Fairy Tail: Pirates and Merpeople - Ch. 1

Chase

Fiore Kingdom was a large place, vast you could say. Surrounded in mass by glistening strips and streams and bodies of water in every cardinal direction was the Fiore mainland. The mainland was close to circular in shape, thousands of square miles in size, and littered with hundreds of large cities and small towns. These cities and towns were the homes of every kind of person you could meet in a place like Fiore: merchants, artisans, poets, weavers, bakers, cobblers, quilters, blacksmiths, wielders, and yes- pirates. Yep, rough, adventurous, thieving, fun-loving pirates. However in Fiore, pirates were considered heroes. Brave, inventive, individuals that would sacrifice anything for even the taste of a fight or quest. Individuals that held camaraderie and kinship above all values. Being received so happily in the kingdom, dozens of pirate crews like Phantom Lord, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus called Fiore their home. Another one of these pirate crews was Fairy Tail.

"Sorry!" A voice yelled as two fruit carts were knocked over, their owners cursing and waving their fists at the person who did it. He was running down a busy market street weaving in and out of and around carts, stands and people. He jumped over rolled rugs and avoided children running at full speed accompanied by a tomcat who matched his pace. Together they looked like a stray fireball. The young man's pink hair flying from under his black bandana with his cat's blue fur made them look like they could burn down anything that would get in their way. And the tattoo printed on his right arm marked him as one of them: a Fairy Tail pirate.

"Hey, watch it brat!" an elderly man screamed after being almost trampled.

"Sorry, Pops!" the young man hollered back, twisting his body around with a wide grin on his face, heavily amused. "Dang it, Happy," he shouted to his cat, still running. "We can't keep this up for much longer." They'd been running for a while. The pink-haired boy made a sharp left, scooping up his cat as he skidded into a dead end alley way, panting and leaning against the wall. His face and bare torso were covered in sweat underneath his open black vest. He glanced down at his feline friend, smiling. "Don't worry buddy, she won't find us here." he slid his back along the wall slowly, slightly peeking his head around the corner looking for somebody.

"What was that, Natsu?" a low voice asked.

"Gah!" the boy nearly jumped out of his clothes. He turned around sharply to see a young woman standing behind him, leaning her shoulder against the alley wall, arms crossed, ticked off. She was tall, adn slenderly athletic. She had a beautiful face with deep brown eyes, though her features were currently fashioned in fury, and long hair that framed her expression. Her locks were red, not the fiery kind, but more like the blood she seemed soon to spill.

"What was that you said?" she repeated. "Something about me not finding you? Thought you'd lose me?" Natsu stared at the girl with a mix of excitement, anticipation, anger,...and fear.

"No, I...where the heck did you come from?"

"The roof," she stated pointing up. Natsu looked up innocently like a small curious child, his mouth slightly open. 'How did she get on the roof?' he thought, distracted. Mistake number one...All of a sudden he felt as if he'd been hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer. Natsu flew causing him to throw Happy in the air and do a double backwards roll landing flat on his butt, almost biting his tongue off.

'Ouch, that hurt,' he thought.
He looked up reluctantly, holding his already bruising stomach, to see his red-head assailant holding his cat.

"You're gonna get your pets killed if you throw them around like toys." she scolded him.

"I didn't throw him, he flew out of my hands when you donkey kicked me!...and he's my friend not my pet" he mumbled. Natsu slowly got onto his feet, pouting. "And p.s., Erza, that wasn't fair." Erza gently set Happy down on the ground.

"P.s., Natsu," Erza began, pulling a pair of gloves out of her belt and putting them on. "I'm going to kill you." Before he could even blink, Erza came running at Natsu, drawing one of her tow swords out of the hilt. The charge had surprised him, but he somehow managed to dodge it.

"Hah! Missed me!" Natsu gloated. Erza narrowed her eyes and came at him again, this time diving into a roll past him. She jumped up behind him and put the flat of her sword under Natsu's chin, pressing against his throat, slightly cutting off his air.

"Ach!" Natsu began, the pressure on his throat splicing his words. "You're not...ech! gonna really...kill me...huh?" Natsu said trying to pry the sword away from his throat. Erza pressed her sword harder.

"I like to keep my promises," Erza growled.

"That's...too...bad," Natsu said reaching downward. "You won't..ach...be able...to keep this one!" Natsu suddenly pullled his sword out of the hilt on his side. He flipped the sword and caught hold of the blade. Striking back violently, he jabbed Erza in the knee with the sword handle, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Gah!" she screamed clutching her knee. "You spoiled little brat!" She was really mad now. Natsu was standing a good ways away from Erza, out of range of her sword. But she quickly closed the gap. She lunged at Natsu, aiming her blade at his face. It seemed as if it happened in slow motion. Natsu missed the edge by a hair. His hair in fact. The sword had nicked his cheek and splintered the traces of pink locks curling out from under his bandana. He tried to strike a blow with his sword, but it was no use. Natsu made distance between them and Erza allowed it for a moment, both panting heavily. Then he noticed the smirk on her face.

"...what?" he asked feeling suspicious. No answer. "WHAT!?" he yelled stomping his feet.

'That's weird' he thought. Something was around his ankles. Feeling a slight draft, he looked down. Erza had made a new fashion statement out of his pants. They were severed from he mid-thigh down, his flame-patterned boxers peeking out. Yeah, those boxers...mistake number two.

"Ahhhh! These were my favorite pair of pants!" he screamed, dropping his sword as he pulled off his vest and covered himself. His face matched his hair tone perfectly.

"Oh please," Erza said, rolling her eyes. "You have 20 of the same pair."
There he was, standing in the middle of the street, bare torso, half his pants around his ankles, covering his pretty cool yet embarrassing flame boxers without a sword during a sword fight with Erza Scarlet...

Crap.

At that moment, she began walking toward him slowly, the wind ominously blowing her hair and ruffling her black skirt. Her boot heels clicked on the cobblestone street...click..click...click...click. Then she stopped walking. And she started smiling.
Their eyes locked for several seconds, the anticipation of a strike all to apparent in the air. If you hadn't been looking, you would've missed it.

All of a sudden, Erza ran toward Natsu, grabbed his vest and wrapped it around his face like a bag. He flailed his arms out, feebly trying to counterattack, but Erza went around and kicked the back of his legs, making him fall flat on his face. He straddle his back, and in one swift motion, ripped the bandana off his head and tied his wrists together behind his back like a prisoner. It was over. Erza stood up and dug her foot under Natsu, rolling him over on his back.

"Now that that's done, we're heading back." At that moment, Happy came out of nowhere. He ran toward Natsu, but when he got there, he jumped on his head and sat down on his face, muffling his speech. Happy meowed playfully. Natsu could tell his best friend was laughing at him on the inside.

"Gzee..Tanksh buddy."

In retrospect, bringing Happy along was mistake number three.