Amongst Untrodden Ways

by SecretEngima

She hadn't asked for this. Any of it. Being slashed through the throat, waking up in a world that shouldn't exist, being a sister to a fictional character, getting a wild family that steamrolled over things like reality, impossibility, and destiny via bullheadedness and faith in each other, or falling in love with a competitive idiot. She hadn't asked … but she loved them anyway.

33. Chapter 32: First Fairy Tail Christmas

Here we are! The Christmas Special! Whoo! Also, I will stand no complaints about how long it takes for me to update this story after this chapter because THIS. This ... thing ... doesn't even qualify as a chapter in my books because it's length is by far and away the longest 'chapter' I have ever written for FanFiction. Ever. Don't believe me? The original word count for this thing is 17,611 words. That 103 pages in my word doc. ONE-HUNDRED-AND-THREE! Just. What even...? Nevermind. Relish this one, because I never plan on doing a chapter this long again. I'm also out of prewritten ones. If you all want to pace yourself, through this thing, you can separate it into five parts, as this chapter actually starts on the 20th for Wren and continues until Christmas day. Each day is marked in the chapter and is easily long enough to be a chapter by itself. In fact, if I'd been REALLY clever I would have separated this into five pieces and posted one a day starting on the twentieth. But I'm not, so moving on.

Review Response: Dear Princesslostsoul, greetings! Glad you liked it! As for Warren, eventually he will show up and help Wren out, but at the moment he hasn't joined yet and I have a few other characters to introduce first.

Dear Lightsbane1905, hello there! Too true, too true...

Dear Thelonewolf87, hi there! Nope, sorry. Laxus and Wren are strictly very close siblings. I have someone else in mind for her, but she'll only meet him when she's older. Hopefully you'll grow to like the other guy in time anyway?

Dear WolfGirl01, hello! Got it in one about Wren's mom! I'm glad you picked it up, I thought the clues might be too vague but I didn't want to make it more obvious. Wren is certainly going to try her best to prevent Fantasia and she does seem to be off to a good start doesn't she?

Dear RedWolf Lover, hey there! (Cracks up laughing) Can I use those in a Christmas one-shot someday? Please? Those just- they sum up the Team Natsu Christmas experience so perfectly! (goes back to laughing hysterically at the mental images)

Dear BlackDove WhiteDove, hiya! Glad you like it so much! And, not to sound like a sadist, but I'm glad my story makes you cry too, because it means I'm doing my job right. Hopefully this new chapter will cause more laughter and smiles than tears though.

Dear Yatocat19, hello there! She'll get it eventually. But telepathy is a very rare and difficult magic, and shadows were more practical at the time. Hope you enjoy the new chapter and have a Merry Christmas!

Dear Dragon Lord Draco, heya! Well, she did her best. We'll have to see how it pans out later, yeah? Give Laxus time, his confidence in his non-monster-ness will return eventually. Well it deserves to be talked about for several review responses. Because they are awesome.

Dear gryffindorandcats, greetings! Happy to hear it! I honestly didn't think of Freed making cookies, but he is just a kid, so he might not know the recipe yet anyway.

Dear Arthanos, hello there! Awww, so thrilled to hear it! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and enjoy the Christmas special chapter!

Dear Gerbilfriend, hi there! It isn't silly at all. Just be thankful you're safely in another dimension where you can watch the chaos from a safe distance and laugh instead of be in the midst of the chaos and probably freak out like Lucy (because let's be honest, Lucy is the only sane person with a functioning self-preservation instinct in the guild until Natsu corrupts her and that's why she spends the first few seasons freaking out so much).

Dear Pixie, hello! For the answer to that question, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and see (winks).

Dear , heya! Well good, because there's some of that in this chapter on top of humor and Christmas cheer! Enjoy!

Dear Natzed202, greetings! You're welcome and thank YOU for the wonderful compliments! I'm always really happy to hear that my writing makes someone else happy. I hope you enjoy the Christmas chapter and have a Merry Christmas yourself!

Dear snowleopard314, hello! Well shucks (shuffles in quiet glee), that's a really high compliment, thank you. Enjoy the Christmas Special!

Dear passerines, hi! Well! That IS a high compliment! I'm honored you decided to give my story a try despite not reading or watching Fairy Tail! You can be as pro-Laxus as you want, he's one of my favorites too (which is why he gets so much screen time). Since you like my story so much, I would recommend trying the actual anime if you ever have the time. The main cast is a different set of characters than the Raijinshū (and Wren is not present at all, obviously), but I personally find the show to be one of the best anime I've ever seen (if not THE best) and if you can have the patience to wait for the show to settle into it's unique rhythm, the characters and story are well worth it. In my own opinion of course. Have a Merry Christmas!

Dear Innieminnie, hello! Glad you think so!

Author's Note: So. There will be a completely optional little Christmas-theme blurb/speech/thing at the bottom if you want to read that, but for now, I have a bit of an experiment for you all to try if you want. Toward's the tale end of the chapter, a non-Christmas carol song will be heavily referenced. That will be Taylor Davis's version of the Fairy Tail Theme. I would like you to go pull it up on youtube before you start reading, but don't play it yet. Wait until you get to the line "there was no way she could have truly forgotten it". When you reach that line, really quick start the youtube, then pop back and resume reading the next paragraph and on. Hopefully, that will make the end of the chapter even more enjoyable. You may want to have a tissue nearby though... Anyway! I had a couple things I planned to say here, but I've forgotten most of them, so I think I will just say Merry Christmas, God bless you, and enjoy the chapter!

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any references made in this chapter. The only things I own are my OCs, who have run off with the plot.

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Chapter Thirty-Two: First Christmas

(Seven months, three weeks, two days since joining guild).

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Date: December 20th, X774. Location: Magnolia, Fiore. Weather: Partly sunny with no snowfall.

Snow crunched underfoot as the Raijinshū trekked their way through the city of Magnolia toward the guild building. Evergreen huddled a bit deeper in her long, dressy coat, "Why do we have to head down to the guild building today? It's so cold. Can't we take the day off from jobs? We're more likely to turn into icicles than complete any request we take!"

Bickslow shot her an unimpressed look from over his scarf, "It isn't that cold, Ever."

Evergreen glowered at him, "Is too! I'm turning blue in this coat!" She paused, then added unhappily, "And don't call me Ever! My name is Evergreen. Ever. Green. Got it?"

Bickslow flapped a hand lazily before he tucked it back in his coat pocket, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Ever. Either way, you don't have a right to complain about the cold until you've experienced an entire winter without a coat or a blanket waiting for you back home."

Evergreen's mouth snapped shut and she looked down at the ground in shame. Rihanna rolled her eyes heavenward, wondering if Bickslow would ever be able to make friends without antagonizing them to bits first. It had been over a month since Evergreen and Freed had joined the Raijinshū, and Bickslow still did his best to wind Evergreen up at any opportunity. Unless Cana presented a better target at the time, of course, she was still his favorite to argue with.

Still, Rihanna refrained from intervening. She knew from experience that stepping in too soon with those two would just make it worse. Evergreen would just get scared of her and try to make excuses and Bickslow would take Evergreen's appeasing as some kind of challenge to wind her up again. She'd have to wait until they did something to justify a slap with her shadows.

Freed shuffled a bit further to the left unnecessarily to keep distance between himself and a random passerby, his head ducked down defensively. He didn't respond to the passerby's friendly call of, "Merry Christmas!" even after Laxus returned the greeting with a lazy wave and a smile.

Evergreen made another muted whine of complaint and both Bickslow and Cana looked ready to sic their respective weapons on her when Laxus barked over his shoulder without looking, "Evergreen, stop complaining, Magnolia is hardly the 'coldest place on earth'. Cana, put those cards back in your purse. Bickslow, no smacking Evergreen with your tikis."

Cana sighed as she slid her cards back into her purse while Bickslow's head tilted to one side mischievously. Rihanna was about to scold Bickslow when Laxus added, "No, you cannot set her coat, hair, or mittens on fire either."

Bickslow deflated, "Since when did you get eyes in the back of your head? That's Wren's job!"

Laxus huffed, sending a cloud of white steam into the air, "Don't need to, I've known you for six months now. Besides, Wren's been giving me tips." Bickslow shot Rihanna a look of betrayal to which Rihanna just raised an eyebrow sarcastically. There's no way I'm dealing with all four of you without backup.

Bickslow grumbled something into his scarf but reluctantly let the matter go. Silence fell over the Raijinshū for a few minutes, allowing the hustle and bustle of pre-Christmas cheer to wash over them instead. Most shopkeepers and townspeople had already put up their Christmas lights and decorations, making the entire town seem extra festive. Rihanna had noticed that Fairy Tail hadn't put up any decorations yet, and had debated to herself as to whether or not Master Makarov believed the guild building too big to decorate … or if he was going to turn the entire thing into an even bigger party/spectacle/debacle than the monthly birthday bashes.

Considering the fact that nearly the entire guild would be there for Christmas —including Newgate-san and his brood—, and that Fairy Tail Luck increased exponentially the more members were present, Rihanna was placing her bets on the latter.

Finally, Freed broke the silence that had been hanging over the group, "Laxus-sama, um, far be it for me to question your judgement, but is it really wise to go out on a job so soon? Porlyusica-san did put restrictions on what kind of missions we could take after the … Incident last month."

Laxus glanced over at Freed, a faint look of concern on his features, "Anything hurting?" Freed shook his head, causing more hair to flop over his right eye while the replacement eye in question blinked at Laxus shyly. Laxus shrugged, "We should be fine then. Besides, your Rune Magic is coming along really well, you could totally handle an out of town job with us."

Freed's face immediately lit up with the joy and determination of an acknowledged fanboy while his hands fisted eagerly under his chin, "I will do my best to live up to your faith in me, Laxus-sama!"

Laxus raised his eyes heavenward briefly before he returned his gaze to the snowy path before them, "But that is beside the point. We're not taking an out-of-town request today."

Cana shot the snow piled up on the edges of the sidewalk and in people's yards a look of distaste, "Please tell me we're not taking a request to shovel someone's yard or something."

Freed whirled on Cana in an instant, causing Rihanna to worry a bit as he began walking backwards in order to scold the Card Mage, "We will do whatever request Laxus-sama chooses for us and we will do it with every fiber of our being-whoa!"

Just as Rihanna had feared, Freed's backward walking stunt ended in his foot slipping on a patch of ice he hadn't seen and him toppling backward with a yelp. With a pull of her magic and a flick of her fingers, Rihanna caused Freed's own shadow to grab him and halt his fall. Freed blinked with wide eyes down at the shadowy arms clamped firmly around his waist from behind before he hesitantly found his footing again.

Evergreen hurried over to Freed with a worried hiss as the green-haired boy straightened up and dusted his coat off automatically, "Freed! Are you alright? You shouldn't do stupid things like that!"

Freed shot his step-sister a sheepish smile and waved off her concerns before he turned to Rihanna and bowed at the waist, "Thank you for saving me from that nasty fall, Wren-sama."

Rihanna waved his thanks off with a gloved hand and whistled a stern warning against doing it again. Bickslow dutifully translated for the newest members of their tribe, "Wren says it's fine, just to not do something stupid like that again, because we're out of splints back home and she doesn't want you spending Christmas in the hospital. Or Porlyusica-san's house."

Evergreen's and Freed's faces blanched at the thought of having to go to Porlyusica again so soon, especially after what they'd done to her garden by accident. The woman could hold a grudge to the end of time and felt no shame in extracting revenge via her medical treatments. Laxus drawled, "Amen to that. Jiji would have my head if one of you got hurt outside of a job and you do not want to see how Porlyusica-san reacts to people who show up with injuries near or on Christmas. So be more careful, all of you."

Freed's and Evergreen's attitudes did near-instant turnabouts as they chorused adoringly, "Hai, Laxus-sama!"

Bickslow snorted at the formal form of address, Cana snickered, and Laxus gave his three present senior Raijinshū a look of long-suffering. He wasn't much for titles, and being called "sama" by kids only three years younger than him grated on his easygoing sensibilities. Still, no matter how many times he had told the two to just call him Laxus, they always tacked on a "sama" on the end. Rihanna didn't even bother trying anymore.

"Anyway," Laxus said pointedly in order to cut off any further gushing from his two newest minions, "we're gonna be meet up with Mest and take a job in the guild building itself. So is every other member who happens to be in town right now, so be prepared for a crowd."

Evergreen nervously pushed her glasses farther up her nose so that they covered her eyes more thoroughly while Freed fiddled with the bangs that hung over his right eye, using his fingers to make sure they covered it adequately. His tone fell to a shyer pitch as he asked, "A job at the Fairy Tail building itself? Um, what kind?" "Is this going to be another birthday party disaster?" Went unsaid but clearly heard anyway.

Cana began to giggle ominously while Laxus's lips quirked in a manner that indicated dry humor, "Oh, you'll see." "It's going to be worse." Was how Rihanna translated Laxus's statement. She already had a sneaking suspicion as to what they would be doing anyway, and after seeing how Fairy Tail handled birthdays…

With that rather ominous ending to the conversation, the Raijinshū minus Mest finally rounded the last street corner and the guild building itself loomed into view. Bickslow, Rihanna, Evergreen, and Freed all jolted to a stop in a mixture of awe, shock, and mild terror. Though for Rihanna, it was more a feeling of unwanted confirmation of a previous theory. Called it. Christmas debacle.

The huge double doors were flung wide and members were bustling to and fro through them with boxes, piles of glittering tinsel, and in one notable case, a tree that had to be at least a story high.

The multi-layered, pagoda-style roof had become a road in and of itself, with ladders set up in strategic locations to allow a way up and down for the teams of mages all scrabbling about with literal ropes of Christmas lights and boxes of things Rihanna wasn't entirely sure she wanted to identify. It would have been an impressive scene of organization and Christmas spirit … if it wasn't clear that Fairy Tail Luck had struck already.

Namely, two of the ladders leading up to the lowest roof had fallen over, dumping the mages traveling up them into the snow-piles in a cascade of shouts, curses, and tinsel. One member was wailing pathetically while clinging to the flagpole on the very top of the building for dear life. Mest —who had apparently arrived earlier than anticipated— had somehow gotten stuck on tree transportation duty and —as was inevitable due to his pine allergy— had just sneezed uncontrollably, causing the Christmas tree and its moving team to teleport off to some random location.

To top it all off, hysterical screaming had started up from somewhere within the building itself accompanied by peppermint red smoke that literally sparkled in the sunlight as it wafted innocently out of the top of the double doors.

Freed and Evergreen shot wild looks at Laxus only to discover that he was completely unperturbed by the scene of rampant chaos before him. The wild looks shifted to Bickslow, who just shrugged uneasily, then to Cana, who blinked and commented, "Huh, they've gotten pretty far this year. I thought for sure the flags would be on fire again by now."

Finally, they shifted their pleading eyes to Rihanna, who raised her hands in a "what can you do?" manner while glumly noting to herself that, now that the initial shock had worn off, she also was mostly undisturbed by the sight before her. Looks like a person really can be desensitized to Fairy Tail Luck. Huh, at least that explains why Fairy Tail doesn't have a guild psychologist, you don't really need one after the first few months.

Laxus started toward the doors, only pausing when he noticed that Freed and Evergreen were still frozen in place on the sidewalk with horrified looks on their faces. Rihanna suspected they were having flashbacks to last month's birthday bash preparations before Ivan had ruined everything. Laxus blinked at them, the lightning-bolt scar on his right eyelid showing up in its entirety for a moment as he did so, "Well? Are you coming or what?"

The two snapped out of their petrified trances at his voice and scrambled forward, "O-of course, Laxus-sama!"

Laxus barely spared the chaos happening outside of the building a glance as he went straight inside. Rihanna shot a dubious look at the peppermint smoke drifting high above her head as they passed through the doors. A quick, cautious sniff in the general direction of the smoke confirmed that it not only looked like peppermint, it smelled like it too. Rihanna exchanged a meaningful look with Bickslow and Cana as they concluded that someone not normally on the cooking staff had tried to sneak an earlier snack from the kitchens again.

Their suspicion was confirmed as a hysterically howling Wakaba barreled past them out the double doors seconds after they had stepped inside, a bright red magical fire cheerfully blazing away on his beloved pompadour. Leaving Wakaba to fling himself face-first into the snow, the Raijinshū plowed further into the hectic guild hall in search of Master Makarov.

The indoor decorations were going better than the outdoor ones, thankfully. Though there was a conspicuously large blank spot in the far left corner of the guild hall where Rihanna suspected the errant Christmas tree belonged. Members darted back and forth, some clattering about upstairs while others worked on adorning the walls and support pillars with strands of tinsel and hanging Christmas garlands or ornaments on every possible surface.

Rihanna felt her mouth go slack despite herself. She knew that when Fairy Tail finally got their act together and finished decorating —which they would because they were stubborn like that— the entire building was going to be the most spectacularly decorated one in the entire town of Magnolia.

Laxus's voice broke through her awe, "Yo, Jiji!" Rihanna looked over in the direction Laxus was waving and finally spotted Master Makarov amid the chaos.

The old, tiny man in question was perched on the guard-railing of the second floor of the guild hall, a large beer mug in one hand and a placid look on his face as he observed the disorder. Looking down, Master Makarov raised his mug to them, "Laxus! What are you and your Raijinshū doing here this morning?"

Laxus motioned with both hands to the activity all around, "What else? We're here to help prepare for Christmas!"

Master Makarov's face split into a happy smile, "Ah, of course, of course. Let's see if we can find something for you all to do, ne?" Taking a deep breath, the man proved the abnormal strength of his lungs yet again, "Enno! Come in here!"

Moments after his shout, which had startled three guild members into falling off of their stepladders and caused another to set the mistletoe on fire, Enno emerged from the kitchen with a frazzled look. The dancer wiped a bit of flour off her face with the back of her hand as she called up, "Yes, Master?"

Master Makarov motioned down toward Laxus and the waiting Raijinshū, "More recruits just arrived! You want them?"

Enno glanced eagerly over, realized who they were, and her face fell, "E-eh, no thank you Master, I think the kitchen staff can handle it."

Rihanna valiantly tried to be insulted on behalf of her team … but there was a reason why only she, Mest, and Freed were allowed near any of the kitchen appliances other than the sink and the fridge.

Evergreen tended to add sugar to everything she tried to cook —which was a very bad idea for say, hamburgers or steak— and Bickslow continually set fire to things without any prior warning or explanation. Cana was actually semi-decent at cooking, but she lacked the patience for it and Bickslow had the tendency to aggravate her into using her cards in the kitchen, which inevitably ended in disaster.

Laxus had only been allowed to attempt cooking once. After that, he had been banned by unanimous agreement of the rest of the Raijinshū. Laxus had been too concussed and dazed from the electrical explosion at the time to argue.

Considering that the only thing he had been attempting to do at the time was boil some water … even Laxus agreed after the fact that the "Never Let Laxus In the Kitchen Unsupervised" rule was for the best.

Master Makarov stroked his mustache as Enno retreated into the kitchen to deal with the burning smell that had started to emit from it and studied the Raijinshū thoughtfully. Finally, he snapped his fingers and grinned, "You can retrieve the Christmas Hat! After that, come back and I'll find something else for you to do!"

Ignoring the unhealthy pallor that had come over Laxus's and Cana's faces at the first command, Master Makarov chortled into his mug, "The way this has been going, we actually might have the decorating done by midnight this year!" He then scowled mournfully into his mug and Rihanna thought she heard him mutter something about the eggnog not being strong enough before Laxus quietly herded them away.

Bickslow cocked his head as they left the Fairy Tail building once again, "Uh, Laxus? Where are we going?"

Laxus made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper, "To retrieve the Fairy Tail Christmas Hat. Jiji doesn't keep it in the main building."

All of the Raijinshū went alert at Laxus's almost plaintive tone and Freed twitched a hand toward his Light Pen, "Is it … dangerous, Laxus-sama?" It said something about her life that Rihanna regarded the question about the potential lethality of a hat seriously.

Laxus sighed, "Not in the usual sense no. It's just … big. Plus, we'll have to dust it off and make sure nothing's made a nest in it. Again."

Evergreen wrinkled her nose, "Ew. Why do we need some old infested hat anyway?"

Laxus shrugged as he led the way down an unfamiliar route through Magnolia, "It's for Fairy Tail's Secret Santa tradition."

Bickslow ran a hand through his dark blue hair as he queried, "What's that?"

Rihanna started to feel sympathetic at Bickslow's lack of knowledge on the subject but then she noticed Evergreen and Freed giving the same questioning looks at Laxus. Is it really that rare? The lightning mage hummed neutrally before he explained, "A lot of Fairy Tail's members don't have blood family and there's way too many members for everyone to get everyone else a present. So, not long before the Shōdaime died, she set up this neat idea of how everyone would get a present for Christmas without driving Fairy Tail bankrupt."

He looked up at the sky for a moment, "Basically, everyone just writes their name down on a single slip of paper, then that paper is put in a big hat and the hat is shaken really hard to mix up all the names. Then, the members take turns going up to the hat and picking out a name without looking. Whoever's name you get is the person you have to buy a Christmas gift for. You can't pick more than one name and if you somehow pull your own name, you have to hand it over to the Master for safekeeping and try again. Once your turn is done, your name is put back in the hat for someone to eventually pick."

Laxus sidestepped a large ice patch as he finished, "The Christmas Hat is the same one that was selected and used by the Shōdaime herself. She enchanted the hat to be able to fit all the slips of paper no matter how many names there were and to also be as close to indestructible as possible. We tried to replace the Hat once, but the replacement hat couldn't fit all the names and then got blown up a few minutes later. So, we have to use the original Christmas Hat every year."

Cana snapped her fingers, "I remember that year. The explosion of the hat took out the eggnog bowl and set Alex-san's mustache on fire didn't it?"

Laxus nodded, "Yep. After that, we always stick to using the original Christmas Hat every year."

Rihanna almost tripped over thin air, Mavis enchanted a hat? For a Secret Santa tradition? Check that, Mavis invented Secret Santa? The others looked suitably impressed as well —if for different reasons— but there were no more complaints about retrieving the Hat after Laxus's explanation.

They finally stopped in front of a large house whose size bordered on being a mansion with a sprawling lawn, wrought-iron fence, and engraved gate. Laxus pushed the gate open and led the way to the house/mansion, not even hesitating as he retrieved a key from underneath the welcome mat and unlocked the door.

Evergreen gave the house an appreciative look, "Who lives here, Laxus-sama?"

Laxus paused in mid-motion, something dark flickering through his gaze before he answered in a quiet voice, "Jiji does, for the most part. My … He used to live here too, when he was in town." His lips twitched into a bitter expression for a moment before he added, "This is the Dreyar estate. The Dreyars were one of the three founding families of Fairy Tail, so … yeah."

Rihanna gaped up at the mansion, barely able to comprehend that this was Laxus's house. Then she frowned, ignoring the oohs Evergreen and Freed were giving off as she realized that her previous thought wasn't entirely correct. This was the Dreyar's house, but it wasn't Laxus's house. Laxus lived with Rihanna, Bickslow, Cana, Evergreen, Freed, and Mest in the lighthouse. He had ever since that day several months ago when Rihanna had lost her temper at Ivan and almost killed him for abusing Laxus.

"Why do you stay in the lighthouse when you could be living here, Laxus-sama?" Freed's reverent gush broke her out of her thoughts and made her realize that they were now inside the spacious building.

The blond in the lead went stiff and didn't answer, but Bickslow did for him, "None of your business, Freed. He chooses to stay at our house, that's all that matters to us."

For once, Cana seemed to agree with Bickslow as she added moodily, "Besides, if the lighthouse is so tiny, why don't you and Evergreen move into your own apartment? Master would help you buy one if you asked."

Freed fell silent with a look of sudden comprehension while Evergreen looked very uncomfortable about the subject matter. No one really wanted to admit that the reason they never moved out despite how crowded it was, was because they didn't want to be apart. At first it had just been Bickslow and Rihanna, then Laxus had come over, then Cana's apartment had gotten caught in a bout of Fairy Tail Luck and she moved in, then Mest just kept crashing on the couch until it was officially his.

Then Freed and Evergreen had shown up and Porlyusica-san had put Laxus and the other Raijinshū in charge of helping Freed recover from losing his original left eye and Evergreen had refused to leave his side. By the time Freed had recovered enough for him and Evergreen to move out, it didn't even occur to anyone for them to do so despite how crowded the lighthouse felt sometimes.

The Raijinshū stuck together, it just … it just was. It was a natural state of being for them now. Even Evergreen —their resident raging Tsundere and denier of all things affection-related— and Rihanna —with all of her adult maturity and memories— couldn't imagine being separated from the others unnecessarily.

Laxus shot Bickslow and Cana a grateful look at their intervention before he announced, "The Hat should be … in the attic I think. I'll take you up there, but be careful okay? It's pretty dangerous. Plus, we'll have to clean out the Hat before we take it out of the attic, that's the rules."

Cana muttered something akin to, "If there are horse-sized rats in the Hat again, I'm going to throw an explosive card in there and have done."

Everyone other than Laxus blanched at Cana's mutter but obediently nodded and followed Laxus up the first of many sets of stairs. I would ask myself just how dangerous an attic and a hat can be but … I know better by now. I just hope there are a lot of shadows I can use and that there's nothing too mind-breaking living up there.

Naturally, the universe took great pleasure in not only ignoring her request for a tiny bit of normalcy but actively curb-stomping it into dust. The curb-stomping was performed via two hours worth of running around an endless attic maze of junk, box avalanches, and a pack of cranky, horse-sized winged rats that did appreciate having an explosive card thrown into their nest, AKA the indestructible and bottomless Christmas Hat.

After escaping the attic maze that was at least twice the size of the actual attic, unearthing Freed from five separate box avalanches, rescuing Cana from the king of the winged rats —who knew rats had royalty?—, and putting out the electrical/tarot card/tiki-laser fires caused by an irate Laxus, a screeching Cana, and a freaked out Bickslow, Mest finally arrived and teleported them back to the guild hall with the blasted Hat just before the rat king catch up with them.

Upon arrival, Rihanna took one look at Macao trying to catch a pack animate gingerbread cookie men and promptly decided that she wasn't as desensitized to Fairy Tail Luck as she had thought she was. That, and that Enno was a saint for putting them on roof decoration duty. Because as frustrating as putting up lights on the slanted, snow-covered top roof without anyone falling off or Bickslow and Cana pitching each other off of the side was, it was nothing compared to being involved in the Gingerbread Cookie Revolt going on at ground level.

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Date: December 21st, X774. Location: Magnolia, Fiore. Weather: Sunny.

Freed wandered down the snowy streets of Magnolia's shopping district, hoping for something to catch his eye as the perfect gift for his Secret Santa. Wren-sama. Of all the names to pull out of the Hat, it had to be hers. He didn't know her very well, so it was going to be hard to pick out an appropriate gift. Granted, he didn't know anyone in the guild too well yet, but this was one of the people he had to be especially careful about accidentally upsetting. Wren-sama was a senior member of the Raijinshū —despite her young age— and was both terrifying and Laxus-sama's little sister figure on top of that.

He couldn't even ask her what kind of things she liked in order to get ideas because of the Rules the Master had given right before the taking of names out of the Christmas Hat. The Master had been adamant about no swapping Secret Santa's and no revealing who's name you got to the person in question. Freed sighed and wondered if asking someone else in the guild would count as breaking the Rules. He really wanted to ask the other Raijinshū about what Wren-sama liked because he was stuck, but he just wasn't sure if that would count as a breach of the Rules.

Plus, even if it wasn't a breach of the Rules, the others were probably too busy shopping for their own Secret Santas to deal with the questions of the rookie member. Freed quietly sidestepped an amused pedestrian, giving the barest polite nod to the person when they greeted him with a, "Merry Christmas!"

Once safely away from that person, Freed slowed to a stop and surveyed the area. Every member of Fairy Tail currently in Magnolia seemed to be bustling about in the market district, their trademark chaos and good cheer following at their heels. The boy shook his head in bafflement. Why wait until just four days before the deadline to assign everyone a Secret Santa? Surely it would be less crowded and nerve-wracking to give everyone a longer time period. Then again, according to Laxus-sama, just before big events like Christmas and other festivals is the only guaranteed time that most or all of the guild members will be there.

Even the newly founded sea-board division of Fairy Tail —who were apparently former-pirates that Wren-sama had tamed— had arrived late last night, adding even more chaos to the preparations. Freed could even see Newgate-sama —the captain of the sea-board division and a giant of a man with a big smile and a laugh that shook the ground— on the other side of the shopping district. He was ambling from shop to shop, nearly bending double to see in the windows and laughing at something one of his adoptive children —who was perched on his shoulder like a bird— had just said.

Macao-san waved absentmindedly as he spotted Freed, who gave a shy wave in return before the adult mage had hurried on with a frantic expression. Still, it's hard to think with every single member out here shopping- Freed stopped short at a sudden thought. Wait. Everyone is out here shopping. So … that would mean Wren-sama is out here too, right? Maybe if I find her and follow her, I can spot something she seems to like! He deflated slightly, though it will be hard to tell what she likes and what she thinks her assigned member likes. I guess I really might have to risk asking one of the others.

He decided to try finding and following Wren-sama first, as that had the least risk of breaking the Rules. With that shaky plan in mind, Freed began to search the market place for a certain small, curly blond head and its silent owner. It took almost two hours of scanning the streets and peering inside shop windows before he finally spotted her amid the hustle and bustle of the market district.

She was inside a clothing store, staring at fancy dresses with a heavy frown of frustration on her face. Freed mirrored it unconsciously, she can't like fancy dresses with a face like that. She looks totally lost on what to get too. I suppose you don't pick up much feminine fashion sense living on the streets and then living with a mostly boy team. Still, at least now I know that her Secret Santa is a girl.

Disappointed that he was no closer to finding a gift for her than before and that it seemed like she would be stuck in the clothing store for a while, Freed made to move away. Then she glanced out the store window and spotted him. Her face lit up in an instant and she waved frantically at him to come inside. Nervous, but bound by the Rules of Etiquette to go greet her at the very least now that he had been spotted, Freed pushed the store door open and slipped inside.

The bell above the door tinkled faintly at his entry and Freed scurried over to Wren-sama, "Ano …hello, Wren-sama. Can I … help you with anything?"

Wren-sama nodded and fished something out of her coat pocket before shoving it forward for his inspection. It was a crumpled piece of bright green paper, the same kind they had used to write down all the member names and put in the Christmas Hat. Freed took it gingerly and unfolded it. He blinked at the name "Evergreen" curling neatly across its surface in his step-sister's familiar handwriting.

Freed passed the paper back to Wren-sama, "So, you got Evergreen?" Wren-sama nodded, an unhappy look on her face as she stuffed the paper back into her coat pocket. Expressively, she motioned with both hands to the store in which they were standing and possibly the other shops beyond and then shrugged helplessly. Freed pieced that together quickly, it wasn't a hard thing to guess, "You have no idea what to get her for Christmas?"

Wren-sama nodded again and gave Freed a pleading look. Freed bit his lip briefly in thought even as he made a mental note that it was apparently not against the Rules to ask another guild member for advice, "Well, she does like dresses, but I'm not sure she'd like anything in this store. It isn't … as high-class as what we're used to."

He received a wide-eyed stare for that comment and admitted shyly, "We used to have all our clothes tailor-made." The incredulous look increased in intensity and he shifted uncomfortably, "Though, considering we lost all of those clothes when … um, you know, she could probably use a new dress." A thought struck him, "Oh! Or a handheld fan! She used to have a beautiful handheld fan that she used for etiquette class. Never went anywhere without it. But it got broken just before we … left."

A light of dawning comprehension lit Wren-sama's eyes and she smiled at him. She gave a quick whistle that he loosely translated to be a thank you and then darted out of the store. Freed paused, wondering if he was supposed to follow or if he was free to go, then concluded that he was probably safe to continue on his own personal quest.

Which he still had no idea how to complete.

Freed sighed and left the clothing store in search of someone who knew Wren-sama better than he. At the rate he was going, he might just get an idea by the end of the day and be able to purchase the gift the next day. Assuming that his budding Fairy Tail Luck didn't strike and cause the item to be sold out.

Several more hours of searching and questioning ensued during which Freed managed to locate first Laxus-sama, then Mest-san, only to have his tentative question met with a helpless shrug and a half-hearted suggestion. Laxus-sama had suggested new earrings, but then had added that she never seemed to mind wearing anything other than her first and only pair even when she had the money to get more. Mest-san had given Freed an embarrassed look and admitted that he didn't really know what Wren-sama liked. No one did, as she was always so easygoing and practical in everything she did.

"Sometimes I forget she's just a kid and not a really short adult like Master Makarov," Mest-san had admitted sheepishly, "she strikes me as the reading type, but she still has so much trouble with her letters that she can barely read a decent picture book, so I don't think that would be the best gift idea. Sorry I can't help more, Freed-kun."

Freed sat down heavily on a street bench, feeling cold, defeated, and agitated. The Secret Santa tradition was one of the Rules of Fairy Tail with its own sub-set of Rules. If he failed to get Wren-sama a nice gift, he would be breaking not only that Rule, but also its sub-Rules. The thought made the skin around his left eye twitch and his palms sweat within his gloves.

Logically, he knew that Fairy Tail had given no sign that they would punish him or kick him out or harm him for breaking one of the Rules, but that was because he had never broken one of them before. He had researched guilds back at the mansion and he knew that every guild had Rules. He also knew that breaking those Rules was cause for exile from the guild or even imprisonment by the Magic Council. Like what had happened with Ivan-san after he betrayed Fairy Tail.

Granted that was an extreme example and while he doubted that he would be imprisoned or exiled for breaking the Secret Santa Rule, especially by accident, it did seem like a very important Rule of the guild. Perhaps important enough to get suspended from taking requests, which would disappoint Laxus-sama greatly.

A shiver of fear and dread swept up his spine at that thought and he hugged himself in an effort to ward it away and think rationally. As he looked frantically around in an effort to distract himself from his panic, he spotted something across the street. It was Wren-sama. She had a bag of some purchase or another already in her hand, so Freed concluded that she had already finished picking out and purchasing a gift for Evergreen.

So why was she staring so intently into that shop window? Curiosity and a flicker of hope sparked through him and Freed slipped stealthily across the street for a closer look. By the time he had pushed through the still humming crowd of other shoppers, Wren-sama had disappeared from the sidewalk. Freed felt a moment of panic until he realized that maybe she had entered the shop itself.

Following the hunch, he slipped carefully inside the shop and looked around. Trying to remain as unnoticed as possible —especially by the shop employees who would ask what he was doing in there— Freed peeked down various aisles and around corners. It was a small store, but it had so many nooks, crannies, and shelves crammed inside it took him almost ten minutes to find the object of his search.

Freed froze in mid-peek at the sight of Wren-sama. He watched with wide eyes as she caressed an item with gentle, loving hands, having removed her gloves in order to actually hold it and perhaps keep any residual outside moisture away from the item. Though he couldn't get a very clear look at her face, he could tell by her body posture and what little he could see of her expression that she wanted it very, very much.

He watched for several minutes as Wren-sama flittered back and forth between similar items in their displays only to come back again and again to the first one he had seen her tentatively touching. He watched in surprise when she even took a handkerchief out of her pocket —since when did she carry one?— and rub it gently over the item she had touched as if to wipe away her fingerprints. When she was done cleaning the item with her handkerchief, she slipped the cloth back into her pocket and began to turn around. Freed hastily hid behind a shelf, heart hammering as he hoped she wouldn't notice him.

Much to his relief, Wren-sama moved to the front of the store via a different aisle, not spotting Freed in his poor hiding place. Freed smiled to himself as he waited to make sure she had left the shop, maybe Fairy Tail Luck really does have some good aspects as well.

Once he was certain that Wren-sama was no longer in the shop or near enough to look in the store window one last time and spot him by accident, Freed went in search of a store employee. The tall young man who was stocking shelves looked up in surprise when Freed cleared his throat. The man quickly recovered and smiled at him, "Oh, hello, I didn't realize there were any customers in here. Can I help you with something?"

Freed took a deep breath to steady his nerves and call up his etiquette lessons. Bowing slightly at the waist, Freed answered, "Actually, I'm hoping to buy one of those? It's a Christmas present for a friend." He pointed in the direction of the display Wren-sama had spent so much time over.

The employee, after following the direction of his gesture, smiled broadly, "Really now? What size and make will your friend be needing?"

Freed blinked once, then twice, "…Does it matter?"

The employee burst into chuckles before going serious, "Yes. How about we go over there and if you'll answer a few questions about this friend of yours, I can help you pick one out."

Freed hesitated, remembering how Wren-sama went back again and again to one particular item, "Actually? I think I already know which one I want."

The employee paused, raised an eyebrow at him, then shrugged, "Okay then, show me which one you want and then we'll pick out everything that goes with it."

Freed resisted the urge to blink again, "…Stuff comes with it?"

The employee laughed good-naturedly and Freed felt his ears grow hot despite how cold it was outside.

.

.

Date: December 23rd, X774. Location: Magnolia, Fiore. Weather: Lightly cloudy.

There was a war going on on the grounds behind the Fairy Tail building.

This was something to take note of. Because while the members of Fairy Tail took something akin to pride in regularly beating the stuffing out of one another, there was rarely ever an actual war. One in which sides were taken, lines were drawn, and screams of battle or pain tore the air.

Years later, members would never be able to agree what exactly started the One-Day Christmas War, just that it had happened and that it had been utterly glorious. And despite the lack of true knowledge, many theories were still bandied about as to what exactly had triggered the entire thing.

Some people said it was the stress of having to do all their Christmas shopping a mere two days before Christmas Eve, which was the deadline for when presents were to be wrapped and placed under the tree to be admired until the actual day of Christmas. Other people said it was all the fault of the children members being too rambunctious and setting off everyone else. Still other people argued that it was because the new type of precious, bone-warming and life-sustaining hot chocolate Thatch had introduced them to had run low and members had been desperate to be the one who got the last mug.

The generally accepted opinion was that the hot chocolate in question had been spiked with a magical energy draught again. Severus, the previous hot chocolate supplier of the guild and who was also their resident potion mage could be petty like that.

However, whatever other factors —such as Severus or the hot chocolate shortage— might have been involved, the Raijinshū knew the truth about how the One-Day Christmas War had started and that was a secret they had all agreed to take unspoken to their graves.

It was all Bickslow's fault.

Well, to be fair, it was also Evergreen's fault for reacting so horribly to a friendly snowball to the hair. And Freed's fault for jumping to his step-sister's defense when his snowball aim was so terrible that it hit Laxus, who was cold and grouchy on the exact opposite side of the field as Bickslow.

Finally, an argument could be made that it was Laxus's fault for retaliating to getting a snowball down the back of his coat by using his Lightning Magic to create a railgun-snowball.

Which he promptly sent whipping through the nearest window at high speeds, nailing Master Makarov right in his open mouth.

Just as Master Makarov had been lecturing the other antsy guild members about not fighting inside the guild hall until after Christmas was over and there wasn't a Christmas tree to risk setting on fire.

Laxus would forever insist that the entire matter could have been avoided if Freed had simply taken the glowing, crackling railgun-snowball like a man instead of dropping to the ground with a girlish shriek of terror.

Rihanna would forever call them all over-competitive idiots in the privacy of her own mind and strive to change the subject when asked about it. She was also usually busy keeping Cana from falling out of her chair laughing whenever anyone brought it up in conversation with them.

But however the One Day Christmas War started —and however people would talk about it years after the fact— it was a terrifying sight to behold in the present. You didn't simply have every single member of Fairy Tail and it's sea-board division —minus the absent Gildarts Clive, the laughing Newgate-san, and the scowling Master thank the First— out in a large field with too much energy and literal hills of white, wet ammo and not expect everything to go to pieces.

Which was why Rihanna was sniping off other Fairy Tail members by throwing snowballs in Shadow Form. She asked herself yet again why she bothered to stick around in the war zone when the other Raijinshū not only had everything covered on their end, but were actually enjoying the entire mess.

Another lightning-empowered snowball rocketed across the field. It slammed into the back of a Fairy Tail member's head, knocking him unconscious the same instant that the snowball disintegrated under the force and heat of Laxus's throw. Right. That's why. My conscience insists I stay and make sure nobody dies from this insanity.

Rihanna glanced over her shoulder to check on the rest of the Raijinshū —who had claimed an entire corner of the field and were steadily conquering the rest of it— and blanched. Dropping Shadow Form, she ran over and grabbed Freed's hand before he could touch his Light Pen to his snowball. She frantically tried to whistle a no, but her lips were too cold from being outside and running around. Freed looked at her in impatient confusion, seeming to understand what her frantic grip meant without any whistles needed, "But the others are using their magic too! It isn't against the Rules!"

Rihanna flinched as another railgun-snowball cracked the air. It missed, causing screams of surprise and panic to rise. The good fortune of those who had ducked was swiftly destroyed by Mest teleporting in, dumping buckets of snow down their coats and then teleporting away before they could retaliate.

Bickslow's tikis whirled by on another dive-bombing run of the field, a small pile of snowballs somehow balanced on each of their tops. Cana was making piles of snowballs then storing them in her cards and flinging the loaded cards over the battlefield to unleash a veritable avalanche on her victims. Evergreen had just discovered how to use her Fairy Magic to turn her pile of snowballs into a magical, artificial machine gun. By Pantherlily… Rihanna turned a pleading look on Freed, not wanting him to fall to the madness of the others.

The green-haired boy had a look of adoration on his face that was so intense Rihanna thought his eyes might have actually turned into anime stars, "Such enthusiasm Laxus-sama! I can do no less!" He shook off her grip on his arm and resumed scribbling runes on the surface of his snowball while Rihanna despaired.

She turned to retreat to Bickslow's side when another guild member lunged from around a pile of snow and tackled the boy in question with a war cry. Bickslow yelped and retaliated by shoving a handful of snow down the member's coat, which in turn was avenged by his opponent slamming the back of his head into the snow and shoving more on top of his face.

Rihanna slapped her face in exasperation, not even looking up as she obeyed her instincts and ducked into the shadows in time to avoid a snowball that was actually on fire. Giving up, Rihanna went to go find Levy and Marco and join them in their impregnable, flaming word fort to wait out the chaos. I give up. Let the idiots maul each other for all I care.

She had only gone a few feet from the Raijinshū when Laxus yelled, "Wren! Get back here! The Raijinshū stand together! We'll win this fight!" Maybe I shouldn't have given him tips on how to keep track of everyone after all. Reluctantly, Rihanna obeyed the command of her "chieftain" and resumed helping the other Raijinshū take the field by storm.

She sniped off Macao with a well-aimed shadow-enhanced snowball to the ear, the man going down with a wail of pain that was greatly over-exaggerated in her opinion. Wakaba, ever his partner in crime, fell to his knees melodramatically and Rihanna watched in disbelief as the pompadoured man wailed out a speech for his fallen friend as if Macao had actually been hit by a bullet or something. The performance was complete with tears, Macao's weak farewells to loved ones, and a shriek of "Nooo!" from Wakaba that echoed across the field … at least until Marco stuck his head out of the fort and nailed Wakaba with large snowball and a shout of, "Seriously, yoi? You're worse than Tha- Check that." Another snowball went flying and hit the second pompadour-enthusiast of the guild in the mouth, "Thatch! Stop bawling over there! Nobody's actually dead, yoi! Sheesh…"

Rihanna wasn't sure whether to laugh at the sheer amount of ridiculousness or cry that this was somehow her life and she was grudgingly coming to enjoy it.

The snowball fight lasted another hour, bringing the total duration of the One Day Christmas War up to a grand total of six hours before it was brought to an end.

It happened just as Rihanna was looking over the other guild members and wondering if frostbite was a concern in this magically-enhanced world. Or if bruises, concussions, and friction-burns from magic enhanced-snowballs had taken that spot on the winter dangers list. Well, it isn't like anybody will get too injured from this … right? I mean, they survived the events of the anime just fine… Plus, if it get's too out of hand, surely Master Makarov and Newgate-san will stop it- A huge shadow loomed over the heads of the brawlers and everyone to paused in their wild snowball battle to look up in trepidation.

Rihanna looked up, and up, and up … and stared. Oh. Pantherlilies. This was the first time she had ever seen Master Makarov use his Giant magic beyond the occasional enlarged arm or fist to break up a fight and get people's attention.

There were a lot of words she could have used to describe it. Awe-inspiring, astounding, terrifying…

Though the last word was probably better suited to describe the building-sized snowball Master Makarov held high above his head with both hands.

His voice thundered out, amplified to a mountain-shaking quality by his size as he brought the snowball down before anyone could think to run away, "I said that's ENOUGH you brats!" Rihanna barely had time to throw herself into the shadows and pull-

A second later and she was only buried neck-deep in Master Makarov's field-sized snowball rather than completely buried like the rest of the Raijinshū and everyone else who had been in the center of the field were. Silence fell for several long seconds before Master Makarov nodded to himself and both he and Newgate-san clapped their huge hands. The claps blew the snow away, unburying all of the smothered guild members and allowing them to both breathe and move again.

Master Makarov shrunk slowly down to his normal midget size, looked all of the soaked and shivering guild members in the eyes, then nodded his approval at their meek silence, "Good. Now that you've all had time to work off your access energy, come inside and get warmed up. Stupid brats, risking hypothermia playing in the snow for so long…" Master Makarov turned and stalked into the guild building with his head held high, Newgate-san following on his heels laughing uproariously. After a long pause, everyone else shuffled sheepishly in after them. Marco was steaming as he shuffled by, using his Phoenix Magic to dry off early and muttering about the unfairness of getting punished for the faults of his idiot siblings. He also slapped Haruta over the head when she gleefully pointed out that some of the flaming snowballs had been his.

Rihanna could only look over her shoulder at the scene of the recently ended war zone, think about Master Makarov's words, and shake her head in despair. Playing he says. I shudder to think about what he would consider real fighting.

Then again, knowing her luck and the anime, she would find out someday.

.

.

Date: December 24th, X774. Location: Magnolia, Fiore. Weather: Blizzard.

Bickslow grudgingly supposed that it was fortunate the blizzard had hit while everyone was gathered in the guild building, singing Christmas Carols and admiring the huge tree rather than when everyone was headed home.

But that still didn't make him any less annoyed at being stuck in the guild building with everyone else rather than huddled on the couch back in the lighthouse with only Wren and the other Raijinshū. At least the presents piled under the tree were pretty to look at…

A gentle nudge at his side caused him to look away from his brooding and down at his sister, "Yeah, Imōto?"

Wren frowned up at him as she signed, "Why are you brooding?"

Bickslow sighed, of course she noticed, "Just … this isn't how I wanted to spend Christmas Eve, Wren."

His little sister cocked her head to one side in question, a few of her honey-blond curls falling over her face with the motion and he shrugged, "I dunno how I wanted to spend Christmas Eve, Wren, I just … this wasn't it."

The head cock deepened, accompanied by a faint jut in her bottom lip and Bickslow squirmed at the interrogation only he could understand, "It's too crowded, and everyone's so…" they both glanced over that the adults-only drinking table as they belted out yet another off-key Christmas carol, "noisy." Wren nodded sympathetically and patted Bickslow's arm.

He couldn't help but notice that she seemed very undisturbed by the crowd in the guild hall and the general hubbub of all the members celebrating as they waited out the blizzard. From behind the sunglasses he still diligently wore, Bickslow scanned Wren's colors to see what her general mood was.

Colors of contentment wrapped around each other, curling lazily into nonsensical patterns. Whispering through the soft oranges, dark blues, and rich forest green was the mysterious dark purple that he usually only saw in people much older than Wren. Bickslow gave a faint hum of realization as he turned off Figure Eyes. So it was one of those days.

He had noticed over the course of their time in Fairy Tail that sometimes, in some situations, the purple color in Wren's aura would grow and intertwine more tightly around her other colors. Her days of increased purple usually happened during days she had to interact a lot with the other guild members.

Though somehow, he suspected that her increased purple was more because of what day it was than who she was surrounded by. Especially when he considered the wispy hints of longing and reminiscence in her aura. A thought struck him and he wondered if she remembered celebrating Christmas with her old family, the one she had had before he had found her in that alley.

Bickslow pursed his lips. He didn't like thinking about Wren's past before being his little sister. He didn't want to ponder over how she had lost them, or what had happened to give her the scar across her throat. Especially not on his first Fairy Tail Christmas Eve.

"Bicksy…" The warbled whine and the feel of someone draping over his back yanked him out of his thoughts so fast his head spun. With a yelp, he shot upright, twisting and shaking his body in an effort to dislodge the person who had come up on him from behind.

With one last vigorous shake, Bickslow dislodged the interloper and sent them to the floor with a thud and groan. He whirled, his tikis spinning into a defensive formation around him, ready to yell at whoever had snuck up on him-

Only to stare in confusion as a decidedly glaze-eyed Cana pouting up at him from the floor, "… Shark?"

Cana's bottom lip jutted out farther as she flapped her arms and legs in futile attempt to get up that made her look like some kind of strange turtle, "Bicksy… so mean… I just wan'd a hug…"

Bickslow stared at Cana, unable to respond as he tried to connect the fiery, bossy Card Mage with this … turtle puddle of a girl in front of him. He failed to make the connection in his head and resorted to staring helplessly at Wren. Wren looked just as baffled at Bickslow, so he turned his gaze back to the girl slithering across the floor to hug his ankles and asked, "…Cana? What are you … doing? Are you sick?"

Cana giggled into his shoes and, though he was very freaked out, he couldn't find it in himself to kick her off. Bickslow scanned her aura with Figure Eyes and was surprised to find that there were no pain colors, or any other colors he associated with sickness. In fact, her aura was overrun with content and happy colors. Bickslow frowned when he noticed a strange ripple in the colors, like they were trying to turn into a different color but couldn't. Or had been artificially caused.

The ripple looked familiar. Almost like- Bickslow tried to jerk back, but was only able to rock his upper body because Cana had an iron grip on his lower legs, "Cana, are you drunk?"

His squeaked question made Cana giggle even harder before she slurred into his socks, "I fe'l 'arm an' fuzzy, Bicksy!" She lolled her head to one side so that she could stare up at his face, "I'mma hug you now…"

Now more than a little alarmed, Bickslow looked around for Laxus, or the Master, or even Mest. Anyone that might know what to do about this. His scan revealed that Laxus was listening to the stories of a senior member on the other side of the hall, Evergreen and Freed loyally by his side. The Master was sitting on the bar, the red flush in his cheeks and the slur in his cheerful shouts revealed that he too was hopelessly drunk. Mest was nowhere to be found, probably having retreated to the upper floors of the guild building to get relief for his pine tree allergy.

While desperately looking for someone else to help him who wasn't either drunk or a kid, Bickslow's eyes fell on his little sister. He immediately cringed. Is it getting colder in here? How did I not notice that? Please, please let that be my imagination and not Wren's eye magic. Please.

Very slowly, her motions clearly calculated to be smooth and normal, Wren stood up from the bench and circled around to Cana's side. Crouching down, she began to gently pry the giggling brunette loose from Bickslow's legs, her every motion the picture of composure.

If Bickslow hadn't known her for three years, he might have even been fooled by the look of blank calm on her face. A quick flicker with Figure Eyes made him physically flinch. Yep, definitely furious. All of her previous content colors had been replaced by dark fury, annoyance, and a tricky, multi-colored strand that he was beginning to associate with impending painful revenge.

"Ano … Imōto?" He mentally winced at the timid squeak of his voice, but couldn't bring himself to try for a more confident tone.

Wren glanced up at him and signed curtly, "Infirmary. Now." She finished by pointing at Cana and Bickslow nodded meekly. Reaching down, he carefully looped one of Cana's arms over his shoulders to help her stand up. A moment later he had two armfuls of the freakish cuddle-monster that was a drunken Cana.

His nose wrinkled and his sense of smell died an ignoble death as Cana chirped near his face, "Car'y meh, Bicksy! Car'y!"

He shot Wren a helpless look, only to receive a shrug and a curt shooing motion from his furious sister. Swallowing his pride and his gag reflex, because what-had-Cana-gotten-drunk-on-it-stunk-so-bad, he awkwardly picked Cana up in his arms in what he stubbornly refused to think of as "bridal-style".

Cana cheered and flapped her arms in a manner that almost dislodged her from his already awkward grip and Bickslow hissed, "Stop wiggling, Shark." Cana poked his cheek in retaliation and with a growl, Bickslow concentrated on getting across the crowded guild hall and up the stairs without dumping the drunk brunette on the floor.

After a minute or two of waddling across the hall, grateful at the mysterious path leading to the stairs without any guild members getting in the way, he realized that it wasn't so much of a mystery path as it was members scurrying frantically out of the way. A few seconds after that, he realized why they were scurrying.

He forgot sometimes that the Raijinshū weren't the only ones who had been trained to fear Wren when there was a writhing pool of shadows at her feet and a smoky magic aura wafting off of her shoulders. Especially when her face was a picture of blank calm.

Bickslow swallowed hard and staggered up the stairs, hoping that Wren didn't turn that anger on anyone before Bickslow had had a chance to get to cover. And possibly warn the other Raijinshū.

.

.

Date: December 25th, X774. Location: Magnolia, Fiore. Weather: Lightly snowing.

Cana groaned as consciousness came back to her in reoccurring waves of pain. Her skull felt like it was about to split open and let her brains slide out, her mouth and throat were parched, and the steady snoring noise coming from somewhere past her feet was far too loud. She tried to groan again, only for the noise to reverberate through her skull and add to the pain. Her whole body seemed to be rebelling against the idea of waking up, but her head hurt too much to go back to sleep.

Cana was dully aware that she was lying on a bed and that after her third quiet groan something had silently shuffled off the bed and disappeared somewhere. But in all honesty, she was too busy being miserable to really notice or care.

She wasn't sure how much time passed as she wallowed in a haze of misery, afraid to open her eyes in case light made it worse, when someone gently patted her shoulder. Cana whined and swatted at the hand, trying to make whoever it was go away and leave her alone in her misery. The other person didn't take the hint, instead tugging more insistently on Cana's shoulder and holding something near her nose. The smell of lemon tea wafted under her nose and Cana finally worked up the strength to open one eye a crack.

The light was dim, but it still stabbed at her head without mercy and she considered ignoring the tea and whoever was holding it again. Then her sluggish, tortured brain recognized the person as Wren and instinct had her opening her other eye, "W-wren?" Her voice sounded terrible and her throat felt worse. Wren waved the cup of lemon tea over Cana's face again and used one hand to slowly prop Cana up against the head of the bed. Cana choked back a whine at the pain the movement caused, it felt like someone had stuck a ball in her brain and was rolling it back and forth in her skull.

Wren adjusted Cana's hands and placed the cup of tea in her grasp and even though her eyes were squeezed shut, Cana knew that Wren was giving her that expectant look that made everyone in the Raijinshū shut up and do what they were told. Cana raised the cup to her lips and relished the soothing sensation of the warm drink as it slid down her throat. She breathed in the steam, hoping that it would soothe her pounding in her head and the ache all over her body. What did I do last night?

She couldn't remember, which was concerning in and of itself, as usually a bout of Fairy Tail Luck bad enough to make her feel so terrible was at least memorable. We were … at the Christmas Eve party … and a blizzard started… did a fight break out? Or did I go out into the blizzard for some reason? Ugh. It hurt to think, so Cana took another gulp of tea instead and waited for the world to stop rocking back and forth.

When the latest wave of nausea had faded, Cana opened her eyes again and took stock of her surroundings. She was in the Fairy Tail infirmary. Laxus was draped across the bed to her left, Mest on the one to her right. Freed and Evergreen were sharing one across from her and Bickslow was snoring at Cana's feet on top of the covers, his tikis rolling slowly around on the floor. None of them looked injured, so she could only assume they were here because she was.

Cana felt a wave of warmth at the realization despite her pain. She shifted her gaze to Wren, who was sitting on the edge of the bed with a sympathetic and oddly knowing expression. Cana decided to try speaking again, "Wren?" The smaller girl tilted her head to indicate she had heard, "What … what happened?"

Wren scowled, dark and terrifying and Cana did her best not to shrink back. The blond raised her hands to sign something, but couldn't seem to find the right motions. She gave up with a huff and instead reached over and shook Bickslow's hip. Bickslow sat up with a grunt, "Wha-?" Cana winced at his volume and Wren gave a hiss for quiet. Bickslow's jaw clicked shut and he struggled to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

When he finally seemed to be awake, Wren pointed at Cana. Bickslow's gaze shifted to Cana, "Oh," he whispered, "you're awake. Thank Mavis."

Cana took another sip of her tea and squinted at Bickslow, "What happened to me?"

Bickslow shifted uneasily on the bed and a distinctly uncomfortable expression flitted across his face, "You, um, drank the punch. The stuff in the bowl on the middle buffet table, you drank some of it."

Cana stared at him as she tried to figure out how that would make her feel like she had been repeatedly run over by horses and had a bowling ball use her brain for pins, "So?"

Wren was oozing malice —though thankfully it didn't seem to be directed at either of them— and Bickslow admitted nervously, "Turns out one of the adult members mixed alcohol in the punch in that bowl. Like, a lot. Several bottles of the stuff. So when you drank it, you got drunk."

Cana's eyes widened in disbelief, shock temporarily overriding the pain in her head, "I only had one little cup!" Her hiss was louder than she intended and Laxus came awake with a low grunt at the sound of her voice.

Bickslow made a helpless gesture, "Like I said, there was a lot of liquor in that punch. Wren was furious." They both glanced at the smaller girl on the bed and the faint black magic aura wafting off of her like smoke, "She … still is, apparently."

Wren flashed several hand-signs at them that Cana had never seen before. Judging from the look on Bickslow's face, she strongly suspected she didn't want to know what they meant. Or be the one Wren was talking about. Laxus dropped softly onto Cana's bed and ran a hand through his hair, "Wren overreacted and crashed the party on your behalf." Wren made a gesture of protest and Laxus gave her a flat look, "You disintegrated the entire buffet table. With your eye magic. Some of the adults almost got frostbite. There is now a frozen hole three feet deep in the guild hall floor."

Cana gawked and Wren looked disturbingly unashamed. A low chuckle came from the right as Mest slid off of his bed and ambled over, "Well, I'm pretty sure that the spiked punch bowls will be clearly marked and guarded after this, so that's one good thing that came out of it." Freed and Evergreen made meek noises of agreement, but Cana noticed they hadn't left their bed yet. Apparently Wren's fit of temper had made them terrified of her all over again.

She shifted her attention to Wren, "I … you didn't have to do that, Wren. It was my fault."

Hazel eyes blinked scathingly at her, "There were other children present at the party," she signed, "the adults should have been more responsible." Her gaze drifted down a few inches to the cup in Cana's hands, "Drink the rest of that."

Cana obeyed the order meekly. She had to admit that the drink was helping her aches and pains a bit, though everything still seemed to be too loud and too sharp. Mest shuffled for the door and called over his shoulder softly, "I'll go grab some cookies and a hangover potion. It should be safe for you to drink after you finish that tea."

The tea coupled with the hangover potion and cookies Mest had brought succeeded in banishing the worst of Cana's hangover and made her capable of operating in light and normal society. Wren fussed for a few minutes after Cana had drunk the potion before she allowed Cana to actually get out of bed. Once Cana had reassured everyone that she felt better, Laxus herded them all downstairs for the delayed Secret Santa ceremony.

Cana glanced out a window as they made their way back to the guild hall, "They haven't done it yet? It's almost noon!"

Mest rubbed the scar on his cheek with a sheepish noise, "Wren made everyone wait for you. Besides, they had to fix the hole in the floor and you know what how hard it is to get anyone to do anything productive after the Christmas Eve party." Cana couldn't stop the warm feeling she had at the thought that Wren had made everyone wait for her, but the reminder of the hole in the floor made her feel a bit embarrassed. Never getting drunk again. Ever. Wren might actually hurt someone next time. Or worse, decide that Cana was at fault and insist on extra one-on-one training with her.

They entered the guild hall and Cana felt herself blink. Wasn't it noisy in here just a second ago…? She looked around and saw that everyone was frozen in place, some in awkward mid-motion, staring at the Raijinshū as they entered. No, wait. They weren't staring at the Raijinshū, just at Wren. With the same expressions on their faces that Evergreen and Freed had had for the first few days after meeting Wren.

Cana eyed Wren, wondering how the younger girl would react. Instead of the usual exasperation, she seemed perfectly content with the wary stares. Wren waved her hands at the gathered guild members imperiously, spurring them back into frantic motions to finish fixing the floor. Cana couldn't help but shake her head at the sight of a six-year-old silently bossing around and cowing teenagers and adults —some decades older than she— into obeying her. And she wonders why we all find her scary. Laxus gave a low chuff of laughter at the reactions as he herded the Raijinshū around the impromptu repair crew and toward the bar where a lunch buffet had been laid out.

Marco was already perched at one end of the bar, nursing a cup of coffee and watching them with an amused look in his hooded eyes, "Feeling better, yoi?" Cana nodded as she clambered up onto a bar seat, "Good. Thatch is hiding out in the kitchen and refuses to come out until someone appeases Wren-chan, so maybe your feeling better will do that, yoi." Marco sipped his coffee, "Or don't. I like the quiet, yoi."

It took the entirety of the Raijinshū's very late breakfast and an additional hour after that before the floor was patched and everyone else was convinced that Wren was no longer a step away from murdering them. That was also, coincidentally, when Master Makarov and Newgate-san reappeared. Wren gave the two a very unimpressed look, but neither of them reacted. Master Makarov was perched Newgate-san's shoulder and, now that she had experienced one for herself, Cana had to wonder how he didn't look the least bit hungover or in pain after how much he had drunk the previous night. Perhaps he had a secret stash of hangover potions?

Master Makarov clapped his hands together and ignored the resulting flinches at the loud sound, "Merry Christmas everyone!" There was a chorus of Christmas greetings in reply as the members began to relax and gather around, "Well done fixing the hole in the floor! Eat up, eat up! Then we will begin the Secret Santa ceremony!" The last of the wariness vanished from the guild hall as everyone cheered.

The Secret Santa ceremony went even better than it had the previous years, Master Makarov and Newgate-san took turns picking out presents from beneath the huge tree and calling out who they were for and who they were from. There were fewer fights over the gag gifts that were inevitably given when two rivals got the other's name as their Secret Santa, no one got drunk on the eggnog —again—, and the growing pile of wrapping paper only spontaneously combusted three times. Eventually, the Raijinshū's gifts began to appear from the huge presents pile.

Laxus got a new pair of cordless headphones from Levy. Freed almost died from joy at the slender magic rapier Laxus had got him to help defend himself. Mest thanked Marco for the new pair of boots and the old book on magic that Marco claimed to have found during a recent adventure. Evergreen blushed profusely as she fingered the beautiful metal and fabric handheld fans that Wren had found for their resident tsundere.

There was a pause in the Raijinshū's gifts as other names were randomly pulled out. Marco damaged his reputation as the calm and collected member of Newgate-san's brood by throwing the dish of pineapple chicken Thatch had made him —Cana was fairly certain that it was some kind of inside joke— back in the chef's face. Wakaba and Macao had given each other bottles of alcohol and promptly cringed at the look Wren gave them until they hid the bottles and promised not to touch them until New Years.

Cana felt her stomach flutter a bit as Bickslow's name was called and he retrieved his present from Newgate-san's giant hand. The fluttering got worse as Bickslow heard who it was from and his eyebrows went up. Bickslow shot her a curious look before he opened the square box containing her present to him. She felt herself start to babble the moment he lifted the sleeveless hoodie with a metal knight's visor that she had painstakingly attached to it, "It's to replace your sunglasses. The ones that got smashed when Ivan … you know. I know you got another pair, but I figured that you might want something that didn't tint your vision and make is so hard to see indoors and in the dark. I was going to get you normal glasses, but then I remembered how you said you didn't like how they looked and how people could see when you were using Figure Eyes through them and I know this blacksmith who does custom jobs so I thought- I thought what if you had something that let you see through it but obscured other people's view of your face- like a knight's helmet…"

She looked down at her lap and wondered if the dizzy heat creeping up her face was some remnant of the hangover from earlier, "The visor is enchanted so that you can see through the metal slats, but the slats will keep other people from seeing your eyes unless the angle is just right. And- and the hoodie is sleeveless so you can wear it whenever, even when it isn't winter anymore. For now you can just put on a warm shirt under it … and stuff…"

There was a long silence, everyone else in the guild had gone quiet and Cana felt an embarrassed blush crawl up her neck and ears as she waited for Bickslow to tease her for what she'd gotten him. She knew the hoodie looked ridiculous, even before she had attached the knight's visor to it. The dark purple article had been the only sleeveless hoodie she could find that time of year and she had no idea if Bickslow even liked the color purple. Plus it had that stupid Jolly Rodger motif on the back that she somehow hadn't noticed until after she had purchased it and she was fairly certain that Bickslow had a bad association with pirates ever since the job where they'd met Newgate-san.

Finally, Bickslow sighed, "Stupid Shark." Cana flinched at the bland statement but a rustle of cloth and the soft murmurs of the other guild members had her look up at Bickslow from behind her hair before she could start lecturing herself. She felt her jaw drop in surprise as she saw Bickslow finish wiggling into the hoodie and settle the visor in front of his face, his replacement sunglasses discarded in his lap. He moved his head around, inspecting his range of vision before his head turned in her direction and he stuck his tongue out at her in his trademark annoying grin, "You just had to do something so cool and different didn't ya? Now my gift to you is gonna seem stupid."

Cana felt her mouth work without sound before she managed a shaky, "Y-you like it?"

The tongue-grin grew bigger, "You bet! This thing is awesome!" The tongue-grin faded a bit as he added ruefully, "I doubt you'll like my gift now though. I didn't custom design it or anything… I just bought it in a store…"

A few chuckles went up and Laxus interjected blandly, "Why don't you let her open it and decide for herself, since you gave the game away already." Bickslow shuffled in place and his tikis offered chirped apologies for giving away who Cana's Secret Santa was. Someone pressed a clumsily wrapped gift into her hands and Cana opened it eagerly, both curious and wary to see what Bickslow had gotten her.

She stared in confusion for several long seconds at the colorful box that held a toy that was popular among the non-magical kids in Magnolia. It was based off of some manga that Cana had tried in passing months ago because the plot revolved around a hero who used magic cards to fight evil. She'd stopped because the manga had gotten some key details of using card magic all wrong and she'd been too irritated with the mistakes to continue reading.

So why had Bickslow gotten her a replica of the main character's battle gear?

She opened the box and peered inside. She felt her confusion grow as she realized that Bickslow hadn't just gotten her any replica, but a high quality metal and magically-treated leather replica that not only looked but also could be used just like the real thing. She looked back up at Bickslow, her brows furrowed. Bickslow shrunk in on himself a little, "You don't like it."

Cana shook her head, "No, I do like it! I just … why?"

Bickslow wormed his hand under his hood to rub his neck, "Well, you use cards just like the character does." He held up a hand to stop her from talking, "and I know he doesn't use cards right, you've said before, but that doesn't mean his gear doesn't work just fine. I remembered those times when you lost your card purse or ran out of cards in your deck during a fight and I thought … I don't know, you could keep a backup deck in those. Or something."

Cana stared at Bickslow, then stared at the high quality upper-arm and thigh holsters that were designed to hold the main character's two card decks, complete with small switches and dials to quickly select which card would be at the top of the deck to be used. She processed the implications of Bickslow's statement for a long ten seconds before she pressed her hands to her face, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Lowering her hands, she quickly freed the holsters from their box and strapped them on. She flexed her left arm and right leg, testing the foreign weight and feel of the items before she experimentally slid a few of her cards into the holsters and tested pulling them back out. The small runes engraved inside the holsters ensured that the cards slid easily into her palm when she swept it over the top of the holster, but that they didn't come loose or fall out when she moved.

She sat back down and grinned at Bickslow and his hesitantly spinning tikis, "These are perfect Bickslow! I can't believe I didn't think of getting these for myself when I was reading the manga!"

Bickslow's shoulders loosened and he flashed her another smile, but then scowled at the rest of the guild when they started to coo. Cana thought about threatening the cooing members with her new card holsters, but then decided to be mean and instead turned a pleading look at Wren. Wren was wearing a vaguely disturbing, knowing smile but upon Cana's look, the younger girl's expression shifted and she fixed the rest of the guild with her Look. An uncharacteristically meek semblance of order settled instantly, with everyone quieting down and turning back to Master Makarov and Newgate-san for more presents.

More names were called, presents were opened, brawls were started and quelled, and the pile of shredded wrapping paper was set on fire a fourth time and nearly took the tree with it before the fire was extinguished and the ornament casualties mourned. Everyone remained sober though, which was a first to Cana's memory. Someone had always gotten drunk on the eggnog or smuggled in alcohol by this point in the past, but she supposed after Wren's temper tantrum over the spiked punch, everyone was being extra careful about what they drank.

People started to drift to various nooks and corners of the guild hall as the pile of presents shrank, everyone fiddling with their gift or good-naturedly comparing with someone else's. Eventually only one box was left. Wren's present. Cana eyed the surprisingly large box as Wren retrieved it from an indulgent Master Makarov. The look on Freed's face —nervous and giddy and terrified all at once— made it obvious who the gift was from and Cana wondered what in the world Freed had gotten Wren that required such a large, oddly shaped box.

Wren was giving the box an equally baffled look as she rejoined the Raijinshū's circle on the floor and set the box down in front of her. It was a long rectangle with rounded-off edges. It was longer than Wren's arm, but only about eight inches wide and four inches thick from top to bottom. Freed was practically quivering as Wren unwrapped the strange box with a slow methodicalness that Cana didn't think was appropriate for a six-year-old on Christmas day.

The paper came away to reveal that the box was really a case of some kind made from a dark lacquered wood. It had a small handle on one of its long sides and a small draw latch on either side of the handle to hold the case shut. Wren stared at the case and Cana thought she heard the younger girl's breath hitch. Bickslow made a low noise and reached out to his sister, "Wren? You okay?" Wren gave a faint nod and waved Bickslow's hand away. She seemed to brace herself before she reached out, undid the latches, and opened the case.

Cana gaped at the gift, wondering what in the world could have possessed Freed to get the item sitting innocently in the case. It was certainly not something that ever would have crossed her mind as a gift for the ever practical little shadow mage.

Nestled in red velvet was a small, chestnut-colored violin. The instrument shone in the overhead lights of the guild hall, the small whirls and circles of darker colors weaving over its surface being all that remained of its different grains. Suspended in the top part of the case was a small bow of the same wood as the violin, and there were small covered compartments on either side of the violin-shaped velvet-lined cradle in which the instrument sat. Cana had no doubts whatsoever that Freed must have used his entire Christmas gift budget —if not his entire allowance as well— on the gift.

Shaking little hands brushed the wood of the violin, fingertips trailing tentatively over the strings and other parts that Cana didn't know the names of. Cana suddenly became aware of the sound of tight, strangled breathing and Bickslow lurched out of his place in the circle in alarm, "Imōto? You're-" One hand whipped up in the silent signal to stop. Bickslow froze, concern radiating from him even as Wren slowly lowered her hand back to the violin.

Cana felt worry twist her stomach and all of the Raijinshū leaned forward in concern as Mest murmured, "Wren? What's wrong?"

Wren shook her head once, then again, her shoulders shaking as her fingers obsessively traced over the wood of the instrument in front of her. Freed, sitting directly across from Wren, suddenly made a quiet noise of despair and apology, hunching in on himself with an expression of immense guilt. A moment later, Wren turned her head away from the violin and its case and Cana realized why Freed looked so miserable and guilty.

Wren was crying.

The world felt like it had tilted on its head. Because Wren didn't cry. Not outside of those horrible nightmares she had at random, not unless it was something truly terrible and even then, Cana could only remember seeing Wren cry on behalf of someone else, like one of the other Raijinshū. Not for herself, and definitely not like this.

These weren't the tears from Wren's nightmares, all wild eyes and silent screams as her entire body shook from the force of some unknown terror. These weren't the tears she cried for someone else, few and quickly dashed away in favor of doing something about the problem. These were tears Cana had never seen before. They flowed freely down her cheeks, slow but large and unrestrained while Wren bit her bottom lip and her shoulders shook from the force of unheard sobs.

Wren looked like she was breaking. Like the entire world had just shattered around her ears, like something had just happened that could never be undone or fixed or made right ever again. She looked like-

She looked like Cana had in the mirror just after her mother died.

Freed was the first to break the shocked silence, falling into a deep bow on his hands and knees as he begged, "Wren-sama, Wren-sama I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, I thought-" Wren crossed the distance between them in a blink, her arms thrown tight around the neck of the stunned boy as she held him close despite the tears rolling down her face. Freed froze, his eyes wide and uncomprehending, "W-Wren-sama?"

Wren pulled away from Freed, still crying, but her face split in such a brilliant glass-fragile smile that Cana realized breathlessly that she'd been wrong before. Wren didn't look like what Cana had after her mother died. There was grief yes —her tears and her eyes still held so much of it—, but the smile was genuine and childish and bright in a way Cana didn't think she could remember coming from Wren before. Bickslow reached out to wrap an arm around Wren's shoulders, but the girl gently pushed him away and scurried back to the violin case with a desperate urgency Cana had never seen outside of life-threatening fights before.

Little fingers fished through the covered compartments in the case and retrieved a small circular block of something dark and woody-smelling. Wren then pried the bow loose from its niche and twirled the knob on the end with shaky but oddly practiced motions until the bow was taut. Wren began running the small block along the bow in firm, tiny motions, oblivious to her own tears and the attention she was slowly garnering from the rest of the guild.

She ignored them for the next ten minutes. Ignored Bickslow's attempts to hug her, ignored Freed's apologies, Evergreen's concerned glances or Laxus's, Mest's, and Cana's tentative questions. Her entire world seemed to have narrowed down to the object in her hands. After what seemed to be an eternity of rubbing the bow with the little block, Wren set them aside and reached for the violin itself with reverent hands. Soft plucking of the strings and business-like turning of the pegs commenced as Wren seemed to search for a particular sound from the instrument, her eyes dry and tightly shut as she concentrated. Is she-?

Finally, Wren appeared to find what she was looking for, gently plucking all four strings in a row one more time before she nodded and reached for the bow. Her fingers stopped just short of the bow and Cana could see a blank, hesitant expression cross the blond's face. Laxus leaned a bit closer to her, "Wren?" Wren took a deep breath, picked up the bow and settled the violin under her chin. Is she really going to try to play? Just like that? Because Freed got her a violin out of the blue? Cana braced herself, not sure what was going to happen, but afraid of what it would do to Wren when the girl wouldn't be able to play like the people on the street corners —the ones Wren had always stopped to listen to and throw a few coins into the cases of, Cana realized— could.

The first note came out hesitant, squeaky, and Wren flinched as if the sound had hurt her. Cana could see her jaw tighten with frustration, but Wren just closed her eyes tight and tried again. One note became two, which became three, which slowly, hesitantly, became a recognizable Christmas carol. Wren stumbled on the notes, even had to pause and restart in several places, but the longer she played, the smoother each new song became.

By the end of her first song, the chatter in the guild hall had quieted down to bare whispers. By the end of the second, there was not another sound to be heard. At start of the third, the silence was broken by Mest as he cautiously began to sing along to the recognizable carol,

"What child is this,"

"Who laid to rest,"

"On Mary's lap is sleeping?"

"Whom Angels greet with anthems sweet,"

"While shepherd watch are keeping?"

Mest was joined by Laxus, who was joined by a wobbly Bickslow, who were then joined by Freed and Evergreen and Marco and Levy and Haruta. By the end of the fourth stanza, everyone in the guild was quietly singing along as Wren's fingers danced across the strings. The song drew to a close and the silence that fell was filled with awe. Wren opened her eyes and looked astounded to see the crowd that had gathered around her, as if she hadn't even heard them singing along with her last song.

Master Makarov appeared out of the throng, his eyes solemn, "That was very beautiful, Wren-chan. Where did you learn to play the violin?" Cana focused on Wren, curiosity needling her as she waited for the Raijinshū's littlest to answer.

.

.

---

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.

Rihanna stared blankly at Master Makarov, unsure what to say, still too wrapped up in the euphoria of playing again to really think straight. Her fingers curled gently around the neck of her new violin and she felt her eyes blur again. It had been so long. She had forgotten somehow just how much making music made her happy. She had missed it, had always missed it in the back of her mind, in the moments where Earthland seemed too fantastical and she longed for the familiarity of Earth. But somehow she had forgotten how it felt to play, the joy of coaxing the voice out of a violin and hearing it sing in response to her fingers.

After three years of not even holding a violin, she hadn't been sure she even could play anymore. The fear of not being able to play like she used to, the terrible thought that she might have forgotten so much she wouldn't know where to start anymore had kept her from buying herself a new violin after joining Fairy Tail, no matter how much she missed it.

But Freed had gotten her one. Had gotten her the exact violin she had admired and pined over a few days ago and while a part of her was miffed that she hadn't noticed him stalking her, the rest of her didn't care because she had music again. She had a violin in her hands again and she hadn't forgotten. Her fingers were rusty and the child-sized violin had nowhere near the depth and tone of the battered old veteran she'd had back on Earth but it was still there. The ability and memories and love she'd developed and trained for twenty years was still there and that thought almost brought her to tears again.

It was hard to sign one-handed, but she couldn't bring herself to set down the violin. Instead, she gently laid the little bow back in the open case and signed the only truthful answer she could think of that wouldn't require telling Master Makarov her secret, the only answer that really mattered, "She used to play it."

There was a pause as Laxus started to translate but faltered, "Bickslow, did I read that right?"

She could almost feel Bickslow's puzzled shrug, "I think so." Master Makarov coughed pointedly and Bickslow sheepishly translated, "Wren said 'she used to play it'. But I don't know who 'she' is."

"Wren-chan?" Master Makarov didn't sound accusing, just curious, gentle. But Rihanna had no words. It wasn't a word they had ever needed to cover in their sign-language and Rihanna couldn't think of a new gesture that could convey it all. Convey memories of laughter and warmth and smiles and tears and patient hands guiding her own over the strings. Of tired smiles but an endless enthusiasm, an endless support for a shared love that no one could taint and nothing could destroy. Of hours carefully mimicking and practicing Christmas carol after Christmas carol, of faltering courage bolstered by a gentle kiss and a "I believe in you".

Even after she had moved on to actual teachers and professors, those were the memories that would forever be tied to the sound of the violin, the feel of strings, and the smell of rosin. For all that she had spent years learning techniques and classics and positions from other —admittedly wise and skilled— teachers, only one could be given full credit for Rihanna's undying love of the instrument, only one came to mind as the answer to the questioning gazes of the guild.

But she couldn't answer. Her Japanese letters had fled her mind and there was no word for it that she could speak anymore and no way that she knew to convey it.

Because how did someone just up and invent a new word for mother?

"She used to play it." It was a repeat of an unsatisfactory answer, but it was all Rihanna had as she cradled the violin closer to her chest and tried not to start crying again.

Laxus pressed his lips together, "But who is-" Something clicked in his mind and grey eyes went round, "Oh. Oh." Everyone looked expectantly at Laxus for answers, but he only seemed to have eyes for her, "You mean your mother, don't you?" Rihanna nodded shakily and scrubbed a wayward tear away with her sleeve to keep it away from her violin.

Rihanna's mother had been a violinist. Not a famous one by any means, but a beautiful one. Her mother had been skilled and passionate and talented, able to make the strings of a violin sing with emotions like a human voice. Rihanna had grown up listening to her mother play away any spare hours she had after work and had begged to learn for two years before her mother gave in and surprised her seven-year-old daughter with a violin of her own.

Rihanna had learned the Christmas carols first, they'd been her favorites to listen to and memorizing them had been easier than reading the books her mother had gotten to help teach her. They had played them together every Christmas, even after Rihanna had moved out to a place of her own or when she decided to go to college for a proper degree. They had played at home mostly. But sometimes —when they got bored with having only the pet cat for an audience— they had signed up to local Christmas concerts and played duets together on a real stage.

The violin was more than an instrument to Rihanna. It was memory, it was warmth, it was love and here —on a Christmas Day in an entirely different world, so far from anything familiar— it was even more than it had ever been before.

It was home.

Master Makarov's voice gently broke her reverie, "You know how to play all those just from watching your mother, Wren-chan?"

Rihanna fidgeted with the violin, "She used to show me where to put my hands, how to move my fingers, even helped me hold the bow." Rihanna had been so little and eager at the time and her mother so patient and thrilled to share her passion with her daughter. Even though it was the conception of that same daughter that had kept her from following through on that passion.

Master Makarov's expression was soft, sad almost, as he rubbed a gentle hand over her head, "Thank you for sharing your music with us, Wren-chan, you play beautifully. Your mother would be proud." Rihanna's composure almost broke at that, at the enthusiastic ripple of agreement that went through the guild at the Master's words. Those songs hadn't been nearly as well-played as Rihanna's mind remembered playing them, hadn't been nearly as polished. She had had to drop all of the tiny flourishes she'd learned to add in and just play the basic songs and yet there he was, praising her, thanking her, telling her that her mother would be proud.

She already knew that. She already knew her mother would have been proud of her —had been proud of her Before—, she just hoped her mother could forgive Rihanna for being such a coward after joining Fairy Tail. For nearly giving up her music because she was afraid that she would fail and what people would think and how she would explain her ability to play. She should have known that Fairy Tail would just … accept it. That's what they did. They didn't care about the "why" so long as it didn't hurt any of their own. They accepted their members for who they were, quirks and mysteries and all.

Bickslow inched closer, a reverent, quiet expression on what little of his face she could see below and behind his new visor, "Can … can you play us another song, Imōto?" Something stirred at his words, at "little sister" and Rihanna looked around at the rest of the guild to see eager nods and cheers for another song. The something inside her swelled, it filled her chest to the bursting and whispered down her fingertips with intent and memory and understanding.

Rihanna nodded at Bickslow and picked up her bow as she stood up. The cheers became louder as Laxus helped her up onto the bar as if it was a stage. She looked out over the faces, so familiar in so many different ways, and felt only one song come to mind. It took a bit longer to remember this one than the Christmas carols, she hadn't had it memorized for as long and she could not hum it to ground her memory. But five years was still a long time and after all the trouble she had gone to in order to transcribe the song into a violin solo, there was no way she could have truly forgotten it.

The first note floated into the air, followed by a slow second, and everything clicked back into place in her mind. Her eyes drifted shut as she focused, coaxed each swell and fade of sound from the instrument in her hands. It squeaked on the high notes a bit, the violin was too little for the depth she was trying to convey, but Rihanna didn't care. She could hear what had to come next in the back of her mind, hear the rumble of drums and the whisper of the orchestra she had had to decipher in order to piece together a solo version.

She poured her heart into the song despite the mistakes that tried to slip into the melody, despite the distractions that tried to take hold. Memories danced and she let them in, let them flow from her mind to her heart to the strings. Memories of Earth, memories of friends, memories of all that she had lost were mourned in the first bars of the song.

Then it changed, the notes climbed and the pictures behind her eyes changed. Bickslow, her anchor, her protector, her first brother. Mest, her rescuer, the one who had brought her to Fairy Tail, who had saved Bickslow's life from sickness, her exasperated sensible eldest brother. Laxus, her strength, her leader, her third and most worrisome brother who was already so strong yet so scarred. Cana, so fiery and stubborn, her first sister, her first friend. Freed and Evergreen, lost and scared yet so brave. Her newest siblings, her littlest siblings who had to be protected and yet had already worked so hard to protect her in return.

Levy, Macao, Wakaba, Reedus, Enno, Newgate, Macro, Haruta, Thatch, and so many others. All of them precious, all of them family, all of them hers now. Natsu, Grey, Erza, Lucy, Wendy, Gajeel, Pantherlily, Juvia, Charla, Happy. Those not yet here but who would be someday, who would stand with her as nakama. Strengthening her as she tried to strengthen them, protecting her as she protected them.

Joy and grief, laughter and fear, everything she had experienced since joining Fairy Tail and everything she knew was to come. Everything she knew she would face alongside them because this was her path now, they were hers now and Fairy Tail was so much more than a guild.

Rihanna poured her soul into the song, oblivious to the way the shadows swirled and shifted behind her, stretching and twisting until they filled the room with shapes and impressions. She did not notice the gasps of surprise from the members, did not feel the shadows coalesce on her back as the song built toward the climax until the notes peaked and for a single, heart-stopping moment the shadows were fairy wings flaring out from her back, long and slender and beautiful and proud.

She would never know how the sight took away Bickslow's breath and made him cry from the colors he could see rippling through the air in time to the music, the warmth seeping into his skin from the raw magic that filled the guild hall with her song. She would never know about how Bickslow would track Freed down after the Christmas party was over and hug the green-haired boy so tight it made it hard to breathe and hoarsely thank him for giving his little sister her voice back. For giving her that ability to sing.

The song softened and began to slow, the wings dissolved back into shadows, trailing and curling lazily around her feet like a tail before disappearing entirely as the last note drifted away.

Rihanna opened her eyes as the last note disappeared. The bow came off the strings and she raised the hand holding it in one fluid motion, trapping the bow between her middle, ring, and pinky fingers and her palm while her wrist rotated and her index and thumb formed the sign of the guild. Her message was clear, it rang through the room louder than any of the cheers shaking the rafters of the guild hall, louder than any words she could have used to explain what song she had just played.

This was Fairy Tail. This was their song. This was her guild.

And here, with her mother's legacy clasped firmly in both hands and her new family all around, a rough, broken edge she hadn't been aware she had smoothed and clicked into place and became something more. The last lingering doubts and what-ifs, the regrets held by her subconscious that she hadn't even been aware were still there disappeared. The circle completed. The final distinctions between Rihanna and Wren melted away, ceased to matter. Rihanna was Wren's past, Wren was Rihanna's future. Here, in that place, in that moment, past and future met and the past finally accepted the entirety of her future.

She was Wren.

And Wren was home.

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There you have it folks, Wren's first Fairy Tail Christmas experience. In case anyone is wondering, Rihanna will now be referred to solely a Wren from now on, because after three years and some odd months of everyone calling her that, I felt it was time for her to accept her new name the same as she has accepted her new world.

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One last thing before I go, a relative of mine has been incredibly stressed about meeting all of the "Christmas Standards" in his neighborhood and so is not enjoying Christmas very much, if at all. He has gotten caught up in shopping, meeting the extravagant decorating standards of his neighborhood, preparing a big Christmas dinner, etc. To him and to all the other people pulling their hair out from the stress of meeting these 'standards' and fulfilling these 'traditions', I'd just like to set forth this reminder: Christmas isn't about the stuff. It isn't about the lights or the tree or the big dinner or the piles of presents (though those are nice too). Christmas is a time to GIVE in order to remember and celebrate everything we have ALREADY BEEN GIVEN. Family, friends, a home, food, warmth, freedom, LIFE and so many other blessings that are just ... so easy to take for granted. Celebrating and parties and presents are all wonderful, but really, Christmas is a time to remember when the entire world was given the greatest, most precious gift of all. A gift that, really, none of us deserved but were given anyway because we are ALL, to a person, LOVED. Just ... so loved. Christmas ISN'T COMPLICATED. Here. I can sum it up for you in two paragraphs:

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." New American Standard Bible, Luke Chapter 2, Verses 8-14.

Why is this such good news and such a big gift? Here's paragraph 2:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. New American Standard Bible, John Chapter 3, Verses 16-17

From me, to you, with love. Merry Christmas!