Find It! The Wishes Hidden in Winter #2

Chapter 1: Christmas Holidays

The air was much chiller this time of the year Lisa was quick to find out, walking behind Emiyo and Kameko.

She pulled up her scarf, allowing for more warmth on her neck.

Snow was common in these parts, large fluffy white bundles all around. Her boots always sank with every step.

"A little more..." Emiyo said as she carried bags of food.

Children peered from their window, curious as to why there were people outside in this weather that their parents forbid them to go out in.

Lisa avoided their eyes, pulling her hat over her eyes.

They were deep in London now, the recent wreckage was no longer there but the food shortages were.

Children with their sunken eyes and more bone then skin. Their faces filled with sadness.

A soft harmonious jingle came from a bell in on a door.

"It's Christmas Eve." Kameko whispered.

"Yes."

And snow fell.

Over a month passed, the world had almost ended. People died. And no one but a select minority knew it happened.

Lisa could hardly believe it, looking back now---everything at stake if she and her best friends failed. All a whim. And on guts, she couldn't forget that.

The building came into view, Lisa heaved the bags in her arms, letting Emiyo knock and do the talking.

A thin woman with grey hair, let them in.

The walls were bare, a portion of the roof had caved in, and broken tables littered the place. Looked like a fight had taken place but Lisa knew better.

The wreckage created this.

And by wreckage, it was not the remains of the final battle with the darkness. It had been a blizzard.

Lisa supposed it was climate change, the Earth becoming a wasteland and suddenly forced to restore to normal with winter right around the corner.

For weeks it went on, like nothing anyone had ever seen. Weather forecasts predicting the fall of the world.

Lisa, Kameko, and Emiyo couldn't help but laugh at the reporter. If only he knew what was really classified as the end.

The one good thing from the disaster was that it made it easier to blame the blizzard for the destruction of the school and the deaths of their classmates and headmistress. Without it, Lisa wasn't sure how they'd be able to hide the truth.

Speaking of her classmates, relatives of the deceased who were protected by Past Cure Chevalier's barrier were sworn into secrecy.

But some weren't present and believed, as everyone else, that the blizzard had done it.

Alice's older brother refused to believe such a thing happened even though he was a witness of the Deadly Sins' attack. Maybe it was grief and anger that when his family called, he chose to accept that his sister died in a blizzard.

But the blizzard had reached it's end, leaving behind devestation this Christmas.

Lisa was Jewish, she didn't celebrate the holiday but knew how important it was, not for the presents, or a fat man in red to visit you at night: it was family.

They walked by, passing nuns who carried small children in their arms, looking pale and sunken.

"Set them here."