Croix shakes a petri dish of crystals at eye level. “Huh. I’m running out of cockatrice excretion. Might have to have Patricia get me more.” She glances over at a vial of purple liquid sitting in the testing tube rack to the side. “At least I finished a set before the ingredients ran out. Not that I can do anything with them right now.”

Ten years. That’s how long the Ministry of Magic decided her sentence would be. But ten years locked away would mean ten years wasted. And most importantly, ten long years without being able to fly for a certain professor at Luna Nova.

Croix had sworn to find a cure to Wagandea’s pollen. Her old friend’s affliction was her fault to begin with. It’s the least she can do. She had made it her highest priority, second only to coordinating with the Ministry to repair all the damage she had done during her research into the Noir Fuel Spirit.

Though, is finding a cure for Chariot really a second priority if she spends all her time on it? She certainly prefers her own laboratory and helping her old friend more than talking to witches and wizards who clearly dislike her and her innovated magic.

Croix strips her hands of her gloves and runs one through her hair as she drops into the nearest stool.

“Heh. ‘I promise to find a cure for Wagandea’s curse before I return.’ It’s what I said, but it’s proving to be harder than I thought it would.”

So many papers strewn on the tables and floors. Half-empty containers also litter the room. She’ll need to clean that up by the end of the day. It won’t do to have improper lab etiquette.

Alone with nothing but her thoughts, Croix sits in silence and takes the time to contemplate and consider alternative concoctions for the cure. The perks of her sentence is that she can think without hindrance; no one will bother her until it’s time to take her back to her cell.

But today is a little different. A knock sounds at her door earlier than she expects.

The door opens so the guard on the other side can address her, “You have a visitor.”

Croix frowns. While it isn’t uncommon, the warden never allows anyone to visit her in her own laboratory due to safety. Not to mention this is entirely last minute.

“I wasn’t aware I’d have one,” Croix says truthfully.

The guard shrugs. “She has the warden’s permission though.”

The guard steps to the side. The first thing Croix notes is bright red hair and equally red eyes.

“Chariot!” Croix leaps out of her seat and narrows her eyes at the guard. “Why are you here? I wasn’t told I’d get any visitors.”

Chariot chuckles. “Ah well, it was supposed to be a surprise. Slightly last minute, but I somehow convinced the warden to let me visit you in your lab too.”

“Sounds suspicious. The warden’s never been this nice.”

The guard rolls her eyes. “For safety reasons I’ll have to stay in here as long as Ms. du Nord is in the room. Otherwise, you are both free to do as you wish.”

Before Croix can make a snide comment, Chariot cuts her off to give her respectful reply. “Thank you for your help.”

The guard closes the door behind her and stands next to the only exit of the room. She stands back straight, not staring at either Croix or Chariot. In fact, Croix can’t tell what exactly she’s fixated on.

The guard must’ve noticed Croix’s gaze on hers because she turns her own stare to Croix and raises her eyebrows at the apprehensive woman. “Don’t mind me. Think of it like our usual arrangements. Except I’m inside rather than out.”

“Hard to relax when the warden - and the Ministry for that matter - have never been this accommodating to me.”

“You were provided your own laboratory, weren’t you? Do I need to remind you that you’re still a criminal?”

Chariot places a hand on Croix’s shoulder. The contact immediately dissipates any scathing retort hanging from her tongue.

“Croix, there’s no point picking a fight you can’t win.”

Chariot’s concern for her never ceases to mitigate the frustrations in her life. Especially once Chariot started visiting her weekly after she was sentenced to life in prison. They ended up being the only events she could look forward to.

Croix flashes Chariot a smirk. “Oh? Since when did you become my voice of reason?”

Chariot chuckles. “I’m a professor. I tend to do that often. Oh, the other girls wanted me to wish you happy holidays!”

Croix raises an eyebrow. “The others? Wait, holidays?”

Chariot chooses that moment to reveal the bag she had been hiding behind her. It’s a simple navy blue gift bag a little bigger than her old roombas.

Chariot holds out the bag for Croix to take. With a smile that Croix knows she doesn’t deserve, she announces, “Merry Christmas, Croix.”

Croix stares at the offered bag, then up to Chariot’s smile, then back down to the bag, and repeat. She does this often enough that Chariot’s smile starts to fall. She even hears the guard by the door scoff.

“Croix?”

“Sorry. I’m just-” Croix runs a hand through her hair. “It’s Christmas? It’s already that time of the year?”

“You didn’t know?”

Croix shrugs. “I don’t keep track. I spend most of my time in this room anyway. It isn’t as if I have any need for a calendar. If someone needed me at a certain time, they’d come get me.”

Chariot frowns. “Maybe I should have gotten you a calendar instead. Wait,” Chariot eyes the numerous computer monitors in the room, “you have computers in here. Their calendars already have every holiday recorded and notifications set.”

“I disabled most of my notifications, including holidays. Like I said, if anyone needed me for something urgent they’d come find me themselves.”

“Come to think of it, you had this habit even when we were still students at Luna Nova. I had to remind you when your own birthday was.”

“You were the only one who cared anyway.”

She hadn’t meant for it to sound so melancholic. She never cared about frivolous things like holidays in the first place.

But that was because she never had anyone to celebrate with. Then a certain boisterous redhead had started keeping her company, turning what would have been another lonely holiday into something she could share with a friend.

Croix hadn’t realized that she… had missed it. That she missed-

“I did have a feeling you would forget.” Chariot holds up the gift bag again. “Which is why I wanted to come check up on you at least. And I was right. You really are spending all your time holed up on Christmas.”

Croix grimaces. “If I take the gift will you stop bringing up my bad habits?”

“For now.” Chariot passes the bag to Croix. “I’d appreciate it if you took it anyway. I spent some time looking for it.”

Croix moves over to a part of her desk that’s clutter-free to take a box out of the bag. She stares at the heavily wrapped item. “Shiny Chariot gift wrap. Really?”

Chariot’s face flushes as bright as her hair. “Akko… provided that.”

“I should have expected that.” Moving on, Croix starts unwrapping the gift. “Wrapping paper from Akko, gift from you, I assume? This better not be one of Arcas’ children or something. Or worse, Alcor’s.”

Chariot huffs. “You know both Alcor and Arcas can’t reproduce asexually. And they’re both male. On another note, why would you assume I would put living creatures inside of a box?!”

“I learned that anything is possible with you. Especially since you mention that Akko had a hand in this.” Croix grunts. “Are you kidding me, Chariot? How many layers of wrapping paper did you use?”

“Enough so that the contents wouldn’t be damaged as I brought it over here.”

“Did Akko tell you this?”

“No, I was being considerate.”

Croix finally tears through the last of the paper, revealing a simple cardboard box. She uses a pair of scissors to break the tape around it and opens it to peer inside. Her eyes widen once she recognizes the single content inside.

“This is… one of my old roombas? I didn’t know I left one at Luna Nova.”

Chariot smiles. “Amanda found it lying around someone on the grounds during one of her detentions. Since I was supervising her that day, I asked her to have Constanze fix it up for me so I can return it to you. I offered to cut her detention time in half, so she was happy to ask Constanze for me. This happened… about two weeks ago? Even though she wasn’t familiar with the circuitry, Constanze repaired it within three days!”

Croix takes the roomba out of the box to inspect it. “Ah, the little witch from the green team? I was always fond of her. Quiet, but I admired her interest in innovation.”

“Reminds you of yourself, doesn’t it?”

“A bit.” Croix powers it up and takes a step back once the machine begins to levitate on its own. “Wow, she did a great job. I had designed these so it couldn’t be tinkered with by anyone but myself. I guess I overestimated myself.”

“Well, Constanze did say that she couldn’t get all of its previous functions working. So it won’t be able to do much other than clean surfaces, act as a speaker, lift up to one hundred fifty kilos, and sing happy birthday.”

“Wait, that last function is new.”

Chariot steps over and presses a button that Croix swears was not there before. The roomba beeps twice before beginning to sing to her in a monotone voice.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to youuu! Haaaaaappy birthday to youuuuuuu!!!”

Croix grimaces. “It’s not even my birthday. I appreciate the thought but I’m going to disable that function.”

Chariot chuckles. “I’ll make sure not to tell Constanze that. She might not be happy with that.”

“Chariot, I work on quite a bit of machinery but even I don’t have them sing to me. If I wanted company, I’d just listen to you.”

The guard by the door actually scoffs.

Chariot narrows her eyes at Croix. “That… implies you have recordings of me since I’m not here all the time.”

“You were once quite popular.”

“I’m not sure how I should feel with this information.” Chariot sighs. “I guess I can just come visit you more often. That way you won’t have to resort to recordings of me.”

Croix stares at the other woman as if she had spoken another language. “…But why?”

Chariot sighs with enough force to blow out five candles at once if Croix actually had a birthday cake in front of her. It’s a good thing Chariot didn’t bring one; Croix isn’t sure how she would feel with another act of kindness from Chariot stacked on top of all her existing ones.

“I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again.” Chariot takes a step forward, closing the distance between herself and Croix. “I want to fix things. I know it won’t be as easy as Constanze fixing your roomba, or happen as fast as Diana helping Akko get her grades up. But I’m willing to work for it. I won’t forget what you’ve done- to myself, to Akko, and almost to the world. But that also applies for the past. Even if that… changed, you were still for me in the beginning. And I can never forget that.”

Chariot relaxes into that familiar smile that Croix had come to think about more often nowadays. So comforting, so warm; Croix knows it’s something that Chariot wouldn’t show her unless she actually wanted to give Croix a second chance.

“You were there for me too,” Croix finds herself saying. “I didn’t know I needed someone like you until you were gone. I thought I could get by - and I almost did - but then seeing you again and having you try to foil my plans and keep Akko safe…” Croix runs a hand through her hair and chuckles bitterly. “I really can’t let you go.”

Chariot matches Croix’s laugh, but hers lacks the negativity. “Well, the same for me. I’m willing to start over.”

Croix catches Chariot’s gaze. The fire in her eyes is one that Croix is familiar with. Always burning with resolution, even if it ends up hurting her in the process. She’s tempted to turn away from such conviction.

But Croix holds her ground. Because just as Chariot is willing to give her a second chance, it means Croix has to prove she deserves this kindness as well. And that means matching Chariot’s determination with her own.

Which reminds her…

Croix’s eyes light up. “Ah, I just remembered something.”

Croix ignores Chariot’s gaze on her back as she walks over to the tube rack to grab the vial she had been eyeing before Chariot arrived.

“The cure to Wagandea’s pollen. Or rather, my current version. It’s the only one that’s had the reaction I’m interested in. Meaning it should work.”

Chariot frowns at the purple liquid. “It looks…”

“Dangerous,” the guard interrupts. She leaves her post by the door and stalks toward them. “If you plan to give that to Ms. du Nord.”

“Well, I had a feeling you and anyone else hounding me would not like that, so I came up with an alternate solution.” Croix raises the vial and swishes the liquid around. “This is actually two servings of the dose for my antidote. If I take the same amount as Chariot to test it out and nothing happens, we can be sure that it’s safe to drink.”

“You could have taken an antibody,” the guard argues.

Croix shrugs. “That’s plausible. Would you like to try it instead?”

The guard tenses.

Before she can consider her options, Chariot decides for the guard herself.

“It’s unlikely for Croix to have taken an antibody for this. She had no idea I was coming, and therefore couldn’t have guessed when to prepare for ingesting the solution. Even if she has an antibody to what could be poison, she’s had no opportunity to take it.”

The guard blinks. “I… suppose that’s valid. Then you take it first, Meridies.”

Croix raises the vial. “Alright, bottoms up.”

And the moment the purple liquid comes in contact with her lips, Croix nearly spits it back out.

“Croix!” Chariot rushes forward.

Croix holds up a hand to stop her, downing the rest of her half before replying, “I’m fine. Ngh, that was putrid. I guess all good things taste terrible.”

“You really worried me there…”

Croix scoffs. “I did say it’s the remedy to Wagandea’s pollen- your remedy. I wouldn’t make something just to kill you.” She passes the vial to Chariot. “Now then, your turn. Unless you have any objections, Ms. Guard?”

The woman - by the door once more - rolls her eyes. “You pass, Meridies.”

Now that the initial trial is over, Croix turns her attention to Chariot. She tries to stay stoic to reassure Chariot, but the apprehension is starting to mount.

(Will it work? After all these months, will I fix at least one of the things I nearly destroyed?)

Countless thoughts run through her mind. While Croix is certain it won’t poison Chariot, she’ll have to go back to the start if it doesn’t work at all.

(And if it does, will Chariot still come to visit? No, of course she will. Fixing our relationship doesn’t just mean regaining her ability to fly. Wait, what if the antidote reacts differently to those who have been affected by the pollen? I haven’t controlled for that! Then it’s possible-!)

A hand claps Croix’s trembling shoulders, pulling her from her thoughts. Green connects with red.

“Croix, it’s fine. Nothing happened,” Chariot reassures. “I’m fine. See?”

As Chariot says, nothing is wrong. Chariot is still in one piece and not in any pain.

“Oh. That’s good.” Croix straightens herself up. “How about we test if you can use a broom?”

With the guard’s permission, Chariot brings her broom inside of the laboratory toward an area with the most open space. She places the handle between her legs and takes a deep breath.

“Ready. Tia Freyre!”

Nothing happens. Not even a small burst of magical energy in the bristles. The broom remains as still as it usually is.

Croix runs a hand through her hair. “I should have expected this. I did expect this. It was too soon for me to get my hopes up.” With a growl, she leans over one of the lab tables and grips it until her knuckles turn white. “But what did I get wrong? The reaction was as it should be. Unless the substance should cause a different effect than what I initially hypothesized. Then what-?”

A small pressure on her cheek pulls Croix from her personal rambling. She whirls around to stare at the culprit.

In the corner of her eyes, Croix notes that the guard has turned so that she’s now facing the wall. But Croix only reflects on that for about one second before her brain reminds her that she was just kissed.

As if to remind herself, Croix places two fingertips on the area of contact. “What… what was that for?”

“Your New Year’s present.”

“Another present? And I thought I would only be getting a Christmas present.”

“Consider it a New Year’s resolution. A first step to the second chance I mentioned before.”

There is no counter argument for Croix to devise. Not against Chariot when she’s smiling in such a way that Croix feels she hasn’t actually failed at all.

So Croix decides to take what she can get. “Then… is there a chance for a New Year’s Eve present?”

Smile gone, Chariot can only roll her eyes at Croix’s eagerness. “No one gives presents for New Year’s Eve, Croix. Now you’re just greedy.”

“How about an early New Year’s present for the year after?”

“That isn’t how it works.”

“Then how about one in the proper place? To really solidify our promise?”

“I won’t do it even if you smile like that, Croix!”

“Oh come on. I’m sure your students have even kissed on the lips before we have! I’ll bet another five years of prison that Akko and Diana-”

“Why do you have to bring up my students?!”

Croix laughs at Chariot’s indignation. The redhead starts to throw as many arguments to deflect Croix’s insinuation about her students. They’re endearing, but Croix finds her mind start to trail again.

Well, she considers one kiss - even if it’s only on the cheek - enough for now. Croix hadn’t been hoping for a Christmas miracle, but it came to her anyway.

After only knowing loss for so long, she makes sure to treasure these small victories whenever she can.

Author’s Notes:

I’m not gonna lie. I don’t usually write Charoix, and it’s been months since I actually wrote something coherent for LWA. Hope they’re not too OOC or off in any way.

Anyway, happy holidays to all!

Fun Fact: