(Well, this is extremely long overdue. I started working on this in November, but I had a hell of a time figuring out a vital part of the plot, so this is where I must thank Dragon-Uprising for the idea he presented, more on that at the bottom. Also, do forgive if this isn't that great, I guess that's what happens when something is on hold for months.)
A Christmas of the ice family – (Spyro OC story)
Nuevo gazed thoughtfully outside; he and his older siblings, Ganter and Careena, were getting close to their favorite day of the year. It was on the 25th day of the last month nearly four years ago when he and Ganter had reunited with Careena. In fact, Nuevo could remember it as if it were yesterday.
(Flashback)
Nuevo was just over four years old as he scampered up next to his brother, Ganter, whom was, oddly enough, four years older than him. The snow was falling around them, filling the duo with a peace they could only find in winter. Both Ganter and Nuevo had ice-blue scales with an ice-white underbelly, but it was there tail-tips that were different. Nuevo's looked like the famous hero Spyro, while Ganter's resembled three fan-like horizontal blades with a blue 'orb' in the center. Both of their horns and crests were silver. Their older sister had similar features except her tail tip looked like an icicle.
"Ahh, Nuevo, doesn't this weather just feel perfect?" Ganter spread his wings wide, embracing the cold air.
"Yup," Nuevo chirped out, "So, today is the day when we can go meet our older sister huh?"
"Yeah, after all the time we've been in this valley, I think now is the perfect time to go to Warfang." Ganter replied, flapping his ice-blue wings as he prepared to fly.
And so the duo made their way to Warfang. The flight took a few hours, but they eventually made it, though Nuevo was starting to get exhausted. Ganter, noticing his brother's fatigue, glided down. It didn't matter though; they had reached Warfang.
Walking inside, the two brothers looked around in awe of the city; the bustling of dozens, maybe even hundreds of various dragons, the architecture of the buildings, and the general atmosphere of the place.
An adult ice dragon noticed the two brothers, "Two dragonets, what brings you two here?"
"We're looking for our sister." Nuevo replied.
Ganter looked at this new ice dragon cautiously, and whispered to Nuevo, "Don't tell him too much, we don't know about him."
"What does your sister look like?" The adult ice dragon asked.
"Not too much different from us." Ganter replied simply, having grown up with just Nuevo for a long while, he wasn't sure how to deal with an adult that wasn't his parents, even though they were dead.
"Do you know where you last saw her at?"
Ganter shook his head, "No, but I think she knows the guardians, do you know where we can go to meet them?"
The adult ice dragon chuckled, "The two of you want to meet the guardians? Very well, just go that way and you should see the entrance to the temple." He pointed to their north.
"Alright, good bye." Ganter said, practically dragging Nuevo behind him, eager to meet Careena.
"Good bye, little ones." The adult smiled a strange smile.
Nuevo followed behind Ganter as they walked through the temple, and after rounding a corner, the siblings looked into an open room. In the room, two ice dragons were standing around; Ganter recognized the first one as Cyril, the guardian of ice. The second one was an ice dragoness several years older than Ganter; she had to be their sister.
"Alright, Careena, next try and see if you can move that block of ice with only your own strength." Cyril suggested as he pointed to a cube of ice as big as him.
Nuevo and Ganter watched in silence as their sister sighed, walked over to the ice cube, and began to push it with her horns. The two were in awe as Careena mustered up her strength and pushed it over to the other side of the room.
When she was done, Cyril smiled, "Good work Careena, a guardian must be strong, on and off the battlefield."
It was then that Careena turned around and noticed her two brothers, "Um hi."
It was obvious that Careena didn't notice who they were at first, so Ganter said, "Hey sis."
Careena blinked, "Wait, so you are …?" She didn't finish, as she had run over to Ganter and hugged him, "You've certainly grown from when you were just an egg."
Nuevo blinked, and Careena proceeded to hug him too, "I thought mother had a third egg on the way. So what are your names?" Careena then sat back, waiting for a reply.
"I'm Ganter, and this is Nuevo." Ganter pointed a wing at him.
Nuevo, on the other paw, pouted, "I wanted to introduce myself."
Careena chuckled, "Good to see that the two of you are alright, so where's mother and father?"
Ganter's wings drooped, "Has no one told you?"
"Told me what?" Careena asked seriously.
It took a minute for Ganter to muster up the words, but when he did, "Mother and father are dead."
It took a minute for both Careena and Cyril to register what Ganter said, and Careena ended up burying herself in her brother's wings as she cried. Cyril said, "I'm sorry for your loss, Sarah and Sorow were wonderful friends of mine, and all around great dragons. When did this happen?"
"Four years ago, Nuevo hatched soon after." Ganter said softly.
"And you have been taking care of your younger brother this entire time? Alas, it must have been a youth ruined." Cyril said with a sigh.
When Careena stopped crying, Ganter said, "I wish I could have told you sooner, but I didn't have a way to get here until now; Nuevo turned four a week ago, and I thought that this would be a good time to make the first trip here."
"I almost wish I hadn't been so talented, otherwise I would have been there, and not training to be a guardian." Careena said sadly.
"Don't say that, maybe this was meant to be, even if I hate it." Ganter hugged Careena more.
"Perhaps a funeral should be arranged, what happened to them exactly?" Cyril asked.
Ganter shuddered, "An assassin of sorts. I don't really know what happened the following morning though; their bodies just vanished though, as if by magic."
"Strange, if you would like, we can offer you three a permanent residence here at the temple." Cyril replied.
"Actually, I was hoping Careena could come back home with us." Ganter looked up at the guardian of ice.
"Hmm, normally, I would have to consult with the others about this, but seeing as how you three should not be separated any longer, I will let you proceed with this. But I do have one request; that you let me fly to your home with you, I would like to see how it has changed in the last several years." Cyril said thoughtfully.
"Deal." Ganter smiled.
(Flashback ends)
Nuevo sighed; after that, Cyril had escorted them home, and spent a few more hours with them before heading back to Warfang. Things were great then, and this year would have been no different; that is, if it weren't for the scene unfolding in front of Nuevo's eyes.
"If you weren't in my way …!"
"If you weren't in my way …!"
"… We wouldn't be starving!"
Nuevo sighed; his older siblings had gotten into a fight; it had started earlier that day.
(Flashback)
"Okay, you can go that way, and me and Nuevo can go this way, okay?" Ganter asked Careena.
"Alright, one of us has to be able to catch something; there isn't a whole lot of food this time of the year." Careena nodded her head.
And so they split off and went their ways; Nuevo followed silently behind his brother as they looked for prey. Trudging through the snow, Nuevo smelled a deer to his right, and nudged Ganter, pointing him in that direction. Ganter silently beamed, and crept in that direction; now he could see the deer too, and almost see it as well. The deer had its head to the ground, unaware of the brothers' presence. Ganter was grinning as he prepared to pounce on the deer, and so he lept, but he something else had ended up crashing into him, and Nuevo winced seeing this.
Startled, the deer ran off, and the brothers looked at who had crashed into Ganter; it was Careena, already bristling with anger, "You dolt, I could have caught that."
"Well excuse me for not knowing you were after my prey." Ganter retorted.
"Your prey? It would have been mine if you had gone after something else." Careena said back.
"Well, now we've got nothing to eat. Come on, let's go back home." Ganter said, going back to the cabin without another word or glance to Careena.
(Flashback ends)
The argument had been reignited when empty stomach's started to protest, and that brought them to their current situation.
"Maybe you should have just gone another way." Ganter whipped his tail in annoyance.
"Well, if I would have known that you were going after the deer, I would have." Careena retorted.
"This is all your fault," Ganter lied down, "if you would have stayed with mom and dad, then none of this would be happening."
Careena gasped, "Don't you dare blame this on me! None of us would have known that would happen."
Nuevo just stood there, his jaw gaping in shock at what he had just heard, but before he could say anything, Ganter moved his bed away from Careena's, "I'm going to bed, why don't you sleep with me, Nuevo?"
Since Ganter had seemed to ignore her, Careena moved her bed to another side of the room, "Hey Nuevo, why don't you sleep with me tonight?"
Nuevo looked from his brother to his sister, horrified; he could only sleep next to one of them, and the one he didn't choose would be upset, and the last thing he needed now was for one of his siblings to think he liked the other more, he didn't know what to do!
Nuevo was torn; there was only one way out of this, and he hated it. Looking at the ground, he said, "I think I'll just sleep here for tonight."
"Oh, okay." Ganter said, disappointed.
Careena had felt the same way, "Alright then."
As his older siblings started to fall asleep, Nuevo sighed, hoping this would all blow over in the morning. Little did he know how wrong that would be.
The next morning, when Nuevo woke up, he saw Ganter looking at Careena, and Careena walked outside with a harrumph. As Ganter sat down, Nuevo asked, "Aren't you going to go hunting with her?"
"Go hunting with who? It's just us." Ganter feigned ignorance.
Nuevo felt appalled with his brother for the first time, "With Careena. You're not just going to leave her alone, are you?"
Ganter only shrugged his wings; Nuevo feared for how bad this was escalating. He also wondered why Ganter and Careena were so upset with each other; this wasn't the first time they had failed to find something to eat, so why was it this time that his siblings were fighting?
Nuevo scratched the floor with a claw; what if Ganter and Careena continued to be mad at each other? What if they actually hit each other, and got into a not-so-friendly fight? The worries started to eat Nuevo's soul; he had to figure out some way of getting the two to make up before they did or said something that they'd regret.
Careena had eventually returned with a squirrel, but had initially refused to share it with Ganter. It took Nuevo protesting and pestering her in order for her to give some of it to their brother. Nuevo sighed after finishing his share of the squirrel; things continued like that for most of the day; with Ganter and Careena getting into arguments, and then refusing to even acknowledge the other for periods of time.
Nuevo feared for the worst; the night after tomorrow would be the start of the anniversary, so if things weren't patched up by then, Nuevo feared things might never go back to normal. That day was such fragile day, so being angry with one another might cause a rift between them. Then again, Nuevo could just be letting such thoughts into his head; maybe this was only temporary, and everything would be better tomorrow. These conflicting thought swam through his head until he finally fell asleep that night.
Nuevo woke to the sound of Ganter and Careena talking, but no, they weren't just talking, they were in yet another argument.
"Well, if you blame me so much, then maybe you should just go live back at Warfang!" Ganter growled.
"Maybe I should." Careena replied angrily.
"Then go do it already; just leave already." Ganter hissed.
What Nuevo heard next made his blood run cold; Careena started to cry as she ran out, "I hate you."
"And I hate you back." Ganter grumbled, sitting down.
Nuevo stared at Ganter in horror; his brother never used the word 'hate' before, "Aren't you going to do something? Go and apologize."
Ganter only turned his head away, ashamed at what he said. Nuevo was in shock; how had a little argument about food gone so wrong? Starting to cry, Nuevo ran outside after his sister, "Careena, wait!"
As Nuevo ran off, Ganter looked at him in surprise, "Nuevo." He said softly.
Careena stopped as she saw Nuevo run after her, in tears, she said, "What do you want?"
"Please don't go." Nuevo hugged Careena in desperation.
"Why shouldn't I?" Careena croaked out, still in tears.
"Because I want you to stay, we're supposed to be a family, and I won't let some argument separate us." Nuevo said firmly.
"Hmp, try telling that to Ganter." Careena huffed, starting to stop crying.
"I would, if I knew how to. And to think, tomorrow is the day." Nuevo replied.
Careena sighed, "I know, I wish I could forgive Ganter, but hunting has been so tough this winter. We can't afford to miss any prey."
"That doesn't mean you have to get angry at each other; we promised to stick together, no matter what happens." Nuevo replied, thinking of a day after their first meeting.
"I wish I could keep that promise right now, but it's too late for that. See you some other day, little brother." Careena started to walk off.
Nuevo's eyes widened and he created an ice wall in front of his sister, "Please don't, please don't leave us."
Careena looked at her heart-broken brother, "Alright, I'll stay, just for you."
The two went back inside the cabin, but as Careena walked by Ganter, they refused to look at each other; Nuevo still had work to do. The rest of the day was … bland, to put it mildly. With the rift between Ganter and Careena, the three of them didn't do too much. Nuevo had taken every opportunity to try and get his siblings to make up, with limited success. Eventually, they had started looking at each other again, and stopped yelling at each other, but they had yet to truly make up.
It was nighttime when Nuevo looked outside at the falling snow; thanks to his encouragement, Nuevo had convince his brother and sister to get their annual party set up; it was something they had created to mark this time of the year. They had also invited a few friends, but Nuevo was worried what would happen if there was a fight. Walking over to his bed, he sighed; Ganter and Careena were still on opposite sides of the room.
Before falling asleep, Nuevo said to himself, "I hope this will all be over in the morning, for everyone's sake."
When Nuevo woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was in some kind of misty plain, and he wasn't alone; similar looks of confusion were on the faces of Ganter and Careena.
"Is it just me, or are we sharing a dream?" Ganter asked.
"No, we must be sharing a dream." Nuevo replied when Careena did not.
"What's going on?" Careena asked.
Just then, two shapes walked out from the mist, and the three pairs of eyes widened in awe; their mother Sarah, and father Sorow had arrived. The trio had first reunited with their deceased parents a couple months ago and had been waiting to talk with their spirits again ever since.
Before they could run over to their parents, Sorow said disapprovingly, "Now hold on up, children. We may have been waiting a while to speak with you again, but we did not expect it to be like this."
"What do you mean?" Ganter asked with a wave of his tail.
"We mean this conflict between you and your sister; we never want you to get in such an argument." Sarah replied.
Ganter dipped his head down in understanding, guilty of what he had done. However, Careena said defiantly, "But if Ganter hadn't gone after my deer, we wouldn't be so hungry."
Sorow gave his daughter a cold glare, "Listen here, we raised you better than that. The three of you are meant to love one another. Maybe other families aren't as closely bonded, but we are. We want you three to be the embodiment of what a real family should be like; with hearts big enough to care for those in need. Now do you understand?"
"I understand." Careena mumbled.
"Ganter, don't you have anything you would like to say?" Sarah pressed the issue.
Ganter looked up at his parents, "I don't know right now." He had hoped that this reunion wouldn't involve the recent events.
Sarah sighed, "I may not be sure why exactly you two are fighting over the missed deer, but I do know this, I want it to stop right now. Hunting isn't supposed to be easy, especially this time of the year. You are bound to encounter a time where you have missed your prey and grow hungry, but that must never, and I repeat, never, be a reason for you two to get in an argument." She had spoken the last part sternly.
Nuevo had remained silent the entire time; he was glad that their mother and father had picked off where he left off.
Ganter felt ashamed that he had gotten so upset with Careena, and even more so that his parents were upset with them, "What can we do to make this up?"
"You can apologize to your sister right now, and the same goes for you Careena. The two of you need to make up before things get worse, and that means doing it right now." Sorow replied.
Ganter and Careena looked at each other; both were saddened by the fact that they had let this go so far. With a reluctant sigh, Careena said, "Sorry Ganter, I guess I should have tried to warn you when I spotted the deer. Maybe I just felt that it was your fault for it because, well I wanted to blame someone for the deer running away, and you were the only one, other than me, that is."
Ganter sulked, "And I'm sorry for getting upset with you. I'm supposed to be the one keeping us together, and I failed. I should have never gotten angry at you."
"I believe a hug is in order." Nuevo suggested.
Ganter and Careena looked at their younger brother and then to each other, and after a few moments, embraced each other in their wings, crying.
Nuevo looked up at their parents, and Sarah said, "Thank you Nuevo for keeping your siblings from making things worse. The three of you have to keep an eye on one another since we are dead, we won't be able to be there all the time."
"Yes, you three mustn't ever give up on one another, this is the one thing we hope for all of you; that you stick together and protect each other. That is what a family such as ours is like. Can you promise that you will never get into such an argument again?" Sorow said next.
"We promise." Ganter and Careena said at the same time, and then smiled when they realized they spoke at the same time.
"Good, now why don't you give your parents a hug?" Sorow smiled, unfurling his wings.
The siblings rushed over and embraced their parents grasp. Afterwards, Sarah said, "Well, our dear children, we will talk with you another night, but until then, stay safe, and stay together."
"We will." Ganter said, happy once more.
It was then that the trio found themselves ejected out of the dream-world and back to reality; it was the very next morning.
Ganter yawned, while the 'dream' only seemed to last less than an hour, the entire night had passed. Looking outside, he saw that among the falling snow were the shapes of friends tey had invited over for the upcoming party.
"Nuevo, Careena, they're coming." He nudged his brother and sister awake.
"Great." Nuevo stretched his limbs as he woke up.
Careena was looking into Ganter's eyes, "Mother and father were right, let's try not to get upset like that with each other anymore, okay?" She said it pleadingly.
"Don't worry Careena; I won't let that ever happen again. Anyway, cheer up, we've got quite a day ahead of us." Ganter said with a smile.
(Okay folk, what do you think? As mentioned at the top, Dragon-Uprising helped out this story; I couldn't figure out what the argument was about, so he suggested that it was over the hunting problem. On other news, yeah, Sarah and Sorow are the reason for their views about what a family should be like. Oh, and one last thing, I will be getting back to my other stories soonish.)