Ten Lords A-Leaping

Their mysterious benefactor was either brilliant or completely insane. Most likely a combination of both. But there they were; a pile of jumping ropes resting in a jumbled pile on top one of the tables.

Levy hovered in midair and stared at the ropes. She couldn't fathom how someone snuck them inside the guild. She had been downstairs for most of the morning, surrounded by the empty tables and chairs. Growing bored, she raced up the stairs to grab her new bird watching book and had been gone for only a few minutes at best, but by the time she flew downstairs a table had been filled with the toys.

A loud buzzing noise came behind her and she was nearly bowled over when a large group of Fairies raced past. They turned big and jumped onto the table, ropes flying into the air. With shouts and hollers, the guys wasted no time in attempting to untangle the disastrous heap. Punches were thrown and bodies fell to the ground. Levy sighed, shaking her head. They sure were lucky that the master was out for the day.

Taking mercy on the poor, disorganized boys, Levy turned big and shouldered her way into the group. With crisp, clear directions, she had the guys twisting and pulling until all of the ropes were untangled. They thanked her by ruffling her hair.

Grumbling, Levy turned small and escaped to the ceiling beams to fix her already unruly hair. The guys set up competitions on the floor beneath her, even going so far as to leap over tables and chairs. She smiled at their games, not even bothering to count the Fairies in the room; somehow she knew exactly how many were leaping around with a child-like glee.

He was almost finished.

Gajeel stared at the small stack of paper in his hands with a small smile. After days working on the project, he was finally confident he would finish by Christmas. He was in for a few rough nights, but at least it would be completed in time. With a sigh he set the papers on his bed and rested the back of his head against the wall.

There were only a few more days left.

A few more days for his daily surprises, a few more days to finish his blacksmithing project, and just a few more days until Christmas Day. His heart pounded just thinking about it. He was excited for the holiday; the activity and decorations around the guild make it impossible to not to notice the Christmas spirit in the air. But his heart already pounded in dreaded anticipation.

What if something went wrong? What if Levy found out about his surprises and wished he had done something different? What if Christmas wasn't really as special as everyone claimed it would be?

He sighed again and reached for the empty journal, finding no more excuses to put off the task. Willing his hand not to shake, and for him to spell everything correctly, he began to transfer the words from the papers into the journal. A snail could work faster than him, but he wanted no mistakes. He sighed again and hung his head, rubbing the area over his heart.

"Why is Christmas so stressful?"

I'm sorry its just a short chapter for today, but sometimes you gotta do the whole "less is more." Some larger chapters are coming up though, so don't worry!

Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed, especially Rao Hyuga 18 for reviewing after every chapter! Your words of encouragement put a huge smile on my face every time :D