A/N: Well guess what time of year it is! Looks like I've had writers block for so long that this story's back in season!
The next morning came hand in hand with near freezing temperatures and misty air. Shaiden rolled groggily out of bed, not feeling like her lively self at all, and dragged herself to the window. She peered between the curtains to see almost
two feet of crisp snow had fallen during the night and by the looks of the thick grey clouds, more was on the way. There
was little chance of anyone being able to leave the castle for more than a quick stroll.
The ninja sighed a little, her head was pounding and she was honestly in no mood to face a building full of 11 other people.
She quickly changed into a pair of baggy jeans and t-shirt, not feeling up to training today. She stretched her arms back
into a yawn but the cold air hit her square in the chest and she broke out into a continuous burst of coughing. Unable
to catch her breath, Shaiden stumbled to the bathroom and swallowed a cup full of water. It seemed inevitable; the ninja
had a cold.
After making her way downstairs and eating a quick breakfast, she sank into a large armchair and was just relishing the
silence when it was shattered by a stream of complaints.
"But I'm booorred!" moaned Kook.
"You've been awake for what, 10 minutes?" asked Crocness.
"I know but have you seen the snow? I can't go anywhere!"
The pair entered the room and sat down across from the ninja who groaned inwardly. Within five minutes almost all of the
defenders were sat in the living room.
"Well we have to do something! Don't you have any traditions?" Faetal asked.
"No not really. Unless you include watching Christmas films and drinking hot chocolate." Thorne shrugged.
"Well how about we have a snowball fight?"
"Nah we've done that already," Shaiden replied with a tierd yawn.
"Ok so..." the amazon thought for a moment. "How about we have a day of board games or charades and stuff..."
"No!" Ballista bust out. "Seriously you don't want to go there... Everone just tries to twist the rules so they're not
'cheating'. I don't think we've successfully finished a game of Scrabble in years!"
"Ok boards games are out... Why don't we bake something? Or put the decorations up?"
Once again this earned complains from several of the defenders saying that they almost burnt the castle down or they always
fight over who gets to decorate what. 'We'll get round to it' being the most popular answer.
Faetal suddenly came up with the perfect idea. "Let's go carolling!" she exclaimed.
"No!" An outraged chorus came from the girls.
"We tried that once and we don't talk about it," said Ballista so naturally, Faetal wanted to know more. "Well it was
all going well in rehearsals but then when we went out there it fell to pieces! Half way through 'Silent Night' Skabb
decided that actually, no one else needed to be heard and started shouting the lyrics, Gildar demanded he should get a
solo and then Thorne started moaning at everyone about how he didn't want to be there."
"Um, if I recall, I wasn't the only one complaining, you did a fair share of moaning about pretty much everything yourself."
Thorne said to the huntress.
"Maybe I did but then the poor people tried to shut the door and get rid of us until Knightriss realised and wouldn't
let them close it." she turned to the knight, "you stood there shouting at the couple until they donated something!"
The defenders were about to erupt into a full argument when Faetal cut in. "Ok! Let's not go carolling but then what
should we do?"
"Go back to bed," Shaiden sniffed, getting up and leaving the room whilst rubbing her temples. All the shouting was giving
her a headache and she'd turned ghostly pale.
"O-kay... Suddenly putting up the decorations is looking like a good idea..." said Gildar.
The other defenders murmured in agreement and boxes upon boxes of lights and decorations were pulled out of cupboards
and draws. The girls set to work decorating the tree whilst Gildar, Skabb, Tinkor and Thorne started untangling strings
of fairy lights. Kook, meanwhile, had gone to check on the blue ninja.
Up in her room, Shaiden collapsed on her bed and one of her ninja cats clambered up to sit with her. She ran her hand
through its ginger fur until she eventually fell asleep.
-
Shaiden watched as the huntress and viking sat on the sofa, her head on his shoulder looking like she was about to fall
asleep whilst he looked down at her affectionately.
The ninja rolled her eyes; she was getting tired of all this Christmas love. Ballista and Gildar were unofficially a couple
and even Thorne and Crocness had been spotted under the mistletoe.
Just then, Kookaburra walked in the room and greeted Shaiden with a crooked smile.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I can't take all this romance!" she replied.
He paused uncharacteristically for a moment, pondering how best to word his next sentence but something above him caught
Kook's eye.
Both of them glanced upwards to see a green plant hanging from the ceiling.
"Mistletoe..." Shaiden said.
"The reason you hate it is just because you're not a part of it..." he placed a hand on her shoulder, slowly leaning forwards.
"Shaiden..." he whispered.
-
"Shaiden!"
The ninja's eyes blinked open. How long had she been asleep? An hour, two?
"Shaiden," Kook said again shaking her shoulder. She jumped at how close he was to her, suddenly feeling a little awkward
in his presence.
The blue defender cast her mind back to the previous events, trying to recall if they had actually happened or if she
had dreamt it. When the kooky bird didn't lean in for a kiss, she decided it was all in her mind.
"How are you?" he asked
"Ok I guess, I've got a bit of a headache though."
"Glad you're feeling better... Uh, are you sure you're ok? You look a little distracted."
Shaiden suddenly realised she'd been unintentionally watching the birds lips as spoke. That dream had seriously messed
with her mind; like she suddenly had a temporary crush on him. At least, she hoped it was temporary...
"Yeah, I'm fine, shall we go downstairs? What did you all decide in the end?"
"Decorating..." the bird said uncertainly. "I left them to it."
"I've never seen you so nervous, I thought you liked a little chaos?" the ninja chuckled.
"Yeah, I'm just not in the mood for being crushed by a huge tree."
Back in the main room, the girls had finished the tree, apart from putting the star on top, and multi-coloured icicle
lights lined the large room.
Kook and Shaiden entered the room just as Thorne finished hanging a string of silver snowflakes along the fireplace. Ballista
and Faetal were sat at the foot of the tree arranging presents and laughing.
The bird wandered over to Gildar who was admiring his reflection with the festive decorations as a backdrop.
"Mate, what did you do?" Kook asked the Viking, gesturing to the two girls who seemed to be getting along just fine.
Gildar suddenly looked very sheepish. "Well... Urm," he cleared his throat, "um... They might have made a joke about me
and, well... They've been laughing about all the annoying or embarrassing things I've done for the past hour..."
"Don't complain! They're finally getting on, who cares what they're talking about!"
"I guess..."
"Kook, we saved the star for you!" said Crocness, walking towards them with the gold star in hand.
"Hey thanks!" Kookaburra flew to the top of the tree and perched in the branches. Just as he was about to secure the star,
the whole tree started to tilt precariously.
The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. Kook let out a yelp as the tree began to fall, delicate decorations
flying everywhere. Knightriss yelled at the two red defenders to move but there was no time to react. Faetal screeched
as they both hit the floor, coving their heads to protect them. The seconds seemed agonisingly long as they waited, eyes
closed for the impact.
