Ruthless Winds and Raging Seas

Chapter 9

They sealed Juvia inside of a glass tank filled with salt water which was kept bellow deck.

"Why do we need to take it with us?" Laxus asked. "Why can't we just make it cry, take a tear, and throw the beast back?"

"No good we need the tear fresh." Gajeel said. "Keep all windows and openings closed, you don't want her to call out to her fellow merfolk for help."

"Alright here are the rules." Natsu said. "Don't bother the fish woman, the only time we go down here is to feed her and that's it. She is not to be harmed because we need her alive. Is that clear everybody?"

"Crystal." Erza said.

Once that was settled they all returned to the deck to continue working except for Natsu who went to his quarters to study the map. Their next destination would be to sail toward where an old pirate ship had crashed which no doubt would have a few dead men and where there were dead men there were definitely dead man's coins. As for Lucy, she felt very bored just sitting in Erza's quarters so she decided to stretch her legs and walk around for a bit.

She went aboard deck and watched the pirates work. She then looked over the edge of the ship and watched the ocean below. Though she wasn't happy about the circumstances regarding how she came here, she was glad to be sailing. She had always dreamed of feeling the sensation of the wind blowing through her hair and smelling the salty sea water. It was better than what she had hoped for.

Later she went down below deck to do a little exploring of the rooms. It was the room which was in the way back that caught her attention and she was amazed by what she saw when she went inside. There inside of a glass tank was a real live mermaid. Lucy couldn't believe it, she remembered how when she was a little girl her mother told her stories about mermaids. At that age Lucy believed that mermaids existed and would often go down to the beach, looking for them or hoping to at least get a glimpse of one. But as the years went by, her father eventually convinced her that merfolk were just the stuff of make believe and nothing more. But now that she was actually seeing one with her own two eyes she felt like a child again.

As she walked closer to the tank, her footsteps made a creaking noise on the floor causing the mermaid or Juvia as that was her name to look up at her. She was as beautiful as Lucy always imagined mermaids to be. But she looked so scared and somewhat sad. She put her pale hand on the glass, Lucy hesitated for a moment but then she placed her own hand on the other side of the glass. Had the glass not been there their hands would have been touching. Lucy didn't know why but she felt a connection to Juvia, a connection that is felt between two sisters but how was that possible?

She noticed that Juvia looked somewhat sickly, almost like she was suffocating.

"Can you breathe in there?" Lucy asked.

Juvia could only answer with silence. Lucy quickly sneaked into Natsu's quarters, he was too busy studying the map to notice her. She quietly grabbed his sword and went back to the room where Juvia was being held. Using the sword as a wedge, she pried the lid of the tank open.

"I hope that's better."

Juvia smiled and pulled something from her hair which she placed in Lucy's hand. It was a golden comb studded with shells.

"For me?" Lucy asked.

Juvia nodded.

"Oh...Thank you."

"What are you doing down here?" Lucy looked to see Gray standing in the door way holding a loaf of bread. "If Natsu catches you down here he'll go ballistic and why the hell did you remove the lid?"

"Why do you have her in a fish tank? You know she could hardly breathe in that thing."

"We need her for something."