Jeanne stood at the park entrance, holding the coat around herself tighter. Her boyfriend, she smiled at that word, had agreed to meet her at the park because both of them did not have a car for the day for it was their first official date. Of course, the ballet was a date but they weren't official then. The snow flakes fell slowly from the white sky and danced with the wind. The leafless trees now held a centimetre of snow on their branches, the dark brown contrasting nicely with the white puffiness. There were occasional evergreens that didn't fail to show the Christmas twist they held.

The cold air was stinging Jeanne's cheeks and nose, so she fixed her floral scarf to shield her face more effectively. The Irish boy was already late but Jeanne was definitely not phased by the situation because she knew he would show up, and if he didn't… well, she didn't think of that.

He gave her a call and the phone rang in her hands while she slipped off reindeer gloves. She slid the phone unlock and quickly gave a bright smile as she brought it to her ear, "Halo?" She answered, trying not to let the happiness and giddiness seep through the phone.

"Hey Jeanne," he sounded upset, and her heart began to beat hard in her chest.

"H-Hey…" She didn't mean to sound so upset, but she did. Please don't say you can't make it…

"Look, babe, something came up."

She sighed and tilted her head to the side. She could already feel the pain in her chest settle and the fear of being left alone in the cold become more prominent, "I…" She was trying to level out her voice so as to not let it shake, "I see. Well, maybe next time then…"

"Yeah, next time." He sounded a bit solemn and apologetic which was when she realized that he had yet to apologize, but she made no comment, "Okay, sweetheart, I'll see you later."

"Y-yeah, okay." After she hung up, huffed and threw her head back to look up at the falling snow, "Well, shake it off." She mumbled as she proceeded to shake her head, placing on a bright smile as she usually did.

She held her hands t her face and puffed warm air unto them because the stinging of her fingers were a bit too much to handle with her let down. Snuggling her face against the scarf, she closed her eyes for a second and shoved her hands back into their respective mittens and then her jacket pockets. It was Christmas eve day and she had begged her father to let her spend sometime with Cú and after what seemed like ages of convincing, she was finally able to do so only to have Cú leave her hanging.

She was trying for it not to let it get to her as she tightened the coat around herself and continued her way through the wintery park. Although the walkway had been lined with salt, the heavy snowfall was too much for the salt to handle.

Jeanne's violet gaze was fixed on the path ahead of her and it was a light tap on her shoulder that brought her back to reality and out of her sorrow. She turned around and blinked up at a tall man before her.

"Merry Christmas," Her heart swelled in her chest to see the young man before her holding a gift up and his familiar red eyes made her sigh. Her heart skipped a few beats and she could barely think properly.

The first thing she did was wrap her arms around him and bring him into a strong hug, "I thought you ditched me." She pouted as she pulled away.

"Did I upset you?" He asked, his hands still on her waist. Then, Cú brought a hand to her chin and made her look up to him, "You knew I wouldn't leave you alone, I hope."

She refrained from looking at him as her cheeks burned a vibrant red, "Well, you sounded so serious. A-and you know I'm gullible."

It was his turn to bring her into a hug, her eyes glossy and he knew she was a bit sensitive to being alone in a public area. She was strong and wouldn't show her insecurities but she still had them there, somewhere while she tried to be as strong as she could, "I wouldn't just leave you on Christmas." Then he held up the gift, a grin on his face, "Plus, I got you a little something."

She immediately frowned, "I didn't get you anything…" Now, she felt like crap. She had been making something for him, a few cookies, but her brother ate them all saying that Cú didn't deserve them because of his smoking habits.

His grin grew and he quickly kissed her cheek, "Babe, don't worry about that. All that matters is that we're together." Wow, that sounded extremely cheesy, he scolded himself and nearly cringed at his own words.

Jeanne couldn't help but giggle right as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her past the park. The began walking through the city streets, passing by shops and were window shopping. The city streets were lined with lights and other Christmas decorations, bringing more joy to Jeanne whenever someone bid them a very Merry Christmas eve. It was the first time she was spending this holiday with a boy and it had taken her a long time to choose what she was going to wear and how her make-up was going to be.

"Oh, let's go in." Cú signalled at a coffee shop in the corner of a street. He opened the door for her and she quickly entered, shaking her head and stomping her feet so that the snow would fall off. Cú found a place for them to sit and he insisted he go and order instead of letting her stand in the line.

She sat patiently in the booth the found, shrugging off her jacket and analyzing the gift bag before her. She obviously felt bad but after a lot of reassurance from Cú… well, that still did not help the guilty feeling in her gut.

She tapped her fingers on the table and waited for Cú to return. Jeanne was leaning her head on her hand when she saw a woman walked past the booth, a beautiful woman. For a second, the young girl was stunned but she blinked as her eyes followed the woman to where she took a seat, a few booths away. Her wavy burgundy locks seemed to be softer than satin and the black coat she wore made her very impressive to look at.

A coffee was placed in front of Jeanne, snapping her back to her date, "Hello sweetheart," he smirked, "I'm deeply sorry for interrupting you, but I wanted to know if I could buy you something?"

Jeanne furrowed her brows and gave a slight tilt to her head, "Pardon? You did just get me a coffee, Cú."

"A donut maybe?" He blinked at her as if she had not said a word.

The young lady was puzzled, looking over at the pastries that he had brought along with the coffee he had gotten them. She shook her head and looked at him again, searching his eyes for an answer. "Cú? You already got a muffin."

"Oh," he sighed, "don't tell me you forgot how we first met," he chuckled, his laughs filling the air along with the sweet smell of caramel, mint and coffee. Jeanne barely recalled the day because she had been worried over Arturia.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking back down at the warm drink before her and frowning a bit; she didn't like bitter things.

The boy took her hand and gave another laugh, "It's okay babe. Well, I hope you like the drink. It's a caramel latte or something."

She smiled up at him and reached over for the sugar. She took the lid off of the coffee cup and proceeded to pour mount Everest in her cup. Of course she wasn't going to ask him for a different drink, "Thank you."

They talked a bit and he had brought up the present and the fact that she should have opened it by now. He had to take out his phone for pictures as she gave into opening the gift. Her hands skimmed over the smooth decorated bag, landing on the yarn straps. She pulled them from the knot that held them together and continued to pull at the crunching red tissue paper.

Her eyes landed on a red box inside, a white ribbon holding the lid in place. She looked up at him and sighed, "You really shouldn't have." She mumbled, biting her lower lip.

"Okay, just open it." He hushed her and signalled for her to continue.

The soft ribbon was untied and soon she opened the small box, a popping sound filling the space between them. Amazed to find a sparkling silver and violet necklace. The thin silver chain held an amethyst up, decorated by other crystals—but definitely not diamonds. There was a tiny letter inside the box and after reading it, her eyes came back up to his, tears glossing them over.

"Do you like it?" He chirped, excited to see what she would say.

She simply nodded, there was no way she could speak without messing up her speech.

"Put it on," he urged, bouncing his leg under the table. She reached out to move her hair but she stopped her, "Wait, let me put it on for you." Cú stood from his seat and made his way towards her. He pushed her long wavy hair aside, soft but messy golden strand tangling his fingers. She had let it down from the braid and she looked absolutely stunning. He took the necklace in hand and slowly let it round her neck, his cold fingers only ghostly touching her neck, setting her cheeks ablaze.

"There we are," He whispered next to her ear and fixed her hair, "Now you can't say you don't have a boyfriend. It's a sign that you belong to me, it's almost like a collar if you will. You know, hounds need their mates too." His wink had done it all, leaving her a blushing mess and having to cover her mouth to refrain herself from saying something stupid.

"Cú?" They both jumped and turned to see the beautiful lady, "Oh my gosh, it really is you. Wow, you look rather handsome."

Cú was beet red and Jeanne had never seen him so flustered before, "What are you doing here?"

The woman's eyes grew a bit and she looked down, a bit embarrassed herself, "Well, you know," she shrugged, a nervous, but charming, smile on her lips. "Who's this? Your girlfriend? She's beautiful."

"Yes, she is." He spat and now Jeanne could tell that he was angry as well "But it's none of your business is it?"

She looked taken aback and she just blinked those pretty eyes at him while Jeanne was confused out of her mind. She was looking back and forth between her boyfriend and the woman, Is this his ex?

"Cú, I just came over to say hi. I wanted to see how you were doing." She just seemed so sincere that Jeanne couldn't be anymore confused.

"Well, no one asked you to waltz into my life again." He spat in return, his voice leaking with hostility, "I think I made it clear the last time we saw each other."

The woman sighed and patted her dress down a bit, "I came on behalf of a small business function with the Pendragons and I met with your brother."

Cú scoffed at the mention of his older brother, "The audacity. Fuck that, Jeanne let's go."

"B-but…" Jeanne argued while he pulled her to her feet.

He turned to her, the look in his eyes scaring her a bit and his harsh voice sending shivers all over her body, "I said we're leaving."

"Already off to a bad start for the relationship, aren't we?" They were all interrupted yet again, this time by a golden haired man.

"Gilgamesh." The woman greeted and Jeanne had to look down while Cú growled the boy's name.

"Wait, how do you know him?" Cú turned to the woman.

The red-head blinked, "Business; he's almost like a younger brother."

"And you?" Gilgamesh looked at them both, ignoring Jeanne completely because the uncomfortable feeling in his chest resurfaced when he saw Jeanne and Cú's hands intertwined.

There was silence for a bit and Jeanne was hoping she would catch their relationship this time—which she did, "Youth and I," she gasped at the name, "are not in acquaintance with each other anymore… She never made a good Duibhne." Cú then tugged Jeanne by the arm and let her exit the coffee shop along with him, coming into contact with the harsh winter evening breeze.

It was Christmas eve, and Arturia was standing outside Diarmuid's door. She was taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves; they had not talked much after the whole fight at her party and she wanted to make sure they would repair the bad blood on Christmas. She closed her eyes, thinking back to the way he looked at Youth and she couldn't bring herself to ring the doorbell.

After forcing herself, she felt her hear beating in anticipation. What if he was not home? It was late now and he could have been doing something else; something much more important.

It was a while before the door swung open to reveal Diarmuid in a pair of sweats and a white t-shirt on. His hair was wet and his eyes grew at the sight of her, "Hello," he breathed.

She tilted her head and pulled her best smile, "Hello."

"Um, come in," he stepped aside and let her in. He walked her to the living room and gave her s mile, "So, uh, what brings you here?"

Arturia shrugged as he offered to take her jacket. After slipping off the thick black coat, she handed it to him, "I wanted to spend some time with you."

"Ah, thank you." He gave a nod and insisted she sit down. There was silence for a long time and then he spoke, "I was taking a shower, sorry that I took a while to answer the door."

"It's alright," She gave a soft smile and sat back on the couch, the conversation falling flat again.

Diarmuid cleared his throat, "I think, I think… we, uh, need to talk." His voice had been a bit uncertain but Arturia tried to think nothing of it.

"Ah," she gave a prompt nod, "Of course."

He took a deep breath, "Youth showing up doesn't mean I don't have feelings for you. It doesn't mean that I stopped liking you. I've had some time to think," a couple of days now, "and sure there have been times that I question what the hell I'm doing with a student, but I always come to the conclusion that I like you, and I can't be letting all my chances go."

She caught the last part of his sentence and she furrowed her brows, "Like you let Youth slip away?" She did not know anything about how they broke it off, but he hinted at mistakes.

"We are not talking about Youth." He sighed and shook his head,

"But we have to. If we talk about her, maybe we will not repeat the same mistakes." She had a point and he agreed. They needed to talk about Youth to clear the situation up, but he wasn't prepared for this.

Diarmuid shook his head, "Not yet."

Because you still love her, Oh, how she wished she could just say that, "When?" There was no better time than to talk about their relationship then. Arturia scooted closer to Diarmuid and looked him in the eyes, "Do you still have feelings for her?"

~Author's Note~

Hey guys~! I really wish I could have update earlier but work life is killing me and family stuff too. So I really hoped you liked this chapter. Originally it was gonna be a filler cute chapter but then it came out all angsty... haha. No mistletoe kisses, sadly.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone~! God bless you and your families. May you be filled with love, happiness, health and prosperity. I love you all and I always wish you all the best! Thank you for your continued support! I wish you all the best in the year to come because I won't be updating until like two weeks from now. I know many of you don't read the author's note or even dropped this story altogether, but eitherway, I love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas!

God Bless,

~Ms. AtomicBomb