Today was Halloween, and the mages were getting ready for a costume party in the Fairy Tail guild. Although Lucy didn't care so much for being scared or eating candy, she had always loved the variety of costumes that people wore on this particular holiday. It was just so fascinating to see what different people came up with; it was socially acceptable to dress however you wanted and to flaunt it in public for the entire day. Lucy loved things like that. She had a whole closet full of dresses that would look completely out of place at any other time besides Halloween. It was something she had bragged about to the other girls for the past week. Now, the time was right to put her selection to the test. The blonde's biggest challenge, though, was to figure out which outfit to finally settle on.

'Hmm, should I go as a witch? No, no, that's too common! It's almost expected! I want to do something out of the box, that people wouldn't expect!' Lucy thought to herself, 'Hmm...maybe a sorceress? Or a grumpy landlady? Or a dominatrix - wait a minute, how did this last one get mixed in here?'

Lucy was about to continue searching for her perfect costume when she heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she called. No answer. She asked again, and still there was no reply. Sighing, Lucy decided to put her important business on hold for a moment to answer the door. Opening the door, she found a paper bag sitting on the ground. The words 'THE PERFECT COSTUME' had been hastily scribbled on the front of the bag in black marker. Lucy bent down and picked it up. It felt rather light in her hands. It was also a small bag; how could something like a costume fight inside?

"Huh...weird."

She looked out into the hallway, glancing down both ends of the corridor, and saw no one. Shrugging, the blonde stepped back into her apartment room while closing the door behind her. She began digging through the bag without any concern.

"Okay, let's see what we - huh?" she stopped, her hand having touched something familiar. She pulled out a yellow cone, and attached to it was a thin white fabric, or at least it looked like fabric. Unfolding it, she saw that it was some kind of disturbing mask, with two eye-holes and a mouth-hole cut out of it. The cone was supposed to be the nose. Lucy stared at it a little longer. She realized just what was bothering her about this whole thing. The face...it looked just like...

"Plue?"

She quickly delved back into the bag again and took out a note that came along with it. It said: 'A special mask, made just for you. I couldn't stretch his tiny body enough to fit you, so you'll have to provide the rest of the outfit on your own. I do apologize if it looks a little ruffled; it took a long time to get off. He kept squirming too much. Love, your secret admirer."

Lucy dropped both the note and the Plue 'mask' onto the floor. She immediately began screaming at the top of her lungs, tugging at her hair, her eyes bulging wide with insurmountable terror. The poor woman charged out of the room, still screaming.

Cana, dressed in a sultry witch's attire, had answered her door to find a box instead of a bag.

"I wasn't expecting any deliveries or anything." she murmured to herself. She popped off the lid to find, of all things, a rather delectable-looking bottle of prime alcohol nestled in a wad of tissues. It was rather small for the girl's liking, but it should have been expected when it came in such a tiny package. A note reading 'TO CANA' was taped onto the front side of the drink. Cana licked her lips. She loved getting wasted before a party just as much as she loved getting wasted during a party.

She threw caution to the wind, screwed of the bottle's top, and took a long swig. It didn't taste like any alcohol she had ever drunk before, it didn't even burn her throat, but there was something rather tasty about it. She needed to check the label later, so she could buy more on her off-time.

Then, suddenly, the young woman felt something else slip into her mouth.

"Gah!" Cana stuck her hand into her mouth and pulled it out. Her eyes widened when she saw it; it was an eyeball, with the optic nerve still attached. Cana started heaving. She looked into the bottle, and saw that the liquid was blood-red, and another eyeball was floating around inside. Cana dropped the bottle, shattering the glass and spilling its contents all over the floor. Instead of screaming, which she wanted to do, Cana bent over and began releasing the vomit she failed to hold back. She was determined to keep puking until every last ounce of that strange liquid was out of her body.

The red-drenched eyeball stared listlessly at her, silently observing her every movement.

Juvia had not even take the time to examine if the decapitated head of Gray Fullbuster was real or not. The moment she saw it, she immediately lost consciousness and collapsed. Foam bubbled over her lips.

Mirajane, in comparison to the other girls, was initially pleased, if not a little confused, by her gift. It was a doll resembling her beloved little sister Lisanna. She sat on the edge of her bed as she looked over the small stuffed object, the red cape of her outfit flowing down her back. The three Strauss siblings had decided to dress up as comic book superheroes together. It was a silly idea, but Halloween was meant to have fun, and Lisanna had especially insisted. Mirajane tugged at the large S emblem on her shirt; it was very tight around the breasts.

"Kind of strange someone would make this for me, but...it's rather cute!" Mirajane muttered to herself, "Lisanna would get a kick out of this once I show it to her."

She playfully tugged on one of the doll's arms, admiring how flexible it was in spite of its appearance. However, what really caught her attention was just how 'real' the doll felt. IT may not have made much sense, but when Mirajane touched the doll it felt like she was touching Lisanna herself. The fabric making the doll's 'skin' looked and felt like real skin, while the hair didn't seem like anything store-bought, either. Never before had she seen a tiny model so expertly crafted. She could have almost sworn it was made from real skin and hair. The dress it wore came from high-quality material at the very least. Mirajane decided to peer again in the box that the doll had come inside. She found a note.

"I hope you like it," it said, "Like Plue, it took a while to put together, because the original wouldn't sit still. I hope you don't mind that it's still fresh, so it might feel a bit wet when you squeeze it too much."

"What?" Mirajane said, and at that moment, she felt something wet drip down her hand. She pulled her palm away from under the doll, and saw that her fingers were seeped in a red liquid. Mirajane gasped and dropped the doll. A puddle of red leaked from underneath it. Mirajane started screaming, clutching at her face while hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Unable to take it, she jumped up and ran into the bathroom.

Levi had already been initially curious about her gift. It was a book without a title. Removing her cutesy werewolf claws for a moment, the blue-haired mage picked the book up into her hands. The covering was rather unique; it had the same texture as human skin. In fact, it almost looked like human skin, except it had been dyed a dark-brown color. However, it was what was inside the book that Levi found even stranger. The words were written in bright-red ink on white paper, which made it a little difficult to read. However, as she continued to flip through the pages, she gradually became used to the contrast of red on white.

The text told her of the book's origin, that it had been created with the skin and blood of a horrible dark mage that had committed many sins. The book was meant to be a record of his entire history, especially the crimes he had committed, from the mundane to the most severe. The mage had been forced to compose the book himself, stripping his own flesh and dipping his writing quill into open wounds for 'ink'. It even had an instruction on how to make such a book. This is where Levi differed from the other girls.

While Lucy, Cana, Juvia and Mirajane had been horrified by their gifts, Levi only grew more and more interested. She loved reading, and for some reason, to see this man's confessions made her feel empowered. It was like that, because she was the owner of this book, she was now the sole possessor of this man's last memories. She knew of how many women he raped, how many men he killed for entertainment, how many people he ruined. She knew everything but his name. It was a secret part of a person's life; the kind that no one ever wanted to show to others.

Levi pressed the book against her bosom with all her might. She took in a quick gasp of air. Her cheeks were flushed red. She had no idea where this book had come from or why someone gave it to her...but she liked it. She wanted to know what other bad things people have done. But of course they wouldn't confess it normally. The very idea of making a person write such a twisted memoir while killing themselves at the same time was ingenious. It was true sadism.

She started to wonder if Gajeel had ever done anything so bad in the past.

Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild, the costume party was well underway. Natsu, dressed as a mummy, was attempting to force a pair of cat ears onto Laxus' head while the others chatted amongst themselves. The air was filled with explosions of fire and lightning colliding together. There was much laughter and clanging of glasses. The guild was filled with a festive mood from wall to wall, but more so than usual.

"Hey, do you guys know where Juvia is?" Gray asked, checking his watch from underneath the sleeve of his ninja attire.

"Beats me," shrugged a kryptonian Elfman, and amazonian princess Lisanna added, "Mirajane hasn't shown up at all either. I'm kind of worried. She isn't usually this late."

Plue quickly ran by Erza Scarlet's feet with a lollipop in its mouth. "I'm sure they're fine. Do you want me to check up on them?" The redhead replied, tugging on the hem of her maid skirt.

"No, like you said, they might be running late. The party just started, anyway." Gray shrugged.

Erza was trying hard not to crack a malicious smile. She had been the one who sent those horrid gifts. None of it was real. The blood was fake and so was the 'skin', among other things; all of it created by special magical items she had purchased off the black market. Erza had also hidden a tiny surveillance lacrima inside the boxes, as well as inside one of the 'eyeballs' that Cana had probably spat up by now. She would later retrieve them and be able to fully enjoy the effects her tricks had on the women.

Sure, what she had done could be considered cruel and unethical, but...it was all in fun. It wouldn't take long before they realized the truth. Of course, Erza would never let them know that it was her. She just loved seeing her cute little friends get scared now and then. It was a hidden side of her personality that she always kept hidden, except on Halloween, and nobody knew about it. She could never rid herself of this deranged passion.

Their terror was her delight.