Author's Notes: Whee!! My FAVE part!!
Disclaimer: Suikoden=NOT mine. Millie/Luc=Wish were mine. Nanami/Jowy, Meg/Futch, Tomo/Riou, Tengaar/Hix, Leona/Viktor, Anita/Miklotov, Valeria/Camus, Apple/Shu, Wakaba/Sasuke, Viki/Tir, Nina/Flik = Millie/Luc. Plots and other off-the-wall, but nonetheless nice IMHO stuff that Konami didn't think of=Mine.
Carol of the Bells
Chapter Eleven: Let It Snow!!
"I hope you like that, Millie." Meg says. "I wanted to bottle eternal snow for you but I couldn't. So I thought instead, I'll let you hear the songs of Christmas any time you want."
Millie wound the music box excitedly. Clear, crystal notes floated from it. "It's beautiful, Meg!!"
"So are the earrings you gave!!" Meg says. She leans forward and whispered. "And they match the bracelet Futch gave me."
Millie laughed. Then she looked around. "Oh—oh!! Where is Luc??" She turned to Millie. "I'm going to look for him okay? I need to give him my gift…"
"Okay, seeya!!" Meg called as she and Futch headed for the dance floor.
"Luc!!" Millie followed him outside to the terrace. Luc was sitting by the plants, looking out at the plains of South Window. "Why did you leave? You didn't get my present yet."
"You got me, a present??!"
"Here it is," Millie says, ignoring the surprise in his voice. She placed the necklace around his neck. "I made it in green and white to match your clothes…"
"… I didn't get you anything." Luc says, confused.
Millie shook her head. "That's not the point."
"………"
"By the way," Millie sat beside him and brought a finger up at the delicate pendant on Luc's necklace. "That is a dreamcatcher. You have to wear it always, when you go to sleep. It will catch you some good dreams—and only the good dreams."
"Interesting…" Luc said. "I have never heard if anything like it."
"I learned about it, from where I came from."
"………" Luc glanced at her sideways. "I see."
A chilly wind blew and Millie pulled her shawl tightly around herself. "It's so cold…"
And Luc did something that surprised the two of them. He removed his coat and draped it over her.
"………" Millie ran her hands over the velvety material of the coat. The inside was lined with fur and felt nice and warm.
Luc watched her. She must have come from the tropics, this one… She easily gets cold and she wears tiny clothes. That explains it.
"Uh…" Millie murmured, wide-eyed. "Aren't you cold?"
Luc shook his head. "This is nothing. The winters in Harmonia are always freezing. It snows every time."
"It's so cold now." Millie says. "Do you think it will snow?"
"No." Luc says. "It rarely snows in Jowston. And the weather doesn't feel like it will snow."
"That's too bad…" Millie sighed. "I have never seen snow before. There's no snow where I came from."
"Where are you from anyway??" Luc asked.
"You—you're from Harmonia, aren't you?" Millie says, quickly changing the topic to him.
"……… You can say that, I guess."
"It must be pretty there." Millie said. "I read in a book, Harmonia is HUGE. There is this place called Crystal Valley and a structure called the Circle Palace—I wonder why it's called like that… Harmonia is so pretty in the book; the buildings, the clothes…"
"This," Luc taps a finger unto her bonnet lightly. "It's just like what the ladies back there wear."
"Really?" Millie giggled. "So can I pass for a Harmonian now??… But a Harmonian swordsman once told me… I wouldn't be happy there. I wouldn't be a first-class citizen. It's my dark hair and eyes."
"… Yeah…"
"But you—you're a first-class citizen, aren't you?"
"My hair is blond enough, I suppose…"
"You're not sure??"
"………"
"Luc??"
"It doesn't really matter." Luc says. "I'm the True Wind Rune Bearer after all. That's what matters."
"I suppose so."
"………"
"………"
"What about you??" Luc asked. "You came from the tropics, didn't you?"
"………"
"………" He raised one hand towards the sky, a dazzling pillar of light shooting from his hand for a moment. Then it died out.
"What did you do??" Millie asked. Then something white settled on her nose. She looked up and saw thousands of white flakes drifting down. She gave a delighted cry. "This—this is snow, isn't it??!"
"It is."
"Whee!!!!!!!" She squealed. "Snow!!" She exclaimed, looking at the snowflakes as they settled against the blue material of her skirt.
"………"
Millie threw her arms around him. "Thank you!! Thank you!!"
"It was just a simple spell…"
"Thank you…"
"………"
"Luc??"
"Yes?"
"Somehow… the snow just made me feel warm and cozy inside," she whispered. "Isn't that odd??"
"… I guess so."
"This is the best Christmas gift I have ever gotten."
"… Let's go inside before we freeze."
"Okay, Luc."