Alright, a few things. First, Merry Christmas, you guys! Sorry this is a bit late, and also for virtually disappearing off of the internet for a few days; I started working again and I've been fucking exhausted.

But I still got this finished, yay!

Also, on the Strauss siblings; I know a lot of you guys want them in now, but unfortunately it will be awhile longer. According to the Fairy Tail Wikia Timeline and the Tartaros arc, they didn't join until X778, and since I've had most of this story planned out from the beginning, I can't change that now anyway. It wouldn't fit.

Sorry about that, guys. Anyway, here you go! One more chapter and then Dragon Slayers, and I'm trying to get that chapter up on New Year's Eve.

The song is called DNA by Lia Marie Johnson, and I've linked it for Quotev and AO3. Video should be added to Wattpad. It was also inspired by Anime Safe Haven, a Youtube channel that does Fairy Tail AMVs that are amazing (she did one to the nightcore version of this song). Whenever my muse starts to die, I just have to look at her videos. And yes, she also did a video to Unstoppable (Natsu-centric) and one to Never Going Back. I suggest you check her channel out.

Merry Christmas, guys! (And yes, even though I'm Jewish, a review for a gift would be much appreciated. :D)

Chapter Ninety Two - Merry Christmas

The days had flown by, and then Laxus's birthday was upon us.

I was undeniably nervous, and Lucy and Juvia decided that I had to look 'amazingly pretty'.

I'm around 80% sure that Juvia has some sort of plan going on with Freed, and that they're trying to get me to kiss Laxus in public.

I also think it might end up happening anyway.

Thanks to Virgo and Cancer (again) I ended up looking pretty and a bit more mature. This time, they put make-up on me to make me look more like a 'singer'. (Which I'm pretty sure was because of Erigor).

Honestly, I thought the only people who would be 'shipping' other than me would be Mira (obviously) and also Natsu and Juvia, because I had seen evidence that Juvia shipped Nalu and Natsu had shipped Gruvia.

Laxus didn't really know what was going on, only that it was part of his birthday present.

So he was undeniably surprised to see our guild's pseudo-stage set up out in the guild hall.

I took a deep breath from behind the curtain.

"Don't worry, Ellie-nee, you'll do great!" Lucy hissed, smiling at me before she ran off to join everyone else in the crowd.

Alright, Elle, you can do this, I thought to myself, all the while cursing Macbeth and Mashima's names.

And maybe Erik, Laxus and myself, for good measure.

Laxus was looking around and searching for me. "We can't start until Elle gets here."

"Shhhh!" several of the kids hissed to him.

The curtains opened and Laxus saw me on the stage.

A look of understanding dawned on his face and he looked around at all of the kids, who seemed very excited (but also very unsurprised).

Apparently, Macbeth and Freed can't keep secrets. Good to know.

I ignored them and sat down in front of the piano (because (according to Freed) I needed the very best. I'm pretty sure he used some of his endless savings from the Hollywood business from his and Cana's patents).

Freed said it was an early Christmas present to me.

I still think that a baby grand was overboard, but enough thinking on that for now.

I took a deep breath and the world stopped. My heart froze. And then as I let it out, the world started up again as I began to play.

"Dark as Midnight

Six pack Coors Light

You don't look the same.

Past my bedtime

Blue and red lights

Come take you away"

At first, it obviously wasn't making sense to him, probably because he hadn't heard the song before.

And unlike how he changed Run to fit me better, I wasn't good at changing lyrics.

"Hate to see you like a monster so I run and hide

Hate to ask, but what's it like to leave me behind

I won't be, no I won't be like you

I'm fighting back, I'm fighting back the truth

Eyes like yours, won't look away

But you can't stop DNA

No, you can't stop DNA"

Suddenly, it seemed to hit him, and it made start to well up.

"Twice a year, you come in crashing

Nice to see you too

Johnny Cash and backseat laughing

Always ends too soon

Hate to say hello 'cause I know that it

Means goodbye

Hate to ask but what's it like to leave me behind...

I won't be no I won't be like you

Fighting back, I'm fighting back the truth

Eyes like yours, can't look away

But you can't stop DNA...

No, you can't stop DNA..."

He was full out crying now, and I hoped he wasn't too upset about that.

"Are the pieces of you

In the pieces of me

I'm just so scared,

You're who I'll be

When I erupt

Just like you do

They look at me

Like I look at you...

I won't be, no I won't be like you

Fighting back, I'm fighting back the truth

Eyes like yours can't look away

But you can't stop DNA

No, you can't stop DNA"

I stopped playing the music and stood up, walking off of the stage. Reaching out, I took Laxus's hands in mine, and squeezed them, saying, very firmly, "Laxus, you are not your father. You're your own person, and I love you."

I leaned forward and kissed him.

It was light, and sweet, and we had to separate pretty quickly because of a large crashing noise.

Looking over, we both saw Freed unconscious, having collapsed on the floor.

"We should really take him to a doctor," I muttered, before turning and kissing Laxus again as the kids cheered.

The days after Laxus's birthday passed quickly.

December was actually a pretty busy month, though.

First, I gave all the boys who turned ten, and all of the new boys the 'Talk' (Part One).

As with last time, someone (Gray) ended up stripping and girls started screaming.

It was apparently bad enough (and I still think this is completely unwarranted) for Cana to use Summon Lightning on Gray, which ended up leaving him unconscious on the ground.

Which lead to more screaming from everyone else, because he couldn't exactly put his clothes back on if he's unconscious.

On the 3rd of December, I ended up teleporting to Mercurius, to help Ame give birth to her next child.

It was the first time I had done it with a midwife at my side, and it luckily made it a lot easier. The healers taught me the 'proper' way to deliver the baby and use my powers to make it as easy as possible.

Unlike Hisui's, it was an easy pregnancy. Ame gave birth to an adorable little girl, who was named Kokumotsu, or Koku for short. It translated to Chalcedony, which was a lavender/light blue colored gem that matched the shade of the baby's small sprout of hair.

A few days later we celebrated Macbeth's fifteenth birthday on the ninth, and a week after that, Erigor's nineteenth.

This was followed by the S Class trials, which lead to changing the board.

On the left side, I added Macbeth, Erik, Sorano, Sawyer, Richard and Orga to the previous timeline, and then I added them to the right. I also moved some people up on the right – I'm just glad my name didn't go down.

I also added Kagura to both sides.

In the end, the left looked like this:

In wizard Saint, we had Makarov Ur Brandish Gildarts, Laxus Jellal and Silver (who was on a lower level than the others).

In SS column, we had Cana and Erza as high SS, Richard, Macbeth and Erik in the middle, and Gray and Orga in the lower side.

In the S Class, we had Ultear and Kagura in high S Class, Lucy, Erigor and Sorano in the middle, and Juvia, Freed, Lyon and Sawyer in the lower part.

Other than that the A, B, C, and D classes stayed the same: A was Bickslow and Evergreen, in middle and low, B held Levy on the highest level, Macao, Wakaba and Simon on the middle, and Nab and Millianna on the lowest level. Reedus in high C and Sho and Wally in low C.

On the current level, Wizard Saint held Makarov at the top and Gildarts and Ur on the bottom.

SS was empty.

Lucy was in high S Class. Laxus was mid S Class. Cana, Brandish, Jellal and I were on the lowest level of S Class.

Mari, Macao, Wakaba Silver and Erigor were in high A Class. Ultear and Juvia were mid-A Class. Erza, Gray, Freed and Bickslow were in low A Class.

Levy, Enno, Lyon and Evergreen and Macbeth and Erik (who had both pushed themselves really hard after what happened) were a high B, and Nab and Richard were mid B. Orga and Sorano were a low B.

Reedus was still high C, and Jet and Droy and Sawyer joined them. Simon was mid-C, Sho and Kagura were lower C, and Millianna and Wally were still a high D.

Of this, Makarov, Gildarts and Ur, Levy and Enno, and Reedus and I all stayed on the same level from last year.

Lucy, Laxus, Cana, Brandish, Macao, Wakaba, Erigor, Ultear, Juvia, Gray, Freed, Evergreen, Lyon, and Nab moved up one.

Silver, Bickslow, Jet and Droy, Simon, Sho, Wally and Millianna all went up by two.

Erza went up by three (a whole letter grade) and Jellal went up by four.

When I asked him about it, he explained that he had trained a lot over the year because he wanted to help more (something he had apparently started after I turned him down for help with Zoldeo, all the way in the beginning of the year) and had worked even harder when I disappeared. Now that I thought of it, I actually hadn't seen him a lot unless he was directly spending time with me or practicing the dance with Erza, for Fantasia.

And then it was time for the trials.

S Class trials were not fun.

I wasn't nominated this year (I wasn't expecting to be. If I was worthy of an S Class Mage I should've been able to escape earlier, or not get caught by Brain and Hades in the first place). Laxus was nominated, and made me his partner.

This year, the trials were on Mount Hakobe.

Because you know…why the hell not?

Ur was fine with it. Gildarts was not.

Mari chided Gildarts for being a baby.

Mari was among the nominations, and Makarov revealed that Ivan used to be jealous of Mari because she reached S Class before he did.

Unfortunately, no one won.

We ended up stuck underground, with everyone huddling near me because I could produce fire because Macao was unconscious (Laxus had been pretty vicious taking him out).

At least I'm smart enough to keep food as well as sticks in my requip space, so everyone got their own torch.

Luckily, we found a lot of Mount Hakobe Ice, which I managed to steal and put in my requip space (that should come in handy someday) and we finally managed to escape, after the S Classers stood by and watched us beat up a monster.

They said it was part of the test, but since no one won the trials, I think it's just because they were lazy.

"Maybe you should choose a better place next time?" I asked Makarov.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. He had been stuck underground with us, and when I was cutting off all of the ice, he had to work as the heater because he also knows some elemental magic.

After returning, we ended up celebrating Silver's birthday, where he complained about always being worn out as hell from the S Class trials; even going so far as asking Makarov to move the trials in the future as a birthday present.

Makarov said no.

Ur told Silver that if he wanted it to stop, he could just win the trials. Silver pointed out that even though he would reach S Class, he'd still have to participate in the trials to test any new participants.

Makarov said that he'd only have to do that until we reached a certain amount of S Class members, which Makarov also pointed out would likely increase as soon as other people reached the age limit.

I pointed out that if he wanted one of the trials to finish, he should just plan them out accordingly.

A few days after Silver's birthday was Christmas, for which we celebrated Christmas Eve together in the guild.

"Alright, everyone, I've got some announcements," I yelled.

Everyone gathered round. "Do we even want to know?" Macbeth teased.

"I dunno, do you?" I asked him, rolling my eyes. "Anyway, back when I first joined Fairy Tail, I spent a lot of my time searching for Celestial Spirit Keys. I found a few major sites that had a lot of magical items, as well as a lot of treasure."

The girls who remembered started getting excited.

"With all of the confusion over the past few years, I forgot to do this," I continued. "And I only remembered a few months ago. I decided to wait for Christmas so you guys get another thing to celebrate. Alright, girls," I said, spreading my arms and dumping all of the treasure on the ground. "Find what you want. Some of us already has ours."

At that, Cana, Juvia, Levy, Lucy, Brandish, Evergreen, and I showed off our necklaces.

The rest of the girls sprung on the pile, and I noticed the faces on some of the boys.

Remembering how happy Laxus was when he chose treasure on his birthday, I rolled my eyes. "Alright, boys, you can get a piece, too."

The ones who jumped for the pile first were Erigor, Macbeth, Erik, Jellal, and Gray and Lyon. Orga, too, followed them curiously.

The rest of the boys took their time, though Laxus went searching through everything, too.

"You've already got a lot of things, Laxus," I said to him.

He smirked. "You can never have enough shiny things."

"You know it doesn't count as a present if she gives it to you first!" Erik shouted from somewhere in the pile of children and treasure.

"Dammit, Erik!" Laxus yelled.

I laughed.

In the end, all the girls had chosen necklaces that brought out their eyes, with the exception of Ultear. Simon had pointed out that her eyes had slowly started changing color from a brown to a red, and when I told her she could exchange it out for something else later, she decided on an amethyst necklace instead.

Several boys wanted earrings, and I told them that I knew someone who would pierce their ears, but wouldn't get here until July. They all decided to wait, surprisingly enough.

Jellal told me later that it was because of my 'recommendation'. The fact that I already knew someone who could do it made them more secure about it going well than trying someone else.

Speaking of Jellal, he had picked out a ruby pendant that shimmered with Erza's hair. Erza had picked out her own blue pendant, which (you guessed it) matched Jellal's hair.

It was a fun evening. There was laughter and food and searching through piles of gold and jewels (which, of course, is always fun).

Eventually, we all exchanged goodnights and well-wishes and went home.

The next morning, several of us went to Mercurius.

And by 'several' of us, I mean that I had to teleport myself, Laxus, Makarov, Mari, Gildarts, Jellal and Cana.

We all spent the time laughing and playing with the kids, while opening some presents and playing games.

Hisui asked to bring Lucy and Yukino next time (and I pointed out that Sorano was also Yukino's sister), and Ame asked some very important questions.

"Mari, I want you and Gildarts to be Koku's godparents," she said suddenly.

Everything stopped, before Mari tackled Ame and started sobbing, which caused Ame to start crying.

Which lead to Toma asking the next question.

"Ella," he said, approaching me. "We'd like you and Laxus to be Hisui's godparents. Will you accept?"

I started crying too, and nodded, giving him a hug, before scooping up the tiny baby and hugging her.

It really was, a Merry Christmas.