The Ta(i)le of a Cursed Dragon Slayer

I wish I could come up with a better name for what I hope will be one of my finest crossovers of the year. Berserk has been one of my all-time favourite Manga series (second only to Elfen Lied) and Fairy Tail is another (much less Dark) Fantasy series which I've grown highly fond of lately too so I'm really glad to finally make a start on this crossover. I hope I can make some good similarities and relationships between the two series and I'm open to all your ideas too. This is based on the latest Manga arc of Berserk so there will be spoilers for those not familiar with the series. There will also be some mature themes and possibly some intense violence later on.

So while you wait possibly two-and-a-half-years for Miura-sama to get those three Boyhood chapters published, why don't you spend some time enjoying this alternate path for Gut's gang en route to Elfhelm

Chapter 1: Prologue

The ship was falling apart, piece by piece, by the raging waters as they carried onto the deck. The crew on board could no longer keep her steady...The Sea God's mighty temper had thrown the ship into a frenzied swell, breaking her hull and snapping the sails until the cloth hung like mere scraps of meat on a large bone.

"Captain! We have to get the women and children on the lifeboats now!" the scurvy toothed crew called out from below the wooden carcass of the ship. On board still were a contingent of explorers, set out for the Isle of Elfhelm in order to help save one of their friends.

The two women and three children; one boy, one girl and an infant were accompanied by four men and two tiny elves. One of the men was still submerged deep in the dark watery abyss, fighting the God of the Sea. The other three men were still by their crewmates side, doing all they could to preserve their lives, even at the expense of their own...

"Bring the boats closer! We can't get a landing on them from this distance!" shouted Roderick of Schtauffen, one of the prestige sailors aboard this vessel. With his old friend and son of the noble Vandimion family, Magnifico, the two of them had hoped to generate great wealth for each other from the fortunes awaiting them on Elfhelm. Yet now the two brother's of kin would be lucky enough to survive this very situation. Roderick as well as Serpico, long term servant of the noble family, were holding out their arms, shielding the Vandimion's daughter Farnese from the raging currents lashing the ship.

"I promise you my beloved Farnese, we will make it out of this peril alive," the chisel-jawed man who wore his black hair in a ponytail gave his wife-to-be a reassuring smile. The lock of salted hair parting his otherwise clear forehead indicated the extent of this man's nerves in the face of such adversity.

"I will also protect you Lady Farnese," Serpico declared behind those narrow eyes of his, taking the sprays of stinging water with stride as the wooden floors continued creaking and breaking with each slapping wave.

"Holy crap! We're not gonna make it!" cried the young boy Isidro.

"WAGH! Come on Schierke work your magic and save us!" Cried Puck the elf.

"Stop yelling she's doing the best she can," snapped back Everall, the second of the Elves aboard

"GAH! But the boy's right! I don't want to die!" Farnese's brother Magnifico wailed as he lifted a hand to his brow. His royal curls had become a soggy mess as the water continued splashing over the edge of the deck. Though chivalry ran through Vandimion and Schtauffen family, Magnifico was the more faint hearted of the family's brethren. Even his sister seemed to maintain some composure despite another kick from the Sea God's tentacle sending another giant wave their way. The oncoming wave consumed another portion of the vessel and swept a dozen more crewmen to their watery graves.

Of the group, the only other members who were not panicking, screaming or praying for their lives were Caska – a dark skinned woman who, in search of a cure for her lost memories and cognition, was the whole basis behind this voyage in the first place; her infant child and the young Witch Schierke, who was locked in an unconscious trance since entering the Black Swordsman's conscious.

And it was this particular swordsman who had taken the name Guts a long time ago, who had currently bore the task – that of beyond mere mortals, to slay a God...Destinted with the Brand and the Cursed Armour, his bones and joints ached with each breath of water as he raised his giant Dragon Slayer blade in one last effort to cut a giant path through this behemoth, and a giant path to victory.

"Where should I aim?" The Black Swordsman referred to his trusty guide which clung around his shoulder.

"Aim right a little bit..." Scheirke acted as the Black Swordsman's co-pilot from within her astral plane. "Up a little more...Wait go down a bit..."

"Are we right? Can we take him out?" Guts called back quite casually for someone attempting to slay a God. "Hey Shierke? You still there? HEY!"

The behemoth's array of eyes and tentacles caught sight of the Black Swordsman, it could sense the slight elevation in his heartbeat at that point as it threw down its limbs upon the lax human.

"GAH!" Guts threw up more blood as the Sea God rattled his bones some more with a dozen strikes to his frame. And with Schierke now missing from action, water was now entering the Black Swordsman's lungs.

Guts couldn't let himself be distracted by Schierke's disappearance now...Wether or not something might have happened to her real body aboard could not be allowed to penetrate this man's thoughts. For the sake of everyone on board..For the sake of Caska, he would have to go it alone, and stake it all out on this one last shot.

It was a high stakes gamble. With the Sea God's underbelly concealing all light, Guts was going to have to aim for the heart blindfolded.

If death could not reach him through soaking lungs or from the Cursed Armour crushing his bones to powder, he knew that this final stunt of his was sure to kill him one way or another.

Now might have been a good time to start praying...

Guts raised his Dragon Slayer.

"GGRRRAAAAGGGGHHHHH!-!-!-!-!-!"

Remember to send in your ideas. I have some vague plans already but I can go pretty much anywhere from here. Please review!