Author's Note: If you're wondering what took so long, it was a broken laptop. If you're wondering why this is another side chapter, it's because this is one of my many presents to my lovely wife, I love you lots, darling. And to the one person who thought I was pairing Val with Chung: HAHAHAHA. Enjoy and Happy Holidays.
Chapter 26.9 – A Red Christmas
The skies were a dull gray, covered in clouds as far as the eye could see. For Hamel, this would usually mean a storm. However, today was a magical day for all good boys and girls. It was the day a fat dude broke into their house and littered under their tree and in their socks. He also ate their food. The nerve of some people. And well, that day was actually tomorrow, but today is still important for some reason. Anyway, about the weather. It was snowing, which is perfectly normal in certain climates. Hamel was not one of these climates.
"Get those boats covered, you sack of potatoes!" the head of the harbor screamed, his head covered in the white frozen water droplets. The men he screamed at rushed around like headless chickens, making sure each and every boat they could reach was covered with a tarp. Yes, the people of Hamel rarely ever saw snow. It was even worse for a certain someone.
"What the hell is this stuff?!" Zael wailed loudly while perfectly safe inside his home.
"It's water frozen by low temperatures in the sky until they form ice crystals. When enough of these crystals collide and merge they fall to the ground as snow," Val stated calmly, having already seen snow numerous times in Ruben and Elder. Zael stared silently at the falling snow, not fully convinced of Val's wordy explanation.
Val didn't care though, as she was perfectly content with her tea and various papers spread out on the dining table. She and Zael were also the only ones not huddled under a blanket. Myraide glowered at the two in spite of that fact while she and her mother Minerva sat under a blanket together. Orerries had her own blanket, though she seemed a bit more resilient of the cold that penetrated the household.
"It feels like it was summer only yesterday," Myraide muttered bitterly as she pulled the blanket up higher to her neck. Minerva chuckled whimsically, her eyes drifting to Orerries.
"You seem okay with the cold, Princess," she spoke calmly, despite slightly chattering teeth. Orerries nodded her head slowly in response.
"Shura's capital sits upon a mountain top, so we get cold weather often. It's nothing new," she stated matter-of-factly. Minerva smiled suspiciously before she slipped out of the blanket.
"If that's so, then come with me," she said and pulled the princess out from under the blanket to drag her semi-forcefully upstairs. Orerries tried to protest while grabbing for the blanket, but Minerva was headstrong. Val watched the two go in confusion, but shortly returned to her tea with a content sigh. Myraide shuffled over to see what was on the papers, but froze up figuratively when she saw the hundreds of rather childish scribbles and drawings.
"What is all this...?"
"Hmm? Ah, I was working on designs for a new Nasod! This one will be equipped with thermonuclear energy created by mixtures of El energy, and-" Val's rant was cut off by Myraide's next remark.
"Looks like a chicken walked all over it."
The room fell silent. Val's face slowly reddened and she tried to think of a comeback to the abrupt reality-destroying comment.
"... Shut up," she finally settled with.
"Don't tell your mother to shut up!" Myraide snapped back.
"Don't insult your daughter's drawing abilities!" Val snapped back, finally having a comeback. Many minutes later, Myraide smirked triumphantly and held up a paper with an amazingly well-detailed drawing of a rather heavily-armed Nasod.
"I guess you get your drawing ability from your father," she stated with a victorious puff of her chest. Val stared at the drawing in silence before she put her head down on the table with a grimace. While Myraide gloated, Zael had finished his amazingly crude drawing of what he thought was a chicken. Luckily for Val, help returned.
"All finished," Minerva called out as she made her way down the stairs. Myraide and Val looked over to Minerva just in time to see a red-faced and very confused-looking Orerries stumble down the stairs. Once she had reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone watching her knew why her face was red. It matched the short-skirted red dress she now wore with white fur trim and white buttons. She also had on matching red gloves with the same fur trim.
"S-Stop staring..." she murmured under her breath with a brief glare at the red-faced Val. Val obliged and quickly looked away and put a hand over her nose and mouth to try and calm her face down.
"I have one for Val too," Minerva commented innocently, though the glint in her elderly eyes was anything but innocent. Val burst into objections, but they fell on deaf ears. An hour later, yes it took that long, Val was dragged back downstairs in the same outfit as Orerries.
"At least it can't get worse..." Val muttered under her breath. Naturally it did get worse. Minerva pulled in a large sack from the back room and put it down in front of Val and Orerries. How the scrawny elderly managed that was beyond anyone's reasoning.
"Since you two are so resilient to the cold, you can deliver these to Helputt and the orphans," Minerva said and was immediately met with objections.
"I am not going out in public wearing this!" Val and Orerries complained in unison. Which then led to them turning red again and looking away. Minerva laughed and smiled at the two.
"Then it's decided! Get going, Val and Princess!" Minerva commanded. The two girls stared at the sack and then back at Minerva. Both of them knew they wouldn't be able to carry that, but they couldn't say no anymore.
"Th-Thanks for the help, you t-two," Helputt tried to say without laughing at the two out-of-breath girls. Val glared at Helputt angrily before she managed to speak.
"What is in this thing anyway?" she asked between soft pants.
"Ah, it was Minerva's idea. She wanted to help spread some happiness around Hamel like my grandfather Nicholas Seiker. So thanks to you two, I can deliver these out. Want to help?" Helputt asked, but was immediately cut down by a very defiant "No!". Behind Helputt, Chung peeked out to stare at the girls until he got shy and ducked away. Val stormed out of Helputt's mansion with Orerries in tow.
"Let's just get back home before anyone unsettling sees us," Val muttered, but yet again was met by the most unsettling one of them all who just walked out of the bar completely drunk.
"Ahahaha, what are you wearing?!" Kyou laughed out while pointing at the two. It was then that the last straw snapped. The snow in the surrounding area was immediately burnt away by the large blue flame that erupted out of Val. Kyou staggered a little at the burst of heat before she was knocked flying into the air by a plume of the flames that resembled an arm. Orerries swayed a little at the heat until it settled back down.
Val's bright red face was close to crying in agony until Orerries suddenly leaned against her. Val glanced over to see the princess slightly snuggle up against her. Orerries breathed softly, her arms wrapping around Val's left arm.
"Warm..." she murmured with a soft smile against Val's shoulder. Val's cheeks went rose-colored, but then immediately back to normal when she caught Orerries who had fainted from the exhaustion of carrying added with the burst of heat.
Orerries slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly trying to remember what happened. She felt herself lying on a bed, though she couldn't remember how she had gotten there. It was only when she shifted slightly and saw that she was in Val's bedroom that the princess sat up quickly, her face bright red in embarrassment.
"What is wrong with me..." she murmured to herself, gathering her thoughts before she got up, staggering a little towards the door. She made her way downstairs just in time to watch Myraide drag Zael past her, a sprig of some plant in her hand. While the princess questioned what the plant with red berries was for, she finished walking down the stairs. Minerva was curled up asleep on the couch in the living room while Val was back at the table.
Orerries quietly made her way to the table so she wouldn't wake up Minerva. When she reached the table, she noticed that Val was fast asleep with her head resting on her arms. Orerries pondered on the idea of waking her up, but decided against that. Instead she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down across from Val to watch the girl's sleeping face.
"She carried you all the way to her bed, you know. You wouldn't let go of her until you were laid down," Minerva whispered, suddenly awake and sitting next to Orerries. Orerries almost choked on her hot tea, but managed not to make too much noise. Minerva smiled widely and patted the princess's back to help. "Thank you too, for helping me."
"It was fine..." Orerries muttered after getting her tea down. She stared at Val gently, and then softly smiled against the rim of her tea cup. "She was warm..."
Later that night, Kyou stumbled back into Hamel after swimming all the way back. It was then that she remembered in her stupor that she could've just teleported. With a regretful sigh, followed by a disgruntled groan from the removing of a fish from her shirt, Kyou laid down on the harbor to rest.
She stared up at the night sky in silence, watching a black shape move past the moon. Then another black shape appeared to be getting larger. It wasn't until it landed painfully on Kyou's stomach that she realized she should've moved away.
"Merry Christmas!" a jolly voice from the sky called down to her, but her yelled response was anything but jolly. After she yelled at the voice, Kyou looked back down at what had fallen to see a small wrapped box with a tag that read "To Kyou, From Parents". Kyou ripped open the wrapping and pulled open the box to see what was inside. To her utter dismay, a shiny set of four horseshoes glistened inside the box.
"Yeah, screw this. I'm resetting the timeline. And no dumb flower is stopping me," Kyou grumbled, but still tucked away the horseshoes. With a snap of her fingers, the story finally got back on track.
