4 Glass Swans

The glass represents a happy family.
But they've been separated.
One girl will bring them together.

Normal POV

"Shade-sama, you have a guest," a servant proclaimed, bowing to the prince of the Moon Kingdom.

The purple haired boy asked," Who is it?" A kind faced girl with light blue hair appeared at the doorway. Shade looked away from his book and towards the girl. "Oh, it's just you. What is it, Rein?"

"Hello to you too, Shade," Rein greeted with the same smile on her face. "Why are you so cooped up in here instead of spreading around the holiday cheer like everyone else on the planet?"

"Because it's too cold outside and this is a good book. Just tell me what you want," he ordered impatiently. My Shade, aren't you a Grinch? "Hey, I just woke up! Leave me alone!" Not my problem, get back to the story before I have to be there myself. "Alright already."

"We're going to decorated a Christmas tree," Rein decided. "Now get up already! I already got the perfect tree in your parlor, Milky's going to help us out too. Let's go!"

"How did you get a tree in here?" Rein gave a mischievous smile that meant 'you don't want to know'. Shade sighed, closed his book and stood up. He followed Rein out to the parlor, where he saw a huge pine tree with boxes of ornaments surrounding it.

"Onii-sama, look at all of these ornaments!" Milky was holding up two brightly colored spheres that could be mistaken for candy. Let's hope she doesn't eat them. "I can't wait to start!"

"Let's put the tinsel on first, then the lights. It'll make the tree look sparkly," Rein happily suggested. "Afterwards we can put on all the ornaments that we like on the tree to make it even more pretty! Shade, you cover the top since you're taller. Milky and I will take the bottom."

"So we're actually doing this," Shade stated, not questioned. He still helped out, because Milky wanted to do it so badly. Slowly, they covered the tree in the shiny tinsel and colorful decorations. Shade continued to look in the boxes for things to decorate the tree with, finally beginning to get into the spirit. That's when something caught his eyes. It was an old box that he remembered from the past. Slowly, he took it and opened it to reveal a a pair of crystal glass swans.

A memory came out from the dust. These swans were his mother and father's favorite decoration. Every Christmas, these swans were put near the top of the tree to hope that a bright light would bless their family. But after King Night had disappeared, it hurt Malia too much to even look at them, so she hid them away to forget the fact that those Christmases with her husband would no longer happy. She no longer decorated the Christmas tree with her children. She sank down into her work and become too busy for anything.

"Wah, how pretty!"

"You're right," Milky agreed, also looking at the beautiful swans.

"Rein... Milky..."

"Let's put those swans up too. They're so pretty!" Shade said nothing and continued to stare at them. "Shade?"

"No, we shouldn't put these up, they're too..." He searched his mind for an excuse, but he didn't want to tell Rein about it. Milky was in the room as well as several servants. The atmosphere would change from this joyful aura to something dreary and dark. The servants would be over concerned for them. "Fragile. They'll break too easily."

"Then we just have to be really careful with them right? It'll be fine, just leave it to me. I promise I'll handle them carefully!"

"No, we shouldn't use them."

"Is that so, then let me put them on the tree Shade," a gentle voice requested. Shade turned around to see his mother. "They're very nice ornaments aren't they?" Malia look at them with love and care, remembering the happy days with her husband. She closed her eyes as she took the cold glass in her hands, gently tracing the detailed swans.

"Mother... Are you alright? Don't over strain yourself-"

"I'm completely alright, Shade," she told her son ruffling his hair up a little. Shade still looked concerned because it looked like she was going to cry.

"Oh, I actually have a pair of glass swans too," Rein spoke up. "I brought them earlier because I thought that they would be perfect for you guys." Rein took a box out of her bag and opened it. Inside was two swans, one tinted purple, the other pink. "Aren't they cute? They'll go well with the two that you already have."

"So pretty! Rein, can we really put them up on the tree," Milky asked.

"Yeah, I thought that they were perfect for you guys, so it's an early Christmas present from me," Rein explained. "Don't you think that they're great, Shade?"

"Yeah," he agreed with a small smile. "They're perfect." The swans were put up all close together. They looked like a family. A happy, little family. If you took a look through Shade's memories, you could see that happy family image that was once thrown away. After King Night died, everything became dark and bleak for this family. But slowly, and finally, the darkness has cleared. It was soon time for Rein to return, Shade lead her out to her balloon. "Thank you, Rein."

"It was fun to decorate wasn't it? Next time, I'll bring Fine too and it'll be even more fun."

He smiled. "Yeah. It'll be a lot more fun. Thank you, Rein."

"It's weird to hear you thank me twice in the same day. But whatever it is that I did, you're welcome," the blue haired girl told him, completely clueless of what she did for him. "Oh right, I almost forgot!" Shade looked at her in confusion. Rein got out three nicely decorated envelops. "These are for you and your family. They're invitations to the Christmas party in the Sunny Kingdom. You'll come won't you?"

Shade took the letters. "Yeah, we wouldn't miss it for the world."