AN: Hey all, hope you are enjoying this story! Yuppers. Thanks go to H. C. A., Naoko and Kaitlyn Fall, for various and previously mentioned reasons! Hooray!

The Early Winter

A couple of hours later found Serenity and Endymion playing chess – something Serenity wasn't very good at but insisted on practicing. The pair sat on old rickety chairs on the balcony, covered with a blanket each and rubbing their hands against the chilly wind. Though it was cold, this was Endymion and Serenity's favourite place in the world, and so they braved the weather.

"So were you at the blacksmith's for the locket?" Serenity asked as she moved a rook, intent on capturing one of Endymion's knights. She shivered as a particularly chilly breeze carried past, capturing her hair and making it dance over her shoulders. Serenity willed the crawling sensation that was currently making its way up her back to leave her be. It was messing with her concentration.

"Uh-huh. Had to get the catch fixed. The lid wouldn't open when I tried it last week. Guess it hasn't been played in a really long time."

Since the deaths of Endymion's parents seven years previously, Endymion had been brought up solely by his Grandmother. Over the years, Serenity's and his relationship had evolved from friends to close friends to best friends to practically siblings. In fact, as one was rarely seen without the other by their side, most of the town considered them so anyway, especially after...

"It's getting cold out," Serenity noted as she tucked the blanket further around her legs and snuggled into her coat, that crawling sensation in her spine now joined by a nagging feeling at the back of her head. She didn't understand either of them. "Earlier than usual this time of year too. I'll miss the roses while they're sleeping."

Endymion made his move and glanced around them at their private garden. Every type of flower they'd been able to find in and around their village over the years were there. Their shared balcony was like a small floristry. But a favourite of Endymion's and Serenity was the rose – particularly the red. It had fascinated them as young children, and even years later, its ethereal beauty still managed to entrance them.

But around them, flowers were dying. Autumn had come too quickly this year, and winter was fast approaching. No flower stayed in the cold if it could be helped.

Serenity made a careless move and Endymion captured her pawn, eyeing a hole she'd left in her defences. He reached for his knight.

"Check," he said.

Serenity scowled and hunched over the board, planning her strategy again.

"Darlings, it's getting cold out. No sane person could stay out here. Come in please," Endymion's grandmother called from up the stairs.

"Coming, Gran!" the teenagers called back. Serenity picked up the blankets and folded them over her arm. She would be glad to be inside, where the cold couldn't play tricks on her body like it was doing so now, actually. She didn't like the creepy crawling or annoying nagging sensations – they almost felt ominous in some way.

"See if you can wrangle us some hot drinks?" she asked as she began the balancing act that was the beam between their two balconies. Though living in adjacent houses, their balconies were remarkably close together. When they'd been younger, Endymion and Serenity had knocked down a wall of each balcony and slid a thick beam between that acted as a walkway.

Only what had been considered 'thick' as children was now seen as much, much thinner to the teenagers. Endymion's long strides meant he only required one step on the wood, whereas Serenity had to dance her way across as lightly as possible. Neither thought much of changing the wood.

Endymion held the chessboard flat on his hand, intending to take it down to his lounge room. "Only if you bring some of your birthday cake from downstairs. Saw it on the counter; don't pretend you don't have one."

"I was going to share!" Serenity laughed. "I'm appalled you would think I wouldn't!"

"We don't call you bottomless pit for nothing," Endymion said, winking as he disappeared through the staircase.

"Who calls me that!" Serenity cried out indignantly, already descending her own. "How rude," she continued a couple of minutes later as she emerged through Endymion's kitchen, bearing two plates of vanilla cake. "Who calls me that?"

"Eh, not telling," Endymion grinned from his seat at the table. Serenity slid his slice in front of him and eyed the board.

"Oh shoot," she said. "I'm going to lose."

"You were going to take my rook to get to my King, weren't you? And then I'd-"

"Yeah, yeah," Serenity grumbled. "I don't need a play by play."

"Well it's just that I know you aren't going to want to properly finish the game now that you can already see you're going to lose, and I just want to say checkmate while you're still paying attention and all..."

"Oh you are so unsportsmanlike! I don't think I'll play another round of chess for the rest of my life!"

"That's for sure," Endymion's grandmother agreed as she ambled over with two mugs of hot chocolate. "You two raise up such a racket when you play games in this house! Now get on over by the fire, or you'll catch your death!"

Serenity flicked Endymion's Queen over and carried her plate and mug to the couch, where she huddled into the corner and curled up. "Thanks Gran," she said as Endymion's grandmother threw a blanket over them both, snuggled in the opposite ends of the couch.

"Well, isn't this lovely?" Gran asked happily as she settled herself into the armchair closest to the fire. "A lovely autumn afternoon spent reclining by the fireplace with loved ones." She smiled to herself, and her old, wrinkled skin crinkled around her eyes, the same smile that occasionally gave Serenity and Endymion a glimpse into the beautiful face she had once had in her youth.

"I wouldn't call this autumn," Endymion disagreed, blowing the steam from his mug. "More like early winter."

As they turned to look out the closest window, indeed the beginning flakes of snow were seen gliding down lazily past the glass.

"Reminds me of a tale I once heard as a young girl, when we had a particularly early and long winter."

"Would you tell us?" Serenity asked as she sipped her drink, feeling the immediate warmth spread over her tongue and down her throat, the hot creamy liquid weaving its way through her body.

"Are you serious?" Endymion snorted. "We're not going to sit here by the fire and tell fairytales and ghost stories now, are we? I think we're a little too old for Little Red Molly-hood and Melvin and the three bears."

Serenity kicked him under the blanket and he was silent. "Gran, I'm sure it's a lovely tale and we would really love to hear it."

"Oh you cheeky boy," she wagged her finger at him. "One day, you're going to be the death of me, Endymion darling!" She settled herself more comfortably in the armchair and smiled at her audience, a twinkle in her eye.