Winter Wish

AN: Six months later and I am back….Wow…..It has been awhile hasn't it? Anyways, this is my first attempt to an Oban Fanfic done for a One-Shot challenge on an Oban forum. I hope you all enjoy!

Pairing: Aikka/Eva

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: If I owned Oban….Wow…..That would have made my Christmas!

Seeing a calendar during the great race of Oban was certainly a new sight for most. Even though a small date circled in red would have been common a few months ago on Earth it was now bizarre, for on Oban it was almost impossible to keep track of any period of time. Most of the time the inhabitants kept a record of what they needed to be doing by the sun and moon's phases instead of numerical time or dates. There were four main times in the day; sun rise, sun peak—which was almost equivalent to an Earth noon-, sunset, and moon peak—which was coincidentally close to midnight. As for dates, well those were never kept track of. As far as any creature other than humans there was only the four seasons.

That was all most needed, but someone decided to go past that during their stay on the planet of competition.

The calendar belonged to her….

On her calendar there were very few days marked, one because she had a limited supply of red markers, and two because she was only concerned with a few dates in her life.

The first was her anniversary of her mother's death. Though it brought back painful memories, but she wanted to remember it so even when she could not properly mourn it would be in her mind. It was May third. It also had a small line crossed through it. That and a tear blurred the crimson ink.

Next was her birthday, she had spent every one of them waiting for her father. It was September twenty-second. It was checked….Well actually scribbled out violently….. That and the girl could swear the word "JERK" was scrawled in there somewhere too.

Finally there was one date that even caught her off guard when seeing it. She must have marked it awhile back, since recently she would have never thought of celebrating. It was December Twenty-fifth….If the girl's calculations were right it would be marked out today.

Eva Wei, daughter in hiding, woke up rather slowly today. She shifted in bed a couple of times, finally deciding that there was no way to escape the gripping cold of the morning. It had to be about twenty degrees outside but like time there was no proper way to keep track of temperatures. Instead Eva would guess, and her guesses were never very high….

Twenty degrees…..It has to be twenty….

With a sigh she sat up, and instantly her bare skin was brushed with the freezing air of the dawn. Unconsciously she shivered and pulled her grey blanket up to her neck. She looked around silently and almost instantly her eyes came upon a snow covered window. Great….It was snowing…..That would not help the whole temperature situation. She sighed again—this time a bit louder—and pulled the cover down to her lap noticing Jordan was already gone…. Now she really needed to get up.

Annoyingly enough stepping out of a warm bed on a cold day was a lot like pulling off a bandage, you had to do it quickly or you would never do it at all….

This was a rather painful bandage…

"Freezing" Eva wined touching the cold stone floor. Her weight shifted back and forth as if her feet were protesting the new arctic temperature they had to stand on. If she didn't warm them up soon she would probably fall…..And then her bottom would be protesting her….A freezing bum did not sound too fun. Instead of waiting for the demonstration to begin she slipped her feet into a pair of socks and got dressed. As she pulled on her shirt she noticed her calendar. A red circle caught her eye.

December Twenty-fifth

It was not like Eva was expecting a perfect setting before her when she arrived downstairs. But somewhere in the back of her mind she had always pictured a Christmas like the ones on the television. It would be perfect; a huge green tree, the scent of warm cookies, and family and friends.

It wasn't like she was expecting it though….

As the teenage girl walked into the main room of the Earth team chambers she knew why she hadn't seen Jordan. He was sitting at the table with Stan and Koji, all drinking large mugs of some hot beverage and complaining about the cold. The room was dark and frosty, and the grey stone walls were starting to freeze a bit. Eva yawned and listened for the sound of a dripping coffee machine. She seemed to have seen it before hearing it….The machine was sitting on a bare stone counter already turned off, leaving the contents inside lukewarm at best.

It was nice to know she was remembered, especially today.

"Morning Molly" Jordan greeted. Eva looked up and smiled softly, her eyes glazing over his hot mug. Her smile instantly disappeared and was replaced by a scowl as he looked up at her, took a sip of the liquid, and smiled widely. Great…It smelled like hot chocolate…

Jerk….

Koji seemed to notice her change in emotion and held up his cup. "Would you like some? Don found some cocoa packets in the old rations"

"Nah…" Molly declined, though the temptation to take a sip of Koji's drink was high. But she had Jordan's cup in her sights. She wandered over behind Jordan's seat and with a swift motion his cup was in her hands and she was downing it. He seemed to notice right as she was getting to the soupy chocolate at the bottom of the mug.

"What was that for?!" Jordan exclaimed looking into the empty cup that was placed before him.

"For being a jerk face." Eva said simply, making her way out of the room. The boys looked at each other, blank expressions on their faces.

"Jerk face?" Jordan stated quizzically "What did I do?"

Eva trudged through the snow covered terrain of Oban. Formally travel on the planet was simple with use of her hover bike but now that was a laughable idea. Even if she could get it out of the garage, the motor would freeze over within seconds. So she was forced with walking through the snow.

There was no reason really for traveling through the snow this morning except to gain a bit of the scenery and quite a bit of frostbite. It was not a blizzard outside, but the snow was still falling at a steady pace. It had already covered the terrain in a thick blanket and was starting to cover a sheet over Eva's hair.

The snow put her in a strange Christmassy mood…But it still wasn't how she wanted it..

Oban was a lot like her home during Christmas. The Stern boarding school always got a decent amount of snow, but since they were living right beside their classes it was not like they got a snow day. Instead the children would trudge back and forth across the courtyard in effort to make it to class on time and most importantly dry…

As the holidays came along at school and everyone finally got to leave for the winter holiday she would sit outside in the courtyard, still clad in uniform, and watch the familiar cotton fall from the sky. She would wonder where her father was, if her mom was happy in heaven, and if either remembered her.

Of course now as she traveled through the freezing fluff she knew where her father was…

The other two questions though, were still a mystery…

"I guess this is going to be the same as those years." Eva muttered with a shiver. Her hands clung around her huge beige jacket in effort to keep warm. She did not even notice as a male stood behind her, his azure eyes watching the back of her head.

Perhaps I should go home….

"What is going to be the same?" The figure asked, slaughtering the teenagers thought process. She whipped around and her crimson eyes widened considerably in surprise as one of her best friends stood before her. He was clad in his usual attire; the only difference in his outfit was a crimson cloak around his shoulders. He smiled softly at his leading her checks too redden slightly.

"Prince Aikka?" she questioned breathlessly "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same question" he retorted inspecting the overly dressed girl. "Are you all right Molly? You look a bit cold." Eva's blush instantly became deeper warm most of her face. She was not exactly sure why she was blushing but at least it was keeping her face warm.

"A little bit" she answered quickly, looking away in effort to hide the new hue of her face. Aikka either did not seem to notice or didn't ask about its true meaning for he looked up into the sky for a moment.

"Beautiful is it not?" He asked softly gaining only a nod from the girl who still refused to look at him.

Maybe when her face turned back as cold as her body she would be able to look back.

Finally after a few seconds longer her face started to go numb once more and she brought herself back to eye contact.

"Aren't you cold Aikka?" She asked. He smiled and shook his head.

"Not really, during the winter solstice on Nourasia the weather is far worse. But perhaps you should go back inside, are humans not accustomed to this sort of weather?" Eva shook her head.

"No we have snow" she answered quickly, "It's just that no matter how much we have we're still cold. Our body isn't always winter friendly." Aikka nodded in understanding and held out his arm, offering to Eva. The same blush threatened to creep upon her face once more but she suppressed it and linked her arm within his.

"All the more reason to get you inside" he offered.

The walk back to the Earth Team hanger was a bit shorter than Eva's first trudge. Perhaps because she had someone to talk to this time. The two conversed about the races and the snow until they could both see the covered home of the Earth pilot. Aikka was about to release his appendage when he remembered something.

"Molly, what were you talking about before I startled you earlier?"

Eva stopped in her spot and thought for a moment. At first she had no idea what he was talking about but suddenly it her short term memory clicked. She tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"It was nothing" She replied "I was just acting like a kid and moping." She only got a bizarre look from Aikka's face.

"Moping?"

"Yeah, it's kind of like complaining I guess" Eva explained.

"What about?" He continued to question.

"Eh, nothing really. I just got angry at my gunner about something stupid, not saving me some hot drink on Christmas." She looked up at him and she was met with another blank look.

"What is Christmas?"

What's Christmas….How can he not-…Oh yeah….Not from Earth…

For most people, especially ones young enough to have the full experience of Christmas it was hard to express the holiday simply. It usually had to involve a speech about presents, food, caroling, Santa, family, and about a million other tasks. But then again Eva wasn't most people. She summed it up in a rather unorthodox way.

"Some dumb Holiday we have on Earth. It's really nothing much. We give some gifts have some turkey and it's over." Eva expected him now to ask what in the galaxy turkey was but instead she was met by another question.

"If it is so unimportant why did you get angry over a hot beverage?"

That was a good question actually. Why did she get mad? Perhaps it was because when she came to Oban she expected to have a family again. Sure she had teammates but she wanted a family…

Maybe someone that would remember a holiday like this, who could be with her…

"I don't know why I got mad" Eva said quietly "I guess I was just lonely. Usually Christmas is spent with people you care about. I never really got that. I thought after ten years I would have a holiday with…Well people who care." She felt a soft squeeze on her hand and suddenly felt as if she was just one big pity party. "B-but its fine! I'm used to it, I like being alone." She explained hastily.

"You wish to be alone Molly?" Aikka asked.

"I guess" she said. "I mean, no one really wants to be alone today on Earth, but some people have no choice."

"You have a choice" He whispered causing Eva's head to shoot up. It was not really his words that got the reaction, it was the fact that now his fingers were intertwined within hers. "Though we may not have this Chris- Chris-"He stumbled upon the words

"Christmas" she offered the struggling teen with an embarrassed laugh. He nodded and continued.

"Though we may not have Christmas on Nourasia we are often together in celebration. No one should have to be alone on a day like you described, and if you wish I'll celebrate with you." There was no way Eva could escape a rather large blush now…She could feel the fluttering snow melt against her cheeks with the heat. "That is what your holiday is about right? Being together?"

"Of course" she affirmed breathlessly. "I'd love to spend it with you Aikka" He offered her another smile.

"Then it is settled then. You'll have to explain everything to me Molly, now that we will be celebrating together I must know what to expect from Christmas."

"Of course" She confirmed again with a swift nod. Her face was caught though as it came back down by Aikka's other hand. She looked at him wide eyed as he touched her cheek.

"You also said something about gifts."

"Uh…Yeah, but I didn't really know I would be celebrating with anyone so I don't have any-"

Eva was cut off by a pair of warm lips brushing against her own. It only lasted a moment but her numbness from the bitter cold was replaced with this warm feeling. She leaned in and caught his lips a second time before he could pull away, this time kissing not out of surprise but out of her own will. Eventually the two did have to separate due to lack of air…As they moved apart it left two very warm teenagers in a perfect snowy scene.

So maybe this Christmas would be different….

"I hope this Christmas will be a very special one" Aikka told her. Eva nodded.

"It will be, I'll have to make sure you know all the traditions of our holiday."

I think the introduction of mistletoe is first in order….