Down the hill the sled went, picking up speed. They wanted to get the job done, so they would be freed.

Zeref stood up on the sleigh, trying to see through the storm. He just wanted to be done with this. "Hurry up, go, go, go!"

The sled rode through the snow, down the mountain, picking up speed as it went along. Zeref could barely clutch the reins his hands were so frozen and cold.

Finally, they arrived in the village and Zeref turned to Mavis, hopping out of the sled. "Here we go. Here without a hitch." Zeref smirked. "Alright, I'll go inside, and load everything up, you carry everything out here and put it in the sleigh."

Zeref imagined that Mavis understood what he said, which she seemed to since she wagged her tail and ran around in circles. Zeref grabbed a bag and tiptoed into the first house and started to load everything up into his bag before tossing it to Mavis.

She didn't move. Zeref glared at her and tied a bone to the sleigh, just out of her reach so she couldn't get it even if she jumped. Mavis dragged the bag to the sleigh and then pulled it off herself so she could jump better.

Zeref moved from house to house like this, quietly calling Mavis over, giving her the bag, and when Mavis lost interest in him she would wander back to the sleigh. Zeref would have to pick up the bag and put it in the sleigh, but that only wasted a few seconds. Of course, every second mattered when in this business.

He stole Christmas from house after house, growing more tired after so many of them. Finally, he came to the final house, his house. Zeref frowned and crouched beside the house and quietly climbed his way to the top of the roof, sliding down the chimney.

Nothing but a few coal dust signaled his presence. He dusted himself off and started to loot the house for Christmas food and presents and the tree. He put them in sacks and unlocked the front door. He called softly to Mavis who bounded up to him again, trusting him to give her a treat every time no matter how many times she was disappointed.

He gave her the bag and then went on with stuffing more things into more bags as Mavis carried that one to the sleigh. Then, Zeref stepped in the wrong place and a creek sounded throughout the house. He flinched, looking around and listening for footsteps. But, he couldn't hear any so he continued with what he had been doing. "Santa?" a tiny voice behind him, made him freeze. There was only one child in this house to his knowledge and that child would surely recognize him if he turned around, red suit or not.

"Well ho ho ho little boy, what are you doing out of bed?"

"Why are you taking our things?" Natsu asked, frowning. Zeref knew Natsu must be giving him the puppy dog look. Quickly, he pulled his beard up and tried to look as un-Zeref-like as possible.

"Why, I'm taking your things because they broke." Zeref said, thinking up a lie quickly, surprising himself a little.

"Oh." Natsu looked instantly happier, making Zeref feel guilty for lying to him like this. "So, Santa, I was wondering. You can get me what I asked for in my letter, can't you?"

Zeref had no idea what Natsu would ask for, which saddened him a bit, but he simply nodded. "Yes, of course." Zeref said in a deep voice, guiding Natsu upstairs.

"Really?" Natsu looked hopeful as he whipped around to face him. "You can make my brother come home?" This made Zeref freeze.

"You want… your brother to come home?"

"Yeah." Natsu said. "You can make that happen, can't you?" Zeref was frozen,

"You want him back? I thought… I mean, why would you want that? Wouldn't a skate board be better?"

"No! I want my brother to come home! Gray said he probably won't come back but I know he's wrong because my brother isn't like Lyon! And he loves me! Right? He does doesn't he? You'd know, right Santa?"

"Yes, of course he loves you." Zeref said absentmindedly. Natsu's face broke out into a contagious grin.

"I knew it! And he's coming home?"

"… Yeah, kid. Of course he is." Zeref patted his brother on the shoulder and sent him back to bed. Zeref stood there for a few minutes thinking about what Natsu had said before numbly finishing up what he had started. It was almost morning and they needed to get out the village before anyone came up and saw him making off with everyone's presents.

Mavis dragged the last bag to the sleigh, and Zeref lifted it up. Then, he clambered in, dragging Mavis along with him and Zera started running out of town. Meanwhile, Zeref was thinking about Natsu, and what his leaving must've done to the boy.

He didn't often like to ponder about it, but still. It hurt, to know that Natsu had been hurting without him. Soon, they reached the top of the mountain where Zeref waited for everyone to wake up and realize what had happened.

Sure enough, soon, everyone was walking out of their houses and out into the streets. But, while Zeref couldn't see their expressions they air didn't feel as depressing as he thought it would. Well, at least down there. Up here, everything was always depressing, but there…

Natsu woke up and grinned, throwing off the covers. Last night Santa had confirmed that Natsu was getting his present. He quickly hopped out of bed and ran down stairs, not even noticing that everything was gone. "Zeref?" he cried, searching. "Zeref, are you here?"

Soon, his father came down the stairs, yawning, and looking around. "Natsu? Where's all the decorations? And who are you talking to." Natsu frowned, looking around.

"I… I'm talking to Zeref." Igneel's face saddened at that and he knelt beside Natsu.

"Listen, honey… I don't think… I don't think he's coming back."

"What do you mean?" Natsu's breath caught in his throat. "He will. Santa said so!"
"Santa?" Igneel shook his head. "Natsu, sometimes people leave."

"But Santa said he loved me." Natsu's eyes filled with tears.

"He does, he does." Igneel assured. "But sometimes love isn't enough… to make people stay. Now, where did you hide the decorations?" Natsu frowned, finally noticing how barren the house was.

"I didn't do it." Natsu said.

"Well, I didn't do it…" Igneel told him. "Let's check outside." He grabbed Natsu's hand and the two of them went outside, searching. But then they heard a few wails from other houses and a bucket load of confusion amongst everyone. They were all frowning, looking around. "Hey, what're you looking for?" his father asked Lucy's dad.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried running up to him, hugging him.

"What is it?" Natsu asked.

"Haven't you heard! Nobody got any presents!" she exclaimed. Natsu frowned. That wasn't right. Not everyone in the village could've been bad, right? Natsu didn't think he'd been bad, and Lucy definitely hadn't been bad and neither had Erza! Maybe Gray had… but that was it!
"What do you think happened?" Igneel whispered to Jude who shrugged.

"Who knows?"

The four of them sighed. "Come on." Igneel said holding out his hand, let's go.

"Where?"

"To the square, you know we always sing together on Christmas morning."

"But there's no tree." Lucy said.

"We don't need a tree to be able to sing, do we?" Jude asked his daughter.

"No." Lucy said, shaking her head and then giggled.

Zeref watched as they all gathered in the village square and grabbed each other's hands. Zeref rolled his eyes and stood, not wanting to see how sickeningly sweet they all were being. Then, he heard singing, like he did every Christmas. This sound, made him freeze. What? Why were they singing? What did they possibly have to sing about? Zeref frowned, turning around again, his eyes narrowed at the tiny village. "What is this?" he grumbled to himself.

Hearing the voices melding together, but it wasn't just the voices, it was the words they spoke. Of family and love. Zeref, on that mountain, felt colder than he ever had in his entire life. He glanced at the presents next to him and realized that perhaps it was his fault that he was not happy. He had run away from everything instead of facing it head on. And just because he was not happy did not mean he had to make others miserable as well.

"Come on Mavis… let's give these back." Zeref spoke and climbed back in the sleigh. Mavis hopped in the cart next to him, wagging her tail. "Come on Zera, hya!" Zeref flicked the reins and Zera got moving, racing down the mountains once more.

From town, something caught the corner of Natsu's eye. He turned and tugged on his father's sleeve. Igneel looked up and there, riding down the mountain was Santa, with all the presents. "Look! Santa repaired them!" Natsu said excitedly, pointing. Igneel was not quite so overjoyed and glared at the figure.

"That's not Santa." Igneel said. "That's your brother." Natsu was confused but not disappointed. People got out of the way of the moving sled, breaking the circle and making way for it.

Finally, the thing came to a halt and Zeref slowly climbed out of it. People started whispering, probably bad things, though Zeref wasn't sure. He gulped, "H-hey." He said quietly. Nobody answered and someone coughed just to emphasize how dry this was.

Zeref took a deep breath and said, "I'm the one who did this… I took all the presents.

People gasp and Natsu's father looked angrier than Natsu had ever seen him.

"Zeref!" he barked. "Get down here." Zeref stood at the foot of the sleigh for a while before complying. He walked over to his father and stood in front of him, expecting to get smacked. That had never happened before, but what he'd just done certainly warranted one. Igneel placed his hands firmly on his sons' shoulders and told the crowd they were going home.

Then they did, Natsu holding Zeref's hand. Natsu didn't care what their father said or if he demanded Zeref leave and never come back. Natsu wasn't losing his brother again, not ever.

They got home and Igneel asked, "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't." Zeref answered guiltily, staring at his feet.

"I bet you weren't." Igneel growled. "You've broken and entered, stolen many things from many people, I don't even…" Igneel ran his hand through his hair and turned to his son who was barely holding back tears. "I'm terribly disappointed in you." Igneel said. All Zeref did was nod. Then, "I can't believe you would do those things! Just what have you been doing all this time! Just what did you hope to accomplish by leaving us!"

"Because I couldn't take it! You know it was my fault she's gone, if I had done something she'd be here! That's not all either! Nobody here liked me, they all thought I was weird or unlucky or something! And you were the worst! I felt like I couldn't talk to you, and I knew you liked Natsu better than me and I just had to get out!" he cried, a few tears slipping.

Then Natsu started crying too, because his brother was. Igneel sighed, "Oh, Natsu, no need to cry." Igneel gently patted his youngest son on the head. Then, Igneel wrapped an arm around his eldest and said, "The important thing is that you returned what you stole." Igneel said quietly, "and that you know what you did was wrong." Zeref sniffed and, glanced up at him.

Zeref hugged his father, tight as he could, not having seen him in a year, and now to finally be here… "Your freezing." Igneel commented hugging his son back with equal force. "It's alright now. We're all together again."

Natsu nodded. He'd gotten his present in a rather unconventional way, but he didn't care. He was just glad he had his brother back again, and glad that Gray had been wrong. "However, I believe apologies, many, will be in order… I can only hope no one decides to charge you." Igneel frowned at that thought.

Zeref nodded, though that was unlikely since none of the villagers liked him much.

"I'm sorry." Zeref said quietly after Natsu had bounded outside to tell all his friends the good news. Igneel nodded, squeezing his shoulder,

"I know."

"He's back!" Natsu cried. "I told you guys! I told you! I told you!" Natsu laughed with excitement he was so giddy. Lucy smiled slightly,

"I'm glad he came back though… it's a little awkward."

"You can say that again." Erza said. "But I too, am happy for you." They all turned to Gray who simply nodded. They didn't know what that meant but they thought Gray was happy for him too.

Natsu's friends all knew Zeref rather well since he babysat a lot when all their parents wanted to go out together. And he'd been a good babysitter, quiet, withdrawn maybe, but good, and they'd all liked him. But none of them had ever thought he'd try to… what, steal Christmas?

"You kids gonna stand in the cold all day or what?" Igneel asked, poking his head through the door. The kids all looked at each other and decided to go inside while everyone else had boring adult-discussions.

So, they all went inside while Igneel closed the door and walked toward everyone else in the village. They were quietly discussing amongst themselves. "He's a demon that one, I know it." One whispered.

"Hey, whoever just called my son a demon, come and face me or keep your mouth to yourself." Igneel growled.

"I was talking about the elder one, not younger." The voice elaborated.

"So?" Igneel's brows furrowed. He must've acted like he favored one over the other if even the villagers realized. Perhaps Zeref hadn't just been acting sensitive…

Regardless, the voice did not answer again. "So, are you all going to press charges or what? Are you all going to head over to the police station in the next town?"

The town's folks whispered amongst themselves and what Igneel wanted to do was yell at them to give him an answer, but that would not endear himself to them. Finally, Makarov stepped forward (he was the oldest one in the village and usually spoke on behalf of everyone else.) "While we love you and Natsu, Zeref abandoned us a year ago, and left the two of you to mourn on your own. Why try to save him now?"

"What is wrong with you people? How is that even a question. Every single parent out there knows that they would try to save their child no matter what they did to you. He came from my wife, he looks like her, speaks like her, acts like her! He is my child and I would do anything to protect him! Anything!"

"I would do that for my daughter." Jude added quietly, Eileen nodded.

"I would do it for mine as well."

"I would do it for my nephew." Ur said, and many other parents and grandparents started to agree at this statement.

"Then I guess we won't be going to the police station and no one ever has to know."

They all nodded.

Natsu sat on his brother's lap, telling him, "They'll forgive you, I know it." Zeref nodded, a small smile on his face.

"I hope so…"

"Come on guys, tell him they will!" Natsu exclaimed.

Lucy smiled encouragingly, "It won't be bad." She said to which Natsu frowned.

"I said tell him it'll be good! Not that it won't be bad!" he cried. Lucy shrugged, she didn't want to lie.

"Your right Natsu." Zeref said quickly. "Everything will be fine." a few minutes later, Igneel came in, carrying Mavis, and as soon as she saw him, bit Igneel, because apparently he didn't put her down fast enough.

"Ow! Stupid dog!" Igneel growled, shaking his hand. Mavis padded up to him and laid down by Zeref's feet, because his lap was free no longer. Zeref thought she might've glared at him for that but she was a dog so…

"They're not going to the police station." Igneel said when Zeref looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Yay!" Natsu shouted and gave his friends the, "I told you so," look. He smiled and said,

"Thanks… for being here." Igneel shrugged.

"Whatever," he grumbled. "Come on, we're going to help put all the decorations back up before the feast tonight." Zeref nodded and the two went outside, leaving the four children.

"So, Natsu, I was wondering, did you get you Christmas present?" Lucy asked.

Natsu grinned happily, "Yep, and then some!" he said excitedly. "Mom would've loved it if she were here."

Lucy wrapped an arm around his shoulder and smiled, "She sure would've."

Then they went outside to help everyone, all together, on Christmas Day.

THE END!

A/N It's finished! Yay! I'm so excited, this took soooo long for only 5 chapters to show. If you liked this please review/follow/favorite, It'd make me soooo happy! Thanks everyone who has read this story, your support makes me soooo happy! Thanks for reading this holiday special and I'm glad to say this book is done. I'll see you later, bye!