Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm sorry it took so long to post another chapter, and no lame excuse is allowed. I am a lazy person. I do realize that I left many things out, because I'm lazy. (point taken.) It's quite long too, so bear with me. Sorry for typos! Do enjoy my last installment of this fanfic.
On the stay I had in Teufort, Christmas was by far the most festive holiday. Both the bases were intricately decorated, as if we're battling on that one too. I'd say we tied. Both of our bases had been decorated with so many colourful lights, one would mistake it for a nightclub.
I ate my cereal as Scout approached. It was morning, by the way. He was wearing Santa's hat. "Merry Christmas, Zelda. You know what, today's gonna be an interesting day," said he.
"Since when did a day in Teufort wasn't interesting, Scout?" I laughed.
"The way we have Christmas dinner," he merely said. "Really? Are you going to put whoopee cushions on everyone's chair?" I suggested.
"Nope, you'll see. See ya!" he darted away.
I smiled and finished my cereal. I washed up and returned to the Medibay, pondering on the present I had to get for Heavy. Engineer had the idea of us getting presents for each other through drawing lots, thus saving money. I'd gotten Heavy, but I had no idea of what he liked.
Nikolaus left two weeks prior since his injuries were healing well, and he didn't want to raise more suspicion if he'd stayed longer. I would be interested to hear his excuse to the REDs.
"Vhat vere you zhinking, Zelda?" asked Medic.
"Nothing much, father. Just thinking about the present for the person I got on the drawing lots thing," I replied. "Say, since you're his best friend, you would've known, right?"
"Herr Heavy? But of course," he thought for a moment. "Zhere vas once zhat I went to a store with Herr Heavy, and his eyes vere glued to a certain mug with a bear's design. He didn't have zhe money back then, and we left with him teary-eyed."
"A brown mug with a cartoony-bear's face drawn on it?" I repeated. "I remember once Mom bought one for me and I'd gotten so attached to it that I wouldn't even bring myself to use it." I did bring it with me, and I searched my backpack for it. I fished a white cardboard box out. "Does it look like this?" I held out the mug in the box.
"Ja, it certainly looked like zhat," he smiled in recognition. "But you're villing to give it to Herr Heavy? Your mother bought it for you, after all."
"If I had something that I'd never use, wouldn't that be a waste? Maybe Heavy'll put it to good use," I replied. "Mom gave me something way more precious anyway. Well, since I told you who I was supposed to get a present to, you have to tell me yours now,"
"I got Herr Scout. But no vorries, I already found zhe present," answered Medic.
"Would it be something related to baseball?"
"Zhat is correct." He answered. "Now, you should wrap this present for Herr Heavy,"
As evening approached, Soldier gathered everyone. "AS YOU ALL KNOW, CHRISTMAS DINNER WOULD BE SERVED IN AN HOUR. AS TRADIDTION DICTATES, WE WOULD HAVE IT WITH THE REDS. THERE WOULD BE NO FIGHTS BREAKING OUT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND, MAGGOTS?" barked he. We nodded in understanding. "So this is the 'interesting' thing you said," I whispered to Scout, who happened to be right beside me. "Yeah, Told you it's gonna surprise you," he smirked.
"SINCE WE WON'T BE BACK ANY TIME BEFORE CHRISTMAS ENDS, I WILL COMMENCE THE PRESENT SWAPPING," Soldier said. We sat in a circle by the fireplace. Soldier, being a leader and all, decided to start first. "This is your present, Merry Christmas, Soldier," Demoman said as he handed Soldier the gift. His present turned out to be The Bill's Hat. Touched, Soldier was speechless. "I hope you like it," said Demoman. "IT'S BEAUTIFUL, DEMOMAN. THANK YOU," he said as a tear ran down his face.
It was going clockwise, and Scout was next. "I'm next," announced Scout. "Who's got my present?" "Merry Christmas, Herr Scout. Catch zhis," said Medic as he tossed a baseball to Scout. "Nice throw, Doc," Scout commented as he intercepted the baseball. As he turned it around, it was signed by his favourite baseball player. "H-how did you manage to get this autograph?" asked he. "It shall remain as a secret, Herr Scout," Medic replied slyly. "Thanks, Doc!"
I was hoping that I would get a good present this year. Engineer passed me a wrapped present the shape of a cuboid. It was probably a book. I opened the gift, it wasn't just a book. There were two, entitled 'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and 'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville. I had been searching for these books for quite some time to no avail. "How did you know that I liked classic books? Thanks, by the way," I asked. "Well, I thought you liked to read books. I was browsing my old bookcase and found them. Glad you liked them, partner," explained Engineer.
Pyro's turn came. Sniper tossed him a golden Zippo lighter. "Merry Christmas, you old firebug," Sniper said. Pyro jumped for joy and gave Sniper a crushing hug. "Hey, you're crushing me, Pyro," he gasped. Everyone in the base burst into a peal of laughter. Spy even snickered at that. Pyro finally was willing to let go of the poor Australian.
Spy was then passed a pack of expensive cigarettes. A drawn picture of him getting hit by a car was stuck on it, with the words 'Merry Christmas' written on it. "Scout, this stopped to be funny months ago. It was never funny, in fact," Spy sighed. "I did it for old times' sake, alright?" Scout laughed. "I spent my whole fortune buying that pack of cigs, man. No word of gratitude for me?" added he. "Fine. Thank you, Scout," Spy replied.
"Vhat about my Christmas present?" asked Medic, who was beside Spy. Pyro passed him a medical kit, and mumbled something. Medic opened the medical kit and instead of the standard supplies, there was a heart in it. Even with the experience of gore in us, we cannot help cringing at the sight of a heart. "Vhose heart is it?" asked Medic. Pyro just shrugged. "Never mind then, as long as it helps with research. Merry Christmas to you too, Herr Pyro."
Heavy, next to Medic, demanded, "I want my present." I smiled and handed him the wrapped box. "Merry Christmas, Heavy. Hope you like it," I said as it was passed to him. He opened the present and took the mug out. His eyes were lit up. "Is the best present given to Heavy. Thank you, Zelda," he said, holding the mug with utmost care. Everyone tried to stifle their laughter. It was odd to see a bear of a man liking something so cute. Not that they weren't allowed, though.
Sniper was after Heavy. Heavy handed a paper bag to him. It was a bag of Arabica coffee beans. "Thanks, mate. Appreciate that. Merry Christmas." Sniper said. "Cup is also inside," added Heavy. "Really now, mate?" Sniper replied and found a cup, all right. 'Best Sniper' was printed on the cup. "I could replace my #1 Sniper cup now," he commented leisurely.
Engineer came next. Spy gave him some rolls of blueprint. "It supposedly speeds up the building time of a dispenser, or so I have read. The other one powers up the sentry, I assume?" "I'll study it afterwards. Thank you, Spy." "In case you start wondering, I found these on an abandoned place. And it could help when certain imbeciles keep demanding you to build a dispenser straight away." He shot a look at Scout. "You, Spy, are also frequently demanding Engineer to build a dispenser. Are you implying that you're that 'imbecile'?" I asked quickly. He seemed dumbstruck. "I'm just joking," I said again, hoping that he wouldn't get offended. Spy sighed. "Would anyone stop making silly jokes?" he muttered to himself.
Last but not least, it was Demoman's turn. "TURNS OUT THAT WE WILL SWAP PRESENTS," remarked Soldier. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, DEMOMAN. THIS IS FOR YOU," he handed Demoman a spherical object. It seemed to be a sticky bomb. "DON'T WORRY. IT'S A REPLICA," assured Soldier. "TO REMIND YOU THAT YOU ARE THE ONE AND ONLY DEMOMAN WE HAVE. AND THE BEST ONE, I SHOULD ADD." "This is one of the best things I've ever gotten," Demoman managed to say.
The present swapping session came to a close. We had half an hour left to arrive at the rendezvous. Everyone was cheerful and before we knew it, we arrived at the same time as the REDs. We were quite similar, after all. Miss Pauling greeted us. Scout immediately swooned over her. I tried to steady him, and noticed that the RED Scout was doing the same, too. This love triangle must be good, I thought. She gave us a briefing and we took seats on the long table. REDs were on one side, and the BLUs on the other. I spotted Nikolaus next to my mother. I had Medic sit beside me.
"You recognize her, father?" I pointed at Mom. As Medic raised his eyes to look at her, who happened to be staring at him, and their eyes met. Their gaze intensified, as if they were electrified. Seconds later, they looked away. "She… still looks the same," remarked Medic after a long pause. "Does she? That's interesting," I replied, catching a glimpse at her, who happened to be talking to the RED Sniper. I saw that Medic had a pang of jealousy course through him.
"No hard feelings. We'll talk to her afterwards, alright?" I said, trying to be calm. How would the discussion turn out? Dinner was noisy as both the teams were conversing to each other. I kept seeing Mom stealing glances at Medic. Nikolaus tried to chat with her, but she seemed not to pay attention. As we finished dinner, we were free to do anything with one another, excluding anything that sparks conflicts, of course. Soldier and the RED Demoman, who were surprisingly kindred spirits, were drinking together, discussing about the latest game of baseball. Nikolaus and Mom approached us.
"Long time no see," Mom said in German. "Yes, long time no see," replied Medic. "I think we should let you two have some time alone," I suggested, ushering Nikolaus away with me. We went outside of the diner. The snowy night air was relaxing.
"So, does she already know?" I asked.
"Know what?" he asked innocently.
"About you, of course," I answered matter-of-factly. "Two weeks is more than enough, wouldn't it? Or, you didn't tell her anything,"
"Of course I did tell her! She didn't believe me at first, and the next moment she was hugging me and crying," Nikolaus described.
"So she accepted you then," I mused. "How did she feel about father?"
"Well, she refused to say anything about that. At least she told me that her goal of travelling here was to find you," he replied. My heart skipped a beat.
"I don't know if I could leave you guys, or even Teufort at this point," I confessed.
"Well, if you want to know what she thinks, why not go back in and join the conversation?" he suggested. With that, we walked back into the diner. Medic and Mom's conversation seemed to be like strangers getting to know about each other. Was Mom still bearing hatred towards Medic for removing a skeleton?
Mom noticed that I was nearby. "Zelda! After all the time searching for you, I finally found you here," she smiled, and inclined to give me a hug, which we did, awkwardly. As we broke off, Medic said, "Did you know that your- I mean our son is still alive?" Nikolaus scratched his head and smiled like an idiot.
"Yes, he told me all about it, and I apologise, Nikolaus, for neglecting you all these years," Mom answered. "You really are the spitting image of your father, now that I've seen the both of you together. I suppose that he's been raising you well?"
"Ah, yes, mother," Nikolaus responded.
"You know what, since we separated for years, why don't we just mend it by spending our time together from now on, like a family?" was what I wanted to say the whole time, and so I said it. The three of them looked in wonder. "Aww, don't you realize that we all act like strangers? It's bugging me. The times we should have spent together will not come back, you know?" I explained.
"Yeah, that seems to be the best course of action. We should do it," agreed Nikolaus. Medic and Mom looked at each other, and nodded. "We shall learn more about each other, then, Lukas," said Mom. "And I, you, Heather," smiled Medic.
We all did what we wanted the whole time, and had a group hug. I never knew family group hugs were that warm. What a miraculous Christmas this year. We broke off as Dominik swooped in, as though saying, "Hey, you left me out," "You're still keeping that owl? How many times have I told you?" snapped Mom.
"I released him and he kept coming back. Why not just keep him? As long as he doesn't devour Archimedes, of course," I laughed. Dominik hooted in approval. Mom sighed. "Who's Archimedes?"
"Our pet dove," answered Medic and Nikolaus in tandem.
"Alright, you can keep him, then." She smiled.
We sat together and shared our story, before we joined Mann Co. and life in the base, basically everything that happened before we were reunited. We laughed at the funny times. There were even embarrassing times too. "And then [RED] Spy asked me out, next moment he had to go see Nikolaus," Mom said. "The nose was broken pretty badly too, and he didn't want me to crack it back in place. I did it anyway, and you can't imagine how high pitched his scream was. He'd make a good banshee," Nikolaus continued, laughing afterwards.
"Why don't you just go on to the date?" I asked, amused. "Spy's not my type, so posh and all that," was the answer.
"Did he try asking again?" Medic asked. "Of course not. He wouldn't risk another broken nose, would he?" answered Mom.
We talked some more and finally, the time has come for us to say our parting words. "We could meet on the next day off," I said, "It's bound to be good spending some time hanging out." Everyone agreed, and took our separate ways.
"Did you get her to date you?" I asked as I was approaching Scout. "Oh, hell yeah I did," responded Scout. "I beat the crap outta Red, by the way." He seemed drunk. Then again, most of the teams do not look the least bit sober.
"Who's Red?"
"The other Scout, duh. You know, the one worse than I am,"
"You sure? You'd be suspended," I laughed.
"Yeah, whatever," he shrugged as we continued back to the base.
As we retired to our respective quarters, I took out the Crusader's Crossbow, and handed it to Medic. "Wasn't zhis zhe papers I told you to throw away?" he replied, slightly angered. "Don't be angry now, I gave it to Engineer and he said it's a good design. Now it's up to you to craft the syringes," I countered. "I had it tested, and it's a thumbs up, so take it."
He reluctantly took it. "Danke, Zelda. I'm sorry I didn't have anything to give you,"
"No worries, I don't need so many presents. Now put it to good use, or Engineer is going to be angry."
"Ja, I will," smiled Medic. "Now go to bed," he ordered.
"At least let me read a chapter of Moby Dick," I protested.
"Vhat if I'll read it to you?" he suggested. "Bedtime stories? Awesome," I said, and settled myself into the bed.
He took a deep breath. "Call me Ishmael," he began.
Soldier loves hats. I know I always put on capital letters for him, because leaders are supposed to be loud and commanding, don't they? I got Moby Dick as my Christmas present too. (TMI xD) That ending ._. (I'm sorry I have no better endings, okay?) I'm sorry if the reunion is lame, happy endings are quite hard to write when you don't want to feel corny or cheesy. No, Heavy's cup is not a Pedobear reference. Thank you so much for the lovely reviews, no matter good or bad. I appreciate the 19,000+ views too. I wanted to end this as soon as possible because I have no ideas left for this. I apologize if you wanted more chapters. I wanted to say thank you again, and keep looking out for the stories I will post in the future! See you guys! :D
-Ion Halo