A Belated 2024 Christmas Special

Note :

In a series first, this one was written pretty much for patreon, and is anchored in book 10's current-ish situation. Honestly, having to remember at what stage RR was and what the situation was is part of what just broke my willingness to make specials. So, most likely, going forward I'll be writing them at the stage patreon is simply to preserve my sanity, though it means most of them will have delayed releases on RR.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this (belated) 2024 christmas special !

Chapter???

Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Command Center

"So...when do we celebrate Christmas?" Asked CQ as she hopped onto a console, and Alexandra smiled sadly.

"Kiddo, we're long past Christmas. I'm sorry, but you were in the field, and the celebrations have been over for a while. There isn't even snow anymore."

"But...but...I didn't get to celebrate..." Alexandra's heart skipped a beat as she saw her daughter's expression.

"Hey, hey kiddo! There's no need to- I'm sure we can find something-"

CQ shook her head, a tear streaming down her cheek, and Alexandra's heart broke.

"No, no, it's fine mom, you're busy, and...and...I-I'll just get out of your hair."

"Kiddo, wait!" But CQ had already vanished in a flash of energy.

Alexandra just stood there. Was this her fault? CQ had wanted to be at the tip of the spear, but she'd also sent her there, used her to prop up her failing military as she schemed and built. As she spent time with Emilia, with Allya, with Pyn...

She lashed out. Her fist hit the console with so much strength the screens exploded, and the underlying alloy, meant to deflect plasma cannon shots, bent.

The Earth-born hissed as she extracted her now broken fist from the tangle of sparking electronics and dying systems, before yelling out.

"SERAPH! Front and center, now!"

There was so much command authority in her voice she felt the imperative echo within the network, as a split second later the AI's hologram appeared.

"Milady!" The hologram swept its gaze around, though of course it couldn't truly 'see' anything. "You're hurt! What happened?"

"That's...irrelevant. I need you to grab everyone. Everyone but CQ. That includes Emi's pet enchanters. And send for Allya and Pyn. We need to get our heads together, now."

"Yes milady, right away!"

The AI saluted, and vanished in a haze of pixels, as Alexandra turned back towards the console, fixing it with a wave of her hands and generous application of her dungeon powers.

She had work to do. And fast.

*****

CQ sighed as she stepped onto the express elevator out of the fourth floor.

She hadn't enjoyed playing boss nearly as much as she thought. Compared to fighting on the surface it was almost...boring now. It kind of hurt. Was that what growing up felt like? Looking back at everything you enjoyed and realizing how empty they made you feel now? That was just awful.

The elevator let out its little ding as the doors opened, and the boss stepped out into the hallway. She'd felt a lot of emotions from her moms. Maybe she'd made them mad. She hadn't meant to run like that, but...she didn't know what she meant. She was just upset and sad and couldn't explain it, not even to herself.

The core fortress was almost silent, except for the slight vibration of magic in the air. It was...odd. Different than usual. She'd been absent for a while, but it still felt different than a few hours ago. And where was everybody?

Well, her mom was usually in one of two places: the command center and the workshop. She opted for the command center. Even if she didn't find anyone there, she could find their whereabouts. She could just use her communicator but she was reluctant to disturb her mom again.

She opened the door to the command center...

And leapt back as she was met with a blast of cool air, snow, and the sound of party poppers.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Yelled out...almost everyone she knew, as she let go of the hilt of her sword, and realized that the entire command center was covered in snow.

"What...why?"

Her mom stopped ahead of the crowd smiling.

"I saw...how you reacted to having missed Christmas, and thought I should do something about it."

"Mom...you..." CQ leapt into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly. "You're the best! The very, very best!"

Alexandra chuckled, hugging her daughter back, burying her face in the boss' hair, and kissing her softly.

"Why, thank you kiddo. But I didn't do it alone!" CQ took a step back, and smiled at everyone else as her mom gestured at them. "Now, how about we go do some proper celebrations?"

"Here? It's gonna be a bit cramped."

Alexandra's smile widened.

"Oh kiddo, it's like you don't even know me. When have I ever thought small?"

The Earth-born gestured behind her at the hologram floating above the rest of the command center, and it took CQ a full three seconds to process the image.

It was showing the town. City, now, really.

Covered in snow.

*****

"Well...that was expensive." Said Alexandra as she flopped onto her bed. She couldn't feel exhaustion, at least not in the physical sense, but it had been quite a draining day. "Worth it though."

"It was very sweet of you." Said Emilia, as the vampire sat down on the bed. "Though, I don't think you needed to go quite that far."

"I did. She missed...she missed it because of me."

"No. She missed it because she had people to protect and she wanted to do it."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Alexandra stretched. "But hey, at least we got some interesting stuff out of it. And a team building exercise!"

"Yes. You drafted everybody to help with prototypes. And I think scared the ever living hell out of haf of the enchanters."

"Why? They scared of some little snow cannons?"

Emilia looked taken aback.

"Litte- you blanketed a whole city! From just the mesa fortress! Do you even realize how insane that is, even ignoring how fast you did it? It takes years, decades, hell, sometimes even centuries of study and contemplation to build a new arcane item! You created something completely new in three hours. And then proceeded to mass produce it."

"I've done worse."

"I know. I'm acutely aware of that. In any case." Emilia sat down, straddling her girlfriend's waist, clad in a...light female santa costume. "It's another Christmas right? Where's my milk and cookie tax? Mmmhhh?"

Alexandra chuckled.

"Are you serious darling?" She looked into the vampire's eyes and decided that why yes, she was serious. "Of course. I'll get right on that."

"Good." Purred the vampire.

That was the only sensible answer. When one's girlfriend demanded pastries, it was wise to simply say 'right away' and comply.

Besides, they had something to celebrate. Their daughter was happy, the town had found that little act of whimsy hilarious, and she'd built a trebuchet to demolish Allya and Pyn's team during the snowball fight. All was right in the world...