Reflection in the Snow Flakes

Special Christmas Edition

Teaser/Introduction

"What is happening?" Lloyd blinked as he looked around Meltokio, noticing all the shine, glitter and colorful decorations lining the streets to accent the light snowfall.

"What do you mean? Do not celebrate holidays?" Sheena blinked as she looked over to Lloyd, stopping in mid-step, forcing Lloyd to stop with her.

"Is it like when we celebrate the change of seasons?" Lloyd asked, giving a slight tilt to his head.

A moment of silence was the only reply to Lloyd's question, filled in from the surrounding sounds of people scurrying about around the two of them while Sheena kept her eyes on Lloyd. "…sort of." She finally replied with hesitation in her voice.

"I…take it that I got it wrong?" Lloyd said in a low tone, rubbing the back of his head nervously as he kept his eyes to the snow-covered ground. "What is happening?" Lloyd asked, keeping the tone of a scolded boy.

Sheena could not help but find that endearing, as much as the man was clueless sometimes, she adored him. Even during the times when he aggravated her with his dense nature towards her emotions towards him. She wanted to just take the easy road and blame him, but she knew it was part her fault as well for keeping so much to herself and not finding a way to express herself properly.

"It is Avalius Gift day," Sheena started, reaching over and gently rubbing Lloyd's arm as if comforting him. Sheena gave him a small smile when he looked at her with a curious expression on his face but before he could ask, she answered his next predictable question. "It is a holiday where we buy meaningful gifts for the people that are dear to us." Sheena described briefly as she glanced to the side for a moment. "Mizuho actually does not celebrate the conventional holidays that the rest of Tethe'alla does but I actually always wanted to celebrate this with people close to me." She confessed softly, giving a small smile as she watched people walk by while she had this conversation. "You buy gifts for friends, family…" she watched a mother and father walk by, both of them holding the child's hand, they looked like they were enjoying the day together. "Those you…" she said but found the words come to a halt when she looked over to Lloyd, his brown eyes were looking at her intently and in the most endearing way she had ever seen from him, it sent butterflies through her stomach and her blood flushed through her veins for that moment. "…love." She managed to utter out from her throat.

Lloyd was still looking at her, this time his eyes were locked on her brown eyes and it even felt like he was staring deep into her soul, invading her. She did not mind, but it still sent her mind whirling and she could tell that her blood was surfacing around her face. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she kept her eyes on his for as long as possible.

"So that is Avalius Gift Day." She completed, pulling her hand away from Lloyd's shoulder and turning her body so she was facing away from Lloyd. Her fingers lightly touched against her cheeks as she tried to calm the blush that surfaced on her cheeks.

'Wh…what was that just now?' Sheena thought to herself quickly. 'Never seen him look at me like that before…it was…' shaking her head, she tried to regain her own composure.

"Then how about we celebrate it then?" Lloyd stated suddenly from behind her.

That just made her heart thunder in her chest for a moment as she spun around on her heel, the snow aiding in the transition as she looked at the young swordsman in the red jacket.

"Oh stop joking." Sheena stated in a flustered manner, trying to take the scolding tone again with the idealist minded man.

"I'm serious…how does it work? We'll do it this year." Lloyd smiled cheerfully.

His natural cheer melted Sheena's resolve that made her let out a soft sigh and the blood only rushed to her cheeks even more. The thought of sharing her first ever Avalius Gift Day with Lloyd just felt so perfect to her to be able to ignore and even though her mind battled with her to continue to fight and not expose herself anymore then she already had, she would never forgive herself if she let this opportunity pass.

Breathing out to calm herself she closed her eyes and gave a nod but she tried to stay in control of the situation as much as possible.

"Fine, but you better not mess this up Irving! This is my first holiday." She stated firmly.

"I promise to do my best." He smiled happily.

Shaking her head once, she had to fight to hold back her smile as her brown eyes locked onto Lloyds.