Category: General Fluff
Characters: Lucy Heartfilia
Lucy's coffee-colored eyes glistened with the reflection of the bright, merry, and undeniably Fairy Tail-esque array of multicolored fairy lights strung at the guild entrance. They were a nice compliment to the dull and gray winter that had been plaguing the city for the last several days; though the steely clouds hung oppressively low to smother the earth in a perpetual, seeping chill and deliver puffy white snowflakes onto the already buried community, the twinkling bulbs brought holiday cheer in the form of red, yellow, green, and blue soft glowing light that kaleidoscoped across the white snow. Lucy stood a moment in front of the guild to simply admire the beautiful display that had literally appeared overnight. It really was the simplest of things in life that made it worth getting up every day, she mused with a small smile before charging into the guild.
As usual, the guild chorused with raucous greeting at her entrance, as was custom. Lucy barely noticed because her eyes were alight attempting to absorb every ounce of holiday cheer that had been applied to the buildings interior. To keep from being overly gaudy, white fairy lights instead of colored ones were on display, wrapped around every column and trailing over every banister. Pine garland complimented it in certain areas, notably demarking the second-floor balustrade. Lucy had tracked half-melted snow onto a thick, downy, bouncy red rug that sprawled across the floor and traveled up the steps to likely puddle across that wooden floor in cherry-red bliss; with a light giggle, she stepped onto it and so wished she could pull of her shoes to feel it with her bare feet, because it was simply so pillowy and the fibers looked as soft as featherdown. Beside the entrance were two large copper vases stuffed to bursting with red poinsettias, and a garland of holly stretched over the doorframe. To complete the ambiance, a roaring fire was blazing in the guild's massive fireplace to steep the wide room in cozy warmth. To Lucy, Fairy Tail was homier than ever before.
She pranced down the aisle to notice that the holiday decorations were still far from complete, as various members were hard at work applying decorations elsewhere. Mirajane and her siblings were adorning her bar with what looked like hand-made paper snowflakes, which were being produced at length by Asuka and Romeo, who wore matching beaming smiles as they attacked the folded papers with scissors to produce one-of-a-kind patterns. Cana was going about the room setting holiday-scented candles of many a variety on each table to create little bubbles of cheery aroma- peppermint, gingerbread, candied apple, sugar cookie, and those were just the ones she smelled as she walked by. It was all so festive and fun, and Lucy dearly wished that she would've arrived earlier so she could've joined in.
"Lucy! You're just in time!" Levy called to her from her seat beside Gajeel. Lucy trotted over to the girl with a cheerful greeting before inquiring what she was just in time for. "Erza, Gray, and Natsu should be here with the tree soon." Not a moment after did the blue-haired girl speak did the guild hall's door fling open with monstrous ferocity. Lucy looked over her shoulder to catch Natsu's tufts of pink hair peeking out from a massive expanse of pine needles. Lucy watched in mild concern as Natsu shook himself out of the needles, gasping for breath, before gripping onto the trunk of the trees with bulging muscles.
"You're not getting the best o' me, you damn tree! Ahhhhhhh!" He yelled, literally spitting fire from his mouth as he feet slipped uselessly over the floor while he attempted to haul the gigantic specimen into the guild. Lucy smiled in bemusement. Leave it to Natsu to spice things up…
"Hey! Stop breathing fire everywhere! If you catch it on fire, Wendy will cry!" Levy accused him from her spot at the table and pointed at the sky dragon-slayer. Sure enough, she had her hands balled up at her chest as she watched with great anxiety, tears even brimming in her big round eyes. Natsu flushed from head to toe and grumbled something under his breath, but obediently ceased his flame-spouting. Shifting positions to try and get better leverage, he buried his arms up to his shoulders into the pine tree. With another guttural roar, he yanked hard, and the tree came bursting into the guild hair with exceptional force. Little did Natsu know that Gray had blasted the back end with swirling icy wind, aided by Erza with a powerful glae from her flashing swords, so it was really questionable whether Natsu really aided in the process or not. The wood around the door splintered as it was stretched beyond capacity to fit the wide girth of the pine tree, which was now skidding across the guild hall with reckless abandon right to where Levy, Gajeel, and Lucy were sitting.
The both screamed in alarm as the tree shot towards them like a massive green bullet, trying to scramble away; the tree was simply gargantuan and would swallow them up no matter which way they ran. "I love you Levy!" Lucy wailed as she threw her arms around her best friend, pitifully crying tears.
"I love you too, Lucy! I wish I could've finished reading your next novel draft!" Levy whined in lament. Behind them, Gajeel rolled his eyes before plucking them both up by the backs of their shirts. The two girls released their hug as he plopped each of them on either of his broad shoulders, then grunted and reared back to pull up a combat-booted leg and plow it directly into the top of the tree. Despite his brawny form, he was actually pushed back a good deal across the guild hall, but due to all the friction and resistance, the tree slowly came to a stop. Gajeel grunted as he disentangled his leg from the gigantic tree, as it had sunk nearly up his thigh. Levy squealed as she sat on his shoulder like a little parrot, hugging his head and nuzzling into his spiky dark hair. "Ah, Gajeel, thank you! I thought I was a goner." Gajeel blushed a salmon color and looked away bashfully.
"Well, you're small, so…" he grumbled under his breath. Lucy chuckled under her breath at their impossibly cute interaction before patting his back and hopping down with a similar gratuitous remark, just in time for Erza and the two boys to walk across the crammed-together, flipped-over guild tables to marvel at their prize.
"Now we just have to put it up and then we can decorate it!" Gray remarked. His shirt had been lost in the exchange somewhere, though if it was while hunting for the tree or the debacle that had just occurred, Lucy wasn't for sure. At the mention of the most basic of holiday traditions, Lucy clasped her hands together at her chest and gasped in delight.
"Oh, yay! I've never gotten to decorate a tree before!" Lucy could hear the record screech as all the noise suddenly died in the guild and dozens of eyes became centered on her in utter horror. A blush rose to her cheeks in slight mortification; she knew decorating a tree was a normal holiday tradition, but really, was she the only one who had never done it? She shrunk into herself as Gray hopped down from the table to look at her incredulously.
"Really, Lucy? Never?" he hissed in a mixture of shame and pity. Lucy puffed out her cheeks at the interrogation.
"Never… My father always insisted that it was too frivolous and made the servants do it…" she admitted meekly. Now that she said it aloud, it was pretty sad. At least half the guild whipped around clutching their hearts while tears streamed down their faces, while the other half crowded around to hug the very confused and slightly pissed-off blonde. Mirajane tutted as she pulled Lucy into her chest while snuggling her chin into Lucy's hair.
"Oh, dear… How tragic… Get this tree up at once! Lucy is gonna lead us in decorating this tree, top to bottom!" she suddenly barked in a tone that indicated that she was dangerously close into tapping into her demonic alter ego. With yelps of "yes ma'am!" the grew scattered across the tree, trying to riddle out some way to heft the massive thing into standing position. In the end they decided to situate Wendy at the peak to blast its front end upward with her sky dragon-slayer magic, and the rest of them would keep the momentum so that the tree nestled upright in the corner of the guild. Wendy sucked in a deep breath to the point that her chest swelled to painful capacity before releasing her Sky Dragon's Roar at such an angle that the tree's end skyrocketed up. It actually went pretty high, up to about a sixty degree angle, before it threatened to come crashing down. That's when the rest of them went to scaffolding it with all manners of their magic, pushing up against its thick trunk until it finally rested in the proper position. Standing beneath it, Lucy could not help but be enthralled; it really was the perfect tree, towering over all of them with just enough room between its single-branch summit and the roof to place an adornment. Though Lucy's forte was in the aesthetic of words, her mind also was not lacking in the creativity of décor, and her mind began to swim ecstatically with various ways to arrange baubles and ribbons and ornaments on the gargantuan pine tree.
"Okay, Lucy! Let's get to work," Gray mused as he walked by her to grab her in a tight but affectionately comfortable headlock, tousling his fist into her hair. Someone had probably scolded him for walking around half-naked, because he was now wearing his overcoat. Not even bothered by his wrestler's grip, she smiled giddily as she saw the guild members dragging out countless boxes filled with decorations that had accumulated over the years.
With Lucy at the helm, they began decorating the tree- though of course, the Celestial Mage participated plenty in the physical aspect of the event. They began by stringing more fairy lights to the tree, sticking with plain white bulbs that flickered like stars from deep within the branches. Then they applying round bauble ornaments to the tree. The largest ones, which were hung at the base of the herculean plant, has such an incredible circumference that Lucy couldn't even wrap her arms completely around them. To compliment the red rug and the flickering white fairy lights and the pine garland, Lucy elected for a tri-color arrangement of red, white, and green. The covered the tree in the circular ornaments, using the Exceeds to fly to the top of course, but left plenty of space for some more fun flair. The kitty-like creatures found massive spools of ribbon, and were more than happy to zoon about draping the sheer white glittery trimming over the branches (with some left over to play with after!). Lucy found with delight a set of milky-white glass tailed fairy ornaments, most likely in honor of their beautiful and kind founder Mavis, and so they hung them at strategic gaps in the foliage, as well as sets of crystal stars and red-and-green holly ornaments. Finally, when every space in the tree was stuffed to capacity, it was time for the final piece- the tree topper. It was just a generic angel figurine, but Lucy hesitated to put it atop the pine tree as an artistic vision stirred in her mind when she spotted a plan wreath.
"Hold on a minute!" she cried as she dashed off into one of the guild's hall where they had hung a corkboard. Mirajane had installed the small panel for them to post pictures on, and though it had only been hung a few months or so, the thing was so smothered in photographs that a plan had been enacted to fill the entire hall with corkboards to create a grand display. Lucy plucked photos from the board one by one, aiming for every guild member to be represented, and even found an old photo of the founders, with a sweet, beaming Mavis in the middle, practically glowing like an angel herself. Snickering to herself, Lucy scampered back to her very curious guild members to kneel down in front of the wreath and begin clamping the photographs to its stems with small clothespins. Once she was finished, she held it up in triumph, though wobbled a bit as it was nearly as large as herself. "Ta-da!"
"Oh, Lucy, it's so beautiful," Juvia whispered as she marveled at it, tears brimming in her navy blue eyes. Levy was crying silently as she nodded in approval. Gray and Natsu both snickered and threw their arms around her slim shoulders, with Gray affectionately rubbing her hair again. The Exceeds flew around it with glee, with Happy pointing and naming everyone he could. The Master, who had been watching the proceedings the entire time, smiled softly and nodded in approval.
"I couldn't ask for a more perfect centerpiece for our work of art. Am I right?" he mused and stroked his mustache. The guild chorused in an earth-shaking roar of approval.
"RIGHT!" Lucy hugged the wreath to herself, tears flooding her own brown eyes with overwhelming joy that they cherished her little creation so much. With a guiding hand on the small of her back, Gray turned her back to face the tree and, with a flourish of his hand, fashioned her a set of icy stairs up to its peak.
"Go for it, Lucy," he smiled softly down at her. Though she had her back turned, she knew the rest of the guild was wearing the same look. Like she was a fairy aflight, she ascended the stairs with her toes barely skimming the surface of the ice, like a fleeting winter wind rushing to the heavens. When she arrived at the top, she hefted the massive wreath over her head before settling it into the pine branches, giving it a little shake about to ensure it was secure before turning around with a gleeful shout. The stairs beneath her feet suddenly morphed into a slide, and with a shocked scream her legs went out from under her. She zipped down until a small bump sent her airborne, and she landed unsteadily on her feet, wobbling around while pinwheeling her arms. With a mischievous smirk dancing on his face, Gray steadied her with hands at her waist. She made a face at him, but couldn't be too mad, because it was all in the spirit of fun, of course. He then whirled her around so that she could meet her masterpiece, and all the breath left Lucy's lungs.
Enchantingly gorgeous was the only way that Lucy would ever be able to describe it. The soft glow of the fairy lights reflected off the shiny surfaces of the various ornaments to create sparkling glints against the deep green of the pine needles. The little fairies seemed to be fluttering as the light played over them, and the crystal stars absorbed the light to glow with a pulsing luminosity of their own. The rich tones of the red and vibrant hue of the green complimented the striking white well. At the crown of the tree, all their happy, smiling faces beamed down, with the beloved smile of their founder Mavis outshining them all. A single tear rolled down Lucy's cheek as she beheld it, and then she put her hand over her heart as it clenched with more joy than words could ever express.
"You guys… Let's do this again next year, okay? And the next, and the next… Forever…" she sniffled.
"Of course!" they hollered before jumping forward to envelop Lucy in a crushing, smothering, suffocating and wonderful group hug. With her friends, her greatest treasures, enclosing her with tender arms, Lucy had never felt more loved. Her forever began right there, at that pivotal moment… Her forever with Fairy Tail.
Such was Lucy's first time decorating a holiday tree, but it certainly was not her last…