Chapter One
Starting to the End
"L-Lu-chan! Be careful! This isn't exactly the safest way to sword fight." A blue haired girl gasped out as her friend almost took the short way down.
Lucy giggled at how worried her friend was. "Levy, I'll be fine!" Lucy and Levy were best friends that have known each other forever. They've lived by each other ever since they could remember. Helped each other through all of the awkward phases of life. They were basically sisters in each others eyes! They both love reading books and researching different things. It's how they learned to use swords. Levy had found a book in her father's library a couple years ago. Which then, she decided to take it to show to Lucy. Ever since then they decided to train to use them. It wasn't insane to them. They were stuck in their houses anyway. Might as well make it fun!
It's also how they learned about Pirates! Now, this sounds extremely stupid, but they were really interested in pirates! This didn't mean they wanted to become a pirate! They lived day after day for their lives protecting what was most important to them. They lived for their crew. They lived for themselves. They lived for the freedom of the sea! They could only imagine what that life held. What it was like to be free.
They did know it wasn't the greatest from the books. They knew the risk being out on sea. They knew the dangers. They knew it wasn't for everyone, but they couldn't stand being here anymore. Their families might have been of wealth. They might have been princess that were destined to be wed to a man of their fathers' choice, but they didn't want that! They were miserable in their life here. Levy wasn't allowed out of her room unless it was to meet a man for a marriage proposal. Which is when she had her chance to get her books. Then there was Lucy…
"Lucy!" A man's voice screamed over the metal scrapping together. Lucy jumped at the sound and almost slipped off. Lucy glanced over at Levy and smiled sadly handing over the sword to her.
"Lucy…" Levy had whispered grabbing the sword. She hopped off the edge staring at her best friend. She saw her go into her room and Levy went into her own. Levy laid down in her bed and closed her eyes waiting. Waiting for the sleep that will eventually come. Waiting for the screaming and almost right on cue she heard her best friend.
The next night came quickly and Lucy was making her way over the balconies and into Levy's room. She only carried a bag across her shoulder going over to the figure on the bed. "Capricorn has everything ready for us."
Levy stood up from her bed and grabbed her own bag. "You know what will happen to him once they found out they helped us, right?"
Lucy frowned looking at her best friend. "Of course, but this wasn't my idea." Lucy grabbed the swords and handed Levy's her. "We have about twenty minutes until my father finds out I'm gone. We should get going." They both went to the balcony and went down the tree that was beside the house. Once they were down on the ground they kept to the side of the house to keep from being noticeable. They made their way through the town heading to where the port was.
It's been a few days now and the two girls were on the water. In the middle of nowhere. They had no idea where they were going or how long they have truly been out on the sea. They were running out of food a lot faster than they had thought. The sun was hell. It's not like they had any shade. At one point though they both had fallen asleep.
"Captain, I see a small boat out in the distance." There was a ship passing by and they slowed down to look who was on the boat. "Captain?"
"Two girls…They will be perfect for our collection. Pick them up." The Captain walked away going into his own room.
"Yes, Captain Sting!" The guys on the ship started preparing to get the two girls.
"Sting…"
The Captain looked over to the corner of the room to see a short white hair girl chained up to the wall. Sting couldn't help but smirk walking towards her. "Hello, my dear…" He roughly grabbed her chin and smashed his lips against her.
It's been a few months since the ship picked up the two girls. They have seen girls come and go. They had found out at one point that they were a slave ship, but they were also pirates hiding behind the government.
"Lucy…"
The said girl glanced over at her best friend who was hanging beside her. "Levy?"
Levy smiled sadly looking down at the ground. "Remember how we would do anything for freedom? How we wanted to escape our chains of our home?"
"Are you thinking that freedom isn't for us…?" In a way she was right. They were locked up in their room and only had each other for comfort. This was basically the same thing. The only difference is that the crew just let them hang here. Coming once a day to feed them and nothing else. They had dropped their luggage in the same room, but it didn't matter. They were in the middle of the room hanging from chains, which were coming from the walls. Their feet couldn't even touch the ground.
"I mean we escaped one prison just to end up in another. How can I not think like that?" Levy had tears running down her face as the reality of the situation had finally hit her. It might have been months since they arrived on this ship, but they always kept their head up high. Not losing hope.
"Levy…" Lucy had no words for her best friend. She was lucky no one else was being held prisoner at this very second. They would probably say something rude to them. Even though they weren't going to be alone for long. It only lasted a week before new faces were being hanged in the room. "We need to get out of here soon…"
"We aren't getting out! It's been months! We have tried everything in our power! Every time we try something they beat us with that rope! I-It's no use anymore!" Levy didn't know what else to think. She was slowly breaking and had no clue how to fix any of this.
Then the next few minutes happened fast. Guns started going off. Then screaming. Then the silence. The two girls never made a sound and were only looking at the ceiling. They could hear a few people walking on the deck of the ship. No one was talking. They looked at each other completely confused about what was happening. Nothing like this has happened since they got on this ship, so why was it happening now?
Then the door swung opened revealing a man that they had never seen before. He couldn't possibly be with this ship. They had seen every single person on this ship. This guy had blonde hair and a scar going across his right eye.
"Hey, Grandpa, I found some girls!" The yellowed hair guy ran out of the room. The girls could hear the male talking with someone. It took several minutes before he came back in with a green haired man. Well, they thought he was a man anyway. He had really long hair, but there were no breast or anything. So, they assumed it was. The two worked together in getting them down from hanging. They couldn't really fight back, since they were so weak from hunger and from being hung.
The males carried them out into the hallway coming face to face with a very short man. "Master, where do you want them?"
The man played with his mustache looking closely at the girls. "Bring them to my room. I will tell the others to hurry and finish up." He walked away from the men and went to check on everyone.
"Gramps, did you find anything else here?"
The Master was walking away from them when he answered. "Nothing, it seems like they knew we were coming and abandon ship. The people who we were fighting were only a decoy."
After that there were no words spoken. The girls were taking back to the Captain's quarter, but Lucy saw something that made her heart stop. "Fairy Tail…?"
The blonde haired man glanced down at her raising an eyebrow. "So, you have heard of us."
"I've only read things about this ship..." She had glanced at Levy, who was staring up at the flag that was waving in the wind proudly. The guy set them down in the chairs in the Captain's room and walked behind the desk.
"Read? I haven't seen a book on us for a very long time." The green haired male glanced over at the yellow haired man, which had a non-readable expression on his face.
"The books were pretty old…" Levy had started, but was quickly interrupted.
"Lucy Heartfilia and Levy McGarden." The girls' eyes widen at the voice and their names. The man who they heard being called Master jumped on the table. "I heard you two just ran away from home, but seems like you had a little bit of a problem running away."
"What? How do you know about that?" Lucy asked in a frightened voice. She was afraid that he was working with her father and he would send them back to that hell. She couldn't do that. She didn't want to go back. She wanted to be free with her best friend.
"Your fathers are asking for a huge amount for an award. There are tons of pirates and even the marines looking for you." He was playing with his mustache again thinking things over. "Laxus and Freed leave us." The two males said nothing as they walked out of the room. "So, would you care to explain what exactly caused all of this?"
"This? You mean how we got on that ship?" Lucy asked confused from the jumping of topics.
"If that's the case, then we were on our boat. It had been weeks and we didn't have any food or anything. They caught us off guard and we were too weak to fight back."
"Why did you runaway in the first place then?" Both girls didn't say a word. They agreed that once they ran away they would never mention those years with their family. They were supposed to be free of those memories. After several minutes the Master knew he wasn't getting the reason, even though he already knew it. "Very well then…since you want freedom I'll give you a choice. You can walk free or you can have a chance at becoming a pirate."
Both girls' eyes widen at the words. They have read the stories and always dreamed about pirates. It's one of the main reasons they started learning to sword fight, but to actually have the offer to be one. It was so unrealistic. "Um…can we have a few days to think about it?" Lucy spoke up.
The master nodded still playing with his mustache. "Of course you may, but I will warn you, you won't be on this ship if you agree. In about a week's time there is a ship coming. It's the second vessel of Fairy Tail. You will be on that ship if you agree. They are new being on their own and I think you would make fine crew members for them."
They left the Captain's quarters after being explained a few other things. Mostly their bed situation and who to go check in with. Lisanna was her name and she was supposed to be in the kitchen. So, that's where they were heading at the moment. They had moved under the main deck and into a long hallway. They hadn't really taken in the sheer size of the ship. This was only the first of many floors and this only held the main rooms where the crew ate and could hang out. Under this would be the rooms of the crew and the stock room. It was just an amazing ship and very kept together.
When they got closer to the kitchen they could hear voices coming out of it. "Bickslow, at least wash your hands from the oil before you go touching the food!" They heard a girl yelled and after was a bunch of clanging noise.
"These guys don't care. They will eat anything." The guy they assumed was Bickslow said. The girls stood in the doorway watching what was happening.
"They aren't going to be eating oil for dinner!"
"Stop acting like you have a stick up your ass."
"Excuse me? What was that?"
"You heard me."
"Are you telling me that you are telling your own girlfriend that she has a stick up her ass?"
"Yeah, my stick."
The girls face went so red and she stuttered to find the right words. "Alright, you are ban from from s-"
Lucy and Levy had to cough to get their attention. This conversation got a little more into it than they would like to hear. Awkward. The girl looked over to the door and it only made her face redder. Bickslow ignored it all and reached for more food. Lucy waved her hand slowly. "We are looking for someone named Lisanna…"
Lisanna's eyes widen in realization. "Oh! You must be the two Laxus came down talking about. You must be hungry!" She turned around pushing Bickslow out of the way of the food. She grabbed two plates and filled them up with as much food as possible. She sets the plates on the table and moved the girls, so they could sit down. After she pushed Bickslow up and out of the room. "Sorry, it's girl time."
"Y-You didn't have to do that." Levy took a fork that was put beside her and poked at the food.
"Nonsense! He will only get in the way. Now, Master asked for you to join right? Will it be on this ship?"
Levy was stuffing her face with food, so it was Lucy's turn to talk. "He did ask, but we will be going on another ship?"
Lisanna had turned around starting on a new batch of food for the crew. They couldn't see the face she was making. "I-I see. So, you will be with Natsu."
Lucy was about to take a bite when she noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere. "Natsu? Who is that?"
Lisanna turned around with a fake smile, and Lucy could tell right away. Levy and had been doing it for so long. "Natsu is the Captain of the ship! He is a really great guy. I think you guys will like it on the ship."
Lucy said nothing about the fake smile. Something must have happen, but it wasn't her place to mention. "We still haven't decided what we want to do yet."
"Well, if you do decide I can't wait to get to know you guys! Oh! I will be right back! Got to grab some stuff from storage." Lisanna made her way out of the room.
"Weird." Lucy whispered watching the white haired girl leave the room.
"Maybe, they were both romantically involved?" Levy finished up her plate and was poking at Lucy's food. She stole a few bites when Lucy wasn't looking.
"It's not like it matters to us." Lucy swat at Levy's hand and finished the rest of her food.
Lisanna was making her way down to the storage room to get some bread. "Are you okay?"
The voice made her jump and look behind her. "Bickslow! You scared me."
"You didn't answer my question." He walked up to her taking her head into his hands. "I heard how you got when Natsu was mentioned. It wasn't your fault it happened. Everyone thought he had died. You moved on from him."
"We were young when it happened. I-I was already falling for you, but I didn't want to hurt him. T-Then the accident happened and I couldn't save him."
"If you were to go after him then you would have died. No one knows how he even lived through it." Bickslow leaned down pressing his lips to Lisanna's. "It's just us now. That was in the past and soon we will be adding to our family." Bickslow pressed a hand to Lisanna's stomach, smiling.
It's been a week since they got on this ship and they were happier than they have ever been. They were waiting for the ship that was coming to pick them up. They really got to know everyone on the ship, and Lucy and Levy got to show off some of their moves with the sword. Everyone welcomed them with open arms, and taught them what's it's like out in the sea. "L-Lu-chan! You are going to fall!" Lucy was walking on the bowstrip. Levy and Lisanna were watching Lucy and both were freaking out. The reason was because it has been raining throughout the day and was really wet. She could fall easily if she took the wrong step.
"Oh! I see the ship!" Lucy grinned seeing a ship in the distance. She was pointing and jumping around a bit.
"L-Lucy! You are going to fall!" Lisanna squeaked out covering her eyes.
Lucy rolled her eyes and ran off of the bowstrip jumping on the deck. "I can't wait! This is going to be exciting!"
Levy and Lisanna looked at each other giggling. Levy moved over and hugged Lucy. "I can't wait too! I wonder how everyone is going to be like." Both girls looked at the ship that was closing the distance faster and faster by the second. It was going to be a brand new adventure for them. They got a second shot at life like they always wanted. If Capricorn could see them now he would probably still think they were insane.
Once the ship moved close to their ship a plank was thrown over connecting the two. There were three people who went over onto the ship. One had pink hair and the most serious face Lucy had ever seen. His body though. He had on a white open vest that showed his chest. He had so many scars across his chest and a tattoo on his right shoulder. Like everyone else did who belonged to this crew. His pants hung insanely low though. He had two swords hanging from his belt one was red and the other was black. The girls had never seen swords like them. It looked specialty made.
The second one that came over was a red haired girl. She looked very calm and kind of sweet. She wore armor though, which how? Being out on the deck all day gets extremely hot. How can someone where armor? Weird. She only had one sword though hanging from her belt and she had the mark on her armor.
The third had long black hair and he had piercings all over his body. He was huge. How is that even possible? He was carrying a huge bag, which they knew Bickslow wanted some tools for the ship. Probably what that was for. The guy carried two swords on his belt and wore a lot of black. Again, it gets really hot out. How?
The pink haired one glanced over at the two girls who were looking at them. He just shrugged them off though not thinking much of them. He walked over to the Captain's quarters to talk with the Master. The red haired girl made her way over to the girls. "Lisanna, who are your friends? I don't recall them being here before."
"Erza!" Lisanna moved over and hugged the red hair woman. "These two are Lucy and Levy. We picked them up a week ago. They agreed to join Fairy Tail! They will be on your ship though."
Erza nodded looking at the two. "Well, welcome to Fairy Tail. I hope you like it on our ship."
The door to the Captain's Quarters opened and out came the pink haired man. He went straight over to where the girls were. "So, who is Lucy and who is Levy?" Both girls said their names a bit shy at first. "I'm Captain Natsu. Welcome to our ship." He grinned crossing his arms. His smile though instantly disappeared when he noticed Lisanna. "I heard the news. Congrats." Then he just walked away going back to his ship.
"Weird." Lucy and Levy said at the same time watching Natsu leave.
Erza clapped her hands together getting their attention. "We should be going! We have a destination to get to." Erza turned around and headed towards the ship. Lucy and Levy grabbed their stuff and followed after Erza.
"See you later, Lisanna!" Both girls yelled back smiling. Lisanna was smiling waving at them.
"Do you think they made it safe? I mean, we have no way of knowing." A blonde haired woman was pacing the room. She was nervous and didn't know what to think.
"He sent a message to me saying they had the two girls. They are both safe." A red haired male was sitting in front of a fire place drinking some rum.
"This was wrong. I should have never let Capricorn put the idea in their head! What if they get killed out there? It'll be my fault!" The woman covered her face shaking. "I shouldn't have let them go!"
The male sighed shaking his head. "Your husband was going to find out. We had no choice in this, plus my son needs to wake up."
"B-But my daughters don't need to be put through that! They joined a pirate crew! The marines will be after them. I don't like this."
The male stood up walking in front of the woman. "You came to me for help, Layla. Plus, they don't know they are blood. You got lucky when they were born. They don't look anything a like. Lucy looks like her mother and Levy looks like her father."
"Was this really the only way?" Layla looked at the ground frowning. She honestly wasn't sure what to do anymore. "Igneel, I just want them to be away from them."
"My son will keep them safe. He might be hard headed, but he would never let his friends and family get hurt." The sound of a baby crying filled the room. "Better get him." Igneel sat down in his chair and continued to drink his rum.
