Chapter Seventy One - And a Happy New Year
So, Laxus and I did not make S Class.
Neither did anyone else.
If you hadn't already guessed, Macao and Wakaba teamed up, which left Silver and Erigor together. Though they did a pretty good job.
Still, we all lost miserably, and we barely recovered from our…soreness…in time for Christmas.
It was probably Ur and Gildarts's fault. I'm told that they decided to start sparring while waiting for the teams to arrive, and if it wasn't for them, I'm sure that Laxus and I actually would've had a chance.
But I honestly don't even remember half of what happened in that forest, probably because I blacked out at some point.
The last thing I remember is telling Laxus that we would be able to do this, because we helped take down Deliora and the Tower, and then I was waking up in the infirmary...again.
Laxus told me he had to carry me for the last bit, and once again commented on the fact that I was getting heavier to carry.
I told him that that's what happened over time, and if he was too weak to carry me, he should work out more.
Surprisingly enough, he actually started doing that. In addition to his normal training, he would lift weights every day, and he started doing push-ups with Yukino on his back.
I switched her out for Millianna, the second smallest member of the guild. Yukino is too light.
Silver had luckily woken up in time for his birthday, and then Christmas had arrived.
On Christmas Eve, we all grouped around a tree and passed around our presents. Lucy, unfortunately, wasn't able to open another gate. Being unconscious had slowed down her progress, and Corvus told her that things were going to get worse before they got better.
On Christmas Day, I dropped by Mercurius, at the Royal Family's insistence.
"Ellie-nee!" Hisui ran up to me, and I swung her up in my arms. She was smaller by Yukino (even though she was only younger by a few months) which meant that I had no trouble carrying her. After all, I spent a lot of the time carrying Yukino around.
"Hey, Hisui," I said, smiling down at her. "Merry Christmas!"
"Mewwy Chwismas!" Hisui replied, smiling.
God, these kids are all so damn adorable!
Ame smiled at me as she and Toma entered the room. "Merry Christmas, Elle."
"I want Ellie-nee to hep open pwesents!" Hisui said, clutching me.
Toma chuckled, and they lead the way to the tree, where I helped Hisui open all of her presents. She spent most of her time playing with the wrapping paper and ripping it into smaller pieces.
We spent time sitting on the floor, talking and playing games that I introduced from my previous life.
This, of course, would lead to the invention of board games (courtesy of Ame) but that's a story for another time.
As I was leaving, Toma took me aside and gave me my own present, in a box that was wrapped.
"What's this?" I asked him.
"A present," he said. "As well as something else…" he hesitated. "If Zash Caine was able to steal it, that means it wasn't protected well enough. However, I doubt anyone would ever think to look in that requip space of yours. After all, it's not as if they can easily access it."
I blinked at him in surprise. It was true; requip was special that way. It was another dimension, my own storage unit to which only I had the key.
But the amount of trust with this… "Thank you," I said quietly, taking it and requipping it. "This gesture means more to me than you will ever know."
There are some things that, try as we might, can't be conveyed in words.
We ended up celebrating Jude's birthday a few days later, despite his protests about how he wasn't a member of the guild.
"Nonsense, you practically are!" Makarov shouted, spinning around with a mug in the air. "Plus, it gives us another excuse to PARTY!"
I think it was the latter sentence that told Jude that it would be useless trying to change their minds.
The new year passed, and X776 began.
The first thing I did was make sure that the birthday board was up to date. I had added all of the new members as well.
January 3rd – Jellal (10)
January 19 th – Reedus (18)
January 26 th – Ur (28)
February 2 nd – Brandish (8)
February 5th – Yukino (2)
February 28 th – Laki (9)
March 1 st – Makarov (79)
March 8 th – Gray (9)
March 17 th – Max (8)
April 7 th – Gildarts (36)
April 14th – Millianna (7)
April 26 th – Juvia (8)
May 1 st – Elle (12)
May 14 th – Ultear (10)
June 1 st – Lucy (8)
June 16th – Jet (9)
June 24 th – Nab (11)
July 9 th – Levy (8)
July 12 th – Cana (9)
July 22nd – Sho (8)
August 7th – Erza (10)
August 12 th – Layla (28)
August 24 th – Evergreen (11)
August 31 st – Enno (22)
September 8 th – Macao (28)
September 14th – Simon (10)
September 25th – Droy (9)
September 30 st – Freed (11)
October 6th – Wally (11)
October 16 th – Lyon (10)
October 23 rd – Bickslow (12)
November 9th – Kagura (7)
November 16 th – Porlyusica (70)
November 18 th – Wakaba (28)
November 23 rd – Laxus (15)
December 16 th – Erigor (18)
December 22 nd – Silver (29)
December 29 th – Jude (30)
Jeez. We were getting a lot of names now.
By the time everyone gets here, we'll be celebrating someone's birthday every other day.
That was when we all decided to only do presents on Christmas, rather than birthdays, unless it was someone especially close to you.
Of course, 'especially close to you' fit most of the guild, for me, so I'd still be busy with presents.
But overall, this would be easier on everyone, and we decided to just throw a party on people's birthdays.
Which is why, only a few days after I made the list, we threw Jellal an eleventh birthday party.
Though I was a bit distracted; I had a dark guild to find.
Not really happy with this chapter. Sorry. And I know it's not what you expected. Next S Class Trials will be described. Next chapter should be up late Thursday.