"Well here it is! I was a little late getting it up because I finally got
a job and am busy with it. So without further delay here's part three!
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! As always, I don't own Sailor Moon and
with the exception of Rini, the Chibi Scouts belong to Angel Raye."
-- Quoth the Ravyn
The Youma That Stole Christmas -- By Ravyn Knyght
--Part Three--
Christmas morning came and surprisingly, the Scouts and Knights had to wake their children up instead of the other way around. "You'd have thought that we'd be the ones getting woke up." Anthony said as Hotaru went to wake Madelyn up. "I guess she didn't get much sleep last night." Hotaru concluded as she entered her daughter's room. The two stood there in the doorway watching their child sleep. "I almost hate to wake her." Hotaru admitted. She sat down next to her daughter and gently shook her. "It's Christmas morning, sleepy head!" Hotaru stated as Madelyn slowly came around. "Yaay!" she cheered. "We did it Snibbit!" Madelyn squealed, scooping up the still sleeping animal. "Did what?" Hotaru questioned. Both she and Anthony listened as Madelyn recounted last nights adventure. "That sounds like a wonderful dream." Anthony said. "But it wasn't a dream, daddy! It was real!" Madelyn argued. "Well I believe the part about Snibbit devouring an army of gingerbread men." Hotaru commented, taking Snibbit into her hands. "You do?" Madelyn gasped. "Yes. There was a plate full of gingerbread men on the kitchen counter last night when I went to bed and when I woke up this morning, they were gone." she stated, Snibbit's stomach was still feeling a little unsettled as he belched in Hotaru's face. "And his breath reeks of gingerbread." Hotaru said, wrinkling her nose in disgust of Snibbit's emission. "Well let's have breakfast and then head down to the family room." Anthony said as he and Hotaru left to get breakfast started. Maybe it was all a dream? Madelyn wondered as Snibbit burped again.
Gary was about to go wake Maggie up when Setsuna interviened. "Alright. You can wake her up!" Gary laughed as he went to the kitchen to get breakfast started. After waking her daughter, she listened as Maggie explained the events of the previous night. "I think that christmas story went right to your head and gave you that dream, darling." Setsuna explained. Maggie shook her head, "But mom! It did happen! We all went to the North Pole, defeated Blizzara and rescued Santa. Really!" Maggie pleaded to be believed. "Maggie, I am the Guardian of Time. I know for a fact that neither you or the other Chibi Scouts went on a trip to the North Pole. It was just a dream." Setsuna pointed out. "Didn't feel like one when I was rolling down that hill in a giant snowball." Maggie muttered. Setsuna smiled, "Your father is getting breakfast ready so hurry up and get dressed." Setsuna reminded. Just a dream. Maggie repeated to herself.
"Gloria! Wake up for your Christmas spanking!" Mina said in a loud tone, causing Gloria to shoot up in bed. "Now what did I do!" she yelled. "Calm down! I was only kidding!" Mina said in a voice that told Gloria to keep her temper in check. "I thought you were going to sleep through Christmas." Asai said coming in. "Cool! It's still Christmas!" Gloria squealed excitedly. "Why wouldn't it be?" Mina asked. Gloria proceded to tell her parents of the ordeal with Blizzara. "You were probably excited about today. That's what gave you the dream, pumpkin." Mina assured her daughter. "It happened I'm telling you! If it didn't why would I have a dream involving Daisy and Rini and not do anything to them?" Gloria stated. "I'm not sure, dreams are funny that way." Mina offered. "Maybe it's your subconscious telling you that you really like Daisy and Rini." Asai said, laughing when he got a cold look from his daughter. "Well let's get dressed and have breakfast quickly so we can get to opening presents." Mina said with a wink, Gloria agreed.
Upon waking up, Amy crept quietly into her daughter's room to watch her sleep. "She's still asleep?" Greg questioned in a whisper as he joined his wife at the doorway. Normally, Ariel would have bounded into their bedroom before sunrise on Christmas morning but they were both surprised to find their daughter sound asleep. Amy couldn't help herself as she dashed off to find her camera to take a picture of her sleeping angel. "One more for the wall." Greg commented as Amy gently roused her little girl. "Kawaii." Amy cooed as she watched little Ariel yawn and stretch. Ariel giggled when Amy couldn't resist tickling her stomach. "Rise and shine princess!" Greg said as Amy pulled her daughter into a warm hug. "Is it really Christmas? That means it wasn't a dream!" Ariel stated. Amy and Greg quickly assured Ariel that she was not fighting youmas at the North Pole. Ariel wasn't so sure and decided to ask the other girls when they got up. "It had to be a dream!" Moonbeam scoffed. "If it really happened then why wasn't I there? The very idea of that bouncing hairball going to Santa's workshop and not me is just nonsense!" Moonbeam huffed, a little jealous that his owner would dream about Snibbit and not him.
"With the fight we had last night you'd think Annika would have been up hours ago." Chad wondered as both he and Raye got dressed. "She tired herself out trying to stay awake I guess. I'll wake her up and you get breakfast ready." Chad said then looked as his scowling wife. "How about I get breakfast ready and you wake Annika up?" Chad quickly stated, "You're so sweet!" Raye smiled as she headed off to get her daughter up. She paused for a few moments when she came into Annika's room. She couldn't help but feel an overwhelming love for her daughter as she gazed down at Annika, snuggled up with Stardust. "Time to wake up, baby." Raye softly called. "Morning, mama." Annika murmured then realized that it was Christmas morning. "Did Santa come! Did he leave a surprise for me? Did he? Did he?" Annika excitedly questioned. "Whoa! Slow down!" Raye ordered. Annika quickly explained what had happened the night before. "Sounds like you had a nice dream, sweetie." Raye said. "But it wasn't a dream, mama! We all were there and I asked Santa for a very special present!" Annika insisted as she quickly dressed. "Annika, baby, believe me. If you went all the way to the North Pole I would have sensed that you were gone. Now let's go have breakfast and then head down to the family room." Raye said, putting an end to the discussion. Just a dream. Annika thought, her face fell thinking that she wouldn't get what she wanted.
"I think I put too much sugar in those cookies last night." Lita remarked after Daisy explained the dream like adventure. "It was too wierd to be a dream! I went the entire time without pounding Gloria. And that off key, tone deaf, gingerbread man singing that whacked out song is still ringing in my ears." Daisy said, refusing to believe it was all just a dream. "Well that is all it was so you needn't worry about it, honey." Lita assured. "Maggie will get a good laugh when I tell her this." Daisy said then decided not to. She'll think I've gone nuts!. "Let's get breakfast over with because I need to help prepare tonight's dinner. So don't fill up on too much junk food." Lita reminded both Daisy and Ken.
"How do you explain then how we both had the same dream!" Faith pointed out as she and Hope took turns explaining last night. Haruka and Michiru were at a complete loss at first. "Maybe the two of you planned this?" Haruka commented. "For what reason, Haruka-papa?" Hope questioned. Again, Haruka and Michiru were stumped for an answer. "Let's just get dressed, have breakfast and hit those presents." Michiru offered, trying to change the subject. After they left to get breakfast started, Faith and Hope continued the conversation. "You know it happened and I know it happened, but how do we prove it to them?" Faith wondered. "Lets ask the others!" Hope quickly thought and Faith agreed.
After rushing getting breakfast down Serenity pushed her family along to the family room. Now this is more like my Serenity! Endymion thought. Rini was still yawning. "Trouble sleeping?" he asked. "I had the wierdest dream that even on Christmas Eve I had to fight youmas." Rini replied. "I've had plenty of those myself when I was Sailor Moon." Serenity remembered. "I remember too." Luna added. "I remember being on the recieving end of those dreams the way you would thrash about. It's a miracle I'm still here!" the cat finished. "Well I have a surprise that will make all of you forget stuff like that." Serenity said in a sly tone. "What kind of surprise?" Rini asked. "It's a surprise only a mother could give." was Serenity's only cryptic clue. "Yes, Puu!" Rini remarked as they greeted the other families. The all stood in the room gazing at the only source of light, each calling up their fondest memories of previous Christmas's. The decorators had a hard time trying to keep Snibbit from eating the tree. Hotaru was finally sent for to take him back to her quarters and keep him locked up.
After everyone had come, the parents allowed the children to procede and open their presents but instead, they found their daughters huddled in a group talking about the dream they had. "Why are you all over here?" Haruka questioned. "The presents are that way." she pointed to the tree. After informing their parents that they all had the same dream the Sailor Scouts promised they'd hold a meeting later to discuss the matter. It also struck them as strange that all of the children would have the same dream. "Can we please open some presents now?!" Serenity whined, holding up one of hers, everyone laughed. "Leave it to Serenity to go for the biggest one first!" Raye commented as everyone turned their attention back to the stack of presents under the beautifully decorated tree. Sorry Raye but the biggest one is yet to come! Serenity giggled to herself.
As the Sailor Scouts and Chibi Scouts marvelled and thanked one another for the presents they recieved, each of the Chibi Scouts left the surprise present from Santa until last. The first to open hers was Annika. As soon as she saw what the box held, there was no doubt in her mind about their arctic adventure. "Mama, look!" she cried rushing to show her mother the surprise gift. "I knew she'd love it!" Raye whispered, thinking the box contained a sewing kit. She was surprised when Annika pulled out an old music box that her mother instantly recognized. Raye's mother had a music box exactly like this one, but one night after her grandfather took it to a repair shop to be fixed the store was robbed and one of the items taken was the music box. Raye was heart-broken when her grandfather told her about the theft. She opened it and was surprised that it played the exact same tune as her mother's. Tears instantly came to Raye's eyes when she noticed on the inside lid were pictures of her grandparents with their daughter Fusae and also a picture of her mother and father, with Fusae holding her new born daughter. As the music played, Raye instinctively opened a secret compartment and pulled out a piece of paper. Written on the paper in her mother's hand writting was lyrics she had written to go with the music. "How on Earth...?" she choked as Annika hugged her. "That's what I asked Santa for." Annika softly stated as Raye hugged her daughter back.
Faith and Hope tore through their gifts to find they got what they had asked for. Faith had asked for a porecelein vase for Michirulike the one she had broken the other week. She quickly but carefully rushed it to Michiru. "Michiru-mama! Check this out!" she sang holding the vase out to her adopted mother. Hope quickly joined her sister and adopted family to show them what she had wished for. Her gift was a beautifully framed picture of her and Faith's birth parents. Seeing the picture brought back memories for Haruka and Michiru as they remembered their long lost families of the Silver Millennium. The two girls climbed up on their parents laps and listened as Haruka and Michiru told them about their parents.
Being a pre-teen, most of Maggie's gifts were clothes. One box though contained something different. Maggie took out the two items, walked over to her mother and presented one of them to her. "A cell phone?!" Setsuna questioned, almost in a laugh. "Well yeah. This way we can talk to each other when ever we want even when your busy." Maggie said. "I can't wait to get the phone bill." Gary groaned, knowing that the two would undoubtedly make many calls.
After opening all of her presents, which like Maggie and Rini, she received many designer name clothes, she turned her attention to the last gift. Daisy was relieved to find that she did not receive a lump of coal this year. Instead, she got what she had asked Santa for. "That's not the suede jacket I...er...Santa was going to bring to you." Lita said, wondering where they could have went. "This is much better!" Daisy remarked, flipping through the pages. Can we make some of these sometime?" Daisy asked. "Sure." Lita said, still wondering where that suede jacket went to.
As Ariel went through her presents, which consisted of toys and games and books, she save her surprise gift until last. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled the present out while Amy and Greg gave each other worried looks. "Yes! Now I have one of my very own!" she squealed, hugging her own Luna P- type ball that resembled Moonbeam. "Now that's cool!" Moonbeam said inspecting the toy. "Well you said you wanted her mischievious side back." Greg sighed knowing that most of the times Ariel got into trouble was when she had Rini's Luna P. "Let's just hope it comes with better lock out controls." Lita muttered, remembering the time Ariel used Luna P to trap her in a cage. Amy just gave an embarrassed laugh.
Everyone then turned their attention to an estactic Gloria. The one thing she wanted most from Santa was a karaoke machine. Mina grimaced at the device knowing her daughter would be using it nonstop. "Hope it came with a set of ear plugs for everyone." Faith whispered to Hope who nodded. "After all we did for Santa, this is how he repays us?" Daisy angrily whispered to Maggie as Gloria plugged it in, turned it on and started to sing loudly. 'Tis the season to be tortured. Rini thought.
Madelyn recieved her fair share of toys and clothes like her friend Ariel. Never doubting that the night before happened, Madelyn dashed over to her mother without even checking it. "Mama. I asked Santa to get you something instead." she proudly stated handing over the wrapped present. Hotaru doubtfully took the box thinking that th contents were a couple of jigsaw puzzles. The first thing Hotaru noticed was that the box was heavier then it ought to be. Curiousity struck her as she opened the box to find a rare antique lamp she had spent months searching for. "How did this get in there?!?" she asked in an alarmed tone as she carefully pulled the old lamp out of the box, her wide-eyed stare switching back and forth from her husband and daughter. They and everyone else were distracted by Snibbit who was bouncing around a gift labelled to him. He chattered excitedly as he tore away the wrapping paper and Madelyn helped him open the box. Inside were a wide assortment of plants from Drahkos as well as packages of seeds and directions on growing them.
As Rini thanked her parents for her presents, a servant entered the room to announce the arrival of a guest. "Helios? Helios!" Rini shouted rushing over and kissing him, not caring that everyone was watching. "I thought you said you couldn't get away?" Rini then asked in a slightly angered tone. "I decided at the last minute that I needed a break, plus your mother said she had an important announcement to make." he replied. "An important announcement?" Rini repeated looking at her mother. "I'll tell everyone at dinner tonight." Serenity promised. Everyone wondered what the announcement would be.
As the families gathered in the palace dining hall, they talked amongst themselves as to what Serenity was going to tell them. "Okay. We are all here. So what's the big secret?" Mina asked asked as they all looked to Serenity. She stood up and gazed around the table for a few moments. Up until now only Amy and Serenity knew what the planned announcement would be. "Tonight is not only the celebration of Christmas, a time to be surrounded by the family and friends you love most. I couldn't think of a better time to announce that in about eight months there will be a new hier to the throne." her announcement left everyone in a state of shock. The first to recover was Raye as she quickly came up to her best friend and hugged her, congratulating her. "I'm going to have a brother or sister?" Rini excitedly questioned as she stared in disbelief at her mother. "I don't know how you managed to keep this from me!" Endymion said as he kissed his wife. Throughout dinner everyone discussed the news of the expecting birth, retellling stories of when their children were born.
--The End--
Questions, comments?
Mail to: ravyn_knyght@yahoo.com
-- Quoth the Ravyn
The Youma That Stole Christmas -- By Ravyn Knyght
--Part Three--
Christmas morning came and surprisingly, the Scouts and Knights had to wake their children up instead of the other way around. "You'd have thought that we'd be the ones getting woke up." Anthony said as Hotaru went to wake Madelyn up. "I guess she didn't get much sleep last night." Hotaru concluded as she entered her daughter's room. The two stood there in the doorway watching their child sleep. "I almost hate to wake her." Hotaru admitted. She sat down next to her daughter and gently shook her. "It's Christmas morning, sleepy head!" Hotaru stated as Madelyn slowly came around. "Yaay!" she cheered. "We did it Snibbit!" Madelyn squealed, scooping up the still sleeping animal. "Did what?" Hotaru questioned. Both she and Anthony listened as Madelyn recounted last nights adventure. "That sounds like a wonderful dream." Anthony said. "But it wasn't a dream, daddy! It was real!" Madelyn argued. "Well I believe the part about Snibbit devouring an army of gingerbread men." Hotaru commented, taking Snibbit into her hands. "You do?" Madelyn gasped. "Yes. There was a plate full of gingerbread men on the kitchen counter last night when I went to bed and when I woke up this morning, they were gone." she stated, Snibbit's stomach was still feeling a little unsettled as he belched in Hotaru's face. "And his breath reeks of gingerbread." Hotaru said, wrinkling her nose in disgust of Snibbit's emission. "Well let's have breakfast and then head down to the family room." Anthony said as he and Hotaru left to get breakfast started. Maybe it was all a dream? Madelyn wondered as Snibbit burped again.
Gary was about to go wake Maggie up when Setsuna interviened. "Alright. You can wake her up!" Gary laughed as he went to the kitchen to get breakfast started. After waking her daughter, she listened as Maggie explained the events of the previous night. "I think that christmas story went right to your head and gave you that dream, darling." Setsuna explained. Maggie shook her head, "But mom! It did happen! We all went to the North Pole, defeated Blizzara and rescued Santa. Really!" Maggie pleaded to be believed. "Maggie, I am the Guardian of Time. I know for a fact that neither you or the other Chibi Scouts went on a trip to the North Pole. It was just a dream." Setsuna pointed out. "Didn't feel like one when I was rolling down that hill in a giant snowball." Maggie muttered. Setsuna smiled, "Your father is getting breakfast ready so hurry up and get dressed." Setsuna reminded. Just a dream. Maggie repeated to herself.
"Gloria! Wake up for your Christmas spanking!" Mina said in a loud tone, causing Gloria to shoot up in bed. "Now what did I do!" she yelled. "Calm down! I was only kidding!" Mina said in a voice that told Gloria to keep her temper in check. "I thought you were going to sleep through Christmas." Asai said coming in. "Cool! It's still Christmas!" Gloria squealed excitedly. "Why wouldn't it be?" Mina asked. Gloria proceded to tell her parents of the ordeal with Blizzara. "You were probably excited about today. That's what gave you the dream, pumpkin." Mina assured her daughter. "It happened I'm telling you! If it didn't why would I have a dream involving Daisy and Rini and not do anything to them?" Gloria stated. "I'm not sure, dreams are funny that way." Mina offered. "Maybe it's your subconscious telling you that you really like Daisy and Rini." Asai said, laughing when he got a cold look from his daughter. "Well let's get dressed and have breakfast quickly so we can get to opening presents." Mina said with a wink, Gloria agreed.
Upon waking up, Amy crept quietly into her daughter's room to watch her sleep. "She's still asleep?" Greg questioned in a whisper as he joined his wife at the doorway. Normally, Ariel would have bounded into their bedroom before sunrise on Christmas morning but they were both surprised to find their daughter sound asleep. Amy couldn't help herself as she dashed off to find her camera to take a picture of her sleeping angel. "One more for the wall." Greg commented as Amy gently roused her little girl. "Kawaii." Amy cooed as she watched little Ariel yawn and stretch. Ariel giggled when Amy couldn't resist tickling her stomach. "Rise and shine princess!" Greg said as Amy pulled her daughter into a warm hug. "Is it really Christmas? That means it wasn't a dream!" Ariel stated. Amy and Greg quickly assured Ariel that she was not fighting youmas at the North Pole. Ariel wasn't so sure and decided to ask the other girls when they got up. "It had to be a dream!" Moonbeam scoffed. "If it really happened then why wasn't I there? The very idea of that bouncing hairball going to Santa's workshop and not me is just nonsense!" Moonbeam huffed, a little jealous that his owner would dream about Snibbit and not him.
"With the fight we had last night you'd think Annika would have been up hours ago." Chad wondered as both he and Raye got dressed. "She tired herself out trying to stay awake I guess. I'll wake her up and you get breakfast ready." Chad said then looked as his scowling wife. "How about I get breakfast ready and you wake Annika up?" Chad quickly stated, "You're so sweet!" Raye smiled as she headed off to get her daughter up. She paused for a few moments when she came into Annika's room. She couldn't help but feel an overwhelming love for her daughter as she gazed down at Annika, snuggled up with Stardust. "Time to wake up, baby." Raye softly called. "Morning, mama." Annika murmured then realized that it was Christmas morning. "Did Santa come! Did he leave a surprise for me? Did he? Did he?" Annika excitedly questioned. "Whoa! Slow down!" Raye ordered. Annika quickly explained what had happened the night before. "Sounds like you had a nice dream, sweetie." Raye said. "But it wasn't a dream, mama! We all were there and I asked Santa for a very special present!" Annika insisted as she quickly dressed. "Annika, baby, believe me. If you went all the way to the North Pole I would have sensed that you were gone. Now let's go have breakfast and then head down to the family room." Raye said, putting an end to the discussion. Just a dream. Annika thought, her face fell thinking that she wouldn't get what she wanted.
"I think I put too much sugar in those cookies last night." Lita remarked after Daisy explained the dream like adventure. "It was too wierd to be a dream! I went the entire time without pounding Gloria. And that off key, tone deaf, gingerbread man singing that whacked out song is still ringing in my ears." Daisy said, refusing to believe it was all just a dream. "Well that is all it was so you needn't worry about it, honey." Lita assured. "Maggie will get a good laugh when I tell her this." Daisy said then decided not to. She'll think I've gone nuts!. "Let's get breakfast over with because I need to help prepare tonight's dinner. So don't fill up on too much junk food." Lita reminded both Daisy and Ken.
"How do you explain then how we both had the same dream!" Faith pointed out as she and Hope took turns explaining last night. Haruka and Michiru were at a complete loss at first. "Maybe the two of you planned this?" Haruka commented. "For what reason, Haruka-papa?" Hope questioned. Again, Haruka and Michiru were stumped for an answer. "Let's just get dressed, have breakfast and hit those presents." Michiru offered, trying to change the subject. After they left to get breakfast started, Faith and Hope continued the conversation. "You know it happened and I know it happened, but how do we prove it to them?" Faith wondered. "Lets ask the others!" Hope quickly thought and Faith agreed.
After rushing getting breakfast down Serenity pushed her family along to the family room. Now this is more like my Serenity! Endymion thought. Rini was still yawning. "Trouble sleeping?" he asked. "I had the wierdest dream that even on Christmas Eve I had to fight youmas." Rini replied. "I've had plenty of those myself when I was Sailor Moon." Serenity remembered. "I remember too." Luna added. "I remember being on the recieving end of those dreams the way you would thrash about. It's a miracle I'm still here!" the cat finished. "Well I have a surprise that will make all of you forget stuff like that." Serenity said in a sly tone. "What kind of surprise?" Rini asked. "It's a surprise only a mother could give." was Serenity's only cryptic clue. "Yes, Puu!" Rini remarked as they greeted the other families. The all stood in the room gazing at the only source of light, each calling up their fondest memories of previous Christmas's. The decorators had a hard time trying to keep Snibbit from eating the tree. Hotaru was finally sent for to take him back to her quarters and keep him locked up.
After everyone had come, the parents allowed the children to procede and open their presents but instead, they found their daughters huddled in a group talking about the dream they had. "Why are you all over here?" Haruka questioned. "The presents are that way." she pointed to the tree. After informing their parents that they all had the same dream the Sailor Scouts promised they'd hold a meeting later to discuss the matter. It also struck them as strange that all of the children would have the same dream. "Can we please open some presents now?!" Serenity whined, holding up one of hers, everyone laughed. "Leave it to Serenity to go for the biggest one first!" Raye commented as everyone turned their attention back to the stack of presents under the beautifully decorated tree. Sorry Raye but the biggest one is yet to come! Serenity giggled to herself.
As the Sailor Scouts and Chibi Scouts marvelled and thanked one another for the presents they recieved, each of the Chibi Scouts left the surprise present from Santa until last. The first to open hers was Annika. As soon as she saw what the box held, there was no doubt in her mind about their arctic adventure. "Mama, look!" she cried rushing to show her mother the surprise gift. "I knew she'd love it!" Raye whispered, thinking the box contained a sewing kit. She was surprised when Annika pulled out an old music box that her mother instantly recognized. Raye's mother had a music box exactly like this one, but one night after her grandfather took it to a repair shop to be fixed the store was robbed and one of the items taken was the music box. Raye was heart-broken when her grandfather told her about the theft. She opened it and was surprised that it played the exact same tune as her mother's. Tears instantly came to Raye's eyes when she noticed on the inside lid were pictures of her grandparents with their daughter Fusae and also a picture of her mother and father, with Fusae holding her new born daughter. As the music played, Raye instinctively opened a secret compartment and pulled out a piece of paper. Written on the paper in her mother's hand writting was lyrics she had written to go with the music. "How on Earth...?" she choked as Annika hugged her. "That's what I asked Santa for." Annika softly stated as Raye hugged her daughter back.
Faith and Hope tore through their gifts to find they got what they had asked for. Faith had asked for a porecelein vase for Michirulike the one she had broken the other week. She quickly but carefully rushed it to Michiru. "Michiru-mama! Check this out!" she sang holding the vase out to her adopted mother. Hope quickly joined her sister and adopted family to show them what she had wished for. Her gift was a beautifully framed picture of her and Faith's birth parents. Seeing the picture brought back memories for Haruka and Michiru as they remembered their long lost families of the Silver Millennium. The two girls climbed up on their parents laps and listened as Haruka and Michiru told them about their parents.
Being a pre-teen, most of Maggie's gifts were clothes. One box though contained something different. Maggie took out the two items, walked over to her mother and presented one of them to her. "A cell phone?!" Setsuna questioned, almost in a laugh. "Well yeah. This way we can talk to each other when ever we want even when your busy." Maggie said. "I can't wait to get the phone bill." Gary groaned, knowing that the two would undoubtedly make many calls.
After opening all of her presents, which like Maggie and Rini, she received many designer name clothes, she turned her attention to the last gift. Daisy was relieved to find that she did not receive a lump of coal this year. Instead, she got what she had asked Santa for. "That's not the suede jacket I...er...Santa was going to bring to you." Lita said, wondering where they could have went. "This is much better!" Daisy remarked, flipping through the pages. Can we make some of these sometime?" Daisy asked. "Sure." Lita said, still wondering where that suede jacket went to.
As Ariel went through her presents, which consisted of toys and games and books, she save her surprise gift until last. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled the present out while Amy and Greg gave each other worried looks. "Yes! Now I have one of my very own!" she squealed, hugging her own Luna P- type ball that resembled Moonbeam. "Now that's cool!" Moonbeam said inspecting the toy. "Well you said you wanted her mischievious side back." Greg sighed knowing that most of the times Ariel got into trouble was when she had Rini's Luna P. "Let's just hope it comes with better lock out controls." Lita muttered, remembering the time Ariel used Luna P to trap her in a cage. Amy just gave an embarrassed laugh.
Everyone then turned their attention to an estactic Gloria. The one thing she wanted most from Santa was a karaoke machine. Mina grimaced at the device knowing her daughter would be using it nonstop. "Hope it came with a set of ear plugs for everyone." Faith whispered to Hope who nodded. "After all we did for Santa, this is how he repays us?" Daisy angrily whispered to Maggie as Gloria plugged it in, turned it on and started to sing loudly. 'Tis the season to be tortured. Rini thought.
Madelyn recieved her fair share of toys and clothes like her friend Ariel. Never doubting that the night before happened, Madelyn dashed over to her mother without even checking it. "Mama. I asked Santa to get you something instead." she proudly stated handing over the wrapped present. Hotaru doubtfully took the box thinking that th contents were a couple of jigsaw puzzles. The first thing Hotaru noticed was that the box was heavier then it ought to be. Curiousity struck her as she opened the box to find a rare antique lamp she had spent months searching for. "How did this get in there?!?" she asked in an alarmed tone as she carefully pulled the old lamp out of the box, her wide-eyed stare switching back and forth from her husband and daughter. They and everyone else were distracted by Snibbit who was bouncing around a gift labelled to him. He chattered excitedly as he tore away the wrapping paper and Madelyn helped him open the box. Inside were a wide assortment of plants from Drahkos as well as packages of seeds and directions on growing them.
As Rini thanked her parents for her presents, a servant entered the room to announce the arrival of a guest. "Helios? Helios!" Rini shouted rushing over and kissing him, not caring that everyone was watching. "I thought you said you couldn't get away?" Rini then asked in a slightly angered tone. "I decided at the last minute that I needed a break, plus your mother said she had an important announcement to make." he replied. "An important announcement?" Rini repeated looking at her mother. "I'll tell everyone at dinner tonight." Serenity promised. Everyone wondered what the announcement would be.
As the families gathered in the palace dining hall, they talked amongst themselves as to what Serenity was going to tell them. "Okay. We are all here. So what's the big secret?" Mina asked asked as they all looked to Serenity. She stood up and gazed around the table for a few moments. Up until now only Amy and Serenity knew what the planned announcement would be. "Tonight is not only the celebration of Christmas, a time to be surrounded by the family and friends you love most. I couldn't think of a better time to announce that in about eight months there will be a new hier to the throne." her announcement left everyone in a state of shock. The first to recover was Raye as she quickly came up to her best friend and hugged her, congratulating her. "I'm going to have a brother or sister?" Rini excitedly questioned as she stared in disbelief at her mother. "I don't know how you managed to keep this from me!" Endymion said as he kissed his wife. Throughout dinner everyone discussed the news of the expecting birth, retellling stories of when their children were born.
--The End--
Questions, comments?
Mail to: ravyn_knyght@yahoo.com