A/N: Hello everyone! I'm glad you've come, and I hope you enjoy this little bit of festiveness. (:

Do Note: This isn't romance; I like shipping, but, quite frankly, no one ever agrees and I wanted this to be enjoyable for everyone - not to mention I can see just about every character with more than one person. As such, there are no shippings (however, there are some scenes that can be taken either way...).

Also, special thanks to my unofficial beta, TheGreatCody. (Basically I just asked if he wanted to read them, he said 'heck yeah!' and yeah...)

Mood Music: Anything Christmas-y, really. I think I was listening to Relient K's Let it Snow Baby, Let it Rein Deer.

Disclaimer: Definitely not mine. To start, I'm German. And I'm female.

Let the Snow Wars Begin!

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Gray rolled onto his stomach, thumping his pillow over his head to block out the noise. What could possibly be so important for someone to wake him up before ten in the morning?

"OI! GRAY!"

The ice mage groaned. "Why?" he moaned to himself.

BANG, BANG, BANG! "Gray! C'mon! Have you seen outside yet? It snowed all last night, and it's still coming down! Gramps is about to announce the teams, and if you don't hurry you won't get to play!"

Gray was suddenly awake, sitting up quickly. "Natsu! Don't let them start without me! I'm coming!"

Natsu laughed. "Don't worry! I'll find a way to stall; after all, I have a score to settle from last year remember?" Without another word, Gray could hear the Dragon Slayer loudly thumping down the corridor, heading for the door to the outside of the boys' dorm building.

Gray quickly jumped out of bed and pulled on his clothes and shoes. He grinned. It was, after all, the first snow of the winter in Magnolia! For Fairy Tail, that meant the annual first-snow-of-the-winter Snow Wars!

Within a minute, Gray was outside, running as fast his legs could carry him towards South Gate Park as the snow continued to fall softly around him. In ten minutes time, he knew, the peace that had settled on the town would be shattered.

Gray reached the park just as Master Makarov mounted the platform at one end of the area.

"There you are!" Lucy greeted. "I thought you wouldn't make it!"

Gray smirked. "Are you kidding me? Natsu and I have a score to settle from last year still! That baka wouldn't dream of letting me get out of it!" He winked.

Erza sighed, rolling her eyes. "'Last year'? That 'score' has been going on for years!"

Lucy laughed. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me!"

"Alright everyone!" Makarov declared. Every member's attention was immediately on the Fairy Tail master. "Who's ready to find out this year's Snow Wars teams?" The entire guild cheered. At the master's raised hand, everyone quieted down again. "The teams are as follows:

"Fairy Tail Red: Wendy Marvel, Cana Alberona, Vijeeter Ecor, Warren Rocko, Elfman Strauss, Jet, and Natsu Dragneel.

"Fairy Tail Blue: Juvia Lockser, Evergreen, Laki Olietta, Alzack Connell, Freed Justine, Nab Lasaro, and Gray Fullbuster.

"Fairy Tail Black: Erza Scarlet, Lisanna Strauss, Kinana, Bickslow, Laxus Dreyar, Droy, Loke, and Romeo Conbolt.

"Fairy Tail Green: Lucy Heartfillia, Levy McGarden, Bisca Connell, Gajeel Redfox, Gildarts Clive, Max Alors, and Reedus Jonah.

"And, as always, your moderators are myself, Macao, Wakaba, and Mirajane.

"The Fairy Tail Snow Wars Rules are as follows:

All Magic is permitted. However, if Natsu melts all the snow like he did several years ago, the wars will end, and Red Team will finish in fourth place. Gray is also not allowed to throw ice balls. You already know what will happen to you, Gray, so just don't do it.

Your identifying team tags must always be visible. Hiding a tag will result in being disqualified, and two hundred points will be taken from your team.

Exceeds are allowed to participate for any team they chose but must choose one team to play on and cannot switch teams. They too must have identifying tags.

Points are distributed according to hits. Body shots are ten points, arms and legs are fifteen points, and head shots are thirty points.

Know who is on your team. Attacking a teammate will result in a twenty-point loss.

"Now, then. I have the Red Team tags, Macao has the Blue Team tags, Wakaba has the Black Team tags, and Mira has the Green Team tags. As soon as everyone has been tagged, we will begin!"

"Levy-chan," Lucy asked as the guild divided, "how in the world do they keep track of hits?"

"Magic!" Levy answered enthusiastically. "That's one reason why the tags always have to be visible. They have magic imbedded that allows for the tracking of how many times and where a person gets hit! The scores will be show on Lacrima screens during the entire war, though who has time to actually look at the score?"

Lucy laughed lightly. "This is going to be fun!"

A few minutes later, everyone had attached his or hers tags – two of them, the same color as the team they were one – to their person wherever they wanted, really, as the tags were actually bandanas with the Fairy Tail symbol printed on them. Natsu had his tied around his biceps; one of Gray's was around his forehead with the other tied around his left wrist; Lucy had one tied in her hair, the other was around her right wrist; Erza's were both tied around her thighs.

"Moderators, are your teams ready?" Makarov called out. When three 'Ayes!' reached him, he nodded, looking out over the teams where they gathered in different corners of the park. "Good luck, Fairy Tail Teams! May the wars be ever in your favor!"

At his words, the teams surged forward with a mighty roar. Gray instantly made barriers and walls out of the snow for his teammates to hide behind – though they didn't last long. Natsu and Gildarts quickly demolished them, only to find them almost instantly back in place. Before long, the duo gave up on destroying the barriers and started attacking other people instead.

Levy had a couple of opponents pinned with her Solid Script: Ice, and was repeatedly bombarding them with snowballs until Natsu came along and melted the words with his fire. Then the tables were turned: Jet raced around firing snow at a break-neck speed until he was tripped up by a flying person ramming into him. With the collision, Erza and Evergreen joined into their battle.

Gildarts was untouchable, as always. Before anything could hit him, it would shatter into a million, sparkly pieces. Nearby, Freed had constructed a few runes to give a few of his members a respite. Within those runes, Team Blue was planning, plotting. As the runes dispersed, Freed, Gray, Juvia, and Laki moved to different points around Gildarts. As Laki and Juvia threw snowballs at him in his line of vision, he shattered them – but failed to see the attack from the tree above him. Just as the girls' snowballs shattered, Freed and Gray's both made contact with the top of the man's head. A completely stunned Gildarts stared at them as the Blue Team cheered, taking pride in being the first to ever hit Gildarts in the history of the Snow Wars!

However, Natsu was less than happy. "Oi! Ice Butt! I was supposed to be the first one to hit Gildarts!"

Gray laughed. "Too late, Lizard Boy!"

Thus started the yearly snow brawl between the two friends.

Three Hours Later

"Alright, everyone!" Makarov's voice carried clearly in the chilly air over South Gate Park. "That's the end of the wars!" He laughed at the sight below him. Just about all of the Fairy Tail mages were lying in the snow, completely out of breath. "Mira is already back at the guild, preparing hot chocolate for us all; by the time you all get yourselves picked up off the ground, I'm sure it'll be ready! Winners will be announced once everyone makes it back to the guild!"

In no time at all, everyone was back at the guild, Mira's hot chocolate too tempting for anyone to take too long to get back. With hot drink warming them inside, and good company around a blazing fire place warming them outside, everyone was soon just as lively as when the Snow Wars had begun. No one really minded waiting for the results of the Wars – after all the results didn't really matter much to anyone; the only thing it really resulted in was bragging rights – and the guarantee that the winning team of the current year would be split for the next year's Wars.

After an hour of hot chocolate and banter, Master Makarov finally took the stage. "And now," he spoke, automatically gaining everyone's attention, "as soon as Natsu and Gray stop chucking marshmallows at each other, I will give the results of this year's Fairy Tail Snow Wars!" When the cheering died down – and the marshmallows had stopped flying, he continued. "In last place with 530 points, Green Team! In third place with 705 points, Red Team! In second place, with 980 points –" Makarov paused for affect – "Blue Team! That leaves Black Team in first place with 1025 points! Congratulations to all the teams! Now then, who is ready for another round of hot chocolate?"

As the guild cheered again, Mira brought out more of her special recipe.

'Yeah,' Gray thought to himself as Mira poured him another mug, 'that was worth the wake-up call this morning!'