The Sun Shines Bright

Noel

            Blaze is up Christmas Morning. She gets up as soon as she can and prevents herself with all her will possible not to scream. Blaze somehow managed to hold herself together and hold all her possible screams in. Blaze gets ready for the day which will hopefully be better than her night and does her normal routine. Concluding with her going down for breakfast, only to find no one there. Obviously her mother slept in. Who can blame her? This is probably one of the few days she can. So instead Blaze gets herself some cereal and milk and eats that.

           Blaze waits. By the time she's finished with it all and done lying about and distracting herself, surprisingly it's 9:30 am. Blaze is extremely happy about this development and waits along more than enough time for the other to come down. But it seems there has been other plans set into motion when Blaze hears a soft knock on the door. It's so quiet Blaze wouldn't have heard it if she wants alone and doing absolutely nothing. Blaze goes over to the door and opens it. Finding Amy of all people. Blaze immediately turns red and concerned when she sees Amy crying.

           "Amy, are you alright?"

           "Sorry, but I'm not"

           Blaze leads her inside from the cold and Amy takes off her coat and shoes. The two sit on the couch for a quiet second.

           "What happened?" Blaze asks

           "My Dad left again" Amy says then begins to cry, Blaze passes her some tissues.

           "After everything! I tried texting and calling! He's nowhere. If this was a surprise or something, it would've been done by now, right?"

            Amy cries after she finishes speaking, Blaze comforts her.

            After a while everyone else in Blaze's family wakes up. First Cream and Marine wake up, of course together. Seeing the display, they start to comfort Amy as well. Then Vanilla wakes up, first confused then furious after the situation is explained. Obviously not visible to Amy but to everyone else the signs show. Vanilla makes sure Amy is comfortable and well, and swears revenge on Amy's father.

            Amy calms down after a bit. The Rabbit family plus Marine go to actual Christmas. Marine's parents celebrated Christmas but more in the church and 'the real reason for the season' way. No gifts or anything else or any actually celebrating anything, really. So Marine is excited to actually get and give gifts. Which kicks off shortly. Mostly it's clothing, bathroom products and the occasional candy or food item. Nothing special but nothing bad. Everyone enjoys themselves, even Amy who looks happy, even with her Dad gone again. All the gifts go.

            "I guess that's all." Vanilla says putting all the trash of wrapping paper into a garbage bag.

           "Well... Since Amy's here. I did give her a gift." Blaze says

           "Really?"

           "Yes. Give me a second." Blaze rushes upstairs to the confusion of everyone else except Amy who is illuminating with joy. Blaze comes back down after a minute and hands Amy a small, wrapped gift. Amy thanks Blaze and unwraps the gift revealing pencils, pens and a few color pencils in a box.

           "Sorry, but I had no idea what-"

           Amy hugs her and begins crying.

           "Thank. You. So. Much. I love it." Amy squeezes harder and Blaze returns the gesture. Both of them eventually go apart only for Amy to go into another hug, catching Blaze off guard and knocking her over. Making Amy lay on Blaze on the ground. Amy gets up, but not before noticing her and Blaze and how close they are together. Amy blushes and so does Blaze before Amy quickly gets off of her. Cream and Marine hold in their laughs while Vanilla smiles at the scene.

           The rest of the day Amy stays. Not thinking about her Father. Everyone keeps going on with the day, mainly laying about and eating. The evening comes and when Amy is about to leave for the evening, the doorbell rings. Vanilla goes over to see who it is and opens the door. Only to reveal Amy's Dad. Amy looks shocked and everyone else looks angry, recognizing who it could possibly be, all of them know who it is almost instantly. Amy rushes over to her Dad and hugs him, he pats her on the back. Then he faces Vanilla who is at the door looking mildly angry at him. He doesn't seem to notice though.

           "Look I'm sorry, my apologies, I had some business to take care of. Thank you for taking my daughter in." Amy's father states.

           "Sure, may I ask what this business was?" Vanilla asks with teeth almost grinding.

           "Nope. Thanks!" Amy's Dad waves himself off.

           "Bye guys!" Amy says happily and the two of them leave.

           Everyone else looks in shock to that. Vanilla sighs and slaps her head. While Blaze beats herself up for not doing anything. All while Marine and Cream are confused. Vanilla goes over to Blaze and kneels down to Blaze's height.

           "You're a good friend." Vanilla says to Blaze.

           "...Thanks Mom." Blaze says back. She hugs Vanilla who hugs her back.

           Marine and Cream are confused but they leave it be. The family cleans up, not leaving a trace of the day. All rest afterwards. Hoping for the best. Everyone is tired. A good night's rest is needed and hoped for. A lot of hoping is hoped for. Try to go to bed with a clean conscience might be the hardest thing. They all wish for it though. One problem is not believing in anything, who do you call when you struggle? Who cares? Right? But you can only see so far it's easier in a way to trust someone else. No matter who it is or how they live their own life.

           Blaze goes to bed early. Do everything early. She has a nightmare not of the two faces or the green town but of Amy, for Amy, because of Amy. Blaze knows it isn't her fault. She wants to help. She can't help. Why can't she help? Blaze wakes up in the middle of the night, looks at her ceiling and cries. She keeps going. Blaze hates this. But as quietly as she possibly can. She doesn't want to bother anyone.