Another day has passed, and much to the fortune for most, the weather was still lovely, and the anticipation for Christmas is still as present as ever. It was a rather lively morning in the Rex residence, with the twins going about their usual routine while their units minded their own business. Ace was much more energetic than usual, which was saying something as he was always hyperactive. He was decorating the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room with Vargas, with the latter being more careful due to being a fire elemental. Ace was humming to himself as he placed the star on the top of the tree. "There! That's looking nicely." He said as he marveled at the finished product.
Vargas put on the last of the ornaments on the tree and backed up to get a better view of the tree. "I'll say. At least we managed to get this done."
"Yep!" Ace hopped off the ladder and walked towards the table and picked up another box. "Welp, time to decorate the rest of the house."
"You're really into this, aren't you?" Vargas chuckled.
"Tell me something I don't know!" Ace replied as he dropped the box in front of Vargas' feet. "I need you to decorate the outside of the house. Can you do that?"
"Alright, this won't take long." Vargas took the box and proceeded to go outside. Ace in the meantime took a garland from the box and began to decorate the living room with them and wrapped a couple on the tree. "Phew. Ace wiped some sweat after finishing the rest of the decorations. All that needed to be done now was to hang up the stockings by the fireplace. From the same box, he pulled out two stockings, one blue and the other white to represent him and his sister, Evelyne. Now that he thought about it, he has yet to see her as of now. "Oi!" he shouted. "Anyone see Evy?"
"Why don't you check her room?" A female voice suggested.
"Seriously? Jeez, She must be studying again…" Ace groaned. "Ah well, Imma drag her out here. Thanks, Lava!" He waved to the unit before running up the stairs.
A blond-haired woman was in her study room, researching numerous tomes she had acquired over the years. Written in languages and in jargon that would not be understood by the layperson and revolved around subjects that would take years to comprehend. She only reached about halfway through the new grimoire that she had begun reading recently when loud banging from her door broke her concentration. Irritated, she set the book on her desk and stomped toward the door. She did not need to think to figure out who was at the door. "What is it, Ace?" She asked him.
"What are you doing all holed up in there? Help me out with the decorations!" Ace shouted.
"I don't have time for games. I'm busy with my own things. Now if you would be kind as to leave me alone-" She was suddenly cut off by Ace.
"'Fraid not! You're getting out here whether you like it or not!" He shouted. A noticeable rattling noise can be heard from the doorknob as he attempts to pick the lock.
Drat. Evy thought. She looked around the room to see if there was a good place she could use as a hiding spot. There was no place she could hide in that Ace would not bother checking, this left her with one option: the window. Knowing there was no other place she could go to, she quickly moved the blinds and opened up the window. Luckily, she did not need to worry about jumping from a distance like this, after all, a fall like this would not kill her, especially if she could land in that shrub just a story below. The rattling grew louder as Ace was close to breaking the lock, knowing she was running out of time, she jumped out of the window, only to get her right foot tangled by a hanging cord of the lights. "Who left this here?" she growled as she hangs upside down.
"Sorry! Shouted Vargas as he too hung upside down, but at a different corner of the houses exterior. Unlike Evelyne, however, The cords wrapped around his entire body like a cocoon and was unable to move. Luckily for her, despite her situation, she was wearing pants, so it made her predicament less embarrassing; though this meant she was going to deal with of Ace's holiday madness.
"Quit hanging around!" Ace shouted from the window, seeing Evelyne in her predicament. He pulled on the cord, bringing her back up and into the room. "I have a clue on what to get you guys! And you're coming with me!" He pointed at Evelyne, who was unraveling the cord around her leg.
"Why do I have to go with you? You have Vargas and Ninmah, they should be enough if you're just out getting gifts."
"And leave you stuck in here all day? Hell no!" He shouted. "Oh yeah! Speaking of Ninmah, I should let her know too! I'll be right back!" Ace sprinted out of the room as he looked for his other unit. Evelyne sighed as she slowly got up. So much for a quiet day of research… she thought as she grabbed her white coat, resigning to her fate.
…
Meanwhile, Vargas was still trapped outside, swinging on the side of the roof like a pendulum as he tried to break free of his bindings. "Having some trouble I see?" A female voice asked from below, the slight snarkiness of the tone gave him a clue of who was calling out to him. Unfortunately, he knew that voice all too well. "Oh shut up Lava," he whined.
The Agni swordswoman uttered a slight giggle as a set of wings made from pure flame erupted on her back. She flew up towards the trapped knight and unraveled the cord that wrapped around him, he the fell onto a small mound of snow headfirst, which made her utter yet another giggle.
"Ha ha. Very funny." He retorted with a muffled voice. His head came out of the mound, leaving a rather crude indentation of his face in the snow. Lava was about to laugh again, but she manages to keep it in. Vargas looked toward his sworn rival with a rather comical glare before patting the snow off his armor. Saying nothing else, he walked back towards the house with no complaint, which surprised Lava. "No comeback? Usually, you would be yelling about how you don't want me to be a step ahead of you or off training right now."
Vargas shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I do." He beamed a smile. "But since Christmas is coming, I wanted to wind down a little."
Lava looked at him dumbfounded. "'Christmas'? What are you going on about?"
Vargas' eyes widened with shock. "WHAT?! You don't know what Christmas is?! Do you at least have a clue what a holiday is?"
"I do not." Replied Lava. "In fact, I don't even believe in such things."
Vargas knew Lava was a serious individual who had little concern over trivial things. When she progressed in her evolutionary stages, though, she was not as cold as the woman he faced for the first time. He never thought he would hear her laugh, let alone a giggle. He also got to understand her a little more, in fact, they both had common ground, both were soldiers working for the same empire and sought to seek more power in order to surpass their limits. But their reasons for attaining that power and contrast in personality made them opposite sides of the same coin. He did not know about her being a byproduct of the Agni Empire's top-secret experiment nor of the intense training she had gone through to become the super soldier he met back then. Then again, he did not know much about her to begin with, other than the fact she was a swordswoman of a higher caliber than he was.
Vargas quickly grabbed Lava by the hand and began pulling her along as he went back into the house.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" She cried, taken aback by the sudden pull.
"We need to get you in the holiday spirit!" Vargas replied, having the same enthusiasm as his summoner.
At this point, Lava decided to see how things would play out. Maybe there might be some merit to this holiday… She thought to herself.
...
Back in the house, Ace was running around to look for his other unit. Finally stopping at a large set of doors, he began to knock on the door in the same manner as he did with Evy. "Come in." Another female voice answered. Unlike before, the tone was much more relaxed. He opened the door and entered a very spacious room. In the middle was a dark skinned silver-haired woman who sat down in a meditative position, her spear rested beside her. Her decorative yet revealing clothes and the headdress she wore gave her the appearance of royalty from ancient times. she turned around to face her summoner, revealing a pair of golden eyes. "What is it that you need of me?" She asked Ace.
"Come on!" He shouted, waving by the door. "I need to get everyone out here if we're going to do some Christmas shopping!"
The Noblesse's moon blinked twice and cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Christmas?" She asked, not knowing of the concept.
Ace scratched his head. "Oh yeah, I don't think you know about it yet. I'll show you what it's about, in the meantime, get Enki as well. I want him to join on the fun!" And with that, he left the room. Ninmah stood up and picked up her spear as she went over to the room where the man known as the Kingdom Destroyer was, loud snoring be heard from the other side of the door. She knocked on the door a few times, the loud snorting on the other end signaled her that she got his attention.
The door opened, revealing a large, muscular man whose hair and eyes were similar to hers, his skin was pale and he wore a set of armor that consisted of stone and bones. A greatsword rested at the corner, its composition was just as primitive as his armor. That, along with a helmet whose appearance looked very reminiscent to that of a beast's maw, gave him a savage appearance. "Huh? Ninmah?" he said as he wiped his eyes. "What is going on?"
"My summoner wanted us to go outside with him. He mentioned some sort of tradition, I believe he called it 'Christmas'"
"'Christmas?'" Enki scratched his head. "What kind of celebration is that?"
"I do not know, but the thought of a new celebration intrigues me…" She said, the thought of a new celebration she had never heard of piqued her interest.
"Whatever you say…" said Enki. "Let's see what this 'Christmas' has to offer."
The group of six headed out and made their way towards Randall's shopping district, entering a mall in hopes of obtaining more supplies. Evelyne had a mildly irritated look on her face, having to be dragged out so suddenly out of her research for something she could honestly care less about. Ace still had his usual goofy smile, looking at all the shops to see where he could buy the gifts he had planned out for everyone. They then walked over to the central plaza to plan on what to do next. "Welp, time to find some gifts!" Ace announced. He then turned over to his units. "As for you guys, do whatever you want! Sightsee, buy something, anything that'll keep you guys happy. Just don't cause any trouble while we're away, alright?" The group nodded, prompting Ace to run towards the shops with a disappointed Evelyne trailing behind him, leaving his units to their own devices.
Ninmah looked towards Vargas and asked. "Is there a-" She was about to complete her sentence, but Vargas had already left, with a rather confused Lava in tow.
"Where are you taking me?" Lava asked, still being pulled by Vargas.
"Didn't you hear what Ace said?" Vargas replied. "We're going sightseeing!"
"I don't see the point to all this."
"Just getting you into the mood!" He said as he pulled her into yet another row of shops in the shopping district.
Ninmah was in the same state of confusion herself, unsure about what to do at the moment. "So, what now?" Enki asked as he looks at the scenery around him. Ninmah did the same before beginning to walk. "Hey! Don't wander off like that!" Shouted Enki as he ran up to catch up.
The scenery was something else. Ninmah was completely captivated by the bustle and jolly atmosphere around her, taken in by the lights and colors of the abundance of decorations along the row of stores. Never before had she seen anything like this, the world certainly had changed in comparison to the life she had lived back then; the population, architecture and the way society had worked overall were all new to her; but, this newfound holiday certainly was the most interesting. She recalled seeing similar festivities back in her kingdom, but never on a magnitude like this. She could sense that the spirits were in agreement to this, as she could see them dancing with the falling snow.
Enki walked alongside Ninmah taking in the atmosphere along with her. He looked at the smiling faces of the many passersby, though ignoring some that were staring at him like he was some sort of foreigner. The laughing of the children and the cheerful ambiance spurred a sense of nostalgia within him, memories of his life in the village began to resurface, albeit vague. The warm feeling of being among familiar people comforted him, but the painful memory of seeing his village wiped out prevented him from forming a smile. The loss of his family broke him, and he bore a deep, undeniable hatred toward those who were responsible. Ninmah may have belonged to the very kingdom that brought him suffering, but it is with her he finds himself able to find respite amongst the suffering of his past and the incessant torment from the spirits. Seeing as some couples that walked by held hands, he decided to do the same and held Ninmah's hand.
She looked up at him, wondering what was with the sudden gesture, Enki didn't say a word, but the warm feeling he gave off along with the tender grip showed her that he was just as immersed in the atmosphere as she was. Smiling, she kept close to him as the two began to explore the streets of Randall.
Everywhere they went, it was flashy decorations, the sound of unfamiliar jingles and the commotion of the people. The pair looked around with some curiosity, becoming more immersed into the culture by the minute. "Everything is so lively here…" Ninmah said as she continued to observe the scene around her. Enki did the same, the sight of family and strangers alike getting along, the happy faces all around, it filled him a sense of intrigue. This 'Christmas'… Would a celebration like this help me rebuild my clan? He thought, thinking of the practicality of the holiday. More and more, he warmed up to the idea, if a holiday like this could bring so many people together, perhaps it was possible. His musing was interrupted by the sound of a distant explosion not too far from where Enki and Ninmah were. The once calm atmosphere turned chaotic as many citizens began to flee from the vicinity. "Do you think something might have happened?" Ninmah asked.
"Sounds like it, I'm going to figure out what's going on." He let go of Ninmah's hand and began running toward the source of the racket.
"Wait!" Ninmah shouted. "We should wait for the others!" Enki ignored her as his pace quickened, now sprinting toward the source of the racket himself. "Great… I have to let my summoner know…" As a unit, she was able to contact her summoner through telepathic means in the likelihood of being separation. "Ace. We have a problem."
...
Ace and Evelyne wandered around the area, searching to see what they could buy. The first store that he walked into was a jeweler's, thinking that this would be the best place to look for something Ninmah would like. He browsed through the items the store had to offer. Glass containers containing a wide variety of necklaces, rings and other jewelry of different styles. He came across something that piqued his interest: a well-crafted necklace shaped in a crescent moon adorned with small blue crystals. This is perfect! He thought. Without giving it a second thought, he called over an employee to purchase it. Evelyne sighed. "Isn't this a little too overkill?" She asked, noting the price of the item in question.
"Ain't no kill like overkill!" Ace grinned as he paid for the item and received a gift-wrapped box in return.
"This is Christmas you know, not Valentine's day..." She muttered. She knew how considerate Ace was towards others, especially his units, though he seemed to forget himself. The two still had debts to pay from the numerous damages they caused from the blunders that resulted from their Aeonian nature.
"You know how I am with things like these, I settle for no less!" He boasted. With that out of the way, he pulled her along with him again as he ran off towards another store, the next one had an "old-fashioned" feeling to it. The atmosphere was rather primitive in nature, containing merchandise that appeared to be tribal in nature, a fitting place to buy something for Enki. Like before he bought a necklace, though this one was decorated with wooden beads and some unidentifiable beast's teeth. The purchase made Evelyne cringe a little. "What?" Ace questioned her. "Do you have any better idea what to get him?" She was about to voice her complaint again but was quickly dragged off by Ace before she could do so.
He checked off half the units off the list, leaving Vargas and Lava. He knew what to get for Vargas. He knew how much he trained every day, and would sleep for hours on end afterward. As of late, he had trouble sleeping, his blanket was not providing enough warmth for the cold winter nights. He searched around the shops to find one that sold them, eventually finding one. The blanket was neatly folded and stuffed into a bag, to which Evelyne had to hold. The last on the list was Lava. Unlike the others, he had next to no clue despite the amount of planning he had put into. he was at a standstill, thinking what would be the right gift to get her. He was so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed his sister managed to broke free and went off somewhere, bag in tow. "Huh? Where did she go?" He took a moment to see if he could track Evelyne through her energy, surely enough, he found her easily. It was no surprise that his trail would lead him to a bookstore, and he spotted his sister leaving the store with a new gift wrapped item in hand. "He had a hunch as to what she bought from there. "Oho! So you think that could work?"
"Do you have any better ideas?" She quipped, using Ace's own words back at him.
"Touché" He laughed. His smile suddenly faded as the mental message from Ninmah came through, notifying him about the current situation. His face turned to a much more serious expression, but still maintains his relaxed demeanor. "Welp. I guess today is going to get interesting."
"What is it this time?" Evelyne sighed.
"An explosion somewhere downtown. And Enki ran ahead to investigate."
"That idiot…" She brought her palm up to her face to show her disbelief. "Let's go, before things get even more stupid. You're carrying these." She then gave Ace the bag and the newfound gift, leaving him behind.
"Hey! Wait up!" Ace shouted, running after his sister while simultaneously trying to keep the presents balanced.
…
Smoke was escaping from the entrance of the treasury, numerous masked men were entering and exiting the building, bags of zel in tow. Enki arrived at the scene, the streets were devoid of people, save for the masked individuals. "Hey!" he shouted at the crooks. "You think you can ruin a holiday like this and get away with it?!"
"Ruin?" One replied. "Oh no, we're just bringing this zel and share it with the… er… children! Yeah!" He fibbed, thinking he could outwit a big oaf like Enki.
"You don't want to disappoint the children don't you?" the other said in a convincing yet rather condescending tone
His glare did not relent. "Do you really think you can take me for a fool?!" he roared. "I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET COMMITTING CRIMES ON A HOLIDAY!" He brought out his stone sword and roared as he leaped into the air and swung it into the ground, the resulting impact caused the ground to shake, A fissure formed and trailed towards the crooks, causing them to stumble.
"Playing hardball, are we? Take him down!" More crooks arrived on the scene and tried to pounce on Enki, various bladed weaponry in hand. "RULE BREAKERS, ALL OF YOU!" Enki roared, who responded to their attack by swinging his sword with wild abandon, sending them all flying one by one. In little time at all, there was only one crook left, who remained defiant. "You think you can scare me?" he smirked. "How about this?" He let out a loud, short whistle, and a pack of Bozdells, specially tamed by the perpetrators, stood along the walls of the treasury, they were ready to blow up at his command. "I'll give you a deal, let me go free, and everyone that is still inside will live. If not, boom."
Enki tried to restrain himself from going on another rampage, he wanted to knock the crook senseless, but he also did not want to have any casualties. Managing to suppress his rage, he stood still, which signaled the crook that he was letting him go.
"Merry Christmas!" The crook cackled as he ran off. With the snap of his fingers, and the Bodzells all exploded simultaneously. The treasury shook as its foundations were weakened, large cracks formed on the building as debris began to fall. Enki had two choices: Chase down the crook, or try to save whatever stragglers were inside. He did not need to think long and hard about this as he quickly sprinted into the building. There were still a few stragglers left in a daze from the second explosion, and some guards lay unconscious on the floor. There were no traces of blood so it was safe to assume they were only knocked unconscious. Debris continued to fall, the ceiling was beginning to crack from the pressure. Knowing that there was no other choice, he began to tap into his inner power, with a loud roar he went under a transformation from his human form to that of a giant primordial beast. Using his head, he kept the ceiling from falling. "RUN!" the beast boomed. "RUN BEFORE YOU GET SQUASHED!"
Some of the employees were left baffled by the transformation and some were still shaken up by the other events that had transpired, but he was right, they don't have the time to stand around. The remaining employees began to flee from the area, some picking up the fallen guards on the way. Despite being held up, the ceiling continued to crack from the pressure, and his feet were giving out from the sheer weight of the building. I'm not going to fall here! He thought. Not until the rest have escaped! As the last of the employees had left the building, Enki quickly lowered his head and proceeded to leave by crashing through the entrance. The gaping hole he left behind made the building significantly weaker, and it crumbled into nothing more but a pile of rubble and glass. After all was said and done, Enki reverted back into his human form, exhausted from using his energy. "Is everyone safe?" He looked around, everyone that was inside managed to escape as far as he was concerned.
"Care to explain what happened here?" Enki turned around to see that his summoner had just arrived at the scene. "Evy! I… err…" He tried to figure out how he could explain the situation. He did not need to as the numerous bags of zel laying around and the unconscious masked men all over the place was enough. "Even on days like these, there is no shortage of stupidity…" She sighed.
"Unfortunately, one of them managed to escape…" He growled.
"You mean this guy?" Ace called out from a distance, still carrying the gifts. Flying above him was a dragon, and hanging from its claws was the crook, who was suffering a massive wedgie. The dragon flapped its wings as it made its descent towards the ground. "I found this guy running with this stuff." He held out the four heavy bags of zel that he was carrying. "I think he was the idiot behind this."
"That makes it easier then." replied Evelyne.
Enki glared at the man and began to walk towards him, grabbing him by the collar and raised his fist. "I ought to give you a lesson for bringing these people into your little game." He growled. The man was shaking in his boots, which greatly contrasted from the cocky demeanor he had earlier. "L-Let me go!" He whimpered. "I've learned my lesson! I promise!"
Enki pulled him into eye level, still glaring at him with an unforgiving gaze. "You think I'm going to let you walk off after what you did?" He was about to punch the man straight in the jaw when he felt someone stopping him from doing so. "That's enough." Ninmah stood beside him, having already transform from her draconic form to her human form and was holding his hand. "I think he has learned his lesson."
"But you saw what he did! He should be punished here and now!"
"You've done your part, no one got hurt in the accident, right?"
Enki looked at the crowd of people that he had just saved, who were all staring at him. "...Yeah. You're right…" He said, now feeling less tense than before. He dropped the man, and two guards came in to detain him.
"Let them handle the rest, I'm sure in time things will return to normal."
Enki simply nodded.
Ace broke the mood by clapping his hands. "Now that that's settled, time to go back to shopping!"
"Even after all that, you still want to go shopping?" Evelyne cringed.
"Well there's still daylight, and I still have things to buy, so why the hell not?" He was about to make a move when one nagging thought stopped him. "Where the heck is Vargas and Lava?"
As if on cue, the two knights descended, looking somewhat exhausted. "Heard… Explosion…" Vargas said between breaths.
"What happened here?" Lava inquired.
"Something very stupid, but it's resolved now." replied Evelyne. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the two were holding hands. "Where were you two all this time?" She asked with a puzzled expression.
"We just had a little fun," Vargas replied with a comical smile.
"Yeah… fun." She said, her face showing a slight blush.
"Now all that's out of the way, back to shopping!" Ace grabbed his sister by the wrist and pulled her along with him using his free hand as he made his way back into the shopping district, still keeping caution as to balancing the gifts. "This is going to be a long day…" sighed Evelyne, who at this point was letting things run their course. Lava was in the same predicament as Vargas was also dragging her as well.
Enki trailed behind the rest, still feeling a little bitter from the events. He was pulled out his trance as Ninmah had a firm grip on his arm, much in the same manner as Ace and Vargas. "There is still more to see, and I would like for you to see these sights with me," she said, with a smile on her face. She was obviously trying to cheer him up from the incident, and at this point, he did not want to disappoint her. "Fine then," he returns a reluctant smile. "I'll let you lead the way." And with that, he, along with Lava and Evelyne, are pulled along with Ace and his units as they make use of the remaining daylight to continue Ace's Christmas shopping marathon.
Ace Helios Rex and Evelyne Luna Rex both belong to Garth Kaiser. I hope this chapter was to your liking and I pray to whatever god that I portrayed Enki and Ninmah correctly...