I'm back! I actually meant to update this yesterday, but I completely forgot with everything else I was doing. But it's here now! And this one's really short, so I'll try and get the next one up maybe tomorrow or Wednesday.
Enjoy!
"Liz. Liz! Wake up!"
As soon as her mind began to remember what had happened the previous night, Liz's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. Her head collided with something hard on the way, and as an audible crack sounded just above her, hers wasn't the only shout of pain that resulted.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Liz gasped when she caught sight of Kid, who was stumbling backward, his eyes wide and his hand covering his face. When he lifted his hand and looked down at it, she could see blood covering his mouth, his nose oddly-shaped.
"Don't worry," he answered thickly, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand. "I heal fast. More importantly, why were you sleeping out here? Did something happen?"
Liz looked around and realized she was still sitting on the cold floor of the foyer, dressed in her pajamas. She also noticed the dull aching in her back, which she assumed was caused by her night spent on the hardwood floor.
"No, no, nothing happened," she answered finally, realizing he was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. "Everything's fine. I just… came down for a midnight snack and… I guess I just, must have fallen asleep." It wasn't a very good excuse, but she couldn't exactly tell him the truth. She'd seen the previous day, after all, that he wouldn't believe her.
"A midnight snack?" Kid repeated, eyebrows raised, as he wiped more blood from his face. "Why are you in here then, if all the food is in the kitchen?"
"Erm…" Liz mumbled, unsure how to answer. "Where's Patty?" she asked hastily, hoping her attempt to change the subject hadn't been too obvious.
Kid frowned momentarily, then replied, "She's still upstairs. But she should be down any minute, shouting about Christmas…" He shook his head, his broken nose looking better already.
"It's Christmas, it's Christmas!" Patty's voice floated down from upstairs, as if on cue, serving as yet another reminder that it was indeed Christmas again, for the fourth day in a row now (not that Liz had really been hoping otherwise, after what she'd seen the last night). Patty stopped halfway down the stairs when she saw them, looking mildly surprised. After a moment an almost mischievous grin spread across her face. "What are you guys up to?" she asked them. Liz turned to look at Kid, realizing for the first time how close he was to her. He seemed to be aware of the same thing, as both of weapon and meister turned away quickly and climbed to their feet, stepping a few feet apart.
"So, Patty, have you… seen the tree yet?" Liz asked her sister, in yet another lame attempt to change the subject. This one worked better than the first had, however, as Patty was instantly distracted at the thought, running off toward the living room with a squeal of excitement. Kid shook his head again, before following her through the door. Liz shot one last look at his back before following.
As they opened their gifts, Liz was less than surprised to see all the same ones yet again. This time, though, she didn't say them out loud, realizing instead that no one would believe her if she told them the truth about why she knew anyway. Her apathy must have shown, because Kid and Patty kept giving her somewhat sad, questioning glances. And when Kid gave them his final gifts, he seemed somewhat hurt at the way she thanked him in an obviously less-than-heartfelt way. The worst part was that she didn't even feel bad about her attitude, not really. After all, she reasoned, she would probably be doing it all again the next day, so why bother anymore?
And sure enough, she was right. That same Christmas came again, and again. Each time it began with Patty shouting "It's Christmas!" from the hall, waking Liz from a restless sleep, and each time it ended in the horrific fight against the great mechanical dragon, with varying degrees of boredom and bad situations in between. The others were starting to notice that she was much more sullen than usual, too. Kid was now confronting her a few times a day. Patty would always watch her carefully, with a look on her face that showed she knew something was wrong. But she never said anything, and only tried to be happy enough for the both of them. Soul and Maka seemed to realize something was different, but they didn't ask about it. Tsubaki would politely inquire if anything was wrong, and Black Star would thump Liz on the back and tell her to cheer up. All and all, the ordeal was getting quite tiring.
Her theory that time was reversing around her but she herself was unaffected was proven when, on the night of the fifth Christmas, she received a shallow cut on the arm while fighting the kishin egg and the scar was still present the morning of the sixth Christmas. She thought briefly about showing it to the others in hopes that it might help her convince them of what was happening, but her better judgment kicked in and informed her that they would probably just say she'd fallen out of bed or something stupid like that.
On the night of the sixth Christmas, Liz fell into her bed wearily, without bothering to wash the mess from the food fight off her body. They had just come off yet another crushing defeat, an occurrence she still was loathe to get accustomed to, and she was feeling worse than ever. She couldn't help but think, as she rolled over so as not to see the clock, that if it meant another day of living this same awful Christmas, she'd almost rather not wake up at all.
Quite short, yes... But like I said, I'll try and get the next one up very soon. Then I'll probably put the last one up on Christmas Eve :D woo-hoo! So soon! haha
See ya soon, readers! And thanks again for all the awesome reviews!
-oMM
