So the main characters of the story are Lucien, Czaritsa's character whom is a vampire, and Kicchou's character Wyvern, a human girl who eventually will become romantically involved with Lucien she is older. This story doesn't actually take place, but is more of a "what if" scenario.
What if Lucien had met Wyvern when she was a child?
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(Never really got a good title for this)
Love [luhv] noun, verb / loved, lov•ing
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person
2. a misunderstood emotion, although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker.
~~~
All her life, Wyvern Gruene always heard stories of odd creatures. Of course, she thought that they never existed. The stories in her books, the stories she was told, amd the stories she herself told to her sister, would never be anything more to her that just... stories. That was that. Yet, somewhere in the far recesses of her juvenile mind, she wanted them to be real. She needed something to assure her that this life she had would go beyond what she saw out her window or saw on the news. She needed them to be real. It was as if that need to clarify this would help her clarify her own existence, but she never found the proof she so desperately wanted.
So, of course, she thought that they never existed.
Yet she was wrong.
When she looked on that day, an event she kept so closely and quietly guarded to her heart, she wondered if it was in fact some kind of divine intervention that brought her to this person. The clarity to her grey life. Grey... like his beautiful, beautiful hair.
~~~
"Momma! I don't want to wear that sweater! It's itchy! "Elwynn complained loudly as her mother pulled a thick woolen sweater over her head, "I don't like it!"
"You'll like it when you're not freezing outside. You want to go to the park, right?"
"Right!"Elwynn immediately agreed. If having to wear that thing meant a trip to the park, she'd surrender any day. By the time her mother was ready, Elwynn was considerably warm and very fuzzy. Her sister Wyvern, who seemed much more resistant to the cold, wore considerably less clothing, and while Elwynn's clothing was bright and vibrant, Wyvern stuck to more darker, earthy tones. They made her feel comfortable. For once she'd tried clipping back her hair with a couple of her sister's clips. They were cute, they had little Hello Kitties on the end. She normally never wore anything in her hair, but hey, it was a new day, why not give it a try? Wyvern reached into her chest of drawers and fished out a small picture of her father and mother in heart shaped frame. It was one of the only pictures she had of him. Her mother took down most of the pictures after he passed away.
Other than what she held, she hadn't seen any others of him in a long time.
Mia already and Elwynn layered up and ready to go when Wyvern came down the stairs. Compared to her sister, Wyvern wasn't wearing nearly as much. But that was just her mother being overly protective of her bind daughter. She both their hands and lead them out the door. The park wasn't that far, and even with the grey skies, it was still an opportunity to get out of the house.
"Momma! Look at me!" Elwynn said, climbing atop what she thought was part of the play equipment. To her it felt as if she'd climbed the top of the jungle gym when in fact her mother had helped her scale the bench she was sitting on. None the less, the little girl was proud of her accomplishment.
"Mom! Look at me too! Look, look!" Wyvern said, waving her arms. She was actually sitting at the stop of the jungle. She hung upside down and nearly lost her little bag as she yelled again, "Mom! Look!"
"That's nice dear!" She called back without looking. Elwynn was finding her way across the top of the bench with a stick, and was drawing close to the edge. Wyvern gave an exasperated sigh and sat up right again before dropping through the bars to the ground.
"Momma! You weren't looking!"
"That was nice! Good job!" Her mother replied. Wyvern wasn't even sure if she was paying attention to her or not.
"Momma! I got me a tattoo!"
"That's nice!"She replied, catching Elwynn before she walked off the edge. Elwynn wiggled away and ran towards the playground. At least she had heard her sister's voice.
"Wybbles! Wybbles, I wanna come play with you!” Elwynn shouted to her sister. Wyvern walked to the edge of the border that ran around the equipment, but had no intention of playing with her sister. She could play with their mother if she wanted to so badly.
Yet somehow Elwynn found her sister and wrapped both her arms around one of her sisters.
"Let's play on the Merry-Go-Round" Elwynn begged. Wyvern tried to tug her arm away, but her sister held fast.
"I don't want to play with you. Go play with Momma!"
"No, I want to play with you!"
“Let go!” Wyvern gave her sister a sharp shove, sending her tumbling back off the edge of the play area. Elwynn sat up slowly and ran her hand across her leg. She felt the unusual warmth of the blood that leaked through a tear in her pants… and began to wail.
“Wyvern!” Their mother, Mia, shouted. She hefted her daughter off the ground and looked at her leg. A stray chunk of wood and caught her pants and ripped it and the skin, “Why did you do that?! She just wanted to play!”
“Why doesn’t she just play with you?!” Wyvern told her, “You act sad all the time, play with her and be happier!”
“Wyvern Gruene! What's gotten into you?!” Mia scolded her, “I’m going to fix your sister’s knee and then we are going home! You’ve been very bad today! I can’t believe you’d act like this!”
Wyvern sat in a small plastic tunnel while Mia wrapped up Elwynn’s knee. The little girl sniffed into a handkerchief as her mother put more anti-bacterial cream on her knee.
“Shhh, shhh, It’s alright, Elwynn.” Her mother soothed, “I’ll be done in a minute.”
Wyvern could feel the anger boiling up in her. She didn't understand the sudden lack of attention she was receiving form her mother. She just didn’t get it! Pap was gone and she missed him just as much as anybody. Why did stupid Elwynn get to keep Momma all to herself! Elwynn was the selfish one!
Wyvern peered out the end of the tub at her mother and sister. Mia was still busy with Elwynn’s knee and, of course, Elwynn could not see her sister. Wyvern ducked back in and went through the other end of the tunnel, the part where her mother couldn’t see her.
The play area they were at was no the only one in the park. There were several, and if Wyvern couldn’t enjoy herself elsewhere. So, being as quiet as she could, Wyvern stole off in the opposite direction of her mother, and to the other play area across the park. If her mother wanted her, she’d have to look. At least she’d have Elwynn to keep her company.
Above head, the cloud seemed to be brewing ominously…
~~~
There were many more children at the other play area. It must have been a lot more popular than the last. Whatever the real reason, Wyvern preferred being around these happy faces.
Wyvern sat on one of many plastic staircases with a pad of paper and crayons in her lap. Her fingers were raw from climbing around before, but she was contented with doodling on her paper. She started by drawing little stick figures of herself and her father. She wondered about adding her mother and sister for a bit, but paused as something fell on her paper: a cot of dirt.
Wyvern looked up to see a little boy sitting on the ledge above her with his feet hanging down off the edge. The dirt had fallen from his shoes.
“Hi.” He said, grinning broadly. Wyvern counted two missing teeth.
“Hello.” Wyvern said impatiently. She brushed the dirt off and continued drawing.
“Please stop getting your yucky dirt on my paper. You’ll make them all gross.”
“Hey!” The boy said indignantly as he dropped off the side and landed near her, “I was trying to be nice to you!”
“You dropped dirt on me, that wasn’t very nice.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that!”
“What’s up, Dylan?” Another boy asked after appearing from the same spot above Wyvern‘s head.
“This creepy girl was being rude. That’s what!” The boy, now Dylan, replied.
Wyvern’s grip tightened instinctively on her crayon as Dylan’s friend joined him.
“Really?” The new boy asked. He looked a bit bigger than Dylan.
“Yeah, she was crying ‘cause I got dirt on her dumb paper.”
“I wasn’t crying!” Wyvern shouted.
“Oh, yeah?”
Both boy’s bent down and scooped large clumps of dirt and woodchips into their hands before hurling them at Wyvern’s face. She dropped her crayon to cover her face, but coughed and sputtered as several more handfuls rained down on her. Before she could object, her bag was torn away from her, and her belongings were dumped out on the ground.
“No, stop! “Wyvern screamed. She turned her head and tried to bat away the clumps of dirt that ceaselessly showered her with filth.
“Are you gonna cry? Are you gonna cry? Cry baby! Cry baby! Cry baby!” Their incessant chanting was causing a heat to rise up from Wyvern’s chest. She was getting angrier by the moment. She suddenly tood up, refusing to take this abuse any longer.
“I said st-!” She began to scream, only to have a clump of dirt splash into her mouth. Wyvern choked and coughed as she tried to rid her mouth of the horrid taste.
“Ew! She ate it! She ate it! I bet there were bugs in it too! Ewwww!” The boys laughed. Over the wild and loud din of the playground, it was doubtful even the boys chanting could be clearly made out. The two began stepping on her crayons and ripping up her paper. They’d just finished with them when they stumbled upon one last object in her bag: her picture of her mother and father.
“What’s this crummy thing?” One boy asked, holding it with two fingers as if the silver heart frame was covered in slime.
“It’s garbage, just like the rest of it! Throw it!”
Wyvern was on her knees, coughed loudly and dry heaving as the taste of dirt and wood hung heavy on her tongue. She felt sick, but she felt the fire in her chest burning into a raging inferno. She was so mad now. She’d teach the both of them a lesson. Even if she wasn’t sure how she’d do it…
Wyvern stood up, just in time to see one of the boy’s draw back before throwing the photo.
Everything seemed to happen as if she was watching from a another position. Like she was a bystander in the fight she was about to take part of.
Wyvern leapt forward and grabbed the strap of her back. With one hand, she reared back and struck one boy across the side of his head with the bag. It was empty, but the small girl had just enough power in her arm to make it smart. That boy stepped back and covered his head with his hands to deflect another blow, but Wyvern was already going for the other boy. Tackling him from behind and knocking him right into the mud.
The clarity of the situation came back to sharp relief as she was pulled off the boy by the other she’d hit with her bag. The one she’d knocked to the ground was crying, and there were red marks on the back of his neck. She been clawing at him relentlessly.
“FREAK!” The older boy yelled angrily. He lead his friend away, leaving Wyvern there alone in the shock of what she had done.
And then the rain came.
The children vacated the play equipment as soon as the first drops fell. All but Wyvern was left out there. The other adults were too preoccupied with their own children to notice one little girl, crying over her broken crayons and torn paper.
Wyvern stuffed her ruined art supplies into her back and hurried past a swing set to find her photo. She did care how heavy the rain had become, she wanted to find the picture. She could never forgive herself it she lost her only picture of her father. But to the girl’s horror, the grass was already soggy and filled with deep puddles. She could not see the glint of the silvery frame anywhere, not a hint of its smooth heart-shaped frame.
The rainwater on her face mixed with her tears as she dug through the mud, coating her hands and her knees with filth. Try as she might, she always came up empty-handed, no matter how deep she plunged her hands into the inky soil.
“Daddy!” She cried aloud, begging for her precious treasure, “Daddy! Where are you?!”
It was some time before Wyvern gave up. She returned to the deserted playground empty-handed. She didn’t find her photo.
The miserable little girl climbed into one of the metal tubes and curled up against the side, shivering with her little wet hood covering her head. Her shoes, her hands, and most of her clothes were covered with wet mud from her futile search. She wished more than ever that someone had seen what had happened, someone to help her and comfort her. She was alone, and cold, and frightened. She needed… a friend. The little girl folded her tiny, shaking fingers together and murmured quietly under her breath for someone to come. She was asking for an angel to help her, she needed one very badly.
At first, Lucien had no intentions of intervening what so ever. In fact, he didn’t see what had happened with that little girl and the two boys until the girl seemed to have lost her mind and attacked them. That caught his eye. The girl was barely half the size of her attackers, and had sent them off, one sobbing, in less than a few minutes. But this initial impression soon turned to pity. He was the lone soul left as the other parents and their children vacated the area. Well… almost. The girl was left too, dirtying her hands as she frantically dug through the mud for something he could not see. It took Lucien a moment to realize that whatever she was searching so desperately for was the fuel to her previous rage.
This pity turned to concern as he watched her, even from where he sat on a bench he could tell that her movements had become more frantic, more frustrated. Whatever she was searching for had yet to be found.
Lucien really hoped for the girl. She had to have been one of the most pathetic things he’d ever seen, digging through the dirt for something. That lone, sad little child who just wanted to find what she’d lost. He felt a surge of warmth spread through his chest. Was it hope? Had this simple sight cause that feeling to flow through him again?
Yet the feeling left, and he almost felt a lump rise in his throat as the child abandoned her search and hid among the play equipment. She’d given up. Just like that her search was over, and now she was cowering in shame. Lucien almost felt ashamed himself, placing a new found hope on the shoulders of a small child.
Slowly, without making barely a noise above the rain fall, he made his way over to the tube he’d seen the girl duck into. Whether she’d given up or not, she was alone. He’d never seen a child in a park like this without a parent. She was as lost as he was, if not more. At least he understood this feeling…
Wyvern bristled as she heard the dull thud of something hitting the top of the tube. She could feel a scream rising in her throat. Had those boys returned? Or was it something worse?
“Hello…?” Said a soft voice. Wyvern turned herself around to see someone staring right back at her. Stringy bits of wet hair hung from his hood and into his face, and his eyes were such a startling shade of green that Wyvern could have sworn they glowed in the fading darkness. That, and Wyvern almost thought he was an old man with that oddly colored hair. But his face was smooth, not a wrinkle on it. For a short, vague moment, Wyvern felt as if she was looking at someone very familiar to her, but the moment soon passed as she fully took in the scope of his features; she’d never seen him before in her entire life. He reached out towards her with his hand, causing the small girl to draw back.
Lucien, felt his heart clench. The poor thing was so frightened now. He wondered if he could get her to come out at all.
“It’s alright. I won’t hurt you.” Lucien said, trying to sound as kind as he could,
“You look lost, are you? Is your mother or father here? I can help you find them.”
Wyvern had always been told to never talk to strange people, but this man… he didn’t look like a normal person. Something about him just seemed… otherworldly.
Wyvern opened her mouth and spoke slowly before taking his hand.
“Are you an angel?” She asked as he gave her hand a small tug to help her out. Lucien nearly let go.
“What?” He asked her, nearly dropping her hand. He’d been called many things, but an angel? Only a child could possibly see that in him. He wanted to say no, but… that look in her eyes. Those wide red-brown eyes were looking up at him with such admiration and hope in her eyes that Lucien just wanted to comfort her. He thought for a fleeting second that maybe his daughter would have grown into something like her if she… if she was here…
He knew that it was a basic principal taught to every child that they shouldn’t go with strangers anywhere, and Lucien was sure he was the strangest thing for quite some distance. There was only one way she’d trust him.
“Are you an angel?” The small girl repeated, “I w asked for an angel to come and help me ‘cause I was scared, and you came. Are you the angel I asked for?”
“…Y…Yes…” Lucien lied, though not completely. He wasn’t exactly an angel, but maybe in some way he was guided to help this little girl. Wyvern ignored the hesitation in his voice and her eyes lit up happily.
“Thank you!” She said, letting go of his hand and hugging him around the knees. He was a rather tall individual, she barely reached past his knees. Lucien, not used to being clung to like some giant teddy bear, nearly fell back in surprise.
“Careful now, don’t want to fall in the mud.” He said, carefully brushing her off. He knelt down at her level to speak with her for just a moment.
“Can you tell me what happened? Why were you digging in the mud and fighting with those boys?” He asked. Wyvern gnawed on her lip nervously. Just when she was about to answer when she sneezed right in Lucien’s face. He drew back just a little and squinted through the mess. This was not the proper time or place to be interrogating a little girl.
“Alright, I think the questions can wait, okay?” He said in a friendly tone. He took of his jacket and threw it over the small girl. It looked like a trench coat on her small shivering frame. She took one step forward and her foot landed right into a deep, muddy hole. She fell forward, only to have a pale hand shoot out and catch her before she landed in the mud.
“Heh, your just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you?” He joked, lifting her up high enough to sit on his shoulder. She wiggled around for a movement until she was set, and them Lucien found his view obstructed as she wrapped her hand around his head.
“Ah! I can’t see.” He said, finding her behavior comical.
“I’m so high up!” Wyvern said, almost nervous. She felt safer up here now that she had her ‘angel’ looking out for her.
“Well, I am tall.” Lucien said, the cold rain with biting at his arms not, instantly causing him to regret wearing a short sleeved shirt under his coat, “Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall. Why don’t we find someplace dryer to go before you catch a cold.
“Okay, Mr. Angel!”
“…You can call me Lucien.”
“Okay, Mr. Lucien Angel!”
Lucien sighed, somehow he was sure that he couldn’t convince this child of anything else. Maybe it was better that way…
There was a snack bar on the edge of the play area was connected to two patio areas. The shop was closed, killing Lucien’s idea to get her something to warm her up.
Lucien let Wyvern down on top of the table. She was filthy right down to her little boots.
“Uh.. here.” Lucien said, taking a slightly damp handkerchief from his pocket, “You got some dirt on your face.”
Lucien grimaced as Wyvern cleaned her face(move like spread the mud for evenly) and then proceeded to clean her filthy skirt. He’d have to bleach that thing.
“Thanks, Mr. Lucien Angel!” Wyvern said, smiling brightly. She felt much happier having her own angel helping her. She felt like she could do anything now.
“I’m glad to see you smiling, you didn’t look so happy a little while ago.”
Oops, Lucien knew in the instant after he said it that that was the wrong thing to say. Wyvern suddenly looked as if she was going to cry.
“…! Whoa, whoa, just calm down, its okay. I’m sorry.” He said quickly, trying to stall her tears a bit, “Was it something I said.”
“I lost Daddy!” She wailed loudly. Lucien fought back the urge to cover his ears, that’d only make her feel worse.
“He was in the park with you? Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s looking for you too.”
Wyvern looked up at him again with wide eyes. Her lower lip quivered. Once again, Lucien knew what was going to happen the moment before it did. He’d never really got to hear his own son cry, but he sure he couldn’t have been louder than this. This little girl… she certainly had a pair of lungs, and here was Lucien with NO experience at being any kind of parental figure.
“…Ah! Please don’t cry. I’m sorry I upset you!” Lucien was trying to say whatever would get her to stop. She was loud enough to alert anyone nearby, and he really didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.
“Please stop, angels don’t like it when little ones cry.” He said calmly, placing his hand atop her head. He ruffled her hair gently, and even gave a strand a gentle, joking tug, “Please, won’t you stop?”
Lucien had hoped this would work, but it was like he’d flipped a switch on this kid, instantly the waterworks dried up and she was all wide-eyed once again. Lucien was left feeling very awkward… again.
“Ah…”
“My Daddy used to do that when I was sad.” She told him, “He’d mess up my hair and make me feel better again.”
Lucien mustered up the courage to launch into his questions again, praying they would end up with her wailing again.
“Is your Dad… gone?” He asked slowly. Wyvern glanced down at her feet as the swung back and forth at the edge of the table.
“He went to where grandma went. Momma said he went to a really nice place, but I still miss ‘em a lot.”
Was it really possible for Lucie to be saddened further by what he heard from this girl? He knew he’d faced many troubling situations in his life, but to hear something of a similar degree from such a little girl was just too much. It wasn’t fair.
“…You said you lost him before…”
“I lost Daddy’s picture. It was the only one him and momma I had, and those mean boys… threw it away in the mud.”
Now that explained a lot. Like why this girl was so emotional today and ready to take on children at least twice her age.
“That’s why you were digging in the mud?”
“Yeah…
“And got angry at those boys?”
“Yeah! They made me lose daddy and I-”Wyvern paused, seeing the looking in his eyes, “What’s wrong, Mr. Lucien Angel?
Lucien dare not burden the small girl with his troubling past, but there was some details that he wished to express, maybe to help him relate to this child better. It seemed they would in each others company for some time until the weather let up or her mother came to find her.
“…I… I lost someone special too.” He said quietly, almost feeling ashamed.
“You lost a picture?” Wyvern asked.
“I never had one.” Lucien said, the words escaping before his mind could screen them, “I’m sure they went where your Daddy and Grandma are now too.”
“You mean where you came from too, Mr. Lucien Angel?”
“I… suppose so.” He answered, the corners of his mouth tugging ever so slightly. Was he becoming accustomed to the name she’d given him?
“Well, you’ve been so nice, I want to be nice too!”
To his esteemed surprise, Wyvern began to fish ripped paper and broken crayons out of her little bag. By some astounding feet, she found a single grey crayon that was unbroken. The piece of paper she had with still spotted with mud, but was by far the cleanest of her collection.
“What did she look like?” Wyvern asked, the tip of her tongue sticking out as she concentrated on her torn paper.
“What? How did you…? …She…?”
“You said you had a special someone too. I remember Momma telling me that Daddy called us all his most special people. So what does your special person look like?”
Lucien’s mouth hung open a little in surprise. The two of them had been sitting her and conversing for close to an hour now and Lucien new little beyond the incident with the stolen picture, but she… she was analyzing him he entire time. She concluded enough to who it was he missed so dearly.
“Well, you remind me of her, like a smaller version.” He joked. Her expression looked anything but serious to him right now.
“I’m not that small!” Wyvern snipped, doodling away at on her piece of paper. She was really into it now, spreading the color with her wet fingers, and adjusting the crayon at different angles to get a different kinds of lines.
“What are you doing?” He asked, his curiosity building. Every time he tried to look at what she was drawing, Wyvern would block his view.
“Not yet!” She said, the crayon suddenly snapping between her grimy fingers. Wyvern stared at it, her hair hiding her face a little as a clearly audible sniff came from her. Lucien cringed, preparing for another wail to tear from her tiny throat.
“… Is Daddy happy there…? Does he miss me at all?”
Lucien was completely taken aback by this question. At first he was about to ask what she meant, but then the reasoning for her curiosities came back to him quickly. She thought he was an angel form heaven, where her father was now. Lucien licked his lips, finding it hard to phrase this lie well enough for her to believe. Maybe it wasn’t a lie. It was highly possible to him.
“I can never get him to talk about anything else. It’s always ‘family this…’ or ‘family that…’ He’s really fond of you all. He must really love you all a lot.”
“But does he miss me?”
“No.” Lucien found himself suddenly saying,” How could he miss you if he’s always with you?”
Wyvern stared him, her view of her personal angel grew fuzzier as the tears welled up in her eyes. Happy tears, she could almost feel a strange warmth rise in her, like someone hugging her. She was to give him some tiny words of gratitude before her tears stopped her, but it was another voice that drew her attention away.
“WYVERN! Wyvern, where are you?!” Came her mothers cry. It was a loud, screeching cry, her voice full of fear and worry for her child. It was the gentle nudge she needed to really start the waterworks. Her drying cheeks were soaked once again as she called back for her mother, the paper dropping from her lap as she hopped off the table.
“M-MOM! MOOOOM! MOMMYYYYY!”
Wyvern could stop herself, this whole time she spoke with Lucien she barely gave a thought to what she had, who she had, until she heard the emotion in her mother’s voice. She carried Elwynn in her arms, the smaller girl’s face was wet despite her hood. Her sightless eyes had also shed many tears for her sister.
Wyvern ran from the cover of the patio with Lucien’s jacket still on. She did not fall, nor even stumble as she ran into the embrace of her mother and sister. All three of them cried together, happy for the sudden contact and relief for the safer of each other. They spoke not a word for some time as Mia rocked them back and forth, her arms to tight around them as if she was trying to keep them from floating away.
“I was so worried.” She finally breathed quietly into her daughters ear, “I was so scared.”
“I wasn’t.” Wyvern said shortly before hiccupping, ”One of Daddy’s friend from heaven sat with me and talked with me until you came. He was very nice.”
Mia was speechless, not completely sure if this was some result of her daughters active imagination. She had a stranger’s coat on her, evidence enough.
“…D-Daddy’s friend…?”
“Yes! He’s right there! Mr. Lucien Angel-!”
Wyvern’s words dropped off as she looked back at the vacant patio.
“…There’s no one there…” Mia said quietly.
“…He went back to heaven…” Wyvern said simply. She saw that her paper was gone, the broken ends of her crayon laid neatly on top of her bag.
“Aww… I want to meet the angel… We missed him.” Elwynn said, rubbing her eyes dry.
“No you didn’t.” Wyvern said, taking her little sister’s hand tightly in her, “How could you miss him if he and Daddy are always with us?”
“Oh!” Elwynn said, her face lighting up. She waved her other hand around, greeting someone that maybe on she could ‘see’.
“Hi, Mr. Angel! Hi, Daddy!”
~~~
Wyvern walked hand in hand with her sister down the hall, clumsily humming the words to ‘Jingle Bells’ as they walked towards the front door. The weather had warmed up a bit, but not enough to prevent them from wearing layers.
“I wanna go swing on the swings today! And the See-saw! And them Merry-Go-Round!” Elwynn exclaimed happily. It’d been nearly a month since the last time they’d gone to the park. Mia had only just gathered up the courage to allow this little trip. She was still shaken from nearly loosing her daughter. The familiar dark coat, with not tags in it of any kind, still hung on the hoot near the door.
“Me too! Me too!” Wyvern agreed.
“Alright, just wait on the front porch and let me get my keys. Do you have your gloves?”
“Yes!”
“Are your coats all buttoned up?”
“Yes!”
“Heads safely attached?”
“Yes!” They both answered amiss giggles. Mia dug in a draw near the door for her keys as Wyvern lead her sister onto the front porch. She nearly stepped on the package that was sitting on their doorstep.
“What is it?” Elwynn asked, feeling her sister draw back and let go of her hand to pick the package up. She heard the sound of paper ripping and grew excited.
“Is it from Santa?”
Wyvern carefully opened the box concealed beneath the brown paper. She didn’t even bother to see who it was from on the tag. Nestled between sheets of cushioned packaging was a familiar silver frame, shinier than she’d ever remember, with a spot less picture tucked in the frame. Her mother and father even looked happier to her, for some reason. She gently ran her fin across the edge of the frame, and found something stuck to the back of it. Flipping it over, she saw a folded piece of paper tucked behind the frame’s stand. She flipped it open, ad read the message. It was short, with no name in the signature. Instead, there was a small pair of wings drawn in the corner, with a gold halo looped around them. The message was three simply words:
“Always with you.”
