Yeah, yeah, I know, too early for a Christmas chapter. But technically speaking, winter came earlier this year where I live, so, eh, fair game I suppose? Yeah, I got no other excuses, I guess...

In any case, it's kinda short as hell anyway. Anyway, my life's been going a little awry lately, and there's also a metric ton of university work for me to take care of, so I guess I won't be nearly as active later on.

Lack of reviews makes me feel unmotivated.

"You know what I enjoy about New Year's Eve the most?"

It was late evening. Sucy and Akko were currently in their living room, relaxing on the couch just across from the fireplace. The brunette was lying so that she was partially sitting on her wife's lap while her head rested on the couch's armchair, while the alchemist herself was just quietly sitting on the couch and leaning on the aforementioned armchair, giving Akko a few gentle belly rubs every now and then with her free hand.

"Is it because it's an opportunity to spend more time with your loved ones, right?" – Sucy lovingly asked back, to which Akko giggled and replied: "Exactly, sugar."

"Funny how we always end up on the same page when it comes to such questions, huh." – The violette deadpanned.

"I guess it's just that, we've been together for so long-"

"That it's gotten to the point where we unconsciously finish each other's sentences." –Sucy interrupted, prompting another giggle from Akko.

"Yeah, exactly that. And we're certainly going to be lovers 'till the end, right?" – Akko asked, her question being entirely rhetorical, for she already knew the answer.

The alchemist also decided that words were unnecessary for this, and gave her wife a light kiss on the forehead as if to answer her question. After the kiss, Sucy figured that they've been sitting near the fireplace for quite a while now, and took a look over at the grandfather clock not too far away.

11 PM and half an hour. Well, she figured she might as well get up and-

"Oh! I almost forgot! Silly me, just cuddling with you like this and completely forgetting about my gift for you! I'll be right back!" – And before Sucy could warn Akko to take it easy and not run, the brunette, naturally, ran right off.

"I swear, with how much vigor Akko has, she could probably run a marathon even overdue with quintuplets." - Sucy thought to herself. Groaning, the violette looked off somewhere off to the side, then back at the fireplace. This one was kept lit by the same fire spirit that usually stayed back at the fire pit at the terrace – the little thing had to be relocated to the fireplace during winter, as being buried in snow was far from pleasant for the flame creature.

Before Sucy's thoughts would trail off to some odd metaphors or something, Akko ran back into the room, breathing heavily and clutching something in her hands.

"Here! I know that these were usually a subject of many jokes whenever I asked you what kind of gift you wanted, but I got this one for real! I even filled it up with some dried herbs as part of the experiment, too!"

The only thing that the violette saw in Akko's hands was a small, likely empty pouch. What was that girl even going on about? Hang on…

As if to see that Akko wasn't fooling her, she stuck her hand inside the pouch. Not only did she manage to reach much further in than she logically should have, but after feeling up some crunching dried herbs, Sucy knew that Akko wasn't kidding.

"A… A legitimate bottomless alchemical pouch?!" – This was one of the few times that Sucy's usual deadpan tone of voice was not present, as she was genuinely surprised. – "I… I was just joking all these times, and yet you…"

"It was kinda difficult to get, really. Frankly, I had to chip in at least a part of my life savings into it aside from the gift money we were saving up for the holidays. But, heh, hopefully we avoided the whole "Gift of the Witches" kind of thing, huh? I mean, you didn't have to sell your collection of rare and forbidden alchemical ingredients to get me a proper gift… Did you?" – Akko's tone as she spoke repeatedly shifted – from somewhat guilty, to cheerful, to slightly tense.

Sucy's expression of shock didn't shift the tiniest bit, but the moment she took her hand out of the pouch and took it from Akko's hands, she couldn't help but tear up.

"Nah. Frankly, I didn't spend a single coin on this one. Just needed to ask around for a bit, and suddenly…" – The violette took her wand out and forced some sort of package from underneath the shelves nearby.

The package was small enough, so Akko was also confused at first. The moment she opened it however, she let out a long, drawn-out gasp of surprise.

"But… I heard those were called off mere days after my retirement from my role as the Lightning Lily…"

What she found in the package was one of the few bits of unreleased Lightning Lily merchandise that was thought to have been canned completely after Akko resigned from her position as a performer. Specifically, a pendant adorned with the symbol associated with her stage persona – a lily flower that had a stylized lightning for a stalk. Even better, the colors matched perfectly – the petals were done in rose gold, matching the puce color of the petals on the emblem, the center of the flower was a ruby, and the lightning part was cast from silver.

"Sucy… How did you… Where did you…" – Akko felt her eyes tearing up in joy as she tried to get at least one coherent sentence out of herself just to express her gratitude towards Sucy.

"Not gonna lie – this is where the entirety of my gift money would have gone… Had it not been for a certain convenient truth, that is. So I ended up only paying a nominal cost for this. And, eh, a private potion order for free. Not like that one used particularly costly ingredients anyway. "

Akko didn't really need Sucy to say anymore, as she went on to hug the violette, tears in her eyes, and replied: "You're the best spouse I could ever have, Suce."

"Besides, I think this might be something to tell our kid a story on later, eh? About how you aspired to be a magical performer during your teen years, but eventually realized that sometimes, the journey really is more important than the destination when it comes to certain lifelong dreams." – Sucy lightly stroked Akko's belly to emphasize her point, and was shortly met with a light kick.

The duo didn't notice that, while they were busy chatting, it was already near midnight. Only after they heard the enchanted clock in the living room chime did they decide to go back there.

Right on time, as just when the clock was ringing off it's last chimes…

"Well…Happy New Year to you, Akko." – Sucy remarked as she went on to give Akko a soft kiss. As the violette broke the kiss, she placed her hand on the brunette's baby bump and added:

"And Happy New Year to you as well, little one."

Yeeesh... Well, once again, I feel like I screwed the ending up. Not to mention that the chapter's short as hell. And hopefully I didn't screw up the pacing too badly.

Any-way! Two more chapters and a possible epilogue to go. Although, after submitting this one, I'd probably go back to Hospitability and Trust, which, after I'm done with both this and Twin Passions, will be my main project, with the occasional one-shots every now and then.

And with that out of the way...

Darky Out!