S҉h҉a҉t҉t҉e҉r҉e҉d҉ But Alive (Rainimator Story)

Chapter 6

The next day, Astra was making her way to the meeting room, which had been completely redecorated. She had, with much reluctance, removed her mask before making her way there. 

"Merry Christmas, Astra," Ser Theo smiled at her and she just smiled slightly, entering. 

"Hi guys!" she yelled, jumping straight onto the couch and flopping down. 

"You have way too much energy," Patrick sighed, refilling his coffee cup for the fifth time that night. 

Azura just giggled, leaning her head on his shoulder, making Dexter, Daryll and Astra to chorus, "Pazura!" before bursting into laughter. Hilda simply watched them with amusement. Sneaking a mischievous glance at Daryll, a small unspoken question passed to him. 

Did you bring it? He just lifted up the small sprig, nodding and cracking a smile. They were all just lounging around the room, honestly. Dexter was eating cookies and laughing as she chatted with Astra. 

"Sooooo... I heard you and Daryll are close huh?" 

She smirked and Astra blushed furiously, stuttering, "Wha-What? N-No!" 

Dexter just rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah. On another note, are you ready to pull off the plan?" She lowered her voice, seeing Azura enter the other room. Astra simply grinned and waved to Daryll, who nodded. 

"HEYYY PATRICK!" Daryll shouted. 

"Ow! What?" Patrick asked, breaking off from his conversation with Theo and turning to face him. 

"Azura said she's not feeling too-" The words were hardly out of his mouth when Pat ran towards the other room, just as planned, with Astra following close behind. 

"AZURA! Are you okay? Do you need to rest? What happened?" He fired question after question at the confused technician, gripping her hands tightly. 

"What? What do you mean?" 

"Daryll said-" He turned to face the smirking bandit, who pointed to the spot above them. The two instantly looked up to see... mistletoe, being dangled above by none other than? Astra. Of course. 

"Pazura! You know what this means!" Dexter laughed and Azura's face became as red as a tomato. Patrick just stood there in silent shock. 

Theo eventually commented dryly, "I sometimes wonder if I actually got skilled warriors or immature children for the Frostbourne." 

"Both, honestly, now, Pazura, kiss!" Astra exclaimed gleefully. The two of them exchanged a look, Patrick's gaze was soft, saying silently, you don't have to if you don't want to, and Astra had to suppress an 'awww'. Much to everyone's shock, Azura made the first move, tiptoeing and kissing Patrick softly. Everyone cheered and 'awwed' as the two eventually pulled apart, blushing furiously. Astra turned to Daryll and grinned, seeing the bandit's gaze sparkling with amusement. 

"Don't celebrate yet, Astryll," someone spoke, and Astra turned to see, with much shock, Azura saying that. Patrick loomed over them, a devious grin painted on his face as he held the mistletoe aloft, right over the both of them. 

"Wait- what?! DEXTER! You traitor!" Astra yelled in mock anger. Dexter simply shrugged, maintaining a 'innocent-when-obvi-not' face. Daryll didn't know what to say, and just stood there looking at Astra unsurely. She herself was experiencing a whirlwind of emotions. Did she really dare to do this? Did she? Did she dare to take one more tiny step? She wanted this... but... 

"Wait, Astra... I mean... It's fine if you don't..." Dexter said, sensing Astra's hesitance. No, she decided, she did want this. 

"No, it's fine," she grinned, pulling Daryll into a quick kiss. And in that moment, with the cheers echoing in her ears, under the mistletoe, Astra wanted this moment to stay forever.

Later...

"You are such children," Patrick sighed, shaking his head at Astra and Dexter who were trying to get themselves high on candy canes. 

"Shut up," Astra retorted, humour in her voice as she chucked a candy cane at his head, with him catching it and passing it to Daryll. 

"Well," the bandit spoke, tossing it to Azura, who rolled her eyes. "At least we can agree on one thing here." 

"Really?" Astra asked, straightening up. 

"We all have messed up sleep schedules," Daryll finished. 

"Oh. That. Yeah..." Patrick's eyes widened as Theo shot him a glare. 

"What? I couldn't sleep!" Pat defended himself. 

"I don't sleep," Astra cut in. 

"I was busy making new prototypes," Azura added. 

"I function fully only at night," Daryll continued.

"Honestly, it depends which night it is," Dexter said through a mouthful of candy cane. 

"How are you not walking around like sleepless zombies all day?" Hilda asked, disbelief lacing her words. 

"Skill," Astra spoke sarcastically. 

"Patrick, I thought I asked you to get more sleep," Theo addressed him. 

"Oh come on! We're in the middle of a war with the UNDEAD and you're talking about sleep?" Astra exclaimed, causing everyone to burst out laughing. 

"Alright, alright. Fine, just for tonight," Theo tried to redeem himself. 

"Says the one who sleeps at 3 nearly all the time," Hilda interjected calmly, causing the Grandmaster to shoot her a look that clearly read : Traitor. 

"I can vouch for that!" Astra said all too enthusiastically, continuing, "I nearly bumped into a half-asleep Ser Theo when I was going to train." 

"You train at 3," Azura deadpanned. 

"Of all the times, why 3?" Patrick asked. 

Astra panicked slightly, blurting out, "eHm, weellll.... Anyways, canwedopresentsnowpleasedon'tquestionmytrainingtimethankyou." Everyone, except Dexter, just stared at her blankly. 

Dexter just sighed and spoke, "She said, and I translate, 'Can we do presents now, please don't question my training time thank you.'" The warrior threw her hands up in exasperation and relief.

"Finally, someone who speaks my language." 

"YES! PRESENTS!" Azura squealed like a five year old child. 

"You're such a child," Dexter laughed. 

"I think it's cute..." Patrick mumbled, making the technician blush and Daryll to let out an 'awww'. 

"Let me make this clear first," Dexter suddenly spoke, her tone serious as she glared at Patrick, causing him to shrink slightly. 

"Listen here, Patrick. Much as I ship Pazura, she's still my baby sister. You hurt her AT ALL, and I will HUNT YOU DOWN and SKIN YOU ALIVE. GOT IT?" 

The knight nodded frantically, and eventually Daryll broke the tension by muttering, "Never knew you could be so terrifying, Dex." 

"Only if I want to," She grinned, the mood in the room instantly brightening. "But yes, anyway, time for presents! I think- or at least, according to tradition, we had a secret santa, right?" She looked at Theo, who nodded. 

"Astra, you go first," Hilda addressed Astra, who smiled, grabbing a neatly wrapped blue and purple present from under the tree, seeing her name written on it...

Meant to update but well, life. Yeah, was kinda crap.. so busy nowadays. aNyWaYs, hope you liked it, please comment, vote and follow!!! (no seriously I try my best for all these)

~Lightningstar out