crossover_chick | A Multiverse Christmas Carol: Stave Five

Stave Five:
“We’re – this Christmas?!”
“Well, yeah! It was an important Christmas for you!”
“I was in jail!”
The Emmett of Christmas Past (as she’d come to think of him), frowned back at her. “You can’t say you didn’t deserve to be there,” he said, setting the metal carriage down in front of the building which housed those criminals that the Hill Valley police had been able to catch. “You burned down four taverns. The only reason you don’t have an automatic ticket to Bumby’s fate is because you always did your best to make sure you didn’t kill anyone.”
Edna fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. “Drink is evil,” she mumbled.
“And arson isn’t?”
“Why are we here?” Edna demanded, wanting to get off this line of questioning.
Emmett’s response was to conduct her to the window. Looking inside, she saw herself and Irving “Kid” Tannen in adjoining cells, with a sprig of mistletoe hung between them. As she watched, Kid managed to cajole her younger self into a brief kiss. She frowned as the two shades’ lips met. “I still can’t believe I did that. He was a mobster, for God’s sake.”
“Yeah – but he genuinely cared about you,” Emmett said as the younger Edna and Kid separated again.
“He was a married man! I shouldn’t have given into temptation in the first place! I told him as much when we left the jail! And he agreed!”
“So why did you two get together for six months after his wife left him?”
Edna glared at Emmett. “Must you always ask the most awkward questions?”
“Part of being a spirit, ma’am,” Emmett smirked. “Should I go ahead and take you to the next Christmas you shared together?”
“Do I have any choice in the matter at all?”
“Nope!”

-D: Edna Strickland: made of hypocrisy.-
Yes, yes she is. This scene is basically inspired by the various movie versions I've seen of A Christmas Carol, which generally like to introduce Belle in some capacity. (Belle does not get this in the book -- she just appears for the break-up scene.) I figured, since Edna and Kid canonically met in jail. . . This also references another Christmas fic of mine: last year's prompt fic "melt". Hey, as long as I've got the moment, I may as well use it!
-M2: So Kid's "Belle" in this version?-
Yeah, and his son Biff is sort of in the Fred role. How it works is this -- after they both get out, Kid returns to his wife for a while and fathers Biff. After his wife leaves him, he and Edna get together. Edna ends the relationship to focus on her business, and Kid -- well, Kid has a few flings, but as we'll see in a later Stave, he never really got over her. Biff invites Edna over to Christmas lunch each year not because he wants her company, but because his dad does.
-HD: That's -- actually a little sad.-
Indeed. This is a story all about redemption and stuff, so I figured I might as well make the Edna/Kid ship something we'd actually like to see.
-M: Ignoring the fact that he's a mob boss who had people killed.-
Yes, well, we're also ignoring the fact that Edna was an arsonist. Incidentally, that's why I had the Emmett of Christmas Past spell out that she never killed anybody on her little crime spree. I figured an Edna who did allow people to die in her fires would never be sympathetic enough. (Maybe that's the reason why I really don't like her in the game, no matter how sympathetic they try to paint her -- for all we know, she's a murderer.)

In other news, last regular day of school was today! :D Last Creative Writing class, and thus last long Monday! Woooo! *not sorry to see the back of it* I do have two finals, but the first isn't until Wednesday -- I've got tomorrow off, yay. Will probably be doing some Christmas shopping, and we'll see if I can't get the first chapter of a certain story up. . .