Christmas Carols {Open}

Two siblings sat in one of the many benches that dotted the courtyard. The two simply watched the colored leaves fall from the trees with every gust of the wind. Aleta had the usual Beata attire on, a knit cream colored hat adorned her head, and a warm cup of hot chocolate in her hands. Floating on the top of the beverage was a thick layer of mini marshmallows. Beside her was her brother, and if anyone were to see them, they would not seem like siblings. Leo was a good half a foot taller than his sister, and and shocking blond hair compared to his sister's silky dark hair. Although, he wore the same hat as Aleta on his head, and his usual Beata uniform.

The siblings sat for a while, enjoying the crisp cold hair that the fall gave. A reminder of home, so no other reason not to spend their afternoon sitting together. Sibling bonding. Leo finished his drink, and set the empty mug next to him on the bench. Blue eyes traveled over to his sister's mug, which was only partially drank. With a smirk on his face, the blond looked back forward. He spoke with eagerness, the smirk transforming into a bright smile. "Hey Aleta, guess what season it is." The sibling looked back at him in confusion.

"Autumn. What's your po-" The girl froze, dark eyes widening in horror. With a pleading look, she whispered; "Don't do it."

"It's the holiday season!~"

"Oh god."

"With the whoop-de-do and hickory dock~"

"Stop. It's not even Thanksgiving yet."

Leo gave her a cheeky smile, leaning closer to his sister. "Aww, but I haven't even started singing my favorite song yet." A glare was directed his way. But of course he couldn't stop here.

"Hark-~

"No."

"-the herald angels sing. Glory to the new born king~"

"You just like that song because it has angels in it."

"Peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and sinners re- Gah!" His voice stopped abruptly as a fist connected with his shoulder, however her attempts did not silence her brother for long. "The first Noel, the angel did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay~"

The younger girl placed her hot chocolate on the bench beside herself, and reached up to her ears to plug them with her fingers. "I can't hear you- Lalalalalala" Leo grinned at her and reached down to snatch her hot chocolate. He took a few sips before she unplugged her ears protesting his thievery of her hot beverage. "Hey!"

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way~"

Aleta flinched, and plugged her ears once more, giving her brother a scathing glare.

Louis and Pepper were out and about, enjoying the cold weather. Pepper wore her usual winter attire: hair in a side pony tail, comfy sweater, cute jeans, her pink scarf. Louis had a white shirt, jeans, and his favorite blue polka dot sweater. They walked side by side in silence, until they heard singing voices and carols. The two walked towards the voices, curiosity urging them to see who it was. When they rounded the corner they spotted Leo and a girl they didn't quite know. "That was wonderful singing." Pepper giggled as she walked up to the two. Louis, being the timid one, followed her in silence.

The blond looked towards the approaching group from over Aleta's mug of hot chocolate, the steam rising into the cool autumn air. He removed his lips from the brim of the ceramic glass, and greeted the other two siblings. "Hey, Pepper." He paused, before a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. "Thanks. I did my best." Leo lied. The blond didn't think he'd ever actually try his best at singing. It felt a bit awkward. Leo looked over the other student next to her, mouth open to ask who his was. However, he froze as hands snatched away Aleta's his hot coca.

Aleta just gave her brother a smug look as she sipped at the drink, glancing over at the two unknown people who stood not too far away. Obviously not knowing them, she instead turned to the side and propped her feet up on her brother's legs. Each time he reached over to take it back, Aleta kicked at his hands, deeply protective of her chocolate drink.

Pepper smiled, sensing something between her and Leo. But when her thoughts were snapped back to the real world, she gave a glance at the girl sitting next to him. "Uh, so are you guys siblings? Or..." She asked nonchalantly with a small frown. Pepper hoped the other girl wasn't in any sort of love relationship with Leo.

Louis stood next to his sister, eyes closed, enjoying the fall day. When he scent of Hot Chocolate hit his nose, he suddenly wished he had a cup of his own. He was usually shy and timid, not making him a very conversation starter. The tall blonde tapped his sister's shoulder when he saw her start to look dreamy eyed at the Autumn Prefect. Great, love struck again. Louis gave a small sigh.

Leo gave his sister a pout, to which she stuck her tongue out in response. Then the dark haired girl froze at Pepper's question. "Of course!" She shouted, a disgusted look crossed her face. "Did you assume we were dating?" The girl shuddered and made fake gagging noises, much to her brother's chagrin. The blond just ran a hand through his hair. Leo knew in the long run that Aleta was just giving him a hard time. Much like most siblings do.

"We may not look like it, but we're siblings." Leo reached over to his sister who was still making the gagging noise. She was distracted by the disgusting thought of dating her brother, that he was able to slide the cup of hot chocolate right out of her hands. Then rubbed the top of her head, pushing the beanie out of place and ruffling her hair. Aleta let out a cry in protest, then immediately going to fix her hair. Once she got her bangs out of her eyes, the girl frowned at her brother.

He had taken her hot chocolate again.

Keirsta really needed to stop being called to do things.

Having been called out on another mission, this time, it had taken her much longer to complete then what she would have liked. It made her upset to have Leo be left on his own for the time that she did, but she was back, and she was going to surprise him. Although, the weight of all the bags on her back were not the best, and the scar across her cheek was something new too.

Having heard the obvious voice of Leo singing from the entrance, Keirsta had dropped her bags at the entrance of the courtyard. She placed a small shield on the bags to prevent anyone from digging through them, as there were a few items to be kept behind closed doors.

Standing a few paces away from Leo, Aleta, and the other two students she didn't recognize, Keirsta waved her hand and moved the cup of hot chocolate out of Leo's grasp, and back to Aleta's. Chuckling from afar, she disappeared from view for a moment before...

"Leeeoooo!"

She came bolting towards him, taking little time to jump into his arms and tackle him to the ground. She wrapped her legs around him with a hug, and was beaming.

Pepper was about to reply to Leo's sister's comment when Louis grabbed her and pulled her to the side. "Hey! What was that for!" She said angrily. But Louis didn't have to say a word. For in an instant, a random girl came running towards Leo and jumped on the boy. "Oh. Sorry." she said mad at herself for getting mad at her brother. Pepper played with her ruffled pony tail, gave a sigh and walked toward the trio. "Uh hi!" She tried to sound as nice as possible. "I haven't seen you around, but I'm amusing your not new because you know Leo." She said awkwardly, wishing she was a turtle. Smooth genius. Louis gave a small grin, finding it funny that Pepper cared so much about the boy Prefect.

Leo froze, watching the coca float to Aleta's hands. His eyes narrowed as he inspected the glass. Honestly, he was fine if Aleta had the mug now. Leo was very curious about how if was floating. The was a hue of color to it that he recognized. Was it... Keirsta? His eyes widened. Wait- was she? He must have missed her voice calling out to him, because as soon as he spotted her, she was upon him. A matching bright smile adorned his own face. "Keirs-" She knocked him to the ground, knocking a bit of air from his lungs. "ta" He finished with a grunt, wrapping his arms back around her in response.

With his back to the cold ground, he pushed her away just so he could take a look at her face. His blue eyes traveled to her cheek and a worried look crossed his face. There were a lot of questions floating around his head, and the blond didn't know where to start. Where had she gone? How did she get that scar...? With a sigh, Leo forced down his worried look, and returned her to his embrace. He'll ask questions later, for now he could settle with being excited that she was in fact back.

The grin returned as he kept his questions at bay. The blond sat up. Of course still on the ground, but he didn't mind that too much. He kept his embrace with Keirsta as he looked up to see the other two students again. It must have been pretty awkward to them. They don't understand what happened. "Oh! This is my girlfriend, Keirsta. She's also the other Autumn Prefect." With his blunt introduction out of the way, Leo looked down at her, beckoning the pinket to introduce herself on her own terms.

Now Aleta on the other hand, was more than happy to have her drink back in her own hands. By whatever means necessary. So she was very thankful to whoever returned her hot chocolate to her. However, she was totally confused after that. "What just happened?"

Sitting on the ground back in her boyfriends' embrace was something she had longed for, for a very long time. Being gone for so long hurt her heart, but now that she was back, she was much happier. Holding her arms tight around him for a moment, she finally released him from the bear hug and let him breathe a bit. But that didn't wipe the grin off of her face. Even if she was pushed away momentarily, once Leo returned his embrace, she had no complaints.

Forgetting completely about the other three students surrounding them, once Leo spoke again she froze. Awkward... Taking a moment to breathe after his introduction, she released the embrace and stood up, pulling Leo up with her. "Yeah... Winner of the Great Hunt, a Duchess of last years' Formal... Academic and athletic nerd... Moonlight Manipulator... So many names... But aside from that... Leo basically summed me up." Rubbing the back of her neck, she turned towards Aleta and gave her a smile. "Saved your delicious drink from your brother, of course~" The words were finished with a soft hum.

Wrapping an arm around Leo's waist, as he was definitely taller than her now, she turned towards the pair of siblings. "While I can't exactly discuss my absence with basically anyone as of right now, I would like to know your names, if you don't mind me asking?" Her smile had mostly faded, but she was still interested in the two.

While the girl talked, Pepper was filled with utmost jealously. Girlfriend. Pfft! What girlfriend leaves her man? And jeez. We never asked you for your whole life story. She wanted to punch the girl in the face, but she couldn't have herself do it. The girl took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I'm Pepper. This is Louis, my brother." She said, motioning her hand towards her taller brother. Louis gave a smile and a wave of his hand. I wonder how this'll play out. Neither girl seems to happy...

Two wheels, one guy. Jake's feet turned into wheels and he raced around the courtyard. 10 mph, 20 mph. Come on! I can go faster than that! The student swerved around trees and almost ran into a statue. In all honesty, Jake was surprised he was even able to keep the wheels on this long, without them turning back on him. Rounding a corner, the reckless Autumn failed to see a crack in the concrete. Faster than he had time to think, his wheel hit the bump and Jake went flying. Landing hard on the floor and skidding a few feet, he sat defeated, but realized he was not alone. "Louis? Pepper?" He looked up at the siblings and stood up, rubbing his butt. His knee started to bleed a bit, but the boy didn't care. "Sorry about that. I was seeing how fast I could go with my feet as wheels and tripped. But it worked! I went over 30 mph! And think about how fast I could go on an open track!" He said excitedly with a goofy grin.

"Hi Jake. Glad to see you." Louis said softly with a smile. Pepper gave a sigh. "Only you would think to do something that stupid." She said teasingly, glad Jake's idiocy was here to lighten the mood.

Jake smiled, and noticed there were more people around. "Oh hey Leo." He noticed the girl with hot chocolate, but assumed that was his sister that he mentioned earlier. The girl on his lap...he had no idea who it was. "Wow, what a babe." He said, not knowing who she was or what was going on.

Standing to the right of the student in complete silence, Pepper punched Jake on the arm. And hard. "Dammit Jake!" She said angrily.

"Ow!" He rubbed his arm. "What did...Oh, did I say that out loud?" He said with a innocent grin. Looking at Leo and the girl closer, he finally realized who the girl was. "Whoa. Leo, didn't know you had a girl." He said to his dorm mate. Oh, I guess Pepper isn't too happy about that.

Aleta simply nodded, Her dark eyes glancing back and forth between the two girls, a confused look in her eye. She watched Pepper take a deep breath, then introduce she and her brother, Louis. Who had mostly been quiet the entire conversation, letting his sister do the talking. Much like her, except he seemed to know kind of what was happening. She was absolutely clueless.

Just to add to her clueless troubles, a boy came skidding in from who knows where, blabbering about wheels, calling Keirsta a babe... Leo won't like this guy.

He didn't. Leo didn't appreciate Jake's style of being a 'ladies man'. All he ever talked about was girls. Girls this, girls that. Only for the times that he ever talked with Jake, was Leo glad that Keirsta was not there. Just so he could protect her from Jake. And now here he was, and just as Leo had assumed; He called Keirsta a babe.

His embrace tightened a fraction, as the blond gave Jake a look. "You didn't know for a reason." Not just that, but Keirsta was also not there most of the time.

Brushing the long locks of strawberry hair out of her face, she dipped her head politely in return to Pepper's introduction. "Nice to meet you." Again, a polite tone.

Looking at the machine-like man zoom in, she took a slight step closer to Leo. Surprised, indeed. His comment made her flare up though, and a hand was risen with a ball of energy inside. "Watch the comments, mister. You're talking to a Prefect." She didn't mean to use her title in that way, but more or less as a- 'Don't mess with me' type of thing. She didn't mind compliments, but when it was like that... She got a bit defensive. Especially when she was with her boyfriend who was, well, right beside her.

Taking a sharp inhale as Leo's grasp tightened around her, she looked at him and rose an eyebrow. Did he know this person..? As much as she would hate to admit the truth behind her absence, she had been busy doing things most of the time. "Anyways. I need to get back to the dorms at some point and report to the Headmaster what's been going on..." She trailed off. As much as she didn't want to leave Leo, it was true. She had to put her stuff back, and go talk to Headmaster Wright. That was also another thing... She had a kitten that would be waiting for her... Most likely hating her for her absence.

Jake, Pepper, and Louis stood there for a moment, probably thinking the same thing. What now?

Jake was somewhat offended by Leo's tone and the fact he never told him that he had a girlfriend. "Well, geez Leo. Didn't know you liked to keep secrets either." He said coolly, hands in his pocket. The student said, eyeing the Prefect. "And no need to get your hair all in a bunch. I wouldn't want you as my girl anyway." Jake said nonchalantly, his mechanical leg making it's usual "clank" sound. Pepper and Louis looked at Jake surprised.

Louis was embarrassed by Jake's attitude. She was a Prefect after all. "Uh, I don't think I got your name." He said timidly, looking at Leo's sister. Might as well change the subject... Pepper just stood there with mixed feelings about everything going on.

Leo let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head. What went from playful teasing, came to tension that could be cut with a knife. "I'm sorry if that came off as rude, Jake. It's just that I didn't think I had to tell you all about my life." He released Keirsta from his embrace, and nodded towards the office. "If it's important enough where you have to talk to the headmaster, you should go." Not that he wanted to get rid of her at all, in fact he wanted to make up for lost time. However, if her disappearance for that long of a time was important to Beata, then she needed to talk with the headmaster. They'd catch up later. Leo ignored Jake in order to keep the peace.

Aleta looked up from her now warm coca, and glanced at Louis. "My name is Aleta." She told him simply, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"I never s---" Jake didn't bother finishing his sentence. "Well, it was nice running into ya." He said, back to his normal, silly self. His feet turned back into Metallica like wheels. The tall student gave a smile and was off again.

Pepper and Louis watched him race around the courtyard once more. Each time her turned a corner, they flinched, praying he wouldn't run over anyone. The two turned back to Leo, Aleta, and Keirsta. "Well it was nice meeting you." She said sweetly to Leo's girlfriend. Pepper gave a shy but somewhat sad smile towards Leo and started to walk off.

Louis looked from his sister to Leo. After Pepper started to walk away, Louis was about to follow but wanted to say by. "Sorry about Jake." He said timidly to the Prefects. Then remembered Leo's sister introduced herself. "It was nice meeting you, Aleta." He gave a sweet smile to the girl, then a respectful nod towards Leo, turned around and followed his sister.