"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ember's voice cut through the air like a knife, causing the three young teens to flinch as they paused their decorating.

Laxus, who was lounging casually on the couch refusing to take part in any of this, looked up from his book briefly to answer Ember "These idiots decided to decorate your mansion for the holidays." 

Evergreen, Freed, and Bixslow had long since lost the color in their faces as they stared at Ember, unsure whether they should be expecting a quick or a slow death. Despite this, none of them put the ornaments they were holding down, perhaps this angel of death would be kind enough to allow them to finish decorating the tree first, at least then their deaths would be festive.

Anyone with half a brain would recognize the humor that filled Laxus' face, it seemed that he was a little excited about watching Ember, who had proved herself to be a bit of a powder keg when she was irritated, get mad at the three instead of him.

It had only been six months since Ember joined the Thunder God Tribe, which was not enough time for Ember to fully open up. Sure, no one doubted her loyalty, as she had already proven that she was more than willing to stick her neck out for their sakes, but she was still a rather sadistic bitch as far as everyone was concerned.

For the most part, no one assumed that they really 'knew' Ember, she was closed off and sarcastic as a way to protect herself, which also meant that Laxus was the only one who was comfortable being alone with her. He had seen one or two more emotions than everyone else, so he felt confident that she would hate the fact that the home that was passed on to her by her mentors (who no one could decide whether she loved or hated), was being desecrated by the holiday spirit.

He was wrong.

Ember's face deadpanned slightly before she tilted her head in confusion, "I think we must have very different versions of the holidays..." She trailed off uncertainly and looked around the room at the sparse amounts of pine branches that were strewn about in a manner that was probably meant to be festive.

The team gaped at her, this was the first time any of them had seen Ember look even remotely out of place, let alone uncertain! Evergreen especially felt that there was no way the badass assassin was even capable of emotions like that (Yeah, she looked up to Ember slightly, so what?!)

Freed is the one who finally stepped forward, a curious look on his face, "What do you mean?" He asked cautiously, not really  wanting to poke the bear, but he knew no one else was brave enough, "How did you celebrate the holidays?"

It was then that the whole Thunder God Tribe nearly fainted as yet another expression crossed Ember's face, pain and something that may have been a kin to sadness. It truly was a Christmas Miracle, the hard to read Ember was finally opening up!

It was slight, but they still caught the wince that tore across Ember's face as Freed asked her that, "Oh, well... I'm not sure celebrating is a good term for what my mentors did." As Ember looked around, she noticed that everyone's eyes were riveted to her... Perhaps they had earned just a slice of her story.

She exhaled harshly looking away from the group before forcing out a chuckle, "Geez, it's like you guys just saw a ghost. How about a deal, I tell you about how I... Celebrated this season every year up till now, then you have to tell me what in the world you are doing dragging a twelve foot tall tree into my... our home for."

Everyone nodded (Including Laxus, but he was pretending to pay attention to his book) and Ember began her story.

Flashback

Snow covered the mountainside as a short line of people walked along a obscured path, the snow was deep enough that every step made the adults of the group sink in snow that went to their knees; which was so much worse for the only child of the group. Each new step the young girl took forced her to fight through snow that neatly covered her hips and most of her stomach.

You have to understand something, my family died when I was young, so I was raised instead by bandits who really only cared about the bottom line and making sure all the members of the guild were pulling their own weight. That included me.

She knew they were heading somewhere, they had come this way last year, but she really didn't understand why they had to climb a mountain to get there. Magical cars existed, or they could use a cart, or even harness one of the many horses that were just sitting around town. Any of those options had to be better than walking through this! Yet, the girl did not complain, she knew far too well that her mentors would not take kindly to complaints.

In order to be sure that I didn't slack in my training, my mentors found a... Unique way of motivating me. 

Finally, just over the next swell of the hill a dark hole came into view; it was spewing steam, which was incredibly hard to see against the grey sky, but the whole thing reminded the young Ember of a dragon, which was a really cool thought.

Ember raced forwards towards the hole, as the snow was melted near it and the steam meant that it had to be warmer than outside where flakes were beginning to fall from the sky again. A low chuckle came from behind her, one of the faceless guild members who wasn't very important, as Ember didn't care enough to learn their name.

"So eager, I wish I could bottle your energy, I could be twice as productive."

The person jerked to the side as one of Ember's mentor slapped the man, "Comments are not appreciated, stay quiet or you'll be going in instead of the girl."

Of course, Ember paid no heed to their conversation, only wanting to get out of the dreadful snow. Yes, she remember what had happened the year before, but she had been through enough of her mentors sadistic training, that this really felt like a drop in the bucket.

A hand landed on Ember's shoulders, making her look up into the eyes of her mentor, the other one had to stay back at the guild, before she was shoved into the hole and a cover was drawn over the entrance, trapping her in.

The cave was a nesting ground for several types of nasty critters, though I had no idea what that meant, all I cared about was that my mentor would be coming back the next day to either take me to a cave further up the mountain with bigger creatures for another night, or collect my body. 

Even then I was taught that failure meant death and success only lead to greater struggle. In total, I was in the mountains for three days a year, surviving in places that many would consider uninhabitable before coming back to the guild and falling asleep for a full day before I continued working.

Flashback Over

When Ember looked back at her team, she blanched slightly, Bixslow, and Evergreen were both sobbing while Freed looked like he was struggling to contain his tears. Laxus looked terrified, but in a 'manly' way.

In one swift move, three of the four launched themselves forward to try and envelop the girl in a hug,  but Ember was too quick. Instead of a hug, the three ended up on the floor, staring tearily up at Ember.

"You poor thing! Why would someone do that to you?" It was Evergreen who spoke out, her eyes sad.

That was all it took before a the other three began blabbering out how sorry they were that Ember never was able to experience a real Christmas and that she was treated so terribly.

Slowly, tick-marks began appearing on Ember's forehead as she listened to this, the last thing she wanted was pity, which meant that she wasn't particularly happy at the moment, "Guys," She growled out, the only warning the trio was given before they all cried out in pain, a small lump forming on the top of their heads. "I'll say this once," Ember stood above them all, glaring like an irritated angel, "My past is not something I want pity about. You were curious so I told you, that is all."

Silence descended on the group as that was taken in, it was fairly obvious that the three wanted to keep talking to Ember and lamenting about her lack of a childhood, but they sensed that continuing in that route would probably lead to them spending Christmas out cold.

Finally, Bixslow stood up and smiled slightly, "Well, thanks for telling us about that, now for our end of the deal." Quickly, he walked to the tree and grabbed an ornament that was on the floor. "You told us about you, so would you mind it if we showed you what Christmas meant to us?"

The other two seemed to understand what Bixslow was doing, as they quickly joined him, nodding emphatically. Now, Ember had been at this a long time, so she easily recognized the trap that was being laid. Unfortunately for her, she didn't see a way to avoid this without hurting everyone, which would lead them to moping throughout the rest of this 'holiday season.'

By the time Ember nodded reluctantly it was already too late, hands wrapped around her wrists as she was pulled up to the tree and the three tried to explain what it meant. Most of what they were saying was complete gibberish, but slowly Ember got the idea of just what was so special about this 'Christmas' that she had heard so much about. Though, the most helpful ones were certainly Laxus and Freed, who chimed in with clarification at just the right moments.

The trio changed gears quickly, moving from explaining the whole season to forcing her decorate the tree with random looking, glass balls and other ornaments that seemed completely impractical. But that wasn't all, from there, Ember was forced to wrap some presents that Bixslow apparently bought for Evergreen, to gingerbread house building, to reading terribly written books on Santa Claus himself.

By the end of an hour, Ember was about ready to go jump in off a cliff, but she couldn't bring herself to get rid of the pests.

Even Laxus got involved at one point, helping with the cookies, creating people who were then sacrificed to the Great Gods (Mainly Freed) in order to ensure a good harvest the next year.

Half of Ember wanted to say that this had to be a joke. There was no way that any of this shit about a mythical being flying around and giving presents to all the good children was real... Could it be?

Ember's group collapsed one by one as they did random stuff that was apparently linked to the season until she was the last one standing.
Quietly, she dimmed the lights and threw blankets over her team, smiling fondly at the many silly memories that they had made in this one night.

The couch was soft and inviting as Ember pondered the whole idea of what she had been told. Christmas? Santa Claus? It all seemed far fetched, but the light in everyone's eyes (and yes, that includes Laxus) showed just how much those memories meant to her friends.

"Perhaps, I can give this a go, maybe then I can learn to smile like they do." Ember's voice was so quiet at that point that she couldn't even hear herself.

"How nice it must be."