The Night Before
A Dragon's Christmas
written by Kevin Bell (Death Star)
The Night Before
A Dragon's Christmas
written by Kevin Bell (Death Star)
7:00 A.M, Galactic Standard Time
Cheryl rose early when her datapad beeped, alerting her to an update regarding something important. She could take a guess - something to do with her massive hunt for Steel, or Angelus, or the Order, or the Others. Glancing at Chii asleep next to her, cuddling Aurica who was also asleep, Lorelei pressed on Chii's other side, tails shifting in her sleep, she quietly rose out of bed, nude since that was how she preferred to sleep. Stepping over to the closet she slipped on her panties, then her uniform, buttoning it up slowly.
Exiting the room and quietly shutting the door after her, she walked down the second floor hallway, past a few rooms, pausing at what sounded like noise from Miyuki's room, bu then continuing down the stairs to the lobby area. She caught Lemon, already wake, rocking Jenny Chiika on her way to the kitchen and spoke out. "I may have some things I have to do today, Lemon; do you think you can cover as me in case I run late?" she asked.
"It's Christmas Eve, you know," Lemon said softly, stopping and peering back at Cheryl. They could really pass as twins, the two of them, due to the fact Lemon was made base on Cheryl, right down to the mind pattern; Lemon had just chosen to become a different person mentally by looking at things in different lights. Lemon was the cheerful side Cheryl could have embraced, and sometimes did, when life let her. But just as Cheryl could embrace the innocent, naive nature that was Lemon, Lemon too could embrace the serious, dangerous edge that Cheryl stayed due to her job as Supreme General of EarthGov.
"I know. I'll be back by the time of the party at least. I have 11 hours to finish tracking what it is that I'm being contacted for. I can't imagine that it's going to pan out," she noted, glancing down at the datapad, turning to move for the statue, then pausing. "Oh, is Hale up yet? I sent the message to him last night before bed."
"I saw him about an hour ago when I was finishing the mess hall breakfast," Lemon told her, smiling. "He seemed to be very motivated." She turned to head for the manor's kitchen, giving Cheryl a knowing smile."
"I bet he was," Cheryl noted dryly, grabbing the statue's breasts and opening up the hidden elevator. Stepping in it, she rode it down to the base, crossing her arms, wondering if Hale was good enough to solve a simple mystery solving and hunting game. Probably, if he wanted to be an officer. It would be a test of his character for her to review later and see how he handled it - to give her an idea if she should even go ahead with the offical test at the beginning of the next year.
Once the elevator stopped, she walked down the quiet base hallways - most people wouldn't be up until late this morning, she imagined, taking the day off to sleep in. She had given her people today and tomorrow off. She only expected to encounter the person who had sent her the text down here anyway as she walked into the security room, approaching a woman with azure hair color. "General," Eluere said, turning in her seat to greet her.
"Don't you ever sleep? I thought Darien planned to spend Christmas with you," Cheryl asked, crossing her arms and studying the younger sister she had come to learn about a year ago.
"He'll be picking us up this afternoon," Eluere noted, then turned back to face the monitor. "I've been looking into the Senators like you asked that we suspected and Di'jinn has a charity meeting today in 2 hours with a group of people that just recently formed during the last 4 months."
"What's the charity about?" Cheryl said, frowning as she felt the back of her neck tingling due to something.
"Preserving the rain forest," Eluere said. She glanced back at Cheryl, allowing Cheryl the time to make the leaps in logic as well.
"We found Steel's guy with the bombs in a South American city," Cheryl muttered. "And we suspect Di'jinn as the one who was behind the attacks and framing the other senator." He was the youngest Senator and slimey as hell, having been acting as if he wanted in Miyuki's pants the entire political party that had gone to hell a few weeks back. There was something about Tim Di'jinn that rubbed her wrong.
"Yes. Should I alert the team?" Eluere asked her and Cheryl shook her head, earning a confused look from the girl.
"I'll be going with you and Curali only for now. We should be done in time for you to meet your Dad later. Everyone has their minds on other things - like I plan to do after I get done checking this out. I can't imagine this charity thing will go on for long. And when Chii wakes up I can let her know where we are in case anything goes poorly," Cheryl explained.
"I understand," Eluere said. Cheryl knew Curali would already be alerted to the fact of the mission due to her connection with Eluere, so she didn't bother to inform her. She began to head for the hanger area, grabbing a tight fitting tactical suit, hoping her larger breasts didn't hurt too much in it, or worse lactate on her. That would be a great way to begin the Christmas spirit. Not that Cheryl ever had much of it - the only Christmas spirit she ever had was the last year with Chii and really being able to sit down and enjoy it. She had never really even given Ben a proper Christmas outside his first one when he was a baby and didn't know what was going on. But she had no idea where Benjamin was, or if he was okay, doing his secret missions for Warren.
Stepping into the hanger, Cheryl climbed up the ramp and realized she felt a slight pang of regret that she hadn't ever been a good enough mother to give Benjamin a proper Christmas. She wondered if he envied the fact Lorelei would have Christmases every year, starting with last year and this year now, and every year to follow. No, she knew Ben wasn't petty. But didn't allivate the guilt any. Sitting down in the co pilot seat, she listened to Eluere sitting down behind her and Curali sat down in the pilot seat next to her, powering the shuttle up.
Curali had definitely taken Darien's love of flying and was very good at it, reveling in any chance to fly. Cheryl knew she'd look forward to this quick trip as much as anything, and a way to have fun this Christmas Eve. Neither of them expected much to come of the charity other than perhaps adding more names of people to watch. It wasn't like the Senator was dumb enough to lead them to a major lead if his schedule had him down for this charity, suspicious or not. The shuttle lifted up and took off into the beautiful morning, gleaming from the rising sun.
8:45 A.M, Galactic Standard Time
Having been here almost an hour and twenty minutes, monitoring things from the shuttle, the three had parked in the city where the charity convention was being held, having activated a cloak that Tabetha had made; while it wouldn't work when they were moving so much, as long as the shuttle was stationary, like it was on the roof at this moment, then no one would know they were there. Eluere sat at the co pilot seat now, tuning into the various networks of the city and looking like she wasn't paying much attention to the happenings inside the shuttle, ignoring her sister Curali's constant bored sighs.
Chii was still sleeping in and part of Cheryl wondered if she would finish this before Chii even awoke. With nothing much to do but wait herself, she had been spent the morning brooding about Christmas Eve and how it meant so much to so many, even if it didn't really mean anything to her. Sure, she was happy to make Chii and Lorelei happy, but there was nothing about it that affected her directly - she always wanted to make her wife and kid happy. Even the year Benjamin was a baby and she had semi-celebrated it, by giving him new diapers, she hadn't felt anything, perhaps even less then today.
Running her fingers along her chin, she idlely wondered if General Cran had ever celebrated Christmas - not with her certainly, she was nothing but a tool to him, but as a child. Did he celebrate it with Angela? Granted when she had brought Angela back she had altered it so she felt no loyality to the man, so Angela would likely tell her no, but that didn't mean before she played God that Cran didn't bring out the tree for Angela to make her his little girl. If she had been a good soldier, would Cheryl have been treated the same way after the war? Her time as a child was compressed into simply weeks and she only had experienced a brief high school life thanks to the simulator Miyuki had set up.
She had read once, when she was drunk, a Christmas Carol and had spent the entire time laughing at the idea of ghosts visiting a man who clearly only repented as not to be sent to hell. The only message she could get from it was to do for others if you wanted to have the true Christmas spirit. Or else it led to crippled kids dying and people spitting on your grave.
So focused on the story, she almost didn't hear Eluere speaking up and she lifted her head, seeing Curali and Eluere peering back at her. Eluere looked slightly annoyed, as if knowing she wasn't paying attention based on Cheryl's expression, so she repeated herself. "The Senator is entering the building now. Your orders?"
Cheryl clicked her tongue, then leaned forward to eye the monitors Eluere had up. She watched what the people were wearing there - simply outfits, though there was people in the building that worked there that were wearing Christmas outfits, and there was Christmas carol singing people there. "How good are you at singing?" she asked the two.
"E-Excuse me?" Eluere stammered, her face reddening with embarrassment and Curali's head jerked back, a what screeching from her lips. "What does that have to do with us watching the senator?"
"We're going to go in as the singers and get close to the meeting room where you can try to hack into the feeds," Cheryl answered, and begin look through the shuttle for ordinary wear that was kept. Pulling out some wrinkled clothing that matched the primary colors of Christmas, she shoved it at the two. "Put these on." She began to unbutton her uniform and pull it off, sliding the clothing on over her tactical suit.
Eluere and Curali reluctantly did the same thing. "I can't sing," Curali hissed at Eluere.
"Just try to remember the lyrics at least," Eluere said, acting too calm. Cheryl wondered if Eluere was inwardly panicking or just liked singing secretly. Not many knew Cheryl was actually a great singer, after all.
Exiting the shuttle and moving down to the ground level, the three walked past a Santa ringing a bell to get people to drop credits. Cheryl discreetly tossed something to knock the pot over, spilling the credits so Santa had to bend over and pick them up, taking the bell and moving inside. The other singers were up ahead and she moved to join them at a bit of a distance, listening to what they were singing and following along, so that while they weren't close enough for the group itself to identify them as not belonging there, others would think they were part of it.
To her credit, Eluere seemed to follow along well with what she was hearing, even if her she didn't quite of the heart to make it feel right, while Curali was horriblely out of tune, like the sound Chii made when someone stepped on her tail. Thankfully no one seemed to notice yet, or was too polite, or just hated carol singing people in general. While they were singing, Eluere was clearly accessing the security of the building, which may explained the withdrawn like quality to her singing.
Cheryl, taking a deep breath, sang along, looking around to see if people were noticing them. The lyrics were about something involving a manger and a new king being found by old people or something. Really, the things people made up to sing about in songs - and she thought Athena's songs could be all over the place.
Finally Eluere tugged her arm and began to lead her along the hallways, so they began to leave the real singers behind, moving to a set of stairs and walking up them. They continued singing, Eluere having pulled up Christmas songs off the HoloNet and having told them with the Protocol what to sing. Now they were singing something about reindeer and grandmothers and being run over. Eventually they reached a set of conferences room, the doors closed, and Eluere stopped them, bringing out yet another song as she began to try to get into the cameras that were inside. Something told Cheryl this might take a bit of time. At least this new song was about rocking around a tree.
9:20 A.M, Galactic Standard Time
So far the meeting, from what Eluere was relating in the protocol, was actually about Rainforest Preservation and the budgets for such things, especially with a recession going on. Cheryl could feel her throat going hoarse from all the damn singing and her mind wandering more. Thinking back to Benjamin and the only Christmas she really spent with him. Was diapers a good present to give a young baby who wasn't even talking yet? Weren't you suppose to get them things like she and Chii got Aurica a few weeks ago? Plushies and toys. Maybe a pet. Benjamin never had a pet now that she considered it.
Not even paying attention to the lyrics of the latest song, something about a "White Christmas" - all Christmases were freakin' white unless you were on a colony, ship, or in the freakin' rainforest cities. Then again when it had snowed she had only taken Benjamin out into it a few times, typically on missions where she and Warren were on the move during the time period he had faked his own death to learn the secret about the Dark Ones. That seemed like ages ago. Everything seemed like ages ago. Did Warren celebrate Christmas with Jennifer and Benjamin? Probably not. Warren was Warren.
Eluere tapped her shoulder and drew her thoughts from Benjamin again to focus on what was being said. The camera in the room ahd been tapped into and they were watching, through Eluere's eyes in the protocol, Tim Di'Jinn sitting with 5 other people of various ages and genders. Eluere had all their names downloaded - they were committe people who handled land arrangements and setting aside certain plots of land to be preserved against any tampering by industry. However, these five people were a mixed bunch in how long they had been with such programs - some had come in years ago, and Eluere double checked to see that it was indeed around the time of General Steel's ascension to Generalhood. Others were relatively new, like the last year.
Focusing on what was being said, Cheryl frowned. Senator Di'jinn spoke softly, but clearly for them to hear. "I want to push the bill to preserve Zone 34-06-34C through 36-02-01A."
Another of the men spoke up - one of the relatively new ones in the last year to join the organization. "But sir...that's just a bunch of useless land. It was torn up by mining years ago by various organizations and not many animals live there," he began. "Why preserve it?"
"Because that's what I want," the Senator replied calmly, but there was something steely to his tone that didn't reflect the attitude he had around Miyuki - a goofball politican with too much power and wanting to use it to score some pussy. "You all will draw up reasons - make them up if you have to do so, as long as the real facts can't be dug up, so I can have this punished when the Senate comes back into session in January of 10-593."
One of the older women spoke up before the young man could again. "We'll have our own experts look into it and have an answer by the day after New Year's Day, sir."
"Good. Lets move onto the preservation of the area where that fish lives now," the Senator said and they began to go back to their boring talk, as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
Frowning, Cheryl glanced at Eluere now, knowing she would already be looking through maps discreetly on the HoloNet to find out where that land was. A moment later she spoke through the protocol. "It's a stretch of land in South America, near the rainforest alpha zone. Like the one man said, it's been strip mined by various companies and organizations for the last 300 years or so." Something about that date bugged her, but she pushed it out of her mind, focusing on what Eluere said. "I can't see anything of value there."
"Well, if we're right about the Senator working for Steel, which I'm sure of, then that strip of land is something Steel wants - perhaps a base of operations. Maybe using the old minin tunnels," Cheryl said in the protocol, her singing faultering as she wasn't focused on it anymore. She think she just said something about a blue fox moon or something. "Lets swing by there discreetly - don't redirect any satelites. Steel might be watching for that now after how much we've used it in the past against him."
With that, the three discreetly slipped away, leaving the sounds of Christmas cheer behind.
10:00 A.M, Galactic Standard Time
Landing the shuttle a few miles away from the area of land that the Senator wanted preserve and cloaking it, Cheryl, Curali, and Eluere switched to only their tactical suits, grabbing supplies and slipping them into backpacks, throwing them over their shoulders. From there they had begun to trek across the hot jungle land, making one forget it was even Christmas briefly before Cheryl's mind began to wander again.
She did have one encounter with Christmas before she broke away from General Cran, but she had forgotten about it until now. A memory that had slipped from her mind, like many others of that time period - done due to years of heavy drinking that followed and due to trying to maintain one's sanity with the memories of being born as a tool. If she knew the full scope of Cran's 300 year old plan at then as she did now, she would have broken mentally. In a way, she had broken mentally - she spent the next five years with some change drinking heavy and getting into brawls, only feeling pain to get past the numbness that had settled. So when she remembered the one Christmas experience she had in the year 10-573, 20 years ago practically since it was now 10-592 - almost hard to believe she was twenty years old in a few more months come next March - it took her by surprise.
General Cran had called her in from a particularly nasty battle that had been waging on for some time, and she arrived on Christmas Eve. Coming home to the manor the maids quickly pushed her into the room she had been given, which now seemed so much smaller everytime she came here. It was hard to believe when she was of the physical age of 6 she had spent a night or two here. The maids begin to pull off her uniform and the battle armor she had left on, fussing at her dirty attire - she hadn't had time to wash up from battle and rock dust coated her face and hair. They began to prepare a bath and led her to it, scrubbing her hard enough to make her flinch, something Ridiariums rarely could do. Then again she had some battle wounds that were still slowly healing - her synch healing with Phaeton had sucked. She was more battle oriented with him as a pilot than a defensive fighter.
She could feel stinging as they applied things to hide her wounds and then began to dry her off with equal gusto before slipping into her a dress and high heels. She had been taught how to walk in them for such occassions when she was brought in to be the face of the dragoons for her father. Having to attend the various ceremonies and pomp that came with it. To be led around like a little doll, or toy, to show the world who argued against the use of Dragoons how 'happy' she was doing her function. Her long blonde hair, which she hadn't cut recently, was trimmed to her shoulders and styled up in a fancy hairstyle. It made her teeth gnash together.
The maids then brought her down to the lobby area of the manor and she stood there, staring at the nude statue that seemed out of place amongst the other relics she had seen in the manor, though admittedly she hadn't seen much of the place. Perhaps the General kept a room full of tacty nude statues there. Men like Phaeton were always into sex, so why would her father be different? If Phaeton could have his way and knew that her father wouldn't kill him, he'd rape her, Cheryl mused to herself briefly as she looked at the statue. He had tried to pressure her into sex before to increase the bond, but after William Spade had overheard once, Phaeton quit bringing up that solution, instead making her do more killer exercises with him. It was becoming second nature now to kill. Or maybe first nature.
"You look beautiful, Cheryl," came the familiar voice of the General. She turned to face the man in his late fourties, studying her. "We're going to a Christmas party with some influential people. I want you on your best behavior and display."
"Yes, sir," Cheryl responded, then hesitated. "Is there anything I should know about Christmas?" she asked.
General Cran studied her a moment, perhaps wondering if she was being sarcastic; he must have realized she honestly had no clue what this holiday was because he stuck out his arm for her to take and as they walked outside to the limo, he began to explain. "It's a trite holiday where people show their thankfulness toward their fellow man with gifts, adoration, promises, and other nonsense. A commerical generated holiday now with emphasis on gifts. Most consider it a time to spend with family." Cheryl glanced at him after he said the last bit, but he never peered at her, so she looked ahead. "Just do what you normally do. You won't have to do anything you normally wouldn't do."
The limo ride seemed long, the General sitting across from her, Cheryl sitting there with her legs properly folded to hide her underwear from prying eyes, even though it was only the two of them he would expect that. When they arrived and the driver opened the door, Cheryl felt mild surprise to see so many lights about the place; plain lights, red - blue - green. Stars. Wreathes. So much color. Seasonal music playing about the joys of Christmas. Snow was all over, giving it a mystical look almost. Children of influencal people were playing in the snow, their parents allowing them when normally they would be fussed at. Snowmen were built with hats and eyes and noses put on them. The mystical look of it all is what made her gnash her teeth most, since it was an illusion - like everything else. She was not part of this culture. A weapon did not have a part in this. She wanted to be back on the field of battle.
Walking along the snow, the sounds of crunching under Cran's boots, mimicing the sounds of the present day trek across the jungle in some ways with the wild grass, Cheryl could see the building of Christmas festival looming over her as they walked in. The guests were all over; the Christmas decorations filled the room, tables of holiday type foods were filled, and in one corner, drawing her attention, was a tree that seem impossiblely large, filled with ornaments and lights. She found herself unable to glance away strangely, even at a tug by Cran; her body kept following him, but her gaze was on the tree - she could see the guests were tying their names to the tree with ribbons, adding to the decorations. Even the important, older people were doing it, though Cran was not headed that way, but instead to a group of people.
What followed was the typical event she was used to, as the General had promised; being shown off to the influential people, answering questions that she was taught to give, moving with grace. This seemed to go on for half an hour before it was time to eat and there she had to sit properly, stiffly, and ate the food like a proper noble lady, which seemed to impress those around her. She supposed that seeing a weapon eat with the proper salad fork would be shocking. Part of wondered if any of these people knew the proper weapon for drilling a hole into a Ridiarium's head to remove what made their brains with your bare fists.
A glass was tapped and Cheryl realized the President of EarthGov was present - no doubt Cran was waiting until later to speak with him. She had met him before in these type of events. Done her little show and dance like a properly trained dog. "I want to welcome you all here this Christmas Eve," the president began, holding his glass as he glanced around the room with a type of presence. "Despite the horrors of war that threatens our way of life, I think it's important to celebrate moments like these with colleagues, friends, and family - to remember why we are fighting. What we are fighting for."
What we are fighting for? Why we are fighting? Cheryl thought blankly, not even hearing the next few lines of the speech. Those around her seemed moved by it, but she couldn't get her brain past those two sentences. I am fighting for my father. I am fighting because he wants power. I kill, destroy, eradicate all that stand before EarthGov and it's citizens because I am a weapon. I have no will of my own. No reason of my own to fight. I am a tool to be directed. I have spent the last five months out in space fighting and after this dinner is over I am being sent right back out, perhaps even before this Christmas Eve is over. I am like those animals in the zoo, brought out to be seen, shown off, then shoved away after the people go home. Celebrate moments like these? What moments? The man beside me is my father by blood, but I am not his daughter. He did not bring me here to celebrate a moment of family.
She barely could make herself listen to what was being said now, having missed a great deal of the speech. Out of the corner of her eye, Cheryl could see Cran wasn't really paying attention either, but was watching the people's reactions to the speech. For a brief, brief moment she could of sworn she saw something in his eyes that looked unstable, almost insane, but it was gone like a shifting of the light in the room from the fancy Christmas decorations. Perhaps it had been the color red from the lights flashing for a moment before switching to green.
"So I want you all to remember on this Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day tomorrow, other families out there - that have been torn apart by this war. And to extend your blessings and good will to them. To spread the cheer you feel with your families as you wake with them in the morning to spend a day of peace and joy with them. We are one people. We are all one family," the President finished and the audience applauded him, clapping with true pleasure at the speech. She watched the General clap beside her, but his was faked; no one else would see it. No one else would even notice that his body gesture was off a bit.
She began to think the words over about family. Soon the youngest and last of the Alphas would be awakened - Alpha Zephyr. Could she find family in her, when she couldn't with the other Alphas? She hoped she could be around for it. She thought back to the bloody battle on the Colony Ark recently (*author's note - see Divisions Chapter 1 and 15 for more information on Cheryl's past, as well as Shades of Grey), where the dark haired girl had lost her entire family. "Ru" she began to say her name was before declaring she had no name. Would she lose any family she tried to have like that, or would she lose it day by day being led around on parade. Come look at the dragoon, mama. Come look at how well trained she is.
The dinner continued, but the food was tasteless. She passed on desert, even if it earned her a look from her father. The rich pecked at their food and left what they didn't want on the plates, not passing it up entirely. She didn't care right now. Afterwards, the mingling began again, but the General moved to talk to the President after telling her not to get into trouble. With nothing to do, Cheryl felt herself wandering the large room, staring at the tree until finally she was before it.
It was filled with rows of ornaments and lights. It was beautiful, Cheryl admitted to herself, even if it made her gnash her teeth to admit it. Like something out of the fairy tales she read during oh so brief childhood of days. Perhaps Christmas reminded her of a fairy tale and that was why she hated it. Fairy tales weren't real. They would never be real. There would be no prince. There would only be rivers of blood for her to bathe in - even if the Ridiariums didn't bleed, there would be more enemies. Perhaps the Tsivrixsh Empire everyone kept whispering about, growing ever so larger and closer to this quadrant of space. Perhaps humans in a civil war - her father had made her read all sorts of history books. Cheryl knew she was a genius, smarter than probably everyone in this room, hell this city, except for her father. Part of her hated her intelligence, she realized dimly. It wouldn't be until years later, when she broke off from her father, that Cheryl crushed any sign of that intelligence, acting the part of a drunken sloven that loved battle and being hurt. Punished. Injured. Hated. Unloved. It wouldn't be until the PAX2 when she would be forced to work along side the half-brother she had hated at the time to repair the ship that she showed her true intelligence, to everyone's surprise. Part of her remembered how the people around her was surprised to learn she was a virgin on the PAX2. While the Cheryl staring at the tree had no idea the path she would take to becoming feared and distant from others, the Cheryl walking through the jungle could see the path beginning there before that tree. She had pushed people away to escape true pain, and began to seek physical pain.
A voice spoke up beside the Cheryl in the past. "You going to write your name and put it on the tree?" It was young. Male. Cheryl glanced down to see a boy of about 6 years of age, looking lonely despite the fact there was so many young people there.
"No," Cheryl said.
"Why?" he asked, glancing up at her and studying her eyes. Most kids treated her like an adult, but this one was just making conversation with her like she was a kid. She wasn't even one year old yet. Maybe he sensed it. Maybe he was just bored. Maybe he hated Christmas too.
"Because it's pointless; I have no reason to do it," Cheryl told him. The boy mulled it over, eyeing the various names and ribbons. A kindly old lady was nearby, handing them out, and one was in his hand. "Are you?" she asked, feeling like there was something more expected from her.
"No," he said, then glanced at the ribbon in his hand. "The old bag shoved it in my hand and told me to go add it to the tree. Said a kid my age should enjoy tonight. What a load of crap."
"Why is it crap?" Cheryl asked him.
"Like I got anything to celebrate. My father's out there fighting and my mother just runs from political thing to the next, trying to make friends in high places. She's a whore," he said, genuine anger present there. "She thinks Dad's going to die so she wants some wealthy politican to take care of us. Today's just another day."
"I'm just a tool for my dad to gain power and kill those before him," Cheryl said to him, surprised at herself for even admitting it. The boy blinked at her, then seemed to realize what Cheryl was finally.
"You're a dragoon."
"Yes."
"You look pretty normal to me."
"I'm not," Cheryl said. She eyed the tree in silence with the boy, neither speaking. To his credit, the kid didn't stare at him, and seemed to accept the revelation in stride. Another kid ran up and tied his name to the tree, eyeing them both oddly before running off to join another group of children. "You should put your name there though."
"Why?" he asked her, staring at Cheryl with some disdain.
"To pretend to care. People notice when you don't. And when they notice you, then you're boxed in and can't do anything. When you're not what they expect, they look at you oddly - and begin to question it. Better to play along with the role they give you until..." Cheryl said slowly.
"Until what?" the boy demanded to know.
"Until you can do something about it," Cheryl told him. She walked over to the old woman and took the ribbon and paper, writing down her name - Cheryl - and tied it to the tree. "Until you can be free to do whatever the hell you want."
The boy considered, then wrote his name down. Cheryl studied his last name and memorized it with her photographic memory. He turned and moved off to the kids, pausing to glance back at her once . Then he walked onward and joined them. Cheryl herself began to walk toward the crowds to do her part, making a note to see about the kid's father. Perhaps she could do something about him if he was alive. She hadn't completely lost her "humanity" yet - even if there was nothing here for her. Even if Christmas was meaningless to her. Fairy tales didn't always end happily ever after either. Sometimes, they ended in blood.
"You're rather morbid right now, Cherry," Chii's voice said in her head and Cheryl realized that at some point that Chii had awaken. Perhaps she had all along and knew that her thoughts had been drifting over things. "Why are you working on Christmas Eve?"
Cheryl glanced around and saw they were still a few miles away from even entering the borders of the area they wanted. "Following some leads; doing some work."
There was some silence, then Chii spoke, with some heat to it, but also perhaps some hurt. "I thought you had gotten over such things as turning your back on family and time with them."
"I have, Chii. I honestly have. I had fun with you and Lorelei last Christmas. I just have a few things on my mind is all. I love you three and all the others at the mansion and base dearly. Miyuki. Kasha. Lemon. Jennifer. Angela. All of you. I love your smiles and happiness. I love you as my family. Everyone there completes me and is my family." She thought back. All of it being true.
"But?"
"But... I have things to work out. I'll be home before the party. I promise. I'm going mental silent for now. I need to keep my senses about me." She could feel Chii's disapproval as she quietly closed the bond link so Chii couldn't feel or hear her thoughts. What could she tell Chii? Even if all it was true, Christmas just another day. She believed in fairy tales now - Chii was the Prince she had been waiting on all along - but Christmas. She understood the fundamentals, but it wasn't special to her. Something was missing. Every day was a day with her family - every day was to cherish. But for some reason all she wanted to do was throw herself into work this Christmas Eve.
I want to go to the battlefield.
11:30 A.M., Galactic Standard Time
They had entered the zone the Senator had wanted preserved about twenty-five minutes ago, and so far it looked like everything else, with the thick trees and oppressive heat being no different, until finally it had begun to thin out after being in the area for sixteen minutes. The final bit of the twenty-five minutes soon had them moving without the cover of trees, which made Cheryl slow them down to keep an eye out for any type of look out of surveilence. Eluere had confirmed there was no satelites in the area to watch them, but neither could they place one to look about the area either for anyone watching them.
"I hate this," Curali muttered, her strawberry pinkish hair soaked and her red eyes looking annoyed as she crushed a mosquito that thought her half-human, half-dragoon blood was completely rad as far as meals went. Eluere sent a look at her sister to give her a silence reproach for verbally saying it, and Cheryl knew they were talking with their link together. Judging by Curali's sheepish, yet annoyed expression, Eluere was lecturing her.
"Bare with me, please, little sisters?" Cheryl asked them. Curali jerked and hung her head with guilt while Eluere nodded, looking happy at Cheryl's reminder of their relationship together. She didn't use it as a means of manipulating them, like the General would have done whenever he called her daughter on so many occassions; she really did want them to hang in there with her as a family would. She knew she was asking a lot of them, especially since their father would be expecting them in an hour and a half. "Just a quick look around; if we find nothing we'll have Eluere set up some of her surveilence equipment, then go."
"Okay...sorry, Cheryl," Curali said sheepishly. They walked another ten minutes in silence, but to her credit, Curali never complained again during it, even when she stumbled over some rocks and hit her knee on the ground. Eluere had told them the area was about 15 square miles, so Cheryl knew she would never have the time needed to investigate it all before she had to head back to get them home in time to shower for President Darien Starr, their father. She just needed something. Anything.
Another five long minutes stretched and Cheryl was about to turn them around and have them walk back at a slightly different angle in the hopes they would see something they missed before when they spotted a mine entrance ahead, all that remained of the strip mining that had been taking place on the land for the last 300 years. Her guesses that General Steel would want to use the underground tunnels as a base was a good as any to look into while they ahd the time, so she directed them to it, pausing to hide in the shadows cast by the hilly, barren area. No streams were even nearby. Curali looked thankful to be in the shade, despite the fact dragoons could handle tempature fine.
"How many mine entrances did you estimate there was based on maps of the region over the past 300 years, Eluere?" Cheryl asked her, peering about for traps or surveilence.
"Depending on how accurate the maps are and how many may have closed, or even opened, by natural means, or weren't listed at all for nefarious reasons, there are only 31 known entrances," Eluere told her. "Currently."
"If there was a hidden mine tunnel here for some reason, we have only a few scenarios. Either Steel does know about it, and that's why he wants the lands, and he also knows where it's at, meaning we'd have to guess which aren't on this map - which by the way if you can try to figure out if this is a marked one or not that would be great - or he knows that's some hidden mine tunnel but doesn't know where it's at, or he doesn't know about any hidden tunnels because there isn't any and he simply wants to use the land because it's isolated and a good spot," Cheryl mused out loud. Some small part of her brain whispered seductively into her mind. See? Isn't this so much better than staring at that large tree Lemon got in the mansion a few weeks ago.
Her mind drifted to the past few weeks when she came up from the base after a long day of dealing with reports on the Order, a maniacal group of people who wanted to bring the government down and have an equality type government where nothing was worked for and was simply given; that jobs were given to all regardless of skill; where food was given to everyone that needed it. Nothing was your own; not even your own body, especially if you were a woman. Dealing with that kind of scum had already put her in a bad mood, so when she saw the large tree, it had set her on edge. At the time she hadn't known why.
Lemon stood there humming at the blank tree and looked back at Cheryl, smiling despite the obvious look she saw on Cheryl's face. "Isn't she big? Maybe bigger than that one," Lemon had said, and at the time Cheryl didn't know what she was referring to - didn't care. Now she did. Lemon was thinking to the tree she saw on her very first Christmas, nearly twenty years ago. She had sought a tree just like it. They had trees before, normal sized ones, and they had had decorations up before, but at the time, the tree just really made Cheryl gnash her teeth, because of the unremembered memory. For some reason, Lemon had remembered it and embraced it. She had remembered the small bit of magic that Cheryl had felt and denied.
"I'm going to have everyone come up from the base tomorrow to help us decorate it. Lorelei's going to love this - so will Tomoe and Drake and Sky," Lemon added, ignoring the look on Cheryl's face. "You're going to help."
"...Yeah. If I'm not too busy I can do that," Cheryl said, making a note to check with Miyuki about her schedule tomorrow - to make sure it was busy. She had left all the decorating to everyone else, though she graciously had given any credits they needed and even went shopping to get it one time when Lemon was too busy. At least that trip hadn't been as nearly disasterous as the mall trip a few weeks later. That had led to a thousand or so animals running around the mansion it felt like. And while she found animals adorable, though she'd never admit it, and loved looking and touching them - she snuck pets on all the animals she had gotten over the last two years - Momiji, Genji, Ito - and even enjoyed petting Pupumi. And she always gave Chii, Miyuki, and Kasha pets, and even Elwyn when her ears were showing, to the girl's chargin.
In the end, Cheryl had managed to be too busy when President Darien called her to the office to deal with some things, and left the decorations of the trees to the others. Now as she stood there in the entrance to the mine, waiting on what Eluere had to say if this was hidden or not on the map, she wondered if Benjamin would have enjoyed decorating the tree with them all. He had never experienced it either, had he? Unless his alternate Warren who kidnapped him did it with him, and she somehow didn't believe that. So much time lost. Why did she cause more time to be lost? Why was there still a small part of her that pushed away things? She had stopped pushing away people to protect her heart, so why not things like decorating a damn tree?
"This one is on the map," Eluere said, bringing her out of her thoughts. Cheryl sighed, having not expected a miracle after all.
"We'll set up surveilence here then, just in case they use this tunnel for anything. Also, hide one of the mini-teleporters here as well so we can come straight here. The cave walls should shield the signature of any teleporters so they aren't picked up. That way we don't risk getting caught walking all the way here next time. We'll head back now and try to steer us toward any known entrances so we can do the same thing there as well," Cheryl ordered her. Eluere nodded and handed Curali the teleporter, pointing further into the cave, mentally giving her the orders she would need to install it. Curali trotted off while Eluere moved to climb up on a rock to reach the highest spot to hide an incrediblely hard to detect surveilence node she had made to aid her in such endeavors. Cheryl had no doubt her entire base, and likely many rooms in the mansion, had such things so Eluere could watch everything. She never said anything to the girl though because she knew Eluere did it because she was worried about her family there on the base - she had come to view Cheryl as a big sister and Lorelei as a cousin. Cheryl would never deny her the means to protect her family as best she could. But she knew where at least 95% of all the cameras were located all the same. She didn't need to put on sex shows for Eluere after all.
After ten minutes of setting up the equipment, the three began to head back the way they came, moving at a slightly quicker pace so Cheryl didn't hold them up. They had time to only barely reach one more mine and repeat the process before heading back through the thick jungle to where they had parked the shuttle, reaching it at 12:50 P.M. Powering up the shuttle, Curali eagerly lifterd them off and began to fly back to the mansion, which would only take minutes. Darien would have to wait a few minutes as his girls showered, but he could get over it. Sometimes even Presidents needed to learn to wait on things, especially women.
As Curali flew with the same type of grin Darien sometimes had on his face when he flew Ariel, Chery noted, Eluere spoke to her. "Do you think there is anything of importance there after 300 years, General?"
"Call me sister - sis - Cheryl. It's Christmas Eve, Eluere," Cheryl said gently, then looked up from her datapad, musing. She had reopened her bond to let Chii know that they were coming back, but while she knew Chii had received it, Chii was incognito now. Perhaps angry at her. It would at least give her time to file some reports and do research on the area. Perhaps go through Cran's records and see if there was anything there. The man had his fingers in every pie. "And I don't know. I can only look into it. Even if Steel is only using it as a means to hide, at least we can try to use it as a place to trap him when he begins to move in."
"If he moves in; the Senator might have plans of his own there, or he might really just want to preserve it. They can't be evil all the time," Eluere noted.
"That's true. We won't know for a while yet I guess," Cheryl mused as they landed in the hanger. Curali powered down and ran by, grasping Eluere's hand and yanking her sister uncermonously along, waving at Cheryl in goodbye. Cheryl chuckled, and could tell that one wanted to get ready for her big first Christma with her dad. That thought made Cheryl sit there sadly for a moment. Looking forward to her first Christmas with her dad and sister. So...foreign.
Shaking her head to clear it, Cheryl stood up and walked down the ramp, glancing around the base. As she walked through the halls and into her office, peeked into Kitsune Udon and thinking she smelt traces of Miyuki's sexual fragrance in the air; the scene of her womanhood that was about her after she had sex. It was a wonderful smell, all Miyuki. It was growing a little faint, like she had just been here. She could also smell Kumiko faintly in the air, the girl's own scent unique due to what all Kumiko threw on herself cluelessly. Somehow doubting that Miyuki did Kumiko on the desk, she assumed Kumiko dragged her secretary off for something. Well, it was Christmas Eve, giving Miyuki work would be cruel.
She continued into her office, closing the door behind her and sat down at the desk, and began to write up what happened, her head propped up with her hand and wishing for something to do that would bring her out of this base and back onto the field. I wonder if Benjamin is working right now on a case, out there on some battlefield.
1:05 P.M, Galactic Standard Time
Chii had been spending the last hour getting things ready; she couldn't find most of the animals in the house anymore, nor Lorelei or Pupumi, but since the two were always together, and Lorelei's cute collar hadn't indicated she had left the grounds, she wasn't too worried, deciding to let the two play in the snow, probably chasing the animals. Her kitsune instincts also told her that Lorelei wasn't in danger. She would just have to proceed without Lorelei right now, but since she still needed to do a few more things to completely finish, that was okay.
With Aurica on her hip, looking around curiously, Chii walked up to Lemon who was busy working on Christmas Day dinner so that it would be all ready for tomorrow and give her plenty of time to enjoy the concert at 6:30 and then the party at 9. When Cheryl had stated she would definitely be home in time for the party, Chii bet she had forgotten all about the concert Athena was holding and she planned to make sure her Cherry attended since it was a big thing for Athena to be attempting after what happened last time to her. Glancing at Jenny Chiika in her high chair, Chii glanced over the various features on the baby - black hair, yet her features were like Chii and Kane's mixed, resulting in a beautiful baby with some delicate features that was present in asians. She had Hisui's eyes - not Chii's per say, but the girl that Freyja was before her kitsune side awakened. However, the rest of her was all Lemon and Cheryl, including the skin tone and the pouty mouth. It was hard to say if any kitsune abilities would awaken, since Lemon had mixed some of Chii's DNA in as well after Kane's betrayal. Or had she done it before then and that's what led to Kane's snapping being so public and brutal, despite the brainwashing?
"Lem, I need your help with something," Chii told her, setting Aurica in an empty crib beside Jenny Chiika. "Cherry is acting weird again about Christmas."
"She's chasing work and avoiding participating in the decorations again," Lemon surmised and Chii nodded. "I told you last year about her experiences with Christmas and how she likely didn't even remember anything about it consciously anymore. I know she was happy last year with all of us around, but she can't make that connection to Christmas because she's never had it happen to her to experience it firsthand."
"So we make her experience it first hand," Chii said, one of her smiles appearing. "And here's what we're going to do." After telling Lemon the plan, Chii turned and walked off, looking for Miyuki, which the rest of the plan hinged upon. Though she seemed to be off the base strangely, Chii would wait in Kitsune Udon for her.
2:30 P.M, Galactic Standard Time
Cheryl found herself in a graveyard of all places, just outside Mega City. She had finished her report over an hour and ten minutes ago, then proceeded to spend the next hour doing research on the mine tunnels. It turned out there was a few companies listed in General Cran's files that matched the ones who were the first to do the strip mining of the area, but the details were surprisingly thin - Cran always kept all sorts of information on the competition, yet there was not a lot written down by them. As far as Cheryl could tell doing actual research on the HoloVid, there was even less after 300 years. Still, none of the companies that had been involved back them were in business today - in fact, most of them shut down within fifty years of first strip mining the area and newer companies had slowly come into play over the next 250 years.
With nothing left to do and Chii still incognito, and Miyuki not around - she had even walked into Kitsune Udon at 2:10 and while she thought for a moment she had heard something in there, it turned out to be nothing. Kasha was fast asleep in her bedroom and Isis was with her, so she didn't want to wake the two and bother them. That was when she had begun to kick around the boy's name in her head and it finally came back to her. Timothy Ronalds.
Now that the memory of the Christmas party was back, she remembered a bit more of what happened following that day. She had indeed gone back to the warzone that very night, arriving Christmas morning on another planet to do battle with the Ridiariums and slaughter more of them for invading and attacking innocent humans. She wouldn't return to Earth until seventeen days after Zephyr awoke and was offically born, New Year's Day. It had taken her a few days on the battle fields before that though and on December 28th of 10-573 she had found another Ronalds that was in the military. His name was Roger Ronalds. He had died Christmas Day in the battle that Cheryl arrived at. The revelation hit her harder than she thought and she ahd spent the next few weeks in a mindless state of rage and anger, battling numbly until she was finally shipped back to Earth, where she began to find some sort of redemption and humanity in Zephyr.
She hadn't had the guts to contact the boy again. She had kept an eye on his name at first, but as Phaeton and events with Ariel, her mother, and Zephyr bled her humanity away, she slowly began to quit paying attention. The last thing she knew was that Timothy's mother had indeed married another man, some rich Senator, and that she had died during some attack by the Ridiariums near the close of the war. Since everyone in that area of the colony had died, Cheryl assumed Timothy had died as well. Now she found herself in front of Roger Ronalds' grave.
There was no sign of his wife's name or son's name next to his grave. Cheryl stared at that, then assumed since they had been on a colony they were not buried - there was likely no bodies left anyway. Colonies did space funerals. She began to turn away when she came face to face with the last person she expected to see. Senator Di'jinn. He stared at her, his expression unreadable, holding some sort of flowers in his hand; his black coat blew in the snowy wind, the light snow falling about them. Cheryl's own coat, a shade of blue, clung to her frame due to the same wind blowing. "Senator....?" she began in surprise.
"I'm surprised to see you here, General," Di'jinn said casually, his voice strange. The emotion wasn't one Cheryl could completely identify. "What brings you here?"
"I was visiting a relative of someone I knew, long ago," Cheryl responded slowly, her eyes drifting down to the flowers. "Who are you here to see, Senator?"
"My father," Di'jinn told her politely. Cheryl's mind began to try to catch up to that; the Di'jinn graves would not be near the Ronalds section. While Di'jinn was one of the youngest Senators to hold the office, possiblely ever, the Di'jinn family was quite old. And there was multiple branches. And then something began to hammer away in her head as Di'jinn approached her. She could almost see red, like something exploded and scrambled all her senses.
Senator Di'jinn. The Di'jinn family. There was four brothers, all in their mid to late thirties, all accomplished politicians themselves. It was the youngest brother though that become the only senator in the family since the accomplished father. The stepson. Tim Di'jinn.
Her head began to throb more. That's right, the elder Di'jinn had remarried after his wife died and the new wife had one son. A natural politician. He always met expectations and exceeded them. Cheryl felt like the air had been sucker punched out of her. "Timothy Ronalds..." she asked slowly, her voice strangled.
"You remember me, General. I'm surprised," Di'jinn said, though he didn't sound like he meant it. He laid the flowers down before Roger Ronalds' grave.
"The little boy at that party..." Cheryl slowly managed to say.
"You really do remember me," Di'jinn said, glancing at her now. "I took your conversation to heart that day. After dad died and mom remarried into rich blood. I played the role expected of me until I could change something." There was something sinister to his tone and Cheryl really knew now for sure that Di'jinn was the one working with Steel that day, setting up the female senator. "You look the same as you did that day - perhaps prettier in some ways. The longer hair, the brighter eyes full of life instead of hate like then." His tone sounded like he was flirting now, and the sinister tone now like the madness in Cran's eyes that night, like it was a trick of the light, or in this case, the wind blowing.
"You flatter me, Timothy," Cheryl said slowly. "I guess I was finally able to change things too."
"It looks like we both managed to find meaning then. Merry Christmas, General," Di'jinn said, turning and walking off. Cheryl stood there, watching him, then glanced down at the plain white flowers on the grave the senator had laid down. Licking her suddenly dry lips, Cheryl waited for another five minutes, then began to walk back for her car as well to go home.
3:15 P.M, Galactic Standard Time
Her mind was so busy whirling around in thought and emotion, that Cheryl never even noticed the strong, yet firm hand that came down on her shoulder, grasping her tightly once she left her car in the garage at the mansion. Turning her head backwards, she blinked to see Miyuki there in her male form that she called Miki. Miki smiled a handsome smile compared to Miyuki's pretty smile. "Hi, Cheryl. Could you come with me?" he asked politely and Cheryl felt herself being led along toward the door leading to the mansion. She felt too drained to even offer complaint or resistance right now.
She was guided to the main area where the large Christmas tree loomed, though Cheryl noticed it had been turned slightly; the part that had been facing the corner walls now was more to the side and it was bare, having never been decorated to her surprise. Before she could puzzle what that meant, she saw Chii standing there in what looked like an elf outfit and in a chair was none other than Santa Claus, causing her to deadpan.
Lorelei and Pupumi were off to one side, all smiles and giggling about something, while Aurica was being held by Kasha; Isis was there as well, hands clasped together and Beloved on her head. Cheryl studied each of them, then the quiet Santa Claus, who was staring at her intently, as if he could see right into her soul. There was an aura about this man that definitely proved he wasn't your average mall Santa Claus; not that he was the real thing or anything. Dias and Marcus opening Pandora's Box opened a lot of strange things, and she unleashed even more things upon the world when she took the powers of the ultimate god and shared them with Wind over a year ago - unleashing dieties and other beings that she could not even begin to imagine what their goals and agendas could be. She may have even doomed the universe when she saved it so long ago, but one thing she was absolutely certain about was that she had not brought about the real Santa Claus. Still, the man's intent gaze made her nervous.
"Welcome, Cherry. You're going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas. He's very busy getting ready to deliver gifts, so don't keep him waiting," Chii said, a smile on her face that was almost borderline scary.
"What? Hell no!" Cheryl began to protest when Miki began to push her forward against her will. Santa sat there quietly, looking at her through his glasses and big white beard, his costume prestinely pressed and fresh. Finding herself forced to sit down on his lap, Cheryl flustered embarrassedly like a little girl, feeling more embarrassed than she had been in a long time. Goddamn Chii, I am so going to get you and Miyuki for this one! she thought.
"You're sounding like a naughty girl," Santa spoke in a booming like voice, that seemed to come from deep within his large belly. At least his lap wasn't becoming uneven from a woody or anything; Cheryl knew she was attractive as hell and that would be most people's reactions. This Santa just stared at her intently. "But your family assures me you're a good girl."
"She is very good!" Lorelei chirped and Pupumi agreed with a wag of her tails.
"I--that is---" Cheryl began, stammering lamely. "I'm not a go---" she started to say, when she paused and saw Lemon walking in from the kitchen with someone else.
"I hear you're a very good girl, mother. Merry Christmas," Benjamin said, standing there wearing casual clothing, his blonde hair cut short. He looked healthy and was smiling, as if he was enjoying seeing this. Enjoying seeing Cheryl being embarrassed on Santa Claus' lap. At that moment, Cheryl didn't mind that she was embarrassed, seeing his smile. She then looked around and saw a similiar smile on Lemon, Miyuki, Chii, Lorelei's, and so on. Part of her couldn't stop herself from smiling as well.
"Now tell Santa what you want for Christmas," Santa ordered, his tone indicating she had no choice.
Cheryl licked her lips and began to say she had all she wanted for Christmas right here when Chii cut her off before she could even begin. "Don't give some generic crap answer, Cherry, or Santa's helper will have to punish you," she told her, her elf bells jingling a bit, getting Kasha's attention immediately. Damn her, she read my mind! Cheryl thought, though it was amusement now. Chii's smile indicated she heard her curse as well.
Cheryl glanced at Santa's intense blue eyes and began to speak. "I... want to have the best Christmas experience ever. I want to do it all. With my friends and family. I want to do things I never got to do because I was never a kid. I want to do it all. Oh, and I want a similiar outfit as the red dress Miyuki got me for her, only for her's to show her ass as well," Cheryl said with a grin and Miyuki, back to female form, jerked.
Santa nodded and reached up, patting her head and lifted her off his lap. He stood up and handed her a candy cane from his pocket, and a stocking, along with glitter and glue to put her name on it. "These people will help you do just that," he said. Cheryl realized that Lemon had been taking pictures of Cheryl on Santa's lap and now as Santa put an arm around her, she took more. And then with that, Santa walked up the stairs and out of sight.
Cheryl stared after him a moment, then looked at the others. "Seriously, who was that?" she asked them, and only got smiles in return.
"It was Santa, of course," Benjamin said and walked over, giving her a hug. Cheryl leaned against him, pressing her cheek against his strong chest and took a moment to enjoy holding her boy. "Ready to have a Christmas experience together?"
"I really am. With all of you," Cheryl said softly.
"Good," Lemon spoke up with a grin, and Isis and Miyuki finished bringing out extra tree docorations that had never been used. "I purposely had everyone leave part of the tree bare so you could help us decorate. Lets get to it everyone!"
Cheryl took a deep breath and walked over to a piece of paper, writing her name down and tying it to the tree with a ribbon, and smiled. Her first real Christmas. And she was going to experience it all.