...Nothing is True Except the Improbable
Dedication: Dedicated to... Capella! Why? Okay, even though she hasn't posted a Thatchel, she has written one... I say, just get a free e-mail off hotmail(What I did. :sweatdrop:), get an account, and POST! But the point is that she has a Thatchel. n-n Merry Christmas, Capella!
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights! Trust me, bad little kids who lie don't get toys from Santa! :nods:
Warning: Not much. Perfectly safe fic.
Note: For f'the love of... My paragraph breakers got taken out on the last chapter. Thanks, all, for not yelling at me about that.
:n:
Thats slipped through the hallways of the vast castle, nonchalantly searching out the rooms of his friends. This task was made doubly difficult by the three or four good-sized boxes he carried in his arms.
"'Kay, this is Rune's room," he shifted the parcels in his arms to allow his right hand space to grasp the handle of the door.
"Please let it be unlocked."
His wish was heard, for the door opened smoothly, granting him access.
The Knight of Earth gently bumped the top parcel out of his arms and onto the neatly made bed.
"One down, three to go. Then back for another load."
He grimaced at the thought of spending the next hour trekking across the castle ground as a delivery boy.
Sliding silently out the door as unobtrusively as he had entered, he smirked to himself. The door locked behind him with a soft click, and he set off for the next room, present in his arms.
"Alfeegi..." he trailed off, a mental image forming in his mind. Visions of irate Dragon Officers with several blunt objects at their disposal whirled through his head.
"Please, please let Alfeegi be out."
:n:
"Cesia?" Rath wandered down the long corridor, "Cesia?"
Stopping for a moment to mentally retrace his steps, he shifted the singular remaining present from hand to hand.
"I checked the gardens, the kitchen, the Darnias," a nagging sensation tugged at the furthest corner of his mind.
Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his hand flew up to smack himself upside his head.
"Of course!"
Rath spun around in his tracks, quickly walking down the way he came.
"Her room!"
:n:
Rune collapsed at the top of the main stairwell, panting.
"Good... Lord..." he sent a dirty look towards his purchases.
"Why are we participating in this human," his voice didn't drip with venom, but it wasn't exactly pleased, either, "holiday and tradition?"
He shook his head, damp strands of golden hair sticking to the back of his neck and face.
"Right. Thats."
He stood up once more, grasping the straining handles of the shopping bags for another attempt to make it to his chambers.
"I don't even want to know what sort of hassle he's going to try to put us through for..." he struggled for a human holiday and came up short.
"...Spring Equinox; or whatever it is they celebrate."
A foolish, yet highly disturbing idea of hidden eggs and hideously fluffy rabbit suits flittered through his mind.
There was a slight snapping noise and a loud pop.
Rune twisted around to see what had happened, and stopped dead in his tracks.
One of the bags had ripped, spilling it's contents across the marble floor.
"Oh no. Oh, please, no."
He sighed.
"A very long Christmas."
:n:
The ex-thief slipped silently out of the previously locked door, closing and sealing it behind him.
He grinned boastfully.
"Yup, still got it."
Setting off down the hall again, by now holding significantly less packages than earlier in the afternoon, he read off the names of the few remaining parcels he carried.
"Rune, Ruwalk, Tetheus," he shifted the bottom package, "And the Dragon Fighters."
Pausing at a fork in the passages, he chose the path that lead towards the main entrance of the castle.
"I suppose I should give the Dragon Warriors their gift next. I don't really want to find my way across the castle grounds in the dark, and the sun's going to be setting soon."
Musing out loud to himself, he pushed open the large doors near the top of the main stairwell, and stumbled over something lying directly in front of them.
"Watch it!"
"Huh?" Thats regained his balance, spinning around in time to see a harried looking elf scramble over and pick up the package, quickly dusting it off.
"Rune? What are you doing?"
Rune sent him an irritated look.
"Trying to deliver these. What does it look like?"
"Right."
Thats' eyes lit up.
"Hey, hold on. I've got something for you."
Snatching the top box off the small pile in his arms, he handed it to his fellow knight, a slightly sadistic smile playing about his mouth.
"Rune," the smirk widened, "Merry Christmas."
:n:
Rath knocked on the thick oak door.
"Cesia?"
He shifted the present under his arm, almost loosing his grasp on the sleek paper wrapped around it.
"Cesia, are you in there?"
Not receiving any response, he tried the handle: unlocked. Slowly opening the door, Rath walked silently into the darkened room. As he took another step, however, a floorboard groaned under his foot, and he froze. But not for long, however, as a hand tapped him on the shoulder, forcing him to turn around.
A teasing voice spoke softly next to his ear.
"Sneaking into my room while I'm out, Rath Illuser?"
The Dragon Knight turned around, faux casually holding the wrapped gift before him.
"Here. Merry Christmas, Cesia."
:n:
Darting back into the main section of the castle, the Knight of Earth slipped in through a side door, leading him into the kitchens. Trying to concentrate while being assaulted on all sides by the sights and smells of what was shaping out to being a very nice winter feast was proving difficult. Thats whipped out his list, forcing his eyes to stay on the paper instead of roving about the crowded room.
"Right, next is Rath," he gave his friend's present a small shake, "And then..." his eyes trailed down the list, "Hey, almost done!"
Grinning, he crumpled up the paper and shoved it into his pocket.
"I think I deserve something for this," Thats stated, looking hungrily around the room.
"That pie looks good, but this one looks even better... Oh, and they have cranberry sauce! And this ham, wow. Ah, who'm I kidding?" He asked himself, letting the presents fall to the floor, "I'll just take them all!"
:n:
Rune was sitting in his room, on his bed, looking very pleased with himself. It came in handy to have a Dragon willing to deliver small parcels for you.
A tapping at his window informed him of Water's return.
"Water," he quickly got up to let in the chibi-fied creature, "Did you give them all out?"
When the Dragon nodded it's small scaly head, Rune relaxed visibly.
"Good. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find everyone.
Turning his back on the Dragon, he didn't see the confused look on it's face, nor the tentative sign it held up.
:They were for more than one person...?:
:n:
Walking down the castle corridors once again, Thats fished out the list out of his pocket, a remarkable feat considering he was carrying a turkey sandwich, a dozen red and green cookies, and what appeared to be a whole blueberry pie in his arms. He scanned it briefly, then managed to put it away, although slightly coated in blueberry juice.
Passing a door, he backtracked and came to a stop in front of it. With not a small amount of effort, he managed to separate a red-wrapped parcel from the other items, and get one hand free to grasp the door handle.
He paused.
A large anime style sweatdrop appeared bobbing on the back of his head, and he took a step backwards from the room and the faint noise emitting from it.
Fighting back the urge to laugh nervously, he carefully dropped the present onto the ground.
"I'll just leave this here."
After a moment of consideration, he let a second colorfully wrapped parcel fall to the ground beside it's mate.
"Cesia's, too."
:n:
"What?!" Rune appeared to be beside himself with fury. In reality he was beside himself with frustration, irritation, shock, and a mind-numbing all-powerful panic.
"You did what?!"
He didn't wait for a response from the light blue Dragon, instead returning to his pacing around the bedroom, frantically talking to the empty air.
"All those presents... You gave them all... To one person?! But..." confusion started to set in, "But you were gone for a couple hours. How could it have taken so long to give all of that to just one person?"
Water looked up from where he had been amusing himself preening since the start of his master's panic attack.
:Well, it takes a long time to fly to the Faerie Forest and back...:
Rune paled.
"No. Oh, no. You didn't..."
((Meanwhile, in the Faerie Forest...))
"Huh?" A particular Elven Princess had just opened an interesting looking red and green striped box, and was now staring at it's contents with a highly confused look on her face.
"A copy of 'Fordor's Guide to Demon Locations'?"
:n:
As Thats continued his rather lengthy tour of the Dragon Castle's corridors and hallways, he managed to catch a glimpse of the outside world through a floor length glass paneled window.
The sky was deepening to a violet black, end rays of the sun still visible over the garden and far off mountains.
He paused in the late holiday rush, almost lazily looking over the darkening scenery.
"It's getting late."
Thats slipped his now empty hands into his pockets.
"I'm running out of time."
With a slightly put out sigh, he removed them and continued on his way, footsteps coming just slightly faster than before.
:n:
"Maybe it will be okay," Rune said, pacing across his chambers, "Maybe she will actually like the stuff..."
Water yawned, casting a glance out the window he was resting on to watch night continue to fall, then back in to watch his master continue to walk back and forth.
"Maybe she won't mind. I mean, it wasn't anything too bad; I didn't actually get Rath that weird poison dagger thing..."
The Dragon turned it's attention back to the setting sun, pointedly ignoring the Elf.
:n:
"Right."
Thats was standing outside the last room he needed to make deliveries to, fidgeting with a small plain white box.
Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he watched as the seconds ticked by since he had seen it's inhabitant enter alone.
Then, finally, with a determined gleam in his eyes, the Dragon Knight reached out, and slowly turned the doorknob.
"Here goes nothing."
:n:
The flickering glow of the quickly waning candle provided the only light in the small bedroom.
Kitchel stretched, casually kicking off her soft-soled boots and knocking them under her bed before kneeling on it herself, facing out the open window and looking over the castle landscape.
"Hope I don't have to be anywhere early tomorrow."
Distracted as she was by continuing her monologue, she missed the sound of the door slowly opening, and then the noise of floorboards softly creaking under another person's feet.
"Ah, well," she shrugged to the dark yet again, "No matter now."
Her green eyes traced the shadowed outlines of the gardens.
Suddenly sensing a presence behind her, she spun around as best as she could in her current position, mentally kicking herself for not noticing anything earlier.
Confusion lit upon her features.
"Hey."
Thats gave a small smile, innocently tossing her a minute unwrapped gift box.
She caught it and looked back up at him, bewildered expression still present on her face.
He grinned.
"Merry Christmas."
:n:
Hououza: What? How can you not have read Book 5 in a while?! Impossible!
Rath Lover: Well, it wasn't exactly soon, but it was on schedule.
Kat Ho: Yay! I wrapped yours! n-n It's all pretty and wrapped! :absolutely LOVES wrapping things:
Peridot-chan: As always, love the name. Fluff is good. n-n Updated!
Shadowdown: Lol, yeah.
Capella: :nodnod: Christmas! My favorite part is wrapping the gifts and trimming the tree! :enjoys decorating things: Yeah, I felt that I should give the other people SOME time in the spotlight...
Brotee: Why, yes! You are back! I finished the GMG... Possibly...
:n:
Midway through writing this, a thought came to me. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it ironic that they wouldn't have been rushing like maniacs if it hadn't been for Thats. Thats, who, especially in the first couple books, was portrayed as the King of Slackers?
To any RuxTint fans... Do you also have the feeling Water ended up taking Rune to the Faerie Forest in order to get him to shut up?
And, just to clarify, I actually don't know what the present was. He wouldn't tell me.
Review?