A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful day. Here is the present I promised you guys!

This fic takes place in the same AU as "Good Deeds", in which all the children from the Tower of Heaven Escape during the x776 rebellion.

Here Erza is 11 (a couple of months or so away from 12) and Jellal is already 12. Millianna is 8, almost 9 and Ultear is 14, almos 15.

25 December x776

Erza woke up to the feeling of something – or rather someone – clinging to her back.

Out of instinct and habit, she recognized the person in question as Millianna and, for a single terrifying moment, as she registered the fact that she was lying on the floor rather than a bed, she thought herself back in the cell in the godforsaken island where she'd been taken to be enslaved and build a tower. It was only after maybe five seconds that she realized things didn't add up: she might be lying on the floor but there was a comfortable sleeping bag around her and unlike the tower, where night was always cold and pitch black, there was a warm glow of burning fire at a distance softly lighting up the room and keeping it not quite very warm but still not uncomfortably cold.

No, she wasn't at the tower at all, she concluded, prying herself from Millianna's grip so she could sit up. It was the night before Christmas and she was in Fairy Tail's guild hall.

She let out a breath of relief, bending her legs at the knee, and pulling them close to her chest, arms wrapped around them. She was home.

In the partial darkness, she looked around, taking in soothingly familiar sleeping forms. Millianna clinging to her right side, Shou sleeping a few feet to her left, Jellal on a stretch of floor opposite from her with Simon on one side and Wally on the other… Several yards away, near the bar, the Master lay on a sleeping bag next to his grandson's. A little to the left, Gildarts Clive clung protectively to his ten-year-old daughter and, not very far away, four snowflake-lined sleeping bags contained Miss Ur, her daughter Ultear and her foster sons, Gray and Lyon (the latter of which had infamously run off to join Lamia Scale over a tantrum a couple of years before but was apparently ritually kidnapped every year with Lamia's blessing to spend Christmas with his foster family anyway).

Nearly everyone was there spending Christmas together in true Fairy Tail style: camped out in the Guild Hall for a guild-wide sleepover – apparently a tradition started by the first master of Fairy Tail herself exactly ninety years before. In the morning, the Master had declared, they would open their gifts together and 'put up with each other's early-morning temper like a true family should' (quoted verbatim while shooting Laxus a pointed look). Unorthodox as it might be, she liked it. Exactly one year before, on that very same occasion, Christmas had been something so far away from her mind that it might as well be in another planet. There had been little laughter, little hope… only that broken little family she had found herself in the tower to hold onto. Now, that broken little family was less broken, even if missing a member. And as for laughter and hope, they no doubt abounded.

On the floor by her side, Millianna unconsciously demanded her attention by rubbing herself harder against her side in a cat-like fashion, clearly in hopes of finding a source of heat to make up for the fact that she had somehow managed to unzip her entire sleeping bag in the midst of her (often energetic) sleep. Erza had to sigh. She should have known that if separate rooms in Fairy Hills didn't keep the younger girl from crawling her way into her bed every other night, a sleeping bag most certainly wouldn't do the job either. Not that Erza really minded – it was a habit Millia had had even in the tower and, during the worst nights, it would actually be very comforting. It might become troublesome in time but Erza was confident the younger girl would grow out of it before that happened.

Still, cuddling was no suitable substitute to actual covers, so Erza got herself to work by attempting to get Millianna back inside her sleeping bag. It was a good thing the girl was a heavy sleeper because if it weren't for that fact, Millia would have surely been awoken by the amount of manhandling Erza had to resort to.

"Nyaa… gimme the yarn…" she mumbled in her sleep, voicing her odd dreams.

"Shh… go back to sleep," Erza whispered, trying to stroke Millianna's hair in a soothing fashion. "You don't want to wake up everybody."

"Mmm… big sister… so fluffy… like… kitties…" Millianna mumbled again.

"Shh," Erza shushed her again.

"Erza?" came another familiar voice from behind her. She turned around to spot Jellal sitting up on his sleeping bag, looking at her blearily.

"Jellal? Did we wake you up?"

He shrugged. "I guess. But it's okay. What's going on?" he asked in a whisper, crawling out of his sleeping bag and moving towards the two girls.

"It's nothing… Millianna got out of her sleeping bag somehow and I had to put her back inside it but now she's talking in her sleep…"

"Rock her around a little – she'll stop faster," he told her knowingly.

"Rock her around?"

He nodded and put his hands on the sleeping bag, indeed softly rocking the younger girl from side to side until she went completely quietly. Erza simply looked on, positively clueless.

"How did you know that?" she whispered when he stopped.

He smiled. "I did back at the tower a lot. She's been doing this nearly every night since she was little, you know? The talking. But you guys are all heavy sleepers, so you hardly ever noticed. I'm not and it usually woke me up, so I had to quiet her down to go back to sleep."

Erza felt for a moment like she shouldn't have been surprised by that. It was common knowledge within their group that it was Jellal and Millianna that had known each other the longest. They'd been taken to the tower at around the same time, back when Jellal was six and Millianna was three. Grandpa Rob had been there already and he'd taken the two children under his wing almost immediately. As such, long before Erza had become the older female figure for Millianna to look up to like a big sister, Jellal had been her big brother. He'd been taking care of Millianna much longer than Erza had.

"Did she try to cuddle you up because she was cold?" he asked, amused.

Erza blushed. "Yes."

He chuckled. "Of course. She's always been a bit like a cat – unless she's warm to her liking, she goes looking for the nearest furnace, which I guess would be you, in this case."

"I think she's dreaming about cats too," Erza pointed out.

He chuckled. "It wouldn't be Millia if she wasn't," he replied.

Naturally, Erza agreed.

"We should go back to sleep," she said. "It's very late."

"What time is it?" he asked.

Erza looked around in search for a clock. She found one in the distance behind the bar, thankfully with arms that glowed faintly in the dark. "Half past three or four. I can't tell for sure from here."

Jellal's face lit up. "So, it's Christmas already," he said excitedly.

"Yes… but we can't open presents until everyone else is awake," she warned him sternly. "No cheating, Jellal."

"I know, I know," he assured her immediately. "But there's something I want to see." He got to his feet and offered his hand. "Want to come along?"

She felt her cheeks heating up and was thankful that the dim lighting didn't give away her state. "I guess," she mumbled, taking his hand. "But we can't wake anybody up."

He nodded. "We won't," he stated confidently.

As Jellal led her towards the kitchen, they walked carefully along the narrow aisles formed between rows of sleeping bags, avoiding the collection of floorboards they knew to be loose. They missed one and froze when the floor creaked beneath Jellal's foot. Nearby, Yajima-san, who had come all the way from the council to spend Christmas with his old guild, seemed to twitch but settled himself after a few seconds, much to the young pair's relief, who padded towards the kitchen doors with no further incident.

"That was close," Jellal whispered, already inside.

"Too close. We should take a different path when we go back," Erza mumbled before looking around. "So, are you hungry? Is that why you brought us to the kitchen?"

Jellal shook his head, heading to the guild's back door. "I wanted to see something outside but the windows are too far up in the main hall," he explained. Reaching the door, he found it locked to keep outsiders out but with the key dangling from the lock in case of emergency. Getting a hold of it, he unlocked the door, much to Erza's alarm.

"Jellal! You can't go outside wearing only pajamas! It's too cold!" she said immediately.

"I'm not," he assured her. "I'm just going to take a peak." With that settled, he pushed the door open, a smile lighting his face as he saw light snowflakes falling on the alley on the side of the guild. "It's snowing," he said like it was the most amazing thing he had ever witnessed.

Erza padded her way to his side, rubbing her arms with her hands to protect herself from the cold. "Yes… it's not the first time it has snowed this year, though," she pointed out.

"Yes, but it's Christmas now," he said cheerfully. "That makes it special snow. White Christmas snow."

He really did rejoice on the smallest things, Erza thought. That was one of the things she likes the most about him. "White Christmas snow," she echoed.

"Yeah," he mumbled. He closed the door since it was starting to become too cold inside and sighed as he locked it again. "I guess this makes Grandpa Rob right," he said.

"Grandpa Rob?" Erza asked in confusion.

"Yeah," he replied, leaning back against the door and dragging himself down until he was sitting on the floor. Although he still had a smile on his face, it looked sadder than before and Erza immediately moved to go sit by his side.

"What was he right about?" Erza questioned him "And when did he…?"

"A long time ago," Jellal informed her. "Before you even came to the tower… You remember how he always made sure to keep track of the days by drawing lines on the wall. He always remembered the important dates – Christmas, Easter and so…"

Erza frowned. "But he never…" He never had said a word about it to her. Not that she remembered.

Jellal shook his head. "He'd already stopped mentioning them by the time you arrived – he knew it would only make us sad not to be home. But I could tell that he never forgot. He always looked sadder around those times…"

A flash of memory hit Erza and she realized Jellal might be right. There was always a time, when it was colder in which Grandpa Rob would looked more drained than usual. She had asked him if he was okay once and he had told her it was simply 'old age ailments', although now she realized he might have been lying.

"It was different in the beginning, though, when it was just me and Millia," Jellal continued, oblivious to her realization. "On our first year there, he made a big deal out of Christmas – I guess we still thought we wouldn't be staying at the island long…" He paused for a moment and then shook his head. "Anyway, there wasn't much we could do over there but Grandpa Rob still wanted to make the day special for us, so he stayed up late telling us stories about how Christmases were like over at Fairy Tale and how he was going to show us once we escaped… he said there was something magical about it. That it would always snow in Magnolia on the night before Christmas, no matter how long it had been since it had last snowed. In the morning everything would be covered in white and everyone would join in on a snowball fight after waking up from this sleepover."

Oh… so he'd already known about the sleepover. That explained why he hadn't been surprised at all when the Master has first explained it to them a few days before.

"It's been ten days since it last snowed," Jellal pointed out. "I guess it could be a coincidence since it's December… but I don't think so. I think Grandpa Rob was right. There is something magical about Christmas in Fairy Tail. Well, besides the usual magic, that is."

Erza didn't respond immediately. All of a sudden, it was like a hard lump formed within her throat, reminding her of how much she missed that kindly old man that had done so much for them. And, for a moment, she couldn't help feeling like it was her fault he didn't get to be there spending Christmas with them. If he hadn't died to save her… "He should be here to see this. It's wrong that he's not."

Jellal looked down sadly. "No, it isn't," he replied.

She looked at him in outrage. "Of course it is! He'd be happy here with his old friends! His old guild! How can you not want him to have that kind of happiness?"

"I would want him to have that kind of happiness," he corrected her. "But I don't think he would have it if he were alive."

"Why not?!"

"Because he wouldn't be here if he were alive. He would still be at the tower, we would still be there too and you would be dead."

Her eyes widened at that sentence. It was rare for Jellal to say something like that. He was always the cheerful and confident one. Matters of death and despair were rarely mentioned by him, almost as if that would mean betraying his role as the upbeat member of the group. But those words had indeed crossed his mouth and that made it all the more shocking.

"I may not have been there to see it but the others told me everything. You're the one who did the most to get us out – we wouldn't be here if you hadn't led everyone the way you did after Grandpa Rob chose to give his life to save you," Jellal stated. "You did not let his sacrifice be in vain and I'm sure that wherever he is, he doesn't regret doing it for a second because it gave you the will to fight. So, you shouldn't regret it either."

Her lower lip was trembling and she bit it while turning to look away, unwilling to let tears fall.

"He'd be proud of you, you know?" Jellal told her. "You've gotten really strong and you're doing it all to protect us like he always tried to." He sighed. "I could only hope to get half as strong as you are. My magic doesn't even work…"

She whipped her face back around to face him again. "Doesn't work yet," she assured him. "You know what the Master has said – you have lots of magical potential."

"That doesn't really help unless I'm able to use it," he mumbled.

"Stop being so impatient. That only means that when you manage to unlock your magic, it's going to be huge," a familiar voice said from the door. They looked at it in alarm only to find Ultear standing there, looking slightly mussed-up from sleep and up to no good as she fiddled with a snowflake bracelet with one hand while holding a little box with the other. "That happened to me too – I'm sure the Master's told you that much. It's a pain to have kids younger than you doing magic when you can't, but once you find the right type of magic to channel it out, you'll catch up in no time. Don't get so worked up about it – it just means you're lucky enough to be a prodigy…"

And of course, she just had to make her compliment hit both the target and herself… typical Ultear.

"That's… nice of you to say," Jellal said, happy nonetheless.

Erza narrowed her eyes, her attention on the items Ultear was holding. "Is that a present you're holding?"

"Why, yes, it is," she said shamelessly. "Mom knows I can't resist my own curiosity, so she has my presents magically sealed so I can't open them until Christmas Day. And it is, technically, already Christmas Day, so…"

"You're not supposed to open them until morning!" Erza rebuked. "Miss Ur will scold you for it in the morning."

"Scold me for what?" Ultear questioned, placing the bracelet back inside the box and using her time magic to return the ribbon that had been surrounding it to the state it had been in before she'd torn it. "I don't see any evidence of this box having been breached…" It indeed looked untouched.

Erza glared… oh, she was good. It was a good thing she wasn't evil because, were that the case, she would make a very competent opponent. And the worst part, really, was that she wasn't even done. Not nearly.

"Oh, but don't mind me, you two. I'll just get myself a glass of water and you can go right back to your little date," Ultear said teasingly, making them both blush.

"This isn't a date!" Erza vehemently denied.

"We just came here to see the snow," Jellal said, very red. "We were just talking."

"While sitting so close together… you don't need to be shy, you know? There's no shame in being in love," the older girl pressed on. Oh, it was Christmas every day that she got to tease those two adorable little things…

"I don't… I'm not… we're not…" Erza tried to deny, only to stop herself because she did love him, if not as anything else, as her best friend and family (and maybe more? No! She was too young for that!). "We're just friends!"

"Best friends!" Jellal added.

Ultear chuckled. "Oh, alright, alright…" Denial, beautiful denial… they were going to give her years of entertainment at that rate. "If that's what you want to believe…"

Erza was, yet again, very red when she got to her feet. "It's no hour to be awake. We should go back to bed," she declared.

"Yeah…" Jellal mumbled, getting up as well. "I'm starting to feel sleepy again."

"Separate sleeping bags, please," Ultear reminded them. "Let's keep this kid-friendly. You can leave the cuddling to when you're in private."

"We don't cuddle!" Erza nearly shouted before pushing the kitchen door open and getting out.

Jellal stayed behind a few extra seconds. "You are kind of evil, you know?" he mumbled, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Of course. You should give it a try sometimes. It's good fun."

He gave her a long look. "No, thanks. I'm good."

Ultear sighed. "You really are, aren't you?" He was only missing the wings to be a little angelic cherub. An incorruptible one at that, which only made him more adorable and pleasant to mess with.

"I'm leaving now," he informed her. "Goodnight, Ultear."

"Sweet red-haired dreams, Lover Boy."

He just walked out without bothering to say anything it, knowing by then that would just encourage her.

On the way to his sleeping bag, he stepped on yet another loose floorboard but the racket was thankfully drowned by the sound-proof barrier around the Master (who, thank Mavis, was a very heavy sleeper), which had been demanded by Porlyusica who, upon having her presence at the sleepover requested 'in case of emergency', had stated she wouldn't be sleeping under the same roof as the Master if she had to put up with his freight-train-like snoring.

By the time he reached the area he and his closest group of friends were occupying, Erza was yet again tucking Millianna into her bag.

"She got out again?" Jellal asked in a whisper.

"Somehow…" Erza mumbled in annoyance. "She's too flail-y."

He chuckled, watching it as she moved away from the younger girl and crawled into her own sleeping bag. Once she was in, the top flap folded at her waist, she got a thoughtful look on her face again. Looking down, she spoke.

"What you said about Grandpa Rob… you may be right but I just… I really miss him," she mumbled.

"Me too," he told her softly. Grandpa Rob had been family to him for nearly as long as he remembered – he would miss him same as he missed the family he vaguely recalled having had once upon a time for the rest of his life. "If it were possible to change things and still end up like this, I would… but it's not and you shouldn't feel guilty about that. He wouldn't want you to." A small smile started to grace his face. "He'd want you to get on a broomstick and fly like you said you would."

She blushed and was thankful that the darkness hid it. "Don't be silly," she mumbled, looking away. "You know they don't make broomsticks like that."

"Then fly without one," he pointed out. "I'm sure you'll find a way to do it, eventually."

"I suppose there may be a type of armor involves that," she admitted. "It's probably really expensive, though…" At the moment, the only armor she could afford was the cheap, standard type she used for training… she'd been lucky enough that the Master had let her take most of the weaponry the guild had lying around in storage from confiscating it from outlaws during jobs.

"You'll get better pays once you make it S-Class," Jellal stated confidently.

"S-Class?! I'm not even twelve yet!" she said more loudly than she'd meant to.

Apparently, it didn't go unheard.

"Erza? J'llal?" Simon's sleepy voice mumbled. On the sleeping bag to Jellal's right, he lifted up his head and looked between them blearily. "What are you two being so loud for at this hour?"

"Sorry, Simon," Jellal apologized.

"We'll be quiet now. You can go back to sleep," Erza told their friend, who sunk back into his bag.

"Mmm… you should do the same," he pointed out to them before closing his eyes and turning on his side.

He did have a point and, because of that, they settled themselves in their own sleeping bags, attempting to follow their friend's advice.

After a few seconds lying there, Jellal heard Simon's breathing settling by his side and wondered if he could sneak one last word to Erza. He decided to try his luck. "Erza? Are you still awake?" he whispered, lifting his head just a little to try and spot any movement in her sleeping bag. He noticed it almost immediately.

"Yes. What is it?" came her equally-whispered response.

"Nothing important. Just wanted to say goodnight… and Merry Christmas."

Across the aisle, Erza smiled as she lay down.

"Merry Christmas, Jellal," she replied.

The End

A/N: Hope you all liked it! So, shall I continue this AU? Let me know!