Work Text:
Merry Christmas, Salem
by Pirate Turner
He stared at the beautiful presents that surrounded the tall, sparkling Christmas tree. He watched the child playing with the brightly wrapped gifts Hilda had lovingly placed underneath the tree for Zelda until the lines of his vision blurred and it was no longer the six year-old kid he saw. Instead, he saw the throngs of armies that had marched to His Greatness centuries ago, each man, woman, child, and other being eager to bestow upon him the greatest present they had to offer. They had come from all across the globe to cheer him, and he had been gifted with the best of everything -- their lovers, their artists, their minstrels, their spells, their jewelry, their weaponry, their books, their armor, their fighters, their clothing, their toys, anything and everything he could possibly want.
But this Christmas, there would be none of that. His so-called family had let the Solstice go by with not even a blink as they opted to celebrate the mortal Christmas instead, and even now, as Sabrina and her husband arrived and they finished gathering together to celebrate the holiday, he knew not a single present under that tree bore his name nor would even a single drop of eggnog be allowed to go to him. They would gobble down the eggnog and the dinner feast and pay him attention only to yell at him if he dared attempt to sneak a bite. They would push him aside when the time to open presents came and expect him to play with the emptied boxes and shredded paper for his enjoyment.
He was no kitten!, he sniffed. He was a man, a once-immensely powerful Sorcerer trapped in the body of a cat, but a man nonetheless. The lack of acknowledgment he received hurt badly enough, but what tore his heart apart was the fact that nobody loved him. His green eyes filled with tears. Nobody loved him! Nobody cared about him, not even on Christmas or Solstice or whatever you wanted to call the holiday at the end of the calendar year!
A gentle hand gingerly scratching the top of his ebony head snapped Salem out of his dismal reverie. He blinked back the tears, unwilling to show any sign of weakness, especially to another male, and refocused his gaze on the face that smiled down at him. Harvey knelt beside Salem and whispered to him as he stroked his satiny fur. "We men gotta stick together, especially in this household." His grin grew into an even warmer smile as he placed a present in front of Salem.
The gift was only medium-sized, nowhere near as big as many he'd received in the past. It was wrapped in blue Frosty paper and tied with a red ribbon. Only the color of the ribbon was the same as what he would have chosen had he been wrapping his own present. Yet none of that mattered because the mere sight of the gift filled his heart with a glowing warmth brighter and hotter than any he'd ever felt before. Harvey hadn't given to him because he felt he had to or to get in his good graces. Whatever was in that little box, he was giving it to him because he wanted to!
"Go ahead. Open it." Salem carefully touched the present with a single paw, as though almost afraid it would disappear and prove to be only a mirage or a cruel trick. Upon seeing it didn't vanish, he eagerly moved forward. He took the edge of the ribbon in his mouth and pulled gently; the binding fell away. Two quick slashes of his sharp claws sent the paper falling off and revealed a large, plastic container filled with small specks every color of the rainbow.
Salem stared at the jug, and then his face fell. It was only mice! He mewed his dismay. All that hope, all that excitement, and it was nothing but mice! He was a man, not just an ordinary, simpering housecat! Fake mice were hardly his idea of . . .
As Salem had been complaining, Harvey had turned the jar on its side, and Salem's senses exploded as Harvey sprinkled the mice out and the scents of rabbit fur and catnip assailed Salem's nose. He grabbed a couple of the mice in his paws and rolled over onto his back. His emerald eyes gleamed in joy until they seemed to roll back into his head. He tossed them and caught them repeatedly, chewing on every available end in between tosses. His contentment rumbled throughout the room. He shook them, threw them, and chased after them, catching them only to do it all over again.
Time ceased to have any meaning, and all else was forgotten while Salem played with his new toys for hours until the call for dinner came. He almost ignored the women completely and did indeed continue his playing until Harvey stuck his head back into the room. "Salem, you coming?"
He froze in mid-catch to stare at the boy who had finally grown to be a man. "We've got a place waiting for you." Salem needed no further invitation. He streaked toward the kitchen, his ebony tail a full and proud plume! When he spied his bowl of eggnog and fully-decked plate, he purred loudly. This was going to be a very Merry Christmas, or Happy Solstice, after all!
The End