Jubilee

[NPC: Male]

Though with his mouth half-filled with cupcakes, Hunter managed to deliver a sharp smack at the back of Zero's head. He chewed on his food for a short moment, and after he swallowed, Hunter scolded the boy, "There you go again, hogging Miki like that. You gotta learn how to SHARE, Zero. She's an angel, don't forget, angel helps people. Like what she's doing to the nice albino baker here~"

Just as Hunter's done speaking, Zeph pulled out everything one could possibly need in being artistically tasty. "Cupcake decorating~! We can eat our own cupcakes after decorating them, right?"

[Deleted]

“And another set of words of encouragement for you Zeph. I am proud of you, for trying to be strong. I know how hard it is to remain strong in this situation emotionally, but this situation shouldn’t break you. The heart can break, and bend… but It does mend. Never lose hope. Even if you feel like you are losing your way…. Just remember there is a light guiding you always.”

Before Mitsuko began the cupcake decorating with Zero, she of course saw Zero frowning since the thought of her forgetting him bothered him. The angel knew that she was the closest person that Zero had in his life and so she understood why he was so bothered by this thought of him being forgotten, by the one person that he cares about. Being the angel and best friend that she is, she put a hand under his chin, and raised his head up, looked at him in his eyes and smiled.

“Don’t worry Zero. I remembered who you are to me from the moment we reunited. Everything came back to me, on that day all at once. You were the missing link not only for my memories… but emotionally as well. We keep each other balanced. Do you know how many people I chatted with about you? A LOT of people. Since you are so dear to me.. I want people to know about our bond and how beautiful it is… And how special you really are, and the change that you made and is STILL making in my life.”

“Here is some of the things I know about you Zero without getting too personal, even though I know the personal stuff. ever since you were small are you ready? ”

The angel cleared her throat and began listing the things she knows about Zero.

“Your birthday is November 12

“Your astrological sign is a scorpio

“Your favorite color is red

“You have a huge love for jellybeans that you don’t even share them. Though when I ask for one you do share sometimes.”

“Your ring has an eagle on it, as that is your animal.

“Your best friend is me… Miki.”

“You don’t put up with nonsense from anyone, and you aren’t afraid to tell someone off when they bug you.”

“You have a stuffed animal named binky the bear

“Your pajama’s have little snowmen on them”

“One of your favorite toys as a child was an airplaine.”

“When you were little you used to sit on my lap as I sat on the swing and we used to swing together sometimes, but sadly we can’t do that now since we both got older and well you hit your growth spurt haha.”


“Your bounty hunter nickname is Nil”

“You gave me the nickname Miki because Mitsuko was too long for you to say as a child so when you called me Miki for the first time I automatically knew to respond to you.”


“You made a secret promise to yourself that you would leave after you stayed in my care for a month, so you promised that you would sneak away if you had to… But then you realized just as I did what we meant to each other…. And I am happy you came back.”

“You are 18 years old and soon to be hitting the age of 19 =D!”

“You don’t like to see me cry at all. Instead you want me to smile. Just like I want you to do right now.”

The angel cupped Zero’s face with both her hands smiling and her hands slowly released his face and went on his shoulders , and then Mitsuko slowly wrapped herself in one of her warm hugging sessions with Zero. A hug always makes him feel better.


“Come on, let’s not let one emotion spoil our anniversary okay? We waited a whole year for this.. and I have a few surprises for you, and one of them I know you will be ecstatic about.”

The angel broke the hug eventually but for some reason she didn’t want to break the hug but she knew that they couldn’t continue all the wonderful events if they decided to just hug in the cupcake booth for hours but she did keep a hold of his hand tightly. Reassuring that her memories are not going anywhere and that she’s not going anywhere (meaning forgetting him and being out of his life).

With one hand Mitsuko started to decorate her cupcake to look like a chibi Zero with all the sprinkles and decorations. When she used the icing for the cupcake, some of it remained on her finger and she giggled, and then she put it on Zero’s nose, and those giggles turned into her angelic laughter.

[Zephel]

Zephel admits it inside, he's not as internally strong as Mitsuko here, but there's no harm in having hope, right? "Of course it wouldn't break me. My ego would shatter if it did," The silver-haired remarked simply, spinning around to open some small cabinets to take out some jars and bars there.

"Here. Be as creative as you like." Zeph had laid down several other additional decorations for the cupcakes such as pocky sticks, pieces of chocolate granola bars, a few edible Christmas items, a jar of gummi bears and a modest amount of jellybeans inside another jar.

"Free of charge. Knock yourself out."

[Zero]

Zero was partly sulking because he wanted someone to cheer him up, he wanted Miki to cheer him up. So having her raising his head up made him thankful, he's been waiting 10 years for someone to do just that to him; to raise his head.

Zero can't help but to smile now.

When the angel stated all the facts and qualities that he himself sometimes forgets about, it touches his heart. Only Miki could do that, so he's not that surprised of it. Being a man, he somehow felt challenged by Miki's list, that he wanted to make his own too.

"Hey, hey, don't embarrass me in front of this guy," cue to Zeph returning and stacking the additional decorations, "And I can do that too! Don't look down in a bounty hunter's ability to hound intel!" True, Zero can't read, but due to that, he trained himself to remember, even if he heard of the fact only once.

"Your full name is Mitsuko Hi-- I mean, Mitsuko Cross. Heh..."

"Your birthday is on the 10th of October."

"You're 22 years old, and about to be 23 next month!"

"Libra is your astrological sign, the balancer of peace."

"Your favourite colour is, of course, white."

"You have a weakness for anything cute and cuddly."

"The animal that reminded me of you the most is a beautiful white dove."

"You have a strong need to be liked by others and often suppress your OWN feelings and opinions to achieve this...because you loathe conflict."

"You're very fair and you will not hesitate to speak up when you see injustice done to anyone, even someone you don’t particularly like."

"You like to call me pumpkin when we're small, and you occasionally still call me that...which is downright embarrassing."

"I kept forgetting to smile, so you tend to keep reminding me about it. Thank you."

He smiled through her hug too, it always makes him feel appreciated. Everything she does makes him feel appreciated. Zero's very glad she's takes a part in his life so importantly. "Okay," was his only response to Miki's words in the midst of his reverie through the angel's embrace.

His smile did dropped a bit when she broke the hug, but that's to be expected of him. He didn't make a bigger fuss out of it because her warmth can still be felt by his hand. He heaved off a peaceful sigh with his eyes closed and just to make sure, said "I know you're not going anywhere. Thanks for understanding."

When Zero opened back his eyes, his blue orbs are positively glowing, as if he got a breath of fresh air. An especially refreshing one at that. So now that his mood is back up, he turned to the cupcakes that were just waiting to be decorated, almost as the same time as Miki does.

Artistry isn't really his...thing, so Zero did tries his hardest on decorating the pastry. He puts everything there on that one cupcake basically, and it looks like a heaping lard of colorful mini-hill instead of a cupcake. Since he's so focused on his project, it caught Zero off-guard when his best friend puts a piece of icing on his nose.

"What the--" He turned to Miki with his eyes focused to his nose, which looks kind of humorous, before scooping off his own icing at his nose and pasted it on Miki's forehead, right on the center.

"I would kiss here, if you do that again," Zero joked with a laugh.

[Deleted]

Mitsuko’s smile widened when Zero began to list the important things that he knew about Mitsuko. Just as she touched Zero’s heart he touched hers. These two had been through so much together ever since they reunited—there were some good times and some bad times, but overall they got through them together.

For a long time Mitsuko felt so alone, even though she did have good friends around her, deep inside her heart there was something missing. It was Zero himself. As they spent time together on this day she could feel herself getting closer to Zero, and she never wanted to let go of this feeling.

Positive energy plays such an important role in her life especially since she was very sick. In fact due to the positive energy that Zero gives to her, he has been keeping her healthy. As well as giving her hope. This is why he is her hero. She had a soft look on her face when he joked around about kissing her right in the cupcake stand, she giggled of course and remembered when she gave Zero his first kiss. She then looked down at his hands after he started to sculpt his cupcake, and she took them in hers.

As she was experiencing all of these warm feelings she now knew that this was the time to give him back something that he lost a long time ago.

“Zero… I have been keeping something from you. I am so sorry I kept this secret but I wanted to wait for this day, even though my heart was screaming at me to return it to you. You won’t believe how hard it was for me to keep quiet about this. But we should wash our hands first.”

And she did so, she took Zero over to the sink and they washed their hands and dried them, and soon Mitsuko began her speech.

“Now when we were apart, you couldn’t see my love right? But you could feel it, you knew that I was with you. Its like magic right?”

The angel prepared her magic trick and made sure that Zero didn’t see where she hid the ring, but once she was ready to do the magic trick she began to say these words.

“Well just because you can’t see something….”

She paused and magically pulled out the ring from his ear.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

The angel smiled so happily as she showed him his ring and took his hand, and slipped on the ring on his index finger. The ring was just as he remembered it, with his favorite animal which was an eagle. A sign of being free. The ring also had the engraving that said the word “friend”. That was proof that the ring really was his. It was the same ring from 10 years ago, the only difference was: Mitsuko had sized it recently since Zero was now 18 years old so his fingers weren’t those of an 8 year old child.

“I sized it so it could fit you and also, I found it in the Iron Maw. I guess that is fitting since in mines you usually find precious minerals such as gold and silver, and even some treasures, besides rocks alone.”

“Now the ring is with it’s rightful owner. I am glad it is back on your finger Zero. Remember mine? Look see? A butterfly. Again I am sorry I kept quiet about this but… This is one of my surprises that that I wanted to keep for this day. Promise me you won’t lose it, Do you promise me?”[/b]

[Zero]

Zero can't help but to crease his eyebrows at how horrible his cupcake looks, now he believes that his hands aren't made for art. So he released the cupcake and the cream-squishing equipment he was handling and just about to complain to Miki when the angel surprisingly took hold of his hands.

"Huh? Miki?" Her serious expression alarmed him, but she looked more wistful than painful, so Zero relaxed himself and allowed Miki to get his hands washed. When they sat back and it started, Zero braced himself for what's to come.

"W-well..." Zero scratched the nape of his neck a bit when Miki asked him about love and magic, "I..always believe that the most beautiful things can't be seen, but felt. Like love, but magic's different, it's like a trick of the eye, and um.. ..Oh man, do I sound like a sissy?" He's embarrassed, to be truthful.

But then Miki performed a little magic trick and pulled something from his ear. It surprised him quite a bit that he looks like a pleasantly shocked little boy that was given a candy. The 'candy' happens to be a ring that looked very familiar.

"H-hey.. But.. But I thought I lost it--" He was rendered speechless and could just watch as Miki slipped in the ring on his finger. After that, Zero took a moment to stare at the ring-- HIS RING --with his eyebrows creasing in confusion on how Miki managed to find it and why it fits his large finger NOW, but also with a curve of his lips because he's so happy it's finally back in his finger, just the way he remembered it.

He spun the ring a bit, and smiled satisfyingly that it still has that 'friend' word etched on it's silvery surface. "I can't believe it.." He tore his eyes from staring at the ring to turn and look straight at Miki. "..How...." His question just hanged like that, stunned and relieved all at the same time, eyes confused yet sparkled a special glitter that went missing long ago.

Once Miki explained, Zero tilted his head sideways slightly, now going back to his logical way of thinking. "In...Iron Maw? But..how.. It's..." He looked back at the ring, then back to Miki, "It looks exactly like the one you gave me. But with..different..sizing.. How... How is it...even searchable..?"

Zero doesn't speak a lot, especially if it's related to his feelings or personal issues. So when he did spoke about it, his sentences were broken, some of his words went missing, and his mind is unable to process it.

It's the moment when Miki showed him her own ring that he spaced out, his eyes gazing at the butterfly on her ring for a seemingly long time. His mind is far off to way back then.

"Look. See? Mine's a butterfly and you're an eagle."

"Yay! So we both have wings?"

"Exactly! We can fly together!"

Zero's lips curled upwards in amusement of that returning memory. Actually, he's almost laughing. "That's funny.." He beamed as he stretched his fingers long and wide while staring at the ring, before turning to Miki with a hint of mischief.

"Because I have something for you too, my dearest wife," Zero teased and actually got down on one knee on the snowy ground, brings out an object from his specially-easily-reachable pocket and placed it on his hand.

There on his palm, rests a beautiful white box emblazon with glitters and a silky silver ribbon to wrap it all up in a clever touch of elegance. "Happy Anniversary Day, Miki."

He went through a lot both to attain the gift and to keep it safe. It's the matter of security that's important when he lives in Veyyard, especially when what's in that box is a lovely heart shaped amulet with a wingpiece hanging on the glimmering cord of the necklace, with a little surprise picture inside of himself genuinely smiling. Just for her.

[Deleted]

Mitsuko’s smile never faded as she watched Zero experience the feelings of having his ring back on his finger. She saw the life that was missing from him, return to him almost instantly. The ring was a very important part of their relationship as it marks the day they became best friends. Now that they were together again, and each had their rings, nothing else was no longer missing. The only difference was they were no longer children, but grown adults that had each learned to stand on their own, and never give up when things didn’t look too bright.

The angel placed a hand on Zero’s cheek and spoke to him in that gentle loving tone he had always known.

“Perhaps the ring was meant for me to find your ring and give it back to you myself. Kind of like a renewal so to speak. I gave you your ring back then right before you left and it marked the beginning of our friendship. But now I as I give your ring back years later the ring now has another meaning. Our reunion. Our paths have crossed once more Zero, and I am so glad.”

Her eyes became a little glassy, as whenever she is touched by something in her heart she lets out happy tears. She felt her nose going red but she managed to hold in her tears for a few minutes. As she let out a deep breath Zero had soon presented a gift that he had for her. She stared at him for a few moments and gently took the box from his hand gently. As she held the box, she looked at how beautiful it had been wrapped, it was so pretty that she almost didn’t want to open it right away, but at the same time she had a feeling that Zero wanted her to open it.

And she did. She slowly untied the ribbon and opened the box. There was this beautiful locket securely fastened in its holder and a hint of blush hit her cheeks. Considering that this present came from the one she cared about very much, it wasn’t surprising that she would blush. She smiled though and touched the locket with her finger gently, and looked at Zero. She was at a loss for words but she hugged him and spoke to him as she did.

“Thank you Zero this is beautiful. I promise I’ll always wear it, and I feel your spirit in this. So when I wear this… You’ll be even closer to my heart. No matter how far we end up going, physically… You’ll always be close. You will never be far away. Your spirit that is in this locket will remind me of this.”

She didn’t break the hug for quite some time since this moment was too beautiful to end the hug quickly—let alone she wasn’t the type to break a hug too soon when it came to Zero. She could hug him for the whole day and never get tired of doing so.

“I have something else for you.”

Mitsuko went over to Hunter after a while, and got the present that she had for Zero, that was of course wrapped up. Inside this box was a storybook that she had written. It was the story of their friendship, written in words. They had so many memories together that she wanted to put them on paper, and accompany the story with her illustrations.

The first page was a dedication to Zero, which also included this poem:

My world is so much brighter because you are in it,

Your words of encouragement keep me going when I feel like I am falling,

The significance of our pinky swears is our honesty towards each other.

If someone asked me if I loved you I would say yes in a heartbeat.

Your strength, your determination, and your courage are many things that I admire about you.

You give me that hand to hold, the heart to love, and the opportunity to embrace when I am feeling sad.

I don’t know where I would be without you, but I do KNOW that my whole life wouldn’t be complete without you.

Your blue eyes match mine when I look into them; they are the key to your beautiful soul.

Your eyes exhibit many things, but one thing in particular that I see is happiness.

I know I can tell you anything and everything. I trust you with my fears, my secrets, and I never hesitate to share my happiness with you.

You wipe my tears when I cry, and you never turn your back on me. For that I am eternally grateful.

When we hug I feel like I am in a dream that I don’t want to wake up from.

Your hugs are my safety net; they remind me that I am a very lucky person, since my wish came true, that one night that i wished upon a star. I wished for you.

You are one of a kind, and even though your name is Zero you will always forever be my Hero.

And at the end of the story once she reads it to him, it says:

“If I tell you I love you can I keep you forever?”


“Happy Anniversary Zero..."

Before she continued her sentence, she gave him a kiss that was gentle, warm and loving. Once she broke it, she said.


"Merry Christmas.. I love you."

[Zero]

"Oof!!" When Miki lunged a hug at him, Zero had to balance himself from falling on the snowy ground, because he's still crouching on one knee. But due to his position, the angle is perfect to see Miki's exact expression as she received his gift. He'd really hope she's happy for what he gives, especially since he has absolutely no idea how to even choose a perfect gift. Though he quite understands Miki's tendency to burst into tears whenever she's happy, he still did not expect this to happen.

"Heeeyy, c'mon Miki.." So now they're both on their knees against the snow, hugging each other, Zero tries his best to comfort her by patting her on the back as she hugged him. "I'm...glad.. Really." For the lack of better words, that was the only thing Zero could utter out, considering he's trapped within the very hug that has the power petrify him.

This hug felt different though, they're holding each other so tightly for such a long while, Zero felt like her warmth that engulfs him could suck him into dreamland. He closed his eyes, his lips curving into a constant smile, and the bounty hunter decided to just enjoy this fleeting moment. "Of course I'll never be far away..." His voice whispered to her ear faintly since his head was rested on her shoulder by the hug, "..With everything that we've gone through, I'm staying right here. I won't leave you alone.. I'm here for you. For as long as I live."

Once the hug was broken, the spell that held Zero in a daze was broken as well. He didn't react particularly negative to it, because he did enjoyed what just happened. When Miki returned with another gift, it didn't take long for Zero to realize it's a book. So he slowly opens it to the first page.

The thing about being illiterate is the fact that books are like magical items to him. He can't understand them, yet this makes him all the more curious and drives him to find out the content, with or without help. "You made this, Miki?" His eyes glazed upon the illustrations at first and then the unintelligible words he cannot comprehend. This being Miki's gift and Miki's own handwork, Zero is sure this has something to do with their memories together. Miki takes into light the content of the book by reading them to him, and accompanied by the illustrations of familiar scenes, the young man smiled down at the book.

Zero chuckled slightly when the angel finally finished that book. It's the last line that particularly got to him, since he tilted his head to meet her eyes when she read the ending. His mind had carried him elsewhere, trying to figure out the logic behind those words. And just after she wished him a happy anniversary...

He was granted with a kiss.

His eyes were the first to response, they widened in surprise. And then his trusty overused brain shuts down. Slowly, little by little, he began to feel that this kiss is different than their last one at the headquarters. That last one was...sort of magical, kind of like healing. This one...it tells something else, he can bet on it. Being caught in the moment (and possibly from his dominative pride and scary mushy growing hormones), Zero closed his eyes and actually returns the kiss.

His hand moved to touch just under her chin with two of his fingers, and pressed his lips against hers, just as warm and lovingly. He lacks gentleness per se, but this really is the most gentlest form he could muster.

Both of them broke the kiss almost at the same time, and as the angel wished him a Merry Christmas and those three sacred words, Zero moved a bit to hold her face and promptly kissed Miki on the forehead. "My first Christmas with you, and I already feel like I have the whole world." He focused his eyes to hers, his face has never been that gentle and content. "You don't need to say I love you to keep me Miki, I'm already yours."

Zero then picked up the silver necklace from its box and untie the metal binding with a silent click, "Here, let me help you with this." He slowly leaned over the petite angel in front of him, holding the ends of the necklace with both of his hands as he sort of hug her loosely around the neck and then finally locking it together.

"There we go," he grinned, feeling rather proud that his gift looks even more perfect when Miki wears it. It hangs just around her collarbone, and it goes well with her skin tone too.

After gazing at how she beautiful she looks added with the elegance of the heart-shaped winged necklace, Zero then hugged Miki gently around her head and rests his chin on her hair with a smile, "And of course I love you too, why would I NOT want to keep you..?" Zero chuckled a bit and released Miki, facing her with a rare radiant smile on his face.

[END THREAD FINALLY]