"So... You think you want to be a pirate?" A strong, confident voice asked Lucy.
She stared at the back swiveling chair the voice was resonating from.
"I know I will be a pirate!" Lucy declared, slamming her tiny fist on the desk between herself and the person in the chair.
"Why? How?" The voice fiercely whispered.
"I... Have nothing.. There's nothing left for me here." Lucy felt herself losing her nerve, "My mother is dead. My father doesn't love me. And he's going to get rid of me soon, he'll sell me off for marriage in a few years, when I'm old enough." Lucy clenched her fists once again.
"I see..." The voice said in an ominous all-knowing tone. "Welcome to the crew, little girl. You have a lot of learning to do and muscle to build."
The chair turned and Lucy found herself staring into the eyes of a young girl who couldn't be much older than herself.
Lucy blanched for a moment, "Oh, thank you.. I am Lucy, at your service." She introduced herself.
"I am Mavis, co-captain of this ship, though I really just take care of counting money, making plans, and maintaining alliances. The other captain, Makarov has disembarked, but will be returning shortly."
As Lucy further inspected Mavis, she found that her face wasn't as young as Lucy originally thought, Mavis was just a very tiny, very cute middle aged woman.
"Oh, but you will need the tattoo." Mavis concluded as she stood up, her long white dress moving fluidly under her matching white and gold captain's jacket.
Lucy froze for a second before sighing, "yes, of course... Will it hurt?"
"Yes, but you can handle it. If not then you really aren't meant to be a pirate in the first place." Mavis shrugged as she led Lucy to the door of the captains cabin.
Lucy suddenly felt anxious about her upcoming tattoo session.
Throwing the door open Mavis grinned, "Most of the rest of the crew are gone right now but Erza's still here."
"Erza?" Lucy's confusion and fear were prominent on her face.
"She's our tattoo kid, you'll get along fine I'm sure, just don't cry during the tattoo, it will damage her pride." Mavis walked around a corner, down the stairs to the main deck, then opened another door which when down more stairs to what Lucy guessed were the sailors' quarters.
After making many confusing twists and turns, Mavis finally opened a wooden door for Lucy, letting her in first.
In the room, there were 2 hammocks, one on the left and one on the right, but it was obvious Erza was the only one living there, the room was almost empty save for the cots, some sheathed swords and knives in a pile under one of the cots, a wooden box, and a oil lantern that was hanging from a hook on the wall.
A red headed girl who looked a few years older than Lucy, looked up from the dagger she was polishing.
"Hello.." Lucy tried to be polite.
"Hello." Erza replied stoically.
"This is Lucy, she'll need a tattoo." Mavis explained why a random stranger had been led into Erza's room.
"Okay. Which tattoo?" Erza sheathed her knife and brought the wooden box to her lap.
"The fairy." Mavis said as she pushed Lucy forward then indicated she should take a seat on the floor.
"Alright." Erza looked at Lucy, "Where do you want it?"
"Um... Where do most people get them?" Lucy began to worry, she'd have the tattoo for the rest of her life, placement was very important.
"Usually their arms, mostly their biceps." Erza opened the box and pulled out a series of needles and an ink bottle.
"I'll get it on my right hand then..." Lucy decided, she thought it would be stylish, and convenient if anyone asked her to prove which crew she was a part of.
"Sounds good." Erza pulled an ink and blood stained handkerchief out of the box and prepared to tattoo Lucy.
"Done!" Erza chimed after what felt like forever.
Lucy looked up, eyes just a little glazed over, though she hadn't cried, which made her quite proud of herself.
"Thanks." Lucy sighed in relief as she retracted her hand from Erza's grasp gently, looking around the room.
Mavis was no longer in the door way, though Lucy supposed that made sense, she must've been getting tattooed for a while, time seemed to have slipped through her fingers as she'd been focusing on tuning out the pain radiating from her hand.
Lucy examined her new tattoo in the light of the lantern, it was a black fairy-esque shape, the skin surrounding it was a little swollen and bright red.
"What now?" Lucy asked Erza.
"I'm going to wrap it for you, it's going to be sore for a few days. Avoid getting it wet for a week, just in case." Erza grabbed Lucy's hand carefully and pulled a roll of gauze out of the box. "Also, keep it out of the sun for a while. And after I'm done i can take you to Wakaba, he's in charge of giving you the introduction and assigning you a room."
"Oh, okay." Lucy nodded, she was nervous to meet everyone else, she couldn't tell if this pirate crew was the type to be friendly to each other or if it was every man, woman, and child for themselves.
"You're just lucky that Mirajane already has a bunky." Erza said with a mildly amused look in her eyes, "She's a tyrant, i swear."
"Oh?" Lucy had already settled on a technique to help her get by, the less she said, the better.
Erza suddenly looked gleeful, like any other young girl, as the opportunity to gossip tempted her to drop her stoic façade, "Last week, Laxus- her boyfriend- tried to tell her what to do again, and of course she didn't like that at all." Erza leaned in closer, speaking as if anyone would walk in at any moment, "So she told him to 'cool his head'" Erza lifted her chin and looked down at Lucy condescendingly, in what Lucy assumed was a Mirajane impression, "And she threw him overbo-"
Suddenly the door flew open, a beautiful teenager with flowing white hair stepped in.
"What's this I hear about there being a newbie?" She scoffed.
Erza began to quickly wrap Lucy's hand, "Mira, This is Lucy." Erza reverted to her stoic attitude, a far cry from the excitable girl she'd been seconds before.
"Why didn't anyone tell me? I wanted to do the introduction speech." The girl grumbled, hands on hips.
"I actually haven't gotten the int-" Lucy started, trying to diffuse the tension.
Erza interrupted Lucy, "Mirajane, it was Mavis's decision, maybe next time?"
Lucy looked up, so this was Mirajane... Lucy shivered.
Mirajane was beautiful, no doubt about it, but there was a fiery quality to her eyes, voice, and attitude that gave her an almost demon-esque quality.
"Better be. Come get me next time, kid." Mirajane sighed and exited, slamming the door shut behind her.
Erza and Lucy stared at each other in silence for a few moments before they both began to nervously giggle.
"Let's be friends, I don't have many girl friends... Any real girl friends, really." Erza let go of Lucy's bandaged hand, looking her in the eye excitedly.
"I'd like that very much." Lucy smiled back sweetly.
"Come on, let's go find Wakaba, he should be somewhere on the dock, smoking." Erza stood up and pulled Lucy up grabbing her non-tattooed hand.
It didn't take long for the two girls to find Wakaba, he was sitting on the edge of the dock, taking puffs from a cigarette expertly.
"Wakaba," Erza made her presence known "This is Lucy, she'll be needing a bunk."
"Pleasure to meet you, kiddo." Wakaba smiled in a friendly fashion, which seemed to contradict his young, delinquent appearance.
"Hello." Lucy politely nodded.
"You can either get your own room, for now, mind you, or stay with someone else, maybe Erza if you want." Wakaba scratched his chin.
Lucy pondered her options, she could stay alone in a room, until some mystery person in the vague future joined the crew and became her bunkmate, OR she could room with Erza, who she already knew and had become friends with.
"I'll stay with Erza, if that's okay?" Lucy looked to Erza for approval before Erza nodded enthusiastically and Wakaba nodded and waved them off with a "Welcome to the crew, kid."
"Great," Erza said as she clapped her hands together excitedly, "Do you have anything you have to put in our room? Any worldly possessions? Clothes? Weapons?"
"No... I'm starting my life from scratch." Lucy sighed, looking at the sky as she and Erza boarded the ship once again, "Now I'm just Lucy. Age 11. Daughter to no one and property of no one."
"Rebirth is sometimes necessary in order to move on with your life." Erza nodded understandingly.
"Speaking of which, how old are you?" Lucy asked as Erza led them back to their room slowly so Lucy could take the time to memorize the twists and turns of the halls.
"I am actually not sure..." Erza shrugged, indifferent to her actual age, "What does it matter?"
"I guess it doesn't. Not here anyway, i assume." Lucy smiled as Erza opened the door to their room.
"Exactly." Erza threw herself onto her cot, turning onto her side.
Lucy sat on her cot, pulling her knees to her chest, preparing to have a long talk with her new friend and roommate.