Ruthless Winds and Raging Seas

Chapter 16

In that same town, Jellal and his men had stopped to gather more supplies needed for the expedition. While Sting bought the supplies, Jellal began asking around if anyone had seen Lucy. Unfortunately many of them had not seen her. In his search he accidentally bumped into a young woman wearing a cloak. She was carrying some groceries and bumping into her had caused her to drop them.

"Forgive me I wasn't looking."

"No it's alright." She said dropping to the ground to gather up all the things the fallen fruits and vegetables. "I'm such a dolt."

"Please allow me to help you."

He bent down and helped her pick up her things. Though the woman's face was covered by the hood of her cloak, Jellal was able to lock eyes with her for a moment and he noticed something familiar about them. As for the woman when her eyes met his, recognition mixed with fear entered her heart as it started pounding.

"I beg your pardon Miss." He said helping her up. "But have we met? You seem very familiar to me."

"No." She denied quickly.

"Are you sure? Because I'm positive that I've seen you somewhere before. Have you ever been to Fiore?"

"No sir. I've lived here all my life." She said.

"Hmmm...Must be imagination then."

"I hate to be rude sir but I should really head home."

"Would you like me to escort you back? I could carry your things."

"That's very kind but no thank you. Goodbye sir."

And she was off before he could say another thing to her. He couldn't shake the itching feeling that he had seen that woman somewhere before but he couldn't recall who she was or where he had seen her. Little did he know that his suspicions were correct. He did know that woman, very well in fact.

That woman was Erza. She had decided that her fellow crew members needed something more fresh and healthy in their diets so she went to purchase some fruits and vegetables at the market while they were still in town. Natsu however insisted that she wear a cloak upon seeing the navy ship pull up and he didn't want her to be recognized. Everything was going well until she saw Jellal and in that instant her heart was in her throat.

She and Jellal had history together. As children they had both been abducted and forced into that abusive yet nameless pirate crew. To this day she could still remember the day they had first met.

She was six years old and she had just been snatched from the orphanage she had been left at as a baby. She was so frightened when the pirate holding her, dragged her below deck and clamped chains on to her wrists and ankles.

"Better get used to them red because you'll be wearing them all the time." He told her with his yellow teeth making a repulsive grin. "Now if you know what's good for you, you'll do as your told and if you don't we'll toss you overboard with your foot chained to a boulder! Understand?!"

She nodded with her entire body trembling and was then left alone in the darkness. She curled up into a ball and started crying.

"Who's there?" A voice asked startling her into silence. Apparently she wasn't completely alone down here. She saw that there was someone in the corner. To her relief it wasn't another pirate, it was a boy who was also in chains. "Oh so they've taken another prisoner."

"What's going on?" Erza asked him. "What are they going to do to me? Are they going to kill me?"

"No but after spending a day on this ship you'll wish that they had killed you. Welcome to hell over seas."