. "What did you say?"
Kirsty shrugged her shoulders, an unrecognisable expression mapping out over her soft and tired face. "It's tradition to kiss under the mistletoe. You know that."
"I do."
"Then, if we can't celebrate the holiday with others...or can't quite understand the connections we supposedly share, then the least we could do is keep up with this tradition."
He stood motionless; reluctance flooding him. He was highly aware it to be another one of her bargains concocted to keep her soul out of his clutches for a time . However, as he gazed upon her beauty he saw something in her eyes, a fire that contrasted to the gentle snow outside, a stare burning with passion. She wanted it, and she knew latently he wanted it too, despite the hesitation over giving in to such human and meaningless customs.
It would do, he reasoned. For now...
Finally, he leaned in, leather creaking with each movement, and moving his face closer to hers. His eyes closed gradually, as did hers. Soon, their lips met and gently brushed together, caught in a dance of growing passion and the spirit of the season. Their bodies touched, her breasts heaving against his leather-bound chest when their hands started to roam and explore. Kirsty's arms slid around his neck, pulling him in even closer and deepening the kiss. He followed her lead and his inquisitive hands took a firm hold of her hips, dragging her further into his overpowering being. Their tongues slid within each other's mouths and began a tango of lust. The heady tang of passion and desire with every swirl of the tongue was indescribable.
Their lips ravaged one another's, both growing hungry for more. Any rational thought had left their minds as the unforeseen Christmas kiss grew stronger. Neither of them wanted for this moment to end.
Eventually, they pulled apart, standing breathless. Stunned and staring in disbelief, Kirsty's hand drifted to her tingling lips. Her cheeks were on fire and burning with the passion and excitement which thrummed throughout her body. Both could do nothing but tremble within one another's arms, taken aback by the secret passionate kiss they had just shared this Christmas night.
It took a moment...a brief blink of the eyes and when Kirsty looked once more, the glowing blue light of Leviathan had faded, and her Prince was nowhere to be seen. The light from the Lament box gleamed brightly through the partings before dimming into nothingness on the floor beside her feet. Kirsty's mind still continued to race following that kiss she had experienced with the most unlikely of people.
She sighed, and proceeded where she left off, putting the finishing touches in place whilst returning the Box back to where she had first found it and making sure it was submerged deep within the bits of unused Christmas adornments.
This was certainly not the start to Christmas she had expected...
The End...
Well, hope you liked! Sorry if it wasn't so heavily detailed, but I figured I'd go with the 'less is more' angle. It was meant to be short but sweet. :) Hope it wasn't too sappy. I tried my best. I also left it open for interpretation if whether this is set after Hellseeker or not. :) Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!