Hello, I live! I've been taking a break recently cuz…my family…let's just say that there should never be more than two of us in a room ever unless we're watching TV…
But this is the Christmas chapter so I wanted to update it on Christmas, I know I'm late but Merry late Christmas everyone!
Many thanks to SapphyreMyst for following and favoriting and Ahntanya's-Hope and DarkLunar1312 for favoriting you guys rock!
Also many thanks to my lovely reviewers!
DeathbladeMeister: Yay! :)
sun-on-the-shelf: No! Vash will not be the bad guy. Gilberta and Elvo will not be breaking up. Canada and Liechtenstein? I will think on it? Unless someone has other ideas?
Comfortable Misery: Yes! Elvo plans to get married.
Elizabeth d: Yes! That's my favorite ship! Just about anyway…
Chapter 21: Her Christmas
"Did you know Mr. Hardwik got fired?" Lili asked, eyes wide.
Anniliese blinked astonished, "really, what?" And how did Lili find out about this before she did?
"I just got a text from the school saying we'll be having a new music teacher in January," Lili said, innocently.
Anniliese tossed her brown hair over her shoulder, her movements more of a twitch of her shoulders, call it women's intuition or whatever but she kind of had the feeling that she was somehow responsible for this.
"Do you know why?" She asked her student's sister who had stopped her when they had passed each other in the supermarket to tell her this.
Lili batted wide eyes at her, "I have no idea, I think Vash said something to-" she broke off and pressed her fingertips to her lips, a faint blush coating her cheeks, "I wasn't supposed to say anything to you," she whispered.
"Lili Zwingli who was your brother talking to?" She demanded in her teacher's voice, making Lili snap to attention, "and why?"
"U-um," Lili fidgeted nervously with her pink dress, "h-he was talking with that friend of yours, the uh, Hungarian boy or, um, he is Hungarian right? Well I don't know where it went from there but Vash and that boy definitely started it."
"Your brother and one of my best friends got your teacher fired? You haven't said why." Anniliese said.
Lili smiled, "well that's obvious, you're why." Lili said simply.
"Me?" Anniliese asked incredulously.
"You," said Lili. "He was harassing you, and if it wasn't you it might be me, or your other friends Lovina or Gilberta," Anniliese wasn't going to ask how she knew about Lovina and Gilberta. "He needed to be stopped."
"So your brother and Elvo did what exactly?" Anniliese asked, setting her hands on her hips.
Lili cringed, "you'd make a fantastic mother someday," she whispered. "I don't know what they did, Vash just said it'd been 'taken care of'." That statement reminded Anniliese of a certain foul-mouthed Italian girl who also liked to claim things were 'taken care of,' and suddenly she knew.
A list of names ran through her head, Elvo, Gilberta, Antonio, Lovina.
And then after her Feliciana and Rome, the headmaster.
Anniliese nearly swore, she was going to kill those two meddling green-eyed bastards when she got her hands on them, in the meantime she simply bid Lili a goodbye and stormed off without even buying anything.
Watching her leave Lili Zwingli pulled out her phone and, with a deep sigh, called her older brother.
"I told her what happened," she told him immediately, knowing he'd know exactly what she was talking about.
"What! Why?!" Vash exploded.
"Because someone had to and she would've killed you and that other boy Elvo if it had been either of you. I knew she wouldn't strangle me," said Lili, unruffled.
Vash grumbled but there was no arguing with Lili's logic. Anniliese wasn't exactly the scariest-looking woman on the planet, but if Vash knew anything about her, and contrary to popular belief, he did, it was how terrifying she could be when she really got mad.
Vash grumbled, there was no way his pride was going to allow him to thank his little sister for her backhanded consideration.
"Just don't do it again," he said strictly.
"You're welcome," Lili said sweetly, Vash grumbled some more and hung up.
Christmas Day Gilberta, Anniliese and Elvo all sat on Anniliese's expensive couch drinking egg nog, watching some bad Christmas special of something, they weren't really sure what, and giggling uncontrollably.
Why they were giggling was also unclear, they weren't that drunk, well, Elvo and Anniliese weren't Gilberta might be but it was hard to tell with the loud German.
Anniliese adjusted her white gloves, the snowflakes that dangled from them jingled in a cheery way. Her white gloves coupled with her white coat and pale blue scarf had lead Elvo to declare that Anniliese was a snowflake.
Yes a snowflake, Anniliese was a snowflake and Elvo was a reindeer. He was wearing a headband with reindeer horns on it and a big red nose that actually lit up if you squeezed it, held onto his face with an elastic band.
When Elvo had first declared her a snowflake Anniliese had been about to protest and say that Gilberta should be the snowflake with her colouring. Then the albino had stepped through the door. Underneath her white coat she had been wearing a tiny red dress trimmed with white and matching red, white-trimmed boots, gloves and Santa hat. Gilberta had decided to dress up too, no one had told Anniliese.
Gilberta had also been wearing a long white Santa beard but Anniliese had long since ripped that off and tried to strangle her with it, leading to both girls wrestling on the floor while Elvo whistled and yelled cat-calls from the safety of the couch.
Back on the couch afterwards, Anniliese reached over and bent one of the horns on Elvo's reindeer headband forward, allowing it to snap back into place, this made Gilberta laugh uncontrollably, she laughed so hard she slid off the couch and onto the floor with a loud thud. This of course sent Anniliese and Elvo into absolute hysterics.
"A-Are we drunk?" Elvo asked, laughing and wiping away tears of mirth.
"I don't know how, but I think we might be," Anniliese confessed, giggling. They each had an opened bottle of the beer Gilberta had brought with her in front of them but Elvo and Anniliese had barely touched theirs.
Gilberta finished her third bottle, "I'm not drunk, yet." She cracked open another.
"It's only midday, slow down!" Said Elvo, "you and I have somewhere we need to be after this, and I need you at least conscious."
Gilberta gave him an 'are you serious?' look, "do you really think the awesome me will get drunk after five beers?"
"Gilberta that's your fourth," Anniliese pointed out.
The albino dismissed her words with a wave of her pale hand, "see, four beers?! Do you really think the awesome me will get drunk after four beers?" Both Elvo and Anniliese refrained from pointing out that the albino couldn't even remember how many beers she'd had. They were just that nice.
"Please don't," was all Elvo said.
"Where are we going anyway? I didn't know we had to go somewhere after Anna's," said Gilberta.
"It's a surprise," her boyfriend said mysteriously.
"What kind of surprise?" Asked Gilberta warily, she'd been wacked on the head by his frying pan a lot as a child but she wasn't stupid, or too trusting.
"The good kind," said Elvo evasively.
Gilberta opened her mouth to interrogate him further but Elvo changed the subject, "Ann, I thought you said your mother was coming down for a visit before Christmas, what happened there?"
Anniliese shrugged, sipping her beer, "she called the next day to cancel, said she'd come after Christmas, and she'd bringing my cousin with her."
Both Gilberta and Elvo thought back to their days in Austria, Anniliese's mother was an only child and her father had one brother, thus Anniliese only had the one cousin.
"That little kid," Elvo said slowly, the boy had been at least five years younger than him but Elvo remembered the violet-eyed kid vaguely, "Edward or something, wasn't it? He'd be what, sixteen by now wouldn't he?"
Gilberta frowned in thought, she couldn't remember Anniliese having any other family but her parents, her last grandparent having died when they were in diapers, but she hadn't been as close to Anna's family as Elvo had. And she would be the first to admit her memory was shit, for more reasons than one.
"Edwin, and he turned fifteen in August, yes." Said Anniliese, despite the roughly five-year gap between the two of them she was very fond of her little cousin, he exasperated her to no end sometimes but she adored him. Part of the connection she felt was probably because he was an art lover despite his parents wanting him to study something more 'substantial.' Anniliese had run into the same problem with her music, her mother had argued with her all her life about it. And then thrown her out of the house when she turned down an offer to become a concert pianist in favor of becoming a teacher.
Anniliese's brown eyebrow twitched; there is no pleasing some people!
"Ann, you alright?" Anniliese opened her eyes to find Elvo's green ones staring at her in concern, Gilberta's red ones doing the same.
She looked at them both and smiled sincerely, "everything's perfect."
Gilberta Beilschmidt walked slowly and carefully, holding onto Elvo's hand for dear life. This was because she had no idea where she was going and didn't really feel like slipping and killing herself.
She couldn't see where she was going because a street or so before they had stopped Elvo had pulled her hat down over her eyes, insuring she couldn't see and told her not to take it off until he said she could.
"Elvo where are we?" She asked, she hadn't recognized any of the neighborhood they had driven through.
"Hang on a sec," said Elvo instead of answering, leading her forwards a few more steps before stopping her and moving behind her, removing the hat from over her eyes, "what do you think?"
Gilberta's first reaction was to be charmed, the house in front of her, they were standing in the driveway, was, in her opinion, amazing.
It was a creamy white colour that looked more yellow against the snow, one story but large with a wrap-around porch and vines growing up the sides. It was definitely the kind of house she could live in.
"Um, it's an awesome house Elvo but whose is it? Why are we here?" She asked, turning to her companion, who smiled.
"Well I guess you could say it's mine but if I could somehow persuade you to sign a few papers it'll be our house." He said, smiling.
"Our house?" Gilberta echoed, dumbstruck, "you mean you bought this house? For us?!"
"Merry Christmas," her boyfriend whispered, smiling.
With a shriek Gilberta threw her arms around his neck and, laughing, Elvo wrapped his around her waist, lifting her up and swinging her around in a full circle.
"Mein Gott!" Gilberta exclaimed, "a house Elvo, seriously? How on Earth did you afford it?"
"Seriously," he confirmed, "and I used the money my parents left me when they died. It was mostly untouched and since I'm on a half-scholarship and pay for my apartment with the money I make now..." He shrugged, "what else would I want to use it for?" Actually he had used it for one other thing, the diamond and emerald ring in the top drawer of his desk at his apartment but Gilberta would find that out soon enough. "And I know you don't want to move out f your house until Ludwig's settled down at Uni but I was hoping we could at least spend weekends here together until then?"
Gilberta laughed, she had tears running down her down her face and she wasn't even slightly embarrassed. "That sounds perfect. I transferred the house over to Ludwig's name for his birthday anyway. Can we go inside?"
She looked like a kid in a candy store; Elvo laughed again and grabbed her, sweeping her off her feet while pulling the keys from his pocket with his free hand.
Gilberta shrieked again but laughed as Elvo unlocked the door and carried her bridal style into the house. Then Gilberta stopped laughing as the inside took her breath away.
"Do you like it?" Elvo asked, worried, "I wasn't sure what you'd like best so I asked for Ann and Ludwig's help. It's not completely furnished but we can add other stuff later."
"Luddy and Anna knew?" Her best friend and brother were so dead. They hadn't even hinted at what she was in for. Gilberta smiled and shook her head, "it's perfect," she said, eyes shining.
She turned in her boyfriend's eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck again, "I love you Elvo. I love you and wish we could spend eternity together."
Elvo hugged her back, "well our whole lives aren't eternity but it's a good start, right?"
Gilberta smiled, "A very good start." She knew her whole life would be nowhere near long enough but she was going to treasure the time she had left.
Elvo laid her down on the couch he had personally picked out and kissed her softly, "Merry Christmas Gilberta. I love you," he whispered in German.
"Merry Christmas Elvo. I love you too." She said back in Hungarian.
Elvo kissed her again, "I love you more."
Later that day, back in her own bed at the house that now officially belonged to her little brother Gilberta called said little brother. She'd already tried calling Anniliese but the Austrian female must've been out or something because all she'd gotten was her voicemail. She'd left a message 'you are so dead for not telling me!' And was now calling her brother.
"Hallo? Schwester?" Her brother asked.
"How could you not tell me that Elvo had bought us a house!?" She yelled, "I told you when Feliciana wanted to take you and Kiku on a trip down to that river to go skinny dipping!"
"That isn't even close to being the same thing!" Ludwig's voice was strange and Gilberta could tell he was blushing, she smirked, Kiku and Ludwig actually would have gone on that trip if she hadn't warned them. Therefore, they owed her!
"Traitor!" She yelled.
"I didn't want to ruin Elvo's big surprise for you," he said. In the background Gilberta heard the sound of running feet and then a loud thump and a crash, the sound of her brother's phone skidding across a wood floor, along with her brother's yell and a female shriek of joy. She knew that sound well; Feliciana must've tackled her brother.
"Feliciana! I'm on the phone to my sister!" Ludwig scolded, Gilberta heard the sound of the phone being picked up but the voice that answered wasn't Ludwig's.
"Miss Yuki, are you still there?" A soft voice asked.
Gilberta rolled her eyes, all of Ludwig's friends insisted on calling her 'Miss' and the word for snow in their own language.
"Hallo Kiku, Merry Christmas!" She said, she really adored Ludwig's cute little Japanese friend.
"Merry Christmas Miss Yuki, have you had a good day?" The Japanese girl asked warmly.
"Absolutely amazing. And you?" Asked Gilberta.
"I admit, it got better once I got away from my family and came here." Said Kiku. By family she probably meant her tons of foster siblings. She paused and Gilberta assumed she was looking at Ludwig and Feliciana who were still squabbling, "not much quieter though."
"I'll bet!" Gilberta laughed, "I love how you look out for those two. And I really appreciate it, you know that right?" She asked, she just had a sudden need to make sure Kiku knew how much Gilberta appreciated and adored her.
Kiku blinked big brown eyes, "y-yes. I suppose," she said.
"Promise me you'll always look out for them, no matter what," said Gilberta.
"I promise," the younger woman didn't hesitate at all this time.
Gilberta smiled, "thanks, it's really good to hear that." She changed the subject, "who else is at Felici's with you and Luddy?"
"Just Mr. Antonio and Lovina," the Japanese girl said promptly, "are you still at Miss Edelstein's house?"
"No I'm at home," Gilberta admitted, she was lying propped up on her bed, Elvo beside her was asleep even though it was barely 9:30pm, she smirked, he was such a lightweight compared to her. He hadn't had that many beers since they'd gotten back to her place from their house.
Their house, thinking the words made her giddy.
"Well then you should come here, we'd love to see you," Kiku said, the albino heard the sound of Feliciana shouting an agreement in the background.
"I'd love to! And I'll even see if I can drag Elvo and Anna over if you'd like." Said Gilberta enthusiastically.
"More the merrier!" Feliciana yelled before Kiku could answer, Gilberta had no idea how the Italian girl could hear her.
"Exactly," said Kiku. Gilberta's heart warmed, she loved how Kiku and the others accepted Anniliese even though the brunette was their teacher.
"We'll be over in a bit, I'm gonna take a nap. I'm exhausted," said Gilberta, she and Kiku both said goodbye and then hung up. Gilberta's arm gave out from under her and her head hit the pillow. Within seconds she fell asleep, nestled in Elvo's arms.
Finally done! Tell me what you think guys, and do the poll on my page. All you think you know about the characters and pairings will be shaken very soon! *laughs insanely and falls off chair*
Anyway, tell me what you think guys! And Anniliese's cousin Edwin is Kugelmugel who will be appearing soon.
If any of you want to see The Problem with attaining Fame or Prince and Prince(ss) updated soon you should probably send me a PM telling me how heartbroken you'll be if I don't update. I have six younger brothers. You'd think I'd be immune to guilt by now, YOU'D BE WRONG!
I'm sorry guys but that is necessary, I am really not updating well these days as you've probably already noticed.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, see you next week (hopefully).
Bye!