Ven was still in his bed sawing logs in a rather uncomfortable position for most anyone but for some reason Ven found it comfortable enough to sleep the night in. He mumbled some gibberish, probably from a dream, as he even moved slightly in his sleep. He looked so peaceful…
BUMP BUMP BUMP
Ven was quickly awakened and shot his eyes open
"Ven! Wake up!" Terra said as Ven, much like a cat, stretched himself out on his bed. "Ven!"
"I'm coming I'm coming give me a second!" He said to Terra as he hopped off his bed and went to his dresser to get a shirt then answered his door, bed headed and all
"Morning" Ven said with eyes half open, showing he was in a semi-conscious state.
"Morning, just wanted to wake you up for presents" Terra said as Ven let out a small yawn
"Ok let me do something really quick and I'll be right with you" Ven said then closed his door while Terra and Des waited
"He didn't even notice me" Evy said to her brother who had his arms crossed while waiting for Ven
"I'm surprised he noticed me. He's always so groggy and sleepy in the morning that I'm surprised he can find the shower" Terra said, remembering a couple times Ven hit the frame of the bathroom door on his morning route. A second later Ven's door opened back up with him leaving his room. The only difference between this Ven and the one before was that his hair had been brushed, though to be honest no one really could've told the difference since Ven's hairstyle always resembled a lop sided bedhead in itself anyway, but the main difference was that it looked more controlled.
"Ok let's go" Ven said then was lead down the hallway by Terra and Des
"Hey are you ok?" Ven asked Des who noticed Ven was with her side by side while Terra was up in front.
"I just have a little wobble in my step because of last night I'll be fine" She said as Ven took notice that she did seem to appear a little weaker compared to last night.
"Sorry I wasn't there to stop Evy from doing what she did to you last night"
"It's alright it's not your fault"
"Hey if you need someone to lean on I'll be personal crutch if you want" Ven offered as Des smiled then took his offer and slightly leaned on him while putting one of her arms on his shoulder for better support
"Thanks" Des said as Ven broke a smile and even started to gain a slight blush on his face as Terra kept his eyes foreword. Whatever his sister does isn't his business.
Meanwhile…
"And this one's mine and this one's mine and this one's mine…"
"Ok Dante we get it" Aqua said a little aggravated at her brother as he sorted out his gifts. Evy was right next to her finding her gifts as Aqua did the same. Their mother had to run back to their room for a quick second, turns out Aqua missed one gift and it was a big one. Her mother didn't tell her what this big gift was but only that Dante would flip over it.
"Hey Aqua this one's yours and Evy's" Dante said as he handed over a small box to Aqua who looked at it curiously as did Evy.
"Who's it from?"
"It's from Santa!" Dante said with a smile as Aqua pointed out the name of who it was from on the gift 'Terra'. From the size of the gift they could tell it was jewelry but that was all that could be told about it. Setting it aside all of them got back to sorting out their gifts. While they did this another person came into the room and to long after came another 3
"Hey you started without us" Terra said playfully disappointed as Aqua grinned at him
"Well if you guys would've woken up and got here faster we would've waited" she said teasingly as Terra grinned
"Blame captain bedhead over there. If he would've woken up faster we probably would've gotten here faster"
"Hey who you calling a bed head, just look at yours" Ven retorted back playfully as he pointed at Terra's not well brushed head
"At least none of my hair is pointing up like a hedgehog" Terra retorted back as everyone, even Evy, let out a small laugh as Ven crossed his arms and glared off angerly in defeat
"I'm back!" Aqua's mother announced as she came in with a big brightly wrapped box "Guess santa really wanted to hide this one from you Dante" she said as she set the box down by Dante's pile as he looked at it curiously
"What do you think it is?" Aqua asked him as he laid an ear on the box then knocked on it a couple times then to his surprise it responded with a small gitter that moved the box around a bit
"I don't know but I can't wait to find out!" He yelled out as he almost tore the paper on the sides of the gift straight off
"Woah hold it" Aqua said as she pushed Dante's hands away from the gift "Wait up for them let them get their gifts"
"Awwww" whined in annoyance as he crossed his arms
"Don't worry Dante will hurry up" Terra said as he, Des, and Ven started sorting out their gifts. As they did Terra's mother had arrived into the room, she made a quick run to the kitchen to get to get something warm to drink. She stood right next to Claire as she took another sip of her drink
"Good morning"
"Good morning and merry Christmas" Claire said to Elise trying to be nice
"Like wise" Elise said as she saw that her daughter was handing her something
"Here this one's for you" Des said as her mother took and stared at the small box. She knew it was from Terra but what could it be. While in a similar fashion Evy was handing her mother a box
"Mom this one is yours" She said as Claire took it then looked it over. The box was by comparison smaller than Elise's but she didn't care. It's not the size it what it is that really matters, though she and Elise knew what their gifts were already
"Why is it that mothers always get jewelry on Christmas while kids get what they want?" Clair leaned over and whispered into Elise's ear
"Because jewelry and moms go hand in hand, just like liquor and my husband" She said getting a small laugh out of Claire, though she did wonder if she really should be laughing at that.
"Speaking of him where is he, still sleeping?"
"No he's awake but I don't know…" she said with a shrug "…he's never been big on holidays"
"He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's big on anything" Claire said simply as Elise let out a sigh
"Your completely right on that" She said as Claire looked at her and for a second thought she offended her "But it's better this way, the rare occasion where he did celebrate a holiday with us were really bad. He would never let up on the kids" She said remembering those memories vividly. At that moment Claire had a realization, she shouldn't be mad at her for what happened last night. She had nothing to do with it, the only thing she did was teach Terra that pressure point move and no one could've predicted that Evy was such a fast learner.
"Elise…" she said getting her attention "…I'm sorry for how I acted last night. I wasn't myself" she said as Elise let out another sigh, but this was one was out of happiness
"Apology accepted"
"HURRY UP!" Dante yelled at Terra, Des, and Ven
"Hold on little guy there's only one more left" Terra said as he reached to the back of the tree and found a very small box with Des' name on it "Here Des" he said handing it to her then walked on his knees over to his small pile of gifts. Everyone, except the mothers, had a small pile of gifts infront of them. Dante had the biggest pile out of everyone, next to him was Evy and Des, then after them was Terra and Aqua, and lastly Ven had the smallest only receiving about 4 gifts, but he wasn't or anything he was just glad he got something.
"So how are we going to do this?" Des asked as the mothers thought
"Well how about youngest to oldest?" Elise suggested
"I'm ok with that how about you guys?" Claire as everyone either gave a nod or a yes as a answer
"Well if that's the case then the person who's up first is…"
"Me!" Dante proclaimed interrupting Aqua as everyone looked at him and waited for him to open his first present, which was still firmly gripped in his arms from when his mother handed it to him. Without any hesitation he clawed off the wrapping paper to find the cardboard box that held his gift. He opened, or more like ripped, the top off and gasped when he saw what it was.
"What is it?" Aqua asked as she and everyone else couldn't see because Dante was blocking whatever it was. Then randomly his mother said
"Speak" then a small yip came from the box and at that moment everyone knew what it was.
"It's a puppy!" Dante practically squealed as the dog hopped up into his arms, knocking him onto his back, as the pup licked up his face. It was a small white dog that looked like it hadn't been to long since it was born. All the girls were awing at the dog as Ven and Terra looked at it with warm smiles. Claire was smilling down at her son as he was being attacked by his new puppy as Elise leaned over to her and whispered her something
"How'd you hide a dog?"
"Their master let me put her in his room, she's actually a pretty quite dog. I practically had to rush this morning to get it in a box in time" she said as she kept looking at Dante and how happy he was
"What's its name?" Evy asked surprising her mother that she was in a good mood right now.
"First it's a she and she doesn't have one. Dante how about you name her" she told him as he got off his back and sat up to pet his dog in his lap while he looked at her. Well she was white really white that's all he could tell about her beyond that she liked to lick him. He had never named something so he really didn't know what to name her.
"I don't know what to name her" Dante said as he kept looking at her hoping he could think of something good.
"Can I make a suggestion?" Elise asked as Clair looked over at her
"Sure what is it?"
"Well… what about Lily?"
"Lily?" Dante asked as he looked up at her
"Yeah I mean look at her she looks as white as a lily flower and they only bloom in the summer when everyone's happy. So white and happy I think that perfectly describes her" Elise finished explaining as Dante looked at his dog again as she store back at him
"Well what do you think… Lily?" he asked getting a yip and a lick on the cheek for a response "Hahehe I guess that's your name now" he said with a laugh, her licks were tickling him. Soon enough the Dante returned to his gifts, he got a couple cool toys and games but nothing could compare to Lily. Ven made Aqua notice a certain gift of his, a newly made wooden toy sword. Aqua gave Ven a quick one armed hug to thank him for making a gift for her brother
"Hey don't mention it" Ven said as he watched Evy go at her gifts. Since she was getting older she was starting to move away from toys and such and more toward that stage where kids just asked their parents for stuff they thought they needed for Christmas. Since that was the case most of Evy's gifts were clothes, a makeup kit, and a new computer. The only gift that really jumped out to her was the jacket Aqua had gotten, it was the only thing she wasn't expecting and she absolutely loved it just screamed her. She put on and noted how comfortable it was making her sister smile, she made the right choice.
Next was Des, just like Evy she was growing more toward the things she needed phase of Christmas. But she didn't mind if her mom or Terra threw a plushie or something for Christmas. She got almost the same stuff as Evy, clothes, makeup, even a plushie or two for a laugh. She really liked the books Terra got her as well, she needed something new to read desperately.
Then it was Aqua's turn. Her first gift was from her mom and Evy got her a photo album with a photo on the cover of her, Evy, and their parents. She took a quick glance through It and saw old photos of her, Evy, her mom, her dad and even some new ones of Dante. She really liked this gift, now instead of one family photo she a lot more to remember them from. Another gift she had received was small silver pendant that she assumed her mother helped Dante pick out. Next she opened up a couple a flat gift that when she opened it realized it was a new dark blue top with white sleeve gloves, she knew her mother picked this out personally because she always had a good sense of what looked good on her children. Next she opened a rather poorly wrapped gift, it may have been mean to think of but she took a very confident guess that this was Ven's gift because of how horribly wrapped it was. When she opened it she had no idea what to think of it, but everyone but Ven did. Everyone was letting out a big laugh at the object
"Aqua hahahaheha what is that thing!?" Evy asked as Aqua looked at it trying to figure out what it was herself. It was a ceramic statue, that much she could tell, that looked like a bucking buffalo mixed with a human and a giraffe and what also looked like a toad or bunny? She really couldn't it just looked to warp to tell what anything was on this thing.
"You like it?" Ven asked as Aqua looked over at him, putting on her most convincing fake smile.
"It… looks nice" she said as Ven struck a big grin as Aqua looked at the statue disgustingly as she set it down then opened up her last gift. After unwrapping it she saw it was a small box that when she opened it revealed 2 twin silver bracelets with the only difference being that one had a white stone and the other a black one. And in the box was a little note
You and your sister seem pretty close, maybe these destiny bracelets will keep you two connected after she leaves. Hope they do Terra
Aqua after read the note took the bracelets and looked at them with a small smile then looked over at Terra who grinned with a nod to say 'you're welcome' as she mouthed out 'thank you'
"Wow those look cool" Dante said as he looked at the bracelets as did everyone else even Lily. Aqua slip on the one with the white gem on her left hand and looked at it once to see how looked on her arm before telling her sister
"Heads up" she said then tossed the other bracelet over at Evy who caught then looked at her sister curiously "You can have that one Evy if you want" she said as Evy slipped the bracelet onto her right arm and admired it.
"Thanks… Aqua"
"You're welcome" she said then shifted her gaze to Terra "I guess your next Terra"
"Hurry up" Ven said as Terra picked up one of his gifts, Aqua kept her eyes on him knowing the gift he picked up was hers. She hoped he enjoyed it
As he unwrapped his first gift he found a wooden box with a cool design. Now if the box looked this cool then he couldn't wait to see what was inside. He opened the box and the grin that was on his only second ago vanished as he looked at the gift. Aqua was shocked by this and even more shocked when he looked disgusted with his gift.
'For the love of god dad just stop' he thought to himself as he set down the box. Aqua was feeling really bad, what was wrong with her gift?
"Something wrong Terra?" Elise asked as he shook her head and moved onto the next gift
"I'm fine, just got a empty box was all" he said hurting Aqua's feeling by accident, he wouldn't even acknowledge his gift.
"You sure?"
"Yeah now let's see what this is" he said opening up his next gift, getting a cool techno watch that he had no idea where it came from. But a quick glance a grinning Ven was all he needed to know where it came from. He opened his last couple of gifts all the same, a hand knit scarf from his mother, a nice blanket from his sister along with a couple movies she thought he liked. And that was it, though strangely he didn't find a gift that he thought Aqua got him. 'maybe she dropped in her room' he thought as he told Ven he was up.
Ven smiled big as he tore into his first gift. He got a cool little charm from Des that she made yesterday. He got a very good picture of a lily from Evy, he was actually impressed with how detailed it was. Next he got a cool lamp with a star pattern from Terra. Then he looked at his last gift, he was a little disappointed that he didn't get as many gifts as everyone else but hey the gifts he did get were really cool and neat. So he reached his last gift…
Meanwhile…
Travis, Terra's dad, was storming down the hallway till he got to the front room and saw everyone gathered around the tree. He cracked his neck then his fingers before he began to walk over to them slowly.
"Whoa! What is it?" Ven asked
"It's a snowball gun"
"Cool!" Ven and Dante yelled out the same time as they admired it
"Maybe when this all done we can have a snowball fight" Terra said
"I'm in" Evy said
"Sure why not" Des said as she heard loud footsteps coming toward them. She sighed, not even wanting to turn around and look at her dad.
"Terra…" Travis said as Terra mentally groaned
"Hello dad merry…" he started in the most unenthusiastic voice he could pull off as he looked up to see his father pushing his and Aqua's mom aside and rushing to him with his fist held high "…christmas"
Finally! We've made it! The fight we've all been waiting for is going down now. Sorry if this chapter was boring but I needed to get all this stuff out of the way for the fun stuff. In case you're wondering Terra's and Aqua's mom didn't get Ven anything because they thought he had parents that were coming that were going to get him gifts. Also if you're wondering why Evy isn't in her pissed off mood right now it's because… well have you ever been angry on Christmas morning? Don't worry pissed off Evy will be back next chapter. So like always R&R and tell me your comments and concerns with the story. K bye