This was originally supposed to be a drabble, but then things got way out of hand. Now it's two in the morning and two thousand words more than I had intended. But it was fun.

Based on the prompt "Challenge" for a request sent by sassyhazelowl on Tumblr.

All characters mentioned in this fic (except for Roderick) are canon characters in the Fairy Tail universe.

Two years after his first, Gajeel found himself participating in the Grand Magic Games once again. The preliminaries had been beyond easy this year, but somehow Fairy Tail's other team that had been entered had failed it - and had nearly drowned in the process. Luckily, Gajeel had had plenty of experience nearly being drowned by Juvia over the years - not to mention that aquatic demon from Tartaros - so passing had been a simple matter for him.

He was greatly looking forward to showing off this time around. Natsu's stunt during their double battle still stung the iron dragon slayer's pride, and he intended to rectify the slight in this go around. So it was little surprise to anyone on the team that he volunteered for the first group event, a game called simply "Glacier."

Entering the arena to a decent amount of fanfare, Gajeel carefully sized up his fellow competitors for the event. He didn't recognize half of them, but the ones he did he knew he needed to watch out for. There was the swordswoman from Mermaid Heel - the one with gravity defying magic that had nearly fought Erza on equal terms two years ago. The snow mage from Blue Pegasus, a former Rune Knight like Gajeel. And the ice wizard from Lamia Scale, the one that had pursued Juvia relentlessly.

"Now that all participants are on the field, it's time to announce the rules of the game!" the pumpkin headed referee stated with glee, bouncing from foot to foot. "In 'Glacier,' we have a special treat for you all..." With a wave of his hand, Mato ushered in four glowing magic circles. From within them, sprouted towering columns... of beautiful, gleaming blue ice.

"Your task is to carve these into whatever you choose!" Mato informed them. "Make anything you want! The sky is the limit! Within reason, that is. Please do not abuse the contest creators' goodwill by making something crass. Aside from that, let your imaginations flow! But keep in mind that the judges each have their own particular taste, and that will affect their decisions accordingly."

Frowning, the ice wizard contemplated the pillars. "Excuse me, if we will each be carving these, why are there only half as many as there is participants? Will some of us not be allowed to carve?"

"An excellent question! The reason is that, for this game... you will have to cooperate with someone in order to get it accomplished! Drawing straws will determine the matchups, and the points awarded will be split evenly between you. Winning team gains ten points, second place gains six, third place gains two, and last place gains none. Individually, that's five, three, one, and zero points you may gain for your guild."

"Interesting," the Blue Pegasus mage said. "I chose to participate because of the event's name, but I might be at a disadvantage here. However... if my partner is sufficiently skilled, we can sill potentially gain the top place."

"Correct!" Mato exclaimed. "Now, without further ado, let's decide the teams."

Gajeel stepped forward first, with a triumphant grin on his face. "Let's see if my partner can even keep up with my first-rate artistry."

"An excellent attitude!" Mato stated. "Once everyone is finished drawing, find the other participant with the same number, and the ice block that is labeled the same."

He came away clutching a straw that blinked with a magical 4. Walking over to the block, he was soon joined by the ice wizard from Lamia Scale.

"Hello there. I don't believe we've ever spoken before," the white-haired man said congenially. "I'm Lyon Vastia, of Lamia Scale, and an Ice-Make mage."

"Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer. From Fairy Tail," Gajeel responded, shaking the other man's proffered hand. "With your magic, I bet you're pretty good at things like this."

Lyon nodded. "Indeed, I am. With your ability to cut the ice easily, this challenge is as good as won."

Their conversation was cut short by Chapati announcing the partnerships for this challenge. "On Column One, we have quite the cute team-up! Mattan Ginger and Nalshe Mikagura from Twilight Ogre and TItan Nose make quite the beautiful team, wouldn't you say?"

"Quite so," agreed Arcadios, the second judge on the panel. Yajima had declined to be a judge this year, claiming his age made the endeavor more difficult with each passing year. So instead, the knight was chosen to fulfill the vacant spot. "Although they do pale in comparison to the princess, in my humble opinion. What do you think, Mr. Roderick?"

Roderick Snodden, renowned art critic and guest judge for the first day, nodded solemnly. "They are indeed easy on the eyes. But can they bring forth beauty through a vastly different medium, such as this? I'm looking forward to seeing what they will bring forth from the ice."

The women waved enthusiastically at the crowd, all smiles and charm, and the stadium went absolutely wild as Mattan blew them a kiss.

"On Column Two," continued Chapati, moving along, "we have Kagura Mikazuchi of Mermaid Heel and Dobengal of Sabertooth. I must say that I'm really looking forward to this one. Both of them are renowned fighters, after all, with similarly serious dispositions. I'm sure whatever they carve, it will be amazingly detailed."

"Their matching aesthetics in terms of their wardrobe is also quite promising to me," commented Roderick.

"I agree as well," stated Arcadios.

"On Column Three, we have the male counter to the team up on Column One! With Eve Tearm of Blue Pegasus and Mace Orlando of Phoenix Grave, the male gender is certainly being well represented in the beauty department as well!"

"Indeed," Arcadios and Roderick said in unison, pleased smiles on their faces, not able to get much in edgewise around the fevered screaming that had erupted from the stands. Both of the male contestants had quite the following.

"And finally, on Column Four, we have... Gajeel Redfox representing Fairy Tail, and Lyon Vastia representing Lamia Scale."

"Is it just me," Lyon commented under his breath, "or was our team's announcement lacking the vigor of the others?"

"I must say that Gajeel doesn't particularly strike me as the artistic type," Roderick stated bluntly, disinterest written clearly on his face.

"Perhaps his partner will balance it out somewhat," interjected Arcadios. "He is, after all, a maker mage. Imagination and craftmanship go hand in hand, there."

"So long as the brute doesn't drag him down."

The dragon slayer spluttered, and shook a fist at the judges box. "No artistic sense?! I'll show you artistic sense! Get down here and I'll make real pretty work of your faces!"

"Calm down," cajoled Lyon, sweat running down his face at the display. "We need to win this for our guilds, so lets not lose sight of that goal. Besides, the best revenge would be to shock and amaze them, wouldn't you agree?"

Although he grumbled, Gajeel backed down. "Alright, let's do this."

Introductions completed, Mato raised his arm, a giant timer appearing above the stadium. "Teams! Begin on my mark..." The mascot dropped his arm. "Go!"

The teams conferred briefly, but it wasn't long until ice chips began to fly through the air as the carving contest got under way. The judges began to commentate on the progress of the groups.

Meanwhile, Lyon and Gajeel found themselves at an impasse.

"We have to consider the column's dimensions," Lyon informed Gajeel, his brows furrowing in his irritation. "So there's no way we can make the things you suggested. I think we should go with a crane, and to avoid making mistakes, you'll do the carving, while I direct you."

"Oh hell no." Gajeel's lips twisted into a sneer. "No way am I doing all the hard work while you just stand there, and no way am I making some prissy-ass bird. I say we make a guitar, that would be much more cooler, and shows off my musical soul."

"A guitar?" Disgust filled Lyon's face. "We'll be judged based on difficulty and artistry, you realize. What's artistic about a guitar?"

Gajeel bristled at the heinous insult the ice make mage had just delivered. "You wanna say that again, pal?"

"I'll say it as many times as I need to," Lyon retorted. "It's far too simplistic of a design to win us first place, and not really pleasing to the eye."

"I take it you have zero experience with rock n' roll fans," Gajeel stated bluntly. "You don't look like you have a musical bone in your body."

Lyon took deep offense at that. "I'll have you know that I-"

"Uh oh. Look's like there's trouble over on Column Four!" Chapati announced. "Seems like they haven't even started yet, and are still arguing over what to make!"

So engrossed in their discussion, Lyon and Gajeel both failed to take heed of the the judge's commentary.

In fact, their argument became so heated that they failed to notice as the timer continued to tick down, down, down...

"Aaaaaand, time's up!" Mato called out, signalling the end of the challenge with a blow of his whistle. "Everyone stop carving and step away from your creations."

Gajeel and Lyon looked towards their untouched pillar of ice, cold dread welling up inside their chests and bullets of sweat running down their faces as they faced their grave error.

"Let's begin the judging phase," Mato stated, gesturing towards where Column One had previously stood.

"Mattan Ginger's fire and ice powers were quite the sight to behold during the carving phase, and very unique in terms of technique," Arcadios observed. "Although I must confess that I'm not very artistically inclined myself, so I have... no idea what this sculpture is intended to be."

"Fool!" declared Roderick, stars shining in his eyes. "It's clearly a willow tree! Such a beautiful one, too. With the melted and refrozen ice it lends the sculpture the illusion of waving fronds. I absolutely love it. If it were marble, I'd have purchased it and had it shipped to my home already."

"You'll just have to settle for photographs of it, I'm afraid," Chapati remarked. "I definitely see what you're talking about though, and I must say that I am also suitably impressed."

Mattan and Nalshe exchanged a high-five, happy with the results thus far and what they had accomplished in such little time.

They wrote down their evaluations, hiding the final score until the reveal at the end, and then turned to judging the second team.

Kagura and Dobengal stood proud of their work, and Arcadios beamed at their creation. "A sword!" he declared. "What an excellent inspiration."

Roderick hummed and frowned. "I must say that I'm not particularly impressed with this one. The detail work on the finer points deserves some merit, however, I'm afraid that the subject matter just does not entrance me."

"I think it looks fantastic." Chapati nodded to himself. "It's easily recognizable for what it is, and the detail work is stunning. I say well done."

Also pleased with how their work had been received, both Kagura and Dobengal bowed to the judges, and then to each other.

Likewise with the second pair, the third seemed immensely pleased with themselves. And unlike the first two teams, they had somehow procured a cloth to cover up their creation for what would hopefully be a dramatic reveal.

"I'm excited to unveil this sculpture!" remarked Chapati. "What could lie beneath the cloth?!"

Mato pulled back the covering, the cloth sliding down to pool at the sculpture's base.

There stood a gargantuan, eerily lifelike and incredibly detailed bust of Ichiya's face.

Dead silence filled the stadium.

"I call it, A Reflection Of Perfection," Eve stated, a hand clutched over his heart. "A tribute to my amazing teacher and guide in life, Sir Ichiya."

Profuse, incredibly loud sobbing erupted from the Blue Pegasus gallery, as Ichiya broke down with joy over the sculpture, snot and tears dribbling freely down his face.

"I must admit that I'm a fan of the classics," admitted Mace. "And Ichiya of Blue Pegasus has to have one of the most classic visages I have ever encountered, so it was a pleasure to pay it homage."

"...Strikingly detailed," Roderick stated, though his voice was much more subdued than it had been for the previous sculptures. "I can see the stubble, even from the judges box. And the tribute to classicism is much appreciated."

"It can certainly be said that it rendered us all speechless," Chapati offered, somewhat weakly. "

Arcadios appeared to be as frozen as the sculpture was.

"...And finally, Column Four," Chapati said, drawing the topic away from the bust of Ichiya. "Unfortunately, it would appear as if this team was too busy arguing to work on the carving at all. Their ice appears to be completely untouched."

"A pity," Arcadios said. "Teamwork was a key component of this challenge, and in lacking that, they have failed to create anything at all."

Shame burned through Lyon and Gajeel in equal measure, their faces stained with red.

"Hold on," commanded Roderick, the art critic holding up a hand to prevent the other two from handing down a judgement of failure. "I don't think you two see it."

"See... what, precisely?" Chapati threw Roderick a questioning look. "Nothing was done to the ice block."

The man slammed his fist down on the table. "Precisely!" he shouted, causing the other two judges to draw back slightly in surprise. "Don't you see? That's why it is perfection itself!"

"Perhaps you could explain it, then," suggested Arcadios, sharing a brief, confused glance with Chapati.

"It's a blank slate," Roderick told them, his eyes shining with the force of the awe that he felt. "The block of ice stands there, proud and unyielding, like a monolith. A monolith of potential, for every possible thing it could become remains inside it still! Hundreds of sculptures, existing simultaneously! It bursts with imagination, for anything it could become!" Tears began to gather in the man's eyes, and he gave a heavy sniff. "I have never, in all my career, seen anything quite so beautiful as this. Day in and day out, I gaze upon gorgeous things. Perhaps that has made me a little unappreciative of them all. But now, I see the light. For the first time in years, my eyes are wide open to the beauty of possibility. I thank you, good sirs, for showing me something so wonderful on this day. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!"

When the final scores were handed down, Gajeel and Lyon were not surprised in the least to find that they had taken last place, with zero points. After all, despite how much one judge had liked it, the other two still saw the block of ice as a failure to complete the challenge's objectives.

But it was worth it, afterword, when Roderick approached Gajeel and Lyon behind the scenes to enthusiastically shake their hands and thank them profusely once again.

Gajeel had changed the man's opinion of him, which was what he had wanted to do in the first place.

And Lyon? Lyon reflected that this was an opportunity in the making, for self-growth and friendship.

So he invited Gajeel to carve one with him for real, this time. Or maybe several. Everything they had wanted to create, they could attempt after all.

Gajeel accepted, wholeheartedly.