China Figurines

Outside the window, snow fell in a steady sheet that blanketed the street and prevented much travel. Inside the window, an aggravated skull glared at it, as if the heat of his gaze could melt it all away, making the road accessible. He did not own chains for his car, Echo did not own a CAR, period, and it was far too far for either of them to walk. Buses were shut down, subways did not reach far enough anyways... 

And it was Christmas Eve. He wished that he had stayed the night as usual, but her present was at his house, which meant he had to leave anyway...

Sighing, he turned away from the window, and the weather channel on his tiny T.V. caught his attention.

"...And the snow will continue for several days, meaning a very white Christmas..."

Oh, how he hated the world... Skulduggery glared outside again, seriously considering burning all the snow away while he drove. 

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Echo was outside, wrapped up in several layers of clothing and making a snow-man like a child. Only she was not a child and Valkyrie, laughing at the sight from across the street as she walked, proved it: Valkyrie was about a head shorter then her at 15. 

"What're you doing?" Valkyrie asked, grinning like a skeleton. 

"Making a snowman. What does it look like?" Echo asked, searching for a good stick for the second arm. 

"It looks like you're looking for spare change."

"Oh, implying I'm a hobo now are we?" the Captain Cleaver grinned anyway. 

"Where's Skulduggery? He would have beaten me for that comment if he was here..." Valkyrie giggled at the thought. 

"I have NO idea. I guess it's something to do with the snow and such." Echo sighed. "And I had the PERFECT present, too..."

"He'll find a way. Trust me, he'll find a WAY." Valkyrie knew how, too...

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Skulduggery, finding no other options, asked China for help. 

Now he was sitting on a couch in her library, waiting for the woman to return with a book or something- Skulduggery had no clue what she would have, but it had better be good...

Three stories up, China smiled and waited. 

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Eventually Valkyrie walked back to her home three blocks away, leaving Echo with a snow-man she named "Richard the Proud." He was adorned by a Santa hat she found in her closet, sunglasses, a scarf, and some random seashells that were in the hat. 

She stared at him for a few moments, then decided she'd knock him over when he began to melt and went inside. Sighing, she peeled off her jacket and flopped down on her couch, waiting for herself to warm up. 

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Two hours later, it was getting dark outside. And Skulduggery decided that he had waited FAR TOO FREAKING LONG. 

Before he could stand up China walked down the hall, smiling pleasantly. "It's ready: Your car has chains on it."

"...It took two hours to just do that?!" He almost shouted at her, but managed to keep his voice calm. 

"No, it was done an hour and a half ago." 

The look he gave her pretty much screamed 'IHATEYOUSOMUCHYOUSTUPIDLITTLETROLLOP" but he did not reply verbally, opting instead to walk to his apartment.

Presents in hand, he ran back out a few minutes later to take the two hour bumpy right to Haggard. 

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Echo found some Christmas decorations and proceeded to randomly deck her halls with flashing lights, holly, and paper chains. In every doorway she hung springs of mistletoe, determined to keep her mind off the waning hour. 

But why wasn't he here? She knew for a fact that China kept chains in her garage- She had made sure of that! 

Maybe he didn't ask China? Maybe he was just making Echo wait to be a bastard? Maybe he was going to wait until tomorrow, so the snow might melt a bit?

Sighing, she barely noticed headlights pulling up outside her home, but she did notice five minutes later when Skulduggery cracked an upstairs window, sneaked up behind her, and lazily looked over her shoulder at a paper chain she was stapling to the wall. 

"Where did you find that?" He asked, making her jump: The stapler dropped two feet before his hand snaked out and grabbed it. 

She whirled around, and his other arm leaned kept him on balance by leaning against the wall. The Captain Cleaver was quite surprised: She had gone from putting bright colored paper on her wall to being trapped between Skulduggery, his arms, and said wall. 

"In a closet."

"Really?"

"It's amazing what you can find when you search." Echo felt her face flush, he was so close...

Skulduggery noticed it at once, internally grinning at her expression. She was cute, especially when surprised... He shook it off mentally, backing up a step from Echo and offering her the stapler. 

Grinning, she took it from him, placing it on a table. "You're such a freak."

...That was news to him. "How so?"

"Look at you! You're a walking skeleton who breaks into people's homes!" Her grin stretched and she laughed. "You shouldn't even need to ask!" And she was gone, walking into another room, all worries removed by his sudden appearance. 

He followed her without commenting, having no good come-back for that one. It didn't help that he agreed with her. 

...And that was a pretty cool tree. She had found tinsel and ornaments as well as paper chains, and the star was off to the side on a table. The christmas lights reflected off it, bright green and red and blue and yellow and- Hey, was that a pink one?

Echo herself was looking over her shoulder at him, bemused by his apparent fascination with the tree. "Don't go all Jack Skellington on me, now." 

"Huh?" Skulduggery gazed at her curiously.

"Nothing." She grinned. 

A/N: ...I think I lost. Badly. (God, this sucks...)