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Okay, before I start, I just want you to know a little my side project. It's called Changing Seasons. It revolves around Louis 10 years prior to the events in Parallel Universe. This story will be posted every special holidays and it's always a 2 parter. I know it's really late to post this, but I thought, if I didn't post this (and New Years) now, the next part of it (including Parallel Universe) wouldn't add up. I'm very sorry for all the confusion and lateness.

~~~

Changing Seasons: Christmas 1

TWAS THE FIGHT AT CHRISTMAS EVE

24 December

Matt and his girlfriend, Kelly, are having their Christmas Eve date at the "Chez Le Blanc" restaurant, a popular spot for their fancy, and yet very cheap cuisines from France. That night was perfect. Just him and his girlfriend, together, enjoying their favorite time of the year, besides Valentine's of course.

The deep romantic atmosphere around them is very noticeable. They both gaze at each other's eyes, not noticing the amount of crowd they attract.

"You're even more beautiful tonight," Matt smiled to her.

"And you're even more handsome tonight," Kelly replied. She continued with a kiss on his lips. The crowd just smiled and turned their heads away from the young couple.

Louis, who was sitting at the corner of the room, just smiled at their intimacy. His silver eyes stared at his collage mates as they continued kissing, even after the waiter had arrived.

"What's wrong Louis?"

Louis turned his head towards the young boy of around 8 sitting across to him. His blue eyes stared at him questioningly. He tilted his head a little to he left and saw the kissing couple.

"Are they your friends?"

"You might say that," Louis responded. "Come on, Alex. Hurry and eat up. After this, we're going to train at the docks again."

"Really?" Alex smiled at him.

"Only if you eat quickly, my little apprentice," Louis chuckled. On that note, Alex gobbled up the rest of his fillet, leaving a mess around his mouth. Louis laughed and took his napkin from his lap. As he leaned forward to wipe Alex's mouth, his long, silver hair dropped from his shoulder.

"You're really like a little brother to me," Louis smiled to him, cleaning the sauce from Alex's cheeks.

"Don't you have a brother?" Alex asked. Louis's expression changed instantly, becoming really depressed. Alex quickly noticed this significant change.

"I'm sorry Louis. I forgot," he apologized.

"It's okay kiddo," Louis smiled back. "People die eventually."

Alex knew that his mentor is trying his best to smile. Even though he doesn't know what really happened, Alex already knew about Louis' family's death. He almost experienced the same thing 3 years ago.

Death.

The atmosphere became heavy as they sat in silence. Louis sighed and lifted his face.

"Why are we so depressed about?" he smiled. "Come on, eat up. You do want to try to use ice magic, right?"

Alex continued eating the rest of his meal as Louis stared at him. The 21-year-old collage boy called the waiter just as Alex finished his meal.

'Tonight's gonna be perfect!' Matt yelled inside his head. He had planned this date for months already. As he and Kelly were heading towards the pier, he took a peek inside his pocket. The little black box containing the diamond ring sits there as comfortable as it can get. His plan that night: propose to Kelly. He hoped that nothing could go wrong that night.

The crispy winter air and snow brightens the mood as they walked towards their favorite spot. The young couple cuddled as they walked. The varsity football captain held his head cheerleader from the cool air. They sat down at the snow-covered bench near the edge of the pier.

"Kelly," he started, "you know how much I loved you, right?"

"Of course," Kelly smiled back at him. She drew closer to him, trying to get as warm as possible.

"There's a surprise for you," Matt cuddled to her.

"What's that?"

Matt planted his lips directly to hers. The romantic couple kissed beneath the moonlight and above the sparkling water below them. They pulled back and stared again.

"There's something that I wanted to tell you," Matt smiled.

"What is it?"

"It's ..." Matt stopped and saw Louis and Alex walking down the road. He grinned mischievously at them.

"Hmm?" Kelly interrupted.

"Whaddaya say we take care of that silver haired freak?" Matt pointed towards Louis who wasn't noticing them. Kelly turned and looked at what he's pointing.

"Come on, on Christmas Eve?" Kelly responded.

"Well? Come on. It'll be fun."

Kelly just sighed at her boyfriend's decision. "Alright, just this once, okay?"

Louis and Alex walked down the chilly road, towards their training spot. Louis suddenly stopped on his tracks and turned around.

"Alex, get back," he ordered the kid. Alex knew that this isn't the best time to disobey his mentor. He walked behind him and hid behind a trash compactor near them.

"Well, well. If it isn't the silver haired weirdo," Matt walked towards him with Kelly following him.

"What do you want?" Louis responded coldly.

"Aww, come on! We just want a little fun," Matt drew closer and punched Louis right on the stomach. Louis gasped for air and landed on his knees. Just as he we're about to get up, he was kicked at the same region with Matt's thick boots. Louis just cringed in pain.

"I knew this is gonna happen..." Kelly muttered silently at his boyfriend's actions, regretting to give him permission to do that. "And here I thought he'll only shove him into the water."

"Why?" Louis yelled. "Why is everybody doing this to me?"

"Because," Matt pulled Louis's long hair up, making him stand, "you're different than us."

"What does that have to do with it?" Louis cringed in pain.

"Well," Matt grinned, "it's always fun for us to beat people like you. That's all."

"That's it? I'm just your punching bag?"

"Nah... You're more like, a pillow that I want to beat up senslessly," Matt responded before he punched Louis repeatedly at the stomach and face.

'They beat me up, just because I'm different?' Louis thought to himself as he tried to whitstand the blows. His mind began to darken. 'That's the reason?' He started to tear up. Matt took this as his advantage to beat him again. Kelly, however, just sighed deeply. Louis' strength began to fade, and his vision became blurry. As he was about to pass out, he noticed some fish like creatures appear from the water. His silver eyes shot open. He knew those creatures very well and mustered his energy back.

"What? Are you going to fight back, 'silver'?" Matt taunted him.

"Listen you two," Louis warned them, "you guys better get out of here, or else..."

"Or else what, tough guy?" Matt mocked and threw him towards the trash compactor where Alex was hiding. Alex was just shocked that Louis actually allowed Matt to hit him as much as he wants. Louis just yelled in pain and slowly stood up again.

"I told you, get out of here!" Louis warned them again.

"I'm not gonna take that from a freak like you!" Matt started to get close to Louis, ready to punch him again.

"I have no choice, do I?" Louis sighed.

"That's right! Now beg for mercy!" Matt drew his arm once again, ready to punch him. Alex just closed his eyes and ears to ignore the last blow. Louis then moved swiftly, evading Matt's blow quickly. At that moment, he dashed towards Kelly and stood behind her, drawing his gun from under his light brown coat. He fired a few rounds, hitting the fish creatures that ware about to eat Kelly whole. Kelly and Matt just stared at what he did and the target he shot. They were shocked of what they saw. The slimy, fish like creature stood on its hind legs with duck like hands and feet.

"What is that !?" Kelly screamed.

"Hurry! Hide behind there!" Louis ordered them, pointing his other gun towards the trash compactor near them. Matt and Kelly couldn't do anything but followed his orders. Behind it, they saw Alex still trying to ignore the fight.

"Hey, isn't this the kid he took?" Kelly remembered.

Matt shook the frightened little kid. "Hey, are you okay?"

Alex just stepped back and avoided the couple.

"Alex!" Louis called. "Call Lionel and tell him to get ready for a transfer!"

Alex just took out his small cell and pressed the number on his speed dial.

The cell phone on the small table rang a very noticeable ring tone. Lionel, a young man with smooth blonde hair, woke up and groaned. He took the cell and answered it.

"Hello?" he replied groggily.

"Lionel! Help!" Alex panicked. "Some creatures appeared and Louis isn't in the condition to fight!"

Lionel blue eyes went wide. "Alright! Transfer me in 2 minutes!" he hung up and changed his clothes immediately. He drew the spear under his bed and some small hand grenades in his side table. As he took them both, a yellow circle with strange symbols appeared below him and he disappeared into thin air.

The yellow circle near Alex shone brightly and Lionel appeared out of nowhere.

"Thanks, kiddo!" Lionel rubbed his head. He turned his head and saw Matt and Kelly stared at him in awe.

"Did you do that in front of them!?" he yelled. Just as Alex was about to answer, Louis jumped back, near where Lionel was standing.

"Took you long enough," Louis panted. Lionel was about to answer sarcastically until he stopped and saw Louis' wounds. He wasn't cut, but brutally bruised because of the hits from Matt a moment ago.

"What happened to you!?" Lionel grabbed him. Louis immediately pushed him back and dodged the creature's attack in the nick of time. He shot another few rounds until he noticed his guns are empty. He put them back to the holster and took a look around. Their perimeters were totally covered by those fish-like creatures, and there were no where to escape. Lionel threw the grenades towards the crowd. They exploded like a big firework. Unfortunately, the fish creatures surfaced like and endless stream of them.

"Uh oh...," Lionel patted his pockets. "Out of grenades."

"I guess we have no choice..." Louis sighed. He drew a card out of his trench coat and focused all his energy into it. His body began to glow brightly.

"Woah! Hey!" Lionel yelled. "Are you sure about this!?"

"It's the only way to face them," Louis yelled back. "Besides..." he took another glance of the couple and kid behind the trash compactor, "they knew what we're up to now, don't they?"

As he finished the sentence, the flow of energy has stopped and his appearance is no longer human. Before them stood a silver furred wolf, wielding a great sword with a unique design on his right hand.

"Is that..."Kelly stared.

"Louis?" Matt continued.

Louis didn't respond. He just focused on his enemies and cuts them before they struck him. The green blood from the creatures spattered from the mighty swing. Lionel joined in and stabbed the creatures attacking Louis. They both are standing back to back on a stance.

"You three, get down!" the wolf told them. He chanted something in an unknown language, enveloping both of their weapons in fire. They both jumped and waved their weapons in a circle above and below them The circles exploded and creating fiery whiplash effect towards all directions, cutting their foes and burning them to dust. The remaining fled, not wanting to get killed. But most of the fleers were killed by Lionel's spear. As they landed, they took care of the remaining creatures, leaving none alive.

The cousins huffed silently as their job, and battle, was finally complete. However, due to exhaustion and wounds, Louis collapsed on the ground. His sword made a loud clanging noise on the ground. Everyone panicked and got close to the wolf. He was panting heavily and coughed up a lot of blood.

"Louis!" Lionel shook him. "Are you okay?"

Louis just chuckled and reverted back to his normal human self. "I'm fine." He coughed up some more blood to the ground. "Just a few broken ribs, that's all."

"That's not fine!" Lionel yelled. Kelly and Matt went a few more steps towards Louis. They were speechless of what had happened. There they were, hiding behind a trash compactor, seeing the silver haired collage student who they beat up everyday fighting for their safety.

"Matt," Louis called," come here."

Matt got close to his face. His blue eyes are staring at his wounded collage mate. Louis pulled his hand and put a black box on his hand.

"Hope your proposal goes well," Louis smiled as he coughed up some more blood. After that, Louis stood up and walked past the whole group. His movements were shaky, almost making him collapse before Lionel and Alex caught him again. Lionel then picked him up and carried him towards the city's hospital, leaving the couple staring towards their direction. Kelly got close to Matt, concerned about Louis' condition.

"What did he say?" Kelly asked him.

Matt stared down at the box that Louis gave him. He pocketed it and sighed. "Nothing."

Kelly felt a bit woozy after that. "Let's go home now. I'm feeling really tired."

"Yeah," Matt answered. They went back to their small apartment.

'The proposal will have to wait...' Matt thought as he and Kelly dozed off into a deep slumber.

~~~

Again, I must apologize for the lateness.