Chapter [ERROR]

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Abandoned Site Seraph, Sagitarius Imperial Installation.

"Hey, you wanted to see me?" Emilia froze as she entered the room. "What the-"

"Merry Christmas!"

Emilia opened her mouth...then closed it. Then opened it again. And closed it.

Out of all the things she expected to see today, having Alexandra, CQ, Jared, and a bunch of golems all wearing santa hats cheering at her wasn't it. Nor did she expect the Christmas tree made out of metal with...were those gems? Those looked like gems, hanging from it's branches in lieu of baubles, with bands of cloths wrapped around the tree like tinsel. It did look pretty though. Was that table covered in drinks and traveling biscuits?

"Uh...Merry Christmas? Alex, couldn't you have given me some warning this was gonna happen?"

Alexandra's smirk was positively irking.

"Nope! Would have ruined the surprise, and the fun! Ah, you should have seen your face!"

Emilia crossed her arms under her breasts and rolled her eyes, which of course only made the infuriating woman (who she referred less and less to as a dungeon, she was just so...so human) laugh.

The vampire let out a small smile.

"Alright, fine, I guess it would have been funny from your perspective...still, you could have told me you were intending to do a celebration! You just told me to prepare presents!"

Alexandra chuckled, and grabbed a glass, downing a quick gulp.

"Uh." She looked at the glass. "Not bad, all things considered. I didn't know you guys flavored travel water for desert crossings."

Emilia shrugged.

"Some people like to." She squinted speculatively at Alexandra. "I didn't know you could drink."

"Neither did I, honestly, but I thought a Christmas celebration would be just sad without food and drink, and I literally just grabbed and drank by reflex. It feels nice actually, plus it makes sense, the person that originally built this body looked more or less human, so she probably made it to be at least able to enjoy food and drink." She shrugged. "Honestly those were mostly for you, I don't know if vampires need to really eat anything, you made it pretty clear you really needed mana more than anything, but I thought you'd appreciate the gesture."

Alexandra grabbed a glass and handed it over to her advisor.

"I do appreciate it, thanks." Emilia took the drink with a smile and a nod, then took a sip. Flavored indeed, peaches if she wasn't mistaken. "Well, if we're through with the niceties, I suppose we should get to this?" She nodded towards the presents assembled under the tree. "I'd say the kid is getting impatient."

Alexandra followed Emilia's gaze, and giggled as she saw CQ, who was looking at the brightly packaged presents with obvious curiosity.

"Right, fair enough. Alright, time to open them up! Oh, wait, one more thing." Alexandra turned around, grabbed something, then turned back towards Emilia, her hands behind her back. "Come here Emilia~"

"Uh..." Emilia took a step back, suddenly unsure, as she saw her friend's mischevious grin.

Then suddenly, the Earth-born darted forward, and before the vampire could so much as yelp, shoved a santa hat onto her assistant's head.

Emilia blinked, then grabbed the fluffy ball at the pointy end of the hat, and sighed.

"Was that truly necessary?"

"Yup!" Said the insufferable woman with an unrepentant grin, then she turned towards the tree. "Alright, let's get to it before CQ pokes one with her sword just to see what it does."

She patted the boss on the head, getting a pleased smiled and bounce in response, before making a beeline towards the tree. There, she kneeled, and grabbed the first present. While it wasn't wrapped in what some would call 'traditional' Christmas paper, the thin, brightly colored cloth did pretty well as an imitation.

"Alright, young ones first. CQ, here's your present." Said Alexandra with a smile, as she handed the boss the box.

CQ eagerly took it, then just looked at it, puzzled, and Alexandra laughed.

"Right, you have to open it."

CQ looked up, and tilted her head, then Alexandra got up, slightly tore the packaging open, and then gestured towards it. CQ's eyes lit up, and she immediately starting tearing the packaging off like she was a crazed pirahana. A few seconds later, there were only scraps left, and the boss looked at the box, and tilted her head. But before Alexandra and Emilia had the time to intervene, she grabbed the top part, and slowly opened the box thanks to the hinges on the back.

CQ fully opened it, looked at the inside for a bit, before extracting a magnificently wrought steel sword, with a handle carved of onyx and wrapped in leather for easier gripping. She let the wooden box fall and clatter on the ground, lifting the sword to eye level, before executing a surprisingly fast and practiced series of movements with it. Emilia blinked, it looked like Alexandra had spent some time teaching the boss while she was off doing something else (probably during the times she had been reading and the two of them had been in the workshop).

CQ laughed, and bounced, before slamming into Alexandra like an armored missile, hugging her. Alexandra giggled, and hugged the boss back, burying her face into her hair, before letting her go.

"You're welcome kiddo."

The boss stepped back and smiled, before looking at Emilia as Alexandra directed her gaze towards her. One behind the other like that, the resemblance was stunning. CQ indeed looked like a younger version of Alexandra.

Emilia blinked for a second, before realizing why Alexandra was staring at her. She beckoned CQ closer, before plunging her hand in one of her spatial pouches, setting her drink down on the table so she didn't have to avoid spilling it while moving.

"Alright, so this isn't fancily wrapped like miss dungeon over there's present, but I think you will like it all the same."

Then she pulled out a pair of books, 'Guide to Royal Etiquette and proper Postures' and 'The Art of Elegant Swordfighting', then offered them to CQ. The boss stepped forward, and after carefully setting her new sword down, gingerly took them. Then, suddenly remembering that the poor girl wouldn't even know how to open them (and read them, but she had made sure these books were mostly composed of detailed pictures instead of written instructions), and did it for the boss, before demonstrating how to turn the pages, and with a few gestures explaining from which point to start, and which point to end. CQ looked up, and nodded seriously. Emilia gazed into her eyes, and nodded back, satisfied at the spark of comprehension in the boss' eyes. Then she almost stumbled and fell as the boss hugged her. Emilia froze for a second, before returning the enthusiastic hug, and letting the boss go as she started stepping back, the boss happily smiling.

"Right, uh... Next is...Jared, I suppose?"

"Yep!"

Alexandra kneeled once again and grabbed another present, before offering it to the somewhat battered golem. Jared stared at her for a moment, before grabbing it, and unwrapping it, jerkily imitating CQ's movements. Then, he opened the box...and brought out an onyx dagger. A very, very, very intricately carved onyx dagger. Carved entirely with runes. Emilia's eyes wandered over the dagger, and widened as she started to realize the spell that was embedded into the weapon. She opened her mouth, and closed it. Then Alexandra started speaking.

"You've been my bodyguard for the last few days, but you never had a weapon that truly allowed you to defend me if the need arose. So this is to correct that. Consider this as your last resort weapon, if no other option is available, use it to protect me, alright."

Jared looked at her for a second, before slowly nodding, and carefully putting the dagger down on the table. Emilia frowned, had he....understood? He shouldn't be that smart just yet...Then again, very weird things could happen to dungeon defenders, especially the ones close to the Core or the dungeon's Avatar. He spent all of his time by Alexandra's side, so who knew what could happen? In any case, everyone, even the golems in the back, expectantly turned towards Emilia.

The vampire girl rolled her eyes, elicting a muffled chuckle from Alexandra, and grabbed yet another book from her pouches, and offered it to the golem. She had no idea if he could understand even pictures, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

Jared took it, and without any prompting from her, opened the book, and flipped a page, carefully, almost like it was made out of glass. This, however, allowed Alexandra to see the cover and the name on it, and prompting her to start laughing.

"Ahahah! 'H-How to be a butler'? R-Really? That's what you offered him? That's hilarious vampy!"

Emilia grinned, and stuck her tongue out at Alexandra, which elicted yet another bout of laughter from her, before she calmed down, straightened up, and waved at Jared and CQ.

"Sorry, wasn't laughing at you, no insult meant."

The atmosphere seemed to relax a bit after that, like if CQ and Jared had somehow understood the undertones.

Jared went back to the book, and Emilia had the very distinct impression like he was actually reading it, before he looked up, closed the book, and set it besides the dagger, before looking straight at Emilia, and giving her a firm nod, which she answered in kind.

"Alright, so now, for your presents-"

"Hop hop hop! Remind me what you said at the beginning?" Said Emilia with a devilish grin, which only grew bigger as Alexandra froze. "Younger ones first, right? Well, while Jared is technically younger than CQ, he does act more mature, you are most definitely younger than I am."

"And what, I act younger as well?"

Emilia sniffed haughtily, and lifted up her chin.

"Of course."

Alexandra laughed.

"Alright alright, me first I guess. So, since the other two can't really make presents, what did you get for me vampy?"

Emilia rolled her eyes, then her gaze softened as she looked Alexandra in the eyes. She grabbed something from her pouch, and offered it to her.

"Here, this is for you, it's not much, but...."

Alexandra took the piece of....jewelry? It looked like jewelry anyway, it was a simply golden circle with a gem in the middle, and a button on it. She could almost feel the hum of the enchantment contained inside the thing, and could sense Emilia's unique...signature? Taste? Whatever it was, she hadn't made the object itself, but she sure as hell had made the enchantment on it. She looked up at the vampire girl, raising an eyebrow, and Emilia simply gestured towards the button.

Alexandra pressed it. And her eyes widened.

For a split second, it looked like the air distorted and filled with static, before a perfect globe appeared above the jewel, first in holographic blue, and then colors appearing everywhere.

And that perfect globe was Earth, with every continent exquisitely detailed, in their untouched-by-humans beauty.

Tears filled Alexandra's eyes as she contemplated her homeworld, and she looked down as she heard the scraping of soles against the ground. Emilia was right there, in front of her, looking at her with soft eyes.

"It's not perfect, obviously I've never seen Earth myself....but I've done my best to replicate it from images and paintings I saw or had on my books. I know it's not much, but I thought you'd like-"

Alexandra didn't even let her finish her sentence, and wrapped the vampire girl in the tightest hug she could give her. She whispered in her ear, almost convulsively as tears flowed down her face.

"Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. A thousand times thank you. You don't realize how much I've missed it...and how terrified I was of forgetting how it looked...I could have never have done it myself, and a picture from memory would never have done it, so thank you..."

Emilia's tense shoulders relaxed, and she hugged back Alexandra.

"It's alright...Come on, it's Christmas, don't cry...."

Alexandra chuckled, and quickly dried her tears, before letting the vampire girl go, and straightening back up.

"Alright, you're probably right, although there is something to be said for tears of joy...Here, this is what I got for you."

She grabbed the last package under the tree, and handed it over to Emilia, who took it. She smiled at the vampire girl, and gestured towards it.

Emilia smiled back, and carefully unwrapped the present. It was...a very large book. The cover read 'The Wonders of Charted Space, 6th Edition, 2160'. She opened it, and gasped, looking up sharply at a smiling Alexandra.

"Yep. It's not perfect, I had to recreate it from memory, so some of it I might have forgotten, and misremembered, but I did add some stuff of my own, things that were either kept off the record or never came to the attention of the authors."

Emilia looked at her for a few seconds, before looking back down. Now she understood why the Earth-born had talked about 'pictures from memory'. Because that was what the book was filled with. Pictures, magnificent, absolutely breath taking pictures. Of massive buildings, great phenomenons, space stations, ships, everything magnificent Alexandra's people had found and cataloged. From the Niagara Falls to the breathtaking ring system of Epsilon Eridiani-6, everything was there.

Emilia smiled, closed the book, and promptly hugged the towering woman. Alexandra giggled, and hugged her back.

"Thank you...now I'll get to know your old world much better...and bombard you with more questions!"

Alexandra giggled again.

"I see. Well, now that we're done with the presents..." She smiled as Emilia let her go and looked at her, her eyes curious. "Let's get on with the food! Let's see if those 'travel biscuits', which if I remember well were called 'hardtack' back on Earth, are as tough to eat as everyone says! Come on, first to eat three wins the prize!"

Emilia rolled her eyes and laughed as Alexandra grabbed her hand and led her towards the table.