Day: 349 as a comrade

Who would be knocking on my door at such a late hour? I answered my door to see Lavi and Allen smiling. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Come here, we want to show you something." Allen told me and I nodded following them away.

They led me to Komui's office, and when we opened the door I saw all the exorcists, except for the generals and Bookman. "What's going on? Where's Komui?" I asked. "Komui is sleeping, and so is everyone else in the Order so we wanted to give you your Christmas present," Lenalee smiled and walked towards me. I was shocked, "present? But I didn't get any of you guys presents!" "Silly girl, you just being here is good enough for us," Lavi grinned. They led me over to Komui's phone, the one that could only contact other branches of the Order and phones that had been hooked up to golems. "What are we doing with the phone?" I asked a little confused on why I would want to contact another branch of the Order. "We had Timcanpy and Lux hack in to the phone system so that you could call anyone that you wanted to once." Allen explained to me. "Call your family, we all know you miss them."

Without another word I was dialing. It rang once, twice, three times and my heart was pounding, scared that maybe they wouldn't pick up. England and Washington's time differences were pretty big after all. "Hello?" My heart almost stopped working. "Daddy?" I asked. There was a long pause then, "Sephiria, is that you?" My gather asked uneasily. "Y-yes daddy it's me, it's me!" I cried almost bursting in to tears. "Oh, Sephiria honey!" My father cried. Then I heard a commotion on the other end of the line. "Dad, Sephiria's calling?" My sister asked. I heard her rush to the phone. "Seph is that you?"

"D-Dora! How are you doing?" I asked overjoyed to hear my big sister's voice after a year.

"Oh my gosh I'm doing fine! How about you!"

"I'm doing really good. People over here are great," I exclaimed.

"Sephy, your voice. You have an accent now?" She asked surprised.

"Oh yeah. Guess I do huh?"

Then my mother interrupted. "Sephiria? I thought that you weren't allowed to speak to us anymore!"

"Well here I am. My friends set this up just for me."

"Oh Sephiria. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas mom."

"Yo Sephiria!" It was my brothers voice. Then a bark, it was my puppy. There was my family gathered all on the other end of the line, millions of miles away. Right now I felt so close to them right now. I was with my family, in the living room, eating breakfast, opening gifts. Everything like that, and everything was normal. Talking, laughing, maybe some crying. The endless I love yous. The conversation lasted a lifetime, but it had to end. Once I said that goodbye, I was right back where I belonged. In the Order. I wasn't sad about it though, I could still feel them with me. "Thank you so much, you don't understand how much this means to me," I was in tears again. Allen stepped forward and pulled me in to an embrace. I held him back burying my face farther in to his chest. It was times like these that reassured me that coming to the Order was the right thing to do. I wanted nothing, but to be in Allen's arms, but Lavi thought differently.

"Okay Okay," Lavi picked me up and away from Allen. Allen's face was full of shock. The whole room turned to Lavi to glare at him. "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAVI" they all hissed. Lenalee stepped on his foot with her heel as hard as she could and he cursed audibly. Al that moment everyone began to laugh loudly. It was a truly merry Christmas.

t

I got little sleep, but for some reason I felt completely awake. That was how it usually was for me on Christmas. Merry Christmas' came from every corner of the Order. "Merry Christmas Miss Sephiria!" The science department workers would yell. I smiled at them and also wished them a Merry Christmas back. Then I heard a familiar voice, "Sephiria." General Zokalo called out. "Ah General Long time no see!" I cried running towards him. I hadn't seen him in almost a month. Zokalo had been moved from mission after mission and had just returned yesterday night. I was told that he had gone straight to his room to sleep though. "Merry Christmas," he said messing up my hair. He was wearing his mask so I reached up to his face and removed it. It was leather and came off easily. "You should take this off on Christmas," I scolded dangling it in front of him. He scoffed and snatched it back, he didn't put it back on though. "Training tomorrow. You've gotten a long enough break." I smiled and nodded, "Yes sir!"

I went to the chapel and sat down with my back on the wall. Sunlight shined through the stained glass windows reflecting colors all around me. It was pretty and I sat there staring at the beauty. Before I knew it I was singing gospel songs. It was Christmas after all.

From the highest of heights to the depths of the seaCreation's revealing Your majestyFrom the colors of fall to the fragrance of springEvery creature unique in the song that it singsAll exclaimingIndescribable, uncontainable,You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by are amazing GodAll powerful, untameable,Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaimYou are amazing GodWho has told every lightning bolt where it should goOr seen heavenly storehouses laden with snowWho imagined the sun and gives source to its lightYet conceals it to bring us the coolness of nightNone can fathomIndescribable, uncontainable,You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by nameYou are amazing GodAll powerful, untamable-

All of a sudden I heard a pair of clapping hands and I blushed madly. I turned to see Allen smiling and standing at the door. He was wearing his casual clothes. A red hoodie, white t-shirt, and blue jeans. He was also wearing that black hat that I'd gotten him for Valentines day, and it still looked ridiculously good on him. "I-I didn't know that someone was watching be," I blustered hiding my face. "No! it's okay, you were amazing," Allen protested. "I never knew that you could sing."

I removed my hands from my face and looked at him. "I haven't in a long time."

"Yeah, guess so huh?"

"So what'd you come here for?" I asked him.

Allen turned a pinkish color. "Looking for you, wondering if you were doing anything today besides hanging around here alone."

"What do you want to do?"

Allen paused for a moment, then began to speak. "You-maybe… do you want to go out to town with me? Just the two of us?"

I had to say I was a little shocked. Allen wanted us to go out to town, just the two of us. It made me kind of think of a date-. Of course not what am thinking? "Sure, lets go," I answered. "What about Link?"

"I'm getting pretty good at ditching the guy. So lets just not think about him." Allen replied.

The town was freezing. It made me regret wearing such a thin jacket. Couples filled the streets, a part of me wondered if maybe Allen and I looked like a normal couple walking down the street too. We weren't though, we were two good friends hanging out on Christmas. That wasn't a problem right? Christmas, wait. I was forgetting something that was really important. "H-happy Birthday Allen!" I realized. He laughed, "I'd almost thought that you'd forgotten. You hungry? You haven't eaten yet." I nodded.

We ended up at a small diner. Surprisingly he didn't eat anything, he always ate something. "You not eating?" I asked taking a bite of my food. "Oh, I already ate," he told me. "Truthfully I think I ate too much."

I laughed, Allen sometimes did eat until he got sick on multiple occasions. Looking at Allen he looked so much older than he really was, but he had only gotten I year older. Everything from his face to the glimmer in his eyes looked more mature. "Is there something wrong?" I found myself asking.

He looked at me surprised, "no, nothing." Lie, he was lying through his teeth, and I knew it. Didn't point it out though.

"Look Sephiria, it's snowing."

My eyes widened and I immediately turned towards the window that was next to us. It really was snowing, and it was pouring down like there was no tomorrow.

"Pretty isn't it?" Allen smiled, and I nodded like a little girl that hadn't ever seen snow before.

"Yeah, it's really pretty."

"Let's go somewhere else when you're done," Allen said.

"Where?" I asked.

Allen smiled, but he didn't answer.

After the diner Allen brought me to the park. By that time the snow was up to my ankles and my innocence was just about giving me frostbite. Shivering I asked, "what's so special about a park?" Allen didn't answer, instead he just turned around and draped his hoodie over my shoulders. "You look cold." He was one to talk. Now he was only wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. "You're going to catch a cold," I told him. He laughed, "who do you think you're talking to?" I couldn't help but stare, how did I not notice that in one year Allen had grown so much? The snow was falling lightly now, blending with his white hair. Then he started forward again through the thick snow walking a few paces ahead of me.

I knelt to the ground and packed some snow in to a ball and threw it at Allen. It hit him square in the back and he froze. I laughed and slowly he turned around. "Oooooh Sephiria, you did not just do that." All of a sudden a snowball came hurdling at me. I tried to dodge, but it ended up hitting me on the shoulder. "Cold!" I screamed. Now it was Allen's turn to laugh.

Snowballs were thrown back and forth. Soon the small 'snowball fight' became and all out 'snowball war' with forts and everything. It was the most fun that I'd had in a year, and I was sharing this time with Allen. It was special.

In the end we were lying in the snow. It was starting to get dark and we both stared at the sky. "The sky's always pretty isn't it," I said.

"Yeah, it is," Allen replied as he stared at the blackness above with the few points of light that were visible.

"You know, the snow's not that cold."

"Easy for you to say, you're the girl with two jackets on that threw a snowball at the boy with only a t-shirt."

I laughed and flicked snow in to his white hair. Then he took my hand and held it tightly. I had to say that it surprised me a little at first, but soon it seemed completely normal.

"Sephiria, in the beginning you asked me what was so special about a park right?"

I nodded.

"Wasn't this special?" Allen smiled.

"Yes, it was," I replied holding on to his hand tighter. The boy really had a way with words.

We eventually snuck back in to the order and went straight to the cafeteria. Allen looked like he'd just been thrown in to a lake because of all the melted snow on his body. My clothes just looked plain frosted. The both of us ate like pigs together, just like we were exhausted together.

"We should do this more often," Allen said while walking me back to my room, and I couldn't agree more. "Just the two of us."

When we got to my room we said goodnight to each other, and I began to walk in to my room. "Wait Sephiria!" I heard Allen say, and before I knew it his face was inches away from mine, then centimeters, then- "Walker!" Link cried from the floor below us. "Is that you! How many times have I told you not to get away from me! Come down here now!"

Allen muttered curses under his breath and walked away from me without a word.

The world was spinning around in circles, as I flopped on to my bed. Did Allen really try to do what I think he did? Was the question that spun in my mind. Just then I realized I had forgotten to return Allen's coat. I took it off and stared at it, it was a little wet from the snow so I hung it on my chair to dry. Staring at the coat from my bed all I could think was Allen. Then I realized another thing, the whole day my heart had been beating non-stop. And it still was, but oh how I wished it would stop.

Merry Christmas Sephiria!

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