A Lost Boy

Chapter 16

Juvia and the other children hurried to do as Gray said but Hades's crew had no intention of letting any of them escape. Well at least not escape easily. The four of them had just started to move when they were blocked by the sword wielding Zancrow. Drew forth his blade and pointed it toward Juvia who for a moment was greatly frightened.

"So which one of you brats do I skin first?" He sneered before turning his blade from Juvia to Romeo. "I know how about the little one? His entrails would make a great new pair of socks."

"Juvia!" Romeo cried clinging to his sister in fear.

"You leave him alone!" Juvia said shielding him protectively. "Shame on you for picking someone so much smaller than you are! Why don't you go after someone you're own size?"

"Why don't you make me girlie?" He taunted.

With those words her moment of fright was quickly forgotten and she became insulted. So much so that she stomped on his foot as hard as she could.

"Ow!" He shouted.

"Who are you to call me girlie?!" She replied.

She swung her sword which clashed with his, soon she found herself in a for real sword fight with a pirate and actually having a chance at winning. Much to the surprise and amazement of her brothers.

"Wow Juvia can really fight." Natsu said. "Wonder why she never took fencing classes back home?"

"Boys would you mind giving me a hand here?!" Lucy called as she tried to move the boulder blocking the exit.

The boys hurried to her aid and they tried their best to lift or push the incredibly heavy boulder but it seemed impossible to do so. It was too heavy and they began to fear that there was no escape. Suddenly Kain jumped up.

"Ah-hah!" He shouted.

"Oh great not you!" Lucy scoffed.

"You're going under Princess! I wanna make those Indians pay for that time they shot an arrow into my butt!"

He attempted to grab Lucy and drown her.

"Wait!" Natsu said stepping between them. "You're actually going to attack a lady and while she's unarmed no less. Aren't you ashamed?"

"No. Now move aside or I'll drown you too!"

Natsu responded by to kicking him in the crotch so hard that he fell on his knees.

"Now on your knees! Beg the princess for forgiveness!"

"As if I would ever-" But he quickly changed his tone when Natsu raised his foot again in a threatening manner. "Uh...I mean...My most humble apologies Princess Lucy."

"That's better."

He then punched him in the face hard enough to knock out a few teeth and send him falling into the water. Lucy looked at the boy completely astonished and beguiled. As she were now looking at a proud young warrior from her tribe. Now she had seen many boys his age fight battles against pirates but never had she seen any of them fight for her safety and her honor. Such galantry deserved a great reward and in terms of being a princess there was only one reward that was the greatest above all.

"Hey why are you looking at me like that?" Natsu asked noticing her gaze and she answered his question by doing something completely unexpected.

She grabbed hold of his face with both hands and pulled his lips to hers, kissing him on the mouth for as long as she could.

"Eww!" Romeo gagged in disgust.

When she released him from their kiss she smiled at him in a most coquettish way. His entire face turned pink and his eyes were practically bludging out of his head. He kissed girl. On the mouth. It filled him with shock, awe, and strangely enough a new found form of strength. Without saying anything he picked up Kain's fallen sword, rolled up his sleeves, and using all his strength he used the sword as lever which successfully moved the boulder out of it's place.

"Good work Natsu!" Juvia cried, almost letting herself get too distracted from the fight with Zancrow. It resulted in him shooting off her blade with his pistol but she threw the handle into his eye, in turn distracting him long enough to push him into the water. She then went to join Lucy and her brothers on the life boat they were stealing from Capricorn.

"Now hurry!" Gray called to them as he tried to keep Hades at bay. "Move! Get out of here!"

"If I were you!" The one eyed pirate told him. "I'd give up!"

"If you were me." He replied in a mocking manner. "I'd be ugly."

They continued to sword fight, seemingly forever. As if they were so evenly matched in combat that there would never be a winner. But Captain Hades liked to play dirty and he had a very underhanded trick up his sleeve. He figured that he may not succeed in besting Gray in a battle of swords so he decided to use it as distraction while his men prepared a cannon with a net inside.

The other pirates aimed the cannon at Gray and before he could realize what was happening, the cannon was fired and a net with weights tied to the ends were shot at him. The boy was instantly trapped and dragged down into the water below.

"Gray!" Juvia screamed in horror.

As he sank down, Gray pulled out his knife and used it to cut himself free from the net. He swam back up and attempted to climb a nearby rock but that rock happened to be exactly where Hades was standing. He grabbed Gray roughly by neck, threw him on to the rock, pinned him down, and pulled out his dagger. Juvia wanted to help him but Natsu and Lucy held her back, believing there was nothing any of them could do.

"And now Gray Fullbuster." Hades said in a voice of pure evil as he dragged his dagger's blade down the boy's chest to draw blood. "You shall die!"

It hurt him greatly and he did struggle to escape but it looked like it would be the end of the line for him. Especially when he saw all the other pirates whip off their hats in respect, Lucy and Natsu's faces painted with grim and reluctant acceptance, and Juvia trembling with horror as she so desperately wanted to help him while also covering Romeo's eyes so she wouldn't have to see the terror of watching a child get killed. But Gray would not die like a coward. He would show dignity in the face of death.

"To die." He said unafraid. "Would be an awfully big adventure."

Captain Hades raised his dagger up with the plan of plunging it deep into Gray's heart, thus finally ending his life but before he could strike they both heard an all too familiar sound: Tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc.

"I say Captain, do you hear something?" Gray said with a victorious grin on his face as he now realized that with that sound he had won.

Fear became immediate in the one eyed pirate's face when he heard that damnable ticking noise.

"Oh no."

He looked back and saw the very thing that haunted his nightmares. Perched on another rock just across from them was a large, scaly, red, dragon. The very dragon who swallowed Hades's eye and had been hunting him since then. With it's yellow eyes full of hunger and it's long tongue licking it's chops ravenously.

"Shoot it!" Hades ordered his crew but they were just as scared as the dragon as he was and they immediately jumped into the water to swim away. Captain Hades turned back to stab Gray only to discover that his enemy had taken advantage of his distraction and escaped on to the lifeboat with the other children.

He would have shot him right then and there but the dragon suddenly slid off of his rock and swam directly toward Hades as fast as he could while snapping and chopping it's jaws at him. It chased him up on to the other rocks as he ran in a very cowardly manner, desperate to escape the giant reptile that craved the taste of him. Soon the beast had him trapped on top on the highest ledge there with seemingly no means of escape unless he wanted to be eaten as soon as he came down.

"Capricorn!" He wailed pathetically. "Capricorn!"

Capricorn unfortunately was at the moment hiding with the other crew members.

"It's all a bit tragic really, isn't it?" He said to his fellow pirates.