Ruthless Winds and Raging Seas

Chapter 12

Lucy woke up rather early the next morning. She couldn't go back to sleep and she didn't want to wake Erza so she went aboard deck. The first thing she smelled was the salty sea air. To her, it was a great thing to wake up to in the morning. She went to the front of the ship to feel the wind.

"Morning."

She was startled by noticing that Natsu was standing just a few steps behind her.

"What are you doing up?" She asked.

"I always get up this early to watch the sun rise. My father and I would do it all the time."

He pointed out toward the horizon where the golden sun slowly started to rise.

"Incredible isn't it?" He said.

"It is." She agreed.

"So what are you doing up so early?"

"I woke up and I couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't want to wake Erza."

"Are you hungry?"

She was starving but she wasn't prepared to eat sardines and pickled eggs for breakfast.

"No I'm not." She lied.

"Suit yourself." She watched him bite into a green apple and finally became aware of the basket of fruit that was next to his foot. "Still not hungry?"

She grabbed some grapes from the basket and started to pop them into her mouth one by one.

"Where did you get the fruit?" She asked.

"I swiped it from a stand at the market place we stopped at last night."

"You stole it? That's wrong."

"Well you wouldn't eat the sardines or the pickled eggs. I didn't want you to starve yourself."

"Oh...You stole it for me?"

"Yes. I had hoped that you would eventually cave and eat what we had but you're a stubborn one. Tell me were you planning on starving to death?"

"No. I would have eventually made myself eat them but thanks for being so considerate."

"Don't tell anyone about this okay? If my crew finds out that I gave you special treatment they would start demanding that I give it to them."

"I won't tell them. But do you always steal?"

"It's how we live though Erza and Gray feel very conflicted about it. Gray says theft was against his religion and Erza doesn't like to take from other people."

"You can't blame them for feeling that way.  Stealing is wrong."

"What do you want from me? It's all I know."

"So you're father raised you to be a thief?"

"It wasn't like that. My father didn't start stealing until my mother got pregnant with me. He couldn't afford to feed her or me with honest work so he turned to thievery."

"I know your father's dead but what happened to your mother?"

Natsu bristled a little when she asked that.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No it's okay." He sighed. "She abandoned me and my father when I was a kid. She was never happy in her marriage to him. She always said that she loved me but I don't think she ever really loved me or my father."

"Did you ever try to find her?"

"I thought about it after Father died but I was still mad at her. To be honest I don't know if I could ever forgive her for leaving us."