Christmas One-Shot, 2022

Christmas Miracle

(The true Christmas miracle is that this story got even remotely finished.)

Simon fell all the way onto his bed, which he bounced off of and onto the floor. At that moment, the bells rang... eight times.

"The bells rang eight times! I still have time! There's still time to repent!" Simon rushed out of the house, forgetting to throw on his jacket.

He was able to find Galinndan before he went into the sewers, and gave the homeless stragglers that were moving through there three gold each.

He then went to Dalabrac's house, and had the best holiday meal he'd had in a long time. It didn't matter that he was trying to infiltrate his society: all that mattered was that it was a holiday.

After that, he went to the post office and penned a letter to Akyan that went: Dear brother, even if you don't believe that this is actually me, I don't either. I went through a life-changing event last night, and I wanted to put some of the wrongs I've caused right. I'm sorry for casting you out of the home that you deserved, and I'm sorry for saying all those terrible things about you. Your brother, Simon.

He returned home, and noticed the small parcel that Teff left. It's not that he put off opening it, it was just that he wanted to right the wrongs that appeared in his mind first. He opened it, and it was a small portrait that Simon remembered Teff drawing himself. It was Teff in the middle, and Akyan and Simon on both sides of him. He painted this a few months after Akyan came to live with them. It was truly... a Christmas miracle.