A RWBY: Shadows Christmas
"Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the waaaaaaay!"
Strawberry skipped around a Christmas tree, hanging up decorations as roses and tulips bloomed all over it.
"Oh what fun it is to ride on a one horse open sleigh!" She sang giddily. "Oh, I love Christmas! The best time of year!"
"Here, here!" Azure cheered, wearing a Santa hat. "A day made specifically for giving gifts and getting food. What could be better?"
"I wonder what I should get Emin this year?" Strawberry pondered. "He seemed to like that plushie I got him last year."
"Uh, Strawberry, hate to say it, but I don't think kiddy gifts will cut it this year." Azure told her. "He's officially a Hunter-In-Training now."
"Nonsense! Emin will always be the precious little cinnamon roll he's always been." She declared.
Azure sighed. "By the way, where is he?"
Strawberry looked around, unable to find the spiritual leader. "That's funny, he was here this morni-...Oh he did NOT!" She quickly hurried out of the room.
RWBY
A soft humming filled the air surrounding the front of Beacon Academy.
Phillip Eminence Phlox was shovelling a pathway up to the school, wearing a dark purple jacket and dark green scarf, wielding a wide shovel that he shoved into the ground before tossing it's contents to the right of him.
"Emin!" He stopped as a figure crunched through the snow until they were right behind him. Turning, they saw a disapproving Strawberry dressed in a puffy pink coat with cream mittens and earmuffs.
"...Yes, Strawberry?" He asked.
"Are you working on Christmas Eve?" She questioned.
"...Yes?"
"The correct answer is NO!" With the strength of Azure, she picked him up and threw him over her shoulder. "Festive funtime! Not work time! We're gonna drink hot cocoa and roast chestnuts on an open fire!"
"I just wanted to make a clear path for everybody." He pointed out.
"Come on, Emin, can't you treat yourself one day of the year?" The woman closed the front doors behind her as they returned indoors.
"Strawberry...maybe I don't want to." Emin sighed.
Strawberry stopped, and gave him a sad glance. "Emin...I know how you feel about...what happened. But it's Christmas. The happiest time of the year. So, if not for me, please, be happy for everyone else."
Emin thought about that for a moment. "Everybody else?...Maybe I can do that."
Strawberry perked up. "Yeah! Think about it! This year, we met Team RWBY and Team JNPR! And they're your friends now!"
"You're right, Strawberry." Emin nodded. "Hmmmm...maybe I should get everybody presents."
"Oh! That's a wonderful idea!" Strawberry agreed. "Finally, you have friends to exchange gifts with! Ah! I mean..."
"It's fine, Strawberry." Emin waved. "I'm gonna try and get gifts for everybody!"
"That is really mature of you, Emin." She put him down. "Okay then, why don't you think about some things, and then I can get them for you?"
"Uh...yep." He agreed.
Strawberry clasped her hands together. "Great! I'm gonna go make us cocoa!" She then hurried off back to their room.
"Presents for everybody..." Emin pondered for a moment. "I'll go and check out my stuff!" He then hurried off towards the janitors closet.
RWBY
Velvet walked down the hall, dressed in a brown leather coat with white fake fur, carrying a small red present.
"Mmmmmm..." She looked down at the little gift with a mix of nervousness and fear. "I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this, and after everybody on my team helped me too! Maybe I should-"
"Hello, Velvet."
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih!" Velvet shrieked, hiding the gift behind her back as Emin walked by her.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"E-E-Emin! Y-Yes! Fine! Yep! P-Perfectly fine!" She stammered, her face bright red.
"...Alright." Emin nodded. "I'll see you later, Velvet, for Christmas."
"Y-Yes! For Ch-Christmas! Tomorrow! D-Definitely!" Velvet nodded, as Emin walked away, making her press her face into the gift and scream quietly. "Stupid...stupid...!"
Emin opened the janitors closet and grabbed his bag of trinkets, diving head first into it. "Presents...presents..." He then emerged from out of the bag. "There are so many in here...I don't know what everybody would like. Hmmmmmmm..."
RWBY
In the Mess Hall, a large Christmas Tree stood at the front, whilst the tables were lined with Christmas themed cloth and silver platters in preparation for a large feast tomorrow.
"Christmas time, is the best time, the best time of the yeeeeeeear!" Ruby sang, wearing Santa clothes and a hat.
"You are enjoying this far too much." Weiss mumbled, dressed in her regular garb.
"Come on, Weiss! Get into the spirit!" Yang encouraged.
"Yeah! Even someone as grumpy as you can't hate Christmas!" Ruby said.
"EXCUSE me!? I am NOT!" Weiss rebutted.
"You're right." Blake nodded absentmindedly whilst reading. "After all, you're dressed like a snowman year round."
"Not you as well!" Weiss yelled.
"Wahoooooo! It's CHRIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAS!" Nora screamed at the top of her lungs.
"My ears...my poor ears." Ren groaned.
"Christmas is such a brilliant time!" Jaune nodded.
"Is that because you're able to wear that?" Nora pointed at Jaune's Christmas jumper, which had a picture of a snow bunny on it.
"N-No! Not just that!" He replied, flustered.
"Relax, Jaune, you look adorable." Pyrrha snickered.
"'Adorable' isn't exactly what I'm going for." Jaune sighed.
"So, what are we doing for presents?" Yang brought up the number one question.
"Ohhhhhhh yes! Presents!" Ruby's eyes sparkled.
"Are you really so focused on gifts?" Weiss giggled. "What are you? 5?"
"Spilsport..." Ruby whined.
"I'm actually with Weiss on this one." Blake surprisingly agreed. "Christmas is all about coming together, and enjoying the ones you have with you."
"Well, I like that too!" Ruby defended herself.
"Hello." Emin suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Gah!" Ren gasped, whilst everybody else froze in shock.
"E-Emin! Don't just teleport in front of us like that!" Weiss said.
"Sorry. I just wanted to ask you something." He explained. "What would you guys like for Christmas?"
"Isn't it supposed to be secret?" Pyrrha thought aloud.
"I want presents!" Both Ruby and Nora cried, making Yang and Jaune respectively pull them back down.
"That's very nice of you, Emin, but, we don't need anything for Christmas, just each other." Jaune told him.
"That was SO cheesy." Nora disapproved.
"You don't have to give us gifts, Emin. Besides, I don't think any of us have enough money to get you a thank-you." Yang explained.
Emin blinked twice. "So...I just have to be with you?"
"Exactly." Jaune nodded.
He blinked twice again. "...I need to be with everybody...um...who else do I need to see?"
"I would like a gift..." Ruby mumbled, only for Weiss to cover her mouth.
"...Ah! There's one person I still need to visit, then!" Emin quickly flashed away again.
"Besides, Emin already has given us gifts." Blake said.
"Huh?...Oh, right!" Ruby remembered.
RWBY
"I wonder where Emin is now." Strawberry thought aloud, sipping hot cocoa.
"He's probably hanging out with his friends. You should be proud of him." Azure told her, chugging his own cup of chocolate.
"It is nice...this will finally be like a proper Christmas for Emin." She smiled, looking out the window. "It's getting snowy outside...I hope he's fine."
"We'll walk around Beacon and bring him back before his drink gets cold." Azure stated. "We'll be together in front of the fire soon."
RWBY
Emin turdged through the snow in his winter garb, looking around at the snowy cubes that were once buildings.
"Maybe this was a bad idea..." He began to have second thoughts. "I thought I'd find her in town again..but why would she go out in this snow?"
As he walked into one of the streets in Vale, he froze (not literally) as figures began to close in around him. Beowolves surrounded him quickly, only the white spikes on their backs encompassed far more of their bodies, with their black fur only being seen on their legs.
"Winter Beowolves." Emin recognised them as he detached Eclipse Star from his back and extended it out into its full form.
As the Grimm pounced at him from all directions, he held his weapon up and set it spinning, causing a tornado to form around him that threw all the Beowolves back into the snow. As the twister died down, the snow stuck to Eclipse Star, making its obsidian black metal become a brilliant white as its green edges shone through.
"Haaaaaaah!" He quickly tossed the weapon forward, the snow dispersing in a vicious flurry that sliced through over half of the Grimm, making them roar as their shadows dissolved against the snow, as the rest of them fled.
"This was a bad idea." Emin shivered. "I should go back to Beacon before anything troublesome shows up."
He began running out of town, and made it back to the now not-so shoveled pathway towards Beacon. But then involuntarily hopped in place as the ground shook slightly. "Uh-oh..."
A shadow suddenly jumped out of the snow. It had a long, lanky body with thin limbs, and bone white claws. It had spiked white hair and an evil smirk filled with sharp teeth, as white fur also flayed over its torso.
"A Shroud? These things are rare..." Emin seemed to remember.
The Grimm gave out a low growl before it swung one of its paws at Emin, who jumped back to avoid it. He threw his weapon at the monsters head, but it only leaned to the side to avoid it, making the quickly retrieve his shuriken as it returned to him before it could slash at him again.
He quickly changed his weapon into its fist form and threw a punch which collided with the Grimm's slash, cancelling each other out. He then switched the weapon into its lance form and thrust it at the monsters chest, but the fur covering its body almost instantaneously sharpened into white spikes which clashed against the lance and stopped the attack. The spikes turned back into fur before it jumped above Emin in preparation for a body slam, sharpening its fur into spikes once again, only for Emin to flash away at the last second, leaving the Shroud to flop into the snow instead.
"I have to get rid off it quickly! I'll bet it all on this!" Pulling his arm back, Emin tossed the spinning blades with all his might towards the creatures head. However, the monster swatted it away with his claw, and Emin could only watch as his weapon was sent flying through one of Beacon's windows. "...Oh no."
Left defenseless, Emin used his Semblance to dodge as much asa possible as the Shroud swiped at him with its claws and its sharpened fur, making him stumble back in the snow further nd further until he fell on his behind. Sensing an opportunity, the Shroud raised its claws, sharpened its fur and...
Several blades shot through its body from behind, making the Grimm roar in pain as it turned to ash, and the blades floated back to their owner.
"Penny!" Emin gasped.
"Salutations, Emin!" She greeted him cheerfully. "I'#m surprised to see you here!"
"I'm relieved to see you." He admitted, getting up and brushing himself down. "I came looking for you in town, seeing as that's the only place I ever seem to find you."
"I wanted to play in the snow, so I got some time outside! Look! I can make a snow angel!" She instantly stiffened and collapsed back into the snow, before furiously waving her arms and legs around to create a proportionally accurate snow angel.
"Impressive." Emin noted, though he was more interested in her attire...which was exactly the same as usual. "Penny, aren't you cold?"
"Cold?" They stood there staring at each other for a while. "...Nope!"
"Okay." He accepted it.
"Emin!" He turned to see Strawberry and Azure run up to him. "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!"
"Sorry, Strawberry." Emin sheepishly said. "I was just looking for Penny."
"We were playing in the snow!" The girl spoke cheerfully.
"Is that all? You could've just told us!" Azure laughed. "What gave you that idea, though?"
"Team RWBY and Team JNPR told me that being together was really important on Christmas." He explained. "So I wanted to be with all my friends at least before tomorrow, so that everyone will be happy."
"Awwwwwwwwww!" Strawberry's face lit up. "You've become so thoughtful, Emin! I'm so proud."
"But, it's starting to get late. I think for the rest of the day, Team SEA should be together." Azure stated.
"I'd like that." Emin nodded. "Will I see you tomorrow, Penny?"
"Yep! I get to play in the snow again!" She beamed. "We can do it together! You, and Ruby, and me!"
"That sounds nice." Emin agreed. "Merry Christmas, Penny."
"Merry Christmas, Emin!" She waved, before returning to her play.
The rest of the evening was spent with Team SEA huddled together in warm blankets as Strawberry told old Christmas fairy tales in the warmth of the room. Soon enough, it was time to settle down into bed, and as Emin began drifting off, he took out the picture of Team SLVA and looked at it.
"I wish I could spend just one more Christmas with you..." He whispered, before sleep claimed him.
RWBY
"Emiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup!"
"Hmmmmmmm?" He sat up in bed to see Strawberry in her pajamas, bouncing on her heels giddily as she enveloped him in a hug.
"Merry Christmas, Emin!" She cheered.
"Merry Christmas, Strawberry." He returned the gesture.
"Merry Christmas, Emin..." Azure groaned from his bed, obviously having been woken up much too early by the female in the group.
"Merry Christmas, Azure." He waved weakly.
"Time to celebrate the festive cheer!" She cried, pulling him out of bed and over to their miniature Christmas tree, where a present sat underneath it. "This is from me and Azure. Go on! Open it up!"
"Right." Emin nodded groggily, carefully unwrapping the gift so as not to damage the packaging. Inside was a small, black mechanical box with sharp neon green edges, matching the colour scheme of Eclipse Star. Opening it, he found a little holder.
"Here, put your Scroll in it." Emin obeyed, placing it sideways into thew holder, which caused its screen to turn into a keyboard, as a holographic screen appeared in front of him. "Ta-da! It's a portable Scroll-powered computer! I'd been working on it for a bit and was gonna present the idea to Ozpin, but I wanted you to have the first one!"
"Wow...Strawberry, thank you!" Emin smiled lightly.
"You're welcome"" She hugged him. "I'm glad you liked it!"
"Hey, uh..." Azure suddenly got up and waved a small blue present in front of her face. "Look, it's not much, but I figured you deserved a gift this year."
"Oh, Azure! You didn't need to do this!" Strawberry blushed, accepting it anyway. Unwrapping it, she pulled out a pair of pink flower earrings. "I love them, thank you!"
"Heh, no problem." He smirked. "Now, the best gift you can give me at the minute...is a few more minutes in bed."
She patted him on the back. "You can have it. C'mon, Emin, let's go downstairs!"
The two members went down to the Mess Hall, which was already filled with people giving each other gifts and eating breakfast.
"Emin! Strawberry! Merry Christmas!" Ruby waved over to them.
"Merry Christmas, Team RWBY." They bopth greeted the group as they walked over.
"Hey, Emin! Great way of getting into the Christmas spirit!" Yang smirked.
"What do you mean?" Emin asked.
"What do you mean what do I mean? That!" She pointed at the giant Christmas tree, and Emin's eyes widened as he looked at the top of it.
Eclipse Star was stuck on the top of the tree, after having flown through the window, and landed in the perfect straight up position, knocking off the old star which now lay at the foot of the trunk.
"Eh? What is Eclipse Star doing up there, Emin?" Strawberry asked.
"Um..." Emin didn't really want to tell her it had been knocked up there in a battle with a Grimm on Christmas Eve.
"It doesn't really matter." Blake saved him. "It looks nice."
"Yeah..." He looked down. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you guys any gifts."
"You're still worrying about that?" Weiss asked. "But you already got us gifts."
"Huh? I did?" He asked.
The four of them then held up the little charms that Emin gave them from his trip to the shopping district. "These! Remember?" Ruby beamed.
"Those are lovely! How thoughtful of you, Emin!" Strawberry praised.
"Oh, y-your welcome." Emin nodded. "By the way, where's Team JNPR."
"They're outside, playing in the snow." Yang said.
"What!? Why didn't you tell me!?" Ruby gasped. "I wanna play in the snow too!"
"Ah! I also promised to play with Penny!" Emin remembered, making the two 'leaders' bolt out the door.
"Emin! Wait! Put something warm on!" Strawberry called after him.
Outside, many students were walking through the snow or skating on frozen lakes. Whilst some were...
"Yah!" Nora chucked a snowball into Ren's face with such force that he was knocked clean off his feet. "Hahaha! Gotcha! I win! Nora, snowball champion of forever!"
"Please stop..." Ren begged.
Ruby and Emin ran out to find Jaune building a snowman, patting down the torso. "Oh! Ruby, Emin, Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, Jaune!" They both greeted him.
""Merry Christmas to you both as well." Pyrrha said as she rolled the head up. "I reckon it's gonna be a good one."
"Any Christmas is a good one!" Jaune smiled as he picked up the head and placed it on the body.
"Ah! Emin! Ruby!" Penny suddenly ran up to them. "Salutations!"
"Merry Christmas, Penny." The two greeted her.
"You did come back today, Emin! And Ruby too! All our friends are together!" Penny smiled happily.
"Huh? Did you two meet up yesterday?" Ruby asked.
"Kinda..." Emin admitted.
"Look! Look! I've been making more snow angels!" Penny happily pointed out rows upon rows of snow angels, at least thirty, all in the snow in front of them.
"...Woah." Was all Ruby could say.
"That's a lot." Emin pointed out.
"Hey, Ruby!" She turned towards the voice, only to get a face full of snow as Nora burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! That was priceless!"
"Oh...now you're dead!" Ruby declared as she quickly made a snowball and charged into battle with a war cry.
"Oh! Is Ruby playing a game?" Penny asked.
"I think it's a snowball fight." Emin recognised it.
"Let's join in too, Emin!" Penny pulled him along as she gathered snow in her hand and chucked it with incredible force. A just recovered Ren was shocked once again as a snowball hit him in the chest with such velocity that he collapsed backward.
"Why..." He groaned in despair.
"Er..." Emin carefully scrunched his snow into a ball. "...Like this?" He then tossed it as if he was throwing Eclipse Star, sailing across the sky and smacking straight into Ruby's face. "Oops! S-Sorry, Ruby!"
She wiped the snow out of her face and smirked. "Oh, now this is a thing." She then picked up her own and chucked it, forcing Emin to duck and cover.
"Yay! This is fun!" Penny cheered as eh chucked snowballs at the speed of a train.
"Yeah...this is!" Emin agreed as he threw another snowball before ducking and covering again, as the snowball war raged on.
RWBY
The Mess Hall was abuzz with chattering as everybody had filed in for the long anticipated Christmas dinner. Team SEA sat together with RWBY and JNPR as they eagerly waited to remove the silver platters.
"I can't wait! I'm so hungry!" Ruby drooled slightly.
"That's because you went and had a snowball fight. Without ME!" Yang cried, offended.
"It's a shame Penny couldn't join us." Emin said.
"I'm sure she has her own Christmas to celebrate." Jaune nodded.
"Eyes up front guys, looks like Ozpin's about to give the Christmas speech." Azure pointed.
Ozpin stood at the front of the room, microphone in front of him, and cleared his throat and began to speak. "To all of you, seated before me today, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas. Because it is this day of the year, whatever reason it may be, that we feel most together with our comrades, our companions, our friends and our loved ones. It is a time for reflection on what you have accomplished this year, and what you can improve on. To be merry, and be thoughtful."
"Today, do not just think of those beside you, but think of those in your past who have helped you become the person you are today, and thank them for leading you down that path. Recognise the strengths you have gained and the obstacles you have overcome to sit here together today. You are the future that will protect the peace, THIS peace, this feeling of togetherness, warmth and love, as Hunters and Huntresses."
"Though Christmas only lasts one day every year, the feelings we have for it, we take from it, and give to it, can be felt all throughout our lifetimes, in how we help and be grateful for those around us. Never forget this feeling, and you shall always find the power to continue to better yourself. Thank you all." The Mess Hall erupted into cheer as Ozpin concluded his speech.
"Alright! Time to eat!" Nora cheered as everybody lifted off the silver platters, exposing the feast of chicken, turkey, stuffing, carrots, broccoli, gravy and every other Christmas food imaginable beneath.
"This all looks so GOOD!" Ruby squealed as she began stacking her plate.
"Here you go, Emin." Strawberry deliberately gave him very large pieces of food, which he thanked her for.
"This is the best part about Christmas! Besides the togetherness and all that, y'know?" Yang said with a full mouth.
"Jaune, you have got the tiniest bit of turkey there." Pyrrha pointed out.
"It's really tough to chew, so I don't eat much." His response caused her to snicker. "What?"
As Emin ate his dinner, he looked around at the Teams seated, as his closest friends and comrades, the people who had helped him so much this year.
'I will never forget it...this feeling.' He thought to himself.
"Um...Emin?"
He spun around on his chair to see Velvet standing there, holding something behind her back.
"Hello, Velvet. Are you okay?" He asked.
"U-Um...well...y-you see..." She seemed to glance over at her Team on a different table, who looked like they were silently screaming at her. She suddenly bowed so low her face was looking at the floor as she held out the present she had yesterday. "I-I-I made this for you! A-As a gift!"
"Really...?" Emin hesitantly took the gift. He had never received a present other then from Strawberry at his time in Beacon. "You made this for me?"
"Yes!" She cried a bit too loudly. "I-I'm sorry if you don't like it!"
Emin paused before carefully opening the wrapping, and pulling something else. It was a picture of Emin and Velvet looking incredibly nervous and awkward together in the Mess Hall, in a bronze frame.
"I-It's the first picture I took of us together!" Velvet's voice had practically dropped to a whisper. "I know it looked really bad, and I s-said I was going to throw it away...b-but I still kept it! I don't know why! A-And I thought I'd frame it and...give it...to you..."
Emin stared long and hard at the picture, before he smiled warmly. "Velvet...I love it. I love it so much. Thank you."
She stood up straight with a flustered look as Emin held the picture close to his chest. "Merry Christmas, Velvet."
The Faunus blinked twice before returning the smile. "Merry Christmas, Emin."
And on top of the tree, Eclipse Star shone brightly in the light.
So...I wrote this, in the Christmas spirit, and decided to post it...yeah.
I understand RWBY: Shadows isn't my most popular story...but I love it, and I have plans for it, big plans, which I am constantly redrafting and changing until I feel it is perfect, because I love it so much, and I love RWBY so much. And honestly, the story itself is being driven purely by my own care for it by now. I've tried making art for it to show just how much I do love it, and to make it more appealing for everybody but...I'm not a painter, I'm a writer, and all I can do is write the best I can to show how strongly I feel.
To anybody who actually bothered to read this. Thank you. And the best Christmas gift you can give to me this year, is a comment. Five seconds of your time to type something down for me to read and let me know that I'm actually doing something noteworthy, be it for this story, or RWBY: Shadows itself. Anything from what you think, to tips and improvements, or even just flaming me for being a wuss.
Like Emin, despite all the horrible things you have to go through, have a very happy and merry Christmas, with the people you love around you.