The next day, Yuna knocked at the door nervously. She had heard stories about Crystal Tokio's magnificence and she wanted to make a good impression. She wore a simple yet elegant red dress and her newest boots.
"Don't you look adorable!" Minako squealed as she opened the door and ushered Yuna in immediately. "Ok, we're ready to go now, guys?"
It was hard for Yuna to associate bubbly, friendly Minako with Princess Venus, the leader of Neo Queen Serenity's Senshi and incarnation of the Godess of Love and Light. The Aquila Saint was used to seeing the older blonde in regular outfits, layered under ridiculous amounts of sweaters, but never in her formal attire. Her dress was made of soft golden silk, tight to her upper body and flaring at the bottom, with layers of long shimmery gauze over the length of the skirt. She truly did look ethereal in it.
"Let's go then," Hyoga walked into the foyer, with Selene in his arms, looking more formal than he usually did with a napoleonic cut dark blue jacket over a light blue dress shirt.
They teleported with the help of their Cosmo into Crystal Tokyo. Neo Queen Serenity was waiting for them in the throne room, and was every bit as beautiful and regal as Yuna had heard she was, standing next to King Endymion and a small pink haired girl that seemed to be around Selene's age.
"V-chan!" The small pink haired girl cried out in glee as she ran towards towards the yellow clad blonde and launched herself into her arms.
"Small Lady! Have you missed your favorite Auntie?" She asked as she twirled the pink haired child around and then set her down so she could go greet Selene.
"You're most definitely not her favorite Aunt, V." A raven haired woman said. After a closer inspection, Yuna realized she was none other than Mars. Next to her were standing were Phoenix Ikki and Orion Eden. It had come off as a surprise for the Bronze Saints when they found out the Martian Senshi had been the sister of the God of War, once upon a time in the Mythological era. Nowadays, when he wasn't traveling around the world, Eden stayed over with Rei and her family.
While Minako and Rei were caught up in what seemed a petty argument over who was ChibiUsa's favorite, Yuna spotted Shun and Ami. The blue haired woman was holding in her arms a blue haired toddler with messy hair, who seemed comfortable enough in her mother's arms.
Soon enough it became clear there were many invited to the Crystal Palace for the Holidays. Yuna was pleasantly surprised when she spotted Genbu, who had been revived after the battle with Saturn, in the company of a heavily pregnant Jupiter. Shiryu and his family arrived soon after, followed by Athena, Seiya and Kouga.
It was a great opportunity for the younger Bronze Saints to catch up after not seeing each other for a while, as it was for the adults. The smaller children were running rampant, although none of the parents seemed overly concerned about it, while Artemis and Luna were very much on edge trying to avoid disasters.
"Mama! Presents!" Selene was sleepy, exhausted after running around all afternoon and it was clear that after the copious Christmas Dinner she was running out of energy. Hyoga picked her up lovingly. "Tomorrow, angel. Now let's go to sleep." Minako gave the blonde child a kiss on the forehead and grabbed Rei by the elbow while Hyoga took Selene to bed.
"I am not consulting the Sacred Fire for your presents, Minako-chan." Rei said firmly. "And that goes for you too, Usagi-chan."
"Rei-chan, we're offended!" Minako said in an overacted feat of indignation. "We would never ask you that!" But of course, Rei knew her friends, and that was exactly what they had intended to ask. "You know, I didn't know Ikki had another side to him other than 'ruthless warrior'"
The aforementioned Phoenix Saint was currently sitting by a large fireplace with a bluish black girl and dark eyes. The girl, not as sleepy as the rest of the children, had demanded a Christmas story from Ikki, who was currently doing his best job, which was still awful. After facing vengeful gods, powerful warriors and underworld demons, it seemed that his hardest test was coming up with a decent Christmas story for his daughter.
"But Papa! I don't understand your story, why is the snowman shooting lasers out of his eyes?" Chiharu was clearly displeased with the story and Ikki was on the verge of collapsing.
"Your story is really bad," Selene was now sitting on the floor in front of Ikki, and appraised the Saint with a critical eye, while wearing her pajamas. "Your story should have more princesses." She added with brutal honesty. Slowly, the children began gathering around, listening intently to what Ikki would do to make his story better.
The Phoenix Saint would have rather take on Hades and his army alone than having to deal with a handful of toddlers demanding princess stories.
"Fine then. Once upon a time, there was a Red Planet, full of mountains and dessert. They were known to be great warriors, yet also very spiritual people. Their princess was the best warrior of the land, with power over fire, with long black hair, eyes dark like ashes and the most beautiful girl on her planet, the Goddess of Fire and War." He stopped to see if any of the girls were out yet, but they seemed to be enthralled by his new story. He sighed to himself, something that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of his teammates, that were watching the scene in amusement. "Hyoga will tell you more about the princess, won't you."
The Aquarius Saint, who was enjoying himself immensely watching Ikki struggle with a gaggle of little girls, was less than amused by Ikki's suggestion. Clearly, Minako was the one good at telling stories where princesses were involved. But once he looked at Selene and her expecting gaze, it was clear he could not back down.
He cleared his throat and reluctantly walked over to the group, taking a seat on an empty armchair. "Yes, well this princess was fantastic, clearly. But, she had other friends who where also princesses. There was a Golden Planet not so far away, where the most beautiful people lived among desert oasis. They had great parties and the planet always had something to celebrate. Their princess was their Morning Star, with long blonde hair, clear eyes like two ponds of water and unrivaled beauty, The Godess of Love and Light." He paused and then added. "And Shun will now tell you about the next princess."
The green haired man sighed and walked over to the group. "Well the next planet, although incredibly close to the sun, was also one of the coldest. Their people were the smartest of the Solar System, and they were always coming up with new inventions and improving their technology. Their princess was the smartest of her planet, but she also had great kindness within her. Her hair was blue like the eternal glaciers of the planet, and her blue eyes were wise beyond her years. She was the Godess of Ice and Snow."
"I think Genbu should tell you about the next princess," Seiya said cheerfully and prodded the red haired Saint towards the children.
"The next princess lived on a large Green planet," Genbu began hesitantly. "The planet had a tropical weather, full of the most beautiful plants you might imagine, but also ferocious thunderstorms. The most beautiful girl on that planet was an Amazon Princess, incredibly strong yet also incredibly gentle. Her brown hair was always adorned with the most beautiful flowers, and her eyes were as green as the vegetation of her planet. She was the Goddess of Thunder and Flora."
"My papa will tell you about the last princess!" Small Lady exclaimed enthusiastically and gave King Endymion her best pleading look.
"The last princess lived not on a planet, but on the Moon." Endymion began his part of the story. "The White Moon was a magnificent place to live, where everything in sight was pristine and beautiful. The princess of the White Moon had silvery hair, adorned with pearls and styled up in two buns with hair streaming to the ground. Her eyes were a blue so pale they almost seemed grey, but they were always full of love and joy."
"Where the princesses good friends?" Miyuki, the blue haired toddler asked.
"They were like sisters." Endymion said. "They were often together, and when they were apart they always knew what their sisters were thinking. The five of them were really powerful, but it was their friendship and the love they had for one another that made them invincible whenever nasty monsters threatened their kingdoms. But that," Endymion said, taking Small Lady into his arms. "Is a story for another night."
The protest from the girls were audible, but the day had been long, and by the time they were herded to sleep they were barely awake.
"You should tell Selene princess stories more often." Minako said to Hyoga later, when the kids were already asleep. "I'm very curious about what happened with the Golden Princess."
"The Golden Princess was the most beautiful girl in the Universe." Hyoga said. "She had men lining at her door, but they were disappointing and the princess was beginning to think that maybe, it was true what they said about the Goddess of Love, that she would remain loveless. But one day," he added, closing the distance between them. "She met a prince from another Galaxy. The prince, that hailed from a place so frozen, had a thick wall of ice around his heart. He had lost many people important to him, and so, he thought it would be safest for everyone if his heart remained forever locked in eternal ice. When the prince saw the princess for the first time, her beauty and her light captivated him, and the ice around his heart began to melt."
"Did they live happily ever after?" Minako asked, his face inches away from hers
"Except when the Princess cooks" He responded with a sly grin. Minako was quick to swat him in the head, while the Gold Saint laughed.
"Presents!" Selene burst into her parent's room and launched herself into their bed. and began jumping up and down in excitement. Outside, the sun was beginning to rise over Crystal Tokyo.
Hyoga groaned and covered his head with a pillow. Minako swiftly escaped his embrace and soon joined her daughter for a bed jumping fest. Still chanting 'presents' like it was some sort of mantra, they pulled the covers off of him and pulled him from bed.
The Ice Saint knew well enough by now that any sort of resistance was futile, and so he followed them reluctantly, still rubbing his eyes. It was a good thing Christmas was a yearly event.
Running ahead of her parents, Selene rushed into Yuna's room in the same manner she had before, jumping up and down in her bed and tugging her hand until she agreed to go with her to get the presents. They joined with Hyoga and Minako.
The older blonde gave her an apologetic look as his wife and their daughter continued to chant about presents. "I should've warned you about this." he said apologetically.
Yuna laughed happily. "Oh no, it's fine. I'm not used to spending Holidays in family." Holidays with Pavlin had been quiet, yet she was the closest to a family Yuna had ever had. Every year Pavlin cooked a special meal for Christmas and they took the day off from training to skate on ice or do other mundane things.
"Neither was I, but you get used to it." He said, as he looked fondly at the pair of blondes.
By the time they had arrived to the great hall, Small Lady and Neo Queen Serenity had also dragged King Endymion to open presents in a similar fashion, and slowly the rest of the children appeared with their parents in tow.
Chiharu was marching upfront, dragging both Eden and Ikki, with Rei closing the group in the rear, looking every bit determined to prevent any of the men from returning to sleep or running away to a volcano. Miyuki was bouncing up and down delightedly in Shun's arms, who looked every bit as delighted as his daughter. Ami was walking besides Shun, her gentle features radiating love and joy.
Seiya and Kouga raced each other to the hall, with Saori shaking her head at them both, despite the smile that crept up her lips. Mako and Genbu arrived shortly after, with Mako looking every bit as excited as the children.
Soon enough the floors of the hall were entirely covered in colorful wrappings of all shapes and sizes. The children were running gleefully with their presents, jumping around with all sorts of toys. Soon enough, Koga and Yuna had joined into the fun and their laughter resonated alongside the children's. Eden watched them quietly from the fireplace.
"Eden! Come play with us!" Selene looked up at him with a big grin on her face. They had met in Pallasvelda, and the tiny blonde had developed a soft spot for the silver haired teen.
"I'm fine, Selene. Don't worry." He said nonchalantly. Her blue eyes reminded him of Aria, and Eden had to look away.
"Eden! We will not take no for an answer!" Chiharu was not shy of bossing around people when she didn't get what she wanted, and she seemed to be firmly set in having Eden join their game. Finally, the Orion Saint gave in and reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged by the two little girls.
Hyoga overlooked the scene, feeling that something was missing from this seemingly perfect Christmas. He looked outside the window and soon after he left his place by his wife and walked out to the balcony. Minako looked at him questioningly, but soon shrugged it off and went back to pulling Rei's strings. She already had an idea what the Ice Saint was up to.
Soon after, Hyoga's frozen cosmo was felt throughout Crystal Tokyo, rising until it started to snow. Feeling quite content with his work, he looked on as the children rushed outside to partake in snow fights and all sorts of games. Serenity herself rushed outside along with the children, dragging both Endymion and Mercury. Venus was one of the first in the snow, and Mars followed as soon as the blonde Goddess began throwing snowballs at her friend.
Jupiter joined Hyoga in the balcony, looking fondly at her extended family playing in the snow. "We haven't had a family meeting this big in a long time," she said, resting her hand on her belly gently.
"I could get used to it," The Aquarius Saint answered with a faint smile. Everyone looked so carefree and happy, it made every Holy War they had fought seem like some bad dream.
Suddenly, Hyoga felt a strong grip on his arm and a jolt of electricity. Warrior instincts kicking in, he turned to Jupiter, whose face was contorted in a mix of pain, surprise and anticipation. "Hyoga, the baby is coming!"
Oh God. Oh God. Hyoga wasn't good in these sort of situations. For someone who prided himself in his cool demeanor and his seemingly detached attitude, he was awful around pregnant women. The stoic Ice Prince had been poured a bucket of water over him when Selene had been born.
Not really thinking about it, he gently pushed Jupiter to the nearest sofa and quickly left to find help, leaving a thin layer of ice wherever his feet touched the ground.