A Pirate Tail

Chapter 4

Natsu sighed and closed his eyes as the wind blew through his salmon hair. He opened his eyes again and looked out to the ocean which was pushing the large hull forward as the crew slept. He crossed his arms across the rail and listened to the calming sounds of the ocean. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see who it was.

"Miss Heartfilia." Natsu tipped his head and turned back to the waves. She walked up behind him and stood at the rail, looking at his face, "Do you need anything?" She shook her head and put her chin in her hand.

"I'm just thinking of reasons why I should or shouldn't trust you." Natsu chuckled slightly and a smile made its way onto his face,

"That's a good thing to think about ma'am." Lucy frowned and looked at Natsu again,

"You know, you can just call me Lucy right? There's no need to be formal." Natsu stole a sideways glance at her,

"You sure about that?" Lucy nodded her head and sighed,

"It feels strange not seeing Loke first thing in the morning. I normally get dressed and head straight to work." Natsu frowned,

"I'm sorry." Lucy turned to him in confusion,

"Sorry? For what?" Natsu picked his arms up off the rail and crossed them loosely across his chest,

"For taking you away. For bringing you onto my ship without you wanting to. I'm sorry, Luce." Lucy shook her head, smiling at the nickname Natsu gave her,

"It's fine. And somewhere in my heart, I knew I still wanted to meet the legendary Fairy Tail Captain." Natsu looked at Lucy, his eyebrow raised,

"Me? Why did you want to meet me and not the rest of my crew?" Lucy shrugged,

"I don't know. I heard legends of you and I thought it was amazing, the things you did." She laughed softly, "My mother always told me stories of the famous Natsu Dragneel and his crew. It was like one of my Fairy Tale stories coming to life, I thought I could really live it and meet you, but..." Natsu frowned,

"But what?" Lucy sighed and looked Natsu in the eye,

"But then my mother died. Or so I thought. My father told me that Fairy Tail killed her and I was horrified, but I thought to myself, why would Natsu kill my mother? She always talked about him like he was her own son, why would he do that?" She smiled,

"But now I know that she wasn't killed by your crew. But, she always talked about you...how did she know so much about you? It was even before Fairy Tail became famous." Natsu smiled softly,

"She always came at night and met up with us. Her and my father would talk and laugh, she was a very kind woman." He turned to Lucy again, the smile still on his lips,

"And believe me, when she went missing from our ship, I felt like I lost my mother all over again..." Lucy put a hand on Natsu's shoulder,

"If you don't mind me asking...what happened to your mother?" Natsu's expression turned sad and he took a deep shaky breath before responding,

"It was before my father and I became pirates. My mother, big brother, father and I were talking about starting a pirate crew. My mother was completely against the idea but my brother and I wanted to be pirates with my father, but of course, my mother told us not to." He took another shaky breath, "That night, I woke up and heard someone shouting, my older brother grabbed me out of the bed and pushed me behind him, trying to protect me. My father came in, he had a crazed look in his eye and he held a bloody knife in his hand. That night, my father killed both my mother and my older brother." Lucy stood there in shock,

"I-I'm sorry..." Natsu shook his head and looked at the rolling waves once again,

"It's fine. It was a long time ago, but I eventually forgave my father and we created Fairy Tail together. He told me that I would be the greatest pirate captain the world had ever seen. I'm still working up to that...for him." Lucy smiled brightly,

"You're really something else Captain. Something so tragic happened and yet you forgive your father, and you try to fulfill his dream of his son becoming the greatest pirate captain." She turned to him, "That's something to be very proud of. You're a good man, no matter what the rumors say." A light blush made its way onto Natsu's face and he smiled, looking away from Lucy,

"Thanks, Luce." He jumped back from the rail and put his hands on his hips, "So, was meeting the Captain of Fairy Tail as amazing as you had hoped?" Lucy laughed and nodded her head,

"Yes, it was amazing. And if you don't mind...Captain..." Natsu looked at her face, waiting for her to continue, "Can I ask a favor?" Natsu nodded,

"Of course." Lucy hesitated before looking at Natsu the same way Layla had looked at his father,

"Can you take me away, forever? Never take me back to Magnolia or the Marines? Can I become a member of Fairy Tail?" Natsu smiled, remembering when they took Layla away from Magnolia, living her life on a pirate ship. And he gave her the same answer as his father did so many years ago,

"As you wish, milady." Lucy's eyes brightened and she hugged Natsu,

"Thank you so much, Natsu!" Natsu pushed her back and smiled at her,

"But now that you're on my ship. You will address me as Captain." Lucy nodded her head, "And...since you've basically taken the place your mother did, I'll let you stay somewhere special." Lucy frowned in confusion and Natsu put his hand over her eyes,

"But it's a secret, close your eyes and don't open them, ok?" Lucy nodded her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Natsu grabbed her hand and led her around the ship, she was convinced that he was leading her in circles when she heard a door creak open. Natsu led her inside and then he sighed softly,

"You can open your eyes now." Lucy opened her eyes and almost burst into tears. Her mother's possessions were covering the small room. A rack along one of the walls held clothes that she would have worn on a ship, and her boots and other shoes were on the ground near the neatly made bed. She looked over to the wall to the right of the bed and saw a pin board with pictures all over its surface. She grabbed one of them and laughed as tears filled her eyes, the picture showed Layla and a man with red hair she guessed was Natsu's father. They both had on funny expressions and they looked like they were trapped in a dance that lasted forever. She looked at the picture closer and noticed that her mother was holding a little boy with spiky pink hair.

"Natsu...you all look like a family." Natsu walked over and shook his head,

"No...it didn't feel like it." He looked at the rest of the pictures with a smile on his lips. "I forgot to tell you something..." Lucy raised her eyebrows to show that she was listening,

"Um...a woman named Talia and my father got drunk one night..." Lucy looked up, eyes widened,

"Don't tell me this is going where I think it's going." Natsu nodded and chuckled,

"I have a little sister now..." Lucy's eyes were wide open in shock,

"No way." Natsu nodded. Then his whole face turned red. Lucy frowned and walked up to him. "What's wrong?" Natsu coughed and looked at Lucy from the corner of his eye,

"It almost happened with Layla. We were almost siblings..." Lucy smiled and laughed,

"Wow. Me being the little sister of Natsu Dragneel, wouldn't that be something?" Natsu laughed awkwardly and sighed,

"Yeah. But Talia died a little after giving birth to Wendy." Lucy's eyes widened,

"Wait, Wendy is..." Natsu nodded. They were silent for a moment before Lucy sighed,

"Well, let's just say that if it was my mother instead of Talia, I probably would have brought her back from the dead just so I could kill her again." The two looked at each other and started laughing. Natsu smiled through his laughter, looking at Lucy,

'She's just as amazing as you said she was Layla. And you were right...I do like her...'