Authors Note: Since today Christmas, I thought I should write something festive. This idea has been swimming around in my mind for the past few days, begging to be written, and I haven't submitted anything to in months... so... Voila! XD Anyway, happy X-mas everyone, and I hope you enjoy!
The Gift
"Wake up! Vash, Knives..." Rem prodded the two sleeping boys gently. They didn't wake, but stirred slightly, so she spoke louder. "Wake up!" she whispered excitedly.
The two boys sleepily opened their eyes and looked up at Rem, who standing over their bed. "Huh...?"Knives groaned , eyes focusing on the fuzzy red hat placed lopsidedly on Rem's head. She giggled at his confused face.
Vash rubbed his eyes and asked sleepily, "What's that thing on your head, Rem?"
Rem took it off her head and handed it to him. "It's called a Santa hat! Do you know what today is?" Vash and Knives shook their heads, interested.
"Today is December 25, a day that was celebrated on Earth, called 'Christmas'. On the night before Christmas, it is said that a man called 'Santa Claus' would go around the world, visiting good children's houses and leaving them gifts. He rode a magical sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, and wore a big red suit over his big belly, and a fuzzy red hat over his long white hair."
The two boys blinked, looking confused at Rem's explanation, and Rem giggled at them again. "C'mon, you two, get dresses, and I have something to show you!" She gently placed her Santa hat over Knives' messy hair before turning and leaving their room, the sliding door closing with a click.
Vash and Knives looked at each other, shrugged, and climbed out of their bed, still stiff from sleep, and changed from their pajamas into tiny SEEDS crew suits. "Santa Claus sounds like a weird guy..." Knives said, pulling the hat from his head and handing it to Vash, who put it on. He faced knives with a big goofy grin and the two laughed.
When they were done dressing, Vash and knives walked cautiously out of their room, and to the control room. They both stopped in their tracks and stared at the corner of the room, where Rem was standing next to a gigantic holographic pine tree, covered in flashing lights, colored ornaments, and tinsel. At the very top of the tree was a small star, shining deep gold. Beneath the tree were two carefully wrapped packages. The boys walked to Rem, gaping at the scene.
"This is a Christmas tree! it was a part of the Christmas tradition to have a decorated tree."
"But what are those, Rem?" Knives asked, pointing to the two gifts under the tree, one wrapped in shiny green paper, the other in red.
"Christmas was a time for people to get together with the people that they loved and cared for. They would exchange gifts to show their love." She paused to smile at them. "These are for you, from me!"
Vash and knives smiled widely at her, and picked up the boxes with their names on them, examining them. "Go ahead, open them!" Rem said, and they unwrapped the paper from the boxes carefully. Knives slid a large, smooth scientific calculator with lots of buttons from his box, and Vash pulled from his a chess board, followed by polished black and white chess pieces. "Thanks Rem!" They said in unison. She nodded at them.
After Vash and Knives had fiddled with their gifts a bit, Rem announced, " Guess what? I still have one more surprise for you two! Follow me and you'll see!" She winked at them and motioned them to follow her out the door. Vash and Knives stood up from the floor by the tree and followed Rem anxiously out of the control room and through more hallways of the ship.
"Where are you taking us, Rem?" Vash asked, walking fast to keep up with Rem, Knives at his side.
"We're almost there..." Rem answered, and led them to a large door. Inside the door was the room where the sleeping people on the main ship stayed. Rem showed them a door inside the room that they had never seen before, leading to a smaller room full of people in deep sleep chambers.
Once inside, she shut the door behind them. "Now." She started, and drew in a large breath of air. "I have been thinking about this for a long time, considering it, weighing the outcomes and consequences of this, but I think you two have proven yourselves trustworthy." Vash and Knives listened intently, eyes wandering around the room curiously and then back to Rem.
"Here, in this room, are five hundred cryogenically preserved humans. I have decided that, after watching you boys carefully watch the others and help me with my work with them, that you are very responsible. So, I am going to allow you both to take complete care of everyone in this room." She finished the last sentence warily.
Vash and knives stared at her, wide-eyed. "Really?! We get a whole room of people to monitor all by ourselves?"
"Yes. I know that you boys care a lot about the safety and well-being of the sleeping people on this ship, so I believe that I can trust you with this."
The two boys stared around the room in awe. "This means that two hundred and fifty people will be under Knives's care, the other half will be under Vash's."
"Wooooow..." The two boys explored their halves of the room, peering through the glass of the chambers at the faces of the people that they would be watching, some elderly, some just children, with frozen smiles on their faces.
"I'll leave you boys in here for a while." Rem said happily as she left the room. "And Merry Christmas!" She put the Santa hat back on here head as she smiled to herself.
I'm not really sure if Rem would do a thing like this, but it seemed right as I was writing. -shrug-
Hmm... I kind of wanted vash and knives to converse a little bit after Rem left, but I had no idea what they would say, or how I would end it. Oh well. I love cute little fics that involve vash and knives as children... so I'm glad that I wrote this and have one of my own now!
I actually have a spark of an idea of how I could continue this... anyone think that I should? I would appreciate any feedback from readers (yes, you!), so please leave me a review, and tell me what you think.
Thanks for reading, and happy X-mas :D