Hey you guys! I know it's a bit late for a Christmas story, but since I didn't have time to post it for Christmas, I thought "better later than never, right?". But don't worry about the other story Musa and Riven: to Love Again. I didn't forget it. I'll continue it. The problem is, I realised the way I wrote the chapter five doesn't make sense with the first part of the story and a very important part of the chapter is missing, so I have to rewrite it all. It might take a while, I'd say… Give me a month and it should be done.

Thank you for understanding,

Love you guys,

xxx -xxDragonHeart

A Winxmas Carol

by

xxDragonHeart

Chapter one: "Why don't you like Christmas Riven?"

The bright sunlight came into the room by a window whose curtains were opened. Under the blue sheets of the double-sized bed, a red wine haired man was lying on his stomach, his face facing his and his wife's private bathroom. Next to him was his long straight black haired wife lying on her left side, her back facing her husband.

Suddenly, their bedroom door opened on five kids from four to eight of age. Two boys and three girls. The five of them jumped on their parents' bed and happily yelled: "Merry Christmas!" The woman then opened her eyes and sat up, while her husband only growled and turned his face towards the window instead, and his body on his right side.

"C'mon dad! Wake up!" said his first son, red wine haired and deep violet eyed. Like his father, he liked to stay in bed in morning, but today was different: it was Christmas and he, along with his brother and sisters, couldn't wait to unwrap his presents.

"Please daddy! We can't open our gifts without you" begged the couple's last daughter, a black haired and deep violet eyed one. She was the softest one of the three daughters and mostly her father still treated her like a baby.

The woman looked at her husband and their children. She knew her husband too well. He liked to stay in bed in morning and, except for an emergency, especially if it involved one of his so beloved family members, a day of work, an appointment and, probably, an intimate promise from his beautiful wife, the man wouldn't get up immediately. She knew that to their kids Christmas meant the emergency to receive gifts. After all, they were only kids. But for her husband, Christmas meant nothing at all. Of course, he had always forced himself to find a present for the love of his life, the one who stole his heart, the only one he had opened up to and to whom he would always tell everything. Everything? She wasn't so sure about that. The man next to her hated Christmas and she didn't know why. It saddened her that her man kept hiding something from her. She had always told him everything after all. So why wouldn't he?

"Kids, could you leave me and daddy alone for a bit?" she asked the kids and they left.

When the door closed, she turned to her husband and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Riven, honey?"

As she didn't get an answer, she lied down again and came closer to him. She turned on her right side to wrap her arms around his waist, and pressed her chest against his back and laid her head against his shoulder blade.

"Riv, sweetheart?" she tried again.

Riven, her husband, knew exactly what she was up to: the same thing he didn't want to talk about. Sometimes it made him upset that she always insisted to talk about it, but he didn't want to be harsh and rude to her and make her mad against him. He didn't want to hurt her. He was so grateful to her for not leaving him because he hated Christmas so much. He couldn't thank her enough for staying with him and stay sweet and lovable with him in everything. For these reasons, she was too precious to him, he couldn't loose her.

He sighed while closing his eyes, and gently grabbed her hands with one of his.

"What is it?" he softly said, trying to hold his anger inside.

"Why don't you like Christmas Riven? Could you please tell me this time?" She asked with a soft and a bit sad tone. "If you want, I won't tell anyone about this. … Please?"

"You really want to know, Musa?" he asked her seriously, with a sad and teary expression on his face, remembering a past event.

"Yes… I… I'd like to know…" she muttered, feeling his tensed body.

Riven then sat up in their bed and put his elbows on his knees, while his wife sat up too.

"I was ten. It was Christmas evening. I was waiting for my mom to come back home…" he started, tears falling down his face, as he was finally telling her everything.

§ Flash-back §

A red wine haired and deep violet eyed little boy, around ten, was sitting on the living room's couch, his legs against his chest and his arms around them with an almost white but beige body, red hearts on tail and red wings stuffed dragon given by his mother in his hands. The walls were a beautiful green color and the floor was made out of wood. Between the couch and the television, which the little boy was watching, there was a small rectangle glass table. There was a feet lamp on the right side of the couch, and a big window on the wall to the right, with a rectangle wood table under, with a vase of flowers, which were roses, lilies, baby breaths and daisies, on it. Finally, an arm chair was standing between the glass table and the left wall.

It was Christmas evening and, in a corner of the room, on the left side of the couch, standed a decorated green tree with the usual blue crystal star, that the small boy, called Riven, always put on top of the tree each year and which was his grandmother's before she died a few years ago, and a huge pile of wrapped presents under it.

His family, which consisted of his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, was celebrating it at his house this year and only his mother was missing. They were all waiting for her to start eating and to celebrate. Kids were either playing in the leaving room, unnoticed by Riven who was too absorbed in his thoughts, or playing outside in the snow, while the adults were talking and laughing in the dinning room, in the kitchen or, for two or three, outside while watching the kids.

'Where are you mom? I'm starting to believe you will never come back… Please mom, please come back soon' Riven thought hugging tightly his dragon to his chest while a tear fell on his cheek.

A tall man, with chocolate brown hair and deep violet eyes, entered the leaving room trying to avoid kids running and sat on the couch next to the lonely boy, his son.

"What's wrong Riven? Are you crying because mom is not here yet?" he asked him.

The ten year old child nodded his head, while other tears fell from his fulfilled eyes.

"You know your mother had something urgent to take care of at the law court. But she will be back soon, don't worry. I'm sure of it." He tried to convince his teary son.

Riven wasn't stupid. He wouldn't fall for it again, like he had when it was his grandmother, from his mother, who was late. They found out that she had had an accident and was brought to the hospital. Unfortunately, she didn't last long, she didn't make it. It had broken her husband and daughter into tears. That's what Riven was afraid of. Losing someone again because of something that could have been avoided by not going out, and now, he felt it was going to be his mother's turn.

"You're lying!" Riven said to his father, who was surprised. "She won't come back like she promised and you know it! It's gonna be like with grandmom: she will never come back because she didn't stay here with us like she should have!"

"Daddy?" said a little girl's voice.

Riven and his father looked at her. She had long chocolate brown hair and deep blue eyes. The little girl was about six years old and was holding a beautiful blonde haired and brown eyed doll with a pink summer dress. As they were looking at her, they saw that some kids and adults, the crying boy's mother's father for instance, had stopped playing and talking and were looking at them with puzzled looks on their faces.

"What is it, Gabrielle?" asked her father.

"Why does Riven say mommy won't come back? She will come back, right?" Gabrielle asked worriedly.

"I'm sure she will be back soon, sweetie. Don't worry. Your brother is still sad about your grandmother, that's all."

Suddenly, one of Riven and Gabrielle's father's sisters yelled: "OH MY GOD! MIGUEL LOOK!"

The two kids' father raised his head up to look at what his sister was pointing. Everyone else also looked at the TV and saw, in the top right corner, a rectangle picture showing a long red haired woman in a light blue winter coat lying in the snow, eyes closed, blood on her coat near her heart and all around her on the snow.

"Today, the lawyer Miscella Rachel Taylor was found in the parking lot of Eldorado's Supreme Law Court. Bad news for a Christmas evening, she was unfortunately already deceased when she was found not long ago by a passerby who called the police. It seems like she was murdered by a bullet shot straight in her heart…" said the news reporter on TV.

As he heard about his wife, Miguel's eyes started to fill with tears, while his daughter was now crying. As for his son, he tightened as hard as he could his grip on his stuffed dragon as tears of anger and sadness fell on his cheeks.

'I knew it' he thought. 'She should have stayed here with us. Why couldn't she go another day? This wouldn't have happened at all if she wouldn't have gone there.'

"I'm so sorry Miguel. I'll help you with everything…" said another sister of him.

Suddenly, Riven got up of the couch, got up the stairs and, in his room, after slamming the door shut, he threw himself on his bed crying.

"I knew it… *sniff* I knew it… *sniff sniff*"

§ Flash-back End §

"It took me a while to get over it…" Riven finished telling his wife while tears fell on his cheeks.

"Oh Riven, I'm sorry. I didn't know, I…"

"You couldn't know anyway…" he cut her while he wiped the tears of his cheeks with his hands.

"I'll do it" Musa murmured softly and tenderly pushed his hands away.

She put her hands on his cheeks and wiped her husband's tears away with her thumbs. After she was done, she stared at him in his eyes and saw sadness and pain. Musa knew that his mother's death was painful for him, but she never knew it happened on Christmas. But now that she knew this was the reason her husband didn't like Christmas, she couldn't blame him for it anymore. After all, it would have probably been the same for her if her mother had died on that day.

So, what do you think? Don't be shy to tell me if I made any mistake!

xxx -xxDragonHeart