The First Plegian Christmas

Severa was used to strange shenanigans from her partner and friend, Sam. Ever since he showed up in those village ruins in the ruined future, he had been an odd one. Babbling on about unusual things like cheeseburgers and Tylenol, whatever those were.

She snorted as she entered their shared room in the Doluna Palace, sweaty from a hard day of training in the stifling desert heat. Her red hair was plastered to her forehead and neck. A few stray locks clung to her cheeks. Yet another absolutely boiling day, full of hard work and dealing with hers and Sam's ridiculous scout trainees.

She still couldn't believe they were in this situation. A few months since she and Sam retreated to the past and they both ingratiated themselves with a Plegian General, made friends with a Grimleal Dark mage with a penchant for murder, and were now on the crown's payroll. Never in a million years did she think that would happen.

The door opened and closed behind her. Sam trudged into the room, as sweaty and exhausted as she was. His face was red from the heat as he ran a hand over his head, puffing out a long breath.

"Geez," He muttered, undoing his belt and tossing it to the side. "That was a day…" He blinked and furrowed his brow. "Speaking of day, which is it again?"

Severa snorted. "Did one of the twins hit you that hard upside the head?"

Sam chuckled as she shrugged off his leather jerkin, draping over the corner of his bed to air out. "You wish."

Severa shook her head and laughed with him. If there was any solace to their ridiculous situation, it was being able to work alongside Sam. She may have found him utterly annoying when she first met him, but she warmed to him, eventually. There was a quirkiness about him that she liked. Nothing brought him down, even her own biting attitude. In fact, he often played off her sharp words. Her grumpiness didn't bother him, and that actually made her smile a little.

Not that Sevvera would ever tell him that, of course.

Sam snapped his fingers and jumped where he stood, causing Severa to jerk back. "Holy shit! I remembered!"

"Remembered what?"

"The date, of course… I think?"

Severa raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "That being?"

"December twenty-fourth, right?"

Severa slowly nodded her head, as a wide smile spread over Sam's lips. She had half a mind to think he had gone insane. Why would he get so happy over a date? Especially one at the end of December? Sure, it was almost the new year, and new year's celebrations used to be a big deal when she was a child, but that was still almost a week away. Why would he be excited now?

Sam must've noticed her puzzled expression because his shoulders sagged and he uttered a long breath.

"Sometimes I hate being from another world."

"A bit late for that existential crisis, don't you think?" Severa snorted.

Sam put his hands on his hips. "You all wouldn't know what the hell Christmas is, would you?"

Severa arched an eyebrow. "A what?"

"Christmas!" Sam exclaimed before grabbing the sides of his head and grimacing. "God, I say that like you would know it. Right, right, um… how do I explain Christmas?"

"Is that some kind of holiday where you're from?" Severa asked.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "A pretty important one too. At least, for me and my family, and a whole bunch of other families, except for some parts of the world. They do other holidays that my parents would consider strange, I guess, and-"

"Sam," Severa laughed as she raised a hand. "Slow down. Just, take it from the top, alright?"

"The top?" Sam nodded. "Right, the top. Usually, that involves a star."

Severa shook her head and blinked. Before Sam could say anything else, she moved up to him and placed a hand on his forehead. A frown creased her lips.

"No fever…"

"Sev?"

"Are you seeing double?"

"No?"

"Do I need to smack you back into sanity?"

Sam blinked. "I don't think this situation calls for that. Violence is kinda frowned upon during Christmas. Well, unless you're watching Die Hard. Then you're cheering for it."

Severa raised a finger. "Another bit of nonsense like that and I might test knocking some sense back into you."

Despite her threat, Sam grinned. For a split second, she felt her heart flutter. Why the hell would it do that? She'd seen him smile at her plenty of times before. She shook her head, the sudden feeling dying away, chased off by her continued confusion over what the hell was a Christmas. This feeling was probably nothing.

Sam drew back, raising and wagging a finger in front of me. "Wait here."

Before Severa could ask what he was doing now, he dashed out of the door, forgetting to even take his kukri and dagger. She wanted to rush after him with his weapons. Naga only knows what kind of trouble Sam could get into while we were in Plegia. After all, they might be living here under the guise of Valmese mercenaries, but they were actually Ylissean, and it wouldn't be hard for even a moderately intelligent Grimleal to figure that out. If he was unarmed out there, in Doluna's citadel-

Oh, Naga!

Severa re-buckled my belt and scabbard then rushed out of the room, hoping to catch up to the slippery thief she called a friend. Sam might not be the strongest guy in the world. Naga knows, Severa swore he resembled a reed more often than not. Guy needed to get some more meat on his bones. It might serve him some good. But damn, he was quick when he wanted to be.

She bounded down the steps, leaping them two at a time to somehow catch up to Sam. She just managed to catch the sight of the door leaving the barracks swinging shut.

"Damn it, Sam!" Severa hissed, surging through that same door, only for it to hit her from behind as she stepped out into the blinding sunlight.

A curse shot from her lips as her backside stung. Every day Plegia was devising ways to harm her, and now the doors were getting in on the action. With a huff, she marched into the sandy yard, searching for any sign of Sam within the throngs of soldiers moving through it.

"Why does he have to be so small?" She muttered, scanning the area.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted his bedraggled head of hair slipping through the citadel walls and moving in the direction of the Doluna Palace Gardens.

What are you up to?

Severa shouldered my way through the soldiers, who were all making their way back to their barracks or the taverns for the evening. She tried to make my way through the crowd without garnering their attention. Not that she managed to do that very well. Bright red hair like hers was not the most common trait in this dust-coated hell hole.

Eventually, she managed to make it through the tide of soldiers to the path that led to the Palace gardens. Her pace picked up as she raced along the packed down, sandy path, eventually bursting into the horticulture gardens, one of the few splotches of green in Doluna.

Tropical plants and flowers abounded in the garden. Buds bloomed in bright colors from gold, to scarlet, sapphire, and indigo. The smells reminded her of Ylisse, back when she was a little girl before the Risen and Grima decimated the land. She recalled springtime with her family. Her mother would be making some fresh tarts, perfectly delectable, as always. Her father would be outside with Morgan, teaching her the magical ropes. And Severa, she would be running through the fields outside of the city walls, chasing after Lucina, Gerome, Inigo, and Kjelle.

The fields were always full of flowers. Red and white clover blooms would dot the tall grasses. Dandelions with their vibrant, yellow petals would speckle the red and white canvass. But none of those flowers could even compare to the exotic plants that sat in the planters in this garden.

Slowly, Severa made her way down the rows of planters, eyeing each new flower with curiosity and wonder. She lowered her guard. With a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, she corrected that mistake, her hand darting to her sword as soon as she spotted the shadows dart nearby.

Then, Sam appeared from that spot. Her nerves eased, and she rolled her eyes.

"Sam, don't you know not to sneak… up... on me?"

He held a couple of flowers in his hands, extended out to her, a smile on his lips. She blinked, too shocked to say anything.

"Don't exactly have enough gold to get something nice," Sam shrugged. "Besides, I think if I went wandering through Doluna on my own, you'd have my hide. So, that'll have to do, for now, I guess?"

Severa blinked, unsure of what to do. He was giving her a gift? Now? It wasn't her birthday.

Did this have to do with Christmas?

"Um…" Severa's lips thinned. With a tentative hand, she reached out and took the flowers from him. They smelled wonderful, even as she held them with a nervous grip. They were just a couple of red and blue buds. Nothing special. Yet, somehow, they were much more than just a kind gesture. "Does this have something to do with Christmas?"

Sam shrugged. "A little bit."

Severa brought the flowers to her nose and smelled again. Her eyes closed and a small smirk twitched over her lips.

"I don't exactly have anything to give you."

Sam smiled. "I don't need anything. Just… thought it'd be fun to give you a little Christmas cheer. You looked like you needed it after the day we just had."

That made Severa chuckle. "Yeah, well, it's appreciated."

The two turned to leave the garden. As they walked, Severa held her flowers close. She tilted her head, glanced at Sam, and hummed.

"You know, you never did explain what Christmas is."

"I didn't?"

"You kinda just bolted out of the room without making any sense."

"Oh," Sam blinked. "Well, how to describe Christmas? Well… I'll go with the simple version I guess."

"How the hell does your world make a holiday complicated?"

Sam blew out a long breath. "Oh, when religion and a fat man in red are involved, you've got no idea."

Severa laughed again. Ridiculousness at its finest. Yet, she listened and enjoyed every second of Sam's rambling. At the very least, it provided her with plenty of enjoyment and cheer for her first Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas everyone! Figured it might be time I added some fun little short stories to this already epically long saga that is Rigged from the Start. Hope you all enjoy these as much as I do!

I'm taking commissions on Fiverr! If you want your one-shot, chapter, or story written, message me there! Username: thebobcat18

Come join the Fanfiction Treehouse Discord server! Discord code is: 9XG3U7a

Also, come check out the Fanfiction Treehouse Podcast! We are a group of writers that talk about writing, share tips and tricks, discuss fiction and fanfiction, and chat about whatever else comes to mind. You find our episodes on Spotify, Soundcloud, and Youtube! You can also find the crew on Twitch where we are making our way through our DnD campaign in Curse of Strahd. Hope to see you all there!