Author's Note: Here is the fourth chapter. The Star Wars countdown continues...I mean the Christmas Countdown continues. Silly me!

Also, I do not own Fairy Tail

Chapter Four - On the Fourth Day

The guild hall was rather empty on the morning of December the 16th. Most of the members were either out shopping for presents or back home crafting their gifts for the Christmas Eve gift exchange, but some decided to save the shopping for a later date.

Here, we find Macao Conbolt enjoying a nice glass of ale with his two friends Wakaba Mine and Cana Alberona as they lounge at the guild bar.

Macao grabbed his beverage and carried on with the conversation. "So you're sayin' Nigel's making his gift for Secret Santa?"

"Pff-ff Yea!" Cana tried to hold her drink down without laughing. "The idiot wants to prove everyone wrong about his money. I imagine he'll probably pull the plug if his 'craft' gets too bad…he's not the most artistic guy in the world."

Wakaba began chuckling as he pulled his pipe out of his mouth. "Oh geeze, the poor guy's gone delusional. He should know everyone in here is greedier than your average banker. I'm sure no one would mind him spending a few extra Jewell on their gift."

Macao then laughed as he held his hand up behind his head. "Yea, but none of them would ever care to admit it."

Cana went to further comment on Nigel's foolish behavior, but she was quickly silenced as the guild doors swung open, and in walked Gray Fullbuster and Natsu Dragneel, and over their shoulders Happy the cat flew in with a smile on his face.

"Boy, are you sure those cloths weren't good enough, Natsu? They were really over priced, after all!" Happy giggled as he reminded Natsu of his large gift basket of goodies back at their home.

Natsu shouted with pride. "Nope! I can't quit now, otherwise Erza or Gajeel will one-up me!"

Cana rubbed her head as the three guests came over to the bar. "You know I was joking about the whole 'contest thing' the other day, right?"

"Yea well, don't tell him that now." Gray sighed and waved at Mira for bar service, and then turned to answer Cana's question. "Where is everyone, anyway?"

Macao chose to explain. "Well, most people are still out shopping for gifts."

Wakaba continued. "Yea, actually you just missed Wendy, Carla and Lucy. They left for Crocus just this morning."

Happy grinned. "Oh those copy cats! I wonder if they…?"

The little exceed was quickly silenced as Natsu jumped up with panic. "HOLD ON WE STILL HAVE TIME!? I gotta hurry up and get more things!" He then turned around and ran as fast as he could out the door.

Everyone sat there with confused looks on their face as Cana spoke up and grabbed her glass.

"Ya see? It's that kinda crap that makes me drink!"

As the guild hall appeared to be rowdy as ever; Lucy, Wendy and Carla were just stepping off their train in the luxurious station at Crocus.

Lucy smiled as she ran out into the city. "Ah it feels good to be back here in Crocus! I can't wait to go shopping for our gifts!"

Carla followed and put on a pink snow cap as she began discussing the cold. "Yes, well I hope it's worth it. I'm not even sure I want to go shopping in this weather."

Wendy followed her exceed friend with a sad look on her face. "Oh, Carla don't say that! That's not fair to the person you chose from the bowl!"

Carla rolled her eyes as she began remembering her mysterious recipient. "Is that so? Well I can assure you he is not worth the effort…"

Wendy chose to smile anyway. "Awe, that's not very nice. I'm gonna try and go all-out for my person! What about you, Lucy?"

"Um, well let's just say my gift needs to be pretty clever..." Trying to keep her secret secure, Lucy wanted to avoid spilling the beans that she held the responsibility of shopping for her thick-headed friend, Natsu. "Now I wonder if we can find a…hey, is that Cana and Erza on a billboard?"

Once the three Fairy Girls were drawn in by a similar ad that caught the eyes of Natsu, Gray and Happy they all made their way to the ever growing garment district of Crocus

Lucy smiled as the passed by the lovely architecture of the downtown region. "Ah this takes me back to the days of the Grand Magic Games! Remember the time we left the party early and went around touring the city?"

Wendy smiled with glee as she remembered the scene. "Oh yea I remember…that was pretty awkward, actually."

Carla then chimed in. "Pretty awkward? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me! All those stupid people wearing disguises to trick pedestrians into thinking they were the real Fairy Tail? It was totally absurd."

Lucy then remembered the end result from their fight with the goons and smiled. "Yea, but we showed them what the real Fairy Tail was capable of. Now, let's find that store."

As they made it down the broad street they came across the exact same clothing center that Natsu and company found three days before.

They all walked forward as Geoff the doorman came up and greeted them from inside the building. "Oh my god, it's more Fairies! YAY! I'M SO PROUD YOU ALL CAME!"

Lucy and the others cringed at the confusing scene. "Um, you know us?"

Geoff laughed and waved them in. "Well duh? You're the friends of those boys who came in here the other day! Nathan and Gary?...Tsk I can't remember their names, but they had the most adorable cat!"

Lucy and Wendy sank low as Carla slapped her own face and commented. "Yes, that would be them."

Geoff continued. "Also, I noticed your guild emblems. As we told your friends, here at the luxurious Fleuriste; anyone who's friends with Nigel Thomas is a friend of ours!"

Lucy smiled and instantly felt a little more comfortable. "Well, that's reassuring. Excuse us, but we're here to shop for our guild's Secret Santa Gift Exchange. Could you…?"

Geoff lite up with more joy. "Oh I know already! You guys have come to get your secret recipients some fresh new threads for the holiday season!" He then put his arm around Lucy and smiled as he took her to the women's department. "And might I say you need to get yourself a new outfit with that rockin' bod! In fact you look just like..."

Lucy shivered as the odd employee walked her to the wrong section. "Um, we're actually going the wrong way. I'm shopping for a boy…Also why am I doing this right now!?"

Geoff smiled and turned them around. "Oh my mistake, why didn't you say so!? You wanna go shopping for a nice 'strapping young man!' We have all the latest fashion for any guy here!"

Lucy then thought about Natsu dressed up in fancy cloths and suits, and immediately shook her head. "Well…on second thought, maybe cloths aren't exactly the thing for this person."

As the two left, Wendy then chased after Lucy and Geoff with a worried expression. "Wait, I need help too! I need to go shopping for a girl!"

Meanwhile Carla rolled her eyes and instantly spotted a fancy white tuxedo dressed on a large manikin sitting out on the main display.

The little white cat then slowly crept over and began pricing the individual pieces. "Well, this may be easier than I thought…"

As they finally finished up with a rather awkward afternoon of shopping, Wendy and Carla both walked out of the clothing boutique with full shopping bags, while Lucy still came out with empty hands.

Wendy smiled and twirled around in the falling snow as she celebrated her recent purchase. "I'm so glad I found a nice gift for my secret person! Ooo she'll be so happy, can Christmas just hurry up and come already!?"

Lucy smiled and supported her blue haired friend's recent purchase. "That's really exciting, Wendy! I'm glad you found a gift."

Carla then looked at Lucy's empty hands with concern. "Lucy, are you okay? You seem to have walked out without buying a present?"

Lucy then turned away and blushed as she tried to read more shop signs down the street. "Um, well let's just say my person isn't a dressy type…"

Wendy smiled. "Oh that's okay. We can go try the magic shop?"

Lucy smiled, but came up with a new plan. "That's not a bad Idea. Why don't you two go down that street and find a good shop, and I can back track this way!"

Wendy smiled as she grabbed Carla's hand and walked away. "Okay, we'll meet back here if we find something."

As Lucy made it away from her friends, she decided to summon her good friend, Plue from the spirit world. She tried using his company to find a large magic shop at the center of town.

"Well Plue, thanks for keeping me company. I thought I had forgotten where the Crocus Magic Store was!"

"Puun-Puun!" Plue yelled out with joy as he followed his master into the large doors of the shop, holding a large festive-red lollipop tightly in both hands.

Lucy searched all over the shelves for the perfect gift, and just as she went to give up, a small orange glow caught her eye from the top shelf.

"Huh, I wonder what that could be?" She pondered as a nosy store clerk came up to her side.

"Oh that one just made it onto the shelves not too long ago! Miss are you familiar with what happened after the Grand Magic Games?"

Lucy tried to repress the horrible experience of the Dragon Festival and the Eclipse Gate fiasco. "Only too well…"

The clerk laughed. "Well, that lacrima flame came from some random being in the sky. No one knows what caused it, but it appears to be a small eternal flame of pure magic energy. We found it right after the event, and just received a nice glass case for it in time for the holidays!"

"Atlas Flame!" Lucy silently remembered the name of the fiery dragon Natsu road on during the dragon attack and then smiled.

"It's too perfect! I'll take it!"

The clerk laughed as he used a special magic ring to bring it down. "Okay, miss we'll ring it up at the front."

~Once they made it to the register…

"Did you say One Million Jewell!?" Lucy wanted to faint from the sound of the price tag before she tried her Plan B. She remembered the fact that the store clerk at the clothing store knew of Nigel because of his businesses, and that gave her a slight idea to try her luck here as well.

"Hehe...I don't suppose you've heard of Nigel Thomas, have you?"

"Hey, it's Lucy!"

Lucy snapped over to the door to find Max Alors waving at her with a smile. He was also being joined by Warren Rocko, Laki Olietta, and the co-bartender of Fairy Tail Kinana.

Lucy replied with a smile of her own. "Oh hey guys! Doing some group shopping, I see?"

"Yea, you can say that…" Max went to reply, but not before he noticed Lucy's fiery red purchase. "...hey that looks like a hot little gift you're buying there. I wonder who that's for?"

Lucy froze and shoved the little glass flame behind the side of the register. "Oh, um…that's not what I'm…"

"Okay miss I had a talk with my manager and your 'Mr Thomas' through a comm lacrima! I guess this Nigel guy is willing to comp you on the price, so you're all set to by your flame lacrima!"

Lucy reluctantly took her new present in a bag and fell to the floor as Max continued to laugh.

"Man, you're buying a gift for the perfect person and you're mooching off Nigel?" Max winked with sarcasm. "I think we'll just let you collect yourself for a bit. See you back at the guild, Lucy!" The four wizards all chuckled as they passed by the poor blonde Spirit Mage moping on the ground.

Lucy stared right into the floor. "Yea, sure…if I ever decide show my face there, again."

"Puun! Puun-Puun!" Plue disagreed with her moping and held the bag up with smiles as he danced around her in a happy yet slightly mocking fashion.

God, pick yourself up, Lucy! So mopey...even Plue is enjoying himself!

I had a little reference to the first chapters of the manga spin off Fairy Girls in there if anyone caught that.

Either way a new group and chapter 5 is out tomorrow!