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Lucia was at the Net Cafe Portal, sipping an EggNog Mocha and more or less enjoying life. The air was cold, the inside was warm, and the overall feeling of Holiday Spirit was in the air. Everyone, almost everyone, was nice.

"And let's see what's new in Minecraft..." he muttered, logging in to his favorite Game Site.

A slender young man entered the internet cafe. He slipped off his gloves and blew on his fingers to warm them up. He bought his time, and slipped onto the computer right next to Lucia. He was forced to come here because his apartment did not have internet access. He meant to mind his own business, but his eyes kept slipping to the neighbouring computer screen.

"Minecraft, eh?" He asked in cheerful tone.

Lucia looked his way, and grinned a bit.

"Yeah. Best game since NeverWinter IMO. Do you play?"

It wasn't often he randomly ran into other players, or anyone who even knew the MineCraft Game for that matter.

"Not any more I don't," he admitted. "I lose track of time too easily with that thing." After showing up late for work once, he had to pry himself away from the game. It was hard to do - suddenly he had all the time in the world and not sure what to do with it.

"I'm Nero," he said - a small smile spreading across his face. He offered his hand to the other boy.

"Lucia." He said, shaking the boys hand and nodding back to the game. "I know what you mean. I lose track of time way to easily. But Being self employed has its perks."

Lucia laughed a bit and looked back to Nero.

"So what about you? What has you on the great World Wide Web?"

"Auctions," Nero said waving a hand towards his screen with the eBay page open. Much to his roommates' contempt, a large amount of his pay-cheque was spent on magic items - books, mostly. Most of the stuff you found at speciality shops and online were either useless, or fake. However, if you were very clever and careful you could find lots extremely rare and extremely valuable items online.

"Nothing much today," he said, scrolling down the page.

"Ahh... the ever powerful eBay. Now that is a sandtrap for me. I'm a bad shopper, and I seem to hit bid at the drop of a hat."

Lucia peered at the screen, noticing a few items.

"You into magic?"

"Ah yeah I am," he said nervously. Magic was something most people didn't take seriously. Most people thought it was a fad for high-school goths and new age hippies. How little they all knew.

He swapped to another tab on the browser. "It's nothing, really."

"Hey, there's nothing to be ashamed of, I mean... It's not widely accepted, but I know that some magic is real."

Lucia leaned back in his seat, going back to his website. After a bit of browsing he finished his mocha and sighed.

"How's you're Christmas Shopping going? Got everything set or waiting til the last minute?"

Nero sighed. It was scary how close Christmas was. It used to feel like it was so far away. What happened to all the time? Minecraft, Nero reminded himself. That's what happened to all the time.

"I've bought... one. I don't know what to get anyone." He scratched the back of his head. "How about you? Doing any better?"

Lucia gave an exasperated sigh.

"I wish. I've got 7 girls to buy presents for, and 3 of them I can't make their boyfriends mad. And then I have the rest of my to-do-list and... Yeah, not so good at the moment."

A few more clicks and shifting over to other windows.

"Hm... Hm. That's odd."

Lucia leaned forward to his screen. It was an article on a business in town, and something or other about the season. But Lucia seemed more interested in the person in the photo. A tall, normal looking young man, with sandy hair and glasses.

"You ever see something, and you know it's not real? But there it is anyway?"

Nero laughed quietly at the boy's present problems. "Wow, that's a tough one. Good luck with that."

Had he ever seen something he knew wasn't real? What kind of question was that? Nero looked at Lucia's monitor. Nothing too exciting - just a photo. "Well uh," the question had obviously made him nervous. He was hesitant to talk about magic to a complete stranger. "Sometimes in my line of work that kind of thing happens - yes."

"well, I'm staring at a guy who is supposed to be dead for 5 years."

Lucia said, in a very blunt manner. He looked at the photo in the computer, then he powered it down.

"Nice chatting with you, hope to do so again some time."

And with that, the dark haired stranger was out the door, looking very distressed.

That was sudden. Nero looked at his watch. He had a few hours before his shift started. He too powered down this computer and dashed out of the cafe and into the cold streets. He looked around the area, trying to find the boy from before.

There he was! Nero dashed across the road, between the slow moving cars and to Lucia's side.

"Uh," he was still very nervous. He looked around slightly. "It might be something I know about. Do you want to talk about it... I know a place that sells a good hot chocolate."

Lucia looked back, his eyebrow raised. but he nodded none the less. "If we can get it to go, of course. I just need to confirm this and make sure I'm not going crazy."

Saddly, being crazy would be the better of outcomes. The figure wrapped his blood red scarf around his neck, his thick black coat trailing down behind him as he walked through the lightly snowed sidewalk.

"Never mind then. Drinking in is part of the experience," he said with a serious nod. He could use the sugar though. Always picked him up in a situation like this.

He followed the pace behind the young boy, tightening his jacket around him as a truck sped past, blowing cold air and big soggy snowflakes over both of them. Where was this boy going?

After crossing a few streets, Lucia stopped. He looked across the road, at where a Watch Repair Shop was. There was a large picture glass window where you could see inside, and the man in the photo was at a bench, smiling to his customers and chatting about something.

Lucia's face fell.

"Well... I'm not crazy... And that's not good..."

Nero peered through the window, shielding the glare with a cupped hand. He must've been talking about that man behind the counter. Everything looked normal enough. A shiver ran through his body - and he was sure it wasn't just the snow. A ripple in the magical field.

"So, hot chocolate?" he suggested again. "A quiet place to talk."

"Yeah... please, lead on."

Lucia siad, turning away from the window. He looked tired all of a sudden.

The coffee shop in question wasn't very far away. Around the corner - hidden between two much more modern, brightly lit shops. It was a trendy little shop with rows of pink chairs and quirky jokes scrawled on the walls.

The waitresses knew Nero, and they ushered him to the corner by the window, where he could look out onto the street and watch the world pass by.

"The usual please, ma'am." Nero said politely to the blonde waitress, before turning to Lucia. "So, why don't you tell me about it?"