Bonjour!
Time for another chapter to be added. Really, I am having serious doubt that I can put up the last chapter by December 24th; encouragement is the only thing I really need right now.
Well I decided to answer my reviewers for chapter 2, because…I feel like it.
Kelsey: Why so many questions? I can't answer any because it will ruin the plot. It is supposed to be funny. At first I wanted it to be serious, but when I saw how many people thought it was funny I decided to make/keep it humor. Though it will get a tad angsty (is that even a word?). I am not saying what that pairing is. If there is a pairing. P.S. Out of all the pairings I can stand, H/T is one of them. ^_^
The CheezHead: I'm happy to hear you like it, please keep reviewing!
Alex: Oops, my bad. I should pay attention more when people talk to me; well its good news Root wasn't OOC. Well, he might get a bit OOC later, but I promise he won't be all Sunshine and flowers at the end.
TazMoon: Thanks, I'm updating in my version of quickly. (Which means we could be waiting until February for the last chapter).
Spasmodic dust bunny: I feel exceptionally proud of that line, I think its because it was one of the only lines I didn't edit. Same as above, I'm updating as fast as I can.
Sara: …*Insert comment here*
Black-knight-1988: I looked up your story; it's pretty good, could be longer but good, should have reviewed it. ^_^; Well I enjoyed the constructive criticism. Now to answer some questions, he was insane when he planned the take-over, but the point being he still did it. The reasons he warned Root were:
1) He doesn't want to spend any more time around there, doing that nice deed could help him move on.
2) I think, in one way or another, he still considers Root a friend.
3) …I can't think of a third reason, so the first two better be good enough.
You know the drill, read then review. No flames unless they are constructive or they will be deleted.
Disclaimer: Is this really necessary each and every time I add a chapter? It's quite obvious that I don't own squat. All belongs to Eion Colfer and Charles Dickens.
Now without further adieu, I bring you A AF Christmas Carol Chapter 3. Please hold all questions and chastise till the end of the chapter.
Chapter 3: Spirit Numeral Uno
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Root was sleeping on his bed; blankets pulled over his head and feet resting on his pillow. He woke up a bit groggily as if he heard someone in his room, of course it's kind of hard to tell when you have a blanket over your head. He established it as nothing and went back to sleep.
Right when he was about to fall back to sleep something pulled the blankets off the bed.
"Hi commander!"
"Lily Frond!" groaned Root. Indeed there was Lily Frond standing just a few feet away from him. She had blond hair, makeup, and a fairy-god-mothery type dress to top it all off.
"What the D'Arvit are you doing in my house?"
"I am, like, the Ghost of Christmas Past. I have taken on this form because, like, I am beautiful!"
"I thought it was because you are cheery all the time and gener-…cheery "
"Uhh no. All the other ghosts are just there to make me look good." She said, pushing a lock of hair behind her almost perfectly pointed ear.
"So the only reason you're here is to further your own career."
"Duh."
"Oh…"
"But, like, I am also supposed to show you stuff from, like, the past. Well… something like that. It's not really my job to know this kind of thing; I just have to show up and voila! Paycheck in the mailbox. "
"What do you mean it's not your job? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE D'ARVTING GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST! "
"Ok. Sheesh, I can see we didn't come ten years ago…"
"You were supposed to WHAT!?"
Lily walked over to the window, laughing a bit uneasily she opened the shutters, "Heheh, umm, I think we should go now." And with that she leapt out.
Root walked over to it and looked out, Lily was flying up in the air. "Do I look like a sprite to you?" he asked.
"Heck no! You're so not cute enough to be one."
"Grr…"
"Come on I don't got all night. Just jump!"
"…I can't…"
"Do I have to explain it to you? First get on that windowsill; push off with your legs, or whatever, I mean ever heard of a diet? Come on, I'm surprised you can walk…"
"No it's not that. I'm just…a little afraid of heights."
"You're kidding right? Oh dear Frond. How the heck do you go on above ground missions then?"
"I put my visor on reflect so I never had to look at the ground." Root stated a bit little sheepishly, not quite noticeable. "Well it looks like we'll have to wait another ten or so years until I conquer my fear of flying. Good evening." He added while walking back over to his bed.
"Oh no you don't! My salary is at stake here." And with that she darted back into the room, grabbed Root by the arm, and flew back out the window.
"Just don't look down…just don't look down…" He mumbled to himself, ignoring the fact that once again he was talking to himself.
"Hey Root, recognize this place?"
"No, and frankly I don't think I want to."
"Look, just glance down for one second."
Root risked stealing a glance downward, what he saw amazed him. And against his better judgement, smile a bit.
"T-This is my home! Years ago, that's Cudgeon's house, that's Charlotte Vinyáya's house, and there's the orphanage that I grew up at!"
"What do you mean you grew up at the orphanage? Didn't you have a family?"
This is where his face took on its more emotionless complexion and paled a bit. "I used to…"
Leaving Lily behind to ponder on that statement a bit, he flew down to the orphanage; there he saw his younger form enveloped in books while all the other little fairies played outside. Root's younger self had a little less extra weight on him as he observed, looking down at his gut. His younger self also was in a little better shape.
"Who is that kid over there reading? Shouldn't he be celebrating Christmas with his friends?"
Root cast his eyes in downcast, "He had no friends…"
There was a knock at the door, when no one replied, a little girl no more than five entered. She had long red hair, and emerald green eyes that looked as though they could light up the dark room.
"Julius. Julius where are you?"
The boy perked up at the sound of his name; "I'm over here Claudia."
"Oh, you're such a book worm. I couldn't see you over all those books." She giggled softly. "Come on Julius! Daddy says you can come home for Christmas. We can be a family for the night. Like we used to be…"
"We still are Claudia," he said clasping her hand in his, "I promise, nothing can come between this family. We will always be together."
She was smiling now, "Thanks big brother."
The boy was smiling too. Root was remembering that day now, he tried locking it away but it still leaked out at times.
"If only Claudia could see you now," sighed Lily, "Telling her son you would go to hell before seeing him for Christmas dinner. She would be furious."
It was true, he often forgot that his nephew was his sister's son. He now wished he could see his nephew again, just to get a picture of Claudia in his mind. Lily just had to ruin it.
"Can we hurry up please, we have so much to see and so little time to do it in!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him out another window.
They flew faster and faster, Root thought he was going to throw up. He was never fond of Roller Coasters, or flying. Put the two together and you got the ultimate torture device, if Foaly ever heard that then he would have good blackmail.
Suddenly they stopped, almost as soon as they started. Root had successfully added a new color to his name, that color was a horrible shade of green.
"Oh stop belly aching and open your eyes." Lily said, checking her recently manicured nails for dirt.
"If it's all the same to you, I would prefer to keep them as tightly shut as possible."
Groaning, she kicked until he flipped over on his stomach and opened his eyes.
"Owe! My Spleen!"
"Will you please stop complaining for one second and look around? Please!"
"No."
She kicked him again.
"Ok I'll do it," he mumbled, "doesn't mean I'll like it…"
Root in fact didn't like it, it was one of the memories he had held in dread for many a year, and he was re-living it.
"I don't think we can do this anymore, so much as happened…"
Two people were sitting in a small gazebo surrounded by small trees and shrubs. It was an underground park. When the mudmen began oil drilling they had to close almost every single one of them. The last one is in Atlantis and anyone who wants entrance has to pay to get in.
"Nothing has happened, works been the same, family life has been the same, I have-"
"Changed!" the woman snapped, "I don't even know who you are anymore. You used to be kind, generous, and sentimental. Now…now, I don't think your own mother would recognize you."
"I have just been busy. I care-"
"About yourself, you only care about yourself. As long as you advance in your career you could care less about the wellbeing of anybody else…You used to say you cared about me, not anymore. I am not just some old book that you can look at once then shove it into a dark corner of your room and expect everything to stay the way it always has been! I have a life to, you just can't see that…" With that the woman got off the bench and walked out of the gazebo.
"I am not certain if you feel any pain now from this now, I know I am. If you are feeling something, I know that you will reject it almost as soon as it had appeared. Please hold true to hope in the future, I wish not to ever deal with you again."
The young man did nothing to stop her as she walked out of his life forever. Not even a simple goodbye.
Root held his ghost like hand out in front of him, not believing this was actually happening. "Charlotte…" he called quietly to the now drifting away woman, though he knew well she couldn't hear him.
The young man was still sitting on the bench looked at the calendar hanging meaninglessly on the Corinthian style pillar. It was December 24, Christmas Eve.
"And he never called her, never wrote, never did anything to try to make it up with the so-called 'love' of his life." uttered Lily to no one in particular.
The young man dug into his pocket and pulled out a small square shaped box. He never even had a chance. He stood up from the bench and asked the woman, his voice barely over a whisper, before she was completely out of his view, "Will you marry me?"
He then turned his back on her and left in the opposite direction.
"It's so sad," Lily said blinking away an almost run-away tear "But why would you care?" she quickly snapped. "It's not like you were going to marry her out of love was it? Or did you just simply get bored of her and decided better against asking?"
Root remained silent. He thought he loved her, once upon a time he did. A part of him still cared, a small part, it still cared.
"Ghost, show me no more! I wish not to live this again. Take me home!"
Lily shook her head, "We have one more place to visit, then you can go back to, like, your old boring way of life." This time instead of flying, she simply snapped her fingers and they left.
They entered a room filled with light, or so it seemed to Root. One reason could be he had his eyes closed so he could brace for the flight.
Upon opening his eyes and seeing they had not flown any distance he asked Lily, "Why couldn't we have done that, oh I don't know, IN THE BEGINNING?"
"Shhh…" she hissed at him. She had grown weary of his repeated shouting and complaints.
"What is-" he tried asking before Lily, ever so graciously, clamped her hand over his mouth.
Resisting the urge to bite her hand, he saw why she wanted to him to be quiet. They were standing in front of a house; two people were talking inside and were barely legible. It was obviously not too long ago as the people looked about the same as he saw them just a few days ago.
The woman from before was sitting on a couch with another man, watching the fire in the fireplace spark and crackle.
"You know who I saw today?" asked a man by the name of Tony Cahartez.
"No," she gave it a second thought and realized who it was. "Oh, you saw old Scrooge?"
Laughing he replied, "Yep, I saw Root. I had a notion about going into his office to give a Christmas blessing, but seeing how hard he was working I thought better of it."
With a sigh she said, "Yes, he always was one to work hard…" She was plainly still hurting over what happened many a decade ago; but she was tough and would not admit it.
"Charlotte? Is something wrong?" Carhartez asked.
She gave another sigh, "I will be fine."
He looked very unconvinced but accepted her answer. "Just as long as you are alright."
Then he did something that appalled Root. He kissed her. Vinyáya hesitated, not sure if she really wanted to be kissed, but anything was better then thinking about her past.
Root looked at the snow on the ground, glistening in the afternoon sun. It was so beautiful and delicate, like a simple feather on it could disturb its peace and solitude. He kicked it.
"Just because she picked Carhartez over you doesn't mean you can take it all out on the snow." Lily said.
"Take me home." Root angrily said through clenched teeth. "Take me home NOW!" Tightening his eyes, he braced for impact.
Opening his eyes for the umpteenth time that night, he found himself back in his room. As if nothing had happened.
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Angst…*Drools* That is my favorite thing to write, glad I added in some.
How do you like my Root/Vin and Vin/Car pairing? I think the R/V is better, but that is my opinion. And my opinion doesn't matter because I don't want it, I want YOUR opinion.
Just press the magical purple button and I will be happy. Go on, you know you want to…
Au Revoir! Please read my next chapter!