A .Hack//Legend Of The Twilight Bracelet Christmas fic for you. I know it's a little late but who cares. Christmas is Christmas.
Samanda
Disclaimer: I do not own .Hack or anything pertaining to it.
Mistral's Curse
By
Samanda Hime-sama
Mistral had been having the worst day ever. She had fallen into Hotaru's snow angel accidentally and made the young girl cry. She had flirted so blatantly with Shugo, going so far to give him a kiss on the cheek, that Rena wouldn't talk to her anymore. Mistral's character had died while leveling and she had lost the new rare that she had acquired.
Her bad luck was all because of the Christmas Curse. It had all started out so innocently.
It was a Christmas day long ago when the disaster occurred. The day was snowy and cold like the holiday normally is. The wind was present but it was a soft, ineffectual breeze.
The young girl, Mistral, logged onto The World. She was excited because of a special Christmas event that the Mac Anu server was hosting. She had plenty of time to get to area she needed. After all it was three hours away.
She sent a message to a friend of hers, Shugo:
Hey Shugo! Are you coming online today?
Come on! I need your help. There's a build
your own snowman event today. Pleease??
-Mistral
She moved and accidentally bumped into another character. "Oh, pardon me."
The other character glared at her with bleary eyes and grumbled something she didn't catch.
The new character was wearing a red outfit trimmed with dirty and ratty white fur. He wore a matching hat and a pair of knee high black boots that looked like they had seen many better days. His beard was matted and filthy as was his shoulder length white hair.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," Mistral said with her usual pep.
"I said, I hope you have a terrible Christmas!" The absurdly dressed man yelled at her.
"That's not nice!" Mistral told him.
He pointed his finger at her. "May the Christmas Curse be upon you!"
Mistral asked him. "What's that?"
"You'll see," He cackled evilly as he shuffled off.
*************************************
"And that's what happened." Mistral told her group of friends as they sat in her secret hideout in Mac Anu. "And all of this bad stuff happened to me."
"How strange," Hotaru murmured as she petted her grunty.
Rena contradicted her. "No. It's weird is what it is. Who was that guy?"
Shugo, Hotaru and Rena shrugged. It was Orca who came up with the name for Mistral.
"Could it have been Santa?" She asked Mistral.
Mistral looked confused. "Who's that?"
"Santa is a myth that American children believe in." Orca said. "He brings presents to them at night on Christmas Eve and everyone opens presents on Christmas morning."
"Maybe it was Street Santa," Shugo snickered.
Rena bonked him. "That's not nice, oniisan."
"Itai!" Shugo rubbed his head gingerly.
Hotaru said softly. "There has to be something to lift the curse."
"Not believing in it would work," Rena said with conviction. "I think it's all in your mind."
"Find something positive and stick with it," Orca suggested.
Mistral glanced at Shugo to see if he had any advice. "Don't look at me." He shrugged. "My advice would be to not let him ruin your day."
"All of your advice sounds good," Mistral said and beamed. "Thank you all!"
"No problem," Orca shrugged.
"Let's go decorate a Christmas tree," Hotaru suggested.
"Good idea." Rena seconded it.
"Let's go," Shugo sighed and followed his sister.
"Maybe you can get Shugo to protect you." Orca said jokingly to Mistral.
Mistral giggled. "Maybe so!"
"I'll cut down the tree!" Orca shouted ahead to her three friends.
Shugo shouted back. "Ok. Hotaru is going to find some colored lights and Rena is going to find some paper for our Christmas wishes."
"Alright." Orca eyed a tree consideringly, then another and nodded. She ripped the tree up by it's roots then dragged it back to Mistral's hideout.
Shugo and Mistral followed her into the hideout. Orca set it up in the corner then smiled at the younger two.
"I'm going to go help Rena and Hotaru. Stay here. I'll be back in a bit." Orca said cheerfully then strode out.
There was a few seconds of awkward silence and scuffling until Mistral remembered something. She hurried to a chest and rifled through it. She held up her item triumphantly. A golden star.
"It's a tree topper," Mistral explained when she caught Shugo eying it.
Mistral dragged a chair over to the tree then stood on it. The tree was tall and even with the chair it was a stretch for Mistral to reach the top branches. But she persevered.
"Got it!" She crowed as she set the star in it's place of glory.
She straightened then teetered alarmingly on the chair. She fell backwards with her arms flapping in a panic stricken way. That is until she was caught by someone. Shugo.
He held her in his arms. "Are you okay?"
His eyes were so concerned, she thought. Dumbly she nodded her head and he made a motion to set her down. Mistral had an idea and a wicked grin stole over her face.
She kissed him quickly on the cheek then hopped from his suddenly limp arms. "Arigatou, Shugo."
She was on the other side of the room a few seconds later as the door burst open and the three other girls piled into the room. Mistral hummed happily and flitted about as she chatted with the others. But Shugo stood slack jawed and vacant eyed by the Christmas tree until his sister smacked him.
He came out of his daze and looked at Mistral. She winked at him saucily then turned back to Hotaru, who was still speaking to her.
Mistral knew that for now the Christmas Curse was broken. Shugo was her positive thing and she swore to herself that she would stick close to him until he noticed her. As long as he was close she could keep herself grounded. But oh how she wanted him for her own!
Of course that might be sooner than even Mistral herself had thought....