A/N: How's it going everybody!
'Twas the week before Christmas, when all thro the city of Touma, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Oh forget it. This isn't working…
Seriously though, it really was the weeks before Christmas December 18 to be exact, and while it is true that the City of Touma was indeed so quiet, that not even a mouse could be heard.
Of course… this was only true for probably 10 seconds, as an all too familiar house was about to interrupt the pristine silence…
Krakesagi House
"What are you doing Leo?!" Hinoka called out.
"What do you think I'm doing Hinoka?" Leo replied back.
"Guys, come on!" Corrin pleaded.
"No, not there! It's better over here!" Camilla insisted.
"Shows what you know!" Ryoma spoke.
What were the (in)famous siblings doing you ask? Well… it was finally time to decorate the house for the holidays, and while Mikoto and Anankos were busy taking care of the exterior decorations, the siblings took to the Christmas tree… and if you know the siblings very well, anything but good can happen from it.
"Are you sure the ribbon will look good Camilla?" Hinoka asked, seeing her sister with a roll of ribbon.
"Of course it will." Camillia insisted. "It worked last year, so there's no doubt about it this year."
"Which is better?" Sakura asked. "The shiny balls, or the plain, red ones?"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Elise piped. "Definitely the shiny ones. They're much prettier."
"Don't use the plain lights Xander." Leo said. "Use the colored ones."
"The colored ones suck." Xander spoke. "The plain yellow ones work better."
"Ryoma, you're putting too much angels." Takumi reminded. "You've to make room for the dangling ones as well."
"It's not too much." Ryoma defended. "We've been using the same number since before you were even born!"
As for Corrin, he's been pushed to the sidelines- quite literally if I do say so myself. And this is usually the norm. Because his siblings crowd around the Christmas tree every year, Corrin's barely able to get any room to do his own part in the decorating. And yes, Corrin has TRIED to voice his opinions before, but his voice is often drowned out.
As the other eight of the siblings fought over their preferred decoration, Corrin suddenly noticed something about the tree that the others didn't: The tree was slowly wobbling, and starting to lose balance.
"Oh no… not again…" Corrin spoke in horror, before he immediately headed to his siblings, and the tree.
"Guys…" Corrin spoke. "Try to take it easy." Unfortunately, his warning came to no avail.
"No, no, no…"
Slowly but surely, it began waving a bit more. Every decoration that was already hung began to sway as it moved about, when finally, just like a tree in the forest after meeting a lumberjack; it finally toppled down, spreading its artificial pine needles all around.
"Oh crud…" Corrin sighed to himself, before putting his hands to his face.
The crash immediately grabbed the attention of the parents, who immediately rushed into the house.
"What happened here- Oh not again…" Anankos asked, before he realized the cause. "Oh dear…"
"Now, now honey…" Mikoto comforted. "It's all right. We'll just buy another one."
Anankos looked to his wife. "You're right. Accidents happen. We'll just get another one first thing tomorrow. Gotta look at the bright side."
Mikoto turned to her children. "Clean this mess please kids."
The two parents then went back to the exterior decorating.
It was this point that the siblings finally took notice of Corrin, and turned to him.
"Uh… little bro?" Hinoka began.
"Don't even speak." Corrin simply said.
"Bu-" Camilla tried to start again, but was immediately interrupted.
"SHUT UP!" Corrin yelled out.
"Hey now!" Xander boomed out.
"Don't hey now me!" Corrin yelled back. "Just. Shut up already!"
"What happened to you?" Leo asked.
"Everything!" Corrin said.
"What do you mean by everything?" Camilla inquired.
"This!" Corrin made a circling motion with his arm, indicating the fallen Christmas tree.
"And…" Ryoma asked, not being sure what his brother was talking about.
"This happens every year!" Corrin exploded. "Every December, you guys argue what you want to put on the tree, and every time it happens, the tree ends up falling and loosing pine leaves! Do you have any idea how many trees we've had over the years?"
A brief silence started, but was then immediately broken after mere milliseconds.
"SIX! Freaking SIX!" Corrin yelled out once more. "We've gone through six trees in the span of three years, when other families only got through about TWO!"
"Well… why don't you help out then?" Takumi asked, crossing his arms.
"Help out? I've been trying to! The only problem is that every time I try to help, I'm literally pushed aside."
Xand tried to open his mouth, but was once again interrupted by Corrin.
"You know what, forget it. I'm going upstairs." Corrin then immediately ran up to his own room, shutting the door behind him, locking it, and lying himself face-down on his bed. But not before opening his door again, shouting out:
"I WISH I NEVER HAD SIBLINGS!"
The Next Day
Corrin's alarm woke him up for the next day. When he got up, he was surprised to see that he had been asleep since yesterday afternoon. However, he immediately brushed this aside, and headed downstairs.
When the white-hair headed downstairs, he was shocked to see a beautiful looking Christmas tree neatly decorated, its branches blooming with pine needles.
Corrin rubbed his eyes. He could've sworn that the tree was almost from yesterday's incident. But that was just the beginning.
When he headed to the Dining room, he was shocked to see that the dining room contained a smaller table with another table set for three. Again, how odd. Did his mother forget to set extra? And more importantly, what happened to the other table?
Just as he came in, Mikoto suddenly entered from the garden.
"Good morning sweetie." Mikoto greeted her son.
"Uh… morning mom..." Corrin spoke. "Did you forget something today?"
"No. Why?"
"I mean… don't you normally set for 11 usually?"
"11?" Mikoto began confused. "No. Why? Were you expecting guests or something?"
"No. I mean did you forget about Xander and the others?"
"Xander?" Mikoto began again. "Honey you do remember that he's just the name of one of your many imaginary friends when you were a kid?"
"Imaginary friend?" Corrin repeated, just as confused as ever.
"Don't you remember?" Mikoto giggled at the thought. "You used to have eight as a kid. Now… what were their names again? Oh right. There was Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura… who were the other four again?"
"I think you forgot about Xander, Camilla, Leo and Elise." Anankos added, going out from the bathroom.
"Oh that's right." Mikoto spoke.
"Eight?" Corrin spoke. "No. I had only one as a kid remember? And he was a dragon. And… you two really don't remember your other kids?"
"Other kids?" Anankos began. "Corrin, you're our only child."
Corrin's eyes widened at the realization.
"Honey… are you ok?" Mikoto asked in concern. "Do you feel sick or something?"
"No. Maybe I just need to wash up again. I do feel slightly drowsy."
"All right then." Anankos said. "Wash up and hurry up, we're about to start breakfast."
Corrin then immediately rushed up to the bathroom.
"Ok…" Corrin began. "This is weird. One minute, I had eight other siblings, the next minute, I'm an only child. What gives?!"
"You wished for it didn't you?" A female voice began.
"Who's there?"
"Oh. You can't see me. That's right." The female voice realized, before materializing into a tall, beautiful woman with long, golden-blonde hair wearing a long-sleeved white gown. Behind her was a pair of white, feathery wings.
Corrin screamed. "Who are you?! Stay back! I have a… shaver."
"You mortals can be so rude sometimes." The woman shook her head. "I am Leanne. I am an angel. I heard your wish, and I granted it."
"What wish?"
"Don't you remember?" Leanne asked before opening a portal, revealing the events of the previous day with him storming upstairs after the Christmas tree fell, and him yelling out: "I WISH I NEVER HAD SIBLINGS!"
"Oh… that wish." Corrin realized. "You do know that I was just speaking that out of pure anger. Right? Don't you angels know sarcasm?"
"Not really." Leanne replied. "Whether or not you were sarcastic, you must now be forced to live this new life. And when you learn your lesson, you can go back to your old life."
"Isn't that kinda cliché?" Corrin asked, before realizing that Leanne has disappeared. "Crap."
Later at school
"Ok…" Corrin began to himself. "School still seems normal… at least for standards anyway."
"Not really." Leanne spoke, before materializing again.
"Gah!" Corrin screamed. "You gotta stop doing that! And really? Are you sure? It all still feels normal."
"Look over there." Leanne pointed.
"Flora!" Corrin called out, rushing to her, before being suddenly stopped by Leanne.
"Hey! Let me go!" Corrin demanded. "That's my girlfriend."
"Not in this world." Leanne said.
"Oh really?"
"Look." Leanne pointed.
Corrin turned back to Flroa who was now together with Jakob.
"Jakob?!" Corrin spoke in surprise. "You mean Corrina's butler. She and him. Together?"
"Yes."
"How?!"
"Well… you only went after her because your siblings pushed for you to go to her three years ago remember?"
Corrin slightly nodded.
"But since you never did that years ago," Leanne spoke. "Jakob took notice instead, and well… turns out that Flora's had a crush on Jakob for quite a while now, and they instantly clicked and… well, you know the rest."
"But. I'm still with someone right?" Corrin asked with hope. "I mean, surely I got someone on my own right?"
"Well…"
"Hello there precious." A female voice began.
"What the? Oboro?!"
"Hey Corrin!" Oboro spoke. "Why you acting so surprised?"
"No reason!" Corrin panicked. "I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, that's all."
Oboro seemed convinced. "All right then. I guess I'll see you at lunch then." Oboro then left to attend to other things.
Corrin then turned back to Leanne. "Ok, what gives? Why am I with Oboro. Last I checked, she was with Corrina."
"But isn't your cousin with Anna?"
"Long story short:" Corrin began. "Anna's mother was called for help with President Marth, and she and the rest of her family left. As a result of those events, Corrina and Anna didn't want a long-distance relationship, and parted on good terms. And then she met Oboro."
"That's complicated even for me." Leanne spoke. "And I'm an angel."
"Oh, and why am I with Oboro again? Not that it's a bad thing, I mean me and Oboro are friends, but why?"
"Well…" Leanne began. "Since you never got together with Flora, you remained a sulking mess of a teen-"
"Ouch."
"That was until Oboro noticed you, and decided to cheer you up. You two have become a pair since then." Leanne finished.
"That's sweet, but everything else is total bull-"
"Language!" Leanne snapped angrily.
End of school
Corrin's Bedroom
"Ok… I have to admit." Corrin spoke. "The school day didn't go as badly as I thought, but I learned my lesson now. I know that I appreciate my siblings. Can I PLEASE have my old life back?"
"Not yet." Leanne spoke. "You haven't learned your lesson yet."
"Like you know that." Corrin spoke, before turning to his phone and flipping through his contacts.
"What are you doing?" Leanne crossed her arms.
"I'm going to the one person who I know can help me. My best friends Silas and Kaze." Corrin spoke. However, when he reached to where Silas' name would be, Corrin found it to be empty.
"What the?" Corrin said confused. "Where's Silas' name? Oh well… Might as well go to Kaze then." Again, when Corrin headed to where Kaze's name was on his phone, he also found his name not there.
"Even Kaze? Really?"
"If I may," Leanne began. "You met Kaze and Silas…"
"With the help of my/your siblings." She spoke with Corrin joining along.
"On your 5th birthday, Camilla and Ryoma were friends with Silas' and Kaze's respective sibling, so through them, your parents contacted their parents, and brought them to your birthday, leading to the three of you starting your friendship."
A slight pause
"But since you wished your siblings away, you three never met. As a result, Kaze, his brother Saizo and their father moved back to Mokushu, Japan since it was also your brother Xander's help that their father got a job in Touma."
"And Silas…" Corrin asked in horror.
"He's dead."
"What?" Corrin said in shock. "How?!"
"He got into a tragic accident." Leanne spoke, before remaining in silence.
"Tell me!" Corrin demanded.
"It was two years ago." Leanne simply said.
Corrin listened in disbelief. "What? Why?"
"Recall two years ago." Leanne spoke. "What did you do two years ago? Specifically on August 15."
"August 15 two years ago?" Corrin spoke in confusion, before suddenly remembering. "That's right. I went to a convention- with Silas and Kaze. I even had photos with them on FacePage and Chatter."
"That's right." Leanne spoke. "Fond memories aren't they? But here, because Silas was never invited, he tried to go there himself, that was until he was jumped by two armed men."
"No. He was… murdered?"
"I'm so sorry." Leanne spoke softly.
"No. No. NO!" Corrin punched his bedroom wall, bruising his arm, bleeding slightly.
He then pulled his hair with both hands. "Why? Why?! Why did I make that stupid wish?! If only I didn't let their fighting go to my head."
A few minutes of silence later, Corrin just threw himself to his bed.
"Silas. Kaze. We were friends thanks to my siblings, and now… both of them are gone. One of them for good."
A few more moments of silence
"And my siblings. Xander. Ryoma. Camila. Leo. Takumi. Elise. Sakura. I shouldn't have let my anger get the better of me. I let a tree problem destroy sixteen years of family with you."
Flashback Montage Start
-Corrin at age 6 during Halloween with Camilla and Xander helping him with his Halloween costume that time: A purple dragon named Rypos.
-Corrin at age 5 with the rest of his siblings at the time during Easter looking for the hidden eggs during the festival that time.
-Corrin at age 10 with Hinoka and Elise on April Fool's Day getting ready to pie Takumi in the face, who at the end ended up laughing with them.
-Corrin celebrating his 11th birthday with his family. He remembered that day quite clearly. It was the year that his family brought him out to his favorite restaurant Sarrob, an Italian and Pizza restaurant. It was also the birthday that he received his bike.
-And then there was Christmas of the previous year. The same thing happened, where the tree fell because of the other siblings' fight over it. Strangely enough, instead of flipping out in anger, Corrin was all too eager to help his siblings clean up the mess, and headed out with the rest of his family out to buy a new tree and even had dinner at Buffet 360.
Flashback Montage End
"All those memories… Just that now." Corrin cried to himself, as Leanne could do nothing but hold her hand to his back.
"I want to go back. Go back to my own timeline. With them. Guys. I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have yelled. I should've just calmed down."
Later
Corrin suddenly heard a knock on his door.
"Go away." Corrin spoke, still moping for what he had done. "I want to be alone for a while."
"Are you sure?" A female voice asked.
Corrin immediately bolted up from his bed. He recognized the voice. "Camilla? Is it really?"
Corrin immediately unlocked his door, and quickly opened it. And to his shock and relief, it was indeed Camilla who was at that door, along with the rest of his siblings.
"Guys!" Corrin called out, catching his leaving siblings' attention. "You're back!" He then tackled his siblings to the ground, hugging them as tight as he could.
"What do you mean we're back?" Takumi asked confused. "We never left."
"Are you still drowsy?" Ryoma inquired.
"More importantly…" Xander began. "I thought you didn't want siblings? Isn't that why you ran off to your bedroom?"
"No!" Corrin firmed. "Forget what I said. I was just mad. Ok, never mind. Don't forget if you want. Hate me forever for all I care. Just don't leave. Ever. I'm so sorry."
"No." Xander spoke. "We should be sorry."
"What?"
"You were right?" Hinoka spoke. "We do fight too much over the tree, and tend to leave you out of it."
"It's not always your fault." Corrin said. "I mean… now that I think about it, I often cause the problem as well."
"True." Ryoma admitted. "But more often than not, we do it as much as you do."
"So, how about we just try to do this decorating like regular siblings… with you included more often?" Xander proposed. "And if we start fighting again, perhaps we should stay away from the tree. How's that?"
"Sounds good to me." Corrin agreed, as he and the rest of his siblings began to stand up.
It was at that point that the parents came up the stairs to check on them.
"What's going on here?" Anankos asked.
"Just a bit of closure here." Xander spoke.
"Well that's good to know." Anankos spoke. "Anyway, your mother and I were thinking and…"
"We decided that instead of waiting tomorrow to buy a new tree…" Mikoto continued.
"We're gonna do it today instead, and we were thinking of having dinner in oh I don't know…"
"Buffet 360." Mikoto finished. "How's that sound?"
"Pretty good." Corrin agreed. He turned to his siblings, who agreed as well.
"Well that settles it." Anankos said. "All of you start getting ready. We'll be leaving in twenty minutes."
As they were about to leave, Corrin notices an angel on the floor that he's sworn that he's never seen before.
Seeing it on the floor, Corrin picked it up, but not before almost dropping it. Why you ask? Well… the angel wasn't pure white like the rest. Instead, it was white save for the hair which was a shining golden-blonde.
"Leanne?" Corrin said in confusion.
His thoughts were immediately interrupted when Sakura called out to him.
"Big Brother!" Sakura called out. "Hurry up!"
"Oh, coming!" Corrin placed the angel on the table, before he ran off.
Little did he know however, the angel was indeed Leanne, who simply smiled, before she disappeared back to the heavens.
And so, the family set of to the mall, where their new tree awaits. When the family finally reached the mall, they all picked out a tree almost similar to their previous one. This one standing tall and proud, and was as sturdy as a metallic snake.
And when all that finished, as promised, they ended the day by having dinner at Buffet 360.
As for the tree's fate? Well… believe it or not, that was the last tree that the family ever bought until each of the siblings finally had their own family.
A/N: And we're clear!
This was surprisingly dark for some reason… and… Merry (advanced or belated) Christmas I guess?
Also, I apologize if I went over the top with this one.
For those who guessed that the last of the trilogy is Christmas, Congratulations! You guys were right. You all win… NOTHING!
Also, Leanne is who you think she is. I just tweaked her personality slightly to fit it in the story.
Sorry for the sudden change with Corrina and Oboro/Anna. It was hard for me to do, but I have a shot planned with Corrina, that couldn't be worked with Anna. But just reminding you that in-universe, Anna is still very much close to Corrina, even though Corrina has a new love interest now. Which reminds me, I better change/remove the poll.
Review Reply:
Bluezororoark: Maybe. Could be. I don't really know.
Twelve Dollars: I don't really know myself. I wasn't thinking when I wrote that, and I'm too lazy to fix that.
I'm glad you like the idea. As for the balancing part though… I can't see how I can handle that. My stories end up complicated at some point, yet some viewers are still somehow able to make sense.
Scalchop Warrior: Congratulations! You were right, and win… Nothing!
And don't worry for not understanding the reference. I don't understand some references in other fics I read on this site myself.
I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. That was just me talking out of my ass like I typically do. Say what you want, you're the only person who's allowed to say that. The only one! Consider that a Christmas gift from me to you.
3 Question Marks: You may or may not have gotten it. We'll see.
BlastOS: Glad you liked it.
Yes, it's Christmas based.
Randomsmashfan 64: You may be right or may be wrong.
Anyways, Have a happy holiday people, enjoy your gifts and eat like it's the end of the world.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I'll see you all in 2018! BYE!
