Prompt 6:
What Nikolas put in the boots.
Noboru sat in front of his fireplace, in his favorite stiff but worn leather chair. His dark eyes were transfixed upon the singular stocking that hung on the mantle, wavering just slightly after the third glass of scotch. He blinked slowly, his thoughts heavier than any who knew him could’ve imagined, except one. Katsumi knew.
After he had seen her, it had all come back to him. Not of it all at once, of course, but there was enough of it to cripple him for a long moment. He wasn’t sure if he was thrown back in time, but he knew that it was all real. He remembered another life, every experience coming back as if it had happened to him in this life. Two lives now existed in his psyche, and even the scotch had no helped to reconcile them.
In one life, he was Konishi Noboru, a psychology major who had always been stronger and bigger than he wanted to be. He had three brothers, all younger, who looked up to him. A comfortable job as a security officer at a library helped pay the bills, and it was perfect because he never had to exert much force at the place. He studied hard, but was more in tune to people than to books. Mostly, it was his charm that had gathered him connections that had led him to prosper in the field.
But now he remembered another life. He was Nephrite, a name that had once sounded strange to his ears now felt more familiar than Noboru. He was a General of the Imperial Guard of Elysian, and one of the last men alive able to read the stars. He remembered the sensation of communicating with them so fanatically that he almost dared to try it at the moment. His sanity and psychological training kept him in his seat. Even more so, he could recall of his training. He was never an expert neither at battle nor at riding, but what he did have was the strength. Nephrite was the strength. Then why, even now that he remembered, did he feel so weak?
Easy, he thought. Because all of the honor he had once gathered was forfeit; he had betrayed his Prince. They all had. It was very convenient for Katsumi to forget to mention that fact. He knew why it was omitted, though, because now Noboru didn’t want to remember Nephrite. He didn’t want to be who he once was, but he’d never be able to forget it. His whole future, whether he followed Kunzite, or Katsumi, or not, was now marred by the failure of the man who he once was.
And so he gazed with these heavy thoughts upon that singular stocking. He kept coming back to the question of what, if true, St. Nikolas would put in his stocking. As Noboru, he was sure to get at least some form of chocolate, even if it wasn’t a lot. He was certain of this, but even more certain that Nephrite deserved the biggest piece of coal that would fit.
