"Hey! What the- WHOA!" The shouting of a young woman screaming outside prompted everyone in the house to wake up to see what was going on. A girl with long black hair opened the window and looked out with her purple eyes, still somewhat drowsy from the sudden awakening. It took some time for her eyes to adjust to the setting. As her vision cleared, she was able to make out a pink-haired girl lying face first on a snow covered mattress. Two other women, whom she recognized as her units, stood at a safe distance, cringing at the sight. "Works like a charm." She grinned. To her fortune, the traps she had set in her backyard were working adequately, her cousin Shimmer was proof of that.

Ever since the last few incidents where someone tried to break into her house, ranging from stray monsters to burglars to Shimmer's need for sweets, she had opted to add some security measures to insure both the safety of her and the units as well as any possessions she had owned. Considering the fact that she lived in a rather spacious house whose appearance resembled that of a mansion's that was placed well away from Randall, who would not take the opportunity to try to sneak in there? The measures she took ranged from pitfalls, electrical barriers, and mines that released sleeping powder when activated to tripwires hidden in the grass, turrets that fired tranquilizer darts and spring-loaded panels like the one Shimmer had just had the misfortune of triggering. In addition to those, she had also recently installed a security system in case anyone had the guile to go through the front entrance. The amount traps she had all around the house were absurd but was subsidized by the amount of zel she had obtained through missions assigned by the summoners hall. Needless to say, the rewards they provide helped covered the expenses and then some.

"Why do you have so many traps Lunar?!" Shimmer shouted, her voice was muffled due to still lying face-down on the mattress.

"Do you like to have your house be invaded by random strangers every now and then?" Lunar quipped.

"Good point…" Shimmer tumbled out of the mattress, rolling towards Lunar's house. Her units followed suit, making sure they did not end up activating the traps themselves. One of Lunar's own units, A green haired man donned in a green tunic and a flowing blue cape, opened the back door to let the trio come inside.

"Thanks, Dion." the fox girl thanked him with a rather disappointed tone. Dion did not give so much as a glance at her as he waited for the other two to come inside, promptly shutting the door afterward.

"Don't tell me you were trying to steal one of my toffees again?" Lunar sighed as she made her way downstairs, still dressed in her pajamas.

"Maybe," Shimmer replied with a nonchalant tone. It was obvious that she was attempting to sneak in for that reason.

Lunar abruptly walks over to a shelf in the kitchen. She rummaged around before tossing a box of toffees toward Shimmer. This made her blink in confusion. "What's with the sudden kindness?" She asked, taken aback by the gesture.

"It's the Christmas season, right?" Lunar answered with a smile. "Consider that my early gift to you."

"Aww, I didn't think you had the heart." Shimmer teased as she opened the box.

Lunar did not need to counter her cousin's remarks this time as she already had one put in place. Just as she placed her hand into the box to take out one of the toffees, a quick snapping sound followed by the shrill cry of Shimmer echoed throughout the room. "Oww!" A small mouse trap snapped itself onto Shimmer's index finger, she quickly pried it off and glared at Lunar. "That was totally unfair!" She cried.

"Well, you did try to break into my house again. And think of that as payback for waking me up earlier. Also, it was Semira's idea." She pointed to another one of her units, a skimpy sorceress with a rather massive horned helmet stood to the side with a sly smile while holding a plastic bag, most likely containing more mouse traps.

Shimmer's two units, one a fox girl and the other a blue haired female knight whose fashion maintained the trend of the other female units in the group wearing revealing clothing, stood with blank expressions on their faces. Lunar let out a loud yawn and stretched as she looked outside. Well, it's morning now. What do you think we should do?"

"Didn't you say you were going to go shopping for decorations today?" Dion asked, pointing to a small slip of paper attached to the refrigerator. "Oh yeah!" Her mood quickly perked up as she had completely forgot about the idea. She had already bought and set up the tree with her units, all that needs to be done now was to get decorations. "I'm going to get changing! I'll be right back!" She quickly dashed her way upstairs and into her room, leaving the others with some free time before she came back.

"Well, has anything happened to you three lately?" The knight asked.

"Except for the anniversary that was held at the summoners hall last month and the antics that happened prior to today, there is nothing noteworthy," Dion stated.

"How about you three?" Semira asked as she floated towards them to join in on the conversation.

"It was boring!" The Fox Girl whined. "Other than Shimmer plotting to see how she can get through your Summoner's defenses!" She pointed at the two with a comically angered expression.

"Do you think it's easy to set all those traps?" Dion reposted. "It was annoying that even we nearly activated them just by setting them up."

"But you guys know the layout!"

"What is it about 'we nearly activated them just by setting them up' do you not understand?"

"You could've made it easier for us!"

"Not my problem, ask my summoner."

"But you could've done something about it!"

The two began to bicker, the other three ladies stood there with the same blank expressions as before turning over to their own conversation. "What about you, Medina?" Semira asked the other unit.

"Same as what Ruby said." She sighed. "There were no quests available lately, and the raid office had nothing to offer either, so we had to put up with our own summoners antics."

"Why are you making me look like the bad guy here?" Shimmer retorted, already having taken one of the toffees from the box and chewing on it.

"Well, with Christmas coming just around the corner, and the fact we have yet to do anything, so this may be the opportunity to get our spirits up."

"Well, you guys can go shopping, I'll stay here and see if I can't find any-" Shimmer was immediately cut off as Lunar quickly ran downstairs, already in her winter attire, and pulled Shimmer by her sleeve.

"Nuh-uh! You're coming with us whether you like it or not!" Lunar definitely knew that Shimmer was going to look for her secrets while she was gone, so she quickly prevents her from getting the chance by bringing her along with her excursion. "H-Hey! Wait!" Shimmer protested as she was immediately pulled outside. Medina let out a disappointed sigh. "Here's to another senseless day…" She groaned.

"I'm sure things will turn around later. Come on, Jack!" Semira called to her friend, who served as her teacher, guardian, and servant simultaneously. "Right, My lady!" Cried out an oversized pumpkin mounted on a staff as it floated to her side. One by one, the units began to walk out of the house, Ruby and Dion were the last ones out, with the latter locking the door and arming the security systems before going back to Ruby for another round of pointless bickering.

The group walked along the trail for a while before entering the borders of the Imperial Capital, making their way towards the shopping district for some supplies. The area was still festive as usual, and it was evident the excitement for the holidays was not going to die down. They proceeded to walk around, browsing through the abundance of stores to find anything that catches their eye. Lunar faltered her pace a little in order to get a good view of the shops that strikes her fancy, all the while she kept a firm grip on Shimmer's arm. Shimmer herself was still feeling a little uncomfortable not only with the fact she was dragged out by her older cousin against her will again but the plethora of passersby around them. Needless to say, the streets were still packed, and any wrong step could get someone lost.

The units were still trailing behind their summoners, with Ruby and Dion still bickering as some began to stare at them with uneased looks while Semira and Medina were watching over the two with concerned expressions from the attention they were gathering. Medina then took the initiative. "I know you two do not like each other, but now is not a good time to argue" She pointed at the large crowd who were staring at the two for their bickering.

"Fine." Dion and Ruby simultaneously said before continuing to walk, their heads lowered as they both had mixed feelings of anger and embarrassment.

"Well now," Semira chuckled with delight. "If I had to guess, these two sound a lot like an old married couple."

"Shut up!" Dion and Ruby both shouted in unison, albeit in different volumes.

Semira giggled once more, showing she got an emotional rise out of watching the reactions of the pair. Both Dion and Ruby faced forward as they continued to catch up with their Summoners, looking more embarrassed than before. The sorceress looked over to Medina with a mischievous grin. "I don't see how you cannot find this amusing."

"Maybe to you it's amusing," Medina sighed. "But when you have traveled with them in your past life long enough, it becomes aggravating after a while."

"Oh? Well, I guess I'll have to enjoy every second of it until I get bored." This comment made the two cringe. Knowing Semira's love for tricks, her interest in someone else's shenanigans were on par with Lunar's interest in couples. They both clearly see eye to eye and they both had common interests, which meant they would also be subject to Semira's observation in addition to Lunar's snarky comments, which made the two all the more embarrassed.

Lunar in the meantime began walking towards a large store that sold exactly what she was looking for, she entered the store along with Shimmer to be greeted by a rather flashy scene. In the store were aisles upon aisles of Christmas decorations of various shapes and sizes, and the numerous colorful lights in addition to the store's fluorescent lights illuminated the vicinity in a variety of colors. To a child, this would look very spectacular, in some way Lunar felt like a child herself, looking at the lights with wonder, her trance was broken as Shimmer complained again. "Why do you need so many decorations? You have plenty at home."

"Because you can never have too many decorations!" it was a simple and obvious reply coming from her. Given the situation, she was in no position to argue with Lunar. Then again, decorating was one of the many fun things to do during the holidays, so she decided to go with the flow. The two began to browse through the store, collecting different items that caught their interest. As Lunar was filling the basket she had to the brim, Shimmer's eyes widened as she came across a particular aisle. "Look at all the cute stuffed animals!" She squealed, standing near the aisles that were filled with stuffed animals that wore little wool hats, scarves, and mittens. She had her own basket and began stuffing it with a few plushies, now looking just as hyper as Lunar.

The units, on the other hand, did not share the same level of excitement as their summoners, but they seemed rather comfortable with the setting as they too began collecting decorations as well. Dion, in particular, looked around with a disinterested look, staring blankly at the decorations with a perpetual frown. Ruby quickly shoved a stuffed penguin on his face. "Why don't you smile for once?" she asked. "It's the holidays after all!" Dion brushed the plushie aside as he maintained an aloof exterior. "I don't have a reason to, that's why."

"That's not a good reason to be a bore! You should be more lively like the rest of us! Even Medina is smiling!" She pointed over to Medina, who also was walking in the stuffed animals aisle. At the mention of her name, she tensed up, hiding an embarrassed look from Ruby. Semira stood at a safe distance away from her, looking at the poor knight with a sly grin.

"Like I said, I don't have a reason to, that's all." He walked around, still helping with his summoner in obtaining more decorations, while Ruby trailed behind him, wondering how else she could counter his previous statement. The fox that served as her companion ran up to Dion and headbutted the back of his right foot, to which the latter simply shrugged it off and proceeded to walk to the counter along with Lunar. His apathy towards the Christmas season was starting to strike a nerve on Ruby, who found this to be quite stubborn.

After buying what they needed, the group went over to the counter to pay for their items and promptly walked back to Lunar's house. Everyone was holding some large bag or box, even Jack helped out holding the straps of two of the bags with his teeth. During the walk, Ruby was contemplating on Dion's lack of interest in the holiday's. Sure, she had already celebrated this occasion several times before, and she was fully aware that Dion has been with Lunar since she summoned for the very first time she was a young girl, but she had never thought about it until now. Did he like Christmas? Did he hate it? He was a reserved individual, not one to show his feelings that easily. She kept thinking about it as they arrived at the house, bringing all the decorations inside.

"Alright!" Lunar announced. "Now onto the fun part, decorating the house. Shimmer, you and Medina help me decorate the inside while Dion, Ruby, and Semira can help decorate outside. Is that clear?" Everyone else nodded, satisfied with their jobs. "Okay! Time to get decorating!" The group split up and took a box, with Lunar's side containing ornaments, garlands, and a few lights while Dion's had lights, a few inflatable Santa, and a few inflatable snowmen.

Once outside, Semira took flight along with Jack, carrying the deflated Santa and a bundle of cords respectively, and began working on the roof. Dion and Ruby also got another bundle of lights and proceeded to work on the lower part of the house. Despite the low temperatures outside, the two ladies felt next to nothing, though in Ruby's case the only thing she was feeling was the nagging curiosity. In little time at all, they both managed to wrap the lower end of the house. All that needed to be done now was to set up the inflatable snowmen, which should not be too big a task.

It took less time to set up the snowmen compared to setting up the lights, Dion inserted the cords to an outlet and watched as the snowmen inflated one by one. Likewise, Semira had already finished setting up the inflatable Santa and watched it light up and inflate. With the outdoor decorations done, they began to walk back into the house to see how the rest were doing.

Most of the house's interior was already decorated with garlands and more lights similar to the ones that hung outside. The tree was also decorated, shining just as brightly as the lights around them. All that needed to be done now was to hang up the stockings on the wall. As they were doing so, a knock came at the door. "Huh? I wonder who that could be." She wondered. She ran towards the front door to greet whoever was on her front porch.

Standing in the doorway was a young man with gray hair dressed in an overall dark attire. Two people stood behind him, one a petite green-haired female dressed in an elegant gothic dress and the other a man dressed in a bright ornate armor, both she recognized as the units Tora and Sirius. Though the man's overall appearance seems somewhat grim, she knew who he was. "Hiya, James! How can I help you?"

James held out an envelope, which was addressed to Lunar. She quickly ripped it open and pulled out an invitation to a Christmas party. "Ooh! A party!" she eyed the invitation with intrigue.

"Yes, Valerie decided to host this party to celebrate the holidays. She thought it would be fun if others got in as well and she was hoping you could come as well."

"Of course!" she replied. A party meant a few things: Sweets, randomness, and potential couples she could document into her book. The uncomfortable expression James had on his face only served to prove that the last point was definitely true.

"Thanks, she also says you can bring anyone you like to the party. 'The more, the merrier', she says."

"Sure, I can't wait!" She said.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to deliver the rest of the invitations, have a nice day."

"You too!" "She waved goodbye to James, who was being pulled along the trail by his units as they apparently made their way back to Randall to resume their delivery roles. Lunar closed the door behind her and ran into the living room, waving the invitation into the air. "We got a party!" She shouted. "And you're coming along!" She pointed straight at Shimmer. "Wh-Wha?! Me?"

"Of course! It'll be fun!"

"I can't wait!" Shimmer cried. Even though that she would have to deal with strangers, there were still sweets to be had, and she could not wait to get their hands on them. As this was going on, Ruby took the opportunity to ask Dion, who sat on a chair in a corner reading a book. "Answer me honestly, do you like Christmas?"

"This now?" He sighed. "Why are you being so pushy today?"

"Because I want to know! Do you like it or not?" She asked again. Dion turned away from her. Muttering something in a volume Ruby could not hear. She grabbed him by the shoulders, her face shifted to a more serious glare, not wanting to put up with Dion's stubborn attitude. "Answer me!" Everyone else in the room fell silent as they focused their attention on the pair.

"I… don't care." He muttered again, this time it was more audible. Being part-fox, she easily picked up on what he said, even if everyone else did not. "What?!" She shouted. "How could you not like Christmas?!"

"I simply don't care for it." he replied.

This response made her even more upset. "How could you not care for it?! Unless…" She thought for a few seconds before forming her reasoning. "You're still not over that fight with Ark, are you?!"

"What makes you say that?" Dion asked, remaining as placid as ever.

"Don't give me that! I know you still are thinking about that rematch! How typical of you!" She began to rant on how Dion's cliched desire to seek strong opponents to sate his boredom correlated to his disdain for the holidays. All the while Dion shook his head in disbelief, thinking that she was merely being delusional. "It's not that," He began. "It's…"

"What?!"

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words could come out. For the first time, he did not have a proper counter to Ruby's quips. He honestly could not find the details to help make a response. Seeing his lack of initiative to counter, Ruby took this as him not wanting to answer the question, which made her all the angrier. "Of course! Typical stubborn Dion! I don't have time for this nonsense!" Dion tried to call out to Ruby, wanting to knock some sense into her, but she had already walked off towards her summoner, asking her in a hushed tone. "Can we go now? I don't want to stay here any longer."

"U-Umm but why?" Shimmer asked. Ruby remained silent, though the expression she had was enough of a hint for her to understand why. She then gave in to Ruby's request. "Alright then, If you say so" She then turned to her cousin. "Well, I hope we managed to help you guys out. See you guys at the party?"

"Yep! See ya, Shimmer!" Lunar waved her cousin goodbye as she saw them off. The last to exit was Medina, who gazed at Dion with an expression that clearly said, "Whatever you did, you're fixing it." before quietly closing the door behind her.

Lunar also faced Dion, looking very cross. "What did you do Dion?" She asked. Dion restated his claim, which unfortunately made Lunar all the more upset. "I know you don't care about Christmas, but couldn't you just act like it at least once?"

"I didn't even know that she loved the holiday this much." Dion scratched his head.

"Regardless, you still have to take responsibility for it," Lunar replied bluntly, something she rarely does. "Just because we have this party coming up doesn't mean that you could sit around and do nothing."

"And what do you suppose I should do about it?"

"You got yourself into this mess, you figure it out," Lunar replied before yawning. "That was a long day, Imma head to bed, good night everybody!" She made her way upstairs, hoping that she could sleep the nonsense off. Semira patted Dion on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a way. If you'll excuse me, I too must retire. Pleasant dreams." She floated upstairs heading over to her own quarters, leaving Dion all by himself. Just one opinion, and I become the bad guy here? Dion sighed, once again expressing his dismay after what happened. He did not know why Ruby became all "White-Knight" for the holiday nor could he have expected this change to occur. One thing was for certain, only he could get himself out of this, he had to set things right. It can't be helped, I suppose... He thought, resigning to his fate.


Lunar and Shimmer belong to LunarRin. I hope this chapter was to your liking. How will Dion get himself out of this bind? Well, we'll just see.