"A Chicobo and a Bit of Christmas Cheer"
I glared at my distorted reflection in my broken hand mirror. In it, my face was split where cracks appeared. Angry, I tossed it to the carpet. It landed with a soft thud with the glassy side facing up, so luckily nothing shattered.
It was Christmas Eve, a holiday that had little to no meaning for me. Christmas was spent with family. I had no family, so I never cared to celebrate it. Anyway, the only reason it was still around was because many people enjoyed it (who would enjoy wasting all that money?). I didn't. Who says you have to run around like a loon buying presents and…and fruitcakes for your family to show them you care? That picture didn't fit me.
"Ugh." My reflection seemed to have a life of its own and looked up at me. The thin, pale pink lips and ice blue eyes seemed to…it smirked at me. "Shut up," I said to my reflection. "It's not my fault everything's this way. Don't blame me." The reflection still seemed to look at me, amused. "Shut up!" I kicked the mirror and it skid under a couch. "Christmas…not a time for Miss Quistis Trepe. That's fine. Who needs it? I certainly don't."
With that, I slumped onto the couch that that mirror was under. Nonchalantly, I picked up the remote control and flipped through the channels on my TV. All of them had some sort of ancient Christmas special than was on hundreds of years. Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy… Needless to say, I shut my TV off and slapped my head with my hand.
"Not one decent thing is happening."
There was a loud knocking at my door. Assuming it was some Christmas merry maker, I ignored it. The person at the door kept on knocking. I got up and fumbled with the door, finally getting it open.
"What?"
"Hi!!!!" Selphie was standing in front of me, with a sack and a large box wrapped in colored paper. "Merry Christmas Quisty!"
"…yeah. Thank you." I ushered my friend inside. "Merry Christmas to you, too."
"Oh, I wish I could stay, but I gotta get these presents delivered." She but her burlap sack on the ground. "I have one for you, ya know. The best one out of the group."
"Thanks," I said as Selphie handed me the box she had in her hand. It was decorated with shiny gold paper and a crimson red ribbon. "Selph….why are there holes in this box?"
"Just open it up! Quick!"
I sighed and tore into the present. Shiny paper littered the ground. The red ribbon was hard to take off, but with a little strength I took it off. Wonder what's in it… Suddenly, the top of the box moved, and I yelped in surprise. Selphie just grinned. I sat down and put the box on my lap as I took the top off.
"Oh my Hyne!" Inside was a little white Chicobo with huge, gleaming blue eyes. It stared up at me innocently, a glazed look on its face.
"WARK!"
"Selphie!" I pointed to the tiny bird. "What am I going to do with this thing?"
"Well…I thought you could use a friend. I found him in the Training Center, of all places, and I couldn't just leave him alone. Isn't he so adorable?"
"Um…"
"Wark!" The Chicobo hopped out of the box and wobbled and waddled around my room, warking contentedly. It stopped at my feet, craned its neck up to look at me, and blinked its huge blue eyes slowly.
Selphie laughed. "See? It already likes you!" She threw her sack over her shoulder. "Gotta go, Quisty. I still have gifts for Zell, Rinoa, Squall, Irvine, Seifer, Fuujin, Raijin, Xu, and Nida." The little bird warked. "Bye, little guy."
When Selphie left, I sat on the floor in front of my new pet. It looked at me, then sat down itself. Two little legs poked straight out from under its fat body.
"So…what's your name?" I asked, feeling dumb that I was talking to a bird.
"Wark!"
"…gee, that really helped." I sighed. Some Christmas present. "You know, I can only keep you for so long. Then you'll get too big." I emphasized big by waving my arms, hoping it would understand. "Hmm…first things first….we should give you a name."
"Wark?"
"A na-me. How about…um…Benny?"
The Chicobo shook its head.
"…Mickey? Trepie? Little Thing? Selphie's Bad Christmas Present? Hyne, I don't know!"
"WARK!"
"…Wark?"
"Wark!"
"Wark is your name?"
The Chicobo nodded, which looked more like it was bobbing its head.
"Well then…Wark…are you hungry?"
"Wark wark!"
I stood up and dusted off my pink skirt. Wark hobbled up to me and imitated me, taking his little foot and tried to brush his white, glossy feathers, but he fell.
"Not all of us can stand on one foot." I looked at Wark, who was sitting on the ground. Reluctantly, I picked it up. "See? Now you're tall." Good heavens, I'm talking to a Chicobo.
I brought my little friend to the counter and set him down on it. "So, what do you eat?" The only thing I had in my closet that he would eat was…. "Pepio Nut?" I set one in front of him. "Funny, because humans like to eat them, too." Wark blinked at the nut, then started to eat it. I took one out of the canister and began to eat. "Isn't this a wonderful way to spend Christmas Eve?"
"Wark…"
"That was sarcasm. Actually, I don't enjoy it. I'm an orphan, and never cared much for the merry making and the presents…" I slapped my forehead. "I'm spilling my guts to a bird who isn't even a foot tall."
"Wark!"
My clock radio alarm went off. It was eleven o' clock. I yawned. "Well…are you ready for bed, Wark?"
"Wark!"
"I'm assuming that's yes." I scooped up Wark and brought him to my bed. He hopped onto it and made himself comfortable on my pillow. "Now, I'll be right back."
I went off to put on my ivory colored night shirt and brush out my hair, then I walked back to my bed and slipped under the covers. It was still cold, and I had turned the heat up. Suddenly, Wark walked over to me and laid down. His soft feathers kept me warm.
So maybe this little runt isn't so bad.
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"MERRY CHRISTMAS STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF BALAMB!!!!!!!"
I woke up to the Headmaster's voice booming over the speakers. Wark opened one eye lazily and fell back asleep. I flipped the covers off and got out of bed.
"I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY VACATION. HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY DAY!"
"Yeah…sure." My hair was tangled, and I tried to smooth it out. "Merry Christmas, Wark."
"Wark!" Wark hopped off of the bed, and fluttered onto my night stand. He saw my hair brush and kicked it with his foot.
"Oh…thanks." I grinned and picked up the brush. "Maybe this day won't be so bad. I can see my friends for a while, catch up on my work…you know, grade papers and stuff…Wark, you can come with me."
"Wark wark wark!"
I giggled and heard a loud knocking at the door. "Who would that be?" Wark walked over to the door and I followed close behind him. When I opened it, none other than…..
"Merry Christmas, Quistis!"
….Seifer Almasy stood in front of me. He was wearing a funny red hat with white trim.
"I bring you tidings of joy!" He grinned and handed me a wrapped box.
"Thanks…" I let him in. "I really appreciate it."
"Hey, hey….open it!"
"Oh…yeah."
I sat on the couch and put the box on my lap. Seifer went to sit by me, but Wark ran ahead of him and took his seat. Giggling at Wark, I opened the box.
"Oh…aww…" In the box was a hat that matched the one Seifer was wearing. "This is cute!"
"Yeah…it's a Santa Claus hat." He took it from me and put it on my head. "You look Christmassy."
"Christmassy?" I fixed Seifer's hat up so the white puff on the end was standing straight up in the air. "You look funny."
Seifer grinned and his cheeks turned a pale pink. He saw that I was about to saw something else and stopped me before I said it. "C'mere."
I stood and followed him. "What are you doing?"
"Watch." He led me to a doorway where a hook hung from the top. Out of his pocket came a piece of mistletoe. Seifer hung the mistletoe so we both stood under it. I began to laugh. "Ya gotta give me a kiss."
"Fine." I grinned and kissed him on the cheek.
"What was that???" He laughed.
"All right, all right." I kissed him again. "There you go."
"No, no…let me try." Seifer leaned over and kissed my lips. He completely caught me by surprise. I stood there with my hands behind my back until he leaned away. "There."
"Uh…" I was completely awestruck. There were so many sparks I thought my room was going to engulf in fireworks. "Wow."
Seifer grinned. "Well, Quisty…I have to be off. I'll come by later. Be dressed in more than that nightgown, OK? We have to go to a formal Christmas party."
"I didn't know that," I said, still awestruck.
"WARK! WARK! WARK! WARK!"
"Hey…what's that?" Seifer asked.
"No…Wark!" I ran into my bedroom. "Are you OK?!"
"Wark!"
I covered my hands with my mouth. "Oh…!"
Draped across my bed was a beautiful, crimson red gown with matching shoes. My eyes widened. Wark was jumping up and down. Seifer, who was standing behind me, put his hands on my shoulders.
"Who…who did this?" I looked at Seifer. "You?"
"Nope."
"Ho ho ho!"
What was THAT?
I ran to my window and looked outside. What I saw almost frightened me, but then I knew who gave me the dress."Isn't that that guy who gives the presents to the kids?"
"You mean Santa Claus?" Seifer looked out the window. "I…I guess so."
"I never knew that was real!" I sat on my bed and picked up one of the shoes. "Matron used to tell us that story…"
"Yeah, I remember." Seifer sat next to me. "Well, now you have no excuse not to go to that party."
"A date?"
Seifer rolled his eyes and flipped my hair. "Who's sitting in front of you?"
"Oh…oh!" I laughed and hugged Seifer. Wark jumped up on my bed and warked loudly. "I never imagined all of this would happen."
"You deserve it."
"This is great…" I looked up at Seifer. "Maybe Christmas won't be so bad."
"Wark!"
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