Edited on 1/8/16 because a few errors were bugging me.

Riku: Now for the conclusion of the prologue arc!

Mavis: Are you going to explain why you wanted this to be posted on Christmas?

Riku: The person you and your friends will meet in this chapter will be all the explanation you need for why I wanted to be written up and posted by Christmas.

Medic: I'm getting the feeling that this person's story isn't going to be as jolly as you're implying.

Riku: Noooo… why would you think that?

Medic: My not completely explained backstory is already blatantly depressing, and Mavis's backstory in this work is no picnic either.

Riku: I see your point, but don't worry, this guy isn't going to be a main character. Think of him as… Mr. Exposition for a few unanswered questions like… who are the two people Mavis saw when she touched the Tenrou Jade, is the story about the creation of the Shinju still the same as it was in the Naruto Manga, and Mavis's personal favorite… where do the Fairies live?

Mavis: *excited gasp* I'mgoingtoseeafairy! I'mgoingtoseeafairy! I'mgoingtoseeafairy!-

Medic: *rolls eyes* Great, see what you've just done? We're going to have to put up with this for the rest of the chapter now.

Riku: Yeah, I might come to regret that later…. Anywho, I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail, so the lawyer squad better not get on my ass for writing this fanfiction.

Mavis: I'mgoingtoseeafairy! I'mgoingtoseeafairy! I'mgoingtoseeafairy!-

Medic: Does she even breathe?

Prologue

Part 3

A Fairy's Tale

I've seen chaos and strife on the grand scale of war more times than I'd ever care to count. Which probably isn't much considering how I'd never bothered to count how many wars I've seen in both life, and my current undead existence. However, these wars have taught me that there is one immaterial thing that must always be treasured and protected above all else. Hope. This is why I have protected Naruto's sealing grounds for so long, and why I have defended Shinobi descendants from Madara's shadow forces wherever I can find them. It is why I left Mavis in Northswain's care when I rescued her from Black Zetsu. I was once known as The Savior of this World, and my son was too. I failed to live up to that title while Naruto succeeded, if only temporarily. Now it looks like Mavis will very well one day inherit more from her ancestors than just our Will of Fire. If I failed while Naruto only somewhat succeeded… will she be the one to finish what we started, and permanently lay the dark shadows of the Era of Shinobi to rest? – Minato Namikaze

December 23, X691: Fairy Tail Guild Hall

Just two days before Christmas, and the five year old guild of Fairy Tail was already celebrating as if it were Christmas, minus the presents. Decorations were everywhere, especially the conveniently placed mistletoe that Yury was taking full advantage of with his wife of one year, Rita. There was also a fully decorated Christmas tree-

*CRASH!*

Which was toppled over and destroyed by a bar brawl… again.

Medic was not amused and sent everyone participating in the brawl flying with her chakra enhanced strength flashing a red Fairy Tail crest on her right shoulder while shouting, "THAT WAS THE FIFTEENTH TREE YOU BRATS HAVE DESTROYED! KEEP THIS UP AND YOU'LL BE SPENDING CHRISTMAS IN THE HOSPITAL!"

Medic then directed her wrath at Warrod, who was watching the brawl with amusement while leaning against a wall, "And you! You didn't even try to stop them! Now we need to get another tree for the guild hall!"

Warrod just smiled in amusement and said, "I don't see what the problem is, I can just grow a new one on the spot and we can move the decorations from the old one to the new one. Problem solved."

The guild's resident disciplinarian groaned in aggravation and replied, "It's the principle of the matter that I'm trying to beat into these idiots' heads! Which is why you will not be growing a new one for the guild." Medic then redirected her ire back towards the perpetrators of the brawl, one of them being Precht, "That's right! Warrod will not be growing a new Christmas tree for you this time you ingrates! You will have to get one the old fashioned way! You'll have to find one by yourselves, cut it down, drag it back to the guild, and then decorate it. Maybe then you will all learn to be more responsible with your destructive behavior!"

The group froze and stared at Medic.

"Well? What are you waiting for? If you hurry, you might just make it back with a tree before Christmas Eve." Medic urged, knowing that it would take at least a whole day for the group to hike through the mountains near Magnolia and come back with a pine tree.

The group immediately took off to prepare for their forced hiking trip. Medic shook her head and sighed in satisfaction. If her plan succeeds, the more belligerent members of the guild she, Mavis, Precht, Yury, and Warrod founded would spend all of Christmas Eve too exhausted to destroy anything, which would result in the guild hall actually having a Christmas Tree on Christmas.

Xxx

One hour passed since Medic chased the majority of the guild members out of the hall to get a new Christmas tree. The only ones left that were still there were Mavis, Medic, Warrod, Yury, Rita, the bar tender, and about ten other members that were just either lazing around or observing the job board for any jobs that they might want to reserve for later. It was in this moment of complacency that what would be known as the Fairy Christmas Eve began.

It started innocently enough; a job request appeared on the board in a cluster of golden sparkles. Then one of the members asked Mavis about it since it was a request appeared to be addressed to her specifically. It was an escort request from someone named Nick and it said that he could be found in a village called Rosemary. The request said that he would explain where he needed to be escorted upon meeting with him, and that the reward would be "The information on Fairies that she has been searching for all her life". Needless to say, Mavis bolted out the door, white haori with blue flames and the golden Fairy Tail crest on the back fluttering in the wind and winter boots clapping against the ground as she ran off before anyone could get a word in.

Medic grabbed the request, read it, and groaned, "Figures a reward like that would get her bolting down to the train station at top speed. The thought of this being a trap for her probably didn't even cross her mind."

Warrod added, "Well, it did appear on the board in a cluster of sparkles, so who knows? It might be sincere and even be from one of those Fairies that Mavis always fantasizes about."

"Either way, we can't let her go off alone like this. I've been around long enough to know that there is always more to jobs like this than there appears to be."

Both Warrod and Medic chased after the 18 year old First Master of Fairy Tail, but only after Medic put Yury in charge of the guild while they were gone. This meant Yury had to spend less time fawning over his wife and more time making sure the guild members didn't blow up the guild hall.

December 24, Morning: Rosemary Village

When Mavis took the train to the closest town to Rosemary, she bitterly regretted not stopping by her house to pick up her scroll of seals first. She had to suffer the train ride without her anti motion sickness seal. It only got worse when Warrod and Medic caught up. Medic deliberately refused to help, saying that it would teach her to not run off on her own on impulse, and Warrod wouldn't have been any help in that situation anyway.

When Mavis was dragged off the train and recovered, Mavis urged her two friends to let her continue with the request... after she stopped kissing the ground. Begrudgingly, on Medic's part, they decided to see the job through. They did not make it to Rosemary Village until late at night, and would have camped out in the cold and snow if a kind man named Sorey Elysia and his pregnant wife, Rose, had not insisted that they stay the night at their place.

The young couple was very hospitable and even offered to feed them breakfast before they left. Mavis would have declined, insisting that they've already intruded on them enough, if not for Mavis's stomach begging to differ. They stayed breakfast, while they did so, Medic took notice of a very familiar sword hung on the wall in the house's living room adjacent to the kitchen.

While Medic was distracted, Mavis started a conversation with Sorey over the antiques that Sorey had scattered all over the house, which resulted in a lengthy geek out over the relics and what eras they believe they came from while Warrod ate his pancakes in silence while observing the nerdfest with amusement. Rose decided to let the new best friends have their geek out and directed her attention to the only other female in the house that was not a ruin nerd. She noticed that Medic was focused on her family's ancestral sword, a very large two handed broadsword with a bladed semi circular notch near that handle and a large hole near the tip of the blade.

Rose guided Medic to the living room after they both finished their breakfast, absentmindedly playing with the jade bead attached to a lock of short red hair framing her face. She joined Medic in observing the blade and said, "That sword is probably the only old thing in this house that I actually know anything about, the rest is just a bunch of old junk that Sorey found during his archaeologist expeditions that he didn't want me selling back when I as part of the Sparrowfeathers Merchant Guild."

Medic nodded and Rose continued, "The only reason I know anything about it is because it has been in my family for more generations than anyone would bother to count. Sorey has tried time and again to figure out how old it is and what era it was made in. He's finally concluded that it was made during the Era of Shinobi on the Alakitasian continent and that one of my ancestors used it and passed it on from parent to child until it eventually fell into my possession."

Medic responded, "His guess was right on the money as far as when it was made goes."

"Really? How would you know?" Rose asked with interest.

"I'm something of an expert on the Era of Shinobi, but don't worry, I'm not a nerd about it like Mavis and your husband are."

Rose made an exaggerated sigh of relief before saying, "That's good, one ruin nerd in the house is enough, and two is pushing it. I don't need a third geeking out about all the old stuff Sorey puts on display in my house. Anyway, what can you tell me about this sword? All I know is that it literally drinks blood, don't ask me how I found that out."

Medic explained, "It's called the Decapitating Carving Knife, and is part of a set of seven swords that were used by an elite group of Shinobi known as the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."

Rose looked a little unnerved and said, "That's a very brutal sounding name, then again, this sword has always unnerved me. The only reason I didn't sell it back when I was with the Sparrowfeathers was because it has sentimental value as a family heirloom."

"It's a brutal sword, but not the cruelest of its set. That title is reserved for the Nuibari."

"What does that sword do?" Rose asked, and immediately wished that she didn't.

"The Decapitating Carving Knife might drink the blood of its victims to repair itself, but the Nuibari was designed for torture instead of instantly killing its victims. The Nuibari was also known as the sewing needle, with the wire attached to it, the Nuibari could cut its victims up and then sew them together however the wielder wanted to." Medic said, remembering seeing it in action back during the Fourth Great Shinobi War.

Rose turned a little green at the thought of such a weapon and shifted the subject to the other swords, "Well, what are the other ones like?"

Medic quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"I just figured I might keep an eye out for them so I could sell them if I ever rejoin the Merchant Guild. Antique swords like those are guaranteed to be worth a fortune."

Medic responded, "The other five swords are nowhere near as brutal as the Nuibari, but one of them does come close. There's the Helmet Splitter, which is actually a giant axe attached to a chain and was designed to break through any defense. Then there's the Shibuki, a sword that has a giant scroll full of explosives attached to it, don't ask how it doesn't blow itself apart because I don't know either. The twin Kiba blades emit lightning and are capable of cutting through anything, and the Hiramakarei can take on many forms depending on how the user channels his or her Chakra into it."

Rose nodded and didn't ask about Chakra, so it's possible that she already knows about it, and motioned for Medic to continue.

"The last one is arguably the strongest blade, and will probably be the most difficult one for you to find if you go looking for these swords. It's called Samehada, the shark skin blade, and is actually a sentient sword that shreds its victims instead of just cutting them. It also has the power to drain its victims of their energy and is rumored to be capable of choosing and rejecting its wielders."

Rose raised an eyebrow at that last description and said, "I'd call you out on how ridiculous that last one sounded if it wasn't for how descriptive you were about those swords. I think I've actually seen a few of them while travelling with the Sparrowfeathers, so I might just look into them someday."

Medic responded, "I'm more surprised that you didn't ask what Chakra was when I mentioned it."

"Oh, already know what Chakra is. My late father told me about it and showed me how to use it. I am a descendant of Shinobi" Rose explained.

Xxx

The trio said their farewells to the nice couple before noon and set off to find this "Nick" that Mavis was looking for. Mavis already had a theory about exactly who they were looking for. According to her, Nick should be a somewhat elderly man that would be noticeably jollier than everyone else around him and trying to spread good cheer everywhere he goes.

Warrod summed up, "So we're looking for someone trying to emulate Santa Claus?"

"No, we're looking for Santa Claus" Mavis corrected.

Medic sighed, "Mavis, I don't know how to tell you this. In fact, I thought that you already knew this, but Santa isn't real. He's a myth."

"So is the Era of Shinobi" Mavis retorted.

"Great, so this is all a wild goose chase to find someone that doesn't exist" Medic groaned.

Mavis took off for the town square while Warrod asked Medic, "How long should we indulge this fantasy of hers before we drag her back to Magnolia?"

Medic responded with her arms crossed, "Give her an hour or two, then we'll just drag her back whether she likes it or not. We'll just shove her in a wheelbarrow and carry her back to the nearest train station in it."

"But how would that- oh, right, motion sickness."

Mavis quickly came scampering back with a jolly elderly man wearing a floppy black hat with all manner of buttons pinned to it.

"Found him!" Mavis announced.

Needless to say, Warrod and Medic's jaws dropped slightly as they stared at Mavis and the elderly man as he introduced himself, "Hello, as I'm sure you have already guessed, I am Santa Claus."

Xxx

Warrod and Medic were still in shock as they trudged through the snow, following Mavis and the man claiming to be Santa Claus. They honestly believed that this was all just an elaborate hoax, and Medic went so far as to believe that this was one of Black Zetsu's traps. However, Warrod was sold on Nick's identity when he pulled a joke book out of his hat and gave it to him while saying "Merry Christmas". Warrod never told anyone that he wanted a joke book for Christmas, so this caught him completely off guard and was enough to convince him that Nick is more than just a jolly old man.

Mavis noticed that Santa also tried to hold a conversation with Medic. It appeared to be a conversation revolving around Santa urging her to not give up hope on something, even called her by her original name, Sakura. However, that just resulted in Medic harshly demanding that he leave her alone. Nick took that as a sign for him to bow out and give her some space.

Medic, currently feeling annoyed at the current situation decided to ask, "Where exactly are we going anyway? Neither of you bothered to share with the rest of us just where we need to escort Nick."

Mavis smiled at Medic and said, "Isn't it obvious? He's Santa, so we need to escort him to the North Pole!"

"And how are we going to get him there before tomorrow?" Medic asked, feeling even more annoyed.

Nick answered, "To be more precise, I just need to be at a magical ley point north Earthland's northern equator. It doesn't necessarily need to be the North Pole, it's just the most ideal ley point for me to do what I need to do by midnight tonight. As for how, that's why I sent that request to Mavis. My normal method of getting to the North Pole on time is unavailable to me because he is preoccupied with keeping the lingering will of the greatest evil to ever walk Earthland away from me. So while that shadow is preoccupied, I require another means of quick travel, which is where young Mavis comes in."

Mavis continued, "You see, the reason why he chose Rosemary to be our meeting place is because it is the closest village to the Fiore Spiritcrest."

This caught Warrod's attention, "Whoa-whoa-whoa, you want to go there? Mavis, I trust you, but going there is insane! Not only is it the tallest mountain in Fiore, but it's also haunted by an aggressive ancient spirit that has been lurking there for thousands of years!"

Mavis was not deterred in the least, "Oh, that's just Northswain. He likes to scare people off when he thinks people are trying to scale his mountain. He calls it his one source of amusement when I'm not around."

"Wait, that's where the dragon that taught you Dragon Slayer Magic lives? Fiore Spiritcrest?" Warrod asked.

"Yep!" Mavis chirped. "Northswain put up a barrier near the top of it to keep my training secret, and to keep people from disturbing him while he's taking one of his month long naps. That's why Nick contacted me. He's an old acquaintance of Northswain, but can't take down the barrier since it can only be taken down by the same type of magic that put it up."

Medic asked Nick, "Out of curiosity, how do you normally travel to the North Pole? You said that someone takes you there, who is that person? Why do you need to get to the northernmost ley points in the world?"

"It all started a little over 600 years ago when I was rescued from that shadow by a stern man named Tobirama Senju. After rescuing me he had me meet with his elder brother and comrades Hashirama, Hiruzen, and Minato. I told them about what I truly am, and what I planned to do to atone for what I did while I was corrupted by the malevolence that seeped into the world's ley lines during the Era of Shinobi."

Mavis interrupted, "Wait… what did you do during the Era of Shinobi". Her face then shifted to a look of horror, "Please don't tell me you were-"

Nick cut her off with a sad smile and said, "Perhaps I should simply tell you all the story of how I became Santa Claus. What I am, what the constant warfare of the Era of Shinobi did to me, and how things came to be the way they are now…

Long ago, back before humans knew how to use Chakra or Magic, before the continents of Alakitasia and Ishgar were split apart, and before any Dragons even considered protecting humanity. Mankind, when it was still in its infancy as a race, and was protected by a race known as the Heavenly Messengers… the Fairies. I was one of them… the only one lucky enough to escape the wrath of the greatest evil to ever exist.

When mankind became populous enough to erect territories of their own, we took this as a sign that mankind was ready to stand on its own and returned to our home, the Great Mana Tree. Unfortunately, it was after we left that humans began to squabble among themselves over land and eventually waged war on each other. The fighting lasted decades and appeared to have no end in sight as the conflict only continued to spread. Eventually, two human girls, one being the exiled princess of a human territory's kingdom, and the other being her only friend appealed to the Fairies for a means to stop the endless warfare. The Fairy leader, Sylph, granted their wish and gave them each a gift for them to use to stop the wars. The princess gained the gift of Chakra, while her friend gained the gift of Magic. They each embarked on quests to hone their new gifts and use them to convince the territory leaders to stop their endless wars, with varying degrees of success.

While the two were separated, the princess eventually came to the conclusion that the only way for the territories to stop warring against each other was for them all to be united under one person. She decided that she was that person they had to be united under and waged a bloody war of conquest. It was during that war that she decided that she needed more power to complete her conquest and once more turned to the Fairies.

This time, however, Sylph noticed that the princess had become drunk on her own power and rejected her call for aid. She did not take well to Sylph's answer. I believe that this is where the princess's descent into insanity began because she vowed to exact revenge on the Fairies for denying her and take their power from them by force.

We should have taken her threat seriously, but instead disregarded her words as the ramblings of a spoiled child.

I don't know how she did it, but shortly after she gained complete mastery over her powers, the princess somehow managed to forcibly fuse all the Fairies to their home, the Great Mana Tree and warped the Fairies' once home, now prison, into a colossal column of a tree where a fruit containing a godly amount of Chakra grew at the top. I narrowly escaped that fate, and the memory of that day shall haunt me for the rest of my life, the day the Shinju was born. The princess ate that fruit and gained a godly amount of power that manifested as a pair of rabbit ear-like horns and a third eye, more than enough for her to conquer the world and rule it with an iron fist. As she conquered the western half of world's only continent at the time, even dragons came to fear her, all except one.

On the eastern half of the continent that the princess's friend traveled to, she came to know the leaders of the humans in those territories and learned that the only reason that fighting was happening there was because the leaders were trying to move west, away from the dragons that were terrorizing their people. The western territories were refusing their requests for refuge and the situation in the eastern territories eventually became so desperate that the only way for them to escape the dragons was to fight for land away from the dragons.

The princess's friend searched for a solution to the humans' plight and found it in the form of a dragon that was not aggressive to humans, the Divine Dragon, Northswain. Under him, she learned Divine Dragon Slayer Magic and used it to protect humanity's eastern territories from their dragon aggressors. She slayed countless dragons in her quest to protect the eastern territories until the demand she was trying to convey to the dragons was finally obeyed, the demand to leave the eastern territories alone. With the threat of dragons neutralized, the leaders of the eastern territories saw no more reason to expand their territory and ceased fighting with their western neighbors.

The princess and her friend were complete opposites when the two met again at the border between the east and the west. The princess had become the empress of an empire of her own creation, and her friend had become the guardian of the eastern territories. The two fought briefly, but came to an understanding, so long as the east and the west do not quarrel then their original goal of stopping the endless wars that started their quests had been fulfilled.

It was a decade later when the Great Calamity happened. The princess, now empress became more and more obsessed with her own power. Obsessed to the point where she came to believe that she was the only being in the world allowed to possess Chakra. This came to be a problem when she had two sons. It was after they were born when she realized that Chakra could be inherited. Her sons inherited her Chakra, and in time she came to the conclusion that they could become a legitimate threat to her if left unchecked.

The empress's friend, who was gifted with the power of foresight by the Fairies, foresaw that the empress would brutally murder her own children by draining their Chakra dry until they were dead and moved to stop her. She barely made it in time to rescue the empress's children from their own mother. It was at this moment that the empress's friend saw just how far her former friend had fallen, and the empress revealed what she had done to the Fairies shortly before her friend escaped with the two gifted children.

The empress, desperate to reclaim the Chakra that her sons inherited, cast an abominable technique on her half of the world, a technique that reflected the image of her third eye off the moon and entrapped her people in an illusion, a technique known as the Infinite Tsukuyomi. She then took control of the Shinju Tree and used it to entrap her people with its roots. It was after the technique was complete that she realized that her former friend and her twin sons somehow managed to escape. Growing even more desperate, the empress made traveled for days until she reached the base of the Great Shinju Tree and merged with it to become the Shinju Beast, a monster of horrifying godlike power.

It was when the transformation was complete, the side effects of being trapped and drained by the Great Shinju Tree were revealed. Every single victim of the technique was mutated into creatures I believe Sakura would refer to as White Zetsu.

"I told you not to call me that! I've thrown that name away!"

Anyway, the Shinju Beast amassed its army of mindlessly obedient White Zetsu and chased its former friend to the border between the eastern and western sides of the continent. It was there that the former friends met for the last time. The empress's friend left the empress's twin sons in the hands of her eldest daughter before she faced the Shinju in battle.

The battle that was fought between the Shinju and the first Divine Dragon Slayer was without a doubt the most destructive battle in the history of the world. The empress's former friend started it by immediately entering a Dragon Slayer's most powerful state, the full dragon transformation. It was then that the most destructive parts of the battle took place. The clash cleaved the continent in two and pushed them apart, creating the western continent of Alakitasia and eastern continent of Ishgar and the ocean between the two continents to protect the twins from their insane mother. When the battle turned against the Divine Dragon Slayer, she took a measure to prevent the Infinite Tsukuyomi from ever being cast again. She destroyed the moon with her Divine Wrath attack.

The empress's former friend fell in that battle, but her efforts were not in vain. With no means of crossing the new ocean that separated the two continents, the Shinju had to content itself with making only the western continent its domain. At least until the twins returned to the western continent after growing and mastering their powers. When they returned, they defeated the Shinju by sealing it within the elder brother, creating the world's first Jinchuriki. However, this was only a temporary solution as its imprisonment could only last as long as the elder brother's life.

Later, when the elder brother, now known as the Sage of the Six Paths, was on his death bed from old age, he divided the Shinju into nine fragments, creating the Tailed Beasts, and created a new moon to imprison the Shinju's husk.

This is the story of the fate of the Fairies and the era before the Era of Shinobi. The Fairies are imprisoned within the body of the Shinju, waiting for someone to find a way to release them, and return their home to its true form.

This is where my story of woe begins, the story of the last free Fairy.

I wandered the world, searching for a purpose after everything I knew was stolen from me, and my home was warped beyond recognition. After the Shinju was sealed in the new moon, that wandering changed to running, because the Shinju created a sentient manifestation of its will in its brief moment of freedom while the moon was being created. A shadow devoted to freeing its mother, a creature you all know as Black Zetsu. It hunted me when it was not manipulating history to its liking. To escape Black Zetsu, I hid myself where Natural Energy, Ethernano, flows throughout the world. I hid myself in the world's ley lines.

However, what I did not know until that moment was that by hiding myself within the ley lines, my nature became subject to the state of the world. In times of peace, I would be my usual self, but in times of war and suffering, malevolence would seep into the ley lines and slowly infect my state of mind. A few years into the Era of Shinobi, the malevolence became too great, and I transformed into a Fairy's negative state. I became a Spriggan, and was called the Krampus (pronounced: Krum-pus).

I did so many things that I wish I could take back. At the beginning of the last month of each year, I would emerge from the world's ley lines and kidnap naughty children from their homes at night. I would hang them in baskets from the biggest tree I could find upon my emergence from the ley lines, and on the 25th day after my emergence… I would... *hurk* eat them… some of them were still alive when I did that…

The end of the Era of Shinobi, when the malevolence finally dissipated from the world's ley lines, was the time period of my salvation. I was finally myself again for the first time in centuries, and I absolutely loathed myself for what I had done while influenced by the world's malevolence.

It was during my first month as myself after centuries, I heard a story about a boy that brought hope to a hopeless situation. I learned that the Shinju had been unleashed upon the world once more and caused untold destruction to the western continent, murdering millions in brief instants. The boy, however, did not break under the despair the Shinju instilled upon humanity and sealed it within himself to keep it from harming anyone else, bearing the burden of finding a way to prevent the beast from ever harming anyone ever again.

The story taught me that no matter how bad a situation may become, hope will never die, and I was inspired to find a way to atone for my sins as the Krampus. It took me a few years of thought in the ley lines and wandering the world for the brief months of December I had outside the ley lines, but eventually, I found a way to begin atoning for my sins.

I decided that I would give the world a gift every year on the 25th of December. The gift of hope. I would spend every day I have outside the ley lines participating in acts of goodwill, accumulating positive energy until I am filled to the bursting point. Then I would travel to the northernmost ley points where the world absorbs all manner of energy from the cosmos, usually helped by Minato Namikaze since he could warp me there in a literal flash, and flood the world's ley lines with all the positive energy I accumulated over the preceding 25 days. That positive energy then influences people to be more charitable, more likely to partake and random acts of kindness, more likely to make that one final push to break a bad habit that has been destroying them, and all around be better people.

This procedure has prevented war from breaking out on more than one occasion.

Nick concluded, "And that is my story. I do not travel around the world giving gifts to good children. I only have one gift to give, and it is one that I am determined to give to the world every year."

The group was at the halfway point of the Fiore Spiritcrest, and Mavis was hugging Nick, comforting the first and possibly only Fairy she would ever meet, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

Medic mused, a little sickened by what Nick was during her childhood, "So the stories about the Krampus were true after all, I thought it was just one of those stories parents told children to scare them into behaving."

Nick responded, "All myths are based on a true story, no matter how gruesome the story may be."

Mavis let go of Nick, walked alongside him and said, "And this is why Black Zetsu is after you, you're the only Fairy his mother failed to capture. He's trying to carry out her will and enact her revenge against the Fairies."

Nick nodded, "I would have gone to the North Pole through my usual method of having Minato warp me there since he left one of his Flying Raijin seals at the North Pole for him to warp me to, but Black Zetsu was waiting for us there this year. He discovered the pattern. So Minato warped me back to where he found me for my own safety and went back to deal with Black Zetsu."

Warrod added, "Which brings us to where we are now." He then walked into an invisible wall and said in a muffled deadpan, "I found the barrier."

"Mavis, this is where you come in" Medic instructed.

Mavis nodded and pressed a glowing hand against the barrier, causing it to fall. The group then heard the sound of a very loud snort, as if something just woke up. The group rushed to the top of the mountain as quickly as possible, but was stopped when the wind picked up and a very deep and loud voice shouted, "FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS I LAID DORMANT! WHO HAS DISTURBED MY-"

"HI GRANDPA NORTHSWAIN!" Mavis energetically interrupted by shouting at the top of her lungs.

The wind immediately stopped and a massive aquamarine dragon head peered over the top of the mountain. The group observed that it had blue eyes and fin like protrusions where the cheek and mouth meet. Northswain deadpanned, "Oh, it's you. Hello Mavis, I see you've met Nick. Congratulations, you've finally met a Fairy."

Northswain allowed the group to scale the rest of the mountain, and when they reached the top, Medic and Warrod were left slack jawed in shock of Northswain's massive size. If Tiamat could be considered giant, then Northswain would be outright massive because he was easily twice Tiamat's size. Kurama, watched from within Mavis and whistled, "And I thought I was big. This creature has to be at least a head taller than me at full strength."

Mavis explained Nick's situation and asked if he could take them to the North Pole before midnight. Northswain gave Nick and annoyed look and told him, "You're very lucky you brought Mavis with you when you came here. If you did not, I would have chased you away without bothering to listen to your predicament."

Northswain stood up and stretched his wings, revealing the shimmering white membrane of his wings and his pure white underbelly. This caused Medic and Warrod to gawk even further at Northswain's massive size.

'Definitely bigger than Tiamat' they both thought.

Northswain knelt down and put his right hand on the ground with the palm up, signaling the group to climb on. The dragon deposited the group of four on his back and told them, "Grab onto something and hold on tight. Once I start flying, I won't stop until we reach our destination!"

The Divine Dragon mightily beat his wings and took off while the group of four on his back held onto his scales for dear life. It was only after they had ascended past the cloud barrier that Warrod realized that Mavis wasn't suffering from motion sickness like she probably should've considering how they were being transported. In fact, she was laughing and having the time of her life.

Warrod shouted to Mavis, "Hey, Mavis! I have a question!"

Mavis looked back at Warrod and smiled, "What is it?"

"How are you not suffering from motion sickness? We're being transported through the air by a giant dragon!"

Mavis's face morphed into an indignant look and responded, "Grandpa Northswain isn't transportation! He's family! Why would riding on his back make me motion sick? Only transportation does that!"

Mavis's response only confused Warrod further, and Medic decided to just assume that Mavis's exception to her motion sickness was a case of mind over matter. Northswain laughed at this exchange and decided to fly a little faster.

Xxx

Night had fallen when Northswain landed. Mavis, Warrod, and Medic looked around in wonder as they saw an aurora of colors floating over them in the sky. They saw their destination, a section of frozen land where part of the aurora actually sunk down into the land. That was the northernmost ley point in the world, the North Pole. They saw someone they recognized running towards them, it was Minato.

"Hi Minato!" Mavis smiled at her undead ancestor as she ran up to him.

"It's good to see you again Mavis. You've grown." Minato replied.

"Mmhmm! I've also completely mastered the Rasengan, added my wind Chakra affinity and everything."

Minato smiled and playfully ruffled her hair, noticing that her head was level with his shoulder now, as they walked to the North Pole ley point. He then directed his attention towards Northswain and said, "It's good to see you again too, Northswain. How long has it been now? Twelve years?"

"It has." Northswain replied, "I still haven't paid you back for dumping this brat on me. Maybe I'll drop one of the teeth I lose every other year on you."

Minato just smiled and said, "I know you don't really mind, because in the end no matter how much you deny it, you will always be a big softie when it comes to children."

Northswain just huffed and moved closer to the North Pole ley point, assuming a lookout position. Everyone else assumed positions of their own after Nick entered the ley point and Minato informed them that he can sense that Black Zetsu is still lurking somewhere near the North Pole. While the group assumed defensive positions, with Warrod growing a few trees for him to use against the walking shadow if it were to appear, Mavis took this opportunity to catch up with her adoptive Grandfather.

"Grandpa, when Nick told me about the past, and what happened to the Fairies, he mentioned that the first human to use magic, the princess's former friend, learned Divine Dragon Slayer Magic from you. What was she like?"

Northswain sighed before saying, "Mana was a very gifted human. She was selfless and only wanted to help the people around her live better lives. She was still a child when I met her, young and naïve. She actually tried to reason with the dragons that she protected her human friends from. Unfortunately, they just saw her and the people she was protecting as a delicacy, so she was left with no choice but to resort to force. She hated that she had to kill to protect what she cared about, but had the resolve carry out her task anyway."

"There's that name again. Mana. That's what the spirit of the Tenrou Jade called me."

"You look a lot like her. In fact, you could pass as her twin right now."

"Really?" Mavis asked.

"Yes, considering how your inherent Magic manifested itself as Illusion Magic, and you even have her foresight ability, I wouldn't be surprised if you were her reincarnation. They are the same abilities that she had, though your abilities are also a bit more diverse than hers were since you also have access to Chakra, something she didn't have."

Mavis's mind went back to the Tenrou Jade, or rather, the spirit that tried to possess her, "If I really am that similar to Mana, then I can see why the spirit of the Tenrou Jade, the spirit of the princess that went mad with power would mistake me for her."

"Ah, yes, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. She was the one that the Fairies gifted with Chakra. According to Mana, she desperately wished for the people of the kingdom she came from and their neighbors to stop fighting and killing each other over territory. It's a pity that the leaders of those kingdoms were so stubborn and duplicitous in nature. If they had not sent assassins after her to the point that she decided that overwhelming force was the only way to stop them from fighting, she might not have resorted to the extremes that she did."

The two waited for midnight to come in comfortable silence before Mavis asked, "By the way, how do you know my ancestor, Minato?"

"I suppose you could call it a chance meeting. This happened back before Minato's son sealed himself away. They had traveled across the great sea in search of a good place for them to start the Chakra transfer process and a place to hide where the Chakra will go, the Shinju's prison. I could have sensed Kaguya's vile presence from miles away, so I was quite surprised when instead of finding my first adoptive granddaughter's murderer, I instead found a young man on the edge of breaking from an unimaginable amount of emotional suffering and four undead men prepared to fight me to protect him. The undead man called Hashirama Senju explained the situation to me, and I decided to aide them, anything to spite my granddaughter's murderer. I directed them a remote island where they could begin the process, and an underground labyrinth that they could use to hide the prison."

Mavis nodded and took note that Northswain had a tendency to refer to Kaguya, or the Shinju, as his granddaughter's murderer. Mana's murderer. She sensed that underneath Northswain's tough and supposedly apathetic exterior, he truly loved anyone he would consider a grandchild of his. Even if there were only two people in the history of the world that he could call that. Mavis placed a hand against Northswain's head, which was currently resting on the frozen ground, and smiled at him before resting her head against his. Northswain smiled back and relaxed, no words needed to be exchanged between the two to let the other know how they felt.

Xxx

Midnight arrived and Black Zetsu still had yet to make a move against the group. Northswain gloated that they had nothing to worry about from Kaguya's shadow child so long as he was around, and he was right. Black Zetsu was well aware of Northswain's power and how thoroughly screwed he would be if he were to invoke the wrath of the God of all Dragons and be at ground zero of the awakening of said wrath. So instead, he just observed and waited for an opening for him to exploit. An opening that just wouldn't come because the Divine Dragon was watching his every move like a hawk eyeing its prey, just one misstep would put it in range of the Divine Dragon's breath attack. In short, there was nothing Black Zetsu could do except watch.

The time had come, and Nick placed his hands on the ground as the area became engulfed in golden light, that golden light then separated into four parts and raced along the ground in four different directions. The light vanished into the horizon and sunk into the ground, dispersing along the ley lines of the world, slowly infusing the entire world with the positive energy Nick absorbed over the past 25 days.

With his job done, the time had come for the Fairy Tail members and Nick to part ways. Mavis hugged the Fairy and said her goodbyes, and Warrod patted him on the back and told him that he's been doing a great thing for the world and knows that he'll continue to do so. Medic however, looked at Nick with mixed feelings. Nick sighed and decided that it would be now or possibly never since he was vanishing into golden sparkles, returning to the ley lines. He had something that he wanted to tell her and she was going to hear it.

"Sakura, I know you don't like people bringing up your past, but there is something that I feel that I must tell you. Please, do not give up your hope for a happier future. You may have lost one son, but you have not lost the other, there will come a day where that son will return to you. Treasure that day, and all the days that follow because I know that those will be the happiest days of your life." With that said, Nick, the last free Fairy returned to the ley lines.

Medic narrowed her eyes at the space where Nick vanished from. Her feelings just got even more mixed. She was furious with the avatar of goodwill because he successfully opened up one of her most difficult old emotional wounds to heal, but also felt something she thought she would never feel again. Hope. Hope that she would one day see one of her sons again. The only question was which one? Would her eldest overcome the curse of the Uchiha clan, or would her youngest return to her from the abyss of death?

Only time would tell…

Christmas Day

Christmas at Fairy Tail is exactly what one would expect if they knew anything about the guild. It was loud, boisterous, destructive, and undeniably fun. Booze was drunk by the barrel and various objects were flying all over the place. Gifts were exchanged, and some were broken… naturally resulting in a bar brawl that Medic would have to stop with copious amounts of physical force. This would end up causing even more damage than the brawl itself.

Mavis heard a knock on the door due to her enhanced hearing and went to answer it. She opened it and saw her ancestor Minato standing there with a gift in his hand. However, he didn't stay long, or even a full second because he flashed away; dropping the gift he was carrying as a giant dragon tooth landed where he was standing. Mavis caught the present before it could hit the ground and searched the sky.

Mavis briefly saw Northswain through a crack in the clouds and shouted, "DAMMIT NORTHSWAIN! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH ONE OF YOUR TEETH?!"

Mavis grumbled to herself as she pocketed her ancestor's gift and pushed the dragon tooth into the guild hall, "I suppose I could take it to a blacksmith and see if they could make a sword out of it. Though with a tooth this big, I could probably get a suit of armor out of it as well. The only problem is that I don't use swords and I don't wear armor!"

Xxx

Omake: Mavis Discovers Ramen

X688: Mavis's age: 15

For fifteen years, Mavis has not tasted a food that has been favored by her ancestors for generations. Minato, during one of his visits, decided to rectify this situation upon learning about it.

Mavis's undead ancestor activated a Genjutsu that made him look like he wasn't undead and warped himself and his descendant to a place that he had marked, a ramen stand in the city of Crocus. Upon arrival, Minato immediately sat himself and his descendant down on a pair of bar stools and announced his presence, "Chef! We've got an emergency situation! My friend here has never eaten ramen before! We need to get some ramen in her, stat!"

The chef and everyone at the stand gasped in horror before the chef hurriedly asked, "What kind do you want? I'll make it right away! First round is on the house!"

Mavis blinked in confusion, naïvely unaware that ramen is serious business. Her response was to look at the menu and say, "Hmmm… pork ramen sounds good, I'll have that."

Minato didn't order anything. He had a big sad reason for this. He's undead, and undead people cannot eat or taste anything. This fact has haunted him for centuries.

The chef immediately went to work while muttering, "Must prevent Ramen Negligence Syndrome… must prevent Ramen Negligence Syndrome…"

Five minutes later, the ramen was done and everyone at the ramen stand watched with interest and worry. Mavis raised her chopsticks and blew on the noodles to cool them off. She then took her first bite and her eyes widened in wonder as she finally sampled the heavenly dish of the gods that her ancestors worshiped and used as an example that there is a god that wants humanity to be happy. Mavis immediately began to slurp down her new favorite food with fervor and finished the bowl in 30 seconds flat.

Mavis was speechless, never before has she ever tasted something so wonderful. It was beyond comprehension for her. The chef nodded in satisfaction, acknowledging that Mavis has become a case of another job well done. Mavis immediately ordered another bowl, this time being Miso Ramen. Minato saw the gleam in her eye and noticed that it was the exact same gleam that he sometimes saw in Kushina's eye when she was determined to empty his wallet.

Minato nervously gulped, realizing that his wallet was not going to survive this trip.

Riku: There! Prologue complete!

Medic: and you are only about three hours past your deadline.

Riku: Note to self: have my arcs completed before posting them. That way, I won't miss any deadlines.

Mavis: Yay! I saw a Fairy! I got to hug him! Anyway, next chapter, whenever Riku decides to write it up and post it, will be the first chapter starring one of the real main characters of this story.