Hey there boys and girls, Layman here! And today I'll be giving you a special advance look at my Horror project for next month, Nirvana; a fairy tragedy.

This was originally conceived by my good friend and fellow Honorary FT Guild Member Themulchmeister, but he has discontinued it in order to work on other projects. He has passed the reigns on to me, and I shall do my best to finish what he started.

FYI, for those who don't know Fairy Tail as well as others, this story takes place in the Fairy Hills spin-off world, which takes the characters of Fairy Tail proper and puts them in a High School setting.

Also, this story is rated M, so if you don't like reading those yucky M rated things then this isn't the story for you. For all you demented psychopaths who do enjoy M stuff, then sit back and enjoy the carnage!

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SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY FROM THE FIORE COASTLINE:

"How much further to the Island?"

"About 3 nautical Miles."

"Phew, we should get quite a catch with the moon out like this-"

"HOLY SHIT!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Y-you better take a look at this, sir..."

"Urk! Why are they all floating in the water? Could they all have..."

"Better call Magnolia coastguard. Something horrible has happened here..."

"My God...And they're all so young as well...What kind of evil is responsible for this?"

…

Chapter 1: Path to Nirvana

ONE WEEK EARLIER...

"WAHOO! LET'S PARTY!" The wild and energetic Lucy danced onto the deck of the luxury yacht, clad in her green swimsuit with a floral cloth around the waist. She could party all she wanted now – after all, this cruise holiday was her idea. The Fairy Tail Academy's class of X784 had finally graduated, so Lucy, (who saw it upon herself not just as the class president but as the richest and most popular girl in school as well), to host the post-grad celebratory holiday cruise.

"Yeah go Lucy!" Natsu raised a glass for his best friend. He was just one of the other thirty-three party goers on the boat.

"Hey this ship was a great steal! Well done Lucy." Gray, another of Lucy's classmates, walked over and gave the blonde a friendly pat on the back.

"Thanks; Daddy said I could use his boat for the whole week."

"Gray-sama~! Could you help me fix up the shrimp for everyone?" Juvia slowly walked over and hugged her boyfriend's shirtless body, dragging him away.

"Gray's such a lucky bastard!" Natsu lay back on a deck chair as he tried absorbing as many UV rays as he could on this week long holiday cruise. "What do you say Lucy? Can we make this be our make-up cruise?"

Lucy blushed as she held away her gaze nervously, brushing a stray hair behind her ear, "Natsu...You know I'm with Loki now."

Natsu jumped off his chair as he walked over and wrapped an arm over Lucy's shoulder. "Aww, come on...Can't we go back to the good old days? Remember when we were the 'Hottest Couple in Fairy Tail'? Those were great times... Ooh, remember when we played hooky from Happy-sensei's Third Period 'Fishenomics' class with Erza and Grey and-"

"Please just drop it already Natsu." Lucy sighed, pushing her ex away as she went back inside. "Let's just try and forget about school and have some fun, OK?" she said more seriously whilst she departed, leaving Natsu to gaze at her ten-out-of-ten figure.

Now it was Natsu's turn to sigh, watching forlornly as Lucy sauntered off

"Damn...Loki's a lucky bastard too!"

…

Lucy entertained more of her friends who were in the bar inside. "Hope you guys are having a blast!" She spun on her heels as she greeted Alzack, Bisca, Droy, Jet and Levy who were all chilling out by the lounge. "I'm glad you all came on my holiday cruise."

"Thanks Lucy!" Levy gave her friend a huge hug. "After we get back we're gonna have to spoil you rotten."

"Yeah, I must say you did well putting all this together by yourself." Three striking young men in dapper suits stood behind Lucy.

"Eve, Hibiki, Ren." Lucy called out their names in greeting. "Well I can't take all the credit; Daddy did have some of the servants help before we left," Lucy scratched her head showing off her humility. "Plus we have

Aquarius-san driving the ship at the moment, so I'm really just here as a happy face.

Hibiki took Lucy's hand as he tried speaking in an elegant voice. "~You are not just a happy face, my dear; you're the very heart and soul of this ship.~"

Lucy blushed as she shied away from the three charmers. "Hehe...Well I better go and say hello to Erza now."

The bar-room was serving as the main entertainment room for the event, so most of the guests were packed inside. She squeezed past Shou and Millianna, as well as the very loud (in voice, personality and clothing) Jason who still seemed to be trying to pick up any free chick on board: the nervous girl Aries was currently experiencing the Jason treatment. ("So you also have an Aries star-sign? KEWL KEWL KEEWWL!") Lucy silently wished him good luck in his pick-up endeavors as she finally found Erza by the bar.

She waltzed over and caught up with the fiery redhead, who was sharing a drink with Cana and Elfman. "Hey Erza! Have you had the chance to see everyone I brought along on the cruise?"

Erza smiled underneath her otherwise stoic demeanor, "Sorry, but when I've finished this drink I will." She spun around on the bar stool so she could see the others in the room. "I see you've managed to bring just about the entire class along."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to leave anyone out. You're all my friends so I thought I'd bring as many as this cruise can hold." She smiled as she held her hands behind her back like the innocent young girl she portrayed herself as.

"~Aww, you should have another drink, eh Erza?" Cana bellowed as she slapped her tiny 'keg'. Cana was the heaviest drinker in Lucy's class and could even drink the hardiest men under the table. "You can never have too much booze, am I right? *hic!*"

Elfman held out his empty glass to his younger sister Mirajane, who was playing barmaid for Lucy's classmates.

"This was a great idea Lucy," Mirajane complimented her further as she filled up her brother's glass with a fresh drink, "And I don't mean to complain, but did you really have to invite Laxus's gang as well?" She gestured to a group of five who everyone seemed to be trying to avoid.

"Speak of the devil..." Erza slyly murmured as a group of sweaty jocks made their way towards the bar.

"Yo Erza! Still wanna try kicking my ass again sometime...HAHAH!" The spiky blonde ringleader took a seat next to the redhead as several of his cronies hovered by. "Seriously, that was one fucking epic night! So are ya still gonna hold out on your old bud Lucky Lackey?"

Erza gripped her glass until it nearly broke. "I swear I just wish someone would rip out your tongue one day you jerk."

"See what I mean my boys? She's the feisty one alright, layin' with her is like laying with a bunch of swords." Laxus slammed the bench as he guffawed at his own pathetic jokes, his gaudy headphones clacking against the Phat Chainz he wore that night.

"Please Laxus, that's enough; just leave her alone," Lucy pleaded, trying acting as the peacekeeper.

"Ohh, and it's Lucky Lucy! Come over here babe." The creepy jock pulled Lucy across Erza's lap with one arm. "I still have to thank ya for invitin' me and my buds on your Barbie cruise."

"Laxus please let me go!" Lucy pleaded with the larger man.

"Oi that's enough Laxus! Don't make me have to do this." Elfman rose from his stool, the giant man bunching his fists.

"Ooh! The Elfmeister! Still trying to play the nice guy after all these years? Hey boys?" Laxus craned his head around to get some more support from his sniggering subordinates.

"I was going to put aside our differences for this cruise, but if you're gonna stir shit up here then I'll have to send you 30,000 leagues under the sea," the burly warrior declared.

Laxus continued sniggering as his followers circled around the big guy. "You sure you wanna try that again after the last time?" Elfman's hand reflexively moved to the scar on his face. "Besides, me and the boys are just havin' some fun. Now Lucy, I gotta give you my thanks." Laxus raised on hand onto the air as Lucy remained face down across his lap, he then started curling each of his fingers until his index and middle finger were left out. "Now-"

But before he could give Lucy his thanks another person had reached over and grabbed the blonde man's wrist. "Touch her and you're fucking dead."

"Loki stay out of this," Lucy tried calming her savior boyfriend.

"Yeah Laxus," Natsu came back inside with Gray and a more of the male students by his side, "you and your little buddies better back away before this holiday turns ugly."

Conceding defeat, Laxus chuckled as he shook Lucy off his lap and got to his feet. "What an interesting party we've got goin' here. Well thanks anyway Lucy." Laxus jerked his ridge-featured head, signaling for his small forces to make a retreat.

As they made their way from the bar Laxus came across another old foe from the Academy. He eyed down the blue haired man as he stood before the jock. "Too late to play hero now, isn't it? Or would you have gotten a hard if I'd done something to Erza instead?" Laxus smirked with undeserved confidence as he walked around the new person.

"Jellal?" Erza gasped; she didn't seem pleased with this particular guest's arrival, "What are you doing here?"

"Long time no see Erza," Jellal said with hardly any affection in his voice. "Having fun?"

Erza gave Lucy daggers in her gaze as she walked off towards the bedrooms. Lucy and the others looked at each other equally confused as to Erza's sudden reaction.

"I should go and speak to Erza." Gray tried to follow the distraught woman, but a clingy Juvia prevented him from getting very far.

Lucy stepped forward. "No, I'm her oldest friend so I'll talk to her."

…

"Erza," Lucy called as she knocked on the door of her friend's cabin, "you OK?" She pressed her ear to the door and heard Erza muttering some less than nice things about what had happened before. She cracked the door open, "Can I come in?"

"Lucy," Erza let out a small gasp, startled out of her dark musings. She nodded, bidding the blond to enter.

Lucy walked into Erza's room as she sat by her bed. "Sorry about that jerk Laxus, I wouldn't have invited him if I knew he'd act like that."

"I appreciate that," Erza said, "But I'm more upset about Jellal being here. I can't be around that man, not after what he did..." Erza pressed her face into her pillow as she lay face down on her bed. "Lucy, I understand your generous personality, but you really should have given some more thought into who you were actually inviting on this cruise."

Lucy rubbed her friend's back as she sobbed silently against the pillow. "Don't worry Erza, whatever happened in the past is history now. Come on, we're all supposed to be grown ups now; school's over and we have college and the rest of our lives to look forward to," Lucy explained as she continued upholding her ideal view of the world.

"But you don't understand what Jellal-"

"Please Erza? I don't want to see you sad of all my friends. I promise I'll make this the best week of our lives."

Erza couldn't refuse against Lucy's cheerful smile. Though she envied Lucy's great fortune and ability to see happiness in every corner, she also adored her oldest friend. She sat up and gave the blonde a warm hug. "Okay Lucy, I'll be happy for you."

…

LATER THAT EVENING:

"AHOO-HOO! Hey, what animal am I now?" Natsu was jumping up and down on a small table, swaying his arms and pretending to peel bananas as everyone gathered in the main room.

"A Natsu!" Gray shouted out as he threw more peanuts at the pink-haired man.

"Good one bro!" Lyon acknowledged his twin brother's remark.

"Oh Lyon, I much prefer your witty jokes.~" Sherry leaned over her boyfriend's shoulder, brushing her pink pigtails against his snow white hair.

"Gray-sama's jokes are much better than Lyon's!" Juvia leaned over Gray and stared down her rival.

"Humph. Gray must be tired of having you on his shoulder all the time," Sherry snickered cheekily. "And what's with you calling him 'Gray-sama'? Are you still getting romance advice from those crappy Shojo manga you read?"

"How dare you!" Juvia lunged at Sherry's face as she jumped over Gray's body. The two girls started wrestling each other to the ground as a fight ensued.

"CAT FIGHT! HELL YEAH!" The sight of two females scratching and pulling each others hair was enough to start up Laxus and his testosterone fueled lads.

Thankfully most of the other guys knew better and quickly intervened. "Hey you two cut it out!" The combatants respective boyfriends rushed over and pried the two girls apart.

"I'm sorry Gray-sama! Juvia was only trying to defend your honor," Juvia excused herself with watery eyes.

"I was only fighting in the name of love!" Sherry tried excusing herself too.

"Hey what got a hold of you two?" Natsu came over to see the two girls after they had been broken up.

"OI! What'd you fags break up a chick fight for?" Laxus rolled over with an empty glass from the bar. His cronies formed a guard of honor behind him as usual.

"Who the hell invited you anyway Laxus?" Natsu stepped forward with flames burning in his eyes. "Go back to drinking in those sleazy bars you like so much."

"I should wipe the floor with the lot of you geeks for spoiling our night's entertainment." Laxus started cracking his fists as he walked over to Natsu.

Gray and Lyon blocked off Laxus. "You just don't know how to keep that mouth of yours shut."

"Hey if yer pickin a fight with Lackey, yer pickin' a fight with the Thunder Boyz!" Erigor puffed out his chest like a Vulcan monkey as he shoved Gray back into Natsu.

"Hey you better watch it yourself." Lyon grabbed the other white haired man by the collar as he threw him back into the rest of Laxus pseudo mob.

"We'll kick your asses just like we did back when you guys had that wimpy gang." Azuma, a large black-skinned member of Laxus Thunder Boyz crossed his arms. "'Dragonslayers' was it called? Pah!"

Suddenly Azuma's remark spurred on someone who was mingling in with the rest of the crowd. The person wore long black boots and had long, wild black hair with studs running vertically down his large nose. "I'm not gonna sit here whilst these fuckwits say shit about my old gang!"

"Gajeel, get a grip, we're not in a gang anymore," Natsu tried to calm down the steel golem.

The final two members of Laxus faction, came into view, one appeared slightly more reserved than the others with lighter features and long green hair, while the other was much wilder with corpse paint across his body, long black hair that went straight down to his ankles, and wearing black clothes and spikes on his wrists and shoulders.

"Boss, let's have our final showdown with the old Dragonslayers."

"Yeehaw, Let's shred 'em to little pieces and hang their intestines on the railing – Heavy Fucking Metal baby!"

"Fried! Vidaldus! You still wish to lick the boots of that man?" Lyon shook his head.

"Let's fuck 'em up, Laxus!" Erigor consulted with his boss. "There's five of us Thunder Boyz, they've only got four, we'll send them overboard eh?"

Laxus chuckled as he threw one sleeve of his fur jacket over his neck as if it were a prized scarf. "Cheh, nah! Lucky Lucy was nice enough to invite us here, we shouldn't give her a hard time. ...Well, at least not until later tonight! BAHAHAHA!"

SLAM. Loki jumped over and lifted Laxus by the scruff of his neck, pinning him against one of the pillars in the middle of the room. "Say one more perverted thing about Lucy and I will make you piss blood for the rest of this cruise!"

"Loki look out!" Laxus took quick care of Loki by kneeing the smaller framed teenager in the gut.

"Hah! How could you put up any fight for that girl? I'll take good care of that one." Laxus was about to walk away when two other girls clung to his arm

"Don't forget about me Lucky Lackey, I'll take good care of you...~" one of the girls stroked Laxus's chest.

"Yeah I know Angel, but I have other urges too, ya know?" The creepy gang leader tried excusing his polygamous thoughts.

"Yeah, you don't need that stupid Barbie slut," Karen, the other girl, advised to her hunk. She looked down at the injured Loki, "What a loser. How did I ever end up going out with you?"

Natsu and the other Dragonslayers helped Loki back to his feet as the Thunder Boyz and Girls departed the main room. "They're gonna make this cruise a week of hell..."

…

Whilst everyone was partying inside, or recovering from body shots and alcohol poisoning, one lone person could be seen leaning against the railing of the boat. He had a gym bag lying next to him as he gazed over the murky depths.

Nothing will ever be found in these waters...This will be my only chance.

"I see you brought 'her' along our cruise." A shadowy presence came into view of Jellal. The black-haired Gothic woman spoke with a sense of allusiveness. "Did you think you could wipe away your sins by taking another life?"

Jellal grit his teeth as he met the voice. "Ultear..." His current significant other.

Ultear took a few paces until she was next to the bag. She leaned her back against the railing and sighed with strange pleasure. "What do you think Erza would say if she knew of this?"

Jellal kept his gaze locked onto the infinite blue space as he searched for repentance. "I have no other choice, I can't let her know the truth." And with those words Jellal dumped the bag into the water, sinking away a dark and possibly fatal secret.

Hiding behind a nearby wall, Lucy had witnessed the whole conversation take place.

What on earth did he just throw into the water? And what could he possibly be hiding from Erza?

…

LATER THAT NIGHT:

"Ohh! Ohh! ~Ooooooh!"

"OH YEAH BABY DON'T GO WET ON ME NOW!" Laxus was still up pounding his two broads. Whilst he played with Angel, he let Azuma have a turn on Karen.

"Shit man! This bitch is as loose as my Gran's slipper."

"Fuck you! Those four abortions didn't help." Karen explained between weak moans.

"Man I'm lovin' the fact that school's over," Laxus regarded as he reached for a nearby joint. "Those Dragonslayer posers are done for though."

Azuma rocked his head casually as Karen did all the work on his naked body. "I get what you're sayin' boss, but now that we've graduated, do we really have a reason to bury them lot?"

Angel reached over and held Laxus's joint in front of his mouth so he could have a puff of the Magic Dragon. "I wasn'tgoing to until Gajeel had to make a scene for himself."

"Yeah you still wanna get back at him for ditchin' our gang, right?" Azuma quizzed his leader.

"Ooh Laxus more please..." Angel crawled over the bed until her rear end was facing Laxus. Laxus used his Lightning Rod on the fair-haired angel.

"I never liked that damn Natsu either, he thinks he's such a fucking hero all the time." The sparks were going off in Laxus' eyes, and it wasn't from the sexual excitement. "Hehe...We're definitely gonna make this a cruise they'll never forget!"

…

Natsu was on his way to his sleeping quarters when he noticed Alkzak, Droy and Jet leaning outside their room. "Huh? What are you three planning?"

"The three of us are fed up with Laxus's little gang war. We might not be tough but we were hoping that man could suffer a little 'accident'," Jet explained, pulling Natsu into their huddle.

"Ssshh...Nobody else has to know about it." Droy whispered in Natsu's ear. "We were just saying it'd be nice if that man suffered a little 'accident', nothing more... Get it?"

The naïve Natsu was still none the wiser to the trio's scheme. "You want him to have an accident?"

"Were out in the middle of a huge ocean on a Yacht. Anything could go wrong you know." Alkzack pulled out what looked like a small gun from his pocket.

"The hell guys!" Natsu yelled through whispers. "I know Laxus is a complete asswipe and I wouldn't even piss on him if he was on fire, but you can't just kill people!"

"Why not?" Jet mentioned with a devious grin. "That bastard put us through misery for all those years at the Academy. Everyone except those ratbags in his gang despise him, so why the hell can't we have some payback?"

Natsu pushed the man into the wall, making his joker hat fall off his head. "You guys are no better than him if you're considering killing someone. That's not funny man! You three better just get some sleep and forget about this stupid game of yours, 'kay?"

Judging from the fire in his eyes, Jet and the other knew that Natsu was truly enraged at that point. They could no longer stand the heat and conceded to the former Dragonslayer. "We got it Natsu, we were only messing around." Jet lifted his hands in surrender as Natsu finally let go.

"This isn't even a real gun anyways," Alzack explained, squirting some water into his palm for emphasis.

"Well I hope it was only the alcohol which made you come up with that." Natsu conveyed as he continued towards his room. "See you fellas in the morning."

As Natsu left the three scrawny plotters cursed. Thunder Boyz or Dragonslayer...They all deserve to disappear.

…

As the night dragged on, a storm had cast over the solitary Yacht. Lashings of bright light flashed fury along the otherwise pitch black horizon. Thor's Hammer slammed against the water like a child playing in a bathtub as the waves began stirring.

Everyone seemed to be able to sleep through the raging storm. Their first day of drinking and mayhem had tired the young souls, but one person was still roaming around the Cruiser. The spikes in his hair may have been attracted to the lightning like tiny antennae, or perhaps he was just waddling about in a drug-induced stroll.

The fuck was in that hash? That was no ordinary weed, but why is it only doing this to me? I swear Azuma had some too...

The Thunder Boy pinched his forehead as he felt stabbing aches in his head. He staggered against a wall as the ship kept rocking in the rough seas. As the ship swayed across another huge swell he ran over to the other side and braced against another wall. He held a hand to his mouth in case he was about to throw up.

At this point he was wondering why the hell he was even roaming around the cruiser yacht at this time of night. But it felt like something (or maybe even someone) was influencing his behavior. Could it have been more than the drugs that were fueling his intoxicated walk? He kept pondering a thousand more mini thoughts like a supercomputer as he reached the bow of the ship.

Another wave bumped Laxus forward, making him stumble towards the railing. He caught himself before he could fall overboard. Gazing into the churning blue soup made Laxus even more nauseous as he heaved his stomach contents.

Laxus could hear footsteps coming towards him. As the waves sprayed water across the deck Laxus turned so he could face the pair of feet following him.

Maybe it was the drugs, or maybe it was the loads of alcohol, or maybe it was the side-effect of a night of hard sex. Perhaps it was a combination of all three. But something about this person made Laxus laugh.

"So...it was you eh?"

That night, Laxus would disappear.

That night, a killer would be born from the storm.

That night was the night when thirty-five would become thirty-three.

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Spooky, huh? Hope you enjoyed that, cause there's more to come once October rolls around.