Author's Note: Hello! We're exactly one day away from Christmas eve, which means we're exactly one day form the story's finale!

This chapter kinda went all over the place, and is basically just a prelude for tomorrow, so enjoy!

Also, I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter Eleven - On the Eleventh Day

It was now December 23rd in the Kingdom of Fiore. Winter was finally here and puffy white snow was now blanketing the entire kingdom from east to west…oh and Fairy Tail only has ONE MORE NIGHT TO GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

That's right. After today ends, all the mages of Fairy Tail will be completely stuck with whatever items they have in town. Master Makarov has let all the local shopkeepers know that no Fairy Tail members can buy or sell items in their stores, and Freed has placed an enchantment over the town of Magnolia (at the request of First Master Mavis) to prevent any member of Fairy Tail from leaving the city for 24 hours starting at the turn of midnight from the 23rd to the 24th of December. (However, Freed did not include Gildarts in this enchantment because he is a very busy man. He would have also left out Nigel due to his businesses, but Nigel insisted he had enough communication lacrimas to be okay for one day in "Magnolia-isolation.")

That being said, each guild member was either feeling very festive, or very nervous with the events leading into tomorrow. However, even if they picked out crummy gifts, they would still have a nice guild-wide Christmas party to enjoy afterwards (unless their guild mates trash talk them for getting crummy gifts…which actually sounds like the most accurate ending to the scenario.)

Here, we come across two Fairies who did not actually buy their main gifts, but instead made them with their bare hands.

Erza Scarlett and Juvia Lockster slaved away on the main floor of the Fairy Hills dormitory as they each applied the finishing touches on their two make-shift Christmas gifts.

"And…there! My final cake has been created!" Erza stood proudly by her recent pastry creation, and showed it off to a rather content Juvia on the other side of the room.

The proud chef continued. "Oh what joy! I imagine he'll eat it all in one bite, I know I certainly would!"

"Oh my, it looks heavenly…did you happen to make seconds?" Juvia asked nervously as she licked her lips.

Erza chuckled and swung the door of the refrigerator wide open to reveal eight more delicious strawberry cakes sitting in wait. "Why of course! I decided to make myself some extras just for the party, you know in case no one else brought strawberry cake."

Juvia sighed, realizing none of those were for her. "Oh…well I guess I should have known…Anyway, what do you think of my gift!?" Juvia dragged Erza into the lobby of the dorm where she had recently finished her very large and obnoxious ice sculptor of Gray Fullbuster, using only a single chunk of ice found on the frigid peaks of Mount Hakobe.

"Teehee, isn't he dreamy!? He almost looks better when he's made out of ice!" Juvia brightly blushed as she hugged Erza tightly in her embrace.

"Hmm…" Meanwhile, Erza sat in thought as she tapped her lips with her finger. "That's strange…why is he completely naked?"

Juvia looked excited. "Oh well because, silly! He always takes his clothes off. I figured I would add a little joke in there for the rest of us!"

Erza looked over to Juvia. "Yes, I understand that part…but completely naked? If I recall, I am almost certain you have never seen Gray that naked before…?"

Juvia froze with embarrassment. "Agh, well…let's just say…FORGET HOW I MADE IT!...all's that matters is that it looks fantastic!"

Erza paused before she smiled with a dull, supportive grin. "Yes, I must agree your craftsmanship is out of this world…now good luck getting it down the hill to the guild hall for tomorrow's party."

As those two Fairy girls idolized each other's' creations, the rest of the guild tried their hardest to enjoy one more day of regular relaxation in the bar of the guild hall.

Here we find Levy McGarden and Kinana finishing the last minute touches on the guild Christmas decorations before finally getting to take their break.

Levy stepped off a latter and looked up to the ceiling, easily smiling with pride. "And that should be the last of it! Man this place looks so good!" She tried bragging with joy, until a large metal club came hurling from behind to bring the nearest wreathe crashing into the ground below.

"Grr, GAJEEL!?" Levy turned to shout at her iron-headed friend, only to turn and find the wreathe landing around her neck because it sat right at Gajeel's chest height.

"Geehee" The Iron Dragon Slayer smiled with sarcasm. "Maybe I should just leave it there." He laughed as the goofy wreathe dangled from Levy's tiny neck.

"Grr..." Levy blushed with anger and ripped it off her head. "What's the big idea!? You trying to ruin my decorating?!"

"Not at all!" Gajeel smirked and snatched the large green ornament from her hands. "I just thought it could go a little higher." He then extended his iron hands above the original spot and hung the leafy decoration piece a few feet higher than before.

Gajeel dusted his off hands and smiled. "I know it's a little hard to decorate this place for a shrimp like you, but you don't have to get lazy with your placement."

He patted Levy on the head as she sat in anger. The blue haired Script mage then replied. "So, did your little gift get delivered yet?"

"Hey, I don't believe that's any of your business, Short Stuff!?" Gajeel snapped and walked towards the bar. "Now, Imma go find Lily and grab a seat at the bar…and don't worry...My gift arrived safe and sound."

He grinned and left Levy to stand in anger as Kinana tried hiding her own grinning face.

"Awe, you guys are so adorable."

While Levy tried mustering up enough courage to respond to Kinana's words, we now find Natsu Dragneel and Happy the cat sitting alone at a table in the middle of the hall.

"Nastu, wake up! No one wants to eat with us!" Happy said with a frowny face as he looked over to Lucy, Wendy and Carla all laughing and having a good time at the other side of the room. He kept up with his relentless nudging to try and wake the dormant Dragon Slayer from his cozy slumber, but nothing he tried seemed to be working.

"Happy…ergh...shut...up." Natsu snored in his sleep as he rolled over and fell flat off the bench.

"Nastu…" Happy sat with embarrassment on his face as realized Carla and the others would never want to sit near him and Natsu at this rate, especially with how Natsu behaved last time he fell asleep in the guild. However, just the the little blue cat looked up to find Nigel Thomas had just entered through the doors of the guild hall, with a little paint decorating his cloths and skin, and a confident smile plastered to his face.

"Hey, Nigel..." Happy flew up and onto the end of the table closest to the newly arrived brown haired mage. "Maybe you could talk some sense into him!"

"Ah, Nastu." Nigel laughed as he shook his head and replied. "You're gonna wear me out all over again! Man, I spend all week working on my gift, and now I gotta come here and get you up off your feet!"

Natsu slowly crawled back onto the bench and frowned. "Eh, I'm all fired up for Christmas, don't you worry...I'm just sleepy is all…can't a guy just take a nap in his own guild hall for once?"

"Yes, for once. Not a thousand times." Nigel sat down and continued to grin. "Now, why are you so tired all a sudden?"

Natsu looked slightly puzzled. "Huh, come to think about it I can't remember? It had something to do with my Secret Santa present…"

Nigel pondered that thought as he took out his trusty silver flask filled with a recently brewed batch of strong Xmas Eggnog. "Well…what did you recently do on the 'secret santa front' to wear yourself out?"

Natsu sat up and scratched his chin. "Well, I mean I bought a lot of stuff…"

Happy looked even more embarrassed. "Geeze, are you really that clueless, Natsu? You gotta a ton of junk this morning alone!"

Natsu looked shocked to here that. "REALLY!? Well where'd I put it then, smart guy?"

Happy face-palmed as Nigel carried on laughing and asked Natsu a question. "Who do you even have for the gift exchange, anyway?"

Natsu continued with his thinking as Happy whispered it into Nigel's ear. Luckily for the little blue cat, Natsu had to tell Happy who he was shopping for in order to have him help with all the shopping this week.

Happy flew back and finally tried smiling as Nigel collected the answer.

"Ohhhhh…" The business tycoon smiled widely as he pulled out a piece of thin white paper and a small pen. "Well hold on, in that case I have the perfect things to add to your little treasure cove!"

As Nigel debriefed Natsu on his new Secret Santa gift ideas, we then come to find a small crowd of Fairies sitting at the main bar.

Mirajane smileed as she serves Master Makarov, Laxus, and Mavis all their drinks. "Oh, I'm just so excited for this party tomorrow! Everyone is going to have so much fun!"

Laxus rolled his eyes. "Yea.., hey how are you drinking that, First Master?"

Mavis giggled in her response. "Oh silly, I can pick up most objects without any trouble!"

Laxus sighed. "Yea, well that doesn't really answer my question…"

He would have continued, but Master Makarov patted him on the back with pure sarcasm to speak first. "So boy, did you figure out how to make your little gift?"

"Mgh…"

Laxus turned away as Mira smiled and answered for him. "Oh, he sure did! I gave him a few suggestions, and he followed them all perfectly!"

The grandson of Makarov now found more confidence to give his grandfather a grin. "Exactly, I followed them perfectly. Now, what about you old man. You come up with a good gift of your own?"

"Bahahaha!" Makarov laughed. "Of course I did! You think your ol' grandpa would come up empty handed for a party like this?!"

Makarov sighed with a smile as he began scanning the room. "It's times like these when I really am thankful for what this guild has become. Christmas lets me finally say thanks to all my children, and helps me reflect what the guild has accomplished over the year."

Mavis went to reply. "Awe, well I know exactly what you mean! This group of wizards is very special to this guild, and I have no doubt that…"

She would have carried on, but the First Master was violently interrupted as Natsu Dragneel shouted over the entire hall.

"CRAP! I JUST REMEMBERED! WHAT AM I WAITIN' FOR!?"

Then, Makarov and the others looked over to find Nigel and Happy face-palming simultaneously, as the rowdy Fire Dragon Slayer ran out faster than ever before to race down the streest into a puff of smoke.

Mavis giggled as Makarov smacked his forhead to reply. "Well, I'm thankfully for almost everyone…"

As Makarov was now trying to lower his blood pressure, we finally come to find Lucy Heartfilia enjoying a nice meal with Wendy and Carla on the other side of the guild hall.

"Boy that was pretty good! I should order that more often!" Lucy smiled as she ended a very delicious lunch, and finished it all off with a sip of water.

Wendy agreed. "Right! That almost made me want seconds!"

Carla finally finished her meal as well, and smiled with equal agreement. "Yes, I must admit that was actually quite delicious."

They all went to comment further, but stopped as a very upset blue cat came over to join them.

"Hey guys…" Happy moped as he sat next to Carla in a slumped over position.

"Oh brother…" Carla rolled her eyes. "What is it now, Happy?"

Happy decided to act like a smart aleck, and began pouting like a child. "Well, since you guys didn't want to eat with me and Natsu, he ended up going crazy and ditching me here at the guild hall all by myself. And Nigel's been working on his gift all week, so I din't wanna bother him while he relaxes..."

Carla was turning completely red, and she was far too angry to even find words in Happy's excuses.

"Natsu..." Lucy on the other hand froze as soon as she heard that name. Since tomorrow was the Secret Santa, she purposefully tried avoid Natsu as much as she could, just to keep herself from spilling her secret.

"Oh..." The blonde tried replying with surprise. "...That's a bummer. We're so sorry, Happy."

"Yea, whatever." Happy pouted and rolled his eyes. "I think you guys owe me a fish…or maybe seven."

Lucy started looking angrier. "Actually, I owe you nothing…but if you'd like you can join the three of us on an afternoon around town to look at all the Christmas lights and decorations."

Happy's attitude then changed from irritated to excited. "Really!?"

Lucy snapped back without further sympathy. "But you have to drop this attitude, or else you can't go!"

Happy straightened up. "Aye Sir! When are we leaving?"

Wendy giggled and replied. "Right now, silly! We just wanted to finish our lunch before we left."

Carla added on. "Yes, and Lucy didn't you need to stop off at your apartment before we went around town?"

Lucy snapped her fingers. "Oh, thanks Carla! Yea, we better stop there first."

As the four Fairies wondered about town they finally made it to Lucy's apartment.

"Okay guys, just let me step in for a minute and…" Lucy went to continue, but not before she opened the building door to find her land lady standing in the doorway wearing a white fumigation mask and holding several bags.

Lucy looked horrified. "Oh god…did someone die in here?"

The land lady removed her mask to reveal a scowling face. "Actually, I'm having some renovations done. I need you out of here for a few nights." She then tossed all the heavy luggage onto the four innocent Fairies standing in the streets.

"Ouch!" They all cried out, and Happy snapped first as he shoved a bag of cloths out of his face. "Why'd you do that, ya crazy lady?!"

The land lady didn't like his attitude. "Well, normally my tenants all leave for the holidays, which makes this a good time to get the additions done…but with Lucy here sticking around all year I almost had to work around her."

Lucy pulled off the heaviest bag and snapped back. "YEA! WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DO THAT!?"

The land lady replied. "Cause…I don't really care."

Then, she slammed the door, but before the Fairies got up, they could here another command coming through the door.

"OH AND YOUR RENT'S DUE BY THE 1ST!"

Lucy wanted to tear the building apart. "Grr…it's one thing that she went through my things to pack my bags, BUT SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THINGS SHOULD STAY AND WHAT SHOULD GO!?"

Carla looked confused. "Hold on, is this the first holiday season you've spent in these apartments? Shouldn't you have known this was happening?"

Lucy paused and considered her own timeline of events. "Actually...we were frozen in time on Tenrou Island in mid-December of my first year in Fairy Tail, and because of that I never got to spend my first Christmas here in town...So to be honest I' guess I haven't been here for her past renovations."

Lucy began panicking when she realized her new dilemma. "OH MAN!? Where am I gonna sleep for the week!?"

Wendy looked scared for her friend. "Gee, Lucy…would it make you feel better to come live with me and Carla for a few nights?"

Carla rolled her eyes. "Eh, I suppose…but she'll have to sleep on the couch."

"OH!" Happy jumped up and onto a fragile looking bag. "You could stay with me and Natsu!...I bet you've always wanted to do that, teehee!"

Lucy blushed and rolled her eyes. "Actually, I think I'll just go with Wendy's idea…"

AGH! NO MORE! Nothing else until tomorrow! Meet back here when that happens for the last installments! (Oh I'm cruel!)

BTW...Since tomorrow's finale chapter is supposed to be one chapter in order to fit the theme, and since it is a very very long chapter I've decided to uploaded it into two parts. Now...as of this moment I plan on releasing it in either one of two ways:

A.) Release part 1 right when I wake up-ish, and then part 2 at mid day (like 2:00pm to 4:00pm Eastern US Time.)

B.) Release them both in the morning at the same time.

I would like to do B, but I have had problems in the past with me uploading two chapters a day, and my readers skipping the first chapter by accident. So if I do this one you all MUST MAKE SURE TO READ BOTH PARTS!

However, I am laying these options out for you all to decide. You have til 10:00 pm tonight (December 23rd) to tell me which method you prefer, and if I have multiple people chose I will make it a choice by popularity or something like that. (Either way, I as the author will hold the right to make my own decision...that's basically my excuse for if I fall asleep before 10:00pm and miss your messages...lol. So the earlier the better.)

So...let me know, or don't and expect the latter option. Either way see you tomorrow!