A/N: Yo, minna! If you're still reading this, I am so freaking happy that you've followed it thus far! =D ... Just a strange thought: The weather for this chapter is totally opposite of the weather where I live... We're in a freaking blizzard warning! (And it'll be about the first snow we've gotten all year, which is also very strange...) My town is in, like, a bubble though; we never get snow when surrounding areas do, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens...

Special thanks to 4-Sweet-Lianna for reviewing! Seriously made my day! (See how easy it is to make me happy? ;))

Mood Music: Deck the Halls, Relient K version. ;)

Disclaimer: ...I think we have established that I don't own Fairy Tail...

Come Together

Lucy stepped out of her apartment building and took a deep breath of fresh air. They had certainly gotten lucky; the weather was wonderful today! The sun shone brightly above her, without a cloud in the sky, and barely a breeze to speak of. Yes, today was the perfect day for the guild's Caroling Party! She stepped up onto the wall next to the river as she usually did. And, as usual, she heard the typical call of the men on the river.

"Careful, Miss Lucy! Don't fall!"

"Hai, hai, hai!" she mumbled slightly ticked. Never once had she fallen off, after all!

The man laughed. "Merry Christmas, Miss Lucy!"

She stopped and stared after him as he followed the river away from her. Then she smiled. "Hai! You too!"

When she finally reached the guild building, almost everyone was already inside. She quickly found Erza in front of the stage, hands on hips, searching the lists hanging from the ceiling above the stage for her name.

"Ah! Lucy!" Erza spoke as way of greeting. "We'll get to work together today! We're on the team in the south section of the city with Levy, Cana, and some of the guys!"

Lucy nodded. "Great! When do we start?"

Erza glanced over the hall. "Actually, we can head over anytime we want. I think Cana and Mira already left…"

Lucy nodded with a smile as the two girls darted for the door, pulling Levy back out with them before the poor girl even made it to the stage area.

Gajeel slung an arm casually over Juvia's shoulders. "Guess we get to work in the same area of town. Though I'll admit that I don't really know how to go about it…"

Juvia nodded. "Juvia doesn't know either. Freed-san is with us though; maybe we should find him. Or maybe Lisanna-san. She would know, too, right?"

Gajeel nodded, looking over the hall. "Ah! Freed is still here. C'mon!"

While the others seemed to be happy, though, Gray was not pleased. "Jii-chan! I'm not working with that Fire Brain; he always destroys something!"

Makarov just sighed, offering the simplest solution. "Then work on the opposite side of the East section from Natsu!"

Within the hour, the entire guild had spread out over the town of Magnolia, joined by every member of the town, to decorate the streets. Strings of lights were wound around lamp posts and strung across the awnings of shops. Colorful garlands lined every window. The trees in the parks were soon decked out in popcorn balls and dried fruit garlands. By the time noon rolled in, there wasn't a nook or cranny that wasn't fitted for Christmas.

At one o'clock, everyone regrouped at Fairy Tail along with many members of the community to decorate the one building that hadn't been done yet: the guild. As was tradition, it was always left for last. Outside, the men hung lights and garlands from wherever they could make them stay! Inside, the women were also busy stringing up lights and other decorations as well as setting out center pieces on the tables. The children of Magnolia sat at the tables in the hall cutting snowflakes out of white, blue, and silver paper. Later, they would be hung from the ceiling.

Two hours passed, hardly noticed, before Natsu stuck his head in through the door. "Uhm. Can we steal Wendy for a moment?" Everyone turned to stare at the Dragon Slayer with a mixture of emotions ranging from 'What did you do?' to 'Who fell off a ladder this year?' to 'Oh no! Who's hurt?'. He cleared his throat. "Gray –" Juvia barely repressed a shriek – "accidently knocked into Elfman's ladder. I'm honestly not sure who's more injured. Elfman kind of squashed Gray on his way down…"

Wendy sighed, grabbing her coat. "I'm coming!"

Luckily, after Wendy came back into the building, the rest of the decorating continued and concluded without further incident – unless one would count Cana getting a nasty paper cut when she turned to helping the kids create snowflakes. They had just finished hanging the last of the snowflake cut-outs when the double doors burst open, the women of the town carrying in dish after dish of tasty-looking food.

"Alright, everyone!" Makarov announced from the stage. "The food has arrived! We shall feast and then – and then the singing shall commence!"

Everyone cheered as they moved for the tables. After so many hours of hard work, they were all famished!

"Erza-san," Wendy asked as she got in line behind her friend, "why does everyone call today a Caroling Party when half of it is decorating the town?"

"Master explained that to me once when I, too, wondered," she answered. "He told me that when the first master, Mavis, started the tradition, it was just caroling in the evening. The second master added in decorating the town." She shrugged. "I don't know why they didn't change the name of the day."

Lucy nodded. "That makes sense, I guess."

Wendy smiled. "I guess it doesn't really matter. I've already had a lot of fun today!"

"Well, that is the point," Cana responded from behind her. "And it's not over yet!"

As everyone chowed down on his or her over-filled plate, Mira brought out hot chocolate to drink. Natsu and Gray were instantly all over the marshmallows.

"OW! My eye!"

"HA! Serves you right for pushing me into Elfman's ladder earlier!"

"It was an accident!"

"Oh, sure, it was... Haha! You missed!"

"OW! Teme!"

Gray laughed as he grabbed another handful of the puffed-up sugar. He instantly stopped, though, when a hand slammed into the back of his head.

"Both of you need to stop fighting! Sit down and eat!" Erza ordered.

"Hai!" they both chorused obediently.

As the feasting started to die down, Makarov once again took to the stage. "If I may have your attention, please! Right now, we need to all pitch in to clean up the hall. After that, we will go out into the streets! So, let's get everything done quickly!"

With everyone working together, it took only a matter of minutes to clean up the hall. Then, with Makarov in the lead, the members of Fairy Tail took to the streets along with members of the town who had stayed to feast with them. At the front of the pack, Mira started the first carol. "Jingle bells, jingle bells!"

The rest of the group quickly joined in with the song. "Jingle all the way! Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!"

When the first song ended, Mira called Juvia out to start the second. She hesitated for a moment before singing out in a beautiful voice: "It came upon a midnight clear!"

"That glorious song of old! Of angels bending near the earth, to touch their harps of gold!"

When the song ended, Juvia was beaming. "Go on, Juvia!" Mira prompted. "Pick someone to choose the next song!"

She nodded. "Uhm… Juvia chooses… Gray-sama!"

Somewhere in the middle, Gray froze. "I don't think so! Gomen, Juvia, but I don't sing."

Gajeel slung an arm around the ice mage's shoulders. "Ah, c'mon! It's all in good fun!"

Gray groaned. "Fine…" He paused for a moment to think, a frown creasing his brow, before he finally thought of one. "Frosty the Snowman!"

"Was a very jolly soul! With a corn-cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal!"

"Good one, Gray!" Gajeel laughed when it ended. "I like that one!"

Gray could only stare at the Dragon Slayer. What? Gajeel liked a children's song?! Weird… "Erza!" he finally called out. "Your turn!"

Erza nodded, smiling, before busting out the first line. "One the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me!"

"A partridge in a pear tree! On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…"

On and on the carols went, late into the night, one song after another, as Fairy Tail paraded throughout Magnolia, laughing and singing together. As they returned full-circle back the guild building, they sang one final song to end the night.

"We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year!

"Good tidings to you
Wherever you are
Good tidings for Christmas
And a Happy New Year!

"We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year!"