The Yule Clause

Chapter Fifteen. My Christmas Spirit.

"It's my fault." Mackenzie cut in. The two looked at her.

"It is?" Scott asked, Bernard stared at her.

"Yes, I wanted to see more of the North Pole, and get to know the elves since we will be moving there." She explained, Scott calmed down.

"Alright but tell me the next time you and Branden run off together." He said, she nodded. He hugged her again, before walking away giving Bernard the death stare. The elf walked up to her. "Thank you, Mackenzie." He smiled. "But you didn't have to take the blame."

She smiled back. "But that's what friends are for." He liked that she called him a friend, but a small part of him didn't. "Also, are we on first name bases now, Branden?" she asked with a small chuckle. The elf didn't realize he said her name. "No of course not. Human." He crossed his arms. "Aww. Too bad, I thought we were friends." She said with fake sadness.

He chuckled. "Uh I should go..." he turned away, "Alright...but will you come back?" she asked hopefully, he faced her.

"Of course, you'll be seeing a lot more of me now that your uncle is Santa."

"Good, but I don't know how much of you I want to see." Mackenzie said a bit flirty. The elf chuckled awkwardly. "See you later, Elf." She winked as she headed towards the stairs. "Yeah...see ya Human." He smiled then disappeared.

Once she saw that Bernard was gone, she leaned against the wall and slid down, sighing as she did.

"Are you alright?" Scott asked from the living-room, making her almost jump out of her skin because her uncle was silent until now. "Y-yeah, just fine." She hoped that he didn't hear what she said to Bernard. "I'm going to do my homework, then take a shower." She got to her feet and ran upstairs.

Bernard returned home and went to find Tante, because he needed to talk to someone about the sparkle. He had to know if that was the reason for his odd behavior earlier. He found her in the workshop making toys with her sons. "Tante.... uh can I have a word with you?" Bernard asked. She looked up and nodded, then followed him out of the room.

"Bernard, what's the matter?" she asked. He took a breath.

"I went to see Mackenzie; we went sledding.... then we laid in the snow...and I... laid over her and just stared into her eyes. I have to know why!?" he shouted. "Is it The Sparkle?"

"The Sparkle does bring the elves who shared it together. So yes." Tante answered. "I don't have time for this! I'm the head elf, I'm the one who is supposed to keep everything in line. So, I can't be going about-"

"You think that Mackenzie will get in your way?" Tante interrupted. Her nephew shook his head. "No, I didn't say that...I just meant..." he paused looking down at the floor. "If I chose her then I'll only have two options."

"And what are they?" she asked. He kept his eyes on the floor. "To give up everything... or to watch her grow old and leave me all alone!" he cried, looking up this time. "I don't want either of them! I just want her!" tears rolled down his cheeks, he knew that he could only have one of them. Tante wrapped her arms around him, he cried into her shoulder. "Shh, it's alright, sweetheart." She rubbed his back. He calmed down. "Why don't you go see her?" she asked. "It will help set you at ease.", he wiped his tears away. "O-okay...I'll do that." He teleported to Mackenzie's room. She jumped when he appeared in the room. Luckily, she just finished dressing. "Don't do that!" she kept her voice down so Scott wouldn't hear her, then she noticed the tears falling. "Hey, why are you crying?" she put her hand on Bernard's cheek and wiped the tears away as they fell. "It's nothing...I'm fine." His voice shook as he spoke. "No, you're not. What is it?" she whispered. He wanted to tell her but didn't know how to. His arms went around her. "Please don't leave me." He whispered in south elfish. She blinked confused because she couldn't understand him. "What?"