A Fairy Tail Christmas
Hey guys! Here's a little Christmas present from me, a side story of A Saiyan among Wizards. Hope you guys enjoy and have a Merry Christmas!
*Insert TFS disclaimer. Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and Funimation. I do not own any other mentioned properties.
Bare feet padding against the cold, wooden floor, I walked into the living room this morning, unaware of the date. Living in Magnolia, were the weather hardly ever changes, it was sometimes hard to keep track of the passing days if I forgot to tick them off the calandar. In my mind, it wasn't to long ago since my sister had come through the gate with a couple bags of Halloween candy. This time, she walked in with brightly wrapped gifts, each from a different person and most were addressed to me, the rest were for Gajeel and I am almost certain Mal helped pick out.
"Wait! How close is it to Christmas?!" I blurted out, completly caught off gaurd.
"Relax, today's the eleventh, so you got a couple weeks." she snickered.
Luckly, it was Gajeel's turn to run the usual errands this time and I had time to get a tree put together. Malori sat and watched in amusement as I ran frantically about, tripping once or twice, gathering the materials needed to set up a tree in the living room. The hardest part was getting the damn thing in the house, I struggled with it until I remember that I can use alchemy and widened the door. In half an hour, I had made at least fifty ornaments from a block of metal, each was either a different colored orbs, both frosted and glossed, or one of the guild members in chibi form. Placing the star on top, I realised I was missing something. Lights. Running into town, diving out of sight when Gajeel came with in a block more than once, I was able to find what I needed and rushed home. Thank God I'm a saiyan and an alchemist, cause I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to accomplish what I had if I was just one of those two.
Taking a step back to admire my work, I was pleased with the results. The lacrima lights I had chosen created a display that would put any professionally designed tree to shame. Proud of myself, I swept up all the fallen pine needles and placed the gifts under the tree and made sure to keep any with Gajeel's name on them out of sight so he won't be tempted. Finished and somewhat exhasted, I plopped down next to Mal as she slow clapped somewhat sarcasstically with a humorous grin on her face.
"Now all I have to do is get presents for you guys and Gajeel and I'm done." I sighed, head leaning over the back of the coach and arms resting on each side. I didn't open my eyes until I heard the doorknob turn a minute later, signaling the dragonslayer's return. It took him a moment to register who and what was now occupying the room before putting away what he brought back and having a seat right next to me, pulling me into a one-armed hug.
With a slight grin, "Why is there a tree in the living room?" he asked out of both curiousity and humor, having gotten used to my anttics.
"It's an old tradition back home that we get gifts for loved ones, wrap them, and place them under a tree until December twenty-fifth when we open them." I explained, "It's suposed to bring us together and inspire us to give to one another."
"Huh." he said thoughtfully, "Don't you think we should do this at the guild, too?"
"I didn't think of that!" surprised, "We could have a party and... oh yeah I think that would work but I'll have to run it by Gramps first." I brainstormed aloud, more than a little excited.
"Uhh.. so do ya wanna include us in yer brilliant plan?" Gajeel joked.
"Oh! Right! I was thinking we could have a gift exchange at the guild were you go up and draw someone's name and you get a gift for them but no one knows who's getting who what, if you can follow my madness."
"Then what are we waiting for?!" piped up Malori, "Let's go and ask Makarov if we can pull this off!" Jumping up from her seat and running to the door.
We soon followed, picked her up, and flew to the guildhall at breakneck speeds. Startling a few members and knocking over an unsuspecting Elfman, we quickly found the master sitting at the bar and came to an abrupt stop, grinning ear to ear.
"What's got you kids so excited today?" he asked, amused.
"Well that's what we wanted to talk to you about. We have an idea and want to run it by you first." I said quickly, barely able to contain myself.
"Well I suppose we could talk up in my office..." he said before I had grabbed hold of him as well and sped into the room less than a second later. Sitting at his desk, he turned to us, "So what's this idea that's got you so riled up?"
For the next few minutes, Mal and I explained and expanded upon Gajeel's idea passionately, making the old man smile just as wide as we were. "I think its a wonderful idea. So when are we having this party?"
"The twenty-fifth, that gives us two weeks to make the preparations and look for gifts." I said confidently, "With everyone's help, I'm sure we can pull it off. You know," turning to Gajeel, "he's really the one who had the original idea."
"Really?" eyebrows raised.
"Yep, he's just a big old softy." Patting him on the back.
"I ain't soft, dammit!" he yelled, blushing furiously.
"Then why are you blushing so much?" I teased, "Don't worry, we can say it was all my idea."
"What about me?!" Mal huffed, kicking me in the shin.
"Okay, our idea." Wincing a bit.
"Then let's tell the rest of the guild and get this party started." said Gramps, leaping from his desk.
~~~14 days til Christmas~~~
Upon hearing the idea, the guild exploded into cheers and began going about gathering ideas for decorations and a slip of paper from Gramps with a guildmembers name on it. Out of everyone, Erza was the most enthusiastic and I had to keep an eye on her so she didn't go overboard with the tree. Luckly, I was able to talk her down to a fifteen footer which she was adament about gaurding with her life. Laughing, I told to just keep Natsu away from it.
After helping with setting up the tree on the stage, it was my turn to draw a name.
Levy McGarden
It shouldn't be too hard to find a suitable present for her. I thought to myself before being wisked away to help Lucy and Erza start decorating the tree.
~~~7 days til Christmas~~~
I was starting to get worried, Gajeel had been disappearing more and more frequently over the past week. Not to mention, I about had heartattack yesterday when Natsu had almost set the tree ablaze that would have ruined all the hard work the guild had done making ornaments for it. My back still stung from where the blast hit when I intercepted it, but it was nothing compared to the beating the fire dragon recieved from the mighty Titania for almost killing her tree. The guild never laughed so hard as Natsu fruitlessly tried to flee her wrath as Juvia and Gray helped patch me up and soothe the wound with water and ice.
From that day onward, Natsu wasn't allowed to use magic in the guild hall with out Erza's permission until we took the tree down. So basically, no magic for him.
~~~2 days til Christmas~~~
"All done." I cried, exhausted. I had just finished with the last of the guilds decorations. Many different colored strands of garlend were wrapped around every bit of railing, rafter, and pillar in the guild, Gramps had enchanted small lacrimi to flitter about like fairies, which Reedus made into real ones, Freed had set up the guild so it would snow but not cover anything for long nor be cold, and last but not least, the tree stood proudly in the center of the stage, adorned with different magic ornaments made either by the hands or magic of the guild.
I was quite happy and relieved that everything went according to plan, and with the Fairy Tail guild, that was a huge accomplishment. But plenty of things could still go wrong at any moment, but for now, I relaxed as I ticked off the last thing on my mental list of things to do. Levy's gift was sitting on a shelf at home, my family's under their tree at home, and Gajeel's was well hidden under the floorboards of the living room. All I had to do now is keep everything running smoothly for one more day.
~~~Christmas Eve~~~
The day was filled with anticipation, everyone curious as to who was giving who a gift. If you watched carefully, you could see subtle signs to answer that question by the glances people were giving others. From this, I've figured out who was giving each other gifts. I was happy to see, even though it was rigged to be random each time you reached into the bag, a few couples had drawn each other's name. There was Bisca and Alzac, Natsu and Lucy, and Gray and Juvia. Also, I been with Gajeel long enough that I know when he's hiding something from me, but I couldn't help but wonder what it was. I had walked in on him talking with my mom that had something to do with my favorite book series before abrubtly chaging the subject to us visiting tomorrow and staying until the new year.
I would have asked him what they were talking about, but I had a feeling it had somthing to do with tomorrow and rules are rules. Especially since I was the one who created them. So the remainder of the night was filled with restless sleep as thoughts of what Gajeel's present taunted me until the man had enough of my tossing about and brought me into his embrace so I would finally go to sleep.
~~~Christmas morning~~~
I was the first to wake up, sprinting to the tree to open my presents from home and retrieve Gajeel's from under the tree and floorboards, stacking them in a neat pile in front of his usual seat. I was unwrapping my last present, a hand-knitted sweater from a friend, when he finally padded out to the living room. He looked down at the pile in his seat, a little confused.
"Their from my folks, the one on the bottom's from me." I said before he could ask.
Ripping the paper away and opening the box, he found the guitar that he's had his eye on for months now. Liftting it as though it were made of glass, he looked at me in awe, his mouth gapping. "I thought you said we didn't have the money to..." He said before looking to the guitar and back to me as I smirked.
"I lied. I wanted it to be a surprise gift at somepoint and it would've been ruined if you had gone ahead and bought it. Go on, open your other presents, I wanna see what my family gottcha." Pouring out some coffee for myself and Gajeel.
Setting the guitar carefully aside, he picked up the gift from my parents and opened it. As it turned out, it was a box full of classic rockband CDs. Metallica, AC/DC, Poison, Gun's and Roses, Twisted Sister, you name it and you'd find it there in that box. There was also some Elvis, Beatles, and some of Sanatra's work too. Moving to my sister's gift, she had obviously put more thought in his present she did than mine cause it was something she made herself. It was a minature, ceramic version of Metallicana, wings spread out and maw open in a roar. With a smile, one that mimicked Natsu's almost exactly, he put these somewhere safe and gave me a hug.
"You got a great family, ya' know." he said, voice ridden with emotion.
"Well, they've always accepted friends as part of the family, heck even Mal considers you a brother." Hugging him back.
"Thanks man."
Now that was something you don't see everyday, Gajeel with an actual smile and giving a true sign of gratitude instead of his usual round-about way of saying thanks. This brightened my day quite a bit, but there was more to do today and there will be plenty of surprises along the way.
The guild was buzzing with conversation, everyone was ready to start the gift exchange. Adorned in my new sweater, Gajeel and I were the last to enter the guild before the doors snapped shut behind us. The guild went silent, the only thing that remained was the sense of anticipation and the smell of many different foods and liquor. All the lights dimmed, save for the ones for center stage and the flittering lacrimi, and a small figure moved along to the middle of the platform. Stepping into the light, Gramps faced the guild dressed in a red suit and Santa hat with a serious look before a huge grin adorned his face. "Let the first Fairy Tail Christmas party begin!" he shoated with glee and a resounding cheers soon followed.
I soon lost Gajeel as we were swept away from each other as the guild began the gift exchange. Adapting and moving like a wrathe through the crowd, I tap Levy on the shoulder and produced my gift to her. With some surprise, she opened it on the spot and smiled. I had told her about the Inheritance Cycle and she seem very interested in reading it. I'm glad I remembered in time cause I would have been screwed if I hadn't. After a friendly hug, I began to look around and see the other members partaking in the festivities. Natsu had somehow got his hands on a Celstial key, causing Lucy to squeal in joy and kiss him on the cheek. Juvia had found out about mistltoe and fashioned hat for Gray, who allowed the infatuated rainwoman to do what she wished before responding in kind. Soon someone had covered my eyes, I didn't even need a voice to know it was.
"Open your hand." commanded the iron dragon. I did so with slight grin. I heard him reach into his pocket and felt him tip something into my hand. I opened my eyes to see an iron band, I could tell that it had been broken and mend a couple times just by the feel. "It took me a while to make, I've never been good with delicate things." he said somewhat awkwardly, but I wasn't listening. My eyes had fallen upon a single word engraved in Gajeel's hand-writing:
Always
I continue to stare at it in silence, I did know what to say as tears began to make their way down my cheeks, but there was smile on my lips. I slipped it onto my left ring finger, a perfect fit. I hugged him tightly, trying to say a lot of what I couldn't put into words. "I take it that you like it." he chuckled.
"Oh shut up." I choked through the tears. As he thumbed them away, I looked to see mistltoe hanging from the rafter above us. Probably full of nargles, I thought before I melted into his kiss.
"Merry Christmas Marcus."
"Merry Chistmas Gajeel."